Top 5 Diane Keaton Scenes (#1051)

28:26And that's his reputation, right? That's not the way she likes to work. He was one of those perfectionist directors who shot 40 takes of everything. This is how she describes it. Sometimes it felt like I was being stun gunned. Even now, I can't say my performance is my own. It was more like a reaction to Warren. Yeah, that's what it was a response to the effect of warren baby well you know what a performance that's a response to the effect of warren baby i guess is still pretty darn effective the way the way that manifests on screen she also mentions josh that it it took shooting the train scene which is the the reunion moment in this film for those two characters for her to find any or or to take any pride in the character.

29:14And that scene alone took like 65 takes, but, but she did. That's where she finally broke through with her own character. And, and the way she frames it is like, she stopped judging the character and finally loved the character. The, the reason she didn't like her, I do want to mention this. She says that she wasn't prepared to play Louise Bryant. She was less romantic than she had imagined. She became my cross to bear. I didn't like her. There was nothing charming about her will to be recognized as an artist in her own right. She says that her pursuit of John Reed was suspect and frankly laced with envy.

29:51I hated her. It was a problem. Wow. That's how she described the character she was playing. So I don't know what point in the shoot they shot the train scene, but it took that for her to get over this cross that she was bearing for Louise Bryant. So you can see, I think, in this scene with Nicholson, with Eugene O 'Neill in Provincetown, why she might have struggled with this character. The number of emotions that she has to evoke in what is a five-minute scene is daunting. she starts off as the fawning actress and then she she turns sore and apologetic and then she's seductive and and trying to assume power and that's all josh within 30 seconds or less and then and then she's defiant and abrasive and the way bryant the character of course keaton portraying her betrays herself there's a line where she says you may feel that way i don't about something that that he has zinged her with.

30:53And she says it with some smugness, like she's kind of above it all. You know, she's refuting his charge. And I love what she does. And this is something that she does playing Mary too. When she plays Mary in Manhattan, a character who is not insecure or who projects confidence, notice how her posture is like perfect. She's very rigid the way she walks. In this scene, in this moment, when she has to project this confidence all of a sudden, when the camera cuts back to her, she's like, she's sitting back in the chair. Her shoulders are completely back. And this whiskey bottle that's been a prop throughout the scene, she's now holding it and she's holding it off to the side in her hand.

31:36Like she's a pirate with a whiskey bottle. You know, it's almost like she's, she's all of a sudden got this, this machismo about her almost it's, it's anything but, you know, a quote unquote feeble woman. And, and then he, he says something else about how he would treat her and, and, and how John isn't John Reed isn't possessive enough about her. And, and she describes that as a waste of time. And, and Keaton, she tells you that the character is lying just by looking away. She looks away and you see in her eyes how this, how this registers with her, that She's trying to deny it, but it's clearly hitting.

32:16It's clearly striking a chord. It is hitting a mark with her. And I mentioned the whiskey bottle because it's changing hands and it's moving around in the scene. I would recommend to any actors or actresses out there, any performers out there, if you need a scene study and you're doing anything about how to incorporate props into a scene, watch this scene and watch how the whiskey bottle is used. because it's a key part of the movie. She hands it to him at this point. But Josh, the moment of the scene, the moment, the dagger, it's Nicholson's best moment, but it doesn't work without Keaton's response.

32:56I focused on this during the Nicholson Top 5 when he says to her, it's still just maybe, honestly, one of the best written lines in all of movies because it's romantic as hell. It's sexy as hell, but it's also mean. If you were mine, I wouldn't share you with anybody or anything. It would be just you and me. You'd be at the center of it all. You know, it would feel a lot more like love than being left alone with your work. And you see her still face, and Keaton's eyes are glistening. you can tell what she's trying to hold back and and when he gets to that word center she does this here's this gesture Josh she does this just little thing with her mouth and eyebrow as if what it says to me I'd love for a hundred people to watch it and and tell me what you think she's saying with her mouth and eyebrow to me it's like she's saying back to him oh oh that's what you would do right because loves that easy sure but it it's it's almost like that gesture in in baby boom in the hallway just this silent small moment that that you feel like somehow only she could could deliver and and here at this point in the scene it's the most wounded this character has been and the most vulnerable the character has been and then she's back to rustling papers and trying to act like she's in complete control.

34:29The difficulty it would have been or how difficult it would have been to play Louise Bryant. I can see why she might have struggled with this character, but you watch scenes like this and you feel like Keaton was in control of the character somehow. It's funny you mentioned the whiskey bottle. I've got a pick involving not centering around, but does involve her use of a wine bottle, which, which came to mind. We'll get that into that in a bit and we'll get to reds in a bit. I'd love to reshuffle things so that we could continue talking about reds. Cause you're right. I did kind of fall in love with it when I caught up with it, but, um, so much to the point that I've got it higher on my list and I need to get to a few other picks first.

35:13So at number three, I'm going with this line from the Godfather part two at this moment, I feel no love for you at all. If people tend to forget or downplay that Diane Keaton is in the Godfather films, it's no fault of her. She is terrific in the few scenes she has and working mostly in a different register than what I think we're used to. And so as a nod to her performances as Kay Adams, wife of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone, I'm going to go with this scene from the Godfather part two. So this is shortly after the movie's intermission, and it's a meeting between Kay and Michael where she tells him she's leaving and she's taking the children.

36:03Kay, as many people have noted, is essentially the conscience of these movies, but often in the background, right? She's the observer. Here, finally, she directly calls him out, telling him he's become blind to his own moral decay. and I want to talk about stillness too, Adam, uh, in terms of the performance and focus on how still she is in this scene, because as we've touched on that very common to think of her as being in, in motion, verbally in motion, um, physically in motion, something with her arms or even just, just circling the room in a scene. She's frequently walking around a room in a scene To use another F word.

36:48Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Here. No, it's totally different. It's totally different. Michael tries to shut her down at one point, just, just screams over at her. And, and, you know, in most of his meetings, that is the end of it, but she just gets very still, very focused, very quiet and delivers just that brutal line with calm precision. At this moment, I feel no love for you at all, but her control doesn't last. Last that long. There's a lot of, as the red scene you just described, there's a lot of fluctuations and variations and ups and downs in this long scene. So he brings up their lost baby, which he thinks was a miscarriage.

37:30And she just goes fierce at this point. Michael, you are blind. It wasn't a miscarriage. It was an abortion. An abortion, Michael. Just like our marriage is an abortion. Something that's unholy and evil. You get a sense that Kay was not planning to bring this into her confrontation, but he went there. So that's when she tells him, no, she had an abortion because she wouldn't bring another one of your sons into this world. And there is a real nastiness to the performance here, because this is where Kay is hitting Michael absolutely where it hurts, because he has this mythological, reverential idea of the family, right?

38:24Completely hypocritical, we all know. But to him, in his mind, it's all about the family. And she's used what power she had to obliterate that. So I do think Keaton is asked to use very different tools in the Godfather films. I just think she does it incredibly well. So I wanted to go with a scene from one of them. Yeah, I get it. With the Godfather in the book, she speaks of it reverentially and talks about how important it was, of course. But she spends almost no time talking about the making of it or portraying Kay. And she is a little bit dismissive of it, Josh, because she basically says she doesn't know why she was cast as that character.

39:08She was nothing like that character. And she does admit that the character doesn't kind of exist, that there's very little to that character. And that does seem fair based on what we see in the movie. That said, the moments that she gets, like this one, Keaton delivers. Keaton makes up for that in moments like this one, for sure. And, you know, it's funny about Keaton. We were talking about how maybe when you look at the totality of her filmography, you don't see it's top heavy. You see a couple of amazing movies and amazing performances and maybe not as much depth as you would really like. But I think about iconic moments and I think about memorable lines.

