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It seems like just yesterday that the world lost a big man--in more ways than one. It's hard to believe we've now gone 11 years without John Candy in our living in the flesh. I'm sure you'll agree with me that his loss was one of the worst in recent cinema history. I therefore take this opportunity to mark this somber anniversary on the Rewind.
What makes him so likeable, even when the films he was in don't completely cut it? He just had that presence. The presence most actors would kill to get. Even when he's not the star, you can't help watching him. For me personally, I look at him and see me. An outsider who always wants to get in closer and be loved by others. An eternally sad clown who puts on the happy face to keep others from worrying. When he got a good enough film, this sentiment shone through winningly. I can say with honesty that watching Del Griffith go through PT&A is like watching myself on screen. And he could turn something that wasn't funny on paper into pure magic like no one else could or likely will. Having gotten Volume 1 of SCTV for Christmas, I've seen his earliest sketches, and it's clear why he was the breakout star of that the greatest comedy sketch show.
I also admire his high ethical standards and overwhelming generosity. In a Tinsletown of people who care far too much about money and power, he gave to anyone who asked without a second thought. Money was always secondary to him. He was offered a percentage of the profits of Home Alone, which would have got him about $30 in hindsight, but he turned that down in favor of his memorable cameo role (he was to have reprised it in Lost in New York, but somehow that fell through). His loyalty to the people close to him is admirable, as is his wish to never hurt anyone. All those phony stars today who try to put on noble faces and act like they care about anything at all would do well to follow his example.
How would things have gone for him had he lived? We'll never know, of course, but there's numerous roles I think he could have made his own given the chance. Among the ones I consider good ones:
-Forrest Gump. Winston Groom's original Forrest was a man of Candyesque dimensions, and I think he would have brought across the Gumpster's naive innocence very convincingly.
-Randy Quaid's character in Independence Day. Watching it the other night, I could just imagine him as a crazy alien abductee. That final line of him shouting, "Hello boys, I'm back!!" just screams Candy.
-Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. True, he would have to have taken voice lessons to have the proper British accent, but it would have been well worth it. Hagrid's a classic Candy character through and through, comical at moments, but ultimately just laughing on the outside and suffering from loss in the family, just as Candy himself did in real life. Sometimes I wonder if J.K. Rowling actually used him for a reference of sorts (not likely, to be sure, but then again you never know). And if the charcter's destined for an early grave as I personally suspect (we'll know for sure in about 4 1/2 months), it would be all the more ironic.
Your opinions, of course, may and probably do vary.
All in all, John Candy was the epitome of what a good comedian should be. True, he had many personal flaws, but they make him more human, and therefore, likeable. And in a way, he'll never truly be dead. As long as we continue to go see his films whenever we want to forget the doldrums of our own lives, he'll be alive and well. That's the single greatest honor a human being can ever have. And if he's commorating his deathday in some other plain of existence, I think he'd be pleased to know how much we hold him in esteem and cared for him jsut as he cared for humanity.
What are your favorite John Candy memories?
Posts: 2561 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Aug 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
I cut his obit out from a local paper. They had a great write-up on him that included a picture, so I hung it on the bulletin board over my desk. When I came in the next night, it was gone. I stuck around to ask my boss if he knew anything about it, and he said that he took it down because he was afraid someone would think I was making fun of overweight people. What a douchebag.
Posts: 160 | From: Northern Kentucky | Registered: May 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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You know what movie I just saw him in and I didn't even know he was in it....
Career Opportunities. I loved his part too, he hires " Jim" thinking he is another person, and offers him this great paying job, and title, and then gets a call, and he's all confused, and says ..well who's this guy, and then he has to tell Jim he needs him for the cleaning guy.
I loved him in Splash, that was one of my favorite movies he was in.
He must have been great friends with John Hughes. Cause he was in alot of his movies.
Wow, I was shocked that he has been gone 11 years already. It seems like 5 or 6 years maybe, but 11...wow.
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I just love john candy and was shocked and saddened when he died. I grew up watching his movies like uncle buck, the great outdoors, home alone, summer rental and more. The world really lost a great talent and great man when he passed.
Posts: 111 | Registered: Mar 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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It was a sad day on this day in March 11 years ago. I remember working at the video store and people just kept talking about it over and over when they would come in. His career could have been so much more if he wouldn't have died.
When I think back over the past 11 years is there any character that was played on the big screen that he would have been perfect in?
One that comes to mind to me was the Mayor, played by Jeffrey Tambor, in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I don't know why but I can see him dressed up in all of that stuff.
What do you guys think, any role that he would have been perfect for?
Posts: 5319 | From: KANSAS | Registered: Sep 2003 | Site Updates: 2
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quote:..."Forrest Gump". Winston Groom's original Forrest was a man of Candyesque dimensions, and I think he would have brought across the Gumpster's naive innocence very convincingly...[snip]
I read somewhere that Winston Groom himself wanted John Goodman to play the Forrest role. But the studios and/or the producer wanted a more well-known "bankable" movie star for the part.
