A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe / Un genio, due compari, un pollo (Damiano Damiani, 1975)

Soren & Stanton, thanks for the extra info.

A question of definition. If itā€™s a boring film it canā€™t get more than 2.

0= bad, boring,arrghh etc.
2=average, partially boring
4=ok,watchable
6=good
10=heaven

OuTW and GBU have meanwhile blown up the scale and are 12/10. giggle

Oh, and donā€™t put ideas in my head, Sƶren, it would be a joke to watch such a turkey a 4th time when I have so many great films on DVD or VHS to rewatch, but, shit, Iā€™m able to check again, only to be sure.

I see it coming, I see it coming

No, no, no donā€™t do that. If youā€™ve watched a movie three times and thought it sucked the odds are a fourth time wonā€™t help a bit. It was just 2 out of 10 goddamn it, but seeing your scale definition it guess itā€™s alright. 2 is average I see but as I also said it doesnā€™t leave much room for the really bad ones. But itā€™s your scale and your definitions, stick with them.

Got myself a lot of spaghettis too I need to watch for the first time and seldom rewatch stuff (at the moment). Simply do not have the time sadly.

[quote=ā€œSĆøren, post:23, topic:1036ā€]No, no, no donā€™t do that. If youā€™ve watched a movie three times and thought it sucked the odds are a fourth time wonā€™t help a bit. It was just 2 out of 10 goddamn it, but seeing your scale definition it guess itā€™s alright. 2 is average I see but as I also said it doesnā€™t leave much room for the really bad ones. But itā€™s your scale and your definitions, stick with them.

Got myself a lot of spaghettis too I need to watch for the first time and seldom rewatch stuff (at the moment). Simply do not have the time sadly.[/quote]

I donā€™t see a need to make great differentiations between bad films, itā€™s enough to say that a film is not interesting or boring(which is nearly the same), who cares if this film is only average or bad or very bad.
The main thing is that such a film is not entertaining.

Un genio, well, Iā€™ve seen it as a child, Iā€™ve seen it as adult, and then there was the long version on TV so ā€¦
Now we have the DVD so ā€¦, maybe.

I liked the review very much, fresh ideas and it was nice to see this uneven but delightful film being given a fair treatment - almost everything Iā€™ve read about GENIUS has been dismissive without bringing anything new to the table and itā€™s often released in a throwaway manner by companies that donā€™t seem to care. Over the years Iā€™ve wondered why I continue to be fond of this film detested by many. The main answer is that I just love Sergio Leoneā€™s imaginary west with the vast landscapes of Almeria and Monument Valley, filled with all rich details, sunlight, amplified sounds & grand music, eccentric ugly guys and quietly threatening situations youā€™d expect from Leoneā€¦ The story is not remarkable but I always love going into that world and ā€œbelievingā€ in it for a couple of hours. I donā€™t really care if itā€™s comedy or tragedy and itā€™s interesting to go there with a bunch of characters who are different from the standard gunfighter types. A personal western favorite from a favorite cinema decade.

I have to agree with stanton on this one. I had been looking for a copy of this film for at least 10 years as it was never available in Canada. I donā€™t think it ever got a North American official release. Morriconeā€™s score on the other hand had been around for awhile and I had listened to it many times.

But the film itself. Oh Dear! What a disappointment and a darn shame. I donā€™t think there was ever a Spaghetti Western that I wanted to like so much. I have now watched it three times and by my reckoning three shots and you are out. The film is a mess.

Itā€™s paced at the beginning like ā€œMy Name is Nobodyā€ (a film it is trying to be like) but later goes all over the place and doesnā€™t know where to go. They even try to duplicate the scene from ā€˜Nobodyā€™ where Terence Hill tells Henry Fonda the story of the ā€œLittle Birdā€. In this film it concerns vultures. Noā€¦Iā€™m afraid it just doesnā€™t work.

This one is just a ā€˜buntā€™ not a ā€˜Grand Slamā€™ like ā€œGood, Bad and the Uglyā€.

I absolutely hated this the first time I saw it, but now iā€™m pretty fond of it as well, I just didnā€™t find it boring at all this timeā€¦ maybe because I could actually follow the story this timeā€¦ morricones score is spectacularā€¦ Miou-Miou is really nice as well. I can definitely see why people donā€™t like it though. Nouveaux dvd looks really good, even though its faded on certain shots.

