What?

 (1972-1976)

What? is a Roman Polanski comedy starring Sydne Rome. She is hitching through Italy, and some guys pick her up and try to rape her. They get excited and start attacking each other, and she escapes. She next finds herself in a plush villa, and is shown to a room for the night. Her shirt is torn. In the morning she finds it missing altogether, leaving her topless. She soon meets Marcello Mastroianni, a former pimp who starts a romance with her. She also comes to know the other oddball residents of the villa, including Roman Polanski and Hugh Griffith. She soon loses her pants, but finds the top of some PJs. It is about then that someone paints the back of her leg blue. Eventually, she is chased from the villa because she was running away. Roger Ebert, in awarding 1/2 star, complained that newspaper policy wouldn't allow him to score it lower. He wrote:

"It was completed in 1973 and has not been released until now (1976) because almost every distributor who saw it fled the screening room in horror, clutching at his wallet. The movie's original title was "What?" That is reportedly what Carlo Ponti said (in Italian, no doubt, and appropriately embellished) after Polanski showed it to him. In its original version, it looked like the work of a madman, of a crazed cinematic genius off the deep end. Ponti, in desperation, had all of Polanski's outtakes printed up (outtakes are versions of a shot that the director decides not to use.) With the aid of skilled editors, Ponti attempted to substitute various outtakes in an attempt to construct a film that resembled, well, a film. No luck. When Polanski makes a bad movie, he does it with a certain thoroughness. Even the shots he didn't use were bad. "
 

I was not able to figure out what got Roger so worked up. I got a couple of laughs out of the beginning of the film, and then found it rather tedious, but no more so than many other Italian comedy farces of the era.

Our Grade:

If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to read the explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by our definition, a C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:

C-

Only for Polanski completists and genre aficionados.

NUDITY REPORT

• Star Sydne Rome shows full frontal and rear

• as does Renee Langer, as one of the other residents.

THE CRITICS AND ACADEMIES

THE BOX OFFICE

Unknown