Devil in a Blue Dress

A great noir isn’t just shadows and cigarettes. It’s pressure, the kind that makes every choice feel like it could wreck your life. Devil in a Blue Dress takes the classic detective setup and tightens the screws by putting Easy Rollins, a Black veteran just trying to keep his house, into 1948 Los Angeles where danger isn’t abstract. It’s a sidewalk, a hotel lobby, a police station, and a single conversation with the wrong person.

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Music produced by Joey Prosser. X @mrjoeyprosser

Transcript

Welcome And Recommendation

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello and welcome to the We Recommend Podcast, a movie podcast where every week we recommend a movie for you to watch and then come back here and listen to us discuss. I'm Jesse. I'm Jason. Well, like a man told me once, step out your door in the morning, you're already in trouble. Just a matter of whether you're mixed up at the top of that trouble or not. That's all. Because this week we recommend Devil in a Blue Dress. Yeah, I love that quote. It was so good. Yeah, I know. It's at the very end. I was like, I feel like that sometimes. Yeah. Man,

First Impressions And Favorite Moments

SPEAKER_00 0:38

what did you think of a devil in a blue dress?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Absolutely loved it. Holy shit. It was so good. I feel like it's aged so well. Yeah. It was like, what was it, 1995? Yeah, 1995, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

God.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

And it was like, you know, a little subvertive because like most noirs that you think about, they're all like uh all the protagonists are white men. Yeah. And so it was kind of just like you put it, you put a black man as the lead, and it's like it changes like the whole how the story would be told and everything, especially being whenever it was set. And you know, it just being a movie about also like, you know, just a black man in this time where everybody's kind of racist, and he's like everywhere you go, there's essentially danger. And then it's also kind of got like it's a bit about like passing, you know, um, because she's the main girl's mixed race, but she's like passes as white. She doesn't want anybody to know, and it's like there's just so many layers to it where I'm like, this fucking rules.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

And that was enough to make someone drop out of a political race. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah, back in the day. That's insane, right? That's all it took.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Wild. The golden age. There's so much in this, so much in this movie where it's like I would be like, you know, like pumping my fist, like, hell yeah. And then so many times where I'm like, I just want to hit every white person in this movie.

unknown 2:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Uh and something I love about this is, you know, when we think of Denzel, we're always like, we're in good hands, right? Yeah. At the beginning, you're like, I don't know, he doesn't seem like he's cut out for this. And then it's like like when the all Albright comes in and he's like his two goons are with him in his house, and they kind of like put a knife up to his eye. He's like, I got a surprise for them. And then he becomes Denzel. And it's just like, oh yeah, here we go. It's fucking business time, baby. He got his business socks on. Yes. Um, it's business time. And it's just this, I just love whenever we take a genre of film and we're just like, we put, you know, kind of like sinners, you know, it's like most vampire movies, like, yeah, they set it into a time where racism was crazy, yeah, you know, all over the place. And we just took a vampire film and put it into this situation led by all black characters, and it's just like a totally different angle, a different angle, a different experience. And then I was thinking, I was like, that's what they did for this movie, and it's great. Yeah. But also, if you just put Denzel in any genre, he's just gonna make it better. Denzel is one of the best actors we ever had. And then like you feel really good. Like, honestly, at the end, when he's just walking around his neighborhood smiling, I got emotional. Oh, so I was like, oh, this is this is it. This is like it's exactly what Sanders was saying. Yeah. It would be free from all the racism and stuff. And it's just like they're all happy, and it's just like a great community, and it's like I'm so glad that that's over.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Yeah, it's better, but it's not over that Justice Alito has just declared that racism is over.

unknown 3:54

Thank goodness.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

And Clarence Thomas helped out a lot. We did it, it closed all those doors for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

We killed racism, we killed everybody. We've done nothing bad will ever happen again because of the color of your skin.

Noir Style Through Race And Power

SPEAKER_00 4:11

So, um, do you like noir films? I love them. Yeah. There's something because that was because it was a movie that felt like it was made in the 90s, but also felt like it was made in the 40s. Yeah. And it it just I love I love that time, the cars, the looks of the sh city, the the way everybody dresses is so great. The racism, not so much. Do you not like that aspect of it?

SPEAKER_01 4:35

The ever over like present racism. Uh no, and it also felt like you were watching a book.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yeah. Yeah. Like a cool it definitely was a book first. They they adapted it. Um, it's just it's got it's a mystery, it's you know, it's a whodunit at the same time. It's so good.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

I love it. All plot twists and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

All things that I love in movies. Mysteries, who duns it. Um, so what is it about Don Cheadle that brings so much excitement to this movie? His tiny head, I think.

unknown 5:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

It was just like the movie had a vibe where it's just like a very it's kind of dark. Every it was like just every there's just a tough time for Denzel through the whole movie. And it was just like, man, Denzel needs a wild card. And then he comes in and he's just like, hey, let me talk to him. Shoots a guy out of the arm. It's like, I don't know. As soon as I saw Don Cheeto, I was like, I love everything he's doing, he's great. There's so much extra to his character that they don't say, they just kind of he just his acting kind of shows it, especially like when he's at the table drunk and he's like, nobody's gonna mess with you right here. Nobody's gonna. I was like, it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

No, I what I really liked about um Don Cheetle's character is that in the beginning, he kind of gives you the the idea that this is a person that Denzel's character never wants to see again.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Ever, because he's dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

And then he's like, you know what I need? I'm a dangerous man.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

You need a dangerous motherfucker to come in here and help me finish this shit. Yeah, that's what I love.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

It's like I know he's gonna mess some things up, but ultimately I need him. Yeah. Because he needed that surprise. Fuck yeah, man. Oh, when he delivers. Because you know, it's all voiceover. It's like, it's like, yeah, Albright, I got a surprise for him. I was like, because I was because the whole time, you know, at the beginning, you're like, all right, there's something off about Albright, you know. Yeah. Um, mainly because he's played by Tom Sizemore and you can't trust him. Uh but there was like a part of me where I was like, you know, after like that woman goes and talks to Denzel at the pier and all the guys, and then he comes up and he, you know. And I was like, Albright, he might be a pretty decent guy. No, too. Through from that scene. Well, you know, he's a little psychotic because he's like, suck his dick. Yeah, and it's just like Denzel's like, all right, dude, we get the point here. This is also a bird.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

You're really sorry. Are you sorry enough to suck his dick?

SPEAKER_00 6:59

You were gonna do it, weren't you?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

That was amazing. Yeah. And we also like Denzel was really uncomfortable, which made me uncomfortable. Yeah, I'm sorry, Denzel.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Please, that's actually embarrassing me at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Like Denzel's like, wait, now I have to take a part of this.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

But so, and like, you know, you leave that scene, you're like, All right, I like that Albright did that to these people, but also it's like he might be a little too unhinged, and then the next time we see him, he's like got a knife up to him and he's being racist. And it's just like okay, that's what I thought. I thought he might have been an alright guy, but now I want him to die as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

But he did bring a lot of like representation as far as like like different races. He's got like the I'm pretty sure that one dude was Asian, like his Goonies. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

He did. I'm pretty sure the one guy might have been Italian. I don't know. Italian. Um, but yeah, oh man, just it was this movie was just such a treat. I was just so happy. No, and I've owned this movie for like two years and never watched it. That's crazy. I just like because it came out on Criterion, and I was like, well, it's Denzel movie on Criterion. I've heard it was really good. Made no money, typically like every fucking movie we do that's good on this podcast.

