On l'appelle Trinita

I first saw this Trinity movie in the mid-seventies and laughed and snickered through it. Recently, I watched it again, and found that it held up well over the past decades, and recommend it highly. The humor in this movie is both subtle and broad. The lead actors, Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, slyly parody spaghetti western stereotypes without hamming it up. They do a masterful job at underplaying their characters' brotherly dislike of each other. There is plenty of broad humor too. Trinity is so scruffy and dirty that when he sits down to eat, puffs of dust fly up. The production values are generally pretty high; this doesn't look like a cheap movie. But the dubbing, as in any dubbed movie, is very obvious. Still, this is a highly enjoyable movie.

Mythic film that started the golden stage of spaghetti-Westerns, as well as the legendary duo Spencer-Hill.

Directed precisely by one of the pioneers of this genre, Enzo Barboni, here under his pseudonym, EBClutcher, as was usual at that time, like Carlo Pedersoli (Bud Spencer) and Mario Girotti (Terence Hill), this was a strategy that was used so that these films, in principle made to amuse the European public with its peculiar style of adapted western and in a certain way, parodied, also reach the Anglo-Saxon public, and disguise a little the Italian flavor of these productions.

However, it is precisely that parody, carefree and also comical tone that encumbro to this genre, and in particular, to this film.

Here the protagonists are not straight and honorable agents of the law who punish the thugs and bandits, but they themselves are those bandits, two brothers to be exact, one the youngest, is called Trinidad, attractive, scoundrel, sympathetic, rogue , flirt, vague and anti-hygienic, but fearsome and deadly with the revolver, they nickname him the right hand of the devil.

And on the other hand is his brother, ¨the boy¨, of great stature, grumpy, gluttonous, disheveled and with strong differences with his brother, with whom he nevertheless shares the same unrivaled skill as a gunman ¨ the left hand of the devil¨.

The destinies of both will cross without that they look for it, in a remote town where the boy of falsely makes happen like the sheriff, with the only intention to wait for two comrades with those who to sack the bank of the town, but the arrival of his brother Trinidad, and his particular gift of getting into trouble will completely disrupt the plans of both.

What we have then, is an atypical western so far, where protas are far from being heroes, if not rather two nice scoundrels who will be carried away by events, which usually resolve shots, or hammer, Yes, always with a sense of humor and a kindness, because both brothers are really good-natured, only tanned in the harsh world of the wild West replete with gunmen, thieves, exploiters and all kinds of "actor".

Very well set, of course, in Spain, specifically in Almeria, in the desert of Tabernas, where almost all the films of the genre were filmed, Barboni shows us a Far West quite realistic and approximate to how it should have been in reality, arid , dry, miserable towns exploited by greedy magnates and their thugs, fugitives, bandits, prostitutes, drunkards, people of dubious morality, disheveled. dirty, with beards and dusty hair, the purpose was to break with the classic image of the old films of John Ford or Raoul Walsh, for a type of western as I said before, more casual, more comical.

The chemistry between Spencer and Hill works like a charm and is what sustains a script sometimes hilarious and witty, but it is the connection between these two that makes the film, with a wonderful soundtrack, the initial theme is already a classic, used even by Quentin Tarantino in his tribute, which is what it is, to the genre, Django unchained.

If something could be attributed to this film, it is perhaps a too long duration for what actually has to be counted, which makes in some sections a little cloying, cut ten or fifteen minutes would have benefited enough.

In conclusion, great and hilarious film to which the years have not sat badly but quite the opposite, it looks with total sympathy and nostalgia.

Thank you.

The movie concerns Trinity (Terence Hill or Mario Girotti) , a roguish and sympathetic gunman with fast weapon who works as a bounty hunter . His brother Bambino (Bud Spencer) is a sheriff in a village but also an undercover thief who attempts to execute a heist . They'll face off a rich owner (Farley Granger) and some Mexican marauders who try to evict a group of Mormons . They help the pacific homesteaders and the confrontation will be inevitable but is developed by means of successive fights without blood , neither gore , nor cruel murders .

This entertaining picture packs comedy , action , shootouts and lots of brawls and fights . The violence isn't crude but light and predominates the comedy and parody . The storyline is embarrassing and ridiculous but has its agreeable moments here and there . It's a spaghetti western with comedy and develops the usual issues : invincible antiheroes , spectacular showdown , amusing taking on but united to slapstick and simple humor . It's an entertaining Italian western with adequate runtime where there is irony , tongue-in-cheek , shootouts , numerous struggles and is quite funny and amusing .

Though this was their first really big hit movie, the film was actually the fifth picture that Terence Hill and Bud Spencer had both worked on and the fourth which they both had starring roles. The nickname that Trinity was called because he was such a fast quick-draw with his gun was "The Right Hand of the Devil" , the nickname that Bambino was called was "The Left Hand of the Devil¨ . Terence Hill is a good guy , hilarious and likable ; Bud Spencer is a rough , two-fisted , bouncing , grumpy man but with good heart , their characters are partially similar to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy . The film is a spoof of famous films such as ¨The magnificent seven¨ and ¨Blazed saddles¨ but covered with spaghetti . The picture obtained a sequel with the same protagonists and director , ¨Trinity is still my name¨ , which also achieved much success and many years later a third part , ¨Troublemakers¨ , directed by Terence Hill . Besides , originated a series of awful imitations and copies . Rating : nice and bemusing .

Action! Laughs! Beans! Filth! Flies! Sweat! B.O.!...It's all here in this terrific film about two half brothers (Hill and Spencer) who team up to save a helpless group of mormon farmers from marauding mexican banditos and a ruthless gang of ranchers. the entire cast is outstanding and never disappoints in keeping the viewers interested and entertained. the sound effects crew deserved an academy award, as one can practically feel the pain with every punch and slap! The climactic fight scene is the one which all fight scenes should be measured by (poor Mezcal!). It is absolutely hilarious! Tobias would be honored if you'd share their meager meal with them. Buy this title, "Trinity is still my name" and "My name is Nobody." All are classics for the archives.

(aka: THEY CALL ME TRINITY)

I have to admit I'm not one for comedy westerns but this one was actually funny in parts. It's almost as funny as SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF (1971) and I would almost consider it a welcome addition to my DVD collection were it not for the fact that the current Direct Source Media DVD weren't so awful.

Trinity (Terence Hill) a dirty, dusty drifter-turned bounty-hunter comes to town to pay a visit to his horse-thieving half-brother Bambino (Bud Spencer) who's pretending to be the real sheriff. Bambino's looking for the best way to rustle some of the Colonel's horses before he leaves and he's not interested in letting Trinity cut in. In the meantime, the Colonel (Farley Granger) is doing some plotting of his own, not only to get rid of Bambino but also to displace some Mormons who are settling on some land he wants for his own cattle.

The fights, the stunts and the gunplay Trinity and Bambino play on the Colonel's men is hilarious. I like it when Bambino uses the bottom of his fist to hit the bad guy's on the top of the head. And the ending fist fight scene at the Mormon's camp cracks me up. No wonder this film made Hill and Spencer popular in Europe.

Like I said, the DVD is a travesty with a transfer that's watchable but looks like it was lifted from a VHS source. The print itself the transfer was taken from is pretty grainy with bad splices and an audible hum in the soundtrack. It deserves a failing grade.

The TRINITY series needs the Anchor Bay DVD treatment, really bad. Since these Euro westerns were so popular, I'm surprised they haven't secured the rights to it yet.

7 out of 10

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