The 1982 Movie Draft

29:11I think this is his best movie. Do you think this is his best movie? You think Halloween is his best movie? No, I think this is. Interesting. Although I think I've seen Big Trouble in Little China the most. It was not a big hit. No, it was a bomb. It was a bit of a bomb when it came out. It kind of got rediscovered a little bit later. But, you know, it's part of this lore about the sci-fi movies. I think this critic, Chris, I'm not going to get his last name right. Chris Nasha. Nasha Wadi, yes. Nasha Wadi has written a book about this summer of sci-fi because so many of these movies came out within about eight weeks of each other, including The Thing, which is maybe one of the reasons it wasn't as successful.

29:50In the summer of E.T., it had a different energy, obviously. And this is a very dour, existentialist, kind of punishing movie in many ways. And very gross also. We did an episode about the thing some years ago during COVID. And Carpenter came on the show, which was a real thrill for me. Okay, you're up with a second pick. Oh, wow. So did you come in with a strategy? Did you have a first pick in mind? Did Sean take it? He did not. So you know where you're going. I do but the fact that I'm picking second as opposed to first but the lights are bright okay the lights are bright you know changes the right not so easy to come off the couch is it also I want to give time for you know the banter I was giving it to you with all my faith you talked about air game we did Proxima Midnight here yeah how did you remember Proxima Midnight but you haven't seen the film well she's I mean my god you should see all the Proxima Midnight that she signs when we're out about in the world.

30:53No kidding. Oh, more Proxima Midnight than anything else. Oh, wow. Yeah, because those are the people, right? Those are the ones with the - Yeah, but it's not her face. More than Gilded Age? Oh, way more than Gilded Age. The Gilded Age fans are not out there with the photos. I'm bringing her alarm clock to sign.

31:13All right. First pick. You also kind of can't go wrong because there's so many great stuff at the head of it all. I'm very, very, very curious about your methodology here. Do you have a sheet for every genre? Do you have a sheet for every category, rather? I notice you have a cover page also so that I can't see. Yeah, right. And I have a master list at the back of how I see. This is very Peter Jennings. Did you have to find a printer at a Los Angeles hotel to do this? No, I printed this at home in New York and brought it with me. With the first pick in the 1982 draft, I will take in the category of drama, the verdict.

31:54You took it from me. So that was the... Okay. That was... Yeah. Was that the consensus number one overall? It's the clear drama number one. Because drama has so much scarcity. Unless you want to start being like, well, you could say that there's drama scenes in this sci-fi movie or in this comedy, you know? I have some... Well, we can get into it, But I have some thoughts about movies that I think are considered one thing but should be considered another thing. And we can debate that here. The trick about the verdict is that it's also eligible in Blockbuster. It is. And I assume in Oscar. In Oscar, yes.

32:32This is Paul Newman's winning Oscar performance. Is it? No, I thought it was Color of Money. Oh, you're right, Color of Money. Of course. It should have been. Ben Kingsley won, and Ben Kingsley was not going to be denied that year. It was kind of a weird Oscar year. And that way, a lot of people who weren't going to be denied that year meant that some other people who might have won the award in any other year didn't win. And I think, you know, certainly I won't say it's Newman's best performance, but it's on the Mount Rushmore of Newman's best performances, no doubt. We are hoping to do an episode.

33:04He would have been 100 years old this year. So we're going to do an episode about his entire career. You just have to get through all of your, all your Blu-rays. Yeah, I mean, those 1950s Warner Brothers films are not going to watch themselves. Who's going to watch The Young Philadelphians if I don't watch it, you know? I will. When's the last time you saw The Verdict? We actually did do it on the rewatchables. One of my favorite rewatchables. Roughly two and a half years ago, I want to say. Fantastic episode. Bill has a great affection for the movie as well. A Boston movie, though, filmed in New York.

33:31Right. And just bang on brilliant performances in the whole movie. James Mason also fantastic in this movie. James Mason never won a competitive Academy Award. Crazy talk. Unbelievable. Also, I was thinking of James Mason. Your boy Brady Corbet recently was mentioning that the Guy Pearce character very clearly modeled on a James Mason-esque in this era kind of figure, which was a light bulb for me. I can't remember. What was the story with this? It's like Mamet wrote the script, then they had 10 people rewrite it, and then they begged him to come back and just rewrite his. Well, I think eventually Lumet got his hands on the Mamet script and was like, why aren't we making this?

34:04This should be the one we're making. I think there was some tinkering with it after, from Mamet's original version of it. But it's Mamet's best screenplay. Yeah, without question. It's an incredible screenplay. It's worthy of study, that screenplay. It's a great piece of work. Bruce Willis, anybody? Bruce Willis. An extra. An extra. Standing in the courtroom. Very visible. You can see him in that wide shot when he gives the final. Yeah. Yeah. It's like really the reason half-assed internet research category of rewatchables exists is for scenes like that. You know who's a motherfucker is Milo O'Shea.

34:41He is a motherfucker. He's so good. The judge. He's wonderful in this movie, but he is like one of the great villains in movie history.

34:50Andrei Bartokowiak as well shot the movie and he was just given an award at the ASC Awards over the weekend by Michael Douglas for his work as a cinematographer. He shot many great Lumet movies. Wow. Yeah. Great fact. Fun timing. Charlotte Rampling she's great on your all time list she is on my all time list she is absolutely on my all time list you know she gets slapped by Paul Newman in the street publicly I'm splunched I think it is a punch at like a at like a hotel lobby yeah yeah not ideal these were the times 1982 some were working in drive-ins some were slapping women in bars okay you're next no you're next no oh am I next I'm third you're next yeah I have the turn okay great pick Tracy that was the right pick I just deleted that off my list so that's how you know you did it correctly that was the right pick alright for Oscar nominee I'm going to take E.T.

35:44okay okay that is partially out of category scarcity also adore E.T. okay truly beautiful film and hoping I can get something else I like on the turn so okay in I'm getting what would have been my number one pick from a strategy perspective. Okay. In thriller, action, horror, sci-fi, I will be taking Blade Runner. Mm-hmm. Which is, God damn it, didn't really see that coming. You need to be ready for that. Well, she was like, I didn't watch the things. I was like, maybe? Yeah, but I've seen Blade Runner and I live in Los Angeles. You know, like, come on. Team Ridley forever. He's probably my second favorite of Ridley's movies after Alien, but like, in terms of the influence And, you know, we say this every time.

36:34It's like a very weird, hazy day in Los Angeles or a hazy evening. And you're just like, oh, it's Blade Runner time. And creating an entire world and cinema language. That's number one. Not only is that the right pick. Thank you. That's the right order. Okay. Alien, then Blade Runner. Thank you so much. I appreciate your support. Watch the final cut on Saturday night, I think. Five Star Masterpiece. Just so gorgeous. Just such an incredible experience. Do you have a favorite cut? favorite release? I've kind of gotten them confused over the years. I do believe I've watched the final cut the most because it was, was it first issued on Laserdisc?

37:12I don't even know. I don't know. No, there was like a, he redid it. He kind of, there was like an anniversary version that stripped away the voiceover. But he didn't do the remastering and like the color corrections or anything like that. And there are some criticisms of this last version of it where people think he got, it's too teal or something like that like they don't love it but I thought it was incredible did you know I don't I don't care about director's cuts I mean I don't think they make any difference they all look alike to me I mean the VO difference is notable like because you know Deckard is really present in the beginning of the film just kind of being like and this is this guy and this is this guy and you know like so but they're all kind of the same movie I mean even when I watch like the different versions of Orson Welles' Mr.

37:59Arcadon I'm like They're all great. They're all great. They're all kind of the same movie. Yeah, I guess they're kind of different. But there are some movies that excise entire characters and then they restore 40 minutes or in the case of Kingdom of Heaven, speaking of Ridley Scott, two hours of a movie that can be meaningfully different. I never watched the Napoleon. I never did either. I was waiting for someone to be like, he did it. This is amazing. That did not come through the trend. so no one really you were just kind of like an extra 40 minutes I mean I liked the original I'm sorry you're doing it as well don't you I do and thank you for letting me google in drama I will be taking what I think this is 100 % eligible for drama despite its title and it is the king of comedy ah okay what you're not gonna take it I mean I understand no no no no I was just technically released in the US in 83 wasn't it no no it's 82 Oh, is it?

38:58No, no. It's 82. You're right on 82. And I think you're fine to take it in drama. Okay. I mean, you know. More drama than comedy, probably. Yeah, the most underrated of the Scorsese. It was released in the U.S. in 83. Oh, no. Which is usually what the rule is. Oh, no. It's on my... Wait, wait. It was released in Iceland in December 18th, 1982. Oh, dear. That's tough. Wow, how did we fuck this up? February 18th, 1983. All right, Mr. Letterboxd. Wasn't it on your list? What the fuck's the research? I've had it on all my lists. Weren't you the ombudsman of my list? Sean's flooding the zone with misinformation.

39:36Total miss. Total miss. I was wondering why Infinity War was on the 1982 list. And there's the New York... Perhaps it was a bear trap that I said. All right, well, I'm pretty fucked here now. I'm sorry. It's okay. It's not your fault. I appreciate your support. I guess... Chris, I would have gotten right by me. Wow. You can always count on me to really be buttoned up. Was that payback for Blade Runner? No, it wasn't. I didn't mean to be, I wasn't being dick. I was actually just saving us from a bunch of like, actually. Well, actually. Oh, from people. Okay. So what am I going to do here? Oh, God.

40:15I'm mortified. This is going to bother me. Well, it's a great pod moment. That's really all I care about. I'm upset about this. but that's okay. Better you than me. Okay, take a deep breath. I would have absolutely, had it come back to me, I would have absolutely taken King of Top. I had it at the top of my comedy list. Did it not have a festival premiere? I was literally just Googling, like, you know, but it doesn't seem... Surprising that it wouldn't play New York in the fall. It was not appreciated. No, but before its release, you might imagine that there was Martin Scorsese. Yeah, but they were, I don't know.

40:52This film did, it bombed pretty profoundly. So, I - $19 million budget,$2.5 million box office for a Robert De Niro movie in 1982 directed by Martin Scorsese. And it is, again, clearly on the Mount Rushmore. Five-star masterpiece. My Mount Rushmore of Martin Scorsese movies. Mine as well. Five-star masterpiece. Yeah. It's not for me. Okay, so the next film is not a five-star Martin Scorsese masterpiece, but it does have sentimental value to me. And I am going to stay in drama. Well. Oh my. Am I going to do this in drama? Am I going to do it in Oscar? I don't know. I can get frisky with Oscar later.

