This film marks another pinnacle for the genre of spaghetti westerns.

Terence Hill and Bud Spencer starred in this touching, epic tale about two brothers defending a group of devout Mormons from Mexican Bandits. One detects shades of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai in this gripping, moving tale of conflict. Whereas Kurosawa was guilty of making too long a film however, Clucher keeps the story and action concise and relevant.

Director E.B. Clucher mixes a story of a man torn over his love of two different Mormon women with a realistic, if somewhat understated portrayal of violence of that era. Clucher however keeps violence to a minimum, preferring to concentrate on the complex relationships between the men of that time. The film is undeniably one of the most accurate portrayals of western life in this era and accurately shows how the west was populated by sensitive, compassionate men, notably of Italian extraction.

Terence plays the selfless, honest Trinity whilst Bud Spencer plays the violence-eschewing, tender, compassionate Bambino as the character's name suggests.

The rough and beautiful countryside of south western USA is unmistakeable in the wide screen shots and the camera work sensitively conveys the deepest emotions of each of the two main characters. Clearly shot on a massive budget, the film is epic in proportion and stands as a testament to how much better western movies are when made by Europeans.

It is impossible to tell that the film is dubbed as the voices used are well timed and appopriate to the era. One could be forgiven for thinking that the film was shot in English. The musical score is original and the whistling style of the score arguably set a precedent for future films of the same ilk.

My verdict - 80%

cheers Peter

PS Warning - sensitive viewers may cry at the touching and heart-rending scenes

Peter, how can you desecrate one of the greatest masterpieces in film history !?!
It would be interesting to see how those Hill/Spencer movies are in the original version. What IS the original version? English? Italian? Their movies used to be very popular in Germany. But I have only seen the dubbed versions. Especially in the 70s, often movies were dubbed in a way which left nothing of the original dialogue content. Some dubbing directors would run amok and write extremely silly dialogue because they thought the originals were not rib-crackingly funny enough. The Hill/Spencer movies were a prominent example of this, so everybody here now thinks of them as extremely silly movies with outdated, forced jokes.
Terence Hill`s "Lucky Luke" failed completely at the German box-offices because everybody thought it was just another installment of those movies which today nobody cares to watch anymore even on afternoon TV. I don`t think it is available on video here, si I have nerver seen it.
By the way, that unfortunate practice of using a movie just as atemplate for the dubbing director`s jokes has completely stopped now and has been replaced by very faithful translations of the original, but I still hate dubbing as such.
Michael

You fell for it hook line and sinker.

I was amazed that so very few people had been replying to my appraisals of some classic films (A fistful of dollars etc) of late I started to wonder whether anyone was reading my reviews. Accordingly I thought the best way to check was to throw in a red herring which is you look carefully is what my review above. Most of what I have written above is a parody. The film was of course not shot in the south west of the USA but in Europe! It is not a serious film but a spoof in itself of the western genre and more particularly the spaghetti western genre. I think there is a lesson here in not taking film critics too seriously!

Seriously though any film that spawns that many sequels must have something going for it. If you think about it what Hill & Spencer did
was to transplant slapstick humor of the Laurel and Hardy, Abbott & Costello or Marx Brothers kind into a spaghetti western film setting. There is really only one way to critic such a film - either the audeience find the film funny or they don't. And I think that the number of sequels suggests that they did find them funny. I personally have a degree of respect for what these guys achieved because it is no mean feat for a pair of Italian actors to star in a series of films that met with success in English markets.

I didn't find this film full of huge belly laughs but it works through a solid, if basic plot whilst maintaining one's tongue firmly in one's cheek. The mock fights are pure slapstick and the perpetually disgruntled Bambino's habit of banging opponents on the head with his fist is pure theatre.

As the film is predominantly visual humor, the dubbing can be overlooked.

The 80% rating still stands.

On the subject of Kurosawa, I did find Seven Samurai to be a bit too long but I agree that the film is a classic.

cheers Peter

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