Today I re-watched a Slim Pickens bio on YouTube.
I didn’t remember this trivia bit-
Ever watch that great movie The Big Country?
Remember when Charlton Heston put greenhorn Gregory Peck on that badass pony?
Turns out that was actually Slim on his personal trained trick horse, Dear John.
Slim of course was a real cowboy and a pro Rodeo Rider.
He had trained that horse to do a number of tricks including buck.
Here’s Slim and Dear John going over a buckboard.

Attached Images

7B95E8D4-7949-41A3-BB6A-79FB394F72E4.jpg (11.9 KB, 298 views)

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

To me, Slim Pickens will always be Major TJ King Kong in Dr. Strangelove:

“Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.” YouTube

Dont recall that particular movie but liked Slim in all his movie roles.
Dr. Strangelove is first to come to mind.

I love Slim. Esp. in Strangelove. The original line was "Dallas". But this was just when the President was shot. So the studio dubbed in "Vegas".

__________________
No baby we aint

I will always remember Slim Pickens in this scene:Imaage slim pickens riding a bomb - Yahoo Search Results Video Search Results

__________________
America First

Yesterday I heard the song "Knocking on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan, and immediately the scene from "Pat Garret and Billy the Kid" came to mind, the scene where Slim gets shot by Kris Kristofferson, and he and his wife both know he's going to die. One of the saddest scenes in a movie, ever.

My favorite of all his movies is Dr. Strangelove.

Not a huge role, but I think he was great in "The Getaway".

Best regards,

Me two!
Slim was great in the Getaway,
Even if he had a small junky role!

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

I liked Slim in Honeysuckle Rose.

__________________
In Omnia Paratus

"Has anybody got a dime?".

My favorite Slim Pickens role was in “Rancho Deluxe”, as stock detective Henry Beige.

__________________
Not in jail.

Loved him in Blazing Saddles! I am sure if I quote any of his lines I’ll get excommunicated from the forum.

__________________
213th FBINA

How about his role in Blazing Saddles. "What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is goin' on here"

__________________
John

Loved him there too.

You can rewatch this little bit. It's safe.

__________________
Expect the unexpected

Slim Pickens was probably one of the most unlikely people ever to become a "movie star". Probably would've been really difficult to find a more ordinary looking guy to be in the movies.

He created some memorable characters, made all the more memorable because he made them real, no matter how unrealistic they might have been.

What made his role in Strangelove so realistic for me is that although he talked like a hillbilly rube from the sticks, you realize that to be the command pilot of a B-52, he had to be intelligent and probably well-educated. Watching the film, you know it's a parody, but his character seems entirely feasible.

He had a lot of good roles. His small part at the end of Peckinpah's The Getaway is a real gem, and again he plays a totally believable character. He's probably onscreen less than ten minutes, but he totally steals the scenes from Steve McQueen.

I'm actually surprised he wasn't included in the cast of Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Maybe he wasn't available at the time, who knows?

Saw him in an episode of "Gun Smoke" last weekend. He played Festus's friend before he was the deputy, go figure.

__________________
Dave Ramsey Cultist

And here Slim Pickens when he was still "slim"(even though is stage name had nothing to do with slimness).

Attached Images

one-eyed-jacks-slim-pickens-4.jpg (26.3 KB, 438 views)

__________________
Expect the unexpected

The Sheepman, with Glenn Ford and Shirley MacLaine.


Slim played the sheriff, who rather than get involved in the war between the sheepman and the cattleman, decided to go fishing.

__________________
I always take precautions

I read someplace that Stanley Kubrick didn't tell Slim Pickens that Dr. Strangelove was a comedy and Slim played the role straight.

John

"Noo-ku-lar combat toe to toe with the Russkies" Gotta love it!

__________________
A Country Boy Can Survive

One of his great roles was the rube in the "Flim Flam man" with George C Scott, George had pulled a found wallet trick on him and fleeced him out of his money, a great film from about 1966. Jeff

Originally Peter Sellers was to play Maj. Kong as well, a 4th. role. But he broke his ankle and moving around the cockpit set would not work. That was when Slim was picked for the part.

