#127. RIP James Caan
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This short bonus episode, with Paul Crookston again sitting in for an absent Vic, is a straight-to-business tribute to James Caan, who died at 82 — there's no opening banter, just Sonny announcing the news and the trio diving right into his legacy. JVL takes the contrarian position, admitting he's never really been a Caan fan and that hothead Sonny Corleone was actually his least favorite part of The Godfather (and, to Sonny's disbelief, that he doesn't love him in Elf either); Sonny pushes back hard, praising Caan's utterly distinctive physicality — a ramrod-straight back, huge shoulders, a way of turning from the shoulders instead of the hips — visible across The Godfather, Thief, Bottle Rocket, and especially The Way of the Gun, which Sonny calls his favorite Caan performance and go-to movie over The Godfather itself (JVL agrees it may be Caan's best work). Paul splits the difference, calling Caan electric and terrifyingly out-of-control in The Godfather and arguing his contained rage is exactly what makes his gruff, eggshell-walking dad in Elf work. They also touch on Rollerball, The Gambler, and his late-life persona as a self-mythologizing tough guy on Twitter, and Sonny caps things off by reading a vintage Playboy interview in which Caan indignantly defends his macho reputation — "I've never fucked a woman in the gutter, not without putting a pillow under her first, chivalry isn't completely dead" — a bit that turns JVL's ambivalence into outright exasperation before he offers a grudging rest in peace.
From the show notes
RIP, Santino.
Full transcript
Sonny00:00:00Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sub-Beacon. I'm Victorino Matus. No, I'm still Sonny Bunch along with Jonathan V. Last and Paul Crookston. Paul's here for the bonus episode. Say hi to Paul, everybody. Just a reminder, the Sub-Beacon is still available on Patreon. Go to subbeacon.com. You'll easily find us. Please subscribe. Tell your friends. Don't forget about the Sub-Beacon merchandise store at tpublic.com. Very sad news. James Caan passed away on January 6th of last week. He's a beloved movie star. We all we all love James Caan. I did not go back through the archives to see if Vic had mentioned him. Maybe this is why he took this week off. Never know. Was.
JVL00:00:51I was afraid that we would grill him about killing Jimmy Caan. But yeah, what are what are what are your guys thoughts about James Caan? JBL 82. Can't believe he made it to 82. He never seemed like he was actually in great health. You know, so he's just one of these guys who comes up in the New York acting scene. He didn't go to City College. He went to Hofstra, maybe or one. You just get the sense that the New York local colleges. Back in like 1960, must have been just an amazing, amazing hotbed of talent, you know, from intellectuals to artist types. And all of that said, I never really liked Jimmy Caan on screen. What? I didn't dislike him. And I think he's he's a fine actor and turned out to be a very durable film presence. But I don't know. I would say. It often is not James Caan turned me off in a movie rather than turned me on.
Sonny00:01:56What about in the Godfather? Come on.
JVL00:01:59I don't I he is my least favorite part of the Godfather. Now, that just may be the way the character Sonny is written.
Sonny00:02:10Hothead.
JVL00:02:10He's a hothead. I didn't like Sonny. I didn't like. You know what? I never want Sonny to be in charge of the family because the family would have all died if Sonny had been in charge.
Sonny00:02:17It's true. Well, that's one of the lessons of that movie.
JVL00:02:19You know, the truth is. That Tartaglia and those guys, they should have let Sonny take over, not kill them. That would have really messed up the Corleone family. But, you know, I don't know why. Again, mine is a minority opinion. James Caan is beloved. Everybody thinks he's the best.
Sonny00:02:42What about in Elf?
JVL00:02:44I was about to mention that. It's my least favorite part of Elf.
Sonny00:02:48Oh, my goodness. What? You're ridiculous. Sorry. Crazy. No, it's funny. I sat down to, I started writing my obit this afternoon. I wasn't able to, we were taping this on Thursday. And I wasn't able to finish it just because, you know, life got in the way. But the thing, it's weird. The first thing that came to mind when I thought about James Caan is how he moves. He has, he has like a very, I would say almost unique.
