A CAT WHOSE NAME YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW HAS PLAYED IN TWO OF THE BEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME

0 Degrees of Separation Between "Will Penny" and "Napoleon Dynamite" (Does This Make Them Celluloid Cousins?)

I don’t mean a literal feline, of course. I’m talking about a dude, a guy, a feller, a... cat. That kind of a cat.

There are two kinds of people in the world. You know that, right? You’ve heard it. And it’s actually true. Let me give you some examples:

There are two kinds of people in the world: men, and women.

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who like onions, and those who don’t like onions.

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who pigeonhole others by classifying them into one of two categories, and those who don’t do that.

But wait a minute! Here’s the crux of the matter, or the crux of the biscuit, as Frank Zappa said. Here’s another example of where there are two distinct types of people in the world: Those who like the movie Napoleon Dynamite, and those who don’t.

I know plenty of people in both camps, both categories. In fact, I share DNA with people on both sides of this great ideological debate. But those among my kinfolk who are in the “don’t like it” category haven’t even seen it! They refuse to give it a chance, no matter how much wheedling and cajoling their enlightened and initiated brethren bring to bear on the subject.

And, in fact, even if you have seen it, and don’t like it, I say this: give it another chance. I know several people who saw it once, didn’t like it, then watched it again, and loved it the second time.

Now I don’t know why you would watch a movie a second time that you hated the first time. I certainly wouldn’t. You’ll have to ask them, I guess. But for some reason this movie has had that effect on many people: first time, yuck, second time the epiphany visits them.

One friend of mine watched it (because some people who shall remain nameless were raving about how good it was), but thought it was stupid. Then, some time later his mother came to visit and, while my friend was busy in the kitchen, heard her laughing uproariously in the living room. He went to investigate. “What’s so funny?” he asked. She responded, “This!” pointing to the television. She was watching Napoleon Dynamite. He decided to give it a second chance, and finally got the memo: it’s the most hilarious conglomeration of drollery he’d ever struck.

And so it goes (as Kurt Vonnegut was wont to say).

But anyway, I said that to say this. Or to be more precise, I wrote that to write this:

Jon Gries has appeared in two of the best movies ever made: Will Penny and Napoleon Dynamite.

Who is Jon Gries? you might ask. The former quarterback of the Miami Dolphins? No, that was Bob Griese (if you’re of a certain age, that’s who will come to mind when you see the surname “Gries”; if you’re younger, you’ll be thinking of Brian Griese, Bob’s son).

This cat’s father (that is to say, Jon Gries’ father) Tom Gries directed the movie Will Penny. That’s how his son Jon came to play a kid called “Button” in the flick. The actor’s name appears on the credits as Jon Francis rather than Jon Gries (his middle name is Francis).

Now you’re probably asking yourself, What in the world was Will Penny? I’ll tell you (you were expecting that, right?). Will Penny (starring Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, and cowboys extraordinaire Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, and Slim Pickens, as well as including the screen debut of Lee Majors) is one of the best Westerns of all time; it’s up there with John Wayne’s True Grit and The Shootist.

So Jon Gries was in one of the greatest Westerns of all time, Will Penny. And he also appeared in one of the greatest comedies of all time, the aforementioned Napoleon Dynamite.

Of course, Jon Gries has acted in many other movies, too, such as More American Graffiti, Men in Black, Get Shorty, Twin Falls Idaho, The Astronaut Farmer, and Endgame. As for television, he has appeared in (among countless others) The Jeffersons, The Twilight Zone, Cagney & Lacey, Falcon Crest, L.A. Law, The X-Files, Chicago Hope, Seinfeld, ER, 24, Lost, CSI: NY, Hawaii Five-0, and Dream Corp, LLC.

Getting back to the main point, though: Which role did Jon Gries play in Napoleon Dynamite? If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember Uncle Rico, Napoleon and Kip Dynamite’s uncle who comes to “babysit” them after their grandma breaks her coccyx (tailbone) while out riding motorcycles in the sand dunes. It wasn’t him, though.

Psyche. Yes, it was, in fact, Jon Gries who portrayed Uncle Rico in that masterpiece of wry humor. Here he is in both roles, both films:

I’m tempted to recount some of the great lines Uncle Rico has in Napoleon Dynamite, but I will refrain. The lines are uproariously funny, yes, but possibly only if you have seen the movie and can picture in your mind’s eye the gestures, the postures, and the inflections that Gries uses. If you have seen the flick, you’re laughing right now as you remember some of those scenes. If you have not seen it yet, you’re in for a treat if you seek it out and watch it. If it turns out that you don’t like it, all I can say is:

There are two types of people in the world: Those who have a sense of humor, and those who don’t.

And by the way: if you like Westerns at all, and fail to seek out Will Penny, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Clay Shannon is the author of the book “the Zany Time Travels of Warble McGorkle”