Hey, guys. Quint here with a few words on Taylor Negron. Negron was a comedian and a constant presence for us '80s kids. You probably know him best from his bit parts as a delivery man of some sort (pizza delivery guy in Fast Times At Ridgemont High and mailman in Better Off Dead) in a lot of '80s movies. He just lost his battle with cancer at the too-young age of 57.
While Negron never really had a giant pop culture starring role, he did get a few that movie geeks will cherish for generations to come. The one that jumps immediately to mind is his bad guy turn in The Last Boy Scout. He had a lot of help from Shane Black's fantastic script, but Negron really ran with the character of Milo in a way that makes him one of the first things I think about when my mind turns to that film. “Yes, officer. As a matter of fact there is a problem. Apparently there are too many bullets in this gun.”
I've seen a lot of people citing his Pizza Delivery Guy moment in Fast Times, which is one of the most recognizable scenes from that movie (next to Phoebe's red bikini, naturally), but while he does make an impression in that moment, it really is all about Spicoli's battle with Mr. Hand, so I'm going to give that moment its props, but focus on his other delivery-man bit part.
Better of Dead was the first time I really took notice of Negron. He doesn't have much more screentime in that film than he did in Fast Times, but there are so many jokes that hit rapid-fire style that I feel it made better use of the man's talents. It starts with him casually flipping through the mail, dropping letters and not caring and then there's the delivery of Lane's little brother's How To Pick Up Trashy Women book. “What's a little boy like you doing with big boy smut like this?”
It was shortly after my childhood viewing of this film that I started picking Negron out in other films, like Easy Money, One Crazy Summer, Johnny Dangerously and Punchline. He became a “That Guy” face that I was always happy to see pop up in pop culture.
Negron did a lot of TV work, too, including Dream On, Fresh Prince and Seinfeld, but it was always the movies where I'd notice him. I'm one of the weirdos who likes the crazy trainwreck that is Nothing But Trouble, which has another nice part for Negron as the high-strung “Brazillionaire” held captive by the insane old-man and fat-suited Dan Aykroyd.
I never met the man, but from everything I've heard about him from his interactions with fans, colleagues and just regular old folks on the street is that he was one of the good guys in the industry. Negron was a personality that I always welcomed when he'd pop up in a flick I was watching. He also carried with him the (positive) baggage of nostalgia because I recognized him so early on in my movie watching life that just appearing in a film or show was like a warm blanket for me.
My thoughts will be with Mr. Negron's friends, family and fans.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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