Blank Check with Griffin & David - Running Scared with Paul Scheer

Episode Date: March 11, 2018

This week is with special guest Paul Scheer (How Did This Get Made? podcast) who picked a favorite film from his youth: 1986’s underrated buddy cop movie Running Scared. But should more films have an extended middle act where the main characters just go on vacation? Where does this Joey Pants fall in the pantheon of Pants? How weirdly hot is Billy Crystal in this film? Together they discuss Dan Hedaya’s back and chest hair, Director Peter Hyams’ relationship with his actors and Paul’s passion for this film! This episode is sponsored by Beach Body, ZipRecruiter and Serial Box. “Cool Vibes” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

how come the bad guys always have the good podcasts? Hey! What's the line being replaced there? Cars. Okay. Bad guys have the good cars. They do. They have the good cars.

This is a real car movie. Yeah. It really is. More so than most cop films, I think. Yeah. Well, you know, I think back in the 80s, we did not have CGI. So the ability to do much more than cars was limited. I mean, I grew up in like the Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop kind of era of movies, which this is all in. And everything is like a cement truck chase, a cigarette truck chase, you know, a car going.

I mean, it all kind of. Put them on the l yeah exactly like everything is like a little less than blues brothers you know in its scope but it's just like can we crash cars can we break cars can we drop cars you know and it was like because there wasn't much more and occasionally you would get something insane like lethal weapon like you could clearly tell a building was ready for demolition and like in lethal weapon two or three they're like let's we'll make that the opening of the movie you know it's like that kind of that was like yes it was usually cars a couple shootouts and then if you had an insane budget you got to either use a helicopter yes or destroy a building

and that was the ceiling and i would say, that destroying the building was much more timed with where you were. It was like, oh, okay, we're shooting in L.A. and they're blowing up that building. We'll just make our movie go around. It was happenstance. It wasn't like they got to blow up the building. It was sort of like they jumped onto a building that was already in demolition. We're filming in Detroit, and Detroit's not doing so well right now. Guess what? We have a third act set piece.

There's a whole thing, I guess, when they did the remake of, oh, what's that movie? Red Dawn. Detroit was like, come shoot here because we will let you blow up anything you want downtown. That was one of their selling points. I remember I was reading an oral history also

about National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. And the Griswold House is either next – I think it is the same house as Murtaugh's house from Lethal Weapon. And when they first started shooting there, Lethal Weapon had just wrapped and the toilet was still on the front lawn from when the toilet blew out of their house. Which was, again, a very big moment in the Lethal Weapon franchise. Huge, huge sad piece. Well, it goes without saying. It's obvious. But this is a podcast called Blank Check.

My name is Griffin Newman. I'm David Sims. And this is a podcast that's usually about filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their career and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce baby. Yeah. But in between miniseries, our director-based miniseries, we often like to mix it up, do a little palate cleanser. And very often in the past, we've thrown to our beloved producer, Ben. Sure. And said, pick a movie that was in the rotation, one that meant a lot to you in your life,

that you've seen more than any other film. Don't try to impress us. Pick the film that is nearest and dearest to your heart. So I picked Fletch. Right. And then Clifford. Of course. Sure.

And then Under Siege 2. Under Siege 2. Right. Yeah. A Man Who Knew Too Little. Right. Movies I watched ons like all the time right but we're experimenting with giving someone else a blank giving other people the check sure people

we admire adore and saying what what would you use to cash your check on our show and today we have a very very special guest who so far has done incredible jobs speaking before he's introduced which is our favorite thing a podcast guest can do. Very true. He just ran straight into it. Well, I feel like we set up a very big, well, what could we be talking about? We didn't mention the movie, but we talked around it. So I feel like this is a, probably everyone's waiting on the edge of their seat to figure

out what could this be. Which I love. It's like the cold open of like a CSI episode. People are putting their pieces together. Establishing the mystery, you know? Ladies and gentlemen, from How Did This Get Made, from a thousand different movies and TV shows and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Paul Scheer is our guest on the show today.

Well, I'm very excited to be a guest on your show because I listen to your show and find it immensely enjoyable. Mind-boggling. Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but thank you. Thank you very much. Your Crystal Skull episode really helped me come to terms with that movie in many ways. Wow. Really? That's a good reaction because sometimes people will get a little mad at us about that episode being, you know, a little more gentle on that movie than some.

People get mad online about that episode. It's funny what the listeners of my podcast, I'm sure your podcast, will get bent out of shape out of. I think, though, you kind of like, like I have a very negative reaction to that movie. And I went back in and after listening to your episode, I watched it. And I stopped after the first 30 minutes and felt very content. Yeah, right. And I think you made me revisit it in a way knowing it had flaws. But I was like this is – it is well done.

And many parts of it are well done. It is well done. And many parts of it are well done. But you made me go back and watch it, which is I bought like the iTunes like four pack or whatever you get, whatever ridiculous charge they make up for it. And I've never watched that one. And I went back because of your episode. See, like that's crazy. Thank you very much.

I'm glad we were able to make you appreciate at least one fifth of Kingdom of the Christmas Call. I'm going to finish it one of these days. I'm going to finish it. I find myself enjoying movies that I didn't like a lot more when I watched them in 20-minute chunks. Like I did that as well with – what was the movie I just did that with? Well, I'm doing it right now with Rogue One, and I'm like, oh. I thought Rogue One was good. Very episodic movie.

Yeah. Well, you know, in a way, way it kind of like i've stopped it at points i've been using it on the treadmill and i'm like oh i like this movie way more than i give it credit for it i'm totally engaged in it uh and i feel like sometimes like even avengers the first avengers movie movies that i've had like a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth and I'm like I think if I just watch it piecemeal I can they don't know if you're essentially you're binge watching them yeah you're turning them into a tv show and binge watching them well I feel like you know especially in this like bombastic 250 million dollar mega movie era when you have to sit in a theater and watch the whole thing very oftentimes it can just become tiring and overwhelming. And some of these films that don't work but have interesting elements or pieces or sections,

if you're just taking like 20 minutes on their own, you can sort of appreciate the things that you just forget by the end of the film when you've just been like worn down. To me, I call it the ghost story version of it. I'm not sitting there eating the whole pie i'm just gonna have one slice at a time i'll eventually finish the pie and i'll be happier for it if i eat that whole pie i'm gonna just run that bathroom and throw up right uh now you picked a movie today that i would argue is like the opposite of that i think the whole value of this movie is sort of just living in and hanging out in this film. Right, this is from a bygone era

where movies could be like kind of like set piece, like there's one set piece, a little lighter on plot. It's a lot of just character, you know, hanging out and just sort of like, you know, being real. Yeah, I think that this movie does something very interesting, right? I think that you hear this term, like the buddy cop movie, and you know

there's all these like, oh, well, I think Lethal Weapon is kind of defined as like the ultimate, you know, like oh, I mean, Freebie and the Bean is great too, but you know, there's like, like Lethal Weapon I think is the one that's looked up to, and it's like oh, and they add a little bit of comedy. This to me is one of the

perfect buddy cop comedy action movies because I think it's legitimately funny. It's got good fun action. And the cast is insane. I feel like if there were more movies like this, the buddy cop thing wouldn't have gotten so tired. Well, because this movie is not trying to make the buddies be these diametrically different,

like really polarized two guys who are clashing. And, you know, there's a lot of push and pull. Like they're real buddies. They're friends. They're legitimately friends. I don't know if there's any other. I mean, it's kind of like the sequel of a movie where it started.

Like it's like Riggs and Murtaugh is number two, but it starts off as number one uh and i know we still haven't told anyone what we're talking about yet but again and we won't until the very end of the episode oh is that the bit we're doing i don't think so we're never gonna name the movie no but i don't know if you know this paul i know you say you listen to the show but we are david and i were hashtag the two friends it's a competitive advantage we're the only two friends that do a podcast together and and once we tapped into that, we said, why wouldn't everyone do this? Friends should do podcasts together.

What a good combination. And I feel like a lot of the films, what you were saying, a lot of the films that get lumped in as being buddy films, I mean, certainly Lethal Weapon 1, they don't get along very well. No, no. And even when you get into the sequels, they've obviously gotten a little closer, but they're still, they frustrate each other. They're very push and pull.

And they usually have some second act part, where like where they're um sort of they break apart maybe or they're like opposed in some way you know what i mean like yes there's usually some sort of like artificial rom-com arc to the buddy cop right and and 48 hours is always cited as like a big buddy cop movie it's like a one of them isn't even a cop b they hate each other right yeah but i watched this and i was like this movie's putting the buddy in buddy cop well i think what you get when you put them together is you get comedy like and i think like yeah because they they're on the same page so they're working together as like a team not just being like i'm one archetype you're one arc you know it's like the stare you know it's like and i think it's just rare i can't think of any other movie where – I mean it feels more in tone with like a Pineapple Express than it does with anything else.

It's like these are people who are friends. But even Pineapple Express, it's like they're different to a certain degree. Very different. Right. But yeah, but this feels like Pineapple Express 2 after they've like – Yes. I think you nailed it with that. different right right but yeah but this feels like pineapple express 2 after they've like yes that's i mean right you said about it being a sequel that like because it just opens where they're like they're playing basketball or hanging out you know they're kind of breaking each other's

balls a little bit but like it's just the movie's just like they're friends okay you got it great like let's move on well the thing i find really fascinating you know you come out of improv of course yeah uh and you're you're a phenomenal improviser. Oh, you guys. But one of those things they teach very early on in long form improv is like you don't have to create that conflict. You'll find more comedy if you agree with your scene partner, you know? Because a lot of people when they're starting out think the funny thing is to be like a stick in the mud and negate what the other person's doing. And that's the whole principle of yes and.

be like a stick in the mud and negate what the other person's doing. And that's the whole principle of yes and. And this movie is just like, oh, if you start out with the two guys being on the same page and they can have fun together, it unlocks certain types of comedy you're not used to seeing in these kinds of movies that aren't them arguing about which way they should go in on the bad guy. Right. It's just them being funny people together. It's like hanging out with friends.

Exactly. And should we tell people what we're talking about? Yes. Come on. I mean, for one, it's the title of the episode. So they downloaded it. But, you know, they may be thinking that we're talking about the Paul Walker version of it. Well, that one comes up a lot in Google.

Yeah. Even though it was a bomb. Yeah. I mean, a forgotten film. Yeah. And this was like a solid hit. This was like a. This was a bomb. I mean, a forgotten film. And this was like a solid hit. This was like a reasonably popular movie. A double or a triple, yeah.

