Very few people can claim the achievements in life of Carl Weather’s. He was an actor finding himself cast in multiple franchises as well as gaining lots of acclaim and praise for his directing. It’s not bad for a young man who started out as an all-athlete playing football, soccer as well as being involved in judo, wrestling, boxing and gymnastics as a teenager.
He played football for Long Beach City College and later San Diego State University before he went on to play briefly for the Oakland Raiders under Jim Madden as his coach. Madden wasn’t a fan letting him go calling him “too sensitive.” He went on to play for the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League before returning to San Diego State to focus on acting and getting a Masters in theatre arts.
He was cast in blaxploitation movies like Bucktown and Friday Foster and appeared on TV in movies like Barnaby Jones, Kung Fu and Starsky & Hutch. But it was probably because the budget for a boxing movie had been slashed and Weathers was quick to criticize the acting of the writer/lead actor Sylvester Stallone during his audition that he was cast as Apollo Creed, the heavyweight boxing champion in Rocky.
Weathers’ portrayal of Apollo has been seen as a roman a clef of Muhammad Ali. But Apollo is a well-written character which Weathers manages to add some more depth to it. He’s not a bad guy. He’s a businessman as well as a boxer. The Oscar-winning movie has Rocky Balboa being chosen because Apollo’s intended challenger has to withdraw on account of medical issues. Apollo doesn’t want to postpone the match and decides that since it will take place at the start of America’s bicentennial year, he will give an amateur boxer a shot.
Initially, Apollo underestimates Rocky as he sees this more as a marketing stunt. Apollo gets knocked down earlier in the match but manages to get back up. Eventually, they go the distance but in the end, Apollo wins by decision. Rocky knew that Apollo might win he just didn’t want to lose his dignity. This is why in the second movie, both characters are conflicted by the outcome. Apollo may talk a big game in the public but he finds himself wanting the best out of Rocky.
In the third movie, as Rocky is now the heavyweight champion, Apollo is in retirement. Yet, he holds no ill-will toward Rocky. Realizing that Clubber Lang (Mr. T) is too hostile toward Rocky and even himself, Apollo takes it upon himself to train Rocky following the death of his manager, Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith).
By the end of the third movie, Apollo and Rocky are now friends and there’s almost a closeness like brothers between the two as they meet in private in a boxing gym to have one last match to determine who’s the best. Who wins? What does it matter? They’re both athletes and they both want the best out of each other. It’s the relationship among athletes that’s at the heart of the movie and the first three movies. I’ve often said if they had stopped at the third movie it would’ve made the perfect trilogy and the whole story come full circle.
It’s also one of the most famous freeze-frame and endings of all movies.
In 1985, he would come back as Apollo in Rocky IV who now decides to come out of retirement for an exposition match against Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), who is making news for being a powerful boxer. But Apollo is upset because Ivan is from the Soviet Union. Remember it was the 1980s and Stallone himself has been vocal about his political views. The fourth Rocky (which boasts the best work-out soundtrack ever) has been seen as an allegory of the Cold War. The beginning visuals portray boxing gloves of the American and Soviet flag appearing on screen over Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” Sadly, Apollo dies from injuries he receives in the rink.
But Weathers would find himself appearing in what would become another franchise with one of Stallone’s biggest rivals at the time – Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator. He was cast as Al Dillon, a Vietnam vet and war buddy of Schwarzenegger’s Maj. Alan “Dutch” Schaefer, who know works for the CIA. Incidentally, the movie began as the result of a joke the writers (Jim Thomas and John Thomas) had heard about Rocky having to fight an alien in the next movie. The movie, which focused on Army commandos being hunted by an alien in the Central American jungle, would give us the best handshake (and meme) ever.
Even though Dillon’s character is killed off two-thirds the way through the movie and the former “Governator” finds himself going mano a mano with the titular character, Weathers would find himself working with producer Joel Silver on his next movie. This time, Weathers would be in the lead as Detroit Police Det. Sgt. Jericho Jackson in Action Jackson. The movie came about between a discussion Weathers had with Silver on the set of Predator, who told him “Why don’t you put something together?”
