High & Low: Tony Curtis

Welcome to a new feature series! High and Low! On each installment Ryan and George will be discussing an actor or director. One great movie, one bad movie. Our inaugural featured player: The Great Tony Curtis! The Films: Some Like it Hot and The Manitou! 

Transcript

Introducing High and Low: Tony Curtis Edition

Speaker 1 0:10

This is a new installment of the Film Journal podcast, a different thing we decided to do. It's going to be called High and Low, and in every installment of High and Low we'll be discussing either an actor, actress or director and one particularly great film that defines a career, and one that's rather bad. But I think the bad discussion will be fun, because you can find out their true talents and abilities or artistic tendencies by watching a bad movie. Would you agree, ryan?

Speaker 2 0:39

We've been talking about this idea for a while now and it's finally come to fruition and we have some really good ideas lined up for further installments of this, should we decide to continue it. But the one that I think maybe the second one that spawned this entire idea, is the show that we're doing today, which is the Tonyony curtis uh episode.

Speaker 1 1:02

there is one other uh star that we have in mind, who I'm dying to get to in the future, but we'll save that for another day absolutely yeah, I think this was all born out of our experience of watching the manitow which I believe I which is our second film of the day for everybody waiting with bated breath. The films we chose to discuss the career of Tony Curtis are the fabulous Some Like it Hot by Billy Wilder, and then we'll find out. You know, kind of the word on the Manitow is bad, but whether or not we agree will be a topic of discussion. The Manitou.

Speaker 1 1:40

The Manitou. No, it's Manitow, it's Manitow.

Speaker 2 1:42

Is it? They keep saying Manitou in the movie the Manitou. No, it's Manitou, it's Manitou.

Speaker 1 1:46

Is it Right? They keep saying Manitou in the movie, are they not? They say a lot of things in the movie. They say Panawitchi Salatu, they say all sorts of stuff, and basically I think we were trying to look for a forum to discuss the Manitou and then we started talking about Tony Curtis's early career, career and here we are at high and low, so thank you all for tuning in.

Speaker 2 2:10

Yes, the the discussion about where to fit the manitow in it came out, came a lot of good ideas came out of that um, but this was this was probably the best one we we talked about. Um, remember doing exorcist ripoffs. That was going to be one of them with the manitow and, interestingly enough, william girdler, who directed the manitow, also directed another Exorcist ripoff, which is Abby. I watched it recently. It's only available online on YouTube because Warner Brothers launched a lawsuit at the time the movie was released and banned it out of existence because of its ripoff nature of the Exorcist.

Speaker 1 2:44

Is it good?

Speaker 2 2:45

It's good. It's good If you're familiar with William Marshall, the actor who's the lead in the movie. He plays the Exorcist. He was Blackula, and he also played Dr Richard Daystrom in the classic Star Trek episode, the Ultimate Computer. He's good in anything. He has a very commanding presence of the screen. So if you haven't seen Abby, I would. I would definitely check it out.

Speaker 1 3:09

Okay, I'm going to definitely watch that. So we got a great note in the chat. Oftentimes, if you're a new listener, we're reading from the chat questions here because we do a live stream, so we have Trembling Colors. He's a stalwart fan and thank you for tuning my friend. He says Tony Curtis had great hair. He did. He had great hair. He had a lot of great talents and assets. Ryan, what's your summation of Tony Curtis and what's his sort of personality as a star?

Speaker 2 3:36

The hair is one thing. I think his also very expressive eyes are another thing, with the very bushy eyebrows, gives him a very distinctive and memorable look. Uh, and to his persona, his career is very interesting because he had a big splash with the sweet smell of success which you've talked about on your channel, uh before when I that was where he really became, you know, a, a more household name or a more um presence in hollywood.

Speaker 1 4:10

He broke out of the. He broke out of his pretty boy image as a, as you know, a teen beat magazine or, I guess, whatever the 50s you know? Yeah, um, answer to that would be he. He broke out of that paradigm as being someone that might have been even hated by the male audience for his prettiness and established himself as an actual, real actor.

Speaker 2 4:29

Yes, and then he had a string of like very, very successful high profile work for a couple of years and then he seemed to just kind of fizzle out not long after Some Like it Hot, which is kind of interesting. He was around. He definitely made many, many more movies, but none of them really had the you know cultural cachet or impact of you know sweet, sweet smell of success.

Speaker 1 4:53

Um, some like it hot, and uh, the name of the other one is escaping me, for right now it's the defiant ones where, with the yes, yes truly interesting because 1959 was a great year for him and he was also in operation petticoat, a mildly amusing movie that I also watched in preparation for this with carrie grant, where he kind of plays into what was his persona in the 60s, which is this kind of lovable trickster, which is definitely his role in some like it hot and as well as in um this and to a certain extent in a small way also in uh, sweet smell success and you know you, you've hit it big when you can guest star on the flintstones, as yourself you know.

Speaker 2 5:35

So the return of stoney curtis episode in season six.

Speaker 1 5:39

So why do you suppose he couldn't make the transition into the 60s?

Speaker 2 5:45

I don't know, I really couldn't tell you. Most actors like this were able to maintain presence. Maybe he needed some kind of studio backing or something like that. I really couldn't tell you. It's kind of fascinating that he had this very, very quick lightning in a bottle ultra fame and then became a stock player. He had this very, very kind of quick lightning in a bottle ultra fame and then became a stock player, I think would be kind of fair to say through the 60s and 70s.

Speaker 1 6:14

I mean from the period of like 1955 to 1960, he was on fire the Vikings. He's got a fine role in that. I don't think it plays to his talents necessarily. That's Kirk Douglas' show. He's in Spartacus in, I think, a fairly thankless role. I think he gets molested by Laurence Olivier in that movie, if I'm not wrong.

Speaker 2 6:34

He had a comeback with the Boston Strangler have you seen that? I have not seen that, but it's talked about very, very much on the audio commentary for the manitow as one to see I'm going to check that out, because I did hear good things about that as well.

Speaker 1 6:49

Um, okay, do you want to jump into our? I mean, first let me ask you this do you think tony curtis is a good actor? Yes, I do I mean, we picked him for this. He's definitely a name people remember, I think based off the success of some like it hot, which is maybe one of the greatest comedies ever made yes, I think that's fair to say.

Speaker 2 7:10

I think as a comedic actor he definitely has a lot more going for him than a straight dramatic actor, um, but I mean, I think, I think I don't think many people would argue that he's he is one of it's a very he's a very memorable and well-known american icon of cinema, not to the extent of other people that you know. You may think of the golden age, but I think he think he deserves a place up there for his work and, of course, his long-lasting legacy is also his his daughter, jamie lee curtis, who became, I would say, a big, maybe even perhaps a bigger star than he did.

Speaker 1 7:47

I think she became a bigger star in terms of. She probably made more money. She's had a career that's endured many decades, but, um, I don't think that Jamie Lee Curtis is any in any kind of way an icon of cinema.

