IDIOTS co-writer/director Macon Blair

0:00Specter is in radio. Hi, I'm Josh Olson. Oscar-nominated screenwriter, Josh Olson. And that was Joe Dante. The legendary director and producer, it says here. Each week we bring on a guest. Filmmakers, musicians, comedians, authors, political figures, journalists, podcasters. And we talk with them about some of the movies that have influenced and affected them and the work they do. The name of the show isn't the movies I've made. It's the movies that made me. Can you hear a bunch of fire? asts, producers, and producers. Yeah, good to see you. I feel like you were not quite so emotional. I think it'siyorum what we could do for the first time. Think of plata. 觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得觉得도 mirrored. Yeah, good to see you. I feel like you were not quite so

1:00Here's suit the last time I saw you as a correct. Yeah, this is I've just been working on it for a whole year And this is the result wow my what did we just saw something with somebody with insane beard And my four-year-old was like started going like this was like daddy daddy I was like you want me to grow up? It's like yeah, yeah, you should have that beard It's a pain though, right? I think I'm gonna do it. I think I'm gonna do it. I think I'm gonna do it. I think I'm gonna do it. I think I'm gonna do it. No, I got I got stuck in a Like I had it for one Thing that I was shooting and then another thing that I was shooting overlap with it and so continuity was established twice It's a head to be the Both and now they're like they might need to do reshoots on one of them So I keep wanting to be like it's 117 degrees kind of What was the oh, yes Henry Cavill right in What was he doing mission impossible and then one of those Superman movies and he had to do reshoots for Superman with his mustache

2:02Yeah, right, right and it was either that or mission impossible the other way around But one of and then they had a mustache for mission impossible, right, right? And then they had to digitally they had to de-mustachify him Yeah, some of the close-ups of Superman were a little odd. Yeah, upper lip got really long Yeah, well, I good to see you man and very very much enjoyed the film Oh, thanks man. It's it's I don't know as a writer and we're not a writing show so I Take it on the side too much, but I just get sort of bugged down watching something like that just thinking about the just It's not like I'm a method writer, but you do get into a sort of state of mind where you're writing something And I just the degree of anxiety you had to live in You know doing stuff like that unless you're just completely Sociopathic and have no empathy whatsoever for your characters I was I found it very delighted I was delighted to work on it. I was I was having a lot of fun

3:04Not because I enjoyed putting them through the ringer, but just because it was it was funny to imagine it coming out the other end Yeah, no, I mean it's a blast to experience I just it's one of those ones where you're like watching people go through things that would not even be remotely pleasurable in life Having a blast watching them. Yeah, you don't want to be there Yeah, it's a live we're here. I should say we're with co-writer and director and I you're an actor in it as well not not a star Make it yeah, I gave myself a little a little cameo. It's just a player. I was good thing to do. It saves you money to right Well, yeah, I got it I've idiots He's a writer. He's a director also stars Dave Franco. Oh, she Jackson, Cunard Shipka who's who's I Want to say a revelation because it's I feel like it's been a minute And it's not like she's all of a sudden 50. I mean, she's about a year older than the last time I saw her

4:05But she was so good in this She's she's great and it's it's sort of like it's it's easy because I think a lot of people I certainly think of like oh people start being like professional actors in their 20s or maybe their teens or something like that older but she's been like a solid Pro since she was a little little kid. She's like at this point. She's had a longer career than most people so yeah, she's a super pro and We were we were super lucky to have her Yeah, I mean, there's also a weird thing too when you've sort of had that You know, you're like oh Sally Trey Barrow and I mean, I've seen a bunch of stuff since that but this just seemed like almost a wee discovery She's fantastic and Peter Dinklage Nicholas Braun. I mean, it's a fantastic cast um There's something about O. She Jackson that just always makes me happy because I mean obviously they cast him as his dad um in strata compton and uh

5:06For good reason. I mean, he carries himself. He looks enough like him But every time I see him and something he just reminds me like How disappointed I was that his dad didn't act more because he was such a great presence and now here's the sort of younger version of him That's got all that same kind of presence um, who's I would dare say probably a better actor. I mean he's like I I knew him from a lot of the he does have that screen presence that's very charismatic and usually in the movies very capable with like Usually usually folks and then in this one it's he's having a hard time keeping his act together and um I just really enjoyed seeing him really dive headfirst into that kind of thing and he's so vulnerable and um It's really gave himself over to it and I in a way that was a lot of fun to watch just on set let alone how it turns out in the movie Now you see he's great, but it's uh the movie is a blast

6:07Well, I'll say it's one of those films like hey given stuff away, especially with something like this because it's such a Kind of insane Beautiful mess of a movie, but if you watch the trailer and you're like well that looks like a movie. I'd enjoy you you will enjoy it yeah, and uh And if you watch the trailer and it gives you an anxiety attack you should probably stay away That's good advice. Yeah Um, but uh yeah, no it's good to see you again. Um welcome back. Let's let's just jump right in you were uh I forgot last time you came on you sort of did comfort food movies and and we're doing we're doing more of them Yeah, I mean there was a thought of like doing because idiots is It's essentially a road trip movie. It's a road movie and so I was kind of thinking about that as a list but Honestly because I've done a lot of press for the movie. I feel like I've already talked about a lot of those same movies over and over again and so Uh, so it's to not be redundant. I thought I would just go back to comfort food movies, which is not

7:12Um, I'm not saying these are the greatest movies in the world although they are to me and they're just stuff that I can put on some more folks I've seen the list. Yeah, no, I mean for me it's just if one of these is on I will without a doubt sit down and watch it all the way through Yeah, that's a good stuff and I appreciate that too because every time we've had guests on and you're like oh we got so and so on It's great and our time is different and then you see like oh every interview they're doing they're talking about that Bring a movie inspired the movie one inspired the movie. Well, yeah Yeah, um Uh Well, let's let's jump into it then sir. What is what is your first year? What do we got um Do you have the list in front of you? Yeah, sure sure. I'll feed him to you. Yeah, I mean I showed him the jiggy's up everybody knows I've seen it so there's no um, yeah, let's kick off Oh, I just it's such a And I watched again recently and it just landed differently, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it Been a long time Phil Joano's Stena Grace. I just watched it recently too and I think that's maybe why I was thinking about it

