I chatted on the phone one afternoon with Fred. John Riley and I were doing THE ONLY THING ON, and he mentioned that his friend Doug Bryan was a film editor in Dallas, and was then working on Williamson's new movie (STEELE'S LAW, I think). So John called Doug at work and said, "How's Fred?" "Fine, he's sitting right here, wanna talk to him?" So I rapped with The Hammer for ten minutes or so, partially about Super Bowl I and mostly about THREE THE HARD WAY and its "sequel" ONE DOWN TWO TO GO, which Fred claimed was the world leader in being stolen from video stores or something like that. A very charming fellow. He has an enormous ego, but rarely seems to get ripped for it. Probably because he's so charming and down to earth. Really, he had no reason to spend any time chatting on the phone with John and me, but it was great of him to say hello. Of course, he probably didn't mind listening to two white boys from Illinois tell him how badass he is.
If you need proof of Fred's awesomeness, check this out:
Yep, Fred is so badass, he even got to hang with Shatner in a STAR TREK episode.
My favorite movie from The Hammer remains BUCKTOWN. Surprisingly structured script, great plot twist in the middle, another nude scene from Pam Grier, badass Fred, and the always underrated Thalmus Rasulala. I noticed the other night that one of the Starz/Encore channels has it on this month.
ReplyDeleteDirector Arthur Marks gets a gold star from me anyway; FRIDAY FOSTER is my second favorite of Pam's films, too (behind COFFY) and J.D.'s REVENGE gives us Joan Pringle pre-WHITE SHADOW.
Very cool that you got to chat with the Hammer for several minutes, Marty. And one of the perks from my former business (baseball card shop) years ago; I still have Williamson's 1965 Topps "tall boy" card (he was still with the Raiders) in EX-MT condition.