DANGER
GOD (2019)
Featuring
Gary Kent, Tomi Barrett, John “Bud” Carlos, Monte Helman, Bob
Ivy, Richard Rush, Chuck Bail, Esai Morales, Marc Singer, Samuel M.
Sherman. Directed by Joe O’Connell. (100 minutes)
ON
DVD FROM WILD EYE RELEASING
Review
by Fluffy the Fearlessđ¸
As
a stuntman and actor, Gary Kent has been working on the outer fringes
of the movie business for over six decades. If you’ve never heard
of him, it’s probably because the closest he ever came to
mainstream Hollywood was a walk-on role in 1974’s Freebie and
the Bean. However, Kent’s filmography is long and varied, from
B-westerns & biker flicks in the ‘60s to his latest, the
highly-anticipated Sex Terrorists on Wheels.
He
was supposedly the inspiration for Brad Pitt’s character in Once
Upon a Time and Hollywood –
including being at Spahn
Ranch while
the Manson family was there –
but there’s a lot
more to Kent than that infamous encounter and he discusses it only
briefly. The rest of Danger God is a charming documentary of
his entire life and career.
 |
| Gary Kent vs. the paperboy. Kent lost this round. |
And
what a life. It doesn’t look like Kent ever raked in
millions, but sure loved what he did. He performed and coordinated
stuntwork for all sorts of low budget films, even directing a few
here & there. Some of them are cult classics, but most
have faded into obscurity. He remained life-long friends with many of
the directors he worked with, who share plenty of anecdotes with each
other and through individual interviews.
Kent
also talks about his upbringing in Washington State, quitting college
to work in Hollywood and eventually meeting the love of his life,
Tomi Barrett, his wife and occasional colleague until her death in
2005. A particularly bittersweet moment is a largely unspoken one,
when he’s revisiting his hometown and alma mater. With Tomi gone
and having outlived all his siblings, he’s fighting tears as he
passes through town. The fact that he comes across as a sweetheart of
a man might make the viewer a little misty, as well.
Yet
as of this writing, even with ongoing health issues, Gary Kent is
still working! We see him on the set of 2018’s Virgin
Cheerleaders in Chains, and while he’s no longer physically
able to fall off a horse, he obviously still loves what he does. That love may not compel one to
explore Kent’s decidedly dubious filmography, but his own story is
a must-see for movie history buffs.
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS.
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