The Way We Weren't: James Cameron's X-Men

I always wondered what a "Carolco" superhero movie would have been like.  Carolco, if you'll recall, was the independent mini-major studio run by Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna then only Kassar, who overpaid for top talent like James Cameron, Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin, Paul Verhoeven, Renny Harlin, Walter Hill, Arnold, Sly and Michael Douglas but gave us big budget, ballsy Hollywood epics like Terminator 2, Cliffhanger, Rambo, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Universal Soldier.  In 1989, Carolco bought the rights to Marvel's X-Men comic book.  James Cameron was going to produce and his then wife Kathryn Bigelow was set to direct.  Bob Hoskins was the favorite to play Logan/Wolverine while Angela Bassett was tipped to play the weather controlling Storm.  Noted X-Men comic book writer Chris Claremont and the man himself, Stan Lee, visited Cameron in 1990 to talk X movies but were quickly derailed when Lee brought up Spider-Man.  Cameron's eyes lit up and Carolco ended up buying the rights to Marvel's web-slinger as well.  Cameron wrote a scriptment for Spidey and even storyboarded numerous scenes.  However, the bankruptcy of Carolco sent everything into a mess of litigation and by the mid 90's, X-Men went to Fox and Spider-Man to Sony.  Cameron had already moved on and was waist deep into Titanic.

Sigh, a 90's X-Men movie from the makers of Aliens, Terminator 2, Near Dark and Point Break?  It almost breaks the heart.  While giving a property to an eccentric, imaginative visualist like Tim Burton is fine and dandy, there's something to be said about handing it to a guy or gal who knows how to tell a good story, make it look interesting and have you on the edge of your seat as they take you on a pulse pounding, nail biting ride a la Cameron, Verhoeven, Harlin, Bigelow or Emmerich.  It probably would have had a lot more action than 2000's ok but kind of staid version to say the least and you could have gotten some strong and familiar actors to fill the roles.  Like whom?  Glad I asked!  Back in 1995, Wizard of Comics magazine posted their wish list for an X-Men movie cast.  Like the staff, I would have preferred Cameron to direct but Bigelow would have killed it too.

Professor Charles Xavier - Patrick Stewart.  Yeah, I'm cool with this.  Apparently so was Fox since he's about to play Professor X for a 6th time.

Lucas Bishop - Michael Dorn.  I'm fine either way with this choice.  Dorn has the voice and size to play the time skipping mutant.

Piotr "Colossus" Rasputin - Dolph Lundgren.  Hell yes, perfect casting.  90's Dolph had the physique and quiet strength to play the shy Russian farm boy who has super strength and organic metal skin.

Scott "Cyclops" Summers - MICHAEL BIEHN.  Even perfect-er casting than Dolph.  A calm, cool headed leader who likes to mix it up and is also an under the radar babe magnet in a 90's James Cameron joint?!  You couldn't ask for a better choice to portray Cyke.

Remy "Gambit" LeBeau - Jean-Claude Van Damme.  Fuck yeah!  A roguishly charming ladies man who fights with a bo staff and martial arts complete with a New Orleans accent?  Why would you ever think of Taylor Kitsch, Channing Tatum or Josh Holloway for this?  Boggles the mind.

Elizabeth "Psylocke" Braddock - Tia Carrere.  I'm ok with this, not sure what her action chops were but she was in movies with Dolph, Brandon Lee and Arnold so...

Ororo "Storm" Monroe - Iman.  Uh who?  Sorry, I'll take Angela Bassett's beautiful yet strong presence over some rail thin supermodel for this one.

Jean Grey - Nicole Kidman.  A pretty redhead with acting chops to play the lust of all X-Men that eventually goes crazy and destroys an entire population of aliens?  Yeah, I'm down.

Logan "Wolverine" - Glen Danzig.  Get the fuck outta here.  Bob Hoskins would have been fine.  Have him lose a few pounds but he would have been solid as the short, surly, beserking asshole of the team.

