And on the heels of a comedy western, we get... another comedy western! This one is a little different than Companeros and The Mercenary. It does speaks to how you can find different areas to explore even within a sub genre like this.
It is also worth noting that this film did really well financially and spawned a few Trinity sequels and some films being renamed with Trinity in the title in much the same way Django was applied to a lot of unrelated films. It is interesting to see what struck a chord and how it changed the films being made around it.
Let's hop on the travois and see where They Call Me Trinity takes us.
Film #23 They Call Me Trinity (1970)
Here is the imdb.com cast listing. Here is the wikipedia page about the production.
The film starts off with us meeting Trinity (Terence Hill), a dust covered gunfighter who is being dragged behind his horse on a travois. The horse seems to know where it is going because as soon as it gets to a way station, it stops and lets Trinity know they are there. He sits down at the way station and eats the largest pan of beans ever and takes an injured Mexican man from two bounty hunters. They challenge him and he easily shoots them before they can even fire their guns.
Trinity takes the bounty with him to the nearest town and finds that the sheriff is actually his brother, Bambino (Bud Spencer). Turns out that Bambino actually escaped from prison and while on the run, came across the actual sheriff who was on his way to the town to take the post. Bambino shot him, believing to have killed him, and posed as the new sheriff while he waits for the other two men in his posse to escape and join up with him.
Bambino is actually trying to keep the peace as he knows that if any higher ups come to town, they will realize he isn't actually who he says he is. So he is working for the law while secretly breaking it.
To cloud matters further, a rich horse baron, Major Harriman (Farley Granger), is trying to run out a settlement of mormons who have taken some land to use in the nearby valley. Harriman wants them out so that his large number of horses can graze there. Additionally, there is a band of Mexican bandits led by a man named Mezcal, who are also terrorizing the mormon settlers.
Bambino reluctantly lets Trinity join him as a deputy but tells him to not make any trouble. Trinity smiles and proceeds to always find trouble. Along the way, he falls for a couple of mormon women and decides that they should help them fight back against Harriman and Mezcal.
They Call Me Trinity has an interesting set up for a straight ahead western, bad guys posing as the law and still doing what is right when the time comes, but sprinkle in the comedy that this film pulls off with ease, and you get something special.
The interplay between Trinity and his brother Bambino is what carries the film. The chemistry between Terence Hill and Bud Spencer is clear and they feed off of each other, with Trinity being the instigator and Bambino being the closer. He is the little brother picking fights and knowing that his older brother has to finish them. Not that Trinity can't hold his own, mind you, he makes quick draws and shots that would make Sabata do a double take. I think he just likes watching his brother's resigned frustration when people won't back down and Bambino has to knock them out with a single slap or a hammer punch to the top of the head.
The physical comedy in this film is different than in Companeros and The Mercenary. Those films had a couple of good sight gags and running jokes, but the comedy in They Call Me Trinity has a couple of different levels.
First, Terence Hill's 'ain't that something' smile takes a regular interaction and turns into something funny. He seems to be amused by the world around him a lot of the time. He also has a good way of playing it absurdly straight. In the beginning of the film, when the bounty hunters are trying to figure out who he is, one of them grabs him by the chin while he is eating beans, and turns his face towards the other who is looking through the wanted signs. Terence Hill just keeps slightly open mouthed chewing his food without a care in the world. This is a man covered in dust wearing a shirt that has more holes than shirt, what are you going to do to him that would ruin his day?
Second, Bud Spencer's physical presence makes him a mountain compared to those around him. He was easily picking people up like they were luggage and throwing them around. I had to read up on him to see if he had been a professional wrestler because that is the way he carried himself during fights. People would slap him and he wouldn't even flinch, he would slap people and they would collapse into a heap. He throws people and they end up draped over structures like laundry out to dry. But he didn't really want to fight. It seemed like it was almost a waste of energy because he knew he would win, so why bother?
Third, the absurdity of everyone else. Major Harriman is a rich greedy asshole that he is one pencil thin twirled mustache away from being a cartoon villain (he specifically says he hates children just to drive his assholeness home). Mezcal and his men are so stereotypical Mexican bandits that every time they show up on screen, they have their own horn driven theme music. When Harriman is offering 20 horses to Mezcal to help him get rid of the bothers and the mormons, Mezcal says he would not take the payment of 20 horses, but that he would steal 20 horses from Harriman as stealing is better. The mormons are pacifists right until their leader happens to read the passage from Ecclesiastes about a time for everything, even a time of fighting. Then driven by the will of god, they find it very easy to start throwing punches.
The last 15 minutes of this film remind me more of Slap Shot than a western and I didn't see that coming. There is a very large brawl involving all parties and it goes for so long that is threatens to stop being funny but keeps up the fun till the end. At one point there is a shot of an open window with men being thrown out of it, one after another after another after another, that you begin to wonder if they were going throw every person on set out of it. Mezcal keeps getting combo punched by Bambino but he keeps coming back and trying again and each time it gets a little funnier.
Here is that final brawl if you are inclined to watch it. So many kicks!
It is easy to see why this film was popular at the time and why it still is. It is a lot of fun and Terence Hill and Bud Spencer are awesome together. Finding out that this film set them on a path of starring along side each other for a lot of other films makes sense. They are good together and I really believe that if they didn't have that charisma together, this film wouldn't have been nearly as fun.
Because I would be remiss if I didn't mention it but the score for this film is just as fun and lighthearted as the rest of the film is and I can't recommend it enough. It sets the tone from the start and it is great to hear a different take on what a Spaghetti Western theme could sound like from someone that is not Morricone.
They Call Me Trinity is a fun film and highly entertaining. Trinity is no Man With No Name but he is a Man With No Cares and I don't think I would have it any other way.
Western Checklist (nowhere near official or scientific):
- Weird gang member names? Trinity is a bad ass name. Bambino is an odd one and makes me think of Babe Ruth.
- Beautiful landscapes? Yes. I believe the valley where the mormon settlement was located was the same valley used at the start of The Hills Run Red. Very unique terrain.
- Any terrified horses? Not really. I think the animals were relatively safe in this film.
- How many Ernest Borgnines? None, but Bud Spencer looked familiar to me and I found out why. He was Aladin (that's how the movie is spelled) in a very questionable quality film in the 80's I saw while I was growing up. Here is the trailer (Its in Italian but it is worth the watch).
- Does it have a theme song with the name of the title in the film? No, but it does have a song with lyrics about the film. It is great. Check it out below along with some of the film's score.
Rating:
I am going to give this film 4 out of 5 tin stars. It is a lot of fun and Terence Hill and Bud Spencer make for a great duo. The humor holds up and the ending is almost as silly as Blazing Saddles. Almost.
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