Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - BONUS Live from Stereo

Episode Date: January 1, 2021

Frank Santopadre is joined by special guest Mario Cantone to answer your questions live from the Stereo App! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That's the sound of unaged whiskey transforming into Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around 1860, Nearest Green taught Jack Daniel how to filter whiskey through charcoal for a smoother taste, one drop at a time. This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at tnvacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. This episode is brought to you by New Balance Running. New Balance believes if you run, you're a runner. Whether you're going for your first ever run around the park or going for your personal best in a marathon, speed, strength, stamina, whatever goal you're working toward,

New Balance has the running shoes, clothes, and accessories to push your run further and help you run your way. Find yours at newbalance.ca slash running. New Balance. Run your way. Hey there. Wow, you look just like

your avatar. I look nothing like my avatar. I look nothing like my avatar either. I look like John Slattery's less attractive brother. I feel bad because my avatar, the skin color is a little dark for me and I couldn't find my skin tone. I don't know how to work these things. Are you? Yes, we should explain at the outset that we are both semi-Luddites and have little to no idea what's going on with us.

I look like my father after being in Vegas for two weeks by the pool. And to all my listeners, let me say a very Merry Christmas and discipline mixed with love is the best recipe. We've gone right into Joan early, eh? Yes, early Joan Crawford. Well, mid-Joan Crawford, really. What's going on? So what are we talking about, Frank? Nice to see you.

Long time. Let's actually explain. Let's try to orient people. I think most people on the app already know what's going on. But since this episode is going to eventually go into our regular queue, our regular archive, we'll explain. We are on a new app called, relatively new app called Stereo, where people can listen to other people's conversations legally this time. Yes, legally. other people's conversations legally this time. Yes, legally. I assume, and my understanding of it, as our friend Jason Smith at Starburns explains it to us, it's a podcast app where

interviews can take place and people can participate. You can listen in. You can feel like J. Edgar Hoover. You can listen in. They can listen into our conversations or you can listen into anyone else's conversation. We should also explain that Gilbert is dealing with a family matter. He will be back with us soon. So the nice people at Starburns and Stereo invited us to do this and we're trying it. Both Mario and I are in the dark and have little idea of what we're doing, as we said. But we're game, aren't we? We're adventurous. I'm so game.

I'm so game, I'm a pheasant. Perfect. We'll take a quick moment to thank everybody for the Christmas episode, our seasonal episode, which we did this year. It was really fun to do. We had a great time. Got a lot of wonderful feedback about it. It was overwhelming. The reviews were overwhelming.

It's nice, isn't it, to see all that love on social media? It really is. I make fun, but it is. We will thank your partner, Jerry Dixon, too, who was an integral part of it. Yes, my husband, Jerry Dixon. My partner slash husband, or however you want to call them since we're homosexuals and we're re-fucking named every two seconds partner husband lover

mate well we'll we'll point out too that jerry was doing the musical arranging and he was doing the he was accompanying you on both the mama cast song and the gar and the judy garland number yes he did yeah and he he is a big help to us every year that we do this and we did not want him to go unrecognized or uh no uncomplimented if that's a word and john maury uh added like backup vocals and a few other instruments to the mama cast tune too he asked jerry and i if he could do that and he did it and him and his daughter did the backup vocals, and it was great.

His daughter can really sing too. Yes, his daughter Samantha has a lovely voice, and John brings so much to the table. And I'll have to say, I'll use this moment to shout him out. Since lockdown began back in March, he's been rescuing us on pretty much a weekly basis. So I don't know if he's on here,

but we'll get this to him. So John, thank you for saving our thank you john john and jerry dixon two jays yes two jays so we we came up with you know this was a a thing that came along late and mario and i came up with a little format mario was a guest once upon a time mario as jerry calls you you were a guest once upon a time on TCM. And you were asked to pick favorite movies. Was that on The Essentials? It was on.

It was not The Essentials. It was just when they didn't have The Essentials yet, I don't think. It was a while. I think it was like 2005, 2006. I was a guest programmer. You were a guest programmer. And what did you program? I programmed Mrs. Skeffington, Meet Me in St. Okay. I was a guest programmer. You were a guest programmer. I was. And what did you program? I programmed Mrs.

Skeffington, Meet Me in St. Louis, A Woman's Face with Joan Crawford, where she has the scar and then she gets plastic surgery and she's gorgeous. And the other one, I don't remember. Was it Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol? No, it was not that piece of shit. That was just throwing a bone.

No, it was not. It was not. I forget what it was. I don't even know. It's so funny. There was four, and I'm forgetting the fourth one. Oh, I can't remember anything. COVID fog.

That's okay. I'm going to force you to get closer to that mic again. Oh, sorry. Here, I'll lift it up around my neck like I'm going to hang myself because of you. Much better. There we go. We'll use this. It'll be a future episode.

I get it. People will want to hear you. So anyway, we came up with this format. Mario loves movies. I love movies. He was a guest programmer. And I said, we're starting a new decade. We're starting a new year. Why don't we just come up with some movies that we think, because we're nothing if not opinionated, that we think people should see. Not necessarily, not new movies, by the way, but classic movies, movies we've loved our whole lives. Yes. And you you came up with four or five. I came up with four or five. And I thought we would I thought we would recommend them, discuss them, which is actually a format that Gilbert and I used when we first started this years ago. But I think Gilbert ran out of movies on show 19.

I'm sure he did. Well, you know, he can't remember shit that one. I can't believe he came up with like, I can't believe he lasted till show 19. He came up with some good ones. So anyway, we decided we would we would recommend these films. Talk about them. Obviously, this is an interactive format. So I see people are already coming up with questions and comments. So Jason is with us. He is moderating.

And Jason, we'll start this off and then we'll, I guess we'll go to a question once we get the ball rolling. And again, everybody bear with us because this is brand new to us and we're in the dark. Stop disclaiming like we're idiots. Just keep going. So why don't you start us off? See, Gilbert's not here, so I have to give you shit. Fine. I'm used to it. I know. Why don't you – like this should be any different than any time we've worked together in the past.

That's right. Oh, boy. Am I – why don't I start? We could tell stories. We could do a whole episode about segments we've done on The View. That's – we certainly could. Oh, we certainly could. It would be fun.

Why don't you start us off and give us your first pick and we'll discuss it. Okay. So my movies are from the 70s for some reason. Oh, I have one from the 70s. Maybe because I was a child. Yeah, I've got a – I just – I think think back to the 40s and i love there's so many there's so many obvious ones like all about eve and sunset boulevard and white heat and you know there's so many great ones but i just kind of the things that stick in my mind so the first one i'll throw out

there is alice doesn't live here anymore which i believe was uh 1973 was it sounds right um yep and uh it was um it's just it's and it's martin scorsese who directed it it's one of the great comedy it's kind of mostly comedy that that was ever been made ellen burston is so brilliant in it and harvey kytel's in it and and um diane ladd is in it diane ladd yeah diane ladd it's it's it's one of my favorite movies ever and it's a great trivia thing because it's the only scorsese film that was ever made into a sitcom that's true with linda lavin your friend yes it was yes it was my friend linda yeah yeah, my friend Linda. It had a much lighter tone in the sitcom, of course, but the movie is just

hilarious and also just brilliant. I don't know what it is about it, but I remember seeing it as a kid and going, this film is magnificent. I went to see it like I was 12 and I was so astute and I just got it. I just got it and I

remember she won the Oscar that year because she and everyone was saying she got, Ellen Burstyn got the Oscar because she didn't get it for The Exorcist the year before but if you look at both performances they're both great but she deserved it for Alice doesn't live for anyone. It's a great film.

