The 1976 Movie Draft

22:06Yeah. For a week or two weeks. It's like I didn't have, that wasn't possible for me as a kid.

22:11Sean Fennessey:Well, let me ask you one other thing about that because when I was a kid, the longest period of time that could transpire was the period when I missed a movie in movie theaters and I was waiting for it to come to Blockbuster. That was, it felt like an eternity. And it was often eight months, seven months. if you missed a movie in movie theaters, and it doesn't sound like you missed many, but if you missed a movie in movie theaters that you wanted to see, were you anticipating the opportunity to see it on TV? How did you find out it was going to play on TV? Can you talk about that gap in time? Well, I read the TV guide religiously.

22:45I looked for when those things were going to be on TV. I sought them out. And of course, with certain things, they'd bring them back. I saw most of the Bond movies, most of the Sean Connery Bond movies in the movie theater on re-release. That's how you saw that stuff. Godfather also, right? You see Godfather, one of its biggest box office years is like 74, 75 when they re-released Godfather. Because again, we talked about this on the Hall of Fame, Duval Hall of Fame podcast. They didn't know how to put it on TV. It's an R-rated thing. And yet it was the most popular movie, the biggest box office movie of all time.

23:25So how are we going to see it?

23:27Sean Fennessey:These kids don't know how good they have it. It's incredible how accessible everything is. Just the idea of Disney Plus makes my brain melt. Because scarcity was the whole point for years and years. And now it's full-blown accessibility all the time. You think it has degraded the culture? I do think it's degraded the culture. I mean, my child was just screaming to watch like box jellyfish videos before he went to school this morning. And I was like, you know, what's what has my life come to? But it's it's also degraded the business. Right. I mean, the fact that nothing is as special means that the kids and we all expect that we can have whatever we want exactly as we want it immediately.

24:06And we're not willing to go out of our way. We're not willing to go to movie theaters. Nothing feels quite as special. So that's a bummer. luckily you guys have a lot of plastic and you're fighting that off we're doing well

24:18Sean Fennessey:with that I think you know in the silent film days they'd make the circuit and then once the silent film was finished making the circuit they threw it in the trash yes which is why only 10 % of silent films have survived it was like well this is done and they just chucked it that's Amanda proposed that for the MCU and they said no we're gonna hang on to those James Day plays once in every city they shoot it in the sun Do you want to draft? Yeah. Any other open thoughts? Okay. Well, the only thing I'll say is that there is a kind of, I like your list. I think your list is good. I think there's an answer to every one of the ones on your list.

24:58No doubt. That is, I mean, yeah, MASH 1970, but you could also say Patton 1970, which in some ways is the flip side of the same coin, but there are still some amazing, it's not all rah-rah Patton, right? I mean, it's written by Francis Ford Coppola. There's complexity there.

25:19Sean Fennessey:The scene when he's scolding the officer who has PTSD is the most obvious, like the two generations misunderstanding each other scene in the movie from that year. And I think Patton probably made a lot more money than MASH at movie theaters, I'm guessing. I think they're pretty close. Really? I think they're pretty. And that was part of what I was thinking was, what movie is a box office hit, a critical sensation, and got into the culture in a way that felt impactful? But, you know, everything is debatable. I mean, Star Wars and Jaws are inarguable. Clearly they're inarguable. They really changed, right?

25:55Hollywood movies in the 80s are very different as a result of not only those two films, but those two filmmakers. But yeah, there's a flip side to all of those coins.

26:08Sean Fennessey:Well, I welcome the feedback and I won't be looking at it. It's about community. So for this draft, we do have six categories. I'm going to read those categories before we settle on our draft order. The categories are as follows. Drama, comedy, or horror. Or sci-fi, right? Or sci-fi. We've done that because, as Amanda indicated, this is a tricky year for comedy. I think we could have pulled it off if we kept it tight. It would have been pretty funny to laugh at us, but not to laugh at these movies. That's right. Thriller or action is also a category. Blockbuster. Now, the threshold here is$20 million, and there are only 10 films that qualify for that threshold.

26:56then Oscar

26:57Sean Fennessey:which means any film that was nominated for an Academy Award from that year and then of course Wild Card okay Jack is there a Jack Sanders selection that we'll be able to hear hello it is I producer Jack coming from the past to deliver the highly anticipated 1976 movie draft order as always I have denied Tracy Letts' bribe of a$100 bill for the first overall pick because I have integrity. Selecting first, Amanda Dobbins. Oh my God, I'm so happy. I really wanted it and I wasn't going to say anything. Do you want the first overall draft pick? Feels like a pretty stacked year. Feels like a deep year.

27:40I personally would want the turn. Selecting second overall, Christopher Ryan. Wow. So rigged. Wow. This is the first pick I've gotten in like six months. I do feel pretty bad. I feel like every draft Tracy's been a part of. I think I may have given him the last overall pick. So I'm selfishly hoping he's third overall here, but we'll see. God damn it. God fucking damn it. Sean Fentasy will be third,

28:03Sean Fennessey:which means Tracy Letts will be fourth. The turn's good. The turn's good. Fascinating. Okay. I know exactly what I'm going to do, but I did just change categories because I was a little light. Yeah. So I think this makes sense. I think this makes sense. Hang in there, Mama. Hang in there. We haven't even started yet. You got this. Ready to start deleting. Okay. I think in Thriller, I will take All the President's Men. Okay. Interesting. Which All the President's Men was going to be my number one draft pick if I got the first pick. It is my favorite movie of this year. One of my favorite movies of all time.

28:52and also a movie educationally that certainly introduced me to Alan Pakula, William Goldman, and then all the backstage gossiping and fraught nature of production that William Goldman details in its Adventures in Screenwriting, right? I think this is probably where I learned who Gordon Willis is. It taught me about the power of, gold chains as worn by Robert Redford. It taught me, you know, this is how I learned Watergate because I wasn't around. And I probably saw it before we got to Watergate in whatever truncated Republican American history course I took in high school. You know, they never really made it past.

29:39I know. They never get to Vietnam. Yeah, they never get to Vietnam or they didn't in our day. Maybe they've gotten there.

29:44Sean Fennessey:They did in my AP American history class. You know what? Honestly, even in my AP, they were just like, yeah, yada, yada. And then Richard Nixon resigned. So, but this is an amazing, electrifying, like beautiful movie about a bunch of dudes sitting in rooms talking. And it really did show to me like the power and the possibility of people talking smartly in rooms and everything that you can do with that, like visually and emotionally. And I did all of my research for 1976 and then I saved this. And this is the one that I picked to watch like right before I went to bed last night. I didn't even watch all of it.

30:25But then this morning, I was like, oh, I got 30 minutes here while I do my hair. And I set it up because I wanted to watch the speech where Jason Robards as Bren Bradley comes out from his house at night and tells him not to fuck up again. and it's I don't know it's an American classic it's probably when I say that I think 76 is better than 75 it's just because I love this movie so much and I think this and a couple others to me are like the highest of highs whereas 75 is everyone being really really good but yeah I'm thrilled to have it

31:02Sean Fennessey:great pick I don't know if I would have guessed that this would be the number one over was it consensus number one for you yeah and for you as well yeah interesting this is also like a for draft Knicks a crucial title to be taken off the board because of its flexibility across a couple of different categories. Yes, I think it would have been acceptable in four of the six categories. Yeah. So you took it in Thriller. It did. Excuse me, five of the six categories, which is fascinating. In Thriller, though, is really interesting to me. That is not what I would have done. I will be honest. I didn't read the changes that you made last minute until we were drafting.

31:37And so I didn't know that it was Thriller or Action.

31:40Sean Fennessey:Got it. I didn't understand that horror and comedy were grouped together. I don't think it'll impact you that much. Okay, thank you. Well, Chris, you've got the second pick. Are you excited? Are you reeling? How are you feeling? I don't think anybody's going to have a bad movie in the first round of picks. Not a bad movie, but I don't think anybody's going to be upset. Nothing soft. Nobody is like, God damn it, this is a three-movie draft and I get the fourth pick or something. I'm going to take Taxi Driver and Oscars. I would be happy to take it or happy to take a bunch of other movies here with the second pick but Taxi Driver's one I revisited recently and pretty good yeah and also like I forgot one of my favorite movies ever made I forgot how like beyond being like sad to watch a man descend into hell it's also melancholy and you know it's like an incredible portrait of loneliness and an incredible portrait of like a guy who doesn't know like how to relate to the rest of the world and how that drives him insane ultimately but also obviously just like one of the great new york films um one of the most incredibly orchestrated movies when it comes to like the visuals matching up against the sound the score um which is always what kind of haunts me about this and then some of the most virtuistic dazzling sequences you know that you can imagine from scorsese and de niro kind of in a in a in a zone that few people have ever gotten to so taxi driver you know normally if i lost out on the pakula movie and the scorsese movie i would be absolutely devastated but you get your number one pick yeah this is beautiful my hands and i feel so but that's the thing is if i had taken this what you're about to take you'd probably be like awesome i get i'm gonna go ahead and delete it yeah i would have been i would have been a little bit disappointed because this has been my number one on my board is coming.

33:32Sean Fennessey:But any other thought? I mean, Taxi Driver, it's on the list of movies that I watch every like 18 months or so. And I feel like what it's exploring and what you just described kind of never goes out of fashion, unfortunately. It feels like it is right on top of the surface all the time. And a lot of that is due to Paul Schrader tapping into something that I don't think expires. A lot of it is the De Niro performance. A lot of it is the sense that there's always somebody who's unhappy in this country about how the politics is going and that the movie really taps into that too. Or at least they use their dissatisfaction with politics to project something from their own unhappiness.

34:12Sean Fennessey:And just that idea alone makes it a timeless movie. My favorite scene always changes with this movie, but it's always a scene where Travis is talking to someone and they're like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? Whether it's Peter Boyle outside of the diner or any Sybil Shepard dinner. interaction that he has. Or, you know, anytime he's got somebody in the back of his cab and they're chatting. Well, in those scenes, sometimes Travis is like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy in the backseat? Like Martin Scorsese. Yeah. The way mental illness is portrayed in movies is interesting. We were talking about this with Captain Newman.

34:49The history of that's very interesting. You know, you want to be thoughtful about the way it's portrayed. And in Taxi Driver, he's not only sick, he's not only ill, but he's scary. He's realistically scary. If you've ever encountered somebody who's having an episode or who is mentally ill, but also has, you feel in them the capacity for violence, there's a – something happens inside you, right? There's a kind of fight or flight impulse that takes hold. And De Niro just absolutely taps into that.

35:28Sean Fennessey:But he's, it's not the strange unhoused person shambling down the street. He's very still in the movie. You know, he's that different kind of menacing that is even scarier, where you feel like he actually is in, at least believes he's in control, as opposed to someone kind of flailing their arms and going crazy. It's still just such an amazingly impactful movie. I saw almost every movie we're going to talk about in the movie theaters. My parents took me to see Taxi Driver when I was 10. Wow. To a drive-it. And they were like, here's your dirt bike. And here's your unsupervised lady. Before you go any further, I have to ask you a question about this.

