Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Rewind: Mini-Epidode #6: "Charade" and "The Conversation"

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

In a series of topic-focused GGACP mini-episodes, Gilbert and Frank share their love of unheralded films, underrated TV shows, underappreciated pop songs and often unknown performers, discussing, dissecting and (occasionally) defending their handpicked guilty pleasures and buried treasures. This week: Stanley Donen does Hitchcock! The brilliance of Henry Mancini! The cinema of John Cazale! And Gilbert makes a guest appearance on Turner Classic Movies!https://www.gilbertpodcast.com/mini-ep-6-charade-and-the-conversation/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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That's Patreon. P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash Gilbert Gottfried. Thank you for listening. and support the show for the love of God. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopatra, and this is amazing colossal obsessions, or colossal. Yes. Which is the Yiddish way you say.

Colossal. Do you want to go first? You go first. No, you go back. Okay, I want to talk. You're holding out on me. Yeah, yeah. Why do you have to go first?

Most of the films I've been recommending have been from the 70s and the 80s, and I'm going to go back to the 60s for this one. A movie called Chirade. Last week we talked about The Great Race. And I neglected to mention that the score was by the great Henry Mancini. Oh, yes. So I want to bring up a Henry Mancini score. It's a great score, but it's also a great movie,

directed by Stanley Donnan, who was not known for directing these kinds of, kind of pictures. He directed singing in the rain. He was mostly known as a musical director. Did he direct that one, that road picture? Yeah, two for the road. Yeah, two for the road. Yeah, with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. I love that one, too. We'll talk about that one on another show. But charade, interestingly came out in December of 63, a couple of months, a couple of weeks, actually, after the Kennedy assassination. And I was reading an article about it online about how Pauline Kale, the critic, fell in love with the film, but she couldn't get any to go see it because it was it was old Hollywood it was kind of one of the last films of

what they used to call classic Hollywood and she felt the taste to change that people were more cynical about about about American movies at that point and Bogart had died gable was dead Marilyn Monroe died Grace Kelly had retired there really was the old stars really weren't making films anymore Carrie Grant himself only had two films left in at this point. And you've seen it. It's about a woman, Audrey Hepburn plays a woman

vacationing in Paris. And she's being pursued by crooks who are trying to get their hands on this money that her husband stole. And she meets Carrie Grant and a love story happens between them in spite of the fact that he was 25 years older. And is Walter Mathau?

Walter Mathau. And he's playing a villainous guy. Yeah, Walter Mathau's in it. Ned Glass is in it? Yes, Ned Glass. I remember. Can you go wrong? James Coburn? James Colburn in this, what I remember, is him confronting her and lighting matches and throwing at her.

Correct. And throwing at her tauntingly. Correct. It's a terrific picture. It's basically, I don't know what you would call it, it's kind of a screwball suspense film. Yes. there was a 25-year-age difference between Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and he went to the screenwriter, Peter Stone, also famous for writing the taking of Pelham,

12, 3, which we've... Yeah, also, Mathau. Yeah, which we've, that's right, which we've talked about. Yeah, Walter Mathau and Jerry Stiller. That's right. Yes. And supposedly Grant went to the writer, went to Peter Stone, and he felt awkward that he was 25 years older than Hepburn.

So he said, I would feel more comfortable if her character did the pursuing. and, you know, write me a couple of lines about our age differences, about our age difference, a couple of jokes, which they did. And as I said, Grant only made two extra movies, two more movies after that. It's a terrific film, Great Paris Locations. I saw it recently. It holds up beautifully. I remember there's a part where I think it's Mathau is following Audrey Hepburn, and it's outside behind these pillars. That's right.

And I remember Mathau's saying... Don't give anything away. Yeah. Two people who haven't seen it. They wish... I was shown in that prison cab and there was nothing to kill the pain. That's right. That's the one.

And it's funny. He gives a great... He was a great dramatic performer. Absolutely. But it's now when you see Mathau, you laugh. Do you think of Oscar Madison and the fortune cookie and... Yeah. And, uh, and...

Sunshine Boys. Right. Yeah. He's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he used, uh, he's, he's, he used to, uh, do, like the kind of movies we talk about on the amazing colossal podcast, which is, he's, he used to, uh, do scores for these crappy sci-fi movies. and that's where he got his whole beginning. That's true. Yeah. That's true. Now, this is, there's a criterion edition of this DVD on DVD Get It. It's really the way to see the picture. Don't see, don't watch the remake, which was made by Jonathan Demi.

