The Manitou w/ Jessica St. Clair

22:43Jason Mantzoukas:But the movie is like, hey, listen, this thing is dangerous. And if it comes out, it's going to be bad. And some people are like, well, we should maybe let it come out. And it's like, I'm telling you, it's bad. And that's the first hour and 16 minutes is just debating, should we remove it or not remove it? And some people are like, we should. Some people are like, we shouldn't. And then, like, but we don't get to deal with the Manitou or I would say, you know, this is maybe very much in Malignant territory, which is the movie, Jess, you didn't see, where a person does have a... I would love to re-watch Malignant with St.

23:19Clair.

23:20Jason Mantzoukas:Malignant is a person on the back, as somebody said. But, like, this movie is just wading water for an hour and 16 minutes of just like, uh-huh, uh-huh. Now, the moment that got me, though, early in the film was they're trying to operate on the cyst. And in the middle of the operation, the surgeon's like, this is early on. He's like, and he cuts the wrong side of his wrist. That's true. Like, he's doing it where you put the watch face. Well, my question was. He's sawing through bone, actually. Yeah, I was trying to figure out if he was trying to stop himself from being able to do the surgery. Okay.

23:53If the Manitou or the medicine man, who we later find out is the medicine man, is reaching out and making the surgeon unable to perform the surgery. Same hand gets then bitten by the spirit alligator or lizard, rather, when it comes out. And the same doctor is like hypnotically drawn to put his hand out for the lizard to bite. You know, like there's something about it wanting to destroy his ability to do surgery or something. But that's why they have to bring in the lasers. I love that. I love that interpretation. But again, I feel like any time you're putting an extra layer on things, you've got to actually like when you go when a woman gets dressed, you know, for to go out, you always take one thing off.

24:38OK, so know that look in the mirror. I mean, and my preference would be the bra. Of course. And by the way, we should talk about those boobs that were shown to us. Incredible. That's when the movie really got. I was like, thank God we're finishing strong. Less of Tony Curtis's boobs and more of that woman's boobs. Why'd we wait so long?

24:59Jason Mantzoukas:That woman's boobs and the Manitou's lump where his penis is were equally bulbous and beautiful and shiny. I mean, that man. This movie does the thing which every because we don't always do. We are not that we don't always. We very rarely do 1970s movies. Yes. And it reminded me, especially a 70s movie like this that's kind of schlocky and not great. It reminded me of the thing, and it always happens too when I watch old 70s and 80s TV shows, how much time it takes to do everything. They show cars traveling down. They show so much just interstitial business. You would be shocked. How would they get there?

25:43Jason Mantzoukas:We need to see them get in the car, drive to the place, get out of the car. I don't want to admit this. You put it at 1.5 times the speed. Oh, boy. This is a Paul Scheer special right here. It's normal. It's normal. In fact, I kept checking. I got to speed this thing up. But when they're going, Pana, Wichi, Pana 2, we need to pace it up. If I was the director, I would pace up the dialogue. That was the thing. Whenever I see a movie where I don't notice the difference at 1.5, you're like, oh, something has gone wrong here. Like they are stretching it. Now I will say this, uh, this Manitou is based on a popular book and the script was written in three days and apparently all the dialogue was verbatim from the book.

26:27Oh my God. Oh, because I thought Tony Curtis might've done his own pass with some of his Bon Mo's.

26:33Jason Mantzoukas:I'm imagining that Tony kind of put it up a little bit. Yeah. Like I, you know, but I feel like this was just shout out super quick. I mean, three days and written by three people. And they must have been on some drugs, like some heavy, heavy drugs. Yes. Well, I mean, if you're going to write a whole script in three days, you're not sleeping. This is a I'm certain this is a cocaine. I mean, this guy is kind of like the guy who wrote it, William Girdler. is a... Girdler. Girdler. Bring in the Girdler. He'll fix it. Girdler got it. Quick, Batman, the Girdler. Get me Girdler on the phone. He is a guy who's making schlocky movies.

27:15Jason Mantzoukas:He was sued by Warner Brothers that his film, Abby 74, was a ripoff of The Exorcist 73. Oh, shit. He also... He made the movie Grizzly. We did Grizzly 2 here on the show. Like, he is a guy... You know, he's just a guy who's like, I'm following the trends. Sadly, he passed away before the movie came out. He died in a helicopter accident while scouting locations for his next film. Brutal. That's disappointing. Yeah. Well, maybe the Manitou got him, you know, honestly. You don't want to open up that dark magic. I was just going to say, it might have been dark magic. It might have been. That was one of my favorite quotes.

27:55Doctor, do you believe in dark magic? Magic. I'm going to ask every doctor I have now if they believe. I wish before I got my back operated on, I'd said, doctor, do you believe in dark magic?

28:06Jason Mantzoukas:Well, Jason, I don't think you would have gotten your back operated on if you knew that there could have been a manitube. Oh, that there could have been a fetus growing back there. What's going on? That's why your back was messed up. You got a little man back there. I got a little man. I got a medicine man gestating in my lower vertebrae. By the way, they say something so funny where, like, you're trying to figure out, like, how does this medicine man attach to somebody? And the only excuse given is she must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's it. Done. I couldn't figure this out at all.

28:37The why of it. For me, I'm like, okay, they find a virgin. You know, he has to find something. There has to be logic to how this man is. You went to a museum.