Speaker 2 7:59

I I think that her father has a much more profound impact on I mean, come on the the, you know one of the original scream Queens, halloween, the fog, all that I, I would, I would challenge you on that.

Speaker 1 8:14

She's a niche personality, If I think.

Speaker 2 8:18

no, I think she never really hit the, the, the crossover into, like prestige, real movies. She occupies this place as a, as a horror icon which, to be fair, is more long-lasting, uh, a reputation and a and a career move than sure you know most people will give them credit for yeah, you can go to the the the horror show circuit and sign autographs for the rest of your life. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 8:46

But I didn't mean to talk badly about Jamie Lee.

Speaker 2 8:55

She's in a lot of great movies Fish Called Wanda True Lies, where she's truly terrific and Trading.

Speaker 1 9:00

Places. I know you're really excited for Freaky Friday redo. I've never seen the first Freaky Friday but I can't imagine it's not an enjoyable movie.

Speaker 2 9:06

It's such a great premise. I don't know. I've seen the original one, but I've not seen the Jamie Lee, lindsay Lohan one.

Speaker 1 9:12

Sorry, Well, now there's a three-film box set you can buy. Okay, let's talk about Something Like it. Hot, had you seen this film before?

Speaker 2 9:23

Oh, yes, a couple times. And this is one of the greats. I mean, anything by Billy Wilder, of course, is kind of automatically put up on a higher level. But there's something really, really magical about this movie, not just because of how kind of risque it was for the year it came out and kind of how daring it is, it also just remains very, very funny. I mean, if you watch a lot of old-time comedies, it's hard to really laugh out loud at them. A lot you can enjoy them, you can kind of chuckle, you get the jokes, but you're not really laughing out loud like you would with kind of a more contemporary comedy. This is a movie that is laugh out loud funny. There are great jokes, there are amazing setups with excellent deliveries and punchlines and follow through, and from beginning to end it's just delightful.

Tony Curtis: Star Power and Career Evolution

Speaker 1 10:22

Yeah, I'm 100% with you. I think honestly that Tony Curtis, everyone was talking about Marilyn Monroe. You know Marilyn Monroe is, everyone was talking about her, but Tony Curtis, I think, makes the movie. He's sort of the straight man, but he's also incredibly funny in just how how much of a scam artist he is, you know, and all of his trickery. And the funniest joke in the movie to me is if you're familiar with the premise.

Speaker 1 10:52

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play two down on their luck musicians who are playing in a speakeasy in prohibition era Chicago. They accidentally witnessed the St Valentine's day massacre, escape with their lives. But they know the mob is on their trail. So they dress up and pretend to be women to sneak away to florida, which is coincidentally a nice respite from the chilly chicago winter, and, uh, to hide almost, uh, all these other women. And they meet marilyn monroe and both of them fall in love with her. Though they have to keep up this ruse, though, tony curtis. He demands, like exacting fealty from jack lemon, who's the less shrewd of the two. So he demands he stay in the women role and cannot deviate. We have to keep up the ruse, but tony curtis allows himself to dress up as a sort of carrie grant type uh parody where he plays he pretends to be a multi-millionaire.

Speaker 1 11:43

Now, one of the funnier jokes is when the band leaders of the female band ask them where they studied. They say the Sheboygan Conservatory, right. And everyone goes okay. And obviously Marilyn Monroe hears this. She meets Tony Curtis who she thinks is a rich millionaire. So, in an attempt to appear more erudite, learned, more worthy of his time and attention, uh, he asks her, where did you study? And she goes oh, the sheboygan conservatory. And tony curtis goes good school, that's the funniest. Yeah, shell oil junior.

Speaker 2 12:16

Yeah, terrific, that's uh it's, uh, very much the kind of humor that you'd see later on, like seinfeld, where you know George is always making up stuff, and it's like who's your, who's your favorite author? Oh, uh, glavin.

Speaker 1 12:30

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 12:31

Good one, yeah, I like him yeah.

Speaker 1 12:34

Yeah, no, it's, it's a great movie. And it's a great movie cause it's real. Um, it doesn't necessarily have anything political to say, necessarily, but it's a great comedy of manners about how women and men interact with each other and the lengths that they'll go to keep up a certain appearance to snag a mate, right? I mean, like Marilyn Monroe, who's often thought of as this, like you know, very put upon tragic star, that's sort of her persona.

Speaker 1 13:02

I think a lot of people haven't even seen her films but you're so captivated by her image, right. But in this she plays someone who's not very intelligent and also somewhat of a scammer herself. You know, she tries to lie to get into bed with Shell Oil Jr, and for that reason it appeals to everybody. It's a lot of fun, it's got a lot of light, it's very lighthearted and it's definitely directed by Billy Wilder and written. Because, like most comedies today, you don't watch it, laugh a million times and then say you know, I just feel really hollow because it felt like a really long Saturday Night Live skit that was just full of absurdism and funny things for laugh's sake. But it's a movie that is a genuinely good story that you care about the characters.

Speaker 2 13:45

Yeah, it's, it's. It's really well constructed and it keeps moving. The the, you know, the change of pace and the change of location really helps the movie move along. To the fact that you know we have the beginning of the movie set in Chicago, you have all the prohibition era type stuff, the speakeasy, the St Valentine's day massacre, all that, and then we have, you know, the extended middle sequence of the movie on the train, which offers a load of different scenarios for things to go wrong, and then, of course, you know, the climax in in Florida. So there's that.

Speaker 2 14:15

I also really enjoy comedies like this that are farcical in nature, like a complete and total farce of a subject, where the premise is so ridiculously absurd, but you commit to the bit and you keep going full steam ahead, no matter what, it doesn't matter how absurd or ridiculous things become, you just keep going with it and that's what this movie does to the best extent possible. That's what this movie does, you know, to, to the best extent possible. Um, you know, right, when we, when we meet um joe and jerry, who become, uh, josephine and daphne later on, I mean, they're, they're the ugliest women you know imaginable and it's.

Speaker 2 14:59

It would be unfathomable for anyone to actually, you know, believe that they are women and yet everyone goes along with it. Now, yes, it's a movie. It's meant to be funny and and silly, but the fact that everyone kind of keeps going with it and no one really really questions anything is part of the joke, and that makes it even more funny, in my opinion especially when the gangsters meet them in the elevator and then want to find out what their room number is and ask them out yes, and and every, every guy is after them.

Speaker 2 15:31

That's the. That's the funniest part, too, is that all these guys are are just dying to go out with them and uh, they're not. You never see them really after marilyn or any of the other girls. They're always after the two guys.

Speaker 1 15:45

I read the great essay that's in the Criterion Blu-ray, which has some good features. It's not, you know, no audio commentary, which is a shame.

Speaker 2 15:54

You got to get the Kino. Lorber disc has a good commentary.