39:52And maybe this is only really memorable to me. But to go back to your Manhattan scene, forget Van Gogh. I will always hear in my head, Mary. I'll always hear Keaton saying, I loved it at Radcliffe, but you get over it. You absolutely get over it. You know, just the way she says it, her cadence. And I will always hear like I can't see. Here's where we're different, Josh here. I mean, we're different in a lot of ways, but we've talked about this. Here's where we're very different. You just talked about that scene and you did not at any point feel compelled to go. It was an abortion, Michael. I would have had to say it that way.

40:27I would have had to try to mimic. Why? Why would I ruin? Why would I ruin the great scene by trying to mimic it? because I can't have those words in my head and not try to say them that way. That sentence can't be said any other way. That's how it sticks with me, right? So there's another one of these coming up. So she's given us some great, great line readings. But for my number three, I'm going to go back to Jack and Diane. I'm not going to call it a great movie, Josh, but this is the homework that I did that I did find the most rewarding. especially because I found out a few days later in the book that it's the movie she calls her favorite of all of her movies.

41:15It is something's got to give. Now, context is a major part. 2003, she was 57, and by her own words, she was washed up. This movie brought her back. That's part of it. But working with Nicholson again, she talks about as this magical, energizing experience. Which you can feel. You can feel. Totally. And she goes into great detail about how difficult it was for her in one key scene. It's that scene where they come back in from where you really see them connecting and you see the romance really spark. And they come in from the storm. And it's when they have their first kiss. She talks about how it was almost impossible for her.

42:00She kept screwing up lines because it was impossible for her to separate Diane and Erica, the character, from her. So that's what it felt like for her to make that movie. Now, there is another part of it that's, I think, just a great story to mention and speaks to the generosity of Nicholson. She said that on the last day of the shoot, Nicholson came up to her. They had this great time together. Nicholson came up to her and whispered something in her ear, a sentence, a phrase or something, and she didn't really understand it. she kind of heard a word or two, but really didn't get it and just kind of, you know, laughed or whatever.

42:46And they embraced and, and he went on his way. And then the movie came out and it's a big hit. And a year later, or however long it is later, she goes to the mail and a check shows up and the checks got, as she, you know, I think she describes it. The checks got all these zeros after it. And the thing that Nicholson whispered to her on the last day of the shoot was that when he was negotiating his contract for the movie, he gave her some of his points on the movie that weren't in her contract. So instead of just getting a salary for the movie, he gave her at least a point on the movie. She got a percentage because of Nicholson.

43:29And so she got very rich off of something's got to give, which was another reason why she was eternally grateful to Nicholson in that movie. Now I have to say, Keanu Reeves as the younger doctor who's madly in love with her, he might actually be my favorite performance in the movie. But the scene that I'm going with, the scene that really stuck with me, and so far I have largely picked scenes where her heavier emotional side comes through, even though she is largely known as this comedic actress. But the baby boom scene is one where we watch her transform, kind of from comedy to drama before our eyes.

44:05And I think this scene is also so full of pathos that I really identify that with Keaton. It's the scene right after they have finally slept together. And this night together has been incredible. Everything she, and it seems he, could have hoped that it would be. But then you have the awkward moment of, where do we go from here? What do we do now? And Nicholson's character says, I think I should go back to my room. And she has to, she has to take that in and process what that means, what he's really saying when he says that, because he's, he's staying at her house. He was initially just a guest at her house.

44:53Long story. If you haven't seen the movie, he's saying, I think I should go back to my room. And she says, all right, you usually send the girl home but I am home. The realization, the moment Keaton has to realize what he's really saying, that he is, as he describes himself, an old dog who can't be taught new tricks. And she has to think about what could she have expected? Everything she is expressing without expressing it literally is, how could I have been so stupid? But also, She can't help the way she feels. And that's the conflict that you just see in everything she's doing here in this scene.

45:38She's trying to be so mature about it because she is mature. She is this mature, intelligent woman, but she has feelings for this man that are almost like, you know, a teenage girl, you know, or almost like she feels like she's falling in love for the first time. And she's so wounded by this. And here again, I'm drawn to gestures and pauses. She says, hey, it's perfectly whatever. It's perfectly whatever. She suddenly tilts her head and smiles just for a flash. Like, it reminded me of, I don't know, I'm going to really date myself even though I wasn't alive when these movies were on. I'm just aware of them.

46:18But it reminds me of like Annette Funicello or something, like Beach Blanket Bingo. Like she does this quick gesture with her head, like a bob of her head and kind of, you know, bobs her hair like she's trying to express. It's fine. Everything's great. Let's let's just move on with our lives. But Josh, just as quickly as she does it, it's over, you know, and she's back to the reality of the devastation of the moment. It's such a clear contradiction of how she's really feeling an expression of who she knows she's supposed to be in the moment, who she wants to be, that she's a big girl, that she can take it.

46:52but but she can't and and i can't do it justice anymore just just watch the scene just watch the scene and then and then after that watch her say watch keaton say this was a great night for me it's heartbreaking that that scene it's it's funny it has elements of humor i even think that that bob of her head is kind of funny but then it goes it goes right from that instantly into heartbreak. And that's what Keaton can pull off in a scene without it feeling ever like that, that it's inconsistent at all. I really like something just got to give. So I'm glad, I'm glad it made your list. And the thing about Keaton and Nicholson, you know, having that magic too, it's not always, it doesn't just happen when I'm sure the casting was, this'll be great.

47:39Right. And the instinct that it'll be great is, is right on, but they also have to bring something and make it work in the moment. I can't think of, I don't know, wasn't there like a George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunion in the last couple of years that I caught up with and just kind of fell flat? And you would think, no brainer there, right? Right. But that's not always the case. And so I think they are doing the work as well as individual actors in each of those scenes, including the one you picked. So yeah, good movie. Glad you caught up with it. All right, I'm going at number two with one that I think pretty much everyone has seen, Annie Hall.

48:20It is one I revisited for this list because it'd been quite a while since I'd seen it. It's sort of her definitive iconic character. This is where we'd have to go if we had done the characters list. I don't know. I was maybe a little disappointed by it, Adam. And I'm not just talking about the Alan Ick factor. I mean, that's kind of built in for me with these things. I did appreciate, again, the meta stuff, addressing the camera, the Marshall McLuhan cameo. Very clever, very inventive. A lot of groaners here, though, I got to tell you from Alan. And maybe more pertinent to this list, maybe not enough of the title character.

49:02I mean, she and Alan have great repartee. They're very much working as co-equals as a team in their scenes. but there's not a ton of moments where the spotlight is just on Annie, which just, you know, she is the title character. So, so you would have thought, maybe I expected in my memory that there were more of those. We get one though that works that way. At least one, there's probably more than one, but there's this brilliant scene that I'm picking, which does this. And this is not long after Annie and Ellen's Elvie Singer have met for the first time. And she's telling him this winding story about her family, including she's basically introducing him to her family members.

49:45There are some pictures on the wall. So that gets her going just about all her extended family, including this narcoleptic Uncle George, whose final bout of narcolepsy, well, it's his last while he's in line for a free turkey. So George is standing in line getting his free turkey. But the thing is, is that he falls asleep and he never wakes up. So he's dead. He's dead. Yeah. Oh, dear. It's a darkly funny story, but this is all about the delivery for me. I mean, Keaton not only makes it funny because of the beats she gives to it, the pauses, and again, the motion, which I'll get to. What I love about this is she uses this story, again, early on, to give us a full sense of who Annie is.

50:39She's instinctively amused by things. She's instinctively amusing. She's also self-aware in a way that, say, an early Greta Gerwig character who had to have been influenced, those characters by Annie Hall. I think of those characters by Gerwig as delightful as they are. They're not always self-aware, but you get a sense that Annie is as she's telling this story. She's realizing that, yes, this is a silly story, but it's not. It's dark, and I'm kind of silly for handling it that way, but I don't care. This is who I am. And now the movement that I was talking about, here's where the wine bottle comes in, because she's been looking for a bottle of wine throughout this sequence.

