Seems Like Old Times (1980) & Under the Rainbow (1981)

Hollie and I talk about two very funny Chevy Chase films, one with Goldie Hawn, the other with Carrie Fisher. Seems Like Old Times and Under the Rainbow were HBO staples back in the early 80s and even though they're a little un PC, they still hold up pretty well. Join us (and Hannah, our pittie boxer mix) as we also try to discover the mystery behind Aurora's chicken pepperoni recipe and how it relates to chipped ham.

Podcast may contain minimal profanity.

Podcast may contain spoilers.

Music by Moodmode on Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/users/moodmode-33139253/
https://www.youtube.com/@moodmode - Check out my Youtube channel.
https://www.tiktok.com/@mood.mode - TikTok

Thanks for listening and be sure to come back next week!

Thanks for listening and be sure to look for new episodes soon!

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Sean 0:02

Welcome back to Scenes from the Screen, where we talk about all types of films and TV. Obscure, forgotten, prestigious, rotten. From must see to "Are you kidding me?" Big screen and small, we cover it all. Who knows? You might discover a new gem or be reintroduced to an old favorite. My name is Sean, and I'll be your host. We're going to start off this episode with one of my personal favorites of all time. I think it's one of yours as well.

Hollie 0:26

It's always been one of mine.

Sean 0:27

Seems Like Old Times is from 1980. And the basic premise is that Chevy Chase's writer Nick gets framed for robbing a bank and he must turn to his ex-wife Glenda, played by Goldie Hawn, to help him clear his name. Problem is that Glenda is a prominent defense attorney married to Charles Grodin's Ida.

Hollie 0:43

Ira.

Sean 0:43

Ira. So yeah, not Ida, Ira. And he's about to be named California's Attorney General unless the scandal puts a stop to it. Seems Like Old Times is a screwball comedy, reminiscent of old films from the 50s. And it's being released in 1980, is now an old film to us who would remember watching on HBO as kids. And I would say if anyone asks what movie I've seen the most, this would be a definite consideration.

Hollie 1:05

Yeah, this would be my top 10 movies I've seen the most. And I know I think it's one of the movies that the two of us quote the most.

Sean 1:13

Together, especially.

Hollie 1:14

Yes, when we're together, yes.

Sean 1:15

Yeah.

Hollie 1:15

And my my mom, my mom would be in there too. She quotes this one a lot, too.

Sean 1:19

Does she really?

Hollie 1:20

Yes.

Sean 1:20

I've never heard her quote it, but you know. Where is she? She should have her, you know...

Hollie 1:24

Well, I would have had her...

Sean 1:25

...behind sitting in that seat next to us.

Hollie 1:26

Well, I told her she's afraid that you know too much about movies, and she'd be...

Sean 1:30

Well, we're just talking about them having fun. I mean, if she's seen it, that's that's about really all the extent. I mean, I may toss in some stuff every now and again, but...

Hollie 1:38

Maybe someday.

Sean 1:39

And and this could end up being a screwball comedy because Hannah, our little pittie boxer mix is uh...

Hollie 1:44

Part of the show today.

Sean 1:45

Yeah, she's a little um all over the place. She's chewing a bone and right, yeah. Okay, all right. So I can't tell you how much I love this film. I mean, it's just a feel-good, fun film.

Hollie 1:56

Every time I watch it, I never gets old for me. I still laugh at all the parts that I always laughed at. It's not like oh, that's not funny anymore. I still laugh. I still laugh.

Sean 2:05

Yeah, right. It's it's 100% still funny.

Hollie 2:07

And it's when that I all three of the main characters, I love them in this movie. Well, I love Goldie Hawn in anything, like she never can do any wrong for me. And Chevy Chase is always funny. And Charles Grodin in this, I think, is one of my all-time favorite Charles Grodin movies.

Sean 2:22

Yeah, I definitely agree with that. Yeah, he is so dry, and that's just kind of shtick. He's really good at it.

