They Call Me Trinity
Encyclopedia
They Call Me Trinity also known as My Name is Trinity, is a 1970
Italian
spaghetti western
film
starring Terence Hill
and Bud Spencer
.
) comes into view accompanied by the movie's song. His horse is dragging him around in a travois
. He is filthy, yet seems perfectly content as the horse drags him across the desert and through water crossings. When the horse stops near a dwelling, Trinity gets up, pulls on his boots, gets stung by a scorpion hiding in the boot but is clearly insusceptible to the venom then he drags his Colt 45 in holster and walks inside.
It is the Chaparral Stagecoach Station and restaurant. The Mexican
owner, noting Trinity's wretched appearance, tells him he will sell him a plate of beans if he has money to pay, a fly infested misshapen slattern prepares the dish. Trinity takes the frying pan along with the plate, scraping the beans from the plate back into the pan and proceeds to eat from the pan with gusto, punctuated by occasional loud burping. The eating scenes are a frequent comic element of the movies in which the team of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer appear.
There are two white men in the restaurant with an injured Mexican prisoner. The two men are bounty hunters and are disappointed to see that Trinity's face does not appear in their batch of Wanted posters and proceed to disparage him for his sooty unkempt appearance. After Trinity has eaten every scrap in the pan, he gets up, strolls over to the men's table, and calmly relieves them of their prisoner. When they ask him his name so they'll know what to put on the headstone, he answers, "They call me Trinity." The resulting double-take foreshadows Trinity's notoriety. Trinity offers them a disarming grin when they refer to him as the "Right Hand of the Devil" and tell him that it's said he has "the fastest gun around."
As he walks outside with their prisoner, the men stick their rifle through a window in preparation to shoot Trinity. But in one smooth movement from behind his back and apparently without aiming, Trinity drops both men in their tracks. It's a zen move showing his effortless, almost mystic skill with a gun. He casually gives the injured Mexican his spot on the travois
as he perches himself backwards on the horse so the men can converse as they travel.
Soon they reach a small town where an enormous man with a sheriff's star on his chest is seated outside his office, apparently trying to read a newspaper. He is being harassed by three local toughs standing in the street loudly demanding that he release their friend from jail. Trinity stops to watch the developing gunfight, predicting to the Mexican that the toughs will be "stiff before they hit the ground." When the enormous man quickdraws them with his left hand and outshoots them without blinking, the Mexican asks Trinity who the fast gun is and is told the enormous man is the "Left Hand of the Devil."
It quickly becomes apparent that Trinity and the enormous man, an omnipotent bearded buffoon with squinty eyes - comically called Bambino (baby), are brothers. Bambino (played by Bud Spencer
) is merely posing as the sheriff
of the small town while he awaits the arrival of his gang from the penitentiary from which he escaped. He is not happy to see his troublemaking brother. However, the two form a temporary partnership to deal with Major Harriman (Farley Granger
), 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 explain Bambino's grudging willingness to work with his little brother even though he considers Trinity to be a shiftless bum without ambition.
However, 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 they learned.
Bambino is flabbergasted and then 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 to his horror that being a married Mormon means actually having to work. So he skips out and goes after Bambino. But his brother has had enough of him and sends him off in the opposite direction. Trinity gets the last laugh, though. He directs the real sheriff (who has come looking for Bambino) in Bambino's direction.
There are slight differences between the original Italian version and the dubbed English version. In the former, the injured Mexican has more dialogue explaining that he was arrested for knifing a gringo who tried to rape his wife.
and Bud Spencer
to the level of international stardom. It is credited with starting the "comedy western" craze that swept Italy for a short time. A sequel, Trinity Is Still My Name
was soon produced and proved to be an even bigger success. Terence Hill and Bud Spencer would pair up in over a dozen other films, using the formula of brawls and jokes established here. Several of Hill's and Spencer's Westerns made prior to Trinity were rereleased in the United States to take advantage of their newfound popularity with one given a "Trinity" title.
in the United States, and many poor quality DVD
s have been made of it. Hen's Tooth Video officially released this film and its sequel
on DVD in the US on September 4, 2007. Both are new digital transfers from the original negatives.
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....
Italian
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
starring Terence Hill
Terence Hill
Terence Hill is an Italian actor. He is best known for starring in multiple action and western films together with his longtime filmpartner Bud Spencer.-Biography:...
and Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer . He is known for past roles in spaghetti westerns together with his long time filmpartner Terence Hill...
.
Plot summary
In the first scene, Trinity (Terence HillTerence Hill
Terence Hill is an Italian actor. He is best known for starring in multiple action and western films together with his longtime filmpartner Bud Spencer.-Biography:...
) comes into view accompanied by the movie's song. His horse is dragging him around in a travois
Travois
A travois is a frame used by indigenous peoples, notably the Plains Indians of North America, to drag loads over land...
. He is filthy, yet seems perfectly content as the horse drags him across the desert and through water crossings. When the horse stops near a dwelling, Trinity gets up, pulls on his boots, gets stung by a scorpion hiding in the boot but is clearly insusceptible to the venom then he drags his Colt 45 in holster and walks inside.
It is the Chaparral Stagecoach Station and restaurant. The Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
owner, noting Trinity's wretched appearance, tells him he will sell him a plate of beans if he has money to pay, a fly infested misshapen slattern prepares the dish. Trinity takes the frying pan along with the plate, scraping the beans from the plate back into the pan and proceeds to eat from the pan with gusto, punctuated by occasional loud burping. The eating scenes are a frequent comic element of the movies in which the team of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer appear.
