James Caan: Song & Dance Man? and other unlikely connections

‘It was at Rome’, on the 15th of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.'

Edward Gibbon

Much in the manner of Gibbon, I was killing time the other evening watching mediocre period comedy Harry & Walter Go to New York (1976) when I began to ponder the unlikely links between certain actors and their roles.

Watching the late James Caan (1940-2022) go through his paces as vaudevillian Harry Dighby, that I realised that the actor, famed for his tough guy characters, actually played a fair few light entertainers in his time.

H&W - full movie

In addition to H&WGTNY, Caan also sang in the following movies:

For the Boys (1991)? - although James Caan said that Harry & Walter should have been called 'Harry and Walter go to the Toilet', he worked with director Mark Rydell (who he had also acted for in 1973's Cinderella Liberty) again for this 'entertaining the troops' musical comedy with Bette Midler.

Funny Lady (1975) - Caan sings 'Me & My Shadow'

Les Uns et les Autres (1981) - full movie

Kiss Me Goodbye?(1982)

Elf (2003) - well he does sing (albeit grudgingly)

He played an author in The Gambler (1974), Chapter Two (1979) and Misery (1990), and a sportsman in The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971) and Rollerball (1975).?

Chapter Two (1979) - full movie

Elliott Gould, Caan's co-star in Harry & Walter, also essayed a song and dance man in two other movies (at least): 1979's Escape to Athena and 1968's The Night They Raided Minsky's.

Gould and Stefanie Powers entertain the Wehrmacht?in ETA:

Their act: ahoee ahoee. Indeed

Look out for Mr Bronson (Michael Sheard) from Grange Hill:

William Friedkin (The Exorcist/French Connection) directed Minsky's - which also starred none other than tiresome UK comedian Norman 'The Gump' Wisdom (1915-2010), of 'Mr Grimsdale!' fame.

Wisdom and Jason Robards in TNTRM:

More controversially, Gould applied 'blackface' in both H&W and Robert Altman's classic The Long Goodbye (1973).

Gould in H&WGTNY and TLG:

The Interrogation Scene from The Long Goodbye:

Escape to Athena (1979) - full movie

Elliott Gould singing and dancing at age 26:

And lastly, one of the funniest spontaneous laughs in the motion pictures; the "beloved, world-renowned one-armed piccolo player" from Altman's California Split (1974):

BONUS: James Burke Connections, Ep. 1 - The Trigger Effect