A genuine and great actor passed away. Maybe James wasn’t Laurence Olivier or Richard Burton (both) but he was certainly someone who illustrated the American journey.
Two really solid obituaries are available from the Old Gray Lady and the paper I prefer because it pulls fewer punches.
My love for James’ acting dates back to the Seventies when Dad would watch The Rockford Files on NBC, usually Friday nights. Then were all the Polaroid commercials he did with Mariette Hartley. They had such chemistry people thought they were married. By high school, I had a better awareness of James through his past movies shown on the late show (namely the hilarious How Sweet It Is!) or whatever B-schlock he did in theaters; Tank isn’t deep nor clever yet he carried the by-the-numbers flick and beat up James Cromwell. Murphy’s Romance was more clever, sadly I’ve only seen part of it. I can never find the movie in streaming or a cheap DVD.
College was a great time to appreciate his work. Every Sunday night after the ten o’clock news on WTMJ, The Rockford Files would be on in syndication. My roommate Paul and I would usually try to catch it, sometimes throwing in our improvised harmonicas to the theme song. We even did a parody opening once on WMUR (Marquette’s so-called radio station) with Paul’s imitation of Rev. Jim leaving a message.
Throughout my adult years I gained a greater appreciation for James’ true body of work via TCM. About a decade ago, they did a mini-marathon to celebrate his birthday. The selection was probably limited to what the network had the rights to which was the mid-Sixties. They did a killer job going back n’ forth between his dramatic and comedic work. He had the rare talent of being able to do all the three key genres including action. The comedies were rather disposable (The Wheeler Dealers, Boys’ Night Out), it were the dramas when he showed his true chops (The Americanization of Emily, Mister Buddwing). He also had a knack for the absurd as Victor Victoria proved.
In James’ personal life he became a minor hero to me. Despite being an Okie, he never was part of the Orange Curtain mindset his fellow transplants are infamous for. He was also an advocate for the civil rights movement, fought in the Korean War (this shuts up the Chickenhawks, aka Clint Eastwood a WWII lifeguard or Reagan’s propaganda movies at Fort Roach) and put his money where his mouth was.
It was sad to see him gradually fade away after the stroke in 2008. Love it or hate it, The Notebook did give James a final boost to his career.
Other recommendations I have are listed below:
- The Skin Game with Lou Gossett Jr. and Ed Asner. Much of Django Unchained is derived from this premise and execution.
- Atlantis with Michael J. Fox. He is awesome as the voice of the mission’s Commander Rourke. Spoiler alert, he turns out to be a villain.
- My Fellow Americans with Jack Lemmon. Topical schlock from the Nineties but he’s amusing as a pseudo Clinton-Kennedyesque ex-president. The chemistry with Lemmon is actually good for a by-the-numbers buddy flick.
- The Americanization of Emily with Julie Andrews and James Coburn. It was his favorite film.
- Sunset with Bruce Willis and Malcom MacDowell. An exaggerated, totally untrue mystery set in the Roaring Twenties with him as Wyatt Earp and Willis as silent-movie star Tom Mix. It’s Blake Edwards so you know where it’s going.
- Victor Victoria with Julie Andrews and Robert Preston. His more successful collaboration with Blake Edwards.
- Barbarians at the Gate with Jonathan Pryce. Made for HBO and based upon the book covering the RJ Reynolds corporate raid from the Eighties. Great zingers.
- How Sweet It Is! with Debbie Reynolds and Paul Lynde. A screwball comedy in the late Sixties about two parents trying to be “cool” with their teenage son during a trip to Europe.
- The Great Escape. Too many great tough guys and actual WWII vets to list.
- The Rockford Files. Still available in its entirety on Netflix, possibly other streaming services. After Maverick, this became James’ signature role plus it became almost inseparable to the real man. Rockford even turned the private-eye genre on its side. Rockford wasn’t a great nor successful guy, he lived in a trailer off Malibu, he didn’t always get paid, he didn’t always get the girl, he often got beat up but he was the man you could count on. Great guest stars too: Rita Moreno, Isaac Hayes, Lou Gossert Jr., Tom Selleck, Robert Loggia, James Woods, Lindsey Wagner, Hector Elizondo, Rick Springfield, Suzanne Somers, James Hong and Willie Nelson.