Ramblings and Distractions II: Robert Culp
As mentioned in a previous post, along with Hawaii Five-0 I’ve been on a Robert Culp bent. Only this has gone from just a bent to full blown fanaticism. (As in, damn this guy is good. How come I’m just finding his stuff now?!). It started with watching his appearance on Columbo and it snowballed from there. I have watched various YouTube clips repeatedly. (See below). It got so bad, however, that I broke one of my semi-cardinal rules: Don’t buy any DVDs prior to my birthday, which was this past week. The idea being, that the odds are, that somebody might get me the same DVD.
Well, I broke down and bought the first season of The Greatest American Hero last weekend. And no, nobody got me that DVD for my birthday more or less because nobody really knew that this bent took such a turn. Heh! Anyway, ever heard the expression “You had me at hello?” Bill Maxwell had me at “If you’re looking for trouble, you just found the West Coast distributor.”
Kheeehaaa….
I’m also itching to get I Spy on DVD…which comes out later this month. There’s three episodes on YouTube (although not totally complete. Pieces are cut out between the various parts) and I like what I saw. I especially love this segment from the episode “A Cup of Kindness.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32q_pNpdmJw
My personal favorites are when he goes sliding down the length of the countertop, the guy getting stuffed into the desk, the hammer toss and the swinging from the overhead light. Khee!
Other Robert Culp YouTube favorites include…
Guest appearance on Get Smart…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgS6bO8g0Dg
BAHAHAHA! “No more booze for you…”
A “trailer” if you will, for the 1973 made-for-tv film “Outrage”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msQDaf6hwZI
Apparently, from what I’ve read, when he “takes matters into his own hands” he burns the hotrods to the ground! Now I love cars but the kids in this movie look like real jerks. I think I gotta find this movie just to watch him go berserk and cheer him on!
Greatest American Hero “Promo” Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2URTFhzOhc
“You can’t do that.” “I can’t?!”
And it’s that GAH vid that basically sent me right over the line.
And, in addition to finding the YouTube stuff, what would the point of having a bent go into fanaticism if I didn’t try to find pics?! Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to find decent, good sized images of Mr. Culp on the web?! Blaugh! There either too small, or they’re grainy or they’re distorted or they fall under the “WTF?” category. I’ve seen better photos from a old Polaroid than what I’ve found on the web. Then, a friend of mine sent me a link to a GAH forum board and I found somewhat better images there. However, the images in this post were done by me. Of course, I’ve only done caps from one GAH episode. And I practically capped every second he was on the screen! See? This is bad! And did I mention this is all Jack’s fault?!
But oh so much fun!
Hello, Mary,
I discovered you via a Google Alert re: “Robert Culp”. As a HUGE Culp fan, and a HUGE TGAH fan and a HUGE I Spy fan, all I can say, woman, is it’s about time you discovered the undeniable acting, directing and writing ability of Culp, plus his tall, lean, handsome body. I think that Culp is one of the all-time greatest actors EVER, and his role of Maxwell was fascinating, complex and complicated and much more interesting than Katt’s Hinkley. I highly suggest you keep buying the TGAH DVDs, and watch how Maxwell changes throughout the seasons, how his character grows, giving us a magnificent portrait of a very nurturing and vulnerable man who has been covered by an outer personality layer encompassing society’s expectations of male toughness and machismo. He is overall just what he needs to be: “a good guy”.
Kelly Robinson is an equally compelling man; very emotionally unstable, yet committed to his country, his work and his “brother”, Scotty. Knowing full well the nastiness of their spy biz, these guys try to maintain their humor, their morals and ethics in a line of work where all of those traits are trashed and disgarded daily.
I tell you, no matter if the show itself isn’t that good, Culp is always masterful in his role.
Keep watching him!!
Btw, here is the main fan site for TGAH:
tgah.proboards43.com/index.c.cgi
Here is the main fan site for I spy:
network54.com/Forum/172251/
Yours,
Mona