James Caan, veteran 'Godfather' and 'Elf' actor, dies at 82

[Tom Kitten]

23. When I was a kid

My folks would take me and my little sis along to the drive-in to see movies.
Now when I was 8 "The Carpetbaggers" was playing at the drive-in and my Dad liked the book and was a George Peppers fan. So off we went.
The opening feature was this film starring Olivia de Havilland called "Lady In a Cage" with James Caan in his first starring role as the leader of a group of sadistic thrillseekers terrorizing a trapped older lady. Man o man! Talk about traumatizing! What a brutal and violent movie, and for 1964 quite explicitly gory in depicting Caan's deserved fate. The memories of that film have stuck with me all my life.
Funny thing is I had no idea he was that guy in that movie until many years later after I had seen the Godfather and Rollerball and other films he was in. The Gambler was a good movie, plus of course Brian's Song. I didn't find him going mano a mano with Arnold in Eraser very believable though. RIP Mr. Caan