"...Più forte ragazzi!" or "All the Way Boys" or "Plane Crazy" or "Zwei Himmelhunde auf dem Weg zur Hölle" is an Italian Italian-language movie from 1972, so really not too long anymore until this one has ist 50th anniversary already. Le's hope Hill can live to this day. But I will talk a little later about the cast. As you can see, there are many different titles here and the only one from those I mentioned that does not have a connection with flying is the Italian one. The original. The second English titles sounds like a Three Stooges film to be honest with the play on words. In any case, I like the German title, even if admittedly it does sound a bit melodramatic. As many titles as there may be, there are probably almost as many different versions. The original seems to run for two hours. The German version I watched today probably ran for 105 minutes or so and there is even a shorter version for the English-language market and as Spencer and Hill never truly managed a breakthrough there, they probably kept it at exactly 1.5 hours. I myself cannot get enough of the duo though. The director here was Giuseppe Colizzi and he is one the writers as well. He only lived for another roughly five years after the release of this film here, so hos career was definitely cut short, especially because he was not a prolific filmmaker at all before that and seemed to finally become more prolific before death came in the way. Pity. Then again, this film here is nothing truly special, also in terms of the screenplay. One thing i myself find worth mentioning is that one of the writers here is female and that is definitely unusual for a Bud Spencer and/or Terence Hill film. You see I mention those two a lot already. This shows you that they are truly famous here in my country Germany. The evidence is in the awards section. This one also managed to get enough people into theaters back then for a Golden Screen win, a merit really only based on numbers, but at the same time one that not a gigantic amount of films have achieved. Spencer could actually be a record holder there. That is how much people here in Germany loved him back then. Probably still do. So yes, the stars here are the two in the lead. Without a doubt. Both are Italians by the way, even if their names don't sound this way. It's not their real names obviously. Girotti and Pedersoli sounds a lot more Italian, doesn't it. Hill is credited first and I think that, especially internationally, he was still the bigger star from the two with his western past. And I cannot say he does not deserve. About the rest of the cast, there is not too much to say. Kolldehoff is credited third and he is German. Fittingly with the duo's popularity here in Germany. But he is only this high because he plays the main antagonist. He has almost no screen time at all in here. Probably, third credit should have been Cyril Cusack. He is in this a lot more, but his role is less significant. By the way, he is not related to John Cusack I believe, but close to Jeremy Irons, even if not blood-related either. Then again, the cast list looks a bit shabby for a film with thousands of ratings. They can do better on that. I mean here on imdb, in terms of how it is far from complete. Oh and before I dig a bit deeper into the movie, let me say that it was not uncommon for Spencer to play pilot characters at all. Kinda fitting because the man himself also enjoyed flying a lot and had a valid licence. If he would have survived in the storm we see here, is a bit questionable though.
That scene honestly was a bit melodramatic with the injured boy in there too and the bottle of alcohol and also the guy he was talking to on the other end of the line who said that Spencer will never get down alive. Of course he would. This film tried to be a tad too dramatic for its own good at times I would say. I mean it was not terrible, but also with the scene that has the old man dying at the very end, I am not sure if I liked it thought it was too much / too absurd. It was kinda touching though. Not gonna deny that. Or when near the end Spencer's character is worried Hill's character could be dead. There you could still see how close they were despite constantly arguing and being annoyed. Seems they cannot cope with or without each other. By the way, early in the film we have a scene when it was exactly the other way around with Hill's character worrying. But the one near the end, after being so dramatic, immediately took a turn towards comedy again with Hill's character attacking Spencer's and the two keep fighting for hours afterwards it seems. It's been a while since I saw Spencer taking this much of a beating here and there from somebody else. Then again, if there is anybody (almost) on his level in terms of fighting, then it's Hill's character and also not in many movies. It was these smaller moments and inclusions that made it still an alright watch here and there. My highlight was maybe the fight sequence in that house where a friend outside just pushes in more victims, more antagonists that the two heros take care of inside. When two crashed out through the wall or window or something, it was pretty hilarious. Or also how Spencer plays a character so strong there that he eventually destroys the entire house. Or not just the physical moments, but also the talking here and there. For example when we see the antagonist's bodyguard or something and we have a weaker character being really scared of that hunk, Spencer's character just says something like that the guy looks like a seal probably if he takes off his shades. This pilot (I think that's what the hunk actually was) does not play a major role in the movie anymore. You will find some elements that are almost present always in Spencer/Hill movies, like how Hill's character has a soft spot for women and here even for a little Black girl. So the film was indeed progressive during an era where racial discrimination was indeed a major issue. And as for Spencer, it may be true that he has a