Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: George Zucco and Gene Hackman

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

GGACP celebrates (belatedly) the birthday of Oscar-winning screen legend Gene Hackman (b. Jan 30, 1930) by revisiting this mini-episode from 2016 as Gilbert and Frank analyze Hackman's career and body of work. Also in this episode: Boris Karloff’s revenge! Unwieldy movie titles of the 1960s and ’70s! Jackie Gleason busts a drug ring! And Gilbert obsesses about George Zucco! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TV comics, movie stars, hit singles and some toys. Trivia and dirty jokes, an evening with the boys. Once is never good enough for something so fantastic. So here's another Gilbert and Franks. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. here's another Gilbert and Franks, here's another Gilbert and Franks. Colossal classic. Hi. Hi, I'm Gilbert. I almost I think Frank is having a heart attack. Wow, that was sudden. Yes. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried. This is Gilbert Gottfried's. Oh, this is Gilbert and Frank's.

One day I'll get this right. I've not gotten it right yet. This is Gilbert and Frank's amazing colossal obsession. You want to simplify the title? You want to change the title to something simpler? Yeah. Like MASH? Yeah. I would mess that one up. Remember those movie titles in the 70s that they don't do anymore,

those long, unwieldy titles? Like, who is Harry Kellerman? Oh, my God, yes, yes. Why is he saying these terrible things about me? And, oh, how to succeed. Oh, no, no. No, no. The original title for...

Oh, How to Stop Worrying. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Yeah. I think there's one. I think there's a Rosalind Russell movie I have this right called, Oh, Dad, Oh, Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad. Yes! Yeah, there were a bunch of those

ridiculously long titles that nobody would remember. They don't do them anymore. Imagine if our show had one of those. So we're just going to try, this is a new year, and we just thought for many episodes, maybe we change the format up a little bit,

especially because Gilbert calls me in a panic every Wednesday and says, I can't think of a movie. I love a billion different films, but when it comes time to do this, I go, Citizen Kane? Yeah, well, we can come back to it. I mean, the nice thing about this format is it's flexible. And viewers, listeners have written to me and said, could you guys do TV shows? Can you do actors? Can you do music?

So we thought we'd change it up. So I'm going to do a short one on one of these actors from the old movies that was always fun to watch. He played Moriarty in at least one of the films that Basil Rathbone was Sherlock Holmes in. Ooh, I know where you're going. And Nigel Bruce was, of course, Watson. And my favorite role of his, he was Professor Lampini in House of Frankenstein. Yep, he sure was.

And Boris Karloff and Jake Harrell Nash, another fine character actor, and he was Lampini who had the actual remains of Count Dracula. Right. actual remains of Count Dracula. Right. And Boris Karloff wants to get revenge on these people who are in Regalburg, which I don't know if that was a real town in Germany or if it was like Viseria.

We'll look it up. Or Fredonia. Fredonia. It might as well have been Fredonia. They used to make, I mean, the Frankenstein movies didn't keep things in order. They'd make up shit. They'd have some Germans with German accents, some with English accents. Yeah, it didn't matter.

Some with American. Who's the actor? Anyway. We're leaving us in suspense. George Zuko. George Zuko. Yeah. I'm familiar with him. Who's the actor? Anyway. We're leaving us in suspense. George Zucco. George Zucco. Yeah. I'm familiar with him.

And I heard stories like. Z-U-C-C-O. I think so. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And he, I heard a sad thing with him in a book about, oh, God, look, I'm gone. I'm turning into Rita Hayworth toward the end. Oh God. What book? You mean one of those Hollywood Babylon books? Oh, okay. Did George Zucco have a bad end?

Well, not, it was just sad. Ed Wood, the famous, horrible, bad movie director, Ed Wood. Someone who worked with him said one time, later in his life, this woman, George Zilko's's wife was driving the car, and she drove him to Ed Wood's studios, which was probably his apartment. Probably. Yeah, he never had a real studio. And George Zuko asked him if there was any parts he could play in his films.

