Description
They Call Me Trinity (Italian: Lo chiamavano Trinità…) is a 1970 Italian Spaghetti Western comedy film written and directed by Enzo Barboni (under the pseudonym of E.B. Clucher) and produced by Italo Zingarelli. The English version was written by Gene Luotto.
The film stars Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as two brothers, Trinity and Bambino, who help defend a Mormon settlement from Mexican bandits and the henchman of the land-grabbing Major Harriman. It was filmed on location in Lazio, Italy with financial backing from West Film. The film’s theme song, “Trinity (Titoli)”, was written by Franco Micalizzi and Lally Stott, and performed by David King, Alessandro Alessandroni, and I Cantori Moderni.
They Call Me Trinity received generally positive reviews, and a sequel entitled Trinity Is Still My Name was released in 1971. Spencer and Hill would go on to star together in numerous Spaghetti Western films, up until Botte di Natale in 1994.
The original actors attached to the film were Peter Martell as Trinity and George Eastman as Bambino. Terence Hill and Bud Spencer were eventually cast, and Hill’s young son Jess portrays a Mormon baby who is seen sitting on Trinity’s knee. The film was shot in Lazio, Italy, and was financed by the Italian-based company West Film. The town set was filmed at Incir-De Paolis Studios near Rome, while the Mormon valley was filmed at Parco Dei Monti Simbruini (it) and the waterfall scene was shot at Treja Valley Park.
The main title song “Trinity (Titoli)” was written by Franco Micalizzi and Lally Stott, and sung by David King, featuring whistling performed by Alessandro Alessandroni and backup vocals by Alessandroni’s choir I Cantori Moderni. King is billed as “Annibale” on Italian soundtrack releases. The song was included on the soundtrack to the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained.
A sequel, Trinity Is Still My Name, was released in 1971 and proved to be an even bigger success. Terence Hill and Bud Spencer would pair up in over a dozen other films, using the formula of brawls and jokes established in the Trinity films. Several of Hill’s and Spencer’s Westerns made prior to Trinity were re-released in the United States to take advantage of their popularity, with Boot Hill (1969) being marketed as Trinity Rides Again.
