For me, it’s They Call Me Trinity.

It’s a 1970 Italian Western starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, and somehow it manages to be a Western, a comedy, and a buddy movie all at the same time without feeling like it is trying too hard to be any of them.

That is a big part of why I love it.

Terence Hill’s Trinity is impossibly relaxed, almost to the point of being irritating, while Bud Spencer’s Bambino looks like he would rather solve every problem by hitting it with something heavy. Their chemistry is the entire movie. One is effortless charm, the other is barely contained annoyance, and somehow that combination works perfectly.

What really makes the movie special is its tone.

It does not take the mythology of the Western too seriously. The gunfights, tough guys, dusty towns, and dramatic standoffs are all there, but the movie is willing to laugh at them. It feels loose, funny, and strangely warm in a genre that can sometimes take itself very seriously.

And the humor still works.

It is physical without being mindless, silly without becoming annoying, and full of little character moments that make it endlessly rewatchable.

I think that is what makes a movie underrated. Not that nobody has ever heard of it, but that it deserves to be talked about more than it is.

So my answer is They Call Me Trinity.

It may not be the most important Western ever made.

But it might be one of the most fun.

P.S. There’s also a great Quentin Tarantino connection: the original movie’s theme, “Trinity (Titoli),” was later used in Django Unchained. So if it feels like the kind of wonderfully offbeat Spaghetti Western Tarantino would appreciate, apparently he did too.

What’s the most underrated movie you’ve ever watched?

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