The Statue (1971 film)
| The Statue | |
|---|---|
Original movie poster
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| Directed by | Rodney Amateau |
| Produced by |
Anis Nohra executive Josef Shaftel |
| Written by |
Denis Norden Alec Coppel |
| Based on |
Chip, Chip, Chip by Alec Coppel |
| Starring |
David Niven Virna Lisi Robert Vaughn Ann Bell |
| Music by | Riz Ortolani |
| Cinematography | Piero Portalupi |
| Edited by | Ernest Hosler |
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Production
company |
Josef Shaftel Productions
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| Distributed by | Cinerama Releasing |
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Release date
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Running time
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84 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom Italy |
| Language | English |
| Box office | 40,890 admissions (France) 205,231 admissions (Spain) |
The Statue is a 1971 British comedy film starring David Niven, Robert Vaughn and Italian beauty Virna Lisi directed by Rodney Amateau. Monty Python's John Cleese and Graham Chapman appear in early roles as the Niven character's psychiatrist and a newsreader respectively. Niven plays a nobel-prize winning professor who suspects his wife, played by Lisi, of infidelity when she makes and unveils an 18-foot statue of him with private parts recognisably not his own. The film is based on the play called Chip, Chip, Chip by Alec Coppel.
Professor Alex Bolt has developed a new universal language, Unispeak, which has made him internationally famous. His wife Rhonda has made a sculpture of her husband at the behest of the US State Department, commissioned by his friend, US Ambassador to England, Ray, for $50,000, in order to promote Unispeak. It is intended that the sculpture be unveiled in London's Grosvener Square.
The sculpture is an 18-foot nude one of Alex. He is upset and tries to get it suppressed, especially when he notes every aspect of the statue resembles him except for the size of its penis. Rhoda points out that she has only seen Alex eighteen days in the past three years. Alex becomes convinced Rhonda has had an affair and based the size of the genitalia on the model, who he dubs "Charlie".
Alex seeks advice from his friend Harry, an advertising man trained as a psychiatrist. He tries to track down the model of the statue in order to get it to suppressed. He interrogates a household employee, Joachim, who thinks Alex is hitting on him and beats him up. Alex then goes to a Turkish bathhouse to interview possible Charlies, but is thrown out.
Harry suggests that Alex forget about it, which he tries to do and he apologies to Rhonda. However the thought of Charlie causes him to be impotent. This leads to a fight with Rhonda and Alex resumes his search for Charlie.
Ray then sees the statue and becomes concerned about it having a bad effect on his reputation. He arranges for the statue to be stolen, which Rhonda blames on Alex.
Alex eventually discovers the model was the statue of David by Michelangelo. Rhonda ends up making a new statue based on Ray.
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