Blank Check with Griffin & David - Fast Times at Ridgemont High with Lola Kirke

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

We’re grabbing our Vans slip ons and heading to the mall as we kick off our Amy Heckerling series - Pod Times at Ridgemont Cast - with Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Fresh off her appearance in Sinners, actual high school friend of Griffin Newman Lola Kirke returns to the pod and things get pretty bogus. Like, David Lynch was supposed to direct this movie!!! David Sims has three performances from this on his 1982 Oscar Ballot! We develop sympathy for Mr. Hand! Griffin used to own a pair of fully black Converse sneakers! And, of course - Ben orders a pizza. Listen to An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba See Lola in Sinner and check out her other projects Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm trying to schedule an acupuncture appointment for myself while I while I do this. Hell yeah He's yeah, just talk through it so Ben can get the levels. Okay, East Village acupuncture and massage Massagee see I'm just a massage guy. Yeah, it's kind of like massages are great I don't need someone to do acupuncture. I need because I'm already so happy with the massage This is a different thing. What the fuck is electro acupuncture? Dude, that's a thing. What is it? I don't know.

It's like them putting speaker wires into you. You know what I mean? It's an acupuncture, but with these things that are plugged into something. Do you need me to keep talking? Oh no, I'm all set. Great, let's just go. Any staff.

Okay, wait, I'm almost done picking. Oh, you're booking your appointment. Do you think I'll be able to make a 315 acupuncture? Where is your acupuncture? Ace Village. I think we can. Okay, well let's go. Yeah.

Let's go. 245. That gives us time to talk for two hours. This could be a short episode. I love it. I love it. Okay. Okay. We'll get you out love it. I love it. Okay. Okay. We'll get you out of the show is Blackjack.

What Jefferson was saying was, hey, you know, we left this podcast because it was bogus, so if we don't get some cool rules ourselves pronto, we'll just be bogus too. I really fucked that up. Did you? I mean, that seemed fine to me. I feel like I went very generic. I think part of the magic of his performance... Oh, of Spicoli is right, it's actually less generic. There is a specificity to the way he plays this

that still makes this the funniest version of this archetype, I would argue. I would agree. You don't have to argue, Griffin. I did the off-the-rack version. I couldn't get there. You know who Mr. Hand is, right? Ray Walston. What do you mean? Who it's based on? No, no, just like, you know who Ray Walston is, right? My favorite Martian.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah. And a great, great, great musical theater actor, like one of the legends of Broadway. Popeye's dad? Is he Popeye's dad? Oh, in the movie. He's Poom Deck Pappy.

Oh yeah, yeah, sure. And Robert Elman's Popeye. Yeah. I did not know that. And I did read the trivia last night. For this movie. Just because I wanted to like like, one-up you. You'll fail.

I know. We have researchers. We're a whole thing now. This is now a very tight operation. I don't know if you know this, you have now broken the record for the longest gap between appearances on this podcast. Well, Lola and I discussed this before you showed up. Many things have changed since the last time you were on.

I was getting Lola tea because she's sick. No, no, no. Okay. And we actually have an episode to get to. I'm not sick. Don't say that yet. Lola's not sick yet. I'm not sick. Griffin's whole thing now is that for some reason, and Ben and I were just discussing this, he's the one who picks up coffee even though he's chronically late. I have to push back on this. Lately, yes I do. Lately I've been having Ben pick up the coffee so I can get here early and that has been working

I've been getting here early and benches up at the coffee If you check the records, this is a fact you were late the last couple of records But early for you is 15 minutes late. No, no for him is 15 minutes. No, no This was the last one before this I was late the last several before this I was here early and then picked up the coffee that is correct I'd placed the order. I was gonna be on time. I asked little she wanted anything She said no, and then she said would you mind getting me a tea? I had to add on to the show now is our guests fault. We get a great and cool Celebrity in the room two minutes into recording, you're throwing her under the bus.

She's not sick yet. But I did a very kind thing. Do you know what the poster tagline for this film was? The original poster tagline. The original poster tagline was the list of the 12 bands on the soundtrack at the bottom of the poster. I mean that's probably true because they are down there. But no, it's at Ridgemont High, only the rules get busted. Which is one of those things that I'm like,

that sounds clever, but I don't actually know what that means. No, the other posters to this movie are also insane. Like, you can kind of tell they don't really know how to tell you what this movie is, apart from like, it's a teen movie with a surfing stoner in it. Yes, we'll get into it, but the fact that Universal was afraid to release this because they were like, is this borderline pornography?

Right and then meanwhile they were selling it like it was every other sex comedy of the 80s is fascinating That they were like terrified of it and also trying to sell it as the thing that was De rigueur like there were 40 movies a week in which a guy put his dick somewhere weird America cheered and it made a hundred million dollars and then this one they were like this might be illegal Talk about it. Yeah, what's this happens? What's this podcast? We have we have a lot to set up. We have a lot to sit up this is Blank check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David. It's a podcast about filmography as directors experience series of massive success early on in their career and Are given I said series too early a series series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion

products they want, and sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce, baby. I have found that ten years in, I'm having a harder time remembering the intro. We should just stop. All of it? No, no, we'll do the pockets, but forget the intro. Okay, well just- It's blank check, Google it. What if I go back to doing a serial parody for the intro? No, no, thank you. This is blankank Check, one director told in my name. What is this mini-series, Griffith?

Because I'm realizing I don't think we discussed the title. Pod Times at Ridgemont Cast. I'm just, I'm shooting off the hip here. I liked it. Thank you, little laugh. Pod Times at Ridgemont Cast. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, it's fine. I'm gonna say it.

I think that's almost kind of Route 1 for us at this point. Okay, so Look Who's Podcasting 2? I think that's funny. I just want to say that's exactly what I was going to suggest. That makes sense. I think it's funny because it makes a weird amount of sense, but then the 2 kind of undercuts it. Right, because the other option is Pod Who's Casting 2.

No, no, no, no, no. Look who's podcasting to is genius because everyone has a podcast. I mean, you guys obviously had the first podcast. No, look, I, what we did, it was Conan and us at the same time. Pod times at Richmond cast is fine. There's nothing wrong with it for us. Here's what I'm trying to balance. Pod times at Richmond cast got an earnest laugh out of Lola, but then, look who got a hmm. That's genius and I'm like, which is more valuable. Do we want to be smart or funny? This is the eternal battle of this show. Is it not wait? Are they not did Amy heckling direct look who's talking? Yes. Oh, I thought that that was the little one Oh, no, that's a dip. That's honey. I shrank the kids. Yes

Got it. She did the look who's talking one and two and then hand it off three. I think pod times at Ridgemont cast Okay. Oh now she's back to pot. Oh, well, you know what? We'll discuss this later We'll discuss later, but but this is the start of a miniseries on Amy Hackerling Well, I'm honored to be here and a career that starts with an out-of-the-box masterpiece. We've discussed this before, the different types of career starters we cover on this show, as people who are obsessive completists. This is like she just fucking nails it first try out. Absolutely true. I think she nails it very much.

But yeah, interesting sort of way to think about her career. Like, is it a problem to start with arguably your best movie? Not in my opinion, but like arguably your best movie? Tough to top, sets you up for a sophomore slump. We'll talk about it. I give her a lot of credit for this movie. This is also one of those magical movies

where it's just like all the elements came together. Bit of a magic movie, right? Where like all the cast is so perfect. I think the thing that pushes it over the edge is like her judgment and skill and taste. But to your point, it being like, Nicolas Cage is in two shots of this movie. He is. Like, this is just a film where you think about

the people who are on this set every day, and like the energy of just like some people who would dominate the culture for decades, who are all coming in with like, I'm rearing to go, I'm ready to prove myself. Now, we are all too young for this movie. like the energy of just like some people who would dominate the culture for decades who were all coming in with like, I'm rearing to go, I'm ready to prove myself. Now we are all too young for this movie. Correct.

We all probably, we all discovered this movie, it was already an established thing, right? We were born into a fast times culture. Right, exactly. But I watched this movie like once a week on a portable DVD player for the entirety of high school. I was gonna say, we, I mean, when I, let's say our guest today, returned to the show for the first time in eight years?

A long time. Is that right? Yeah. Since what women want. I love that movie. Yes, a film you sold me on. Lola Kirk. Musician, author, actress. We're experiencing the 20-25 year of Lola Kirk, musician, author, actress. We're experiencing the 2025 year of Lola.

We were talking about publishing your first book, releasing your third album, and then and your triumphant return. Yeah, my triumphant return to the screen after no one would give me a job for a few years. Hey, that's that's my life. Yeah, I understand that being like, maybe I'm retired. Does that have anything to do with no one wanting to hire you? No, I think it's unrelated. No, no, absolutely not. I made a choice. I made a really strong choice here. A really strong choice not to work until someone gave me a job again.

Sinners! Yeah, Sinners. New Ryan Coogler mode. That's it, what, March? Coming out of March, I believe? It's now April 18th. Oh, now April 18th. It's swapped with Mickey 17th. So it Mickey 17 So now April 20 right around the time of this episode. Am I wrong? Absolutely. This episode is dropping On April 27th, so oh Sanders has been out for a week. Oh, it just opened burn out the box off I hope it's good

Lola Kirk What's up now to your point? We grew up together. Mm-hmm went to high school together. I Now to your point, we grew up together, went to high school together. I threw you, hey, it's been too long since you've been on, here's a long list of things. Your immediate response was, well, Fast Times is basically my favorite movie of all time. And it felt very apropos, just because I feel like a lot of our high school was us watching this canon of movies obsessively over and over again. I feel like that is one of many things we bonded on, was just like an obsession with 80s teen movies.

Yeah. Yes. Lola's getting emotional. I am getting emotional, but also because I feel like one of the things I was thinking as I watched it last night was like, what are teenagers watching now? Like I saw this movie in the like, I used to read things when I was younger, like the lists, like you need to listen to these records. The 10 best, the 10, 20 best, yes, I need to.

And this was on that list. This is the cornerstone of our podcast and also basically you are speaking directly to the experience of every one of our listeners. I guess it's just like millennial. Who are other obsessive magazine less people. Okay, yeah. Nerdy, oh, I thought it was just millennials, but like nerds. Yes, no, less generationally and more that type of brain of like, I need to know what the canon is.

Yeah, I wanted to know what was going on. In all these different corners. And this movie was like the one that it just was talked about over and over again, and I was like, I need to obviously see it. And once I saw it, I fell so in love with it. And it was kind of sad because I haven't seen it since I used to watch it all the time. And the perspective that I had as like a 34 year old woman

who had gone through all of those things and was now like old enough to, you know, if I had been really young to have those people be my own children, versus the perspective that I had as a kid that was like, okay, she had sex at 15, so that means that that's when I should do it. And like all of these other things that I wish I like wanted to be like them. I think we both had the exact same thing was we viewed these movies as aspirational. Yeah.

And I think part of it was we had this like very like fucking bespoke, precious, privileged New York childhood that did not resemble these teen movies. And I felt like this is the normal teen experience I'm not getting and I should be experiencing. And yet, I didn't notice this in the original when I first saw it. But when Jennifer Jason Lee loses her virginity to Ron Johnson, the way that Amy Heckerling shoots the ceiling and shoots her POV, which I didn't even notice then, I was just like, oh my God, she's having sex and that guy looks like Richard Gere, even though the Richard Gere I knew was like really old. I was like, no, he doesn't. But yeah,

I was like, oh right, there is a sensitivity to these kids' experiences that I never understood. It is, what is crazy about this movie and what makes it such a kind of miracle film is I watched it in the same context as you. I was like, this is the movie that all the quotes come from, which is like a real flattening of what this movie is,

and yet I probably watched it for the first time at 12 and was like, funny, good, liked it. Wasn't like, I don't get what the fuck's going on here. And then every time I've seen it since then, it like deepens for me. It is a movie that kind of works from all perspectives. And we had our friend Tim Simons on the show recently, and we told him we were getting ready to do this series next. And he was like, Fast Times is one of those movies I haven't seen,

but I feel like I've seen through cultural osmosis. And was like, I know all the quotes and the memes. That was my experience with this movie. What I had seen, scenes probably, and I knew about Spicoli and all that, but then I watched the movie and was shocked by it. The mastery of this film is that it is both of those things. That it's not one of those like, well, people quote the four things, but actually the movie's much more this in tone.

And the way we always talk about, like, Saturday Night Fever, right? Where you're like, it gets reduced to three images, and then most of the movie is, like, a pretty... Right, well, Saturday Night Fever is an even more extreme, where you watch and you're like, oh, these people are... Not only is this movie lurid and violent and upsetting, but these people are sad. It's about how sad they are.

It's not about cool people. They're kind of cool. Like, they and upsetting, but it means people are sad. It's about how sad they are. It's not about cool people. They're kind of cool, like they're dancing. But the culture flattens it to like two dance scenes walking with the pizza and the BG soundtrack. Whereas this movie, you're not wrong if your perception is it's Spicoli, it's got big lines, it's got huge characters, but then it's simultaneously holding this other thing. I think you're wrong if you think that. I want to say you're wrong.

What I think, this is my framework of my argument for the value of this movie is that like I think there is an insane simultaneous managing of tones that Hectorling is pulling off on this that defies logic. That like this movie should not be able to cross cut between Spicoli and Jennifer Jason Lee. Let alone have them exist in the same shot. But that's life as a teen, baby. Totally. That's the magic.

That's why it's so good. Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Amy Heckerling's 1982 film. Any of you ever read the book by Cameron Crowe? No, I didn't even remember that it was a book until IMDB trivied it. It is so out of print that it costs $500, $600 to buy like a used copy of it. Damn. And Griff has it.

I got it for 90. You want to know why? I don't. Because the cover is misprinted. You got it weird. The title is like sliding off. I have an original copy of it that I stole, I will say. From? of it that I stole, I will say. I was at a family member's house in California.

It's a long story and I won't tell it, but we were staying there. And like all their kids were grown up at this point in their 30s, but it was their house that they all grew up in. And I was staying in one of the kids' bedrooms and I saw it on the shelf and I took it and I read it and I was like, I took it home with me. So I guess I didn't... Do they listen to this podcast, your family? I would be stunned to learn that they listen.

Does a single member of your family listen to this podcast? That's actually a really good question. Joey doesn't listen regularly, right? He has listened. I think my brother occasionally listens. That might be that. My mom's become a regular listener, which sucks. Oh, God.

It used to be a sometimes thing, and now I'm like, she's hearing everything I say. Like me saying, it sucks that she listens. Well, I mean- I think she's probably hearing right now. My mom has, like, sees my Instagram and it makes me want to die, so I can't imagine, you know, anything more in depth. Yes. Fast Times Original Hot Yacht.

Fast Times Original Hot Yacht. Wr written by Cameron Crowe, obviously, so it's his launchpad too. It's a launchpad for a lot of people. Mm-hmm. So Cameron Crowe was doing this before he was doing the stuff he did in Almost Famous. It's after. It's after.

That's the weird timeline is basically... Because he never been kissed it and went back to high school. Correct. That's the origin of this movie. Yes, correct. Is that he doesn't have a high school experience because he goes on the road as a music journalist.

Eleven? He was 22 when he enrolled in high... I told my wife this. I told Forky this. She'd never seen it. It almost breaks your brain to be like, that's what this movie comes out of. I was like, yeah, I guess if someone did that now, that would not be greeted with like,

handshakes and high fives. Correct. He was... The school was he undercover or he just went back? Correct. He was, the school was aware of who he was, but I guess the kids weren't, right? He was 22 years old, and he sort of approached the school being like, can I quote unquote enroll? You look at the photo on the back cover,

and you're just like, he looks like 16. He had a baby face, like he could blend in. And he was also, I think, perhaps a little developmentally stunted from being on the road and not experiencing these things But yeah It's not if I wrote a book now that I was like yeah I hung out with a bunch of high school people be like the fuck is the matter with totally doing that you know

But also like the framework of the book not being like this is what I found Going undercover like making himself the main character. No, it's just like it's vignettes It is just observation, which is obviously Cameron Crowe's kind of superpower. And then for the movie to also not go for the high concept hook of young faced reporter. Well, that's right for him to not be a character in the movie. Thank God. You could just imagine Hollywood, even if he avoided that in the book that Hollywood was like salivating and being like, oh my God, the premise is Tom Cruise goes undercover. Well, they were salivating.