28:47Jason Mantzoukas:You looked into a, like. The eyes of something. You did a thing. Some transaction has to happen. We see meaning we see the transaction. We the audience, you know, but they can't happen off screen. It can't happen off screen. She must have done something. She must have been at the wrong place at the wrong time is to me. It's so like lazy. Like it's like just have an opening scene where they're walking in a museum. I'll buy it. I'll buy it. There's so many ways to do this, but there's also something about the the actress who's playing Karen. the woman afflicted with the neck fetus, is so charming and lovely and gregarious.

29:27And she's never suffering in any way. She's really trying to make the best of it. She's not. Yes. She's like, I'm sure it's nothing. Let's hang out. Let's have a good time. She's just hanging out, which is so funny. We're led to believe that she and Tony Curtis like have a role in the hay while she's got a fetus on her neck. she's cool with that imagine nuzzling up to someone's neck and then feeling it move to get more comfortable yeah but that's how down that's how game she is for a good night and a good time

30:04Jason Mantzoukas:she is fun and that's why at the end when she fucking starts shooting her own lasers out you get that anger well this brings up another I'm very curious to talk about one of the things that I couldn't make heads or tails of in this movie I guess until the very end, obviously, is why all of the interior spaces of the of the hospital rather have what I would term NASA level computers, like gigantic wall sized computers full of screens and knobs and readouts. And he says himself, I'm a tumor specialist. I think a mid 1970s, maybe there was one computer that took up a building and that was like and that was located in the military.

30:50Had it. I don't think anyone else had access to this type.

30:53Jason Mantzoukas:It's so clumsily like put in locations like he is in a wood paneled office. The doctor, he's sitting behind a nice big desk and where you would normally see like behind the doctor photos and books, whatever. it is a giant computer like jason's saying like a giant you know you're like it's so like yeah put this giant and that i believe that that computer has no screens on it whatsoever it's just buttons and lights it's a doppler it's a doppler 2000 it's like a doppler but i'm saying it's wall it's like it's easily six feet tall yes and and and eight feet across it's so big that you would think it would have to be referenced.

31:39He would have to say, this machine does this.

31:43Jason Mantzoukas:And also the first scene of the movie, they're looking at x-rays and on the back wall, it's like those reel-to-reel tape computers. Again, most hospitals are not fully computerized. There's no reason for them to be fully computerized like that. This is like a punch card. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not running. They're never running experiments through them. So then my understanding is, I mean, I'm doing this as I guess the logic of the movie is all that stuff needs to be there in order for at the end of the movie. Yeah, the Manitou. To say the Manitou of all these machines needs to be able to course through her so she can shoot topless lasers out of herself.

32:25Jason Mantzoukas:Now, the Manitou, just so you there's not the evil character in this. The Manitou is a true thing. A spirit, right? It translates to the great spirit in several Algonquin languages. And if you're wondering, Algonquins were not on the West Coast at all. That's another big change. As this movie surmises. Yes. The book takes place in New York. They moved it to San Francisco. But yes, he's a supreme being, a creator of all life, a vital source of spiritual energy. And at a certain point in the movie, the Native American man that is brought in to solve, who is not Native at all, it just seems like he's...

33:02Jason Mantzoukas:John Singing Rock. Is that his name? Yeah, John Singing Rock. It looks like he put a little bit of paint on himself. But John Singing Rock is like, yes, everything has Manitou. Guns have Manitou. Your sandwich has a Manitou. Like all of a sudden, like everything is Manitou. Everything is Manitou. My favorite thing in that scene where we meet John Singing Rock where it's like, so they go in act two, they go in on this like journey of like, we need to find out what is what. Right. So. Yes. They go to, that's when they go to Burgess Meredith. They go to a professor. That's when they they they're trying to get information, the doctors, Burgess Meredith, and they end up with John Singing Rock.

33:36And John Singing Rock is like working out in the back and he's moving like a hoe in the dirt. So not engagingly at all. He's doing and they keep cutting back to it like he's busy at work and he's not. No. And it's very it's very law and order code. Like he's not going to stop doing his duty of pushing tiny pebbles around, you know, in a in a sandbox to to address this guy. The other thing that that guy said, that was the best line, I believe, of the movie. He said, Terry, you still got room for a South Dakota Indian with a bag of tricks. He was forced to say that.

34:18Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, there are some things here. He also does it for an absurd amount of money. Right. $100 ,000, right? Yes. And where is that money coming from? We never established. Because at the end of the movie, he just gets a pack of cigarettes. Yeah. Which is also like. So offensive. So offensive. Awful. Awful. He says that when they ask him, like, hey, look, this great evil is coming. He's like, well, normally I wait three risings of the sun before I take on a job. Oh, come on, man. Yeah, there was some really tough stuff in here. I feel like they did him dirty. They did Karen dirty. For me, I do want to be, before we get totally down the road of that, the seance that includes the old woman, like the old white haired woman.

35:04Who was she? Who was that? I thought, was she somebody that we saw earlier? I'm like, because there were so many old ladies. It's Karen's aunt is what we're being told. But we've never met her. We don't know her. She looks a little bit like Shelley Winters. She looks like Shelley Winters. Because they said, we have to go have a dance where she lives, where Karen lives. So now we're meant to make the leap that Karen lives with her elderly aunt. I believe that maybe that is it. I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me. They're also living in a weird old mansion. Which I loved. Yeah, me too. This is the part of the movie that I was like, oh, cool.

35:41I'm interested in this. And then I really liked the effect of the spirit coming, rising up through the black liquid as if the table was liquid. I thought that looked cool as hell. And I was like, oh, all right. Now we're getting somewhere. And then none of that ever happened again. None of those people ever came back again. That location never comes back again. None of that goes. Like the rest of the movie were in the hospital. That head, which you thought was very cool, but I thought looked like a jelly mold. It was like a gelatinous. It wasn't speaking anything that we could understand. So it doesn't give us any information.

