Convoy Buddies
{{short description|1975 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Convoy Buddies
| image = Convoy_buddies_poster_01.jpg
| producer = Mino Loy
| director = Giuliano Carnimeo
| story =
| writer = Sergio Bazzini
Tulio Demicheli
| starring =Michael Coby
Paul L. Smith
| music = Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
| cinematography = Sebastiano Celeste
Vicente Minaya
| released = {{Film date|1975}}
| language = Italian
}}
Convoy Buddies ({{langx|it|Simone e Matteo - Un gioco da ragazzi}}, {{langx|es|Simón y Mateo}}, also known as Kid Stuff) is a 1975 Italian-Spanish adventure-comedy film directed by Giuliano Carnimeo and starring Michael Coby and Paul L. Smith,{{cite book|first=Paolo |last=Mereghetti|title=Il Mereghetti - Dizionario dei film|publisher=B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010|isbn=8860736269}}{{cite book|author1=Roberto Chiti |author2=Roberto Poppi |author3=Enrico Lancia |title=Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film|publisher=Gremese, 1991|isbn=8876059695}} a couple formed with the purpose of copying the successful films of the duo Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=238}} It was followed by The Diamond Peddlers
The film was selected for American release by Film Ventures International, and producer Edward L. Montoro changed Smith's name to Bob Spencer and Cantafora's name to Terrence Hall.{{cite news |title=They're Truckin Terrific |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-convoy-buddies/147671865/ |work=The Atlanta Constitution |date=February 11, 1978 |page=15T}} Smith sued,{{cite web|url=http://openjurist.org/648/f2d/602/smith-v-l-montoro |title=648 F2d 602, Smith v. L Montoro | website=OpenJurist.org |access-date=2013-02-21}} successfully arguing that an actor's name recognition is vital to his career.{{cite journal |last1=Carpenter |first1=Clint A. |title=Stepmother, May I?: Moral Rights, Dastar, and the False Advertising Prong of Lanham Act Section 43(a) |journal=Washington and Lee Law Review |date=Fall 2006 |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=1601–1648}} The judicial system agreed and ruled against FVI, which paid Smith damages and court costs.{{cite web| publisher= Bad Movie Planet| work= The Unknown Movies| title= FVI: What You Didn't Know| author= GreyWizard| url= http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/reviews/fvi.html| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070607161531/http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/reviews/fvi.html| archive-date= June 7, 2007| access-date= March 15, 2019}}
Plot
Toby and Butch are a couple of incompetent crooks who get a truck hauling job bringing insecticide from Italy to France. Unbeknownst to the bumbling duo, they are really smuggling guns. A group of equally inept mobsters try to steal the guns to no avail.
Cast
- Michael Coby as Butch (Matteo)
- Paul L. Smith as Toby (Simone)
- Dominic Barto as Lucky
- Giuliana Calandra as Rosy
- Eduardo Fajardo as Le Renard
- Ángel del Pozo as Navy Official
- Mario Brega as Le Renard's Henchman
- Riccardo Petrazzi as Paul
- Emilio Messina as Jean
- Nello Pazzafini as French Sailor
- Tony Norton as Frou-Frou
- Francisco Merino as Organizer
Reception
Preston McLaurin from The Sun News said the movie "might be a loose rambling film, but it never lets down the comedy or the pace it sets in the beginning, and it also "lumps its whole cast into a likable bunch and even gets some boyish charm out of Hall and Spencer".{{cite news |last1=McLaurin |first1=Preston |title=Convoy Buddies Good For Mindless Escapism |work=The Sun News |date=January 30, 1978 |page=5B}} Richard Labonté of The Ottawa Citizen wrote in his review that the film reminded him of The Three Stooges, in that the virtue of the film is that "though the humor is rooted in violence, it's a cartoon violence in which nothing suffers". He was quick to point out that "much of the action consists of heads being hit by balled fists, bodies being tossed through panes of glass, inanimate objects – doors, hammers, beds, bottles, – rendering animate objects – people – inanimate".{{cite news |last1=Labonté |first1=Richard |title=Italian Film Amuses With Cartoon Violence |work=The Ottawa Citizen |date=April 25, 1978 |page=67}}
In her review for the Los Angeles Times, Linda Gross said that director Giuliano Carnimeo "is very adept at slapstick and at action and demolition sequences, but unfortunately, screenwriter Tulio Demicheli doesn't give him very much to work with". She complained that "every car crash, every joke, every encounter with a woman is milked beyond the limits of entertainment, and the story line is fairly predictably too". She did note that Spencer and Hall "work well together" and Karen Blake is "amusing".{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Linda |title=Convoy Buddies On Wrong Detour |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 30, 1979 |page=16}}
==See also==
{{Portal|Film}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book | last=Hughes | first=Howard | title=Cinema Italiano: The Complete Guide from Classics to Cult | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-85771-978-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btuRDwAAQBAJ }}
External links
- {{IMDb title}}
Category:Italian adventure comedy films
Category:Spanish adventure comedy films
Category:1970s buddy comedy films
Category:1970s adventure comedy films
Category:Films directed by Giuliano Carnimeo
Category:Films scored by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
Category:Italian buddy comedy films
Category:1970s Italian-language films