The Chicago Movie Draft LIVE in Chicago!

22:33I don't really think Brian De Palma was watching. I think maybe a casting director from the untouchables was watching because dear listener, there are no Chicago actors in the untouchables.

22:49So you were never up for Elliot Ness is what you're saying? I, to answer Chris's question, I had a mixed reaction to it. We always did. We loved seeing our city represented. We loved it when we were able to get some work on a thing. Sometimes we didn't have much of a personal relationship to it. Sometimes we did. Sometimes it's absurd, you know, when you see people, when the geography gets confused, but who cares, right? Ultimately, people don't care about that. What do you think about when you think of Chicago in the movies? And, well, for the most of my life, what I knew of Chicago, I knew through film.

23:25I knew through Ferris Bueller. I knew through John Hughes movies. And as I got older, some other films that we're going to talk about tonight. But I think it's, like, funny to have a relationship with it where you come here and there's so many iconic landmarks. The architecture, which we learned all about on a lovely river. Listen, that boat tour, incredible. That guy, yeah. 100 % approval. Yeah, Tracy recommendation. But then every single other person from Chicago has just been like, yeah, doesn't miss. There's literally a woman on the street who's just like, did you guys do the boat tour? And I'm like, yeah.

24:00But that is like when you see those buildings, when you see like the angle that you remember from one of the movies, it's just you get like a little hair on the back of your neck stands up because you're like, oh, I'm standing right here. What about for you? Yeah, I mean, for me, there are two Chicago's. It's the John Hughes suburbs and then everything else. And I definitely watched all of those John Hughes movies like 4 ,000 times. And at a younger age, right? So, I mean, I was looking for the Ferris Bueller angles as well today on the boat. But there are some other important movies that I really don't want to reveal before we get into drafting.

24:38Because we've kept it mostly civil. We've had a lovely time on this trip. It's been, everyone's been lovely to us. but we've also gotten to spend time together. And I don't want to get the knives out before we got to get the knives out. I think it's time to get the knives out. Yeah. I will say in terms of how we feel about Chicago movies, when I first heard about this, and you would think maybe I was the person who instigated us being here. I'm not at all. I was kind of one of the last elements at it. But when I heard that this was happening, if you think for one second that I was going to allow Philadelphia and Atlanta and Long Island

25:23to sit on stage at the Steppenwolf Theater and draft Chicago movies, I mean, what kind of a third chair would I be?

25:42I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but it's been very exciting watching Chris and Tracy interact all weekend as they compete for our love. And now we'll all compete against each other. We have a small business venture that we're looking for. Anybody deep pocketed in the audience wants to fund the third chair LLC. Tracy and I are considering doing a podcast effort. Every big picture podcast where we discuss errors and judgment, social faux pas, psychology of the hosts, crippling anxieties that we could detect and stuff, et cetera. And then talk about the movies that they missed. Yeah. As we all know, there are no errors or anxieties or faux pas on this show.

26:30So, okay, so we do have to draft. We have categories. We have to find a draft order. I think we all uniformly disagree about the qualifications for a Chicago movie, too. Yes, and we have, every time it's come up, sorry, I'm trying to speak and open water at the same time. Every time it's come up, we have said, save it for the show. So, there has been some kind of, like, you know, backroom dealings, but, like, individually, about what the eligibility may be. We have not hashed out. We are going to do that live in front of all of you. And I think it's going to go really well. She did all the back room dealing.

27:08She took Tracy to a museum. And now they have like a whole plan. Sorry, Tracy respects art. You know, you guys went home. It's all very underhanded. All right. As you can see, if you are here with us today, we have six categories. These are more or less the traditional categories that we draft from. They include drama, Oscar nominee, blockbuster, action, horror, or thriller, comedy, and wild card. Now, the threshold for blockbuster is going to be$50 million. And that's because we're talking about the entire history of cinema. And movies released in 1939 just can't compete with movies released this year.

27:49And there is a movie that was released this year that will be eligible for this draft, and we'll get to that shortly. But first, we do have to determine a draft order. Now, before we do that, Tracy, very confidently before the draft, you said, I don't want first and I don't want second and I don't want third. I want fourth. Why did you say that? Probably to reverse jinx the order of the draft. also because I believe that Jack is simply going to read out a list in the order that you gave him before we started the podcast. Hi, Jack. Yeah, he's waving. Jack, that's your cue. We need a draft order.

28:36How are you deciding on this? I very heavily considered rigging it for Tracy. Okay. But, you know, no Top Gun hat today, but in line of Bobby Wagner, Sean, and myself, I have my New York Metropolitans hat let's go it's gonna be all fair and square what's the score of the game right now Jack last time I checked they were losing 4-0 to the Los Angeles Angels but it's all good here we go tough beat really not what you want god damn it drafting first will be Christopher Ryan oh I like it chaos okay so so fucking rigged man oh you're gonna do that great Drafting second will be Sean Fennessy. Jesus Christ.

29:21You said you wanted fourth. Drafting third, Amanda Dobbins. You're welcome, Tracy. Really? Dreams do come true.

29:37It's good. You have the turn. It's great. Okay. All right. You just going to stand for this pick? I might as well. Okay. I'm taking Thief. Come on. The rain-slicked streets of Chicago. Jimmy Conn, taken Tuesday, Weld on the greatest first date ever. Tracy's compatriot, William Peterson, makes a brief appearance in this film. Michael Mann's 1981 movie about a master safecracker and his complicated relationship to management. and one of my favorite films of all time, a Criterion film. So I think some, hopefully somebody received that this evening. Hopefully 10 people. 10 people received that this evening.

30:21Thief, it's the goat. I have no compunction. All right, you do your filing. We'll talk about it. What's that? You do your filing and we'll talk about it now. Yeah, this is, it's a new system. And you know, it's exciting. There are a lot of movies on there. Some of which I do not feel should be eligible. Oh, I gotta choose my genre. Oh yeah. Yeah, choose your genre. Why don't you do it in real time? Put it up where it belongs. Yeah. Oh, this is exciting. I will. This is now a visual medium. It's not eligible for Blockbuster. I know what it is. Okay, all right. It's just the stupidity of the proletariat is not, you know, like, we're not going to see this movie.

30:53I wasn't saying that. I just... I'm going to put it in Thriller. Okay, great. What a great pick, Chris Ryan.

31:03We drove by a bridge. What's that? We drove by a bridge that was featured in Thief yesterday, right? That's correct. And you pointed it out. That's correct. I have a couple of things to say about this movie. Oh, great. First of all, I knew what Chris Ryan's first pick was going to be. I think we all did. Will you be saying I have a few things to say about this movie after every pick? I won't. I have that to say about only about two or three movies, but I definitely have a couple of things to say about Thief. First of all, Tuesday Weld works at the Belden Deli. The Belden Deli was at the corner of Belden and Clark.

31:35Anybody who's ever been to the Belden Deli realizes that it's so ridiculous that Tuesday Weld would work at the Belden Deli. Every person who worked at the Belden Deli was a 250 pound Russian slab of concrete.

32:01It was so absurd. I want to ask Michael Mann, was that a joke? Was that the in-joke that Tuesday Weld would work there? The other thing I want to say about Thief is that there's a scene where James Kahn goes to a guy who apparently makes machinery for criminals. That was my backup job if I didn't get the ringer yet. that actor as a gentleman I worked with on stage here in Chicago, here at Steppenwolf, his name is Nathan Davis. He is the father of the movie director, Andrew Davis, who made the fugitive. How convenient. My second pick. Nathan was a, was a real ubiquitous presence on Chicago stages as the old guy.

32:54He played the old guy a lot. And I have a story I want to tell you about Nathan Davis. I mean, I know that people didn't come here tonight to hear a story about Nathan Davis necessarily, but it's a good story. Right next to Dob Mob is Nathan Davis Mob, actually. So you're in luck. So we were doing the play Picasso at the Le Pan Agile, the Steve Martin show. It began here and it traveled to Los Angeles. I performed in that play 468 performances. performances. When we performed in Los Angeles, it was the Westwood Playhouse. And then David Geffen came to see the play and he liked it so much he bought the theater and it became the Geffen Playhouse.

33:33While we were doing that play, the bathrooms and the dressing rooms were in the basement as they are here, but there was a green room right off stage. We would go in there for notes and there was a small bathroom in the green room. And one time we went in there for notes and the bathroom door was closed and I tapped on the bathroom door. And Nathan, who, by the way, was very generous and genial fellow, always a smile on his face. I heard him call from inside, occupied. Okay, sorry. Go out for notes and wait for the bathroom. The door explodes open and Nathan says, who is that knocking on the door?

