As with any successful franchise, eventually something
gets so popular, it becomes the target of satire, parody, and at times, insult.
Sadly, this happened to spaghetti westerns as the 70s came along. This doesn't
mean the subgenre was losing its soul. At the forefront of this new phase, They
Call Me Trinity was released. Its immediate success helped solidify a new game
plan for Italian studios: comedy.
In its leads are acting duo, Terence Hill and Bud
Spencer; often considered the Abbott and Costello of Italy. Both men have had
prolific careers, both as a duo and individually, but their biggest success
came with this picture.
Trinity (Hill) is not your typical hero. And that’s an
understatement in terms of his lack of work ethic, lack of ambition, and lack
of good hygiene. Instead, he's your typical ne'er-do-well. Yet whether he's
walking around town in filthy and tattered clothes with a colt pistol, or
sleeping on a travois pulled by a horse across the desert, this man is known as
the "Right Hand of the Devil." His half-brother Bambino (Spencer),
who pretends to be a town sheriff, is known as the "Left Hand of the
Devil."
These “hands of the devil” have a plan that includes the
theft of finely bred horses, which as you expect, runs into mayhem, which involves
corrupted officials, Mexican thugs, bar room brawls, but surprisingly little
gunplay. But the half-brothers grow a soft spot for a bunch of pacifist Mormons
who are frequently terrorized by bullies set upon them by the town’s corrupted
officials.
Trinity became known for its highly-satirical portrayal
of the average western. It even goes as far as to give the main character
drawing skills that is so ridiculously fast, you'd think someone pressed the
fast-forward button. Gun violence is often replaced with fist fights instead,
and the humor is much lighter than in most spaghetti westerns.
The success of Trinity led to a sequel, Trinity Is Still
My Name. Its story follows a picaro-like structure, but features the same
troupes: filthy antiheroes, slapstick atmosphere, epic fistfights, speedy gun
draws, barroom brawls, and a lifetime supply of baked beans. A third movie may
has never been produced, but once again, countless imitators were spawned to
capitalize on the Trinity success. Even films that Hill and Spencer starred in
prior to this franchise were re-released and re-marketed as Trinity movies.
Hill later starred in another notable spaghetti western
comedy, My Name is Nobody. Starring alongside Henry Fonda, and co-directed by
Sergio Leone, Nobody is a classic satire of the western genre with Sam
Peckinpah themes of an aging Old West and creaky gunslingers not unwilling to
give up old traditions. This has become allegoric for what eventually happened
to the spaghetti western subgenre.
Trivia: Terence Hill and
Bud Spencer have starred in over 20 movies together, mostly in comedies. The
first time they co-starred together was a sword-and-sandal flick, Hannibal
(1959). The last time was in a western comedy Troublemakers (1994), which Hill
himself directed.
ANTHONY LUSARDI
Lives in Rockaway Borough
He's a 2013 graduate of
Centenary College (now Centenary University) in Hackettstown, NJ
He currently work as a
freelance reporter
Anthony is an avid movie
fan, reader, and lover of arts and entertainment. I've attended and covered
music concerts, art exhibits, festivals, parades, book readings, library
lectures, and even a movie premiere in Parsippany and a movie shooting in
Roxbury.
[Continued next week]
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