Brooklyn 99 Tangent And TV Gripes

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Yeah. It's kind of like I was we were watching an episode of Brooklyn 99 where the the lead character had to stay in a safe house with the guy's husband. He's like that, and they only watched uh those who they only watch movies, they're all bad movies of of the actor, and then he at the end he was like, You had the other one that was good?

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Yeah, the whole time the whole time, yeah. Because that was uh Peralta. Yeah, he's kind of like the adunst almost. He's just he's just like very childish and immature, and then you got um uh made of watch Conner the lieutenant's uh husband. Um he's just very prim and proper and he talks like a robot almost. I love that I love that section of the um show because like they always gotta crawl on the ground. They have that one little square to the safe to stand. I'm so glad you're watching that because I remember you came over the seven-year-old's favorite show, right? It's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

I mean, it's one of mine too, but like I'm so surprised that she loves these shows so much. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

It's her favorite character, Boyle.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Uh probably Peralta.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Peralta, but I love it. There we have a quote on our refrigerator from that show. It's like, there's a bomb. It's your butt. Your butt is the bomb. Uh so we watched that episode and then like Natalie went into the bathroom. I just wrote, There's a bomb in the bathroom. It's your butt, it's your bomb. She hung it up on the refrigerator. So romantic. I know. We love each other. All right.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

So um we'll hop into some. I also think it's Terry Cruz's best performance. Oh, yeah, by far.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

The fact that he almost wants to kill everything, he's like breaks everything all the time. Like, oh, one of my favorite bits from that is whenever he likes he slams the door and then like the glass breaks, and then you got Chelsea Paretti, um, the secretary. She's amazing. And she like, you closed the door too hard. Oh, dude, I could just go back and rewatch it. I just hate that that show ended on its last season was like a COVID season, and it's just like it's just like, man, I wish so. There's mask everywhere, and you know, there was a lot of really like political stuff around cops then. So it's just kind of like you went from like just laughing a lot, which they sometimes would sprinkle in like political stuff, you know, especially around the cops. Um, but it was like it was just so heavy, and it was like, well, I get it because it was so on our minds, but I didn't watch that until like three years after COVID. So I was just like, I was kind of ready to put it all back. It's kind of ready to move on from COVID and that really dark time of our.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

I know I made a 9-11 joke the other day, and everyone got upset.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Why? Everybody makes 9-11 jokes.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Well, it was about our bird at home laughing. He laughs all the time. He's like, I bet that's what he was thinking about.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

That's a good joke. That's a good joke.

Production Facts Legacy And Box Office

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Um all right, we'll hop into some facts. There's just really I only got like three like three or four facts, unlike the Heathers where I had like 10. So um, there's not a lot of information on this, and it just kind of sucks. Um and I didn't have time to watch all the special features on Criterion, which would have given me a lot more facts, but I didn't. So um a movie theater that easy passes is advertising the betrayal uh by Oscar. Can't say his last name. Um he was the first African American to produce a feature-length film. Cool. That's cool. Um director Jonathan Demi. Um he did uh oh my god. Silence of the Lambs, um, Philadelphia, other good movies that I'm blinking on right now. Um, and the best concert film in the history of the world. Uh Stop Making Sense. Talking heads. It's such a good concert. If you can ever watch it, it's insane. Like uh it's one of the most active concerts you would probably ever see. Like the lead singer is constantly moving and like doing workouts and stuff throughout the entire film. David Murr, maybe so Jonathan Demi produced the film under his banner after having worked with Denzel in Philadelphia years earlier. At one point, Demi considered directing the film himself, but elected to defer Carl Franklin on the strength of his direction direction of one false move. So if you look at Jonathan Demi's uh filmography, it is wild. It is all over the place. It's insane. Um, so the movie was an acclaimed flop. So the film was met with positive reviews from critics who by and large found the plot to be very um, who by and large found the plot to be very middle of the road, but had nothing but praise for the visuals, tone, and performances, with many of them especially highlighting Don Cheadle's performance as Mouse. Cheadle would later go on to be nominated for several awards for best supporting actor in critical critic circles, and even winning quite a few of them. In the years following its release, the film has gone on to have a legacy as one of the pivotal neo-noir films of the 90s and even served as direct influence on sinners, both story-wise and introducing White Passing Mary Stacks love interest uh during its original release. However, it flopped at the box office. Because I think it uh let's see, I had it written down. Uh so yeah, the budget was 27 million and it worldwide gross was only 16 because people have bad taste and everything. Um but yeah, there was there was a point in this where I was like, man, I feel like there's like some center vibes here, just like with its ideas and thoughts. And then I was like the secret clubs, like dance clubs, yeah, like juke joints and things like that. But then also there's a point where like most of the movie Denzel's just wearing like the white tank top and suspenders. And I was like, that's true. That's how like that's what like one of Michael B. Jordan's characters that's like how he ends the whole film, is like in that dress. And I was like, wow, there's a lot of similarities between it. And I was like, uh, they were influenced by it. I need to get some more wife beaters. I love them. Yeah. I had a blue one. Blue? It shrunk, so I can't wear it. See my belly button in it.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

So now it's a tube top.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Yeah. Just tie it up. So at the end, Easy declares that he would use the money that Daphne uh Daphne gave him to invest in some real estate and maybe start his own private investigating agency. Had the film been successful, more of Walter Mosley's subsequent books following Eazy would have followed, but they did not, despite positive reviews. Because it didn't make enough money. They also were going to turn it into a TV show. Which that would have been a great TV show. I would have watched the shit out of that. It'd be like Miami Vice.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Is it but is that kind of a trope in in Noirs that like guy gets pulled in to do detective work and then later becomes a detective?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Not always. Um, I'm sure there's some. I haven't watched like a lot of the older noirs, so I'm not 100% sure. But uh usually they start off as like a PI or or they'll be in like the newspaper business or something like that, and then they start investigating and then it kind of becomes a noir. Um, there's always like, you know, a woman in a dress that they always gotta see in like a a dark-lit room or something like that. And the femme fatale. Um but you know, sometimes they're usually they're usually a little bit. This one they had it to where it was kind of more of a sad story for them instead of like, oh, it was the girl's fault or something like that. Um which was very interesting. And I kind of just loved her whole like the reasoning behind everything was like, oh, I didn't even think of that. It's because I'm white. Privilege. I would never thought, like, oh, you that that's what the plot's gonna be, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

No, I didn't I thought it was like child porn or something.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

And well, it also kind of was. It was like, wow, very timely. Political people dealing with that? Nah. Right? That's wild. Um but man, I know that wasn't really a like a big before we get into the plot, but I talked to a private eye, a retired private eye once.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

He said like 90% of his cases were just husbands cheating on one of the things. Yeah, it's just taking pictures of husbands. And that's when I thought whenever he's like, I'm gonna be a PI, I was like, nothing is ever gonna be this exciting ever again.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

It seemed like and maybe it was different like back in the day when you know we didn't have like cameras and everything, so like, you know, it wasn't easier to solve murders. Yeah. Like, so maybe like PIs were, you know, a little bit because there I do watch a lot of true crime where you know they're like, yeah, the cops have it's been like a year and the cops aren't finding anything. They hire a private investigator and they like travel the country trying to figure things out, and it's like always really fun. But that's cool. But yeah, usually it's just like, yeah, I took a picture of your husband cheating. Uh $500, please. Yes. It does seem like a very fun job, though.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

