Un genio, due compari, un pollo

This should have been a great film, but after the superb intro (which I think is directed by Leone) the film pretty much falls out of your mind after seeing it.

Whith Leone involved, I did expect a great film and the intro did meet my expectations but the rest of the film is quite poor. I am a big fan of spaghetti westerns but this film falls because it is so messy. It is a ripoff from "My Name is Nobody" and "Trinity", with some more serious elements (such as the intro), paired together with a scrappy plot.

I am not a big fan of Terrence Hill and this movie did not make me change my mind about him. The character he plays in this movie is pretty much a copy of the one he played in "My Name is Nobody" except the fact that he did a good job in that movie. He is not bad, but his acting gets boring (maybe he was tired of playing the same role in every film?). Klaus Kinski is good as always. The film does look great though, and does not have that b-film feeling to it like so many other spaghetti westerns.

I don't hate this movie, but it did not meet my high expectations. Watching it without expectations, I can imagine that this flick works as great entertainment for the spaghetti western fan. And remember, the score by Morricone, the intro and the performance of Kinski are reasons alone to watch this movie.

This popular latter-day Spaghetti Western proved a disappointment overall, considering the talents involved; to begin with, I've always been wary of semi-comic genre entries such as this – which stars one of its major exponents, Terence Hill (in fact, I recall having misgivings about even his MY NAME IS NOBODY [1973]): incidentally, that film was produced by the foremost director of Spaghetti Westerns – Sergio Leone – who was also involved with this one in an uncredited capacity (as a matter of fact, the striking and violent opening sequence is attributed to him!).

Anyway, the film clearly owes a huge debt to Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966) – several genre outings, actually, tried to cash-in on that classic by devising (often amusing) variants on its title – though there are so many characters involved that it's hard to determine who the various epithets are referring to! The international cast, then, includes – besides Italian Hill – Irishman Patrick MacGoohan (though playing a U.S. Cavalry officer), French Miou-Miou and Robert Charlebois, and German Klaus Kinski (appearing in a bit early on as a gambler/gunslinger). Director Damiani had dabbled in the genre previously with one of the politically-oriented efforts, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1967); the film under review, though, isn't nearly as stylish or engaging – also, as with a number of examples of its kind, it's overstretched for no real purpose!

Another underwhelming element here is the score by "Euro-Cult" guru/genre stalwart Ennio Morricone – while pleasant in itself and occasionally inventive, it's decidedly forgettable in the long run: it seems he'd been doing it for so long that inspiration had pretty much withered by this time! There's not even that much action throughout the film: it's merely a collection of incidents which sees opportunistic Hill, gruff and dim-witted Charlebois (who's not only unhappy to be constantly reminded of his Indian heritage but he gets to negotiate terms with them over land rights while posing as a U.S. Colonel!), charming Miou-Miou, and shrewd villain MacGoohan (who's wasted here: what was he thinking?!) teaming up and/or double-crossing each other for possession of the proverbial booty (the plot, thin and all-too-typical – as can be surmised – is still separated by a good deal of padding). To be fair, the film is mildly enjoyable as such (a reasonable assessment for an outing emanating so late in the game) – but hardly unmissable as Spaghetti Westerns go

I purchased this PAL DVD (my Macintosh computer plays the format) and a region- free, NTSC/PAL DVD player (connected to a regular NTSC tv) so I, NOT THE STUDIOS, can choose what I want. The PAL disc was the only version I found available, and I will submit DVD info when I find time. Look for the widescreen/ letterboxed format (which "Genius" is), instead of the horrid pan and scan, because letterboxed (or matted) is what the director intended viewers to see! Please keep an open mind about spaghetti westerns. Sometimes viewers comment with such harsh criticism that it can turn someone away when they should be prompted to look for a title in the genre they are interested in. I've suddenly grown a fascination in macaroni that I'm finding movies that I've never been interested in before. I swore on Clint/Eli/Cleef/ Leone/Ennio flicks yet didn't notice people like Nero and Milian. And now I'm discovering not to be so hard on my boy Terence Hill. Okay, so he doesn't take it so seriously. At first, that's what turned me away from his flicks. It wasn't Eastwood enough. But geez, what a kick you can get from "Genious." Initially I didn't care for Ennio's music, but it seeps into you. And there's something about the camera placement and movements that draw me into the film, which was just the right length -- not too long or short. The funny moments and comments throughout, plus the explosion (a very real and powerful one) somewhere in the flick made me decide on 8 stars. I judge these the same way as kung fu action. It can be so easy to pick apart and be literal, but these generally are simply pasta and lo mein noodle- type movies. Just enjoy sucking it into your system. You'll love getting full, and soon you'll want another helping.

