IT SUCKS TO BE THE 2ND IN COMMAND

To be ‘right-hand man’ to the main villain in 80s action movies is no cinematic cake-walk.  For even the casual movie lover it is known that this individual must die as there can be no resolution to the film without it.

Take Beverly Hills Cop (1984) for example:  Zack (Jonathan Banks) is the muscle behind art and coke dealer Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff).  He is responsible for the death of Axel Foley’s (Eddie Murphy) best buddy from Detroit.  He is a thug deserving of a criminal’s denouement and subsequently gunned down in Maitland’s mansion.

 The muscle goes down first for the main antagonist to be fated the same way (Foley ices Maitland, too).

 

It’s in the cards.

Eddie Murphy (Reggie Hammond) was part of that same scenario in 48 Hrs. (1982).  He warns Billy Bear (Sonny Landham), cohort of money-grubbing scumbag Ganz (James Remar), “Billy, you’re gonna lose.” Billy approaches with a 12" blade, to which Hammond guns him down.  Jack Kates (Nick Nolte) and Hammond ultimately corner Ganz and eliminate him, ending his rampage. 

There are some exceptions to the order of to the bad guys’ end, though.

 

Should the head honcho get his come-uppance before the 2^nd in command, the rule still applies.

 

In Die Hard (1988), Karl (Alexander Godunov) is the right-hand man for Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and not only wants our hero John McClane (Bruce Willis) to be more than ‘neutralized’.  Karl wants him dead for all the killings of his terrorist cohorts.  Gruber goes out first, falling many stories to his death from the top of Nakatomi Plaza.

The viewer is convinced to believe that all is well and the movie concludes, until Karl pops up and tries to gun down McClane.  But thanks to Sgt. Powell (ReginaldVelJohnson) and a Twinkie sugar rush, Karl gets the lead poisoning.

What does all this mean?

No matter, when it happens within the story, the 2^nd in command has the life expectancy akin to a random Enterprise trainee on Star Trek.

 

They must value their screen time for they will be toast… count on it.

  

REST IN PEACE, HARRY DEAN STANTON (1926-2017)

Throughout a 60-year career in television and film, Harry Dean Stanton was the pure definition of a working actor, thanks to looks and voice, both of which were unique.

His looks are that of a bony-slim cowboy with deep cracks in the facial edifice.  A train wreck spurned by the world around him and resigned to a fate reserved for the losers of this world.

 

He reminds us of the guy next to you at the local dive, elbows up at the bar and a cigarette burning between yellowed fingers.  He tells stories with a Mason-Dixon dialect; not too Southern to suggest ‘redneck’ and not too Northern to suggest ‘refined’.

 

The editors at Nitflix will remember him most for his performance as in Cool Hand Luke combining into one depressingly beautiful character.  A hang-dog look with a church hymnal voice, as he plays a depressingly beautiful rendition of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” on acoustic guitar.

Unique, memorable and will be missed.

LIFE IN SIX MINUTES

_{VISION QUEST (1985)}

Thanks to YouTube, we are privy to our favorite inspirational speeches and pep talks from movies, immediately accessible for the exact moment when our emotions need to be lifted, penetrating the window to the soul of our inner hero.

  

The editors of Nitflix implore the reader to screen the ‘Six Minutes’ speech from Vision Quest. 

Some background on the scene:  Elmo (J.C. Quinn) is talking to his co-worker and film’s protagonist Louden (Matthew Modine) before his big wrestling match versus State Champion, Brian Shute.

 

Louden is amazed that Elmo would get all gussied up and give up a night’s pay for “Six lousy minutes on the mat.”  Stoically and eloquently, Elmo shoots down Louden’s minimization of the match.  There’s no rah-rah or metaphors about life.  No talk of winning or losing.  No mention of a life wasted due to time passed. 

“It ain’t the six minutes.  It’s what happens in that six minutes.”, Elmo says.

It’s bone chilling, honest and virtually chastises Loudon (and us) for thinking otherwise.

It gets us every time

THAT’S RIGHT! HE’S GOING TO BE MAYOR!

_{BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)}

He motivated George McFly (Crispin Glover) to stand up for himself and Goldie Wilson (Donald Fullilove) assured us of his success into local politics way back in 1955, knowing that being a waiter is temporary and with hard work, he can ‘be somebody’.  Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) reaffirms Goldie’s premonition by saying that Wilson is going to be mayor.

  

Thanks to hindsight, we know this to be true.

The owner of the diner dismissed his prospects, because according to him, who would vote for a ‘colored mayor’. But Wilson remained steadfast to his beliefs, scoffing at the ignorance of his boss and the prevailing ignorance of the times.

 

It was an audacious, yet positive message of a man ready to drive a political energy bus towards a bright, prosperous future.

What should be of more importance to us are Wilson’s dance moves during the crowded diner scene where George professes his ‘density’ for Lorraine.

See it here.  From 1:26 - 1:37

The dance moves display the panache required to handle such a difficult task of running a town such as Hill Valley.  The audacity of hope did not start decades later from the mind of Barack Obama, but with a fleet-footed, political dance machine and the future ‘Hizzoner’.