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Caan works because he’s broke
By DICK KLEINER
HOLLYWOOD—(N E A)—
“The Godfather” is making
more money than a combina
tion diamond mine-oil well
m ea t market. And you’re
probably under the impres
sion that everybody connect
ed with it is rolling in loot.
You’re wrong.
James Caan was Sonny
Corleone in ‘‘The Godfa
ther,” one of the key roles,
and he was superb in the
part. I ran into him on the
set of his new movie, “Slith
er,” and he bared his pover
ty-stricken soul.
He says “Slither” is his
first work since “The God
father” and the great TV
film, “Brian’s Song,” which
he made back to back. It’s
been seven months since he’s
worked.
“Then I had to go back to
work,” Jimmy said. “I was
broke. I made nothing on
‘The Godfather.’ Nobody did.
Me and Al Pacino and Bobby
Duvall—we made nothing.
“But they knew that ev
erybody wanted to do that
movie, so they had you over
a barrel.”
Os course, a success like
“The Godfather” helps an
actor’s bargaining position.
Jimmy Caan estimates his
salary has gone up from one
third to one-half on the
strength of being a star in a
golden goodie like “God
father.” He says he’s mak
ing four times his “God
father” salary in “Slither.”
“I could make even
more,” he says. “I got of
fered a lot of money to do
some Italian westerns but
I’d rather do this.”
There’s another side to
Caan you have to consider.
He really doesn’t like work
ing very much. If he wanted
to he could have a TV se
ries—at great big money
tomorrow, or maybe the day
after. Any time he wanted it
he’d have his own series.
“I won’t do a series,” he
said. “I don’t want to work
that hard, in the first place,
and, besides, TV doesn’t
mean anything. Look at
Peter Falk—he isn’t getting
overwhelmed with movie of
fers. He’s making a lot of
money but he’ll be Columbo
the rest of his life.
“A man has to pick his
own thing. Even some movie
guys keep playing the same
part, like Steve McQueen.
For me, that’s not where it’s
at—l like playing different
characters, like Brando
does.”
So here he is, on the set
of “Slither,” a modest little
adventure yarn, with comedy
overtones, about a murder
and a chase and some kooky
characters. He’s starring in
it, with Peter Boyle, Sally
Kellerman and Louise Las
ser.
The big thing in “Slither”
is a chase on the open road
involving a car pulling a
trailer against a mobile
home. It should do for recre
ational vehicles what “The
French Connection” chase
did for slaloming beneath
the New York elevated rail
road.
On the set, Caan is nerv
ous, always doing something.
He can’t sit or even stand
still. He’s either throwing a
football around or punching
a bag or, mostly, practicing
roping with his stand-in-dou
ble-friend, J i m Nickerson.
The two of them go off on
weekends to rodeos and com-
pete in the team roping
event.
“How about that?” Caan
says. “A Jew from New
York in the rodeo. But it’s
great for me, to get away
from all this nonsense crap
and into something else.”
He showed me the prize
rodeo belt buckle he won.
“I’m prouder of that than
a—
— couldn’t seem to find
the right comparison.
“Than an Oscar?”
“Well, I’m not so sure
about that.”
This picture also could
make the world Louise Las
ser-conscious. Everybody
knows her face, because
she’s done more commer
cials than Danny Deodorant.
But not too many people con
nect the name with the face.
The world also knows that
she’s the ex-Mrs. Woody Al
len and she’s had smallish
parts in almost all of
Woody’s films. But there she
was always in Woody’s shad
ow—a small shadow but an
intense one—and here she’s
just Louise Lasser, girl on
her own.
“It’s great to be achieving
something on my own,”
Louise says, “but I’m not
sure if I like it or not. My
first taste of fame was bad
because it was through
Woody and I knew every
body was just wondering
what Mrs. Woody Allen was
like..
“It’s a little different be
ing on my own, but, up until
now, I haven’t really done
The perils
of Victoria
Those in charge of tighten
ing the arrangements for
Queen Elizabeth’s security
might consider the plight of
her great, great grandmoth
er, Queen Victoria, who was
the victim of no fewer than
seven outrages during her
lifetime, most of them in
volving firearms.
Most of the gunplay arose
from Queen Victoria’s in
sistence on driving about in
an open carriage with no
armed bodyguards, but only
a few outriders in fancy
dress for effect.
