Blank Check with Griffin & David - Fletch

Episode Date: June 17, 2016

In this week’s special episode, guest host Producer Ben has been given his own “Blank Check” for selecting a one-off film to review and he’s cashing it in with 1985’s cult comedy Fletch. Is this one of Chevy Chase’s strongest performances? What happened to actress Dana Wheeler-Nicholson? Out of all the movies ever made Ben picked Fletch? But why? Together, the trio discuss Chevy Chase’s tumultuous reputation and career, nostalgia for these types of comedies and character actors, Geena Davis’ impressive run of films in the late eighties to mid-nineties, and hating phonies. Plus, an in-depth hollywood history of the mythic Fletch reboot. And after this week’s palette cleanser episode Griffin and David will begin their next mini series with the films of Cameron Crowe!

Would you like anything, sir? We'll charge it to the Underhills account. Yes, I'll have a Bloody Mary and a steak sandwich and a podcast. Oh, that was great. That was so good. Oh my God. Hey guys, welcome to Blank Check with Griffin and David. This is a podcast where we...

Keep going, baby. We take directors' films and we watch them from start to finish. You got this, baby. We take directors' films and we watch them from start to finish. You got this, baby boy. And, you know, we usually try to zero in on, and where around in their filmography they started becoming a blank check director. So here on the podcast you have, of course, your guest host. This is producer Ben. And, as always, we have the two regular

hosts. We have David Sims. Yeah, hi. And we have Griffin Newman. He's gesturing. The hashtag the two friends. The hashtag the two friends. Nailed it. Boom. And so, yeah, we're going to be discussing the 1985 comedy film

starring one Chevy Chase called Fletch. That's right, because this is Ben's choice. Yeah, now Ben, as you said, this podcast usually is about blank checks when filmmakers have the success to then have a blank check to make whatever they want. Today, you're cashing in your blank check. That's true. We gave you a blank check to host the podcast today

and pick any movie you wanted since you so often have to deal with movies you hate. Right. And this is your you're cashing in. This is one of my favorite films which is totally ridiculous. But I always I grew up watching this on VHS like I've seen it a million times. I like Chevy Chase

movies. I'm not going to apologize. No no no need to apologize. No apology necessary. I'll say this. Seems like old times? I'm trying to think of obscure Chevy Chase movies. Are we talking like Fletch, Vacation, Three Amigos, like the sort of the big ones. The Robertsons.

Oh, Cops and Robertsons. Love that one. With fucking Jack Palance? Yes. Wow, I've never seen that movie. Which I believe was also directed by Michael Ritchie. Yeah, it's a Michael Ritchie joint. The same team, yeah. I by Michael Ritchie Also a Ritchie Yeah it's a Michael Ritchie joint The same team Yeah I think Michael Ritchie was a director who could handle I think he was one of the few

With his reputation Yeah Yeah cause you know like John No not John Hughes Chris Columbus was the original director of Christmas Vacation Uh huh And it was a big deal that like John Hughes had sort of like mentored Chris Columbus And gave him like a shot

He's like I'm doing you a favor. Vacation three. Like, here's the third vacation where you get to direct it. Chris Columbus did one week on vacation and was like, John, I'm sorry, I can't do this. I can't deal with Chevy. Whew, boy. What is it about his reputation? Like, what is it that?

He doesn't respect anyone. He's completely egotistical he won't take direction you know chevy chase is like the worst reputation in hollywood right yeah he's he's known for being incredibly difficult it's funny because amy heckerling directed a european vacation right she said was the biggest mistake of her entire career right like the thing yeah here. Here's what Chevy Chase's reputation is as a person, okay? It's like

Fletch if he wasn't funny. If he had that much contempt for everyone around him, but he wasn't charming. So it's like when he's on camera, he does the same thing, but it's kind of amusing, and the audience is on his side. But what if Fletch was just a piece of shit

and he wasn't landing the jokes and he kept on explaining to you why he was funny. He's gonna sue us. Yeah, fine. Chevy, if you're listening and you want to be a guest on the show, you can be on our Fletch Lives episode. Yeah, and Chevy, I love your stuff, man.

I got nothing against you. I think you're great. Okay, alright, so let's back up here. Okay, so yeah, I think we talked, man. I got nothing against you. I think you're great. Okay, all right. So let's back up here. Okay. Okay, so yeah. I think we talked about this last week, but we presented this idea to Ben, Ben's Choice. Ben's Choice. What's the movie you'd want to discuss the most? And just right out of the gun, he just fired Fletch.

One word answer within 30 seconds. So just to dig in, Ben. Ben, you're from New Jersey, right? I am. From New Jersey. Yes. And this was a film you owned on VHS? Yeah.

I will say, all right, like I'm not that big of a film buff, okay, comparatively to you guys. Sure, whatever. You are our finest film critic, but sure, I understand what you're saying. I'm the every man's film critic, you know? But I'll say that, like, growing up, I had some pretty trashy friends. A lot of the movies we enjoyed are pretty, like, you know, they're bad action movies, they're bad comedies.

Sure, whatever. I have this weird soft spot for those kinds of, like, films. I think we've all got those. Oh, yeah. I'm sure Griffin has those. I definitely have those. No question. Movies that you kind of just grow up watching for some reason or another.

Right. Just literally, like, I owned Clear and Present Danger on VHS for some reason. Like, I don't know why. It was like five bucks at a store. Under Siege 2 is like one of my faves. So I've seen, yeah, I've seen that movie a lot of times. I don't, it's not that good. It's not terrible. It's fine. I've seen the Harlan Williams motion picture

Rocket Man probably like 60 times. I have never seen that film. I mean, if you ask me, I think it's a masterpiece. I can't watch it objectively anymore. This is the thing. If you watch a movie enough, it becomes impossible to criticize because it's like, well, why didn't they do this differently? You're just like, what do you mean?

That's Rocket Man. It's iconic. That's what happens in the movie. That's what happens in Rocket Man. He farts in the suit and the two suits are tethered together. How have you seen that like 50 times? You know why? Because my mom would take me to all these stupid comedies, and she hated them all.

Sure. And Rocketman was the only one that she found funny. That's really funny. And so it was like this big bonding thing with my mom, where we'd watch Rocketman together all the time. And then she was like, we've got to show James. So when it came out on video, we watched it with my brother. And then when my sister was born, we would say, when do you think Romley's going to be

old enough to watch Rocketman? Traditionally. She was like, My mom hates Don Coen. Every family has these. The movie was Clifford. You know that movie? My former roommate Andy his whole family was obsessed with Clifford. Their dog was called Clifford. And it's just because they owned it on VHS

for some reason. I don't know. I'll say that here are a couple questions I have for you Ben okay yeah and I know you feel like you're very on the defensive you got to sell us yeah this is the thing we like and we positioned it as you have to sell us on it being great which I know made it sound a little more antagonistic I said I'd seen it once before and I thought it was okay David hadn't seen it before David watched it liked it a lot right I realized the one time I'd seen it before was maybe um like seven years ago.

And as I was watching this, I was trying to place myself on when I watched it. I was in a real bad place in my life. Oh, no. I was going through some shit. No, it must have been six years ago. Because I had just hit legal drinking age. And I remember I had earlier that week been hit with some bad shit and immediately was like, oh, I'm allowed to drink legally. And went out across the street to the grocery store and bought like two 24 cases of Takate and went back to my apartment and didn't leave for like five days.

Right. Wasn't doing well. Right. And Sophie Fader, my best friend who I call out a lot on the podcast. Shout out a lot. Hi, Sophie. She came over to my place to try to like get me out of the house. And when she came over, I was watching Fletch. And she was like, you got to get out.

So I like finished watching Fletch with her. And then we went out. So it was kind of a tossed off. Yeah. Is what you're saying. Yeah. I was like, it's fine. But I also was like, you. So it was kind of a tossed off. Yeah. Is what you're saying. Yeah. I was like, it's fine. But I also was like, you know, I was hanging by a thread.

All right. So I watched it a second time, right? With clearer eyes, with a better head on my shoulders. Yeah. And not only did I like it more, but I also think there's something to, this is the kind of movie that's maybe designed to be watched 80 times on VHS. Yes. Like it definitely got better the second time. For sure. That makes sense.

I could imagine myself watching it a third and a tenth time. Like it's just like. Movies like this that have. Wow repeat viewings. Movies like this that have kind of a convoluted plot that the first time you feel like you have to pay a lot of attention to. Yeah. Often play better on repeat viewings because then you know what the plot is and you can

just enjoy all the repartee you can enjoy the chemistry you can enjoy the weird little lines. And that's the thing. The Chevy ad-libs. Yes. The legendary ad-libs. This movie, I don't want to say joke-dense, but this movie is so gag-dense because you go like, okay, in each scene,

Chevy's doing at least three weird physical pratfall and hitting his head things, right, that are clearly ad-libbed, adding in the names, the actual jokes, the one-off sort of under things, the things that names, the actual jokes, the one-off under things, the things that are just funny line readings, the reaction shot. What you said, what you liked about this movie in the last episode when you were setting it up, is you like this movie just goes for it. It doesn't care.

It just keeps on throwing stuff at the screen. It is dense in that way where the more times you've seen it, you know everything that's coming, so you're able to appreciate each moment more. Because most comedies are like build up to a big laugh, let you rest for a little, build up to another laugh. This isn't like that at all. It's just sort of a nice

consistent sort of hum. But it's a vibey movie too. It's also so much like just kind of hangout movie. Hanging out with this bum fletch. And I was just talking to Griffin about this you know it's just I think also we're just nostalgic for this sort of movie because Hollywood doesn't make enough

for these movies anymore these kinds of movies where it's like you're making a Hollywood comedy now it has to be high concept lots of nutty jokes or big crazy set pieces you know really really really really silly this is not like but here's the interesting thing about Fletch, okay?

Well, yeah, and the, like, the Fletch disguise thing, right? Which, like, alternates between, like... Which, from the advertising, I think they were, like, really selling it. I mean, the tagline... I hate the tagline. Do you know the tagline? No, I don't. Meet the only guy who changes his identity more often than he changes his underwear yeah that's

maybe the worst I don't want to think about Chevy Chase changing his underwear the last thing I want to think about is Chevy Chase's gooch being unwashed pressed against the same pair and also the poster is him like holding up his wallet and like the 17

photos and they're all just different versions of him some of them it's just him walking in and giving a false name and some of them he's like got a fucking thing on and he's doing a voice right? A little bit but most of them is just like he put on a sweater. Agreed and the couple that are like sillier feel like Chevy pushing

you know? Sure well when he's got the false teeth that's him pushing like it doesn't work but like he was like can you please let me do it. Yeah it would be a little sillier it feels like him saying to Richie like let me go a little bigger on this one and I feel like when you're talking about that the movies of this ilk are a lot less grounded in reality right now are a lot sillier

I feel like in a way Fletch is like emblematic of everything that was good about these types of films in this time period but also lit the fuse that fucked them up for the future because you look at something like Blue Streak, right? Which is also like a crime comedy about every man.

Right. Yes. Yeah, and Luke Wilson, which is like kind of a messy movie, right? I mean, there's so many 90s movies in that. Yeah. But I'm throwing out Blue Streak as an example because it's like, you go, if that premise in the early 80s where it's like a crime must pretend to be a cop, it probably would have been directed by like walter hill you know and like

all the supporting characters would have been played like really straight and the guy would have been like an alcoholic you know they would have like it would have had a moody howard faltemeyer score but instead in blue street it's got all these scenes where like martin lawrence dresses up as a character to go undercover and he's like playing it to the nines like he's doing like an all that character you know no he'd been in bad boys though let's not forget that he'd been in bad boys right which I'm saying is grounded but like blue streak is like

big and he's wearing the funny teeth and whatever talking about because I'm saying that Fletch does that a couple times but it does it in a pretty like contained way I agree and I think people were like oh that's fun if you have a comedy guy and he could do a bunch of characters and stuff like that. And it started to make the movies down the line

bit by bit sillier and sillier. We're like, I can't remember the last time. I mean, Nice Guys is the last kind of crime comedy that feels grounded in a reality and a sadness. The reason I really want to do Martin Bress someday is you've got Midnight Run and Beverly Hills Cop, which are the platonic ideal of this kind of film. Beverly Hills Cop and Fletch have the same soundtrack.

Yes. They're very, very similar movies. Yeah, they're very similar. I like Fletch a lot. He's a good guy. He's all right. I like his movie. Okay, so here, I have some more questions for you.