A hundred bucks seems like so much money when Brad costs 15 cents.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

That's the thing. Like, uh it's like giving a thousand dollars, I think, to like our money today. That's like twenty thousand dollars. Hell yeah. Um, and like I had I thought I had a um some trivia in here about like how much like how cheap the house was for them. Oh man. Yeah, like it's like a hundred dollars put him back in line for his mortgage, and it's like, dude, mine just went up half a hundred dollars, like fifty dollars this year. Every year it goes up more and more.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

I'm like, I thought I bought this already.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Why am I paying more? That's insane. Everything nothing makes sense. No, like sell our house because we can't afford it anymore. Fucking straight of Marmoze ruining everything for everybody. Oh gosh. It should be the Strait of America. That's what we're gonna name it after all this.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Um straight.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah. I said yeah, and then let my wrist. I don't know how it's going

Mailbag Prompt And Title Meaning

SPEAKER_00 18:39

with that. Yep. Uh so we're about to get into the plot of the movie, but we want you to think as we go through it, what is the point of the movie? And you can leave us some fan mail and tell us what you think the point of the movie is, or just anything that you want to talk to us about. You can go to the description uh and there's a link that you can click on. You can text us just from your phone, whatever you want to text us, or you can go to the very bottom and go to we recommend mailbag at gmail.com and leave us an email about what you think the point of the movie is. Um Mark, can't wait to hear what you think the point of these movies are that we're doing. Um I will make sure to check out YouTube often to see what you say. So devil in a blue dress, 1995. Can I ask you something? Why is she the devil? I was gonna say the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

I never I should have looked that up before it is just because pretty girls are dangerous, uh maybe.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Yeah. Well that's what because I was thinking this whole time. I was like, oh damn, she's about to she's gonna end up being like a killer or something. And like the whole time I was like, she's just a poor woman. Yeah, she's just gonna it's not her fault. Let's see what the internet has to say.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Oh no, that can't be good.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Let's see what Google AI has to say about it. Let's look at look up what redpill.com says about women. Oh, so I guess it's this uh devil with a blue dress typically refers to a dangerous, irresistible femme fatale or a captivating woman who brings trouble, often depicted as a devil in beauty.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, that's why you can't put women on ships. Yeah. What? Bad luck. They bring danger.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

At least that's what sailors think. Yeah, so I guess it's just essentially it's like the devil because it's like someone that just uh steals your heart, essentially. Yeah, type of stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Everybody wants to kill her and everyone around her.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Yeah, because she's pretty she brought hell with her to Easy's life. It's all her fault. Yeah, even though all she did was exist and be born. Yeah. So, devil in a blue dress, 1995.

Easy Takes The Job

SPEAKER_00 20:42

So it's 1948, Los Angeles. We meet Easy Rollins narrating how he has no job and needs money three weeks before he lost his job because he worked overtime, but really it was just racism. Because, like his boss, it's like at the plane factory or whatever, and he's like, Well, all the other people they work overtime all the time, and you have no problem with it. And then all of a sudden, I I would do it, and when all the white folk did it, no one cared. And then I did it, and now I'm fired. That sucks. Yeah. Um, so easy bartender friend, uh Joppy. Joppy.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

He introduces him to is it DeWitt? Uh D-E-W-I-T-T. DeWitt? Yeah. DeWitt Albright, who I will be calling Albright for the rest of the movie. Thank you. Uh who has heard. Yeah. Uh um Joppy says that he told uh Albright that it easy was looking for a job. He hands him his number if Eazy is interested. Love it. Easy peasy. This is how everything starts in Noir.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

So he bought Albright from the war, even though Joppy looked like 50 years older than Albright.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Yes, I think that's what it's supposed to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

So they're probably in World War I.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Yes. Yeah. Um, and also, I don't think I said it, but Easy is also a veteran. Yeah, easy is a war veteran. And when he got back, he moved from Houston to LA to work in Champion Aircraft Factory. He is very proud that he's able to have a house. He lives in a nice neighborhood. He is worried about cash because he doesn't want to lose the house. He loves his house.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah, he loves his neighborhood, his community.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yeah, all he wants to do is have a normal life with no issues or crime. Cut that asshole that keeps chopping down trees. Yeah. I was like, he's gonna have a big part in this movie. And not once did he have a big part in the movie.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

He's just a crazy person.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

I was like, is this like a thing that happened in the 40s? People hated trees.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

They just give crazy people everywhere. Just don't want trees. He just wants to. I wonder if like back at his place, he's just got a pile of dead trees.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

No, he's like his whole yard is trees. He's like, I finally did it.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

You can't replant them if you cut them off in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Like, if you understand the tree bit in this movie, please let us know.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

He just wants to be a lumberjack, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

This is just something like I don't understand. Stealing people's trees. It's like, wow, he's constantly being chased off. He hates trees. He's like, I'll be over later to cut off your trees. Cut down your trees. Don't cut off my damn trees. I'll be back later. Um, so yeah. Um, and then he's also worried about Albright as it reminds him of someone from his past back in Houston, Mouse. Someone that got him in a lot of trouble.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Oh, I'm gonna kill this guy. Mouse, you're a goofy.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Something I hate is when people start doing Mickey Mouse impersonations, creeps me out. Like I was watching Survivor and one of the characters, they're doing like a talent show just to kind of kill time on the island. And he's like, All right, my talent is I can do impersonations. And I was like, Oh, I can't wait to see what he does. And then he started doing Mickey Mouse. I was like, I actually don't like you anymore.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

I always love a dark Mickey Mouse like South Park did with the whole promise rate episode.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Like Mickey Mouse beating the shit out of people out of the uh One Direction, or was it Jonas Brothers? One of them, yeah. So funny. So he goes to Albright's place to talk to him. Easy learns that Albright is a P.I. looking for a woman named Daphne Monet. Um, she is the fiance of Todd Carter, who was running for mayor until he disap until she disappeared. Albright just wants him to find her and gives him $100 and he pays up front. He agrees and starts the the same night. Um, like we learned that uh yeah, uh Daphne, she likes to she likes to hang out in like black clubs and things like that. And like she was like a white woman that didn't mind being around black people. Right. Which This is crazy. This is anxiety. How could she traitor? It's uh but then it turns out that um they're all just people. Yeah, crazy wild. It's weird to think about it that way, but that's how it is. So he goes to uh an illegal club hidden in the back of a convenience store because that's where uh Daphne likes to frequent juke joints.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

That was funny. Whenever the um Hattie May is like, hey, take take Easy upstairs, and the other guy's like, he's like, I'm gonna go stay. He's like, There ain't no upstairs.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

