View source for They Call Me Trinity

{{Short description|1970 film directed by Enzo Barboni and Gene Luotto}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = They Call Me Trinity
| image          = Lo chiamavano Trinità... poster.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Italian theatrical release poster by [[Renato Casaro]]<ref>{{cite web|language=IT|url=https://movie.talkymedia.it/post/24933/lo%2Dchiamavano%2Dtrinita%2D10%2Dcuriosita%2Dsul%2Dfilm%2Dbud%2Dspencer%2Dterence%2Dhill/4/|title=Lo chiamavano Trinità: 10 curiosità sul film con Bud Spencer e Terence Hill|website=talkymedia.it|author=Alberto Del Forno|date=April 26, 2017|access-date=November 17, 2018|archive-date=November 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117120451/https://movie.talkymedia.it/post/24933/lo-chiamavano-trinita-10-curiosita-sul-film-bud-spencer-terence-hill/4/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| native_name    = ''Lo chiamavano Trinità...''
| director       = [[Enzo Barboni]]
| producer       = [[Italo Zingarelli]]{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=229}}
| screenplay     = Enzo Barboni
| story          = Enzo Barboni
| starring       = {{plainlist|* [[Terence Hill]]
* [[Bud Spencer]]}}
| music          = [[Franco Micalizzi]]{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=229}}
| cinematography = [[Aldo Giordani]]{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=229}}
| editing        = Gianpiero Giunti{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=229}}
| studio         = West Film{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=229}}
| distributor    = <!-- or: | distributors = -->
| released       = {{Film date|1970|12|22|Italy|1971|11|04|United States|}}
| runtime        = 115 minutes
| country        = Italy{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=229}}
| language       = 
| budget         = 
| gross          = 8,742,787 admissions (Italy)<ref name=JP>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/top100.php?view=32|website=JP's Box-office|access-date=October 4, 2019|title=TOP250 tous les temps en Italie (Reprises incluses)|archive-date=January 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110225701/http://jpbox-office.com/top100.php?view=32|url-status=dead}}</ref><br>$1,208,000<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilmdist0000dona/page/297/mode/1up|title= American film distribution : the changing marketplace|last=Donahue|first= Suzanne Mary|year=1987 |publisher=UMI Research Press |page=297|isbn= 9780835717762}} Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada</ref>
}}

'''''They Call Me Trinity''''' ({{langx|it|Lo chiamavano Trinità...}}) is a 1970 [[spaghetti Western]] [[comedy film]] written and directed by [[Enzo Barboni]] (under the [[pseudonym]] of E.B. Clucher) and produced by [[Italo Zingarelli]]. The film stars the [[Terence Hill and Bud Spencer|duo]] of [[Terence Hill]] and [[Bud Spencer]] as half-brothers Trinity and Bambino, who help defend a Mormon settlement from Mexican bandits and the henchmen of the land-grabbing Major Harriman. It was filmed on location in [[Campo Imperatore]], [[Abruzzo]], [[Italy]], with financial backing from West Film.

A [[sequel]], ''[[Trinity Is Still My Name]]'', was more successful than ''They Call Me Trinity''.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=239}} In 1995, ''[[Sons of Trinity]]'', starring [[Heath Kizzier]] and [[Keith Neubert]],  was released as a continuation of the ''Trinity'' series.

==Plot==
Trinity, a lazy, [[ne'er-do-well]] [[gunfighter]] with unnaturally fast drawing ability and [[marksmanship]], is dragged on a [[travois]] by his horse to a way station and restaurant. There, he encounters a pair of bounty hunters with an injured Mexican prisoner. Trinity calmly takes the Mexican away from the two men, killing them before they can shoot him in the back. The pair reach a small town, where they witness the local sheriff, a large, burly man with a similarly fast drawing ability to Trinity, gunning down three men after they harass him for not allowing one of their criminal friends to be released.

It becomes apparent that Trinity and the man, Bambino, are brothers. Bambino is merely posing as the new [[sheriff]] of the small town while he awaits the arrival of his gang from the penitentiary from which he escaped, following a run-in with the actual sheriff who incidentally took the same way as Bambino on his way to his new post. Bambino is not happy to see his trouble-making brother. However, the two form a temporary partnership to deal with Major Harriman, who is attempting to run a group of pacifist [[Mormon]] farmers off their land with the intention of using their property to graze his own horses. The fact that these horses are valuable and unbranded explains Bambino's grudging willingness to work with his little brother, even though he considers Trinity to be a shiftless bum without ambition.

Trinity has fallen in love with two Mormon sisters and is genuinely concerned with the Mormon settlers' welfare. He persuades Bambino and Bambino's henchmen to help train the pacifistic Mormons to fight, and in the final battle, the Mormon leader finds in the [[Book of Ecclesiastes]] in the Bible that "there is a time for fighting" and the Mormons are unleashed against Major Harriman's goons, using the dirty fighting tricks that they have just learned.

Bambino is flabbergasted and infuriated to learn that Trinity has given the Major's horses to the Mormons. Trinity is about to be happily married to the two Mormon sisters when he learns that being a married Mormon means actually having to work, causing him to hurry after Bambino, who angrily sends him off in the opposite direction. After Bambino departs for California, the real sheriff appears, and Trinity points him in Bambino's direction. Trinity then reclines in his travois and brings up the rear with his horse, following them all.