Did your family like Fletch? Like, it was just a movie with your friends? Or were you, like, a Chevy family? We were not a Chevy family. Interesting. My dad is so stubborn with comedy. He, like, he really, like, hates Chevy. Really?

Yes. Chevy's pretty hateable. Okay, because my dad did, too, and I was definitely raised in a household that was like Chevy sucks. Bill Murray's great. Chevy sucks. Oh, weird. My dad thought Chevy Chase was a genius. But not so much with the movies just SNL. Like he was like that's the greatest thing that ever happened.

He would talk about his update all the time. See, when I got into like 70s SNL when I was like 10 and I was watching the old VHS's, my dad was like Chevy. Such an asshole. You into, like, 70s SNL when I was, like, 10 and I was watching the old VHSs, my dad was like, oh, Chevy. Ugh. Such an asshole.

You know, like, it was always, like, Murray, Ackroyd, Belushi, and then Chevy. It was like, don't fucking get into the Chevy stuff. Chevy's the best, though. I think Chevy. I like Chevy now. He's fascinating. Can we talk about Chevy's career? I want to ask some more Ben questions, just because this is an episode.

All right, all right, all right. Okay, so your dad didn't like Chevy. Who did your dad like comedically? He loved Mel Brooks. Okay. Albert Brooks. The Brooks. Good calls.

Good calls. There's some movies he's even been on me. Yeah, loves Brooks Williams' work. No, he's been on me. Five comedy plays. I'll throw Mama from the Train as a movie my dad loves. Okay, okay.

So the dark 80s black comedies like DeVito he likes the cinema of DeVito we should do DeVito sometime DeVito is a fascinating film career as a director, insane I'm blanking now but yeah

kind of your classic 70s and 80s comedies, I would say. Fuck, there's the one. I can't remember. Let's just keep going. And Fletch for you, it was a buddy movie. It was a friend movie. It was like a hangout movie for you.

You'd watch it together with your buddies. I would with my one buddy, Garrett. But I also. You'd watch it alone. I would just watch it at night. Garrett Morris, right? Yes. Yeah, from SNL.

And he would say, man, Chevy was such an asshole. He would say, man, I'm just gonna lay low, gonna lay low for 30 years, then bam, two broke girls. That's what he would say. I'm back.

His episode of WTF is unbelievable. I should listen to it. It's unbelievable. He's really funny. His life story is incredible. Okay, so you watch it with Garrett a unbelievable. He's really funny. His life story is incredible. Okay, so you watch it with Garrett like a lot. He's saying he mostly

watches it alone. That's what I was sensing. Yeah. Which I think is true for us too probably. The comedy movies you really love you watch them alone

over and over again. Here, here. I have found them. My dad's been on me to watch Where's Papa. Okay. That's a great movie. I've never seen that.

And then Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Those are like two of his favorite. And then Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Those are like two of his favorite comedies. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is very sad. Yeah, that's a pretty melancholy comedy. That's a Scorsese one of us. An early Scorsese joke. A dramedy, yeah. It's really good though. I've never seen Where's Papa. That's a Carl Reiner

movie, right? Yeah, with Ruth Gordon and George Segal. The Greats. And Ron Liebman. Don't sleep on Ron Liebman. This is my last sort of like prelude question because I'm just trying to lay the, set out the landscape, right? Okay.

Where do you stand on Fletch Lives? Oh, it's awful. Okay. It looks, I've never seen it, but I was just clicking around and looking at, looks terrible. I've never seen it, but I just know that's the company line.

Ooh, it's weird. It's such a like, he's not like really a reporter detective anymore. And it leans hard to the characters thing, right? Into him doing the persona. Maybe Chevy took over that movie a little bit. Even though Richie directed that one, too. Yeah, I would say he doesn't actually get to play as much different characters as I feel like the cast are playing really big characters

big southern characters yes oh yeah it's got like really over the top and ridiculous it's got like R. Lee Ernie in it

and Al Holbrook it's got all these like Cleavon Littles in it see that's the thing that's like the big factor that separates these types of movies from the 80s

and these types of movies now is you look at Beverly Hills Cop and like everyone else in that movie is playing a drama and that's what makes it so funny same with 48 Hours right 48 Hours is the same way Midnight Run is and, like, everyone else in that movie is playing a drama. And that's what makes it so fun.

Same with 48 Hours. Right, 48 Hours is the same way. Which is a great example of this. Midnight Run is the same way. Like, it's Yafit Khodo, who's, like, genuinely scary, is the cop chasing them, you know? And in Fletch, that works, that, like, everyone else is, like, a real fucking human being.

Yeah. So, yeah, because watching this for the second time, I was like, how did they not make 10 of these? And it is just that Fletch lives killed it so hard that they just like. Well, no, it's just Chevy's career just sort of flamed out as well. But I think it was also people hated Fletch lives in a bomb. That makes sense. Yeah.

I think it was those two things in parallel. I mean, we're going to talk about the box office because you guys gave me a juicy mid 80s movie. So I'm real excited to talk about the box office of the mid 80s. Oh, boy. But, you know, it wasn't like a huge hit. guys gave me a juicy mid-80s movie so i'm real excited to try to do this mid-80s oh boy but you know it wasn't like a huge hit i think it was like one of those nice like sort of did fine got a lot of cult following you know like you know sort of a good underground and the sequel also came like four or five years five years later uh i mean i think it did like 50 which today would be like 90 you know 80 or 90 that's like a solid showing and it probably did crazy fucking well

on video and on like HBO and stuff. I mean, this was the first generation of movies that like, the second run on HBO was a year or two after it came out

in theaters and that replay could really build up like a cult for a movie. Okay, so let's talk about Chevy's career a little bit. Because I know this movie was kind of

his comeback after like the back pain pill shit. Well, this is the thing. His career was weird. Because obviously, he breaks out on SNL in 75, 76?

75, the first season. He's gone at the end of the first season. He's gone in 1976. He doesn't have a hit movie until Caddyshack, which is 1980. So he's kind of just around I thought the Neil Simon one seems like old times did okay seems like old times is also 1980

oh really? so what does he do between he makes like a movie called Tunnel Vision which I've never heard of I don't think that's even a movie that's like a weird anthology film he makes a movie called Foul Play that's like a decent hit with Goldie Hawn and he makes a movie. That's like a weird anthology film. He makes a movie called Foul Play, which he gets like a decent hit with Goldie Hawn.

He makes a movie called Oh Heavenly Dog. Which is a Benji sequel where Chevy Chase is reincarnated as Benji. I'm sorry, it's not a Benji sequel. It's a movie starring Benji. It's not part of the Benji chronology. It is billed as

Chevy Chase and Benji in Oh Heavenly Dog. The big selling point was it was the dog from Benji, and it's Chevy Chase gets reincarnated as that dog, and it's like his voice. Is that in like London? Yes. Anyway. It's Chevy Chase doing voiceover for Benji

playing a different dog in London. But then he has Caddyshack, which is like a big hit and like only grows. Like after it's, you know, it's like a big hit on release and then even bigger and bigger the more you think about it or whatever. You know, another interesting stat is that he was the original choice to play, why am I freaking the character now? But it's Richard Matheson's character in Animal House.

Uh-huh. You mean Tim Matheson's character. Tim Matheson's character. Yes. I'm sorry. The villain. Not Otter. No, he's not the villain.

No, he's not the villain. He's sort of the main like super slick. He's the straight man. Right, right. Yeah. It's not otter you mean tim matheson tim matheson's character yes i'm sorry the villain not otter no he's not the villain oh he's not the villain he's sort of the main like super slick he's the straight man right right yeah it's not otter

it's the other one yeah peter reiger's otter i don't know anyway the original plan was that like animal house was gonna be all snl

right and it was gonna be like akroid was d-day right uh that was chevy's character and then belushi um and i think murray was maybe

gonna play otter uh huh um and then they were like we don't want to seem like an SNL movie it's like push the other guys out but yeah okay so 80 Caddyshack big he's got seems like old times that year and then again he's kind of

messing around he makes Under the Rainbow you know which is like a weird it's about behind the scenes of Wizard of Oz it's a murder mystery. With him and Carrie Fisher investigating the murder of a munchkin. He makes a movie called Modern Problems

that I think kind of goes nowhere. And then in 83, he's got Vacation. So it's like, okay, you're back. All right, here we go, Chevy. You're going to be a big star. When does the cocaine start? Well, probably right there in that early 80s okay we're in that sweet spot yeah all right but i know right before fletch is he gets a he has a back

injury and then he gets addicted to back pain pills and that's like the big one that's kind of public sure where then he goes into rehab and it like it becomes like a public story that like chevy has a problem you know like the coke thing was just sort of like oh he's clearly like he's in the thing the back pain thing was like this guy's watched up like he's a fucking mess and at that point his reputation was starting to like catch up with him you know so i know like part of fletch and i think why fletch is so good is that like michael richie kind of had something on him because he was like, you've got to prove yourself now.

Right. You know? Let me see. I feel like I read something about this. Yeah, so this is based on a book. Have you ever read the book? I've not read the book. There are 11 books. By Gregory MacDonald.

Oh, that's cool. There's a full Fletch series, which is why everyone thought it was going to be like a bunch of movies. I did not know this. Fletch. Confess Fletch. Fletch's cool. There's a full Fletch series, which is why everyone thought it was going to be a bunch of movies. I did not know this. Fletch. Confess Fletch. Fletch's Fortune. Fletch's Moxie. Fletch and the Man Who. Fletch's Inn. Fletch One. Fletch Two. Like, on and on and on and on. Fletch One is...

It's the prequel. Yeah, but it's also spelled W-O-N. It's about his first story, but also it's how he won the story. So some ideas were thrown at this author, Burt Reynolds. He said no. Mick Jagger, he said no. Chevy Chase is thrown at him,

and he's like, all right, maybe Chevy Chase. Like, I don't mind that. Chevy Chase, for some reason, was not interested, and then I guess maybe he leaned on a little bit exactly I'm sorry European Vacation

has come out at this point no European Vacation comes out the same year as Fletch a little later so 85 is a big because also Spies Like Us comes out in 85. Wow. So, 85 is Chevy Chase owning. And then Three Amigos is 86.

Okay, that was my next question. Okay, yeah. Fascinating. And Michael Ritchie, let's talk about his career a little, because he's one of these sort of under-heralded 70s directors who has a super fucking diverse filmography. Yeah. I mean, he's made some famous movies like The Candidate and Bad News Bears.

Yeah. But then he's also made like half like a dozen movies I've never heard of. Smile is like the movie of his that's kind of like a quiet masterpiece which is a satire of like beauty pageants and stuff. It's really really good. And then Prime Cut

which right the Lee Marvin action movie. That sounds great. Yeah, it's fucking awesome. That movie rules. Yeah. I mean, there's so many. I mean, I know The Golden Child, which is that Eddie Murphy movie from the 80s, which is okay.

I saw it on TV. It's okay. I don't really remember it. I don't remember it really at all either. Yeah, Prime Cut looks good. Gene Hackman's in that? Yeah, in Sissy Spacek? Yeah.

Damn, that looks fun. Yeah, it's fucking, it rules. In the 90s, you know, he starts to go south. You know, he makes Cops and Robbersons. He makes The Scout, which is like an okay Albert Brooks movie about baseball with Brendan Frazier. I think I saw that. Yeah, I've seen it.

He made A Simple Wish, which I think is like a really treacly Mara Wilson picture with Martin Short. And who's the other person above the title on that movie? There's three actors. Kathleen Turner. Thank you. That's who it is. Yes.

So, you know, he just, I feel like he was like, he was very much like a Hollywood workman-like guy who would just get like put on pictures, right? But he kind of. He had a voice. And he had, he had a sort of grit. He had a sensibility. He was really good with actors i mean a lot of these guys sort of these 70s guys kind of lost it when they got to the 90s you know i mean you even look at uh what's his name look at martin breast look at brass but also um why i forget his name now uh uh schlesinger john schlesinger yeah yeah you know

i mean his last movie was the next best thing with madonna and he's british he's british but uh yeah he because i'm saying the 70s hollywood guys the new hollywood guys yeah yeah the guys who came movie was the next best thing with Madonna and Rupert Everett. He's British. But, yeah. I'm saying the 70s Hollywood guys. The new Hollywood guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The guys who came of... Oh, and he did the Fantastics movie, too. Michael Ritchie. Yeah, I've never seen that. Wildcats with Goldie Hawn coaching the football team.