Hollie 2:28

It is his, it's his, it's his type of role. However, he just the way he does like the lines after the scene almost ends, and then right before it ends, he has one of his lines are are so good. Like the other character might walk away.

Sean 2:42

Like, I'm not making her crazy. Right. Yeah, that's yeah, yeah. And then, you know, his but I mean, who you know, who wrote the script was Neil Simon.

Hollie 2:50

Right. I did read that.

Sean 2:50

So Neil Simon around that time too was I mean, gold. He was almost untouchable. He wrote another one of our favorite movies, is Murder by Death.

Hollie 2:58

Really?

Sean 2:58

Yeah, that was Neil Simon's Murder by Death. Which again, we're gonna have to do one day too, because that is that's that might be the film I've seen the most.

Hollie 3:07

I've I've seen Seems Like Old Times more than that.

Sean 3:10

Really? I used to watch uh Murder by Death on HBO a lot when I was a kid. I mean, it would literally be on, and my mom would come in and say, You're watching that again. I think that's the one movie that she said that about, you know, of all the ones I've seen.

Hollie 3:22

Right.

Sean 3:22

So I mean, now you ask me that about other films, like A Few Good Men, things like that. Are you watching that again? So see, history almost repeats itself.

Hollie 3:29

Yeah, it does with you.

Sean 3:30

Like I said, it was so written by Neil Simon. He also did The Goodbye Girl, which again I love.

Hollie 3:34

You love it.

Sean 3:34

I'll quote a couple things off of there.

Hollie 3:36

That's not one of my favorites.

Sean 3:37

I know, I do like it, but directed by, and it was because it was funny because when we started watching it, I it popped into my head while the credits were going like, oh, just was this directed by Jay Sandrich? And and it was.

Hollie 3:49

Who the heck... why would you know that? And who is that?

Sean 3:52

So Jay Sandrich, I remember his name popping up a lot in 80s sitcoms.

Hollie 3:56

Ohhhhh.

Sean 3:57

And well, I mean, even back further than that, 70s sitcoms.

Hollie 3:59

Nobody looks at those.

Sean 4:00

Well, I looked at that when I was a kid because I just when the names pop up, I'd pay attention. So interestingly enough, this is well, so we get into his background a little bit. He started on I Love Lucy...

Hollie 4:10

I love I Love Lucy.

Sean 4:11

...as an assistant director. He also did one of my other favorite TV shows of all time, Get Smart. He worked on that for a while. He did the Cosby show. I knew he had Mary Tyler Moore. As I told you, he did Soap. He has a great eye for comedy. Because this is basically a sitcom, but elevated.

Hollie 4:29

I mean, well...

Sean 4:31

It's kind of it's very sitcom-ish.

Hollie 4:33

In a way, I mean it's a rom-com to me.

Sean 4:35

Yeah, it is, but...

Hollie 4:36

It's very funny.

Sean 4:38

It is very funny.

Hollie 4:38

It has some physical humor in it. Chevy Chase's physical humor.

Sean 4:42

Chevy Chase's physical humor. We'll get into that in a second, um, because I want to stick on Jay Sandrich for a moment.

Hollie 4:47

Ok we'll stick on Jay Sandrich.

Sean 4:47

There's an interesting bit about him.

Hollie 4:48

Okay, what?

Sean 4:49

This was his only feature film.

Hollie 4:50

Get the heck out of here.

Sean 4:51

No, isn't that weird?

Hollie 4:53

It is. But well, yeah, I mean, it's it's very well done.

Sean 4:56

Yeah, but you're right.

Hollie 4:58

Maybe he liked the small screen more.

Sean 4:59

Well, was it which is yeah, is the case because I I also read too that he was producing and stuff for some shows, and he decided that that wasn't for him, that directing was more his forte, and he wanted to stick with that. Which is great. I mean, hey, you you love something, and he did, you know, he had a chance to explore a little bit more too.