36:06Sean Fennessey:Because I'm thinking about this with my own parenting. I feel growing up, being exposed to things at a young age, got me where I am today. Yeah. For better and for worse. I liked the way that I was matured by the culture. but I'm now thinking a little bit harder about what the impact of that would be on my kid and you know you turned out wonderfully but you did also write Bug and Killer Joe and so and look how that worked out for him and we're lucky to have those and the thing about that is obviously touched by you know a genius quality you gotta get that's luck of the draw that's just like you got it or you don't got it if you don't got it and you watch Bug, if I showed Alice Bug at 11, the way that you saw Taxi Driver at 11, how would that go over?

36:59Sean Fennessey:How would that get into her bloodstream? Well, I saw Taxi Driver at 10. Remember, I had seen Serpico at 6. I mean, my folks exposed me to a lot, and I really just think they just didn't want to pay for a sitter. That's another reason why I wanted to. And I have to say, I think differently about it with my own kids. I mean, I think my kids are going to have it tougher than I had it. I think the world is going to be a harder place. And so I'm trying to extend their childhood as far as I can. Oh, that's beautiful. So I'm not exposing them to stuff like this yet. Now I did say to Haskell the other day, who was asking about something, I said, when you're 14, you can watch everything, watch anything, watch anything on the shelf.

37:40I don't care. Okay. But even Russ Meyers up. You can watch Russ Meyers up at 14. That's Exciting. But Taxi Driver is the first movie they ever took me out of. We were in the drive-in. Oh. And when they go back to Jodie Foster's place, which is fairly late in the movie, my mom said, Dennis, I'm very uncomfortable. And we drove out. And they went back the next night and saw it.

38:06Sean Fennessey:Oh. And I didn't see it until. Well, God forbid you didn't see the day. Dennis is like, oh, yeah. No, I thought that's when. That would have been a little tough to endure that final stretch. That's another thing. Speaking of the times, that's a wonderful detail that I think is in the Mr. Scorsese doc when they talk about this film. But just the way in which they change the color tone of that final sequence because of concerns from the MPA board and the rating and that sort of fantasia of violence that Bickle goes on. and how just turning that more red and brown and making it seem like, it seems like a descent into hell, but it's also a little bit harder to tell what is happening in each individual bullet hole.

38:52Sean Fennessey:And, you know, that's one of those things where some of that is chance, some of that is artistic, some of that is a product of the times and what was allowed and what was not allowed. But anyway, great picture. Yeah, I mean, I would just, the thing that haunts me about this movie, I think you're talking about this being a harder world to grow up in than the one that maybe taxi driver entered but it's it's gift and its curses i think it was very prescient about a sentiment of a great way you know a rain will come and wash all this away you hear that echoed in a lot of extremism now and like a kind of just inhumanity and hatred for for people that i think is sadly like very on the nose of like when when you read about like some of the stuff in the world and you just are like jesus christ like you know we've really fallen so way to go Paul Schrader you got us nailed tapped into something okay do the thing brother go for it well I'll be taking network in drama which is a movie I've spoken about quite a bit on this show and we just spoke about it on the Duval Hall of Fame and his scene in that movie which is one of the most electrifying examples of acting that I've ever seen And I've been thinking a little bit about like why I got into journalism and writing and broadcasting and all these things that I find myself in.

40:12Sean Fennessey:This relates to All the President's Men, two of the three or four best movies of the year being about these worlds. I never thought I would be having a camera in front of me while I speak. Sure. And yet here I am. Yeah. Howard Beeling my way through this. I've said before, like, this is the movie that really, I think, made me feel like a grown up. It taught me a bit more about how the world really works or I thought how it really worked. And it's been called prescient many times. Chayefsky's script being having like such an eerily predictive quality and more so every year, similar to Taxi Driver.

40:48Sean Fennessey:It kind of never expiring. The other thing about this movie, though, is that it's a lot of fun. It's very entertaining. I think that's a little bit lost in the discussion of it because it feels so powerful and so stoked by this kind of paranoia and corporate malfeasance in the work of journalism and in the work of telling the truth. But like what Ned Beatty is doing in this movie is a lot of fun. What Faye Dunaway is doing in this movie is a lot of fun. Robert Duvall is a lot of fun. Yeah. He's having a great time. And that kind of like pop opera that Chayefsky was so good at, that really, really clever style of soliloquy writing that he was best at, is just really entertaining.

41:28Sean Fennessey:And this is a movie that shouldn't appeal to 13-year-olds, given what it's about. But when I saw it, I was just taking it. It was like on a magic carpet ride away into the rest of my life, basically. Well, it should. It understands that what it is talking about is that its subject is manufactured to be as broad as possible. And it's showing you the machinery, but also recreating the product. That's right. It has to. That's right. Especially once he is, not just when he's looking down the barrel of the camera and talking about how, you know, he's had enough bullshit. Yeah. But once he starts becoming the host of a variety show, effectively, in which he is, you know, a tent revival preacher speaking about how politics, God and the self operates in society.

42:13Sean Fennessey:Like we have so many examples of people who do this now. So, you know, it's also such an incredible mishmash of acting styles. I was re-watching some scenes from last night and I was like, how do they get Peter Finch and Ned Beatty on this side of like ham? And then Duvall and Faye Dunaway doing this very kind of like loose but very present realism in their performance. And then Holden is just fucking pickled and dying in front of you the entire movie. One of the saddest performances of the 70s. But how do they, Lumet making all of that work in the same frame, same scene, same movie is just always amazing to me.

42:53Superb. You took it in drama? I did. Because that's another one could go in several categories.

42:59Sean Fennessey:Could be a comedy. Could be a comedy. Could be Oscar. Could be a wild card. I certainly laugh a lot while watching it. Okay. You've got two selections. I knew those were going to be the first three off the board. so I was just like just not last anything but last as I was last time it's very clear the fix is in I understand you think Jack Sanders has done something you get two picks here you could really upset the apple cart yeah I know and I'm you're about to do that do my best I want to acknowledge that the best three movies of this year to my mind have been taken off the board is that a consensus opinion I think so I think those were always going to be the first three picks that's the argument that you're making was that this year is this year because it's got these three movies those three movies are like top of the top all time in like still referenced still we could say you know both like reflective but also predictive of where we are for all three of them these would be on a list if we were doing a draft of our favorite movies yeah the hundred greatest movies ever made and greatest performances screenplay you know all of it so agree in blockbuster, I'm going to take Rocky.

44:15Okay. Okay. A movie with personal residency. Yes. You want to speak about that? Deleting it. I saw it in movie theaters in 1976. It's a terrific experience to watch in the movie theater with people. It's such an exciting movie. And it's such an excellent screenplay. You know, the moment when Rocky knocks down Apollo the first time. is such a, in some ways, now feels like such an obvious sports movie moment. But watching that film, something about the way that moment was disguised was such a surprise. I mean, people leapt out of their seat when they saw it. So a thrilling movie to see in the movie theater.

44:58Now, I've done this movie called I Play Rocky, which is coming out later this year. So I revisited Rocky and I put it on for me and Carrie. And Carrie's like, oh, we're going to watch Rocky. like she's seen this she knows it and i asked her a question about the end of the movie which she got wrong so we watched the movie and she was like again like most things we watch she was like oh i've never seen this and we got to the end of the movie and she said i thought it was a sports movie i didn't realize it's a character study and uh see this is why this is why everybody dislikes me because I think they should have stopped making these goddamn movies after Rocky.

45:43I think the world would be a better place if they had stopped at Rocky, if they had stopped at Alien. I think they should have just stopped. Well, now, did they make a billion dollars? Yes. That's an interesting opinion. And that's why people don't like you.

46:00Sean Fennessey:You're beloved. Rocky 2 is very good. And there are people who believe it It is better than Rocky 1. They're wrong. No. They're absolutely wrong. I prefer watching Rocky 2. Rocky 1 is extremely slow. Not slow. It is deliberate in its character study in a way that I can't really find a little dull at times. And now the final 20 minutes. My wife did not find it dull. Never did she find it dull. Well, she also wouldn't have been excited by more boxing in it though. Right? Like she wouldn't have been like, oh, I thought I thought that this was there was gonna be more sports. Like she was like, I avoided.

46:43So maybe it's a question of what you're looking for in a movie. What was the question that she got wrong?

46:48Sean Fennessey:Does Rocky win at the end? Yeah. Oh, that's OK. Yeah. Presumably. And he does not, of course. Right. Spoiler alert for Rocky. Fifty years ago. You know, I was thinking about as a person who likes Rocky and has never loved Rocky. Would I have drafted it at all? Like would it have been inauthentic? to have drafted it. Before you worked on I Play Rocky, would you have described yourself as a Rocky person? I would have described myself as a person who really loved and enjoyed the first film and diminishing returns for me after that. I saw two in the theater. I saw three in the theater or at home. Three's pretty fun.

47:30And I, four is Dolph Lundgren. It is.

47:34Sean Fennessey:Yeah, by that time I was out. If he dies, he dies. I was out. That's how I feel about CR on these drafts. Philadelphia, Rocky, thoughts? I mean, he's obviously a city icon. I probably care more about, at this point in my life, I care more about the Creed character played by Michael B. Jordan than I do about Rocky. Interesting. He has supplanted Rocky as your Philly icon. Well, I just think it's okay to move on. Like Tracy said, we've made so many of these movies. Sylvester Stallone has refused to let go of it in a lot of ways or did. And I just find myself like kind of being energized and stimulated by like a new take on it, you know, and a new take on the mythology of the boxer.

48:19I play Rocky. It's good. You're going to like it. That's my selection. Shall I move on? Did you ask to do this draft just so you could promote your film? You know me. The reason I like to come on here is to tout. It's to run up his numbers. I see your long name. That's Rocky. You took first. And your second pick. In comedy horror, I'm going to take Carrie. No. Damn it. Come on. I mean, I knew I wasn't going to get it, but I'm bummed out. Don't. Oh, good. I'm glad somebody's upset about my choice. If I were to get that, I would have felt very good. I think Sissy Spacek should have won Best Actress.

49:02Okay, listen. She's incredible in it, but don't bring that to Faye Dunaway in Network, which is the most important performance. I think Ceci Spacek should have won Best Actor. Of my lifetime. And I think Piper Laurie should have won Best Supporting Actor. I'm good with that. But Faye Dunaway, keep your Oscar.

49:19Sean Fennessey:She does win for Coal Miner's Daughter, right? She gets hers. I think she's an underrated actress. She's tried to get De Palma in director somewhere? No. Okay. I also think they should have stopped making jump scares after Carrie. I think jump, because I hate jump scares. I think they should have retired them after Carrie. There's not been one as good as the jump scare. You know what's funny? This movie's jump scares are all editing tricks that were used before this and are now used after it. But for whatever reason, the De Palma cut just feels different than other directors' cuts. And you feel it in the prom scene.

