Hi, I'm Troy McClure. I mean, I'm Charles Bronson.
March 28, 2008 4:50 PM Subscribe
Anyone remember a short film Charles Bronson made for the United Way? Can anyone help me get a copy?
At my former high school (in the late '90s) our annual United Way fundraising week always kicked off with an assembly which concluded with a short video (I remember it being 15 minutes or so) starring none other than Charles Bronson, along with his then-wife Jill Ireland. I'm trying to track down more info about it (that is, I'm trying to find it online so I can download it and love it forever.)
The video would have been made in the '70s, I presume. It began with clips from Bronson's films, a montage of Bronson knocking guys out with one punch and so forth (to eruptions of applause from those of us watching). Then it cut to Bronson wearing a grey hoodie outdoors. He said something like "I play a hero in the movies, but today I'm going to talk to you about the real heroes." (No, I'm not making this up.) Then he and Ireland had a picnic in a park with a bunch of kids with disabilities who benefit from the United Way. One of them was a blind kid who was in Scouts, and there was a kid who played football who was missing an arm or something. A few more as well, but that's all I remember.
This, needless to say, was the greatest video ever made. And I can find nothing online about it, other than one brief wikipedia editing debate over whether to mention it on my former high school's wiki page (the same mention indicates it's no longer being shown--bummer).
Anyone else know of this? Anyone have it?
At my former high school (in the late '90s) our annual United Way fundraising week always kicked off with an assembly which concluded with a short video (I remember it being 15 minutes or so) starring none other than Charles Bronson, along with his then-wife Jill Ireland. I'm trying to track down more info about it (that is, I'm trying to find it online so I can download it and love it forever.)
The video would have been made in the '70s, I presume. It began with clips from Bronson's films, a montage of Bronson knocking guys out with one punch and so forth (to eruptions of applause from those of us watching). Then it cut to Bronson wearing a grey hoodie outdoors. He said something like "I play a hero in the movies, but today I'm going to talk to you about the real heroes." (No, I'm not making this up.) Then he and Ireland had a picnic in a park with a bunch of kids with disabilities who benefit from the United Way. One of them was a blind kid who was in Scouts, and there was a kid who played football who was missing an arm or something. A few more as well, but that's all I remember.
This, needless to say, was the greatest video ever made. And I can find nothing online about it, other than one brief wikipedia editing debate over whether to mention it on my former high school's wiki page (the same mention indicates it's no longer being shown--bummer).
Anyone else know of this? Anyone have it?
I think asking them is the right answer. United Way is in chicago. I know their ad agency is energy BBDO and you could call an account executive working on United Way there but I doubt you will find anyone working there who was on it in the late seventies, if they had the account back then.
posted by krautland at 12:26 AM on March 29, 2008
posted by krautland at 12:26 AM on March 29, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks, you two. I was hoping someone else could at least confirm it's been shown elsewhere, but I guess at least this tells me it's pretty rare. I'll email the online store to ask--I'd feel bad using the form for the organization proper if I can avoid it. "Select subject...1) Hurricane relief" Uh, not quite...
posted by roombythelake at 2:45 AM on April 12, 2008
posted by roombythelake at 2:45 AM on April 12, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by trip and a half at 5:37 PM on March 28, 2008