Kim Mitchell: Shakin’ like a human being

The look is as distinctive as the music – a navy blue Ontario Provincial Police hat covering stringy long hair, to go with a t-shirt and jeans.

Much like other Canadian musicians of the era, Kim Mitchell really was not about the flash. It was substance over style.

Although he may have cut his teeth with the band Max Webster, and had his first solo success with the song “Go for Soda”, my first encounters with Kim Mitchell were on his epic album “Shakin’ Like a Human Being” in 1986.

It yielded a bunch of songs, that all came to mind when I read it is Kim Mitchell’s birthday today.

In the beginning
Kim Mitchell formed Max Webster in 1972 in Toronto, and yielded hit singles in Canada such as “Let Go the Line”, which reached number 39. They were inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2023.

Kim Mitchell went solo in 1982, and released his first solo album, “Akimbo Alogo” in 1984. It yielded his first hit single, “Go For Soda”, which peaked at number 22 in Canada and number one on the Cancon chart. It was the only single Mitchell charted in the States, going all the way to number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and number 12 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It appeared in a Season 2 episode of “Miami Vice” as well. “Akimbo Alogo” also had the song “All We Are”, which went to number 79 in Canada and number 10 on the Cancon chart.

For his efforts he won the Juno for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year in 1983.

Kim Mitchell came to Lethbridge in 1985 or the first part of 1986, when I was in Grade 11 anyway, and played at the Sportsplex. I remember the commercials for the concert focusing on “Go For Soda” and “All We Are”.

The success of “Akimbo Alogo” set the stage for his breakout album.

Not a leaf
When Kim Mitchell was asked about the title of the album “Shakin’ Like a Human Being” he released in 1986, he referred to the saying “shaking like a leaf”, and said “shaking like a human being” was more serious.

I recalled hearing the phrase in a song from one of his next albums, and thought that odd. Wikipedia reveals the title “Shakin’ Like a Human Being” does come from the song “I Am a Wild Party”, which came out on his live album “I Am a Wild Party” in 1990.

“Shakin’ Like a Human Being” would go on to win the Juno for Album of the Year in 1987.

The singles
“Shakin’ Like a Human Being” yielded songs that stayed on the radio for more than a year, obviously due in part to Canadian content regulations.

He led off with “Patio Lanterns”, a song that paints vivid pictures with imagery. It is an iconic Canadian song now, that peaked at number 12 in Canada and number one on the Cancon charts.

The second single was “Alana Loves Me”, a song I just could not get out of my head in the summer of 1986. I just love the chorus, and distinctly remember where I was when first hearing it. I was taking driver’s ed the summer of 1986 in Lethbridge and staying at my sister’s place. Back then, one of the channels on the cable TV package played a local radio station, and that’s where I heard “Alana Loves Me”. I did not get the name of the song for awhile, because deejays didn’t always announce the names of songs.

“Alana Loves Me”, peaked at number 31 in Canada, and number four on the Cancon charts.

Next up was “Easy to Tame”, another song me and my best friend Chris Vining used to sing at class change in Grade 12 down the halls of Kate Andrews High School in Coaldale. We especially harped on the opening line, “What am I doing to make you so sad…”

“Easy to Tame” peaked at number 32 in Canada and number two on the Cancon charts.

Mitchell slowed things down with “In Your Arms”, the fourth and final single from “Shakin’ Like a Human Being”. It went to 97 in Canada and did not place on the Cancon chart.

Rockland
As the decade closed, Kim Mitchell released the album “Rockland” in 1989, yielding two more radio hits.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Duty” peaked at number seven in Canada and number one on the Cancon chart, while “Rockland Wonderland” peaked at number 10 in Canada, but did not chart anywhere else.

The years after
Kim Mitchell keeps on writing, recording and performing to this day. A friend of mine I grew up with actually just saw him play in Taber a few weeks ago, and he even had a chance to meet him.

Mitchell released songs such as “Expedition Sailor”, which peaked at number 20 in Canada; live versions of “All We Are”, reaching number 73 and “I am a Wild Party”, hitting number 43; “Find the Will”, peaking at number 28; “America”, reaching number three; “Some Folks”, hitting number 16; and much more.

He won the Juno for Male Vocalist of the Year in 1990, and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020.

Parting thoughts
The 1980s had a definite Canadian music scene. Some of the artists experienced international success while others such as Blue Rodeo, the Tragically Hip, Luba and Kim Mitchell were very popular at home, but just never caught on the States.

It really is their loss.

Kim Mitchell, especially with the hits from his second album “Shakin’ Like a Human Being” were special. They told great stories, often about Canadian themes, and really resonated with me.

Perhaps what I will always remember about Kim Mitchell was that every time I saw him, he always just seemed to be having a good time.

That just made us all listening to him have a good time too.

We need more of that today.

Sean Connery: Leaving Bond behind – mostly

Sean Connery in the movie "The Untouchables" in 1987.

Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094226/mediaviewer/rm593762816/

(May be subject to copyright)

He is a decorated actor with a long list of accomplishments. Yet, as the 1980s opened, Sean Connery was best known for a role he hadn’t played for a few years, which another actor was currently occupying.

At the dawn of the decade, Connery was best known as the first real, big screen James Bond, that spy in the British secret service with a licence to kill.

As the decade progressed, Sean Connery would leave James Bond behind, with a series of memorable performances in a variety of films.

The years before
Sean Connery, had his first big-screen role in 1954, an uncredited turn in “Lilacs in the Spring”. His first movie as James Bond was “Dr. No”, in 1962. He followed that up with “From Russia With Love” in 1963 and “Goldfinger” in 1964. The first time I saw him was doing battle with Oddjob and flirting with Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger”.

He was back as Bond again in 1965 in “Thunderball”; “You Only Live Twice” in 1967; and “Diamonds are Forever” in 1971, which was his last turn as James Bond – or so we thought.

Connery had also been in other movies including “A Fine Madness”; “The Molly Maguires”; “The Anderson Tapes”; “Murder on the Orient Express”; “The Man Who Would be King”; “Robin and Marian”; “A Bridge Too Far”; “The First Great Train Robbery” and “Meteor”.

Dawn of the Decade
His first movie of the ‘80s was “Outland” in 1981, where he plays a new marshal at a mining colony on Jupiter seeking to uncover the truth and root out criminals.

He followed that up with “Time Bandits” in 1982, where a boy goes on an adventure through time with a band of thieves. Connery played King Agmemnon.

Next, he was in “Five Days One Summer” and “Wrong is Right”, both in 1982.

Then something strange happened.

Familiar Face
In 1983, the producers of the James Bond franchise were readying to release “Octopussy”, the latest movie starring Roger Moore as the secret agent.

Then there was word, another James Bond movie was coming out – with Sean Connery back as Bond. It seems, there was some issue over the copyright of “Thunderball”, so it was available to be made again. Connery was cast and “Never Say Never Again”, a reference to him never playing Bond again, came out in 1983.

The movie season was billed as the “Battle of the Bonds”

It would be Sean Connery’s last turn as Bond. Interestingly, when he started playing the secret agent, Bond creator Ian Fleming was still alive. He said Connery looked exactly like what Fleming had imagined Bond to look like except for a scar on his face.

