The Rewatchables - ‘Remember The Titans’ With Bill Simmons, Shea Serrano, and Rembert Browne

Episode Date: October 8, 2019

Bill Simmons, Shea Serrano, and Rembert Browne will do up-downs until Bill is no longer tired as they rewatch ‘Remember The Titans,’ starring Denzel Washington, Will Patton, and Wood Harris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Remember the Titans coming up right now. What's going on? We want to warm up a little different tonight. From Walt Disney Pictures, we'll let these people know he's going to win state, right? Right. Right. Oh, the film critics gave two thumbs on.

Hey, no mountain. Filled with heart and soul. He did a good job up here. Academy Award winner, Denzo, Washington. We are team. Jerry Bruchheimer production. Remember the Titans. Available to own on video and Disney DVD, Tuesday, March 20th.

All right, so Grant Landry meeting, rubber bat is here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This movie was requested. Requested. By Shea Serrano. For like four years. Well, why? Give us the thumbnail sentence of why this means so much to you. We have Denzel Washington, perhaps the greatest actor of our generation, of the last two generations, as a head coach of a football team that has to work its way through integration.

And that's all I need for any movie ever. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Rev, you hadn't seen this in a while. In your head, it was one of the greatest movies. anyone's ever made and you had your new wife. You're newly betroth. My new wife. And you were like, I can't wait to show you this movie. And then 20 minutes in, you felt bad.

20 minutes in, I was like, is the honeymoon over? Because I think of it so fondly. I've never watched it in full. It's one of those TV movies where I've caught it halfway through a lot. But I never just sat down. I'm going to watch all or remember the Titans. and I think of it as like a classic. It is.

Came out when I was... Yeah, careful. Careful. Sorry, my tenses are, you know, shaped very close to me. But like 20 minutes in, 25 minutes in, I was like, was I wrong? That's not how I ended. Okay. By the end, I was like, this is still great.

But it's not the same movie that I remember, which I'm, which is why I'm excited to talk about it. So I'm actually going the other way on this. I kind of cream this movie on page two, a long time. ago about like I get it it's fine but it's also super hacking and cliche about this stuff and I wrote oh no this is whatever in 2004 I don't feel this way now I'm not saying Titans was a failure not only to make money but it's one of the few sports movies you can watch with your kids fortunately I don't have any kids yet so I don't have to watch it again for at least eight years now I have two kids it's fucking great it's great remember the Titans yeah it's good what else what do you

want if you're a little kid. What did you not like about it at the time, though? Um, it's, there's a lot of issues with it factually. Uh, the characters are poorly drawn. The football scenes are very good. I've talked myself into it. Okay. I'm sorry, Shay. Yeah. First Reggie Miller, now this. Every time you invite me on a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about that thing you love. And then I come in and you're like, let me shit on it for 10 minutes. Well, so here's the thing. I hate when they do the based on a true story. Mm-hmm. And then it's really not that much of the true story. Yeah. So it was like, it was like, I was like, like, I'm a shit on. Yeah. So it was like, hey, we're making this movie about

Shea Serrano, it's based on a true story. He's an astronaut. I mean, maybe. But he lives in Houston. It's like, well, he did live in Houston. So it's based on a true story. He was a guy who lived in Houston, but then he became a writer astronaut. Is that really

based on a true story? That's kind of what happens here, because there's a lot of stuff about this coach that does not line up with what's presented in this movie. So I'm going to say, I prepared a lot. I watched it twice in the past 48 hours. before my trial ended. But I did not, I purposely did not look up any factual stuff.

I wish I had it. Up until this moment, I have assumed every single thing in this movie happened. Yeah, see, that's the problem. This is going to be a roller coaster thing. But this happens with movies where it's like JFK. People see the movie JFK and they think, oh, so that's what happened with the assassination. It's like, no, this is Oliver Stone. He's being a lunatic throwing shit against a wall.

and in this movie it's like this kind of sort of happened we'll go through all this but you know what it is it's a movie about compromise that's what I learned in this movie it's a baked in it's an important movie I'm glad it exists in Denzel's great name does this go into the Denzel important movies category is this like in the Malcolm X category

Do you feel like that's sports Malcolm X He even had the rifle That's exactly how they pitched it But you know let's let's be honest We all love Denzel we all think he's one of the most important actors. I'm not saying this is a mail-in, but he has degrees.

You know, like he got game. He's all in. That's like Denzel. I'm like 100% in. I'm going for the Oscar on this one. Training Day. Malcolm X. This is kind of like I'll be on the set at 9 o'clock.

Maybe I'll grab my lines right before. Like he didn't stay for the rap party. He's like, I disagree. I disagree. It's just, it's like, it's, it's, like, LeBron showing up and being like, I'm going to get 35 tonight in Sacramento. That was the vibe I got from him. You disagree.

Make the case against it. I think he's really great in this role. He feels very much like a coach, which is hard to do in a movie. That is true. As soon as he shows up and we have the scene where he stares down Petey. The football is no fun. As soon as he does that and he like picks up the speed a little bit like, okay, Denzel is like he's firing.

Zero fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. Pulled all the way in. Like, even if you've never have cared anything about football, just watching that one interaction, you're like,

okay, something special is going to happen. I will say, though, there are some moments because this is a Disney movie, and it's like, like, there's no cursing and everything. I feel like there are some moments where Denzel read the script.

He was like, I can't believe we have to fucking say it. Which I like, that, I found myself laughing more in this movie than I ever remember. Okay.

And I, that actually makes it more watchable now. I think I would disagree again here with you on this part as well because we're talking about in 2000, this is just two years after Denzel made fallen, which ends with a demon escaping into the body of a cat. So he's like, we don't worry about the material with Denzel. He's so good that he just makes everything feel great. You can take 10 movies that Denzel Washington was in and replace him with someone else and it just becomes total awful, Terrible.

Like John Q, for example, doesn't work with anybody else. Somebody just said, hey, we should do a scene where Denzel has to give like a father-son speech to a dying kid. And then they just made a movie around that. And it works because he's Denzel Washington. Same thing here. Like, he could say anything. Any line he could say. He could say John Brown-Hine parts 12 times.

Still don't really know what that means. But this goes back to the LeBron analogy, though. Like, the great thing about LeBron these last few years is like he could be in the 2018 cabs with like Kevin Love. and Crazy J.R. Smith and washed up nine guys and still win 55 games and make the finals. Which I think Denzel has done in like 12 movies. Yeah. Where he's just like, all right.

He's a working actor. I'm going to, I'll be able to put up a 29, 10, and 12 in this movie. And I don't even need a lot to work with. My character doesn't even totally have to make sense. He's just good at it. And you make a point, like, who else is in this movie in 2000? Like, I think Jamie Fox eventually could have done a decent job in this role, but I think it would have been like 2008, 2009.

Not intimidating enough. You don't think so? No. Like, when Denzel turns on mean Denzel, it's like, it's just terrible. So what else could do it then? Nobody, that's the point. Only Denzel. Like, maybe, like, Samuel Jackson could tap into it a little bit,

but it would kind of feel a little character sure it's because he just be screaming. There's a difference right there because if you put Dinsel and Coach Carter, Coach Carter becomes... Yeah, Coach Carter is... He also couldn't go on that long run to Gettysburg. I don't think Sam's going to do that run. It's so hard to find an actor who can do what Dinsale does. Because if you think of his contemporaries,

somebody like Tom Hanks, for example, who's just been aligned with him forever, or somebody who's as talented as somebody like Daniel DeLewis, it just doesn't work with it. He can do all of the things you need somebody to do. He could be a little bit funny, a little bit serious. He could be sincere. He could be somewhat vulnerable, but mostly like strong and powerful.

Like, he can do anything. Do you feel like he mostly plays Denzel in each movie just with like different hair? Oh, for sure. Yeah. Because the training day was so eye opening because it was actually like, wow, who is this? Yeah. This is like a different type of character. Evil Denzel.

Evil Denzel. Where did this come from? And then you're like, wait, who is Denzel watching? Yeah. Wait, wait, wait. Who is this guy? I love the show All-American on the WB. Do you watch this?

You would like this show. It's a football show set in L.A. I got to watch it. Season two, I think, starts pretty soon. But my kids really liked it. It's a good show you can watch with the kids. It's about this kid transfers from, he's going to like Compton High and he transfers to Beverly High.

So it's like the classic. Oh, I love a fish out of water store. Oh, these people are so rich. I don't fit in. But the coach is Omar Epps. Ooh, I like that. Now, it's not as much of a new as you think because... You take it four of the H's on.

I also love Omar Epps. But the difference between like what he's doing as the coach in the show versus like Denzel in this movie. Right. Like if Denzel is the coach in All-American, I'd be like, this is the greatest show I've ever seen in my life. I love that. I love that someone was like, damn, he looks like Mike Tomlin.

Let's give him a show when he's a coach. Yeah. That finally happened. That's a dream. They should have caught him the West Beverly Steelers. All right. So here's the premise to remember the Titans. Yost is angling to get named to the Virginia Football Hall of Fame, which we're supposed to care about.

