After watching 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' I decided that I'd like to try a new little feature here on the boards. Whether I'll be able to do this every month depends on my PC access becoming more dependable but at the moment I feel really inclined to write this so I will.

I've decided to call this 'Movie Star Memories' and every fortnight I'll decide on a star and write a short synopsis about them, what I thought of them and the movies they starred in, what I suggest you watch to understand why I like this person and whether I think they'll get better or worse. This time I'm going to do John Candy but I've got an idea for someone else in two weeks...look out for that..anyway onto my first 'Movie Star Memories'

John Candy, according to IMDB he starred in almost 60 films but Candy was never what I would a great leading man even for a comedy actor. A brief background for anyone who's never heard of John Candy. Candy was born in Toronto, Canada and made his first noted screen appearance in an uncredited role in a film called 'Hercules In New York'. Candy was a big guy, big as in fat not tall, and he had a great grasp for comedy timing.

My first memory of John Candy was in a film called 'Who's Harry Crumb'. Candy is the lead and plays private detective Harry Crumb. Harry is the ultimate bumbler and is hired to find a kidnapped girl by the kidnapper who, knowing about Harry's incompetence, feels that with Harry on the case his chances of getting away with the crime are huge. The film isn't exactly the funniest or the most stylish but to an 11 year old this was comedy at it's best as Harry bumbled from one situation to the next and always seemed to manage to win the day.

After seeing 'Who's Harry Crumb' John Candy was a name I would look for in the video shop whenever we visited. 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' was probably my next experience of John Candy and it's definetly a great film. It showcases both Candy's comedy genius and his emotional side as well. If you watch one John Candy film watch this.

In Spaceballs, Mel Brooks' Star Wars spoof, Candy plays Barf, sidekick to the main character Lone Starr. Spaceballs again shows Candy's comedy talents and again he's not the main character of the film, an attribute which shows in a lot of Candy's work. His best appearances seem to be as the comedy foil to someone else. Examples of films where this is apparant would be 'Brewster's Millions', 'The Blues Brothers', 'Splash', 'Home Alone' and the amazing 'Cool Runnings'

Candy's appearances as a lead always suffered from the fact that the scripts just weren't that great. As I said earlier, to a 12yr old, Candy is exceptionally funny in 'Who's Harry Crumb' but watching it now, it lacks that edge that adults find funny(Something that for example Finding Nemo or Toy Story has)

There is however one film in which Candy had the lead role and I feel is very good and that is 'Uncle Buck'. Candy plays the good for nothing Uncle Buck from the title who is asked to babysit his brothers kids while his brother and sister-in-law go off to visit her sick mum. Buck is a bit of a slob and comedy moments galore occur as Buck trys to manage 3 kids. He bonds effortlessly with the younger ones but has trouble with the oldest, teenager Tia. While Buck trys to protect Tia from her unscrupulous boyfriend, Tia feels Buck is interfering and rebels. It captures Candy at his comic best while also adding some emotion in Buck's treatment of Tia and also Buck's own problems with his girlfriend Chanice.

Unfortunatley John Candy died in 1994 while making the film 'Wagons East'. Would John Candy have gone on the better things?? 'Wagons East' to me wasn't a great film but Candy was still enjoying the success from 'Cool Runnings'. If given the right part John Candy may have emerged as one of the best comedy actors of the last 20 years but sadly that's something that was never realised. To me his best work was as the comedy foil to another leading man.

Films I'd recommend watching to see John Candy in action are 'Cool Runnings', 'Uncle Buck', 'Spaceballs', 'Home Alone' and the best of the bunch 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles'.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this and let me know what you think.