MovieChat Forums > Psycho (1960) Discussion > OT: RIP, Don Rickles (with a lil' bitty...

OT: RIP, Don Rickles (with a lil' bitty Psycho connection)

posted 8 years ago by ecarle (14979)
6 replies | jump to latest

Now, THIS is a loss.

I'll stipulate going in that either one seems to really, really like Don Rickles...or doesn't.

I really, really like Don Rickles. I do. I did. I think I always will.

He didn't much tell jokes. And some of his "zingers" -- like "You hockey puck" -- weren't that witty in the reading. It was all in the timing and the execution. The facial expressions. The way he would compliment someone and then , milliseconds later, look disgusted by them.

Here are some variations on the same line, which tore me apart all three times:

To Frank Sinatra(at the latter's Dean Martin roast): I'll level with you, Frank. (Beat) Its the bomb of the year.

On the Dean Martin show, in a Western sketch with Dino as the bad guy, Roy Rogers as the good guy, and Don as a bartender: "20,000 shows on the air, and I have to get stuck on this bomb."

At a roast of Don Adams(Get Smart) at Hugh Hefner's house: "I look around the room, Don, and it becomes apparent to me that...I'm the only name here." (And then a look of wincing disappointment.)

On paper, not very funny jokes On paper, pretty much the SAME joke. But I laughed hard every time and kept laughing. The man kept a rhythm going that created a comic mood that(for me at least) started when he took the stage(or scene) and didn't end til...the end.

Or to James Stewart(at a Dino roast): Jimmy...hey! Jimmy. Look at me: (beat) its over.

I vividly recall Rickles on Carson one time and Carson put Rickles through the paces of a traditional "learn to cook segment" and Rickles killed simply by making disgusted faces and mocking the entire segment. ("Yeah, Johnny, lets take a look at what's cooking here...yeesh.")

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Movies? He made a few. Probably the biggie is Kelly's Heroes(1970), in which Rickles is one of the very funny comedy guys(Rickles, Telly Savalas, hippie-smooth Donald Sutherland) surrounding bland Clint Eastwood. Recall Rickles advice on dealing with a Nazi over some stolen gold:

Rickles: MAKE A DEAL. Who knows, uh...maybe he's a Republican.

He was nicely serious as DeNiro's right hand man in "Casino."

And way back in 1960, as Janet Leigh made "Psycho," her then-hubby Tony Curtis was over at MGM making "The Rat Race" with Debbie Reynolds and a near-debuting Rickles. Rickles play it straight as a low-rent gangster Curtis owes money to. Rickles has a big henchman who does the beatings up.

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Years ago I was desperate to see Don Rickles in person " before he died." So I did. And he didn't die. For five more years, he didn't die. So I saw him again "before he died." And that was like ten years ago. 90 he was. And he had shows booked later this year -- shows with REGIS PHILBIN. I wonder what's going to happen to them.

I recall at the second of the two shows he did that I saw, at the end of the act, he just sat on the edge of the stage and hung with any of us who stuck around. Some autograph signing, but mainly just shooting the breeze and remembering the good old days. ("Yeah I was at Dean's wedding the time he married that twelve year old.") I stuck around a little, thanked him for the decades. Glad I did.

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Don Rickles was best friends with Bob Newhart, the much more deadpan and gentle(but caustic in his own way) comic. Newhart suddenly looks like a precious treasure. With the loss of Don Rickles, we have lost one more tie to an entertainment past which had a Rat Pack beginning (Rickles could rib Sinatra endlessly on TV) and a Cool Old Guy end. All the Young Comics Loved Don.

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Parting shots: I have read that James Caan patterned his Sonny Corleone somewhat on Rickles. I suppose that's where "Bada Bing!" came from, but also that scene where, after Paulie Gatto took a powder so Vito Corelone could get shot, Caan asked how Paulie's cold was going - "You feelin' better? Go home, take a steam bath, get a schrpitz" and then after Paulie leaves, coldly says to Clemenza, "I don't ever want to see him alive again." That's Rickles.

