Gentleman Jimmy

This is not James Caan's style at all.

In two weeks he has met the Presidents of the U.S. and France and traded horse chat with the Queen of England. Though he goes through the motions genially, the promo marathon for his new film Funny Lady is not Caan's idea of athletics. He was therefore relieved to get away for a day at New York's Aqueduct race track to check up with the trainer of his five horses there and get his colors registered. Jimmy, a veteran rodeo rider, has decided that his brand, a rocking JC, will be stamped on silks of emerald and white -- a Jewish cowboy, Jimmy loves the Irish. Even if he were not famous, he would catch every stooper's eye. "Dappled out" is racing talk for a fit horse. Lean and tan, Jimmy looks dappled out -- ready to run the distance.

Unsexy Billy Rose. This week he starts work on Sam Peckinpah's Killer Elite, then he may appear in Francis Ford Coppola's The Apocalypse. It is only three years since he appeared in the sleeper Brian's Song and then exploded with the intensity of a young Jimmy Cagney to become a star in The Godfather. Now, after Cinderella Liberty, The Gambler, Funny Lady and the upcoming sci-fi drama Rollerball, he is one of the five top box office draws in the country.

At 34, Jimmy knows he is hot, but he is going to play it his way. "I need variety," he says. "After clanging my balls as Sonny, I deliberately chose the mild Billy Buddish sailor in Liberty." He played a tall, sexy version of the short, unsexy Billy Rose with zest in Funny Lady "because I wanted to do a musical." Even if Ingmar Bergman summoned, Jimmy would go only for one, "possibly two" pictures. He is not brash; he simply wishes to avoid ruts, typecasting and difficult colleagues. "Otherwise," he says, "it's three months of pain."

Pain is also having a thumb almost wrenched out in rodeo competition. His bandaged fist parries the air, occasionally landing a light jab on the nearest arm or ribs. At Aqueduct, guys who know him from somewhere keep coming up for bouts of camaraderie. Jimmy loves it. Unlike Lauren Bacall, he will never be stumped to think of a friend who is not famous. "I have friends from 15 years -- guys I played ball with."

His father, a wholesale meat dealer in Sunnyside, Queens, encouraged Caan to take up sports. It was as a teen-age basketball star that Jimmy first heard the roar of the greasepaint. After college, he spent four years at New York City acting schools. His idol was Brando ("Anyone of my generation who tells you he hasn't 'done' Brando is lying"), and like him, Caan works from externals. "I wait for osmosis to take over," explains Jimmy.

"I try to get the walk or the clothes. When I played Sonny, I remembered this guy who always talked as if he were in the next room from you." The role then takes over Jimmy. During The Godfather filming, he set his mother's eyes rolling with orders like

"Pass the f butter."

Jimmy is very close to his family; he has now moved them all to California. His brother, who lives with him in Caan's Beverly Hills home, is a production assistant; his brother-in-law is Jimmy's business manager.

A couple of "major little problems" remain. "I'm an old-fashioned man," says Jimmy, blue eyes round with candor, his mouth pursed in unfamiliar primness. "My parents have been in love for 35 years, and I want to get married." His first marriage, to a dancer, ended in 1966, and he has a daughter, Tara, 10. But he wants more kids to play ball with. "Time's passing," he says moodily, and he knows that in one respect he is not moving with it. He is hung up on women's looks. "I want companionship, a woman I can be friends with. But I still want beautiful friends. You don't walk into a room and think of a brain sitting in your lap." His current girl, Model Connie Kreski, is "a terrific woman but not my friend." He adds, as if to set things right, "Not that I want her to box with me." Luckily, Connie does not want marriage either. Says she: "Our house is Grand Central Station. I do my gardening and my quilt work. I suspect I'd become too possessive as a wife."

Cooling Off. Sometimes Jimmy thinks he is already cooling off. The studios want him in his proven moneymaking role of Sonny: "They won't let you fall on your ass anymore." And he has been overlooked for an Oscar. "Everyone said you're a shoo-in for The Gambler -- then nothing." Now he is not sure where he stands. "I have a feeling the moment you do something different, the way Brando has done, they're just waiting to hack you to pieces."

This may be why Caan has so far turned down the chance to direct. "It's been offered, but I'm not ready for it." Acting is his business -- not his entire life. His horses are running well. He wants to keep things light, ride through movies with elan. "You know the kind of actor I am?" he asks. "I'm the sort who says before each movie, 'Oh God, give me a break.' "

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