March 28, 2026

"Back To The Future 1, 2 and 3 but it's only Stricklands' lines."


Posted by my son John, at Facebook, on the occasion of the death, at 94, of James Tolkan, who played Principal Strickland.

14 comments:

Aggie said...

RIP, Slacker.

BarrySanders20 said...

Played up the short man syndrome (he was only 5'5").

Yancey Ward said...

I saw the announcement of his death earlier this morning in a headline and I recognized the name but couldn't immediately remember who he was.

Yancey Ward said...

Looking at his IMDb page, I can see why I couldn't quite remember him- he had done little work in the last 30 years on screen- the last thing I would have ever seen him in was an episode of the origina "The Wonder Years". I had completely forgotten he played the aircraft carrier captain in "Top Gun".

Paddy O said...

This is great. Would love to have a version that intersperses his lines from Top Gun.

narciso said...

Yeah maverick was a slacker (in relative terms)

Howard said...

Check out this video, "writing checks your body can't cash" https://share.google/XQmQthdwnGl1QAiUz

mccullough said...

He was the glue of Top Gun

RCOCEAN II said...

George McFly wasn't a slacker, he was a goofball.

RCOCEAN II said...

Bald Heads can add to the macho if you can pull it off.

Enigma said...

The character was really named "Strick-land"? Wow, so literal. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest had Nurse Ratched (wretched). Avatar made a big thing of "Unobtanium" -- a silly reference to the pre-existing characterization of impossibility.

Low brow Hollywood remains low brow. They've got to paint by numbers.

narciso said...

Yes he was an authority figure kept people on a swivel

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Never saw Slakers (2002). I must’ve passed based on the poor reviews.

Michael Hess said...

May Bob Gale and Bob Zemeckis live forever so that there will never be a remake of an already perfect classic.

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