Jan Michael Vincent RIP Dead at 73.

[SteyrAUG]

Great movie. It and Smokey and the Bandit make me not want to kill Hal Needham for the other shitty movies he did.

Another great one was Defiance (1980) which was yet another vigilante film set in NY about a Navy guy who decides to take on the local gang element where he lives. The gang leader carries a German Luger which was kinda cool. It was another HBO staple film that I probably watched a couple dozen times.

Pretty interesting, and sad, commentary related to the film.

John Flynn later said working with Jan Michael Vincent was difficult:

Jan was a drinker even then. He had Heinekens for breakfast. There was a night scene where we literally had to prop him up. Poor Jan. He latched onto Danny Aiello. Jan loved Danny and tried to give him more of his own lines in the picture. I told Jan he couldn’t mess with the script like that. But Jan was a sweet guy. He never believed that he was an actor, though. He was embarrassed to be an actor. He always thought he was doing an awful job and that people were laughing at him. You had to keep telling him he was wonderful and he would do whatever you wanted him to do. Jan was like a little kid, but he just didn’t believe in himself. Talk about actors’ egos. He was the opposite. This was an actor with a non-ego.

[Doc Safari]

Another great one was Defiance (1980) which was yet another vigilante film set in NY about a Navy guy who decides to take on the local gang element where he lives. The gang leader carries a German Luger which was kinda cool. It was another HBO staple film that I probably watched a couple dozen times.

Pretty interesting, and sad, commentary related to the film.

John Flynn later said working with Jan Michael Vincent was difficult:

Jan was a drinker even then. He had Heinekens for breakfast. There was a night scene where we literally had to prop him up. Poor Jan. He latched onto Danny Aiello. Jan loved Danny and tried to give him more of his own lines in the picture. I told Jan he couldn’t mess with the script like that. But Jan was a sweet guy. He never believed that he was an actor, though. He was embarrassed to be an actor. He always thought he was doing an awful job and that people were laughing at him. You had to keep telling him he was wonderful and he would do whatever you wanted him to do. Jan was like a little kid, but he just didn’t believe in himself. Talk about actors’ egos. He was the opposite. This was an actor with a non-ego.

As I suspected. Being a horrible person that becomes famous only turns you into a more horrible person.

[SteyrAUG]

As I suspected. Being a horrible person that becomes famous only turns you into a more horrible person.

Doesn't sound like he was a horrible person, kinda the opposite. Bad judgement regarding drinking and such, but I don't think that makes him a horrible person. Probably would have had the same health problem even if he never made a movie.

[Slater]

One of his TV roles was on the old "Police Story" show as a SWAT officer:

[jack crab]

Can't forget "World's Greatest Athlete" with Tim Conway, 1973.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070928/

[OH58D]

One film was his starring role in 1975's "White Line Fever", co-starring Kay Lenz, Slim Pickens, L.Q. Jones and R.G. Armstrong, filmed in and around Tucson, Arizona:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073896/

A notable part of the film was the opening credit music sequence, performed by the late singer-songwriter, Valerie Carter: Drifting & Dreaming of You:

[militarymoron]

There's an old saying, "No matter where you go, there you are."

- Buckaroo Banzai, 1984.

RIP Jan Michael Vincent. Another one from my teenage years is gone.

[OH58D]

Not a starring role, but he played a cowboy punk who wised up in 1975's "Bite the Bullet", with Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn and Ben Johnson.

Jan-Michael Vincent proved to be a versatile actor in varying roles. He was never really typecast. Too bad things worked out the way they did for him in life.

[Campbell]

I only remember him from the mini series The Winds of War. He was pretty young...RIP

[LoboTBL]

First thing I remember seeing him in was Damnation Alley. Really liked the movie Hooper also. I always liked him as an actor. RIP Jan