Boot Hill (1969)

Victims of oppressive town boss Honey are offered help by an unusual alliance of gunmen and circus performers.

Director:

Giuseppe Colizzi

Writers:

Giuseppe Colizzi (subject and screenplay), Giuseppe Colizzi (screenplay)

Stars:

Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Woody Strode

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Terence Hill	...	Cat Stevens
Bud Spencer	...	Arch Hutch Bessy
Woody Strode	...	Thomas (as Woody Stroode)
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Judge Boone (as Edward Ciannelli)
George Eastman	...	Baby Doll (as Luca Montefiori)
Glauco Onorato	...	Finch
Alberto Dell'Acqua	...	Hans - Acrobat
Nazzareno Zamperla	...	Franz - Acrobat (as Neno Zamperla)
Victor Buono	...	Honey Fisher
Lionel Stander	...	Mamy
Leslie Bailey	...	John
Maurizio Manetti	...	Joe
Dante Cleri	...	Fisher's Lawyer
Antonio De Martino	...	Midget
Adriano Cornelli	...	Midget

Storyline

Honey Fisher has become a powerful man in this small Western town that has grown up around gold-prospecting fields. Fisher and his gang have managed, through swindling, murder, and terror, to gain leases on the important gold-yielding land in the area. A state commissioner comes to town to review the leases, which are crucial to Fisher's power. Cat Stevens and Hutch Bessy join forces with circus performers and townsfolk led by Stevens' friend Finch to fight against Fisher and his henchmen.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to tombstone arizona | italo western | reference to william shakespeare | boss | 19th century | 

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Taglines:

Those Trinity Boys Are Back! And As Wild As Ever

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Woody Strode received $75,000 for 10 weeks work, a huge jump from the $1,000 a week he was paid for " The Professionals ' just two years earlier.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mami: And now ladies and gentleman our most publicized attraction: The Flying Men.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits: Together once again Terence Hill Bud Spencer two likeable rogues in La Collina Degli Stivali.

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Alternate Versions

There exist three different German versions of this film

• original 1970 version, based on the export version
• re-dubbed ("funny") version, released at the end of the 70s, based on the export version
• East German version, released with a new dubbing in 1983, based on the original Italian version

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Connections

Referenced in Adjust Your Tracking (2013)

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Soundtracks

Sotto La Panca
Composed by Riz Ortolani and Giuseppe Colizzi (as G. Colizzi)
Cinevox Record

User Reviews

Nicely Shot and Entertaining Gimmicky Spaghetti Western

I approached this film with little to no expectations, after reading a few fairly negative reviews here on IMDb. I was pleasantly surprised.

The film opens up with Stephens (Terence Hill) trying to evade a posse of killers chasing him through a small town, where a circus is performing. After taking a bullet, Stephens eludes his would-be killers and stows away in a circus cart. We soon learn that one of Stephens fellow gunslingers is working as a trapeze artist with the circus. Ultimately it is revealed that a local exploitative mine owner is in control of the posse and one of his henchmen eventually crosses the circus performers. So the gunslinger, trapeze artists and a local itinerant official join forces to fight against the corrupt mob lead by Honey Fisher (Victor Buono).

The film is well-paced, though not as hurried as many spaghetti westerns sometimes are. The camera work is just a touch above the standard spaghetti western, and a little different from the standard approach. There are a lot of close-ups and the camera is used effectively to create an unsettling and downright weird atmosphere throughout a good portion of the film - this puts an unexpectedly sinister spin on the seeming novelty gimmick of circus performers in battle.

Director Collizzi did a masterful job with a script and story which were - by genre standards - merely OK. Some of the characters remain somewhat weakly developed, but this doesn't really detract from the film's entertainment value. The actors perform generally well (though the charismatic Lionel Stander gets just a little irritating at times).

Recommended for fans of the western genre.

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

20 December 1969 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Boot Hill: Trinity Rides Again

Filming Locations:

Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Gross USA:

$318,908

Company Credits

Production Co:

San Marco, Cronocinematografica S.p.a., B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor) (as Technicolor®)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1