8:13It was one that um I remember It it came out I think in 91 and I was in high school and I read the review on the Washington Post and I this line in the review was like It was not a bad review, but it it was kind of nitpicking it and it said Gary Oldman in this movie must have gone to the Mickey Rourke School of Acting and they meant it like Like that up and I was like oh I got to see this And it was exactly what does that mean? I don't know. I don't know Give a reader review that's like you're just I the one that always sticks with my mind and I've blanked out the critics name It's probably to their benefit is I remember what the movie was it was like and they just said not since Robert Shaw and jaws has somebody made overacting so annoying Exactly, so that That's kind of true too. I mean he yeah, I mean he said it's it's very intense

9:15It's a big loud kind of like I guess I wouldn't say over the top in a negative way, but it's just like he totally operatic swings for the fences and It's this great You know sort of cop crime drama where a guy is reconnecting with his old friends from um the Irish neighborhood in in New York Hell's kitchen and and they're kind of low-level criminals and He's kind of reintegrating with with that group and want his best friend his best friend's older brother is the boss and then he's his former Flame is the sister So there's a lot of stuff going on there and um as The sort of the criminality starts to boil a little bit you you It's not really a spoiler, but you realize that the guy who's Sean Penn is actually an undercover cop that's been sent to infiltrate the The the Irish mob basically and it's it's you know betrayal and all all this stuff, but Ed Harris Robin right

10:20I young john c Riley like tons tons of folks say and all these people. I mean All of them are folks now that just like they pop up and something like oh Jesus Christ I'm old, but all of them in their absolute prime Sean try telling this to like a 20 year old, but like there was a time when Sean Penn just walked on screen He had so much charisma and swagger and was so great looking that you were just like if you're a guy You know, you're just like I want to be that I want to be that guy. I wish I were that totally I mean, I still think he does it and it hits differently and he plays different kind of things By the way, I think he's amazing as a backer still to this day But he does I did hear somebody say he looks like a ball sack recently and I can't unsee it. Oh, it's just Well, I just he like um, he's so sort of Convincing as this like tough sort of Street level hood that's very conflicted about what he has to do and

11:21um You know, this it was around a time also were like You know, if not the same year then within a year or two there was good fellas Bugsy godfather three it was sort of like a lot of Miller's crossing Norse crossing was another one Her favorite movie of all time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a kind of gangster renaissance Yeah, and this one for me was kind of at the top and and in my My sort of group of friends where we would watch all these movies together and You know, I think we were always sort of trying to replicate aspects of it in and um In the little movies that we made like it trying to act like Gary old but in this movie like Think about arms around and like landing doors and stuff um, but uh, yeah, it's one that I I hadn't seen it in In A long time maybe 15 years and I just watched it recently and uh was struck by how totally it holds up. It's yeah

12:21it's so great. Yeah And and and just had the love story thought well all the love stories. I mean there's the yeah The guys and the the guys and the gals and yeah, it's it's a terrific film I was thinking later and I always hate to say stuff, but I was just looking him up, but it's kind of like Yeah, the the last thing you want to do especially as someone who gets you get to share of this Myself is um, but he's like where where is Phil Joanna what what what is he doing another last Thing he did was a movie in like 2016 and I remember he did it I forgot this So he did a very funny very cool punisher short with Thomas Jane yeah, but but there was a moment where he was just sort of like You know because I know he came right off the you to movie to do this and then he felt like he kind of discovered some Irishness or something You know bag out with them that led to this and then yeah, I don't know, but he's um Yeah, there's a couple of movies of his that just just kill man. This is definitely one of them. Yeah It's uh, it's an all-timeer for me for sure And then what I remember enjoying and have not I mean very much and have not seen probably since like is a possible

13:27Suburbia Penelope Sphereus Yeah, which is not I mean, I guess there are aspects of it that are like joyous for sure But it also has a pretty dark street going through it, but it's it's uh It feels like a very coincidental punk rock movie. It's about A group of kids that people they call themselves TR which is the rejected and and they've left their homes through one reason or another and started their own little um Community in these abandoned houses in in California, and so it's largely about them hanging out and sort of getting in the trouble and figuring out how to sustain themselves and there's a bunch of different personalities that you kind of follow little short stories of them It also pauses periodically and they just go to the club and they'll just do a whole concert sequence with the with the play a song by like the vandals and T.S.I.L and D.I. and um

14:28uh, and then ultimately it sort of builds around this conflict with it's kind of like punks versus red necks Like dudes and pickup trucks who don't like the the guys with mohawks hanging out near their neighborhood and it sort of leads to A conflict there, but this was just one of those movies that like Kind of like repo man I discovered it by way of the soundtrack first and was just sort of in the music and then was like oh there's then We should also watch the movie and then the movie there was something just very um Ah I'm not sure what the word is i'm trying to think of but there was something about like Just feeling a lot of love and compassion for this little miniature community or kind of misfits and like it's not like i wanted to be there myself But i i really love watching that movie and sort of going along their story with them Yeah, and it's one It had to be something you guys talked about a little bit what you're doing green room right some thinking about yeah

15:30Oh, yeah, that's really captured like a music scene and the people who You know live in it and as you say not necessarily when you want to actually hang out in but one that it's just fully realized Yeah, I mean a lot of that I you know if there's a show going on on the stage and and we're you Sort of participate in a little bit of that But then the camera comes over here and you're largely It's what people are kind of like yelling into each other's ear in the back of the room or the little hand deals that go on and And sort of the shady Sort of off to the side stuff. I think was probably a part of that but um Yeah, it was one that just From the soundtrack and the movie that just sort of we would watch it on repeat in high school and so I think it got imprinted in my brain at an early age that will definitely happen Yeah, and it's like we're fortunate enough to have a cover bear or where a lot of those movies were really good Yeah, you know and it's like It it really like I mean

