Chi trova un amico trova un tesoro

Man, I just love these Bud Spencer & Terence Hill flicks! I've been an enthusiastic Spencer/Hill fan since my childhood. I've seen every film the two made together multiple times, and their films still seem to get funnier and better with each viewing. Such as this "Chi trova un amico, trova un tresoro" ("Who Finds A Friend Finds A Treasure") of 1981. While this is not one of my favorite Spencer/Hill films, it is yet another hilarious flick with or favorite duo of manner-less proletarian drifters that entertains with a high dose of fistfights and the typical Spencer/Hill humor. Fleeing from his debtees, Alan (Terence Hill) hides in the boat owned by Charlie O'Brien (Bud Spencer), who is to be paid a big amount of money for a promotional cruise. The ruffian Charlie, of course, is furious when he discovers his blind passenger. Alan then manipulates Charlie's compass in order to travel to a remote island on which a treasure is supposed to be hidden... "Who Finds A Friend Finds A Treasure" is arguably one of the sillier films even for Spencer/ Hill standards, and they are not exactly avatars of subtlety. The film's silliness, however, is a delightful one, and for a Spencer/Hill fan, this is one of the funniest films to watch. Bud and Terrence entertain with their usual rowdy behavior, many fistfights and incomparably entertaining humor. As it is the case in most of their films, the clever Terence brings the short-tempered (and not so clever) Bud to outrage multiple times with his puns and tricks. "Who Finds A Friend Finds A Treasure" also introduces a bunch of eccentric and outrageously funny characters, such as the island tribe ruled by a chubby lady named 'Mama' who disciplines her son with heavy slaps on the head, or a Japanese soldier who hides out in a remote fort and doesn't realize that WW2 has been over for decades - a spoof on the real-life case of Hideo Onada, a Japanese soldier who was hiding out heavily armed on an island until 1974. This was directed by the great Sergio Corbucci, the director of Italian Western masterpieces such as "Django" (1966) and "The Great Silence" (1968). This film is not one of his masterpieces, of course, but it is a film that I personally enjoy more with each time I see it (and I've seen it at least 10 times). Overall, "Who Finds A Friend Finds A Treasure" is another highly entertaining and outrageously funny Spencer/Hill flick that no fan of the duo could possibly afford to miss!

This is pure escapist slapstick comedy. Don't try to find any hidden meaning in the simple plot. There isn't any. Terence Hill, in hock to gangsters, is given a map which purports to show the location of a hidden treasure on the mysterious island of Bongo Bongo. He stows away on a small motorsailer captained by bearlike Bud Spencer which is leaving on a circumnavigation. Despite the fact that the boat is only 30 feet long, the two blundering mutually antagonistic Hill and Spencer manage to keep out of each others way until well into the voyage. The stowaway scenes are the comedic highlight of the movie. The rest is slapstick bluster. The point of departure is obviously Miami, Florida but Bongo Bongo is located in the South Seas. Hill manages to rig the compass so that the boat heads for the island instead of on its intended course. During a tussle both fall overboard and swim for the island, a tropic paradise inhabited by natives who behave like the cast from a 1920s Harlem musical. The island is guarded by a Japanese WW2 soldier unaware that the war is long over. He fires shots randomly in all directions narrowly missing both protagonists. Naturally the treasure is hidden in his fort. Hill and Spencer demolish the fort and most of the other structures on the island with the help of an abandoned WW2 Japanese tank. At this point the Japanese soldier reveals a remarkable talent for English music hall comedy and the three become allies. Periodically the island is visited by slave traders and the gangsters who, having found a duplicate map, are also looking for the treasure. Like Gilligan's Island, everyone except Hill and Spencer seem to come and go as they please. Each visit results in a slapstick melee in which Hill and Spencer are uniformly victorious, performing Jackie Chan feats of derring do. The escape from the island is anti-climatic except for the surprise ending which is as improbable as the rest of the story.

I must confess that I watched this movie because I own the original boat that was featured in the first half. It is a 1974 Willard Horizon motorsailer and looks just as it did in the film. The previous owner was a technical consultant on the seagoing sequences for the producer. I'm a fan of the boat, not necessarily the actors - but the film is a good family diversion on a rainy night. The kids will love it.

The movie is about two funny guys whose path crosses with an accident. They land on a small island and they start searching for a treasure which is probably hidden on that island. The movie is pretty funny and if you like bud&terence movies then you will watch this movie twice. The ending of the movie is sad and funny at the same time. And nothing is more important than a friendship. Eat puffin! It gives you power and holds you awake! you will get what i mean when you watch the movie. Ohh, the music is great "movin, cruisin" from La bionda. It has the taste of the early 80s. You can find it on napsters.

WHO FINDS A FRIEND FINDS A TREASURE is my favourite Bud Spencer- Terence Hill flick. Recently I got hold of the DVD of the same- and it took me back 20 odd years. As a young kid (around 10 years or so) I remember my parents taking me to see this movie in the theatre. It was in the early Eighties when the only English movies appearing in theatres were these dubbed Italian movies, dubbed French movies (read as Crazy Boys- aka Les Charlots) and Indo- Chinese movies- dubbed Chinese kung-fu action flicks. Original Hollywood movies took a while to reach India (at least 10 years). And Bud & Terence provided huge guffaws. The movie is all about a treasure hunt in a supposedly desert island in the pacific. Terence hill is a stowaway in Bud's boat and he manipulates the ship's navigation controls to take them to this island. Then on it's a laugh riot with the duo endearing themselves to the natives of the island. The laughs may not be of that quality we associate with modern day movies- but as nostalgic remembrance of my childhood, I treasure this movie.

As usual for Hill and Spencer movies, they are two self centered and greedy characters, who basically care only for themselves, but still manage to do the right thing when the time comes.

Hill and Spencer could easily be the modern day equivalent of everymen. The only thing that has them motivated (in any of their movies) is greed for money, because they don't have it and are prepared to do many things to get it (although they would never really cross the border of the law).

In this case there's an old uncle with a treasure map and his nephew (Hill), who doesn't really believe him, but once he gambled away all of the mafia's money, the treasure seems to be the only way out for him. So he hides away on a sailboat as a last possible way to get away from the pursuers. The captain (Spencer) is only doing this trip with the sailboat to get the money from the sponsor Puffin (making a product he hates himself). And after they loose the boat (as usual Hill dragged Spencer in the middle of it all) they have nothing left but the treasure to search for.

As with other similar movies like "Go For It", "Crime Busters", "Double Trouble" or "Odds and Evens" Spencer is a grouchy leave-me-alone character and Hill the happy-go-lucky character. The first half an hour is a way to bring these two everymen in a situation where the slapstick comedy occurs. Although always shallow, the plot is plausible enough to let you settle in it and the opening part of the movie, when they are just getting to the point, is as always the funniest, for it doesn't rely on slaps and punches.

After the landing on the island with the treasure the slapstick comedy gets on the way. So expect punches, kicks, slaps and many hurt bad guys. And as usual there is the reward to be had, so they find the treasure - still they can't get rich off it. It's never that easy, so just like the real modern everyman they are left more or less empty handed in the end.

All in all a very amusing and simple movie, that would fall in the category of upbeat movies that will brighten your day, even though when you really think about it, you'll see it has a lot more to offer the it first seems.