The Face With Two Left Feet

The Face With Two Left Feet (John Travolto... Da Un Insolito Destino) (1979)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Neri Parenti

Starring: Giuseppe Spezia, Angelo Infanti, Gloria Piedimonte, Franco Agostini, Ilona Staller

From: Laser Films

What a film this is, as I explain below: 

Oh my goodness, what a movie this is. Backstory is definitely needed. Back in 2011 the Philadelphia-based Exhumed Films (who typically do horror screenings) had a night of films in other genres, only identified beforehand by their genre. This is certainly the only example of TRAVOLTASPLOITATION; I'll explain the plot in a moment but this is so odd and strange the Philly crowd had a real gas with something that hardly anyone had heard of and I wonder how they stumbled upon such an odd Italian film. Code Red released it on disc a few years later and just recently they put it on Amazon Video-where it's only known as The Face With Two Left Feet-I discovered this last night and I had to watch it as soon as I could as I have known of this since 2011.

The plot: 6 goofball youths love to go to the local discotheque known as John's Fever (subtle); they like to razz the chef at a ritzy hotel; his name is Gianni (again, subtle). Gianni loves the DJ at the club; she's an attractive blond named Ilona. He is totally lacking in confidence so his behavior around her is embarrassing. Due to some clowning around, they realize that Gianni sans mustache and glasses looks just like John Travolta... and he does look like the Travolta of the era, down to the chin. He wears the iconic white Tony Manero leisure suit; now only if he learned to dance... It's also be nice if the gang did not pick on the buffoon desk clerk at the hotel, but at least he unwittingly had a chance to shine in the final act.

This movie is pretty weird. That does not even take into account how it's an attempt at a cash grab by having a celebrity impersonator portray someone who is supposed to look like a very popular celebrity at the time. The movie comes off like a sitcom or a cartoon (the latter especially so during the finale) with goofy humor that is only sporadically funny yet there is a straight hairdresser who acts flamboyantly gay at their job but they're actually homophobic and say some unfortunate comments. Plus, Ilona was played by Ilona Staller, i.e. Cicciolina, who did adult movies, claimed to be a spy for the Hungarian Communist Party as a teen (!), was elected to the Italian Parliament (!!) and offered to have sex with such leaders as Saddam Hussein for the sake of world peace (!!!). What a lady. Anyhow, this is greatly different from the serious Saturday Night Fever.

All in all, I can't get mad about such an oddball film. It was strangely enjoyable and I am glad I got to see such an attempt at exploiting a hot movie and celebrity to earn some dollars.