WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Ravenous 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.479 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.160 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.680 and this is Joe McCormick. Today is July the fourth 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.480 Independence Day in the United States, as many of our 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.799 American listeners can attest to, and I think our international 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.080 listeners can also attest to to varying degrees and understand, 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.959 national patriotic holidays like this can be really weird to process. 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.159 They are at their they're very least a time of 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.880 celebrating certain ideals while often ignoring the more complex or 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.280 even problematic elements of a nation's history and place in 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.280 the world. I often find myself just like, end up 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.000 with a day off on the on the fourth, and 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.000 I'm just like, what am I doing? What's the game plan? 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.240 I guess I'll watch some fireworks and this year I 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:57.720 made some space for today's movie. 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.520 Oh, on the fourth of July itself, or just in advance, 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:02.600 like are you going to watch it again on the fourth? 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.200 Who knows what I'll do? But I mean, you know, 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.160 given publication delights, you know, I couldn't actually watch it 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.560 on the fourth, but in anticipation of the fourth. 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.720 I see typically if we watch a movie on the 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:18.320 fourth of July, it's Jaws. That's you know, for obvious reasons, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:19.399 fourth of July is. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:20.080 A big holiday. 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.760 In the narrative of Jaws, it's very much a summer movie, 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.200 and I don't know, it just kind of feels right, 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.480 especially if the day involves, like otherwise being outdoors or 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.560 barbecuing or something. At some point you come inside, sit 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:34.759 down and watch Jaws. I think we we haven't really 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.920 done this fully in a few years since my daughter 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:39.920 was born, but I don't know, I think we're working 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.360 our way back up to it at some point. And 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:44.960 another tradition we used to have. This may sound a 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.640 little bit cheesy, but so we used to like read 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.240 Walt Whitman out loud in our house on the fourth 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:51.880 of July. It's it's a good thing to do. I 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:52.560 recommend that. 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:56.520 Nice. Nice. So these are both solid, solid choices, especially Jaws, 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:03.000 and because again the greatest primordial summer blockbuster in many respects, 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.720 I mean, it's set the blueprint for blockbusters to follow. 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.520 But also, you know, Jaws, in its own interesting way 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:15.600 at least dips its toes into some contemplation about America. 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:18.080 I have to think about that. 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:23.120 Okay, Yeah, I think it's in there. But the picture 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:28.520 that we've selected here is nineteen ninety nine's Ravenous. Of note, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:32.120 this is only our second nineteen ninety nine film. The 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.320 only other film from nineteen ninety nine that we've watched 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.400 is Deep Blue Sea, a shark movie. 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.480 Oh okay, interesting connection, you know it. Maybe it's not 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.120 just the narrative of Jaws that ties into the fourth 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.280 of July. There is something very American feeling about the 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:49.440 subgenre of the shark film that's just part of the 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:55.000 national identity. Looking for connections between Deep Blue Sea and Ravenous. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:59.080 Not a huge amount in terms of I don't know 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:01.840 the fee or content, but I guess they're both very 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:02.760 much about eating. 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.240 Yeah, Deep Blucy very much feels like a nineteen ninety 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.720 nine film. Ravenous in many ways just really feels out 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.040 of place, Like it feels like maybe its soul is 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.200 more seated I don't know, in the nineteen seventies or 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.680 or in a way, it's almost like a blueprint of 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.080 things that might come later. And as we'll discuss, I 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.560 don't think anybody knew what to do with this film 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:29.400 when it came out in nineteen ninety nine, no one 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.079 knew how to market it, and no but and a 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.120 lot of people didn't really know how to receive it. 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.120 It is one of those artifacts, like floating outside of time. 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.320 It feels like it doesn't really fit in exactly anywhere. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:45.200 It is a strange. There are strange anachronisms within it, 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.360 like this is a period movie set in the eighteen forties, 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:55.640 and something I think especially about the sound track, leans 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.040 a little bit into the sound of a nineteenth century music, 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.920 you know. It involves like some accordion voicings and banjos 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.680 and fiddles and things like that, but also has these 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.480 electronic elements that kind of pull it out of the 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.400 time space in which you're supposed to be imagining it. 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.320 And as a result, it does kind of feel like 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.360 this alien object that's just kind of like inserted randomly 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.039 into the last one hundred years of culture. 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:22.680 Yeah. 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:26.520 Yeah, the soundtrack, the score, especially as we'll discuss, gives 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.839 it this kind of vibe of something ancient that is 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:30.880 clawing its way up into the modern world. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:31.440 Yeah. 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.560 So I originally saw this one back more or less 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:35.840 when it first came out. I did not see it 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.039 in the theaters. I don't know how many people actually did. 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.400 I caught it on home video, maybe even VHS, I'm 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:44.279 not sure. Probably it was probably DVD. This was a 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.279 time when DVD was really getting into the vibe. But 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.719 I have to say it really impressed me back then. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.440 I was a rather different person back then, but it 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.159 still impressed me when I rewatched it today. I think 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.120 it certainly has its flaws, and we'll touch on some 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.760 of those, but it's quite exceptional in its rumination on 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.400 its central thesis, which it rolls out. I think with 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.800 enough care and nuance that it invites us to further 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.760 ruminate on what this film means and what it's saying, 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.200 without transforming the picture into a kind of blunt instrument 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:19.920 of social or political commentary. 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:25.000 You know, something about the setting in time and in place, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.080 and the fact that it takes place among kind of 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:31.320 military officers within, you know, a couple of decades of 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.480 the US Civil War makes it feel like it should 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:41.200 have some kind of political historical commentary. Whatever political historical 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.520 commentary is there feels kind of subtle to me. 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.840 Yeah, I would say. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:51.000 Overall, the main themes are more of a classic morality struggle, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.120 but with Gonzo Freddy Krueger elements. 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.920 Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, I think it ultimately 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.000 strikes a nice balance in its commentary. I do think 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.599 if it had been made ten years ago instead of 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.080 twenty six years ago, I think it would have been 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:09.320 more aggressive in its critique. I think it might have 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:14.080 been a little blunter. And I don't know it's These 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.800 are big what ifs, but I can easily imagine a 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:22.960 picture that was ultimately less successful. So if you're not 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.919 familiar with nineteen ninety nine's Ravenous, this is a weird one. 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.680 Ravenus is a frontier cannibal movie set in eighteen forties California. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.640 It draws clear inspiration from both the Donner Party and 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:40.080 the confess and the confessions of alleged cannibal Alfred Packer, 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:44.160 And there's also a dash of Windigo of lore from 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:49.440 Algonquin folklore. Now, given this premise, you might well expect 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.600 a couple of different possible treatments. You might think, Okay, 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.760 this is gonna be an exploitive horror movie. This is 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.640 gonna be like a Gonzo maybe even euro cannibal film 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.080 we saw in the seventies and eighties, including Cannibal Apocalypse, 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.040 which we've covered on Weird House Cinema partially filmed right 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:06.920 over here indicator. 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.000 I'd say there are some special effects sequences that are 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.040 similar to cannibal Apocalypse. Y. Yeah, there's some kind of 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.119 shoving of organs into the mouth. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.200 Yeah, they definitely, they definitely get in there and paint 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.000 with those brushstrokes. But at the same time, it doesn't 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.080 really go overboard there either. I wouldn't say so if 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.280 you come into this wanting like a complete gore fest, 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.040 it might not deliver, certainly by sort of like fangoria standards. 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:33.720 Yeah. 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.080 At the same time, yeah, you might think, well, this 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:40.400 is about cannibalism, and cannibalism is inherently funny. There's no 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:45.800 denying it. No matter how serious your treatment of cannibalism is, 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.880 you can't help but get a yuck in there, you know, 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.880 somewhere or another, in part because cannibalism is such a 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.280 dark topic. But then there it also there are just 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.640 so many potentially humorous wrinkles to the concept. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:05.480 Cannibalism really lends itself to puns and word play, a 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.840 little double on tondras in sentences. Have you noticed that 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:12.640 I feel like almost more than basically anything except sex. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.640 Cannibalism is just like the double on tundras leap out 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.720 of the language for you, right. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:21.760 And then they often go back into sex as well. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.600 So it's just it's all over the place. And so 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:25.480 you might well think, well, this is going to be 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.600 a you know, a grizzly comedy, maybe along the lines 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.800 of Trey Parker's Cannibal the Musical, which came out in 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.640 nineteen ninety three, based in part on the Alfred Packer 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:38.400 account which I just referenced. And it to be clear, 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.480 this film does have its intentional laughs, but it also 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.640 shows a great deal of restraint here as well. 