Look, when one of the titles for your movie is Atrocious Tales of Love and Death, I get a little excited. But as soon as I saw Marcello Mastroianni, I realized that I was going to hate this movie. He plays a mandolin player, which is totally not the giallo I want, but I can be a small man and tell you that seeing Ornella Muti’s name in the credits kept me watching. I think watching her in Flash Gordon repeatedly on HBO kickstarted me into puberty much sooner than I was ready for.

French model and actress Capucine is in this as well, which makes me happy, as she also did Jaguar Lives! in 1979 before taking a three-year break and showing up in American TV like Murder, She Wrote and Hart to Hart. Luckily for junk film lovers like me, she also found the time to be in Lamberto Bava’s Delirium: Portrait of Gloria, a movie that is surely beneath her.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this is a Sergio Corbucci film. I mean, the man who made Django? Oddly, I can totally accept him making fun movies with Terrence Hill like Super Fuzz but not this.

Maybe I expect too much. I mean, this is certainly a fine film for people that want a comedy. Me, I wanted the kind of kick I only get from black gloves and the flash of the blade. Oh well!