Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

David Reuben (book)
Woody Allen (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 August 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy

Tagline:

If you want to know how this man made a movie out of this book... "Everything you always wanted to know about sex* - *But Were Afraid to Ask" you'll have to see the movie!

Plot:

Seven segments related to one another only in that they all purport to be based on sections of the book by David Reuben...

Plot Keywords:

Aphrodisiac | Queen | Jester | Court Jester | Purity

Cast

Woody Allen	...	The Fool / Fabrizio / Victor Shakapopulis / Sperm #1
John Carradine	...	Dr. Bernardo
Lou Jacobi	...	Sam Musgrave
Louise Lasser	...	Gina
Anthony Quayle	...	The King
Tony Randall	...	The Operator
Lynn Redgrave	...	The Queen
Burt Reynolds	...	Switchboard
Gene Wilder	...	Dr. Doug Ross
Jack Barry	...	Himself
Erin Fleming	...	The Girl
Elaine Giftos	...	Anne Ross
Toni Holt	...	Herself
Robert Q. Lewis	...	Himself
Heather MacRae	...	Helen Lacey

Also Known As:

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | Singapore:M18 | Brazil:14 | Spain:18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Iceland:Unrated | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #23359) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Rollins-Joffe Productions

Trivia:

The Portuguese title of this movie was adapted to "O ABC Do Amor", which translates as "The ABC Of Love".

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The second "baseball player" in the final chapter is football great Joe Namath.

Quotes:

Friend: [in Italian] You got to play with her before you lay her.
Fabrizio: [in Italian] For how long?
Friend: [in Italian] Fifteen minutes. Half hour. Depends on the woman.
Fabrizio: [in Italian] How long with your wife?
Friend: [in Italian] Thirty seconds.
Fabrizio: [in Italian, in awe] Lucky!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "What's My Line?" (1950)

Soundtrack:

LET'S MISBEHAVE

Hit & Miss, But What Hits Is Hysterical

An uneven early work of Allen's, really just a series of sketches tied around the unbelievable popularity of the "sex" book "Everything You Wantedto Know About Sex, But Was Afraid To Ask" which in the early 1970's was THE book in popular culture. Many of the sketches are too long and "peter" out, but ALL of them have very funny jokes and insight, but two of the sketches are classics and are as funny as anything Allen ever wrote: Gene Wilder's bit where he plays a man who is destroyed after a certain "fetish" is introduced into his life and the last sketch, where they show the inside controls of a man's body as he gets ready to have sex with a date: Burt Reynolds and Tony Randall help run the master control room. This is brilliant and clever. Some times it's refreshing to just go back to Allen's early, silly films like Sleeper and Take The Money And Run, even though the man has gone onto important funny films with deep dramatic throughlines: Crimes & Misdemeanors, Deconstructing Harry and Husbands & Wives.