Because of the surprising success of the “auteur” movies of American New Cinema with the audience, in the early Seventies the Hollywood studios became ready to finance films like this masterpiece of the absurd by Woody Allen.
New about Allen’s generation were not only their ideas but also their approach to film making. Predecessors had to learn their craft most of the times by working as assistant directors in the studios, but Allen had learned the art as a graduate student of communication and film at New York University.
A descendant of Russian and Austrian Jewish immigrants, Woody Allen started his career as a writer for jokes and became successful as such at the early age of Seventeen. After his graduation he became a playwright, and wrote his first movie script in 1965 for the comedy “What’s New Pussycat?“. A year later he took the opportunity to direct his first first film “What’s Up Tiger Lily?” in which he took an existing Japanese spy movie (Kokusai himitsu keisatsu) and re-dubbed it in English with new comic dialogue. After Allen directed, starred in, and co-wrote “Take the Money and Run” in 1969, he got a deal with United Artists for several films, including “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex…”, which became one of his biggest financial hits grossing domestically 18 M US $ against a 2 M US $ budget, ranking on place 13 among the year’s highest grossing films.
Since then, Allen, who also could be considered as the father of the modern romantic comedy, has received four Academy Awards (Best Original Screenplays for “Annie Hall“, 1978, “Hannah and Her Sisters”, 1987, and “Midnight in Paris“, 2011, and Best Director, again for “Annie Hall”) and more screenwriting Academy Award nominations than any other writer. And although he had hits and misses at the box office, he fully has recovered with last year’s “Midnight in Paris” gaining more than 50 M US $ revenues on the domestic market.
Despite friendly recognition from the Academy, Allen has consistently refused to attend the ceremony. Back in 1974, Woody was quoted by ABC News as saying, “The whole concept of awards is silly. I cannot abide by the judgment of other people, because if you accept it when they say you deserve an award, then you have to accept it when they say you don’t”.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068555/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_50
American Film 
I think that most people really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was really hyped though. I thought it was entertaining, but personally I din’t find it that funny. I laughed pretty hard at some parts, but overall it was just ok for me.
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This movie was not what I had orignially thought it would be. At first I was thinking that this was going to be some dull, informative movie because of the title. I am not the biggest fan of Woody Allen movies, but this one had some pretty funny parts. I did not really enjoy that the movie was nothing but a bunch of skits put together as well. A few sketches in the film were not funny in any way whatsoever. Such as the first skit with Woody Allen being the Joker. That skit should not have been the first in my opinion, because it made me feel like the rest of the movie was just going to suck. Another skit I really disliked was the Italian skit. Although it was just random Italian words thrown together, it was not enjoyable to watch something that I could not understand nor really follow along with what the plot of the skit was.
As for the skits I did like, they had some pretty funny moments. The skit with the giant boob attacking people was good. At the end of the skit when they were luring it to the bra and it was shooting milk at him was outragous. The last skit was the most enjoyable part of the movie though. The scene when the sperm people were about to deploy and the black man was saying “what am I doing here?” was probably the funniest thing in the entire film.
It was surprising to see so many stars in this movie. I would have never of guessed all of them would have been in a movie like this.
As for the movie as a whole, I will say it was so-so. Maybe not a film I would watch again. With a title of “Everything you always wanted to know about sex: but were afraid to ask,” I would have to say I did not learn very much from that movie.
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I definitely have to agree with Richard on this movie.
While I did enjoy a few of the skits, I did not enjoy all of them. And the first one definitely was my least favorite. Because it was the first skit, it sets a tone to the movie and I was very skeptical of the movie at first. Was it all going to be like this? With this mind set, I didn’t have much expectations.
Then the fake Italian one…I was very confused at first and so right off the bat I did not enjoy it.
But definitely the last one very funny. And I agree with him on the scene where the black man saying “What am I doing here?” was probably the funniest moment throughout the whole film.
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This film was pretty funny, and not at all what I expected it to be.
What I liked about this film was the variety of skits and their different styles. The first sketch started a bit slow, but once Allen started to pursue the Queen, the pacing got a little bit better. I thought the writing and the acting were good. Gene Wilder was excellent in the Sodomy sketch.
My favorite sketch would have to be the last one with the NASA mission control. I thought it was very creative and funny. I think the homage to Italian-filmmaking skit didn’t really work without subtitles, I think it would’ve been funny to see all the ridiculous words he was spitting out, or maybe a different style would have been better.