I cared about it immediately. I don't even, does, have you ever heard of a local Hall of Fame? Did you know about the Georgia Hall of Fame? You know what? I did know about it. You did? I feel like, I feel like it's Hershey Walker and Dominique. Is there a Texas Hall of Fame you've taken the kids to?

Texas high school football Hall of Fame. Yeah, that exists? Okay. Yeah, I guess we're supposed to care. Integration passes because we're in the early 70s. 71. They have to merge all kinds of stuff, and they decide to demote Yost and bring in our guy, Denzel,

to coach the team, doesn't go over well. Good premise for a movie. Yeah. So my question with this whole movie in general is like, you do the base on a true story. They didn't even have to base it on it. Could you just bought the rights to the story and then made whatever story you want?

You have to pretend this was the actual story. Is that supposed to give it more... It gives it more credibility. It makes it feel less hallmarky. If they can say, this kind of really happened. Because most people do what Rim did, what I did, and you just assume that this is all true. There wasn't infinite internet to like fact check it in 2000. You had no idea.

I didn't find out until I started researching for the book. And I was like, holy shit, everything in here is fake. Every single big thing is fake. Wait, tell me one thing that's fake. just like off the bat. I know we're going to get into You want to do this now? No, no, I don't want to do all of them.

Just like hit me with one. You want a big one or a small one? I want a big one. Let's just go through it. Okay. Okay. Coach Boone, kind of a dick. People weren't fans of Coach Boone like at all.

They hint at it a tiny bit in the movie when Yost is talking to him about like going around celebrating and pounding your chest. Like they glance at it quickly, but not really. But it's Dinsel. But it comes off as like, yo, like Denzel is just misunderstood a little bit. Like he has a plan. Well, in real life, a couple people have done pieces about this.

Many of the players believed his coaching strategies had no correlation to their success and were too harsh and lots of players quit because he was a dick. Yeah, I will say. That was the real coachman. I will say something, realization, like I have Densel blindness. Like he's just so good. I tend to just agree with everything he does. Watching it again, I was like, Yost is just a better coach.

You think so? I think Yost is just a better coach. I think Boone was a better, like, leader, though. Yeah, like, but Yost, like, tactician-wise, like, when they keep doing the thing, when they walk past each other, it's like, you know, like, take care of your offense, take care of your defense. Like, I think Yost is just, like, kind of a better football tactician. Yost would have had no idea that 8 million people died on Gettysburg. Yeah. Yose's defense was getting jug up.

Oh, damn. Wow, what a battle was. We lost a third of America in Gettysman. I feel like there's no way. There's no way Yose was a better coach than Boone. He saw the shot, they came out in a shotgun, and he just panicked. He was like, I don't know what the fuck to do now. Yeah, I mean.

That is true. He was benching people left and right. Yeah, he had no clue. He's in half time of the championship game. She feels like he's under attack. I am. You're looking at both sides. She's in the middle of us, and it's terrified.

Boone was a great coach. I'm so. mad right now. So that's one thing. The Titans were ranked second of the nation in 1971. They finished 13 and 0. Okay. All of their games were blowouts.

Nine of their 14 wins were shutouts. And then the fictional, the game at the end, the big comeback game, that did not happen in the state championship. They actually killed the team in the state championship. It was mid-season. They did come from behind at the end. Okay. But they were like, hey, it would be.

like if you made a movie about the, I don't know, the Patriots Falcons Super Bowl and they're like... Oh, did I do that? It's a terrible. It's easy at halftime. Bad example. If you made like a movie

but you pretended this weekend, like the Rams Chiefs game last year was the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah. So that was a little shady. Boone said we are not like all the other schools in this conference.

They're all white. They don't have to worry about race. We do. every school they faced had already been integrated. So other than that, it was true. They didn't have to worry about race. We do, except for they're all integrated. Which is funny, because, like, of the things to lie about,

like, they didn't need to lie about that. No. Like, that wasn't, like, a necessary thing to just, like, put over the top. This one's tough. Gary Bertier. Oof. Tough one. This is why this is a good movie, because it still hurts every time he gets in the car.

No, don't give him the car, Gary. I forget that it's going to happen. Every time. You're celebrating with him. I make it through a full hour of that movie for getting... So his accident happened after the season in real life. Oh, my God. When he was leaving the state championship banquet that honored the team for the

undefeated season, that's when he got in the accident. That's also tragic. That's also terrible, but it's a bummer. That's different. That was the one when I was going through him that I just was like, why did you do this? Why? Why did we need to do this?

We didn't have to do this. Don't do this. This is what happens when people don't consult us when they make sports movies, Shea. Also, this is a small one, but Yost had three daughters. Yeah. Other than the daughter in the movie. This is a small one? There were four daughters total, and they only used one of them in the movie.

And the other three were apparently fine with it. Was Yost? Was Yost? The real Yost? Yeah, was the real Yost okay with that? That seems... I don't know. That seems...

Before we get to the categories, what do we want from a football movie? Like, how important are the football scenes to you? The football scenes... And what football scenes have you liked the most? It depends on what type of football movie we're talking about. I think the Friday Night Lights movie did it the best, just showing game action.

Friday Night Lights was good for, like, a... Let's pan out a little bit and show you how big this could be. It felt like a game, yeah. Yeah. And any given Sunday did the opposite. They zoomed all the way in. and they do a bunch of cut shots. It's a bunch of like offensive defensive linemen getting after it.

And you can't follow anything. It's like you're on a boat being seasick. Those two felt the most real, also the most like interesting to watch. The ones in this movie are a little tricky. We're going to get into why later in the podcast. I would throw in the longest yard, which was the early one from 74. They go wide shot and it actually feels like you're watching a football game on television. And I thought I thought varsity blues did a go.

good job and I thought the replacements actually had good football sense. I love Replacements is good. Yeah. I'm not going to lie, I don't really compare this to other football movies. I put this in a category on the side. In terms of the gameplay with like Mighty Ducks. Yeah, that feels right.

I feel like it's very like... I think that's smart. I like, from a sports Disney-esque movie, like, I like an enemy. I like, I want the team to have a team. Yeah. It's like, like, you know, that team at the end or Bud Henry's team, that's the same as like an Iceland. I like,

it when there's like, like, the guy that sunshine like flips over. I love when the other team has like one, one like, like, oaf of a man who's supposed to like kill the other team. That's really what I want. That's always enjoyable. I think when they do it in this one, when they do it with PD, is like the best example of the type of football movie they're trying to make here. When they are, they take PD off of the offense, coach Yose's like, come play defense

with me. I don't know how to play linebacker. Just fucking cover the guy. That's all you got to do. And then they go, they cut to it. So easy to play linebacker. And then he's just like, he makes a mean face, and he slaps the ball away from a pass, and you're like, all right, he figured it out.

Like, I'm done. I got it. Also, and music cue. Every big play. And credence. I love. If you were working in a blockbuster in 2001 and this cassette came in, and your boss was like, can you file this way in categories?

And the two choices were race movie or sports movie. Where would you put it? I'm going to put it wherever you put White Men Can't Jump I'm putting it with that one That's a good That's sports movie Sports it is the

Yeah I don't I don't want to give this The credit of race movie What about third choice Disney movie? Yeah it's a Disney movie So you go Disney movie over the other two It's right next to Lion King

Like it fits in perfect I salivate over Coach Boone cursing I salivate over Does he cursing this? No But no does the idea of Denzel getting to curse as Coach Moon at these kids

because he definitely would have been cursing. I can't even remember. Was there like racial slurs in this movie? No, no, no. There really weren't, right? Was there an N-word drop? No, there's a lot of, there's a lot of monkeys. There's a monkey.

There's a lot of. There's a cracker. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of, like, racist man about to say it. Yeah. And Yost is like, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's thinking it. Don't do it. A lot of animal talk. Yeah. The animals. We all go to church. together. Don't say that.

Okay, $30 million budget made $136 million. Hell yeah. Wait, did you run out of things? I got another one. Another thing that wasn't real that they changed. In the movie, they throw a brick through Coach Boone's window. Yeah. In real life, it was a toilet.

They threw a toilet through the window. Jesus. Like a porcelain as toilet. Wow. Yeah. While Disney was looking at the script, he's like, nope. You can always tell how much somebody hates you by. like how big of an object they're willing to throw at you

and they threw a fucking toilet. That's a great high school yearbook quote for Shay. For the kids out there. Write that down. You could always tell how much someone hates you by the size of the object they throw through your window? Yeah, by how big of an object they're willing to pick up and throw it.

The hate in your heart is the size of the object. $30 million budget made $136 million. And this is during an era. This was a real era for sports movies where it's like, got to get the one star. Got to keep it under 30 million or under. Got to have the premise you can sell in the commercial or the trailer.

The VHS tape, that has to make sense, the DVD. Yeah. And if you spend 20 to 30, you'll make 50 or more. So you saw like varsity blues. It's like, let's get Vanderbik, put him on the poster. He's a big star, Dawson's Creek. Was that our? Yeah, that was our.