There's no upstairs. He's like constantly like harassing Easy.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Good deal.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Uh well we'll find out soon. Yeah. Um, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because I didn't put in my notes uh when I first watched the movie because I was like, I don't think this guy will come back into play.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Yeah, it was just like annoying.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah, and like outside of the um convenience store, they're like the police arresting a black man because he was talking to a white woman. It's just like, God damn things sucked. It's like fuck off. Come on. Um, but yeah, so there is a man who's with cigarettes harassing people in the convenience store. He gets thrown out by Junior, who is a bouncer. Um, so yeah, with one of the bouncers, he says that easy helped um, yeah, so junior and easy are walking upstairs, and then uh junior keeps saying, like, it's like, oh yeah, you helped easy you uh helped Mouse kill uh his like steps or stepfather or something like that, stepbrother. And he's like, I didn't kill anybody. I didn't do anything. It was Mouse. And then there should be something that like comes up throughout the film. So Easy heads into the club asking for Daphne, learning that his friend Dupree, Ruchard's girlfriend, Coretta James, is a confidant of Daphne. Easy spends the night with Coretta and has sex while uh Dupree is passed out drunk, just discovers that Daphne is involved with gangster Frank Green. I love this whole scene. Yeah, it was pretty fun. From bar to him having sex with her, it was just like it was very fun. I just immediately liked all the characters, and like Odell just like what what's his deal? He's just he's just easy's friend. Yeah, he's just friends with everybody. He's like not in trouble or anything, he just likes to go to the bar and drink. He got drunk as hell. I know, and like having him come back at the end just made me so happy for Easy to have a friend. I was like, hell yes, he's just a normal guy. Um but yeah, and then like the fact that Coretta all obviously has a thing for Easy because he hits the spot, yeah, and uh so um Dupree, who's like so drunk that Easy has to carry him into this house, and she's like, you know, there's a little bit of like, oh what, you want this Daphne girl to be with her? You could just be with me, and then it's like they have the sex scene. She like stops him in the middle, it's like, don't you only just want me? And it's just like, I don't know, it's kind of hard, it's just fun.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Yeah, he was like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

I want you. I don't like anybody else, it's only you.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Right now, at this moment, I just want you.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Yeah. It's so easy. He then uh goes back home. He gets a phone call from Albright telling him to meet him face to face in Malibu to discuss the case because now that easy has some uh information to give him. So they go to a pier. Um, easy is just minding his own business, just looking out at the ocean, and a white woman walks up.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

I know, like you could just tell he was afraid.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

I was immediately like, I know, isn't that crazy? I was you know, I think it's like, you know, because you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

He wants to be polite and be he doesn't want to be like, look, I can't just walk into the walked away.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Yeah, he should have walked just like to the right. It's a different direction. Yes. He shouldn't have had it done anyway. Exactly. He should be allowed to stand wherever he wants and talk to whoever he wants, just to make that clear. So fucked up. Uh it's funny, just like watching movies, you know, about like the black experiences of sinners, you know, all the other movies I'm completely not thinking about that I've watched over my time. Um, it's just like it does, it just immediately gets me in that position where I'm like, fuck. I know, man. It's a bad decade to be doing this. Yeah. And it just makes me feel bad and scared. It's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

And you know, I just feel like a lot of it makes you think that Albright's the fucking hero. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Of the scene, which he is, which is something very awesome the movie does. It completely tricks us. Um so yeah, uh, and so she starts talking to him. Then a bunch of white dudes start being racist to him, and they're like getting ready to beat this.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

One of the lines I love from this scene is like Barbara's like, we were just talking about the ocean. And then he's like, get the fuck away from her. He's like, We ain't doing nothing. And the guy go, the white guy goes, Um, oh no, y'all were talking about the ocean. Like beat your ass. I hate when people talk to the ocean, my girl.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

It's like that is an obviously romantic conversation. It's like they they just want to find a reason to beat him up. It's like ridiculous. Ugh. It's wild. It's wild. So um, and then as they're getting ready to probably beat up easy, Albright comes up and points a gun at him, telling him to blow easy. Yeah, like hits him in the head with a gun, everybody runs off, like shoots it. It's like, ah, then he scares everybody off. Fuck yeah. Denzel's like that a little bit much. He's like, I'm gonna blow your fucking face off. A little too much there, Albright. You had them scared, they could have just ran away. Yeah, he did take it a little a tad bit too far. Tid bit. So um Easy tells Albright about Daphne um hanging out with Frank Green. He pays Easy more money, saying he will contact him again. When he gets home, he is arrested by LAPD. Um, they are racist, surprise.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah, that seems like a common theme with the police. Yeah, I was just like, for like especially in LA around this time, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

They're still racist. It's like wild. Because you think of California as such a progressive state, right? But like, you know, they had they had some of the worst cops.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

But like considering the time, it was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Yeah, I guess it's I mean more than like the southern states, yeah, for sure. But it's like you always think, but you know, because you know, a lot of like the uh uh social adjustments uh movements earlier, like back in the day, started because of LAPD killing black men in the streets and and like in the beginning when it said that easy got his when he moved to LA with his GI bill.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

The United States government tried to not give them the black people their GI bills after World War II. So fucking shitty. So it's like I was wondering if did they end up doing it or like did it take a long time? That's what I think. Well, he definitely did get his bill in this one, so it probably just took a long time.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

I don't know. Um but yeah, so he learns that Kreta has been murdered and he is accused of the murderer, the one like douchebag cop that is just ready to kill easy. It's like he just like keeps he hits him in the back of the head once, then he tries it again, and Denzel's like he stuffs something, the other cop shoes the other cop out, and Denzel's just like, yo. I got my hands up. Right. It's like I mean, there's gotta be a point where you're like, I gotta be allowed to defend yourself. A little bit. So I just don't think that they would have just released him. I think they'd probably just beat the shit out of him if it was maybe a real life situation back then. Yeah. I don't think he'd be leaving the jail. Though there is kind of a part later when we get to it of I think why they let him go. They do need him. Yeah, they need him to figure out to do the detective.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

So yeah, he is released from jail after three hours, and he talks about kind of I think uh he had to wait three hours for a lawyer essentially to let him out. Um so while walking home, God, it what a night for him.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Even the even as soon as he walks out of the police station, the cops are still looking at him like, what the fuck are you doing here? Yeah, it's like immediately arrest him to take him back inside.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Can I just go home, please?

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Sucks. I know.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

So while walking home, a car pulls up telling him to get in, and it's Matthew Tyrrell, the potential next mayor in opposition of Todd Carter. Greta worked for Tyrrell. He asked questions about her death, and if anybody else was there, easy is very suspicious of him. Tyrrell asked if Daphne was there. Easy says no and gets out of the car. He's like, I'm done. And there's like a when he first gets in the car, there's like a kid there, and we're like, oh, that's probably his son.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Yeah. Like learning the crime trade or something. Yeah. That's what I thought.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

We'll soon learn how dark that car ride was. Oh man. Um but yeah, I just I love shit like this because like it's like, who's this character all of a sudden? Now what's he gonna do? And then it's like we don't even see him the rest of the movie, and it's like until the parade. Yeah, yeah. And newspaper clip in it all flashback to um whenever Easy's thinking. So yeah, that night Easy is having nightmares about Coretta and is then woke up by a phone call from Daphne. Um, is it Daphne? Yeah. Or Daphne.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Daphne.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Okay, cool. Just making

Daphne Reappears And Stakes Spike

SPEAKER_00 33:49

sure. Uh Daphne invites him to discuss at a white-only hotel. He goes to meet her, he asks about who murdered Coretta, but she doesn't know. She's real flirtatious, which is a classic uh noir thing. Yes, it's like you always go meet the femme fatale, and then there's like this silly string flirtatious like relationship, but there's also you feel the danger in the air at the same time. Yes. Uh that's kind of why I really love noirs. Yeah. It's like they're hot and scary.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Yeah, she's like, because he almost goes for it.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Yeah, he was like, he kind of stands up, he's like, Can I have another drink? Um but so yeah, Daphne wants Easy to drive her to Todd Carter's house and to but first to stop at Richard McGee's house on the way, and it's like 4 a.m. in the uh morning because of a letter that was given to K that was supposed to be given to him. Um so Easy starts asking more questions about Greta, and if she talked to her, Daphne gets upset and then slyly accuses Easy of being the murderer. You were the last person to see her alive. Damn. Because he's she's starting to see that he's getting the upper hand on her, and she's like, I gotta take back the power. And then it says, Right now, you're the only one that probably did it. She's crafty. Yeah. Um and we're like, ah, it's just like they're in the same boat. Yeah. Yeah. Sort of, because she's the last one to talk to her. Yeah, and we don't know her story yet. So to me, it it like at first I was like, ah, she's gonna be the villain of this story. I know it.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