Overall I also I liked the film, but I don’t know if I would watch it again. It was nice to finally see a comedy that was intentionally funny.
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I agree! I really enjoyed how the skits all had their own style. It helped make it more exciting. I think I would have been really bored if it was all the same.
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It’s very hard to be even remotely critical of Allen’s work. Sex is really just a parody or satire of pop cultures view on sex and relationships. Therefore, the film really is done in a “tongue-in-cheek” style. Independent reviewers have stated that Sex is a landmark in film and story. I am sure this was true at the time the film was released, however, it has become very dated. This does have a comical element in its self though, in that younger audiences who can’t relate to the plot of the stories can find humor in the “classic-ness” of the film.
The decision to break the stories up into smaller segments was a good idea, giving the film a fresh start after every 20 minutes or so. Two hours of a giant tit roaming around the New York country side might have lost its shock and gag factor. Likewise this shorter format also lets the jokes roll out quicker adding to the comedy with no real pauses in between comical acts.
The inclusion of famous actors in certain portions of the film also adds to the value of the stories. The also has the added benefit of keeping people in their seats as they want to see which famous actor will be in the next segment. Gene Wilder’s performance was truly brilliant. I almost felt he wasn’t acting and truly was in love with the sheep.
Is the film a landmark film? I don’t know, it was way before my time. I wasn’t alive during that time and I can’t comment on this. However, I have chatted to some family members about this film who were alive and they agree that the film changed some of the topics and genre stereotypes that were more stringent before the film. One family member mirrored Karl’s comment in class that the film was the true first romantic comedy.
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I agree with Kris’s comment about keeping the stories in smaller segments. I definitely think that was a very good way to keep the audience engaged. In the beginning when we saw the scene of the king, queen and joker – I thought the whole film was going to be about them and it made me dread having to sit through it. However the pace picked up, became more funny and of course, I realised that the film was going to have a more short story after short story kind of format. This made it easier for me to engage with each story and enjoy the film more because I didn’t have to enjoy all the stories to like the overall film… I was able to enjoy few stories that really made me laugh, and at the end of the film, be able to leave with a favourable impression of the film as a whole ~ which I think might have been the director’s aim – so people would talk about it and recommend at least some of the stories to their friends, creating some interest to watch the film.
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Everything You Needed To Know About Sex leaves quite an impression on a person, but then again Allen’s films usually have that affect. The format of the movie reminded me a lot of those popular Saturday Night Live skits. It is obvious that SNL was greatly influenced by this type of format. Each skit able to be a short excerpt of a longer story but mainly focuses on the punch line. It was also quite refreshing to see Allen star in film, taking up roles normally given to younger, more handsome actors. Mainly because Allen doesn’t look like the typical actor, but more like the average person you might find on the streets. As he upholds the lead roles, the actual actors who would normally be seen in this position were in fact supporting characters throughout each skit. One of the skits that really stood out was the mad scientist skit. It was very interesting how it combined elements of rocky horror, frankenstein and monster movie genres. Relating to rocky horror, the mad scientist’s crazy and outrageous antics reminded me of Tim Curry’s Frank N. Furter character. Not so much the attire, but the strange mindset and weird experiments of a sexual nature. It then brought in Frankenstein in the form of the laboratory and the assistant Igor. Although I must say, I did not expect him to be deformed for excessive orgasmic reasons. And then the skit really went over the top by diving into the monster movie with the giant boob which wreaked havoc in the city. It was very clever how they defeated the huge boob with a giant bra. After that, I must say my favorite skit of them all was “What happens during ejaculation”. I feel as though the most thought was put into that skit. It was also an unexpected surprise when Burt Reynolds did a cameo. The skit basically set up a scenario for a date which began with dinner and led to intercourse. It was funny how issues such as religion was thrown into the mix the troubles of male impudence became the antagonist of the story. The only thing about it that slightly confused me was when the christian priest was found to be sabotaging the operation. Later on, as the se’men’ begin to “ejaculate” Allen’s character stops for a moment to look around before jumping. He comments “Well, at least he’s Jewish.” referencing the man’s circumcision. That made me wonder, was the man Jewish but Christian subconsciously?
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Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex*, But We Were Afraid To Ask! (1972) can be best described as a sex manual with a Monty Python sense of humour. I also loved how Allen decided to break the whole thing up into a series of short skits. The sketches are hit and miss but the ones that hit are absolutely brilliant and will have you laughing long after the film has ended. For instance, the whole thing with Gene Wilder romancing a sheep is definitely a hit in my book. And I will never feel the same about Willy Wonka again.
