SEDUCED AND ABANDONED (1964)

[Update 03/28/2021: Need to redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

Similiar in spirit to Pietro Germi's DIVORCE - ITALIAN STYLE, SEDUCED AND ABANDONED looks a lot like D-IS and has some of the same actors, but it's not a sequel. And even though it does have some very funny parts it's not a comedy, more of a dark satire about family honor and the Italian society's gender based double standard when it comes to sex.

A fifteen year-old girl played by Stefania Sandrelli is forcefully seduced by her older sister's fiancee. Now she's pregnant and when her father finds out...holy shit. He freaks the fuck and beats the shit out of her and locks her in her room. He confronts the scoundrel who knocked her up and demands that he marries Stefania, but he says no because she's no longer a virgin!  What the hell? After this, an even bigger feud erupts and before long the entire town is involved. It's chaos. Wonderful chaos.

If you liked DIVORCE - ITALIAN STYLE then you must watch this movie. It's a lot like it. My only complaint is the ending. It's too abrupt and doesn't give the viewer any closure. Everything it going along great bam, bam, bam then The End. That's just a small complaint though. Don't let it stop you from watching it.

THE APARTMENT (1960)

Office worker Jack Lemmon has an apartment that he allows his superiors at work to use as a fuck shack, remember this still is in the day of hotel detectives. He hopes all of this trouble will get him a promotion. It does, but it also plays hell with his personal life, especially when he finds out that his slimy boss (Fred MacMurray) has been droppin' absent-minded Flubber loads all over the girl he has a crush on in his own bed!  What a horrible life. Lemmon has practically sold his soul to Greed, but despite all this he's still secretly in love with the girl.  Jesus Christ!

The script by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is brilliant and the performances by everybody, especially Lemmon and MacMurray, are outstanding, but yet I don't think this film should have beaten out PSYCHO for the Best Picture Academy Award, not that PSYCHO was even nominated! THE APARTMENT is an excellent film and even after numerous watches I still love it, but PSYCHO is just legendary.

Touching performance by Lemmon, strong script with some excellent dialogue, beautiful b&w photography, Fred MacMurray in a darker role and notable for it's openness about suicide and adultery.  Highly recommended.

Ray Walston!