Movie Moment - The Summer of Kevin Peter Hall

Earlier this year I did something I have wanted to do for a long time. I watched "Predator." The 1987 original, mind you. I had seen the end on TBS or something a long time ago, and now, in its full unfettered glory, I saw Arnold, Jesse Ventura, and Carl Weathers in their prime, kind of.

21 Years Too Late Spoiler Alert: The best moment is still when Arnold realizes the Predator only kills people it considers a threat, and encourages the movie's token woman not to pick up the gun, but "Get to the Choppa!!" (That's "chopper" for those who don't speak heavily Austrian-accented English.)

I did a little wiki-research on "Predator" (film), and discovered that none other than Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally cast as the Predator. Depending on whose story you believe, he left because 1) he didn't like that you couldn't see his face, and that he couldn't see at all in the monster make-up, or 2) the producers realized the 5'8'' Van Damme against the 6'2'' Schwarzenegger looked a little mis-matched.

Anyway, in steps the 7'2'' Kevin Peter Hall, fresh off his turn filling the Bigfeet in "Harry and the Hendersons." Sasquatch and Predator in the same summer.

But it gets better.


My friend Matt is a youth minister in town, we get together on a regular basis for prayer and mutual encouragement. One day we were encouraging each other by talking about how awesome "Predator" was, and he told me this story:

His dad was going to take the kid out to the movies, and really wanted to see "Predator." Matt's mom did not want 9-year old Matt to see "Predator." So Matt's dad took him to a different, PG rated movie...and then stayed in the same seat and watched the next movie, which was "Predator."

The best part - the PG movie they actually paid to see was
- "Harry and the Hendersons."

Young Matt, though he did not know it at the time, got a double feature of Kevin Peter Hall.

Young Matt was not too traumatized by "Predator." He remembers liking it better than "Harry and the Hendersons."

Sadly, Hall died in 1991 at the age of 35, after contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion.

But through the wonderful medium of film, you can still see Hall really freak out on John Lithgow, flash-fry Jesse Ventura, arm wrestle Carl Weathers, and beat the tar out of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Well done, Kevin. Well done.