Some of the sketches fail to penetrate, but overall this film is a hit for me. Humour is very juvenile, and while it wont appeal to some of the more mature fans of cinema, this film should be appreciated for what it is – a proper good laugh. Even the sketches that do miss the mark are more than funny enough to carry the film on, and this film therefore comes with a huge recommendation to anyone that enjoys this brand of silly humour.
Some skits will run on a bit long, such as the spoof of monster films where a man and a woman and a man are being stalked by a huge tit. This skit is done well, but it really isn’t that funny to be honest. Another one that falls flat for me is the third skit in which a man keeps trying to bring his wife to orgasm. This has a good opening but really just falls apart towards the ending.
All in all this is some great Woody Allen work and I certainly enjoyed watching it. Almost all of them skits are at least funny, and some are proper hilarious. While this may not be Allen’s most philosophical comedy, all in all it is a pretty good laugh.
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Gene Wilder romancing the sheep was definitely a great hit in the film. I didn’t realise he was the man acting as Willy Wonka in the 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, but now that you mentioned it, quite true – I can’t see him the same after this! I’d probably imagine him carrying a sheep around him inside the chocolate factory.
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He was actually May favorite part of the film. His scenes witht the sheep were so hilarious. I don’t think anyone could have done it better.
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) was absolutely hilarious and awkward to watch all at the same time. It’s kind of curious how they got such an amazing cast to perform for this kind of film but I see the appeal of the film. It was hilarious and very un-California Hollywood like. What was also hilarious to me, as a New Yorker, was recognizing some of the more on-location parts, especially the suburban one which I swear was shot in my town or a somewhere nearby. What’s also apparent, to me especially, is the “Jewish Humor” undertones in this movie. A lot of the “sex jokes” had this really cold, biting, almost sarcastic humor to it that, in terms of comedy-style, was very Jewish and New York.
On the note of the humor, I feel like it really was “truly American” humor. I feel that there isn’t much of an international audience for this kind of humor. New York/Jewish humor is presented much differently than what would be considered humor in Japanese movies/Television. I feel that Japan would be more likely to make fun of a person rather than the concept of sex and bodies. But the American “humor industry” if you will, is based on two things: sex jokes and the misfortune of others. This film used both to try to get a rise out of the audience. For an American audience, it definitely worked.
Lastly, I don’t think this needed a bigger budget. I think that the low budget aspect of this film actually added to the appeal and the humor. It had almost a “student film” vibe to it—which definitely has some entertainment value for this movie.
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“Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask” was definitely a movie unlike any others out there. I mean, sure it does have some moments that are spoofs from other films, including Ed Wood’s “Bride of the Monster”. However, what sets this movie apart from others is its structure: divided into seven different short comedic sketches that all has to do about sex. The very concept itself is enough to make me interested and laugh at it instantly, and I’m proud to say that this movie succeeds in both being a very hilariously entertaining film, and being an excellent collection of seven outstandingly made sketches as well. Not many movies are structured like this, so that is what both amazed and impressed me when I watched this in class. Woody Allen did a very amazing job in starring himself in the movie, also being the director and writer at the same time, and even appearing in four of the seven sketches in the movie as a result. I’ve never really heard nor seen many directors who are also acting in their own movies they made, but I have to say that Woody Allen was remarkably successful in that regard. There are absolutely many things to be said in this movie, so allow me to go through it one thing at a time.
First things first: Woody Allen himself. He is absolutely one of the most heard names and famous American actor and director, and though I’ve heard of him multiple times before, I never really knew much about him nor seen any of his movies before. After seeing this movie though, I really admired Allen’s acting, his character, and his brilliant sense of humor in each of the roles he had in the movie. I love how he acts so nerdy, anxious, timid, and socially awkward in every one of the characters he played as, be it the bumbling jester to the lucky mate of a few couples, and finally being the sperm in the final act as well. The fact that he looks so nervous and weak for the majority of his acts also made me laugh so many times, especially with his hilarious choice of dialogue too. The jester and the researcher roles are definitely my favorites of his roles, and although his last sperm act was not that long nor “major” compared to the other parts he played, it still made me laugh so hard just seeing him in that white, skin-tight body suit and adventuring into the great unknown during sexual intercourse as well. Heck, I’d say that it is because of Woody Allen himself that makes this movie so great, that I can’t imagine how this film could have turned out without him in it. Even the sketches that do not feature Allen himself are quite hilarious in their own rights, but it is the sketches that star him is what truly makes this film stand out quite a lot to me.
