Talent For Loving, A (1969) – Nostalgia Central

A Talent For Loving is a sprawling Western satire from the Richard Condon novel, which Producer Walter Shenson originally purchased as a vehicle for The Beatles (who looked at him in amazement and told him that any film in which they were not playing themselves would ruin their career).

He also offered the property to Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones, but could find no takers.

Set in the mid-19th century, the film follows the amorous adventures of Mexican aristocrat Don Jose Vicuna (Cesar Romero) and his family, who are all subject to an ancient Aztec curse which endows them with overactive libidos and an overabundance of uncontrollable amorous desires.

When Don Jose’s daughter, Maria (Fran Jeffries), is unable to resist the curse and runs off with four Hungarian acrobats from the circus, her husband Major William Patten (Richard Widmark), decides to marry off their daughter, Evalina (Caroline Munro) – who is showing signs of the curse at a very early age.

Two healthy young studs are on the point of brawling over her until a wily Englishman named Moodie (Derek Nimmo) suggests a contest between the two men – which keeps them out of the way long enough for him to move in and steal Evalina for himself.

A sub plot has Topol as a revolutionary leader named General Molina.

Filmed on location in Spain in 1968, the completed film failed to receive a US theatrical release.

Paramount sued Walter Shenson for $2.7 million on the grounds that the picture was unplayable. He countered with “Why did you keep on signing cheques if you didn’t like what we were doing?”

The studio eventually dropped the suit, and the movie premiered in the US on TV instead on the ABC network in spring 1974.

Major William Patten
Richard Widmark
Don Jose Vicuna 
Cesar Romero
General Molina
Topol
Delphine
Geneviève Page
Maria
Fran Jeffries
Moodie
Derek Nimmo
Franklin
Max Showalter
Tortillaw
Joe Melia
Martinelli
John Bluthal
Jacaranda
Libby Morris
Benito
Mircha Carven
Jim
Judd Hamilton
Evalina
Caroline Munro
Marylyn
Marie Rogers
Florita
Janet Storti
Don Patricio
Milo Quesada

Director
Richard Quine