Lovers and Liars (1980)

Giancarlo Giannini plays Guido Massacesi, a successful advertising promoter in Rome. At first, you think the movie is going to be like Three Coins In The Fountain. It turns out to be the opposite. Guido, a sex graving, middle aged man, pairs up with a beautiful, blond American named Anita (Goldie Hawn) on a drive to Pisa. Instead of being the dumb, blond, Anita turns out to be a lot harder to figure out than he imagined.Guido reveals that he is impulsive, temperamental, and really troubled. He stops at his hometown and reveals his guilt about being the one successful son in the family - saved from having to slave his whole life away in a chemical factory. Guido also reveals his hypocrisy by refusing to allow his family to meet his new girlfriend. He fears, rightly, than they will just consider her a foreign prostitute.This movie is filled with good satire. He causes a car accident, blames everyone else, but while at a hospital is moved by the permanent patients fated to live lives as paupers and confined. Suddenly, he feels a lot of guilt for who he has become - successful, spoiled, and arrogant. He also brings her to a tourist island, but because it is off season everything is closed. Lastly, there is a funny scene at the end, during the funeral of the father, that everyone reveals their spites, suspicions, and jealousies. All in all, it wasn't the typically romantic Italian movie. It was filled with social satire about the real state of Italy in the late 70s.

Knew nothing of this film when I put it in the player, except that Goldie Hawn was central to it. I see the original film ran over 120 minutes, my disc says 96. It should have been even less. The plot is predictable - Italian male professional, married with family has to leave town because of a family crisis. When he can't persuade a woman with whom he had an affair a year previously to come with him on his trip, he takes in her place an American woman (played by Hawn) who happens to be staying with the first woman. The story is an attempt to develop the relationship between Hawn and Giannini. Some of the element of unbelievability comes from the unbelievable boorishness of the latter. Some of it is contributed by the jumps in continuity. And the poor color control of my disc did not help. Oh, and did I mention the dubbing? There were some interesting insights into Italian family life, and there were some revelations in the last quarter of the movie that in a better director's hands would have portrayed some aspects of Italian family life to much greater effect. The funeral becomes a very interesting occasion.There is brief nudity near the start and near the end of the film.

It's amazing how even big-name stars like Goldie Hawn, smack dab in the middle of their career can record a total idiotic flop like this that #1) no one ever heard of ... #2) really poor script, shooting, and acting ... but #3) is fun.That's what this is. What in the name of heaven prompted Ms. Hawn to record this? I found this flick for one buck in the bargain DVD barrel at the dollar store. Was she desperate for work? This was post "Foul Play," so her career was already set. I don't get it.NEVERTHELESS, now that I have all that off my chest, this was a fun movie, for what it was worth. Giancarlo Giannini almost reminded me a little of Peter Sellers with his slick but bumbling slapstick acting. Goldie Hawn complimented the slapstick.It's worth watching. But unless you are a die-hard Goldie fan, don't go out of your way to find this rare film.

Scrappy Italian comedy is made up of bits and pieces, never quite coming together. Goldie Hawn (vivacious as ever) is an American actress vacationing in Rome who gets mixed up with her friend's married lover (a smoldering Giancarlo Giannini). They have little screwball mishaps and misunderstandings before making hot love in a hammock (although on US prints of the movie, there's an intrusive cut-away just as this scene heats up--perhaps there is an Italian version that Americans aren't 'mature' enough to see?). Hawn is in scatterbrain-mode, and I got a little tired of her whining about her cat, but she has fine moments too and works well with Giancarlo. There's a funny scene near the beginning when GG visits his current lover and finds her undressed--surprised, she grabs the first thing she can find to cover herself, which is of course a poster of herself naked! The editing is sloppy, the sound is fuzzy, and the finale left me scratching my head (is it Giancarlo's fantasy or for real?), but I liked "Lovers And Liars"/"Travels With Anita" for the little glimmers of good humor. Besides, Hawn is always worth a look. ** from ****