I think this movie does not get its due in the pantheon of 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop. You never hear this movie talked about. And that's why I chose, here we go, I'm going to say it. I mean, even though you've downloaded it. Oh, a drum roll. Running Scared, the 1986 Billy Crystal, Gregory Hines, buddy cop movie.

From the director of 2010. Yes. Universal Soldier, right? And Time Cop. No, Time Cop. Time Cop. Sorry, Time Cop. Peter Himes.

And with the villain being a very brilliantly cast young Jimmy Smith who introduced me to the whole idea of a Colombian necktie. To me, that was the scariest thing you could possibly do, which is like you slip through someone's throat and I guess you pull their tongue down beneath it so it hangs out from the throat hole. They don't do it. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how you would do that. Yeah, it doesn't really work. It doesn't work. How would you pull the tongue all the way down there? The physics of it are messy.

Yeah, you'd have to almost cut the tongue out too. There would be a lot of work. It would be so much work. I don't think it's easy. I don't think it's easy. I don't think it's worth the effort. I mean, look, it certainly leaves a lasting effect. Yeah, 100%. Right.

It's memorably gross. But they don't show it, which is good. And again, it's one of those things. It's an R-rated film. They don't show extreme violence. As a matter of fact, this movie is about cowards. Yeah, that's true. There are two good Chicago cops who kind of get into a situation early on where they get scared.

Like, literally, they're like, oh, fuck, we almost died. Right, they're in over their heads. Yeah, and the chief is like, go on vacation. Then we get one of the best, I mean, we'll talk about all of this, but one of the best vacation montages of all time. Unbelievable. I might say number one. Yeah. I mean, it is amazing.

And then they come back going, hey, fuck this. We don't want to be cops anymore. We want to, like, go move to Key West and open a bar and we basically have a couple more like it's like they're both retiring like you know like like you know and leave the weapon it's like i'm over that retirement it's like they're both like we both need to just lay low until we can get out and it's the only cop movie i can think of where the cops spend most of the running time trying to decide whether or not to stay on the case. Like the cops almost

abandon the plot of the movie. Yeah, the cops are like, we don't want to go in there. And again, one of the reasons why I love this movie is because it seems from, it's coming from an honest place. Like these are, you know, it's Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal, right?

Tap dancer and like an snl and the tv show soap star like they're not like they're not super intimidating cops which i think is also lovely to see like i don't feel like you know i don't feel like every cop is uh you know like uh you know you know like you know dolph lundgren and jim belushi from like red you know, like, you know, Dolph Lundgren and Jim Belushi from like Red Heat or whatever. Sorry, Schwarzenegger. But, you know, and you get like, I don't know, there's something about it that is like very grounded.

Agreed. And I will just say like, you know, so I grew up, I don't know how this movie came into my life, but I think- That was my first question. I would imagine- How did you discover this movie?

I would imagine this is how it came in um my dad was a great conduit of all things cool for me and um i loved saturday night live i had the billy crystal comedy album called you look marvelous uh i should say it the way that fernando would say it these all are references that are just flying over i'm sure 95% of your listeners. But it's a Billy Crystal, there's a comedy album, and I love this, you know, I love Billy Crystal.

Billy Crystal was, to me, what comedy was. So in my dad's truest fashion, I think he saw that this was a movie, a comedy, that had relatively little violence, and one scene of nudity that he could cut out because my dad had like two VHS players. So he would give me movies like Armed in Danger.

So like Eugene Levy and John Candy and cut out like any potential boobs. He would make home edits? He would make home edits. That's incredible. Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah, so when I saw Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2 later on, I was like, oh, wow, these are edited scenes. Because he cut out the whole beginning of Axel Foley's friend getting killed.

And he was like, that was too violent and getting shot in the back of the head. I didn't see either of the strip club scenes. So I had a whole world open to me after my dad's home edit. So I believe that that's how I got this movie. And it was on VHS. I watched it a ton. And I did this thing that I've talked about on my podcast before, but where I would record movies on like a tape, like a recorder, like a tape deck thing. And I would listen to movies. And that, I would say would say you know we talked about in the beginning like have you uh how many times you've watched this movie yes I've watched this movie a lot I've listened to it probably the most out of any movie because I remember you know having the the

tape I had the whole movie on tape and you know listening I I have visceral images of us uh my class driving to Washington DC on a field trip, sitting in the back of the bus, listening to Running Scared. I remember it so clearly. Ding dong. All right. Ding dong. Come on.

Oh, my God. What? Hello? Hello. Hi, it's me. It's Griffin from two months from now Oh wow you're from the future Yeah maybe you notice a little difference in me

Uh Ben Yeah I mean I don't wanna be you know You look really good Superficial Kind of swole kind of jack kind of good thick Busting out of the shirt a little bit Yeah I'm wolf manning all over the place Um

Yeah you're wolf manning Yeah you can call me Griff B. Okay. Like the B universe. Oh, sure, sure. I'm not from a different universe. I'm from a different future. Let's not get too knotted up in this.

I could call me Griff 2049. Hey, maybe we could call you Griff B because you've been using Beachbody? Oh! Maybe that's why. That's actually not a bad idea. Yeah. So you know my secret. That's the difference between me and this cock Griff over here.

I hazarded a guess because our friends at Beachbody on Demand are sponsoring this episode. And also, hey, Griff A here, please don't use that term. Griff B, come on. Yeah. What have you been doing? What have I been doing? I've been working out on my own clock off my own devices. So like a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone?

Yeah. Any web-enabled device? Yeah, like an Amazon Kindle Fire, pretty much anything, I think. Your TV? Yeah. As long as it's on the internet? Yeah. Yeah.

Can I ask, though, Griff B, what regimen are you like? Is there like a particular video you're watching on the service? Yeah, look. I mean, I'm all about branding, right? I'm the branding king. Sure. And my brand is Insanity. Okay. Okay. But they've got it all. Wait, but you're saying... No, no, no. He's saying he's doing Insanity

workouts. Oh, sure, sure, sure. We can debate. I was going to say my brand is also I'm a straight lunatic. But I mean, you know, they've got it. They've got P90X. They've got like 21 day fix. They've got all the like those regimens you might have heard of. Three week yoga retreat.

Sure. Yeah. And they have nutritional content, health and fitness advice. Yeah. It's a whole package all online and you don't even need to go to a gym. I don't understand why you're pitching this to me. I'm the guy who's been benefiting from this program. Pitch it to this beta male

over here. I was talking right to Griffay. I'm sorry. You guys are easy to get confused even though one of you is just going to say it. A little hot. Just look for which guy is in a tattered shirt and that's the one you shouldn't be speaking to. All right.

Well, Griffey, Griffey, listen. Hey, what's up? Because these workouts, they can be low impact. You could do dance. It doesn't have to be something intense. Oh, I'd love to do dance. Hey, dude, warning from the future, don't do dance. They have a variety of options for whatever speed you want to go at, and you can try all

of these 600 workouts and the nutritional information for free. Oh, that sounds great. You just have to text CHECK to 303030. So you check to make sure that you have texting covered in your phone plan?

Sometimes. But what you do is you get a free trial membership when you text check to 30 30 30 now here's a question what if i don't want to work out uh but i like the idea of being able to watch workout videos all the time like that's just my favorite kind of content i mean no one's going to judge you for that except you know perhaps almighty god but uh right so maybe that's a good angle to sell that would differentiate us from other podcasts sure a different revenue stream people who just like if you want to just give it a try and just watch workout videos and

judge them aesthetically you can't do that doesn't really matter all you have to do is text check to 303030 you'll get full access to the whole platform for free all the workouts all the nutritional information and if you want to try an annual subscription it's cheaper than a gym membership yeah uh so take note griff a thank you griff b uh i'm gonna head out this is griff b talking don't walk through the wall like that oh my god i can barely help it one step and i'm already shredding the studio he's so strong. Yeah. God, that was so much fun having someone who has the exact same voice as me in the studio. He looks a lot better though. He does look a lot better.

I mean, I do. Now, I was like a big soundtrack kid growing up. You know, I would have like a CD wallet full of movie soundtracks. And I would keep the little booklet in there. Did you like soundtracks or scores or both? Both. And I would keep the little booklet in there. Did you like soundtracks or scores or both?

Both. Okay. Both. But I would like to have the booklet and when I was listening to the soundtrack look through it

and try to find a photo that even if it wasn't that scene particular Was evocative? Was evocative because I wanted to sort of replay the scenes in my head. Oh, absolutely.

Now when you were listening to Running Scared especially during the sections where there aren't dialogue Yeah, yeah. You're just hearing a car on the L. Right, right. Or like the vacation montage. listening to to running scared especially during the sections where there aren't dialogue yeah yeah you're just hearing a car on the l right right or or like the vacation montage which is you know right what i was gonna ask how does the montage play on tape right are you in your head reconstructing the images by the way it's a great song so it was a pleasure it was almost like a

musical interlude um i was i'm trying to think of how I did it. I believe that I just – I would just be – I guess the way that you would listen to a book on tape. You know, like creating the images. I knew the movie so well. I could just kind of sit back and kind of let it take me for a journey. You know, these guys are great actors. And by the way, you take away the images, the movie still holds up. Yeah.

They have such a good rapport in this. And the thing you said, which I really like, that jumped out to me immediately is, I feel like when you get to this era where like Hollywood is buddy cop crazy, right? Yeah. This is like their whole thing that they're trying to do. It's like a pretty economic

very viable genre and just becomes like who are two mismatched guys that you can put together i feel like you get a lot of guys especially when they're dudes like heinz or crystal because usually these movies will have one guy who makes sense in this type of movie one guy who doesn't right and this movie has two guys who feel like odd choices for this type of movie. Bizarre. And very often, right, very often the Belushi of the film,

right, the Jim Belushi of the film will try his hardest to prove that he's not the odd thumb. Right. Right?

He'll be like the tough serious guy. He'll do like a Clint Eastwood impression. He'll try to do his best, you know, Gene Hackman or whatever to hold his own.

And I like in this movie, these two guys aren't doing the sort of obvious, big swinging dick depiction of cop masculinity. They're kind of just playing their own types. Sure. And just being okay cops. Don't you believe it?

Because one of the biggest scenes where they are beating someone up, and again, I'm going to just put a blanket statement down and say everyone in this movie is amazing and we'll talk about them all. But Joe Pantoliano, who plays this character Snake, that's the first guy that they kind of bust. And they kind of like torture him, but they're torturing him in a way that seems so believable. They get him. They're running after him. They get into a tattoo shop, right?

