Los hombres las prefieren viudas (1970) Poster

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4/10
An uneven and inferior comedy displaying a good cast but with a lousy script
ma-cortes10 October 2023
Although the versatile Spanish-Argentine director León Klimovsky cultivated other genres with much more profusion than comedy, he has also directed some typical comedies, giving a happy rhythm to this vaudeville of misunderstandings that is supported by the always wonderful presence of Maria Mahor as the starring. After many years of mourning for various deceased relatives, Marisa (Maria Mahor) is moved to Madrid to live with her aunt Enriqueta (Guadalupe Muñoz Sampedro). There works as an employee in a travel agency. She is in mourning and her workmates call her in fun 'the little widow' because she always wears black. One day, Carlos Valcárcel (Tamy Saad), the owner of the hotel Portmar in Almuñécar, visits the agency and is attracted by her thinking that she's actually a widow. Interested in Carlos, she falls in love with him as well, and, encouraged by her friend Amelia (Maria Isbert), they both go on holiday to the hotel owned by Carlos. As Marisa and Amelia spend a few days at the hotel on the coast, but things go wrong. To appear more accessible to the hotel owner who prefers widows, Marisa poses as the widow of Raimundo Codina (Juanjo Menéndez), a client of the travel agency, who by chance, also appears at the hotel with a mistress, which It leads to a series of mistakes. And even more so Raimundo's jealous wife (Laly Soldevila) finds out that his hubby has a flirt and she also shows up at the hotel to hunt down her unfaithful husband.

A sympathetic comedy delivering a lot of silly situations, entertaiment and amusement. It is a disconcerting and below average film with sexy incidents, deceptions, marital conflicts, adulteries mostly developed in a hotel in Almuñecar. It is almost a vaudeville in which multiple deceptions happen, and change of personalities in which the protagonists impersonate by other people in order to achieve their own selfish interests, although of course in the end love predominates. Stars Maria Mahor as the alleged widow, she was a good actress who had an important career in the sixties , but in 1975 left the cinema, costars the unknown Tamy Saad and the usually likeable Juanjo Menéndez. One of the main entertainments of the film is guessing which secondary character will appear in the next frame, among them the following show up: María Isbert, Tomás Blanco, Valeriano Andrés , Guadalupe Muñoz Sampedro, Mariano Ozores Francés, José María Tasso, Carmen Porcel, Adriano Domínguez Laly Soldevila, Barta Barri, Mary Carrillo.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by León Klimovsky(1906-1996). At his starts he worked as a dentist for 15 years prior to becoming a filmmaker and also wrote film and music criticism. León founded Argentina's first film club in 1929 and began his film career making short movies. Settled in Spain in the 1950s and became a Spanish citizen. He was a prolific filmmaker who made all kinds of genres, outstanding in Spaghetti Western and terror movies , in fact he directed the Spain's most boxoffice horror film : "La noche de los Walpurgis" . This Argentina born but nationalized Spanish filmmaker was a craftsman who began his long career in Argentina and emigrated to Spain . Leon subsequently directed genres as Spaghetti Western as ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨Some Dollars for Django¨, ¨Torrejon City¨ ; Terror for Paul Naschy as ¨Orgy of Vampires¨ , ¨Marshall of Hell¨, ¨Dr Jekill vs Wolfman¨, Wartime as ¨Bullet for Rommel¨, ¨June 44 attack force Normandy¨ , ¨Bridgestone over Elba and Comedy : ¨Escala en Tenerife¨, ¨Los siete Bravisimos¨, ¨Horizontes de luz ¨, ¨Escuela de seductores¨, among others . Rating: 4.5/10. Only for hardcore fans of the Spanish comedy.
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6/10
aka "A Soldier Named Joe"
Steve_Nyland26 June 2006
Pretty interesting if ultra low-budget, obscure & low key Leon Klimovsky film about a US Army deserter who flees a court-martial in Vietnam for his dream life as a concert pianist, gets caught up in an espionage ring, and falls in love once or twice. James Bond babe Luciana Paluzzi plays the Italian waitress and concert cigarette girl who inspires him & loves him ... and adds a certain amount of gravitas to the proceedings just by standing there. The supporting cast is made up of familiar names & faces from the Euro Horror, Spaghetti Western and Euro War films made by Klimovsky at around the same time (1970).

According to a "trivia" entry made by a fellow IMDb user, frequent Euro genre distributor/impresario Sam Sherman (FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR, CRYPT OF THE LIVING DEAD) found the movie to be "unwatchable" and hacked it apart for use in a film he called MEAN MOTHER about two Vietnam deserters -- one black, one white -- who pursue a life of crime apart from one another, but who's paths cross from time to time. What I found is a very different movie with no soul brother deserter, but DOES have a sub-plot involving a Russian opera star who the hero helps to defect to the west.

SO ... a bit of a different turn here for Mr. Klimovsky, best known to English speaking audiences for his cult horror movies with Spanish horror star Paul Naschy (WEREWOLF SHADOW, DR. JEKYLL VS THE WEREWOLF, and my favorite, VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES) or perhaps a couple of his Spaghetti Westerns (DOLLARS FOR DJANGO with Anthony Steffen). Mr. Sherman probably blanched at the idea of having Spain substitute for Indochina more than objections to the story's plot line about a US Army deserter from the then-raging Vietnam War. The results may not have been up to his personal standards, but we are talking about the guy who invented the term 'Zompire', meaning a zombie crossed with a vampire. Everyone has their bad days, and maybe he was just in a rotten mood when encountering this for the first time.

I actually must admit not being sure if it's even a very good movie, though the women are all gorgeous, there is an excellent jazz/classical piano musical score, and I like how the film "virtually" globe-hops across three continents using stock footage, maps, and title cards. And that may be the film's greatest contribution: Here's further proof that with a bunch of friends, some props, a camera, and two or three interiors you can re-dress to simulate different places, and you can shoot a movie on any old back lot & have it be set anywhere in the Cosmos.

6/10 ... Well, what are you waiting for? Go make your movie!!
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