51:22She's offered Alvi a bottle or a glass of wine, and the camera has to pan to keep her in the frame at one point. Her arms, her hands, they're all a twirl as she's telling this story. And then the faces she pulls, and the different faces when she's, again, amusing herself, realizing she shouldn't be amused by herself, and she shouldn't be laughing, but it is funny. I mean, the gyrations, the facial gyrations are incredible. And what I do love about it is that she's not covering up her giggling at all, because above all, Annie's not putting on a performance for Alvy here. She just is who she is unapologetically.

52:06And yeah, in the process, she's putting on a great, Keaton's putting on a great performance for us. So I'm going at number two with the Uncle George story from Annie Hall. Okay, the only surprise there is that Annie Hall's at number two. I'm going to hold off on any more Annie Hall talk for now. My number two, I guess if I needed an apotheosis, I needed some way to cap off my list or as we're nearing the top, I needed a choice that really spoke to the expressive power of Keaton's face and her use of silence. this this had to be it okay and i want to say i love her in this scene but if we are if we are doing top five diane keaton scenes it's great and all if we can sit here and try to find like we always do with these top five top five lists these little personal moments that speak to us that quite honestly very few people listening may actually be able to immediately recall when we mention them.

53:13How about including a moment that is one of the most memorable cinematic moments of the 1970s? And I'm going to give you, Josh, because it's short, I'm going to give you the scene as it appears in at least the screenplay version I found online. Kay, Anthony, say goodbye. Your mama loves you. Anthony, goodbye. She restrains any tears. She's become too strong for tears. Kay starts to go, picks up Mary, kisses her, and starts to go. New view. She steps out the kitchen door. Then she cannot help herself. Crouches down outside and calls to her son. Kay. Anthony, kiss me once. Then she looks up and slowly rises.

53:58Her view. Michael has stepped into the dining room. He seems older somehow, as though some sickness has taken more years away from him. View on Kay. Looks at him instinctively. She takes a step back. View on And Michael slowly steps toward her view on K another step back. The door is still open view on Michael. He moves closer to the door, stops, looks at her and then closes it, obscuring any view of her minute, little bit over a minute, Pacino and Keaton just looking at each other. No dialogue heavy. And it's, it's sad enough that, That she, that Kay, has to sneak in to see her kids because of the scene that you talked about, Josh, and what she admitted to there, what she confessed to.

54:47Then you've got her son, Anthony, taking his emotional cues from daddy, withholding his love and affection for his mother. I don't know if this line from the script was ever really meant to be translated to the screen. the line he seems older somehow as though some sickness has taken more years away from him we're going to see that with michael and with pacino i'm going to counter and say if you re-watch this moment at least for me part of what makes the scene extra tense and and emotional is that i don't know if al pacino actually has ever looked hotter in any movie ever like when he's walking towards the door.

55:30He's wearing that maroon shirt. Is that camel hair, Josh? I don't know. You're a scarf guy. He's wearing like a camel hair scarf and jacket. Yeah, he's so put together. He's pretty dapper. What I think about in that scene is how he almost floats into it. Like he has this supernatural quality is what comes to mind for me. Yes, that's part of it. The jet black hair, he doesn't look old at all. And in fact, I don't remember exactly what point in the movie this takes place. It's fairly late. He's returning home from either Miami or probably Cuba. He looks well tanned. And then, yes, the gliding to the door, his lips pierced, his face betraying neither love nor hate.

56:16It's completely neutral. So the stakes of the scene are such that we are in the same position as viewers that Kay is in where we are not sure we are not 100 % sure how this is going to end, where this is going to go, whether or not Michael in this moment might actually show some compassion for her. The possibility is there. And honestly, something about how, how great they both look, how beautiful they are. And with, with some passage of time between the scene that you described in this one, you think about this, this crevice between them. We know it can never be breached. We know that because of what she's done, Michael's never going to forgive her.

56:58But somehow, like I said, in this moment, just for this fleeting few seconds, it seems like it's possible. And, and Josh, it's really only like three seconds of screen time, all just with her eyes and her face. Kay expresses that hope. She expresses the hope that he might invite her in or he might say something with any hint of warmth towards her. And then the hope is completely drained from her. And of course, the way she expresses the fear of him initially too. The hope is completely drained. You see the death of that hope and the despair sink in. Because even if she and Michael can never heal, you think maybe there's some room for her and her kids.

57:45You see that dissipate completely. And then, of course, you've got the symbolic echo of this scene to the door closing on K at the end of Godfather 1 when Michael's made the dawn makes the scene even more impactful. It's just an incredible bit of acting from those two heavyweights in that moment. yeah and i was thinking about you know that gap between these two scenes that you just described i if i'm remembering correctly there's a long amount of screen time but this might be the the next time we see k after the argument this might be the next time she appears i believe it and yeah i think it is i think it is like maybe within the last 10 minutes of the movie perhaps that she's dismissed in that way which which yeah keaton keaton handles brilliantly All right, my number one.

58:40And yeah, it's coming from Reds. I just, watching Reds, the entire movie, I really went for. But Keaton in particular here, as you said, the activist and writer Louise Bryant, not a quintessential Keaton performance. I'd put it up there maybe overall, taking the movie in totality, not just considering scenes, but maybe her best, fascinating to hear you describe how she described it in her memoir and that experience and just sometimes what an actor's experience is compared to what we end up getting on the screen, how those things can differ. I honestly, I wrestled with what scene to go with here, Adam, which is why I do think this might be her best performance.

59:25I definitely considered, because I was familiar with it from your pick in our top five Jack Nicholson moments, the ones you talked about. She is Nicholson's equal in making that scene work, as you said. I love, this is just a moment, so it wouldn't count as a scene, but very early on, this is when Louise is in Portland. She's still married to this kind of dismissive husband, and he's trying to direct her. I think this is at a party or something. And she just kind of instinctively, the moment he puts his hand near her, she kind of just wipes it away. And it's just a beautiful character touch of who she is, even if she can't be who she is yet in this scenario.

1:00:08So a little hint there she gives us. And then the other one comes early on too. So this is at the point she's met John Reed. She has this little art studio she goes to and they're hanging out there and she has to juggle his flirtation with her, which she's open to, but also wanting to be taken seriously as an artist. And so watching Keaton juggle all of that, there's a great moment. And here's where Bedia's director, you know, helps out. The camera is on them and she's on a couch. They're on a couch, I think. And then she leans over to pick up her portfolio away from him. And the camera kind of slides with her and her arm and kind of like pushes him away visually just to catch that tension.

1:00:50But she's so good in that scene as well. I'm going to go with another one though, between Keaton and Beatty, um, who, you know, as you said here, uh, director star, um, and you know, just really making this his magnum opus. this scene is early on in their relationship and she's trying to figure out what sort of writer she actually wants to be at this point and he's moving to New York so he invites her to move with him that's where all the writers are he says and they go back and forth about this until she finally just you know comes out with what she really is thinking about this proposal and asks him what as all right wait let me get this straight you want me to come with you to New York Yeah.

1:01:39What as? What as? What do you mean what as? What as? Your girlfriend? What does that mean? What as? Your girlfriend, your mistress, your paramour, your concubine? And I think answering that question, like, what am I going to New York City with you as? What does he think of her? How does he regard and respect her? That's sort of the crux of their shared life together, which is really what Reds is all about. It's not necessarily a read biopic or a historical document. This is what kind of took me by surprise. It's, it's, their relationship is really at the center. It's about these historical figures.

1:02:16Yes. Who are trying to balance the personal and political in this tumultuous moment. And, you know, in some ways I think Beatty cracked the biopic code with Reds in a lot of ways, a lot of formal ways. So Keaton, again, we've talked about her as a stellar comedian, as a performer. Maybe that's how she comes to mind for people first. But this scene we get is just of a woman pushing back against her time and place in a way that feels absolutely of the period, yet also thoroughly modern. And I think that's what Keaton brings to this part. There, there's a way she balances the historical setting, which is a necessity.