Well, that maybe. And they throw him into a chair, and they basically are tricking him into the fact that they're giving him like a tattoo. Like, you know, it's like. Right. And then even their plan with him backfires. But it's like when they are being basically just hassling him. Yeah.

And at the end of the movie, when Billy Crystal does have his big moment, when his ex-wife is kidnapped and and he's got to show up, you buy. It's very much the reason why I love like Die Hard as well. Like Die Hard, when you first meet John McClane, you don't think that this guy is like, you know, there's something human about him. And these guys too, like they're put in a crazy situation. And when Billy Crystal does confront everybody there, you buy like, oh fuck, he's like, this is him trying to be as tough as he can be.

And that, you know, it's the same way like when Gregory Hines is like on the side of the building, gonna like launch into, like his thing was like he's a window walker. Like he like, they say to Billy Crystal, like come alone in this big glass building billy crystal comes alone but then gregory hines is like a window washer so he could drop in from the ceiling but he seems scared like they're not

adept at doing it like even like at least john mcclain at a certain point like becomes very adept at everything you know um yes they've never get adept yeah right this is like the other guys if the other guys wasn't a parody you know like other guys is trying to like totally mock all the sort of tropes of these kinds of movies and this is like a fairly grounded realistic movie about cops who just usually aren't on the big case yeah and by the way i would argue that like walberg is you don't even have a walberg in this like at least in walberg you get like you know there's like something there um yeah i don't know there's something about this movie that is and i think it's rewatchable it's really fun it does have all the 80s things a lot of great car

crashes you know uh i mean, they have a whole scene. I mean, one of the best, I guess, heightened moments in the movie is that they create this, like, they have this guy, like, their cue. Like, for whatever reason, like, that's what the movie just, like, takes one jump out of reality where it's, like like they have an auto shop at the police department. Right, Larry Hankin. Yeah, the guy from Friends, the neighbor. Who, again, another – Mr. Chuckles, Heckles. A great character actor that creates them like a – not an indestructible car.

But, again, it's so funny. It's like this is a car that's essentially bulletproof. It looks like a cab. It's bulletproof. They get in this cab and they have this crazy chase that ends up on the L and they're, you know, they're like,

cars are firing at them and they're like, fuck you, ha ha. We don't, it's bulletproof. And then they go to roll down their window to fire back, but they can't because the car is bulletproof

because they can't. And I was like, I love it. It's just fun. Like, I don't know. It's like, it doesn't, like what you said, it's grounded in the world. Like, all right, if they were going to create a bulletproof car, they're not going to be able to open the windows.

So they do get away. But then they're then they're totally left being idiots again. Yeah. And another thing I love about talking about this movie being grounded in the world. And I think this is a thing we'll harp on a lot because it's the thing that kept on jumping out to me as like we don't have anything like this today but the thing i i like about it is they are neither great cops nor terrible cops right they're okay they're good they're just kind of okay i mean they're they're they know how to like cause some trouble right you know and they know how to like keep on the right side of things they're not inept but they're not rock stars no they're just kind of workaday cops. Right. Their big revelation is when Billy Crystal breaks the porcelain thing and it's coke, but it's almost by mistake. They don't do great detective work or anything.

They sort of work their sources and they lean on folks and they know how to run a few hustles. Right. And there's that thing early on when the the two guys try to mug them and they go like what you think all cops dress like cops run around in like a cop car one of them's got like a gun in like a paper yeah i couldn't figure out what that contraption is what what was your point no it's just like these are just like two schmoes yeah they're just cool they're just like cops you wouldn't really take notice of uh right otherwise but yeah and they're constantly getting like they're they're constantly getting found out like they're just like cops you wouldn't really take notice of uh right they're otherwise but yeah and they're constantly getting like they're they're constantly getting found out like they're not like this like they're not like when they park in their spot they get they you know they

someone comes and spray paints like unmarked cop car on them when they try to get hilarious yeah and when they try to get an informant the informant like turns on them when they you know when they they they're roughing up a nun and the nun is not the right person even though she is but she doesn't she's not culpable in it and then i think all that culminates even in their vacation which is like oddly sweet like their vacation is like they're just like fishing and and like like dating like seeing women it's like it's very- Remembering how to relax. It feels like they're tapping into something

they've forgotten about themselves. Like, oh, you could just hang out. I guess we should start at the beginning of the movie, but I just want to make a blanket statement here because both names have been invoked and I know you've listened to the show, but I know you're not a complete- Two favorites of this podcast are in this movie.

Two important things to state about this show. One is that we are very vehemently pro smits. Yeah we're super pro smits. Pro smits. No bits pro smits. By the way. You gotta be pro smits. Speaking of watching Rogue One the other day.

I was like ah man. Smits. So good. Oh yeah. Yes. He just you know pops in five minutes. He dusts some like pepper and then you know he's out. I mean that's that's the origin of our pro-Smith

stance is no steadier hand in the galaxy than Bail Organa. That guy comes in, you relax. You're almost like, and I actually thought to myself when I was on the treadmill the other day, man, I would see a Bail Organa movie. 100%. Is it him leaning on other galactic

senators? Is it all backroom dealing? What is a Bail Organa movie? I want to see like Bridge of Spies with Bail Organa. Yeah. Yeah. He has to go. Yes. He has to go get someone.

Yeah. Look, Leah didn't or Leah didn't learn it from from no one. You know, look, he's out in front, but he's working deals under the table, too. You know, he's got a, you know, public face, private face. You know, maybe maybe the movie is just like pursuit of happiness with bail organa and little leo yeah maybe it's just a good father movie i love it the other important stance we just have to get out here on the table is there are a few things that we love more than putting on a fine pair of italian pants right if we get to put on some joey pants

we are thrilled and by the way some snake skin oh joey pants snake Joey pants, we are thrilled. Especially some snakeskin Joey pants. Snakeskin pants. Can we talk about where this Joey pants falls in your pantheon of pants? Oh, 100%. I put this one up pretty high because it's a different pants than we normally see in a way, or at least my version of it. It's a real Weasley guy. Yeah, and he's always kind of squirrely, but usually he's faking it better.

This is a pants who cannot even pretend that he has any authority. I also just like that he hangs around. You think he's just going to be the problem for the first scene. Like, you know, he'll delirate. And instead, he's just kind of like chilling with them for the first half hour of the movie. He's their peshy for the first half. Oh, right. Yeah.

He had been in risky business already. But he wasn't in Midnight Run yet. Midnight Run's a couple years later. So this is, yeah, he's still early in the pants career. That's what I'm saying. It's kind of an early role for him. He's still early in the pants career. That's what I'm saying.

It's kind of an early role. I would say the other person, I mean, I know it's not an official one of your podcast sanction, but I got to say, whenever I see Dan Hedaya, I'm on board. I mean, listen to this cast. This cast is insane. I know. Dan Hedaya, who always plays a man whose blood pressure is dangerous, whose doctor is just stressed out about the guy's blood pressure and wishes he would take the pills do you know this is a fact i've heard this you know because because uh paul you know you work on on shoots you talk to the

crew you start to hear some inside gossip right people tell you stories that don't usually leak out to the public so i don't know if i should be sharing this but but this is true this is a known fact in hollywood uh dan hideaya has never worn a shirt on screen. They just dye his chest and back in different colors. I have heard that. I have heard that. Yeah, yeah. It's a thing to make him more comfortable, really.

A hundred percent. That's his process. That's his rider. But you know what? I would also argue like Dan Hedaya is what every other – and I would even put Joey Pants is copying Dan Hedaya. Like Joey Pants in Bad Boys is copying Dan Hedaya in this movie. One hundred percent. This is kind of like peak disgruntled captain.

Yes. You can't get a better disgruntled – like this is where it was really coming into vogue. This is everything you need. Yeah. But again, like before these movies make the disgruntled captain too big. Before it becomes a cliche. And he has a five-minute monologue chewing him out in his office. He's just sort of in the background.

He's hanging around. He's like, you know. This movie is at the right perfect place in the bell curve where it's just the sort of – enough other buddy cop films have field tested what works and what doesn't and you're just at cruising altitude. Nothing has become overworn yet. The only one that I will say who pushes the limits but I think is probably the best cop is actually a real cop. I don't know if you know who I'm going to mention here.

But it is the real chief of police in Detroit who played Axel Foley's boss in Beverly Hills Cop who comes down and balls out Eddie Murphy and I always put him as the number one because that was his actual job and he said the thing that made me he goes, don't think Axel, it makes my dick itch when I was a kid I thought that was one of the best lines.

I didn't know. I was like, one day I'll understand it. And I don't even know if I understand. I just like it. I just like that line is burnt into my head. Itchy dick. Yeah. Yeah.

Sounds no good. Yeah. But he is. His name is Gilbert R. Hill. Only Gil Hill. I think he became the mayor of Detroit at a certain point. Wow, he did? Yeah. You're right. point. Wow, he did? Yeah.

You're right, yes. And was a real police, like, was a real inspector. So I feel like he, out of anyone, we should always be looking to him for the frustrated police officer. Sure, sure. You say he's the, right, he's the

top of the pyramid. He did it. You know, I had a phase where I was really into the IMDb message boards, RIP, Gone But Never Forgotten. It's a brutal, brutal thing to do. But I was really into that like early 2000s. And a thing, a game I got really into was I love character actors. I think, you know, we do. And I would pick certain, you know, like favorite character actors like Joey Pants and go to their ID message board to see what like who's talking about Joey Pants on a daily basis. Who's logging on just to talk about Joey Pants? no matter how unconventional looking how obscure there would be someone starting a thread with a

subject heading like is it just me or dot dot dot and then you click on it and it was he's incredibly sexy right and it would be someone just making it clear that that guy was their specific fetish so we're on the same page and i know you're going to daya i had this thread oh we're not on the same page. I know where you're going with this. Hedaya had this thread. Oh, we're not on the same page. That I always think about, about like even Hedaya, where it was like 25 women going like, I can't explain what it is. I mean, he's got an animal energy. That's what I said.

I see the tufts of hair coming out from his collar. There's a flavor for everyone. For everybody. He's like a really smoky soup, you know? Where it's like sort of like the flavor like really hits you, but you're like, well, I like it though.

Yeah. Gotta get that idea. I thought you were going to say, cause I was saying this to Ben before we recorded, how handsome Billy Crystal is. Billy Crystal's weirdly sexy in this movie. He's really hot. Yeah.

Billy Crystal, by the way, when you see this movie, you go, oh, I get it. I get why this guy was a star. I get why he, 100% get it. And by the way, you you see this movie, you go, oh, I get it. I get why this guy was a star. I get why he –

100% get it. And by the way, he is very cute, but also there's something in this movie that I don't know. I mean, it's the Harry Met Sally. It's like that era. Billy Crystal is like, boom. Perfect. He's aged nicely. I think he's – this is him in his 30s, this sort of him.

