You’ve probably never heard of Kurt Russell’s first Western Guns of Diablo, but it’s notable for pairing him with the actor he’d later replace as Snake Plissken in Escape From New York. While Russell was a Disney teen star, he only fully broke through as a leading man thanks to the John Carpenter movie Escape From New York.
This cast him as one-eyed outlaw Snake Plissken, the only man deemed tough enough to break into the prison formerly known as New York to save the President. Russell is imitating Clint Eastwood while playing Snake, with the antihero becoming one of the star’s most famous roles.
While he hasn’t made that many, Kurt Russell’s Westerns are typically all bangers. This includes the modern classic Tombstone, but Russell made his Western film debut nearly 30 years earlier with Guns of Diablo. This cast him alongside Charles Bronson, best known at the time as one of The Magnificent Seven.
Kurt Russell’s First Western Movie Guns Of Diablo Is Really An Expanded TV Episode
If Guns of Diablo looks a little lacking in flair or production design, that’s because the film is an expanded, colorized version of “The Day of the Reckoning,” the final episode of The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. While this ABC series is largely forgotten now, it gave Russell and Bronson two of their earliest leading roles.
During this time in his career, Russell made the rounds on many of the biggest TV shows, including Lost in Space, Gunsmoke and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters was a big deal for young Kurt, since he played the тιтle character. Guns of Diablo also gifted Russell his first proper movie credit.
Kurt Russell’s actual movie debut was his uncredited role as a boy who kicks Elvis Presley in the shin in It Happened at the World’s Fair.
Guns of Diablo largely focuses on Bronson’s Linc, as he reunites with a former lover who is married to a corrupt lawman with whom Linc has an unpleasant history. The movie is watchable in an undemanding, Wednesday afternoon kind of way, but it never escapes being what it is: an average episode of a Western series padded out to feature-length.
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Is Best Remembered For A Heartwarming Story Involving Kurt Russel & Charles Bronson
During a 2018 Jimmy Kimmel Live! interview, Russell recalled working with Bronson on The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, who even then had a reputation for being a tough hang. When the 12-year-old Russell heard that Bronson’s birthday was coming up, he gifted his co-star a remote control airplane. The older actor looked at it strangely, said nothing and walked away.
Later, an ᴀssistant director summoned Russell to Bronson’s dressing room. Bronson had grown up in abject poverty in a coal mining family, and confessed to Russell that nobody had ever bought him a birthday present before. Bronson thanked Russell for his kindness and later bought himself and Kurt skateboards when the latter’s birthday came around.
The young Russell was later chastised by the head of the studio for skateboarding around the lot. When Bronson heard this, he took Russell, marched into the studio president’s office and calmly declared, “Kurt and I are going to ride our boards around the studio.” For that moment on, nobody complained to Russell when he rode his board around.
Kurt Russell Later Replaced Charles Bronson As Snake Plissken In Escape From New York
It took Russell a little while to shake off his image as a Disney star, but the acclaim that greeted his тιтular turn as Elvis in John Carpenter’s 1979 TV movie helped in this regard. Russell later became Carpenter’s top choice to play Snake in Escape From New York – a choice that baffled the studio.
Russell was best known back then for movies like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, so they had a tough time seeing Russell as the ultimate badᴀss. Instead, the producers wanted to cast Charles Bronson as Snake Plissken, which made a lot of sense given his past roles in Death Wish and Once Upon a Time in the West.
Despite being the top candidate, Carpenter felt that, as Bronson was circling 60 at the time, he was too old for the part. Given Bronson’s fearsome reputation, Carpenter was also worried about working with a more experienced star who could hijack Escape From New York. After alternatives like Tommy Lee Jones were rejected, Russell was cast instead.
Guns Of Diablo Is Kurt Russell’s Worst Western
Guns of Diablo might have been important to Russell’s career in several ways, but it’s far from the best movie in his filmography. It stacks up poorly when compared to Russell’s other Westerns, like Tombstone, The Hateful Eight or Bone Tomahawk.
In defence of Guns of Diablo, there are many Westerns that wouldn’t stand much chance when compared to that trilogy of bangers. Even so, the 1965 Western is too forgettable to really stand out. It’s a cheap, clichéd programmer that’s lucky enough to have two future stars fronting it.
Guns of Diablo is really only worth a watch for Kurt Russell completists, and even then, they’re advised to rewatcg Tombstone or Bone Tomahawk. Still, it’s an interesting little footnote in the careers of both Russell and Brosnan.
Sadly, Guns of Diablo proved to be the only movie Russell and Bronson ended up working on. Bronson never commented on Russell taking the Snake Plissken role in later years, but given the bond they formed on The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, it’s doubtful he held any grudges – or demanded his skateboard back.
Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live!
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Kurt Russell
- Birthdate
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March 17, 1951
- Birthplace
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Springfield, Mᴀssachusetts, USA
- Height
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5 feet 11 inches
- Notable Projects
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What If…?, Fast and Furious 7