Semi-Tough. The Burt Reynolds football movie. He did a couple football... Divine Madness. The Bette Midler concert film weird filmography so that brings us to the motion picture Fletch so

from that opening song you know this is going to be good right? they get hit over the head with some 80's synth pop and you're like alright it's called Bit by Bit by Stephanie Mills is the name of the song Right? Yes. They get hit over the head with some 80s synth pop, and you're like, all right. All right. I believe it's called Bit by Bit by Stephanie Mills is the name of the song. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who is famous for playing Dorothy in The Wiz on Broadway. Yes. Oh. This film- A lot of disco hits. This film has one of my favorite things that we can have, which is a song where the lyrics of the song reference the character on screen that you're watching at the moment the song is playing.

Yeah, they're literally telling you what Fletch is up to. Yeah, I'll tell you what he's up to. Fletch is working overtime. They keep on telling you that he's working overtime. Well, because how else would you know? You wouldn't know. Is he on the clock? Is he fucking on vacation?

What's going on? He's putting in the time. He's putting in the time. He's putting in the time. He's at the beach. Yeah. He's wearing a tattered Magic Johnson Lakers jersey. He's trying to fit in. He's a junkie.

He's pretending in disguise. You know Fletch is an old movie because he's an investigative reporter who never files any stories. Never. He seems to have an unlimited budget to travel around the country. And also buy like prosthetics. Like get fucking Stan Winston to make noses for him. He has like one editor to run things by. It's not

like the editor doesn't have to say like you're going to Utah because of no reason. I have to call the expenses department. It's just like whatever. You know my favorite detail in this movie is like not only is he like an undercover reporter right. Like not only is he not telling the people he's talking

to who he is, but he also files the stories anonymously. Right. He writes his column as Jane Doe. Because you gotta keep a secret. You gotta keep a low profile or else you'll get rumbled, right? Right, Ben?

Yeah, that's the idea. But I think there's like a thesis to this movie which is like, Fletch hates bullshit. He does. He fucking hates it. What drives Fletch is he thinks everyone's a fucking phony. Pretty much.

You know? And like, the thing he hates the most is entitlement. Like, Fletch is out to get people who think they're better than others. He also doesn't take a lot of things seriously. No. And I like that about him too. Yeah. I like his style.

And we'll get to this, but I think that's why the scene where the cop is pointing the gun and where Joe Don Baker really works because Chase is not a great actor, but he's a great comic actor. This is the best dramatic performance of his career. It is. And the way his face just kind of very subtly shifts from his usual shit-eating grin

to just like, oh, this is terrible. I might get shot. I could die. He's really good. The drama is really present in a scene that most movies I feel like it wouldn't be at all. You just know like,

eh, Fletch is going to be fine. I think we're leading- Joe Don Baker being second billed, by the way. Baffling. Yeah. Baffling. Can I sidebar for one second?

I am baffled. Can I sidebar for one second? He's in two scenes. Yeah, go ahead. I saw The Untouchables. It was playing at the Metrograph. You've been seeing some De Palmas? Yeah, and I know you recently watched all the De Palmas.

I recently watched every film barring a couple by Brian De Palma. Do you remember what the billing is on The Untouchables? No, go for it. It's insane. Are you ready for the billing on The Untouchables? Sure. This billing happened in the one year where this would have been the order for this film, okay? Kevin Costner.

Sure. My old boss, right? First build. Second build, Charles Martin Smith. Over Connery, Garcia, and De Niro. Yes. The accountant guy. Remember him with the glasses? Who's the first to die in the movie.

Yeah. Charles Martin Smith, then Garcia, with Sean Connery. Mm-hmm. And De Niro. I think it's two withs. I don't think they do an and. I think they go with Sean Connery

with Robert De Niro as... Isn't that weird? That's very strange. We're off topic. But that's the only time Charles Martin Smith would be second billed in a movie. It looks like it's with De Niro and Sean Connery.

I'm sorry about that. As Joe Malone or whatever. Yeah. And then, what's your book called? Patricia Clarkson is not even billed. Only the men. Do you know what her character, and she's an Academy Award nominee. Charles Martin Smith is the only one of that cast who wasn't nominated for an Oscar for acting.

And he gets second billing. Whoa. Okay. Yes. Do you know what Patricia Clarkson is her character name is in the credits at the end of that movie? The woman? Ness's wife. Oh god. She's got a huge part. What are you going to do?

I think we're leading this episode too much. We forgot that Ben is hosting. Yeah. So alright. We're at the beach. We established that Fletch is working on sorry. I think we're leading this episode too much. We forgot that Ben is hosting. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So, all right. We're at the beach, right? We established that Fletch is working on a case. He's trying to bust the drug activity that's happening, you know, there on the beach. Okay.

So, you get a sense of who this guy is, right? You know, he's kind of silly, right? He's like, oh, he's throwing out jokes. And that's, like, right from the start and that's like right from the start that's gonna be the the the through line throughout the rest of this film yeah and i love that like david you were saying that he's like kind of in disguise because he's trying to look like a bum yeah but he also everyone just looks at this guy and they're like this guy's not doing well you know it's like yeah yeah he doesn't disguise himself that much like even though chevy's like really impossibly handsome in this movie. Very handsome.

He still looks like a guy who doesn't have his fucking shit together. He's very handsome in his preppy, you know, way. Yeah. I think it's Chevy that is handsome.

Well, he's very handsome on SNL. Like, young Chevy is really hot, but anyway. Yeah. In, again, that sort of shit-eating grin kind of way. Not my type, but, like,

you know, game-recognized game. Yeah, a guy's got a good face. So, while he's hanging out at the beach, he's propositioned by this businessman under the boardwalk. And he, you know, it's so good, right? He goes up, he goes, listen, I want you to listen to me for $1,000 and come back to my house.

Tim Matheson. The great Tim Matheson. Yeah. So Fletch throws out a couple fun lines. He does it, though, because he's interested. He's always, like, looking for that next big story. They go to the guy's house. Right. Now, the explanation for this whole murder plot is so great. I think it's justified. I think it makes sense. I like it. I think so, too. He's got a bone cancer.

OK, the bone cancer, the bone cancer. in 85 that probably flew you could tell people yeah sorry i gotta take off work i got bone cancer but uh yeah so fletch can smell this is bullshit right but he's like you know what there's something there's something going on his reporter nose is twitching there's a story here he. He's got- He's snipping a story. And I love that set up. Like, immediately you know at the beginning of the movie, they say, he's seeing drugs hit the beach hard. Right.

He doesn't like it. He wants to bust it open, right? We should say that George Wendt plays a small-time beach drug dealer in this movie. Yeah. Is that his name, Fat Tommy? I don't know. Fat Jimmy? Oh, what is it?

And he's got sort of a Cajun accent. Uh-huh. He's amazing in this. He's so good. He is good. He should have been second built. But there's this sense that, like, Fletch is breaking this story because he actually cares for these, like, addicts.

Yeah, the random junkies. On the beach. I mean, Fletch, he relates to the guys on the margins of society. Right. And it's easy for him to just bust those guys. Right. But it's like he knows there's a bigger hand at play. Because that's what Fletch really hates is whoever's in the ivory tower.

Do you know what I'm saying? And so he's on that case. And he says, I think I'm getting close to busting the story. I've been working on it for a long time. And you get that he, like, genuinely cares about, like, Gummy on the Beach, right? Totally. Okay, so then when Tim Matheson comes with this murder thing, the film sets it up as just, like, well, Fletcher isn't going to turn down a good story. Right.

An almost, like, classic, like, detective-style story. Yeah. They'll do that sometimes where you have a bigger case and then they just throw a little small one to distract you for the time being. But it's not immediately apparent that these two things are connected in any way. No, no, no. It's not. Which I like. You have a sneaking suspicion that they might be. Well,

because it's a movie. Yeah, that's all. I know. And the bone cancer. Bone cancer is a little convenient. A little convenient, yeah. So we then cut to his workplace. Oh, you didn't say what the offer was, though, for Tim Matheson. Oh, excuse me. Of course, right.

So the deal is if Fletch will murder him, okay? Yeah. Murder. And then I guess burn up his body in the car. Basically, the whole idea is that Tim Matheson has bone cancer. He doesn't want to suffer. He doesn't want to suffer. Also, though, he wants to make sure his family gets the life insurance money.

And if he kills himself, the policy will be void. Right. So this all makes sense. He's thought of this through. He wants Fletch, this low life, to murder him, burn him up in his car, and then leave the country with $50,000. And he says, like, you know, I've been scouring the beach. I've been watching you.

I see how you function, you know. You're a drifter. No one cares about you. You know, no one will notice if you're gone. You'll be able to make a new life for yourself. But I can also tell you're kind of smart and you can get things done. Because he sees how much Fletch is working the beach. Right.

And he doesn't know that Fletch is working something bigger of course he doesn't because he's in disguise he's a man of many disguises Fletch is working overtime all right so this is this is fun okay this is fun this is what we do we go to the office right and you get a sense of what his workplace is like, he is really on deadline. And he's got nothing. Fletcher's got nothing. Okay? His boss, he's riding his ass hard. Who's his co-worker?

Geena Davis! The great Geena Davis! She's so cute. She's so great in this. Such a great actress. I miss her. Has she won her Oscar yet? This is probably right before. It's not long. Accidental Tourist, I think, is she won her Oscar yet? This is like probably right before. No, this is before. It's not long. Accidental Tourist, I think, is 88. Am I wrong about that?

Find out. Because Beetlejuice is 87. Hey, nailed it. I knew she hadn't been fetid by the time she did Beetlejuice. She's only been in Tootsie before this. And Tootsie's three years earlier. And then after this, she goes, The Fly, Beetlejuice, which is 86. Yeah.

Earth Girls Are Easy, Accidental Tourist, Thelma and Louise, League of Their Own. What a run. Holy shit. What a run. And then the run, literally, the train doesn't derail. It explodes in a nuclear bomb. Well, she marries Rennie Harlan. Yeah, and then it's like, I mean, I like The Long Kiss Goodnight.

I do too. But you've got, you know. Cutthroat Island. Hero, Angie, Cutthroat Island, Stuart Little 2, never makes a movie again. Stuart Little 1, though. I mean, and 1, 1 and 2. I don't know why I said 2. Yeah, come on.

She should come back. Isn't she on some TV show this fall? She was on Commander in Chief a few years back, and that was going to be like this big deal. Oh, she's on the Exorcist TV show. Oh, great. No, it's supposed to be very good. I have heard. What? From who have you heard? From insiders. Richard Wyatt directed

it. Who the fuck is that? He directed the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which I love. What? Yeah. No Rupert Wyatt. He directed the first one. Not Dawn. Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Sorry I get the title confused. I agree but I also think he's a very good director. Rupert Wyatt is the Apes. Sorry, I get the title confused. Matt Reeves directed. I get the title confused. He's much better. I agree,

but I also think he's a very good director. But Rupert, that's the guy who made Snow White and the Huntsman. No, it's not. That's Rupert Sanders. Oh, right. Well, it's fair that I mixed those two up. Yes. Rupert Wyatt is much better though. The extra script is supposed to be good. Gene and Dave are on. I hope it's a comeback. Anyway, he's in the office. Right, he's in the office. We meet

his boss, played by Libertiniini i don't know his i don't know his first name that is looking at libertina i'm trying to throw facts out i don't know his boss is just i mean this is the thing about it it's almost like fletch is a cop because his boss literally is like the police lieutenant he's like damn it fletch you know you're driving me crazy you know like he's like bald and like. And that's what I love about this movie because it's a mix of all the things that I'm super into. I like pulpy detective kind of stuff. I love the hard-boiled cop kind of story.

Yeah. But then there's also a funny guy. It's a fun, but it's also, I like a reporter movie. You know, there's not enough good reporter movies. It's a good mix of all this stuff. So it just excites me. It really does. Well, it's the sense that like Fletch takes the responsibility of being a journalist very seriously.

Like, weirdly. He doesn't take anything else seriously. But his editor is going, like, Fletch, I need a story tomorrow. We're going to press. And he's like, I'm not giving you a story until I've cracked the case. Right. Because I need to affect change. Like, I need to fucking take shit down.

And so Fletch just keeps on saying, like, I'm working on it. I'm working on it. And Libertini is just fucking losing it. He's losing it. He took an ad out for Fletch's next column in his own paper, which is truly strange. Because it's big. I mean, when you go into the office. A whole page ad. That is a waste. That is a waste

of newspaper resources. You want to use the whole page to get money. Like, what the fuck's he thinking? I don't know if you noticed. This guy should be fired, is what I'm saying. Yeah, oh, no question. Gina Davis, promoter. No question. Make her the editor. I don't know if you noticed. This guy on the street, I want him on the beach doing junk in a week.

