Real Genius: The Real Revenge of the Nerds

By the time Real Genius hit theaters in August of 1985, college comedies had gone from the Disney family-friendly slapstick style of the Kurt Russell movies like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes to the R-rated raunchy food-fight style of National Lampoon's Animal House and its imitators. Real Genius is a different college comedy altogether. For one, there's more than one scene of the students in a classroom. The students aren't all sex-hungry drunken slobs. They're nerds. They're more nerds that those of Lambda Lambda Lambda in Revenge of the Nerds.
This might be the first college comedy in which students are portrayed studying, including one memorable scene where a student flips out and screams in front of fellow students as they watch him as if this is a natural and common occurrence.
The plot is loosely inspired by how tech students were being led to develop laser and military style weaponry.
Gabe Jarrett plays Mitch Taylor, a 15-year-old child prodigy, who is groomed by Dr. Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) on a scholarship to attend the fictional Pacific Tech, based on CalTech. Mitch is very intelligent and interested in lasers, but he's a nobody at his high school. His parents are excited by his intelligence but simple-minded to understand it.
Hathaway pairs Mitch with Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), another technological genius, who is working on a laser project along with other students including the sycophantic Kent (Robert Prescott), who is competing against Chris for a surefire job on Hathaway's recommendation. What neither of the students realize is they are being led to believe the laser project is for hypothetical reasons, but Hathaway has been contracted by the U.S. Government to develop the laser system which will shoot a target from space, basically vaporizing them. And Hathaway has put the cart before the house and dump his paycheck into remodeling his house so he is under pressure and puts the pressure on the students.
The problem is that Chris has a carefree attitude and seems to be the only student in the dorm if not the college who doesn't take things so seriously. When he organizes a party with beauty school students, the Pacific Tech students seem shy to associate with beautiful women. Chris wants everyone to have fun, including Mitch, who becomes his roommate. This is in an effort to keep Mitch from cracking under the pressure. It seems that Chris was just like Mitch before he met Lazlo Hollyfield (Jonathan Cries), who lives in the boiler room of the dorm which he enters through a trap door in the close in Mitch and Chris' dorm room. It seems that Lazlo was the top genius at the school in the 1970s, but went nuts when he realized his work was being used to hurt people and the environment.
The Hollyfield character is based on an urban legend concerning Michigan State student James Dallas Egbert III who was fictionally reported as being lose in steam tunnels while playing Dungeon and Dragons. Lazlo is also working on a system to rig prize giveaways through a loophole, which is also based on true events.
Mitch is quick to learn that college is no different from high school. Kent bullies him and publicly humiliates him. The other college students are quick to mock Mitch's attire when he shows up the first day dressed up in a sport coat and tie. Even Hathaway shows his true colors to Mitch when he discovers him at the party and embarrasses him. This is a crucial scene because it shows how innocent and young Mitch still is.
But with the help from Chris and fellow student Jordan (Michelle Meyrink), Mitch begins to adapt to college. The Jordan character is a crucial one and Meyrink plays her as more than the stereotypical girlfriend role. She's her own character with her quirky attitude and hyperactive demeanor. When he spots her at the party, Mitch perks up. And even though the plot dictates Mitch and Jordan will become a couple, you can tell they really belong together.
Eventually, Chris and Mitch buckle down, upon threat of Hathaway keeping Chris from graduating if they don't solve the laser problem. But after completing a successful lab tests, Lazlo points out that he believes the project has been developed as a weapon.
At this point, the movie could go on autopilot during its third act as Mitch, Chris, Jordan, Lazlo and their friend, Ick (Mark Kamiyama) devise a plan to get back at Hathaway for deceiving them. Even though it has been proven to be inadequate, they stick it to Hathaway by having the laser fire on his house exploding millions if not billions of popcorn kernels, causing the windows to crash, the walls to crack and even the house to come off its foundation. This was proved impossible on Mythbusters, but it's only a movie.
Real Genius was not as successful as other college comedies making just under $13 million, which in 1985 dollars wasn't much. It found its fan base on video and cable and today its influence is seen.
The Jordan character was an influence for Gadget Hackwrench on Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers. Look at Ryan Reynolds in National Lampoon's Van Wilder and you'll see a little bit of Chris Knight in his performance.
While the movie helped bring Kilmer bigger roles and made Atherton a go-to creep in 1980s movies, Jarrett had moderate success mainly appearing as a favorite actor for Ron Howard in movies like Apollo 13, where he plays a mission control engineer, and Frost/Nixon.
Cries would later appear in numerous movies ranging from The Monster Squad to Get Shorty to Napoleon Dynamite and appear on shows like Seinfeld. Meyrink gave up acting in the late 1980s. Kamiyama last known film role was 18 Again! in 1988.
Some of the actors in smaller roles gained fame. Yuji Okumoto, who plays the nerdy Fenton, and only has one line while appearing in background in several scenes played in movies like The Truman Show and Pearl Harbor. And Dean Devlin, who appears as Milton, who like Okumoto, appears in background scenes and maybe has one or two lines, went on to produce blockbusters, like Independence Day.
The movie had a memorable 1980s soundtrack including Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."
Real Genius is not for everyone. Its PG rating only has mild language and some, but not much innuendo. But it's a different style of comedy for people who have more memories of college than wild parties.