50:00Sean Fennessey:You feel it with the hand coming out of the grave. like the couple of moments where you're just astonished by what's just happened and you can be like startled. It's not the same as being astonished. There is something different in this movie, the kind of film grammar that he's working with that is so great. I'm really mad you got this. Amy Irving lives in my little town in New York. Hi, Amy. I think she's listening to The Big Picture. I don't know. Okay. Well, next time you see her, you can say, hey, I said hello to you on a podcast. Amanda recently selected Crossing Delancey, one of her best films.

50:31Sean Fennessey:One of Carrie's favorite movies. One of Carrie's favorites. I wonder whether what you're reacting to is what he cuts to. Because there's jump cuts, there's jump scares in the Conjuring movies, and it's in the dark, it kind of like okay-looking ghost. And just the cut is scary. You're like, oh. But when he cuts, he's fucking like, and now this goddamn image. Also, the use of split screen where you're seeing two things at the same time and your mind is expected to process them both and they're both scary. It's the look on her face and the fire and something falling in the gymnasium simultaneously that just creates an energy inside me that most modern horror movies just can't really pull that off.

51:14Carrie, she just needed somebody to say, you got this, Mama. So true. This is still probably the best movie about high school ever made, I think, in addition to obviously being a technical—

51:22Sean Fennessey:Another interesting draft idea right there. High school movies. Yeah, but it's a technical achievement. Yeah, opposing counsel and high school movies. You gotta explain that joke because we weren't recording when that was discussed. I know, we were talking about the great opposing counsels in movies. In the bathroom. That's what happens when these three men go to the bathroom. Do you think we should start bringing mics to the bathroom? They all just, they were like, gonna go to the bathroom before we record. They came out and were just being like, Kevin Bacon and a few good men. He is very good in that, even though Tracy doesn't like that movie.

51:52Sean Fennessey:Moving on. You're a big dog. Okay, so Carrie. I wanted Carrie. I'm bummed. Carrie and Rocky. And I'm up. Okay. Well, I know what two movies I'm going to take. You only get one pick, right? Sorry. I know what one movie I'm going to take. I know what two movies I want. I got to figure out what is the right category for them both.

52:23In Blockbuster, I will take the Bad News Bears.

52:28Sean Fennessey:now some of the now this is in my opinion the best comedy of this year and also the last truly great to me blockbuster this is a funky blockbuster year it sure is and Carrie I was betting on Carrie there that didn't that didn't shake out too well for me Bad News Bears top five sports movie ever made one of the funniest and sweetest and sincerest, but also mischievous movies of its time. The Great Michael Ritchie, Walter Matthau, Never Better, this butter maker, elite stuff from, from Jackie Earl Haley. Do you also believe they should have stopped making Bad News Bears movies after Bad News Bears?

53:17Yes. A thousand percent. I do. And I saw this in the movie theater and it was a fantastic time. For a little 10, 11-year-old boy, it was a great time. Did you say you just saw it for the first time? Yeah, I remember that I watched it while we were in Vegas for CinemaCon. That's right. And obviously, you know, I knew Bad News Bears because of the remakes and also just as kind of a reference point, like a thing that you say now. But I sat down to you and I said, hey, that was so charming. I was absolutely delighted by every minute of it. And also genuinely funny, which, as we've said, you can't say for many of these comedies.

53:54Sean Fennessey:yeah, and like a pretty good representation, I think, of what Little League is like, to be honest with you. Oh, yeah. You know, Richie had such a great... As I recall. Richie just had such a great feel for that kind of middle-class suburban lifestyle. Smile was his movie right before this about teenage beauty pageants. And that movie, like this one, has a similar kind of sensibility about just showing people in a very, very relatable milieu. Yeah, and he's really good at movies about competition. You know, like Downhill Racer, The Candidate, Smile, The Bad News Bears, Semi-Tough. That whole period of movies is all people competing with one another and what it kind of brings out in you and what it awakens in Buntermaker, what it reveals in these kids.

54:45Sean Fennessey:It's a really, really fun movie. His five movie run, Downhill Racer, The Candidate, Prime Cut Smile and then Bad News Bears. For my money it's the best five movie run in American movies. Have you said that on this show? I know you've said that to me before. I don't know if you've ever mentioned that. I probably said it on Letterboxd. Damn. There you go brother. Didn't we put Downhill Racer in the Red Heard Hall? You didn't say it then? One of our faves. You know I'm an old man I repeat myself a lot. It's okay. You know also Wildcats, Digstown He kept making movies in this world. He is the great sports movie maker of our time.

55:26Sean Fennessey:Anyway, feel good about that. Is that me now? Now it's your turn. Don't fuck me. Well, don't fuck me. I'm going to take. Go ahead. It's okay. It's fine. You can. No, no, no, no, no. It's okay. It's all right. I'm going to take. I'm going to look deep in your eyes right now. And I'm going to take the Omen and Blockbuster. Okay, good. That's good. Okay. Thank you. because we're running out of... I've heard of this, but I knew that you guys would take it. It's all for you, Damien! Right, and this is also... So his name isn't Damien Omen. It's not Damien Omen. But that's what Bill calls him. Yes. And they recently redid Omen.

56:02Son of Jim Omen.

56:03Sean Fennessey:Sure. Jim and Judy Omen. Okay, that's good. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. It's still a pretty disturbing movie. You know, I enjoy this film. I think I like to laugh with this movie more than I am afraid of it. But there's some great set pieces. It's got a pretty good backbone of story. Gregory Peck's decent in it. Wonderful score. One of the great scores. There's the... The woman throwing herself out the window still fucks with you a little bit. Plate glass window. That's a great kill. I think it won the Academy Award for score. Am I wrong about that? It's Jerry Goldsmith. Yeah, it's a really good score.

56:37A franchise I don't quite understand. I've tried to. I think I got pretty deep into the Omen franchise when we did Omen on Rewatchables and I was like watching the Sam Neill version of grown up Damien. Yeah.

56:51Sean Fennessey:Have you seen the first Omen? Do you know about this? Yes, I did. The movie came out a few years ago. Oh wait, that was good. That's a terrific movie. That's when I became aware of Damien Omen. From the first Omen? Yes. No, yeah, yes. Because it was back in the news. This was a terrific night with the big bucket of popcorn in the movie theater in 1976. Yeah. Remember it very far. And you got it in Blockbuster, right? I did. Yes. um never one of my movies as somebody who's really obsessive about the history of horror I don't for whatever I feel my thing I don't really know how scary it is I think it's because it's made by Richard Donner who's clearly like not that interested in horror and there are things about the movie that he's interested in obviously like this kind of like uptight elite couple having something come into their lives that disturbs their gentle upper middle class lifestyle but it just kind of feels like everybody's slumming it a little bit it's like Gregory Peck slumming it a little bit You say that, but I will say that I like when actors of his generation, like him, Burt Lancaster, guys who are just like, yeah, I like working and I'm going to try this out and I'm going to play with my image and I'm going to play.

58:00He's made some pretty provocative stuff over the course of his career. I don't know if he's held up as still one of the great Hollywood actors. That's a good question. Gregory Peck? Well, not only that, but I mean, obviously it's made in the wake of The Exorcist, which just made so much money. Now we can cite a thousand examples of low budget, low rent Exorcist knockoffs. Here was an example of a studio going, we want some of that Exorcist money too. and it's just big budget Hollywood filmmaking get us big stars you know the kids will come see it for the demonic possession but we're going to get the adults to come see it because Gregory Peck and Lee Remick are in it right and it's parental anxiety and we went as a family I remember my folks wouldn't have gone my folks did not go to see The Exorcist in the movie theater

58:47Sean Fennessey:and it's in a tradition of like the haunted child going back to the bad seed in movies like that too so there's some tradition there flaking I noticed you're wearing the Steely Dan Gaucho sweatshirt if you wanted to be on time with 76 I think it would have been the Royal Scam do you have a Royal Scam sweatshirt? I don't I did have a Grizzly t-shirt the film Grizzly but I didn't wear that one of my favorite traditions is when you correct people and or movies for having anachronistic music cues or references in the film world. Since you brought it up, I should... Oh, yeah. Please show the pants.

59:30Show the back, yeah. Nice.

59:33Sean Fennessey:That's really nice. Now, are you purposefully evoking the era right now with your garb? I'm not. Oh, like he's like the guy in Gaucho, like try again tomorrow. Like I'm dressing for the 1976 podcast? I'm just asking. I did not dress for the 1976 podcast. Sorry. You got two now. I do. Okay. I know what I'm going to do. in Oscar because many of my Oscar picks are already off the board because again of the way this draft works so I will be taking Marathon Man in Oscar I'm sorry, were you going to take it? I honestly just don't like any of the other blockbusters and I'm trying to take movies that I at least feel like I have a relationship to but this is one of my favorite, this would have been my second pick maybe, like honestly It's so good.

1:00:26And it really is where our interests meet. You know, a spy thriller, Roy Scheider in Paris. The movie for me does drop off slightly in quality. Spoiler alert, once Roy Scheider is no longer in the picture. Well, then it just becomes a movie about dentistry, which you're not a fan of. It's true. I think Marathon Man is probably why, you know?

1:00:45Sean Fennessey:What a zag for you, a movie about a dentist. Right, sure. But is he using the dentistry for good? Well, he's a Nazi. Sure. So, you know, not really. Yeah. Roy Scheider in Paris, spy thriller. Really, really delightful. And Olivier was nominated in Supporting Actor, I believe. So then in drama. Hold on. Can I tell a quick Marathon Man story? Yeah, please. So it's me and William Goldman. My friend T.J. Jagadowski. Do you know him? No. He's a great improviser. One of the greatest improvisers alive. You might know him from the Sonic commercials. He was on them for a long time. Very funny guy. Anyway, he's in Chicago and he's on the train in Chicago.

1:01:26And he's on the train and there's a young couple on the train, 20 years old. And the boy is explaining to the girl the plot of Three Days of the Condor. He's watched the movie and he's telling her the story of Three Days of the Condor on the train. TJ has his back to them. And he's fascinated not only that this 20-year-old kid has watched Three Days of the Condor, not only that he feels the need to describe the entire plot to his girlfriend but that he's so good at it to really replete summation of the plot points of Three Days of the Condor. And TJ's kind of fascinated to hear this kid because, you know, there's some it's a convoluted...

1:02:12Yeah, absolutely. Takes her all the way through it until he gets to the climax of Three Days of the Condor and he says, and then homeboy made him meet a bunch of diamonds.

1:02:33I so wanted to turn and ask. Holy shit. Did you fall asleep on the couch watching one and wake up at the end of the other one? That is amazing.

1:02:44Sean Fennessey:That's the most like I plagiarized this from AI I've ever heard. Can you imagine if you just took every movie with a twist and then Brad Pitt gets out into the desert and then Homeboy makes me a bunch of diamonds. Kevin Spacey how strange oh that's funny I think of it every time I think of Marathon Man we just watched it recently Me and the Nanny great fun terrific movie delightful movie okay what I'm gonna do here and this is taking a little bit of risk but I think that this is what would probably go next if I know my audience so in drama I'm gonna take Mikey and Nikki the Elaine May masterpiece that explained men to me, you know, and I spend a lot of time with them, even though I'm not privy to the bathroom conversations.

