October 06, 2004Courtesy of Aint It Cool News
A Little Respect For Rodney Dangerfield
Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
I don’t like writing obits for Ain’t It Cool. To me, there’s nothing cool about having to break the news that someone whose work you enjoy has passed on. But it is cool to honor the people who have been influential on your life, your attitudes, or simply your enjoyment of the medium of cinema. When the news started coming in this afternoon about Rodney Dangerfield’s death, I told Harry that I’d step up and write this one. I’m a comedy junkie, and it’s been a particular passion of mine from about as soon as I could get into a record store unsupervised.
It seems surreal that Rodney was born in 1921. He seemed so hip and cutting edge when I first saw him in the late ‘70s, such a perfect fit in CADDYSHACK with guys like Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. The truth is that Rodney was a classic, timeless. He just plain understood how to tell a joke. His best films are, without question, CADDYSHACK and BACK TO SCHOOL, the latter of which is one of the best specifically tailored comedy vehicles of the ‘80s. That film was such a great showcase for his talents, and I remember working in a theater the summer it was out. No matter how long it had been playing, every time you went in, the crowd was still boisterous, loud and loving every moment of it.
His work in NATURAL BORN KILLERS was surreal and disturbing, a great use of his cartoonish features, and one of the last times I think I ever saw him onscreen. Rodney’s greatest legacy will always be the dozens and dozens of younger stand-up comedians that he mentored and gave a break to through his YOUNG COMEDIANS specials. He used his own fame to help new talent sneak into the spotlight, and as a result, he’s going to be deeply missed by some of the biggest names in comedy this week.
Jacob Cohen. Jack Roy. Rodney Dangerfield. Whatever his name was, he was the real deal, a class act all the way, and he will be missed. As Billy Joel once sang about him...
”Got a call from an old friend/We used to be real close/Said he couldn’t go on/The American Way.”
”Closed the shop/Sold his house/Bought a ticket to the West Coast/Now he gives them a stand-up routine in LA.”
I think it’s safe to say Rodney will be getting all the respect he could have ever wanted today.
Posted by pboulay at October 6, 2004 03:04 PM