Bud Spencer Movies
The popular, bearded, balding, and brawny Bud Spencer has starred and co-starred in numerous spaghetti Westerns and low-budget actioners produced in both Italy and Hollywood. Born Carlo Pedersoli, Spencer was an Olympic silver medalist in swimming at the Helsinki Games of 1948 before becoming an actor and appearing in Un Eroe Dei Nostri Tempi (1955). Spencer found the greatest success teaming up with Terence Hill as a fighting duo in films such as Il Quattro de Ave Maria (1969) and Lo chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity) (1971). After 1983, Spencer's career slowed down considerably, though he did find success in the early '90s on the internationally produced police television action-drama Extralarge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
There isn't much disagreement as to whether this spaghetti western is styled after the Director Sergio Leone's Clint Eastwood blockbuster, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Ace High, directed by Giuseppe Colizzi, and filmed in Almeria, Spain, is missing at least two ingredients that could possibly lift it up to its predecessor, and they're Eastwood and Colizzi. The plot fits: An outlaw Cat Stevens (Mario Girotti) is saved from the noose and is then hunted by his saviors when he goes back to crime. But Stevens is on a hunt of his own, pursuing three roamers who'd sent him to prison years before. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eli Wallach, Bud Spencer, (more)
- 1997
This Spanish-French thriller is set in Madrid where latenight radio talk-show host Elena (Beatrice Dalle) gets a call from serial killer Javier Barea (Juanjo Puigcorbe, best-known for his comedy roles) who claims he will kill within the hour. Lawyer Maria Ramos (played by Spanish soap-opera star Lydia Bosch) is listening to the radio and immediately assembles an investigating team that includes Javier himself. Maria begins to suspect he's the killer, but she is simultaneously attracted to him. How long until she becomes the next victim? ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juanjo Puigcorbe, Lydia Bosch, (more)
- 1973
Italian action star Terence Hill aims for the breadbasket while playing for laughs in All the Way Boys. Hill and his frequent filmic cohort Bud Spencer play a couple of what-the-hell flyboys, working for a ramshackle air freight line. Ordered to navigate the treacherous Andes, Hill and Spencer grimace and groan as they narrowly avert sudden death. Prominent Irish performer Cyril Cusack is brought in for acting relief as "Mad Man". Yes, All the Way, Boys is funny, so long as you aren't expecting Noel Coward...or even Neil Simon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Banana Joe (Bud Spencer) lives in paradisiacal bliss in a tropical village that is untainted by hard-nosed corporate and bureaucratic types, or by corruption, drugs, gangs, and other ills of modern society. When Banana Joe takes his banana boat to the trading post, he is informed he needs a permit in order to operate the boat. Quite willing to comply with this seemingly simple formality, he treks off to the big city to find this important piece of paper. On his way to obtaining the permit, he runs into television for the first time, crooks as well, and a pretty nifty nightclub singer who greatly opens up his limited knowledge of feminine charms. After more than one contretemps, in which he proves his strength and moral fiber, Banana Joe gets the permit and heads back to the village -- only to find that a tacky gambling casino has been set up in his absence. It looks like he has his work cut out for him again, as his shackles rise at this insult to his idyllic home and he gears up for battle. A toe-tapping tropical rhythm lightens the action in the film, aimed for the younger set rather than their parents. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Spencer, Marina Langner, (more)
- 1968
Unlike Clint Eastwood, who in the 1960s was cast as the Man With No Name, Beyond the Law star Lee Van Cleef has a name, and a very functional one. Van Cleef is known to one and all as Bandit Turned Sheriff. Actually, a more appropriate cognomen would be Bandit Turned Sheriff But Still a Bandit, since Van Cleef only pretends to reform so that he can steal a cavalry payroll. Since it's hard to watch Beyond the Law with a straight face to begin with, the producers wisely decided to turn this spaghetti western into a semi-comedy. Released in Italy in 1967 as Al Di La Della Legge, Beyond the Law was distributed in the US in 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Van Cleef, Antonio Sabato, (more)
Spaghetti western strongman Bud Spencer plays the title role in Michele Lupo's 1982 Italian revenge comedy Bomber. He's Bud "Bomber" Graziano, one-time king of the heavyweight boxing arena, who abandoned his career as a pugilist and hit the high seas, after an ugly defeat at the hands of a U.S. Army goon. Back then, it suited Bomber just fine to run like a cur. But times change. And now, with the opportunity to train an up-and-coming young hopeful, Bomber is all keyed up for an onslaught of slaphappy revenge. Jerry Calla, Mike Miller, Rik Battaglia, Kallie Knoetze and Bobby Rhodes co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
A tough adventurer and his sidekick find outlaws and rowdy women in this action-filled spaghetti western. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, (more)
- 1985
Two Miami officers try to thwart the various schemes of a gang, including the kidnapping of a star quarterback, in this Italian film. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 2003
Directed by veteran helmer Ermanno Olmi, this Chinese folktale revolves around a young man (Davide Dragonetti) who mistakenly enters a brothel while trying to find his way through urban China circa the 1930s. Narrated by Bud Spencer, the young man succumbs to temptation, and the dialogue-free scene is performed through dance. Meanwhile, pirate junks begin firing at one another from a shoreside village. The leader, Admiral Ching (Makoto Kobayashi), is backed by a powerful group of profiteers, thus prompting the emperor to offer him a high ranking position if he stops firing. Unwilling to lose their income, Ching's backers murder the pirate, which sets off a strange sequence of events that will resound throughout the community for years to come. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Spencer, Jun Ichikawa, (more)