34:11And I said, it was me. And he said, came up to me privately. And he said, when the bathroom door is closed, I'm taking a shit.

34:26I said, I'm sorry, Nate. Well, the bathroom door is closed. Why did you knock on? And I said, well, because I thought maybe somebody had used the bathroom and left and then closed the door and thought maybe there was nobody in there. So I was tapping to see if anybody was inside the bathroom. Well, when the bathroom door is closed, I'm taking a shit. So, okay. So I'm really sorry. The next day, I'm standing at the coffee pot in the green room and there's a tap on my shoulder. And I turn around and Nathan is about this far away from my face and he's trembling. And he said, yesterday I was angry about this, but today I'm fucking furious.

35:20when the goddamn bathroom door is closed, I'm taking a fucking shit. I'm really sorry, Nate. He left the show shortly after. Did you ever talk to him again?

35:40I don't know if Nathan Davis mob is feeling stronger or weaker after that story. Did you ever have any future interactions with him? or was this like, this is it? That was pretty much it. That's great. Is the man alive? He's not. Nathan passed away someday. I have no idea how I'm going to segue out of that. But I do know how to pick out of it. And with the second pick, I will be drafting the shitting man's son's masterpiece. Okay. The Fugitive. Okay. That's good. Yeah. 1993. directed by the great Andrew Davis who made many films in Chicago. And when we were talking about doing this, we were talking about who is kind of the bard of Chicago for filmmakers.

36:27Who are the filmmakers you think of most when you think of this city? You think of Michael Mann, you think of John Hughes. Underrated Andrew Davis who made many guy with a gun movies here. And I think this is his best one. Based on a TV show? It was IP? Yeah. And transformed into a magical movie, an action thriller that was Oscar nominated. Oscar wins. I will be selecting it in Oscar nominee. Tommy Lee Jones, of course, won Best Supporting Actor for his performance. This may be the, is this the quintessential Chicago movie in terms of the amount of Chicago per minute that you see in this film?

36:59Like urban Chicago. Bueller? But Bueller's got a lot of suburbs in the beginning, right? At least like the first 30 minutes, right? I don't have an answer to this. Okay. When we were on the river today, I was thinking about it being green. So, you know, and it was a little green, actually, you know, they didn't have the wrong row. Not in a mean way. You're in the wrong row. That's my. All right. Don't make me summon Nathan Davis's spirit. Okay. That's a good pick. Thank you. It was on my list, but it was not my number one pick. So Tracy, now you get to find out what my number one pick is, which is still on the board.

37:40And the thing is, the way the draft order works is that then you'll get two picks and then I get to pick again. So I am making my number one pick and not picking something else. And you could screw me. And so this is just, this is about trust between you and me. And I'm looking at you right now and I'm just letting you know. And you do with that what you will because I know you came to win. Anyway, my first pick will, of course, be Ferris Bueller's Day Off. and I am taking it in comedy. And I mean, just, you know, for Sean's bookkeeping purposes, this movie I owned on, well, you know, I just, you're going to complain.

38:23It's like your 800th draft. Oh, yeah. Do you mind? Thanks so much. What service? What is this white glove service? I don't remember you asking me if I needed any help. I was going to talk and then do it. So, you know, we're multitasking. This is by far my favorite of the John Hughes movies. I had this on VHS, which was a way that you watched movies before DVDs for the younger among you. And watched it a thousand times. A great teen movie about confidence and anxiety and also dancing in the street in Chicago. um did you did you oh no oh we can't find it okay well that's all right well it turns out it's ineligible sorry yeah that would be amazing there was no letter f um it's it's in there it's misplaced do you think it's under bueller well i pulled fugitive out so f must be there right did you oh you took f out didn't you no oh this is exciting this is what you get for offering to help her oh there we go thank you so much okay there it is there it is um yes please in comedy um jack cut all this i have a tremendous amount of this i mean we all have a lot of this film memorized and i was asked recently um by our friend van lathan what 80s movie characters best represented my sons.

39:57And I was like, well, you can't say Ferris Bueller. And I think, in fact, that they have a lot of Cameron in them. But like, you want Ferris for all of them, right? You know? I want Ferris for me too. Was it the guys who work in the garage? What? Was it the guys who work in the garage? That was it. That was it. We all want to be Ferris. I know. That's the beauty of the film. I know. There we go. Great movie. Yeah. You've got printouts in front of you. yeah i'm i do because i do you have any commentary on ferris bueller's day off did you want to add anything about that film that's a lot of fun okay

40:41oh bless her we had a lovely moment in front of the surat this afternoon we're just looking at all the dots, you know? Absolutely lovely. In the Oscar nominee, I'm taking Poop Dreams. Yeah.

41:01I wanted this, obviously. This is one of the best documentaries ever made. Some would say the best documentary ever made. Steve James' masterpiece following two young guys attempting to make it from, I believe it's the South Side of Chicago and trying to make it into the upper crust of collegiate basketball and getting into the NBA and heartbreaking and incredibly intimate movie about family and about sacrifices that are made. And, you know, we just talked about Moneyball last night about sports movies that are about not quite getting there, not quite making it, not quite achieving what you'd hope to achieve.

41:44and that might be the best sports movie ever about that idea. Fair to say? I think it's the best sports movie ever made in my view. Carrie and I were asked to do a top 10 list for the 1990s for IndieWire and Hoop Dreams was number one on my list. I think it's a great movie about the city of Chicago. I think it's a great movie about athletics. Unlike some of the other movies on here, it's about poor people and it's about working class people. And it's about people who are a real part of the city. We don't have to tear down Richard Kimball to lift up who he is. Dr. Richard Kimball. It's a real Chicago story.

42:25Steve James is a great documentarian, and he's continued to be a great documentarian both in movie and TV form. And it was my number one pick. I got my number one, so I'm feeling very good about that.

42:42How are your predictions going so far? What's that? How are your predictions going so far? Oh, I'm 100%. You are. How convenient. You have another pick. In comedy, I'll take The Blues Brothers. Yeah.

43:04This is a blow. This is a blow for you? This is a blow. My strategy. You love to hold fried chickens and white toast? I assumed that this would be on your list. So I, you know. Who's Jake and who's Elwood here? I don't think we need to answer that question. This was a real, this was my dad. It was like, hey, Amanda, you're five years old. Here's the Blues Brothers. And I think I'm better for it. One weird thing about the Blues Brothers movie is it's six hours long. Do people remember that? It's incredibly long. There's a car chase that you grow a beard during. Like it is, it is really something else.

43:42But Aretha Franklin's in this movie. Yeah. Aretha Franklin isn't in any of those other movies.

43:53Well, if that's the criteria, then I didn't know. We're just grabbing new elements to help win drafts, aren't we? Just building your resume in unique ways. I'm back. You're back. You don't want to say anything else about the Blues Brothers? About the Blues Brothers? What's to say, man? It's a rock and good time. It's a great comedy. And it stood the test of time. It's great. You know, Belushi was lightning in a bottle. And we didn't have him for long enough. But he was, I mean, at the time he died, he had like the number one album, the number one movie, and the number one TV show. They don't make him like that.

44:34He was a phenomenon. Okay. It's great. I love it. Did you think it was realistic when Carrie Fisher shot a bazooka into his hotel and everybody lives? Yeah. I wasn't watching for the realism. Okay. Do you know my whole nugget about the poster on the wall in Jake and Elwood's apartment? No. Do the nugget. Dare I do it again? Do the nugget. Okay. I did this on the rewatchable, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself for anybody. But there's a poster on the wall early in the film. And the poster is of Linda Carter, who was Wonder Woman on television, nude. It's a fake Playboy centerfold. And this is a very curious thing because, one, she never was a centerfold.

45:22But, two, she was cast in a movie called Apocalypse Now to be one of the Playboy bunnies who gets off the helicopter and seduces some of the soldiers. and she couldn't make the film work because of the crazy schedule of the film and they recast her part with Colleen Camp and they recreated the same photo shoot and put Colleen Camp's centerfold in the movie. But the Linda Carter centerfold exists in the Blues Brothers. So the Blues Brothers takes place in an alternate universe where Linda Carter stars in Apocalypse Now. That's good. Is that not one of the craziest things in movie history? Pretty crazy.

46:01Also, I did that from memory. Henry Gibson, too. I just have to say Henry Gibson. He's good. That's a great performance. All right, I have another pick. Tracy, can you guess what it is?

46:15Yeah, I think I can. Okay, I mean, the floor is yours. What? No, I'm not. All right, okay. I might steal your thunder. In Blockbuster. And it could have cleared the$75 million as well, which was a threshold under consideration. I will, of course, be taking my best friend's wedding.