There can be only one
It is a movie that has become a cult classic, but in 1986 was anything but that. After Connery had appeared in “Sword of the Valiant” in 1984, he appeared in “Highlander”.

It is a movie that I went to in the theatre with my friends David Perlich, Michael Kozbial, and Mathew Ebner. There were 13 other people in the theatre. We knew because we counted.

Yet, we like “Highlander”, and I still do.

Christopher Lambert plays Connor MacLeod, an immortal, who was born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th Century, and has live several lives since then. Earth is filled with several of these immortals. When there is only one left, they will receive a reward beyond all imagining. The only way to kill an immortal is to cut their head off. Connery plays Ramirez, another immortal, who trains MacLeod to protect himself when he initially discovers he is immortal. That comes when MacLeod is attacked by another immortal named Kurgan.

There would be sequels and a TV show that really butchered the story, but we all really liked the original “Highlander”.

Success
That role in “Highlander” was the first of what became a renaissance for Sean Connery in his 50s.

His next film, also in 1986, was “Name of the Rose”, where Connery played a Franciscan monk trying to solve a murder in an abbey

He then achieved his greatest success to date. Based on the popular 1960s TV series, “The Untouchables” came out in 1987. Kevin Costner plays Eliot Ness, a Bureau Of Prohibition Agent. He takes on organized crime and Al Capone, played by Robert DeNiro, who was selling illegal booze during Prohibition in the 1930s. Connery played Jim Malone, a veteran cop who helps Ness take down Capone.

For his efforts, Connery won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the role. He also won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture.

“The Untouchables” breathed new life into Connery’s career.

His next role was in 1988 in “The Presidio”. He plays the head of an army base, who clashes with a San Francisco police detective, played by Mark Harmon, over the murder investigation of a soldier and two police officers.

The movie was panned by critics, but I have yet to see it to judge for myself.

Connery was brilliantly cast in his next role in 1989 as Henry Jones, the father of Indiana Jones, in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. The chemistry between Connery and Harrison Ford is instant. They portray all the complexity that exists in a father-son relationship from affection and love, to annoyance, irritation and the struggle for independence by the son. For his efforts, Connery was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture.

He closed out the decade in 1989 with “Family Business”, where he plays the head of a crime family opposite Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick.

The years after
Sean Connery continued to do great work in the succeeding decades including “The Hunt for Red October”; “The Russia House”; “Highlander II: The Quickening”; “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”; “Medicine Man”: “Rising Sun”; “A Good Man in Africa”; “Just Cause”; “First Knight”; providing his voice for “Dragonheart”; “The Rock”; “The Avengers”; “Playing by Heart”; “Entrapment”; and “Finding Forrester”.

“The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” was his final on-screen role, in 2003.

He in 2006, after receiving the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He came out of retirement briefly for just one more film, lending his voice to “Sir Billi” in 2012.

Sean Connery died in 2020.

He was 90 years old.

Question and answer
In junior high, I took a computer science class using Apple II computers. One of our assignments was to create a trivia game. The structure was multiple choice questions with four possible answers.

I borrowed my cousin’s box of “Trivial Pursuit” questions for material. The question I remember best, because at the time no one seemed to get it right was: What actor has a tattoo of “Scotland Forever” on his right arm?

Sean Connery

Parting thoughts
For people of a certain age, Sean Connery will always be synonymous with James Bond. Even Bond’s creator Ian Fleming thought Connery was right for the role.

Yet, he did so much more after that.

What really kick-started the best part of his career was that Oscar and Golden Globe-winning role in “The Untouchables”.

It happened in he ‘80s and it finally meant Sean Connery had left James Bond behind.

Batman: Remembering the summer of 1989

It may have been one of the most hyped movies of the year. Early trailers started out simply enough. When other movie trailers played bits of their story, all this one had was a plane hurtling around in the night. The screen would dissolve to black and all that would appear was a stylized “Batman” logo. Later, as the premier got closer, we would get a bigger glimpse into what the world of Gotham City was like.

The much anticipated film came out in the Summer of 1989. It was visually stunning, and beautifully acted by Michael Keaton in the title role and especially by Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

The movie had a lot to offer, and I saw it more than once that summer.

Movie buddies
The summer of 1989 would be my first in Edmonton. I was living in residence and taking classes in spring and summer sessions.

Soon after it started, I started hanging out with two guys – Bruce Freadrich and Larry Irla – who I had worked with the preceding school year. We did a lot of stuff together, Maragarita Mondays and Wing Wednesdays at Campus Earl’s; rented movies; went out for supper – and went to movies.

One of the ones I remember distinctly was “Batman”, which came out in the middle of June.

There was a lot of hype about “Batman” for more than a year, so it was kind of a relief it was finally here, and Bruce, Larry and I went to see it.

It did not disappoint.

There had been some debate over whether Michael Keaton was the right choice for Batman, and I thought he was excellent. There was no question Jack Nicholson would do a good job as The Joker, and he was absolutely outstanding. He exceeded expectations is if that was possible.

They put on a great movie, that I will always remember for the number of quotable moments.

It was also visually stunning to watch. The photography is amazing, with that German expressionist sensibility of shadows, light and dark, diagonal lines, and stark contrasts. The Batmobile was as powerful and intimidating as it should be, the Batplane was sleek and stylized, and the Batcave fit perfectly into this world.

“Batman” was a movie I could watch without sound and still enjoy because it was so visually rich. In fact, I did just that. Maybe a year after the movie came out, I was at Room At The Top, or RATT, a bar on campus at the University of Alberta. I was hanging out with some friends and noticed “Batman” was playing on one of the TVs. Obviously, with music playing and people talking, hearing the movie was not possible. Yet, I found myself looking ove to the TV regularly, instantly knowing what was happening, and enjoying the sights of “Batman” all over again.

The performances of everyone else were also top notch from Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale, to Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, and Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon.

Quotable
For the rest of the summer, every week, Bruce and I would dwell on another quote from “Batman”.

We went from, “You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?” to “Never rub another man’s rhubarb” to “This town needs an enema.”

I always joked the last quote we used was the best:

“I’m Batman.”

I went home to the farm at the end of that summer for a week, and went to see “Batman” in Lethbridge with my high-school friend Shawn Kingston. There, I found myself mouthing those lines as we watched the movie. That was the last time I ever saw Shawn too.

The other interesting thing was that Prince did the soundtrack for “Batman”.

Classic Caped Crusader
Leading up to seeing the movie, Bruce rented the old “Batman” movie from the ‘60s. I had seen it twice as a boy, and really liked it. Adam West was Batman and Burt Ward was Robin. The movie featured a good chunk of the classic villains ganging up on Batman and Robin, utilizing a weapon that literally dehydrates people into piles of granules. In this case, the people can be rehydrated, because the show was campy and not as dark as the movie would be.

The Joker was played by Cesar Romero; the Penguin by Burgess Meredith; the Riddler by Frank Gorshin; and Catwoman by Lee Meriweather.

When I first saw the movie, which came out in 1966, I did not realize it would lead to a TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968, for three seasons and 120 episodes.