They'd never been kissed. They eventually did just make that movie. Amy I. Heckerling, however, is here. We're here to talk about. Born 1954 in the Bronx, in an apartment building where most of her, she says neighbors were like Holocaust survivors. Holocaust survivors.

Yeah. Her grandparents had relatives who'd been in concentration camps. They had lots of Jewish immigration to the Bronx, whatever, at the time. She probably had done Grand Concourse the way she's describing it. My father and mother, both accountants, spent a lot of her youth in Brooklyn with her grandma. Her mom was basically a teenager when she was born. She had a younger brother, so she was shuffled around. She liked Brooklyn a lot more.

She lived near Coney Island. She loved movies. She loved gangster movies. The grandmother lived near Coney Island. That's right, she liked going to Brooklyn for this reason. She liked musicals. She liked James Cagney and Fred Astaire. She's really into golden age Hollywood stuff.

And then as a teenager, obviously, she's being exposed to like Mean Streets and Clockwork Orange and all these new Hollywood movies. So she's really into all of that. Yeah, she has a, wow, this is a long dossier, okay. I'll say there's, JJ put a lot in here. This Cagney section, we might circle back to in our next episode. Yeah, we'll get back to that

for Johnny Dangerously, exactly. Yeah. Have you ever seen Johnny Dangerously? No. Her follow-up to this is she basically makes a Mel Brooks movie that's a parody of gangster movies. Right. With Michael Keaton.

Which I think rules, but it is like a wild swerve into like full cartoon mode, like gag-a-minute movie. When she's a teenager, she moves to Queens. She hit all the boroughs. When she's 14, she goes to high school at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, starts hanging out at the Museum of Modern Art, and she's just whatever. Art is in her bones.

She's into all that stuff. This is the other funny part of this movie, is it is made by two people who basically didn't have this experience, right? That like, Heckerling has- Yeah, you are not like California surfer with the stones kids. Heckerling's a city kid, and Cameron Crowe doesn't really go to high school until he's

an adult. I think it's part of like them being very intuitive and observant, but also having a little bit of distance. Well, I also feel like that's like some testament to the idea that you have to be a little bit of a freak to be a real artist. Yeah. Like, could you make a movie... I don't know, if you have this kind of more regular experience, not that there aren't amazing artists that come from totally regular lives,

but I mean, most of them are also, I mean, a lot of them are freaks. Yeah, yes. And at least, you know, the byproduct of some weird perspective. She goes to NYU film school, starts making weird student films that are, she says, sort of like 1930s musicals, but you know, with hippie vibes. She's doing postmodern riffs on the old Hollywood movies she loves. And she... Blazing Saddles was a big activator for her. Meets Martin Brest, who I think we briefly mentioned this

and when we did his mini series. There is a nice kind of chain... And dates him briefly. Of handholding between this series, the Lynch series, and the Martin Brest series, weirdly. Yes. They're all connected. Right, because David Lynch was the original choice

to direct this movie, or a choice to direct this movie, which is crazy to think about. But also Martin Brest and Amy Heckerling are like the cool kids who are on and off dating and become friends with Stuart Kornfeld, who is an AFI student, who later becomes Mel Brooks' producing partner and hires Brooks to do Elephant Man. But he also kind of helps both of their careers. And he is Judge Reinhold's boss in this at the pirate. Oh, it's the pirate. He's the one who tells him to keep the uniform on.

But he's this quiet figure who passed away a couple years ago who kind of like links a lot of American 80s film. So she follows Marty Bress to L.A. They both go to L.A. They break up. She really hates L.A. She hates that she can't get around at all. She's like a New York City kid, she hates how it all works, she doesn't know how to drive. Martin Bress tried to teach her and failed apparently.

Eventually she figured it out. JJ relayed this to me as a note of solidarity and consolation that Amy Heckerling failed her driver's test five times. Do you have your license yet? Of course not, what the fuck are you talking your license yet? No, of course not. What the fuck are you talking about? Lola, can you drive? Of course.

Of course she can. So can I. Ben? Yeah. Three drivers in the room. Ben's giving us sunglasses on this episode because he said it matches the vibe. Heckerling.

He's also maybe we're still recovering from his. Yeah, she hates LA. So she finds AFI very elitist. She hates that it's a big mansion on the hill. I just wanna say, another thing to pin is interesting when we get around to Clueless. Yeah, no, 100% true. Which is Clueless making a movie with compassion about the opposite of the person she is. That's true, and for these rich people who live on the hill.

That she came to be like, they seem, it must be nice to have that view on life. It has compassion, but also Clueless as a social satire. It's both. I mean, this is the magic of what she's good at. Um, so her thesis film, she makes a movie called Getting It Over With about a girl who just wants to lose her virginity before she turns 20. She struggles to finish it because it's fucking hard,

especially back then, to make your student movie. She gets in a car accident. That messes with her. One point for Griff for not driving. She really does seem to hate cars. And the president of Universal sees her short, wants to work with her. She's like, I'm fucking sitting in my apartment

in Hollywood, I got no money and no car, I don't know what to do, I've got to go to physical therapy because I was in this accident. Tom Mount from Universal calls and says like, get an agent, because I want to work with you. This is also just, let's just say say this is so unusual for like a female filmmaker in like the 70s Like early 80s whenever this is there's this argument that gets repeated a lot quietly That like when the last 10 years people are like it's finally gotten good for female directors

And it's like no it's finally like getting back to kind of where it was in the 80s It was better in the 80s than it was before that and after that for 30 years. Where like it wasn't great, it was still disproportionate. But there were a lot more like young female filmmakers getting to make stuff within the studio system in the 1980s. She's trying to make this movie called My Kind of Guy. Warner Brothers is interested. She calls it a female version of carnal knowledge.

They like the idea, but then, like, whatever. There's an executive shift, the project dies, she shops it around, no one will approve it. There was only one woman making profitable movies in Hollywood, and that was Barbra Streisand, this her quote. He finally gets a home at MGM, but then an actor's strike kills the project.

And she's like, you know, I don't know what to do. I think the one thing to call out here is this is basically the second wave of film school students. Right? Sure. Like becoming more of a professionalized thing. You can go to film school. There aren't that many of them.

And if someone makes a good student film, the studios are actually just keenly paying attention to what's coming out of these places because they're looking for new directors. Like the model has shifted from someone works their way up from being like a PA or an exec, you know, works their way up the ranks within the studio and learns on the job to... There are now film schools where people are coming out of a pipeline with a showreel and they can at least get into development meetings or whatever. All right, moving on to Cameron Crowe.

We all know Cameron Crowe's story of teen sensation becomes a Rolling Stone writer at like the age of fucking 15. Yeah, we covered it. All this stuff. And he decides when he's turned 22, like no one knows about the kids. No one's like written a book about the kids, right? Everyone's trying to figure out what the kids like,

but I'm gonna go and hang out with the kids. And so he goes to the school that he attended for some summer session once, Ridgemont Senior High in Redondo Beach, and walks in, tells the principal, I'm going to attend classes as an inconspicuous presence in this school for a year. The principal allows this to happen. I don't really get how that's possible. But then again, I don't know. I'm watching this movie with my wife who's a teacher, and when they're dissecting a cadaver in front of kids, she's like, this would never happen.

And I'm like, maybe it did though. I feel like back in the day, teachers would just kind of be like, eh, I'm going to do this. I mean, where Griffin and I went to high school, they just hired a convict to teach the children and then he metood all the kids. I'm aware of that because my wife also went to the same school.

Oh, that's your wife. We're gonna bleep it out, but he's gonna say it. I don't know if you know her. That name sounds really familiar. You definitely know her. Yeah, but we'll bleep it out at the time. So we said it. But yes, yes, David's keenly aware

of how overly permissive our school was of everything Yeah, they kind of went a little too far in the old permissive It would be a good show it might be a little bit more euphoria. Yeah, I think it's I think now It's become very euphoria, but like oh well I feel like kids I feel like euphoria and I could be wrong but euphoria the kids like have sex and do drugs I thought kids didn't do that anymore Yeah, well now the kids right the kids are all incels who hate porn and yeah, right. They just play video games I don't know think movies with sex scenes should be arrested that you should put handcuffs around the film reel

This is like a thing, you know, there's film reels The joke into an abstract direction. I liked it, I liked it. There's this whole argument of like, are sex scenes unethical? Because the characters aren't giving consent to be watched. Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Insane. The book is already like hot stuff, and so the script is pretty much written immediately. Universal snaps up the option, and they throw it right to David Lynch Right off of elephant man a really crow meets with him But like look when he takes the jump from a racer head to elephant man people were like I guess maybe he's just a guy who can do anything and there were a lot of examples of like someone starts out making weirdo

Abstract art films and then they just get conventional. Like George Lucas was kind of that narrative. So I think after Elephant Man was good, people were like, I don't know, maybe he can make any kind of movie. But he actually meets with them. He meets with them and he says, this is a great story. It's really great. It's just not the kind of thing I do and good luck. And he apparently got into a white VW bug and drove away.

Art Linson, who is a producer, has seen Hacker Link short and is like, this girl gets sex. And let's face it, this is a movie about sex and she really gets it. And so that's why they take it to her and they pick her. The book blows Hacker Link away. It had such reality to it, she says. You totally get into the kid's lives. And she goes to Crow and she's like, you know, like has tons of ideas. Crow says that she was like a European director who wanted to make like this raw movie and like no, I guess no one else is probably coming to him with that take, right? Everyone else is probably trying to sell him on a conventional teen movie. This movie is very unconventional. It is. It does have main characters and it does have a plot, sort of.

Kind of. It has narrative threads, clean arcs and... It's like half sketch, half narrative. And it has sympathetic characters, but it also has very unsympathetic characters. And it... Yeah, it just, you know, obviously, it just depicts life realistically, but then also has the most famous, like, whack-off fantasy sex scene in a teen movie ever.

Which is like a parody of it, but then it loops all the way back around to just being the fucking whack-off teen fantasy sex scene. This is what I'm saying, though. It's like this movie defies logic in how much it is all of these things simultaneously. Wait, which is the fantasy sex scene? The Phoebe Cates scene.

Like where it's like... I call that just getting out the pool. Right, but like that is like a parody of dumb teen 80s movies. Got it, got it. Doing like, okay, now we'll have a scene with tits because like that's required of these movies. I did rewatch it on the airplane last night

in the middle seat and I gotta say, I felt really grown up because- You got some neck cranes? Well, I was just like- The pilot came back to look over your shoulder But I thought people would be like, you know, maybe offended and then I thought I don't care and that made me feel really happy Finally, yeah, it's boobs and what are they watching? Everyone was watching the exact same thing last night, which was the Bills game It is sure to me to talk about pornography. Yeah

Come on No to think that like used to go on a plane and the pilot would be like, our movie today is Home Alone 2. Oh yeah. Like everyone would find out in real time what the movie was going to be and you'd be like, ah. And then there's just everyone looking at communal screens, the same movie that has been edited down for planes.

And now you go to plane, people are just watching fucking whatever they want. Just fucking throwing on a Serbian film. Right, but that's the thing. You'll like sit there and someone will be sitting next to a kid and they'll be watching fucking Terrifier 3 or whatever. I mean, I watched Nowhere on the airplane once and that felt wrong. But I only watched it on the airplane

because I'd always wanted to see it. And the girl sitting next to me was watching it and she ripped it. You watched the Greta Roche movie Nowhere? Was that like available on the plane? No, no, no, no, I had a laptop and the girl next to me had her laptop and I just wanted to see it. It was like today on Delta, we have a Gregorocky series if you want to check out that package. And next time we'll be doing kids on the return flight.

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So it will be the narrative center. It's like the- Let's amp it up even more. That's the sort of- I do understand the exoticism of a mall as a New Yorker. Me too. I now live in Tennessee and I love the mall. But aren't malls kind of dying a little bit as online?

Absolutely. They're not quite the social hubs that they used to be, I feel. Not New Jersey. As a New Jersey resident. Well, New Jersey, they're like historical art of buildings. They're just landmark. Exactly.

They're required. They're truly so in my DNA. That like was where everyone would hang out on the weekends after school. I would just hang out at the mall. But I have that same thing where once I was out of high school and I traveled anywhere and I still have this instinct, I'm like, where's the mall? I should go to the mall.

You know, like, I want to... I will understand the place I'm in right now if I go to the mall. Have you been to the Mall of America? I haven't. Oh my god, they've roller coasters. That's in Minnesota. Well, I've been to the American Dream Mall. That's in Jersey.

It is in Featherford, New Jersey, which also has roller coasters and is a nightmare. Oh, I can see that recently. This is a new mall that opened during the pandemic. Do you go to the mall a lot in Nashville? I do go to the mall because that's where like the nice stores are. Right, right. And I only buy nice things well Because the appeal of the mall is like I get it so like

Maybe malls need to make a comeback because it is like I don't know what to do with myself The mall will show me what I want. Do I just want to go eat some pizza and window shop fine What's like the old do I want to go like yeah like ultimate third place, because what if the third place is a million places? Do you want a sample of chicken teriyaki? Yum, yum, yum. But I also just feel like, and I'm sure it was like this in the 80s too, but like now it's so much more obvious how much like crap you can buy. Like, even...

It's all laid out for you there. And it just, like, I feel gross at the mall after a certain amount of time, because it's, like, even like... It's all laid out for you there. And it just, like, I feel gross at the mall after a certain amount of time, because it's just like, obviously this was made by someone that shouldn't be making clothing, and you know, like there's a kind of... The purity of the mall has been replaced by my knowledge of capitalism.

Another thing too, which is just like, we're being sold shit all the time everywhere Yeah, so like less of an escape or whatever Right, the escape of just like I'm going to a mall and considering buying stuff for the first time I like the idea of like Every social media feed is like cramming stuff down your throat I grew up in London and you know, I would like Sensitive

And I would do the same shit with my friends which was like I would I would go to the record store, your Virgin Megastore or HMV or whatever. Ben just clipped that for later. We don't want to save that to the soundboard. Go on, David. Right? And then we would go see a movie. It's just like, we just didn't get to all do it in one big building. We were doing the same shit. I feel like for us, that was Union Square, right? Where it was not a mall, but you had the Virgin Megastore,

you had the Regal Theater. Like there were like... You had the places you chop left from Max Brenner Chocolate by the ball. Oh my god. What about cozy? Cozy and sand oh, is that you pronounce? Would you go to Ollie's? No, cuz I would go to Ollie's You're talking Union Square not Lincoln Square, sorry, so, okay Casting Sean Penn had only been in one Lincoln Square. Sorry. So, okay. Casting.

Sean Penn had only been in one movie, Taps, but says he felt like this was his role. Like he was already like sort of brimming with arrogance. His father's like a top TV director, did a bunch of Star Trek and stuff, Leo Penn. And yes, he was like already at this age, had the reputation for like, that Penn kid is serious. He's like already at this age had the reputation for like that pen kid is serious And then I was reading on IMDB trivia I'm gonna keep saying that until it sounds like a reputable news source about like how Seriously, he does this comedic role and I was just thinking like Whenever I've worked with actors who do that now

Well a they don't but be if they did I'm thinking of one person who was just like so serious all the time and I Felt like they were a loser you want to strangle them and also Usually you watch the fire. They're a prick. They're prick. They're prick and he was probably a prick, but it's so good He's being serious about playing a fun guy. Yes. Where I'm like, he might've been less of a prick on this movie than on every other movie. There's a possibility. Maybe.

That him taking Spicoli seriously made him easier to work with. Did he go method, you think? Yes, he did. So he got stoned? Yes. I mean, his eyes. I was, how you could not, the eye,

I was like, someone either is the best makeup artist of all time and figured out how to do that. The eyes and just his general like redness. There's just something very, very real about him. But this is the thing. Kenatourously was like, I will treat this as if I am playing Hamlet. And you can't call me Sean, I'm only Jeff, I'm only Spicoli. None of the actors interacted with him. This seems like a nicer guy to interact with. But to your point, usually that's annoying because it's people doing that to play tortured people, right? Or if you're taking something

that could be this silly that seriously, you're just kind of like, dude, you're sucking the fun out of it. You watch the final product and you're like, this is too over thought. Well, you're not understanding the assignment. And this is something I feel as an actress all the time. Yeah.

