Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #5: Around the World with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon

Episode Date: April 14, 2015

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: Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis race around the globe! Treat Williams cleans up the mean streets of Manhattan! And the "genius" of Bert I. Gordon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Applying sunscreen to your dad's back. Yep, definitely the best summer ever. Squeeze more summer out of summer with Skip. Did somebody say Skip? See me April 10th, 11th, and 12th at Laugh Out Loud, San Antonio, Texas. April 18th, Brokerage Comedy Club, Billmore, New York. April 19th, live podcast with Louis Black at Caroline's on Broadway, New York, New York. April 30th, Caroline's on Broadway, New York, New York. Check my website, GilbertGottfried.com, for more information. Hi, it's Gilbert Gottfried, and I'm here with my co-host from Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. My co-host, Frank Santopadre.

And this is Amazing Obsessions. Close enough. Amazing Colossal. Whatever. Because the last time I couldn't pronounce Colossal. That's okay. And I said Colossal. Yes.

Several people tweeted me about it. Yes, yes. Colossal event. That's a Yiddish holiday. Colossal. And this time you just om omitted a word which is less of a sin i i want to wish all of you uh a very happy colossal well this is the eve of pesach uh yes yeah and and the uh the the end of Colossal. You know, interestingly enough, like Amazing Colossal podcast, there was originally, of course, The Amazing Colossal. Correct. Which gave us our name. Made by Bert I. Gordon.

Right. With Grant Williams? Yes. Yes. Yes. And just recently, I rewatched a movie I saw when I was a kid, The Cyclops. Oh, another Burt Gordon picture. Another.

He was always making things big. Let me guess. You were trapped in a hotel room on the road with nothing to do. Does that have something to do with it? And a horrible film, as most of his films were, but definitely worth watching. And, of course, my boy Lon Chaney Jr. That's right. Was there.

And it's kind of like The Amazing Colossal Man, but he's uglier and has one eye. Burt I. Gordon. Yes, and the story makes absolutely no sense, like the rest of his films. Now, we're going to pick out two films we kind of recommend you sing. Why don't you go first? Okay, my film, it's interesting because you just let on your choice, by the way,

which we'll get to in a minute. But I think you have still yet to pick a comedy, and this is our fifth show. So the comedian keeps picking dark films. I've picked a couple of comedies already. This is a flawed comedy. It's a film that Gilbert and I have talked about. I don't know that we've talked about it on the podcast, but we've had at least one guest on the podcast from this film. That would be Larry Storch.

Oh, that's right. Yeah. I'm trying to think of a second. Because Larry Storch said he was in the army with Tony Curtis. Correct. And they became friends. Larry Storch told Tony Curtis, don't give yourself disappointment. You won't have a career in acting.

That's right. But when Tony Curtis became a big star, he would hire Larry Storch. Yeah, what's the other one? Is it Operation Petticoat or Operation Madball or one of those that he's also in? A bunch of them, yeah. Yeah, he pulled them in a lot of times. Anyway, this picture is called The Great Race, and it's a Blake Edwards movie. Like I said, it's flawed.

It's not a perfect comedy. It's a comedy I fell in love with as a kid. Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis. It's got an perfect comedy. It's a comedy I fell in love with as a kid. Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis. It's got an all-star cast. Natalie Wood, Keenan Wynn, Ross Martin from Wild Wild West plays a heavy. How would you describe this film? It's kind of Edwards was a movie lover, and it's kind of an homage to slapstick comedies. And an homage to films like The Prisoner of Zenda.

There's a whole Prisoner of Zenda subplot, do you remember? Where Jack Lemmon is the double of the prince. Oh, that's right. Right. And Peter Falk is in it. He plays Jack Lemmon's henchman. It's really hard to describe. It's a three-hour movie.

It was shown with an intermission. It's a comedy about a race from New York to Paris. Tony Curtis plays the great Leslie, who is decked out all in white. There's even a gag in the film where when he turns at certain angles and smiles, there's a little glint, a reflection off of his teeth. And Jack Lemmon chewing up the scenery, never funnier, as a snidely whiplash kind of character dressed all in black called Professor Fate. And Peter Falk is his flunky named Max. And it has everything.

It has car chase scenes. It has a big pie fight set piece. There's a middle part of the film that gets serious with a sword fight. Do you remember this? Oh, yes. With Ross Martin and Tony Curtis's character have a duel. It's an homage to silent films. Ross Martin, who was famous in Wild Wild West. Yeah, he was Artemis Gordon, Robert Conrad's sidekick in the Wild Wild West. Here he plays a heavy.

It's an homage to Perils of Pauline kind of movies. And I think silent films, particularly slapstick comedies, the kind of stuff that Edwards loved and did well. He was a great director of physical comedy. And I saw it recently in Los Angeles with some friends. Some friends loved it. A couple of friends didn't care for it. Like I said, it's flawed. It's wildly over the top. It pulls out every stop in the world. It's very broad. But check it out. And our friend Larry has a great short scene, A short scene, but a memorable scene as Texas Jack. Do you remember this scene?

Oh, Denver Pyle is also in the picture. A slew of recognizable character actors. Hal Smith. Oh, those people you always saw in the 60s. Right. Hal Smith, who was Otis the Drunk on the Andy Griffith show. Oh, my God, yes. Turns up as the mayor of Barracho, this little town, jerk order town that they drive through.

