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Jan-Mich ael Vincent in “Bite the Bullet and “White Line Fever.Plowboy Charm, Playboy RatingJan-Michael Vincent has that rambling kind of eyes get big and his manner affected) and said,‘Wow, Western charm that makes you want to say howdy” you have beautiful eyes.’ ”when he reaches out to shake your hand.As for the Playboy rating, he shrugs his shouldersIt’s that unpretentious warmth, not so common in and is almost embarrassed as he says, 1 don’t know the Hollywood acting community, that makes you about them, 1 guess they think I’m a sex symbol.”empathize with him as he shuffles around his hotel suite dressed in blue jeans, sandals and a loud Hawaiian shirt trying to perk himself up with coffee from a night that lasted too long.Born in Denver, Colo., and raised in California, the 30-year-old actor (who looks no older than 23, on screen or off) is very close to becoming a major star in the galaxy of bright young male talent. He’s so close to that threshold he probably only needs one leading role in an important picture to firmly establish himself as front runner.TO DATE, unfortunately, he’s looked a lot better than the films he has appeared in. Buster and Billie” was the first picture in which he had a lead role. The film was big on sex and violence, but nevertheless, managed to display a certain style and grace mostly resulting from his performance and that of Joan Goodfellow, his co-star. Then he did “The Mechanic” with Charles Bronson and The World’s Greatest Athlete,” a Disney film.Currently he is starring in White Line Fever,” a violence-laden cartoon,” as he calls it, about an independent trucker who organizes a group of drivers to fight a crooked fleet owner. He also has a supporting role in Richard Brooks’ classy western, Bite the Bullet,” which will be returning to area theaters at the end of this month.There’s no way you can judge a film from the script,” Vincent says, which may account for the general low quality films he has been stuck with toYou wouldn’t think a sex symbol would appear in a Disney production but there he was, Jan-Michael Vincent as The World’s Greatest Athlete.”“YOU KNOW, they once wouldn’t let me into Disneyland because my hair was too long. Then, a couple years later after I signed to do The World’s Greatest Athlete,’ they were saying, ‘Could youplease grow your hair longer?’ ”After the filming he cut his hair and went to Germany to promote the picture. “I walked into the meeting where they had all these huge pictures of me with my hair long. This one guy looked up at me real upset and said, ‘ Vot! You cut your hair! Can you vear a vig?”While he doesn’t seem to take his current film, White Line Fever,” too seriously, he says it was a fun thing” to do and considers it as a western with trucks instead of horses The independent owner-operator is more like adale ‘: Youha ve'toreiy on 'the a^vic'eof other people” cowboy than just about any other individual today Hedoesn’t mind being on his own, away from his family for long periods of time. He’s really an independent, small businessman who wants to work for himself But all these governmental regulations get in the way That’s really what America’s all about, not big corporations, big business and big governmental agencies.”If Vincent were a little more worn, a bit tougher and perhaps not so cleanly handsome, he might have looked more convincing as the rebellious owner-operator he portrayed. But there is nothing phony about his attitude toward truckers. An enthusiastic admiration shows through when he talks of smokeys” (policemen) and the clever tricks in-HIS STRIKING good looks have established him as dependents use to circumvent bothersome govern-a sex symbol, although he says he doesn’t pursue that ment regulations.and a lot of times their idea of a good film isn’t the same as yours.” Ironically, the best film he’s appeared in, Bite the Bullet,” he accepted without even seeing a script. But then, so did Gene Hackman, James Coburn and Candice Bergen. They all accepted their roles on the basis of Richard Brooks’ reputation. Brooks’ other films as a director include The Professionals,” “In Cold Blood” and “Blackboard Jungle.”Vincent has received most of his critical acclaim for television roles, especially his appearance inTribes,” a TV movie about a flower child” who is drafted into the Marines.image. He has placed on Playboy magazine’s list of sex stars two years in a row and Andy Warhol’s In-Vincent’s next film will be Vigilante Force” with Kris Kristofferson —- another cartoon.” But he’sterview magazine claimed he is the first contender hoping and waiting for that one film “with a big since Paul Newman for screen eyes of the century. budget, a great director, a great cast...”Vincent is a little peeved about that characterizationUntil then, he’ll remain like his characterization ofwhich has been hard to shake. This Andy Warhol James Colburn, who starred with him in Bite thesuperstar showed up to interview me and hadn’t seen Bullet,” and stay completely cool . me in anything. She just looked at me (and here his matter what happens.”smiling, no
Newspaper Details
Oak Forest Star Tribune
Oak Forest, Illinois, US
Sun, Aug 17, 1975
Page 31
Full Page
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DE 31 Oct 2021
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