The Rewatchables - ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan pack up the station wagon and head to Walley World to rewatch Harold Ramis’s 1983 classic ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation,’ starring Chevy ...Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, and Anthony Michael Hall. Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's your boy Johnny Bananas, and I'm going to be covering a brand new season of the Challenge USA on CBS that, of course, I will be completely dominating on my podcast, death taxes and bananas on the Ringer Reality TV podcast. Head over that feed and follow us on Spotify so you never miss an episode. This episode is brought to you by Adobe Firefly, the all-in-one creative studio with AI powered image and video generation. Built for today's creative process, Firefly helps you generate,
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Starting point is 00:01:34 doing the Midnight Boys. And Prestige TV, a little bit there too. Yeah, hijack. One of the greatest shows ever made. Hijack. How do they do
Starting point is 00:01:41 seven seasons hijack? Can you just keep getting hijacked? Would you rather see Idris Elba keep getting hijacked on planes
Starting point is 00:01:48 or should he get hijacked on different modes of transportation? Oh, like a train the next one? Crew ship. They did it with Die Hard
Starting point is 00:01:54 and I bought into it until like Diehard 5 was like, all right, this can't keep happening in this guy. Chris Ryan is here as well. Yeah. A long time ago,
Starting point is 00:02:02 almost 299 movies ago we did the first rewatchable and now we're back this is the 300th I thought about doing 300 for the 300 but I don't really like that movie I thought it would be weird
Starting point is 00:02:17 that would be a one-joke bit we're doing an all-time classic National Lampoon's Vacation which came out 40 years ago for vacation bill for vacation bill and it's next Russ your feet Russ Russ Russ
Starting point is 00:02:29 this summer when you're Think vacation. Think National Lampoon's vacation. See the real America. Hey, underpants. Hey, yellow. Look! It's friendly.
Starting point is 00:02:47 I'm okay. I'm okay. Don't you want to look at the Grand Canyon? It's educational. And most of all, it's fun. The dog went on the picnic basket. Basket. Let Chevy Chase. Beverly DeAngelo.
Starting point is 00:03:06 Margeen Coco. Imogene Koeh. Randy Quay. John Candy. And Christy Brinkley. Well, are you going to go for it? This is crazy. This is crazy.
Starting point is 00:03:19 This is crazy. Take you for a ride. This summer when you think vacation. Think national lampoons. Vacation. Vacation. Better check under the hood. One of the reasons we're doing this, 40th anniversary,
Starting point is 00:03:47 300-free-watchable movie that we've done, but also sets up Christmas vacation for Christmas. Wait, you can't do Christmas vacation before doing National Lampoos vacation. Should we go to Paris in between and do European in Paris? I mean, I could be talked into it. My arm could be twisted. Van, you love this movie, I think the most out of the three of us? It might be a tie because this is a top 20 for me.
Starting point is 00:04:08 I really, really love the movie. Christmas vacation. probably watch more just because it's a tradition. It's the best Christmas movie. It's the best Christmas movie. Yeah. To me, I'm not saying that this is the funniest movie ever made. I'm not saying that.
Starting point is 00:04:24 But what I am saying is joke for joke, scene for scene, funny stuff happening, it's so dense. This is a movie that is like dense with comedy. Something funny is always happening. He's talking to Russ. His glasses are falling off.
Starting point is 00:04:40 You know what I mean? Like something is always, there's always comedy. There's no P-Brick. Yeah. Right. It just hums. From the beginning all the way to the end, you're getting sometimes really devastating obvious comedy and sometimes like really subtle stuff that's hilarious, dude.
Starting point is 00:04:56 I think the comedies from this era from like 80 through 87 are the movies I've probably seen the most of my life. Yeah. I'd go 80 to 87, but I'm with you. National Ampoon Stripes, like, you know, and even down to like summer rental and the volunteers and summer school and stuff. that. But every time I watch this movie, I laugh at a different part. Like, Chevy Chase is honestly, like, this is one of the great comedic performances. There's, like, not a dead part of this movie
Starting point is 00:05:21 where you're not like, holy shit, I never noticed he said that. Or I never noticed he, like, like, every time he fake cries and he chokes up and he's like, oh, and then he just walks away. Is there ever been anybody funnier than this guy? It also, I mean, so many jokes from the movie that just filtered in everyday life. But the big thing was just the Griswolds and the concept of a family going on vacation became, like my dad's family, my uncle Greg, who had a son and a daughter. It was funny to me too.
Starting point is 00:05:50 Why was that funny? Because Bill's extended family is just objectively funny. Well, my dad had six brothers and sisters, could have my uncle Greg. And every summer they would go on these vacations. And my dad thought it was the funny thing ever. And we called them the Griswolds. And our whole family called them the Griswolds.
Starting point is 00:06:05 Because it's like, where'd the Griswolds go this year? They went to the Grand Canyon. But like every family has the Griswolds, right? This family that goes, this is the way the vacation can go the worst. Everything unravels. But for the most part, I think, I don't care what your family is. You're identifying with some piece of this movie.
Starting point is 00:06:23 And that's the genius of it 40 years later. So did you ever do any kind of cross-country or long-distance car trip with your parents? I did with my dad in 1980. We did a baseball park trip. That's great. And we hit a whole bunch of ones, including the Astrodome. Wow. You went all the way down to Houston.
Starting point is 00:06:41 Oh, yeah. We did flight. We did some plane and we did some cars. You must have done something, right? We did. I've actually gone Louisiana to the West Coast twice with my family. One trip is legendary for the amount of things that went wrong. That's the thing.
Starting point is 00:07:02 These trips never go ever. Just legendary for the amount of things that we love. You leave with eight people, you come back with six. Yeah. There's all kinds of stuff happening. I remember watching my father dodge traffic trying to, something fell off because we had, one time we were moving. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:20 And so something had fallen off the back of the truck. Oh, yeah. And I remember him out in the middle of the traffic trying to get it. And my mother going, leave it, Terry. Yeah. And him just being like, no, I can't cost so much money. And us literally being crying. Like watching and this is going to be it.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Watching this is happening. Yeah. Yeah. So just so many things were wrong. of those, right? Like, suitcases are just falling off the car left and right. There are so many details of this movie that are so perfect because even if it's not the exact thing that happened to you,
Starting point is 00:07:47 you just remember bad trips that, like, they're reflected in this movie. Yeah, you don't remember the fun parts of the trips. Yeah. I remember we used to go to Vermont every summer, and my dad one year was doing the thing where you, like, leave the trunk open as you bring this stuff in and out of the house. And, like, one year it was just, like, trunk just got emptied by it, like, completely robbed while he was inside the house,
Starting point is 00:08:09 getting something else. And it was like, that was the start of the vacation. And I think it peaked with, like, getting food poisoning at a Howard Johnson's on the New York State Thruway. But, like, there's so much stuff in this movie that resonates. We're telling war stories and horror stories. I will say one of the biggest regrets of my entire life was not going cross-country with Rob Stone, who now you can hear in the World Cup and my buddy Jim Grady, they were Colgate
Starting point is 00:08:31 buddies. I was supposed to be the third one. They went cross-country for, like, two months. They did everything. And I didn't want to go. And I was like, I was, I was dating somebody at the time. I was, I don't know. And I'm fucking haunted by it.
Starting point is 00:08:45 I wish I had gone. And if anyone's listening under age 25, if you haven't done it, if you thought about doing it, just fucking do it. The time to do it is when you don't have like a big job yet, you don't have a family. Like, just go. When you're like 18, 19, 20, 21, just fucking go. I've actually thought about doing it like now because I want to go. I'm so obsessed with Yellowstone.
Starting point is 00:09:08 I want to go to Montana. I want to go to Montana. Like a mini trip. I was thinking about just like drive to Montana, man. That whole part of the country, you know, drive to Montana and hang out there. We did it with Rember in 2013. I mean, Rembrandt explained to America. I was like, you're just going to drive around America.
Starting point is 00:09:26 And part of the reason I want him to do it was because I never did it. I was, you got to do this. He's writing, he was sending in columns for his black bear. Yeah. And it was the right time of his life. He was, I think, like 26, 27 at that point. and just went to all these different places. It was great.
Starting point is 00:09:39 Did you ever think about doing it with Ben and Zoe? I mean, it would probably be easier now with the phones. But that's part of the fun is like you have to be engaged. You almost have to say no phones. Phones go in the trunk. Yeah. But I guess in this movie they had the headphones. But I don't feel like they would ever make it across the country with us.
Starting point is 00:09:57 They would think it was like the seventh circle of hell. You know, it's both longer than you think, but not as long. because once you hit about 11 or 12 hours on the road, you get into this weird trans to where like the road is just coming. And you don't ever think that you're going to get to where you are. You just ask like, where are we now? Yeah, you kind of give up spiritually. Well, there's two ways to do it.
Starting point is 00:10:22 Like Europe is like that too. Yeah. By hour eight, you're like, I give up. I'm giving into this trip. I don't know if we're ever. But the whole thing that's funny about this movie is like, yeah, they could have just driven from Chicago to Wally World in like three days probably, but they do.
Starting point is 00:10:34 They're going to see the house of. mud and Dodge City. Right. It's the biggest ball of yard. Yeah, the biggest ball of yard. Right. And because he's like, we got to see all this stuff, you know, and capture this moment. We did that.
Starting point is 00:10:45 We saw, this is, my dad would always say, do you remember when we saw the Alamo? Do you remember when we saw the Grand Canyon? I'd be like, yeah, it was all at the same time. Yeah. Like, we never went back to those places. It was one time. Yeah. We went and saw all of those places, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:10:58 And it just, you go and see those little things and you get your energy recharge a little bit like you're like oh my god it's the grand canyon and then you got we got like six or seven more hours to l.A. Yeah. Whatever. I think now with the even like listen to Spotify and having playlist and podcasts probably a little more fun than it was in 1983. Yeah, you don't have to do in the green station wagon. As many hymns as Kirkland sings or as many show tunes. Yeah. One of the things I love about this movie is like like Vain was talking about the throwaway lines where it captures what it's just like to drive where it's like that's the arch 60 60 floors elevator goes to the top and Russ goes can we go it's like nope just keeps driving uh Chevy Chase our guy
Starting point is 00:11:46 Saturn Lives first big star leave second season movie career foul play in 1978 which is a really good movie and it's like a great Goldie Hawn movie some drug issues in there starting out late 70s. Does O. Heavenly Dog, Caddyshack, and Seems Like Old Times in 1880. Love that movie. Which one? Seems like Old Times. I love that movie too. Love. I thought you were going to say, Oh, Heavenly Dog. I was just going to get up and
Starting point is 00:12:11 leave. But like, seems like old times. They're great in that movie. Chevy Chase, Goldie Hahn. Charles Groot. Diane Cannon. Diane Cannon, the whole The whole crew. Is Diane Cannon in that one? No, she's not. No, she's in, no, she's in Heaven Can Win. She's in Heaven Can Wait. There's somebody else
Starting point is 00:12:27 good than that. But you got TC Carter in that. He's... T.C. Carter's good in that. Yeah. So, like, that movie is so underrated to me. So it's going... It's going fine. And then in 81, he is. Under the Rainbow of Modern Problems. Oh, for two. I saw Modern Problems in the theater and we were like,
Starting point is 00:12:43 what the fuck? Yeah. I was like 12. And wasn't that, like... Was Modern Problems the one that was just like a horrifying, like, production or something like that? And you could kind of feel the cocaine easing out of the movie screen as you're watching it. That's the toxic waste one where he gets special powers or something. It's so bad. Yeah, it's so bad.