1:03:37Sean Fennessey:If you watch Husbands and Mikey and Nikki in succession, those are all the boys in your life. You know, and now I'm raising the next generation. So I'm trying to study. I'm trying to learn. I'm trying to avoid the mistakes of the past, which are enumerated in excruciating detail in Mikey and Nicky. At least none of them are gangsters. Sure. As far as you know. Yeah. You mean in Mikey and Nicky or in our life? Yeah. As far as I know. But we don't know what's going to happen to my sons. That's a great point. You took that in drama? I took it in drama. Okay. Great. Great movie. Wonderful movie. I would just add that Cassavetes is very powerful to me personally.

1:04:20He's your speed, huh? Yeah. Yeah, even, you know, given, despite all the problems, very evident in this film and everything else. I just, I really, really get it. Your board is very strong. Thank you.

1:04:31Sean Fennessey:She's looking very solid. Yeah. A good picking spot, I would say. It'd be nice to have the number one pick. I think, yes, but she's chosen well. Completely. Thank you. I'm not going to just put it all on the spot. She's chosen well. It's not over yet. Okay. This movie is, I think a lot of like our guys are very influenced by this movie. Yes. And a lot of the tone where this movie doesn't have the tone of a gangster movie, even though it's about gangsters. And it makes a lot of choices. Men on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It is. It's a lot of like the personal anxieties. Philadelphia men also on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

1:05:12Sean Fennessey:Even down to Ned Beatty as the hitman who is the most unlikely of hitmen. Who's kind of bumbling and not suave and not cold-blooded. big year for net baiting. Awesome year. Network, Mikey and Nikki, and Silver Streak. That's right. We may get to Silver Streak. We'll see. You grabbed two? I did. Marathon Man and Mikey and Nikki. Very good picks. CR, you're up. In action thriller, I'm going to take Outlaw Josie Wiles. God fucking damn it. God fucking damn it. One of the great Clint Eastwood movies, one of his best performances, a very interesting film to read about, the making of Philip Kaufman's involvement with it.

1:05:51The Eastwood rule that came in because you're not allowed to get rid of a director and replace yourself, replace the director with yourself if you're the star, apparently. Which I think I wonder if has happened kind of behind the scenes a couple of times. But at least officially, this became like a DGA thing, I think. a story about a confederate soldier who tries to run to Texas after a huge confrontation with the union and disappear from the war and disappear from a life of violence and the violence in the war just won't let him go away get away so absolutely gorgeous movie to look at and to think about his style evolving out of his experiences with Leon and his experiences on TV and everything and really starting to find his own voice and his own editing rhythm, his own photography.

1:06:45Is this Sir T's shot this? Fucking incredible looking movie and a beautiful 4K. I'm so glad somebody said it before I did. I'm so glad I did not have to break the digital media ice. Honestly, get that steelbook. I just got the Warner one. You just couldn't let it go, could you?

1:07:05Sean Fennessey:I think that this is in the conversation for his best performance too because he's asked to play something that he very rarely plays in movies where he literally breaks down crying in this movie when his family is killed and he resisted that a lot of times as a star he didn't really let himself get into that and he's also got what is the name of the Native American actor in this film? Chief Dan George Chief Dan George and their chemistry is so wonderful in this movie this was God I really I maybe should have taken this in the first go around because it's definitely one of my favorite Clint movies yeah and I was you know you can also feel this is a guy who's watched Kurosawa movies like this is a guy who actually has like a kind of international sensibility when it comes to applying it to western so it just and this is also one I used to watch with my dad all the time this would this would be on TBS this would be on movie channels or we had on tape and it would just kind of be on a lot with some Pale Rider little bit of a pickle here yeah you are um you are because i got two picks coming down the track yeah you sure do i don't think there's there's not i don't think there's anything that could be taken away from me that would devastate me at this point so i need to just follow my truth for the rest of this draft which means i will lose this draft but have a slate that i enjoy okay i'm just gonna foreground that okay because there's a couple movies i wanted to get coming in here has everybody picked blockbuster I have not you have not you have I did you have I have that's why I picked the omen so early got it

1:08:39boy it's okay you have network

1:08:42Sean Fennessey:no I'm very pleased about that and you have Bad News Bears which is incredibly charming in thriller and action I will take Assault on Precinct 13 okay so glad you did this which is John Carpenter's second feature film and among his best and is directly inspired by Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo and is a kind of trapped-in-one-place shootout movie that is absolutely scintillating and like an example of... Terrifying in some places, yeah. And like a great example of what can be done on a modest budget and is definitely the skeleton key for I think a lot of where his movies are going even as they got bigger in scale.

1:09:27Sean Fennessey:The like style, tone, smart-alecky. the wide style that he looks at great performances in this movie underrated performances and just the announcement of like a major genre filmmaker who is one of my all time faves. I was watching this last night and I forgot how unnerving those opening scenes with the gang driving around LA with the rifle with the silencer pointed out the car window and they keep stopping at different people and eyeing them up and then they fuck up that ice cream man. What? Who is, what is the actor's name? Is it Austin Stoker? What happened to Austin Stoker? Is he still with us?

1:10:09Sean Fennessey:Did he pass? I don't know. Let me take a look. Yeah, I guess he passed in 2022. Have you seen the remake of this? I did. It's Ethan Hawke and Lauren Fishburne and I kind of liked it. Oh, who made it? Do you know? I'm not sure. While we're on the topic, have we seen the remake of Bad News Bears? Oh sure, Richard Linklater. It's not very good. Yeah. Disappointing. Billy Bob. Interesting that both of these movies have been remade. Jean-Francois Richet. Also made no other movies that I've ever heard of. Not a movie that needed to be remade. Assault in Precinct 13.

1:10:51Sean Fennessey:Good pick. Thanks. Was that in your realm of interest? Absolutely. Okay. I certainly had it on my list. I wasn't trying to take anything from you per se, but you know. All right. I'm going to take a bit of a category reach. Okay. I think it qualifies. In action thriller, I'm going to take The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. This is fucked up. This was my other. Yeah. It was literally either Assault on Prison 13 or this. I chose Mikey and Nikki instead of this for my. There were two Cassavetes on the board this year. But this is the one that my husband was willing to watch with me. He was like, hey, I heard you're doing 76.

1:11:33What do you got to watch? And then he picked Killing a Chinese bookie. Which cut?

1:11:42The longest one.

1:11:44Sean Fennessey:See, I disagree. I like the shorter one, too. I do, too. I think there's a great story, right? Is it Gazara who's like, this is too fucking long? No, I thought it was the reverse. I thought it was Gazzaro was like, you got to show me when I'm doing this. And then Cassavetes. Is that what it was? Cassavetes is shorter. Yeah. The director's cut is shorter. It's 108 minutes versus like 100. No, I thought it was the theatrical cut. I thought they screened the movie at 135 minutes and Gazzaro didn't like it. Oh, and he made him cut it more. And he said, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's the other way around.

1:12:18No, I think now I think you might. I thought he wasn't done editing and they were like, you have to put this out.

1:12:23Sean Fennessey:But then the edit, the 108-minute version, he moves those scenes all over the place. Like, the movie's very different. Very different opening. And there's a lot less stuff, I guess, in the nightclub. I've just got a lot more patience for Mr. Sophistication than I did as a younger man. Now I can sit and watch Mr. Sophistication all night long. This is a... Man, I fucked up this draft. This movie, I think, is one of the better movies about where the lead character is like a stand-in for the filmmaker, where the idea of a person who's like, what I'm really interested in is the design and the world and the artistry that I'm putting into this nightclub and everybody's there to watch girls dance and to be entertained.

1:13:06Sean Fennessey:And that you come to show business for the pomp and the circumstance, you don't come for the artistry, and Cassavetes being totally tortured. I love that idea that's in the movie that's so at the forefront of it. All the scenes of him just calling the club, being like, no, no, no, who's on stage right now? What song are they singing? Why is she out there alone? It's really, really, really good. Great movie about Los Angeles public transportation. Best use of Playboy playmates, I think, ever in a film. Over Apocalypse Now. You got me. You got me. But those are not real. Are they real playmates?

1:13:38Sean Fennessey:No, like Colin Camp's in it, right? What a week for Colin Camp on the big picture. That's right. Happy for her.

1:13:48Sean Fennessey:oh there's another great story about this where he asked a whole bunch of studio heads to come sit and be in the crowd of the club but then he like blurred all their faces purposefully so you can't see them which is just like the way that the lighting is set up so they thought they were being gratified by being able to appear in a movie and then he fucked them over which is such a little he's such a little fucker I love when Seymour Cassell and all the guys take uh gazzara to like the deli on sunset and they're just like all like huddled in this deli drinking beers and and like are like so let's take out a third mortgage on your house whatever to pay off your poker debts i always am happy to see timothy carrey in a movie and he's great in here and i also have special affection for this because i saw it at uh i saw it in dallas texas uh with a q a with Cassavetes afterwards.

1:14:41Oh, shit. Excited to hear Cassavetes

1:14:43Sean Fennessey:talk about money. Like a guy trying to get money together to make a movie. It was all he was about. So interesting. Okay, you got another pick. Ew. Does everybody have drama? I don't. I do. I do. So interesting that thriller action is all filled up. I feel like that's a healthy category. No? It is. It was a little bit about the last minute category shift. So I just wasn't as prepped. It may work out for you really well. In drama, I'm going to take Lifeguard. Whew! You are the number one Lifeguard fan on this podcast. You've brought this film to so many people. No, I haven't. You should watch it.

1:15:31I think you would like it.

1:15:33Sean Fennessey:I think you would too. You would really like it. I'm sure that I would. this is the um Sam Elliott Sam Elliott I was just thinking I was thinking about The Pants which is has that episode come out yet? That has not come out Oh yeah Has physical media come out by the time people are for this? Okay so complimenting people on their pants and complimenting Sam Elliott on his pants is what kind of I was just thinking about pants Yeah I was good I forgot it's been a long week I just it was just a terrific movie Carrie and I were just we watched it together we'd never seen it We were both just kind of knocked out by what a good film it is.

1:16:08And a film that, as Tim was saying the other day on the podcast, it kind of gets deeper as you get further into it. It seems to be a very light thing when you start. And by the end of it, it actually gets kind of deep. And it's a great Sam Elliott performance. Early Ann Archer and maybe first Kathleen Quinlan appearance in Lifeguard. I think I'm done. okay Fenrock

1:16:37Sean Fennessey:I've got another pick huh so I'm currently missing comedy and horror comedy or horror Oscar and wild card Oscar what a fascinating Oscar year most of the big dogs were taken up front there's some good movies left though some movies I really like

1:17:00Sean Fennessey:I think I think what I'll do is I'll just take a movie I really love which is Harlan County USA and Austin you fucking dick you fucking motherfucker you fucking fuck you and the horse you fucked sorry sorry now you guys did that 900th show and that little boy listens to the not anymore he does and if you're listening I just want to say fuck you Sean you fucking dick Nico it's just me and you here I hope his name was Nico he's so sweet he made Sean cry unpleasant I was so touched by that I really was real factory owner shit right here yeah I mean I have probably said on the pod before I think this might be the greatest American documentary ever made Barbara Coppel's film about what happens in a Kentucky coal mine and the company that owns it and the folks who work in it and the way in which they organize and stand in the face of the corporation.

