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Jack Palance is gone... Harry's farewell
Hey folks, Harry here... I was just in the process of programming the vintage section of OctoButt-Numb-A-Thon when I see... JACK PALANCE died. OUCH!
Dad was telling me earlier this morning how he'd been watching HALLS OF MONTEZUMA, and how great Palance was as Pigeon Lane... just 45 minutes before I saw this news. For me, Palance will always be Jack Wilson - that bastard arrogant sonofabitch from SHANE... scary as all hell and homicidal. I don't think that's how Jack would like to be remembered, but I can't help it. I shut my eyes and that's how I see him.
Wish I could say I saw him as Gil Walker from FLIGHT TO TANGIER, but I can't. I see Jack Palance as Toriano from ARROWHEAD - a noble warrior fighting to not move from the reservation... and mostly - I see Palance as Raza.... Jesus Raza from THE PROFESSIONALS - where he played the greatest Mexican this side of Wallace Beery.
Most of my generation thinks of Palance from CITY SLICKERS or Tim Burton's BATMAN... but I was raised watching a lot of his fifties work in films like I DIED A THOUSAND TIMES, THE SILVER CHALICE or THE BIG KNIFE. 3 very different films for him.
A friend of my father's was once dosed on psychedelic mushrooms while watching Palance's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and thought he was going insane. Having watched that film straight, I'd agree... it is an insane, but powerfully memorable performance.
I think many of us will remember his one armed push-ups on the stage of the Academy Awards when he won for CITY SLICKERS. Me - I'll remember him acting up a storm opposite Burt Lancaster in THE PROFESSIONALS... there in that canyon. Two old friends - set on killing each other - remembering when it didn't have to be that way.
Palance was a man that it looked like he was carved of clay by the gods of old. His type isn't around these days - he will be missed.
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DETHKLOCK DETHKLOK
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A great actor. Believe it or not.
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The man ate bacon at every meal... you just can't do that!
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and Cops & Robbersons. RIP.
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...but I don't want to pick up the gun, mister...you'll shoot me.
PICK UP THE GUN...
Fuckin A Jack Palance. The BOMB. -
I always thought he was the TITS for doing the one handed push ups on the Oscars, just to show all the young pups that he was still a mean sumbitch.
CLASSIC. -
I just named my new born son Jack.
I just finished watching Samurai Jack.
and Jack Palance certainly has my respect.
RIP
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since ya' mentioned.
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...If you can, seek out Dan Curtis' 1973 TV version of Dracula starring Palance. It's fucking gold. JP was a true giant of American cinema.... R.I.P...
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He crapped bigger than all of us.
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I dont have sex with my hands (they aren't very attractive and their tits are tiny...) but I'm still going to sub Basil for Gereld. No offense, I just don't like watered down R&B.
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:( RIP Jack. One of the last in a vanishing breed.
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I think of him in Batman too.
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Farewell, Mr Grissom.
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My first experience with Jack Palance was a the host of the early 80's TV version of Ripley's Believe it or not. He creeped the hell out of me. He was also the American answer to Christopher Lee's Dracula and the third guy to play Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar on Broadway in it's original run after Brando and Anthony Quinn.
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Oscar-Winning Actor Jack Palance Dies at 87
Jack Palance, the legendary character actor who received Oscar nominations for his villainous roles in Sudden Fear and Shane, and won an Oscar for his comedy role in City Slickers, died Friday of natural causes in California; he was 87. Notorious for playing heavies throughout his career, Palance did a 180-degree career turn at the age of 72 by playing (for laughs) the crusty, menacing trail boss Curly in the Billy Crystal comedy City Slickers. The role won him an Oscar and a place in Hollywood history books when, after accepting his Best Supporting Actor award, he dropped to the stage for a series of one-armed push-ups; the stunt became a running gag for show host Crystal that year. Born Volodymyr Palanyuk in Pennsylvania, Palance was the son of a coal miner, and embarked on a boxing career in the 1930s under the name Jack Brazzo. Enlisting in World War II, Palance suffered extensive facial damage when he was pulled from the burning wreckage of a B-24, and the resulting surgery left him with his distinctive facial features, chiseled and gaunt and, as would prove throughout his career, sometimes extremely menacing. After being discharged, Palance embarked on his acting career, starting on Broadway (where he studied Method acting and was understudy to Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire) and moving to films in 1950, making his screen debut as Walter Jack Palance in Panic in the Streets.
