This is pure escapist slapstick comedy. Don't try to find any hidden meaning in the simple plot. There isn't any. Terence Hill, in hock to gangsters, is given a map which purports to show the location of a hidden treasure on the mysterious island of Bongo Bongo. He stows away on a small motorsailer captained by bearlike Bud Spencer which is leaving on a circumnavigation. Despite the fact that the boat is only 30 feet long, the two blundering mutually antagonistic Hill and Spencer manage to keep out of each others way until well into the voyage. The stowaway scenes are the comedic highlight of the movie. The rest is slapstick bluster. The point of departure is obviously Miami, Florida but Bongo Bongo is located in the South Seas. Hill manages to rig the compass so that the boat heads for the island instead of on its intended course. During a tussle both fall overboard and swim for the island, a tropic paradise inhabited by natives who behave like the cast from a 1920s Harlem musical. The island is guarded by a Japanese WW2 soldier unaware that the war is long over. He fires shots randomly in all directions narrowly missing both protagonists. Naturally the treasure is hidden in his fort. Hill and Spencer demolish the fort and most of the other structures on the island with the help of an abandoned WW2 Japanese tank. At this point the Japanese soldier reveals a remarkable talent for English music hall comedy and the three become allies. Periodically the island is visited by slave traders and the gangsters who, having found a duplicate map, are also looking for the treasure. Like Gilligan's Island, everyone except Hill and Spencer seem to come and go as they please. Each visit results in a slapstick melee in which Hill and Spencer are uniformly victorious, performing Jackie Chan feats of derring do. The escape from the island is anti-climatic except for the surprise ending which is as improbable as the rest of the story.
I must confess that I watched this movie because I own the original boat that was featured in the first half. It is a 1974 Willard Horizon motorsailer and looks just as it did in the film. The previous owner was a technical consultant on the seagoing sequences for the producer. I'm a fan of the boat, not necessarily the actors - but the film is a good family diversion on a rainy night. The kids will love it.
