Walt and Jim Do Movies - Part One

Walt and I discuss a variety of movies and do a deep dive into the making of some of them.  Hopefully, you will discover a few that you haven't seen and decide to watch. The insight to some of the older flicks may give you a little understand that will help you enjoy them again.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Hello, I'm Jim Williams, and you're on the board. One day ahead, I'm gonna do a two-parter for you. I have my buddy here, Walt Bagwell. As you recall, those of you that listen to my podcast know that a couple months ago Walt and I did a podcast on restaurants and our opinion of food. Got a lot of responses from that, but we're not gonna succumb to your threats. We're gonna do another one anyway. This one's gonna be about movies. So, Walt, welcome to the show. Thank you, Jim. It's uh pleasure to be here again. Let's talk some generalities first. Do you remember the first movie you ever went to?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

It would have been a Disney movie, and it would have been in Greenville, South Carolina, sometime in the late 60s, I've got to guess. It would have possibly been Bambi or Lady and the Tramp, if I could remember. But I was a big fan of those films growing up. My favorite was The Jungle Book. That one I liked the music. Yeah. Bill Harris with Balou's voice. It was just a really fun movie for me as a child.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Was your first movie an indoor movie? It was an indoor movie, yes. Okay. The first movie that I remember was at the Pleasant Gardens Drive In.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Garden City Drive In.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

And there it used to be right behind, for lack of a better description, right behind Dotts Dario. I went there. The movie was Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe. Now, obviously, I was young because that didn't mean a thing in the world to me that it would had Marilyn Monroe. Fifteen years later, to go see a Marilyn Monroe movie would have been something I'd have been interested in.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

What year would that have been, Jim?

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Bus stop was 1956. Okay. So I would have been just a youngster.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Is that the film with the famous scene with the dress blowing up?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

No, that's actually Seven Year Itch with Tom Ewell. Tom Ewell, okay. Yeah. And that is one of her most famous scenes. Although my favorite movie of hers is Some Like It Hot. Tony Curtis. Tony Curtis. That was just an excellent movie, I thought. From a lot of different angles, that was a good movie. The fact that there were two men, Tony Curtis and I don't remember the other guy that had to play women. I remember. They had witnessed a killing, a mob style killing, in order to keep the mobsters from catching them. They dressed as women and joined an all-girls band.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

I do remember that. I absolutely do. That uh was in what like '62, something like that, maybe. Yeah, that was about '62. Early 60s. I'm trying to think of the other actor in that film, but it doesn't come to me. Maybe it will before we get finished.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Yeah, I can't remember. Uh and he was he's a prominent actor.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Oh, it was Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon. Oh, yeah. Yes, Tony Lemon. Yeah, you got it. Jack Lemon. Yeah. I knew it was somebody. I was thinking Walter Mathau, but that was the odd couple.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

You know, it's funny, I kept thinking Walter Mathau also, but it was Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis. And of course, one of the scenes was at the Hotel Del Coronado, which Janet and I are familiar with. Is that in New York City? No, it's in Coronado, California. Oh, it's in California. Yeah, just out of San Diego. It's a big monster hotel which is haunted. Supposedly. Yeah, supposedly. Which is a whole other story. That's another genre. Now I'll tell you also, one of my early movies that I saw, maybe the first one I saw at an indoor theater, you're gonna like this, was at the house theater here in Marion. And I believe the name of the movie was Clippership. My dad took me to see it. It was one of those father-son type things. So I remember that. I remember going to the house theater, and the one memory that I have of the house theater at that time would have been how red and velvety it was inside. I mean, it was an elaborate theater. Oh, I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

I was there as a child, as as a young man, went and saw California Dreaming. But probably a film I saw there in 1975 as a 10-year-old has had probably a huge impact on me. And I would probably, if I was gonna rate this, I would say this film is in my top ten, maybe top five, all-time films I've seen. It set the world on fire that summer. And you probably know what I'm referring to, but it was at the House Theater for a long time. I really the name of the film is Jaws. Oh gosh. And I watch it again every summer. But I remember seeing that that film for the first time, and I was terrified. Yes. I was completely scared. I went back with my friend Scott Hollifield. We were in about the fourth or fifth grade, maybe sixth, I can't remember. And I sat there with my hands over my eye, my face the whole time. But Scott, I was impressed, did not look away. He was not afraid of that film like I was. But I was a 10-year-old, and that summer no one went into the water.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Well, you talk about the effect that that movie has on people, and of course, we gotta say the line you're gonna need a bigger boat.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Well, it's just so layered with so many great character actors. Murray Hamilton is the is the mayor. He's fantastic. Of course, Richard Dreyfus and Roy Scheider, and Robert Shaw is a Robert Shaw is fantastic. You can't look away from him.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

No, the scene where he takes his hand down the chalkboard, you know, uh I'll catch this bird for you, but I value my neck a lot more than 10,000 bucks, Chief. Yep, that's right. I'll catch him for 10, but I'll find him and kill him for 15 or something like that. But see anyway.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

It was just every single thing about it was good. Now, all the remakes, the sequences, sequels, they were terrible. I I mean they they were not terrible, that's a wrong word, but they just didn't live up well.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Well, Spielberg wasn't involved, and that that's a high bar to set, first of all. But that was one of the at the time, I think it was the all-time gross most gross money in a movie. So it was a hard act to follow. But um, today it it's still to me as powerful as it was as it was over 50 years ago. That's that's great filmmaking for me.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