__________________
No baby we aint

I don't know if it was the bone and muscle structure in his face or what, but to me he looked as if he just about always had a chaw of baccy in his cheek. Maybe just a pinch between his cheek and gum. Then again for all I know, he did.

And he did have that long-waisted cowboy look that some men have when they've spent a good deal of time on horseback.

Knowing it was a stage name, until this thread, I wasn't aware of and had never thought about his real name...

Louis Burton Lindley Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor. During much of his career, Pickens played mainly cowboy roles, and is perhaps best remembered today for his comic roles in Dr. Strangelove, Blazing Saddles and 1941.

I actually met Slim one time in the museum at Cody. He was, of course, immediately recognizable even though he wasn’t in “old west” duds. I wouldn’t normally have spoken to him but it was a social function where it was OK. We visited for a few minutes, just small talk, but you could tell he was one of those guys you would really like if you got to spend more time with him. Seemed like just a really decent, normal sorta fella.

__________________
Everybody could shoot

how's this for full circle... the 2 bombs on Dr Strangelove were "Hi There" and "Dear John"... he was supposed to go down on Dear John, his beloved horse... but they messed up and he went down on Hi There...

I agree a very sad scene, including the look in Garrett's eyes after he shot a man he used to ride with, but kristofferson wasn't in that scene and wasn't either of the 2 guys that shot slim.



slim was a once in a lifetime talent and all around good guy, there won't be another slim pickens and there shouldn't be!

I can't remember the movie or scene, but the quote "He's as dumb as a box of rocks!" stuck with me all these years.

Slim started in movies as a stunt rider and replacement for all those western heroes than hated horses and riding, and for those who couldn't ride. Then some director gave Him a line to speak and away He went. I would have loved to meet Him.

He was in another great western: "One Eyed Jacks". Also had Karl Malden and Marlon Brando. I you haven't seen it, check it out.

One-Eyed Jacks was kind of an unusual western if I remember right. It seems to hardly ever show up on TV now. I remember liking it. Don't remember Slim Pickens in it...I'll have to go back and look that up. The film was actually directed by Brando.

Oh, yeah...here's a shot of Slim with Brando. Now I remember...and the film had a bit of an S&M aspect to parts of it...that's what I remember as being a bit unusual for 1961. No telling what the film would've looked like if Kubrick had directed it as originally planned. One-Eyed Jacks with some Eyes Wide Shut thrown in for good measure maybe.

Ben Johnson was in it, too. Gonna have to find that film and watch it again.

A great line in that Utube bio "I had no problem getting paid to fall off horses. He&%, I used to pay to get thrown off them".

__________________
Front sight and squeeze

He could deliver a line perfectly.
I remember him in Tom Horn, playing the sheriff who went looking to arrest Horn (Steve McQueen) and found him in a saloon with a revolver tucked in his belt.

Sheriff: "Tom, you gonna give me that belly gun?"
Horn: "I guess we'll find out about that."
Horn sees a double barrel shotgun poke through an open window pointed right at him.
Sheriff: "I guess we will."

__________________
You're shy a few manners.

In “One-Eyed Jacks” Pickens played the thuggish deputy Lonnie Dedrick, who greeted Marlon Brando with a line sort of like, “If you’re lookin’ to get your back broke, I’m the guy you want.” Nothing funny or engaging in this character. Pickens was just flat out scary in this role.

__________________
David Wilson

The Groom Wore Spurs (NOT a Slim Pickens movie).


Ginger Rogers marries Jack Carson, a movie singing cowboy, who can't sing, can't handle a gun, can't ride, can't mount a horse (has to use a step ladder to get aboard) and is actually afraid of horses (when taking publicity shots, they need a Wrangler to hold the horse's head so it doesn't move when the great star is atop it).

__________________
I always take precautions

Seeing as we share the same last name, but no relations, I’ve been called “Slim” more than a few times throughout my life. Always enjoyed seeing him on the big screen!

Does anyone remember "Rough Night in Jericho"?
Speaking of menacing!
Regards,
Tam 3

As the years go by I feel that I am slowly turning into the Pickens character Hollis P Wood from 1941.