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Speaker 1: Peter Helly you here on this week's edition of You
Speaker 1: Ain't Seen Nothing Yet? Mate, comedian Dave Callen, do you any.
Speaker 2: Think you have a chance against us?
Speaker 3: Mister cowboy, open the pod by doors.
Speaker 2: I'll have what she's having.
Speaker 1: Right now.
Speaker 4: You Haven't Seen Nothing year.
Speaker 1: There's very few guests that I can say I've seen
Speaker 1: ride a BMX into an open grave deliberately. In fact,
Speaker 1: there is only one, and that's today's guest, Dave Callum.
Speaker 1: In nineteen nine nine, Roe McManus asked me to be
Speaker 1: part of his late night live talk slash comedy TV
Speaker 1: show with the working title Late Night Gardening, which would
Speaker 1: of course become Rove. He also was bringing along fellow
Speaker 1: comic and mate Kring Grant and also comedian mate from
Speaker 1: his hometown of Perth, Dave Callum. And as soon as
Speaker 1: I met Dave and Anderson Way, Rove had earmarked this
Speaker 1: big hairy irishman because Dave is simply hilarious both on
Speaker 1: stage and offered. Dave's comedy is cerebral yet has an
Speaker 1: everyman relatable quality. It's deadpan, yet it's joyous. Over the years,
Speaker 1: Davis leant into his passions and stretched himself on stage
Speaker 1: from dancing troops with actual choreography to intricate live reimaginings
Speaker 1: of eighties video games live on stage. Dave's imagination and
Speaker 1: refusal to be told that a six foot three hairy
Speaker 1: irishman has no right fronting a rendition of single ladies
Speaker 1: completely backup dances is why we love him. God bless
Speaker 1: him for that. And that was before he took on
Speaker 1: Bollywood on robe and then Robe live. Dave made sketches
Speaker 1: like Dan mccannon The Angry Man, which I don't think
Speaker 1: I've ever laughed so hard on set since that day.
Speaker 1: They couldn't find a take there where I wasn't laughing,
Speaker 1: so they just had to use one of them words
Speaker 1: that are better when said by Dave was a huge hit,
Speaker 1: and you can bet your bottom dollar I will be
Speaker 1: trying to get him to say trousers on this week's episode. Personally,
Speaker 1: Dave's humble, polite, hilarious, and principled. He once refused to
Speaker 1: take part in a sketch that mocked fancy dress parties
Speaker 1: because well, Dave loves fancy dress. Dave is thoughtful, creative,
Speaker 1: and bloody clever, and I'm stoked can be hanging with
Speaker 1: him today.
Speaker 2: Hello there, I'm Dave Callen. My favorite films are Star Wars.
Speaker 1: I find your lack of faith disturbing.
Speaker 2: The Groundhog Day.
Speaker 3: I'm a god, your guy, I'm a guy.
Speaker 2: I'm not the guy. I don't think the greatest Shulman
Speaker 2: we need is a tent, And until recently I had
Speaker 2: never seen stripes.
Speaker 1: Fresh after surprise back to back comedy hits of meat
Speaker 1: Balls and Caddy Shack sees Bill Murray team up with
Speaker 1: director Ivan Reitman and writer, actor and friend Harold Ramis,
Speaker 1: who also directed Caddy Shack. With the military comedy Stripes
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty one, Bill Murray's John Winger has quit
Speaker 1: his job as a New York Cabby, has had his
Speaker 1: car taken away and has been dumped by his girlfriend.
Speaker 1: Yet this is eighties comedy rock Bottom, so he has
Speaker 1: no other choice than to join the Army. Of course,
Speaker 1: he takes with him his best mate, Russell, a teacher
Speaker 1: of English is the second language, who admittedly doesn't seem
Speaker 1: anywhere near as close to rock Bottom as his friend John.
Speaker 1: Either way, they find themselves in boot camp pretty quickly,
Speaker 1: with the usual bunch of misfits, including future eighties legends
Speaker 1: John Candy and Judge Reinhard, John Larrakatt as a Creepy
Speaker 1: cut As Creepy Captain Stillman and a strict drill Sarge
Speaker 1: and Holker played by Warren Oates, legend from The Wild
Speaker 1: Bunch and bad Lands. A smash it upon release, Stripes
Speaker 1: helped set up the gateway of Saturday Night Live TV
Speaker 1: stars to the silver screen. It comes a year after
Speaker 1: Goldie Horn's Private Benjamin, the same year as Taps and
Speaker 1: the year before An Officer and the gentleman. Yep, military
Speaker 1: was in big time. Like many eighties comedies, there's a
Speaker 1: gootuitous nudity or female of course, logic flaws and the
Speaker 1: complete lack of repercusins for any actions. But undoubtedly Bill
Speaker 1: Murray's iconic laid back delivery, Big John Candy's big screen
Speaker 1: presence and enough set pieces that deliver laughs give us
Speaker 1: enough reasons to root for our slacker heroes. Dave callon,
Speaker 1: when was the last time you mud wrestled in a bar?
Speaker 2: It's been at least three days, Irish Saw. I'm often
Speaker 2: finding myself in peculiar bar situations with the muddy people.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've done a lot of Melbourney to national
Speaker 1: comedy festivals together, Dave. But I don't know. Memories are
Speaker 1: a bit blurb. But I'm sure at the High five
Speaker 1: Bar there may have been a mud wrestling done back
Speaker 1: in the late nineties.
Speaker 2: Perhaps there were antics, I'm not sure if mud got involved.
Speaker 2: I think they might have had oh and s, you know,
Speaker 2: restrictions on how much you can dose yourself in certain substances.
Speaker 1: But other substances were fine. I'm sure, Dave. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: It's great to be hanging out with you for the
Speaker 1: next hour. Thanks for agreeing to do it. You're joining
Speaker 1: us from Perth. So the way this works sometimes is
Speaker 1: people that nominate straight away the movies they know they
Speaker 1: haven't seen. Sometimes, in fact, almost always, I provide a
Speaker 1: list as thoughts starters you would have seen, like most
Speaker 1: of the movies on the list. You were one of
Speaker 1: these guests who were like, some guess are like, there
Speaker 1: are so many movies I haven't seen. You were like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I've seen most of these movies, but he's a couple
Speaker 1: that I haven't seen. Why did stripes pop out for you? Oh?
Speaker 2: It jumped out because you know, I was always kind
Speaker 2: of a fan of Ghostbusters, and it's got two of them.
Speaker 2: Harold Ramis is just fantastic, and Bill Murray is an
Speaker 2: absolute legacy act in comedy. He's so sardonic and so great.
Speaker 2: And I realized that there was a precious duo in
Speaker 2: the cinematic round that I had not even seen. And
Speaker 2: I don't know how it passed me by, but I
Speaker 2: saw that on the list and I went, that would
Speaker 2: be me.
Speaker 1: Then, yeah, that'd be you. And you watched it. Did
Speaker 1: you watch it last night? Did you watch it on
Speaker 1: your on your phone would be on a screen with
Speaker 1: your immersed. How was your viewing experience?
Speaker 2: It could have been more cinematic. I watched a bit
Speaker 2: of it on my phone and a bit of it
Speaker 2: on my laptop. I used to dream about having a
Speaker 2: portable TV when I was a kid, and now look,
Speaker 2: we've got screens everywhere everyone. So I used I took
Speaker 2: advantage of modern technology and did it that way. I
Speaker 2: think it would have been better and had more of
Speaker 2: a digetic effect. I studied media studies. If I had
Speaker 2: wanted on a big TV, I think that would have
Speaker 2: been nicer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean always always, but we do what we can.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about your three favorite films. Always always chuffed
Speaker 1: to see Star Wars in a top three, some people,
Speaker 1: including myself, I don't have any in my top three.
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure why. I think I've decided recently
Speaker 1: it's definitely my top five, but it probably should be
Speaker 1: right up there at the top because it's had such
Speaker 1: an influence and love in my life. Tell us about
Speaker 1: your Star Wars experience.
Speaker 2: Well, is it the greatest movie?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 2: Is it the most amazing explosion of creativity ever on celluloid? Yes?
Speaker 2: I believe it is. I also think it's the biggest
Speaker 2: fluke that ever happened. It shouldn't be as good as
Speaker 2: it is, Like it's pure magic from beginning to end,
Speaker 2: cinematic magic. The wild thing about it for me is
Speaker 2: that it is every genre of film. When you think
Speaker 2: about it, it's it's you know, it's a Western. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's got a cantena scene. For God's It's like, what
Speaker 2: there were Mexicans in space? But that whole scene is
Speaker 2: like a spaghetti Western. It's like Han Solo shooting that
Speaker 2: guy and then the guy at the bargain.
Speaker 1: And I don't like you.
Speaker 2: My friend doesn't like you either, And that whole thing
Speaker 2: is like straight out of a Western. It's in Tatoine,
Speaker 2: which is like a desert. And then you've got you know,
Speaker 2: world War two film. It's got the Akat guns and
Speaker 2: it's got the you know, the space Nazis. They're coll stormtroopers.
Speaker 2: It's very damn busters at the end, you know, it's
Speaker 2: it could be a World War two film. And then
Speaker 2: you know, ostensibly a love story, it's a comedy, it's
Speaker 2: a samurai movie. And then the wild thing, the wildest
Speaker 2: thing for me is what's the opposite of sci fi?
Speaker 2: Because it's a sci fi film, but what's the opposite?
Speaker 2: Fantasy is the opposite. So people like sci fi or fantasy. Now,
Speaker 2: when you look at Star Wars, a sci fi film,
Speaker 2: it's about a farm boy who wants to become a knight,
Speaker 2: who goes to a castle with a wizard to rescue
Speaker 2: a princess from a black knight. What secontly you put
Speaker 2: it in? Do you put it in sci fi fantasy? Yes,
Speaker 2: it's a sci fi film with a fantasy skin. It's
Speaker 2: got elements, of course. I was the Hidden Fortress, you know,
Speaker 2: the two comic relief characters, and that are basically our
Speaker 2: two and C three po It's a horror film. It's
Speaker 2: everything in one package. It's for everyone. Every age group
Speaker 2: can enjoy it. And I just think it's it just
Speaker 2: sweeps you away. That opening shot will never be beaten
Speaker 2: ever ever. That opening shot of the ship's going overhead
Speaker 2: and you see the first ship. You go, that's a
Speaker 2: massive rocket ship. And then you just see this just guark,
Speaker 2: gangs and thing that just goes forever. Beautifully parodied in Spaceballs,
Speaker 2: by the way, but I just you gripped from that
Speaker 2: moment and it doesn't let go of you.
Speaker 1: And when did you first see it?
Speaker 2: I saw it in nineteen seventy seventiece.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, we were I.
Speaker 2: Think, you know, seven, and I'll hangout. I was four
Speaker 2: and you were three, respectively, so I was I was
Speaker 2: too young to see it, but my dad took me
Speaker 2: to the cinema, and I remember he never took me
Speaker 2: to Empire, and I'm so glad because what a bait
Speaker 2: and switch. Imagine me and a kid. I would have
Speaker 2: been seven, you would have been six going going to Empire.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you did. But at the end
Speaker 2: of the movie, you go. You go there to see
Speaker 2: your heroes, you know, kick the shins of the Empire
Speaker 2: again and have adventures. And then suddenly the end of
Speaker 2: the movie, a guy's in a pit and he has
Speaker 2: concrete portal over him, and there's that shot of him
Speaker 2: just trying to reach out. He's got a single tier
Speaker 2: and he's all you know, in that in that stuff,
Speaker 2: and that's that's horrific. And then the other guy has
Speaker 2: his hand chopped off, gets dropped down a shaft, and
Speaker 2: the last thing you see is him in a water
Speaker 2: tank on life support and that's the last shot of
Speaker 2: the movie. It's like, imagine like unpacking that at Mac's
Speaker 2: with your kids after the show, was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 2: sure they're fine. What an ending? Like, seriously, there's no ending.
Speaker 1: And a massive roll of the dice to go there's
Speaker 1: something that worked and was like the biggest movie ever time.
Speaker 1: You'd say you've made the biggest movie of all time,
Speaker 1: and then you go, okay, let's go dark, and yeah,
Speaker 1: there is conjecture of how much George Lucas had planned
Speaker 1: all these things, Like I think I always get the
Speaker 1: impression there's a little bit of revisionism going on with
Speaker 1: how much was planned and what wasn't you know, And
Speaker 1: I'm sure there was a you know, a story that
Speaker 1: George wanted to tell, but you find I'm sure you
Speaker 1: discover things along the way, and they would have had
Speaker 1: ideas during making you know, Star Wars and then post
Speaker 1: Star Wars about what the next film could be. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure it didn't stick exactly to what George Lucas
Speaker 1: had in mind, so then to kind of go, no,
Speaker 1: we're going to do it. We are going to have
Speaker 1: this darkness. But I would argue that Star Wars does
Speaker 1: not become what it is now where we are still
Speaker 1: getting new movies and TV series. If they don't nail
Speaker 1: Empire strikes back, and if they went with the you know,
Speaker 1: at this they try to repeat the formula of Star
Speaker 1: Wars with the sequel, then I suspect there's a chance
Speaker 1: that Star Wars doesn't end up becoming what it becomes.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, they're very smart. I mean, you know, the
Speaker 2: original Star Wars was all set and sand. So they
Speaker 2: opened the Empire on an ice planet, so that was
Speaker 2: like stark difference. They brought a new hardware and it
Speaker 2: was very Godfather part too. It's like a bleak grim
Speaker 2: kind of downturn second act. But you're right, I think
Speaker 2: the expanded universe kind of compromises the original source material.
Speaker 2: Like obviously Lucas decided Luke and Lee were brother and sister,
Speaker 2: and then you look back at the Empire and they kiss,
Speaker 2: and it's like, okay, didn't they they haven't had this
Speaker 2: planned the whole time. And then and then you know
Speaker 2: stuff like you know that guy who gets force choked
Speaker 2: in that meeting by Darth Vader. Yeah, that guy if like,
Speaker 2: how does he not know Darth Vader's history? Like we
Speaker 2: know it now, but at the time you're just watching
Speaker 2: Star Wars and you're like, oh, well, I don't really
Speaker 2: know who this guy is. He probably just thinks it's
Speaker 2: Darth from from work, you know. Yeah, took me to do.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know we could do that with the Force.
Speaker 2: And I don't think Darth va it would turn up
Speaker 2: to group meetings anyway. I think it'd be too important.
Speaker 2: He might zoom in.
Speaker 1: He kind of does that mute.
Speaker 2: Breathing Darth. I'll just get my cat's asshole out of
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 1: I mean, but I mean dark, there's a bit of
Speaker 1: there's a version of zoom going on really with holograms,
Speaker 1: and and the way they do interact it is perhaps
Speaker 1: the original zoom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I reckon so holograms. Yeah, the way you talk
Speaker 2: to the Emperor was straight out of zooms, like a
Speaker 2: zoom chat.
Speaker 1: Did you you know? I mean, obviously we can talk
Speaker 1: about I was for a long time. But just before
Speaker 1: we move on to your other excellent films, did you
Speaker 1: enjoy everyone? Can I be.
Speaker 2: Oh, it was so great to see. I don't want
Speaker 2: to talk too much about it in case people are listening. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: but it was really interesting to see all the cast
Speaker 2: get back together. I'm very disappointed by the toxicity of
Speaker 2: Star Wars fans attacking some of the online. I think
Speaker 2: that's just horrific. And I don't think it's Star Wars fans.
Speaker 2: I think it's just there's a bunch of toxic blokes
Speaker 2: out there who attack who are nerds as well, and
Speaker 2: they attack stuff like the New Ghostbusters. In this it's
Speaker 2: okay to have criticisms or not be happy with the
Speaker 2: directions something takes. But that's a real zeitgeist at the
Speaker 2: moment and a real problem. People just bullying online on Twitter,
Speaker 2: and you know, the actors, they go into a bit
Speaker 2: of a depression over it, and I think it's really unfair.
Speaker 1: Oh, the the treatment of some of the actors involved.