1:18:06Sean Fennessey:A movie about real people that shows real people as they are in a direct way, which is very hard to do. And this movie, it being recognized in its time, I think is really fascinating and really powerful at winning Best Documentary Feature. It's that collision of social impact and filmmaking artistry. And, you know, Coppola's made a lot of really great movies over the years, but this one similar to some of the movies that we took at the top of the draft also feels as though it is not expiring still very relevant oh very much so still very maybe more so than it has been a long time yeah yeah um and very watchable i mean there's sequences in this i mean even just the descending into the minds in the beginning i mean like where you're like well this is as good as anything in any action movie from this this year when you and some real like I don't really understand.

1:18:55There are moments where you're like, I can't believe there was a camera here for this.

1:18:58Sean Fennessey:Yeah. She also just, there's a filmmaking style where you could have made this movie as purely observational, but she gets this just into camera testimony from people on the scene frequently where you see them and they don't feel like blinkered by the idea of media. It's not like a performance that they're giving because they're being asked a question with someone holding a camera. It feels authentic. it seems like an insufficient word to explain the way in which they're communicating about what's going on. And some of that is the trust that Koppel has built with the people in the community. Some of that is just people not knowing how to be any other way.

1:19:33Sean Fennessey:But yeah, this movie is like a, is a one-on-one for documentary filmmaking. I was going to rewatch it for this draft and didn't, and then realized, oh, it's okay. It's pretty, it's pretty imprinted. In your mind, yeah. I feel the same way. I watched it in college. I probably watched it one time since, but definitely one of my faves. I think on DVD in the Criterion collection but I don't think it's been upgraded not on Blu-ray I would love a Barber Cople box set actually I only say this for the kids out there who might want to check this movie I just didn't want you to think I was turning this into a physical media podcast I recognize alright CR you have a pick here bud what do you have left Chris?

1:20:17I got drama, wild card and comedy, horror, sci-fi. And in drama, I'm going to take Kings of the Road. Hmm. Okay. So this is Vin Vendors' rather epic, but also very intimate road movie about a very depressed therapist and a film projection repairman driving around Germany and talking about stuff and about their lives and, you know, going to hang out with exes and their dads and really just trying to, you know... It's basically a blueprint for Linklater. It's a blueprint for Jarmusch. It's shot by Robbie Muller in an extraordinary black and white photography. It's a hangout movie and it's a thinker, but it's kind of just like you can just kick back and watch these guys wash their clothes and walk around in circles and fill up the tank with gas and stuff like that.

1:21:07It's very durational. It's very just watching life unfold. But for me, it's the cinematography that I really come back to. as Muller winds up, you know, obviously shooting stuff like Repo Man and To Live and Die in L.A. and Jarmusch movies like Down by Law, I believe, and, you know, is one of my favorite cinematographers in film history. So to watch him kind of cook and watch him just really get like an expansive canvas like this, it's just a really lovely movie. The long movie is our call. Three hours almost, I think, yeah. And it's kind of, it's the last pure German movie

1:21:42Sean Fennessey:that Vendors makes, right? For a long period of time, the American friend comes right after this and then he kind of goes on his sagas of America and makes Hammett with Coppola and Paris, Texas and whatnot. Great movie. The playoffs are here and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with FanDuel Predicts. Follow all the playoff dishes, swishes, wishes, and misses. Predict the spread, the total points, and even the game winner. Sign up for FanDuel Predicts and predict it from the couch. Offered by FanDuel Prediction Markets, LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus, trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors.

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1:23:30Sean Fennessey:Okay, Amanda. Yes. I have two picks. in blockbuster I will take a movie that I like even if the rest of you are being snobby A Star is Born the 1976 version starring Barbra Streisand I don't know why I always have to come on this podcast and be like Barbra Streisand is important Barbra Streisand Barbra Streisand is important and the movies that she makes that made millions of dollars at the box office are also important and you all just kind of like stare at me. What? But it's true. It's not a good movie, but okay. Here's why I'm staring at you. It's pretty good. I've never seen any version of A Star is Born.

1:24:12Really? I haven't seen this one. But I don't mean that in a cocky way. Chris Christopherson's kind of bringing it in this, in my opinion. Sure. Well, that's what he's doing. Pick Christopherson. You can't argue that. And, you know, they have some heat that I responded to at the age that I was.

1:24:31Sean Fennessey:Such a boring movie. That's fine. you can say that and I had a nice time and it was the second most second highest earning movie of the year so there it was a very big hit yeah you've not seen a single A Star Is Born film no let's unpack that I don't have a good reason okay there's no it's not it's not like I'm boycotting A Star Is Born I mean Judy Garland in the second one is lights out I'm told that's the one I have to see I mean that is one of the great screen performances in my opinion you really should watch that and Amanda and I both absolutely love Bradley Cooper's version. You might disagree with us, as you often do on contemporary films.

1:25:09Sean Fennessey:How can I disagree with you if I haven't seen it? Is it because you hate films that center women? Like, what's the issue? I'm not responding to your tyrannical questions. Good. Good for you. Good. It's nice to see. Welcome. Yeah. But you will and you do hate films that center women as I understand it. Is that correct? Do not submit to the tyranny. Okay. That's one. That's in Blockbuster. Yes, Blockbuster. And then in comedy horror. This is one of the international ones where depending on where you are, you get a different year. But this performance from this film was nominated for the Oscars that we keep referencing.

1:25:45And it was released in the US in 1976. So I will be taking Cousin Cuisine. Oh, yeah, sure. Which I had not seen until preparing for this and was completely delighted by. It's a French four weddings and a funeral. And, you know, it's organized. It's a romantic comedy. organized around two people who are cousins, but by marriage. So there's no kind of bloodline issues going on here. And it is France. They are also married, unlike in Four Weddings and a Funeral, both of them. And they keep meeting over a series of family functions and then ultimately decide that, you know, it's happy ending that they want to be together.

1:26:30They are believable, but all of the family functions and sort of the weird slice of French 70s life is so funny and memorable and every weird character gets a moment and makes you laugh. And, you know, there are not a lot of great comedies and certainly not a lot of romantic comedies. I love this pick. Yeah, it's really good, right? It's a great pick.

1:26:56Sean Fennessey:Is it Marie-Christine Bérot? Yes. Is that who was nominated? She was nominated for Best Actress. Anyway, delightful movie. Did you know there's an American remake? I did, but I've never seen it. It's called Cousins, and I believe it's made by Joel Schumacher. Sure. With Bill Peterson and Sean Young and a bunch of other people. This was discussed when we spoke about To Live and Die in L.A. on the Rewatchables, because this was one of the movies that Peterson chose as he was kind of dawning as a movie actor that didn't really hit and making that choice instead of some other. He was offered in this exact same time frame the film Goodfellas reportedly turned it down to do this Joel Schumacher movie.

1:27:39Sean Fennessey:Didn't work out. Good pick though. Thank you. Very good pick. This film was nominated for not one, not two, but three Academy Awards. Thanks. CR, it's back to you. Wait a minute. Didn't you have two? Did you make two? Yeah, I did A Star is Born, which you've never seen because you don't care about a life in the arts. Having heard those picks, do you still feel that Amanda is winning this draft? Yeah, I do. Okay. I mean, it's fine. We did let women into the frame, but, you know, it's okay. I have Fade Dunaways in a film. I respect women. In horror, comedy, and sci-fi, I am going to take The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

1:28:16Wow. Intriguing. You know, it has a mixed reputation for a very good reason. It's a very scary film that then has a very stupid B-plot of the law enforcement trying to capture this serial killer called The Phantom who's terrorizing Texarkana, I believe. Yes. It's made by Charles Pierce, who's from Arkansas and made a bunch of really interesting 70s genre movies set in and around the Southwest. And used to distribute them out of the back of his pickup truck. No shit. Driving around theater to theater and made fortunes. but when you watch Town the Dreaded Sundown it's just kind of like especially the opening is really inventive with this voiceover of almost like you're watching a documentary about you know people getting back from World War II and this town that's thriving and then this killer that starts terrorizing couples but when the cops the Texas Rangers I think come into this it kind of turns into smoking the bandit a little bit and there's a lot of like gee willikers Where are we going to get the gas for this car?

1:29:20And he was just really planned to a lot of different kinds of audiences. But the Phantom is a really scary slasher. And I think you can see elements of like Zodiac in this. You know, I don't know if Fincher likes this movie. This was actually remade this century. I don't remember what year the Town of the Dread Sundown remake came out, but it's pretty good. and it's in the movie the remake it is about how they made the first movie about the phantom and the town so it's a little like screaming

1:29:52Sean Fennessey:it was like 2017-ish around that time pretty decent movie though and yeah so I'll do that for horror nice interesting how many movies were remade from this year yeah alright that's a good film a good pick I think I need to do I need to pick from that category I think I do I'm missing wild card and comedy and horror and you tell me if you think this is a comedy because I do I'll take Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull's history lesson yeah it's a comedy sure

1:30:28Sean Fennessey:what do you think it is I I don't remember a lot of like laugh out louds on that one it's a cynical view of the world and I guess entertainment. An embittered satire of the falsity of the American myth. Okay. It's not LOL. It's like laughing silently to myself as a satire. Chains stroking amusement. This is a movie that we did speak about on the Paul Newman Hall of Fame episode. This is the first of two collaborations that he had with Robert Altman, one of my faves. A movie about Buffalo Bill Cody in the later stages of his life after hiring a publicist and a producer and putting on a big old circus show in the middle of the West where he reenacts some of his quote unquote greatest achievements along with a whole cast of characters unbelievable cast in this film that includes Burt Lancaster Joel Grey Geraldine Chaplin big Harvey Keitel year it sure is I might try to grab maybe you'll try to grab another Harvey Keitel movie before we're done here I think this is one of the great underrated Altman movies and like very much in keeping with this obsession that he has with people who put up a front and don't reveal the truth about themselves.

1:31:48Sean Fennessey:Do you still have comedy? I took Carrie in comedy horror. Okay. Just out of curiosity, if we started throwing things all over the studio and saying you can't have this in comedy, I'm curious what your comedy would be. It would either be Up, the Russ Meyer movie, which actually came up on the Physical Media episode and I watched for the first time yesterday. had a nice time did it without my family at home it is very it's very funny I'll bet you laughed more up than you did out loud at Buffalo Bill I was titillated as well that's a topic for another time the physical media high council which is really all those guys are up to there are some horror movies that I like that are left on the board but I probably would also consider Silent Movie, the Mel Brooks film, which I think is not like one of his best, but it's one that I enjoy.