41:29Okay. I'm going to do it in drama. Even though I don't really think any of you will take this. I mentioned earlier that because of my age, I was sort of like beholden to what my parents showed me from this year for a long time. And there was very like a famous 1982 movie that my wonderful father, who taught me almost everything I know about movies, sat me down for and said, OK, this is it. You're like, here we go. I know. And like, here is this is cinema. I can't wait to share this with you. I'm an only child. It was a real father daughter moment. And he put on Barry Levinson's diner. Nice. And and my response was, Dad, I'm seven.

42:10What's going on with this? popcorn box. Do you think she was prepping you for this exact day? But it does, you know, it all adds up, right? We do see how, you know, Diner in 1989 led to where I am today. You're barking right now. I have since seen it and like it very much. Not as much as my dad, who is just like the only person in the world looking forward to the new Barry Levinson film. The Alto Knights. You know, like does Tin Men speeches like at Christmas dinner. I don't know what, like my dad. Tin Men? Yeah. He's just like, that's really underappreciated and just reenacted. It's a good movie.

42:46It is a good movie. And, you know, you have met my dad. He's not like prone to just reenacting films anywhere, especially at Christmas dinner. But Diner is the classic and a great movie. Should this be Knox's debut when we do the Alto Nights and he can talk of the cinema of Levinson? Sure, we can call him in. I think the last time that I volunteered him on this podcast, it was his reaction to Amelia Perez. and he was like, I did not know that was going to be public. So could you screen things? Fair. I'll give him a call. But anyway. He was particularly fond of Carlos, if he had Escon's work. Sorry, you've taken this in drama, yes?

43:23I have, yes. I mean, it does have comedic elements, but I think ultimately, like a coming of age drama. Could go either way. Absolutely. Okay. Do you see it this way, that the blurring of the genre labels was more common then versus now? Because not necessarily. Okay. I don't think so. I think there are just some things that are comedy dramas. And I think we just happened to hit on a couple of them here. King of Comedy and Diner definitely fall in that category. It was a real moment, that movie, certainly in these young actors' lives, right? It was that ensemble. And I remember clearly that there was a real call, again, for an ensemble acting award at the Academy Awards as a result of movie.

44:06Diner, right stuff, right around the same time. People were saying, these movies are just not going to be honored at the Academy Awards for performances. But the ensembles of these movies absolutely should be. Do you think that would be a good thing? Yeah. I don't know. I'm not quite sure I understand why that isn't the case, why that doesn't exist, that particular award. Because obviously the set we, last night, we're pre-taping this, the SAG Awards happened last night. Conclave won, Best Ensemble. Right. And it all, all awards shows. need more famous, like visible, need more performing categories.

44:42It's a great way to put more performers on stage to win awards. Yeah, I agree. We want to keep the crafts too, but you just, you want some famous people on the screen. Seems like a good idea. And if you went back, you would find a movie every year going back in time where you said, well, that would have been the Ensemble Award winner for that year. You've just given me a great idea episode. To do the Ensemble Award for every year? It's a wonderful idea. Yeah. Diner I saw at the USA Film Festival. I think that's what it's still called. It's the Dallas Film Festival. I used to make my dad take me down there to see some movies around that time.

45:15That's awesome. Yeah, I saw Diner before it was released. Wow. Terrific, terrific movie. It's a great movie. I believe, is it your pick, Chris? Well, we'll just get a little chalky here. And I got E.T. and Oscar. I'll take 48 hours in Blockbuster. Okay. I guess to our previous conversation, 48 hours is it comedy because Eddie Murphy goes nuclear five times in this movie it's a big screen debut otherwise a violent cop drama it's just like a 1970s cop movie yeah and like the last half of it or the last 40 minutes of it are essentially like a chase through San Francisco but it's a great San Francisco cop movie too I do feel like this you and Bill reference 48 hours on Rewatchables more than almost any other we were just in Austin Texas there's a chain in Austin called Torchy's which is also the bar that Eddie Murphy goes into in 48 Hours.

46:06And we made a lot of 48 Hours jokes because of that. It seemed like a very nice torture. Is that a chain of some kind? It's become a chain, I think. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But 48 Hours fan? Oh, absolutely. And I saw it not long ago, in fact, for the first time in a very long time. And I was really taken by what an 80s movie it is. I mean, I know what you say is true, that it could very much be a 70s buddy, cop buddy picture. But the look of that film, the way the climax of that film plays out, I mean, I think it really set a template for action movies in Hollywood that last to today. And to see those guys in their big shoulder pads and the neon and the smoke in the alley.

46:55I mean, it's just like, oh my God, it was mimicked so many times. It's such an influential movie. I don't know if it's my favorite Walter Hill movie. I don't know if it's my favorite Nick Nolte or Eddie Murphy movie, but it's just terrific, and it's so trend-setting. It's unbelievable. I will say also, perhaps the best year anyone had, the best 1982 anyone had was Brian James, who was in 48 Hours and Blade Runner. He was also in The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez that year, which is a movie I just watched for the first time. How did you get that? How did you pull that out of your back pocket? Because I'm a big fan of Brian James' work and I clocked him in the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez and thought, wow, this cast is absolutely stacked.

47:39And I like Bill find the retconning of his character in another 48 Hours to be a crime against cinema. That he was actually the killer. Yeah, that's not ideal. Spoilers for another 48 Hours. But he does have kind of that energy. Sure. You could see why he was kind of. He was great. He's a really great actor. That's a mighty good pick, that 48 Hours. That's good stuff. Not really one of my movies, to be honest. I don't dislike it or anything, but I just never... Are you saying that just to be young? No, I didn't see it when I was young. I didn't see it until I was like 30. What's your favorite Eddie Murphy blockbuster from that period?

48:09Oh, good question. Like his acting. I saw Trading Places first and a lot. And I love that movie. Coming to America is a big one for me. I'm with him where Trading Places got handed down. Okay. And 48 Hours for whatever is just... Like I've seen it, but I more know it through you and Bill referencing it. But everything that Tracy said about it, like setting the template for the. Well, and I've heard you guys talk on the show before about the minting of movie stars and how rare and difficult it seems to be these days. This year, 1982, we'll get to some more of it. But, oh my God, Eddie Murphy is just like, you've graduated.

48:50And he was 22. I mean, he was so young. He was 20. 20. It's unbelievable. Just like you're in. You've graduated. You are a movie star and you're going to get your first choice of material. It's unbelievable. Yeah. And it was a palpable sense in the movie theater. Sitting there in an audience like that guy's a movie star. We'll follow him anywhere. Really great. Is it my pick? It is. It is your pick. I don't know where you're going to go here. I'm curious. I want to go to all the right places. Okay. So how many of your, how's your strategy going right now? Anything off the board? okay that's great we just like to you know check in any any feedback you want to give us you know far away through the draft this is one of my most populist i'm okay it could get a little dicey um no verdict and no king of comedy is you know yeah that was crosshair that was like a one two that i that i needed but i have to tell you you should have re-watched emily in paris for the fourth time you could have been boning up we could also i mean this may be a this and i loved it and it's evil but I love it.

49:56It's her zero day. Strong performances. This might be a good place where Amanda could trade me Blade Runner for E.T. and a pick. You know, we could get like some action. You would give up a pick? No, I would move up in front of her maybe on one round or something. I would welcome it if you so chose. I mean, I love E.T. but that was a good pick. Okay. In thriller, action, horror, sci-fi, I will take The Road Warrior. Yeah. Yeah. This was number two on my board. Speaking of fully minted movie stars, it's just like, oh my God. It was just like, that guy's a movie star and I'll follow him anywhere.

50:32To my mind, I think it's the greatest action movie ever made. It's number one on my action movie list. You know, I think Bill Hader said the same thing to me once upon a time. Well, Bill Hader's also from Tulsa, Oklahoma. That's very true. And the Road Warrior has a lot of resonance for us there these days. Similar vibes. Mel Gibson's favorite of the three for what it's worth. It is his favorite. Quite a year for him, 1982. He was living dangerously. Another Australian film. He was an amazing movie star. He was. I mean, again, that sense in a movie theater when a guy comes out and you're just like, I'll follow you anywhere.

51:08Yeah. You don't have to do anything. I'm totally with you. And, of course, the incredible action. It's a great, thrilling, and it holds up. some of those things you know you look at an action movie from the 1960s you look at some early bond and it's like yeah yeah that thing holds up you can see all the you know they hear about the spielberg brain chemistry where he knows how to block a scene better than anybody and it's all in his head the george miller is very similar where you can see even with limited resources he can and he knows exactly what he wants because the first one is like doesn't quite go full dystopia.

51:48And the third one has Tina Turner, which I love, but also some other stuff. It's such a great story too. It's like, just like on a very basic foundational, like these guys are safe but stuck and they have to make a run for it. It's such an awesome cinematic thing to watch. There's a cool thing in that movie when he steps forward to say, I'm the one. I'm the one who will drive you. There is behind him John Wayne. I don't know if it's a cardboard cutout. I don't know if it's a guy who looks like John Wayne, who's dressed like John Wayne. I mean, watch it again and look for the guy behind him. It's hard to take your eyes off the mail, but there's a guy behind him who's definitely put there to evoke that silhouette.

52:30So Road Warrior comes off my board. Fortunately, I did already take the thing. So I'm not too wounded by that. I have two picks. Do you find that there's scarcity in Blockbuster? To some extent, it's an interesting blockbuster year. I've also taken two blockbusters with my first two picks even though I already selected. You know what I mean? Like I kind of took up a little bit of space here with mine. There were honestly strategic picks for a man known to pick with his heart. I neglected to cite the threshold for the blockbuster category this time around and I should share it. You guys knew this ahead of time but it was$40 million or more was the threshold that we're using.

53:11There were 16 films eligible in blockbuster. So far, three are off the board. E.T. the Extraterrestrial, 48 Hours, and The Verdict. I'm not sure if my heart is really calling to me on any of these, though, even though there's some scarcity. There are some brand names. There are definitely some brand names, and some movies I dig, for sure. How does this sound to you? Is the film First Blood a drama? you haven't seen it so you can't weigh in so that was going to be this is an interesting because not it's not Rambo 2 this is First Blood this is the first film you haven't seen it so you can't weigh in this is a she can do what she wants this is a character study I have seen it okay because I edited the Vietnam series oh okay so and you would say that this is I was just making a joke eat yeah eat it I mean you're right that it's not Rambo 2 I don't know it's are we feeling generous what would you have done if she had taken Blade Runner in drama

54:21I think it's probably more appropriate if you wanted to have a delineation that it be in a thriller than in a drama I don't know if it has classic dramatic elements Rambo is a character study about a Vietnam veteran it does have action elements but they're not as big and bold as you might think it is described on Wikipedia as an action film I'm a guest. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Feel free to weigh in. I'm curious what the room thinks. When you're listening to these and somebody does a little bit of a backdoor, you know, category fraud exercise like this, do you get mad?