Like I overburden the script with my idea of what good acting is. Very well said. And I'm like, oh my God, it was a scene where I was supposed to eat like pasta and a normal person would do that with a knife and fork, but not I, I use spoons. Well, this is the movie brain thing

of both of us being like obsessive movie dorks, is you like read the script and you go like, oh, this is that type of scene. Like rather than trying to do the math on like what serves the character, you're less person-be-dorked. Or what serves the story. Right, you're like, what are my favorite pasta scenes in movies? And how do I make this my version of that or whatever?

Like he is so serving the film. It is one of the best comedic performances of all time. There are also so many cases of things like this where it's like a serious actor who has an early like quote-unquote silly performance and they're really embarrassed by it. And he's like, no, that's like amongst the best work I've ever done. I take it really seriously. He will do every retrospective interview. Yeah, he takes the movies importance. He just like values this so much. It's just so funny to be like, oh, the pen kid, he's like fucking Method,

he's the new Brando. He does one movie, then he does this. It like turns him into this surprise kind of like teen movie star for a moment in like a very different vein. And he doesn't distance himself from it. And yet then goes back to doing his other shit and becomes like that guy times a billion.

Yeah. Yeah. He did We Are No Angels. He's made very few comedies. Yes. And usually when he makes a comedy, quote unquote, it's kind of like a crime comedy or whatever, like it's got like a edge to it. But I also feel like the times that I-

21 Grams is a comedy, right? Yeah, it's very funny. No, he's been, he's done funny things. If you ask me, in the last 15 or 20 years, and almost all of them are self-parody of making fun of how serious he is. But his, my favorite Sean Penn performance all the time is Milk, which is a drama, but is such a life, like, you know, filled with life, so humorous, like he's so very... It's the same thing as Spicoli, where you're like, there is like a beauty to the purity of this character

and the optimism of that, where you're surprised that he's able to conjure that for a guy who's so like... -"Eww, gangsta squad." -"But then like, right." He'll show up on like, not curb your enthusiasm. He's so funny in Licorice Pizza, playing a guy who takes himself too serious. And even like he's like funny in Walter Mitty. Like there'll be these things where it feels like

he's riffing on Sean Penn is humorless. Right. And he does it well. Right. But the bizarre thing is to see him nail this. Mystic River, that's a comedy? I thought it was hilarious. Yeah.

Okay wait, I have to pee. Do it. Okay, go ahead. I'm gonna keep doing Context while you pee. Judge Reinhold is the only person they like who reads for the role. Your honor. Your honor.

My favorite performance in the movie, kind of, in a weird sort of a way. She's wonderful. And, or also a performance that reveals more to me as you rewatch this movie, I've seen it, this movie many, many, many times. I mean, we'll talk about it at the moment in the park. Because it's deceptively subtle, exactly.

Yes, but to Lola's point, Nicolas Cage read for that part originally they liked him They found out he was underage would not be able to shoot adult hours Yes, so they throw him the Brad's bud part just as a like hey kid We'll like give you a credit and help you get your sag card Can I tell you what Art Linson said about Judge Reinhold as they are obviously wrestling with like right? well, we do we cast this underage actor and Apparently they like Reinhold and Art Lindsen says,

look at this guy, he's as old as Ed Astaire. Just think that's a great insult. So they cast everyone in the senior class is basically played by a 25 year old, which is my wife remarked on immediately, she was like, it's like all the teen movies where like, and I'm like, it's kind of starting, you know, like, judge also sort of unavoidable, but yes. And also he just reads old. I was going to say, I think you

could pull him out of class at 17 and he still would have read old. I think he's just got a bit of an old man. He's got the gawkiness. He's so tall that he, the deep voice. And he's such a sweet guy. I think to your point in this movie, it feels... it feels deliberate and appropriately applied that it's kind of speaking to an ecstatic truth of when you are 15 or 16, how old an 18-year-old feels. Right? Like, the gulf between him and Jennifer Jason Lee, and I know Jennifer Jason Lee is also not a teenager

in this movie. She is. She's like 19. She's like 19 or 20. She's... Everyone's a few years older than they're playing. The six years between them in real life feels reflective of how big the two years between those characters feels

when you're a teenager. It works for that very reason. Exactly. I don't know if you agree, Ben. It's so authentically capturing what it's like to be that age and be that and that time in your life that I think you just settle in. And I'm not so distracted by that fact.

You know, you just lock it. I don't find it remotely distracting, but I'm also watching actors I know as older actors. Well, there's that part. So I'm like, look at Jennifer Jason Lee's like little puppy fat cheeks. I'm like, look at baby Sean Penn. Look at baby Joe Dre. You know, like I'm like, I know what Jason Lee's like little puppy fat cheeks and like look at baby Sean Penn Look at baby judge, right? You know, like I'm like I know what these guys grow up to be It is wild to watch a movie like this where so many people in it continue to be relevant today where you're like

you have like many many people where the careers are really long and important and Then you read the list of like so many of the other people who read for parts or were close to parts And it's one of those things where you're like there's an entire alternate cast of this movie that would have been good That that aren't like Eric Stoltz and back to the future like thank God we missed that Eric Stoltz of course also in this He is Matthew Broderick, Ralph Macchio, Scott Baio, Ali Shidi Are people who read and who came closer whatever Jennifer Jason Lee obviously It's her big breakthrough Phoebe Cates Art Linson found in a juice bar because she was just so gorgeous Jodie Foster

Was the studio wanted her for the Jennifer Jason Lee part? She's a young actor Makes perfect sense Justin Bateman was offered the Phoebe Cates part and did family ties instead Well that worked out for her fun and now she's a normal poster Tom Hanks turned down for Brad. Yeah, Tom Hanks makes total sense for Brad. Yes.

But I'm happy we got the judge. Me too. Devil. Devil sound. Movies made for five and a half million dollars, shot in 35 days. Sherman Oaks Galleria is the mall they use. Van Nuys High School, which I feel like

it's a high school that gets used all the time, is the high school. The main two producers on this are Art Lincense, we said, and then what's his name, Irving Azov, who is a big music producer as well. Right, and he's putting the soundtrack together. Right, which is incredible. So there's basically this balance of like,

they got this heavyweight who's able to negotiate to get some of the songs they want, but also he's like, I represent Stevie Nicks, you gotta put a Stevie Nicks song in there. What is that song? Sleeping Angel, which is an incredible song. Yeah, I have never heard it. I mean, I know it from the Fast Time Saga.

The Eagles had just broken up, and he kept trying to get every solo Eagles project that was starting up as well. He'd be like, you gotta do this and this and this. And Hackerling is fighting for, like, I want edgy new music. I want fear. I want the go-gos. I want the talking heads. I want Oingo Boingo, the Dead Kennedys. Like, she's fighting for that.

And they're just, the soundtrack is a compromise. But I think it's a great balance. Like, it ends up working. And it, yeah, there's a weird thing of, like, it having these leftover 70s songs that you're like, they would still be circulating. It's that thing people talk about with period films like if you're making a movie in 1980 the art director should look at things from 1975 because it feels wrong if everyone has the newest clothes the

newest furniture the newest cars right and so there's that sense of like these songs would still be on the radio and also Amy heckling was clearly like finding things that were right on the edge of breaking through. And I think it's perfect because when you're a teenager you do listen to like old radio music as well as new shit. It's a perfect soundtrack. They test screen it in Orange County and famously get terrible results probably because Orange County is more conservative. That was Art Lindsson's thing. The studio gets spooked.

And Art Lindsson was like, this is not our audience we made a movie that Has sex and drugs in an honest way and this is these are not our people They have to cut Robert Ramonis's penis out of the movie because they got an x-rating correct when they cut it out They go back to an r-rating now my blu-ray lovingly includes his Criterion collection Penis When they're undressing it is in my in my opinion, crucial to the scene because the idea of they're both equally vulnerable in that moment.

And the scene's timed a little differently. It's just slightly longer. It's a little more awkward. I mean, she gets, look, the abridged version of it has its own comedic power because it becomes so ridiculously fast. But yes, it is like quietly restored on the criterion version. I feel like there wasn't even a lot of noise made about it at the time, but it was the first time you can now see her version of that. And someone within your own, oh, but it's a vent, sorry.

I was just gonna say, I mean, not even a one-minute man. No. Yes. No. No. No. He dreams of a minute. It is. It. Yes. No. No. No. No. No. He dreams of a minute. It's so perfect. It is. It is.

Of course. We'll get to it, but it's just like, yeah, yeah. The arc of that character is unbelievable. Someone internally at Universal writes a memo to Nid Tainan and Sid Shieber, who run the studio, and say, if you release this film, the future of the studio is in doubt. People were talking about it as if it was kids.

As if this is a movie with like, you know, like unsimulated sex and like intravenous drugs. Like the level of outrage within the studio is insane. So they kind of release it quietly, then are flabbergasted that kids are really excited by the movie and want to see it. It does okay, but they basically could never kind of catch up to the demand. And then it becomes an early VHS super smash.

And famously, when you rent the VHS, the Phoebe Cates scene is completely degraded. Oh, my God. 100%. Which then makes it mythical of like, I have a cousin who saw it in theaters. Yeah. But it is an early example of a movie that owes so much of its life to video.

Yeah. Because it was sort of the early days of video. And it's also a little... And obviously it's a teen thing. I was going to say, it's a little early in the 80s teen movie trend, you know? I mean, it's not like the one that kickstarts everything, but it does feel like... Which one did kickstart everything? Let's do a timeline on this.

Oh, boy. No, because the first Hughes is 84, is that right? Oh, no, no, no. Okay, okay. Well, you have to go back to like, last picture showed American graffiti, which are these early 70s new Hollywood movies, but they're about teens.

Now they're set in the 50s, right? They're nostalgic, but they're a little realer. And so I feel like, I mean, and if you go even back even further to like the Blackboard Jungle or whatever, like there's, you know, those like early like... Those movies are real, but also kind of wistful, right? And have this sense of being a little more elevated because they are throwing back...

Then in 78, you have Animal House, which I feel like that is the, to me, original R-rated movie for teens. Right? Like where it's like, it's kind of contradictory and it was like, why would you make like a grownup movie essentially that's about stupid idiot teenagers getting naked and swearing and like getting in fights

or whatever, right? But it's also college sex. It's college, so it's a little more grownup. But still it's like, it's not like that movie is for, you know, sweater wearing 40 year olds, right? No, in fact, that movie flips off the sweater wearing 40 year olds. And so then I guess it's like Rock and Roll High School

is an early one, right? And like, I'm trying to think of other like, like early, I mean, this is really one of the first ones to me. This is the thing. I think this movie is a turning point. This movie is 82 as well. And Porky's kind of is porn. Because Porky's is 82 as well, and Porky's kinda is porn. Right.

Like Porky's is like softcore porn. I think those- I'm not saying that judgmentally, it's just like Porky's is a little bit more like, let's do some plots so we can get to like more sex jokes and nudity and stuff. I put forward the notion that Porky's and Fast Time basically creates the two lanes that these movies go on for the next decade, right? Where it's like Fast Time's more directly leads to like Hughes and Martha Coolidge, and then Porky's leads to just like fucking screwballs and Hot Dog the Movie, all the

fucking movies where like dudes are fucking things and jerking off. Have you seen Porky's? No. Do you know what Porky's is? Yes, I mean I know the poster. Yeah. Of course. There's a character named Booger.

No, you're thinking Revenge of the Nerd course. There's a character named Booger. No, you're thinking Revenge of the Nerds. That's Revenge of the Nerds, which is kind of sanitized Hollywood porkies, right? I would say. And Revenge of the Nerds has essentially like a rape subplot in it that it doesn't recognize as a rape.

Correct. It's like, huh, this is funny. It treats us sort of a like snobs versus slobs victory. Right. That like the nerds got one over on the uptight cool girls. Right, which is an example of like how dysfunctional these movies are. Correct.

Which this one is not. Well, this is what I'm saying, is that there becomes this split into like the movies that are just like hormonally like fucking tits and hijinks, right? I like Losing It and Private School. Yes. Like all those sex comedies of the mid-80s.

And then there's the sort of like inner life of the teen movie made compassionately, kind of like. Like John Hughes movies. Right, and Valley Girl and stuff like that. Even in a sillier version or whatever. And that this is the one that's like kind of both. But it's also neither.

In a much more intelligent way. But as you said, it's also neither. Like this movie is also one of the very few that's directed by a woman Yes of any of the movies we're talking about and it's just the way it depicts sex to me is All because a woman is directing. I agree they during during the pandemic Museum of moving image along with the like Queen Science Center did this whole summer series of drive-in double features that we went to a couple of.

We went to Robocop and Escape from New York. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you take a taxi, Griffin? I would make people drive me. Boom, I drove. Such as my friend Ben. But I kept on, anytime I saw a good one on the schedule and I was so scared of doing anything during the pandemic,

I'd like text everyone I knew with a car and be like, hey, you wanna do this on Tuesday? Griffin wouldn't let me hotbox though, which was so annoying. What a fucking narc. Did he at least make out with you? Of course I made out with him, I'm a gentleman. He put out.

Yeah. You bought the popcorn and Griffin put out. Over the shirt stuff. Over the shirt, over the shirt. They did a Fast Times, Dazed and Confused double feature that I went to with our old friends, Ramona and Eloise Head. Oh And Ramona just turns to me like an hour into Fast Times and is like, how did this get made?

Yeah, well, not a little bit sheer and I was like it's directed by a woman and she's like, oh, okay But was just so confounded by like this is from 1982 and it's treating this stuff this way Why does this feel different than every other teen movie I've seen and I was like that is the key difference. Something I feel like it really nails is how grown-up kids are. Yes. Yes. Like that's something. And yet aren't. And yet aren't but how grown-up they like seem like they are. I love how untimid Jennifer Jason Lee, her character is about sex. And whether that's because she's compensating for a real timidity that she does have. It's a little bit that, but then she does actually have a sexual boldness to her that

she doesn't quite know how to express, I guess. Here's a thing that hit me on this watch that I don't think I picked up on before. Does this movie not show a single parent? It doesn't show any parents. But like that's to your point. That it like, it is just about treating them as autonomous individuals. They are not defined by their relationship with their parents, which I feel like is such a big part of all these other movies.

And even Breakfast Club that only has the parents at the beginning is so much of their relationship with their parents, which I feel like is such a big part of all these other movies. And even Breakfast Club, that only has the parents at the beginning, is so much of them talking about their parents. Well, but Breakfast Club is also them very loudly talking about their social class. Whereas in this movie, all of that is there for you if you want to think about it. Especially how Damone is clearly so much poorer than most of the characters in this movie. But you don't really think about it until the end of the movie. And the movie also doesn't really create, like,

a social strata within the school of, like, the hierarchy of the cliques. Because that stuff is still not happening. Right. Everyone's sort of coexisting, you have different types. Because that's what Everybody Wants Some is also about to me, is it's like throwing back to a less clicky college, obviously, but right where you're like, stoners, jocks, who cares?

Let's all just hang out, man, and sing songs and get stoned. But this is the start of subculture culture taking over. But everyone wants to go see fucking Van Halen. Yes. Or whatever. Like whoever's playing at the, you know... Blue oyster cult. Man, where were you two weeks ago?

He had all the blue oyster cult tickets then. Do you just like wait for them to do Don't Fear the Reaper and then you're like, all right, I'm out. All right, thanks so much. Hopefully they start with that. Yep. We need to shout out too, just because we didn't include it, Grease.

I feel it feels like another- It's a good point. Teen movie. Yes. That came before. The musical is much raunchier. Yes. And then the movie version sands it down a little bit to make it more sandy.

But another movie that is nostalgic for an earlier time. Another, right, 20 years ago. That was The Bridge, though, I do think. Because also Animal House is a period piece. Yes, it is. People forget that. But like all of these were kind of... Well, because they all feel like period pieces now, yeah. But all of them were getting in through the system because it was like slightly older filmmakers making films about their childhoods with a distance that was more sellable to

middle-aged audience members, you know, rather than being like, we are just making movies for teenagers, which I think was seen as like a limiting audience, like as a business model at that time. And then in the 80s, they're like, oh, fuck, teenagers have money, they go to malls. We gotta make more movies for them. So we've got... Jennifer Jason Lee is a sort of major character.