Speaker 1 15:58

Yeah, there's a great essay, but I can't remember the name of the author. He talks about how this is not a movie and I think he was kind of throwing water on a lot of contemporary critics who would like to reevaluate this as some kind of political um movie about the idea of gender roles etc, etc. But he makes a very strong case that it is not that right. And he said because billy wilder didn't have an ending in mind and they tried like five different endings and they went with what was funniest, he goes. That's clear evidence that there's no agenda to this film. Wilder just wanted to make the funniest movie he possibly could and they came up with a great ending line that Cobra Malibu, another great guy, says in the chat here, which which is you know you can't marry me, I'm a man. Nobody's perfect. Which is you know you can't marry me, I'm a man, Nobody's perfect.

Speaker 2 16:46

You know it's a yeah, there's. There was a lot of contention about that final line in the movie, about how, what, what was going to be the ending of the movie, and this is in some of the special features and commentary tracks. They talk about this and they thought when, when that line was proposed, they thought that that was the dumbest, stupidest, worst way to end the movie. And the writer stood up for his position. He says no, no, no, you have everyone's expecting to have this. You know giant explosion at the end of the movie where you know he's revealed to be a man and it blows up in their face and all this stuff. The right way to pay it off is to have, like the most unexpected and you know, um, bland, uh, banal kind of response to everything is, which is nobody's perfect, and he, he delivers it straight on, doesn't look, doesn't move, doesn't flinch, and it's just like blissfully ignorant.

Some Like It Hot: A Timeless Comedy Classic

Speaker 1 17:41

It's hilarious I can't have children, I don't care, I smoke, you know, fine with me. You know it's um, but it's also interesting. I'd say the one really interesting element of the movie that, if you're going to look at it from a sort of social critique, is jack lemon's falling into his character so deeply to where he starts like acting like a woman, right to where he does allow himself to be proposed to by. He sort of forgets his pursuit of maryland, which he also has. One of the other funniest lines is when she crawls up into his uh cabin on the train and she goes. Or are we having a party up here? He goes, yeah, it actually might turn into a surprise party here in a little bit, which is just great.

Speaker 2 18:25

You know, um, but uh, I don't I don't think it's meant to be taken in a political context of his like, gender transitioning or anything like that, which. But if the movie was made nowadays, it 100 would be.

Speaker 2 18:38

But there would be yes, he's such a, he's such a um malle, such a malleable personality. He's very easily manipulated and told what to do. So he finds himself in this position and, yeah, he's, he's the one at the beginning. Who's who's having the most trouble with it, really like, oh, how do they walk in these heels and and all this? And then he, he kind of kind of just throws himself into the role, which is which is great.

Speaker 1 19:05

Yeah and yeah, because Tony Curtis is not a very good woman. Hello, it's me, you know he does. This little affected voice that's terrible. You can tell he really does not like it At the first chance he gets. He pretends to be somebody else.

Speaker 2 19:19

But he looks very nervous, he looks extremely nervous while he's doing that, while Lemon is just kind of living it up as flamboyantly as possible.

Speaker 1 19:28

Absolutely. And then Marilyn Monroe. Maybe there's a little bit of a class dimension there too, where they get together and I think any modern audience would say, oh well, they reconciled too quickly after all this subterfuge and whatnot. But they both realize they're both lower class kids who are trying to get ahead and trying to get by, and they put aside their pretensions of any sort of aspirations or higher class mode and they decide to be together and that's what's going to make them happy, you know which is?

Speaker 2 19:57

probably also a level of does she really, is she really that shallow, or does she really that dumb? Does she or does she not probably subconsciously know that that's, that, that's him, or that's the same person or something? You know what I mean. Yeah, it's not meant to be explicitly explained, but there's probably something there that clicks in in the back of her mind, you know.

Speaker 1 20:23

How many other Marilyn Monroe films have you seen?

Speaker 2 20:27

um, I'm very partial to, uh, how to Marry a Millionaire I. I think that's a really, really great film. It's probably one of my favorites with her. Um Seven Year Itch that's a good one. Also, billy Wilder, that was the first one they did together. Um Niagaraagara and bus stop, yeah, and I'm probably forgetting some other ones have you seen niagara? Yeah, yeah, that's good I think that's a tremendous movie.

Speaker 1 20:54

I think it's one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed. Trembling colors, says I haven't. Um, uh. Spats colombo is a very tragic character. I remember being very disturbed by his death scene. That's another thing too that the movie does include is there's lots of scenes of violence and there's a lot of interest in the gangster characters. The film opens with a really kind of spectacular stunt car chase with a hearse and a fire truck and police cars. And then, yes, there's this very elaborate assassination plot a la Godfather 3 towards the end, where gangsters jump out of a cake and murder the Spats Columbo wing of the gangster party, which is just kind of also is the um the amount of just little jokes thrown into the.

Speaker 2 21:48

You know the background they're there for the italian opera lovers convention.

Speaker 1 21:50

You know, of course, right right, right right, because it wouldn't be. You know if you're just an average italian, american new yorker.

Speaker 2 21:57

You know, come into florida for the opera convention. You know, nothing, nothing, nothing to see here um.

Speaker 2 22:04

But yeah, I do truly think that tony curtis shines in this um you made a good point about the him being the straight man, and I think that that goes underappreciated, and as do a lot of straight men in comedy. Um, because you know whether you're the lou costello or the jack lemon in this picture, for instance, I mean you're getting the majority of the laughs because you're, you're putting yourself out there and you're, you're, you're being the butt of the jokes. But when you're, when you have to play that kind of the straight man, the stiff role, it's a, it's kind of a thankless job. But he, he does it rather well here, and that kind of stiff upper lip kind of, you know, a standoffish look that he has on his face all the time while he's, while he's dressed as the woman you know, adds a, adds a level of comedy to it, but it's also, you know, kind of hides his, his own anxiety as as this character.

Speaker 1 23:01

Yeah, I think Tony Curtis has this kind of um and it's true to his roots. I mean, he grew up very poor. He was um, born of Jewish immigrants from, I think, romania. They didn't have hardly any money and he enlisted in the Navy and then studied uh acting on the GI bill, and he was so handsome and good looking he had these pretty eyes, his curly cute hair that he was cast in lots of teeny bopper kind of roles and I think that he has a certain scrappiness about him. Right, you can tell that even though he's pretty, he has a little bit of a tougher edge and you want to see him succeed and I think that was predominantly his personality. He's always sort of this underdog.

Speaker 1 23:36

This is like persona, you know, whether it be in the Vikings against the tyrannical. You know Kirk Douglas character Vikings is a very good movie. By the way, he and Janet Lee are not the best part about it. It's a very sort of thankless good guy role. But I'm just curious, do you have anything else we can say about, about something like it hot, other than it's great, because I think there's a lot more to say about tony when we talk about his performance or what he's supposed to represent like in the manitow, right, I think I think it.

Speaker 2 24:03

Um. A question I would have for you is how do you feel about something like it hot in terms of the billy wilder filmography? Where would that fall for you?

Speaker 1 24:12

um, definitely up towards the top okay, agreed, same, ied Same.

Speaker 2 24:16

It's not my, it's hard to say, because I'm more of a just naturally inclined for the dramatic. So you know, double Indemnity is just. You know, I can't, I don't think I can, I don't think I can top that.

