True story behind Montana's iconic ‘John Candy' Super Bowl quip

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  • Programming note: Watch "Joe Montana: Cool Under Pressure," a documentary chronicling the life of the legendary 49ers QB, exclusively on Peacock TV.

The stories of Joe “Cool” Montana really never get old. 

The world witnessed and now reminisces on his cool, calm and collected demeanor he displayed on the field over the course of his Hall of Fame career, especially in crunch time moments. 

One of those moments: Super Bowl XXIII against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 22, 1989. 

The 49ers were down 16-13 with 3:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. At their own 8-yard line, Montana didn’t break a sweat during the 93-yard drive. 

But former 49ers' offensive tackle Harris Barton couldn’t say the same. 

As revealed in the Peacock docuseries “Joe Montana: Cool Under Pressure," Barton was high strung. 

“I’m pisssed off,” Barton said while explaining his emotions during the game. “I’m like ‘Man these guys are terrible. We should be killing the Bengals. This is bulls--t. What are we doing?’” 

And as the clock came winding down, the tensions went up. 

But not for “The Comeback Kid”. 

Montana saw his squad’s nerves kick in, especially with Barton, and saw a perfect opportunity and ran with it. 

“Harris Barton, he was our people watcher,” Montana explained in the docuseries. “So during the week of the Super Bowl, Harris was like a little kid coming up to you telling you how excited he was about all the celebrities he had seen. When you get in the game, though, Harris is pretty anal.”

“Joe recognized at that point in time that I was out of control,” Barton said.

His teammates said it got so bad that he started “vibrating” because he was so nervous. 

So, Montana’s big plan to calm his fellow teammate down?  

“I go, ‘Look H, there’s John Candy’” Montana said while describing the conversation he had with Barton. 

“Oh yeah, that is John Candy! Look at that,” Barton responded.

And that is what it took. That’s what it took to get a then-24-year-old Harris Barton to shake his nerves and just have fun.

RELATED: Montana’s hilarious, NSFW response from 'The Catch' game revealed

“It’s typical Joe, to take everyone’s mind, especially Harris’, off the importance of that drive just to remind him, this is a game. Let’s go have some fun," Montana's wife, Jennifer, said.

And they did just that. 

Montana and the 49ers won their third Super Bowl of the decade.

Thanks, John Candy. 

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