Two aging homesteaders who have struck it rich die in a blaze of glory — a gun battle with bandits led by a man named Rio (Fernando Sancho) who’s determined to learn the location of their mine.
Instead, one of the men elicits a dying wish — that news get back to their nearest relatives in Sicily, Italy, that they’re inherited a gold mine.
And so Franco Capone (Franco Franchi) and Ciccio Capone (Ciccio Ingrassia) head to the Wild West, knowing they now own a mine, but not knowing where it’s located.
Once they get there, it turns out that Rio and his bandits won’t be their only concern.
Saloon owner Ramirez (Aroldo Tieri) is scheming to get the mine as well, as he’ll have the help of two pretty ladies — Betty Blanc and Mary Simpson — capable of turning the newcomers’ heads.
There are Indians lurking about too. And don’t trust that old wisetale about how they won’t attack twice in the same day.
But somehow, the bumbling newcomers wind up being appointed co-sheriffs.
Which gets them lots of attention from the local undertaker, who’s very well aware that sheriffs don’t tend to live long in this Wild West town of Puerca Vaca.
Ciccio Ingrassia as Ciccio Capone, taking aim at a target he’s sure to miss in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Franco Franchi as Franco Capone, being used as target practice by the Indians in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Review:
Typical Franco and Ciccio comedy with a few genuinely funny scenes wrapped up in lots and lots of silliness.
The silliness would include two saloon brawls, a bartender who keeps flinging glasses of beer so quickly our heroes can’t catch them, pink and baby blue Indian teepees and one of the strangest Indian dances you’re likely to see.
Among the genuinely funny bits is one in which Franco and Ciccio are so focused on shortening a prison term for good behavior, that they don’t realize someone has bribed the guards to let them escape.
So they alert the guard in charge of an open gate. And then of the fact that the other guards have left their rifles unattended. Exasperated, the bribed guard finally has to kick them out of prison.
Helen Chanel and Ana Casares look lovely as the saloon girls (Betty and Mary, respectively) under Ramirez’s influence, but are given little to do.
Oh, and the location of the gold mine is finally revealed. That’s done in a rather unusual manner.
Fernando Sancho as Rio, leader of the Mexican bandits trying to get the gold mine in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Aroldo Tieri as Ramirez, the saloon owner plotting to get the gold mine in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Directed by:
Giorgio Simonelli
Cast:
Franco Franchi … Franco Capone
Ciccio Ingrassia … Ciccio Capone
Aroldo Tieri … Ramirez
Helen Chanel … Betty Blanc
Ana Casares … Mary Simpson
Fernando Sancho … Rio
Aldo Giuffre … Defense attorney
Adriano Micantoni … Ramon
Luis Pena … Il Guercio
Felix Dafauce … Jude Williams
Alfredo Rizzo … Col. Peabody
Stelio Tanzini … Undertaker
Also with: Vittorio Bonos, Edith Peters, Ignazio Spalla, Giovanni Vari, Jose Torres, Loretta Gagliardini, Enzo Andronico, Vincenzo Falanga, Lanfranco Ceccarelli, Tony Di Mitri, Olimpia Cavalli
Runtime: 100 min.
aka:
Due mafios nel Far West
Two Mafiamen in the Far West
Music: Giorgio Fabor
Song: “Fucco nel Cielo” by Giancarlo
Ana Casares as Mary Simpson and Helen Chanel as Betty Blanc, the two woman forced to be Ramirez’s co-conspirators in Two Gangers in the Wild West (1964)
Jose Torres as Pablito, the bartender Franco and Ciccio think they killed in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Memorable lines:
Sorry, I watched a non-English version of this film.
Luis Pena as Il Guercio, Rio’s right-hand man in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Aldo Giuffre as the defense attorney who keeps getting Franco and Ciccio in deeper trouble in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Trivia:
Director Giorgio Simonelli died at age 64 just two years after this film was released. He directed 62 movies; the last eight were Franco and Ciccio films. Those also included “Two Sergeants of General Custer” (1965) and “Two Sons of Ringo” (1966).
Helen Chanel also had roles in an early comedy Euro Western, “A Dollar of Fear” (1960) and would also appear in Franco and Ciccio’s “Two Rrringos from Texas (1967). Here other Spaghetti appearances were in “Cjamango” (1967), “Death Rides Along” (1967) and “Killer Caliber .32” (1967).
* Ana Casares only other Spaghetti Western was in 1967’s “Seven Women for the MacGregors.”
Franco Franchi as Franco Capone and Ciccio Ingrassia as Ciccio Capone, hoping their attorney can get them out of legal trouble in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
One of the miners whispers a dying wish to Ramon (Adriano Micantoni) in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Helen Chanel as Betty Blanc, Anna Casares as Mary Simpson and Aroldo Tieri as Ramirez in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Ciccio Ingrassia as Ciccio Capone, Helen Chanel as Betty, Franco Franchi as Franco Capone and Ana Casares as Mary in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Ciccio Ingrassia and Franco Franchi as the Indian squaw descendants of the original mine owners in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
Franco Franchi as Franco Capone and Ciccio Ingrassia as Ciccio Capone, fearful their lives are about to end in Two Gangsters in the Wild West (1964)
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