And a pretty good little documentary about his late-age tours, "Mr. Warmth," was directed by Animal House icon, Hitchcock pal, and director-in-exile John Landis. Its good. (Remember how Rickles would always take the stage to the bullfighter music?)

See ya later, Hockey puck. Rest in peace.

PS. How about Rickles as Arbogast? "Well to tell you the truth, I DO mind, you hockey puck. Yeah, that's a REAL believable story about that woman just checking in and checking out. (Makes disgusted, disbelieving face.)"

[–] swanstep (2766) 8 years ago

Thanks for this ecarle. I've enjoyed Rickles in Kelly's Heroes and in Casino, and I've always known his name somehow, but for all that, like say Jonathan Winters, he's never really been a *character* in my world s your notes here were educational for me.

I think it's a shame that he didn't get a breakout comedy or two in the 1980s the way Rodney Dangerfield did or Leslie Neilsen did. There was a bunch of money to be made with the right Rickles package/role I'm sure of it (maybe bundled together with Robin Williams or Billy Crystal or Sam Kinnison - get Rob Reiner to direct). It does seem that Rickles' cyncism would have worked well with that next generation of wiseguy teens and college kids.

[–] [email protected] (6222) 8 years ago

Great memories. Thanks for sharing!

It is true that Dn Rickles was not a joke teller, he sold his humor with those disgusted looks, rolling his eyes,etc.

One of the funniest Dean Martin roasts was when Mr Warmth himself was roasted. I just found it on youtube recently. His best friend Bob Newhart really had me in stitiches.

"Don is my best friend, (typical Newhart pause), that gives you some idea the difficulty I have making friends."

He went on to rib his friend about his many failed TV shows. They did a poll and most people said that they didn't watch his shows. Some people who didn't own televisions said that if they got TVs, they wouldn't watch.

One of my favorite guest star appearances of Don Rickles was the two parter on the Dick van Dyke Show. The first part "Four and a half" is hilarious. It's a flashback when Rickles as Lyle Delp, a holdup man, sticks up Rob and a pregnant Laura in an elevator.

I took my son to see Toy Story when he was little and when Mr. Potato Head (voiced by Rickles) sees a hockey puck and asks him. "Where ya goin ya hockey puck?", every parent in the theater roared with laughter. Too bad the little kids didn't get it!

He truly was one of a kind.

[–] swanstep (2766) 8 years ago

I took my son to see Toy Story when he was little and when Mr. Potato Head (voiced by Rickles) sees a hockey puck and asks him. "Where ya goin ya hockey puck?", every parent in the theater roared with laughter. Too bad the little kids didn't get it!

Ha! I never noticed that Rickles was Mr Potato Head in the Toy Story films (which are all at least near-classics). At least after Seinfeld arrived on the scene, I always had that voice pegged as Jerry Stiller, i.e., because Mrs Potato Head had the ultra-recognizable voice of George Costanza's Mom, Estelle Harris, I assumed that Mr Potato Head was George Costanza's Dad!

What a knucklehead I am! Anyhow, TS-TS3 is an enduring true Final Act for Rickles, and it somewhat answers/deflates my early musings. Rickles *did* end up in a package for later generations (I hope he got a (small) piece of the profits and merchandising for at least some of those films...).

[–] ecarle (14979) 8 years ago

Great memories. Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks for reading. He was one of those entertainers who, it seems, was there my whole life. Movie-star wise, that's Michael Caine, who I first saw in Zulu in 1964. In 1964, movie stars like John Wayne and Cary Grant had been around for decades, as had comedians like Jack Benny and Bob Hope. But Rickles...and Caine..sort of "started on my watch." Its hard to see Rickles go. Here's hoping Mr. Caine sticks around.

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It is true that Dn Rickles was not a joke teller, he sold his humor with those disgusted looks, rolling his eyes,etc.

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In reviewing his work, in some ways he was best when he was ONLY reacting. Sometimes his lines -- which weren't all THAT funny -- deflated the comedy of how he had been reacting to other people for the minute or so before he said something meant to be a joke("So I gave him a cookie, and he went away."). He was perhaps most of all a great "presence," a great observer and reactor. One of his funnier bits was to look at the other person in open-mouthed disbelief. Rickles could milk this when listening to a talk show host or on the dais at a roast.

