The Big Picture - The 1982 Movie Draft

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

We’re drafting again! Sean, Amanda, and Chris are joined by the resident physical-media king of 'The Big Picture,' Tracy Letts, to draft movies from 1982 and take stock of the biggest ways the film world has changed in the past 40 years. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guests: Tracy Letts and Chris Ryan Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi everyone, it's Amy Poehler, and I'm launching a new podcast called Good Hang. In preparation for that, I asked some of my friends to send in some videos and give me some advice. "...just be yourself and the guests will come." Don't be the celebrity that this is their, like, sixth thing they're doing. "...I love True Crime and Cooking podcast. Is there any way you could combine the two?" Well, everyone has an opinion and a podcast.

So join me for Good Hang. It's rough out there, we're just trying everyone has an opinion and a podcast. So join me for good hang. It's rough out there. We're just trying to lighten it up a little. This episode is presented by Audi. The all-new fully electric Audi Q6 e-tron is a huge leap forward featuring effortless power, serious acceleration, and the most advanced tech of any Audi ever. Experienced technology that puts you center stage with a panoramic digital stage, plus an optional screen for front seat passengers so they can kick back with a movie. Q6 e-tron is not just a new EV, it's a new way to experience driving. Learn more at AudiUSA.com. Always pay

careful attention to the road and do not drive while distracted. Join the high-volume trend with YSL Love Shine Plumping Lip Oil Gloss. Formulated for maximized volume and 24-hour hydration, this gloss delivers a non-sticky, ultra-thin, glass-like additive texture in every shade, from bold berry reds and pinks to breathtaking nudes. Shine on with YSL Love Shine Plumping Lip Oil Gloss. Visit yslbeauty.ca to elevate your lip game now. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is the Big Picture, a conversation show about 1982. We are drafting again, which means Chris Ryan's CR is here. Hello. We are also

joined by a special guest and returning champion, Tracy Letts, movie fan Tracy Letts. You have many other descriptors that could apply, but today you are a movie fan. Welcome back. What a pleasure to be on the big picture. What a pleasure. What a pleasure. Hi everybody.

Hello, what a pleasure to have you back. It's great to have this moment of peace before we do battle. Yeah, in this big draft. Are you a competitive drafter? Do you look at this as just a pure celebration in cinema? I would be competitive if I felt that the result was in question. Yeah. OK. Got it. So you have, frankly, quite arrogantly,

been taunting me about the future of a draft experience here. And you have... Arrogantly. Confident. Confidently, OK. You had a year in mind from the very, very beginning. You always wanted to do this year. You claim this, I don't remember me saying 1982. The first time we met, you said, I have a year, I have the year,

you haven't done this year, I don't know why you haven't done it. You threw a few other years at me, but you said we should do 1982. I don't envy you people and your memories. Pfft. It's honestly haunting me at this point in the phase of my life. I mean, it was just joking with you the other day. I can't remember emotional personal experiences nine days ago. But is it related to the history of film?

Or is it like a footnote in something? Then Sean's got it locked down. Who financed a 2011 independent horror film? He's got it. I got that. I can hold that. 82, why was this the pick for you? I don't recall.

You don't know what you're talking about. What are you talking about? No, that's ridiculous. Just remove the text. Seriously, I'm absolutely truthful in that I do not recall ever saying the year 1982. It's a great year. I'm thrilled to be here. I'm delighted to be drafted in 1982. It is a bit. No I'm thrilled to be here. I'm delighted to be drafted in 1982.

It is a bit. No, it is not a bit. I don't, I have no recollection. We were walking the streets of New York. I remember this vividly. And we were talking about movies that were released in that year. You were telling, I want to see you were telling me some stories of movies you had seen in the theater as a young man, as a young kid.

I'm not cursed by these things you people call memories. That's incredible. Okay, well then do you... What does 1982 mean to you? If anything. If it's nothing, I'll just go to Amanda. No, no, it means a lot. Well, were any of you alive in 1982? I was born in the year 1982.

There you go. This is your birth year drive. I was going to bring that up after he finished his soliloquy that doesn't exist apparently. You were not quite born? Not there. I was five. You were five in 1982.

Well, gather round from the hills and valleys. They gather around to hear about 1982. It was morning in America. I was 16 at the beginning of the year, would turn 17 that year. So finishing junior year of high school and beginning senior year of high school. So yeah, obviously a huge year for me in personal life and my relationship to the movies. I was, you know, a, a, a king of the Virgin Superdorks. Chris?

I was in a band called Virgin Super Dorks. I just play rhythm guitar. In Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, in a small town in Oklahoma. I think it's the year, maybe, probably this happens at different ages for different people, but I think it was the first year for me that I started to own my super dorkness and I

started to realize, oh, this might actually be a benefit. This might be an asset and not a, you know, I can stop torturing myself about what people in high school think. I don't actually live on the island with the other English school boys. I'm going to go out into the world. So I started to celebrate that, I think, as a 16 year old. As a senior in high school,

we were able to take fewer hours in high school and able to take college courses at the local college. So I started taking theater classes. I had discovered acting at 15. I discovered acting the year before. So I was a fledgling artist. And so that changed everything for me. It changed my outlook, my attitude toward art. Certainly, you start to develop, well, you start to develop your taste really. And you start to say, these are the things I like and these are the things I don't like.

And of course, you're very arrogant about that stuff. You believe that your way is the right way. So it was a key year in that way. What was the sort of movie theater situation with where you were growing up there? And like, did you have to travel to go to... Were there art house theaters back then, or was it just like one movie theater town? There were no art house theaters.

So in my town, there was, at this point, the pornographic drive-in had closed. So there was just the theater downtown, single screen. A pornographic drive-in? Pornographic drive-in, yeah. He said with great curiosity. I mean, I had some problems. Call my financial advisor one second.

It was called the Sky View. In our town, we called it the Skin View because you could see it driving down the highway. That closed by this point, by 1982. So there was the ship drive-in. And I worked there. It was my summer job, was working at the drive-in. I mowed the lawn, I brought in the broken speakers to be repaired. I worked the snack bar, cooked the food, sold the food, and I would sometimes operate the projector.

We had these big platter reel projectors. Do you know what these are? It's so you could, instead of having to switch between two arc light projectors with every reel switch, you would put the, all the reels would arrive in their canisters brutalist style and the guy who ran the theater, he actually had an editing bay in the projection booth and he would splice the different reels together and put them on this enormous platter reel, a horizontal platter reel. And so that way you could start the movie and the movie would just run. Of course, Durant, Oklahoma drive-in in 1982, the prints were all chewed up and stretched and quite often the, the, the nudity had been snipped out of the,

out of the reels. I was going to ask if you did any fight club style, supplemental messaging into the, to the, to the reels. I was gonna ask if you did any fight club style supplemental messaging into the reels. I didn't ever get to that myself, it was a little advanced for me, but I think they were clipping them, not because they were censoring them, I think that just horny projectionists

were making their own, you know, we didn't have the access back then that you have now. Real heroes. Yes, yeah, but those were just for stag parties. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, that's fun just for stag parties. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. That's fun times. You think you would have done well in 1982 Oklahoma?

Would I have done well in 1982? I think by 88, I could have been thriving. Why? Is that because that's the year of Working Girl? Well, sure, yeah. It's convenient. Right. And we're not far away from when Harry met Sally, Nora Ephron is doing her

thing, you know, uh, 82, I don't know a lot about 82 and it's funny. So when I do the research for these, these years that predate my film awareness, um, or existence, like it's funny what gets handed down to you by your parents. And I love my parents and they taught me a lot, but like a pretty bad job on like the popular cinema of the 70s and 80s, they just didn't think to put me in front of things with some notable exceptions, which may come up during the draft. So this is a year where I had a lot of blank spots, because the other way that I would educate myself,

besides like what becomes canonized or, you know, at least like cult classic, is the Oscars. And this is an interesting year at the Oscars. Sort of, I guess, remembered, but maybe not... The winners are not like what I would seek out. I don't know. As with most Oscar years, there's some interesting choices. Very Oscar-y. So, I don't know. I have some favorites, but it's not... My list might be eccentric.

It also might involve some Googling at some point, depending on how the draft order and the genres work out, but that's okay. This is my birth year, as we said. Thank God that happened, you know? Where would we all be? Would we all be together? I think we're all thanking God. Thank you, thank you. Every day I wake up and I say...

82. Thanks, Cindy and Ed. Um, my parents were not cinephiles. My mom was a big movie fan. My dad, not so much. Big readers, my parents. Readers of fiction. And... Like, uptake or? Sure. Yeah. It could go that high brow if you so choose. A lot of Stephen King in the house.

My father, big Nelson DeMille fan, a Long Island cop that he is. But I'm not sure. Certainly they saw, for example, E.T. the extraterrestrial because every living human in America saw that movie in 1982. But I'm not even sure that my parents went to the movie theater to watch Gandhi, which went on to win Best Picture. So I'm not sure if I was necessarily handed some of these movies.

I mean, we've talked many times over the years about how we were kind of drawn to the glow of the TV set showing the Academy Awards and that being an entry point into this kind of movie love. And then also, you know, on the side, this is also a great year for genre movies. There's a great number of science fiction, thriller movies that I'm sure will come up a lot in conversation. Great year for comedy too. It was.

Really surprising, deep comedy. And mature comedy too. Not quite the same like juvenile sort of thing that you think of. I don't know, you're five years old, your parents take you to the movies, your father's a film critic. Yeah, he was working at the Philadelphia Choir. I don't have any clear like actual legitimate memory. I asked my mom and she was like, I'm pretty sure we took you to ET.

So ET is probably one of my, one of those movies that I don't remember a time it wasn't in my life. Now I spent a lot of time like not really checking for that. Like I've never really gone back until we did rewatchables recently. Or not recently, that was probably two years ago. No, that was, it was, Max was two months old and I was on leave listening to it and like weeping. It was just like as soon as the music, I was just like ahhhh.

Yeah, that was three years ago. But yeah, that was definitely like one of my first memories of like a movie always being in my life. Like, you know, and then that... I even remember, like, the explosion in Reese's Pieces popularity, I think, like, that lasted for years after that. So, yeah, I mean, I was... I think they were... Weren't they made for that movie? I don't think they existed before ET. I think it was a movie tie-in.

That would make sense. So, yeah. And then one of the things that struck me, and the reason why I was asking you about the infrastructure of how you watched movies back then is to take it full circle to where we are now, is how many of these movies were very difficult to watch over the last couple of weeks to try and find a decent copy of it or a decent looking print of it, which a lot of the stuff is on 2B or, you know, is kind of like an example of like what happens when we turn over all of our movie watching to technology companies is you just lose swaths of

cinema history here. You just put the ball in the tee for the king of physical media. I figured. Well, I saw almost all these movies in the movies. Yeah. At this time, of course, I'm at the movies every conceivable chance I had. So I saw most of these movies on the big screen. But of course, we're also only a couple of years away from the home video.

Yeah. And so you would rewatch these movies over and over again on VHS, or if you had missed them the first time around, you'd see them for the first time on VHS. And it's only now seeing them in Blu-ray or 4K, that you go, oh man, that VHS really sucked. I don't really remember what this movie looked like at all. It's funny you say that. I was just saying on an episode of The Rewatchables

that the Blues Brothers, which we did an episode of, was one of the first times in a long time where while watching the movie on Blu-ray, I thought, I wish I was watching this on VHS. And there is a quality to some of these movies too, where it's the first time you saw it, and that green and that skipping, you know, image felt more natural. There is a refinement going on with the presentation of some movies

that kind of should look a little shitty, you know? That's probably true. Even like the movies, like I rewatched Swamp Thing this week, Wes Craven's Swamp Thing. Which we projected of the ship driving. Did you? Oh, I clearly remember. I have no intention of drafting it.

Not one of the most successful Wes Craven movies, but you know, it's a guy in a rubber suit and you're watching this beautiful presentation that's been made on the Blu-ray and I'm like, that's a guy in a rubber suit. That's a guy in a rubber suit. You know, and not even in an amusing way, in a shitty way. So sometimes there are some downsides to being able to see it in the most pristine quality. But some of this stuff is, there's also what is canon

and what is not canon. And a lot of the Academy Awards did do some work to make canonized some movies, but then there's other movies. Gandhi springs to mind. Is that a beloved Hollywood classic? I don't think it is, though it was certainly an important movie at the time. I mean, think about it.

Nobody had ever seen an Indian lead in a movie before. Mm-hmm. Not in America anyway. They had never seen that before. And obviously the story of, you know, a very important and influential person. Now, is it done in this very stately, somewhat dry, David lean retread kind of way? Yes.

Kingsley's performance in the center of it is undeniable. So there was a sense, and it was at the time, of course, when the academy was going to honor the movie that is considered quote unquote important. And that was the important movie that year. And it's not a bad movie. I don't mean to suggest it's bad, but it hasn't stood up over time. You know, it's certainly a colonizer's viewpoint of Gandhi,

but some people would even tell you the hagiography of it. Hagiography? Hagiography, I think. Is also inappropriate. I'm just helpingography, I think, is also inappropriate. Throw it out there. We're just not, you're not the pronunciation expert. Maybe you should give him your B1 answer too. I actually took a class in Irish hagiography in Ireland,

so that word is... Was that word founded in Ireland? No, but it is. I heard that word a lot. Any other stray thoughts about sort of what this year represents? Try not to give away too many of the titles at the top of the conversation. Yeah, I don't want to do that. Five-year-old Chris, what were your interests?

Slumber party massacres. Hell bet. Yeah, a lot of really good B movies from this year, I would say. Like a lot of really fun cult classics from this year. How did you go back and do your research? Well, you make a letterbox list, which I look at, and then I find stressful because I need written words along with the images, you know?

Can I make a suggestion? You know what I do is I take the Wikipedia list of all the movies released that year, and I just write down the ones that I've seen. That is also what I do. Yeah, we've talked about that before Yeah, that's our methodology. Can I tell you? The overlord of 1982 cinema actually added some notes and corrections to my long letterbox. Wow Okay, you're just you're you're there in the comments. I'm just doing the work. Are you a commenter generally? No, okay. Yeah I was just doing the work. Are you a commenter generally?

No. Okay, yeah. Not at all. Just stupid people. Are you? No, I'm not. Okay, just publicly on video three times a week. Yeah, unfortunately.

It's only one page in exchange for money. Only one page. Okay. Yeah, so I went through and did a list of what I'd seen and then I knew which categories we would be selecting in and so I started trying to fill in in a slightly strategic way to be able to have enough picks without revealing any of the titles, were you moved by anything that you didn't expect?

