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Frank McRae was originally intended to play the role of Leon in Blade Runner, but Brion James ended up getting the part instead. Brion James' audition for the role of Leon impressed Ridley Scott, particularly because of his scary appearance after a recent car accident. Brion James' portrayal of Leon in Blade Runner launched his career and he became known for his villainous roles in other projects.

When doing casting for the iconic sci-fi film Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott had one person in mind for the role of Leon Kowalski, and it wasn't Brion James, so what happened to the original Leon? 1982's Blade Runner is based on the 1968 novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" It takes place in a futuristic 2019 and follows a man named Deckard who is tasked with retiring old androids called replicants, but who struggles to complete his job when he falls in love with a replicant named Rachael.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero will be available on 4K Ultra HD May 18th

Young Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) is a lonely 11-year-old boy who escapes from his bleak reality by watchingthe action adventure movies of his favorite film character, Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). When his best friend, Nick the projectionist, gives him a special ticket to the new Slater film, Danny is magically transported into Jack’s world, where the good guys always win. Danny becomes his helper as Jack battles a trio of nefarious bad guys, Benedict (Charles Dance), Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn) and The Ripper (Tom Noonan). But things get out of hand when Benedict steals Danny’s magic ticket stub and transports himself into the real world, where crime can, and often does, pay. Jack and Danny must leave fictional Los Angeles for real-life New York and battle the villains without the aid of movie magic or stuntmen.

The veteran character actor shared the screen with Timothy Dalton, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger

Frank McRae, a mainstay of action blockbusters including “License to Kill” and “Last Action Hero,” has died. He was 80.

McRae died of a heart attack on April 29 in Santa Monica, Calif., his daughter-in-law confirmed.

Born in Memphis, McRae excelled in high school sports before attending Tennessee State University, where he double-majored in history and drama. He played defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears’ 1967 season before deciding to transition into acting.

McRae’s work on the big screen would quickly overshadow his football accomplishments, with the actor going on to appear in over 40 films. His breakout role came in the 1973 gangster flick “Dillinger,” a part he got by standing in a studio exec’s parking space until he was granted a meeting, according to IMDb.

The actor shrewdly leveraged his 6-foot-5 frame into a run of...

Frank McRae, who appeared in such films as License to Kill and Last Action Hero, has died. McRae died as a result of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California at the age of 80. The news of his death was confirmed by his daughter-in-law. McRae's career started out on a pretty interesting path. He was an NFL player-turned actor that, despite his athleticism, went to Tenessee State…...

Frank McRae, an NFL player-turned-actor who appeared in the James Bond film Licence to Kill and in the Last Action Hero, died April 29 of a heart attack in Santa Monica. He was 80, The news was confirmed by his daughter-in-law, Suzanne McRae.

Born in Memphis, he attended Tennessee State University as a double major in drama and history, then moved on to the NFL as a defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams.

After his football career, he became a character actor in the entertainment industry, appearing in more than 40 movies. His résumé includes Last Action Hero with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hard Times, Norma Rae, Red Dawn, Big Wednesday and F.I.S.T. with Sylvester Stallone, with whom he also appeared in Paradise Alley, Lock Up and Rocky II.

McRae also appeared in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill as Sharkey, a close friend of Timothy Dalton’s Agent 007...

Frank McRae, the actor who appeared in films such as “Licence to Kill” and “Last Action Hero,” has died. He was 80.

McRae died in Santa Monica, Calif. on April 29 as a result of a heart attack, his daughter-in-law confirmed to Variety.

The NFL player-turned-actor was born in Memphis, Tenn. A star athlete in high school, he went on to Tennessee State University as a double major in drama and history. McRae had a brief career as a professional football player and was the defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams.

Making the pivot to a new kind of stage, McRae found his calling in the entertainment industry. In his 30-plus years as a character actor, he appeared in over 40 movies. Standing at approximately six-and-a-half feet tall, McRae took advantage of scooping up tough guy roles in movies like “Hard Times,” “Big Wednesday” and “F.I.S.T.” with Sylvester Stallone.

Guns! Guns! Guns! John Milius' rootin' tootin' bio of the most famous of the '30s bandits has plenty of good things to its credit, especially its terrific, funny cast, topped by the unlikely star Warren Oates. The battles between Dillinger's team of all-star bank robbers and Ben Johnson's G-Man aren't neglected, as Milius savors every gun recoil and Tommy gun blast. Dillinger Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video U.S. 1973 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date April 26, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, Cloris Leachman, Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis, John Ryan, Richard Dreyfuss, Steve Kanaly, John Martino, Roy Jenson, Frank McRae. Cinematography Jules Brenner Special Effects A.D. Flowers, Cliff Wenger Edited by Fred R. Feitshans, Jr. Original Music Barry De Vorzon Produced by Buzz Feitshans Written and Directed by John Milius

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

There it was in the dentist's office, an article in either...

Yesterday we posted an action figure of a character named Lucas Barton from the classic 1989 video game movie The Wizard, the kid who busts out the Nintendo Power Glove. It reminded me of how much that I loved that movie when I was a kid, so I thought I'd put together a list of fun facts that you may or may not already know about the movie. Here you go! 

During the final Video Armageddon scene, the last game used was "Super Mario Bros. 3." It was meant to be revealed in the movie before it was released on the Nes. The first time we got to see the game was when the film was first released in theaters.Several Nes games appear in the arcade scenes. In the late eighties and early nineties, Nintendo had an arcade cabinet called Play Choice Ten. These cabinets would allow the gamer to choose...

Blu-ray Release Date: April 8, 2014

Price: Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Twilight Time

Kurt Russell and Deborah Harmon in Used Cars.