16:32It's speaking of sort of warning people about it, but I mean like it it really I feel like it takes some big swings with like Getting the audience on board because it if we're just free to talk spoilers it opens with a really terrifying moment where This lady is hitchhiking and there's like a kid and the kid is it sort of implied that the kid gets attacked by a loose Wild dog and that's like while the credits are rolling and then the real story picks up from there And it's just one of these like It sets a really abrasive Startling tone at the beginning and like I could imagine that would probably Turn a lot of people off um, but for some reason it that kind of drew me in because I was so I mean, it's horrifying, but I kind of like needed to know what was gonna happen next so Um, I thought that was just a wonderfully made movie

17:34Yeah, yeah, and she's she's such a terrific filmmaker too Yeah, for sure. I'm a fun to see her take off from there Uh, this is one. There's a couple on here. I said to my wife. I was like, you know If you had handed me this list on our first date, I probably would not have waited Three months to propose you Don't don't worry. We're very happy and All right, I don't even know where you live making you live But oh my god, and I think this is the one where I first discovered how hardly too, but uh trust I mean, too, you know, you never know when you might need a hand grenade. I mean to this yet, but um Words to one fine. I'll tell you I've never done this this this is so I don't even I guess it's it's either pretentious or idiotic. I don't know what it is, but I did this um in high school. I had I Became so utterly infatuated with this movie Um, which you know, it's it's it's basically about two

18:35There's a teenage girl and she gets pregnant and she's kicked out of her house And she meets this angry Sort of loner who's also an electronics genius and he carries around the um A souvenir hand grenade in his pocket because he might need it at any moment Really it's like is Every time I watch it it sort of never fails to not hit me. Yeah movies over This guy is like on the page absolutely absolutely. I was buying really dangerous bad news But you just you love him instantly You love him and a lot of that is like he's got this kind of abusive father and so that they're both misfits and they Form this friendship. It's never exactly a love story, but it's there's there's like a common closeness that they rely on each other and it's it's very um how heartly has this very kind of sparse Sort of um some people say cold, but I don't think so at all. It's just like a very minimal style that um

19:38I really enjoy and anyways it Yeah, either because again, I was the right age for it or whatever But I just fell in love with it so intensely that I dubbed a copy of it onto VHS And carried this tape around with me in my backpack as if it was like Catcher in the ride because I don't know It was like if I wind up at a party and I'm like would anyone like to watch like a slow Conversational meditative movie Now be a good time to put The reason you carry catcher the ryer right to see you could read it when you're sitting in that corner That's why it doesn't make sense That's why it's like If you take it to its logical conclusion it doesn't make sense anyways I never played that a party, but I was on your phone now though Well now it's different. Yeah, but but back then it was sort of like party. Have a VHS I think in your backpack. I mean it was like this in case Um, that was kind of like my version of the hand grenade was right

20:40But it's yeah, that was one that I just really um, it's my favorite one of of his of how heartless and Yeah, and he oh my god, Adrian Shelley and that was so hard versus oh Yeah, I don't think I still yeah, because she's she was she was something man. She had an incredible presence and She was great and I loved him I like I you know, he's such an odd he did a couple things with with how heartly and he was just one of those actors You know Man, it had those guys like who could just like do his dialogue You know way that you can't even explain to somebody, but the like you they should always do man a dialogue Like what donovan should always do how hard every time he shows up and something I'm like there is I love that guy He's always good. He's all size. He's a terrific actor like I killed a cast with anything Yeah, but there's something about him in a how heartly movie where it's just like click thing It's it's yeah, no, I know like whenever I love seeing him pop up and in other things because it just it

21:41It makes me think about trust, but um, he's so so strong and just like fun to watch um yeah Cool presence on screen Martin amazing dry dead pan too and just um Yeah, I think trust is definitely my my favorite of those I'm a big fan later on because of amateur Amateur was great where he was like I'm gonna be my swing it like An action movie say it was like hit the heartly. These erotic thriller Yeah Really like simple men and But yeah, but but trust I think was was probably my favorite was The two of them and and that was also the first place I saw um Uh Edie Falco and a couple a couple years later. I was on Uh, I was a PA on the show Oz and oh On that shoes on that and there was a bazillion people on that show like

22:42The cast was amazing Edie Falco was the one that I was like oh my god. I can't say it's from you know that that was like an especially big deal Um to me at that time, so Yeah, no, I get that I get that completely. Oh my god. Yeah, that's that was what an amazing experience Yeah, it was great. It was a lot of fun. How long were you on it? Um, not I mean it seems longer, but I think it was like two seasons and then in between the two There was another TV show that they shot in that same set Called the beat That only aired like half of one season and then it and then it got canceled But that had a lot of bad had like Um, Mark Ruffalo was in that shortly before he kind of blew up and uh Uh, Derek Cecil and a bunch of other folks. So I mean it was yeah, it was it was really cool because there was this big jail set that was also like a police uh headquarters and it was a multi-purpose

23:43And so every we would just shoot in there all the time and it was not uncommon for there to be like a party to break out on the set On Friday nights when shooting wrapped and so frequently in those days I would just like wake up on Saturday morning in A fake jail set a jail set Take the train back home, but um, it was it was a really kind of magical time Um, yeah, no that that shows up. Oh god Yeah, fantastic and that definitely sort of at the beginning of that era um If that was the one, I mean, I could be wrong, but from my Preception it seemed like that was the one that sort of made H or HBO went from being like Yeah, we're showing movies um, you know second run movies to being like oh, this is Original programming that's really really strong Um, I think it was for sure the first thing that kind of like they may have um they may be doing Gary Shanling stuff before then

24:43Right Gary Shanling. So you know, not to die because those were brilliant things But this was like it feels like at least their first real like our drama like crime hour long Yeah, yeah, and you can see just the straight line from that to like sopranos and ran out super sure Yeah, just uh kind of cool stuff Another film honestly, I go back and forth. I mean, he's a great filmmaker. I always enjoys work Um, we're just talking to somebody the other day on the show Uh, I don't know if it's buggy night turn her advice for me, but but it's one of those and you've got as as the number one for you As my favorite like that just the one I go back to even there's I can probably make a case for one or two of them Maybe being better or something but but like these are the ones that I'm like Yeah, sometimes it's because I don't live in a world where you know if it's on I'll watch it anymore But I'm at the studio. I'm every now that I'm just like I'm in a mood for something. I just throw on part of it her advice or um, it's so good It's so good Yeah, um, and I heard and like kind of all of his movies

