Banana Joe

Banana Joe lives on a small South American island, where he grows bananas and trades them for the goods the islanders need. His easy arrangement falls apart when a criminal boss named Torcillo arrives with plans to take over the fruit trade and build on the island, including a gambling operation. Joe drives his men off, but Torcillo has connections, and the authorities soon discover that Joe has no trading licence or identity papers. With his boat seized, Joe travels to the city for the first time to sort out the paperwork and finds the process far more complicated than he expected. By the time he returns, Torcillo has moved in.

The film is a 1982 action comedy directed by Steno, whose long career in Italian popular cinema included the Flatfoot films with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. Bud Spencer stars as Joe, with Marina Langner, Mario Scarpetta, Gianfranco Barra and Enzo Garinei in supporting roles; Spencer also worked on the screenplay. It was a German-Italian production and runs 96 minutes. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 9,700 votes, and on TMDB 6.7 out of 10 from a much smaller base of 519 votes, a mild but consistent reception.