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Movies like A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot

Key Features:
Con artist, Heist, Western, Comedy, Friendship, Double-cross, Naive protagonist, Disguise, Chases, Greed
Tone:
humorous, witty
Target Audience:
Comedy fans, Western enthusiasts, Fans of heist movies
Emotional Arc:
Anticipation → Hilarity

A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot

1975-12-16
A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot Poster - Find Similar Movies

Expert conman Joe Thanks teams up with half-breed Bill and naive Lucy to steal $300,000 from the Indian-hating Major Cabot. Their elaborate plan is full of disguises, double-crosses, and chases, but Joe always seems to know what he's doing.

Genres
Comedy, Western
Cast
Terence Hill, Miou-Miou, Robert Charlebois, Patrick McGoohan, Raimund Harmstorf, Piero Vida, Rik Battaglia, Mario Valgoi, Mario Brega, Jean Martin
Crew
Fulvio Morsella, Damiano Damiani, Damiano Damiani, Ernesto Gastaldi, Ernesto Gastaldi, Fulvio Morsella, Sergio Leone
Rating
6.3(177 votes)
A Genius, Two Friends, and an IdiotA Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot
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Go for It
Go for It(1983)
7

After Doug picks up hitchhiking Rosco with his truck, they are mistaken for two bank robbers by the traffic police. They manage to escape only to be confused for two secret agents while trying to take a flight at the airport.



Double Trouble
7.011

A stuntman and a saxophonist stand in for two billionaires threatened by killers.



Ruby & Quentin
6.681

After hiding his loot and getting thrown in jail, brooding outlaw Ruby befriends Quentin, a dim-witted and garrulous giant. After Quentin botches a solo escape attempt, they make a break together. Unable to shake the clumsy Quentin, Ruby is forced to take him along as he pursues his former partners in crime to avenge the death of the woman he loved and get to the money.



Le Guignolo
6.08

After the failure of his recent criminal exploits, international con artist Alexandre Dupré sets off for Venice to try to dupe some Japanese business men into buying a fake copy of a stolen Caneletto. On the aeroplane, a stranger asks him to look after his briefcase until after they have landed. Alexandre agrees, but the stranger is shot dead soon after and Alexandre himself becomes the target of enemy agents who are keen to recover the briefcase...



Confidence
6.3

What Jake Vig doesn't know just might get him killed. A sharp and polished grifter, Jake has just swindled thousands of dollars from the unsuspecting Lionel Dolby with the help of his crew. It becomes clear that Lionel wasn't just any mark, he was an accountant for eccentric crime boss Winston King. Jake and his crew will have to stay one step ahead of both the criminals and the cops to finally settle their debt.



Bandits
Bandits(2001)
6.3

After escaping from prison, Joe and Terry go on a crime spree, robbing banks through Oregon and California in order to finance their scheme for a new life south of the border. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when they meet Kate, who runs into them with her car. She joins the bandits on their cross-country spree, and eventually she steals something, too: their hearts.



Love and Larceny
7.206

Gerardo, an aspiring actor, trying unsuccessfully to cross over from comedy to tragedy, is involved, due to his ability to mimic dialects of Italy, in a scam concocted by Lallo against a rich cloth-merchant.



The Con Artists
7.024

Belle Duke, in order to get revenge on her former lover Philip Bang, organize his jail break. But instead of Philip is the Italian Felice Brianza, AKAS Felix, to escape. Now Felix is obliged to help Philip to escape. He will succeeded and from that moment on the two will join to defraud Belle. The swindle plot become more complicate when Felix falls in love for Philip's daughter.



The Restroom Robbery

Max and Riton, 2 thieves make plan to steal money in a train station office. They will operate through the wall in the public toilets.



Crime Busters
7

An attempted robbery turns to be an unexpected recruitment when two unemployed men mistakenly break into a police office instead of a store.



The Two Marshals
7.157

September 1943: in the general confusion a thief dressed as a priest and a sergeant exchange clothes and roles.



Maverick
Maverick(1994)
6.9

Bret Maverick is a gambler who would rather con someone than fight them, and needs an additional $3k in order to enter a winner-takes-all poker game beginning in a few days. He joins forces with a woman with a marvelous Southern accent, and the two try and enter the game.



That's Life
7.473

Con man Aldo breaks out of jail and seizes a car at gunpoint, taking its passengers—bumbling police officer Giacomo and nitpicking civilian Giovanni—hostages. An unlikely friendship blossoms.



Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.