25:47I would say this is the reason why but it's like it's This one in particular um, and also licorice pizza for me But um, there's a lot of them where it's it's really not Whenever I mention that to people like Then we get into a discussion about it and variably what I hear is like it's so confusing I don't know what was going on in that and for me it's kind of not Like the plot of what's going through it. I there is a sort of cause and effect that you can follow if you care to but for me It's not the plot or the like a story that I need resolved. It's more like a world that is so lovingly and um With such fun crafted with such fun that I just love stepping into that world. Yeah, whether I know exactly what's going on or not. I just like being there around those people With that music and and that one to me I think The more I watch it and the more I start to think about like whatever the the ins and outs of the plot are it's

26:52It's all about people that have Lost something, you know like they've lost They've lost uh This somebody's lost a husband or there somebody's missing or a whole neighborhood is missing or like he's lost There's girlfriend everybody's kind of trying to find these things that are missing and he's like doing his best To help people sometimes succeeding sometimes not in finding the lost things and I just There's something about that that is really charming to me um and added to which I just love Every single actor in that movie talked about It's funny you say that because I have friends. I can't what was the film or years ago showing a Girl from the time what they it was something pretty uh oh the late room with art carny and Lily Tomo, which is a wonderful film and you know, I've seen it like a dozen times and had some folks over and You know, it always plays really well and then at the end of the movie she she loved it and she started asking me questions about the mystery and

27:53The unfolding of it and I said there and I was like I realized like I have never in my life Like it matters like I'll recognize with something so jarringly This quarterly makes no sense. Now. I really it throws me out of the movie, but I've never once stopped and tried to track it because it's not You know, but there are people who do and I've been all of that because there's certain kind of like mathematic Quality to their brain that I Is this happening how did what preceded it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, she's like so did Jimmy work for Billy is that it? I'm like, you know, I've only seen it a dozen times. I don't know who Jimmy or Billy are But it's just like I'm just flowing the characters are making sense what they're going through makes sense like if you tell me this clue takes you down that alley I'm like works for me exactly. I'm not sitting there trying to interrogate it, you know Yeah Yeah, yeah, I get I've heard people say that about it here in vice. I'm like, why are you who would? I do even going in I was not going to be sitting there with a notebook trying to track the mystery of

28:57It's easier to track the movie by By far than the book I read the book after that. I was like, yeah sure The writing was beautiful and I could not understand what in the hell was happening from one page to the next But I I was sort of enchanted by like Just the words but the constant effect was was a little marquee but um It's also got this like when I first went to LA I listened to me had a beach for a long time and just the opening shot. It's just like a shot. It's so evocative That's what it how it plays to people to know like it's just between two houses like kind of a alley And I'm like five seconds to the film like I know exactly where that is I get the entire vibe of this movie But yeah, and I caught that too. It just makes me happy. It's like going home sometimes I think that I think that's the other thing too is that like it it doesn't feel like it needs to be like All right guys buckle up. This is the 70s and here and they just start and she walks in and they just It's as if we're in the middle of a conversation that's already been going and and you're kind of trying to catch up and understand

30:05What they're referring to and you sort of understand but it's also sort of It's like you're listening in on this private thing and it just it's so Confident and you're just for me. I feel instantly placed in the world without any kind of like Let's make sure everybody is properly introduced and we understand their name and their job and what they want and blah blah blah It's just kind of like it picks up already Unspooling and I I really responded to that. Yeah, yeah, there's something about to yeah characters You just seem thoroughly lived in in a world and they don't have to explain Uh, who they are such good stuff Um, next up very very proud of saying my friend David Horn's meat just um basically get nominated for a Tony for co-writing the musical adaptation of this one Which I still haven't seen but I have no idea. Have you seen the lost boys in New York? No, but it's supposed to be great. It's fantastic. Yeah, I was up there for a while and Every night I would look for tickets and it was totally It was totally slowed out. So it seems to be doing really well. Yeah, man. No, it's uh and what a what a wild one to do because I this is one of those ones where I don't share your passion, but I know people do what's your

31:19Um Talk about lost boys Yeah, actually I've actually surprised I don't mean I'm not gonna read then I do not anyway me like When's tases when tase it doesn't feel like like if I were gonna pick you for a uh Cool vampire movie from that same month little of the year it's you'd be more of a near dark guy And and near dark is another one that I love very much. That's true um, but if we're talking about ones just to throw on and sort of like instantly get sucked into it um This one just it has if if I'm the crowd it has a very crowd pleasing quality in how sort of It feels very slick um, and I don't mean that I mean that positively it just sort of like it knows exactly what it's doing and it moves right into it and Not that it needs to be like oh this is an 80s movie, but it had that sort of vibe of like You know the the way they dressed and the the soundtrack for sure and and then and the fact that like the big rockest party is

32:27uh Tina Turner saxophone guy and it's got all this stuff that feels very To the 80s that like me getting to Return to that is is very present and for the longest time I it was sort of like I saw near dark way after that. I you know, this was kind of like the first time that I could think of where Vampires were kind of beyond the the fellow legosi Cape and castle thing it was sort of like oh, they're they're most like old rock and roll guys. Yeah, yeah And I thought kiever Sutherland was so cool as as David the bad guy and it was just sort of like um it's I don't It just goes down easy, you know, I was trying to think of like it It's like if I describe it like candy or something like that and it feels dismissive and I and I don't mean it in that way But it's just like something that I can return to and it may be because I have so many fond memories of watching it with my little brothers at home

33:31attached to it, but um just recently we were Hanging out and needed something to watch and we were we were my brother and I and we were very uh kind of tired and Uh, we had it had been a long day at work and didn't really want to like start something new that we would have to sort of like get a new story going And it had been years and years and I was like let's just watch the lost boys and we instantly stayed up and watch the whole thing true, I won't like in and um it remained just as fun. I mean, it's like these days. I wouldn't say it's like scary or shocking or anything like that when I was a kid it I think there was a short time. Oh god When they came in and they stabbed Marco and he was hanging upside down and all the the the blood slime was flying everywhere that that was very shocking for me at the time but um these days it it's just like a uh It feels like a fond memory that I get to return to so I think that's yeah, it's so captured

