It Can Be Done Amigo (1974)

This is one of the rare Spaghetti Westerns starring Bud Spencer without his usual sidekick, Terence Hill, although the comic offerings in store are very much like you'd expect from the actor. Given a chance to steal the limelight on his own for once, Spencer shines in the leading role in this film, playing a man-mountain (not exactly a stretch) with a good line in comedy. The opening scene, in which he tries to persuade his horse to get up, is a classic moment in its own right, and Spencer's presence throughout the movie makes it more than watchable. While there aren't really many laugh-out-loud moments, it's the little touches – the glasses, measuring the can – that make his character so amusing. I was also impressed with his dubbing in the US version; the groans and grunts his character makes really go with his personality, so much so that I felt like he wasn't being dubbed by somebody else at all.The plot is typically convoluted, focusing on two different strands: the first is a young orphaned boy who's come into possession of a plot of oil-rich land, and the second is Spencer's character Coburn, who's slept with gunman Sonny's virgin sister. Now Sonny wants to marry the two off to make his sister respectable, and then kill Coburn for his crime. Of course, this wouldn't be a spaghetti western without all the familiar trappings of the genre, and these are present in spades: there are Can-Can dancers, jailbreaks, bank robberies, hookers, bar-room brawls and more. The action scenes are average at best, played for laughs rather than thrills, although I could have done without the interminable fist-fight that closes the movie: sure, the spectacle is unique – watching guys slug it out under a rain of oil – but it goes on too long and quickly descends into shambolic chaos.Aside from Spencer, we have some interesting faces in the cast. Jack Palance hams it up as usual as a crazed sharpshooter, and here he decides to put on a different accent every scene he's in. It's not one of his better turns. The French Dany Saval is the romantic interest, and is pretty in a vacuous role. Child actor Renato Cestie gives one of the best performances for kids his age, and Francisco Rabal makes an impact as a sinister preacher. Lower down in the cast, we spot a couple of familiar faces from Italian cinema, including Sal Borgese and Luciano Pigozzi. Aside from playing spot-the-cast-member, IT CAN BE DONE, AMIGO is a pretty average movie, saved only by Spencer's genuinely funny leading man.

While not exactly the same plot as True Grit, it is definitely in the same vein, but this time with slapstick humor interjected throughout. Bud Spencer chops his opponents into submission and Jack Palance goes from goon to goof as the story unfolds. This has all the parts of a Spaghetti Western: Decent theme song, genre character actors, settings, etc. but winds up a few feet wide of the mark. The humor is decent, especially some of the interactions with Coburn and the boy, and it is an entertaining movie, but I never really warmed up to the gentle giant Coburn (Bud Spencer) and believed his connection with the kid. And I feel like I just have to at least mention the awkward spousal abuse ending ... I guess it was just being historically accurate? Anyways, there are better Western All'Italiana.Rating: 18/40

This is a funny spoof about several Spaghetti clichés with relentless comedy and parodying usual Western events that sometimes becomes stale . This is a good entertaining juvenile for Bud Spencer fans , as he's delightful in a fraternal story . It packs action, fist-play, sniping, slapdash , humor with tongue-and-cheek and is quite amusing . It deals with Coburn (Bud Spencer or Carlo Perdesoli) an insouciant , bumbling drifter who breaks out from prison and attempts to right wrongs . He embarks on his getaway and he gets stuck a ten years old little boy (Renato) . The boy's uncle dies, leaving a house , useless land to the child but is actually plenty of petroleum that is coveted by a priest-sheriff-judge (Francisco Rabal) and his hoodlums (Salvatore Borghese , Riccardo Pizzuti) . Hiram Coburn oblivious to risks and hopeless odds endure mishaps adventures and he join forces with the child to rout nasty gunmen . Meanwhile, the gunfighter Sonny Bronston (Jack Palance) going out the chase of Coburn to marry his sister (Dany Saval) and the baddies want to take the rich lands.This release has some cool and several hilarious moments , though the Terence Hill-Bud Spencer duo films are much better , such as ¨They call me trinity¨, ¨Trinity is still my name¨ and ¨Truoblemakers¨ . Good for laughs as well as lots of shootouts and fist-play . The film isn't always good , sometimes is fresh and diverting and on a couple of memorable occasions , it's frankly delicious . The flick belong to the sub-genre that Bud Spencer played in which he has as partners some sympathetic children , as ¨Supersheriff¨, ¨Banana Joe¨, ¨Flatfoot¨ and ¨Aladdin¨. The film displays a wide plethora of secondary actors usually seen in Spaghetti genre as Sal Borghese , Luciano Pigozzi or Alan Collins , Robert Camardiel as an old drunk and Ricardo Pizzuti , the latter usual in Hill-Spencer flicks . The movie displays innumerable jokes , laughter , and slapstick , though relies heavily about the continuous relationship between the tired gunslinger and the orphaned boy . Enjoyable but silly screenplay Ernesto Gastaldi and Rafael Azcona . Catching musical score with noisy songs by Luis Enrique Bacalov who subsequently would win Oscar for ¨The postman¨ . This motion picture was professionally directed by Maurizio Luzidi . Although Maurizio couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . He was a fine editor and also filmed detective thrillers , Giallo , comedy and even a horror film or two . He directed two Western more as ¨La grand Rapina del West¨ with George Hilton and Jack Betts and ¨Pecos¨ with Robert Woods , and even made films with international cast as ¨Sweet people¨ with Roger Moore and Stacy Keach and ¨The last chance¨ with Elli Wallach and Ursula Andress . His greatest conquest was the edition of ¨Don Quijote¨ by Orson Welles . Rating : 5,5 . Acceptable , passable but average . It is a middling Western story in which gibing the Spaghetti genre , plenty of fights and shoot'em up . As the director Mauricio Lucidi is uninspired and the ending is pretty predictable .

I got this movie in a DVD-pack of 24 (cheap) Westerns, mostly spaghetti westerns like this one. And although for the most part I thought this was poor even by spaghetti western standards, I was really delighted by the Hiram Coburn character as played by Bud Spencer.Spencer is new to me, but after seeing this flick and reading the other comments I think I'll just have to go out and find Call Me Trinity or one of the Trinity flicks. My own take on Bud Spencer's character in this movie (Can Be Done Amigo) is pretty much a match for that outlined in the other comments. I just want to add that I was just delighted by this character.Of course spaghetti westerns, and westerns indeed, are full of strange and oddly appealing characters. But this Coburn character is a knew one to me.Laid back, cool, looking down at the ground and grunting softly whenever someone says something to which he takes exception ... then quietly putting on his wire-rimmed spectacles any time he is going to pound someone ... is really appealing to me for some reason. He's a big bear of a man. He wears no guns, but his fists pound all opposition into the ground - or through the nearest window or door or the like. I only would have liked Coburn to put on his glasses just before the final strangely funny and strangely appealing fight scene. I got a feeling of a cross between Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Laurel & Hardy and The Three Stooges and even Batman ... the early series of Batman with loud reports every time a fist hit anyone. "Bam!" "Pow!" you remember. well, same here, except there's no visual aid, just the loud sound of "bam." All in all, I really liked this gem of a characterization in this movie. Guess I'll have to find Call me Trinity ... ! Charles Delacroix