Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Worth Watching?

I couldn't believe my eyes. On one of the premium high-def channels that I subscribe to, I saw a movie about to be shown that costarred someone who'd once been part of my celebrity radar because of her participation in a series I was obsessed with back in the mid-'80s. I figured surely the movie (really more of a straight-to-video sort of affair) would be atrocious, but curiosity got the better of me. Imagine my surprise when the headlining star (who I'd steadfastly avoided at all costs for years) turned out to be one good looking man!

Not only that, but the "actor" gave a startlingly appealing perfor- mance for the most part; one completely at odds with the persona that had heretofore been put before the public. And, as ought to be the case with anyone who sports a nice physique, he was frequently shirtless in the movie. Does his face happen to ring a bell at all? I doubt it will be much more of a clue if I tell you that the movie was called Midnight Heat and was released in 1996.

This one might do it, though it's possible that even still there will be some doubt as to who the leading man of this movie was.

The blond, good-looking hunk with the attractive hair and chiseled body was that belonging to none other than flamboyant, controversial, often-outrageous college and (briefly) NFL football linebacker Brian Bosworth (known during his heyday as "The Boz!")

I couldn't believe that the man I was watching in the movie was the same outspoken, polarizing, ultimately stymied (by injury) persona who briefly became a national sensation in the world of sports.
Now I'm not going to sit here and say that Brian Bosworth was an incredible actor in Midnight Heat (!) - and it remains the only movie of his I've ever seen - but he was very handsome in it and also quite amiable and appealing. He even put forth a certain level of vulnerability and lack of physical acumen.
The plot of the movie bears some resem- blance to Tom Berenger's Shattered, which came out in 1991.  In that one, the leading man was severely injured in a car accident, its shattered windshield destroying his face and giving him amnesia. In Heat, Bosworth is a banker (looking positively adorable in his suspenders and spectacles) who suffers a bomb explosion and is left with amnesia (along with a sultry wife and a huge mansion.)
Helping him out (and the key reason I DVR-ed this movie in the first place) is a spunky barmaid played by Claire Yarlett. Yarlett was Charlton Heston and Stephanie Beacham's daughter Bliss on The Colbys, a glitzy, well-heeled, but campy and often silly show I lived for from 1985-1987.

Her character on The Colbys was American, though Yarlett was English (!), a common occurance on the show. (She's shown here with big sister Tracy Scoggins and in the inset with her forbidden boyfriend Charles Van Eman, nephew of her father's worst enemy.)

Yarlett might have been granted a more significant career boost following the demise of The Colbys had her next project actually occurred. Aaron Spelling (who produced The Colbys along with many other hit shows of the 1970s and '80s) decided to relaunch Charlie's Angels, which had ceased airing in 1981. A "nationwide search" was held for just the right (four, this time) ladies to portray the daring detectives of "Angels '88." He didn't have to look far for Yarlett, but the other gals were Tea Leoni (!), Sandra Canning and Karen Kopins. Leoni went on to a pretty considerable career while Canning headed to Days of Our Lives and Kopins to Dallas before eventually exiting the business. The project never got past the stages of the big announcement... Yarlett did continue to act, but receded from the screen around 2009.

For his part, Bosworth still acts today, with a franchise of motorcycle-centered sci-fi movies called Revelation Road, while also attempting to branch out into projects outside the action-adventure category that he was inherently steered towards as an ex-football player.


Anyway, I couldn't resist sharing the young Nick Nolte-ish goodness of "The Boz" with you in case you ever want to keep an eye out for this surprisingly captivating low-budget movie. If you do watch it, I hope you felt it was (Bos)worth the time!  ;-)

***Update*** I came upon this shot of Boz in the shower room and thought that this would be the perfect place to share it (and declare "the end" of this post), so here goes...!

9 comments:

Martin said...

Wow, Bosworth is a hottie! Can't resist a stud in suspenders!