34:32I was just thinking when you mentioned I forgot he was he playing with tea to turn her the the sound guy who's like I mean you watch more recently that I have what does he have maybe three shots on the movie do you think? um That's a good point that Tim Capello it might only be that much but it feels like he is on there for 20 minutes because it's like And not just that but the fact that the beach is packed with teenagers who are going bananas and it's just sort of like that's the big But just to the fact that like you know, I you know guys that'll hide he shows up being addressed in an interesting manner for play the saxophone plays the sax Which I'm sure Joe Schubacher had a lot to do with um it definitely is The fit is aesthetic and that guy is one of those things like if I just show you a Half a second flash of that you're suddenly thinking about the 80s Everybody knows yeah, he's like so iconic Absolutely, it doesn't even have a line Yeah, I mean, it's it's like it's it's wild to think about that because that could have just been like a bar bands and you're just and all you're doing is watching

35:39You know Jason Patrick and Jamie Gertz sort of like but it's it's sort of like like it is a cruiser's play the And it's really on the show it's um it's captivating no Love it and I was I was also the first time I saw it. It was one of those like There might have been other examples, but it was that was an early time when I was Really taken by surprise at the twist at the end and and in hindsight it's sort of like it seems so obvious when The the older boyfriend Edward Herman is revealed to be the boss vampire But the first time I saw it I was like Completely taken aback and startled and and it was it did exactly what it was meant to do in that moment So I feel like they pulled up actually to that great punchline Yeah Uh next one oh my god, it's just like one of my all-time favorite movies I'm so proud there's a couple of these where I got to Kino Lorber has new 4k out of it and my commentary track or my commentary video for trailers from hell is on it

36:46So I got to oh and it's just what I'm like I Can't even remember I was a kid I think what I saw first anytime someone Even thinks about it on the show it makes me happy, but uh yeah, uh taking a poem one two three Yeah But um I think the entire score yeah so good so good It's um and and this is one two where You know, I have some movies that Uh Are kind of more to my taste um, but And and and I just like I kind of watch them on my own time But my my lovely wife Lee watched this with me a while ago and Totally flip forward and now anytime there's kind of like Let's just put on something that we want to watch Palo 1-2-3 is always like the go-to one. It's sort of like everybody agrees that it's a 10 out of 10 and um, I mean, it's kind of feels like the ultimate New York movie in a lot of ways. Absolutely definitely the top three for sure

37:51Yeah, yeah, yeah, cuz it's like it's the whole spread It's it's you know the people on the train. It's the the cops trying to if you don't know It's it's um a gang of Armed robbers hold a subway train hostage for money and they use codenames to refer to each other and we're sort of interacting with uh A station commander that's Walter Mathau and a bunch of other cops are involved About trying to negotiate how this is gonna go down save the people on the train and all sorts of stuff But the fun of the movie is really just basically A bunch of different New Yorkers and different locations yelling at each other. It's like exactly right That's it. That's it. Everyone's crabbing and being like well, let me do my job like I'm doing my fucking job The mayor's mad the chief of police is mad the station commander is like Walter Mathau manages to become more or less throughout the whole thing But everybody out and it's just like it's the characters are so much fun as a crime

38:56story like how's this gonna unfold them and what are they trying to do here? It's totally satisfying Um in a suspenseful and like cool way, but it but it's also just so funny and um So fun and it just feels like because it's it follows all these people is there's zip and all around the city and Trying to get money from here to there and the trains going from here to there. You kind of follow all these pockets of people Everywhere you always know exactly what's going on and it's just like um, I love all of these characters From like the smallest station agent to cast alloids I'm gonna negotiate with the murder of cast alloids um So math out so good and it what does anything Just totally cuz you know I was just I suddenly fledged like somebody listening to us talking about it The film and just as soon as you start talking about how funny it is like

39:57That tone doesn't get done anymore. Am I wrong? Like because it is They know Robert Shaw is very straight in that film and everybody on the trade and it's scary and they're dangerous and yeah The stakes are real It's it's also so fucking funny and it's not about No, no, not gonna knock him at all, but it's not like Adam Sandler show up on well, we got train I jackas Yeah, no, it's like I mean so The the cast donoids character is like the funniest one in the movie. Yeah It because he's chewing everybody's ass all the way and then We just gets executed in this really cold blooded manner and it's like They didn't bother switching the tone at all. It's all very consistent like hilarious hilarious Murder and then it keeps going and then it's kind of funny in other places that didn't participate in that scene and And it keeps building and it's it's just remarkable and it has

41:01The best ending of any movie that I can think of ending of But I can think of the score by David Also think about think about other actors. It's like it can't just be anybody Yeah, yeah, it's gotta be that face that amazing math out face That that's right which is both funny and Syria. I mean it's and it's that is the one it's it's like For people talking about crowd pleasing, but like if the whole thing is like are they gonna get away with it or not And then like they they totally forego A chasing a shootout You know, it's just kind of like them like I have fuck it. It's not gonna work. Check it off the ebes on a list Yeah, it's kind of like good going around like man It's all boring and they're just kind of like it's interested and they don't seem to really care that much and then That thing happens and he puts his face back in and his face

42:03Recognizing that he is in that instant solved it is the most crowd pleasing thing I've ever seen like every sound I love showing this movie to people that haven't seen it right yes And I kind of sit and watch them and Variably when that moment happens. It's everyone's the clapping and cheer and and it just it delivers every single time. No nobody walks into that when you show a tomb Thinking it's gonna be even half as much fun or as great as it is they're like okay. All right Yeah, sure Trust making he's not gonna fuck me over I'm sure it's pretty good and even then at the very end of the film when it has delivered Everything that thousand times over you still have that shot that takes you to the event next level Yeah, you know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, no, no, go ahead. You're the one. I was just I've never done that I read the novel and it's it's really good it um It's largely the same but it really gets into in the movie there's there's the one guy on the train who's a