46:40I did actually own this on VHS also. And it was not really a robust VHS collection. It was pretty much Ferris Bueller, my best friend's wedding, and Apollo 13. So thank you, Chicago, I guess, for raising me. This is, I do think it's a top five romantic comedy for me. And this is the Julia Roberts rom-com that I have watched the most. Then Notting Hill, then Pretty Woman. I respect them all, but I, I mean, you know, they're all magical. But I like that she's the evil one in this. Oh, thank you. I was going to, listen, I'm going to talk and then, but it's, you know, thank you. Um, it is making fun and sending up a genre that I like very much while also hitting all of the notes.

47:29Um, this soundtrack was very formative to me. Um, oh, um, blockbuster. And, you know, with this, I say a little prayer for you and the lobster hands and then the, you guys know what I'm talking about. Really, really good stuff. Um, the, the boat ride today was quite emotional. given, you know, what happens between Dermot and Mulroney, or doesn't quite happen between Dermot and Julia Roberts on the boat. And I just, it's, it hits, like it is a romantic comedy, but she still doesn't get the guy, and I appreciate that. Can I ask you about a scene in this film? Yeah, go ahead. And I have to admit that this was brought to my attention when I went and saw this movie screened, and several comedians, it was like Doug loves movies and several comedians are kind of making fun of the movie while we're watching it.

48:22And also loving the film while we're watching it. There's a scene where Julia Roberts impersonates Dermot Mulroney by writing an email from, or no, she impersonates Cameron Diaz's dad. She breaks into his office and she is writing emails. Right, an email from his account. Right, yeah. To Dermot Mulroney's boss at like Sport Magazine. Sure. that man gets the email yeah writes a letter in response to this email has it printed out well i wonder if it was people take it by courier to dermot mulrooney so that he knows that he is like this is happening behind his back and it is the weirdest like conflation of communication methods it's like courier email letter writing yeah and it was just like it's right at that edge before the Matrix, you know, like before everything changed.

49:13That also, it's delivered to him at the Drake Hotel. That's right. Yeah, which we didn't, I didn't get to visit that one. But between that and Mission Impossible, a very important movie hotel. As a journalist, how did you feel about her ethics as a restaurant reviewer? Well, she was up front, you know, no disguises. She, in fact, takes one bite and then announces, I'm writing it up as, I don't, you know, inventive and whatever. I actually didn't rewatch this movie. I've seen it so many times. It could be worse. I'm more concerned that she's 28 and the restaurant critic of a major newspaper. I'm really happy that you're 28.

49:48And also, if you are the critic at a major newspaper, that's awesome. But it's not happening for most people right now. What? Our media is in so much trouble. Yeah, no, it's true. How do you feel about the fact that they had a pact to marry each other at the age of 28 if they weren't already married. Because that, you know, it's, listen, give yourselves a little more time. If anyone out here, you know, it's okay. I really admire the way the movie establishes the conceit. The premise of the film is established so early in the movie. It's like, here's what we're doing, folks. This is the concept.

50:31This is of a high concept romantic comedy. This is the concept. we'll get to the character development later right i think i think that the i think that a lot of movies now spend 20 minutes in the character development before they introduce the inciting incident and this movie doesn't i really admire the way it gets to its business yes she falls off the bed and and it's like what and that's that yeah and i admire the the the physical comp that the physical comedies introduced even though there are players in it who you don't think of as physical comedy actors, right? Right. Are you just mad that her family is like a White Sox owner instead of the Cubs?

51:12Like what's your, what's your damage? I'm not mad. Don't say I'm mad.

51:19This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Life's full of decisions, big and small. And sometimes you make one, you can really stand behind. For example, trying to get my daughter to watch more movies. I suggested a childhood favorite recently and she bought in and I'm glad I did. State Farm gets it. Making confident choices can make all the difference. That's why with the State Farm Personal Price Plan, you can choose the right amount of coverage to help create an affordable price for you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan.

51:45Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on ratings plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Well, Chris is going to be mad. In Blockbuster, I'm taking the color of money.

52:04okay so let's talk about this from a Chicago movie well let's talk about whether this is a Chicago movie right this is what I'm saying it was shot here correct Tracy? they meet here they shot they shot some of it here yes they shot some of it here I would say this is an example of a film being spiritually Chicago oh okay so you're going to give it to them even though they then go out on the road for a while and then ultimately wind up in Atlantic City. In Atlantic City, yes. Sure, in your neck of the woods. In my neck of the woods, yeah. Give me some of the reasoning behind why you chose this.

52:41I think Vince represents the essence of the town. Vince? Okay. Which you might think, you know, Paul Newman's character, the legendary character carrying over from The Hustler, hard-bitten, you know, coming from nothing, working hard to build himself up over time represents Chicago. But Chicago, as I've learned in the last 48 hours, a town of flash, a town of pizzazz, a showman's town, a town where a man may wear his own name on a t-shirt, such as Vince does. And I don't know, there's something about the kind of like working class moving in the pool hall identity, the kind of like doing everything you can to get the most that you can energy that is in the first 40 minutes of this movie that is unmistakable.

53:31What was the name of the pool hall? Was that Lincoln Athletic Club? Yeah, on diversity. Yeah, I guess they shot there. Good pick, Sean. This is directed by Martin Scorsese. I know. It stars Tom Cruise and Paul Newman. It's one of the best sports movies ever made. Is it in the conversation with Hoop Dreams, Tracy? No.

53:58I'll put that on a tee. Okay. I feel good about the pick. You guys can undermine me if you'd like. No, we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens? Yeah, because I think... Is it like a threat for later tonight? What you did is you broke the seal. Oh, okay. And now we're going to start coloring outside the lines. Okay. And that's why I am going to pick Dark Knight. Okay. In Blackbusters. Yeah. I spent some time this week with Batman Begins, Dark Knight, and Dark Knight Rises. And I have come to the conclusion that Batman Begins is largely set in Mongolia. The Dark Knight is a Chicago film. And Dark Knight Rises is a Pittsburgh movie.

54:42And I think that that's pretty watertight. And I'll take this in Blockbuster. Okay. In Blockbuster? once again i ask is christopher nolan okay how did gotham go from chicago to pittsburgh has anyone confronted him about this have you yeah maybe we could have if we put this movie on 25 for 25 no regrets no regrets it should have been memento oppenheimer is on this long list is there an Oppenheimer card in there? There could be. Yeah. Let's not spoil it. Yeah. Any thoughts on Dark Knight? Any thoughts on the Dark Knight? No.

55:30It'd be incredible if he was third chair, honestly. If he was just like, Tracy, you know, F1, what do you think, man? Nothing. I don't like driving that's not a thing are you are you stepping back are you ceding territory I'm just saying just think about you know you can see what the other side is like over here you know you'll miss me when I'm gone you have no more material on The Dark Knight this movie rocks and they flip a truck in the middle of the street and Heath Ledger gives one of their great villain performances of all time. Although, was he a villain? You know? Oh. And.

56:18What a brilliant movie, you know? Eckhart? Yeah. The DA? Yeah, well, he got away from you at the end there. But yeah, much like the movie. You're a Two-Face guy? I thought he gave an effective performance. I thought it was. He was really. He had to stack it up. It was Brockovich and that. And then he kind of left to do. the White House has been attacked movies. Do you have a kind of common empathy for Two Faces' plight? You know, that he is seeking goodness, but then a crazed clown burns off half of his face and thinks that a caped crusader did it, and so he has to seek revenge on the rest of the city?

56:53Yes, I do think that that's a very empathetic arc. Should I pick? Yeah, you're on the turn. Dark Knight Rises is not eligible. Dark Knight Rises is a Pittsburgh movie. It's like Doug Drayback. It might as well just be the Pittsburgh Pirates. No one here knows who Doug Drake is, Chris. I will take for drama. Okay. Think of a movie. No, it's not that. It's just category stuff. I'm going to take Primal Fear. Oh, okay. No, I'll find it. You talk. And I'm going to take it in Oscars. nominee Oscar nominee Fred Norton yeah okay you said I'm gonna take a drama I changed my mind it is a drama it's a thriller it's it's comic in places you know Richard Gere is funny in this movie uh in Oscar nominee thanks um wow what a lineup the big three uh this is just uh Who directed this movie?