Because he's got a little around the eyes and, you know, his hair's receded a little bit. The beard is great. The beard is nice. It really helps his face. He just looks like a, I don't know, he just looks like someone you could go see like a, who's an 80s auteur. Like go see My Dinner with Andre with and, you know. Sure, sure.

Or his dinner. But there's a very yeah go ahead no i just think there's a relaxed energy to this performance that i i think of billy crystal as you know the the main criticism you can throw at billy crystal uh aside from the fact that he still does impressions of black people uh is is that like there's a sort of needy, like desperate validation, you know, wanted kind of energy to him sometimes. Like this sort of like endless showman sort of vibe. Right. But this has the same thing that like when Harry Met Sally does where it's like this is a weirdly confident Jew.

Like we're not used to seeing these on screen, you know. This is a Jew who feels pretty good about what he's got. And I will – well, here's what i'll say about that specifically and i think this is all and this when i watched it recently again i was like oh when he does his characters like and again this is a time when like eddie murphy i keep on going back to eddie murphy because i feel like he was you know the king of the 80s cop movie yeah right when he's doing his characters, it's like show pieces. And these characters that he does in this movie, the small little phone stuff.

Right. Just a little sprinkle. It's sprinkled. It's subtle. And it also feels real. I don't know if I believe that Axel Foley is going in carrying a lunch bag going, I got this or I got the herpes medication. But this is mainly on the phone. Like he's like he's basically doing prank phone calls to help get there.

There's something very subtle about doing something that is, I think, in a lot of the times in these movies are very much like show pieces like, all right, get ready, sit back and relax. And it's it feels like a real guy trying to be funny rather than a movie star looking for a pop can i just say it feels very you know i feel like this movie is the impractical jokers of the buddy cop world against a bunch of friends having fun making each other laugh and that's where them being friends really helps is because when he's doing characters and stuff you cut to a reaction shot of gregory h being like, I like this guy. Yeah. I read some interview

with Peter Himes who directed this movie. And shot it. And shot it, yes, because he shoots his movies. Where he was, he didn't say much except like,

I just thought it'd be great to have Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal be in a movie together and I was right. They totally loved each other. Like that was all he had to say. Yeah.

So I guess they hit it off. Well we did a, whatch they hit it off well we did uh what you call a um we did time cop on our show and then we have this guy blake harris and blake is this amazing like uh he wrote this great book called console wars and he gets these really good oral histories and so he got uh peter hyams to talk and i was like please just get any information about running scared and right and he talked to him and it's very much similar. It's like, yeah, that was a fun movie. But I think what he has a good talent for is finding the right vehicle for actors. And I say that in the sense that he was like,

he knew how to make Time Cop work for Jean-Claude Van Damme more than any other Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, in my opinion. That movie is more of a movie than most Jeanan-claude van damme movies if that makes sense yes yes and the other movie he made with jean-claude van damme sudden death is the like second best jean-claude van damme movie they had each other they were on the right wavelength for some reason he knew how to kind of like work the athleticism in better than most yes yeah you know like like jean-claude's gonna do the splits now and like don't worry i've like i've constructed

a whole set piece is gonna going to make sense for that. Yeah, it really, yeah, Peter Himes, I think is, you know, he's an interesting director because he also directed one of my favorite movies, you know, I don't know if it's, I say it's my favorite, but it's a movie that I enjoy, which is, oh, whatchamacallit, Capricorn One. Right, that's his other big movie, right? Yeah. With O.J. Simpson. Yeah, O.J., yeah. And it's a really, if you have not seen Capricorn One, check it out. It's really fun.

It's faking the moon landing kind of inspired. I also grew up on the more sexy Presidio, which was like Mark Harmon and Sean Connery and Meg Ryan. Very beautiful Meg Ryan. Like, as a kid, I was like, oh, Meg Ryan. And, you know, and that was a, you know, he's a good, he has some interesting films. Like, even is like, even like, I remember he directed that movie The Relic, right? I think, which is like. Yeah, I remember that.

It's like a solid creature feature from the mid-'90s. Everything that he's done is pretty solid. And Star Chamber is really good, too. Yeah, they've got a bunch. He's like a utility player. He'll get on base. He's good. He may not be a great artiste, but he's good.

He's the Joey Pants of directing. You know what I'm saying? He's like, yeah, I like him. I have nothing bad to say about this guy. And when you hear his interview on – we have like a spinoff podcast, Origin Stories. It's great. He's got that energy. He's like, yeah.

And he's honest. He's like, yeah, I think Jean-Claude Van Damme is a good actor. He's like, but I figured I can make it work. He also, his son is like one of the best directors of direct-to-video action films around right now. Who's his son? He did the last three straight-to-video Universal Soldier sequels, which is why I thought. Oh, those are good. They're really good.

And Hyams shot one of them. John Hyams, uh-huh. Right, but Peter Hyams did... He lensed his son's direct-to-video... And John Clovenham is in those. Yes. At least in one of them. And Lundgren. Yeah, so they're, like, keeping it real. Universal Soldier Day of Reckoning, which I think is the fourth one.

That everyone, all the, like, film nerds put down about. It rules. It's so good, and it's also totally self-contained you don't have to have seen any of the other films feeling some on we i'm just so tired of waiting david what are you waiting for i'm waiting to find good hires oh that's that's been going on yeah you've been posting like a job to job sites that you want to hire for. And waiting for the right people to see it. You've made a huge mistake.

I don't want to be judgmental, but you made a huge mistake in not using ZipRecruiter. Oh, right. Because ZipRecruiter learns what you're looking for. It identifies people with the right experience. And it invites them to apply to your job. You don't have to do the work. That's the problem. I've been collecting rats from the sewer and telling them what I look for.

And they, A, don't seem to process the information. And, B, don't bring any results back to me. I've got to be honest. I mean, ZipRecruiter includes, like, a lot of different job sites. Not sure if they include the rat network. Well, I'm saying I'm willing to move on from the rat network because I dispatched those rats six months ago

and I've gotten zero results back. I haven't even seen them again. And you have the bubonic plague, which is an issue. I do, but we'll get to that another time. Just like the woman from the Dixie Chicks. But in fact, 80% of employers who post a job on ZipRecruiter

get a quality candidate through the site in just one day. You've been waiting six months? Yeah, that's about six months less than I've been waiting. Right. Oh, rounding, it's about six months. Yeah, exactly. Give or take a day.

It's just one day you could get a quality candidate. The right candidates are out there. ZipRecruiter is how you find them. I didn't even think about quality candidates. No, they're good candidates. Yeah, because I was ready to settle for bad. Businesses of all size from corporations to one weird actor guy. No, well, to be fair,

I'm kind of a massive corporation. Yeah, that's true. There's room for aggressive expansion. Well, let's, please, let's not divulge business secrets on the podcast. Well, right now, our listeners can try ZipRecruiter for free. That's right, for free. Good price. Go to ZipRecruiter.com

slash blank. Okay, so I go to Zip zip recruiter.com slash blank okay so i go to zip recruiter.com and i make sure everything is blank after that you know he'd be free now it's you go to zip recruiter.com slash blank zip recruiter.com slash blank okay and you can try for free it's the smartest way to hire i should probably go to the doctor first though right because this plague thing is getting bad. Friendly advice, sure. Okay, but let's try to jump into the plot of the movie. So, I think I like

and I think this is a real Himes quality is that Chicago is just unpleasant in this movie. A bird just took a shit on Chicago in this movie. It was just like dirty snow everywhere. And again, you know, I know, movie. It was just like dirty snow everywhere. And again, you know, I know, well, it was just a call with, we've already said it, but it is just, it feels like this is the way low tier drug bus, crappy, like, you know, crappy apartments.

Like it's one of those movies where you feel like everything is shot on location. There's no real sets, you know, they're in real. And that's what i love like i love a shitty city apartment as someone who lived in new york for many years like when they have that chase through the apartment building was like oh yeah i've been in those apartment buildings in the bronx i've been in those like i know what that is i smell that building you know and it's this thing i miss now in cop comedies which i think the modern ones are mostly kind of like a postmodern riffing on this era, is like when the stakes feel real and the world they're in feels tactile. Like here's a funny person in a real crime scenario.

Yeah. And this movie like looks grimy, feels dangerous. And then these guys just have a funny, relaxed energy. Well, yeah, they're just like you said, they're workaday cops. And like even when they go back to their, like the precinct, you know, even though it's lit

very dark and everything like that, it feels like a real, like it just feels like grimy, you know, it just, it doesn't,

it's not pushing, it's not super futuristic, they don't have any super tools and even the dudes that, you know, in a very other guy's way,

this movie, they have two cops that are kind of like the younger versions. Yeah, they have the rival cops's way, this movie they have two cops that are kind of like the younger versions. Yeah, they have the rival cops. Steve Bauer and John Grease. Yeah, John Grease, great. I love those guys because they're like the ones who are like,

they're really method about it. They've like grown their hair out and they think they are such hot shit. And I love that. It's such a funny, it's a funny game for them too. It's like they're the actors who like just booked a one-liner on a sitcom.

And the dude who's on episode 200 is like, kid, you don't have to work this hard. Just hit your marks and say the words. Well, all right. So the beginning of the movie is they catch Joey Pants. First of all, they're playing basketball. They're playing basketball, wearing scarves. Chris gets socked in the face. Yeah.

Which is, I guess, that's a good opening. Like, that's a good entry into the world Peter Hyams wants us to be in, right? It's like, you could be playing pickup basketball, and some skinny white guy is going to punch you in the face. And these guys are, like, integrated into this city, you know? They're not just, like, cops staying in their precinct. Yeah, I feel like it's like they're out, they're there. Like, it's a funny scene

because, like, they're playing basketball, like, but they're also not good. Like, they are, it's a lot is going on in that opening scene because it's like, I think it's trying to make you feel like they are in this city, but the way they are in the city

is not even that cool. You know's like no right it's mediocre hanging out by like an on-fire garbage can yeah they're basically one step up from homeless right they don't have any cop sheen to them they they look i mean they look raggedy yeah and also it's like their whole cop methodology is like they're hanging out and they're like hey isn't that uh jimmy smith's shit let's go get him hey look over there jimmy smith's right they're just like they're waiting for something suspect to happen right right and and uh both of these guys are guys they sort of know by reputation right uh sure jimmy smith's is called julio gonzalez uh-huh and joey pants is snake snake yeah uh so so they take after them but but there's even kind of that moment is called Julio Gonzalez and Joey Pants is Snake. Snake. Yeah. So they take after them.