43:05undercover cop and he's he's the one that's got long hair and so he like Mathaus like we did just You're okay miss. We'll take care of this. Yeah But there's like a whole subplot about that cop and his life and what he's going through and how he winds up on that train that day and uh huh So it's it's kind of like a little more It's a little more expanded and kind of getting into the lives of the characters and I just feels like What they chose to adjust and change and it's a great book but for the movie version they made I think some really cool um Uh condensation and and yeah Well, it's all about how just like this one event just sort of ripples out and affects all these different people in the in the town and it it's um You know It's just the fast thing look at that. I mean by you know, you're you're in graces man graces Imagine with the mayor like losing a shit about where we're gonna get the money. Yeah, you know

44:05The guys were cowering the money when they have to deliver it and then all this it's uh Yeah, I think it's an almost perfect film um yeah for some reason uh I watched you know, there's two remakes of it There's a secondary make I mean I knew the second one is actually the white everything is the the juncture of all to Denzel Washington one that that's the one I've seen and and I like Honestly, if that were called something different. I think I might like it. No It's fine. I just like I'm watching it in relation to The original and that one feels more like technological and and kind of like um it doesn't have like the loose humor in my opinion as the other one So it's still a good no no um yeah, that's I I can't argue with that um it was definitely yeah, but there was a uh I think it was TV. Yeah, it was a TV one uh starting uh starting Edward James Olmokes in the oh Oh, he's no, he's not in that in that party. He's actually a detective and

45:06Vincent offrio is mr. Blue and Is it Lorraine Bronco? I think it's um Yeah, Lorraine Bronco plays His partner and unlike the other remake they do do the ending sort of And I wish we were a video show because I'm not gonna do it justice words But but they do the whole thing the sneeze the door opens But this time it's just one head It's Lorraine Bronco and Edward James almost do this like Comedy thing where both of their heads pop around the side of the door. It's purely comedy. It's just bizarre as Edward James almost is not you know King of laughs I didn't pick that out You'll be all right if you you're not gonna get all right, but it's it was just an interesting experiment But yeah, that movie's almost perfect. I think I love it so much. It's um And I remember when he first came out as a kid he was a kid. I was like last some way. Yeah, I don't see that Yeah, my dad dragged me off to it and I was like Ah, this is so good. Yeah

46:08So are you introduced to the idea that like it's it's the singer not the song or that's not the right but like you know You can't judge any of the stuff by what it seems to be about Totally totally that's a good that's a good life. So we'll take from that. Yeah Yeah, classic one everybody loves I love it too. How do you escape Sullivan's travels? Um, yeah, this is just like I like all of those uh I want to say wacky, but that's not right that the kind of screwball comedies From back then But this one in particular it just for me it's from the very beginning the opening scenes um, it has that pylon style of dialogue where everyone's kind of cut in each other off and it's almost like even if you miss one joke There's like another two that are coming so quickly and It's a story about a guy who's he's kind of a

47:09Maybe takes himself a little too seriously film director and he feels like he needs to go out and And and real hardship outside of his Hollywood mansion in order to make um his dream movie which is a brother where art thou um and but but he needs to he needs to understand like the real world in order to be able to do that So he he sets off across the the country, but he's constantly being followed by like studio security and his publicity team and his lawyers and a personal chef and um So it's totally ridiculous and then I just as he goes on this journey like the wheels come off and He ends up on a chain gang and he ends up falling in love with This this lady that's kind of hitchhiking and she moves into his mansion and it's it's a tow I'm not doing a good job of selling the plot, but it's mainly it's such a charming tone and the characters are so kind of breezy and likable

48:09And um and by the time it gets to the end where it starts to feel like he might never Get out of prison. He's he's like accused of a murder that he didn't do and It gets actually quite dark um towards the end what um There's this just lovely tone of how this guy interacts with People as he moves in and around the country and kind of what he learns about himself And so it's it's side splitting to me, but um it also has this real warmth to it by the time It gets to the last third of the movie Yeah, yeah, but it's it's it's again kind of untouchable. It's um it's it's so good As well, I remember stumbling across on TV and and It also like you don't know where you know if you walk in cold Um like I just I still there's probably kind of what I was like uh, I don't know what this is I don't know where it's going. This is interesting journey. It's like Got to make serious movies and so we're going to the world as a majail. It's all like

49:12Because like for the first half of it he keeps like accidentally winding up back in Hollywood and he'll like You know off the back of a truck and he's like oh shit. I'm back where I started from and and that happens like two or three times I feel like and it's sort of like right what are we doing? It's it's all funny But just when you start uh my experience or that is like just when you start to wonder like Is this whole movie going to be him unable to escape Hollywood then it starts to like take this sort of darker Turn and there's there there actually is a murder and and Um and also everybody thinks he's been killed. It's it's it's a little Kind of confusing to explain, but you follow it very very easily and um uh anyways, it's Veronica Lake and um uh Tom McCray And a bunch of the other William Demarest and a lot of the other sort of I can't say we haven't talked about on the show, but not in this context we've talked about because we've had

50:15Peter Ramsey the director or one of the directors I should say to be fair Who's who's a friend and a great filmmaker, but um on the show, but we've never actually talked about spider-man into the spiderverse which is Is A revelation of a movie So well, I mean I I chose that one, but it's it's really kind of the both of them and what I assume will be the third one I kind of Think of them as sort of the same story, but it's it's so good. It's kind of staggering um and There's this thing I have you you would mention you had kids. I have two kids um and they You know they they like to watch their type of movies and I like to watch my type of movies and every now and again There's an overlap and when we when we find an overlap where everybody is big in it That's a special thing and these movies are at the top of that heap where We probably watch it twice a year without exaggeration and I'm kind of like you know it if this is if that's what they want to watch again

51:21I would be totally happy to watch this again It's just relentlessly entertaining and I think the the before you even think about how it looks The script is so satisfying. It's like it's so sharp and emotional and just sort of like If you're a fan of spider-man, I feel like it does all the right things with that version of the character If you've never seen spider-man or you don't know anything about spider-man at all. It's totally accessible anyway and then They just their choices. I feel like with the animation um It's it's so brilliant and it it's just like you start to feel like oh There's a argument to be made that comic book movies should only be animated because of what you can do Sort of in terms of movement and The you know spatially and just how he's like flying through the air and also this the way they would make things feel like it was actually Hands made you can see the sort of Mm-hmm matches and imperfections and printing dots and all this stuff that like I thought they're pretty dots

