"Piedone a Hong Kong" or "Flatfoot Goes East" or "Buddy in Hongkong" or "Plattfuß räumt auf" or "Flatfoot in Hong Kong" etc. is a co-production between Italy and Hong Kong from 1975, so this film had its 45th anniversary last year and Spencer is still famous enough here in Germany for me to mention two German titles here. Probably more famous than everywhere else and this could also include Italy where he is from. This is of course a movie without his longtime partner Terence Hill. The fact that Hong Kong is a country of production is of course directly linked to where this movie is set and also where it was filmed. It says here on imdb that there are two versions, the uncut version at 115 minutes and the cut version at 108 minutes and I think I watched the latter tonight here on national television. At least it did not come close to two hours, so it must have been this one if there are really only these two versions in existence. The director is Steno and he is also one of the writers. No surprise here because Steno has far more writing credits than directing credits, even if the latter is also a pretty high amount. It is only a surprise from the perspective that Steno only directed the first Piedone movie and was not one of the writers there. But here he is. So yes, there are several Piedone movie. This is the second from four films if I am not mistaken. The following two, which I will also review soon, are set in Africa. It is a bit unusual for lead actor Bud Spencer to play the same character in so many films. I mean it is not unusual that he returned for a sequel, but four films is an exception. Of course, the character he plays is police inspector Rizzo and you can see in one scene that he is not just a simple police officer, namely during the one in which he orders the cops to let go off the woman they were about to arrest and bring back to her hospital. But I will talk a bit about the contents later. I can already say now that after having seen this film and the first, I am not too happy about the outcome quality-wise. If I wasn't a big Bud Spencer film, then I'd probably hand out a negative recommendation here and take away another two stars. But I just love the man, so I am a bit generous. I just hope that the quality gets better in the coming movies. I can see why this one here did not win Spencer another Golden Screen apparently. The poster I am also not too big of I must admit. It summarizes the film pretty nicely though from a negative perspective. Spencer in the center is nice, but maybe other than him, there is just too much going on and it should have been a more essential film with better focus. Sadly, it is not, even if it is also never really bad or anything. Just a bit all over the place at times and as a consequence I even did not like the fighting scenes here too much and those I almost always like in Spencer's other films.
First of all, there are many parallels here if we compare this movie to the very first film that was a bit of an introduction to the series although I am not sure if they knew back then already that three more would follow. Probably not. Honestly, this film with the entire idea of catching a police officer that works with the drug dealers felt so similar to the first that I really would have wanted some more creative writing. No major differences at all. Except that the film is set on another continent and that is it then. Sorry, but this is absolutely not good enough. As I said, I truly hope the other ones add something new story-wise and I will find out next week. But now back to this one here. It was nice to see Spencer/Pedersoli in the water here fighting the bad guys, something rather unusual for him, especially if you know about his background as an Olympic swimmer. Otherwise, you will find the typical Spencer stuff here when he beats up the bad guys. Only that they are Asians this time on many occasions. Some of them wear pompous traditional costumes even. Sumo is also included here and this scene almost felt like taken from a James Bond movie in terms of the contents (also with the FBI guy in the end as some parallel to Leiter) with how the big guy (obviously not Spencer's character) is killed by an assassin. Kinda fitting because Bond was of course really big in the 1970s. At that point, Moore had taken over from Connery already. Anyway, back to this one here: This aforementioned scene also showed something not too typical for Spencer and his films, namely that he is not always really superior physically compared to the people he is up against. The sumo wrestler has a bit of an advantage early on. It does not last for long, but still. And in the first film, Buddy's Rizzo struggled a bit against the guy on the roof early on and also against a big bald brute later on. Oh, I must also mention the kid from this film here. Not an alien this time, but a local. That little Asian boy was really cute. Also in the last shot when he finds his own way to eat those spaghetti. Perfect combination of Italy and Asia if you ask me. This kid is credited here as Daygolo and a bit sad to see he has never been in another film before or especially after this one. Also a bit strange there is only one name to him. His smile was really infectious though. Somehow I thought that at the end we could find out that he actually understood everything Rizzo said, but they did not take this route and it was probably a good decision. Why would he speak Italian all of a sudden. Or German in the version I watched. I still think Bud Spencer films are among the very best dubbing I have come across in my cinematic life. Gotta love Wolfgang Hess' work and I hope he rests in peace. Just like Spencer himself. A bit telling that there were exactly two months between the dates of death from those two, even if Pedersoli/Spencer was considerably older. One thing I liked here as well was the music. really catchy tune at times. So it may not have sounded like this early on, but this film definitely has its pros. The cast is alright too. Actually, we have some actors here who showed up in some really big movies like The Godfather or 12 Angry Men. And then there are those that appear on many Bud Spencer films like Enzo Cannavale who is a regular in these Flatfoot movies, but even he was part of a classic movie (about movies). The one I always have to mention though is Riccardo Pizzuti. Glad to see he is still alive now and I hope he stays it for a while if he wants to. He is always so easy to identify and great fun, even if his role in here is pretty small, especially compared to other films. His scene when he crashes through that door with his head is among the funniest from the entire movie. Also Rizzo's comment about knocking before entering was another highlight. I guess this is pretty much it then. Overall, these minor positive aspects have a pretty hard time though in my opinion to make up for the fairly uninspired plot and this is never a film to be taken seriously and the problem is that it feels as if this film wants to be taken seriously in contrast to many other Spencer movies. So if you have seen nothing from the man, then this one here is not the greatest choice to start with. Go for one of his more famous works. This one here is a film you want to check out once you have seen a lot from him and he has a place in your heart. You can also watch it then before the first Piedone film as I think it is not necessary to stick with the chronological order here really. Even if it probably the better choice. I am talking only about the first two films of course. Cannot (yet) elaborate on the other two. I think for this one here the comedy also could have been a bit better. I mean no offense, but the old woman beating up some of the bad guys was never really funny and this final brawl sequence was really as much over the place as the film itself for the most part. It was also fairly difficult to see who is who. It felt as if everybody was basically fighting everybody and yes, this takes out the fun. I mean in other Spencer films, there is still some kind of order in the chaos. Here not so much. So I give the outcome here only a very cautious positive recommendation. Also could have been at least ten minutes shorter. And come on, did they really not understand immediately that the little boy was pretending to be sumo wrestler? Please. That felt like the most illogical part of it all to me. Okay I'm done now. You get the message. Here's hoping the Africa movies are better.