Hollie 5:16

Right.

Sean 5:16

Uh, but he just wanted to do that. So maybe he did want to stick with uh yeah, just directing TV shows. But yeah, so you mentioned Chevy Chase, uh, his physical comedy, yes. I mean in all films, but this one especially.

Hollie 5:27

This one especially. There's just I I can't even begin to tell you to talk about which scene I like the most with him. I mean, everything's just hysterical.

Sean 5:36

Yeah, and his facial expressions as well. So that's including the physical comedy, I think.

Hollie 5:40

Oh, definitely. But when he falls down the steps, I mean, gets stuck in the hose. Like he's in everything that happens to his character, like so much shit happens to him physically that you just feel so bad for him. He's like pathetic.

Sean 5:53

But when he's under the bed and his hand is out.

Hollie 5:55

I wrote that down as my favorite scene.

Sean 5:57

That might be my favorite scene only because, and you know that's gotta be him because who else could act with their hands like that?

Hollie 6:02

Right.

Sean 6:02

And he's trying not he with the so Charles Grodin is stepping on his pinky and he's trying to get him off, but he doesn't want to touch because it doesn't want to let him know that he's there. And it's it's very wise for the camera to linger on his his hand, and it doesn't really cut away too much to the actors.

Hollie 6:19

The conversation between Goldie Hawn and Charles Grodin, and you never see their faces. It the camera just stays during that small snippet of the conversation. The camera just stays on Chevy Chase's hand and Charles Grodin's foot. And just Charles Grodin's delivery of the lines, the way it's...

Sean 6:36

At one point he even says he's looking for the right word. So you know it's only exacerbating the situation because Chevy Chase is in pain.

Hollie 6:42

Yeah, he's pausing and he got thrown out of the car, and then she and Goldie Hawn is trying to hurry him up. So she's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, trying to get him to talk faster because of Chevy Chase's finger being crushed.

Sean 6:55

Right.

Hollie 6:55

I that was, I think, without seeing anyone's face, one of my favorite scenes in that movie.

Speaker 7:01

Yeah, it's very good physical comedy, one of the many in that film.

Hollie 7:04

And how Chevy uh not Chevy Chase, but the hands, yes, but how Goldie Hawn's voice and Charles Grodin's voice, the the lines that they deliver and how they deliver it, you almost think you see their faces because they deliver it so well. So when you think back, you're like, you could see her going, like, come on, come on, you're trying. I'm trying, you know, and that's why I think it's so well done.

Sean 7:22

It is very it's very well directed. Like I said, again...

Hollie 7:25

And well acted.

Sean 7:26

Well and well acted, well written. I mean, everything. And I don't know why this comedy isn't more revered.

Hollie 7:30

It's I think it is more revered. I think you're wrong about it.

Sean 7:33

Well, I think it's very well loved among people who saw it, but I don't think critically it's not really and I don't I don't understand why.

Hollie 7:38

Well, critically it's just you know, whatever when it comes to criticism.

Sean 7:41

And that's gonna play a part into the second movie we're gonna talk about soon. Yeah, so this, you know, well, Chase and uh Hawn were together in Foul Play.

Hollie 7:49

And one of my and that's the movie I I thought we should do the double feature with because Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase in Foul Play, and also the little guy, I can't remember his name right now. Arthur.

Sean 7:58

Dudley Moore.

Hollie 7:59

Dudley Moore's in that. That was another movie that I had seen so many times on HBO. It was either Foul Play or Seems Like Old Times. I was watching them all the time.

Sean 8:08

Well, they always talked about Foul or Seems Like Old Times as being kind of like absolutely not really a sequel to Foul Play, but only you know it only exists because those those two were in Foul Play...

Hollie 8:18

Right.

Sean 8:18

...they had a romantic, you know, uh relationship towards the end of the film.

Hollie 8:22

Right.

Sean 8:23

So in this one, they're yeah, they're they're exes. Right. So I think different names, so it has no ties at all...