58:06Can you remember who directed this film? Hoblet? Hoblet, Gregory Hoblet Yeah Don't try and throw a strike past me What's your second favorite Hoblet film? He made a Denzel movie that was fucked up I can't remember what it was called It's called Fallen Yes You guys seen Fallen where the devil goes into Denzel? Crazy movie You seen Fallen? No Wait But do you own Fallen on Blu-ray? No, I don't Okay I was going to start this show I seriously considered starting this show by bringing the Blu-rays that I bought at Terror Vision on stage and just talking through them for 40 minutes this is a true story I'm going to tell it right here we went to Terror Vision yesterday and incredible selection of imports and obscure exploitation films from around the world and every single disc that I pulled off of a shelf and showed to Tracy he was like I've got that every single one every single one like 30 of them we had them all okay I'm done no it was like watching Morpheus and Neo train.

59:07He was just like...

59:13In that equation though, am I the chosen one? I guess so, when it comes to wasting money on DVDs. But yeah.

59:24I think you're up. Yeah, you gotta pick. Okay. The cinema of Hobbit has been selected.

59:30Okay. I've currently got Oscar nominee in Blockbuster Okay Do you want us to fill right now? Well, I'm thinking Alright I'm thinking hard Now, this is an interesting question Is His Girl Friday a Chicago film? No No Absolutely not Don't even try it But The film But The play that the film is based on Yes Is set in Chicago It's all about their take the train to Albany the front page. I will absolutely walk out of this theater. Maybe I should take it then.

1:00:10Okay. Understood. Actually, actually, I actually think there's an argument to be made for His Girl Friday being considered a Chicago film. They're in New York. They're not. They're not? No, they're traveling to Albany even in the original play written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. They're traveling to Albany on the train from Chicago. Though His Girl Friday never makes explicit that they're in the city of Chicago. They even say in the original 1931 film, they say. I'm Googling. I know in the original. He's welcome. We're talking about His Girl Friday. To take it for the front page. Either version.

1:00:56See, this is hard because she didn't plan for this and she would have taken it. And now she's mad that it's considered eligible. No, no, no, no, no, I did, but it's not stated as Chicago. It's not stated as Chicago, and it's not filmed in Chicago, and nobody in it is from Chicago. All of that is true. That's all true. Now, we didn't determine that any of those are parameters around which a movie would be a Chicago film. But can you look at yourself in the mirror? Yeah. With great joy. I know that Batman is from Chicago. and that Christian Bale and Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger cut their teeth here, you know?

1:01:34I think the 1931 front page is a more honest pick than his Girl Friday. Oh, thank you for weighing in. what about wayne's world there you go that's better now that's a chicago movie it's also a suburbs of chicago movie and i don't how do the suburbs work here is the suburbs truly part of the city interesting oh okay now as a long islander i don't claim new york city i'm not from new york city i'm from long island so if you're from the suburbs of chicago you cannot claim Chicago. But they do go to Chicago in the film Wayne's World. So I'll be taking Wayne's World in comedy.

1:02:22I think we all hear the muted response. Yeah.

1:02:31You took Wayne's World 2. Yeah. Did you mean to do that?

1:02:37Wayne's World 2 is set in the desert with a Native American man? I'll need to find that. Here it is.

1:02:47I'll have you know you're our guest. This may be your house, but you are our guest.

1:02:57Refresh your good vibes with TikTok. With the right vibes it's

1:03:04Oh man! to

1:03:26You're up. Let's go Friday. Yeah. I'm not going to do it. I thought about it. I'm going to be a bit strategic here. That's a first. It's her fault. You're mad. It's her fault. You're mad because everyone shamed you into doing the honorable thing. No, you know, as we all know, action and horror and thriller tends to generally be a slightly thinner category for me, research-wise. And The Fugitive is gone. So. And The Dark Knight was also maybe on my list, but I am actually happy that instead, in action horror thriller, I am going to take Widows.

1:04:13Starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell, Cynthia Erivo, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall, Liam Neeson, John Bernthal, and Carrie Coon.

1:04:33And a dog who was really good in that scene and also in Game Night. This movie, I remember we saw it at the time and we're like, this is a movie. You and I were very psyched about it. And then it was, this is directed by Steve McQueen and stars everyone I just named. And it's a very Chicago movie and about Chicago politics and other forces. And it was like a muted response. I guess people kind of liked it. No Oscars. Kind of forgotten. Rewatched it again yesterday. A banger. Just a great movie. It's a great movie. So I'm thrilled to have it. Very memorable moment where Colin Farrell is playing kind of a powerful man.

1:05:13The camera is on the front of the car. And you see out the back of the windshield the whole city moving from the poorest parts of the city all the way to where he lives. And probably never seen Chicago quite that clearly in a movie for such an extended shot. It's like 10 minutes in that film. uh carrie and i have never seen widows okay

1:05:36wow all right

1:05:41she didn't have a very good time making it yeah she didn't have a very good time making it and sometimes the experience you have when you're making a movie colors how you feel about watching it later so she just wasn't enthusiastic i mean she it wasn't like i'll never watch that thing It was just, we own it. Okay. We own it on, I think there's a nice 4K of Widows. We haven't watched it yet. We'll watch it sometime. So it was not on that piece of paper? No, I don't think it is. Yeah. I should hope so. Oh, I actually have it listed just because I knew, you know, but far down. I mean, I wasn't going to pick it because I haven't seen it.

1:06:15You're getting egged here. I guess so. I mean, I'm sad about that. I'm going to go put Widows up on the board. You're sticking with this. Yeah. I'm sticking. Yeah, no, no. No, I mean, I can't. Because he hasn't seen it. That's right. Yeah, I'm sticking with it. I thought she was very good in it. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Well, we should watch it. Watch along. The three of us, you and Carrie for the first time. We'll do a watch along. Could be a good pod. Could be interesting.

1:06:43Okay. You have two selections. Yeah, and it's getting a little dicey. The board's getting a little dicey. Thinning out. But his girl Friday is still available. Yeah.

1:06:57in action horror thriller, I'm going to take Henry, Portrait of a Serial. That's the true essence of Chicago. This is a heartwarming crowd pleaser. Are you sure you don't want to put it in comedy?

1:07:16Yeah, okay, that's right. This film is directed by... John McNaughton, right? director of Wild Things. All you Wild Things fans out there. And Mad Dog and Glory. Mad Dog and Glory, a number of other very good films. It stars Michael Rooker in an absolutely terrifying performance as a man named Henry, who is a serial killer. Yeah, all of that's true. It's very scary. It's very Chicago. Lower Wacker has never been more terrifying than in Henry's Portrait of a Serial Killer. It's really shown to terrifying effect. uh michael rooker went school at uh de paul university and uh around the to the theater school and around the time that i arrived in town he was just making this movie the movie was coming out this mid 80s and uh he was at a party uh and uh he gave a girl a ride home from the party and as he was dropping her off he said uh uh you haven't seen henry portrait of a serial killer have you?

1:08:17And she said, no, I haven't. He said, that's why you let me give you a ride.

1:08:24I was nervous during that story, but it worked out. Right. It's a really, it's, it's a great, you know, it shares something in common with Texas Chainsaw Massacre and, and some movies of that ilk in that part of the genius of the film is you're not quite sure that the people who made it aren't madmen themselves. Right. And you're like, I don't know that the person who's got control of the wheel here is morally responsible. Those are literally my favorite films, yeah. Right? That is part of the chilling effect of Henry. You feel scared even kind of putting it on to watch it. It's a scary experience.

1:09:03Interesting choice by you. Why is that? It's revealing. You have another pick. You have another pick. What if that piece of paper just says Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer? like 55 times all work and no play makes Tracy Henry portion of a serial killer Wayne's world once. Yeah.

1:09:27I have another pick. What do I owe? Drama blockbuster wildcard. Consult my maps and charts here. Uh, in blockbuster, I'm going to take the untouchable. I'll do it. I got it for you.

1:09:49Just a real movie, movie and shows Chicago. I mean, as I say, De Palma didn't cast any Chicagoans in this film, other than the great Del Close, who was an improv guru and a great guy and a friend of mine. He was also in Picasso Le Panagio for a while. I did that with Del. he has the line in the movie where he says uh you guys are supposed to be untouchable is that the thing that's still close uh it's just a real uh it's a delight the movie it's so much fun i think it's de palma sort of at his most at his most fun sort of cutting loose i mean sean connery as an irishman uh he is uh is akin to mickey rooney playing that japanese character in breakfast at Tiffany's.

1:10:43It's just an absolute fucking insult to the Irish. You did this, Chris. When he goes like, that's the Chicago way. That's fucking hard. That's so cool.

