This film is called "Cane e gatto", which obviosuly means "Cat and Dog", but the official international title is "Thieves and Robbers". Of course, with the German title the went for one that includes the name "Bud" in the title to make obvious how big of a star Spencer was here in Germany and still is. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to watch one of his movies on the big screen and it is nice they are still shown in movie theaters here and there, even after his death, so people from the next generation, maybe those who werenÄt even born when he died, get in touch with his great body of work. This movie we have here will most likely never be shown in theaters again, or only very rarely and I watched it on television last night. It runs for minimally over 1.5 hours, so not a particularly long film, but also not super short. The director is Bruno Corbucci and this was certainly not the only occasion on which he worked with Spencer/Pedersoli. He is also one of the two writers which makes sense because he may have been a prolific director, but his more frequent profession was coming up with screenplays. First credit here is of course Bud Spencer already, who was in his early 50s when this was made and a bit of a star. At least a bigger star than his co-lead Tomas Milian here. The Italian title is kinda more fitting I would say because these two constantly end up together, but cannot really stand each other, although it is a friendly kind of approach and maybe deep down inside they actually likeeach other a bit. At least Bud does not beat his co-lead up here on several occasions as he could. Instead he just proves he is smarter, well not always, and gets in the way of his many escapes. Or at least tries to. The little guy is fairly sneaky, so sometimes he has an actual shot at getting away. Another name maybe bigger than what you usually getw with Bud Spencer films is Marc Lawrence, who worked wit Tarantino, appeared in two Bond movies and over 200 other projects. He plays the main antagonist this time. He was already really old back then, but still lived on for another 20 years. Spencer plays a cop here, who is hiding under an alternative identity though, so nobody knos about his real profession. Namely he pretends to be a salesman, which results in some scenes when he is selling stuff to people, like washing machines, or just talking to people why said washing machines are not properly working. This is for the comedy for sure. Well, could have been funnier. Even if it is not always him who does most of the talking, it becomes obvious that physical comedy is more his strength than verbal comedy. He also uses this fake profession in order to get in touch with people close to targets and basically wait for them there like he does with Milian's character's mother on one occasion. Still he is a really good cop, must be said. He always gets the job done, but others screw up, so he has to catch Milian's character more than once. And well, the final scene when the gigolo runs from the wedding (can you blame him?) is kinda symbolic as it is really a cat-and-mouse game between these two, more than a cat-and-dog game, althought his applies to because Milian's character is far from a mouse in terms of harmlessness. It all fits better than the international title because the main character here is neither a thief nor a robber and honestly, the co-lead is not any of these things either. What I actually wanted to say is that the ending summarizes the film nicely in a comedic way and the way they did it reminded me a bit of Spencer's films with Terence Hill. There is also always a bit of a funny conflict for closure.
So I just mentioned Hill and as you can see from the title of my review, I think that Milian did a fairly nice job replacing Hill in here. Here in Germany, this duo Spencer/Hill is really famous. Butg Milian is fine, makes the character his own already and Hill would not have fit too well. Hill is more of a hunk and handsome than a sleazy gigolo. It is for good reason that this film is not too famous here in Germany despite Spencer being in it. At least not as famous as his many films with Hill or where he is the one and only undisputed lead. As for the story, you see the bad guys being criminals in many films starring Spencer. This time it goes against the Mafia. Admittedly, Lawrence's character may not be the most famous godfather out there. Or at least not the most capable because it's already cringeworthy how he lets the witness get awway the first time. Luckily, they did take a route here that is accurate when it comes to the Mafia being part of a film. The guy where Milian's character witnesses the murder is indeed killed, even if not very graphically for us to see. They keep these harmless. But then later on, there is this killer squad scene when we have 20 mobsters or so come out of cars and they keep firing at the train wagon where they think the two are inside. Of course, they are faster again. Not too frequent that you see Spencer running from something or somebody, but if a whole lot of automatic guns are involved, even he does. This may have to do with the fact that normally there are not really guns involved in his films, so he can just beat them up with his bare fists. But going up againstg the Mafia, this would have been pretty ridiculous admittedly, so reight decision here by the two writers to take a slightly different route. At the end, however, it is standard Spencer and there is a big brawl where he prevails before the bad guy is submitted to the police with evidence to lock him away for the rest of his life. This evidence would be the tape that Milian's character also has on an early occasion when he tries to trick the watchdog. A bit unrealistic he