Convoy Buddies (Italian: Simone e Matteo - Un gioco da ragazzi, Spanish: Simón y Mateo, also known as Kid Stuff) is a 1975 Italian-Spanish adventure-comedy film directed by Giuliano Carnimeo and starring Michael Coby and Paul L. Smith,[1][2] a couple formed with the purpose of copying the successful films of the duo Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.[3][1] It was followed by The Diamond Peddlers
| Convoy Buddies | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Giuliano Carnimeo |
| Written by | Sergio Bazzini Tulio Demicheli |
| Produced by | Mino Loy |
| Starring | Michael Coby Paul L. Smith |
| Cinematography | Sebastiano Celeste Vicente Minaya |
| Music by | Guido & Maurizio De Angelis |
Release date |
|
| Language | Italian |
The film was selected for American release by Film Ventures International, and producer Edward L. Montoro changed Smith's name to Bob Spencer and Cantafora's name to Terrence Hall.[4] Smith sued,[5] successfully arguing that an actor's name recognition is vital to his career.[6] The judicial system agreed and ruled against FVI, which paid Smith damages and court costs.[7]
Plot
editToby and Butch are a couple of incompetent crooks who get a truck hauling job bringing insecticide from Italy to France. Unbeknownst to the bumbling duo, they are really smuggling guns. A group of equally inept mobsters try to steal the guns to no avail.
Cast
edit- Michael Coby as Butch (Matteo)
- Paul L. Smith as Toby (Simone)
- Dominic Barto as Lucky
- Giuliana Calandra as Rosy
- Eduardo Fajardo as Le Renard
- Ángel del Pozo as Navy Official
- Mario Brega as Le Renard's Henchman
- Riccardo Petrazzi as Paul
- Emilio Messina as Jean
- Nello Pazzafini as French Sailor
- Tony Norton as Frou-Frou
- Francisco Merino as Organizer
Reception
editPreston McLaurin from The Sun News said the movie "might be a loose rambling film, but it never lets down the comedy or the pace it sets in the beginning, and it also "lumps its whole cast into a likable bunch and even gets some boyish charm out of Hall and Spencer".[8] Richard Labonté of The Ottawa Citizen wrote in his review that the film reminded him of The Three Stooges, in that the virtue of the film is that "though the humor is rooted in violence, it's a cartoon violence in which nothing suffers". He was quick to point out that "much of the action consists of heads being hit by balled fists, bodies being tossed through panes of glass, inanimate objects – doors, hammers, beds, bottles, – rendering animate objects – people – inanimate".[9]
In her review for the Los Angeles Times, Linda Gross said that director Giuliano Carnimeo "is very adept at slapstick and at action and demolition sequences, but unfortunately, screenwriter Tulio Demicheli doesn't give him very much to work with". She complained that "every car crash, every joke, every encounter with a woman is milked beyond the limits of entertainment, and the story line is fairly predictably too". She did note that Spencer and Hall "work well together" and Karen Blake is "amusing".[10]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b Mereghetti, Paolo. Il Mereghetti - Dizionario dei film. B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010. ISBN 8860736269.
- ^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876059695.
- ^ Hughes 2004, p. 238.
- ^ "They're Truckin Terrific". The Atlanta Constitution. February 11, 1978. p. 15T.
- ^ "648 F2d 602, Smith v. L Montoro". OpenJurist.org. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
- ^ Carpenter, Clint A. (Fall 2006). "Stepmother, May I?: Moral Rights, Dastar, and the False Advertising Prong of Lanham Act Section 43(a)". Washington and Lee Law Review. 63 (4): 1601–1648.
- ^ GreyWizard. "FVI: What You Didn't Know". The Unknown Movies. Bad Movie Planet. Archived from the original on June 7, 2007. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
- ^ McLaurin, Preston (January 30, 1978). "Convoy Buddies Good For Mindless Escapism". The Sun News. p. 5B.
- ^ Labonté, Richard (April 25, 1978). "Italian Film Amuses With Cartoon Violence". The Ottawa Citizen. p. 67.
- ^ Gross, Linda (July 30, 1979). "Convoy Buddies On Wrong Detour". Los Angeles Times. p. 16.
Bibliography
edit- Hughes, Howard (2004). Cinema Italiano: The Complete Guide from Classics to Cult. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85771-978-2.