Speaker 1 24:28

Double Indemnity is a film I've seen probably six or seven times, and you know I never think of it as being one of my favorite movies, but it's always so infinitely watchable and explorable. What about?

Speaker 2 24:38

compared to the Apartment, for instance, which was Billy's other big comedy with Jacqueline. Oh, you haven't seen the Apartment.

Speaker 1 24:49

Oh, definitely You've got to watch it.

Speaker 2 24:51

No, no, no, no. Fantastic, fabulous movie. I highly recommend it.

Speaker 1 24:57

It's sorry, I uh I know what a bum ass loser. How could anyone possibly tune into a show with me? Oh, check that out. A classic, okay, I've seen sunset boulevard, you know, I've seen uh, sabrina.

Speaker 2 25:12

Marina Stalag 17.

Speaker 1 25:15

No Lost Weekend. Yes, Lived that one.

Speaker 2 25:18

Oh, major and the Minor Great, oh fantastic, fantastic comedy. Very, very funny.

Speaker 1 25:27

With Ray Moland, ginger Rogers, who we both love. Who's one?

Speaker 2 25:29

of our favorites.

Speaker 2 25:30

So I mean, I would say this is one of the movies of you know, golden Age black and white that I think is a good gateway film for modern audiences to kind of get experience and get used to older films because it's so good on so many levels. You always have to kind of find the right film. If you're trying to get somebody younger into these types of movies, you need to find the right one for you so you don't scare them away. And this is definitely one that I would, I would recommend to uh, you kind of introduce people to older films you know what you're.

Speaker 1 26:06

So right, because that's actually, I'm going on a podcast tonight, also as a guest on the granite mountain movie club show, and we're going to be doing a podcast with me and an assembly of people where we list off five movies that we would pick if we were teaching a high school class. Um, you know to introduce, he goes what, what five movies would you show to a class to have them appreciate american culture, heritage, etc. Right, um, and maybe I should have picked this because it's astounding how the generational appeal this movie has. Right, there's never a dull moment. It's astounding how the generational appeal this movie has.

Speaker 2 26:37

There's never a dull moment, it's always moving and it's a very positive movie in my opinion and I think, a lot of Billy Wilder's movies would fit that bill for having a cross-generational appeal and having very modern sensibilities to them, that they don't feel old fashioned. They don't feel, you know, of a.

Speaker 2 27:01

You know I'm trying to write words like they don't feel fuddy, duddy or old, and I don't mean that a disrespect to any other older movies that we love just as much. But you know, like I said, you can't some for some people. You got one shot and if you, if you show them the wrong movie, it's like I'm never going to watch another black and white movie again. I'm never going to watch anything you know old again. So I would, I would put this one up there. Uh, highly.

Speaker 1 27:27

Cause I think, at the core of it, it's about striving, getting ahead, winning the girl, falling in love, being your true self. You know, I mean that's.

Speaker 2 27:36

It's also just funny. It's holds up. It's comedy is timeless, like it's like I love Lucy, which is just timeless. It holds up. There's something about comedy that just if it works, it works. It doesn't matter how old it is.

Speaker 1 27:51

You care about the characters too.

Speaker 2 27:53

Yeah, oh, interesting fun fact. You care about the characters too. Yeah, oh, interesting fun fact. Um, marilyn had a clause in her contract um that she all of her movies had to be in color and she actually, like, had to sign a, did a waiver. She agreed to do this movie in black and white at the insistence of billy wilder, because when they were doing the makeup testing for the guys in drag, um, they just had a kind of realization that it was not going to work in color at all, like it was going to look grotesque or very fake, and so in black and white they were able to pull it off.

Speaker 2 28:29

And so marilyn, like you know that, that that good on her part for not being so kind of vain, and you know, oh, no, I must make every movie in color. She's like no, no, I understand. Like this is good for the movie, this is good for everyone, and she did it. So that was kind of an interesting tidbit there.

Speaker 1 28:47

I think the movie does work. I can't imagine it working in color and not coming off as kind of like a pageant 60s musical kind of thing like a like a like a hello dolly or something yeah, or like a name or something, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. And well, she did. She did star in the misfits in black and white, which I believe was her last film, right, yeah, that was her last film.

Speaker 2 29:07

Was that in black and white? I? Yes okay, oh, interesting you seen that? I have not incredible one with clark gable right and he died while they were making it.

Speaker 1 29:16

Yeah, yeah, Incredible movie, Really really quite affecting. I think she's great in that too. Just really sexy in that movie. In this movie she's like very cute. You know she's beautiful, she's gorgeous and very.

Speaker 2 29:30

I love the scene, though, where she comes out with the ukulele, you know, doing the dance number. That is probably one of her best moments in the movie George froze up, of course.

Speaker 1 29:41

Can you see me? I'm back.

Speaker 2 29:43

You're using the Wi-Fi again, I see.

Speaker 1 29:45

I know I am, I'm back.

Speaker 2 29:47

What are you doing?

Speaker 1 29:48

Plugging into the fucking AI or central intelligence or what?

Speaker 2 29:51

Yeah, fiber optic I'm in the. Matrix.

Speaker 1 29:55

I need that probably.

Speaker 2 29:56

Probably we haven't had that issue though, since, like our first few episodes, yeah, a little different part of my base so anyway, I mean, we could go on and on, but some like it. Hot is an absolute classic, highly recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it, and I I'm thankful that we did this because it was an excuse to watch it again and I, you know, I haven't seen it in quite a while and it was just as delightful as I remember seeing it before yeah, I agree, and my wife really enjoyed it as well and laughed and um, she's often a captive audience to things and I did try to get the manitou no, she saw like part of the manitou when the giant growth on the person's back, on the gal's back, was getting somewhat large and she was like this is gross and just walked out and I go okay, it's fantastic, fine.

Speaker 1 30:45

Well, the Manitou is a movie that I watched for some reason, I don't remember why. I think it was kind of getting into William Girdler a little bit, because I love Grizzly Now, william Girdler is an interesting character.

Speaker 1 31:03

He made nine movies by the age of 30, and then he died in an explosive helicopter accident. What a way to go, I know, I know, and according to the Manitow commentary track, which was done by Troy Haworth, which was incredible fantastic, I mean, the guy is coming with facts nonstop, which, um, was incredible fantastic. I mean the guy is coming with facts non-stop. And he's also got good opinions and evaluations of the movie and how it relates to the book by graham masterson. Um, I highly recommend it. Actually just bought I bought a book by troy howarth on john carpenter that I have yet to read. So I'm gonna get after that because I was very impressed with this commentary.

Speaker 1 31:31

Um, but according to the commentary track, girdler according to people close to him actually did have often weird premonitions about dying at 30 or he would say sort of you know gallows humor things about I'm gonna die at 30, I'm not gonna make it very, and he did so. Uh, day of the animals. I've not seen which trembling colors is mentioned. Leslie nielsen is in it. I gotta. Okay, I have to get on that. But I have seen grizzly and then you've seen Abby and he had a coterie of other great movies, but the Manatee was probably his most prestige project.