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.000 Yeah, there is I would say a good bit of 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.640 humor in this movie, but it's way less overt than 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.520 in Cannibal the Musical. I mean, this is not in 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.680 any sense played for comedy. Instead, it's it's one of 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:01.480 those it's a dark story that is through and through 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.440 dark on its face, and I think the viewer is 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:09.480 expected to find little ironic amusements throughout it. You know, 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.360 it's like you're having a little chuckle, but there's nothing, 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:15.840 no juicy comedy happening on screen. 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.840 Yeah, so I think it's generally on the money to 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.319 think of Ravenous as a horror film. Absolutely. I'm not 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.000 going to make an argument that it doesn't belong in 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.320 that section of the video rental store, but I think 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.280 when you look at it, yeah, it also tends to 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.240 defy categorization in other ways, and I think the studio 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.640 clearly didn't know what to make of it. Audiences and 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.840 critics also tended to respond as such. I believe Ebert 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.720 really liked it, but I think a lot of people 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:47.560 just didn't know what to make of it. No one 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.479 really knew what to do with a serious minded cannibal 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:55.640 slash sort of vampire frontier film reflecting on, you know, 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.160 to a certain extent, on the dark side of American 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:00.720 destiny and capitalism or at least human nature. 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.840 Yeah, I mean nothing marketers hate more than something that 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.840 takes too many words to describe. Yes, it's just like 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.640 hard to market something that doesn't really fit its genre 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:11.680 tropes very well. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.720 Yeah, And as such, the original marketing for this film 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.240 is just I mostly just hate all of it. I 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.800 hate all the posters and box art for it. It 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.080 just all of it's just kind of like ugly looking. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.440 I don't like the trailer, and I don't think any 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:27.000 of this has changed. It's weird, Like, this is a 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:31.240 film that has definitely developed its own cult following over 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:35.400 the years, and it's readily available. It's been re released, 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.240 you know, in Blu ray and so forth, but the 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.560 packaging is still more or less the same. I picked 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.080 up the box at Video Drome here in Atlanta, and 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.960 it's the recent Shout Factory release, which is very nice 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:50.680 as all these extras that were originally on the DVD release, 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.000 And it's the same description the box states quote it's 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.560 a recipe for NonStop action and excitement when the inhabitants 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.839 of an isolated military post go up against a marauding 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.120 band of cannibals in a deadly struggle for survival. 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:09.320 That doesn't even accurately describe the plot. No, but then 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:10.880 it also gets the tone wrong. 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.520 Yeah, yeah, the tone is totally incorrect here, Like, I 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.720 love this film, but it is not a recipe for 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:17.400 NonStop action and excitement. 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:20.680 It is also it's not that this makes it sound 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.079 like it's like a bunch of soldiers having a shootout 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.400 with a cannibal gang that attacks them, like it's mad 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:26.240 Max or something. 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.800 Yeah, or maybe the thing. You know, there's some comparisons 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.080 to be made there, but yeah, totally different vibe. 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.720 It's actually closer to the thing than what this makes 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:35.280 it sound like. 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:40.240 Yeah, yeah, So my alternate elevator pitch for this would 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.440 be cannibalism American style. But even that makes it sound 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:44.880 like it's going to be more of a comedy than 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:45.560 it actually is. 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.600 If I could give it a slightly pretentious elevator pitch, 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:50.880 I'll cite a line from the movie. The characters in 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.880 the movie discuss a believe a Benjamin Franklin quote where 0:11:54.880 --> 0:12:00.160 they say, eat to live, don't live to eat. Well, 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.040 that's an interesting aphorism. This movie explores what that aphorism 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:07.760 means when you have to interrogate the meaning of both 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:08.920 live and eat. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.400 Yes, all right, I'm going to skip the trailer since 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.040 I've already established that I don't really like it, I 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.000 would recommend, I if you've not seen the film, I'd 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.440 recommend just going in cold and experiencing it. And you know, 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.040 don't even look at the box, don't even look at 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.640 the posters. But if you want to watch it on 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.480 your own, it is widely available for digital rent and purchase. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.320 The Shout Factory Blu ray is definitely the pick for 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.880 physical media. It contains numerous extras, including no fewer than 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:42.040 three commentary tracks. I believe these were on the original release. 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.400 This is just that period I believe, for excitement for 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.240 regarding disc extras, so they just went all out. 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.040 Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the original release 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.880 of this movie on DVD had little like little easter eggs. 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.120 In the menus. Oh yes, something. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.240 You could like navigate over to and click and would 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:01.840 play like a I don't know, you'd have like a 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:03.320 dancing Robert Carlyle and. 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.439 Oh absolutely, yeah, yeah, this is when they did all 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.320 of that stuff. And I have to admit I haven't 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.200 really gone into the extras on the disc. I feel 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.160 like this is sometimes I really like to do that 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:14.640 with a film for a weird house and get more 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.360 of the backstory. This, I really feel like, is a 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.439 film that just speaks so well for itself as itself. 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.400 But you know, sometime down the line, I might really 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.199 get into the extras because they look really good. You've 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.040 got Carlisle and Bird doing a commentary track. You've got 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.559 you know, various other individuals involved in the production, and yeah, 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:34.239 I'm sure it's all really good stuff. 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.720 One thing I would say before we go any further 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:48.520 is that, of course, always on Weird House Cinema, we 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.720 end up talking about the plot in some amount of 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.480 detail as we go on, and that will include spoilers 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.600 for the story. In cases where I think, you know 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.560 you might want to go in without anything spoiled, I 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.040 throw a warning up. I think this is probably one 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.040 of those. This is a movie where you might want 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.000 to watch it without any of the surprises ruined. So 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.480 fair warning, folks. If you haven't seen the movie you 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:11.959 feel like you want to, this might be a good 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:12.880 place to pause. 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:14.280 And go check it out before listening further. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.600 All right, we've given you the warning, So now we're 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:21.520 going to get into the meat of the people involved 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.080 in this production, starting at the top. The director here 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:29.000 is Antonia Byrd, who lived nineteen fifty one through twenty 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.200 thirteen English TV and film director and also occasional producer. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.120 Her TV credits go back to the early eighties, working 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.480 on various series and TV movies, including some work in 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.160 the long running series EastEnders. In ninety four, she directed 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:48.080 the film Priest starring Linus Roach, Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle, 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.640 which earned her a BAFF denomination among other honors. She 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.400 followed this up with nineteen ninety five's Mad Love, no 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.920 relation to the Peter Lorie picture. This one starred Chris 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.480 O'Donnell and Drew Barrymore. But what if it had been 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:02.800 a remake of Mad Love. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:06.560 Starring Chris O'Donnell and Chris O'Donnell as. 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.240 In the role of a lifetime in the Peter louri role. 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:09.800 Amazing. 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.360 She also did nineteen ninety seven's Face, a crime drama 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.200 starring Robert Carlisle alongside Ray Winston. Ravenous would be her 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.960 last feature film, but she continued to work in television, 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.760 directing a handful of TV movies and episodes of shows 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.760 like I five and Cracker. She was one of the 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.840 UK's leading female directors by many estimates. She sadly passed 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.560 away following a battle with cancer. Now it is important 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:37.680 to include a brief note about the production here. So 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.800 first of all, just incidentally, this movie was filmed primarily 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.920 in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, So I think all 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:46.800 of these scenes that are supposed to be the American 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.560 Frontier are actually a europe And then the scenes that 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.520 take place in Mexico were actually filmed in Mexico. 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:54.160 Okay. 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:58.880 Bird was apparently a last minute replacement for a different 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:04.080 director of Macedonia and director miltshow Manchewsky and I'm not 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:08.840 sure on the details there ultimately not important, but amid 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.280 discussions of who are going to get into who's going 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.760 to step in and direct this picture? Now getting down 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.240 to the last minute, you know, the cast, everything, all 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:20.760 these expensive pieces are in place, and it's Robert Carlyle 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.920 who reportedly suggested that they get Bird based on his 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:26.040 previous work with her. 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.160 It was clearly a good move. You can feel something 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:33.280 about something that is really working in this movie is 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:38.160 a kind of playfulness and a freedom to experiment that 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.280 I think you can feel coming from the top, at 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.040 least that's my sense in watching it. 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.320 Yeah, and I believe that's the sense that you get 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.920 when you read interview pieces from Carlyle about the picture. 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.720 So he had worked with her on episodes of TVs 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:57.120 The Bill Cracker, as well as an anthology series called Screenplay. 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.280 The episode that Bird directed was nineteen ninety three episode 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:05.520 titled Safe that centered around homelessness and also feature Aidan 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.879 Gillen and Kate Hardy. So yeah, he always he seems 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.000 like he always spoke very highly of citing her collaborative 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:17.000 spirit and her onset demeanor. In a nineteen ninety nine 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.880 interview with The Guardian that, to be clear, was promoting 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:24.320 this picture, he said the following about power dynamics on productions, 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.680 Antonia is very different for most directors in thinking that way. 