When I was in Grade 11, CBC Channel 9 on the peasant vision dial started airing on Sunday mornings a show called “Switchback” hosted by a radio deejay named Humble Howard. He played music videos, had interviews and every week played an old episode of “Batman”. I was able to see a couple but going to church meant I missed a chunk of the show – the part with the “Batman” episode. Often, I would get home from church and see the last few minutes of it, but that was it.

Something I started doing, because I loved keeping records, was writing down the different villains each week, often played by interesting actors. I recall in particular Liberace and John Astin.

After the dawn of DVDs, I bought the 1966 “Batman” movie and the first season of the series. I went over to my sister’s right after one of the Christian Bale “Batman” movies came out, and watched the 1966 “Batman” as a prelude.

The rest of the story
Michael Keaton played the Caped Crusader again in the 1992 sequel “Batman Returns”. He was replaced by Val Kilmer for “Batman Forever” in 1995, who was replaced by George Clooney for “Batman and Robin” in 1997.

Parting thoughts
It was a big deal when “Batman” came out in the summer of ’89, because of all the hype and advanced publicity. I have to say the movie delivered, especially the cinematography and that chilling performance by Jack Nicholson as The Joker. He was funny and sarcastic, but also chilling, ruthless, and lethal, all in equal measure. For his performance, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor Musical or Comedy.

Michael Keaton was also good. Up to that point, he had played characters that were rarely serious, and often sarcastic, constantly cracking jokes, and even a bit ridiculous. That was probably why people were a bit concerned about his casting as Batman. Yet, Keaton showed he could be serious. He was intense, understated, quiet, and just as lethal as The Joker. Keaton showed he could act, and has turned in several very good, dramatic performances since.

Yet, as great as the acting, story and cinematography were, what makes “Batman” hold a special place in my heart, is the role it played in my friendships that summer. Its quotes were a rallying cry, and inside joke, and one of those things that make a relationship a friendship.

I can still see Bruce Freadrich grab me by the lapel, look me square in the eye, and mutter:

“I’m Batman.”

Paul Simon: One of the greatest songwriters of all time

“If you can be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal…”

It started with this song, but then he told us about him and Julio down by the schoolyard, and invited us to Graceland.

Up until that point, he was best known as part of an amazing duo that had broken up in the ‘70s.

However, the ‘80s were really when Paul Simon came into his own. Or at least that’s when I came to know him.

As it turns out, I had heard some of his solo stuff before, then a bunch of that amazing music he made with Art Garfunkel.

Paul Simon came across my newsfeed the other day, and instantly my mind went back to him singing with Chevy Chase in a pretty cool music video.

Call me Al
Because I really got into music in 1984, although I had been listening since about 1982, there were some big gaps in my knowledge. A large gap happened to be one of the best-selling duos of all time.

When I heard Paul Simon put out a new album, I quickly discovered he was the “Simon” in Simon and Garfunkel. However, I really couldn’t tell you off the top of my head any of the songs they recorded.

So, my introduction to Paul Simon came in 1986, when he released the album “Graceland”, which I learned was actually his seventh studio album. The first single was called “You Can Call me Al”, and I liked it. Listening to various radio stations informed me Simon had been influenced by South African rhythms and “You Can Call me Al” definitely had that sound. What I remember most vividly was the music video. Chevy Chase, who is a foot taller than Paul Simon and towers over him, lip syncs Paul Simon while Paul Simon lip syncs the background vocals.

“You Can Call me Al” went all the way to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Graceland
The album also produced a number of other great singles that I recall vividly, although they didn’t seem to chart that well.

The next single was the title track “Graceland”, which peaked at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100. That was followed by “Boy in the Bubble”, which went to number 86, and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” which did not even chart.

However, in 1987 “Graceland” won the Grammy for Album of the Year and earned Simon a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In 1988, the single “Graceland” won Simon the Grammy for Record of the Year and a nomination for Song of the Year. Wikipedia reveals it was the lowest-charting song on any of the world music charts to win Record of the Year until 2009.

History lesson
When I was still on the farm, I think after my first year of university, there was this show on TV that was counting down the greatest songs of all time. The top song sounded so beautiful, and I faintly recognized it, but couldn’t tell you what it was or who sang it.

It was “Bridge Over Troubled Water”.

That Fall, I went back to university and lived on the Fifth Floor of Kelsey Hall. When I was on 5K, I recall borrowing from my floormate Lorne Zaparniuk, his copy of Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits. That’s when I discovered the musical stylings of one of the greatest folk duos of all time. I even recorded “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on a tape I was making. Incidentally, “Deep Cuts the Knife” by Helix was another song I recorded that I had borrowed from Lorne.

Anyway, that greatest hits tape introduced me to Simon and Garfunkel’s songs, and made me realize I had heard others many times before.

Those songs included “The Sound of Silence”, which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart; “Homeward Bound”, which reached number five; “I am a Rock”, which hit number three; “Scarborough Fair”, which peaked at number 11; “Mrs. Robinson”, which went all the way to number one; “The Boxer”, which reached number seven; “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, which peaked at number one; “Cecilia”, which hit number four; “America”, which went to number 97; and others.

In October of 1988, I went on a student leadership retreat, and recall singing “Cecilia” around the fire led by my newfound friend Michel Despins.

Solo sensation
Over time, I also came to know the rest of Paul Simon’s solo career, and some of the songs from those first six solo albums.

Some of those songs, dating back to 1965, were “Mother and Child Reunion”, which went all the way to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart; “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, which reached number 22; “Kodachrome”, which hit number two; “Loves Me Like a Rock”, which also peaked at number two; “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”, which was Simon’s first solo number one single, and one of the most clever songs I have ever heard; “Slip Slidin’ Away”, which went all the way to number five; and “Late in the Evening”, which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

Paul Simon retired from touring in 2018, but continues to record music. He released his latest album in 2023.

He has also twice been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1990 as part of Simon and Garfunkel, and in 2001 as a solo performer.

Parting thoughts
Listening to some of Paul Simon’s songs, both with Art Garfunkel and by himself, has just reminded me of how great a songwriter and musician he truly is.

I have always believed folk music is about telling stories, and Paul Simon’s lyrics paint some great pictures, especially with Simon and Garfunkel. What is really interesting to me is how much success and how popular their music was in such a relatively short period of time. In fact, they only released 21 singles in total.

When Paul Simon went solo, he branched out into other types of music such as gospel, soul and reggae.

I read he was named one of the 100 People Who Shaped the World by “Time” magazine, and number eight on the list of 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time by “Rolling Stone” magazine.

He has definitely earned the honours.

Remembering “Knight Rider”

“One man can make a difference”

That was the mission of Michael Knight, who was tasked with taking down criminals who “were above the law”.

Using his computerized car, the Knight Industries Two Thousand, or KITT, Michael pursued bad guys for four seasons and 90 episodes on “Knight Rider”.

Recently, that magical car, the 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, appeared on my newsfeed, and it took me back to a time where I waited impatiently every week to watch the adventures of Michael Knight and KITT.

Long day into Knight
The pilot for “Knight Rider” aired in September of 1982 when I was just starting Grade 8. It was an amazing movie, because I really did not know what was going to happen.

Michael Long is a police detective who is double crossed, shot in the face, and left for dead. He is found by a mysterious organization that not only saves his life but, because he is disfigured, performs plastic surgery giving him a new face and new identity.