Let's see. Was I moved? Yeah, moved emotionally touched by the cinema. I wouldn't say like emotionally, you know, I wasn't brought to tears. I laughed. Maybe I didn't cry. And things stayed with me. But I would agree with Tracy that it was more genre and comedy.

We'll see how drama goes for people. I did want to cite that an unusually soft year you're a dramatist, sort of a soft ear for drama. Very. Which is a strong category in these drafts. So that may be one of the most competitive categories. Have you thought about strategy? Oh, yes.

Oh, God, I have thought of nothing else. So a lot of that is determined by... Draft order. Draft order. Draft order. Yeah. Yeah. And have you been speaking with Bob on the side or no? No, I haven't spoken with Bob.

We haven't spoken, have we, Bob? The envelope of cash was not from you. It said your name on it? No, no, no. I'm not going to rig it for Tracy. He wants to win it fair and square. Yeah, sure. Where will you be setting the vote?

Huh? Yeah, the vote. Yeah, what social media platform do you want this vote to take place? I mean, you can also just collect ballots. I don't care about the vote. Good, thank you. Oh, you'll just know deep down who won.

In an objective fashion? We will know deep down. Oh, interesting. Regardless of the vote. Okay, that's sort of a god-like admission there. Well, we... This is a game the four of us are playing. Yes, that's true.

Well, is it... Do you think it's a game? That's an... I like that as an ontological question. Do you see this as a game? Yes, but sometimes I, you know, wake up and choose violence and sometimes I just want to hang out. Like the last one that we did, the best picture one,

that was more fun. It was more friendly. You made a couple of, you know, observations. Patented CR choices. We couldn't help but lightly mock you, but we were kind to each other. I listened to that podcast on my trip to Los Angeles. And I have to say, there were some choices there I just didn't agree with.

Oh no. Okay. Well, feel free. Yeah, here, let's go. Though you were not a commenter. Instant feedback. Oh, I didn't understand the sting and I didn't understand Barry Lyndon. Because you don't like, you don't think the sting is... I love the sting.

I love Barry Lyndon. I just thought there were better things available to both you gents. Barry Lyndon, I was just like, I'm just going to make a weird choice. Please no, no feedback for me. I'll also say... No, because I don't think you made any mistake. As we said of you, Gents. Barry Lyndon and I was just like, I'm just gonna make a weird choice. Please note, no feedback for me. I'll also say... No, because I don't think you made any mistake. As we said, you got your board. Thanks so much.

Yeah. You were... Some might say you were given your board. You always say that. What do you mean? I'm sorry that I have my own view of the world. Well, it's easy when you're only picking from eight movies, you know? It's easy to Monday morning quarterback before...

You see the blitz coming. You have to make some calls. We're gonna find that out right now. You're saying... This is a Super Bowl winner who is kind of doing some gloating about the defensive line. If I step on a rake, I'm going to be the first one to stay at the end of this thing. You guys were... you guys won it. Listen, we've been raising families, you know, we haven't been at these fancy award shows like you.

Like we've been busy this weekend, you know, we haven't had all this time for strategy, you know? You power through nine episodes of Zero Day, you're right in the second season. You know who I saw at the SAG Awards last night? Who did you see? Hitmaker. Oh yeah, he looked great. I got some in the room reports from him about the certain moments, certain moments of the show. Who's Hitmaker? That's really annoying. Who's Hitmaker? He is not listening to our podcast. the room reports from him about the certain moments, certain moments of the show.

Who's Hitmaker? That's really annoying. Who's Hitmaker? He is not listening to our podcast. Tim has my number. Oh, Simmons? Yeah. Simons?

Simons, yeah. Are you okay? Yeah. Do you wanna get some coffee? Too much cough medicine this morning. This is what happens when I do a watch-pot at 8.30 in the morning. Wow, we love you.

Flame London. You saw him in The Flesh? No, no, no. Oh, just on TV? I just saw him on TV. Wow, we love you. Blame London. Yeah. You saw him in The Flesh? No, no, no. Oh, just on TV? I just saw him on TV. Oh, okay, yeah. He was there. I saw him standing and applauding for Jane Fonda, I think.

He did, yes. And it was like a very, I thought he had a good- And you thought he should not have done that? I just thought, look at the hitmaker going on, living his big, very fancy life. As always, this was true of the Globes, too. We were just texting with him the whole time. I was just texting with him the whole time.

Which was fun. I'm very happy for his success. As am I. Just making sure. His name is Timothy Simons, just so you know. I only know him because I text him about this professional women's golfer who smokes cigarettes on the golf course. That is literally what we texted out.

Your dream goal? Yes. We were going to do a draft order, and I think we probably should at some point. Bob? What's the technology here? The technology is once again random.org. Because as you guys know, maybe the listeners don't know, I moved this past weekend, so all my stuff is still everywhere.

So I couldn't even find the tiles, I'm sorry. You said you're moving to Doylestown, Pennsylvania to honor the murder list? Right, exactly. I'm going to be in one of the seven Philadelphia cop shows that Chris has personally commissioned from the various studios or mayors. The male mayor of Easttown has arrived. Yes, exactly. Okay, we have the list order here. Going first will be Sean. Rigged! Rigged! Fucking rigged!

Jesus Christ! First he pulls this... You won it in 1982, Tracy! Wow, I get to pick first on my birth year! Interesting. Who's next? Tracy's next, then CR, and then Amanda, you're on the turn. Okay. I never even imagined this was possible. I got jumped. I mean, I have to be honest, this could go the turn. Okay. I never even imagined this was possible. I got jobbed.

I mean, I have to be honest, this could go incredibly sideways. That's okay. That's okay. Wow. My head is spinning. It's an interesting first pick. It is. I think there are a lot of good choices here. Yeah, but there's some category scarcity, I would say, in some places. There is. There is.

Although a master genre bender like you. Genre bender? Yeah, when you're like the winged serpent is in fact a drama. What do you think? Well, we can all share if you're comfortable. What do you think is the weakest category? It can be personal preference. Technically it's drama, but you can move a lot of stuff into drama if you want.

Can you? I think so. You feel the same? You don't want to reveal?. Technically it's drama, but you can move a lot of stuff into drama if you want. Can you? I think so. We're going to find out. You feel the same? You don't want to reveal? I think it's drama.

Yeah. Yeah, I think it is as well. But that's not, I mean, is that where the heart goes when you think of my favorite movies from this year? And that actually begs the question of the exercise. Is it your favorite movies or is it the right movie to choose in the right category at the right time? This is a movie with a, this is a year with a lot of movies I really love.

Stop vamping. Why? Because you don't know what to do. So wait a minute, it's not a game. So you're saying it's not a game. Well, I'd love to, I'd love to evolve definitions. You don't come into the draft with a plan for if you get first or second pick. You know, I really don't do that.

I, one of my favorite activities is, you know, is making lists of movies. I don't make them in any particular order other than just in the category that they exist. I don't have like, I need to get this one, I need to get this two, I need to get this three. If that's a fault, I accept. Unless it's in Avengers Infinity War, right? That's when you're like, I need to have that.

I didn't like when you took that film from me. It was Endgame and not Infinity War. Which one is Carrie in?. It was Endgame and not Infinity War. Which one is Carrie Anne? She's in Endgame. Actually, she's in both? No, Endgame. Wait, who is she?

She is, I can't recall the character's name. Proxima Midnight. That's it. What does Proxima do? I've never seen the film, nor has Carrie. She's a CGI figure who is one of the children of Thanos. She is an intergalactic demigod warrior who I think is felled by five female Marvel superheroes.

Oh, the... Oh, when they do their girl power thing? That's... Well, I think she's in both. Because they... According to IMDb, she is in both. We can confirm. I believe they went to her for the second one.

And they asked her to be in the second one. And she said, well, the first one is the most successful movie ever made. Are you going to pay me any more money? And they said, no. We're not going to pay you any more money. Oh wait, we have an update. It's in parentheses voice uncredited for Endgame. Yeah, because... And she said, well, you're not going to pay me any more money. Then I don't think I'm going to do it. And they said, well, you know, you should feel yourself

fortunate to be part of the Marvel universe. So she declined, but I think they put her in it anyway. The character is there maybe with no lines. There you go. So they own the image. Yeah, she's a fairly important character in the first film. Is she? Yeah, I mean, she's one of the, like, lead villains. We would have made a bigger deal out of this,

but it would have involved us watching the movies, and we weren't going to do that. Well, I'll tell you something, they're both good. And, you know, her performance is wonderful. The fact that she's not credited and didn't perform the second film doesn't mean I didn't want to draft it. Have you made your choice for 1982 yet?

Is Endgame available? Um... No, I really haven't. I really haven't't if I'm being 100% honest with you. I bet I know what's going through your mind. Tell me. Which is that you know that you probably should take a certain movie in a certain category for the sake of like knocking that out, but that it's not the movie you would like to say I picked this first.

First in the draft. The number one pick is tough. You know, you got to pick. That's exactly right. You know, a lot of guys go out there, they're just like, give me the best quarterback. But you want to take the offensive lineman that's going to get you to the playoffs. I think that's probably, I think he's right. I think he's right.

Can I, no, I don't even want to say what I think the right pick is. No, you cannot do that. I shouldn't do that. Should I? I mean, you could do what you want, but it's not fun. I'm just going to take my favorite movie. Okay. Look at you.

Because I don't care. You're a brave man. Thank you very much for acknowledging, for seeing me as I am. In thriller horror sci-fi, I will take The Thing, John Carpenter's masterpiece. Okay. I mean, amazing film. Masterpiece. Is it the right strategic choice? Perhaps not. But I'm standing on business today. Is it the best thriller horror sci-fi movie that came out that year?

In my estimation, it is. I know that there is a significant contender for that category. Happy to hear one of you take it. You know, could I have taken some of these very, very good dramas to clear that category off the board? I could have, but I don't give a fuck. I also wasn't listening when Bob revealed the other orders. So who's next? Yes, so you don't know. I'm next. Do you have any thoughts on The Thing? I loved The Thing. I saw it in the movie theaters.

RIP, practical effects. My god, the great practical effects. Rob Boteen, yeah, he's the great effects man. Kurt Russell, fantastic. I think Keith David's first movie. Is that true? His first film. Wow. They are magical together.

Great Keith David. Great ensemble cast, right? Richard Dysart, David Clennan, Wilfred Brimley. It goes on and on. It's a bunch of great actors. The great practical effects, the great score. Oh my god, the score is so good. I love The Thing. It's a great film. Thumbs up. Have you seen The Thing? Is it too scary? Have I seen The Thing?

No, I haven't. And I would have rewatched it or I would have watched it, but it was one of those things where I knew that it would be either a Sean thing or a you thing, you know, pretty easily. So sometimes I like kind of tear my watching in terms of like, I don't need to go. You could have kneecapped one of us by taking it rudely, but that's not what this is about. Sometimes I kind of tear my watching in terms of like, I don't need to go to war for that one. You could have kneecapped one of us by taking it rudely, but that's not what this is about.

Your wife wears like a C is for Carpenter t-shirt, like to the playground very often, not just on Halloween. And I love that about Eileen and I love that about you. So, you know, I decided to enter this with some generosity. We have to get like a Reynolds-Woodcock scene of you dressing Eileen, but like putting her in vintage movie t-shirts. Now today, wear the Fassbinder hat. Yeah.

Well, John Carpenter is a genius. Is a wonderful, is a living legend. I think this is his best movie. Do you think this is his best movie? You think Halloween is his best movie? No, I think this is. Interesting. Although I think I've seen Big Trouble in Little China the most. It was not a big hit.

No, it was a bomb. It was a bit of a bomb when it came out. It kind of got rediscovered a little bit later, but it's part of this lore about the sci-fi movies. I think this critic, Chris, I'm not gonna get his last name right. Chris Nasawaddy has written a book about this summer of sci-fi because so many of these movies came out within about eight weeks of each other, including The Thing,

which is maybe one of the reasons it wasn't as successful. In the summer of ET, it had a different energy, obviously, and this is a very dour, existentialist kind of punishing movie in many ways and very gross also. I did, we did an episode about the thing some years ago during COVID and Carpenter came on the show which was a real thrill for me. Okay, you're up with a second pick. Oh wow. So did you come in with a strategy? Did you have a first pick in mind? Did Sean take it? He did not. So you know where you're going? I do, but the fact that I'm picking second as opposed to first.

But the lights are bright, aren't they? The lights are bright. You know? Changes the, right? Changes a little bit. Not so easy to come off the couch, is it? Also, I want to give time for, you know, the banter, the thinking.

I was giving it to you with all my face. He talks about endgame for five minutes. We did Proxima Midnight here. Yeah. How did you remember Proxima Midnight but you haven't seen the film? Well, she's, I mean, my God, you should see all the Proxima Midnight shit she signs when we're out. Oh, okay. No kidding. More Proxima Midnight than anything else.

Oh, wow. Yeah, because those are the people, right? Those are the ones with the... Yeah, but it's not her face. More than Gilded Age? It's just a... Oh, way more than Gilded Age. The Gilded Age fans are not out there with the photos. I'm bringing her an alarm clock to sign.

All right, first pick. You also kind of can't go wrong because there's so many great stuff at the head of the wall here. I'm very, very, very curious about your methodology here. Do you have a sheet for every genre? Do you have a sheet for every category, rather? And I notice you have a cover page also so that I can't see. Yeah, right. And I have a master list at the back of how I see. This is very Peter Jennings. Did you have to find a printer at a Los Angeles hotel to do this?

No, I printed this at home in New York and brought it with me. Okay. With the first pick, in the 1982 draft, I will take, in the category of drama, the verdict. Yeah. You took it from me. So that was the... Was that the consensus number one overall?

It's the clear drama number one. Because drama has so much scarcity. Unless you want to start being like, well, you could say that there's drama scenes in this sci-fi movie or in this comedy, you know? I have some... Well, we can get into it, but I have some thoughts about movies that I think are considered one thing,

but should be considered another thing. And we can debate that here. The trick about the verdict is that it's also eligible in Blockbuster. It is. And I assume in Oscar. In Oscar, yes. This is Paul Newman's winning Oscar performance.

Is it? No, I thought it was Color of Money. Oh, you're right, Color of Money. Yeah, it should be. It should have been. Ben Kingsley won, and Ben Kings was not going to be denied that year. It was kind of a weird Oscar year in that way. A lot of people who weren't going to be denied that year meant that some other people who might've won the award in any other year didn't win.