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:30.680 The more you do in your career and the more 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:34.000 success you get, you can pick and choose. But I've 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.600 been confronted with a power thing from directors before, and 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.600 that's what makes Antonia refreshing because she doesn't have that. 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.440 It's a collaborative thing. It's about trust, and you build 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.159 up trust over a period of years, and therefore you 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:46.640 will do anything for each other. 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.600 Oh okay, yeah, So if I'm interpreting that right, that 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.040 does match the feeling I get from watching the movie 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:57.080 where it is. You get the sense that this is 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:59.560 the kind of production where people were just trying things. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.560 I do something weird and then it's like, oh, that 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.159 kind of works, let's go with that. Yeah, Instead of 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.520 a director just draconian lee to you know, bossing everybody 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:11.399 around and saying no, I've got a vision, do it 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:11.840 this way. 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:13.720 And of course all that makes sense when we get 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.080 into the cast here in just a minute, because it's 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:21.320 a great cast of character actors and experienced the stage 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:23.679 and screen actors, and so you can really feel it 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.320 all come together. Yeah, all right. The screenplay is by 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.440 Ted Griffin born nineteen seventy. This was his first produced 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:32.720 feature film script, but he followed it up with two 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:37.000 thousand and one's adaptation of Ocean's Eleven, based on a 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.320 previous film from many years back. He also did two 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:45.160 thousand and threes matchtick Men, the twenty ten series Terriers, 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:49.440 twenty eleven's Tower Heist, and twenty ten Solace. He also 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.280 got into producing and co produced twenty thirteen's The Wolf 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.800 of Wall Street. All right, heading up our cast, top 0:18:55.800 --> 0:19:00.199 build is Guy Pierce playing the character Boyd. They we're 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.280 in nineteen sixty seven, and I think everybody knows who 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.640 Guy Pierce is, big name Australian actor who really broke 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.680 into the mainstream with his supporting role in nineteen ninety 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:10.120 seven's La Confidential. 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:14.000 I would argue Guy Pearce is really playing against type 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.879 in this movie. He again and again throughout his career 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:22.200 he plays characters that are very driven, it kind of focused, 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:27.520 competent of people who are always the active party in 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.480 the scene, always the agent, And here he plays the 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:36.560 exact opposite, a character whose main vice is cowardice and indecision. 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.680 Yeah. I think that's a great read because whether he's 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:44.159 playing heroes or villains, which and he does both terrifically, 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.680 it is generally a very driven character, and in this film, 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:50.840 the character is intentionally presented is very passive for much 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:53.919 of the film, resigned to whatever fate has seemingly for 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.520 whatever fate has seemingly chosen for him, and you know, 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.520 as such, he doesn't even seem to have much agency 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.000 at first, and on the whole speaks very little in 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:02.399 the movie. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.920 Yeah, it's a weird choice to have a protagonist this way. 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:10.800 He's like, there are multiple scenes where he is an 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:13.720 officer in the military in this film, but he has 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.399 like men underneath him who are having to kind of 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:19.679 like give him orders essentially because he's just frozen and 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:20.600 he doesn't know what to do. 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:25.880 Yeah, So, prior to La Confidential, his Australian credits included 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.720 the cult favorite drag film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:32.679 of the Desert, alongside Hugo Weaving and Terrence Stamp. So 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:35.200 this film pretty much follows up on the La Confidential 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.880 boom and proceeds a string of early two thousand films 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.440 Christopher Nolan's Memento in two thousand, of Course, two thousand twos, 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.240 The Count of Monte Crisco, two thousand and two's The Time Machine. 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.920 Subsequent credits included such films as two thousand and five's 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:53.720 The Proposition, two thousand and eights, The hurt Locker, two 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.760 thousand nine's The Road, twenty twelve's Prometheus, twenty thirteen's Iron 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.600 Man three, in which he gets to play the chief villain, 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:04.480 twenty sixteen Brimstone. I believe that's another grim sort of 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:09.520 Western frontier picture, twenty seventeen's Alien Covenant, small but memorable 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:13.520 role there. A turn as Scrooge in twenty nineteen's A 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:18.440 Christmas Carol. I haven't seen that, but I'm imagining it 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:23.439 as Peter Wayland as Scrooge, so I hope that wouldn't disappoint. 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.280 Dan Aykroyd did nothing but trouble as Scrooge. 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:30.320 And then oh he's in twenty twenty fours The Shrouds. 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:32.920 That's I believe the latest Cronenberg film. Haven't seen that one. 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:35.840 And he's also in The Brutalist, for which he was 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.360 nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Yeah. 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:41.639 I always like Guy Pearson. He is great in this, 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.760 but once again, a very different kind of role for him. 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.480 All right, now, coming back to Robert Carlyle. Robert Carlile 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.560 plays We're past spoilers at this point, so we can 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:53.320 go in and say that it's kind of a double role. 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:58.359 He plays a character that it's initially identified as with 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:01.440 the name Calhoun, come to know as ives. 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:03.560 There are a lot of great things about this movie, 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:07.000 but I would say Robert Carlyle is the hub around. 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:08.240 Which the spokes revolve here. 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:11.520 He is the core of this movie, and he's like 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.600 the best thing in it. He is driving this train 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:19.000 and he's driving it right off the tracks and it's great. 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:20.320 He is fantastic. 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:22.679 Yeah, he really gets to shine here. He gets to 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:26.360 go in various directions. It's in many ways a Dracula 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:29.760 role in all the great ways that it's a Dracula role, 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:32.119 but with all these other layers in place, like he 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:34.119 gets to play a frontier mad man, he gets to 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:37.159 play a cold, pragmatist villain. He gets to be this 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:41.320 kind of embodiment of predatory capitalism and empire. And there 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:44.879 are also subtle homoerotic layers to the character as well. 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:47.480 I don't think those are as pronounced, or at least 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:50.879 they didn't jump out at me as much. But you know, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.800 based on interviews I've seen with Carlile, he does stress 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:57.119 that that it was part of the calculus of the character. 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.200 So Carlile is of course a note Scottish actor whose 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:04.600 credits go back to the late eighties, starring in TV 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:08.160 with some small roles before starring in nineteen ninety one's 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:11.040 riff Raft, which earned him earned him a BAF denomination, 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:13.720 and it wasn't long after this that he worked with 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:16.800 byrd Onsafe and then worked with her again on Priest 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:19.679 the same year. Nineteen ninety four. He also appeared in 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.359 a supporting role in the Robin Williams film Being Human. 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:25.920 In nineteen ninety six, he appeared in Danny Boyle's Train Spotting, 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:28.720 playing the sadistic Oh It's been a while since I've 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.400 seen this. I think the character's name is Begbie. It's 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:35.000 been forever. Yeah, Franco Begbee, I think. And this is 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:38.960 a role he'd reprise in twenty seventeen's T two Trained Spotting. 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:42.199 He followed this up with ninety seven's Face and The 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:44.800 Full Monty And this was another role he'd later reprise 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:48.359 in twenty thirteen The Full Monty TV Project. He was 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:52.000 in ninety nine's Plunkett McClean ninety nine's The World Is 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:54.040 Not Enough. I forgot about this one. But he's a 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:54.640 Bond villain. 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:57.720 Oh, he's the villain of it. I've seen this movie, 0:23:57.760 --> 0:23:59.040 but I don't really remember he. 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:01.520 Is either this is Yeah, I'm not a big fan 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:04.639 of this era of Bond pictures. But he either plays 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:07.440 the main villain or the chief henchman. 0:24:07.840 --> 0:24:12.720 Okay, The World Is Not Oh? Is this the one with? Yes? Sorry, 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:13.560 just had to look it up. 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:15.600 She's doctor Christmas Jones. 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:21.760 Yeah, I'm I think I saw this, but I maybe 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:24.320 I didn't because I don't really remember any of this. 0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:27.480 I notice it's a forgettable one. It's got a showdown 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:29.800 in a nuclear submarine I think in the end, and 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:34.159 Robert Carlyle is he's a villain called Renard. I had 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:36.080 to look this up to jog my memory. I truly 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:37.800 did not remember any of these details. 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:42.080 Goldie is in it, the UK DJ musician. But yeah, 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:44.000 maybe I haven't seen this one at all. 0:24:44.760 --> 0:24:48.800 Well it's not Robert Carlyle's Fault's. 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:50.639 Good no, but you know, more power to him forgetting that. 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:54.320 That Bond villain pay day, let's see that same year, though, 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:56.720 he was in Angela's Ashes, and then in two thousand 0:24:56.800 --> 0:24:59.359 he was in the Beach. He played Adolf Hitler in 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:02.240 the two thousand three mini series Hitler The Rise of Evil. 0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:05.800 Other credits include two thousand and seven's Aragon and also 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:08.440 twenty eight weeks later from the same year. And he 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:12.840 also played the role of sort of an updated version 0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:15.720 of Rumpel Stilskin on TVs Once Upon a Time, which 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.880 ran from twenty eleven to twenty eighteen. All right, third 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:24.080 billing for this picture is David Arquette playing the character Cleaves. 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:26.080 Third billing. That's a strange choice. 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:28.920 Yeah, yeah, I think I guess they were capitalizing on 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:33.560 his sort of like MTV era Scream franchise celebrity status 0:25:33.640 --> 0:25:36.320 at the time, but this is a very minimal role, 0:25:36.440 --> 0:25:39.159 kind of a mild comic relief stoner character. 0:25:39.760 --> 0:25:41.680 I mean, he's good in his scenes, no offense to 0:25:41.800 --> 0:25:46.560 David Arkette at all, but he's more unhinged than I 0:25:46.600 --> 0:25:49.840 would have expected David Arquette to get, like his hysterical 0:25:49.960 --> 0:25:54.760 laughter at absolutely nothing and also like while he's getting gutted. 