God forgives... I don't! Review
God forgives...I don't (Dio perdona... Io no!)
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| GOD FORGIVES... I DON'T! (1967) |
Cast:
Director:
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This is the first movie with the duo Hill & Spencer, who would give the Italian western a new breath (and a new face) in the years to come. But this is not a comedy: it’s dark, sinister and violent. Director Colizzi had been brooding on a thriller-western for years, but the project only took its final shape after he had spent some time with Leone, both on the set and during the post-production of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The movie’s working title was Il Gatto, il Cane e la Volpe (The cat, the Dog and the Fox) and Colizzi had sold the rights to a producer, Fulvio Lucisano, who had appointed another director. When the affair was bogged down, Colizzi bought his rights back, and appointed himself as director. Another thing he did, was casting a heavily built actor for the Dog part, in contrast to the slender and good-looking Peter Martell, who would play the Cat. He thought of Carlo Pedersoli, a former swimming champion, who had represented his country at the Olympics, and had done some acting in the previous decade. He got Pedersoli’s wife on the phone, and asked her if her husband still looked like a swimmer. "No", she said, "today he looks more like a wrestler". That was exactly what Colizzi was looking for. Hill needed a bit of luck to get involved, or better: someone else’s bad luck. When the crew was already in Spain, Martell had an argument with his wife and broke either a toe or a leg. Officially Martell broke a toe when he kicked the leg of a chair during a futile quarrel with his wife, but according to some he broke a leg when he fell from the stairs of the Spanish hotel, after his wife had slapped him in the face because he had screwed a make-up artist. Anyway, Colizzi had only two months to make the movie and the works couldn’t be postponed. It’s often said he flew back to Rome to find a replacement, but according to some Hill was recommended to Colizzi by Manolo Bolognini, the producer of Django ( who knew Girotti from his production Little Rita of the West). Both Pedersoli and Girotti were asked to choose a name for the international market. Hill chose his name from a list that was handed over to him, apparently because T.H. were the initials of his mother, Spencer didn’t need a list: Spencer Tracy was his favourite actor and he was holding a bottle of his beloved Budweiser when he was asked to invent a pseudo.
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The film opens with a magnificent scene: a welcome party is waiting for the train to arrive, but when it does, it rolls on, and on, into the barricade at the end of the line. The train seems empty, but in reality it was robbed and all the passengers were massacred, except for one, a wounded man who was left for dead and apparently has lost his senses. It’s a discomforting scene, setting the tone for the film’s sinister atmosphere. Shortly after, we learn the only survivor lived long enough to tell the name of the bandit who robbed the train to a man called Hutch, who works as an investigator for an insurance company. The name, Bill San Antonio, belongs to a man who is believed to be shot in a duel by a gunman called Cat Stevens. Hutch reckons Cat also wants to find out what is going on, and proposes to join forces, but Cat prefers to work alone. He shakes off Hutch and sets out to find Bill San Antonio, with Hutch on his trail. When Cat is captured by the bandits, Hutch saves his life. Now the two men team up "to steal the stolen money" from the sadistic bandit and annihilate his gang in final showdown.
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The script betrays its history of multiple writings and rewritings. Due to a multitude of flashbacks and twists, viewers need all their attention to keep track of the story. But all this commotion can’t hide that the script is a kind of retelling of Leone’s For a Few Dollars More, with two men with contrasting methods joining forces (first reluctantly, then wholeheartedly) while persecuting a psychopathic bandit. However, the film’s conclusion, a so-called Mexican standoff in the desert, is closer to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, echoing the triello at Sad Hill Cemetery. The original title was dropped, but the idea of the three contrasting characters, symbolized by animal’s names, is still perceptible: Hill is the cat, climbing on roofs, nosing about, agile and swift, Spencer the tenacious dog, following a trail, Wolff the fox, sly, perfidious and bloodthirsty. Hill’s name in the movie (or in at least some versions), Cat Stevens, also seems a reminder of the dropped title.
The film works quite well, even though it’s occasionally a bit sluggish. Colizzi’s direction is assured, and cinematographer Alfio Contini makes excellent use of the Almeria locations. It was shot in the months of June and July of 1967, in atrocious heat, and you almost feel the scorching temperatures in some scenes. I was pleased by Carlo Rustichelli’s score too, especially the main theme, not your average assortment of trumpets, whistles and drums, but a gentle guitar, alternated with an orchestra and some very aggressive chants reminiscent of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Throughout the years, the movie has given quite a shock to fans of the Trinity movies : it’s pretty violent, occasionally downright nasty, with a woman kicked, another woman knocked out, several unarmed people brutally slaughtered, and arms and kneecaps perforated with bullets in order to paralyze an opponent. Not surprisingly, it’s the favourite Hill & Spencer movie of many fans of the diehard spaghettis.
Although Hill and Spencer are not really used as a duo, there are a few sparks of chemistry, announcing some of the great things to come. But the film definitely belong to Frank Wolff, as the red-headed Bill San Antonio, one of the genre’s great villains. He seems more modeled after El Indio than after Angel Eyes: he may even deliver a personal sermon. Not in a church though, in a barn. Colizzi was an excellent pupil, but there's only one Leone, and one El Indio.
References:
- Marco Giusti, Dizionario del Western All’Italia, 2007, Milano
- Terence Hill, The Official International website (English) > http://www.terencehill.com/
- Budterence, Bud Spencer and Terence Hill Style, Website dedicato a Bud Spencer e Terence Hill (Italian) > http://www.budterence.tk/
- Dio Perdona… Io no!, Wikipedia Italiano > http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dio_perdona..._io_no!
- Cultfilms en Kutfilms, God Forgives, I don’t (Dutch)> http://www.cultfilmsenkutfilms.com/quickies/god_forgives_i_dont.html
- Mexican Standoff : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_standoff
--By Scherpschutter
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