Cris Huerta is Sheriff Bambi, who started his career in Kansas City and has managed to work his way down to smaller and smaller towns over the course of his law enforcement career.
Perhaps that’s why Apple City banker Archibald McPiedish and Mayor Clarence Apple decide he’ll need assistance when they send a gold shipment to Dallas.
So they summon a scoundrel named Tricky Dicky (George Hilton). Let’s just say the sheriff is skeptical, and even more so when Tricky decides the gold should be transported in the most pimped-out of medicine wagons.
Tricky’s logic: Who would suspect gold would be hidden in a contraption such as this?
Lots of people, it turns out. The sheriff and Tricky manage to dupe them all, only to reach Dallas and learned they’ve been duped.
The gold in their possession is lead painted gold. So the newly duped are dumped in jail.
They escape with the help of some sky blue paint and set out to find out who’s behind this dastardly caper.
Review:
A comedy Western in the mold of a road runner cartoon that’s funnier than it has a right to be. Which means it’s watchable at a time when lots of Spaghetti comedies weren’t.
Among the neatest gimmicks is a versatile music box Tricky Dicky carries around. Early in the film, he pulls it out during an encounter with longtime nemesis Twinkle Toes.
Tricky winds up the music box and it shoots the black leather outfit right off Twinkle Toes, leaving him nude. Then Tricky shoots down a fig leaf to help Twinkle avoid further embarrassment.
The film also features plenty of bawdy jokes, especially about homosexuality. And the fact that the English dub has a lead character named Tricky Dicky in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal isn’t an accident. That point is pressed home by the film’s final jokes.
You’ll also spot Spaghetti heroines Ida Galli (Evelyn Stewart) and Rosalba Neri. Ida is a baker known for her sugary creations; Rosalba a woman teased for the hair on her upper lip.
George Hilton as Tricky Dicky in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Cris Huerta as Sheriff Bambi in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Directed by:
Giuliano Carnimeo
Cast:
George Hilton … Tricky Dicky
Cris Huerta … Sheriff Bambi
Ida Galli … Miss Marlene
as Evelyn Stewart
Sal Borgese … Salvatore Papparlardo
Umberto D’Orsi … Archibald McPiedish
Tony Norton … Twinkle Toes
Rosalba Neri … Miss Pappalardo
Nello Pazzafini … Aureola Joe
Dante Cleri … Mayor Clarence Apple
Runtime: 104 min.
aka:
Lo chiamavano Tresette… giocava sempre col morto
In the West, There Was a Man Named Invincible
Once Upon a Time in the West, There Was a Man Named Invincible
Tricky Dicky
They Called Him the Player with the Dead
Music: Bruno Nicolai
Ida Galli (Evelyn Stewart) as Miss Marlene in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Umberto D’Orsi as Archibald McPiedish and Dante Cleri as Mayor Clarence Apple in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Memorable lines:
Bambi of Tricky Dicky: “He’d sell his mother up the river on the installment plan.”
Miss Marlene: “Mr. Dicky, do sit down. Please.”
McPiedish, when a rooster starts crowing: “That cock is fast. And I set him right only yesterday. Can’t trust a bird.”
Miss Marlene: “I’m not Mr. McPiedish. I don’t like hands up my dress.”
Twinkle Toes, which Tricky Dicky is reluctant to engage: “So you’re scared, huh?”
Tricky Dicky: “It’s just that we shouldn’t make bangs in front of a monastery.”
Sal Borgese as Salvatore Papparlardo (center) with his two brothers in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Rosalba Neri as Miss Pappalardo in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Trivia:
In non-English versions of the film, George Hilton’s character was named Tresette, which is an Italian trick-taking card game. Those are Italian playing cards Ida Galli turns over in her first meeting with Tricky Dicky.
This film spawned a sequel — Di Tresette ce n’è uno, tutti gli altri son nessuno — released the following year. Once again, George Hilton was named Tresette or Tricky Dicky, depending on the version you watch. Cris Huerto, Nello Pazzafini and Umberto D’Orsi also returned, albeit in different roles. The film was “The Crazy Bunch” in the English-language version.
Tony Norton as Twinkle Toes in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Nello Pazzafini as Aureola Joe in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
Cris Huerta as Sheriff Bambi with his horse, Mr. Thompson in A Man Called Invincible (1973)
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