When that movie came out, I was doing a lot of scuba diving off the coast of San Diego. When you scuba dive and you're in the water, regardless of how clear the water is, you see so many feet, and then it's just a blue haze from that point on. Once that movie came out, I swear I could see the face of that shark coming out of that blue haze right into my face.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Well, you know, you talk you talk about what was so great about that movie is you never really saw the shark until the end. So that that imaginary creature in your mind, you imagine what it was. Yes. You heard the music and it was so powerful. But then I think about all the high-intensity scenes in that movie: the shark taking the little boy, Chrissy Watkins in the first scene where she gets eaten, and then finding her body on the beach. Those aren't the parts about that moon movie that I really like, obviously. They're very tough to watch, right? But it's the small moments in that film that that impressed me. The scene where Dreyfus comes into Roy Scheider and interrupts him while he's eating dinner, grabs a plate, starts eating off of it, and they drink wine, and Roy Schneider gets care uh gets drunk. Or the scene, which may be one of my favorite scenes in a movie, is the story of the Indianapolis that Robert Shaw. Oh my gosh, yes. And that it just brings chills up your spine. Yes. And when I watched the film, I didn't know what the Indianapolis was. I've as I've gotten older, I've studied that as well. And then I go back and watch it again.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Do you know that we had a guest uh on the podcast whose grandfather was a sailor on the Indianapolis and survived it? Wow. Uh was overboard, and of course, for those of you that don't know, the thing about the Indianapolis was I believe they were torpedoed. I think that's what happened. Anyway, the boat sank and a good portion of the crew survived the sinking and was in the water, but the sharks found out about it for a number of hours, maybe days. I don't remember the days. It was days. The sharks would circle and pick off the men in the water, and that was more cruel fate than the sinking itself. Uh but that was a terrible story. And there is a movie called The Indianapolis, maybe yes, I think there is, and that's worth watching. Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Uh I read a book about it and and learned a little bit more as I got older after I watched the film the first time. But what a powerful scene. And I think that Robert Shaw, Quent he he ad-libbed some of that story. If I I read a little bit about that, and that was some of that was ad-lib, but it was nailed. It was nailed.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

So we have already two recommendations if you're at home and you haven't watched it. Both of these movies, I believe, you could stream for free if you searched your various streaming mechanisms. But one is Jaws. If you haven't seen it, you should. No American should be without seeing Jaws. And the other one is The Indianapolis, which is, in my opinion, a dark movie. You're not going to come away from that in a good mood. Those are two. All right, let's move into some movies.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Well, you know, I want to kind of segue here to another movie. And this one was a little different for me. But I mentioned Murray Hamilton, the mayor, right Jaws. He was in another film and had a really small part in that film. This particular film, the first time I watched it, I was expecting big things. I was young, it was probably maybe in college, maybe before college, I watched it. And it was okay. You know, that I I was had other things on my mind. I thought it's okay, okay movie. But I've since watched it uh again, and I pick up little things inside the movie that that I just enjoy. I could watch it every day. It's the graduate. It's it was a very popular movie. Absolutely. Dustin Hoffman and Bancroft, you know, um Catherine Ross. But the there's several scenes in there. Of course, you're talking about the plastic scene. He comes in and and there's graduate you know, the graduate, he just graduated college and all the family friends are there. Uh absent is the best friend of his father. I'm I'm forgetting the main character, Dustin Hoffman's name now. Ben. Ben, yeah. Ben's father, his best friend and partner is not there, and that's Murray Hamilton. Yep. Because he's out playing golf. He chose to play golf instead of going to see his best friend's son's graduation party. Yes. But he stumbles into his home a little drunk after uh Ben has taken Mrs. Robinson home and offers him drinks and and and that little speech, that little it's not but a ten or five minute segment or scene, but it's just wonderful. There's a little thing, he says, Ben, would you like a bourbon or a scotch? Ben says, I'll take a bourbon. Well, he promptly pours him a scotch. He's not paying attention to that. Yeah, right. But that's a that's another one that I could watch over and over again. You know, it's 1968.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Well, don't forget the soundtrack, Simon and Garfield.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Oh my goodness, that that's just uh another piece of that. I when I'm watching a film, I get real excited about the soundtrack is important to me. Yes. And and that one nailed it, of course, at the time. That that was just all number one hits.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

At the time of that movie, I had just gotten out of basic training at Fort Ord, California, which is close to Monterey. I was being held over for a security clearance because I was headed down to Sandia Base in uh New Mexico. It takes a while because I had to have a top secret clearance in order to even go to Sandia Base. My point is, my buddy and I had time to spend, and our after I think eight or ten weeks of basic training, being stuck on the base, our first leave was to go see the movie The Graduate. There's more than just the movie that makes me reminisce about that. It was just the time in my life, but what a great movie that was.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

I'm gonna give you a little bit more trivia. Uh I mentioned that Murray Hamilton, I mentioned him a couple of times. Most people probably don't know who he is. He was in that film, he's also in Jaws. There was also another actor in the graduate that also appeared in Jaws. Would you want to take a shot at this one? Now, this is a real out there trivia question. I I recognized him after I'd watched it a couple of times, and he's in the scene for maybe five seconds. I don't know. It's Dreyfus.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

I I was gonna guess that.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Richard Dreyfus. It's the scene where Ben has rented an apartment upstairs and he's making a lot of noise or whatever, and Norman Fell, who played in Three's company, Mr. Roper, is the landlord there, and he comes up to tell him he's gonna have to evict him, and Dreyfus sticks his head in. And this was 1968. He just says one line, I can't remember what it was, but that's a small connection, a little trivia for you.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

So there's another movie you need to download this one. I'm guessing that'll also be free.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Well, I can find it. It may you may have to subscribe to HBO Max. I don't know if it's on Netflix or not. I could look this up, but we could do a you know, like there's a lot of streaming channels.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