==Cast==
[[File:Lo chiamavano Trinità.png|thumb|[[Bud Spencer]] as Bambino and [[Terence Hill]] as Trinity]]
{{div col}}
* [[Terence Hill]] as Trinity, "The Right Hand of the Devil"
* [[Bud Spencer]] as Bambino, "The Left Hand of the Devil"
* [[Farley Granger]] as Major Harriman
* [[Steffen Zacharias]] as Jonathan
* Dan Sturkie as Tobias
* [[Gisela Hahn]] as Sarah
* Elena Pedemonte as Judith
* [[Ezio Marano]] as Weasel
* [[Luciano Rossi]] as Timid
* Michele Cimarosa as Drunken Mexican
* [[Ugo Sasso]] as crippled Sheriff 
* [[Remo Capitani]] as Mezcal
* [[Riccardo Pizzuti]] as Jeff
* Paolo Magalotti as Harriman Henchman
* Antonio Monselesan as Bounty Hunter
* Gaetano Imbrò as Blond Bounty Hunter
* [[Luigi Bonos|Gigi Bonos]] as Ozgur, the Bartender
{{div col end}}

==Production==
Director [[Enzo Barboni]] wrote the original story and screenplay for the film.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=231}} Initially, the script only included the Trinity character and not Bambino but producer [[Italo Zingarelli]] suggested the inclusion of a brother.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=231}} When the film was first announced, [[Peter Martell]] was set to play Trinity and [[George Eastman (actor)|George Eastman]] as Bambino.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=232}} The two characters were later portrayed by [[Terence Hill]] and [[Bud Spencer]], who were then a [[Terence Hill and Bud Spencer|popular comic duo]] following the release of [[Western (genre)|Western]] film ''[[God Forgives... I Don't!]]'' in October 1967 in Italy, where they were cast as comedic and violent characters.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=230}} Hill and Spencer did their own stunts in the film with the rest of the supporting cast being portrayed predominantly by stuntmen.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=236}}

Interiors and the towns in the film were shot at Incir De Paolis Studios in Rome.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=229}}{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=232}} The stage station was shot at Magliana quarry in [[Lazio]], while the valley locations were shot at Parco Dei Monti Simbruini. {{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=232}}{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=233}} The waterfall scene was shot at Treja Valley Park.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=232}}{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=233}}

The main title song was written by [[Franco Micalizzi]] and [[Lally Stott]].{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=237}}{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=238}} It is sung by [[Annibale Giannarelli]].{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=238}} "Trinity: Titoli" was later used as the closing theme for [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s 2012 Western ''[[Django Unchained]]''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8aelDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3285 |title=The Encyclopedia of Best Films: A Century of All the Finest Movies, V-Z |first=Jay Robert |last=Nash |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |date=1 November 2019 |page=3285 |isbn=9781538134191}}</ref>

==Release==
''They Call Me Trinity'' was released in Italy just before Christmas 1970.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=232}}{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=238}} It proved very popular abroad, such as in Spain, where it outgrossed all previous Italian Westerns, save for ''[[For a Few Dollars More]]''.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=238}} The film further proved foundational for future German dubs of Hill and Spencer films: the main dialogue was rewritten to be more humorous, with initially silent areas of the original film receiving additional dialogue from characters with their back to the camera. The film was released in the United States and United Kingdom in 1971.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=238}} As of 2004, ''They Call Me Trinity'' was the 22nd most successful Italian film, one position below ''[[The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly]]''.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=239}}

===Critical reception===
[[Howard Thompson (film critic)|Howard Thompson]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' praised the film's sense of humour, as did [[Roger Ebert]], who gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C00E4D71E3EE63BBC4952DFB3668389669EDE|title=The Screen:'They Call Me Trinity' Relies on Humor|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 11, 1972|author=Howard Thompson|author-link=Howard Thompson (film critic)|access-date=November 22, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/they-call-me-trinity-1971|title=They Call Me Trinity Movie Review (1971)|author=Roger Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|website=RogerEbert.com|date=November 25, 1971|access-date=November 21, 2017}}</ref> In a review published by ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'', the film is called "first and best in the ''Trinity'' series of spaghetti Westerns, rare in that it is successful in combining laughter and some degree of interest in the action".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/they-call-me-trinity|title=They Call Me Trinity|work=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]|date=10 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122183636/https://www.timeout.com/london/film/they-call-me-trinity|archive-date=November 22, 2017|access-date=November 22, 2017}}</ref> In his book ''Once Upon a Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns'', author Howard Hughes writes "''They Call Me Trinity'' is Hill and Spencer's finest vehicle".{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=239}}

==Legacy==
Following initial popularity, a variety of derivatives were released, such as ''[[Two Sons of Trinity]]'' and the ''[[Carambola!]]'' series, the latter of which featured Hill and Spencer lookalikes [[Michael Coby]] and [[Paul L. Smith]].{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=238}} Other films using the ''They Call Me...'' title include ''[[They Call Me Hallelujah]]'' (1971), ''[[They Call Him Cemetery|They Call Me Cemetery]]'' (1971), and ''[[His Name Was Holy Ghost|They Call Me Holy Ghost]]'' (1972).{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=239}} In 1987, [[Enzo Barboni]] directed a contemporary "remake", entitled ''[[They Call Me Renegade]]''.

== References ==
===Footnotes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book
|last=Hughes
|first=Howard
|title=Once Upon a Time in the Italian West
|publisher=[[I. B. Tauris]]
|isbn=1-85043-430-1
|year=2004
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781850434306}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0067355}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|they_call_me_trinity}}

{{Trinity series}}
{{Bud and Terence}}
{{Enzo Barboni}}

[[Category:Trinity (film series)]]
[[Category:1970 films]]
[[Category:Mormonism in fiction]]
[[Category:Spaghetti Western films]]
[[Category:1970s Western (genre) comedy films]]
[[Category:Films set in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Terence Hill and Bud Spencer]]
[[Category:Films about identity theft]]
[[Category:Films shot in Abruzzo]]
[[Category:Films scored by Franco Micalizzi]]
[[Category:1970 comedy films]]
[[Category:1970s Italian films]]