SLALOM

 

SLALOM (1965) is one of the many Eurospy adventures inspired by the James Bond film series. This Italian production features the exquisite Daniela Bianchi, who had already appeared in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, and Adolfo Celi, who would soon appear as Largo in THUNDERBALL. 

Lucio (Vittorio Gassman) and Riccardo (Adolfo Celi) are two henpecked husbands starting a vacation with their wives at a ski resort in the Italian Alps. Lucio manages to get the wives to go back home for a few days, and he and Riccardo plan to have some real fun. Lucio starts to flirt with a gorgeous blonde (Beba Loncar), but the mysterious woman leads him to what appears to be a murder at a mountain cabin. Soon Lucio is whisked off against his will to Cairo by another gorgeous blonde (Daniela Bianchi). It's all part of a plan by Interpol to stop a plot to ruin the economy of the Western world through a counterfeiting scheme, and Lucio is stuck in the middle of it all. 

The average Eurospy movie is usually as outlandish and outrageous as the typical spaghetti western, but SLALOM is quite tame. There's very little violence in it, and despite all the beautiful women who appear, there's not much hanky-panky either. This movie could have played uncut on 1965 American TV. 

SLALOM reminded me of the average Bob Hope movie, where the comedian plays a nervy guy who gets involved in a dangerous situation that he's no way capable of dealing with, while encountering glamorous ladies at every turn. The difference is that Hope gave more life to his tales than Vittorio Gassman does for this one. Gassman spends most of his time running around while being chased and acting uncomfortable. The wisecracks that he spouts in the English dub of this film are on a sitcom level. 

Daniela Bianchi doesn't have much to do here (she doesn't show up until about 36 minutes into the movie), but at least she gets to have an important part in the climax. Almost all of Bianchi's very short film career consisted of her having brief parts in 007 knockoffs. As usual, she gets to wear all sorts of chic outfits and look lovely, but the story doesn't take full advantage of her presence. Adolfo Celi doesn't have all that much to do either. I expected that Celi's character was going to wind up having some sort of connection to the bad guys, but it doesn't happen. To be fair, THUNDERBALL was released after SLALOM--if the Bond adventure had come out earlier, I'm sure Celi's role would have been much bigger. 

I viewed SLALOM on the Internet Archive, and the print (which was in widescreen) looked excellent, with very vivid color. The dialogue track was an English dub. The locations looked great--director Luciano Sulce and cinematographer Alfio Contini knew how to make the best use of the big screen, and there are plenty of nice shot compositions. The music score was by Ennio Morricone, and it fits the lighthearted atmosphere of the movie perfectly. 

SLALOM is a pretty film to watch, with all the attractive locations and women, but it's as light as a feather. At over 100 minutes, the story, and the leading man, are just not engaging enough to maintain interest for that length of time. The title of something of a misnomer, since most of the action takes place in Cairo, and the climax is set in the middle of the desert. (There's also no thrilling ski sequences.) SLALOM is best suited for hardcore Daniela Bianchi and Ennio Morricone fans.