Hollie 8:28

No, not at all.

Sean 8:29

...other than the two main characters. But I remember like growing up, I was like, oh, it's a so I saw Foul Play. I'm like, well, I don't understand why they're kind of acknowledging this as some of a semi-sequel because it's nothing to do with it.

Hollie 8:39

No, no, I never thought of it that way. I just really thought the chemistry between Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase was it was like to in my young age at the time, that was like the first, you know, TV couple, I mean movie couple that you saw the same actor and actress play opposite each other. You thought that they were really great friends and they were really together because they were so awesome on film.

Sean 9:01

And I think more of the actors back then had that chemistry. When you think back to that, remember the old commercial with James Garner and Mariette Hartley for Polaroid or whatever? I always thought they were married.

Hollie 9:11

Oh.

Sean 9:11

No. I mean, they were just two actors, great chemistry, and I mean that's a testament to how good Hawn and Chase are in this movie that you think they could be a real couple in real life.

Hollie 9:20

Definitely.

Sean 9:20

Uh.

Hollie 9:21

Who wouldn't want to be with Goldie Hawn all the time?

Sean 9:23

That's true.

Hollie 9:24

I mean, she's just amazing.

Sean 9:26

I mean, and the the cast in this too, the supporting cast, Robert Guillaume, George Grizzard, I believe it's either Grizzard Grizzard, he was also in uh Bachelor Party with Tom Hanks. You have Harold Gould, who was a sitcom stalwart back then. He played the judge.

Hollie 9:41

The judge.

Sean 9:42

David Haskell, who I remember if you asked me, like, where do I know him from? Like, well, Santa Barbara. He was Kelly's love interest on Santa Barbara.

Hollie 9:49

You're missing one of the two best secondary characters.

Sean 9:51

Also, Chris Lemmon, Jack Lemmon's son, TK Carter, who plays Chester.

Hollie 9:55

TK Carter, is awesome in this.

Sean 9:56

And of course, who is like the biggest supporting character in that film?

Hollie 10:01

The best supporting character in that film. The one whose lines we say the most. Aurora. I don't know her real name. Aurora. She is my favorite character. She's so flat and witty and just like straightforward, and she's hysterical. Aurora is the best.

Sean 10:18

That's Yvonne Wilder. I mean, she's been in a ton of stuff. West Side Story, Operation Petticoat.

Hollie 10:23

Famous actress. Amazing woman.

Sean 10:25

Yeah, yeah. She is she's very, very funny in this.

Hollie 10:28

She's hysterical.

Sean 10:29

And she has some of the best lines. You're right, like you said, some of the best lines.

Hollie 10:38

Her lines, Charles Grodin and...Benson.

Sean 10:38

Robert Guillaume.

Hollie 10:39

Robert Guillaume. The three of them, I think... like Goldie Hawn's always amazing. Chevy Chase is always amazing. And so is uh Charles Grodin. But this their lines in this were so flat and witty, and just, you know, like things that you would hope you would say in that situation, but you would never come up with that line that fast. You know what I mean? I I just Aurora is my favorite. I love her.

Sean 11:02

So we we turn to the most talked-about thing, I think, from Seems Like Old times, which is Aurora's chicken pepperoni, which is the dinner that well loved by the governor, correct. And Ira may not get the attorney general if you don't one resolve this Nick thing, and two, they don't make chicken pepperoni for the governor.

Hollie 11:22

Well, I mean, like Ira says to Goldie Hawn's character, he goes, she goes, so you're not going to be attorney general if I don't make chicken pepperoni, because Aurora can't make it.

Sean 11:32

She has to get her feet scraped.

Hollie 11:33

She has to get her feet a scraped. So and he goes, No, that might not be it. He goes, but with your ex-husband on the loose, he goes, We we need Aurora's chicken pepperoni to keep the governor happy. And it in chicken pepperoni, if you look it up, if you look up Aurora's chicken pepperoni online, you do come up with recipes because in the movie they never tell you what is in Aurora's chicken pepperoni. You don't know.

