The Bear

My name is Donald Van Williams and I was also a Featured Extra in this movie, my Agent thought it would be good for me ,I had Just been released by the Oakland Raiders Football Club after an injury in Mini Camp,it was crazy. We shot at a school near Los Angeles Ca., I played Jeff Fagen #34 a team player, half the time we were waiting for Gary Busey to come out of his trailer sober enough to shoot the next take. I ended up breaking my wrist, under paid and turned off at Acting. Hell at one time, we were shooting a locker room take that should have taken 10 seconds, but due to Gary"s "Drunk" it took 12 hours. The only thing that made it all worth while, was all the side splitting laughter ,we the extra's, had and the friendship's made.I am happy to see that Gary has done well over the years and wish him the best of luck, As for the film, i only saw it once, it was a trip.

I was an extra also for this movie although the entire Cadet Corps of Texas A&M University were extras. Busey sure had a hard time with those lines. We stood out there for a couple hours while he struggled over a handful of lines, and honestly it started getting ridiculous the way he would fumble over the same sentence time and time again. Reading other peoples comments he was apparently drunk a lot over the course of the film's shooting. From an Oscar winner we all expected a bit more class and professionalism from him considering how we spent extra hours that afternoon spit shining our shoes and, polishing brass to the utmost, just in case the camera showed on us and then gave up a few hours of our study that night. Goofing your lines over and over in front of 1600 disciplined Aggie Cadets was pretty sad. They also filmed the Bonfire that year as filming took place only a few days before the Texas A&M vs Texas game, but i've no idea if any of that was in the film or even the scene we all shot. I didn't catch it at the theater when it came out unfortunately i've not found it on DVD or VHS. If anybody knows where to get it please post.

I actually worked on this film briefly as a featured extra. The scenes I did were shot at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. I played one of Bear Bryant's fraternity brothers.

We filmed in December of 1983, just before Christmas. It was freezing cold outside, but the scenes were supposed to be taking place on a warm, late spring evening, so we were all dressed in short sleeves. The director and crew made us sit outside, nearly freezing to death, for hours on end while they -- bundled up in coats and gloves! -- set up the shots for filming. I wound up getting very sick after three days of shooting! Of course, all the principal actors who were in the scenes stayed in their cozy trailers until it was time to film.

Also, my tote bag ... containing my wallet and money; car keys; and the clothes I wore to the set ... was stolen out of the dressing room on my last day of shooting. I was treated VERY badly by the extras casting director, who showed no sympathy whatsoever about the fact that my belongings were stolen. She would not even take the time to drive me home to get a spare set of car keys since mine were stolen! I was literally stranded -- no car keys, no clothes, no money! -- until a wonderful woman, who was also an extra on the film, drove me home.

Gary Bussey was drinking heavily during the filming of this movie and the "buzz" on the set was that he was sometimes so drunk that he wasn't able to do his scenes.

By the way, I was paid a whopping $50 a day for my work on this film ... and when it came time to eat, the extras ate AFTER the principal actors had dined first and picked through the food on the buffet lines.

When I saw the movie, I was greatly disappointed. It was not very good.

I heard that the Bryant Family did not like this movie and bought up all rights to it. It is a shame because this was the football that we were taught and played back in the 50's & 60's. Hard nosed,smash mouth football--face blocking (broken noses)--only wimps need water attitude-- you put your face on the opposition's number and knock him down. None of the previous can be coached or taught anymore for fear of injury,lawsuits but that is why this film was so motivational to me as a youth,high school and major College player from that era.