Dio perdona... io no!

I'm not sure why American-International chose to theatrically release in the U.S. this particular spaghetti western over dozens of others. Although this does the job for spaghetti western addicts (like myself), and it's never boring, it is not spectacular in any department - scenery, story, action, violence, etc.

The main attraction this movie has today is the early pairing up (before the TRINITY films) of Hill and Spencer. Spencer acts like his usual ornery self, though we do get the chance to see hill play a determined, more brutal western hero. The movie is also interesting that we see the duo in a more serious story for once. However, there are a few (mild) comic moments where you can see the rumblings of the comic characters the two were to later play. Did the TRINITY people see these scenes? I wouldn't be surprised!

This is a review of the uncut version, not the cut 'comedy' version.

"Dio Perdona... Io No!" aka. "God Forgives.. I Don't!" is not only the first film with both Bud Spencer and Terence Hill in the leading parts, it is also one of their best movies. Although the movie has many gags and humorous parts, "God Forgives... I Don't!" is not one of the usual Spencer/Hill comedies, but a pretty brutal and rather serious Spaghetti Western.

The movie starts with a train rolling into a town. Everybody on the train was massacred and the fortune it carried was stolen. Two gunslingers, Cat Stevens (Hill), and Hutch Bessy (Spencer) realize that the whole coup looks like the work of Outlaw Bill San Antonio. The mysterious thing about it is, however, that Cat killed San Antonio in a duel several months ago. On their search for the gold, the two get several clues that Bill San Antonio only staged his own death.

"God Forgives.. I Don't!" is definitely the most serious and brutal of the Spencer/Hill collaborations. Anyway, the movie also has many of the typical Spencer/Hill movie ingredients, like the numerous fistfights in which Spencer's character uses his typical hammering one punch technique.

Spencer and Hill show that they are not only great as a team in comedies, but also in a serious Spaghetti Western. Another Highlight of this movie is the great performance of Spaghetti Western Star Frank Wolff as the evil Bill San Antonio. I also liked the score a lot, especially the part with the somehow aggressive, dynamic, classical choir.

In Germany and Austria, this movie was released under three different titles. After the uncut version was released, it was re-released as a "Django" movie, and released again in its cut 'comedy version'. Terence Hill's character is also referred to as 'Django' in the uncut German version, and his dubbed voice is different to his dubbed voice in his later comedies.

All told, "God Forgives... I Don't" is a great Spaghetti Western, not like the usual Spencer/Hill movies, but a pretty brutal and serious movie, and definitely one of their best collaborations. 8/10

Among all the spaghetti-westerns I have seen(maybe 50) this one belongs to the better ones. It has in fact a pretty complex story line with revenge, false accusation, treasure-hunt and buddy relationship elements which cannot be told in one sentence. There is even a twist and some well placed flashbacks. Terence Hill showed his talents and the "chemistry" with Bud Spencer worked so well that it wasn't their last pairing, to say the least. And I liked to see them as serious actors.

No special score and overall regular cinematography.

Noteworthy: Sandra Brennan from Allmovie Guide rated it with only 1 star, the lowest rating I found. ;)

6 / 10.

Even though it stars Terence Hill and Bud Spencer don´t expect this to be a light-hearted comedy flick like the Trinity westerns. Realistic clothing, dusty dark intense atmosphere and a downright good script make this one a winner. If you want every grandmothers dream, parading around in his pink shirt and right out of the laundromat jeans shooting baddies by the dozens, don´t even bother watching this one. These characters got personality and flaws just like you and me.

Buy it, Rent it or forget all about it. 8/10

Their first official movie Spencer and Hill stared in together, a classic spaghetti western. Ironically it was Hill who started out as the harsher character while Bud played the more amicable guy.

It was an entertaining enough movie, but if you're looking for the humourous slapstick comedy we have come to expect from these guys, you won't get it. Unlike "They call me Trinity", it's a very serious Western with little in the way of humour, although I do find the shoot outs amusing as the guns seem to fire off more like cap guns than real guns.

What intrigues me here is the voice dubbing. Bud was dubbed by the man who was to do his voice in most of his movies; Glauco Onorato. Hill usually did his own English voice dubbing, but in this one he has someone else doing his voice, a much colder and harsher voice to match his character. I guess it's not surprising that they needed to do that, otherwise his character, Cat would just not have the same menacing aura to him. Perhaps for the same reasons Bud is normally voiced by Glauco.

This was the first in a series of three movies using these two characters.