Cable - Clint Eastwood.  This one is a wash, I mean who better to play a grizzled, hardass, time traveling soldier?  He might have been a little old at the time but I'm having trouble conjuring up a suitable 90's alternative.

Erik "Magneto" Lensherr - Rutger Hauer.  Good choice.  Blade Runner and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Hauer is great at playing that Euro-trash villain with equal parts menace and grace.  Ed Harris would be a good choice too.

Victor "Sabretooth" Creed - Clancy Brown.  Highlander's Brown has the size, voice and maniacal moxie to tear shit up as the eviler version of Wolverine.  "There can be only one!"

Cain "Juggernaut" Marko - Big Van Vader.  Pro-wrestler Vader had the girth sure but I think this is a villain you could have kept out of a 90's X-Men film.  Or cast a tall, muscular guy like Ralf Moeller to fill the role and shoot him at perspectives to make him even bigger so when Colossus defeats him, it's not an empty victory.

Emma "White Queen" Frost - Rebecca De Mornay.  Yup.  With 90's hot yet talented actresses like DeMornay, Kidman and Carrere around, this would have made a heck of a lot sexier X-flick than what we've been given with the actual movies.

Hey Arnold: Up and At Them

"For me life is continuously being hungry.  

The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, 

but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer."

     - Arnold Schwarzenegger

It's that kind of thinking that makes Arnold one of a kind.  I contend that the man is driven to a fault.  He's made billions of dollars while inspiring millions if not billions of people around the world.  Has he screwed up in life?  Absolutely.  And he'll be the first one to admit it while not blaming others.  Instead of dwelling on what he can't change, he keeps moving forward like Conan or The Terminator. Even upon first arriving in America, Arnold didn't only spend his time lifting weights and tanning at the beach.  He was taking business classes and starting construction companies while buying up real estate.  He was a millionaire in his 20's so by the time he switched gears to acting, he could be picky with his roles instead of playing bit parts as a brute or truck driver for a paycheck.  What Hollywood agent ever thought a guy with that last name and physique would become the world's highest paid movie star?    Exactly.

It really ticks me off when I hear people pigeonhole Arnold as a steroid user and cast him off.  The drugs were legal when he was using them and besides, he still looks better than 99% of others on the juice.  As a teenager, he went AWOL from the military to compete, that's what we call dedication.  There's lots of in shape guys running around in the world but how many of them have aspired or accomplished as much as The Oak?  Look at any modern bodybuilder today, they all look the same:  grotesque mountains of muscle that probably don't do anything but eat and train.  What kind of life is that?  Anybody who gets into drugs to give themselves a better body is a loser, it's like the woman who gets over sized breast implants then still wonders why men don't want to date her or pay attention to her.  It's a fundamental flaw in their thinking.

In an age of the masses being desensitized but really fucking touchy, I'm glad Arnold can look at his body of work with a sense of humor.  While Stallone is making $15 million an Expendables flick yet charging 800 bucks for an autograph and photo while crowd sourcing for movie budgets; Arnold uses his history and image for good.  Always one to make fun of himself, Arnold exploits his charm and public persona for charity.  Right now you can donate to his After School program for a chance to meet the legend, work out with him and ride around in his tank.  Apparently he's matching user contributions up to $500,000 as well.  What a guy.

Arnold and Epic Meal Time Gotta Eat!

For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/arnoldschw146561.html#HP7oB55IXWpCiBzr.99F

For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/arnoldschw146561.html#HP7oB55IXWpCiBzr.99

For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/arnoldschw146561.html#HP7oB55IXWpCiBzr.99

Hot Damme! Screaming Al Pacino

Not too long ago, I checked out Stand Up Guys on Netflix.  It was a cute and funny "wise guys get old" flick with Al Pacino as a freshly released hood who has just finished serving 28 years for a job gone bad.  Christopher Walken co-stars as Pacino's best friend who picks him up and is also burdened with the job of killing Pacino as the son of a local crime boss was off'd in the botched heist all those years ago and said crime boss is still plenty pissed about it.  Alan Arkin shows up briefly as another member of their gang and the old timers relive their glory days of "kicking ass and chewing gum" while familiarizing themselves with modern things like Viagra and super charged sports cars.  Pacino was looking pretty worn out here and his signature screaming seemed to be replaced by a too tired to shout performance.

Growing up, the 3 seminal Pacino flicks in my viewing life were Dick Tracy, Scent of a Woman and Heat.  30 years ago, Pacino was all about the screaming and nobody did it better than him.  Nobody could alternate periods of calm reflection with bursts of discontented rage as powerfully or as imitable as Pacino.  Whenever I get fed up with someone's incompetence, I just want to channel my inner Big Boy Caprice from Dick Tracy and scream: "I'm looking for generals; what do I got?  Foot soldiers!"  Or when someone can't get their shit together, I can't help but want to send them a YouTube video of Pacino as Lt. Vincent Hanna in Heat yelling:  "Don't waste my mother fucking time!"

That brings us to Scent of a Woman, a flick that was on often in my VHS filled household as a kid.  I hadn't seen it in years before inheriting it on DVD recently.  I was shocked at the films running length of 2 hours and 37 minutes.  What do you even remember about that movie?  Young Phillip Seymour Hoffman (View in Peace) convincingly playing a rich douche bag.  Pacino always yelling at Chris O'Donnell while simultaneously teaching him about life and saying "hoo-ah" a lot.  The Tango scene.  The Ferrari test drive.  And finally, Screaming Al defending O'Donnell in a crowded lecture hall that ends with a standing ovation.

Rewinding a bit, 1992's Scent of a Woman is the story of young Charles Sims (O'Donnell), a prep school student from Oregon studying at an expensive and prestigious establishment in New England.  One night, Sims and another student witness some classmates setting up a prank on their head master.  Unwilling to snitch and offered a bribe, Sims is given the weekend to decide if he's going to rat or be expelled.  Meanwhile, Sims takes a Thanksgiving weekend job tending blind and retired veteran, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Pacino), a cantankerous man who drinks and smokes all day while making those around him miserable.  Slade has a plan to fly to New York first class, have an agreeable meal, see his brother, make love to a beautiful woman and to end the holiday, blow his brains out. 

I remembered Pacino being funny in an "asshole but not a fucking asshole" kind of way but he really is hard to like yet incredibly easy to watch.  He loves booze, woman and shocking people while masking his loneliness and self loathing.  By the end of the weekend of course, Slade doesn't kill himself, he and Sims have formed a bond and with the help of Slade's defense, Sims is neither expelled nor forced to snitch.  Based on an Italian novel and a film from 1974, Woman was directed by Martin Brest of Beverly Hills Cop fame and while leisurely, never comes off as overlong or bloated.  It's a beautiful film and come award time, was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Writing for Bo Goldman and won Pacino his first and only Oscar out of 8 nominations. 

Brest's next at bats wouldn't be so successful as 1998's Meet Joe Black, a story of Death coming to earth and falling in love, somehow managed to push the 3 hour mark while inexplicably costing $90 million bucks with nary a special f/x battle scene or exotic, hard to reach location in sight.  Then there was 2003's Gigli which, I'm sure you heard of in a negative context but never seen.  Suffice it to say, the flick didn't do well and Ben Affleck is only now coming out of the funk it helped induce.  However, I saw part of it on cable one night and laughed my ass off at Affleck's performance, he's truly a funny dude.  Pacino would follow up his award winning performance with solid turns in Heat, The Insider and Any Given Sunday before popping up as the villain in 2007's Ocean's Thirteen.  O'Donnell went on to play Robin in two Batman movies before "strapping on the nitro" for Vertical Limit and now makes a ton of cash hanging out with L.L. Cool J on TV juggernaut, NCIS:  Los Angeles.

The one and only:

Mr. Familiar: Matt Craven

While marathon viewing The Pacific this weekend, one Matt Craven popped up in episode 4 as a doctor at a hospital which is more or less a loony bin.  If you're familiar with Craven's work, he is great at playing authoritative in a strong yet soft spoken kind of way.  If you're not familiar with The Canadian Craven's work, he's shown up in movies like A Few Good Men, Crimson Tide, Deja Vu and Disturbia while his TV credits are stacked with appearances in shows like ER, NCIS and Justified.  I know the guy because of his work with one Michael Biehn as the two have appeared together in the mountain climbing drama K2 as well as gangster VS dirty FBI guys flick Breach of Trust.  I'm not sure if the two are homeboys off screen but that's how I'll always recognize him.

James Remar in the fuzzy B.G.

In 2011, Craven appeared in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men:  First Class as CIA Director McCone in one of the most stacked casts of character actors I have ever seen.  Joining Mr. Familiar as a US General is James Remar, from The Warriors, The Quest, The Phantom and The arguably worst sequel to a good movie, Mortal Kombat:  Annihilation.  Behind Remar, Rade Serbedzija from Snatch, Mission Impossible II, Batman Begins and Taken 2 pops up as "Russian General".  If that weren't enough, showing up as "Secretary of State" is Ray Wise aka Leon Nash from mother fucking Robocop and Robin's creepy dad on How I Met Your Mother.  If this genre movie fan favorite supporting cast weren't deep enough, director Vaughn saves Michael Ironside for last as "Captain".  Ironside's snarling face and guttural growl have graced the likes of Top Gun, Total Recall, Highlander II and Starship Troopers.  Now if we could just get all of these guys AND Michael Biehn in a movie...

Here's Biehn and Craven along with sweet 90's pastel attire, guitar riffs and scenic views:

(Not) Love Actually: Predator 2

The Alien and Predator franchises have provided 20th Century Fox with 10 movies over 30 some years and have employed young visionary directors from Ridley Scott to James Cameron to John McTiernan to Robert Rodriguez.  While Alien, Aliens and Predator are all considered classics today, their ensuing sequels haven't been quite as well remembered.  Predator allegedly started as a joke after the success of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky IV had many insiders claiming the only fight Rocky had left was against E.T.  Enter screenwriters Jim and John Thomas who crafted a script around an alien race of hunters who come to earth in search of the most dangerous prey and end up going head to head against a crew of combat soldiers.  After a tough shoot in Mexico which saw production shut down while the creature was redesigned, Predator finally hit theaters in 1987.  The film was a hit with the second highest opening of the year and would become one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature roles as well as arguably being one the manliest movies of all time.

Fox was interested in a sequel and the brothers Thomas pitched half a dozen ideas.  Their notion of bringing the Predator to an urban jungle was the one Fox shined too.  After hammering out details with Nightmare on Elm Street 5's director Stephen Hopkins and producer Joel Silver, the brothers produced an early draft after only 3 weeks.  Arnold's character was originally included but The Oak wasn't too keen on returning as he didn't believe in Hopkins as a director and thought taking the Predator out of the jungle was a mistake.  Like the Commando sequel before it, Arnold passed and went on to star in another sequel, Terminator 2:  Judgment Day.  Having already worked with Silver on Lethal Weapon, Danny Glover was brought in to star as Mike Harrigan, a tough Los Angeles cop who is prone to violence and busting crooks.  Predator boasted one of the greatest dude ensembles of all time with Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura and Sonny Landham in the mix while part 2 would enlist Gary Busey, Robert Davi, Ruben Blades and Bill Paxton to support new hero Glover.

Predator 2 is set years into the future where Los Angeles is plagued by gang violence and heat waves.  After fighting it out with Mexican and Jamaican gangs, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan is told to back off as the Feds, led by Busey's Peter Keyes, are there to take charge.  After Harrigan's best friend and partner is killed, The Glove launches his own investigation and finds himself up against a visiting Predator, the alien hunters drawn to heat and conflict.  Turns out Keyes is actually a paranormal investigator type for the government on the trail of the alien.  Hoping to capture the creature for study, Keyes' team is wiped out in a slaughterhouse melee leaving Harrigan the job of taking out "pussy face" and saving the city from the Predator's nuclear self destruct sore loser fallback.

A couple years ago, the American Cinematheque hosted a Predator and Predator 2 double feature.  It's one of my life's greatest accomplishments that I rounded up 10 friends to go.  Predator of course holds up as half macho/kickass action movie, half scary as heck survival story.  Predator 2 though had many of my friends scratching and shaking their heads.  Meanwhile, a buddy and I laughed our asses off and had a great time.  P2 is pure action/horror schlock that is funny, trashy, gory, violent and semi-exploitative.  Glover is just fine as the lead and he's given some great badass physical antics as well as random laughs such as clapping in Gary Busey's face to punctuate a threat and muttering about "damn birds".  Bill Paxton is the real diamond here with his over the top performance, inappropriate jokes and general Paxton-ness.  This film marks the end of his sci-fi trifecta as he's now been kilt by a Terminator, Alien and Predator.

Upon release, Predator 2 opened up at # 4 for the weekend during Thanksgiving of 1990 on it's way to a ho-hum $30 million take, roughly half of what Predator made in the states.  While Alien films popped up in 1979, 1986, 1993 and 1997; the Predator would not be seen on screen for another 14 years before resurfacing in 2004's Alien Versus Predator. Standalone sequel Predators would hit theaters in 2010 but the makers only recognized 1987's Predator as an influence.  Said flick is ok but kind of slow and really apes the first movie's tone, setting, characters, dialog and music.  The fact that Predator 2 tells it's own story without rehashing the original while introducing new characters and adding to the mythos makes it a success in my book.  Many a sequel/remake/reboot could learn something from Predator 2 as it's fine to honor the original source material but it shouldn't stop you from making your own damn movie and telling a new story.

You're one...ugly...mother...

Paneled Goods: Aliens VS Predator

Emerald City Comiccon is just around the corner and I'm thinking of items I'll be hunting down at the show.  Most likely I'll look to add to my Neca Predator figure collection, hopefully they have Arnold caked in mud/final showdown edition.  My last few shows have yielded some great deals on Dark Horse Omnibus collections of Aliens, Terminator and Aliens VS Predator.  Aliens had some great scary and exciting arcs collected while Terminator was just slow going.  AVP however is some of the fastest page turning I've encountered in quite a while.  It all starts with Aliens VS Predator, originally printed as a 5 issue mini-series in 1990.  The story is set on Ryushi, a desert planet long without civilized inhabitants but now home to a colony of rustlers and ranchers called Prosperity Wells.  Corporate ramrod Machiko Noguchi is still adjusting to the 19 hours of sunlight a day while dealing with the ornery ranchers of Rhynths, a rhino like creature farmed for food.

Unfortunately, Ryushi is also site of Predator hunting exercises where a captured Alien queen is forced to produce eggs that are then placed on the planet to fill it with game via facehuggers necking with local wildlife.  All hell breaks loose when the "bugs" start running wild and the "hunters" show up to hone their skills.  Machiko joins the fray to try and save the community folk then teams up with a lone, wounded Predator to take out the Alien trash.  Like I said, this was some fast reading.  An interesting dialogue between pilots regarding morality, power and nature starts us off before moving into some alien carnage.  Writer Randy Stradley and artists Phill Norwood and Chris Warner do a terrific job in giving us a quick and interesting read.  The characters, human and otherwise, have personality while the art is textured and exciting while taking advantage of the story's space and desert settings to give us clean and detailed juxtaposed action with spaceships, armor, weaponry, arid landscapes, xenomorphs and a whole lotta exploded rib cages.

The Predators are depicted as tribal, violent and when necessary, honorable.  The Aliens are about what you'd expect, hissing and swarming and killing everything they can.  The teaming up of Machiko and the Predator is interesting as they're both trying to survive but cannot communicate through traditional means.  One scene was particularly surprising in it's violence as a young boy's family and dog is brutally slaughtered by a Predator.  But hey, these were rated R movies right?  The series was a success and spawned multiple comic book sequels.  Up until 1992's release of Image Comics' Youngblood, AVP stood as the best selling comic book by an alternative publisher (basically not Marvel or DC).  Many ideas from the series were used in 2004's Alien Versus Predator feature film from Paul Anderson of Mortal Kombat and Soldier fame starring mother fucking Lance Henriksen.

In 1994, Capcom released a badass side scrolling arcade game featuring Arnold's Dutch Schaeffer fighting alongside the Predators to take out the Alien menace:

Weird(cool) Panels: Excel

Work offered an Excel training today and I spotted one Emil Blonsky on the example spread sheet.  Emil Blonsky?  The Abomination from The Incredible Hulk?  Yup, upon further inspection, names like Rick Jones, Sharon Carter (Agent 13), Adam Strange, Henry McCoy (Beast), David North (Maverick), Warren Worthington (Archangel), Scott Lang (Ant-Man), Arthur Curry (Aquaman) and more started popping out before I realized the entire list was made up of names from the comic book and literature world.  For the uninitiated Jones is Marvel's sidekick supreme having been saved by Bruce Banner and subsequently rolled with the Jade Giant on many an adventure.  Jones later teamed up with Captain America and briefly assumed the mantle of dead partner Bucky.  Jonesy later picked up the Nega-Bands, becoming Captain Marvel and fighting in the space set, alien filled Kree-Skrull War.

Some of the names were pretty damn obscure and after investigation came to light as the identities of Amazing-Man, Anaconda, Anarky, Black Canary, The Absorbing Man and Spider-Woman.  That's one way to keep someone's interest during a seminar.  Only I'm pretty sure nobody else got it but that's about normal for me.

That's our Rick:

Gotta Whey: Six Star Elite

Buying protein is a pain sometimes.  Amazon lists several but many of them are sold through 3rd party vendors so they're not available for Prime.  There is a Vitamin Shoppe nearby but it's in close proximity to a busy shopping area making access a pain.  Then their website has no problem charging me for a product then conveniently saying it's out of stock and on back order.  Maybe it's a mental thing but I always feel better when I supplement with Whey Protein.  I sure as heck can't eat enough protein these days because I just don't have the appetite or desire.  Why whey?  It's relatively affordable and quickly digested to help build muscle, burn fat and suppress your appetite.  Instead of waking up and having a heavy meal, a shake gets your motor running and also helps the body stop eating itself after sleep.

I ordered Six Star Pro Nutrition's Whey Protein Plus Elite Series over Groupon a few months ago.  The stats seemed fine and reviews online were favorable.  It's billed as a "Collector's Edition" with a football player on the front who is into working out but also making fun of Asians so hey, fuck him.  Thanks for the closeout price, bro.  The label boasts being scientifically better than regular whey as a six-week, double blind study showed users of Six Star gaining more muscle and strength than the other group.  I'm not sure if that held true for me but then again, I work out to eat out because you can either eat to live or live to eat.  And if you've ever read this online diary, you Gotta Eat!

So I don't go too far into the details I just look at the label for calories, fat, sugar, cholesterol and protein content per serving.  Six Star has a larger serving size, giving you 30 G's of protein per 44g scoop.  Most whey's clock in around 24 G's per 32g serving which means in a mathematical sense, you're getting less protein per gram with Six Star.  While you may get more protein per scoop with Six Star, the larger serving size is kind of annoying as it usually plops out into my mixing cup and sends a cloud of protein dust into the air.  Stir-ability is ok, I tend to have a watery clump left on the bottom to knock back.  The taste is where Six Star loses me, it's just really sweet.  Almost sickeningly so.  I don't know how much Six Star Elite costs not on Groupon and I'm not going to find out.