Enter David Hasselhoff.

The cast of the drama "Knight Rider. Clockwise from top left

are David Hasselhoff; Edward Mulhare; and Patricia McPherson.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/knightriderclassicpage

(May be subject to copyright)

Michael Long has become Michael Knight, and he is under the protection of Knight Industries, founded by Wilton Knight. He is played by Richard Basehart, and creates a crime-fighting organization to go after criminals who act above the law. He enlists Michael to be his lead agent in that endeavour. Michael’s liaison is Devon Miles, played by Edward Mulhare, who takes over after Wilton Knight’s death. Michael has also been given a new car, the Knight Industries Two Thousand, or KITT.

More than a car, it has a personality of its own, and KITT becomes a character in the show, whose voice is provided by William Daniels. Interestingly, he was the voice of KITT at the same time he played Dr. Mark Craig on “St. Elsewhere”.

A state-of-the-art computer, KITT provides information in a pre-Internet world, but also has functions such as x-rays. In one episode, KITT discovers the remains of someone in the ground through x-ray, information that proves useful to Michael. In addition to the onboard computer, KITT also has “turbo boost”. When Michael hits the button, the car can go really fast.

KITT has one other feature, that comes into play in the pilot. Ultimately, Michael Knight’s first mission involves the same woman, played Phyllis Davis, who betrayed Michael Long, seemingly leading to his death. When he first meets KITT, he touches the exterior and asks, “Why does it feel like a baby’s skin?”

It turns out to be the state-of-the-art, bullet-proof skin, that makes KITT virtually indestructible. Well, when Michael confronts the woman, and she discovers who he really is, she has him at gunpoint. He is sitting inside KITT. He warns her not to shoot. Of course, she does not believe him. She fires. The bullet ricochets off the window and kills her.

Karma is a bitch.

From that point on, Michael is assigned his regular missions by Devon Miles. There is a third member of the team, an engineer who understands the inner working of KITT and keeps him humming. Initially it is Dr. Bonnie Barstow, played by Patricia McPherson. In the second season it is April Curtis played by Rebecca Holden; then Barstow returns for the third and fourth seasons.

Nemesis
One of my outstanding memories of “Knight Rider” is the two nemesis of Michael and KITT. We eventually discover Wilton Knight had a son. He appears, and is not a very nice guy. What makes him look more evil is that Michael Knight is an exact double of Garthe Knight, who is also played by David Hasselhoff, but sports a demonic goatee. He also drives Goliath, a massive semi truck, that is computerized like KITT, providing a formidable adversary.

We also meet the Knight Automated Roving Robot, or KARR, which is the precursor to KITT. He too is computerized, talks and is out for revenge.

Times change
“Knight Rider” debuted in September of 1982, when I was just starting Grade 8. It aired that first season on Channel 7 on the peasant vision dial, and I watched every episode religiously.

For its second season and beyond, right until its conclusion in 1986, it moved to Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial, on Sunday nights at 7 p.m. I believe.

It had a big impact on me. Unlike my classmates who loved the car, I loved the story line of a man on a mission, solving crimes, stopping bad guys, and making the world a better place. “Knight Rider” even has some influence on my own writing.

In fact, in Grade 9, we had to do a project. I believe it was designing a car or some such. My teacher was Mr. Ron Chmielewski. I decided to design a car I called the “Vogt Industries Two Hundred”, or VITH. Yes, it was a cheap knock-off of KITT. However, I am pretty sure my teacher had no idea what I was talking about, because he wrote as much on my assignment when he handed it back.

However, a few days later, someone called out to me, and Mr. Chmieleswki called out, “You mean the president of Vogt Industries?” At least he got part of it – maybe.

By Grade 10, as “Knight Rider” entered its third season, I began to get into other things. There was my Commodore 64 and playing and even designing video games; then music, which I really got into the Fall of 1984.

I watched “Knight Rider” less and less.

That reached a crescendo in the final season of the show when, in Grade 11, my friends started getting their licences and I started going out more and more while, simultaneously, getting interested in girls.

I am not sure I even saw an episode in the fourth season of “Knight Rider”, and I definitely have no idea how it ended or what the last episode was.

“Knight Rider” ran from 1982 to 1986 for four seasons and 90 episodes. I own all four seasons on DVD as well.

The rest of the story
Re-boots and updates are not new. They have been going on for decades, but in the ‘80s and ‘90s they were called reunion movies more than anything.

My parents moved off the farm in the first part of 1991, and retired to Lethbridge. I visited in March for the first time and immediately fell in love with the new house. One of the biggest reasons was, after a lifetime of peasant vision, my parents had cable TV. That made coming home after university a much easier choice.

It was in May of 1991, just a month or so after moving to my new home in Lethbridge, I read in the “TV Times” in the “Lethbridge Herald” there was a reunion movie coming up.

It was called “Knight Rider 2000”, and starred Davis Hasselhoff.

The movie was can’t miss television, and my Mom and I tuned in. It was set in the year 2000 which, as hard as that is to believe now, was the near future. All I really remember is that KITT is going to be taken apart and studied to make a better version of the car. Michael was angry, ultimately took KITT’s inner workings and installed them in an antique car Michael had been working on, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

Parting thoughts
“Knight Rider” would be re-worked and re-imagined a few times, the last being the made-for –television movie “Knight Rider” in 2008. It served as the pilot for another “Knight Rider” series that ran from 2008 to 2009, which focused on Michael Knight’s estranged son. I watched it, and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the same.

“Knight Rider” was David Hasselhoff and William Daniels, working as a team to take down people who acted like they were above the law. For me, it was never about the cool car, it was about the story and the characters.

So, whenever I think of “Knight Rider”, I really think of that pilot movie in 1982 and hearing Richard Basehart declaring “One man can make a difference”.

Katherine Helmond: From Jessica Tate to Mona Robinson and more

Katherine Helmond, at left, with her co-star Tony Danza in the sitcom "Who's the Boss?".

Source: https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/katherine-helmond-dead-dies-whos-the-boss-1203153175/

(May be subject to copyright)

Nothing defines the density of Jessica Tate better than the following conversation she had with her nephew Jodie Dallas about him being gay.

He told her some very famous people were gay, including Plato.

She got very serious, looked her nephew squarely in the eye and said:

“You mean Mickey Mouse’s dog is gay.”

It was just one of the priceless moments in the groundbreaking sitcom “Soap”, where Katherine Helmond played Jessica Tate.

That role was just coming to an end as the ‘80s started, but Katherine Helmond would soon be back with another memorable character, although this one was not just another incarnation of Jessica Tate.

It is Katherine Helmond’s birthday today, and a good chance to look back at her career, which really got rolling in the ‘80s.

Jessica Tate
Looking back, I am still quite surprised my Mom let me watch “Soap”. From the time it started, I got to watch it pretty much every Thursday night on Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial, right after “Live it Up”. It had a lot of adult themes that I still vividly remember,. It addressed all sorts of issues such as homosexuality, when that was still pretty much a taboo; celibacy; the Catholic church; cults; infidelity; and a lot more. Having not really seen soap operas before, I didn’t really appreciate the way “Soap” also spoofed the daytime drama with plot lines on alien abduction; demonic possession; infidelity; sex; and others.