Just two years later, he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Sudden Fear, in which he starred alongside Joan Crawford (as her diabolical husband) and Gloria Grahame (as his girlfriend and co-conspirator). The next year, he played the evil gunfighter Jack Wilson opposite Alan Ladd in the classic Western Shane; another Oscar nomination followed. Innumerable film and television roles followed, most often in Westerns, but he turned in yet another indelible performance in the Playhouse 90 production of Requiem for a Heavyweight (1957), which won him an Emmy Award. Palance worked non-stop through the '60s and '70s in a variety of films and TV shows (he co-hosted the show Ripley's Believe It Or Not with his daughter, Holly Palance), and began to enjoy a career renaissance of sorts in the late '80s with parts in Young Guns and Batman. After his success in City Slickers and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (in which he played Curly's twin brother), Palance made sporadic film and TV appearances, most recently in 2004's Back When We Were Grownups; he also painted extensively, mostly landscapes, each with a poem inscribed on the back. Palance was married to actress Virginia Baker from 1949-1966, with whom he had three children: daughters Holly and Brooke Palance, and son Cody Palance; he is also survived by his second wife, Elaine Rogers, whom he married in 1987.
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One of the best line deliveries in cinema history.
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I miss those midlle-school Ripley's shows with him and his daughter too. I remember thinking when ROTJ came out that it should have been HIM under the mask. He was a one of a kind that's for sure.
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Wonder if he was still doing one-arm pushups before he died
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He was awesome in Panic in the Streets, playing a killer with the bubonic plague - Richard Widmark had to track him down before he infected the city. great movie.
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...I thought this guy dies years ago. Makes it kinda hard to know how to feel about it. Sad that he's gone? Or kind of happy that he scored himself a good decade longer than I'd realised? Man ...Why on earth did I think he had already passed? Could it be that early viewings of City Slickers messed with my brain?
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Going to miss seeing him on the screen. Not to many actors like this anymore. Geez, I can't even think of any. Only a few come close, barely, Paul Newman, mmmm, anyone else, anybody. Goodbye Jack.
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RIP Jack...i guess the only legends left are mickey rooney and paul newman...heck, even newman is from a slightly younger generation. i guess that means rooney is the only one left. bummer.
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although it was bound to happen. please tell me that mickey rooney isn't the only golden age star left in this world....never thought we would get to the point where it all could only be narrowed down to one last survivor of that era....such a sad day.....
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R.I.P. Jack.
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You had style. . .something sadly missing in todays films.
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He will be missed, and apparently you can eat bacon everymeal, cause 87 is a ripe friggin age.
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Who is there that is like Jack Palance today? A character actor who seizes the screen and who you enjoy watching? Who made a pause seem like words? And don't hand me any names. Anyone you bring up pales by comparison, as a character actor. The movie doesn't even have to be good. He was in some real dogs, but he made it worth watching. Did he ham it up sometimes? You bet. And when he did , I grinned, because he was that damn good!
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Man, I agree about The Professionals. This was a movie that had Burt Lanchester, Woody Strode, and Lee Marvin and damn if Palance's Mexican didn't make me root for him to get away with Claudia Cardinale, the hottest woman in that era. He was a decent Dracula, and very funny in the first City Slickers. He was just a great actor.
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... his role as the megomaniacal producer in Godard's Contempt. Just perfect.
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I liked him in that movie. "And Jack... Don't forget your... lucky hat!"
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as my "holy shit, he wasn't dead already?!" revelation of the day.
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"I thought this guy dies years ago. Makes it kinda hard to know how to feel about it. "...I could have sworn he died many years ago. Perhaps I need to discover the secret of...DEJAVU!
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Didn't even see your Contempt post... but are you fucking nuts? It was a great movie. Maybe his best. Godard's, not Jack's. Good cast (Fritz fucking Lang), hot blonde girl naked, and lots and lots of contempt. What's not to like?
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The Iconic Perofrmances in Hollywood history. Also the inspiration of a classic Bill Hicks routine. Mr. Palance was an awesome actor, and they just don't make his type anymore. Just read the Obit someone posted above. Now that is a life. God speed Mr. Palance...
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You were one of a kind, Jack. This is yet another sad loss. I'd like to propose a toast to that "one thing". Godspeed Jack...you will be missed.
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The passing of Jack Palance makes me think of Bill Hicks' legendary set when he equated Shane to the US attitude to other countries. And now the passing of Jack Palance makes me think of Bill Hicks. Both events are truly sad, but my thoughts go to Mr. Palance's family at this time -- an iconoclastic actor, who will be missed.