Considering how difficult and controlling Silvers is known for, it was a win for Weathers as he said he worked out the basics for the movie while on down time in Puerto Vallarta. Unfortunately, the movie would only gross $20 million on an $8 million budget and get bad reviews with film critic Roger Ebert saying Weathers doesn’t have the charisma to be a leading man.
The movie would gain popularity on the home video market pulling in a reported $45 million in video sales. Now, it’s famous for being an early role for Sharon Stone and also Weathers’ co-star Vanity (Denise Katrina Matthews). The failure of the movie resulted in Lorimar Filmed Entertainment selling it to Sony and the to Warner Bros.
But an actor acts and Weathers found work on the small screen appearing in the Vietnam series Tour of Duty, Street Justice which ran for two seasons in syndication, and replaced Howard E. Rollins Jr. on the seventh season of In the Heat of the Night. His only other movie role during this time was in the Australian action movie Hurricane Smith, filmed in 1990 but not released until the winter of 1992 and it went into obscurity.
But his next role would bring him a new legion of fans. In mid-February 1996, Adam Sandler would star in the golf sports comedy Happy Gilmore. While the marketing focused on Sandler and especially footage of him fighting with Bob Barker, Weathers was cast as Derick “Chubbs” Peterson, a former professional golfer who helps train the titular character in becoming a better golfer.
Weathers showed people he had the ability to make them laugh as he instructs Happy on how to put by telling him “It’s all in the hips” or just supporting him by telling him to “Just tap it” as he puts. Chubbs says he was supposed to be the next Arnold Palmer in the 1960s, but surprises Happy, who thought he couldn’t continue because he was black, by saying an alligator bit his right hand off. Fans have noted the similarities with how Dillon had his right arm shot off in Predator.
Happy Gilmore was a modest success but found its audience on the home video and cable markets as Sandler’s career exploded. Weathers was brought back as Chubbs in Sandler’s Little Nicky, which wasn’t a big success itself but found its audience on the same home video and cable markets and is now considered a cult classic.
For an actor who’s made movies encouraging athletes, Weathers switched gears again and decided to be a director, on TV shows like Silk Stalkings,Sheena, and Chicago Med. He would appear on popular shows like Arrested Development and The Shield. And he was eventually cast as Combat Carl in Toy Story 3, joining yet another franchise.
But in 2019, he would go on to appear as Greef Karga in Disney-Plus’ hit show The Mandalorian over three seasons. The series was a spin-off of the Star Wars franchise. Greef is an agent with the Bounty Hunters’ Guild and Guild Master of the Nevarro Hunters. Weathers would appear in nine episodes being nominated for an Emmy. He also directed two episodes “The Siege” in the second season and “The Foundling” in the third season. Both episode received rave reviews from critics and fans.
Weathers passed away on Feb. 1 at the 76 about three weeks after his birthday on Jan. 14. It seems almost fitting he passed away on the first day of Black History Month. Weathers’ role as Apollo and even Dillon weren’t bad guys. It’s easy to make them that way and other filmmakers would. And other actors might have played them more menacing. But despite what Ebert said, Weathers had a great smile and charisma. You can look at Dillon as a government official wanting answers for what happened to his men who went down in the chopper and later skinned alive. Dutch is upset that Dillon falsified a story to get them on the mission but an Army major knows that you have to get your hands dirty a lot.
In a more current decade, Action Jackson would have been a franchise. But in 1988, Americans were still skeptical to see a black police detective assisted by other black men battling against an evil car maker played by Craig T. Nelson and his army of assassins, also mostly white. But it laid the groundwork for the Bad Boys movies and Dewayne Johnson’s status as an action star. Action Jackson isn’t Oscar-worthy material but it’s just a silly fun action movie.
Throughout his life from professional athlete to actor to director, it seemed to be a prime example of the line in Rocky Balboa, “It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” Madden may have thought Weathers wasn’t a good football player and Ebert might have said he didn’t have charisma, but he had about 80 acting credits over 50 years appearing in five film/TV franchises. Weathers never back down.
If one movie or TV show didn’t make it, he still got back up.
What’s your favorite movie or TV series of Weathers? Please comment.
Zane Says 