The Bop Drop: Rest in peace, Carl Weathers!

So this morning my father tells me Rocky died. I was like :”Shit.”

I went looking for info about Stallone and then I found out it was Carl Weathers who died.

Now that really sunk my heart. That was way worse than Stallone dying.

Sometimes in life you see people perform in movies who touch your heart. They touch your heart because they do a great job, or they touch your heart because the are class acts. Or both.Carl Weathers is such a person.

The first time I saw Carl Weathers it was in Rocky. I can easily say that without Carl Weathers Stallone would not have had a career. Everybody saw Rocky fighting the odds against the unbeatable world champ Apollo Creed. Carl Weather oozed champion in Rocky.

As a kid, for me it was so badass to see Apollo Creed train Rocky in Rocky III. Apollo was the man to train Rocky against ferocious fighter Clubber Lang.As a kid I had a lump in my throat when the evil Ivan Drago killed Apollo in the ring. Those were very powerful scenes. Scenes I didn’t encounter often.

I always wondered why Carl Weathers never got bigger roles after his Rocky stint. Predator was a big movie, but he had to share the screen with Ham And Egger. Carl’s role there was definitely badass, though.

When I was renting VHS tapes as a kid there were trailers of upcoming movies at the start of the VHS tape. One of those trailers was Action Jackson. The trailer was so funny and cool that I couldn't wait to see it. Finally Carl Weathers was the main character in the movie. The movie was a B-movie, unfortunately, but it was a funny one that I love to this day and am gonna rewatch as soon as I can. There should have been sequels to this. 

I watched Street Justice a long time ago and fortunately don’t remember much.  It was a short lived show but it even made it to our country, that is very stingy when it comes down to buying TV shows. Time to find that show.

Carl Weathers deserved better. He deserved more signature roles.

I totally forgot he was also in The Shield, which to me was utter respect shown by the creators.That was the type of quality Carl Weathers deserved.

Hollywood didn’t respect him, but then again, that is not surprising. It is fucking Hollywood. In Hollywood the black man always gets killed first.

I also blame Stallone for not stringing Weathers along for some of his movies. He only owns his damn career to him. Imagine a Tango and Cash with Stallone and Weathers, or an Over The Top with both of them. And why was Weathers not in The Expendables? Stallone could have easily given him a role.

Speaking of ungrateful people, did you know that Carl Weathers saved Jean Claude Van Damme’s career?

As many of you know, Van Damme was in the initial Predator suit. Van Damme had gotten himself into trouble. He was slated to star in Bloodsport, but ended up in Predator. Van Damme had the Predator

suit and wanted to do Bloodsport, so he was looking for a way to quit Predator.

 He talked to Carl Weathers and  Weathers advice was, ”Whatever you do, don’t leave the movie. it will make you look bad.Have them fire you.” 

And that is what Van Damme did. Without that advice Van Damme would have left Predator and that would also have killed his chance for Bloodsport. Van Damme could have easily put Carl Weathers on for a part in one of his movies. But that’s Van Damme. He forgets who got him to the dance.

We will never know what could have been with Carl Weathers had he been given an honest chance.We do know that he was unforgettable as Apollo Creed, Action Jackson and Dillon from Predator.

Rest in peace, Carl. You were not only a role model for black people, but to all lovers of action cinema.