Comedy of Manners: Gender and Identity

Speaker 2 32:04

He had the best cast, I would say so shot in scope great cast. I mean you're talking about exquisite genre cast members here who have whose reputations have lived on you know well, after this Talking about, like Michael Ansara, burgess, meredith, and then cameos by you know, other people, even like Anne Southern is in this movie, so there's a lot of fun things to see in the Manitou, besides the visual effects and the hallucinatory LSD-inspired Star Wars meets the Exorcist high concept that it is.

Speaker 1 32:47

Yeah, he pitched it. Girdler did as Star Wars meets the Exorcist. I don't know how well he came through on that promise when he was interviewed in Starlock Magazine before the movie's release. But, ryan, would you want to give people kind of a rundown of the plot of the Manitou? What is it about? What an engaging title. The Manitou, yeah.

Speaker 2 33:04

What is the Manitou? So the Manitou is the story of a young woman who is seeking medical evaluation for a strange growth that has appeared on the back of her neck, for a strange growth that has appeared on the back of her neck. This growth has, you know, rapidly escalated in size over the last, you know, 24 to 48 hours, and all of the medical professionals that she sees seem to be baffled by what it is. And on x-ray imaging it seems to resemble a human fetus on the back of her neck.

Speaker 1 33:35

No way, and so no way.

Speaker 2 33:37

And did you know that in Japan, in 1969, they also found Fact, fact, fact, yes, that they found a fetus growing on some boy's brain?

Speaker 1 33:46

That's so crazy Japan. What did they get up to over there? Go ahead.

Speaker 2 33:52

I forgot I actually did research that. We'll get to that later yeah, um so anyway, yes, so this woman has this growth on the back of her neck, and so they decide let's operate and cut it out. But during the operation, strange things begin to happen and the surgeon loses control over his own body and starts cutting himself. And so her friend, who is the strangest you know way to involve other characters, I guess in this plot is that her ex-boyfriend is tony curtis, who is a scam artist, swami mentalist yeah tarot card reader, sure, and um, he is consulted over this somehow after having a seance where a tar-covered goo medicine man arises from the middle of the table.

Speaker 1 34:45

Which is a cool effect.

Speaker 2 34:46

Amazing seance scene. It's very cool carrying the spirit of a deceased Native American medicine man who plans to reincarnate himself through her, and so now they need to stop it.

Speaker 1 35:06

And they do. They stop it. They have a battle for the ages A battle beyond the stars here.

Speaker 1 35:12

A battle beyond the stars, beyond space and time, in the 10th floor of a hospital in san francisco, and the movie does get a lot of um a boost from being shot in san francisco. There's lots of beautiful outdoor scenery, um tony curtis in it. He plays a scam, you know, fortune teller for old ladies and and you know, by the way, this is real. I mean, this is a real thing. I actually spoke to an older woman one time, and she paid. She detailed in excruciating detail her experience of meeting with someone who had, who was clairvoyant, who was giving her lots of uh, good information on what was going to happen or whatever. And I asked did she tell you what stocks to buy? And you know she didn't. Really that's, that's a sort of cheap thing. You wouldn't want to ask someone possessed of magic powers. They're not a genie, you know what I mean. They're going to give you a very vague layout.

Speaker 1 36:05

Though you know what, though? I will tell you this my dad worked for a company and the company Christmas Party. They hired a fortune teller and they brought one guy over and they read his fortune and they he said oh, you won't be here in eight months, right? And the guy goes to the boss and he says well, what are you going to fire me? Ha ha. Eight months later he died. So then they didn't have a. They didn't do any more fortune telling anymore. But that's all besides the point. Anyway, tony Curtis does a nice job playing this role, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 36:36

He's great, he really has charisma, he has charm, he's bringing it, he's bringing his A game, he's bringing his all to this ridiculous you know very, very absurd movie here. And but so is everyone okay. And so Michael Ansara, especially as the modern-day medicine man, the good medicine man or the exorcist, as it would be for this movie, really also brings his A-game and has a real presence to him, and their relationship and their connection and the battle between the two of them is actually a very strong part of the movie, I would say as well.

Speaker 1 37:16

And Ansara has a great presence. He looks cool, he's tall, he's big, he's like this mythic, you know, salt of the earth. American Indian warrior. You know, with this, this knowledge of how to defeat Mr Marcus, the uh, isn't that the name of the guy? The name of the bad guy, uh, uh, demon, is like Mr Tomicus or something, but it sounds like they're saying Mr Marcus sometimes when they talk about it?

Speaker 2 37:43

Yeah, it is, Ms Squamous yeah.

Speaker 1 37:47

I can't, but I will tell you I spelled the certain case Ms. Squamacus, ms Squamacus, yeah, that's right, ms.

Speaker 2 37:54

Squamacus.

Speaker 1 37:57

But that sounded like Tony Curtis was like Mr Marcus is wreaking havoc in there right now. But you know, the movie is not particularly violent, necessarily. It's not like a total bloodbath, but it is just sort of off-putting in the way that this played by a little person with a really great makeup to look like a you know, very weathered, rugged indian man like is growing on the back of this poor woman and it's just kind of like an off-putting. It's. It's sort of coded low class. Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 38:28

it's like very gross yeah, it's um, but it's but extremely effective for being very disturbing and even more so the great touch of having the medicine man come out deformed because of X-ray radiation, that's just an added level of taking this up a notch. Let's see how much more gross can we get in this movie. We already have a giant tumor fetus growing on this woman's neck. Okay, that's gross. We have the seance scene where the you know the black, slime, ooze-filled medicine man rises from the table. We have, you know the scene where he emerges from her fully grown as this you know, kind of deformed, uh, full-bodied person. And then, um, also the, the ice, the scenes where the entire floor gets frozen in ice and the lady just like blows up in front of them or whatever.

Speaker 1 39:31

Oh, that's, that was terrific because there's yeah. So basically, at the end, when they have to have their exorcist showdown with, uh, mr maucas, which, um, you know, you don't that's the sort of the pattern of the exorcist, because this is an exorcist movie, let's be real it is 100 rip off of the exorcist yeah.

Speaker 1 39:49

so there's always this sort of we're going in for rounds with the, with the demon. You go in, then we'd go to halftime and we have to go recollect ourselves, and then things happen, and in the intermittent period they come back and the whole place is frozen in ice and there's a nurse that's been frozen and then she explodes because why not?

Speaker 2 40:10

I don't know why yeah, why not yeah.

Speaker 1 40:14

It's a ludicrous movie. But Tony Curtis, yeah, why not? Why? Yeah, it's, it's a ludicrous movie. Um, but tony curtis, despite the fact that he's sort of sidelined, um, you know, in favor of michael, I don't think that's fair? I don't think that's fair you have anything to add when it comes to, like you know, shaking the little, uh fucking dream catcher at the but but he is the driving force for, for believing in the impossible, for staking a claim and getting all of the resources that are needed to help.

