Candy (1968)

Candy is a naive, doe-eyed school girl with long blond hair and a luscious, tempting body who fell from the sky….

… and that’s all you need to know before going on to watch in bewildered amusement – and amazement – as Candy embarks on a journey of discovery, meets strange people, is unwittingly(?) seduced into sexy encounters by cunning men who manipulate her using all kinds of tricks; to which Candy succumbs because she is a nice girl and doesn’t want to hurt their feelings.

Based on a novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, this chaotic film directed by Christian Marquand, is an erotic parody starring Ewa Aulin, a gorgeous Swede who in 1965 had won the title of Miss Teen Sweden, at age 15. Soon after, Hollywood beckoned and a year later Ewa became Miss Teen International at a pageant held there for the first time ever, in 1966.

In 1968, the same year that Candy was released, Ewa married secretly in Mexico British director John Shadow, with whom she had a son.  Her marriage lasted until 1972.

Although she took part in other – mainly Italian – films before and after Candy, Ewa Aulin was so obviously typecast as the blond accommodating nymphet, she had to give up trying to convince the film industry she could play other roles. Eventually, she abandoned her acting career, married a builder, enrolled at university and became a teacher.

She needn’t have been disappointed; in one fell swoop she managed to play alongside such big screen moguls as Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, Ringo Starr, Charles Aznavour, James Coburn, John Houston and Walter Matthau. Not to mention the fabulous Anita Pallenberg as Nurse Bullock. How many stunning Swedish beauties with charming accents and practically no acting experience, can claim that?

Have a look:

Candy awakens in a classroom. The teacher, Mr Christian (John Astin – of the Addams family), is also her father.

Next, Candy attends a poetry recital by MacPhisto (Richard Burton), the continuously wind-blown star poet who fills up auditoriums and has every girl (and boy) at his feet but…

… once he has spotted Candy…

MacPhisto gives Candy a ride home, makes his advances but in the meantime gets so drunk he looses track of what he is doing. Not so Emmanuel, the Mexican gardener. Candy’s dad finds out. To avoid a scandal the family sends her away – to New York(!)

Viva Zapata…!

And so the trip begins, along which Candy is being chased by frenzied maenads (the gardener’s sisters who believe Candy has corrupted their brother), her father is injured by a blow to the head, they all get on a military plane and Candy nearly falls for the captain, General Smight. They make it safely to a looney hospital where the superstar neurosurgeon, Dr. Krankheit (German for sickness) is about to perform, in front of an open auditorium, a delicate operation on her father.

From here on, Candy is shown walking aimlessly on the streets of New York, where she is successively talked into taking part in a pornographic film by underground Director J. John, gets tricked by a hunchback, escapes into a truck of the fake guru Grindl who shows her *the meaning of life* and sets her of in an encounter with a hermit who proves to be her father.

If halfway through the film you get completely lost, worry not, nothing’s the matter with you; you’re just under the influence of this bizarre, mystic trip, its psychedelic soundtrack and absurd characters. For this weird, hilarious, purely entertaining film is utterly and totally bonkers. So sit back and enjoy – just don’t expect any serious acting!