Hunting Horns

The Magnificent Cuckold studies the squirmings of an inept philanderer (Ugo Tognazzi), bound to that storied Roman society in which marital infidelity appears to be as widespread as the common cold--and sooner or later everyone has to go to bed with it. Though Cuckold is too long, and made longer by dead-end forays into its hero's fantasy life, Director Antonio Pietrangeli imbues a thin fable with sprightly cynicism about the dire consequences of dalliance for players unable to master the sport.

Tognazzi extravagantly portrays a hat tycoon who seems to have his head on crooked, for he is married to Claudia Cardinale and seldom thinks of anything but sales figures. Then one night a friend's wife starts pawing the earth in his vicinity. She suggests that they meet at the country hotel where she always has her hair done. "Well, you're faithful to your hairdresser," Tognazzi shrugs philosophically, and takes up the challenge as best he can. In the film's funniest scene he drives home from the as signation at great peril, checking his throat for bruises in the rear-view mirror, trying to rid himself of telltale perfume by blowing smoke into his clothes and flailing madly behind the wheel of his open convertible.

Unable to aerate his conscience, the adulterer decides to smother it with chinchilla. Claudia adores the coat, never suspecting that she will soon have to shoulder her husband's guilt as well. Suddenly, it occurs to Tognazzi that his wife may be no better than anyone else's. She is young, beautiful, a treasure coveted by his doctor, his lawyer, his gardener, and that antique dealer who --but, of course! Now he begins to see, or thinks he sees, the guile in her innocence. He starts checking the mileage of her midget car, monitors her phone calls, has her followed, even fakes a business trip and sneaks back home with blanket, thermos, flashlight and binoculars to reconnoiter his own patio. The evening ends disastrously, and the movie ends as a slick burlesque that contains an agreeable amoral lesson: the fool who stalks his wife's virtue as though it were big game is apt to bag peace of mind along with a pair of horns.

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