Now, on to the sketches themselves. Personally, I really enjoyed all of the seven sketches in this movie, and I really don’t see anything wrong about any of them whatsoever. They are packed with plenty of hilarious sexual jokes moments to be had with the characters, and in a decent variety of scenarios that are both hilariously absurd and cleverly made at the same time. The first medieval sketch with Allen being the jester was quite an hilariously appropriate fit for him, and I loved the random acapella with the “doo doo” voices heard in disturbingly catchy tones and rhythm of the music playing. I also enjoyed the occasional moments when Allen broke the fourth wall to the audience, and the way he said, “Do you like the way I fool these guys?” and “This is what I call beaver shooting.” made me laugh so hard. The second sketch Gene Wilder playing as the doctor who fell in love with the American patient’s sheep cracked me up a lot too. The third Italian sketch was quite incomprehensible, since I do not know Italian at all, but the occasional orgasm moments between the odd couple in public was incredibly hilarious to me despite my lack of Italian knowledge. The obese husband wearing women’s clothing reminded me of the issue of transvestites from the previously watched “Ed Wood”, and it was this simple style of comedy that made me laugh quite a lot, and I like how it is one of the few sketches that actually had a positive ending to it as well. The game show “What’s My Perversion?” was definitely one of my favorite sketches of this movie, and the very concept of having perversions guessed in a game show just amuses me too. If only there really was a game show like this in real life, then I’d love to see more of it, even if the chances are very unlikely. One of the best highlights of this film is definitely the mad scientist and his crazy sexual experiments done on innocent people, and the giant, oversized breast that ends up killing people and terrorizing everything in sight, and the way it got defeated by a huge bra was outright brilliantly hilarious. Last but not least, the mission control center inside a man’s brain that controls every part of his sexual actions and desires during the sexual intercourse with the woman was so outstanding and creative, and I probably had the most laughs in this one. It was that memorable and amazing to me, that it was definitely fit for being the final sketch of the bunch.
Although I did enjoy pretty much everything the movie had to offer, there were a couple of minor issues I was confused with the movie, and felt they were a bit unnecessary in a way. First of all, I do not understand why both the opening and ending credits of the movie showed a random number of rabbits, and felt it had nothing to do with the overall sex theme of this movie at all. I suppose something more creative would have been used in both of the credits, as I feel that the rabbits do not make any sense too. Also, in the aforementioned Italian sketch, there were no subtitles in English that translated what the couple and other characters said throughout, and I cannot see why there were none of that included in it. One would normally believe that sketches like that would include the subtitles so that other people who do not know Italian would understand it more and get the joke, but I still do not know why subtitles were not even considered entirely. I would have laughed more had I known the dialogue clearly, though the frequent orgasm moments made up for most of it, being still enjoyable and hilarious to watch through anyways. These issues do not detract from the movie itself majorly, but they were quite noticeable and worth pointing out, at least for my tastes that is.
Overall, this movie was very hilarious, probably more so than any of the other movies I ever watched in this class, and I may go as far as to say that it is also potentially my favorite movie that we watched yet. The majority of the comedic, sexual scenes and jokes worked out well, Woody Allen had plenty of hilariously entertaining moments, and the collection of sketches were so superb, that watching each of them by themselves could be just as enjoyable as watching the entire film in one go for me. Perhaps watching collections of sketches together in one movie could be a possible trend nowadays, and I would love to watch more movies that are structured like this one. Moreover, seeing Woody Allen performing in his own directed movie so hilariously well makes me want to watch more of his movies from his work too, should the opportunity arise for me sometime.
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Woody Allen has been one of my favorite directors and I have watched several films he made these days. However, this film was shocking itself. I knew that he is one of the famous auteur directors and most of his films have created strange atmosphere which I don’t normally see in other films. Although the weirdness, there is also the cleverness in this film. Who can imagine making these stories as visual stories? In the second story with the sheep, the actor is very good so that viewers don’t seem to get disgusted by watching his relationship with the sheep. The way Allen created the world of inside of human body in last story is brilliant. Besides, most of the actors are very serious, which makes me curious how many takes are reshot during the shooting. Since most actors in this film are not making fun of what they doing throughout the film, it is easy for spectators to believe that those stories can be real. At the same time, we can watch it without boring or disgusted. This is why people like Woody Allen’s movies and he always fascinates his fans by making such unique stories.
