THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
THERE HE IS, Fred Williamson, up on the big screen again, starring in Quentin Tarantino's new ``hip'' vampire flick ``From Dusk Till Dawn.''
Fred Williamson - now that's a name from the past.
Think hard and it should bring to mind the nickname ``The Hammer,'' pro football, and an action movie star.
Think harder, and you'll come up with these credits: defensive back for the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, the TV series ``Julia,'' the prestige movies ``M*A*S*H'' and ``Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon'' and the ``exploitation'' movies ``Three the Hard Way'' and ``One Down, Two to Go!''
Puffing on one of his homegrown Jamaican cigars, Williamson, 57, is quick to tell you that ``From Dusk Till Dawn,'' in which he plays a roughneck named Frost in a brothel on the an border, is by no means a ``comeback.''
``I've produced over 30 movies in the past two decades,'' he said, emphasizing the point with his unlit cigar. ``If you haven't seen them, it's probably because you were in the United States. When the so-called `black exploitation' movies came to an end in the United States, I went to the European market. I've been there ever since. Many people don't know that Europe is a larger movie market than the United States right now.''
In America, Williamson is deemed ``a black performer in black exploitation films. In Europe, my films play wherever Stallone and Schwarzenegger movies play. Here, they go directly to video, and do quite well. I find that they don't have to play in theaters first in order to do well,'' he said.
Recent releases included ``Three Days to a Kill'' with Bo Svenson and Henry Silva and ``South Beach'' with Gary Busey and Peter Fonda.
``From Dusk Till Dawn'' is a way-out venture that also stars Harvey Keitel as a disillusioned preacher and Juliette Lewis as his nymphet daughter. It is directed by Robert Rodriguez (``Desperado'') and written by Tarantino, last year's whiz-kid Oscar winner for writing ``Pulp Fiction.'' These are the current ``in'' guys with moviegoers who delight in the offbeat, dark humor of ``Pulp Fiction.''
Williamson doesn't think there is anything unusual about the new kids in filmdom seeking him out. ``I think Quentin has seen every movie that has ever been made, and he remembers them all. He said he was a big fan of mine. I didn't really believe that - until he started quoting, line by line, scenes from my films,'' he said.
``The thing is that Robert and Quentin are weirdos. And I'm a weirdo, too. They dare to do things that are different. I'm in that league, too. Back in football, I was the first player to wear white shoes. When I got the nickname `The Hammer,' I had a hammer painted on my arm. They fined me $500 a game for promoting violence. I knew what I was doing. All that is marketing. You market a film the same way you market a football personality.''
Cigars seem to suit his maverick persona, too. Lighting one up, Williamson explained that he grows tobacco on a Jamaican plantation he bought seven years ago. Once harvested, the tobacco is soaked in rum and dried for about six months.
``Then I give the cigars to friends. I don't sell them. It seems to be cool now to smoke cigars. But if you smoke a cigarette, you're pronounced a villain because you've defied the rules of our Department of Smoking in Washington, D.C.''
When Williamson first came to Hollywood, he said he had to battle the old stereotype that football players are dumb. ``Basketball players weren't. Just football players. I beat that by becoming a businessman. I'm a better businessman than I am an actor. I raise my own money to get my films made. I need between $3 and $6 million a picture. That's chicken feed in Hollywood, and not one of my pictures has ever lost money.''
He says football, as well as Hollywood, is different now. ``Back in my day, we were the chosen few if we were football players. We were special. Now, they don't even show up until negotiations are finished. A player is getting $5 million, and he wants $8 million to play. Now, if a guy breaks a finger, he's out for the season. Back then, they'd tape the finger to your good finger and send you back in.''
The amount of laughter in theaters for ``From Dusk Till Dawn'' has surprised him. Williamson said the actors made up dialogue as they played out situations written by Tarantino. ``And you never knew what would end up in the film. But people are laughing at this crippled guy and things like that. I think a lot of them feel guilty, but they still laugh. It's that kind of comedy.''
His wife Linda is his partner in Po' Boy Productions, producers of ``action pictures for the '90s,'' as he put it. He has six children - five boys and one girl.
He explained the success of his longtime marriage: ``When you settle down, you should settle down. No in-between. . . . ''
He doesn't go along with criticism that violent movies breed violence. ``My responsibility as a parent and my responsibility as a filmmaker are two different things. My kids always said `Yes, sir' to me and, if they didn't, they knew they might get a fist in the mouth. None of them grew up to be bank robbers. I was taught that way by my mother. When I'd go home, back to Indiana, she'd tell me `Don't even think of going Hollywood on me. You'll never outgrow your upbringing.' And I didn't.''
He encouraged his children to be athletic ``but not professional athletes. I just wanted them to keep score in life - and to remember, that if you're down that doesn't mean you're going to stay down.''
His next movie, scheduled for a theatrical release in April, is based on what Williamson claimed was a real-life incident.
``These drug dealers moved in across the street from my mama's house. Once, she was out sweeping the walk, and they made some comments. She called me. I went down there and got the head guy out in the street and stripped him naked. I made him stand there a few minutes, just to prove to the neighborhood that he wasn't invincible. A few weeks later, they sold the house and moved out - taking the drugs with them.''
The movie version of the story will be called ``Original Gangstas'' and will star Jim Brown, Paul Winfield and Richard Roundtree.
``It's all a matter of marketing,'' he reemphasized. ``If Sidney Poitier or Denzel Washington got up there and started jumping off buildings, the audience knows it's a stunt man. They believe `The Hammer' can do it. I have to keep up that screen image. Of course, they know it's just a movie, but the movie should move so fast that they don't have time to think.''
He was asked to be in the 1988 film, ``I'm Gonna Get You Sucka'', a spoof of black exploitation movies. ``I turned it down. How could I ever spoof my own image, and then expect to go back?''
``From Dusk Till Dawn'' is a major, big-budget release, but it hasn't wooed Williamson to give up his usual audience.
``There's only two things that I demand of my scripts, and they're the same things my audiences demand. First, I have to get the girl. And second, I have to win all the fights. We don't need suspense. With those two ingredients, the picture is assured of being a hit.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Ex-football star Fred Williamson appears in ``From Dusk to Dawn.''
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY MOVIES INTERVIEW by CNB