Piu Forte Ragazzi AKA All the Way Boys!

Piu forte ragazzi!

Although Bud Spencer & Terence Hill are not a part of the 1001 Movies You Must Watch Before You Die book, there are more than 1001 reasons to watch at least a few of their wonderful movies. The Italian couple worked together in 18 movies and tried going solo for a few films, as well as building a career in local Italian television but nothing will ever outdo the times they worked together. 

Today, Carlos Pedersoli (Bud Spencer's real name) is an 86 year old veteran actor, while Mario Girotti (Terence Hill) is a 77 year old veteran actor too. Piu Forte Ragazzi, AKA All The Way Boys! is a 1972 film directed by Giuseppe Colizzi  and starred by our two favorite Italian heroes of all time. What makes this movie interesting, is that this marks the very first time where Spencer & Hill are not making a Spaghetti Western  movie.

Insurance money? piece of cake!

Well I'll be damned!

Piu Forte Ragazzi follows the steps of air cargo pilots Plata (Hill) & Salud (Spencer) Their latest mission takes them to the amazons to stage a plane accident in order to cash in an insurance policy. Unfortunately, their plane actually malfunctions forcing them to crash land in an unknown wild forest. Soon enough, they find out there is a small mining colony that barely makes it to the end of the day by getting the precious stones to a certain Mr. Ears (played by Reinhard Kolldehoff) The thing is, this Mr. Ears runs the show, and it's a one man's show only. Not only he underpays his workers, he also gets the little money they make by bringing them supplies they can't find anywhere else. 

In order to make a living, Plata & Salud find an old plane, fix it, and start running their own supply business, which of course, will lead them into direct trouble with Mr. Ears & his lowlife gang.

Soon enough, the locals start getting supplies from the new vendors and things begin going south pretty quickly. 

 

We may be friends.

But we have our differences.

When watching a Terence Hill & Bud Spencer movie, you're not looking for a masterpiece in story telling, you're looking for action, adventure & lots of laughs. Interestingly enough, their films always come with very educational lessons on how to survive rough times, work together despite differences, help the helpless and in the end, fix what's wrong. Of course, that won't happen until the very end of the movie, where our heroes have convinced wrong doers through a fostering lesson of my fist, your face. 

Piu Forte Ragazzi, as mentioned above, is the first time the duo is out of their comfort zone. They're no longer into the spaghetti western genre but straight into the action/adventure genre with a contemporary setting. While this may not be the ideal film to watch if it's your first time into the couple's work, the movie proves these actors could outdo themselves by surviving a decaying genre that ended up becoming a parody of itself. 

Let me explain...

Plata knows his game.

After appearing in this film, Spencer became a real life jet airplane and helicopter pilot. He established Mistral Air in 1984, an air-mail company that also transports pilgrims, but alter sold it to Poste Italiane to buy a textile mill that produced clothes for children. Yes, Bud Spencer is also a real life hero. 

Piu Forte Ragazzi is probably one of the best Spencer / Hill movies ever made. The soundtrack, atmosphere, jokes, and the fact that the movie is not too childish makes it a "must see" for any fan of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. Unfortunately, there is one problem: all over there world there does not exist an uncut version. You can rather point out 2 different cuts. The German version misses out on several plot points as well as brawling; additionally it offers alternative footage every now and then. On the other hand there's the Italian/international version which was also released in the USA and Denmark. If you can, stay away from this version. While the German version already misses out on roughly 7 and half minutes of footage (30 cuts), the Italian/international version includes 105 cuts with an overall runtime of 18 minutes of missing footage! A detailed comparison between both versions, split in two parts, with pictures can be found here (scenes missing in the German Version) and here (scenes missing in the International Version).  

Here's the movie trailer: