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Oh, wow... I remember what a sad moment it was 40 years ago when Apollo Creed died in ROCKY IV... now it's Carl Weathers. May he rest in peace.
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Guys like that are so immense in my mind, I kinda expect them to live forever....
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Yeah.
He still looked pretty solid in The Mandalorian recently, so this has come as a shock.
Apollo Creed and Predator are my abiding memories of him.
R.I.P
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Posted: |
Feb 23, 2024 - 3:09 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In the blaxploitation film BUCKTOWN, “Duke Johnson” (Fred Williamson) is visiting Bucktown to bury his brother. While trying to collect his brother's estate, he teams up with local tough guys (including “Hambone,” played by Carl Weathers) to stamp out the racist white police force. Once their goal has been accomplished, a number of the guys become just as corrupt and violent as the honkies they dethroned. Once again Duke has to kick some ass to keep everyone in line, this time armed with a tank. Pam Grier, plays “Aretha,” Duke's honey.
Arthur Marks directed the 1975 release. Johnny Pate’s score has not received a legitimate release. Although the film had a below-average domestic gross of $2.5 million, it was still profitable on its $600,000 budget.
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When I saw Rocky IV in the theater and they cut to Apollo's funeral, I brushed away a single tear— that's all I did— and some girl behind me said "That GUY is crying." The tone you'd take if a movie-goer was cutting his toenails. Bitch.
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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2024 - 9:30 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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FRIDAY FOSTER starred Pam Grier as a model-turned-photographer who, like Lois Lane, just can’t help finding herself in the middle of one dangerous scrape after the next. Friday’s boss assigns her to cover the airport arrival of billionaire “Blake Tarr” (Thalmus Rasulala), known as “the black Howard Hughes.” She’s there when an assassination is attempted and manages to snap a few choice photos of the assailant, including one named “Yarbro” (Carl Weathers). Despite her boss’s admonitions, Friday can’t help but get involved, especially after her best friend, who just happened to be dating one of the assassins, is murdered. Yarbro, tracks Friday down to her apartment, which she shares with her younger brother, but Friday manages to escape. Despite several further attempts on her life, Friday keeps digging, eventually teaming up with private detective “Colt Hawkins” (Yaphet Kotto).
Pam Grier and Carl Weathers in FRIDAY FOSTER
Arthur Marks directed the 1975 black action film. The score by Luchi De Jesus was released by Beyond Records in 2001. The film cost $750,000 to produce and grossed $2.2 million at the U.S. box office.
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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2024 - 9:39 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In addition to his feature film work, Carl Weathers was also making guest appearances on television shows in the mid-1970s. Typical was his appearance in a 22 February 1976 episode of the crime series “McCloud”, which starred Dennis Weaver as “Sam McCloud,” a transplanted New Mexico deputy marshal who gets assigned to Manhattan's 27th Precinct.
In the episode, entitled “The Day New York Turned Blue,” a blizzard and a police walkout endanger the life of a protected mob witness (Gig Young) in the lockup, while outside, a prostitute (Bernadette Peters) paints her customers blue! Carl Weathers is Officer “Delaney,” who is involved in the police union’s strike meeting.
Carl Weathers in “McCloud”
E.W. Swackhamer directed the entry, which was scored by Stu Phillips.
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Posted: |
Feb 26, 2024 - 3:17 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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According to Sylvester Stallone, the 1975 championship fight between Chuck Wepner and then reigning World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali inspired him to write the ROCKY screenplay. Stallone noted that as he watched the fight, he thought about "stifled ambition and broken dreams." After ruminating for several months, Stallone wrote a rough first draft of the screenplay in three and a half days. This was followed by two other drafts. Stallone, whose only leading role before ROCKY was in the 1974 low-budget film THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH, was determined to play the title role.
Although United Artists (UA) and several other companies were interested in the script, offering Stallone up to $275,000 for the rights, Stallone refused to sell unless he could play the lead. Producer Irwin Winkler recalled that he and his producing partner, Robert Chartoff, tried to convince UA to allow Stallone to star in the picture, but the company insisted that either Ryan O’Neal, James Caan, or Burt Reynolds be given the role.
Winkler said that in order to make the film with Stallone, he and Chartoff, who at the time had an exclusive producing deal at UA, decided to exercise a provision in their contract allowing them to make any movie of their choice costing up to $1,500,000. UA then proposed a $2,000,000 budget for the film, which would allow the company to circumvent the producers’ deal and consequently make the film with a star of its own choosing. In a heated meeting with Mike Medavoy, at the time the head of production at UA, Winkler and Chartoff agreed to make the picture for $1,000,000, while also guaranteeing its completion, thus assuring their complete control over the project. Stallone was awarded one percent of the gross for writing the film and two percent of the gross for acting in it.
John Avildsen said that he was hired to direct ROCKY because he had a good record for keeping low-budget films on track. He agreed to the producers’ stipulations that Stallone star in the picture, and agreed to hold the picture’s budget at $1,000,000. Avildsen was so excited about the film, he reduced his usual salary to about $50,000 and a percentage of the profits. Avildsen later admitted that when he agreed to make the film, he had never watched a professional boxing match, nor had he ever seen a boxing movie. The film had such a low budget that according to Carl Weathers, who played Rocky’s opponent “Apollo Creed” in the film (a character loosely based on Ali), he and Burgess Meredith shared a cramped dressing room. (At one point, fighter Ken Norton was under consideration to play Apollo Creed but he pulled out before the film went into production.)
Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers in ROCKY
During his audition, Carl Weathers was sparring with Stallone and accidentally punched him on the chin. Stallone told Weathers to calm down, as it was only an audition, and Weathers said that if he was allowed to audition with a 'real' actor, not a stand-in, he would be able to do a lot better. Avildsen smiled and told Weathers that Stallone was the real actor (and the writer). Weathers looked at Stallone thoughtfully for a moment, and said, "Well, maybe he'll get better." Stallone immediately offered him the role, as Stallone recognized that the basis of Creed’s character was one who underestimates and belittles his would-be opponent.
Avildsen decided that the scenes needed to be shot in a unique way so as to make the boxing more realistic than in other boxing movies of the period. During the four weeks before the start of principal photography, he, Weathers and Stallone all went to a ring and began to block out the moves, while Avildsen shot Super 8 footage of them so that they could see their weak points. But it wasn't working—the fight was coming across as staged and not very energetic.
After stuntmen/fight choreographers Paul Stader and George P. Wilbur resigned due to creative disagreements, Avildsen told Stallone to go home and literally write out the fight: 'Rocky throws a left, Creed moves back, Creed goes right, Rocky goes right, Creed jabs low etc.' The next day, Stallone returned with 32 pages of specific directions for the fight, which he and Weathers learned like a ballet over a period of a few weeks. In total, Stallone and Weathers rehearsed for over 35 hours. Despite the preparation, Stallone and Weathers suffered injuries during the shooting of the final fight: Stallone suffered bruised ribs, and Weathers suffered a damaged nose, the opposite injuries of what their characters had.
Carl Weathers in ROCKY
Stallone and Avildsen nearly came to blows over the film's ending. Stallone wanted Creed to be the clear winner of the fight as a way of showing there are other victories for Rocky, but Avildsen cut the conclusion in such a way that preview audiences were not sure who had actually been declared the champ.
They did agree, however, on the resolution to the Rocky-Adrian story. On viewing the rough cut, it was clear there was something missing. Adrian had more or less faded from the movie as the focus switched to the big fight with Apollo Creed. In the original ending, the boxing arena is empty when Rocky walks out. After receiving a word of consolation from a fellow fighter, Rocky takes Adrian’s hand and the two walk down the hallway together. According to ROCKY's editor, Richard Halsey, it was decided that the ending was too downbeat and needed to be re-shot. This time Adrian comes into the arena near the end of the match. When it's over, they call out to each other over the noise of the crowd, and Rocky yells for Adrian to join him in the ring. This was the upbeat ending Stallone wanted for his hero. To save money, Avildsen filmed the revised finale in close shots, with just a few extras around the stars.
"Gonna Fly," more popularly referred to as "Gonna Fly Now," the ROCKY theme composed by Bill Conti, not only occupied the number one spot in Billboard magazine charts, but has been recorded by many artists, including Maynard Ferguson, James Darren, Steve Lawrence, and Shirley Bassey. Conti said that he used trumpets in the film’s opening sequences to get the audience’s attention and that the fight scenes were scored like a "Bachian" fugue. When Conti originally played "Gonna Fly Now" for Avildsen, Conti didn't have a title for it until Avildsen said, "It should be almost like Rocky is flying now."
Lyricists Ayn Robbins and Carol Connors were unknown at the time Conti commissioned them to write the song's lyrics. Before production was to begin, however, UA decided to use its own staff songwriters to write the lyrics. Conti interceded by suggesting that all the names be removed from the music submitted for the film so that the producers could listen impartially and pick the best. Connors and Robbins won the competition, and subsequently "Gonna Fly" won an ASCAP award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song. Since ROCKY's release, "Gonna Fly" has been used as a theme for many sports and inspirational events. The 30th Anniversary Edition of Conti's score was released by Capitol/EMI in 2006.
Going into wide release on 3 December 1976, the picture went on to become a huge hit, becoming the second highest-grossing film of 1977 (after STAR WARS), and by December 2006, it had grossed $225,000,000 worldwide. That would make Stallone's share of the earnings $6.75 million.
ROCKY, which at the time of its release was considered a long-shot to win any Academy Awards, won for Best Director (Avildsen), Best Film Editing (Halsey), and Best Picture, and was nominated in the following categories: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Stallone), Best Writing--Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Stallone), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Burgess Meredith and Burt Young), Best Actress in Leading Role (Talia Shire), Best Sound and Best Song.
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Posted: |
Feb 27, 2024 - 11:46 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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When billionaire industrialist “Walker Bench” (Greg Palmer) goes into a hospital for a heart operation, some people who claim to be revolutionaries enter the operating room, draw guns, and hold the man and the entire surgical staff hostage, including cardiologist “Dr. Eric Lake” (Bradford Dillman). They then demand 10 million dollars for THE HOSTAGE HEART. Hospital administrator “Steve Rockewicz” (Vic Morrow) calls the police and the FBI. The police claim jurisdiction over the matter, and “Police Chief George Reinhold” (George DiCenzo) is intent on taking them, even if some of the hostages get killed. Carl Weathers plays “Bateman Hooks,” one of the terrorists, who also has his own agenda.
Carl Weathers in THE HOSTAGE HEART
Bernard McEveety directed this made-for-television thriller, which aired on CBS on 9 September 1977. Fred Karlin provided the unreleased score.
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