And I think, you know, certainly I won't say it's Newman's best performance, but it's on the Mount Rushmore of Newman's best performances. No doubt. We are hoping to do an episode. He would have been 100 years old this year. So we're going to do an episode about his entire career. You just have to get through all of your, all your blu-rays. Yeah. I mean, those 1950s Warner Brothers films are not going to watch themselves. Who's going to watch the young Philadelphians if I don't watch it? You know? I will. Okay. When's the last time you saw The Verdict? We actually did do it on the rewatchable. Roughly two and a half years ago I want to say. Fantastic episode. Bill has a great

affection for the movie as well. A Boston movie though filmed in New York and just bang on brilliant performances in the whole movie. James Mason also fantastic. James Mason never won a competitive Academy Award. Crazy talk. Unbelievable. Also I was thinking. James Mason also fantastic in this movie. James Mason never won a competitive Academy Award. Crazy talk. Unbelievable. Also, I was thinking of James Mason, your boy Brady Corbet recently was mentioning that the Guy Pearce character very clearly modeled

on a James Mason in this era kind of figure, which was like old- I can't remember, what was the story with this? It's like Mammoth wrote the script, then they had 10 people rewrite it, and then they begged him to come back and just rewrite his. Well, I think eventually Lumet got his hands on the, on the Mammoth script and was like,

why aren't we making this? This should be the one we're making. I think there was some tinkering with it after from Mammoth's original version of it, but it's Mammoth's best screenplay. Yeah, without question. It's an incredible screenplay. It's worthy of study that screenplay. It's a great piece of work. Bruce Willis, anybody? Bruce Willis? An extra? Standing in the courtroom. Very visible.

You can see him in that wide shot when he gives the final... Yeah. Yeah. It's like really the reason half-ass internet research category of rewatchables exists is for scenes like that. You know who's a motherfucker is Milo O'Shea. He is a motherfucker. He's so good.

The judge. He's wonderful on this panel. He's a great judge. He's a great judge. He's a great judge. He's a great judge. He's a great judge. He's a great judge. He's a great is for scenes like that. You know who's a motherfucker is Milo O'Shea. He is a motherfucker.

He's so good. The judge. He's wonderful in this movie, but he is like one of the great villains in movie history. Andre Bartokiak as well shot the movie and he was just given an award at the ASC Awards over the weekend by Michael Douglas for his work as a cinematographer. He shot many great Lumet movies. Wow. Yeah.

Great fact. Fun timing. Charlotte Rampling. She's great. On your all-time list. She is on my all-time list. She is absolutely on my all-time list. Mind you.

You know? She gets slapped by Paul Newman in this. Very publicly. It's a punch. It's not what you want. At like a hotel lobby. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not ideal.

These were the times, 1982. Some were working in drive-ins, some were slapping women in bars. Okay, you're next. No, you're next. No. Am I next? I'm third? You're next. Yeah, I have the turn. Okay.

Great pick, Tracy. That was the right pick. I just deleted that off my list. So that's how you know you did it correctly. That was the right pick. Alright, for Oscar nominee, I'm gonna take ET. Okay. Okay. That is partially out of category scarcity. Also adore ET.

Okay. Truly beautiful film and hoping I can get something else I like on the term. So... Okay. Ian, I'm getting what would have been my number one pick. something else I like on the term. So... Okay. In... I'm getting what would have been my number one pick. From a strategy perspective.

Okay. In thriller, action, horror, sci-fi, I will be taking Blade Runner. Mm-hmm. Which is... God damn it, didn't really see that coming. Yeah! You need to be ready for that. Well, she was like, I didn't watch the things.

I was like, maybe? Yeah, I've seen Blade Runner. And I live in Los Angeles. You know? Like, come on. Team Ridley forever. He's probably my second favorite of Ridley's movies after Alien, but like, in terms of the influence and, you know, we say this every time. It's like a very weird, hazy day in Los Angeles or a hazy evening.

And you're just like, oh, it's Blade Runner time. And creating an entire world and cinema language, that's number one. Not only is that the right pick, that's the right order. Okay. Alien, then Blade Runner. Thank you so much.

I appreciate your support. Watch the final cut on Saturday night, I think. Five Star Masterpiece, just so gorgeous. Just such an incredible experience. Do you have a favorite cut? Favorite release? I've kind of gotten them confused over the years. I do believe I've watched the final cut the most because it was... Was it first issued on...

D-Laser disc? I don't even know. No, there was like a... I don't know when they first put that out. He kind of... There was like an anniversary version that stripped away the voiceover. But he didn't do the remastering and like the color corrections or anything like that. And there are some criticisms of this last version of it

where people think he got... It's too teal or something like that. Like they don't love it, but I thought it was incredible. Did you know I don't... I don't care about director's cuts. I mean, I don't care about director's cuts? I mean, I don't think they make any difference. They all look alike to me.

I mean, the VO difference is notable. Like, because Deckard is really present in the beginning of the film, just kind of being like, and then this is this guy, and this is this guy, and like, so. But they're all kind of the same movie. I mean, even when I watch like the different versions of Orson Welles' Mr. Arcada, I'm

like, they're all great. They're all great. They're all kind of the same movie. Yeah, I guess they're kind of different, but... There are some movies that, you know, excise entire characters and then they restore 40 minutes or in the case of Kingdom of Heaven, speaking of Ridley Scott, two hours of a movie that can be meaningfully different. I never watched the Napoleon.

I never did either. The Napoleon extended cut. I was waiting for someone to be like, he did it. This is amazing. That did not come through the trend, so no one really. You were just kind of like an extra 40 minutes. I mean, I liked the original. I enjoyed it as well.

You have a good pick, don't you? I do, and thank you for letting me Google. In drama, I will be taking what I think this is 100% eligible for drama despite its title and it is the king of comedy. Ah, okay. What, you're not gonna take it? I mean, I understand the comedies in the-

No, no, no, no, I was just technically released in the US in 83, wasn't it? No, no, it's 82. Oh, is it? No, no, it's 82. You're right on 82. And I think you're fine to take it in drama. Okay. I mean, it, you know. More drama than comedy, probably.

Yeah, the most underrated of the Scorsese in my opinion. It was released in the US in 83. Oh, no. Which is usually what the rule is. Oh, no. It's on my, wait, wait. It was released in Iceland in December 18th, 1982. Oh dear.

That's tough. How did we fuck this up? February 18th, 1983 in the United States. Alright, Mr. Letterbox. Wasn't it on your list? What the fuck's through the research? I've had it on all my lists. Weren't you the ombudsman of my list?

It was. Total miss. Total miss. I was wondering why Infinity War was on the 1980s. Yeah, it did keep him here. And there's the New York, the... Perhaps it was a bear trap that I said. ...Vincent Cammie, 1983. All right. Well, I'm pretty fucked here now. Man, I'm sorry. I'm... It's okay. It's not your fault. I appreciate your support.

I guess... Chris, that would have gotten right by me. Wow. I mean... You can always count on me to really be buttoned up. Was that payback for... No, it wasn't. It was... Blade Runner?

I didn't mean to be... I wasn't being dick. I was actually just saving us from a bunch of like, actually... Well, actually, oh, from people. Okay. So what am I going to do here? Oh God. I'm mortified.

I don't... This is going to bother me. Well, it's a great pod moment. That's really all I care about. Yeah. I'm upset about. This is gonna bother me. Well, it's a great pod moment. That's really all I care about. Yeah. I'm upset about this, but that's okay. Better you than me. Okay, take a deep breath.

I would have absolutely, come back to me. I would have absolutely taken King of Dolls. Of course. I had it at the top of my comedy list. Did it not have a festival premiere? I was literally just Googling, like, you know, but it doesn't seem... Surprising that it wouldn't play New York in the fall. It was not appreciated. No, but before its release, you might imagine...

Well, sure, I don't know. It was Martin Scorsese. Yeah, but they were... I don't know. This film did bombed pretty profoundly. So, I... 19 million dollar budget, 2.5 million dollar box office for a Robert De Niro movie in 1982, directed by Martin Scorsese. And it is, again, clearly on the Mount Rushmore... $19 million budget, $2.5 million box office for a Robert De Niro movie in 1982 directed by Martin Scorsese.

And it is again, clearly on the Mount Rushmore, my route much more of Martin Scorsese. Mine as well. Five star masterpieces. Yeah. Not for me. Okay, so the next film is not a five star Martin Scorsese masterpiece,

but it does have sentimental value to me. And I am gonna stay in drama. Well... Oh my. Am I gonna do this in drama or am I gonna do it in Oscar? I don't know, I can get frisky with Oscar later. Okay, I'm gonna do it in drama, even though I don't really think any of you will take this. I mentioned earlier that because of my age, I was sort of like beholden to what my parents showed me from this year for a long time. And there was very like a famous 1982 movie that my wonderful father who taught me almost everything

I know about movies, sat me down for and said, okay, this is it. You're like, here we go. I know where you're going. Yeah, and like here is, this is cinema. I can't wait to share this with you. I'm an only child. It was a real father, daughter moment.

And he put on Barry Levinson's Diner. Nice. And my response was, dad, I'm seven. And what the hell is this? What's going on with this popcorn, mom? Do you think she was prepping you for this exact day? But it does, you know, it all adds up, right? We do see how, you know, Diner in 1989 led to where I am today.

You're barkin' right now. I have since seen it and like it very much. Not as much as my dad, who is just like the only person in the world looking forward to the new Barry Levinson film. Like, the Alto Knights. You know, like does Tin Men speeches like at Christmas dinner? I don't know what, like my dad. Tin Men.

Yeah. That's the forgotten one. He's just like, that's really underappreciated and just reenacts it. It's a good movie. It is a good movie. And you know, you have met my dad. He's not like prone to just reenacting films anywhere, especially at Christmas dinner. But Diner is the classic and a great movie.

Should this be Knox's debut when we do the Alto nights and he can talk of the cinema of Levinson. Sure. We can call him in. I think the last time that I volunteered him on this podcast, it was his reaction to Amelia Perez and he was like, I did not know that was going to be public. Fair. I'll, I'll give him a call, but anyway. He was particularly fond of Carla Sofia.

Yeah. Sorry, you've taken this in drama, yes? I have, yes. I mean, it does have comedic elements, but I think ultimately, like a coming of age drama. It could go either way. I think that the- Absolutely. Okay.

Do you see it this way that the blurring of the genre labels was more common then versus now? Not necessarily. Okay. I don't think so. I think there are just some things that are comedy dramas. And I think we just happened to hit on a couple of them here, King of Comedy and Diner definitely fall in that category. It was a real moment, that movie, certainly in the, in these young actors' lives,

right? It was that ensemble. And it was, I remember clearly that it was, there was a real call again for an ensemble acting award at the Academy Awards as a result of movie. Diner, right stuff, right around the same time. People were saying these movies are just not going to be honored at the Academy Awards for performances, but the ensembles of these movies absolutely should be. Do you think that would be a good thing? Yeah.

I don't know. I'm not quite sure I understand why that isn't the case, why that doesn't exist, that particular award. Because obviously this set we, last night, were pre-taping this, the SAG Awards happened last night, Conclave won, Best Ensemble. Right. That would be a way to honor that film at the Academy Awards. All award shows need more famous, like visible, need more performing categories.

It's a great way to put more performers on stage to win awards. Yeah, I agree. We want to keep the crafts too, but you just, you want some famous people on the screen. Yeah. And if you went back, you would find a movie every year, going back in time where you said, well, that would have been the Ensemble Award winner

for that year. You've just given me a great idea episode. To do the Ensemble Award for every year? It's a wonderful idea. Diner, I saw at the USA Film Festival, I think that's what it's still called, it's the Dallas Film Festival. I used to make my dad take me down there to see some movies around that time. That's awesome.

Yeah, I saw Diner before it was released. Wow. Terrific, terrific movie. It's a great movie. I believe, is it your pick, Chris? Well, we'll just get a little chalky here. And I got ET and Oscar. I'll take 48 hours in Blockbuster. Okay. I guess to our previous conversation, 48 hours, is it comedy?

Because Eddie Murphy goes nuclear five times in this movie. It's a big screen debut. Otherwise a violent cop drama. It's screened at you. Otherwise a violent cop drama. It's just like a 1970s cop movie. Yeah. And like the last half of it or the last 40 minutes of it are essentially like a chase through San Francisco. But it's a great San Francisco cop movie too.

I do feel like this... You and Bill reference 48 Hours on rewatchables. More than almost any other. We were just in Austin, Texas. There's a chain in Austin called Torchies, which is also the bar that Eddie Murphy goes into in 48 hours. And we made a lot of 48 hours jokes because of that. It seemed like a very nice Torchie. Is that a chain of some kind?

It's become a chain, I think, yeah. Okay. But 48 hours, Finn? Oh, absolutely. And I saw it not long ago, in fact. For the first time in a very long time. And I was really taken by what an 80s movie it is. I mean, I know what you say is true, that it could very much be a 70s buddy, top buddy picture. But the look of that film,

the way the climax of that film plays out, I mean, I think it really set a template for action movies like Hollywood that lasts to today. And to see those guys in their big shoulder pads and the neon and the smoke in the alley, I mean, it's just like, oh my God, it was mimicked so many times. Such, it's just like, oh my God, it was mimicked so many times. Such, it's such an influential movie. It's, I don't know if it's my favorite Walter Hill movie.

I don't know if it's my favorite Nick Nolte or Eddie Murphy movie, but it's a terrific, it's just terrific. And it's so trend setting. It's unbelievable. I will say also perhaps the best year anyone had, the best 1982 anyone had was Brian James, who was in 48 Hours and Blade Runner. He was also in the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez that year, which is a movie I just watched for the first time.

How did you get that? How did you pull that out of your back pocket? Because I'm a big fan of Brian James' work, and I had clocked him in the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez and thought, wow, this cast is absolutely stacked. And I, like Bill, find the retconning of his character in another 48 hours to be a crime against cinema. That he was actually the killer. Yeah, that's not ideal.

Spoilers for another 48 hours. But he does have kind of that energy. Sure. You could see why he was kind of. He was great. He was a really great actor. That's a mighty good pick, that 48 hours. That's good stuff.

Not really one of my movies to be honest. I don't dislike it or anything, but I just never- Are you saying that just to be different? No, I didn't see it when I was young. I didn't see it till I was like 30. What's your favorite Eddie Murphy blockbuster from that period? Oh, good question.

Like his acting. I saw Trading Places first and a lot. And I love that movie. But I think- Probably To America is a big one for me. I'm with him where Trading Places got handed down and 48 Hours for Whatever is just, like I've seen it, but I more know it through you and Bill referencing it.

But everything that Tracy said about it, like setting the template for the buddy. And I've heard you guys talk on the show before about the minting of movie stars and how rare and difficult it seems to be these days. This year, 1982, we'll get to some more of it, but oh my God, Eddie Murphy is just like, you've graduated.

