RIP James Caan

[CL82]

He will always be remembered as Sonny Corleone in the Godfather and as Brian Piccolo in Brian’s Song but he made plenty of other good movies as well. Elf, Misery, The Killer Elite, and Rollerball all come to mind.

 

[Dean Wormer]

“Come ‘ere. Come ‘ere”!
Best beatdown in movie history.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Rupert of Rathskellar in the original Get Smart.

May he rest in peace

 

[superjohn]

 

[QDOG5]

Thief is a great movie.

 

[Billy Bob]

I love Brian Piccolo

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I forgot how great a movie Brian’s Song was especially since it was for the new at the time made for TV. market. A genre that had a brief golden age with movies like Spirlberg’s Duel 1971 , I think VCR’s killed it.
The Godfather 1 is obviously one of the best American Movies ever. and that accolade doesn’t happen without great performances from a stellar cast
I thought he was underrated but the consistency of his success is a good picture of his true ability.
RIP to an ICON u

 

[jayteeman]

Jonathan......Jonathan.....Jonathan

 

[Chin Diesel]

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

A reminiscence of the neighborhood Caan grew up in, written by the man who brought Speedy Alka-Seltzer to your television set and wrote the song that made Chiquita Banana(s) famous.

A Tale of Two Sunnysides | sunnysidestories

 

[Chief00]

He will always be remembered as Sonny Corleone in the Godfather and as Brian Piccolo in Brian’s Song but he made plenty of other good movies as well. Elf, Misery, The Killer Elite, and Rollerball all come to mind.

Great actor.

 

[Deepster]

Originally the studio wanted Caan to play Rocky Balboa but Stallone wouldn’t sell them his script if he couldn’t play Rocky himself.

 

[storrsroars]

Originally the studio wanted Caan to play Rocky Balboa but Stallone wouldn’t sell them his script if he couldn’t play Rocky himself.

Can would've made a great Rocky. And fewer of them

 

[HuskyHawk]

He provided a lot of great screen moments for us. Early westerns, action flicks, The Godfather. Great at the archetype Hollywood tough guy. RIP.

 

[Dean Wormer]

A reminiscence of the neighborhood Caan grew up in, written by the man who brought Speedy Alka-Seltzer to your television set and wrote the song that made Chiquita Banana(s) famous.

A Tale of Two Sunnysides | sunnysidestories

Good stuff. Grew up in Richmond Hill, next door to Sunnyside. Always great reading about the old neighborhood.

 

[HCCForever]

Great actor. I first saw him in the made for TV "Brians Song" with Billy Dee Williams and Shelly Fabares. I never understood why they remade that movie. He was great as Sonny as well. I love the scene when he is beating up Carlo. He gets so pissed that he starts biting Carlo's hands so he let's go of the railing and hits him with the trash can lid .

 

[CL82]

Great actor. I first saw him in the made for TV "Brians Song" with Billy Dee Williams and Shelly Fabares. I never understood why they remade that movie. He was great as Sonny as well. I love the scene when he is beating up Carlo. He gets so pissed that he starts biting Carlo's hands so he let's go of the railing and hits him with the trash can lid .

In the book Puzo talks about how Carlo being utterly passive and taking the vicious beating was the only thing that saved his life.

 

[dvegas]

Sounds like his life mirrored my last semester at UConn, spring '85, at our pleasure palace in West Wilmington. James Caan lived a full life: Sex with hookers, drugs and the Playboy Mansion

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Great actor. I first saw him in the made for TV "Brians Song" with Billy Dee Williams and Shelly Fabares. I never understood why they remade that movie. He was great as Sonny as well. I love the scene when he is beating up Carlo. He gets so pissed that he starts biting Carlo's hands so he let's go of the railing and hits him with the trash can lid .

Unfortunately ESPN was in the mode at that time where they had to destroy everything while thinking they could improve on near perfection.

The mind numbing part the major contributing factor to the remake being so bad was that among the best features of the original was its simplicity. Add to that the actors in the original were exceptionally likeable, in the remake, it took an effort to like them. It really didn't seem overly disappointing about the career killing injury or the life shortening affliction.

 

[HCCForever]

In the book Puzo talks about how Carlo being utterly passive and taking the vicious beating was the only thing that saved his life.

I need to read the book again. I read it over 30 years ago and don't remember that about Carlo. In the book it was also written that Sonny was physically gifted which explained his affair with the bridesmaid Lucy at the wedding. Obviously not everything in the book made it into the movie.

 

[jayfromfla]

I went to the college where the bears trained. During the summer of 1967 I went to summer school and met several of the players including sayers and Butkus. Played pool against Butkus. The movie was filmed at st Joseph’s college in Rensselaer Indiana. Many of the outdoor scenes were at the college but The dorm scenes were fiction. The players stayed at Halas hall and they were typical dorm rooms with bunk beds etc. every time I see the movie it brings me back to that summer in Rensselaer.

 

[CL82]

I need to read the book again. I read it over 30 years ago and don't remember that about Carlo. In the book it was also written that Sonny was physically gifted which explained his affair with the bridesmaid Lucy at the wedding. Obviously not everything in the book made it into the movie.

Yup, and all three of the Corleone sons are physically imposing including Fredo. Fredo lacked the mental toughness to be Don. In the movie they show that mental weakness by having a physically slight actor portray Fredo. It works perfectly, but it’s different than the book.

(Oh and the whole Lucy vagina reconstruction sidebar was never going to make the movie.)

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I need to read the book again. I read it over 30 years ago and don't remember that about Carlo. In the book it was also written that Sonny was physically gifted which explained his affair with the bridesmaid Lucy at the wedding. Obviously not everything in the book made it into the movie.

Sonny's gift was alluded to in the movie when at the wedding reception Sonny's wife held her hands apart wider and wider with the women around her giggling.

Ti CL's comment, I really don't understand a few things that Puzo put in the story (prolapsed lady parts on someone in her young twenties did not belong) but Coppola did a masterful job of turning the story into a movie. If you read the book and was told how little of Lucs Brasi you would see in the movie, you never would have believed that he could come across as terrifying in the movie as he was in the book. Kudos to Puzo for doing more with less.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Coppola, not Puzo

 

[CL82]

Sonny's gift was alluded to in the movie when at the wedding reception Sonny's wife held her hands apart wider and wider with the women around her giggling.

Ti CL's comment, I really don't understand a few things that Puzo put in the story (prolapsed lady parts on someone in her young twenties did not belong) but Coppola did a masterful job of turning the story into a movie. If you read the book and was told how little of Lucs Brasi you would see in the movie, you never would have believed that he could come across as terrifying in the movie as he was in the book. Kudos to Puzo for doing more with less.

Luca Brasi‘s backstory is terrifying. That’s another thing that was never going to make it into the movie at least in the early 70s. It does set up Don Corleone’s advice to Michael that “Since he does not fear death and indeed looks for it, then the trick is to make yourself the only person in the world that he truly desires not to kill him. He has only that one fear, not of death, but that you may be the one who kills him. Then he is yours.”