54:57It's totally subjective. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. You're being too polite. I will say that I have seen dudes do the monologue from the end of this as audition pieces. Have you? Wow. I have. It's just like, it doesn't work.

55:22There's some good acting in this movie. I like that you... Richard Crenna and Brian Danahee are both excellent in this movie. It's a very good movie. It's very well acted. Ted Kochif was a terrific director. Very good. Underrated. Very underrated. Weird career. Weird career. Lots of... All over the place. North Dallas 40. Great movie. Wake in Fright. his best movie. A great film. Australian thrillers. He did Fun with Dick and Jane, the comedy. I just watched a Ted Kochov movie that I was like, holy shit, this is good the other day. And he was Canadian? Ted Kochov. What was it? He was Canadian.

55:52Yeah, I believe he was Canadian. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. He had a very odd career. This is his... If you say it's an action movie, if you say it's an action movie, I accept. I'm willing to accept it in drama. As a drama? I mean, until the great 1983 snafu, you are going to accept king of comedy in drama. And I think, you know, that is a drama with some literal comedic elements. So I'm okay. I'll open it. Rambo 2, obviously not. No, no. That's the thing is the franchise becomes very different after this movie. And I think partially because the movie was sold on this very famous Drew Struzan poster who drew the Star Wars posters where he's holding an automatic rifle on the cover with the bullet.

56:38The bullet. Bandolier. Yeah, the bandolier. Thank you. Glad I could help. Yes. A man who knows his artillery.

56:48And that's... It's a geography. You are... It's bandwagon.

56:53I'll take first blood. Okay. In drama. We'll see how the streets react. I don't really give a shit. He says now. Yeah. Your approval rating? Now, wait a minute. We do get to now make snarky comments about the fact that you've chosen it. Of course. Go ahead. We accept it, and then we make snarky comments. Make your comments. Okay. I'm going to say, you know what I am? I'm not disallowing it. I'm surprised. Maybe I'm a little disappointed. There's lots of dramas, especially for a fiend like yourself who loves to scour obscure films. I'm surprised you're not like, oh, this, this, this. Honestly, he was disappointed by a lot of the dramas that I visited preparing for this episode.

57:31Not disappointed by other categories. I feel like there's a bounty in other categories, but without naming names, these are often the third or fourth or fifth favorites of some of my favorite directors that were made this year so i chose not to go with that well our minds man you choose twice don't you i do yeah i have another pick did you have a snarky comment you wanted to share not yet okay i'll save it i'll save it for when i need it in blockbuster yeah which i think i need to take right now before things get unfortunate I will take Poltergeist. I watched this. You did. Yeah, and I had seen, I mean, because obviously the little girl with the hands on the TV is an iconic image.

58:16So I was like, oh yeah. It's CR every Sunday night. I would have taken it. Watching Zero Day. How did you feel as a homeowner watching this? You've taken Poltergeist. It was more like that's how I feel about TVs. You know? And you took it in Blockbuster. Blockbuster. You moved the headstones, but you didn't move the bodies. Right. Which is a very chilling line reading in this movie. You know, Toby Hooper, the great Toby Hooper, director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, perhaps the most influential of the horror filmmakers. This movie long rumored to have been a... Shadow Spielberg. Yes, a co-work with Steven Spielberg, which I think has been largely debunked at this stage.

58:56Mostly because Spielberg himself has shouted down that rumor from the beginning. That is not the case. Not true. A film that absolutely changed my brain chemistry and violently upset me as a young kid. And probably one of the significant movies that put me on the path that I'm in now and seeing every horror movie that is made that I can get my hands on. And I thank it for it. Yes. We've made great hay of it over the years. It's been a lot of fun. The peeling of the skin while looking in the mirror will live with me forever. Obviously, a film about getting stuck inside the machinery of our obsessions.

59:28A film about real estate and why it is evil and dangerous. And especially real estate agents and their, their, their evil, beautiful, sad, weird movie that just so happened to completely capture the American consciousness. What, what movie, what number was it this year? It was the eighth highest grossing movie of this year and made$76 million right in front of the best little whorehouse in Texas. And it did that thing that ET did too, right? It had that Spielberg suburban, here's a real family in suburb. Something extraordinary could happen in the most ordinary of places. And that kind of glow around it too, where you felt like there was something special, the poster, the iconography of the movie.

1:00:13It's really beautifully made too. It's damn good. It's really effectively made. All right, I have a pick. What am I going to do? What do you think I'm going to do? Drama? sci-fi Oscar known blockbuster this is where this is where everything gets real interesting I think a lot of our the big titles are kind of off the board now comedy couple couple left I think it depends on what you think about some of these classics well you took first blood off that list you took first blood in drama I did not in blockbuster correct okay uh Ah...

1:00:52All right. I make no bones about this. I'm taking Tootsie in comedy. Okay. Okay. So speak about this movie. Yes. Well, first of all, behind the scenes, you've got Larry Gelbart and Murray Shiskell and Elaine May, uncredited, writing the screenplay. And in front of the camera, you've got Terry Garr and Dabney Coleman and Bill Murray at their peak powers. So you just have some comedy geniuses working on this thing. And it was from a time when a comic script was constructed. Yeah. Right? It wasn't just people riffing in front of a camera until they hit on something funny. This thing was constructed with jokes and scenes and arcs and building toward a climax intended to be seen in a theater.

1:01:45And this is something, here's where I pull my old man card on you all. This is something that had to be experienced in a movie theater. Because if you watch this at home, after the reveal at the end, right? Spoiler alert. After he reveals that he is, in fact, the actor Michael Dorsey. When you watch this at home, you will note that for about two minutes, there's just Dustin Hoffman in this ridiculous accent saying over and over again, I'm whatever his name is supposed to be. I'm Michael Dorsey. And it goes on that long because you couldn't hear the dialogue in the theater because of the screams and the gasps and the laughter.

1:02:27It was an explosive reaction in the theater that lasted for minutes. It went on for minutes. And it's because of the construction of that screenplay. It builds to that moment. Of course, Pollock's a great director and knew how to orchestrate all of that. it's a great kind of thing that we don't write with our siloed comedy worlds and watching everything on our phones and YouTube. You don't have that experience as much anymore as you had watching a movie in the movie theater. It's great. I do wonder whether or not you could make an argument that everybody bemoans the death of theatrically released comedies.

1:03:09And I think it's usually ascribed to like the changing senses of humor of the movie going public or what is and isn't funny. But I wonder if it's equally because they stopped writing them, like writing through, like as a film with comic elements rather than here's a scenario where these people can essentially improvise, like you're saying, like kind of like that post Adam McKay Apatow style of making a movie where it's like Rogan and friends kind of joking around. It's interesting. This has been in the news recently because Judd Apatow at the DGA Awards, I think it was, said, If someone wrote and produced The Hangover today, it would make a billion dollars.

1:03:48That there is still a huge desire to have that exact experience that you're talking about. But he didn't say this part, but I think this is true. Movies like Tootsie, like The Hangover, made studios too greedy about comedy. That if a movie could not make$500 million, they should not make one that makes$72 million. Well, and certainly we shouldn't spend$50 million to make it and give it like a set piece and have a lot of locations. It should be a house in Vancouver where people just like joke with each other. But Tootsie, I would say honestly, not to bring you into my drama, but literally, but Tootsie is kind of like first blood in that it's a comedy, but it's a very sad movie about a confused, desperate person with really like high dramatic stakes.

1:04:34I mean, you really, you laugh a lot, but it's taken quite seriously. Yeah. And, I mean, well, I'm just going to repeat myself a bunch. It's just, it's so, it's really effective. It's really, and it was very smart that Dustin Hoffman is the guy to play that part and to investigate that character in the very real circumstance that you're talking about, right? That he's a guy who's going to say, what's this guy all about? He's not just playing for laughs, right? he's playing a larger thing than that. But it's just a brilliant comic construction. I guess it's become complicated by some current politics, but I don't know.

1:05:20I don't see it. I don't think it has really fallen into that slipstream as much. I think Dustin Hoffman's identity as a public person has fallen into some complexity for sure. But I think it's still seen as like a watershed movie of the 1980s. Okay, great pick. Also, when you look at the blockbuster numbers, right, E.T. is so far ahead of everything else. But Tootsie is actually so far ahead of everything else in the second spot because you wanted that experience in the movie. $177 million in America in 1982 for a character comedy is amazing. Okay. Next pick, CR. Yeah. In comedy, I'll take fast times.

1:06:06Damn it. The comedy rush has begun. Which in... We did this for Rewatchables relatively recently. What did you say? I just deleted it from my list. That's what I was going to pick next. It's actually like 70 % of drama. You know, like when you watch it. The whole Jennifer Jason Leigh storyline. But it's just an incredible slice of life. gosh I'm trying to think of what my favorite performance the Reinhold stuff is so good Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh are so good in it Damone is an iconic character which is great Phoebe Cates is just really important yeah and Heckerling and Crow I wish they had I wish they had made more movies together I do too so good yeah so good I mean you were 16 when this movie came out I know and it's the same year as Porky's right yes don't spoil your next pick which is uh which doesn't doesn't hold up no no didn't really hold up in 1982 choices in that one yeah uh but uh fast times felt more like high school yeah uh even though it was not a high school i it was not my high school god knows but the the uh the mauled culture and uh the relationships and it just felt very it just felt a lot more relatable yeah than a lot of the of course this was we were we're just getting into the teen comedies right we're just coming out of slashers and moving into teen comedies for the the teen dollar uh because there was i mean john hughes was what a year away i think yeah yeah so it like a freight train it was coming and yeah it's a great movie great pick two for you must have been nice to grow up in California that would have been cool you always say that you think I just love California yeah it's just an amazing place it's so beautiful here whatever everybody's just really getting after it that is also movie brain when I was watching the SAG Awards did a nice like tribute to LA a montage well and they were during like the breaks which is essential Sean I thought it was a nice telecast.

1:08:18No, but they were very nice. And I was like, oh yeah, well now I just like I'm movie pilled. So that's why I love Los Angeles so much. And I see it through those eyes. But I agree with you. That's why we like living here. Just like being here. I was gonna take Fast Times in comedy. So sorry. I'm sorry. I am sorry. I gotta be honest. Like you have betrayed our alliance a little bit on this one. In this one? Wow. Yeah. We meaningfully coexist. We don't have to get into who threw the first rock, but you knew I was going to take Blade Runner. Well, I had to, strategically. Yeah, I could have taken it the first time, I guess.

