4/10
Below average Paella/Butifarra Western shot in Spain, starring the usual secondary characters of the genre.
9 April 2024
Amusing but disconcerting Tortilla or Gazpacho or Butifarra Western with plenty of action, crossfire, brawls, double-crosses , twists and loads of shots. Butifarra Western realized in laughable style with a screenplay written by the prolific Ignacio F Iquino , including amusing dialogue, silly situations, plot twists and turns . Spanish production filmed in Fraga (Huesca) and Barcelona surroundings, Catalunya, full of familiar faces, action , exaggerated characters , crossfire and lots of shots and fights with belly punches. The movie is running out of ideas a bit, but it has some nice moments here and there. It deals with three nasty but likeable smugglers , 3 burly brothers called Bud (Cris Huerta) , Ray (Ricardo Palacios) , Charles (Tito García) that are detained and imprisoned at a Mexican jail. They're locked in a prison under the command of the chief warden, Coronel Jiménez (Fernando Sancho), a relentless follower of General Emilio Zapata during the time of the Mexican revolution. Then, a pretty girl, Nora Winters (Fanny Grey) alias Vargas, appears who claims to be the niece of the three fat brothers, the head of the prison falls in love with her and she demands that he release them. When Sancho realizes that she has deceived him, he sets off in pursuit of the three burly brothers. From now on, a series of chases, arrests and again escapes of the three always hungry brothers take place, along with a number of betrayals, fights, shootouts between them, the Mexican colonel and the bounty hunter Richard Harrison who is also pursuing them. Shortly after, the three villains but sympathetic bandits face off new enemies, messes and fights.

Hilariously ridiculous tortilla Western in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style in which three weapon smugglers carry out several adventures, brawls and resolve a conflict among them , being mercilessly chased by Fernando Sancho and Richard Harrison. Along the way, a lot of fights, punches, hits, slaps and kick-asses take place. This silly tortilla Western packs thrills , shootouts , noisy action , humor with tongue-in-cheek and riding pursuits. The Spanish westerns of this era were far more likely to try and emulate their American source material than cultivate a distinctive style of their own the way the Italians were doing but their product, though this Los fabulosos de Trinidad(1972) has penchant for hilarious happenings, as if you like comical westerns remains lightly watchable. Totally Spanish production filmed in Catalunya, full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters, gun-down , lots of shots and fights. Given the peculiar economics of the Spanish industry there was a great deal of freedom for how to make satisfying movies for an ample export audience . Unfortunately, many of the 400-500 films made during this cycle were poorly made . It is a ridiculous tortilla Western in which 'Los fabulosos de Trinidad' (1972) resolve conflicts among them when they escape from jail. The film packs comical elements in charge of the peculiar and fatty trio: Chris Huerta , Ricardo Palacios and Tito Garcia, including tongue-in-cheek, fighting, gun-play , and it turns to be amusing but embarrassing. There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some fights, shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . It's an absurd western with idiotic confrontations between three protagonists and their pursuers. It can be considered the ¨swan-song¨ of the Paella/Tortilla or Chorizo Western , that's why it is one of last films shot in Western town in ¨Fraga¨and ¨Splugues De Llobregat¨ where during the 60s and70s had been filmed hundreds of Westerns, until the unfortunate owner, the known producer/director Alfonso Balcazar went bankrupt and had to sell the terrains. The cast and support cast are passable . It stars strong and robust Richard Harrison who was a magnificent muscle-man. Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos¨, ¨South Pacific¨ and ¨Master of world . Then , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe. He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades. To avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man , he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the Red¨, ¨Gringo¨, ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨Joe Dakota¨ , even the main role from ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ was offered to Richard Harrison , but he turned down and explaining : 'Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint Eastwood for the part'. And sympathetic acting by starring trio , the fatty and usually secondaries in a number of Spaghettis: Tito Garcia, Cris Huerta, Ricardo Palacios that this time they are protagonists. And regular secondaries from Spaghetti/Tortilla or Paella Western show up, these are the following: Gustavo Re , Gaspar 'Indio' González, Cesar Ojinaga and the always great Fernando Sancho playing his habitual role as boastful Mexican.

The picture being regularly photographed by Antonio L. Ballesteros hijo, though is necessary a fine remastering because the film-copy is washed-out. Mostly filmed in atmospheric scenarios on location in Fraga (Huesca) similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Splugues De Llobregat¨, it resulted to be the location where were shot lots of Westerns produced and directed by Catalan people as Alfonso Balcazar, J. J. Balcazar , Jose Antonio De La Loma, Juan Bosch, Xavier Marchal , Manuel Esteba , Ignacio F. Iquino , and Julio Buchs , among others , because Almeria was too far and the Fraga landscapes bear remarkable resemblance. Anti-climatic musical score by Enrique Escobar, including some catching songs.

¨Los fabulosos de Trinidad¨ (1972) directed by Ignacio F Iquino had a sequel ¨Fat Brothers of Trinity¨ (1973) directed by Pedro Ramírez with similar cast as Cris Huerta , Ricardo Palacios, Gustavo Re, Margit Kocsis, Daniel Martín, Gaspar 'Indio' González and Richard Harrison. The motion picture was poorly produced by Ignacio F Iguino, ¨IFI¨, and lousily directed by Iquino himself. He wrote, directed and produced lots of films by means of his production company: ¨I. F. I.¨ that financed lots of Westerns such as: ¨Oeste Nevada Joe¨ , ¨Ninguno De Los Tres Llamaba Trinidad¨, ¨La Diligencia De Condenados¨, ¨Fabulosos De Trinidad¨, ¨20 Pasos a Muerte¨ , ¨Dólar a Fuego¨, ¨Abre Tu Fosa Llega Sabata¨ , and ¨5 Pistolas De Texas¨ . Most of them starred by Richard Harrison, Jorge Martin or George Martin , Luis Davila , Daniel Martin or Robert Woods . Iquino was a Spanish craftsman , writing and directing ; working from the 40s in all kind of genres and B movies until the late 80s. Nevertheles, he also directed acceptable films as ¨Historia De Una Escalera¨ based on Antonio Buero Vallejo's novel , ¨El Judas¨, ¨Angeles Al Volante¨, ¨Tambor Del Bruch¨ and ¨Brigada Criminal¨ at his best .
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