I'm trying to think of like how you organize this film story-wise. I feel like she is the ostensible lead. She's the main part. She's probably the biggest lead character. Do you have performances on your Oscar bracket for this movie? Because I was doing the math on this. David has a spreadsheet of who he would nominate in every category every year for decades.

That's cool. You shouldn't be telling her that. That's why I have to tell her, David. I like this game, though. I'm not that cool. Jennifer Jason Lee is my winner for best actress. Okay, yeah. And then I have Sean Penn and nominated as supporting and judge. And that's it, I don't have any,

but that's plenty obviously. Who's she beating for actress in your AD2? Sean Young for Blade Runner, Mary Warnov for Eating Roll, very underrated movie, Dee Wallace for ET and JoBeth Williams for Pulture Guys. I think it's kind of like a weird year for actresses. Puddy and Leed, interesting. Yeah, but I might be kind of...

Did Meryl Streep not make a movie that year? I think she did. He too. What was it? Stiltswood? Like French Lieutenant's Woman. That's a great movie. Or that's a good movie. Let me look up the Oscars for that year. Yeah.

So the Oscars... Because you have zero overlap. Definitely, because the Oscars for that year. Yeah. So the Oscars- Because you have zero overlap. Definitely. Because the Oscars for that year is the Gandhi ET Oscars. Yeah. Right? Um, and so- Oh right, Sophie's Choice. Meryl Streep wins for Sophie's Choice that year. She did. Okay.

That's a film I did- Oh, really? Did Meryl Streep make a movie that year? She made the Meryl Streep movie. I've never seen Sophie's Choice. Me neither. Nor I. Um. We've all chosen the other-

Yeah, I see. The other option to not watch it. I haven't seen these movies. I've never seen the other option to not watch it. I've never seen Missing, the Custard Graffress movie, which is Cissy Spacek. I've never seen Francis, where Jessica Lange plays Francis Farmer. I bet it's good. What is kind of hard to see now? Is that right?

I think a lot of these movies end up in weird rights zones or whatever. I've never seen An Officer and a Gentleman in full. I've seen that half on TV or whatever, Debra Winger. I have. I'm cool. Cool. It's great. I mean, I love Debra Winger.

Huge fan. I do too. Big Debra Winger fan. Probably five years prior would have been perfect for Fast Time's Original and High. She kinda has, well, did she make a movie with Amy Hickman? I'm like, no, she didn't. But I feel like, I don't know, there's a world where they would cross paths.

Yeah. But, okay, so Jennifer Jason Lee is kind of your main character and then, like, Phoebe Cates is sort of attached to her, right? Like, and I guess Brian Backer, a rat, is sort of a main character with Romanus kind of, you know, with, you know, Victimoon attached to him. Yes. And then Judge Reinhold is sort of your third-ish,

like, most important main character. Yes, I think the Rat demone thing, what's interesting is that for the first half, Rat is leading that storyline, the second half, demone is leading that storyline. There's sort of one thread that flips in terms of... This all feels like it flies in the face of how you would do this kind of a movie.

Absolutely. To not force any sort of more conventional structure in terms of... This all feels like it flies in the face of how you would do this kind of a movie. Absolutely. To not force any sort of more conventional structure on the book, you know, or hooks or any of that kind of stuff, and to just have it be like, it's just sort of a fudgy timeline of a year. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Let's not even, right, worry about homework or parents or, like, oh, I gotta get into college or, you know, none of that shit.

My favorite thing about the decision to really center around them all is really tying each of them to their jobs and also forcing these characters to spend half of the movie in the dumbest uniforms possible. These really dorky clothes. Like it gets this sense of this weird conflict between you feel like a grownup

because you have a responsibility and you're making money on your own for the first time. But the payoff for that is you gotta wear some dumb shit and flirt with the people you like while wearing that shit. It's such a big part of the book, and that's the Judge Reinhold character, Brad, who I love. It's such a great joke that he's like,

I'm so good at this. Yes, I'm a single successful, I'm a successful guy. I'm on top of the world as a fry chef, essentially. And it's just like, he's, it's beautiful. Like the rest, every other character in this movie, I think is more just kind of like, God, I cannot wait to be a fucking grownup. Like, get out of this shit and like,

go do whatever exciting things I want to do. And Brad is the guy who's like, it ain't getting better than this, baby! I got a little saber, baby! I got my Buick, I got my job, I got my girl. I've been going steady for three years or whatever. You know what's funny I'm realizing now? Brad is kind of the original template

for the Cameron Crowe character. Okay. Not as much like say anything, but Brad is like a mini high school version of a like Jerry Maguire, where it's like this guy who kind of feels like I have it all figured out I'm a master of the universe so fun pulling the rug out right and then his life just like crumbles And he's like I'm getting it together. You know like Brad just keeps being like gonna get this back on track

The thing that shocked me the most of watching it last night was that it's Forrest Whitaker Yeah, he's he is it's one of his first roles. Well, you're just like, he's just there. He's like 20, 21 years old. Like he's in three scenes, but the way this movie's shot, you're like, he's around in the background a bunch. But I always remembered, like, how that character had one eye smaller than the other.

Yeah, right. And then rewatching it, I was like, oh, yeah, that guy looks like Forrest Whitaker with one eye smaller than the other. And then I looked it up it, I was like, oh yeah, that guy looks like Forrest Whitaker with one eye smaller than the other. And then I looked it up and I was like, that is... It's Forrest Whitaker, baby. We covered this on some other episode. Maybe it was the panic room episode,

but this thing I find fascinating is like, this is his first movie? Is that right? Yeah, he has one other credit the same year, called Tag the Assassination Game. And then he does Color of Money. Yeah, but that's four years later. He has some other credits in between? Just one, he's in Vision Quest,

the Matthew Modine movie. Then Color of Money, he's got this like really good, kind of showcase, extended role, right? Yeah, he's really good in Color of Money. And he's in Platoon that year. And then after Platoon and Color of Money, Lola, Forrest Whitaker's like, I don't know my craft. And then like goes to drama school. He already like has five major credits

and has like worked with incredible people and is like, I need to get serious about this. And then like goes to fucking conservatory and then comes back and is like, here I go, I'm ready. I mean, I'm ready. I mean, I don't, interesting. Cause I, are you sure that didn't happen after Vision Quest? Because he goes right from Color Money and Platoon to Stakeout and Good Morning Vietnam to Bird. Like those are- Then you know what? Maybe I'm right.

Maybe it's in between- I feel like it must be before. In between Vision Quest and Color Money. It makes sense too because he comes out of whatever that was, a much more fully formed actor. So that, I knew there was a gap, but it has to be that. Because in this, he's being cast for his physicality, he really, like, he looks the part,

he's so funny just for like one minute, basically, like, as the, I mean, I think the scene where Damone pretends to be his friend is really funny. Um, because he doesn't, he's not mean to Damone, he's just kind of like, okay. I mean, this movie just constantly somehow holds back from the most obvious version of every scene of every joke and like just grounding it enough in realistic behavior.

Yeah, and not, yeah, not making too much of a meal out of the fact that like Phoebe Cates is making up a boyfriend essentially, probably, or whatever, whatever that situation is. Or at least wildly exaggerating. At least completely delusional about a guy she had sex with one time or something. That Damone is full of shit about, you know,

his little business as a scalper that Brad is full, you know. Oh, wait, so he's not a scalper? No, he is, but it's just like he's acting like he's some Wheeler dealer. Right, because he doesn't have any money for the abortion. He doesn't have any fucking money. Like, he's clearly, like, laying himself out way too much to get like people like to like him by getting them concert tickets.

I'm gonna ask the question too. One of his, you know, big intro scenes is him explaining to Rapp the like five moves that always get a woman, right? This kind of like a pickup artist shit. This guy's got all the fucking answers. My read especially watching it this time. Is he a virgin when he has sex with him? Is he losing his virginity?

Then he's barely ever had said I had always considered it and watching it this time I was like 100% this is the bigger question is de moan hot Yes, would you fuck de moan this is passing when I was 14? I was I might not fuck him if I got to know him because they're gonna be kind of hot when I was a teenager I feel it was hot now when I was like... I might not fuck him if I got to know him, because then I'd be kind of like... I didn't think he was hot when I was a teenager, but I thought he was hot now. When I was 14, I was like, D'Amone is so cool, and this movie pulls off this amazing narrative twist of revealing that he's a piece of shit, right?

But I was like, the first half of the movie, I'm buying his coolness. And now I watch it, and I'm like, see fucking through it from the get-go. This guy's trying too hard. I find him... I find the film is very compassionate to him. Which I like.

Yes. It would be easy for him to be a villain because he does... The most straightforwardly villainous thing in the movie, which is he doesn't pay for the abortion or pick her up. And doesn't show up. More than anything. Like, beyond the payment. It's cowardice, right? The cowardice is not showing up and saying,

I'm sorry, I couldn't get the money. And I like that the movie doesn't really punish him. Like, that Rat and him sort of like shake on it and they're like kind of still friends, although it's always gonna be weird. Yeah. And that he's just gonna be DeMone, like, and it's kind of like, you know,

you're like punishment enough that he's kind of, you know, a bit of a bottom feeder or whatever it is. It is an incredible performance. It's a great performance. And then I really think it's crucial that at the end of that movie, near the end of it, you see him coming out of his house, his apartment, and you're like, right, he doesn't have a big fucking house with a pool that, you know.

He lives in an apartment. Yeah, like it's like, like you just get more and more, you get to know him more as the movie goes on in a way that again, whatever, a regular teen movie would just not bother him. And it isn't overstated, but he... It's not overstated. But there's the moment when he goes to Jennifer Jason Lee's house and he goes, oh man, must be nice to have a pool.

Yeah, and she has a pool house to have sex in. A changing room or whatever they call it. It's a pool house. Yeah, whatever. Right, but that happens like 10 minutes before you see the one shot of him leaving and you've heard that she called him and his mom picked up and said he's in the garage working with dad. Right. Right. Right. But like it's all that sort of stuff where you're like, so what's the structure of his life? What are his parents like? You don't see it. You don't know. Yeah. It's just a little more lower middle class or whatever.

I love his fashion. He has such good fits. Also his musical taste from his walls are like incredible. The tattoo you poster that's on the wall, like, you do get this sense of his aspiration and his desperation to leave this world that he's in, which is very different from the Jennifer Jason Lee character's life. This guy wants to be Cameron Crowe, right? I guess so. Or at least he wants to go live in the city.

I think this guy lacks the focus to be like, I should be writing reviews or trying to interview musicians. But like what he dreams of is that kind of life of like, I am friends with all the people I think are cool, and they respect that I am cool. His whole posture is like, can I present a worldliness and awareness of culture? You know, a sort of understanding of business

that shows these teenagers that I'm on a different level and I'm beyond this. And in reality, he just wants those people to be like, you belong here with us. You're an equal. I guess in today's terms, he would just have been like a hipster. And Jennifer Jason Lee, if you look at her bedroom,

she loves her life in a way. Like when she takes Rat into her room, she wants to show him pictures like of her and her friends. It's so sweet, it breaks my heart. Like because she likes having pictures of her friends and she likes her family. And then when you see Spicoli's room, I mean, you really do understand.

I did see that a lot of those pictures on his wall are of Dorothy Stratton, which is another interesting... That is wild. Yeah. Yeah, but that's... We have two Lana Clarkson and Dorothy Stratton references in that movie. Yes. Very interesting. Right, but she was star 80. I mean, this is like her era.

But even that, I'm like, the absence of the parents is so fascinating because it doesn't feel like the stylistic choice that is calling attention to itself and yet like they are less present in this world than they are in fucking peanuts, right? Like I don't have a representation of their absence, but you can what's what's nice to me And I think you know is a is a good Maybe note for filmmakers now is like you understand the inner lives of these kids without having any of them talk about how depressed they are. Totally, and to the point I feel like you were setting up, when you see Spicoli's room,

and especially that moment at the end when Mr. Hand is leaving and he clocks all the naked women on the wall and just kind of gives it a beat and walks out, my mind starts to go like, oh, this quietly says a lot about Spicoli's parents. I don't need to see them. I don't need to hear them referred to.

They're chill about this, yeah. There's something here in the culture of Spicoli's home where it's like his entire room is wallpapered. Spicoli has no mom. Is the immediate thing that I think, I mean, you have the dad, it's the little brother references dad and then I Don't think your mom would let you have that stuff

There's all this coding shit where like this movie makes you kind of like spin out Considering the aspects of the characters that aren't stated directly Through the little hints it gives you of these things and like seeing Damone's room before you see him leaving the complex You know like oh his taste is good look at who he has on his walls you of these things. And like seeing Damone's room before you see him leaving the complex, you know? Like, oh, his taste is good. Look at who he has on his walls versus, oh, he's the only person in this movie who doesn't live in a house. But Spicoli also has the most incredible fashion. And I... Oh, those vans? The vans. I didn't realize that that was, you know, originated by Spicoli. He's right there. The kind of pink knitted sweater thing.

Everything he wears. The turtleneck underneath. The blue cap, the Colt 45 t-shirt in the last scene. All of them, you're like, I know the whole point of this guy is he just rolls out of bed right into a van that's filled with bong. But I'm like, he's making choices. He's making great choices.

I mean, this movie, I think really... Extra cheese sausage, not a bad pizza order. Totally. This movie really, I think, gave Vans as a brand, like, exposed them to, like, the mainstream. See him take them out of a box. It was like skater shoe wear. Right, show the fresh ones straight to camera

and then fucking hit himself in the head with it. You're like, fuck fuck those shoes are cool Yeah, I'm wearing my van slip-ons today I noticed that I had a van's they would always just kind of fall apart on me kind of faster You know, they're not great no offensive ants who should sponsor our show Like love come on board Ben. Sure. Yeah, I do feel like they kind of fall apart on me quickly They're never gonna come on board now that you said that. Well, maybe you walk hard. But also, like, Converse...

No, but I'm playing hard to get. They're gonna be like, we gotta win a moment. Like, Converse high tops, another iconic piece of shoe-in. Or what I wore. They fall apart similarly. I think they're kind of made... They're ephemeral. I was a fucking duct-taped Converse kid.

Maybe that's the new tag line. Like, nothing lasts forever when you're cool. Enjoy it all lasts. There's something there. I had these, like, puke green Converse's. I loved them so much. I have hot pink Converse. Hell yeah.

I had all black, the soul, everything was black. Those were cool. And then I refused to retire them, so I would, like, tape them up to try to get another two months out of them. Yeah. And by the end of it, it was like, these are more duct tape than they are shoes. Shoes were so... It was like when you're a teen, you're like,

I don't get to get shoes that often, you know, like it was such a big deal. Now I'm just kind of like, shoes are, you know, mad, so you can just go get more shoes. I know, but it was just like... Back then, it really, you did like wear them to death. But you couldn't order them online, you had to go to 8th Street between 5th and 6th. That was the shoe block. That was the, all shoes. I went to a uniformed school.

There were zero shoe stores left on the block now, it's crazy. What is it now? It's like just fucking juice bars and avocado toast. I'm gonna fucking die. AI. Everything is Snapchat. ChatGT store.

I had to wear black non-sneakers, right? Like I was like, I didn't. Oh, as a dress code, I had a dress code. I was wearing a uniform as many British students do. So I wore Doc Martens. Wearing Doc Martens was the way to be like kind of cool while still like obeying the rules. Cause it's like these aren't sneakers

and they are black, right? So they're not like, they don't have like a pattern on them. Do you think that's why Dr. Martin invented Doc Martens? I like you calling him Dr. Martin. He is my physician. Well, he was hanging out with Dr. Pepper and who else? Who are the other doctors of Dr. Detroit? I think they were Dr. Martens when I was a child.

Dr. Martin? And I used to have the floral Doc Martens. I believe they are, they are officially Dr. Martin. Thank you. It's just a, you know. Here's my strong memory of what we're talking about with like, oh my God, I finally get to get new shoes, is like trying to sell my mom like, oh, these shoes hurt.

I think my feet are growing too much. You know, that you try to jump ahead of like, you're only getting new shoes when you've grown out of them. When you're still at an age where the size is like changing rapidly. Oh, my toes are breaking. I need new shoes right now. Wow. Um, so, it's a really good performance. That's how you got into the biz.