1:08:54I mean, you really, you just volunteered that little info about King of Comedy, you know? Oh, yeah, that's true. I'm sorry. No. I think you could have had Diner in comedy, I think. I could have had Diner in Oscar. Oh, you're concerned about Oscar now? Well, I mean, no, I'm just going to do what I have to do, but like, I don't, I don't love it. It's not, not a great Oscar year. Where's my fucking Oscar sheet? but every movie is eligible right not just the big categories i just list the big categories so there it is more expanded than you might think yeah but like oscar sheet is missing i'll get there oh i'm good no i'm good okay you're good on oscar um like i know it's fine but i don't really love a lot of the the the you know the special ones diner was sort of like my my back pocket and I had to use it and frankly I'm looking at the list now and I just forgot to watch Victor Victoria um so that just could have faked it that's not gonna happen I do you know what have you got on your board you got Blader on your great pick yeah you got Diner great pick those are your two uh I think so yeah and I get two more okay um okay so one thing I know I'm gonna do in comedy I do have a backup um the other Sidney Lumet film from 1982 uh Death Trap oh great pick yeah Which is a great pick.

1:10:12And then like a very Amanda pick. Yeah. You know, like puzzle. What category? Comedy. Comedy, yeah. Movie sold as a mystery drama, but it's actually just a comedy. Yeah. And a send up of a type of film, you know, an Agatha Christie, like whodunit, that I like very much. Great performances. Shout out Diane Cannon. Funny movie about a playwright. Yeah. Yeah, right. True, too. It's all true. All true. okay so that's comedy and i christopher reeve very good yes wonderful yeah the the the turn i don't want to if you haven't seen the film death trap check it out it's a fun fun night at the movies it's really really good okay so i guess i gotta go in oscar because i'm just pretty thin on the ground and i've been like scrolling up and down on the wikipedia page while everyone's been talking.

1:11:07And I don't have that many options left. So speaking of movie stars and movie star, well, I guess he was already a movie star at this point, but an officer and a gentleman starring Richard Gere. Yep, in Oscar. Yes, in Oscar. The late great Louis Gossett Jr. Yes. Do you just wish Zach would sometimes come by the podcast studio and sweep you off your feet like that? I mean, it is such a great, it's a ridiculous, great ending. And a great rewatchables that launched one of your... Byron Mayo, yeah. Best characters. Robert Loggia tugging at his boxers. But what stays with me... So much lower pelvis in that sequence.

1:11:52It is really confusing. But what stays with me is like Bill's imitation of the other woman yelling like, way to go! You know, it's so ridiculous. and in a lot of ways it's like I don't really remember the 80s because of my age but if I were to like think of the 80s and 80s movies it is just sort of an officer and gentleman like sentimental and then really confusing moments like the whole Byron Mayo situation you're like why is this happening not totally sad parts too like the whole very sad stuff yeah not not totally realistic but also you just gotta hand it to them at the end with that last bit and the song so I think of many episodes that we record together as that sequence where Gossett Jr.

1:12:41and Gear fight in a barn and you're like why are these two people fighting each other what are they proving to each other but you know it's the emotional connection that you build with your betters you know and that's a weird movie it's weird how big it was you can understand with the component parts but when you watch it it has a lot of oddity to it but it's still effective this is like one of the best episodes of that show that we've ever done for sure of rewatchables yeah I find that like 78 to like 84 again just because of when I was born and like when I like you know came online and started watching things there are well you know booting up for a while there's a certain generation of actor and actress who like it just remain a total mystery to me and i feel like i'm always like i i just want to watch everything to kind of get like okay why was this person a thing like why was deborah winger is like a thousand percent and obviously like very beautiful and has chemistry with richard gear but i just i feel like i lost the moment and i i guess this is the closest no i mean it's terms of endearment but you you starred in a film with deborah i did i had a great time working yeah she was very good but i just like i know that she was the biggest movie star she was huge yeah huge and i just feel like i totally by the time i was paying attention she'd retired or whatever she was doing beautiful and yeah charismatic and funny and interesting and yeah you know we when we made that movie the lovers we were one of those situations where you meet somebody in a makeup trailer before you're gonna be making out with them as a married couple for the first time in half an hour's time.

1:14:26Why do they always do that scene first in shooting? I don't know. But we, in our conversation, and we got on great from the get-go, but she asked me about doing the gig and I said, look, it's interesting territory for me. I've not played a lot of, I've not played any leading roles on film. I've played a lot of character parts. That's what I do. And she said, well, the responsibilities are a little different. And I said, oh, talk to me about that. And she said, well, when you're further down on the call sheet, the responsibility is to keep the story moving, right? Get the lines out and keep the story moving.

1:15:00And she said, and when you're the star of the movie, the responsibility is to be interesting. And I had never heard it put quite that way. And it's what Deborah does so beautifully. She's just interesting. You just want to watch her. She's just fucking watchable. I mean, not to say that there isn't a lot of skill in what she's doing. a lot of work that's gone into it, but she's just so damn watchable and appealing. And yeah, she walked away from it when the roles started to get less interesting for her. But she's a big part of the success of that movie. The star power of her and Richard is a, not to mention the great performance by Luke Gossett Jr.

1:15:42Big part of the success of that movie. Loggia. Yeah. Shout out Robert Loggia. You have another pick? You took two? That was two. You took two. Death Trap and then Death Trap. Right, of course. An officer and a gentleman. All right, Christopher Ryan. All right, so I have to get a drama and I have to get a thriller, action, horror, sci-fi and a wild card. Interesting, interesting, interesting. So drama. I'm very curious to hear where you go here. I don't have to do it right now. No, you don't. You can wait. You don't have to do anything. I know. Do what you like. you can stand up and walk out of here where's the joy Chris let's take a minute and find the joy what do you love cause you know well I've just been I've just been so it's just been like I feel like I'm just ticking boxes on this one you know I don't have my god that's what I'm saying let's break out you know what do we do to do that give us some gusto you've just gotten a first hand account of what it's like to work with Debra Winger bring something to the table for fuck's sake should I talk about When I first saw Slumber Party Massacre.

1:16:52If that's as close as you can get, so be it. Gosh. All right. I guess for the action horror thing, for action thriller horror sci-fi, I'm going to take Halloween 3 Season of the Witch. Okay. I didn't see that coming. What happens in Halloween 3? Well, it's not a Michael Myers movie. It's a very generous question. Thank you for making way for that. I haven't seen Halloween. Yes. 3 is very different. It's very different. Sean and I love it. It might be my second favorite. I think we said it was our second favorite. I think we ranked Halloween movies. You did. I listened to that episode. There's like 50 % of people were like, you two get it.

1:17:27You're the ones. And then 50 % of people were like, you should never podcast again for putting Season of the Witch up there. I've never seen it. You've never seen it. It's awesome. Oh, it's a very cool movie. Okay, go ahead. It's basically like a side story. And it's like taking the energy of Halloween to tell like a different story about kids basically falling under the spell of a toy company. evil toy company. Okay. What kind of toy? It's like a little leprechaun, right? Silver Shamrock. Yeah. And it's kind of like a cult film. It's kind of like a corporate over like Big Brother movie. Kind of a brainwash movie.

1:18:01Yeah. But it's... Where is the silver shamrock drawing the kids? They see it on TV. They see it in commercials. But then what is he, he or she, I don't want to gender essentialize the leprechaun. The sort of factory, the HQ is somewhere in the desert, right? Yeah, it's pure evil. Oh, but, and so is, yeah, but what are the kids doing? Like, what is he, what does the leprechaun inspire the children to do? That's a good question. Making them sort of like, um, dead-eyed soldiers for the cause. Malevolent forces. Okay, but like, like, so what's the fucked up stuff? That's what I'm trying to get you to like, be like, so then like, commit violent.

1:18:36Yeah. It's not as specific about that part of it. You know, like in the brood, the great David Cronenberg film, we watch the children are menacing people, you know, they're, they're being very violent. This is more of insinuations of the evil. So this is probably a slightly divisive pick, but I'm going to go with that. There's a couple of other horror still left over, but I might throw that in wild cards. So I'll take Season of the Witch here. Well, you did the thing that Amanda asked. You chose your personal pick. I did. A very cool 80s horror movie. I can't believe you haven't seen that one.

1:19:06It's interesting. I haven't seen it. Goes to you, Tracy. Yeah, you're up. You're up, you're up. Oh, it's me. Yeah. Oh, shit. Oh, jeez. What do I have left? blockbuster Oscar wildcard. Indeed. Hmm. Huh. Oh. Now it does get a little tricky. It's a little tricky. It is a little tricky. What's my favorite movie on here? Not so easy when you're not driving in your car listening to the pod at 1.2 speed. 1.2 yeah I do 1.2 I just guessed that but many people do 1.2 is that alright it's alright isn't it I'm a busy guy you know what I do yeah you do which is just absolutely 2x absolutely I can't you can't hear anything double speed Sean I've been doing 2x for two years do you listen to the watch on 2x I listen to you guys at 4x trying to get through it as quickly as possible that's not true I listen to you at.5 I speak pretty fast I want the episodes to be longer I wish every episode was an hour longer slow it down but like how many hours a day do you have people speaking in your ears at 2x multiple I know because that is just a psychological insight into like the world that you have this is a powerful instrument no it's like you are living but how close are you to just being like chat GPT summarize the ringer fantasy football episode for me I would never do that okay why would I do that because you're trying to be as efficient as possible you know you guys are about the only podcast that I listen that's very nice how did you find the show was it Tim I don't remember.

1:20:45Okay. You don't want to give hit maker anything. It was 1982. It was, I think it was actually, I think it was Bill and gambling, sports gambling. Eventually brought me around. Brought you over? Yeah. You are, you're an avid sports fan. Sam Darnold, not back, not back. We'll see. Are you guys both Jets, Mets? No, he's, he's Vikings. Vikings, Cubs, Bulls. Wow. This is Oklahoma. Okay. That we're pulling from. Was it parental that their dad pushed you in a direction for certain teams? No, I just... Fran Tarkenden was my childhood sports team. Do you like the Sooners or the Oklahoma State Cowboys or college at all?

