God Forgives... I Don't!

God Forgives...I Don't! (1967)

** (out of 4)

Incoherent but violent Spaghetti Western has a train pulling up to a station but everyone on board has been shot and killed and there's also $100,000 in gold missing. Soon Terence Hill and Bud Spencer (their first film together) are trying to track down the gold, which has been buried somewhere in the west. Apparently there are at least two versions of this film out there and the one I watched was the AIP version, which got a theatrical release here in the States back in the day. The studio was known for editing and rearraging foreign films and I'm curious if that's what they did here because the film was really incoherent and didn't make too much sense as if some of the scenes were either edited or moved. Since I haven't seen the foreign version I'm not sure what the case is so I can just review what I watched. As for the film, outside it not making too much sense, it really isn't as bad as some of the reviews that I've read. This is the only film I've seen from the Hill/Spencer team, although I've got more sitting here to watch. I think the two make for an interesting duo but I've read the majority of their films together are more comedy than anything else. This one here is certainly played straight as there are very few laughs and a lot of violence. The opening sequence on the train is wonderfully done as is the following scene where Hill is playing poker against three cheaters. The violence really keeps the film moving even when the story doesn't make too much sense. This isn't the best spaghetti I've seen but I'm sure there are worse out there.

Very good quality spaghetti western!Without exploration in genre but strong professional work on all levels.Not bad scenario (rude variation on THE GOOOD THE BAD THE UGLY scheme).Without inventions in plot and dialog but successful inside fighting and especially torture (rope,water(pit),fire) scenes.Red hair Bill San Antonio not demonic power character but sly fox.Terence Hill as Cat Stevens is equal parts of Franko Nero's (Django) and Clint Eastwood's (in "dollars trilogy") "good" guys performances.Bud Spencer's Hutch Bessy is pretty with limit (relatively for latest Spencer's characters) physical power. Generally: for all spaghetti western fans!

This is a review of the uncut version, not the cut 'comedy' version.

"Dio Perdona... Io No!" aka. "God Forgives.. I Don't!" is not only the first film with both Bud Spencer and Terence Hill in the leading parts, it is also one of their best movies. Although the movie has many gags and humorous parts, "God Forgives... I Don't!" is not one of the usual Spencer/Hill comedies, but a pretty brutal and rather serious Spaghetti Western.

The movie starts with a train rolling into a town. Everybody on the train was massacred and the fortune it carried was stolen. Two gunslingers, Cat Stevens (Hill), and Hutch Bessy (Spencer) realize that the whole coup looks like the work of Outlaw Bill San Antonio. The mysterious thing about it is, however, that Cat killed San Antonio in a duel several months ago. On their search for the gold, the two get several clues that Bill San Antonio only staged his own death.

"God Forgives.. I Don't!" is definitely the most serious and brutal of the Spencer/Hill collaborations. Anyway, the movie also has many of the typical Spencer/Hill movie ingredients, like the numerous fistfights in which Spencer's character uses his typical hammering one punch technique.

Spencer and Hill show that they are not only great as a team in comedies, but also in a serious Spaghetti Western. Another Highlight of this movie is the great performance of Spaghetti Western Star Frank Wolff as the evil Bill San Antonio. I also liked the score a lot, especially the part with the somehow aggressive, dynamic, classical choir.

In Germany and Austria, this movie was released under three different titles. After the uncut version was released, it was re-released as a "Django" movie, and released again in its cut 'comedy version'. Terence Hill's character is also referred to as 'Django' in the uncut German version, and his dubbed voice is different to his dubbed voice in his later comedies.

All told, "God Forgives... I Don't" is a great Spaghetti Western, not like the usual Spencer/Hill movies, but a pretty brutal and serious movie, and definitely one of their best collaborations. 8/10

Their first official movie Spencer and Hill stared in together, a classic spaghetti western. Ironically it was Hill who started out as the harsher character while Bud played the more amicable guy.

It was an entertaining enough movie, but if you're looking for the humourous slapstick comedy we have come to expect from these guys, you won't get it. Unlike "They call me Trinity", it's a very serious Western with little in the way of humour, although I do find the shoot outs amusing as the guns seem to fire off more like cap guns than real guns.

What intrigues me here is the voice dubbing. Bud was dubbed by the man who was to do his voice in most of his movies; Glauco Onorato. Hill usually did his own English voice dubbing, but in this one he has someone else doing his voice, a much colder and harsher voice to match his character. I guess it's not surprising that they needed to do that, otherwise his character, Cat would just not have the same menacing aura to him. Perhaps for the same reasons Bud is normally voiced by Glauco.

This was the first in a series of three movies using these two characters.

I've never really appreciated the whole Terence Hill and Bud Spencer phenomenon the way that some people apparently do. I don't think they are any better as a duo than any other two random actors that could have been thrown together at that time, and as far as comedy goes, let's just say they are no Laurel and Hardy. I see no good reason for them ever having been teamed up for more than just one film. In fact, I think they've done better work when they haven't been together, especially in the case of Hill.

One saving grace for this film is that it is not one of their irritating attempts at comedy. It is a serious story with bloody violence, double-crosses, revenge, and gold. And it's told in good spaghetti western fashion. This film keeps the viewer intrigued from beginning to end, and it is accompanied by an interesting music score from Angel Oliver Pina.

The highlight of this movie is the performance of Frank Wolff, as Bill San Antonio. Wolff has appeared in a lot of spaghetti westerns playing all sorts of characters, and is one of the finest supporting actors of the genre. He really outdoes himself in this movie as the cunning, wisecracking, sadistic, backstabbing bandit who fakes his own death to make it easier for him to continue his crimes. San Antonio is one of those funny, over-the-top characters that make these movies so much fun to watch. Frank Wolff is so great in this role that he steals the show completely, and makes this movie way more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise.

Overall, this is a pretty decent spaghetti western that is worth watching for fans of the genre.