Leave it to Woody Allen to make a film version of Dr. David Reuben's best-seller Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) which features the memorable sketch of the uptight Jewish doctor (Gene Wilder) and his tender affair with a sheep. Entitled "What is Sodomy?," this segment is only one of several comic segments modeled on chapter headings in Reuben's non-fiction book. The others include "Do Aphrodisiacs Work?" with Woody Allen as a medieval court jester who attempts to seduce his queen (Lynn Redgrave) with a love potion; "Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm?," where a jet-set couple experiences existential angst in the bedroom in this spoof of Italian art films that mimics the visual look of Antonioni's Red Desert (1964); "Are Transvestites Homosexuals?" features Lou Jacobi as a closet cross-dresser who gives in to his secret urges while visiting his daughter's future in-laws; "What Are Sex Perverts?" is a comic burlesque of game shows like What's My Line? and includes cameos by talk-show veterans like Regis Philbin, Dan Barry, and Pamela Mason; "Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Who Do Sexual Research Accurate?" is set in a sex research clinic and is best known for the giant-breast-on-the-rampage sequence and John Carradine's over-the-top performance as Dr. Bernardo, the insane head of the institute; "What Happens During Ejaculation?," the film's final and most elaborate sketch, finds Allen playing a reluctant sperm who is afraid to go "over the top."

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) was originally optioned for a film by Elliott Gould and producer Jack Brodsky but later sold to United Artists when Gould and Brodsky dissolved their partnership. Allen became interested in the property after seeing Dr. David Reuben discussing his book with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. When Carson asked Reuben if he thought sex was dirty, his reply - "It is if you're doing it right" - could have come directly from Allen's Take the Money and Run (1969) which used that exact line. But unlike Reuben's straightforward self-help book, Allen approached the film adaptation as an anthology of comic episodes done in the vignette style of such European film imports as 7 Capital Sins (1962) and Ropopag (1962). Reubens was not pleased and later told the L.A. Herald-Examiner: "I didn't enjoy the movie because it impressed me as a sexual tragedy. Every episode in the picture was a chronicle of sexual failure, which was the converse of everything in the book."

For Woody Allen, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex was a major advance in terms of production values on his films. For the first time he was working with a big budget ($2 million) and a first-rate cinematographer - David M. Walsh - who initially didn't want the job after viewing the drab colors and murky lighting of Allen's previous efforts. Set Designer Dale Hennesy, who had previously worked on science fiction films like Fantastic Voyage (1966) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), was also a major contributor, providing the mind-boggling sets for the final sketch which shows what is happening inside a man's body while he prepares for a night of sex. In one scene, we see a crew of hard-hat workers toiling frantically to produce a 45-degree erection amid a rising tide of bodily fluids.

While it is fun to see guest stars like Burt Reynolds playing a gung-ho sperm in Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex, Allen was not always able to cast his first choice for every role. Howard Cossell, who appeared in Allen's Bananas (1971), refused the role of the mad scientist, Dr. Bernardo, because he thought it would hamper his career! Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss as well as John Cassavetes and Raquel Welch turned down the husband and wife roles in the sketch where the woman can only achieve orgasm in public places. Allen and his former wife, Louise Lasser, ended up playing these parts instead and this segment - "Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm?" - remains Allen's favorite in the film.

Considering the farcical nature of the material one would think the filming of Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex would be a fun and carefree experience. However, according to co-star Gene Wilder in the book Woody Allen by John Baxter (Carroll & Graf), "It was like walking on a Bergman set: people talking in whispers, serious looks on Woody's face. He communicates through silence." Allen also agonized over two sketches that were dropped from the final film. One which was actually filmed, "What Makes a Man a Homosexual?," starred Allen and Lasser as black-widow spiders named Sheldon and Lisa. The other skit, an Old Testament parody about a famous masturbator in Genesis, Chapter 38, never made it past the script stage.

Allen tinkered with Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex right up to its final release, switching the order of the segments. While the critics were mixed in their assessment of the film, audiences loved it, making it his most popular film to date. And despite Dr. Reuben's harsh criticisms, Dr. June Reinisch, formerly of The Kinsey Institute, said, "I think we learned more from Woody Allen's film than we did from the book."

Director: Woody Allen
Producer: Jack Brodsky, Jack Grossberg, Charles H. Joffe, Jack Rollins
Screenplay: Woody Allen (based on the book by Dr. David Reuben)
Cinematography: David M. Walsh
Editor: Eric Albertson, James T. Heckert
Production Design: Dale Hennesy
Music: Mundell Lowe
Cast: Woody Allen (Victor/Fabrizio/The Fool/Sperm), Louise Lasser (Gina), Tony Randall (The Operator), Lou Jacobi (Sam), John Carradine (Dr. Bernardo), Anthony Quayle (The King), Lynn Redgrave (The Queen), Gene Wilder (Dr. Doug Ross), Heather MacRae (Helen).
C-88m. Letterboxed.

by Jeff Stafford