0:25:55.320 --> 0:25:59.040 Yeah, yeah, I guess they you know they when they 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:01.280 were marketing and they're like, you liked Scream right, well, 0:26:01.440 --> 0:26:04.879 enjoy ravenous because yet at this point Scream one and 0:26:04.960 --> 0:26:07.760 two had already come out the same year he starred 0:26:07.760 --> 0:26:10.800 and Never Been Kissed. Subsequent films include two thousand and 0:26:10.800 --> 0:26:13.960 two's Eight Legged Freaks, two thousand and fours Never Die Alone, 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:17.240 and also twenty fifteen's Bone Tomahawk, which you know is 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:22.320 another weird Western frontier movie. 0:26:23.280 --> 0:26:23.399 Oh. 0:26:23.440 --> 0:26:26.920 I remember having mixed feelings about that one, because I 0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:29.399 thought like, in some ways it was well made, but 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:32.320 also it just made me feel so nasty. 0:26:33.160 --> 0:26:35.240 Yeah, it's it's kind of a kind of a nasty one. 0:26:35.320 --> 0:26:39.359 I'm I'm like again, only twenty fifteen, and I'm not 0:26:39.440 --> 0:26:42.040 sure it has aged well. But and I haven't gone 0:26:42.040 --> 0:26:44.640 back and rewatched it, but I enjoyed the experience when 0:26:44.640 --> 0:26:46.760 it came out. You know, Kurt Russell's great and everything 0:26:47.280 --> 0:26:49.240 and solid supporting cast in that one as well. 0:26:49.640 --> 0:26:50.520 Yeah, who is it? 0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:54.040 Oh Man who plays Richard Jenkins. Richard Jenkins is outstanding 0:26:54.080 --> 0:26:54.240 in that. 0:26:54.520 --> 0:26:55.119 He's great in it. 0:26:55.240 --> 0:26:58.560 Yeah, but I remember that one just being particularly just 0:26:58.920 --> 0:26:59.880 mean and vile. 0:27:00.800 --> 0:27:03.000 Yeah, all right, let's get into the more of the 0:27:03.080 --> 0:27:06.480 supporting cast. Here. We have Jeremy Davis playing Toffler. Born 0:27:06.560 --> 0:27:09.399 nineteen sixty nine, American actor who the same year was 0:27:09.440 --> 0:27:12.320 part of the cast of Saving Private Ryan. He'd already 0:27:12.320 --> 0:27:15.840 appeared in ninety six's Twister. Subsequent films included two thousand 0:27:15.840 --> 0:27:18.840 and two Secretary as well as Solaris, and he played 0:27:18.920 --> 0:27:22.159 Charles Manson in two thousand and fours Helter Skelter that 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:24.720 was a TV film, And he also had roles on 0:27:25.040 --> 0:27:27.160 TV's Lost and Justified. 0:27:27.400 --> 0:27:30.560 It's weird to imagine him playing Charles Manson because he 0:27:30.760 --> 0:27:33.920 usually played it once again against type there. He usually 0:27:33.960 --> 0:27:40.800 plays these kind of quiet, frightened, timid mouse like characters. 0:27:41.119 --> 0:27:41.320 Yeah. 0:27:41.600 --> 0:27:45.560 Yeah, he's a he's like a sweet but weird dude 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:49.680 in this very religious If we haven't mentioned it already. 0:27:50.040 --> 0:27:51.840 One of the whole things here is that all of 0:27:51.960 --> 0:27:54.200 the people that have been kind of exiled to this 0:27:54.359 --> 0:27:57.800 remote outpost in ravenous they are all outcast of one 0:27:57.880 --> 0:28:00.359 sort of or another. They have been put here to 0:28:00.480 --> 0:28:04.480 be forgotten. This is the ubliette of the American Frontier. Yeah, 0:28:05.119 --> 0:28:07.920 all right, And then we have a major supporting character 0:28:08.000 --> 0:28:11.800 by the name of Heart, played by Jeffrey Jones born 0:28:11.920 --> 0:28:15.080 nineteen forty six. And this one is kind of a 0:28:15.119 --> 0:28:17.000 tough one to write about and to bring up here, 0:28:17.000 --> 0:28:19.320 because Jones was one of I think the most beloved 0:28:19.359 --> 0:28:22.520 weirdo character actors of the eighties and nineties, noted for 0:28:22.640 --> 0:28:25.720 roles in such films as eighty four Zama Dais of course, 0:28:25.840 --> 0:28:28.320 nineteen eighty six is Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in which 0:28:28.359 --> 0:28:31.560 he is the principal. He also has a fun villain 0:28:31.640 --> 0:28:34.359 role in Howard the Duck. The same year, He's in 0:28:34.480 --> 0:28:38.160 eighty eight Beetlejuice, ninety two Stay Tuned, and nineteen ninety 0:28:38.160 --> 0:28:40.800 four's ed Wood, in which he played the amazing Chris Well. 0:28:40.960 --> 0:28:41.360 That's right. 0:28:41.920 --> 0:28:45.000 On TV. He had a regular cast role on HBO's Deadwood. 0:28:45.480 --> 0:28:47.640 But of course legal problems in two thousand and two 0:28:48.440 --> 0:28:50.880 with some really rough charges that I don't even want 0:28:50.920 --> 0:28:52.640 to get into here on the podcast, but the info 0:28:52.800 --> 0:28:56.400 is readily available on Wikipedia and everywhere else. This essentially 0:28:56.520 --> 0:28:59.440 ended his career at any rate. His on screen work 0:28:59.600 --> 0:29:02.200 was always terrific, and he's great in this as his 0:29:02.320 --> 0:29:04.040 heart is it Colonel Heart. I can't remember. I don't 0:29:04.080 --> 0:29:07.800 necessarily remember everybody's military rank. Yeah, but Heart is a 0:29:07.880 --> 0:29:10.400 very likable character and it has a very nice, it 0:29:10.520 --> 0:29:12.240 perhaps a bit rushed character. 0:29:12.080 --> 0:29:16.360 Arc, which sets up a late movie twist that is 0:29:16.880 --> 0:29:18.680 I remember back in the day, was like a real 0:29:18.800 --> 0:29:19.360 gut punch. 0:29:20.120 --> 0:29:22.920 Yeah, yeah, and yeah it hit the same way even 0:29:22.960 --> 0:29:25.240 though it was knowing it was coming, all right. We 0:29:25.360 --> 0:29:28.840 also have General Slawson with great choice of a name 0:29:28.840 --> 0:29:31.360 because it sounds like it goes with barbecue, played by 0:29:31.480 --> 0:29:34.080 John Spencer, who lived nineteen forty six through two thousand 0:29:34.080 --> 0:29:36.960 and five, noted American actor best remembered for his role 0:29:37.000 --> 0:29:40.440 as Leo McGarry on TV's The West Wing. Other credits 0:29:40.480 --> 0:29:43.400 include eighty three's War Games, eighty nine's Black Rain, nineties 0:29:43.440 --> 0:29:47.320 Presumed Innocent, ninety six is the Rock in ninety seven's Copland. 0:29:47.440 --> 0:29:49.360 This was his last theatrical appearance. 0:29:50.160 --> 0:29:53.480 I was thinking of this character as General Cole Slawson. 0:29:55.520 --> 0:29:59.040 Yeah, they do those nicknames. Yeah, he's he's really good 0:29:59.080 --> 0:30:01.880 at this. You know, you're authority figure. Everything that you 0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:04.720 would ask about that character, it does a good job. 0:30:05.000 --> 0:30:07.240 All right. We also we have a return of a 0:30:07.520 --> 0:30:10.400 character actor that we previously talked about on the show. 0:30:10.600 --> 0:30:15.800 Steven Spinella plays Knox born nineteen fifty six, American actor 0:30:15.840 --> 0:30:18.760 of stage, screen, and TV. We previously talked about him 0:30:18.800 --> 0:30:21.640 because he was in nineteen ninety five's Virtuosity. He played 0:30:21.680 --> 0:30:23.480 the creepy doctor Lindenmeyer. 0:30:23.720 --> 0:30:26.720 Is this the guy who ends up he creates SID 0:30:26.880 --> 0:30:31.400 six point seven, Yes, the Russell Crow virtual reality murderer, 0:30:31.480 --> 0:30:33.200 but then like starts worshiping him. 0:30:33.480 --> 0:30:39.000 Yes, okay, yes, yeah so yeah, great creepy performance in Virtuosity. 0:30:39.400 --> 0:30:43.320 Totally different vibe here is he plays brash, terminally alcoholic, 0:30:43.400 --> 0:30:47.640 major knocks. His other main film credits include two thousand 0:30:47.680 --> 0:30:51.080 and eight's Milk, twenty tens Rubber, and twenty twelve's Lincoln. 0:30:51.720 --> 0:30:55.440 Solid performance here, all right. Then we also have Reich. 0:30:56.200 --> 0:30:59.560 This is the character played by Neil McDonough born nineteen 0:30:59.600 --> 0:31:03.200 fifty six Stealely American tough guy actor whose first role 0:31:03.320 --> 0:31:06.000 was a dock worker in nineteen nineties Dark Man. He 0:31:06.080 --> 0:31:09.080 also popped up in ninety six's Star Trek. First Contact 0:31:09.440 --> 0:31:11.480 really busted out with a role in two thousand and 0:31:11.520 --> 0:31:13.720 one's Band of Brothers, followed by a key role in 0:31:13.760 --> 0:31:16.520 two thousand and two's Minority Report, and he got to 0:31:16.560 --> 0:31:19.320 play m Bison in the two thousand and nine Street 0:31:19.360 --> 0:31:19.920 Fighter movie. 0:31:20.320 --> 0:31:23.000 Oh okay, that's the later movie because yeah, for me, 0:31:23.440 --> 0:31:25.479 m Bison will always be Roald Julia. 0:31:25.760 --> 0:31:28.880 Oh absolutely, Once Raal Julia has played a role, it's 0:31:28.960 --> 0:31:31.800 his forever. So mcdoud is good here. It's kind of 0:31:31.840 --> 0:31:34.720 a one note role, but it's a good note. Yeah, 0:31:35.200 --> 0:31:38.040 all right. And then we have a couple of Native 0:31:38.040 --> 0:31:42.040 American actors to round everything out. First we have Joseph 0:31:42.120 --> 0:31:46.480 Running Fox playing the character of George born nineteen fifty five, 0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:49.400 Native American actor of the Pueblo Nation whose credits go 0:31:49.480 --> 0:31:52.080 back to nineteen seventy eight. He played the lead in 0:31:52.160 --> 0:31:55.840 the nineteen ninety three Geronimo TV movie, and since Ravenus 0:31:55.840 --> 0:31:58.080 has continued to work steadily, appearing in two thousand and 0:31:58.120 --> 0:32:02.640 two Skinwalkers, The Navajo Mister, TV's Sons of Anarchy, and 0:32:02.720 --> 0:32:04.320 also TV's Dark Wins. 0:32:04.920 --> 0:32:07.680 The character George is the scout who works at the 0:32:07.720 --> 0:32:10.720 four Tier, and he is also the character who delivers 0:32:10.800 --> 0:32:12.840 the movie's core lower dump. 0:32:13.200 --> 0:32:15.960 Yes, so a minimal role, but an important one, and 0:32:16.320 --> 0:32:21.520 he's good. And then we also have Sheilia Taozi playing Martha. 0:32:22.360 --> 0:32:27.600 Born nineteen sixty. She's a monomine and Stockbridge, Munsey Native 0:32:27.600 --> 0:32:31.520 American actress whose credits include nineteen ninety two's Thunderheart, nineteen 0:32:31.560 --> 0:32:34.720 ninety five's Lord of Illusions, the Clive Barker film. I 0:32:34.760 --> 0:32:36.800 don't remember her from that, but that's one I've been 0:32:36.880 --> 0:32:39.920 tempted to revisit. In recent years, she pops up on 0:32:40.040 --> 0:32:42.600 TV's The X Files. She was in two thousand and 0:32:42.600 --> 0:32:45.640 two Skinwalkers and two thousand and fives Into the West. 0:32:45.760 --> 0:32:48.280 She was active from about ninety two through two thousand 0:32:48.320 --> 0:32:48.680 and five. 0:32:49.480 --> 0:32:53.080 Her character's presence is limited, but she does play a 0:32:53.160 --> 0:32:55.200 kind of central role in giving one of the core 0:32:55.400 --> 0:32:59.400 like moral exhortations in the movie. Especially it's interesting watching 0:32:59.440 --> 0:33:03.120 the movie Moll times because you might not fully understand 0:33:03.960 --> 0:33:06.800 what she's saying to Guy Pierce's character the first time 0:33:06.880 --> 0:33:08.719 you see it, and then it kind of makes more 0:33:08.760 --> 0:33:10.560 sense when you know the whole arc of the story. 0:33:11.400 --> 0:33:15.600 Yeah. Yeah, Martha and George have important roles in being 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:20.040 the characters who have some degree of understanding of what's 0:33:20.120 --> 0:33:24.120 actually happening. They provide a certain wisdom that has thus 0:33:24.200 --> 0:33:28.160 far been elusive for the Western characters in the picture. 0:33:28.560 --> 0:33:32.240 All right, briefly getting behind the camera here, Anthony B. 0:33:32.400 --> 0:33:35.560 Richmond was a cinematographer on this Born nineteen forty two. 0:33:36.160 --> 0:33:38.479 His work goes back to the nineteen sixties and includes 0:33:38.480 --> 0:33:41.720 such films as seventy three's Don't Look Now and nineteen 0:33:41.760 --> 0:33:44.800 seventy six is the Man Who Fell to Earth? Wow. Yeah. 0:33:44.840 --> 0:33:46.960 He also worked on ninety two s Candy Man and 0:33:47.080 --> 0:33:49.720 ninety five's Tales from the Hood and apparently it's still 0:33:49.760 --> 0:33:50.280 working today. 0:33:51.040 --> 0:33:53.920 That's a good resume for a bunch of great looking films. 0:33:54.240 --> 0:33:57.080 Yeah. Nicholas Rogue connection there, And you know, I'm not 0:33:57.120 --> 0:33:58.640 going to get into the producers, but I think there 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:03.280 is a producer or executive producer perhaps connection to some 0:34:03.440 --> 0:34:06.440 Nicholas Rogue pictures as well. Okay, but now look, we 0:34:06.480 --> 0:34:08.000 should talk to just a little bit about the score. 0:34:08.880 --> 0:34:12.120 In my opinion, Ravenous boasts one of the most original 0:34:12.160 --> 0:34:14.440 and effective scores that I can think of, certainly from 0:34:14.480 --> 0:34:18.640 this time period, painting a rich sonic tapestry that includes 0:34:19.560 --> 0:34:24.880 discordant renditions of patriotic anthems and American frontier banjo music, 0:34:25.040 --> 0:34:27.799 some of which I've read was performed by non musicians 0:34:28.200 --> 0:34:31.560 that were gathered together for the project. You have tape loops, 0:34:31.600 --> 0:34:36.239 you have brooding primal beats, electronic distortion, in addition to 0:34:36.360 --> 0:34:38.280 some more traditional movie score flourishes. 0:34:38.719 --> 0:34:39.359 Yeah, that's right. 0:34:39.440 --> 0:34:43.240 The score is extremely varied. It's all over the place 0:34:43.320 --> 0:34:47.520 and all different kinds of genres and textures, and it 0:34:47.880 --> 0:34:49.520 comes together quite well. 0:34:49.719 --> 0:34:51.000 This is I would agree with you. 0:34:51.120 --> 0:34:53.760 The score is one of the strongest elements of the movie, 0:34:53.920 --> 0:34:57.879 which is overall very strong, and it really stands out 0:34:57.920 --> 0:35:01.720 to me. I think the music is fantastic, especially because 0:35:01.800 --> 0:35:05.560 there are so many moments where the music it seems 0:35:05.680 --> 0:35:08.360 like it doesn't quite fit in one way or another, 0:35:08.520 --> 0:35:10.600 like it doesn't fit the time period, or it doesn't 0:35:10.600 --> 0:35:13.520 fit the mood of the scene, but then it kind 0:35:13.520 --> 0:35:17.160 of does, like it just continues and then it resolves 0:35:17.360 --> 0:35:21.040 and reaches this state where it does feel right in 0:35:21.120 --> 0:35:25.520 a way that it kind of rewards your earlier trust 0:35:25.719 --> 0:35:29.320 in this tension created between sound and picture, and I 0:35:29.360 --> 0:35:32.520 don't know, it's a very interesting feeling that it creates 0:35:32.560 --> 0:35:35.000 in the film. And this is one that I would 0:35:35.040 --> 0:35:37.080 like to have music from this movie just on a record. 0:35:37.760 --> 0:35:40.759 Yeah, it's this. It was released on CD, and I 0:35:40.880 --> 0:35:43.279 know that I either had the CD or some MP 0:35:43.400 --> 0:35:45.279 three's ripped from the CD back in the day, But 0:35:45.760 --> 0:35:47.800 as of this recording, I don't think it's available to 0:35:47.840 --> 0:35:50.800 stream anywhere aside from YouTube, as you know, probably a 0:35:50.960 --> 0:35:54.839 user upload a situation, and as far as I can tell, 0:35:54.880 --> 0:35:56.840 has never been released on vinyl. It seems like this 0:35:56.920 --> 0:35:59.880 would be a no brainer for a really cool like 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:02.880 blood red vinyl release, but I don't know how the 0:36:02.960 --> 0:36:06.200 rights for those sorts of things work. Apparently the music 0:36:06.280 --> 0:36:08.759 here was so the music here is a joint composition 0:36:09.040 --> 0:36:12.080 of two different musicians, though it's sometimes a tangled web 0:36:12.160 --> 0:36:14.040 to try to figure out which one did what. Apparently 0:36:14.080 --> 0:36:17.560 it was ultimately like a sixty forty split, and the 0:36:18.040 --> 0:36:20.360 credit order depends on whether you're looking at the film 0:36:20.520 --> 0:36:24.319 or the published album. But the two gentlemen involved here 0:36:24.520 --> 0:36:29.400 are Damon Alburn and Michael Nyman. Damon Alburn born nineteen 0:36:29.440 --> 0:36:32.200 sixty eight is, of course the illustrious English musician best 0:36:32.239 --> 0:36:34.879 known for his work with the British band Blur, who 0:36:34.960 --> 0:36:37.759 had a string of hits that I mostly know from 0:36:37.800 --> 0:36:42.400 their inclusion in various DJ mixes from the nineties. But 0:36:42.520 --> 0:36:44.760 then he would go on to be the key creative 0:36:44.880 --> 0:36:49.040 force and lead vocalist on the Guerrillas project. I believe 0:36:49.120 --> 0:36:52.279 his only other film score or soundtrack work is a 0:36:52.400 --> 0:36:55.360 two thousand and one film called one Oh one Reykivic. 0:36:55.960 --> 0:37:00.680 That's another collaboration, So really not much that's directly oriented 0:37:00.800 --> 0:37:03.000 outside of that and ravenous, but he's worked in all 0:37:03.080 --> 0:37:06.239 manner of musical projects, including things like operas, throughout the 0:37:06.320 --> 0:37:10.520 course of his career. Yeah, if nothing else, you're familiar 0:37:10.560 --> 0:37:12.840 with Gorillas, and yeah, his work is fabulous. 