Here we have "I due superpiedi quasi piatti" or "Crime Busters", but it probably does not even make too much sense to give you the English title here because the two protagonists in this film are much more known in Germany than in Britain or the United States. I am from Germany, so I can be a judge of that pretty much. They are icons here, especially Spencer. There are several other English-language titles here anyway and I am not sure if the one I just mentioned is the most common one. The German title is "Zwei außer Rand und Band" and this one is as difficult to translate as it is general. You could say that it means basically something like "two people going crazy" in a playful way. Not insane or anything. This is, as the title suggests, a film in the Italian language, but it is even a co-production between Italy and America, probably because of where it is set. In the United States that is. It received a Golden Screen (Goldene Leinwand) here in Germany and this is the award for films that really brough a very big amount of people to movie theaters and from this you can also see how much of an icon Spencer was back then. And Hill as well, even if Buddy was always the bigger star from the duo. And both are names that every movie-goer here in my country still knows in 2020, even with Spencer dead and Hill very old now too. This movie is from 1977, so it will have its 45th anniversary soon. Maybe it happened already depending on when you read this review of mine. The writer and director here is Enzo Barboni, normally a cinematographer, but he has directed many films too and actually he has worked with Spencer and Hill on so many occasions that it is fair to say they made him who he is today. Probably not the other around. With this movie here, he went for an American-sounding alias, maybe also because of the American background from this film in general. Setting and all. It's still kinda funny. Today people would know immediately who is in charge if a somewhat known movie is made by a director and he does not use his real name, but back then without social media and everything, it probably took some research to find out and I wonder what for examle the cast members were asked about rumors like this. Anyway, no offense to Barboni. I am grateful he made all these films with Spencer and Hill. This one here runs for almost two hours, which definitely makes it one of their longer releases although it it not an exception either and by far not the only almost two-hour film they have been in. This is relatively close to the 1980s already and at that point Spencer and Hill's popularity was really at its peak. The days of western movies (with Hill being the more dominant force) were long over and instead these two did what they did best. Appear together and play characters that were maybe not too realistic or particularly deep, but a lot of fun to watch. Let's be honest here: The story is nothing special. Actually, it sometimes feels as if there is not even a real story to be honest. But thanks to the two leads, they are somehow getting away with it. This is not the only film in which the two play police officers. Or well, play people pretending to be police officers. But wait, they went through the drill right? So I guess they actually are police officers. In any case, this maybe had a touch of Police Academy overall. And while watching, I also felt that these two have a touch of live action Asterix and Obelix to them, something that never crossed my mind, but if we ignore that the latter are from many centuries ago, you can find quite a few parallels between these films and the ones about the two French folks.
Alright, now let me be a bit specific here and talk about individual scenes from this movie. Or moments that stayed in the mind. Just gonna do some brainstorming now. I must say that initially I was a bit confused because they felt like crooks, especially Spencer's character and how he beat up those guys because they did not want to give him a job seemed a bit exaggerated, but of course we find out these folks were the real criminals and this sets things straight again. Spencer's and Hill's characters are never really evil, they are just out of luck or so. But luck returns eventually as they end up in some funny coincidence that has them turn into cops eventually. When they enter the room full of cops and quickly change what they had in mind, it was really funny what they were saying exactly. But even if they are cops, the gun action is kept to a minimum here. They definitely wanted to keep these films as harmless as it gets. We see a shooting range and have Spencer's character fire some shots and he thinks that Hill's character is the target, but even with only a picture of his face there as the target and not the man, Spencer's character misses every single shot. They certainly wanted young audiences to see this one too and the Golden Screen proves that their plan turned into a success.The guns in the final act are not loaded either. It is not unusual that Hill's character with his handsome looks has relationships with women in here, but it is nothing specific. Here it is with a group of Asians and of course the scene with the two who struggle with their car, which was just a trick to make sure the two cops are nowhere near when the bad guys want to go through with a big plan. Of course, not a success either for the villains here in the end. But kinda funny to see our two heroes interact with women. Especially Spencer always seems so clumsy. Even when he lifts her like a man. Or when he accepts the date by asking for the address. Hill's character stayed a bit in the background there, which makes sense though because usually he is the one getting the action with the females. But of course, this is all also kept really family-friendly. Same is true about the dinner scene with the quartet immediately afterwads. That one was interesting because they also paid nice attention to smaller moments like when Hill's character makes a reference to the waiter because he did not understand the waiter's comment that they rang for him was a statement and not a question. The two men there are simple fellas. That much is safe. As usual, there were many more scenes with antagonists than with girls though. Like the one at the pub or restaurant. And Spencer's character is always in charge when attacked. Hill's almost always. He is not as much of a great fighter as Spencer. He gets hit a few times here and there too, but nothing serious at all. This happens at the final bowling alley scene I mentioned already. This one was really the epitome of this movie. Very playful in terms of style and also the music playing along. Not one bit serious. Almost slapstick already as you see it in old silent films here and there. But still completely different nonetheless. I found it a bit unusual to see the two main characters run away from all the bad guys. I mean they still beat them up of course, but the depiction of flight (even if there were many folks in that room) is something unusual for Hill and especially Spencer. Not just in terms of this film here. So yeah, this is it basically. Finally, one more reference. There is a scene when they stop two truly influential men for speeding and this was kinda ironic because the simple cops (former crooks) stop emm.. it was something like vice governor I think and boss of the PPO. But hey, as they say immediately afterwards everybody is the same to the law. They did something wrong and they have to deal with the consequences. Right on. That is all then. Like I said, the story is really too weak overall for a dedicated recommendation here, but nonetheless I had a fun two hours here, 2.5 hours with commercials. The ending also felt a bit as if they had plans for a sequel. Go check this one out if you want. It's a nice way to start into Spencer/Hill if you are not familiar with them yet. In terms of you can just enjoy the film and don't have to think too much. But among their very best, it most likely isn't. Oh I almost forgot about the "car snooker" sequence where several doors are destroyed, approximately in the middle of the movie. Normally I do not love action, but that was hilarious. In a positively over-the-top way. Totally adored it for some reason.