1:32:47Sean Fennessey:But you know what? There's more picks to be made. So you're up for two. I saw Buffalo Bill for the first time in preparation for this draft. I've never seen it before. A little on the nose. Okay. I love this Altman style. I love all the cast. I love, I think that Newman is fantastic in the movie. It's cool that they did it, but also it's, they are belaboring the point. A little bit. Wow God damn Like a Star is Born Really subtle Piece of filmmaking Joel Grey man Joel Grey was a standout For me in that movie I thought Joel Grey Was superb He's really great Burt Lancaster Hated making the movie And did not like Robert Altman I'm not surprised By that at all I'm always supposed To be shooting my scenes Is that your Burt Lancaster No My Burt Lancaster I love this dirty town I have Oscar And I have Wildcard Left And I'm making both of those picks right now, aren't they?

1:33:41You are. Those aren't the last two picks. Then we go back up. We sure do. What do you guys have left? We just have wild card. Wild card. Wild card. Oh. It's like that, is it? But I would have used my wild card for Harlan County if... Right. It was on my... Three Gardens was my wild card pick, but it was apparently also my wild card pick for 1975, so... Was the 75 draft when he took Barry Lyndon and you went,

1:34:11was that that did i do that for barry linden yes why i don't know why because you're a brat but why why did i mean i don't remember this or maybe it was an oscars draft or something it was more recently we were in this room and you were like barry linden and you just went like it was really one of the funnier anyway but I like Barry Lyndon well perhaps I got the moment the film wrong I'd have to go back and see I'm going to take some other gal on movie drafts yeah some other gal I'm going to take in wild card the man who fell to earth

1:34:49Sean Fennessey:what category would this movie be eligible in I was wondering that's why I asked about sci-fi yeah I have to say there are some movies your relationship to them changes over the years as you watch them. And sometimes you go back to a movie, Godfather Part II, and you go, I'm not liking this as much as I used to like this. Absolutely. But what's thrilling is when you see a movie and you don't like it, and then you go back and you revisit it and you go, oh, there's more there than I thought. And then you see it a third time and you go, how did I miss this? That's how I felt about Michael Mann's black hat.

1:35:22There you go. Well, that's how I feel about the man who fell to earth. My third viewing of this kind of knocked my socks off. perhaps due to the beautiful 4k presentation on the studio canal steel studio canal in the room with you now i appreciate all the work that studio canal does i haven't seen this particular 4k transfer do you guys know the man who fell to earth no i haven't you haven't seen it david bowie uh rip yeah i know that uh candy clark great performance so that's my wild card and in Oscar I'm going to take you've been really

1:36:01Sean Fennessey:stumping for Nick Rogue on these pods since you came back here he he there's a pocket there's a Nick Rogue pocket it didn't last long but it's great I'm fascinated by those later ones though Insignificance and Eureka and those movies are interesting right The Witches The Witches indeed Angelica Haysen when do you introduce your kids to The Witches pretty scary right I saw it very early on and it fucked me up I was a big role doll reader The Witches is my favorite of the Roald Dahl books. And so I will probably start with that book-wise. It is pretty scary. And I would say that my kind of line for my kids right now is, is it going to cause a nightmare that I have to deal with at like 2 a.m.?

1:36:44We've had a lot of like, I had a dream about a scary robot recently because of Star Wars. So Witches would be intense, but amazing movie.

1:36:54Sean Fennessey:I think maybe Danny the Champion of the World is my favorite Roald Dahl book. Have you read that one? I was not a big Dahl guy. Really good movie about a boy and his father who was a mechanic. Because you like Dahl's views on... No, he's an anti-Semite. I reject that about him. Right, does it? I can play the game. I know how to respond to these questions. I've been writing them my whole life. I uh no he was a he was a wretched anti-semi but a wonderful writer and creator of stories for children did you get to see Giant yet? no uh the stage play with John Lithgow where he plays Roald Dahl oh interesting probably gonna win the Tony Award for best actor Lithgow's gonna win that yeah have you seen it?

1:37:40no I will not be going to see it when I go back to New York next week I'm going to see a different play

1:37:43Sean Fennessey:in protest of Dahl's views? no just out of my own personal curiosities uh What are you seeing instead? Becky Shaw. Oh, okay. I hear it's great. Alden Ehrenreich. I hear it's great. Patrick Ball from The Pit. I hear Alden's great in it, too. I can't wait. You've always supported Alden. I have. In the theater. I do. In Oscar, I'm going to take Seven Beauties. Linda Wirtmuller's movie starring Giancarlo Giannini. Was he nominated for Best Actor, Giancarlo Giannini? I do not think he was. He was nominated. He was nominated for Best Actor. Great, funny, horrifying, hilarious, upsetting, all those things.

1:38:32And a great performance. He's really great in this movie. I put this sort of in the bucket of, this is a movie you kids should see if you haven't seen it. Kids ought to go out. Have you seen Seven Beauties? No. I'll go out and see seven.

1:38:46Sean Fennessey:One of the great things about this year to Amanda's selection of, is it Cousin Cousin? Cousin Cousine. Get ready for Cannes, my guy. It's never been one of my skills. I'll do my best. Just like now, a lot of international films would find their way into the nominations across the 1970s. And we're pretty solidly represented throughout those years. So that's it for you. You're done. Yeah. how do you feel you have Carrie though I think that's pretty important in more ways than one in some ways that's all you have

1:39:27what did you pick Tracy just you

1:39:32Sean Fennessey:I got a wild card here huh gosh well I don't know I don't know what I want to choose what's my favorite movie that's left on the board I don't know, Sean. Tell us. I will momentarily. Okay. Do you know what you're going to do for Wild Card, Christopher? I'm trying to decide between three things. Oh, wow. Look at you. I'm wondering if you've seen a movie that I just watched and how you would feel about it. You as well. You as well. She's 1900. Casually. Okay. All five hours? I don't know. Is 1900 eligible in this year? Why? Because it lasts longer than the year?

1:40:12Sean Fennessey:I don't really know. didn't it come out in 77 or 78 I don't care for that film so it's got some you weren't considering it but yeah because it was not in the English language or what was the reason no because I I find it to be quite dull and somewhat offensive I'll tell you what I'll just keep some consistency with my all in affection just really on your principles today yeah and I'll take Alan Rudolph's Welcome to LA which is not his first film but his first film under Altman's guidance One of the first films, the first film released by Lionsgate, not the Lionsgate that we know, but the production company that Robert Altman launched on his own and released a handful of films, only four that he did not direct.

1:40:53Sean Fennessey:This was the first of them. It's a movie, a kind of arch drama about vapid people in Los Angeles gathering and thinking that they have problems when in fact they do not. it is features many of the players from the Altman classics Keith Carradine Geraldine Chaplin Harvey Keitel appears in this movie Lauren Hutton's in this Lauren Hutton Sally Kellerman Sissy Spacek is in this movie it's kind of centered around this songwriter musician played by Carradine can I just stop you for one second about this one of the things that stopped me from seeing this film for such a long time is on the cover of the video box.

1:41:37Carradine has the worst facial hair, perhaps in American history. Well, in the film he does. Yeah. I mean, it is really an abomination of a chin whisker that he's got going. It recalls Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. But he's supposed to just be like the coolest guy moving through L.A.

1:41:55Sean Fennessey:But he's also, the movie is also very cleverly like, this is the Nepo. Right? Like his father is a powerful music executive. It's kind of put him in position to be this much sought after songwriter um Richard Baskin speaking of your girl Barbara Streisand who has dated Barbara Streisand for years um plays a a singer in the film and wrote the songs that are performed in the movie just a really kind of acidic seemingly soft but very jagged portrait of honestly a milieu that's very familiar to me I just feel like I know a lot of the people in this movie even though it was made 50 years ago cool my turn your turn so wild card gosh we all feel a little grim here in the later round I just like you know that's the thing is these lineups cannot stack up to the 75 lineups that's why there's not as much I don't know I've got all the president's men and we know and marathon man yeah you got a star is born and cousin cousin cousin is great I had the fucking Stepford Wives in 75 which is incredible film I'm sure But also kind of belabors the point.

1:43:08We get it. Oh, my God.

1:43:09Sean Fennessey:Since when is subtlety so important to you? This is not something you've expressed in previous episodes of this show. Just saying. I can speak my truth, which is, you know. I think I'll just for the hell of it take Logan's Run. Sure. Okay. Which probably winds up influencing more stuff that I liked than me loving Logan's Run itself. but is a real head fuck of a movie when you think about some of the things that the character goes through. It's basically about a guy who, it's like a sort of Hunger Games-y society where after a certain amount of time, people get sort of farmed out into a competition to see if they can still live, keep going and living.

1:43:50Let me tell you all about it. And yeah, I believe Michael York plays the main character who is one of the hunters of those people but then becomes the hunted and learns a lot of truths about society in the process.

1:44:04Sean Fennessey:To Tracy's point about the Rocky films, do you think that we should all tap out at 30? That at 30 years old, we should be eliminated from society? No, I'm thriving. It would be an interesting way to start, you know, thinning out the amount of chairs in this draft is to, you know, it's like once you hit a certain amount of drafts, you're done. The bad news would be that this show would never have existed.

1:44:28So yeah, I'll go with Logan's run for last one there. Okay, Amanda, you've got one final pick. I have Wildcard, and I'm going to do a discovery, another discovery, that I made while watching this. And also another documentary. My original plan was to do Grey Gardens in Wildcard, which is also what I did in 1975. So maybe I think the lineups are comparable because for me, they were going to be sort of the same. Anyway, I'm going to do a different documentary, Daguerreotype, which an Agnes Varda film that was 75 in France, 76 in the U.S., so it's eligible. And is a very charming and interesting snapshot of life on the Rue Daguerre, which is the street where Agnes Varda lived for decades.

1:45:17and it starts with the kind of the perfume shopkeepers. And it is mostly about the shopkeepers, but it starts with one perfume-esque shopkeeper and his wife. Her daughter goes in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And she's interested in them and how they got there and starts following everybody else along the street and asks them, you know, when they came to Paris and what they do. and follows them along and follows some pretty, like, disgruntled shopgoers. But, you know, it's the 70s, so they don't think to just be like, no, no, you can't record me. And is idiosyncratic in the way that all Varda's films are.

1:46:01At some point, she starts asking them about their dreams. Like, literally what their dreams are, not like, what do you hope to be? It's not an American thing, it's a French thing. And, you know, it's just a way of looking at the world that only Agnes Varda can. And so the documentary communicates that and you can experience it from anybody else's camera. And I liked it a lot.

1:46:23Sean Fennessey:That's awesome. It's a really good movie. I don't know that movie. Yeah. I don't know it at all. Definitely worth checking out. Great. Very short as I recall. I want to say like 80 minutes or something. 80 minutes, yeah. Yeah. And it's streaming on Criterion right now. Bang. Honorable mentions. I already regret my wild card because there are some good honorable mentions. Well, let's talk about them. Yeah, I'm looking at my honorable mentions and thinking it looks better than my lineup. I was like, how the hell did that happen? Roman Polanski's The Tenant. Just re-watched it recently. Excellent.

