La collina degli stivali is a classic Western that might have been directed
by Joseph Kane. Its salient characteristic is a traveling circus of dancing
girls, clowns, acrobats, and trapeze artists. The ringmaster is Lionel Stander, Woody Strode is one of the Flying Men.
Gunmen wound
Terence Hill, he hides in a circus wagon. Others kill
a young artiste.
Land-grabbing
Fisher (Victor Buono) extends credit at his general store, scarifies the
property owners and their relatives or kills them, then collects the renewable
concession by default from the county commissioner (Eduardo Ciannelli),
who is wise to these shenanigans but helpless, on his annual visit.
Hill has a
friend’s deed, dynamite obliterates the last holdout. Hill has another
friend (Bud Spencer).
The circus
disbands at Abilene for want of custom, Hill and Strode and Spencer summon all
the acts from their new jobs as beleaguered desk clerk, saloon waiter, whore
and whatnot to give a special performance under the commissioner’s
informed eye.
The dancing girls
sing a new song inviting the audience to check what’s under their seats,
Fisher and his men find razzers, the
robbed miners each find a loaded revolver.
The Shakespearean
playlet announced by the ringmaster presents the miners’ predicament in dumbshow, a boy wants to leave, his
father is strangely interested.
The miners
reclaim their town, Fisher is brought to justice, the
ringmaster has the last laugh.
The Italianate
tenor of the circus is bound to suggest Fellini’s I Clowns. The song was composed by the director and Riz Ortolani.
Titan Productions
lent a unique grace to the English dub by mimicking Stander, Strode and Buono in absentia.
Colizzi has a
magnificent spinning effect produced by walking an actor past the camera so
that it pans toward him and dollies alongside him, i.e., from medium shot to close-up.