In the office, they have, like, these big, giant, like, framed printouts of the Jane Doe pieces. So it's clear that, like, the Jane Doe pieces are, like, huge for them. Right. That's clear that like the Jane Doe pieces are like huge for them. Right. That's kind of like their competitive advantage.

Although when he mentions the one time he mentions he's Jane Doe, it gets no reaction out of Dana Wheeler Nicholson. Yeah, because they're in the ivory tower. They're in the ivory tower. I just wanted someone to be like, you're Jane Doe? I wanted that moment. But there's also a thing I love in this opening scene where like Geena Davis is clearly like his buddy right

like she's his ally you know they're like in it together and she's always there to sort of go like come on boss like he's fucking Fletch come on right

and there's a moment when like he walks in and Libertini's like Fletch where's my piece and like Chevy throws out like a few fucking Fletchisms right

and Geena like laughs at all of them. And it's this thing that comedies don't do anymore, which is acknowledge that the characters in the movie are funny to the other people in that world. Right. Like what I don't like is in comedies when someone does something ridiculous and everyone else is just aghast. And it's like, no,

in real life, if that happened, you'd laugh. Like whether it's uncomfortable laughter, because you can't believe something that insane is happening on, or because they're your friends and you know, they're funny. So like whether it's uncomfortable laughter because you can't believe something that insane is happening on or Because they're your friends, and you know they're funny So like he's fucking like yucking it up and G Davises like I love flat Yeah, like G Davises like a fan of Fletch like she gets the Fletch is funny. She believes him, too

She believes him she believes because he good reporter Alright so carry on all right, so well. You know? He's got to look into the Stanwyck character, right? He's got to see what's going on. What's his name? Tim Stanwyck? What's his name? Tim Matheson. Alan Stanwyck.

Alan Stanwyck. So, you know, again, he's got this drug case, but you know what? He's going to just look into this guy because who knows what's going on here. He puts the drug case on the back burner. He does. It's a journalism term. So, you cut to Stanwyck's doctor, right? And this is your first real, I would say, like official character.

Played by legendary character actor M. Emmett Walsh. You know him? Yeah? No? He's great. He's one of the best. Cool. Do you like this scene, Ben?

This feels like the kind of scene that would have played well for a 13-year-old. Yeah, I like this scene. Ben's grinning ear to ear. Moon river. That's what he does. Love it. Ben is scarlet with satisfaction right now. He's red with amusement.

I'm not joking. He's bright red because he's laughing so hard. Ben's just thinking about Fletch and he's laughing. So funny. Yeah, he's trying to work this doctor, get some info. Doctor stonewalls him and does a prostate exam. So funny. Yeah, he's trying to work this doctor, get some info. Right. Doctor stonewalls him. Yeah.

And does a prostate exam. So really, like, you know, Fletch really blows this scene, you gotta say. Yeah. He gets no info. No, he gets nothing out of him. Except that I guess that this man is Stanwyck's doctor. I suppose he does confirm that. He gets that.

That's about as good as he does. He confirms that. And he also gets a free butt fingering out of the process, you know? I mean, that's not nothing. You usually gotta pay a good dollar for a nice butt fingering. And he also gets a free butt fingering out of the process. You know? I mean, that's not nothing. You just got to pay a good dollar for a nice butt fingering. And you know what? Fletch establishes, too, he's really good at bullshitting. Yeah.

But maybe not as, he's obviously not getting anything out of this guy. But again, like, you're seeing here, like, he can, like, oh, Margaret. You know? Like, you know, oh, I go to the same tennis club. He's just bullshitting this guy. He's, I mean, Chevy Choi's really good at this. Flesh plays the long game. I feel like, so we should say the recurring joke of the movie is he's really good at bullshitting.

He's good at, like, seeming natural, but he can't do names. And every name he comes out with is absolutely ludicrous. So it's one of two things. My favorite is Dr. Rosen Rosen. Right. When he's trying, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's either he starts out with the first half of a last name and he can't make up the rest of it, right?

Right, yeah. Or it's he picks a very well-known person. He's Ted Nugent. What's another one? Don Corleone. Don Corleone was great. Doesn't he say Franklin Delano Roosevelt once? They go like the president. He goes, yeah, my parents are big fans. No, no, no. Harry S. Truman. Harry S. Truman, yes. Sorry. Yeah, but he goes like,

my name is John Smock and Wits. Cock Truman, yes. Sorry. Yeah, but he goes like, my name is John... Smock and Wits. Like, he'll just like... Cock and Toast. Right, that's what it is. It's Scotch-Romanian. The Rosen-Rosen one's amazing,

the doctor one, because he just keeps on saying, Dr. Rosen-Rosen. He goes, Rosen who? And he goes, Rosensteinberg. Like, he just keeps on... He's like, if I start with Rosen, there's going to be a doctor

who's Dr. Rosen blank. So if I have enough chances, one of them is going to hit. Gets his butt fingered. I feel like Chase is ad-libbing a lot of that, right? I think so. That must have been a vintage Chevy ad-lib. Definitely. Yeah.

Okay. So now he's not satisfied, right? He hasn't gotten any standard info. No, not enough info. So now he's at the hospital, right? We have the little fun Rosen, Rosen moment. I mean, he's sexually satisfied because he got the butt fingered, right? We have the little fun Rosen Rosen moment. He is sexually satisfied because he got the butt finger.

That's true. Moon River. That's true. Moon River. So he's at the hospital. He goes into the records room, right? Yeah. Now, you know,

there's just some hijinks that ensue. He faints because of a spleen. Yeah, he takes part in like open heart surgery or whatever. They do one of those like, hey, doctor,

you know, one of those like drop-in surgeon spots. And he's like, I'm not sterilized. one of those, like, hey, doctor. You know, one of those drop-in surgeon spots. And he's like, I'm not sterilized. And the doctor's like, hey, it doesn't matter. This guy can't get any more sick, can he? Which I think is not true. Yeah. He holds the spleen. He faints.

He ends up in the records room. With a nurse. Right. And he's doing his old Fletch routine there. Yep. He sends the nurse off to go get him something. Now you have another moment in movies that I love, which is classic computer graphics.

Right? Like your old school, like, love that stuff. Then you also, he's got an actual, like, files. This is in the age of internet, guys. The computer tells him where the file is. The computer doesn't have files on it. It's just a digital card catalog.

I'm excited. Ben's like, guys, this is cool. I don't want to rain on your parade. There is one massive oversight here. What's that? No mouse work. That's true. They don't show them clicking, Ben. And I was a little upset, but I'm okay

because if it's MS-DOS, then you know what? It gets a pass. Don't need a mouse. It doesn't need a mouse. And physical files. You're getting two out of three. Right.

Two out of three ain't bad. So he pretty much is able to figure out this guy doesn't have bone cancer. Yeah. He's bullshitting. Yeah. Something's fishy.

Okay. So then, all right, this is actually, this this is quite a challenge you guys are good at this okay so now he's like let's look into the wife right yeah and then we get into your classic 80s babe right she's got all the characteristics of an 80s babe uh a very blown out hair. Right. Yeah. She's like somebody I've never ever seen ever again. That's a big one. She's just the babe. Movies like this, the top billed woman is never in another movie.

She just disappears. But the supporting actresses are like Academy Award winner Geena Davis. Yeah. Like Geena Davis has three scenes, but no one, I challenge anyone to tell me, without looking it up, who the lead actress is in Beverly Hills Cop, who's a huge part. I don't know.

She's like third bill in that movie. No one can tell me who the actress is. Who is it? I have no idea. That's my point. I can't tell you.

I thought you were gonna be like, and it turns out it was Bette Davis. No, but Ben's isolating a really strong point here. These movies never, the lead actress is never in, yeah. It is, let me tell you,

Wikipedia is telling me that it is Lisa Eilbacher. Yeah, exactly. What a performance. Yeah. So we're at the tennis club. You get a bunch of really fun little hijinks I mean I've already at the top of the episode

he overhears this douche bag guy asshole being mean to a waiter Mr. Underhill he keeps on yelling it out and he's gonna fucking get this guy because again he's against those entitlements it's not like

the way you're making it sound it's like Chevy Chase turns to the camera and he's like, hey, rich people. It's all very underhanded and calm. He just fucks these guys over and over. He doesn't like them. It's very relaxed and subtle. I think it's good. I really do. And the way the Underhill thing is established is

just like, it's like a fucking tracking shot. He's walking by them. You're taking in the club. And it seems like it's maybe just sort of ambiance, right? It's character detail. They don't hit it too hard. He's walking by them. It seems like it's maybe just... You're taking in the club. It seems like it's maybe just sort of ambiance, right? It's character detail. They don't hit it too hard. He's just being really disrespectful to this waiter and saying his name a couple times.

Like, don't you know who I am? Underhill, Underhill. And then, like, two scenes later, you know? I mean, not two scenes later, but, like, a minute or two pass, and then he's ordering from the guy and goes like, oh, and put it on the Underhills account. Like, it's an afterthought.

Sure. And it's just like, yeah, you know, you know fucking like treat other people well right like don't pull rank you're not better than gummy on the beach gummy's a good man you're just falling under hard times yeah he's being taken advantage of yeah so now i'm gonna order uh a bloody mary stick sandwich and a stick sandwich yeah great great it job. It's a great job. Love it. Love it so much. Yeah. Okay, so he flirts with her a little bit.

Again, it's still not really clear what's happening with this storyline comparatively to the drug storyline. No, and he's doing the classic Fletch like, who are you, Dave? Dave who? Oh, Dave. Dave. Cock and toast. And then he does the, you're gone. No, no, no, no. Matt the... Cock and toast. And then he does the...

Go on. No, no, no, no. You got it. What's up? No, I was just like, I was remembering it was earlier with the doctor where he does that thing

where he's like, I don't know you from the club. I've never seen your name. And he's like, oh, my aunt, Mrs. Smith. And he's like, Dorothy or, you know, Mildred. And he's like,

yeah, Dorothy. He's like... He says, yes. Yeah, right, right, yeah, yeah. And she goes, which one is it? Yeah. Oh, right.

This is the big Fletch thing, is he says something that's incorrect, someone catches him in the lie, and he doubles down on it. So, like, in that doctor scene, he goes like, Mildred, and she goes like, oh, shame about what happened to Reg, right? Right.

And he goes, oh, so sudden. It was very sudden, yeah. He's like, what do you mean? He was in intensive care for weeks. He's like, it was sudden when he died, like, the actual moment of his death. Right, and he does the same thing here, where it's like, when she's like, where do I know he died. Like, the actual moment of his death. Right. And he does the same thing here where it's like, when she's like, where do I know you from?

The wedding. I didn't see that. Well, it was my wedding. My, your, my, you were at my, I was at your wedding. You know, I mean, he's just like constantly like, you can't catch Fletch. Can't catch Fletch. He's unflappable. That's right. Yeah. Alright. You can't Fletch catch. You can't.

Fletch me if you can, bro. What if that's the name of the episode? Oh, that's good. I like, well, whatever. We'll talk about it. Okay. All right. So, right.

He's still not getting to the bottom of this guy. Now, I'm pretty sure, correct me if I'm wrong, this is when he goes home to his bachelor pad? Correct. Right? Yeah. Cool-ass bachelor pad. Walks in. Cool to his bachelor pad? Correct. Right? Yeah. Cool ass bachelor pad. Walks in. Cool ass bachelor pad.

Immediately pulls some lever off the ceiling. Basketball comes out. He fucking shoots. He scores. He's divorced. We learned that. And he's, I mean, it's not cool to not pay alimony. But when I was a kid, I was like, this guy's cool.

He's like in the shit. He's like a master disguise. He's like kind of like a bullshitter. He's running, climbing up a fire escape to get away from his bad finances. Cool guy. He uses a credit card to unhatch the hinge on the window. And then his apartment's filled with Lakers stuff. He's got a basketball hoop.

Right. In his apartment. George Weiner comes in as like the collection agent. It's like, need the alimony. Yep. And he's like, come on. My wife like fucking fucked me over. She's with a guy right now who's got tons of money.

She's just trying to fleece me. She cheated on me the whole time with everybody. I mean, I can't believe like I got stuck with this deal in court. He's like, well, because your lawyer was sleeping with her, too. That's a little moment where he's like, really? Yeah, he didn't know. He's like, look, I passed the pass. Chevy sells that. Yeah.

