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The character and career of Hulk Hogan has been discussed and remembered since his death last week, and I feel like it may be too soon to move onto a new topic. Hulk was never considered to be the best “wrestler.” He certainly had his moments, but his character was not supposed to be innovative or be able to show sequences of chain wrestling, nor did it need to be.
You could pick apart many things like his moves, matches, promo, and balding head, even at his prime. Hulk wasn’t the best at anything except for being the right man, with the right characteristics and skillset, at the right time. He certainly was never thought of as a great actor despite having a career in acting.
Sometimes we look for stars in odd places. The Kardashians came from a reality show, Logan Paul came from YouTube, and Mr. T was a bouncer who was featured on a television news magazine show. You never know how the next big thing will be discovered, but you have to be able to captivate an audience in order to make it.
Hogan had a proven track record of having a built in fanbase that would pay attention to what he was doing. He really broke onto the national scene opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky III,” so why not see if his charisma worked on the silver screen with him as a lead.
He never had a role that ever legitimized him as an actor worthy of award consideration, but that wasn’t the attempt. I think Hogan knew that he wasn’t at that level of talent. The goal was crossing over, seeing what would be next after the physicality of a wrestling career would come to its inevitable conclusion.
While nothing on this movie is a great film, and I’d argue that only one would be considered good, was still a shell of its predecessor, he accomplished what he set out to do.
He became a recognizable enough of a name to help set up his next phase, even if it wasn’t in movies. Commercial endorsements, TV cameos, and voiceover jobs now came with a higher price tag and more demand. He had broadened the audience for who would have nostalgia for Hulk Hogan. He also crawled in movies to eventually give other opportunities for future wrestlers to try their hand in TV and movies. It gave the better actor the chance to show that skill because of the crossover initially found by Hulk Hogan.
“Gremlins 2”
I’m cheating.
This isn’t a Hulk Hogan movie, but he is in it with one of the greatest cameo in movies that didn’t include cameo legends Stan Lee or Channing Tatum. I can’t put his “3 Ninjas” movie or “Santa With Muscles” on a top five list, and filling out his top five film roles isn’t exactly a list I had to weed out.
In a very meta moment in this sequel to “The Gremlins,” the group of mischievous after-midnight snackers ruined the actual film of the movie the audience was watching. Good thing for the on screen theater that a ring-geared Hogan was in the crowd trying to enjoy the movie. He was able to cut a promo, rip a shirt, and get things back on track in the projection booth.
“Mr. Nanny”
Top five is pretty subjective. This was a formula used before and since. If you’re a big, muscular actor, you have to have your family film where you interact with kids. Arnold had “Kindergarten Cop,” The Rock was “The Tooth Fairy,” and Vin Diesel was in “The Pacifier.”
Hulk had always been known as a hero to children and worked with many kids with various organizations including Make-A-Wish and was great interacting with them. The problem was that while kids may have loved interacting with Hulk, it’s not entertaining to an adult audience.
I missed this one when it was relevant, so I was an adult in my late-30s before seeing the movie. I watched it with my kids who get introduced to all kinds of old movies from my past. If I leave a legacy to enjoy what life offers and appreciate the art around me, it’s not the worst legacy I can leave. This one wasn’t timeless, and wasn’t memorable for any of us, but was a fun watch with the right age of audience.
“No Hold Barred”
This was the one that was going to change the industry all over again. The WWF was always known for telling stories, and Vince McMahon had a vision to tell stories on the big screen. It wasn’t good. Poor scripting, poor execution, poor acting. Hulk wasn’t the only one who could “smell dookie.”
But the joy of a cult classic isn’t in the acting or script quality. It’s an ability to enjoy the art, even though it may not have been its original intent of how it wanted to entertain. I love a “bad movie night” where you don’t have to take everything seriously, turn your brain off, and simply enjoy. This film was also instrumental alone with “They Live” at making it acceptable to have a professional wrestler as a leading man.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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“Suburban Commando”
Here is the one I did see as a kid. Before I saw Hulk Hogan wrestle, I saw him as Chep Ramsey from outer space. We didn’t get WWF in my area without cable, and while I loved my WCW wrestling and wanted to learn more about the other characters, I’d seen action figures of, a wrestling VHS cassette was not what the family was coming home with from the video store.
One time, I was met half way and we rented Suburban Commando. I’m sure my dad would have just as well watched WrestleMania III after what we watched. I don’t know, maybe he enjoyed aspects of the film. I wasn’t really paying attention to him, I was captivated.
A cheap version of a “Star Wars” type of film finds Hogan staying on Earth trying to fix his spaceship and hiding from his enemies until he is able to make necessary adjustments. A big scary Undertaker even shows up as one of the main villain’s lackeys.
I have a tradition of Tuesday movie nights where my wife and my best friend will get together and take time for friendship and entertainment. If a celebrity dies, we will often honor their lives with a work from their life. Summers being what they are, it was just me the week after Hogan’s death.
I watched some Hogan tribute videos. I cried along with my business hero and true friend to Hulk, Eric Bischoff. I watched the NWO heel turn from Bash at the Beach to relieve my favorite Hogan moment. When I decided to watch a movie, I chose “Suburban Commando.” It really was a fun movie to turn my overestimated brain off to and laugh. Seeing Hogan play the naive good guy was a great experience to honor the best aspects of what people were drawn to.
“Rocky III”
Before I got into wrestling, I loved the Rocky movies. We had a trail for HBO when it was summer break and I had a VCR. I recorded every movie I liked that played and watched them over and over. It’s where I found two of my largest passions of being a movie fan, and strangely led me to a love of professional wrestling.
“Rocky” still is one of the greatest movies ever made, and was very deserving of its praise upon release. I love an underdog story, especially when that underdog is so deserving. Rocky cared about people, about pets, and about doing the right thing. He was the ultimate babyface when given a chance for a big match opportunity against Apollo Creed. It even showed how losing can make someone more over and respected.
As an 11 year old boy about to be pumped full of more testosterone than my body was going to know what to do with, it made me want to watch boxing. Then I watched a few fights and learned something. Boxing was boring. If it wasn’t a quick knockout, it became a lot of dodging and locking up with each other. Then I was able to stay up as late as I wanted to on a Saturday night, and after the 10 o’clock news, there was a WCW Worldwide show I found. I found everything I loved about the Rocky movies, and it was a weekly show. Even better, way more than fists were being used.
I had to rent “Rocky III” at a later time, because that wasn’t playing on HBO when I had it. By that point I had been a wrestling fan and thought it was cool seeing the two worlds come together like this. Hulk as Thunderlips certainly was memorable and I had a blast seeing how Rocky would handle such a large opponent with additional options beyond his fists to use to win this type of match. It was here that the wrestling industry changed when the world saw the star power that Terry Bollea had.
(Griffin is a lifelong fan of wrestling, superheroes, and rebellious music of all forms. He is the owner of Nerdstalgia, and you can shop online, learn about visiting the store in Colorado Springs, or catch him at a comic con in the Rocky Mountain area by going to http://nerdstalgia.shop.)
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