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Mr. Palance portrayed Dracula as a sympathetic, doomed character. An amazing performance. As Mr. Hyde, you wanted to see him come out on top. Especially a scene where he throws this misanthrope down a flight of stairs and laughs whole heartedly when the man breaks his neck at the bottom. Ya, had to love, Jack! He was the man! A class act all the way.
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He was as entertaining and interesting as the rest of the show.
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He was in the classic episode "Outlaw" as some kind of priest. His funny hats were a highlight.
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dudes, according to wikipedia, he looked the way he did due to reconstructive surgery he had after JUMPING OUT OF A BURNING B-52 DURING WWII. and then he goes on to have a long oscar winning film career. anyone else feel less worthy as a man now?
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He was one of the best.
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hope we don't loose anymore great ones.
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Sad News. Sad News Indeed.
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best slimy movie producer. he was pretty awesome to watch in anything, his push-ups on stage were stuff of legends. they should do re-runs or release dvds of his ripley's believe it or not, loved watching it as a kid just to hear him talk. some people mentioned dracula . . simply incredible work eh. and i'm also going insane right now from the noise my neighbor is making, so for jack, i'm gonna go throw a few eggs.
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Not Jack P. Well, he lived a long time and had a great life. That's all that matters. "Shane" is a movie that can be watched over and over because of Palance. He was the best thing about "City Slickers." RIP Jack.
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look like a little snot nosed punk in Batman...
"My friend...your luck is about to change..."
He was the man... -
...there was only one Jack Palance. A truly under-rated actor of the highest calibre. If there is a Heaven i know my Grandad would be in the queue to get his autograph - but Jack probably went straight to Hell.
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Nov 10, 2006 9:04:44 PM CST
umm....was that a time travelling B-52 in WWII replign?
by davywankenobi
He actually jumped out of a B-24 rather than a B-52. What an awesome actor, though. Ripley's Believe it or not, Buck Rogers, Batman, and City Slickers...it's a shame I don't know more of his work, but thank you all for giving me something to look for next time I'm at the Suncoast.
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With the taking of lives, all the time. Sad news indeed.
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He'd be proud to hear such praise.
Good show, bub. -
and Masters of the Universe. Sucks about Levert too, "Casanova" was the shit!
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The first thing I ever saw Palance in was the Playhouse 90 version of Rod Serling's boxing drama. The Anthony Quinn movie may have the better ending but Palance's version has all the heart.
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poor guy
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Man, this has been a tough week- Poledouris, Bradley, and now Palance. Man. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. I'm thankful for how these men impacted my life and the greatness they shared with us all. God bless their souls.
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Man, Poledouris, Bradley, Levert, and Jack Palance. This is too much. God bless them all.
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This guy was SERIOUSLY underrated, especially during his early career. He played such a great villain in Shane...I remember hating my 8th grade English teacher when she tried telling me the book was "far superior" to the movie. To this day, I still think she's full of it. Of course, I loved him in Batman (hell, I grew up with him in that movie), but I especially love him In Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt". Aquatarkusman says its a "bad film", please ignore him...he doesn't know what he's talking about...that film is one of Godard's masterpieces. Its got an international cast (including Fritz Lang playing himself!) and a super-hot Brigette Bardot and, of course, Palance! There's a scene early in the film in which Palance (as a slimy American Producer dissatisfied with the film Lang is making) picks up some film canisters and calmly CHUCKS them across the room...its friggin hilarious!! The rest of the film is good too...there's a scene about halfway through that unfolds in real time for about 20 minutes in Bardot's appartment that is an absolute thrill to behold...but I'm getting off the subject. Palance was the man, and i can't think of a cooler way to celebrate his uniqueness and versatility than watching Contempt and The Professionals back to back with a City Slickers chaser. Rest in Peace Jack, you will be dearly and deeply missed!
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Was just going to post that his best work was as the psycho messianistic cult leader on that sweet Buck Rogers episode ... but I see someone beat me to it. Touche. All I'll say is that it's getting a little sad that all my "hard ass" movie icons from my youth are dying. John Wayne, Charles Bronson, Jack Palance ... clock's tickin, Clint !
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I loved jack palance in (fill in the blank with obscure early work that very few people have seen)
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Forgot about Clint Eastwood. But he still has a while to go. The greats a slowly fading away. Too bad. There are not too many people I can see filling these kinds of shoes in the future. Dear god it will be a sad day when Connery kicks the bucket.