Starting point is 00:13:00 And so it's like, man, this guy fucked up. Never should have left SNL. And then vacation catches him. Kind of, he's a little older, is a little fatter. It's not quite as handsome as he used to be. But now he moves into this next phase of his career where he's got best offense? Yes or no. Okay.
Starting point is 00:13:16 Fletch, European Vacation, Spies, like us, three amigos all in the next four years. One of the biggest stars in the world. Bangers. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder whether or not he was also ready to start doing. because like the caddyshack part is like pretty cool guy you know I mean obviously it's a weird it's a weird role
Starting point is 00:13:32 but he is like more along the lines of like a Paul Newman kind of like I'm just like a real like I'm the guy everybody wants to hang out with well what did Sean say about him in the caddyshack he's like the fucking asshole that you can't help but like yeah and then you watch him in National Ampoons and it's like he's the joke he's making himself the punchline the entire time which basically becomes the 80s for him leading to funny farm a film that I think we all like
Starting point is 00:13:53 I love that movie I always looked at him as the grown-up of all of those guys. Sort of because he was. He was older. Right. He was doing the, I have a family type of comedy. He was doing the comedy more so where he was like looking at Americana and kind of making fun of it, like in Funny Farm.
Starting point is 00:14:12 Yeah. That's a movie about somebody who's buying, I guess, their dream house and things just keep going wrong. He thinks he's going to write the Great American novel. He thinks he'll write the Great American novel. Those are different movies. But he does write it. It's just not good.
Starting point is 00:14:25 Those are different movies than the other S&L alums we're making at the time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there was, he gets replaced by Bill Murray. And then Bill Murray kind of steals his movie star slot, right? Because he has meatballs. They're kind of dead even. But then Stripes comes out in 81 and then all of a sudden Bill Murray goes like this.
Starting point is 00:14:43 And Ghostbusters and it's over. Yeah, and Ghostbusters is coming and all that stuff. I love Chevy Chase, but the stories about what a fucking asshole he is is kind of become part of. You almost can't talk about Chevy Chase without talking about that. They say in this movie that I did a bunch of the research that somebody just wrote a book. I think it was called Wild and Crazy Guys about, oh no, that came out a couple years ago. He wrote an action hero's book recently, same kind of theme. But the Chevy part where it was like he's finally kind of sobering up and moving into a new phase of his life.
Starting point is 00:15:18 But the reputation was this guy's a fucking asshole. But for the most part, they said he's pretty good on the set. Yeah. And this was like 120 degree days. And, you know, I don't think it was the most fun movie to shoot. Yeah, I mean, they basically sounds like the production was the Griswolds where they're, like, stopping in motels, like, entire film crews or just, like, taking over motels so that they can shoot in Colorado or they can shoot in Arizona or wherever they were shooting at a given time. Not a lot of great planning in the 80s. Well, I mean, it's better than, you know, making movies at the volume.
Starting point is 00:15:50 Yeah. Or everything is Atlanta and they're pretending like they're. in Colorado, but it's pretending like they're in Colorado or something like that. Like that part of this movie is like as they move on, you can tell they're in a different spot. Yeah. In a different part of America, there's like a different sort of feel that you get from the places, which puts the characters in different places and like opens itself up for more
Starting point is 00:16:10 comedy. Yeah. This is a real like, don't you think that this is basically goes back to the original DNA of the The rewatchables pod though, where it's like, it's, I don't remember what order the scenes come in. I mean, obviously you can go east and west. It doesn't even really matter. But if I'm like, oh, did they, is Edna about to get in the car?
Starting point is 00:16:28 Or are they about to get to Dodge City? Like, if I'm walking by and this is on, it's just like, oh, man, I got, hold on. I want to see him. Chrissy Brinkley's about to drive up next to him and then he's going to start sweating. Like, I want to see the scene. Like, this is back to the, like, I don't even remember how this movie really goes. I think I forgot a big swath of it. But, like, it's just always, like, it always goes.
Starting point is 00:16:48 It was on all the time in the 80s, all the time. I started watching it, identifying from the kids. And then as you get older, you switch and you become, you become Clark or you become the mom. At some point I'll be A and Edda. The way I am. It also has Beverly DiAngelo, who had a decent career at this point. And it had been in, like, she was in that Sissy Space Act movie that she won the Oscar for. She played Coleman's daughter.
Starting point is 00:17:18 Coleman's daughter. I think she played Patsy Klein. she'd bounce around, but the movie she really, and she was in musicals and she was in hair and things like that, but she was in this movie called Paternity with Bert Reynolds. Okay. Where Bert Reynolds, he's like in his mid-40s, he's running MSG. Have you ever seen this movie? No. He's running, he's running events at MSG.
Starting point is 00:17:37 Yeah. So there's all these MSG scenes and Nick scenes. It's good. I don't even know if it's streaming anywhere. And he decides he wants to have a baby and he meets this waitress, played by Beverly DeAngelo, and she decides to be his surrogate. but then they fall in love. It's one of those.
Starting point is 00:17:51 It's actually a really good movie, and it's just gone. So I remember her from that, and all of a sudden she's playing the mom in this movie. She's a little young. She's like 33 in real life, but my son's big question, because I made him watch this movie,
Starting point is 00:18:05 was like, this woman's way too hot for a park. Like, how did he pull this off? Anthony Michael Hall agreed with him. Oh, yeah. She's throwing 98 in this movie. Is it too unrealistic that she's even mom in this fan?
Starting point is 00:18:20 Maybe the mom, but not the wife. Because this is, we always see this, like some bumbling, barely good-looking type of guy. It's the ABC-Sic-com. It's some unbelievable. It's also a very, very prevalent thing in Los Angeles. Yeah, I guess. How is this happening?
Starting point is 00:18:37 How is it happening? Yeah. But, like, to be the mom, he probably is a little young. But, man, we were talking about it before. This is White Girl Rushmore right here. Like, Chris said it. I had to, yeah, this is, she is, you guys are not going to agree because I said this before and I think Chris kind of made a face.
Starting point is 00:18:58 Christy Brinkley is amazing, like super beautiful, like one of the... I was going to have this argument later. I think she's harder than Christy Luke's like to. Yeah. I went there. I had this to unanswer votes. I was going to say that it makes it sound ridiculous to say either one of them is attainable, but Beverly DeAngel is just more real.
Starting point is 00:19:15 Christy Brinkley is Uptown girl. Like, she's just like not even a real person. There wasn't as unbelievably gorgeous as she was and she was an icon of the 80s and I even had the Christy Brinkley calendars and the poster and the whole thing.
Starting point is 00:19:28 There wasn't like, you wouldn't say she was like crazy sexy. She was more like beautiful. She was wholesome. Wholesome, beautiful. She was like out of the Happy Days era. Yeah, yeah. The Angel was like fucking.
Starting point is 00:19:39 Sultry. Yeah, sultry. Great word. Like she shows up in Pacific Heights a couple years later. Oh, yes. This is perfect.
Starting point is 00:19:46 She was in the Ellen Barkin zone. That was just popped in my mind Like an Ellen Barkin type of situation Great stuff by her So she had chemistry with Chevy As did Anthony Michael Hall And I'm gonna I'm gonna break a rule
Starting point is 00:20:02 I'm gonna do this category now I'm gonna do my version of the Stephen A Smith Hottest take I think Anthony Michael Hall is the greatest Teenage actor ever Wow Yeah I think he's the De Niro More than River Phoenix
Starting point is 00:20:14 Or the Brando of teen actors More than River Phoenix or Leonhard DeCaprio. You know what? I'm a resume guy, Chris Ryan. Who's in this? Okay. So I'm a resume guy.
Starting point is 00:20:24 Vacation, 16 candles, breakfast club, weird science. But raffles them off in three years. So who's in this conversation? Is Robert Donnie Jr. In this conversation? So people would say, like, Leo. I don't think he was a teenager. Leo, amazing actor.
Starting point is 00:20:38 John Cryer. So maybe you wouldn't say he was the most talented teen actor. You wouldn't say he was like the highest, whatever. But just in terms of like, who did better than this? If we were just judging this by sports, he did the best. He's awesome in every movie. Is Molly Ringwald not in that call him? Molly Ringwald's in the conversation.
Starting point is 00:20:55 Playing Molly Ringwald in every movie. Like, Anthony McAhala, Rusty is different than 16 Candles guy, who's different than Breakfast Club guy, who's different than Weird Science guy. Like, there is a little sauce with each one, but I think he's so good in vacation. It's an awkward, you know, going through puberty, he's growing as they're filming in the movie. But he's fucking hanging with Chevy Chase. And sometimes he has to be Chevy's straight man
Starting point is 00:21:22 in a scene. When they have the talk before Chevy walks away in the desert and he's just like, yeah, dad. Chiefs of beer, yeah. So you're not with me on this. I think that River Phoenix and Leonardo Caprio are better teen actors than him.
Starting point is 00:21:37 But if you're talking about the biggest, I didn't realize Sean was here. So what was the Lee Hart? Shit. Leo as a teen, though. Like what are Lee? team credit. So Leo had this boy's life. This boy's life.
Starting point is 00:21:51 What's eating Gilbert grape? Romeo and Juliet. Rom and Juliet. Is he a teen? He's in his 20s when that comes out, right? Growing paints. Yeah. Growing paints.
Starting point is 00:22:00 Was he even basketball diaries? Like he's probably like 17 at that point. He's older than that in basketball diaries. It's like 1995. You want to just run down River Phoenix. Do you care? Are you just? River Phoenix is pretty great.
Starting point is 00:22:11 Yeah. That's a good one. That's Stand by Me and Mosquito Coast. Mosquito Coast. running on empty last crusade my own private Idaho yeah all right I'm gonna give you again little Nikita in there yeah little like I'm gonna give you
Starting point is 00:22:23 vacation 16 canals breakfast club and weird science like it's a fucking murderous row yeah he had a run he had a great run he had a great run yeah I remember Phoenix is pretty good so maybe it's that's why it was a hottest take so maybe it's most successful teen actor of the last 40 years or you can say most beloved or something like that
Starting point is 00:22:43 I think Rivers movies are probably like a little bit more I mean, they're not... He's great in standby. These films are probably like, you know, the huge cult classics where, you know, River's changing it up. I'll put it a different way. How many times have we seen the kid part?
Starting point is 00:22:57 Blow a movie like this. Yeah, or it just doesn't work or just completely torpedoes, like three scenes. Yeah. Oh, man, that kid sucks. No, I'm, like, excited when he shows up. He's just fucking humming it. Like, he's on SNL in 1985 as an 18-year-old.
Starting point is 00:23:11 He's a cast member. That weird season. Like, the kids in Christmas vacation, are liabilities. And the boy in European vacation, grown-up Russ? Disaster. Like, we never saw that kid again.
Starting point is 00:23:25 Harold Ramos, who directed Caddyshack Vacation and Groundhog Day, and probably that could have been it. He didn't even need to work other than those three, but also wrote or co-wrote from 1778 to 86, Animal House, Meatballs, Cattyshack, stripes, Ghostbusters, and Back to School. I think this might have been your real father.
