Those of us who were young during the 1980s remember a time when a lot — and I do mean A LOT — of movies were made with the overriding goal of entertaining the audience. Tedious preachiness had yet to become the modus operandi of most film writers, directors, and producers.
If you ask me, that was Hollywood's real Golden Age.
Some of my favorites from that era — like Stripes and National Lampoon's Vacation — featured iconic moments from the late, great John Candy. He was in a lot of other movies that I liked, but those two are high up on my All-Time Fave list.
Like most hardcore comedy junkies back in the early '80s, I first became aware of Candy on the Canadian show Second City Television, which would eventually be known as simply SCTV. It was a brilliant sketch comedy show that, in addition to Candy, featured such future comedic acting luminaries as Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and Rick Moranis. My best friend and I would watch the show religiously. Everyone on it was fantastic, but it was Candy who shone the brightest.
Candy could absolutely own a movie scene, no matter how little or how much he was given to do in it. Here's an example from Vacation:
A new documentary titled John Candy: I Like Me premiered Thursday night at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was produced by Ryan Reynolds and directed by Colin Hanks. The title is an allusion to a line spoken by Candy's character Del Griffith in the 1987 classic Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Candy costars with Steve Martin and does some of his greatest work in the movie, both comedically and dramatically. Here is Martin recalling the dramatic turn near the end of the film:
This documentary is filled with a seemingly endless parade of stars offering reminiscences of John Candy. Longtime Candy fans will no doubt love hearing him talked about for a couple of hours by those closest to him. This trailer does make it seem like it's going to go hard for the heartstrings though. The film is scheduled to be released Oct. 10 on Prime Video.
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