Speaker 1: I mean this idea that you can't when the Force
Speaker 1: awakens was announcer, you can't have a black Stormtrooper. It's
Speaker 1: like you believe that there can be a giant slug,
Speaker 1: you know, a gangster. You know, there's a little blue
Speaker 1: elephant playing in a band somewhere, but you can't have
Speaker 1: a black Stormtrooper. What what you know? What are you?
Speaker 1: You know? And yeah, and you learn that he's actually,
Speaker 1: you know, like there's you know, just wait for the
Speaker 1: movie to come out. And I don't know. I just
Speaker 1: think personally, you know what, there are so many TV
Speaker 1: shows and movies to watch and people to follow. If
Speaker 1: you put something negative down, attacking somebody or a film
Speaker 1: there in I just think you're losing. You're losing at life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and your criticisms will be obscured by your hate. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you've gotta if you have a genuine criticism that the
Speaker 2: producers might take on board, it'll be gone because you're
Speaker 2: just ranting and you know, exposing your bias about race
Speaker 2: and gender.
Speaker 1: Perhaps I had. I had the great fortune of interviewing
Speaker 1: Ron Howard recently, literally this week, and I really you know,
Speaker 1: and it's for his new movie thirteen Larves, about the
Speaker 1: ty Cave rescue, and it's it's a really intense film,
Speaker 1: and it was a real honor for me to interview
Speaker 1: Ron Howard. But I really wanted to say to him,
Speaker 1: by the way, Solo was awesome, don't listen, don't listen
Speaker 1: to the haters, because I thought it was such a
Speaker 1: fun Star Wars film, and I would love to see
Speaker 1: that sequel, to be honest and I think Disney, if
Speaker 1: they were brave enough, they would actually do it as
Speaker 1: a TV series, do that next installment with Hahn going
Speaker 1: off to Javia's Palace as a sequel. And I thought
Speaker 1: the guy and I keep forgetting his name, but sadly
Speaker 1: we haven't seen him since. I'm not sure if it's
Speaker 1: a if it's a blowback from from the reaction from Solo,
Speaker 1: but I thought he did an awesome job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was absolutely brilliant. And the guy who played
Speaker 2: opposite him played the rule of you know, child Ash
Speaker 2: cal Rissie and I guess.
Speaker 1: You could see Yeah, yeah, Don'd love it.
Speaker 2: Lando was fantastic casting. He just nailed it. It's so
Speaker 2: charismatic and just really captured the character brilliantly. I thought
Speaker 2: they both did a great job. I thought it was
Speaker 2: a rollicking adventure.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think there was a lot of backlash against the
Speaker 2: Last Jedi Jedi campaign for Nerds to Boycott's Solo as
Speaker 2: a punishment for what they perceived to be a direction
Speaker 2: they didn't like the Neu trilogy taking, which is wild.
Speaker 2: I don't know how true or how much effect that had,
Speaker 2: but Solo was great.
Speaker 1: There was a report by a university in America that
Speaker 1: saw that a lot of the negativity aimed at the
Speaker 1: last Jedi were actually proven Russian bots. And it was
Speaker 1: like it was almost like a strategy that the Russians
Speaker 1: were taking to not just infiltrate and promote discourse amongst
Speaker 1: American politics, but also popular culture to have to have
Speaker 1: things that people seemingly harmonious about. If if they can
Speaker 1: get discourse into that and get people fighting on that,
Speaker 1: that's just disrupting culture holistically in a way, as opposed
Speaker 1: to just people who care about politics.
Speaker 2: Wow, you've just gonna fold your rogan there with your
Speaker 2: conspiracy theories.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's it's all university backed by you know,
Speaker 1: it was an online university. I'm pretty sure. Anyway, moving on.
Speaker 2: He's offering me DMPT and protein.
Speaker 1: Next, let's let's look about grandhog Day, a brilliant film.
Speaker 1: Bill Murray, of course, and Annie McDowell tell us about
Speaker 1: your love of grandhog Day.
Speaker 2: Oh, I love it. I could watch it every day.
Speaker 2: What I love about it is it's a it's a
Speaker 2: it's a spiritual and human tale. It's it's about a
Speaker 2: guy who is a bit of a jerk and he's
Speaker 2: fed up with life. He doesn't value his life anymore.
Speaker 2: And and then he has to repeat the same exact
Speaker 2: day over and over again, and just the joy of
Speaker 2: discovery of that of him realizing he's trapped in the
Speaker 2: same day, that's awesome. And then the third time and
Speaker 2: he suddenly gets to know each day intimately back to front,
Speaker 2: and he starts to mess with stuff and becomes possibly
Speaker 2: more of an asshole. And then suddenly he realizes the
Speaker 2: most important things to do are work on his flaws,
Speaker 2: get rid of his flaws, and to and that the
Speaker 2: secret of being happy, into being a whole person is
Speaker 2: to help other people and to be kind. And at
Speaker 2: the end of the film, he's just purified himself. It's
Speaker 2: it's very Buddhist in a way. And then you know,
Speaker 2: repeating the same life. You know the Buddhist tenant that
Speaker 2: reincarnation exists, and we we only take with us what
Speaker 2: we learn and how to be a good person, and
Speaker 2: we take that in or we can go the other way,
Speaker 2: the other spiral. So a lot of Buddhists contacted the
Speaker 2: scriptwriter afterwards and said thank you for making a movie
Speaker 2: for us, and he's like, I don't know anything about Buddhism.
Speaker 1: I just up with an idea.
Speaker 2: And the other weird part is like he came up
Speaker 2: with that idea in a moment of divine inspiration. That's
Speaker 2: one guy's idea, and it's become a genre now, you know,
Speaker 2: like the Edge of Tomorrow. There was that horror movie
Speaker 2: Room fourteen Awaight or something that was John Cusack and
Speaker 2: then it was a TV series and Red Sparrow one
Speaker 2: of them. But it's probably all millions of dollars. It's
Speaker 2: his idea and they just went, no, that's thank you,
Speaker 2: that's that's in the popular culture. Now we're going to
Speaker 2: all do it.
Speaker 1: Russian Doll on Netflix is another one excellent series that
Speaker 1: they borrows the same, the same conceit. Andie McDowell is
Speaker 1: an interesting character, and Charlie Pickering had strong thoughts about
Speaker 1: Andy McDowell. She is somebody who she clearly does not
Speaker 1: have the acting chops of a Meryl Streep, but she
Speaker 1: I think she does the job required and she has
Speaker 1: done it in movies who have gone on and been
Speaker 1: very you know, been very successful for Four Weddings and
Speaker 1: a Funeral, Green Card, Grand Hoog Day, Sexalize and Videotape.
Speaker 1: So for someone who's not we don't probably associate you know,
Speaker 1: complete really strong acting chops. She's still been involved in
Speaker 1: like cow laid leading parts in movies that are successful,
Speaker 1: which you can't have, you know, a weak link in
Speaker 1: big movies.
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's funny, isn't it. She's not a standout. He
Speaker 2: can't you can't do an impression of her, and you
Speaker 2: can't quote in many of her famous quotes. But she's
Speaker 2: been in so many tent pole films.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it's interesting Chris Elliot, very funny in
Speaker 1: that always always funny, Chris Elliott. Yeah, you go to.
Speaker 2: Apparently he didn't. They genuinely didn't get along with Bill
Speaker 2: Murray because Bill Murray doesn't suffer fools gladly. And I
Speaker 2: think the guy was a bit irritating to him at points.
Speaker 2: And they yeah, they so that that tension between them
Speaker 2: as cameraman and and anchor was genuine. They kind of
Speaker 2: had that relationship off screen, much like you know, Robert
Speaker 2: Shaw and Richard Drayfuss and Jaws. They actually hated each
Speaker 2: other as well, and I think that plays on screen beautifully.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 1: But there there are so many times we hear those stories.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had you know, Vivian Lee and Clark
Speaker 1: Gable and Gone with the Wind famously, you know, didn't
Speaker 1: you know? It didn't get along, and it's arguably you know,
Speaker 1: some people I won't claim it as but some people
Speaker 1: will claim it as the greatest movie ever made, the
Speaker 1: greatest love story epic ever made. And they did not
Speaker 1: get along. So it is interesting had sometimes it works,
Speaker 1: and you wonder how many movies there have been where
Speaker 1: they don't cast don't get along and it has just
Speaker 1: genuinely ruined the movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, yeah, that's a that's a good point,
Speaker 2: because people need to have alchemy, you know, to be
Speaker 2: able to function and to have that on screen chemistry.
Speaker 2: But Clark Able and Vivian Lee, that's that's interesting that
Speaker 2: they hated each other. Maybe there was some sort of
Speaker 2: weird tension that made it look the same, made it
Speaker 2: look like real kind of romance. So maybe they were
Speaker 2: supposed to be a bit tense with each other for
Speaker 2: the plot. But it's you're right, there's probably numerous films
Speaker 2: out there where the plot where the cast didn't have
Speaker 2: the alchemy required and maybe they didn't get the movie
Speaker 2: to the point that wanted to be.
Speaker 1: As Yeah, the Greatest Showman is a movie. That's it's
Speaker 1: so interesting. I saw this with had one of those
Speaker 1: lovely cinematic cinematic experiences, Dave, where I saw it as
Speaker 1: a preview and more so that I didn't know anything
Speaker 1: about it. I knew Hugh Jackman was in it. My expectations.
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, for some reason, we're a bit low
Speaker 1: on it, and I was, and I had to say,
Speaker 1: very similar experience with Maverick recently. You know, bar was low,
Speaker 1: wasn't sure what to expect and was blown away. And
Speaker 1: so many It's funny with the Greatest Showman, so many
Speaker 1: men in my life, you know, in my family and
Speaker 1: friends like really love this film. And I think I
Speaker 1: think that I'm not sure what their expectations were, who
Speaker 1: they thought their target demographic was, and but I think
Speaker 1: it's just one of those movies that is demographic is
Speaker 1: really wide. I'm not you know, when they're promoting it,
Speaker 1: when they were developing it, maybe they thought this was
Speaker 1: female skewed. I don't know, but it's incredibly the amount
Speaker 1: of men who relate to this film.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I didn't know that. That's interesting. To hear
Speaker 2: that a lot of your male friends like it. I
Speaker 2: remember seeing the trailer when I came out and going, oh,
Speaker 2: that looks great. That's that's right up my alleys. And
Speaker 2: then the reviews came out Pete and it's unbelievable, how
Speaker 2: unfairly milind it was, and that changed my interest. I
Speaker 2: threw a bucket of water over my interest and I
Speaker 2: just went, oh, I won't bother them. And then a
Speaker 2: friend of mine she was like, you got to see
Speaker 2: this movie. You see the Greatest Showman. I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was kind of interested, but it sounds awful from
Speaker 2: the reviews. And then I'm over at her house one
Speaker 2: night ex house made in fact in Melbourne, my friend Bess,
Speaker 2: and then she goes, oh, I got to get you
Speaker 2: to watch it, and I'm like, oh no, I'm good.
Speaker 2: And then one day she kept asking tonight the night
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, I mean yes, I would
Speaker 2: love to, and she put it on. I was just enthralled.
Speaker 2: From the opening moment where Hugh Jackman's tapping his cane
Speaker 2: and it's like Singing in the Rain meets Carnivale, it's
Speaker 2: like just outstanding. I mean I was gonna call it
Speaker 2: a guilty pleasure. I'm not guilty about it at all.
Speaker 2: I'm just wondering why the reviewers hated it, potentially because
Speaker 2: it's the story of P. T. Barnum, but they just
Speaker 2: take wild liberties with it, you know, so they could
Speaker 2: have just changed it to being something about you know
Speaker 2: about you know, a showman of that era. They didn't
Speaker 2: need to necessarily make it an actual historic figure. I
Speaker 2: think that really damaged it potentially. But the other what
Speaker 2: amazing thing I love is the song that was the
Speaker 2: breakout hit, This is Me, you know, a song for
Speaker 2: the disenfranchised and maybe people are a bit different or
Speaker 2: don't fit into certain kind of like containers. That song
Speaker 2: is just so empowering for many people and such a
Speaker 2: beautiful song and a brilliant vocal performance. And they wrote
Speaker 2: that two weeks before they started shooting, Like the producers
Speaker 2: went to the songwriters, we need another song, like we
Speaker 2: need the you know, the people in the circus to
Speaker 2: have a song about what it means to them to
Speaker 2: be represented fairly. Finally, and they're all done, you know,
Speaker 2: less than two weeks, and it became the biggest hit
Speaker 2: of the musical. And also none of the Principles singing it.
Speaker 2: It's all the chorus basically, yeah.
Speaker 1: But I had somebody who said to me, and then
Speaker 1: the men I refer to mostly, I mean, I've got
Speaker 1: a lot of comedian friends and people who working in
Speaker 1: the arts who love it. But a lot of the
Speaker 1: men I come more to referring to are people who
Speaker 1: are like trade's and friends of mine who are you know,
Speaker 1: nowhere need of the arts industry, and maybe don't even
Speaker 1: go see a lot of movies. But you know, I had,
Speaker 1: you know, my brother in law say, you know, he
Speaker 1: went and saw it. I think he maybe got tickets
Speaker 1: to a screening and then took his daughters back the
Speaker 1: next day to see it again. And and somebody else sue,
Speaker 1: he's very close to me, he said, he said, that
Speaker 1: song this is me. They said, whenever I feel, you know,
Speaker 1: I've been down, that's the song they just put on
Speaker 1: to listen to to get them get themselves back up.
Speaker 1: It's the Jews say, need to get back up. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's it's I mean, a freak position where I just
Speaker 1: happened to have sament around me who have told me that.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if it is, you know, if that
Speaker 1: resonates that was maybe let us know, get on the
Speaker 1: speed pipe on our links and let us know, or
Speaker 1: yasne at gmail dot com and let us know if
Speaker 1: The Greatest Showman speaks to you as much as as
Speaker 1: much as I've just we're just outlined.
Speaker 2: I've seen it so many. I've seen it twenty times,
Speaker 2: I think because it's a musical, so you just, rather
Speaker 2: than listen to the soundtrack, you whacked the whole experience on.
Speaker 2: And it's just got so many beautiful moments and songs
Speaker 2: in it, and it's a double love story. There's a
Speaker 2: moment where you know he's showing his childhood friend around
Speaker 2: this abandoned mansion and then he buys it for her
Speaker 2: when he's super wealthy. And it's a real circular story.
Speaker 2: Starts with the same song as it ends with as well,
Speaker 2: so very circular. Zach Efron and Hugh Jackman just flexing
Speaker 2: their musical theater chops and showing us exactly what triple threats,
Speaker 2: quadruple sextuple threats they are. It's not fair. No human
Speaker 2: being should be as talented as Hugh Jackman. It's just unfair.
Speaker 2: Give one talent the work.
Speaker 1: It's extraordinary and I know zach Efron has you know,
Speaker 1: he started in I'm not sure he was he part
Speaker 1: of the Mickey Maska. I don't know where. He's certainly
Speaker 1: part of the High School Musical franchise. I remember coming
Speaker 1: out to Australia and we interviewed him a few times
Speaker 1: and he was he was so lovely back then, and
Speaker 1: I always kind of thought, I'm going to take an
Speaker 1: interest in this guy one. I think he's really he's
Speaker 1: really talented, he's ridiculously good looking. I want to see
Speaker 1: where his career goes. But he's also really nice. I
Speaker 1: wonder was the track how nice he stays? And he
Speaker 1: kept on coming back, you know, periodically the promote movies,
Speaker 1: and I got to say, he's always remained a completely
Speaker 1: not like, completely nice, level headed guy who is obviously
Speaker 1: was obviously very interested in expanding and stretching himself. And
Speaker 1: so to see him and Hugh Jackman together in this movie,
Speaker 1: he's almost like a young Hugh Jackman in a way.
Speaker 1: It's really fun. Sign Zendia is great and as well.
Speaker 1: I think when I first watched it, I wasn't sure
Speaker 1: because basically they're they're I forget the term, they actually used.
Speaker 1: What do they refer to themselves as, like the bedded lady,
Speaker 1: what do they refer to themselves as?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's the original word geek. You know
Speaker 2: the word gigie, I mean an herdy guy. But they
Speaker 2: were circus geeks.