And he was 22. I mean, he was so young. I think he was 20. 20, that's unbelievable. And just like, you're in, you've graduated, you are a movie star and you're gonna get your first choice of material.

It's unbelievable. Yeah. And there was a palpable sense in the movie theater, sitting there in an audience like that guy's a movie star and we'll follow him anywhere. Really great. Is it my pick? It is. It is.

I don't know where you're going to go here. I'm curious. I'm going to go to all the right places. Okay. So how many of your, how's your strategy going right now? Anything off the board? Okay. That's great.

We just like to, you know, check in any, any feedback you want to give us, you know, far away through the draft. This is one of my most populist. I'm okay. It could get a little dacy. A little gamey. No verdict and no king of comedy. Is, you know, yeah, that was the cross air.

That was like a one to that I that I needed. But I actually rewatched Emily in Paris for the fourth time. You could have been boning up. We could also I mean, this may be this. And I loved it. And it's evil. But I love it. It's her zero day performance. This might be a good place where Amanda could trade me Blade Runner for ET and a pick.

You know, we could get some action going. You would give up a pick? No, I would move up in front of her maybe on one round or something. I would welcome it if you so chose. I love ET, but that was a good pick. OK. In thriller, action, horror, sci-fi,

I will take The Road Warrior. Yeah. Yeah. This was number two on my board. Speaking of fully minted movie stars, it's just like, oh my god. It was just like, that guy's a movie star, and I'll follow him anywhere. To my mind, I think it's the greatest action movie ever made. It's number one on my action movie list.

You know, I think Bill Hader said the same thing to me once upon a time. Well, Bill Hader is also from Tulsa, Oklahoma. That's very true. And The Road Warrior has a lot of resonance for us there these days. Similar vibes. Mel Gibson's favorite of the three for what it's worth. It is his favorite. Quite a year for him, 1982. He was living dangerously.

Another Australian film. He was an amazing movie star. He was, I mean, again, that sense in a movie theater when a guy comes out and you're just like, I'll follow you anywhere. Yeah. You don't have to do anything. I'm totally with you. And of course, the incredible action.

It's just, it's a great thrilling and it holds up. Some of those things, you know, you look at an action movie from the 1960s, you look at some early Bond and it's like, that thing holds up. You can see all the, you know, they hear about the Spielberg brain chemistry where he knows how to block a scene better than anybody. And it's all in his head. The George Miller is very similar where you can see even with limited resources. He knows exactly what he wants. Because the first one is like doesn't quite go full dystopia.

And the third one has Tina Turner, which I love, but also some other stuff. It's such a great story, too. It's like just like on a very basic foundational, like these guys are safe, but stuck and they have to make a run for it. It's such an awesome cinematic thing to watch. There's a cool thing in that movie when he steps forward to say, I'm the one, I'm the one, I'm the one who will drive you. There is behind him, John Wayne. I don't know if it's a cardboard cutout. I don't know if it's a guy who looks like John Wayne, who's dressed like John Wayne.

I mean, watch it again and look for the guy behind him. It's hard to take your eyes off the smell, but there's a guy behind him who's definitely put there to evoke that silhouette. At Desjardins, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardins Business, we speak the same language you do, business.

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researchers, and their patients come together to ignite breakthroughs. Carry the Fire launches Monday, January 27th, wherever you get your podcasts. Are you crushing your bills? Defeating your monthly payments? Sounds like you're at the top of your financial game. So Road Warrior comes off my board. Fortunately, I did already take the thing. So I'm not too wounded by that. I have two picks. Do you find that there's scarcity in Blockbuster? To some extent. It's an interesting Blockbuster. I've also taken two Blockbusters with my first two picks, even though I already selected, you know what I mean? Like I have, I kind of took up a little bit of...

space here with mine. There were honestly strategic picks for a man known to pick with his heart. I neglected to cite the threshold for the Blockbuster category this time around, and I should share it. You guys knew this ahead of time, but it was $40 million or more was the threshold that we're using. There are 16 films eligible in Blockbuster. So far three are off the board. ET, The Extraterrestrial, 48 Hours, and The Verdict.

I'm not sure if my heart is really calling to me on any of these though, even though there's some scarcity. Well, I wanna- There's some brand names. There are definitely some brand names and some movies I dig for sure. How would you- how does this sound to you? Hmm. Is the film First Blood a drama? Hmm.

You haven't seen it, so you can't weigh in. So that was going to be- this is an interesting- Because it's not Rambo 2. This is First Blood. This is the first film. You haven't seen it, it's not Rambo 2. This is first blood is the first film. You haven't seen it. You can't wait. This is this is a character. Do what you want. Is the character study? I have seen it because I edited the Vietnam series.

Oh, OK. So you would say that this is to. I was just making a joke. Yeah. Eat it. Um, I mean, you're right that it's not Rambo 2. I don't know. It's Are We Feeling Generous? What would you have done if she had taken Blade Runner in drama? I think it's probably more appropriate if you wanted to have a delineation that it'd be in a thriller than in a drama. I don't know if it has a classic dramatic elements.

Rambo is a character study about a Vietnam veteran. Mm-hmm. It does have action elements, but they're not as big and bold as you might think. It is described on Wikipedia as an action film. I'm a guest. No, no, no, no, no, no. Feel free to weigh in. I'm curious what the room thinks. When you're listening to these and somebody does a little bit of a backdoor, you know,

category fraud exercise like this, or do you get mad? It's totally subjective. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. You're being too polite. I will say that I have seen dudes do the monologue from the end of this as audition pieces. Have you? Wow. I have. It's just like, that's, it doesn't work. There's some good acting in this movie.

Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy are all excellent in this movie. It's a very good movie. It's very well acted. Ted Kochoff was a terrific director. Very good. Underrated. Weird career. Weird career. Weird sort of all over the place. Very good. Underrated. Very underrated. Weird career.

Weird career. Lots of all over the place. Yeah. North Dallas 40. Great movie. Wake in Fright. His best movie. A great film.

Australian thrillers. He did Fun with Dick and Jane. I just watched a Ted Kochoff movie that I was like, holy shit, this is good. And he was Canadian? Ted Kochoff. What was it? He was Canadian. Yeah, I believe he was Canadian.

Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. He had a very odd career. This is his... If you say it's an action movie, I accept. I'm willing to accept it. As a drama? Until the great 1983 snafu, you were going to accept King of Comedy in drama. And I think, you know, that is a drama with some literal comedic elements.

So, I'm okay. I'll open it. Rambo 2, obviously not. No, no. That's the thing is the franchise becomes very different after this movie. And I think partially because the movie was sold on this very famous Drew Struzan poster, who drew the Star Wars posters, where he's holding an automatic rifle on the cover with the bullet. Bandolier. Yeah, the bandolier. Thank you. Glad I could help.

Yes, a man who knows his artillery. And that's... It's a geography. You were very ready. I'll take first blood in drama. We'll see how the streets react. I don't really give a shit what the streets say. He says now.

Yeah. Your approval rating. Now, wait a minute. We do get to now make snarky comments about the fact that you've chosen it in drama. Of course, guys. And we accept it and then we make snarky comments. Yeah, of course. Make your comments.

Okay. I will say, you know what I am? I'm not, I'm not disallowing it. I'm surprised. Maybe I'm a little disappointed. There's lots of, there's lots of dramas, especially for a fiend like yourself who loves to scour obscure films. I'm surprised you're not like, oh, this, this, this.

Honestly was disappointed by a lot of the dramas that I visited preparing for this episode. Not disappointed by other categories. I feel like there's a bounty in other categories, but like without naming names, these are often the third or fourth or fifth favorites of some of my favorite directors that were made this year. So I chose not to go with that. Well, blow our minds, man.

You choose twice, don't you? I do. I have another pick. Did you have a snarky comment you wanted to share? Not yet. Okay. I'll save it. I'll save it for when I need it. In Blockbuster?

Yeah. Which I think I need to take right now before things get unfortunate. I will take Poltergeist. I watched this. You did? Yeah. I mean, because obviously the little girl with the hands on the TV is an iconic image.

So I was like, oh yeah. CR every Sunday night. I would have taken it. Watching Zero Day. How did you feel as a homeowner watching this? You've taken poltergeist. It was more like that's how I feel about TVs. You know?

And you took it in... Blockbuster. Blockbuster. You moved the headstones, but you didn't move the bodies. This is a very chilling line reading in this movie. You know, Tobe Hooper, the great Tobe Hooper, director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, perhaps the most influential of the horror filmmakers.

This movie long rumored to have been a... Shadow Spielberg. Yes, a co-work with Steven Spielberg, which I think has been largely debunked at this stage. Mostly because Spielberg himself has shouted down that rumor from the beginning. That is not the case. Not true.

A film that absolutely changed my brain chemistry and violently upset me as a young kid. And probably one of the significant movies that put me on the path that I'm in now and seeing every horror movie that is made that I can get my hands on. And I thank it for it. Yes.

We've made great hay of it over the years. It's been a lot of fun. The peeling of the skin while looking in the mirror will live with me forever. Obviously, a film about getting stuck inside the machinery of our obsessions, a film about real estate and why it is evil and dangerous, and especially real estate agents, and their evil. Beautiful, sad, weird movie that just so happened to completely capture the American consciousness.

What movie, what number was it this year? It was the eighth highest grossing movie of this year and made $76 million right in front of the best little whorehouse in Texas. And it did that thing that ET did too, right? It had that Spielberg suburban real, here's a real family and something extraordinary could happen in the most ordinary of places. Yes. And that kind of glow around it too, where you felt like there was something special, the poster, the iconography of the movie.

It's really beautifully made too. It's, I mean, it's really effectively made. All right, I have a pick. What am I gonna do? What do you think I'm gonna do? Drama, sci-fi, Oscar nom, blockbuster. This is where everything gets real interesting. I think a lot of our,

the big titles are kind of off the board now. Comedy. Couple, couple left. I think it depends on what you think about some of these classics. Well, you took First Blood off that list. You took First Blood in drama. I did. Not in Blockbuster.

Correct. Okay. All right. I make no bones about this. I'm taking Tootsie in comedy. Okay. Okay. So speak about this movie.

Yes. Well, first of all, behind the scenes, you've got Larry Gelbart and Murray Shiskill and Elaine May, uncredited, right in the screenplay. And in front of the camera, you've got Terry Gar and Dabney Coleman and Bill Murray at their peak powers. So you just have some comedy geniuses working on this thing. And it was from a time when a comic script was constructed, right? It wasn't just people riffing in front of a camera until they hit on something

funny, this thing was constructed with jokes and scenes and arcs and building toward a climax intended to be seen in the theater. And this is something, here's where I pull my old man card on you all. This is something that had to be experienced in a movie theater. Because if you watch this at home, after the reveal at the end, right? Spoiler alert. After he reveals that he is in fact the actor Michael Dorsey, when you watch this at home, you will note that for about two minutes, there's just Dustin Hoffman in this ridiculous accent saying over and over again,

I'm whatever his name is supposed to be. I'm Michael Dorsey. And it goes on that long because you couldn't hear the dialogue in the theater because of the screams and the gasps and the laughter. It was an explosive reaction in the theater that lasted for minutes. It went on for minutes. And it's because of the construction of that screenplay. It builds to that moment. Of course, Pollock's a great director and knew how to orchestrate all of that.

It's a great kind of thing that we don't, right with our siloed comedy worlds and watching everything on our phones and YouTube, you don't have that experience as much anymore as you had watching a movie in the movie theater. It's great. I do wonder whether or not you could make an argument that everybody bemoans the death of theatrically released comedies and I think it's usually ascribed to like the changing senses of humor of the movie going public or what is and isn't funny

But I wonder if it's equally because they stopped writing them like writing through like as a film with comic elements rather than Here's an scenario where these people can essentially improvise like you're saying like kind of like that post-Adam McKay Apatow style of making a movie where it's like Rogan and friends kind of joking around. It's interesting. This has been in the news recently because Judd Apatow at the DGA Awards, I think it was, said, if someone wrote and produced The Hangover today, it would make a billion dollars. That there is still a huge desire to have that exact experience that you're talking about. But he didn't say this part, but I think this is true.

Movies like Tootsie, like The Hangover, made studios too greedy about comedy that if a movie could not make $500 million, they should not make one that makes $72 million. Well, and certainly we shouldn't spend $50 million to make it and give it like a set piece and have a lot of locations. It should be a house in Vancouver where people just like joke with each other. But Tootsie, I would say honestly,

not to bring you into my drama, but literally, but Tootsie is kind of like first blood in that it's a comedy, but it's a very sad movie about a confused, desperate person with really like high dramatic stakes. I mean, you really, you laugh a lot, but it's taken quite seriously. Yeah. And, I mean, well, I'm just going to repeat myself a bunch.

It's just, it's so, it's really effective. It's really, and it was very smart that Dustin Hoffman is the guy to play that part and to investigate that character in the very real circumstance that you're talking about, right? That he's a guy who's going to say, what's this guy all about? He's not just playing for laughs, right? He's playing a larger thing than that. comic construction. I guess it's become complicated by some current politics, but I don't know. I don't see it. I don't think it has really fallen into that slipstream as much. I think Dustin Hoffman's identity as a public person has fallen into some complexity for sure. But I think it's still seen as like a watershed movie of the 1980s. Okay, great pick. Also when you look at the blockbuster numbers, right, ET is so far ahead of everything else, but Tootsie is actually so far ahead of everything else in the second spot because you wanted

that experience in the movie. $177 million in America in 1982 for a character comedy is amazing. Yeah. Okay, next pick, CR. Yeah, in comedy, I'll take Fast Times. Damn it. Yeah, the comedy rush has begun. Which in...

We did this for rewatchables relatively recently. What did you say? I just deleted it from my list. That's what I was gonna pick next. Is actually like 70% of drama. You know, like when you watch it. Same. Yeah. It's the whole Jennifer J.Sully plot. Yeah.

But it's just an incredible slice of life. Gosh, I'm trying to think of what my favorite performance... The Reinhold stuff is so good. Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh are so good in it. D'Amone is an iconic character. She's great. Phoebe Cates is just really important. Yeah.

And Hector Ling and Crow. I wish they had made more movies together. I do too. So good. Yeah. So good. You were 16 when this movie movies together. I do too. So good. Yeah. So good. So, I mean. You were 16 when this movie came out. I know.

And it's the same year as Porky's. Right? Don't spoil your next pick. Which is, which doesn't hold up. No, no. Didn't really hold up in 1982. Some choices in that one, yeah. But Fast Times felt more like high school.