I've got a bunch of streaming channels that I use that have free movies. Now, a lot of the streaming channels will give you the movie for free, but you have to put up with uh a commercial one.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Well, if you're wanting to watch it on HBO Max or one of these uh paid providers, there's a lot of times you can get a seven-day free trial. Yeah. So you pop that in and watch it and cancel. You don't have to pay a time.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Yeah, just binge watch for a week. Yeah. Yeah. Which uh when the temperature gets over a hundred, that may not be a bad idea. All right, let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Well, I I mean, gosh, there's so much to talk about. I don't know which way to go. And I I would say, you know, we're sticking around that same time period. This is an easy one for me. The number one film I've seen is Godfather. Oh yeah. It's gonna be my all-time favorite. Yeah. And it was 1972. That's another one I could just watch all the times.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

If I know that movie is on TV, I will make note of it, make a mental note of when it's on, then I will turn to that channel for the last 15 minutes of that movie. I've watched that last 15 minutes. He just goes in and cleans out every enemy he's ever had.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Well, Al Pacino was basically um a struggling Broadway actor when they found him for this film. He was about to be fired, but they wanted to show a scene to the executives at Paramount because they were pushing for him to be fired. And they showed him the salazzo scene in the steakhouse or where they're getting the veal and the best veal in the city, and he comes out and shoots him. And and that's one that you know just leaves your blood cold right there. Watching that. He nailed it. And as you watch him, there's certain scenes in that film where you just you you just have to be amazed at his acting chops. And and when you see him and Diane Keaton together, it's dynamite. And to think they wanted Ryan O'Neill to play that part. What a mysterious You know, I mean, that's the thing. Sometimes films just work out. Francis Ford Copley was adamant that this is my guy. He's going to play Michael. He is Michael. I think they even looked at Jimmy Kahn playing that role. But he's he's perfect as the brother.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

You know, it's just they did look at Jimmy Kahn. In fact, there was a brief time when they actually switched roles. Oh, yeah. Pacino was trying to be the brother of the Freddie Fredo.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Oh, yeah. John Cazell. What an actor. You're taking me there too. Yeah. Poor guy had brain cancer and died too early. We missed so much good acting from him that we were cheated out of because he died an early death. But yes, that was great. Uh I I think about just the characters in there just so true to form, it seems to me.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Well, the transformation of the Pacino character from when you first see him, he comes home, he's a war hero. He comes home and all he wants to do is forget about the war, start a business, get married, he's got a girlfriend, and just lead a straight life away from family.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Yeah, it's Kay Tells her, that's their life, not mine.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

At the wedding.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Where he transformed, and it's the scene, I it's a great scene, one of many great scenes, is the it's not personal, Sonny, it's strictly business. Yeah. Absolutely. Sitting in the office there, the Don has is in the hospital, about to die. What are we gonna do about Salatso? What are we gonna do about this policeman, McCluskey? And Michael offers to kill them both. Yes. And he says it so coldly and matter-of-factly that again, I'm getting chills right now thinking about the scene. And Sonny's laughing, but he didn't know what Michael had in him. And that scene to me brought it home, and this is your guy.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

And that was the transition, right? That was the transition. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

That was the transition. He walked out of that restaurant, a made man. But you know he did everything wrong, right? Okay. He was told by Clemenza to take the gun, go in there to the bathroom, get the gun, and come out blasting. Right. You know, don't wait, come out. Well, he walks out and he sits down. He also told him, he says, when you walk out, just let the gun drop, don't show it. So there's two points here. He comes out and he sits down and continues the conversation somewhat with Salatzo McClelly. Then he shoots him. He didn't come out firing. And as he walks out, you'll see he lifts his hand up in the air and drops his gun delicately on the floor. He doesn't do it uh nonchalantly. So I think that's that's something if you watch the film enough, you pick up on little things like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Yes. So well played. All the actors in that movie were just so good, not to mention the Consigliori. What a part.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yes, yes, yes. Uh Robert Duval. Duval. He's never been in a movie that I couldn't watch. No. He is that great. Yeah, just perfect again. It was great casting, great acting, and these were all up and comers except Brando, of course.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

You know, he didn't know nobody knew Al Pacino at the time, really, unless you were at a Broadway scene in the early 70s. Duval as well. Yeah, he commands every scene he's in.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Well, and also back to Brando, it was his idea to stuff his cheeks with cotton.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Yeah, it wasn't.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

That wasn't part of the script, and that wasn't the way he was supposed to look.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Al Ruddy and uh Francis Fort Coppola, and I think Mario Puzzo went to his house, California. They wanted him, but they weren't sure he was going to be capable. You know, he had a bad reputation. Yes. He didn't always behave on set, and he was not uh always reliable.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Well, he was the bad boy of Hollywood.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

So Paramount didn't want to have to buy some big insurance policy for him. They weren't sure, pushing back on a little bit, didn't think they could get him, but he goes in there, he became the Don in that living room. It blew them away. I've read about this, and yeah, what a story.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

The Don's part, played by Marlon Brando, was so understated. He was so quiet, and yet you knew when he said something, it was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Even if he didn't always raise his voice, he was always in command. And he was only about 45 years old, I think, when he met. Yeah, he was younger than he looked. Yeah, he wasn't much different than Al Pacino and the rest of them. I mean, it was not like that, like 60 or 70 years. I think that's old, but I think that's what they wanted him. You know, he wasn't it's old, Walt.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Talk about an actor, you don't think about him, but the guy comes to Marlon Brando and he wants something, and Brando gives him the speech. Hey, you don't ever do this, you don't ever stop over, you don't ever offer me a glass of wine. That all gets made up, and the guy is an undertaker. And so Brando does him a favor and he says to him, We're good. Someday I may come to you and ask a favor. Sonny's killed. Brando shows up at the Undertaker's door. The Undertaker thinks Brando's there to ask him to go kill somebody or do something. And you can tell it it's all played out in the Undertaker's face when Brando says, You know, look at what they've done to my boy. Right. But the Undertaker thinks in the beginning, whatever this guy asked me to do, I'm gonna do it. And when he says, I just want you to bury my boy, fix him up so his mother won't know what happened. And you can see that actor is so good, you can see the relief on his face going, Oh, yeah, this is something I could do.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