Starting point is 00:23:42 Yeah, seriously. I mean, he practically raised me. Yeah, he's like your surrogate father. Like every day one of these movies is on in my house during the summer. What a run. What a one of the just childhood makers for me. Yeah. Like a memory maker.
Starting point is 00:24:00 And there's a moment when you, when it crystallizes in your mind that he's like directing and writing the movies too, like somebody tells you or you figure it out. And then you have even more of an affinity for him, man. I remember when he passed, it was, I was like, oh, my. my God. Yeah, I feel like I was raised by him. And I'm blanking. Who's the other one from that generation?
Starting point is 00:24:25 John Lannis. John Hughes, who wrote the script ironically. But all that generation of filmmakers, right? Like shaped how I thought just wanted to be funny. Like what I thought was funny. Lord Michaels and those guys. And then like the Craig generation, it's that all those Apatown movies and all the Aptel.
Starting point is 00:24:44 And I was thinking like, what if you're, under 20. Who is, who are your, who's your Hald Ramis? Like, like, who's your John Hughes? Like, I would say Danny McBride, but Danny McBride is really part of that post-Aprosop. That's the Craig generation. Yeah, I don't know, it's depressing. So, dude, I don't know if those, I don't know if things are the same, bro. It's probably some TikToker, right? But it's also like you don't really go to comedies for what, like, like, one thing that's really funny about all these movies that we're talking about from this era is that they're actually pretty engaging movies and stories. Like, you are pretty engaged with this road trip.
Starting point is 00:25:16 You are pretty engaged with stripes and whether or not they're going to get out of basic training. Yeah. Like a lot of movies stop at the concept now where it's like, oh, what if this person got pregnant? Like, knocked up's a bad example because that's a good movie. But they stopped very early on in like thinking through whether the story is good.
Starting point is 00:25:32 And these movies have like very engaging, rewatchable stories. Yeah, you know, something else is when for us as being kids in that era, we were expected to understand this humor. Oh, yeah. We were expected to watch this. In the car.
Starting point is 00:25:48 Yeah. We were expected to watch this and think that it was funny. I think things now are a lot more segmented. You have like a whole bunch of shows that are like just for people between 13 and 17 and 18. Like summer I turned pretty. Right. And like kind of saved by the bell starts. I blame saved by the bell for a lot of this because it was like live action Saturday morning programming just for like a specific chunk of people.
Starting point is 00:26:11 Right. And it kind of you, some people, you weren't really ever too young for it. but you definitely were at a point where we're too old for it. But like when I was a kid, my comedies were not comedies that were supposed to make kids laugh. Yeah. They were this stuff and you kind of had to figure it out.
Starting point is 00:26:28 And you wanted to like sneak in to see it. You wanted to see it, yeah. So the screenplay was written by John Home. John Holmes. John Holmes? John Holmes. Whoa. And John Hughes.
Starting point is 00:26:39 Let's check Bill's browser history. What were you doing before to me? Before the five. John Holmes and John Hughes wrote the... I thought John Holmes is uncred. rewrite of all the president's men screenwriting-wise, like his best work,
Starting point is 00:26:52 but this is pretty close. He wrote a short story called Vacation 58 in National Lampoon. And then it was from Rusty's point of view. And then Ramos and Chase. Is it Ramos or Ramos? It's Ramos, right?
Starting point is 00:27:06 Yeah, okay. They rewrote it, wrote it from the father's point of view, made Christy Brinkley's character. That was supposed to be a 13-year-old love interest for Rusty. And we're off. They brought it to Paramount.
Starting point is 00:27:19 Rusty's like imagining her or he's like her place poster come to life or something. Not sure if she was real. Katzenberg of Paramount rejected the script. Thought it was too episodic. They bring it to Warner Brothers instead. The rest is history. Five sequels. Can you name the five sequels?
Starting point is 00:27:36 I'll try. European Christmas. Vegas vacation. The vacation joint that they made with the grown-up Rusty. And you were just pitching me, Abu Dhabi vacation. Ed Helms. Ed Helms.
Starting point is 00:27:49 Like, because what's his name's in that joint? Yeah. European Christmas. The other one you won't get. Christmas vacation too. It was made for TV. You know what is basically this movie is they just took, they just take this movie and just remade is Weir the Millers.
Starting point is 00:28:02 Which has become like a huge like, like it's always on movie. I know Craig. Craig nodding happily for Weirther Millers. Yeah, it's fine. But it's like, that's just this movie. I really want to wear the Millers to get there. And it threw like six and two thirds. innings and all of the sudden
Starting point is 00:28:19 there were guys on base and the bullpen had to come in. Sure. It was one of those. But it felt like the seeds were there. And that's the one with the guy who plays Adam Warlock now, right? Like he...
Starting point is 00:28:29 Sudakis and Jennifer Anderson. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, oh my God, Jennifer Anderson's cursing. Right. Well, then what was the one with Cedric the entertainer? Oh, Johnson Family Vacation. Was that not, was that an unofficial sequel to this or just a different...
Starting point is 00:28:43 Was it a rip-off movie? Was it nationally in Poon? No. Nah, it had nothing to do with it. It's just a rip-off? Yeah. I mean, yeah. It's like,
Starting point is 00:28:48 we gotta have our stuff too, Bill. Can we have a vacation? Well, I was going to say five sequels and then there's unofficial, the We're the Millers. I mean, they got, are we there yet? I mean, other people have taken this movie is kind of like a diehard situation. You got your under siege is out there and your road trip comedy is like other people have done it. What else?
Starting point is 00:29:03 What else is adjacent? You mean like what else is like adjacent from this time period? Like they clearly were like, let's not remake vacation, but remake it. I think the movies that wind up being like summer rental, for instance, the John Candy one that's basically, like the idea of taking the family somewhere. A little bit of Sunshine, he's even adjacent. Captain Ron, maybe. Kurt Russell?
Starting point is 00:29:25 I love that movie. I don't know if I know that one. Captain Ron is like he's got his whole family. Martin Short got his whole family and they meet this irreverent captain that takes them on these crazy adventures. There's a whole original ending, new ending thing that I don't want to go into now. We'll do it. Just remind me.
Starting point is 00:29:42 $50 million budget made $61.4 million. which doesn't seem like a lot. And that time was, I was expecting. It had a great opening weekend. I have some stuff about the box office in a bit. Ebert, no review. Refused. Beneath him?
Starting point is 00:29:59 Yeah. Maybe not a Chevy Chase guy. Maybe he loved it too much. He said, I did find the TV show with Siskel. And Ebert said he liked the first half better than the second half. I guess I do too. Pretty relatively dismissive of it. See, I disagree.
Starting point is 00:30:14 You like the second half more? And all of these movies, the further Clark gets from his sanity, the more I'm in. Yeah. When he starts really fraying, because all of these movies have a Clark outburst. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:31 It's like too fucking funny, man. The further he gets from it is the more I like it. We'll take a break, come back, rewatchable scene. This episode is brought to you by Viori. Look, I'm not a big, let's hype up workout clothes guy, But Viori, I got to say, total game changer. Been wearing a lot. If you see me power walking around Los Angeles,
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Starting point is 00:31:41 Each serving has just three grams of sugar, 40% less than the leading coffee creamers. Two good creamers are available in sweet cream. Roasted vanilla and lavender. So which one are you trying first? Find two good creamers at your local retailer in the creamer aisle. All right, most rewatchable scene. This was one of those where I just had trouble because I don't, like, what's a scene? There's a half scene.
Starting point is 00:32:05 So would you put buying the station wagon in there with Eugene Levy? You would, okay. Now, I owe it to myself to tell you, Mr. Griswold, but if you're thinking to take in the tribe crash country, this is the automobile you should be using. the wagon queen family truckster. You think you hate it now. But wait till you drive it.
Starting point is 00:32:25 I don't want to drive it. I just want my old car back, okay? I'm not falling for this bit. No way. Let's go, Russ. He's really good. He's taking the whole tribe across the country. Davenport!
Starting point is 00:32:43 The start of the road trip where we get Mockingbird, which is really funny for some reason. That's like a classic. My parents are losing their minds. already, what's going on? My mom used to harmonize with songs. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:55 And it would just drive me insane because she would try to do like different parts of, of like, Joni Mitchell or, like, Billy Joel's songs. And I would just be like, oh, my God. The scene bothered me so much because I can remember my mom used to sing this song called Redeem.
Starting point is 00:33:10 It's a Christian song. And we were getting a car. Jesus wasn't eating his last passed over. And I'm like, oh, my God. Please, man. Chill. And it's grading. This has the Wally World National Anthem.
Starting point is 00:33:27 It has Russ, your feet, Russ. What did I see? Coming for to carry me home. Van der Vean. What smells in here? Russ, Russ, your feet. Which is just a running joke. At least with me and all my friends for a long time.
Starting point is 00:33:48 And then the gas stations grew up. With the feet scene, Chevi Chase said in the DVD commentary, that Anthony Michael Hall just put his feet up and they kind of ad-lib some of that. Feet rust. Yeah. I have Clark falling asleep at the wheel.
Starting point is 00:34:05 Great. You're skipping St. Louis? Right after his wife gets stuck. I didn't know when we wanted to do St. Louis. You got to talk about St. Louis. St. Louis is up there for me, man. I had it. You could have told me it's in what's age the best, the worst.
Starting point is 00:34:19 I have it in both what's age the best and what's age the worst. Right. I'll just tell you. you that. I've aged with that scene where initially I thought when he said, fuck you mama, I thought that was like the funniest thing of all time. And then as the years passed, they're like, oh, this scene
Starting point is 00:34:34 is actually, and then now by the time we get to 20s, it's like, oh my God. But up until the invention of Google Maps and Ways and stuff, but up until then, every single time I asked for directions I thought about saying, excuse me, Holmes. So here's the thing about the scene.
Starting point is 00:34:48 The scene is obviously overtly racist. However, however, like, I mean, it's just, But it is. It is. The dude that's talking to him is holding a basketball. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:35:04 It's like overtly. He's dressed. The dude, he don't have no ball shorts on. It's amazing. It's also the middle of the night. It's the middle of the night. By the way, he was the guy for the way Chadd out.
Starting point is 00:35:14 It was Reese. They were like, just here's a basketball. And the kids go, I wonder if they know the Commodores. So they know in the movie, roll them up. They know in the movie that they're being racist.
Starting point is 00:35:24 They know. that they are, right? Yeah. Yes. Which was kind of early 80s. Like, you could do stuff like that. Right. But there's something that I noticed about the film. Okay, so they asked the the residence of East St. Louis there for
Starting point is 00:35:38 directions, and they get charged $5. Yeah. Yeah. And they think it's so fucking crazy, right, that their hubcaps get stolen and they're charging $5. There's something to be saying. Don't forget hockey lips on the car. Hockey lips the whole nine. Fuck your mother, the whole nine. By the end of this movie,
Starting point is 00:35:54 Clark becomes a criminal. Oh, yeah. By the end of this movie, he gets so desperate. Like, there's some commentary in there that I think people miss. By the end of the movie, Clark gets so desperate that he becomes a criminal. So if you look at the totality of the film. It's a journey. A little bit.