- 1978
- R
In this poorly dubbed English-language Italian film, shot in England, Charleston (Bud Spencer) is a gangster who is trying to arrange a transaction which will result in the transfer of ownership of a huge yacht. It means a lot to him, because his freedom is at stake. It means a lot to the Texan (James Coco) and the Inspector (Herbert Lom) too, because they will gain, respectively, lots of cash and the return of a valuable stolen painting. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Spencer, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1969
- R
In this grim spaghetti western a murderous robber hijacks a payroll train, murders everyone aboard and then stashes his loot. A gunslinger learns about it and decides he wants the money for himself and so hatches an elaborate plot to get at it. He lures the crook into a rigged poker game, and afterward a gunfight ensues. The quick-drawing gunman makes short work of the robber, then teams up with an insurance agent to look for the hidden fortune. Unbeknownst to them, the robber had an ace up his sleeve and didn't really die during the showdown. As soon as he can, he and his gang ride out for two-fisted, blood-soaked revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Hill, Frank Wolff, (more)
- 1971
Italian action hero Bud Spencer stars in Maurizio Lucidi's comedy Western The Big and the Bad. While wandering through the West (which looks a lot like Spain), Spencer becomes intimate with the gorgeous Dany Saval -- discovering, all too late, that she is the younger sister of vengeful gunslinger Jack Palance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Former cabaret performer Leonardo Pieraccioni (The Cyclone) directed, co-scripted (with Giovanni Veronesi), and stars in this popular Italian film, given the widest opening release in Italian film history. Ottone (Pieraccioni) and beautiful Lorenza (Claudia Gerini) are pet-store partners. He loses his lover to a butcher and moves in with his friend Barbara (Barbara Enrichi). At the same time, he courts secretly married Argentine heiress Luna (Vanessa Lorenzo), who is simply toying with the unsuspecting Ottone. Ottone's pal Germano (Massimo Ceccherini), once struck by lightning, survived because of his rubber Spiderman boots. Germano and Ottone both yearn for true love, but problems always arise. In the Maldives, Ottone seeks out a psychoanalyst (Luigi Petrucci) in hopes of gaining some understanding of his confused relationships with the opposite sex. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonardo Pieraccioni, Vanessa Lorenzo, (more)
- 1983
- PG
Spaghetti-western stalwarts Terence Hill and Bud Spencer star in the Italian actioner Go For It. The stars play a couple of self-styled "supercops" who take on a demented scientist. The villain has invented an all-powerful "K Bomb," intending to detonate the device in a major metropolis. Hill and Spencer must contend with martial arts-trained busboys, a femme fatale called Der Vamp (Faith Minton) and -- even worse! -- a troupe of demonic child actresses, as they race against time. The "E. B. Clucher" credited with the direction of Go For It is actually a pseudonym for Enzo Barboni. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- PG
Matt (Terence Hill) and Wilber (Bud Spencer) decide to try their hand at crime and attempt to rob a supermarket. To their chagrin, however, they stumble onto a police recruiting campaign. They stoically endure being on the right side of the law, finally becoming heroes during a drug bust. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
A retired football great heads back to the gridiron to coach a fledgling team and prove he still has that magic touch in this classic Bud Spencer sports comedy. "The Bulldozer" (Spencer) was a football giant with an ego the size of Texas. Refusing to believe that he could ever be defeated out on the gridiron, "The Bulldozer" eventually turned his back on the sport lest he risk being proven wrong. While the former star did prove successful at ducking out of the limelight and beginning a career as an anonymous fisherman, things took a turn for the worst when his boat was destroyed by a submarine. Subsequently unemployed, "The Bulldozer" reluctantly accepted a position coaching a minor-league team. Regardless of his "has been" status, however, "The Bulldozer" still knows that he's the best football player there is, and he's prepared to prove it to the entire world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2009
A retired Mafioso takes the misstep of a lifetime -- and inadvertently triggers a most inconvenient love affair between two complete strangers -- in this zany German-language farce from Teutonic director Sebastian Niemann. The hermetic (Don Enrico Puzzo) (screen vet Franco Nero) may have put the bulk of his professional life as a godfather behind him, but he mistakenly reasons that this will permit him to publish his tell-all gangster memoirs sans consequence. Instead, it draws both fear and concern from a vast number of people whose lives and safety will be at stake if news of Enrico's exploits hits the presses. One of those concerned, mafia middleman Pepe (Bud Spencer), tries to prevent the publication of the book by having cocky, loudmouthed hit man Toni Ricardelli (Rick Kavanian of Manitou's Shoe) rub Enrico out. Meanwhile, Enrico fails to turn up at a press conference, which prompts the publisher of the book to send his editor-cum-girlfriend, Julia (siren Nora Tschirner) to Enrico's with a $500,000 check meant to pull the mafioso out of hiding. Minutes before Julia turns up at Enrico's place, Toni visits Enrico and ices him -- leading to a comically inconvenient and awkward meeting between hitman and editor. In seemingly no time at all, Toni and Julia fall in love, which creates enormous complications, given the conflicting nature of their ambitions. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Kavanian, Nora Tschirner, (more)
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. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