Through it all, Katherine Helmond was brilliant as Jessica Tate. The show started each episode with the narrator explaining “Soap” was the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell, who was also brilliantly played by Cathryn Damon. Everything emanated out of their families.

Jessica was much better off financially than Mary, who was very blue collar. Jessica was rich, lived in a mansion, and had a butler. First it was Benson, until he got his own show, then Saunders. Jessica was a ditz, and made some poor choices, as soap opera characters do, such as having affairs. However, she was kind, sweet and vulnerable at heart. She, in particular, had a relationship with Benson that was more like family then employer and employee. That was evidenced when she called on him to return to rescue her son Billy from the clutches of a cult.

She was so ditzy, it made for some really funny moments. In the first season, she was having an affair with her tennis pro Peter Campbell, played by Robert Urich. After an afternoon quickie, he made a comment about them “boffing” as they got dressed. Jessica just laughed and couldn’t stop using the word. She said her husband Chester wouldn’t even knew what it meant, so she could say, “I boffed”, and he wouldn’t blink an eye. It kind of went on and on, and was pretty funny.

Because of that blend of sensitivity, comedy, vulnerability and everything else that made Jessica Tate, Katherine Helmond was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981, all four years “Soap” was on the air. She also won a Golden Globe in 1980 for Best Actress Television Series Musical or Comedy.

“Soap” lasted four seasons and ran a total of 85 episodes.

The years before
Katherine Helmond brought a lot of experience to “Soap” in both film and television. Her first movie was “Wine of Morning” in 1955; and she would have a few roles including one in “The Hindenburg” in 1975.

Her television career began in 1962 with a guest role in “Car 54, Where Are You?”; and went on to episodes of “Gunsmoke”; “The F.B.I.”; “Adam’s Rib”; “The Bob Newhart Show”; “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”, a TV movie; “The Snoop Sisters”; “Hec Ramsey”; “Mannix”; “Medical Center”; “The Rookies”; “The Legend of Lizzie Borden”, a TV movie; “Barnaby Jones”; “Harry-O”; “The Six Million Dollar Man”; “The Blue Knight”; “Petrocelli”; “Joe Forrester”; “Visions”; “Spencer’s Pilots”; “The Bionic Woman”; and more.

The in-between time
After her run on “Soap” ended, Helmond reprised the role of Jessica Tate for an episode of “Benson”; had guest spots in “The Love Boat”, “Faerie Theatre”, and “Fantasy Island”; as well as roles in a number of TV movies such as “Scout’s Honor”, ”For Lovers Only”, “Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story”; and the miniseries “World War III”.

Things would change again when Helmond landed another defining role in her career.

Mona Robinson
The premise of “Who’s the Boss?” is simple. Tony Micelli, played by Tony Danza, is an ex-baseball player, widowed with a young daughter, Sam, played by Alyssa Milano. He goes to work as a live-in housekeeper in Connecticut, for Angela Bower, played by Judith Light, who is divorced with a son. The comedy flows from there.

Helmond played Mona Robinson, Angela’s mother. Mona is nothing like Jessica Tate. She is also kind and sensitive, but is sly, clever, and foxy. She is the cool grandma for Jonathan Bower, played by Danny Pintauro.

“Who’s the Boss?” ran eight seasons, from 1984 to 1992, for a total of 196 episodes. For her efforts, Helmond won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 1989, and was nominated for another Golden Globe in the same category in 1986. She was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1988 and 1989.

Helmond was in a number of films in the ‘80s as well, including “Time Bandits”, in 1981; “Brazil”, in 1985, where her face was stretched beyond measure; “Overboard”, in 1987 opposite Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn; and more.

The years after
Katherine Helmond kept right on acting, after the end of “Who’s the Boss?”

After a number of television movies, she would land two more memorable roles.

She played Doris Sherman in 19 episodes of “Coach” from 1995 to 1997, as the owner of the professional team Hayden Fox and Luther Van Dam work for. She was also Luther’s love interest.

Helmond also played Lois Whelan in 14 episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond” from 1996 to 2004. Lois was Debra Barone’s mother, that is Ray Barone’s mother-in-law. For her efforts, Helmond won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Appearance in a Comedy Series in 2002.

She would have guest roles in “Providence”; “Strong Medicine”; “The Tony Danza Show”, reprising her role as Mona Robinson; “The Glades”; “Melissa and Joey”; “True Blood”; “Harry’s Law”; and some television movies.

Her last role on TV was in 2012, providing her voice for an episode of “Cars Toons: Mater’s Tall Tales”.

She was also in films such as “Amore!”; “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”; “Beethoven’s Fifth”; voiced three “Cars” cartoons; and more. Her last film role was in “Frank and Ava” in 2018, a biographical drama on the lives of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner.

Katherine Helmond died in 2019 from Alzheimer Disease.

She was 89 years old.

Parting thoughts
There may not be two characters much more different than Jessica Tate and Mona Robinson, yet Katherine Helmond played them both so very well. Doris Sherman and Lois Whelan were two different characters yet again.

She was recognized with awards and nominations for three of these characters, proving she was not an actor who was typecast into a particular kind of role.

Her greatest strength was her comic timing and ability to communicate so much without saying a word. It could be Jessica Tate with an utterly confused look on her face, or Mona Robinson with that knowing glance, telling us she knew something no one else did – and it was good.

Looking back, Katherine Helmond was a big part of my viewing habits in the first half of the 1980s, and for good reason – she was a great actress.

Christina Applegate: From “Heart of the City” to “Married With Children” and more

Christina Applegate, at left, with co-star Jonathan Ward, in the 1986-1987 television series "Heart of the City."

Source: Facebook/Lethbridge Historical Society

(May be subject to copyright)

She will forever be the ditzy blonde daughter of Al and Peggy Bundy on “Married With Children”. That may have been how she got her start. However, to me, Christina Applegate will be the daughter of a police detective struggling to balance his job with raising two teenaged children after his wife is murdered.

Today, I read that Applegate, who has been stricken with Multiple Sclerosis, has a bucket list and plans to start ticking items off it with the time she has left. She was also clear she does not know how much time that is, because she has not been.

Troubled daughter
When I was in Grade 12, so the 1986-1987 TV season, a show debuted on Channel 7 of the peasant vision dial that really caught my attention. It was one of the first shows I recall about a police detective that did not begin and end with him solving the case, nor him at work down at the police station. “Heart of the City” had all that, but it also focused on the home life of a detective who was raising two teenagers, a son and daughter, after their mother is murdered.

Christina Applegate played daughter Robin Kennedy, while Robert Desiderio played father Wes Kennedy and Jonathan Ward played son Kevin Kennedy. What I will always remember is how rebellious Robin seemed. She always looked so angry.

I distinctly remember making a point of watching the show Saturday nights, but it only lasted that one season for a total of 13 episodes.

For her efforts, Applegate won a Young Artist Award in 1987 for “Heart of the City” for Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress in a New Television Series.

Applegate brought a decent resumé to her role as Robin Kennedy. Her career would really take off in the late ‘80s propelling her to success in the decades beyond.

The years before
Christina Applegate got her start as a child actor, at the age of three months to be exact, on the daytime soap opera “Days Of Our Lives” in 1972.

