Top 10 Fat Boy Sidekicks of the 80's

This may possibly be the most ill conceived Top 10 list I have done so far. I really didn't figure this fact out until I had compiled a list of about 20 Fat Boy Sidekicks. By then, I was too far into it to turn back. So with that said, let's get started.

First let's get a little of the definition of our list title out of the way.

Fat - Having too much flabby tissue; corpulent; obese.

Boy - A young man who lacks maturity, judgement, etc.

Sidekick - A close friend, confederate or assistant.

So basically, this list is full of a bunch of overweight, immature accomplices. Yep that about sums up the guys on this list, alright. Always there for the lead character to count on in times of need. Be it for a good deed or a bad one. Enjoy the list!!!

#10

David (Joe Rubbo)

The Last American Virgin (1982)

(WARNING - Some may find movie clip offensive)

This funny sequence of scenes shows Fat Boy Sidekick David (Joe Rubbo) in two capacities which are very important to being a Fat Boy Sidekick. First, his willingness to be the financier of things needed. And secondly, his need to protect his buddy from being hurt, be it physically, or as in this case, emotionally.

#9

Chunk (Jeff Cohen)

The Goonies (1985)

This clip shows another very important characteristic of a good Fat Boy Sidekick. Chunk shows us his willingness to completely humiliate himself, if so asked, just to fit in.

#8

Chubby (Mark Holton)

Teen Wolf & Teen Wolf Too (1985 & 1987)

Boy, did the casting directors ever show their ability to think outside the box on this one. The Fat Boy Sidekick in these Teen Wolf movies somehow was a gifted basketball player and boxer, respectively.

#7

Lawrence (John Goodman)

Everybody's All-American (1988)

John Goodman displays three very important traits of a Fat Boy Sidekick in this movie clip. He shows the ability to guzzle beer with no hands, make fart noises with his armpits and tell a good joke on command. Great clip.

#6

Willard Hewitt (Chris Penn)

Footloose (1984)

Looking back on this now, Chris Penn really wasn't much of a fatboy. He just always seemed to be and, of course, was a fatboy in the subsequent years leading up to his death.

As far as Penn's Fat Boy Sidekick attributes go, in this movie, he shows a willingness to please his buddy by doing what he can to learn how to dance. He also shows the protectiveness, by helping his buddy out in the fight scene at the end.

#5

Paulie (Burt Young)

Rocky III & Rocky IV (1982 & 1985)

I posted the above clip for two reasons. First, because more people need to know how excellent of an actor Burt Young has always been. Give the man his props. Secondly, It shows a couple of great Rocky scenes where Paulie shows his Fat Boy Sidekick credential by being willing to take on Rocky's opponents to protect him. As Paulie says "I don't sweat you!"

#4

Vincent Benedict (Danny DeVito)

Twins (1988)

Here is a different take on the Fat Boy Sidekick. In Twins, Danny DeVito, although he is the Fat Boy Sidekick, seems to have the upper hand in the relationship between him and Arnold. He's the one who is more streetwise and risk taking. So, Twins definitely took a different spin on the Fat Boy Sidekick role.

#3

Victor/Captain Chaos (Dom DeLuise)

The Cannonball Run I & II (1981 & 1984)

Ok, so a Fat Boy Sidekick sometimes needs to have a mentally unstable side to him. Well, Dom DeLuise had that down in spades in The Cannonball Run movies, while playing sidekick to Burt Reynolds.

#2

Del Griffith (John Candy)

Plains, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

I love John Candy and he is definitely a great Fat Boy Sidekick in this movie, among others. However, a Fat Boy Sidekick has got to know the difference between two pillows and a pair of ass cheeks or he just may be kicked to the curb.

#1

"Joliet" Jake Blues (John Belushi)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

A Fat Boy Sidekick has to be able to "Shake a Tail Feather". And he has to be able to keep up while shaking that tail feather. Well, John Belushi NEVER had a problem keeping up. Great video clip!

Well there you have it. I know it wasn't the greatest list, but I still hope you had fun reading and watching. Let me know in the comments if you can think of any better 80's Fat Boy Sidekicks.

I'll be typin' at ya later,

Bob the Blogger

Famous in the 80's - Gone Too Soon

This list is comprised of people who were famous in the 80's. It is not a list of people who died in the '80's. The only rules I had for this list was they had to be famous in the '80's and been under the age of 40 when they passed away.

Even though I have them ranked, this was not a competition. I merely ranked them on a combination of fame, shock of their death and personal preference.

I'm sure there are other's who I have missed, but be reminded I had only 10 positions to fill. If there is someone I grossly overlooked, please leave it in the comments, because I'm sure there will be. I compiled this list mainly from recollection and not a tremendous amount of research.

Honorable Mention

Princess Diana

July 1, 1961 - August 31, 1997

I know I only said I had 10 spots to fill, but I had to put Princess Di on this list. She wasn't in the entertainment business, but there is no doubt she was a celebrity, whether she liked it or not.

Only 36 years old when she died of injuries sustained in a car accident in Paris, Diana was not just England's princess, but the whole world's. She was tremendously giving of her time to charities throughout the world and for that she has been sorely missed.

#10

Jon-Erik Hexum

November 5, 1957 - October 18, 1984

Many of you may not know or remember Jon-Erik Hexum. I, myself, can really only recall seeing him on television a few times when I was young, but his death was so impressionable because of the tragedy of it.

