Schyler? With the shotgun?

My wife recently pondered what kind of career the actor who played Schyler has had, which led to some internet searching.

In the movie, we hear a lot about Schyler. He's in the trailer, so Philo can't go all the way with Lynn the first time the meet, but not because Schyler will mind; he just might want to join in, that's all. The thought of a threeway with another man weirds out Philo so he just suggests that they get back together when Schyler's not around.

Then another time, Schyler, seemingly in a fit of jealously, fires a shotgun at Philo while he and Lynn are driving around in the old pickup. Philo wants to beat the hell out of Schyler, but Lynn tells him that he's probably scared half out of wits. He didn't even know how to use that shotgun. "Well I don't like the way he's trying to learn," replies a frustrated Philo.

When we finally meet Schyler the build up has been perfect. And Schyler appears out of the darkness behind the bar, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, wide collar flared out to the sides, gold chain around his neck, and a surprised look of fear in his eyes. He takes a couple of backwards steps at the sight of Philo. He's only on screen for a couple of seconds, but he plays it perfectly.

My wife wondered if the actor heard about the sequal and hoped there was a role for him. Indeed, there should have been. Any Which Way You Can was a bit more commercial and some of the subtlety of EWWBL was dropped by the way side. But, as we all remember, they retooled Lynn's character and there was no room for a frightened wimpy pimp.

Nevertheless, I looked to see who played Schyler, and his name is Bruce Scott. He didn't have too many credits to his name. He made some appearances on the Merv Griffin Show in 1965 and played Billy Joe in "Hang 'Em High" in 1968. In 1970, he had a small role in "The People Next Door," a movie about a couple played by Eli Wallach and Julie Harris who discover that their daughter has secretly been tripping on LSD, and it shatters their seemingly perfect suburban dream.

Scott also dabbled in cinematography. First as director of photography on "The Sadistic Hypnotist" in 1969 and then on "Cry Blood, Apache" in 1970.

Then in 1978, Scott played a disc jockey on Starskey & Hutch, the same year that EWWBL came out. It's not clear which role he played first. We can speculate that Clint and crew knew him from Hang 'Em High and thought he had the perfect look for Schyler, and he did.

After EWWBL, Scott's acting career slowed down. According to artistdirect.com, he was a songwriter for the movie "Hot Chili," a 1985 teen sex romp.

HOT CHILI Trailer - ARTISTdirect Music

Described as a softcore porn, Hot Chili was the story of four teenage guys who go to work at a sleepy (and rundown) Mexican resort. It is easy to imagine the filmmakers trying to capitalize on the success of "Porky's" and other similar teen sex romps. The result looks to have suffered from a lower budget and perhaps some script problems.

Whatever the case, artistdirect.com lists Scott's next outing as Flesh Gordon 2: Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders. Scott plays the character "Master Bates." One suspects that FG2 lacked the comic subtlety of EWWBL as well.

After that, Scott vanishes from the record. Looking over his showbiz career, it's possible that that scene -- coming out of the darkness behind the honky tonk and then retreating at the sight of Philo -- may have been his most glorious moment on the silver screen. If so, it was certainly a perfect moment. Beers to you, Mr. Scott.

Weird Thing With Comments

Philo Allen Beddoe left a couple of comments, probably some time in 2011 during which time "Them's Black Widows" was on hiatus. But I am unable to open the comments and view them. I put a preview of the blog comments on the side, but I can't click on them without locking up the blog. I believe that Philo Allen has cast some curse on us to prevent us from enjoying those blog comments.