Arrapaho (Italia/1984) di Ciro Ippolito CINEMA REVOLUTION

Here’s the English translation of the Italian text:

One of the most legendary *stracult* films of Italian cinema returns to theaters, inspired by the homonymous album by the legendary *Squallor*.

In the tribe of the Cefaloni, the beautiful Scella Pezzata is promised in marriage to Crazy Horse, but she is in love with the handsome *Arrapaho*. An *absolute sculpt* of Italian cinema, “disastrously directed” by Ippolito in just fifteen days, it is the film that brought the comedy of the *Squallor* to the big screen. “I gave a face to the *Squallor*, putting their genius songs on film. Morandini called it the ugliest film in history, a title I cherish and hope remains unbeaten: that harsh review made it immortal.”

*Ciro Ippolito*

The beautiful Scella Pezzata, daughter of Heavy Ball, chief of the Cefaloni tribe, is promised to Crazy Horse, but she is in love with Arrapaho, son of Black Hammer, chief of the *Arrapaho* tribe. But Luna Caprese from the Frocheyenne tribe is also in love with *Arrapaho*. Over the years, it has been defined as “*childish obscenity* (including noises)” (*Oreste Del Buono*), “*the ugliest film in the history of Italian cinema*” (*Morando Morandini*), “*an absolute masterpiece of trash cinema*” (*Roberto Poppi*). *Arrapaho* is a crazy gay-demented musical western that was immediately loved by the naughty boys of the 1980s and has since grown into a cult film that openly played with trash, low budget, and cinema in the style of *Monty Python*. It all stems from the meeting between the Neapolitan director and producer *Ciro Ippolito*, a grand name in popular cinema, after *Alien 2 – On Earth* and the films of Mario Merola, and the very active musical group, the *Squallor*, consisting of *Daniele Pace, Toto Savio, Alfredo Cerruti, Giancarlo Bigazzi*, real musicians and record producers who played with the *demented* genre and had released the album *Arrapaho* just the year before. No one had ever attempted such an operation, and no producer, starting with *Goffredo Lombardo* from *Titanus*, who later produced the second film of the *Squallor* with *Ciro Ippolito, Uccelli d’Italia*, wanted to co-produce or distribute it. Filmed in fifteen days in the surroundings of *Rome*, using some recycled footage from other *westerns*, it boasts a cast led by Swiss actor *Urs Althaus* and Greek actress *Tini Cansino*, already a star of *Drive In*, along with *Pace and Cerruti* themselves, character actors in westerns, *Fellinian* cinema, and the Neapolitan scene. Released on August 15 in Viareggio and other seaside areas, distributed by *Ippolito* himself, despite the harsh reviews from critics, it became an immediate success and, over the years, a real cult object. A great performance by *Pace&Co.*, who brought to life vulgar yet fantastic monologues about the habits of the Indian tribes of the *Arrapaho* and *Frocheyenne*. Also notable is the phallic totem of the *Arrapaho* tribe. The story is filled with parodies of advertisements of the time and snippets of fake TV like a pre-blob. The famous tagline: “*Hello! See you, Arrapaho!*”

*Marco Giusti*
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