The best of terence hill

Town Hall
21

TERENCE HILL or MARIO GIROTTI ( name Under which his BEST FILMS were made)
is a definite Jekyll and Hyde character :’( He made some excellent serious/Violent SWs and then totally ruined any claims to being a top “leading man” with abysmal/unfunny so
called Sws “comedies” or “slapstick stupidity” :’( 99% of these "comedies"I vote 4 out 20

BEST MARIO GIROTTI / TERENCE HILL FIlms in Order of Preference SD

  1. OLD SUREHAND / FLAMING FRONTIER 1964 Stewart Granger
  2. FRONTIER HELLCAT / AMONG VULTURES 1964 Stewart Granger
  3. DER OLPRINZ / RAMPAGE AT APACHE WELLS 1965 Stewart Granger
  4. WHOM GODS WISH TO DESTROY/Nibelungen 1966 Karin Dor
  5. DUEL AT SUNDOWN 1965 Peter Van Eyck
  6. VIVA DJANGO 1967 Horst Frank
  7. TRINITY SEES RED/ WIND’S ANGER 1970 Mario Pardo
  8. GOD FORGIVES I DONT 1967 Frank Wolff
  9. MY NAME IS NOBODY 1974 Henry Fonda
  10. ACE HIGH 1968 Eli Wallach
  11. SEVEN SEAS TO CALAIS 1962 Rod Taylor
  12. BLACK PIRATE 1971 Silvia Monti
  13. CARTHAGE IN FLAMES 1960 Anne Heywood
  14. BOOT HILL 1969 Bud Spencer
  15. JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHRN 1960 Belinda Lee

Plus many excellent SWORD AND SANDAL 1957-1963 as Mario Girotti.
The Terence Hill “comedies” with Bud Spencer I find unfunny, tiresome, crappy :’(

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The length of Terence Hill’s career(still going) is testament to his talent. Also, his fame at one time(the mid '70s) was worldwide. The majority of the SW stars i.e. Gemma, Steffen, Hilton, Garko, etc., never attained that type of stardom. Growing up in Texas in the 60s and 70s we never heard of any of those guys. I’d never heard of Franco Nero until I was grown! He just wasn’t a household name around here back then. But everyone around here knew who Terence Hill was! “The fastest gun in the west.” I think his international fame was a direct result of the character “Trinity.” Like it or not, that character was hugely popular even if the movies weren’t topnotch. Like I’ve said before and most of you already know; Hill was so popular as “Trinity” that he parlayed that character into “Nobody” with the great Henry Fonda and also in “Genius.” Don’t forget, he costarred with Gene Hackman in a big-budget film at the height of his career called “March or Die.” In my opinion, a great and very underrated movie. I rate Hill as the number 2 all-time SW star right behind Eastwood and ahead of everyone else. Now, the “Trinity” films are way down my list of favorite spag westerns but, if I’d never seen those two movies, I’d probably never have known of the true greatness of our favorite movie-type. Appreciate it, Terence!

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AceHigh I fully understand what you say about “trinity” films being “popular” and how the
situation was in Texas, USA.
We are on a SW Forum and myself and most others (from reading their posts) like our SW as they should always be: MEAN, VIOLENT, CRUEL , NIHILISTIC, REVENGEFUL, SERIOUS.
I believe 100% that any “comedy” like Hill&Spencer ruined the Genre and is not a SW :’(
The very occasional humour in any film is OK but not a SW that sets out purely as comedy. That sort of Film will be liked on a comedy forum not on an SW Forum I feel.

Regarding INTERNATIONAL ACTORS , I have always heard from Europeans/Americans etc

CLINT EASTWOOD ALAIN DELON FRANCO NERO ROD TAYLOR RICHARD HARRISON

As truly International, multilingual, worldwide Box Office Stars but Not Terence Hill really.
GARKO , STEFFEN , LAWRENCE , CRAIG HILL , HILTON , DAMON were EURO megastars.
Another matter is that when Terence Hill teamed up with Bud Spencer he was doomed
to “comedy/slapstick” and “decline”. Bud Spencer is big, fat, stocky , wooden, stiff and
he can only just manage some so called “comedy” SW.
Terence Hill as MARIO GIROTTI without Spencer was in outstanding quality films.
I would have rated ACE HIGH 1968 higher if it wasn’t for the unwelcome comedy :’(

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I also like the SW as you put it: “MEAN, VIOLENT, CRUEL, NIHILISTIC, REVENGEFUL, SERIOUS.” Those are my favorites too, not the comedies. But truly at one time, albeit a short one, Terence Hill was an international star. He introduced me to this great genre and for that, I’ll always be a huge fan.

