June 7

Day 7

Today’s June Swoon 5 film was a documentary on Amazon Prime from last year that looked at the life and career of one of the most beloved actors/comedians of the past forty years, John Candy.

The doc started off with Bill Murray trying to come up with something bad to say about John Candy, and wishing the producers luck in their investigation to find some dirt on the man. It was a real funny kick off to the show and did a great job of pointing out how universally beloved men John Candy was.

There were a litany of stars who had nothing but amazing things to say about John Candy including Tom Hanks, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Macaulay Culkin, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Steve Martin, Conan O’Brien, and Mel Brooks.

The doc does a great job of outlining how the death of John Candy’s father (when John was 5 years old) affected him as an adult, and how his behavior of drinking, smoking, eating led to his early death at 43.

It also showed what a lovely human being John Candy was and how much success he had as an actor, starting off with SCTV and ending as a movie star.

The doc also talked with John Candy’s family, his wife, his brothers, his son, and his daughter. They talked about the close relationship John Candy had developed with John Hughes, and how Candy wound up in 9 films from the director.

I liked John Candy, but I would never say that I was a huge fan of his, but I found myself tearing up at the end of the documentary, which tells you how well director Colin Hanks and the rest did with this doc. The story of them closing down a freeway in LA for John Candy’s funeral procession was amazing.

The doc is available on Amazon Prime and it moves at a brisk clip, moving through his way-too-short life and career. It is wonderful when you can look back on a person’s career and see only the good.