Uomini duri

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.

I was kind of baffled what Lino Venutra was doing in an Issac Hayes/Fred Williamson film, only to find out this was a Italian film! Lino toplines as a priest who doesn't want to carry a guy, but he is very two fisted, teams up with Isaac Hayes to solve a mystery that all leads to Williamson. Wiliamson doesn't play the good guy, so this is not really three guys fighting for good, it's more like two. Seeing familar character actor Romano Puppo as a thug makes me wonder if all the interior was shot in Rome? Good music by Hayes as numerous Kung-fu films stole it after this film. It's not a bad film, but it's no SHAFT. Check it out if you want to see a standard action film.

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.

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.

This is to my knowledge Lino Ventura's only American production (though directed by an Italian director):it's amazing for an European to see him play opposite Isaac Hayes ,but the pair works quite well.

Ventura portrays a priest ,an updated version of Leo MCCarey's Father O' Maley ("going my way" ) in the seventies ,who does not content himself with celebrating the mass (the way he finishes his second service is very funny) but keeps a close watch on his flock and plays the occasional detective .His colorful character contrasts with his co-star's restrained performance who also wrote the music as he often did at the time.There's also a supporting part of a finally modern bishop.

Good actors ,but a very derivative screenplay however.