But there's even kind of that moment where they're like, we should probably try to go after them, right? Yeah. Like they're like, fuck, we got to work, don't we? We're on the job. Well, and you're basically

following them on the very, like a very simple assignment. There's nothing big here. They stumble into something big and they realize, like, I think when I didn't watch it last night, but I've seen it so many times, like, when Snake is basically talking to Jimmy Smits, they're like, oh,

oh, that's it. Like, what's going on here? Like, that's what they're trying to figure out. Like, you know. Right, that's their entire probable cause. Right. We saw them talking to each other. And then they go to Snake's house and he's got money and they're like well this is bad dirty money isn't it money in a suitcase yeah but but they don't want to be hero cops like these guys don't want to be the star of a movie no they just want to like punch in punch out get their pension they're just trying to like count out the clock you know

yeah but they're like beat cops in many ways they're like cops at this point yeah um that that's the thing and like that's i think their only really valuable skill that hadiah likes out of them you know when he's trying to get them to train their replacements where he's like well you know you know the street like you know what to do in your neighborhood like just teach them all the spots in your neighborhood and i think the reason they get so involved in this case is just because if these characters have an Achilles heel, it's that they love low level razzing. Yes. They do love to clown on each other. Right.

So they see Pantoliano and they're like, we can fucking clown on this guy till the sun goes down. Yeah. Basically, like you have 50 grand. You shouldn't. So we're just going to get it out of you. Like why you have this. So we're just going to get it out of you, like why you have this. But then like a moment that is funny, like works as a good gag for the audience, but also totally makes sense as a thing a cop would do is when Crystal goes out in the balcony and rats out. He's got 50 grand up here.

Keep an eye on him. Like that's actually kind of a good cop move in order to intimidate him into working with them. And I will say, say too it's like not you know we talked earlier about like the plot isn't super solid but i think the plot is it's simple like it doesn't have like i think we're so used to now it's like it's a conspiracy and it goes to this level it's like no here's a guy who is uh you know he's a kingpin in the city but a drug kingpin, but is respectable. And they're just trying to bring him down.

There's not much more to this movie than that. And the fact is he's hard to bring down. That's really, I mean, in many respects, what else do you need? You don't need much more than that. That's a good enough story. Most people don't bring down drug kingpins. Right. It's like Jamie Smith is a drug kingpin.

He sells cocaine. His new thing is he's also buying some uzis yes that's you know he he went up one level and when they follow the you know the trail they like get on this boat and he's buying some uzis that's it but it's also like with cop comedies you want the crime or the case to be functional like you want it to track but no one's in it for the plot. You're in it to hang out with these characters. So this movie just does like just enough of that without bogging us down. And I was so relieved at the end of it when it was like, Ooh, thank God Hedaya wasn't in on it.

Stephen Bauer wasn't in on it. Like I was dreading some scene where someone walks out of like a dark hallway and reveals that they were actually pulling the strings. You guys had to keep on sniffing my trail yeah and it's like no it's just it's the guy they think it is but he's a good criminal so it's hard to peg him and that to me

is again why you when you get to these things like I love the you know lethal going to lethal weapon another simple thing you know it's like and Beverly Hills Cop it's simple it's like. And Beverly Hills Cop. It's simple. It's like, alright, Beverly Hills Cop. It's an art dealer who's using his art buying to

smuggle in drugs. Easy. Got it. Done. And Lethal Weapon, it's basically like it's a little bit more complicated, but it's also just, you know, it all goes back to this Vietnam thing, which is also like super dark. But, you know, it's like a little bit of a conspiracy, but not like it's not like

the governor was in on it, too. You know, it doesn't go all the way to City Hall. Yeah, right. And it's like we want to see how these characters deal with this situation. So it's better if you just put them in situations where there's a lot of shoe leather. Right. You know, a lot of shoe leather and leathery. This is a leathery movie.

And when they when they stumble upon this, know when when a snake gets busted and blows their cover and they you know they get in this like shootout and it feels to me like they've never really been like in a in a shootout like you know or or in a way that was like really dangerous to them you know right that's i was about to bring that up. So that's right, Snake leads them to this bust on the boat. And like, yeah, it feels very scary. And not in an exaggerated way. It's just like, oh, these guys. These are guys who have actively avoided this kind of situation.

This is not their thing. They can't like shoot their way out of a boat with gangsters with the Uzis and stuff. Right, let's bust the guy in the corner. Let's not take down the kingpin, you know? Yeah, exactly. And I feel like and and that moment freaks them out. They lose their lead. And then the movie basically is like, all right, this is like. And I guess where would you guys say? I mean, that's the end of the is the end of the first act.

Them going on vacation. I mean, in the beginning of the second act. I mean, yeah. Yeah. So that's the end of the first act. They're stressed. They got sloppy. Get out of town because they actually just brought some attention to something that they didn't need. You need to go. You need to get out of here right now. And they go

on vacation. They do the end of the movie first. I couldn't believe it when this happened. literally i legit thought that that would be the end of you know it's it's such a good gag because we we've seen these guys drinking a lot at shithole bars right yes a lot of great shithole bars unbelievable chicago shithole bars And like this whole city feels so cold, so gross, so mean. And these bars feel like a distillation of that where they're not even fighting it. And they slide behind the bar and pour themselves drinks.

They both have like ex wives who will come by just to be like, Hey, just FYI, still don't like you. I'll see you later. I love his ex wife in this, his ex wife in this perfectly cast. And also like, she's not like, um, she like, I love his ex-wife in this. His ex-wife in this is perfectly cast.

And also, like, she's not like, like, you can tell she likes him. Like, there's just something, there's like an energy there. Like, one of the, when they come back from vacation, like, he's like, I got to go to my wife's, like, mother's funeral. Oh, yeah, Aunt Rose. I forgot about that. That's the other big first act thing. They drag Snake to the funeral. They're late to the funeral. It's one of the six things he was supposed to do that day is drop in on this funeral.

And they bring, yeah, at the end of the day, I mean, one of my favorite lines in that movie is like, Hey, PB, there's a UFO on whatever avenue in Chicago. And they punch him in the face. Like, I love that moment, too. UFO landed. UFO landed. in the face like i love that moment too ufo landed ufo landed um but he's got this ex-wife who's kind of just like you know clearly fell for his charms realized it was not a sustainable relationship and now has put up a wall and is trying not to fall for it again yeah when i see

crystal in this movie i say he's hot i do mean like he's the kind of guy you could divorce a hundred percent yes kind of guy you could be like A hundred percent. Yes. The kind of guy you could be like, let's cut our losses here. And you can just imagine a few too many nights where he like forgets to go to dinner because the Cubs are playing, you know? Right. He's not like – like she didn't divorce him because he loves the job. Like that's what I think you got like out of it. It wasn't like you work too hard. You get too deep.

I just think it's like, oh, yeah, you're just like kind of a shit husband. Yeah. I love you, but like this is not working for me oh yeah you're just like kind of a shit husband yeah i love you but like this is not working for me like you're not paying enough attention he was probably as good at being a husband as he is as being a cop which is to say okay yeah he kind of he just kind of like talks his way through it like very frustrating to people who ask him to be responsible and show up and meanwhile i mean and then gregoryines is a little bit more of a ladies man, you know, when they go out and meet those ladies. I love that his move at the end of the movie when they when he has to kind of get him to help him out. Billy Crystal gets Gregory Hines like Gregory Hines likes to have sex while putting on the police blinker of his cop motorcycle, which is his warehouse.

Yeah. And his warehouse loft, which is in his like warehouse yeah in his warehouse loft which is great uh great like i mean and then that's like how that's like the most ridiculous thing really i guess you know like it's like all right yeah he lives his cop motorcycle is in his house and he's like having sex while the police light is flashing and also crystal and heinz are so comfortable with each other crystal just apparently has keys to his place and shows up in the morning, whether or not he's post-coitus. Constantly walking in on each other having sex.

Yeah. Like it happens multiple times. And it's not like that big of a deal. And the women seem charmed by it. And the girl doesn't care either. Right. These are definitely two guys who have Fargo'd before, right? Fargo'd?

Yeah. They've definitely had parallel sex it feels like because they're very comfortable with each other there's probably a few scenes that we did not see in that vacation montage those girls on the poop on the on the marlin boat you know we don't know what happened there yeah so that's that's my favorite gag in the movie is hidea goes like you know badges on my table. Take a fucking vacation. They don't want to do it.

They go to Key West. No, but we cut to, hard cut to another dingy dark bar. And they're complaining about, can you believe it? He wants us to go on vacation. And you think it's right after the office, them complaining Chicago. And then they step outside and they're in the most beautiful place in America. And then the sunset bit is really funny. So good.

Where they're like, what are you looking at that for? And she's like, it's beautiful. And he's like, it does it every day. They've never even thought to look at the sunset. These guys have just not considered the idea that they could enjoy their lives. There's like beauty in the world. Right. And then suddenly they just, they bite in, you know?

Yeah. They start living what looks like the best life of all time. They enter the Miami Vice credits. They suddenly live within the opening credits of Miami Vice. They bite into some McDonald's. Yes. Yes. They are.

And they're living a life. And they come back with this energy after that montage where they learn how to. They learn their first moment is like, what are people standing out looking at? And they're like, oh, the sunset. And then at the end of the montage, they've seen the sunset and they come back the way that everyone comes back from vacation going like, I should just live there.

Should I just live there? And then they do buy the, they do like sign a lease for a bar, right? I mean, that's part of it too, yeah. Also, they have 40 grand. Right, inherited from Aunt Rose. But they're sort of working out the math of their pension and everything. And they're like, why wouldn't we just do this?

Yeah. So they're both about 40 when they make this movie. I checked their ages, both actors. And so cops can retire in their mid-40s. They're both sort of around the time where it's like, oh, let's punch out. They may be five years earlier than they planned on it. But the thing I like is that most cop movies, it's like, let's punch out. Maybe five years earlier than they planned on it. But the thing I like is that most cop movies, it's like, this

cop's Achilles heel is he's addicted to the rush of being a cop. He needs to be on the force. Otherwise, he can't get his juice. And this, it's like, for the first time, they step away from it and they just go like, actually, you know what? I'm totally happy not being a cop. I'm

fine with this. Yeah. As long as they have each other. Right. So then the movie just becomes like, okay, can we just like, let's just get to the finish line here. Yeah. They go back in,

they go to Hedaya, they're like, look, we signed the lease. We love Key West. You were right. We did need a vacation. And he's like, what do you mean? You're going to open a bar?

