"Un piede in paradiso" or "Speaking of the Devil" or "Wenn man vom Teufel spricht" is a co-production between Italy and the United States of America from 1991, so this film has its 30th anniversary this year. From the poster you can see already that here we have another Bud Spencer film. He is still a big star here in Germany and yesterday was a national holiday in my country and, on the occasion of holidays, one television channel frequently shows Spencer's films all day long and this is one of those shown yesterday. Actually, one of Spencer's lesser known movies we have here that is not on too frequently. This may also have to do with the absence of Spencer's buddy Terence Hill here. They are both Italians by the way, these are English names just their aliases. Anyway, Spencer was approximately 60 when he appeared in this one, so certainly one of his later works, even if he lived on for quite some time afterwards too. Now, even quite a few years after his death, Spencer is still an icon here in Germany and people love his movies and probably still will 50 years from now. At 95 minutes, it is neither a long nor short film, maybe average or slightly below if we are looking at other Bud Spencer films. The director is Enzo Barboni and the screenplay came from Barboni's son Marco. These two have worked with Bud Spencer on other occasions too. Co-writer is Giuseppe Pedersoli, Bud Spencer's son. It is all a bit of a family affair as Spencer's daughter plays Spencer's character's daughter in this film too and there is even a baby involved. I wonder if that is Spencer's real grandchild too. Anyway, Spencer's daughter (her name is Diamante, beautiful name) was only 18 or so here, really young (okay probably she was not yet a mother in real life) and she is pretty stunning. Same applies to Carol Alt, about a decade older and much more seductive, who maybe plays the biggest female character in here. As for the rest of the cast, not too many big names, but Ricardo Pizzuti deserves a mention as always because he has been in so many Bud Spencer movies long before this one.

It's probably not a real coincidence that you find the likes of guardian angels in this film or at least heavenly characters because this came out briefly after the Oscar-winning Ghost. But I think other than that, the story could not be any more different. You will also certainly find politically incorrect moments in this film. I am sure that radical equal rights supporters could have a problem with the devil here being a woman or at least a woman being the representative of the devil. They do get worked up pretty quickly for sure. And near the end, there is some talking about Japanese and their height it was I think that people today could have a problem with from the racism perspective. Anyway, I am glad these scenes exist and are not censored and I miss times like those back then during which people did not get offended as quickly as they do today. I am genuinely waiting for an information on the screen for Bud Spencer films that it is not okay to hit people. Sigh. Anyway, let's keep looking at the outcome here. Funnily enough, both heaven and hell have a specific interest in Bud Spencer's character, so there are supernatural forces here, but they keep it all light fur sure and Spencer also plays the character he usually plays. You could already see that when he talks to the young athlete. He tells the boy that his father is not in the wrong when it comes to the boy's future and the boy still cares about Buddy's character's opinion. Also, it's not a big problem that the boy could not really pay for the taxi ride because Spencer's character sees himself a bit in him and has the heart in the right place. But with the next not so likable client he makes sure he has the money to pay for the ride. Then there is a winning lottery ticket involved, which is not a huge surprise because big amounts of money or priceless goods are something you find in many Spencer movies and in the end he is never really the one who gets the fortune, but that is fine because he has found happiness elsewhere. Already long before the film starts usually

As I stated earlier, this always stays a light movie, also in the face of kidnapping scenarios for example. There is a main antagonist who is greedy and unlikable and he wants to scheme Buddy out of his money once again. The consequence is some fist-fighting as usual with Spencer movies and even the heaven-sent fella down on Earth gets to be a part of this worldly pleasure and not on the receiving end. The bad guys as always get their share eventually. There's no unhappy endings with Spencer movies. And in the end, the guy from heaven is even "allowed" to stay on Earth with his new buddies, even if he initially does not seem too happy. The jokes in the dialogues are nice as well like one fella, after getting hit by Spencer's character (and he is again the one who comes from heaven),elaborating on how Spencer's character's fists are so strong that he almost sent him back up. Many other references linked to heaven and hell. I won't go too much into detail. More fun with the dialogues as well and Spencer had many nice moments again too like when he was about to apologize to the heavenly fella in the hospital after it became known that the man was not one of the bad guy's helpers. Oh yeah, the music here was nice again too. No Oliver Onions this time I think, but still quite decent. I liked the opening a lot with the audio and video by the way, but the music keeps delivering throughout the film later on too. Most people behind the camera working on this one were Italian, while the cast is a mix of Italian, American and French performers. The heart and soul of it all is of course Spencer though. I mean how can you not love him. I am still baffled by how Americans never really discovered, let alone appreciated him and probably won't anymore. The number of ratings here on imdb with this title and most of his others is quite telling. Maybe the funniest moment for me here from him was when he called his little grandchild (I think it was a boy) a fountain because the kid apparently keeps peeing and that was in a moment when he gives the boy to somebody else. Also funny how he has no clue what the boy may eat and also what he tells him that he should make sure they feed him well. Really sweet and funny moments at the same time.

Despite the fighting (that is harmless too though),Spencer films like this always manage to strike the right notes in terms of emotions and the frequently heartwarming messages they are sending. There is no way I could not give this film all in a thumbs-up and that was clear from the very beginning. It may be true that Spencer kind of plays the same character in almost all his films, at least the most famous ones, but it is still a joy to watch. So the description also fits these films and can be seen as very similar most of the time. You will not find gritty stories or really overwhelming character studies in these movies, but you will find lots of fun and many moments to smile, sweet messages and just a lot of charisma with the protagonist. This one here is surely not a film people will see as their first when it comes to Spencer's body of works, but it's still a good watch if you have seen most of his other movies. I don't think it's worse than what he did in the 1970s and 1980s and just like those, this one we have here also has great rewatch potential. You can probably watch Spencer's movies 99 times and will still enjoy the watch when you see it the 100th time. And still smile a lot, maybe laugh even. So yeah, go check this one out! Maybe the one thing that is a bit different with this one here is that we have a woman (Alt) play one of the biggest characters, namely that hottie from hell. In most other Spencer films, especially the early ones, you will find mostly male performers and characters in the second-tier roles. Spencer is, in the absence of Hill, the one and only first tier this time of course. Positively recommended.