One of my favorites. We see we have callers so we'll get to them in a moment but i wanted to comment it's an unusual film for scorsese to have directed because it's so unlike his his of his early body of work yep it certainly is i mean you know there was main streets and then that it's like was bizarre that it just kind of went that way and and it was produced by david susskind produced, I believe. I don't know how it all came together. I don't know the story about it. And I don't know how he got involved. Because you're right.

It's kind of a script that you would think he wouldn't be interested in. But then you see the finished piece and you go, well, this makes every bit of sense. And it's brilliant. I like the film. I saw it again a couple of years ago. Christofferson's wonderful. Oh, he's great in it. He's beautiful in it.

Yes. Diane Ladd we had on the podcast, actually. She's magnificent in it. Maybe two years ago. Yeah, really terrific. I like the film very much. I think Ellen Burstyn is an underrated actress. Well, she did get nominated for a few Oscars. I mean,

but you know, she's a, she's, she's a, she's a quite, she's a hell of an actress. She really is. I went, I remember being in high school and I went to see her speak live in Massachusetts and it's in some auditorium. And I remember the one thing she said, she said, everybody that I know that's successful in this business is unhappy. Oh, that's fascinating. Yeah. And I just thought, well, get ready because I'm going into it. So, and then you, I'm diving into unhappiness as we speak.

So yeah, it was, it was, she was fascinating. And I heard she's a very tough, tough one. She's, she's an, she's a strong, tough woman she's she's an she's a strong tough woman she doesn't take any shit but i've she's in new york we were gonna ask her to do the show oh we that's we still might you should because i think she'd be a great interview so so so as a 12 year old you went to see alice doesn't live here yeah and and Jodie Foster's in it too. She plays the tough little tomboy whose mother is a prostitute. She's hilarious in it.

And she gets Alice's son to drink. And I forget the name of the kid that played Alice's son. His first name is Alfred. He was so good. And he's just, it's just very, I don't know, it feels very organic and natural and real and like most Scorsese films. But it's just, it's a great one.

It's one of my faves. Do you wish he had directed more comedies? And when you see a film like The King of Comedy or After Hours, they're both very funny pictures. Well, you know, that's actually, I love that just as much. It's actually probably my favorite deniro performance is uh rupert pupkin's king of common yep it may be too i i think it is and it was right after raging bull and he was still losing the weight so he was slightly chubby and he he was just he's pathetic in it he's so good yeah and it's a and i remember I spoke to him one time at a Christmas party,

and I said to him, you know, that monologue you do on the Jerry Lankford show, I said, you know, the brilliance about it is that with middle America, that's not too, you know, with middle America, that's not too, you know, with middle America, that monologue actually might kill on, you know, Johnny Carson in the 80s or the 70s. They exile you to Passaic,

where he doesn't speak the whole bit about being born in Clifton, New Jersey. Yes. I mean, like that, I think your delivery of it, I mean, it could work, even though it's really bad. So that line that you walk with it is so brilliantly performed and then it's brilliantly written he said you know i did it and i wasn't happy with it and then i went away for a few weeks and i came back and i i reshot it i made them reshoot it

oh and he he did it again he wasn't happy with the first time it's a wonderful black comedy gilbert and i were asked uh to introduce it a couple years ago down at uh down at film forum and uh we we both have a soft spot in our hearts for that movie and uh and but when i see it and i watch it frequently and when i watch after hours which is to me is a hilarious picture and a great uh a great oddball valentine's in new york i yeah i think this guy is truly funny uh i don't know why i don't know why he didn't uh why he didn't direct more comedies because he really well even in but even in his dramas in in raging bull and goodfellas there's plenty of funny stuff in those that's true oh yeah oh yeah. Especially when you're Italian-American, you're just right on the money.

Absolutely. So I'm going to hit one of these things and I'm hoping that I do this right. Oh, tap to play. OK, Jason, we know you're out there moderating and I'm going to hit which one of these do I hit? I guess I hit play. Yeah. Hey, guys, going good so far. I just want to let you know I'm about to send you a message. Hey, guys. Going good so far. I just want to let you know I'm about to send you a message. No, that's the other. That's Jason. Jason, what the hell? Okay, I hit the wrong button. I said you got a message.

Let me hit this one. Let me see what happens. Nope, that's not the right. We're like 90 years. So, hey, guys. It's Mason Wood in New Orleans. And here's my question for you guys. Now, when I was about 10 or 11 years old, I was obsessed with Star Wars. But we had our first cable system in town and there was a 24-hour movie channel. And even though I was obsessed with Star Wars, I watched the best years of our lives one afternoon or evening or something like that. And more to be continued. And more to be continued.

And more to be continued, I guess. It completely changed the way that I looked at movies. And so what I was wondering was, is there a movie that you watched as a young person that changed the way you saw the motion picture world or industry or the art form? Wow, good question. What do you think, Mayor? Well, there's a million of them.

I mean, that's all I did was go to the movies. So I have to think about you first, Frank. Was there a movie that changed the way I think about movies? I got to think about that one and get back to him later on in the show. Look, I'll have to say there were many because I went to the movies all the time. And I'm probably older than this young man from New Orleans. Shout out to New Orleans, one of my favorite cities. I go there all the time, even though I haven't been in a while because I'm not leaving or going anywhere until there's a freaking vaccine in my arm.

Anyway, back to happier things um i i guess well you know i i alice's live what's up doc was a big one for me too oh yeah like good like when i saw that i mean it was hilarious and brilliant and you know i guess it's the last of the great screwball comedies, really, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. But there were so many. I see the Stoneham Cinema, where I grew up, in my head. Is it still there? Gilbert and I always ask people about their neighborhood movie theater,

their local theater. No, it's gone. The first movie theater, the first one was in Stoneham Square, which is now a theater. It's a regional, a reputable regional equity theater called Stoneham Theater. Actually, I don't think it's called Stoneham Theater anymore. I think it's called something else. But anyway, that's there. But the one in the Stoneham Square was a cranky theater when I was a kid.

cranky theater when I was a kid, you know, the last movie that played there and it stayed up on the marquee for like years was the longest day. Wow. And that's the truth. And then it became a porn house for a second. And people were very upset about that. And that, that lasts like a week. And then, then it was shut down forever. And I used to drive by and go, if I have half the money, I'm going to make a regional theater out of that place and i never had the money so i didn't do it and someone did and i was so happy and i it's a it's a beautiful theater but the good but the general cinema that i went to was in a shopping mall called redstone which was one of the first shopping plazas made in the united states by sumner redstone. And there was the general cinema there. That was the one I would go to all the time.