Heist
Heist(2001)
6.3

Joe Moore has a job he loves. He's a thief. His job goes sour when he gets caught on security camera tape. His fence, Bergman, reneges on the money he's owed, and his wife may be betraying him with the fence's young lieutenant. Moore and his partner, Bobby Blane, and their utility man, Pinky Pincus, find themselves broke, betrayed, and blackmailed. Moore is forced to commit his crew to do one last big job.



Thieves and Robbers

A Lothario, in trouble for fooling around with a Senator's wife, becomes an unwitting witness to a mob murder. Police Lieutenant Parker tries to solve the case in enough time to take his long-suffering family on vacation.



The Pimp
The Pimp(2010)
5.788

A mild-mannered banker is forced to masquerade as a notorious gangster and pimp.



The Sting
The Sting(1973)
8

A novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.



Neapolitan Turk
7.3

Naples/Sorrento, mid 20s. A couple of small thieves conceive a scam whereby one of them dresses up as a eunuch Turk to care for the women of the family of a wealthy man. They end up messing everything up, with lots of gags and funny events in the meantime.



The 5-Man Army
6.7

At the behest of local revolutionaries, a mercenary enlists four specialists in various combat styles to help him rob a Mexican Army train carrying $500,000 in gold.



Support Your Local Gunfighter

A con artist arrives in a mining town controlled by two competing companies. Both companies think he's a famous gunfighter and try to hire him to drive the other out of town.



Lightning Jack
5.6

Lightning Jack Kane is an Australian outlaw in the wild west. During a bungled bank robbery he picks up mute Ben Doyle as a hostage. The two become good friends, with Jack teaching Ben how to rob banks, while they plan Jack's last heist.



Free Money
5.375

A deranged prison warden with a nasty habit of killing escapees forces the boyfriends of his teenage twin daughters into a shotgun wedding, after they claim to be pregnant. All hope seems lost, until the husbands hatch a madcap plan to rob a money train to freedom.



The Sucker
7.4

In this Franco-Italian gangster parody, a shopkeeper on his way to an Italian holiday suffers a crash that totals his car. The culprit can only compensate his ruined trip by driving an American friend's car from Naples to Bordeaux, but as it happens to be filled with such contraband as stolen money, jewelry and drugs, the involuntary and unwitting companions in crime soon attract all but recreational attention from the "milieu".



The Italian Job
7

Charlie's got a 'job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one of his friends has attempted a high-risk job in Torino, Italy, right under the nose of the mafia. Charlie's friend doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars, and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal a fortune in gold and escape in the chaos.



Players
Players(2012)
4.895

Two professional robbers, an illusionist, an expert make-up artist, a gadget expert and a hacker come together to steal Romanian gold ingots while it is in transit.



The Love Scam
6.386

Drowning in debt, two brothers concoct a plan to scam a wealthy heiress and save their home in Naples — but unexpected love soon complicates the scheme.



The Band of Honest Men

Italy, mid '60s. Three guys from a poor neighbourhood try to get rich by printing fake money using the fact that one of them works as a typographer. The story unravels around their embarrassed efforts to spend the money, their little family issues and ends with a surprise.



Le Doulos
Le Doulos(1962)
7.4

Enigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just released from prison and is already involved in what should be a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left to trust?



Big Deal on Madonna Street

Best friends Peppe and Mario are thieves, but they're not very good at it. Still, Peppe thinks that he's finally devised a master heist that will make them rich. With the help of some fellow criminals, he plans to dig a tunnel from a rented apartment to the pawnshop next door, where they can rob the safe. But his plan is far from foolproof, and the fact that no one in the group has any experience digging tunnels proves to be the least of their problems.



Two-Way Stretch
6.7

Three criminals plan to break out of prison the day before their release in order to carry out a daring jewel robbery, intending to establish the perfect alibi by returning to jail afterwards. First however they must get out, a task made more difficult by a new, stricter prison officer.



Cops and Robbers
7.542

Esposito is a thief who cons tourists in Rome. Officer Bottoni manages to catch him and starts persecuting him. When Esposito manages to flee, Bottoni's superiors inform him that he'll lose his job if he can't catch Esposito.



Focus
Focus(2015)
6.9

Nicky, an accomplished con artist, gets romantically involved with his disciple Jess but later ends their relationship. Years later, she returns as a femme fatale to spoil his plans.



School of Thieves 2

In this second episode Dalmazio and Egisto come, respectively, from the prison and the insane asylum. They risk a second arrest for their awkwardness so they return from their "uncle" who is willing to help them.



