Trinita va tout casser: La colline des bottes

I approached this film with little to no expectations, after reading a few fairly negative reviews here on IMDb. I was pleasantly surprised.

The film opens up with Stephens (Terence Hill) trying to evade a posse of killers chasing him through a small town, where a circus is performing. After taking a bullet, Stephens eludes his would-be killers and stows away in a circus cart. We soon learn that one of Stephens fellow gunslingers is working as a trapeze artist with the circus. Ultimately it is revealed that a local exploitative mine owner is in control of the posse and one of his henchmen eventually crosses the circus performers. So the gunslinger, trapeze artists and a local itinerant official join forces to fight against the corrupt mob lead by Honey Fisher (Victor Buono).

The film is well-paced, though not as hurried as many spaghetti westerns sometimes are. The camera work is just a touch above the standard spaghetti western, and a little different from the standard approach. There are a lot of close-ups and the camera is used effectively to create an unsettling and downright weird atmosphere throughout a good portion of the film - this puts an unexpectedly sinister spin on the seeming novelty gimmick of circus performers in battle.

Director Collizzi did a masterful job with a script and story which were - by genre standards - merely OK. Some of the characters remain somewhat weakly developed, but this doesn't really detract from the film's entertainment value. The actors perform generally well (though the charismatic Lionel Stander gets just a little irritating at times).

Recommended for fans of the western genre.

Misleadingly promoted as a "Trinity" film, "Boot Hill" can barely even be classified as a "Bud Spencer-Terence Hill" film, since it gives the two stars very few chances to exercise their teamwork (Spencer appears after the first half-hour). The story is confusing, and the direction is annoying: for one thing, many action scenes take place in the dark, and for another, the camera focuses a little too closely on the actors; too often half the action appears to have been chopped off the sides of the screen, even though the version I watched was letterboxed. Not recommended. (*1/2)

Third and rarest pairing of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer after God Forgives... I Don't (1966) and Ace High (1967), both by director Colizzi, before the Trinity films turned them into Italy's most dubious exports of the Seventies. Hill was given these cold-eyed roles before the more familiar slaparound antics; here he plays a grimy cheroot-huffin' hombre called `Trouble', who enlists a traveling circus (led by Woody Strode and Lionel Stander) to defeat a money-grubbing land baron (Batman's King Tut, Victor Buono). Like all good Spaghetti Westerns, Boot Hill combines claustrophobic visuals and a lumpen left wing philosophy, with the added novelty of the circus backdrop. Bud's almost a supporting player, but thankfully the dumb ox still gets to throw his weight around. Recommended, muchachos.

Terence Hill & Bud Spencer early pairing. Low budget western with a lot of stars in it. Not the usual by any means.. western-wise or hill/spencer-wise.. 3 years before Trinity, Hill portrays a character named Cat Stevens ( A name that was also his characters in both Dio perdona... Io no! & I Quattro dell'Ave Maria). It can be dull at times but it's a good movie given the chance. I originally wrote a more negative review of this film and after watching it a few more times since I have edited it to lean on the more positive side. Worth checking out & it is made on DVD now. Although the transfer is cassette quality. It does give the film that nostalgic quality & makes the dirt floors & dirty faces look even more filthy.

I have seen alot of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies and this is one of the first I ever saw and i have to say, it sucks! It's just awful. The plot is about a guy named Cat Stevens ( Terence Hill ) who was shot buy some bandits and a circus trupe helps him recover. Cat Stevens needs to get revenge and avenge the death of a circus performer who helped him recover. he asks his old buddy Hutch Bessy (Bud Spencer) to help him. This movie may sound good, but believe me, its not!!!!!! I suggest you see either They Call me Trinity , Trinity is STILL my name , My name is Nobody , Crime Busters or Watch Out...Were mad!