I actually have a couple of movie posters that I took from there on the way out. Oh, good. Good. Just took them. Good move. Oh yeah. Took them right out of the frame.

I'm like, I'm taking this New York, New York poster. I don't give a shit. And I've got it hanging on my wall. New York, New York. Another good Scorsese pick, underrated Scorsese pick. Mine was the Cross Bay Theater in Queens in Ozone Park where I grew up, which became, I don't know, it became a Modell Sporting Goods. I don't know what it is now. But I would imagine a lot of the people listening to us have the same sad story about their local theaters.

Yeah, they're gone. I'm going to think about your question, Mason, and maybe I'll have an answer by the end of the show, but I will jump to my first one, also from the 70s. I did something weird with this. I decided to do a movie that's turning 50, a movie that's turning 40. You love those anniversaries.

I do, and a couple that are turning 25. I don't know if I'll get to them, but I'll talk as fast as I can. 1971, turning 50 this year, is Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller, a revisionist Western that I love with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. Have you seen this picture? I've seen some of it. I've never seen the whole thing.

They finally restored it. It took them years to restore it. Every time you saw it it was all like fuzzy and it looked terrible because the filter and it's kind of you know deep and rich and strange yeah the whole film is is kind of brown uh yes it it does it's it's a fascinating picture uh baity pitt plays uh mccabe john mccabe who's a hustler and a gambler and he comes to a a mining town in Washington and he gets involved with Julie Christie, who is an English madam. And they they open a bordello together. It's a beautiful film. He he he's basically a braggart and a bit of a con man.

and a bit of a con man. And he manages to convince the locals, played by a great Altman stock company of actors, John Schock and Rene Aubujonois, which I love saying. Oh, yeah. Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, who did the podcast, Michael Murphy. He can somehow convinces them that he's a gunslinger

and that he killed a man. And so they're kind of fascinated by him and in fear of him until some local businessmen start muscling in on the town and on their operation and uh predictably bad things uh result i even though this movie is 50 years old i don't want to give out i don't want to mention any spoilers in case people haven't seen it yeah i haven't really seen nothing and you know what i'm? I'm not a Western person, so that's kept me away from it too. It's kind of an anti-Western, really. Yeah.

It's not shootouts and horses. It's a character study. Well, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I love. You know, that's a Western. That's like the one Western that I love. But anyway, go ahead. Continue with the McCabe and the Mrs. Miller. You know, it's a mood piece.

It's great performances, really. I mean, the plot, in a, I think, is ultimately almost secondary. There's a couple of there's three Leonard Cohen songs, too, that are that are such a big part of the film because they kind of tell the story of the film and the story of the characters. You kind of have to see it to see what I mean. You kind of have to see it to see what I mean. You know, at that point that that Beatty was kind of running his own career, making some wonderful choices. I mean, I love Shampoo. I love this one. I love Heaven Can Wait. Me too. I love Shampoo.

Yeah. And I love Altman. I love Robert Altman. I love Nashville. That's one of my favorite movies. Me too. It's brilliant. Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Barbara Harris is magnificent in it. Great picture. If you guys haven't seen that one, if you haven't seen Brewster McLeod, it's, it's a bit of an acquired taste, but a lot of fun. I saw that. I just, I just saw that recently.

Yes. Yeah. I'm an Altman fan. He's in that room with the bird yeah i remember that movie yes it's a wild picture yeah he lives in a stadium yes and i used to nashville dome i i as memory serves yeah and it starts off with the national anthem and then it goes into the black national anthem i remember that whole thing it was and they were just talking about the national anthems and that they should play both before games and i'm watching this movie from the 70s and they did both this gospel choir just goes off it's great it's a great movie i liked it a lot inventive filmmaker uh you know uh and this film has a lot

of features a lot of the uh the things you would expect to find in an Altman film, the overlapping dialogue. It's definitely a mood piece. He was a genre buster. This is an anti-Western. I also picked an anti-musical. We'll see if we get to it. You did. And the other Altman picture that we can recommend that I think a lot of people have seen is The Player with our pal Whoopi.

Yeah, that's a great movie. She's wonderful in it. It's a great movie. And that was like, that was a big deal for Altman too. It kind of not that it brought him back, but it was a critically huge, huge movie for him.

And Gosford Park, another pick. Oh my God, I love that. I'm thinking of how this ties to podcast yes you're right yeah yes you're right gospel parts beautiful yes it sure is he's really got a great body of work agreed let's take another one of these things if i hit the right button okay not a given here we go marissa wow wow mario cantona's on stereo that's amazing as a uh long time lover of sex in the city and as a straight white dumb male i love you you are so amazing especially on sex in the city man this is such a treat i did not know i was gonna see you on stereo thank you for being here love mario everything you do

oh that's very thank you very much that is and i love it you know i love when a straight guy admits they love sex in the city it really means they're secure in their sexuality it really does it's really true it just means it you know it. I like that. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that's very sweet. And I'm glad you love everything I do. And to all my fans, I wish you all a good night. Anyway, go ahead and continue. Oh, my turn. I'm proud of the fact that I hit the right button. So I'm that's gonna well, I already mentioned some of the movies that I hit the right button. So that's going to count as a pro. Well, I already mentioned some of the movies that I picked, but New York, New York is my other one. My other Scorsese.

Oh, okay. Oh, we're on a Scorsese kick here. Go ahead. Because also it's, and when it came, you know, it's about a singer and a musician, Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro, and they meet in the big band era and after World War II on VJ Day. And they fall in love. And he's this, she, and actually her performance in it,

she's, it's not as like, you know, divine and decadent as Cabaret. She kind of plays a down to earth, normal gal who happens to be an incredible performer and de niro plays this fiery intense musician he's a sax player george all does all his saxophone playing but he learned to hold he learned how to finger the the sax appropriately and make it feel good and he um he's very as the relationship goes, he's like very jealous of her success. And he plays jealousy in like 90 different ways.

