Prior reviewers in this forum have been a bit more generous than I'm prepared to be. This was my first Bud Spencer film, and I found it to be adequate at best. If not for the sneering presence of Jack Palance there might not have been enough to hold my interest.
Spencer's character is Hiram Coburn, who's gimmick with the eyeglasses portends someone about to get hurt, though that convention falls away by the end of the story. He's a slow to get riled caretaker for a young Chip Anderson (Renato Cestie) who has to slug his way through a slew of bad hombres until the payoff. The orphan boy is the sole owner of 'Welldigger's Roost', a ramshackle cabin in the ramshackle town of Westland, but the object of much interest by the town's all around judge/preacher/sheriff Franciscus (Francisco Rabal), and a curious dirt eating prospector. The old coot has a taste for gold, but it's an oil gusher that eventually proves out on the 'Roost'.
Until that point, Coburn stays busy dodging Sonny Bronston (Palance) and his sister Mary (Dany Saval). Sonny wants to make an honest woman of his sister, apparently after a fling with Coburn, although if you follow the film closely, that's not really ever made clear. Mary pretends to be pregnant, which puts her brother's plans for killing Coburn on hold, but Coburn himself never really fesses up to the deed. The best line of the film is his during the wedding ceremony which he attends hogtied -
Mary - "But why have they got you tied up?" Coburn - "To restrain my enthusiasm."
Though filmed in color, there are a fair amount of drab sequences that look virtually black and white. The print I viewed also seemed to be badly edited, subject to jump cuts that change the direction of the story on a dime; it occurred enough times to be annoying.
I liked Palance in the flick, almost a two decade preview of his character(s) in the "City Slickers" franchise. Whether on purpose or not, he changes accents frequently in the picture, with his Mexican take the best. It's a hoot to see his 'girls' fawning all over him; one gets the impression they might have been part of a traveling whorehouse, but they never did more than kick up their heels at the Westland saloon. Except for Mary, they could have all gotten a bit more screen time, amigo.
Spencer's character is Hiram Coburn, who's gimmick with the eyeglasses portends someone about to get hurt, though that convention falls away by the end of the story. He's a slow to get riled caretaker for a young Chip Anderson (Renato Cestie) who has to slug his way through a slew of bad hombres until the payoff. The orphan boy is the sole owner of 'Welldigger's Roost', a ramshackle cabin in the ramshackle town of Westland, but the object of much interest by the town's all around judge/preacher/sheriff Franciscus (Francisco Rabal), and a curious dirt eating prospector. The old coot has a taste for gold, but it's an oil gusher that eventually proves out on the 'Roost'.
Until that point, Coburn stays busy dodging Sonny Bronston (Palance) and his sister Mary (Dany Saval). Sonny wants to make an honest woman of his sister, apparently after a fling with Coburn, although if you follow the film closely, that's not really ever made clear. Mary pretends to be pregnant, which puts her brother's plans for killing Coburn on hold, but Coburn himself never really fesses up to the deed. The best line of the film is his during the wedding ceremony which he attends hogtied -
Mary - "But why have they got you tied up?" Coburn - "To restrain my enthusiasm."
Though filmed in color, there are a fair amount of drab sequences that look virtually black and white. The print I viewed also seemed to be badly edited, subject to jump cuts that change the direction of the story on a dime; it occurred enough times to be annoying.
I liked Palance in the flick, almost a two decade preview of his character(s) in the "City Slickers" franchise. Whether on purpose or not, he changes accents frequently in the picture, with his Mexican take the best. It's a hoot to see his 'girls' fawning all over him; one gets the impression they might have been part of a traveling whorehouse, but they never did more than kick up their heels at the Westland saloon. Except for Mary, they could have all gotten a bit more screen time, amigo.