Trinity is still my Name Review

From The Spaghetti Western Database
Jump to: navigation, search
Conituna2.jpg
View Database page

The sequel was made shortly after They call me Trinity, but the release was postponed because of the enduring success of the first movie (*1). Theatres in Italy kept programming it, and director Barboni and producer Zingarelli were afraid the second film would harm the success of the first.

Trinity is still my Name wouldn't be a sequel if it didn't offer more of the same - that is: more fistfights, more jokes and more beans. In the first scene four bandits are duped by Bambino, who steals their beans and knocks one of them so hard on the head that he'll stay in some kind of bewilderment throughout the entire movie. In the second scene the same four bandits are duped by Trinity, who says he'll only save the winner of a threesome fistfight, and kill the other two. When the last man standing looks up, Trinity is gone ... There's not too much 'story' in this sequel. Trinity and Bambino repeatedly help out a poor family of protestant settlers (they wanted to rob in the first place), and eventually defend a monastery against a group of gun runners from both sides of the border, but that's about it. Barboni and the two actors knew that an intricate storyline could come in the way of the fluency of the proceedings, so they concentrated on the jokes.


Schermafdruk 2016-12-10 19.27.39.png

The threesome fistfight pays homage to one of the most famous scenes in any Italian western, il triello, the final shootout in Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (it also seems to refer to a similar scene in Sergio Corbucci'sThe Specialists; if so, Barboni honours 'the other Sergio' as well). Both scenes are followed by a dinner scene, set at the parental home of the two brothers. Mother prepares a copious homecoming dinner, while their no-good father fakes a stroke: he's afraid his two good-natured sons will become honest men in life, and asks them to promise to be good bandits until they die and always work together. Of course Trinity and Bambino try to respect their father's wish, but they're so kind and generous they inevitably end up on the good side of things.

As said, the movie offers more of the same, but it's also a bit different. To begin with, it's less raunchy and vicious than its predecessor: the first movie had been a success among Italians of all ages, so it was decided that the sequel would become 'family friendly'. The first movie had still offered some spaghetti western violence and the Mormon girls had proposed a threesome wedding; in the sequel Trinity and Bambino are still crooks, but no opponents are killed and Trinity’s flirtations are completely innocent: his love interest - all freckles and smiles - is happy with a kiss on the cheek. There’s no trace left of the usual anti-clerical feelings of many spaghetti westerns: the boys help a monastic order against a gang of gun-runners, and there’s a particularly funny profane - but innocuous - joke, with Spencer demolishing a confessional box, because he thinks a priest who is praying (“all of a sudden the man started talking to himself!”), must have some ugly things in mind. The function of the scene is to prove that this big, ill-tempered and ill-mannered person is a good guy after all: if his behaviour is blasphemous, it’s because he simply doesn’t understand the meaning of things!


Schermafdruk 2016-12-02 22.01.19.png

While the opening scene paid homage to Leone (and probably Corbucci), the homecoming scene pays homage to John Ford: the father is played by Ford actor Harry Carey Jr. and even though there are some bad table manners in display, the circle of the family is presented as a save haven in the wilderness. The casting of Jessica Dublin as the mother was possibly a joke: she's younger than her two sons! The film's highlight is a scene that was not in the original script but improvised by Hill and Spencer. It's set in a posh French restaurant and has all the broad and irresistible humour the movies are famous for. When Trinity is still my Name was finally released, it broke all the records and became the most successful Italian western movie ever.

Notes:

  • (1) Marco Giusti, Dizionario del western all'italiano

Cast: Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Yanti Somer, Hary Carey Jr., Jessica Dublin, Pupo De Luco, Benito Stefanelli, Franco Ressel, Dana Ghia, Emilio Delle Piane, Enzo Fiermonte, Antonio Monselesan [as Tony Norton] - Music: Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Director: Enzo Barboni

Simon Gelten
Simon Gelten is a long time contributor to the SWDb. "I'm not as old as Tom B. but I'm working on it. I hope to catch up with him by the end of the next decade.", he says. Simon saw all movies by Sergio Leone and several by Sergio Corbucci in cinema, most of the time in Eindhoven, the city where he was born. Currently, Simon is living in Turnhout, Belgium. Simon is active within the database as both Scherpschutter and his alter ego Tiratore Scelto.
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.