A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot (1975)

Fantastic!

As Good As It Gets

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Despite the presence of Patrick McGoohan, and an interesting Ennio Morricone soundtrack, "A Genius, Two Partners, and a Dupe", comes across as more silly than entertaining. You get the usual Terence Hill antics, along with a story that is choppy and confusing. The film is presented as a series of incidents that do very little to advance the somewhat obscure tale they are trying to tell. The whole thing just meanders along for almost two hours, in other words going nowhere. This is not one of the better "spaghetti westerns" and except for the presence of the always fascinating McGoohan, and an all too brief appearance by Klaus Kinski, the movie would be completely forgettable. - MERK

Spaghetti Westerns are Clint Eastwood to the average dork like me. Apparently they also meant high camp comedy to many in Europe. The DVD information says this movie took more lira in Italy than 'The Good Bad and Ugly'. The comedy spaghetti was family fare apparently. What a flight of whimsical ideas this one turned out to be. The spaghetti western era ended with this one. An idea that had travelled so far that it had finally arrived backwards and inside-out. Very strange.Klaus Kinski gets dubbed out of earshot and Terence Hill has the voice of a girl with the blue-eyed, doe-eyed smile of an angel. No wonder Patrick McGoohan dug deep in his own character-filled pockets for an inspired way to project his cavalry h'Officer. Yes, he came up with the, possibly, historically accurate idea of a Thomas Meagher...."I am an American". He looks dreadfully sun burnt too. Location filming in Monument Valley did his Celtic skin no good at all. This movie can only be viewed as episodic, a series of set-pieces. I am sometimes annoyed by McGoohan's accents as they blur his diction and my enjoyment of his delivery. This time, his accent is SO inspired, SO unpredicted, why, it's Genius !!

I'd never heard of this one until I stumbled across it on DVD (under the title 'A Genius, Two Partners And A Dupe'). I was intrigued because it was directed by Damiano Damiani who made one of the very best non-Leone spaghetti westerns 'A Bullet For The General', and was produced (and many say co-directed) by Sergio Leone himself. I believe this was the last western Leone was involved with, and one of the very last spaghetti westerns ever made. The eclectic cast was another attraction. Terence "My Name Is Nobody" Hill, Miou-Miou, Patrick "The Prisoner" McGoohan and the legendary Klaus Kinski... Mmmm, very interesting! Well after sitting through this crap I now know why it's so obscure. It sucks. In almost every way. I have no idea of Leone's involvement, but the striking opening sequence looks like it might have been directed by him. Too bad it's all downhill from there! This was retitled to try and sell it as a sequel to 'My Name Is Nobody'. Hill actually plays a different character and the connection between the two is tenuous at best. BUT it is in a similar vein to many of Hill's comedy westerns, or should I say "so-called comedy" westerns? I didn't get one laugh out of it. It's really hard to imagine a serious director like Damiani making slapstick rubbish like this. The awful dubbing doesn't help things either. Regarding the supporting cast, the bad news is Kinski. He only had a small role in 'A Bullet For The General', but in this one it's even less. Basically Kinski has a two scene cameo at the beginning of the movie, and that's it. I love watching Kinski but anyone renting this movie just to see him should be warned. The good news is McGoohan. He has a much more substantial role and is quite good. Unfortunately he's surrounded by actors hamming it up and a lousy script. If the movie hadn't have played it for laughs, had someone other than Hill as the star (say Franco Nero) and more Kinski it might have been good. As it is only rabid Leone fans will want to bother watching it. Easily the poorest spaghetti western I've ever seen. Avoid.

I purchased this PAL DVD (my Macintosh computer plays the format) and a region- free, NTSC/PAL DVD player (connected to a regular NTSC tv) so I, NOT THE STUDIOS, can choose what I want. The PAL disc was the only version I found available, and I will submit DVD info when I find time. Look for the widescreen/ letterboxed format (which "Genius" is), instead of the horrid pan and scan, because letterboxed (or matted) is what the director intended viewers to see! Please keep an open mind about spaghetti westerns. Sometimes viewers comment with such harsh criticism that it can turn someone away when they should be prompted to look for a title in the genre they are interested in. I've suddenly grown a fascination in macaroni that I'm finding movies that I've never been interested in before. I swore on Clint/Eli/Cleef/ Leone/Ennio flicks yet didn't notice people like Nero and Milian. And now I'm discovering not to be so hard on my boy Terence Hill. Okay, so he doesn't take it so seriously. At first, that's what turned me away from his flicks. It wasn't Eastwood enough. But geez, what a kick you can get from "Genious." Initially I didn't care for Ennio's music, but it seeps into you. And there's something about the camera placement and movements that draw me into the film, which was just the right length -- not too long or short. The funny moments and comments throughout, plus the explosion (a very real and powerful one) somewhere in the flick made me decide on 8 stars. I judge these the same way as kung fu action. It can be so easy to pick apart and be literal, but these generally are simply pasta and lo mein noodle- type movies. Just enjoy sucking it into your system. You'll love getting full, and soon you'll want another helping.