Yeah. Uh, even though it was not a high school, I, it was not my high school, God knows, but the, the, uh, the mold culture and, uh, the relationships and it just felt very, it just felt a lot more relatable. Yeah. Than a lot of the, of course, this was, we were, we were just getting into the teen comedies, right? We're just coming out of slashers and moving into teen comedies for the teen dollar.

Uh, cause there was, I mean, John Hughes was what a year away, I think. 83. Yeah. So it, like a freight train was coming and, uh, yeah, it's great. Great movie. Great pick. It must've been nice to grow up in California. That would have been cool.

You always say that. I just love California. Yeah. It's just an amazing place. It's so beautiful here. Everybody's just really getting after it. When I was watching the SAG awards did a nice like tribute to LA. A montage.

Well, and they were during like the breaks, which is essential, Sean. I thought it was a nice telecast. No, but they were very nice. And I was like, oh yeah, well now I just like I'm movie pilled. So that's why I love Los Angeles so much. And I see it through those eyes. But I agree with you. That's why we like living here.

It's like being here. I was going to take Fast Times in comedy. So sorry. I'm sorry. I am sorry. I gotta be honest. was gonna take Fast Times in comedy, so... Sorry. I'm sorry. I am sorry. I gotta be honest. Like, you have betrayed our alliance a little bit on this one. In this one? Wow.

Yeah, because... We meaningfully coexist. We don't have to get into who threw the first rock, but you knew I was gonna take Blade Runner. Well, I had to, strategically. Yeah, I could have taken it the first time, I guess. I mean, you really, you just volunteered that little info about King of Comedy, you know? Oh yeah, that's true, I'm sorry.

No. I think you could've had Diner in Comedy, I think. I could've had Diner in Oscar. Oh, you're concerned about Oscar now? Well, I mean, no, I'm just gonna do what I have to do, but like, I don't love it. It's not a great Oscar year. Where's my fucking Oscar sheet? great Oscar Fucking Oscar sheet. This is why every movie is eligible, right? Not just the big categories I just list the big category so there it is more expanded than you might think

Yeah, but like Oscar sheet is missing. I'll get there. Oh, I'm good. No, I'm good. Okay, you're good Like I know it's fine, but I don't really love a lot of the special ones. Diner was sort of like my back pocket and I had to use it. And frankly, I'm looking at the list now and I just forgot to watch Victor Victoria. Could have just faked it. That's not going to happen. I do, you know. What have you got on your board? You got blader under great pick. Yeah, you got diner great pick

Those are your two. I think so. Yeah, and I get two more. Okay. Okay. So one thing I know I'm gonna do in comedy I do have a backup the other Cindy Lumet film from 1982 death trap. Oh great pick Yeah, which is a great pick and then like a very Amanda pick, you know, like a puzzle. What category? Comedy. Comedy, yeah. Um, movies sold as a mystery drama, but this is actually a comedy. Yes, but it's actually, yeah.

Um, and a send up of a type of, of, of film, you know, and Agatha Christie, like whodunit, that I like very much. Great performances. Shout out to Iain Cannon. Um, funny movie about a playwright. Yeah. True, too. It's all true. All true.

Okay, so that's comedy. Good Christopher Reeve performance, too. Yes, wonderful. Yeah. The turn, I don't want to... If you haven't seen the film, Death Trap, check it out. It's a fun night at the movies. It's really, really good. Okay.

So I guess I gotta go in Oscar because I'm just pretty thin on the ground and I've been like scrolling up and down on the Wikipedia page while everyone's been talking. And I don't have that many options left. So speaking of movie stars and movie star, well I guess he was already a movie star at this point, but an officer and a gentleman. He's starring starring Richard Gere. Yep. In Oscar. Yes. In Oscar. The late great Louis Costa Jr. Yes. Do you just wish Zach would sometimes come by the

podcast studio and sweep you off your feet like that? I mean, it is such a great... It's a ridiculous great ending. Yeah. And a great rewatchables that launched one of your... Byron Mayo, yeah. Best characters, but... Robert Loggia tugging at his boxers. But what stays with me... So much lower pelvis in that sequence.

It is really confusing. But what stays with me is like Bill's imitation of the other woman yelling like, way to go. You know, it's so ridiculous. And in a lot of ways it's like, I don't really remember the 80s because of my age, but if I were to like think of the 80s and 80s movies, it is just sort of an officer and gentleman,

like sentimental and then really confusing moments like the whole Byron Mayo situation, you're like, why is this happening? Not sad parts to like the whole very sad stuff. Not not totally realistic, but also you just got to hand it to them at the end with that last bit and the song, so. I think of many episodes that we record together as that sequence where Gossip Jr. and Gear fight in a barn. And you're like,

why are these two people fighting each other? What are they proving to each other? But you know, it's the emotional connection that you build with your betters, you know? And that's a weird movie. It's weird how big it was. You can understand with the betters, you know? And that's a weird movie. It's weird how big it was. You can understand with the component parts, but when you watch it, it has a lot of oddity to it,

but it's still effective. So this is like one of the best episodes of that show that we've ever done for sure. It definitely was. Officer Gillan? I find that like, so 78 to like 84, again, just because of when I was born I find that like, so 78 to like 84, again, just because of when I was born and like when I like, you know, came online

and started watching things, there are, well, you know, booted up for a while. There's a certain generation of actor and actress who like, it just remained a total mystery to me. And I feel like I'm always like, I just want to watch everything to kind of get like, okay, why was this person a thing? Like why was Deborah Winger a thing?

And Deborah Winger is like a thousand percent. And obviously like very beautiful and has chemistry with Richard Gere, but I just, I feel like I lost the moment. And I guess this is the closest. No, I mean, it's terms of a dear man, but. You, you starred in a film. It's everywhere. I did. I had a great time working with her.

Yeah. She was very good, but I just like, I know that she was the biggest movie star. She was huge. Yeah, huge. And I just feel like I totally, by the time I was paying attention, she'd retired or whatever she was doing. She was beautiful and charismatic and funny and interesting. And you know, we, when we made that movie, The Lovers,

we were one of those situations where you meet somebody in a makeup trailer before you're gonna be making out with them as a married couple for the first time in half an hour's time. And our- Why do they always do that scene first in shooting? I don't know, but we, in our conversation, and we got on great from the get-go,

but she asked me about doing the gig and I said, look, it's interesting territory for me. I've not played a lot of, I've not played any leading roles on film. I've played a lot of character parts. That's what I do. And she said, well, the responsibilities are a little different.

And I said, oh, talk to me about that. And she said, well, when you're further down on the call sheet, the responsibility is to keep the story moving, right? Get the lines out and keep the story moving. And she said, and when you're the star of the movie, the responsibility is to be interesting.

And I had never heard it put quite that way. And it's what Deborah does so beautifully. She's just interesting. You just want to watch her. She's just fucking watchable. Yeah. I mean, and not to say that there isn't a lot of skill in what she's doing, a lot of, a lot of work that's gone into it, but she's just so damn watchable and appealing.

And yeah, she, she walked away from it when the roles started to get less interesting for her, but she's a big part of the success of that movie. The star power of her and Richard is, not to mention the great performance by Luke Ossoff Jr. Yeah. Big part of the success of that movie. Logia. Yeah.

Shout out Robert Logia. You have another pick? You took two? There was two. You took two. Death Trap and Men. World of the Guardian and Death Trap. Right, of course. An Officer and aordinated Arb and Death Trap.

Right, of course. Alright, Christopher Ryan. Alright, so I have to get a drama and I have to get a thriller action horror sci-fi and a wild card. Interesting, interesting, interesting. So drama, I'm very curious to hear where you go here. I don't have to do it right now. No, you don't. You go here. I don't have to do it right now. No, you don't.

You can wait. You don't have to do anything. I know. Do what you like. You can stand up and walk out of here. Where's the joy, Chris? Let's take a minute and find the joy. What do you love?

Because, you know. Well, I've just been so, it's just been like, I feel like I'm just ticking boxes on this one, you know? Well, that's too bad. That's what I'm saying. Let's break out. You know? What do we do to do that?

Give us some gusto. You've just gotten a firsthand account of what it's like to work with Deborah Winger. Bring something to the table for fuck's sake. Should I talk about when I first saw Slumber Party Massacre then? If that's as close as you can get, so be it. Gosh. Alright, I guess for the action horror thing, for action thriller horror sci-fi,

I'm gonna take Halloween 3 Season of the Witch. Whoa! Okay. I didn't see that coming. What happens in Halloween 3? Well, it's not a Michael Myers movie. This is a very generous question. Alright. Very controversial.

Halloween. 3 is very different. It's very is a very generous question. Alright. Thank you for making way for the whole... Are you saying Halloween? Yes. Three is very different. It's very different. Sean and I love it. It might be my second favorite. I think we said it was our second favorite. I think we ranked Halloween movies.

You did. I listened to that episode. 50% of people were like, you two get it. You're the ones. Yep. And then 50% of people were like, you should never podcast again. For putting Season of the Witch up there. Were you one of them?

You've never seen it. It's awesome. Oh, it's very cool to be. Okay, go ahead. It's basically like a side story. And it's like taking the energy of Halloween to tell like a different story about kids basically falling under the spell of a toy, evil toy company.

Okay. What kind of toy? It's like a little leprechaun, right? Silver shamrock, yeah. Yeah. And it's kind of like? It's like a little leprechaun, right? Silver shamrock, yeah. And it's kind of like a cult film, it's kind of like a corporate over like Big Brother movie. Kind of a brainwash movie.

Yeah, but it's... Where is the silver shamrock drawing the kids? They see it on TV. They see it in commercials. Right, right, right. But then what is he or she? I don't want to gender essentialize the leprechaun. The sort of factory, the HQ is somewhere in the desert, right?

Yeah, it's pure evil. Yeah. Oh, but so, yeah, but what are the kids doing? Like what is the leprechaun inspired the children to do? That's a good question. Making them sort of like dead-eyed soldiers for the cause. Malevolent forces. Okay, but like, so what's the fucked up stuff?

That's what I'm trying to get you to be like, so then like stabbing people in the arm, you have like marching kids. It's not specific about that part of it. You know, like in The Brood, the great David Cronenberg film, we watch the children are menacing people, you know, they're being very violent. This is more of insinuations of the evil. So it's a, this is probably a slightly divisive pick,

but I'm going to go with that. There's a couple of a slightly divisive pick, but I'm gonna go with that There's a couple of other horror still left over, but I might throw that in wild card So I'll take season of the witch here Well, you just you did the thing that Amanda asked you to you a personal pick a very cool 80s horror movie I can't believe you haven't seen that one. Yeah, I'm saying Good to you tracing. Yeah, you're up. You're up. You're up. Oh, it's me. Oh shit. Oh Geez, what do I have left? Blockbuster, Oscar, wild card.

Indeed. Hmm. Huh. Oh, now it does get a little tricky, doesn't it? It's a little tricky. It is a little tricky. What's my favorite movie on here? Not so easy when you're not driving in your car, listening to the pod at 1.2 speed. Oh, 1.2. Yeah, I do 1.2. I just guessed that, but many people do 1.2. Is that all right? That's all right, isn't it? I'm a busy guy.

You know what I do? Yeah, you many people do 1.2. Is that all right? It's all right, isn't it? I'm a busy guy. You know what I do. Yeah, you do, which is just absolutely. Two X, absolutely. I can't do it. You can't hear anything. Double speed, Sean? I've been doing two X for two years, Bobby. You listen to the watch on two X?

I listen to you guys at four X, trying to get through it as quickly as possible. That's not true. I listen to you at point five. I speak pretty fast. I want the episodes to be longer. I wish every episode was an hour longer. Slow it down But like how many hours a day do you have people speaking in your ears at 2x multiple?

I know cuz that is just a Psychological insight into like the world that you have a powerful instrument No, it's like you are living but how close are you to just in another chat? GPT summarize the Ringer Fantasy football episode for me? I would never do that. Why would I do that? Because you're trying to be as ambitious as possible.

You know you guys are about the only podcast that I listen to. That's very nice. How did you find the show? Was it Tim? I don't remember. Okay. You don't want to give Hitmaker any credit. It was 1982.

I think it was actually, I think it was Bill and gambling, sports gambling eventually brought me around. Brought you over? Yeah. You're an avid sports fan. Sam Darnold, not back, not back? We'll see. Are you guys both Jets, Mets? No, he's Vikings.

Vikings, Cubs, Bulls. Wow. This is Oklahoma. Okay. That we're pulling from. Was it parental that they, dad pushed you in a direction for certain teams? No, I just, Fran Tarkin was my childhood sportsman. Do you like the Sooners or the Oklahoma State Cowboys or college at all?

I kind of stopped following the college game a while back. Too corrupt? That's part of it, actually. Chris, you're pro NIL. Would you like to speak to it? I participate in a lot of collectives. In Blockbuster, I'm taking Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. This was right behind poltergeist for me. Now I projected Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan at the Plaza Theater, and that was a

– Plaza Theater had two carbon arc projectors, which was, they were tricky to operate. And I actually fucked that up and the screen went dark for about 20 minutes while I was projecting Star Trek 2, to a packed movie theater. I was worried that maybe you were going to put the last reel first or something like that. I didn't get an amount of order, but the screen went dark and I had to make a panicked call to my boss to get it. Can you talk about the transition from the difference between

Star Trek the motion picture, to two, and how this sort of saved whatever the Star Trek thing was? There is no Star Trek these days without Star Trek 2. Star Trek 2 saved the entire franchise. The first Star Trek movie was a disastrous misfire. Robert Wise was not the man to direct Star Trek. I don't know, in my own personal proclivities, I'm more of a Star Trek guy than a Star Wars guy. I think I prefer the, I don't know, there's something about the mission that's just so stupid and open-ended,

just like, we're just going out. We're just going out. We're just going to go and see what, see if we can get into some trouble. We might zap down there, see what's up, come back up. See what's going on. It's kind of the good hang of sci-fi franchises. They were so beautifully cast. Those characters were so specific. And, I mean, really Spock, what an amazing character, what an amazing cultural touchstone Spock, what an amazing character, what an amazing cultural

touchstone Spock was. And this movie brought it back to life. I mean, it was everything that you loved about the show. And I mean, Khan is just a great villain. Montalban. Montalban is just going for it, man. Truly. He's just eating the drapes. It's fantastic. It's a great time. It's a lot of fun, this movie. It really did rescue the franchise.

This is the one with the worms in the ears? Yes. That's great. I was shown this in sixth grade when a substitute teacher came in and did not want to teach the class. And he just put on Wrath of Khan. And it was wonderful. Really, truly, some of...