0:37:13.040 --> 0:37:15.960 There are actually moments in the movie where I don't 0:37:16.040 --> 0:37:19.640 know if he's using exactly the same electronic instruments or voicings, 0:37:19.680 --> 0:37:22.320 but there are moments where I hear bits of the 0:37:22.400 --> 0:37:27.440 first Gorillas album. Oh like there's a kind of electronic 0:37:27.560 --> 0:37:31.319 piano tone used in a loop throughout the hit their 0:37:31.400 --> 0:37:34.279 hit Clint Eastwood that I hear that same tone in 0:37:34.360 --> 0:37:38.440 the soundtrack here, and there's just stuff like that that 0:37:39.080 --> 0:37:41.320 feels very familiar to Gorilla's fans. 0:37:41.600 --> 0:37:44.440 Oh yeah, that would make sense now. As for Michael 0:37:44.560 --> 0:37:49.359 Nyman born nineteen forty four, English composer, pianist, filmmaker as 0:37:49.400 --> 0:37:51.800 well in his own right. His best received scores in 0:37:51.800 --> 0:37:54.080 addition to this one include his work on nineteen eighty 0:37:54.160 --> 0:37:55.919 nine's To Cook the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, 0:37:56.480 --> 0:37:59.800 nineteen ninety eight's Gatica, two thousand's The End of the Affair, 0:38:00.120 --> 0:38:03.759 twenty fourteen's The Piano. His other scores include nineteen ninety 0:38:03.800 --> 0:38:07.200 one's Prospero's Books, ninety four is mesmer In nineteen ninety 0:38:07.239 --> 0:38:16.839 six is the Ogre? All right? 0:38:16.960 --> 0:38:18.280 Is it time to talk about the plot? 0:38:18.719 --> 0:38:20.600 Yes, let's do so. Okay. 0:38:20.760 --> 0:38:23.080 We get a couple of epigraphs right at the start. 0:38:23.680 --> 0:38:28.120 One is a quote attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche that says 0:38:28.200 --> 0:38:30.360 he that fights with monsters should look to it that 0:38:30.440 --> 0:38:33.600 he himself does not become a monster. The relationship of 0:38:33.680 --> 0:38:35.960 that to the plot will become apparent as we talk more. 0:38:36.280 --> 0:38:38.000 And then you get a second quote that comes in, 0:38:38.200 --> 0:38:41.799 which is attributed to anonymous and it is eat me. 0:38:44.280 --> 0:38:44.320 This. 0:38:45.360 --> 0:38:50.680 I like this, but this also maybe feels like a 0:38:50.840 --> 0:38:54.600 late studio attempt to sort of try and control how 0:38:54.640 --> 0:38:58.120 people are going to consume this picture. But I don't 0:38:58.160 --> 0:39:00.400 know exactly whose choice this was. I don't know it 0:39:00.440 --> 0:39:00.879 still works. 0:39:01.160 --> 0:39:03.120 Is this the chef coming out and telling you how 0:39:03.160 --> 0:39:03.960 to eat your food? 0:39:04.520 --> 0:39:04.719 Yeah? 0:39:05.840 --> 0:39:08.640 But overall I love this because we're instantly hit with 0:39:08.840 --> 0:39:16.759 that squeaky, perhaps non musician frontier band rendition of the 0:39:17.040 --> 0:39:22.800 American patriotic song Hail Columbia, which sounds fabulous here, but 0:39:22.880 --> 0:39:26.279 when you look up the lyrics it's pretty it fits 0:39:26.320 --> 0:39:29.520 pretty well to what we're about to see. Hail Columbia, 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:33.560 Happy Land, Hail Ye Heroes, heaven born band who fought 0:39:33.600 --> 0:39:36.520 and bled in Freedom's cause, Who fought and bled in 0:39:36.600 --> 0:39:37.440 Freedom's cause. 0:39:38.880 --> 0:39:39.040 Yeah. 0:39:39.120 --> 0:39:41.080 So we start with, of course, that kind of music, 0:39:41.120 --> 0:39:44.680 it's patriotic, military marching band kind of music. And we 0:39:44.920 --> 0:39:48.480 see a waving American flag and that with fewer stars 0:39:48.520 --> 0:39:49.560 though than the flag. 0:39:49.560 --> 0:39:51.520 You're used to, because this is the eighteen forties. 0:39:52.000 --> 0:39:54.720 And then we see a banquet hall with a long table, 0:39:54.880 --> 0:39:59.160 bunch of place settings, patriotic regalia and it's lined by 0:39:59.239 --> 0:40:02.640 officers in full uniform, so this is some kind of ceremony. 0:40:03.640 --> 0:40:06.360 And we hear a voice saying for heroism beyond the 0:40:06.440 --> 0:40:10.120 call of duty, for successfully infiltrating the enemy's ranks and 0:40:10.200 --> 0:40:14.520 securing victory independently with cunning and honor. And we see 0:40:14.560 --> 0:40:18.640 Guy Pierce here in uniform as Captain John Boyd, and 0:40:18.800 --> 0:40:22.480 he is ready to receive a medal for his meritorious service. 0:40:22.840 --> 0:40:24.880 We also get a glimpse of John Spencer as the 0:40:25.000 --> 0:40:28.880 general presiding over this ceremony. This is General Slawson, and 0:40:28.960 --> 0:40:31.400 then we cut back to Boyd looking kind of uneasy 0:40:31.560 --> 0:40:35.280 as we get a sudden flashback to the midst of battle, 0:40:35.360 --> 0:40:37.160 so we see him in a very different place. There's 0:40:37.320 --> 0:40:41.480 gunshots ringing out on this hillside, smoke everywhere. This is 0:40:41.520 --> 0:40:43.840 supposed to be the Mexican American War, so it's a 0:40:43.960 --> 0:40:47.680 Mexican kind of landscape. And then Guy Pearce is kind 0:40:47.680 --> 0:40:49.400 of falling to his knees in the middle of the 0:40:49.480 --> 0:40:54.440 battlefield as if his strength has left him, and of 0:40:54.520 --> 0:40:56.640 course we get a title telling us it's the Mexican 0:40:56.719 --> 0:40:57.319 American War. 0:40:57.360 --> 0:40:58.759 The year is eighteen forty seven. 0:41:00.040 --> 0:41:02.600 Kaplin says a blessing, and then all of the officers 0:41:02.640 --> 0:41:05.080 here at this banquet sit down at their places at 0:41:05.080 --> 0:41:07.680 the long table, and they dig in and the meal 0:41:07.880 --> 0:41:12.120 appears to be steak and nothing else, not even a 0:41:12.160 --> 0:41:17.520 little salad, baked potato, some cream, spinach, nothing. But of 0:41:17.600 --> 0:41:20.040 course then I remember that this film takes place before 0:41:20.200 --> 0:41:21.360 vegetables were invented. 0:41:22.680 --> 0:41:25.200 I was reminded of that in this of a later 0:41:25.320 --> 0:41:27.640 film two thousand and sevens There Will be Blood, in 0:41:27.719 --> 0:41:31.279 which Daniel day Lewis's character Daniel Plainview, at one point 0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:33.640 he's in a restaurant with his son and he orders 0:41:33.760 --> 0:41:37.680 quote two steaks, a whiskey, and water for him, And 0:41:38.640 --> 0:41:41.640 we never get to actually see that meal. But I 0:41:41.760 --> 0:41:44.520 always I had a false memory that I had seen it, 0:41:44.600 --> 0:41:47.400 because I just imagine it coming out just like that, 0:41:47.640 --> 0:41:51.279 just two steaks, no vegetables, one glass of whiskey, one 0:41:51.320 --> 0:41:54.120 glass of water. Though I believe there is a later 0:41:54.320 --> 0:41:56.759 key scene in which plain View is enjoying a plate 0:41:56.880 --> 0:41:57.600 of just steak. 0:41:58.280 --> 0:42:00.520 I mean, I don't know steak, how steak how worked 0:42:00.520 --> 0:42:02.719 back then, maybe that was a more normal kind of 0:42:02.760 --> 0:42:05.080 meal to eat, but I no, I have to imagine 0:42:05.120 --> 0:42:07.440 even back then people would probably want some more variety. 0:42:07.520 --> 0:42:11.640 You want some some starch, some sides, some vegetables, something 0:42:11.719 --> 0:42:13.960 in there, like just a plate of steak. 0:42:14.600 --> 0:42:17.680 The last time I went to a like certified steak 0:42:17.760 --> 0:42:21.320 restaurant before I gave up steak, I do remember it 0:42:21.400 --> 0:42:23.880 being a situation where you order the steak and then 0:42:23.920 --> 0:42:26.560 you have to pay extra for anything else, any sides, 0:42:26.960 --> 0:42:28.960 which kind of I mean, I guess the idea is 0:42:29.080 --> 0:42:30.600 that that's just how it's priced out and all. Maybe 0:42:30.640 --> 0:42:33.440 that's tradition, but it also kind of felt like like, oh, 0:42:33.520 --> 0:42:35.600 if you want to get anything in addition to the meat, 0:42:35.640 --> 0:42:38.280 you better pay for it. If you're paying extra for that, buddy, 0:42:38.360 --> 0:42:42.040 the steak stands alone. Yeah, I think that it sort. 0:42:41.880 --> 0:42:44.440 Of makes sense, like because you can choose, Like you 0:42:44.560 --> 0:42:46.320 get to pick your sides all the carts, so you 0:42:46.400 --> 0:42:49.120 pick your favorite. So it's not just like you know, oh, 0:42:49.239 --> 0:42:52.680 this is what comes with it. But but yeah, I 0:42:52.760 --> 0:42:55.520 see what you're saying there. You know, the cream spinach 0:42:55.640 --> 0:42:58.279 is the classic steakhouse side. I feel like at least 0:42:58.400 --> 0:43:01.160 in that I don't know how far back that tradition goes, 0:43:01.200 --> 0:43:03.000 but I think even in the eighteen forties, you got 0:43:03.080 --> 0:43:04.720 to give him some cream spinach or something. 0:43:05.080 --> 0:43:07.640 In this case, they were not able to requisition some 0:43:07.800 --> 0:43:09.160 cream spinach for the troops. 0:43:10.000 --> 0:43:13.480 So everybody noisily digs into their steak and nothing else, 0:43:13.880 --> 0:43:17.680 and you can really just hear them making sounds, like 0:43:17.800 --> 0:43:22.520 the movie plays up the disgustingness of the eating noises, 0:43:22.719 --> 0:43:28.560 and it's like nom nam. And as this happens, Boyd 0:43:28.680 --> 0:43:30.840 is sitting there the only person not eating. All his 0:43:30.960 --> 0:43:33.120 peers are shoveling the meat into their mouths, and you 0:43:33.160 --> 0:43:36.040 can see him feeling anxiety, like his breathing is shallow, 0:43:36.520 --> 0:43:39.600 and he's looking around nervously. And then they also show 0:43:39.760 --> 0:43:40.800 Boyd's plate. 0:43:40.719 --> 0:43:42.040 Which looks disgusting. 0:43:42.200 --> 0:43:45.439 It's got this gross looking gray cut of I think 0:43:45.520 --> 0:43:49.640 this is beef shank, which also is confusing because that 0:43:49.840 --> 0:43:52.440 is not typically prepared as a steak that's going to 0:43:52.480 --> 0:43:54.680 be tough as rubber. If you need shank, you have 0:43:54.800 --> 0:43:56.879 to cook it a long time, like in a stew 0:43:57.120 --> 0:44:01.120 or something. So it's just like a steak of beef 0:44:01.239 --> 0:44:03.600 shank sitting in a puddle of juice that has clearly 0:44:03.680 --> 0:44:07.080 been modified to look less like regular steak juices and 0:44:07.200 --> 0:44:08.640 more like fresh red blood. 0:44:08.680 --> 0:44:10.520 It looks like thick and bright red. 0:44:11.880 --> 0:44:14.719 Here Boyd has another flashback to battle, this time too 0:44:14.960 --> 0:44:17.200 lying pinned down on the ground in a pile of 0:44:17.320 --> 0:44:21.280 dead bodies, covered in blood, gasping for breath, and eventually 0:44:21.400 --> 0:44:25.399 the association overwhelms him. He bolts up, gets up from 0:44:25.400 --> 0:44:28.279 the banquet table, runs outside, and vomits. And then we 0:44:28.360 --> 0:44:29.640 get the title ravenous. 0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:33.520 Yeah, and I think this is where that unsettling banjo 0:44:33.680 --> 0:44:38.040 music begins to kick in a ditty that will continue 0:44:38.120 --> 0:44:40.879 to hear over and over again throughout the picture. So really, 0:44:41.000 --> 0:44:44.040 in every key moment in the film, the music is 0:44:44.200 --> 0:44:47.760 right there, amping everything up and at times like subtly 0:44:47.840 --> 0:44:49.680 twisting your expectations. Yeah. 0:44:50.520 --> 0:44:52.520 So the next thing we see is John Spencer as 0:44:52.600 --> 0:44:55.319 the General, giving Boyd a real dressing down. 0:44:55.440 --> 0:44:55.920 In private. 0:44:56.200 --> 0:44:58.600 He tells Boyd that he is not actually a hero 0:44:59.080 --> 0:45:01.360 and he wants him as far away from his company 0:45:01.560 --> 0:45:04.839 as possible. So Boyd is sent away on a new 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:10.040 assignment to a remote frontier fort in California called Fort Spencer, 0:45:10.840 --> 0:45:13.959 and we see Boyd in a few little scenes making 0:45:14.000 --> 0:45:17.600 his journey across a background of these huge, black, snow 0:45:17.640 --> 0:45:19.560 covered mountains. I think these are supposed to be the 0:45:19.600 --> 0:45:23.760 Sierra Nevadas and millions of acres of dark green forest 0:45:24.120 --> 0:45:29.040 just this wild landscape. So Fort Spencer is sparsely occupied. 0:45:29.120 --> 0:45:32.640 It's this outpost in a meadow in view of the mountains, 0:45:32.719 --> 0:45:36.680 built mostly of wood, surrounded by palisade wall, and the 0:45:36.719 --> 0:45:40.320 accommodations are pretty grungy. Boyd gets shown his quarters. He 0:45:40.440 --> 0:45:43.040 sort of like tests the give of the bedroll and 0:45:43.160 --> 0:45:46.000 then looks at it, looks at himself in this dim 0:45:46.200 --> 0:45:49.480 spotted mirror. In this sequence, we also briefly meet the 0:45:49.560 --> 0:45:53.320 character Martha played by Shila Tauci, and this is a 0:45:53.440 --> 0:45:56.040 Native American woman who works at the fort and she 0:45:56.160 --> 0:45:59.800 brings boyds and blankets here. Eventually, Boyd has to go 0:46:00.120 --> 0:46:03.160 for a meeting with the commander of the fort, Colonel Hart, 0:46:03.400 --> 0:46:08.720 who is at least at first portrayed as kindly, mild 0:46:08.840 --> 0:46:12.319 mannered and a bit odd. We see him dressed up 0:46:12.480 --> 0:46:15.880 with a large blanket or cloak kind of covering his uniform, 0:46:15.960 --> 0:46:17.719 and he's often like this when we see him. 0:46:17.719 --> 0:46:18.719 He's got something kind. 0:46:18.640 --> 0:46:21.279 Of draped over him that just turns him into a 0:46:21.360 --> 0:46:25.799 kind of mass, and he's wearing what looks like two 0:46:26.000 --> 0:46:28.960 different pairs of eyeglasses at the same time, one set 0:46:29.040 --> 0:46:31.080 up on the bridge of his nose and another down 0:46:31.160 --> 0:46:33.800 near the tip. I guess for reading. I don't understand 0:46:33.840 --> 0:46:36.439 if that was like a thing people commonly did back then. 0:46:36.560 --> 0:46:40.239 Or but I don't know. I haven't caught myself doing 0:46:40.320 --> 0:46:41.640 that with my own reading glasses. 0:46:41.719 --> 0:46:45.080 Yet it does contribute to making him seem kind of odd. 0:46:45.680 --> 0:46:47.800 Well, no, I have to back that up. I do 0:46:48.600 --> 0:46:52.200 frequently find myself painting miniatures with a pair of reading 0:46:52.239 --> 0:46:57.879 glasses and my magnification loops, so I have essentially done 0:46:57.960 --> 0:46:59.840 this a time or two. So maybe that's what's up. 0:47:00.440 --> 0:47:04.120 As we learn like his passion is reading various texts, 0:47:04.560 --> 0:47:07.840 reading books in their original language, so who knows. Sometimes 0:47:07.880 --> 0:47:10.880 maybe he has to really bust up the optics in 0:47:11.040 --> 0:47:12.680 order to handle certain font sizes. 0:47:12.960 --> 0:47:16.200 Yeah, so when BOYD gets in, he's like trying to 0:47:16.280 --> 0:47:19.840 frustratedly pry into a walnut with a knife and this 0:47:20.000 --> 0:47:22.839 is unsuccessful. So he's telling Boyd about what you were 0:47:22.840 --> 0:47:25.160 talking about, how he fights the boredom of the outpost 0:47:25.239 --> 0:47:28.239 by reading these old texts in the original languages. And 0:47:28.280 --> 0:47:30.560 then he goes and gets this giant leather bound book 0:47:30.640 --> 0:47:33.640 from the shelf and uses it to smash his walnuts open. 0:47:34.200 --> 0:47:36.759 I wonder if there's a kind of implied joke here that, 0:47:37.080 --> 0:47:40.560 like he tells himself the way he fights the frontier 0:47:40.640 --> 0:47:44.880 boredom is through reading these ancient tomes, but really the 0:47:44.920 --> 0:47:46.760 way he fights the boredom is through eating. 0:47:47.320 --> 0:47:52.560 Yeah, yeah, possibly it's there's a strong time enough at 0:47:52.640 --> 0:47:55.400 last vibe to this character, you know, h like he 0:47:55.600 --> 0:47:58.719 is like everyone here. He's an outcast, but he's found 0:47:58.760 --> 0:48:01.799 the place where he can mostly just set around and read. 0:48:02.160 --> 0:48:04.560 Hart asks Boyd if he has a hobby, and Boyd 0:48:04.640 --> 0:48:08.719 says swimming. Probably not much opportunity for swimming here in 0:48:08.800 --> 0:48:12.400 the mountains. Heart explains a bit about the history of 0:48:12.440 --> 0:48:14.719 the ford. It was originally a Spanish mission. Now it 0:48:14.800 --> 0:48:17.600 serves as a way station for travelers moving through the 0:48:17.640 --> 0:48:20.680 Sierra Nevadas, and he says, of course, there are very 0:48:20.719 --> 0:48:23.000 few travelers in the winter, so the fort only has 0:48:23.080 --> 0:48:25.520 minimal staff for the season. And then we get a 0:48:25.560 --> 0:48:28.440 brief introduction to each of them. There's private Toffler who 0:48:28.560 --> 0:48:31.640 is very religious. This is Jeremy Davies. We see him 0:48:31.719 --> 0:48:34.640 praying before meals and like heaving wooden crosses up to 0:48:34.719 --> 0:48:37.600 the sky. He's also in many scenes trying to compose 0:48:37.680 --> 0:48:39.680 a hymn. You can see him working on the melody 0:48:39.719 --> 0:48:40.360 and the lyrics. 0:48:41.719 --> 0:48:42.760 It's not coming together. 0:48:43.400 --> 0:48:43.600 Yeah. 0:48:43.760 --> 0:48:47.000 We see Major Knox played by Steven Spinilla, who likes 0:48:47.120 --> 0:48:49.480 to drink. That's his main character trait. He likes the 0:48:49.480 --> 0:48:52.360 whiskey bottle. He used to be a veterinarian, so he 0:48:52.520 --> 0:48:55.960 is the fort's medic. We see Private Reich played by 0:48:56.040 --> 0:48:58.560 Neil McDonough, who is the tough guy, and there's this 0:48:58.719 --> 0:49:02.040 brief flash of him standing naked up to the waist 0:49:02.120 --> 0:49:04.920 in a mountain stream, surrounded by snow, and he's just 0:49:05.040 --> 0:49:07.000 screaming and flexing his muscles. 