Braveheart, Weird Science, and Kevin Bacon
By now you all know that Braveheart is the greatest movie of all time. You’re welcome to disagree, but that makes you a horrible person.
Turns out, through much genealogical digging by my fellow-dorkish family, that yours truly is personally related to the real Robert the Bruce, the 14th Century Scottish noble who was really stupid to William Wallace and the commoners before wising up and deciding to lead the freedom-seeking revolutionaries of Scotland.
In Braveheart, Robert the Bruce is played by Angus MacFad
yen. The versatile actor has kept busy since that blockbuster work in 1995. He’s done a bunch of stuff from portraying Peter Lawford of the Rat Pack to many recent appearances in the dark and popular Saw movies.
Since The Bruce and I are practically cousins, I’ve given some more thought to my conflicted, old ancestor and the man who once portrayed him. That’s when I started thinking about another movie, Weird Science.
Made in 1985, Weird Science is another popular comedy to make my all-time list. The famous high school fantasy flick features characters Gary and Wyatt who create the quintessential bombshell Lisa, played by Kelly LeBrock. Gary is played by Brat Pack star Anthony Michael Hall whose acting career is still going strong these days. Wyatt was played byIian Mitchell-Smith. His life took a surprising turn away from fame.
Mitchell-Smith left acting in t
he early 90s to pursue his love of history and enter academia. An interesting website Bearotic also found this forgotten man post-worthy. Check out this photo they tracked down of the camera shy professor (on the right, pictured in 2000). T
hese days he specializes in medieval studies including 14th Century England, Scotland, and (you guessed it) Robert the Bruce. Maybe this connection explains the modern look.
So in case you were wondering, and I’m sure not one person in the world was, Wyatt from Weird Science did not portray my cousin Robert the Bruce in Braveheart.
By the way, Weird Science goon Bill Paxton later appeared in Tombstone (all-time movie #2) with Kurt Russell who appeared with Mel Gibson in Tequila Sunrise. Gibson and Julia Roberts were in Conspiracy Theory (1997) together, and Roberts was in Flatliners (1990) with Kevin Bacon who also has a couple appearances on my movie page. (See if you can find them).
The bottom line is that you no longer have to fret over how to connect Wyatt from Weird Science to Kevin Bacon. I’m sure you were troubled.
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In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site with a weekly column (and some extras in between) that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about truth.
I’m a writer/speaker who teaches history and political science at a local college by day. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
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THANK GOD somebody else in the world also sees sense! Ever since I saw it I was convinced that it was the greatest, but no one ever thought much of it – hahaha, glad to meet a kindred soul finally.
[...] attempted to link a few different well-known phenoms. The first was Braveheart, Weird Science, and Kevin Bacon–not exactly NBC Nightly News stuff but fun and apparently appealing. Close on the heels of [...]