1:03:01And that thoroughly modern woman that we see sort of at the forefront in something like Annie Hall or even Manhattan. And yeah, I put Reds at number one because here's, here's something else I like about it. It, it seems to me that the best of Keaton's career has come while she's had to juggle a male co-star expertly. Of course, Woody Allen, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and then Warren Beatty here. And to be clear, I do think Beatty is an especially generous collaborator on Reds. Did not know that what you shared about his perfectionist tendencies as a director, but I think you can also see this generousness as a fellow performer and as a director too.

1:03:47Yeah. I mean, it kind of goes back to what we were saying about and what you mentioned about these maybe gaps in her filmography or long stretches. You know, she didn't get the chance to be the focus of a film very often, but man, when she was, when she was clicking, she proved she didn't need that focus to grab our attention or our affection. And, and you see that in, in this performance as, as red, she may not have had a lot of affection for Louise Bryant, but, but she managed to get me to have it. So, yeah, you know, so I agree. It worked. Yeah. Yeah, I do love that scene. And it's it's funny because as you talk about it and you focus on that question from Louise Bryant, what as it it brings me back to my number three and something's got to give.

1:04:33And what as what am I to you is essentially the same question. Erica, her character is asking Jack Nicholson's character in that movie after they've slept together. What what am I to you? What what does this mean? She's processing and trying to navigate in the aftermath of it what she thinks she is or what she should be and having to face that it's uncertain and that he's going to get to define it for her. And go back to something like Baby Boom, Josh. That's all about what role do you decide to play? Are you the tiger lady executive or are you the domesticated mom, right? And you have to pick between them.

1:05:17It's funny how in movies and in real life, men don't ever have to choose between those roles. Yeah. And that's the incisive thing I will say about baby boom is like, I think it's under underlying message. If you want to say that is dead on about hyper capitalism and the corporate environment. And to your point, you know, it's a self-inflicted wound that really was mostly placed on, on women. but you can see how that environment that, that her character in baby boom is in, it really negates fruitful parenthood for men and women. Like it's, it's just that the women are expected in the movie, right.

1:05:59To make it, to make it work. Yeah. That could be its own marathon. As soon as I put baby boom on, I was like 1987 baby boom. You got working girl coming out the next year. There was this whole spate of movies and they weren't all with women. There's a whole spate of these capitalistic, you know, corporate environment movies like that. And a lot of them were about, can women have it all from that 80s period? And then you had Mr. Mom. You did. A little bit earlier, but you had it. You're absolutely right. Okay. So number one, I am going with Annie Hall. And you not only have in common with The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, movies that star or feature Diane Keaton and that were Best Picture winners, but also shot by the great Gordon Willis.

1:06:48One of the reasons that Annie Hall is elevated from your average romantic movie of the time or what we think of as a romantic comedy. It's funny what you said about your reservations watching it. Annie Hall for me was a transformative film. It's a film I don't even know how many times I've seen and have always had the same experience. Loving it. According to Letterboxd, the last time I saw it was nine years ago. It didn't feel like it was that long ago. It was nine years ago. That was the first time where, I'll borrow your word, that was the first time where I actually noticed some groaners, where I actually noticed some jokes not landing with me the way they used to land with me.

1:07:34That said, when I was watching scenes for Manny Hall in preparation for this list, I'm watching Alan and Keaton together cooking lobster. I'm watching Keaton inviting Alan over to kill the spider in her apartment. I'm watching the great honest subtitles scene, Right. Where after they've met. Yeah, that's a nice. They're having a drink. And, you know, am I smart enough for him? And he doesn't know if he's smart enough for her. Is he keep, you know, all those all those things. Every scene I watched was like, well, I could I could pick this scene. These are all fantastic. I'm going to keep the theme going of iconic 70s scenes.

1:08:15I think it does qualify. We may meet Annie for the first time on the tennis court, but we don't really meet Annie Hall until she and Alvy meet in the lobby after the round of tennis. You want a lift? Oh, why? You got a car? No, I was going to take a cab. Oh, no, I have a car. You have a car? So, I don't understand. If you have a car, so then why did you say, do you have a car, like you want a lift? I don't, I don't, I, geez, I don't know. I wasn't. It's an iconic 70s scene because of an iconic character in an iconic outfit. the pants, the vest, the tie, the bolero hat. And in the book, she gives credit to Alan for every choice that was made in that movie.

1:09:15She's very clear about that. But she does also say that he largely gave her freedom. There wasn't really like a costume budget or someone who imposed that on her. He gave her freedom to wear what she wanted to wear. And she brought those clothes. But she was just stealing the look, she says, from women she saw who she thought looked cool on the streets of New York. And the hat was actually stolen from the wife of the production designer of The Godfather, Dean Tavalaris, The Godfather Part Two, I'm presuming. His wife showed up on the set one day and was wearing the hat. And she thought it looked great.

1:09:54and she always remembered it. And that was, you know, the final thing she needed to complete the ensemble. And it becomes then this classic look, right? That even you see some people wear even today as like Halloween costumes, right? Or some people just wear it because they like the look. And re-watching this scene, if you go back, what's so great about it, Josh, is you see Alan, or we will see Alan in a second, like zipping up his bag and he's turned away from the camera. But the way it starts is that she actually kind of emerges out of frame left. Like she ducks, she's not completely out of the frame, but she kind of ducks her head into the frame and is saying hi.

1:10:36And it just immediately sets the tone that it's just a little bit, she maybe is just a little bit clumsy and just a little bit goofy. You know, there's something weird about her entering the frame with a complete lack of confidence. It's not like she walked in. And it's almost like she knows or feels like she might be imposing on someone else's scene somehow, you know? And then when she says bye in a little bit, she doesn't turn and walk away to the door like a normal person. She says bye and then backs away to the door, which clearly suggests that she's hoping he's going to continue the conversation and won't say bye back.

1:11:18And all of that just somehow like makes her feel like a character, like a character on a stage, like backing into a curtain or something or entering from stage left. There's something about it that I just love. And I do think it's one of the great rom-com meet-cutes. And it's because of the wit of the dialogue, the undeniable chemistry between Keaton and Alan that's on display here but was on display in films prior to this as well. and it is about Keaton's ability to play a character who could be played if you just were going off the page could be played as dumb and maybe annoying and make her just a little awkward and make her charming and I think it's because you actually helped unlock this for me Josh it's because of the word you used self-awareness it's because of her self-awareness it's actually built into the character.

1:12:12I think Keaton implicitly brings it as a performer, but it's built into the character, right? The great dialogue, you know, the way she's constantly questioning herself going, oh, oh, of course that was dumb. Or why did you say that? You know, she's, she's saying those things to herself, those asides, that's what makes her extra charming. That's what makes you find her, find her adorable in that moment. And, and that back and forth between them, the banter is what makes it work. But her self-awareness is, I think, what elevates that scene and that character. Oh, God, what a dumb thing to say, right?

1:12:49I mean, you say you play well, and then right away, I have to say you play well. Oh, God, Annie. Well, oh, well. La-dee-da, la-dee-da, la-la. In terms of the autobiographicalness of it all, she does point out i mean it's it's evident from the beginning of the book that you know her real name is diane hall so di annie hall keaton was her mother's made name she had to change her name for sag reasons you know as that often happens and so she went with she went with diane keaton so that that comes you know alan wrote the script based on based on her and based on her name and yeah, based on her family to some extent.

1:13:36And she says about the character or the role when she started getting the accolades and everything that was coming in, she kind of couldn't see what all the fuss was about because she did see herself as, to some extent, playing herself. She's seeing her face, her voice, her mannerisms, all these things that kind of bothered her on screen. And everyone assumed, well, this must be the relationship between the two of them just being translated to the screen, especially because she wanted to be a singer in real life, that they really did have a romance, that she was someone who was insecure. And that kind of her own word was like groping for words.