And then yeah, they have no reason to trust each other, but yet she's like kind of trusting him for no good reason. And that makes him nervous. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

It's like, why am I even involved in any of this right now? So um, yeah. The yeah, so when they get there, they find out that Richard's house has been broken into. Um, we get a little narration. It's like, and here I am at 4 a.m. in the morning in a white-only neighborhood, driving a white woman to a man's house. And it's just like, I could be in so much trouble. Um so when they get there, they see his house is broken into and Richard has been murdered. Um, we see that it's the same guy that was at the convenience store earlier in the film. Turns out he was looking for that. Yeah, it's the same like drunk acting guy. Turns out he was looking for Daphne there. So that's the whole reason he was there. And uh Daphne bails without easy. He's just like, I'm out of here.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

She don't know.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

At first, I thought he took his car, and then I was like, You're gonna make him walk home? I thought it was somebody else. It was Richard's car. Yeah, so she took his car. At first, I was like, You're just gonna make him walk home in this neighborhood? That's terrible. Um, but yeah, so it's the next morning. Easy makes it home to find Albright and two other guys in his house. Um, and he's like, What the hell y'all doing in my house?

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Get out of my house. It's like an eating of sandwiches and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Yeah. And Albright is mad that Frank Green doesn't live in the address Easy gave him. He threatens to cut out his eye. He's like, Yeah, I just gave you the address that I know of, but they think he's like double crossing him. Um and so Albright makes Easy write down the last location. Um, because he eventually tells him, like, yeah, I met with Daphne last time, so they want the hotel location, and tells him to pour him some whiskey, but easy refuses. Uh yeah. And then he's like, You know what? You got some balls on you, Easy. Um, so Albright tells him to find Green. And when Easy refuses, Albright reminds him that he can be connected to two murders now. And then, like, all this is happening. Yeah, I feel like it was very prominently the shot was set up. Like this whole conversation is happening as a milkman truck is pulling out and someone's like getting the milk because that's what he wants. Yeah, like that's what Easy is hoping for. He just wants a neighborhood where people bring milk and he just like sits out and he can just walk, watch, drink some coffee. Get his fucking milk. Instead, he's got all these white people coming into his house, causing so much drama. And he's like, Man, I just want to live in like my house. I just want to live in a neighborhood in my house, not be bothered, and not have PIs coming putting knives to my eyes, not having people cut down my damn trees. Because I think we've already seen the guy cutting down trees a couple more times, throwing rocks out of his tree. Yeah, because he's cutting down his like front door neighbor's tree, and he's like, get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

But he's also kind of cool with him because every once in a while he's just kind of around there, like a handyman, maybe and he's kind of like almost the neighborhood spy.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Yeah. He's like, hey, there's there's somebody around. And you know, kind of tries to warn him a little later.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Oh, yeah, he's like, There's a man.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

Yeah. So um upset, easy decides to invite his friend Mouse to help him and maybe surprise Albright. Um, love it. Because like we already said this earlier, but he's like, Yeah, Albright had a few surprises. I think it's time for me to start surprising him. Yeah. And I got one person in mind, and I was like, I already knew that Don Cheeto played Mouse. So I was getting that might have been like building up the anticipation. Because I just saw his tooth. Like from the scene in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

The little flashback scene, yeah, because he's got kind of like the the one silver like bullet tooth or something.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

I don't know. It's sick. Um I think you always need a guy with a bullet tooth.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Yeah, exactly. That's why bullet tooth Tony. Every sc every script that I wrote in at college, they always had a bullet tooth. So angry Easy goes to his bartender pal Joppy, who he has figured out is the one who gave Daphne easy Easy's phone number after some hammering. Because like we cut outside and we just see that Denzel pulls out a hammer and puts it in his pocket, and then he goes up and he's like, Joppy, what the hell did you get me into? And then starts, and when Joppy wants to answer, he starts hammering his marble. Uh great. Um, so Joppy promises that he was just trying to help Easy make some money and potentially get him laid. He didn't think it would get him into trouble. He thought it was going to be an easy job. It's like, hey, I know the girl, so I can just I can just have her call you, then you can give the information to Albright, and now you make a little money in your pocket and you pay off your mortgage, and then it's all done. I don't think Joppy knew about all this extra stuff. Like, I don't think Joppy knew what he was getting himself into. Well, he kind of He did, but he he didn't think it was gonna be as chaotic as the situation probably turned into. He also probably didn't know what the pictures and letters were, I would assume. Because all that was being kept pretty secret by Daphne. Right. Yeah. Um, so easy decided that enough is enough and he's going to the top. So he goes to Todd Carter's house. He's he says, I'm tired of people pissing on me and telling me it's raining. It's like a classic line. So he goes to talks to Carter.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

He said peeing. Yeah. He said that was weird to me.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Oh, he said peeing? I thought he said pissing.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

He said all these people are peeing on me and calling it right. It's weird because I've never heard anybody ever say peeing. He's always here pissing.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

So so this is a strange decision. Yeah. So he talks to Carter, and Carter's kind of like this um Wimpy might be the wrong word, but he's not out of all the characters we met, he was the least intimidating person we met at this point. And he seems kind of small and not weak. I'm just not, I don't have the words right now, I guess. Um, but and he brings up that Albright hired him to help find her. Uh Carter tells him he's never heard of him and that he thought that Daphne was just a hundred miles away. Easy asks, what's going on with the two of them? He says they just had a fight. Carter says that he will pay Easy to find her. Easy asks for a thousand dollars. Carter won't um at first Carter's like, a thousand dollars. What the hell are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 41:32

That's like a billion dollars.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

And then he's just like, I could get like the cops and everybody to help find her. It's like, yeah, but you're not. Yeah. So a thousand dollars. Right. Yeah. Um, Carter won't tell Easy any important details on why she left, and then gives Easy cash. Um, and this is where Denzel's taking charge, and I love it. This is where it's like Denzel's like, I'm the man, I'm always the man, and I will be the man in every movie forever.