Whey interesting:

Van Dammage: Proportion

"I'm a seven, eight on the scale. I've got to be. I'm proud of myself. If I see something going wrong with my body, I want to fix it right away. I like beauty, I like form. Right now, I want my chest and my calves bigger."
     Jean-Claude Van Damme

Mr. Majestic: Charles Bronson

"He was always in a corner playing with a ball...He wasn't speaking to anyone.  

He was a very mysterious man."

     - Claudia Cardinale on Once Upon a Time in the West

co-star Charles Bronson

By many accounts, Charles Dennis Buchinsky, later known as Charles Bronson, was not a happy man.  Stories abound of his stony and standoffish demeanor that saw him dispute Elvis' karate skills, argue and nearly come to blows with Dirty Dozen co-star and fellow badass Lee Marvin to refusing to shake hands with director Walter Hill after the Hard Times helmer criticized the acting performance of Jill Ireland, Bronson's wife.  Socially, he was said to be fine one on one or in small groups but would go silent in a large one.  When he did talk, one of his most discussed topics was a rough childhood where he was the 11th of 15 children of Lithuanian and Russian parents in coal country Pennsylvania.  Bronson's father died when he was only 10 years old and he soon went to work for the local coal company and eventually into the mines before enlisting in the Air Force where he served as an aerial gunner during World War II. 

After the war, Bronson headed out west where he started acting and by 1960, made a splash in John Sturges' seminal western, The Magnificent Seven.  Standing out among a cast that included Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Robert Vaughn is no small feat but Bronson's portrayal of half Mexican, half Irish gunfighter with a caring paternal side Bernardo O'Reily is one of the millions of highlights the film has to offer.  Throughout the 60's, memorable roles in ensemble pictures like The Great Escape, Battle of the Bulge, The Dirty Dozen and Once Upon a Time in the West followed.  Usually as a quiet soldier with a smart mouth.  West helped launch him as a leading man in European films and by the 1970's, Bronson was one of the world's biggest movie stars.  His mysterious integrity and coiled fury transcended languages and cultural barriers.  Bronson churned out films regularly and each made a profit.  By the mid 70's he was being paid $20,000 a day plus spending cash and a slice of the grosses.  1974's vigilante revenge thriller Death Wish was a huge American hit for Bronson and spawned 4 sequels over the ensuing 20 years.  Now married to Jill Ireland, whom he met in 1962 while working on The Great Escape when she was married to co-star David McCallum.  Apparently Bronson told McCallum he was going to marry his wife and 6 years later, Bronson kept his word.  The two co-starred in 14 films before her death in 1990.  Bronson and Ireland headed a family of 7 children and took the brood to whatever location a film dictated.

Bronson worked with a who's who of tough guy movie fare directors like Robert Aldrich, John Sturges, Terence Young, Don Siegel, Michael Winner, Sergio Leone, J. Lee Thompson and Walter Hill.  Some of my favorite performances from The Chuck include his work with Sturges in Seven as well as a claustrophobic POW nicknamed The Tunnel King in The Great Escape.  Battle of the Bulge finds him as a bored yet rough and ready soldier with the badass moniker Wolenski .  His turn as a betrayed, blowhard yet dimwitted bandit in Red Sun is tons of fun in the Shanghai Noon vein while this column owes it's name to his portrayal as Vince Majestyk in Mr. Majestyk where Bronson plays a charming and easygoing yet tough and fed up melon farmer fighting gangsters.  Arguably my favorite Bronson flick is Hard Times, a Depression era, New Orleans set street fighting tale from 1975.  In it, ol' Granite face plays Chaney, a mysterious drifter who breezes into town and punches his way through the underground fighting circuit.  Magnificent Seven and Great Escape co-star James Coburn plays his big mouthed, born loser manager Speed with scheming, lovable loser and fox like glee.  In his 50's but still showing off a sinewy and striated physique in shirtless fight scenes, Bronson had an impressive muscular build in an era where not many actors were physically imposing.  He's said to have kept in shape through boxing, push ups, isometrics, weight lifting, jump roping, running, archery, squeezing a tennis ball and climbing a knotted rope using only his upper body.