That's how I got into the biz. I mean, like, such a big movie. Phoebe Cates was discovered at a juice bar. I was discovered at a shoe store. And they're like, this kid's really selling toe pain. [♪ theme music playing. [♪ theme music playing. David?

Yep. You hear the news? Nope. This week something big happened. What's up? Well, not literally this week. I mean, like, this same week years ago. Ah, in history.

I'm saying in history. You pick any day, you pick any week. There's some historic moment that might have changed our understanding of the past and shaped our world today perhaps. Also to be fair, there probably was some big stuff that happened this week. It feels like- What can I say? It feels like we're living in unprecedented times and honestly, what I wouldn't give for precedent. Could they be precedented? Could we get precedented for a moment? Now if I can pivot off of that to tell you the history this week, the official podcast

of the History Channel brings these stories to life. Not the dumb bits we were doing, days from the past. Stories of yesteryear. And speaking of dumb bits that we're doing, these stories might have happened a long time ago far, far away, but they are not Star Wars stories. These are real historical stories, no bits. They interview experts, often people who are there to witness historical moments. History this week is a cinematic experience, it's a chance to understand the past by hearing it for yourself.

Yeah. This new season they've got kicks off with the story Camp Century, which is the US military's hidden base carved into deep into the ice of Greenland. What? So American Greenland today being discussed but we're talking about the history of this. The US even tried buying Greenland just after World War II with a bag of gold. They went Wario on it. And do you know that Greenland is actually pretty icy and Iceland is pretty green? That's a good point. History, I'm sure they mentioned that. Hopefully that's one of the episodes. History this week has recently covered a lot of stories that connected today. The time the universal healthcare almost passed under President Harry Truman, real-time life gunslingers that inspired Red Dead Redemption, and how Tesla was a man with big dreams

before he became a car. He played pool. He turned into a car? Well, Ben, this is why you got to listen to podcasts. You get some clarification on some of your misunderstandings. Now, so if you want to experience and understand what happened 10 to 100, 1000 years ago, check out history this week every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts. History this week. And can I say, you know, I hope the sponsor of next week's episode, episode. Precedented times. David! Yes? Can you help me out here? Okay. What do you need help with? My jaw's on the floor. Uh oh! I just gotta lift it up. Thank you! I needed the help because my jaw has been dropping at some of these overpriced wireless plants. Yeah, look, I mean, some of these monthly bills and unexpected overages can really hurt.

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Here's the thing, you save so much money on Mint Mobile, you can buy as many jump ropes as you want. ["Jingle Bells"] I'm trying to figure out how to tackle this movie. Like, um... When we start out with just... Well, we should smash your car and spray paint it. Yeah. And that's how we'll get into the movie.

Because it's a short movie, 90 minutes. It nonetheless feels quite epic, because I think of the year structure, like, you just really feel time passing, even if the movie is generally kind of light and airy. And it doesn't do this kind of like hitting up the seasons, reminding you of what month it is. So many movies like this really use... Partly because it's set in California,

where it's like, man, it always looks like this. But I feel like a lot of movies like this try to use, like, holidays to, like, pinpoint where you are in time, and this movie doesn't do any of that. You just sort of realize at the end, like, oh, the year's over. It doesn't even make, like, the dance a thing, like, often in these teen movies where it's like,

it's all building up to the last dance of the year. It's not a thing until basically the day of. Sure. No one's talking about an anticipation until the scenes that are taking place thatthe day of. Sure. No one's talking about anticipation until the scenes that are taking place that day. Yeah. Yeah.

It's not what these movies become, which is, oh, I have to ascend the social structure of this school or figure crack the code or whatever. In fact, the cheerleaders are very made fun of, but I guess that was a trope. I think that's true at the time. I think, yeah, cheerleaders haven't gotten to be alphas yet. And that's such a funny scene. It's amazing. Where the cheerleader's trying to say, God bless her. Like, we worked really hard on this. And everyone is just like, every this, I don't know if this is what kids were like in the early 80s. I wasn't a kid in

the early 80s. When they're on the school bus, it's just fucking anarchy. Everyone just throwing shit at each other, right? It does feel like more discipline came later. There must have just come some point where in pedagogy, it was like, you know what, you should probably make people sit still in their chairs. Well, I also think you think of the 60s and the 70s being this time. Like we're not doing a military school over here where people stop throwing shit at each other all the time. I think in the 60s and 70s, you had this cultural shift

to the youth of America becoming very politically engaged and feeling the need to push back and the sort of like unwieldiness and the chaos of their behavior was like as means to an end to make a point. And in the 80s to some degree that has like dissipated and now it's just chaos. And all the adults are so burnt out at that point too. Right, that's the thing. Like, you imagine these teachers were like ten years ago dealing with students doing bra burning and being like, well, I can't push back on this or I'll look like a square, right? And now it's just kids being kids and they're no longer trying to accomplish anything? But I think about Mr. Hand, played by Ray Walston. Incredible performance.

An incredible performance. So I'm gonna say that Mr. Hand is the age that Ray Walston was. Okay. Okay? How old do you think Ray Walston is? Great question. Because it's gonna surprise you how old he is. Yeah. So my favorite Martian's in the 60s or 50s? My favorite Martian, which was the TV show he's on, Yes, where he plays.

was in the mid 60s. Arguably my favorite Martian. Oh my god. I had to do it. I debate, I don't know if you saw me just close my eyes and take the beat and go, Am I gonna go through with this? But it was too far along. I'm gonna guess he was 47 when they filmed this he was 68 years old that's crazy. I was surprised in the opposite direction. I assumed you were setting me up That's what you assumed I was doing and I was shocked to learn that in fact, he's really old at this point

So let's say he's actually 68 years old. Okay, that means he's probably been teaching since like World War two, right? He's been teaching for 40 years. Because I was really trying to put myself in this mindset of fucking Spicoli walks into this guy's class, this guy just wants to drone on about the Spanish-American war to these kids. And Spicoli's ordering pizzas to the classroom, right? It's like the most like impossible force, immovable object thing, right? Like, it's just he is never going to get through to this kid.

But he's also not the kind of teacher who thinks he should be getting through to kids, right? He's like the kids should sit still while I talk to them. Yes, yes. And I was just I again I had a lot of empathy for Mr. Hand. Yeah, I'm like again like this guy he probably served in World War two. Yeah, and he's just like what the hell has happened To America's youth. Well, that's my this is what I've been confronted with. To my point. But his way of reaching them is terrible. Yes.

He's such a bad teacher. Yes. Sorry. No, to my point that it's like Mr. Hand has had to deal with trouble before, but the trouble always had some kind of driving reason behind it. Whereas Spicoli is something he just cannot wrap his head around We're like Spicoli's lack of like shame or understanding when he is called out Seems to be the thing that trips him up most That when he's like trying to make an example as Spicoli Spicoli just kind of lets it roll off him

Yeah, and yet it's like the thing in the final scenes where he's just like I do kind of respect this kid There's the combination of what he's not dumb. His brain is sideways. He doesn't think like anyone else, but he's not dumb. You know, he, he's like, you actually got close on that one, Jeff, even when he's trying to explain the revolutionary war through his prism, he's like, you're not totally off. And I think by the end of it, he's like, there's something kind of beautiful about the way Spicoli functions,

that he is so unimpeded by the forces of anything else in the world. So have any of you ever ordered a pizza to your class? No, it's the coolest move in the world. I wish I had. I wish. I know, why didn't we do that? I don't know. I feel like I did other dumb shit.

I watched this with my wife. She's a high school teacher. And she's laughing at that scene, because it's funny. She's like, and she says, we had to stop the kids doing this. And I was like, what do you mean? I was like, they were all fucking ordering DoorDash. Because I was like, right now. Now.

They don't do that. That's too easy. That's too easy. Yeah. And she was like, we had to make a rule. So it went from being the coolest thing in the world to kids being like, let me just DoorDash some Chick-fil-A right now. I remember bringing an entire White Castle Crave case

into perhaps a class I had with your wife. Oh, you've talked about this on the show before. Right, and the teacher just being like, absolutely not. Correctly, yes. This is not happening. I remember 420, my favorite holiday for way too long. Of course, yes. And I can't believe I did this,

but I guess Spicoli was like a hero to me. I walked into my 8 a.m. first period English class with a pint of fish fruit ice cream and Miss Cantor Hell yeah Miss Cantor looked at me and was just like, are you kidding me? That was the response I got to the Crave case was just like That feels like a Saint Ann's thing too where it's like you kids have much rope, and still you find the boundary. Yes. As someone who was basically high throughout my junior and senior year.

OK, so that's when it kicked off for you kind of junior year. Yeah. I, it's unbelievable to think back of how I would just be like bloodshot red ride going to class, and my teachers just didn't call me out on it. Yeah. And I wonder if it's a thing where now weed is so pervasive, red ride going to class, and my teachers just didn't call me out on it. And I wonder if it's a thing where now weed is so pervasive, it's so readily available, that I feel like now teachers

are maybe like, have to call kids out more so, whereas then it was like swept under the rug. That's my thing. I'm like, it's being legal probably makes it less appealing to high schoolers. Am I insane about that? Like, if I could have bought my drugs, like, in a store. Right. Right, rather than getting, like, the worst drugs from the weirdest person. Waiting for hours. Yeah.

Did you smoke on the bleachers? Like smoking oregano. No. We would... There's a lot of weed smoking while in the car, unfortunately, while driving. Oh, sure. Which is shown in this movie. I mean, adults do that all the time, by the way.

No. But yeah, it was mostly we would smoke in the car on the way to school and then show up late and roll in, stinking like a blunt. Stinking. Jesus. I'd be so fucking annoyed with you. It is impossible.

I would be like, school gets out in the middle of the afternoon. Get stoned then. It's fine. Like, why do you have to get stoned at 9 in the morning? I mean, I'm already winding down for the night by 3 p.m. now. Absolutely. Well, now, sure. 16, you know.

It is impossible to watch this movie and not go down these roads and trying to like, what was I doing and what were my things and what did I see in other kids and whatever. And yet this movie is not coded in any sense of sort of like w wistful nostalgia, remember one, like it is very unsentimental. Because it's not a... But it's compassionate. Compassionate is exactly what I was about to say. Yes, it's very compassionate for everybody. This very, like, fascinating balance,

especially when you think about all the things leading up to it being like, man, we're at the 50s a better time. It's not great that we grew up in the 50s. It's not nostalgic and it is not about like, you know, kids versus adults. It's not bye-bye birdie of like, ah, fuck these teachers. The teachers are kind of, there's just Mr. Hand, who yes, he's a hard ass,

but he's just clashing with Spicoli who is, And here's the other thing, let's be fair, not being a very good student. Mr. Hand is funny. Like when, He's got, he's got wit. When Mr. Hand snaps back at Spicoli, the students laugh. He's not funny to the audience while watching a movie.

He knows what he is doing. He's working his classroom. He's trying to get one up on Spicoli by making the better joke at his expense. Like even that is much more balanced than just him being like mean, scary teacher. And then there's Vincent Shavelli as Mr. Vargas. He just switched to Senka. Please forgive him. Obsessed.

Such a sweet performance. Beautiful. Of a teacher who again, is maybe traumatizing his kids by essentially showing them a cadaver. I don't know. Yeah. Like, feels a little traumatizing for a teenager. I think it feels important. Okay.

I mean, I'm kind of with you on that. Has the two weird, like, for lack of a better word, franchise extensions that don't work. They make the second movie, The Wild Life, directed by Art Linson, starring Chris Penn, that is based on additional material from Cameron Crowe. Wow. Is not a straight-up sequel,

but is like, let's try to do another Fast Times. Is he Spicoli's younger brother? No, a different character. They were just sort of like, fuck, can we get a pen? Like, we just want to remind people of Fast Times as much as possible, but it's not a straight sequel. Let's just glom on.

But then there was a network TV Fast Times TV show where the only two returning cast members were the teachers. Because why not? Yeah. I love that Mr. Vargas' wife is a babe. Well, yeah. where the only two returning cast members were the teachers. Oh. Because why not? I love that Mr. Vargas' wife is a babe. Well, yeah. That's such a funny joke.

Of course, that guy would, Paul. Are you kidding me? He's tall, he's interesting, he's got a good heart. But Ben, Lana Clarkson, did you realize who this is? No. This is the woman that Robert Blake shot, correct? No. That Phil Spector shot.

Oh, excuse me. I'm's that Phil Spector shot. Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry. I get them confused. I get those two crimes confused because they were so close together. They were very close together. Yeah. So, rather than trying to succeed at school or defeat the teachers or whatever the fuck. Okay, so Jennifer Jason Lee, she wants to have sex.

She doesn't even want to have sex like some American pie, like we've got to do it by this deadline. I think she wants to be... She wants to be a grown up. Yeah, and that to me, I feel like, is very much an 80s thing. Like, I feel like now everyone wants to be a kid. Yeah. Yeah, forever.

Like everyone wants to be a kid forever. Wanting to be a grown up. Like, when I look at so many movies from the 80s that aren't teen movies, like I was just watching Basic Instinct. That's 80s, right? That's not It's 91, whatever doesn't all movies from that time every leading lady looks like a librarian But the point is beside me Sharon Stone is obviously, you know, she's but even her she's wearing like blazers and turtlenecks and more and Sharon Stone and all these like the major sex pot sort of desirable leading ladies of the late 80s and early 90s were like adults

They were not children. They were not in fan Where to wear clothes that made you look like you're an adult and I think it's much sexier because it actually You have to imagine so much more. Yes. It was like, no, what I'm working with must be so amazing. It's suggestion. That I can wear this. Yes. And still drive you crazy.

Yeah. I mean, obviously there were like, you know, a lot of other things in culture happening that glorified naked women's bodies and all that type of stuff. But I do think the style was look sophisticated. Yeah. And I think that that's something that you really see in this movie. These kids want to be grown up. They are posturing as being grown up.

And I don't know. I feel like the kids I know that are younger now, it's really more about like embracing the commodity of youth. Yes. Like they look down on... I mean, I look down on older people too. Right. That was, and I still do, because I know everything now at 34. You finally figured it out. But I always knew everything. Yeah. It just, I always learn that I, what I, everything I knew wasn't true and now I know. Just in time. Yeah.

Before anyone else realized. But yeah, I just think that it's interesting to see the way that these kids like want to be adults in a, in a different way Well, what does Jennifer Jason Lee like sort of? Respect the most or what is she most in awe of it is the fact that Phoebe Cates is like over it Yeah, it isn't like oh my god. She's had so much sex and I haven't and she's selling that sex is so exciting Phoebe Cates is kind of like oh I had my wild period and now I've got my steady boyfriend. Right. And so like that feeling of like the movie isn't centered around I gotta lose my virginity.

It happens very quickly because what Jennifer Jason Lee wants to do is go six steps. Yeah. She just totals right into a buzzsaw, which is she gets picked up by a 20 something and thinks that's normal because God bless her. Like, you know, he's showing interest and like he's a grownup. What she says at the end of the movie, I had never heard it because I just wanted to have sex when I was watching this movie. But what she says when she said anyone can have sex, what I want is romance.

