50th Anniversary of the premier of “They Call Me Trinity”

 

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of one of the most important films of the genre. “They Call Me Trinity” depending on your opinion either revived the slumping Euro-western genre or was the beginning of the end of the genre. The film was directed by former cinematographer Enzo Barboni and starred the comedy team of Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli) and Terence Hill (Mario Girotti). Mario had been around for awhile, appearing in several of the German ‘Winnetou’ films and had appeared with Pedersoli in a trio of Giuseppe Colizzi westerns “God Forgives… I’ Don’t’”, “Ace High” and “Boot Hill”. These were more serious dramatic westerns with a touch of black humor. Now Barboni paired the duo in a comedy western and parodied many of the standard western cliches to great success. After the astronomical success of this film many directors followed suit just like they did with Sergio Leone’s “Fistful of Dollars” in 1964 and started to turn out comedy and parody westerns. This created a myriad of films for a few years but it got old and how many belches, farts, pie fights and comic saloon brawls can an audience endure before they turned their eye toward more hard-hitting films and dramas. For me it was a great creative comedy film but it started the downfall of the Euro-western. When you start making fun of your own creation it devaluates them and tells the audience not to take them seriously. “They Call Me Trinity” had the highest number of viewers in Italian theaters until 1986.

Trinity, a lazy gunslinger arrives in a village where he is surprised to find his brother, in the unusual guise of sheriff. In fact Bambino, who is a horse thief, has accepted the position to be able to pull off a theft with impunity to the detriment of a wealthy horse owner. But, the two brothers find themselves defending the Mormon community against the arrogance of Harrison and a gang of Mexican outlaws.

 

Lo chiamavano Trinità... – Italian title

Chamam-me Trinity – Brazilian title
Eles Me Chamam Trinity – Brazilian title
Trinity é o Meu Nome – Brazilian title
Pravá a levá ruka d'ábla – Czechoslovakian title
De kalder mig Trinity – Danish title
De kalder mig Trinity – Dutch title
De linker-en de rechterhand van de duivel – Dutch title
Just Call Me Trinity – Filipino title
Trinity… paholaisen opikea kasi – Finnish title
Dom kallar mig Trinity - djävulens högra hand – Finnish title
Nimeni on Trinity - paholaisen oikea käsi – Finnish title
On l’appelle Trinita – French title
Die Rach und die linke Hand des Teugels – German title
Itan skliros kai ton elegan ‘Trinita’ – Greek title
To onoma mas einai 'Trinita' – Greek title
Az ördög jobb és bal keze – Hungarian title
Trinity – Djevelens hayre hand – Norwegian title
Trinita e o meu nome – Portuguese title
Trinitá, Cowboy Insolente – Portuguese title
Ma llamaban Trinidad – Spanish title
De kallar mig Trinity – djavulens hogra hand – Swedish title
Trinity - Djävulens högra hand – Swedish title
Trinita – Turkish title
Moz po imenu Trinita – Yugoslavian title
My Name is Trinity – English title
They Call Me Trinity – English title
 
A 1970 Italian film production [West Film (Rome)]
Producers: Joseph E. Levine, Donald Taylore, Italo Zingarelli
Director: E.B. Clucher (Enzo Barboni)
Story: E.B. Clucher (Enzo Barboni)
Screenplay: E.B. Clucher (Enzo Barboni)
Cinematography: Aldo Giordani [color]
Music: Franco Micalizzi
     Song: “Trinity” sung by Annibale (David King)
Running time: 114 minutes

Cast:
Trinity/Joe – Terence Hill (Mario Girotti)
Bambino – Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli)
Major Harriman – Farley Granger
Judith – Elena Pedemonte
Jonathan Swift – Steffen Zacharias
Sarah – Gisela Hahn (Gisela Drenkhan)
Frank/Weasel – Ezio Marano
Timmy/Timid – Luciano Rossi
Sheriff – Ugo Sasso (Domenico Sasso)
Mescal – Remo Capitani (Renato Capitani)
Jeff – Riccardo Pizzuti
Ozgur – Luigi Bonos
Bandit – Artemio Antonini
Bartender – Fortunato Arena
Mortimer – Dominic Barto
Cowboy – Omero Capanna
Mexican prisoner – Michele Cimarosa
Gioele – Osiride Pevarello
Harriman henchmen – Pietro Torrisi, Bruno Ukmar, Franco Ukmar, Paolo Figlia, Roberto Alessandri, Giancarlo Bastianoni, Paolo Magalotti
Mexcal henchmen – Gilberto Galimberti, Sergio Smacchi, Felice Ceciarelli, Augusto Funari, OmeroCapanna
Emiliano – Thomas Rudi (Tomás Rudi)
Mormon baby – Jess Hill
Bounty hunters – Tony Norton (Antonio Monselesan), Gaetano Imbró, Mel Gaines
Mormons – Lorenzo Fineschi, Albercio Donadeo, Alberto Dell’Acqua, Nazzareno Cardinali
Mormon woman – Alba Maiolini
Peon – Michele Spadaro
With: Vito Gagliardi, Francesco Marletta
Stuntmen: Miguel Pedregosa