Bit of a disappointment this one, although it was always bound to be too good to be true.

Just think of it! A spaghetti western directed by the great Damiano Damini (A Bullet for the General) and the greater Sergio Leoni, starring legendary actors Patrick McGoohan and Klaus Kinski, with music by Ennio Morriconne. How could it go wrong?

Well let's start...

The opening sequence at least (directed by Leone) is brilliant and promises a terrific film. A promise that is not kept. The sequence has little or no bearing on the rest of the film, an action comedy about the conning of a racist cavalry Major (McGoohan) out of three hundred thousand dollars and the love triangle between the three con-artists, led by Terence Hill.

There seems to be something about most Italian comedy that simply doesn't work when playing to a British or American audience and here it is the same. Most of the film is buffoonery that falls flat, made increasingly worse by the decision to give most of the co-stars silly voices in the dubbing room. Klaus Kinski comes off the worst in his tiny cameo, looking great, out-acting everyone on the screen, but sounding like an ancient hillbilly. Miou-Miou's squeaky toddler voice is unbearable.

McGoohan too sounds bizarre, somewhere between an English toff and WC Fields (all the stranger still, because the voice is actually his).

The music tends towards the comical of course, and as such is not in Morricone's best work.

However, there are some diamonds among the rough. McGoohan's performance is great, in spite of the voice.Terence Hill makes a fairly engaging lead, whose description of a duel is a classic moment for spaghetti westerns. The climax too, an energetic chase, accompanied to Morriconne's reworking of Beethoven's Fur Elise, ending with a tremendous explosion that leaves McGoohan covered in white dust atop his horse like an imposing alabaster statue (worth the admission price alone) is evidence that there is some real talent at work here.

In a perfect world, A Genius would be the very best of the spaghetti westerns. As it stands, it is a failure that I'm very pleased to have seen.

I'd never heard of this one until I stumbled across it on DVD (under the title 'A Genius, Two Partners And A Dupe'). I was intrigued because it was directed by Damiano Damiani who made one of the very best non-Leone spaghetti westerns 'A Bullet For The General', and was produced (and many say co-directed) by Sergio Leone himself. I believe this was the last western Leone was involved with, and one of the very last spaghetti westerns ever made. The eclectic cast was another attraction. Terence "My Name Is Nobody" Hill, Miou-Miou, Patrick "The Prisoner" McGoohan and the legendary Klaus Kinski... Mmmm, very interesting! Well after sitting through this crap I now know why it's so obscure. It sucks. In almost every way. I have no idea of Leone's involvement, but the striking opening sequence looks like it might have been directed by him. Too bad it's all downhill from there! This was retitled to try and sell it as a sequel to 'My Name Is Nobody'. Hill actually plays a different character and the connection between the two is tenuous at best. BUT it is in a similar vein to many of Hill's comedy westerns, or should I say "so-called comedy" westerns? I didn't get one laugh out of it. It's really hard to imagine a serious director like Damiani making slapstick rubbish like this. The awful dubbing doesn't help things either. Regarding the supporting cast, the bad news is Kinski. He only had a small role in 'A Bullet For The General', but in this one it's even less. Basically Kinski has a two scene cameo at the beginning of the movie, and that's it. I love watching Kinski but anyone renting this movie just to see him should be warned. The good news is McGoohan. He has a much more substantial role and is quite good. Unfortunately he's surrounded by actors hamming it up and a lousy script. If the movie hadn't have played it for laughs, had someone other than Hill as the star (say Franco Nero) and more Kinski it might have been good. As it is only rabid Leone fans will want to bother watching it. Easily the poorest spaghetti western I've ever seen. Avoid.