Whether you are a film nerd, a music afficioanado, or a sports fanatic, it is simply inevitable that, as celebrated names in those professions pass away, you will be overcome to varying degrees of emotion and sorrow over their passing. Even if you don't get teary eyed over the death of someone you've respected but never met, it is still a natural occurrence to feel at least a small ounce of sadness when a death is announced to the public. And obviously it goes without saying that some announcements sting more than others. Your mind wouldn't be functioning properly if you took every loss equally.
I've never been the type to get too worked up over celebrity deaths, because, in reality, we HAVEN'T met them and gotten to know them for the most part (and yes, I know that some of you have and that makes it completely acceptable for you to feel more emotion than others might. For example, you've been to a convention or ten and met George A. Romero several times and gotten to talk with him, I totally understand the higher level of personal sorrow.) But for me, I can't find myself truly getting too worked up over any singular celebrity's passing over another. I have bonded with their characters, or their songs, or their great games, more than I have with the man or woman themselves.
That doesn't mean that some don't sting more than others from time to time.
When I started really getting into movies, as I've stated previously, I wasn't your normal pre-teen that only was interested in movies that pre-teens would be. I was as much into Scorsese and Lumet as I was ROCKY movies, HALLOWEEN films, and STAR WARS sequels. I also found myself getting more attached to actors that weren't big stars, performers that others around me never seemed to notice. To me, they were "MY actors," guys who never got discussed in normal movie conversation because they weren't the stars.
R.G. Armstrong was my actor. Bert Remsen was my actor. Albert Popwell was my actor (he was in ALL of the first four DIRTY HARRY movies, for cryin' out loud-- in different parts even!!!)
Bernie Casey was definitely one of MY guys. Hell, he may have even ended up being THE guy on the list.
Bernie Casey started out as an All-American athlete in track and field. He almost made the U.S. Olympic Team in 1960. He was then drafted in the first round by the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL in 1961 and played for eight years. I wasn't born yet, but if I had, Casey would have probably been one of MY guys, even if he never went into acting.
But he did, and thank goodness for that.
After making his debut in 1969's GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, Casey made a long and productive career for himself in Hollywood, crossing over into many genres and back over and over again. I'm not going to go over all of the films, but I do want to single out some of my favorite Casey films and performances. (I do not have HIT MAN and DR. BLACK, MR. HYDE listed here, which mean that 1) I'm an idiot because I haven't seen them, and 2) Since I'm digging deeper and deeper into Blaxploitation at the moment, they have both shot up to the top of my "need to see" films list. Seriously, shame on me, but keep reading anyways.)
MAURIE (or BIG MO) (1973)
Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. This is a BRIAN'S SONG knock off, made by a small independent company two years after that groundbreaking "male tearjerker" film came out for television. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to themselves. And yet, I saw MAURIE first, by more than a few years. It played in a Friday night network movie slot probably in 1977 or 1978, and back then, I loved sports probably a hundred times more than I loved movies. I'd sit up and listen to a baseball game with teams I didn't like most nights before I'd watch a movie. But a sports movie? Sign me up!
Casey plays real-life basketball player Maurice Stokes, who suffered a brain injury and later became paralyzed as a result of hitting his head on the floor during a game. Bo Svenson plays Jack Twyman, his teammate and best friend, who never gave up on Stokes and cared and supported him right up until his eventual death.
As a movie, I even remember all these years later that it isn't the best-made picture. But as a sports movie with a sad ending (at a time when 9 or 10 year old me didn't really know about sad endings yet), it worked. I didn't cry because "men" aren't supposed to cry, but if I watched it again.... who knows? I give it 85/15 that the room gets dusty.
SHARKY'S MACHINE (1981)
If for nothing else, I write about Bernie Casey because of Arch. Casey's vice squad detective is big, tough, loyal, and has several WONDERFUL scenes, including two with Burt Reynolds (about 45 mins in and about 5 minutes before the ending) which seem like they were written specifically to be showcases for the character AND the actor.
