Fools Need Pitying: The Great Performances

On this April Fool's Day whilst we fall for the various pranks foisted upon us, let's pay tribute to the one man who sees our faults, yet still shows compassion for us, pity even...one Laurence Tureaud aka Mr. T. For those keeping notes at home, that's first name: Mr, middle name: the period, last name: T.

Before I go any further, I would like to emphatically state that this is not a goof or a smarmy ironic entry, but a tribute to a man who I have genuine respect for and a performance I honestly consider transcends the quality of the film that contains it.

A little history on the man who would be T: He was born the youngest of twelve children, grew up in a Chicago project, gained a scholarship to Prairie View A & M based on his athletic skills only to be kicked out, joined the Army, became a bouncer and levied that into a career as a bodyguard for celebrities including Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali. His unique look: the mohawk, which was a tribute to his African heritage and the gold chains that apparently cost in excess of $300,000 which he claims he wore to identify with slaves by wearing "chains" around his neck, a claim I am not sure I entirely believe, a more likely reason being pride in self success after growing up in poverty, combined with his charisma and natural showmanship (his business card as a bodyguard proclaimed "Next to God there is no greater protector than I") lead to a small role in Penitentiary II and later to his role as Clubber Lang, Rocky Balboa's nemesis in Rocky III.

And his performance as Lang is one for the ages. What more it triumphs over writer-director-star Sylvester Stallone's betrayal of the character due to his complete lack of interest in ambiguity. Mr. T obviously channeled a lot of himself into Lang, a cocky but authentic fighter who is disgusted at the way Balboa sullies the sport he loves by making a mockery of it and showing more interest in his celebrity. When Lang clobbers Balboa in their first match, he finds the media making excuses for the fallen white hope and is rightfully offended. But Stallone is not content with making Lang's force sufficient enough motivation for him to regain his devotion to his sport (or recapture the eye of the tiger, if you will) through homoerotic training montages with old rival Apollo Creed, no, he has to demonize Lang by making him a contemptible bully who physically threatens Balboa's wife Adrian. One sees a not so subtle racist subtext in Rocky III, the self-assured black man = villain, the black man who steps aside after getting beaten by our white hero and aides said hero into defeating self-assured black man = the good guy sidekick to our hero. Despite Stallone's meddling, Mr. T makes Lang's perspective relatable and motives genuine (save the aforementioned berating of poor helpless Adrian). Mr. T is giving a performance in another movie, (an arguably better) movie in which Lang is the hero. It's the right decision and shows maturity for what is essentially his acting debut.

After Rocky III catapulted him to national fame, Mr. T was cast as B.A. Baracus in Stephen Cannell's series The A-Team. What struck me as I rewatched some old episodes recently, besides the fact that it has the greatest ratio of usage of firearms to people not being killed by said firearms, is the sense of humor Cannell imbued the series, not a surprise when you realize he was also the creator of The Rockford Files and The Greatest American Hero. And Mr. T was definitely in on the joke, making B.A. a hard-ass, but a hard-ass that has many fears including a deadly fear of flying which requires the team to constantly sedate him through stealth methods. Its this very sense of humor that makes Mr. T's career after his popularity waned towards the end of the 80's and the series lack the air of desperation that surrounds such decade casualties as the Coreys. He frequently makes appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and is willing to poke fun at his image in commercials and movies, a form of survival mechanism that his past probably well prepared him for.

Mr. T should also be applauded for his humanitarian achievements. He's spent much of his life exalting the cause of physical fitness for children which was always more personal than many cause celibre as athletics saved him from a life of crime or drugs. In 2005, in honor of the victims of Hurricane Katrina he decided to no longer wear his trademark jewelry in public. His greatest achievement though was beating a rare form of cancer which he was diagnosed with in 1995.

Should you ever decided to revisit Rocky III or catch it for the first time upon one of it's numerous cable showings, look past the image of Mr. T you have and pay attention to the honesty he gives to Clubber Lang. It's a great performance and if you can't see that, you're a f...well, you know what you are.

Death Is Going to Need a Bigger Boat

Roy Scheider 1932-2008


Roy Scheider may not have possessed the movie star looks, his face sans the puncher’s nose is non-distinct and perhaps too “everyday man”-ish, nor decades long endurance, the last movie role I recall of his was The Rainmaker where he had a cameo as the over-tanned CEO of the evil insurance company (although according to his IMDB page he was in the Thomas Jane version of The Punisher, which I did see, but honestly I don’t remember his appearance or much of anything of the film—there was one cool fight between Jane and some big ass guy in a stairway…and uh, that’s about it) nor iconic screen persona of some of his peers like Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and Jack Nicholson but when it comes to 1970’s portrayals of masculine determination in American cinema, I’d put his performances and filmography between the years of 1971-80, which included The French Connection, Jaws, Marathon Man and perhaps his greatest role, as Bob Fosse surrogate Joe Gideon in All That Jazz, up to their level (I’d also toss Warren Oates name into the conversation).

I had just recently seen for the first time William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, the infamous remake of Wages of Fear and Friedkin’s follow-up to The Exorcist. Scheider still hot off of his lead performance in Jaws, at the time the highest grossing movie in history, was cast after Steve McQueen dropped out due to Friedkin not giving his wife Ali McGraw a cosmetic producing credit. In the fascinating if flawed film, Scheider portrays Jackie Scanlon, a low rent driver who takes part in a plot to rip off the mafia, but when the plan goes awry, as plan to rip off the mob are wont to do, he flees to South America where he lives in squalor under the assumed name of Dominguez. He and three other men with similarly checkered pasts are given the chance to earn some serious cash and citizenship if they can export some nitroglycerin through the jungle in semis with sputtering engines. Of course there are dangerous detours and hazards that test the men’s ability and sanity, the nitroglycerin precariously straddling the point of explosion serving as an ample metaphor for the men’s, and Scheider in particular, emotional wherewithal. {SPOILERS TO FOLLOW} When Scheider alone completes the mission he collapses, a cathartic moment as his utter exhaustion reveals that only the basest human determination got him to the completion. Scheider plays this scene wonderfully, not overstating the moment with histrionics, after hearing reports of director Friedkin’s on set personality, this scene may have served as a true representation of Scheider’s psychology at that very moment. I do feel Friedkin erred a bit with the little dark ironic coda that follows this cathartic moment, where it’s revealed that the mobsters Scanlon were running from are in the same town as him, undermining a great moment.

I think Scheider could have only flourished in two eras of American cinema, and luckily he was around for one, the 1970’s. The other era being 40s-50s film noir, where he could have competed for lead roles with the likes of Van Heflin, Dana Andrews and John Garfield. I am a little bummed that a director such as Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson or Steven Soderbergh never gave him that one last great defining role(s) and rediscovery that they gave to the likes of David Carridine, Burt Reynolds, Kurt Russell, Terrence Stamp and Phillip Baker Hall. The last major project which he was cast in the lead was in 1994, when he reunited with Steven Spielberg and an aquatic setting for the highly hyped but ultimately ratings starved action/sci-fi television series Seaquest DSV. He did keep working steadily over the last twenty years, although mostly in direct to television or video projects. According to other appreciations I’ve read since his passing, he gave a powerful performance on an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent last season (you know what’s weird? I’ve never seen a single minute of any Law and Order show). While it’s a shame he fell out of the limelight, at least he didn’t coast on personality and become a self parody as Pacino, DeNiro, Nicholson and Christopher Walken have recently.

Here’s the trailer for Sorcerer:



And the most harrowing moment of the film, the crossing of the dilapidating bridge (in 2 parts):