Zwei Fäuste des Himmels

Having previously been in Black Caesar and its sequel, Hell Up in Harlem, it's not too surprising to see Fred Williamson play the kind of role that's the opposite of his usual good guy. As such, he's not in the movie very long despite his name being one of the three above the title. The other two are Lino Ventura and Isaac Hayes, the latter making his film debut as well as contributing the music score not unlike what he did for the original Shaft. Ventura is a priest and Hayes is an ex-cop who's looking for the same people for different reasons. I'll just now say this was quite an exciting thriller taking place in the city of Chicago during the time I lived there as a child with my family. Unfortunately, the print I watched online was a second generation one looking nearly blurry throughout. Still, I recommend Three Tough Guys. P. S. I also like Paula Kelly in this.

The Black Moses, The Hammer, and The Preacher Man. They've got their own kind of mean game.

This film is directed by Duccio Tessari, assisted by a staff of other unknown Italians. What else has he done? A whole lot of things you never saw, including a film called "Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid".

The opening theme sounds like a take on the "Shaft" theme, which is no surprise as it is sung by Isaac Hayes, who stars alongside Fred Williamson. Mysteriously, the song is about "two tough guys" (not three, as the title claims) and seems to be the inspiration for Hayes' later song about Beavis and Butt-Head.

The picture quality, at least on the Fortune 5 DVD, is incredibly blurry or fuzzy at times, especially when light saturation is involved. Aside from that, it is pretty standard for the time, and almost good considering the notoriously awful quality Italian productions have.

Seems to be set in America, but the priest has a thick accent. What is this?

He will forever be known to people my age as the man who wrote and sang "Shaft." To the younger generation, he is "Chef" from "Southpark." He is the man Isaac Hayes, and, in his first film, he is running with one of Europe's best character actors, Lino Ventura, as Father Charlie.

Their enemy is the great Fred Williamson (Black Caesar, From Dusk to Dawn), former football star and blaxploitation actor.

Add a lot of Italian actors and an Italian director who worked with Sergio Leone in A Fistful of Dollars, and you have the Italian version of a blaxploitation action flick.

Nothing to write home about, but some fun entertainment.

Ten-speed-pedaling tough-guy priest (Ventura) and taciturn ex-cop (Hayes) team up to solve a million-dollar bank heist and capture Chicago mobster Joe Snake (Williamson) in Windy City-lensed but Italian-produced action flick. There isn't much here that you haven't seen before, but the production values are appropriately gritty, the action is fast-paced and bloody, and it's nice to see the image-conscious Hammer cast against type as a bad guy. Hayes wrote the musical score as well, and released the soundtrack on Enterprise Records.

A film like this never gets any respect from the industry it bankrolls. Someone tacked the title "Three Tough Guys" onto the film when it obviously should have been "Two Tough Guys" (as the title sequence song by Isaac Hayes accurately reflects). But someone wanted to the public to think that the film featured as much of Fred Williamson as it did the actual "two tough guys", when in fact, Williamson is barely involved. I would be surprised if analysis revealed that he was on-screen for more than 10 or 12 actual minutes. So if you want to see this film just for Williamson, you probably will be disappointed.

But the film has a lot going for it - at least for a genre exploitation film.

I could listen to Hayes read the phone book and enjoy it.He's not really an actor, but he's relaxed and comfortable on camera and he's fun to watch. It's a shame that his film career didn't go further. I've never seen the Italian guy before, but he is pretty convincing here as the world's toughest crime-fighting priest; he has a forceful presence that lets him pull off what is essentially a ridiculous role. A lot of actors couldn't make this part work (even some pretty good ones), but he mixes piety and punching in a way that carries the movie quite well.

There isn't a lot of chemistry between the two leads, but the dialog is spare and unsentimental and it hardly ever seems forced. The screenwriter (and the Italian film industry) didn't indulge in their normal practice of having everyone talk way too much (especially in the English dub) for once, and the results are pretty good for American sensibilities.

There's lots of punching, lots of gun-play, a bit of actual suspense, and some fairly good characterization (for an Italian exploitation flick) even for the minor parts. (One exception is the "bishop", who is forced to play the exasperated part usually reserved for the rogue cop's chief in standard cop thrillers. He sucks on toast, but it's not really his fault - it's the weakest and most contrived role in the movie and there isn't much he can do with it.)

The DVD conversion in the "Grindhouse Experience" collection is pretty bad - lots of blurring, some scenes so dark you can hardly tell what's going on, some muffled sound here and there,etc. But I've seen worse conversions - even in this collection - and for once the English dub is pretty good.

If you can't find this movie, don't fret - you aren't missing all that much. But as a representative choice for a "Grindhouse Experience", this is actually a very strong entry in the collection, easily in the top 5.