And he's brilliant in it. It's his most glamorous movie. And what Scorsese did is he took all these fake looking 1940s sets that you would see in a 1940s movie. The backdrops, they're all fake. The trees are fake. The train's fake, but it's

beautifully, beautifully designed. I think it's Boris Levin. And then he juxtaposes this kind of dramatic story in front of that that's kind of real and a little dark. And all the musical numbers are performances or a movie. None of them, she never breaks into song or an audition the first song is an audition she never like breaks into song to move the plot along so it's kind of an anti-musical but it's brilliant and and and i don't think scorsese was i heard they were all very kind of high during it it was kind of the last movie before raging bull where they were really doing a lot of drugs but he every time he talks about that movie, Mr. Scorsese, he kind of apologizes for it. And he says exactly what I was trying to do

was juxtapose the look of a 1940s musical against this, you know, drama. And I hope I succeeded. I just want to yell to the screen and go, you succeeded. It's brilliant. And when it came out, it got terrible reviews. Yeah, I remember. And they cut it. They had cut it came out it got terrible reviews yeah i remember that and and they cut it they had cut it before it was released and it got really bad reviews and then um about maybe let me see 79 81 but four years later they re-released it in art houses the full cut the uncut version of it and then it got really good reviews. And they cut out the happy ending sequence, which is like a mini movie musical that Liza Minnelli does that's fabulous. It's a great movie. And I think you could point out some flaws in it,

but I think it's a pretty great movie. And the music is all great. She's magnificent. He's beautiful in it. It's really good. I like it a lot. Have you met Scorsese in your travels? I know you've certainly crossed paths with Liza. No. I've been in the same room with him, but I never – Don't you want to run up to these – Yeah, go ahead.

No, go ahead. I was going to say, don't you want to run up to these directors when you see them and grab them and just say – Yes. I love that film. Please don't question it. Yes, I do. and i've been in the same room with him i was in the same room with him when i went to see king of comedy at the tribeca film festival i was backstage and deniro was there and jerry lewis was there and i spoke to deniro again about the movie and how much i love it but i didn't go up to jerry lewis and i didn't go up up to Martin Scorsese but um you know you keep your

distance you know you can't be you know the best advice you ever get in the whole world is don't be an asshole so um uh but I Eliza I've spoken to Eliza about this movie you know many times and and I said you know it's one of my favorite ones and she went weren't you disappointed I'm like no I wasn't disappointed because we improvised so much I said I know you know, it's one of my favorite ones. And she went, weren't you disappointed? I'm like, no, I wasn't disappointed. She goes, we improvised so much. I said, I know you did, but it's beautiful. It's natural. And I said, it's a great movie.

It is? I said, yeah, it is. See, you know, when you release a film like that and it's inundated with not the greatest reviews, you- Oh, of course. Someone like Liza Minnelli goes through their life thinking it was a lousy picture.

Meanwhile, it's a really great one. And I have the poster on the wall that I stole from the Stone Cinema. So there. There's a picture called Fire Sail that was made in the 70s by Alan Arkin and Rob Reiner. And he's hilarious in it. And I went up to him. I couldn't help myself. I grabbed him backstage at the view and I said, you know, I'm a big fan of Fire Sail.

And he was very sweet about it. But I think he thought I was crazy because it was such a maligned movie but i i you know it's it's it's a funny thing i think that these people should when they come on the podcast i i i seize every opportunity to say you know i love this picture and it's an important picture and please please don't be down on it i'm talking but i'm talking up their work because i in a way i feel the pain of of of their bad reviews or the years of work that they put into it well the thing you know on a smaller level i mean i mean if someone comes up to me and says they love something that i did that i think was awful yeah my first reaction

like whether it's a broadway show and there's been a few that I did that I didn't live love. Most of them I did love, but there was a couple and or, or, or thing I was on, on television, a series of some kind.

I mean, when they tell me they love it, I just want to go, are you frigging nuts? It's terrible. You've got no taste and you have to stop yourself yes from saying that to people but but i but i understand the mindset of it you know yeah yeah i mean i i i try to do that on the show whenever i get an opportunity to do it

let's let's let's take let's take another one because because when you when you love the things you know i've i've never talked to steve Martin briefly once, but I've never talked to him about the film that I'm going to talk about, which clever viewers can or clever listeners can probably guess, which I would probably say, boy, this is a malign film and you've lived with it all these years, but it's a masterpiece. I happen to know that he knows it's a masterpiece, but we'll get to that in a moment. I was just going to say, yeah, I have a feeling he knows it's damn good. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because I know what you're going to say. It's a film turning 40 this year too, which is why I put it on my my list but let's see what we have here from another one of these listeners which version of frosty the snowman does mario prefer the one they've been showing on tv for the past however many years or the one with june foray is karen wow ma'am what's your standard line about frosty you know, I always say that he's a pedophile

because he took that little girl into the greenhouse at the end and got all hot and he melted. He was ready to do something that way. Terrible. I don't know. June Foray played Karen. I think there were a couple of inferior Frosty knockoffs. I haven't seen them.

I never saw Rudolph's shiny New Year either. It's ridiculous. But I like the first Frosty, the original Frosty the Snowman that they show on TV. Or, you know, the one I have on my Blu-ray set because I have to have my Blu-rays because I'm 90 years old. We love our rank and bad. I can't believe Blu-rays mean you're old. It's horrible. Okay, anyway.

At least you're not bragging about your laser discs. Be quiet. I never had a laser disc. I never had them. It's not true. Our friend Christopher Bly is chiming in. He's listening to this conversation and chiming in with facts about New York, New York and the movie I'm about to mention. Thank you, Chris. He said he was at that screening that you were talking about, the New York, New York screening.

Oh, the King of Comedy screening? At the Tribeca Film Festival? Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah yeah yeah yeah uh here's one that i was talking about uh steve martin movie from 1981 uh really kind of an anti-steve martin movie people know where i'm going with this one and you were talking about uh scorsese making an anti-musical boy is this ever an anti-musical and that's pennies from heaven yeah i love this film yes i love it for so many reasons and and as i've said on the podcast too that sometimes you love a movie because of where you were in your life or or what kind of week you were having or what kind of day you were having or where

you saw it and i saw it in a in a in a light snowfall of a fresh snowfall i went into the old zigfeld the late lamented zigfell theater and saw this movie there were not a lot of people in the theater and i was just absolutely knocked out by this movie it stays with me all these years it is of course based on dennis potter's bbc miniseries with bob hoskins so there was an original version of this before MGM took a chance on on making this with a young Steve Martin who was coming off of doing the jerk. Yeah, I think his fans were obviously bewildered and it caused it caused some some confusion in the marketplace that didn't help the box office. You know, it's his first dramatic role. It's a very, very different kind of movie. It's a Depression-era musical or anti-musical set in 1934

about a sheet music salesman who's in a loveless marriage and he's living a miserable life, really, and he fantasizes that he's living inside these these songs these escapist depression era songs the songs that he actually pedals and i i can't say too much about it without giving away where it goes and what happens but christopher walken shows up oh it was it was his numbers and his musical number is incredible. He does a virgin. What's the song he does? Let's Misbehave.

