A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe

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.

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

While many people claim that "A Genius, Two Partners, and a Dupe" is a sequel to "My Name Is Nobody", it really isn't - Terence Hill's character here has a different name, and it's taking place before the events of MNIN. Sequel or not, what we have here is a very disappointing spaghetti western, one of the last that was made. For the longest time, there simply isn't any plot to be found. And when the plot DOES start, it unfolds in a very confusing manner. Klaus Kinski fans will be let down by the fact that he only appears for a few minutes. (He only seems to be in the film enough so that the movie could get German funding - the movie is an Italian, French, and German co-production.) Terence Hill is charming as ever, there is a great score by Ennio Morricone, and the scenery is fantastic, so the movie isn't a complete loss. Still, I would only recommend this to spaghetti western enthusiasts - and even they might find this tough to sit through.

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.

I've watched this movie in German and with many Terrence Hill movies, the German translation might often deviate heavily from its original script. It's incredibly cheaply produced - the explosions and action sequences aside - which you can see almost everywhere. I don't know, if that's usual for Terrence Hill movies, but I almost lost it in the end, where "Nobody" holds his final speech but the camera never shows his face, all while constantly panning over the other character's faces, yet only showing "Nobody's" hands. Also its very slapstick-heavy, which often falls flat with me.

I might recommend this, if you like Terrence Hill movies, but for others this isn't really worth watching.