That Time James Cameron Directed a Music Video for Bill Paxton

By Travis Johnson

We lost Bill Paxton today, taken from us at the age of 61 by post-surgery complications. A brilliant, self-effacing character actor, Paxton will almost certainly be best remembered for his numerous collaborations with James Cameron, including The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic.

But Paxton’s bow had more than one string; he was a talented director, albeit of limited output, and while it’s a legitimate shame we will never see his mooted adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s The Bottoms, Frailty, his 2001 feature debut starring Matthew McConaughey and Powers Boothe, is a classic. He also directed the music video for “Fish Heads” by Barnes and Barnes (aka Robert Haimer and Bill “Danger, Will Robinson” Mumy):

Paxton was also a musician in his own right, forming the new wave band, Martini Ranch, with Andrew Todd Rosenthal in 1982.

This project saw Paxton working with Jim Cameron once again when, in 1987, Cameron directed the Western-themed video for the band’s song, “Reach”. Check it out:

You’ll see some familiar faces there, including future Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow. This was shot while Bigelow was making her solo feature debut with the great vampire movie, Near Dark, which accounts for the presence of Paxton’s co-stars on that film (and fellow Aliens alumni) Jenette “Vasquez” Goldstein and Lance “every damn thing” Henriksen, plus Adrian Pasdar – look, Lance has a monkey. Also in the mix: Brian Thompson, Paul Reiser, Judge Reinhold, and Bud Cort.

Is it a great clip? Well, no, not really, but it is fun to look back at. There’s a lot of interesting people here at the dawn of their careers, including two future Oscar winners, and it’s pretty heartwarming to think of them all futzing about in the desert to make a music video for their mate Bill’s weird little band.

As an added bonus, here’s an earlier Martini Ranch clip for the wonderfully titled “How Can The Labouring Man Find Time For Self Culture?”

Vale, Bill.