That's right. And we should point out the actors are lip syncing. Bernadette Peters is in the cast who was dating Steve Barn at the time. And she's a school teacher that he falls in love with. Every character is a tragic character. But that is the point. The point is that the depression is is a tragedy and these are people fantasizing about another life through this music and they're all recording yeah they're lip-syncing to all recordings of their lip-sync from the 30s too

right yeah yeah it's it's a great movie and it people didn't like i don't think the people didn't like the i feel like they didn't like the juxtaposition of these full-out musical numbers and then those very serious kind of down scenes that move the plot along. But to me, I was the biggest Steve Martin fan. He's one of the reasons why I wanted to stand up. I saw him do stand-up live many times. Oh, I didn't know that about you. Oh, yeah. Oh, I love him.

live many times. Oh, I didn't know that about you. Oh, yeah. Oh, I love him. And he came to see the last performance of my first Broadway show, and he came backstage and said some incredible things to me, and I almost died. And last time I saw him was at the opening night of Three Tall

Women, and he came over and we spoke. He's one of the true greats. So when I saw this movie as a child, I accepted it wholeheartedly because I think he's a magnificent, dramatic actor. And then he's a phenomenal musical theater performer. I mean, so to me, it was

like, this makes sense to me, and it's brilliantly done. And I love the juxtaposition of the dark and the light. And it's a great, great movie. And every time it's on tcm i watch it i have it wonderful i mean if you i i don't know the state of movie theaters that that you know when we're when we're recording this i don't know if there's ever an opportunity again to see

something like this on the big screen i know i guess soon everybody will have a uh a 60 foot screen in their homes but but i saw it in the Ziegfeld. I saw it under the right circumstances. I didn't know what to expect. I was 20 years old. I was unfamiliar with the Potter series, which, by the way, is also wonderful, the BBC series. It's for people who have a sense of adventure about their movies and are not expecting a typical Steve Martin vehicle, this is in service to Dennis Potter and Herbert Ross. It's a totally

different animal. And it's dark and yet it's oddly affectionate for those musicals. It's a kind of a weird valentine. But I like films about longing. It's a film about, my wife mocks um but i like films about longing it's a film about my wife mocks me because i like songs about longing and films about longing but uh fred astaire hated it i read as i was doing research he hated the movie really offended by it and thought it was vulgar so god uh but to each to each his own but uh it's not vulgar 40 uh that turns 40 this year and uh and seek it out and then i'd love to hear what people think about it it's a great movie agreed let's take another

one of these here just watched santa claus the movie and notice leslie brickus is one of the songwriters on that one uh both of your thoughts on santa claus the movie thank you captain bligh also known as christopher santa claus the movie mario i've never seen it i believe that's the one with dudley moore as an elf i've never seen it that's the one made by the salkins the the guys that the the guys that made superman that ran afoul that yeah i think so i think so i guess i should watch it now because i love leslie brinkus very very much me too if i too. If I'm not misremembering, I think David Huddleston from Blazing Saddles plays Santa Claus. And Chris, I've never seen it. Chris, I promise you I will watch it and then we'll get back to you.

But I didn't know Leslie Brinkus was involved in it. I love Leslie Brinkus. It's not a musical though, right? It's not a musical i don't believe i don't believe no it's not it was also the big lebowski by the way of course so now you can all picture him let's do another one of these hey frank and mario this is matt bradleyScherge out of Portland, Oregon. Mario, I was wondering why, when you talked about Rink and Bess, you talked about the stop motion, but what did you think of some of the other specials that were just with a 2D animation, like their take on The Hobbit or Return of the King?

I would like your thoughts on that. Thanks. Love the show. There you go, Mar. I don't think I've ever seen that. I think I've seen the Hobbit one, but it's not one of my favorites. But I like Twas the Night Before Christmas with Joel Grey. That's rank and best 2D. The Frosty is rank and best 2D, which is bizarre and interesting.

And Billy DeWolf is the gayest villain ever. D. Wolf is the gayest villain ever. And there are a bunch of there's a bunch of Rankin-Bass that are 2D that I but yeah, you're right about that. The stop action ones really pop out to me

a little bit more. What other ones did they do that were, you know, it's so funny. So many have done like, they did The Hobbit. Ralph Bakshi did an animated Lord of the Rings also. So you that were you know it's so funny so many have done like they did the hobbit ralph back she did did an animated lord of the rings also so that's been done a few times in the animation department i could look this up i don't have the computer on when when did rankin bass arthur rankin died a number of years ago when did they stop when did that partnership dissolve

do you know i don't i don't i think it was i think yes i did i think i think i loved him uh he's a great guy i hope he's doing okay i don't i haven't spoken to him in a while but i know he's still around um i think i think um 85 it was the it was the 80s right it was 85 you said yeah uh no said? Yeah? No, I misspoke on the Christmas show we did. I said he was 95, and then I looked it up. He's only 85, Jules. Oh, my God. He's going to kill you.

And he's still good. I'm good. He's good. He went to my gym. That's how I met him. He went to my gym and used to work out. He looked great. Right.

I used to always say to him, why aren't you on these DVD extras? Why aren't you speaking? He could be. I'm like, dude, they think you're dead, and you, why aren't you on these DVD extras? Why aren't you speaking? I'm not going to speak on this. I'm like, dude, they think you're dead and you look better now than you did before with that throw you had. I mean, come on. He was like, I don't think he really got what he did and what he was. I was like, you're the Walt Disney of Christmas, dude.

You got to tell these people. That's a nice thing to say. We had Sid and Marty Croft on the podcast. Oh, my God. And I wanted them, again, especially Marty, who's such a cynic. A lot of this was a job for them, but I wanted them to know, and Gilbert did too. We wanted them to know how they shape people's childhoods and that this is important work and and but when you have stuff go ahead when you have children's stuff when you're doing stuff for what you think is for kids you don't think it's important like i had a kid there may

be some of that i had it i had a children's show for five years but i'll tell you the difference with me is like it was more of an adult show and we made it that way, Steampie Valley. And I was very happy. I was very happy about it. I was like, when people mention it, I'm like, okay. People are afraid to mention it sometimes because they think that it's something that I'm not going to be happy with or proud of. But I'm not. But I do get as a creator, you know, when you're doing, you know, a series of things

for kids or children's TV specials or whatever, but they're iconic, and some of them are kind of brilliant. So, yeah, I mean, you've got to let them know. I wrote a lot of kid shows in the 90s. I wrote a lot of cartoons, so I relate to what you're saying about that kind of work being considered less serious or less important work. And some of the ones i did some of the some of the things i did would fall into that category but some of it i was proud of

and yes if i ever got a guy like jules bass in in front of me you know yeah i i i feel like we almost have an obligation a duty to tell these people you know this is important stuff that shaped us that shaped us as artists, that shaped our sensibilities. So, you know, please don't denigrate it. They have their own, you know, obviously they have their own experience, their own relationship with their own work. But it's one of the joys of doing a show like this because you do get to gush and you do get to speak for millions of fans and tell them, you know, this meant so much to us. And yeah, to people who thought they were forgotten, you're doing them, you know, you're letting them know they're not.