0:49:07.960 --> 0:49:13.080 Yeah yeah, this is some troubled masculinity here. 0:49:14.440 --> 0:49:15.600 I am hard man. 0:49:15.719 --> 0:49:16.160 Yeah yeah. 0:49:17.280 --> 0:49:20.520 And then of course there's George played by Joseph Running Fox, 0:49:20.560 --> 0:49:24.440 who is Martha's brother. He's a Washo scout. And then 0:49:24.480 --> 0:49:27.839 there is Private Cleaves played by David Arquette. Hart calls 0:49:27.880 --> 0:49:31.080 him the over medicated Private Cleaves. He likes drugs and 0:49:31.200 --> 0:49:34.200 he's the cook. We get a short little dinner scene 0:49:34.280 --> 0:49:37.799 with everyone assembled. The vibes are pretty cursed, especially since 0:49:37.880 --> 0:49:42.120 Cleves is like seized with crazy laughter at apparently nothing 0:49:42.239 --> 0:49:45.040 the whole time. And then we get some more of 0:49:45.200 --> 0:49:50.040 Boyd's backstory. We like flashback to what happened during the war, 0:49:50.160 --> 0:49:54.080 and we learned the truth. The truth was Boyd was 0:49:54.120 --> 0:49:56.960 in the middle of battle and he became so terrified 0:49:57.080 --> 0:49:59.840 that he froze, and he just laid down on the 0:50:00.040 --> 0:50:02.759 field and pretended to be dead while his men were 0:50:02.880 --> 0:50:06.120 slaughtered all around him. And then after the battle was over, 0:50:06.320 --> 0:50:08.720 the enemy came and collected the bodies from the field 0:50:08.800 --> 0:50:10.920 and put them in a cart. Boyd was at the 0:50:10.960 --> 0:50:13.560 bottom of the cart with the blood of his commanding 0:50:13.640 --> 0:50:17.560 officer running down his face and into his mouth. Then 0:50:17.760 --> 0:50:20.560 he says, after this he had a change of heart. 0:50:20.840 --> 0:50:22.680 Something came over him while he was lying at the 0:50:22.680 --> 0:50:25.759 bottom of that cart, and he regained his courage, and 0:50:25.880 --> 0:50:28.240 he sprung from the pile of bodies, and he single 0:50:28.320 --> 0:50:31.919 handedly captured the enemy command And this was the act 0:50:32.120 --> 0:50:36.640 that won him his commendation for heroism. But when General 0:50:36.719 --> 0:50:39.200 Slawson found out that this whole thing started with the 0:50:39.280 --> 0:50:42.759 dreadful act of cowardice playing dead on the battlefield, he 0:50:42.920 --> 0:50:44.359 decided to punish Boyd by. 0:50:44.280 --> 0:50:45.839 Sending him out here to California. 0:50:46.760 --> 0:50:49.120 So back in the present, it is winter time, snow 0:50:49.280 --> 0:50:52.520 is falling, and Heart sends Cleaves and Martha out on 0:50:52.600 --> 0:50:55.120 a journey to the nearest trading post to get the 0:50:55.160 --> 0:50:57.520 stuff you need salt, pork and flour and all that. 0:50:58.400 --> 0:51:00.120 And it's going to be a three day journey. So 0:51:00.680 --> 0:51:02.600 it's only the rest of the crew there left at 0:51:02.640 --> 0:51:05.080 the fort, and while they're gone, we see Heart and 0:51:05.160 --> 0:51:09.239 Boyd bonding sharing some bourbon. There's an interesting little moment 0:51:09.320 --> 0:51:12.560 where Heart talks about how he wanted to escape the 0:51:12.640 --> 0:51:15.480 world by coming here, but now he wants to escape 0:51:15.560 --> 0:51:19.239 this place. Quote frightening thing about escape is the chance 0:51:19.320 --> 0:51:23.160 you might end up someplace worse. I don't know if 0:51:23.239 --> 0:51:24.920 this is one of the major themes of the movie. 0:51:25.200 --> 0:51:26.880 I have to think about it, but it is a 0:51:26.920 --> 0:51:29.840 little interesting in the context of the story, that the 0:51:29.960 --> 0:51:33.520 observation that we can be deceived into thinking that everything 0:51:33.560 --> 0:51:36.920 would be better if we could just change some particular 0:51:37.080 --> 0:51:40.279 set of external circumstances, like where we are, what our 0:51:40.400 --> 0:51:41.920 job is, or what we're doing, or something like that, 0:51:42.440 --> 0:51:45.480 but that sometimes, maybe sometimes that is really the problem, 0:51:45.560 --> 0:51:47.640 but a lot of times it's not. Sometimes you manage 0:51:47.680 --> 0:51:50.960 that change and discover that wasn't actually the problem, and 0:51:51.600 --> 0:51:54.359 your new circumstance is not actually the solution. The new 0:51:54.440 --> 0:51:57.400 circumstance is something you once again desire to escape. 0:51:57.960 --> 0:52:02.520 Yeah. Yeah, I think that idea does weave itself rather 0:52:02.640 --> 0:52:05.040 nicely through many aspects of the plot. 0:52:05.640 --> 0:52:09.640 But this moment is suddenly interrupted by a boo scare outside. 0:52:09.680 --> 0:52:13.240 Through a frosted window, Boyd sees a figure in black 0:52:13.400 --> 0:52:16.360 looking in at them from the cold. So the soldiers 0:52:16.440 --> 0:52:19.440 run outside and they find a man collapsed in the snow, 0:52:19.560 --> 0:52:23.320 apparently dying of hypothermia, and they bring him inside and 0:52:23.360 --> 0:52:24.360 they're able to warm. 0:52:24.239 --> 0:52:25.680 Him up and save his life. 0:52:26.480 --> 0:52:29.720 The next day, the man wakes up and he looks 0:52:29.800 --> 0:52:34.600 to me surprisingly healthy. He introduces himself as F. W. Colhoun, 0:52:34.960 --> 0:52:38.880 servant of God, and he's I don't know, like you 0:52:38.960 --> 0:52:40.680 get to look at him, and like he looks like 0:52:40.800 --> 0:52:43.560 pretty well fed, Like he looks like he's doing great. 0:52:44.080 --> 0:52:48.640 He's worth noting to hear that both Calhoun and Boyd 0:52:49.680 --> 0:52:52.239 they both kind of look like Jesus, you know. They're 0:52:52.320 --> 0:52:55.319 both shaggy, long hair and either a beard or a goate. 0:52:55.719 --> 0:52:55.959 Yeah. 0:52:56.239 --> 0:52:58.759 So Calhoun explains that he had been stuck in the 0:52:58.800 --> 0:53:02.719 mountains for three months before he found the fort three 0:53:02.840 --> 0:53:06.160 months without food, and heart is incredulous at this, but 0:53:06.280 --> 0:53:10.960 Colhoun clarifies. He says, I said three months without food, 0:53:11.440 --> 0:53:13.200 not three months with nothing to eat. 0:53:13.640 --> 0:53:16.120 Yeah, and he's going to explain. But you also get 0:53:16.160 --> 0:53:19.040 the idea here that that's all he really needed to say, 0:53:19.160 --> 0:53:22.320 Like everyone knows what he means by that. Everyone's familiar 0:53:22.360 --> 0:53:25.759 with the idea of survival cannibalism. 0:53:26.400 --> 0:53:29.319 So here Colhoun launches into his backstory and he gives 0:53:29.360 --> 0:53:31.919 a whole monologue. I'm not going to quote the entire 0:53:32.000 --> 0:53:34.520 thing here, but basically he tells a story of how 0:53:34.840 --> 0:53:38.279 he was part of a traveling party with five other 0:53:38.320 --> 0:53:42.240 people and there was a guide. They had, a military 0:53:42.360 --> 0:53:46.359 man named Colonel Ives, who he calls a detestable man, 0:53:46.600 --> 0:53:50.760 a disastrous guide, who professed to know a new, shorter 0:53:50.960 --> 0:53:54.400 route through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But in fact, it 0:53:54.800 --> 0:53:56.719 turns out they took the route and then they got 0:53:56.880 --> 0:54:00.759 stuck in a snowstorm in the winter, and they were 0:54:00.800 --> 0:54:03.120 stuck in a cave and they couldn't get out. This, 0:54:03.239 --> 0:54:07.280 of course, mirrors real incidents in history, like the quote 0:54:07.320 --> 0:54:10.400 shortcut that was taken by the members of the Donner Party. 0:54:10.920 --> 0:54:13.560 This was a path that others had taken in the past, 0:54:13.640 --> 0:54:16.680 but basically the Donner Party, when they took a different 0:54:16.719 --> 0:54:19.400 path through the Sierra Nevadas, got delayed and then got 0:54:19.440 --> 0:54:22.040 stuck up in the mountains in the winter. So he 0:54:22.120 --> 0:54:25.280 describes them getting stuck in this cave, and then Calhoun says, quote, 0:54:25.680 --> 0:54:28.000 we had run out of food. We ate the oxen, 0:54:28.520 --> 0:54:31.680 all of the horses, even my own dog, and that 0:54:31.880 --> 0:54:34.920 lasted us about a month. After that, we turned to 0:54:35.040 --> 0:54:38.640 our belts, shoes, any roots we could dig up, but 0:54:38.800 --> 0:54:42.520 you know, there's no real nourishment in those. We remained famished. 0:54:43.040 --> 0:54:45.760 The day that Jones died, I was out collecting wood. 0:54:46.239 --> 0:54:49.520 He had expired from malnourishment, and when I returned, the 0:54:49.640 --> 0:54:52.520 others were cooking his legs for dinner. Would I have 0:54:52.600 --> 0:54:55.360 stopped it had I been there, I don't know, but 0:54:55.480 --> 0:54:58.160 I must say when I stepped inside that cave the 0:54:58.280 --> 0:55:02.280 smell of meat cooking, I thanked the Lord. I thanked 0:55:02.360 --> 0:55:08.200 the Lord, and then things got out of hand. And 0:55:08.360 --> 0:55:11.719 he goes and he goes on to describe how he 0:55:12.400 --> 0:55:15.279 you know, only ate you know, the meat from the 0:55:15.280 --> 0:55:19.000 people who had died naturally, and he ate sparingly. But 0:55:19.120 --> 0:55:22.759 the others something changed in them, something came over them 0:55:22.840 --> 0:55:23.960 and they had to eat. 0:55:24.040 --> 0:55:25.280 Especially Ives. 0:55:25.800 --> 0:55:30.040 Ives became insane and he just kept killing other people 0:55:30.200 --> 0:55:33.880 from the cave so he could eat them. And at 0:55:34.000 --> 0:55:37.480 last Calhoun says that his courage failed him and he 0:55:37.640 --> 0:55:41.200 fled the cave and he wandered out and eventually came 0:55:41.239 --> 0:55:44.879 across this fort. But the way the story trails off, 0:55:45.520 --> 0:55:48.880 it is alleged here that Colonel Ives is still alive 0:55:49.000 --> 0:55:51.440 up in the cave with at least one other person, 0:55:51.680 --> 0:55:55.600 innocent person stuck up there with him, a woman named McCready. 0:55:56.360 --> 0:55:59.480 Is she still alive as far as Calhoun knows, possibly 0:55:59.560 --> 0:56:03.120 she is. So Heart decides, based on the story that 0:56:03.200 --> 0:56:05.600 they immediately have to send out a rescue party. 0:56:06.880 --> 0:56:10.080 Yeah, nobody really wants to go, but Heart is you know, 0:56:10.160 --> 0:56:13.040 he's dedicated to what is right here, and he says, 0:56:13.160 --> 0:56:14.840 it's our job, it's our job. We have to do it. 0:56:14.920 --> 0:56:15.640 There's no choice. 0:56:24.120 --> 0:56:27.279 So everybody's getting ready to leave. But George comes up 0:56:27.320 --> 0:56:30.279 to Heart and Boyd and stops them to warn them 0:56:30.320 --> 0:56:34.120 about something. And it's based on Calhoun's story what he 0:56:34.160 --> 0:56:36.880 wants to warn them about is the wind to go 0:56:37.920 --> 0:56:39.680 being spoken of by some of. 0:56:39.680 --> 0:56:40.680 The people of the north. 0:56:41.040 --> 0:56:44.960 In reality, I believe the Windigo legend comes from Algonquin folklore, 0:56:45.440 --> 0:56:48.960 which would have been further north and east. But here 0:56:49.120 --> 0:56:54.000 George explains and Heart translates for Boyd. The gist of 0:56:54.040 --> 0:56:57.760 it is a man eats another's flesh, usually the flesh 0:56:57.800 --> 0:57:01.000 of an enemy, and in doing so he steals the 0:57:01.080 --> 0:57:05.799 man's strength, his essence, his spirit, His hunger becomes insatiable. 0:57:06.200 --> 0:57:08.600 The more he eats, the more he wants to and 0:57:08.719 --> 0:57:12.680 the more he eats, the stronger he becomes. And Heart 0:57:12.920 --> 0:57:15.600 is like, George, people don't still do that, do they? 0:57:16.240 --> 0:57:19.480 And George responds by telling him that white man eats 0:57:19.560 --> 0:57:21.520 the body of Jesus Christ every Sunday. 0:57:22.040 --> 0:57:25.120 Yeah, And he flips the the hide that he's been 0:57:25.160 --> 0:57:27.720 reading this sof ofv and it has Christian iconography on 0:57:27.760 --> 0:57:28.720 the other side. Yeah. 0:57:29.440 --> 0:57:30.280 It's a nice moment. 0:57:31.360 --> 0:57:34.320 So the party sets out on the rescue mission. The 0:57:34.400 --> 0:57:39.200 party is Heart, Boyd, Reich, Toffler, George, and the stranger Colhoun. 0:57:39.880 --> 0:57:42.240 They pack up provisions, they bundle up, and they head 0:57:42.240 --> 0:57:44.880 into the mountains. And so we get a little montage 0:57:44.960 --> 0:57:47.360 of their journey. I like one little moment on the 0:57:47.440 --> 0:57:50.240 journey where Colhoun helps Toffler find a rhyme when he's 0:57:50.320 --> 0:57:55.160 composing as him like, he says, he ends a line 0:57:55.200 --> 0:57:59.480 with the word servant, and he's going like lervent deervant, 0:58:02.240 --> 0:58:06.560 and Calhoun is like fervent, And Toffler is very very 0:58:07.360 --> 0:58:13.000 helped by this. He's appreciative. But anyway, they are making 0:58:13.040 --> 0:58:14.800 their way along through the mountains, and at one point 0:58:14.840 --> 0:58:17.320 they stop in this high mountain pass in the snow, 0:58:18.000 --> 0:58:21.720 and Boyd kind of questions Colhoun. He's clearly he's curious. 0:58:21.840 --> 0:58:24.160 He says, when you ate the flesh of the man, afterwards, 0:58:24.240 --> 0:58:27.920 you said your hunger was different, more wanton. Did you 0:58:28.000 --> 0:58:34.760 feel physically different, stronger? And Colhoun kind of mildly says, 0:58:35.120 --> 0:58:38.320 I seem to recall something like that, feeling some kind 0:58:38.400 --> 0:58:43.440 of virility. He's being very reticent about it now, but 0:58:43.560 --> 0:58:47.880 this will become funnier in retrospect. Also, I just have 0:58:48.000 --> 0:58:51.000 to comment on everybody's nineteenth century sunglasses. 0:58:51.120 --> 0:58:51.280 Here. 0:58:52.680 --> 0:58:56.320 They've all these shaded goggles of various kinds that look like, 0:58:56.720 --> 0:58:59.240 I don't know, they look like vin Diesel and pitch black. 0:58:59.560 --> 0:59:03.160 Yeah, Carlisle here reminds me a little bit of Kurt 0:59:03.200 --> 0:59:05.920 Russell and the thing actually with the sunglasses and to 0:59:06.000 --> 0:59:07.640 a certain extent with the hat. He does not have 0:59:07.840 --> 0:59:11.080 the full hat situation going on. 0:59:11.200 --> 0:59:14.760 But still so somewhere in here Toffler falls down and 0:59:14.800 --> 0:59:17.000 gets injured, and so he's got like a bloody wound 0:59:17.160 --> 0:59:20.720 that they have to bandage up. And later that night, 0:59:20.840 --> 0:59:24.440 after Toffler's injury, everybody's asleep in their tent when suddenly 0:59:24.960 --> 0:59:28.040 Toffler comes away can he starts screaming, and it's dark 0:59:28.120 --> 0:59:31.200 and you can't see what's happening. But then somebody lights 0:59:31.240 --> 0:59:34.360 a lamp and Toffler is backed up against one side 0:59:34.360 --> 0:59:36.840 of the tent, terrified, and on the other side of 0:59:36.880 --> 0:59:40.400 the tent is Calhoun, looking pale and kind of crazed 0:59:40.680 --> 0:59:44.000 with blood on his lips. And Toffler says he was 0:59:44.240 --> 0:59:50.960 licking me. And this is interesting because rob if you 0:59:51.040 --> 0:59:58.240 know what I mean, Robert Carlisle plays Calhoun very straightforwardly 0:59:58.400 --> 1:00:02.160 before this, like there's nothing to indicate really that they 1:00:02.160 --> 1:00:04.520 would should have any concern about him. He seems like 1:00:04.600 --> 1:00:09.600 a wronged, victimized man who is frightened and in search 1:00:09.640 --> 1:00:14.880 of justice, Like there's nothing about him that reads as abnormal, 1:00:16.600 --> 1:00:20.640 but that starts falling apart on this journey. So Calhoun 1:00:20.760 --> 1:00:23.400 pleads with hard On the others. He's apologizing. He says 1:00:23.480 --> 1:00:26.320 he was having a nightmare and then he woke up 1:00:26.360 --> 1:00:29.360 to find himself crouched over Toffler licking the wound, and 1:00:29.440 --> 1:00:31.520 then he asks them to restrain. 1:00:31.200 --> 1:00:33.200 Him for the rest of the journey. So they do. 1:00:33.560 --> 1:00:36.640 They tie his hands, and then the next day they 1:00:36.800 --> 1:00:40.000 come to the cave, the cave where there should be 1:00:40.120 --> 1:00:45.480 ives and missus McCready and I still have strong memories 1:00:45.560 --> 1:00:48.640 of how freaky this scene was the first time I 1:00:48.760 --> 1:00:54.360 saw it, Such a powerful sense of unease and menace 1:00:54.600 --> 1:00:58.040 and things just steadily becoming weirder and more chaotic by 1:00:58.120 --> 1:00:58.520 the moment. 1:00:59.440 --> 1:01:03.400 Yeah. Yeah, the editing is superb here. The music is 1:01:03.680 --> 1:01:06.680 incredible building that tension. We get these kind of like 1:01:07.280 --> 1:01:11.400 rumbling rhythmic beats, like there's some primal force welling up 1:01:12.000 --> 1:01:13.000 through the whole situation. 1:01:13.800 --> 1:01:14.480 Yeah, exactly. 1:01:14.600 --> 1:01:16.760 And so as they approach the cave, Calhoun, who had 1:01:16.800 --> 1:01:20.600 been again, he was fairly composed and sympathetic at first, 1:01:20.640 --> 1:01:25.360 I mean, frightened, but that's all he starts acting increasingly erratic, 1:01:25.600 --> 1:01:29.680 not just afraid, but like quaking and moving his body 1:01:29.800 --> 1:01:33.160 in bizarre ways and making these weird little like yipping 1:01:33.320 --> 1:01:38.040 and whimpering noises again at first like he's afraid, but 1:01:38.160 --> 1:01:41.440 then just more and more weird, like some kind of 1:01:42.040 --> 1:01:46.720 trapped wolverine that's tipping from fear into a kind of 1:01:46.960 --> 1:01:52.160 threatening playfulness. And so Reike and Boyd go into the 1:01:52.200 --> 1:01:55.480 cave to investigate, and everybody else waits outside, And in 1:01:55.560 --> 1:01:58.840 this scene, Reich makes his contempt for Boyd clear while 1:01:58.880 --> 1:02:02.760 they're searching, like obviously he views Boyd as gutless and 1:02:02.960 --> 1:02:06.840 unworthy of command. And inside the cave they find some 1:02:07.000 --> 1:02:10.440 kind of pit, like a natural ubliet, and they go 1:02:10.600 --> 1:02:13.400 down and investigate this, and what they find inside is 1:02:14.160 --> 1:02:18.760 too many skeletons, too many skeletons to magic Colhoun's story, 1:02:19.280 --> 1:02:23.760 And the piles of clothes inside include a military uniform. 