Lemon is hilarious. It's the only other, I think, I could be wrong on this, but I think it's the only other pairing of Lemon and Curtis other than some like it hot. It's a big, crazy, loud, broad, over-the-top comedy that throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Written by Arthur Ross, who also you would be particularly interested in this, wrote Creature from the Black Lagoon. Oh, wow. And he also wrote The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock. With Luke Costello. With Luke Costello.

And he's the father of Gary Ross, who made Seabiscuit and Pleasantville. There were those movies, after they split up, where Luke Costello would star in them himself. Was it Dance With Me Henry or was Bud in that one? Oh, I think Bud. I'm thinking of Little Giant. Yeah, Little Giant. Right. And it was one of those things, like, I mean, Lou Costello was good, but you'd sit there going,

well, where's Abbott? Right, right, right. But everyone is in this and you'll sit there, if you're a movie buff, you'll be sitting there saying, oh, him. Oh, that guy.

Over and over. And I always loved Keenan Wynn. Keenan Wynn's great. And he's the son of Ed Wynn, the great comedian. Who many of our podcast guests have done an impression of. Yes.

So I recommend it with reservations. But it's just a film that's near and dear to my heart. And Jack Lemmon, we just had two wonderful guests on the show, Joan Kramer and David Healy. And there's a great little Jack Lemmon anecdote in the book. And that got me thinking of Jack Lemmon and the Great Race. So a nod to David and Joan. This is a paid advertisement from better help. As a podcast listener, you've heard from us before today. Let's hear what members have told us. One member said, I would recommend my therapist 1000 times over. She has truly changed my life.

Another member said the day after my first session, my friends and family said I sounded like myself again for the first time in weeks. You deserve to invest in your well-being. Visit BetterHelp.com to see what it can do for you. That's BetterHelp.com. And your movie, sir? And I'm picking, I guess I'm on a Sidney Lumet kick because I already named Bye Bye Braverman and Rod Steiger and the Pawn Broker. And that made me think of another film. Like at one point, Sidney Lumet had made Serpico starring Al Pacino. Sure. And it was a terrific film where it based on a real life story of a cop who's, you know, blowing the whistle on all the other corrupt the police corruption and the force.

And the one thing about Serpico is it was very black and white. Serpico was the good guy. The cops were all the bad guys. So a few years later, Sidney Lumet, and I think he said to rectify what he did in Serpico, he did another story based on a true story that was Prince of the City. And this was about a policeman who was working with internal affairs and he was turning in all of his friends. Played by Treat Williams. Yes.

Right. his friends. Played by Treat Williams. Yes. Right. And in this movie, in Prince of the City, you start looking at it a different way because it's like the cops, you see, they're corrupt there, but they also have a loyalty and they also look out for one another. Right, right.

And Treat Williams with internal affairs. They don't really care about him. And they're moving on to their next assignment, and they don't care. And meanwhile, he's destroying the lives of these people who still are giving him nothing but support. I remember the film. And Jerry Orbach's in it, and who else? New York actors.

Oh, another great New York film. Right, right. Carmine Caridi. Sure. Who was cast in The Godfather. Yes. Carmine Caridi. Yes.

Before losing the part of, I believe, Sonny. Yeah. Yeah. That's a sad story. Yeah. That's something that... I think Gianni Russo told that story on our podcast, but that's going off the subject. Who else is in Prince of the City?

Who else is in Prince of the City? There's so many great actors. I want to say Jack Warden just because it was a Sidney Lumet movie. I know. Well, Treat Williams was the star of it because I think originally Robert De Niro was being set to play. I didn't know that. And Sidney Lumet didn't want a big name star. I think the thing had already fallen through at that point. But he wanted someone lesser known that you wouldn't get locked into the starter.

You wouldn't keep saying that. That's De Niro up there. But, yeah, it's Jerry Orbach. Oh, God. Oh, Lindsey Cruz. Oh, yes. James Tolkien. Right.

Bob Balaban. Right. Another great character actor. We love Bob Balaban. Oh, yeah. It's just loaded with these, you know, just it's loaded with those people where you go, oh, him, him. Right, right, right. So you're now the president of the Sidney Lumet Fan Club.

You've done three in a row. I waited till after he died, of course. You've done three in a row. I waited till after he died, of course. On the way here tonight, I went into the discount video and DVD store a couple of doors away from where we are here at Nutmeg Studios, and I grabbed a copy of The Verdict, directed by Sidney Lumet. Oh, my God, yeah. So it was kismet. With Jack Warden, who I worked with in The Two Problems.

That's right. So you're two degrees removed from Paul Newman. in the two problems that's right so you're two degrees or two degrees removed from paul newman well i also played the sundance kid i didn't know that you forgot that and but yeah i recommend prince of the city because it's more it's not black and white it's more gray matter and and it's it's ultimately you know depressing yeah i find that fascinating the comedian continues to to recommend depressing films suicidal you just followed the porn broker you just followed a holocaust picture with a film about police corruption and i'm sitting here desperately recommending comedies from my childhood

so it's prince of the city sydney Lumet, and Blake Edwards, The Great Race. Yes. This week. Anything else you want to add? Yeah. I'm still looking for a new co-host. If anyone, send me a tape, for God's sake. A tape?

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