It is the year 1890 and the Catholic priests Father Pedro and Father G. are on mission in a small village in the South American jungle. Since both of them are very concerned about the well-being of the villagers, they are very popular there. This generous approach does not go down so well with the church itself, since although it is interested in believing Christians, it is not interested in the villagers' prosperity. The church has this in common with the unscrupulous marquis Gonzaga, who as governor has the entire region under his wing and enriches himself with slave labour and exploitation of the farmers. In order to look good to the church, he bribes the local bishop with generous donations. When the two priests arrive in the city to exchange goods, there is a serious dispute between them and Gonzaga's henchmen, which ends with the henchmen setting fire to the priests' ship. In order to get money for a new boat, the priests first turn to the bishop, but are rejected by him. Since Father G. "borrowed" the bishop's ring, they can win the money for the new boat in the casino, because the casino happens to belong to an old jail brother of Father G. When they want to return by boat, they are forced by the henchmen of the marquis to head for a plantation of Gonzagas. The marquis negotiated with the bishop to take the two priests out of circulation and put them in a guarded monastery. Once there, the priests learn that three slaves are to be executed the next morning. Of course, the two priests cannot allow this to happen and with the help of a ruse and many powerful arguments, the three slaves are finally freed and escape from the plantation. On the journey home to their mission, Father G. confesses to Father Pedro that he is actually not a real priest. Father Pedro threw him overboard. But Father G. can still call out to him that he will find his new address in a message in a bottle. When Father Pedro returns to his mission, he finds a lot of other priests there. They want to take over the mission in order to turn the villagers into submissive Christians. Pedro takes off his robe and advises the villagers to turn away from the church and look for a chief again. On the beach he finds Father G.'s message in a bottle and goes to him in the jungle. After some initial friction, the two former priests go to the town to stage a great popular uprising at the great public festival in honour of the marquis Gonzaga, which finally ends in a big brawl. In Two Missionaries, Bud Spencer and Terence Hill are on the way as priests for the first time. This role seems to have appealed to both of them, because in their further careers they both slip into the role of a priest again. Two Missionaries is the ninth film by the duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill (Hannibal excluded). It is right in the middle of the duo's filmography. The first nine films were all made in the eight years between 1967 and 1974, which corresponds to an average of slightly more than one film per year. After Two Missionaries followed the first longer production break. The next joint film Crime Busters didn't hit the cinemas until 1977, three years later. Two Missionaries is an Italian-French co-production, so with Jean Pierre Aumont, Mario Pilar, Jacques Herlin and Hervé Villechaize there are also a number of French actors in the film. For Mario Pilar, who plays the villain Menendez here, this is the third of a total of five roles alongside Bud Spencer. He has also appeared in Black Turin and Flatfoot Cop, where he became known as the gangster Tonino Percuoco. Later he was seen as one of the Italian knights in Soldier of Fortune and in the episode The false Etruscan of the series Big Man. Jacques Herlin also had another appearance at the side of Bud Spencer. In Soldier of Fortune he played Paredes, who has the doubtful honour to knight Hector. The short Hervé Villechaize, who plays the shipowner Aristoteles, became known as the villain Nick Nack in "James Bond 007 - The Man with the Golden Gun". Later he also appeared in over 100 episodes of the series "Fantasy Island". In the role of the unscrupulous marquis Gonzaga, the US actor Robert Loggia can be seen. Loggia had a great career in American cinema and television, and in 1980 he appeared a second time at the side of Bud Spencer. In Flatfoot in Egypt he played the oil mogul Mr. Burns, who hires flatfoot in Cairo as a bodyguard. During the shooting Bud Spencer found out about a cancer which he had treated in the USA on the producers' advice. On the set he didn't let the terrible diagnosis show and shot the film to the end. Fortunately the treatment was successful and the cancer could be defeated. The soundtrack of the film was written by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis. In Italy an LP with 12 songs was released in 1974 by Emi, as well as a single with the theme song Mañana. The single was also released in Germany at the cinema release in 1975. The B-side of the single is the instrumental track "El Barco de San José". For this title Bud Spencer is listed as co-author under his real name Carlo Pedersoli. There is no soundtrack CD available until today. The original title of the film is "Porgi l'altra guancia", the Italian version of the Bible quotation "Turn the other cheek". The film was released in German cinemas on 16 January 1975 and attracted 4.5 million viewers to the cinemas at the time. The film was awarded the "Goldene Leinwand" for this. At least in Australia there is also a different cut version of the film. Here alternative camera shots were used for certain scenes, e.g. on the ship on the first missionary voyage. Also the champagne bottle with Father G's new address is not found here by Father Pedro on the beach, but fished out of the water by children. Like All the Way, Boys before, this film was also shot in Colombia, including Cartagena, Santa Marta, Barranquilla and Leticia. Runtimes: German DVD: 89:16 minutes. Italian DVD: 89:32 minutes.

Data di uscita:

21.12.1974 Italia Prima proiezione 7.918.397 Besucher 16.01.1975 Germania Prima proiezione 4.500.000 Besucher 18.06.1975 Francia Prima proiezione 1.326.174 Besucher 22.08.1975 Finlandia Prima proiezione 123.375 Zuschauer 26.06.1978 Spagna Prima proiezione 1.521.672 Besucher 18.09.1987 Germania Prima visione TV ZDF 14.08.1993 Ungheria Prima visione TV MTV2 19:00

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