Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #41: George Zucco and Gene Hackman

Episode Date: January 7, 2016

Each week, comedian Gilbert Gottfried and comedy writer Frank Santopadre share their appreciation of lesser-known films, underrated TV shows and hopelessly obscure character actors -- discussing, dissecting and (occasionally) defending their handpicked guilty pleasures and buried treasures. This week: Boris Karloff's revenge! Unwieldy movie titles of the 1960s and '70s! And Jackie Gleason busts a drug ring! If you need a personal loan, anywhere between $1000 to $35000, Avant can help – without ever stepping foot in a bank branch. Avant will give you a $50 Amazon.com gift card after you make your first payment on-time. For this offer, and to check your rate risk-free, go to http://AvantOffer.com and enter promo code GILBERT. That’s http://AvantOffer.com promo code GILBERT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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a $50 Amazon.com gift card after you make your first payment on time. What do you think of that? Okay, I'll take the 50. No, you've got to make the payment. For this offer and to check your rate risk-free, go to AvantOffer.com and enter promo code Gilbert, G-I-L-B-E-R-T. That's Avant, A-V-A-N-T, offer.com.

The promo code is Gilbert. Where'd they get that name from? I have no idea. Gilbert Rowland fans? Oh, yeah. Maybe? GilbertAvantOffer.com, promo code G-I-L-B-E-R-T. Loans made by WebBank. Funds are generally deposited via ACH for delivery next business day if approved by 4.30 p.m. Central Time Monday through Friday. FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation. Amazon is not a sponsor of this promotion. Other restrictions apply. See website for details. Hi. Hi. I'm Gilbert. I almost, I think Frank is having a heart attack.

He fell over. 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 obsessions. 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. I think there's one, 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. Yeah. 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 could 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. 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 J. Carol Nash, another fine character actor, and he was Lampini who had the 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 a real town in Germany or if it was like this area. 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. english yeah it didn't matter who's the actor anyway we're leaving us in suspense george zucco george zucco yeah i'm familiar with him and and i heard stories like z u c c o uh i think so yeah 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? Yes. Oh, okay. did George Zucco have a bad end well not he 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, George Zuko'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 like begging. That is heartbreaking. 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 is 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.

Oh, let's look that up. Zuko. Z-U-C-C-O. I'm going toaisan. Oh, 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? 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 Brit. Oh, yes. That doesn't tell us much, though. Do they say what nationality? Manchester, England he was born in. Interesting.

Doong, doong, doong, doong, doong, doong, doong. We need the Jeopardy theme. Because if he's Italian, I'm taking him off my list. 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.

Dr. Butcher. Medical deviant. Yeah. 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 Martinelli. That's it. That's it. Hopefully, luckily you weren't disillusioned. Yes. Luckily, you weren't disillusioned. The Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast producer of the month is Paul Lawrence. Thank you, Paul. Be just like Paul and get rewarded for supporting our podcast.

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slash Gilbert Gottfried. That's Patreon. P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash Gilbert Gottfried. Thank you for your generosity. 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 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 replaced The World Weary 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. Yeah. 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 Grohl.

They had asked Frank Sinatra, maybe Robert Mitchum. They had asked... I could have seen Robert Mitchum as Popeye. Yeah. They asked Jackie Gleason. Don't know about that one. It's like, you're under arrest. You've been running a drunk cartel through France.

I don't see it. I'm arresting you, and I'm going to 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. Oh, 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. Yep. He'sstein. Oh, yeah. He's unbuilt. 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. I mean, what a run. A film called Eureka, which I like a lot. A Nicholas Rogue film, which people should check out. I remember, I think Gene Hackman, I think rogue film which people should check out uh i remember i think uh gene hackman i think he was like you know a fan of mel brooks and uh frankenstein and he liked he liked to do something silly yeah he was good in comedies and and he he's he asked mel brooks he, can I play a part in the movie? And he was too big a star then, so he was unbuilt.

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... 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, Get 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 Western.

Oh, I know the one you mean, The Quick and the Dead. Yes. Yeah, with DiCaprio. He does some great speech at the table 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 so nothing scares me anymore yep yep oh he's just he was a great villain he was great in comedies and as 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. 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've got to move somewhere else. And he goes, I've got a friend who's a struggling actor. Maybe you could share rent with him. Did he move in with Duvall? Robert 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 that 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.

Oh, yes. 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 Hackman and George Zucco. Did he get it? I wish. All right. I like to refer to him as Rabbi George Zo, but I don't know his nationality. If anybody knows George Zuko'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 Zuko, a contemporary name. And Gene Hackman. And let us know how you like the new format. And go to GilbertPodcast.com and... Subscribe. Damn it. On iTunes.

And this has been, pray for me now, Gilbert and Frank's amazing... I fucked it up again! Amazing colossal obsessions. I fucked it up again. Thank you. Colossal Obsessions