I love Jonathan Demi, but it was remade as The Truth About Charlie with Mark Wahlberg. Yes. And Mark Wahlberg is not Carrie Grant. In fact, Peter Stone, the writer, hated the remake so much that he took the screen credit, Peter Joshua, which was Carrie Grant's character. Yes. Because he didn't want to put his name on it. Oh, wow. What else can I tell you about it?

It's just a terrific film. Audrey Hepburn is great. Grant is great. Again, it was one of his last pictures, charade. Also called, it's referred to as the best Hitchcock picture that Hitchcock never made. Yes. And most importantly, Carrie

Grant was Jewish. Is he? Yes. This I didn't know. Grant was Jewish. This I did not know. Yeah, one of the handsomest Jews. How did this not come up when we had a tell on the show? And we're talking about who was Jewish and who wasn't Jewish. It would have been in our chart. Yes, Gary Grant. Wow. A little unknown English Jew. Reggie, what was his name, Archibald Leach? Yes. Yeah. And your film this week, sir? Okay. Also a film I talked about on Turner Classic movies. Oh, yeah. When you were to The Essentials. And that's a great 70s film, The Conversation, starring Gene Hackman. And if I remember the poster correctly, I always love the blurbs on posters. And I think the poster said, Harry Cole is the best in the business.

Three people are already dead because of him. Right, Harry Call, C-A-U-L. I remember. I remember Cindy Williams and young Cindy Williams and Harry. Yes. Yes. Yeah, a very young Harrison Ford. Right.

Playing his part a little effeminently. Yes. I just saw it. Yeah, that was his, that was Harrison Ford's idea that he works for this company. And he wanted to play it effeminently. And he says, you know, try some of those cookies. I bake them. And also in the movie, well, it's also Brian Garfield.

Oh, Alan Garfield. Alan Garfield. Who became Alan Gurwitz. Yes, yes. He was in a lot of 70s pictures. And also John Casal. That's right. And it's funny.

John Casal made like five movies in his career. All iconic. Yes. He died young. But the five movies were the conversation, Godfather 1, Godfather 2, dog day afternoon and the deer hunter right what a run yeah yeah i mean every film were major terrific actor died young very sad and so the conversation has to do with the whole paranoia the whole uh watergate idea of things because he's a bugging expert that's right and it's like

Gene Hackman can only deal. It's like he's antisocial and can only deal with people that he's listening in on. Right. That's his only connection. Right. He's sort of a prisoner of his profession. Yes. He's trapped and then it becomes, and then the story becomes a question of, of, about his conscience. Yeah. And, and there's a bit of film noir. Oh, yeah. In it. Yeah. Certainly. Robert Duval turns up. Oh, yeah, Robert Duval. Yeah. And, of course, it was a Francis Ford Coppola picture.

Of course. It's a creepy picture. Very much. And it holds up. I just saw it. And it's one of those, as you say, one of those paranoia thrillers of the 70s, like three days of the Condor and all the president's men, a parallax view, which is one I love. And, oh, yes.

And it gives you, there's that chilling feeling. I can't, I can't talk about it too much without giving stuff. away, but I mean, just incredible. A wonderful picture. Yeah, and when Coppola was really on a roll, that he directed that and the two Godfather pictures and Apocalypse now, all in the same decade. And I think this one came out the same year as Godfather 2. That sounds right.

I'm going to say 74. Yeah, so Godfather 2 knocked this out of the ballpark because that was major. Right. Right. Conversations definitely worth seeing. Terrific picture. So this week, the conversation, Francis Ford Coppola, and charade. And they're both available.

I mean, TCM runs the conversation all the time. Oh, yeah. Was Robert surprised by your picks? Oh, yeah. Did you pick a conversation? Again, you didn't pick a comedy. Yeah, they mentioned that on it. They said, I picked all these films.

The swimmer, right. Of mice and men, freaks and the conversation. Right. Nothing with even a giggle. That's you. Nothing with even a smirk. Each one ending tragically. This year's such a tragic figure.

Anyway, so it was charade with Carrie Grant. And Audrey Hepburn. Carrie Grant, the Jew. That shocks me. I'm going to have to do a little internet research now. I'm a Jew. Judy, Judy, Judy. Yes, Judy, Judy.

Judy. I'm a big Judy. The things I learn from you. Oh, yes, and I say me. That's Carrie Grant has a canter. Hey, you, too, too, say, I. I'm going to say Hark me are the years

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