Yeah. But it was like, all right, we'll spend this. We'll make this like Tolan Robbins, my friend Mike Tolan who I share Clippers tickets with. He made four sports movies like Coach Carter, same thing. Yeah. We get Sam Jackson. Don't need anyone else. Yeah. And you go on down the line.

And people really were able to do this from 97 and 2006. I think when the rock did Gridiron Gang, that was like the tail end of that kind of ending. But it was 10 years of that. It was like, just get one star. You don't, this doesn't need to be Ocean's 11. Yeah. What's cool about this movie is one of the things that stands out in the rewatch is there's some real people in this movie.

Yes. Avon Barksdale's in this movie, and he's a feel-good character, Julius. He's acting as, he, he, I love Wood Harris. Ryan Gosling's in this movie. First big role. Unbelievable. Also, just absolutely terrible at football. Really?

Does not want to play football? No, just like loves hanging out. It's like, please, please take me out the whole season. He was definitely just there because his dad wanted him. Great racist. And then if you had told me which white guy is going to blow up from this movie years later, and you gave me the choices of Kip Pardue as Sunshine Ronnie Bass, the guy who played Gary Bertier.

Ryan Hurst, sons of anarchy. Who ended up on Sons of Anarchy. Or Ryan Gosling, yeah. Gossling would have been my third pick. Or would you pick? Sunshine Ronnie Bass seemed like he was going to be like a major star. Kip Hardu was the one to pick in that moment.

He at that time in his life was more handsome than Gosling. He was cooler than Gosling. He had like the better moments. He's like the lead blocker for the final play when they win the thing. Like he's a guy. You go back and watch it now. And in the background, Gosling is very clearly just this charming character and like fun and sort of like a sweet art. Also though, one, Gosling got the Mickey Mouse Club background.

Gosling had been like in fame in his life. But the thing I love is later on in the movie when they're, you know, they're doing the coordinated dances. Yeah. In the field. You can tell which one is Gosling. He's like, bossy out there with his hands and his leg. Everyone else is kind of stiff.

He's doing his head and everything. Oh, yeah. That's Gassing. Gostic's like, I don't understand my motivation for this dancing scene. Tell me more. Keep Pardotow, I don't know what happened. He was in Driven with Bert Reynolds, which is just a truly awful movie.

And he was awful in it. And he was almost like a pitcher who lost his confidence or something. He's good in this movie, though. I didn't remember seeing him in anything again until he showed up in Madman as a kid. ketchup guy. Oh, yeah. This makes perfect sense.

Like, you ended up in New York. Sunshine. My favorite. My favorite, my favorite, I'm adding a fourth white guy to that. Yeah. Is my guy Lou Elastic. Ethan Supply, baby. Love him.

Oh, yeah. He had a, he had a star. A star. Well, he had a nice little comeback on, what was that show with? The Earl show. My name is Earl. Yeah. Yeah.

And lost weight. Yeah. So this movie made almost four and a half times what they paid for it. Roger Ebert. it. Hell yeah. Didn't love it though. What do you say?

He said, remember the Titans says the outer form of a brave statement about the races in America, but the soul of a sports movie in which everything is settled by the obligatory last play in the last seconds of the championship game. Complement crossed with a dig

from Raj. He was known to do that. Let's get to the categories. We'll take a break. All right, we're going to take a break to talk about Shea's new book. It's October 8th, same day we were releasing this podcast.

Yes. Same day your book is coming out. It is the second and other things book. Correct. Basketball and Other Things First, movies and other things now. And you also did a rap book way back when. This is actually your third book. This is my third book.

I can't believe it. Are you excited? You're doing a tour? What cities are you going to? I'm unbelievably nervous right now. We're doing New York today, October 8. L.A. after that, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Detroit. We're all over the place.

Okay. And this book is the first book of the ringer books imprint. Yes. Which we're super excited about. Profoundly proud. We have a whole bunch of stuff coming. So proud of that. And you think this is not your last book?

No, this is not my last book. This is the best book we've done so far. And I feel like we're just going to keep pressing. Your next book is just going to be Den of Thieves for like 500 pages. Because we're doing that next week on the watch books. What is your favorite chapter in this book? My favorite chapter right now is. the movie heist one.

We're trying to build the perfect movie heist crew using characters from movie heist. Who do you want to be your leader? Who do you want to be the cop chasing the crew?

Who do you want to be the driver? Who do you want to be this and that? Okay. So you can buy this book, movies and other things. Right now you can order it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble. Everywhere.

Any place you get online, you can go in a bookstore, you can hold it and look at it and decide where you want to buy it. It's beautiful. You can go to one of Shea's signings. You can do that. Get it.

Check it out. movies and other things by Shea Serrano. All right, back to the podcast. All right, most re-watchable scene. I'll give you some choices if I left something out, chime in after. I really like the first five minutes in the opening credits of just the setup and you are coach, all that stuff. Like, I just, I think it moves nicely.

It sets it up. It's hard to do. There's a lot going on. And they have to figure out how to explain what's going on and introduce a whole bunch of people. And it's actually, like, worked. Yeah, they tip their hand early on that something bad is going to happen to one of the players And then you forget about it completely

That's how much fun the movie is You're like, wait a minute This ends with somebody dead And they're all out of funeral Because we know is we're at a funeral And everyone's looking older So it's like, all right, somebody dies But you know, you assume

I guess who would you assume it is Because you don't know anybody yet There's no mystery I thought it was too many of them It's like lost I forgot about it totally Until they pulled the string at the end I'm glad you brought that up, though.

They really look like they've aged more than a decade. Some of those guys look like they're in their 50s. Yeah, Wood Harris is wearing like a bald toupee. So he, like, lost all his hair. Like, I forgot, like, going into the film, in my head, I was like, the funeral must have been in, like, the 90s or 2000. Right. And then going back, it's like, wait, that was just 81 or 82? Just 10 years?

Well, you see when the movie is over. Like in her late 20s? They're giving you the updates on everybody. Yeah. And they're like, oh, this person, almost all of them are like. Like they went to work for this government. I mean, for the city. And you're like, oh, you were like a municipal.

You were like a trash man or something. Like, that's our life. It's kind of ripped off from saving private Ryan, which was two years earlier. Just walking through the cemetery. Yeah. That's fine. Next scene. Julius and Gary, when they're yelling at each other.

Nobody plays. Yourself included. I'm supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team? No. No. No. What I'm going to do is I'm going to look out for myself and I'm going to get mine.

Same man. That's the worst attitude I ever heard. Attitude reflect leadership, Captain. And he does the I'm going to look out for myself. I'm going to get mine. Attitude reflects leadership captain. Great line. I like how they set up like, oh, these guys are going to become friends, but they have to do like the, you know.

But it's good. It's like it makes you care about both of them. And I kind of don't know who side I'm on yet. Right. Because it's like, well, I know I should be on Julius's side, but I feel like Gary's going to come around. I'm not quitting. There's something in his eyes.

Gary's making some good points. I can see, maybe he's just hanging around with some bad friends. I might end up liking him more. The next one is the Gettysburg speech. If we don't come together right now on this hollow ground, we two will be destroyed. Just like they were. I don't care if you like each other or not,

but you will respect each other. And maybe. I don't know, maybe he will learn to play this game like men. Unreal. You know, when we talk about rewatchable, it's not just what makes this great. It's also like, how ridiculous is this? Can I make jokes as this is happening? So fucking manipulative.

And yet it works. And yet an incredible, an incredible coach move. Great move. So this movie came out right. before I got to high school, which was actually kind of disastrous because I think every coach then, like, wanted to be like Coach Boone, which was terrible.

Just like, like, treat us like shit. Then let us drink water. Yeah. Because water's for cowards. Get out. You drink water? But I also remember having, I'm recently having this realization, like coaches could just, like, at that age,

anything they said was, like, law and I thought they were so much older and wiser and knew everything. And now I'm realizing they were like in their mid-30s and didn't know what the fuck they were talking about ever. So I love the manipulative coach move. You can just make up stats. He does it multiple times. Like he's just making up stuff to him when he talks about his older brothers.

Oh yeah. That's just like my favorite. He's just making shit up to get him to play. Yeah. Great coach. Well, I enjoy this part. And it leads. It has Denzel saying, I don't care if you like each other, but you will respect

each other. It's great. I give that speech to the staff every year. And then leads to the practice where it finally comes together. Thanks to that emotional Gettieberg speech, left side, strong side. Yeah, I love me, a little contact, Viti. Left side. Strong side.

Left side. Strong side. Left side. Left side. Left side. I actually really enjoy that. And then the next morning, racism is okay. That is what I love.

Like, you like, march through the movie. I remember at some point Disney solved racism, but when is it happening in the movie? That next morning, there it is. New song cue. They get home on the school bus. They're all singing in the bus. And then they get dropped off and everybody's like,

what the fuck? You're talking to those guys? And then it's like, oh, racism, we haven't solved the year. Yeah, yeah. Next one. I like when Donald Faison gets switched to defense, which we discussed earlier. And just the comeback of that game,

followed by Sunshine, trying to buy everybody dinner. We've fallen night, boy. What? There's tables all over the place, man. What are you talking about? Well, this is my establishment. I reserved a right to refuse service to anybody. Yeah, that means you too, hippie boy.