We really made American film students by like being like, I don't feel like teaching today, so we're watching Spartacus. Very, very exciting stuff. I read this. Nimoy did not want to come back for this, and he had to be convinced to come back, and that he lobbied hard for the death of Spock very early on, which then this becomes like a trilogy of movies,

two, three, and four. Two and four are by far my favorites. I think two and four are great movies, great adventure movies, really fun. I really, three and four. Two and four are by far my favorites. I think two and four are great movies. Great adventure movies. Yeah. Really fun. Um, I really, really liked that.

Great pick. Okay. I have two selections. Oh, fun data point for you. I also learned researching Star Trek two directed by Nicholas Meyer, who was an author before he was a director. The 7% solution. The 7% solution, a novel he wrote.

Uh, his daughter, Dylan, is engaged to Kristen Stewart. Oh, congratulations to them. I believe Dylan Meyer is also a filmmaker. Did you ever throw up a live long and prosper? I can't do it. I don't have the gene. This is a lot of practice as a kid. It's genetic. I think so, yeah.

You can do it or you can't do it. You look like Alice trying to do a peace sign right now. And she also can't do a peace. She always goes like this to do peace. Knox has started counting, but he's doing like the Inglorious Basterds 2 thing or whatever. I was like, I didn't know you could do it. You look like Alice trying to do a peace sign. She also can't do a peace. She always goes like this to do peace. Nox has started counting, but he's doing like the Inglorious Bastards 2 thing or whatever. I was like, I didn't know you could do that. He's starting glazing.

Uh, okay. So I have to select, I have Oscar open. And I have comedy open. Hmm. Comedy is an easy choice. Not because there are a lot of comedies, but there is one comedy remaining that I quite like, which is The World According to Garp. Directed by George Roy Hill, one of the early Robin Williams starring performances adapted from a John Irving novel. A very good novel. This is-

You're a John Irving guy? I read his- What is up with John Irving?, a very good novel. This is- You're a John Irving guy? I read his- What is up with John Irving? What do you mean? I mean, crazy shit happens in those books. And also I was given to all of, given all of them at like the age of seven. There's a lot of sex stuff. And then there's also just a lot of like carnival performers, right?

Yeah. Like he was a wrestler and then he went on the road. And people die randomly, but mostly sex stuff, I guess. I think there is a general weird energy that I would say has actually been adopted and comported into prestige television. It's like his movies don't seem as weird or the adaptations of his novels.

Have you seen Ozark? Honestly, they don't just seem as strange as they did in the 80s and then the 90s. I don't know why, I mean, his John Irving's novels were huge. I think that's why, and it's the same thing. It's like I was allowed to read Grisham and John Irving like before I was old enough. This is a very curious movie. Features an amazing performance from Glenn Close as Garp's mother, who is a very independent, forward thinking, feminist figure who becomes pregnant,

purposefully astride a dying soldier so that she can conceive and be a single mom. And she raises this unusual boy who goes on to become a writer, but just as he is starting to flower as a writer, she writes a kind of feminist manifesto that becomes one of the most popular non-fiction books, essentially in American history is sort of what the movie tells you or the story tells you. And then it becomes this interesting character piece about this complex relationship between these two figures. And it's also a romance about Garp and this woman that he falls in love with, but who

is unfaithful to him and he's such an odd character. Very, very strange movie. Funny but not in a laughing out loud way. You didn't have that tootsie experience that you would describe watching it. George Roy Hill also kind of getting a lot of his personal interests into this movie. There's very memorable sequence where a plane flies into a house. Reminds me of the great Waldo Pepper. Just a really good movie that I think has kind of been a little bit forgotten. Not by Bill Simmons. It is, Bill Simmons is a fan of the movie.

This was not eligible for box office, but there were quite a few Academy Award nominations, right? I believe so. Well, Glenn Close was nominated and- And John Lithgow. Yes, and John Lithgow were both nominated. And it's funny you mentioned that about Prestige TV because I've often thought,

why don't they go back and revisit some of this Irving stuff? I mean, the world, according to Garp and Cider House Rules are so ripe for that treat mark for the limited series. More so than almost than a movie form. Yeah. World According to Garp is a big story.

Yeah. Big sprawling stuff. And it spans a lot of time. Yeah. Anyway, really good movie. I like that world according to your heart is a big story. Yeah. Big sprawling. It spans a lot of time. Yeah. Anyway, really good movie. I like that movie a lot more than Cider House Rules. I think people were disappointed because they had certain expectations of Robin

Williams and of course he was trying to break out of a certain way that people saw him. It's a very low key character. It's not the zaniness that you would think. Anyway, uh, okay. I have another pick. And I'll be making it in Oscar. What did I say I wanted to do?

Only you and the voices in your head. So you didn't put Garp in Oscar, you took Garp in drama? I took Garp in comedy. Oh, comedy. Which would certainly be a also a comedy drama crossover. Yes. Hmm. Oscar. It's almost like you have a-

I think you watched Victor Victoria? You only did. You have a Sophie's Choice here. I have a lot of holes in the Blake Edwards filmography. That's not really one I've spent a lot of time with. I probably gotta go back. There's a really good series of episodes of You Must Remember This about Blake Edwards filmography. That's not really one I've spent a lot of time with. I probably gotta go back. There's a really good series of episodes

of You Must Remember This about Blake Edwards that was related to 10, as I recall, that made me wanna go watch a lot of those, especially those 70s and 80s movies. He hit a kind of new gear, starting with 10, that went through Victor Victoria, SOB. I have seen, what's the film with Jack Lemmon? Where he's living in his house.

That's Life. That's Life. Yeah, which is such a thinly veiled self-portrait. This is a crazy movie, super interesting movie. But anyway, I haven't seen a lot of those movies. I don't even know if I've seen Victor Victoria, to be honest with you. I'll take Dust Boat. Yeah, that's a good pick.

Which is Wolfgang Petersen's three and a half hour masterpiece about being trapped on a submarine and the absolute hell of that experience, which does reflect the occasional movie draft. Sometimes it does feel like, not to me, but I think maybe to some others on this panel. Is that how you feel? There are some days, especially in our old studios,

where we get a little stuffy. Which were audio only, but no windows, and they had a long, like a, what is the, they were long and narrow, a narrow quality to them. That is how I imagine a submarine would be. Yeah, this is a classic. The tight air, that air that you keep breathing in over and over. Our colleague, Juliette Lippman, has is a classic. The tight air, you know, that air that you keep breathing in over and over.

Our colleague Juliet Littman has a very classic, you know, like party question. Space or submarine? Where are you? Where would you prefer to go? Like to spend time or die? Yeah, I'm well either. The eternal question here. You mean like real, not like on the deck of the Enterprise, you mean like in an actual space capsule.

Yeah, like you're going to space or you're going in a submarine to the deep sea. I'm not going to either of those places. Okay, well, he brings up an interesting distinction, which is that I think when I think about wanting to be in outer space, it's often on like, you know, the spaceship from The Martian,

hanging out with Sebastian Stan. Well, I mean, that would be tough. That would be me with Jessica Chastain. Yeah. But, you know, likelihood is that more like you're just like in a rocket, you know. Right. That's true. Just kind of going up and down. I mean, I think they're both, you know, kind of like silent and oppressive and like the

great void and also some gravitational issues outside. I just have a real fear of being crushed at the bottom of the ocean. Me too. For me it's space, no question. Submarines are terrifying to me. And that's before all that other stuff. I won't even get in the goddamn thing to go up the top of the arch in St. Louis. So I'm not about to get in a fucking space cat. And yet you so memorably got in that car in Fort Faroe.

Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Just have you ever been in a submarine movie or a movie set in outer space? I have not been in a submarine movie. Okay. Or an outer space movie. That's all right. Bucket list. Yeah. Or a bucket. All right, you have another choice. Oh, Jesus Christ. Is it your final selection? No, I still have Oscar. Is this going as you expected it would go? Oh yeah. Okay. Oscar, have you seen the TV version of Das Boot? No. I wonder if it's any good. Is that more recent? Pretty recent. I

think in the last couple of years they did a limited series of Das Boot. And I don't know if it's any good. And I already did Blockbuster. So I have Oscar and wild card left. Oh, in Oscar I will take Missing. Okay, good. Okay. Uh, Costa Gavras movie.

Jack Lemmon. Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek. This is my latest screed. I think Sissy Spacek has been underrated. I don't think we talk enough about how great Sissy Spacek was. I think she was one of the greats. I think, and I, any conversation that doesn't include her as one of the greats, I just, I just disagree with it. And to watch that movie now, I've seen it not, not that long ago. It's really interesting to note the difference in performance styles between what Sissy Spacek

is doing and what Jack Lemmon is doing. He is very clearly from a different, I mean, not obviously his character is from a different generation, but he's from a different generation of actor. Naturalistic versus studio. What he's doing is, is fussy and performative and what she's doing is locked in. She's great in that movie. She's great. Do you have a favorite Sissy Spacek performance? Well, Clown Miner's Daughter is kind of undeniable.

I mean, that's one of the rare times where we gave the Oscar to the person for the right performance and that definitely was, it's one of the rare times where we gave the Oscar to the person for the right performance and that definitely was the one. But I often think about her in these movies in which I just, the movie for whatever reason gets forgotten or not remembered as fondly. Though I think Missing is in the Criterion collection. It is one of those, I mean, the truth is that movie really holds up and unfortunately, maybe even more relevant now. It is, yes, it resonates. Um, I, it's kind of the end of an era for her as a major leading actress, and it's not totally clear to me why that happened.

You know, she did, she made Raggedy Man the year before that with Jack Fisk. And then she's in The River and Marie and violets are blue. And, you know, she makes a big sort of comeback for lack of a better phrase in the nineties in a lot of supporting parts. And she starts taking a lot of middle-aged female parts and obviously the business very much kind of happens to actresses. Yeah.

I mean, you know, she didn't go cutting on herself and she, uh, you know, it's, it was at a time, I mean, it's not as true now as it used to be that, you know, roles for actresses just fell off a table after they hit 40. So she probably just aged out of the good parts. It's just so crazy. You know, talking about minting of stars in this year with Mel Gibson and Eddie Murphy, it's also true that with Meryl in Sophie's Choice, again, just kind of undeniable in that movie and all of the work she did in that film.

So if Meryl doesn't make Sophie's Choice that year, Jessica Lang almost certainly wins for Francis. Yes. Which means that Jessica Lang doesn't win supporting actress for Tootsie. Probably Terry Gahr wins supporting actress for Tootsie, I think. But more to the point- Terry Garwin thinks so too. She did think so, I believe.

Did she? I believe so, yeah. More to the point, you know, Meryl, I mean, obviously she was already a movie star. I think she'd already been, had she won for Kramer versus Kramer, right? So she was a movie star, but Sophie's Choice was just like, oh no, she's the movie star.

She is our greatest actress. That became cemented really with Sophie's Choice this year. And Jessica Lange, right? This was also kind of her year with Frances and Tootsie. It's like, well, she's one of our... She's not just a model who became an actress. She's actually one of our great actresses. Yeah.

Did you end up getting that edition of Francis that I helped you to? I already had Francis on the imprint. You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to get past this guy. Just made him aware of a new edition. Sometimes you'll double up, but not in this case, I guess. Hold on to that Australian edition.

Okay, Chris. I gotta do drama, got to do wild card. I was looking at missing, but for drama, I'm going to pick one that has, I guess, weirdly a personal resonance, although it's a perverted film. The draftsman, draftsman's contract. Peter Greenaway is not a director that I think is particularly in fashion right now. But my dad used to have all these, like, BFI books. And some of the most earliest erotic images I ever saw

were from these books about Peter Greenaway's films. It's nice that we can always come back to them. Which are truly, like, you know... Like, there's a lot of kink in these. So this is a movie about... Uh, I can't remember when it's set, I guess, like, the 17th century, 16th century, you know, rich woman who with a frigid marriage has hired an artist to come and do landscape drawings for her. And part of the contract is that

she will also sexually pleasure him every day that he turns in one of these drawings. And it's kind of a portrait of class, but also of like excess. And it's just like, got a great style. It's shot in 16, but they blew it up to 35 and an incredible act of like kind of independent filmmaking and he's such a unique voice and he just really doesn't come up, the cook, the thief, the wife and her lover, I suppose is his biggest film. Yes. But this is a fantastic one.

What category did you take this in? Drama. I worked with Antony Higgins, who plays the lead in Draspen's contract. I did a very bad play with him in London and he was a great guy. I really, you know, he's also in Raiders. He's one of the Nazis, right? In Raiders. He's a great guy, had a lot of great showbiz stories. He's a guy that they would always tempt with bond. He was gonna be the next bond. The only reason they did it was to get Roger Moore

to sign this contract and Antony knew it. It was like, the only reason you're bringing me out is to get Roger Moore to agree because they'd sort of dangle Antony out there like, well, he might be the next Bond. And Antony was so grateful that he was not made the next Bond. He would have been realized.

It's kind of how they treat James Winston now, you know? Like, we can always just go get James. That's so fun. Honestly, future quarterback of the New York Jets, if I'm guessing. Favorite Bond? You mean favorite actor who portrayed James Bond? Well, I think the obvious answer for somebody my age is Sean Connery,

but the truth is I'm born in 65, which means yes, I am the, I'm the first Gen Xer. Gen Xers are turning 60 this year and our Bond was Roger Moore. He just was. I know he wasn't great, but he was our bond. Okay, that's great. That's nice. You did choose Craig over Pierce, right? You won't choose? Oh, Craig over Pierce? Oh, a thousand percent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Craig's the best. I understand that Craig is the best. Does anyone pick Dalton? No. Now's the time. I did show, my wife had no experience of James Bond. I was like, well, we got to watch, we got to start with Sean Connery.

Yeah. So I showed her one Sean Connery and she was Luke Warm. And then I showed her the second Sean Connery and she was like, I hate this. Yeah. Okay. I think this is stupid. These jokes, these stupid like cornball double entendres, and it's just like the action isn't that great, and this bad guy's ridiculous.

And she's just like totally out on Bond. And if you're out on Sean Connery, it's like, you're not going to go for Pierce Brosnan. Probably not. Well, what about Daniel Craig? Like, what about Casino Royale? I wanted to wait long enough for her to forget it before showing her Casino Royale. There are some essential early scenes in Casino Royale that I think might win some people over. It's also played more straight.

Yeah. It doesn't have that... And she loves Mads. Oh, yeah. So Mads might be the door. Yeah, and he's phenomenal in Casino Royale. Have you done, do you watch like many, we don't keep talking about Peter Greenway, but I was just curious, like, you know,

like there's certain filmmakers. I just watched this film for the first time two days ago. What did you think of it? The film you just picked. I really liked it. I had seen The Cook, The Thief. I think.