36:17It pops up and then pops back down before we get any story. Right. Yes. Yeah. I just liked it as an effect that like, oh, this is something.

36:27Jason Mantzoukas:I've never seen that kind of a thing where the table becomes liquid and a spirit comes out. But again, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm like, why the hell did that old woman get possessed? Why? And why did the whole room, and then the room explodes to a degree that it would absolutely have killed every single person in the room. Yes. The whole, like the windows, glass shatters throughout the room. There's wind whipping around the chandelier. I was surprised, that's it. I was surprised how few fatalities there were in this movie. It seemed to me like. Everybody should be dead. Who died? Except for that old woman.

37:06Mrs. Hers is the only person. And somebody in the hospital. Somebody in the hospital. Who, the frozen woman? That woman was great. Oh, that woman's dead too. Definitely. She had her hand up. I'm talking about there's like an orderly or there's somebody in or another doctor in the room that dies and is like, I think, skinned or something like that. Well, that was his fault because he fell asleep while that. That was it. He was supposed to be guarding that guy and he fell asleep.

37:29Jason Mantzoukas:They're like, hey, nurse, you like they don't call the cops. They just let an orderly who there is a man. There is a there is a little person covered in blood who has come out of someone's neck and he can't even struggle to stay awake. Can you imagine if you saw that and we're like, ah. And the medicine man, now birthed, covered in blood and viscera, is the only thing that's stopping him from wreaking havoc is a circle of sand, like a ceremony that John Singing Rock has done. And so that's keeping him contained. So they say to the guy, hey, you watch this guy to make sure he doesn't cross that line of sand.

38:11And we'll go have a meeting in the other room right across the hall. We're going to go sit down and chat. We're going to go hang out in the area where the guys are passing out cigars because they had a baby. Keep eyes on that thing.

38:23Jason Mantzoukas:The most violent creature has just come forward into our world. And this guy falls asleep. This guy falls asleep. Honestly, he had it coming. We don't give a shit. And I don't know why he was still alive, but he was also a version of his skin. Well, I think he gets reanimated. I think that's the thing is like the medicine man, I believe, can like possess or take over people. So I think while the man is dead, the medicine man is able to take over his body and puppet it to do stuff. You know who I feel bad for? That fucking nurse. That nurse who was left before. Frozen nurse? Yeah, they're like, hey, take everybody off this floor.

39:04Jason Mantzoukas:Well, there's only one person on the floor. It's her. And you think, okay, they're going to clear the floor. Nope. They leave one nurse and she's like, she's like frozen mid. They go up someplace and then when they come down, that entire floor of the hospital looks like it is now on Hoth. Yes. It is a frozen tundra of a hallway and there is like ice and webs and like the woman is frozen solid. But they're not concerned at all about her. Zero. No. No. No one even goes, oh my God, so and so. Nope. Nope. Nope. No, her life is meaningless. We got to save Karen. And also, by the way, Karen, we should have said long ago, is a lost cause because she's a pile of skin.

39:48Yes, yes. Once that thing comes out of her, she seems to be just a saran wrap, like glad trash bag of a person. Let's let Karen go. No, she is somehow the most. We need to save her above all else. And the reality is everybody keeps saying she's not going to live through this. Let's be honest. Yeah, she is likely not to live. And Tony Curtis is like, you're wrong. And I don't believe in their love. I'm not like on board. I mean, I appreciate that he's fighting for Karen. Believe me. But he won't even say that they're girlfriends. They like that. He's like, they'll say, how do you know it? We know each other.

40:24It's like, yeah. Is that really talking about more the 70s and how people were all about having multiple partners?

40:33Jason Mantzoukas:Let's not put a label on it. Let's not put a label. It's San Francisco in the 70s, baby. Yeah. Like he wants to keep his options open. I've got a dental chair in my house. You know, I'm mixing it up. I mean, I will also say, and maybe I'm just so wrong on this, but Tony Curtis reads very gay to me too. So I'm also like, I'm not even buying that he's got tons of girls. I feel like, yes, he's wooing older women. He's got this other thing going. Let me ask you this. Do you think, so we all assume that that night they have sex, Tony Curtis and Karen. Do you think that the presence of the medicine man makes it a three-way?

41:15Oh, yeah, of course. Do you think the presence of the gestating medicine man on the back of her neck makes it a three-way?

41:21Jason Mantzoukas:Well, that, I think that, that's why he's committed. He's like, well, that was the best sex we've ever had. And he wants to, I think there's a secret part of it where he's like, when he goes down to fight the medicine man, I think he's like, you know what, maybe we can fight in a different way. The amount of people that were having sex in front of burnt, like roaring fires in the 70s is something that is such a trope. Like that was did everyone have a fireplace like in their bedroom or was everybody opting? And this is what I think. I think we've done a couple of movies where this happens, where people are like, we could have sex in the bedroom.

41:57But instead, why don't we do it on the floor? Of course. On a bare skin rug or something in front of a fire.

42:03Jason Mantzoukas:And just on that nice hard floor where it's really going to feel good for everybody. I think that's meant to be like, you know what? Everybody has missionary sex in bed. That's what sex is now. So in order to establish this is the 70s. This is the counterculture. This is San Francisco. It's like, no, people who are really adventurous, they do it on the floor. I mean, honestly, there are certain things that you realize as you get older when you're a kid. You're like, oh, I just thought that all like good sex was happening on the floor or in the kitchen on or on sand. Yes. Every way. It was never, never a bed.

