Il corsaro nero

Living on an island situated so close to the Italian peninsula, it is small wonder that celebrities emanating from those parts would be a household word in Malta as well and, during my childhood days, no Italian film stars were as popular as Mario Girotti and Carlo Pedersoli…er…Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. These two actors – who could roughly be described as the "Laurel & Hardy" of Italian genre movies – have made 17 pictures together between 1968 and 1994 and the film under review is one of their earliest and least-known. They had just hit the big time with the Spaghetti Western spoof THEY CALL ME TRINITY (1970) and it was natural that, after three successive Westerns, producers wanted to try out something else so, here, they decided to not only change genre (to the swashbuckler) but also to have them as rivals instead of partners. Ironically, the new recipe failed to nourish the hungry masses and a sequel to TRINITY was hastily cooked up…

Apart from the incongruity of seeing the two stars swapping their by-now familiar cowboy garb for the pirate's feathered-hat and sword, the film itself comes off as a plodding and uninvolving adventure without even the benefit of their usual, protracted cazzotti (fistfights) sequences – save a few tired rehashes of people flying on top of cabinets with a single punch to the jaw! Terence Hill has the title role but is more morose than his usual self here and Bud Spencer is an opposing pirate leader who, true to the seaman's code, goes down with his ship in the end. Also in the cast are a trio of good-looking dames – Silvia Monti (as the vengeful wife of the Viceroy whom Hill abducts and even gets to bed), Monica Randall (as her companion who eventually joins the pirates' cause) and Jess Franco regular Diana Lorys (who is criminally wasted as a sympathetic innkeeper); the film's screenwriter George Martin(!) as Hill's aristocratic partner; Pasquale Basile as the annoying dumb brute typical of such fare; Luciano Pigozzi (hamming it up as another antagonistic pirate leader); and the customary Hollywood has-been generally roped in for such productions for their dubious marquee value: in this case, Edmund Purdom (as the Viceroy). Unfortunately, contrary to all convention, instead of relishing the role of an eye-rolling villain, Purdom underplays the part almost to the point of absentia!

In spite of the film's title, it doesn't seem to have been inspired by the Emilio Salgari (creator of popular heroic figure Sandokan) novel "The Black Pirate" – which, apart from two earlier European film versions, would again be brought to the screen (far more effectively) a mere five years after this one (with TV's Sandokan himself, Kabir Bedi, in the lead).

Now don't get me wrong, I have always been an avid fan of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, but this is a film that does not fit their talents. What made the two so popular was their chemistry on screen, with either playing the idiot at times but it works. That is not the case here, which is a great pity, this film could have been so much more, so what was wrong? Palli lost his way, he could not make his mind up whether this film was going to be a comedy or a drama, unfortunately because of this the film suffers. I have seen Hill play austere parts before, but always there are moments that have shown his humanity and his humour. This movie lacks this, in fact i felt uncomfortable with the character, who seemed to show no appreciation for his crew or the risks they ran for him and even the 20 second speech at the end of the film did little to change that. Bud Spencer, like Terence Hill is an accomplished comedy actor and I firmly believe that he was not comfortable playing this role. His lines could have just as easily been read from a newspaper and his interaction with Hill during negotiations were lacklustre and dull. The reason I have given this film 5 is that it did have some saving graces, mainly the characters that were the crew. Each had special skills, which did interest me and of course George martin who saved the movie from being a complete dirge. Had Hill's character been more like the swashbuckling Errol Flynn type and had there been more interaction between Hill and Spencer, this could have been a great movie.

This is the tale of a buccaneer who takes over a ship of corsairs and wreak havoc on the high seas. The pirate named Blackie(Terence Hill) join forces with Don Pedro(George Martin, also screenwriter). They square off against their nemesis, the viceroy(Edmund Purdom, Sinuhe, The prodigal) and other pirates captains(Allan Collins and Pascuale Basile, also master of arms). Blackie and Don Pedro are helped by a corpulent hunk named Moko(Fernando Bilbao) and a sympathetic pirate(habitual of Italian B series, Sal Borgese). They're going a buccaneer settlement where encounter a prisoners selling, there is slaved the viceroy's spouse(Silvia Monti). The wife is bought by Blackie, but she's freed by a ransom. Meanwhile, viceroy wishes a shipment of gold transport from Guayaquil until Spain .

This is an agreeable entertainment juvenile romp. The movie displays action, swordplay, slapdash, fist-play and humor with tongue in check. This release has some nice and even hilarious moments here and there , though isn't always interesting , sometimes is diverting and fresh and on a couple of sympathetic occasions is frankly delicious. Terence Hill (Mario Girotti, Massimo Girotti'son)is cool as the pirate hero who finds dangerous situations while trying rob the shipment. This isn't the usual Hill-Spencer(Carlo Pedersoli) buddy movie, but they're contenders instead of partners, for that reason they're best known for roles in Spaghetti, 'They call me Trinity¨and followings, where they're much better. The starring are accompanied by gorgeous girls, such as Silvia Monti, Diana Lorys and Monica Randall. This adventures movie of middling budget and confuse plot, is enriched by colorful cinematography but unfortunately the copy circulating is badly printed. The motion picture is regularly directed by Lorenzo Gicca Palli, alias Vincent Thomas. He's usually screenwriter of Italian Western and adventures genre(Zorro the invincible, Hercules the avenger,Fury of Khybers) and occasionally filmmaker(Last gunfight). This standard and average 7o's Italian swashbuckling film to be liked for Hill and Spencer fans.

One hesitates to pass judgment on a movie which, in the English-language videotape, has obviously gone through a lot of clumsy re-editing and re-dubbing. Still, it's all we have to judge it by and so the truth must be told: this movie makes virtually no sense at all. The plot has something to do with a shipment of gold which the Viceroy at Guayaquil wants to send back to Spain. A loose confederation of pirate captains has other ideas, as does the Viceroy's beautiful and ambitious wife. Any attempt to clarify the plot beyond these elements will be met with frustration.

That said, the movie retains an amiable quality, is never out and out dull, and has an attractive cast. It's best viewed as an "In-Flight" feature -- one of those things you don't expect much of and which you halfway watch out of the corner of your eye while you're doing something else.

The highlight, (such as it is), may come when Edmund Purdom walks into a room and finds a shirtless Terence Hill tied to a wall, several bloody whip marks on his back. One can't help recalling at this moment that Purdom himself felt the sting of a whip back in MGM's 1954 spectacle, "The Prodigal"

No pun intended - Terence Hill and Bud Spencer ... two people that shaped my childhood. Even though they had done movies together way before I was born. But I liked watching their movies - dubbed in German, but they had a great industry back then. Probably still have - for the bigger productions.

This one I probably never saw before. This is not like any other movie they did that I really liked. Their relationship is different in this one, the focus is on other characters .. and you have boats and pirates and sword fighting and other stuff like that. While I reckon it is nice to try something different, maybe this is why it just doesn't feel like ... home (well you know what I mean) ... anyway, nice movie overall but nothing special ... if you are a fan of those two actors you won't mind flaws or other things anyway ...