And then Phoebe Cate says something to the effect of like, we don't even have good pizza or something in this town and you want romance. Yeah. And Phoebe Cates has been this whole time talking about this guy who she's engaged to be engaged to. The implication that they have a more serious, mature relationship. But as you said, you get the sense of like like this is probably someone she slept with four times This is someone who would like call her when he was on break in between semesters, you know, like I don't even think he's real I I think that she's fabricating eyes. I sometimes think that she's he's made up that he's like a Canadian boyfriend

Yeah, but then the whole thing where she's crying at the end exactly. I don't think Completely made that up. I'm sorry Someone that exactly is essentially just like has her on the side and she's taking it seriously It's more like if the guy that Jennifer Jason Lee has sex with in the fucking dugout, right? If she had slept with him three more times over three years, that's what Phoebe Cates has but then then like, I just love the reversal of once he's discarded her. Phoebe Cates being like, he's a fucking stereo salesman. And it's like, if you knew he was a loser this whole time, which he is clearly a loser, because he's picking up 15 year old pizza waitresses. Like why didn't you point that out before? Because she's, you know, and I'm not saying

Phoebe is a bad friend. She's just like Like an affirming friend I had that friend. Yeah Can you say it and then bleep it out who it is? Yeah, it was kind of like a composite I feel like it was so many people. Yes. Okay. That's it. I was just wondering if you were pinning it on one person We don't need to say it really No, but just the girl that you thought had everything and then you get older and you realize she just probably had a really unhappy home life. I will say this without naming the person, but there was like a friend of ours in high school who talked to me about losing their virginity very young in like this very kind

of like, ah, I got it over with. It didn't, you know, I don't, I don't put a lot of value on that kind of thing. It was just whatever. Who? In that kind of Phoebe Cates way. I'll tell you afterwards. And then like a year or two later, she slept with someone at our school

and made a really big deal of it to me. And I was like, why are you making such a big deal of it? You'd already like had sex before. And then like five years after that was like, no, of course I hadn't had sex before. You believe that story I told you? You know? And I feel like there's some of that with the Phoebe

Cates character And Jennifer Jason Lee is like not being She doesn't care about how she's perceived by other people. She is such a sincere person, but she's not naive What she's really in pursuit of is like experience, right? Not just sexual experience, but she's like I want to figure out what it's like to be a person what it's like To be an adult and try all these things Yeah, like right except for judge right home. Yes, who feels like he's 45 Right

Yes, yes, no I think his Whole scene where he's saying to her do you want to go to the Point tonight? And she goes, for what? And he goes, you know. And she goes, like, I don't, Brad, I'm not going to use sex as a tool. My, my, I've always taken that as like, again, with the 45-ness, that he's like,

they're like an old married couple. Oh my God, no. They don't even have sex anymore. He's never had sex. No, I think it's an important detail that he hasn't had sex yet, but his younger sister has. And I think my other read on it is that moment of her saying, I don't want to use sex as a tool comes 30 seconds after he's bragging to the other guy on the front line about how

good she is in bed and the immediate shutdown. I think I used to read it the way you're saying it. And this time I was like, oh no, it's complete posture. And he's just once again being like, maybe if we go to the point one more time, she puts out. Which he's just wrong about. Yeah. And she's over him. I just, right, to me the joke of him is so much just like...

that he's old before his time and right, he's just acting like... Anyway. But yeah, I get it, I get it. I mean... I don't think him jerking off to Phoebe Cates really confirms it in either direction, because he's still a horny teen, as much as he's basically filing his 1099, you know, after he does that or whatever.

Exactly. His iconic response in that scene... One of the most incredible line reads of all time. When you dig into it, what's so funny about it is his response more than embarrassment of being caught is like, kids these days have no manners. We don't even knock anymore. I can't even go fucking spy on the pool from the bathroom. But his response is as if she interrupted him building a fucking house of cards.

Or doing his taxes. Truly. Right. Um, and that scene, again, 10, 15 years later, that scene is... I'm sorry to keep bringing up American Pie, which our friend directed and is a funny movie. Like, but, you know, it's like that scene is a crazy set piece where something wild happens.

And instead it's Phoebe Keats going, Oh! And he'll be like, doesn't even fucking knock happens. And instead it's Phoebe Cates going like, oh. And he'd be like, doesn't even fucking knock anymore. And that's it. That moment's so much quicker than you think it would be. And it's also not only that immediately undercut by, you're going with the slow motion iconic Phoebe Cates shot, right?

And the Cars song playing and everything. And then cross cutting between that and Judge Reinhold just looking like a dork masturbating, which is a silly looking act, right? Especially if you're just sort of like... Especially if you're standing. Right. But then the immediate like puncturing of the reality before she even comes in and knocks is you cut to regular motion, Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool, and she's got water in her ear. Like this immediate re-centering of like, here's now replaying the actual version of her getting out of the pool and she's got water in her ear. Like this immediate re-centering of like,

here's now replaying the actual version of her getting out of a pool and she's like, ugh, ugh. And she plays it so well, it's so funny, but she's just sort of like walking weirdly. She's so funny. I love when Rat and Damone show up later. Yes. And they like jump in the pool in their rough housing

and she's just like, ugh. Immediately is like, I'm getting the fuck out of here. For both of them. But it is like, I'm getting the fuck out of here. For both of them. But I, it is interesting. I have, I have had conversations with people who I think incorrectly have said that like, there is a necessary, how am I going to frame this? I'm relaying someone else's sentiment that I disagree with. Okay.

That like, there is a necessity for the male gaze in the film ecosystem because films are sexual and there is something about capturing female beauty that female directors can't do. What? And it has led to a sexless culture in film. This is a thing that I have had said to me by a person or two that I always was like,

I don't really agree with your take, but also watching this movie, right? And I understand the scene is presented as parody, that it is sort of like a riff on these types of scenes in other movies. I'm also like, this is Amy Heckerling shooting what has become the basic high watermark for like male fantasy image in film. Sure, yeah. Like slow motion, MTV, you know, whatever,

car commercial, like, yeah. Right, she did it better than any man could do it, and is also making it funny and commentary at the same time. Totally. Absolutely. I mean, this is a genius movie that's beautifully directed. Yes. Wait, what was the take?

Dude, yeah, I can't even begin to parse. I know you're trying to sum up- Correct. A bad argument. A somewhat dumb argument. Yes. But that films have become sexless because women direct them because men that male Taking away, too. I think the framing of it was male directors have now been scared out of being horny as filmmakers

So those films have become sexless and the only people who are allowed to depict sexuality or women and women don't know how to shoot female bodies In a way that is actually titillating. You know, you know Mr. Banner and his office has like a button that drops people into a pit. I think that take needs to be dropped into a pit. Drop him in a pit.

Drop him in a pit. You still want me to bring you into the airwaves. I feel like women are much more sexually creative than men are. I agree. That's, I mean, this is my point is like this scene is such a good example of that. And I think there are many movies that have come out over the last 10 years in particular that are great like arguments in that favor. Yeah, we're again, we're arguing against this trauma in who's not in the room. So I think we should move on.

Yeah, we're doing a lot of invoking people who we were used to name on like in this episode. Yeah. All right. So Jennifer, so Jennifer Jason Leigh's character, of course, is called Stacy. And she, she hooks up with Brad on the bench, the bleachers. What does it say? What's the graffiti that she focuses on? Fuck.

Something about surfers. Yeah, or shark, like die, die shark. Right. I think it's the name of the team. I just love that. That she's just like, oh, huh, I guess I'm looking at this while I have this kind of seminal life-changing experience. But to what you said also, Phoebe Cates is like, fucking go for it. When she's kind of like, I don't know, he is kind of cute, right?

Like, I need your affirmation before I call this guy back. Phoebe Cates is like, yes, and then immediately on the other end of it is like, that guy's a dork and a creep and a loser. Um, yes, it's this feeling of like, she just wants to get this over with. 100%. Right. Which is, I'm sympathetic to, obviously. But, you know, she doesn't...

Sympathetic to, obviously. Just the feeling of like, I just want to get the eye out of the way, the like, you know, the pressure of the first time, quote unquote. I never realized until now the like, you know, the the pressure of the first time quote I realized until now You know that they have sex on a fucking like wooden bench out like disgusting for how much this movie was Received within Universal and by the MPAA at the time is like this is pornographic. This film is like

toxic x-rated, lewd. This film has two sex scenes, and both of them are basically as unsexy as a scene could possibly be, and take place in the worst environments. One is in a dugout. That's why we were stuck. The pool house was sexy, the pool house was sexy. The pool house scene is sexy.

I think the buildup to it is sexy. It's not a sexy space. I did a lot of sexy things in pool houses as a teenager. Sure. I'm saying the moment he gets on top of her, you become aware of like, oh, this couch is not big enough for their bodies, you know? Like the undressing is sexy. The kissing is sexy.

No, this is why they got the X-raying. It's too realistic. It's not that it's sexy, it's that it's realistic. But at the time, everyone was like, this is too pornographic. And you're like, no, what you're actually responding to is this makes you uncomfortable because it's sexy, it's that it's realistic. But at the time, everyone was like, this is too pornographic, and you're like, no, what you're actually responding to is, this makes you uncomfortable because it's honest. The Ebert review, did JJ put it in his dossier?

Let's see. Who is this, JJ? JJ's our researcher. If you wanna go ahead and fire him quickly, feel free. No, no, no, I'm impressed by it. It's kind of a gift we offer to our guests. The ability to fire JJ. Yes, I have. So Roger Ebert gave this one one star.

And it's a review I think about all the time, because it is clearly written with the perspective you're talking about. What did Siskel say? I don't know, I can find out. Siskel gave it one boner up, probably. I got this fucking horny. The lead of the review is, how could they do this to Jennifer Jason Lee?

How could they put such a fresh and cheerful person into this scuz pit of a movie? This is the same fucking Blue Velvet review. Yes, it's like, and I think he did, somewhat soften with age and understand that maybe he was being a fuddy-duddy, essentially, with this stuff. But like, he's so scandalized because he feels for Jennifer.

He's like, look, I can watch Animal House, that's a cartoon, I get it, that can be vulgar. I'm not opposed to vulgarity. But like, sweet little Jennifer Jason Lee. She's giving such an emotionally honest performance. Well, she's also like Hollywood royalty in a way. That's maybe part of it. Like, hey, you have a star on your hands here, so why is she in this like, you know, lurid movie?

And we'll say to Ebert's credit for someone of his stature and prominence. Whatever happened to upbeat sex, whatever happened to love and lust and romance and scenes where good-looking kids had a little joy and excitement in life. This is the guy who fucking wrote Russ Meyer's movies. I mean, that's right. He's just like, this is pure exploitation. And I'm like, bro, teenagers have bad sex with each other all the time because they don't know what they're doing. Adults have bad sex with each other all the time.

That's the revolution of this movie also is like showing things like that and not doing it in a tortured rebel without a causeway Like being able to make it a fact of life not to be all if a man directed this movie sure But if a man directed this movie Her getting an abortion would be this like tragedy yes, it's like Awful experience the film really like instead it is a bummer fucking day that she has. But it is kind of something she's like, okay. Well, and she's so strong too in that scene

where she just says, like, no, I told my boyfriend to pick me up downstairs. Like, she doesn't make too much... She's not sobbing on a couch. She's not confessing to her parents. You know, I just think Amy Heckerling gets this far more than, like, most directors would. I also think a male director would make Demone worse defensively.

That's what I'm saying. It would just all be much more... On top of it. You know, over the top. They would make that a lot more torrid and tragic and torture. Demone just doesn't want to. He fucking came, you know, two seconds into having sex with this person. They would make Demone worse to make him more clear-cut piece of shit, to be like, well, he's a really bad example of a guy versus all of this guy's failings coming out of a cowardice, a vulnerability, an insecurity.

I like that we see him making the calls, trying to get the money. Yes, I like that too. It's a sympathetic scene. You see him being tortured. He makes some effort and then fails and is right I'm sorry feel that he fucking sucks But you sit on his face when he's making the calls of him just being like Do I have the courage to go to her and say I don't have the cash is it better to not show up?

There is also to me total emotional truth of like do we see a scene later where she confronts him in the school? No, no, like obviously he has the graffiti, this, like, but, like, no, the confrontation is him and Rat almost fighting in the locker room or whatever. Also, what's the big confrontation? The bigger confrontation is her making four attempts to talk to him and him brushing her off, where it's like, that's the first offense, right? Of just, like, he's acting like I don't exist.

There's that amazing, I think it all plays out in one shot of Damone walking down the hallway like he's kingship and for the first time in the movie you're like, oh this guy's got real confidence now He feels so good about himself because Jennifer Jason Lee wanted to have sex with him We just watched him have the worst sex of all time And he's taking it as a win that he was desired and he's eyeballing the other girls in the hallway, right? He's making faces at them. He's like, I can get anyone. And then she walks up to him and he immediately shuts down. And it's like, he's got this power of being like, I am someone a woman wants to have sex with. That makes me feel grown up and cool. And his

greatest vulnerability is the one person in the world who actually knows what having sex with him is like, which is terrifying to him. Right. You know? I also think what's so interesting to the point of, like, if a man directed this movie, would we have this incredible part? I feel like that archetype in the movie is—

and this happens in fast times as well but like is the character that the woman should like the good guy and We see very clearly like why she doesn't as well. Like she's I made the first move. I made the second move I made every move like he's got that insecurity to I like that though. We're not going like No, don't be with DeMone be with rat We're like well I see why you wouldn't wanna be with Rat. And it's even better than that because it's like,

so many versions of this movie, she spends the entire film taking Rat for granted and then only after she's been treated worse by other- She fucking tries with him. She tries. She sits his ass down on her bed and he's like- And she gets into, oh. She builds up the courage to make like one tenth of a move,

and she's totally open, and she gives him multiple shots, and then goes to her and is like, I think he doesn't like me. I don't get what the fuck is going on. Yeah, and then later she's like, I think he's nice. Like, you know, when Damone is like, oh, I'm friends with Rad, she's like. But I like you.

I mean, she's so hot. She is. She's so hot that then she could go be in Single White Female and be so scary. Yes. And kind of hot, though. And kind of hot, too. For sure, I would wear those out. I mean, fashion icon. She is an icon.

She is an icon. I would say in all ways. I was trying to describe her to my wife, who again is like so pop culture literate that like... Give her a context. I'll be like, it's Jennifer Jason Lee. And she's like, I don't know who that is. Hard to kind of describe Jennifer Jason Lee. She's been like ten different things without feeling like she has defined phases. But you're like, right.

A major actress, but never quite the Meryl Streep type, right? Like more like sort of an indie already actress. But respected in that way. But hugely respected by everybody. Can do character stuff, can do like comedy, can do, you know. There was a moment in the 90s where there was kind of a quiet, like, is she the best actress working today? Yes, there was. It's the sort of single-wife female shortcuts,

Red Sucker, Mrs. Parker, and the Vicious Circle, Georgia. Oh my god, her in shortcuts. Yes. But that's like an incredible run. That's what I'm saying. But none of those movies are hits. No. And she like never gets an Oscar nomination until Hateful Eight. It was kind of like wow. I did not know that

Yeah, yes And like that it's especially mrs. Parker, Georgia, which are two Oscar snubs in a row, right? Where it's like she played Dorothy Parker. You didn't like that, you know, like she like she did. Yeah that movie rocks Was supposed to be a bit of an Oscar vehicle for her Kansas City was sort of framed as... That movie didn't go over at all. And like... Have you ever seen that movie in a long time?

Altman's Kansas City is really good. What? No, I have not seen that. Prohibition jazz movie with Jennifer Jason Lee, Miranda Richardson, and fucking Harry Belafonte. It's like rules. I just watched Copy Cat with Harry Belafonte and... Sorry, wow, Harry Connick Jr. I'm sorry, I'm ill. Why did you watch Copy Cat?

Because I love 90s neon art. Yeah, man! Hell yeah! That movie isn't even that good, but like the vibes are out of control at this point. Does Harry Belafonte sing? Yes. And so does Harry Connick Jr. And they're both named. They're both Harrys. It is so funny to imagine confusing them.

Their proofs. Yeah, I know. There's a Miriam Makeba and Harry Belafonte record, which I really love and I highly recommend people listen to. I just realized I have a better pitch. Kansas City is Altman doing Jazz Thelma and Louise. Oh, amazing. It's called An Evening with Bella Fonte and Makeba.

That's what the record's called. It's really beautiful. Jennifer Jason Lee, and then by the late 90s, early 2000s, when you've got like anniversary party in the cut and stuff, it's like right now she's already graduated to character actress in a way. Just an interesting career. And not only character actress, but it's like,

she's either in kind of like small indies or bigger parts or she's like in stuff like Road to Perdition where you're like she's in big movies but in kind of entirely thankless roles. Yeah, right. Whereas like Phoebe Cates obviously is a star throughout the 80s and then it's like I'm marrying Kevin Klein, peace and never a choice. I love when sex symbols do that. It's kind of like Brigitte Bardot being like, I'm so done with you guys looking at me, and now I'm gonna go like, you know, live, breed dogs. I think she breeds dogs. Can we also just, like, frame of reference, because I feel like this is a thing my dad would talk about all the time.

