When James Caan threatened to hurt a director and “kick his fucking ass”
With Al Pacino and Marlon Brando dominated The Godfather in terms of their performances, they were closely matched by James Caan, whose portrayal of the hot-tempered Sonny Corleone led to a brilliant on-screen effort that was rightfully recognised at the Academy Awards with a nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
Caan had delivered far more than just his Godfather effort, though, as he also gave further commendable efforts in the likes of The Gambler, A Bridge Too Far, Thief, Misery and even showed his versatility by performing in Elf. Quite simply, Caan was a true master of American cinema.
As a genuine Hollywood hero, Caan was naturally afforded the opportunity to work with some of the greatest directors in cinema history and in 1975 he collaborated with the legendary Sam Peckinpah known for his 1969 epic western movie The Wild Bunch, as well as Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
It was the action thriller movie The Killer Elite that Caan worked with Peckinpah on, though, alongside Robert Duvall, Mako, Arthur Hill and Burt Young. Duvall and Caan play a pair of friended elite mercenaries who begin a bitter rivalry when they are placed on opposite sides of a San Francisco proxy war.
In an interview with Bright Lights Film, Caan once spoke of his impression of working with Peckinpah and revealed that he had something of a physical showdown with the director. “He was like a great intimidator, but he found out really quick – I told him I would kick his fucking ass,” the actor said. “And he kind of liked that.”
The moment in question saw an explosion get set off close to Caan’s face, which he wasn’t best pleased with and proceeded to tell Peckinpah what he would do with him if anything like that happened again. “One day, they set off an explosion, real close to my face,” Caan explained. “I said to Sam, ‘I’ll beat you like a redheaded stepchild.’”
However, despite the run-in with Peckinpah, Caan had a deep respect for the director and added that he admired him as a person. “He was great, though, just insane,” Caan admitted. “As a matter of fact, when someone wrote a book about him, I was asked to give a quote for the cover. They had four quotes on the back. He called and said mine was the best. I had written, ‘Two more signatures and I’ll have him committed.’”
Peckinpah might have considered himself lucky not to have been on the receiving end of some physical punishment from Caan, as when the actor performed in The Godfather, it seemed like his character got on the better of him and the short fuse of Sonny Corleone was dished out on Gianni Russo, who played Sonny’s brother-in-law Carlo Rizzi.
According to Russo, Caan got “a little aggressive” and improvised a number of moments when Sonny and Carlo had to perform in a fight scene. Caan whacked Russo over the head with a billy club, and the scene left Russo with a chipped elbow and two broken ribs.
Thankfully, for Peckinpah, Caan had a profound respect for the director that likely would have prevented things from ever really coming to blows. However, had they, the iconic filmmaker might have just come out with a few scrapes and bruises too.
