User Reviews

"Sie nannten ihn Spencer" or "They Called Him Bulldozer" is a German/Austrian co-production from 2017, so still a pretty recent movie and it is entirely in German with the brief exception of some Italian. It is the most known and most recent filmmaking effort by writer and director Karl-Martin Pold. But the star is of course Bud Spencer here, the famous spaghetti western hero that is close to in icon here in Germany, whil I think almost nobody knows him in the English-speaking countries. You could say this film we have here is a reflection and summary of Spencer's life, including his early days as a water athlete at the Olympic Games even before moving on to serious acting and finding his professionally significant other Terence Hill (Girotti) with whom he shared many many films that turned both into national treasures basically. Now back to this film here. It includes many many scenes with Spencer (and Hill) and these will really be enjoyed by fans of the Italian(s). And yes that includes myself. It was swell. Add to that interviews with many people who knew Spencer personally, were friends with him and/or worked with him on several films in all kinds of departments. Sadly, there is one big flaw to this film too. And that is the story about two Spencer fans (one of them who owns a great deal of merchandise, the other blind) and how they travel to Italy with the intention and hope of finding Spencer and exchanging a few words with him. Man this duo was cringeworthy to watch. I don't know what was the worst about them. Was it the ways in which they made parallels with the physical looks between them and Hill/Spencer. Or was it the truly cringeworthy quotes they were using on several occasions from Spencer movies. The best example is "all out that pays no rent" when one of them has to pee. Or was it that their dialogues felt really scripted most of the time and lets be gentle here: The line delivery of these two really wasn't a pleasure to watch. Or was it one guy talking constantly about his car crash and how Spencer films werfe the only joy in his life back then. Or was it the filmmaker's intention to depict the bond between the two growing closer as the film progressed and selling their connection to us that they became friends eventually. Close friends. I don't know, but I wish they could have left these two out completely. Still I felt kinda bad for them when they got send away initially when tehy are ringing Spencer's bell, even if it felt realistic and also kinda fit what I heard that Spencer was not too fond of his career in retrospective, which is a bit of a shame given the significant amount of joy he brought to so many people. But yeah, this sending away was kinda cruel to watch happen to somebody who loved their hero so much. Anyway, probably scripted too. Still, obviously they changed it to the happy ending everybody was hoping for(?) eventually and I liked it. Not for the ending itself, but for seeing the legend that Spencer was and still is and it was heartbreaking pretty much to see these video recordings and know he was close to his death then. I also liked this final meeting scene with how they mixed eating scenes from his films with eating scenes from the now (the 2016 I should say). That was maybe the best technical aspect of a film that is otherwise unimpressive in that area. So I assume if you like or even love Spencer as much as I do, then you can watch this one and I hope you can deal better with the scripted reality in here than I did because it was painfully cringeworthy at times I can't deny. I won't even contest the thesis that my rating here is on the biased side. But it's also a tribute to the childhood legend Spencer was for me. And the legend he still is today. My man Carlo, rest in peace. A tolerable tribute this film is. Just quickly play forward when the two clowns show up.

This movie is not really about Bud Spencer but about those two freaks in main roles. They are creepy and not fun at all. The guy who is not blind is totally disrespectful and cares only about himself and how to make a movie with him in the middle. He is all around Terence Hill today but seems to be all about the game and money for himself. Really really unsympathetic. I don't need this movie to love Spencer who is only 5 Minutes in the movie.