Taglines: She’s only faithful to the book.
Candy Christian (Ewa Aulin) is an innocent young girl when she first hears MacPhisto, an alcoholic Welsh poet, talk of love and self-sacrifice. Candy narrowly escapes MacPhisto’s attempt to rape her, only to succumb to her father’s Mexican gardener, Emmanuel (Ringo Starr). When her father catches her with the gardener, he banishes her to a trip with his twin brother, Uncle Jack, and Jack’s wife Aunt Livia, who are headed for New York City.
As Candy makes her way to the airport, Emmanuel’s three sisters attack her because she has corrupted their brother. Because of Candy, Emmanuel has now forsaken the priesthood. During the scuffle, Candy’s father takes a blow to the head, resulting in a serious head injury. Candy nearly gives in to General R.A. Smight on the plane in exchange for a blood transfusion for her father.
In New York City, an ego-maniacal brain surgeon Dr. A.B. Krankeit operates on her father, while Uncle Jack pursues his own operation on Candy. When Candy bashes him with a bedpan, Uncle Jack is put in her father’s hospital bed, while her father wanders away without notice. Candy is now free to visit Greenwich Village where she takes part in a movie by underground movie director Jonathan J. John. It’s a pornographic movie, shot in a public restroom. Next, Candy becomes the pet of a benevolent hunchback in Central Park, but she escapes from this arch-criminal into the truck trailer of Guru Grindl.
During the drive to California, Grindl initiates her into the mysteries of the Seventh Stage and other secrets of life. In California, Candy seeks the Great Buddah, who will reveal to her the ultimate stage. In her search, she encounter a filthy hermit who leads her to a temple. There Candy and the hermit have sex. When a deluge destroys the temple and washes the hermit clean. Candy recognizes that the hermit is really her wandering father. Again, Candy runs away to more trouble. The final time, however, she finds herself in a hippie orgy, reunited with her past sexual partners.
Candy is a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand from a screenplay by Buck Henry, based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg. The film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin. It stars Charles Aznavour, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, James Coburn, John Huston, Walter Matthau, and Ringo Starr. Popular figures such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Anita Pallenberg, Florinda Bolkan, Marilù Tolo, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Umberto Orsini, and Enrico Maria Salerno also appear in cameo roles.
Candy (1968)
Directed by: Christian Marquand
Starring: Charles Aznavour, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, James Coburn, John Huston, Walter Matthau, Ringo Starr, Ewa Aulin, Anita Pallenberg, Elsa Martinelli, Florinda Bolkan, Marilù Tolo
Screenplay by: Buck Henry
Production Design by: Cecilia Bigazzi
Cinematography by: Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editing by: Giancarlo Cappelli
Costume Design by: Enrico Sabbatini
Set Decoration by: George R. Nelson
Art Direction by: Dean Tavoularis
Music by: Dave Grusin
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Cinerama Releasing Corporation (United States), CFDC (France)
Release Date: December 17, 1968 (United States), February 5, 1970 (Italy), August 19, 1970 (France)
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