42:42Jason Mantzoukas:Never a bed. No. Bed was for fucking losers. It was like, yeah, it was like you got to get you got to get this person in a weird spot. And you try to give one hand job on a beach and you find out it's dangerous. Shredded. Dangerous. I'm not saying that happened to me. I'm not saying that my nickname became Sand Job for the rest of that summer. I'm not saying that that boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, ended up telling my husband at a wedding that I was famous for giving a sand job. But I'm telling you that this is a PSA that's got to go out to the youth of America. People need to know. Now, some would argue that somebody should know that just in general.

43:26Just wipe your hand off, Jess.

43:29Jason Mantzoukas:It seems like you grabbed a handful of sand and used that as lubricant. I know what to do. One loose grain of sand is going to cause a whole lot of damage. Oh, my God. If it takes one grain of sand to make a pearl in an oyster, imagine what that does to your penis skin. That poor guy is just picking shell fragments out of his urethra. You know, and I will also say you never, never jerk off in a lobster trap. Like, you know, sometimes you've mistakenly grabbed those lobsters and it really, yeah, oh boy, oh boy. The Disney Plus Hulu HBO Max Bundle. The best in entertainment in one bundle. This month, stream Disney and Pixar's blockbuster family favorite, Hoppers on Disney Plus.

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46:05I will say I thought the, for lack of a better term, the birth scene was great. Oh, yeah. Was, I thought, really creepy and weird and unsettling. It was weird as hell. I thought it was good. I was like, oh, I wish this movie was more of these scenes and less of the languid talking. Yeah. More hands. Now, when that hand reaches out of her saran wrap back, I really thought, oh, here's an opportunity for the Manitou to choke her. Yeah, yeah. So I thought, oh, that's finish her off. Why don't we just finish her right now? Great. Wouldn't that have been awesome for stakes? It would have been great.

46:50But again, we have to make it all about Karen. So we leave her as a skin suit. And thank God she didn't get killed because we get to see her boobs in a couple of minutes. And thank God. Yeah, they're thank God. So much of the movie, she has to either have a gigantic bow around her neck, which honestly, if you talk about anything that's going to be in danger of killing her, it's that.

47:09Jason Mantzoukas:Yeah. You know, she's hiding those treasures for most of the movie. Wasn't there like a short story? I remember this as a kid where a girl wore like a neckerchief around her neck. And then when they undid it, her head fell off because she got her head chopped. That sounds right. That sounds right. Yeah. I will say this. I was shocked that when we finally do see the Manitou, it is a person of short stature who appears because it's not a baby that has come out. It is a fully realized. And they say that, that he grows into adulthood rapidly and is born. But again, I just was shocked that she was able to provide enough.

47:50Do you think there's an umbilical cord that goes to the back of her neck? Well, that's what I feel like he doesn't need food. He doesn't need sustenance. I guess so.

47:57Jason Mantzoukas:He's growing supernaturally. I'm so curious why the back of the neck, why not have it be the womb? Why not have it be the womb? I just really don't think we would have been that freaked out by a pregnant woman. It's on the neck, on the top of the neck, gross. But what if it was a pregnant woman? Maybe you're right. But if it was a pregnant woman, but it was moving as quickly as this, like it was growing to full term. and now is like becoming an adult inside of her. Well, then we're going to have to see the manitou come out of her vag. And that, I don't think - I'm interested. Keep talking. Keep talking.

48:32Don't you think she would have rather had a vaginal birth than a neck birth?

48:37Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, look, I think if you're passing that manitou, any way that you're passing that manitou is going to be painful. I actually think she would never be able to walk again if that person came out. I don't want to do it natural. I'm having a next section. I scheduled my next section so that I can control it.

49:00Jason Mantzoukas:I like where this movie goes because the Manitou, when he is out, he first is in stasis for a very long time. Just frozen. He gets powerful. And then what they realize is because Tony Curtis in a moment of desperation throws a computer printer at him. And we've already established with his man boobs that he doesn't have a ton of upper body strength, but he seems to have no problem lifting what should be the world's heaviest computer and throwing it at him. He just throws a computer printer at him. And he says at one point, we're surrounded by all this technology and all these amazing inventions.

49:38Jason Mantzoukas:It's a shame that we can still have this medieval medicine man attacking us. Well, no, that would be the one thing that you can't control. Like, technology will not help you again. Well, wait, now I'm thinking, is this movie really an exploration about, you know, our primal forces versus technology? And if so... That's what I think they're trying to shove in, and I don't understand how it works. Technology wins? Yeah, I do think that is what it's saying. It is looking backwards or looking forwards, it is the technology of the future is going to kill the superstitions of the past or whatever. So basically, it's, Fuck you.

50:14These computers will destroy you. Because part of me was like, why does the medicine man have to be a villain? I don't get like, I don't get why he's like a bad guy. Right. You know?

50:26Jason Mantzoukas:Well, that's what Burgess Meredith is like. He's like, I would like to meet him. Wouldn't it be cool to meet him? Exactly. And we'd actually, the truth is, we don't know if he is good or evil because we never give him a chance. They're just trying to kill him the entire movie. They immediately are trying. It's like if aliens arrived and you just tried to start killing them, you know, like he arrives and nobody is like, hey, what do you want? What's going on? Let's hear him out. Let's hear him out. Let's hear him out. And also, doesn't Tony Curtis say on his way out when he's saying goodbye to John singing rock?