Sean 11:55

They don't. And we actually tried to make it a couple times. It's it's not anywhere like I envisioned it. Because you look at it when they finally serve it, and it has I know it has wine in it, we know that.

Hollie 12:06

Well, well, TK Carter's version has wine.

Sean 12:08

Right, it has right, because that the governor says it looks a little extra spicy, but he puts something else in there. I know maybe does Nick put...?

Hollie 12:13

Nick puts a leaf in it from out that's got stuck on him when he fell. Right, so that maybe that was. Yeah, Chevy Chase's character falls all the time, and he falls right before he comes in the house, and he has a branch stuck on him, and he pulls a leaf off and puts it in there. TK Carter pours wine in there, like you have no idea what's really in the chicken pepperoni.

Sean 12:29

Yeah, and the recipes you find online don't come close to what you would think. Because, and I guess here's the interesting thing, because for you know, for how many years do you think it's gonna be Italian, but because Aurora is Mexican, it's gotta be Mexican. And I really didn't even notice it till this time. Goldie Hawn is looking in her Spanish, you know, her writing, her recipe, and it's Spanish, so it has it would almost have to be a Spanish dish.

Hollie 12:52

Not necessarily. I think it's I think it's an Italian dish, it's just Aurora wrote it in Spanish.

Sean 12:57

That's that could be true too.

Hollie 12:58

Because when you looked at when they served it, it looked like chicken parmesan. It had a very red sauce to it.

Sean 13:05

And a thicker red sauce.

Hollie 13:06

Yeah, a very thick, almost pasty red sauce. The dogs didn't love it, they were tired of tasting it. But most of what you read online, it looks like a a chicken parmesan with layers of pepperoni in it, which I personally wouldn't like.

Sean 13:19

No, I I think we made something similar to that, and I didn't care for it. And I don't I don't see a pepperoni on that on that plate at all.

Hollie 13:24

No, you don't even see pepperoni.

Sean 13:26

No, it's just you know what it reminds me of? I think I might have mentioned this in the past.

Hollie 13:29

It looks like chicken cacciatore to me.

Sean 13:29

No, the sauce reminds me of Isaly's chipped ham sauce, chip-chopped ham.

Hollie 13:35

Oh, that red sauce.

Sean 13:36

Yes, and then for those of you who don't know what chipped ham is, it's it's first of all, it's gross. It is...

Hollie 13:42

The cheapest ham you could buy.

Sean 13:44

...a pressed loaf of mixed ham chunks and seasonings ground together. Uh, it's sliced really thin on a deli machine so it becomes translucent when it falls apart and everything. I can't stand it. I mean, I I've always hated it because it's gristly and gross.

Hollie 13:59

It's gross. It's cheap ham.

Sean 13:59

Right, and you cook it in the sauce. Now, the sauce is actually not bad, but I can't think of anything you use that sauce with other than that one item.

Hollie 14:06

See, yeah, to me, Aurora's chicken pepperoni. I always want to try it, but I want Aurora to make it.

Sean 14:12

It seems like more of like a barbecue than anything.

Hollie 14:15

It has a more burgundy barbecue color. I think you're right, like that orange, not as bright as a big one.

Sean 14:19

It's almost like a fire engine red.

Hollie 14:21

Yeah, not a not more of like a spaghetti sauce color in the movie.

Sean 14:25

But uh, you know, if I...

Hollie 14:26

But they also didn't serve it, like you said, I never realized they serve it with nothing else. Like there's no pasta on the side, there's nothing on the side, just here's a piece of chicken.

Sean 14:34

And it's a big hunks of chicken, yeah. Like those breasts were huge.

Hollie 14:37

Huge, huge.

Sean 14:37

And we know their breasts because he does say he goes, here's a well, at least one was a breast.

Hollie 14:41

Breast, right.