I think I've never really acted other than just little plays or stuff, but I think that a strong actor brings out the best in the supporting actors around him. Yeah, yeah. So that guy that played The Undertaker, I don't know that he was ever in anything else anymore. I don't even know certainly didn't know about it. But I think when you act with somebody with that kind of energy and charisma who actually becomes the person that you the character, it makes it a lot easier for those bit parts to shine.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Well, and the The two guys that played Brando's men, it was Clemenza Abe Vagoda, who was actually in Barney Miller Tessio.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Tesio.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Yeah, that's right. Because they come up, they tell Tessio and Tom there's a change of plan. Tessio's a little confused. They reach in, take the gun out of his belt, and he says, tell Michael it was just business. That's the business they're in. That's the business they're in. And I can't help it, but every time they get that guy, the one of the last scenes when they put that garrot around that guy's neck that uh sold out of Sunny, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Carlo. You talk about Carlos. Carlo, the the um the bad husband. The bad husband. Bad brother-in-law. Yes. I just I love scene. Yeah. Yeah, it's so good. I I'm gonna skip to the second Godfather. We'll touch- I know we're touching on a lot real quickly here, but I want to just point out one scene in that film. There were a lot of good ones in that one as well. But the scene with Kay and Michael, after Michael's been gone to Cuba, he's in Havana during the revolution, right when it breaks out, and he comes back to see Kay, who's been away from her for a long time. The scene where she tells him that she lost the baby and it was a boy, and then she confesses that it was an abortion. Yes. That scene, I have had to play it back a couple of times because you have two incredible actors at the top of their craft performing in that scene. And that's that they they play off each other, the chemistry's there, and and Michael, you can see the look on his face when he finds out the truth about his son's son. Kay takes great satisfaction in letting him know that it was a boy. Yes. Anyway, I leave the Godfather, but I did want to mention and point out that one scene from two. All right, well, move on. Okay, well, let's see. I've got a lot here. Well, we move around a little bit. I mean, uh, I wrote down some movies, maybe a couple of movies I'm gonna mention that people don't know a lot about.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

I'm all the time searching for something, and I'll read about it, I'll check the ratings, I'll read what the story's about, and then I'll give it a shot. And you know, 95% of the time just doesn't live up to expectations. Anymore, with so much out there, it's gonna take a lot to draw my attention. But there are times that I stumble on a movie that I didn't know anything about. I sit down and it grabs me from start to finish. Have you ever had that happen? Yes. I'm gonna give you a couple, um, and I've showed, I think you've seen these with me. And this movie at the time, I had never heard of it, but it went on to win best picture. Even though I think it won Best Picture, I'm sure there's a lot of people that don't know about it, but it's called Coda. Remember that one? Yes. It stands for Child of Deaf Adults. It's got a great soundtrack to it, it's very heartwarming too. Makes you cry. It's got three actors in it that are actually deaf. And one of them, I think, won Best Actor. I don't remember his name, but Marley Matlin's in it. Yes. And um Jones, I forget her, but she's a wonderful actor. She's young, plays the lead role. That was a movie I saw, and it it just it took me from start to finish. It had good characters in it and a lot of fun. So if you've not seen it or heard of it, give it a shot, but put the tissues with you. I don't mind crying when I'm watching a movie. Look, it means that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Some of them we'll get to, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Another one, and you've seen this with me, is a different type of movie that didn't do well at all. And it still doesn't have good ratings, and it just never took hold like I thought. But I look at it as a cult classic type for me. I could watch this every day. I actually watched it Saturday night with a friend. It's that funny, and you've seen it. It's extract.

unknown 25:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

It's got uh Jason Bateman, yeah, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wig, uh J.K. Simmons, who won an Academy Award for whiplash. Well, J.K. Simmons, that's a whole other subject. Fantastic. Yes. Um it's got TJ Miller, who who you'll know, uh is a is a character actor. It's got, I forget the lady's name, but there's there's two character actors in it that are very prominent. When you see them, you say, Oh, I've seen them in movies before. Um Mila Kunas is in it. Yes. And it it is it is just a riot for me. As a matter of fact, since we're both Rotarians, we kind of laugh at the Rotary member in the in the film that they're they're really making fun of. But that's another one I would recommend if you haven't seen it. I think you can get that on Netflix. I'm not 100% certain, but but it's a lot of fun too.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

If you're a guy and you watch that movie, I'm just recommending to you to pay attention to the guitar scene. Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

You know, a good movie starts off with a bang. Yes, it's got a grab you. Does it, I don't, you know, if I especially if I've not seen it, it's not something I know about, that one does. You go in and you're like, this could happen. Because these people are just this shallow, and this is this is just just like people you know, and it could happen, and it's a right, and then the music kicks in. Yes. I I love the music.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Music is excellent.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Music's good again. So that's I'd put a check mark by that one.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

This is an absurd movie. You're gonna like it as soon as I tell you. Mars Attacks.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

You know, I don't think I've ever seen it. Oh, no, kidding. It's one of these really bad ones that's good. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