Hexum was a rising Hollywood star who had starred in the television series Voyagers! and was the star of a new series called Cover Up at the time of his death. His future seemed to be very bright.

The tragedy of Hexum's death occurred on the set of Cover Up when, in between shooting scenes, he placed a prop gun filled with blanks against his temple and pulled the trigger, not knowing blanks can also be deadly when shot at such close range.

#9

Heather O'Rourke

December 27, 1975 - February 1, 1988

Most of you will remember Heather O'Rourke as the little girl in the Poltergeist movies. Who could ever forget that haunting image of her in front of a fuzzed out tv saying "They're heeere"?

In 1987 Heather started becoming ill with pain in her abdomen and trouble keeping food down. She was taken to see a doctor and was told she had Crohn's Disease. Unfortunately, this was a misdiagnosis and in reality the young star had an intestinal blockage.

By late January of '88 she had become extremely ill again and was rushed to the hospital. En route to the hospital she suffered cardiac arrest, was resuscitated and later died at the hospital.

The intestinal blockage had caused septic shock, which in turn caused the cardiac arrest. Terribly tragic. She had her entire life ahead of her.

#8

Dominique Dunne

November 23, 1959 -November 4, 1982

Another Poltergeist daughter. Dominique played Heather O'Rourke's older sister in the 1st movie. Her star was definitely on the rise after this breakout role.

Just 5 months after Poltergeist was released, Dunne was tragically strangled to death by an ex-boyfriend whom she refused to reconcile with. She was only 22 at the time of her death.

#7

Rob Pilatus

June 8, 1965 - April 2, 1998

One half of the 80's pop duo Milli Vanilli, Rob struggled with depression and drug and alcohol abuse after the downfall of the lip synching pair.

After several failed suicide attempts, Rob finally overdosed on a deadly cocktail of alcohol and prescription pills at a hotel room in Germany. He was just 32 years old.

#6

Rebecca Schaeffer

November 6, 1967 - July 18, 1989

Rebecca is one of the main reasons Hollywood is so on guard when it comes to stalkers. She was needlessly shot to death standing in the doorway of her home by a lunatic stalker, who had been on her trail for 3 years.

Her career was just beginning to get on a roll after starring in a sitcom called My Sister Sam with Pam Dawber of Mork and Mindy fame. At the time of her death she was preparing for a role in the upcoming Godfather III movie. She was just 21 years of age.

#5

Andy Kaufman

January 17, 1949 - May 16, 1984

Andy was so good at what he done, people actually believed his death was just another elaborate hoax on his part. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

After not being able to kick a persistent cough in late 1983, Andy went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. After putting up a brave fight he succumbed to the disease at the age of 35.

#4

Dana Plato

November 7, 1964 - May 8, 1999

Another celebrity felled by the lures of drugs and alcohol. Dana was a huge child actor who starred in Diff'rent Strokes through the early 80's. However, her career never really took off after the shows run ended and Dana fell as low as to star in softcore pornography movies.

She was arrested in 1991 for holding up a video store with a pellet gun. She received 5 years probation and things continued to spiral downward. By the time 1999 rolled around she was living in an RV in Florida with a boyfriend.

After an interview with Howard Stern her and her boyfriend were travelling back out to California and stopped in to see his mother in Oklahoma. After visiting for a bit, Plato told them she was going to lie down in the RV and that was the last they seen her alive.

Plato had overdosed on Vicodin and Soma. Her death was officially ruled a suicide.

#3

John Belushi

January 24, 1949 - March 5, 1982

Sadly, another victim of drugs and alcohol. John Belushi was just hitting his prime in 1982 when he overdosed from a deadly combination of heroin and cocaine called a speedball.

With movies, such as Animal House and The Blues Brothers under his belt he was headed for super stardom if he hadn't already achieved it. He was only 33 years old.

#2

Michael Hutchence

January 22, 1960 - November 22, 1997

His name has surfaced quite a bit in the news lately as the details of David Carradine's death emerged. It seems both may have died from a sexual fetish called autoerotic asphyxiation. To spare you the details I will just tell you they were both found hanging by the neck.

Michael Hutchence was the lead singer of INXS, which happens to be one of my personal favorites. He was one of, if not, the best frontman of the 80's. He was 37 at the time of his death.

#1

River Phoenix

August 23, 1970 - October 31, 1993

Here was a former child actor who was still going stronger than ever into his adulthood. His future had no limits. He was already nominated for an Oscar at the young age of 18 for the movie Running on Empty.

Unfortunately he was susceptible to the same vices that took away so many other young talented entertainers. On October 31, 1993 Phoenix collapsed outside a Hollywood nightclub owned by Johnny Depp, called The Viper Room. Phoenix had taken a deadly combination of methamphetamine and opiates called Persian Brown. He could not be resuscitated and sadly died at the age of 23.

All of these deaths were very sad, indeed. But, as you can clearly see, most could have been avoided. It just goes to show you, fortune and fame don't mean everything. I'm sure if those on this list that died of overdoses could come back and talk to everyone, they'd say it's not worth it.

Let it be a good lesson to all of us. Don't do drugs!!!

I'll be typin' at ya later,

Bob the Blogger