1:21:24I kind of stopped following the college game a while back. Too corrupt? That's part of it, actually. Chris, you're pro NIL. Would you like to speak to it? I participate in a lot of collectives. In Blockbuster, I'm taking Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. This was right behind Poltergeist for me. Now, I projected Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, at the Plaza Theater. And that was a... The Plaza Theater had two carbon arc projectors, which was... They were tricky to operate. And I actually fucked that up, and the screen went dark for about 20 minutes while I was projecting Star Trek II to a packed movie theater.

1:22:02I was worried that maybe you were going to put the last reel first or something like that. I didn't get them out of order, but the screen went dark and had to make a panicked call to my boss. Can you talk about the transition from the difference between Star Trek, the motion picture, to two and how this sort of saved whatever the Star Trek thing was? There is no Star Trek these days without Star Trek 2. Star Trek 2 saved the entire franchise. The first Star Trek movie was a disastrous misfire. Robert Wise was not the man to direct Star Trek. I don't know. in my own personal proclivities, I'm more of a Star Trek guy than a Star Wars guy.

1:22:45I think I prefer the, I don't know, there's something about the mission that's just so stupid and open-ended. Just like, we're just going out. We're just going out. We're just going to go out and see if we can get into some trouble. We might zap down there, see what's up, come back up. See what's going on. It's kind of the good hang of sci-fi franchises. It was so beautifully cast. those characters were so specific. And I mean, really, Spock, what an amazing character, what an amazing cultural touchstone Spock was. And this movie brought it back to life. I mean, it was everything that you loved about the show.

1:23:23And I mean, Khan is just a great villain. Montalban. And Montalban is just going for it. man. Truly. He is just eating the drapes. It's fantastic. It's a great time. It's a lot of fun, this movie. It really did rescue the franchise. This is the one with the worms in the ears? Yes. That's great. I was shown this in sixth grade when a substitute teacher came in and did not want to teach the class and he just put on Wrath of Khan and it was wonderful. Really truly some of, we really made American film students by like being like, I don't feel like teaching today so we're watching Spartacus. Very, very exciting stuff.

1:23:59I read that Nimoy did not want to come back for this and he had to be convinced to come back and that he lobbied hard for the death of Spock very early on, which then this becomes like a trilogy of movies, two, three, and four. Two and four are by far my favorites. I think two and four are great movies, great adventure movies, really fun. I really, really like that. Great pick. Okay. I have two selections. Oh, fun data point for you. I also learned researching Star Trek II, directed by Nicholas Meyer, who was an author before he was a director. The 7 % solution. 7 % Solution, a novel he wrote.

1:24:34His daughter, Dylan Meyer, is engaged to Kristen Stewart. Oh, congratulations to them. I believe Dylan Meyer is also a filmmaker. Do you ever throw up a Live Long and Prosper? I can't do it. I don't have the gene. This is a lot of practice as a kid. It's genetic? Yeah. I think so, yeah. You can do it or you can't do it. You look like Alice trying to do a piece sign right now. She also can't do a piece. She always goes like this to do a piece. Max has started counting, but he's doing like the Inglorious Bastards too. I was like, I didn't know you could do that. Sorry, Glazer. Okay. so I have to select I have Oscar open and I have comedy open hmm comedy is an easy choice okay not because there are a lot of comedies but there is one comedy remaining that I quite like which is The World According to Garp hmm okay directed by George Roy Hill one of the early Robin Williams starring performances adapted from a John Irving novel A very good novel.

1:25:33You're a John Irving guy? I read his - What is up with John Irving? What do you mean? I mean, crazy shit happens in those books. And also I was given all of them at the age of seven. There's a lot of sex stuff. And then there's also just a lot of carnival performers, right? Yeah. He was a wrestler. And people die randomly, but mostly sex stuff, I guess. I think there is a general weird energy that I would say has actually been adopted and comported into prestige television. It's like his movies don't seem as weird or the adaptations of his novels. Yeah, have you seen Ozark? Honestly, they don't just seem as strange as they did in the 80s and then the 90s.

1:26:10I don't know why. I mean, John Irving's novels were huge. I think that's why. And it's the same thing. It's like I was allowed to read Grisham and John Irving before I was old enough. This is a very curious movie. Features an amazing performance from Glenn Close as Garp's mother, who is a very independent, forward-thinking feminist figure who becomes pregnant, purposefully astride a dying soldier so that she can conceive and be a single mom. And she raises this unusual boy who goes on to become a writer, but just as he is starting to flower as a writer, she writes a kind of feminist manifesto that becomes one of the most popular nonfiction books, essentially in American history, is sort of what the movie tells you, or the story tells you.

1:27:02And then it becomes this interesting character piece about this complex relationship between these two figures, and it's also a romance about Garp and this woman that he falls in love with, but who is unfaithful to him, and he's such an odd character. Very, very strange movie. Funny, but not in a laughing out loud way. You didn't have that Tootsie experience that you would describe watching it. George Roy Hill also kind of getting a lot of his personal interests into this movie. There's a very memorable sequence where a plane flies into a house. Reminds me of The Great Waldo Pepper. Just a really good movie that I think has kind of been a little bit forgotten.

1:27:37Not by Bill Simmons. Bill Simmons is a fan of the movie. This was not eligible for box office, but there were quite a few Academy Award nominations, right? I believe so. Well, Glenn Close was nominated and John Lithgow yes and John Lithgow were both nominated and it's funny you mention that about Prestige TV because I've often thought why don't they go back and revisit some of this Irving stuff yeah I mean the World According to Garp and Cider House Rules are so ripe for that treatment for the limited series more so almost than a movie form yeah World According to Garp is a big story yeah big sprawling stuff it expands a lot of time yeah anyway really good movie I like that movie a lot more than Cider House Rules I think people were disappointed because they had certain expectations of Robin Williams And of course he was trying to break out of a certain way that people saw.

1:28:26It's a very low key character. It's not the zaniness that you would think anyway. Okay. I have another pick and I'll be making it in Oscar.

1:28:40What did I say I wanted to do?

1:28:45Only you and the voices in your head. So you didn't put Garp in Oscar. You took Garp in drama. I took Garp in comedy. comedy. Yeah. which would certainly be a, also a comedy drama. Sure. Crossover. Yes. Hmm. Oscar.

1:29:03I think you have a, do you watch Victor Victoria? You have a Sophie's choice here. I have a lot of holes in, in the Blake Edwards filmography. That's not really one I've spent a lot of time with. I probably got to go back. There's a really good series of episodes of, you must remember this about Blake Edwards. That was related to 10, as I recall, that made me want to go watch a lot of those, especially those 70s and 80s movies. He hit a kind of new gear, starting with 10, that went through Victor Victoria, SLB. I have seen, what's the film with Jack Lemmon where he's living in his house? That's Life.

1:29:38That's Life, yeah, which is such a thinly veiled self-portrait. There's crazy movies, super interesting movie. But anyway, I haven't seen a lot of those movies. I don't even know if I've seen Victor Victoria, to be honest with you. I'll take Dust Boat. Yeah, that's a good pick. which is Wolfgang Peterson's three and a half hour masterpiece about being trapped on a submarine and the absolute hell of that experience, which does reflect the occasional movie draft. You know, sometimes it does feel like not to me, but I think maybe to some others on this panel. Is that how you feel? There are some days, especially in our old studios, which were audio only and, but you know, no windows and had sort of, They had a long, like a, what is the, they were long and narrow, a narrow quality to them.

1:30:25Right. That is how I imagine a submarine would be. Yeah. This is a classic. The tight air. Yes. That air that you keep breathing in over and over. Our colleague, Juliette Littman, has a very classic, you know, like party question. Space or submarine? Where are you? Where would you prefer to go? Like to spend time or die. Yeah. I'm well either. the eternal question you mean like real not like on the on the deck of the of the Enterprise you mean like in an actual space capsule yeah like you're you're going to space or you're going on a submarine to the to the deep sea I'm not I'm not going to either of those places he brings up an interesting distinction which is that I think when I think about wanting to be in outer space it's often on like you know the spaceship from the Martian okay hanging out with well you know I mean well I would that would be tough that would be me with Jessica Chastain but you know likelihood is that more like you're just like in a rocket you know right that's true kind of going up I mean I think they're both you know kind of like silent and oppressive and like the great void and also some gravitational issues outside of being crushed at the bottom of the ocean me too I like for me it's space no question submarines are terrifying to me and that's before all that other stuff I won't even get in the goddamn thing to go up to the top of the arch in St.

1:31:44Louis so I'm not about to get in a rocking space cat and yet you so memorably got in that car in ford ford terrify yeah absolutely terrifying i just have you ever been in a submarine movie or a movie set in outer space submarine movie okay or an outer space movie that's all right bucket list yeah or a bucket um all right you have another choice oh jesus christ your final selection no i still have Oscar. Is this going as you expected it would go? Oh, yeah. Okay. Oscar. Have you seen the TV version of Dust Boat? No. I wonder if it's any good. Is that more recent? Pretty recent. I think in the last couple of years, they did a limited series of Dust Boat.

1:32:33And I don't know if it's any good. And I already did Blockbuster. So I have Oscar and Wildcard left. Oh, in Oscar I will take Missing okay good okay uh Costa Gavras movie Jack Lemmon Jack Lemmon Sissy Spacek this is my latest screed it's I think Sissy Spacek has been underrated yes I don't think we talk enough about how great Sissy Spacek was I think she was one of the greats I think and I any conversation that doesn't include her as one of the greats I just disagree with it. And to watch that movie now, I've seen it not that long ago. It's really interesting to note the difference in performance styles between what Sissy Spacek is doing and what Jack Lemmon is doing.

1:33:25He is very clearly from a different, I mean, not obviously his character is from a different generation, but he's from a different generation of actors. Naturalistic versus studio. What he's doing is fussy and performative and what she's doing is locked in. She's great in that movie. She's great. Do you have a favorite Sissy Spacek performance? Well, Clone Miner's Daughter is kind of undeniable. I mean, it's one of the rare times where we gave the Oscar to the person for the right performance. And that definitely was the one. But I often think about her in these movies in which I just, the movie for whatever reason gets forgotten or not remembered as fondly.

1:34:03Though I think Missing is in the Criterion Collection. It is one of those. I mean, the truth is that movie really holds up. and unfortunately, maybe even more relevant now. It is. Yes, it resonates. It's kind of the end of an era for her as a major leading actress. And it's not totally clear to me why that happened. You know, she made Raggedy Man the year before that with Jack Fisk. And then she's in The River and Marie and Violets are Blue. And, you know, she makes a big sort of comeback, for lack of a better phrase, in the 90s in a lot of supporting parts. And she starts taking a lot of middle-aged female parts.