1:02:24.480 --> 1:02:27.120 So if the colonel ives of the story was not 1:02:27.320 --> 1:02:30.840 the eater and was instead eaten, who was the eater? 1:02:31.720 --> 1:02:33.680 And then the guys inside the cave are like, oh no, 1:02:33.960 --> 1:02:35.520 and they scream it's a trap. 1:02:36.080 --> 1:02:38.760 And this whole cave. To drive this home, this is 1:02:38.960 --> 1:02:43.680 This is like a wonderful like cannibal cavern situation. We're 1:02:43.800 --> 1:02:45.640 right out of an episode of Tales from the Crypt. 1:02:45.960 --> 1:02:46.560 Disgusting. 1:02:46.640 --> 1:02:50.160 Yeah, the skeletons all have this kind of melted fat 1:02:50.280 --> 1:02:53.160 looking thing over them, like they look they're kind of waxy. 1:02:53.280 --> 1:02:57.760 It's really gross. And then so Boyd and Reich rush 1:02:57.880 --> 1:03:01.040 back outside, but Colhoun is already on the attack. He 1:03:01.360 --> 1:03:04.600 first he starts frantically digging in the dirt outside the 1:03:04.680 --> 1:03:08.160 cave and he digs up a knife. He attacks and 1:03:08.360 --> 1:03:11.680 stabs heart. A heart lays on the ground dying. He 1:03:11.840 --> 1:03:15.600 shoots George, and then he chases Toffler out into the woods. 1:03:15.960 --> 1:03:16.920 And this is where I was. 1:03:16.920 --> 1:03:20.640 Saying, Calhoun, he gets into full like late sequel Freddy 1:03:20.680 --> 1:03:23.600 Krueger mode. He is having fun, Like he tries to 1:03:23.760 --> 1:03:26.560 shoot Toffler but the gun jams and he goes that 1:03:26.800 --> 1:03:31.240 is so annoying. And then he's like playing with him. 1:03:31.240 --> 1:03:33.560 He's brandishing the knife at him and kind of dancing 1:03:33.760 --> 1:03:38.600 and he says run run. So the chase breaks out 1:03:38.640 --> 1:03:42.000 and interesting music choices here once again. The music at 1:03:42.080 --> 1:03:46.640 first in this chase is not like a threatening dissonant jabs. 1:03:46.720 --> 1:03:49.760 It's not minor key chase music. It's a hodown. It's 1:03:49.800 --> 1:03:53.840 like a lively, upbeat major key fiddle and banjo music. 1:03:54.320 --> 1:03:59.440 Yeah, yeah, you don't expect it to go with this direction, 1:03:59.600 --> 1:04:02.520 but it, you know, looking at it, this was the 1:04:02.880 --> 1:04:05.680 obvious choice. Like it breaks the tension and we get 1:04:05.720 --> 1:04:06.840 to go in a different direction here. 1:04:07.320 --> 1:04:10.520 So Boyd and Reike run after them again, even though 1:04:11.160 --> 1:04:13.480 Boyd is the officer and Reich is the private. Reich 1:04:13.600 --> 1:04:16.200 is giving all the orders and Boyd is lagging behind, 1:04:16.320 --> 1:04:21.280 barely complying. They find Toffler's body disemboweled. Colhoun is a 1:04:21.400 --> 1:04:25.520 bit like Jason vorhees here, seemingly disappearing and reappearing through 1:04:25.560 --> 1:04:29.520 the woods, kind of an arcane trickster. At one point 1:04:29.560 --> 1:04:32.240 here Boyd tries to chicken out. He's like, I'm going back, 1:04:32.320 --> 1:04:34.720 I've got to go back, but Reike kind of bullies 1:04:34.800 --> 1:04:39.080 him into staying. Reike is killed by Calhoun with a 1:04:39.160 --> 1:04:41.360 knife to the chest and he falls off a cliff. 1:04:42.400 --> 1:04:46.520 Boyd panics, and then to escape Colhoun, he jumps. 1:04:46.240 --> 1:04:46.920 Off the cliff. 1:04:47.760 --> 1:04:50.200 He survives the fall, but he falls into a bunch 1:04:50.240 --> 1:04:53.640 of trees, breaks his leg, and then tumbles along with 1:04:53.760 --> 1:04:56.720 Reich's body into a hidden pit in the earth covered 1:04:56.760 --> 1:05:00.280 by pine branches, and then he falls down in there 1:05:00.520 --> 1:05:04.240 along with Reich's body, and time begins to pass. So 1:05:05.640 --> 1:05:08.760 we get a little montage showing kind of I don't know, 1:05:08.840 --> 1:05:14.200 maybe days going by, and we see Colhoun transformed into 1:05:14.360 --> 1:05:17.400 a free roaming master of the wilderness. Now he's just 1:05:17.680 --> 1:05:19.680 sitting on a shoal of pebbles in the middle of 1:05:19.720 --> 1:05:23.439 a river, eating lustily from a big joint of human meat. 1:05:24.040 --> 1:05:26.480 And then later he's skipping rocks in the stream with 1:05:26.640 --> 1:05:29.320 his shirt covered in blood and blood all in his beard. 1:05:29.880 --> 1:05:30.959 Yeah, just loving life. 1:05:31.000 --> 1:05:35.600 At this point, back in the pit, BOYD sets his bone. Yeah, 1:05:35.680 --> 1:05:38.360 so warning folks, there is a self bone setting scene 1:05:38.400 --> 1:05:41.880 in the film. And it seems like he's clearly done 1:05:41.960 --> 1:05:47.080 for unless he could get some nourishment. And there's Reich 1:05:47.520 --> 1:05:48.160 right there. 1:05:48.720 --> 1:05:51.080 And I love right how Right's body is presented here. 1:05:51.120 --> 1:05:54.520 Reich has like just wide open dead eyes, like just 1:05:54.720 --> 1:05:57.960 continuing to judge him for his cowardice. 1:05:57.720 --> 1:06:01.560 These horrible cloudy eyes, but this horrible, huge grin, this 1:06:01.840 --> 1:06:04.760 dead rictus, and he's. 1:06:04.680 --> 1:06:06.800 Covered in dried, like blackened blood. 1:06:07.200 --> 1:06:10.160 Yeah, And it's interesting to see how Boyd works his 1:06:10.320 --> 1:06:12.520 way up to it like it starts with him taking 1:06:12.840 --> 1:06:15.080 Reke's coat off his body because he's cold. 1:06:15.160 --> 1:06:16.080 He's like, can I borrow this? 1:06:16.240 --> 1:06:18.360 You don't need it, and then he's like, well, I 1:06:18.400 --> 1:06:22.160 already took the coat, and he gets the knife, and 1:06:22.600 --> 1:06:26.160 it's mostly implied what he does next, But sometime later 1:06:26.720 --> 1:06:30.600 we see Boyd emerge from the pit somehow healed, like 1:06:30.720 --> 1:06:33.240 he's good, he's all right enough to walk, and he 1:06:33.360 --> 1:06:36.520 makes the track back to the fort. When he arrives, 1:06:36.600 --> 1:06:39.480 he's received and taken in by Martha and Cleaves, who 1:06:39.520 --> 1:06:42.680 have returned from their trip, and knocks who was passed 1:06:42.720 --> 1:06:45.240 out drunk the whole time there while everybody else was 1:06:45.840 --> 1:06:49.240 doing the things in the previous scenes. So there's a 1:06:49.320 --> 1:06:52.120 scene here where Boyd goes to Martha. Now he's clearly 1:06:52.520 --> 1:06:55.000 he's turned on to the idea of the Wind to Go, 1:06:55.320 --> 1:06:57.280 and he goes to her to ask if she knows 1:06:57.320 --> 1:07:00.720 anything about it, can it be stopped. She gives a 1:07:00.800 --> 1:07:03.880 different kind of answer than he was expecting. She says 1:07:03.920 --> 1:07:07.920 the windigo always takes, never gives, and to stop the 1:07:07.960 --> 1:07:10.360 Wind to Go, she says, you must give yourself. 1:07:11.000 --> 1:07:11.960 You have to die. 1:07:13.160 --> 1:07:17.480 Implicit in this is that she understands Boyd to be 1:07:17.720 --> 1:07:20.800 part of the wind Togo and the only way to 1:07:20.960 --> 1:07:23.560 truly beat it is to admit that you are part 1:07:23.640 --> 1:07:25.800 of it. Forsake your hunger and die. 1:07:26.680 --> 1:07:26.880 Yeah. 1:07:27.000 --> 1:07:30.400 And Boyd doesn't say I'm asking for a friend. Yeah, 1:07:30.440 --> 1:07:31.400 I didn't try to cover it. 1:07:31.920 --> 1:07:32.120 Yeah. 1:07:33.160 --> 1:07:36.360 So as time goes on, General Slawson and his entourage 1:07:36.440 --> 1:07:39.160 arrived at the fort. They hear Boyd's story and they 1:07:39.280 --> 1:07:42.040 investigate the cave, but they find nothing there, no bodies, 1:07:42.120 --> 1:07:44.640 no bones. There's not a scrap of evidence to back 1:07:44.720 --> 1:07:47.720 up the story Boyd has told. And Slawson tries to 1:07:47.760 --> 1:07:51.880 get Boyd to amend his statement, but he won't anyway. 1:07:52.000 --> 1:07:54.960 General Slawson has brought in a new commanding officer to 1:07:55.080 --> 1:07:58.600 serve as a replacement for Heart. It's a colonel. Step 1:07:58.640 --> 1:08:01.640 into the room, colonel, let's see your new Captain Boyd here, 1:08:02.200 --> 1:08:05.920 And it is a colonel named Ives. Uh, oh, it's him. 1:08:06.240 --> 1:08:09.200 It's Colhoun. He's all cleaned up now he's in uniform. 1:08:09.560 --> 1:08:12.240 And it turns out Colhoun is Ives. 1:08:12.880 --> 1:08:16.840 Yeah, gone is the is the prospector's beard and the 1:08:16.960 --> 1:08:20.360 crazy eyes. Now we have this like steely calm that 1:08:20.479 --> 1:08:23.240 is over him. He looks very professional. He has establishment 1:08:23.320 --> 1:08:24.439 cannibalism at this point. 1:08:24.760 --> 1:08:27.960 Yes, so Boyd immediately he freaks out and he tries 1:08:28.040 --> 1:08:30.479 to tell everyone, but the story doesn't check out because 1:08:30.520 --> 1:08:33.439 in his story he got a shot off on Colhoun, 1:08:33.520 --> 1:08:36.080 like he shot him in the shoulder. So they're like, okay, well, 1:08:36.120 --> 1:08:37.960 if your story's true, he would have a scar. So 1:08:38.080 --> 1:08:40.599 they look on Ives body and there are no scars. 1:08:40.760 --> 1:08:43.400 They find nothing, just like well fed, unblemish skin. 1:08:44.160 --> 1:08:47.240 Yeah, so Boyd's stock here. He continues to go down 1:08:47.360 --> 1:08:50.160 in the generals the general's. 1:08:49.840 --> 1:08:50.720 View here, that's right. 1:08:50.840 --> 1:08:53.280 So everybody settles in with the new colonel. There's like 1:08:53.320 --> 1:08:56.320 a dinner scene where they're all having ribs except Cleaves. 1:08:56.400 --> 1:08:59.960 Discovers that neither Colonel Ives nor Boyd will eat meat. 1:09:01.000 --> 1:09:03.639 Ives never eats meat at all, since he can't forget 1:09:03.680 --> 1:09:05.840 it used to be an animal, and Boyd says he 1:09:05.880 --> 1:09:11.000 will only eat meet as a last resort. There's a 1:09:11.080 --> 1:09:14.800 later scene where Boyd is looking out the window at 1:09:15.320 --> 1:09:18.000 Cleaves as he's setting up some kind of sculpture like 1:09:18.080 --> 1:09:22.960 a big cow skeleton thing, and Boyd fantasizes about killing 1:09:23.040 --> 1:09:25.160 him and eating his Organs, but then Boyd kind of 1:09:25.160 --> 1:09:27.080 snaps out of it. It's like, what's going on with me? 1:09:27.240 --> 1:09:29.800 Why can't I stop thinking about eating people? 1:09:30.120 --> 1:09:31.800 Yeah, It's like it's kind of a version of the 1:09:31.880 --> 1:09:34.439 Looney Tune scene where you know, one character looks at 1:09:34.439 --> 1:09:37.559 another and they just just see a giant turkey leg. Yeah. Yeah. 1:09:38.640 --> 1:09:42.480 So later there's one night alone, Boyd is like he's paranoid. 1:09:42.520 --> 1:09:45.240 He's sitting outside clutching a big kitchen knife with a 1:09:45.280 --> 1:09:49.439 blanket around him, and Ives comes out. He's very suave 1:09:49.560 --> 1:09:53.320 and dapper, and he's smoking a cigarello out in the cold, 1:09:54.000 --> 1:09:56.720 and Ives breaks the tension by essentially now admitting it 1:09:57.680 --> 1:10:00.360 because they're alone. He says to Boyd, I found your 1:10:00.400 --> 1:10:03.120 private reichup there, or what was left of him you 1:10:03.240 --> 1:10:07.519 didn't finish. I can't blame you. He was tough, but 1:10:07.680 --> 1:10:10.160 then a good soldier ought to be. And then he 1:10:10.240 --> 1:10:13.840 takes a big drag out of his smoke and he says, 1:10:13.920 --> 1:10:16.160 you know, not too long ago, I couldn't do that, 1:10:16.800 --> 1:10:19.240 could barely take a breath without coughing up a pint 1:10:19.280 --> 1:10:26.120 of blood. Tuberculosis that along with fierce headaches, depression, suicidal ambition, 1:10:26.720 --> 1:10:29.280 I was in pretty horrible shape. In fact, I was 1:10:29.400 --> 1:10:32.280 on my way to a sanatorium to convalesce or more 1:10:32.439 --> 1:10:36.560 likely die, when en route, this Indian scout told me 1:10:36.640 --> 1:10:40.560 a curious story. Man eats the flesh of another, He 1:10:40.680 --> 1:10:45.040 takes the other man's strength, absorbs his spirit. Well, naturally, 1:10:45.200 --> 1:10:48.320 I just had to try it. Consequently, I ate the 1:10:48.400 --> 1:10:52.080 scout first, and you know what, he was absolutely right. 1:10:52.840 --> 1:10:57.479 I grew stronger. And then he launches into telling the 1:10:57.720 --> 1:11:00.400 wagon train story is sort of a different version of 1:11:00.479 --> 1:11:03.200 the story he told at the beginning, but now he 1:11:03.400 --> 1:11:06.560 is Colonel Ives. He manages to get people stuck in 1:11:06.640 --> 1:11:08.200 the mountain so he can eat them. He says he 1:11:08.360 --> 1:11:12.799 ate five men in three months, and he says tuberculosis vanished, 1:11:13.280 --> 1:11:16.400 as did the headaches and the black thoughts. I returned 1:11:16.479 --> 1:11:24.000 that spring, happy and healthy and virile. And here I've shifts. 1:11:24.280 --> 1:11:27.360 He shifts to kind of tempting, to being the Satan figure, 1:11:27.439 --> 1:11:30.679 tempting Boyd. He's like, you know what I'm talking about. 1:11:31.240 --> 1:11:34.680 You've done it too, you know its power, So why 1:11:34.720 --> 1:11:38.519 are you resisting? And Boyd says, what's wrong? It's wrong 1:11:38.600 --> 1:11:41.440 to eat people? But Ives mocks him. He says, morality 1:11:41.680 --> 1:11:45.040 is the last bastion of a coward. It's like a 1:11:45.120 --> 1:11:47.840 man says he cannot do something because it would be wrong. 1:11:48.040 --> 1:11:51.600 The real reason is because he's afraid. And then he 1:11:51.720 --> 1:11:53.479 keeps tempting him, like he gets a cut on his 1:11:53.600 --> 1:11:55.120 hand and he's like, sniff my blood. 1:11:55.280 --> 1:11:59.519 Mmm. It's a great state with this and a subsequent 1:11:59.560 --> 1:12:02.759 sequence are going to get a subsequent temptation segment sequence 1:12:02.800 --> 1:12:08.080 between Ives and Boyd. Just tremendous here, especially from Carlisle. 1:12:08.240 --> 1:12:11.280 Just just great acting love every the way the scenes 1:12:11.320 --> 1:12:13.680 are put together, tremendous, fantastic. 1:12:13.760 --> 1:12:16.640 Yeah, And Boyd here tries to attack Ives, but they 1:12:16.680 --> 1:12:20.200 are interrupted by Martha and then by Knox, who they 1:12:20.280 --> 1:12:23.640 quickly discovered that Cleaves has been killed along with all 1:12:23.720 --> 1:12:27.000 of the horses, and Boyd is put under arrest on 1:12:27.120 --> 1:12:39.440 suspicion for that killing. So the next day Martha volunteers 1:12:39.479 --> 1:12:41.439 to make the journey by foot to San Miguel to 1:12:41.479 --> 1:12:44.720 get General Slawson for you know, I guess to come 1:12:44.800 --> 1:12:49.400 back and investigate crimes once again. So that just leaves Knox, 1:12:49.720 --> 1:12:52.800 Boyd and Ives at the fort, and so Boyd is 1:12:52.880 --> 1:12:55.800 under arrest and there's this scene where Ives is cooking 1:12:55.840 --> 1:12:59.519 a stew yeah, and Knox is like can I help, 1:12:59.600 --> 1:13:03.360 and is like, not right now, perhaps later you can contribute. 1:13:03.840 --> 1:13:05.960 Yes, yes, So we get a little bit of the 1:13:06.000 --> 1:13:09.040 comedy here, but they you know, they underscore it's it's nice. 1:13:09.280 --> 1:13:12.800 Yeah, and Boyd listens. So in this scene, there are 1:13:13.000 --> 1:13:15.360 things happening in the other room, and it becomes apparent 1:13:15.720 --> 1:13:18.240 that somebody in the other room has killed Knocks with 1:13:18.320 --> 1:13:21.080 his own sword. But then when the door swings open, 1:13:21.280 --> 1:13:25.360 it's not i'ves standing there. It's Colonel Heart Yep. 1:13:25.960 --> 1:13:30.000 He smiles and he says hello, Boyd, and he's covered 1:13:30.040 --> 1:13:33.000 with blood. Now he doesn't have any of his glasses on. 1:13:33.680 --> 1:13:36.240 There's a new energy to this man. It's clear that 1:13:36.320 --> 1:13:38.120 he has engaged in the cannibalism. 1:13:38.479 --> 1:13:39.000 That's right. 1:13:39.120 --> 1:13:41.200 So he tells the story of how he thought he 1:13:41.360 --> 1:13:44.439 was dying, but he found himself being nursed back to 1:13:44.560 --> 1:13:48.799 health in the cave by ives, and he was healed 1:13:48.880 --> 1:13:53.519 from his mortal wound because he ate man flesh. He says, 1:13:53.560 --> 1:13:55.760 by the time I regained my senses, there was no 1:13:55.920 --> 1:13:56.479 turning back. 1:13:56.800 --> 1:13:57.679 I feel terrific. 1:13:59.560 --> 1:14:03.360 So now Heart and Ives are part of a cannibal conspiracy, 1:14:03.520 --> 1:14:05.840 and Heart makes a pitch Boyd. 1:14:05.960 --> 1:14:09.320 Should join them, and this is where we get this 1:14:10.200 --> 1:14:13.519 other temptation scene that is just excellent. This is where 1:14:13.920 --> 1:14:19.040 we get another just tremendous monologue from Carlisle, and it 1:14:19.160 --> 1:14:21.679 really kind of drives home I think the central thesis 1:14:21.760 --> 1:14:22.479 of the whole picture. 1:14:23.080 --> 1:14:25.519 Yeah, so Boyd is taken out to where Ives is. 1:14:25.760 --> 1:14:28.559 I think they're grilling outside. Maybe now are they grilling 1:14:28.920 --> 1:14:31.800 parts of Knox or butchering him? I think I don't know, 1:14:31.880 --> 1:14:35.439 They're doing some kind of cannibalism stuff outside. And Ives 1:14:35.520 --> 1:14:40.160 looks at the mountains and he says, manifest destiny, westward expansion. 