''They Call Me Trinity'' ( it, Lo chiamavano Trinità...) is a 1970 Italian Spaghetti Western

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by

Enzo Barboni Enzo Barboni (7 July 1922 – 23 March 2002), sometimes credited by his pseudonym E.B. Clucher; the surname of his grandmotherp. 115 Wong, Alzia S. ''Spaghetti Westerns: A Viewer's Guide (National Cinemas)'' Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (15 ...

(under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of E.B. Clucher) and produced by Italo Zingarelli. The film stars

Terence Hill Terence Hill (born Mario Girotti; 29 March 1939) is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. He began his career as a child actor and gained international fame for starring roles in action and comedy films, many with longtim ...

and

Bud Spencer Carlo Pedersoli (31 October 1929 – 27 June 2016), known professionally as Bud Spencer, was an Italian actor, professional swimmer and water polo player. He was known for action-comedy and Spaghetti Western roles with his long-time film partn ...

as two brothers, Trinity and Bambino, who help defend a Mormon settlement from Mexican bandits and the henchman of the land-grabbing Major Harriman. It was filmed on location in

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, with financial backing from West Film. The sequel, ''

Trinity Is Still My Name ''Trinity Is Still My Name'' ( it, ...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità, lit. "...they kept calling him Trinity") is a 1971 Italian Spaghetti Western comedy film directed by Enzo Barboni. Starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, it is a sequel ...

'', was even more successful than ''They Call Me Trinity''. In 1995, '' Sons of Trinity'', starring Heath Kizzier and Keith Neubert, was released as a continuation of the Trinity series.

Plot

Trinity, a lazy,

ne'er-do-well "Ne'er-do-well" is a derogatory term for a good-for-nothing person; or a rogue, vagrant or vagabond without means of support. Colonial context The term ne'er-do-well was used in the nineteenth-century Australasian colonies to denote young Bri ...

gunfighter Gunfighters, also called gunslingers (), or in the 19th and early 20th centuries gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in gunfights and shootouts. Today, the t ...

with unnaturally fast drawing ability and marksmanship, is dragged on a

travois A travois (; Canadian French, from French , a frame for restraining horses; also obsolete travoy or travoise) is a historical frame structure that was used by indigenous peoples, notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America, to drag loads ove ...

by his horse to a way station and restaurant. There, he encounters a pair of bounty hunters with an injured Mexican prisoner. Trinity calmly takes the Mexican away from the two men, killing them before they can shoot him in the back. The pair reach a small town, where they witness the local sheriff, a large, burly man with a similarly fast drawing ability to Trinity, gunning down three men after they harass him for not allowing one of their criminal friends to be released. It becomes apparent that Trinity and the man, Bambino, are brothers. Bambino is merely posing as the new sheriff of the small town while he awaits the arrival of his gang from the penitentiary from which he escaped, following a run-in with the actual sheriff who incidentally took the same way as Bambino on his way to his new post. Bambino is not happy to see his trouble-making brother. However, the two form a temporary partnership to deal with Major Harriman, who is attempting to run a group of pacifist

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...

farmers off their land with the intention of using their property to graze his own horses. The fact that these horses are valuable and unbranded explains Bambino's grudging willingness to work with his little brother, even though he considers Trinity to be a shiftless bum without ambition. However, Trinity has fallen in love with two Mormon sisters and is genuinely concerned with the Mormon settlers' welfare. He persuades Bambino and Bambino's henchmen to help train the pacifistic Mormons to fight, and in the final battle, the Mormon leader finds in the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible that "there is a time for fighting," and the Mormons are unleashed against Major Harriman's goons, using the dirty fighting tricks that they have just learned. Bambino is flabbergasted and infuriated to learn that Trinity has given the Major's horses to the Mormons. Trinity is about to be happily married to the two Mormon sisters when he learns that being a married Mormon means actually having to work, causing him to hurry after Bambino, who angrily sends him off in the opposite direction. After Bambino departs for California, the real sheriff appears, and Trinity points him in Bambino's direction. Trinity then reclines in his travois and brings up the rear with his horse, following them all.

Cast

as Trinity, "The Right Hand of the Devil" *

as Bambino, "The Left Hand of the Devil" *

Farley Granger Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his two collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock: ''Rope'' in 1948 and '' Strangers on a Train'' in 1951. Granger was first noticed in a small ...

as Major Harriman *

Steffen Zacharias Steffen Zacharias (April 11, 1927 – June 6, 1989) was a German-born Greek American character actor known for his roles in films and television in America and Italy. Biography Born in Germany to Greek parents, Zacharias grew up in the Unite ...

as Jonathan * as Tobias *

Gisela Hahn Gisela Hahn (born ''Gisela Drenkhan''; 13 May 1943) is a German film actress. She has appeared in more than 40 films since 1964. She was born in Briesen. Selected filmography * ''The Merry Wives of Tyrol'' (1964) - Reni * ''In Bed by Eight'' ...

as Sarah * as Judith *

Ezio Marano Ezio Marano (6 August 1927, Brescia – 26 April 1991, Rome) was an Italian actor. Biography He made his debut in the theater in the mid-50s at the ''Piccolo Teatro'' in Milan under the guidance of Giorgio Strehler, in a long series of perfor ...