There are two white men in the restaurant with an injured Mexican prisoner. The two men are bounty hunters and are disappointed to see that Trinity's face does not appear in their batch of Wanted posters and proceed to disparage him for his sooty unkempt appearance. After Trinity has eaten every scrap in the pan, he gets up, strolls over to the men's table, and calmly relieves them of their prisoner. When they ask him his name so they'll know what to put on the headstone, he answers, "They call me Trinity." The resulting double-take foreshadows Trinity's notoriety. Trinity offers them a disarming grin when they refer to him as the "Right Hand of the Devil" and tell him that it's said he has "the fastest gun around."
As he walks outside with their prisoner, the men stick their rifle through a window in preparation to shoot Trinity. But in one smooth movement from behind his back and apparently without aiming, Trinity drops both men in their tracks. It's a zen move showing his effortless, almost mystic skill with a gun. He casually gives the injured Mexican his spot on the travois
Travois
A travois is a frame used by indigenous peoples, notably the Plains Indians of North America, to drag loads over land...
as he perches himself backwards on the horse so the men can converse as they travel.
Soon they reach a small town where an enormous man with a sheriff's star on his chest is seated outside his office, apparently trying to read a newspaper. He is being harassed by three local toughs standing in the street loudly demanding that he release their friend from jail. Trinity stops to watch the developing gunfight, predicting to the Mexican that the toughs will be "stiff before they hit the ground." When the enormous man quickdraws them with his left hand and outshoots them without blinking, the Mexican asks Trinity who the fast gun is and is told the enormous man is the "Left Hand of the Devil."
It quickly becomes apparent that Trinity and the enormous man, an omnipotent bearded buffoon with squinty eyes - comically called Bambino (baby), are brothers. Bambino (played by Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer . He is known for past roles in spaghetti westerns together with his long time filmpartner Terence Hill...
) is merely posing as the sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of the small town while he awaits the arrival of his gang from the penitentiary from which he escaped. He is not happy to see his troublemaking brother. However, the two form a temporary partnership to deal with Major Harriman (Farley Granger
Farley Granger
Farley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...
), who is attempting to run a group of pacifist Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
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 explain Bambino's grudging willingness to work with his little brother even though he considers Trinity to be a shiftless bum without ambition.
However, 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 they learned.
Bambino is flabbergasted and then 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 to his horror that being a married Mormon means actually having to work. So he skips out and goes after Bambino. But his brother has had enough of him and sends him off in the opposite direction. Trinity gets the last laugh, though. He directs the real sheriff (who has come looking for Bambino) in Bambino's direction.
There are slight differences between the original Italian version and the dubbed English version. In the former, the injured Mexican has more dialogue explaining that he was arrested for knifing a gringo who tried to rape his wife.
Cast
- Terence HillTerence HillTerence Hill is an Italian actor. He is best known for starring in multiple action and western films together with his longtime filmpartner Bud Spencer.-Biography:...
– Trinity - Bud SpencerBud SpencerBud Spencer is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer . He is known for past roles in spaghetti westerns together with his long time filmpartner Terence Hill...
– Bambino - Farley GrangerFarley GrangerFarley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...
– Major Harriman - Steffen Zacharias – Jonathan
- Dan Sturkie – Tobias
- Gisela HahnGisela HahnGisela Hahn is a German film actress. She has appeared in over 40 films since 1964. She was born in Briesen, Poland.-Selected filmography:* Neues vom Hexer * César and Rosalie * Contamination...
– Sarah - Elena Pedemonte – Judith
Reception
This film was a huge success worldwide and took Terence HillTerence Hill
Terence Hill is an Italian actor. He is best known for starring in multiple action and western films together with his longtime filmpartner Bud Spencer.-Biography:...
and Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer . He is known for past roles in spaghetti westerns together with his long time filmpartner Terence Hill...
to the level of international stardom. It is credited with starting the "comedy western" craze that swept Italy for a short time. A sequel, Trinity Is Still My Name
Trinity Is Still My Name
Trinity Is Still My Name also known as All the Way Trinity is a 1971 Italian spaghetti western film directed by Enzo Barboni. It is a sequel to They Call Me Trinity, also starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.-Plot:...
was soon produced and proved to be an even bigger success. Terence Hill and Bud Spencer would pair up in over a dozen other films, using the formula of brawls and jokes established here. Several of Hill's and Spencer's Westerns made prior to Trinity were rereleased in the United States to take advantage of their newfound popularity with one given a "Trinity" title.
Differences in various versions
In the English version, the scenes where a man on a horse rides past Bud Spencer have the exchange "good evening sheriff" with Spencer grumbling "shut up" whilst the Italian version is silent. The Italian version has the two Mormon women quote suggestive Biblical dialogue to seduce Hill that is not in the English version. The English version adds a loud clap of thunder when the head Mormon remarks about God helping them through sending them the two brothers to protect them whilst the thunder is not on the Italian soundtrack.Copyright status
The film is considered to be in the public domainPublic domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
in the United States, and many poor quality DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s have been made of it. Hen's Tooth Video officially released this film and its sequel
Trinity Is Still My Name
Trinity Is Still My Name also known as All the Way Trinity is a 1971 Italian spaghetti western film directed by Enzo Barboni. It is a sequel to They Call Me Trinity, also starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.-Plot:...
on DVD in the US on September 4, 2007. Both are new digital transfers from the original negatives.
Trivia
- Parts of the soundtrack, composed by Franco Micalizzi, are featured in the videogame Red Dead RevolverRed Dead RevolverRed Dead Revolver is a western third-person shooter video game published by Rockstar Games and developed by Rockstar San Diego. It was released in North America on May 4, 2004, for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox....
.
External links
- Call Me Trinity at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...