50:56He was sad that he didn't get to know him. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, OK, well, the first thing you did was throw a printer at him. So, like, that's a terrible first impression. Did you? Yeah, there was. I couldn't figure that out. Like, why didn't they ever try and communicate and or find out what did he want? And maybe it's in there and I just missed it. But I never understood what the there was no exposition for what did what was he or why now? He eventually wants to get to the eighth life. If he gets to the eighth life, then he gets to ascend to the next level. That's it. OK. And every life he gets stronger, quote, and stronger.

51:37OK.

51:37Jason Mantzoukas:So did this life count, even if he's around for a little bit? Interesting. Well, yes. Probably. Because you know why? He said the Manitou's still alive, which I believe was this shitty screenwriter's idea to have a Manitou 2. Oh, we got to have Manitou 2. Manitou, Japan. Yeah. Right. That origin story. And we probably would have had he not died in that helicopter crash. Wait. Technically, the ending is a prequel, right? Because Japan happens. Yes. Yeah, 10 years. Oh, yeah. So we could go. We could actually bring it back. I feel like the movie. I'll go topless. I'm ready. I'm ready to shoot lasers out of your boobs.

52:17Jason Mantzoukas:That's how we really improve it. The lasers were incredible. That was some nuts stuff. Yeah, I really felt like I could not make heads or tails of what this movie was really about. Right. There's no, like, the theme is, there's a lot of mixed themes. Because he says, at one point, John Singing Rock says, love really is the best medicine. Yeah. So then I thought when Tony Curtis decides to go toe to toe with the Manitou and go, hey, hey, I don't like how you treat us. That's my girl. That's my girl. I thought, oh, OK, are we going to show? That's my girl. But we're not monogamous. I just want you to know you guys can do mouth stuff, but anything more.

52:54And she has to OK it with me. I mean, like that's and then and then quickly we're like, Tony, what the fuck are you doing? You're not going to be able to like just tell him off like you would like a bad taxi driver. You know what I mean? So that's not it. But yeah, people put put lots of themes. Yes. I also thought that for sure, somehow Tony Curtis's tarot card slash psychic abilities. We're going to allow. We're going to become. We're going to become because, you know, there's that moment where he gives Karen a reading and the exact same cards come up. And it seems very prophetic. It seems like it's really it seems like, oh, maybe Tony Curtis does have some sort of the same card that kills Mrs.

53:36Hers. It's right. Isn't it ghost? That idea that there is. So I was like, why doesn't he have why aren't his powers helping him communicate with the medicine man or helping him? You know, whatever it is.

53:49Jason Mantzoukas:He like shut that off. And now like there's a there's a line in it that really makes me laugh because, you know, John Singing Rock meets the the medicine man. right oh you know or the medicine man's frozen after he freezes them and then at one point there's an earthquake that just rocks the hospital and they're like whoa that was some earthquake it's like well no it's clearly this medicine like it wasn't an earthquake it's a medicine man and he goes i was no earthquake that is the great old one and they go who the hell is he's a devil lucifer satan prince of darkness doesn't matter like wait like wait again we're just like that's the first time we're hearing this information.

54:28So who climbed out of his back is not the great one, is not Lucifer. It is. It is. It is. But when you just are hearing that for the first time. It's the strongest of the medicine men, you know, of the past. Is the devil? Yeah, you're right. That's not at all what we were told earlier. He's comparing him to a devil. He's saying, he's like, it's basically saying, uh-oh, it's a bad guy, not a good guy. You know what I mean?

54:53Jason Mantzoukas:Right. So I guess like his thought was, okay, if I freeze him, I'll be able to like. Figure it out. Yeah. Check in on it and figure it out. We'll get a sense of, we'll get a lay of the land before, so he can't take off, you know? Wait a second. So why does the, does he turn it into the planet of Hoth? The medicine man does. The medicine man does. For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To freeze everything. For sure. And then, and I loved this because the movie is just doing it all. So they come back down and it is now the Hoth planet. The hallway is Hoth, right? It's frozen. It's icy. The nurse is frozen in place.

55:33She's dead. It is ice and cold and glacial. And then they open up the door to Karen's room and it is the cosmos. It is just outer space. We are now inside the stars. and this is where I was like, what the fuck? And everybody, nobody, nobody says, what the fuck is this? Yeah. Yeah. Nobody says explain this. And he just says it's an illusion. He does say, John Singing Rock said this is an illusion. Yeah. But to me, it looks like the opening credits of 321 Contact. Oh. You know, it's just like. Wow. By the way, Great Space Coaster and 321 Contact is the reason. is the doo-doo for everything happens it's contact is the oh my god I can't believe you just said 321 contact that is triggering no that shit is like found footage from a Carl Sagan documentary what were being shown and I understand why John Singing Rock is like this is fine I understand what this is Tony Curtis should be like tearing his eyes out he should be like it's 1978 I'm 52 which is younger than Jason Manzoukas is now what is happening I don't understand the world I'm in I've just heard Led Zeppelin right am I gonna fall into space because what I would think is like don't go a step further cause you're gonna fall into the great abyss this is a year after Star Wars

57:06Jason Mantzoukas:all I'm gonna say is it goes back to a night of great sex. This man has lost his mind. He's going to face the manitude by himself. He's often putting himself in harm's way. He's like, let me go by myself. And he has no plan. Ever. Yeah. And I also don't believe he loves her. I mean, I know he cares about her, but the movie has not made me feel like this is the love of his life. He needs to save her. It's just like a friend who they meet up for a walk in the park and have casual sex. That's all it is. I also would ask, why Why is John Singing Rock willing to put himself on the line for a pack of tobacco?