Yeah. Well, Tim Rodgers was on the show recently and he directed a movie a couple of years ago called Cradle Will Rock that sort of flew under the radar. And I went out of my way to say, I didn't go out of my way it was really natural to me to say this is an important movie a terrific movie i think it's uh i think these people should hear it that was the movie about orson welles yeah really good production really yeah really good really good um and with a very ambitious movie with a sprawling cast anyway it's one of my point is it's one of the the nice parts about doing the podcast is being able to to tell these people that their work mattered especially work that might have you know might have escaped people or or uh that's why i do the podcast so

much because you tell me my work matters so that's i remind you that you're in mountain and quiz show and you yell at me yeah yeah no well we're we're up we're up to your next film oh i am okay yeah what do you got i got um my next film is another it's a bogdanovich film um and i mentioned it already is well i didn't actually um it it's um well i was gonna go between Paper Moon and What's Up Doc, two of my favorite movies. But let's, let's talk about Paper Moon. Paper Moon, I just saw it again recently, and I hadn't seen it in years. And it is, I think it's one of the best movies. And the thing that they lucked out with the fact that Tatum O'Neill is like first time she's unbelievable and her chemistry with her father because she can't make that up is quite great and Ryan O'Neill's hilarious in it and

great Madeline Kahn who's probably one of the greatest when I first saw what's up doc I remember going to that film and I was the first time I ever saw madeline khan and i was like who is this and you go for barbara streisand and you leave with madeline khan and it's just like not that barbara's not great in it because she is but she she's astounding at it i mean and she was supposed to play gooch in the movie maine and lucille ball so this pretty redhead and had her fired oh yeah she didn't end up playing it. And then she ended up doing, that was before, right before What's Up Doc, and then she ended up doing What's Up Doc.

And Paper Moon she was nominated for, I believe. I don't think she was nominated for What's Up Doc. She was nominated for Young Frankenstein, and she was nominated for Paper Moon. I believe, am I right or wrong? I don't have research in front of me, but the next time we do one of these i'll turn the computer i'll turn the computer you're the worst you're

i know i know i don't have a staff yeah well maybe you have a staff yes never mind let's all right so let's so yeah she never gave a bad performance in her, in her life. Natalie Kahn, never. Talk about a loss. Yeah. And I, and I, I worked with her once. I, I, I did a, a, a, a workshop reading of this musical by Jerry Herman. That's based on the mad woman of Shio called dear world that Angela

Lansbury did originally. It's great score, not a great book. And it didn't do that well on Broadway. But anyway, we did a reading of it. It's an all-star reading. It was like Arthur McDonald, Michael C. Hall, Alfred Molina, Chita Rivera, Deborah Monk, and Madeline Kahn. And Scott Ellis, who directed it, was like, do you want to do it? I was like, yeah. And I'm like, there's really nothing in it for me, but I just want to be in the room. So I wanted to do it so bad that I played the role of the quote, deaf mute. That's how bad I wanted to be there.

Yeah. Just did you pull her over and rave about paper moon? Oh, you don't even know. I went off. I was like, I mean, I wasn't crazy. I was gentle. And I was like, I called her. I would sit down next to her and go, hello, genius.

I mean, like, and she was so sweet and lovely. That's nice. Kind of like shy a little bit. But I remember asking her, I said, where are you from? I just went off about how brilliant I think she is. You know, there's nobody like you. And I said, where are you from? She said, I was originally from a little town outside in Massachusetts.

You would never hear of it. I'm like, which one? And she went, Revere. I went, Revere? My cousin was killed on Revere Reach Parkway by the mafia. So I know Revere. Sweet. Yeah.

Yeah. She was like, so, and so she moved to New York with her mother when she was four years old. She wanted to be, her mother wanted to be an actress and her mother never made it. And Madeline did. And they kind of had supposedly a loving yet tumultuous relationship. But I remember one day they were doing the 35th anniversary of Warner Brothers.

And I was, Oh no, the 75th anniversary of Warner Brothers. Sorry. And I was 35th. It would have been, it would have been the forties. No, I was, oh no, the 75th anniversary of Warner Brothers, sorry. And I was 35th. It would have been the 40s. No, it was the 75th anniversary of Warner Brothers movies. They were doing a decade a day.

And they were doing the 70s one day. I was going to see Blazing Saddles. And I was at the elevator with her. I said, I'm going to see your picture tonight. She was like, what do you mean? I said, I'm going to see Blazing Saddles. They're doing 75th anniversary of Warner Brothers. It's the 70s day one of the movies they chose is blazing saddles and she said that you know she i said how was making that movie she said well you

know young frankenstein was a lot more fun because it was a little more tense with blazing saddles because mel hadn't had a had made a movie in a while so she said it was more it was a little more kind of a little more stiff and not stiff but a little more tense and young frankenstein was kind of freer for her but anyway i came back the next day and i said i want you to know that your name came up on the screen and you were the only one that got applause and then after your number wow you got applause yeah so i let her know that this is what i'm talking about you gotta let them know you gotta let them know that should be the name of the podcast you gotta let them know she is in those two films i you know and they're two of my favorite movies we did a whole episode about blazing saddles with norman steinberg and andrew bergman who wrote the script with mel

and and richard pryor but then there's some nice things about madeline said in that episode but she i can't imagine either one of those movies without her in them. Oh, I can't either. It's a cliche to say she steals every scene she's in, but she does. She does. She elevated, even elevated weak material, which is the sign of a great actor. Yes, absolutely. Slight departure.

My wife and I watched a movie called Fred Claus. because we're always desperate to find a new Christmas movie. And despite bad reviews, we thought we'll give this a shot. It was about – it's about comedy about Santa Claus' ne'er-do-well brother played by Vince Vaughn. I know that one. Vince Vaughn, yeah. Yeah. It's okay. But it didn't offend me.

It was okay as modern Christmas movies go. It had its moments, I'll say. But Paul Giamatti, to me, is one of those actors that there's something about the guy. My wife and I looked at each other and we just said, he's just he's funny and he's dramatic he's does it all and he's one of the nicest people one of the nicest i haven't had the pleasure of meeting him we'll have to have him i've just met him a few times briefly but he was so kind and he's a wonderful brilliant actor one of the greats material he can take like mediocre material or okay material and sell it i mean then the commitment you know and you're just you you you you immediately say i'm watching a brilliant performance yeah yeah well that's what she that's what she did huh that's what she did too you're right that's what she did too madeline and you know paper something like my anxiety which isn't great in my book but no but she's great but she's

she's just oh there she is and and the screen lights up and it's automatically a better movie and her what i don't know her in paper moon her walk and the way she worked her breasts in that movie it's hilarious it's just a great movie and you know he's a con man ryan o'Neill. He takes this little girl who you don't – well, I won't give it away. But if you haven't seen it, it's a great movie. And it's black and white. It's got a great tone to it. It's very funny.

I love that. It's great. And it holds up. It's my favorite. We had Bogdanovich on the podcast a couple years ago, and I think I gushed appropriately about Paper Moon. I think it's – I love Last Picture Show. I love What's Up, Doc. I love St. Jack.

I think this – Oh, me too. I love St. Jack. But I think this is – I think it's his best movie and a must-see for people listening to this. Add it to your list. Yep. All right. What do you got next? All right. Take a this. Add it to your list. Yep. All right, what do you got next? All right, take a question.