SPEAKER_01 41:55

He also knows that they can't, because they can't go to the police. He's like some dirty shit. You would have already gone to the police if you could go to the police, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:04

Yeah, so there's some two, probably. But he's trying to, Carter's trying to protect his reputate reputation. Yeah, charge him out, charge out the ass for people like that. Especially for the reasoning he's breaking up with Daphne, you should charge $2,000. So now Easy knows that Carter didn't hire Albright and that it had to be Terrell who hired him. Easy is going to Frank Green's stomping ground to kick up some dust, he says, in his own backyard.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Yeah, I love that. That was an interesting way that he was going around trying to find Frank.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Yeah, just mention the name.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

Yeah, he was like, Frank told me all this shit.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

And they're like, Who the fuck are you talking about? And it's like they're obviously just playing coy with him. Yeah. So he goes to different places bringing up Frank's name, and everybody says they don't know him. When he goes back home, he is jumped outside his home by Frank. This is where the tree guy's like, hey, there's somebody here, by the way. Um, but yeah, I just love that. It was something that was very popular in older movies where it's just like, all you have to do is go to his areas and just say his name a lot, and he'll show up when you don't expect it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

To say anything. Because they're, you know, they're like, Oh, you mean the knife guy that will stab people? No, I'm not gonna say shit.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

He didn't kill Coreto because he only used knives. It's like, oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Do we even find out how she died? She was beaten.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

Okay. Um, and we'll eventually find out. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, he's jumped by Frank. They fight, and easy almost get his neck cut until motherfucking mouse shows up, baby. He just immediately comes up, he's like, hey, what's going on here? So he tells Frank that if they find Daphne, a rich man, will pay them a thousand dollars. Mouse is like, a thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Hell yeah. Uh, what I love about this scene is when Mouse is like, we're gonna sit him down and ask Frank some questions. Yeah. And the mouse is like, Fuck it, let's just shoot him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

Yeah, because it's like Frank won't talk at all. So Mouse's like, here, I have an idea. I have something that might work. Shoots him straight in the arm. And then Like Easy goes and like tries to stop him from shooting. This gives Frank an opportunity to run out the door. Who I don't think we hear a single word in like the whole movie. No. So Easy is mad, but they quickly start laughing. Mouse um we also see that while the Frank investigation is happening, Daphne actually calls, but Mouse answers and doesn't know it.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

He's busy.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah. Um, so yeah, they start laughing. Mouse promises him that he will do whatever Easy says, um, and that he won't cause any ripples or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Um I love it.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

You've done been in my house for five minutes and already shot somebody.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

Just can't bring him anymore.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

I love I love Mouse in this movie. It's it it's like some reason I feel there's like a sadness for him. Uh well, that's especially later, but also like you just know he's kind of dangerous. So it's like you're scared and you're also just like, what's your story here? Right. So cops come asking um asking him questions and accusing him of Richard McGee's murder. Easy convinces the cops that he can dig something up for them. It's like the cops are just playing a playing games with him, essentially. Yeah. And he's playing along. Um or well, it's a quote: the cops are just playing games and he's playing along. Now that a white man is dead, somebody has to go down with the murders. Um, and then Mouse comes and picks him up as they're going to go to Portland Park to visit Junior. Junior, the bouncer from earlier. Um, easy immediately asks Junior why he killed Richard because he was last seen being thrown out by Junior. Junior accidentally spills the beans that he drove Richard home because he was so drunk. Junior says that Richard gave him $50 to give a letter to Coretta so that he can give it to Daphne. So the which then will lead him to Duprees.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

It's kind of interesting how excited they got about eating pigtails.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Oh yeah, Duprees, yeah. I've never I've never had pigtails.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

I've never even I even think people did that. I ate pigtails.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Yeah, I've never really heard of anybody eating that either. But uh I feel would it be like spaghetti? I'd try it. Well, I'm assuming it's like fried up. Right? Well, because otherwise, I mean, like the tails are so small, like you'd want like a it's probably like the basic tail where all the meat is, right? You probably would want to fry them, I would assume. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, I guess we should just look up a recipe. So Easy makes his next stop at Dupree's sister's house. Dupree is broken up about Coretta's death. Uh Dupree talks about how the last time he saw Coretta was after Junior gave her a letter. She stuffed it in a Bible and gave it to Dupree that he still has. Realizing what this means, Mouse immediately gets Dupree drunk so Easy can get the letter slash pictures. I love this scene. First of all, I love how like Mouse is this in on everything that it's like I love that Mouse is the one that realizes like I have to immediately get him drunk and passed out. And it was just like there was no discussion about it in the film. Right. Like, hey, if we hear about a letter, we gotta get that letter. It was just like his instincts kicked in, and then he's like, let's get him drunk.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

But he also got drunk. It also seemed like his instinct was just to be a friend.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

And get your crying friend drunk.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

They're very, they're very sympathetic towards uh Dupree, and it's just kind of a sweet little moment, and like Dupree's all crying, and they're just like, hey man, just eat some more food. Drink some drink.

The Photos Reveal The Real Plot

SPEAKER_00 47:19

Um, but yeah, so we see that it's letters and pictures. The pictures are of Terrell with children, of course. It's like, man, no matter how far back you go, there's gonna be politician and chip. Uh I guess back, I guess back then you didn't have to go to an island. Splash island, a little bit more private back in the 40s, I guess. Um also drunk. Um easy wakes or mouse being drunk and passed out. Easy wakes mouse up, who immediately pulls a gun on easy, talking about how someone had should be scared of him. Easy's like, yeah, yeah. Anybody that walks up to you, they should be scared. Yep. It's like you you'd mess with them, and he like he uh diffuses the sword. Pulls out another gun. Yeah, he sets his one gun down, pulls out another one, like easy's like, Jesus Christ. But then he's like, hey, you keep an eye on him, points the gun at Dupree. He's like, Yeah, if he moves and then eventually Mouse falls uh back to sleep and he sets the guns down and then just like leaves him there. Um it's a little fun scene scene, but also kind of scary because is all over the place.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

He wants to kill everything, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

So Easy now knowing what everybody is fighting over, Albright is after the pictures and will kill any of them for it. Easy now needs Daphne to call again. When he gets home, a phone is ringing, but they hang up and Daphne walks from around a wall, tells Daphne that he has the pictures. Daphne goes from worried to laughing and tries to seduce Easy. He's like, Oh, you got the pictures. Can I have them? Ooh la Um Daphne says she will give him a lot of money for the pictures. Easy won't give them because he has murders over his head. Easy thinks Frank Green is the one who killed Coretta and assumes it's Daphne's boyfriend, but they're actually brother and sister with different followers. And that Terrell knows this and is blackmailing Daphne over it. It turns out Daphne sent Joppy to get the pictures from Coretta.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

Damn it. He just fucking killed her? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

That's how it went down.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

It was a twist that I didn't like. Oh. I mean, I liked, but like I was just not Jopy. Not Joppy. What a fun name. Get the best name. And I'm sure nothing bad will happen to Joppy after this. So Albright and his goons show up. Oh, well, we should just talk about that. That was a great scene. I love when we get to the point where it's like, oh, everything's coming together now. It's like, you know, always in Who Dunits and things like that. And it's great. I love it. Um, and it's just even better that Denzel's in the movie. Um, but also just like I really because you know, the whole movie, they're really nailing home the fact that Daphne is a white woman. Yeah. Right? And then kind of a big deal. Yeah. And it's like, oh shit. And then when they said that, I was like, oh, so what? She's like mixed race. And I was like, 1948. Yes. Fuck. Okay, now I see what's going on here. She's not a bad person. She was just born. Yeah. And she just wants to find a place. Which is the fault of every woman. Yeah. She just wants to find a place where she's comfortable and looked out after. And because of racism, she cannot find it.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Oh my god, it sucks.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

