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| 1940-2022 |
Though he did some interesting work in the 1960s, James Caan's real heyday as an actor was the 1970s. First he played the real-life dying NFL player Brian Piccolo in Brian's Song, the first and easily the best of the disease-of-the-week made-for-TV movies that once gave hypochondriacs plenty of reasons to turn off the tube and pick up a book instead. After that success, it was mostly the big screen, baby (I imagine him talking like that.) I don't know if a passing resemblance to a young Marlon Brando is what got him cast as an older Marlon Brando's hotheaded son Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, but he emerged from it a star. Though his character did not survive the Mafia drama, he nevertheless got a flashback cameo at the very end of The Godfather: Part II. Other notable 70's films include Cinderella Liberty, The Gambler, Funny Lady, Rollerball, Freebie and the Bean, and Chapter Two. After 1981's Thief, there were many, many more misses than hits, but the hits are notable. There's the 1988 buddy-cop science-fiction action film Alien Nation, and in 1990s, Caan is Kathy Bate's best-selling author-prisoner in the enormously successful Stephen King thriller Misery. Though he was best known for tough guy dramas, Caan also had a flair for comedy, and can be seen to good effect in '92's Honeymoon in Vegas and the 2003 Christmas classic Elf. In 2016, the actor voted for Donald Trump, a man who often comes across as a Mad magazine parody of Caan.
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| 1923-2022 |
Comedian and comic actor Larry Storch was never a huge star if you measure that sort of thing by the number of starring roles in comedy movies and long-running comedy TV shows, but he didn't seem to lack for work, a man whom producers and directors could depend on to be funny even when the script fell far short of that. Storch started out in standup, specializing in dialect comedy and imitations of famous people, such as Cary Grant (according to Grant himself, Storch was the first person to utter "Judy, Judy, Judy!") He was successful enough at doing this to be offered a small part in a movie, then another movie, and another, until he racked up at least 25 of them, along with hundreds of TV guest shots. He also did voice-over work in many cartoons, including Drac on The Groovy Ghoulies. However, the role Storch is best known for is that of Corporal Randolph Agarn for two seasons on the 1960s Wild West parody F Troop. That sitcom's portrayal of Native Americans might not pass muster today, but all I can say is as goofy as the Indians behaved, the palefaces on the series were a lot goofier, and no one was a goofier, or more hilarious, paleface than Storch.
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CONFIDENTIAL TO BETTE MIDLER:
Cancel The New York Times subscription already.
Hi, Kirk!
ReplyDeleteGiven the unusual publishing time, I assumed you were doing a piece on James Caan. I didn't know that Larry Storch also died just yesterday.
I liked James Caan, and it came as a shock just now to learn that he voted for Trump in 2016. I read that Caan viewed himself as as "ultra conservative." Okay then. Diff'rent strokes... Ever notice how actors who play tough guys in movies are almost always Second Amendment conservatives IRL? My favorite James Caan character was the role of stock car driver Mike Marsh in the 1965 racing movie Red Line 7000 directed by Howard Hawks. One of my top faves, Laura Devon, co-starred in the film. I also saw Caan in Irma la Douce, Games, Brian's Song, Godfather, Funny Lady, Rollerball, Silent Movie, A Bridge Too Far, 1941, Alien Nation, Dick Tracy, Misery, Honeymoon in Vegas, Flesh And Bone (with another favorite Gwyneth Paltrow) and Elf.
I didn't watch F Troop. Mrs. Shady and I are currently running through the entire Columbo series for the second or third time, and we recently saw Storch in that 1974 episode which also featured Dick Van Dyke. I also saw Larry on Sabrina, Brady Kids, Love American Style, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Airport '75, McCloud, Love Boat, CHiPs and Fantasy Island.
Thanks for remembering both of these fine actors so soon after the reaper came and got them. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, good buddy Kirk!
Shady, I have indeed noticed tough guy actors stumping for right-wing politicians or right-wing causes once they achieve fame and fortune. Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis come immediately to mind. Neither was known to be politically conservative at the start of their careers. I guess the trend goes all the way back to John Wayne, who was once said to have been a New Dealer before all the cowboy roles went to his head. There are exceptions. James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart were all Democrats. Brando supported all kinds of left-wing causes, famously having an Indians rights activist (and probably not an F Troop fan) show up in his place at the Oscars.
ReplyDeleteGlad you mentioned Red Line 7000. I get the sense that in the latter part of the 1960s, James Caan was somebody that Hollywood thought could be a star and was trying very hard to make happen by casting him in several big roles. It just took a little longer, that's all.
I couldn't find a clip of it or else I would have shown it, but possibly the funniest I ever saw Storch was when he played the motorcycle cop who has a nervous breakdown in 1964's Sex and the Single Girl (in which Natalie Wood plays Helen Gurley Brown.)
Yeah, not much a fan of James Caan given his social and political thinking. And, oh Bette. Think. Just think.
ReplyDeleteMitchell, I was for a couple days seriously considering doing an entire post of Bette and her tweets, but I'm not sure who my argument's with. First there's her original tweet, which had rather transphobic overtones. Then she responds to storm of protests by tweeting, oh, no, you misunderstand, it wasn't meant to be transphobic at all, it was all inspired by this fascinating and well-written opinion piece in The New York Times. Read it and you'll understand. So I click on the link, read it, and it's transphobic as all get-out! Did you read it, Mitchell? This Pamela Paul (who used to be the paper's book review editor) is trying to deflect anger over Roe vs Wade reversal and direct it toward the transgender community as well as Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the ACLU, which according to Paul has been infiltrated by transgender people to such a degree that the word "woman" stands to be excised from the dictionary any day now!
DeleteBette Midler says she's not transphobic--I'm sure she's run across an individual or two with gender dysphoria in her day--so I'm just hoping that in her zeal to be the toughest tweeter on the block, she didn't read Paul's piece all that carefully.
I hadn’t read the Pamela Paul piece. And I think you hit the nail right on the head about Bette with “in her zeal to be the toughest tweeter on the block.” Bette needs to step back and give things more thought.
DeleteJames Caan was never a favourite actor of mine. I liked Larry Storch though and remember watching F Troop as a kid. I hadn't heard of his death.
ReplyDeleteDebra, I watched F Troop as a kid, and then many, many, many, many decades later watched it again on some digital channel, and it didn't disappoint. It was as funny as I remembered it. Though I admit the second time around I was much more aware the Native American caricatures. But all the Wild West cliches were upended on that show, including those involving the U.S. Cavalry (remember the off-key bugling and the water tower that kept falling over?)
DeleteI didn't do a post on Ken Berry when he died because all I could think of was the bland character he played on Mayberry RFD. But I'm reminded by the one clip that he actually could be pretty funny on F Troop. I'll have to make it up to him someday.
I think I saw The Godfather. I did see F Troop at times but I can't really remember either actor, beyond knowing a little about Caan and his poor political thinking.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, the problem for me is I usually don't know actors' political leanings at first. If I enjoy the performance, I can't take the enjoyment back just because I find out they voted differently from me.
DeleteI can't even bring myself to dislike John Wayne, much less James Caan (or, now that I think of it, Bette Midler.)
RIP. I know him and seen a good few of his films.
ReplyDeleteAnanka, I'm assuming you mean James Caan.
DeleteJames Caan. I loved Brian's Song. It made me bawl like a baby. I just remember Mr. Caan as a very good looking man and a great actor in everything he did.
ReplyDeleteJM, great chemistry between Cann and Billy Dee Williams (as Gayle Sayers) in that movie.
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