And at the time, he wasn't making a film. Wow. And he said how sad it was that this fine actor was reduced to begging to Ed Wood. How many flights up are we here, Dara? Oh, I think I'm going to jump. I think I'm going to go out on the balcony. That is very sad.

Yes, and another sad one. Well, it was kind of nice in a way. Some guy who knew George Zuko called some director, and he said, right now, George Zuko, he's too weak and sick to work anymore. But can you please call him and offer him a part in your next movie? He won't be able to do it, but it will mean so much to him. Oh, that's sweet. That people are thinking about him, and he's in demand.

That's sweet and sad at the same time. But he kind of had a long career, didn't he? Yeah, he was in loads of stuff. He did a lot of stuff. George Zuko. He must have been one of mine. Was he? Paisan.

Let's look that up. Zuko. Z-U-C-C-O. I'm going to guess he was, unless it was a stage name. Zukowitz. Zukowitz. Was he a Zuko? Was he one of my people?

Or was he a Zukowitz who shortened it? Or was he born in Europe? A Brit. Oh, yes. That doesn't tell us much, though. Did they say what nationality? Manchester, England he was born in. Interesting.

We need the Jeopardy theme. Because if he's Italian You're going to disown him and stop Start over? Pick somebody else? I'm still laughing When we did that thing Where I mentioned Oh I know what you're talking about

Dr. Butcher Medical deviant And I thought... What, you said it's rated FG for fucking guinea? Yeah, for fucking guinea. Because I saw, I looked it up again, I was looking up and it said Frank Martin. And I thought, I always thought this was one of those

sleazy, dumb guinea pictures. And we looked it up and it was like franco martin and that's that's it that's it hopefully luckily you weren't this illusion yes let's talk about an actor who's a little more contemporary a lot more contemporary and also one of your favorites yes and that's uh mr Mr. Gene Hackman. Oh, yes. Who? Go ahead. I recommended him on the show and in a great film,

one of the classic films of the 70s, The Conversation. Yes, you did. You also recommended him in The Great Night Moves. Oh, yes. Arthur Penn movie. We replaced the world-weary private eye. Another 70s film. Harry Mosby.

Very strange. Gene Hackman did not officially announceary Private Eye. Another 70s film. Harry Mosby. Very strange. Eugene Hackman did not officially announce his retirement, but he stopped making films around 2008, which is a shame. I mean, what a career. I have some fun trivia on him here, too. But he's come up so many times on the podcast. We've talked about the conversation. We talked about night moves.

We talked about, and just in passing, we've talked about I Never Sang for My Father. Oh, yes, yes. And the prime cut and the French connection. And you were telling me something about the French connection before, about casting. I think he was the sixth choice to play Popeye. They had asked Frank Sinatra, maybe Robert Mitchum. They had asked... I could have seen Robert Mitchum. They had asked. I could have seen Robert Mitchum as Popeye.

Yeah. They asked Jackie Gleason. Don't know about that one. And it's like, you're under arrest. You've been running a drug cartel through France. I don't see it. I'm arresting you, and I'm gonna put my foot on the gas and have a car chase

with you. I love that. I mean, look at his films in the 70s. First of all, he worked through the 60s. I mean, he did a lot of television. I Spy and CBS Playhouse and a million things. But in the 70s, I mean, what actor had a better run?

I Never Sang for My Father, and The French Connection, and Prime Cut, which is great, and Scarecrow, which is great, and The Poseidon Adventure, which is kitschy and not so great, but fun. And I Never Sang for My Father had one of our guests, James Caron. Correct. Correct. I think we talked to James about that. He's terrific in this movie, Prime Cut,

where he plays Marianne. He plays this mobster. I wanted to recommend that movie on the show. Oppositely, Marvin. Really worth seeing. His great cameo in Young Frankenstein. Oh, yeah. He's unbilled. He's the blind man. He's wonderful. I mean, listen to

these films. A Bridge Too Far, All Night Long, another good movie. Reds. What a run. A film called Eureka, which I like a lot. A Nicholas Roeg film, which people should check out. I remember, I think Gene Hackman, I think he was a fan of Mel Brooks and Frankenstein.

