Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) - Allen's curious sex comedy is a riot

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This upbeat poster for Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) invites us to its free-minded vagaries

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is a kind of anthology of various sex-related topics, based on Dr. David Reuben's (Any Woman Can!) same-titled 1969 book, written and directed by New Yorker master filmmaker Woody Allen (Crisis in Six Scenes (2016), TV-series), including:

What is Sodomy? Gene Wilder (The Frisco Kid (1979)) is a sheep-loving man in free fall. Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm? Allen conjures up an homage to Italian cinema as the title issue is broached. What Are Sex Perverts? Perversions are put under the magnifying glass in a mock TV show. Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Who Do Sexual Research and Experiments Accurate? John Carradine (The McMasters (1970)) is a madly funny mad doctor conducting sexual experiments, and a giant tit attacks. What Happens During Ejaculation? A look into the male internal system leading up to an intercourse and ejaculation.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is a crazy-funny movie full of hilarious absurd comedy. My favorite segment is the one with Carradine as a sex research doctor. The film investigates sex without taboos and serves its truths with a childlike glee concerning its topic, which is coupled with great intelligence. SPOILER Its end is blunted, but the film is great.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is unique and elevated madness. - You have to see it!

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Woody Allen: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Café Society (2016) - The greatest living American filmmaker hands us another splendid gem

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

2014 in films - according to Film Excess

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)

To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  

Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy  

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)   

Watch a short clip with Gene Wilder from the film here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 18 mil. $ (North America only)
= Mega-hit
[Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) premiered 6 August (New York) and runs 88 minutes. Shooting took place from January - March 1972 in California. The film reached #1 in North America on its second week of release, rocking Deliverance from the honor for a week. The film became the 13th highest-grossing movie of 1972 in the US. It also seems to have been a hit abroad with 2 mil. admissions in West Germany, 1.7 mil. in France and 1 mil. in Spain. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is fresh at 89 % with a 7.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)?

Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs

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Humorous cartoon-style poster for Woody Allen's Bananas

QUICK REVIEW:

Our hero here is an aspiring but hopeless New York-charmer, who goes to the fictionally created Latin American nation San Marcos to impress a girl, but instead ends up getting kidnapped down there by the country's rebels and made the president of the tiny nation, - only to find himself later persecuted for this upon return to the States.
Bananas is (as the title suggests) a very, very silly crazy comedy; its humor is often silent film/early-sound-like, perhaps due to its writer-director-star Woody Allen's (Broadway Danny Rose (1984)) yen for Marx Brothers-comedies, but also because it is only scored with the kind of monkey business music that was used in most of their movies.
Allen plays the physical clown in Bananas, and has an unmistakable talent for doing so, and yet his talent for the verbal and intellectual comedy is greater, and that is luckily also at display here. In fact it seems that everything is tried in Bananas, and not all of it works, - some is just too silly, - but generally speaking, this is a very unique and very funny fooling-about picture with some very memorable scenes.
At the moment, we can look forward to Allen's coming picture, Magic in the Moonlight (2014), while he, as usual, is already in preproduction with his next one.

Related reviews:

Woody Allen: To Rome With Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date 
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy 
Celebrity (1998) or, Beautiful Celebrities Talk About Sex guest review
Broadway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart 
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship With Alvie Singer

 Watch very funny Woody Allen talk over his trailer for the movie here

Budget: 2 mil. $
Box office: 11.8 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Bananas?