Boot Hill

source: Boot Hill

Trailer—La collina degli stivali

La collina degli stivali

I bought this movie because it was sold as a set with "Trinity is Still My Name" and was advertised as a sequel to the two Trinity movies. It was actually produced 2 years before "They Call Me Trinity" and the only thing that "Boot Hill" (AKA "Trinity Rides Again") has in common with the other Trinity movies is Terence Hill. "Boot Hill" is long, boring and doesn't hold together. I tried to watch it, but found myself fast-forwarding through it, waiting for something interesting to happen. I wound up throwing "Boot Hill" away.

This Spaghetti Western was the third teaming of popular duo Terence Hill and Bud Spencer; the previous two were also in the same genre and directed by Colizzi. Unfortunately, its muddled plot line of gold-prospecting and claim-jumping (shades of the Rex Beach venerable "The Spoilers") is rendered even less intelligible in the budget DVD edition I watched by the rampant panning-and-scanning throughout – which cramps the on screen action so much that what remains is virtually a succession of disconnected close-ups! The only original touch here is the fact that the heroes are aided in their struggle against the villainous exploiters by a troupe of traveling circus performers; one other point in its favor is a solid supporting cast, which includes not only familiar genre presences such as George Eastman but a clutch of Hollywood veterans – namely Lionel Stander, Woody Strode, Eduardo Ciannelli and Victor Buono (as the outwardly respectable chief baddie).

Boot Hill (La collina degli stivali), directed and written by Giuseppe Colizzi, starring Terence Hill, Woody Strode, Victor Buono, Bud Spencer, Lionel Stander and Eduardo Ciannelli. Music by Carlo Rustichelli and cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi. A Technicolor/Techniscope production! Boot Hill is very much an acquired taste. One man's art canvas is another man's paper mache head, such is the case here with this messy, muddled Spaghetti Western, a pic that has strong fans and haters in equal measure. Personally I hated it, it was 90 minutes of motion sickness and staccato editing, with a musical score veering from plains driving grandeur to acid induced circus shrills. Cast are fine enough, though there's dubbing for dubbing's sake, while an extended over acted barroom brawl at finale is a fun time at least, but really it has to be your thing to enjoy as a whole. A bowl of spaghetti sieved through a kaleidoscopic colander. 1/10

I have seen alot of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies and this is one of the first I ever saw and i have to say, it sucks! It's just awful. The plot is about a guy named Cat Stevens ( Terence Hill ) who was shot buy some bandits and a circus trupe helps him recover. Cat Stevens needs to get revenge and avenge the death of a circus performer who helped him recover. he asks his old buddy Hutch Bessy (Bud Spencer) to help him. This movie may sound good, but believe me, its not!!!!!! I suggest you see either They Call me Trinity , Trinity is STILL my name , My name is Nobody , Crime Busters or Watch Out...Were mad!

The U.S. TV print of this film is awful. There is no pan and scan so there are long sequences where nothing is in the center of the screen! I found myself almost hallucinatory after an hour of this film. None of the American actors dubbed their own voices with the possible exception of Lionel Stander. Terrence Hill plays it straight here. I would be very interested to see this film in Italian, subtitled and letterboxed. If you get the Trinity box set here in the U.S., I recommend you throw Boot Hill out immediately, unwatched.

Third and rarest pairing of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer after God Forgives... I Don't (1966) and Ace High (1967), both by director Colizzi, before the Trinity films turned them into Italy's most dubious exports of the Seventies. Hill was given these cold-eyed roles before the more familiar slaparound antics; here he plays a grimy cheroot-huffin' hombre called `Trouble', who enlists a traveling circus (led by Woody Strode and Lionel Stander) to defeat a money-grubbing land baron (Batman's King Tut, Victor Buono). Like all good Spaghetti Westerns, Boot Hill combines claustrophobic visuals and a lumpen left wing philosophy, with the added novelty of the circus backdrop. Bud's almost a supporting player, but thankfully the dumb ox still gets to throw his weight around. Recommended, muchachos.

Misleadingly promoted as a "Trinity" film, "Boot Hill" can barely even be classified as a "Bud Spencer-Terence Hill" film, since it gives the two stars very few chances to exercise their teamwork (Spencer appears after the first half-hour). The story is confusing, and the direction is annoying: for one thing, many action scenes take place in the dark, and for another, the camera focuses a little too closely on the actors; too often half the action appears to have been chopped off the sides of the screen, even though the version I watched was letterboxed. Not recommended. (*1/2)