Starting point is 00:36:15 You know what I'm saying? So it's like, yeah, sure, they had something fucked up to say. But then at the end, Clark not only holds somebody up at Wally World and takes a hostage, He also steals from the hotel. That dude's saying, this ain't even my neighborhood is honestly still, like, one of the fucking funniest five things. Go down there and talk to that guy and think. It's not from the west side of Chicago.
Starting point is 00:36:34 This ain't even my name. One of the other characters starts laughing. He, like, breaks character. He can't, he can't hold up. But let me tell you guys one thing real quick. And another reason why I kind of fuck with that scene a little bit. I'm driving to a girl's house one time, right? She lives down in New Orleans.
Starting point is 00:36:49 And when I get out of the car, everybody is outside. Yo, what's up? Where you from? You from around here? And I'm like, man, how the fuck do they know that I'm not from around here? Right.
Starting point is 00:37:02 She gets in the car, we go to where we're going. And she goes, yo, when you're coming down the street in my house, you got to go slow. Because, you know, that loose manhole that you hit? And it was loud as hell.
Starting point is 00:37:15 She goes, everybody that's from around here, they know to drive slow down in the street. Oh, yeah. So when they hear that, they think either you the police or you're somebody that's not supposed to be around here. And I'm like, shit.
Starting point is 00:37:28 So the moment they knew the Griswals weren't from around there, it was fresh bread. Let's see what's up. Harold Ramis said the St. Louis scene was one of the most politically incorrect sequences he ever shot. And that it practically demonized everyone involved. Indeed. I mean, look, I went back and like, obviously that's what...
Starting point is 00:37:49 I'm not saying it's not racist. It's just, yeah, it's so funny. Do they know the Commodores? It's got like four great lads. Clark falls asleep at the wheel. I like when his wife's head gets stuck in the kids. Anytime the kids lean over the back seat, it's just a home run. But can we talk about that real quick?
Starting point is 00:38:11 Clark was going to get a blow job. He was thinking about it. While his kids were in the back seat, Clark is one of the horniest dudes. It's really wild. It's really, really wild. That's nuts, bro. Yeah. Well, just wait to have kids. Be surprised.
Starting point is 00:38:30 The Dodge City Wild West scene. Hey, tenderfoot. Move your chicken wings, turkey. Clark, that's not nice. That's all part of the act, huh? Hey, underpants. Hey, yellow. I'm okay. I'm okay.
Starting point is 00:38:58 I'm all right. Is to me the underrated sleeper fucking hilarious scene. I don't get her foot. He's an orderly cuss. It's the funniest scene in the movie, bro. It makes me laugh the hardest now, 40 years later. Is Teddy Chase getting shot? Honestly, the apex mountain of the 80s?
Starting point is 00:39:22 Of the 80s. He talks that dude for some reason. I'm okay It's all right I know they love it That scene is The foot Bro that shit is so fucking hilarious to me
Starting point is 00:39:37 So he just And he's so hilarious in it Where he's got that I'm fucking with this guy I kind of glow to him Tenderfoot Hey Yellow belly
Starting point is 00:39:44 She sees this dude This dude isn't fucking with this He's like yo stop fucking with this guy And he just Shoots a gun full of black saddle It's hysterical bro Well we go right from there That we get to meet Eddie's family
Starting point is 00:39:57 Clark's family Yeah Or it's Cousin Eddie Yeah She's born without a tongue Clark She can whistle like a bird though
Starting point is 00:40:09 He's like Oh my God We get I'll just say for In the 80s This is my favorite Stretch of the movie Because we got
Starting point is 00:40:19 The French kiss part Daddy says I'm the best at it The kid working out Is jerking offhand Yeah Yeah He's too much
Starting point is 00:40:26 You have a poppy Blow It's all No it's Guy taught me something really cool last year. You ever bop your blonny? It's just like, what guy? Wait a second.
Starting point is 00:40:35 A guy taught you how to do that. Eddie said after I have the baby, I can quit one of my night jobs. The hamburger helper, real tomato ketchup. It is just seven minutes of beauty. The daughter stirring the Kool-Aid with her bare hand. Yeah. Can I help you with that? Please.
Starting point is 00:40:54 And by the way, it's just the, bro. It's just the whole fucking thing, bro. Dad says, like, you know. Don't go show them your worm farm. Like, let's go show your cousin's worms. That scene was so iconic. That whole stretch was so iconic that when Jane Krasinski became somebody, I couldn't accept it for like five years.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Jay Krakowski. I couldn't accept it because I was just like, that's the girl from vacation. I can't unsee that little girl. And then eventually she became. That big deal, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But even on 30 Rock, I was like, wow, the vacation? The French kisser?
Starting point is 00:41:27 Yeah. She's going to still keep going. The Grower? The Eddie character. I mean, it's going to be no surprise when he wins Dion Waiters. It's almost like we could name Dion Waiters after Cousinetti. It is an all-time heat check. It's amazing.
Starting point is 00:41:43 It's amazing. When he gets him the white shoes. He's like, I remember. Craig, did you know anything about Cousinetti heading into this movie? I had seen Christmas vacation, so yes. Did you know you were going to get the origin story, though? No. What about the little girl born without a tongue?
Starting point is 00:41:57 Did you know that was kind of way? coming now. Cousin Eddie is a repeat winner of Dionne. He's the, oh, it's, the quintessential Dionne Wade is. This family,
Starting point is 00:42:08 it's just unbelievable. There's nothing like this in movies now that is this funny. Is that Ellen's sister? I had this in unanswerable. So it seemed, they said they were second cousins. Oh, it seems like the women had the relationship,
Starting point is 00:42:21 the kids are second cousins. And the women had their relationship, and then they had the aunt. So I'm guessing they were first cousins. Okay. They were, yeah, their mothers or sisters. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:31 Wait. If their mothers or sisters, they're just cousins. She's there. All right. And she's kind of, yeah, so she's their great aunt. She's there. Yeah. I don't know families.
Starting point is 00:42:47 The dead dog scene. Explain this, you son of a bitch. Oh, my God. You know what the penalty for animal cruelty is in this state. No, sir. don't. Well, it's probably pretty stiff. Oh, you
Starting point is 00:43:07 can't think I do this on purpose, sir. Look, I tied him to the rear bumper when I was packing the car. It was very confusing. I must have forgot. I'm very sorry. I feel terrible. Dude, this was the one that got me this time. This is the one that I was like...
Starting point is 00:43:25 Poor little guy. When James Keach is like, do you know what the penalty is for animal cruelty in this date? Clark's like, no, sir. And he goes, well, it's pretty He's stiff. Poor little guy. Probably kept up with you for the first mile or so.
Starting point is 00:43:40 Like, what? And they're like trying not to laugh. Jesus is so fucking funny. He was like, they said, uh, they kept... He lets him off. Yeah, he's just like, yeah, okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:53 They said they kept fucking the scene up because they just couldn't get through it. Mm-hmm. Because it's too good. Uh, my wife was upset after the scene. Was she? Yeah. All the dog levers.
Starting point is 00:44:03 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've talked about this, our changing relationship to house pets. I still think, I have four dogs. I still think it's 100% hilarious. It's very, very funny, but it's just elite. I love my pup, but it's super fucking funny. They go back, and there's just a leash on the back of the car. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:44:21 It's funny. What's that rattle? Next one, Clark and Russ have a man-to-man talk. You know what I want to do? When I was your age, my dad shared a beer with me, and I thought it was about the best thing in the world. When I was a boy, just about every summer, we'd take a vacation. And, you know, in 18 years, we never had fun. Now I have my own family, and, well, we're on our own vacation.
Starting point is 00:45:05 And you know something, Russ? What, that? We're going to have fun. That was the good talk, son, before they, Fort Clark goes on his walk. The beer was empty, according to the research. He didn't actually pound the beer. They did a good job of faking it. I love all the clubs.
Starting point is 00:45:24 Clark, Russ scenes are just home runs for me. Good talk, Russ. And them figuring out Ann Edna's dead is just a great minute. A dead person breathed on me. They're like, wait, what's going on? Clark flips out. I think you're all fucked in the head. We're 10 hours from the fucking fun park and you want to bail out.
Starting point is 00:45:46 Well, I'll tell you something. This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. It's a quest for fun. I'm going to have fun and you're going to have fun. We're all going to have so much fucking fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles. You'll be whistling zippity-doodah out of your assholes.
Starting point is 00:46:05 I think you're all fucked in the head. That's 10 hours from the fucking fun park and you want to bail out? Don't touch! You'll be whistling zippity-dud out of your assholes! He's just going for it. I ran it back against Don't fuck with me art
Starting point is 00:46:21 from Christmas vacation. Yeah. We're going to have. have the hap hap happiest Christmas and Hallelujah Jesus Christ Yeah Oh hallelujah holy shit
Starting point is 00:46:30 I ran it back They're of the same quality Yeah There's no winner We're gonna need plastic surgery To remove our goddamn smiles It's just elite stuff And then the last one is
Starting point is 00:46:40 Clark kidnaps John Candy When this is all over Your father might be going away for a while And he's like He has the whatever He's like an an end and he might have killed Mayaneda You can't prove that rusty
Starting point is 00:46:54 What do you have for most rewatchable scene, Chris? I think I'm going to go with meeting Cousin Eddie and the whole sequence with the kids on the farm. But I am incredibly... The Wild West is growing on you. I'm incredibly tempted to put the dog scene in there. Like, even Russ being like, why do you pull you over? And he was like,
Starting point is 00:47:19 I was driving like a maniac. Wasn't your mother? I have to go with the guys shooting the gun on the The Dodge City one? I just watched it so many times that I just think it's so hilarious every single time I don't know if they speed up the camera
Starting point is 00:47:37 He's also, he's such a good pratfaller Right. That he just does such an amazing getting shot by a shotgun. That's a good point. He really was like the Michael Jordan of a craftless. Yeah, that was. Yeah. And then when he gets back up, you're so polite to the guy. There's only one that we, that I think we kind of miss. When they get to the hotel
Starting point is 00:47:53 Oh, the bed shaking? No, no, no, no. When he's when he is cruising throughout the bar trying to pick up women into the Christy Brinkley scene where he's just straight up cheating on his wife. Yeah. I have something on that.
Starting point is 00:48:10 But just his whole bit where he's just like, she's like, I thought you were in the CIA. He's like, I used to be. You're right. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I used to be. What's age the best? The opening credits with the Lindsay Buckingham's
Starting point is 00:48:22 Hollywood Holiday Road in the postcards is just really good. It's just a good opening. You're just happy. You're right into it. I just wrote this down for what's age is the best. The early 80s, so happy and drug-soaked and innocent. Just they made movies like this.
Starting point is 00:48:38 They didn't overthink it. Some weird shit happened. So we've been moved on. They filmed up for six weeks and then they were on into the editing. We're recording this. This is coming out next week? Yeah, Monday. Okay, so we were recording this.
Starting point is 00:48:49 We're still in the Barbenheimer zone. Yeah. Just wanted to just tell people the way it used to be. This was the box office for the, the weekend that National Amputins came out. National Amputs vacation number one. Jaws 3, number two. Oh.
