BY FRED BLOSSER
Ambrose
Bierce defined “misfortune†as “the kind of fortune that never misses.†By that measure, Damiano Damiani’s A-budget
Spaghetti Western “A Genius, Two Companions, and an Idiot†(“Un Genio, Due
Compari, Un Polloâ€) (1975), starring Terence Hill, was one of the all-time
grand slams of jinxed cinema. Damiani’s
negative was stolen during post-production and the film had to be reassembled
from alternate takes. The movie was
ultimately disowned by its producer, Sergio Leone, who regretted selecting
Damiani as the director. In Germany and
Sweden, the title was changed to “Nobody Is the Greatest†in an attempt to
market the film as a sequel to Tonino Valerii’s popular “My Name Is Nobody†(1973), also produced by
Leone and starring Hill. Lacking an
American star for marquee value and released in the twilight of the Spaghetti
era, the picture never played in U.S. theaters.
Paralleling
the relative obscurity of the movie itself, Ennio Morricone’s musical score is
the least known of his eight scores for films directed or produced by
Leone. There was a soundtrack release on
vinyl by CBS-Sugar in Italy in 1975 (with a charming old-timey-style cover
photo of stars Terence Hill, Miou-Miou, and Robert Charlebois as their scruffy
characters Joe Thanks, Lucy, and Steam Engine Bill), but no American
edition. For newer Morricone collectors who
have had to pay high prices for the CBS-Sugar vinyl and other now-out-of-print
foreign editions -- and for those of us who are fond of Damiani’s sadly
underrated and neglected movie -- Quartet Records has done the enormous service of releasing the 1975
soundtrack on a new limited-edition CD. Remastered from the first-generation master tapes, the disc sounds
terrific.
“Un
Genio, Due Compari, Un Pollo†may be Morricone’s most eclectic Spaghetti
Western score, a mixture of old and new styles. Some of the 13 tracks employ familiar motifs from his scores for earlier
Spaghettis by Leone and others. For
example, “Cavalcata . . . per Elisa†is an energetic chase theme carried by
Edda Dell’Orso’s familiar, soaring vocals. As part of the tune, Morricone samples Beethoven’s “Fur Elise†as he did
in his showdown theme in Sergio Sollima’s “La Resa dei Contiâ€/â€The Big Gundownâ€
(1966). “Ansie dell’Oro†revisits the
American-style orchestral sound that Morricone favored in early Spaghettis like
Duccio Tessari’s “Una Pistola per Ringoâ€/â€A Pistol for Ringo†(1965), when
Italian-made cowboy films tried to sneak into the U.S. market as American
B-pictures. In that sense, intentionally
or not, the track bookends Morricone’s amazing decade-long run of iconic
Spaghetti scores.
Other
tracks, which actually anchor the score as the film’s signature themes,
continued Morricone’s move in the ABBA era toward a lighter, Europop-inflected
style first introduced in his title track for “My Name Is Nobody.†“Un Genio, Due Compari, Un Pollo,†the title
tune that might also be called “Joe Thanks’ Theme,†sounds a bit like the
“Nobody†theme, but more bubblegum in flavor. “Pepper Chewing-Gum,†the theme for Robert Charlebois’ hard-luck con man
Steam Engine Bill, incorporates a farting bassoon that brings to mind the jokey
frog croaks in “March of the Beggars†from Leone’s “Giu La Testaâ€/â€Duck You
Sucker†(1971), but it’s lighter and bouncier than the earlier tune. The romantic theme “Quando Arriva L’Amore,â€
which is reprised later in the film as “Dolore e Gioia,†is one of Morricone’s
loveliest compositions. And it’s the one
that you’re the most apt to replay in your mind after you listen to the CD,
fittingly so since it underscores the movie’s most striking aspect, the
sometimes wistful, sometimes slapstick romantic triangle of Joe, Lucy, and
Bill.
Also
included in the Quartet Records‘ two-fer, and also remastered from
first-generation tapes, is Morricone’s score for Sergio Corbucci’s “Sonny &
Jedâ€/â€La Banda J. & S. -- Cronaca Criminale del Far West†(1972), a lesser
work by the maestro. But for fans,
lesser Morricone is still golden, and this is another hard-to-find
soundtrack. The standout among the seven
tracks is the title theme “Sonny,†which sounds a little like “Cheyenne’s
Theme†from “Once Upon a Time in the West†(1969). The Quartet Records CD includes an
informative, generously illustrated souvenir booklet by Randall D. Larson, and
is limited to 500 copies.
“Un
Genio, Due Compari, Un Polloâ€/â€Sonny & Jed†can be ordered from Quartet
Records HERE http://www.quartetrecords.com/un-genio-due-compari-un-pollo.html
or from Screen Archives Entertainment HERE http://www1.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=27870