THE GENIUS
Italy, 1975, 120 minutes, Colour.
Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Patrick Mc Goohan.
Directed by Damiano Damiani.
An unusual Terence Hill vehicle. It has his conventional style of laconic humorous hero. However, there is a very complicated plot commenting on the heritage of the West and its double-dealing. There are also many very good sequence, but all in all there in a confusing impression given by the film and the complexities of its plot. The film was directed by Damiano Damiani, usually a director of more serious films, for example, The Tempter with Glenda Jackson. An interesting example of a serious director coping with the conventions of the spaghetti Western and Terence Hill comedy action.
1. The tradition of Italian Westerns, spaghetti westerns and their styles: faces, desert locations, Italianate music, violence, parodies of American Westerns? The quality of this Italian Western?
2. Terence Hill and the tradition of his knock-about spaghetti westerns? As a man, type, in the West? His being portrayed an a mastermind genius of the West? A good example of Terence Hill Italian western style?
3. Colour, widescreen, European locations for the American West? The musical score and its atmosphere?
4. The atmosphere of the opening and involving audiences: the man and his being stalked, his fear, the Bible? Death and the confrontation with Jelly Roll? The issues of the righteous white man quoting his Bible in the West, cowboys, prejudice against Indians, Jelly Roll an villain, the Major and the indication of his villainy? How well was this atmosphere retained throughout the film?
5. The arrival of Joe Thanks? His name, character, comedy of his arrival? An enigmatic character of the West? Genius, skills? The confrontation with Doe in the saloon? Making friends with Lucy and Steam Engine? Guiding them through the West, overseeing the intricacies of plot? Racial prejudice, violence? The significance of hie fable about the birds? Its significance at the end?
6. The framework of the journey, the quest, the complicated twists of the plot indicating themes of race, freedom, greed? How well communicated was the complexity of plot?
7. Jot as a character, strengths and weaknesses, bonds with Steam Engine and Lucy, confrontation with the Major? Jelly Roll? The ingenious man?
8. How attractive a heroine was Lucy? Her situation in the West, manner, personality, with Steam Engine, with Joe? A comic heroine? Her involvement in the various twists for example prison, the dinner? Her choice at the end?
9. Steam Engine and the presentation of the Indians? Violence, greed, disguises, involvement in the twists, crossed but not double-crossed?
10. The Major and the ridiculing of his attitudes and manner? racism, the manner of his defeat? A typical villain of the West?
11. The contribution of the location photography, the atmosphere of the West, outposts, prisons, dinners, coaches, chases, fights, explosions, cowboys, cavalry, Indians?
12. The significance of the ending and its explanation? Reprisal of themes?