Gingerguy said...

I barely pay attention to sports in any era, but kind of remember Brian Bosworth. I think he was around the same time as Mark Gastineau?(who I only remember because he and Brigitte Neilson got matching tattoos on their derrieres). I remember him being controversial. There is a player now named Rob Gronkowski, another colossal blond, who is kind of a sensation in that vein. His vibe is more fun loving than polarizing though.
Bliss Colby! I knew her when I saw her but really only had eyes for Tracy Scoggins then (or skaggins as she was also called on occasion). I found the Angels reboot bit fascinating(Tea Leoni, wow). They did do one eventually but it didn't last long. I love stumbling across these kind of films. Thank goodness for cable. Thanks for sharing.

Scooter said...

Wow. He looks like a completely different person in the movie from the NFL promo shots. How much time might have passed between the two?

Poseidon3 said...

Hello, my loves. I cannot describe the surreal roller coaster I have been on. One day soon I'll be back to posting. Just a few days after coming home from Vegas, I embarked on a series of adventures that included a 50th birthday party for my best friend, a surprise (month late!) party for my own 50th and - among several other things - a last-minute road trip to Nasville, TN to see Depeche Mode. And - surprise - work has been insane at all times! So I've been run ragged as of late.

Martin, trust me, I was just as surprised as you at The Boz in this guise...!

Gingerguy, we're always recalling things from the same era. I remember Gastineau, too! He and Brigitte were a prominent couple for a while. "Gronk" is somewhat polarizing. I want to hate him because he's a New England Patriot, but then I'll find myself liking him. He (and other sports figures) filmed a commercial a couple years back that I found pretty sexy. He starts it off. See what you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8nefKzu2jU

Scooter, it was just about a dozen years in-between. Just goes to show, sometimes the best really is yet to come! ;-)

Gingerguy said...

That commercial is fabulous, but what is a New England Patriot, Paul Revere? :)

Forever1267 said...

I can tell you that in the opening 20 minutes or so of his debut movie, "Stone Cold", Bosworth is Shirtless! wearing only slightly unzipped jeans.... At least that's the memory I have. It might just be a towel.

In any event, you can fully see his blonde chest hair, and, oh, I would totally be his wide receiver!

Your birthday month sounds like it was fabulous!!!

Poseidon3 said...

Forever1267, I went and took a look! He does have a shirtless wrestling/fight scene about 19 minutes in and his body looked good, but I just can't do the peroxided mullet he was sporting then. He seemed like a meathead! That's why this particular movie startled me so. He looked normal and very handsome. :-)

Unknown said...

bosworth in stone cold! off the charts! that movie is BEYOND homoerotic! i mean literally bosworth is presented as a "beefcake piece of meat"... early scene of him in his home, strutting around in black bikini underwear! including a fantastic "profile" of him in them... scene after scene of him wearing only a black leather vest and no shirt with his chest and nips prominently shown, scene after scene of him as the ultimate beefy hunk daddy on his motorcycle, scene of him jumping on the hood of a fast moving car and spread legs on that hood as it comes towards the viewer and his jeans actually rip on one of his butt cheeks! if you slow motion this scene you can see ass skin and what looks like grey colored underwear underneath... closeups of chiseled face and his incredible baby blue eyes.. whether anyone involved realized how homoerotic this movie was who knows? IF ONLY his character had a REAL soft porn lovemaking scene besides his chaste kissing of 2 females, one a one night stand in his home and the other the biker gang woman wanting to get out of that life...bosworth only did one real sex scene in his movie career and that was in "blackout" also known as "midnight heat" where flat on his back in bed he is being "rode" by his wife and the closeups of his handsome face in ecstasy and sexy hairy chest are enough reason to watch this b-movie...

Kimmo Villman said...

Claire Yarlett would have been a perfect replacement for Amanda Carrington in Dynasty. Equally beautiful as Kate Oxemberg and a lot better actress too.