Stan Lee's First Big Screen Cameo Was In A Little-Known R-Rated Thriller

Stan Lee left behind a vast legacy when he passed away in 2018. Over six decades, he co-created some of the most well-known characters in pop culture and turned Marvel into a multi-billion-dollar media industry. Ever the self-promoter, he made his own image almost as recognizable as Spider-Man or the Hulk, and his likeness began popping up in Marvel comics back in the 1960s. Those brief appearances later transitioned into live-action adaptations, making him Marvel's cameo king. But he didn't just confine his screen presence to superhero movies, and he got his first big-screen cameo in Larry Cohen's little-known comedy-horror thriller, "The Ambulance."

At first glance, Lee appearing as "Marvel Comics Editor" in a movie about a menacing emergency vehicle snatching people off the streets of New York might seem like a strange fit. Yet it was a very apt match: Both Lee and Cohen grew up in the Bronx and became associated closely with the Big Apple, Lee thanks to his roster of resident superheroes and Cohen with his guerrilla-style approach to filming on the city streets in cult classics like "God Told Me To" and "Q – The Winged Serpent." The pair met in the '80s when Cohen was hired to work on a screenplay for Lee's "Doctor Strange" film and they became friends, sometimes hanging out with Bob Kane. That project fell through, but then came "The Ambulance," and Cohen had just the part for Lee. He recalled (via Flashback Files):

"I said to Stan: 'I think I'm going to make [the lead] character a cartoonist who works for Marvel.' I asked him to play himself. He was really anxious to do it. It was the only time Stan has had some real scenes to play in a movie and some real dialogue. In the Marvel pictures he's mostly a walk-on or an extra. With me he had a real character to play, even if it was the part of Stan Lee."

"The Ambulance" stars Eric Roberts as Josh Baker, a luxuriously-mulleted comic artist who works in the Marvel bullpen. He plucks up the courage to approach the woman of his dreams, Cheryl Turner (Janine Turner), on a crowded Manhattan street and ask for a date. When she collapses with diabetes symptoms, a vintage ambulance quickly arrives on the scene to whisk her away before Josh can get her last name. Concerned, Josh tries to find out which hospital Cheryl has been taken to, but he is perturbed to discover that no emergency room in the city has any record of her admittance. 

Typically, Lieutenant Spencer (James Earl Jones) doesn't believe a word of it and suspects Josh might have murdered her himself. After Cheryl's diabetic friend also vanishes and Josh is poisoned, he winds up in a hospital fearing for his own life. Luckily, he finds an ally in his roommate Elias (Red Buttons), a veteran reporter for the New York Post who promises to help him investigate the mystery and break the story in the papers. Meanwhile, Cheryl is on borrowed time as The Doctor (Eric Braeden) reveals his dastardly plan: He is using diabetic sufferers like her as guinea pigs for illegal experimental surgery. Can Josh and Elias rescue her before she goes under the knife?

Stan Lee only has a couple of scenes as Josh's kindly boss, but it's fun seeing him trading dialogue with Eric Roberts years before he would become such a regular (if fleeting) presence on our screens. Performance-wise, let's just say he became more comfortable playing himself as he racked up more cameos. Nevertheless, his appearance is in keeping with the standard of Larry Cohen pictures, as the cult filmmaker always had a penchant for a little stunt casting.

With his homicidal mutant babies ("It's Alive"), giant Aztec Gods roosting in the Chrysler Building ("Q – The Winged Serpent"), and malevolent addictive desserts ("The Stuff"), I've always been a big fan of B-movie legend Larry Cohen, and "The Ambulance" is one of my favorites. On paper, a film about illegal medical trials on humans sounds like a fairly standard medical thriller ("Extreme Measures" with Hugh Grant covered similar ground without the laughs) but it's a rollicking good time in the hands of an offbeat director like Cohen. Although his films often have more serious topics hovering in the background, he was never one to let the horror elements of his stories get in the way of wacky digressions, peculiar character beats, and outlandish set pieces.

Much of the pleasure of "The Ambulance" comes from the casting. Eric Roberts gives one of his more appealing performances as the determined artist who is hopelessly out of his depth, and the movie kicks up several notches when he's teamed up with old-school comedian and Oscar-winner Red Buttons. James Earl Jones provides an unusually off-the-wall turn as the grouchy gum-chomping cop, and I could've done with more scenes involving Eric Braeden's hammy mad scientist. 

Meanwhile, the ambulance itself is a scene-stealer, shot from low angles as it prowls the city streets looking like Ecto-1's evil twin. "The Ambulance" isn't terribly scary but it is often very funny and has a couple of exciting sequences, such as the movie's standout set piece involving Josh's extremely hazardous escape from the back of the titular vehicle. Stan Lee fans should come for his first film cameo but also make time for the rest of the movie. It's an absolute hoot and a great introduction to Larry Cohen flicks.