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One of the funniest Dean Martin roasts was when Mr Warmth himself was roasted. I just found it on youtube recently. His best friend Bob Newhart really had me in stitiches.

"Don is my best friend, (typical Newhart pause), that gives you some idea the difficulty I have making friends."

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Hilarious. I've seen this roast, and of course Newhart's timing was its own great gift...as was the nervous payoff and self-deprecation OF of the punch line(...that gives you some idea of the difficulty I have making friends.")

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He went on to rib his friend about his many failed TV shows. They did a poll and most people said that they didn't watch his shows. Some people who didn't own televisions said that if they got TVs, they wouldn't watch.

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Ha. The point's been made that Rickles failed at TV sitcoms and variety specials because A. He was built for improv, not for saying scripted lines and B He wasn't built to "host" anybody. He was built to stand outside and insult.

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One of my favorite guest star appearances of Don Rickles was the two parter on the Dick van Dyke Show. The first part "Four and a half" is hilarious. It's a flashback when Rickles as Lyle Delp, a holdup man, sticks up Rob and a pregnant Laura in an elevator.

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I only vaguely remember that. I assume he turns out to be an OK guy. For a holdup man.

I recall him doing a two-part Get Smart(a truly great TV comedy, legitimately funny, that I must post on someday) in which he played Don Adams' old Army buddy who gets dragged into a dangerous secret mission. Their chemistry was palpable. At the end, Rickles takes a congratulatory call from an unseen President LBJ and, awed, his responses are all gibberish. I don't think that would happen with calls from Presidents today.

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I took my son to see Toy Story when he was little and when Mr. Potato Head (voiced by Rickles) sees a hockey puck and asks him. "Where ya goin ya hockey puck?", every parent in the theater roared with laughter. Too bad the little kids didn't get it!

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I remember that! Great reference for the generation who knew.

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He truly was one of a kind.

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Yes he was. The true stars in any field carve that out for themselves. Though, in another post here, I think I can find some forbears and successors, Rickles himself was, only Rickles. Nobody did it better.

[–] ecarle (14979) 8 years ago

I think it's a shame that he didn't get a breakout comedy or two in the 1980s the way Rodney Dangerfield did or Leslie Neilsen did.... It does seem that Rickles' cyncism would have worked well with that next generation of wiseguy teens and college kids.

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I've been giving some thought to this with Rickles passing. Some ideas:

Director Stanley Kramer said that Rickles always gave him grief for not being cast in "Its a Mad, Mad etc World." But that 1963 film was made in 1962, and Rickles wasn't big enough yet. He'd been doing small serious roles in Run Silent, Run Deep and The Rat Race, and he was an American-International star, not a good thing(he was serious with Ray Milland in X the Man With the X Ray Eyes, funny enough in the Beach Blanket Bingo films.)

The comic with the "Don Rickles role" in "Mad World" was...Phil Silvers! Its amazing how Rickles-ish Silvers is in the role, constantly conning people before revealing his contempt for them and his greed. Silvers was perhaps more obnoxious that Rickles would be, but there can be no doubt that "Sgt. Bilko" was Don Rickles in utero(perhaps that's why they gave Rickles a military comedy called "CPO Sharkey," which I never watched once. Some Rickles fan I was!)

What was fun in Mad Mad World was how Silvers makes the early mistake of conning and abandoning lumbering Jonathan Winters, who spends the rest of the movie in a quest to locate and physically destroy Silvers("When I find this guy, I just want you to TURN AWAY! Ya hear me? Just TURN AWAY, I don't want you to see what I'm going to do to him.) Comedy gold, Silvers and Winters on collision course (And when they meet: Silvers: "Oh, no!" Winters: "Oh, YEAH!")