And it's, he's, it's a little Gutenberg adjacent, adjacent But like the run judge Reinhold has of just like four or five years of being at the center of the culture Where people were like is judge right? No just golden. Okay, so give it give it to me Well, I might get this order wrong, but I'm just like judge Reinhold is in fast times Beverly Hills cop gremlins. Yeah true You don't want stripes. He's also in Stripes. He's also in Stripes. Like, 80 to 85 for Judge is insane. It's pretty insane. I mean, yeah. I know he's not the guy in any of them.

That's the thing. But I'm saying the through line of like, this guy keeps on showing up on the right sets. He's very much around, but I do feel like he's, you know, he's a reliable white guy. Like to be like, you know, not steal your movie. And then is he eclipsed by the other reliable white guy, Tom Hanks? Yeah, he just doesn't evolve.

Who's our reliable white guy now? It's kind of still Tom Hanks. Yeah, it is still Tom Hanks. I'm like, I don't think that, who's the young Tom Hanks? Chris Pratt, of course. He's always playing relatable characters. I think that that's... Called like John Gunn. Buffist high school science teachers or whatever. I don't think that, who's the young Tom Hanks? Chris Pratt, of course. He's always playing relatable characters. I think that that's- Called like John Gunn.

Buffist high school science teachers or whatever. I don't know. I don't know who are relatable. I mean, I think about Adam Scott and Severance, a show that I love that I'm thinking about right now because there's a new season of it, where he kind of exists in that world, right? Cause he's being picked for that role.

I have the answer, but he's old. Okay, who? It's Paul Rudd still. It is still Paul Rudd. Kind of, but he is being picked for that role. I have the answer, but he's old. Okay, who? It's Paul Rudd still. It is still Paul Rudd. Kind of, but he is actually getting too old. But who's young Paul Rudd? That's her question. I think it's a fair question. You know what I'm saying? Like, obviously, Paul Rudd launches with Clueless.

We'll talk about that in a couple weeks. But then it kind of takes another, like, fifteen years for him to become a full-on movie star. So he basically at like... And what is it? What is it? What is his movie star one? Yeah. Oh my god.

Oh my god! Ben ordered a pizza. I'm so happy! Oh my god. There's a birthday party in here for me. Oh my god. Ben, I just want to make clear. That was an actual pizza order and not you hiring an actor to deliver a pizza because you've Done that version of things too. That's cool, too. We have to pee again. Yeah, I'm gonna pee after you

Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's It's gonna shine tonight Yeah Somebody's only light is gonna shine tonight Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's baby tonight I tried to surprise, but I can't get her out of my sight Broom, broom, broom, broom, broom, broom Ben, thank you for one of the best tasting bits we've had in a long time on the show. That was amazing. We had to take a break so people didn't hear us chewing.

You're so welcome. That's the part I was thinking. We talked about JJL. We talked about Phoebe. We talked about Damone and Rat. Do we have any more? No, we talked about them. I think this is a movie where you just kind of have to go through moments and I know we're

doing it wildly out of order because It's hard to kind of track For us would occur His little brother makes me laugh so hard. It's really shit. It's gonna kill us You know, it's a really good very skillful, but like not overstated thing What the scene where after having sex with the moon Jennifer Jason Lee is asking Phoebe Cates about how long? with Damone, Jennifer Jason Lee is asking Phoebe Cates about how long. Right, Phoebe's like, oh, like 30 to 40 minutes. Right. Well, no, I think at first she says...

Phoebe says 20 to 30 and JJL is like... I thought you said it took longer. 30 to 40 and she's like, oh, well, you know. Oh, right, 30 to 40 and he goes, what about Damone? And he goes, like... 10 to 20. Right, and she goes, not bad for a high school boy. What are they doing while having that conversation?

Chopping up a big ass sausage. Pepperoni, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, it's amazing. Also, I always used to- They're just fucking cutting dicks. I wanted, in high school, I remember that carrot scene so well, when she's teaching her how to give the blowjob

and then all the boys clap. Yes, and I like that the reaction is not embarrassing. Yes, me too, me too. It's so cool. They're so cool. To go back to... Oh, no, Lauren. The way that she then bites the carrot at the end is so fucking good. They're just so chill.

You were saying the bag tagline on the poster that's just pen and the chair with a surfboard and a textbook and two babes. And ladies. Right. Average, one high, only the rules get busted. The other posters I saw on the IMP awards site, my favorite poster resource, there's this one that's like a painting of a topless woman from behind on a beach pulling off her bikini bottoms and like spiccoli going like, whoa! Yeah, that's the one I remember.

Right. And Fast Times is written on her back in what I assume is supposed to be suntan lotion But looks a little bit like ejaculate and the tagline is literally you loved porkies Now turn yourself loose on some fast times and then there's this one That's like the very animal house sort of Jack Davis mad Magazine sort of cartoons fast girls fast carrots Yeah, that's the tagline hilarious No, okay. It's just very funny how weird all the approaches to selling this movie were

You know, it's hard to sell this movie because it's basically just about high schoolers hanging out outside of knowing Spicoli was money in the bank That was the one thing they seem to be very clear on they know that and they know Spicoli's different, right? His look is kind of different, so that's cool. And it's more modern. Again, it's not a vintage-y movie, like Animal House or something like that. When is Valley Girl? Valley Girl's like the year after.

Okay, we've never seen Valley Girl. It's the Valley Girl. That's his first. Change is getting Cage off of this. Valley Girl, Valley Girl you would like. Cage says like. I'm gonna need a. A syllabus?

A syllabus, yeah. I mean, that's another of the few that is directed by a woman, Martha Coolidge. Can I be nostalgic about something? I'm just remembering that this was a thing in high school that for your birthday, you would say,

Mom, Griffin's gonna pick ten movies and can you buy them for me? Do you remember that? Like, vaguely, that's so sweet. Are there any other scenes we want to hit? I was thinking we pointed out that there's no grown-ups. Yes. Only teachers. But no, there is another presence of grown-ups,

and that is the managers of the restaurants. Oh, yes. Who are like 25. Like, they're the little stooges. Yes. Because they take it even more seriously They're like, you know, hey, you know, come on Was this guy bothering you like the guy who works at fucking Captain Jack like the manager makes that's the uniform

Oh my god uniform. So him flirting with the girl is so funny with that fucking hat and that is funny That is Nancy Wilson. That is Nancy Wilson. Who then becomes Cameron Crowe's wife. Nancy Wilson from Heart. Anthony Edwards, Pamela Springsteen, Martin Brest is the doctor. Yes, when they go to the morgue, that's Marty Brest. Oh wow. There's a lot of cameos. And of course, the great Taylor Negron delivering the pizza. I mean...

Who's that? He's just a guy who's got a great face. Oh, yes, I did recognize him. Sort of like an early old comedian and then he's in a million things in this sized role. He's a classic back guy. He's one of those guys where his voice is so funny, his vibe is so funny, and his look is so specific

that you can be like, hey, will you show up for three lines or just hand over a pizza and it will be funny? It is one of my favorite things of all time. Yeah, his vibe in that scene is amazing. You can look him up and be like, oh right, he's that guy in 20 other movies. He passed away a couple of years ago. I think it is the funniest thing in the world. Do you know the Malini, Stefan Taylor-Nagrond story? But we're not doing that right now. No, Griffin. We're trying to wrap up this episode. No, no, that's a no people Google it

I'm giving the look I'm gonna Google it you Lola's curious. It's gotta go So you cannot complain later Griffin if we didn't talk about so I won't complain later. Here's what I'll say I'm getting a pizza I wasn't gonna tell the story, but now I have to I Was not going to I was gonna move on Lola yeah, remember the Stefan Bill Hader Saturday night live weekend update bit where he was the guy who would list like this club has everything

No, this really isn't gonna work. I'm sorry I Missed a lot of SNL. What am I gonna do while you're chewing on pizza? I missed a lot of SNL. What am I gonna do while you're chewing on pizza? Talk about the movie, what do you mean? Boy, Ben's chewing too. Everyone's chewing around. I know, Lola and I are the only two people trying to chew the fat and have a conversation.

Then go on. Jesus Christ. Okay. Okay, everyone dances so well at the school dance. Oh my God, there's one, I think it's Forest Whitaker's character is dancing like amazing. He is killing it. They're all so good in a way.

It's so cool. I was like, that is the one thing that's not authentic to high school. No, at least my school was not. Sure, no one dances like that. Is the band also too good? Yeah. I think so. In that kind of movie way of like, you're not gonna get me.

Well, they had to have some elements of cinema, you know? Here's the other thing with Forrest Whitaker. When he has this sort of, I guess, post-drama school second wave or in the start of his career, he's like bulked up a lot, right? And then he's like increasingly a bigger and bigger guy. And then I feel like after Last King of Scotland, he slims way down. He did get trimmer, it's true. This is the one movie where he's just fucking like an absolute unit, right?

Because he's such a tall guy, but now he's gotten so slim that you don't think about it in the same way, where in this it's like, oh, he's a fucking quarterback. I do think, well, he's not a quarterback. What position is he? It seems like he's a tackle, because he's like a defensive stone. We don't know. Frankly, I wouldn't, you have to tell me these things. St. Anne's, fucking nerds.

Football's illegal there. I just like that any time David tries to mock me for going to that school. I'd mock her too, are you kidding me? I'm like, you fucking married into it. I fucking mocked her. You married into it. I don't like having gone there either.

Oh, whatever. I liked it. You went where you went. You didn't get to pick. I didn't get to pick. Yeah. What do you mean? It was an amazing school. We were so lucky. I wanted to go to LaGuardia. I didn't get to pick. Yeah. What do you mean? It was an amazing school.

We were so lucky. I don't want to go to LaGuardia. Oh, well you were enrolled. You were enrolled. Yeah, grandma wouldn't let me go. Cause my dad said I was gonna end up dancing on top of taxicabs. Okay, I know we don't have a lot of time,

but I'm just interested. What was everybody's job in high school? I'll share mine first. I was a stock boy at like a local market. So my major, like honestly, how I made my money was as a babysitter. I was a really good babysitter. Oh, I can see that. You seem like you would have been a trustworthy kid. And well, not just that. I was always just given boys, right?

Like the parents where they were just like, I don't know what these boys, they're climbing up the walls. Like, I need to get out of that. Like I was good because I knew how to chill Out like nine-year-old boys, which is you played video games all day obviously It's not like I was like enriching these kids lives, but I was also a receptionist at a doctor's office which is crazy to think about for like two summers in a row which is crazy to think about because like I Was like handling medical records or whatever

I mean my job was just basically like making appointments and being like, okay, like, he's ready for you. I had the perfect job for being a stoner. I would show up late all the time and just like restock, melt. Clack, clack, clack. Putting cans on shelves. Exactly.

Yeah. I feel like I didn't have a good job for being a stoner because I worked with children as well. Right, that's what I did. But I worked at a daycare center in Chinatown with mostly only kids that spoke Chinese and me. Yeah, it was basically like daycare. No, but I mean there's different dialects obviously and some of the kids didn't even speak the same language. I've tried to explain this to people. It is tough getting high school jobs when you grow up in New York City because everyone wants jobs in New York City

So badly right? Oh my god. Yeah, you know that never things that are sort of like good entry-level jobs for teenagers Like a Starbucks are like competitive here. Yeah. Yeah So you do have to kind of find like weird sideways under the table things but it was I loved that job It was my favorite job. Yeah, yeah more than any acting job. That is that is the... What the fuck? I'm kidding. The only other thing I think I would be happy doing in my career is working with kids. It's be like being a preschool teacher. Yeah. Yeah I worked at the preschool at St. Anne's too. Right and then when I dropped out of college I went and worked there. You literally worked there. I literally yeah I. I mean, I was like floater sub stuff.

And they were sort of like, if you want to really do this, you have to go back to school. Right. And I was like, that sounds like a bump. Guys, I have to go. Griffin walking in 15 minutes late to St. Anne's preschool with a bunch of blank street coffee. I don't like this bit. Bit!

I got Lola tea. He got me tea to help me get through. Lola, before you go, because we can wrap without you, but is there anything else you want to say about Fast Times or Ridgemont High? I'm just so happy that I got to watch it again. It made me feel so good inside. It's really a really special movie. I read this quote of hers on IMDB Trivia where she said, I wanted to make something like

a movie that if you woke up inside it, you'd be happy. I think she fucking nailed it. Not that interesting, because this movie's also a bummer. But it is, nonetheless, the end is, I am really happy when he clocks that guy. That's the heckling part of it, is there is a very positive spirit to this movie, but if it were artificially happy, it would not create the same warmth. If it felt like it was an ignorance of reality, right? And I think when I think about why these like 80s high school movies are this ultimate comfort food for me

It is that that they're able to like create the sense of fun and individuality and the music and the clothes and whatever But the ones I like also have like they're touching on sadness You know and like broken aspects of the human condition. And I think, you know, at John Hughes' peak, the thing that people would say, and especially the actors he worked with, were like, it's crazy. He like, there's like a teenager still inside of him. He knows how to write as if it's still so like present and immediate for him, right? And this movie isn't that. In an interesting way.

It is like a 22-year-old who never kissed, never been kissed his way into a high school, and a woman who never had this kind of experience at a high school. And there's like a little bit of remove, and it has this level of like adult perspective on these experiences while respecting the characters. Yes.

Yes. Recognizing what's funny about them and what's silly about them, but also what's like sad about them and what's silly about them, but also what's like sad about them and what's uncomfortable and all of that. It's like a very unique film. Lola. Thank you for being with us, Lola.

Book is called Wild West Village. Yeah. The new album is called... Trailblazer. Sinner's coming out one week ago. One week ago. I love you Griffin forever. Hot Lola, Winter Slash Spring.

I love you, Lola. Thank you for having me, guys. This was so fun. We'll see you in eight years. One week ago. I love you Griffin, forever. Hot Lola, winter slash spring. I love you Lola. Thank you for having me guys. This was so fun. We'll see you in eight years. I'm joking. I think six. I think two. Let's call it.

All right. That sounds fine. But you live in Nashville. I mean, like Lola's not always here. It's hard. Bye Lola. Bye. See you later.

Okay. That was a door slam. Kabam. Yeah. Lola's gone. Lola's gone. Never to return. Yeah, no, no.

No, let's make this the final part of the conversation, okay? I mean, we're talking about the summer job or the high school job thing. I do think it's, what you were saying about like, Brad's whole thing being taking this so seriously and priding himself on how much he's good at it. And these guys who are just a couple years older than him and have such an attitude and such a sense of superiority.

The final note of the movie is like Brad's great victory being that he gets promoted to manager really quickly. Right? Yeah. Like this movie, this movie nails the like Chiron. What happens to the characters shit I mean the Chiron those are so funny. We should also say Brad Brad is The the closest thing moving to a hero. He steps up for his sister in this like non Obnoxious way. It's just a beautiful with her him dropping her off at bowling

He's immediately sort of like what bowling with friends. He drops her off, he gets stuck in like an intersection. And he notices where she's really going. And catches in the rear view window. And he waits for her. It's not like he barges upstairs. He waits for her. He just waits outside. And he's just super chill about it. Yeah.

So yeah, but then of course, yeah, James Rousseau, we should shout out fellow Beverly Hills cop member trying to stick up the 7-Eleven or whatever it is. Oh, shit. Who's really funny. Right. Wow. He's Axel's partner at the beginning of the movie.

But I just, I love the sort of efficiency of like how quickly he comes in, spray paints the camera and takes the gun out. Like this guy moves so fast that even though he's not wearing a mask or anything, it's like disorienting of you don't have time to respond. Which is what he's counting on, right? I also think it's important that like the most put together and least put together characters kind of unite at the end who don't have anything to do with each other, Spicoli and Brad, to solve this problem. There's like an incredible restraint of this movie not forcing the characters together

in like obvious overlap ways. And you'll have like Jennifer Jason Lee being in Spicoli's class, but it's not like it's building to any specific interactions with them You know like the plot lines don't really cross over that much not really Which makes it fun when at the end it's like oh right these, these two guys haven't interacted. I also think we should shout out that Rat takes Stacey to some sort of German fucking Oktoberfest ass mall. The nastiest farts are gonna be coming out of you on this date.

You're eating like bratwurst or whatever. Not only like sauerkraut. Not only that. Jennifer Jason Lee is a tiny woman. She's tiny, they drink like 18, Jennifer Jason Lee is a tiny woman. She's tiny. They drink like 18 cokes. Rad is a tiny person.