Off screen, Bronson loved to paint and sold many works under the name Buchinsky.  While he claimed to be more interested in his own thoughts than those of others, didn't like to talk about himself much and purposely tried to make himself unapproachable, Bronson's macho yet cool façade made him one of the great onscreen personalities.  Happy Macho Monday, Charlie.

"This ain't ova!"

Gotta Drank! Stella Barra Pizzeria

It's been an Arclight-centric couple of weeks for movie going and right next door is newish establishment, Stella Barra Pizzeria.  I believe it used to be a gastropub but it went kaput.  The new joint is pretty nice inside, wide open with a big bar.  Thin crust, hot oven pizzas are the specialty but we just went for a quick drank before a flick.  I believe they had a Happy Hour special going for drinks that we just missed.  Their cocktails weren't too expensive and I opted for the Honey Badger which was kind of like a Hot Toddy only cold with Tequila, so not really like it at all I guess...

Last Man Standing: Harrison Ford

It's 80's time over at The Arclight as they're showing classic flicks like Aliens, Predator, The Terminator, Back to the Future and Die Hard over the coming weeks (a.k.a. Michael Biehn on the big screen 2 weeks in a row!).  On Wednesday, the Dome was nearly sold out for a revival of 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom which finds the globe trotting professor fighting gangsters in China before embarking on a quest for magic stones in India where he uncovers a dark cult of heart stealing baddies.  The film looked great up on the big, curved screen of The Dome and Steven Spielberg's work still holds up with it's mix of walloping action, exotic locales, romance and buddy comedy in the purposely dark story.  Apparently writer/producer George Lucas was going through a divorce at the time and not in the best of moods and also wanted to follow The Empire Strikes Back's move into scarier territory.  If you've never been to The Dome, always sit in the middle sections, whether you're in the front row or the way in the back, it's still a good view.  Sitting on the sides is a little weird because the curvature of the screen seems to distort the image, to me, at least.

Earlier in the week and during dinner, I had been discussing American leading men and how we have so few of them coming up the ranks.  Batman, Spider-Man, Robocop and Superman are all played by Europeans.  Australians like Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth have a lock on playing tough guys while for a moment America was getting Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera shoved down our throats.  Point Break, a film about an Ohio football player turned FBI agent chasing down a California surfer, just got cast with an Australian and a Scotsman in the leads.  Don't get me wrong, we'll always have our Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Cruise and Smith contingent but those guys all started off in the 90's and are "cool guys" who were deemed pretty or funny before coming into their own.  Tom Hanks, a marvelous actor, has made a career of being the nice guy.  Where's the American ideal, the cowboy, the quiet loner, the get it done, Doer?  Burt Reynolds had his day but his good ol' boy charm just wasn't taken seriously.  Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood did it their way but apparently that's not the times we're living in anymore.

In the 90's, every big script went to 3 guys:  Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford.  Gibson is fucking harsh but his career was sold on his Australian upbringing.  Costner was a McQueen wannabe but never half as cool, in fact, he kind of comes off as a dick.  But Ford...Ford was it, Ford, in my estimation was our last American Man.  The O.G.  He was strong, dignified and fought the fight because it was the right thing to do.  In Temple, he is a movie icon for the books with his strong jawed handsomeness, dry wit and laconic personality.  A former carpenter who turned to acting, Ford brings a real life weariness and knowing confidence to the screen with his creaky gait and fit yet not overblown physique.  Turns in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Witness, Patriot Games and The Fugitive showcased his anchoring presence and easy going action charm.  While Air Force One gave us the only President, cinematic or otherwise, we can imagine throwing down with terrorists before tossing them off his plane.

Here's to you, Harrison Ford, for showing us how it's done.  Hopefully they manage to cram in "get off my plane" in Expendables III where he's playing a pilot.