She had her first actual child role nine years later in an episode of “Father Murphy” in 1982. She played a young Grace Kelly in the biopic “Grace Kelly” in 1983, and had guest spots in “Charles in Charge”; a 10-episode stint in “Washingtoon” in 1985; and guest spots in 1986 in “Silver Spoons”; “All is Forgiven’; and “Still the Beaver”; and in 1987 in “Amazing Stories”; and “Family Ties”.

Her career changed dramatically in 1987.

Kelly Bundy
Christina Applegate landed the role of ditzy Kelly Bundy on the FOX comedy “Married…With Children”, a show that seemed to go against the grain of comedy of the time. Not only was Kelly a ditz, but promiscuous and clueless about that, causing potential problems.

I would not actually see an episode of “Married…With Children” until the summer of 1990, when it was back to back with “The Simpsons”, another popular show I had seen just once. “Married…With Children” really didn’t resonate with me at all.

It found an audience though, because “Married…With Children” ran for 11 seasons from 1987 to 1997 for a total of 259 episodes.

For her efforts Applegate was nominated for a Young Artist Award in 1988 for Best Young Actress Starring in a New Television Comedy Series; and won a Young Artist Award in 1989 for Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Comedy Series.

As the ‘80s ended, Christina Applegate was just beginning, and had a stellar career that would contiune to this day had Multiple Sclerosis not derailed it.

The years after
Applegate would find success in both film and TV.

She appeared in movies such as “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture; “Wild Bill”, a biographical drama about the last days of western lawman Wild Bill Hickok; “Mars Attacks!”; “The Big Hit”; “Wonderland”; “Just Visiting”; “View from the Top”; “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”; “Wake up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie”; “Employee of the Month”; “Going the Distance”; “Hall Pass”; “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”; “Vacation’; and much more.

She earned much critical acclaim with her work on television.

She appeared in an episode of “21 Jump Street”; as well as guest spots in “Highlander”; “Mad TV”; and “Pauly”; was the title character in “Jesse” for 42 episodes, where she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy; and had a guest spot in “Friends“, where she won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and was nominated a second time.

Applegate was in “Samantha Who?” for 35 episodes as well. That was a great show, garnering her Emmy award nominations in 2008 and 2009 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and Golden Globe nominations in 2008 and 2009 for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.

She appeared in 35 episodes of “Up All Night”; was in eight episodes of “So You Think You Can Dance”; had gust spots in “Web Therapy” and “The Grinder”; and much more.

Applegate was also in 30 episodes of “Dead to Me”, where she was nominated in 2019, 2020 and 2023 for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and an Emmy in 2020 for Outstanding Comedy Series. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe in 2020 for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.

On November 14, 2022 Christina Applegate was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2023, she announced because of her illness she probably would no longer act on camera, but would be open to voice work.

Parting thoughts
Early on it was obvious that Christina Applegate could act. In “Haert of the City”, she was rebellious and angry, trying to channel the pain and hurt of losing her mother, while in “Married…With Children”, she was a ditz and could not be taken seriously. You could not see two more diametrically opposed roles.

Another tribute to her talent is the fact that, after 11 seasons and 259 episodes as Kelly Bundy, she was not typecast. Instead, she continued exploring new and different roles that attracted a lot of attention and earned her a bunch of Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

It is too bad her Multiple Sclerosis forced her from acting in front of the camera, because she had so much more to give.

Yet, at the same time, it is a good time to look back on a career, that went from “Heart of the City” to “Married…With Children” and so much more.

Cruising through high school with the Cars

The '80s band the Cars, from left are Greg Hawkes; David Robinson; Ric Ocasek; Benjamin Orr; and Elliot Easton.

Source: https://www.liveabout.com/8-cars-songs-of-the-80s-10158

(May be subject to copyright)

It was Grade 10 and I was in Materials 10, a woodworking, metal and clay class when I first really heard about The Cars. Devin Burr, one of my classmates, was singing, “You might think I’m crazy” and making, well, crazy eyes as he moved his head from side to side to the music.

That was the Fall of 1984 and I was just really getting into music. That song sounded familiar, as I had heard it before. However, it may have been that night, or soon after, that I actually paid attention to that song when it came on to the radio.

It was “You Might Think” by The Cars.

They appeared on my newsfeed earlier, reminding me of so much about the band.

The end is the beginning
What would turn out to be the last few albums by the Cars would be the first ones I heard.

Heartbeat City
It started with “Heartbeat City”, which came out in 1984 and yielded several hits. As it turns out, “You Might Think” was the first single from “Heartbeat City”. It went all the way to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.

The second single was “Magic”, which is my favourite Cars’ song of all time. It has a special place in my heart because my cousin Carl used to play this song in his band, and I actually got to hear him perform it live at a bar in Lethbridge one night.

In the summer after Grade 11, so 1986, I started to put together a tape of my favourite songs from each tape in my case. I gave up, because there were just too many songs. Before I did, “Magic” was one of the songs I put on there.

It would go on to peak at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The third single was, by far, the most successful on “Hearbeat City”. Ric Ocasek was usually the lead singer for The Cars. However, for “Drive”, Benjamin Orr took over the singing duties, making it a powerful ballad that just goes right to the soul.

It would be used in a video played at Live Aid, the fundraising concert for African famine relief in 1985. “Drive” was set against footage of a starving child struggling to get to her feet. It brought the TV announcers to tears. Interestingly, it was actually created by some people from the CBC.

“Drive” was also the song one of my floormates played, in my second year of university, on repeat over and over with the volume cranked, after he was dumped by a girl.

“Drive” would go all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

The fourth single from “Heartbeat City” was “Hello Again”. I heard this on LA-107 FM, an album-oriented radio station in Lethbridge, that put more emphasis on albums than singles, and would often play more than one single from the same album. “Hello Again” did not quite have the magic – all pun intended – the first three singles had. It peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I liked the fifth single quite a bit, because it was another ballad, but “Why Can’t I Have You” only peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The title track “Heartbeat City” was the sixth and final track released internationally, but not in the States. I recall hearing it, again on LA-107 FM as well as 1090 CHEC, an AM station in Lethbridge. It didn’t chart in the States because it was not released, but didn’t chart in Canada where it was.

Nevertheless, the album “Heartbeat City” had provided a lot of great music for over a year.

The Cars would be back right away, not with another album, but a compilation album with some new music.

Greatest Hits
In 1985, the Cars released a “Greatest Hits” album. That would be where I got to hear all their early stuff, some of it long before “Hearbeat City”.

However, the first song I heard from that album was one of two new songs, called “Tonight She Comes”. It was an excellent song that, next to “Magic”, is my favourite Cars’ song. “Tonight She Comes” went all the way to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It’s funny. At the same time, Billy Joel released his own greatest hits album which had an original hit single of its own, “You’re Only Human”.

There was one other original single from the Cars Greatest Hits, called “I’m Not the One” that peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Door to Door
The Cars would release one more original album, in 1987, called “Door to Door”. It came out in August just as I was getting ready to head off to Edmonton for my first year of university.

