Off My Shelf: Why Did You Pick On Me? (1984)
So, I was scrolling through Amazon Prime looking for the next season of Julia Child, when I somehow stumbled across this movie: Why Did You Pick on Me?, starring the enigmatic Bud Spencer. (Alternative titles: Super Sheriffen Slar Till Igen, Buddy Haut Den Lukas, Chissa Capitano Perche Tutte a Me, and Everything Happens to Me.)
Bud Spencer, of course, is the star of Aladdin , which we've already discussed. It's weird and poor-quality -- but strangely engrossing. So, when we see this poster:
Bud Spencer, crushing some guy's skull.... And read this description:
"Bud Spencer is, as always, getting into fights - especially after getting a job as sheriff. He's looking after a small boy who's actually an extraterrestrial with special abilities thus the military wants him. Bud's got his hands full."
HOW COULD WE NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE?
Apparently this is a sequel to The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid -- which is not on Amazon, so we couldn't watch it first. This movie picks up at a weird moment that seems like it's half-way through the story, and gives surprisingly little background as to why the Sheriff lives with a child extraterrestrial. (The kid is played by Cary Guffey -- the little kid in Close Encounters.) He looks like an ordinary child, but he has some kind of an alien device that he can rearrange matter with -- and he doesn't understand when not to use his powers.
Well, the film picks up right as Bud and "Charlie" (the alien kid) are escaping from the feds (again). They then roll into the small town of Monroe, Georgia -- which is apparently insanely lawless. A small amount of time is devoted to the alien child's shenanigans -- and the rest of the movie is devoted to Bud Spencer beating people up (because, in addition to being the inexplicable guardian of an alien child, Bud is evidently the world's strongest man and best fighter).
Take that, cartoonish biker thug!We see a much more animated Bud Spencer than we saw in Aladdin (apparently by the time that film rolled around he just didn't care anymore) and the kid is just as cute as he was in Close Encounters. They had a pretty adorable chemistry, as only a big, bear-like man and a small, cute child can.
I'm not going to talk much about the story or events of this film, because if you want to watch it, I'd like you to go into it knowing more or less as little as I did. I won't say it was Shakespeare by any means -- there are so many things that happen in it that don't make any sense at all (possibly because it's an Italian film made in America). I'd say that the worst parts are exactly two comedy fight-scenes that get so self-consciously goofy that they cross the line into obnoxiousness.
Other than that, though, I thought this movie was hilarious -- totally a harmless, fun movie -- and also a weird, alien-feeling movie, thanks less to the actual extraterrestrial content than to its foreign production team. And it's surprisingly higher-budget, more enthusiastic and better-quality than Aladdin. Definitely worth watching on bad movie night!
RECOMMENDEDFun Bad Movie
Bud Spencer, of course, is the star of Aladdin , which we've already discussed. It's weird and poor-quality -- but strangely engrossing. So, when we see this poster:
Bud Spencer, crushing some guy's skull.... And read this description:"Bud Spencer is, as always, getting into fights - especially after getting a job as sheriff. He's looking after a small boy who's actually an extraterrestrial with special abilities thus the military wants him. Bud's got his hands full."
HOW COULD WE NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE?
Apparently this is a sequel to The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid -- which is not on Amazon, so we couldn't watch it first. This movie picks up at a weird moment that seems like it's half-way through the story, and gives surprisingly little background as to why the Sheriff lives with a child extraterrestrial. (The kid is played by Cary Guffey -- the little kid in Close Encounters.) He looks like an ordinary child, but he has some kind of an alien device that he can rearrange matter with -- and he doesn't understand when not to use his powers.
Well, the film picks up right as Bud and "Charlie" (the alien kid) are escaping from the feds (again). They then roll into the small town of Monroe, Georgia -- which is apparently insanely lawless. A small amount of time is devoted to the alien child's shenanigans -- and the rest of the movie is devoted to Bud Spencer beating people up (because, in addition to being the inexplicable guardian of an alien child, Bud is evidently the world's strongest man and best fighter).
Take that, cartoonish biker thug!We see a much more animated Bud Spencer than we saw in Aladdin (apparently by the time that film rolled around he just didn't care anymore) and the kid is just as cute as he was in Close Encounters. They had a pretty adorable chemistry, as only a big, bear-like man and a small, cute child can.
I'm not going to talk much about the story or events of this film, because if you want to watch it, I'd like you to go into it knowing more or less as little as I did. I won't say it was Shakespeare by any means -- there are so many things that happen in it that don't make any sense at all (possibly because it's an Italian film made in America). I'd say that the worst parts are exactly two comedy fight-scenes that get so self-consciously goofy that they cross the line into obnoxiousness.
Other than that, though, I thought this movie was hilarious -- totally a harmless, fun movie -- and also a weird, alien-feeling movie, thanks less to the actual extraterrestrial content than to its foreign production team. And it's surprisingly higher-budget, more enthusiastic and better-quality than Aladdin. Definitely worth watching on bad movie night!
RECOMMENDEDFun Bad Movie
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