Remembering Louis Gossett Jr.

Considering the amount of work Louis Gossett Jr did in film I suppose there are a dozen different things to remember him for. He did a solid job as Chappy Sinclair in “Iron Eagle,” which got a 2nd and 3rd movie made despite the whole thing being a bit silly. He is likely best know playing opposite Richard Gere in “An Officer And A Gentleman,” as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley.

He won his only Oscar for that particular role, though he also was nominated for his role as Drac in the movie “Enemy Mine,” an oft-forgotten film where Gossett plays an alien fighter pilot who crash lands on a deserted planet with an enemy pilot, the two having to survive together. It’s the only time I’ve seen a male actor do a convincing job of giving birth (his character is hermaphroditic).

In honesty you can remember him for any number of roles, as he was “in the biz” since the late 1950’s, from parts in TV shows like “Good Times” or “The Jeffersons” to TV miniseries’ (remember those?) like Roots. On stage and on screen, Louis Gossett Jr. was a working actor, meaning he was in a lot of projects; he didn’t just wait until the Oscar-winning roles came his way. He has a credits on his IMDB page for every year except 2011, going back to 1967… usually multiple credits.

He doesn’t have any for 2024 though, because the great man passed away March 29th, at the age of 87. And while there is a lot to remember him for, and probably better ones he’d want to be remembered for, I found myself looking up a comedy his did about 35-years ago.

It is a nearly-forgotten western comedy called El Diablo. It came out in 1990 with a PG-13 rating and the plot isn’t terribly important, but an school teacher from back east wants to rescue one of his students from a desperado. Clearly unskilled for the job, he haplessly stumbles from problem to problem, ending up with Gossett’s character hired to help him.

The thing that makes the move so compelling is the individual performances of the characters and the absurdity of the misfit crew that assembles. From Gossett’s horse, Rio, needing cotton balls in his ears because he doesn’t like gunfire, to the arguments of a pursuing group of outlaws arguing whether someone ran into a gully or an arroyo, there’s just some brilliant scenes that can only be brought to life with good acting.

“You just shot that man in the back!” “Well, his back was to me.” The movie explores the wild west as painted by the 5¢, yellow-back novels of the era, vs the hard reality in the lawless west. I remember Gossett’s character saying, “I ain’t as fast as I used to be, but I cheat real good,” and revealing a pair of derringer pistols above the holstered colt .45’s on his waist, letting him quick-draw without having to actually draw.

It’s meant to be silly, and it is, but it reminds me of an older style of film making where you had to use good story-telling and script writing, then find a crew of people willing to turn it into something watchable. Green screens weren’t going to cut it. Even movies with great effects still relied on actors to deliver the performances.

There happens to be a copy of El Diablo free to watch on YouTube, which I’ve settled into for the night, as a way to not only remember Louis Gossett Jr as the working-man’s actor he was, but to remember a time when that really mattered.

[John Carpenter helped with the script and was an Executive Producer on it. I kid you not.]