Yes, take a question, please. Hi, Frank and Mario. Listen, I'm just watching a bunch of Walter Matthau movies, and I watched A New Leaf from 1971 and thought it was brilliant. Do you have any Walter Matthau movies that you think that are just classic that we should not be missing? Oh, I got a bunch.

I got a few too. And I love A New Leaf directed by Elaine May. Did she direct that or she's in it? I believe she made it too. Yeah, I think she directed it too. I want to say she directed that one, yeah. Yeah. A New Leaf is phenomenal and it should be on people's list.

You know, this whole this whole episode we're doing is sort of a tribute to the 70s. Even though I know I threw even though I threw pennies from heaven in there. We're talking about Alice doesn't live here anymore and Paper Moon Moon and these great Madeline Kahn performances. Yeah, I mean, Charlie Varick is another one. Terrific Matthau performance directed by Don Siegel of Dirty Harry fame. I've made a fuss about that movie on the show. I did so when we had Charlie Matthau on, who's in it as a boy. So many Matthau performances. Where do you begin?

Is the fortune cookie an underrated performance? He won the Oscar for it, so probably not. No, he's brilliant in that. But you know what? Here's one that no one would expect me to say. I love Hello, Dolly. I think it's a great movie. And Barbara's great at it.

He's magnificent at it. And it's a at it. And he's magnificent at it. And it's a musical performance. And he couldn't sing. And he was great. He was funny and good. You know, I don't think I've ever seen Hello, Dolly. First of all, I love that movie. I don't care what anybody says.

And I just saw it on the big screen last year. And it's just fantastic. Gene Kelly directed itlly directed it michael kidd choreographed it it's a great movie musical and it didn't get the greatest reviews but yet it got nominated for the oscar it was probably one of the biggest bombs the 20th century fox had that year well that was at the time that musicals like dr doolittle and and what was the what's the what's the julie what's the julie andrews one that flopped uh darling darling lily darling lily these these movies that were killing the musical uh yeah well you know and they did the roadshow edition so they had the intermission and yeah but yeah i've never seen it i i i just put it on my list he's great in it

he's really he's he never he's never bad he's never bad what was carol stanning's opinion of the movie version of hello dolly well barbara streisand and i were nominated for the tony award the same year she was nominated for funny girl and i was nominated for hello dolly and I was nominated for Hello, Dolly! And I won. And then we were very good friends. She came backstage afterwards, and then she got the movie of Hello, Dolly! And that was the end of that. Wow.

Very good. I missed that Carol Channing impression. Chris Bly reminds me that the movie Star was another one that fought. Big Bob. It was about, oh, God. It was about Gertrude Lawrence. Gertrude Lawrence. Yeah.

Right, right, right. I don't know how I retain this stuff about movies I've never seen. I don't either. All right. Let's take a couple more of these. Go ahead. We've got a few minutes. Did you come up with four or three?

Movie. I came up with four. Okay, so we'll do a couple of these recordings, and then we'll quickly do our last one. Okay, go ahead. Hey, guys, John Fodiatis here, also known as Mr. Yanni. My question to both of you is Godfather 1 or Godfather 2

As far as I'm concerned They both need to be At the top of the list Thanks a lot What, you didn't like the death scene in number 3? Shut up, I like number 3 Somebody likened it to Artty johnson tipping over on the tricycle and laughing you mean when she oh you mean the ending oh my god yeah yeah we just gave

something away sorry about that yeah yeah i um happy birthday by the way happy birthday i would have to say i mean if I have to choose, I'd say two. Yeah, it's a better picture. It's a deeper picture. It's just, well, cause you, well, but then you get Brando in the first one and it's phenomenal. I just saw a picture that someone posted on your, on the, the podcast website of Robert Duvall standing there with, with Brando's lines yeah with Brando's

lines taped on him while they were turning the camera around to Brando which I think is hilarious but he I like you know but in the second one you got De Niro who's just fucking brilliant he's beautiful he's unbelievable so that

part of the movie especially I even like it when they edit it all together and they do it chronologically. I'm not opposed to that either. That's how good the movie is. What do they call that thing? The Godfather Saga. That's aired a couple of times. It's got some weird scenes that they put back in though that some of them don't really work. Don't fit. Yeah. Yeah, you wind up realizing why they were cut the first time. Yeah. work don't fit yeah yeah you wind up realizing why they were cut the first time yeah um you see the uh the the guy the guy that sets up sometimes if i get this right the guy that sets him up one of his bodyguards you see him running away when apollonia blows up in the car in godfather not

the singer yeah not the singer but the one though the italian woman that he that he marries who blows up in the car when he's about to give her the driving lesson and he's clearly been sold out by one of his bodyguards so you see running away in the godfather saga that guy moves to america and is and is basically in hiding and there's just a scene where he gets in a car and the car blows up and that was something that was cut yeah there were there were a couple of scenes there's a couple of scenes from jack waltz's house when he goes when duval goes to negotiate for johnny fontaine uh you see you see some teenage girls running around the the ones that are being i guess introduced to drugs by this uh this this sleazy movie executive there

were a couple of things that were cut, and then you're watching them, and you're going, well, now I kind of realize why they were cut, but I guess I'm not answering the question. No, you're not. So you just go off. I like two, but I don't want to pick

because they're both wonderful. It's hard to pick. Yeah. I mean, how do you choose? No, you can't. You remember that Brando impression you used to do when he was 600 pounds? Yeah. I mean, how do you choose? No, you can't. You remember that Brando impression you used to do when he was 600 pounds? You used to do that in your act?

I used to do him as Humpty Brando. I called him Humpty Brando. What was the thing? It was him on the stand for his son. Right, when Christian was on trial. Yeah, for his son who was on trial for murder. I saw it on Court TV and he really looked like Humpty Brando on the wall.

And he was like rocking back and forth. He was like, my son's a good kid. It's not his fault. It really isn't. He's a good kid. It's me. Take me, please. It's the Court's tonight. I'm going to eat that blueberry muffin because I'm very, very happy. Yeah, that was an old bit.

God, you love to bring up those old bits. You would do the bit about his stomach hanging over the witness stand. Yeah, over the witness stand. See, you remember more than I do. And we'll make people find your bit about Nancy Kerrigan's mother. Okay. Oh, I hate you. One more of these.