JVL00:03:20Like his back is stiff.
Sonny00:03:21His body. So his back is always super straight, like ramrod straight.
JVL00:03:24Almost like he has scoliosis or something. And he has giant shoulders.
Sonny00:03:29Well, his shoulders. I mean, this is the thing. His shoulders are like four feet across. I mean, he has, he has a very weird body and he has a very weird way of moving around the screen. And this comes through more specifically when he gets a little bit older in movies like Way of the Gun, which he is fantastic. I can't believe you don't like him in Way of the Gun. You know what, he's great.
JVL00:03:49He is great in Way of the Gun.
Sonny00:03:51I mean, that is like, that is.
JVL00:03:52That might be my favorite performance of his.
Sonny00:03:54That is always my go-to movie with him, even more than The Godfather. I love him in Way of the Gun, where he is playing a broken down old man who still has enough tricks left in his tank to, you know, tricks left up his sleeve, gas in the tank to take down the young bucks who are trying to rip off his boss. But the way he moves, again, the way he moves in that movie, it's like he, it's like he has a brace across his shoulders. And, and instead of turning from, you know, people turn from the hip, right? You turn, you turn at your hips. That's how you, instead with him, it feels like he turns at his shoulders in a weird way. And I, I have never, I've never seen anybody else move like that on screen. And you get, you get a little bit of that in Bottle Rocket as well. You get some of that in Elf. And again, it was a thing that I thought, well, maybe it's just because he's kind of old and maybe his body. But like, if you go back and watch Godfather or. Thief, some of those earlier movies, that's the same thing. It's just less pronounced because he's, I think, I mean, he's just like in better shape all around. But like, I.
JVL00:05:00He's in a car crash in the mid eighties. And I wonder if some of that, but he, he, he's moving in a weird way in a very distinctive way even before that. Yeah.
Sonny00:05:10So I, this is, this is what I always think about when I think about James Caan is not hothead Sonny, not angry, you know, burning down his car lot. Yeah. He's a thief character, right? I, I think of, I just think of the way he moves on screen and it's totally unique. It's I, I cannot think of anybody else. Um, I mean, I can think of other characters who have a physicality to them that is like obvious and pronounced, but I can't think of anybody else on screen who moves like he does. It just is a, it's a very, uh, it's a very unique look and style and like, it just, it just drives home the, it drives home a certain toughness. Uh, to all of the characters that he played that otherwise wouldn't have been there. Simply like the, like the, his simple, like the simple physical shape of his body changes his presence on screen in a way that I cannot think of for any actor outside of like your kind of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Muscley. Uh, I don't think Russell, I don't think Russell Crowe has a similar.
JVL00:06:19No, just it is different. Very real. Physicality to him on screen. Paul, what do you think? Anyway, you hated James Caan, right? You gotta take the other way. I'm sort of, eh, Sonny loves him. So you need to say why James Caan was actually terrible. Yeah. Well, I'm glad I wasn't the first one to mention elf. I thought that might be a generational thing. Cause I immediately Google him and I'm like, oh yeah, the dad from elf. Um, but what's, what's funny. Um, what's funny about that is, uh, I think there's a, even though it's a very different movie. There's a, there is a kind of a continuity there, even though I haven't seen all of his old movies and stuff. I have seen the Godfather and he's absolutely electric in that movie. And Sonny is Sonny is like, so obviously not like trustworthy. Like he's not someone who is gonna make good choices or help the family or anything. And you're just like, it's like terrifying how he's like, obviously like spinning out of control and stuff. And he just like captures that. Super well. And the, the sense in which, like, you know, something very, very bad is going to happen to him. Um, and there's like this un, there's like this unrestrained, like rage that's there. It's just really, really good. And then you go to elf on the very, obviously opposite end of the spectrum in so many ways, he has this incredible, like contained raged him where he just, you're just scared. Like you're, you're like walking. On eggshells around him, like as a viewer, uh, which is like a really interesting effect that he creates. And it's, I think it's pretty critical to the way that movie works actually. Um, cause you need to create the weird relationship, the weird father relationship thing. And I think, I mean, I never really thought about it, but I, I don't know if the, if it works with anybody besides him. Um, cause he does have that weird physicality and he feels like a psycho. Sort of who's having to control and restrain all of that. So those are definitely the two main James Conn roles that come to mind for me. And I think he's really integral to making them both, both those movies work.