Now, y'all want something to eat. You can take these boys out back and pick it up from the kitchen. What I tell you, man. Come on, Pity, man. I didn't know, man. I just enjoy, because you have to have the scene in to show, like, actually, it's going to be a lot tougher for these guys to be friends than we thought. Yeah.

But at the same time, come on, Sunshine. You know, they're telling you, we can't go in there, don't do this. And he's like, no, no, I got this. It's fine, guys. They really act like California has no newspapers or television or anything. There's no awareness of racism in America. A lot of the race stuff that they do in the movie is very like, here's a big piece of ham. Hold this for a few minutes, this sort of thing.

But that part, that part is exceptionally well done. It's really smart. It's really real written when they go into the bar. When they go in, yeah, when they go in, it's really good. They go in, they're like, oh, like, whatever, get out. They do this whole thing. And they come out, and Ronnie Bass is like, I'm sorry, I didn't know. And then Petey, Donald Faison, is like, what do you mean you didn't know?

I told you. And it's just like a really smart bit of commentary there on, like, the way white people are receiving stuff versus the way black people are trying to, like, tell you a thing is going on. And you're just not catching it. Yeah. And that. It leaves with them going different directions. I couple that in the same scene as what happens next,

which is when Boone and Yost are talking. Which one are you talking about? I come down on Bertier, I don't see you coddle in. Come down on sunshine. Don't see you grab his hand, take him off to the side. Which boys are you talking about? Now, I may be a mean cuss, but I'm the same mean cuss with everybody out there on that football field.

The world don't give a damn about how sensitive these kids are, especially the young black kids. He ain't doing these kids in favor by people. patron, I'm equibling them. You're quipling them for life. Those are two parallel moments that are happening. Yeah, really smart. That's like, I give this movie so much shit about being, like, very fluffy about race.

But those two scenes back to back, it was like, oh, that was actually very, that holds up. Yeah. And you feel it every time Denzel says the line is like the world doesn't care how sensitive these boys are. Yeah. And that's like, damn, that's true. That's like, that still holds true. That's still real 2019. That was real.

Plus, that was the only scene where Boone and Yost weren't going. You just worry about your offense. You worry about your defense. Will Patton, baby. Next scene. I really do like the scene, but it is tough because from the moment we see Ronnie Bass, we know something bad's going to happen to Rev. Yeah.

He becomes the black guy in the horror movie where it's like, oh, man, don't go outside, dude. No, Jason's out there. Don't do it. Hour 10 mark. Oh, man, you're going to die. Rev getting hurt, but Ronnie Bass coming in is pretty great. That's like a really good minute and a half. Ronnie Bass.

Coach, best going back in, man. Not a quarterback, son. I can't make that pitch, coach. Yes, you can. When I was 15 years old, I lost my mother and my father in the same month, Ronnie, same month. Twelve brothers and sisters, I was the youngest one, but they were all looking up to me. Now, I wasn't ready yet either, but they needed me.

team needs you tonight. You're the colonel. You're going to command your troops tonight. You understand? Twins right, 48, zero read. Let's go. That scene, again, I'm just, like, obsessed with the music cues.

Yeah. Because the soundtrack, like, actually introduced me to a lot of rock music. Okay. That I'd never heard before. Like, I didn't really, I wasn't really listening to Credence and Fogarty and shit. Like, when I was 12. Like, that wasn't on my mom's, like, go-to-school playlist on the radio. So, like, this soundtrack actually, like, opened up a lot of stuff.

But that's, which is why I think the music cues are so fresh in my mind. But, like, right when Sunshine just, like, throws that dude over him. Yeah. And that goes right into, nah, nah, nah, nah. Yeah. And, like, that's incredible. A lot of fun. Great box.

So much fun. Arguably, the best block may be in sports movie history. He just fucking kills that guy. Just destroy it. I got a nominee for that. Best block ever? Yeah. Best block ever.

This is a different one. This isn't necessary roughness. Oh, yeah. When I think he's the big Samoan guy protects Paul Blake. And he just lays that guy out, knocks his face mask off blood just comes pouring out of his mouth immediately. Great block. He's like, they will not touch you. Like, oh shit, I'm safe.

I also like the coach looking for a call on that. And the ref's like, he's a quarterback. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that. What was Rev's injury? I broke a bone in his wrist Wasn't going to be thrown any more footballs this season.

But came back at the tail end. Yeah. Catch, you can catch, you can run. Poor Rev. I knew he was in trouble from the moment you laid eyes on him at the beginning. Great, beautiful voice, Rev.

Yeah. The last 80 seconds of the championship game are riveting. They're awful. They're inexplicable. Okay. There's a hard left turn right there, Bill. Well, kind of...

I'm just going to lay out the facts. Teams up by four with like a minute 20 left. I don't think the Titans had any timeouts left because they would have called some... No, they did have timeouts left because he calls one to get rev in the game. Guy runs for first down and he's just running with this deer in the headlights look and his body straight up. I have no idea anybody might catch him holding the ball like he's out and ends up fumbling. which, you know, they have to do this in sports movies. Like in Hoosiers, South bends up by four with a minute left during an era where there's intentional fouls.

You get the ball back. There's no 24 second clock. And they're like running plays and trying to score more. It's like, what are you guys doing? So I get it. It's a sports movie trope. But I have some issues with strategy on that team. Are we supposed to take in that play that Denzel calls is one of your strict plays?

That was happening. Okay, so this is what they're doing in that part of the movie. They are pairing up all of the like white-black relationships in this moment. Yeah, they got to get them all together by and they got to get them all in one. So finally we have Denzel doing. Noted Progressive Man. Doing one of his is, let's do a play we haven't done before. Yost talks them into it.

You have that. You have the actual play. What is it? Fake 23 Blast. with the Georgia reverse or whatever. Yes, that's exactly what it is. But you've got Ronnie handing the ball off, then running out and blocking for Rev,

white guy, black guy. More great blacks from Sunshine. Incredible football player. We get the shots of the two daughters in the stands together. Black white, black white. We get, you know, Bertier in the hospital, cheering him on while it was Wood Harris who caused the phone. Like, we're pulling, you know,

We're connecting everything here. If it was like Morris Code, it'd be like white, white, black, black, black, white, white, black, black, black, black, black, black, black, that's how it's how it did. And 37 years later, President Obama. It all starts right here. I literally was like, the movie came in in 2000. This is why Obama got elected. Thank you, Walt Disney. Thank you, Walt Disney.

Also leads to, they, do you want to do how ridiculous that play is now or save it for later for nitpicks? It's an absurd play. They're on their own 24. They run a double reverse. somehow it's just Ronnie Bass just blocking two people and down the southern. All the way down. Good blocks. A good, I would love because

you're good at these things. Like the last play in all of these movies are all so wild. Like, I remember Little Giants, annexation of Puerto Rico. Annexation of Puerto Rico. And Mighty Decks 2, the one where Keenan is in a different jersey.

The knuckle puck. Like, they're all. The flying V and the first one. They're all absurd. I love every one. Varsity Blues. The, the throw to Twitter,

who flips it to Billy Bob. The guys like CTE in the movie, much less right now. The hook and ladder in the TV show Friday Night Lights and the state championship. Well, Friday Night Lights had 10 of these. The pilot episode of Friday Night Lights, it's like a 70-yard Hail Mary or Fleacker or something. Yeah, Matt Sarison.

My eyes are open, my eyes are open, coach. Peepard mailed me the pilot episode of Friday Night Lights and asked me to watch it. And I was like, I liked it. But he went backwards on the, you got the ball back with 40 seconds left. And then you ran a play. You were like on the 30.

But then he threw the Hail Mary from like his own 40. Like, what happened? And he was just like, yeah, so what else did you think? And he never talked to him again. Any other thoughts? End of your relationship with. Also at the tail end of this. you want to hear the exact line for Yost and Denzel finally have in a moment.

I'm obsessed with a lot of fame are in my book. Yose. I know football. What you did with those boys? You were the right man for the job. Denzel quickly. Your Hallfamer in my book. And then it's just over.

That's it. It's like, that's it. That's all you need. We're built for two hours for this. That's all you need. I would gladly trade in an actual Hall of Fame induction for Denzel Washington telling me.

You're a hall favorite. Oh, my God. I would love that. I wouldn't even think twice. Denzel should go on cameo for like 50, thousand a message where he just says you're a hall of fame or my mud book. I spend all my new wedding money on it.

Sorry, vacuum. Any other rewatchable scenes or did we hit all of them? I have a massive one. Okay. It's the locker room mama joke scene. Elastic, man. What happened to you? Man, I just gave you your mama piggyback ride and she weighs twice as much as a lot of it.

That's a mama joke. Love that scene. Yeah. I love, that's like the first time that Burtier is like, oh, like, I like jokes. Like he's like, oh, he's serious at first. Yeah, at first he, like wants to fight. And then he's like, oh, that's a mama joke. Yeah, when Last It comes in.

