Nós Jogamos com os Hipopótamos

Two likable adventurers played by Hill and Spencer against the nasty Joe Bugner , an ex-boxer and big game hunter who dedicates himself to illegal smuggling . Entertaining and amusing African adventure with several comic touches . This time Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as brave adventurers in Africa taking on lots of dangers and feats against a group of hoodlums . Thin and blonde man named Slim (Terence Hill) and stocky , bearded fatty named Tom ( Bud Spencer ) team up again as the valiant duo . The agreeable crew makes a new adventure movie with plenty of fist-play , action and entertainment , though only for Hill and Spencer fans . This amusing film deal with our intimate friends in Africa , they're nowadays two tourist swindlers , the blue-eyes and sympathetic Terence Hill and the grumpy and goofy Bud Spencer . There happens numerous adventures and silly struggles against nasties led by Ormond (Joe Bugner) a wildlife smuggler who takes animals to carry them to abroad menageries.

This amusing , engaging movie is crammed of fist-fights , punches , slaps , kick-ass , moving stunt-work , colorful African outdoors and lots of humor . The picture is realized in similar style to ¨Africa Express¨ and ¨Safari Express¨ by Duccio Tessari with Giuliano Gemma . Terence Hill is top-notch as attractive freewheeling trader of goods with a dream , to save enough money and Bud Spencer is enjoyable in charge of a curious tourism agency ; meanwhile , both of whom taking on a group of smugglers . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times , but frenetic fight-sequences and a lot of fun make up for it , besides includes a chimp getting into mischief , pranks , frolics and antics . It's an entertaining romp with full of brawls , including amusing leaps and jumps . This is a nice and funny juvenile story for Hill and Spencer enthusiasts , as they are delightful and likable . It packs action, fist-play, slapdash, humor with tongue-in-cheek and is quite bemusing . This release has some cool sketches and several hilarious moments , adding wonderful African landscapes . The film isn't always good , sometimes is fresh and diverting and on a couple of memorable occasions , it's frankly delicious. The movie displays innumerable laughters , jokes and slapstick . Catching and commercial musical score with marvelous leitmotif by Rizzati in Guido and Maurizio De Angelis style , including some beautiful songs , the first of them sung by Bud Spencer . The motion picture picture was compellingly directed by Italo Zingarelli who produced the Hill-Spencer's greatest hits as ¨They call me Trinity¨ , ¨Trinity is still my name¨ and other Spaghettis as ¨The five man army¨, ¨Johnny Yuma¨ and Peplum as ¨¨The seven Spartans¨, ¨The invincible gladiator ¨, ¨The secret seven¨ , ¨Ursus¨, and several others . This is a passable entertaining juvenile that will appeal to Italian comedy buffs. Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable but only for Hill and Spencer fans.

As with almost all if the BS & TH movies, the plot tells a simple story but it has larger moral and ethical implications. BS & TH always fight for the little guy. They always fight the powerful, abusive, rich and corrupt, when it is not just a plain villain. They always use the necessary violence (and no more) to obtain justice. They do not start the fighting, moreover they seem to avoid it if possible. They always prevail and once doing so, never mantain the power obtained or abuse it. And with this movie, there is a anti-racist, anti-colonial overtone and specifically, they aim for enviroment and animal conservation. Plus its very funny and entertaining.

The Hill & Spencer movies were never famous for their brilliant stories, but this one doesn't even make an effort. Plotless, slow-paced, boring and only occasionally amusing, it feels like a film that was made out of obligation, rather than like something that the stars and the filmmakers put their hearts in. At least with its animal-friendly messages you could say it's good for kids, but no - they'll be as bored with it as anyone else. (**)

For the most part I'm for the Hippopotamus is a standard Hill & Spencer offering, consisting of mild comedy mixed with some fist fights. Like usual the plot isn't much to talk about, and mainly exists as to supply some bad guys for them to brawl with. In this case Jack Ormond and his gang of poachers, who are catching African wildlife which they want to sell to a Canadian zoo! Tom and Slim have to team up to prevent this whichever way they can, misbehaving themselves at lunch, putting up a casino scam and off course talking with their fists...

So far nothing we haven't seen from them before, and the quality too is as usual. Although dated, it has the just OK production values we're used to in a Hill & Spencer movie. Nevertheless it's among my favorites of their work, and that has to be because of the nice scenery together with all the wild animals. We get to see quite a few lions, cheetahs, elephants, zebras, ostriches and wildebeests. Not only nice to look at but they do interact with them in a respectful if not loving way which is quite an accomplishment while sending out a powerful message.

Well worth a watch for that alone.

Plenty of laughs and fight scenes in this one and this is the only one of their movies where Spencer comes across a guy who is nearly as tough as he is.

Hard to deal with seeing wild animals locked up in cages, but I suppose that it's good that Spencer and Hill were on a mission to set them all free. Some of the scenes really did look like animals were being set free for real.

BTW, hippopotami only feature in the first scene. A laughing mechanical one in particular.