From writer/director Robert Zemeckis (Flight) comes his 1980 breakthrough comedy Used Cars, which makes its long-awaited Blu-ray debut from from Twilight Time.

The movie stars Kurt Russell (Death Proof) as a charming/nefarious car salesman caught up in a war between feuding car-lot owners, the twin brothers Roy and Luke Fuchs (both played by Jack Warden of Escape from Zahrain). This satiric look at the American dream also stars Gerrit Graham, Frank McRae, Deborah Harmon and Lenny & Squiggy themselves, Michael McKean and David L. Lander.

Special features on the Blu-ray edition of this cult hit include the following:

-Isolated Score Track – The Film Score

-Isolated Score Track – Unused Score

-Audio Commentary with director Robert Zemeckis, co-writer Bob Gale, and actor Kurt Russell

-Gag reel and outtakes

-Radio Interview & Radio Spots

-Liner notes by Julie Kirgo

-More!

Stars: Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins, Laurene Landon, Robert Z’dar, Richard Roundtree | Written by Larry Cohen | Directed by William Lustig

Featuring one of the best taglines ever: “You have the right to remain silent… Forever”, one of my all-time favourite horror franchises finally makes it Blu-ray debut with this release of the fantastic Maniac Cop from Arrow Video. Written and directed by one of Hollywood’s greatest filmmaking teams – WIlliam Lustig and Larry Cohen – who between them have made some of the best cult movies out there, including The Stuff, Q: The WInged Serpent, It’s Alive, Maniac, Uncle Sam and Relentless… The duos peak for me was the Maniac Cop series (admittedly the third film isn’t the greatest movie out there) which balance action and horror to perfection in a tale that mixes both horror and police procedural genres, with a villain who really deserves to be up...

No one could touch Charles Bronson in terms of global popularity throughout the 1970’s and Hard Times was his best film from that decade (my favorite for cinema, the only films from the ‘70s I would personally rate above Hard Times are Taxi Driver, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Godfather). Walter Hill, in his 1976 directorial debut, made a remarkably earthy and entertaining film about illegal bare-knuckle fighting in Depression-era New Orleans. Hard Times, whose succinct tag line read “New Orleans 1933, in those days words didn’t buy much”, perfectly exploits Bronson’s granite presence and is a concise, almost mythical celebration of men who only communicate with their fists. Bronson is Chaney, a hardened loner who hops off a freight train in New Orleans where he tries to score some quick cash the only way he knows how-with his fists.

The fight scenes in Hard Times, which seem authentic rather over-choreographed,...

One of the many reasons "Prometheus" was eagerly anticipated by so many was the director's track record in the sci-fi genre. Ridley Scott had only made two science fiction pictures before this year's blockbuster, and both are considered classics (and arguably his best two films). The first was 1979's "Alien," the direct inspiration for "Prometheus." And the second? 1982's "Blade Runner," the noirish mystery adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep," which has been one of the most talked about and influential science fiction films of all time, particularly in terms of its grim look at Los Angeles in 2019.

The film, which follows Harrison Ford's "blade runner" Deckard as he's tasked with tracking down four murderous "replicants" (life-like robots) who've escaped from an off-world colony and are hiding out on Earth, wasn't a success when it first arrived, partly thanks to the tumultuous,...

Three of Stallone’s best films are about to be into one explosive package on DVD & Blu-Ray! James Mangold’s under-appreciated Cop Land, John Flynn’s Lock Up and the classic Rambo: First Blood will be in a 3-Pack DVD and Blu-Ray set from Lionsgate Home Entertainment in August! Read below for all the fine details!

From the Press Release:

The world’s favorite action superstar, Academy Award® nominee Sylvester Stallone (Best Actor in a Leading Role, Rocky, 1976), is back with the Blu-ray Disc and DVD release of the Stallone 3-Film Collector’s Set from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Just in time for the theatrical release of his highly anticipated action film, The Expendables 2, this collection features three of Stallone’s most memorable hit films Cop Land, Rambo: First Blood and Lock Up, together for the first time. A must-have for Stallone fans of all generations, the collection...

Maniac Cop

Stars: Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins, Laurene Landon, Robert Z’dar, Richard Roundtree | Written by Larry Cohen | Directed by William Lustig

Featuring one of the best taglines ever: “You have the right to remain silent… Forever”, one of my all-time favourite horror franchises finally makes it Blu-ray debut with this release of the fantastic Maniac Cop from Arrow Video. Written and directed by one of Hollywood’s greatest filmmaking teams – WIlliam Lustig and Larry Cohen – who between them have made some of the best cult movies out there, including The Stuff, Q: The WInged Serpent, It’s Alive, Maniac, Uncle Sam and Relentless… The duos peak for me was the Maniac Cop series (admittedly the third film isn’t the greatest movie out there) which balance action and horror to perfection in a tale that mixes both horror and police procedural genres, with a villain who really deserves to...

It's well over a year since Ice Cube announced he was planning to produce a biopic of his erstwhile NWA crew. In the meantime he's turned out for romantic drama New Year's Eve and played the Frank McRae angry captain role in 21 Jump Street. But Cube has continued to develop Straight Outta Compton, and now John Singleton has revealed he's in talks to direct.It's an obvious match of material and a director who previously worked with Cube on the epochal Boyz N the Hood. Since then the likes of Shaft, Four Brothers and 2 Fast 2 Furious have kept him afloat, and he's recently completed the Taylor Lautner vehicle Abduction, from the hot Black List script by Shawn Christensen.His Compton involvement isn't set in stone - "I can't talk too prematurely about it," he told The Playlist - but he does say that "the script is really, really good, so we're figuring it out.