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I didn’t expect this film to be the fine comedy. In other words, I thought this film to have more dramatic and erotic scenes like the previous films we watched in the class which I wasn’t really fan of. Woody Allen….No one can come up with the idea of being inside of the body during sex as well as fallen in love with animals. There were many inside joke such as Woody Allen being Jewish and he is the graduate of NYU. In fact, in order to fully understand every single aspect of humor, the audience may need to review his background beforehand. The fans of Woody Allen may find this to be interesting; however, for the first timer, this would just puzzle the audience and there may be a possibility of being disconnected from the storyline.
If this film were to be shown in Japan, people would never ever get the joke even if the subtitle tells them accurately. As is often case with many comedies imported in Japan, many fails to invite the audience because of its too-American-comedy elements. The film, Ted, was fairly successful because the film sells a character Ted as a teddy bear to people, which is a popular character in both female and male audiences in Japan. Comedy sells. But with somewhat marketing skill.
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This was my first ever Woody Allen film and I found it absolutely hilarious. I think the title itself would turn heads and appeal to audiences because after all sex does sell. When I heard the title I assumed that it would a formal guideline about sex with x-rated content. The films we had seen so far from 60-70’s contained a lot of nudity and it being from the period of sexual liberation I wouldn’t have been surprised if it contained nudity. It was to my surprise, that although the film stuck to a consistent theme of “Sex” there weren’t actual scenes of sex or nudity. The film itself didn’t really feel as though it was a film because it was a compilation of skits and every story was contained within each skit. I would say Allen’s standpoint of explaining sex through situational skits is very interesting.The film wasn’t as bizarre as Ed wood, however, I think it can be classified as a experimental film for it’s randomness.
My least favourite Skit was the Italian skit. I actually couldn’t figure out what was happening and I thought legitimate Italian was being spoken (but apparently it was complete gibberish). I was speechless when the gigantic breast appeared on screen. I didn’t know whether I should have found it humorous or simply horrific. As I watched huge monster breast destroying the house, at the back of my mind I was thinking of people who had witnessed a huge boob on location of the shoot not knowing what film was being shot and being completely confused. The idea of having miniature people inside the body to functioning our behavior, thoughts and reactions of the body was a very clever setting. The whole referencing a sperms to a paratrooper and how Allen’s character would be anxious to “fly out” was my favourite scene. However, I don’t know how I would feel if I was an actress and I appeared on the casting list as “Sperm” regardless Allen’s popularity. Overall, great film. I would definitely consider watching his other films
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When I first started watching this movie I wasn’t sure what to expect, would the humor be lowbrow and to pick fun at sexual issues by making “haha, this guy is dress in women’s clothing! Ha!” style of jokes. But I was surprised when it was the opposite. I liked that the film was comprised of seven short stories as opposed to a traditional narrative structure. Also I really liked the humor, I thought it was smart and I think the humor wouldn’t have come across as well if the actors weren’t as good as they were.
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This movie was not exactly what I was expecting. From the title, I was expecting something less comedy-centered. And I definitely did not expect the first portion of the film to be set in that time frame. In fact, I was not expecting the short skit-like set up. While I found it interesting and different, I found that some of the skits were boring and some were funny, which gave the whole film its ups and downs.
Also, the title, “Everything you wanted to know about sex but was too afraid to ask”…I’m not sure if the movie answered any of the questions I actually do have about sex but am too afraid to ask…
Though, some of the questions were funny.
I enjoyed the last portion the most. It was interesting how they conveyed how the brain operates with the rest of the body. Like little worker bees funning the hive. But then it got me thinking, if there are little people working inside one person’s brain, then are there even smaller people working in their brain the same way that they are working in that person’s brain? It’s never ending.
But I did enjoy that the most. The part where the sperm men went to school to become educated in what they have to do and train, that was very funny. The other’s are questionable, but I do think that the last bit made the film end on a good note, unlike the beginning.