1:14:19She was someone who groped for words. And there you see it in her character. We see it in a lot of her characters, right? Well, that's because that's a naturalness that she brings to some, not all of her characters. And her mom in one of her journals after seeing the premiere of Annie Hall said, Annie's camera in her hand, her gum chewing, her lack of confidence, pure Diane. The Hall scenes, Josh, you know, Diane says, you know, they're comic relief. It was this generic wasp family, you know, sort of obvious caricature that she didn't pay a whole lot of attention to and no one really got offended by, even though it was clearly modeled in some way off the actual Hall family, including even, you know, Dwayne is modeled off her brother Randy, who who did end up being a pretty sad story.

1:15:11You know, he's he's someone who suffered from mental illness his his entire life. And and that may have not been fully diagnosed when when the script was written, but but but with someone who dealt with mental illness and bipolar disorder. And so those elements have some truth to it. But I just have to point this out because it did make me laugh. She doesn't hand wave it off, but she just kind of says what is undoubtedly true. Of course, it's based on. It's not meant to be one-to-one. It doesn't line up one-to-one with all of the characters. That said, there is a part later in the book where she's describing her grandmother.

1:15:50I swear to you, there's a part where she's describing her grandmother and some scene that's taking place and somebody they know is mentioned. And, you know, I may be misremembering some of the exact details, but someone they know is mentioned. And the first thing out of the grandmother's mouth is something like, did you know he was a Jew? Okay, so it's not too far off. It can't be too far off in real life. Woody Allen heard at some point. Yeah, he may have. But back to the movie, you know, the boldness of it as a romantic comedy. It was his first and what she loves about it. And I think one of the reasons why this movie does still linger in our consciousness, one of the reasons why we may still revisit this movie, right?

1:16:39She talks about in terms of being a movie where he had the courage to write a film, a romantic movie where ultimately the message is love fades. she says what do you let the audience feel the sadness of goodbye in a funny movie and so for me you know that that kind of ties into why annie hall had to be number one why i do think it's the defining keaton performance i think what we all did understand watching it whether we knew anything at all about her real life or not how closely it seems to capture diane hall with all of her quirks and her humor, but also getting at some, some pathos, some underlying sadness, that tinge of sadness.

1:17:21And I just think it's expressed more forcefully in some of the other scenes that I chose, but it is at the core of Annie Hall as well. And la-di-da, Josh, the, the, the expression where you try to, you try to with words wash away whatever might be meddling in your life at that moment la-di-da la-di-da la-la that is my number one yeah and you almost admire the performance more learning as you're describing that it was that close to her i mean to to be to not just play yourself but to bring some of these subtleties that are distinct that we've been touching on in both of our picks you know makes makes it just another reason why it's such an impressive performance.

1:18:10Those are our top five Diane Keaton scenes. We hope we paid appropriate tribute to that great performer. You can send your picks to feedback at filmspotting.net. We would love to hear them. Do you have any honorable mentions you'd like to throw in, Josh? I would have for my number six, tried to narrow down something from something's got to give. It's just her with Nicholson. You know, I do think I'm glad, as I said, you recognize it. I do think it stands out among her filmography. And then I'll share one from a listener. Chad Camelo subscribes to my Larson on film newsletter. He sent me an email with this pick as a certified defender of the family stone.

1:18:54My pick for favorite Diane Keaton scene comes from that modern Christmas classic where Keaton Sybil, the matriarch of the Stone family, finally hashes it out with her eldest son, played by Dermot Mulroney, about both the drama with his fiance and coming to terms with Sybil's cancer diagnosis. The way Keaton maneuvers from playful banter to emotional sincerity is a masterclass in range and grounding a character in the moment. for me I could have found scenes from some of those other Allen films the earlier ones like Sleeper Played Again Sam Love and Death or just after Annie Hall even Interiors which to go back to Mary and her dislike of Ingmar Bergman is very much Diane Keaton in a Woody Allen slash Ingmar Bergman film if I was going to go with another Allen choice though it would be in Manhattan.

1:19:45I definitely would have considered the Academy of the overrated, or it probably would have been the Queensborough bridge sequence the night they spend out together where they really get to know each other and spend all night. And of course the iconic shot that everyone thinks about with that movie, the others I've mentioned other scenes from Annie Hall, other scene or two I mentioned for baby boom, I'd go with one in my top 10 from the first wives club. I really liked the scene. And here's where we get that character, especially Josh, that she plays Annie is, is very flighty and, and part of the character that, that the other two women, you know, played by Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler, they give her so much grief for is how nice she is.

1:20:30And, and she, she's kind of gullible and can be taken advantage of. And so when that character finally does get fierce when that character Annie finally stands up for herself and gets back at her husband by buying out her husband's advertising business. It's kind of a relative, a spiritual successor scene to the boardroom scene in Baby Boom. Just a smaller version of that with just her and her husband buying her husband out. It's really good. So I'd go with that from First Wives Club. Again, email us your choices, feedback at filmspotting.net. And you can go to filmspotting.net, see all of our picks, see links to our clips.

1:21:14Just click on filmspotting.net slash lists. Before we move on, Adam, we want to thank our Film Spotting family members who help support the show. Thanks to advisory board member, Bob Taylor from Lakewood, Ohio. Bob gets to make the big decisions as a film spotting advisory board member. He wrote that he found the show back in 2022, episode 870, when we did our top five Nicolas Cage performances. Bob said Cage is a truly singular performer who will go down as one of the great legendary American actors. I'm not going to argue with him. And if I remember correctly, the guy who literally wrote the book on Nicolas Cage, Keith Phipps joined us for that top five.

1:22:01A favorite show segment of Bob's. Hard to pick just one. So many insightful episodes with wide-ranging titles, directors, and artists. Did Sam write that? I absolutely love the annual top 10 episodes. So wonderful to hear the diverse perspectives. It truly is an annual highlight from which my wife and I line up for our weekly Sunday night movie nights. Great. Ooh, love that idea, Bob. We asked if there was a review we got wrong, and Bob said a split review for A Nightmare on Elm Street? Come on, Adam. Undoubtedly one of the greatest horror films of all time exploring the ultimate realm of fear, the subconscious.

1:22:37I don't know. Maybe your subconscious, maybe Josh's. This next comment from Bob maybe explains why he went that way. Here's what he credits with becoming a cinephile. Sneaking out of bed and down the hall to sneak a peek at Texas Chainsaw Massacre from the kitchen steps. I don't think we want to know how young, inappropriately young Bob might have been for watching that. Yeah. As longtime listeners know, I was traumatized by every horror movie moment of my childhood, so that might explain why I didn't fully embrace A Nightmare on Elm Street. His favorite book about movies or moviemaking. It's a good one.

1:23:15Also on my bookshelf, A Cinema of Loneliness. Penn, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman by Robert P. Kolker. We thank Bob for being an advisory board member. We have our next film spotting advisory board meeting coming up. We're going to discuss and ultimately decide our next film spotting marathon topic that's coming up February 12th, very soon. We are looking forward to that. And in addition to keeping us doing what we're doing here on film spotting, being a film spotting family member does come with perks. You get to listen early and ad free. You get our weekly newsletter. You get to be part of the great film spotting family discord.

1:23:52You get monthly bonus shows. And in February, Josh, we are going to do blind spotting. We're going to find three titles, probably 1940s madness titles that we haven't seen that we need to catch up on some homework. And we'll ask our family members to vote. And that's the movie we'll see and talk about. Should be fun. Yeah, we got to get rolling on that madness. 1940s coming around the corner. Indeed. More about joining the Film Spotting family is available at filmspottingfamily.com. And don't forget, you can also help us just by rating us, Apple Podcasts or Spotify, rating us, giving us a review.

1:24:29It does help us reach new listeners.

1:24:34What's it like to be with a circumcised man? Because when Ron had his surgery, I said, hey, circumcise it while you're at it. You know, just because I've never been with anyone else. Just as we're in the final stages of preparing for this tribute show to Diane Keaton, one of the great screen comedians, we get the news that Catherine O 'Hara has passed away. Age 71. And Josh, when we inevitably, we haven't talked about it yet, but when we inevitably pay tribute to her, we could do scenes. But with Catherine O 'Hara, it's almost like lines or individual words. I mean, what do you do with Catherine O 'Hara when almost everything she did on screen was comedic gold?