Speaker 2 40:43

I'm sorry it was her name, karen, I think. Um, to help her, because the doctors don't want to believe. The doctors are are just ready to give up and no one else will, will you know, help her at this point. And so he's the one who takes it upon himself to recruit michael and sarah and to keep him going, to keep him motivated to to finish the job.

Speaker 1 41:06

So I think that morale boosting part of his character is, you know, essential to the movie and I, you know, the first time I watched this I called you and I was like what a piece of shit. I just saw this movie.

Speaker 2 41:17

It sucked right and actually I don't know, actually I don't recall that very differently. I remember getting a message be like you have to watch this movie and I'm like, okay, I said that because michael on sarah, I'm like I'm sold, and then I get this movie and I'm like what the hell?

The Manitou: Horror Oddity Introduction

Speaker 1 41:32

is this you know, first of all I want to preface this with saying that the second time I watched this, I enjoyed it much more um, on its own terms. But you have this movie that's working pretty well for the first half, where you're going to visit the professor burgess meredith, who has these interesting things about the native american witch deal and all this stuff, and you know, the discovery of what's going on is very interesting and Tony Curtis is a captivating character. And then when you get to the end, the budget kind of fails the movie and we have a few scenes of mayhem. And then we get Mr Marcus like creates a lizard to attack the doctors, and it's a guy in a lizard costume, that's, you know, transparencied over the scene and it looks terrible.

Speaker 2 42:15

And then at the end it looks great that's, you know, transparency over the scene and it looks terrible.

Speaker 1 42:18

And then, at the end, great, what are you talking about? Come on at the end. At the end, they just have, like michael and sarah and tony curtis standing in a doorway that has green screen around the door, so then they can make it look like they're in space, which is, by the way, something I did in high school, where I wanted to make it look like a guy was going into space. So I I put a big green screen in front of my garage door and then open the garage door and it was like whoa, space, when a guy was going back in time and um, you know, I did that when I was like 17. But, um, it just gets to be a little ridiculous, especially when we have the showdown of when Susan Strasburg's character woefully underwritten gorgeous, very beautiful. We get quite a view of her towards the end, when she's harnessing the power of Gaia or the Earth or whatever, and then is able to shoot lasers at a little person. Is she harnessing the?

Speaker 2 43:09

power of the Earth.

Speaker 1 43:10

I don't know, is she?

Speaker 2 43:11

harnessing, I believe, if I recall correctly, someone or something is harnessing the believe, if I recall correctly, someone's, not something. Someone or something is harnessing the power of the yes, manitou, of yes, other electro, of electronic equipment in the hospital.

Speaker 1 43:26

And because this is a, this is key, yeah, everything has a manitou right, so everything in the indian. I don't even know if this is true to like indian lore or whatever native american or whatever that's the fundamental problem with the movie just overall I'll get to that in a second right like, but according to michael ansara's character, a man who, by the way, is syrian and but made a career out of playing native americans and in film and television and klingons um others.

Speaker 1 43:53

let's say um, if we're going to be like. But he says everything has manitows. If the police came and pointed their guns at Mr Marcus, the manitow of the guns would turn against them. And so Tony Curtis has the idea whoa, what about computers and technology? Like he throws an IBM calculator machine at Mr Marcus and it like hurts him.

Speaker 2 44:17

Okay, but it also explodes, explodes, it also explodes which is fun.

Speaker 1 44:20

And so he goes. Whoa dude, mr maucas is not ready for the white man's computer, manitow right. And so then the if you guys can believe this the computer energy of manitow computer goes to the lifeless form of Susan Strasberg, where we see her very tastefully nude, shooting lasers out of her hands at Mr Marcus, which is a little person in an Indian mask, like somewhere else on a green screen. He's like sitting on top of like a, you know, like a green screen and there's lasers and then asteroids come flying out and there's you know, it's a whole thing, right.

Speaker 2 44:57

You can't fault the movie for for not being ambitious enough. Okay, it just didn't have just did not have the budget for it. I find that scene just to be like as the entire movie, to be like an out of body experience. Okay, this movie is just amazing, is fantastic on so many levels and I enjoy it every so much more every time I watch it. I actually watched it twice during this. I mean, I watched it with the commentary, but I watched it again just kind of as background noise the second time and you just absorb so much weirdness and it just makes it so much better all the little things that you may not have picked up on the first time better all the little things that you may not have picked up on the first time.

Speaker 1 45:40

Well, I'll tell you what I think. It's a well-directed movie, for the most part, like this William Girdler guy he gets. He gets slandered a lot as a as a cheap, exploitative filmmaker, but I would believe that more if he was like 55 years old and he's not, he was 29 when he made this. He was. He just had like a ton of entrepreneurial get up and go, you know, and he knew he had to make things cheap to break in and before he died it was working for him. I mean, this is a movie where he got big stars to be in it because he got guys who were like three or twice divorced, who needed money for alimony, and got him to work cheap, which is the story of ansara and curtis, right, yeah, and he always tried to up his game in terms of what he was doing.

Speaker 1 46:21

When he was making a movie he used he shot an anamorphic rather than you know, four by three or whatever he was doing on 16 millimeter before. And he his camera work is good. I mean there's there's lots of times where the camera moves and pans and, like he does great shots where it's a moving shot, where this is always something that rudimentary filmmakers like myself fail to do, which is to set up a shot and block it to, where you're not cutting back and forth all the time characters are moving into view or you know, it's um, it's. It's something that's kind of hard to discuss, but he does a nice job with this. It's well done, and I would like to see where he would have gone after this. This was a success.

Speaker 2 47:02

I would say so. I would have loved to have seen what this guy would have done in the 80s. That would have been another world of filmmaking.

Speaker 1 47:10

Yeah, he would have thrived.

Speaker 2 47:12

Yeah, I mean because think about how much more opportunity would have been available for a filmmaker like this in terms of independence. Okay, so he's doing this in the seventies, which is, you know, it's a tough, tough business to make your own kind of movie like this outside of the studio system. And in the eighties he would have had a lot more freedom to do things and and he could, you know, still be working today.

Speaker 1 47:34

Honestly, he could have done the vhs straight video transition. Well, I think, oh yeah, corman, he's got that same roger corman spirit yep, same same kind of uh initiative, yep he got financing for all these movies. He convinced the financiers. I got a whole script for this and he did not right. He had just optioned the book.

Speaker 2 47:54

He threw the movie together in like a week, you know, and then started shooting yeah, well, I think, um, you know it's the, it's the great and it's the tragedy and the beauty of when these, you know, older, established stars have faded, they are able to make movies like this, which I'm sure they saw as trash but as a reliable paycheck, but it also kind of helps to have their career live on in another context entirely.

