Ace High

"Nobody beats Caco at his own game, because even if you win...you lose!"

1968 2h 12m IT

👍

6.5

SOLID

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 224★6.5IMDB · 5,084

WesternActionComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After Cacopoulos manages to save himself from being hung on a false charge, he robs Cat Stevens and Hutch Bessy of a lot of money and steals their horses. This results in a merry chase and Stevens and Bessy become unwilling allies in Cacopoulus' revenge against the people who deserted him and framed him to get their money back.

“Nobody beats Caco at his own game, because even if you win...you lose!”

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Cast

Eli Wallach
Cacopoulos
Terence Hill
Cat Stevens
Bud Spencer
Hutch Bessy
Brock Peters
Thomas
Kevin McCarthy
Drake
Livio Lorenzon
Paco Rosa
Steffen Zacharias
Harold
Armando Bandini
Bank Manager

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Giuseppe Colizzi
Writers: Giuseppe Colizzi, Bino Cicogna
Languages: French, Italian, Spanish
Countries: Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

58 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, Italian, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Jango (Terence Hill) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Giuseppe Colizzi, shot by Marcello Masciocchi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Carlo Rustichelli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Marcello Malvestito shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Eli Wallach and Terence Hill and Bud Spencer carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Nobody beats Caco at his own game, because even if you win...you lose!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Giuseppe Colizzi directs. Marcello Masciocchi behind the camera. Carlo Rustichelli scores. Marcello Malvestito cuts. Produced in Italy. Dialogue in French, Italian, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

158 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, Italian, Spanish.
3Part of the "Jango (Terence Hill) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Giuseppe Colizzi, shot by Marcello Masciocchi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Carlo Rustichelli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Marcello Malvestito shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Eli Wallach and Terence Hill and Bud Spencer carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Nobody beats Caco at his own game, because even if you win...you lose!".
9IMDB entry: tt0064860 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Marcello Masciocchi
Original score: Carlo Rustichelli
Editing: Marcello Malvestito
Costume design: Luciana Fortini
Makeup / hair: Massimo De Rossi
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: IT
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Ace High (1968)
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 5,084 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Part of

Jango (Terence Hill) Collection

The first spaghetti westerns as a trilogy with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as Jango as Dan in the lead roles. It begins with "God Forgives ... I Do not!" Merges seamlessly into the nights movie "Ace High" over and ends with "Boot Hill". Unlike the later films with the two series is made very seriously and accordingly adapted bloody, even if some ridiculous elements can already be seen here that distinguish the duo later.

Also by

Giuseppe Colizzi

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-12-16
★ 7/10
Well, no. Money corrupts men, it softens him. So to keep you young and pure, I think I'll take everything. Ace High is directed by Giuseppe Colizzi and Colizzi co-writes the screenplay with Bino Cicogna. It stars Eli Wallach, Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Brock Peters and Kevin McCarthy. Music is by Carlo Rustichelli and cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi (Technicolor/Techniscope of course). After Cacopoulos (Wallach) manages to save himself from being hung on a false charge, he robs Cat Stevens (Hill) and Hutch Bessy (Spencer) of a lot of money and steals their horses. This results in a merry chase and Stevens and Bessy become unwilling allies in Cacopoulus' revenge against the people who deserted him and framed him towards the rope... Is it a spoof or a parody? Well I'll leave that to the hard core Spag Western fans to decide, what I do know is that it's good entertainment. Plenty of daft sub-genre staples are adhered to, as are the many cool action sequences as our gruff anti-heroes go about their greed and revenge fuelled ways. Colizzi wisely keeps his cards close to his chest as regards our trio of lead characters, who in true Spag convention are making it unclear where we are heading. The action is wonderfully kinetic, with some sterling sequences unfolding when our leads get involved in a Texan/Mexican battle. Why I'm still not so sure, but it's exciting stuff! It's all very derivative, there's no getting away from that, and as the genre often does, it renders the porotags/antags under developed. Yet for fans of such fare this is well recommended, with lovely cinematography that gives some authenticity to the era, Wallach channelling a Tuco clone, and Hill and Spencer doing their Spaghetti Abbot and Costello thing, it's all good really. 7/10
CinemaSerf2026-02-08
★ 6/10
Ok, so perhaps it is a stretch too far to picture Eli Wallach as a Greek gent called “Cacapoulos”, but he does look like he is having some fun in this adequate western. He only just manages to save himself from the noose then he “borrows” the possessions and horses of “Stevens” (Terrence Hill) and “Bussy” (Bud Spencer) and flees preparing his own unique form of revenge against those who would, believe it or not, wrongly have strung him up. What he didn’t know at the time was that there was $300,000 in their poke and these bounty hunters aren’t going to just wave it goodbye, so after many adventures they do finally reunite and "Cacapoulos” let’s them into his cunning plan to track down “Drake” (Kevin McCarthy). He is the last man standing from his original would-be hangmen and as he also advises them that their money has long since lined the pockets of gamblers and casinos across Arizona, they conclude that they don’t really have much to lose anymore so they unite with their erstwhile enemy and the nimbly acrobatic “Thomas” (Brock Peters) and set off. “Drake” is fairly easy to find, but how to get at him? He owns a well defended, entirely crooked, casino so that’s the task - and who knows, possibly there will be some loot in it for them too. There is plenty of action here, but it’s really Wallach who keeps it rolling along with his tongue firmly in his cheek throughout as we build to quite an enjoyable last twenty minutes. I suppose that Nick Cravat had probably hung up his leotard by 1968 but Peters does well enough in support and with Hill always with a glint in his eye, this works fine. It is far too long and some of the dubbing was clearly done in the pub after ten-too-many shots of tequila, but it’s still an amiable enough outing for a star that you’ll probably never recall, but will probably enjoy.