He liked to do something silly. He was good in comedies. He asked Mel Brooks, he goes, can I play a part in the movie? And he was too big a star then, so he was unbilled.

And he was hysterical. Wonderful. Bite the Bullet in the 70s, French Connection 2. I mean, I don't care so much for the Superman films, but he's fun, as Lex Luthor in the Superman films. Yeah, him and... Ned Beatty. Ned Beatty. Yeah.

Hoosiers, No Way Out, Mississippi Burning, Postcards from the Edge, The Firm, Unforgiven. He won an Oscar late in his career. It gets shorty. It goes on and on. And I love him in The Royal Tenenbaums, one of his last performances. What movie he does with Sharon Stone? Oh, which one is that? Was it Heist?

No, no. It was a Western. Oh, I know the one you mean the quick and the dead yes yeah and he does some great speech at the table yeah where she's holding a gun on him and he talks about his childhood and his father taking out a gun and and he says, so nothing scares me anymore. Yep, yep. He was a great villain. He was great in comedies. And the funny thing is that I find fascinating

that I think could make a movie itself is that Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman were roommates. I have it right here. Yeah. Yeah, the Pasadena Playhouse. Oh, yes, in the Pasadena Playhouse, they were both, I think, kicked out. They were voted least likely to succeed.

Yes. The two of them. Yes. It's good stuff. And one time, Gene Hackman had moved to New York, and he got a job as a doorman. Yeah. And some guy from the Pasadena Playhouse was walking down the street and said,

see, I told you you'd never amount to anything. That's great. I got it right in my notes. Yeah. He worked as a soda jerk in a pharmacy after he moved to New York City. He told Time Magazine that was the worst job I ever had. And, you know, he worked at the Howard Johnson's restaurant in Times Square, which is now gone. Can you imagine?

Smelliest bathroom in the world, the Howard Johnson's. Yeah, I miss that Howard Johnson. And at one point, I think Gene Hackman got married and Dustin Hoffman was still staying with them. Correct. So Gene Hackman said to Dustin Hoffman, finally, he goes, you got to move somewhere else. And he goes, I got a friend who's a struggling actor. Maybe you could share rent with him. Did he move in with Duvall?

Robert Duvall. Yeah, that's good stuff. We were talking about how he was the sixth choice for the French Connection, but the first choice to play Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch. The road not taken. That would have destroyed his career altogether. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting?

So here are a couple of Hackman films. Target, which was made by Arthur Penn, which is a lot of fun. People don't talk about. Power is another one that I like. Full Moon in Blue Water. These are movies that flew under the radar, but he's good in all of them. Like I said about Paul Giamatti,

I think this is a guy incapable of giving a bad performance. A movie called Eureka, a movie called Misunderstood. Look for them. And we'll have more Gene Hackman movies

on the show when we get back to doing movies. And that movie that Gene... There was no George Zucco, though. No. Yeah, that movie that... There was that movie Gene Hackco, though. No. Yeah, that movie that- There was that movie, Gene Hackman and George Zucco.

Did he get- I wish. All right. I like to refer to him as Rabbi George Zucco, but I don't know his nationality. If anybody knows George Zucco's nationality, write to us. Let us know. And if he's Italian, I'm editing out this portion of the show. So we've picked George Zucco, a contemporary name.

And Gene Hackman. And let us know how you like the new format. And go to GilbertPod podcast.com and subscribe. Damn it. On iTunes. And this has been a pray for me now. Gilbert and Frank's call. Amazing.

I fucked it up again. Amazing. Colossal obsessions. I fucked it up again. Amazing colossal obsessions. I fucked it up again. Give it up for us, Colossal obsessions Give me that fract, colossal obsessions Give me that fract, colossal obsessions