The Day The Laughter Died

Everyone was shocked one year ago today upon hearing of the death of Robin Williams, especially as news became public that it may have been an apparent suicide. Of all the celebrities you would think would take their own life, Williams didn't seem like the person.

Suicide among celebrities, even comedians is common. Character actors Richard Farnsworth and Brian Keith committed suicide. Comedians like Richard Jeni, Charles Rocket and Spaulding Gray all committed suicide. But not Williams, who at the time had a slate of movies coming out and news that Mrs. Doubtfire, one of his biggest successes, would get a sequel, probably seemed like something worth living for. 

Williams was reported photographed at a gallery showing less than 48 hours before his death and seemed in good spirits. But Williams had suffered from depression and it drug and alcohol addiction. Looking back at Williams' manic comedy shows in the 1970s when he became active and especially on Mork and Mindy, it looked like he was on coke. 

But after beating both drug and alcohol addictions and making the transition from stand-up comic to TV star to movie star to Academy-Award winning dramatic actor was a feat very few people could accomplish. Along the way, there were some bad film roles. While Popeye got a lot of notoriety, it was actually a moderate success and even some good reviews. It was later movies like Patch Adams, Toys, and Death to Smoochy, to name a few that were beyond terrible. But Williams had a lot of critical and commercial hits, such as The World According to Garp, Moscow on the Hudson, Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting, One Hour Photo and Insomnia to name a few. Even film legends like Henry Fonda had the movies they made just to earn a paycheck. 

Look at his small role as a disgraced psychiatrist now working in a supermarket in the thriller Dead Again. He had obviously reached the point in his career that every actor hopes for that his mere appearance in a movie gets a lot of notice. Take his one-scene role in Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. It's just an opportunity to show off his manic personality. 

Off-screen, Williams really used his celebrity image to help. He co-hosted Comic Relief Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg to raise awareness and help for homeless people. He reportedly had it in his contract that film crews hire homeless people. He traveled overseas to perform for people in military service. 

When news hit that actor Christopher Reeve had been injured in a horse-riding accident, Williams cleared his schedule and visited Reeve, who was his long-time friend and former roommate, performing. Reeves later said it was the first time since the incident that he had smiled and laughed. Patch Adams may have been a terrible movie but Williams proved that laughter can be good medicine. 

And yes, there were some naysayers. Williams take on comedy was often criticized by other comedians, but no one had tried it the way he had and the imitators were called just that. Williams got his first big break on TV shows like Happy Days and The Richard Pryor Show. So obviously, Garry Marshall and Pryor saw something in him. Henry Winkler, aka the Fonz, said it was hard to watch Williams perform and keep a straight face out of fear of ruining a take. 

