7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A lazy, unorthodox gunfighter and his portly, horse-thieving brother defend a Mormon settlement from a land-grabbing Major, a Mexican bandit, and their henchmen.
Starring: Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Farley Granger, Steffen Zacharias, Gisela HahnForeign | 100% |
Western | 89% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of the Trinity Twin
Pack.
According to the frequently questionable Wikipedia, over six hundred so-called “European westerns” were made between 1960 and 1978, though in
typical Wikipedia fashion it’s left unclear as to how many of these were so-called “Spaghetti westerns”, i.e., Italian made efforts that became
legendary with the now iconic collaborations between Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood and Ennio Morricone (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars
More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).
Fans of this kind of odd subgenre will probably know that many Spaghetti westerns are not exactly masterpieces, and in fact quite a few of them
seem to have been made simply to cash in on the box office phenomenon created (or at least encouraged) by Leone and Eastwood’s contributions.
Two of the more successful films in this particular niche, though, both in terms of audience approval and just overall sensibility, are They Call
Me Trinity from 1970 and its follow up, Trinity is Still My Name from 1971. This appealing duo is considerably lighter in tone than
most of Leone’s oeuvre, offering Terence Hill as Trinity, a man with a name (so to speak), but a gunslinger who has a kind of
amiably goofy personality, one which tends to make both Trinity films play a good deal more comically than The Man with No Name Trilogy. The films have had a somewhat
spotty history in terms of home video releases, due perhaps in part to the fact that at least They Call Me Trinity reportedly lapsed into
public domain status. Hen’s Tooth Video has now released both Trinity on films on Blu-ray for domestic consumption (there are evidently
some previous global releases, none of which have received very good marks from videophiles), allowing longtime fans and new “initiates” to
discover a somewhat different “take” on Spaghetti western tropes.
They Call Me Trinity is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Hen's Tooth Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Depending on your history with this title on home video, you might either be substantially pleased or at least partially let down by the look of this transfer. The good news and the bad news is that there has obviously been no restoration done to whatever element was used. That means that there's a generally very organic look here, with no signs of degraining or other digital tweaks (grain does occasionally look a bit on the mottled side, as can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review). That also means that a variety of age related wear and tear has not been addressed, leading to manifest occurrences of flecks, specks, and other signs of damage. The palette is quite nice looking (better than some of the screenshots accompanying this review might suggest), but it still looks like things have faded slightly, with a sometimes brownish cast underlying things. Clarity is occasionally variable, and in fact it looks like there are actual focus pulling issues on display on occasion.
They Call Me Trinity features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that has occasional slight issues with distortion and crackling, but which generally delivers the dialogue, effects and score with decent if never really overwhelming force. I'm assuming this film was completely post-dubbed, as tended to be the case with Italian cinema in those days, something that gives some of the dialogue moments a kind of surreal feeling. There's a bit of a boxy sound to some of the effects (notably things like gunshots), but on the whole this track is probably at least marginally better sounding than the one on Trinity Is Still My Name!.
They Call Me Trinity is lighthearted escapist fare, one that really doesn't even rely on its "wild west" setting all that deliberately to derive its entertainment value. Hill and Spencer are well matched in this tale that truly never really amounts to very much, but which is frequently scenic and just as often gently amusing (if perhaps never really laugh out loud hilarious). Video and audio both have some passing issues, but my hunch is longtime fans of this title will be generally well pleased with this release. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità
1971
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1967
Il mio nome è Nessuno | Mi Nombre es Ninguno | 40th Anniversary Edition
1973
La resa dei conti
1966
Una nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana / Gunman in Town
1970
Goodbye Texas
1966
Gli Specialisti
1969
1970
1968
¿Quien sabe?
1967
Un fiume di dollari
1966
Special Edition
1966
Faccia a faccia
1967
1968
10,000 Dollars for a Massacre / 10.000 dollari per un massacro
1967
C'è Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara! / A Fistful of Lead
1970
A Bullet from God
1976
Gatling Gun / Machine Gun Killers / Quel caldo maledetto giorno di fuoco
1968
1975
Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom
2008