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“Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex, But Were Afraid To Ask” ** correction on the title
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know about sex, but were afraid to ask was a movie I was a little bit dreading to watch. I thought it was going to have an “attempt” at educating the audience but would maybe do this in a tasteless manner but was pleasantly shocked in the end of the movie when I realised that though the skits didn’t really deliver to whatever expectations one might have BEFORE watching the film, it was actually enjoyable to watch – much more than I expected. I think one of the reasons was that rather than actually attempting to “educate” the audience or even adding a lot of actual scenes with sexual activities, the movie goes into a more silly humour direction where references are indeed made of various aspects of sex, but were shown in a very silly way that would make most people laugh. In this way I think a general audience would actually enjoy this film – because of the silliness and because of the variety of skits ~ even if they weren’t able to enjoy certain skits the presence of many skits means they will leave the film, still having laughed at, at least one or two skits. Overall, a creative, funny film by Woody Allen that I found silly but enjoyable to watch.
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Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Too Afraid To Ask is a very interesting film. Instead of a straight-forward narrative, it is broken up into a series of skits. I found most of them to be quite funny, but I am a fan of Woody Allen as a whole.
I feel like for a lot of the quirkier Woody Allen stuff, you have to be a fan of him to really like it. Aside from the relatively universally heralded films like Midnight in Paris, he is quite polarizing.
That being said, I did find some of the skits to be total misses and awkward and not that funny.
My favorite skit is probably the “What Happens During Ejaculation” one. The whole armada of fantastical workers inside the male’s body during sex is hilarious.
It was cool seeing Gene Wilder in the second sketch, and it was quite funny as well.
Overall, Everything is an unpolished, silly film. The idea is enough to make it a watchable film, but I wouldn’t consider it a great film. I would only recommend it to fans of Woody Allen.
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“Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask” (1972) was a great yet unorthodox film in which I enjoyed. All cast members seemed to gel really well with one another in which made the film story board more interesting. Some of the highlights from the film that I enjoyed were the giant breast. Not sure how they created it or if it was digitally created but however they did it, it was fantastic. I was very appreciative to see that the New York film industry was still alive and kicking at that time. Many of the films were created in Hollywood but this film kept it very New York. What was strange to me was the many usage of the Italian language. My favorite scene from the movie was when the town comedian was placed a magic potion in the Queen’s beverage in which made her aroused and ready to have sex with him. I am not a fan of drugging women to have sex, but I thought it was very comical. The sex jokes also were very daring and refreshing. Most directors at that time were very scared to do such things, but Woody Allen wasn’t. In conclusion, I enjoyed this film very well and looking forward to viewing more of Woody Allen’s work.
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From the title, this was one film that I was actually sort of looking forward too. I don’t know why, since I hadn’t really heard of Woody Allen before now, but I had an idea it was going to be a comedy. Personally, some parts were awkward, but I did really enjoy it. I liked the concept of the different segments and short stories/tales. I also really enjoyed how each segment went through different, almost generic settings, such as inside the human body, a tv game show, (fake Italy), a Medieval castle, and so on. It was really creative but still kept with the same theme throughout. And seeing as how sex is pretty relevant with practically anything, I think it really fit.
For the particular sketches, the sheep one, while odd, was rather cute. That sheep was just so fluffy and cute. It looked really sweet . I think I enjoyed just watching the sheep more than anything. The doctor was also a really good actor as well. I liked how you could see the change in character over such a short piece. (I don’t like the plot really, but the elements were nice)
The other sketch about the husband who liked wearing dresses was adorable. He just looked so happy when he was up there in the room trying everything on. It was really cute to see. I was so sad when his wife was all “you could have told me you were sick and needed help.” Like no, he’s adorable and happy you’re the one who needs help. It was kind of funny how he had to jump out the window in drag though.
I also really liked the last piece with the people engineering the human body. It was creative and the format really reminded me of the original Star Trek in a way, and other science fiction pieces. I really like how that was played out.
Overall, I did enjoy this. Although I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get that giant boobie out of my head ever again.
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The only criticism I can think of about Woody Allen’s 1972, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask,” is of the continuity of the clips. The different scenes did not flow together in level of care that was seemingly put in. The scene with Gene Wilder as a doctor who becomes enthralled was not only incredible, but seemed to be given more attention and thought than say the scene about the Transvestite who was publicly “outted” after trying to hide his secret from his family at a dinner party. That scene was titled “Are Transvestites Homosexuals,” Allen gives a very humorous dilemma of a transvestite who sneaks off at a dinner party to try on women’s clothes and in an attempt to hide ends up getting mugged in the street drawing attention from the neighborhood. Despite the hilarity, it did not address the question of the scene as was in the scene with Gene Wilder entitled “What is Sodomy” or “What Are Sex Researchers Actually Accomplishing?” which depicts the ridiculousness of “cutting edge” sexual research. Despite this fact, each scene was brilliantly tied together through the first example of “film school” which is evident in the clever writing that addresses film history in a jokingly satirical way while focusing on modern problems. While comical, it displays as much brilliance as Scorsese and Tarantino in their intelligent direct acknowledgement of previous films which they used as inspiration.