1:11:00It's just a good time. Anybody have anything to say about The Untouchables? De Niro in this, fantastic. Really living life to the fullest. Great opera scene from him. a little tear coming down the eye. That's why he's the best. Yeah, I love this film. I would have taken it in a second. I wish if there was a best score category, Ennio Morricone, one of my favorite scores is The Untouchables. Yeah, it's an amazing score. There's some, you know, there's some writing in there. It's hard for - There's some Canada in it. You know, Kevin Costner to say, I've become what I beheld. That's tough. That's tough for all of us.

1:11:34Yeah, I suppose. That was me like 180 podcasts ago. Yeah. I've become what I beheld. In my opinion, minor diploma. You're so wrong. What are you talking about? I mean, it's not one of my faves. You know. Not one of my faves. It doesn't get freaky in the way that he likes to. The baby carriage coming down the train station. That's really, really upsetting. Dressed to kill. Carrie. Yeah. You know, Untouchables is here. It's eye level. Not over my head. There's 30 feet of shit and then there's these Untouchables. That's a very good movie. I like it. You took fucking Wayne's World. What are you talking about?

1:12:11Have you seen Wayne's World?

1:12:16I think it's minor to pump. You took Wayne's World. It's Wayne's World.

1:12:26This guy didn't even watch Widows. Come on. How seriously can we take these takes? I got it. All right. What do I have to get? Drama? Action? Oh, you're up. I'm sorry. I apologize. Um... I really honestly can't believe that this is falling in place to me in the fourth round for Oscar nominee. I would be taking Home Alone.

1:12:49Which. Oh, good. Oh, you clap for that one. I was just informed that the suburbs are not Chicago. Well, there's a major sequence in O 'Hare. O 'Hare. And he sent us the photo. I sent you guys the picture. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. And also, you know, I guess the plane they've just taken off from Chicago. It's airspace. Let's play this out. Home Alone 6. Okay. You and Zach and Cy are getting on a plane. Right. Knox is at home. Yeah. He even has a little haircut, you know? I haven't showed him this one yet because I think he would still be too scared by it. And I remember being a little scared.

1:13:27More about people breaking in than about being left at home. That honestly looks great. And frankly, like Home Alone 2, my own, you know, charge card at the plaza, like sign me up. Um, yeah, but I mean, I guess we could do it, but it would be, it would be pretty sad. Uh, it's, this is an emotional movie as well as really, really funny and slapstick comedy. And there's, you just can't imagine being six years old and seeing this movie, which you're all so young that you, uh, maybe, maybe you were six when you saw it, but really spoke to us. Great pick. Thank you. Nice pick. Um, thanks Chris. Suburban, but nice pick.

1:14:06Yeah. I've got to pick. And in drama, I'll be taking risky business. Good. Wow, muted applause. I'm surprised. Yeah. I thought there would be more thrills at Rebecca DeMornay and Tom Cruise's undeniable chemistry. When they went on the train together and things happened, how did you feel inside, Chris? Well, I support public transportation. Whatever it takes to keep our great L running, you know? this would also be in my favorite score uh if we were doing a you know favorite music from chicago movie tangerine dream cooking drama's a little shifty i think that is he's got a point what is it it's a comedy it's a comedy it's a comedy drama i mean things things get dark very dramatic i mean it's borderline thriller yeah when joey pants comes around that's terrifying stuff.

1:15:03All right. Shall we consult Wikipedia? It will invariably say, Risky Business is a 1985 comedy drama thriller. So that never helps. Is looking at me? No notes? I'm allowing this. I think this is a very forgiving audience. So I think that you can have Risky Business. I mean, it's obviously a quintessential Chicago movie, but drama is a stretch. I'm under attack here. I actually I think it's okay in drama. Thank you, Amanda. I, in general, am more flexible on category fraud as opposed to Chicago fraud. Okay. Chris, you have two picks. What's that? There you go. Wikipedia. Yeah, but like... Coming of age teen comedy.

1:15:51But that's, what, it's 82? Is that when Risky Business came out? 85? 85, oh. I mean, but like, even in 85, their definition of comedy was like a little different. Porky's. Risky business? Yeah, come on. It's basically a crime movie. Okay, for... We can get arrested now if we let our kids do that, so... For drama... So I have two? You have two picks. For drama, I'm going to do Eight Men Out.

1:16:20Is that because of the White Sox part? The gambling part? I feel like John Sayles, incredible film about the fall of this amazing baseball team. Did you throw any games when you were a young baseball player? When I was in the 1910s, did I throw in games? No, when you were in like eighth grade. Oh, when I was in eighth grade? Yeah. He made varsity. We established that yesterday on the street. We had a shouting match in which Chris aloud said, I made varsity, shut up. I actually think the muted response might be that I don't know this to be the case, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of this audience doesn't know the movie, has not seen the movie eight men out i don't know how well how how how much it's been watched yeah it's a john sales movie about the white socks aka the black socks it stars david strathairn and john cusack and db sweeney plays joe jackson uh who would later feature in uh field dreams in some way with by ray liotta played by ray liotta anyway this is an incredibly dense and well-written piece of filmmaking.

1:17:27And I love this movie. Oh, I have another pick, right? Here, yeah. You want to say it? I'll do it. Studs Terkel in Eight Men Out. I have to shout out Studs. Studs Terkel. I mean, you're good on your feet, so if you want to keep going. And then for... Hold on, hold on. Don't say it yet. Okay. Show of hands, how many of you have not seen Eight Men Out? That's a lot of people. Most of the audience. For those of you at home, it's roughly 80 % of the audience. That's okay, but now you have a movie recommendation. Yeah, I guess that's what that is. I thought everybody was going to be like, yeah, Chris!

1:17:58Way to go, dude! Tracy, do you like this film? Yeah, sure. I think John Sayles is maybe our most underrated filmmaker. I really do. I agree with you. For comedy, I'm going to take The Sting.

1:18:17Redford, Newman, George Roy Hill directing. That would be funny.

1:18:28This win Best Picture? It did win Best Picture. Yes, sure, yes. Could have had it an Oscar? Between the Godmard Fathers, I believe. Indeed.

1:18:39Does anyone even mention Chicago in Sleepless in Seattle? She's in Chicago in the movie. Oh, I thought she was in Baltimore for some reason. No. I haven't seen it in a while. So is some man. Too busy watching 8-Man Out, you know? Like, The Sting is one of my favorite. I've seen this movie probably in comedy. And I've seen this movie dozens of times. This was one of my parents' favorite movies. And I think I prefer it to Butch and Sundance, honestly. What in the world? Just throwing it out there. That's quite an opinion. Do you really? Yeah. Alrighty. My parents also really liked this movie. It was another hey, you're fine.

1:19:17He said he prefers it to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. that's kind of a shame I I yeah okay I think I think Butch Cassidy and the Sand Dance Kid there are elements of it that are kind of dated right and the sting remains timeless to me even though you know it's I mean it's good it's four guys who want to have a drink after this in the crowd who are right on board with you who love that take um well I'm in a bit of a pickle as I always am at this stage of the draft. I'm missing action, horror, thriller, and wild card. And so I think I will take a personal favorite that has probably been seen by fewer people than those who saw Ape Man Out, but a movie written and directed by David Mamet called House of Games.

1:20:10Starring Joe Montagna and Lindsey Krauss. Thank you. An extraordinary con man movie. If you like con man movies, this is quite literally my favorite um that takes us inside the world of a con man and a psychologist who is attempting to explore this underbelly of the city and the people who inhabit it um a number of chicago actors in the movie yeah um this is certainly the first time i saw ricky jay the famed magician and historian who plays a very nasty type who's in on the con uh my dad showed me this movie when I was about 10 years old. And this is my dad's movie. This is exactly the kind of movie that he likes and was always trying to show me this kind of thing.

1:20:52And it made a huge impression on me. So as an act of recommendation, if you have not seen House of Games, it has actually been released by the Criterion Collection. Maybe you can track down a copy. I love this movie. Trace, do you own it? Do you own this? Oh, yes. Okay. Sean has spent this weekend giving us some of the more treasured nuggets of wisdom that his father imparted up on him. Did he have anything about con men or house of games? No, but I'll share the two that I shared with you guys, which is, um, if you use drugs, I will put you in prison myself. That is a true thing. He said to me that I was an adolescent.

1:21:24And then the other thing, which I shared with Tracy as he was barking at me about his strategy today, I said, jealousy is a weak emotion. I learned that from my father. Here we are today. And, and that was very revealing.

1:21:41Okay, I'm up. You're up. In drama, I have drama and wildcard left. So in drama, I actually, I do think this fits, but we can open it up to the floor. I will be taking A League of Their Own.