Speaker 2 48:24

Um, so, having an actor like tony curtis, who is a you know, he's giving it, he's given in his a game here in this movie, elevating it to a level that you know, if they had had just kind of Joe Nobody doing it, would we still be talking about the Manitou? Well, perhaps, but not to the degree where it kind of matters a little bit more. So there's that Also, when we talked about this a little bit on our own, how ironic and interesting that this movie was released in 1978, the same year that Tony's daughter had a huge breakout hit with Halloween, another horror movie coming out. Father and Daughter both starring in horror movies coming out in 1978. One is revolutionary and one is kind of this experimental dud.

Analyzing Native American Horror Elements

Speaker 1 49:18

Yeah, yeah, but it is kind of this experimental dud, you know. Yeah, yeah, but it is kind of wild. I mean, you know, if you're Tony Curtis, though this might not be such a step down other than William Girdler is not going to pay you very much but if you look at your contemporaries, gregory Peck and William Holden had both done Omen movies. Rosemary's Baby was nominated for Oscars. You know why not give something like this a try? You know and be starring old man.

Speaker 2 49:41

Come on, I mean I think it's uh tom atkins in halloween. Three the interviews he did later on. He's like you want to put me as the star of the movie. Okay, I'll do anything. I'll do whatever movie it is. You know, it's like you get a little starring role absolutely.

Speaker 1 49:58

And he, uh, he's, he's an older man in this, which I think is a little more shocking, considering we don't have so many films of uh, tony curtis's to to sort of gradually ease into his age, like you might for john wayne or here. You know what I mean. So he, he, he shaved his you know signature curly hair and he's got a very, you know trim, high and tight haircut in this kind of makes him look older yeah, he was not that old, uh, while uh, when he made this right.

Speaker 2 50:31

So this is uh, he was born in 1925 and this is uh 1978. So you know, he's, like you know what, 50, 53 years old. You know not, uh, not that old, but he looks much older. I would say again, that's part of the times and and the way you know. Eight people have aged differently over the years.

Speaker 1 50:52

But but you still, you still got it. And there was something about it that made me feel like he was miscast, because you just don't see, I'm like, would this have worked better with a younger star, where you would believe the romance between him and Susan Strasberg a little bit more? But you know what?

Speaker 2 51:09

No, I don't think so.

Speaker 1 51:11

Tony Curtis is a movie star. It doesn't matter. He's a movie star for a reason. He's a magnetic personality. You like being around him and you know I'm on his team when he's doing his whole fake act.

Speaker 1 51:22

You know, in college I used to be a wedding photographer. That's where I made extra money and I had a video camera and I would do wedding videos. And when you're doing a wedding you have to pretend like you're the wedding guy and like, oh, wow, beautiful, oh, let me get this cake and all this stuff you don't care about, you know, but to preserve the illusion of romance and love and the wedding, and okay, you know you have to play a certain role. And when Tony Curtis has the old lady walk out of his place, he goes oh yes, have a great day, I'll see you next week, slams the door, whips his mustache off, takes off his robe, throws on some funky jazz and pours out a beer for himself. I'm like, dude, I totally feel this Like. Every time I came back from a wedding took my tie off, I was like you know.

Speaker 2 52:06

So I get that grind, you know that hustle of his character and I like his, you like him, you like him and it's those scenes with the old ladies where he's conning them are also just so wonderful and and funny about the other, when the other lady starts having the convulsions and his uh, that's great, another great office and it's. It's played kind of for oh, we shouldn't sound like, we sound like psychos we're.

Speaker 1 52:31

We're laughing about this but it's meant to be played for laughs, and she, yeah, she, she's um, you know, having convulsions, and then she kind of floats out of the office, out of the uh, the room down and then throws herself down the stairs in the most comical fashion it is an explosive stair falling scene and whoever the stunt person was was incredible because, like the late, the old lady like drives her head through like eight banister railings and like like pure wood, you know destroys the stairs, you know, in the process of falling down them, because she's been possessed by Sal of Manitou, which he managed to, or whatever.

Speaker 2 53:08

Yes.

Speaker 1 53:09

Um.

Speaker 2 53:10

Oh, that was. That was part of the. I think the fundamental other problem with this is that the reason the exorcist works on, you know, for the exorcist is a masterpiece and it works on so many levels, but part of the kind of inherent um reason that movie works is that it's it's based on a fundamental thing that most people can find relatable. Most people know, know about Christianity, catholicism, satan, god, all this stuff. We're dealing with a very fundamentally different kind of spiritualism here, and so we just mentioned it ourselves.

Speaker 2 53:51

We don't even know if this is based in any kind of actual mythology or not. Like, like, is this even real or not real? Like, did they make this up? So I think that part of it takes away something from the movie that the exorcist had, in that it's based on something that kind of everyone can relate to, on whether you believe in god or not. There's, there's that, uh, this is kind of like, well, we could almost be doing like a you know comic book. Uh, what if we were on Krypton, you know, with, uh, spirits and demons and all that? And it's kind of like well it doesn't really mean much.

Speaker 2 54:25

You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 54:25

A hundred percent it's. It's sort of it's really divorced, it's kind of rages, lost ark, and then your comparison is a crystal skull, something no one really knows or gives a shit about, right, yeah, because it doesn't have a cultural imprint on anybody, right? And then also they don't. You know, the exorcist is a movie. That's about something. It's about the old gods and encroaching on somewhere as modern and hip as an actress, um, a single mother actress and her young daughter in georgetown, washingtonc the last place you would expect. It's about struggle with faith, the existence of evil in a world where things have become gray. And this movie is really not about anything. Michael Ansara has a few asides about oh, the white man took my land, or whatever.

Star Power in Low-Budget Filmmaking

Speaker 2 55:16

You know what I mean, but it's not a movie about America's relations to finding your faith, for instance, which the exorcist is also very beautiful about you have, you know, the young catholic priest who is clearly struggling with his role in all of this is do I? You know, tragedy has befallen him, his mother has died, you know, unexpectedly, and he's questioning like, why am I even doing this? You know, what is my fate? Do I believe or not? And his experience, even though it kills him, causes him to find his faith and renew that there's no such inner conflict here or anything with Michael.

Speaker 2 55:56

Ansara inner conflict here or anything with Michael and Sarah and Michael and Sarah kind of is kind of a gruff and kind of a matter of fact explainer of all these things and it it's, it's just, it just is true. It's not because I really believe it or don't believe it, it just is and it's it's. There's nothing there that kind of layers it.

Speaker 1 56:15

Like you said, it could have been anything, cause, like there's no, there's no, there's no theme to it. Like, yeah, there's no idea that, like the manitou, is an indian spirit coming back to, like you know, have revenge for, you know, the treatment of native americans. That doesn't, that's not part of it. Not that I'm saying that would have improved the movie, but it's something you know. I mean. I mean you have in this movie a man growing like a cancer on a woman's back and then, like you know, emerging and sucking her life force to it. You know you could have made, you could have had some kind of feminism angle there or something, but you know you don't. The movie is about. There's a scary bad guy and we have to just defeat it and it's going to be fun and enjoyable all in the way, you know.