Yeah, like, I love, I love that locker. Is that the same scene that Sunshine Kisses him? Yeah. There's just so much that happens in that scene. Because following that scene, after everyone's like, oh, shit, like, you just kissed Bertier then you go over you see Gosling

who's just like in his own world dancing and then you see Ray who is just overwhelmed by the progress and he's like I am about to join the same I have to get out of here

I have to get out of here right now so there's just so much shit happening in that scene I love it what was the most rewatchable scene I like left side

strong side yeah it gets me I get the goosebumps no matter what it's like if you say It's really good. To people of like a 30-year age range.

If you say left side, someone in the room will say Strongside. Yeah, you could text right now, 10 people in your phone left side. Seven of them are going to text back. Yeah. I love that initial they got it when he shoves them. When Gary shoves him and Julius is like a little confused for a second. And then he realized what's going on. And then they both start doing it together.

And then everybody is. Yeah, you go from Gettysburg to that. That's a really strong like five and a half minutes. There's another. Yeah, there's another really. small one that I like just because I like when Denzel was doing non-field stuff when he's just like watching game tape with

the daughter. Yeah. It's like very they're arguing about the veer. They're arguing and he's like he's talking to her like he's like annoyed with her like he's talking to another coach. Yeah. I just love that scene. Again Denzel can do it. There's also a really fun one when Julius goes and

to Gary's house and like the cop stops and you're like oh God and he tells him great job and you're like a moment of relief. And then they do a little play, fight on the porch, and then he goes in and he hugs the mom and picks her up and you're like,

he's winning him over. Those are like the heart. Those are the same, those little ones. I think this movie actually doesn't have that many like big, like 10 minute things, but there's a lot of like one minute vignettes

that are going to make me keep watching this movie because they make my heart. Left side, strong side. I think the writer, the writer is like, yeah. I fucking nailed that. He took the rest of the day off.

He's like, honey, come here. Listen to this. So I have to get these two guys to get along. All right, what stage is the best? We mentioned the cast. I wasn't a Sonsa Anarchy guy, were you? Big time. So was it weird seeing Gary Bertier as the Sonsa' Anarchy guy?

Yeah, afterward watching it. Well, say, they're like two different totally people in my head. So I watched Sons of, I mean, I watched Remember the Titans when it came. I was like, Larry Me and I were at the movie theater watching it. Yeah. And then Sons of Anarchy came out, you know, seven, eight years later, whatever it was. And we didn't even, I didn't even watch it until like 2014 or something, 2012. I watched the whole thing.

And he's just a totally different. He looks totally different. He looks much bigger for some reason. I had no idea. I never watched that show. I Googled his name and all these pictures come up with him with all this crazy facial hair. It's like, what the fuck happened to this guy? He is so, so good in Sons of Anarchy.

Is he a bad guy or good guy? He's a good guy. But, like, stuck in the middle. It's a good guy. Like, he's who Gary Bertier would have become if he didn't get paralyzed. And joined a motorcycle gang? Yeah. That's so interesting because I had never even considered that he did anything else.

I just acted like when Bertier died, he died also. Like the actor. The guy who never did anything else was Ray the Racist, but we'll get there in a second. The soundtrack has aged the best. Just because it's, as you said, John Fogarty, who's probably, he had a nice career, nice decade. and then was like, all right, and then my music will kind of fade into the classic rock genre. And it somehow ended up in like 12 movies. Yeah.

And it's almost like if you're going to do a retro sports movie or Forrest Gump or anything, you have to have credence clearly on a revival at some point. It's just going to happen for some reason. Also, there's kind of like a one of the many things that make me laugh is I was doing a count of number of times blue just start singing in the movie. He sang He started singing four times In the first 22 minutes

He's so happy He's just like And I like that one time That Julius is just like You're embarrasseding me in front of these white people That's like a real thing He tells Gary to shut up right out You shut up too

But also like Like the Like in the locker room There's the radio And they just start singing He's going for it He's just always Going for it

I also like that he then becomes like a serious character in that one moment when he brings the team together. It gave him some some foundation, which I appreciate it. But yeah, the movie has like a Ryan Murphy-esque quality because they're just breaking into song. Marvin Gaze-in-Bob, James Taylor, The Temptations. Little Cat Stevens. Some Sly-Steevins. Some Sly-Stone?

All that stuff. Spirit in the sky. Another what's age the best. The Titan Spirit theme. Like, we are the tight Hold on. I'm going to play it for you. Yes.

Yes. Oh, this. Yeah. This is the... It's kind of one of those things where you start welling up for some reason. You never know what's happening.

Yeah. It's the most emotional moment of my life. I hear it and I can just see the schools integrating. I'm like, yes. Yes. When Rembert moved to L.A., he and Bill were finally,

Finally reunited. They watched football on a Sunday, and the Falcons lost. And Rem cried. Bill, you're a Hall of Famer in my book. So this has gone on since this movie came out to be used in countless sports telecast. It's like a litany of World Series Super Bowl NBA. Also used in the 2008 Democratic National Convention after future President Barack Obama. I'm like, gave his nomination-accepted speech.

And immediately following his victory speech when he won the election in 2008. Yeah. Barack Obama does not become president without Coach Boone. It all starts with left side, strong side. That should have been his motto. Blue state, red state. Like, this is why we got Obama. This is it.

Walt Disney did this. Amazing. I didn't know that until I did the research. off in our nation. Another one's aged the best. Denzel tossing the banana to the coach. Always gets me. I always forget it's coming.

It's so good. He just has that little Denzel smirk on his face. Like, hey, coach, you forgot this. He gives him a chance. And the coach is like, oh, I just got burned. Yeah. It was great. Another great job of the screenwriter.

Yeah. He had the banana on him all game. I love thinking about that. He's had a banana in his pocket all game. He was like leaving the house. Like, oh, shit. Honey, worst bad to date. The,

Ray the racist. So we talked about this earlier before we did the pod. Great job just being like a heinous racist. They have that scene when the team's really coming together and there's a wide shot of the locker room and Ray's shirtless

and he's just kind of stalking around. Like he just hates everybody so much. They do a nice job of like, this guy might actually kill somebody. Like he is a perfect villain. He doesn't, he's not just a racist. He'd love. He loves racism.

Yeah. It's like his, like, favorite thing. Mm-hmm. Like, I love, like, I love television. He loves racism. Yeah. He's another, he's another one who they just made up that character for the movie. Yes.

Well, I'm glad they did that. I mean, that person is real. Like, we're going to make up one for this. I refer to him as racist, R-A-Y-C-I-S-D. That's a good name. Jeff Chow was saying there's a certain type of actor that they cast for the over-the-top racist guy. in movies like this. And ironically, Matt Damon was one in school ties.

And kind of the same thing. It's a little, he's a little short. He's usually like 5-8-5-9, usually like a strong chin or identifiable features and just kind of can have that kind of resting bitch face. Yeah. And a little, like, strong and just kind of looks like he's ready to sucker punch somebody at any time. It's always a certain type of actor.

Matt Damon transcended it. The guy who played this guy, Burgess Jenkins, didn't really. transcend Ray the Racist. It's tough because you're going in for Roos, like, oh, you're Ray the racist. Yeah. I know. I'm familiar with your work. You're an amazing racist.

You can't be on parenthood after that. You missed a clock on rev. We can't hurry. And then the other one, Kate Bosworth, as the racist token web blanket girlfriend who still manages to look great in every scene, who then comes around.

At the end. Just got out on the field. I got some theories. On the championship game. So I love the scene at the end where she comes up. She comes around. She comes around to Julius. Mm-hmm.

The assistant coach is like, Julius, like, in my mind, I'm like, the assistant coach is like, Julius, are you really trying to spit game, like, right now at the end of the game? And I started thinking, like, how many days after this game did Julius and Kate Biles were the fuck? Oh, Jesus. I would say within Before prom? There's no What's the matter with you?

He would never do that to Gary. No, he would never do that. Okay, if Gary... No, I would think That's more of a reason to do it. Like she needs him in this moment of... It's basically This is Friday Night Lights

with when Riggins starts dating Street's girlfriend. That was like three seasons in, two seasons in. No, that was first season. Riggins starts hooking up with Minka Kelly, remember? No. Yeah, it was first season. Streets.

Okay, but like 20 episodes. So that idea happened because somebody was watching this scene and was like, oh man, what if Julius had made a move on Cape Ozworth? I agree with Rem. I think they made out at least in a week later. I think also like, no. Not Julie. No. No.

Okay, next hour. Definitely not. Julius wouldn't do that. That's his brother. That's his brother. He told him. Yeah, that's true. They just held hands in the hospital.

Shea, this is only. based on a true story. We could do whatever we want. I feel like Ray the Racists and Bosworth's character are probably perfect for each other. Yeah. Those two, he definitely hit on her. But she came around, though. She shook his hand.

We've solved racism, Rem. You're right. Racism is over Obama. Did we need a scene where angry Ray the racist tries to sabotage the championship game? Like, he drives his car into the side of the stadium. Like to prove. He's going to, like, drive on the field and run over people, but somebody stops it in time? No.

