Enzo Barboni, writing & directing as E. B. Clucher, had a huge international success with this cockeyed Spaghetti Western starring a very dusty Terence Hill (ne’er-do-well/bounty hunter) and bull-like Bud Spencer (horse thief/accidental sheriff) as wary half-brothers who unexpectedly come together to save a Mormon farming community from Farley Granger’s land-grabbing baron, his army of ranch-hands & a ragtag outfit of Mexican marauders. The trick to pulling this off comes in how Barboni plays ‘straight’ Spaghetti Western plot beats against the comedy, generating his laughs out of attitude. Things go flat when he stages comic donnybrooks (the finale is endless) or runs obvious slapstick routines, but work like a charm when he holds to the slow & deliberate pace of Laurel & Hardy while staying inside the storylines. Burly Spencer proves a gifted comic actor and Hill gets by with an audience-pleasing lack of vanity that makes his handsome blue-eyed looker funny. Hen’s Tooth Video probably has the best DVD edition.
DOUBLE-BILL: A sequel, TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME/’71 (not seen here) apparently forces the comedy, upsetting the relaxed style & laughs.
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