Crime Busters | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster by Renato Casaro | |
Directed by | Enzo Barboni |
Screenplay by | Enzo Barboni [1] |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Claudio Cirillo [1] |
Edited by | Eugenio Alabiso [1] |
Music by | Guido and Maurizio De Angelis [1] |
Production companies |
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Release date | |
Running time | 109 minutes [2] |
Country | Italy [1] |
Crime Busters (Italian : I due superpiedi quasi piatti) is a 1977 Italian action crime comedy film [3] [4] directed by Enzo Barboni and starring the film duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.
It was one of the three films awarded with the Golden Screen Award in 1977 along with The Exorcist and The Towering Inferno . [5]
The film is set in Miami. Two unemployed men decide to jointly rob a supermarket. They instead volunteer to work as police officers, in order to evade arrest. Following their graduation for training, they confront a local trafficking gang.
Wilbur Walsh (Bud Spencer) and Matt Kirby (Terence Hill) are in Miami, looking for work as longshoremen, but the area is managed by shady dealers who refuse to give them a job, after which the dealers are beaten up and have three of their cars wrecked in the process. Walsh and Kirby meet up and then leave the dock, tired of looking for a job. Matt is particularly intrigued by the closed nature of Wilbur, who tries to avoid it in any way.
Matt, after introducing himself, suggests that Walsh and he should work together on something he had been planning; the robbery of a supermarket. Walsh accepts, aided by Kirby's conniving ways to remove police attention, but by mistake, the two end up in the police station and, to prevent being locked away, they say that they want to become police officers, which is granted.
Both Matt and Wilbur complete their training, even though they differ in their unorthodox methods of making arrests and overall rebellious nature, eventually being on real service. During their job, Kirby becomes familiar with a Chinese family whose uncle was killed by unknown assailants. Upon investigation, the two come to face the same ruffians that spread to the port and denied them a job before. The criminals will be the key to "the two super feet almost flat" to get to the heart of the gang of traffickers.
In a contemporary review, Monthly Film Bulletin called Crime Busters "a singularly dull variation on the sprightly, sparring Newman/Redford comedy formula" and that there are a few original ideas in the script, but they were "largely wasted by the lacklustre direction and the film's inevitable drift into an endless series of unimaginatively choreographed punch-ups." [1]
From retrospective reviews, AllMovie called the film "light but likeable stuff" and that the appeal of the film depends "solely on one's opinion of Hill and Spencer's antics." [2] The review also noted supporting roles, noting David Huddleston and Laura Gemser. The review concluded that the film was "shaggy around the edges but fans of slapstick humor will find it endearing enough to pull them through." [2]
Terence Hill is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. He began his career as a child actor and gained international fame for starring roles in action and comedy films, many with longtime film partner and friend Bud Spencer. During the height of his popularity, Hill was among Italy's highest-paid actors.
Laurette Marcia Gemser is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the Emanuelle series. Many of her films were collaborations with directors Joe D'Amato and Bruno Mattei.
They Call Me Trinity is a 1970 Italian spaghetti Western comedy film written and directed by Enzo Barboni and produced by Italo Zingarelli. The film stars the film duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as two half-brothers, Trinity and Bambino, who help defend a Mormon settlement from Mexican bandits and the henchmen of the land-grabbing Major Harriman. It was filmed on location in Campo Imperatore, Abruzzo, Italy, with financial backing from West Film.
Paul Lawrence Smith was an American-Israeli actor and director. Burly, bearded and imposing, he appeared in feature films and occasionally on television since the 1960s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys. His most notable roles include Hamidou, the vicious prison guard in Midnight Express (1978), Bluto in Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), Gideon in the ABC miniseries Masada (1981), Glossu "Beast" Rabban in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Falkon in Red Sonja (1985). He was most frequently credited as Paul Smith or Paul L. Smith, but was also billed as P. L. Smith and Paul Lawrence Smith.
Ace High is a 1968 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed and written by Giuseppe Colizzi and starring Terence Hill, Bud Spencer and Eli Wallach. The film is the second in a trilogy that started with God Forgives... I Don't! and ended with Boot Hill.
David William Huddleston was an American actor. An Emmy Award nominee, Huddleston had a prolific television career, and appeared in many films, including Rio Lobo, Blazing Saddles, Crime Busters, Santa Claus: The Movie, and The Big Lebowski.
Black Emanuelle is a softcore sexploitation film from 1975 directed by Bitto Albertini. The film was set in Africa and shot mostly in Kenya. The music was composed by Nico Fidenco. Black Emanuelle was followed by a number of sequels, all revolving around the erotic adventures of Mae Jordan, a globe-trotting, hedonistic investigative journalist and photographer known to her readers as "Emanuelle". Her character has been described as "a strong and independent woman, sexually proactive, at the centre of wealthy young and old white men of power, and involved in any sort of depraved set and situation."
Tony Kendall was an Italian model turned film actor with over 50 film credits that reflect the trends of popular European cinema in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Enzo Barboni, sometimes credited by his pseudonym E.B. Clucher; the surname of his grandmother, was an Italian film director, cinematographer and screenwriter, best known for his slapstick comedies starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.
Luciano Catenacci was an Italian actor and production manager who worked on mainly Italian produced films during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Go for It is a 1983 Italian action comedy film and spy film parody starring the film duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. It was filmed in Miami, Florida.
Vacation with a Gangster is a 1951 Italian comedy film directed by Dino Risi and starring Marc Lawrence, Giovanna Pala and Terence Hill.
I'm for the Hippopotamus is a 1979 Italian adventure comedy film directed by Italo Zingarelli and starring the film duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.
Odds and Evens is an Italian action comedy film directed in 1978 by Sergio Corbucci and starring the film duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. The film is set in Florida. In the film, a US Marine and his half-brother join forces against the American Mafia and its gambling operations.
Even Angels Eat Beans is a 1973 Italian comedy film written and directed by Enzo Barboni with Giuliano Gemma and Bud Spencer. It was awarded with the Golden Screen Award in 1974.
Carlo Pedersoli, known professionally as Bud Spencer, was an Italian actor, professional swimmer and water polo player. He was known for action-comedy and spaghetti Western roles with his long-time film partner and friend Terence Hill. Spencer and Hill appeared in 18 films together.
Lone Texas Ranger is a 1945 American Western film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet starring Wild Bill Elliott in the role of Red Ryder and costarring as Little Beaver, actor (Bobby) Robert Blake. It was the eighth of twenty-three Red Ryder feature films that would be produced by Republic Pictures. The picture was shot on the studio’s back lot along with outdoor locations at Iverson Ranch, 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Carambola! is a 1974 Italian comedic Spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Ferdinando Baldi. It was the first film starring the duo Michael Coby and Paul L. Smith, a couple formed by producer Manolo Bolognini with the purpose of copying the successful films of the duo Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. It was followed by Carambola's Philosophy: In the Right Pocket.
Terence Hill and Bud Spencer are Italian actors who made numerous action-comedy and Spaghetti Western films together. They "garnered world acclaim and attracted millions to theater seats". While Hill's characters were agile and youthful, Spencer always played the "phlegmatic, grumpy strong-arm man with a blessed, naive child's laughter and a golden heart".
Riccardo Pizzuti is an Italian actor and stuntman. He is known for playing the role of gunfighter Morton Clayton in the 1972 film Man of the East. Pizzuti appeared in They Call Me Trinity, and its sequel Trinity Is Still My Name. He often appeared in films featuring the actors Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, usually cast as a villain. He has also been credited as Rick Piper and Peter Whiteman.