Ultimo tango a Zagarolo (1973)

A year after Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider tangoed in Paris, Franco Franchi and Martine Beswicke danced in Zagarolo in Ultimo tango a Zagarolo (1973). An obscenely comic riff on the controversial Bernardo Bertolucci original, Nando Cicero’s salacious story tells of a cuckolded man who begins a debased S&M relationship with an earthy young nymph (sound familiar?). Cicero paints in outrageously broad strokes, both mocking the self-serious Bertolucci classic and enjoying every languorous second of screen skin. Though she’s rarely serious, Beswicke is ravishing as she plays the sex bunny for her needy, love-starved man.