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I think this is a wonderful sw,a definite grower and easily as good as MY NAME IS NOBODY,the Morricone score is infectious especially the main theme. Terence Hill is on top form throughout plus i think Patrick McGooghan is an excellent bad guy.

There probably isnā€™t a better feel good sw than this with its ecological/pro Native American themes predating the 1990ā€™s trend by 20 years.

9 out of 10 from me.

Hmm, easily as good as ā€˜My name is nobodyā€™? Thereā€™s a statement. Canā€™t say I agree with that. I think what sums this movie up is Kinski literally riding out the picture never to return. To me this movie felt like an incoherent mess that never glued me to my seat, or enthrall me with ā€˜spaghetti excitementā€™ so to speak. A shame really, when you look at the people involved. Iā€™m more than willing to assume that it was the best footage that was stolen from the setā€¦

In my opinion MNIM is uneven in tone with the Leone directed 2nd unit Trinity-like scenes being the weakest link.

I find myself revisting THE GENIUS more often than MNIN.

I thought this was great, and preferred this movies soundtrack to MNINā€¦ but MNIN has more magic to it, I think.

Reading through this thread I find it fascinating how divided opinion is on itā€™s merit. It seems to be a film you either really like or really donā€™t. Iā€™m afraid I fall into the latter camp. It just seems a jumbled mess to me. There are some parts which are ok but on the whole it lost me as soon as Hillā€™s gun jumped back into his holster by itself. I canā€™t take stuff like that in a western. Even a comedy.

Iā€™m not so much into all those SW-comedies. Ok, there are exections, the Hill/Spencer Films. But I think, in the dupe thereā€™s much of the things I donā€™t like in the comedy wesetns in general - the episodic structure. Most of the comedies are just a collection of more or less funny scenes. In the dupe there a many good scenes, ecspecially the Kinski part, but still all that doeasnā€™t make a good movie. All in all i think this one bores me a bit. Thereā€™s no satisfying story and in the end I donā€™t really care how the film edns, of when, or ifā€¦ To be honest I canā€™t even remember parts of the movie.

But still, thereā€™s Miou Miou in itā€¦

Sorry to say that but this Movie is a failure. Next to Terence I never cared who are all the other figures in this Comedy Drama and what they are doing. Maybe they should have done consequently an Episode Western out of it. As it is a Production with a higher Budget I missed the gritty SW charm in it. I always had the feeling that there are scenes missing cause the whole story is a bit confusing and chaotic. Why the hell they killed that person (Who ever this was) at the beginning and why Nobody (or Joe Thanks) cooperates with this unappealing bad ass Jerry Rollins?

At least there are some scenes I like: The Kinski Episode is fun, the same goes to the scene where Nobody (or Joe Thanks) is in the Fort and fools Harmsdorf and I enjoyed the Stagecoach Scene with the Music of Morricone. Itā€™s one of the Movies I watch with the Forward Button.

While itā€™s no masterpiece, I was also surprised how much better this was than Iā€™d been expecting. I must confess though that I originally bought it just to see the pre-credit sequence directed by Leone.

Exactly the scenes I would have picked out too.

Is this a legit copy?:

Heres my favourite part of the soundtrack - YouTube

This one was on German TV yesterday and I had a brief look at sme scenes. It is a shame! It definetly has nothing to do with Nobody. Itā€™s just a senseless row of episodes that step on my nerves. Maybe I was in the wrong mood for this one, I donā€™t know, but I wasnā€™t able to watch it.

Just rewatched it and still donā€™t think itā€™s that bad. A little tedious and boring but all is forgiven with a great opening by Leone and some stunningly beautiful Monument Valley photography. Itā€™s easy to spot shots that were among those stolen. It is not just the end or the whole film. Certain frames have varying quality. While most are crystal clear and colorful, others have a grainy grayish green tint. Soundtrack, although of the cheesy pop Comedy Spaghetti variety, is nonetheless very pleasing. I downloaded the OST during my CG days. (fuck them! Except our members there ;))

Do you have the Region 0 available on Amazon?