Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Franco Franci and Ciccio Ingrassia are Francso Merendino and Ciccio Magri, Western con artists.

They travel from town to town, with Franco pretending to be a fearsome outlaw, Ciccio pretending to be a bounty killer.

Ciccio wins the gunfight every time, then is showered with money and all sorts of other gifts from the relieved townsfolk.

The ploy works until one day a real bounty killer — a man named Joe (George Hilton) — interrupts their pretend showdown.

Franco fears he’s met his end. Instead, Joe offers them a proposition.

He wants Franco and Ciccio to follow him to the town of Asta Nueva and pass themselves off as Django and Gringo, sons of the renown gunfighter Ringo.

They’ll collect a fat inheritance, then share it with him.

Ah, but surprises await in Asta Nueva. And not all of them are as welcome as Dorothy (Gloria Paul) and Marisol (Orchidea de Santis), two beauties who arrive around the same time.

Seems there is no inheritance, merely a chance to earn a $100,000 bounty by tracking down and killing a bandit named Indio (Ignazio Spallo), an outlaw who’s been terrorizing Arizona and Texas.

And for two sons of Ringo with as little courage and six-gun skills as Franco and Ciccio have, trying to do so would be the equivalent of a death sentence.

Good thing Joe and the ladies are around to help out.

Franco Franchi as Fransco Merendino, pretending to be a vicious killer in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Ciccio Ingrassia as Ciccio Magri, pretending to be a bounty killer in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Review:

A rather tiresome Franco and Ciccio film, with the stars trying to pass themselves off as the sons of Ringo, minus any hint of bravery or markmanship.

Fortunately, George Hilton is on hand as the real bounty man, Ignazio Spalla scowls his way through a convincing performance, and Dorothy and Marisol are around to lend the film a bit of sex appeal.

The gold-digging ladies and the real bounty man aren’t who they pretend to be either.

Oddly, for a movie named after the Ringo film, this spoofs more ideas from Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy.

There’s the con Franco and Ciccio are playing, reminescent of Clint Eastwood shooting the noose from around Eli Wallach’s neck repeatedly in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” Franco even dons Eastwood garb while Ciccio shows up decked out like Lee Van Cleef.

Later in the film, Indio has Franco and Ciccio load his entire gang into the back of a buckboard and drive it into town as though they’ve eliminated the gang and are destined to the sheriff’s office to collect their bounty, just like the closing scene in “For a Few Dollars More.”

In this case, the gang is just playing dead. And their true destination is the town bank, which they intend to rob once they stop playing dead.

George Hilton as Joe, a real bounty hunter interrupting Franco and Ciccio’s ruse in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Ignazio Spalla (Pedro Sanchez) as Indio, the terror of the territory with a $100,000 price on his head in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Directed by:
Giorgio Simonelli

Cast:
Franco Franchi … Francso Merendino / Django
Ciccio Ingrassia … Ciccio Magri / Gringo
George Hilton … Joe
Gloria Paul … Dorothy
Orchidea de Santis .. Marisol
Ignazio Spalla … Indio
as Pedro Sanchez
Fulvia Franco … Margaret
Mimmo Palmara … Sheriff
Umberto D’Orsi … Mayor
Ivano Staccioli … Burt, the Bear Trap
Ivan Scratuglia … Jack
as Ivan G. Srat
Guido Lollobrigida … Fred, saloon owner

Also with: Galliano Sbarra, Enzo Andronico, Armando Carini, Fortunato Arena, Nino Terza, Dino Strano, Alberigo Donadeo, Fulvio Mingozzi

Runtime: 105 min.

aka:
I due figli di Ringo

Music: Piero Umiliani
Song: “Angel and the Brains” by Gloria Paul

Gloria Paul as Dorothy, making the acquaintance of the men who claim to be sons of a renown gunman in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Orchidea de Santos as Marisol, arriving in the Western town of Asta Nueva in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Memorable lines:

Sorry, I watched a foreign language version of this film.

Trivia:

* The prolific comedy duo of Franco and Ciccio made about a dozen Western comedies. They also included “Two R-R-Ringos of Texas” (1967), with a plot based around a talking horse. Gloria Paul also appeared in that film.

* This marked the first Western for George Hilton, an actor in Argentina before moving to Italy in 1963. He’d become one of Spaghetti’s biggest stars.

* Orchidea de Santis, who plays Marisol here, appeared in more than 50 films, but only one other Spaghetti Western, 1972’s “Prey of the Vultures,” starring Peter Lee Lawrence.

Franco Franchi as Django and Ciccio Ingrassia as Gringo, worried about the rising stakes in a game of poker in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Umberto D’Orsi as the crooked mayor of Asta Nueva, begging for his life in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Mimmo Palmara as the sheriff, questioning Franco and Ciccio after a bank holdup in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

An outlaw, playing a deadly card game with Franco in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Ciccio Ingrassia as Gringo and Franco Franchi as Django trying to charm Dorothy into thinking they’re heroes in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Franco Franchi as Django, shocked at the reading of Ringo’s will while Dorothy (Gloria Paul) and Marisol (Orchidea de Santos) look on in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Gloria Paul as Dorothy and Orchidea de Santis as Marisol spot help on the way in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)

Ciccio Ingrassia as Gringo and Franco Franchi as Django coming face to face with Indio for the first time in Two Sons of Ringo (1966)