''The Sensual Man'' ( it, Paolo il caldo, also known as ''The Sensuous Sicilian'') is a 1974 Italian
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
written and directed by
Marco Vicario
Marco Vicario (20 September 1925 – 10 September 2020) was an Italian film actor, screenwriter, film producer and director. He appeared in 23 films between 1950 and 1958. He also wrote for 13 films, produced 12 and directed a further 11. He ...
.
It is loosely based on
the novel of the same name written by
Vitaliano Brancati
Vitaliano Brancati (; 24 July 1907 – 25 September 1954) was an Italian novelist, dramatist, poet and screenwriter.
Biography
Born in Pachino, Syracuse, Brancati studied in Catania, where he graduated in letters and where he spent the most pa ...
. It was shot in
Catania, Sicily
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
and in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
Plot
A
Sicilian baron, Paolo Castorini has spent his life (beginning before puberty) dealing with girls, and later, women, usually in matters of the flesh. But later in life he begins to search for a deeper meaning to life. When his father is brought to his deathbed, Paolo (after making a pass at the dying man's nurse) is surprised to learn that the apparently staid, upright father had been unfaithful as a young man, as also Paolo's grandfather, and that such unfaithfulness had brought consequences both moral and
medical
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
.
Cast
*
Giancarlo Giannini
Giancarlo Giannini (born 1 August 1942) is an Italian actor and voice actor. He won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Love and Anarchy'' (1973) and received an Academy Award nomination for ''Seven Beauties' ...
: Paolo Castorini
*
Rossana Podestà
Rossana Podestà (born Carla Dora Podestà; 20 June 1934 – 10 December 2013) was an Italian actress who worked mainly in Italy from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Biography
Podestà was born in Tripoli in the Italian colony of Libya. She spent her f ...
: Lilia
*
Riccardo Cucciolla
Riccardo Cucciolla (5 September 1924 – 17 September 1999) was an Italian actor and voice actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1953 and 1999. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival for the film '' Sacco & Vanzetti'' ...
: Paolo's father
*
Lionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television. He is best remembered for his role as majordomo Max on the 1980s mystery television series ''Hart to Hart''.
Early ...
: Paolo's Grandfather, Baron Castorini
*
Gastone Moschin
Gastone Moschin (8 June 1929 – 4 September 2017) was an Italian stage, television and film actor.
Career
Born in San Giovanni Lupatoto (Veneto), Moschin graduated from the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico and then began hi ...
: Uncle Edmondo
*
Adriana Asti
Adriana Asti (born 30 April 1931) is an Italian stage, film, and voice actress.
Biography
On stage, she starred in ''Saint Joan'' by George Bernard Shaw, ''Happy Days'' by Samuel Beckett, ''The Mistress of the Inn'' by Carlo Goldoni, and ''Three ...
: Beatrice
*
Marianne Comtell: Paolo's mother
*
Vittorio Caprioli
Vittorio Caprioli (15 August 1921 – 2 October 1989) was an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in 109 films between 1946 and 1990, mostly in French productions.
Biography
Caprioli was born in Naples. Having graduated fr ...
: Salvatore, the pharmacist
*
Ornella Muti
Ornella Muti (born Francesca Romana Rivelli; 9 March 1955) is an Italian actress. She made her film debut as Francesca Cimarosa in the 1970 film ''La moglie più bella.''
Early life
Muti was born in Rome to a Neapolitan journalist father and I ...
: Giovanna
*
Barbara Bach
Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey (born Barbara Goldbach in 1947) is an American actress and model. She played the Bond girl Anya Amasova in ''The Spy Who Loved Me''. She is married to former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.
Early life
Bach is a nati ...
: Anna
*
Neda Arnerić
Neda Arnerić ( sr-cyr, Неда Арнерић; 15 July 1953 – 10 January 2020) was a Serbian film, stage and television actress, and politician. A graduate art historian, she was considered a sex symbol of Yugoslav cinematography.
Personal ...
: Caterina, Paolo's wife
*
Dori Dorika
Dori Dorika ( 1 October 1913 – 1 January 1996) was a Russian-born Italian actress. She was sometimes credited as Dory Dorika.
Life and career
Born Dorotea Massa in Odessa, the daughter of a Russian mother and a Neapolitan father, she moved ...
: Paolo's sister
*
Pilar Velázquez
Pilar Velázquez (born 13 February 1946) is a Spanish actress.
Born as María del Pilar Velázquez Llorente in Madrid, she made her debut in 1964 at the Teatro Español, with the drama ''Caminos de Damasco''. Between 1966 and 1977 she starred in ...
: Ester
*
Femi Benussi
Eufemia "Femi" Benussi (born 4 March 1945) is a Yugoslav-Italian film actress. She appeared in 82 films between 1965 and 1983.
Benussi was born in Rovigno, Italy (now Rovinj, Croatia). She debuted on stage at the ''Teatro del Popolo'' of Rijeka ...
: Prostitute in red
*
Umberto D'Orsi
Umberto D'Orsi (30 July 1929 – 31 August 1976) was an Italian character actor and comedian.
Born in Trieste, D'Orsi took a degree in law in 1953, but he was already active in theater from 1950, performing in small companies of prose and revu ...
: The Marquis
*
Orchidea de Santis
Orchidea De Santis (born 20 December 1948, Bari) is an Italian television and film actress.
Biography
Orchidea De Santis is an Italian actress in cinema, theatre and television. Her films include '' Il Vizio di Famiglia'' directed by Mariano ...
: Prostitute with fur coat
*
Oreste Lionello
Oreste Lionello (18 April 1927 – 19 February 2009) was an Italian actor and voice actor.
Biography
Lionello was born in Rhodes (which was then a possession of Italy), to Calabrian parents, and grew up in Reggio Calabria. He began his career a ...
: Painter
*
Mario Pisu
Mario Pisu (21 May 1910 – 17 July 1976) was an Italian actor and voice actor.
Biography
Born in Montecchio Emilia, Pisu was considered to be one of the most elegant performers of the Italian cinema. He began his career on stage and screen in ...
: Lorenzo Banchieri
*
Attilio Dottesio
Attilio Dottesio (16 July 1909 – 12 February 1989) was an Italian film character actor and singer. He appeared in 170 films between 1940 and 1985.
Born in Brescia, Dottesio began his career in France, where first he obtained some success ...
: Doctor Mondella
*
Eugene Walter
Eugene Ferdinand Walter, Jr. (November 30, 1921 – March 29, 1998) was an American screenwriter, poet, short-story author, actor, puppeteer, gourmet chef, cryptographer, translator, editor, costume designer and well-known raconteur. During his y ...
: Jacomini
Release and reception
The movie, of 1:48 hr running time, was released and circulated in Italy, and also played in US arthouses under the title ''Paolo il Caldo''. Then in 1977 it was re-released for the English-speaking public under the title ''The Sensual Man'', with English subtitles. It received a US
MPAA film rating
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
of "R".
References
External links
*
1974 films
1974 comedy films
Italian comedy films
Films based on Italian novels
Films set in Sicily
Films shot in Rome
Films scored by Armando Trovajoli
Films directed by Marco Vicario
1970s Italian films
{{1970s-Italy-comedy-film-stub