Terence Hill plays Cat Stevens, a gunman wounded and given refuge with a traveling circus, led by a ringmaster named Mimmi (Lionel Stander) and a reformed gunman named Thomas (Woody Strode).
When the men after Stevens return in the middle of a circus performance, they shoot a rope holding a flying acrobat aloft for sport. He plunges to his death.
Now Thomas has a reason to strap on his guns again.
Together with Hutch Bessy (Bud Spencer) and Baby Doll (George Eastman), they set out to right a couple of wrongs.
Before being wounded, Stevens was working in conjunction with small miners who were seeing their claims gobbled up by a corrupt mining company, led by a businessman named Fisher and a killer named Finch.
Together, they’ve cowered most of the miners into obedience and silence. But not Sharp, Cat’s good friend. And not McGavin, an Irishman who’s turned his home into a fortress.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Boone is arriving for the annual renewal of the mining leases.
Cat, Hutch and their new friends decide that would be the perfect time for a special circus performance.
Terence Hill as Cat Stevens, a gunman who finds refuge with a circus in Boot Hill (1969)
Bud Spencer as Hutch Bessy,, listens to Cat Stevens’ plea to help the miners in Boot Hill (1969)
Review:
Yep, the film stars Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as sidekicks. Nope, it’s not a comedy, though there’s a comedic touch here and there and the presence of a circus leads to some unusual twists over the course of a final showdown.
Short of classic, but better than average as Colizzi takes an interesting approach to his story. We’re a half hour into the film before we have any idea who Terence Hill’s character is or what he’s up to.
And the final half hour is devoted to an elaborate circus show ruse designed to arouse the downtrodden miners to fight for what it rightfully theirs.
The script is full of clever ideas. For example, check out the chorus line singing about items hidden under seats during the aforementioned performance. Some are executed much better than others.
Woody Strode as Thomas, a reformed gunman who finds cause to pick up his guns again in Boot Hill (1969)
Lionel Stander as Mimmi, leader of the circus in Boot Hill (1969)
Directed by:
Giuseppe Colizzi
Cast:
Terence Hill … Cat Stevens
Bud Spencer … Hutch Bessy
Woody Strode … Thomas
Lionel Stander … Mimmi
George Eastman … Baby Doll
as Luca Montefiori
Eduardo Ciannelli … Commissioner Boone
Enzo Fiermonte … Sharp
Wayde Preston … McGavin
Maurizio Manetti … Joe
Victor Buono … Honey Fisher
Glauco Onorato … Finch
Alberto Dell’Acqua … Sam
Nazzareno Zamperia … Charlie
Luciano Rossi ..
Also with: Dante Cleri, Antonio De Martino, Adriano Cornelli, Arnaldo Fabrizio, Romano Puppo, Mirella Panfili, Gaetano Imbro, Tita Garcia, Dino Strano, Alberigo Donadeo, Joaquin Parra, Fanco Balducci, Paolo Magalotti, Franco Ukmar, Elio Angelucci, Maurizio Moretti, Antonio Molino Rojo
aka:
Trinity Rides Again
Boots Hill
Score: Carlo Rustichelli
Runtime: 99 min.
Victor Buono as Honey Fisher, the businessman forcing miners to sell in Boot Hill (1969)
Glauco Onorato as Finch, Honey Fisher’s top gunman in Boot Hill (1969)
Memorable lines:
Cat Stevens: “Listen, I don’t like to have to thank somebody too many times.”
Thomas: “You don’t have to. You’re not the one I’m looking for. But you’ll make good bait for my trap. That’s my only reason to try to keep you alive.”
Thomas: “From what I understand, you owe a lot to this Sharp. What is he, a relative of yours?”
Cat Stevens: “No. Worse. He’s a friend.”
Thomas: “Stop worry, Mimmi, all your troubles are over.”
Mimmi: “What?”
Hutch Bessy: “He says your little troubles are over. And one so big you can’t imagine it is beginning.”
McGavin, pulling a gun on a mining company store clerk who won’t give him credit: “Ain’t as good as the guns you sell. But it’s good enough to make soup out of that filthy brain of yours.”
Cat Stevens to Fisher, after he’s gunned down a man: “That will send you to the gallows, don’t you reckon? Unless, you’d like to try your luck.”
George Eastman as Baby Doll, Hutch’s deaf mute assistant in Boot Hill (1969)
Maurizio Manetti as Joe, the young performer killed by Fisher’s men in Boot Hill (1969)
Trivia:
This marked the first featured Spaghetti role for longtime character actor Woody Strode. A year earlier, he played one of the gunman shot down in the opening scene of Sergio Leone’s classic, “Once Upon a Time in the West.”
George Eastman starred in several Spaghetti Westerns. Here, he has one of his strangest genre roles, as a deaf mute named Baby Doll who’s been taken in by Hutch Bessy (Bud Spencer). Of course, he rediscovers his ability to hear and talk in the middle of a barroom brawl at the end of the film.
“My Name is Trinity” didn’t come out until the following year, but made major stars of Hill and Spencer. That explains the remarketing of this film as “Trinity Rides Again,” even if the tone of this film is completely different.
Giuseppe Colizzi also directed the first two movies in which Hill and Spencer were paired — “God Forgives … I Don’t” (1967) and “Ace High” (1968). He’d reunite with them again in 1972 for “All the Way Boys,” a comedy in which they battle a villain taking advantage of miners in the Peruvian jungle.
Eduardo Ciannelli as Commissioner Boone, renewing mining rights in Boot Hill (1969)
Enzo Fiermonte as Sharp, a miner and Cat’s friend in Boot Hill (1969)
Wayde Preston as McGavin, the stubborn miner who won’t leave his land in Boot Hill (1969)
Bud Spencer as Hutch Bessy and Terence Hill as Cat Stevens watch the circus come back to life in Boot Hill (1969)
Nazzareno Zamperla, one of the trapeze artists with the circus in Boot Hill (1969)
Alberto Dell’Acqua, one of the trapeze artists in the circus, in disguise for a skit in Boot HIll (1969)
Luciano Rossi as Sammy, Fisher’s store clerk in Boot Hill (1960)
Terence Hill as Cat Stevens visits an old friend named Hutch in Boot Hill (1969)
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