1:46:55That guy knows how to shoot an apartment. Cars at 8 Paris. Yep. Was this 76? I thought so.

1:47:02Sean Fennessey:Okay. I honestly don't remember. I think so, yeah. Two pulpy crime-ish movies, one of which, or maybe both of which, I got off of Tracy's Letterboxd. Small Town in Texas and Jackson County Jail. Jackson County Jail with Tommy Lee Jones. That's Tommy Lee, yeah. That is a fucked up movie. And Police Python 357, which is an Alan Corneau movie that is basically French Dirty Harry with Yves Montan and is in a great Radiance box set. I was expecting you to take Yakuza Graveyard, which is also 76. No? Yeah. I like to expand beyond the Yakuza. You know, sometimes I want to... Okay. You know, there's another Brian De Palma movie from this year called Obsession, which is a movie that I think is bad that I love.

1:47:57One of the crazier plots that I've ever heard or seen is Obsession. Why don't you recap it right now? Quite a turn at the end of this movie. Was that? Why don't you recap it in three sentences right now? Don't spoil it. Okay. Well, people can... And then he made him eat the diamonds.

1:48:13Sean Fennessey:And the homeboy made him meet a bunch of diamonds. The Ebert quote around obsession is, I don't just like movies like this. I relish them. Sometimes overwrought excess can be its own reward. That's boss.

1:48:29More honorable mentions? Well, we should probably mention King Kong, which is not a very good movie, but certainly had delights for a boy who turned 11 in 1976.

1:48:40Sean Fennessey:That was one of two more remaining blockbusters that were not selected. The others are Silver Streak. The prior and Gene Wilder film with Jill Kleberg. Which opens with just like 30 minutes of Gene Wilder seducing Jill Kleberg in a way that I did not find to be credible. Did you really watch it? I did. Or watch it? On a train. Yes, on a train. It was a big hit. Huge movie. I saw it in the movie theater. And I'm telling you, when Richard Pryor appears, he shows up about halfway through the movie, the movie theater just became electric. He just electrified the crowd. That's why that movie was such a big hit.

1:49:21Sean Fennessey:One of two movies in which he did that exact thing, because he shows up about halfway through Car Wash, and the movie Car Wash comes to life. The other movie was The Enforcer, the other Clint Eastwood movie from that year, which is the third Dirty Harry movie. Not my favorite. I don't like it. Yeah, it's not very good. Tyne Dealy? Early on. Tyne Dealy, yeah. What else you got? but Fellini's Casanova. Yeah. Never seen it. Not for all tastes. Obviously, Fellini, there's amazing things in it. The Front. I just watched this again yesterday. Martin Ritz movie with Woody Allen about people. Blacklist, right?

1:49:58Blacklist, people naming names. Very good movie. Zero Mostel. Very good. I like it a lot.

1:50:03Sean Fennessey:Yeah, it's very good. You know, I think because of everything with Woody in the last 30 years. Maybe he doesn't have the same place it does because it's just effectively a pure drama. What happened with Woody? Check out the newspapers. Face to face. Ingmar Bergman from this year, which I watched for the first time yesterday. It's not Bergman's best, but Liv Ullman, god damn, man. Very good. She's very good. I agree with you. She's really something. Hollywood Boulevard. terrific drive-in movie I mean it's no more than a drive-in movie it's an 85 minute comic romp very low budget very very Roger Quarman Alan Arkish right?

1:50:49Sean Fennessey:Yeah edited by Joe Dante you mentioned Up already but I think Up is really fun and really funny my wife liked it a lot so that makes you seem like not a pervert but alright yeah Mr. Klein I think was made in 76 but wasn't available to us because it wasn't released until later, but it would have been my drama choice for sure had it been available. Joseph Losey. Heart of Glass, Werner Herzog's movie, I watched last night for the first time. Do you know this movie? I do. In which all the actors are under hypnosis. They've all been hypnotized. For how? To what end? and it's about a 17th century Bavarian community and they are known for their rose-colored glass.

1:51:40They have a glass works and they're known for their rose-colored glass. But the guy who has the secret formula to the rose-colored glass has died and the town has gone into shock. And so to create this very sort of eerie feeling of a town's people in shock, they're all hypnotized before every take. Is this what Asteroid City was taking? from? Remember they all get hypnotized and ask? Yeah. Could be.

1:52:04Sean Fennessey:That could have been the inspiration. But you don't get to see them. You don't see them. You see them. Yeah, you see them acting under hypnosis. Which mainly means they talk kind of slow and they have some very odd gestural language. It's quite a beautiful movie really. Next up, Greenwich Village. Some people don't like this. They're wrong. It's a really terrific comedy. And it's a Paul Mazursky movie who I'm always championing on this show. You should watch Paul Mazursky movies and Next Stop Greenwich Village. Really good. Why didn't you draft it? Huh? Why didn't you draft it? Well, because we combined comedy and horror and I had Carrie out there and I had to get Carrie.

1:52:46Had to do it. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted Carrie. You could have taken Next Stop Greenwich Village. 7 % solution. You ever seen that? I watched it for this. It was entertaining, you know, in the way that I found myself reading and learning about a lot of like gripping mystery thrillers from this year. And then I watched all of them with my dumb 2026 brain. And I was like, well, this is not that exciting. This is kind of taking a while, but it has fun.

1:53:13Sean Fennessey:We just had the exact same conversation about it when we did the Duvall Hall of Fame. Also, that accent is not, with respect to Mr. Duvall, it's not what you want, especially for the voiceover. And do you find opposite Olivier and Nicole Williams? Yeah, it's tough. Do you find Murder by Death amusing? I turned it off because I was, first of all. Because Peter Sellers. Yeah, because Peter Sellers, it's not what you want. And then it was also really boring. And, you know, I like. Some racializing from Peter Sellers. Do you have any to do the voice? Please don't. Please don't. I saw that multiple times in the movie theater when I was 11 years old.

1:53:49That was the height of comedy. Did you think it was funny? When I was 11 years old, sure. Is there a Pink Panther this year? yeah strikes again strikes again that's that would be my Peter Sellers preference and it was on my long list but I used to cry with laughter watching those when I was a little kid I thought they were so funny we went to the movie theater to see those my mom loved dumb comedy that was her favorite kind of movie when they would fight and destroy whatever room they were having to play in I was just like this is the dream in life more

1:54:17Sean Fennessey:I've got I've got quite a few you want to keep going anybody else got more rip it um Alice, Sweet Alice, and The House with Laughing Windows are two horror movies that I would love to love and are very important in the giallo movement, but they're not movies that I do love. There are wonderful 4Ks available from Arrow for both of those movies. I watched Alice, Sweet Alice, getting ready for this. Yeah, it didn't make my list. Not the best. I really love Larry Cohen's God Told Me To, which is a, you haven't seen this? a paranoid thriller about a society that has become violent and turns against one another because of some sort of premonition that they are receiving that's weird really cool movie Burnt Offerings you guys seen this horror movie yeah about a couple or family that moves into a new home you haven't seen this I think I keep going who directed it I think it's is it Dan Curtis yeah right who made who then became TV guy and made Night Stalker.

1:55:21Sean Fennessey:What's the other show, Shadows? Help me out. What's the other? Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows. Thank you, yes. Dark Shadows. And he directed a bunch of TV movies over that time. This is one of his few theatrical feature films, but very, very good. And is it... Oliver Reed? Who is the old... Betty Davis? Betty Davis, thank you. What else is on that list? You know, Lipstick is a movie that I watched for the first time when I did the unboxing boy for 1976 which helped me start to prepare for this episode which stars Margot and Mariel Hemingway and Chris Sarandon and this genuinely upsetting film about a sexual assault and the aftermath of it and rendered very realistically in a way that you just don't see Lamont Johnson directed it I would recommend it but it's really hard to watch bonkers ending the last five minutes truly just like what is going on the movie goes crazy yeah in a pretty entertaining It just like turns into an exploitation movie.

1:56:18Sean Fennessey:Missouri Breaks, Arthur Penn, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando. You'd think it would be better. Yeah. It's not better. It really has been one of the movies that has like followed me around for my whole life. And I only watched it in the last couple of years. And I was like, this wasn't very good. Yeah, it's all right. I think Nicholson, he spoke about it, that he was very intimidated by Brando on the set. He was really, he was freaked out that he was working with Marlon Brando. Brando also did his, I've decided I have a new character.

1:56:49I think he's great. In the movie. Brando, yeah, it doesn't matter. I always find him entertaining, watchable, hilarious, and sort of more interesting than everything else going on. Even in Guys and Dolls. Guys and Dolls. That's the one I put on when Carrie needs some sleep. She hates Guys and Dolls.

1:57:10Sean Fennessey:One of the very last Hitchcock films? Family Plot. Not a very good film. Don Siegel's The Shootist. Pretty good. Pretty good late period John Wayne movie. Last John Wayne movie. Is it his last film? It is his last film. I'll tell you one of my favorite kung fu movies, Master of the Flying Guillotine. Have you guys seen that one? Probably. I can't say I have. I haven't. Pretty sick movie. I mean, what you've just described there in the title seems compelling. It's in the tradition of the one-armed swordsman films. If you have a flying guillotine, it would be good to be the master of it. ideally you don't want to be the novice of the flying guillotine the yeoman of the flying guillotine not ideal flying guillotine for beginners the target of the flying guillotine you know a movie I haven't seen but was Oscar nominated and popped up on a bunch of lists is Voyage of the Damned you seen this film yeah it's of another era okay I mean it of an earlier era than 1976 little old fashioned Stuart Rosenberg yeah there's some there's some international films I didn't know where to put Carlos Soros Criacuervos Lino Bracca's and Shang I don't know I don't know what to do Isn't you're in the realm of the senses in the realm of the senses now the one movie that I wanted to bring up to you guys I don't know if any of you have seen it I presume you have is Robin and Marion yeah I seen it which I thought was pretty good yeah it's charming I liked it yeah it's a it's a kind of a late period reimagining of the Robin Hood myth with Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn this is the movie I was saying I wonder if you've seen it because you might like it I was just reading the ending of The Voyage of the Damned, which is really upsetting.

1:58:44And apparently they handle it all in footnotes. What the fuck?

1:58:48Sean Fennessey:I haven't seen the film's footnotes. And I'm really, I'm not going to, but excuse me. Can I tell you? I bought it on Blu-ray, didn't watch it. Robin and Marion is Richard Lester in the aftermath of the Three Musketeers movies. Kind of in this, he's in this moment where he's making these kind of historical dramedies, these swashbuckling movies. But I thought Connery and Hepburn were phenomenal together. really lovely and it's a nice movie kind of about like Robert Shaw too right Robert Shaw Richard Harris a great Richard Harris performance as King John and somebody else there's one other oh Ian Holm so funny as who's King John's brother or maybe it was no Ian Holm is King John King Richard and Prince John yeah and Richard Harris as Richard the Lionheart yes that's right I don't know I thought it was really good yeah thought about drafting it It feels a little lost in time.