The first single was “You Are the Girl”, which went all the way to number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number two on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

The second single was “Strap Me In”, which went to number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100, but to number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. There would be a third single “Coming Up With You”, which went to number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Door to Door” would be the final studio album for the Cars for the next 25 years, and the last album with the band’s five original members.

The years before

“Greatest Hits” showed me just how much good stuff the Cars had done before “Heartbeat City”.

When “Greatest Hits” came out in October of 1985, it is one of the only albums both my sister and I bought independently. Something kind of interesting happened. When my sister bought the greatest hits album, she recognized the first half of the songs, because she is nine years older than me, and had been listening to music a lot longer. I recognized the second half because they were all from “Heartbeat City”.

Playing that tape, which I bought through Columbia House, familiarized me with pretty much the entire catalogue of the Cars. Flipping through the Columbia House catalogue also familiarized me with the titles of their earlier albums – “The Cars” from 1978; “Candy-O” from 1979; “Panorama” from 1980; and “Shake it Up” from 1981.

Their first single was “Just What I Needed”, which went all the way to number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. “My Best Friend’s Girl”, another of my favourites, followed, peaking at number 35, then “Good Times Roll” peaked at number 41. These singles were all from their debut album.

“Candy-O” produced “Let’s Go”, the Cars first top 20 single, which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. There was also “It’s All I Can Do”, which was not on “Greatest Hits”, but I heard it is as I got more into music. It went all the way to number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Panorama” produced “Touch and Go”, which peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Shake it Up” produced the title track “Shake it Up’, which was the Cars first top 10 hit, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as “Since You’re Gone”, which peaked at number 41.

Parting thoughts
The Cars always had a distinctive, yet quirky sound, except when Benjamin Orr took over vocals and brought this soulful balladeer sensibility.

From the time I first heard “You Might Think” and “Drive” to all the songs on “Greatest Hits” such as “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Tonight She Comes”, they provided another part of the soundtrack of my high school years.

Whenever I hear any of their songs, I am transported back to Kate Andrews High School in Coaldale in 1984, 1985 and 1986.

Kevin Costner: A face on the cutting room floor

Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness in the 1987 movie "The Untouchables".

Source: https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/kevin-costner-untouchables-streaming.html

(May be subject to copyright)

His first appearance in a major motion picture didn’t even make it on screen. Instead it landed on the cutting room floor. It is now not much more than a foot note in history, or the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question, that Kevin Costner played the dead friend whose funeral everybody came back to attend in “The Big Chill”.

It was an inauspicious start to a decade that saw his career launched and, in subsequent years, skyrocket.

Kevin Costner has a new movie coming out, and it got me thinking back to when it all started.

Paying his dues
Kevin Costner’s career coincided with the start of a new decade. He spent the first half of the decade paying his dues with bit parts in movies.

Those productions were “Sizzle Beach, U.S.A.” in 1981, Costner’s film debut; “Chasing Dreams” in 1982, where he plays the main character’s older brother; “Night Shift”, in 1982, where Costner’s role is “Frat Boy #1”; “Frances”, also in 1982, where Jessica Lange plays 1930s actress Frances Farmer; “Stacy’s Knights” in 1983; “Table for Five”, in 1983, where he plays “Newlywed Husband”; and “Testament”, in 1983, about a small town dealing with the outside world being wiped out by nuclear war.

Costner’s final role in 1983 was Alex Marshall in “The Big Chill”, which is uncredited, more than being cut.

After “The Big Chill”, Costner appeared in “Shadows Run Black”, in 1984, where he plays the main suspect in a string of serial killings; and “Fandango”, in 1985, where Costner had his first starring role, about a group of college students who go on a last road trip together before they have to confront real life.

Costner would leave all this behind, when he landed a role that drew a lot more attention, and began his love affair with the western lifestyle.

A town called Silverado
It remains one of my favourite movies, an opinion I had reinforced when I tripped over it again on TV a few weeks ago, and had to keep watching it to the end.

“Silverado”, which came out in 1985, tells the story of a number of men looking for a new life in the Wild West and teaming up to achieve that, while dispatching some very bad men, in the process.

One of the good guys is Emmett, played by Scott Glenn, who is looking to get to Silverado where he and his family can begin new lives as farmers. A very young Kevin Costner plays Emmett’s hot-headed, sharp-shooting brother Jake who keeps getting into situations big brother has to get him out of. In one, Emmett and his new friend Paden, played by Kevin Kline, have to bust Jake out of jail and save him from being hanged. Later, Jake is again captured, but fakes his own death by falling off a horse, only to come back for the exciting finale.

What stands out about this role for me is that Jake is fun-loving, reckless, happy go lucky, and always smiling. It is a stark contrast to all the serious, stern roles Costner would play right up to this day including John Dutton on “Yellowstone”.

Flying high
Costner’s next movie, “American Flyers”, also came out in 1985. He plays Marcus Sommers, a sports medicine doctor and competitive cyclist, who has been estranged from his mother and brother David since the death of their father.

Their father died of a cerebral aneurysm, something David fears he may have inherited. Marcus gets him to come back to Wisconsin with him to be tested, then convinces him to compete with him in a grueling, three-day bike race.

In the end, it is actually Marcus who has inherited the medical condition and, after winning the first stage of the race, has it begin to take hold, weakening him more and more. It is left to David to win the race, while their mother arrives to see Marcus and cheer on David. In the last scene, they have made up and pose for a photo together – as a family again.

The other thing that stands out about “American Flyers” is the cheesy moustache that Kevin Costner sports. That’s why I joke “American Flyers” stars Kevin Costner before he was Kevin Costner.

Double trouble
Kevin Costner would reach the next level in his career in 1987, with two outstanding performances in two hit movies.

He played Eliot Ness in “The Untouchables”, a movie based on the popular 1960s TV series. Ness was a Bureau Of Prohibition Agent who took on organized crime and Al Capone, played by Robert DeNiro, who was selling illegal booze during Prohibition in the 1930s. Sean Connery was also in “The Untouchables”, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting actor as Jim Malone, a veteran cop who helps Ness take down Capone.

Costner then turned to espionage in “No Way Out”, playing a naval officer investigating a murder, that involved a suspected KGB mole.

I never saw “No Way Out”, but I was living in student residence at the University of Alberta at the time, and a bunch of guys on my floor saw it. They all raved about how great it was.

Well on his way now, Costner turned to the ball diamond for his next two movies, which are both classics now.

Meet Crash Davis
When I got back to Southern Alberta in the Spring of 1988 after finishing my first year of university in Edmonton, there was a brand new mall in Lethbridge with a brand new theatre complex of six screens.

I had seen this profile on CBC of this movie about minor-league baseball that starred Susan Sarandon and – Kevin Costner. “Bull Durham” was one of the first movies I saw at that Park Place Mall theatre, and it was well worth it.

Costner plays Crash Davis, a career minor league catcher whose job is often to groom pitchers for the major leagues, or as he calls it, “The Show”. In the movie, he is charged with mentoring pitcher Ebby “Nuke” Laloosh, played by a very young Tim Robbins, who has a million-dollar arm but a ten-cent head. Meanwhile, there is a local named Annie Savoy, played by Sarandon, who picks one ball player every season to be with. She chooses Nuke, but the sparks seriously fly between her and Crash, and the story goes from there.

