They Called Him Bulldozer

Bud Spencer plays Bulldozer, a former football star now working as a fisherman and out of work because a submarine damaged his boat. When a group of drifters near Livorno arranges an American football match against the team from the American base, they ask him to coach. The template is familiar: the makeshift team, the hard sergeant, the impossible match, the finale. Whether it works depends entirely on Spencer's presence; the brawls are as always slap-heavy and bloodless, and the humour is physical. One detail ties it to reality. In 1977 an American football team formed from Italian footballers and rugby players played an exhibition against the American side at Camp Darby, at Tirrenia near Livorno. A year later the film crew went to the same place and shot there. Michele Lupo directed, with Raimund Harmstorf as the sergeant. Who it is for: viewers who like Bud Spencer films and seventies Italian sports comedy. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a script or sporting realism.