He's shocked. But the way he says by this further betrayal. The way he says she was sleeping with everybody isn't even like he's slut-shaming her. It's just like, fuck, it's just like I can't catch a break. He's kind of sad about it. He's not angry or vindictive towards her. It's just like, fuck, it's just like I can't catch a break. Like, he's kind of sad about it. Like, he's not angry or vindictive towards her. But you know what?

He's like, fine, let her go. Well, no, he knows he blew it because he's an investigative reporter. Yeah. He was probably always on the job. Didn't have time for her. Yeah, wasn't giving her any attention, probably. Fletch was working overtime. I will say, can I just briefly mention the nice guys, which I saw last night?

Yeah. And I want to just say, have you seen the nice guys? You would enjoy it. If you like Fletch, you'd enjoy this movie. Oh, yeah, I've seen the nice guys. You saw it? Mm-hmm. Okay.

Yeah, it's really good. Okay, so there's this scene early on where Russell Crowe's character flashes back to a girl breaking up with him. Yeah. And they're just like at dinner. He's like, how are you doing? And she's like, so I've been fucking your dad. And he does the most incredible spit take I've ever seen which is

not the usual like spitting it out of your mouth but he kind of like just throws water out of his mouth into the air it's incredible it's like he's like taking a drink of water and he goes like I can't if do you remember this yes oh it's the best moment in the movie it's so good it's not the best moment in the movie but it's so I think it's my favorite one in the movie uh oh no no no the fucking uh gosling cigarette in the bathroom stall is the best one in the movie. That is... There's so much fine-tuned physical comedy in that movie. Anyway, that's a movie that has a vibe like Fletch.

Agreed. The closest I think we've gotten to a Fletch in a very long time. Your brother Joey Sims had a really good tweet review of The Good Guys because I know you saw it together last night. Go ahead. Yeah, we did. Which was, The Good Guys more like a good movie. Nice Guys more like a good movie. Sorry, sorry. It fucked it up. That was the thing that I liked. The Nice Guys more like a good movie. He didn't say a nice movie's more like a good movie. Nice guy's more like a good movie.

Sorry, sorry, I fucked it up. That was the thing that I liked. The nice guy's more like a good movie. He didn't say a nice movie, he said a good movie. Yeah, yeah. All right, so, yeah, so cool place. We get that weird L.A. Lakers dream sequence. Yeah, that's weird, although I don't think he's wearing blackface at all, so good on him.

No, he's not. He's wearing an afro. Yeah. I think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did a little, you know, contributed to this. Yeah, he's got aface at all so good on him he's wearing an afro yeah i think kareem abdul jabbar uh did a little you know contributed to this yeah he's a little cameo he's credited right so that's appearance yeah that's him that's him on the court yeah um just saying yeah and he's being interviewed by me saying like fletch is like the best player they got oh he's definitely not doing blackface and the afro is just like i mean some of the guys had afros at that time you know like it's It's got touches.

I mean, it says, like, he's from Harlem, right? Yeah. But whatever. You know, it's a different time, and, like, it's honestly so stupid. It's this dumb aside. But I sort of like it. We're also far away from bringing down the house. You know? I mean, we're not, like, edging into that territory.

And it also, it's just, like, it lets you know, like, what's the most important thing in the world to flash is the la laker he loves the la lakers he really loves them all right so what's going on all right so i feel like we're losing the thread yeah no and it gets a little confusing around here but essentially let's just say fletch figures out that stanwick's wife gail uh owns some personal stock in this boyd aviation who's Who's played by Dana Wheeler Nicholson, Gail. Dana Wheeler Nicholson. No, Gail is- Oh, you're talking about the real Gail. The real Gail, right.

Yeah. So he gets some money to go and look into this real estate in Provo, Utah. Mm-hmm. Right? And so this goes on to, you know, there's like the fun stuff where he calls the shady realtor, right? And then he breaks in after the guy's left and like, again, gets some fucking files. And he's taking photos.

He's got a little secret camera. And there's a dog that jumps through a window. He's got some great banner with the dog. They play some great Howard Faltemeyer music. The dog almost speaks English. There's that weird gag where he's trying to distract the dog, and he's like, look, defenseless babies or whatever. And the dog goes like, woo!

It's a weird moment. It's a very weird moment. Okay, so what else? Do you think Benji was pissed that he didn't get that part? Because probably when they sent the breakdown out, he was like, I've worked with Chevy. I don't get this slam dunk. I don't think Chevy and Benji got along.

Oh, you think probably that Benji didn't want to work with Chevy ever again? Yeah, I think so. Okay, well, so he gets clearance for Utah. He does all the hijinks in Utah. He gets some pictures that clearly are showing him that whatever, you know, again, it's already getting confusing.

I'm trying to explain it. It's like basically he's got evidence that Stanwyck, who's claiming that he's invested all this money into this real estate, he hasn't really. It's only worth like $3,000. I also skipped over the part where he goes to the aviation or like the airport and like has the bandaid around his nose. Yeah. Now this is we were talking about this earlier.

Probably this is what we were alluding to. This is Chevy's biggest disguise. Probably. Right. He's got the fake teeth. He's got like a hairpiece. Yeah. This is his.

This is him at his most SNL. Yeah. Well, they're a hairpiece. Yeah. This is his, this is him in his most SNL. Yeah, well there are two. There's the broken nose guy and then there's the like sort of hick airplane repair guy. Oh, right. There's the hick airplane. You've got two back to back that are kind of bigger. Right. The airplane repair guy, he interacts with one of my absolute favorite character actors

of all time. One of the two repair guys is Burton Gilliam. Okay, I don't know him. Who is also from Blazing Saddles. Okay. He plays like Slim Pickens' right-hand man. This movie was written

by Andrew Bergman who wrote Blazing Saddles. Very, co-wrote Blazing Saddles. Very interesting. And he also is in Paper Moon. He plays like the bellhop at the hotel.

Oh, I love that movie. He's like a great fucking character actor. He's the one who's got kind of like a real leathery face. Yeah, yeah. And a big wide grin

and he's the fucking best. But you get another, it's Chevy, it's Chevy, it's Fletch. Let me show my proper respect. Trying to pretend that he is

an airplane repairman himself. People going like, you want to check this? And he checks the luggage and gets defensive. They can't catch him in a lie. But then you got the great lines where he go like,

what do you need to fix this? And he goes like, get me some cable and you know, 20 medium gauge ball bearings. It's all ball bearings now, boys. Yeah, don't you know? It's all ball bearings now. Yeah, it's a good moment. So really all the stuff that happens in Utah, you've got him figuring out that the property in Utah,

then he checks into the property, it's worth nothing. Then he finds out by going to the plane, and he figures out that he's flying back and forth from LA to Utah, supposedly. He's actually flying to South America. Can I throw out one more line I really like? Please. When he goes into the house, and then the guy comes at him

with a shotgun, and he's like, what are you doing here? And he's like, the door's open. And he goes, the lock was busted. And he goes, yeah, so you see what I mean just it's hard to encapsulate how how good those scenes are like just chevy really does have this like great skill at those little back that's why i mean i think why the movie works i'm not even trying to impersonate his delivery no you can't because it can. I'm just reciting the lines because the lines are really good. Good lines, but he really- This is his best performance ever.

Yeah, it really is. Yeah. There's not even really much competition for that, right? No, it's his meatiest performance. It's like the sort of most full meal like Chevy role. Yeah. So I'm kind of jumping around listeners, but I mean- No, I mean the plot eventually kind of gets-

You get the sense that basically this guy, Stanwyck, he's somehow connected to this drug ring that's happening at the beach. Well, you got the thing with the police commissioner. Right. Yeah. So that's what we're going to go to now. OK. So Fletch.

OK. Fletch. He's not a commissioner. He's the chief. The chief. Sorry. The chief of police. His first interaction with the cops is you've got a very young Uncle Phil.

Yeah. Kevin Avery from Family Man. Yeah. Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They plant heroin. Oh, I'm sorry. No, from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Yeah, James Avery. Yes. I said Kevin Avery. He was a comedian. No, no. I'm messing up every name of everything. Also, James Avery, also a voice of Shredder on TNG Ninja Turtles. That's true.

Oh, I didn't know that. I believe he's now deceased. Rest in peace. Yeah, he's now a dead man. Oh, man. Was Shredder, now dead. Great, great guy. So, this is, you know, we're back in LA. Fletch gets planted with some heroin. He gets brought in to see the Chief.

Played by Joe Don Baker. Chief is a bad guy. Second build in the film. Yeah, big acting. Yeah, because Joe Don Baker had been, no, he's a Bond villain two years later in The Living Daylights.

He'd just sort of been around. Anyway, go on. He'd just been around. He was in The Natural the year before. Yeah. And so, all right. So, I mean, it's similar to like, you know, Big Lebowski. It's just like, you know, they bring in the, you know, the guy who's fucking everything up to see the chief. Right?

And the chief is basically. Get your nose out of this. Get your nose out of this. You know, we know you're Jane Doe. But at the same time, what's really clear is that he's kind of giving too much information. Like, you can tell, like, right away that there's something shady about this chief. And Fletch's nose is twitching because he smells a story. And Fletch also doesn't like the establishment.

And he's like, fuck this guy. And he's throwing lines at them. And then so they go and they bring him into a jail cell. this i think is a really cool scene yeah because it it really stakes all the sudden very high get really high and he's like genuinely scared that this guy's gonna murder yeah it's this thing where he's just like you know what i'm probably just gonna shoot you take this knife stab myself in the arm with it plant it on your body kill you that's what i'm gonna do like he's very calm about it. He's not even, like, worked up. He's just like,

you know what? Yeah, might as well just do that. And Fletch is like, are you serious? He goes, yeah, ask anybody. Yeah. And it makes him really terrifying because it's like, yeah, that's my reputation. Fucking ask anybody. I do this all the time. And Fletch is like, you shouldn't, you wouldn't kill, like, a newspaper reporter, would you? He's like, eh. Yeah.

And it should, it. And it maybe shouldn't work because it is kind of a ludicrous moment in a way. But, you know, Joe Don Baker sells it. He's really scary in that one little moment. Chevy Chase sells the fear. And he's present as an actor. He's reacting. He's not mugging. He's like,

fucking, he's in the moment. Yeah, it's good. And so he gives Chief the beach. He says he will not go there anymore. He's not going to continue this investigation. He's not, you know, you put a gun to my head and threatened to kill me. Okay. I'm out. Off the beach.

Now, I mean, I think I skipped over one part where, like, you know, he's kind of going back and forth between the office as well, right, when he is in L.A. And so there is this really fun moment where, of course, his boss doesn't believe him that he was threatened by this cop. And why would he? He's Fletch. He's throwing bullshit left and right. He's always throwing, you know, it's like, you know,

I cry wolf kind of thing. Yeah, and then Fletch is going like, get a gun to my head. And he's like, oh no, a gun? I can't believe that. Like his response to everything is like... It's a good scene too, where he's basically, and Fletch is like, you don't believe me, do you? And he's like, no no, a gun? I can't believe that. His response to everything is like... It's a good scene too, where he's basically

like, you don't believe me, do you? And he's like, no. I don't believe you. The great Richard Libertini. But Gina Davis believes him. She believes him. I skipped over this but I don't want to forget this little physical moment. There's a part where you cut to them looking at some microfiche, which again, love microfiche.

This is such a good gag too. The camera's looking at what they're looking and so they're trying to center the image. A little bit to the right, a little bit to the left. You get a wider shot. She's scratching Fletch's back. That's a fun joke. I love it. It's a good joke. But we're just powering through this. There's another physical bit. I'm sorry, I don't remember if it comes before or after this, but it's the one with the lamp.

Oh yes. The ceiling lamp. I don't remember if it comes before or after this, but it's the one with the lamp. Oh, yes. The ceiling lamp. Wait, what? Yeah. Remind me. That's when he is- Like the chandelier. He's in the house, and there's the chandelier that's like a bunch of different domes.

Okay. And he walks into it, and one lands perfectly on his head. Oh, yes. And then he tries to get out of the other ones. It's just a really good, likevy, fucking accidental physical business bit. He's the most incredible comedian. It's pretty remarkable. When you think about him on Community, whenever they would let him do that,

all the way to that. Right. Do you remember that scene in Community where he's surrounded by keyboards? Yes. And he's trying to get out, and he can't. He just can do wonders with very little. What's amazing is on Community, even when you watch the last couple of times he's been on SNL, he can barely move.