52:25Yeah, it's not like you're looking at that's it's calling back to a style of printing of comic books that theoretically your target audience isn't gonna recognize at all They have another but but it's so right. I think even if you don't understand Genesis of the look of the thing it just works. It just works on some deep deep deep visceral level And you're right. There's a thing like my friend Boas was was briefly involved with an early attempt to reboot Batman and Had had to probably wasn't a big comic book. I but it's something he said to me and I it's sort of true when it's like It's you know, I was a comic book kid and a superhero kid, but there is something when you translate to real life Like gets things start to get a little more absurd in ways that they shouldn't be, you know I can read any iteration of Batman and I'm very happy and then I see a movie and there's always going to be part of me It's a little bit like That's a dude dressed like a flying rat walking around the city, you know

53:27Switching my braid to make it work And I give into it and I love I really love those movies too and I actually like I You know, I mean, I like when they're very over the top like I love Batman returns especially because it's so cartoony Like the dark night because they were like no, it's like heat. It's like super hardcore and and they play very straight But there's something about this Spider-Man version that just if you're saying like a comic book adaptation It feels like the perfect version of that and and the story It's got such an emotional chords also very funny and all of that feels like it gets Super expanded in the second one and so it's sort of like they They kind of give you this perfect version in the first one and then they take everything that was good about it and kind of Turn up a heat on it in the subsequent one and as opposed to feeling like

54:27We're doing the same thing again or it's sort of like we're just going around the block again It it felt like a real elevation. So Anyways, I love I love those movies very much. I'd like to be there. Yeah, it just it's um Yeah, I can't wait some of the couple years my kids for another couple years before I spring that one on them I think but he's he's gonna he's gonna love it. Um, yeah, uh, and then also like um This one I give me so so My four-year-old is uh Well, he's obsessed with The Sean the sheep TV show. Okay, and we started the Sean the sheep movie about four months ago And something about camera what the scene was with there's a moment. He's really cool about sort of go There's some stuff you watch is like you're just like that's gonna freak about it It's because right over but there's something I can't remember what and is there a car wreck or something in it? Oh, yeah, it's funny. You should mention that because he's just like I'm out I don't I don't need this and we went back to the TV show It's for him My my my younger guy had that same reaction what it was is um, so it's Sean the sheep which is

55:34um Ardman animation um, you know Claymation animation the guys that did Wallace and Gramat the group that did Wallace and Gramat and This is a bunch of sheep on a farm and they've got this Farmer who's like you know well-meaning but kind of a dimwit and he's got a dog that helps him out and they get In addition to Anningins and in this one They it starts with the farmer accidentally winding up in a well They they put him in a camper van so they can have a party in the farmhouse and they trick him to falling asleep The camper van goes down a hill it gets loose and in the course of the the camper van He gets bonked on the head and loses his memory and he doesn't recognize his sheep anymore And he's lost in the city and so the movie is about them trying to get their Farmer back and my little guy when when the farmer got bonked on the head and then Didn't recognize his the leverage sheep he was he he he told he was like why did you show me that?

56:38It was like a a total betrayal from his point of view um But if you can get by that The funny thing we talk about a lot is kind of like you know sometimes People have challenges and trouble in movies and the and then the story of the movies about how they figure out to solve it And so he's kind of coming around to that but at the time it was um He was not he's not impressed But did he stick with it for you all the way through now and now he loves it now it's one of his favorite He's because like I mean that first time did he make you know the first time he was out and then like Okay, yeah, so we're later we went back and we were like you want to try and and and now he loves it um But again, it's just um I mean the the claymation style of animation is is always very charming to me and these The the ardmond folks are that you know Kind of best of the best when it comes to that um and so much of it is like expressive little like micro expressions

57:42Just yes animals doing like things like this or just like a little small subtle move that Tells the whole piece of the story. It's just it's so much fun to watch and um and this one It's just it's a great little adventure all of the animals have a very clear distinct personality And you kind of root for them in different ways. It's super funny and in the same way as Well like what we talked about with spider-man It's like if you're trying to find something in common with the kids To watch um It's like finding those overlap Movies is super valuable and this is one room like if we want to watch it again I would happily watch it again because it's so satisfying Yeah, that's good to hear I so you're telling me everything works out in the end. That's a word yeah So I was so ready because yeah, that's the thing. It's like we do we do uh, uh, you know Movie night with with him and daddy once a week we tried to it but doing it more often And uh, it's really fun, but he'll sort of get fixated on like

58:45Over three months. It was just the Disney elephant talk which is a really great documentary, but Over and over and over and over again. So I'm always excited to you know grab something new and then when it was something Then I was like oh, I'll actually enjoy this and we get to that point and he's like yeah, I can't do it I was like oh no, but I'm dying to but I refuse to watch it on my own. I'm not good Is the day will come when I'm sick to the heart can death of it right but Yeah But I'm like this you're not really looking forward to like watching so I'm holding off Yeah, I don't want to be able to tell them that they don't all die in a car wreck at the end. There's no no no I mean it works so well They have subsequent movies too. There's a farm again and um Oh, those can I yeah, yeah, I'm the Christmas one and so yeah every time everything is great But I just uh that first one was just sort of like They they really nailed it So the show is marvelous um, it is lucky he loves it so I'm looking forward to that and then last but not least Um, this one doesn't come up as much as I thought it would on this show if there's kind of but but you are you are a

59:49Highlander person. I am a Highlander person. Oh my goodness. Yeah. No, this was it I mean a lot of a lot of the ones that I would say are Maybe not all of them, but a big chunk of the ones that Have become What I would call comfort food movies that I can put in anytime and watch them Were ones that I got really infatuated with in in high school I guess that was a very impressionable time and and this was definitely one um You know, it's got when you step back from it a little bit and you're kind of like okay Yeah, the race of the mortal people and they have to fight each other with swords and cut each other's heads off and eventually They will all come together and there can only be one of them left alive um and uh That's sort of the goal, but you have to battle your way through it um And it takes place throughout the centuries culminating in 1980s New York