You're fucking idiots. Like, you know, but it is, you know, it works. You know, like, they're fine. And then they get real, then they're scared. I mean, maybe that's where the title is. I mean, you know, they are like, you know, Billy Crystal's like, I got to wear a bulletproof vest from now on. I mean, there's a whole incident with, what is it, where a gun goes off in the in the the changing room

the cop changing room that's weird yes yeah yes and billy chris is like right yeah smith yes smith is out on bail so they got to worry about that a lot of other cops have been dying too right yes yeah because like they're on this case where cop got like drowned in cement right yeah oh right again you don't see all this violence. You just hear about it. Yeah, it's almost crazy that this movie's rated R. Yeah. There's not a lot of bad language. No.

The sex you mentioned, like, that your dad edited out is minor. Yes. Very chaste, honestly. Yeah. And, like, even the violence is, I mean, some people get shot, I guess. Like, nothing crazy. Most of the bad guys just back out of shooting a cop. They're just like, all right, I give up. That's a lot of this movie.

If I had to guess why it got an R rating, I would say it was probably the 20-minute close-up shot of Billy Crystal's penis. Oh, yeah. Well, that was because it was erect, right? Right. Yes, right, which you can't sneak that by them. They'll see that. I should mention also I watched this movie on an edit that my dad put together.

He edits every movie before I watch it and puts more graphic content. Did the penis look familiar? I mean, I don't mean to be crass, but did it look familiar? It looked like my dad's penis. Is that what you're getting at? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, I assumed, I just thought, I guess Bill Kristol and my dad come from similar stock, you know getting at yeah yeah yeah but i mean assumed i just thought i guess bill crystal and my dad come from similar stock you know there's two new york jews yeah

it is a kind of incredible that they cast billy crystal to play an italian in this movie and not even passively but they talk about his italian heritage a lot yeah because this is the new yorkiest he has ever been i feel like he's amping up his accent in this. He's in full Mike Wazowski mode in this. I do, but yeah, I agree with you. Those are the things that I don't ever realize. I was watching After Trek, the Star Trek Discovery After Show. The Matt Lairo show, yeah.

And Jonathan Frakes was on there, and they were talking about something, and he goes, you guys realize that Patrick Stewart is supposed to be French. Like, you know, like, it's funny, you don't question these things. Like, Jean-Luc. Yeah, Jean-Luc Picard, and he is so British,

but you don't question it. You're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Yeah. Right, he's European. They write episodes where he's going to, like, his winery, like, in France. He goes back to his, like, family vineyard. Right. And, episodes where he's going to like his winery. Like in France. He goes back to his like family vineyard. Right.

And like everyone else is like, oh, Jean-Luc, why do you, you're always in space. You never hang out at the winery, you know. But like, you know, Jewish New Yorker is to Billy Crystal what like angry Bostonian is to Mark Wahlberg. It's like a thing you cannot beat out of their personality right yeah and this movie asks you to accept that not only is he italian rather than jewish but he's hardcore chicago boy by the way i gotta tell you until you've brought all of these very valid points up never never crossed of it. Never did it feel weird. Never did I think anything.

Like, now you're saying it. Everything you say is 100% correct. Sure. But never had I ever had that thought. I was staying late at the old detective office one night. What's happening? Downing glass after glass of whiskey

when a new sponsor strolled up into my office. What's happening? One night downing glass after glass of whiskey. Who's he talking to? A new sponsor strolled up into my office. Oh. Yeah, this was a real quality sponsor all right. You're talking about Cereal Box? Yeah. Yeah. A sponsor that National Public Radio would call the HBO

of reading. Oh, you mean the one where it's like an entertainment studio that reimagines how film and TV and digital projects are developed, produced, and distributed? Yeah. I thought her legs didn't quit. But what really didn't quit was the amount of gripping stories written by best-selling

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Yeah. That sounds like fun to me. It was a mystery. It'd take years for me to untangle. But, well, let me tell you about False Idols. Did you hear about False Idols? Maybe this will untangle the mystery for you a little bit. And just like that, a lead lands on my desk.

It's about an FBI linguist who's a deep undercover agent in the Middle East who has to infiltrate the highest echerlines of society. It's like a fun, gripping, you know, thriller. A fun, gripping thriller? Yeah. But that's what I'm looking for. Well, it's gonna be also released as a book, a print book

in early April, and you can pre-order it now wherever books are sold. But if you want to listen or read this series. But how could I get a discount? I thought to myself. Oh, let me tell you. Another dead end in this mystery.

You go to SerialBox.com slash blank check. That's S-E-R-I-A-L-B-O-X dot com slash blank check. Or you go to the redeem page and you enter the code check 18. So all I have to do is check 18 times that I have left the box blank. No, if you go to the redeem page and use the code check18, you'll get a 20% discount on the first season of False Idols today. Looks like another case closed. Great.

By the sweaty bit detective agency. So they come back from the vacation. Smith is out on bail. They're on edge. Yeah, they are. There's a little more of them. I do like the first half of the movie more than the second half. Sure.

I guess. I like it all. Yeah. It's a wonderful movie, by the way. Yeah, I was going to say, when this movie was brought up, what was your, I mean, you're coming into it. Had you seen it? Had you heard about it? And then what were your reactions to it?

Just out of curiosity. Great question. To me, I'd only heard of this movie as a movie you'd mentioned in the same sentence's collision course, the Jay Leno, Pat Morita movie, where I was like, oh, in the 80s, there were so many buddy cop movies with so many weird people in it. Yeah, okay. cop movies what a weird people right okay and i yeah i i you know you and you load it up and it's got that sort of like real basic uh white font for the titles yeah i don't know and then uh just the first scene i was so charmed by how like lo-fi everything was and like and how not over the top heinz and crystal were and how like natural their chemistry was.

And I mean, it is one of those things where I'm almost more forgiving a movie like this now because you never see movies like this anymore. Yeah. Right. Like like David and I saw The Commuter. I really liked it. Oh, The Commuter is great. Have you seen The Commuter yet?

No, I hear it. I've only heard what you just said, like that that idea that it's really, really great. Yeah. I mean, it's an american masterpiece right one of the better movies ever made right but we walked out of it and we were like commuter is such like movies like this are such an important part of the film ecosystem sure and like liam neeson is single-handedly the only kind of person who's supplying us with that kind of like bare knuckle sort of man under pressure thriller

mid-budget thriller yeah right and i feel like we're similarly lacking in this type of movie right now so i i felt like frustrated weirdly watching run and scared that we don't have modern running scareds like comedies that aren't overtly silly that have like real world stakes that are personality based and are this kind of like casual and comfortable well i gotta tell you guys i uh actively tried to um to make to buy the rights to this movie whoa yeah i took a meeting to uh to try to make this movie i was like i think oh, you know, every now and then you get an idea. And I'm like, I would love – I think this movie is really good. And I think it's something that's kind of lacking in the space.

And it has enough of a high concept idea to it, like there's guys that want to get out of it. And I tried to chase it down. And it just kind of – I think it was like a rights issue or something, but it was... Who owns this movie? Yeah, you know, because I met with, oh, that's what it was. I met with MGM who produced it,

but MGM doesn't own it. Right. Or the rights to it. But I dug, I did a little digging on it because I just like, oh, it's such a good, I could see this movie being made in this era and still working on some level. Like, you just take the same

kind of, you know, friends at the beginning, simple plot, you keep it real and it has like, you know, it's I wonder, you know, I think there's a room where this works, I think. So if they had given you the keys to the kingdom, if you had gained control of the massive

Running Scared franchise and all of its tendrils its multimedia opportunities right yeah were you planning on being one of the two yeah that's in my mind i was like look i could probably uh you know pull this off on some level you know like um yeah you know and but they might you know in the in the dream of dreams like i was like oh that would be so cool and you can make it really in dreams. I was like, oh, that would be so cool. And you can make it really. In my mind, I was like, here's a movie you can make cheaply, but it could be cool. And it could feel like just something that felt a little bit new. Did you have a blue sky notion of who you would have wanted your partner to be? Who's your dream buddy? Yeah.

No, I didn't. You know, I should have probably thought about that. Let's say Gerard Carmichael. Sure. Well, I don't know if you know this,'s say Gerard Carmichael. Sure. Well, I don't know if you know this, but they announced the Safdie brothers, who did Good Time and Haven't Known What, are going to do a 48 Hours remake with Gerard Carmichael. And that gets me really excited. Wait a second. I did not know that they're doing it with Gerard.

That's amazing. Oh, wow. Yes. And he's going to write it with them. And the thing I love about this era of buddy cop movies is that most of the directors were not comedy directors. Yeah. Like, you have guys like Hyams or Walter Hill or Richard Donner. So it's like, get funny actors, but have a director who knows how to make a real cop movie.

Yeah. And the Safdie brothers have that kind of tactile, edgy, gritty quality. Yeah, I love that. That's great. Which is really encouraging. And I wonder if like the only way to get these movies back into the ecosystem is to have them be remakes of the titles that are well known. But these concepts are so general and they're so personality based that like if you have to use the basic setup of 48 hours as a jumping off point yeah that's fine as long as we can get these back into the bloodstream yeah see i feel like i would love to see you and manzoukas do a buddy cop movie together that could play on just your level of comfort you know yeah i would love it you guys know each other's moves a hundred percent i like you know it's like one of the best things that I loved about the league was like doing scenes with a Kroll and Zooks and even Hubel when he was on. Because it's it's so fun to improvise so freely with the people that you've been doing this with, like all the time. Yeah, right. And that's you watch movies like this.

And it's like these guys aren't jockeying to be the breakout star of this film. They just want to, like, work well together. There are two guys who like each other. They're just trying to make some nice chemistry. Yeah. And I think that that's the thing that's missing. And I feel like, you know, the closest thing I can kind of call to that is, you know, I think Seth Rogen does a great job of capturing that energy like that you miss out on. Like even I did this tv show future man with like

aquafina who's really very funny and and we got to like play around like i think it's they are really good at letting uh chemistry and finding things and playing with each other happen but doing it in a way where you're actually getting a lot of I was watching again another 20 minute movie this is the end and I was like oh yeah this is like everyone's playing in this way that's really fun and it's really good on the subject of good friends who have great chemistry who should

be in a movie together I pitched it before I'll pitch it again Griffin Newman Gal Gadot Midnight Run directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. By the way, I love that. There's my pitch. I love that. Yeah, I mean, I feel like that's such a no-brainer.

