Oliver Onions
Bud Spencer & Terence Hill Greatest Hits, Volume 2

Raise your hand if you've never had a chuckle with the fistfights at gas stations, the crazy chases, and the legendary adventures of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. Why so few hands up? It seems normal to me, after Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, Franco & Ciccio, this comedic cinema duo was definitely the most successful. So many movies and so many roles... from the west to 80s America portraying cops, sheriffs, players, lookalikes of killers, castaways, and many, many others. Besides the extraordinary direction of Bruno Corbucci in the most beautiful ones, what undoubtedly made those films fantastic were the soundtracks by Oliver Onions. The fantastic "Super Snooper" from the movie "Super Fuzz" is, for example, a song to have at all costs. But before Oliver Onions, creating the soundtracks for the fantastic duo were true masters of music. I'm talking about the less comedic/absurd films, those let's say more important, the legendary spaghetti westerns. Then, it happens when strolling in shopping malls to find those bins with CDs on offer; well, if you want a tip, throw your hands in and dig deep, you almost always find real gems at a very low cost.

And I found "Bud Spencer & Terence Hill Greatest Hits 2". In the car, I didn't hesitate to insert it, and in no time, some memories I thought were lost began to surface in my mind. The fantastic song "Trinity," slow and poetic, paints a warm and dry desert, the whistle and little guitar, plus the women's chorus then make it clear that it's from the legendary film "They Call Me Trinity..." where under this music Terence was dragged by the horse lying on a pallet. Even the following "In due contro tutti" fantastic ride, is part of Trinity, and like the first, is composed by Franco Micalizzi for Edizione Musicali West. Driving in the car on the straight and endless country roads under a hot sun, with this music, a winston blue in hand and a pair of sunglasses becomes an orgasm, a life satisfaction, especially when the almost blues "Can Be Done" by Luis Bacalov begins, a fantastic song with a great voice and a children's choir, background of the movie "It Can Be Done Amigo". Friends who love classic westerns will understand me now when I say the enthusiasm becomes indescribable listening to the opening theme of the legendary "Boot Hill". Then follows "Sfida al tramonto," "La Battaglia," "Finale," "End Credits," all from the fantastic film previously mentioned, composed by Carlo Rustichelli. And after a bit of saloon, horses, stagecoach assaults, Native Americans, and snakebites, the mood changes with "Freedom" and "Diamonds" from the movie "Flatfoot in Africa". But it doesn’t end here, one cannot and it is not allowed to talk about "soundtracks" without the intervention of a great: Ennio Morricone, in his fantastic performance for the film "A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die" with the titular song and "Muerte Donde Vas?". After these adventures in memories, daydreaming the cult scenes of films, it's possible to have some laughs with "Grau Grau Grau," the famous theme from the movie "I'm for the Hippopotamus".

What can I say... obviously it's not a CD to have at all costs or a CD to envy, but it's certainly a great compilation both for the lovers of the comedic duo and for soundtrack lovers in general. More than listening to it in the car, there's not much else you can do... but it's a great way to remember an unforgettable film saga.