The 'Weaver' thing is a little bit like in Goldeneye in 1995. Bond's Hawaiian shirt wearing mate is the same actor, Joe Don Baker who played a full blown Bond villain in 'The Living Daylights' a few years earlier.
Crikey, imagine the tongue lash they'd get if the Internet was around then - a villain recast as an ally!
I imagine the reaction was the same then as it should be now - no-one is fussed.