And I think you're going to have to fight with the Wonder Woman schedule. I mean, it seems like that's going to be the only thing. That's the only holdup. Now, we haven't met. We don't know each other. But we're both Jews, and we play superheroes. So we're the exact same person. I'm sure we'd hit it off famously.

Oh, I mean, yeah. First of all, she's so down-to-earth. She's really fun. Yes. Yeah. and i see a lot of myself in her when i see her on screen i go like that's the kind of move i would make you know somebody said something on twitter it's really nasty but i and i as someone who enjoyed wonder woman and and enjoys her whole energy um but it was like it was funny like that. The choice that they made in that movie was that everyone speaks like her. Not that she loved it.

Right. Yes. Right. She's the, you're right. She's the touchstone for all of Amazonia. Right. Like everyone.

Yeah. And I just think that like, I didn't, again, and a thing I did not, did not ever think of like, Oh yeah. She like,

but it's like a, it's a strong mood. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,. She like, but it's like a, it's a strong mood. No, no, no, no. Everyone talk like her. Everyone has an Israeli accent. Yeah. But also, why shouldn't they do that?

Like, she's Wonder Woman. The entire movie should be reverse engineered from whoever's Wonder Woman. And she's good. Yeah. And we're going to be great together and that movie's getting greenlit.

Should we talk about the last act of Running Scared? Well, I mean, you know so basically they're they're nervous they're running they're running scared um and they're getting close uh and so when they get uh when they get a little bit too close for comfort um uh jimmy smith kidnaps billy crystal's ex-wife and uh you know now right he, you know, now he's got to get involved. Now he's got to, you know, this is, he can't sit this one out.

And we haven't said, Crystal's ex-wife is now engaged to a dentist. Yeah, which they keep bragging on her. He's dunking on this dentist so hard, this hypothetical dentist. Oh, that's another big running bit I like is that when anyone in the movie comes looking for one of the two of them, they pass it off to the other one to pretend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's that great speech where Gregory Hines has to sell himself as being Crystal.

He's like, I'm Pisano. What are you talking about? Opera. Yeah. Tomato sauce. Well, and then also, I mean, yeah, it's like the guy – I always think about the guy from Ghostbusters that Sigourney Weaver is dating who's like shooting Afrin into his nose as like Venkman's talking to him.

Who's that guy? I love the shitty boyfriend. The role that I would probably be playing in one of these movies. But the wife, he goes to see her and he kind of finally... They have a fight, right? They have a little fight.

Where he gets her to admit how much she still has feelings for him, even though she's fighting that because she knows that's a dumb decision. Right. Objectively. Which is smart. Right. But he's got that flame reignited a little bit. He gets so angry he breaks one of his 15 framed Chicago Cubs photos. He wears a lot of Cubs memorabilia.

He wears a Blackhawubs memorabilia he wears a black hawks shirt at one point this is one of the best scarf movies I've ever seen by the way confident scarf wearing confident scarf wearing

is an art that this movie really you know really showed us how you can do it because it's a tough line to walk

without coming off as pretentious yes but do you think they shot the Key West stuff at the end of the shooting schedule? Like, do you think they like rewarded themselves with that? Cause it looks like a miserable shoot in Chicago.

Uh, yeah. I wonder if they either started with that to get the buddy nature together. Sure. The hangout. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that's actually a great way to kind of get,

uh, you get your, you know, your crew, you know, I remember, um, I was shooting a movie in New Orleans, and they were shooting This is the End, second type of reference, secondly.

And they had, before their movie started, they had a wrap party at the beginning of the movie. Oh, that's so smart. Isn't that a smart idea? Yeah. Have everyone, like, hang out. Because the first couple days of filming anything feel like everyone's at a new school yes it's always very odd and uncomfortable and you're being thrown to

the deep end trying to do very collaborative work and everyone's like a little like oh maybe the sound department has worked with each other before but they don't know the camera department no it's like everyone should have some dumb bar night before they start working on a movie yeah i i feel like you need to get i mean you want to get comfortable you want it like because you're always like oh i wish the last day was our first day because you know you just know everybody's movements and that's why i'm i'm a big fan of and not that i've ever really had a chance to do it but um to have rehearsal you know like if you could get like a week of rehearsal and just run through scenes, it's such a great thing.

It's a luxury that feels like it has been fully squeezed out of the industry. Yeah, which makes no sense whatsoever. Mm-hmm. I want to talk about the car chase. Okay. Because the car chase in this movie is wonderful. Genuinely really thrilling. Great car chases of the 80s, in my opinion.

What a good hook. It has to be up there. Yeah. We were talking about car chases of the 80s, in my opinion. What a good hook. Has to be up there. Yeah. We were talking about car chases at the beginning. Right. Of this episode, but still, like, the bit of doing it on the L is great. So good. Yes.

And literally, the third rail as the tension. Yes. Literally. Yeah, literally. Literally. And then there's the thing with the non. I'm trying to think of, like of what other things we need to hit. I mean, we talked about the big finale,

which is the biggest set piece that you're going to get, which is in some sort of famous building in Chicago, Gall Glass Building. The James Thompson Center. It's an amazing location. They shoot it so well. It is quite a crazy thing. The floor of this place is incredible looking,

and they keep on doing these crazy crazy high up bird's eye views. It's a well shot action sequence, which I think one of the best parts of it is how it is – the elevators, the glass elevators. And you're seeing everything is exposed and you're seeing everything. And yeah, there's machine gun fire, but also like sloppy Uzi firing, which is really fun. Again, this movie is not the glossy bad boys. but also like sloppy Uzi firing, like, which is a, which is really fun to, again, this movie is not the glossy bad boys. You know, it's, it's like,

I think what I, why I picked this movie and, and what I like talking about this movie is very much like die hard. Everything has birthed out of these things. And we've gotten so far away from the Genesis of why we of these things and we've gotten so far away from the genesis of why we like these things and why these things were good that you forget that if you go backwards they were the core of these things are great like you know like die hard wherever it is now and whatever incarnation they're terrible films in my opinion like uh and and you know because it like i remember listening to like

bruce willis talk about john mclean he's like you know what people tune into for diehard is the you know the new jersey sense of humor i was like well you're totally wrong that's not people aren't people aren't tuning in for the new jersey sense of humor of john mclean which i didn't even realize was from new jersey but i can feel like you get so far and I think this movie is like, if you just went back to this sometimes, it really works.

Just simple, fun, effective, good partnership, good pairing, some cool set pieces that is, you know,

nothing crazy. Nothing crazy. The guys never become badasses. The most heroic thing Crystal does is convince his wife to jump to him. Right.

Jump over a little gap. Yes. Right. And it's like that makes sense. He loves her. He's really invested. But there's never a moment like, you know, by Die Hard 4, Bruce Willis is using entire cars as bullets. Yeah, right.

You know? Like he literally has that gag and he's like hanging off the side of like a fucking like a blackbird jet and shit. And his raglan is always like perfectly distressed. It's like, again, I think when you see things that are things that you could do or situations that you might be put in, it's way more effective. Like, you know, I zone out a lot of the times and I'm like, all right. But if someone said like jump to an elevator, I can times and i'm like all right i but if i if someone said like jump to an elevator i can picture what that feels like i can picture being there you know there are those are the things that you feel like i don't know what it's like to

you know drive a fucking tank on the highway into fast and furious and you know jump from one lane to the next but i know i've been in those elevators. I've had those thoughts. Like, I could probably do that. I could. Like, I think. Right. Could do it. If you can do it. Yeah. The stakes always feel very palpable in this movie. And maybe my favorite gag in the entire film is when they're sort of like breathing their sigh of relief.

And then they hear Jimmy Smith's yelling out. Yeah. And they realize that neither of them have gotten him. They both thought that the other one. Because any time they shoot, they always have an argument over who hit the guy. Like, who fired the good shot. Right. They're a bunch of cuties yeah all right but i know you gotta go paul but we gotta play the box office game before we're done yes so we always end by trying to guess the box office of the weekend the movie came out okay got it um and this movie came out june 27th 1986 dead of the the Summer. I mean, this is... Yeah, but late summer.

Late June. Sure. Yeah, late June. All right, so mid-summer. But yeah, we're not talking about an August movie. Like, this is... No, no, no. It's in there.

It's June. It's July. Fourth of July weekend is right there. That's a big box office weekend coming up. This movie's going to play. You're right. It opened number five. Was not like a...

Oh, wow. ...bornstormer out of the gate it opened to five mil it ends up grossing like 40 yeah which is like pretty good you know and you know

and you know there's something really interesting about a movie like this I want to hear what you guys are saying too it's like so if it grosses 40 like how much is it made for

do we know how much it's made for oh yeah what the budget was 15 would be my guess. That sounds right. All right. I know they said that they were encouraged enough about it that everyone wanted to do another Heinz Crystal movie.

That's what I always was under the impression that there was always going to be a sequel. And I heard them talk about it a few times. And, you know, it felt like, yeah, let's see. Like, why not that one? Because, again. Or even if not a direct sequel, like, what's their stir crazy? What's their see no evil, hear no evil, you know? And they said they just never found the script.

I mean, they clearly, these two guys liked each other a lot. They clearly get along. Yeah. There's no question that chemistry is good. Yeah. So number one is a hot sequel to a hot movie from a couple years back. I think it's the highest grossing in this franchise there are others after it what year is it again 1986 it's a sports movie oh it's karate kid part two karate kid part two oh wow okay i think that is the highest grossing

one right it made a ton of money yeah 115 made $115,000, which adjusted is some crazy amount of money. That's rich. And it made more than the first one, which is nuts to me, because I think the first one is like a completely ubiquitous movie. But it did better. Yeah. What happens in The Crying Keeper 2? I don't remember.

Is that the one where it takes place, like it starts five seconds after the first one ended, but Ralph Macchio is clearly four years older? He goes to Okinawa, and they have the drum where it goes back, that little thing that goes back and forth, yeah. All right. Number two is a comedy. Just, I mean, the kind of thing I think our producer,

yeah, he's not, and he's happy. I love this movie. Starring a big comic personality of the 80s. Personality feels like a deliberate word choice. You know, he's a guy who kind of plays himself in every movie. Okay. Is he a Ben favorite? I mean, I don't know if I've referenced him before.

And this is very much like a vehicle. Yeah, totally. He's a is there like describe this this one I'm like terrible at the Doug Benson movie game cuz I like if you don't even know what the 86 is at this point I'm like I'm thinking Dana Carvey my goal that's way too early for Dana Carvey right right Ben's got a clue it's got a a clue. He's always worried. The actor, the lead actor, is always worried about his honor.