Speaker 1: Circus geeks, So you got these circus geeks. I didn't
Speaker 1: quite understand what was making Zendaiah like a you know,
Speaker 1: a geek. You know, you got the bit of lady
Speaker 1: and and and he's got this beautiful girl. I was.
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure she felt like she should have been
Speaker 1: in the different circus. Well, it wasn't just the color
Speaker 1: of her skin was that was at the point now
Speaker 1: I'm making Do you remember.
Speaker 2: It's a good question. I think they certainly took liberties
Speaker 2: with the timeline there, because I think a lot of
Speaker 2: those sideshow folks were like just in boxes and stuff,
Speaker 2: whereas they were, like it was more modernized. So I
Speaker 2: think it was really taking liberties with fashion and and
Speaker 2: and the timeline. So she was on she was doing
Speaker 2: a silk's routine, which is like, you know, but I
Speaker 2: noticed the criticisms of people saying it wasn't quite you know, accurate,
Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, that would be boring. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's a fantasy. It's it's you know, they're they're swinging
Speaker 2: around on silks together in slow motion during that scene
Speaker 2: in the circus tent where they first kind of reveal
Speaker 2: their love for each other, and it's stunning and like
Speaker 2: if they had a real circus performance from back then,
Speaker 2: it would have been trapeze. It would have been like
Speaker 2: your first you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the modern styling really and made it something else.
Speaker 2: It was almost like it was in no time, or
Speaker 2: almost like a steampunk version of the eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 1: I think you make a good point. I think maybe
Speaker 1: seeing this as a if they had taken P. T.
Speaker 1: Barnum out of it and just made a generic you know,
Speaker 1: or a fictionalized character, it would have been fun. But
Speaker 1: it should not. None of this should spoil your enjoyment
Speaker 1: of the movie. It is such an enjoyable movie, and
Speaker 1: you're right there. It should be no guilt attached to
Speaker 1: it at all. Michelle Williams as well is always magnificent,
Speaker 1: and she's great in that. Okay, they're three great films, Dave.
Speaker 1: You've given me three great films to talk about.
Speaker 2: Can I can I give you my least favorite film.
Speaker 1: Oh it's not usually an official part of the podcast.
Speaker 1: But you're a good friend, Dave, you're a longtime friend.
Speaker 1: I'm going to allow it. What have you got?
Speaker 2: I'm a real Maverick meat right, Pete? Gravity?
Speaker 1: Holy heck?
Speaker 2: Gravity? Do you know? Do you know the movie Gravity?
Speaker 1: Yes? I enjoyed Gravity, Sandra.
Speaker 2: Bullet, I hated so much.
Speaker 1: Is it because it's is it the tension or is it?
Speaker 2: Oh that kind of got to me. But yeah, the
Speaker 2: underlying tent was a bit intense. But I love space.
Speaker 2: Alien is one of my favorites. That's quite tense. But okay,
Speaker 2: they're in space and hectic, shit's going on. Great, so far,
Speaker 2: so good. And then okay, so there's a spoiler. So
Speaker 2: right now, if you're listening to this and you want
Speaker 2: to see Gravity, maybe I'm going to count down from
Speaker 2: five and then you can hit your forward thirty second
Speaker 2: button a couple of times until we're not talking about it.
Speaker 2: But five four three two one George Clooney. The dead
Speaker 2: scene of George Clooney, right like he cuts his tether
Speaker 2: and then he just like floats he gets sucked into space. Ye,
Speaker 2: And it's like that does not happen, like there's no
Speaker 2: gravity in space. Like you cut a tether, you just
Speaker 2: stay there. You need to be in motion for you
Speaker 2: to go anywhere. There's a vacuum. It space is a vacuum.
Speaker 2: So he cuts the tether he would stay there, and
Speaker 2: then he just like gets sucked off. And It's like,
Speaker 2: what the hell the movie's called gravity and you don't
Speaker 2: understand it. You've made a movie's cut in space called
Speaker 2: gravity without understanding what space does to gravity. And I
Speaker 2: just went oh, and I got so furious just by that.
Speaker 2: I was like, you've killed one of the main characters
Speaker 2: for a physical condition that doesn't exist in reality. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, why would you do that? And then the
Speaker 2: next scene, Sandra Bullock's in like the station and there's
Speaker 2: a circular window, right and she's in there in a
Speaker 2: spacesuit and she's spinning around in the fetal position, and
Speaker 2: like there's a there's like a cord coming out of
Speaker 2: our space suit, out of the stomach of our space suit.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, Okay, I get it. It's a rebirth. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's you're in a womb.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 2: And then I just went you know what, I'm going
Speaker 2: stick a fork in me. That's it. You've insulted my
Speaker 2: intelligence twice with a ham fisted metaphor a physical condition
Speaker 2: that doesn't exist. I don't want to get to the
Speaker 2: end of this movie and go I'm not you know
Speaker 2: one of those people who go, I'm never getting my
Speaker 2: two hours back. Oh, I'm getting them back. I may
Speaker 2: have lost twenty bucks, but I'm getting two hours of
Speaker 2: my life back. I'm going to go and have a
Speaker 2: coffee in a one I've granted. I know this is
Speaker 2: about your favorites, and see one I've just like gone
Speaker 2: rah gravity.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe maybe this is a new you know
Speaker 1: portion of the podcast where I do allow a little
Speaker 1: venting exercise for the films that they get to us.
Speaker 2: So what to say that for six years.
Speaker 1: If Santra Blick was inside the Space Shuttle and like
Speaker 1: had like a i don't know, like a pool cleaner pole,
Speaker 1: if she was able to get that through somehow the
Speaker 1: space and like give George clearly a poke in the
Speaker 1: in the in the chest, what do you then float.
Speaker 2: That he absolutely would and he wouldn't stop unless he
Speaker 2: hit something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's that's what That's what needed to happen
Speaker 1: that needed to happen. So there you go.
Speaker 2: Just give gravity a bit of a google. If you're
Speaker 2: gonna call a movie gravity.
Speaker 1: Well, it is interesting because you they do so much
Speaker 1: research for those movies, you know, like those types of movies,
Speaker 1: and they go to extraordinary lengths. You know, often get
Speaker 1: things right, but sometimes I wanted to. I always would
Speaker 1: love to be like a fly on the wall those
Speaker 1: discussions of going did they know? And I just ignore it?
Speaker 1: Or that is not know?
Speaker 2: Well, a lot of sci fi ignores the fact that
Speaker 2: there's no sound from an explosion in space, but that's
Speaker 2: that looks weird. Yeah, so like when spaces blow up,
Speaker 2: there's a big that doesn't happen either, So that's why
Speaker 2: the byline of aliens in space, no one can use
Speaker 2: scream there's no sound, So they ignore that, and I
Speaker 2: think that's good, don't. I don't walk out of movies
Speaker 2: that have explosions that are audible in space. But that
Speaker 2: one just it's a main character and that wouldn't happen.
Speaker 1: I'm like, see it, yeah, yeah, yeah, he basically only
Speaker 1: had two characters to look after. All right, Dave, let's
Speaker 1: go to nineteen eighty one. Ivan rightman directs stripes with
Speaker 1: the great Bill Murray, Haldraimus, John Candy, you know, Judge
Speaker 1: Reinholder becomes you know, he goes on and become Starr
Speaker 1: in Beverly Hills, cop and and Gremlins and so so
Speaker 1: much to think about, so much to talk about. But
Speaker 1: did you enjoy it? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I found it enjoyable. I was, you know, more lukewarm
Speaker 2: on it than I thought. I don't know why I
Speaker 2: expected it to be laugh a minute comedy. Maybe I
Speaker 2: was thinking about Caddy Shack and Meatballs and then the
Speaker 2: precursors with the same writers and cast this one kind
Speaker 2: of it plodded along for parts. The pacing wasn't great,
Speaker 2: but there were some great moments, some really good slapstick,
Speaker 2: and some really great kind of impro by Harold Ramis
Speaker 2: and Bill Murray. So I would rate it, but not
Speaker 2: as high as I expected. Maybe that the passage of
Speaker 2: time has created maybe an expectation that maybe what didn't
Speaker 2: exist at the time.
Speaker 1: Yet I do feel with this podcast, it's down the
Speaker 1: dawn on me that comedies are trickier to do because
Speaker 1: time is less kind to comedy, because there are certain
Speaker 1: you know, Zike, you know when you make a comedy,
Speaker 1: there's certain things that are in the Zeitgei's comic styles,
Speaker 1: you know, product, you know, even even if as budgets go,
Speaker 1: what's given a comedy and what's given to you dramas?
Speaker 1: A lot of these also, a lot a lot of
Speaker 1: these movies in the eighties. I think we're made quickly
Speaker 1: perhaps and and and I think there's a lot of
Speaker 1: cocaine involved. Try to cocaine go that that's that's on them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's their choices they make.
Speaker 2: We're not responsible for cocaine, no.
Speaker 1: No, But I think there is more that stands out
Speaker 1: as far as watching a film, you know, forty years
Speaker 1: on now and the things are going to go, oh,
Speaker 1: that's interesting, And that's the kind of maybe you can
Speaker 1: get in the way of you enjoyed the film, and
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to stop down too much
Speaker 1: and talk about the things, and you know you kind
Speaker 1: of we will, I'm sure at times. But also just
Speaker 1: the comedy stars on what we expect from comedies. You
Speaker 1: mentioned groundhog Day as one of your favorite films, and
Speaker 1: I feel like there was a turning point I think
Speaker 1: at the eighties where we started asking more from our comedies,
Speaker 1: you know, like bigger concepts, you know, even like you know,
Speaker 1: Three Amigos comes along and I think, you know, eighty
Speaker 1: six twenty five years after this, and it's not a
Speaker 1: completely dissimilar film in a way, but it's it's there's
Speaker 1: a lot more there's a lot more ideas built into that.
Speaker 1: There's more jeopardy these films like Stripes and and and
Speaker 1: and Meat Boys. It feels like set Peace after set Peace,
Speaker 1: but there's no real there's no real consequence for any
Speaker 1: of the actions, you know, and there's a cartoon kind
Speaker 1: of feel suit. But even even the setup that Bill
Speaker 1: Murray when they go and and join the army, his
Speaker 1: mate Russell Zitsky player Harold ramis like he actually Russell
Speaker 1: joins the army without really thinking much about it at all.
Speaker 1: Like when he's teaching his class, he doesn't really seem
Speaker 1: like he's at rock bottom, Like he actually seems like
Speaker 1: he's Yeah, he might be, he's probably a bit bored
Speaker 1: with it, but he seems to be getting a little
Speaker 1: bit out of it. He's getting them to singer song
Speaker 1: and you know, it seems like there's a reasonable vibe
Speaker 1: in there. There's certainly a progression of when he first
Speaker 1: introduces himself to his class to when he's got them
Speaker 1: singing a song in English. I mean that seems, you know,
Speaker 1: a pretty remarkable bit of work from an English teacher
Speaker 1: in that timeframe. I do feel there are, yeah, there
Speaker 1: are logic flaws and blot holes through this, and you
Speaker 1: eat to the side, and if you're watching it at
Speaker 1: a time in nine to eighty one, you probably go, well,
Speaker 1: I love this because I love Bill Murray and I
Speaker 1: love these set pieces, and I think when you watch
Speaker 1: it now, you kind of we ask for a bit
Speaker 1: more jeopardy, the stakes to be a bit higher, a
Speaker 1: bit more Well, why don't we know anything about Bill
Speaker 1: Murray's backstory? Yeah, like you a bit more staff.
Speaker 2: I agree completely. Yeah, that Howard Ramas, you know, teaching
Speaker 2: in the class versus Bill Murray's moment of you know,
Speaker 2: getting jack of driving people around New York and cabs.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, Bill Murray's character loses his partner
Speaker 2: and his apartment and his job and everything, and he's
Speaker 2: got no hope and he goes, oh, well, I'll enlist.
Speaker 2: That's more of an all lost moment for me in
Speaker 2: scriptwriting terms than Harold Ramas just going I don't really
Speaker 2: want to teach this class. That's not in all his
Speaker 2: lost moment, and I don't think that character looks like
Speaker 2: he would go all enlist in the army at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, Well, originally it was going to
Speaker 1: be Dennis Quai. Well, originally the movie was written of
Speaker 1: a cheat and Chom as a stone. Yeah, John go
Speaker 1: to the army.
Speaker 2: It was going to be and then cheat and John
Speaker 2: wanted to control the whole thing, which understandably it's their
Speaker 2: faces up there and everyone else went to No.
Speaker 1: Well, even more than that, I think I'm being nice
Speaker 1: to Cheach and Chong Cheachen Chung's manager wanted. This is remarkable.
Speaker 1: One of twenty five percent of Ivan Rightman's next four
Speaker 1: or five films the box office of the next five films,
Speaker 1: Yes what Yeah, which is ch Jong what?
Speaker 2: No? Come on? Like Elvis used to do that with
Speaker 2: people wanting to cover his songs, apparently because he'd inflate
Speaker 2: their career to the degree that they'd make much more
Speaker 2: money on their next records. And so the Colonel Tom
Speaker 2: Parker and who actually was Tom Hanks in the Skies,
Speaker 2: I found out recently he made that deal with a
Speaker 2: lot of recording artists that Elvis would cover, but Chiach
Speaker 2: and Chong weren't Elvis, like Ivan Reichman is not going
Speaker 2: to be making bank for four or five movies inflated
Speaker 2: earnings wise, So that's a bizarre contractual thing to put in,
Speaker 2: like that's suiting yourself in the foot. Did Cheechs and
Speaker 2: Chung know this?
Speaker 1: Well? I've read it in two different sources, and and
Speaker 1: one doesn't make the point about whether the Chicken Chung knew,
Speaker 1: but one another one does say they were unaware. So
Speaker 1: there might have been a bit of Colonel Tom Packer
Speaker 1: going on with Chicken Chung's manager. So basically they took
Speaker 1: out the stone element but gave some of some of
Speaker 1: that kind of the the the debris of that exists
Speaker 1: in Judge Reynold's character, like he's a bit of a stone.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really come through particularly strongly. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Think another reason potentially that they veered away from the
Speaker 2: Stone or anglers apparently you know, the American military, they
Speaker 2: wanted to use their basis because it would half the budget. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the film production company wanted to use all the you know,
Speaker 2: Fort Knox and all the other local locations in military
Speaker 2: hardware and uniforms. And they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: but let's negotiate the plot a bit. And so they
Speaker 2: had a power with the with the brass and what
Speaker 2: they wanted the movie to be in exchange for that,
Speaker 2: and they said, yeah, we'd love it to be a
Speaker 2: recruitment tool. So I wonder how that compromised the script.
Speaker 2: It definitely would have taken drugs out of it. They
Speaker 2: might have had a moment where they were like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know this whole scene where you kind of have
Speaker 2: a commentary on the military industrial complex, but we take
Speaker 2: that out and put in an overly long mud wrestling scene.
Speaker 1: Well there was one. There is one little dig at
Speaker 1: the Army. Howld Ramas apparently was trying to get digs
Speaker 1: in at the military kind of on the sly by
Speaker 1: the way, and I meant to mention you mentioned Howard Ramis.
Speaker 1: It was almost a strange choice. Doesn't seem like a
Speaker 1: guy who would actually join the army, especially Dennis Quaid.
Speaker 1: Bill Murray said he wanted Harold Ramis because he's a
Speaker 1: longtime friend and also could help him rewrite jokes on
Speaker 1: the spot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ivan Rightman was on board as well because he'd
Speaker 2: worked together with him on either Meatballs or Caddy Shack
Speaker 2: and knew that he was a great improviser and a
Speaker 2: really sound comic mind as a great humorist. And I
Speaker 2: think he got brought in before Bill Murray and Columbia
Speaker 2: Studios just went no to his audition. They were like, nah,
Speaker 2: and I get it because he's got real Sam the
Speaker 2: Eagle energy. You know, he's not like a red nose comittee.
