God Forgives... I Don't!

Even though it stars Terence Hill and Bud Spencer don´t expect this to be a light-hearted comedy flick like the Trinity westerns. Realistic clothing, dusty dark intense atmosphere and a downright good script make this one a winner. If you want every grandmothers dream, parading around in his pink shirt and right out of the laundromat jeans shooting baddies by the dozens, don´t even bother watching this one. These characters got personality and flaws just like you and me.

Buy it, Rent it or forget all about it. 8/10

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.

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.

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'm not sure why American-International chose to theatrically release in the U.S. this particular spaghetti western over dozens of others. Although this does the job for spaghetti western addicts (like myself), and it's never boring, it is not spectacular in any department - scenery, story, action, violence, etc.

The main attraction this movie has today is the early pairing up (before the TRINITY films) of Hill and Spencer. Spencer acts like his usual ornery self, though we do get the chance to see hill play a determined, more brutal western hero. The movie is also interesting that we see the duo in a more serious story for once. However, there are a few (mild) comic moments where you can see the rumblings of the comic characters the two were to later play. Did the TRINITY people see these scenes? I wouldn't be surprised!