(MORE)

[–] ecarle (14979) 8 years ago

Rickles got Kelly's Heroes to showcase the best of his qualities. He's around the edges, reacting to people and making fun of them behind their backs and, quite frankly, enacting the coolest guy in the picture -- Telly Savalas yelling-roughhouse Army sergeant and Donald Sutherland's pre-hippie tank commander seem to honor Rickles' ability to caper and scheme, he's rather charismatic.

But it never really panned out for Rickles in movies or scripted TV. Vegas and stand-up and talk shows and roasts are where he could be "himself"(or the version we loved) and it was all just a matter of tone, looks, manner. He created for us a "worst version of ourself" that we loved to watch: an Id taking on every dumb or fatuous person we'd ever met in our life, a little walk on the wild side for our nastier nature. I saw REAL PEOPLE in my life constantly imitate Rickles. An example:

"Oh, that guy really made a great sales presentation." (Then suddenly makes disgusted, mocking face.) I spotted the Rickles delivery in a regular guy, in seconds.

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But this: in the general vicinity of Don Rickles Carson show clips are Rodney Dangerfield Carson show clips and its pretty clear: Dangerfield DID have jokes, great jokes, sometimes about other people, but often about himself ("This woman I wanted calls me and says, come on over there's nobody here...so I go over there and..there's nobody there!") and the Carson audience would roar with uncontrollable laughter as they shot out machine-gun style. Whereas in comparison, Rickles lines were so minimal of "weight" ("Here, have a cookie") that sometimes you could hear the audience laughter STOP until Carson could push them along.

And so --perhaps -- Dangerfield got the movie career that Rickles should have had. Not all that many movies, but some notable ones: Caddyshack(above all), Back to School(a modest hit, with Sam Kinison along for a coupla scenes), Easy Money. THAT said, Dangerfield's sweaty, shaking, bug-eyed persona was never as cool and comfortable as Rickles' utterly self-confident swagger.

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Some crossover: Rodney Dangerfield said that Jack Benny complimented him on his signature catch phrase "I don't get no respect." That line, Benny told Rodney, cut to EVERYONE's feelings of self-worth and got them on Rodney's side.

Well, on YouTube, you can find Don Rickles on the couch with...Jack Benny...for a Carson anniversary show, and Rickles has to find a middle ground with the great Benny: respect him as an elderly icon, but STILL be "Don Rickles," giving the older man a certain wary and mocking look from time to time, while zinging the other men there (Joey Bishop, Carson himself -- and everybody else is in tuxedos while Rickles wears a tan leisure suit, which is a joke unto itself.)

Looking at the clips, you can see Johnny Carson expertly "carry" both Rickles and Dangerfield to make sure they are even funnier( a gracious skill towards fellow comics, of the notoriously cold and arrogant Carson). But Carson has more fun with Dangerfield. Carson earnestly tries to get a word in edgewise as Rodney machine-guns the jokes ("Oh?" "Really." "Well, yes." "You don't say.") Years later, Jay Leno tried to do the same thing with Dangerfield and -- interestingly enough -- sounded fake trying.

I would like to note that Rodney expertly saved "I don't get no respect, no respect at all" for LATE in his couch monologue to Carson, so that when the line DID come, it got applause, cheers, ROARS. Rodney's lesser-known catch phrase was how he opened his couch chat with Carson:

Carson: So how you doing, Rodney?
Rodney: Well, I'm OK now, but it was pretty bad for awhile...

ANOTHER thing we could relate to.

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Oh, wait, this is about Don Rickles. I think it can be said that Rickles started earlier than Rodney, and lasted longer(Rodney started in middle-age and died while Rickles was still going.) Rickles was a more comfortable presence, more "real" in his talk show appearances. And there came a time for Rickles -- in his 70's and 80s -- when he was no longer just a comedian , but a kind of revered national treasure. Every time he came on a young host's talk show, one worried: "Oh, I hope Rickles stays alive a little longer. He's a blast from our better past."

Speaking of young talk show hosts, take a look at the clip of Jimmy Kimmel talking during his opening monologue this week, about Rickles on the day of his death. Kimmel can't control the crying -- he's fighting sobs. Its a very real look at how Don Rickles affected one of his younger followers.