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These comedy westerns were popular , but in the long term I think they helped kill off the Spaghetti western genre.

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OK AceHigh glad we agree on the criteria for SWs :wink:
I take your points about Terence Hill and yes he was/is liked/popular , a good person too.

Its TERENCE HILL “International Star” For A Short Time :wink:

Ace High 1968

Yes Ennio a good point you make, as I said earlier. Its either a SW or a “comedy” NOT both ::slight_smile: or the whole genre will be in serious trouble :’(. And It was …

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You’re alright, Sartana Django…Those are some nice posters.

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I don’t think so, I think the classic spaghetti western genre were already dying at the time and they tried to fuel it with some new ideas and it worked… for a time. One might not like the comedies but if they hadn’t done it I’m sure not many spaghettis would have been made in the early seventies.

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People seem to like a nice picture so here’s a scan of the Danish movie program for Preparati la bara displaying Hill in all his glory :slight_smile:

30

I agree with AvatarDK. At the time of the Trinity films the Spaghetti flms were fading out and the succes was decreasing as with all Italian movies. I think that an era was closing down at that point.

If I am correct at that time there were more cross-overs in genres like

  • Horror westerns
  • Kung fu westerns (Shanghai Joe 1972; Red Sun 1971)
  • Comedy westerns (Sabata trilogy 1969- ;Hill - Spencer trinity films 1971-)

I think Hill did a geat job in the first Trinity film. It’s not only comey but also a parody upon the Spaghetti western.

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[quote=“SARTANA DJANGO, post:23, topic:576”]Regarding INTERNATIONAL ACTORS , I have always heard from Europeans/Americans etc

CLINT EASTWOOD ALAIN DELON FRANCO NERO ROD TAYLOR RICHARD HARRISON

As truly International, multilingual, worldwide Box Office Stars but Not Terence Hill really.
GARKO , STEFFEN , LAWRENCE , CRAIG HILL , HILTON , DAMON were EURO megastars.[/quote]

Sorry SD, I don’t know why you are always so keen on declaring actors you like as super- or even mega stars. That’s not true, at least not for germany.

Speaking for germany:

Eastwood was and is a superstar.
Delon also, but not as big as Eastwood.

Nero is well known, but only for his Django fame, and a few more films, meanwhile often for supporting roles (Die Hard 2) in recent years.

Rod Taylor was never a real star, he is only known by the older generation for a few films like The Birds or Doris Day vehicles. He stared in many films of the 60s, but had never manged to get the great breakthrough.

GARKO , STEFFEN , LAWRENCE , CRAIG HILL , HILTON , DAMON , Harrison are only known by a few fans of SWs and Giallos, maybe hundreds, maybe a few thousands, not much more. Even great movie buffs are not aware of their existence.
Before I digged deeper into SW (nearly 3 years ago) I was aware about Hilton and Garko, but had seen none of their films (and wasn’t interested in doing so). It was only when I bought me the Bruckner book,that I was confronted for the 1st time with the existence of the other 5.
And I have seen several 1000s of films from all genres and all decades.

If I talk to younger fans of action films, they know only the Leone films and probably a few Corbuccis (Django, Great Silence).

But everybody is aware of Spencer/Hill films, which doesn’t mean that they watch or like them, but they know about their existence. Both were european superstars, maybe worldwide, and surprisingly enough even the teens of nowadays seem to watch and enjoy them on TV.

Spencer/Hill and Leone are the only SWs who get prime time TV showings in Germany.

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Always like the fact that films like; Keoma, A Man Called Blade and California came along after the comedy.

A rejection against the comedy and kung fu or just another attempt to keep things going ?

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… or an attempt to revitalize the original spaghetti western. The late westerns were few and far between so apparently they weren’t as successful as the producers had hoped else I’m sure we would have seen another boom. The films you mention are all great and California is among the top on my list but apparently the public had moved on at the time and wasn’t interested in westerns anymore. Just guessing.