57:44It's clear that like he is going to most likely perish trying to fight this. But we never hear why. Why does he take it on? Here's the other thing. If this bad guy, this wet gummy bear that comes out, is he going to destroy the world? Yeah.

58:07Jason Mantzoukas:We don't know what he wants either. We don't even know he's the devil until somebody just says it casually. So then I understand if John Singer-Ross is like, listen, if this guy comes out, he is going to destroy ultimately the world. So we really have no choice. I'm the only one who can do this. Then I get it. I think that is maybe, I mean, that's doing a little bit of work for the movie. But I think that is what, I think you're right, Jess. I think he thinks I'm the only person that can maybe stand, go toe to toe with this character. Yes. Far be it from me to rewrite a script written in three days, but I would say this.

58:40Jason Mantzoukas:Make her a person who is somebody who studies Native American culture. She has studied too much. She's gone in there and she understands, oh my God, I've been cursed with it. This is going to bring on the end of the world. It's a line. It's a simple. And she's trying to tell people, you have to listen to me. Or we go to the bumbling professor and he's like, here's the thing, guys. This is going to bring about the end of days. You've got to get him to convince him. But meanwhile, they're like, oh, you know what it is? That the fetus is actually clamping onto her spinal cord and she's going crazy.

59:16Jason Mantzoukas:We've got to get it off. But that's why they don't believe her. And then all of a sudden, Tony Curtis is like, I believe her because maybe I'll get a little bit of action on this. and then they defeat it and they go home. Tony Curtis is in it just for the rescue pussy? Yes. Honestly. And really, she is just a bag of skin at that point. So really, what's he fighting for? But now she has lasers. By the way, how does she get those lasers? Not just lasers. She's shooting fireballs. She's doing all sorts of stuff. And I love they do all the laser sounds, which make no sense. make no sense. She is, and then they don't really check in with her at the end, right?

1:00:02Jason Mantzoukas:Nope. She doesn't really have a, like, oh, thank God we saved the day. It's like, boop, boop, boop. We don't see him and Karen walking in the park now. Nope. Her of slender neck. No fetuses in there. Nope, they are just... You know what she should say? I'm pregnant. And then it's like, oh. Shit, man at you too. Man at you too. And then, by the way, my favorite moment is when that lizard bites off the doctor's hand. And Tony Curtis takes out a handkerchief and just drops it. A dinner napkin. He literally takes it. And that's it. And then we see him with the dinner napkin wrapped around. Like, that's going to help.

1:00:41You've lost all of your digits. I also felt like I can imagine Tony Curtis at this time, again, 52 years old, which is one year younger than I am currently, shooting this movie and being like I don't understand. What are you saying? And they're like we're going to composite a lizard in here that's going to bite the hand and he's going to be like how? Where is that? Imagine him reckoning. This is like Tony Curtis he's in like Some Like It Hot this is an amazing incredible career and now he's like he puts his hand out and we all pretend like a lizard bit it? Well, here's the thing. I think we have to understand that not just the writers, but probably everybody in the cast and crew are also on cocaine.

1:01:28Because I had a very old hairdresser who was like 105, and he used to do Jack Nicholson's hair. That explains a bunch of your haircuts. That explains why you had a Dutch boy haircut for so long. truth but he was on the set and he would say listen i used to do jack nicholson he would come in after being up all night doing cocaine and then he would lay down in the chair and we would do him like do his makeup and hair while he was unconscious then he would wake up get on screen and he goes we'd jack would be doing a take and beverly d 'angelo would get behind the camera take her tits out and shake them to like distract him and i thought that's fun but that's what was going on then we were all high on drugs i thought you were gonna say i thought you were gonna say

1:02:18Jason Mantzoukas:to create a better eye line for him like as a dog like you know we gotta show him we gotta show him boobs we gotta show him boobs no they were having fun i remember doing a movie that was so uh off the rails such a disaster such a mess and uh i went i was sitting in hair and makeup and the hair person was like i was like how's it been going i'd been gone for a few weeks and they're like, oh, it's officially off the rails. This movie is now Heaven's Gate, which is a very famous off-the-rails movie production. And I was like, oh, my God. And he was like, and sweetheart, I worked on Heaven's Gate.

1:02:52And I was like, oh, my God. And he was like, the only difference is here we're miserable, and on Heaven's Gate, the reason we were off the rails is because there was one trailer that was just cocaine and booze, And we all spent all day in that trailer. That's fun. So if you think people were stopping to ask continuity questions, they weren't because they were out of their minds. Out of it. Out of it. And a movie like this makes sense, I guess, to them.

1:03:20Jason Mantzoukas:You know, but I will say that Tony is like giving a performance. Like he is not phoning it in. He seems like he's there. I mean, you know, and I feel like. Everybody is. I'm going to say everybody is doing a good job. This is unsuccessful in so, so, so many ways. But beautifully unsuccessful. It's a movie. I was like, this is bad. It's so slow at times. But I was like, this is nonetheless a movie, which I'm very into. Yes, it is. It's not even so bad. It's good. It's just it's confidently making a movie that has made a lot of wrong choices. And I think that that's a different type of film that is fun to watch.

1:04:02Jason Mantzoukas:It looks good. It is shot well. But it is a mess. And forgive me if you're about to say this, Paul. But did the person who made this movie make any other movies? Well, he died before it came out. Oh, he died before this came out. But did he do any prior, I mean? Well, yes. He got sued for that one that was like, he was like a kind of a schlock. Oh, Grizzly. You said Grizzly one. He did Grizzly and then he did an Abby 74. Yeah. Yeah. Because this feels amateur. but it is it's very watchable you know what I mean? I never felt like I was in bad hands no actually it was funny in watching it I was like I'm just enjoying this it feels like the first hour I'm like oh I'm here it's not overtly bad it's like it's just it's got a 70s style to it you know it kind of sits in that world of like it feels like the zaniness of like a Love Boat episode mixed with like a little bit of like a cop detective.