Starting point is 00:49:03 Return of the Jedi number three. Wow. It was like week 48. Crawl number four. Kroll! Staying alive, private school, trading places, clash, class, sorry. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, War Games,
Starting point is 00:49:18 Octopus, and Flash Dance. Oh, my God. You might go to the fucking movies. Like, I would go to the movies three times a day. Private school. They put Betsy Russell on the freaking horse for no reason. She's just riding around Topless. Love private school.
Starting point is 00:49:32 Not surprised. Good talk son always makes me laugh. Yep. I used that with my own son. I brought it down. He has no idea because he was barely watching the movie. 1983, Christy Brinkley has aged the best. It was Cheryl Teigs.
Starting point is 00:49:46 Then it was Christy Brinkley. You might want to throw Farrah Fawcett in there if you're going non-swim suit models. But she was the goat. She was yokeage right now in the NBA for, I would say, 18 months. Christy Brinkley was?
Starting point is 00:50:00 And then she married Billy Joel and people were furious. And I actually think it was bad for Billy Joel. Why? Because it was like, how dare he lands Christy Brinkley? It was like a Rico Kasich, Paulina Poroscova thing. And didn't he like manifest that?
Starting point is 00:50:13 Wasn't he like this just, this woman is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. They were such a staple couple for so long, no. Beverly DeAngelage, the best. The funny exchanges like the St. Louis Arch one. Young Jane Krakowski.
Starting point is 00:50:29 I must say Krasinski again. The 80s vacation touches like Camp Comfort with two K's. Camp Comfort. The station wagons. Yeah. Station wagons. They can have station wagons like that anymore? Those are just gone. This movie essentially
Starting point is 00:50:46 ushered their exit from the market. You think that they were just not cool anymore except for my uncle Greg and his family? Well, I think the minivan comes in soon after this. And minivan becomes a station wagon, much, much more practical. I have one more, I have a couple more, actually.
Starting point is 00:51:02 Dinky, the vicious dog. Russ. It's really good dog. Take Dinky for a walk. Really good dogcasting. Yeah. Roll them up is funny. The vibrating bed.
Starting point is 00:51:13 And then I have one more. But what else say it for which is the best? Growing wheat. She had our own little grow farm. Yeah. She was an early pioneer. Oh. Cannabis.
Starting point is 00:51:21 You think she owns a place in like Venice and without a doubt She got priced out though by legalization Probably did Because she was running her own situation I like the snitching that goes on in the movie When the cop rolls up And she goes
Starting point is 00:51:37 That's the kind of things I think about She goes yeah hold my purse Because she got the purse full of weed She's giving it to Aunt Edna Yeah Also all of the marital shenan In this movie have aged really well to me.
Starting point is 00:51:53 You're right. His shenanigans, also the moment he's out of his city, for some reason, he gets like ten times hornier with his wife. All of that type of stuff age crazy good to me. He comes out of the sleepy bag with the panties
Starting point is 00:52:09 on his figure, go to bad, Russ. That scene is great. He actually tells her when she thinks that the dog's a wolf, he says, I'm going to go for it. I'm going to go for it. want to go for it. You have anything, Sierra? There's just, like, basically something that I would put under the umbrella of, like,
Starting point is 00:52:27 Chevy Chase shit, which is, I don't think any other actor would do it, and it would be this funny. So I have a couple of examples. Yeah. Clark drying dishes, even though they have food on them and they have a dishwasher, and he's just drying the dish and put it back in the cabinet. Clark not knowing where the gas tank is on the station wagon and then throwing the license plate across the gas station by accident.
Starting point is 00:52:48 Clark saying, it's living history, Ellen. It's just so funny. And I honestly, I wish I could make this my screensaver is Chevy Chase walking with his jeans on his head through the desert. And it's just stuff that like any other actor wouldn't be that funny. That scene is hysterical though.
Starting point is 00:53:06 He's like, every 100 yards we pass a fucking cast station and he's just losing it? I love that scene. Yeah, I don't know who us could have played Carpgren's rod. I mean, there could have been like, you could have said like Dan Aykroy could have done or Charles Groton go to have done it or whatever
Starting point is 00:53:21 but it's just like it's not. Hanks maybe. It's not the same. It was like 1989. In the gas tank is not the same thing. You gotta be a little snide. Like there's a part of, yeah,
Starting point is 00:53:31 you gotta be a little snide. Clark is very sarcastic with his family, sometimes short with them. So you got to be a little snide. Some guys, some of those guys are a little too lovable. But he,
Starting point is 00:53:44 yeah, as sarcastic as he is, he's still holding on to this concept of this is a really important trip for me and my family. Like he still cares about that. To me, the way I look at that is he, she calls himself self-centered and egotistical. And he is, right? Because he's doing this to fill a whole left from his childhood.
Starting point is 00:54:06 And he's really not paying attention to the fact that no one else is enjoying this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? My last one's aged the best. I did something about this in my book. I'm just basically regurgitating it. But it's super important. The Pointer Sisters, I'm so excited,
Starting point is 00:54:23 which also appeared in the second best NBA, it's fantastic commercial ever. It was in the Miami Vice two-part return of Calderon that we did on the rewatchables. Is it in Beverly Hills Cop? It was in Beverly Hills Cop, too. It was in vacation. And it was in the Say By the Bell episode
Starting point is 00:54:45 when Jesse got addicted to caffeine pills. I'm so scared. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so scared. This is all in the span of seven years. This is the most important song for pop culture of the last 45 years. I'm so excited.
Starting point is 00:54:59 This is what is the age of the best? No, it's just name me another song that's in five different things. It's in sports. It's saved by the belt, Miami Vice, Vacation, and Beverly Hills Cod. It's crossing every audience you could possibly get. Just amazing stuff. The Pointer Sisters. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:16 Like they had they, one of those. like weird, not weird. One of those groups that like was everywhere, like omnipresent. But when you start talking about greatest girl groups ever, people don't, I don't think I could name a seven part. Yeah, there's a seven part
Starting point is 00:55:32 Pointer Sisters documentary. He'd be like, what? Yeah. Right. The neutron dance instead of the last dance. But like, these songs are everywhere. Yeah. Do you consider slow hand a yacht rock song? A little bit. I think it is. Yeah. Yeah. I've had this argument with people. It just is. A little bit.
Starting point is 00:55:49 I think there's some black artists who have gotten the shaft on Yacht Rock. Well, I think Yacht Rock is looked at as derivative of black art. Bill's making up for not thinking that the St. Louis scene is racist. Yeah, he's like, I'm with you. I didn't even have it in most rewatchable seeds.
Starting point is 00:56:03 I'm just fucking with you. It's derivative, but yeah, a lot of that stuff is Yacht rock type of stuff. Sohan, definitely. On my own. George Benson. No, I'm talking about, though. What's the one with the Patti La Belle, Michael, Michael.
Starting point is 00:56:15 That's definitely Yot Rock. Oh, yeah. What about 100 Ways by James Ingram? I don't know what that song is. I'll play it for you later. The Kid Cuddy Pursuit a Happiness Award for Best Needle Drop. Opening credits?
Starting point is 00:56:30 Yeah. Bliss Creebop. Wow, this is gonna be hard. Big Cochhuna Burger Award for Best... Wait a minute. Hold on, hold on. Opening credits is Holiday Road. Opening credits is Holiday Road. Then Bliss Creek Bob is in there after that, right?
Starting point is 00:56:41 When they're on their draft. Little Boy, sweet, little boy. This is not a conversation. It's Holiday Road. Yeah, it's Holiday Road. Big Hooner Burger best use of food and drink The Hamburger Helper I don't know why they call this stuff
Starting point is 00:56:54 Hamburger Helper What is hamburger helper? You're the gourmet around here any I know what's funny Is we're fucking killing this podcast Because we keep cracking up And I keep looking over Craig's just like fucking watching 60 minutes
Starting point is 00:57:10 He likes like he's like fucking reading A New Yorker article over there He's a Nevada occupation I was confused about something So he was making hamburger helper But he doesn't have any meat But that's what is in hamburger helper? Oh, it's like hamburger
Starting point is 00:57:27 It's like a hamburger Sort of like a breadcrum Mixed thing, yeah So you take the hamburger It was actually like a delicacy Like you like I was like a big deal When you had it But it's not a protein right
Starting point is 00:57:38 Okay No you but the point is you need a hamburger Yeah I got that part They had two to help her part I figured but yeah And so he's making hamburger helper but then there's no meat.
Starting point is 00:57:49 So what the fuck is he doing with the hamburger? He's basically making like a bread burger. I guess so. Edna, your helper's ready. I have another best use of cooking burger. Is the full fucking lunch that falls off the car because he doesn't want her to put it in the window.
Starting point is 00:58:07 New interior. That's so funny to me. The food is waitress. This is so funny. The peat on sandwiches. Oh yeah The sandwiches Because he's actually
Starting point is 00:58:18 Using the sandwich To woo Christy Brinkley And then he spits it out Great It's already funny And then they're like Edna eats the sandwich It's just like perfect
Starting point is 00:58:29 80s humor Where it's like the last Let's go one step further It might be the best food movie For comedy Just the best use of food In any comedy There's just so much food
Starting point is 00:58:38 And drink in this movie Yeah Even the stirring the Kool-Aid With their hands Yeah there's like 20 things Of that Rust taking the beer down It's great.
Starting point is 00:58:46 Denny Theves Benihana Award, scene stealing location. The Grand Canyon can see it for like a split second. He just puts his arm rider. Gonna keep going. The Great Shot Order Award, did you go roller coaster shots?
Starting point is 00:58:59 Yeah, because I thought those were pretty effective. Yeah, it looked good. Those are great. I don't know if I had seen roller coaster shots in a movie like that before. Like action shots, when it actually on the roller coaster? Yeah, there was a roller coaster run there,
Starting point is 00:59:11 late 70s, early 80s, where roller coasters became like a real thing. And it's like, oh, there's one in Cincinnati. You've got to go. Oh, yeah. Well, this is Magic Mountain, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:23 The Butch's Girlfriend Award for Weeklink of the film. I honestly... I don't know if there is one. You could nitpick with... Clark is almost too dumb sometimes, but I don't... You could say Audrey, like if you had to choose one. Because Russ does a lot more for the kids in this movie than Audrey. I like Audrey.
Starting point is 00:59:42 I like it. I like it, yeah. I got no note. What's age the worst? Originally the producers wanted Christy Brinkley to appear naked in the film but she refused.
Starting point is 00:59:52 I don't know which part of that is age the worst so I'm just going to say you can take that however you want to take it. But 1983 me it would have been the most important moment of my life.
Starting point is 01:00:02 You know, Beverly just gives you once again the 80s. Yeah. This might be number one unnecessary 80s needs to. Just it twice. It just does not need to be there
Starting point is 01:00:13 at all. Beverly gives it to just, hey, okay, we're here. Why not? The shower scene is, they just shoehorn that shit in there. She's very comfortable with their body, Craig. Christy negotiated compromise of bra and panties before jumping in the pool,
Starting point is 01:00:28 and that's what they did. Morewood's age the worst. Clark's home computer is just out of like 1784. Yeah. And it's also like they can also play video games on the computer. Don't even recognize it. The chariots of fire jokes probably have an age that great
Starting point is 01:00:42 for people under 35. Yeah, I've never seen the movie. Did you know that the music was from the, yeah. Yeah. I know that, but yeah. Morewood's aged the worst. This is for my friend Jim Grady who's probably listening. Freeze frame in the VHS during the pool scene to see if you could see Christy Brinkley's nipples.
