It Can Be Done Amigo (1974)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

best movie i've ever seen.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Bud Spencer teams up with a kid in this rather charming, but cheap, Italian comedy Western. Jack Palance provides back up as a cigar chomping, riled brother of a chick Spencer slept with, hoping to marry Spencer off and then kill him (to save face). They all end up in a town run by Sheriff/Judge/Reverend Francisco Rabal, who wants the property that the kid's inherited. But why? That's up to Spencer and the kid to find out, but needless to say the kid's sitting on a fortune. This mostly harmless western has Spencer as the reluctant hero, protecting a kid he doesn't want to protect and getting into many punch ups. Palance turns up periodically to save Spencer (he wants to kill him himself) and for some reason he's got an accent that turns from Southern to Mexican for no reason whatsoever. Everything's played pretty light (no one gets killed, save for the kid's uncle who has a heart attack). As with all Italian comedies, the laughs are played very broad (verging on slapstick), and there's unintentional and intentional laughs. There's also a touching moment when the kid starts showing Spencer a bit of affection and you can see Spencer's torn between his duties in looking after the kid and his own need to get out of town. The film also benefits from having one of the least annoying kids in Italian cinema (If you've seen House by the Cemetery or Sweet House of Horrors, you'll know that's no understatement).The abrupt ending seems to endorse wife-beating, however, so I'm not sure what that was about! Did give me a laugh, though…The print I viewed was awful - drained of colour, pan and scanned, with a weird echo for the first 30 minutes.

Prior reviewers in this forum have been a bit more generous than I'm prepared to be. This was my first Bud Spencer film, and I found it to be adequate at best. If not for the sneering presence of Jack Palance there might not have been enough to hold my interest.Spencer's character is Hiram Coburn, who's gimmick with the eyeglasses portends someone about to get hurt, though that convention falls away by the end of the story. He's a slow to get riled caretaker for a young Chip Anderson (Renato Cestie) who has to slug his way through a slew of bad hombres until the payoff. The orphan boy is the sole owner of 'Welldigger's Roost', a ramshackle cabin in the ramshackle town of Westland, but the object of much interest by the town's all around judge/preacher/sheriff Franciscus (Francisco Rabal), and a curious dirt eating prospector. The old coot has a taste for gold, but it's an oil gusher that eventually proves out on the 'Roost'.Until that point, Coburn stays busy dodging Sonny Bronston (Palance) and his sister Mary (Dany Saval). Sonny wants to make an honest woman of his sister, apparently after a fling with Coburn, although if you follow the film closely, that's not really ever made clear. Mary pretends to be pregnant, which puts her brother's plans for killing Coburn on hold, but Coburn himself never really fesses up to the deed. The best line of the film is his during the wedding ceremony which he attends hogtied - Mary - "But why have they got you tied up?" Coburn - "To restrain my enthusiasm." Though filmed in color, there are a fair amount of drab sequences that look virtually black and white. The print I viewed also seemed to be badly edited, subject to jump cuts that change the direction of the story on a dime; it occurred enough times to be annoying.I liked Palance in the flick, almost a two decade preview of his character(s) in the "City Slickers" franchise. Whether on purpose or not, he changes accents frequently in the picture, with his Mexican take the best. It's a hoot to see his 'girls' fawning all over him; one gets the impression they might have been part of a traveling whorehouse, but they never did more than kick up their heels at the Westland saloon. Except for Mary, they could have all gotten a bit more screen time, amigo.

I would love to briefly explain the plot of It Can Be Done, Amigo, but I don't think I'm capable. It almost defies words with its bizarreness. I'll give it a stab though. Bud Spencer is Coburn, the opposite of what I normally associate with the hero of a Spaghetti Western (SW). He's miles away from the image of the svelte Man with No Name. Coburn is a big man who looks like he may crush the horse he rides. He doesn't carry a gun, but relies on his powerful fists to defend himself. He is entrusted with safely delivering a young boy to his home after the boy's uncle dies. The trip won't be easy as hot on Coburn's heels is a wagon carrying the woman (Dany Saval) who insists on marrying Coburn, her brother (Jack Palance) who wants to kill Coburn, and the brother's traveling brothel. Once Coburn and the boy reach the boy's home, it seems that everyone in town, including the town's Mayor/Sheriff/Minister, is anxious to get it away from him, whether by buying it or killing to get it. Coburn's got to figure out a way to help the boy keep his land all the while staying one move ahead of his betrothed, her brother, and the Mayor/Sheriff/Minister who will stop at nothing to get the homestead.Whew! That was difficult. But as confusing and crazy as the plot may sound, in the end, it all makes sense. Bud Spencer, as he proved in his many films with Terence Hill, has a flair for comedy and most of it works. Sure, there are a few misfires along the way, but you can generally count on Spencer to deliver. I cannot say the same for Jack Palance. Unlike almost every other review I've read on It Can Be Done, Amigo, I don't care for Palance in this film. His constant grimaces and sneering really didn't work for me. The rest of the cast is okay with Dany Saval giving a standout supporting performance.As much fun as I had with parts of this film, I can't rate it any higher because of the sluggish first act. The movie starts off at a snails pace and I was really worried I might fall asleep if something didn't happen soon. A little better pacing throughout It Can Be Done, Amigo might have gone a long way to making this a truly memorable SW.

Hiram Coburn is not the typical spaghetti western protagonist. He doesn't use a gun, instead opting to pound his opponents silly with his fists, and although he is as powerful as an ox, he is mellow and laid back to an annoying degree. He takes some getting used to, but by the end of the film I found myself liking this character. Jack Palance plays Sonny, an eccentric gunslinger (what Palance does best). He is very entertaining, and I would have liked to have seen more of him in the film. The weirdest thing about him is that his accent keeps changing. Sometimes he sounds like he is from the southeastern US, other times he sounds Mexican, and other times he sounds like he's from Chicago or something. I don't know if this is intentional or not, but it sure is odd, and odd is a good thing in a spaghetti western.The music score by Bacalov is excellent. It reminds me of some of Morricone's work, which is pretty much the best compliment one could give.The story is great, and just about the most original one I've ever seen in a spaghetti western. The movie is a comedy, but not to the extent that it becomes completely unbelievable. I may have given this movie a higher rating if I saw it in a more complete, widescreen version. The version I saw, which I assume is the most commonly available, is approximately 98 minutes long if I remember correctly, and it feels like it's been edited somewhat to shorten its length.All in all, this one's a must-have if you are a spaghetti western nut like me.