I haven't seen this movie since I was seven years old, exactly twenty years ago, and have since found out that my favortie actor of all time did a small cameo in it as a "red-kneck" trooper. If anyone can contribute any info about him or his part in this fim I'd be enormously grateful. Altho, he was only on screen for two minutes and his role was a forgettable detail to this picture, I'd love to hear any comments about the state trooper just the same. Thank you.
shareEven "only two minutes" of Barry Brown to a devoted Barry Brown fan is two
of the best minutes of any movie...
Believe me, Barry's role in "Piranha" was hardly forgettable; his final scene
(both in that movie, and sadly, in any movies here on Earth) was uproariously
funny: the part where the rather self-important "Trooper" came out of the diner with his morning cup of coffee.
"Trooper" removes the plastic lid from the styrofoam cup, just to get his first sip - but he doesn't realize what is brewing - and it's NOT the coffee!
The extremely hyper Paul Grogan (and his "sidekick", skip tracer Maggie McKeown) have just busted out of the small-town jail in which "Trooper" installed them the night before (at the behest of the crooked Col. Waxman, who doesn't want any knowledge of the mutant piranhas heading toward the Aquarena Springs resort development, in which he has a silent - and possibly illegal - interest with the equally crooked, ersatz "Texan," "Buck" Gardner.)
Maggie just brained the jail guard with a piece of broken toilet lid (after she flooded her jail cell.) She divested the guard of his pants (to get hold of both the jail cell keys, as well as car keys.)
Now, she and Grogan have compounded the numerous misdemeanors and felonies they have committed in the space of one evening(!) by stealing what is probably "Trooper's" cruiser, in order to alert the countryside to the burgeoning danger of the ravaging piranhas, headed toward the populated beach areas.
As "Trooper" starts to take a drink - his patrol car flashes past, and a pair
of uniform trousers flies out the window of the speeding vehicle - only to
land, unceremoniously, atop "Trooper's" head, and drape down, delicately,
into his cup of coffee; understandably, "Trooper" regards the entire situation in a state of total perplexity... (May I surmise that "trouser coffee" is more palatable than "boot soup?" - A little inside joke to the Barry Brown fans who have seen "Bad Company!")
From what I understand, there are a couple of conflicting stories about Barry Brown's last movie role. One is that Joe Dante, the director (who was a friend of Barry's from 'way back, when they both wrote for horror magazines) wanted Barry to play the lead, but by that time, Barry was not really up to it. (He didn't look very well while playing the part.)
However, the other states that Barry Brown actually wanted the small part in the horror spoof, and his good friend, Joe Dante, accommodatingly wrote the part specifically for Barry - and Barry (ever the professional, even though in a scant 2-1/2 months, he would be dead, tragically and prematurely, at the age of 27) played the role to perfection: if "Piranha" was Barry Brown's swan song,
then thank Heaven the last image he left us was one that would make us laugh
(since the story of his death will always make us cry...)
On a lighter note: did you know that one of Barry Brown's co-stars, the ever-ebullient Dick Miller ("Buck Gardner") was memorialized by Barry in an unpublished manuscript of a book that Barry had written, dedicated to popular
B-movie actors and actresses? People not as celebrated as the "stars," but well-known to, and loved by, all who appreciate the good, popular, second-string movies. Barry was really versatile; not only an actor, but an author
as well.
Wonderful post. It gives me a new appreciation for Mr. Brown.
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