Speaker 2: He's more like stoic and quite dead pan. And of course,
Speaker 2: you know Bill Murray's very deadpan as well, so they
Speaker 2: maybe wanted to lighten it up, get an actor. They
Speaker 2: didn't like his acting Chops Ramses. And then Bill Murray
Speaker 2: was like, like you said, he wanted his mate, someone
Speaker 2: he could bounce off and improvise with, who he had
Speaker 2: in alchemy with. And he also apparently in the commentary
Speaker 2: for this film and the director's commentary, he said that
Speaker 2: he always felt guilty that he couldn't get him into
Speaker 2: Saturday Night Live. Apparently, yeah, that he tried and couldn't
Speaker 2: get him in. So he just said, no, this is it.
Speaker 2: He's got to be the other guy with Dennis Quaid.
Speaker 2: It still would have been a great film, but a
Speaker 2: lot we would have been missing a lot of those
Speaker 2: improvised scenes where they just bounce off each other beautifully
Speaker 2: and they have this amazing chemistry because they're great buddies.
Speaker 2: You know, when you're working with a great buddy and
Speaker 2: you're just like, you know what the other guy's thinking
Speaker 2: and you know how to lead him to what he
Speaker 2: needs to say, you know, almost almost telepathic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you're grabbing. You came through the comedy
Speaker 1: circuit in Perth with Rove and when Rove got his
Speaker 1: opportunity that I mentioned, you know, he brought me along
Speaker 1: for the ride and you know he told me about
Speaker 1: his mate, which I had heard him talk about. He's
Speaker 1: made his hairy irishman from from Perth and he you know,
Speaker 1: he overlooked there's plenty of comics in Melbourne that it
Speaker 1: would have been, you know, he could have gone for.
Speaker 1: But he knew he had this amazing chemistry with you,
Speaker 1: and he knew what you could you could bring. There's
Speaker 1: something that's you know, I don't really admire people who
Speaker 1: go no, no, no, no. I know what I trust
Speaker 1: this guy. I know what he can do, let's get
Speaker 1: him in.
Speaker 2: Oh, well, that's beautiful. Yeah. We were like hand and
Speaker 2: chewy back then. And then I came, I came over
Speaker 2: to Melbourne, I met Luke Skywalker and the force was
Speaker 2: strong with us. It was Yeah, we had such a
Speaker 2: great chemistry and so much fun in those early days.
Speaker 2: Jesus was Yeah, it was crazy, right, what a year.
Speaker 1: Well we had and we had this moment where we
Speaker 1: basically were given the keys of the kingdom. It felt like.
Speaker 1: So for those who don't know Rove was I had
Speaker 1: done to Channel thirty one with Rove. He got off
Speaker 1: at his own show at Channel nine and they said,
Speaker 1: who do you want to bring along? He brought myself, Kring,
Speaker 1: Grant and Dave along for the ride, and we arrived
Speaker 1: at Channel nine where it was set up differently. Back
Speaker 1: then it was like the old Hollywood system where you'd
Speaker 1: have these California bungalows on on the lot and you'd
Speaker 1: have like across the road would be these huge studios.
Speaker 1: So for you and me, Dave, I remember particularly, we
Speaker 1: were like writing, you know, a lot of the sketches
Speaker 1: and to see the right something and then the next
Speaker 1: day or two days later to go across the studio
Speaker 1: where a set had been built. We were just like
Speaker 1: kids in a candy store. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was Buck Wildel to see something you right
Speaker 2: come to life in a matter of days. Props had
Speaker 2: get onto a costuming. They'd bring us in and go,
Speaker 2: how about that. You're like, that's way better than I imagine.
Speaker 2: We've just come from Channel thirty one. We're like blown
Speaker 2: away by all this. I'll never forget. I once thought
Speaker 2: it'd be funny for Rove to finish the show on
Speaker 2: a Jerry Springer final thought, because I'd been watching a
Speaker 2: lot of jobs hooked on Jerry. So I just wrote
Speaker 2: this final thought and you know, the whole until next time,
Speaker 2: you know, take care of yourselves and each other and
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. And I wrote this, and
Speaker 2: then the next thing I know, they've come back and
Speaker 2: they've got a video cassette and they've put it on
Speaker 2: and it's Jerry Springer doing it, like doing the script
Speaker 2: I had written. And I'm just standing there with my
Speaker 2: jaw on the floor, going, what the frigg is going
Speaker 2: on here? How did this magic happen? This Robe McManus guy,
Speaker 2: my old buddy from Perth, has just got the Midas touched.
Speaker 2: It was insane. It was a perfect storm. It was
Speaker 2: just magic unfolding before very eyes. So someone had obviously
Speaker 2: got in touch. And back then there was no inter
Speaker 2: or those Internet, but it was you known't get it
Speaker 2: down the lane. So I think they had a production
Speaker 2: crew they'd wind up to film Jerry doing that and
Speaker 2: then polsted the cassette over. I don't know how they
Speaker 2: did it, but all I know is it was it
Speaker 2: was amazing to see my words in the in the
Speaker 2: mouth of the person that I thought rule was going
Speaker 2: to just perstige, but they got the actual gate incredible.
Speaker 1: And I refer to a moment in the opening line
Speaker 1: of my introduction. We shot a video a sketch called
Speaker 1: Astrange Funny his Home Funerals, and it involved things going
Speaker 1: wrong at funerals, and you had the idea, Dave Callum,
Speaker 1: there would just be a funeral going on around an
Speaker 1: open grave, and then somebody would ride a bmx is
Speaker 1: out of nowhere into the open grave and then we're like, well, okay,
Speaker 1: we'll get a stuntman, you know, And then I think
Speaker 1: my first reaction was like, Okay, we probably won't be
Speaker 1: able to do that, and then somebody was like, oh,
Speaker 1: we got to start, man, And then you said, no,
Speaker 1: I want to do it. I want to do it,
Speaker 1: like and I could do it. And then I was
Speaker 1: expecting somebody to go, well, we can't because you know
Speaker 1: you're not you're not a stunt man and you but
Speaker 1: then you said, well, you know, I've had some interest
Speaker 1: in stuft in you know, stunts.
Speaker 2: I'm somewhat of an enthusiastic Have you got a neat
Speaker 2: stunt training?
Speaker 1: No, So why people went with that, I have no
Speaker 1: idea And it wouldn't happen in twenty twenty two. But
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine, you you they allowed you to
Speaker 1: ride a BMX into an open grave.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and more importantly, I was willing to Actually that
Speaker 2: hasn't changed in twenty twenty two. I would still do it.
Speaker 2: I designed. I was a big fan of Jackie Chan
Speaker 2: and he did all his own stunts, and I watched
Speaker 2: a lot of the making of his stunts that he did,
Speaker 2: and I kind of like, I just designed stunt. I'd
Speaker 2: never designed the stunt before, particularly done one.
Speaker 1: You get sketches and everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I sketched it all up on Butcher's paper
Speaker 2: and so like I thought, this guy's riding his BMX,
Speaker 2: he hits a coffin and then goes over the handlebars
Speaker 2: into a grave. I'm just saying it out and out now.
Speaker 2: I don't know how how they said yeah, but I'm like, no, no,
Speaker 2: what happens is like I go over the handlebars. You're
Speaker 2: gonna have a bit of astro turf with a mattress underneath.
Speaker 2: So I hit the soft ground. Yeah, that's how you
Speaker 2: do it. And then and then I'll just like tuck
Speaker 2: and roll sideways into the grave bomb no problem. And
Speaker 2: and then I got there on the day and they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: there's the grave there, and I'm like, that's in that's
Speaker 2: in the middle of the graveyard. And they're like yeah.
Speaker 2: And I'm thinking they would have made Doug like a
Speaker 2: because I said, and I outlined in the design for
Speaker 2: them to dig a you know, eight foot six foot
Speaker 2: tank kind of a trenchy thing. It doesn't even have
Speaker 2: to be that deep. But they were using a grave
Speaker 2: a grave. And then I suddenly went visit. I don't
Speaker 2: know when I get haunted for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: There was like an and we need to be done
Speaker 1: by two o'clock because somebody's actually being buried in this grave.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got the coffin ready to go,
Speaker 2: so you know. But then again, if I did kill
Speaker 2: myself doing that stunt, at least they wouldn't have to
Speaker 2: do much with the body, just oh well, let's just
Speaker 2: bless it and bury it in.
Speaker 1: But the crazy thing was great. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: So you do the stunt, you ride the BMX into
Speaker 1: the grave, and then a director at the time, John Taba, says,
Speaker 1: you do you think you have another one in you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yeah I do. And then the thing is,
Speaker 2: I decided I got over confident the second time because
Speaker 2: it went so well the first time. We didn't need
Speaker 2: a second take. Stupid stunts. If they work, if it's
Speaker 2: not broke, don't fix it. But I said, yeah, I'd
Speaker 2: love to do it again. And this time I thought,
Speaker 2: what would be even better is if I'm looking over
Speaker 2: my shoulder, because like, if the cyclist is looking ahead,
Speaker 2: he would see the coffin and he would swerve around it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he'd veer off to one side. So for this to
Speaker 2: actually be funny, I need to be looking the wrong way.
Speaker 2: So the second time I'm looking the wrong way in
Speaker 2: the frame, and I'm also peddling faster with the additional confidence.
Speaker 2: So instead of going over the confident landing on the
Speaker 2: prepared ground, I've just gone headfirst into the side of
Speaker 2: the grave, like I've spear tackled the grave, and my
Speaker 2: head kind of went plunk and I landed on a
Speaker 2: mattress and down at the bottom. All I remember, I'll
Speaker 2: know if we get this, just me looking up at
Speaker 2: this rectangle of blue sky, and then all I see
Speaker 2: are like five or six heads peer over terrified.
Speaker 1: Did he die?
Speaker 2: Is he okay? Did he break his neck? Because if
Speaker 2: he watched that in slow motion, it's pretty inesting.
Speaker 1: I can still vividly see like a free frame of
Speaker 1: your head hitting the side of that of that grave,
Speaker 1: like it was kind of at the wrong angle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm blessed, and I had a guardian angel
Speaker 2: looking over me. But I remember the only thing they
Speaker 2: said note to in that whole process was we watched
Speaker 2: it in slow motion, and everyone's in peels the laughter,
Speaker 2: and I went, you've got to do that for the
Speaker 2: cold closery at the end of the credits. You got
Speaker 2: to chuck up the slow motion version and they were like,
Speaker 2: oh no, no.
Speaker 1: We got away with it legal and not approving that
Speaker 1: before we go back to stripes. And of course we're
Speaker 1: talking about you know, mate with chemistry, and that's how
Speaker 1: we got onto this. But I'll also say this, Dave,
Speaker 1: I've never laughed and I know you know this laughing
Speaker 1: on set. I've never laughed. I've never laughed, Dave, and
Speaker 1: I was hoping you'd make it me laugh today I've
Speaker 1: never laughed more on set and more uncontrollable. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've had plenty of days where I've laughed a lot
Speaker 1: on set, There's no doubt about that. But I think
Speaker 1: I've ever laughed so much but that I could not
Speaker 1: rein it in at least to get a single take.
Speaker 1: And God, Dan McCann The Angry Man, where it was
Speaker 1: basically you as being angry and around an office and
Speaker 1: there was a point where you were, I think, throwing
Speaker 1: cake or something, and I just could not. I mean
Speaker 1: only had I think, yeah, a budget allowed maybe maybe
Speaker 1: three cakes, and I laugh. Yeah, I laughed through the
Speaker 1: first two cakes or something, and we kind of use them.
Speaker 1: And then you know, director John Debar said, come on, Pete,
Speaker 1: we need we need to get this. You cannot laugh
Speaker 1: is our last cake. And if you look at the
Speaker 1: and maybe when this episode goes away, we'll post We'll
Speaker 1: try to find that sketch and post it. It's just
Speaker 1: me covering up my face and seeing myself laughing. Still.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's so funny because like you're like trying to
Speaker 2: look shocked. You're like, but you can see your bulging
Speaker 2: cheeks from buying your fingers, was like, and you're just
Speaker 2: shoulders are going up and down.
Speaker 1: Oh man.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. It's always when you when you can't laugh,
Speaker 2: when you're not supposed to laugh, that's when you get
Speaker 2: the giggles, like school.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we'll get back the stripes. It's interesting like
Speaker 1: when we look at things that have changed and like
Speaker 1: when And it's early on the film. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if you got the feeling, but as soon as Bill
Speaker 1: Murray gets to his apartment and he calls out to
Speaker 1: his girlfriend and you hear a voice, a female voice
Speaker 1: in the other room, you just know she's going to
Speaker 1: come out topless. Because this is nine an eighty one,
Speaker 1: you just.
Speaker 2: Know it was contractually obligated between nineteen seventy eight and
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three for featured female extras to have their
Speaker 2: cancer that was in the contract. Yes, I don't know why,
Speaker 2: and it's kind of weird, and I think they're generally
Speaker 2: not and god love them, they're generally not pro actors
Speaker 2: or very They're a bit wouldn't they take you out
Speaker 2: of the movie a little bit because their acting is
Speaker 2: not quite up to par with that of the lead.
Speaker 2: And I think it's because serious actors at that time
Speaker 2: who were offered that role just would have gone, why sorry,
Speaker 2: why my nipples added? Does that advance the plot at all? Yeah,
Speaker 2: And the serious actresses would would have gone, thank you,
Speaker 2: but no thank you, and then just get someone from Hooters.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it really is. You kind
Speaker 1: of watch it and you kind of go, wow, the
Speaker 1: fact that you just kind of expected, you know, being
Speaker 1: you know, a child of that era, you're kind to go, yeah,
Speaker 1: Like even in what I rememberan Wildcats, to be honest,
Speaker 1: like Wildcat's Goldie Horn, you know, he's like Beverly the
Speaker 1: Angelo and National Champion's Vacation like, but these were at
Speaker 1: least roles with a lot more to do and a
Speaker 1: lot more agency, I guess. But yeah, it really was
Speaker 1: a big thing where it was like HBO always said,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not new to the HBO, and there
Speaker 1: was a feeling with with films comedies around those times
Speaker 1: that you know, seeing female breasts somehow is important.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's like, you know, designed to fit
Speaker 2: into the trailer on late night TV to get dudes
Speaker 2: to tune in. But it watching it back now, it's
Speaker 2: such a product of his time. It's kind of awkward.
Speaker 1: It's like it's resually awkward, and you kind of go
Speaker 1: and because I wonder if they actually believe that comedy
Speaker 1: is were aimed at at at men. You know, like
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how many comedies there were in the
Speaker 1: early eighties that were deliberately aimed at women. I mean
Speaker 1: probably Benjamin Goldi Horn was probably you know, holding holding
Speaker 1: that space up a little bit. But yeah, it is interesting.
Speaker 1: And then you've got things like and this is an
Speaker 1: mystery one where you look back and you're going to go.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we look back at these films
Speaker 1: and we appreciate how far we've come and that there
Speaker 1: are much better roles for women. There are, thank god
Speaker 1: for movies up Bridesmaids and stuff like that, and yeah,
Speaker 1: booky as Yeah, really blow key, you know, and that
Speaker 1: was the movie's it's you know, National Anpoons, it's Animal House,
Speaker 1: it's Porky's, you know, and it's like, I mean, this
Speaker 1: is like a military comedy really, but it's also it's
Speaker 1: partly a sex comedy in the way that they go
Speaker 1: as far as those other films go, but there is
Speaker 1: you know, there's you could tell they couldn't just leave
Speaker 1: sex alone, you know, or near to the line. They
Speaker 1: for some reason they needed to have it. I mean
Speaker 1: that that scene with John Larrakatt, you know, Captain Stillman
Speaker 1: with the binoculars looking in i mean badly designed fort.
Speaker 1: You'd imagine that he's being able to stand in his
Speaker 1: office with binoculars go through another window to scene to
Speaker 1: the shower block.
Speaker 2: They need to talk to hr about that. Yeah, but
Speaker 2: the general's office overlooking this females. It was so ridiculous
Speaker 2: and it was so cruel bard In, And again you
Speaker 2: I blame Porky's because it was such a massive age
Speaker 2: and people just wanted to put that formula together because
Speaker 2: they knew you would sell. Yeah, but it just takes
Speaker 2: you out of the movie and it's just clearly you know,
Speaker 2: crewe bard In and it just feels it feels a
Speaker 2: bit of here.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And then you have the scene where they
Speaker 1: go and join the army, and we have a quick
Speaker 1: listen to that scene.