Enjoyable rental for longtime Bud Spencer enthusiasts , but only for Carlo Perdesoli fans . Sympathetic and rogue Bull Webster (Bud Spencer) is a taxi driver with some work problems on his hands : the Spider Corporation , a huge financial holding company , has decided to buy out his taxi co-operative in order to make it go bankrupt and purchase its terrains at a low cost . Bull is almost driven to desperation by his pregnant daughter and kidnapped wife (Madden) , but then he finds the help an Angel , Victor (Thierry Lhermitte) , sent by Holy Brother (Jean Sorel) , as well as a winning ticket in his pocket to a lottery with the biggest prize of all time : $150 million! . With money like that , he can afford to make his contenders spoil his scheme , but then the valuable ticket is missing and Bull is looking relentlessly for his coat . But at this point , Bull's future starts to interest those responsible for the destiny of human affairs : The appearance of a nasty but beautiful demon (Carl Alt) sent by Lucifer (Ian Bannen) from Inferno and a likable Angel from heaven , these roles in earthly happenings create a bemusing mess .

A light , plain and supernatural comedy that joins again Spencer/Carlo Perdesoli and director Barboni . It displays a fantasy plot in which Heaven and Hell send an Angel called Victor : Thierry Lhermitte and a Devil called Verónica : gorgeous Carol Alt to tempt Bud Spencer into evil or to convince him to do good . The simple story and the acting are up to Spencer standard , but lacks the punch and style from precedent and intimate films . It deals with a maze of situations that are funny , amusing , disconcerting , full of action , including lots of car chases and automobile crashes . Storyline is a little bit ridiculous but has its enjoyable moments here and there . It boasts a fine support cast as Carol Alt , Thierry Lhermitte , Ian Bannen , Jean Sorel and brief appearance from Riccardo Pizzuti , ordinary in Hill/Spencer movies . As always , Spencer will confront enemies by means of continuous struggles without blood . The fights are with no violence and predominates comedy and parody , the choreographic quarrels are slights and clean , along with cars crashes and the drivers flying to each others cars . Bud Spencer is nice as a corpulent , bouncing and grumpy Cab man but with good heart . Bud , the popular Latin movie actor who starred in innumerable spaghetti Westerns and action-packed potboilers during the 1960s and '70s, was born Carlo Pedersoli (1929) in Naples. He was the first Italian to swim the 100 meter freestyle and competed as a swimmer at the Olympic games . He appeared as a member of the Praetorian Guard in his first movie , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's epic "Quo Vadis" in 1951 . He changed his screen name to "Bud Spencer" in 1967, as a homage to Spencer Tracy and to the American beer Budweiser . Teaming up with fellow Italian Terence Hill, the two made such international successes as I Quattro dell'Ave Maria (1968) by Colizzi . Their ¨Trinity and Bambino¨ dual outings made both stars famous , particularly in Europe . In all, Spencer made 18 movies with Hill . After appearing in ¨Crazy plane¨ (1972) and owned an air transport company , Mistral Air , which he founded in the 80s . After 1983 , Spencer's movie career slowed down , though he did have a big success in the early 1990s with the TV action-drama ¨Extralarge¨ . The picture was realized twenty years later the famous Hill/Spencer movies , however this recent version was a flop because of ¨Trinity¨ time had passed . Lousy and horrible musical score composed by synthesizer . Very bad cinematography Alfio Contini , a perfect remastering being extremely necessary because of the film-copy is worn-out.

The motion picture was produced by the known Silvio Berlusconi and middlingly directed by E B Clucher . He began operating as a cameraman , and in 1961 became director of photography with the film ¨Rómulo and Remo¨, following : ¨Son of Spartacus¨, ¨Gidget Goes to Rome¨, ¨Il Monaco Di Monza¨ , ¨Django¨ , "Django, Prepare a Coffin" , ¨Massacre at Grand Canyon¨, and many others . At the same time he began to work as a screenwriter . The passage to the director , with the pseudonym of E.B. Clucher -Clucher was the grandmother's last name- came in 1970 with a "traditional" Western , ¨Ciakmull¨ that was not very successful . In the same year he directed the cult-movie ¨A man Called Trinity¨ with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer and Barboni conducted the follow-up in 1971 ¨Trinity is still my name¨ or ¨They continued to call it Trinity¨ and subsequently , many years later , ¨Troublemakers¨ . Among the keys to success there is certainly the irony brought to the rigid western and cold genre . So after the first and second film with Triniti/Bambino , Barboni went on filmmaking , which will also be huge commercial successes with other Hill/Spencer vehicles as "Man of the East" , ¨Crime Busters¨, ¨Renegado Jim¨ , "Go for It" who also wrote , along with Marco Barboni, the subject and the screenplay . The success of these films went beyond any expectation , resulting in one of the greatest collections of the time . If you are a fan of the 1972/1973 Trinity and other Hill/Spencer movies , you will enjoy this later release as a sort of beloved return . Although , if you have no history with the originals , I highly recommend you pick up the Trinity movies first . The film provided a nostalgic and familiar return to the agreeable and beloved Spencer role and is only for the hardcore fans .