It is, it has no plot, there's no sense to it. Basically, I can tell you all about the movie, and it still doesn't detract from the movie. Mars Attacks. They come down in spaceships, they do not want to do anything at all but kill everything in sight. And it stars a plethora of stars in that movie. I'm not gonna name them because it's more fun if you watch the movie and then you watch how they pop up. A lead character is Pierce Brosnan, I'll tell you that much. There's got to be probably 20 at least other prominent actors that are gonna show up in that movie, and you're gonna be surprised when they do, but don't get attached because they're not gonna last long. And the Martians are great. Mars Attacks was done in 1996. If you haven't seen it, get the family together, you know, nobody under 18, because heads do explode in this movie, and enjoy it because you don't have to remember it, you don't have to follow the plot, you just have to watch it and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Well, I'll I may have to do that. It's got my interest. It's it's not it doesn't take itself seriously.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Oh gosh, no. Right? No, that's the whole point is nobody really believes that this is happening, and yet there's the same type of character, there's always the one character that wants to cozy up to the Martian. He's the little Toady, he'll do whatever the Martians want him to do, and they get him to do a few things. Then they blow his head up, you know, and it's just fun. Did you see that in the movies? I've seen it in the movies, and I've seen it maybe three or four times on TV.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I'll have to check that one out definitely.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Check that one out.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

What else you got?

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Let's get some obvious ones out of the way. If you haven't seen Top Gun Maverick, watch it. We're here in the 250th anniversary of the country. I I don't really brand this as a patriotic movie, but let me tell you at the end of the movie, you're proud to be an American. It's just a little bit of a story about how strong we are. I don't need to say anything else about it. It's got Tom Cruise, really. You can't go wrong anymore. I mean, Tom Cruise, really, all the movies that he's been in. I don't, I don't think I've ever seen a bad one.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Well, you know, I saw that here at the theater, and I I had low expectations for it because you know, Top Gun, it's like they're just trying to remake Top Gun and make another one, and that's an iconic movie in the era. And this is what, 40 years almost after? You know, it's almost like they're desperate for just a cash grab because of the name and Tom Cruise, but they really made a good film.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

It's a good film, and the way they replay the ice character, uh Val Kilmer. That's right. Uh, the way they bring him in and play that, and the fact that they play him as someone who is sick, has cancer, I believe. Uh, and in real life, Val Kilmer passes away shortly after the movie. So the emotion between Tom Cruise, according to Tom Cruise, the emotion between him and the Kilmer character is real because they know this is really it. We're really doing one of the last scenes we'll ever do.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Well, you know, I was worried because I was I I don't like all the theatrics, all the special effects. I'm more into character-driven movies. Right. And I was afraid that the and they had theatrics in this. Oh, yeah. And it was well placed, in my opinion. Yeah, you had the Miles Teller character, and all that that that dynamic amongst them really is what made it. It wasn't about the big flying stunts. Now, some people like that and go for that. They were good, but that's not what draws me in.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Well, the thing about that movie, I was a little disappointed, but I liked it. I had to just say to myself, hey, it's a movie, so it's going to end a certain way. But there toward the end, I won't give it away if you haven't seen it, but toward the end, it gets a little unrealistic, but maybe it could happen. And still, all in all, I enjoyed the way it ended.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

I think what you if you get to that point, you're just basically ready to suspend belief and enjoy the ride. Exactly. And that's kind of like what I did. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, some of that is theatrics, but at that point I was invested enough in the characters to enjoy the ridiculousness of what part of that was. Well, what have you got? I got a bunch here, man. I want to just touch on a couple. And again, I start with the character-driven movies, and some of these are childhood movies that I saw, and they stayed with me. Another was 1976. I was playing little league baseball for the Burlington Little League team, and this film called Bad News. Bears came out, and it just epitomized me. I fell in love with Tatum O'Neill. The whole thing was so much fun to watch, and still is to this day.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Now, was that Walter Mathal?

SPEAKER_01 32:20

That was Walter Mathal. Okay. And uh it it had uh his antagonist in the film is an actor named Vic Morrow. Yeah. Who played the coach of the Yankees. Who was killed? He was killed on the set of the Twilight Zone. Correct. About four years later, he would always call there's little things, he would call him Butterworth. It was Buttermaker, and he would call him wrong, wrong name. But it was just go back and watch it over again, and there just scenes that it's not all the cursing of the kids. You know, you think the whole time the film's gonna go on, they're gonna win the whole thing. Yes, but they don't. They lose. But then the final line can take that trophy and shove it or put it where the sun doesn't shine. Uh it's just I I like I don't like movies that sometimes like conveniently wrap up perfectly. Right. And and that one was, but I like the way it ended. I'll give you a piece of trivia about Vic Morrow before we move on. He has a famous daughter. You want to take a shot? No. She's my age, and and again, she's beautiful. She was in uh The Outsiders. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

I still know.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Diane Lane. Really? Yep. Okay, let me move on to another one. It's got one of my favorite actors, and and and I like the director too, Thomas Paine. It was uh it was pretty popular, sideways. We watched that together. Yeah, the Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church together. Yes. Sometimes you see two actors that just click, and these have opposite personality types. And I had some friends like that that I could see that in them. They they were opposites, but they would play off of each other without even knowing about it. Yeah. But just the scenes between those two in that film is a lot of fun. That's one of those that when I see it on, I can I can't turn turn the channel. I watch the whole thing typically.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

I've got movies like that that I'll be just surfing the channels, and there will be that movie, you're stuck. Like I say, The Godfather is one of those. Uh, I don't want to get back on that, but there are movies that just hook you in.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