34

Yes, the interest was not there anymore, but so many made for are enjoyment now :slight_smile: .

Looking forward to receiving my 2.35 version of California.

35

This is true I believe, and the thing is these Hill/ Spencer SWs became more successful at the box office than even the Dollars-trilogy.

So to say that they ruined the genre is a little unfair, even if many SW fans don’t like them today.

36

The Trinity comedies here in the U.K when released at the cinema were a lower certificate than the Leone directed westerns, and lower cerificate films have more potential to earn more at the box office due to the potential larger audience.

This is not to say they were a success just because they were a lower certificate, but a contributing factor never the less.

37

Interesting. Did everybody at the time know that Terence Hill and Bud Spencer were actually italian?

From my own experience, before getting aquainted with SW’s I never even knew that a whole slew of SW’s existed outside of the Leone films.

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[quote=“ENNIOO, post:36, topic:576”]The Trinity comedies here in the U.K when released at the cinema were a lower certificate than the Leone directed westerns, and lower cerificate films have more potential to earn more at the box office due to the potential larger audience.

This is not to say they were a success just because they were a lower certificate, but a contributing factor never the less.[/quote]

Yes this makes sense, the SW genre became family entertainment, sort of like the early Winnetou-movies?

So why complain, it was bound to happen sooner or later, no?

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[quote=“SARTANA DJANGO, post:23, topic:576”]Regarding INTERNATIONAL ACTORS , I have always heard from Europeans/Americans etc

CLINT EASTWOOD ALAIN DELON FRANCO NERO ROD TAYLOR RICHARD HARRISON

As truly International, multilingual, worldwide Box Office Stars but Not Terence Hill really.
GARKO , STEFFEN , LAWRENCE , CRAIG HILL , HILTON , DAMON were EURO megastars.
Another matter is that when Terence Hill teamed up with Bud Spencer he was doomed
to “comedy/slapstick” and “decline”. Bud Spencer is big, fat, stocky , wooden, stiff and
he can only just manage some so called “comedy” SW.
Terence Hill as MARIO GIROTTI without Spencer was in outstanding quality films.
I would have rated ACE HIGH 1968 higher if it wasn’t for the unwelcome comedy :’([/quote]

Stanton I read always with interest what you say and you said it :

“Here in GERMANY…Eastwood was…Delon was etc etc…”

MY words were INTERNATIONAL/Multi lingual Superstars among EUROPEANS and NOT
"just Germany", also among Americans, South Americans and the Japanese/Asian etc.
And I stated from my research and what I always heard and that is exactly as I wrote.

CLINT EASTWOOD ALAIN DELON FRANCO NERO

Are World wide/Multi language super stars, their films are liked/dubbed/circulated etc
NOT “just Germany” :’(. The Japanese Film market was enormous for all 3.
I have figures/memorabilia that clearly show the world wide popularity 60s/70s etc. :slight_smile:

RICHARD HARRISON ROD TAYLOR

Both these outstanding leading actors have had long distinguished world wide careers
RICHARD HARRISON has USA/EUROPE/JAPAN Films of all genres/multi language success.
ROD TAYLOR is a rare leading actor that most critics seem to praise in most/all films and
he achieved International fame in Italy/USA/AUSTRALIA/JAPAN with classics like
TIME MACHINE 1960 , BIRDS 1963 , MERCENARIES 1968 right through into 70s/80s.

And regarding GERMANY I know from buying/watching/listening to German TV/Satellite
that Germans absolutely LOVE anything Italian both films/singers/words used in songs

ALL the SW leading men GARKO, LAWRENCE, HILTON, DAMON, STEFFEN were /are
EURO MEGASTARS and I was talking the WHOLE of Europe not “just Germany” :’( :o.
I am posting , having studied, researched, bought, read books , internet and more
as a FAN DEVOTED to ACTORS/ACTRESSES, whereas you Stanton have stated
many times that you are not fond or care about actors but are fixated on “directors” :-\

Anyway let us all enjoy the Terence Hill/ Mario Girotti Films we prefer & ignore the rest.

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:smiley: Thanks I am sure we will agree on many SWS.