As news of his death was made public, social media exploded. There were news shows dedicated to his legacy. A lot of it oddly seemed similar to his 2009 movie World's Greatest Dad, written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, about a teacher who aspires to be a writer, whose ungrateful son dies during autoerotic asphyxiation, and rather the manner of death go public, Williams' character writes a suicide letter and makes it look like his son hung himself. In the aftermath, Williams' character gets love and sympathy from his students and fellow colleagues who don't like him. The oddest part is the son, Kyle, was not liked by hardly anyone at the school because of his attitude and is now loved and missed. At the time it was released, it was compared to the public's reaction following the death of Michael Jackson, which had occurred two months prior to the film's release. Now, it seems like it could have been a reflection of Williams' life and career. He was being criticized for his comedy and movie roles, some of which lately were the critically panned RV and License to Wed. 

But love him or hate him, Williams' legacy had an effect on many in Hollywood and all over the world. Celebrities die almost every day and some deaths barely get a mention. In the last few months, actors Tony Longo and Irwin Keyes have passed away. And unless you're a major movie buff, you may not know who they are without seeing their photos. 

Tony Longo

Irwin Keyes

But everyone knew Williams and his range of work from family-friendly movies like Aladdin and Happy Feet to R-rated roles like One Hour Photo and Insomnia exposed him to a wide audience. 

Hearing his death was like hearing about the murder of Phil Hartman by his wife, Brynn. Of all the celebrities to be killed in a murder-suicide, no one would think of Hartman. 

And now, a year later, forensic pathology has theorized that maybe Williams' suicide may have been caused by lewy body dementia which causes paranoia, which may explain why the night before his death, Williams reportedly stuffed a tube sock with watches he had collected over the years and gave them to a friend. It may also explain his suicide as some people with LBD act irrationally so Williams may not have fully known what he was doing. Williams was suffering from Parkinson's disease and depression. 

No one knows why Williams chose to end his life. Friends and family say off-screen and off-stage, Williams was a different person, who was quiet. Comedians do suffer from depression. Richard Pryor said he tried to commit suicide by setting himself on fire. Jerry Lewis reportedly said he had contemplated suicide several times and one point had the gun held up to his head but heard the laughter of his children and stopped. 

If anything, Williams' death have brought attention to depression, suicide, Parkinson's disease and lewy body dementia. 

Regardless, Williams entertained millions and brought laughter to people. He made a few bad movies but all actors do. His legacy will remain as there will never be anyone else like him. 