1:21:57Which obviously has its funny moments, but you know, that lady's husband died in the war and Bill Pullman's gone for like a really long time. And he's sad. And then the sisters, you know, they don't see each other again until Cooperstown many years later when they have really old makeup on. This used to be their playground. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. When that hit in the movie theater at the end, when Madonna, the needle dropped. Oh, my God. That was so. Yeah. Madonna, Rosie, Geena Davis, obviously, Lori Petty. And again, I guess this, I had never thought about it, that this came out at an impressionable age for me and was about women playing baseball.

1:22:43And it's probably another reason I like baseball as much as I do. But, you know, an amazing, it could have gone in like five categories, right? Like blockbuster, Oscar nominee. But I'm doing drama and I love that movie very much. I think this is like a wider Illinois movie, right? There's like some Peoria in this, right? Yeah, I mean, Rockford is a suburb, right? Yeah, which I. But what? No, no, I'm not. Listen, I'm learning. I'm learning, okay? But it did when we were flying in, you know, and you're watching the map as you like get closer and closer to shot. Rockford showed up on the map and I was like, hey.

1:23:20But the field when they come for tryouts and everything, that's Chicago. Remember when I got booed for having been here four times and you got applauded for being here one time? What the fuck was that?

1:23:35Dob mob. It's a cult. It's a cult. I think the... First of all, we haven't put the card up. I'll do it. Oh, I'll do it. I'll do it. Sean's got it? I think... I think... You've now been exposed for not giving Sean more shit about risky business because you were planning to put A League of Their Own in drama. Wait, you put this in drama? Tracy. Those two movies are comedy. When was the last time you saw League of Their Own? When it came out. Okay.

1:24:09Didn't shed a tear. Okay.

1:24:19Widows is going to blow your mind, man.

1:24:25I'll allow it. Thank you. I appreciate it. You got it. You got it. The fix is in, man. Her husband died in the war. There's a telegram. Come on. Yeah, man. Marla Hooch. Jimmy Dugan's got to bring it to her. Think of Marla Hooch's emotional struggles, you know? When Tom Hanks urinates for four minutes. That is really, listen. It's like this is what, you know, Shakespeare meant. All the world is a stage and he's being on it. One of the Blu-rays I got yesterday was the film Tank Girl, which also stars Lori Petty. and I think that's the film she made immediately after A League of Their Own. Is that right?

1:25:04Sure, yeah, that sounds right. Okay, thanks.

1:25:08You got your final two picks. Right now on the board for you, Wild Card and Drama.

1:25:18You still thinking about Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer? That's all that's written here.

1:25:28can i take it again

1:25:33in drama no i'm not gonna do that okay in drama i'm going to take a movie that's probably the least watched film of any that have been announced tonight and that is the movie medium cool here i'm I might have to make the card. You talk. I'll do it. You talk, talk, talk. I'll do it. Yeah. Do we feel like more people have seen eight men out than medium cool? Yes. I guess you're right. Haskell Wexler. Haskell Wexler directed this. Haskell Wexler. My son is named Haskell. He's named after my grandfather. He's not named after Haskell Wexler. But Haskell Wexler is the only other Haskell I know. He's a great cinematographer, an important cinematographer, and he was a pissed off dude.

1:26:25And Medium Cool is a pissed off movie. And if you haven't seen it, it's kind of remarkable. As Sean points out, it takes a little patience. It's a bit of a slow burn. It's a product of its time. Very much. It was shot. The great Robert Forster plays the lead. He He plays a cameraman, a journalist cameraman. And the movie was shot, some of it was shot during the Chicago riots in 1968. And it is kind of a docu-fiction because we see fictional characters interacting with very real drama. uh there's a remarkable moment in the movie when uh the cops uh are busting up uh some some uh protesters in the park and they throw some tear gas and you hear a guy shout look out haskell it's real yeah it's remarkable it's i mean and haskell wexler left it in the film because he was making a movie about the here and now of 1968 but you know what goes around comes around and uh And it turns out that fascist cops in 1968 might look scarily familiar now, too.

1:27:43So it does have some scary relevance. And so I advise you to check out Medium Cool, and I put it up there so you'll check out a very interesting, provocative movie.

1:28:03That's... What if I was just like, overrated! Miserable tripe! That's not going to win me the draft. I know that. Okay. You've got wildcard. Yeah, I do. You can bring it home. It's going to win you the draft, this wildcard pick? I'm not going to win the draft. I have several text messages from Tracy that say, I will win this draft.

1:28:33I will win this draft in here where it counts.

1:28:44In wild card, I'm going to take Love Jones. Oh, amazing.

1:28:54I could have done it for you, Tracy, but now you're up. I just watched it this week because I saw that you had watched it and I knew that it was going to be in those bags and kind of a beautiful, very underseen story about a young black couple, two young people coming together in Chicago in the late 90s. one a uh kind of poet musician trying to make his way in the city as an artist who's got a bit of a hustler mentality when it comes to women and then nia long a professional woman who is not sure if the man played by lorenz tate is serious enough about their love that has like incredible performances a real sense of ease and the filmmaker whose name escapes me right now has not directed another film and he's he's often considered one of the sort of like um victims of the way that black filmmakers are overlooked in Hollywood over the years.

1:29:48His name is Theodore Witcher. And it's, I'll be honest with you, I didn't know the movie. I watched it in preparation for this draft. I was just kind of, Criterion has an edition of it, and I was just kind of knocked out by it. I didn't know this movie at all. It wasn't what I thought it was. I guess I had an impression that it was like soul food, that there was a kind of softness, a kind of soft ease to the romantic comedy aspect. But it's a tougher movie than that. And it just seems very emotionally honest. And it's just, it's a hard movie to do well. And I think it's very well done. So again, if you haven't seen it, check out Love Jones.

1:30:29That's a great pick.

1:30:35I have wild card left. And we can just do a yes, no to the crowd. I don't want to hear from anyone up on this stage. Is Mean Girls too suburban? No. Okay, but, well, all right, here's the thing. Are we being inconsistent? Look in your own hearts. Because, listen, this is a hugely important and great comedy and movie for my generation and maybe yours. And I have felt really bad that we have not been talking about it on 25 for 25 or spoiler alert, it's not on 25 for 25. Sorry. I mean, I don't know. Imagine if it was like number three. What? That would be weird. Some other good stuff is. It's okay.

1:31:19It's a good movie. but both uh comedy wise sociologically obviously it spawned a musical which was very confusing and then a reboot that was also a musical but then they redid all the lines it's it's meme central on the internet which is important uh lindsey lohan is obviously very important to to me um and long island but i i thought it was i thought it was suburban so are you guys sure yeah now you want to claim it this is all very squishy okay it's fine i have a back i guess i have to admit it never ever ever occurred to me that mean girls was a chicago that's fine i've got a backup and it is very okay so we have an audience member that says they talk more about shots fired at madison i opened it up that's fine let's get real you okay my my actual wild card takes place on public transportation.

1:32:21And it is, of course, while you were sleeping.

1:32:29This movie is so messed up. Like, I know it's become a cliche to say. And my best friend's wedding is also in this category of like the lessons that women of my age or film viewers of my age were taught from romantic comedies are just truly how to be a sociopath. But this is fairly indefensible. Tracy, are you familiar with While You're Sleeping? I didn't... Yeah, I'm familiar with it. So she's in love with Peter Gallagher from afar. She works in the L, right? She is Sandra Bullock, by the way. I'm sorry, thank you so much. Sandra Bullock works. She is like a ticket collector, a coin collector.

1:33:13Bill Pullman. Classic where you find Sandra Bullock kind of game. I'm sorry? Bill Pullman's in this movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're getting there. You're double Pullman-ing. Sure, yeah. But not in Sleepless in Seattle because that is a movie about Seattle, even if technically they work in Chicago in the beginning. So she's in love. She sees Peter Gallagher taking the train every day, and she's in love with him from afar. And then he is in an accident and goes into a coma, and she starts visiting him in the hospital and meets his family. and surprise, he's an asshole. And so his family doesn't know who he's dating.

1:33:52So she says, yeah, it's me. And then she befriends his whole family and she's a lonely person, you know, as they always are. And then - Yeah, that tag Sandra Bullock. Yeah. Can't meet a guy. When she's not taking the bus across LA, she's just taking tickets in Chicago. So she finds this whole family and finds love and warmth and also the patient and loving gaze of Bill Pullman, who is Peter Gallagher's brother. So and then Peter Gallagher wakes up, doesn't remember anything and like plays along for a little while. But then she's like, no, actually, I like your brother. And then in the end, she winds up with Bill Pullman.