1:25:20You could go that granular with her. You could. Actually. But then the choices are endless. I don't know. I'm almost, I think characters might be the way we go with her. Good point. Yeah. I would love to do this at some point. I mean, I could give you a quick riff top five, but if we think we're doing it. No, I think we'll do it. I will pocket that. We'll be against that. yeah exactly i will here's what i'll do i will encourage people to debbie and i have started re-watching schitt's creek the recent tv series she did with eugene levy it's on netflix right now so if you have not checked that out for whatever reason it is hilarious and she is maybe the funniest part of it though that's there's competition for that so really if you if you never got around to schitt's creek now is the time as you're thinking about katherine o 'hara And yeah, I mean, 71, maddeningly too young, surely had chances to do a lot more great work.

1:26:20She was incredibly active as Schitt's Creek shows still. And, you know, Adam, we sometimes talk about character actors supporting, you know, actors, however you want to classify someone who's had the roles like she has had. sometimes will say, you know what? One of those people, when they showed up on the screen, you just immediately got excited. I think it was different with Catherine O 'Hara. I think when she came on the screen, you were rooting for her character, whoever it was, to just become the focus of the movie. It's like, I don't care what we were watching or what I paid to come see. Can we just follow her now?

1:26:55She just brought that level of unpredictability and comic chaos that you just wanted to ride with her the rest of the film. So yeah, really incredible loss in the world of comedy. And Schitt's Creek is so good, and she's so good as Moira in that show that you could almost see breaking a rule. Oh, we're breaking it. You're already dictating that Moira's eligible. I'm just telling you, I'm breaking it. And we can see what happens when I do break the rule. I'm calling it a Greyhawk 10. Oh, here we go. I'm calling in the Greyhawk 10 already. I knew Comrade Adam would bust out before Comrade Josh. Come on.

1:27:39Okay. Well, some other choices, actual movie choices that Josh will consider. Christopher Guest, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind. Of course, there's some Tim Burton choices, Beetlejuice, last year's sequel, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone, Away We Go, Where the Wild Things Are. Other TV options, Josh. You want to go back to SCTV while we're at it? You could do that with John Candy, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, the original cast members there. And yeah, five time Emmy nominee for acting. Most recently, just last year for The Network.

1:28:14And she did win for the final season of Schitt's Creek. And that show, we don't need to say more about it. But I don't know if it's one of those things. It feels to me like one of those shows that I hope it doesn't happen if it hasn't happened already, that there almost should be a backlash to because it's too universally loved. I know people who are our age, so many people our age who love it. I know people who are in their 20s and 30s that love it. Oh, yeah. It was a big family watch. And then I know plenty of people that are our parents' age, right? Yeah. Who love it. And so it's just one of those things that crosses generations.

1:28:49I think you're right. I think that's one of the delightful things about it. all I can tell you is I know it holds up. I mean, and it has that, you know, I think sitcoms in particular can have this where you've lived with characters so long, you know them so well, you start on a second watch, you start to anticipate how they're going to react to any given situation. And then that becomes part of the fun as well. That will be a fun top five. We'll have to discuss the timing of that, but you can look forward to that down the road and you can check out future episodes, we do have planned filmspotting.net slash episodes.

1:29:24Next week on the show, an anniversary review we could not overlook again because we've done it plenty. We did not talk about it for its 10th anniversary or its 15th or its 20th or its 25th. Now, to be fair, I don't think we actually discussed it at any of these points. It's not like we rejected it. We just overlooked it. For its 30th, we've decided we can't overlook it any longer. We are going to give our namesake, finally, the sacred cow treatment. Now, to be clear for any new listeners of the show, we did not call the show film spotting because at the time we were necessarily myself and Sam, we were such gigantic fans of the movie Trainspotting.

1:30:07We both liked the movie Trainspotting. We thought it was a pretty cool movie. And we certainly thought it was cool enough that if our name referenced that movie, that worked, but the reference wasn't necessarily what drove us to the name. And quite honestly, what drove us to the name is we needed to finally pick a name and it was the best of all the options we had, which is sometimes where you end up. I think it's worked out. I think everything - Here we are. 20 years later, Josh. Just fine. We haven't changed it. Yeah. really, you know, why we've been waiting so long to do this review. We were waiting for me to move to Scotland.

1:30:47And now that I'm regularly taking the train into Edinburgh, I will be able to be the authenticity judge for, you know, I'm, I'm just kidding. I've been there maybe eight times now. I've seen nothing like what we, what goes on in train spotting. And I'm, I'm grateful for it. Okay. This does say a letterboxd, I should say, says that I last watched train spotting eight years ago and that would correspond with the rewatch for t2 train spotting but yeah more than that i didn't watch it necessarily because i felt like i had to to watch the sequel i felt like i had to for the top five list that we did with danny boyle the top five danny boyle characters with danny boyle here on the show that's why i rewatched it and that was only the second time i had seen it since watching it originally yeah i think i'm in the same i'm in the same place and enjoyed that rewatch and yeah, happy to have this chance to take another look and then really dig into it with you.

1:31:44Okay. Also next week, our 2026, I have not thought about this at all. I have so much work to do for next week. Our 2026 Pantheon nominees. It is time to put two more films into the film spotting Pantheon. Who knows? Maybe train spotting will be among them. You, me, producer Sam over the course of the next few weeks. Well, actually next week you will hear us nominate three films each. One of them has to be a former marathon title. One of them has to be a film that's already gotten the sacred cow treatment. And then one has to be a title that's never been reviewed on the show. It's not a marathon.

1:32:22It's not a sacred cow. It wasn't discussed when the movie came out. So it can't be something from the last 20 years that was talked about on the show. It is just a movie that one of us thinks is really great and Pantheon worthy, but has never gotten its due here on the show. We come with three of those and we try to will down those nine choices eventually to two with the help of Film Spotting Nation. Everybody gets a vote. Two of those go into the Pantheon. Okay. I have not thought about this at all either. question for comrade Adam. Do you think we should be disallowed from repeating previous nominations or maybe, no, maybe, no, not at all.

1:33:05Okay. I was going to say, maybe we should be disallowed from repeating what we nominated last year, but we could go back further or it's all fair game. It's all, it's all fair game. I think that is something we, we did talk about last year that if you had a movie last year that you nominated that did not get chosen, especially if it was a movie that came close to getting chosen, and you feel really strongly about, don't worry about it sounding like boring content. We have nine films to talk about, and I'm sure we will fill the time somehow. So bring whatever movies, three movies, you genuinely think deserve to go into the pantheon, even if you have previously nominated them.

1:33:50I mean, look at it this way. Last year, the movies that went in were Singing in the Rain and Sherlock Jr. Sherlock Jr. was Sam's nominee. It was going to be my nominee, but he beat me to it, so I had to pivot and go with another silent film, and I nominated Sunrise, A Song of Two Humans. I think I nominated Singing in the Rain. So the three films you nominated are all three available, right? Yeah, okay. From last year? All right. You could revisit them. Feel free. Sounds good. If you have a film you think should be in the Film Spotting Pantheon or you have any thoughts on Trainspotting, you could write us feedback at filmspotting.net or send us an audio or video message, feedback at filmspotting.net.

1:34:35And now we get to everybody's new favorite recurring segment on Film Spotting, where in the world is Josh? Well, Josh is in Scotland at the moment, but I will be heading bizarrely. Our program, the spring break is happening, you know, in a couple of weeks here. So Debbie and I are going to take that opportunity to do a little traveling. And I'd love to have another film spotting meetup as part of that, as we did in Spain. I'm looking to meet with any listeners who might be in Copenhagen. So we're going to be in Stockholm first, but actually while we're there, Adam, it'll be once again, a double remote film spotting recording.

