Tagarchief: FilmDungeon

They Call Me Trinity

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Enzo Barboni
Written by: Enzo Barboni
Cast: 5, Farley Granger

Year / Country: 1970, Italy
Running Time: 106 mins.

A man on a stretcher is carried through the desert by his horse. He doesn’t get up until he reaches Wells Fargo. This lazy bum is called Trinity. There is more to him than meets the eye. He is also known as the Devil’s right hand and he has the fastest gun in the West.

After saving a Mexican’s life, he goes to meet his brother Bambino, who is pretending to be the local sheriff. Bambino is the Devil’s left hand with a gun as fast as Trinity’s. Together they take on a band of outlaws that, under command of a corrupt mayor, want to drive a community of Mormon farmers from their land.

They Call Me Trinity is a significant movie for two reasons. Firstly, it initiated the Western-Comedy craze that swept Italy for a while. Secondly, this is the film that turned the duo Hill / Spencer into international stars, especially in Europe.

It also set the tone for many future Hill / Spencer collaborations: many brawls (with extremely LOUD sound effects), humorous dialogues and slapstick action. For its genre, it is pretty violent (Hill shoots a man in his crotch in one scene) and there is plenty of obscenity in the dialogues.

All in all, They Call Me Trinity is a fair vehicle for Spencer and Hill to show off their considerable (comedic) talents. Also features a fitting musical score by Franco Micalizzi.

Rating:

Biography: Enzo Barboni (1922, Rome – 2002, Rome) was originally a cinematographer, but later turned to writing and directing as well. In 1966 he shot Django, which became one of the archetypes of the spaghetti western. His second film They Call Me Trinity was also a massive trendsetter for the comedy-western and launched the careers of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. He also directed the sequels Trinity is STILL My Name! and Sons of Trinity, which was his final movie. Barboni is often credited under his pseudonym E.B. Clucher.

Filmography: The Unholy Four (1970), They Call Me Trinity (1970), Trinity is STILL My Name! (1971), A Man from the East (1972), Even Angels Eat Beans (1973), Charleston (1974), Crime Busters (1977), The Odd Squad (1982), Go for It (1983), Double Trouble (1984), They Call Me Renegade (1987), Speaking of the Devil (1991), Sons of Trinity (1995)

My Name is Nobody

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Tonino Valerii
Written by: Fulvio Morsella, Ernesto Gastaldi
Cast: Henry Fonda, Terence Hill, Jean Martin, R.G. Armstrong

Year / Country: 1973, Italy, France, West Germany
Running Time: 111 mins.

New Mexico, 1898. The Legendary gunslinger Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) wants to leave the Wild West behind him and retire to Europe. But the strange loner Nobody (Terence Hill) wants his personal hero to go out in style. He sets everything in motion, so Jack can take on the infamous Wild Bunch.

During the seventies, the Italian comedy-western became a way more popular genre than the more serious spaghetti’s. Master of the spaghetti western Sergio Leone and his team then decided to make the ultimate ‘joke’ western themselves. The casting of comedy man Hill and old westerner Ford, makes clear the contrast between the old dying West and the new West.

Although some of the slapstick comedy feels forced and somewhat copied from the ‘Trinity’ films, producer Leone and director Tonino Valerii still managed to create a successful homage to the genre. This is largely due to the excellent chemistry between the two leads and the classic musical score by Ennio Morricone. The brilliant composer parodies everything in his score, from Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries to his own Harmonica theme. It became one of his most popular scores.

There are also plenty of inside jokes; the bad guys are named ‘The Wild Bunch’; Sam Peckinpah’s name is on a tombstone; the excessive use of duster coats; etc. Leone also directed the opening scene himself, which is a direct homage to the famous opening scene of his classic Once Upon a Time in the West.

Altogether, My Name is Nobody is a fine testament to the glory of the spaghetti western as well as the Hill / Spencer comedy days of the Italian Wild West.

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Biography: Tonino Valerii (1934, Teramo, Italy) was born as Antonio Valerii. In 1964, he worked as an uncredited assistant director for Sergio Leone on A Fistful of Dollars. In 1966 he made his directorial debut with spaghetti western Taste For Killing. He would direct about fifteen films in his career, but will be most remembered for his westerns, including My Name is Nobody and A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die!.