Posts: 3385 | From: Sacramento, California, USA | Registered: Sep 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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I was never a big John Candy fan in his original movies, but I really LOVED him in his SCTV days and in the stuff he did in STRIPES.
Its a shame he didn't take better care of himself. People love to blame his weight for his death, but truth is I believe the guy was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day for the longest time.....thats what will get you every single time.
His Pipi LongSocks skit from SCTV cracks me up every single time.
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I'm not the biggest fan of John Candy, but I agree with those who loved his work on "SCTV".
I also enjoyed him in...
Uncle Buck Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Splash I even enjoyed him in JFK (1991)! (probably the only serious drama movie he ever did)
Posts: 3385 | From: Sacramento, California, USA | Registered: Sep 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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Isis and Steven, you respectively bought up "Career Opportunities" and "JFK".
That stuff belongs on the 90s board. I thought the both of you would be aware of that. They were good movies, but they have no place being discussed here.
Sincerely,
John Kilduff...The Rock Steady Flamethrower
Posts: 1545 | From: Greenwood Lake, New York, USA | Registered: Jul 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
get a grip. the thread was about john candy and he made movies outside of the 80's.
Posts: 4742 | From: Cell Block 6 | Registered: Aug 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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I'm not unaware of that...I'm just reminding people what the board is all about. I can do that...I'm expressing the right to my own opinion (although this is more of a fact), and this is still America, where I can hopefully state the right to my own opinion, which includes attacking other people's opinions.
Sincerely,
John Kilduff...The Rock Steady Flamethrower
Posts: 1545 | From: Greenwood Lake, New York, USA | Registered: Jul 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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I can't believe it's only been 11 years...why does it feel so much longer since Candy died?
Funny, I've been home sick a few days this week watching movies-movies-movies...and there was "Canadian Bacon"...my brother totally loves that movie.
I get the biggest kick out of Tom Tuttle from Tacoma, Washington in "Volunteers"...especially at the end when he's commie one minute, a red-blooded-American the next. I'm not sure anyone else could have carried that intensity off as well as Candy.
To think he was only in his early '40s is very sad indeed.
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Smayt Shatner
Rewind Shaft -Can u dig it?
Member # 1500
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I read that he refused his doctor's instructions to diet for health reasons because he was convinced it was his size that had made him a star. I was really sad when he died,he was such a funny guy. Uncle Buck rocks. Big love to ya Candy man.
Posts: 1201 | From: under everyone's bed...watching and waiting. | Registered: May 2003 | Site Updates: 0
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At the risk of appearing uninformed, was John Candy's death "John Belushi-ish" if you know what I mean or was it more like Gene Siskel's? Meaning did he die of a non lifestyle/self inflicted disease. Not that it really makes a difference. The movies miss him either way.
Here are my favorites: In Stripes, when he played the guy who wanted to be a "lean mean fighting machine" who at one point ends up mud wrestling with some women in bikinis. Near the end of the movie he tricks a guy into giving up the top bunk for him saying "We're in Italy. By regulations I'm supposed to get the top bunk. If we were in Greece you would get the top bunk." He also had a funny walk-on role in the first "Vacation" where he plays a dorky security guard.
His role in "Splash" was quintessential Candy. From throwing change on the ground and trying to see up lady's skirts when picking it up to his outrageous lack of knowledge about the family business: "Do we sell fruit and vegetables or just fruit?" he was LOL funny. Near the end when the press and the feds hassle Tom Hank's character he has some funny lines like "Ain't you never seen a guy who slept with a fish before?" and "Is Penthouse here? Then we ain't talking!"
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I also consider him the best cross-dresser of his generation. His scene in drag with Eugene Levy in Armed and Dangerous was one of the signature moments of that film ("Oh isn't he cute!? And look at these muscles!"). The similar scene at the end of Who's Harry Crumb? was a fitting ending ofr it.
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It's weird I know he has been gone. I remember listening to the TV and heard the news. My mother and I were on our way out to the mall. Both of us were like "What did we hear that right?" Even though I know for a fact he has passed it doesn't seem real. His movies are so timeless that they never seem dated. It seems like some of them just came out. For some reason watching him in Spaceballs I can't imagine that it came out in 1987 with all the Star Wars movies that have been coming out recently.
It is John Candy and John Ritter that I will never be able to truely grasp their deaths for everthing they did was timeless.
Posts: 808 | From: MI, USA | Registered: Feb 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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Its been 30 years today since he passed. Thought I would bump this thread
Posts: 1994 | From: The deep end | Registered: Jun 2011 | Site Updates: 14
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Hard to believe he’s been gone that long. Also, look at how old this thread is. Wow. It would be nice if some more people came back.
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Back in the 80s my girlfriend at the time was a Candy fan so we saw all his movies. I was not a big fan back then. things have changed, i find myself watching his stuff quite a bit nowadays. I hear hes as nice a fella in real life as he appears in his movies.
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