Your Moment of Zen

Back in the late 1990s, between The Jon Stewart Show and The Daily Show, Stewart recalled one appearance on Live with Regis and Kathy when co-host Kathy Gifford made a comment about how the audience were applauding for him, but they didn't know who he was.
Back then, Stewart was a comedian mostly known for small roles in Half-Baked and The Faculty, so when he was approached to host The Daily Show after Craig Kilborn left in 1998, I can understand why he jumped it.
And for the first few years as he was hosting The Daily Show was a retread of what it was during the Kilborn years, a fake news show with comedians as correspondents reporting odd stories about people who adopt raccoons and overfeed them and a story about porno with puppets. You could almost see Stewart's frustration as he was supposed to be the straight person. Then, the 2000 Presidential election came and Stewart found his niche. But it took the events of 9/11 for Stewart to finally put his foot down and say no more.
Watching him tear up in the first show following the attacks, you can sense that Stewart is angry but tired of being the same old late-night TV show host that other people do. While David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno made jokes about the Bush/Cheney Administration and its policies, Stewart and his company peeled back the layers and exposed it with a biting satire not seen before in late-night TV. And satire is hard to do. It's hard to make someone laugh and it's hard to make fun of politics without being too cruel.
The Daily Show was the brainchild of comics Lizz Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg and Winstead left in 1998 and was vocal about how she never really felt Stewart was the appropriate host for the show, but we needed Stewart more than we needed just to laugh. And I think Stewart needed the events of 9/11 and the Bush/Cheney Administration to keep The Daily Show afloat because at the time, any show seemed to get on Comedy Central, which is why Daniel Tosh would make fun of all the canceled shows on Tosh.0.
Stewart was the outlet for many people who weren't just rolling over in the post-9/11 society calling French fries "freedom fries." Stewart called people on both sides of the political debate out. People may think he went hard on Republicans, but he didn't give Democrats an easy pass. That made him different from the personalities on Fox News, he showed no favoritism. That's why The 1/2 Hour News Hour failed on Fox News in 2007.
Also, Stewart was willing to admit when he or the show made a mistake.
But it may have just been timing. With the rise of social media, there was a rise in political ideals. More people are willing to proclaim their liberal, conservative or libertarian views, so maybe it was just providence that Stewart's hosting duties happened when they did. If this was the 1990s, it may have turned people off.
Some people say Stewart changed the face of political satire but I think he just made it easier for people to understand. Satire is a hard tightrope. Sometimes the audience doesn't understand what is being presented. Take Natural Born Killers, which was a satire of how the media and public frenzy made murderers into celebrities. Nihilists and young people actually liked the exploits of Mickey and Mallory but didn't realize how one-dimensional they were. Or take American Psycho, both the movie and the book, which was a satire of 1980s greed and self-indulgence as well as male masculinity.
And despite the laughter, there were times, following the Eric Garner case, the massacre at Emanuel A.M.E. church and the shootings that injured Gabrielle Gifford, former Congresswoman, and others as well as leaving six people, including a 9-year-old dead, Stewart was not afraid to address it seriously and tell people he couldn't just turn to a comedy bit just like nothing happened. That may have been what made people like him. He wasn't like the other newscasters who could talk about disasters and violence and then segue into a happy-happy story in the same breath.
On why he chose to leave The Daily Show, only Stewart knows. Maybe he wanted to spend more time with his family. Maybe he wanted to branch out and do more film directing. The argument that he got sick and tired of Fox News and the hypocrisy of our political debate is valid, but we can't say that it beat Stewart. Sometimes it's best just to walk away. And like he said on his last show, "If you smell something, say something."
Stewart couldn't do it forever. Johnny Carson and David Letterman knew when it was time to retire.
I'm not sure how successful Trevor Noah will be as the next host. The Daily Show, like The Tonight Show, is a franchise and you have things that work and things that don't.
I just want to wish Stewart the best and tell him thanks for the laughter and I look forward to what he will do next.