as Weasel *

Luciano Rossi Luciano Rossi (28 November 1934 – 29 May 2005) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 67 films between 1966 and 1987. He was born and died in Rome, Italy. Partial filmography * ''Ten Italians for One German'' (1962) - German Soldier ...

as Timid * as Drunken Mexican *

Ugo Sasso Ugo Sasso, born Domenico Pasquale Giuseppe Sasso (23 March 1910 - 21 July 1981), was an Italian film and television actor. Life and career Born in Turin, in the early 1930s Sasso moved to Rome to attend the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografi ...

as crippled Sheriff *

Remo Capitani Remo Capitani (19 December 1927 – 14 February 2014), also known as Ray O'Connor and Ray O'Conner, was an Italian actor from Rome. He was probably best known for his role in the western '' They Call Me Trinity'' as Mezcal, a Mexican thief. ...

as Mezcal *

Riccardo Pizzuti Riccardo Pizzuti (born 28 May 1934) is an Italian actor and stuntman. He is known for playing the role of gunfighter Morton Clayton in the 1972 film ''Man of the East''. Pizzuti appeared in '' They Call Me Trinity'', and its sequel '' Trinity Is ...

as Jeff * as Harriman Henchman * as Bounty Hunter *Gaetano Imbrò as Blond Bounty Hunter * Gigi Bonos as Ozgur, the Bartender

Production

Director

wrote the original story and screenplay for the film. Initially, the script only included the Trinity character and not Bambino but producer Italo Zingarelli suggested the inclusion of a brother. When the film was first announced,

Peter Martell Pietro Martellanza (30 September 1938 – 1 February 2010), best known as Peter Martell, was an Italian film actor who had numerous bigger roles in Spaghetti westerns. Sometimes he was credited as Pete Martell or Peter Martel. Born in Bolzano, h ...

was set to play Trinity and

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman ...

Bambino. The two characters were later portrayed by

and

, who were then a popular comic duo following the release of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film '' God Forgives... I Don't!'' in October 1967 in Italy, where they were cast as comedic and violent characters. Hill and Spencer did their own stunts in the film with the rest of the supporting cast being portrayed predominantly by stuntmen. Interiors and the towns in the film were shot at Incir De Paolis Studios in Rome. The stage station was shot at Magliana quarry in

, while the valley locations were shot at Parco Dei Monti Simbruini. The waterfall scene was shot at Treja Valley Park. The main title song was written by Franco Micalizzi and

Lally Stott Harold "Lally" Stott (16 January 1945 – 6 June 1977) was a British singer-songwriter and musician who wrote the song "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" which became a UK number one hit for the Scottish band Middle of the Road in 1971, and charting a ...

. It is sung by David King, who is billed as "Annibale" on Italian soundtrack releases. “Trinity: Titoli” was later used as the closing theme for

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

's 2012 Western ''

Django Unchained ''Django Unchained'' () is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Ch ...

''.

Release

''They Call Me Trinity'' was released just before Christmas in 1970 in Italy. The film was popular abroad, such as in Spain where it outgrossed all previous Italian Westerns except '' For A Few Dollars More''. It proved foundational for all future German dubs of films starring Hill and Spencer: the main dialogue was rewritten to be more humorous, with parts of the film silent in the original receiving additional dialogue from characters standing with their back to the camera. The film was released in the United States and United Kingdom in 1971. As of 2004, ''They Call Me Trinity'' was the 22nd most successful Italian film, one position below ''

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...

''. Following the popularity of the film, derivative films were released such as ''

Two Sons of Trinity ''Two Sons of Trinity'' ( it, I due figli dei Trinità) is a 1972 Italian western-comedy film written and directed by Osvaldo Civirani and starring the comic duo Franco and Ciccio. The film features Anna Degli Uberti as Calamity Jane, Claudio Ruffi ...

'' and the ''Carambola'' series which featured Hill and Spencer lookalikes Michael Coby and

Paul L. Smith Paul Lawrence Smith (June 24, 1936 – April 25, 2012) was an American-Israeli actor. Burly, bearded and imposing, he appeared in feature films and occasionally on television since the 1970s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys. His most no ...

. Other films also started with the ''They Call Me...'' title, including ''They Call Me Hallelujah'', ''They Call Me Cemetery'', and ''They Call Me Holy Ghost''.

Critical reception

Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' praised the film's sense of humour, as did Roger Ebert, who gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars. In a review published by '' Time Out'', the film is called "first and best in the 'Trinity' series of spaghetti Westerns, rare in that it is successful in combining laughter and some degree of interest in the action". In his book ''Once Upon a Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns'', author Howard Hughes writes "''They Call Me Trinity'' is Hill and Spencer’s finest vehicle".

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* * {{Enzo Barboni 1970 films Mormonism in fiction Spaghetti Western films 1970s Western (genre) comedy films Films set in the 19th century Terence Hill and Bud Spencer Films about identity theft Films shot in Abruzzo Films scored by Franco Micalizzi 1970 comedy films 1970s Italian films