Doc West (2009) – 2/5

First act of Hill/Girotti portraying Doc West

Here we have „Doc West“, a co-production between Italy and the United States from 2009, to this film is also now closer to its 15th anniversary than to its 10th anniversary and perhaps, depending on when you read this review of mine, the 15th anniversary already happened then as well or maybe the 20th even. It runs for 1.5 hours, slightly over and this is the first from two Doc West movies that can also be seen as a duology. They always knew they would make two films and the ending of the first film, so this one here, was handled in a way that the second film starts off right away where the first film ended and there is some drama, a bit of a cliffhanger even there. I watched both movies tonight and I must say they are both nothing special, but the second film is slightly superior the way I saw it. I will talk about that one a little later though and for now let’s look at this first film we have here. The two directors are Giulo Biase and Terence Hill, who also plays the title character of course. Base also worked with Hill on other occasions already and if you take a look at his body of work, you will see that he is also a really prolific actor and has also been in Hollywood stuff already, even if those were small roles and he does not have Hill’s famous name. Well, here in Germany Hill is famous, in Italy probably too, but with other regions I cannot say for sure, America maybe not (anymore). Hill’s inclusion here was also the main reason why I watched this film today and also why I watched the sequel. I just adore his Bud Spencer films, but he is also a nice watch when on his own. Sadly, the plot here is really not too great, so he cannot save the film either, but I will get to the story and the flaws a little later. It is especially disappointing because there were three writers here, so a decent amount. One of them even worked on several Spencer/Hill films in the past and the other two weren’t extremely experienced by 2009, but not rookies either. One of them became very prolific in Italy since then, the other a little bit less. Check out their names and bodies of work if you care.

Hill was around the age of 70 when this was made, so it means he is deep into his 80s now, but I hope he will still stay with us for a little while. The second fairly well-known name here is Paul Sorvino. I knew he was somehow familiar to me and now I see he appeared for a short time on „Law & Order“. Back in the day a long time before this film here got made even, but I think this is probably what I remember him from. Sad to see he died a few months ago in 2022. May he rest in peace. The rest of the cast maybe not too many will recognize. It is a mix of American and Italian actors, which makes total sense given the production’s background. If you recognize others, then I applaud you. The main antagonist is played by Alessio Di Clemente, who had nice recognition value and you could see his Italian background, even if his character carries a full-on American name. As for the story, there were a few parts I struggled with. The characters lacked shades. That was maybe the biggest problem. They were either really good or really evil and some inclusions that were supposed to give them depth did not work too well. The entire idea about Hill’s character carrying this guilt from the past with him linked to the woman that he could not save was not exactly a good aspect here writing-wise. How he has taken care of the woman’s girl since that fateful day was in a way sweet, but also a bit gooey honestly, also already from the very start when he remembers her and we see his imagination and at the same time we see the other woman standing behind him and this young woman played by the truly stunning Maria P. Petruolo became one of the defining characters as the film went on. She was part of a bit of a messy Romeo and Juliet story line because we have a western village there and two old men really cannot stand each other and openly express their mutual hatred, but their children fall in love. So this is one of several conflicts that Hill’s character has to fix.

Another would be the threat posed by a guy who takes part in all kinds of robberies and this would be the aforementioned main antagonist we got there. There I have to give props though. They are not scared of killing this villain at the end through Doc West’s gun. This is how it should be in western films. No mercy. They still used a boy to show us this killing is justified as the villain while already being struck by a bullet once takes a final shot and injures the boy and this is where Doc West has to deliver as a doctor again to save the boy’s life. Of course he succeeds. By the way, said boy recovers way too quickly in the end and he even takes a horse and follows Doc West then to bring him the news that they need a doctor again very quickly to save a pregnant woman’s life and baby. Speaking of the good moments here that were sadly the minority, I can also mention the scene relatively early on at the jailhouse when Hill’s and Sorvino’s characters get to know each other. This was nice. The two really delivered there and I felt they had good chemistry. I also loved the scene with the apple pie it was I think a little later where one really wants it and the other is (not) willing to share it. Of course he is. Hill personifies a kind spirit in this film here. And an utterly talented shooter too as he is always ready to take a shot and hit the guns of two (or more) men about to start a shootout and this is how he deescalates the situation. Old or not, he always hits the mark. He just did not manage to kill the bad guy in the end with the first shot which caused some mayhem afterwards. Still, with the exception of the cliffhanger, all is good then again and the closing credits roll in. We even hear a song about Doc West that was apparently composed only for the occasion of this movie. Or these two movies I should maybe say.

Aside from all that, it was also nice to see this film from the western film perspective. There are really not too many westerns out there and while I will not change my perception that the story and characters here were a bit flat indeed, I did like the video recordings, the soundtrack and also some of the gun action. Not gonna deny it. They just did the obvious here really to appeal to the rather simple folks in the audience. Not only did they use cute kids, but also cute animals in the form of the dog that is featured on a few occasions. I mean don’t get me wrong I really love dogs, but this was surely a bit cringeworthy how this really harmless and sweet dog apparently has a reputation that it cannot cope with humans and all and of course he finds a liking in Doc West immediately and jumps on his shoulder or in his arms or something and the woman, the main love interest to Doc West, stands there and is oh so surprised. The female characters in this film were really not a revelation. When we see the two women talk to each other and one mentions a quote and the other guesses it must have been from somebody really iconic because of how meaningful it sounds, but then the first character reveals it was said by Doc West – okay, this was definitely too much! The tea drinking part at the beginning was kinda okay overall, but in general I maybe would have preferred a slightly more masculine take to the title character here. I mean he was gritty and precise and strong and all, but it feels with the depiction of all this, that there is already a massive early #metoo note in here, also with how women are depicted and treated. Then again, Hill always played gentlemen characters in terms of his interactions with women, also in the Bud Spencer films, so nobody can really be surprised. The kiss in the end I also could have done without. To some extent, it felt like a slightly cheesy romance film this way to be honest, but I would have preferred it to stay a full-on western movie. This also applies to all the moments in which women are really attached to Hill’s character, also much younger women like the Juliet equivalent or for example the bartender who says that Hill did not cheat during the card game while all the bad guy’s friends lie that he cheated. This bartender also calls him attractive since minute one.

Aside from that, there were more scenes and inclusions I did not like that basically resulted in my decision to give a negative recommendation overall here. I basically could have done without the entire idea of how Hill’s character trains these fellas for an upcoming fight. This was so forgettable and the pseudo drama when he injures his head in an accident and then also recovers way too quickly added almost nothing to the movie. You can find a handful more examples of twists and inclusions that did not help the film as a whole, but I will not get too much into detail about those. Just one more example: The scene early on how he basically heals that kid so quickly and a little later comes up with the right recommendation for the sheriff and his health problems was all a bit superficial and not too realistic how they depicted him as the greatest doctor there is. That is all then. Overall I would say it is better to skip the watch here and maybe just move on to the second film and watch that one instead and you don’t need to know the story background from this first film here to understand and appreciate the sequel. That one is also known as „Triggerman“ if I remember correctly. So even if you like Hill (Girotti) (because I surely do like him a lot), this film is not really easy to appreciate all in all. I give it a thumbs-down.