Boot Hill

1969 "Where Nobody Died of Natural Causes!"
5.5| 1h26m| PG| en
Details

Victims of oppressive town boss Honey are offered help by an unusual alliance of gunmen and circus performers

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!
Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Bezenby I could only find this film in a terrible full screen version that looks like its permanently raining all the way through the film, so let's not allow that to cloud our judgment of the film. Let the comedy and meandering storyline do that instead. That was harsh, but this as far as I know is the beginning of a trend involving Italian Westerns becoming sillier, less violent and more slapstick. Boot Hill is still a sixties Western too, so there's still plenty of gunplay and violence in amongst the bar fights and cheeseball antics. Terence Hill is pursued and wounded by some undesirable types and ends up hiding out in a circus wagon. Followed by these bad guys, he's forced to retaliate with the help of trapeze artist Woody Strode. Once mended, he heads off for wherever just before Romano Puppo turns up and kills Woody's partner Joe, maybe for just being black. Woody's livid and out for blood, but he needs bait and Terence isn't too far away……there's also Bud Spencer as Hill's mate, George Eastman playing a ginger mute called Baby Doll (?), and others (waves disinterested hand). Basically a bunch of jerk businessman are stealing land off the miners and….etc. Gunfights. Bar brawls. Bud Spencer being grumpy. Trapeze stuff. Political imagery. I dunno. The usual. It was okay.
Spikeopath Boot Hill (La collina degli stivali), directed and written by Giuseppe Colizzi, starring Terence Hill, Woody Strode, Victor Buono, Bud Spencer, Lionel Stander and Eduardo Ciannelli. Music by Carlo Rustichelli and cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi.A Technicolor/Techniscope production! Boot Hill is very much an acquired taste. One man's art canvas is another man's paper mache head, such is the case here with this messy, muddled Spaghetti Western, a pic that has strong fans and haters in equal measure.Personally I hated it, it was 90 minutes of motion sickness and staccato editing, with a musical score veering from plains driving grandeur to acid induced circus shrills. Cast are fine enough, though there's dubbing for dubbing's sake, while an extended over acted barroom brawl at finale is a fun time at least, but really it has to be your thing to enjoy as a whole.A bowl of spaghetti sieved through a kaleidoscopic colander. 1/10
mstomaso I approached this film with little to no expectations, after reading a few fairly negative reviews here on IMDb. I was pleasantly surprised.The film opens up with Stephens (Terence Hill) trying to evade a posse of killers chasing him through a small town, where a circus is performing. After taking a bullet, Stephens eludes his would-be killers and stows away in a circus cart. We soon learn that one of Stephens fellow gunslingers is working as a trapeze artist with the circus. Ultimately it is revealed that a local exploitative mine owner is in control of the posse and one of his henchmen eventually crosses the circus performers. So the gunslinger, trapeze artists and a local itinerant official join forces to fight against the corrupt mob lead by Honey Fisher (Victor Buono).The film is well-paced, though not as hurried as many spaghetti westerns sometimes are. The camera work is just a touch above the standard spaghetti western, and a little different from the standard approach. There are a lot of close-ups and the camera is used effectively to create an unsettling and downright weird atmosphere throughout a good portion of the film - this puts an unexpectedly sinister spin on the seeming novelty gimmick of circus performers in battle.Director Collizzi did a masterful job with a script and story which were - by genre standards - merely OK. Some of the characters remain somewhat weakly developed, but this doesn't really detract from the film's entertainment value. The actors perform generally well (though the charismatic Lionel Stander gets just a little irritating at times).Recommended for fans of the western genre.
bensonmum2 I've wanted to see Boot Hill for a while now, but it's been difficult to find a watchable transfer. I realize now that I haven't been missing much. For the most part, the film is standard Spaghetti Western stuff. A group of claim jumpers, lead by Honey Fisher (Victor Buono), have everyone in a small mining town under their control. Eventually, though, one of the townsfolk gets tired of being robbed and asks for the help of his friend, Cat Stevens (Terence Hill). Using a traveling circus as cover, Stevens is able to get into town unnoticed for a final showdown with Fisher and his gang of thugs.Other than the use of the circus, the plot and action in Boot Hill aren't as original or as good as you'll find in some other films of this type. The final showdown is predictable and lacks any real tension. When Stevens finally meets up with Finch, the head bad guy, nothing much happens. Although most of the film is played straight, there are a few attempts at humor that feel out of place. For the most part, the acting is decent, but it's nothing to write home about. Hill, Bud Spencer, and Woody Strode are okay, but it's nothing special. The exception is Buono who is by far the standout in the film. Unfortunately, his screen time is limited and he doesn't even appear until the movie is half over.Where Boot Hill excels and what makes it unique are the directorial and editing decisions made with the film. There are a number of instances where scenes of violence are quickly spliced with scenes of the circus. Gunfight – a clown playing a trumpet – a man gets shot – a trapeze act – hiding in a barn – dancing girls. It's a nice touch.Finally, whether intentional or not, Boot Hill features several scenes that can best be described as homosexual in nature. From the miners dancing check-to-check in the opening to Bud Spencer calling the tall, blond, good looking cowboy he lives with "Baby Doll" to the unexplained relationship between Woody Strode and the young, good looking trapeze artist, there's an undeniable homoerotic feel underlying a lot of the movie.