OT: Yaphet Kotto passes; had connection to Michigan football
March 16th, 2021 at 11:14 AM ^
Alonzo Mosely, FBI
"Is this gonna upset me?"
March 16th, 2021 at 11:19 AM ^
I think it's safe to say that.
One of the more underrated movies of the last few decades. Perhaps the best buddy/road film (though "buddy" with a twist) ever. I miss old Hollywood moviemaking like this. Now everything is a CGI cartoon or a search for the world's most marginalized tragic hero.
Yep. Another underappreciated thing - every single character in the movie is memorable in some way.
I can quote lines from nearly every characters. Jack, The Duke, Moron #1, Moron #2, Serrano, Sidney, Dorfler, Moscone, Darvo, Mosley, Jack's daughter, even minor players like the airline pilot at the beginning (for whatever reason, I always crack up at "I suggest you find some other mode of transportation.")
Even characters without lines (the boy on the plane as Jack doctors the ID) are hits.
I love that film.
March 16th, 2021 at 10:03 PM ^
You forgot the bartender somewhere in Arizona. Bill "Red" Wood.
March 16th, 2021 at 11:18 PM ^
The town was, per the film, supposed to be Channing, Texas
Channing is in the Texas Panhandle, about 30 miles north of I-40. I am dead serious --- I was on a roadtrip with some friends back when I was 22-23 years old. We detoured to Channing just to see if there was a Red's Corner Bar.
I was disappointed - there was not. That particular scene was actually filmed in Williams, Arizona, which is about 500 miles further west along I-40.
And if one looks at Google Maps --- the Circle K and the railroad tracks DO still exist in Williams. Red's Corner Bar is no longer Red's Corner Bar - it is instead a Mexican Restaurant (Pancho McGillicuddy's).
(no Google Maps link because it's too long and screws up the formatting. Sorry!)
March 16th, 2021 at 11:14 AM ^
I’M MOSELY!!
great quote from Midnight Run
March 16th, 2021 at 11:21 AM ^
Truly a great actor. His part in Homicide: Life on the Street was an amazing role in a amazing ensemble.
March 16th, 2021 at 11:33 AM ^
My absolute favorite show in the 90's. Yaphet Kotto was so integral to its success. It never received the love from network TV that it deserved. It would be monstrously popular nowadays if HBO or Netflix could have produced it.
March 16th, 2021 at 11:52 AM ^
yeah, a great ensemble show with good writing and a direct connection to another great Baltimore show that did get the HBO treatment...
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/mar/27/homicide-life-street-david-simon
Homicide - and David Simon's genius - was definitely the proving ground for The Wire. David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets book is also one of my favorites.
March 16th, 2021 at 11:28 AM ^
He was a decent bond villain, but I liked him in Running Man a lot.
RIP.
For many reasons, we couldn't make Live and Let Die today, but Yaphet Kotto put in yeoman's work to elevate a um... dodgy script. As a sometime Bond fan, I definitely came away with an inflated opinion of his acting talent.
The biggest reason not to make it was the producer's failure to keep Sean Connery interested in the part and replacing him with Roger Moore. OTOH, after seeing Sean's work in Diamonds are Forever, perhaps it was for the best...
Kotto had one of the admittedly great lines in the film (not a high bar, granted), and perhaps the franchise: "Names is for tombstones, baby!" Also, in his obituary (that I just looked up) he apparently turned down the role of Lando Calrissian
Getting back to the Bond franchise for a bit, I'm now reminded of one of the funnier anecdotes from behind the scenes. For one of the movies, Maurice Binder who filmed the famous title sequences had to apply Vaseline on a model's pubes to keep it under an R-rating. While Binder was in mid-spackle, Roger Moore and the producer happened to walk by and Moore quipped to the producer "I thought that was one of *your* perks"
Sean Connery had gained too much weight.
So much weight he almost rolled the Mustang.
March 16th, 2021 at 11:39 AM ^
Antonio Fargas also in Across 110th Street . . . .
March 16th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
And Justin Fargas was (indirectly) referenced in the Simpsons.
March 16th, 2021 at 11:43 AM ^
RIP Dr. Kananga / Mr. Big
Notice a young Jane Seymour in the background, in probably her first major movie role.
March 16th, 2021 at 11:45 AM ^
If they'd listened to Parker, the crew of the Nostromo would've lived.
R.I.P. He was a wonderful actor.
March 17th, 2021 at 12:14 AM ^
"A walk in the park!"
March 16th, 2021 at 11:59 AM ^
Freddys Dead: The Final Nightmare and Running Man. I was a teenager when I watched those and thought he was great in both. Especially in Freddy’s Dead. I understand that movie will not be highly lauded from critics, but for an isolated teen dealing with isolated teen stuff, it was great.
March 16th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
There’s only one Mr.Big
March 16th, 2021 at 12:31 PM ^
Was he notorious?
March 16th, 2021 at 12:10 PM ^
Also great in Alien
March 16th, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^
Blue Collar with Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel.
YES! Written and directed by Paul Schrader. Pryor was also amazing in that. He was a revelation as a dramatic actor.
I get that Fargas has a connection to Michigan football, but to MGoBlog?
I know, I know: how can I be so obtuse?
(FWIW, I have a son who lives above 110th Street, on 125th, a few blocks east of the Apollo.)
“Drowned Mr. Bond? I doubt you’ll get the chance to drowned”
RIP. Giardello was a great character in a cast of great characters (Braugher was incredible... I never considered having a "favorite actor" until I saw him as Frank Pembleton).
I did a "what happened to that guy?" google thing recently, Kotto had an interesting life and walked his own path (with some out there beliefs), ended up an expat in the Philippines
Probably my favorite TV show from the 90s and my two favorite characters from that show.
Great actors, but something you almost never see in today's shows, great writing to go with their skills.
He really exploded onto the scene in Live and Let Die.
Tee hee, I see what you did there.
Nice shot of a Buick VistaCruiser station wagon in the montage. Haven't seen one of them in a while. RIP Yaphet.
Don't you mean Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser? I saw what appears to be the Vista Cruiser at the 2:17 mark of that video.
The Olds VC was the first car I drove when I got my DL back in 1972. Dad had a 1966 or '67 Olds Vista Cruiser as our family car and it became my car when my dad bought a full size Chrysler Wagon.
This is super weird. I hadn't heard this name in many years, but have seen it referenced twice today. Once by someone mentioning that he was on the short list to play Captain Picard on Star Trek Next Generation in 1987, and now to announce he's dead. What are the odds???
I'll drink to that!
Great actor. Always commanded my attention. R.I.P.