So Albright and his goons show up and take Daphne, leaving Easy beaten. Easy tells Mouse to meet him as they go to confront Albright since Easy is being kept alive to take the fall. He takes Mouse's gun and goes upstairs to Joppy's place. He takes him at gunpoint into Mouse's car to talk. Joppy has him take them to Daphne, learns that Daphne will give them $7,000 for the pictures. He's like, oh shit. Mouse is like, oh my God. Hell yeah. And I love there's like a part where Mouse figures out what Joppy does and he starts immediately trying to shoot him in the backseat. And then he brings up the $7,000 and he's like, oh my God, we gotta go. This is like Mouse, chill, bro. Chill. Let's take a moment here. Yeah. They arrive at a cabin in Malibu. Joppy says he is she's lying about killing Coretta. Easy doesn't believe it. I guess we don't ever figure out who killed Coretta. I think it was probably Joppy, right? Yeah. But I don't know. I kind of I don't think Joppy would have done it though. You don't want to. Yeah. So Easy goes to the cabin. Outside, he hears screaming. While watching outside, he sees that Albright is about to do something diabolical to Daphne with the four the fire poker. Yeah, that has been heated up. I was like, oh no. Easy, please don't let this happen and kill everybody. So he does. He starts shooting up the place. He gets one guy in the neck while distracted by easy. Mouse comes in and shoots. Oh, yeah. So there's kind of a little shootout. Uh one of the guy got shot in the neck, he kind of walks out, shoots at him a little bit, and then just falls over dead. And then so they're kind of shooting inside the house, and then mouse comes in and just shoots them both. Fuck yeah. It's like, hell yeah. He's always coming in to save his ass. And then uh, yeah, so um, and then we think Albright's still alive because he's kind of like flopping outside. And instead they just sit there and watch him die, and it's like, yeah, fuck you, Albright. Deserve it too.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

It was so funny before he's like, when he left Mouse with Joffy, he's like, Don't he's like, we should just shoot him, don't shoot him, shoot him, tie him up and put him in the trunk.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

And then uh, so yeah, they go back to the car with Daphne. Uh Easy sees that mouse and choked Joffy to death.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

He's like, I didn't shoot him. I choked him a little.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

Yeah, and then he says, Easy, if you didn't want him killed, why did you leave him with me?

SPEAKER_01 52:46

I know.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

You know, at a certain point, easy, it's kind of your fault. You know that you cannot trust Mouse at all.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

Yeah, this is why he's here. This is why you called him. Yeah. The whole point. You can't leave anyone alone with Mouse.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Yes. He's terrifying, but he's also kind of a joy to see on screen. And then uh, we just kind of see Easy's looking at Joppy and he's just real sad about it. And it's like, oh, that was his friend. That was his person he went to drink with. But Joppy got him in deep, and Joppy was in deep himself. So Easy sends Mouse off. Mouse gives him half of the cut of Daphne's money. Um, and it's just kind of like, all right, I'll talk to you later. And it's like, man.

SPEAKER_01 53:27

Hopefully it's like much, much later.

SPEAKER_00 53:29

Yeah. Hopefully Easy doesn't get into any trouble and needs Mouse anymore.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

I'm sure he's fine.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

Yeah. So now free, Daphne goes to Carter and he breaks off the relationship because of the biracial issue. And because he is weak. Easy gives Easy gives Carter the pictures and asks him to get the police off his back. Before leaving, Carter tells Easy that he really does love her. Even though, uh, and then we have this line when uh Daphne's car uh talking to Carter, it's the narration. Even though we have fought a war to keep the world free, the color lines in America's work both ways. And even a rich man like Todd Carter was afraid to cross it.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

It's such a so fucked up. I know.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

And it's just like I really do love her, but I just can't. Yeah. And it's just like a line like that just makes you think, like, man, how important artists. Right. I'm a white guy born in Tennessee, where there's probably more racism than in most states, right? And it's just like, but like, you know, I've always watched um, you know, movies about different cultures and stuff like that. So I've always I don't know, felt like I was a little smarter around race and things like that. And it's like everybody just needs to watch these movies and actually think about what they're watching sometimes, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:44

Which is the key word there. The point of our damn podcast is some self retrospective.

SPEAKER_00 54:51

Yeah, exactly. So um Easy takes Daphne to Frank's place. Daphne revealed to Easy that she is actually Rose Hanks. Later, we learned that Easy went to check up on her, but her and her brother left town. She wanted to find a place to fit in. That was literally all she was doing, and why she was trying to get with Carter, trying to pass as white. She just couldn't find it in LA. If you can't find it there, where can you find it in America in the 1940s? New York.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

Nowhere. New York, maybe? Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

Right? Oregon? How cool was Oregon?

SPEAKER_01 55:22

I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 55:23

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 55:24

They got a lot of woods there.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

California is probably like the last bastion.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

Yeah, it'd have to it'd have to be either like New York or LA. Canada, I guess. Chicago? Well, no, Chicago. There's nowhere at this point, really. It's tough. Yeah. Um, and it just kind of like it really kind of made me feel a little sad that she just wanted to find a place to fit in, and here she is, having to be back on the road, finding another place to find safety. Yeah, fucking sucks. But on the other hand, Easy has found his safety now.

SPEAKER_01 55:54

Later at his stuff of a tree guy.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Yeah. Later at his house, the LAPD drive past him just staring. Easy is hanging out with Odell. He's thinking about starting a PI business. See the tree guy trying to knock over, cut down another tree. Odell and Easy kind of go and raccoon in the trash. Get out of here. Get out of here. I'm gonna get them trees. Uh, we are left with Easy in the street, watching everybody happy in his neighborhood, and he just smiles because he's happy. Everything's right with the world. And uh his son, Denzel, um is it oh shit. Wait, Denzel's son is in this scene? Uh yeah, he's one of the kids playing in the streets. Um, John David Washington is his name. He's also a very good actor. And when you see him act, he reminds you so much of Denzel. Oh that's it. I've not seen him act. Oh, you should um shit. What's the Spike Lee movie that I absolutely loved? Uh um John David. He's also in tenant, he's really good. Nice. I don't know if he's all right.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

Is that him the main actor?

SPEAKER_00 56:58

Yeah, he's the main character. Yeah. Uh Black Klansman. Oh he's so good in that movie. It's a Spike Lee movie. It's about essentially um he's part of the police and they're trying to infiltrate the KKK. Yeah, okay. Um, there's this great part where um I think it's like Topher Grace, who's like John Bill Duke, John Duke, whatever the big KKK member was back in the Grand Wizard Dragon or whatever. They have um, because it also has Adam Adam Driver in it, and he's the one that's infiltrating the the clan. He's Jewish, so he has to like keep that on wraps in the movie. Yeah, they don't like those people. So David Duke, that's who I was thinking. Topher Grace plays him. And so there's this part where uh but John David Washington's character talks to David Duke on the phone and he doesn't know that he's black on the other side of the phone. And uh this is taking forever. David Duke says, you know, like a way that you can uh tell that it's like a black person on the phone is the way they say, Are you sure? Instead of saying, Are you sure? They're like, Are you? And there's just like such a good like line at the end when they have David Duke down on the ropes, and then he just says, Are you sure? And it's just like it's such a you should watch that movie. It's really good. I want to. Spike Lee is one of the best directors. So now that we're done with the plot, and I went on a tangent about that movie, uh, we're gonna talk about the point of the film.

The Point Plus Good Bad Ugly

SPEAKER_00 58:29

So um, I guess I put it's a film about how white politicians and uh white men create problems and situations dangerous for black people and they have to navigate it for their own survival. Uh, but really they just want to own a house, have friends, and live happily like every goddamn American in this country.

SPEAKER_01 58:48

Goddamn American.

