The Beasts (Italian: Le belve) is a 1971 Italian anthology comedy film co-written and directed by Giovanni Grimaldi. It consists of eight segments, all starring Lando Buzzanca.
Contents
Cast
Lando Buzzanca as Journalist / Dario / Raimondo / Husband / Giovanni Apposito / Lanfranco / Surgeon / Francesco Sparapaoli
Femi Benussi as Concetta Sparapaoli
Ira von Fürstenberg as Filomena Sparapaoli
Annabella Incontrera as Carmela Sparapaoli
Magali Noël as Lisa
Margaret Lee as Judy
Françoise Prévost as Clara
Tino Carraro as Minister
Claudio Gora as Giulio Bianchi
Maria Baxa as Wife
Paola Borboni as Raimondo's Mother-in-law
Helga Liné as Raimondo's Wife
Philippe Hersent as Placido
Nino Terzo as Orazio
Gina Mascetti as Orazio's Wife
Renato Malavasi as Priest
Carla Mancini as "Piccolina" Sparapaoli
Fulvio Mingozzi as Giuseppe
Empedocle Buzzanca as Giovanni's Father
Alfredo Rizzo as Giovanni's Uncle
Carletto Sposito as Giovanni's Brother
Giovanni Nuvoletti as Praetor
Mario Maranzana as Lawyer Maranzana
Franco Ressel as Prosecutor
Pietro Tordi as Sparapaoli's Lawyer
Production
The film was produced by Princeps, Italian International Film and Medusa.
Its working title was Le belve – io corrompo, tu corrompi, egli corrompe ('The beasts - I corrupt, you corrupt, he corrupts'). Initially, Edwige Fenech was announced to be part of the cast. The film was shot in Rome, except for a scene shot in Monte Gelato.
Release
The film was distributed in Italian cinemas starting from 12 March 1971.
Reception
The film grossed over 710 million lire at the Italian box office. Corriere della Sera described it as a "squalid" film "marked by triviality and profanity". Similarly, Paolo Mereghetti described the film as "a hypocritical pretext for combining turpitude and vulgarity".