Starting point is 01:01:01 Might have been a thing we did in the mid-80s. Right. Because there's a couple moments where it's like, wait a second. You think you can get in there, yeah. Yeah, it's hot. Yeah. But, boy, we came through some harsh time. Hey, listen, man.
Starting point is 01:01:12 Yeah. Changing the channel for you. You young people now, it's all your hands. We didn't have it. You really have to fight. That's the Craig generation. To do some work to see a nipple in 1985. The Wally World scenes,
Starting point is 01:01:26 Anthony Michael Hall is taller than Beverly DeAngelo because they reshot the scenes later. David Robinson when he went into the Navy. Yeah, he did a Dennis Rodman. He grew all this height, and they had to reshoot the ending, and all of a sudden he was way taller. Is that when he started kicking game to Beverly DeAngelo?
Starting point is 01:01:43 Do you want to talk about that now? So apparently, like, he was like, he was like, what's up and trying to sneak peaks and stuff like that on Beverly. I like it. What's the age difference here? He was probably 15 years younger. And she's 33 when they're filming it. I'll allow it. Shoot your shot.
Starting point is 01:02:00 I'll allow it. Shoot your shot. You're 15. You don't know any better. Ron Burgundy flew to wear it. Best time for a pee break. You can't miss any of it, man. You could talk to me in a Clark's Desert Walk, but I also like for it as the jeans on the head. Bro, because I think the desert walk is so funny, and then it leads into the hysterical scene
Starting point is 01:02:21 where he's getting the car fixed. I just, I don't think you can, man. It's hilarious to me. Was there a better title for the movie? Road trip, I guess. The Griswolds? Yeah, I guess you could do the Griswolds, but I think that...
Starting point is 01:02:34 Because we call this movie the Griswolds. Really? Okay. Yeah, just like, ah, the Griswolds. Well, I used to call it National Ampoons. Yeah. That's it. Best quote.
Starting point is 01:02:45 We've done 3,000. We've done a million. I just wanted to mention... I have one, though. Is this your idea of a good meal? Dog killer! And then, this is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy. The funniest thing that anyone's ever said in the history of cinema
Starting point is 01:03:01 is when Chevy Chase says, she's a pool waitress. I was ordering some fish for you and Audrey. Are you not kidding me? I was selling here. Didn't want to change. And I see this person here. She's a pool waitress. He's in there with a sports
Starting point is 01:03:19 Illustrated model dog It's over You're cooked my man Do you have a hottest take You know what I think that The Eugene Levy character Ed He was right that wagon did make it They did
Starting point is 01:03:31 You know Like he was like This is what you want to take The tribe across the country And he was right I don't know if the sports wagon Would have done it It survived a 50 yard car crash
Starting point is 01:03:39 Yeah the wagon queen family truckster I have a hottest take P Green Clark wasn't wrong to at least go test the waters with his CIA motel stuff. His wife rejected him so many times in this movie.
Starting point is 01:03:57 His wife looked like it. It is true. She didn't. His wife rejected him so many times. He tried to get it popping in when she was in the shower. He tried to get it popping in the car. In the camp. He tried to.
Starting point is 01:04:08 Sleeping back. He's in a loveless, sexless marriage. No, he's not, man. No, he's not. And so I think that the reason why she didn't end. things is because she probably realized like maybe you know what I can step up
Starting point is 01:04:20 on my end. There's just no fucking way if you get caught in a pool with a naked woman and then when she's like Park get out of the pool and he's like hold on I'm going to have like a really close face to face conversation with her yeah that's and then try to be like she was a pool waitress you can't do it but there is a toxicity that I could bring to this podcast where I could say he was driven to it. Okay all right I love it van that was a great
Starting point is 01:04:46 hot take. Let's take a break and do some casting what ifs. This episode is brought to by the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo. That's a mouthful, but that's because it packs a lot in. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with it, big or small.
Starting point is 01:05:06 So whether it's buying tickets to the game and grabbing a coffee, it earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Say it with me. The active cash credit card from Wells Fargo. Be a 2%er. Learn more at Wells Fargo.com forward slash active cash. Terms of Play.
Starting point is 01:05:23 Want your kids to learn and play every Sunday for free? Clinic Kids is using sports and evidence-based wellness coaching to help kids build confidence, resilience, and the tools they need for life's challenges and opportunities. Every Sunday from April 12th to May 10th, we're running free sessions at the Boys and Girls Club, New Rochelle, for all children. Tap the banner or visit clinickidts.com to learn more. That's Clinic with a K.
Starting point is 01:05:49 Clinic Kids is a registered 501c3 nonprofit. All right, casting what ifs. This is an interesting one. And this is half-ass internet research. But allegedly, Kim Cottrell was the original choice for Ellen. No way. Yeah. Interesting.
Starting point is 01:06:05 Yeah. That's peak Kim Contraal right there. That might be a little bit overpower. Is this around like Big Trouble in Little China? It's like three years after Porkies. Yeah, a little bit before. Or maybe a year after Porky's? When is Manikin?
Starting point is 01:06:18 That's like two years later. Two years later. She's like, she's. I'm happy where we landed. but that did make me go, how? They wanted John Landis to direct this movie, but he was filming a Chris Ryan favorite
Starting point is 01:06:29 in American War Wolf in London. Couldn't do it. So, because of Eddie's tongueless daughter was played by Harold Ramis' daughter, Violet. That's unbelievable. She whistles like a bird. He's like a horse.
Starting point is 01:06:47 She was born without a tongue. So John Candy got paid a million dollars. Let's just do this. now. They do the original ending where the Griswolds go to Roy Wally's house and hold their family hostage. An ending that has never been released, but Chevy Chase claims he is a tape of it. Well, then there's another part of it, right? Well, yeah, so they go to the house. Clark points a BB gun at Wally. Forces him and a security guard and business associates to sing and dance Wally World theme songs and police arrive and get arrested. And then there's some rumor that the girl in the
Starting point is 01:07:21 Red Forrari shows up and his Wally's daughter. But that's been debunked. And on the plane ride home, the Griswold's realized they're on the wrong flame, Clark snaps and hijacks the plane. And that's why the last postcard you could see is them on the airplane. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:36 There's probably not a great hijacked vibe in the 80s. Yeah. Yeah, you don't want to do that. Yeah. Much better now. So they do test audiences. What did you say about John Candy and a million dollars? Well, so they do test audiences.
Starting point is 01:07:50 And the movie does. Like the airplane part they hate. So Ramos says, it crushes, crushes, then strangely quiet and did not laugh again for the rest of the movie. It occurred to me that they'd now invested about 70, 75 minutes on the way to Wallyworld,
Starting point is 01:08:06 and they really expected to get to Wallyworld, and here we were denying the path full of trip. So they're like, we got to go to Hollywood. We'll get John Candy. John Cady makes a million dollars for three days of shooting. They paid him a million dollars. million dollars.
Starting point is 01:08:20 In 1983. Yeah. Cocaine, man. $50 million budget. He got one-fifteenth of it. Wait, wait. Okay, you guys got to help me with this. Where is John Candy at in his career at this point?
Starting point is 01:08:33 Beloved guy you would bring in for a movie like this, but they're also desperate. And John Belushi's dead. And who else would you even do? You need somebody who's... I get it. That's a... Am I tripping by thinking that at that time that a million bucks
Starting point is 01:08:47 is like a shit ton of money to pay an actor to be in a movie? you just period. You're definitely not tripping. But I would say it was money well spent. I would say too. I would say too. It's almost like the Jalen Brown contract, which seems ridiculous right now. $304 million. So he's on SNL and he's on SCTV. That's like, that's where they're
Starting point is 01:09:03 drafting him out of. Jennifer Lopez was the first Latina actress to ever get paid a million dollars to do a movie. Oh, he was in stripes too. That's like 14 some odd years later. I'm not comparing the two movies. I'm just saying a million bucks. That's a shit ton of money. Good for him, man. Love that guy.
Starting point is 01:09:21 Buffalo Hannah Rubinick Partridge overacting award. They knew and they let it happen. Don't you call me, lady. I come in here. I give these things to you. Give it all you got. Give it all you got. I treated you like a son.
Starting point is 01:09:35 You fucking stand me in the heart. Fuck you. Anne Edna. Christy Brinkley. Overacting? Overacting? She's just trying, her trying to act. She didn't act.
Starting point is 01:09:47 She's just Christy Brinkley. She can't act. I'm giving her the award. Some sort of an acting word. She didn't act at all. She was... Are you going to go for it? You got to give that to Aunt Edna, man.
Starting point is 01:10:00 Yeah, it's Ann Edna. You got to give that to Ann Edna. Aunt Edna was just... She screams the entire movie. Okay, fine. Do you remember Ann Edna's other huge role, Imaging Coco? No. She was Jan's ugly doppelganger and Brady Bunch.
Starting point is 01:10:16 Oh. When Jan was worried because as a kid, she looked like... Imogene Coco and it was like, oh my God, I'm going to look like you and then they worked it out in 22 minutes. Never seen one episode. Best that guy award. Well, Reese from the White Shadow is the guy holding the basketball.
Starting point is 01:10:36 Also, Audrey ends up dating Brandon Walsh on 902 and O for the first six episodes of season three. Unfortunately for Dana Barron, I have just referred to her as Dana Barros. For like my entire life. She should have married Dana Barron. Light it up from three. I got, you know, John Deal?
Starting point is 01:10:55 The guy who plays... Yeah, I feel like he's John Deal. You feel like John Deal is John Deere? Miami Vice cast member. What about Brian Doyle Murray? Is that Brian Doyle? I think he's Brian Doyle Murray. Dion Wader's a word.
Starting point is 01:11:06 Randy Quaid wins for Eddie. I just want to give a shout out to Cousand Dale, Eugene Levy, Dinky the Dog, and then obviously John Candy. And Young Jane. Is there a case for John Candy? No, I think it's definitely Randy. Cousine Andy, right? Okay. Yeah. And I would actually, I think Eugene
Starting point is 01:11:22 Lee's really funny in this. He's really good. All right, Van. Instead of recasting couch, I'm going to give you 23, all black cast recasting couch, go. Okay. Um, I did not prep you for this. I know. So the lead in this would be,
Starting point is 01:11:40 uh, this is not a Kevin Hart situation. You guys got to help me. I don't know if we have a straight up and down comedic guy like this in that age range. I'm trying to think. Jay Farrow comeback movie? I still have my stock from like 2012. Jay Farrow is fucking amazing.
Starting point is 01:11:59 The wife is like Nicole Bihari, you know her. What if we do Gerard Carmichael and we have Can we get Regina Hall in this and can Regina Hall basically be the Clark part? We've done now. Oh, the flip.
Starting point is 01:12:15 Oh, I love two in a row, but I like it. Because if you bring Regina Hall in to it. You got what she's clerk. Right. Actually, you could, if you wanted to, you could do Regina Hall. She's too old to be clerk or now? She's a working woman. She's the breadwinner in her family and she takes her whole family on vacation. You could, you could
Starting point is 01:12:31 do Hawk for Jesus, but you could flip it and you could have I like this idea. Well, no, it was Sterling T. Brown. Stirlingty Brown. So you could have him in the Ellen part, and then you can have her there. The kids, we can get the kids from Grownish. They're going to be cheap.