Speaker 6: I'm not saying that the army'll be able to do
Speaker 6: you what it did for me. All I'm saying is
Speaker 6: that you get out of it exactly what you put
Speaker 6: into it. Well, sometimes the army is your best shot. Now,
Speaker 6: there's a couple of questions that I have to ask you.
Speaker 6: They're a little personal line. Have you ever been convicted
Speaker 6: of a felony or a misdemeanor that's a robbery, Ray Carthiff,
Speaker 6: that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Convicted?
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, never convicted. That's good.
Speaker 2: Good all either of you homosexuals.
Speaker 6: You mean like flaming or well, it's it's a standard
Speaker 6: question we have to ask.
Speaker 2: No, we're not homosexual, but we are willing to learn. Yeah,
Speaker 2: would they send us someplace special? Yes, it's no on both.
Speaker 1: So then there's that same dive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's that. You know what, it's that wast comedy
Speaker 2: because you know it showed Harold Ramises and and Bill
Speaker 2: Murray's chemistry in alchemy. There they were obviously just shooting
Speaker 2: the ship with that guy. That guy was a perfect
Speaker 2: foil for them because he was so serious and he
Speaker 2: played his role beautiful. I don't know if he was
Speaker 2: an actual military guy, but he had the entire thing
Speaker 2: down and so they were just, you know, they were
Speaker 2: messing with his head and you know, like the line,
Speaker 2: so have you have you committed any crimes? And then
Speaker 2: they list the list of heenus crimes that the person
Speaker 2: could commit, and then Bill Murray just goes convicted. It's like,
Speaker 2: it's so subtle, it goes over the head of the
Speaker 2: recruitment officer, but it hits the audience, perfect pantomime. And then,
Speaker 2: of course, as you just heard that that question, are
Speaker 2: either of you homosexuals? My heart was in my mouth.
Speaker 2: Paid I was like, this was a time when Eddie
Speaker 2: Murphy was notoriously getting up and doing homophobic routines in
Speaker 2: his in his specials, and and I thought, I'm about
Speaker 2: to see, you know, two of my friends friends to
Speaker 2: my idols be exposed as big it's get canceled in
Speaker 2: real time retroactively. And they hand that so beautifully. I
Speaker 2: thought they did because they had to come up with gags,
Speaker 2: and they did so without being offensive or bigot it.
Speaker 2: They just went of course, as you heard, they said no,
Speaker 2: but we're willing to learn to go someplace special. It's
Speaker 2: great two gags off the back of are you homosexuals
Speaker 2: at a time like that? That are non offensive and funny, brilliant.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I had the same experience. I've seen strikes before
Speaker 1: many years ago, but I kind of had forgotten bits
Speaker 1: of it, and I was my heart was in my
Speaker 1: mouth again, and I thought it was that the lines
Speaker 1: were funny. I also thought, you know, it's actually a
Speaker 1: valid point, and it's so valid to point to remember
Speaker 1: and this is why we, you know, we shouldn't go
Speaker 1: around canceling stuff because you weren't allowed to be homosexual
Speaker 1: in the military like they so they he says it.
Speaker 1: I have to ask these questions, and up until recently,
Speaker 1: I'm most like, you know, I remember that debates still
Speaker 1: going on, and I'm not even sure what the rule
Speaker 1: is is a whole you don't don't ask, don't tell
Speaker 1: kind of philosophy, you know, in the US military. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the what what what the status is
Speaker 1: now I assume it's better, Yeah, I hope it's it's
Speaker 1: you know, if you want to serve. You can serve
Speaker 1: if you fit all the you know, the physical requirements.
Speaker 1: But I think that's why it's it's dangerous to go
Speaker 1: back and cancel stuff, because I think it's it's good
Speaker 1: to point out and remember that, yeah, this is these
Speaker 1: are the questions that the US Army actually would ask you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, And it's good to not cancel this
Speaker 2: stuff because those who don't remember history are doomed to
Speaker 2: repeat it. And I think that it's important to see
Speaker 2: how far we've come and to really appreciate that, and
Speaker 2: for for kids to know how important it is to
Speaker 2: keep pushing for social rights. Yeah, I think you're right. Like,
Speaker 2: for example, the one episode of a month of forty
Speaker 2: Towers has been canceled and is unavailable now because the kernel,
Speaker 2: you know, the old Dotter colonel in Faulty Towers for
Speaker 2: her Okay, yeah, yeah, he said really racist things in
Speaker 2: one episode and they canceled it. And I'm like, what
Speaker 2: are you doing, Like to show a character is racist,
Speaker 2: he has to say racist stuff and like he's the
Speaker 2: victim of the joke, not the people he's talking about.
Speaker 2: The victim of the joke is old fashioned, behind the times,
Speaker 2: racist fuddy duddies who who you laugh at. They're they're
Speaker 2: a tragic comic character, you know, and and it shows
Speaker 2: you that that's not the way to be because you're
Speaker 2: ridiculing the character. The character has to say racist stuff.
Speaker 2: It's not it's not promoting racism. So I'm disappointed that
Speaker 2: they canceled that. Again, to show how far we've come
Speaker 2: would be good and also to to show people how
Speaker 2: not to behave.
Speaker 1: Yes, we have to show bad behavior. We have to
Speaker 1: show bad behavior and the consequences of that. If the
Speaker 1: racist guy wins, then that's you know, probably problematic. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's interesting. There's a lot of improv in
Speaker 1: this film, obviously, Bill Murray. I mean, let's just talk
Speaker 1: about it. Before we talk abou anyprov, Let's just talk
Speaker 1: about Bill Murray, like I mean, he's as beloved as
Speaker 1: they as they come, as far as American comedic actors.
Speaker 1: Steve Martin. Probably in that conversation, I might even have
Speaker 1: Steve Martin his breath ahead of him talk to me
Speaker 1: about your love of Bill Murray.
Speaker 2: Well, he just I think what's amazing about Bill Murray
Speaker 2: is that he does not give a single heck. He
Speaker 2: does not give a single one. He does no hecks
Speaker 2: to give, and he's never had a manager. He just
Speaker 2: has an answering machine and he might get back to you,
Speaker 2: he might not. He's just an enigma. He turns up
Speaker 2: to people's houses and does their dishes. During parties, he
Speaker 2: goes up behind people are restaurants, puts his hands over
Speaker 2: their eyes and goes You'll never guess who. He just
Speaker 2: does what he wants. And in every movie he's not
Speaker 2: particularly stretching himself acting wise. He's just playing a sardonic,
Speaker 2: kind of really chill, really sharp, witty, often slacker role
Speaker 2: in the early years anyway, and people just love him
Speaker 2: for it. And in interviews he'll just speak his mind.
Speaker 2: He's a straight shooter. He has no he's not really
Speaker 2: a people pleasers. A lot of comedians are, because you know,
Speaker 2: people often get into comedy because they need to please
Speaker 2: and to make people happy. But he probably has that too,
Speaker 2: but he doesn't have He doesn't often employ tact. He'll
Speaker 2: just say what he thinks. If he doesn't like someone,
Speaker 2: he'll tell them. I think he can get him into trouble.
Speaker 2: But also I think it's something that people admire in
Speaker 2: other people especially if they don't have it and they
Speaker 2: want it. And people appreciate a truth teller. Not everyone,
Speaker 2: but but a lot of people do. And there's something
Speaker 2: charismatic about someone living completely authentically like he does.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I think he should maybe give a few more
Speaker 1: hects because he did, and maybe get him to have
Speaker 1: a manager, because he did agree to do the Garfield
Speaker 1: movies thinking it was written by one of the Coen brothers,
Speaker 1: Joel Cohen. It was the Wrong is a different Joe Cohen,
Speaker 1: and he wrote up he rocks up the Seven Day
Speaker 1: one is like, where's the Coen brother? Where's the other
Speaker 1: Coen brother? It's a different one.
Speaker 2: What was the Who was the director of that one?
Speaker 1: Well, it was either an Eighthan or a Joel Cohen.
Speaker 1: It's the same name. Yeah, right, And yeah.
Speaker 2: He thought they can do no wrong of course, anything
Speaker 2: they were attached to. I will say, yes, yeah, who
Speaker 2: are you? Yeah, I haven't seen it, but what a
Speaker 2: great voice for Garfield though you know that Garfield is
Speaker 2: essentially drying sardonic as well, so yeah, yeah, fantastic, But
Speaker 2: whether the script was up to his standards, you know,
Speaker 2: the thing altogether.
Speaker 1: Exactly the every So there's a lot of improv in this.
Speaker 1: Let's have a listen to. There's a scene where they're
Speaker 1: sitting around. It's kind a strange scene in the way
Speaker 1: because the drill side has been quite strict up until
Speaker 1: this point, and now he seems like he's just hanging
Speaker 1: out with the boys. But it's everyone just kind of
Speaker 1: shares a bit of a backstory and a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of these, if not all of them, were,
Speaker 1: were improvised. Let's have it listen.
Speaker 6: Okay, mister push ups, let's hear your.
Speaker 4: Story chicksting me because I really were underwear, and when
Speaker 4: I do, it's usually something unusual. But now I know
Speaker 4: why I have always lost women to guys like you.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's not just the uniform, it's the stories
Speaker 4: that you tell, so much fun and imagination. Lee Harvey,
Speaker 4: you are madmen.
Speaker 1: When you stole that cow.
Speaker 4: And your friends tried to make it with the cow.
Speaker 4: I want to party with you, cowboy, the two of
Speaker 4: us together forget it.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, two minds about this. Dave to be
Speaker 1: a completely honest like Bill Murray is. If you've got
Speaker 1: to talk about the strength of Bill Murray, it's not
Speaker 1: even it's his attitude. It's his attitude. That's what we
Speaker 1: love about Bill Murray. So that doesn't need to be
Speaker 1: he doesn't need zingers, not to say he doesn't, you know,
Speaker 1: have zingers you know in his film catalog, but he's
Speaker 1: not dependent on them the way maybe more Harold Ramis
Speaker 1: might be. Yeah, but I do wonder, and this is
Speaker 1: an improvised scene. I just think there could have been
Speaker 1: some sharper stuff. It is scene. I do like wonder,
Speaker 1: like there were some stories that like he's very okay.
Speaker 1: Is that? Yeah? You know that's that's a perfectly good
Speaker 1: take from Bill Murray? Is it the best take? Is
Speaker 1: that the best funniest thing Bill Murray could have said
Speaker 1: that in the character could have said in that scene. Yeah?
Speaker 2: Sure, Yeah, I'm not sure either. I do like the
Speaker 2: last line of that, you know, I'll party with you, cowboy.
Speaker 2: He will never be a thing. It's just a fun line.
Speaker 2: Is it laugh out loud funny? Though? I think it is.
Speaker 2: The question is not particularly and I think when you
Speaker 2: compare it to stuff like Adam McKay's films nowadays, Step
Speaker 2: Brothers is an example, it's like the amount of ad
Speaker 2: libbing they must have done in the amount of time
Speaker 2: on the editing room they must have done to get
Speaker 2: it down to what it was. But I think those
Speaker 2: guys nowadays they add lib for hours and hours and
Speaker 2: hours of film and they can cherry pick the best stuff.
Speaker 2: I don't think maybe because it's digital now and it
Speaker 2: was filmed back then, exactly have enough money in the
Speaker 2: budget to roll and roll and roll and roll, So
Speaker 2: they probably just did maybe one or two or three.
Speaker 2: And I think sometimes I feel a bit like actors
Speaker 2: of that caliber would maybe resent scriptwriters who haven't written
Speaker 2: the script properly. It's good to leave room for AdLib
Speaker 2: or to have a script and allow them to add
Speaker 2: lib alternative versions. But maybe in some of the cases
Speaker 2: in this film and some of the scenes, they were like, well,
Speaker 2: we kind of left it without a gag, but you
Speaker 2: just do want no like gags are something you can
Speaker 2: just do. They have to be inspired and come out
Speaker 2: of divine inspiration moments. So maybe there was a bit
Speaker 2: of that, like he was written into a corner and
Speaker 2: couldn't quite gag his way out of it, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you're absolutely right. It's a big difference is
Speaker 1: that the shooting on digital now, where they came. They
Speaker 1: can shoot all day and it doesn't cost much as
Speaker 1: opposed to shooting on film where it was expensive. So
Speaker 1: you know, maybe Bill Murray had four cracks at Matt
Speaker 1: you know, and that who knows, it might have bean,
Speaker 1: it might have been Yeah, I'm sure it was probably
Speaker 1: a few more, but but yeah, it is. I just
Speaker 1: wonder sometimes I love to seeing provisation when it's right.
Speaker 1: I love to saymprovisation in front of me, as opposed
Speaker 1: to you know, I feel like you shouldn't know it's
Speaker 1: improvised if it's on screen. I feel if people to talk,
Speaker 1: it's too much like a peep behind the curtain for me.
Speaker 1: And I feel like sometimes it can be disrespectful to
Speaker 1: the screenwriter. Yeah, and I've mentioned this on this podcast
Speaker 1: before I became alert to listening to the DVD of
Speaker 1: Wedding Crashes, where Vince Vallne kept on talking about how
Speaker 1: much human and improvised their lines, and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: well somebody somebody wrote this, you know, and they yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting, like credit to the screenwriter. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it depends. I mean, sometimes if the screenwriter just leaves
Speaker 2: out jokes, leaves gaps in the script, because they know
Speaker 2: the guys genus brilliant and yeah, you write the jokes
Speaker 2: in there. I mean, you know, that's debatable about who
Speaker 2: gets the credit and whether it's ethical for them to
Speaker 2: do that, to expect the actor to fill in the
Speaker 2: blanks and make it, make the magic happen.
Speaker 1: So to speaker, we should talk about the there are
Speaker 1: two female characters in this. They're not it's it's it's
Speaker 1: very nine to eighty one. At least they don't have
Speaker 1: to get there, you know, get naked. But Sean Young
Speaker 1: and PJ. Sols played Louise instead of the two military police,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, I mean, there's no why. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we just go along the fact that these
Speaker 1: women fall in love with these men who are kind
Speaker 1: of jerky, you know, really you know, jerky losers, and
Speaker 1: they you know, I mean, thank god we have come
Speaker 1: further than this.
Speaker 2: You're like, you can do so much better. You're Rasal
Speaker 2: from Blade Runner.
Speaker 1: You know. Well, Sean Young did not get along with
Speaker 1: Bill Murray because she did not like his improvising, so
Speaker 1: she has her own process. And I was chatting to
Speaker 1: Julie Morris a little bit. We spoke about happy Gilmore
Speaker 1: and the improvising that kind of goes on, and we
Speaker 1: were talking about it does take it's okay of one,
Speaker 1: you know, for people the improvise, but it does take,
Speaker 1: you know, people within the scene to be a chemistry
Speaker 1: to be present for improvisation to work. And obviously we
Speaker 1: spoke about Howl Ramis and Bill Murray in that scene
Speaker 1: when they sign up for the army, they have that
Speaker 1: beautiful chemistry going on. But if he put one actor
Speaker 1: in the scene that doesn't doesn't you know, isn't comfortable improvising,
Speaker 1: or doesn't have that chemistry with you, it can either
Speaker 1: lead to a bad scene or at least a kind
Speaker 1: of fractuous onset relationship.
Speaker 2: I can imagine that. Yeah, Like I watched an interview
Speaker 2: with Bill Murray from the time nineteen eighty one and
Speaker 2: he was saying that you know, I don't no sorry.
Speaker 2: It was Harold Ramas and he was talking about the
Speaker 2: Second City, which is an imperv group that he came
Speaker 2: from here, and he was going, Emperor was great because
Speaker 2: you know, you get it's the actor's worst nightmarey you're
Speaker 2: on you're on screen or on stage without a script,
Speaker 2: and you're feeling your way around. You don't know what
Speaker 2: the scene is, you don't know what's coming next, but
Speaker 2: the audience know as well. And he said, it gets
Speaker 2: rid of your fear of being naked in public, so
Speaker 2: to speak. Yeah, so some actors just haven't done that,
Speaker 2: and it's a muscle. You got to flex it, you
Speaker 2: got to work it out, you got to develop it.
Speaker 2: And if actors have only done what's on the page,
Speaker 2: that's all they're going to want to do, you know.
