John Candy: A Look Back

Part 2: Candy's Final Film and Final Days

Candy’s film career started to sink in the early 1990’s the god awful Nothing But Trouble bombed as did the disappointing over the top comedy Once Upon a Crime. The fantasy comedy Delirious also sunk and a low point was when he starred in the low budget comedy Borris and Nastaha based on the Rocky and Bullwinkle villains. The films low budget couldn’t afford the rights to the two cartoon hero’s (I don’t know if they could even have done live action mix in 1992), but for some reason they thought people would like to see a live action movie about the bad guys from the cartoon. Of course no one did and it went straight to video years after it was made anyway.

While Candy’s value might have plummeted quickly he decided to branch out into the entertainment world. He became part owner of the Los Angles Kings and usually attended as many games as he could. It was than that he became good friends with hockey great Wayne Gretzky. He became such good friends with Wayne that he became a business partner with the great one when he bought a Canadian Football League team. The CFL was struggling big time and between making films he did PR for the league and showed up regularly for the big games. He even got his team a championship. The move was an example of how much he loved his country and never forgot his roots. In fact he took a bath on the move money wise cause the CFL just doesn’t make money. Wayne eventually bailed on his partnership, but the two remained good friends while Wayne played for the Kings.


Candy decided to put his comedic voice to good use and did a voice for the Disney movie The Rescuers. He even played a cartoon version of himself on the Saturday morning cartoon Camp Candy which ran for two seasons. If that wasn’t enough he launched his own weekly radio show Radio Candy (sadly I never listened to it) which he did for over a year.

The early 90’s weren’t all that bad despite a string of flops. One of his most misunderstood films Only the Lonely directed by Columbus that came out in 1991. The film was marketed as a whacky comedy, however it was more of a drama. Candy played a cop who still lived with his over oppressive bigot mother. The film was about him falling in love and having to break free from his mother’s control over him in order to keep the girl he loved. I hated the film as a kid, but now I see it as a well done balance of comedy and drama with a terrific supporting cast. Certainly the one that you should check out to see his dramatic ability and it proved to me he could have gone into serious films, but sadly he wasn’t around long enough.

If you don’t believe me just ask Oliver Stone who cast Candy in a brief but meaty role in his lengthy powerful JFK. Candy perfected a southern accent and his confrontation with Kevin Costner is one of the films more famous scenes. Stone said he was really impressed with the few scenes that he did, and I would imagine he may have used him again. Most directors he had worked for would usually find parts for him.

Candy did however live long enough to have a comeback with the surprise hit Cool Runnings. The film was loosely based on the story of the Jamaican Bobsled team. Candy played the coach who was given a 2nd chance after having his gold medal ripped away for cheating decades ago. Candy like in Uncle Buck held together a really inexperienced group of actors. He pretty much held the movie together much like the coach held the team together. Candy had some truly funny moments, and again was allowed to show off his dramatic side when the story got serious. Candy had some really good scenes towards the end of the film and his redemption story is appealing as the underdog team’s story.

It was in this role however that you can start to notice that something might not be right with Candy. Candy was extremely heavy. Even for John Candy. You almost could see a certain sadness in his eyes. I don’t really know the cause of it but John wasn’t very happy his last few years. It is likely that fact that the critics trashed his film and were usually fairly mean about it. Maybe he though people didn’t think he was funny anymore after several films tanked at the box office. Aykrod mentioned that Candy put huge pressure on himself to keep his name alive and live up to expectations. He also said that Candy often suffered panic attacks.

Candy continued to expand in different ways he started his own production company. The only film that his company ever produced was TV movie black comedy and his directorial debut Hostage for a Day. The film gathered some SCTV alumni and contained some of its silly dry humor he also has a cameo role. It was quite funny. After that he made starred in political satire directed by Michael Moore Canadian Bacon that wasn’t released until after his death and went straight to video. The film was about the US making people think Canada was evil and should be bombed.

Candy died while filming Wagons East! a film which to this day I refuse to watch. The movie was from what I hear one of his worse, and doubles had to be used to pad out his role after his death. Candy was extremely unhappy about the film he knew it was a turkey. He was almost unrecognizable heavier than ever with long greasy hair and a full beard the same look he had for his previously mentioned finals roles. Almost as if he didn’t want to be noticed.

Right before he died he was at a Kings game (I remember watching that game) he told Wayne’s wife how miserable he was in shooting Wagons East!. He needed hip surgery and the filming location was ungodly hot which was a strain on him because he was horribly out of shape to begin with and I imagine may have contributed to his death. Candy however according to cast members didn’t really seem down while filming. In fact the night he died he through a huge party for everyone making the film with lobster and expensive booze. He went out smiling having a good time. He went back to his hotel room after the party a few hours later he called up co-star Richard Lewis and just to make him laugh. A few hours later he died in his sleep of a heart attack.

Candy was a heavy smoking, heavy eater and heavy drinker which lead to his heart attack. He was only 41, but left a legacy of funny movies. It was really a great loss since Candy could have easily been an actor that was used more.

Feel free to email me any questions about John Candy I would be happy to recommend any of his films.