VIDEO: Watch the Moment When Don Rickles DESTROYED Comedy Career of Jody (Bonehead) McCrea

[pjcomix]

One of the most AMAZING scenes in cinematic history came, believe it or not, in the film "Beach Blanket Bingo" when Don Rickles hilariously broke the fourth wall by temporarily stepping out of his role as Big Drop and doing his regular shtick on the cast members. As you can see everybody reacted to Rickles improv comedy as their real selves, not as their movie characters. Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello took Rickles' ribbing in good humor although you can tell they were a bit uncomfortable. However, the most fascinating reaction to Don Rickles was by Jody "Bonehead" McCrea. See, Jody McCrea was the son of Golden Age film star Joel McCrea who starred in many Westerns and Adventure films. Jody McCrea did the same at first but finally wanted to get out from under the shadow of his father by acting as goofy characters in films, especially the beach' movies, first as "Deadhead" and later as "Bonehead."

As you can see Jody McCrea reacting as himself, not "Bonehead," you can tell he is probably not only awestruck at the comedy of Don Rickles but thinking to himelf that he can never come close to that level of comedy so perhaps time for a career change. In fact, after the 1965 "Beach Blanket Bingo," he made only one other Beach movie that year, most likely under contract, as Bonehead again in "How To Stuff a Wild Bikini" and then it was pretty much OVER for Jody McCrea since a few years later in 1970 he quit the movie business to become a cattle rancher in New Mexico.

I don't think he harbored any animosity towards Don Rickles. It's just that he saw a master of comedy at work and realized that perhaps that line of work wasn't for him. And you can see it written on his face in his reaction to Don Rickles as they both broke the fourth wall of the cinema screen.

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