has it with him there. Just like he does when he witnesses the murder. Or also how the police force is almost completely absent throughout the movie and it's basically the two main characters (with the help of one or two others at the end) going up against Cosa Nostra. Then again, Bud Spencer films are never about realism, always about fun and, even if this one here differs a bit from the general approach of these, this is still very true here. There are many fun moments. Like when Buddy talks about how it is sadly not possible yet to iron clothes inside washing machines. Sadly, now in 2020 we are still not able to do so and looks as if it's gonna take a long time still until science is that progressive. Another recurring joke I found funny is the one about calling the lawyer. Spencer's character is tricked there as well early on, but in the end he is part of this scheme too in order to take care of the bad guys. Of course, it is entirely subjective what you find funny here and what not so much. Maybe Milian's character's constant bantering with women eventually gets old, maybe you disagree, although the scene with the doctor was still decently funny. However, I think it is almost impossible you will not laugh or at least smile at all when watching this film. I give it a positive recommendation with almost zero hesitation, even if real greatness is not included here. Yoou don't need my recommendation though I'm sure. If you consider checking this one out, I am positive you have seen many of the Spencer classics already and can make up you mind yourself. It is not a film that is a great choice to start with when it comes to Pedersoli/Spencer. Rather one to watch when you have seen ten films or so already. Go for it nonetheless! Also to see the rarity of a Bud Spencer character being married with (many) children.
So I just mentioned Hill and as you can see from the title of my review, I think that Milian did a fairly nice job replacing Hill in here. Here in Germany, this duo Spencer/Hill is really famous. Butg Milian is fine, makes the character his own already and Hill would not have fit too well. Hill is more of a hunk and handsome than a sleazy gigolo. It is for good reason that this film is not too famous here in Germany despite Spencer being in it. At least not as famous as his many films with Hill or where he is the one and only undisputed lead. As for the story, you see the bad guys being criminals in many films starring Spencer. This time it goes against the Mafia. Admittedly, Lawrence's character may not be the most famous godfather out there. Or at least not the most capable because it's already cringeworthy how he lets the witness get awway the first time. Luckily, they did take a route here that is accurate when it comes to the Mafia being part of a film. The guy where Milian's character witnesses the murder is indeed killed, even if not very graphically for us to see. They keep these harmless. But then later on, there is this killer squad scene when we have 20 mobsters or so come out of cars and they keep firing at the train wagon where they think the two are inside. Of course, they are faster again. Not too frequent that you see Spencer running from something or somebody, but if a whole lot of automatic guns are involved, even he does. This may have to do with the fact that normally there are not really guns involved in his films, so he can just beat them up with his bare fists. But going up againstg the Mafia, this would have been pretty ridiculous admittedly, so reight decision here by the two writers to take a slightly different route. At the end, however, it is standard Spencer and there is a big brawl where he prevails before the bad guy is submitted to the police with evidence to lock him away for the rest of his life. This evidence would be the tape that Milian's character also has on an early occasion when he tries to trick the watchdog. A bit unrealistic he has it with him there. Just like he does when he witnesses the murder. Or also how the police force is almost completely absent throughout the movie and it's basically the two main characters (with the help of one or two others at the end) going up against Cosa Nostra. Then again, Bud Spencer films are never about realism, always about fun and, even if this one here differs a bit from the general approach of these, this is still very true here. There are many fun moments. Like when Buddy talks about how it is sadly not possible yet to iron clothes inside washing machines. Sadly, now in 2020 we are still not able to do so and looks as if it's gonna take a long time still until science is that progressive. Another recurring joke I found funny is the one about calling the lawyer. Spencer's character is tricked there as well early on, but in the end he is part of this scheme too in order to take care of the bad guys. Of course, it is entirely subjective what you find funny here and what not so much. Maybe Milian's character's constant bantering with women eventually gets old, maybe you disagree, although the scene with the doctor was still decently funny. However, I think it is almost impossible you will not laugh or at least smile at all when watching this film. I give it a positive recommendation with almost zero hesitation, even if real greatness is not included here. Yoou don't need my recommendation though I'm sure. If you consider checking this one out, I am positive you have seen many of the Spencer classics already and can make up you mind yourself. It is not a film that is a great choice to start with when it comes to Pedersoli/Spencer. Rather one to watch when you have seen ten films or so already. Go for it nonetheless! Also to see the rarity of a Bud Spencer character being married with (many) children.