They're also sitting in the biggest chairs of all time. It's so funny. It's like the least good vibe. It's the visual of them in like the most grown up stodgy, bad smelling, like angry servers place sitting in these chairs that look like they're swallowing them. And he realizes he doesn't have his wallet on him. And she does like a full kind of like a Mel Brooks musical sting like he's in a thriller suddenly and he keeps just ordering more and more cokes

To delay to get the moon to drop off the wallet, which of course is the fatal move that fucks him But what really fucks him is no I I Scared to make that's that's the mistake. yes. Yeah, he's just not ready, man. They just gotta kind of circle around and they find each other better. Funny. Yeah. DeMone gets busted for scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets,

Mr. Vargas switches back to coffee, Linda, of course, starts dating her professor in college, Rat and Stacey haven't gone all the way yet. Yeah. Spicoli saves Brooke Shields and then spends all his money. Hiring Van Halen to play his birthday party sounds like a good party. But Brad gets promoted to being the manager of this gas station. And a thing I really like, if you watch that, it is very clear that they didn't get enough footage. It is very clear that they didn't get enough footage Uh-huh, and so the the footage that is running over or underneath the Chiron for Brad where he's standing above the body with The gun and it looks like he keeps readjusting is the same clip played backwards and forwards like three times

Right if you notice he starts to do weird like movements He's he's good. He's going Black Lodge. I was just going to say we should shout out the football scene. It's really funny. I don't give a shit about football. I just think it's like really funny physical comedy. Sure. And I think she does a really good job with like just making

it so over-the-top. But that's what's crazy. Like it's in the dossier, but that she grew up loving Mad Magazine, that like that's her sensibility, right? Yeah. That's sort of like comedic exaggeration and we'll totally get that in Johnny Dangerously and talk about that. And even Clueless is like a much more stylized, heightened movie, right?

And you know, it was another thing that JJ put in the dossier, but that when she was growing up and she loved movies, she was like, what's my career path? I only know of one female director. And she would have to point to her parents and be like, I guess I want to do what Elaine May does, because that was the only person she could sort of point at as an aspiration.

And Elaine May's movies are like a lot more heightened, you know? I just think this movie being able to do both and cut between them so quickly, and so much of this movie will play out in montage, you know, and we'll have these sort of sequences, beyond even our primary characters, just catching like five second glimpses of random kids

or featured background actors or people who have like under five roles. And it's just sort of like, here's what everyone's doing in class, here's what everyone's doing at the mall, here's what everyone's doing in class, here's what everyone's doing at the mall, here's what everyone's doing at the dance. And they feel like Mad Magazine, like Sergio Argonis, like weird marginal drawings.

And then she can like have a scene that has real emotion in it. And neither one is like fighting against the other. And I struggled to think of other movies that are good at holding both tones at their most extreme ends, and not, as you're saying, David, sort of doing a movie that is like funny and goofy

for the first 45 minutes, and then she gets an abortion and it becomes really serious for 30 minutes. Her mistakes come back to haunt her. And then suddenly there's a stretch with zero jokes. Like I just kind of can't believe how beautifully she lets this film be everything. Which also feels reflective of like being a fucking teenager. It captures the energy of that time. And the wild emotional swings.

Yeah. Now you saying does it kind of fuck her that she's got a movie this good out of the gates. Tough! It's tough to follow it up! I think it does help her that the movie is a bit of a slow burn that grows So it's not like it lands with such an impact that she's stuck under the shadow forever No, but- I think weirdly over time it becomes a bigger sort of shadow for her. I mean like she doesn't I mean Johnny Dangerously her next film is Not very successful.

And then she makes European Vacation, which is successful, but is not exactly her movie or her success, really. So it takes to look who's talking for her to really have, like, sort of like a major success again. Which we'll obviously get to. But Look Who's Talking is like a revenge movie. Like, Look Who's Talking is a Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Like, I need to Make something that's undeniable. That's a franchise. That's a blockbuster. You know, it was a very strategic move for her But that's the first one that she's like fully Creating and conceptualizing herself. Yeah, it's an interesting career that I'm very excited to talk about This is this is a director that we've been Threatening to do for so long. Yeah, no, she's been on our list from the beginning. A decade of dreams. So this film came out August 13th, 1982. So it's like a pretty quiet trashy time. Like late

summer back then is not a real blockbuster time as you'll see from what's in the box office. And as you said it's like this movie is conceived of as like maybe this is our new animal house or American Graffiti or whatever then they get scared they suppress it and Then it sort of catches on so they try to catch up with the demand, but they never white did okay It made I think 22 mil. Yes something like that It's opening number seven on 500 screens So number one at the box office is also new this week. It's the big hit of the week and it is a horror sequel.

Is it a Halloween? No. Is it a Jason Voorhees? Yes, it is a Friday the 13th. Is it two? No. It's three already? Friday the 13th, part three.

So it was 80 81 82 Yeah, they made him every year. They were on a paranormal schedule Yeah, I mean their movies were made quickly and obviously the whole point was decided But then I think three three is the first hockey mask one, right? Yes Three is good It is not my favorite, but it is the one that kind of codifies the whole Jason thing. I guess so. I mean, two is pretty.

Yeah, but two is sackhead in fucking overalls. Yeah, yeah, I guess so. Three is also the 3D one, so in whatever, you know, because that was hot back then. And then four, the final chapter, is the one with Crispin Glover that I think is really good. And it's kind of- The file that they ended it there

and never made any other one. Right, and then five is really bad in my opinion. Wait, what do you mean? The last one was the final chapter? And then six rocks. Six is my favorite Friday. I'm confused. That's two past the final chapter.

And yet they keep doing it. The math ain't mathin'. The math ain't math and the math ain't math So that's number one at the box office. Okay teens are going to see that obviously number two the box office It's been in the box office for ten weeks It's made 200 million dollars and it's going to be the most financially successful film ever made Is it a film we have covered recently on your show? It is called ET the extra terrestrial. That's right Obviously the biggest hit of 1982 number obviously up until that point the biggest hit of 1982. Number three. Obviously up until that point, the biggest hit of all time.

Of movies. Number three is another giant hit of the year. I already mentioned it. A big romantic drama. Is it Officer and a Gentleman? Yes. David is an officer. Slow response time.

Sorry. That was a real kind of throwback and I'm David. An officer and a gentleman with De everwinger and Richard Gere. Okay. Jesus. What? Just noticing that there's just a knife on the desk. Yeah, Griffin, Lola called this out.

Look, here's a little peek behind the curtain in terms of a weird record order. That was the knife that Getherd used to open the box of Kit Fisto presents, which for the listener will have been three months ago, but in our reality was three days ago. Yeah. And that just, Lola was playing with the night. Number four at the box office is a- We run a proper business here.

Musical comedy with big stars. It's a musical comedy with big stars in 1982. Yes, it is, I think actually a solid hit. It's a solid hit. It gets one Oscar nomination for supporting actor. Oh, it's Best Little Whorehouse in Texas? The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. But Academy Award nominated Charles Durning performance.

I've never seen that film. Neither have I. I often invoke Charles Durning as one of my 10 favorite actors of all time. Great actor. I have seen his number in that, probably 20 times. He's the governor. Yeah, and he does, what's, is this number called sideshow or soft shoe?

His number is called The Side Step. The Side Step, thank you. Number five at the box office is a film that was released in 1977. It's about using weasel words as a politician to spin the narrative. They never do that, that's crazy. But the thing is,asel words as a politician to spin the narrative. They never do that. But the thing is, he starts literally doing a little sidestep, even though he's talking

about it metaphorically. I'm sorry, go on, David. It's a film that came out in 1977. It's been re-released, clearly. Oh, I think it is called Star Wars. That's right. The film Star Wars. You've also got Fast Time's Original High, of course.

You've got The World According to Garp. You've got an action comedy with Cheech and Chong called Things Are Tough All Over, which is I guess not a... Proper Cheech and Chong. I think that's a... It is. I think it's the fourth one. Are you sure about that?

I don't know. I feel like I might be very wrong about this I've never seen the film my thought was always that that was more of a cheech vehicle that Chong is in that was Them starting to figure out what their post duo Creation, but my real is about Cheech and Chong take a cross-country chip. So the minimum fucking wrong I don't know. I think you're thinking something else. I am maybe I'm but I'm not sure okay, uh I think you're thinking of something else. I am. Maybe, but I'm not sure.

Okay. But, you know, they also, because it's in between nice dreams and still smoking. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Okay. You've got Night Shift. Sure.

Keaton. Which is the Michael Keaton film, right? Yeah, Keaton gives one of the greatest debut performances in film history. Damn. Ron Howard film, obviously. Yeah. And you've got Rocky III. I mean, I know we say this. Very often when we play this game.

Pretty good eatin' at the Cineplexes. Um, yeah. I would agree. There's a good spread. There are a couple undisputed classics, but I'm also just like, they're big cultural movies. They're popular hits. There's a lot of big things coexisting Yeah, it's just they ate they but you've got two part threes in here There's this there's a little bit of a things are getting a little

Sammy maybe I don't know but yeah. Yeah, you got a musical you got a big grown-up drama Yeah, I mean it's August for August. This is not bad for August. This is incredible So that's what's happened there. Mm-hmm And that's it. Well, that's what happened there and that's it. I think that's that's it. Well, right? Yeah I think that's what happened there and that's it Excited to go on this heckling journey Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be fun. Have neither of you seen Johnny Dangerously? No.

No. Why would I have seen that? It's like not available. How am I gonna see it? We'll find a way. I'll say this, and we're recording this some months in advance. We're like, can we convince someone else to make Johnny Dangerously more viewable by the time this comes out?

We're working on it. We're working on it. But in the meantime might be a great time to sign up for Express VPN Is it available on I feel like I watched it on like Disney plus? Croatia or something a couple months ago when I was doing my Keaton watch through And if you remember in a past Express VPN and ad read when I hinted That I had to use it to watch an upcoming Director's movies that was that was it. I'll say this, you know, I have my and part of it's a personal challenge I want to get physical copies of all the movies of whatever the miniseries is This has been the most difficult one of any director we've ever covered. Yeah fast times criterion Johnny dangerously

This is a straight-up bootleg, this is a straight up bootleg. It's a very good bootleg. It's a straight up bootleg. European Vacation weirdly seems to be out of print as a solo, and I wanted the solo rather than it as a box set or a double feature. But that one I assume is available on iTunes or whatever. I think the Look Who's Talking disc is out of print. There's no Blu-ray for the two sequels.

Clueless is okay. Loser I had to import from Australia. It might be the single most expensive Blu-ray I've ever purchased. And then I believe I Could Never Be Your Woman came from Denmark. Wow. Those are the only countries those two have been released in. Yeah, I mean, all these things. VAM's got no...

All of the movies he just said, except for Johnny Dangerously, are streamable for, you know, iTunes or whatever. Yes. So I will probably just be doing that. But I guess I'm gonna buy this Johnny Dangerously DVD. I don't know. I'll send you the link. Oh, to the bootleg?

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you to Lola for being here. Yes, thank you Lola. Yeah. Thank you to all our future guests. Oh, hey, a big thank you to all our future guests. Oh, well, hey a big thank you to all our future guests Let's throw it back to the past guests. It's been a decade of dreams. We couldn't have done it without them

To next week for Johnny dangerously Next week is Johnny dangerously And then yeah your peen vacation Wow and on patreon at this point. We are doing Superman. Is that correct? Oh god Looking up at the sky. Patreon, at this point we are doing Superman, is that correct? Oh God, Griffin, it's so true that we are doing It's so true. Star Trek finished, I think in, yeah, we're about to start Superman. Okay.

About to start it. We're about to start it, we're doing Superman. In just a couple days, we'll be covering the film Richard Donner's Superman, have you heard of this guy? Man of Steel, which we vote for a long time Yeah Yes, and then it will lead straight into a Superman Returns a movie We love made by entirely unproblematic people and then leading straight into a new released episode on the the James Gunn Superman

period and title called 2025 Fun series. Yep. Excited to do it. Everyone's happy. Sure. I'm excited to go back to eating pizza. Yeah. Thank you all for listening. You know what though?

I want to do this. Man's holding up a finger. We're going to actually at the end of the episode include a clip. What? To a section of our Superman episode. Oh, okay. Just give a little sample, a little taste of what's available on the Patreon. Interesting.

We haven't recorded that episode yet. What if it sucks? Fuck! What if it's dog shit? We're just like, what's going on? Who's that? Why is the... Why did the movie... The picture, we don't know what editing is the pictures different When it was a picture of one guy now it's a picture of another guy. This motherfucker flies What if we respond to Chris for reflying like it's the train coming into the station?

I think it should be more idiotic than that They do like a close-up of his head and we're like his head got cut off. It's his only his head His head's getting so big! His head's getting so big! Where does his head go? Where's his only head! His head's so big! Where does that go? Where's the body? Oh my god! Should I buy the Arrow limited the sell disc? I don't fucking know man.

The Barnes and Noble sale going on right now. I've been trying to get the Arrow and Lauren's Bastard set but it's sold out everywhere and so I keep checking to see which stores have it in stock for pickup because they won't do ship to home, right What this is what we're talking about with bilga of like some movie you think is okay gets a lovingly restored I think the cells pretty good. Yeah, like you like that someone put in the time I liked the cell more than critics and now I probably like it less than whoever's in

charge of culture. It's become canonical or whatever. Remember when we were trying to end this episode? Yeah, we're done. No, we're not done. I haven't done the thing to end the episode yet. We went on a couple side tensions. And as always, I'm gonna put the knife away.

Williams' score here is so good. This Overture for Krypton? The Fortress of Solitude. No, this is Krypton, Griffin! I'm sorry! Jesus fucking Christ! You need to leave this podcast calling that the fucking Fortress of Solitude! I'm sorry. God!

This is Krypton. So mad. No, this is it's called Krypton Marlon Brando always says Krypton. So then Superman is from a planet called Krypton, right? Marlon Brando calls a crypt And they decide in their infinite wisdom that there should be a big prologue, you know explaining the that there should be a big prologue, you know, explaining the destruction of Krypton and where Superman came from. And they'll cast a big star to play Superman's dad, Jor-El.

And they paid him $3.7 million and 11% of the box office, Griffin. So he made $19 million in 1978... Right....for what is 10 minutes of screen time or whatever. Yeah, I think it still is maybe the most someone's been paid relative to time on screen. Right. Yeah. If you break down how much he was paid like per second, per minute.

Famously, I love this scene so much. It's so good. So Brando famously, of course, said that, why don't we have my character be a suitcase or a talking bagel? Uh-huh. And they said, or like, how about we have it be Marlon Brando?

How about if we're paying you $3.7 million, you need to show up on set? Cue cards are all over the set because he refused to memorize his dialogue. His whole performance is him looking off to the middle distance in different directions where different cue cards are. And nonetheless, Brando's really good in this movie. It's kind of an iconic performance. This is a year before Apocalypse Now and it's sort of like,

it's the tail end of his post-Godfather boom with like Glass Tango and Paris and stuff. Yeah. Where it's like he's a really big actor again. And Apocalypse now is where fat Brando becomes like what Brando is. Yes. Right. Like uncontrollable, bizarre, out of shape. This is the last time you can feel him kind of like, kind of coming correct. This is lazy, arrogant Brando still giving you results.

He gets results! And within four years, you're just like, I don't know what to do with this footage. Right? Blank Check with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims. Our executive producer is me, Ben Hossley. Our creative producer is Marie Bardy Salossley. Our creative producer is Marie Bardy-Selinas. And our associate producer is A.J. McKeon. This show is mixed and edited by A.J. McKeon and Alan Smithey. Research by J.J. Burch. Our theme song is by Lay Montgomery

in the Great American Novel with additional music by Alex Mitchell. Artwork by Joe Bowen, Olly Moss, and Pat Reynolds. Our production assistant is Minick. Special thanks to David Cho, Jordan Fish, and Nate Patterson for their production help. Head over to blankcheckpod.com for links to all of the real nerdy shit. Join our Patreon, BlankCheck Special Features, for exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us on social at blankankCheckPod. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Checkbook, on Substack. This podcast is created and produced by BlankCheck

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