1:34:44And obviously the business is very inclined to actresses. I mean, you know, she didn't go cutting on herself. And she, you know, it was at a time. I mean, it's not as true now as it used to be. That, you know, roles for actresses just fell off a table after they hit 40. So she probably just aged out of the good parts. This is so crazy. You know, talking about minting of stars in this year with Mel Gibson and Eddie Murphy, it's also true that with Meryl in Sophie's Choice, again, just kind of undeniable in that movie and all of the work she did in that film. So if Meryl doesn't make Sophie's Choice that year, Jessica Lange almost certainly wins for Frances.

1:35:26Yes. Which means that Jessica Lange doesn't win supporting actress for Tootsie. Probably Terry Garwin's supporting actress for Tootsie, I think. but more to the point Terry Garth thinks so too she did think so I believe did she? I believe so yeah more to the point you know Meryl I mean obviously she was already a movie star I think she'd already been had she won for Kramer vs. Kramer yes right so she was a movie star but Sophie's Choice was just like oh no she's the movie star she is our greatest actress that became cemented really with Sophie's Choice this year and Jessica Lange right this was also kind of her year with Francis and Tootsie, it's like, well, she's one of our, she's not just a model who became an actress.

1:36:10She's actually one of our great actresses. Did you end up getting that edition of Francis that I hipped you to? I already had Francis on the imprint. You got to get up pretty early in the morning and get past this guy. Just made him aware of a new edition. Sometimes you'll double up, but not in this case, I guess. Holding on to that Australian edition. Okay, Chris. I gotta do drama I gotta do wild card I was looking at missing but for drama I'm gonna pick one that has I guess weirdly a personal resonance although it's a perverted film The Draftsman's Contract Peter Greenaway is not a director that I think is particularly in fashion right now but my dad used to have all these like BFI books and some of the most earliest erotic images I ever saw were from these books about Peter Greenaway's films.

1:37:04It's nice that we can always come back to that. Which are truly like, you know, like there's a lot of kink in these. So this is a movie about, I can't remember when it's set, I guess like the 17th century, 16th century, and a rich woman who with a frigid marriage has hired an artist to come and do landscape drawings for her. And part of the contract is that she will also sexually pleasure him every day that he turns in one of these drawings. And it's kind of a portrait of class, but also of like excess. And it's just like got a great style. It was shot in 16, but they blew it up to 35. And an incredible act of like kind of independent filmmaking.

1:37:46And he's such a unique voice. And he just really doesn't come up. The Cook, The Thief, The Wife, and Our Lover, I suppose is his biggest film. Yes. But this is a fantastic one. What category did you take this in? In drama. uh i worked with anthony higgins who plays the lead in draftsman's contract i did a very bad play with him in london and uh he's a great guy i really you know he's also in raiders yes he's one of the one of the nazis right in raiders uh he's a great great guy had a lot of great uh showbiz stories he he's a guy that they would always uh uh tempt with bond uh he was going to be the next the only reason they did it was to get roger moore to sign his contract and anthony knew it It was like, the only reason you're bringing me out is to get Roger Moore to agree because they sort of dangle Antony out there like, well, he might be the next Bond.

1:38:35And Antony was so grateful that he was not made the next Bond. He would have been really. It's kind of how they treat Jameis Winston now, you know, like we could always just go get Jameis. Honestly, future quarterback in the New York Jets, if I'm guessing. Favorite Bond? You mean? Favorite actor who portrayed James Bond? Well, I think the obvious answer for somebody my age is Sean Connery. But the truth is I'm born in 65, which means, yes, I'm the first Gen Xer. Gen Xers are turning 60 this year. And our bond was Roger Moore. He just was. I know he wasn't great, but he was our bond. That's great.

1:39:16That's nice. You did choose Craig over Pierce, right? You won't choose. Oh, Craig over Pierce? Oh, a thousand percent. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Craig's the best. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I understand that Craig is the best. Yeah, okay, okay. Does anyone pick Dalton? No. Now's the time. I did show, my wife had no experience of James Bond. I was like, well, we got to watch, we got to start with Sean Connery. Yeah. Yeah. So I showed her one Sean Connery and she was lukewarm. And then I showed her the second Sean Connery and she was like, I hate this. Yeah. Okay. I think this is stupid.

1:39:50These jokes, these stupid cornball double entendres, and the action isn't that great, and this bad guy's ridiculous. She's just totally out on Bond. And if you're out on Sean Connery, it's like, you're not going to go for Pierce Brosnan. Probably not. Well, what about Daniel Craig? What about Casino Royale? I wanted to wait long enough for her to forget it before showing her Casino Royale. There are some essential early scenes in Casino Royale that I think might win some people over. It's also played more straight. Yeah. It doesn't have that. And she loves Mads. Oh, yeah. So Mads might be the door.

1:40:29Yeah, and he's phenomenal in Casino Royale. Have you done, do you watch like many, we don't keep talking about Peter Greenaway, but I was just curious. Do you know how there's certain filmmakers? I just watched this film for the first time two days ago. What did you think of it? The film you just picked. I really liked it. I had seen The Cook, The Thief. I think they're totally singular right the way that everything is framed in the movie they're very cinematic but they don't really have they don't feel like they have a lot of forebear so it's a little hard to kind of wrap your head around it visually I love like the perversion how he's very clearly like this turns me on English fine art perverts Ken Russell kind of like thing I like that I do too Zed and Two Knots I've not seen that That was a lot of fun.

1:41:15Oh, man. Belly of an Architect. Yeah. Interesting movie. Denny was like, what are you doing here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Amanda, you've got, are these your final two selections? These are my last two picks. I have Blockbuster and Wildcard. So, Blockbuster is interesting. I'll just read. There were 16 on the table and many are gone now. So, here's what I'm picking from. number one was et gone to tootsie gone three an officer and a gentleman gone to me four rocky three five porkies six star trek breath of con gone seven 48 hours gone eight poltergeist gone nine best little whorehouse in texas which i'm not going to take respectfully to dolly parton who i love very much um 10 annie 11 the verdict gone and then gandhi first blood also gone the Toy, Firefox, and the Dark Crystal.

1:42:14And I have to be honest, I don't know what the last three are. So I won't be picking those. Just for shame. Wow. The disrespect to Clint and Jim Henson is astonishing. You don't know Dark Crystal? I know. Do I know Dark Crystal? You've got to show your kids Dark Crystal. Not yet. My boy was way into Dark Crystal by the time he was four. Well, this looks very upsetting. Yes. Dark Crystal is so good. What is going on here? It's so amazing. There's also so much devoted to it at the academy museum so many of the puppets are there and it's handmade and it's really good it's on a very short list for my wild card selection so okay so well it'll be there for you but i guess wow his skexis and what were the other really upsetting um so i know what i'm going to do here despite rocky three giving us eye of the tiger which is really important uh i mean it is it's very important my high school cross-country team trained we did our own training montage don't worry about it it was our senior song we had to vote on a senior song and it was i have the tag i voted for four straight state championships okay so i'm not doubting it whatever you want to say like we did it um you know i was a child once so i'm gonna take annie yeah i i assumed you would take that yeah this is a classic um and probably one of the first movie musicals that i saw or like in that grouping but like one of the good ones in my opinion and now with nox we're going through all of them and i just really i can't watch the music man again respectfully but uh and he's great and you can teach him about the great depression yeah sure you know um and a great cast and like Probably my first introduction to Carol Burnett, Carol Burnett, Albert Finley, all of those, Tim Curry, everyone.

1:44:03And it is a hard knock life, as it turns out. It is. Yeah. Is it? Yeah. No, it is. It is. It is. Okay. All right. I'll take your word for it. And then Wild Card is probably my favorite movie of the year, which is, and just very Amanda pick, Evil Under the Sun, which is another of the Agatha Christie adaptations starring Peter Ustinov as Eric Kulparo. It's not as good as Death on the Nile, which was like in 1978 and is just a legendary movie. The original, please don't watch the new ones. They're awful. But Evil Under the Sun is a very good Agatha Christie mystery as well because I read all of them.

1:44:45I recommend it. And stacked cast, very fun. Who directed that? This is... Terrence Young? Guy Hamilton. Guy Hamilton. Another Bond. Different Bond guy. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, it's Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin, James Mason again, Diana Rigg. Like, you know, these people. It's just, it's really fun. This one's set somewhere in the Mediterranean. He said Eastonov? Yeah. Yeah. He was never phoning it in, Peter. No, I mean, it was very, it's very big. And, like, this could have gone in comedy, probably. But even though it is a murder mystery. But really fun. I took Alice to see the Great Muppet Caper at the Idiots yesterday afternoon.

1:45:28How did that go? Very well. I mean, it's a real platform for Miss Piggy. Who is a big hero in the home right now. So it went over very well. And, you know, for Charles Grodin fans, that's a core text. But Peter Ustinov gets like 90 seconds. He makes a meal out of his 90 seconds. He really, he goes for it. He never didn't go for it. Is Austin Pendleton in that movie? No, he's in... He's in the first one. He's in the first one. He is Charles Durning's henchman. Right. I heard a young actor once ask him what it was like acting with the Muppets, and he got mad and said, it's like acting with cloth.

1:46:15Okay. You took your two? Yeah, that's it. I have wild card left. what are you going to do? I'm going to take personal best whoa I didn't see that coming so I was watching the Yakuza recently the Sidney Pollack movie with Robert Mitchum in Japan crime film and I've forgotten that Towne did a rewrite of the Schrader script that he's accredited co-screenwriter so I kind of went on a little bit of a Robert Towne jag like both trying to find stuff that was like suggested that he had rewritten but also stuff that he had written and I realized I had not seen personal best maybe ever. If I had, I did not remember it.

1:46:54And what really struck me about it this time, it's a coming of age movie and a love story about a track star in Oregon who's training for the Olympics and Scott Glenn, Mariel Hemingway is the track star, Scott Glenn plays her coach, is how amazingly like Town directs all the running sequences and the training sequences and how wonderfully cinematic it is, but it's got a great script. and I wasn't sure if this was like a controversial movie or not do you think? Because of the sexual politics? I don't think it was popular enough to be controversial. I mean it was very well received. I went back and read the Pauline Kael review of it and like the Stanley Kaufman review of it but I thought it was a fantastic movie.

1:47:35People just weren't up for it for whatever reason. They weren't. This guy loves track. It's an unlikely time. He does. It's a very unlikely choice though given what his CV was before that too and I think they didn't totally know how to sell it. It's an odd movie. yeah but very interesting I really dug it yeah it's cool what's it what's the film right after that that he makes doesn't he make another film Star no no I mean he makes Ask the Dust and he had another later period film that he directed I can't remember but I thought he had one more film in the 80s oh Tequila Sunrise yeah Tequila Sunrise yeah right which is you know an attempt to make something more commercial more commercially viable there's a just for fun this was his uncredited writer run was Godfather, Parallax, View, Marathon, Van, Heaven Can Wait, Reds, and then Crimson Tide and Armageddon later.

