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

Again Hill as Cat Stevens and Spencer as Hutch Bessy team up against a baddie named Bill well played by Frank Wolff . Exciting western deals with a gunfighter robber hijacks a payroll train , kills everyone aboard and then stashes his loot . This violent Spaghetti Western oater goes on when Cat Stevens (Terence Hill or Mario Girotti) trying to save himself from a pursuit by nasties . Then meets Hutch (Bud Spencer or Carlo Pedersoli) who proposes him to discover the train robbing , allegedly committed by Bill St Antonio , and the two guys mess with Western baddies . Bill has been killed and holds on his tombstone an inscription captioning : ¨Here lies Bill St Antonio , greatest shot in the world killed by a traitor , otherwise no¨ and he receives a spectacular funeral in New Orleans style . Stevens reunites with Hutch joining forces, confronting baddies. Nevertheless , the heinous villain is alive and seeks revenge , he is a ruthless outlaw and supported by heinous henchmen .

The movie contains gunplay, action Western, bloody spectacle and fist-fights . Terence Hill as a tough gunslinger and Spencer as a bouncing hunk are good but still not personified the Trinity hero characters . At the picture appears usual Spaghetti secondaries who played ordinary characters as villains in numerous Spanish/Italian Western as Jose Luis Martin , Frank Braña , Jose Canalejas , Tito Garcia , Francisco Sanz and Luis Barboo , among others . The film belongs the Giuseppe Colizzi trilogy starred by Hill and Spencer as Cat Stevens and Hutch Bessy . This one is the first , superior and the best outing ; the second installment is ¨Four gunmen of Ave Maria or Ace high ¨ with the great Elli Wallach and more camp tendencies ; and the third is ¨Boot Hill¨ with Woody Strode and less of a budget . The film is produced by DÁmbrossio and accompanied by a musical score by Carlo Rustichelli with an enjoyable leitmotif . The movie is finely photographed by Alfio Contini, and of course is shot in Almeria , Spain, location where were filmed hundreds Western in the 60s and 70s . This motion picture also titled ¨God forgives¨ will appeal to Hill and Spencer fans and S.W. aficionados.

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!

This film is one the first collaboration between Spencer and Hill, in which they both play a big part (and it is their first film together with their FAMOUS screen names). It is no great film by any means, but I must say that I've seen worse films of both actors. The main difference between this film and most other Spencer and/or Hill films, is that it has a more serious nature and is a lot more brutal than their usual comedy-style films. The story is pretty good though, as is the acting and the music and the whole is watchable, but not good. What might have made it a notch worse for me, is that Spencer and Hill did not have their standard German voices, but I cannot really say, because…well it's obvious isn't it!?! Ok spaghetti western if you're into the more serious side of western. If you're more interested in comedy-western try a Trinity film.

6,5 out of 10 (with a 6 given upon voting)

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.