Craig Zablo

Bryan Enk at IFC.com posted an interesting article that asked and answered the question: What Would a 1970’s-Era “Expendables” Cast Look Like?   For the most part, I think Enk’s choices are spot on.  Let’s look at who he’d cast…

• Charles Bronson – Bronson would have been my first choice as well.  Bronson would play Stallone’s character.  The only thing better would have been for Bronson to have been alive to join the true cast.

• Malcolm McDowell – Now THAT is an interesting choice.  Enk says that McDowell would play Statham’s role, but I disagree.  I think that McDowell would be better as Dolph Lundgren’s character. McDowell has that right mix of crazy to pull it off.

• Steve McQueen – Although Enk doesn’t list a specific character for McQueen, for me at least, it is obvious that McQueen would play the unlucky in love loner that Jason Statham brought to life on the big screen.

• Bruce Lee – What fan wouldn’t have picked Bruce Lee to play an Expendable?  Of course Lee would naturally fit in as Jet Li’s character.

• Lee Marvin – Great choice!  I see Lee Marvin taking on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cameo as Trench.  How cool would that have been?  Very cool, says I.

• Richard Roundtree – I can see Roundtree in the role played by Terry Crews, but I think I’d have rather seen Ron O’Neal or Jim Brown.

• Gene Hackman – Ok, although I didn’t become a Gene Hackman fan until later in his career [it was me, not him], I can see him playing the Eric Roberts’ role.

• Clint Eastwood – Who wouldn’t want to see Eastwood in the role of Mr. Church played by Bruce Willis?

• Charlton Heston – Enk has Heston playing one of the cameos played by Schwarzenegger and Willis, but since I have already filled those parts, we’d have to give Chuck a new role.

Since Enk didn’t come up with a 70’s actor to play the roles brought to life by Steve Austin and David Zayas, I’d like to suggest William Smith and Ernest Borgnine… and don’t you think we’d have to find something for John Wayne?