1:34:35So to recap, she pretends to be dating someone in a coma and then leaves the person in the coma for her brother. Why are you telling me all of it? I don't know. This is what it's like on every episode. Something happens where she's like, I've decided to recap the entire movie at you for eight minutes, and I have no idea. I never asked for it. I just watched it happen to someone else, and I was like, thank God. I'm not alone. That was remarkable. I've seen the movie. It's charming, yeah.

1:35:11Do you own it? I don't think so. Oh, okay. It's not available on 4K yet? They didn't have it at Terribit. Yeah, you'll let me know. Anyway, I'm pleased to have while you were sleeping and also to have been able to talk about Mean Girls, which is about Madison, Wisconsin, as we have learned.

1:35:32So I've got one more pick left. I've got wild card. And I was listening to Tracy speak about medium cool and the time that we find ourselves in and what a challenging moment this is in history. and it had me reflecting on a movie that changed the way that I thought about the world. And that movie is called Transformers Dark of the Moon.

1:35:55Will you do the entire plot of Transformers? Think about it while I grab the card. No, you talk. This film was directed by Michael Bay. Is this the JFK one? This is the JFK one. Should we all get on? Let's do it. It was the moon landing and JFK. Let's go. I read Libra. this is a film that asks us to question whether or not Cybertron played a role in the faked moon landing yeah and how long Optimus Prime and the Autobots have been protecting earth and the disinformation state that we find ourselves in honestly this country if if this movie turned out to be true like if tomorrow the transformers emerged and we're like we've always been here we've been manipulating wouldn't you honestly feel like a little relieved absolutely wouldn't it be like god well thank god it wasn't the alternative you know that we were like creeping into it i don't think the movie is exploitative at all i think it's completely sincere yeah it's like something is up here and it might be giant robots like there is a chance that all this is happening for a reason.

1:37:02Wait, so it's that they landed on the moon? What is it again? I saw this in theaters. It's honestly much more complicated than that. Let's go. I'm not going to recap it the way you just recapped while you were sleeping. But it does take place in the same universe as while you were sleeping. Oh, okay. And it turns out Optimus Prime was in love with Bill Pullman all the time. Which is an amazing film, and I'm so proud to have it on my board. Great job. I'm just surprised you didn't put it in drama. It's too real to be a drama. But risky fucking business was already there.

1:37:44So I have the last pick. I have a question. How wild do we want to get? Because I have an idea for what my, I doubt there's a card in this box for the film I'd like to suggest, because it hasn't been made yet. But there is a large part of Heat 2 that takes place in Chicago. And as we get closer and closer to its possible production, you know? You're attempting to draft a film with no stars, no studio, Warner Brothers is very happy with the early drafts that they've seen. Are you not on Reddit? Come on, dude. Now, it could actually come to pass that they're going to mostly concentrate on the Val Kilmer part, which takes largely place in Panama, I believe.

1:38:44Right? That sounds right. Yeah, which is not a Chicago film. So for my wild card, I think I'm going to take one Gary Glen Ross. Which is the second man that we picked. No, I got it. I got it. I got it. Tracy, you have been in the production of this play? On this stage. On this stage. So in honor of Tracy being here. It's genuinely insulting that we're doing this on this stage. I did, yeah. Williamson. I've done it twice, actually. I've played Williamson both times. They're not like, hey, you want to try Roma or you want to try somebody else? I liked the role of Williamson. You know, oh, shit. but his name just left my, who played it in the original production.

1:39:27Kevin's JT Walsh. Oh yes. JT Walsh played it in the original production. And you know, Williamson wins at the end of the thing. Yeah, that's true. You know, two R's, one N, two R's, but that's one word. And then, okay. Yeah. Just trying to be precise. It's about real estate. It's about Chinese restaurants. It's about... JT apparently had a terrible time when he was doing the play because he didn't like the fact that everybody on stage hated him and that they all called him a cunt. And, you know, he didn't have any fun doing that. But I didn't mind because I was like, at the end, I'm going to win.

1:40:09So you call me whatever you want because I know I'm going to win in the end of this play. You got to say, will you go to lunch? I did. Will you? I did. I said it better than that, but yes. I was doing Kevin Spacey doing Williamson. Right. So naturally it wasn't as good. I didn't see you on stage because I wasn't alive. Yeah.

1:40:36I get it. I get it. Yeah. Thus concludes our draft. It does. How do you feel? I think, aside from a couple of examples of category fraud, I think it is a very good-looking Chicago movie board. Yeah. Do you feel good about everything that you got, how you got it? I do. Are you asking me to show remorse in any way? No. Because that's unlikely. No. I was actually wondering, though, if you could just run while you were sleeping back again, because I wasn't sure I got the nuance of the second act. in your recap though. She really likes the mom, you know, and she doesn't have a mother figure of her own.

1:41:20So, how do you feel? Oh, fine. Chris, do you want to recap what you picked? What I picked? Yeah, sure. In drama, I took Eight Men Out, which no one's seen. In Oscar nominee, I took Primal Fear, but didn't talk much about how amazing Edward Norton is in this film and also the rest of the cast, like Maura Tierney and Richard Gere. John Mahoney. And John Mahoney. Primal Fear. Yeah, sure. member of the company. Kind of naughty little priest. Dark Knight in Blockbuster, a Chicago movie. Thief in action horror thriller, my favorite Chicago movie. Comedy, I took The Sting, which is better than Butch and Sundance.

1:41:57And in Wild Card, I took one Gary Glenn Ross, which Tracy has been in twice.

1:42:08Well, in drama, I took one of the most dramatic films ever made, Risky Business, in Oscar nominee. I took The Fugitive in Blockbuster. I took The Color of Money in Action Horror Thriller. I got House of Games in Comedy. I got Wayne's World. And in Wild Card, I took Transformers Dark of the Moon. And I'll have you know that there was a placard made for Transformers Dark of the Moon. And I feel proud of that. Okay. In drama, I took A League of Their Own, which is about a woman receiving a sad telegram in Oscar nominee. I got Home Alone in Blockbuster, My Best Friend's Wedding, in Action Horror Thriller, I Got Widows, which I have seen, in Comedy, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Wild Card, an exploration of Sandra Bullock's journey into the unknown of her own heart, and also social conventions while you were sleeping.

1:43:08In drama, I took medium cool. In Oscar nominee, I took Hoop Dreams. In Blockbuster, I took The Untouchables. In action horror thriller, I took Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer. In comedy, I took The Blues Brothers. And in Wild Card, I took Love Jones.

1:43:32You did that in Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer voice just there, yeah. do you think you could do this twice a week for the rest of your life yes

1:43:49wait is there a qr code of some kind jack whoa whoa do we do that before we do uh honorable oh you're right you want to do some honorable mentions let's do some i do because there's some stuff not a lot not a time i'm not gonna list a hundred well you have to say henry a Orchard of a Serial Killer like 100 more times. You can do that. There's a few things we should revisit here.

1:44:13My Bodyguard, which is a Tony Bill comedy, a beautiful coming-of-age comedy. First movie of Joan Cusack. First movie of Jennifer Beals. And a real Chicago movie is set in Chicago. Ordinary People which is not on our board but which is a very fine movie and I hold the unpopular opinion that it was the rightful winner of Best Picture in 1980 We saw a guy wearing an Ordinary People hat today Is that guy here tonight? That's shocking I really honestly when we saw him in line I was like oh he's probably coming tonight He wore a hat that said Ordinary People Yes and then he got on the architecture tour with us but was it the like the logo from the film yeah yeah huh it's an odd thing to represent it's a very sincere drama about pain uh cooley high yes which is a great uh teen comedy and took place uh in the cabrini green housing project which is about four blocks from here a real Chicago movie.

1:45:21The Front Page, 1931. An absolutely great Chicago play and a great representation of that play. Man with the Golden Arm, based on Nelson Algren, great Chicago writer, Otto Preminger film. Compulsion doesn't really count. Oh, it's kind of interesting there wasn't more John Hughes representation, don't you think? There wasn't a lot. Breakfast Club didn't get taken? I was trying to stick to the, to the, you know, the urban center, you know, right. If we were doing the Chicago suburbs draft, I'd be here all day. Breakfast. Back next year, planes, trains, and automobiles.

1:46:04Which again, most of it's on the road. It ends in Chicago, but that that's their destination. And because it's Hughes, it does feel like a Chicago movie. about last night never came up in conversation. And I know that that's, it's an odd movie, right? The Mamet play is such a dyspeptic, cynical view of the war between sexes. And then the movie is this very light sort of 80s style romantic comedy, but actually it's written by Tim Kazerinsky, who's a friend of mine and his writing partner, Denise Ducleu. And they did such a great job of translating that text into this style of movie, this romantic comedy.