1:00:49Um, it sounds a little far-fetched, but Hey, I love that they just like um It's not that they throw you into it. They just sort of like let it start happening and then after a little bit into the movie You do you know, you follow this main guy um that Christopher Lambert is playing and he's he's battling dudes with swords in You know parking garages underneath the wrestling match And eventually you go back in time and kind of learn his origin story where he was a A Scottish Islander he was a warrior back in the day and when his Village realized that he was a mortal they cast him out and then he's taken under the wing of a spaniard Was played by tron Connery who teaches him the ways of sword fighting and being in a mortal um and the whole time he's being pursued by this totally awesome villain who was like a dark chaos warrior back in the day and then in present day he's

1:01:52Like a mad Max punk rock maniac who's driving this big black car around New York with a shaved head dressed in leather and that's played by clancy brown and You know my friends and I to this day that someone is always going like oh there can be only one. Yeah Islander Talk about an absolutely iconic bad guy. I mean like he's like for me. It's sort of like there's Darth Vader and and folks like that and the recurrent um is definitely out there um yeah he's he's so great man He's fantastic. It's such an odd and I'm a big fan of of I mean one of my favorite movies is Point Break and I would argue that one of the things that makes point break great is that the casting is so wrong Where you know you've got a a a jock ex-football jock FBI guy and you've got the Spiral Tools and Surfer You got Patrick Suazy canna Reeves and you cast each of them in the wrong part

1:02:57Yeah, and the films You talk. Oh, yeah, no, no, he's like but those two you're like you got it completely wrong Islander takes to the next level where you've got Christopher Lambert who's French playing a Scotsman Sean Connery who's a Scotsman playing a spaniard I think you also then throw into the fact that Christopher Lambert's blind which is a sort of unusual choice for an action hero But it gives him this kind of quality you know this Christopher Lambert is blind in Highland is he's essentially blind. I think he's like got so Yeah, did not know that yeah, I mean it's not it's not like this is not some deep dark Hollywood secret. I would not be but Yeah, yeah, and yes, but it gives this sort of quality at this look of concentration to it sometimes I think just him trying to see the light and It's such an oddly cast film and somehow works because You get that he's been around for long enough right that he wouldn't still have the accent

1:04:00Because he's not really doing a Scottish accent And nobody ever cares that Sean Connery is wrong accent because Sean Connery is wrong accent and everything Yeah, it's sort of like That all of those sorts those are things that I maybe Considered years later like oh, yeah, wait a minute. Yeah, I was just like I'm like works. Yeah, it just works Yeah, but don't you like as a filmmaker do you find yourself you look at something like that or you have the revelation because yeah I remember seeing it the first time to be like yes, really And then like years later, you're like wait a minute But can you imagine you're making this film? You're you know a year and a half into it if you're lucky You know, it's been a year and a half since you wrote the script. Yeah, and you're casting and you're like Yeah, we got this character. He's the spaniard. We call him the spandard. I think they even call him that right? There's a whole big We're like oh, yeah, it's great Scottish actor. You know like love him, but we can't use him That would just I would destroy the film might have been they just do it so many times that you're like yeah

1:05:03How do they look like I don't know I feel like I'd be paralyzed by those kind of things and yet so often the right choices Yeah, I mean I can't I can't I can't see it any other way and I also like that they just like It's it's it's one of those concepts where they're like we will we will tell you this once and then that's it And like there's no like wait a minute why or how or like what is this like don't worry about it the fight And that's what's up and You know and it never bothered me once. I just all I knew is I loved watching You know the Kyrgyn Messeran in the church and be like weird and stick his tongue out and like He's doing cool tricks with this sword that like clicks together in different pieces It had all this stuff that just appealed to my 17-year-old brain so precisely that it just stayed lunch there the years and years later was like

1:06:08I got I had a small part in this thing that Clancy Brown was on and it It I the self-control that I And not quoting the shit out of that movie to him. I was I was proud of myself for but that was what my impulse was I just Wanted to tell him that that could be on that I can go either way I have found over the years, but I can go you know it You never want to be the person. I was too much in awe. I didn't want to I didn't want to risk it But um no that's one that I I go back to Frequently and just sort of think about and Kyrgyn's such a great bad guy. Yeah, I just I love that one I think mine was probably commando where uh Years later I died worked with the director on a film. He heard me to write something And I couldn't help myself as young and dumb and and I think in our first meeting all I did was quote You know, I remember I told you I kill you last night They get a pillow from a friend he did tie you know all this stuff and he just looked at me like like I

1:07:11Did you write? Yeah, like what are you fucking doing? But he hired me anyway, so there you go But it was just yeah, you can tell that like either he just was done with hearing that stuff or he had never He'd show Probably heard too many times. I just feel like a lady if you're just like come on You know, it's commando. How do you not get up everybody? You go. I made commandos celebrate yourself. Yeah You never know. Well, make it man. Thank you so much. This was uh, it was a blast last time. It's good time this time As always so much fun talking to you. Thank you for inviting me on the show and um I'll give my best to mr. Dante and I will do that and the movie is idiots Let's just say it's out now We'll figure all that out Not actually, I don't know why the first time I saw the tiny time I see a title now I just think of like you know the alien alien story, right Jim Cameron with a money sign Yeah, just think like you know, hey guys remember remember remember remember that dusted f ski novel

1:08:13Crime and punishment So you know, yeah, how about the idiots Um probably no relation although I wonder if there might be some thematic issues I may have missed but it's it's a it is uh it is a depraved delight. Is that a fair assessment? I love that assessment Deal it You can have it Thank you man really really appreciate this and uh can't wait to see what you do next Thank you so much. It was great talking to you And just before we go we want to remind you we've got a patreon If you want to find other ways to support the show beyond just listening to us and telling your friends about us You can come help out there. It's patreon.com the movies that made me we have all kinds of cool Benefits for our patreon subscribers and we really really really appreciate them And we really really really appreciate you We'll be back next week

1:09:14You The movies that made me is the official podcast of trailers from hell the best day on movie website there is Our engineer is the composer Don Barrett who also transmogrified produced and created our theme song We're proud to be part of the spectra vision radio network learn more at spectra vision.com This is Josh Olson for the movies that made me