John Candy was a big man with a big body of work and more often than not got big laughs. Tragically he is gone now, up into the big sky, if that’s where you want to imagine the dead float away to, but we are left with all the movies he made. Here are my choices for the top ten movie featuring Mr. John Candy. These don’t mean they were the greatest just because of him, though some of them he obviously carried, but just great movies he was in.
10. COOL RUNNINGS: Personally I’m not a huge fan of this movie, though it was okay. However, it deserves to make the list due to its success and popularity amongst family film fans. John Candy and sports don’t seem like they would be a physically perfect fit, but there he was hanging with the bobsledders.
9. THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER: He voiced Wilbur the albatross in this fun kids flick.
8. HOT TO TROT: Bob Goldthwait was the crazy lead in this movie about a man with a talking horse, but John Candy got to voice the horse. I bet it is a really stupid movie if you were to try and watch it these days, but having grown up in the 80’s I thought it was great stuff.
7. JFK: If you’re not familiar with this Oliver Stone directed conspiracy theory movie involving the assassination of president John F. Kennedy, then perhaps you missed John Candy’s performance as Dean Andrews. It’s not a role perhaps as memorable as Kevin Costner or Tommy Lee Jones, but Candy was another talented, recognizable face amongst the largely recognizable cast.
6. HOME ALONE: John Candy was the guy with the band who gave the mom a ride in the last third of the movie. A role big enough to call a cameo, but a role none-the-less and in one of the bigger family movies to have been around during my own childhood.
5. ARMED AND DANGEROUS: This movie came out in 1986 and recall watching it over and over again on VHS, thanks to a parent recording it off of HBO. The plot found John Candy and Eugene Levy as security guards in an action oriented comedy plot also featuring Meg Ryan.
4. THE GREAT OUTDOORS: The chubby duo of John Candy and Dan Aykroyd worked perfectly in this 1988 movie. I used to love it thanks to the scene where the shoot at the bear with the gun/lamp and blow all of the hair off of its butt.
3. SPACEBALLS: Mel Brook’s spoof of Star Wars was a chuckle-fest indeed. John Candy took the equivalent part of Chewbacca as Barf.
2. UNCLE BUCK: Perhaps the biggest leading role of John Candy’s career. When I think of John Candy the first thing I think of is Uncle Buck. Yes, it is surprising that I don’t put it at number one on the list just because of that.
1. PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES: John Candy did some serious acting in this hilarious comedy. He played an annoying guy who you actually felt sympathy for after he puts traveling mate Steve Martin through hell. This 1987 road trip style movie ALWAYS makes me laugh.