We have plenty of Ray. You're good with Ray the Racist? I'm good. But one of many great racists and like Gosling's dad, just the, I mean, the... You want to power rank the racist? Yeah. I mean, the racist coach. The racist coach.

Racist coach was way up there. Yeah. I think Gosling's dad just screaming, like, Coach Coon is like pretty, that gives him, like, a number one seed in the racist bracket. And he just keeps, like, when he's screaming, like, yoost! Yost, there's racism in that. I can hear it. But now he's like mad at Yost for being like, that's like self-patriot.

He's like, he's mad at his white fellow deacon. Yeah. As siding with the black people. Like that dude has like racism from like eight different angles in the movie. So I respect him. Every opposing player. Yeah. They're on the bracket.

Yeah. The guy who throws the brick through the window. The assistant coach who at the diner is like, I can't even. I can't work with y'all I can't work with you anymore so many racist yeah he's like Coach Joe's like

we should not be racist and then the other guy's like there you go again trying to please everyone he leaves he leaves you else with the fucking bill that's how much he hates does it make somebody racist

to be attracted to Cape Osworth in this movie I'm asking for a friend yes okay yeah also she's in high school so that's another

no she's like 25 in in real life when she films this. Everybody in this movie is eight years older than high school, except for Gosselin. A high school racist. She's playing a high school racist. She's playing down.

Whether what's age is the best before we move on? No. So what did you pick? Did you go soundtrack? I actually think probably it's the Titan Spirit theme song that's been in all these sports movies and then was a focal point of the Obama election. That's an incredible. That seems like a pretty good.

That's an incredible arc. That's a good. It's a nice arc for that song. And you know the song, like when you hear it like, oh, that song. And it's just been around for 20 years. I think I have to go hear the cast. I really like this cast. Cast is good.

I really like a movie where you can watch it and everybody got more famous afterward. But they still feel like those characters in that way. It never feels like Avon Barksdale. It never feels like, you know, the Gone in 60 Seconds guy. I'm rewatching The Wire right now. So it was really weird to watch him as Julius as I've just. just been binging the wire at the same time. There's also such like a, in terms of the characters,

there's such a gigantic gulf between Denzel and the second most famous person in 2000. Yeah. I'm kind of like looking at the IMDB, I'm like, damn, I can't believe all of you got to meet Denzel. Like, that's amazing. Like, there's not even someone else that's like at that moment. If Emma and Ray get together.

Is Emma's Bosworth? Yeah. Okay. They have a kid. Was that kid one of the Tiki Torch people? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That dude wears khakis and buys rifles from Walmart.

Yeah, 100%. That dude's a... It's a... It's a legacy Klansman. What's age the worst? Oh, my God. The first line of this movie is, in Virginia, football is a way of life. Which is exactly how Farsity Blue starts a year before.

I can't believe. No executive is like, hey, man. Because they do it in Texas, football is a way of life. And then a year later, they're like, ah, you think anyone saw Varsity Blues? Our movie's going to start the exact same way? I think something that's aged not great is like just being from the South and this movie is definitely treating Virginia as a southern state, even though Virginia can go either way. I feel like that's the right call. No.

But I mean Ben to Virginia. Yes. But it's definitely like the eighth most important football state in the South. And they're like, Virginia, AAA. Nothing bigger in high school sports I could go to any other Go to Georgia Go to Florida

Go to Alabama That one caught me off guard When you watch it And he's like oh You've been to four or five schools In four or five years Oh yeah four or five championships too And he's like

Double A ball Two A ball We play three A here And in Texas You're like three Like oh y'all were babies You weren't doing anything You're missing some A's here

It's like a prep school Yeah What states don't have football as a way of life. Could you be like in Maine football as a way of life? Like, no. I mean, how many states could claim a way of life?

Is the number over under 10? New Mexico. 10? Is it under 10 or over 10? It's under 10. Under 10. Yeah, I feel like... It's got to be Alabama's got to be a way of life in Alabama.

I feel like they're all... Florida? Like, outside of Texas, like every... Oh, no. The Midwest. Georgia? Georgia, definitely. Yeah.

I have to go through. Another what's age the worst. Nebraska. Hayden Painted tear. The worst? What? Huh? Wait.

This is her apex. She's really da- She's really daw it up. In real life, this person is just annoying. It's like, all right, settle down. You like sports. Congratulations. Don't give me advice on how to stop a blitz.

But she knew her shit. Did she? She did. Did she? She was a... Did she really? If it wasn't for her, if it wasn't for Cheryl, they would have lost.

They would have lost a championship game. She was able to sense that her dad had no idea what to do and that he needed help and that he needed to let his pride go and ask coach for help. Boom, they're whipping my ass. I need your help. She doesn't do that. They lose that game. She's annoying. She's why Obama got elected.

It was a white woman. A white woman did that. A tiny white woman. And you dare to say she aged the worst. This is not a democracy. This is a dictatorship. and I am the law, not great.

It's something like the line. I thought the same guy who gave us strong side, left side could have done better. This isn't a reference on Denzel. It's on the screenwriter. I thought it could have worked at that one a little more.

Maybe workshopped it with his friends. The screenwriter did nail like four or five. Yeah. That's why my bar was going out with him. Then he came up with that. So Gary's, Gary getting paralyzed. Just they kind of,

Julius goes to visit him. And then that's kind of it. It's like, all right, he's paralyzed now. I felt like they needed the one extra scene with him and the nurse. And, like, it's got to really hurt that you can't be out there today. It's like, yeah, it hurts. But those guys are my brothers. Or just give him one sort of Oscar trailer moment.

Yeah. You know, for the Oscar clips. Right. Never felt like they really gave that to him. Are we done with characters singing, ain't no mountain high enough in a locker room together? Or was it just like every 10 years we have a movie that does this? Yeah.

Okay. I'm ready. About that time. We're too behind right now. The football scenes, I thought some of them were filmed way too close. I still like mixing the wide shot in. I would have got more wide shot. This is tough.

The racist officiating in the semifinals, and Yos knows what's going on. They're basically like, hey, man, this is how we're going to get rid of Boone. And Yost's like, I'm not going to stand for this. It's just corn. He goes up to the guy Hey, I know what's going on Scott is my witness

This ain't gonna happen It's just like, I don't know You gotta keep it in though It has to happen Like it you I know it's just bad It just could have been done better Is my point

That ref gave up his racism Like real quick He's like all right My bad It's like I'm bad Sorry I've got 12 of your place hurt I'm bad

You need there's an element of Like by the end of the movie You need enough Like white on white crime You need white ally moments. You do. You need somebody standing up to the institutionalism. That's the first bad part of the semi-final game.

The second is, I don't want them to gain another yard. You blitz all night. If they cross a line of scrimmage, I'm going to take every last one of you out. You make sure they remember forever the night they play the titles. Just skip that line to dead. Denzel? Yeah. Denzel's right here.

No, no, no. I disagree with you on this one. He's so good in these moments. Let the chef cook. Denzel's right here. He's wearing an apron. He's ready to cook. Because he's talking to the defense.

He's not talking to the whole team. He's talking to his defense. I have Denzel. Bring Denzel in. Denzel wasn't doing the defense yet. They don't do that until the championship game. They're very segregated. All right, we're the tiebreaker.

So my issue with that line is that it's so big. And he's like, you make sure they remember. He doesn't say the Titans. Yeah. He goes, you'd make sure. sure they remember the time they played the Titans. I was in my bed like, remember

the Titans, he had like eight more words. I hated it. I hate that line. It sucks. It's the name of the movie. He's clearly going for the movie show. He's like, I know Denzel's going to be in the movie show, but this is my one chance to get in. And you have the title of the movie.

And as we both love, when somebody says the title of the movie during the movie, is one of my favorite things. Like Travolta, like face off. I love Will Patton. I think he's great. great in this moment especially. Because he's very powerful guy.

He's learned from Boone how to be like that. Whatever it takes. You know, I'm just mad they didn't say remember the title in the movie. One other bad part in the semifinals is Gary Burdier makes the play and then he points his coach. Yeah, that's some racist.

Shit talking right there. But he doesn't even say anything. Not a word. Not a word. It's like, it's a happy point? Yeah. It's like, I'll see you tomorrow. Yeah.

Then the halftime speeches of the championship game aren't great. That would be my other words, age the worst. And another one's age to worst would be the fact that they completely bent all the facts from real life. Which we've covered already. Sorry, Shea. That was a lot of worse. That's tough for you, Shea. Yeah, I will ignore that forever.

Like, as far as I'm concerned, this is... Everything's age per person. It's like the social network for me. Like, that's how Facebook was founded. What are you talking about? That is true. That is true. It's just what it is.

I couldn't find any casting what ifs. For the award, the Joey Pants Award, next category, for the best that guy or that gal in the movie. Somebody were you like, oh, I know that person. The nominees are blue. I think he just became blue. If you saw him in, you know, if he's on CSI and it's like, oh my God, that's blue.

I have no idea what that guy's name is. He's this singing serial killer? He's just like, Mount Knight. With the machete. I don't think Ethan Suppley's not of that guy. No.

