Lady Football (1983, DVD Review)
aka Paulo Roberto Cotechiño centravanti di sfondamento
Director: Nando Cicero
Cast: Alvaro Vitali, Carmen Russo and Mario Carotenuto
MYA Communication / NTSC Region Free / Unrated / 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / Dolby Digital Mono / Language: Italian / Subtitles: English / 89 minutes / BUY FROM TLARAW
Disk Extra: Original Italian Trailer
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Hotshot Brazilian soccer player Cotechiño has been signed by the team from Naples, Italy for billions of dollars in hopes he will bring them a championship or two. But during practices and games, he can’t hit the broad side of the Colosseum and the coach figures out that he misses his hot-ass girlfriend Fidanzata. The coach concocts a plan to bring Fidanzata to Naples and get her a job as a sexy dancer in a bar so Cotechiño can be closer to her. Shenanigans begin when Madame Contessa, a powerful business woman, makes a giant bet against Naples and sets out to try and keep the soccer star from playing in the big game by any means necessary.
Enter Idraulico and his nutty uncle Mario who are handymen at the hotel where Cotechiño and his girl are staying. Strangely Idraulico is a dead-ringer for the much more suave athlete which creates even more fodder for shenanigans. Let me see if I can explain this without sounding insane: Cotechiño wants Idraulico to pose as him and keep an eye on Fidanzata because he thinks she may be cheating on him. This creates confusion because Madame Contessa is trying to throw monkey wrenches into everything but only succeeds in foiling the wrong person. Threes Company-style misunderstandings, Benny Hill-flavored naughtiness and loads of laughs ensue in this madcap bowl of Italian craziness.
The humor is ultra goofy and slapsticky but the translation from Italian to English makes it even funnier as it’s obvious that meanings get flipped around and some jokes don’t translate at all. The story is pretty ho-hum but the characters completely make the movie worth seeing. Madame Contessa is crippled, in a wheelchair and has a giant, black servant named “Mandingo”. Uncle Mario looks like a bigger version of uncle Junior from The Sopranos. The dual roles of Cotechiño and his doppleganger Idraulico played by Alvaro Vitali who switches from debonair to silly from scene to scene. But the star of the show is the ultra sexy Amazon Fidanzata played by Italian sexpot Carmen Russo. Though she never really gets nude, her giant mams struggle to get free from every outfit she wears.
The MYA release is a nice 16×9 widescreen presentation that looks pretty good. It’s no high definition remaster but it looks plenty clear with very little “damage” to the picture at all. The sound is also clear and presented in its original mono. It’s also good that the disk is region free so many more sexy Italian comedy fans can enjoy this rambunctious gem. Don’t go looking for any supplements to the feature because all you will find is the original Italian trailer. That’s really the only drawback to this release but the rarity and strangeness of the movie itself is enough to satisfy most fans of oddball cinema. Pick it up now!
You had me at LADY….
I saw the trailer and that’s enough. I lost a few brain cells watching it. This makes the Three Stooges seem sophisticated. But I have to admit, Carmen Russo is hot! Too bad she’s not featured enough.