Starting point is 01:12:50 Sterling Brown and Regina Hall, I'm in. I'm into it. You didn't like my Gerard Carmichael with a, and it's a gay couple? You can do that. I'm with that. That's even higher level of difficulty. Woke, son of a. But, you know, but you know.
Starting point is 01:13:04 He's still making him for St. Louis. You're still trying to make him for St. Louis. Bill's going to St. Louis on us again. The question is, who's cousin Eddie? That's the question. Is that, is that J.B. smooth? Oh, that's pretty good. that J.B. Smooth? Is J.B. Smooth just the
Starting point is 01:13:23 go-to guy for any role like that? He essentially was Cousin Eddie in Kirt, you know what I mean? So the question is, who's cousin Eddie? That's really good. Half-Fastenernered research. So they avoided legal troubles with Disney World by doing Wally World and Marty Moose.
Starting point is 01:13:42 They did make Roy Wally look like Roy Disney. The parks were San Antonio in Arcadia. You've been to that one? I've never been to Arcadia. Six Flags in Valencia. Yeah. Did you go to, have you ever been to Magic Mountain? Of course. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:13:53 Okay. Just asking. Yeah. It's not only have I been there, but there's like a good, there's a couple good stops on the way back. There's some good ice cream place. Like a Foster's Freeze type place? Yeah. The, uh, the wagon queen family truckster station wagon was created for the film.
Starting point is 01:14:10 Does not exist. Hmm. But was based on the 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire Station wagon. So there you go. Holiday Road reached number 82 on the Billboard Hot. 100. You know, I thought that was Loggins to like 2013?
Starting point is 01:14:27 It's understandable. Yeah, there was a lot of hard to keep track of all those people. So Anthony Michael Hall said Chevy was the first person to point out that puberty kicked in for him.
Starting point is 01:14:38 He'd pimples and he'd shut up about a foot. Chevy made me feel goofy about it and I was kind of embarrassed. Asshole. But at least he hit on Beverly DeAngelo. Yeah. And then Dana Barron said,
Starting point is 01:14:50 I had craft services. I had meals all the time. I found food. So I went from like 80-0 pounds to like 96 and I'm little, so that's a huge gain. Michael grew up and I grew out. And then everybody had a miserable time
Starting point is 01:15:03 filming the Wilder World. They all threw up. They all threw up. Like trying to, because they had to get on the- They kept having to the rides. Yeah, the people were,
Starting point is 01:15:08 like, they are actually like really sick and not having a good time. The, uh, Imaging Koka, who played Ann Edna, they think she had a stroke as they were filming the movie. So funny.
Starting point is 01:15:21 What? And they filmed the scene that warden. It's not the way you delivered it. Because I was like, Imaging Coco. She used to actually be in 1950s, you know, like. Yeah, they filmed the scene, and then something happened her that afternoon, and she had to go to the hospital and re-learned her lines and finished the movie.
Starting point is 01:15:37 Like Mitch McConnell. Yeah. And then the family truckster, when it does the jump, there was a whole bet on the crew, whether it could go 50 feet, and the assistant director won the bet. And that's why Clark goes 50 yards. or whatever it was. And then they cut out, originally Brando Murray's character
Starting point is 01:15:59 snuck into the tent. And they decided that was weird. In a moose costume, and then they thought it would be funner if it was a dog. That would have been weird. Why would he do that? That's why they cut it. And then the family was rescued
Starting point is 01:16:11 by the two Native Americans we saw and a camel rider and the camel scenes apparently just didn't work and they had to cut out. No shit. But be honest with you, it's just funny that she said that we see, these two other guys, but then we never see
Starting point is 01:16:24 whoever's on the camel? We have no idea how they... Yeah, right. Then, uh, when they filmed the race to the Wally World's entrance, it was so hot that Anthony Michael Hall got heat stroke and had to go to the hospital. Damn.
Starting point is 01:16:37 God damn, man. This movie's just taking people down left and right. And then, uh, Chase got mad at Ramis one time when it was hot and he threw a suitcase at him and Ramis yelled at him and then they were fine. It's kind of like working here. By the way... Yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:49 Balencia, Magic Mountain, pick your battles. It gets fucking hot. You do not want to go basically at any point from, I would say, May through Thanksgiving. Yeah, through October. I thought I was going to faint after I got off Superman. It's tough. Apex Mountain, Chevy? For me, it's still Fletch.
Starting point is 01:17:11 But I guess if you want to consider it this area. I think it's Fletch. Because he's got this in his back pocket, then Fletch. And it's like, oh, we're doing this. The only reason why I'm going to say it's, this, he's Clark Griswold, man. He's Fletch to me. Fletch sets up everything else for him.
Starting point is 01:17:27 Really? That sets up the next couple years. Do you think that there's a Christmas vacation? Just 20 seconds here. Do you think that this is a, I know a lot about movies? Is this a Sean Fantasy classic here? To where the average person, if you ask them who this guy is, they're probably going to say this guy is Clark.
Starting point is 01:17:46 I think it's split. I think it's half Fletch and half Clark Rizwell. I think you guys. Mark is probably now bigger. because they've, I think Vegas, not Vegas, Christmas has become so huge. Because to me, it's like this in European are bigger than Christmas.
Starting point is 01:18:01 No. Do you think they're bigger movies? To me, they're more important. I think this movie is probably the most important of the three. I don't know, it's an interesting argument. Well, you know, European had the thing where it was, I think it was the first PG-13 movie or one of the first. So it had nudity, but it was still PG-13.
Starting point is 01:18:17 Yeah. Which was very important to a certain demo. I think Christmas has had the longest tail, though. Probably. It's just on, you just know it's going to be on for four weeks every year. And that's a really, really great movie
Starting point is 01:18:29 in addition to being funny. I can't wait to do it in December. Beverly DeAngelo, yes. Anthony Michael Hall, it's probably Breakfast Club for him. I think Michael Hall, breakfast club are weird signs. Family vacation movies?
Starting point is 01:18:43 Or being in Dark Night? Dark Night. Rises or is it Dark Night? No, the Dark Night. He's in the Dark Night. Yeah, he's the TVcaster. vacation movies, yeah. Right?
Starting point is 01:18:56 The Ferrari 308 GTS, I'm going to say yes. Christy Brinkley, definitely yes. It's this over Uptown Girl, right? I think it's right around the same time. This comes out and then Uptown Girl. John Deal, not yet. It's probably dying in special two-part episode in season four.
Starting point is 01:19:17 You ever see a movie called Madhouse with John Lerillard and K. And Kirsty Alley? Of course. he's in that he's hilarious in that he's in a lot of stuff I have an important Apex Mountain question Let's hear it
Starting point is 01:19:27 Is Holiday Road Apex Mountain for 80s movie theme songs That play over the credits The open credits So the competition would be power of love These movies These songs have to be written For the express purpose
Starting point is 01:19:40 Of being in the movie Okay Power of love Danger Zone Or Holiday Road Danger Zone is tough I don't know if I can see Because Purple Rain plays over the end
Starting point is 01:19:51 So it has to be written for the movie. For the movie. Like Power of Love was written for Back to the Future. Danger Zone is written for Top Gun. Oh, these are, bro, these are some. What about Call Me, American Gigolo? Wasn't that? I don't think that was written for American Gigolo.
Starting point is 01:20:05 Yeah, I think it was. We did that in the rewatcher. Shit. I think it's Danger Zone. It probably is Danger Zone. No, it's Power of Love. Because Huey was massive. And that was the biggest of all the movies.
Starting point is 01:20:17 How old love, like, set you up for best. back to the future, like the way Danger Zone and Holiday Road. Like, Holiday Road. So you're saying all-encompassing. Yeah, like, I think that power of love in a vacuum might be the best song. Danger Zone. Danger Zone, you're like, I'm going to watch Top fucking gun. But in the same way
Starting point is 01:20:37 that this movie is kind of like when I hear Holiday Road, I think about Yeah, you're going on vacation. Tobiasa. Good question, CR, man. You still got it. Thanks, brother. John Candy, no. Rollercoasters?
Starting point is 01:20:52 In films, definitely. You ever see fear? Oh, yeah. Forget it. Never mind. Or Final destination. Final destination, yeah. Dead aunts?
Starting point is 01:21:04 Dead aunts. It's the number one dead aunt for me. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I can't think of me. Speaking of dead aunts, best racehorse name. How about Ann Edna? That's the one I got. Here comes Ian Edna.
Starting point is 01:21:18 I got on Edna right there. Not pool waitress? Tinderfoot Pickin'nets Wally World would never ever ever be closed for two weeks Under any circumstance Disney famously is open 365
Starting point is 01:21:35 Yeah he closed for one day But not two weeks You close individual rides The whole part is not going to Never happening For two weeks Yeah No
Starting point is 01:21:43 I mentioned another knit Where my son insisted On putting this in the podcast Which is starting to understand at least a little bit, even though he tried to change it by just having us rank characters. He wanted for a nitpick. His was Clark landing his wife. He just thought it was ridiculous.
Starting point is 01:22:03 He just thought she was way too hot. He was a little sweet. I'm better than they dance. I didn't tell him how she married Pacino years later. I feel like the kids would be more bummed out by dead Aunt Edna than they were. I think that would be the worst thing that ever happened to me. You can't leave a dead body in front of a house. You can't.
Starting point is 01:22:20 a hell of a minute. By the way, we didn't talk about it in this funeral which I have this written down. Bro, it's just like super hysterical, bro. Hold on. He's talking about the Canaanites? Yay, admit this good and decent woman into thine arms in the flock of thine heavenly area
Starting point is 01:22:36 up there. And Moab, he laid it down by the hand of the Canaanites and yay, though the Hindus speak of Kar. I implore you, give her a break. What do you want, Ellen? I'm not an ordained minister.
Starting point is 01:22:51 It's fucking hysterical, bro. You just can't, but you can't leave a dead body outside somebody's house. You cannot. The car, I don't think survives the crash. I don't think it's fixable
Starting point is 01:23:01 by these two jackasses in Arizona. Why did Clark wear a jacket on his desert walk? I thought it was bothered me. It was a nitpick. Well, you got to, you know, protect yourself
Starting point is 01:23:10 from the actual son. Can't just, nobody walks down in the desert way. I wouldn't have thought to do that. At one point, he takes his pants off and puts them on his pants. Yeah, that's the funniest
Starting point is 01:23:17 I've ever seen. But then his pants are back on. Yeah. Yeah. Any of their nitpicks? No. There's a big Christy Brinkly one, but it's more for unanswerable. Uh, sequel, prequel, prestige TV, all black cast are untouchable.
Starting point is 01:23:29 We kind of did this. By the way, it's been all of those things except prequel. Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Treo, Catherine Hahn? I have to admit, there's actually, like, nothing I can do here that was funnier than the movie. So I would actually say that my one recasting couch would be Catherine Hahn being in this movie. Catherine Hahn is like... Maybe Cousinetti's wife. you would want Wayne Jenkins as the
Starting point is 01:23:52 as the police cop What if Wayne Jenkins was the dude in East St. Louis? God damn, Clark! This ain't even my neighborhood! And yeah, I am in the Commodores! Just what Oscar, who gets it? It has to be Chevy. All right, probably in answerable questions.
