To Be Twenty (1978)

Simply A Masterpiece

Sadly Over-hyped

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Some time in the mid-70s, out-of-luck director Fernando di Leo had a million dollar idea: Why not do a remake of one of the top grossing blockbusters of 1969, with a slightly altered tagline: "Two chicks went looking for Italia and couldn't find it anywhere." And since those chicks would hitchhike across the country to join a hippie community, they didn't even need those pricey motorbikes! The Captain America role went to Euro teen star blonde Gloria Guida, the Billy part to the lesser-known Lilli Carati, a downright stunning brunette literally acting out every single word of her dialogue: „I'm young, hot, and p*ssed off. Does anybody here f*ck?" A radically pessimistic statement from the bleak opening beach scene to the unforeseeable (and utterly disgusting) climax, Avere vent'anni bites off more than di Leo could chew: His counterculture swan song about two female libertines who inescapably will go to the dogs never finds a rhythm, a loose, sloppy concoction of scenes that don't blend, a programmatic reading from Valerie Solanas's SCUM manifesto („A pip-squeak with dysfunctional femininity that despises women: That is man.") remaining fairly more than a nod to the feminist zeitgeist in Fernando's T&A exploitation circus. Two stars for the boisterous performance of the lead actresses, reciprocating between vulnerability, sexual aggression, and pure, breathless joie de vivre, especially in the dance scene on the piazza; another one for Ray Lovelock's fine interpretation of a disenchanted druggie, and one and a half for the super catchy theme song. Ah, and as for Signorina Carati: Eat your heart out, Dennis Hopper.

I had seen this before but in the much altered English language version without the the awful denouement of this original cut. Some consider the difficult and explicitly violent end rather inappropriate and not in keeping with the rest of the film. But, Fernando Di Leo was a fine director who also wrote much of the films he made, including this one and most of his films had a strong political stance. His, Caliber 9 is a great crime thriller example and this is a very decent sexploitation one. The lovely Gloria Guida is a bit led astray by the character played by Lilli Carati, as the cheat, steal and generally behave obnoxiously in the name of freedom. I don't know how realistic the commune presented here was in Italy but it doesn't seem like any other I've seen depicted. Even Valerie Solanas' S.C.U.M manifesto gets quoted here in the name of feminism and it is about at this stage (when a film maker is introduced) that we begin to realise what a gigantic swipe the writer/director is taking at the counter culture and its opponents. Nobody comes out of this well and the brilliantly directed ending will haunt for some time.

This movie is available in two versions. The English-language version is a badly-dubbed, waste-of-time sex comedy (not unlike a lot of the films co-lead Gloria Guida was starring in at the time). The Italian version is similarly light-hearted for much of its running time, but it does make some serious commentary on police corruption, the confused politics and ultimate hollowness of the 70's era counterculture, and the reactionary nature of male-dominated rural Italy. The ending is unforgettably brutal, inspired no doubt by films like "Last House on the Left" or "Late Night Trains". Like those films it was quite controversial, and really for the same ironic reason--because you really come to like the two lead characters and care what happens to them. This is no mean feat as Gloria Guida had no real acting talent beyond looking (really) good naked and the other lead, porno-starlet-to-be Lili Carati, was, if anything, even less talented.The plot of the movie is rather loose and picaresque. It follows these two "beautiful and p***ed-off" girls as they hitchhike, shoplift, crash at a commune, dabble in prostitution, sell encyclopedias to lecherous university professors, get rousted by the police, and finally meet a tragic end at a roadhouse. Along the way the way they more than fulfill the sexploitation skin quotient and frequently throw themselves at various men who hilariously rebuff them (although despite the famed sexual aggressiveness of Italian men, it is not impossible to believe that they might react this way if the tables were suddenly turned on them). It is this free-spirited sexual aggressiveness that proves to be downfall of the two girls, but this movie is ultimately more touching and tragic than cautionary and moralistic--traditional, male-dominated Italian society certainly doesn't come off to well here.The two versions have different discoesque musical arrangements that the characters do sexy, impromptu dances to--the Italian one is kind of catchy but the English-language is about as enjoyable as a barium enema. I would't bother with the English-language version, but the Italian version is definitely a worthwhile little movie.

Applying a simplistic, hypocritical morality to this sleazy tale, the filmmaker (Fernando di Leo) gets to have it both ways. His camera captures every lurid detail of multiple sex scenes and takes every opportunity to savor the fine flesh of the tasty leads (Gloria Guida and Lilli Carati). He then condemns the women for being "sluts" and brutally reprimands them for their behavior."To Be Twenty" is a highly watchable story about two twenty-year-old free spirits whose youth and naivety bring on their destruction. Ninety per cent of the film graphically depicts the girls in a series of wild and frivolous adventures. Staples of 70's cinema such as drugs, politics, the generation gap, communal living and free sex are thrown into a mix to produce an enjoyable cinematic cocktail that captures the ennui of the period.The film's surprising last stanza sounds a mean-spirited warning to women who freely advertise their sexuality without any intention of providing it. It is a nihilistic, barbaric, angry scene of human carnage that echoes the darkest aspects of "Last House on the Left", "Straw Dogs" and "I Spit On Your Grave".A recurring song is used to potent effect over the end credits and the lead characters are brought to vivid life by the talented Guida and Carati.Recommended.