It's just the a lot of the scenes in there that I love, and I can go back and just watch the scenes over and over again. Yeah. Um, jumping around a little bit, of course, I don't know that you've seen this, but Being There is another one with Peter Sellers filmed at the Bilmore House. Yes. That's one I really like. That's one that I have to watch all the time. It's based upon a total and complete misunderstanding the entire time. Yes. And sometimes when people don't explore what's right in front of them enough, they get duped and fooled. But I I thought it was great. I love the ending to that film where he walks across the water because he didn't know any better.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Um Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Yeah, yeah. Tarantino. Okay. Okay. I didn't like that as much.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Tell me why.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Um we watched it together, I think.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

Yeah. I personally didn't like the character development in that. I just thought it was a little too thin. I just couldn't get into it. And maybe it was just the title. One, I don't like Hollywood.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Well, it kind of spoofed the Hollywood actors in a way. Yeah, it did. But there's scenes in there again that it really I love. And a lot of uh the Cliff Booth character is, and they're gonna make another film about him. Oh, really? Yeah, the Brad Pitt uh character. But the scene where he goes to Spawn Ranch. I when I was in college, I studied the Manson family and did speeches on it and so forth. But so I knew a little bit about it. So to see it and visualize it through Tarantino's eyes was fun for me.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Well, Tarantino, his stuff is typically bloody.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

It's bloody, but it's it's also very wordy. And it it it's a scene, the the scenes, there's a lot of dialogue in the scenes to build up to the event. And sometimes he can just nail it. And I thought he did in that film. I loved it. Uh uh.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Well, let me ask you this. I'm going to change the subject a little bit. Did was it Tarantino that was involved? No Place for Old Men. Tell me that one.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

No, no, no. That was an author. I forget the name of the author. Um No Country for Old Men. No country for all men. I know. No, that was not Tarantino. Okay. All right. That was uh um Cormac McCarthy, I think is the guy's name that wrote that. And okay. Yeah, again, that's a violent one, too.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

Oh, yeah, that is really uh violent. Uh there's a scene in there where the protagonist kills a guy because he doesn't want to waste any bullets, so he kills him with a uh hog killer. You know, he just shoots a piston out and then draws it back and just leaves a hole in your head.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Yeah, that was that's a that's that's one that is uh edgier seat type. Sometimes I'm uncomfortable watching because I can't relax. I keep pulling for a different outcome. And you know, I know it's not gonna happen. Like Saving Private Ryan. I I think it's great film, but it's hard to watch.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

It is hard to watch. I know veterans who have been involved in beach landing, they find it hard to watch because it is maybe closer to realistic than a lot of movies you might see.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

I've read that and I've heard people say that. And strangely enough, that's not the scene that bothers me as much. It's the personal killings of the medic that gets shot in the back, and they're trying, he says, there is the hole here, where is it? Tell my mother, and he dies right there. Right. But you've invested this time in this character. Yeah. And the guy that I forgot, I forget the guy's name, but anyway, he gets stabbed by the German soldier, slowly dies. Uh that's that I don't like to watch that.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

Well, let me uh talking about the realism of that movie, I'm gonna give you a war story that my dad gave me. My dad was on Iwo Jima, and he was a Marine. The Marines trained, uh, in his case, out at Camp Pendleton, and they train as a unit, and they go to war as a unit. And his commanding officer was a lieutenant, and he trained the men, got them ready for war. They load on the boat, they ship over, they land at Iwo Jima, and they're fighting on Iwo Jima. And of course there's a camaraderie between all of them, enlisted officer ranks. And my dad, he said he was moving through the jungle, and he saw his commanding officer sitting at the base of the tree. And my dad said he knew when he saw it that he wasn't gonna make it. But he goes over to render aid, and his commanding officer says, You go on up ahead. I'm just a little winded, and I'll be there. And and so that's the kind of stuff that was in saving private Ryan. Some of those scenes I'm sure they extracted from the men that were there. I I think that realism comes from men who saw it. And that was basically the what, the Normandy landing? D-Day. D-Day Omaha Beach. Which let me just s get this in then while we're talking, because one of my favorite movies, I'm sorry, I apologize to anybody that doesn't like this, but The Longest Day, made in 1962. John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, a ton of others. It's a long movie. It looks at the German side and the American side, and it looks at all the things that were involved in launching that campaign, and you get a look at, not in the brutal way of saving Prior Ryan, but you get a look at the loss of life involved and the commitments that this country had to make to give us what we got now.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

I think if you're probably going to show a class of students a film about to teach them about D-Day, that'd probably be the one.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Yes, yes. I th I think so. Although having seen it, I think it's called Pressure. Oh yeah, I haven't seen it either. Supposed to be about the pressure that Eisenhower was under.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

It's no, it's not. It's it's the pressure he was under, but it's about the weatherman that came in. Oh. And if I remember correctly, Jim, you may correct me. They didn't go, they went one day late because of the weather.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

So uh that's what that's about. The dialogue that took place leading up to that. I don't think there's a lot of action in it, but it's the conflict that he had to go or not go. Yes. And and there was a small window with the full moon, and if they had to wait for the next cycle, that was gonna throw everything out. That film is available at home, but it's pay-per-view 25 bucks.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

I I saw it. And I've got it on one of my channels for 1995.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

You can rent for 1995. That's what I want to give a look to.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Yeah, I think I'm I'm gonna do that. Uh, that's one of the ones I want to see. And while we're looking into the future, there's an absurd little movie. Hugh Jackman is the star, and it's called The Sheep Detectives. Oh, that's uh yeah, that's like a cartoon, real life type of thing, maybe. It takes place Did you see it? No, I haven't seen it yet. I'm waiting to get it on TV.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

It's on pay-per-view. Oh, is it? Okay. I saw that it is. And I that's another one I'm interested in. I don't know if I want to pay for it, but yeah, I'd like to give it a look.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

Well, I definitely want to see it because Janet and I like the Paddington Bear movie series. It's so ridiculous, but it's a bear that moves out of the Amazon jungle and lives in London. Everybody accepts him as a bear. They talk to him and he talks back. It's a ridiculous movie, but we buy right into it.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

And I would not put you for a Paddington Bear fan.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

I can't help it.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

I am and look, we're just getting it all out there today. Yeah, I cry at the movies. You watch Paddington Bear.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

I do watch him. I can't help it. I watch him more than once, by the way. I'll have to put that away and remember that. The Paddington Bear series, there's three of them now. If you haven't seen it and you have the mentality of a five-year-old, you're gonna like it.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

I think we'll invite a bunch of children over to your house and you and Janet can make some Kool-Aid and watch Paddington Bear.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

Yeah, would you like that?

