Tell me about "Mondocani", including how to spell it

[ambushed]

In a later episode of MST3K, Mike tells the 'bots to go watch a video to get out of his hair. One he mentions is something that I’d spell phonetically as “mondo connie”. I understand that it’s something like shock video or something.

How’s it spelled and what’s the dope on it? How shocking is it? I have a pretty low tolerance for that kind of thing and although I’m curious since the 'bots seemed to love it, I’m not interested is grossing myself out.

[Starving_Artist]

Mondo Cane, IIRC. Was considered shocking at the time of its release in the sixties, but would probably seem tame these days. Unfortunately, I don’t remember enough about it to give you specifics. I’m sure someone will be along shortly with more info.

[Walloon]

Mondo Cane, a 1962 Italian “shockumentary”, released in the U.S. in 1963. I’ve seen it. Fairly tame by today’s standards, and with an Oscar-nominated theme song (“More”). The description from the American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures:

A view of mores and customs throughout the world illustrates the proposition that “it’s a dog’s life”: The people of Rudolph Valentino’s hometown, Castellaneta, Italy, still revere his memory, while actor Rossano Brazzi is besieged by women who tear the shirt off his back. In pursuit of the male, New Guinea maidens are compared to bikini-clad girls on the French Riviera. A bereaved woman in New Guinea nurses a suckling pig; elsewhere in the region pigs are slaughtered as inhabitants break a fast. In Pasadena, California, pet dogs are given lavish funerals, while in Formosa puppies are eaten by gourmets. Food is forced into the throats of Strasbourg geese to provide paté de foie gras, and Tokyo calves are made to consume 6 quarts of beer daily. Women on the island of Tabar are not considered suitable for marriage to the king if they weigh less than 300 pounds. By contrast, American women work out at Vic Tanny’s gyms to lose weight. Hong Kong markets sell crocodiles, toads, lizards, and snakes; a swank New York restaurant serves butterflies, muskrat, stuffed beetles, and ants. In Calabria, villagers lacerate their legs with glass in memory of Christ’s crucifixion. Sydney beaches are guarded by 16-year-old female lifeguards. Turtles on Bikini, poisoned by atomic radiation, cannot find their way back to sea after laying their eggs on shore. Malaysian fishermen take revenge on sharks by forcing poisonous sea urchins into their jaws. Roman children polish the skulls of unknown victims of the black plague. Hamburg beer drinkers carouse all night. In Singapore, relatives feast while awaiting the death of one of the family in a “house of death.” American tourists in Hawaii pay to learn “authentic” Hawaiian customs. Gurkha warriors show their strength by decapitating steers; runaway bulls in Portugal kill four people. Finally, the natives of Port Moresby, New Guinea, have built a miniature airstrip because they believe that airplanes come from paradise and will eventually be sent to them.

[Starving_Artist]

Here’s a little more info on it from Wiki.

[picunurse]

Mondo cane

Mondo cane 2

Mondo cane oggi (aka 3)

Mondo Cane 2000 (aka 4)

I think the last two were released only in Italian.

[ambushed]

Thanks, all. I thought cargo cults were mythical. Not being into all that much into steer decapitation, maybe I’ll start with Mondo Cane II…

(I apologize for the redundant "something"s in my OP. Probably makes me look even dumber than I actually am).

[Mike_Fun]

I’m a bit of a fan of the “Mondo” genre and have all of Jacopetti’s films on DVD. Mondo Cane is a very interesting film. Some of it is pretty tame by today’s standards, but some of it is still somewhat shocking. If nothing else, it’s got great cinematography shots of some unusual places around the world.

One of its more interesting aspects is how it distorts reality - it shows you something, but the narration is portraying it as something else. For example, in the Bikini Atoll segment it shows some kind of mudskipper or lungfish in a tree and the narration is going on about how the radiation caused the fish to take to land, etc. Pretty silly.

It spawned some less than nice variations on the “Mondo” genre like the Faces of Death films and could be seen as the origin of “reality” programming.