They Call Me Trinity (1970)

Director: Enzo Barboni

Starring: Terence Hill & Bud Spencer

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: He Was On the Side of the Law and Order. He Was On the Side of Crime and Chaos. He Was On Any Side That Would Have Him.

Plot: A drifter comes to town where his brother is sheriff. His brother is actually a robber who broke the real sheriff's leg and left him for dead, and became sheriff in order to hide out. They team up against the local land baron who is trying to get rid of the Mormon settlers in a valley he wishes to own.







My Rating: 8/10

Would I watch it again? Yup

The Italians started making westerns (set in the SW US and Mexico) around 1963. When Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood hit the scene in 1964 with A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and became a worldwide hit, a new genre exploded in European cinemas. The Italians, but not exclusively – many other European countries joined in on the action, over the next 13 years or so, cranked out over 500 of these very popular Spaghetti Westerns. They were relatively inexpensive to make and the Spanish coastal town of Almeria geographically looked just like the American South West.

These Spaghetti Westerns often starred American actors who were either on their way up in fame or on their way down. Clint Eastwood is the best known. Lee Van Cleef (THE BIG GUNDOWN 1968) for a time in the mid to late 60s was THE biggest American star in Europe. They also grew their own stars like Franco Nero (DJANGO 1966), Tomas Milian (FACE TO FACE 1967) and Giuliano Gemma (A PISTOL FOR RINGO 1965). Then came two actors, who had previously worked together, that hit the big time with the international hit, THEY CALL ME TRINITY. Terence Hill and Bud Spencer went on to star in more than twenty films over the next two decades.

"Just look at those eyes!"

Their “buddy” films are largely action comedies and by comedy it’s slapstick. The films are good-humored and the violence is largely softened and void of killing. Their films were safe for families and it’s largely with children they became very popular and remain so to this day. Show a child who likes westerns this film (and I’m not degrading it by saying this) and they will laugh themselves silly. You can do the same to an adult and get the same reaction.

The stories are usually simple but with enough variety as to not lose your interest. The real showcase is the two actors’ individual and combined charisma and how well they work together. You get a real sense that they were great friends off camera, which they were.

The opening theme song sounds corny as hell to the average viewer. I thought so when I saw it years ago on some crappy fullscreen VHS tape. I couldn’t believe how dorky it was but by the end of the film it grew on me and today I totally dig it. I’m a lot more knowledgeable about Spaghetti Westerns now, too, and I’ve got hundreds of them as well as a large collection of SW soundtracks so my “taste” in them has developed considerably. I LOVE this genre. Under the song and credits we see Hill riding his horse in a most unusual and casual way. If you don’t have an idea about what you’re in for by now then it’s probably best to stick with staring out the window and watching for squirrels.

It’s not long before you find out he’s the fastest gun alive and is the Left Hand of the Devil with his brother (from another father) being the Right Hand. Spencer hates, and I mean HATES, Hill and gets a lot of laugh mileage out of it. I’m pretty sure Spencer’s trademark head bonk fight move originated here. And something else that originated with this film that would carry on to many of Hill’s films and the recent Sprint commercial (lifted from either in this film or the sequel a year later, TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME), is the sped-up gunfighter bit where Hill would show his unbelievably fast skill at gun play at the embarrassing expense of his opponent. EVERY time I see it in any film it cracks me up. Sure, it’s silly, but it’s damn funny.

"BONK!"

The film is so lighthearted and funny it’s hard not to like. This is probably the third or fourth time I’ve watched it and it won’t be the last. The sequel is just about as good as this one and it’s well worth a look. I’ve got an old European non-anamorphic widescreen DVD of both films. It is available here in the U.S. from Hens Tooth Video for about $22 for both films but I have no idea of the quality. I do recall their release of Sam Peckinpah’s CROSS OF IRON (1977) was disappointing. Nevertheless avoid any fullscreen version of ANY Spaghetti Western because even the shitty ones deserve to be seen in their original widescreen format.