Speaker 2: And some just aren't inclined towards it. And I think
Speaker 2: Sean Young probably Sean Young yet probably strikes me as
Speaker 2: as the latter camp. And to be to be then
Speaker 2: put with some second city guys, not only that, stand
Speaker 2: up comedians, beloved ones at that, and then to have
Speaker 2: to kind of you know and match match energy with them,
Speaker 2: that would have been pretty harrowing for for a young actor. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, completely. P J Stalls, who played Stella, also, funny enough,
Speaker 1: played a character I think Wanda Winter was a name
Speaker 1: the year before in Private Benjamin and actually wore the
Speaker 1: same outfit exactly.
Speaker 2: Wow. Well, I'll see, I'll see that, and I'll add
Speaker 2: to that, there's a colonel in a colonel Glass and
Speaker 2: he's played by Lawrence Groun or something. Anyway, this guy,
Speaker 2: I'm looking at him, go, who the hell is this guy?
Speaker 2: And then I realized it's Colonel Decker from the A Team,
Speaker 2: you know, the A Team and trying to capture them.
Speaker 2: That was that guy. He was the colonel in this
Speaker 2: as well. He was a colonel in the A Team.
Speaker 2: He played a lieutenant in t J. Hooker called Lieutenant
Speaker 2: Decker the year before he was Colonel Decker in the
Speaker 2: A Team. I'm like, is that a coincidence, same actors,
Speaker 2: same surname, or is there a shared cinematic universe between
Speaker 2: t J. Hooker and the A Team, which I've to think.
Speaker 2: Then in nineteen eighty six and Iron Eagle, he played
Speaker 2: in general so I like the way during his career
Speaker 2: advancement he also advanced in military ranks. He's like, I'll
Speaker 2: just buy my own I've got yeah, I'll just buy
Speaker 2: an army costume. It's fine, and add medals or take
Speaker 2: them out as appropriate.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna raise you again because Ivan rightman wants it.
Speaker 1: I think his name is John uh flat flat flairy Flaherty.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how to finance surname. I apologize Irish names. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: how do you How would you say flairtly, flapperty, flattery, Flaherty, Flaherty, flatterity, yes,
Speaker 1: John Flapherty.
Speaker 2: Think hurty at the end and then think flat.
Speaker 1: Flathirty flat erty, John flait hurty, John flit Herty.
Speaker 2: Already this is just like okay, Pete, this is the
Speaker 2: word and it's double laughing.
Speaker 1: You. You're gonna got me a coxa like I soon.
Speaker 1: I know in true Dan McCann, the angry man fashion.
Speaker 2: In the room with me, so I could throw a
Speaker 2: cake in your face? What is what can you spell it?
Speaker 1: F F l a h e r T why Flaherty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you did it, even did it with the sing
Speaker 2: song voice.
Speaker 1: Well, you're leaning to the irishness a little bit, I
Speaker 1: think for that name for me, not too.
Speaker 2: Much green face, please people. Hellia is a friend's name.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure. So that's well yeah Flaherty, Yeah Flaherty.
Speaker 1: I was saying, if regressed again, Yeah, well I even
Speaker 1: rather wanted him to play the role of the border guard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but they ended up there's another actor. This goes back
Speaker 1: to Bill Murray and Joel Cohen. You know, in the
Speaker 1: Garfield movie, there's another one called Joseph x Flaherty Flaherty.
Speaker 2: You need to urish your flaherty is before you talk
Speaker 2: about him again.
Speaker 1: Wi my wife always funny enough stumbled, I cannot has
Speaker 1: to say you say Billy Connolly, has to say Connolly,
Speaker 1: like has to already focused to say Connolly.
Speaker 2: For some reason, as opposed to colony.
Speaker 1: A colony colon.
Speaker 2: Billy coloscopy. I'm a guy, you know, we man fucking
Speaker 2: you know, walking along with my face and that we're
Speaker 2: sticking away camera up my house. We get a guy
Speaker 2: with a camera. How don't we look around, you know,
Speaker 2: hit me with ge spot please while you're there, you
Speaker 2: don't mind.
Speaker 1: That's the famous comedian Billy for Hurley.
Speaker 2: I'm calling him that from now on.
Speaker 1: Well, so this this this Joseph x Flairly, Oh.
Speaker 2: God, you can outsource the flowerties to me. Just Joseph
Speaker 2: x Flaherty.
Speaker 1: And he rocks up the He rocks up the set
Speaker 1: and maybe to rehearsal or maybe the pre production and
Speaker 1: Ivan Rightan realized they got the wrong guy, so he
Speaker 1: gets given a smaller role and they do go out
Speaker 1: and get the proper Joe.
Speaker 2: Flairerty except except to follow you around for the rest
Speaker 2: of your life. Now, in case you say that's her.
Speaker 1: Name again, I imagine if I had the interviewer introducing
Speaker 1: him on the project, that'll be no.
Speaker 2: No, no. And the thing is you'd rehearsed millions of
Speaker 2: times before, but then in the moment your brain and say, no,
Speaker 2: you can't have that anymore. So is that way there
Speaker 2: were two border guards instead of one.
Speaker 1: No, I think it was a different role. Actually, I
Speaker 1: think he was like one of the smaller sergeants, you know,
Speaker 1: or more minor sergeants earlier on. So, yes, a good story,
Speaker 1: badly told.
Speaker 2: I think I think you kind of like maybe like yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe just through a few stumbling blocks in there with
Speaker 2: your persistence and douged miss Pronuncia the whole caboose. Those
Speaker 2: two Russian guys were great. They were really funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, funnily enough. John Flirt he has been I
Speaker 1: want to look a look him up. I meant to
Speaker 1: do it earlier, but he has been. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: he might have actually been in Happy Gilmore as well,
Speaker 1: which I'm pretty sure I probably would have uh set
Speaker 1: up his name back then. But I'm sure he was
Speaker 1: in something maybe I can't find it anyway.
Speaker 2: So so they were knowing comics as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think they're part They were part
Speaker 1: of the gang. There is a scene I want they
Speaker 1: want to talk about, which is almost like the most
Speaker 1: serious scene in the film, which takes place in the
Speaker 1: in the bathroom, when drill Sergeant Holker has has had
Speaker 1: enough of the comic ways of John Winger. And and
Speaker 1: this is a trope in these kinds of movies. I
Speaker 1: have a word, uh private word, and and this takes
Speaker 1: place in the bathroom.
Speaker 5: Get the idea of Winger that you don't like me.
Speaker 2: Maybe I just don't know you well.
Speaker 5: Enough yet, Sorge, what do you say? Let's cut out
Speaker 5: the bullshit between you and me. Let's I think here
Speaker 5: a fuck. I've been in this army twenty eight years.
Speaker 2: I've seen your.
Speaker 5: Can come and go.
Speaker 2: You think you know something about everything, don't you.
Speaker 6: Well, let me tell you something, mister.
Speaker 2: You don't know a damn thing about soldiering.
Speaker 4: Oh it's real tough stuff, such especially that marching in
Speaker 4: the street line business.
Speaker 2: I hate talking about that crap.
Speaker 5: I'm talking about something important like discipline and duty and
Speaker 5: honor and courage and you ain't got none of it.
Speaker 2: Those words mean so much to a man who scrubs
Speaker 2: garbage cans. Look, if you don't want me in your army,
Speaker 2: kick me out, but get off my back.
Speaker 5: Maybe you'd like to, uh take a swing at me.
Speaker 2: I'd like to take a big swing at you, sir.
Speaker 5: We'll go ahead and give it your best shot.
Speaker 4: I don't think I wanna go to the stockade.
Speaker 2: I'll take my hat off.
Speaker 3: Ere.
Speaker 1: We are a winger.
Speaker 5: Ain't no more drill, sergeant, It's just you and me,
Speaker 5: kid man the man.
Speaker 2: He said, go ahead, give it your best shot.
Speaker 6: Swing at me.
Speaker 2: Get less.
Speaker 7: Fuck.
Speaker 6: I'm wanting to forget about it, inst it and I
Speaker 6: want you to think real hard about it and maybe
Speaker 6: someday you'll understand what the hell I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: It does stand at divers as perhaps the most interesting
Speaker 1: saying in the film, and something that's tonally a bit
Speaker 1: of a shift.
Speaker 2: It's a great scene like the mension and the stakes
Speaker 2: are pretty high and you don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 2: I was glued to that scene more so than the
Speaker 2: rest of the film. It was almost like it was
Speaker 2: out of full metal jacket rather than a screwball military comedy.
Speaker 2: The studio hated it. They wanted to take it out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get that.
Speaker 2: For the pacing, I mean, it does change the energy
Speaker 2: of the film. It does change the mood. It kind
Speaker 2: of creates a bit of an icy feeling. But it's
Speaker 2: such a great scene. I'm really glad they left it in.
Speaker 2: And I think the reason that they did was because
Speaker 2: somebody went into bat for Bill Murray saying that it
Speaker 2: shows as flexibility has ranged as a dramatic actor.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I think Bill Murray kind of stood up
Speaker 1: for himself a bit and said, I think this is
Speaker 1: the scene's important as well. He wanted to show that
Speaker 1: these two were, you know, at loggerheads and we're enemies
Speaker 1: at this stage. And it does. It increased the stakes,
Speaker 1: But I can I can actually see the studio's point
Speaker 1: of view. It is such a shift, and I think
Speaker 1: if you're to make this film now, if you're going
Speaker 1: to have this scene, you would you would lean into it,
Speaker 1: you know, a bit more by finding ways to raise
Speaker 1: the stakes elsewhere in the film. It's almost like they've gone, Okay,
Speaker 1: this can be the bit where we raise the stakes,
Speaker 1: you know, and then we'll just get on with these
Speaker 1: little set plays outside outside of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, because the rest of the movie it's
Speaker 2: almost like little sketches. There's always a punchline at the
Speaker 2: end of every scene, and that one's just like a
Speaker 2: pure dramatic scene.
Speaker 1: And performed really well.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: And and Warren Oates, who plays Holker, you know, he
Speaker 1: was in The Wild Bunch and bad Lands and apparently
Speaker 1: would tell tales of being on the Wild Bunch, you know,
Speaker 1: massive iconic film and sadly died a year after the
Speaker 1: film was released with the heart attack. But they're great together,
Speaker 1: Like there's a really lovely dynamic between Bill Murray and
Speaker 1: Warren Oates.
Speaker 2: There was you could tell there was a mutual respect.
Speaker 2: You know, he's obviously a veteran of those films. He
Speaker 2: brought that energy to this role, but he also had
Speaker 2: a bit of a comic edge to it, and I
Speaker 2: think he respected Bill Murray's serious edge, his dramatic age.
Speaker 2: So I think there were a yin and yang together,
Speaker 2: especially in that scene it was it's just yeah, it
Speaker 2: just pings, it really does.
Speaker 1: It made me kind of you know, I kind of
Speaker 1: lean forward a bit and kind of go okay, this
Speaker 1: is yeah, okay, you know, when you have that moment,
Speaker 1: you can okay, this film's taking off now, Like he
Speaker 1: doesn't probably completely take advantage of, you know, the work
Speaker 1: that that scene had done. But what was interesting as well,
Speaker 1: there was a there was a cut scene, Dave, a
Speaker 1: nine minute scene where John and Russell take LSD and
Speaker 1: accidentally end up on a mission to fight rebels in
Speaker 1: the Colombian jungle. And finally the studio loved it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was well it was Ivan, well, I'm over
Speaker 1: sure it was the army, but the maybe it was
Speaker 1: that potentially you're correct their Dave, but Ivan Rightman said
Speaker 1: that didn't fit the tone of the film, which is interesting.
Speaker 1: I mean it is this is like a nine minute
Speaker 1: sequence based on an LSD trip. And also it probably
Speaker 1: takes away when they finally do go to Eastern Europe.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about that, like did you
Speaker 1: start getting ahead of yourself and kind of go, okay,
Speaker 1: where where does this film go? Like there's no there's
Speaker 1: no war on as such, this is not set in
Speaker 1: the you know, they can't end up in a you know,
Speaker 1: Vietnam or you know, in World War two the time
Speaker 1: period do you kind of go, this might go into
Speaker 1: kind of Eastern Europe the Cold War, because you kind
Speaker 1: of feel like, Okay, the natural place for this to
Speaker 1: go is is these guys that end up in a
Speaker 1: war zone or war type situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I actually was very surprised. I didn't expect them
Speaker 2: to go into a conflict, let alone for it to
Speaker 2: degenerate into an episode of The A Team Eastern Europe.
Speaker 1: I mean it was.
Speaker 2: It was like every episode of The A Team ended
Speaker 2: with them stuck in a barn and having to weld
Speaker 2: metal to like some sort of RV that was in there,
Speaker 2: and then they'd bust out and win the day. I'm
Speaker 2: pretty sure this was the prototype for every eighteen episode ever.
Speaker 2: It was. Yeah, it was a real bait and switch
Speaker 2: because I honestly didn't know what's going to happen. I
Speaker 2: thought it would be just basic training all the way through,
Speaker 2: but they kind of got maybe a little bit railroaded
Speaker 2: into creating a bit of an action finale, so to speak,
Speaker 2: to have them kind of, after their basic training go
Speaker 2: and actually use their skills and win the day against
Speaker 2: some some enemy. Yet. But it was surprising when I
Speaker 2: think I went to get a drink out of the fridge,
Speaker 2: and they came back and they're like, welcome to Italy
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh, Italy, like upstate New York, Italy. Oh,
Speaker 2: they were actually in Italy and I'm like what. And
Speaker 2: then they draw from Italy to Germany and I'm like,
Speaker 2: how did they do that? The Alps are in the way,
Speaker 2: like that's not quick. And then there's like Czechoslovakians involved
Speaker 2: in Russians. I'm like, what is going on again? Like
Speaker 2: you said at the start of this podcast, you know,
Speaker 2: leafs of logic, there were so many at the.
Speaker 1: End, yeah, yeah. And I'm not sure that if they
Speaker 1: just take advantage of Americans not caring, because this is
Speaker 1: back in the day where it really seemed like and
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how much has changed, but Americans still
Speaker 1: make movies for the American market and like have like
Speaker 1: there's no there's no consideration that you know, people don't
Speaker 1: know who this baseball player is or this reference is
Speaker 1: that you know, like they just continued. They never seemed
Speaker 1: to think, well, how does this play overseas? And that's
Speaker 1: fair enough that you know, I feel like they just go, well,
Speaker 1: nobody in America knows the maps of Europe anyway, and
Speaker 1: that the Alps are in between Germany and Italy, and
Speaker 1: you know that's it's not gonna who cares.
Speaker 2: Well, Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, I forgot about
Speaker 2: the whole Yeah, take it or leave it aspect to
Speaker 2: American films, and yeah, they're not really caring about cultural imperialism.
Speaker 2: We will consume their media anyway. They don't need to
Speaker 2: know about our geography.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had the moment where they they teach
Speaker 1: themselves after the dull sergeant gets kind of blown up
Speaker 1: on that thing and he's okay, but you know, he
Speaker 1: basically falls down and they shot of missile into the
Speaker 1: adventure playground, that's call it that. And then they had
Speaker 1: to train themselves and they come up, you know, and
Speaker 1: as they're marching to like the I guess the square
Speaker 1: or whatever it was, and they've got shirts hanging out,
Speaker 1: someone wearing white shirts. I'm not sure what the choices
Speaker 1: were as wardrobe goes, but I thought maybe they have
Speaker 1: them at least stressing their their fatigues, you know, or
Speaker 1: at least neatly might have been a nice touch. But
Speaker 1: maybe you don't expect, you know that they want us
Speaker 1: to have our expectations low and then they kind of
Speaker 1: come out with some what's some choreography, that's what they've
Speaker 1: been working on and uh, and let's have a little
Speaker 1: listen to that.
Speaker 4: True where the hell have you been soldier.
Speaker 6: Training?
Speaker 2: Sure? What kind of training?
Speaker 7: Son by training?
Speaker 2: Sir? Because like last even better shoulder?
Speaker 1: Oh right?