Sonny00:08:37And he's also a little older now. He's like an older dad and elf.
JVL00:08:40Like it's not like a 10 year old kid or an 11 year old kid, right? It's like 70.
Sonny00:08:45Yeah. Um, no, I, uh, I love elf. I love elf. I love him in it, but I, I really like way of the. Gun is my favorite of his good in the gambler.
JVL00:08:54Um, that's a very nice role for him. Uh, you know, I've never seen the original role roller ball, which he also stars in sunny.
Sonny00:09:03Have you seen, yeah, long, long time ago.
JVL00:09:07Is it, uh, it's just very grindhouse, right?
Sonny00:09:09Well, yeah, it's, it's, I mean, it's very much a, it's a trashy movie. It's, it's, you know, it's like, uh, I, I, is that a Corman movie? I feel like it's a, it's a Roger Corman, um, uh, at least produced if not directed, uh, but the, uh, but no, it's, it's good. It's trashy. He's, he's good and trashy in it. I mean, he has a, he's, he, there, he had a whole persona. Like he was a, you know, uh, kind of ladies, man, I was, uh, okay. I don't know. I, I, I love, I, I, I, anyway, I, I, I, he's, he's a fascinating guy because he also had a, he, he had this like weird public persona where like everyone kind of assumed he was a tough guy and he kind of leaned into that and he, when he got on Twitter in, you know, uh, in 2020 or whatever, uh, he had this kind of like brusque persona that, um, I would assume he was not tweeting, uh, every day. But like when, when, when he was like perfectly, uh, captured the, the way people felt about him and, and kind of had, there's a great.
JVL00:10:20Hold on Sonny.
Sonny00:10:22No, no, I never, I don't, I don't, I try not to interact with celebrities on Twitter. I find it weird. Other than Tim Miller. Um, well, except for Tim Miller. Right. I mean, it's obviously, uh, sorry, I'm trying to pull up the, uh, there's a, there's a snippet from a, um, uh, Playboy interview that he did. That's very funny. Our friend, Adam Kiper sent it to us. Um, her sent it to me, uh, this is, this is con talking. He said, lately, I've been reading some of these bullshit articles about being these trash fan magazines about what a macho fucking pig I am and how I get loaded and go about smacking people, humping people in the gutter and all that shit. I can't believe the crap they come up with. Playboy, you mean you're not a macho pig? Con, anybody says I am. I'll kick the shit out of them. I mean, I was, I was brought up to defend myself if I have to, but I've never started to fight in my life and I can't remember the last time someone started one with me when I take a drink, which isn't often, mostly wine. I get happy and I laugh a lot. I've, I've never fucked a woman in the gutter, not without putting a pillow under her first chivalry and completely dead, you know? And that's what, and like, he like leaned into this, he leaned into this idea of like Jimmy con tough guy, uh, that is very, very funny, uh, to me at least as, as an appreciator of like, uh, self-mythologizing, I think he was notoriously disliked by people in the world. I do not think he was, uh, he was a, uh, a happy go lucky sort.
JVL00:11:50I mean, you don't get that many, right? I mean, how many credits, 137 credits, unless you are a professional.
Sonny00:12:01Did you ever watch the show Las Vegas that he was on? I, I, sometimes I, I like to imagine him doing a TV show and doing it in the least with the least amount of effort possible. Uh, that brings me great amusement for some reason, but I imagine he was not pleasant on that set either. I mean, I do think that he was. He was, you know, again, notoriously, not, not hugely, uh, easy to work with, but also a pro.
JVL00:12:30So, you know, I guess rest in peace.
Sonny00:12:35See, now you hate him. You've gone from being mad on him to really hating him. After I read that, that Playboy interview.
JVL00:12:41Yeah. I don't want to speak ill of the dead. Um, I'm sure it's fine.
?00:12:50you
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