1:05:02It's almost like a Fantasy Island episode. Yes, yes. Which were always a step weirder than the love book. It was like an episode of television. That's what it was. It had Buck Rogers vibe. Yes. B-D-B-D-B-D. My first sexual awakening, Buck Rogers. Aaron Gray. Was it to Aaron Gray or was it to Gil? What's his name? It was to that robot. Oh, it was to Twinkie? Twinkie the robot? B-D-B-D-B-D.

1:05:31Jason Mantzoukas:I remember I was so excited because I was like, wow, I can't wait. I was obsessed with it as a kid to get to the dates that were in TV shows and movies. And I think Buck Rogers did take off in like 1986. And I was like, oh, we're almost there. We're almost there. Wait, what was his name? Gil what? Gil Gerard. Gil Gerard. Thank you. Now, that's a guy who probably didn't have a lot of upper body strength, but they put him in a thick fabric. And that's why. You cover it up a little. Just cover it up. They leave in great shape for Superman, and that is primarily his body, but they're also padding it a little bit.

1:06:04Pad it. Pad it.

1:06:05Jason Mantzoukas:Just a curious... Paddington. Paddington 4, coming soon. Paddington, the next Paddington, written by Armando Iannucci, Paddington gets jacked. That's a big part of it. Super jacked. Paddington's doing steroids for him. He's look-maxing. He's look-maxing. Bone-breaking on his face, changing his snout. He's got a gigantic chin. just a huge shit. Paddington becomes part of the manosphere. Oh my God. Well, I'm excited to see Paddington just, you know, on Joe Rogan and talking to Theo Vaughn. He's anti-vaccine. Paddington is on ivermectin. I'm not even kidding. Which works better for him because it's a horse dewormer, so it works on bears.

1:06:51Jason Mantzoukas:Paddington does meth before he works out because it helps him slim down. All right, so here's the thing. Obviously, we had an opinion about this movie, but there are people out there with a different opinion. It is now time for Second Opinions. Paul and Jason and June talk a lot about what makes a movie good or not. But everyone knows they're actually full of shit. We need a second opinion. Someone that knows what they're talking about. We need a second opinion. We need a second. Give me a second. We need a second opinion. Thank you, Wolves of Glendale. The Manitou on Amazon. It has 395 total reviews.

1:07:47Jason Mantzoukas:Okay. 78 % are five-star reviews. This is a kind of beloved film. film. And I would say that some of the five-star reviews, not even that interesting, but they're kind of fun. Midwest Hacker writes in 2024, I've been looking for this ever since my homemade VHS copy died. I consider this one of the last great skin crawler movies of the era. I'm in to the days of letting your mind form what might happen next. Plus, I like Native of American hero characters. Five stars. That's an odd phrase. I'm into the days of letting your mind form what will happen next. So thinking? What? I think what they're saying is they leave, in this movie, they leave some stuff to the imagination.

1:08:32They don't show you every... Like plot. Yeah. Necessary plot is left to the imagination. I think so. We're doing a lot of the legwork for these screenwriters.

1:08:42Jason Mantzoukas:I like a movie where I have to make the choices. Yes, I like a movie that is poorly written, so I have to try and make sense of it. Yes. The other thing was, this is not really a review as much as it is just a statement. BL out of San Diego writes, Manitou, frightening movie which stars Tony Curtis. Five stars. It's true. It does star Tony Curtis. Yeah. And then this one kind of takes a different issue with things. This is just from an IMDB review. We actually had to move off of Amazon from Hallie Devlin. Hallie writes, the whole idea itself was great, although the whole growing on her back bit was a tinge to dodgy.

1:09:27Okay.

1:09:28Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, we're getting into that dodgy. What, unbelievable? Isn't she saying it's unbelievable? Yeah, just a little unbelievable. Okay. But then finishes by saying, this one is worth remembering. For the look on Manitou's face when Singing Rock figured out it was the devil. Priceless. There you go. I don't remember that. I don't remember Manitou really emoting much in that face. I don't know. He really seemed trapped in, like, a prison. I feel like this movie. Okay, 1978. So David Cronenberg has already started making movies. Like this to me, this movie is like a body horror movie. But before we really dug in on body horror, you know what I mean?

1:10:13Like there's a way in which this could have been like really electrically unsettling. But Tony Curtis's presence is a look back to classic Hollywood and being like, no, no, no. This is like The Exorcist. It's just with all this body horror stuff. And boy, if it had been wetter and grosser and more Cronenbergian, this movie would have been, I think, incredibly fun to watch.

1:10:38Jason Mantzoukas:By the way, just start it earlier and just make more crazy shit happen. But they clearly are like, they got four sets. They shot the shit out of them. I mean, like, it's just the whole thing takes place in the hospital. The difference would have been, and I think this would have made the movie so much more interesting, if the movie had simply been about Karen. the fact that it's about Tony Curtis makes no sense well we couldn't have a movie about a woman at that point a woman who's undergoing this horrible experience we hear almost nothing about what it's like for her and I think that's interesting there's no her story to this the lead character is the friends with benefits of the person who is going through the transformation Exactly and whenever Karen talks for three quarters of the film it's through the voice of the man.