Abortion: The Other Scarlet Letter

It's been over 40 years since the Roe vs. Wade decision and you would think Americans would have other things to concern themselves with than abortion.
Now, first off, I don't fully agree with abortion, but my opinions don't really matter. I'm a guy. I've never had to deal with menstrual periods, hormones, mood swings, etc. I've never had to worry about getting pregnant, being on the pill because I know my partner doesn't have contraception, miscarriages, labor pains, and so much more that is the beauty and wonder of life.
Abortion shouldn't be used as a Get Out of Jail Free card but sometimes it's necessary, such as in the case of rape or incest. There are some cases in which women have taken medication and it's affected the fetus that it will die in the womb or be stillborn. There's also cases in which we've had to take into account the health of the women. Dying during childbirth was a common death at one point and it is still risky for women as it can cause heart problems or even a stroke.
The issue of abortion is back in our face this week because of the Planned Parenthood ordeal. Depending on who you talk to, it's not as bad as it seems or worse than the Holocaust, the Trail of Tears, Khmer Rouge and Rwanda genocides all rolled into one.
Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, said he has the right to lecture women on abortion because his wife got pregnant and he has had to deal with the whole birth process. Well, whoop-de-do. Congratulations, Sen. Lankford! You want a cookie because you weren't standing out in the corridor outside the hospital room smoking cigars?
Lankford is only responsible for the births of his children. But he has no right to lecture other women on the matter. This is like people who have an opinion on military affairs because they have a family member in the armed services.
Men, you don't have any room to lecture women on abortions. Even if you're a OB-GYN doctor, you don't have the right.
If you get a woman pregnant, it's now your responsibility to do what you can to provide for the child and be a father. If you didn't want to get your woman pregnant, you should've wore a condom. Sorry, but it's like an insurance policy. She says she's on the pill, wear one anyway. If you have a problem buying condoms, pick a store that has self-checkout and buy it along with other items. No one is going to notice. And wouldn't you want strangers knowing you're getting some action.
Maybe if it's a marriage or serious relationship, a man may have a few suggestions, but raising a child is a life-long job and you got to know what you're getting into. Sad to say, having a baby looks nice in Facebook posts and glamour shots, but there's going to be a lot of problems down the road. You're a parent until the day you die. And your child will need you if they're 5 or 50.
A lot of unplanned pregnancies among couples happen. What also happens is rape?
And while anti-abortionists argue for adoption, it isn't that easy?
Forcing the victim of a rape, who may be a teenager or developmentally disabled, to spend thousands of dollars on medical bills, and to go through the emotions of pregnancy and child birth, just to give the child up like an old box of clothes dropping off at a charity is another crime in of itself. We still live in a sicked twisted society that looks badly at teen and single mothers despite the circumstances. What about a young woman who is already married to a loser who doesn't want children and they get pregnant anyway? He accuses her of being a slut and then turns into a deadbeat.
She has to get food stamps of welfare. Immediately, she's branded again. What happened? She was married. She wanted to start a family. It was the man who left her. She wanted to make it work. He didn't. So, who is blamed? Of course, the woman for being promiscuous and not cautious. It has happened. It happens all the time.
And let's look at adoption. All these God-fearing conservative Christians who are pushing for adoption instead of abortion reading to scoop these little Angels from Heaven in thine arms? No. Of course not. Especially, if they are non-white children.
Yes, look at all the white couples who adopt black or Hispanic/Latino children. You don't think these parents who are trying to do the right thing are shunned. A white woman with a non-white child. Yes, another welfare woman on food stamps, even if the mother holds down a good paying job and doesn't need any government handouts.
Adoption takes a lot of money, so you know the families adopting any children are well off.
And unfortunately, there are no orphanages left. Children are passed around from foster home to foster home and some of the foster parents abuse the children as they only want the money from the state. You have children, so young and impressionable, being moved from one environment to another and it's a recipe for disaster especially for a child who can't grasp why they're with a new set of parents in a different home.
Not to say this is any reason to have an abortion but that's not my choice. Sex can be enjoyable but like everything, it does have consequences. You can't go on a spending spree without first looking at your checkbook account.
So, what is the answer? We'll never have it.
For one, there isn't no correct answer. What works for one person may not work for another. You shouldn't criticize the rape victims who get pregnant who chose to either to get an abortion or to have the child. We don't know what that person is feeling. It's a personal matter and it shouldn't be a political matter.
I'd like to repeat that again. It shouldn't be a political matter, because that's all politicians use it as - talking points. They don't really care if you have as many children as the Duggards or know your abortion doctor on a first-name basis. Whatever gets them campaign donations and elected is what matters.
What we should be focusing on is educating young people so they don't get pregnant, keeping sexual predators away from teenage girls and woman, and stop, I repeat stop, shaming people who have children just because they don't fit your Leave it to Beaver idea of what a family should look like.
If you really believe children are a gift from God, then, treat them like it.

In The Beginning There Was...Howard the Duck!

