"Trinity is STILL My Name", all the curiosities about the film you didn't know

 From poker with fake hands to Italian locations transformed into the Wild West: the cult with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill continues to conquer the public even after more than 50 years

Donna Moderna

By Redazione

30.05.2026

There are films that seem to cross time without losing their charm. ... They kept calling it Trinity, sequel to the famous comedy western with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, is one of them. Released in 1971 and directed by E.B. Clucher, pseudonym of Enzo Barboni, the film has become a fixture on Italian TV over the years, thanks to a perfect mix of slapstick comedy, chases, fistfights and memorable jokes.

To this day, audiences continue to follow him with affection, generation after generation. Behind the most iconic scenes, however, there are many little-known backstories. From the footage shot between Abruzzo and Molise to the tricks used in the famous poker game, here are the most interesting curiosities about the film broadcast on Saturday 30 May on Rete 4.

Where "They kept calling him Trinity" was filmed

Although the story is set in the American Old West, much of the film was shot in Italy. The vast plains that represent California in the film are in fact located between Abruzzo and Lazio.

Many scenes were shot in Campo Imperatore, on the Gran Sasso plateau, one of the symbolic places of Italian spaghetti westerns. Some sequences were instead shot in the plain of Camposecco, near Camerata Nuova, already used in the first They Call Me Trinity.

The mission of the friars, one of the most important places in the film, no longer exists. It had been rebuilt in the De Laurentiis factories on the Via Pontina, on the outskirts of Rome. Molise also appears in the film: some scenes along the river were shot on the banks of the Volturno, near Venafro.

These landscapes helped to create that dusty and ironic atmosphere that made Enzo Barboni's western unique.

Trinity's poker? The hands were not Terence Hill's

He was the one who created the most complex card games, including the very rapid shuffling and fanned openings. In some interviews, Binarelli said that to differentiate the hands of the various characters, the crew even went so far as to make up his fingers.

Shooting that scene took three days of work. According to the magician, the set was interrupted several times because the actors burst out laughing during filming.

A resounding box office success

When it was released in Italian cinemas in 1971, … They kept calling him Trinity, he was a real phenomenon. The film became the highest-grossing film of the 1971-72 film season and won over millions of viewers.

With over 14 million tickets sold in Italy, the film is still among the most viewed in the history of Italian cinema. A huge result, especially considering that the western at the time was experiencing a phase of change.

The success also contributed to definitively consecrating Bud Spencer and Terence Hill as the symbolic couple of Italian action comedy. After the film, the two actors continued to work together in films that became cult, always maintaining that dynamic made up of brawls, irony and brotherly affection.

How Bud Spencer and Terence Hill changed the Italian western

One of the most famous scenes in the film is undoubtedly that of the poker game between Trinity and Wild Cat Hendriks. The spectacular evolutions with the cards left the audience speechless, but there is a detail that many do not know.

The hands you see during virtuosity were not those of Terence Hill. In fact, the movements were performed by Tony Binarelli, a very famous illusionist and magician in the seventies

Before the arrival of Trinity, spaghetti westerns had much harsher and more dramatic tones. The protagonists were often lone gunslingers, marked by revenge or violence.

Enzo Barboni completely changed register. With Him they called Him Trinity… before and… They kept calling him Trinity then, he turned the western into a popular comedy full of physical humor, bewildered characters and surreal scenes.

Child and Trinity were not classical heroes. They were messy, lazy, improvised and often unable to behave like real bandits. It was precisely this humanity of theirs that conquered the public.

The film also helped define the cinematic image of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill that viewers would find again in the following years: one big and gruff, the other cunning and smiling, but both always on the side of the weakest.

The restored full version arrived on blu-ray

Over the years, the film has often been broadcast on television in shortened versions. Some scenes, in fact, had been eliminated in the home video editions and in the TV passages.

In 2016, a new DVD edition was released that recovered the cut sequences. More recently, in February 2026, the film arrived for the first time on restored and unabridged blu-ray, with a full runtime of 126 minutes.

An operation that allowed fans to rediscover the film in its version most faithful to the original theatrical release.

...Trinity is STILL My Name continues to be a cult

The secret of the success of ... They kept calling him Trinity, perhaps it lies precisely in his simplicity. The film does not focus on special effects or great twists, but on characters still capable of making you smile today.

Bud Spencer and Terence Hill have created an unrepeatable couple, which has entered the Italian collective memory. And each TV rerun continues to bring viewers of different ages back to the screen, united by the same desire to laugh.