Bruce Campbell: A Spider-Man Tradition

In the latest installment of the Spider-Man Movie Series, Bruce Campbell plays the Maître d’ of the restauraunt where Peter Parker is going to ask Mary-Jane to marry him. With his over the top French accent, this cameo is classic Bruce Campbell:

Maître d’: [In French Accent] “Name, please?”
Peter Parker: “Parker, Peter”
Maître d’: [Looks through reservation book] “Ahh, there we are… table for two, Pecker…”
Peter Parker: “Parker…”
Maître d’: [In French accent] “That is what I said, Pecker!”

You may not remember, but Bruce Campbell also made cameo appearances in both of the earlier Spider-Man movies. His cameos are as much a part of Spider-Man film tradition as including a cameo by Stan Lee, the original creator of Spider-Man. In the first Spider-Man movie, Campbell plays the Ring Announcer, when Peter Parker tries to make some money off of his new found powers wrestling:

Ring Announcer: “What’s your name kid?”
Peter Parker: “The Human Spider.”
Ring Announcer: “The Human Spider? That’s it? That’s the best you’ve got?”
Peter Parker: “Yeah.”
Ring Announcer: “Oh, that sucks.”

In Spider-Man 2, Campbell played the role of the Snooty Usher who would not let Peter Parker in to see MJ’s show because he arrived late:

Snooty Usher: “No one will be seated after the doors are closed. It helps maintain the illusion.”
Snooty Usher: [points to Peter's shoes] “Shoelaces.” [Peter kneels and ties his shoes]
Snooty Usher: Uh, you might want to… [acts like he's straightening a tie][Peter straightens his tie]
Snooty Usher: That’s better. Can I help you?

In case you are not familiar with Bruce Campbell, he first became popular as Ash, the chain-saw wielding star of the Evil Dead series of horror movies. With its tongue-in-cheek humor, bad special effects, and great dialogue, this series of B-movies developed a strong cult following (and yes I am a card carrying cult member). Bruce Campbell also had a recurring role on Xena, Warrior Princess and starred in the television series Brisco County Junior. Campbell is one of the few actors who can manage to make his roles dry and subtley funny, yet over the top at the same time. Hopefully we won’t have to wait for Spider-Man 4 to come out before we see Bruce Campbell again.