Right now, it seems that Marvel Comics can do no wrong. Take Ant-Man, a superhero movie that quite frankly no one asked for, but has proven to be successful. And a lot of fans credit it's success with one thing that other recent Marvel movies have in common - they don't take themselves seriously.
DC Comics movies have drawn all the excitement and joy out of movies and thus are giving us these grim and gritty movies that look depressing. After seeing Man of Steel, I felt like it was just another grim sci-fi movie in the vein of Riddick. Seeing Jared Leto as The Joker in Suicide Squad makes me squeamish. Oh, he has tattoos all over his body. That's...that's pathetic.
Even The Dark Knight Rises was bad at times.
On the flip side, there was Superman Returns, a poorly directed movie that wants us to believe that Kal Penn could be a viable henchman to Superman. And Brandon Routh just really phoned it in as the titular character.
So, what's a filmmaker to do? Maybe look at Guardians of the Galaxy, another superhero movie that no one really asked for but has become one of the most successful and highly praised comic book movies.
Part of Guardians' charm was that it didn't take itself seriously but knew it had to tell an interesting story. And the ending joke of having Howard the Duck appear in the post-credit scene was a big middle finger to Hollywood.

Guardians was released on Aug. 1, 2014, 28 years after Howard the Duck was released in theaters.
Howard was the first Marvel feature movie. There were Captain America serials and very campy TV movies in the 1970s.
One had to ask themselves why would George Lucas want to make a big screen adaptation of a cigar-smoking wise-cracking duck. Lucas even stepped down as president of Lucasfilm to focus on producing the movie,
It proved to be one of the many problems. Originally intended as an animated movie, studio interference led to it be a live-action movie. The problem was in the mid-1980s, special effects were still pretty bad. It didn't help that the movie was filmed before the dialogue of Howard was recorded leading to some problems with lip syncing.
Tim Robbins recently said in a Playboy interview the problem was they miscast the lead role. Also, the production went over schedule and over budget at Robbins said was paid twice as much because his schedule was supposed to be for a three-month shoot that doubled.

There were also reports that Robbins and Lea Thompson as Howard's human love-interest, Beverly, fought with director Willard Huyck because they were shooting all the Howard scenes first and then shooting their close-ups. Well, the title of the movie is Howard the Duck.
And that is the problem, the character of Howard, at least, portrayed here, is not that good. Howard fluctuates between being a cowardly duck and being a quick to violent rage with the line, "On my planet, they don't say die, they say kill."

A bipolar duck? Maybe. But scenes contradict each other. Howard at first appears to be somewhat sleazy but when faced with the odd scene of having sex with Beverly, he chickens out.

Also, the movie was poorly marketed at children, but within the first few minutes pictures two scenes of nude female ducks and Howard standing in a field of marijuana.
The first sequence set on Duckworld in Howard's apartment in Marshington, D.C. has a lot of play on words that some children may not understand and some adults might find interesting. There are some parodies of TV shows and commercials as duck football players talk about jock itch powder, and another one of a soap opera in which a female doctor nurse pours her heart out to a male doctor nurse as he tries CPR on a patient.
But it leads someone to wonder, basically Duckworld is just like Earth but for ducks. So why does Howard not know what a pizza is?
I know it's not to be taken seriously, but the problem is Howard the Duck portrays human beings who are either confused and freaked out by Howard's appearance or accept it as if he is just a little strange.
The second part of the movie deals with Howard turning into an action hero as he and Robbins character, Philsie, rescue Beverly from the clutches of an Evil Dark Overlord of the Universe that has taken over the body of Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones), who was conducting experiments with a laser that zapped Howard from Duckworld to Earth.

