Sad news out of the pop culture world today as a true giant has left the earth. Ricardo Montalban died at the age of 88 yesterday. I'm sure older people remember him for old movies and commercials he did. I remember him for three things.
1.) "Fantasy Island" - I vaguely remember this show growing up but not having any idea what it was about. Ricardo was your host to a visit to the island and I think you went there to live out your greatest fantasy. C list celebrities like Charo and Gilligan would appear from time to time. Most people remember the little person shouting "De Plane! De Plane!" anytime someone arrived on the island. The title of this show alone screams "remake" for the Spice Channel. Here's the goofy intro and theme song. Its sad to know that little Tattoo blew his brains out in the 90's.
2.) "Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan"
This movie scared me big time growing up. It almost should have made the top 10 movies that scared me list for the scene where Khan puts the bugs in the two guy's ears. That was very freaky. Anyway, though I'm not a Star Trek fan, I appreciate a good movie when I see one and this was very well made. The best scene, and probably the most imitated scene in Star Trek history, is below. I used to love Captain Kirk's scream but now I love Khan's little "buried alive" speech more.
3.) The Naked Gun - This is one of those movies you love as a kid but a lot of it goes over your head and you pick a lot of what you missed watching it as an adult (or at least after 5 beers). I won't break the movie down today but the first time I saw Ricardo Montalban act was in this movie and he plays a good villain. He also has one of the greatest death scenes in a movie when he topples over the railing at a baseball stadium, gets run over by a bus, squished by a construction vehicle, and then stomped over by a band playing "Louie Louie".
RIP Ricardo Montalban
1920 - 2009
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