1:48:26He had Warren on speed dial, as we all know, having read that Peter Biscayne book. Okay, Tracy, you have a wild card selection. I know, and I'm actually more torn about this than any other category because you're like... They're scribbling out now on the paper. And do you, are you trying to fill out a card? Or are you trying to just go with your heart and say, this is the thing that I've seen most. This is the thing I will go back to most often. I'm really torn between about three movies here. But I am going to go with my heart. Eating Raoul is my wild card pick. I saw this at the USA Film Festival.

1:49:12Paul Bartell and Mary Warnoff were there. I had a terrible crush on Mary Warnoff. And then about 20 years later, Killer Joe, my first play, opened in New York. And I was living in Los Angeles at the time. And Paul Bartell called me and asked me to go out to lunch with him. And we went to Dupar's. And he just wanted to meet me because he'd seen the play and he liked it so much. That's so good. He was just a lovely, generous, friendly guy who was just like, I just want to hear your story and how you came to write this thing. And I'm just a fan and I just think it's great. It was just such a lovely.

1:49:47And then he died a couple of years later. I'm so sad. Eating Raul is not only funny as hell, but there's something about the indie spirit of it. And the fact that a guy would spend years of his life trying to make this goofy, strange, very L.A. comedy. And yet again, scripted. The climax of this movie, the hot tub. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. The hot tub is just a great, hilarious, galvanizing moment in the movie theater. Eating right. Well, still a lot of fun. watched it not that long ago. Still a lot of fun. Great pick. I can't say I'm surprised that Paul Bartel liked Killer Joe.

1:50:34I feel like that's kind of in his zone. Alright, so I have the last pick. This is my wild card. A lot to choose from here. A lot of strange things. I think I'll go with Fitzcarraldo. This is on my list. Werner Herzog's epic story about a man trying to drag a ship up a mountain. Certainly one of the craziest acts of movie making in the same year, Les Blank's Burden of Dreams was released, which was a documentary about the making of the movie. Almost outshadows the movie. I think it has kind of subsumed what Fitzcarraldo is. But for whatever reason, I think of actually the way that you and Carrie watch movies.

1:51:20my wife and I in the 2000s got into a weird Herzog thing where we just watched every movie he had made up until that point. I think it was around the release of Rescue Dawn? Was that the Christian Bale movie that he made? And this was by far our favorite of all of them, more than a Gear of the Wrath of God, more than Nosferatu. And it's just an insane concept for a movie that is actually based on a true story and is beautiful and sad and really you feel the pain of the people that are in the story and the pain of the people who are making this story come to life. Uh, so that's my wild card. There's, uh, you won't often hear me, uh, acknowledging a meme, but there's a great one where, uh, he puts on an album.

1:52:07He's demonstrating the, uh, the, the Victrola he's got there and he puts it on and meme. It's a steely dance. And he's gesturing. It's fantastic. And everybody's just like drifting away. So, that's a great pick thanks so we're done should we recap our picks well let's should we do some some honorable mentions first hell yes I gotta throw out a couple of B movie genre movies Vice Squad great which you can see a poor version of on 2B is a absolutely disgusting LA noir with a truly truly unhinged Wingshauser performance as a pimp if you enjoyed the film Maxine there's a lot from Maxine that is pulling from Vice Squad also Amityville 2 The Possession a really good horror movie Damiano Damiani is that his name?

1:53:00Damiano Damiani an Italian filmmaker who barely spoke English who made a movie that feels completely disconnected to the original Amityville horror with Burt Young I find incomprehensible this movie it's fun to watch and one last one there was a couple of TV movies from this year that I really enjoyed. One was The Shadow Riders which is a Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott Western adapted from a Louis L 'Amour book that was like on TBS my entire childhood and Executioner's Song the adaptation of the Norman Mailer novel with Tommy Lee Jones as Gary Gilmore. Wow. There's a there's a European cut of that with a lot of nudity.

1:53:42I didn't make it onto American TV. I'll have to look that up. Just FYI. Yeah. Was that spliced out of the reels that you were showing at a certain point? Any other wild cards you guys would like to cite? You? Grease 2? Grease 2. Michelle Pfeiffer. That's true. Speaking of movie stars arriving on the scene. We projected that at the ship drive-in. I remember Grease 2. Go over well? I don't recall. Okay. Chan is missing. Where are you on Grease? First movie? Yeah. I loved Grease. Okay. Great one. Chan is missing. I just watched it a couple of days ago in preparation for this draft and it was one of the ones I was really juggling for wild card.

1:54:15It's a great movie. It's a great... Did you know it's one of the most successful movies ever made? In terms of its budget to box office? $20 ,000 budget. Wow. $20 ,000 and made$1.2 million at the box office. That's a 60X ROI. There you go. I don't know a lot about it, but it's pretty good. This is a legendary cult horror year for a variety of reasons. Some movies we've selected, some we didn't select. in particular pieces. The Spanish-American Juan Piquet-Simone movie, which is one of, in the conversation for most deranged horror movie of the 1980s about a chainsaw murderer. The House on Sorority Row.

1:55:00And also Slumber Party Massacre in the same year. So you can, you know, to the Porky's and Fast Times point, young men at this time, they wanted something particularly specific. Well, the slasher I'm sure just it blew up for two, right? The peak year was 81. And then by 82, it had kind of started to really play out. But anybody with$120 ,000 could go make one of these. And still make money off. Right, right. Cue the Winged Serpent. Also a cult horror classic directed by Larry Cohen. It's about a winged serpent terrorizing Manhattan. Living in the Chrysler Building. Great method performance by Michael Moriarty at the center of that thing.

1:55:41Just like nobody told him that he was in a bad movie. because he's going for it. He really is. I think I said that to you when we were talking about it. I'm like, he is locked in in this movie. You know a movie I have not seen but that people say kind things about is my favorite year. Oh, I love it. It's a great movie. You ever see that movie? Peter O'Toole? Peter O'Toole. You would love that movie. I would. Okay. You should put that on your list. That's a great movie. Okay. Directed by Richard Benjamin based on his experiences as a page at NBC while they were making your show of shows. Is it Mark Lynn Baker?

1:56:12Is he the star? It is. And Joseph Bologna plays the Sid Caesar part. And Peter O'Toole, it's a great Peter O'Toole performance. I've always wanted to see this movie. It's really good. It's a nice Warner Archive Blu-ray of that as well. Say Amen Somebody, a great documentary from that. Your joyous documentary about gospel singers. If you're feeling bad about the world right now, Get Say Amen Somebody and feel better about yourself. Also available on Canopy. Do you know about Canopy? I certainly do. I have a library card. Yes, that's a really good service. It is. Explain what it is if people don't know.

1:56:53If you have a library card, you can get the streaming service Canopy. That's all that's required. And it's actually a pretty replete little streaming site. I watched for the first time the movie Nine Songs, a Michael Winterbottom movie. Are you familiar with this movie? Oh, you're not? I don't think so. I'm surprised you're not. It features nine individual live performances and interspersed with a love story, a sort of physical love story between a man and a woman who have real intercourse in the film. Oh, wow. That is portrayed in between the musical performances. And that's available on the live.

1:57:25Do I have a reputation as a pervert now on this movie? It's a 71-minute film with porn in it. Keep going. What else do we got? Quest for Fire. Yeah. Jean-Jacques. A nod. Is that how you say his name? Which is about early man. Caveman, yeah. With Ron Perlman and Everett McGill and Ray Don Chong. Terrific adventure about early man. Those movies don't usually work, but they actually did the work on that one. Anthony Burgess did the sounds, the language that they're using. And Desmond Morris did the movement. I mean, they actually put some work into creating the world of early man. Paul Mazurski's Tempest, which is great comedy drama based on the Shakespeare play with Cassafetes and Chetta Rollins.

1:58:12Who Am I This Time? Do you guys know this? I don't. Jonathan Demme, Christopher Walken, Susan Sarandon. It's an hour-long film based on a Kurt Vonnegut Jr. short story. I do not know this one. Who Am I This Time? I haven't seen it. Great romantic comedy. Oh, wow. It's only an hour long, but I think it was originally shown on American Masters or American Playhouse, something like that. Great movie. Koyaanisqatsi. Yep. It's a lot of fun, depending on your state of mind. Smithereens. Just watched this yesterday as well. Familiar with this movie. Yes, Smithereens. Smithereens, the first American independent movie to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

1:58:55Yes. It's a very good punk. It's Susan Seidelman's movie before Desperately. Oh, okay. And it's got a great punk. Score by the Feelys. Oh, man. Yeah. And Richard Hell plays a large part in the movie. It's good. Barbarossa, a good outlier Western directed by Fred Ciappisi with a screenplay by Bill Whitliff, who was a great Texas writer, with Willie Nelson and Gary Busey. And if your picture of Gary Busey is Gary Busey now, then you've forgotten what a great actor Gary Busey actually was. He was really a superb actor. Really good Western. Veronica Voss. Fassbender had two movies this year, right?

1:59:36Carell and his last two movies died this year, I think, in 82. You have a preference, Veronica Voss versus Carell? I'll take Veronica Voss. Carell back in the news. Mark Maron's favorite movie. Veronica Voss? Veronica Voss. That's his favorite movie? It is. Okay. It's a bold pick. Richard Pryor, Live on the Sunset Strip. Almost took it in comedy. I was thinking about it. This and Night Shift were the two comedies. Oh, Night Shift too. I didn't even think of that. Live on the Sunset Strip was just, on HBO nonstop in the 80s. And so I've seen it a hundred times. I mean, so many parts of it, so many times.

2:00:09Did you happen to check out the box office for that on the box office list? It did well, right? Oh, man. Yeah. Richard Pryor. This was a big year for Richard Pryor. But it was kind of like that first Chappelle special on Netflix after he had been gone for a period of time because there was this feeling like he had something to say after all of these incidents that he had had with addiction and all the trouble that he was having too. He's amazing in that movie. That's like, is that the greatest standup comedy film ever? Well, he's the greatest standup comic and that's a pretty good record of it right there.