Howard the Duck got bad reviews and performed badly in the country only making about half of its $37 million budget. Huyck, who already had another dud, Best Defense, on his resume, gave up directing. Him and his wife, writer-producer Gloria Katz, who had helped Lucas write the script for American Graffitti, spent years trying to rebound, later writing the script with Lucas on another dud, Radioland Murders.
The actors were able to rebound. Robbins also was in the box-office success Top Gun that same year. He went on to star in movies like Bull Durham, Jacob's Ladder and The Shawshank Redemption eventually winning an Academy Award for his role in Mystic River. 
Thompson was able to find some success returning to her roles in the Back to the Future movies as well as meeting her future husband, Howard Deutch, who directed her in Some Kind of Wonderful, and the TV show, Caroline in the City.
Jones, who also had a success that year with Ferris Bueller's Day Off, later appeared in Beetlejuice and became a favorite of Tim Burton appearing in Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow before arrests on child pornography charges limited his roles.
Chip Zien, who voiced Howard, found success on Broadway and Ed Gale, who performed most of Howard's movements, later appeared in SpaceBalls and performed movements for Chucky in Child's Play.
By 1986, comic book adaptations were very rare. You had the Superman movies with Christopher Reeve, which by Superman III had become a joke and with Superman IV: The Quest of Peace put the franchise on hold for nearly 20 years. Anyone remember Supergirl?
Next up was The Punisher in 1989, a low-budget adaptation of the comic-book character that got bad reviews. But the bad reviews nothing compared to Captain America, originally intended to be released in 1990, but then went straight to video and later appeared on cable.
There was also that adaptation of The Fantastic Four, produced by Roger Corman, that has been argued that it was either made to get the filmmaking rights or was totally shelved because of the poor production values.
It wasn't until X-Men appeared in 2000 that it seemed a worthy movie could be produced from a Marvel comic.
Strangely it all began with a talking, cigar-smoking anthropomorphic duck.
Just like a line from the movie, "In the beginning there was...Howard the Duck!"

I've Come Here to Chew Bubblegum and Kick Ass...And I'm All Out of Bubblegum

The death of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, aka "Hot Rod," a professional wrestling star had many people who watched him posting about his on social media. Piper often played the villain in the ring and seemed to enjoy playing the bad guy, even though he was a good guy outside of the ring to his fans.
Piper was one of the first pro-wrestlers to make the transition from wrestling to acting. Actually, there is a lot of acting in the arena so it was only second nature to him. And like fellow wrestlers Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan, Piper started out playing wrestlers on the screen in the movie Body Slam, playing a good guy for a change.

But he wasn't the star. Dirk Benedict was. Even when he appeared in the forgettable prison comedy, Buy & Cell, he was a supporting role to Robert Carradine.
It wasn't until 1988 when he got cast in two science-fiction movies that things changed. The first was Hell Comes to Frogtown.

I haven't seen this but I have heard, it is a cult classic that must be seen.
The next was They Live, John Carpenter's satirical commentary on 1980s capitalist greed. Piper plays the unnamed blue-collar everyman drifter. In a way, Piper was perfect for the role. Other wrestlers like Hogan, Andre the Giant and Jesse Ventura, to name a few, had the look of a pro-wrestler or athlete. Outside of the ring, Piper just looked like a normal man.

And during the period in the 1980s where working class people got screwed over, it was a perfect Twilight Zone like story about the rich and famous people in America and even being the world, alien humanoids whose goal is greed rather than word domination. The movie had some interesting topics that I wished Carpenter had examined further. But the movie had a small budget and you get the sense that Carpenter wanted to do more but the funds were unavailable.
This being a 1980s sci-fi movie, Piper had to become Rambo, which makes little sense that his character would quickly go on a shooting rampage. But when he does, he does it well with the iconic line, "I'm come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum!"
The movie is also memorable for a five-minute fight sequence between between Piper and co-star Keith David that doesn't get tiresome half-way through. The fight scene was later parodied on South Park in the infamous Cripple Fight between Timmy and Jimmy. Even the Peter Griffin/Chicken fights on Family Guy seem to pay homage to the fight sequence.
Unfortunately, neither Frogtown nor They Live were major success, even though now they both have a loyal fan base from the public and critics.
Piper returned to pro-wrestling and did the occasional guest spot on famous TV shows like Walker, Texas Ranger and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, while appearing in numerous B-movies from the 1990s to his death.
But he was able to show that pro-wrestlers just don't have to be playing wrestlers on the screen. Look at Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who has the most success in Hollywood in roles or John Cena.
To say Piper is a pioneer might be a little much, but it's apparent no one would've thought to cast current wrestlers in action roles if Piper had showed them already it was possible.
Rest in peace, Hot Rod.