It’s been 25 long years and we still miss Morris, the lovable geek game store owner whose life was ended prematurely by some murderous thugs searching for a top-secret document hidden within an Atari game.

To me, he was more than an icon in geekdom, he was a fellow Texan. Setting up his shop at what is now known as Crossroads Mall in Balcones Heights (Located somewhere within San Antonio). Not far from where I once lived, actually.

Never had the world of cinema seen such a gentle soul. Morris never dreamed of pissing anybody off, and would never hurt a fly. All he was concerned with was beating the latest game on his Atari 5200 while no one watched his shop, but he seemed fine with that. He found himself in the wrong situation by stumbling onto the plans for a bomber upon reaching a certain point in his game.  Then he was shot and shoved into the trunk of a 1984 Cadillac DeVille.

Because he spent the second half of the movie lying in the back of a car, he was easily forgettable to most viewers. But like Jek Porkins, Morris holds a special place in my heart. Morris stands for those characters we hardly knew, or those cool cats you wish hadn’t died, much like Andy in Dawn of the Dead (2006) or Duke in Jason Goes to Hell. Morris was that guy. And like Piggy in Lord of the Flies, you can’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for the poor bastard when he dies.

That’s how I choose to remember this lovable geek. Rest in Peace, Morris. You are still missed.

My blog: OneBoredGamer