Yeah, he's not right. In scenes where he's just supposed to be sitting at a table talking to people, he can't move naturally, but he still can do the pratfalls. It's amazing. Okay, so where we left off is threatened by the chief. He's going to then go back to the clubhouse we left off is threatened by the chief. So he's gonna then go back to the clubhouse and see this wife.

Sure, Dana Wheeler Nicholson. Now he's got all this evidence to present to her. Just like saying her name. I think he's also got a bit of a crush on her. He does have a bit of a crush. She's pretty cute. Clearly a divorced guy. Pretty lonely. Bachelor pad. Yeah, and she's married, but he also knows to a

scumbag. To a real scumbag. Who flies to Utah a lot to see his real wife. Yeah, well he doesn't know that yet. Alright, well, spoiler alert, he's got another wife. Something's fishy. And now he's got a picture of the other wife. Right? And like, you know,

Oh, so we have gotten to that scene where he goes back home and meets the parents. Because he's like jumping around so much and it's like kind of hard. This is where I lost track of the plot. It's like hard to kind of get that across, but it's just like, in Utah, there's like four moments. Yeah. It's like him going to the airport, then him going to the realtor, then him going to the house

to find that it's like bogus, and then finally seeing the parents and confirming that he is married to someone else. Different woman. He's a bigamist. Right. Yeah, it's a little...

It's a little all over the place, but that's all you really need to know. But also goes down smoother the second time. It does. It really does, yeah. And it's also, it's this tapestry for which Chevy Chase to be Chevy Chase. Let Chevy be Chevy. That's right. So, I mean, sure, it's a lot of Chevy Chase, but I'm okay with it.

But that's the thing. So the Gale of Beverly Hills, Dana Wheeler Nicholson Gale, she's rich. She's been writing the checks. And that's the whole flim flam, which is a word I try to use on every podcast that he's deploying here. Tim Matheson's flim flam. The classic Matheson flim flam. The classic Matheson Flim Flam. The classic Matheson Flim Flam. Is, you know, married to Utah lady,

you know, playing both sides, bit on the side, married to Beverly Hills lady. She's underwriting the whole brigade. Yep. That's no good. I just did a, like, swoop with my hand. You did. I did. Okay. The old MFF.

Well, after the Provo visit, we geared up towards sort of the drawing room reveal, the big mystery solved, right? The showdown. Yes. Yes. Well, I mean,

we're missing a big scene which goes back to... Right, of course. Yes. The romantic scene. Right. He goes back to the clubhouse. Yeah.

He orders a big $400 lunch. And of course, he gets Mr. Underhill back. Right, I forgot about that. He orders two lobster humidor. Champagne, a bottle of Dom. I believe two bottles of Dom Pena. Two orders of very expensive caviar. And every time, he gets a beluga caviar, and he goes, that's $70.

He goes, well, thank you for telling me that. I guess I'll only order two. That's $70. He goes, well, thank you for telling me that. I guess I'll only order two. And then every time he has an interaction with one of the waiters, he goes, you know what? Take $30 out of that for yourself. He keeps on giving them really nice tips because he likes the little guy.

Yeah. It's almost annoying that it's only a $400 tab. It feels like I really wanted it to inflate to sort of cosmic proportions. Yeah. So he's confronting now Beverly Hillswife. Right. To let her know what's up. And so, you know, he's like, Alan, he's a bad guy. Okay. He's married to this woman. But I need you. You can't tell anybody yet. Okay. Because I think he's involved in something bigger. I'm not sure what. I just need you

to keep your mouth shut, okay? Yeah. She's like, how can I do this? What? You're crazy. But for whatever reason, because it's a movie, she's on board. She's on board. And then he, like, sort of, he, I forget what the line is,

but he throws some sort of pickup at her, and she's like, it's a really good time to make a pass at me. Like, it's another scene that I like, like in the same way that Geena Davis laughs at his jokes in The Office, where it's like, he's incorrigible and the characters

are acknowledging, like, I see the bit that you're doing, but also, like, yeah, at this point, you're a more stand-up guy than my husband. Like, this might work. Right.

You know, she's calling him out on his thing. And then the Underhills get the check. It's $400. They're like, who the fuck is this? Bungalow one.

They run over there, they knock on the door. Fletch is trying to slip out through the bathroom. It's $400. They're like, who the fuck is this? Bungalow one. They run over there. They knock on the door. Fletch is trying to slip out through the bathroom. And he's like, just trust me. And she gives him one of her husband's suits. Yeah. And mentions that you guys are similar builds.

Yeah. This is a clue. This is a clue, a key detail to keep in mind. Now, we're just kind of jumping around because we want to just get through the plot here, right? So there's a great chase scene. I think it's super funny. It's like very silly. It then leads to him going into like a, what would you say, like a... Underpass?

No, no. The meeting of the older people. Oh, yeah. Like a, I don't know. Oh, yeah. Well, it's a long chase scene. It's a really long chase scene. It's really stupid. He still has a car from like a teenager with braces.

And he goes like, do you have a license? And he's like, no. I would also say that like poppy synth music starts to be less effective around here. It starts to get a little annoying. And it's just because I think the footage they had was kind of just boring. Yeah. The action is not too interesting. That's sort of the difference between a movie like Fletch

and a movie like The Nice Guys. The Nice Guys has kind of high-octane, crazy action. And I would argue Midnight Run, too. Yeah, of course. This movie, the action is very perfunctory. Yeah, but it's only really this one sequence. Yeah, it's really just like, let's have something happen. And so whatever, he kind of gets out of it, right?

Just using his bullshitting skills. Yeah, yeah, he's Fletch. And so whatever, he kind of gets out of it, right? Just using his like bullshitting skills. Yeah, he's flesh. He never did that before. Anyway, but let's go on to the showdown. Showdown. Does he go to the beach? Because the final beach scene is important too. Right.

He goes to the beach looking like sort of a vagabond with a long beard, bald cap. Yeah, right. And he finds Gummy and he's like. Gummy played by Larry Flash Jenkins an amazing name yeah quite a name he goes to Gummy

and acts like he's pieced it all together and confirmed it and in the process gets him to confirm his suspicions and is like so you're running the drugs

and he's like I'm not I just carried them I'm not selling it's all Chief Carlin right so then he goes to Fat Jimmy or whatever

his name is George Wendt Cajun George Wendt, and is like, hey, Gummy told me everything. I know it's the Chief. What's going on here? And he goes, look, they arrested me. They said I was either going to serve time or I had to sell the drugs for him.

He goes, are you getting a cut of the action? He goes, no, it's all going up to the Chief. I'm just getting some stuff. I'm getting my fix. That's it. So then he's got the two of them. He brings them back to the office. The editor's like, what the fuck is going on?

Why do I got Fat Jimmy and Gummy in my fucking office? And he's like, I'm really close to breaking this story. And the editor's like, Fletch, you're fired. Yeah, he fires him. Yeah. I want to say something about Larry Flash Jenkins that I just found out. The first African-American

actor to star in a TV series on each of the big three networks. He was in The White Shadow on CBS. He was in Bay City Blues on NBC. And he was in Finder of Lost Loves on ABC. That was a milestone. Congrats to Larry Flash Jenkins.

And we're talking regular, you know, Yeah, no, that's an amazing career. Now, Finder of Lost Loves, I've literally never heard of, but check out this promo image. Boy, oh know, serious regular. Yeah, no, that's an amazing career. Now, Finder of Lost Loves, I've literally never heard of, but check out this promo image. Boy, oh boy, the 80s. Is that Delta Burke?

It is not. I've never heard of any of these people. But anyway, he was fourth billed at that. Okay. All right, so we're getting to the final big scene of the film, okay? He's figured it out, right? He knows that Alan Stanwyck, right, is flying in the drugs.

The chief is then bringing them to Gummy, who then is delivering them the fat Sam, and then, you know, selling the drugs from there. So this has all been revealed, but also he still has to live up to the initial agreement. The clock is up. He's got to murder this guy. He's got to go murder this guy. live up to the initial agreement. The clock is up. He's got to murder this guy. He doesn't have to.

He's got to murder this guy. But he's made an agreement. He's said that this is the time and the place to murder. So he goes back to his house. Wearing the suit. I love that this scene visually is a reversal of the opening scene. Because Matheson is now in the tattered men's Johnson jersey. And Fletch is the one behind the desk.

And Matheson is the one who's sort of like slacking back yeah fletch has figured it out he knows what's happening all out now as they start you know kind of like do that i i'm gonna explain my whole plan i'm gonna explain my plan you know that whole thing then you know gail beverly hills gail shows up yeah all right so now alan knows that he's fucked. Right. And Gale says I already know most of it. I just want to hear you say it. Yeah.

Good. And that plan is to kill Chevy. Right. And burn his body basically to reverse what his proposal was. Yeah. And then like fake his death and flee and go country with his Utah wife and go to Brazil with three million dollars. Damn. Yeah.

This is 85. Three million Brazil3 million. Damn. Yeah. This is 85. Three mil in Brazil, you're set. Okay. So he, you know, the Beverly Hills wife shows up and there's a great line where she, you know, she says, I just wanted to see it for myself. And he goes, it's funny. So there's something your wife said to me while we were in bed. Yep. Right. That fun goes, it's funny. There's something your wife said to me while we were in bed. Yep. Right?

That fun little moment. Good moment. And then there's a visual thing where Matheson looks over to the wife. She's like, she like nods and Matheson just sort of takes it in and he can't really fight it because it's like, why two wives? Yeah. Not really going to stick up for myself in this scenario.

You've dishonored me? What am I? Yeah. But yeah, and it's because, you know, he realized they had similar bills. You're gonna burn me up. You know, like,

you're gonna reverse the plot like we were saying. But then, guess who also shows up? The chief. Joe Don. You're forgetting a good detail, too. What's that?

Fletch has a secret weapon. A letter. Oh, yes. Fletch has a secret weapon. A letter. Oh, yes. Because Fletch is a man of letters, and he knows that the pen is mightier than the sword. Yeah, he's written a letter saying, if I don't, you know, he's basically, it's like, if I die tonight, this letter gets mailed.

Yeah, and it's published as the final Jane Doe piece, and it explains everything that he's just cracked. Now, Matheson has a good counter to this. I'll be in Brazil. Yeah, who fucking cares? I'll be sitting on the beach when the first edition comes out. With three mil in Brazil. And he says, I heard their extradition process is very difficult for murder.

I assume it's even more difficult for double murder. And it's like, oh shit, he might kill both of them. He might have to. And then the chief fucking busts through like the Kool-Aid man. That's right. And he's like, I think I overheard something about extradition, right? He starts figuring out he's going to get the, it's all going to fall on his lap. He's like, fuck, you think you're going, Matheson?

Yeah. Shoots that motherfucker. Dead. He shoots him just like out of nowhere almost. It's kind of brutal. It is. He shoots Matheson dead. I mean, listen up.

That's how you get second billing. Yeah, it's true. Joe Don is like, yeah, you were wondering why I'm second billing. Bam. Because Matheson was going to be two and then Joe Don shot him. Yeah, he gets the end. Yeah. He gets the end.

And so, uh-oh, is Fletch going to make it? I'm not sure if he is. I don't either. I'm a little nervous. I'm worried. But then. I think he's going to make it. I'm not sure if he is. I don't either. I'm a little nervous. I'm worried. But then... I think he's going to make it. I'm real scared.

He's crafty, right? He's always looking around. Ben's making a hand gesture right now. He's making a finger gesture. He's smacking together his thumb and his two center fingers, his middle and his ring finger. And he notices, well, there's a fireplace gauge to turn the gas on. Turns that fucker up.

Yeah. Boom. Big fucking flame right in Chief's face. gauge to turn the gas on. Turns that fucker up. Yeah. Boom. Big fucking flame right in Chief's face. Yeah. Knocks him out. Gets the gun. Girl, though, is the one that gives the final blow with a tennis racket. Yeah, she knocks out Joe Don with a tennis racket.

He showed her how to serve. That's right. At the country club. Bam. It all comes together. It all comes full circle. I love it when a plan comes together. Fletch says that, right?

Yeah, I love it when a Fletch comes together. A plan says that, right? And so in the end, the chief is busted. Fletch is the big hero because he published this great piece that probably got picked up by a bunch of different papers nationally. But what else does he say to his boss? I quit. He quits.

