March or Die (1977)

As I featured a Bud Spencer solo starring feature the other day, I thought it would be appropriate to present a 'Random Movie Trailer' featuring his erstwhile partner Terence Hill.  In truth, March or Die isn't a particularly good film.  As the cast list indicates, it is one of those international co-productions, featuring stars from the various countries financing it.  The need to give them all adequate screen time in order satisfy the various backers means that the plot never really has a chance to get going, the film stuttering along from one set piece to another.  Hill is as constrained as his co-stars by the script's episodic feel, never really getting a chance to demonstrate the combination of charisma and athleticism which had made him such a huge star.  

Playing what is essentially a dramatic role, March or Die provides a contrast with his more light-hearted comedies, both the solo efforts and the partnerships with Bud Spencer, harking back to the sort of roles he had played pre-Trinity.  Although not a comedy adventure, Hill does have a sort of Bud Spencer substitute in the form of Jack O'Halloran's burly and bearded fellow legionnaire.  Despite this, there aren't many laughs in what turns out to be a pretty grim tale of the Legion.  It doesn't help that star Gene Hackman seems ill-at-ease and just seems too, well, modern.  Interestingly, the film was produced by much the same production team behind the far more successful 1975 remake of Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely.  While by no means unwatchable, March or Die feels unsatisfying, seemingly never getting into its stride and by the end still doesn't feel as if it has properly resolved any of its plot lines.  It's a poor vehicle for Terence Hill and ultimately did little to establish him in non-Italian made films.  He does at least provide his own voice rather than being dubbed, (it was from around this period that he started dubbing himself into English, which he speaks extremely well, having lived in the US for several years, although, bizarrely, despite being Italian, he still found himself being dubbed by another actor in the Italian language versions).