1:59:41Sean Fennessey:A little baggy in the middle, but very sweet. I've never seen this, but obviously I would like it. This is in my interest set. I think you would enjoy it. Yeah. Well, that's all I got. Shall we recap? Let's recap. Well, Amanda, you selected first, so you can read your group first. That's so exciting. I did. In drama, I have Mikey and Nikki. In comedy or horror, I have Cousin Cousine. In thriller or action, I have All the President's Men. In Blockbuster, A Star is Born, which Tracy Letts has never seen in any iteration. In Oscar, I have Marathon Man. And in Wildcard, Daguerreo Teeps. I can't believe you got Marathon Man in all the presidents.

2:00:20That's tough. In drama, I took Kings of the Road. In comedy or horror, I took The Town That Dreads Sundown. In thriller or action, I took The Outlaw Josie Wales. In blockbuster, I took The Omen. In Oscar, I took Taxi Driver. And in Wildcard, I took Logan's Run.

2:00:41Sean Fennessey:in drama i selected network in comedy or horror i selected buffalo bill and the indians or sitting bulls history lesson in thriller or action i took john carpenter's assault on precinct 13 in blockbuster i selected the bad news bears in oscar i chose the documentary harlan county usa and a wild card i chose welcome to la in drama i took lifeguard in comedy or horror i took carry In action or thriller, I took the killing of a Chinese bookie. In blockbuster, I took Rocky. In Oscar nominee, I took Seven Beauties. And in wildcard, I took The Man Who Fell to Earth. You know, when we read them all out loud like that, it's more even than I thought.

2:01:26Everybody's got good stuff and everybody's got marginalia.

2:01:30Sean Fennessey:Weird year. Your claim at the top fascinates me. It's just three of the all-timers. which to me, you know, it matters. It says something about how you organize taste. It's true. Be the best. That's what I ask. Shall we talk third chair? Is this the time? Speak now. Go ahead. Okay. So I got on the plane to come here and record. Is this the last one to air? It is. So I came to record three podcasts for the big picture. And I I want you to know that when I got on the plane to come here, I had decided to concede. Concede third chair. To concede third chair. So that would suppose that it was yours to concede.

2:02:15To concede the fight. That this was a race that we were both running. Just concede the fight. Because I had listened to the 900th episode. I had sent in a voicemail for the 900th episode, which was not played. How did that happen? I don't know. Well, that's Jack's fault. It was not played. But instead... Jack's just tossing Tracy Lynn's voicemails out. Yeah, he's tossing out my voicemails, and he's always putting me forth in the draft. How convenient that Jack also went on vacation that we knew you arrived. Did you notice that? Yeah, I did. What do you think that means? So in that episode, not only did you not play my voicemail, but you then took, what, 10 minutes to sing heroic poems to Chris Ryan.

2:02:57Later in the episode, Amanda suggested that we should take Teddy Roosevelt off of Mount Rushmore and replace him with Chris Ryan. Did I actually do that? You did, in fact. You decided we were going to replace TR with CR. I think in general, my relationship to the people represented on Mount Rushmore is disinterest, right? But if I was on it, wouldn't that make it more interesting? Sure.

2:03:25Sean Fennessey:But I think it would lower the interest in it as a historical monument. The conversation was about what Teddy Roosevelt did to earn being on Mount Rushmore. And neither of us were particularly clear on that. That's absolutely untrue. Go ahead. I said national parks a lot. Spanish-American War, right? Yeah. He also led the country through a time of extraordinary tumult in the aftermath of the Civil War. Not to mention the trust buster. I mean, he was essential. Crusaded on behalf of the individual in this country. One of the great individualists. I would like to replace him with Chris Ryan. So it's very clear to me that the fix is in.

2:04:03I'm Al Gore. He's W. And you're the Supreme Court. So I was like, that wants me to distract.

2:04:11Sean Fennessey:It sounds like Jack Sanders is the hanging Chad in this equation. So I was like, you can't fight City Hall. So I was ready to concede. Yeah. But I've decided to redouble my efforts. Oh, how exciting. And I'm going to tell you why. my constituents. Who are they? They are the people of America, my friend. They're the people in the streets. I'll dub them right now. Are you ready? You know what they're called? The Let's Lads. You think they're men? Well, frequently, yes. And they want to see more of what I'm cooking. And so my hat is still firmly in the ring. You guys can try and block me out if you want, But I am playing for Keith.

2:04:55Now, I can't believe I'm even entertaining this because of the work I do for this pod and for the other pods on the Ringer Podcast Network where I have a prospective Saturday night spent podcasting about the fucking Sixers. But here's what I'll do with you. That doesn't have anything. Because I'm interested in content. This is a no Sixers zone. So that's not going to be taken into consideration. Should we have a November 6th election for third chair and Tracy and I can make our cases?

2:05:22Sean Fennessey:No. This is a man with great confidence in the aftermath of CR month who is willing to put it to a public vote. I didn't say that. I'm just saying we can use an electoral college system if you want. Like we can have each different states have different weights, you know. But if this is what you want, if you really want to drop gloves and go fisticuffs. Well, here's the thing. I'm not sure that there are only two contenders. I mean, there are other people. Okay. Oh, come on. Who the hell are you even talking about? You know, there are a great many beloved guests in the history of this show. You know, the physical media high council did not start with either of you gentlemen.

2:06:02Sean Fennessey:It started with Timothy Simons. Oh, dear. Well, he is not available. And second of all... He's quite literally not available. He's a busy time. This is part of my point. Chris. Chris is already the first chair on the watch. He is chair 1A on the rewatchables. he is a basketball expert he's not watching 56 Robert Duvall movies because he's got to watch the goddamn basketball this must be said because you haven't heard this yet but I'll say what Tracy Letts did for the Robert Duvall episode is among the most titanic acts of scholarship that have been applied to this program What did you do? Did you watch all his TV appearances or something?

2:06:50I watched a bunch of those, and I watched 56 Robert Duvall movies. Okay. If I only had to do five pods a year, I'm sure I could do the same thing. This is my point!

2:07:00Sean Fennessey:You're making my point for me! What would be a better life? Would it be to be... Tracy Letts? Yeah, it would be pretty cool. Tony Awards, married to Carrie Coon. and I got to swan in here five times a year, that would be pretty awesome. Fucking show up in a Catherine Bigelow movie and go, yeah, that would be awesome. Instead, I'm out here watching fucking Joel Embiid walk back to the locker room, come back onto the court. 7, 30, 8, 15, when are we going to start? Amanda, what are your thoughts? Yeah. You know, I don't think we have to decide today. You know, I think that it can... But you think it should be decided at some point.

2:07:42Well, I don't know. You know, there's a will-they-won't-they element to this that keeps the podcast going over time. Yeah, and I think what we all learned from that is don't make the decision. I'm interested in who you think H. Ross Perot is in this equation. Who is the outsider insurgent candidate?

2:07:58Sean Fennessey:Well, I always love talking to Alex Ross Perry. He brings a completely different energy than either of you ever could. And he's, you know, he's a bit of a villain in a way that I always find appealing. And he's been on the show many times over the years. And he also, to his credit, if I ask him for an active scholarship, he will bring it when it comes to that sort of thing. He also makes a lot of memes. So he's been very crucial. Memes, yes. Mostly of Sean. Yes. So he's been very crucial. Funny, you're not on text with him, right? Publicly share these memes? No. He privately generates several memes featuring photos of me from the Void recordings.

2:08:32Sean Fennessey:Mm-hmm. And then takes literal quotes that I share on episodes. And now also that one South by Southwest photo of you with your card, you know, like you're preparing for a presidential address. I did not approve the posting of that photograph. I know, I'm sure. I can't believe you sat for it, but that's okay. Nevertheless, yeah. Are there any good Kyra Gerber hands memes that I should check out? Are you aware of this lore? Yes, I saw the picture. Okay, let me ask your opinion. But you're not on Instagram. How'd you see it? As a person who's frequently— I don't know. I heard you guys talking about it, so I looked for it.

2:09:00Sean Fennessey:As a person who's frequently surrounded by attractive people, when you're in a photo op, Do you just hand on the back, go for it? Yeah, there's a photograph somewhere of a bunch of us at that screening of House of Dynamite. And it looks like, is her name Willa Fitzgerald? Oh, yeah. The strange darling? Yes. It looks like we are a couple with everybody else around. You know, just like we can't, yeah. You put your arm around her. I put my arm around her. It was just like, oh, this feels unfriendly. I'll put my arm, you know. Sure. And now the photo makes it look. How did she respond? You know, she was not threatened.

2:09:38Warmly, I don't think. Interesting. Do you think I should have done that with Kaya? I don't know. I met Kaya Gerber. We're both in Saturday night. And so I met her at a screening of that. And as we met, you've never seen two people who had less to say to each other. I find that so interesting. She's a woman of letters herself. And apparently you guys hit it. Not that we didn't hit it. It was all totally pleasant.

2:09:58Sean Fennessey:I'm just saying she didn't have anything to say to me. Interesting. I wouldn't say she had things to say to me, but she did say things to me. Yeah, that's right. Like it's Wednesday. Yeah. Hi, Sean. The sun is out. Here's, you're alive. Yeah. Okay. I mean, listen, I appreciate all of your efforts. I've got, you know, 17 more years, 18 more years of experience with Chris. Sure. But you've entered our lives like a shot. Let's face it. I forced you all to be my friends. I forced my way in here and forced you to be my friends. That's absolutely ridiculous. I feel maybe there's a turmoil. I admire Tracy very much.

2:10:48I'll bet. At a certain point, I gotta let the dogs off the leash. It's funny. Is that gonna be pretty? So I'm begging you. Don't make me go to the mattresses here. regardless of how this works out I love all of you I love being on this it's been a real pleasure I've had a great week this is awesome thank you for coming

2:11:13Sean Fennessey:thank you for participating I don't think I've ever I don't think I've laughed harder than I did during physical media in a long time oh my god I've been laughing all week just thinking about it just really fun it was a very good time thank you to Lucas Cavanaugh and Sarah Reddy for their production support on this episode thanks to Jack Sanders thanks for nothing Jack yeah Jack was not here today, but he did do the selection and excitedly shared the results, which fucked me and Tracy over pretty badly in this draft. At this time, what is happening? I think this episode is airing while we're at the Cannes Film Festival.

2:11:48God willing. Yes.

2:11:49Sean Fennessey:This is also, just like I said, the opportunity for us to do a coup. What would you guys even talk about? Tracy and Chris at the movies? Come on. Okay, great. I wish you guys luck. What feed will you be posting this show on? I'll figure it out. Chris loves to remind us he is an editor at TheRinger.com. That's right. So I've heard. Thanks to everyone for participating in this draft. I hope you've heard of some of these movies and we will be back. I think our next episode we will be covering the Cannes Film Festival. We'll see you then.

2:12:31Thank you.