It they're totally singular, right? The way that everything is framed in the movie, they're just they're very cinematic, but they don't really have, they don't feel like they have a lot of forebearers. So it's a little hard to kind of wrap your head around it visually. Um, I love like the perversion. Yeah.

How he's very clearly like, this turns me on. Like English fine art perverts, Ken Russell kind of like thing. I like that. I do too. Zed and two knots. Yeah. Uh, yeah, I've never, I've not seen that. That was a lot of fun.

Uh, Oh man. I, I, I've never, I've not seen that. That was a lot of fun. Uh, Oh man. I, I, I really, uh, belly of an architect. Yeah. Interesting movie. Then he was like, what are you doing here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, okay. Amanda, you've got, are these your final two selections?

These are my last two picks. I have Blockbuster and Wildcard. So Blockbuster's interesting. I'll just read, there were 16 on the table and many are Blockbuster and Wildcard. So Blockbuster's interesting. I'll just read, there were 16 on the table and many are gone now. Here's what I'm picking from. Number one is ET, gone.

Two, Tootsie, gone. Three, An Officer and a Gentleman, gone to me. Four, Rocky III. Five, Porkies. Six, Star Trek, Breath of Khan gone. Seven, 48 Hours gone. Eight, Poltergeist gone. Nine, Best Little Horror House in Texas,

which I'm not gonna take, respectfully, to Dolly Parton, who I love very much. 10, Annie. 11, The Verdict gone. And then Gandhi, First Blood also gone. The Toy, Firefox, and The Dark Crystal. And I have to be honest, I don't know what the last three are. So I won't be picking those.

Just for shame. Wow. The disrespect to Clint and Jim Henson is astonishing. You don't know Dark Crystal? I know. Do I know Dark Crystal? You've got to show your kids Dark Crystal. Not yet. My boy was way into Dark Crystal by the time he was four.

Well, this looks very upsetting. Dark Crystal is so good. What is. Well, this looks very upsetting. Yes. Dark Crystal is so good. What is going on here? There's also so much devoted to it at the Academy Museum. So many of the puppets are there. And it's handmade and it's... Oh, it's really good.

It's on a very short list for my wild card selection. I mean, what is this guy, Fizzgit? Okay, so, well, it'll be there for you, but I guess, wow, his teeth are... The Skeksis and what were wow, his teeth are really upsetting. So I know what I'm going to do here. Despite Rocky III giving us Eye of the Tiger, which is really important. I mean, it is. It's very important. My high school cross country team trained, we did our own training montage. Don't worry about it. It was our senior song. We had to vote on a senior song and it was, I

have to tell you, I voted for Beat It. Four straight state championships. Okay. So. I'm not doubting it. Whatever you want to say. Like we did it. Um, you know, I was a child once, so I'm going

to take Annie. Yeah, I had assumed you would take that. Yeah, this is a classic. Um, and probably one of the first movie musicals that I saw, or like in that grouping, but like one of the good ones, in my opinion. And now with Knox, we're going through all of them. And I just really, I can't watch the music man again,

respectfully. But Annie's great. And you can teach him about the Great Depression. Yeah, sure. You know. And a's great. And you can teach him about the Great Depression. Yeah, sure. You know. And a great cast and like probably like my first introduction to Carol Burnett, Carol Burnett, Albert Fin, like all of those, Tim Curry, you know,

everyone. And it is a hard knock life, as it turns out. It is. Yeah. So. Is it? Yeah, no, it is. It is. It is. Okay.

All right. I'll take your word for it. And then Wild Card is probably my favorite movie of the year, which is, and just very Amanda pick, Evil Under the Sun, which is another of the Agatha Christie adaptations starring Peter Ustinov as Eric Kulparo. It's not as good as Death on the Nile, which was like in 1978 and is just a legendary movie. The original, please don't watch the new ones, they're awful. But Evil Under the Sun is a very good Agatha Christie

mystery as well, because I read all of them. I recommend it. And stacked cast, very fun. Who directed that? This is- Terrence Young? Guy Hamilton. Guy Hamilton. Another Bond is... Terrence Young? Guy Hamilton. Another Bond director.

Yeah, exactly. But you know, it's Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin, James Mason again, Diana Rigg, like, you know, these people. It's just, it's really fun. This one's set somewhere in the Mediterranean. He's at least enough? Yeah. He was never phoning it in, Peter.

No, I mean, it was very... It's very big, and like, this could have gone in comedy probably, but even though it is a murder mystery, but really fun. I took Alice to see the great Muppet caper at the idiots yesterday afternoon. And very well. I mean, it's a real platform for Miss Piggy, who is a... She's a big hero in the home right now, so it went over very well. I mean, it's a, it's a real platform for Ms. Piggy, who is a, she's a big hero in the home right now. So it went over very well.

Um, and you know, for Charles Gruden fans, that's a core text, but, uh, Peter Ustinov gets like 90 seconds and he makes a meal out of his 90 seconds. He really, he goes for it. He didn't, never didn't go for it. Is Austin Pendleton in that movie? No, he's in... He's in the first one. He's in the first one. He is...

He is Charles Durning's henchman. Right. I heard a young actor once ask him what it was like acting with the Muppets, and he got mad and said, it's like acting with cloth. Ha ha ha! Uh... Okay. You took your two? Yeah, that's it. I have wild card left.

What are you gonna do? I'm gonna take personal best. Whoa! I didn't see that coming. So I was watching the Yakuza recently. The Sydney Pollock movie with Robert Mitchum in Japan in crime film. And I'd forgotten that Towne did a rewrite of the Schrader script, that he's accredited co-screenwriter. So I kind of went on a little bit of a Robert Towne jag, like both trying to find stuff that was like suggested that he had rewritten,

but also stuff that he had written. And I realized I had not seen Personal Best, maybe ever? If I had, I did not remember it. And what really struck me about it this time, it's a coming of age movie and a love story about a track star in Oregon who's training for the Olympics and Scott Glenn, Maryl Hemingway is the track star

of Scott Glenn plays her coach, is how amazingly like town directs all the running sequences and the training sequences and how wonderfully cinematic it is, but it's got a great script. And I wasn't sure if this was like a controversial movie or not. Do you think? Because of the sexual politics? I don't think it was popular enough to be controversial.

I mean, it was very well received. I went back and read the Pauline Cale review of it and like the Stanley Kaufman review of it, but I thought it was a fantastic movie. People just weren't up for it for whatever reason. They weren't. This guy loves track. It's an unlikely choice though given what his CV was before that too. And I think they didn't totally know how to sell it. It's an odd movie.

Yeah. But very interesting. I really dug it. Yeah, it's cool. What's the film right after that that he makes? Doesn't he make another film? Star six, no's cool. What's it? What's the film right after that that he makes? Doesn't he make another star six star? No, no. I mean, he made he makes Ask the Dust and he had another late later period film that he directed. I can't remember, but I thought he had one more film in the 80s. Oh, Tequila Sunrise. Yeah,

Tequila Sunrise. Yeah, right. Yeah, which is, you know, an attempt to make something more commercial, more commercially viable. There's a just just for fun This was his uncredited writer run was Godfather parallax view Marathon band heaven can wait reds and Then you know Crimson Tide and Armageddon later And yeah, it worn on speed though as we all know having read that Peter Biskin book Okay, Tracy you have a wild card selection. I know. And it's, I'm actually more torn about this. This is the hardest pick.

Any other category because you're like... They're scrambling out now on the paper. And do you, are you trying to fill out a card or are you trying to just go with your heart and say, this is the thing that I've seen most. This is the thing I will go back to most often. I'm really torn between about three movies here, but I am going to go with my heart. Eating Raul is my wild card pick. I saw this at the USA film festival, Paul Bartel and Mary Warnoff were there.

I had a terrible crush on Mary Warnoff. And then about 20 years later, Killer Joe, my first play, opened in New York. And I was living in Los Angeles at the time. And Paul Bartel called me and asked me to go out to lunch with him. And we went to DuPars. And he just wanted to meet me because he'd seen the play and he liked it so much.

That's so good. It was just a lovely, generous, friendly guy who was just like, I just want to hear your story and how you came to write this thing and I'm just a fan and I just think it's great and it was just such a lovely, and then he died a couple of years later, so sad. Eating Raul is not only funny as hell, but there's something about the indie spirit of it and the fact that a guy would spend years of his life trying to make this goofy, strange, very LA comedy. But again, scripted, the climax of this movie, the hot tub, if you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. The hot tub is just a great, hilarious, galvanizing moment in the movie theater.

Eating right, well, still a lot of fun. Watch it not that long ago, still a lot of fun. Great pick. I can't say I'm surprised that Paul Bartel liked Killer Joe. I feel like that's kind of in his zone. Um, all right, so I have the last pick. This is my wild card. Lot to choose from here.

A lot of strange things. I think I'll go with Fitzcarraldo. Great. This is on my list. Werner Herzog's epic story about a man trying to drag a ship up a mountain. Certainly one of the craziest acts of movie making in the same year Les Blanks, Burden of Dreams was released, which is a documentary about the making of the movie. Almost outshadows the movie.

I think it has kind of subsumed what Fitzcarraldo is. But for whatever reason, I think of actually the way that you and Carrie watch movies. My wife and I in the 2000s got into a weird Herzog thing where we just watched every movie he had made up until that point. I think it was around the release of Rescue Dawn. Was that the Christian Bale movie that he made? And this was by far our favorite of all of them, more than a gear of the wrath of God, more than, you know, Nosferatu. And it's just an insane concept for a movie that is actually based on a true story and is beautiful and sad and really like, you feel the pain of the people that are in the

story and the pain of the people who are making this story come to life. So that's my wild card. You won't often hear me acknowledging a meme, but there's a great one where he puts on an album, he's demonstrating the Victrola he's got there and he puts it on and the meme, it's a Steely Dan sound, and he's just really fantastic, and everybody's just, like, drifting away slowly. Uh, that's a great pick. Thanks. So, we're done.

Should we recap our picks? Well, let's, should we do some honorable mentions first? Hell yes. I gotta throw out a couple of B-movie genre movies. Uh, Vice Squad, which you can see a poor version of on 2B, is an absolutely disgusting L.A. noir with a truly, truly unhinged Wings Hauser performance as a pimp. If you enjoyed the film Maxine, there's a lot from Maxine that is pulling from Vice Squad.

Also, Amityville 2 The Possession, a really good horror movie. D'Ameano... D'Ameani, is that his name? D'Ameano D'Ameani, an Italian filmmaker who barely spoke English, who made a movie that feels completely disconnected to the original Amityville horror. With Burt Young. I find incomprehensible this movie. It's fun to watch.

And one last one. There was a couple of TV movies from this year that I really enjoyed. One was The Shadow Riders, which is a Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott western adapted from a Louis Lamoure book that was like on TBS my entire childhood.

And Executioner's Song. The adaptation of the Norman Miller novel. Tommy Lee Jones is Gary Gilmore. Wow. There's a European cut of that with a lot of nudity. You didn't make it onto American TV. I'll have to look that up.

Just FYI. Was that spliced out of the reels that you were showing at a certain point? Any other wild cards you guys would like to cite? Grease 2? Grease 2. Michelle Pfeiffer. That's true. Speaking of movie stars arriving on the scene. We projected that at the ship drive in.

I remember Grease 2. Yeah. Goverwell? I don't recall. Okay. Chan is missing. Where are you on Grease? In Wing's first movie?

Yeah. I loved Grease. Okay. That's a great one. Yeah. Chan is missing. I just watched it a couple of days ago in preparation for this draft and it was one of the ones I was really juggling for Wild Card.

It's a great movie. It's a great, did you know it's one of the most successful movies ever made? In terms of its budget to box office? $20,000 budget. Wow. $20,000 and made 1.2 million at the box office. That's a 60 X ROI. I don't know a lot about it, but it's pretty good.

That's a 60 X ROI. I don't know a lot about it, but it's pretty good. This is a legendary cult horror year for a variety of reasons. Some movies we've selected, some we didn't select in particular pieces. The Spanish American Juan Piqueira Simon movie, which is one of, in the conversation for most deranged horror movie of the 1980s, about a chainsaw murder, The House on Sorority Row, and also Slumber Party Massacre in the same year. So you can, you know, to the Porkies and Fast Times point, young men at this time,

they wanted something particularly specific. Well, the slasher just, it blew up for two, right? The peak year was 81 and then by 82, it had kind of started to really play out by 80. But anybody with $120,000 could go make one of these. And still make money off. Right, right. Um, Cue the Winged Serpent, also a cult horror classic,

directed by Larry Cohen. It's about a winged serpent terrorizing Manhattan. Living in the Chrysler building. Great method performance by Michael Moriarty. cult horror classic, directed by Larry Cohen. It's about a winged serpent terrorizing Manhattan. Living in the Chrysler building. Great method performance by Michael Moriarty at the center of that thing. Just like nobody told him that he was in a bad movie. He's going for it. He really is.

I think I said that to you when we were talking about it. I'm like, he is locked in in this movie. You know a movie I have not seen, but that people say kind things about is My Favorite Year. Oh, I love it. It's a great movie. Have you ever seen that movie? Peter O'Toole.

You would love that movie. I would. Okay. You should put that on your list. That's a great movie. Directed by Richard Benjamin based on his experiences as a page at NBC while they were making your show of shows. Is it Marklin Baker?

Is he the star? It is. And Joseph Bologna plays the Sid Caesar part. And Peter O'Toole, it's a great Peter O'Toole performance. I've always wanted to see this movie. That's really good. It's a nice Warner Archive blu-ray of that as well. Say Amen Somebody, a great documentary from that, your joyous documentary about gospel singers. If you're feeling bad about the world right now, get, say, Amen Somebody and feel better about yourself. Also available on Canopy. Do you know about Canopy? Certainly do. I have a library card.

Yes, that's a really good service. Explain what it is if people don't know. If you have a library card, you can get the streaming service, Canopy. That's a really good service. Explain what it is if people don't know. If you have a library card, you can get the streaming service canopy. That's all that's required. And it's actually pretty replete little streaming site. I just, I watched for the first time the movie, Nine Songs, a Michael Winterbottom movie, you're familiar with this movie? Oh, you're not?

I don't think so. I'm surprised you're not. It features nine individual live performances and interspersed with a love story, a sort of physical love story between a man and a woman who have real intercourse in the film that is portrayed in between the musical performances. And that's available on the live. Do I have a reputation as a pervert now on this? It's a 71 minute film with porn in it.