Oh, boy. He put it to question. This was the sixth highest grossing movie of this year. Is it Back to School? Yes. Rodney Dangerfield. He gets no respect. This movie grossed more than Aliens. It was huge. It was huge. A huge film. A giant movie.

Hey, you know what you know guys i'm realizing okay well i want to hear the i want to hear i have an interesting fact well i have an interesting fact about running scared i'm looking a little bit online right now i think running scared was re-released in november because it came out july 27th on 600 screens right and then on November 2nd, it was released on 864 screens and made one of the largest – well, first of all, the biggest weekend it had was in August. So it really – this movie had some life to it. Like it went like – it really – it's interesting to see. Like I'm just tracking where it went, but it looks like mid – or early November, they're like, get it back in the theaters it was like they're doing that now i know it was the my big fat greek wedding of its day yeah um yeah because it it's not like a movie that makes a ton when it debuts yeah it builds

yeah yeah it builds uh number three is a movie. The title rhymes. The title rhymes. You know, it's a comedy. It stars a real big movie star and then two ladies, two sort of hot ladies of the 80s. Oh, Legal Eagles? Legal Eagles. Is that right? Legal Eagles.

Oh. You got it. Title rhymes. A Reitman picture. It's an Ivan Reitman movie from Cash and Ips. I never saw that. And that's Deborah Winger? Deborah Winger and Daryl Hannah.

You know what? The only reason why that movie was on my brain is that I made a very bad Twitter joke yesterday. I had a thought so quickly. I wrote it and I was like, oh, this is not even conceptually put together right. But I wanted – all I wanted i my original twitter joke was this like uh like i wanted to be like breaking news uh three new lawyers join the robert moeller's team and i wanted to post just a picture of legal eagles because i for whatever reason that popped into my head and then it's a hilarious poster it's hilarious that like i don't know why it like

popped in my head like one of those things that just kind of came to me and then uh and then i was like oh maybe it should be roman j israel but i'm like that no one even knows what that is and then i didn't even really sell the joke uh in any way but i just like i don't know why literally yesterday legal eagles came into my head for no reason it's a great title it's that poster where like redford's just leaning on the desk with yeah with just so much delight legal eagles and from the hip are two amazing lawyers from the hip that that's the judd nelson one right i always get that one confused doesn't he have like a bone in his mouth he has like a dog toy yeah jesus christ oh boy robin stormy weathers the way he practices

law should be a crime by the way i've never seen the bone in the mouth one I've only seen the one where he's standing With his hand up and it says The way he practices law should be a crime Oh yeah so that's the same thing I never saw the bone in the mouth You got the classier one For the fourth and final movie

Because Gornick's scared is fifth I'll just describe the poster to you It's just a big screw Oh Ruthless People Yeah fifth i'll give you i'll just describe the poster to you okay okay it's just a big screw oh yeah yeah ruthless people another like one of the highest grossing films of that year yeah uh which i have never seen i have weirdly seen other people's money which was sort of like sure like where they were like can we just do that again like devito is like this rich shithead like i never saw i never saw it and i had the movie soundtrack to it though

rich shithead. I never saw it, and I had the movie soundtrack to it, though. So you're a real 80s movie soundtrack guy. Oh, I mean, I had everything on tape. Every 80s movie on tape. Oh, man. It's amazing. Yeah.

You know, it's a pretty good cast. DeVito, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, Bette Midler. And isn't it Zucker Abram Zucker? Yep. Zucker Abram Zucker? Yep. Zazz. And, God, Bette Midler ran the table on the 80s.

She had a run that was fucking insane. Sure. Yeah. Some other movies, Top Gun is in the top 10. Ferris Bueller is in the top 10. Most interestingly, though, to me, Labyrinth also debuts this week at number eight. That movie was a bomb. That was a big bomb.

Yeah, because that movie only made like 10 million but this is a time in where and again I love these movies it doesn't happen like the same war where word of mouth would elevate films like they didn't have to be number one like you know summer rental right in the theater for a handful of weeks and then like maybe a couple weeks later I remember I saw I mean I'm dating myself but I remember seeing Star Trek undiscovered country and last crusade together as a double feature a couple months after they were both out independent like it's just sort of like things are yeah things are loosey at the movie theater it was sort of like yeah well these are two movies you like from paramount we'll double package them

again go see them i'm right the old bargain run theaters where they were like hey yeah did you miss it well you can see it for half the price now or whatever. But it came up in a box office game sometime in the past. The last time I think a studio really did a big version of that was like September of 2002. Sony re-released Men in Black 2 and the first Spider-Man as a double feature. And it like did well. Like it has its own box office mojo entry. And I think it did like 20 million or something.

I like that. I like going to see a little bit of a double feature in a traditional setting. I think that's a fun thing to do. They should re-release Running Scared and Running Scared as a double feature. I could watch this movie again.

This must have been like a VHS King though. This must have just been a video rental. It's sort of like the way that Lethal Weapon was a movie that became a hit on HBO. It pretty much was not a great film box office. I think it's very low. But the second one is like a huge movie. The first one is far and away the lowest grossing of the four. Yeah.

And again, going back to my point that these movies came i'm just looking so lethal weapon came out the following year so yeah 87 and then and beverly hills cop let's see when that came out that came out two years before so yeah so it's right in the center but but lethal weapon i think is is feeding off this energy a little bit oh absolutely yeah it's more grizzled yeah yeah i i have a i have a feeling that this movie it'd be like they added probably more comedy into lethal weapon because of that right i bet yeah you know loosen it up a little bit yeah now i have one more thing before we let you go gary devore who wrote this movie do you know about this guy um no i don't know much about gary devore okay i mean he wrote you know he was like a guy he wrote raw deal he wrote passenger 57 like you know he like he was like a guy uh he mysteriously

died in 1997 um he crashed his car in beneath the california aqueduct and he did not have his hands when they recovered the body oh they had been cut off and there is like a crazy deep conspiracy theory about like that he'd written some script about like the u.s invasion of panama yeah like revealed the truth and if you google him because i just sort of idly googled him it's like all this shit about how like you know how the u.s government murdered gary devore and cut his hands off for some reason and uh i i just i just uh i just we have to shout him out okay so i gotta pitch i gotta pitch yeah right right here off the dome period piece 90s buddy cop movie set in hollywood okay two cops get assigned to the Gary DeVore case.

Paul Scheer, Griffin Newman, David Sims is the sergeant. The desk sergeant. I can be like that guy who smells of cabbage. And he's like, okay, you can take your evidence. Two cops who join the force because of Running Scared. That was their touchstone movie.

And they investigate the death of the Running Scared writer. Let's do it. So that's committed. We're adding it to the blank slate. I love it. Blank check picture slate. Hey, by the way, one thing I'll just say as we're talking about these movies, one movie to maybe check out and revisit, I haven't done it in a long time, but The Hard Way,

a great Michael J. Fox, James Woods buddy cop movie about Michael J. Fox being an actor who kind of follows James Woods and LL Cool J is a cop in it. I remember it being really fun. But Michael J. Fox is a big movie star. Yeah. Yeah. I remember it being good. I love James Woods. I love James Woods.

Classic dude. I love that. Like his politics. I think his acting is pretty good. Sure. His politics are awesome. I love that. Like his politics, I think his acting is pretty good. Sure. His politics are awesome. Love his politics, like his work. Yeah.

I mean, when you're ranking it, you're like, number one, politics. That's what I go to Woods for. No, no. Number one, Twitter personality. Number two, politician. I worked with Teamster on a shoot recently who, like, on the van ride back was talking about The Hard Way. And he just wouldn't stop selling how big a movie that was. Oh, my God.

Not like a neighborhood, but he was like, you have no idea how big this shoot was. We had all the time square blocked out. But by the way. Michael J. Fox, he was a supernova. And it's like, yeah, it was. Yeah. You know, I have a feeling that he's not wrong because I remember one moment from it. Michael J. Fox is hanging from a billboard in Times Square, like not on a set like big.

I always think of like Vanilla Sky as being like one of those big movies in Times Square because it's like, oh, you shut down Times Square or you at least got there at five in the morning. But, you know, it's like there's those moments where you see the city and you're like oh how did they do that that was a lot of money yeah it's post Back to the Future Michael J. Fox where he could do whatever he wanted and it's post Videodrome Woods so

post Salvador alright we're going to free you from this podcasting prison, Paul. I had a pleasure. Thank you guys so much for having me, and thanks for talking about this movie. Thank you for bringing this wonderful movie into our lives. Oh, good.

I'm so glad that you guys liked it. You know, it's a movie like there's a handful of these movies that I feel like people don't know that are fun. They actually pay off in a good way without feeling dated or cheesy or something like that. Yeah, I had always been mean to see it because I love this kind of movie, but it's one of those movies that always gets bumped down the Netflix queue because there's so many more quote-unquote important movies

I feel guilted into watching first. I'm sitting in front of a stack of screeners here. I know exactly what you're talking about. I thank you for prioritizing this movie and getting me to watch it. And hopefully some of our listeners will do the same. I'm sure they will. Well, so good, guys.

Thank you so much. And I'd love to come on again. Well, we'll have you. And you guys got to come on our show. We'd love that. Absolutely love that. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe.

Thanks to Ang for Ga for our social media, Lane Montgomery for our theme song, Pat Reynolds and Joe Bowen for our artwork. Definitely check out How Did This Get Made. Is there anything else, Paul, that you want to plug? You know what? Who cares? That's good.

That's a good one. Let's do that. Sure. You're working on Galaxy Quest now, right? I am indeed, yeah. And we'll hopefully see how that kind of comes together. It's something I'm very excited about. And, you know, it's been a while that I've been working on it,

and I will only say that the way I can describe that is when you make a failure in Hollywood, there's one person to blame. And when you make something successful, there's 15 people who take credit for why it was successful. So you have to run through a bigger gauntlet of approvals and opinions on everything. So that is it. But it's getting there. I just actually handed in a script today to my overlords.

And then it will hopefully go to Amazon. We'll see how it all goes together. Well, we all know that Amazon has only made great TV shows, so I'm sure it will turn out phenomenally. We'll see, we'll see. I know it's Jeff Bezos' favorite shows, or Jeff Bezos' favorite movies, so that's the only thing we got really going for it.

Is that true? That is a true statement. Wow, that's a good movie. When Amazon started, he actively sought out the rights to this to to make it into a TV show do you think Jeff Bezos started Amazon just so one day he would have enough money to buy the galaxy

quest right I feel like there I mean you know what I honestly think that there's some truth to that all right all right guys talk to you soon all right thanks for coming bye Paul and as always Dan H hidea never wears a shirt