SPEAKER_00 58:51

I feel like there's a bit of similarity in sinners with how yeah, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:54

No, it's really cool that uh sinners took a lot from this movie. I can see it now. Yeah, it's like pretty obvious. It's pretty awesome after you watch it and then read that fact. The veteran come back from the war that wears wife beaters only. Yeah. Unless he's in a suit. Yeah, exactly. It's awesome. It's wild.

SPEAKER_00 59:13

Uh, is there anything else point wise that you think should be added? Women's is dangerous. Yeah, women, they dangerous. They're wearing a blue dress, commodil. Um, so we'll hit up our next category. The good, the bad, the ugly, the fine. It's where we discussed the good of the film, something we like, the bad, something we didn't like, the ugly, something that didn't age well, the fine, something that did age well. Uh, the good for me, I put Jesus Christ, it's Denzel. Yeah, man. He kicks so much ass and he's so young in this movie. I know. It's so fun to see him young, even though that's how I watched him most of the time. But you know, I don't know. It was it was cool seeing him down on the ropes and then taking charge. I feel like in a lot of Denzel movies, he's always like, you immediately know he's the badass. And it was fun to see him like become the badass throughout the film.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

That is, yeah, that was really cool. And I just um I was really surprised by this movie. I had no idea what it was about going into it. Yeah. Um, but god damn, it could be. Me neither, no. I fucking loved it so much. Yeah, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:12

Uh for the bad, I put white people.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:16

Just the 1940s in general.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:18

1940s, white people, they sucked. They sucked for a while. They really did.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:21

Yeah. We've come so much so long.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

So we've come so far. We've come so far. And we're trying to reverse everything that we had.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

Tennessee's trying to reverse every goddamn thing. Yeah. Uh what do you got the ugly? What do you got for the bad? Because there's nothing really bad in it. I don't think there's a white people was a joke. Yeah, I don't I didn't think there was anything really bad. Uh I thought I I was just I had I enjoyed every minute uh edit this movie. It was a wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:50

For the ugly, I put white people. And racism, obviously. It doesn't age well. You're a bad person. But yeah, anything that didn't age well? I mean No, you pretty much covered it. It being like a period piece from the 90s, it's a whole time.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

I wish we still had cars that had curtains in the windows. I do love how cars look like.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:22

Yeah, but they like every car look like you're wealthy. Yeah. Right? It's like now, like if you get a car that's not very expensive, you can tell. It's just like that little dinky thing. Like my car. Yeah, I mean mine. It's beat up, beats a shit. But like back in the day, it's like every car looked like you know, every sports car now. Almost uh so for the fine, I put putting a black protagonist in a genre of film that usually has a white protagonist, you get to see a new story, but also new perspectives that help you see the problems that they went through, and it's always powerful.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

That was, yeah. It it fucking worked so well with this movie. And I'm so glad that Denzel was in it as a part of it. He kicks so much ass.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:07

It's like it's why I like to watch, you know, like you know, just forms made or films made by all people. Like I also you know, love like foreign films because you get to see perspectives of what they think and live and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't know. It's great. Um, so I guess we'll hit up our next category, double feature. It's where we recommend a movie that goes alongside this movie. Um if we're doing a noir, and I I mean, we got the ultimate noir, Chinatown. Um, pretty sure anybody listening to this has heard of Chinatown and knows about it. I did not. It's a private detective detective hired to expose expose an adulterer in 1930s, Los Angeles finding finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder. Nice. It's got Jack Nicholson, uh, directed by Roman Polanski, a no good bad piece of shit person.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:57

Yeah, I always loved, I guess mine would be like rush hour, because it's kind of a noir, kind of. Yeah. Also directed by a no good piece of shit person. Yeah.

unknown 1:03:06

Wild.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:08

But like Chris Tucker and and uh Jackie Chan. So funny, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:13

Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker. It's like what a what an amazing pairing to put those two. Uh the director of that movie, Brett Ratner, directed Melania. The Oh, are you fucking serious? And he, uh, I believe Brett Ratner is accused of like rape and I believe sexual misconduct.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:37

Well, maybe this movie will finally fucking put him under the ocean.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

Don't quote me, but also I think uh underage girls, which you know, maybe if you're a president that you know is accused of that, don't get a director to direct your wife's documentary that's about that. Well, but then it also kind of ties everything together, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:57

I think whenever they're they're looking at the list of people that they can use or that call on to do these types of things, it's probably very limited. You think, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:07

It's just it's a wild choice. It's like, really? Because Brett Ratner was friends with the people, um, you know, Brett Ratner did the last stand X-Men the Last Stand, and the person who also not very good did the two P did the two movies before that, X-Men and X2, blanking on his name, but he also has uh um allegations about Jesus being and he moved to another country because of it. He also is the one that directed Bohemian Rhapsody for the for the most part, and then they because he had to run away for crimes, they got someone else to direct the rest of it. Um and it's just you know, you just piece things together, and it's just like, oh, and Donald Trump loves rush hour and wants another rush hour movie, which would have to be directed by Brett Ratner.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:57

I'm gonna pop out my eyeballs now.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:59

But that's just uh that's a lot of things tied together that I decided to spew out right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:04

You just wanted to make me feel bad about my choices.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:07

Yes, and let's change subjects to what we're doing next week.

Next Week Pick And How To Help

SPEAKER_00 1:05:11

So we the next two movies. Well, I'll just say the next one first. Um uh it's gonna be we talked about it in Heather's Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. This is a movie Jason loves, I've never seen. I love it. And I'm so excited to finally watch this movie. I hear that uh wait, what's the shit? Who leads that? Kevin Costner. I hear he has a not very good accent. No, it's an accent that comes and goes.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

No, it's got Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater. Yeah, it's got a lot of people, uh Professor from McDonaghal. No, maybe. I'm not sure. I was thinking the the the black haired guy, uh Snape. I think he's he's in it. Oh, Alan Rickman? Yeah, Alan Rickman. I'm not gonna look it up.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:02

I'm just gonna be surprised. He's Prince John. Oh, that's awesome. I'm very excited about this. Maybe we should do a double feature where it's Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and then we do Robin Hood Men and Titans right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:13

Can it get no rolls if we don't get no tolls? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:17

So join us next week for that. Um yeah. If you uh leave us some fan mail. I told you how to do it earlier. Link in the description, email at the bottom. We recommend mailbag at gmail.com. Tell us to your friends, be like, I know this podcast, and you're never gonna guess it. They're pretty good at it. Or you may not think that they do it. They do the thing, they do the podcast, they talk, and some people have said we're good. Some people have said, I don't like podcasts, and I don't know how to respond to that. But uh yeah, just uh if you got anybody that likes movies and listen to podcasts, just send send us their way, please, and leave us some reviews. The more reviews that we get, the bigger we get, and really you'll just be doing a nice thing um for us. And I feel like we should all do nice things for people these days.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:07

Yeah, you know, we're never gonna end up in the newspaper for being horrible if nobody talks about us.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

Yeah, I mean, I know I won't.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:13

I don't know what Jason's done. You know?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:17

Well, if something comes up, I'll deal with that situation that comes too much.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:20

You miss 100% of the chances you don't take.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:22

Yeah. Uh but yeah, just leave us some reviews, please, and uh send us to people. Um, and I think that's about it. I'd like to thank Joey Prosser for our intro and outro music in foam on X at Mr. Joey Prosser. And this has been the We Recommend Podcast. I've been Jesse. And I've been Jason. And I don't have a quote for the end of the podcast. Um greetings and salutations, by the way.