Fuck you. You didn't believe in me. He didn't believe in him. Well, Fletch, I mean, of course. I mean, come on. Oh, I was just giving you a hard time. I'm out of here. He also has a big stack of things he wants to write off. Yeah. I like that too. It's like wigs. Yeah, wigs and fake teeth and stuff.

Plane tickets. And he also gets his final blow in as he's like writing up his final piece. Pulls a chair out from the secretary. Oh yeah. So she sits on the fucking floor. She falls down. But Fletch hates phonies. And he knows that when the chips were down

his editor didn't believe in him. He can pick his own editor now. He's fucking Fletch man. Maybe he'll go to the Sacramento Bee. Don't call him Erwin. He's Fletch. Right.

Do you know that his, I don't know if they say in the film, but in the books it's like a big running joke. His name's like Erwin M. Fletch, so his initials are I.M. Fletch. Yeah. Yes. They do mention that once in the movie. Yeah. Fletcher.

And so in the end, he takes the plane tickets that were purchased in cash with, you know, like drug money cash. Someone's got to use them. Somebody's got to use them. And so he convinces Beverly Hills Gale to go and take a flight with him. Mm-hmm. And then you've got a great little unnecessary scene of them walking on the beach with some really dumb voiceover. And he's trying to sell her on the Lakers. Right.

He's really trying to sell her on the Lakers. She doesn't know anything about basketball. I mean, she's expressing a lot of my opinions on basketball, which is like, don't you think it's childish that they have to dribble the ball up and bounce the ball up and down? He goes, it's dribbling. It's dribbling. Come on. But there's the voiceover that hasn't been there since the beginning of the film.

And what's the final joke? It pops in one time in the middle of the movie. It beginning of the film. What's the final joke of the movie? It pops in one time in the middle of the movie. It's very jarring, yes. What's the final joke of the movie? The final joke of the movie is she really doesn't grasp basketball, but we have our own version of one-on-one. She thinks I'm the bravest man there is. Yeah.

They're talking about banging. Right. Then he goes, also, I charged the whole trip to Mr. Underhill's American Express. Do you want the number? Bit by bit. Like, that's great. I mean, Fletch fucking sticks the landing. We should say then the closing credits ensue and it's just freeze frames of like the best parts of the movie basically.

But they're just close ups of Fletch. It's just Chevy Chase's fucking shit eating grin. It's like you forgot how much you liked Fletch. They're going to show you some pictures of Fletch. Well, there's the joke earlier in the movie where the parents, Stanwyck's parents try to show him their photo album because he wants the one picture of him with the wife. Oh, yeah. And he goes, do you want to see some more from the reception? He goes, no, I'm trying to quit.

And then this, and the credit sequence feels like a photo album of Fletch, of like Fletch's finest moments. That's true. Yeah. Fletch is a great guy. I mean, I, yeah, this is, I'm so glad that we did this. This is so ridiculous, but it's also like,

this is not the kind of film we've really covered yet. Well, this is the thing. It's fun to talk about these. And it is kind of like about him. Yeah. Uh, I would say like this one plot wise is pretty convoluted.

Like, I think we did some, you know, justice without really getting into it. Like, yeah, it's got a lot of business. It's got a lot of moving around.

But overall, I mean, come on, guys. It's Chevy Chase and it's like fun and it's like a detective movie. Like it's got it's got fucking card catalogs. It's got microfiche. All right. It's got disguises. I can't sell you enough on this. Yeah.

I don't need to be sold because I've already bought in. I'm a Fletch fan, baby. I really liked Fletch. I really liked Fletch. I could see it being the kind of movie I would watch over and over when I was a younger man. I don't know that I'm going to watch it over and over now, but I really liked Fletch. So we talked about Fletch lives. Fletch lives, rather.

Wow. I've messed up almost every name of anything, any proper name of an actor or title I fucked up today. Fletch Lives killed the franchise. Yes. Okay? As did Chevy Chase. If Chevy Chase had stayed a superstar,

Fletch Lives quality would not have really been a problem. They would have made a third Fletch with him. But, you know, he went off the rails, too. He made the Chevy Chase show. Yeah. That's what happened with Vacation. It was like European bombed pretty hard, but the game of third shot in Christmas was a rebound. Right.

Right. And Fletch, that didn't happen. He was out of chances, right? Okay, so 1997. Kevin Smith is hot, right? He's got this sort of overall jolt with Miriam Mack. He has just come out, and everyone's like, oh, Kevin Smith is hot, right? He's got this sort of overall deal with Miramar. He has just come out, and everyone's like, oh, Kevin Smith, is this the comedy director of the future?

Kevin Smith, Kevin Smith. When's he going to make a bigger mainstream movie? And he goes to Harvey Weinstein, who's his guy, and he goes, I want to reboot Fletch. Oh, I didn't know this. Okay. The third Fletch movie is one of Hollywood's longest running reboots. They've been trying to do this for literally 20 years.

I'm about to blow your mind. This is a long story with a long list of names. This is awesome. He goes to them, and the original pitch is Son of Fletch. Chevy Chase plays Fletch. Pass the torch. Joey Lauren Adams, who Kevin Smith had been using a lot at that point, and was dating as well.

Who is great in chasing it? She's a really good actress. I like her a lot. I wish she was still around doing stuff on a large basis. She would play Fletch's daughter. Her new boyfriend is Jason Lee. Jason Lee sort of gets trained in the ways of Fletch, becomes the new sort of Fletch. Yeah, now let me say something about

this. This is a god-awful stupid idea. I agree. It's a dumb fucking idea. Yeah, he can't carry that character. No, I mean, Kevin Smith repeatedly tried to make Jason Lee happen. No, I like Jason Lee a lot. I like Jason Lee too. Fletch is not the right role for him.

But he plants his flag in the ground and he sort of says, like, I'm making Fletch with Jason Lee or no one. And so Weinstein's like, great, okay, I'll green light it as soon as Jason Lee is a movie star, is a leading man, right? Let me know when that happens. Right, and so Jason Lee's doing other stuff. Let's remember, Jason Lee was like, he already tried this trick with Mallrats, and that had fucking blown up in everyone's face. Right, but then it's like, you know, he's doing, what was it,

Three to Tango? Like, he's doing, not Three to Tango. Three to Tango, no. No, what's the one Jason Lee did,

Kissing a Fool? What's the one that Jason Lee's in? Am I gonna have to look up Jason Lee right now? He's in one of those three-person romantic comedies where it's Jason Lee, like, Nev Campbell,

and another guy. Well, Three to Tango is Matthew Perry, Nev Campbell, and Dylan McDermott. Right. Which is one of the worst movies

ever made. That's the one where Matthew Perry pretends to be gay. Right. I think Kissing a Fool is maybe Matthew Perry's- Kissing a Fool, 98. No, Matthew Perry's not in that one,

is he? It's David Schwimmer, Jason Lee. You got it. Schwimmer, Jason Lee. Hayek? Millie Avatarl.

Oh, okay. I don't know her. But he was like doing that, and then he was getting bigger parts in the Cameron Crowe movies. That's the movie that was directed by Entourage creator Doug Ellen. Exactly. Thank you.

Exactly. Thank you. No, no. I mean, Jason Lee's run is, you know, yeah, he makes movies like that. He's in Dogma, obviously, but it's a small role. He's in Almost Famous, in which he literally plays someone who is upstaged by his co-star. That's like the role. He's a great character actor he's a great supporting player and he's in vanilla sky where he's like tom cruise yeah i'm your friend like you know over and so i mean yeah so look forward to our vanilla sky yes definitely uh happening very soon um but

kevin smith just sort of sits back and goes like i'll wait for you to be won over adjacently but as he's waiting the project evolves he drops the son of fletch idea and it becomes hard reboot it's fletch one we're doing that book which is the origin story and jason lee will be fletch proper because at this point it's the idea of like start a new series right around this time weinstein is throwing out names of people he wants to play fletch instead right okay so he goes here are guys people he wants to play Fletch instead, right? Okay. So he goes, here are guys out at Greenlight to play Fletch tomorrow, and they send out straight offers. These actors had the chance to play Fletch.

Jimmy Fallon, Adam Sandler. Fallon must have been later, not in the late 90s. No, this is by 2003. Okay. I'm saying there was a lot. Okay. There were five years of Smith just waiting. You didn't mention Affleck. Please. Oh, that's what I'm mentioning okay he goes fallon sandler pitt will smith wait whoa all those guys pass of course and then weinstein goes what about affleck your friend

affleck and they go to affleck and affleck goes yeah I would do that so now the project is on Ben Affleck is Fletch in Fletch 1 directed by Kevin Smith they start fucking like scouting locations they're starting to like they're in you know pre-production they're not like ready to go but they're starting to develop it was it set in Boston yeah probably gross three weeks later

Smith sets his movies in Jersey I mean yeah but I was just thinking Affleck this is 2003 now three weeks in Affleck's like but I was just thinking Affleck. This is 2003 now, three weeks in, Affleck's like, I can't do this. Affleck's got to make like- Geely, right? Yeah. Okay, so Affleck pulls out. This is like right before Geely comes out.

So now they're back to like square one. Here's the new group of names that get thrown out, okay? Zach Braff, who's popping off a scrubs, right? Gardens. Dave Chappelle, who I think is a brilliant choice. Yeah. Chappelle would have been good.

Oh, he would have been so good. Yes. And Kevin Smith was like totally for it. And Weinstein was like, no way. The thing was, I think the story that I've heard is that Smith was like,

I do Chappelle. Yeah. And Weinstein was like, no, how about Zach Braff? And Smith was like, like he thought about it and then he dropped out when it made Jersey Girl.

Good job, buddy. Yeah. The other one that got thrown out there was Ellen DeGeneres. Yeah. Yeah, I would be into that. Would kind of work. She's got the same kind of shaggy running commentary quality to her comedy where she's just kind of chatting to herself a lot.

So she'd probably be pretty good. I think the key to Fletch is Fletch has to be the smartest person in the room. And Fletch has to be unflappable. Sure. And so stand-ups, people with like strict comedy backgrounds in sketch or stand-up, like Chase, like Chappelle, like Degeneres are better than just like an actor who's

kind of funny. Oh no, I mean like Affleck could be a total bore in a role like that. Oh, it'd be a nightmare. Someone who's that handsome and like just kind of a boring movie star, that doesn't work. That's not what you want i wouldn't want braff who knows i don't think he's confident enough and that's apparently what it came down to is smith said he's not confident enough i mean braff's comedy i mean his scrubs character yeah the joke is the opposite is that he's kind of like silly and yeah right is that that fletch isn't like conventionally cool but he doesn't give a shit what anyone

thinks. But anyway. On the other side of town, Brett Ratner knows that the Fletch rights are maybe up for renewal. And he goes to New Line and he goes, could we get Fletch? I do it with Chris Tucker. Well, I didn't know about that. That's crazy. Okay.

Yeah. So then that falls through. Weinstein re-ups the rights. Zach, Bill Lawrence, creator of Scrubs. Great TV writer. Comes on and goes, I love Fletch. I like that it had an edge. I like the film took place in the real world.

That Fletch was like an asshole, you know? He can recite Fletch line for line, he says. And he writes all the books. I want to do Fletch. Smith is off the project. Bill Lawrence, everyone's like, cool idea. Who do you want? Zach Braff.

This was announced. This film was announced. Was formally announced, was going ahead. And then Braff bowed out. He said, Braff summed up the challenge on Fletch remake concisely saying, whoever takes on the remake really has to nail it. And even then, most people hate it unless it's Chevy Chase.

He feels like the expectations are too high. He drops out. Yeah yeah he went out wrong i mean that is like so a film like designed for a chevy chase type you know it's like perfect it really is okay so we're like 2006 now right bill lawrence is still on weinstein goes out to his next three guys justin long oh god john Justin Long. Ugh. God. John Krasinski. Eh. Eh. Ryan Reynolds. Why is it all like the dregs of like fucking comedic actors? Ryan Reynolds has a Chevy Chase vibe.

He's got a vibe. That is what he does, but I mean, he wouldn't be good. He wouldn't be as good, but he's the right type at least. He's too hot. Yes. Yeah, he's too good looking. He's too good looking. I mean, that's kind of the problem with a lot of Hollywood these days.

It's too hot. But Reynolds said absolutely no way. Direct quote, it's hallowed ground. I don't want to touch it. Right? Hallowed. Hallowed ground. I mean, that's kind of the problem with a lot of Hollywood these days. It's too hot. But Reynolds said, absolutely no way. Direct quote, it's hollowed ground. I don't want to touch it. Right? Hallowed ground. Hallowed ground. I'm sorry.