I feel like he's too famous. But you know who is? And this is my nominee for the winner. Becky Barnett from Boogie Nights. His wife? Oh. His wife, who barely has any work to do in this movie. But she's one of the porn people in Boogie Nights.

And I just knew her as Becky Barnett. But now it's like, oh, there she is. So I don't know if you unless she can come up with a better. that person. The Saul Rubinick they knew award for Best Overacting, I think it has to go to

you make sure they remember that one time in 1971 they happened to play the titan. I hate both of y'all so much right now.

I just don't understand why. The whole world wants to just say remember the Titans at that point. Just give it to us, Will Patton. That line needed Sean Fitteson.

Needed an editor. Remember the Titans. Boom. That's it. That's all you have to do. That's all you have to do. Come on. Deanne Waiter's a word for best heat check in this movie.

It's got to be Sunshine Ronnie Bass. Not for me, no chance. Oh. Who do you? Wait, you have Sunshine as well? I kind of. He's barely in the movie. He's in the movie for like six scenes.

Who do you have? Petey. Donald Faison. I have. He's in the whole movie, though. I don't think he counts. No? I was trying to think of somebody, it has to be somebody who,

has a low minute total in the movie. Petey's in their life. Petit's in the whole movie. Also, like, I kind of, another thing that I took away later in life, like, I don't like Petey. No? He's like a bad example.

Like, he's like a bad teammate. Talk through it. Talk. He's a bad teammate. He ghosted on them twice. He did ghost them. He ghosted on them twice, but then gets to, like,

claim glory both times. Because Ryan Gosling was a good guy. Yeah, Gossing's like, I really hate playing football. I just want to be a dancer. I just want to do la la la. My dad's just like a really mean racist that really wants me to play football. But Pete, like.

Brian Gass is like, they're doing South Pacific for the school playing. I'm really focused on it. Please. Take my spot. Yeah, I'm kind of out on Pete. I love Faison. I love him, but Pete is not my. My case for Sunshine, he shows up two thirds of the way through the movie, 60% into the movie.

He's only in a couple scenes. doesn't have a ton to work with, but it's all like physical, like his football prowess, like his charisma. He probably has nine lines total. One thing I do really like about sunshine, about Ronnie Bass,

is when you watch a fighting movie, it's clear to see like who's good at fighting, who has fight confidence, right? And you watch a sports movie, it's the same thing. Some of these guys have sports confidence. Pedy has sports confidence. Donald Faison has clearly played sports before.

It's like a part of his life. You watch Ronnie Bass do it. And as soon as he flips that first guy over, and he very much has the posture of somebody who has flipped a person over before. His chest is puffed out of the way. He's moving somebody out of the way. When they show him throwing all the blocks,

like he doesn't look uncoordinated at all. He looks... Apparently he was like a stud high school football and basketball player. Okay, so that makes perfect. That makes perfect sense. And Georgia. I still go Petey, though. I don't care what the rules are.

What do you have, Ram? Oh, Sunshine. You just... Like, Sunshine... I also... She doesn't understand. I also thought Sunshine was in a lot more of the movie than he actually was. Like, I just, because he's one of the takeaway moments.

You couldn't bring him in before the camp because they already have Louis there. You need one character who is like white and black can be in the middle of those. He just went on in Sunshine. Yeah, he has a cannon. Yeah. He had portrayed in the back. Cape Osworth? Great throw.

She's only in like four scenes. But like, they're not great. I mean. I'm just trying to think of people that weren't in the movie that much. You know, they have that scene when Kate Bosworth, I always think about this, movies because it happens in Cry to Kid too. When the bad people are all together in a convertible, and they're like,

we're coming somewhere, do you want to come? And they're like, no, I can't. And then somebody's mean and they drive away. It's like, where are they driving to? We're meeting racist people go on a Friday night in Virginia. Somewhere I don't ever watch. I mean, tell you that. It's always a convertible.

And it has to be like lots of people sitting in the back. Yeah. And then somebody has to be insulted at some point. Yeah. It wasn't lost in me that like that was a place that Berthier once loved to go wherever that place was. Oh, for sure. That was his favorite place.

It might have just been like an ice cream place. It wasn't. Yeah, definitely was in the woods. Something was definitely on fire. Yeah, it was outside. Half-ass internet research. We did a bunch of it already. Oh, new category. I forgot to do this. Okay. I should have prepped you guys. I'm sorry.

Let's just do a lot. We're ready. If you could recast one part of this movie with a different actor that we all know, who would you put in the movie? Oh, I got it already. Okay. Oh, man. My beloved Will Patton, who I think is fantastic in this movie,

he has the right amount of energy. I think the movie, it was not going to be better, but it would be different. We get Ed Harris in there. Ed Harris and Denzel Washington. Oh, them's going nose to nose. That's a good movie. Yeah.

That's a really good movie. So, this is already a good movie. When I was looking for casting what ifs, I assume that they went to Ed Harris first and didn't get him and then ended up with Will Patton, which might have happened. Yeah. But Will Patton's like the poor man's Ed Harris. I love him.

I like Will Patton too, but Ed Harris is Ed Harris. I love them in the postman. That's a strong one. I might just go with Shea's answer on that. I mean, I love to contribute, but that's a better answer to that I ever have. That's really good. Halfass Internet research, we did most of it. Didn't do this, though.

The director, Boaz Yakkin, I think I said that correctly. He was hired to director of the movie. And then producer Jerry Bruckenheimer, Jerry Bruckheimer, learned that the director did not know anything about American football. Like nothing. So what did he do?

He arranged for him to attend a football camp for two weeks where, according to the internet, he picked up enough information to resume full-speed work right after about how football was played. That's an actual fact that is really. That's respectable. That's full-ass internet research. That just happened.

Wow. Two weeks. The movie was not filmed at Alexandria. It was filmed in various locations in Georgia. Yes. One thing I do know is that the scenes inside of the high school are at one of our rival high schools. Drew Hills. Drew Hills.

Yeah, around the corner. I did know that because I recognize it. Last one. This is the favorite movie of LeBron James. Huh. Is it really? Yeah, it's his favorite movie. Remember the Titans?

Hunger Games. LeBron James. Those are the art. Art arc. I love that. He loves LeBron, Obama. This is a black excellence movie. This is going to end up in like Black History Month.

For Apex Mountain, which is when somebody reached the height of their career. Oh my goodness. I'm so excited. I think this might be the height of Sappy Disney sports movies. they might have really mastered it here. This is the go-to one that people mention first. Unless you want to say Miracle, but I still feel like remember the Titans is bigger.

It's better. It's bigger and better. This is when they really figured out the formula. And then they kept doing it with the rookie. They did it with Miracle, so on and so on. So it's going to be a competition between this one and Mighty Ducks. But Sappy? Mighty Ducks isn't like.

Oh, Sappy. Like Angels in the Outfield is like. That's the word. Like there are a couple times in this movie where. I tear up and get the chills. When Denzel, like, lowers his whole guard when he comes back home and puts his daughter

over his shoulder and, like, we're going to win state. Like, I'm, like, overwhelmed. I'm like, wow, Denzel did that to me again. I have a soft spot in my heart from McFarland, USA. I love a Kevin Costner, White Savior movie. By the way.

With the Mexicans in it, too, like, whoo. That's a 1 million percent justifiable soft spot. I actually like that movie. It's just too long, but that movie's good. Yeah, I like it. I'm a fan of that movie. By the way, Mexicans in a sports movie, it doesn't happen that often.

Not a... I've been waiting. Yeah, that movie's good. I actually thought that should have a soft spot for Angels in the Outfield, though. That's fair. I just, that was... You know, McFarland, USA is the type of movie

that now that we're in the Netflix era, if that movie had never been released, and Netflix is like, here's our new movie, McFarland, USA. I feel like 75 million people would see it. Yeah. It becomes a thing for a while. It just was like a tweener.

It was like after people saw sports movies in a theater, but kind of before streaming. One of the issues with that movie, it came out in 2015, and Kevin Costner also had a movie that same year. I think it was called Black and White, where he, White Savior is a little black girl from Black Man. Like, he was doing a lot of saving. And he did draft days, saved the Browns. And I think that that cannibalized it a little bit. I don't have any other Apex Mountain. I think everybody else went on to do something better in this movie except for Blue.

It's Blue's Apex Mountain. So is Apex Mountain like your favorite or like how famous they... It's the height of kind of their career professionally. It's when they have the most juice. It's when they're feeling the best about how things are going for themselves. Yeah, everybody else. Probably Ray Buds, racist Ray. This is probably his high spot.

Well, yeah. And his low spot. And Kip. Like, you know, where else you know? Oh, yeah. It's Cape Ardu. Yeah. It is.

It is Panetteer's best role, though. Some would say heroes or Nashville is. Yeah, I mean, she definitely had, you know, she's been like on never television. What about Beth Cooper? I love you, Beth Cooper. I just, I'm a big fan of the little girl in this movie. I just think she's perfectly annoying. It's too bad you're not a 6'9 Russian boxer.

