With James Caan's Passing Today, It's A Great Time To Remember One Of His Best Roles Ever, From An Incredibly Underrated Adam Sandler Movie, "That's My Boy"
James Caan passed away today.
Sad stuff, but at the same time 82 years is a pretty good life. Especially when you consider he was considered one of Hollywood's "macho men" for much of that time.
Even more so when you consider he got divorced in the 1970s and lived for an entire year at the Playboy Mansion. (The carpet he must have cut in those days, man oh man).
He is most well known obviously for his iconic role as Santino (Sonny) Corleone in The Godfather, a role he almost didn't even get to play -
Fun fact - Paramount originally cast Caan as younger brother Michael and Carmine Caridi as Sonny. But Coppola, who had directed Caan in The Rain People (1969), insisted that only he could do justice to the character.
Once the studio agreed, the Bronx-born actor embraced the opportunity. “What f—ing transformation? Obviously, I grew up in the neighborhood. I didn’t have to work on an accent or anything,” he told Vanity Fair in a 2009 interview.
Caan admitted that the tone of a particular scene where Sonny confronted the family about its decision to get into the drug business was giving him trouble. The solution came to him out of the blue. “I was shaving to go to dinner or something, and for some reason I started thinking of Don Rickles,” he said. “I knew Rickles. Somebody was watching over me and gave me this thing: being Rickles, kind of say-anything, do-anything.”
Riffing off this newly found, insult-comic persona, Caan improvised a line during the scene that solidified the edgy gangster character. “What do you think this is, the army, where you shoot ’em a mile away?” Sonny yelled at his brother Michael (Al Pacino). “You gotta get up close, like this — and bada bing! You blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.”
Caan also made it ok for grown men to cry thanks to his role in Brian's Song, a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week. Caan portrayed real-life Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer shortly after turning pro.
The story centered on the friendship between Piccolo and his teammate, future Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams). Despite vastly different temperaments and racial backgrounds, the pair formed a deep bond and became the first interracial roommates in NFL history.
Many critics consider it among the finest telefilms ever made, and both lead actors scored Emmy nominations.
But all of that is neither here, nor there. Great movies, along with Elf, as was his role in Las Vegas (which was possibly the hottest roster of ass in a television show, outside of Baywatch, ever.)
But the point of this blog is to give credit where it’s due. And it’s overdue to one of Adam Sandler’s best, and most underrated movies ever- “That’s My Boy”.
As the blog title suggests, James Can’s passing serves as a great excuse to bring this movie up because he played such a random, and awesome character in the movie.
If you haven’t seen it yet somehow, allow me to set the stage for you.
A young child star (think Brat pack, but more along one of the Corey’s than anything) seduces a blazing hot teacher of his when he’s like 12. They have a son and she is sent to prison. Fast forward 30 years and she is Susan Sarandon, he is Adam Sandler, and the son is Andy Samberg.
The handsome dad from “This Is Us” is in it playing a fucked in the head marine, Leighton Meester is in it, and of course, Caan.
Caan plays an old school off the boat Irish priest who takes no bullshit.
Caan’s range was truly remarkable.
Nick Swardson is in it. Plays an unbelievable dirtbag.
And that old horny lady who always plays the old whore in movies is in it playing a dirty old whore. And she kills it.
The movie is incredibly raunchy. Almost surprisingly so for a Sandler movie. But it’s hilarious.
Highly recommended.
r.i.p. James Caan
p.s.-