Keep going. What else do we got? Quest for Fire. Yeah. Jean-Jacques Anod. Keep going, what else we got? Quest for Fire. Yeah. Jean-Jacques Hennon, is that how you say his name? Which is about early man. Caveman, yeah. With Ron Perlman and Everett McGill and Ray Don Chong,

terrific adventure about early man. Those movies don't usually work, but they actually did the work on that one. Anthony Burgess did the sounds, the language that they're using, and Desmond Morris did the movement. I mean, they actually put some work into creating the world of early man. Paul Mazursky's Tempest, which is great comedy drama based on the Shakespeare play with Cass Fetty's Jetta Rowlands. Who Am I This Time? Do you guys know this? I don't know.

Jonathan Demme, Christopher Walken, Susan Sarandon. It's an hour long film based on a Kurt Vonnegut Jr. short story. I do not know this one. Who Am I This Time? Haven't seen it. Great romantic comedy. Oh wow.

It's only an hour long, but it is, I think it was originally shown on American masters or American playhouse, something like that. Great movie. Koyana Skotsi. Yep. It's a lot of fun, depending on your state of mind. Smithereens.

Just watched this yesterday as well. Familiar with this movie, yes, Smithereens. Smithereens, the first American independent movie to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Yes. It's a very good punk. It's Susan Sidelman's movie before it was released. Okay, yeah. And it's got a great punk. Score by the Felis. Oh man. Yeah. And Richard Hell plays a large part in the movie. It's good. Barbarossa, a good outlier Western directed by Fred Shapisi with the screenplay by Bill

Whitliffe who was a great Texas writer with Willie Nelson and Gary Busey. And if your picture of Gary Busey is Gary Busey now, then you've forgotten what a great actor Gary Busey actually was. He was really a superb actor, really good Western. Veronica Voss. I mentioned Voss. Voss Bender had two movies this year, right? Carrell and his last two movies. He died this year, I think, in 82.

You have a preference, Veronica Voss versus Carrell? I'll take Veronica Voss. Mark Maron's favorite movie. Veronica Voss? Veronica Voss. Interesting. That's his favorite movie? It is. Okay. It's a bold pick. Richard Pryor, Live on the Sunset Strip.

Almost took it in comedy. I was thinking about it. This and Night Shift for the two comedies. Oh, Night Shift too. I didn't even think of that. Live on the Sunset Strip was just on HBO nonstop in the 80s. And so I've seen it a hundred times. I mean, it's so many parts of it.

So many times. Did you happen to check out the box office for that on the box office? It did well, right? Oh man. Yeah. Richard Pryor, this was a big year for Richard Pryor. But it was kind of like that first Chappelle special on Netflix after he had been gone for a period of time because there was this feeling like he had something to say

after all of these incidents that he had had with addiction and all the trouble that he was having too. He's amazing in that movie. That's like, is that the greatest standup comedy film ever? Well, he's the greatest standup comic and that's a pretty good record of it right there. Smash Palace, a New Zealand movie with Bruno Lawrence directed by Roger Donaldson.

Roger Donaldson is the father of India. Is that her name? India Donaldson, yes. Donaldson who directed? Good One. Good One this year. Roger Donaldson, very good. They'll get mad at me if I say that's part of the Australian New Wave because it was

in New Zealand, but the truth is it is considered part and parcel of Australian New Wave, which was really thriving that year. And La Balance, which I just rewatched, a French movie that's credited with kind of bringing back the policier. Natalie Bay is in the movie. a French movie that's credited with kind of bringing back the police, Natalie Bay is in the movie. She won all the awards for the movie and it's a good pimps and gangsters French. I gotta check that out.

French thing, yeah, it's good. We didn't mention year of living dangerously, which is Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson. Because it doesn't qualify. At all? This is what we found out. It's actually 83. Did it come off? Oh, okay. Creepshow. And then I was gonna ask you, have you ever seen The Still of the Night?

Roy Scheider and Meryl Streep. It's basically a Hitchcock past you. Robert Benton directed it. Meryl Streep said it is the worst movie she has appeared in, which I disagree with. When did she say it? On Watch What Happens Live like 10 years ago. So I don't know. Interesting. Oh, good. Recap on that. We haven't heard from Ben since then.

What else? The Entity? Barbara Hershey being raped by a ghost? Crazy movie. That happens in that movie. Okay. Upsetting film, in some ways. Remarkable special effects for the time, which is a stupid thing to say about a movie about

rape, but there are incredible special effects. You know what I saw for the first time that I really liked is White Dog. Oh, yeah. Sam Fuller. Sam Fuller movie about a dog that is trained to attack black people and the attempts. Oh, no. I did not. It's not where I thought you were going.

Where did you think I was going? I don't know. You were just starting talking about dogs. And I was like, oh, well, okay. I love dogs. I would not love this dog. This is a mean dog. This is a dangerous dog. This is a dangerous dog.

But it's one of his last movies, right? It is. It's like a great confrontation about the idea of. Can you know that it's clear that racism can be trained into someone, but can it be trained out of them as someone who has been taught to see the world that way? Come to, you know, obviously, it's metaphorical because it's about a dog. But Paul Winfield plays a dog trainer who attempts to convert this racist dog into a

Dog that doesn't color Does it work which sounds ridiculous? I don't want to spoil the film. Okay. It has one of the great endings I think of yeah in 1982. Okay entity white white dog double feature Basket case Frank Henenlotter's very small body horror comedy about a boy and his severed brother who lives in a basket and

murders people. What were we doing? This is probably this is one of the most important movies to watch. If you liked the substance is something that I will say. OK, shoot the moon. But that I will say. Okay. Okay.

Shoot the Moon? What about Shoot the Moon? Really good. I mean, not great, but really good. And there was, and because it was not great, because there are things about the movie that are a little wet or don't quite work, it's overshadowed some of the really good qualities of that movie. Especially the performance of a young actress named Dana Hill in that film, who the same year she appeared in a TV version of Carson McCullers' Member of the Wedding, and she was a great actress who died, unfortunately, way, way, way too young. Because of her diabetes, she was much smaller and often played juvenile roles, even though she was an older actress. And the diabetes killed her a couple of years later.

She was a great actress and it's a great performance by her. And you know, it's Albert Finney and Peter Weller and Karen Allen and Diane Keaton. It's a great cast. Very good movie. Yeah. Coppola's One from the Heart. Yep. A famous fiasco. Coppola's One from the Heart.

Yep. Famous fiasco. Oh really? This was 82? Oh, I wish I'd known that. Oh well. I think a movie that had a very, very bad reputation when it was released, but has been

revived. Revived. It really missed. In multiple times, most recently last year. Tom Waits music for that? Yeah. Tom Waits and Crystal Gale. Yes. You like author, author? I love author, author.

Israel Horowitz, sort of writing about his personal experiences, even though he's gotten in some trouble and then he died. But yeah, this is a lot of fun. Bob Dischi, very funny in that movie. Speaking of getting into trouble, Midsommar's nice sex comedy, you know, Woody Allen. Good stuff. Dead Men Don't Wear Platt.

Oh yeah, Steve Martin. Steve Martin fun comedy. Last American Virgin. Yeah. What about Chris? This is a teen comedy and it's just kind of a cheapy T&A teen comedy with a surprisingly dark ending.

The end, it's worth watching Last American Virgin to see that ending and go, whoa, I did not see this movie. I haven't seen it. Breaking that dark. I gotta check this out. Gregory's Girl, actually made a couple of years earlier, but released in America that year. Bill Forsyte's coming of age comedy. A lot of fun.

The big one we haven't mentioned, which is Conan the Barbarian. Right. Speaking of a year that introduced us to movie stars, we'd seen Arnold Schwarzenegger before, but I feel like this is the concretizing moment of Arnold's massive, forthcoming celebrity. moment of Arnold's massive,

forthcoming celebrity. And it's a cool, real metal version of a movie where you've got this collision of the original story. Milius wrote this? And John Milius wrote and directed it. Oh, directed it. Actually, it was written, co-written, originally written by Oliver Stone. It's Oliver Stone's script, but you can see Milius has also brought a lot of his It's Oliver Stone's script, but you can see Milius has also brought a lot of his foreboding masculinity to the story. Very strange, amazing James Oliver Jones performance as the villain in this movie wearing quite

the wig. It's just not my... Not your thing. It's not my thing. You don't get into fantasy. I got on the airplane to come here to LA and we got on... No, no, I was coming back from New Zealand. I was just in New Zealand.

So it was a long 15 hour flight. And the guy, I don't know, you guys watch what other people are watching on the airplane? Of course. Yeah. So the guy, I crossed the aisle from me. Before the plane even took off, he started on the first Lord of the Rings. Oh, that's actually like, cause you can do that for a long flight and you can watch the three of them and be done. It's a trick. It's a kind of a trick.

He did. He watched all three of them back to back to back. I've never seen them. And watching them over his shoulder, I was just like, I don't get it. I'm with you. Yeah. Probably not the way Peter Jackson intended those films to be seen. Well, that was my other thought. Without any sound.

From Tracy Lentz's perfection. I did something once where I was sitting next to a guy who started watching The Dark Knight and he was watching it and I just kept kind of looking over. I was watching like a game on, it was like on a Jet Blue flight and he's watching Dark Knight and I was like, man, Dark Knight looks pretty good right now. And so, but then I decided the game was boring and I was going to watch Dark Knight too, but because he had been watching Dark Knight for 45 minutes, I fast-forwarded it to catch up to him.

So then he looked over and I was also watching Dark Knight exactly timed to his. And I was just like, you know, this is great. You didn't exchange words. Not a single word. And you said, why so serious? Okay, let's recap our picks. Hold on. Tenebrae. Oh, I forgot about Tenebrae.

Dario Argento, Jalo, good stuff. Class of 1984. Good little exploitation movie. So many horror exploitation movies from this year. Yeah, right. And they're all like 75 minutes long. Why did you say at the top of this that you didn't pick this year when you so obviously did?

What was that about? I did not pick this year! I'm so confused. But we would have done it anyway because it's your birth year. Don't we do the birth years? Yeah, we have done 77 and 84. So you probably said to me, you know what we should do is 1982 because it's my birth year. That did not happen.

I'm almost certain of it. I'm sitting there very confidently with your... Porter Wagner quaff. I'll take that as a compliment. Um, okay, let's recap our picks. I went first, so I'll go first. In drama, I selected First Blood. Little controversial, I feel good about it.

In comedy, I selected The World of Cardina Garp. In thriller, action, horror, sci-fi, I took The Thing. In blockbuster, reminder the threshold was 40 million or more, I took Poltergeist. In Oscar, I took Das Boot. In wild card, I took Fitzcarraldo. Two West German productions. In my sleep. Okay. Congratulations. Who knew? Who knew? The Funkin'.

It was the last year of the New German cinema movement. In drama, I took the verdict. In comedy, I took Tootsie. Sci-fi, action, thriller, horror, I took the Road Warrior. In Blockbuster, I took Star Trek II. In Oscar nominee, I took Missing. And in Wild Card, I took Eating Raul. In drama, I took the Draftsman's Contract.

Hard word to say for me. In comedy, I took Fast Draftsman's Contract. It's a hard word to say for me. In comedy, I took Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In sci-fi horror thriller, I took Halloween III, Season of the Witch. In blockbuster, I took 48 Hours. In Oscar, I took E.T. And in wild card, I took Personal Best. Love that for you. Amanda? In drama, I took Diner. In comedy, I took death trap.

In thriller action, horror science fiction, I took Blade Runner. In blockbuster, I took Annie. In Oscar, an officer and a gentleman. And in wild card, evil under the sun. I feel like you and I had a mutual destruction pact in this one. Yeah. It was like once one of us lost, we had to take the other one down. I mean, it was tough.

A little bit that's like order, draft order, you know, and it's kind of like taking one from the other, but yes. Did this go as you thought it might? Well, other than Bobby sticking it in and breaking it off, yeah. You got to end it there. Take it up with the internet. I didn't have nothing to do with it. I thought it was, you know, a king of comedy would have changed things if that had been the way it would have changed things.

Do you have anything you'd like to promote before you say goodbye? Oh, God, no. Okay, thank you for not doing that. Oh, no, I have no... Can I promote some stuff? Please, feel free. Uh, the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Uh-huh.

They've had a parade. They've all done podcasts. This is airing in March. I have no... I have nothing to promote. Anything you'd like to promote? Jam session. OK. Yeah, the actual fun time I have on this note. Oh, how dare you.

Come on. What? No. You don't like talking about sex comedies and exploitation art? We were talking about Halloween III for nine consecutive minutes. Yeah, I know.

And you did a great job recapping it for me. Thank you. You were like, what do they do? What do they care to do? Have we been doing this for like three hours? It's been over two hours. Yeah. This is how it goes. The drafts are long. Aren't you having fun? I have a great time.

He was better about not accusing me of having right-wing politics because you're here, but other than that, this is pretty much how it goes. Well, thank you to Tracy Letts. This was very generous of you. It's my pleasure. I do want to point out that I did send in a couple of questions to the mail bag.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, Bobby. Do you want them answered now or should we address that later? Well, the question was about the third chair. It was like, I think we all, can you give some clarity to the third chair? Because I'm pretty sure that Tracy Letts should be the third chair of the big picture. Wow. This was the email that Tracy Letts sent to the big picture. Well, I signed it to, you know, concerned listener or something. So real man of the people moment that you just emailed the same email address that everyone

else did because there was no way I was going to be able to kneel in a haystack. You could have texted us. I, you know, I think it's all out there. It's all possible. You know, we don't want to give too much away. You're welcome to it. I have a lot of projects going on. You want to know what I have to promote? My movie podcast. It's called The Odyssey.

It's like, it's about when The Odyssey is coming out. You are the... You're the first chair of the TV podcast. You know what? Everybody keeps me on pins and needles, though. What do you mean? Well, you know, it's just like Andy, Bill, you... I think you've got a bright future. I think you're going to do great. Thanks.

As soon as you get your own show, I think you're going to do really great. Do you want to weigh in on the armor situation with the Odyssey? No, we're making content. So wait a minute, he's in armor, but he's also piloting a helicopter in downtown Los Angeles. Do I have that right? It's a curious question. We haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet. You will though.

That's what you're here for. Thanks to Tracy. From a UNESCO site. Thanks for having me. You guys are great. Thanks Amanda. Thanks Chris. Thanks to Jack Sanders.

Thanks to our producer Bobby Wagner for his work on today's episode. Next week on the show, which is in March, we're watching the Alto Knights and discussing what we are calling garbage Scorsese. We'll see you then.