Banana Joe 4K 1982

The following phrase can be used to describe this film: a movie by Bud Spencer, made by Bud Spencer for Bud Spencer. The script was written specifically for this actor, for his typical character, and Bud himself had a hand in it.

The idea and most of the dialogue were written by Mario Amendola and Bruno Corbucci, who had already written scripts for Spencer and his regular partner Terence Hill - Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure and Heads or Tails.

I can't say that those films are very good, although they're not bad either, but it's quite obvious that the Hill-Spencer duo produced brighter films. And here we have exactly the same story.

Everything seems to be fine, Spencer plays a simple-minded, huge good-natured guy, but still, the ends don't meet in the film. The main character, Banana Joe, is happy with his life on a tropical island. He has never been to a city, knows nothing of civilization, and enjoys selling bananas and spending time with his children. He has no passport or any other documents. In other words, he is free from all the bureaucracy of our lives and is practically a happy man.

And then one fine day, he is asked for his trading documents. This is where the satire on how the bureaucratic mechanism works begins. Joe has to go to the city and visit a bunch of government buildings, but hardly anyone helps him. On top of that, the banana mafia starts hunting him down.

In the end, Joe, of course, gets the necessary documents, but from whom? From the crook and swindler “Juan Vilas, known as Pedro Almeida, also known as Paquito Rodriguez,” who had previously issued Joe a fake trading license, given him a counterfeit banknote, and cheated him out of buying shoes. This begs the question: what made this schemer help the simple-minded Joe?

The main problem with the film is that the entire universe is built around Joe himself. Most of the characters have no motives or incentives of their own. Everyone thinks only in terms of harming or helping Joe, and nothing else.

The episodes where Joe joins the army look like a bad caricature, and Sergeant Martino looks too stereotypical. And all of Joe's problems can be predicted well in advance. The only pleasant surprise is the local mafioso, Mr. Torsillo, who jumps out of the window after every meeting with Joe.

Overall, it's a solid, high-quality film that the whole family can enjoy. Or at least, you won't regret watching it once.