George Hilton is well-cast as a charming turn-of-the-(20th)-century Robin Hood-type bandit widely recognized as the "Passatore" in this harmless, childish little period comedy. The always gorgeous Edwige Fenech (my main draw to see the film) is wasted in a thankless role as his temperamental potential wife who wants him to go straight. Fenech does look spectacular in cleavage-baring period dresses, though. The film is fairly well-produced but it doesn't have much plot, it's mostly a succession of slapstick fight scenes in the style of the extremely popular at the time Bud Spencer - Terence Hill comedies. Fans of those movies will probably enjoy this one too, kids will probably like the piefight and Fenech fans will be left wishing they could see more of her. All others can safely miss this one. *1/2 out of 4.
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gridoon202417 September 2009
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Chip_douglas22 June 2009Though the long title and poster make this film seem like a spaghetti western, it is in fact a slapstick farce in the Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill vein set in Italy in during late 1800's. George Hilton is the infamous highway robber Stefano Pelloni, better known as Il Passatore and his best leading lady Edwige Fenech is his opinionated main squeeze Mora (don't call her Coca). Chris Avram and Sal Borgese play Il Pasatore's comic relief henchmen, the fat one and the mute one.
Naturally we start the film in the middle of one of our hero's scams. Dressed as a doctor, he is 'examining' the local commissioners wife and picking up useful information. This leads into the first of many over the top chase scenes complete with (Mel Brook's composer) John Morris like music and Benny Hill style sight gags. Naturally the commissioner (Manuel Zarzo) has to regain his honor by setting a trap for Il Pasatore in order to catch him. But no matter how hard he tries, master of disguise Pelloni always manages to slip through his fingers - though he never seems to gain very much in the way of loot during his escapades.
Some of these scams/traps include a border dispute with the Austrians, capturing an old friend of Il Passatore's and forcing him to betray him as soon as the big P comes to rescue him and an invitation to a rich man's frug too inviting for the master thief to refuse. The commissioner and Stefano also face off in a dueling match while they are both disguised as priest (the former trying to protect a wealthy clergyman from the latter). But you never get the feeling our good natured rogue is ever in danger, because the music on the soundtrack (actually by Aldo Bonnocore, instead of John Morris) is so gosh-darn happy all the time and director Giuliano Carnimeo (As Anthony Ascott) uses the zoom function to emphasize nearly everything.
Near the end, after a particularly hazardous escape, Stefano finally decides to leave his dangerous lifestyle in Italy behind and move to America with his true love Mora (who never participates in any of the action during the film). Of course you guessed it, in the final 'here-we-go-again'-coda, it turns out Il Passatore is soon a wanted man in the wild, wild west as well (and he still goes by his Italian moniker for some reason). So I guess that for at least the final couple of minutes of the picture, it could be called a spaghetti western after all.
7 out of 10