Botte di Natale (1994)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Terence Hill

Writer:

Jess Hill (writer)

Release Date:

25 November 1994 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Western

Tagline:

How the West was almost lost

Plot:

Two brothers who hate themselves are going to spend Christmas with their mother. She tries to get them together.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Sheriff | Cult Western | Fight | Bear

Cast

Terence Hill	...	Travis
Bud Spencer	...	Moses
Boots Southerland	...	Sam Stone
Ruth Buzzi	...	Maw
Neil Summers	...	Dodge
Michael Huddleston	...	Blacksmith
Anne Kasprik	...	Bridget
Eva Haßmann	...	Melle (as Eva Hassmann)
Ron Carey	...	Sheriff Fox
Fritz Sperberg	...	Deputy Joe
Radha Delamarter	...	Janie
Jonathan Tucker	...	Moses Junior
Paloma von Broadley	...	Jessica
Samantha Waidler	...	Mary Lou
Kevin Barker	...	Twin

Also Known As:

Die Troublemaker (Germany)
The Fight Before Christmas (USA) (alternative title)
The Night Before Christmas (USA)
The Trouble Makers (USA) (alternative title)
Troublemakers (USA)
Bunyó karácsonyig (Hungary) [hu]
En Nochebuena se armó el belén (Spain) [es]
Minä armahdan Mooses ei (Finland) [fi]
Os Caça-Sarilhos (Portugal) [pt]
Petit papa baston (France) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated PG for comic western violence and language.

Runtime:

France:107 min

Country:

Italy | Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Germany:6 | Norway:11 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Spain:T | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Abiquiu Lake, Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Rialto Film

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (1966)

Affectionate reunion for Bud and Terence; only for their fans.

It's a pretty weird experience, watching this movie. An affectionate, warm-hearted reunion for Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, it is also a bittersweet farewell to an old era of movies. It will probably appeal only to fans of the duo, as they once again go through their familiar motions (Spencer's mutterings, Hill's smiles, bean-eating, fist-fighting, helping the poor, etc.), only this time there are some serious dramatic moments as well. On the other hand, considering their age, you can't help but wonder if perhaps this film should never have been made, if they should have retired more gracefully a few years earlier. But if you insist on seeing it, try to avoid the DVD version, as the image has been blown up way out of proportion to fill the entire screen - perhaps in keeping with the tradition of the awful full-screen versions of the "Trinity" films (to which this film is without a doubt an unofficial sequel - I wonder why they couldn't make it "official"). (**)