Speaker 2 56:50

Yeah, the movie is about grossing you out and, you know, taking it to the new extreme and and, um, you know, whatever fever dream they were under when they came up with the laser coming out of the fingers and the star shooting everywhere and exploding IBM computers and calculators and exploding nurses in ice vortexes and people. So, I mean again, I I really enjoyed this much, much more. This time I find the camp value to be very, very mean. Again, I really enjoyed this much, much more. This time I find the camp value to be very, very high. But this is not a movie that I would recommend, except to the most extreme genre fans.

Speaker 1 57:32

Yeah, like everybody that's watching this. Yes, but I wouldn't be like, hey, friends, let's pop in the Manitow. They would be.

Speaker 2 57:38

No, they would think number friends, let's pop in the Manitow, they would be. No, they would. They would think number one that you're insane and two that you know you need help. You need psychological help.

Speaker 1 57:47

Maybe we do.

Speaker 2 57:49

Perhaps that's a discussion.

Speaker 1 57:51

What did Tony do after, after uh?

Speaker 2 57:59

Manitow. I know he became a painter, a rather prolific painter.

Speaker 1 58:00

Did the Bad News Bears go to Japan? Oh, he did. I should watch that, because I like Tony Curtis.

Speaker 2 58:08

I do. I like him as well. He seems like a really cool guy Again. Like we said, great presence, great distinct look, great voice. I bet he's good in this.

Speaker 1 58:19

I bet this is good. I've never seen the Bad News Bears. What is this? The third one um this is the third Bad News Bears movie.

Speaker 2 58:27

I think so. Third and last yep yeah, and also Regis in the movie too cool, perfect, perfect.

Speaker 2 58:36

That's probably his I mean all the rest of these movies. I mean he continued to make movies up until 2008. You know, so he was still around. I was kind of disappointed, unlike I don't know what their relationship was like, so maybe that's part of it, but I always think it's super cool that in Halloween, h2o Janet Leigh has a cameo with Jamie Lee and it's just really fun. And I don't know what their relationship was like, father and daughter, that they couldn't maybe do something together. Maybe that's part of the problem, but that would have been fun to see them do something together.

Speaker 1 59:17

I tweeted about this. I do think tony curtis was a good painter yeah, I saw that.

Speaker 2 59:22

I didn't realize that that was a. That was a.

Speaker 1 59:23

Thing he's very prolific. I, it's kind of like his stuff is like, um, like a mix between like a van gogh still life and like roy lichtenstein. Like it's, um, it's cool, I, I like it. I'm actually gonna look for some and then tell my wife we should hang it up and then, when we do, I'll tell her that Tony Curtis painted it.

Speaker 2 59:42

Yeah, I wonder, are those available?

Speaker 1 59:45

One of them is. One of them was for sale for like $3,000. Like an original.

Speaker 2 59:51

Oh, that's not a lot for you know. To own something that Tony Curtis painted. Yeah, check out the return of Stoney Curtis, though, on the Flintstones.

Speaker 1 1:00:03

Oh, we will. Hey, it's me Stoney Curtis.

Speaker 2 1:00:08

Unfortunately part of the sixth season of the show, which is the worst. That was the last and final year and there's not many good episodes in there, if any really so no, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 1:00:24

Well, we, we devised this. Well, I was just gonna tell the people that we devised this, this um version of the show, to to be quick. You know that we could we could watch more of these in a quicker time and produce more. And our next episode is you want to tell the people what it is the next, the next subject of high and low of the next subject of high and low.

Speaker 2 1:00:44

Do I get to pick? Are we? Are we definitive on this? Well then, if it's my choice, we're doing. We're doing Bela Lugosi for sure, and it's going to be Dracula, and Bela Lugosi meets a Brooklyn gorilla.

Speaker 1 1:01:04

Okay, gorilla, okay, actually, you know what I should have talked to you about? This is I don't want to see people know how the sausage is made.

Speaker 2 1:01:06

But I was thinking everyone's seen fucking dracula. What if we did the black cat instead? Oh, I'm down for that. You were the one who was insisting on dracula for a while I was, I was the one saying white zombie actually. Um, because that's a fantastic Legosi film where he is, you know, center stage In the Black Cat. He does have to share, you know, with Karloff, but it's one of my favorite movies of all time and it's him as the hero, which is very very cool.

Speaker 1 1:01:33

White Zombie, no the Black.

Speaker 2 1:01:35

Cat Him as the hero.

Speaker 1 1:01:42

He's great in it, we'll talk about.

Closing Thoughts and Future Episodes

Speaker 2 1:01:43

We'll talk about it. Maybe, if we can get you white zombie, I think you would, uh, I think you would really appreciate that it's a very, very uh unusual kind of golden age horror film independent.

Speaker 1 1:01:52

So yeah, we'll do that sounds terrific. He's a very interesting character.

Speaker 2 1:01:56

And I think that our next show we're going to be doing the one with a special guest, if we can arrange that.

Speaker 1 1:02:04

Yes.

Speaker 2 1:02:05

Okay, we don't want to. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Speaker 1 1:02:08

No, we're going to be doing the Manitow again, but we're just going to have a guest on and we're going to talk about it.

Speaker 2 1:02:12

We should invite the guy who did the commentary track. Who did the commentary track? Why not? I would love to go.

Speaker 1 1:02:21

That's something we've been talking about is that I see people with way less views than us get people to come on their show. We have a good show here. We have good fans. They like to buy things. I know Cobra Malibu Unlimited buys stuff. He'll probably buy a guy's book if we have him on.

Speaker 2 1:02:34

These are good books. That's also part of it. There's a lot of great reference and you know film history books out there that maybe people don't don't realize or weren't aware of, and there's a lot of these people. They do the audio commentaries and that's where I I've picked up on their, their work and their books and you get them. They're great.

Speaker 1 1:02:52

So we're gonna, we're gonna try, we we have.

Speaker 2 1:02:54

We have another youtuber we we've got, uh, we've reached out to and we'll we're trying to try. We have another YouTuber we've reached out to and we're trying to get that one done. George, I know you're going to be a little busy for a while.

Speaker 1 1:03:04

Yeah, I am, I'm going on vacation and then also, if you guys can see, my beautiful studio is just in, it's coming back, but we had some basement problems and we had to redo the whole basement. So for the past month I haven't had a my little. I haven't had anywhere, to you know, to uh drop anchor on and like work on anything. So it's been kind of tough. I do have like two movie reviews on my channel in the works joe dante small soldiers and steven spielberg's duel. Uh, those will be my next two videos on my channel.

Speaker 2 1:03:36

So very cool. Yeah, I'm very slow and I'm very behind on my Flintstones videos, so eventually it will come. It's going to be good.

Speaker 1 1:03:46

Well, thanks, man. You can stick around at the end of the stream and talk for a sec, but we'll bid the audience adieu and thank you for coming. Thank you, guys, for showing up in the live audience and, if you could go on iTunes or spotify, give the podcast version of the film journal podcast uh five stars or leave a review. That'd be huge to get us moving on audio, because I know a lot of people would prefer to listen to this on audio rather than youtube. So we'll see y'all next time yep bye.