Double Trouble

One of the sixteen films Bud Spencer and Terence Hill made together, directed by Enzo Barboni, who made most of the pair's significant work. Elliot is a stuntman and Greg a saxophonist out on parole. What they have in common is that they are identical to two rich Brazilian landowning cousins. The cousins are about to sign an important contract and there are people who want them dead. The solution is to hide the two of them for a week and put these two in their place. The construction runs on the pair's formula: one is quick and never stops talking, the other says nothing and settles matters with a single punch. The fights are not bloody but deliberately cartoonish, a comic tradition built for an Italian audience. The story starts in New Orleans and moves to Rio de Janeiro. This was Barboni's last film with Spencer and Hill and is counted among the productions that close the pair's classic period. Familiar pleasure for anyone who likes 1980s Italian comedy or grew up with these two. For a new viewer it is entirely bound to the formula; there are no surprises and the rhythm belongs to its period.