Speaker 2: Why didn't across the road?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: You step a ring?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 1: So yeah, it goes. It goes for like longer than
Speaker 1: you think. And but it actually kind of I like
Speaker 1: that to go the length of time that does go
Speaker 1: because you kind of go, Okay, they're actually they have
Speaker 1: they actually have learned some kind of military choreography and
Speaker 1: they've put their own spin on us and it's fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, someone needs to drop some beats behind that. It
Speaker 2: could be the next Louis throu It was. It was
Speaker 2: actually a really cool scene and it came at a
Speaker 2: great time in the movie because I think it wasn't
Speaker 2: it wasn't that long after that serious bathroom scene. And yeah,
Speaker 2: you mentioned that the fact that they were all on
Speaker 2: topped and kind of dishevel and I think that was
Speaker 2: to visually tell the audience said, yeah, the drill sergeant's
Speaker 2: gone as slacker is now they're drill sergeants, and so
Speaker 2: they're all they've all followed the leader and they're dressed
Speaker 2: like him. They're doing this wild choreography which incorporates actual
Speaker 2: military drill stuff like the guns to the shoulder and
Speaker 2: the spinny spinny and all that, but they've added a
Speaker 2: bit of jazz ballet to it. It's such a fun scene.
Speaker 2: I reckon it sustains the length, even though it is
Speaker 2: a long boy, it's it's pretty pretty good all the
Speaker 2: way through it. It was quite a jovial moment. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the longer it, guys, you've got, the more impressive
Speaker 1: it kind of becomes, which I think was nice. They were.
Speaker 1: I was surprised the ward jup. They were untacked. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to get you to use a
Speaker 1: certain word, Dave. I'm surprised I couldn't tack the shirts into.
Speaker 2: Their flabherties flaerty steady.
Speaker 1: We got there, We got there. Let's talk about the
Speaker 1: mud scene and John Candy. John Candy is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite comic actors. The empathy that I feel towards
Speaker 1: John Candy, maybe because I've always been a man of girth. Uh,
Speaker 1: He's always I've always had I don't know, I felt
Speaker 1: like a kinship with John Candy and I mean playing
Speaker 1: Strange and Ortab it was one of my favorite films
Speaker 1: of all time. This is like six years before that.
Speaker 1: He's so much fun. And what are your overall this
Speaker 1: views on John Candy himself.
Speaker 2: Oh, he's a great tray protagonist. Yeah, I learned that
Speaker 2: at Media Studies Bachelor of Englist majoring in film and television.
Speaker 1: What what was the word you used?
Speaker 2: Actually I just discovered it today. Tritagonist. It's the third protagonist.
Speaker 2: So you got like Billbras the protagonist and the dueter
Speaker 2: agonist is Harold Ramis, and then you've got the third
Speaker 2: so like he's a tertiary protagonist. Yeah, so he he's
Speaker 2: probably the MVP sometimes in this film. He just has
Speaker 2: some great comedy set pieces. He's just funny to look at. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and he's got funny bones. As they say, he can
Speaker 2: do anything. He's a great physical comedian. But then sometimes
Speaker 2: I think, do people just move funny? Are they not
Speaker 2: necessarily good physical comedian but just play virtue of their
Speaker 2: shape or the way they move? People laugh of me
Speaker 2: no matter what I do, which is a blessing and
Speaker 2: a curse. But if I like them and they're just
Speaker 2: go ha ha ha. Anyway, so they.
Speaker 1: But Johnny John Canny obvious, he's got that physicality, but
Speaker 1: he is. I think he's so funny if you look
Speaker 1: at I could watch like a YouTube kind of mashup
Speaker 1: of John Candy just reacting to stuff, Like his reactions
Speaker 1: and stuff is just for me, just gold and makes
Speaker 1: me laugh all the time. One of my favorite movie memories,
Speaker 1: he's watching National Champion's Vacation with my mum and her
Speaker 1: laughing so hard at John Candy on that roller coaster
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: May not have been acting, that might have been just
Speaker 2: him actually really been terrified. Like to circle back to
Speaker 2: the mud wrestling scene where he's, yeah, mud wrestle five
Speaker 2: five women and he he just cops the hits from them,
Speaker 2: and it's not acting. He's reacting to their blows. Like
Speaker 2: one of them kicks them in the stomach really hard.
Speaker 2: You know the bit where it's like no biting in
Speaker 2: thee is bitten and no no hitt in the face,
Speaker 2: then no kicking and she just unleashes this mood tie
Speaker 2: to the to the stolar plexus and he's he looks
Speaker 2: like he's winded. But it's hilarious.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's absolutely it's it's it is hilarious, like
Speaker 1: take away. You know. Obviously there's more gratuitous near to
Speaker 1: the We've talked about that, We've covered that, but it
Speaker 1: is funny. John Canny was deeply uncomfortable with doing this scene. Though.
Speaker 1: There's a great book which I've referred to a few times.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you've read it there, called Wild
Speaker 1: and Crazy Guys. It's a great book that covers basically
Speaker 1: all those SNL actors who became super movie superstars. Dan Akroyd,
Speaker 1: Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Belushi, Bill My hurry,
Speaker 1: and I'm just going to read it a little bit
Speaker 1: out to you. John Candy argue passionately that the scene
Speaker 1: should be cut, entirely, believing it was sexist and designed
Speaker 1: to make him look like a pig in a sty.
Speaker 1: John didn't want to do it, and he was pissed
Speaker 1: off that he had agreed to do it, says Dave Thomas.
Speaker 1: He was like, Hey, I've got a lot more to
Speaker 1: offer than this. Don't make me wrestle nude women in
Speaker 1: a mud tub in a way hold Ramus low board
Speaker 1: John even at SCTV Second City TV, he would write
Speaker 1: write a load of fat jokes for John and jud
Speaker 1: would do them because he was a nice guy. But
Speaker 1: it did bother him. Yeah, yeah, so it is, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's it's worth noting even though I mean,
Speaker 1: I think John Candy would want us to, you know,
Speaker 1: still enjoy that scene and find hilarious, and even the
Speaker 1: scene before when you know, when he's considering getting into
Speaker 1: the ring and Bill Murray gives that speech. You know,
Speaker 1: he's very funny in that. I just find him a
Speaker 1: very funny guy. And when I read that book, it
Speaker 1: did kind of it's added me to a degree that
Speaker 1: he well, it's aded to me that he didn't want
Speaker 1: to do that, saying was kind of forced to do it.
Speaker 1: He don't very often here from my perspective, I mean,
Speaker 1: the amount of women who are obviously forced to do things,
Speaker 1: possibly including the same by talking about we you know,
Speaker 1: that's that happens time and time again. Hopefully it's getting better.
Speaker 1: But to hear from my own perspective is is a
Speaker 1: bit more rare.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's heartening. That speaks volumes to his character, that
Speaker 2: he'd be like, I'm awkward with this, to be honest,
Speaker 2: you know, like not only the two perspectives, not only
Speaker 2: you know, the perspective of you know, the I guess
Speaker 2: exploitation aspect, but also explore, you know, the fat shaming
Speaker 2: aspect of it, like he's a pig and a sty
Speaker 2: kind of thing, you know. Yeah, so I think that
Speaker 2: speaks volumes. I'm so glad he's such a nice guy
Speaker 2: and so has basically standards and so on, and it's
Speaker 2: a shame that, you know. Overriding that was the fact
Speaker 2: that they were making a film, and they wanted people
Speaker 2: to talk about it, including teenage boys at high school
Speaker 2: going either's mud wrestling, you're going to see this movie
Speaker 2: or whatever. Way. They thought that crow barring in that
Speaker 2: scene would would help sales or reputation. But yeah, it
Speaker 2: doesn't stand up today. I kind of got awkward watching
Speaker 2: it when it started. I was like awkward with it,
Speaker 2: and then as it unfolded, I realized that Candy saved it.
Speaker 2: He saved the scene by just being brilliant and just
Speaker 2: just doing it po faced and physically, you know, there
Speaker 2: there were physical gags in there, and so he saved it.
Speaker 2: Really it it was kind of terrible, but he wasn't.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, exactly, And I think you're right. There's almost
Speaker 1: a where he decides to actually win that actually kind
Speaker 1: of become it becomes it becomes a bit funny in
Speaker 1: a way, and yeah, he's celebration and is is good fun.
Speaker 1: Bill Murray in ninety seven ninety ninety seven express a
Speaker 1: little bit of regret and remorse for being in a
Speaker 1: in a movie where he was carrying a machine gun,
Speaker 1: but has also kind of said, but you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's not completely apologizing for it or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but he just kind of he finds it awkward maybe
Speaker 1: to look at those to those scenes. I'll give you
Speaker 1: another fun fact. Dave, the guy who played Cruiser justin
Speaker 1: dial I think his name is is his first paid job,
Speaker 1: first paid job, and he stayed in character the whole time.
Speaker 1: He went method in his first job for a role straight.
Speaker 2: Away, never go for the method on your first gig.
Speaker 2: Had he just kind of like read a book by
Speaker 2: sir John. Why did he decide that's the best way
Speaker 2: to start. It's like that's an advanced technique surely, and
Speaker 2: a questionable one for some of that, you.
Speaker 1: Know, Yeah, and it's usually people like Daniel Dave Lewis
Speaker 1: doing it for roles like my left foot or in
Speaker 1: the name of the Father, not necessarily playing the sixth character.
Speaker 1: If that, maybe you know the eighth character who's just
Speaker 1: a bit dumb. He actually apologized to Ivan Rightman at
Speaker 1: the ends, and he actually said, I'm sorry for being
Speaker 1: dumb all the time.
Speaker 2: It must be exhausting for everyone, especially the actor. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, if you want to be the character and
Speaker 2: get into the character, just walk around your apartment, don't
Speaker 2: don't bring it to the work set. You know, in
Speaker 2: between takes, can you change emotions on a dime? Like
Speaker 2: can you can you go from happy to sad, angry
Speaker 2: to hungry? Whatever? Can you do that? Well? Yeah, then
Speaker 2: you can turn it on when the camera gets turned
Speaker 2: on you. Sorry if I'm offending any actors listening who
Speaker 2: are all about the method, I'm sure that there's pros
Speaker 2: and cons to it, but I don't know. It must
Speaker 2: be a pain in the whole.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I often think about what it does to the
Speaker 1: mood on set, but I honestly I think method means
Speaker 1: different things to different people. Like some I think we
Speaker 1: always think the method is always never come to leaving
Speaker 1: the character. I think there are subtle differences or differences
Speaker 1: in the way some actors approach being method. In verta commas.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what would have been just wild, would
Speaker 2: have been hanging out with Tony Clifton, you know, the
Speaker 2: character that that Andy Kaufman used to do. Yeah, that's
Speaker 2: taking it to a whole new level, pretending that but
Speaker 2: that your method character is a whole different person. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then doing stuff like getting a call saying we
Speaker 2: need to fire Tony and he's like, oh, you have
Speaker 2: to tell him in person. I'm not going to see him.
Speaker 2: You know, shit like that is wild.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's nuts. It's not nuts to be around.
Speaker 1: Not a little fun fact. Dave, the cast this was
Speaker 1: being shot. It comes out in eighty one, so I
Speaker 1: was shot nine an eighty. While I was shooting at
Speaker 1: John Lennon was assassinated and the cast got drunk pretty
Speaker 1: heavy day. You can imagine them all being Beatles fans
Speaker 1: and Lennon fans. And the scene that John Laraquett tells
Speaker 1: him off for going out to the mud wrestling night
Speaker 1: and he's berating Candy and Judge Reynhold and the others.
Speaker 1: Apparently Larry Cat was. He would admit a middle later
Speaker 1: on it. He was drunk in that scene.
Speaker 2: That scene was the day that they had gotten really drunk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it must be like whether he was hungover or
Speaker 1: actually drunk, maybe still drunk from the from the night before.
Speaker 2: Through or hair of the Dog and he had a
Speaker 2: few too many. Yeah, I want to rewatch that scene there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, when I because when I was watching, I thought,
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to he seems he seems different. I did.
Speaker 1: Actually I didn't know this fact when I was watching
Speaker 1: it and then I but I did kind of clock
Speaker 1: something didn't seem his manner. Didn't say. My mind didn't go,
Speaker 1: oh he's slurring or he's drunk or anything like that.
Speaker 1: But I just kind of felt the performance didn't quite
Speaker 1: match up with the other bits of that character. I
Speaker 1: found the character kind of confusing as to because I
Speaker 1: thought the drill sergeant was the antagonist and that's who
Speaker 1: we're kind of like, and then we got this other
Speaker 1: one who's kind of just a bit weird, and is
Speaker 1: he the one where kind of supposed to hate you know,
Speaker 1: there's nothing about him that was enjoyable, So we kind
Speaker 1: of disliked him, but yeah, I found that a bit,
Speaker 1: a little bit confusing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, telling was a bit clumsy, virus, a lot of
Speaker 2: loose ends, and I've tied up a lot of characters
Speaker 2: that could have just been condensed into one person. It
Speaker 2: definitely wasn't a well paced or it didn't have a
Speaker 2: particularly good.
Speaker 1: Floor and I mean, let's face it, it was a star
Speaker 1: vehicle for Bill Murray and he got his funny mates involved.
Speaker 1: The legacy of this movie really is that it starts
Speaker 1: opening the doors for Southern out live performers to become
Speaker 1: movie stars. Some people will say for better or worse.
Speaker 1: I think for better. I think a lot of those
Speaker 1: guys Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase Down, Acro, definitely Steve Martin
Speaker 1: have made some of the great comedies of the eighties.
Speaker 1: And for Beverly Hills, cop To you know, to play
Speaker 1: Strains and Ormobiles or even the jerk and Ryan's you
Speaker 1: know Caddy Shack grand Og Guy. I mean it is
Speaker 1: you know, a nation lampage vacation. It's it's pretty staggering
Speaker 1: the comedy that you know, four or five blogs put out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, the prolific output is incredible from those
Speaker 2: alumni from Saturday Night Live, and yeah, this film again
Speaker 2: probably launched a lot of those opportunities led to the
Speaker 2: Blues Brothers, one of my.
Speaker 1: Favorites of course.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, there was a scene at the start that
Speaker 2: I felt like, I don't know if it could have
Speaker 2: been improved by this idea, but it's what I imagined
Speaker 2: in my mind. And then I think this considerations why
Speaker 2: it didn't happen. But remember he's right in the driving
Speaker 2: the cab around and and the haughty Upper east Side
Speaker 2: lady as she was in her actual film credit in
Speaker 2: this was Grumpy Dowager in Taxi or something like that. Anyway,
Speaker 2: she played that Upper east Side haughty woman with a
Speaker 2: tiny dog in a big fur coat in every new
Speaker 2: from the seventies to the eighties, and she's great and
Speaker 2: she's really pissed off with them. But he just he
Speaker 2: has a gutfull, pulls the car over and he goes
Speaker 2: to the edge of the water and I'm like, he's
Speaker 2: just gonna walk into the sea. He's just gonna like
Speaker 2: oh yes, yeah, yeah yeah. And like next scene he's
Speaker 2: opening his apartment door just soaking wet. I thought that
Speaker 2: would have been hilarious but instead he threw the keys
Speaker 2: and I don't know why. It's probably because they didn't
Speaker 2: want to copycat people going no, you can just jump
Speaker 2: into a river off a bridge. That would be probably bad.
Speaker 1: Well, I thought what he was going to do was
Speaker 1: stop the cab and get her lugga jat and throw
Speaker 1: them into the river, which I thought would have been funny.
Speaker 1: Also funny yer because nothing really happened it like he
Speaker 1: threw the keys in and he climates. I thought, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought you could have done done more with that
Speaker 1: that bridge. Funnily enough, it was the Ohio River, and
Speaker 1: it's the same bridge and river that Muhammad Ali through
Speaker 1: his Olympic gold medal.
Speaker 2: Intern Oh wow, I wonder if that was a reference
Speaker 2: to that.
Speaker 1: Pretty subtle, so pretty subtle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but that's interesting. What year did he do that?
Speaker 2: Was that during the Vietnam War Rior?
Speaker 1: I imagine, I imagine around that time. I imagine it's
Speaker 1: before eighty one, unless it was something you did retrospectively, Yeah, hang.
Speaker 2: On in the mid nineties. I didn't like Vietnam gold medal.
