The Crazy Bunch (1974)

George Hilton is Tricky Dicky and he’s determined to get his hands on $100,000 stolen from a mail train at Yuma Junction.

Rumor has it, Frank “The Fairy” made off with the loot, leaving gang leader Fruitti Tutti (Riccardo Garrone) and the rest of the men empty-handed.

Problem is, Frank’s been tossed in an insane asylum, where he’s using the name Slim Proportions.

To get into the asylum, Tricky Dicky has partner Bambi (Cris Huerta) pretend to be an arch duke who’s gone mad with democratic ideals.

When the asylum director is trying to zap those liberal notions out of Bambi’s head with electro shock therapy, Tricky goes looking for Frank.

He finds him, only to discover the key to the chest holding the stolen loot is likely in the possession of his uncle Drakeman, who works as a one-man circus in Cactus River.

And Tricky Dicky’s trouble’s only begun. Tutti Fruitti is after the loot. So are the Striker Brothers. Cactus River is home to a KKK faction that hates politicians.

Plus, lurking around nearly every corner is Twinkle Toes (Tony Norton), determined to force Tricky into a showdown.

Review:

Take any 15 minutes of this film and you’ll find more clever ideas than many of the Spaghetti comedies can offer up over the course of an entire film.

The problem is, this one amounts to silliness, piled upon silliness, piled upon more silliness, with the barest excuse of a plot to hold it all together.

If you’re in the mood for silly, that’s great. If you settled in to watch a Spaghetti Western, move on to one of Hilton and Carnimeo’s earlier efforts.

Some of the best gags come when our “heroes” arrive at the asylum to encounter a director as mad as the inmates, a patient named Sitting Bull with an invisible chair and the Colorado Express, which amounts to four patients chugging around the asylum like a choo-choo.

All of which leads to Drakeman, the man who’s supposed to have the key, a man who says he can make anything appear in his top hat.

Asked to produce a key, he reaches in an pulls out a giant safety pin. Trying again, he comes up with scissors. Think the third time is a charm? He pulls out a can of sardines.

But wait! It has a key, the one used to unseal the can.

Directed by:
Giuliano Carnimeo
as Anthony Ascott

Cast:
George Hilton … Tresette
Chris Huerta … Bambi / Paco
Riccardo Garrone … Frisco Joe / Frutti Tutti
Umberto D’Orsi … Asylum director
Gino Pagnani … Director’s assistant
Nello Pazzafini … Carlo Striker
Dante Maggio … Drakeman
Enzo Maggio … Frank Faina
Renato Baldini … Bank director
Memmo arotenuto … Letto
Tony Norton … Veleno / Twinkle Toes / Poison
Aldo Cecconi .. Striker brother
Sergio Smacchi … Pimple Nose Striker

Also with:

Runtime: 93 min.

Ettore Arena, Oscar Giustini, Ottorino Polentini, Sergio Smacchi, Pietro Ceccarelli, Dante Cleri, Goffredo Unger, Fortunato Arena, Riccardo Petrazzi, Pietro Torrisi, Artemio Antonini, Veriano Ginesi, Sergio Ukmar, Claudio Ruffini, Ennio Colaianni, Furio Meniconi, Renzo Pevarello, Alfonso Giganti, Maria De Sisti, Valentino Simeoni, Giglio Gigli

aka:
Di Tressette ce n’è uno, tutti gli altri son nessuno
Dicke Luft in Sacramento

Music: Alessandro Alessandroni

Memorable lines:

Tresette, instigating a round of fisticuffs with three bad guys: “Boys, for heaven’s sake, simple shoot-outs are boring, wouldn’t you say?”

A henchman, after getting punched by Tutti Fruiti yet again: “C’mon, if you’re not careful, you’re going to knock all the sense out of me.”

Sitting Bull, an asylum patient, after Tresette steals his invisible chair: “Hey, what are you going to do about him? He took my chair away. Now I’m Standing Bull.”

KKK leader: “Now, let’s explain what we’re going to do with this politician. First, we’ll put him through the agony of telling the truth for two minutes …”

Trivia:

This was a sequel to 1973’s “A Man Called Invincible,” which introduced viewers to Tricky Dicky, Bambi and Twinkle Toes, all of whom reprise their roles here. The earlier and better film also included Rosalba Neri and Ida Galli, neither of whom returned for this one.

This marked the final Western for Giuliano Carnimeo, who’s best known for directing four “Find a Place to Die” and four Sartana films. That said, his first Western was also a comedy. In 1966, he co-directed “Two Sons of Ringo,” starring the comedy team of Franco and Ciccio. Also in the cast for that film — George Hilton in one of his first Spaghettis.

Renato Baldini (right) as the bank director with a cannon in his vault in The Crazy Bunch (1974)

Umberto D’Orsi as the asylum director, preparing to try shock therapy on Bambi (Cris Huerta) in The Crazy Bunch (1974)