Bruce? Is That Really You?

Last night I finished watching a movie I Tivo’d from SyFy starring Bruce Campbell … that campy, B-movie star of such hits as Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. Directed by Bruce and featuring Bruce as himself, My Name Is Bruce tells of the plight of a small Oregon town, Gold Lick, that is being terrorized by the ancient Chinese god Guan Di. A teenage fan of Bruce’s kidnaps Bruce to fight off the demon, thinking the actor is just like the hero from the Evil Dead movies.

By the way, I can’t get the theme song out of my mind. It’s that toe-tapping fun!

 

My favorite parts of the movie were seeing Ted Raimi playing his three rolls in this film: Mills Toddner (Bruce’s terrible, back-stabbing talent agent), Wing (the last surviving descendant of Chinese pioneers of Gold Link) and the sign painter with the bad Italian accent. You have to admit that Ted has a great sense of self-deprecating humor! (By the way, I always loved him as the really bad warrior in Xena, Joxer the Mighty.)

Anyway, the film is intentionally bad. And that’s what makes it such a hoot and a half.

The film was shot primarily in Medford, Ore., taking advantage of the state’s new rebate program back in 2006 to stimulate film production. You can learn a few “behind the scenes” nuggets by visiting the official My Name Is Bruce web page off Bruce’s wesite.

My Name Is Bruce is filled with lots of little inside jokes that probably only true Bruce Campbell fans would appreciate. In fact, not having seen all his many films, I probably missed quite a few.