1:35:18So away from home, away from home, I'll be lugging the mic in my suitcase and recording in Stockholm. So not as much free time there, but when we get to Copenhagen, we'll have a couple of open nights. So this is the first week of March about if you're a listener in nearby Denmark and might want to meet up, either email the show at feedback at filmspotting.net, raise your hand, or you can find me on social too. If you're on blue sky or Instagram or Facebook, you can find me at Larson on film and yeah, hopefully we can hang out. I'm not convinced Josh that you've spent any time in Scotland. I think you've been traveling this entire time, and I think that that is one of those fake Zoom backgrounds.

1:36:05Now, you should be familiar with the academic calendar at this point, Adam. Yours seems like it's way more open than mine. Well, I'm a student. That's all I can say. It's a little different for the students. Yes, exactly. I mean, you know, we, we had the month off over the holidays and yeah. And yeah, took advantage of that while, while you were in your, you know, little hovel grading. So I don't know what to tell you. Okay. Moving on. All right. Our sister podcast, the next picture show wanted to give you a heads up on their programming because they have a new pairing going on right now. It is part two actually of their both sides of the aisle pairing.

1:36:45That's I S. L E. So they paired Lena vert Mueller's swept away from 1974 with Sam Raimi's send help. And you can catch those episodes every Tuesday and you can find the next picture show, wherever you get your podcasts. You never told me you knew giant fontaine. You want to meet him? Huh? Oh, sure. My father helped him in his career. He did? How? I have but one Let's listen to the song. No, Michael. It is time for poll results. A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to choose one and only one Diane Keaton character. The character we were thinking that best represented all of Keaton's many talents.

1:37:31We probably framed it that way, but you know, at the end of the day, you can vote however you want to vote. Your options, which did not include the film that we think would have won unanimously, Annie Hall, were these. Kay Adams, The Godfather, Erica Berry, Something's Gotta Give, Louise Bryant, Reds, J.C. Wyatt, Baby Boom, all four of those made our list, Josh. Five, Anna Paradis, The First Wives Club, an honorable mention for me. Six, Mary Wilkie on your list, or seven, you could go other and write in your choice. How did it come out, Josh? A tie for last place between other and Anna Paradis from the first wives club.

1:38:11JC Wyatt from baby boom came in at 13%. Louise Bryant from reds with 14 % moving up to a 15 % vote for Erica Berry from something's got to give Mary Wilkie in second place here with 18 % of the vote, but taking this, taking this and I, yes, I I'm a little, this is perplexing Kay Adams from the Godfather. I know you were perplexed by the way the vote was trending, Adam, and I hadn't done a lot of revisiting of scenes or thinking about this. I'm kind of with you now that I see the results. And yeah, curious how Kay Adams took this vote in terms of character. Yeah, it does not feel like the best representation of all of Keaton's talents.

1:39:03she thought and here again this is kind of separate from the point i just made she thought there wasn't much of a character there apparently our listeners think there is there's an incredible character there and we certainly saw many great moments from powerful moments from that character like we talked about in the film and those must be resonating josh with the audience because 29 and of course that movie that movie is one that's resonating with our audience we have Michael Brantner. He is echoing a choice on my list. Kay looking at her husband through the half-open door at the end of The Godfather 1 is one of the most memorable shots in movie history.

1:39:39How could I pick anything else? So he's going with the first part of my mirror door shots. And maybe, I mean, maybe Michael was thinking of character, but here describing a specific scene, you know, this, if he had done a Keaton scene list, maybe this would have been on it for him. We also heard from Abby Wazlowek. Admittedly, I haven't seen all of these, but watching meek and insecure Annie parody discover self-love was inspiring and fun. Judging from many social posts after her passing, the first Wives Club rendition of You Don't Own Me remains an empowering anthem for many. Yeah, it's a fun scene.

1:40:13And we get, I think, two versions of that in the movie. Jeffrey Overstreet says, I'm voting other. And it's a toss-up between Keaton's Luna Schlosser and 1973's Sleeper and her Sonia in 75's Love and Death. These were the characters that made me love Keaton in the first place, and both characters are endlessly quotable. Woody Allen did not cast her to merely set him up for his signature punchlines. He cast her as his hilarious equal. While I have to clench my teeth now whenever I press play on a Woody Allen film for reasons that should be obvious by now, I quickly remind myself that there are so many great performances in these films to make them worthwhile, and Keaton's contributions are my favorites.

1:40:48One more comment here from Holly Boyd. I voted for Looking for Mr. Goodbar, as it was one of my favorite discoveries of 2025, partly due to Keaton's fearless performance, which showcases the independence and originality that made her one of the all-time greats. Keaton shone at bringing complexity and a fully realized personality to all her characters, always elevating every film with her presence, and Goodbar provides her material worthy of her talents. We do thank everyone who voted and left a comment. It's time for a new poll. Next week, as we mentioned, We're giving Trainspotting another look for its 30th anniversary.

1:41:25Another look, Josh. And with that movie, it really means another listen. The Danny Boyle film is full of memorable music moments. Iggy Pops, Lust for Life, Lou Reed's Perfect Day, Born Slippy from Underworld. All of it captured on one of the relics of the 90s, the original motion picture soundtrack on compact disc. the deeply flawed poll that producer Sam and with a little contribution from me that that he is concocted for you. And and by you, we we mean, apparently you young adults of the 90s, not not so much the 90s kids choose life. Choose only one 90s movie soundtrack. Deathmatch rules apply.

1:42:09And that that pretty much goes for any poll question here on film spotting. So that means that whichever ones you don't choose, they go into the nineties landfill. You can't get them back. They're gone forever. You take that compact disc in one hand and you just crack it. That's it. That's it. No one hears it, including you ever again, Josh, give them their options. All right. Clueless, which includes the muffs, kids in America, radio heads, fake plastic trees and Jill. Oh man, I didn't have this one out. So Buell didn't listen to enough radio back then. She was on all the time. Oh, radio. I listened to the radio in the nineties.

1:42:48Come on. Jill Sobule's supermodel. I'm sure I'd recognize it. Didn't buy that one though. Dazed and confused. Aerosmith's sweet emotion. Of course. Alice Cooper's school's out. Of course. Dylan's hurricane. How about the crow loved hearing in Sam's newsletter for family members that, that he was a big crow soundtrack guy. The cure nine inch nails rage against the machine that there's a side to Sam. I need to know yet. He was a drama guy, Josh. Keep that in mind. He was always a theater kid. Pulp Fiction. I mean, everyone can hear it already. Jungle Boogie, Son of a Preacher Man. How about Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet?

1:43:24Garbage. Everclear. The Cardigan's Love Fool. Reality Bites. I did have this one. Lisa Loeb. Stay. I Missed You. My Sharona. You too. Lenny Kravitz. Singles. All right. Getting into some grunge here. Pearl Jam. Alice in Chains. Sound garden. I don't know. I, I wasn't all that into grunge. Do those last two count Adam as grunge Alison chains sound garden. Do they? Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, not just some people listening might really take issue with that, but they're, they're part of that Seattle scene. So they certainly be grunge adjacent. Okay. Train spotting. We mentioned is your last option aside from other.

1:44:03And do you have any others you want to throw in the hat, Adam? I, you've been part of I don't. So you're probably. I don't. For me, all the ones that I would consider are in there for sure. So Sam suggested here under other Empire Records, Gross Point Blank, Above the Rim. I'm with him on Empire Records. We owned that one. Yeah. As listeners can already tell, the nostalgia runs deep for all three of us on this one. This was prime CD buying years. I think, you know, right in the mid nineties, Debbie and I got married and merged our, can I say quite impressive CD collections. So here's what I'm going to throw in as other options.