All of Queen Victoria’s as
sailants were either madmen
or cranks of one sort or an
other. What is surprising is
their youthfulness. Here is
the catalogue of Queen Vic
toria’s misfortunes:
• June 10, 1840: The
Queen accompanied by
Prince Albert had just set
out for a drive in her low
carriage when suddenly she
heard an explosion. Looking
up she saw a youth standing
on the sidewalk with a pistol
in each hand. As he aimed
at her and fired a second
time, the Queen ducked.
“The ball must have passed
just over her head,” Prince
Albert declared. The mis
creant was Edward Oxford,
an 18-year-old potboy, who
was found insane, committed
to an asylum.
• May 29, 1842: The
Queen and Prince Consort
were returning to Bucking-
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“SLITHER” blends comedy with murder overtones and some offbeat characters
played by (left to right) Louise Lasser, Sally Kellerman and James Caan.
anything I’m overly proud
of.”
Curiously, she’s prouder of
her commercials than she is
of the rest of the things she’s
done. She’s not one to put
down the commercials.
“I like doing commer
cials,” she says. “I think
that they are essentially hon
est acting—the only lie is the
product—and I’d rather do
that than some situation
ham Palace from a Sunday
drive, again in an open car
riage, when John Francis, a
22-year-old cabinet maker,
pointed a pistol at them and
fired, the bullet going wild.
“Thank God my Angel is
safe!” the Queen, whose
first thought was for her hus
band wrote to her uncle.
Francis was condemned to
death, the sentence later be
ing commuted to life im
prisonment.
• July 3, 1842: William
Bean, a hunchbacked youth,
leveled a pistol at the Queen
while she was taking the
air in her carriage, but the
firearm was found to contain
nothing more deadly than
wads of paper. “Give him
back his pistol, it was only
a joke,” the crowd cried to
the arresting policeman. But
Queen Victoria was not
amused. Bean was sentenced
to 18 months’ imprisonment.
• May 19, 1849: William
Hamilton, a mad Irishman,
fired at the Queen as she
was returning home from
her official birthday celebra
tion. He was sentenced to
seven years.
• June 27, 1850: The
Queen was struck on the
head by a cane and knocked
unconscious as she was com
ing out of Cambridge House,
Piccadilly (only the deep
brim of her bonnet saved her
from worse damage than a
black eye). Her attacker was
Lt. Robert Pate, late of the
10th Hussars, who was men-
comedy which is essentially
untrue from beginning to
end.
“But, really, so far my
ability hasn’t been tested.
Only my little finger has
been tested. I’m doing things
now I should have been do
ing three years ago.”
The director of “Slither”
is Howard Zieff and, like
Louise, he’s a product of TV
? LU'
I ‘ 1 ;
Bi-
tally unbalanced, and who
was jailed for seven years
for the outrage. Ten years
later the Queen still bore the
scar.
• February 29, 1872: Ar
thur O’Connor, a consump
tive Irish lad of 17, jumped
onto the Queen’s carriage as
it was entering the Palace
gates, pressed an unlocked
flintlock at Queen Victoria’s
temple, and presented a peti
tion for her to sign freeing
Irish republican prisoners.
O’Connor got off with a one
year sentence, plus 20
strokes of the lash, which
caused the Queen to protest
at the court’s leniency.
• March 2, 1882: The last
Griffin Daily News
commercials. This is his first
feature film. He’s done many
of the top commercials—the
Benson & Hedges broken cig
arette ads, the Alka-Seltzer
“spicy meatballs” blurb
among others.
He says he’s had chances
to do features before this—
“ But I wasn’t ready. Now I
am.”
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
and perhaps the most dan
gerous attempt on Queen
Victoria’s life occurred when
she was fired upon in her
carriage as she was return
ing to Windsor Castle from
the nearby railway station.
Her assailant was Roderick
Maclean, a demented Scot,
and his weapon was no brok
en flintlock, but a loaded,
six-chambered revolver ca
pable of rapid fire. The
Queen’s life was saved by
the quick action of a school
boy who struck Maclean’s
arm with an umbrella, thus
deflecting his aim. Maclean
was found to be insane, com
mitted to an asylum.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
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