Carl Weathers is up there in contention as my favorite actor. I've yet to find something he has been in where I didnt love him. Just an amazing man and actor. Action Jackson, Predator, In The Heat of the Night, Arrested Development, The Mandalorian, Happy Gilmore, all the Rocky movies, the list goes on and on. He is an absolute LEGEND!!! I am so so sad to hear he's passed. This one hurts man.
Another trope that I'm not a fan of is where there's this overtly racist/homophobic character who antagonizes one of the main characters throughout the entire story.
And then near the end of the story said character ends up getting a stern speech or a punch/slap by either an ally of the main character or the main character themselves.
And while I do get the point being "racism/homophobia bad!!" I've always felt like those scene were always.... off in some way?
Like idk the only times I can think of it being done well is when sidney poiteir slaps that white man in that one iconic scene from in the heat of the night.
Or in doom patrol where the Black drag queen Maura Lee Karupt and her fellow queer/disabled friends makes a bunch of cops leave their town
And I think the reasons why those work is bc back during sidneys time that was the first instance of a Black man on screen actually throwing hands with a racist white man and not talking any of his shit.
And the Maura Lee Karupt scene works bc the entire episode is about how Danny the nonbinary sentient teleporting Street is able to provide a safe haven for these people who don't "fit in" to normal society.
And idk I wish we had more scenes like that that feel more genuine.
Carl Weathers (January 14, 1948 – February 1, 2024) Actor, director and gridiron football linebacker.
On television he portrayed Det. Beaudreaux in the series Street Justice (1991–1993) and a fictionalized version of himself in the comedy series Arrested Development (2004, 2013), and voiced Omnitraxus Prime in Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2017–2019). He had a recurring role as Greef Karga in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian (2019–2023), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
Weathers began working as an extra while still playing football. He appeared in an early 1975 episode of the sitcom Good Times titled "The Nude", portraying an angry husband who suspected his wife of cheating on him with J.J. He also guest-starred in a 1975 episode of Kung Fu titled "The Brothers Caine", and in an episode of Cannon titled "The Hero". In 1976, he appeared as a loan shark in an episode of the crime-drama Starsky & Hutch, and in the Barnaby Jones episode "The Bounty Hunter" as escaped convict Jack Hopper. In 1986 he starred in the short-lived series Fortune Dane.
During the final two seasons of In the Heat of the Night (1992–1994), his character, Hampton Forbes, replaced Bill Gillespie as the chief of police. He also played MACV-SOG Colonel Brewster in the CBS series Tour of Duty. (Wikipedia)
NORMAN JEWISON (1926-Died January 20th 2024,at 97).Canadian film and television director and producer. Jewison addressed social and political issues throughout his filmmaking career, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. He received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999. He received a BAFTA Award and was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Jewison directed numerous feature films and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three separate decades for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Moonstruck (1987). Other highlights of his directing career include 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962), The Thrill of It All (1963), Send Me No Flowers (1964), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Rollerball (1975), F.I.S.T. (1978), ...And Justice for All (1979), Best Friends (1982), A Soldier's Story (1984), Agnes of God (1985), Other People's Money (1991), Only You (1994), The Hurricane (1999), and The Statement (2003).Norman Jewison - Wikipedia