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Well, I'll make the Kool-Aid all right. Oh, yeah, okay. Okay, what else you got? Um, well, I want to touch on this. We're talking about war movies. Another one that left an impact on me too. Uh, 1986, uh, Platoon. Did you see that one? Yes. That's really strong. And really, yeah. It's one I can't watch many times. No. But but it really to me drove home the friendships that were developed in in the army and the war, right? The camaraderie. And you talked about that personally. Yes. How you become close to your comrades in arms. And I thought that film really brought that together from my point of view, somebody that's never served in the military.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

It also points out the absurdity of war. You kill people and they just come back the next day. More of them come back. Yeah, I think that was Oliver Stone's point, too. Yeah, it was. Oliver Stone, a war hero. He was in Vietnam. He came out of Vietnam as an E4, and I believe he had either the bronze or silver star. I respect Oliver Stone and the way he looks at things.

SPEAKER_01 43:21

Okay. I don't want to run out of movies. I know I won't. Bridge Over the River Kwai. Any comments on that? Excellent.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Yeah, that's excellent. There again, the absurdity of war and the frame of mind that a person is in, whether you're the commanding officer or a subordinate. It is just such an interesting movie. The commanding officer is obsessed with building this perfect bridge. So obsessed that he winds up really defeating his own people to protect the bridge. The bridge becomes the important thing. That's the name. The bridge over the river quad. It's what have I done?

SPEAKER_01 44:03

What have I done? Alec Guinness at the end. Yes, Alec Guinness at the end. It's got it's almost like two parts. It's the beginning when they enter the Japanese uh prison camp and he's in the hot box, right? He's making a point there that you can't break him. And then the second half, he escapes, and then they build a bridge. Right. That's a that's another one. I I'll say this Saturday I'm gonna watch Bridge on the River Qui. Yeah. And I'm looking forward to it. I don't like Make My Wait, because I know I got that coming up, but that's another good one.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Yeah, I like that one. I think that's a that's an excellent movie. To those of you that are listening, maybe I didn't make this clear, but this is Walt and Jim Do Movies Part One. Next week there will be a Walt and Jim Do Movies Part Two. So we're gonna end this session in about we'll do about ten minutes so that when I finish editing we can get it down to about a one hour session. And then stay tuned and and we'll do part two. We'll do another series of movies. It's my hope that in part two we can talk about monster movies and that sort of thing. Was it William Holden? I don't like to get this wrong. William Holden is right. That's right. Because I was thinking of somebody else. It's William Holden.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

I knew it wasn't Robert Mitchell when I said that. And you know, I'm gonna go back and I'll go ahead and apologize if I've missed any names here. Well, we're pretty close. It's kind of hard to draw them up when you're standing behind a microphone sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Well, listen, the whole idea of us doing these two segments here in the early part of summer is the temperatures are coming up to be around a hundred degrees. Now, those of you that live by the beach or have a swimming pool, go there. Don't watch the movies. Just go out on the beach. Although those of you at the beach, you might want to remember that Jaws movie we talked about. But if you're here in Marion and you don't have a place to go, turn on the air conditioning and listen to the movies that we're suggesting and find it. Even if you have to pay a little bit, it's worth it. You can settle down, get some wings, go over to Toners and Morganton and load up on wings and bring them back and just kind of meshing the two podcasts now.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

I know. If I'm gonna do it in summer, uh I'm gonna watch an absurd movie that I enjoy, and then I'd watch Jaws. But the absurd movie I'm gonna watch has Bill Murray in it. And he's one of my favorites, of course.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

All right, it's not Caddyshack.

SPEAKER_01 46:31

Caddyshack's up there, but no, I like Caddyshack better in this movie, but for summer movies. It's meatball. Are you ready for the summer? Yeah, yeah. Um it's it's absurd, but it's fun too. Yes, it's got Bill Murray in it. You can't look away. It's like a comfortable shoe for me. I know every line, I know what's gonna happen, you know, and but it's still it's comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

Yeah, I like that one. Okay, what else you got?

SPEAKER_01 46:57

Well, I got a lot, but I I I guess we got to save one some stuff for part two.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

All right, let's take one more and try to fill out the last oh five to ten minutes.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Okay, and I keep going back. Let me see. Okay, I think it was 1967. That's bad to go back that far, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 47:14

Okay, well, I that's where I live.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

So But when I think about movies that I like to watch, and when I I see them, there's so many that I like to just flip on, or when I see it, I watch the whole thing. In the heat of the night. If you've not seen that, we're gonna go right now and watch it.

SPEAKER_02 47:29

No, Sidney Sidney Poitiers, Rod Steiger. Rod Steiger does not, in my own.

SPEAKER_01 47:34

Warren Oates, who was in stripes with Bill Murray. I just, again, we're talking characters. Yes. And they so underestimate Sidney Poitiers. And when they find him and think he's a criminal, obviously because he's black. He's black in the South. He's sitting at a train station, but he outsmarts them all. Steiger, the Steiger character's interaction with him. Oh, he is, and he won Best Actor. Yeah. And I think the film won Best Picture. I think so. But but the scene where it starts coming to the realization this is a police officer we're talking to. That in the office there in the middle of the night after they found the body. I love that scene.