1:11:33We don't even get to hear her say this is tough. Yeah. Like hey guys can I get a painkiller. Hey Harry this is pretty weird. Hey do you still think I'm set you still want to go to you do you still want to go to Napa next weekend. Guys, what I hear you guys saying, though, is that the scenes that worked for us were the ones in which somebody was viscous. Somebody was wet. Yeah, we needed wet viscous.

1:12:00Jason Mantzoukas:Yeah. Hands are being bitten off. Digits are being like sloppy. More wetness. The psychic powers. The stuff. The seance. The wet head coming out of the table. Again, though, we keep coming back to the wetness. That's what's doing it for us. The exception is old lady being thrown down the stairs. More of that, I would have taken that. I would have loved that. Sure, old lady, yeah. More, I think more bodies being thrown up against things, thrown across the thing, you know what I mean? More splurts and splats. Exactly. Instead of beeps and bops. Yes, yes. Now, I will say this, that the ending of the book is a little different because the creature attacks New York City.

1:12:38Jason Mantzoukas:So that's a little different. Oh, wow. So I think it's like a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man kind of ending in the book. Oh, he goes full time. ending. Well, I don't. Yes. And I don't know how it ends. All I know is that that's what the ending is. It's a tax city. Guys, that makes more sense than what happened. I agree. And in the book, Karen is 21 and Harry is in his 30s and she only hears about Harry from her aunt, but they never have met before the events in the book. So that kind of that little sex. That makes sense because he treats all he's a reader for all the old women so her aunt would know him I like that so much better than them having some sort of ambiguous sexual past that is never really explained so he's just like the Jeff Goldblum scientist that's called in to like because he's a tarot reader that's just the worst the aunt says let's find the worst tarot card reader we can to deal with this very ancient The Naya could be like, he's, I mean, that should be the thing.

1:13:43Jason Mantzoukas:I go to this tarot card reader. We need to bring him, but she doesn't realize that he's a phony and a fake. And then he gets wrapped up in the world. Like that to me. Or I would have loved it if he is a phony and a fake. And then, but, like I said earlier, it turns out that he really is able to connect with the medicine man. Jeez, I'm so sorry, guys. David Ellison is just texting me. Oh, D.E.? He just says we can make this. We can do this. We can make it! I'm ready to... Yeah, yeah. He's listening now to all of our podcasts as we are actually being. I've got to go get a boob job. I'll be right back.

1:14:15Jason Mantzoukas:And by the way, he said he has a great person. Guys, guys, I just got an email from Ellison, too, and he said, great news. Robert Kennedy wants to be the Tony Curtis part. I thought you were going to say the Manitou. I thought he would be the Manitou. Oh, you want him to be the Manitou? Yes. He is so, RFK Jr., he is so Manitou-coded. He really is. It is. That's exactly what we were thinking about. All right, so final thoughts, everybody. Do you like it? Oh, yeah. I mean, we know. Here's the thing. I do agree. You should watch it at 1.5 speed. It's an hour and 45 minutes, and a lot of it moves slow.

1:14:50So speed it up until it looks like it's good, then go back to normal speed.

1:14:54Jason Mantzoukas:About an hour 12 or an hour 16, then you're going to want to enjoy it in real time. What I say, speed it up to 10 times, take some cocaine, and then it'll slow down to what makes sense. That's the way we do it. Uppers and downers. Uppers and downers. One last question, just, and I've waited until the entire episode has gone. Jessica, are you aware that your camera is cutting off your face at your nose? And so we have spent this entire process looking at your ceiling. Looking at the ceiling the entire time. Can you see that we can't see your face? Guys, what was that old graffiti that had, like, a nose down?

1:15:32Like, a curvy? Or Kilroy was here? Guys, that's what it has been the whole Oh, there she is Oh, there she is Oh, well, well, well Welcome to the podcast, Jessica

1:15:44Jason Mantzoukas:I know it's Jason taking a picture at a certain point I was like, I wonder if that's what he's doing I was doing so much lower body work Guys, while we were doing this podcast I fucking gave birth to some shit And my top spine This is what it's been That is truly wonderful Jess where can people find you guys I'm going to be shooting a Nancy Myers film me too so just so you know I'm going to be in a hundred shades of beige that's my memoir 50 shades of beige yeah we'll let you know when that comes out but otherwise you know just deep we're on the deep dive we got a special going on for the summer for our Academy of Significance, 50 % off your first month.

1:16:34So come join us. It's really where we shine is the summer months.

1:16:38Jason Mantzoukas:I love it. I love it. That is a wrap. I want to remind you that we have a new way for you to leave us a voicemail. Just go to speakpipe.com slash HDTGM. That's all I got. We'll see you next week on Last Looks. Bye for now. Okay. And just a special side note. This film was actually a movie that Averill Halley picked for us. Um, we've been sitting on it for a little bit of time and we wanted to do this episode right now because we are launching a very special memorial shirt for Averill. It is in our store. Just go to hdtgm.dashery.com. And it is a shirt that was created for her memorial and all the proceeds are going to breast cancer research.

1:17:22Jason Mantzoukas:we love the design we love Averill and we wanted to do something that kind of combined her and obviously her amazing taste in films so thank you Averill for this last pick and I hope you enjoy an Averill shirt or a sticker or a mug whatever you want you can celebrate Averill all the proceeds will go to breast cancer research and we'll let you know how much money we raise in a couple of weeks Again, just head on over to hdtgm.com or hdtgm.dashreed.com. Sleep is so critical, especially that deep comforting sleep. But oftentimes, it's hard to find the right mattress for that deep sleep without trying it in person.

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