Filmography (a selection): Taste for Killing (1966), Days of Wrath (1967), The Price of Power (1969), A Girl Called Jules (1970), My Dear Killer (1972), A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die! (1972), My Name is Nobody (1973), The Hired Gun (1976), Sahara Cross (1977), T.I.R. (1984, TV-episodes), Savage Attack (1986), Unscrupulous (1986), Sicilian Connection (1987), Vacation in Hell (1997)

A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘Family First, Friends Second, The Mob Above All’

Directed by:
Frank Rainone

Written by:
Frank Rainone
Frederick J. Stroppel

Cast:
Vincent Spano (Al Stanco), Maria Grazia Cucinotta (Gabriela), Danny Aiello (Danny Parente), Abe Vigoda (Uncle Guy), Ricky Aiello (Nicky Vetrino), Tony Danza (Louie Crisci), Jennifer Esposito (Donna Delgrosso), Morgana King (Aunt Rose), Janice Steinmetz (Angie Stanco), Vincent Pastore (Vinnie ‘D’)

Childhood friends Al Stanco and Nicky Vetrino get sucked into the dark world of their mafia friend Danny Parente (Danny Aiello) while a young Sicilian girl, who rents a room from Al’s aunt, is making a movie about Brooklyn. She brings back old memories and some of the things she uncovers brings certain people in awkward positions. A time of new alliances has come to the neighborhood.

The good thing about A Brooklyn State of Mind is the way it creates a neighborhood feel. Brooklyn is shot and treated as a living and breathing character which gives you the feeling that you are really there. It is a nice place, a family place, but it isn’t all good. The real Brooklyn is also violent and corrupt. The mob is a destructive force, that much becomes clear.

A Brooklyn State of Mind had the potential to be a nice little movie, but doesn’t quite make it. The casting of Vincent Spano as leading man and Ricky Aiello is obviously a mistake. They come across as unnatural in a film that feels quite real. This authentic feel is also disturbed by the plot, which becomes very soapish towards the end. Danny Aiello makes up for this partly with his adequate role as the main villain.

Rating:

Quote:
DANNY PARENTE: “If you don’t want to be eaten, don’t swim with the big fish.”

Trivia:
Features two actors from The Godfather. Morgana King (Aunt Rose) who played Mama Corleone and Abe Vigoda (Uncle Guy) who played Sal Tessio.

Plan 9 from Outer Space

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Edward D. Wood Jr.
Written by: Edward D. Wood Jr., Alex Gordon
Cast: Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore, Tom Keene

Year / Country: 1959, USA
Running Time: 78 mins.

According to Tim Burton’s biography Ed Wood, this is Edward D. Wood Jr.’s favourite movie. It is easy to see why. It is his most epic film if you will, containing all the elements that made his movies so bad in spades; the minimalist sets; the casting of non-talents or over the hill B-stars; the archive footage and the hilarious action.

The story revolves around a hostile alien race that wants to resurrect an army of the dead to march on the capitals of the world, hence the original title Grave Robbers from Outer Space. So far, the aliens only managed to create three zombies, but that doesn’t bother them.

Fans of Ed Wood’s movies will have a riot with Plan 9 guaranteed. This is the movie that set his name in stone as the world’s worst filmmaker. All of Ed Wood’s favourite cast members are present; Vampira, Chriswell, Tor Johnson and Bela Lugosi. For Lugosi, this is his final film. For the first two scenes that is. After his death, he was replaced by Wood’s chiropractor, who holds a cape before his face the whole film. Hilarious.

There are many, many more extremely funny things in Plan 9. The airplane cabin; the army footage that doesn’t match at all with the rest of the film; the flying saucers that are obviously hubcaps; the sudden transitions from night to day in the same scene, etcetera, etcetera.

The beauty of it is that Wood was being serious. There is actually a message in this film about human stupidity for messing with nuclear power. Maybe this is not the most convincing work that tries to bring that message across, but Wood deserves respect for trying. And his tombstone credit sequence IS excellent filmmaking.

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Biography: Edward D. Wood Jr. (1924, New York – 1978, Hollywood) is widely considered as the world’s worst filmmaker. His low-budget movies, usually mergers of science-fiction and horror, are mostly complete disasters in terms of production values and continuity. In 1994, Edward D. Wood Jr. became the subject of an amazing biopic directed by Tim Burton called Ed Wood.

Filmography: The Sun Was Setting (1951, TV short), Trick Shooting with Kenne Duncan (1953, short), Glen or Glenda (1953), Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tuscon Kid (1953, TV short), Boots (1953, short), Jail Bait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1955), The Night the Banshee Cried (1957, short), Final Curtain (1957, short), Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), Night of the Ghouls (1959), The Sinister Urge (1960), Take It Out in Trade (1970), The Young Marrieds (1971), Necromania: A Tale of Weird Love (1971)