Botte di Natale

Terence Hill, who also directed, and Bud Spenser are both in fine form in "The Fight Before Christmas" (that's the title under which I saw this movie). The movie looks great and has a good, if not so original, story. Hill and Spenser's supporting cast has quite a few familiar faces in it. You can't beat Ruth Buzzi as the boys mother. My only gripe against "The Fight Before Christmas" has to with its length. It's too long by about twenty minutes. Closing in on two hours is way too long for a silly movie like this. Even though this a silly movie, I laughed quite a few times. (I saw this movie on Youtube.)

I really liked this duo's Trinity movies, but after that they just kept appearing in repeat formulas, as cops, vagrants, travelers, what have you. This time, they even turned the clock back to feature as (half) brothers, a joke that had really grown tired by this point in their careers.

By 1994, Terence was over the hill and Bud a spent force. They had grown too old to do a mostly silly comedy like TROUBLEMAKERS, and I felt rather sad at the end that either they had not saved enough dough to retire or that they simply did not know when to quit.

I am being generous in giving 5 stars to this unbelievable, repetitive and overlong dud.

I rented this movie last week. My son and I are true "Terrence and Bud"-fanatics, and I must say that this movie doesn't make anybody in that genre disappointed. Although the dialog and acting is as "bad" as it was 25 years ago, in the Trinity movies", it is still worth watching, just for the h#ll of it. Recomended for any Trinity-fans out there.

It's a pretty weird experience, watching this movie. An affectionate, warm-hearted reunion for Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, it is also a bittersweet farewell to an old era of movies. It will probably appeal only to fans of the duo, as they once again go through their familiar motions (Spencer's mutterings, Hill's smiles, bean-eating, fist-fighting, helping the poor, etc.), only this time there are some serious dramatic moments as well. On the other hand, considering their age, you can't help but wonder if perhaps this film should never have been made, if they should have retired more gracefully a few years earlier. But if you insist on seeing it, try to avoid the DVD version, as the image has been blown up way out of proportion to fill the entire screen - perhaps in keeping with the tradition of the awful full-screen versions of the "Trinity" films (to which this film is without a doubt an unofficial sequel - I wonder why they couldn't make it "official"). (**)

The story and the acting are up to the Trinity standard, but whose voice did they use for Bud Spencer? Far from the grainy growl supplied in Trinity, the big man sounds like a chipmunk in Troublemakers. Really distracting.

If you are a fan of the 1972/1973 Trinity movies, you will enjoy this later release as a sort of bittersweet reunion of the two actors in a similar western. If you have no history with the originals, I highly recommend you pick up the Trinity movies first. The Troublemakers is very hard to find in the US but can usually be found on ebay (VHS). I only wish they had done My Name is Nobody with Bud Spencer instead of Henry Fonda-- that's how essential Bud Spencer is to the team.