First of all, there are many parallels here if we compare this movie to the very first film that was a bit of an introduction to the series although I am not sure if they knew back then already that three more would follow. Probably not. Honestly, this film with the entire idea of catching a police officer that works with the drug dealers felt so similar to the first that I really would have wanted some more creative writing. No major differences at all. Except that the film is set on another continent and that is it then. Sorry, but this is absolutely not good enough. As I said, I truly hope the other ones add something new story-wise and I will find out next week. But now back to this one here. It was nice to see Spencer/Pedersoli in the water here fighting the bad guys, something rather unusual for him, especially if you know about his background as an Olympic swimmer. Otherwise, you will find the typical Spencer stuff here when he beats up the bad guys. Only that they are Asians this time on many occasions. Some of them wear pompous traditional costumes even. Sumo is also included here and this scene almost felt like taken from a James Bond movie in terms of the contents (also with the FBI guy in the end as some parallel to Leiter) with how the big guy (obviously not Spencer's character) is killed by an assassin. Kinda fitting because Bond was of course really big in the 1970s. At that point, Moore had taken over from Connery already. Anyway, back to this one here: This aforementioned scene also showed something not too typical for Spencer and his films, namely that he is not always really superior physically compared to the people he is up against. The sumo wrestler has a bit of an advantage early on. It does not last for long, but still. And in the first film, Buddy's Rizzo struggled a bit against the guy on the roof early on and also against a big bald brute later on. Oh, I must also mention the kid from this film here. Not an alien this time, but a local. That little Asian boy was really cute. Also in the last shot when he finds his own way to eat those spaghetti. Perfect combination of Italy and Asia if you ask me. This kid is credited here as Daygolo and a bit sad to see he has never been in another film before or especially after this one. Also a bit strange there is only one name to him. His smile was really infectious though. Somehow I thought that at the end we could find out that he actually understood everything Rizzo said, but they did not take this route and it was probably a good decision. Why would he speak Italian all of a sudden. Or German in the version I watched. I still think Bud Spencer films are among the very best dubbing I have come across in my cinematic life. Gotta love Wolfgang Hess' work and I hope he rests in peace. Just like Spencer himself. A bit telling that there were exactly two months between the dates of death from those two, even if Pedersoli/Spencer was considerably older. One thing I liked here as well was the music. really catchy tune at times. So it may not have sounded like this early on, but this film definitely has its pros. The cast is alright too. Actually, we have some actors here who showed up in some really big movies like The Godfather or 12 Angry Men. And then there are those that appear on many Bud Spencer films like Enzo Cannavale who is a regular in these Flatfoot movies, but even he was part of a classic movie (about movies). The one I always have to mention though is Riccardo Pizzuti. Glad to see he is still alive now and I hope he stays it for a while if he wants to. He is always so easy to identify and great fun, even if his role in here is pretty small, especially compared to other films. His scene when he crashes through that door with his head is among the funniest from the entire movie. Also Rizzo's comment about knocking before entering was another highlight. I guess this is pretty much it then. Overall, these minor positive aspects have a pretty hard time though in my opinion to make up for the fairly uninspired plot and this is never a film to be taken seriously and the problem is that it feels as if this film wants to be taken seriously in contrast to many other Spencer movies. So if you have seen nothing from the man, then this one here is not the greatest choice to start with. Go for one of his more famous works. This one here is a film you want to check out once you have seen a lot from him and he has a place in your heart. You can also watch it then before the first Piedone film as I think it is not necessary to stick with the chronological order here really. Even if it probably the better choice. I am talking only about the first two films of course. Cannot (yet) elaborate on the other two. I think for this one here the comedy also could have been a bit better. I mean no offense, but the old woman beating up some of the bad guys was never really funny and this final brawl sequence was really as much over the place as the film itself for the most part. It was also fairly difficult to see who is who. It felt as if everybody was basically fighting everybody and yes, this takes out the fun. I mean in other Spencer films, there is still some kind of order in the chaos. Here not so much. So I give the outcome here only a very cautious positive recommendation. Also could have been at least ten minutes shorter. And come on, did they really not understand immediately that the little boy was pretending to be sumo wrestler? Please. That felt like the most illogical part of it all to me. Okay I'm done now. You get the message. Here's hoping the Africa movies are better.