1:44:43Not that this is how I'd vote. I just, I just want to bring us back to the era and, and let people consider them as write-ins. We had the soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's ghost talk, the way of the samurai had no Adam have, because we got rid of, I'd still regret this. All of our CDs with the move, we had downsize. The one we kept was ghost dog, the way of the samurai. Well, it was stuck in our car CD player. So we, so we still have it. And it turns on every once in a while. I'm also also going to throw in there. Batman forever. PJ Harvey, Mazzy star, sunny day, real estate. Okay. Not bad. Rushmore.

1:45:23Come on. All those British invasion classics. You know what, Josh? Right. Right. See, this poll sucks. Could Rushmore win it? This poll question sucks. The other vote. Come on, Rushmore. You just nailed it. You just nailed it. See, why aren't you in the Slack, Josh, pointing this out earlier? Why are you doing this on air? I was trying to keep up with everything going on in the Slack and couldn't get to this. Vim Vendors, until the end of the world, this is where I might actually vote. in terms of the like Rushmore's soundtrack is just a blast. Great songs on it. So much fun. But in terms of like how it worked with the movie and I think just the artistry of the, the bands included here and what they contributed, REM, Lou Reed, talking heads, you too, Depeche mode.

1:46:16If, if you've never heard the, until the end of the world soundtrack, this is your impetus to go check it out. So I haven't, I think we've made the case, Adam, with all these options for the 90s as the definitive movie soundtrack that decade, right? I think it is. I think that's fair. Of course, I haven't given a lot of thought to what other options would be there, but the 90s seems definitive. And I thought this was an easier pull than now it turns out to be. And I say easy because for me, it came down to only two options. I only owned two of these. There are songs scattered through here that I liked, some maybe that I even loved, and there are some uses in the films that I quite enjoyed.

1:47:02I could probably say that the Dazed and Confused soundtrack in terms of how the music is employed might even be the most essential, but I got burned out on classic rock before I was even out of college, just having had to consume so much of it growing up. We didn't have a lot of great radio stations growing up in Iowa. It was a lot of classic rock. And even though I played some of that stuff, I played Schools Out in my band. I played Sweet Emotion in my band. More reasons why I got burned out on classic rock. So love how it's used in the movie. Don't need to listen to the Dazed and Confused soundtrack.

1:47:38Maybe ever. And I didn't. I never bought it. So for me, the only two that I owned on here and the only two that I would still put in my CD player, and I did keep almost all my CDs. So maybe I have them somewhere if I can find them in the boxes, Josh, were Pulp Fiction and Singles. and my initial instinct was to go singles but the thing is it's not because of it's not because of the seattle stuff which is ironic because that's that's what the soundtrack is is full of and the movie is set in seattle and that's what's so essential to the movie but the reason why i love i like the you know state of love and trust is good the reason why i love the single soundtrack so much is the Paul Westerberg tunes.

1:48:30And that has nothing to do with Seattle. Right. That's why I didn't really mention them when we were talking about it. Yeah. So I don't know if I can justify keeping the single soundtrack on there just for Paul Westerberg, which is the primary reason why I would keep it. Pulp Fiction, you think about the eclectic assortment of tunes. Yeah, it's good. songs that you you've never heard that i had never heard but but are so damn catchy and that were fun to listen to both in the context of the movie but also out of context that that were fun to just put on your cd player and listen to and then you know suffused with the little moments from the film i was all set to say that that pulp fiction's the answer and and i guess once i ruled out singles, Pulp Fiction was the clear answer.

1:49:19But Josh, you know, if the Royal Tenenbaums was made in the nineties, it would, it would be competition with, with Rushmore, but it wasn't. So, you know, now that you mentioned Rushmore and I completely blanked on it, that, that might be my pick. That might be my pick because it hits the sweet spot you're talking about. Making time with creation. Oh yeah. Yeah. Pulp Fiction did this too, but not that these were unknown songs, but they didn't, you know, they didn't get radio play in the, in the eighties or nineties necessarily. Right. And they're gems and they're employed so effectively in the movie.

1:49:58They're not wallpaper at all. Right. And, um, you can listen to it all the way through. It has that quality. I do think that's the standard we should consider what you were describing with Pulp Fiction is that it works on those two levels. I would say of the choices, yeah, I mean, for the record of our options, what we owned were Pulp Fiction, Reality Bites, Singles, and Trainspotting. I would seriously consider Pulp Fiction or Trainspotting, honestly. I think that's worth considering that it hits on these couple of levels. And then until the end of the world, as I said, but yeah, might be Rushmore for me, I might have to use that right in.

1:50:40Okay. I'm really glad you thought about that one. I will close with this. And some people may vote this way, especially after, after I pointed out one thing that Sam and I discussed, and this was the, the, the conundrum of this poll is that he really wanted to go with, and I understand this inclination. He really wanted to go with nineties 90s soundtracks that were comprised primarily of 90s music. So they felt like they were truly of the 90s. That's Trainspotting, right? That's where you'd go with that. But kind of, but kind of, because when you really look at Trainspotting, and I don't have the track list in front of me, and I'm not going to do an exact breakdown, but even when you look at Trainspotting, what you think of is like Iggy Pop.

1:51:26You think a lot of the classic hits, not some of the newer stuff, right? And so this is where singles would have an advantage because it feels of its time, right? Pulp Fiction doesn't feel of its time. It has one song by a current band, and it's a cover of an old song. Dazed and Confused is all 70s stuff. Rushmore is, other than Mark Mothersbaugh stuff, it's all the kinks. And, you know, it's British pop. So it's not stuff that you would equate with the 90s. Now, that said, it was then very hard to field a poll. Clueless would be one that felt of its time, but it would be hard to field a poll with a lot of choices, enough choices, if you were just going by, it had to be all 90s music.

1:52:14That's how it felt to us anyway. What you're saying is Batman forever for the win. Maybe, maybe, maybe. We would love to hear how you vote. We'd love to get the results, but we'd also like to hear your explanation. You can vote and leave a comment at filmspotting.net. I think this could be one of our more engaging polls, Josh. We actually, we actually owned Batman forever too. Of course you did. Of course you did. We will share results and your feedback in a couple of weeks. Once again, you can vote at filmspotting.net. Josh, that is our show. If you want to find Adam and the show on social media, you can look for film spotting at Instagram, Facebook, Letterboxd, and YouTube.

1:52:56You can find me at those places as Larson on film. We are independently produced and listener supported. You can support the show by joining the film spotting family. You can do that at film spotting family.com. That way you'll listen early and add free. You'll also get Sam's weekly newsletter, monthly bonus episodes and access to the entire show archive for show t-shirts and other merch. Go to film spotting.net slash shop out in limited release this weekend. Alexander Skarsgård takes Henry Melling on as his submissive in Pillion. Okay, you've piqued my curiosity. In wide release, Luc Besson's Dracula with Caleb Landry Jones as the Count.

1:53:34Kevin James in the Italian set Romance, Solo Mio. And The Strangers Chapter 3. No, you're not imagining things. The Strangers Chapter 2, which Rennie Harlan also directed that. That did just come out last September. Are we going to do like a Fast and Furious type visiting of all the strangers movies, Josh? A marathon? No, but we are going to do a make Adam choose. Usually we do this to each other, but I think this week is particularly painful for you. Are you going to see Luc Besson's Dracula or the Kevin James Italian set romance? I'll let you out a little bit. You don't have to go see Strangers chapters one and two to do your homework.

1:54:23You can just go to chapter three. If you're leaving out the limited release pillion and I just have to choose from the three wide releases, I would definitely go see Dracula. Okay. Yeah. I think I'd join you. Perhaps we'll have a review next week. Maybe. You never know. Next week, maybe we'll have that Dracula review. We are definitely planning that train spotting at 30 conversation and to share our nominees for this year's induction into the film spotting pantheon. Film spotting is produced by Golden Joe Dessau and Sam Van Halgren. Without Sam and Golden Joe, this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar.

1:55:02Special thanks to everyone at WBEZ Chicago. More information is available at WBEZ.org. For film spotting, I'm Josh Larson. And I'm Adam Kempinar. Thanks for listening. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.