You can certainly find the "became a ghost/ceased to exist" scenes on YouTube, but if you haven't seen the movie, you're doing yourself a HUGE disservice. (I also mentioned on Twitter that I hope that Casey is doing the "Cease to Exist" trick in real life and will be back in a few days to add to our lives again. I know, I know... but a man can hope). SHARKY'S is profane, bloody, heart-on-your-sleeve romantic, and brutally funny. Please please PLEASE find the film and watch it in its' entirety. It's even worth a blind buy.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983)
Not a ton to say here (this is still one of the Bond films I have a tough time fully embracing. It's more than competent but strangely not compelling, and it DOES feel weird having Connery back during the Roger Moore era). But Casey's presence as an actor is important enough for the producers to give him the key role of Felix Leiter. Always nice to have a Bond film on your resume-- unless it's WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH. (So sorry... low blow.)
REVENGE OF THE NERDS (1984)
Tolerance and acceptance is the message of this great 80's comedy, but it takes a while to come for the poor misunderstood nerds of our title. When it does come, it comes in the form of U.N. Jefferson, the fraternity president of Lambda Lambda Lambda, an all-black fraternity. In all honesty, it takes a some charter technicalities and a little bit of (or a lotta bit?) of weed to make the Lambdas accept their new pledges, but when they do, U.N. Jefferson accepts them in with open arms, and when things look the bleakest in the last act, Casey's powerful leader comes to save the day. There's a reason why the most powerful part of the "We are the Champions" cover plays over his name in the end credits.
SPIES LIKE US (1985)
Man, were the 80's good to Bernie! I still adore this film and enjoy it from start to finish, but I can fully admit that the funniest stretch of the film is the short montage of training scenes as our two leads (Chevy Chase and Dan Akyroyd) are put through the motions by a no-nonsense Colonel Rhombus to get them ready to become field agents. Casey is monotone and deadpan hysterical in his short bit as the colonel.
Again, probably something you can find in a short scene on YouTube. And again, a film you absolutely need to seek out and watch in its entirety if you never have. I'm not a huge Chevy guy, but this ranks wayyyyy up the list for me of his films.
STEELE JUSTICE (1987)
Casey was in two action films in 1987; he reteamed with Burt Reynolds in RENT-A-COP, and he made STEELE JUSTICE with the immortal Martin Kove. In full honesty, despite being the cheesier and lower budgeted of the two, STEELE JUSTICE is by far the more entertaining of the two (RENT-A-COP is at best misguided and at worst an unholy mess of a film). Casey even plays an undercover cop whose very close in nature to SHARKY'S MACHINE's Arch (although without the ceasing to exist capability). It's not a huge showcase for Casey, but he's fine in it, and it's a really fun B-actioner to seek out.
I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA (1988)
This is probably THE one for a lot of people, and if not for Arch, it might be for me, too. The film is a wonderful bawdy parody of the Blaxploitation flicks of the early 70's, and it features many of the stars from that era as well. You get Jim Brown. You get Isaac Hayes. You get Antonio Fargas. And you get Bernie Casey as John Slade, who plays the big hero from the past who comes back to help a younger do-gooder (Keenan Ivory Wayans) clean up the streets and get rid of drug kingpin Mr. Big (John Vernon). Filled with AIRPLANE-like sight gags by the second, an amazing cast of recognizable faces that never quits, and an energy that never stops (and that Wayans possibly never matched again in films), right in the middle stands John Slade, the biggest, baddest, and most righteous dude who ever lived.
He even has a theme song to prove it (They go with him everywhere).
BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (1989)
Man, how many big films was Bernie Casey in during the 1980's? Again, a small role but a key one. He plays Mr. Ryan, the high school history teacher who gets Bill and Ted on their way to learning. His assignment (and a telephone booth time machine) are the key components for getting our two wild and crazy goofballs to finally understand all of the main points of world history. God Bless Mr. Ryan.
There are many, many other roles in a career that stretched over close to forty years and over seventy-five movies and television projects. But these to me are my essential Bernie Casey, and these are what made him one of "my guys."
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