Criminal
Criminal(2004)
6.2

Needing a new partner capable of intricate cons, Richard Gaddis, recruits Rodrigo, a crook with a perfect poker face. The two plan a big-time scam: selling a fake Silver Certificate to currency collector William Hannigan. Rodrigo distrusts his new associate, but needs money to help out his ill father. The situation becomes more complicated when Rodrigo falls for Gaddis' sister, Valerie, drawing another player into the game.



If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death

After a stagecoach is robbed and the passengers murdered, a long and tangled series of surprise attacks and murderous double-crosses, leaves the coach's strongbox in the hands of the killer Lasky. It is up to the legendary hero Sartana to track down the missing money and determine just who is ultimately behind the grisly robberies and killings.



The Villain
5.712

Handsome Stranger has agreed to escort Charming Jones to collect her inheritance from her father. But Avery Simpson wants the money and hires notorious outlaw Cactus Jack to ambush Charming. However, Cactus Jack is not very good at robbing people.



They Call Me Trinity

The simple story has the pair coming to the rescue of peace-loving Mormons when land-hungry Major Harriman sends his bullies to harass them into giving up their fertile valley. Trinity and Bambino manage to save the Mormons and send the bad guys packing with slapstick humor instead of excessive violence, saving the day.



The Treasure of San Gennaro

A pair of Americans want to perform the greatest robbery: the treasure of San Gennaro, in Napoli.



Trinity Is Still My Name

The two brothers Trinity and Bambino are exchanged by two federal agents and take advantage of the situation to steal a huge booty hidden in a monastery by a gang of outlaws.



Body Guards
5.109

Fabio Leone and Paolo Pecora are two police officers from Rome, who, together with the careless Neapolitan Ciro Marmotta, are fired from the barracks due their scuppering of a plan to capture a secret agent.



Odds and Evens
6.9

A bumbling government agent recruits a trucker whose gambling knowledge can help crack an illegal Florida operation.



School of Thieves
5.7

Frenetic in its pacing and with miniscule character development, this trite slapstick farce stars three Italian comics - Paolo Villaggio, Lino Banfi, and Massimo Boldi as the idiot-nephews of a wealthy invalid (Enrico Maria Salerno). The uncle's plan is to teach the trio how to successfully steal for a living but the plan does not have a chance against their exaggerated ineptitude.



Lying and Stealing
5.9

Hoping to leave his criminal lifestyle behind him, a successful art thief teams up with a sexy con woman to pull off the ultimate heist and set himself free.



Gambit
Gambit(2012)
5.49

An art curator decides to seek revenge on his abusive boss by conning him into buying a fake Monet, but his plan requires the help of an eccentric and unpredictable Texas rodeo queen.



Four Against the Bank
5.918

After losing their respective nest eggs thanks to a bumbling bank employee, three men use him to plot a bold and batty heist to get their money back.



Redirected
5.827

Four friends become stranded in Eastern Europe and have to become hit men, prostitutes, corrupt cops, smugglers and more to make it home.



Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure

Alan gets a map to some war treasure which the Japanese army left behind on a small Pacific island at the end of World War II. But some gangsters try to steal the map from him and so he hides on Charlie's boat which just leaves the harbor. He manipulates the ship's compass so that Charlie is not aware that he is sailing to the treasure island. But when they step on the island, they discover that it is not as abandoned as they believed: there are some natives - and a Japanese soldier still defending the treasure



The Bad Guys
7.537

When the Bad Guys, a crew of criminal animals, are finally caught after years of heists and being the world’s most-wanted villains, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal to save them all from prison.



Inspector Blunder
6.3

A detective, fresh out of the academy (lowest mark in class), gets the assignment to bodyguard a spoiled rich girl reporter. She's been interviewed on TV and has questioned the virility of a mobster who kidnaps her later.



Hold-up
Hold-up(1985)
6.119

Dressed as a clown, the clever rascal Grimm holds up the most secure bank of Montreal and takes 30 hostages. While confusing and ridiculing the police with his strange behavior, he calmly manages to rid the bank of a fortune. But then an unsatisfied companion arouses trouble...



In This World of Thieves

A group of middle-aged time-share investors get ripped off and their desire for revenge is well-timed for them to be recruited by a bank clerk who feels the same about his employers.



It Can Be Done Amigo

An outspoken boy and a gunfighter-pimp save a drifter's life from hanging. The boy's uncle dies, leaving a house and some dry, useless land to the boy. The dying uncle has obtained the drifter's promise to help the boy get what is his. Meanwhile the gunfighter has decided that the drifter should marry his daughter after being with her previously. The two get into a series of brawls and shoot-outs until they arrive in the town and find the boy's inheritance -which turns out not to be as useless as it first appears.



