Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

..and why not?
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GoogaMooga
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Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Mar 2019, 21:57

1970s screen heartthrob Jan-Michael Vincent died on February 10. The news just broke today, cardiac arrest. Vincent was 73 or 74, depending on the source. He was the kind of actor whom you only have a mental image of as a handsome young man with a surfer's physique, one who landed a few key roles, moved on to TV, then saw his career founder because of increasing alcohol and drug addiction. After graduating from high school in 1963, Vincent decided not to join his father's billboard business, but instead put his surfboard in his car and left home, bound for Ventura, where he'd surf and attend college for the next three years. After a stint in the California National Guard, he got a contract with Universal, on account of his good looks. He was offered roles in several TV series, then moved on to movies by the late 1960s. Vincent hit a career peak with the elegiac surfer epic, "Big Wednesday", in 1978, a key sports film that retains a cult following to this day. Forget the return to TV and the Airwolf series, where he earned a reported 200G per episode, playing the role of renegade pilot Stringfellow Hawke. That role made him the highest paid actor in television, but his lasting legacy will always be the film classic, "Big Wednesday". RIP Jan-Michael Vincent

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Matt Wilson
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby Matt Wilson » 09 Mar 2019, 01:24

Big Wednesday is indeed a classic, but The Mechanic with Bronson is great too. His biggest hit was Hooper with Burt Reynolds, and if I might be allowed one more recommendation, then the western Bite the Bullet with Gene Hackman isn't bad either.

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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby Charlie O. » 09 Mar 2019, 01:49

I remember him from Disney's The World's Greatest Athlete.
Last edited by Charlie O. on 06 Jul 2021, 03:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby GoogaMooga » 09 Mar 2019, 04:34

Matt Wilson wrote:Big Wednesday is indeed a classic, but The Mechanic with Bronson is great too. His biggest hit was Hooper with Burt Reynolds, and if I might be allowed one more recommendation, then the western Bite the Bullet with Gene Hackman isn't bad either.


Good picks, Matt, for certain. Big Wednesday towers, though. If surfing can be considered a sport, and I think it can, then that particular film is simply one of the finest ever made in the sports genre, and a great snapshot of a certain subculture in the late 60s.

I'll add one more, if I can remember the title, Defiance (1980), where he cleans up a rough neighborhood, armed only with a baseball bat. A Jerry Bruckheimer production with brains and brawn.

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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby Snarfyguy » 09 Mar 2019, 05:16

I liked Damnation Alley when it came out, although the scene with the guy getting swarmed by radioactive bugs in the back of an abandoned car freaked me out.

Uh, spoiler alert? :lol:
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby GoogaMooga » 09 Mar 2019, 05:50

Snarfyguy wrote:
Uh, spoiler alert? :lol:


Do you mean the poster or my little bit of summary? Or both?
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby never/ever » 09 Mar 2019, 07:40

What do you mean, forget the return to TV? Airwolf is a classic! Also Winds Of War was fine.
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby GoogaMooga » 09 Mar 2019, 09:39

never/ever wrote:What do you mean, forget the return to TV? Airwolf is a classic! Also Winds Of War was fine.


TV series are fine and have their place, but historically, I am a snob, of the opinion that films were superior to TV series or made for TV movies. It's only in recent times that TV series have proved equal to or even bettered their cinematic counterpart.
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby Matt Wilson » 09 Mar 2019, 15:56

Oh, TV has been way better than film for some time now.

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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby Snarfyguy » 10 Mar 2019, 05:57

GoogaMooga wrote:
Snarfyguy wrote:
Uh, spoiler alert? :lol:


Do you mean the poster or my little bit of summary? Or both?

Trying to understand what you're talking about. I'm talking about the movie Damnation Alley, which I didn't see that you brought up. Sorry if I missed something.
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby GoogaMooga » 10 Mar 2019, 07:08

Snarfyguy wrote:
GoogaMooga wrote:
Snarfyguy wrote:
Uh, spoiler alert? :lol:


Do you mean the poster or my little bit of summary? Or both?

Trying to understand what you're talking about. I'm talking about the movie Damnation Alley, which I didn't see that you brought up. Sorry if I missed something.


Oh, I thought you meant I had revealed too much of the plot in Defiance, thanks for clearing that up.
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby Jimbo » 14 Mar 2019, 03:22

never/ever wrote: Airwolf is a classic!


Was it? A podcaster I like - while saying RIP J-M. V. - also lauded the show, how it was pretty subversive for the time. Maybe it's a generational thing but it never clicked with me back in the day. It looked too television-y, especially when Vincent had made such fine and grittier movies. Maybe I can find a show on YouTube for a reappraisal.
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Re: Jan-Michael Vincent RIP

Postby Sneelock » 15 Mar 2019, 15:32

I liked him. I could never really sit still for "Airwolf" but I was the right age for "The Worlds Greatest Athlete", "Big Wednesday", "The Mechanic" etc...
it always pisses me off a little bit when somebody's career is boiled down to a sentence or two. yeah, he had a rough road but he was good in some good movies. How come when somebody like Reagan dies we dare not talk about butchering civilians but when somebody like JMV dies it's okay to review his lifestyle choices instead of his movies? life ain't fair.
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