All right. Let's see. Hi, Frank and Mario. It's David Komarowski in Ohio. And I'm curious to know if there are any films that bring back special memories that you would watch with your siblings and parents when you were kids. That's a nice question. What special movie brings back memories of watching it with our parents or family or siblings jesus well i didn't you know my mother took me to the movies once in

a while but i remember going to see funny girl with my mother she took me to see funny girl and that was she was kind of a emotionally unavailable woman so we connected three movies so when she would take me to see funny girl or when we went to see new york new york together she loved those movies she didn't like cabaret she thought it was filthy dirty too dirty and it also had you know it dealt with lots of different sexualities too um which she was not comfortable with but she loved fiddler on the roof i remember going to see fiddler on the roof with it which was just one of my favorite movie musicals too norman jewish and it's brilliant so those films those musicals you know and then we would watch tv you know we'd also we always watch a judy garland movie meet me at saint louis was on tv

the bad seed she was like you've never seen the bad seed i was like no she goes well it's about you so why don't you sit down and watch it it's about a little kid that murdered people yeah patty mccormick and the bad seed yeah yeah killing kids with her tap shoes yeah i remember i loved when you said to gilbert on the christmas episode that you were going to kill him with your tap shoes on a wharf um great line i think i didn't go to the movies with my parents much at all i remember seeing jaws with them in a movie theater just my parents and i remember seeing uh the omen uh with just my parents my mother was a gregory peck fanatic but still is uh and i i love that i and i i watched the movies you The Great Race, which is not a perfect movie by any means, with Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk and Tony Curtis, although I love it. It's too long.

It's too long. It's way overlong. It's bloated. There's a million problems with it. But it's one of those movies that you see as a kid, and you love it because you're 13. And then for some reason, you love it for the rest of your life. When you grow up, you realize you see all the flaws,

but you still have fondness for it. And that was one of the few movies that my dad and I ever sat down and watched together. Okay, here's something that we'll close on. So that's a nice memory. That's a very lovely memory, even though I have a better one.

And it's sicker. Your sincerity is overwhelming. When I was, isn't it awful? When I was a kid, and it's sicker. Your sincerity is overwhelming. Isn't it awful? When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the movie The Other. The Other is about the two twins, a good twin and a bad twin. And Uta Hagen is in it, 1973. It's one of my favorite movies. It was one of my picks too. But anyway, I'll just say this. I was so obsessed with it that I was Niles, one of the twins, for Halloween. I had like shorts on and lederhosen. Love it. He always carried around a Prince Albert tin, and in it was a cutoff finger wrapped in blue paper and a family ring.

So I had a plastic finger wrapped in blue paper and a ring. And I ran around screaming, Holland, where's the baby? Because Holland was the bad twin that was killing everybody. And nobody knew who I was. I was like, trick or treat. They were like, who are you? I'm like, Holland, where's the baby? They're like, what are you talking about? Take your Reese's cup and get the hell out of here. That's a little hip for the neighborhood. Oh, very hip. No one knew the movie. I was the only one. So there's a childhood memory for you. I love it. My grandmother took me to see The Other.

My grandmother did not read. She did not read reviews. She did not understand the intensity of film. She took my sister and I to films that were way too intense for young kids, like a movie called See No Evil with Mia Farrow. Oh, yeah. A movie called See No Evil with Mia Farrow. Oh, yeah. Which is about a governess who's a blind governess who's in a house. And unbeknownst to her, the occupants of the house are being murdered by a maniac.

And I think I was 10 or 9. My grandmother took me to see that. And she took me. She's at the Cross Bay Theater, the aforementioned Cross Bay Theater. She took us to see The Other, which is, again, not a film. We'll talk about it briefly. Directed by Robert Mulligan of To Kill a Mockingbird fame. Yep.

A very spooky, terrifying little film. Oh, it's a great movie. It's so scary. It's a great book too. Look, you know what I say with kids. Take them to the movies. Hit them hard. Hit them young. Make them see the stuff. She did. She did. My grandmother, my grandmother was a woman after your own heart. Quickly, I will squeeze in one more movie.

There are other cards I won't get to in the interest of time. But a movie turning 25 this year is a movie I think you must know. It's a little film co-directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott. And that's a movie turning 25 called Big Night. I love all that food. I just see the Timbali and all the food. Yeah, it's a great movie. I love this film to death. I showed it to my wife.

I did some research. I said, what's turning 30? What's turning 25? This movie made in 1996 about two Italian immigrant brothers, played by Tucci and Tony Shalhoub. Terrific, sweet, sad movie. Another movie about longing. It's about ambition. It's about desperation.

It's about the American dream. And it's all boiled down to this this little italian the struggling italian restaurant on the jersey shore uh in the 50s uh a beautiful sad little picture saw it in the movie yeah me too saw it in the movies i loved it one of my i don't remember it i haven't seen it in so long, but I remember loving it. By the way, I just saw a film on Amazon Prime called The Feast of the Seven Fishes that was made last

year, and it's one of the better Italian American comedies I've seen in a long, long time. They don't make them too well, period. But it's really good. Good performance, good direction. You're always on the hunt for a good

new Christmas movie. I think it's directed and written by a guy named Robert Tennell, and it's based on his graphic novel slash cookbook. It's really good. It's a wonderful film. The performances are great, and it's really well done. And it's pretty great. I was shocked that it was as great as it was. It's a wonderful film. The performances are great. It's really well done. It's pretty great. I was shocked

that it was as great as it was. It's a good one. Feast of the Seven Fishes? The Feast of the Seven Fishes. It's on Amazon Prime. I'm going to recap. I won't go into too much more detail about Big Night, but it involves a famous singer

coming to the restaurant. They're waiting for him, and we won't tell you what happens, but Isabella Rossellini is in it, Grady and Holm, who we just lost, Minnie Driver, terrific movie. Recapping,

Big Night, Paper Moon, The Other from the 70s. We're bullish on the 70s today. Yeah. New York, New York. New York, New York. Alice doesn't live here anymore. And McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

And Pennies from Heaven. And Pennies from Heaven from the 80s, from 1981. See all of these folks. See them today. Yeah. See them. What does Miss Davis have to say about this new stereo app? Does she have an opinion?

Well, I think it's just don't give it to Faye Dunaway because she will go on and on and she will not show up. She will be two hours late for the gig. She's a totally and utterly unprofessional. Just don't give it

to Faye Dunaway. That is my advice to Stereo. And if Joan Crawford was alive, you must not give it to Miss Crawford. She takes way too long to get ready. She has a different pair of falsies every day.

It's like running into the goddamn Hollywood Hills. I have to go feed my child who wrote a book about me. Can you recommend The Wicked Stepmother as long as we're talking about magic? No, no. I cannot recommend The Wicked Stepmother.

It's a horrible movie. I cannot either. We want to wish you happy birthday again to Yanni Fodiatis who was nice enough to wish you happy birthday again to Yanni Fodiatis, who was nice enough to call Happy birthday, Yanni. This was fun, Frank. We'll do it again sometime. It was a lot of fun.

We'll thank Jerry Dixon again and John Murray, just because I like to thank them, and they've been big difference makers. Thanks to Stereo for asking us to do this, and Jason Smith at Starburns Audio, who was a big help, who was moderating. And thanks to everybody who listened and left messages. If we do more of these, I promise we'll do a better job of figuring out how it works. Yes, this is our first one.

I think we did okay for our maiden voyage. I think it was just fine. It was rather serious on my end, but when you wanna talk about motion pictures, it should be. Absolutely. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Frank. Goodbye, everybody. I'll see you soon. Thank you guys. Thanks for being a part of this. We appreciate it. It was fun. Thank you for listening.