Mystery Men
5.8

When Champion City's hero Captain Amazing is kidnapped by the recently paroled supervillain Casanova Frankenstein, a trio of average, everyday superheroes -- Mr. Furious, the Shoveler and the Blue Raja -- assemble a new super team to save him.



Beat the Devil
6.1

A group of con artists stake their claim on a bogus uranium mine.



Compañeros
6.5

Arms dealer Yolaf Peterson aims to make a sale to guerilla Mongo, but the money is locked in a bank safe, the combination known only to Professor Xantos, a prisoner of the Americans. Yolaf agrees to free Xantos, accompanied by reluctant guerilla Basco, but a former business partner of Yolaf's- John 'The Wooden Hand', has other ideas.



Firewalker
5.3

A pair of adventurers try to track down an ancient Aztec/Mayan/Egyptian/Apache horde of gold.



Stir Crazy
6.5

New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.



Kangaroo Jack
5.301

Two childhood friends — a New York hairstylist and a wanna-be musician — get mixed-up with the mob and are forced to deliver $50,000 to Australia, but things go all wrong when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo.



The Swindle
7.306

Aging small-time conman Augusto works with two younger men: Roberto, who desires to become the Italian Johnny Ray, and Carlo, nicknamed Picasso. Through a series of mishaps and personal entanglements, things go badly for Augusto.



Guns, Girls and Gambling

The story throws Elvis impersonators, Indians, modern cowboys, a 6-foot-tall blond assassin, a frat boy, a corrupt sheriff and a prostitute into a chase for a priceless American Indian artifact stolen during a poker game at an Indian casino



Ugly Nasty People
5.8

A group of physically disabled lowlifes plots the the perfect heist, but things go south as each reveals an agenda of their own.



Bait
Bait(2000)
5.7

Landing in jail for a petty theft crime, Alvin finds himself sharing a cell with John Jaster, the incarcerated half of the pair of high-tech thieves responsible for the missing gold. His partner, Bristol, is still at large. Alvin wants only to get out of prison and start fresh with his girlfriend, Lisa, and when the Feds, led by U.S. Treasury investigator Clenteen, set him loose on a sketchy deal, he thinks his luck has changed. Alvin has his freedom and the Feds have found their bait.



Public Friends
6.275

In order to make his little sick brother's dream come true, Leo and his best mates organize a fake score...but on the d day, they make a mistake and the fake score becomes a real hold up.Here starts the extraordinary adventure of PUBLIC Amis.



¡Three Amigos!
6.32

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.



Boot Hill
Boot Hill(1969)
5.9

Victims of oppressive town boss Honey are offered help by an unusual alliance of gunmen and circus performers



Endgame
Endgame(2021)
7

A world-class hitman ends up swapping identities with a down-to-luck extra actor during an accident.



Unlikely Revolutionaries

Five ordinary people disillusioned with politics—a perennial temp, a docker, a university professor, a TV reporter, and a convict—decide to kidnap a politician, to dispense justice and use the ransom money to compensate the family of a blue-collar worker who died in workplace accident.



The Train Robbers
6.3

A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her husband so that she may return it and start fresh.



The Con Is On
3.9

In an effort to avoid paying off a massive gambling debt to a notorious mobster in England, a couple flees to Los Angeles and hatch a jewel theft plot.



Blonde and Blonder
3.7

Comic mayhem ensues when two lovely blondes, Dee and Dawn, are mistaken as international mob killers.



My Friends
8.1

Four inseparable friends try to face their midlife crisis with daytrips and pranks at the expense of their families and the people around them.



Signori si nasce

Baron Zazà, always broke due his dissolute lifestyle, decides to con a hefty sum of money out of his wealthy but greedy brother.



Totòtruffa '62
7.6

Antonio, a former variety actor, keeps his daughter in an excellent boarding school by organizing small scams with his friend and colleague Felice. Commissioner Malvasia good-naturedly persecuted him. When their respective unsuspecting children fall in love, the two fathers make peace.



Fiasco in Milan
6.9

The usual gang of robbers are hired by a thief from Milan to steal a suitcase full of money, but troubles will hinder the success of the operation.



Silverado
Silverado(1985)
6.962

Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.



The Master of Disguise

After the patriarch of the Disguisey family is kidnapped by Devlin Bowman in an attempt to steal the most precious treasures from around the world, Italian waiter Pistachio Disguisey utilizes his supernatural ability to disguise himself in an attempt to stop him.