tendency to play gruff character in all his films that still have soft hearts, but it's just his niche. It's cool. He's alright. I like him. Here, he even says something like that one on occasion when he apologizes to another character for being in a bad mood earlier. He blames hunger. I believed him. As for this elderly character, I don't remember exactly, but I think he had an unpleasand encounter with the bad guys earlier, so our two heroes must fight back. Not the only time either that something like this happens and this is where the two always bond. By the way, animals are also not an exception in Spencer movies. Here we have a really cute dog. A parrot. Maybe more that I forgot. Oh and this is one of the films that is not only about fighting with one's fists. Guns are pulled, even if they keep it light by joking about those firearms not being loaded. Or are they? Or they just throw the gun out of the window. There is also a knife fight on one occasion that one does not expect to see in Spencer/Hill films really. But it was not bad. Just unexpected. And later on, there is even a guy who tries to shoot Hill's character when they fight. I guess this is pretty much all I have to say about this movie. The story is really nothing special, sometimes pretty weak, but the lines writing was good enough for me to give this film a positive recommendation. Then again, I love Spencer and like Hill, so I am certainly biased here. With other lead actors, I probably would not have been this generous and I will not even deny that this movie may not be the very best choice to watch if you want to dig into the universe of Spencer/Hill movies and have not seen anything else yet. But it's a good pick for being number 10 on the list or so. Thumbs up. Go see it.
That scene honestly was a bit melodramatic with the injured boy in there too and the bottle of alcohol and also the guy he was talking to on the other end of the line who said that Spencer will never get down alive. Of course he would. This film tried to be a tad too dramatic for its own good at times I would say. I mean it was not terrible, but also with the scene that has the old man dying at the very end, I am not sure if I liked it thought it was too much / too absurd. It was kinda touching though. Not gonna deny that. Or when near the end Spencer's character is worried Hill's character could be dead. There you could still see how close they were despite constantly arguing and being annoyed. Seems they cannot cope with or without each other. By the way, early in the film we have a scene when it was exactly the other way around with Hill's character worrying. But the one near the end, after being so dramatic, immediately took a turn towards comedy again with Hill's character attacking Spencer's and the two keep fighting for hours afterwards it seems. It's been a while since I saw Spencer taking this much of a beating here and there from somebody else. Then again, if there is anybody (almost) on his level in terms of fighting, then it's Hill's character and also not in many movies. It was these smaller moments and inclusions that made it still an alright watch here and there. My highlight was maybe the fight sequence in that house where a friend outside just pushes in more victims, more antagonists that the two heros take care of inside. When two crashed out through the wall or window or something, it was pretty hilarious. Or also how Spencer plays a character so strong there that he eventually destroys the entire house. Or not just the physical moments, but also the talking here and there. For example when we see the antagonist's bodyguard or something and we have a weaker character being really scared of that hunk, Spencer's character just says something like that the guy looks like a seal probably if he takes off his shades. This pilot (I think that's what the hunk actually was) does not play a major role in the movie anymore. You will find some elements that are almost present always in Spencer/Hill movies, like how Hill's character has a soft spot for women and here even for a little Black girl. So the film was indeed progressive during an era where racial discrimination was indeed a major issue. And as for Spencer, it may be true that he has a tendency to play gruff character in all his films that still have soft hearts, but it's just his niche. It's cool. He's alright. I like him. Here, he even says something like that one on occasion when he apologizes to another character for being in a bad mood earlier. He blames hunger. I believed him. As for this elderly character, I don't remember exactly, but I think he had an unpleasand encounter with the bad guys earlier, so our two heroes must fight back. Not the only time either that something like this happens and this is where the two always bond. By the way, animals are also not an exception in Spencer movies. Here we have a really cute dog. A parrot. Maybe more that I forgot. Oh and this is one of the films that is not only about fighting with one's fists. Guns are pulled, even if they keep it light by joking about those firearms not being loaded. Or are they? Or they just throw the gun out of the window. There is also a knife fight on one occasion that one does not expect to see in Spencer/Hill films really. But it was not bad. Just unexpected. And later on, there is even a guy who tries to shoot Hill's character when they fight. I guess this is pretty much all I have to say about this movie. The story is really nothing special, sometimes pretty weak, but the lines writing was good enough for me to give this film a positive recommendation. Then again, I love Spencer and like Hill, so I am certainly biased here. With other lead actors, I probably would not have been this generous and I will not even deny that this movie may not be the very best choice to watch if you want to dig into the universe of Spencer/Hill movies and have not seen anything else yet. But it's a good pick for being number 10 on the list or so. Thumbs up. Go see it.