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This film was interesting anthology look at the unusual and pervasive side of the comedic aspects of sex. Watching this film was like watching many different films all at one showcasing some odd or not often talked about aspect of sex or sexual encounters. Some common criticism of the film is that the various scenes do not flow together, however I didn’t find this in an issue. Although the content or style differed from section to section, the overall theme and the tone (most of the time) remained consistent. Stand out scenes to me were the one with the sheep, which was hilarious and also the scene with the sperm workers. Although some of the more outrageous scenes (like the one with the giant breast) were purely for comedic shock value, I found some of the other scenes, like the transvestite one to have some heart. I have no complaints with the film, other than that some of the skits go one for a little too long. In a movie such as this, I feel as though shorter running times provide a bigger impact.
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I’m not a Woody Allen fan. Let me just start off by saying that. However this movie was funny. It wasn’t funny in a way that I felt was classically humorous. To me it was simply funny in a very awkward way. It was almost as if I was laughing at the idea of this movie actually being made. My favourite segment hands down had to be the where in which Gene Wilder falls in love with the goat. The subject of bestiality being portrayed so light heartedly makes me laugh to a certain extent. I think that one of the strengths of this film is that it did enough without having to go all the way and make things disgusting. There was a fine line that the movie observed and didn’t cross. The silliest segment to me as undoubtedly the giant tit one. That kind of just made me uneasy from start to finish. I also quite liked the one about the male body reacting to intercourse and all the stages that it goes through. However it lead me to wonder about whether or not each “worker” had an intricate system of “workers” inside of them.
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) is very experiment but most hilarious film I’ve watched in our class. Before I watched it, I expected this film as a cheap B-movie like Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) which used sexual objects as their appealing points and women as sex symbols. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) does show some sexual objects in their film many times but it is very different as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The director Woody Allen makes the film as a comedy. In such an atmosphere in the film, the sexual objects and sex symbols work as elements to make audience laugh, not to sexually attract young audience as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! does. So I didn’t have an impression that this film was too sexual. It might have been because I was a secondary audience, though. I understand that this film was very sensational at that time.
Each short episode of the film reminded me so called “Konto” which is one of the Japanese comedy styles.
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This was probably my favorite movie out of the entire semester. It reminded me of Monty Python and other ridiculous sketch comedy things that I like. I was surprised that I had never heard of it before. What I liked most about this movie though was the way it was broken up into segments, which kept my attention and the constantly changing situations kept the film from feeling as though it was dragging. Of course this movie was ridiculous and didn’t have a serious plot, which could turn some people off, but I liked it and it was refreshing to watch something that was obviously SUPPOSED to be ridiculous as opposed to something that was ridiculous but tried to be serious.
I thought having Woody Allen jump from scene to scene was funny too because he was obviously the same person. I felt like this was probably the least offensive film we watched which is ironic considering the title and the content.
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just noticed theres no subtitles on the dvd for the italian portion “why do some women have trouble achieving orgasm” vignette.
found this necro thread trying to find the answer…
note: my VHS copy has em.
the DVD should have them forced/burned in as this film was not originally shown without them.
they should NOT be at the discretion of the viewer to insert/prompt.
the film is not meant to be seen without them.
woody deliberately has them in.
same with annie hall and the photography conversation.
the subtitles are meant to be there.
again, it should NOT be up to the viewer to eschew them in when they see fit.
ive seen “everything you always” numerous times on VHS (different cassettes) over 30 years and a handful of times on cable.
theyve always had the subtitles burned in, but the DVD has no option. am i missing something?
i found sites with the english SRT files, but one of em ended up just putting the subtitles in italian for that portion… even though it stated english SRT.
TLDR:
if you saw the italian portion without subtitles, theyre supposed to be there and in english.
regardless, this film is a classic and is a testament to mr allens burgeoning career.
a wide and varied ensemble.
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I heard that they actually speak in nonsense-Italian, so it does not need subtitling. But now I wonder, how they subbed that in the VHS version….
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