Play Dirty
6.6

Expert thief Parker gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world's richest man.



The Score
The Score(2001)
6.695

An aging thief hopes to retire and live off his ill-gotten wealth when a young kid convinces him into doing one last heist.



The Ruffian
6.2

The adventures of a group of friends who plan to recover crates full of gold from a fall in Canada.



2:22
2:22(2008)
5.2

The plan was easy; the job was not. On a snowy night a tight crew of four criminals plan to pull off a routine heist. When things go horribly wrong, friendship, loyalty and trust are pushed to the limit.



Duplicate
Duplicate(1998)
6.2

Seeking vengeance on those who double-crossed him, an escaped prisoner impersonates an unsuspecting chef.



Incorrigible
6.2

Victor Vautier is incorrigible: he's in constant motion, working several cons at once, using different names and changing disguises. He's charming and outrageous, incapable of uttering a sentence that isn't embellished or an outright lie. His life goal is to make enough money to build a sea wall to protect Mont-Saint-Michel. Charlotte, a parole officer, shows up: she's young and seems taken in by Victor. He discovers she lives above the Senlus Museum, where her parents are the curators. With two pals he decides to steal a priceless El Greco triptych and then ransom it back to the cultural ministry. What will Charlotte do when she realizes he's used her to make a fortune?



Ace High
Ace High(1968)
6.5

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.



The War Wagon
6.8

An ex-con seeks revenge on the man who put him in prison by planning a robbery of the latter's stagecoach, which is transporting gold. He enlists the help of a partner, who could be working for his nemesis.



The Passionate Thief

On New Year's Eve, a young woman and an out-of-work actor complicate a pickpocket's plans to ply his trade.



The Road to El Dorado

Stowing away after a failed con, a pair of swindlers end up on El Dorado, the fabled "city of gold", where they quickly get in over their heads when they are mistaken as gods by the inhabitants.



Vai Que Cola: O Filme

Valdomiro gets involved in yet another scheme, this time involving the same people that tricked him into losing everything - and he brings everyone from Ms. Jô's hostel along.



Skiptrace
Skiptrace(2016)
5.717

A detective from Hong Kong teams up with an American gambler to battle against a notorious Chinese criminal.



The Italian Job
6.8

Charlie Croker pulled off the crime of a lifetime. The one thing that he didn't plan on was being double-crossed. Along with a drop-dead gorgeous safecracker, Croker and his team take off to re-steal the loot and end up in a pulse-pounding, pedal-to-the-metal chase that careens up, down, above and below the streets of Los Angeles.



Dreamfools
5.6

Two lovers are stuck in stale relationships due to lean finances. But when one is duped into thinking he's suddenly rich, he takes very drastic action.



Chain of Fools
5.8

An avid detective is assigned to investigate the heist of a batch of precious coins that end up in the hands of a suicidal barber.



King's Ransom
4.821

Hoping to foil his own gold-digging wife's plan, a loathsome businessman arranges his own kidnapping, only to realize that there are plenty of other people interested in his wealth as well.



Gigli
Gigli(2003)
4.1

Gigli is ordered to kidnap the psychologically challenged younger brother of a powerful federal prosecutor. When plans go awry, Gigli's boss sends in Ricki, a gorgeous free-spirited female gangster who has her own set of orders to assist with the kidnapping. But Gigli begins falling for the decidedly unavailable Ricki, which could be a hazard to his occupation.



Reckless
Reckless(2018)
5.7

A broke mechanic turns a bank loan denial into an impromptu robbery that puts him on the run with his best friend and a starlet they hold hostage.



Ricky Stanicky
6.53

When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble. Twenty years later, the trio still uses the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. But when their spouses and partners get suspicious and demand to finally meet the fabled Mr. Stanicky, the guilty trio decide to hire a washed-up actor and raunchy celebrity impersonator to bring him to life.



Fracchia The Human Beast

The world's greatest criminal and the world greatest loser share the same face... now they'll share the same life!



Wise Guys
Wise Guys(1986)
5.371

Harry Valentini and Moe Dickstein are both errand boys for the Mob. When they lose $250,000, they are set up to kill each other. But they run off to Atlantic City and comedy follows.



Buddy Goes West
6.2

Trinity series star Bud Spencer returns to the Wild West in director Michele Lupo's comic tale of an outlaw drifter, Buddy, who is mistaken for a doctor after his Indian companion inadvertently steals a bag of surgical instruments. When a band of murderous outlaws attempts to overrun the small town Buddy is passing through, the presumed medico shows that his true talent is cracking skulls. Music is composed by Ennio Morricone.

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