Joe Don Baker, robuster Star von ‚Walking Tall‘, stirbt bei 89: Der Texaner war auch in ‚Junior Bonner‘ und ‚Charley Varrick‘ und als zwei verschiedene Charaktere – einen guten Kerl, einen schlechten – in Bond -Filmen.

He’s been great in many roles but my favorite is his role as the rogue CIA agent in 1985’s *Edge of Darkness* BBC mini-series. He was nothing less than *outstanding* in that role and if he hadn’t done any other work, that alone should cement his career as being top tier.

Alas, many know him for the MST3K episode featuring the skewering of his film *Mitchell*. Interestingly enough, I happened to see the film -uncut- in/around the time it was released and felt it was a rather mediocre add on to the “cop on the edge” genre so popular back then. I can’t deny the folks at MST3K did a hell of a job skewering the film and… it kinda deserved it and remains one of the funniest MST3K episodes.

However, don’t let that movie give you a false impression of Joe Don Baker’s acting skills. Other than *Edge of Darkness*, check out his sinister turn in *Charley Varrick* or his more heroic turn in *Walking Tall*. He was also damn good as Robert Duvall’s right hand man in *The Outfit* and had two separate roles, one as a bad guy and one as a good guy, in the Bond films *The Living Daylights* and *Goldeneye*.

Drive-By Truckers have a few songs about this guy

He’ll always be Mitchell to me.