You might have had a chance. Picking Nets. We're going to pick some Nets. I thought Yost and Denzel, that would have been if I was the producer of this movie, I would have had the most notes on that. Like, hey, we got to develop this a little more. Can't they go get a beer?

Can they have one scene where they're connecting in any way? These are just like two ships passing in the night for this entire movie. It was only through the daughters. Only through like the dropping off of the daughters was that like any non-football camaraderie. But yeah, they didn't really. But maybe that was realistic. But that's how dad's become friends, though, especially in situations like this.

You're just like, oh, you've got a kid, I got a kid. I guess the kids can hang out. And me and you're going to sit outside by each other for two hours and not say anything. Yeah. And now we're best friends. Another nitpick. There's a TV crew broadcast in the championship game live in 1971.

I just have some issues. I don't think this was such. You can barely get like a Red Sox game in 1971 on TV. But that's because in Virginia, football. Football. Yeah. Maybe that's true. The ending, why wasn't the other team in a prevent defense?

Everybody's up. 20 seconds left? They should have won that game. The Titans are on their own 24. And once they get past the first couple defenders, there's nobody for another 50 yards. Where's like the one safety who's on his own 20? It's cocky. Yeah, nobody was.

Sloppy, T.C. Williams. Sloppy. They weren't really throwing back then. You know, you don't worry about safety. He was in middle school, high school football at the time. Any other nitpicks? We picked a lot of Nets and Shay got upset a couple times. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We may have to stop picking Nits. I do. She really takes it personally. Yeah, there's always a worst part of all the rewatchables for me. I do. It's out of love, though. We've seen the movie so many times that we have to pick it apart a little. I have a net.

I do wish. Oh, you got one? Okay. You almost got out of here. I've a net. I mean, I just don't believe that, especially now that I know about the real coach mood, the scene where Louis Lassick is up there. and Coach Boone is like,

yo, just like send me your test scores because blah blah blah. And I'm like, in the middle of the room? Yeah. I just, I,

that felt. Keep that between me and you. Yeah. Everybody's watching us right now. Like, this is a dead silent room. You didn't even whisper it. I just felt like that was,

that was like when Disney went too far. Okay. That was when Disney went too far. It's shaking or do a nitpick? I do, I do. Well, this is like kind of a nitpick,

but not really. Number one, I do agree with you. I don't like the way that they shot the last play. I want to say, see the, I want to see him running down the sideline. I thought when I, when I watched it the first time that there was going to, that was like

the play that was going to get called back and they were going to have to do something else. Yeah. We just didn't get to see it. It's a great gimmick, by the way. Yeah, what's going on? The penalty callback and then you think it's over and stuff. So I wish that would have happened. As far as stuff that stood out to me, I know in Texas anyway at the time, even through recently,

if there was a fumble in a game, you can't advance a fumble. Like, it's just the ball is dead right there. and they advance it a couple of times here. Also, there's a part during the camp when they're in the cafeteria and the coaches are talking to each other, Yostin and Boone, and Denzel is holding a spoon and on the spoon is just one single grape. And I have to assume that he was eating like a fruit cup of some sort, but we don't see the fruit cup. We just see him with one grape on a spoon talking and then that's it. And that always to me just seemed a little bit.

That's a little weird. I have one more historical nitpick. That 8 million people didn't die against. That's just like a fact. When Denzel singles out Bertier and Ray the Racist and calls them Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in front of everyone. I'm pretty sure a race ride would have happened right there. I'm pretty sure they'd never go to camp

because one of the racist dads just like shoots. Yeah. See, what happens is Gary's dad isn't there. Oh, yeah, Gary's dad's dad's dad. Right? So there's that. We should have added that to the most rewageable thing because that's so much fun. What you say name was Jerry?

Gary? No, you must have said Jerry like Lewis, which would make you Dean Martin, right? Ladies and gentlemen, got an announcement to make. We got Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin going to camp with us here this year. Jerry tells the jokes. Dean sings the songs and gets the girl. Let's give him a round of applause. Watching Denzel just...

She's like, who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? Clap all by himself. How confident do you have to be to do that in front of everybody? Yeah. Best quote, I narrowed it down to you're over-cooking my grits coach. I want a job for Coach Tyrell. He's been with me for 10 years.

I won't leave him out in the cold. You don't get me without him. You're overcooking my grits, coach. You don't get no blood on my uniform. Water is for washing blood off that uniform, and you don't get no blood on my uniform. Boy, you must be outside your mind. I don't scratch my head unless it isches. I don't dance unless I hear music.

I'm talking about setting a good example. for our boys and for the community. I don't scratch my head unless it ises and I don't dance unless I hear some music. I will not be intimidated. That's just the way it is. It's really a great trio. What else? What else? Oh, you have to have attitude reflect leadership, Captain.

We will be perfect. In every aspect of the game, you drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment. You run a mile. You fumble the football, and I will break my foot off in your John Brown-Hine parts. And then you will run a mile. Perfection.

I love that shit. You drop a pass. You're over kick of my grits coach is all time. That's another one where the screenwriters punching himself in the shoulder happily. I remember, Rimm, I'm sure you remember this as well when we first started working for Bill, and he gave us the exact same speech

that Denzel does. And he was like, if you drop a pass, you write a blog post. You write a blog post. You write 5,280 words. You write a mile. I also like... That's why I sent Rim across America to write every day.

I write columns at his iPhone. He came through Houston. It was like 2.30 in the morning. Hey, you up? I'm in Houston. Like, what the fuck? I'm at Chochos. Okay.

I'll be there, I guess. I'm at Chachos. He was just at Chachos and they're like right down the street from my house. I have two other quotes. I just love. I mean, we already brought it up. But when he goes, water is for cowards. Oh, we're in a water break.

We've been on a little day. What do you? Did you say? You need a water break. You need a water break. Water is for cowards. Water makes you weak. That's hardcore.

That's the opposite of what water does. And then... That's a tough one. Yeah. And then, like, it's a dialogue. But when someone calls Lou Elastic, a light... Rav's like, oh, he's just a light-skinned brother.

Yeah. And Julie's like... Yeah, and I'm a dark-skinned cracker. Love that line. I'm like, that's... I'm screenwriter wrote that. I should have put water as for cowards for what stage is the worst.

It's like concussions are for cowards. It just like doesn't hold up. I mean, we don't live in that world where water is for cowards. People have died because of the exact thing. Could this be remade as a 10 episode Netflix show? I think yes, actually. I would absolutely watch this. I would love to write that.

If you read Hastings, I'd love to write that. I hope that. I hope they're on it. Probably in answerable questions. I listen, everybody has taken their crack at who's the best sports movie quarterback of all time. There's all kinds of choices and candidates. Ronnie Bass in the bracket is like a two-seed. He's really good.

I'm not sure what else you would really need from a QB. Like, he had everything. A high school QB. I want a guy who can make the pitch. I'm still a little iffy on that. That's why he's a two-seed. Okay. Who's the one-seed?

I still think rifle men and all the right moves is the best quarterback. I've ever seen, not just in movies, but in real life. Are we only talking high school movies now? Yeah, I guess you could do all of them. Oh, it's Willie Beeman then. Yeah, Willie Beeman was great. Yeah, I mean, he's the, yeah. That's right.

That was what Jamie Fox was studying Aaron Brooks highlights for like two straight years trying to figure out how to create Willie Beeman. He's just perfect. He kind of foreshadowed the entire where the position was going. Yeah. Like, you watch Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen

and guys like this now, it's like this was Willie Beeman. This was his thing. You asked Lamar like, who's your inspiration? He's like, Willie Beeman told me how to be a good quarterback. He's like, Willie Beeman. If you made a pair, this is my other in answerable question. If you made a parody of this movie,

like when they did hot shots about Top Gun and scary movie about whatever, scream, would the parody movie of this movie be that far off from the actual movie? No. All you do is change the music in the background. That's all you do. Yucat-da-da-d-ca-gark-g-ar.

Like, this is a hilarious movie. And Ray the Racist is probably, like, really comically racist. Yeah, just like... Like, he's wearing a hood. Like, he's just wearing a hood in the locker room. He's like, hey, what's up with Ray? I don't know. And he's just...

He's just like... Fucking Ray. So racist. Who won the movie? There's only one answer. It's got to be Denzel. Or racism. Or President Obama.

No, no. Progress won the movie. Because that's why we got Obama. Yeah, this movie really, it solved everything. You could make a case Obama won the movie if you want. He certainly owned the movie by playing the music after. I can't believe. I had no idea he did that. He bookended his whole thing with Remember the Titans music.

That's incredible. Democratic and presidential. Holy shit. Yeah. Chase Serrano, thank you. Remember Brown. This is great. So much fun.

So much fun. So much fun. So much fun. another movie. I would love that. Thanks to Sweetango, we welcome to back, the loudest crunchiest apple of all time. It is officially. Sweetango apple season, here's a fun fact. Sweetango set the Guinness World Record for the loudest crunch of an apple in addition to that huge crunch. Sweetango apples bring big flavor with a lively burst of citrus, honey, and spice.

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