ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

Burt was 82 years old.

I don't think he did any sci~fi or fantasy films that I know of during his long career.
On the sci~fi sitcom "Out of this World"I think he did the voice over of an alien for his half-human/half-alien daughter Evie.

Burt turned down the role of Han Solo & James Bond.

He was a fine actor but indulged in so many comedy,good ole' boy roles over the years that critics never respected him very much.

Burt wrote in his autobiography that he made a grave error by doing so many comedic parts & rarely tackling more serious & substantial roles.

But,he did also say that he set out to have one exciting,fun ride in his life & that he did indeed.
No one could take that away from him according to Reynolds.

[Bud Brewster]

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Pow, you beat me to it. I just saw the sad announcement on CNN.

I think I'll watch Smokey and the Bandit this evening. I loved that movie. I can think of no better tribute to Burt than the two videos below.

Enjoy!


__________________ The legend - Jerry Reed


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___________ Jerry Reed - East Bound and Down


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

He also did a lot of action movies that weren't comic.

He had a small, but funny part in "The Twilight Zone" episode, "The Bard". He played a Marlon Brando-type actor, and was hired because of his Marlon Brando imitation. I believe he did it as a favor for someone.

David.

[Robert (Butch) Day]

I suggest you checkout IMDb. He did a lot of genre Movies and TV.
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[Pow]

Not to be picky, Butch, but if by genre we are indeed referring to sci~fi & fantasy, I wouldn't say Burt did a lot in those areas.

Some of that can be attributed to the male actors of his era. Many did westerns, war movies, detectives & such stuff.

Few of his peers appeared in sci~fi or fantasy films.

I think both genres were deemed as silly & juvenile by serious actors.

If you look at the generation prior to Reynolds, almost none went near the genre period.

Gary Cooper (Alice in Wonderland), Errol Flynn, Bogart (Return of Dr.X), John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart ,or Hank Fonda, to name a few rarely did those kind of films.

Here & there, yes, such as Tyrone Power doing a time travel movie & one a bout leprechauns.

Sci~fi & fantasy movies did not get tons of respect back then with audiences & I doubt many agents would submit such scripts to leading men & women.

Sure, Wizard of Oz was an enormous hit & embraced by audiences. But that was the exception for the most part.

Some later generation actors such as Kirk Douglas (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Saturn 5) would foray into the genre as it slowly gained popularity & respect.

Charlton Heston was at the top of his game when he made Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylant Green. And I give him a ton of credit for making such daring choices back then as not many of his fellow performers were so inclined.

The current generation of actors have almost all done some sci~fi or fantasy films. It's as common for them to do such movies as it was for previous generation actors to make a western.

Now sci~fi & fantasy have attained respect & popularity in both the mediums of film & television.

It took time but they finally came into their own.

[Bud Brewster]

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A fine post, Pow! I'll add a few trivia items to the discussion.

First of all, The Wizard of Oz was actually not big hit when it first came out. It's described as "a modest box-office success when it was first released, but its popularity continued to grow after it was televised for the first time in 1956."

However, you were dead right when you said that actors like Burt weren't eager to be in science fiction movies. Mr. Reynolds is said to have turned down the role of Han Solo, a decision he had this to say about.

“I just didn’t want to play that kind of role at the time,” Reynolds said. “Now I regret it. I wish I'd done it.”

Frankly, I can't really see Burt as Han Solo. But then again, I can't see Harrison Ford as The Bandit, either.

However, Chewy as the Snowman driving the truck makes a nice mental image, and the relationship between Chewy and Fred the Bassett Hound might have been quite endearing!

Hey, on second thought, Harrison as the Bandit might have been pretty good . . . especially with Chewy in the big rig, growling comments to Fred, who would bark back his responses.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I was reading some interviews by Burt regarding roles he turned down, Bud.

You are right, I just do not envision him as Han.

He also turned down James Bond. He felt the role was never intended for an American. He later regretted that decision.

But I think that he did make the correct decision. Yes, 007 should never be an American actor. Bad vibe.

I don't know if Burt could even do a credible British accent.

Perhaps he would not have even tried. As we know,Burt had a terrific sense of humor. The Bond character does not.

He was considered for the John McClane role in Die Hard.
Bruce Willis did a fine job in the part, Burt would have as well.

[Bud Brewster]

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I think Burt as John McClane would have done pretty good in the action scenes, but I'm not so sure he would have done quite as well with the scenes that featured the dry wit which Bruce Willis delivered so well.

Bruce had a lot of practice playing a sarcastic wise-cracker in Moonlighting. In fact, that was the main appeal of that show, so Bruce just walked his Moonlighting character right into the shoes of John McClane — metaphorically speaking, of course, since John was barefooted in 90% of the first Die Hard movie!

It's hard for me to picture Burt playing the character the same way Bruce did, but of course he would have brought his own style to the role, so if the movie had starred Burt Reynolds, I'd probably have trouble imagining what Bruce Willis would have been like!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Custer]

I watched The Cannonball Run this evening, which was rather fun, though very much of its time. Roger Moore was spot-on as a guy pretending to be famous actor Roger Moore, mentioning "The Fly Who Bugged Me" as a movie he had made, and Burt Reynolds made an agreeable main character.

One thing that puzzled me was that the race started with a card-punching timer, so that people started one by one, and the total time from punching in, until punching out in sunny California, was declared to be what would decide who was winner. But at the end, it was "first past the post"...

Anyway, enjoyable. And, judging by the final credits and their accompaniment, the stars, including Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Farrah Fawcett, Roger Moore, Adrienne Barbeau, Jacky Chan, Dom DeLuise, and Burt Reynolds, were having fun too.