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I forgot about Clint Eastwood. But he still has a while to go. The greats are slowly fading away. Too bad, there are not too many people I can see filling these kinds of shoes in the future. Dear god it will be a sad day when Connery kicks the bucket.
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There must be something wrong with my computer today
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He looked a bit like Jeff Tweedy or vice versa.
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another MST3K episode called "Angels Revenge"...first ep i ever saw and sadly the first time i ever saw Jack....wasnt he also in Parts: The Clonus Horror? maybe not..but man i have respect for anyone who can win and oscar, was in Shane and STILL manages at least 2 MST3K episodes...RIP Jack
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That was a movie. Those were Men.
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Besides Rooney, we still have Charleston Heston and Kirk Douglas left with us, but yes, the list grows shorter by the minute. Shane holds a dear place in my heart as well, and a lot of it has to do with Jack Palance and that "low-down Yankee liar" he played in the film. When Shane tells Wilson that, and Wilson comes back with "prove it" in that low, menacing, screw-it-all drawl of his, I remember the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and then the comfrontation was on!...Boxer, War Hero, Great actor, Painter, Oscar winner...go easy, Jack, you made us proud. Oh, and I won't stop looking for "that one thing" until I achieve it. Thank you for teaching me that.
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"La Revolución is like a great love affair. In the beginning, she is a goddess. A holy cause. But... every love affair has a terrible enemy: time. We see her as she is. La RevoluciÛn is not a goddess but a whore. She was never pure, never saintly, never perfect. And we run away, find another lover, another cause. Quick, sordid affairs. Lust, but no love. Passion, but no compassion. Without love, without a cause, we are... *nothing*! We stay because we believe. We leave because we are disillusioned. We come back because we are lost. We die because we are committed."
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Or maybe that was just the plot of the movie? Don't worry guys, after a couple years we'll find out he had a brother JUST LIKE HIM and it will be like he was never gone. Isn't life great like that?
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Especially when he did the one arm pushups at the Oscars. How many on this talkback could say they can do that--and at his age at the time? He will be missed.
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Cool, intelligent, evil, intense, charismatic, tough as nails, committed - Jack was the man. As Burton says 'who else is going to be believable in pushing Nicholson around'? Thing is, where are actors like that nowadays?
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Oh, and when Connery goes, I'll be inconsolable for weeks.
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If you haven't seen ATTACK!, superbly directed by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by James Poe and based on Norman Brooks' play, then you haven't seen Jack Palance in his greatest performance as the strong yet sensitive battle vet Lt. Joe Costa of Fox Company. Palance's Costa has been tempered by war and its costs to become both a disciplined highly effective leader and yet deeply concerned for limiting the "collaterial damage" of its outcome. With powerful support from Buddy Ebsen, Lee Marvin and Richard Jaeckel in his first film (and man, is he terrific). Eddie Albert almost steals the show as the cowardly Capt. Erskine Cooney. This film speaks to the ages about the sad consequences of war at its many levels. I won't bother you with a review other than to suggest that you to go find the film and watch it. You'll be amazed at what Palance (and the rest of the cast) conveys in this moving film. Go find it right now!
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Now that's a tough guy!
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...you just can't do that!
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For real :(
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Goddamn you are a faggot Harry - why don't you make an honest effort instead of puking out some fast hash and name dropping what movies you've seen him in and can impress the other talkbackers with...Jesus, hand your site over to Quint, Moriarty and the like that will do it justice, as you and your opinion on ANYTHING have long since become arbitrary. Sorry, but this obit - about an actor I really cared about actually do remember fondly (not just because he died and I had to write something) - is a spit in the face of Jack Palance and all his fans. If you can't take more than five minutes to type something and put real feeling into it, well - don't write a GODDAMN thing and let the better writers cover it (as Quint did, very succinctly). There, done venting.
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That anecdote about being unfamiliar with horses in SHANE strikes me as studio bull. Palance was going to devote most of his life to living on a Ranch. The scene in SHANE has him surefootedly stepping into that stirrup, slowly mounting never losing grinning eye contact with Shane and backing the horse out. Great bit of storytelling, both these guys saying without words, you'll never get my back.
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Just so he can give a big stupid farewell to Palance because of that time he did the push-ups on stage? Right now about a dozen execs are calling each other going "hey, remember the time Palance did those pushups infront of Billy Crystal? Yeah, let's work that...call Bennigans and ask Crystal's supervisor if he can get that day off"
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