2:00:40Smash Palace, a New Zealand movie with Bruno Lawrence directed by Roger Donaldson. Roger Donaldson is the father of India. Is that her name? India Donaldson. Donaldson who directed. Good one. Good one this year. Roger Donaldson. Very good. They'll get mad at me if I say that's part of the Australian new wave because it was in New Zealand. but the truth is it is considered part and parcel of Australian New Wave, which was really thriving that year. And La Balance, which I just rewatched, a French movie that's credited with kind of bringing back the policier. Natalie Bay is in the movie. She won all the awards for the movie, and it's a good pimps and gangsters French thing.

2:01:22I got to check that out. Yeah, it's good. We didn't mention Year of Living Dangerously, which is Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson. Because it doesn't qualify. at all? this is what we found out it's actually did it come off? 83 oh okay Creepshow and then I was gonna ask you have you ever seen The Still of the Night? Roy Scheider and Meryl Streep it's basically a Hitchcock pastiche Robert Benton directed it Meryl Streep said it is the worst movie she has appeared in which I disagree with but when did she say it on watch what happens live like 10 years ago so I don't know interesting what else the entity Barbara Hershey being raped by a ghost crazy movie upsetting film in some ways remarkable special effects for the time which is a stupid thing to say about a movie about rape but there are incredible special effects you know what i saw for the first time that i really liked is white dog oh yeah sam fuller movie about a a dog that is trained to attack black people and the attempt oh no i did not it's not where i thought you were going where did you think i was going i don't know you just started talking about dogs and i was like oh well okay i love dogs i would not love this dog this is a mean dog this is a dangerous dog but it's one of his last movies right it is it's like a great confrontation about the idea of can you It's clear that racism can be trained into someone, but can it be trained out of them?

2:02:45As someone who has been taught to see the world that way, obviously it's metaphorical because it's about a dog. But Paul Winfield plays a dog trainer who attempts to convert this racist dog into a dog that doesn't see color. A racist dog? Does it work? Which sounds ridiculous. I don't want to spoil the film. It has one of the great endings, I think, of the year 1982. Okay. Entity white dog double feature. Basket Case, Frank Hennenlotter's very small body horror comedy about a boy and his severed brother who lives in a basket and murders people. What were we doing back then? This is probably one of the most important movies to watch if you liked The Substance, is something that I will say.

2:03:34Shoot the Moon? What about Shoot the Moon? Really good. I mean, not great. but really good. And there was, and because it was not great, because there are things about the movie that are a little wet or don't quite work, it's overshadowed some of the really good qualities of that movie, especially the performance of a young actress named Dana Hill in that film who the same year she appeared in a TV version of Carson McCullough's Member of the Wedding and she was a great actress who died, unfortunately, way, way, way too young. She, because of her diabetes, She was much smaller and often played juvenile roles, even though she was an older actress.

2:04:17And the diabetes killed her a couple of years later. She was a great actress and it's a great performance by her. And, you know, it's Albert Finney and Peter Weller and Karen Allen and Diane Keaton. It's a great cast. Very good movie. Yeah. Coppola's one from the heart. Yep. A famous fiasco. Oh, really? This was 82? Oh, I wish I'd known that. Oh, well. I think a movie that had a very very bad reputation when it was released but has been revived in multiple times most recently last year Tom Wheat's music for that Tom Wheat's and Crystal Gale yes you like author author I love author author Israel Horowitz yeah writing about his personal experiences even though he's gotten gotten in some trouble and then he died yeah but yeah it's a lot of fun yeah Bob Dishy very funny in that movie speaking of getting into trouble Midsommar night's sex comedy, you know?

2:05:11Woody Allen. Good stuff. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Steve Martin. Fun comedy. Last American Virgin. Yeah. What about Chris? This is a teen comedy, and it's just kind of a cheapy TNA teen comedy with a surprisingly dark ending. It's worth watching last American Virgin to see that ending and go, whoa, I did not see this movie. Breaking that dark at the end of it. Gregory's Girl, actually made a couple years earlier, but released in America that year. Bill Forsyth's coming of age drama, comedy, a lot of fun. The big one we haven't mentioned, which is Conan the Barbarian. Right. Speaking of a year that introduced us to movie stars, we'd seen Arnold Schwarzenegger before.

2:06:05But I feel like this is the this is the concretizing moment of Arnold's massive forthcoming celebrity. And it's a, a cool, real metal version of a movie where you've got this collision of the original story. Milius wrote this and John Milius wrote and directed. Actually it was written, co-written originally written by Oliver Stone. It's Oliver Stone script, but you can see Milius has also brought a lot of his foreboding masculinity to the story. very strange, amazing James Earl Jones performance as the villain in this movie, wearing quite the wig. It's just not my... Not your thing. It's not my thing.

2:06:46You don't get into fantasy. I got on the airplane to come here to LA, and we got on... No, no, I was coming back from New Zealand. I was just in New Zealand, so it was a long 15-hour flight. And the guy... I don't know, you guys watch what other people are watching on the airplane? All the time. Of course, yeah. Constantly. So the guy crossed the aisle from me. before the plane even took off, he started on that first Lord of the Rings movie. Oh, that's actually like, because you can do that for a long flight and you can watch the three of them and be done. It's a trick. It's a kind of a trick.

2:07:15He did. He watched all three of them back to back to back. I've never seen them. And watching them over his shoulder, I was just like, I don't, I don't get it. I'm with you. Yeah. Probably not the way Peter Jackson intended those films to be seen. That was my other thought. Without any sound. From Tracy Letts' perfect. I did something once where I was sitting next to a guy who started watching the Dark Knight and he was watching it. And I just kept kind of looking over. I was watching like a game on, it was like on a JetBlue flight. And he's watching Dark Knight. And I was like, man, Dark Knight looks pretty good right now.

2:07:49And so, but then I decided the game was boring and I was going to watch Dark Knight too. But because he had been watching Dark Knight for 45 minutes, I fast forwarded it to catch up to him. so then he looked over and I was also watching Dark Knight exactly timed to his and I was just like you know this is great you didn't exchange words not a single word and you said why so serious okay let's recap our picks hold on Tenebrae oh I forgot about Tenebrae Dario Argento Giallo good stuff class of 1984 good little exploitation movie so many horror exploitation movies from this year. Crazy. And they're all like 75 minutes long.

2:08:31Why did you say at the top of this that you didn't pick this year when you so obviously did? What was that about? I did not pick this year. I'm so confused. I don't know what to tell you. But we would have done it anyway because it's your birth year. Don't we do the birth years? Yeah, we have done 77 and 84. So you probably said to me, you know what we should do is 1982 because it's my birth year. That did not happen. I'm almost certain of it. Sitting there very confidently with your Porter Wagner coif. I'll take that as a compliment. Okay, let's recap our picks. I went first, so I'll go first.

2:09:06In drama, I selected First Blood. A little controversial, I feel good about it. In comedy, I selected The World According to Garp. In thriller, action, horror, sci-fi, I took The Thing. In Blockbuster, reminder the threshold was$40 million or more, I took Poltergeist. In Oscar, I took Das Boot. In Wildcard, I I took Fitzcarraldo. Two West German productions in my sleep. Okay. Congratulations. Who the funky? It was the last year of the new German cinema movement. In drama, I took The Verdict. In comedy, I took Tootsie. Sci-fi, action, thriller, horror. I took The Road Warrior. In Blockbuster, I took Star Trek II.

2:09:44In Oscar nominee, I took Missing. And in Wild Card, I took Eating Raoul. In drama, I took The Draftsman's Contract. It's a hard word to say for me. In comedy, I took Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In sci-fi, horror, thriller, I took Halloween 3, Season of the Witch. In Blockbuster, I took 48 Hours. In Oscar, I took E.T. And in Wildcard, I took Personal Best. Love that for you. Amanda? In drama, I took Diner. In comedy, I took Death Trap. In thriller, action, horror, science fiction, I took Blade Runner. In Blockbuster, I took Annie, an Oscar, an officer and a gentleman. And in Wildcard, Evil Under the Sun.

2:10:26I feel like you and I had a mutual destruction pact in this one. It was like once one of us lost, we had to take the other one down. It was tough. A little bit that's like order, draft order, you know, and it's kind of like taking one from the other. But yes. Did this go as you thought it might? Well, other than Bobby sticking it in and breaking it off. Yeah.

2:10:47You got to end it there. take it up with the internet I didn't have nothing to do with it I thought it was you know a king of comedy would have changed things if that would have that would have changed things do you have anything you'd like to promote before you say goodbye oh god no okay thank you for thank you for not doing that oh no I have no can I promote some stuff please feel free the Eagles won the Super Bowl they've had a parade they've all done podcasts this is airing in March I have no I have nothing to promote anything you'd like to promote a jam session okay yeah the actual fun time I have on this no how dare you come on what no you don't like talking about sex comedies and exploitation we were talking about Halloween 3 for 9 consecutive minutes yeah I know and you did a great job recapping it for me thank you you were like what do they do what do they do have we been doing this for like 3 hours it's over 2 hours yeah this is how it goes the drafts are long yeah aren't you having fun I have a great time he was better about not accusing me of having right wing politics because you're here but other than that this is pretty much how it goes what's that well thank you to Tracy Letts this was very generous of you it's my pleasure I do want to point out that I did send in a couple of questions to the mailbag oh right oh that's right yeah Bobby do you want them answered now or should we address that later well the question was about the third chair it was like I think we all can you give some clarity to the third chair because I'm pretty sure that Tracy Letts should be the third chair of the big picture this is the email that Tracy Letts sent to the big picture well I signed it to you know concerned listener or something it's a real man of the people moment that you just emailed the same email address that everyone else did because there's just there was no way i was gonna be able to kneel in a haystack you could have texted us um i you know i think it's all out there it's all possible you know we don't we don't want to give okay too much away you're welcome to it i have a lot of projects you want to know what i have to promote my movie podcast it's called the odyssey it's about when the odyssey is coming out.

2:12:45You are the you're the first chair of the TV podcast. You know what? Everybody keeps me on pins and needles though. What do you mean? Well, you know, it's just like Andy, Bill, you. I think you've got a bright future. You're home. I think you're going to do great. Thanks. As soon as you get your own show, I think you're going to do really great. Chris, do you want to weigh in on the armor situation with the Odyssey? Because we're making content. So wait a minute. He's in armor, but he's also piloting a helicopter in downtown Los Angeles? Do I have that right? It's a curious question. We haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet.

2:13:17You will, though. Yeah. That's what you're here for. Thanks to Tracy. Thanks for having me. You guys are great. Thanks, Amanda. Thanks, Chris. Thanks to Jack Sanders. Thanks to our producer, Bobby Wagner, for his work on today's episode. Next week on the show, which is in March, we're watching the Alto Knights and discussing what we are calling Garbage Scorsese. Come on. We'll see you then.

2:13:43Thank you.