1:14:40.800 --> 1:14:44.160 You know, come April, it'll all start again. Thousands of 1:14:44.240 --> 1:14:47.360 gold hungry Americans will travel over those mountains on their 1:14:47.400 --> 1:14:52.280 way to new lives, passing right through here. We won't 1:14:52.360 --> 1:14:56.439 kill indiscriminately, no, selectively. Good God, we don't want to 1:14:56.439 --> 1:14:59.800 break up families. And then oh, yeah, horrible. And then 1:14:59.840 --> 1:15:03.519 he he talks about how they want to recruit somebody else, 1:15:04.080 --> 1:15:07.439 General Slawson. They want to convert him to the religion 1:15:07.880 --> 1:15:11.679 of cannibalism because it would be useful to have somebody 1:15:11.800 --> 1:15:14.920 that powerful, right, He says, we don't wish to recruit everyone. 1:15:15.040 --> 1:15:17.479 We've got enough mouths to feed as it is. We 1:15:17.680 --> 1:15:20.960 just need a home. And this country is seeking to 1:15:21.080 --> 1:15:24.599 be whole, stretching out its arms, consuming all it can. 1:15:25.240 --> 1:15:26.320 We merely follow. 1:15:26.840 --> 1:15:29.320 Oh and that line there just gives me chills. 1:15:29.960 --> 1:15:33.400 So Boyd tries to resist them. He says he's not 1:15:33.520 --> 1:15:36.840 going to be like them, but the bids continue. Carlyle says, 1:15:37.000 --> 1:15:39.560 you're already one of us almost. You hunger for it, 1:15:40.120 --> 1:15:42.360 you just won't resign yourself to it. 1:15:42.960 --> 1:15:44.840 Oh yeah, and we get that other line that's always 1:15:44.840 --> 1:15:47.200 stuck with me. It's not courage to resist me, Boyd, 1:15:47.520 --> 1:15:48.880 it's courage to accept me. 1:15:49.360 --> 1:15:52.960 Yes, yeah, yeah, But this makes me think, like, when 1:15:53.000 --> 1:15:55.439 are you really part of a conspiracy? Like when you 1:15:55.600 --> 1:15:58.439 do the crime or when you accept that doing the 1:15:58.560 --> 1:15:59.760 crime is all right? 1:16:00.640 --> 1:16:04.280 Yeah yeah, And there's a lot to chew on here, 1:16:04.760 --> 1:16:09.960 cannibal funds aside, But yeah, it's like this idea that 1:16:10.200 --> 1:16:12.479 there is this gravity that is pulling all of them 1:16:12.600 --> 1:16:16.240 down and there is inevitability to it, And like, Boyd, 1:16:16.280 --> 1:16:20.439 you're not doing yourself any favors by fighting against the tide. 1:16:20.920 --> 1:16:23.680 You'd make things so much easier for yourself and for 1:16:23.760 --> 1:16:26.080 everyone around you, if you just gave in, if you've 1:16:26.320 --> 1:16:30.080 just accepted the world as it is, the world as 1:16:30.160 --> 1:16:33.160 we've made it, if you just accept that you're a 1:16:33.240 --> 1:16:35.559 part of it. And that, of course, has been part 1:16:35.720 --> 1:16:39.120 of Boyd's moral failing thus far. He's just proceeded through 1:16:39.240 --> 1:16:44.400 life like a thing encased in mud or almost fossilized 1:16:44.479 --> 1:16:49.200 in his environment, and has just been generally just unwilling 1:16:49.240 --> 1:16:53.120 and unable to attempt to counteract that flow. 1:16:53.320 --> 1:16:56.479 Yeah, he has acted upon, he does not act against. 1:16:56.680 --> 1:16:56.880 Yeah. 1:16:57.160 --> 1:17:01.000 Yeah, though he is trying to resist here. And it's 1:17:01.080 --> 1:17:04.240 interesting the way that Carlisle, the way that Ives is 1:17:05.600 --> 1:17:09.800 like papering over distinctions, Like he's like, you've already done 1:17:09.800 --> 1:17:13.400 the same as us, But Boyd hasn't unlike them. He 1:17:13.479 --> 1:17:16.759 has not killed to eat man flesh. He's just eaten 1:17:16.840 --> 1:17:19.599 of those who already died. But I think they're trying 1:17:19.760 --> 1:17:23.280 to make that transition for him easier. It's like not 1:17:23.400 --> 1:17:24.439 observing the distinction. 1:17:25.080 --> 1:17:25.280 Yeah. 1:17:25.840 --> 1:17:28.639 So then Ives tries to persuade Boyd by stabbing him. 1:17:29.200 --> 1:17:31.040 So he stabs him. He's like, all right, now you 1:17:31.120 --> 1:17:33.120 know the rules. You've either got to eat human or 1:17:33.200 --> 1:17:36.320 die from your wound. So Ives and Heart like sit 1:17:36.400 --> 1:17:39.519 around the table enjoying a major Knox stew, and at 1:17:39.560 --> 1:17:42.240 first Boyd resists, but then the pain of his wound 1:17:42.680 --> 1:17:45.880 becomes too great and his fear of death overwhelms him. 1:17:45.760 --> 1:17:46.960 And he begins to eat. 1:17:47.400 --> 1:17:49.560 I like, how Yeah, the answer hears for him to 1:17:49.560 --> 1:17:51.320 give in and eat the stew too, which is like 1:17:51.439 --> 1:17:55.000 the completely civilized version of the cannibal feast, which I 1:17:55.080 --> 1:17:57.200 don't think we've had it up into this point. It's 1:17:57.240 --> 1:17:59.920 been more like bone nawing. But here is the Santa 1:18:00.080 --> 1:18:03.000 Ties version of it, which I think is also rife 1:18:03.080 --> 1:18:06.559 with so many different interpretations when you start analyzing this picture, 1:18:06.680 --> 1:18:09.160 like here, here's the refined version of the thing you're 1:18:09.200 --> 1:18:12.280 afraid of. Give in to it become a part of 1:18:12.400 --> 1:18:14.439 this operation. Yeah. 1:18:15.400 --> 1:18:17.600 So the next day, of course, Boyd is all healed up. 1:18:17.640 --> 1:18:21.880 The cannibalism does wonders, and there is a conversation between 1:18:21.960 --> 1:18:26.240 Boyd and Heart while Ives is outside. Heart talks about 1:18:26.280 --> 1:18:28.640 how he misses his books that were taking off his 1:18:28.760 --> 1:18:31.479 shelf I guess when he was presumed dead, And he 1:18:31.680 --> 1:18:34.840 muses about how even thousands of years ago, Plato and 1:18:34.920 --> 1:18:37.719 Aristotle were thinking over the same problems that they can't 1:18:37.760 --> 1:18:41.200 solve today, like what is happiness and how to get it? 1:18:41.920 --> 1:18:46.640 And Boyd says Aristotle wanted to get to truth, not happiness, 1:18:47.479 --> 1:18:49.920 and Heart kind of rebels against this. He says, I 1:18:50.040 --> 1:18:52.000 spent my whole life trying to do what I thought 1:18:52.120 --> 1:18:55.600 was right and true, and now here I am. But 1:18:55.760 --> 1:18:59.160 some cracks appear in Heart's conviction. Boyd reminds him of 1:18:59.240 --> 1:19:03.280 all the people they can cleaves knocks, and Heart kind 1:19:03.320 --> 1:19:06.400 of he fights his conscience off. He's screaming about how 1:19:06.439 --> 1:19:09.439 you have to kill to live, But Boyd eventually gets 1:19:09.520 --> 1:19:12.959 through to him, and Heart kind of collapses and decides, 1:19:13.400 --> 1:19:15.800 you're right. I don't want to go on living like this, 1:19:16.080 --> 1:19:17.439 boy do You've just got to kill me? 1:19:17.640 --> 1:19:21.240 And Boyd does this scene here, which is intercut with 1:19:21.320 --> 1:19:25.560 a few things concerning Calhoun ives and other characters. But 1:19:25.920 --> 1:19:28.719 this scene I think is pretty admirable because a lot 1:19:28.920 --> 1:19:32.800 has to happen, particularly with Heart's character, in a very 1:19:32.880 --> 1:19:37.960 short amount of time, and I think if it was 1:19:38.080 --> 1:19:41.519 done even slightly incorrectly, it would have felt really rushed 1:19:42.280 --> 1:19:45.760 as it is here, like it feels ultimately feels, you know, 1:19:45.880 --> 1:19:48.960 a bit on fast forward, but also completely earned. And 1:19:49.080 --> 1:19:52.000 I think it comes down to the direction to the 1:19:52.080 --> 1:19:55.240 performances and just the way they've cut it all together. Like, 1:19:55.280 --> 1:19:57.280 I end up completely buying it. But man, they do 1:19:57.479 --> 1:19:58.960 so much in such a short scene. 1:19:59.320 --> 1:20:02.200 Well, I I think because it comes across that Heart 1:20:02.400 --> 1:20:05.280 was also just kind of weak willed, and he was 1:20:05.439 --> 1:20:11.120 allowing Ives' confidence in the cannibalism conspiracy to sort of 1:20:11.840 --> 1:20:16.040 allow him not to consult his own soul about whether 1:20:16.160 --> 1:20:18.840 this was right. He was just like going along with 1:20:18.920 --> 1:20:22.200 the justifications that Ives gave. But now that somebody else 1:20:22.280 --> 1:20:25.000 from the outside is pressuring him, it kind of does 1:20:25.240 --> 1:20:28.519 break through the facade and the real heart comes out, 1:20:28.600 --> 1:20:33.040 and his guilt and grief are unleashed and he can't deal. 1:20:32.920 --> 1:20:36.960 With it, right, And so now the line is clearly drawn. 1:20:38.080 --> 1:20:42.000 Ives sees this happen through the blood splattered window, and 1:20:42.160 --> 1:20:46.120 so now it's gonna be a standoff between Bloyd and Ives, Right. 1:20:46.200 --> 1:20:50.120 So the rest of the movie is basically this grueling fight, 1:20:50.280 --> 1:20:54.240 this duel between Boyd and Ives. They sword fight, they slash, stab, 1:20:54.520 --> 1:20:57.320 bash across the landscape of the fort, and then they 1:20:57.520 --> 1:20:59.400 end up at the end of this fight in a 1:20:59.560 --> 1:21:01.799 bare trap together, which is just perfect. 1:21:02.120 --> 1:21:04.560 Yeah, it's an enormous bear trap, Like I'm almost like 1:21:04.680 --> 1:21:08.439 Acme level of bear trap. But it feels earned and 1:21:08.520 --> 1:21:11.479 it's a surprise I think they do. We do see 1:21:11.520 --> 1:21:14.000 a bear trap earlier in the picture, so it is established. 1:21:14.240 --> 1:21:16.200 But oh when it goes off, Yeah, just get. 1:21:16.120 --> 1:21:21.360 Them both, I've says to Guy Pearce, if you die first, 1:21:21.600 --> 1:21:23.360 I am definitely going to eat you. 1:21:23.920 --> 1:21:25.920 But if I die first, what will you do? 1:21:26.760 --> 1:21:29.479 Good question, because we actually don't know at this point. 1:21:30.240 --> 1:21:34.720 Boyd's character has been portrayed as weak willed enough, and 1:21:34.920 --> 1:21:38.000 the story is bleak enough that you could believe it 1:21:38.040 --> 1:21:41.720 would end with him just embracing the cannibalism eating him 1:21:41.840 --> 1:21:43.559 and becoming win to go again. 1:21:43.920 --> 1:21:46.920 Yeah, because that thus far, that's how he has proceeded. 1:21:47.479 --> 1:21:49.559 Those are the choices which brought him to this moment. 1:21:50.080 --> 1:21:53.960 But Boyd does have a moral victory in the end 1:21:54.160 --> 1:21:57.759 by resisting the temptation. Ives does die first and Boyd 1:21:57.880 --> 1:22:02.000 does not chow down. He dies well. But then General 1:22:02.080 --> 1:22:05.680 Slawson arrives with his with his retinue, and they they 1:22:05.800 --> 1:22:08.639 wander in. They're looking around and he finds a stew 1:22:08.800 --> 1:22:11.000 bubbling over the fire. I guess this is still the 1:22:11.080 --> 1:22:14.640 knock stew, still left over from the day before, and 1:22:15.120 --> 1:22:17.720 he decides to taste it, and he tastes it, He's 1:22:17.760 --> 1:22:19.599 like delicious, yummy, yummy. 1:22:20.160 --> 1:22:23.120 Yeah, So it seems like maybe the cycle will continue 1:22:23.200 --> 1:22:25.960 with General Slawson. And then we see Martha show up 1:22:26.040 --> 1:22:28.680 and Martha finds the bodies of Boyd and ives and 1:22:28.760 --> 1:22:31.880 the bear trap and she just she sees what's happened 1:22:31.920 --> 1:22:33.799 and she runs off into the wilderness. 1:22:34.560 --> 1:22:37.560 Yeah, thinking about the slaws in question, like, if he 1:22:37.680 --> 1:22:39.600 eats the stew, does he become the wind to go? 1:22:40.160 --> 1:22:42.800 Within the logic of the movie, Are you a wind 1:22:42.840 --> 1:22:45.920 to go if you don't know that you're eating human 1:22:46.560 --> 1:22:48.680 I think that's a that's a real question. Like it 1:22:48.760 --> 1:22:51.759 comes back to one of the questions that we raised earlier, 1:22:51.920 --> 1:22:57.160 like does the monstrosity arise from eating human flesh physically? 1:22:57.479 --> 1:23:00.000 Is it the physical processing of it with your digestive 1:23:00.200 --> 1:23:02.680 system even if you don't know what it is, Or 1:23:02.840 --> 1:23:05.240 is it the conscious awareness that. 1:23:05.320 --> 1:23:06.559 You are eating human flesh? 1:23:07.479 --> 1:23:11.400 Or is it the moral acceptance of yourself as one 1:23:11.479 --> 1:23:14.760 who eats human flesh? So the distinction between those last 1:23:14.800 --> 1:23:18.120 two being like being aware that you're eating human flesh, 1:23:18.200 --> 1:23:21.559 but not feeling okay about it, versus feeling like, all right, 1:23:21.640 --> 1:23:24.800 it's okay that I'm doing this, versus the final thing 1:23:25.000 --> 1:23:28.120 is killing the act of killing someone in order to 1:23:28.200 --> 1:23:29.439 get more human flesh. 1:23:29.960 --> 1:23:30.519 They're all like. 1:23:30.720 --> 1:23:34.679 Different points on a continuum, and I guess you could ask, 1:23:34.920 --> 1:23:37.760 at what point does one become the monster? And does 1:23:37.840 --> 1:23:40.360 each step kind of lead to the next step. 1:23:41.080 --> 1:23:43.440 That's a great question. Yeah, the movie leaves it ambiguous, 1:23:43.560 --> 1:23:47.320 like we can I think reasonably think that, Okay, Slawson 1:23:47.439 --> 1:23:50.280 is going to eat this stuff. It tastes great. He's 1:23:50.320 --> 1:23:52.960 probably going to just really pig out on it and 1:23:53.080 --> 1:23:55.160 maybe have like a really great week. He's going to 1:23:55.200 --> 1:23:56.760 take up new hobbies, he's going to get a lot 1:23:56.800 --> 1:23:58.880 done at work. But will he be able to make 1:23:58.920 --> 1:24:02.360 the connection? And maybe he will, Maybe there's enough essentially 1:24:02.439 --> 1:24:05.479 forensic evidence at the camp that he'll realize what he 1:24:05.720 --> 1:24:10.920 ate and then start making increasingly horrific choices, but maybe not. 1:24:11.400 --> 1:24:13.000 But then also it does kind of tie into some 1:24:13.080 --> 1:24:15.360 of the questions raised, like what happens when you come 1:24:15.400 --> 1:24:17.640 along and you eat this stew and you don't know 1:24:17.960 --> 1:24:21.320 how the stew was made. It's just presented to you, 1:24:21.600 --> 1:24:24.920 and now what are you for having participated in this meal? 1:24:25.760 --> 1:24:27.439 All right, well that's ravenous. 1:24:28.120 --> 1:24:31.000 Yeah, yeah, I think it really holds up. I think 1:24:31.040 --> 1:24:34.599 it's a great, great film that really stands out. Hard 1:24:34.640 --> 1:24:36.439 to think of another film from nineteen ninety nine that 1:24:36.520 --> 1:24:40.439 really that I keep coming back to, But this is 1:24:40.520 --> 1:24:43.960 the one. I mean, it's it's not End of Days, 1:24:44.120 --> 1:24:49.479 it's not blair Witch product product, Blair Witch Project that 1:24:49.560 --> 1:24:51.360 should have been a sequel Blair Witch product. 1:24:52.680 --> 1:24:55.559 My memory is actually that Blair Witch Project is pretty good. 1:24:55.800 --> 1:24:58.760 I think, yeah, I think it might hold up pretty well. 1:24:59.040 --> 1:25:01.920 I think with that one it really impressed me at 1:25:01.960 --> 1:25:04.479 the time, But then we saw so much found footage 1:25:04.560 --> 1:25:08.080 material that I've just been so resistant to going back 1:25:08.120 --> 1:25:10.560 and watching anything from that year. I don't know. I 1:25:10.640 --> 1:25:12.439 look at a list of other ninety ninety nine films. 1:25:12.560 --> 1:25:14.600 That was the year we had audition. I'm in no 1:25:14.680 --> 1:25:17.599 hurry to rewatch that. But that was pretty strong as well. 1:25:18.280 --> 1:25:21.000 With that remake of The Haunting with Liam Neeson and 1:25:21.160 --> 1:25:22.320 Catherine Zeta Jones. 1:25:22.400 --> 1:25:26.519 How about that that's not on the list from the 1:25:27.280 --> 1:25:29.519 rewatch anytime soon? All Right? 1:25:29.880 --> 1:25:30.880 Does that do it for today? 1:25:31.160 --> 1:25:33.120 Yeah? We're gonna ahead and close it up here, but 1:25:33.520 --> 1:25:35.160 we'd love to hear from everyone out there. What are 1:25:35.200 --> 1:25:38.640 your thoughts on Ravenous or other cannibal films or other 1:25:38.680 --> 1:25:41.200 films from nineteen ninety nine. It's all fair game, right in. 1:25:41.360 --> 1:25:43.439 Let us know we would love to hear from you. 1:25:44.080 --> 1:25:46.800 You can get this show wherever you get your podcasts. 1:25:47.040 --> 1:25:48.639 Get it either in the Stuff to Blow your Mind 1:25:48.680 --> 1:25:51.200 podcast feed where it publishes every Friday, or on its 1:25:51.240 --> 1:25:53.800 own in its own standalone playlist, which you can currently 1:25:53.840 --> 1:25:56.120 get wherever you get your podcasts, as well, wherever you 1:25:56.200 --> 1:25:58.719 get Weird House cinema rate and review. That really helps 1:25:58.800 --> 1:26:02.040 us out. If you were on letterbox dot com, look 1:26:02.120 --> 1:26:03.960 us up. Our user name there is weird House and 1:26:04.000 --> 1:26:05.559 we have a big old list of all the movies 1:26:05.600 --> 1:26:08.160 we've watched over the years, and sometimes we get a 1:26:08.200 --> 1:26:09.240 peek ahead at what's next. 1:26:09.600 --> 1:26:13.120 Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway. 1:26:13.520 --> 1:26:15.040 If you would like to get in touch with us 1:26:15.120 --> 1:26:17.479 with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 1:26:17.560 --> 1:26:19.519 a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 1:26:19.960 --> 1:26:22.479 you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1:26:22.520 --> 1:26:23.479 your Mind dot com. 1:26:30.240 --> 1:26:33.160 Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1:26:33.280 --> 1:26:36.040 more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1:26:36.240 --> 1:26:38.960 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.