I'm mispronouncing everything. It's hollowed out. Okay. So then Bill Lawrence goes, I don't know. I want to focus on TV. I'm dropping out. They get Steve Pink. Yeah.

Who's like John Cusack's buddy, co-wrote High Fidelity, Gross Point Blank, right? Yeah. He later directed the Hot Tub Time Machine movies and accepted. He comes on. Okay, movement, traction. Who are you going to cast? Joshua Jackson from Fringe. Oh my God.

And Dawson's Creek. Yeah. So this is now like 2007, right? I like Josh Jackson. I just don't mean. That's not the right choice, right? Okay, so that happens. It falls away.

Weinstein's career is in a weird place now. They've now set the Weinstein Company. The Miramax is dissolved, right? The rights eventually just fully lapse. Warner Brothers picks it up, and they're like, we made an aggressive bid for all 11 Fletch books. We have the rights to the entire Fletch library.

We want to make Fletch a good, grounded, medium budget, so it doesn't get overblown action, comedy, mystery series. They bring on a series of writers to try to cover it. It doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Two years ago, they picked the guy who I actually think

is the best guy they've had yet, but the movie hasn't made any progress. Jason Sudeikis. Oh yeah, definitely't made any progress. Jason Sudeikis. Oh yeah. Definitely. Jason Sudeikis. I love that. Has all of the Fletch qualities.

Totally. Sudeikis is a good choice. I agree. He's a really good choice. Now. I have so much trouble with him. Because I think he can be so funny and talented. And I agree with you guys.

He has the same vibe. But he's never totally clicked in a movie for me. I don't know if he's had the chance. He may not have had the chance. No, you're pointing at him. I know that he may not have had the chance, but he's been in a lot of movies and he's never clicked for me.

That's all I'm saying. I'll say this. Have you seen Sleeping With Other People? Yeah, he's good in that. I think he's really good in that and I think the thing he does in that movie that makes me feel very encouraged about the idea of him playing Fletch is he plays the guy who acts like he knows everything but secretly is kind of

miserable inside right you know yeah he's doing the smartest guy in the room thing but there's like real pathos to it i think chapelle is the best name of anyone they threw out i think chapelle would have been incredible yeah especially if we're talking like early 2000s when he was like in it you you know? That would have been amazing. I don't know if I wanted the Kevin Smith version of that, but a better person making a Dave Chappelle Fletch would have been awesome.

But Sudeikis is the second best name of anyone who's been connected of those like 25 people over the last 20 years. So, you know, maybe we're getting Fletch. I hope so. FYI, maybe we're getting Fletch. I hope so. FYI, we're not getting Fletch. That was announced in 2013.

It's been three years. Nothing's happened. It's not going to happen. I think you're right. Maybe it was 2014. I think in 2013 they bought, they got a script. 2014 they attached Sudeikis to it. They have not attached a director. I think 2015 they said they had a new script. I don't know. Anyway.

It's never going to happen. Fletch is a cursed property. It's not going to it. They have not attached a director. I think 2015 they said they had a new script. I don't know. Anyway. It's never going to happen. Fletch is a cursed property. It's not going to happen. And maybe it shouldn't. Fletch is a good movie. We may not need another Fletch. It still pretty much holds up, I'd say. You know? Like, I think it's still got some really great jokes. I mean, time kind of wasn't as

kind to some of the, like, other elements. Like, I feel like there's a couple of like racier yeah kind of jokes but otherwise it still holds up it's still a great film it's like i'd say for me i always thought of it as like if you build a movie around a personality or like uh you know like this is chevy's movie i thought i think this is such a strong example of taking a comedic actor and building a movie around his sensibility. It's a great star vehicle. Yeah. It's a really, really good star vehicle.

Yeah. Can I throw something out there for all you Hollywood bigwigs who are listening? Oh, yeah. Because I don't know. Maybe Sudeikis is still loosely attached. Maybe you're waiting on a script. Maybe you're trying to find a director. Maybe that's lapsed.

Maybe he's not interested anymore. Maybe the game's open. I got four words for you. Oh, okay. Ready? Here's my suggestion, and let's see if the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

Ben Hosley is Fletch. All right. Has the dude ever carried a movie before? No. No, never. But we didn't know that Fletch could nail the story until he did it. Has the dude ever carried a movie before? No No, never But we didn't know that Fletch could nail the story until he did it That's right Great stuff from all you guys

I want to talk about the box office I'm very excited The weekend of May 31st, 1985 Okay Fletch opened number 2 to 7 mil It would eventually clear fifty very nice multiplier

yeah you know those are the days in Hollywood where you would kind of just you know stay around in theaters making the same amount of money week after week leggy

leggy run can you name can you do you think you can name any of the other movies in the top ten yeah 1985

huh okay um like what was number one god so I'm trying to think Top 10? Yeah. 1985. Huh. Okay. Like, what was number one? God. So I'm trying to think through other years. Like, okay. So I know 87 is Brokeout. Encounters of a Third Kind?

Post-Encounters is not. That's way earlier. That's 77. That's the same year as Star Wars. I don't know anything. Okay. That's all right. 83 is Jedi.

86. 84 is E.T. or 85 is E.T.? 80. I can't remember. I think 80. Oh, no. E.T. is earlier. 82. That's right. 83 is Jedi. 86. 84 is E.T. or 85 is E.T.? I can't remember. I think E.T. is earlier. 82. That's right. Look, I'll give you some hints for number one. Okay.

Number one, it's in its second week of release. Okay. It's making $14 million in its second week. Pretty good for 1995. It's an action, R-rated, super violent drama. Beverly Hills Cop 2? It's a sequel. Nope.

Beverly Hills Cop. Rambo Cop 2? The sequel. Nope. Beverly Hills Cop. Rambo First Blood 2? Rambo 2? Rambo First Blood Part 2. Yes. Ben nailed it. Ben nailed it. Yes.

So that's in there. Number three. Beverly Hills Cop 2? Of course not. Beverly Hills Cop 1 hadn't come out yet. Beverly Hills Cop 1 has come out. It's in its 26th week of release. It's number five at the box office.

Isn't that crazy? That's insane. It's made $220 million. Wow, so Fletch and Beverly Hills's number 5 at the box office. Isn't that crazy? That's insane. It's made $220 million. Wow, so Fletch and Beverly Hills Cup are out at the same time. Yeah, but Beverly Hills Cup had been out for a while. Number 3 is a James Bond movie. It's the James Bond movie of the year.

I believe it is the last Roger Moore Bond movie. Right, because you said Living Daylights is the Jodan Baker one that comes out a couple years later. The last Roger Moore movie is not Live and Let Die, right? No, that's the first. That's the first one? Yep. What am I thinking of?

I don't know. A View to a Kill is the name of this movie. That's number three? That's number three. Not a big hit. That was kind of a bomb. They knocked him off the project. Number four is a Roger Pryor comedy. A Roger Pryor comedy? That's number three. Not a big hit. That was kind of a bomb. They knocked him off the project. Yeah. Number four is a Roger Pryor comedy.

A Roger Pryor comedy? I mean Richard Pryor. Look who's griffing now. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Richard Pryor comedy. The Toy? Nope.

Hear No See No. Nope. Brewster's Millions. Yeah, you got it. Yes. Hear No See No is a good abbreviation, though. I like that. And then number six, we've got Police Academy 2, The First Assignment.

Well, I wish you would let me guess the sequel name because I know the names of all the entries. Congratulations. Number seven is, you know, Eric Stoll's Cher joint. Mask. That's correct. Directed by P.D. Bogdanovich. Number eight is, you know, Rosanna Arquette Madonna joint. Who's that girl?

Oh, no. Dust, Police, Deacon Susan. Boom. Yeah. Number nine is a film called Code of Silence Arquette Madonna joint. Who's that girl? Oh, no, Dust Boy, Seek and Sues. Boom. Yeah. Number nine is a film called Code of Silence. Never heard of it. Me neither. Got Chuck Norris in it.

Oh, the good Chuck. And number ten is maybe my favorite movie of 1985. Your favorite movie of 1985. Give me a hint. Put it this way. This movie came out February 1985. It was nominated for a zillion Oscars. So fucking good.

No, it's not my favorite movie in 1985 because Back to the Future came out in 1985. But it's right up there. And Brazil came out in 1985. It's a great movie. Good year. It's nominated for a zillion Oscars. All right.

It stars one of America's greatest movie stars, but it is the only movie he was ever nominated for an Oscar for. Oh, Witness. Witness. Have you seen Witness, Ben? No. Harrison Ford goes undercover in an Amish community? The best movie. Really? His only Oscar nomination. One day we'll do Peter Weir. Yeah. Great director.

Interesting box office. Fun time. That's like that movie with Tim the Two-Man Taylor. Yeah, for Rich or Poor. Yeah, similar premise, right? For Rich or Poor is such a witness ripoff that they mention it in the movie that they are ripping off the movie Witness. Like literally Tim Allen says to Kirstie Alley, this is a lot like Witness. And she's like, yeah, I know.

That's how he's credited above on the title, right? Is Tim the Toolman Taylor? Yeah, that's how he's credited above on the title, right? Is Tim the Tool Man Taylor? Yeah, that's correct. Yeah. He changed his name by deed poll to Tim the Tool Man Taylor. Anyway, so that's Fletch 1985. It's a little picture of the world 31 years ago. The way we were.

Literally almost exactly 31 years ago. Yeah. Well, this has been fun. Ben, thank you so much for treating us to this. Oh, no. Really, guys. I want you to think about the next Ben's Choice I want you to really think about it I know you've got some ideas but I want you to think about it

this is the first it won't be the last I think what will be nice because this is a palate cleanser is like I'm going to try and pick movies like definitely like not using a director that we might want to pursue in the future so I have to kind of accomplish that but I think also i have a certain sensibility with movies that's very different than i think you guys which is i like dumb shit all right hey we like we like a lot of dumb i know

you do so i'm just saying the next one will be like a nice change up from whatever we do end up pursuing next right yeah and i'll say this too and i don't mean this as an insult so don't take it backhandedly i No, I won't. I think a lot of the movies you pick won't be by directors that we would ever cover. Yeah, definitely. That's true. Some of the ones you threw out there, we were like, ooh, maybe we won't. A couple we wanted

to save, yeah. You're holding on to that Stargate guy. Yeah. Roland Emmerich. Never know. Well, thank you for listening. Next week, of course, we're going to be back with uh show me the podcast you had me a podcast i don't know what we're gonna call it yeah we're gonna hold a boom box over our heads and play you the first episode of our cameron crow miniseries it's crazy wow it's gonna be crazy say anything pod any cast pod any cast um so uh look

forward to that it's gonna be fun this is to be uncharted territory out of genre directors for a little bit. Well, it's good that we did this 80s comedy then, you know. Yeah. Got us at least closer to the vibe. Yeah, 100%. 100%. Yeah. And now, Ben, as our guest host, do you want to wrap it up?

Do you want to wrap things up? Yeah. I say we've gone pretty long, so we'll hit a burger report or an orange twist file maybe next time. I don't know, David. I mean, I saw you guys yesterday. I haven't eaten any burgers since then. Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Okay, but I guess I know how we do wrap these episodes up. You're a fan of the show. Yeah, I've listened to it before. Ben, don't forget to say rate, review, and subscribe. Oh, of course. Guys, please. That thing that you always remind us to do. Yeah, make sure to please rate,

review, subscribe on iTunes. Okay, tell your friends. You know. And then please email us with ideas for other Fletch actors that you want to throw out there. Tweet at us.

Tweet at us. Email us who you want to see as a modern Fletch. Or if you want to Photoshop Ben as Fletch. You can do that too. Please do that. Sure. I'm okay with that. Damn it.

All right. Fine. I'm struggling with my beard. I'm trying to think of a good Fletch. Go ahead. Yes. All right. And as always. And as always. Fuck. There's a lot. I'm struggling with my beard. I'm trying to think of a good clutch. Go ahead. Yes. All right. And as always.

And as always. Fuck, there's a lot of pressure on this. It is. I mean, I make Griffin do it every time. And I've been trying to think of one, and I'm totally stalling. And I'm just now explaining that I'm thinking about one. And, you know, as always, I got bone cancer. Oh, no. Oh, no.

Oh, no. That was great. Wait, should I not do that? No, that was so good. It was so good. That was the dumb joke I can remember. It's so good. All right, cool, cool.

I don't really have bone cancer. This has been a UCB Comedy Production. Check out our other shows on the ucb comedy podcast network