SPEAKER_02 48:17

Of course, they made the TV series afterwards. They did. Carol O'Connor. Right. I thought the TV series when it began was quite good and followed the storyline.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

Got a little out of control, got a little mushy there to as the series went on. But in the beginning that was quite good. So if you start and you watch Carol O'Connor and you watch the TV series, and then you go back and you see the movie for the first time, I think you're a little bit shocked at how good Sidney Poitiers really was.

SPEAKER_01 48:53

It's just classic. He he is just and some of these characters are stereotyped. They're the the dumb southern white people. I think maybe some of that's true to form in certain respects at that time.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

But one of the points that comes across in the movie and in the TV series is the dumb white people, the rednecks, that and and I'm saying that because that's what the movie wants you to feel. They come around. They're just guys. Most of them come around and say, Okay, I get it. You know, they accept it.

SPEAKER_01 49:25

Well, especially Steiger, because he goes and when they look at the body, and of course the mortician is is you know reluctant to let a black man look at the body because and Steiger looks up and he says, You want to take a look? Like, I need your help. And the look in his eye when he says that is, I don't know what I'm doing anymore. You do. You've got to help me. Again, that's one that I wrote down because it's so good.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

I like that movie. I think that's a good one. And there again, there's a movie that you can uh stream and just enjoy a couple of hours of good entertainment. Yes. Get a get a Coke, get a beer, get a glass of iced tea.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Something I recognize we're doing here, Jim. We're kind of talking old movies most of the time. And I I hate to tell you, but I'm not really well versed on some of the newer ones because I can't get out of the old ones.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

There are no new movies that I'm interested in other than the ones we talked about, and that's those two.

SPEAKER_01 50:18

Well, I've seen some. Marty Supreme. Oh, I I don't know what that is. Okay. You need to watch it. I don't, it's not streaming yet. It's a true story by one of the greatest ping pong players of all time.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

I can't remember the actor's name. He's at the Knicks games, a young he's a very popular actor now, but he plays the lead role. It's a very good movie.

SPEAKER_02 50:38

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 50:39

I thought it was. I also like Songsung Blue. Oh, yes. Hugh Jackman? Yes, Hugh Jackman. Another true story.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

Yes. Let me just say this if you're listening to this program, download that one. Watch that one, stream it however you have to. I'm not going to tell you how it ends, but I'll tell you this much. Hugh Jackman, he's looking for some kind of a career. And he's a singer. And he imitates Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond. Who's his the lady?

SPEAKER_01 51:09

It's um, geez, it it's Goldie Holmes Dollar.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

Yeah, uh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:14

I forget. Timothy Chalamet is Marty Supreme. I look that up.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

Yeah, okay. Well I'm gonna look I can't just Songsung Blue is gonna lead you in a direction that you're not expecting, and therefore, when the ending comes, it knocks you off your feet a little bit. And so I like that a lot.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

Kate Hudson. Kate Hudson had to look it up. I'm sorry. And Kate Hudson does a great job. You know, they can both sing. Yeah, Hugh Jackman is an acclaimed singer, he can sing, he sang on Broadway, he does so he pulled off the music. Yeah. Because you know, he doesn't have to sound like Neil Diamond, he has to sound like the character he's playing, which was a Neil Diamond impressionist. That's a fun one. It's a true story. Yep. He and Kate Hudson would go, Hugh Jackman apparently has part ownership in a bar in New York City. Oh. So they went in there one night to promote the film and they sat up there and sang all the Neil Diamond tunes in the bar. Can you imagine being in there that night? Gosh, that'd be great. Well that was fun.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

All right, let's do you got a short one we can do, and we'll end this session.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

Short one we can do to end the session. Okay, I wrote down a bunch here. What do you think of Dog Day Afternoon? Oh my god. Going back in time again. I think that was 1971 or just it was after it was after uh The Godfather, so that would have been 75, 77.

SPEAKER_02 52:33

There's another movie that I don't know the name of that I will find and then I'll tell you, and maybe you and I can go watch it. But it's similar to Dog Day Afternoon. It is a true story about a group that want to rob uh an armored car. But Dog Day Afternoon, everything goes wrong. It's a true story, too. Uh yeah, I know uh it's so wrong, and then when his partner gets killed, that's sad.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

But you've got uh John Cassell in that one as well. Right. Now you think about the films he did, but he's so good in that movie, too, because he's kind of an unstable guy. You don't know if he's gonna shoot anybody, but he's good in that. And and then he and Pacino playoff, they were together in The Godfather, you know. That's right. They were. Yeah. That was great characters, great chemistry for those two. And the story was interesting as well. Yeah. Um, so that's one I I wrote down to talk about. Again, that was 1975. I went and checked. That was the same year as Jaws uh came out, and they were both nominated for Best Picture. Oh, really? Do you think they which one won? 1975. Jaws and Dog Day Afternoon were both nominated for the first time.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

You know what? Because I think Jaws did not get it, I'm gonna say Dog Day Afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 53:47

Well, Jim, I tell you to be wrong. Really? Jaws did not get it either. Well, who got it?

SPEAKER_02 53:51

We'll talk about it in the next segment. How about that? Okay, that sounds good, and this is a good place to close it up. So I'm just gonna say I appreciate you coming, Walt. For those of you that are listening, if you like this segment, stay tuned for Walt and Jim Do the Movies Part 2. You can reach me at On the Porch with Jim Williams. That's one word. On the Portswith Jim Williams at gmail.com.