1:46:47Though, Rob Lowe wears a Cubs hat and the way he looks and a guy like that hanging out in Rush Street bars. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people in this audience who have some ugly connotations with that character. There's a non-zero chance some people in here have been roofied by that dude.

1:47:23You're not saying Rob Lowe. No. Got it. I'm just saying. I just want to make sure sort of publicly this is being recorded. Can I throw a couple of log cards or a couple of honorable mentions of. Spiritually a Chicago movie, Midnight Run, one of my favorites. I didn't pick it because largely it's on the road, but Jimmy Serrano is one of my favorite Chicago characters, Dennis Farina. Judas and the Black Messiah. Absolutely. I was going to throw that on there. Backdraft. I really fucked up and should have picked Backdraft. I was like, what am I not doing this for? But, you know, William Baldwin, can't get more Chicago than that.

1:48:02and did you guys know that in 10 years we will be at the moment that iRobot is set in Chicago so you have that to look forward to which is nice might actually be sooner and I predict that this movie will be perhaps the one that more people in here are saying why didn't they choose that than any other and that's high fidelity yeah

1:48:29yeah i just took it in another draft that's the only reason i didn't take it i love high fidelity it's a wonderful movie i was on a text chain with friends um called rob from high fidelity personified recently which i thought was rude but also nice um there's there are a handful of others right so here's a question is bridesmaids a chicago movie okay all right so my media Yeses and then some grumbling. Yeah. Some people sound a little mad. Okay. Here's a movie I don't like, but has been suggested. Flatliners? Joel Schumacher's movie about dying and coming back to life, which is what this episode has felt like.

1:49:11For me. Let's bring it to the people. Sinners. What do you think? This was a late-breaking addition to our... So I am all of you groaning and saying, yeah, I see someone flashing the no. You all missed the end credit sequence as well, apparently, like Amanda did. Because in that film. It's not in the movie. Of course, the movie is about two characters who have left the Delta and gone to Chicago and come back from Chicago, back to their home in Mississippi. If it's movies that talk about Chicago draft. Well, again, Amanda has not seen this sequence in the film. because they put it after the credits which is still technically part of the film we see character played by Buddy Guy in a much older age at his club legends in Chicago playing acoustic guitar and then backstage at the bar and one half of Michael B.

1:50:08Jordan's characters from the movie comes backstage, spoilers for sinners by the way along with Haley Steinfeld circa 1992 dressed immaculately Yeah, the door knockers and everything. Yeah. And in that scene, they're in the city of Chicago. That's great. So Sinners 2 will be eligible when they make that. You missed a part though. So like it finishes, they're in Chicago, they're in the bar, zoom out, the moon, crypto Superman sitting there looking down, being like, looks like we have some vampires to take care of. Then zoom out, Transformers behind those guys. They are like, we were on the dark side of the moon.

1:50:45looks like Superman and crypto are on the good side. We got to get over there. As Michael Bay taught us, it's all connected. Yeah. Sinners should have been eligible, in my opinion. Scarface, 1930. Some would argue North by Northwest. Amanda and I talked about this today. Yeah, we litigated it in front of the army. It's a no. I didn't bring it up because I think it's a little on the line. I mean, it's included, but you think of like four other iconic American locations. Mount Rushmore, yes. Sure. Also the plaza. Should we do the Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore? I honestly, are there three more? Help us out.

1:51:21Okay, stop.

1:51:28Barbershop.

1:51:32Rookie of the year with Amy Morton, my frequent collaborator on this stage. How do you guys feel about running scared? I love Running Scared. I did the rewatchables about it. It's like iconic t-shirt in that movie. Nobody was ever less of a Chicagoan than Billy Crystal.

1:51:56But the action isn't bad in that movie. You know, the big scene at Daly Plaza at the Daly Center. That's a good scene. His New Job. You guys know that movie? I don't. Well, it was made in 1915.

1:52:12and starred Charlie Chaplin. At the time, SNA Studios was here. It was located in Uptown, and Charlie Chaplin came here on a contract, and it was too cold. He left. But he did make a movie called His New Job with Charlie Chaplin and Ben Turpin in 1915. What's the runtime on that movie? I don't know. 65 minutes? That's my guess. Pretty good. Yeah. Sinners 2 also, 65 minutes. Any other? In collateral, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange gets hacked. Oh, not collateral, Black Hat. Black Hat, my bad. Wow, you blew that joke so hard. The Mart? Jeez. What's that? The Mart that you went like? Yeah, they hacked that and then they blew up a nuclear plant.

1:52:58With all the guys, the statues outside of Mr. Wenworth and whatever? Can you explain the rest of the plot of Black Hat while we're here? That's on the Patreon.

1:53:07So where is the QR code? Jack's going to put it up, right? So I think I'm going to put a QR code up. And you know what you're going to be able to do? You're going to be able to vote right now. Live, wow. It's very exciting. And we're going to get live results. Choose wisely. I think we're going to vamp. That's a threat that she just offered you. I think you're going to be able to get live results here if this all works. We've never done this before. Do they have like the New York Times needle? Yeah. Where it's like, oh, Sean's winning. Oh, God. Oh, the needle. Can we not talk about the needle?

1:53:37It's done so well. How are you feeling? How are you feeling? I feel great. How do you feel? I feel great. I was just, you know, you've been kind of gauging how this, you had a lot of predictions. You had a lot of, you know. So much of this went the way I expected it to go. Okay, there we go. See, that's what I was looking for. Other than, as I say, some shifty category fraud. You were so mean about Wayne's World. It's such a nice movie. Now everyone's, don't let other people influence your vote. This is just like school, right? It's your paper. No one else's. And if this QR code takes you to a Google forum where they ask you to put in your social security number.

1:54:16Oh, wow. Okay. Oh, we're getting some live results. That is absolutely right. Keep going. Yeah. She's shamelessly working the crowd. She's not going to give you shit after the show. Okay. These people love while you're sleeping. When do we close the voting? Momentarily? Well, hold on a sec. Yeah, seriously.

1:54:44Stuffing the ballot. This is some real Mayor Daley shit. Okay, we're going to give you 30 more seconds, and then we're going to close this puppy down. If you haven't been able to get your phone to focus on that QR code. Anyone need assistance from a neighbor? You know, you can ask for help. What? Yeah. Now I know Hillary Clinton. Candyman. Thank you. Obviously, there was a trivia question about Candyman. You mentioned Cabrini Green, where Candyman is also set. Wonderful movie. I wanted you guys to know that there is a card in there for the accountant. Just, you know, so you know. I didn't pick it, though.

1:55:19Okay. Five, four, three, two, one. Stay in line! No? Too soon? Okay. Now, are we able to display the results? We are. Jack is giving me the thumbs up. Yeah. Oh, no, I think you can just share. Can you hear me? Yes. Oh, Jack, you're going to announce it. Voice of God, Jack. Here we go. In fourth place with roughly 8%, Sean Fennessy.

1:55:53I stand by risky business. In third place with around 17%, Tracy Letts. All right. In second place. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let us hold hands like Miss America.

1:56:14Do you know they do that? Yeah. Let's go. It all comes down to Georgia versus Pennsylvania. You have a real Drew Barrymore thing tonight. In second place with 32 % Christopher Ryan. And with 43 % Amanda Dobbins. You're all very kind. and indulging me, and I really appreciate it. Are you giving a speech? Do you want to give a speech? No, I already did. Okay. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate your support, you know. And we all like rom-coms. Thank you, Chicago. Yeah, guys, thank you so much. This is amazing. I want to thank a handful of people before we go. Tracy Letts, who is...

1:57:05obviously an incredibly gifted person and a very generous person. And we're really happy that he was able to do this with us and spend the weekend with us, which has been honestly quite, quite fun. And showing us around Chicago and the Steppenwolf is really a gift. So thank you. Thank you for hosting. My pleasure. Thank you to the Steppenwolf theater, which is just an amazing place. And I hope if you live in this city, you are spending time here and spending money here and coming to see the great work. they've been very kind to us. Thank you to our entire events team, especially Elizabeth, Helen and Charlie, who made all of this seem very easy and normal.

1:57:40Even though it is not easy and normal. Thanks to Jack Sanders for producing this episode. Thank you to Jack Wilson from the ringer for being here. Anybody you want to thank Sandra Bullock? Everyone here. Really? I mean, this was amazing coming out. Yes. Thank you. And just a great day. Thank you for listening. Um, and you know, thank you for voting for me. Um, this is an episode that is being recorded. And so I am obliged to say later this week, we will be back with an episode about fantastic four first steps. So this is going to be a cool week on the podcast. Thank you again. We really appreciate it.

1:58:19Thank you, Chicago.

1:58:31Thank you.