Starting point is 01:24:19 Where was Christy Brinkley going on movie? Yeah, this is one of those things Where is she heading? I'm sure anybody other than us Like younger than us watching this movie is like what? And we were just like, sounds good. Christy Brinkley is driving in a Ferrari Next to these guys.
Starting point is 01:24:34 Crummy hotels and you know what? My, it was like, is she stalking him? Well, I thought she was a fantasy. At first I thought she was. But then she's not in the pool. When I first started like, when I first saw the movie and was actually following, I'm like, oh, this is a fantasy.
Starting point is 01:24:49 he's freaking out. But then she gets in the pool. She's obviously not a fantasy. She's a pool rachel. I'm like, she's a pool rachel. I'm like, is she following them? Yeah. Why is she everywhere that they are?
Starting point is 01:24:59 Where was Wally World supposed to be exactly? Because they leave Wally World and they're immediately in Santa Monica next to the PCH. I know. They get down there. So like what do you think it's like supposed to be? There's no place it could be.
Starting point is 01:25:13 The 405? Oncewhere where he's buying the guns, there's no place that's realistic. Yeah, right. You can't be there. Yeah. Yeah. So it had to...
Starting point is 01:25:22 Yeah. I don't know. Gun laws have certainly changed. Because he bought that gun and he was back. And you know he probably brought that thing back on the plane with him. I was thinking like, did they think it was Elsa Gundo? Yeah. You're absolutely right.
Starting point is 01:25:36 Also, like, if you're like the Grizzewalds and you see the Pacific Ocean, are you like, can we just chill here? Yeah. We're in Santa Monica. It's such a lovely. It's just a mistake that they filmed that scene there. It should have just been in like San Bernardino or something. We figured out Cousinetti's relation to the Griswolds.
Starting point is 01:25:52 Why didn't Beverly DeAngel have a bigger career, in your opinion, C.R.? I mean, just we kind of go over this whenever we get to somebody like her. It's parts for women, you know. Very crowded marketplace at that time. You're dealing with the Michelle Pfeifers. And Hurricane Ellen Barkin comes through, you know? Yep. Like, why didn't Kate Capshaw have a bigger career?
Starting point is 01:26:11 I mean, she did well. Liked her too. Yeah, you know, so it's like a lot of different people in that era. The Andy and any Any unanswerables for you guys? No, that was mine. My own answer was was, was Christy Brinkley
Starting point is 01:26:26 was she stalking him? Yeah, I just, all I had was just like the unanswered question is how Clark and Ellen remain married after she sees him in the pool of Christy Brankley. Yeah, that's... He doubles back down to... There'll be some therapy.
Starting point is 01:26:39 In Christmas vacation, but she doesn't, you know, Clark is, Clark is trying to get it happen. He's trying to make it happen. He's down to get it. popular. He makes a, in European, he's like filming her in the shower. He's a wild guy. He really is.
Starting point is 01:26:52 Yeah, he is, bro. He's a horny man, bro. Clark directed, Buttman leaves Brazil. What was that movie you said the last time? It was a lot of people, did people correct you? They corrected me, because it was a lot of feedback? You got some Buttman Brazil feedback? It was John Stagliano directed in it. It was actually the right
Starting point is 01:27:08 movie. It was Batman's Brazil, or something like that. I didn't have, it wasn't Brazilian butts. It was Batman. He went to the business. We apologize. We should have corrected that earlier. in the podcast. Best double-feature choice with this movie. Wow. Would you go Euro or would you go Christmas?
Starting point is 01:27:22 I would do Europe, but I also, like, just for fun, because I saw it like a few minutes of it, but while I was doing getting ready for this is Summer Rentals. Oh, if you went outside the Griswold universe. Summer Rental, am I remembering correctly, or does Summer Rental also have weird 80s boobs in it as well? It does. That was part of the joy of early 80s comedies
Starting point is 01:27:41 is that was also where you would get to see a random top listing. Summer Rental just, There were just too many comedies. It was survival of the fittest, and some of them didn't hit the way they would have if they had just come out, like two years later or six months later.
Starting point is 01:27:54 It's very funny, though. It's like the late 90s were like that, where there's so many good movies. Some stuff just got lost because they were too many movies. Because you're watching Kroll back then. Kroll. Kroll. Love that.
Starting point is 01:28:06 Andy Reds-Wan-A-Word. What happened the next day? Like, no, criminal charges at all for Clark. We're good. And so, like, what, there's no, like, the guy, who's the person that, they're leaving Edna with in Phoenix. Okay.
Starting point is 01:28:19 Yeah, we got, this movie's not like, what the fuck? This movie is, this is an apex white privilege. Oh my gosh. You guys. Like,
Starting point is 01:28:28 Clark does so many things in this movie. Yeah. That like only a white dude. He commits 11 crimes. He could get away with steals. He's a dead body out there. He takes prisoners.
Starting point is 01:28:42 He breaks it. He does so many things. The Wally World thing alone is like 20. years in prison. Yeah. Also, if SWAT comes, you can't talk them out of being there. I like that we didn't put this in nitpicks.
Starting point is 01:28:55 Like, Clark's just not going to jail. For a long, fucking time. Mr. Wally can't tell them not to arrest you after you've broken into the park and taken hostage. And made the black security guard bark like a dog and roll around on the ground.
Starting point is 01:29:08 And he shot John Candy in the butt with a BB gun. Also, why does Wally come? Yeah, what's it? That's great question. He did anything better? Well, if somebody's holding up Disneyland, they're like, hey, Walt, get over here. Yeah, Bob Iger, you got to come down here.
Starting point is 01:29:21 Yeah, there's one part when he goes to talk to Wally and he's got no handcuffs on, but his kids are all handcuffed. And they just, like, the police officers let him walk on the side of them. Very strange. What piece of memorabilia would you want from this movie, Van? Oh, man. You can't say the Red Ferrar that's cheating. I don't really want the Red Ferraria. Either I want the BB gun.
Starting point is 01:29:44 or I want the double-barrel shot up at the dupoo pool up for the way to the bartender I know you guys think I'm bushing in you like last night as I'm watching this movie like I hear from the other room what are you watching
Starting point is 01:30:00 I got that too because I was laughing so hard too I'm laughing so hard I hear what are you watching I'm like yo this movie is the funniest shit ever yeah my son was like your dad stop laughing you're being annoying I'm like I'm gonna laugh yeah
Starting point is 01:30:13 good talk Ben Good talk about it. The Loveby license plate on the Ferrari, I thought would be a good one. The Griswold Mobile just having that in the... I just think bringing station wagons back would be cool. Yeah. Eddie shoes. Eddie shoes are crazy.
Starting point is 01:30:29 Yeah, Eddie shoes are crazy. Cousandale's Magazine. Probably not finishing top ten. The Coach Finstock Award, Best Life Lesson. Spend time with your family. Yeah. Take the long way around. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:30:44 Who won the movie Chevy Chavez Chase? Did we have everything? I've been waiting for 90 minutes. I mean, this is really like, it was all foreplay until we get producer Craig's married, seems super relaxed and happy. Has never experienced a car ride where he couldn't look at his phone and find out where he was going. Yeah. All right.
Starting point is 01:31:03 What was your take, Craig? I've also never taken a long road trip like that. I don't think West Coast people took road trips. Why would you? You didn't want to go anywhere. During the destination, yeah. Yeah. I want to preface what I'm about to say.
Starting point is 01:31:14 just by communicating a few things. First of all, I really enjoyed you guys cracking yourselves up today. I think this is the hardest you guys have ever laughed on a rewatcher. It might be up there.
Starting point is 01:31:24 I like Chevy Chase. I love Fletch. I like 80s comedies, most of them. I like, you know, whatever. Airplane, Ferris Bueller, Beverly Hills Cop.
Starting point is 01:31:33 I'm not denying that this movie was funny. You're not on trial for January 6th. You haven't been indicted. Give us the shit. I'm not denying it. this movie was funny, I just don't think it is funny right now.
Starting point is 01:31:48 Wow. Okay. I think this movie is funnier to talk about than to watch. I think the situation, it's like I think you should leave, where it becomes memes and it's actually funnier than the actual movie itself. When I watched this, I was like, okay. But now listening to you guys describe all the situations, I'm like, oh, this is hilarious. But in the moment, this movie didn't really hit for you got to watch it again for like the Chevy Chesson. Yeah, you got to run it Are we sure it wasn't like you had to be there movie?
Starting point is 01:32:15 No, because it's like it had nothing to do with the cultural moment it was released it. It's how many times you've seen it and then because... That's what I mean. You saw it when you were like 10 or whatever. Yeah, but I just cracked up at it.
Starting point is 01:32:26 It's like at 45. But that's why because it's like an old t-shirt. A couple of things, number one, I think you should leave is hilarious. Number one. Number two, it's fine. You don't like, I think you should leave. It's fine. I love it.
Starting point is 01:32:39 Breathe. But I do think that there's a style of comedy That Chevy does That like people they don't really do Maybe maybe Jason Bayman still kind of does it But like it doesn't people don't do it I think that's what it is I think you had to have grown up with Chevy Chase to some degree
Starting point is 01:32:57 Maybe To just be have But you like Fletch though I like Fletch I don't know Do you like the story in Fletch more? Like do you think you were like Fletch is a movie movie movie Craig's like Ebert
Starting point is 01:33:07 He's like I like the first half more the second half, I'm not reviewing this. I don't know. I found the pacing of this movie to be weird. I think it was just a style of the 80s. I think these comedies were cut differently back then and it's just something that... It's a lot of cocaine. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Don't make excuses for him.
Starting point is 01:33:23 Listen, I'm not surprised. Running back in like a year. Maybe that's fair. But listening to you guys run through all the scenarios, hilarious. And I was like, damn, why didn't I laugh as much? But in the moment, I was like, I don't know. I mean, Ben kind of felt the same way. It does, there's a lot of stuff that's dated about it.
Starting point is 01:33:38 He might have. I laughed about 40 minutes left with the movie. Maybe Craig's right. I ran that bitch. And I started laughing from the... I was just playing clips while we were waiting for you. He was just fucking laughing. I'm like, I don't...
Starting point is 01:33:56 The movie's hysterical to me. Well, we'll find out what America thinks. We will. I hope Craig doesn't get vilified. We always appreciate your takes. I loved it. Yeah, on the town, I said that I didn't think this movie was that funny.
Starting point is 01:34:08 and Matt was very mad. He was like, you're completely wrong. It's a hilarious movie. You said you don't think the town is funny? No, sorry. He's on the podcast, the town. I didn't think this movie was that funny. The town is not renowned for its country.
Starting point is 01:34:20 Episode 300, Bill Wallet. Way to go. We did it. We don't know, we're probably not doing anything with the heat, but we have a bunch of the 1999 rewatchables that we know we're going to have and we have some really good stuff coming up. I don't know the schedule yet.
Starting point is 01:34:36 Sierra, you'll probably be involved. I think so, yeah. Van, we'll probably be grabbing you. And we'll be doing Christmas vacation in December. Love it. Can't wait. I think Christmas is actually on the rewatchable schedule day this year. Oh, he said.
Starting point is 01:34:48 Yeah, something like that. Produced by Craig Horlebeck, as always. Van, CR. Your feet. Feet.

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