Some of my favourite moments are the little speeches Crash gives – on what he believes in; describing “The Show”; and teaching Nuke to speak in clichés.

Crash Davis is still one of my favourite Kevin Costner roles because he is funny, serious, ironic, and so much more.

He was back on the diamond in 1989, but it was much different.

Build it and they will come
“Field of Dreams” is a whimsical movie that is as much fantasy as sports movie. Costner plays Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella who hears voices telling him to build a baseball diamond in his corn field. They keep whispering “Build it and they will come”. Costner’s role is more understated as he tries to figure out what is going on, while trying to convince those around him he is not going crazy.

It is another great movie that has as much to do with family, redemption, and love as baseball.

As the ‘80s ended, Kevin Costner was just beginning a career that would take him to new heights as not only an actor but director, producer and writer.

The years after
He began the new decade with the blockbuster “Dances With Wolves”, which won him Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director and a nomination for Best Actor. He also won a Golden Globe for Best Director Motion Picture, and was nominated for Best Actor Drama.

Costner would go on to movies such as “Revenge”; “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”; “JFK”, where he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor Drama; “The Bodyguard”; “A Perfect World”; “Wyatt Earp”; “The War”; “Waterworld”; “Tin Cup”, where he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor Musical or Comedy; “The Postman”; “Message in a Bottle”; “For Love of the Game”; “Play it to the Bone”; “Thirteen Days”; “3000 Miles to Graceland”; “Dragonfly”; “Open Range”; “The Guardian”; “The Company Men”; “Man of Steel”; “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit”; “Draft Day”; “Hidden Figures”; “The Highwaymen”; and much more.

Later in his career, Costner started doing more television including “Hatfields and McCoys”. For his efforts, he won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, and was nominated for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. He also won a Golden Globe for Best Actor Miniseries or Television Film.

Perhaps his most famous role is Montana ranching magnate John Dutton in “Yellowstone”, where he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor Television Series Drama.

He continues to act, direct, write and produce to this day. His latest work is the “Horizon” trilogy of westerns, with the first one coming out this year, the second set to come out later this year and the third in post-production.

Parting thoughts
If you look up prolific in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Kevin Costner. He has done just about everything imaginable from drama and comedy to sports, fantasy, action, adventure, epic and spectacle.

Not only has he portrayed all kinds of roles, but created some pretty amazing movies as director, producer and writer.

There are so many roles I have enjoyed him in too, from Crash Davis in “Bull Durham” to Ray Kinsella in “Field of Dreams”; Billy Chapel in “For Love of the Game”; Garret Blake in “Message in a Bottle”; the title role in “Wyatt Earp”; Kenny O’Donnell in “Thirteen Days”; Frank Farmer in “The Bodyguard”, and even Marcus Sommers in “American Flyers” and John Dutton in “Yellowstone”.

There really are too many to name, because he has done so much.

That speaks to an amazing career, that just keeps on going.

He has come a long way from that uncredited role in “The Big Chill”.

Jim Kyte: True trail blazer

Jim Kyte played with the Winnipeg Jets trough much of the '80s.

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/5366531/former-winnipeg-jet-to-receive-community-award-at-convention-centre/

(May be subject to copyright)

There are so many hockey players who just go about their business, contributing wherever they can on the ice, patching together great NHL records, and essentially living outside the limelight.

Jim Kyte was one such player in the 1980s. I heard his name every time his Winnipeg Jets played on “Hockey Night in Canada” on Saturday nights on CBC Channel 9 on the peasant vision dial, or on “Flames Hockey” on Channel 2 and 7.

Yet, I really could not tell you much about him, beyond that he played for the Winnipeg Jets and some other NHL teams.

So, I was quite surprised when the latest list of people inducted into the Order of Canada came out and the only name I really recognized was Jim Kyte’s.

I wondered if he had made special contributions to the country after his time on the ice ended.

When I read his biography for the Order of Canada, I discovered quite the contrary.

Jim Kyte was recognized precisely because of his contributions on the ice.

It was only a few short days ago I learned that Jim Kyte was the first deaf player to play in the NHL.

He is a true trail blazer.

The early years
Jim Kyte was born with a genetic condition that triggered rapid hearing degradation, leading to a 100-decibel loss. He inherited the condition from his father, and all four of Kyte’s brothers were deaf too. That meant he wore hearing aids when he played hockey. In fact, the first ones back in the ‘80s were much more cumbersome, so he learned to absorb body contact while protecting his hearing aids.

Yet, Jim Kyte was also blessed with size, maxing out at six feet, five inches and a220 pounds, a good size for a defenceman.

He played his junior hockey for the Cornwall Royals for the 1981-1982 and 1982-1983 seasons. In his first season, he had four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 52 games.

He was drafted 12th overall in the first round of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets, and appeared in two games for the Jets late in the 1982-1983 season. He played the majority of the season in Cornwall, scoring six goals and adding 30 assists for 36 points in 65 games.

Turning pro
Kyte caught on full time with the Jets in the 1983-1984 season, scoring a goal and two assists for three points, and accumulating 55 penalty minutes in 71 games. In the 1984-1985 season, he appeared in 71 games, recording three assists and 111 penalty minutes. The next year, the 1985-1986 season, he had a goal and three assists for four points and 126 penalty minutes in 71 games. In the 1986-1987 season, Kyte had five goals and five assists for 10 points and 162 penalty minutes in 72 games. In the 1987-1988 season, he had a goal and three assists for four points and 128 penalty minutes in 51 games. In the 1988-1989 season, Kyte had three goals and nine assists for 12 points and 190 penalty minutes in 74 games for the Jets.

He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in June of 1989, staying with them for the 1989-1990 and part of the 1990-1991 seasons. He spent part of the 19901-1991 season in the minors with Muskegon, before he was traded to the Calgary Flames for Jiri Hrdina. He would bounce around from the minors to the NHL, playing with the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks. His last NHL action was with San Jose in the 1995-1996 season, and his last professional action was with the Kansas City Blades of the International Hockey League in the 1996-1997 season. Wikipedia reveals that Kyre’s playing career came to an end because of a concussion he suffered in an automobile accident in 1997 that forced him to retire.

Jim Kyte concluded his NHL career appearing in 598 games where he recorded 17 goals and 49 assists for 66 points, while earning 1,342 penalty minutes.

Trail blazer
Jim Kyte was inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame in 2018.

In 2024, He was inducted into the Order of Canada as a Member by Governor General Mary Simon for the being the first legally deaf player in the history of the National Hockey League.

Parting thoughts
I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for Jim Kyte to make it to the NHL and stay as long as he did. Hockey is a tough business that can be ruthless. Teams want to win so I can guarantee you, they were not keeping Jim Kyte as a charity case, going easy on him or giving him special treatment. If he wasn’t contributing to the team, he wasn’t sticking around.

That was obvious because in his 14-year career, he did his fair share of stints in the minors.

I suspect it was the opposite. He had to work harder, stay later and prove he belonged over and over because he is deaf.

Maybe it is a testament to inclusion that I never knew Jim Kyte was deaf.

He was just a tough, hard-nosed hockey player who provided grit and muscle to the line up of every team he played on.

That makes his accomplishments even more impressive.