Speaker 2: You got to do it at the time of the
Speaker 2: way moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's that point protesting the Vietnam or in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty one. The damage has been done. It did see
Speaker 1: this like a bunch of war movies. Like I said
Speaker 1: in the intro, Private Benjamin was the year before Taps
Speaker 1: was the same year obviously in a Gentleman, the year
Speaker 1: after Top Guns made in eighty six, Bloxi Blues eighty eight,
Speaker 1: Heartbreak Read eighty six, Full Metal Jack of eighty seven.
Speaker 1: So there was a real appetite for military movies in
Speaker 1: that thing. But I will I will say that, like
Speaker 1: I think there are plenty of last in this movie,
Speaker 1: and if Strip is one of your favorite films, I
Speaker 1: hope we haven't put any kind of water on that.
Speaker 1: This is not about canceling things. It is a weird
Speaker 1: thing when you watch films, you know, forty years later
Speaker 1: and things you pick up. I will say that there were,
Speaker 1: like I mentioned, I think film's got more interesting and
Speaker 1: they kind of put more work into the plot, and
Speaker 1: that was I think maybe getting off the coke a
Speaker 1: little bit, maybe taking a bit more time to actually
Speaker 1: make you know, to think films through. I'm sure there's
Speaker 1: a host of reasons, but even a movie like Wildcats
Speaker 1: with Goldie Horn in it, you know which comes out.
Speaker 1: I'm going to guess around about eighty four eighty five.
Speaker 1: It's interesting. That's almost inherently more interesting because it is
Speaker 1: a female lead and she inherently has these stakes involved
Speaker 1: because she is a divorced mum and there's the threat
Speaker 1: of having a kid taking away while she kind of
Speaker 1: tries to coach a football team, and I think there's
Speaker 1: that kind of element is lacking. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: you know, this should this needed to be a female
Speaker 1: lead role at all. I'm just saying that I wonder
Speaker 1: if a bit more work had been done investing in
Speaker 1: John Winger and giving is a bit more depth as
Speaker 1: opposed to just letting Bill Murray be Bill Murray, which
Speaker 1: is always a joy to look at, and this is
Speaker 1: why this film still provides laughs and some enjoyment. But
Speaker 1: I wonder if it would have been considered maybe a
Speaker 1: great and a more enjoyable rewatch if we had a
Speaker 1: bit more substance to these characters.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think so too, a bit more
Speaker 2: of a backstory, especially for how Ramas's character, and certainly
Speaker 2: maybe a bit of a tweak on the pacing, maybe
Speaker 2: a little bit of an old edits, maybe a redraft
Speaker 2: of the script, and there could have been something super special.
Speaker 2: As it is, I liked it. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, because when you win, Bill Murray has that
Speaker 1: thing where it's like, oh, we'll be your leader. I
Speaker 1: feel like it comes a little bit out of the blow.
Speaker 1: Like he does mentioned he does mention at the Big
Speaker 1: tost speech that he announces that he's prepared, you know,
Speaker 1: if he almost foretells for shadows what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: It's like, if I need to step up our wheel,
Speaker 1: I'll be the big toe. I think that's what he says.
Speaker 1: But it kind of comes from though we're not really
Speaker 1: sure why he says that. It doesn't come from lessons
Speaker 1: learnt in the movie. He just says it, you know,
Speaker 1: and that's what happens in the end. But plenty of fun,
Speaker 1: plenty of laughs, some comedy icons, and some mud wrestling.
Speaker 1: What more could you ask for.
Speaker 2: It's it's a heady concoction. Also, I don't think the
Speaker 2: Army would have actually requires a huge suspension of disbelief
Speaker 2: for the Army to go, oh, yeah, we'll let the
Speaker 2: fnngs train themselves. It would have just got another drill
Speaker 2: sergeant and it's not protocol for them to go, Yeah,
Speaker 2: let the enlisted people just do their own drill, sergeanty Well.
Speaker 1: And the fact that these guys would have been that,
Speaker 1: you know, we've seen them be fuck ups this whole time,
Speaker 1: and the fact that they would be the ones who
Speaker 1: got sent on this secret mission, you know, need some
Speaker 1: suspension of this belief. But again, the comedies around this time,
Speaker 1: and you know, even some comedies you know after Habby
Speaker 1: Gilmore kind of fits into this category. I think where
Speaker 1: they just go, we don't, we don't actually care, not
Speaker 1: in a not necessarily even in a maybe in a
Speaker 1: sloppy way, in just this is not the movie we're making.
Speaker 1: We're making a silly movie. And if you're on board
Speaker 1: with some silliness, we'll give you some. We'll give you
Speaker 1: a plate loads of silly. And there's part of me
Speaker 1: that sometimes thinks we're lacking in that. But with that said,
Speaker 1: I'd like a little bit more meat on my with
Speaker 1: my potatoes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a few more bathroom scenes.
Speaker 1: Fewer bathrooms is yes, yes, absolutely great scene.
Speaker 2: Great, let's wrestling.
Speaker 1: More bathrooms, Dave, come on, this podcast comes with homework.
Speaker 1: I really do appreciate you watching this movie and and
Speaker 1: your insights into not only this movie but Star Wars
Speaker 1: and grandhog Day and The Greatest Showman and reflecting on
Speaker 1: our time together many years ago. Da ages, we're getting old.
Speaker 2: Oh we're just aace? Is fully gracing what age? Fully gracing? Grace? Again,
Speaker 2: we're getting old. You're right. That was worse than you
Speaker 2: trying to say, Flower.
Speaker 1: Take me back. I'm already thinking do we take it
Speaker 1: out or do we leave it in. I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to leave it in. It's it's too good.
Speaker 2: I've been doing every misfire of Flaherty. You said you
Speaker 2: almost got it one time.
Speaker 1: One time, and you thought, okay, we can move on there.
Speaker 1: And then I said it again and that You're like, no,
Speaker 1: we can't move on because you're it hasn't stuck.
Speaker 2: You regressed back to your old ways. There absolute honor,
Speaker 2: by the way. It's I could talk movies all day
Speaker 2: and I could talk to you all day. So the
Speaker 2: two together is an absolute tree for me. Thanks for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 1: I love you, mate. Chats bloody hell. It was good
Speaker 1: to catch up with my old mate Dave call and
Speaker 1: talk about Bill Murray and the gang in that stripes.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that too. Riding alongside me is,
Speaker 1: of course, Derek Myers and Castaways Studios dot Com. This
Speaker 1: is where we've been recording this podcast since the very
Speaker 1: first episode where a stone throws away from what Time
Speaker 1: Out magazine called the coolest street in the world, Smith
Speaker 1: Street here in Collingwood in Melbourne. Derek, how are you fantastic? Yes,
Speaker 1: I imagine you've been a Stripes fan.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I definitely was.
Speaker 1: I've never been quite pick it. Sometimes I think this
Speaker 1: has got Derek Morris written all over it, and then
Speaker 1: you're slight hasnant. Well you've got why.
Speaker 7: Once again, it always seems to come to what age
Speaker 7: I was when these things came out, and this was
Speaker 7: sort of around, you know, revenge of the nerdsy kind
Speaker 7: of Yes, my favorite Stripes moment was in English class.
Speaker 7: It must it must have been year eleven or something
Speaker 7: like that, and we're all talking about the Grapes of
Speaker 7: Wrath and Cry, the Beloved Country and all these intellectual books,
Speaker 7: I suppose, and then they started talking about favorite films
Speaker 7: and everyone was really flexing. You know, how people do you? Oh,
Speaker 7: I really love this And I was two thousand and
Speaker 7: one Space OBYSSEYE and Terry Preston, the only proper footy
Speaker 7: player in our you know, played for Vermont. He's jumped
Speaker 7: up and he goes stripes, stripes everyone, and he just
Speaker 7: for the first time, he just was alive. And he
Speaker 7: turned to the whole class and said, you've got to
Speaker 7: see it. Everyone, it will split your side. And he
Speaker 7: just made the best I've ever seen for a film.
Speaker 7: And so a lot of us had a bit of
Speaker 7: a look at it after that, and yeah, we loved it.
Speaker 1: There is a part of me when I watched movies
Speaker 1: that are kind of comedies from that era that are
Speaker 1: revered like Stripes, that I think I reckon we had
Speaker 1: quite a low bar for comedy in a way. I
Speaker 1: know that sounds like quite disrespectful, and I know comedy
Speaker 1: doesn't always age as well as you know, a drama,
Speaker 1: but I just got to think, pound for pound laughed
Speaker 1: at loud. You know. I think you look at a
Speaker 1: Judd Apato film, for example, just to think of one,
Speaker 1: you know, forty year Old Virgin, the amount of jokes
Speaker 1: and the amount of laughs that are in that compared
Speaker 1: to even this, the amount of jokes that they're even
Speaker 1: going for in Stripes. I think Stripes kind of is
Speaker 1: iconic because of it's, you know, one of the early
Speaker 1: Bill Murray films, and he you know, he's he's just
Speaker 1: he effortlessly has it what he has, his effortless charm
Speaker 1: that kind of carries the movie and makes it what
Speaker 1: it is. But as far as like pound for pound,
Speaker 1: joke for joke, I think there we have higher expectations that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, definitely. And it was a bit of a shock
Speaker 7: because I remembered it as a comedy and I'm always
Speaker 7: telling the kids, oh, well, you know, what's on TV
Speaker 7: at eight thirty hour would have been rated R in
Speaker 7: my day. So I've put it on with my twelve
Speaker 7: year old daughter and it's like what and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 7: don't look, you know, look what It was awkward. Yeah,
Speaker 7: But then the bit I guess that was a bit
Speaker 7: awkward was when the guy was a sex crime you know,
Speaker 7: spying on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that seemed to be a real thing in these
Speaker 1: kinds of this stage in comedies. You had Revenge of
Speaker 1: the Nerds. There's always that stuff going on Gregory's Girl,
Speaker 1: There's that stuff going on Porky, So there was always
Speaker 1: the peep holes were seen to be a thing, and
Speaker 1: so hopefully we've all moved past that. But I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed watching it again and I certainly enjoyed chatting with
Speaker 1: Dave about it. You can get onto us and you
Speaker 1: can be part of the podcast. We would actually we
Speaker 1: would love to hear your voice on our speak pipe.
Speaker 1: It's basically like an answering answering machine. Message and you go,
Speaker 1: you finow the links and the show notes and you'll
Speaker 1: see a little link there for speak pipe, and you
Speaker 1: can leave us a message. And we love getting the
Speaker 1: speak past because we love hearing you. But you can also,
Speaker 1: if you're a bit shyer, send us a message on
Speaker 1: Yasney at gmail dot com, Yasney Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I think it is Yasney podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: We have had some great feedback recently and this is
Speaker 1: we got one. I'm gonna let you read it out, Dari.
Speaker 1: We've got one from Liam Phillips who has sent one.
Speaker 1: The subject box caught my attention. I had to help.
Speaker 1: I held my breath. The subject box said a crockwork
Speaker 1: lemon m and you can you can read it that.
Speaker 1: Here we go, all right, here we go.
Speaker 7: Hello Peter as a fellow film nerd. I'm loving the podcast.
Speaker 7: I came across it after listening to Mason Cox's.
Speaker 1: Podcast, Mason Collingwood Football. You know a legend, really an
Speaker 1: American who came out and played is playing and good
Speaker 1: footy for Collywood right now, and he studied his own
Speaker 1: podcast at Mason Cox. I think it's called a Mason
Speaker 1: Cox podcast. Really fun one.
Speaker 7: Have listened to it, Mason Cox Show. I watch it
Speaker 7: here it is, it's on YouTube as well. I started
Speaker 7: out by listening to the episodes that covered my favorite films,
Speaker 7: then listen to my favorite guests, and then I went
Speaker 7: back and I started from the beginning. Oh good idea. Yeah,
Speaker 7: I've loved all the apps so far.
Speaker 1: This is good.
Speaker 7: Please more, Luke McGregor, of course.
Speaker 1: You love more, Luke McGregor.
Speaker 7: However, I've just listened to the Christopher Pine episode.
Speaker 1: Did you love that one too?
Speaker 7: I'm not sure? Can you please not allow any more
Speaker 7: liberals on your show, especially ones where the point of
Speaker 7: the film sales over their stupid private schoolboy head at
Speaker 7: thirty thousand feet? It was fantastic that he told us
Speaker 7: he'd read the Iliad and the Odyssey a more fascinating
Speaker 7: piece of trivia when discussing a kubric masterpiece, I can't imagine.
Speaker 7: I get the impression though. Most people who are unfortunate
Speaker 7: enough to meet Pine get told this factoid very quickly, and.
Speaker 1: Then Lim goes on. They get into, you know, other
Speaker 1: parts of Christopher Pine's political career. But I think his
Speaker 1: points are well and truly made up until this point.
Speaker 1: He did say at the end, keep up the keep
Speaker 1: up the show. I do love it, but no more
Speaker 1: fascists tricked up as ordinary people. Please kind regards, Lim,
Speaker 1: you know what, You know what. I try to keep
Speaker 1: this space non political, even when we're chatting about movies
Speaker 1: and it goes into unless it's slide tied into the
Speaker 1: themes of the movie. But I have tried to keep
Speaker 1: this as much as you can a non political space.
Speaker 1: Christraper Pine was the actual very first episode I recorded
Speaker 1: for this podcast. It wasn't episode one, but it was
Speaker 1: the first episode I recorded. Listen. I am grateful that
Speaker 1: Christraper Pine came on. Obviously, people have different political opinions.
Speaker 1: I don't consider myself an overly political person, despite the
Speaker 1: fact that I am on a current affairs show. I
Speaker 1: try to, you know, I think there's sometimes value in
Speaker 1: trying to get to know people who are making decisions
Speaker 1: based on our futures and our lives. But I completely
Speaker 1: understand that Lian would have that opinion, and I, you
Speaker 1: know what, I guess I would just say I don't
Speaker 1: have any plans to have another politician on it this stage.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's going to be a blanket rule
Speaker 1: that I won't But what I would suggest is maybe
Speaker 1: that don't listen if you don't like that politician, maybe
Speaker 1: just don't listen to that episode. But what I respect
Speaker 1: about what Liam's done is and he's done that. He's
Speaker 1: obviously had a big swipe at Christopher Pine. But and
Speaker 1: this has come up a few times with this podcast
Speaker 1: where somebody has disagreed with something that has been said
Speaker 1: by either myself or my guests on the podcast, and
Speaker 1: they have been so respectful about the way they put
Speaker 1: in a cross. Now, obviously, like I said, he's had
Speaker 1: a big swing at Christopher Pine. At part of being
Speaker 1: a politician, Chris is going to thick skin and he
Speaker 1: probably won't even hear that, but but he's he's had
Speaker 1: his opinion. I absolutely do hear it. Leam and I
Speaker 1: was just thank you for it was a pretty amusing
Speaker 1: email I found it. I found it amusing as well. Sincerely,
Speaker 1: I do appreciate it. So next week on the show,
Speaker 1: we got Kevin Rudder. We don't. We don't. Next week
Speaker 1: on the show, I'm already gonna I'm gonna say this
Speaker 1: off the bat, maybe my favorite episode ever. If you's
Speaker 1: said nothing yet, we've already recorded that. It's with pop sensation.
Speaker 1: Darren Hay is one of the biggest music exports Australia
Speaker 1: has ever produced. He has a new album out, Got Homosexual,
Speaker 1: and is a work of genius. Darren is so enlightened,
Speaker 1: he's passionate, he's funny and really genuine and I love
Speaker 1: the chat we had about many many things. It's a
Speaker 1: monster episode. Next week it goes on like almost two hours.
Speaker 1: Not only want to take any out of it. I
Speaker 1: just loved it all. But the movie that we are
Speaker 1: there to discuss is a classic movie, one of Tony
Speaker 1: Martin's favorites. It is Singing in the Rain. That's right,
Speaker 1: we're finally doing it. Singing in the Rain. It become
Speaker 1: one of my favorite films as well, and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to speak the Darren Hayes about that one and
Speaker 1: next week, and so we leave old Pete, save fan soul,
Speaker 1: and to our friends of the radio audience, we've been
Speaker 1: a pleasant good name.