Sean 14:41

Because he said, Here's a here's a nice breast for you. I think they're all chicken breasts, but I would love to have a good chicken pepper oni. I've never seen... you would think some restaurant would try and make that, but no one has.

Hollie 14:50

And it's and it is famous, like it is famous...

Sean 14:52

It's very famous.

Hollie 14:53

...for people to know.

Sean 14:54

Again, I I want especially the the spicier version that the governor gets. I want that. We even tried it with wine once, you know, put it in there. And yeah, and I mean to no avail. I think your imagination, whatever that is, is gonna be much better than anything that you're gonna come up with.

Hollie 15:10

Right, right. And then maybe I'll make my own version of something one day and see if it's good.

Sean 15:13

Yeah, well, yeah, we're gonna keep on trying. I'm not gonna give up, but I just think it's gonna be a futile attempt.

Hollie 15:19

All right, back to the movie.

Sean 15:21

Well, that's part of the movie, but...

Hollie 15:22

It is part of the movie. Uh like I said, my favorite favorite scene is probably when he's under the bed that you don't see even see anyone's faces. But the line that we do the most is when Chevy Chase's character falls down the steps and Aurora, our favorite maid.

Sean 15:36

Well, he hasn't fallen yet.

Hollie 15:37

Oh, he hasn't fallen yet.

Sean 15:40

He's at the top of the stairs and she sees him coming down, she doesn't know who this is.

Hollie 15:42

Right. And she goes, Hey, what you doing there, man?

Sean 15:45

That is hysterical.

Hollie 15:47

And that's that's...

Sean 15:49

I always like to say that to people, you know, it just....

Hollie 15:50

If you see someone...

Sean 15:52

...if they're doing something. Anyway, hey, what you're doing there, man?

Hollie 15:54

Like when we see someone outside and are coming up to the house, hey, what you join there, man?

Sean 15:58

Right, because they're that not where they're supposed to be, and it's unexpected. But yeah, Seems Like Old Times is I mean I I love watching every now and again. If it was on TV, I'd watch it all the time. I'd watch a Seems Like Old Times channel.

Hollie 16:10

I would watch it a lot, yeah. I mean, like I said, I've seen it 50 times. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen it in my life, and it's always funny.

Sean 16:18

I think I watched it that many times one day on HBO.

Hollie 16:21

Yeah, I mean it's always funny. Every line.

Sean 16:24

It is.

Hollie 16:24

Love that chicken pepperoni.

Sean 16:26

Don't start with me, Fred. Yeah, and I have friends who I've worked with over the years, and they all know that film. So it's..

Hollie 16:31

Really?

Sean 16:31

Oh absolutely.

Hollie 16:32

I don't think I know anyone my age knows that film.

Sean 16:33

Yeah, they all know that film, which is again, it's like a touchstone for our generation, for Generation X.

Hollie 16:38

Right. It's definitely a movie that we saw.

Sean 16:42

Well, saw many times.

Hollie 16:43

Right.

Sean 16:43

I I guess that's the definitely plus about early HBO.

Hollie 16:47

Yeah, we used to watch those they would replay it and replay it, and we just watched it because

Sean 16:51

Well, there was nothing else on.

Hollie 16:52

Right.

Sean 16:52

You know, and you had HBO, so you got to see movies all the time. What are you kidding me?

Hollie 16:56

Even if you didn't want to see the movie, you were watching it because it was just on HBO.

Sean 16:59

Yeah. And again, you got to love them. Whether you liked it or not, you got to love them.

Hollie 17:03

And the judge I love too, by the way.

Sean 17:05

Yeah, I mean, I every character in that is...

Hollie 17:07

Perfect.

Sean 17:08

...is per is a perfect character, right. Uh the bank robbers. One of the bank robbers is played by uh Judd Omen, I believe, who was in Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Hollie 17:15

Yeah.

Sean 17:15

I'm a bad man Pee Wee. Yeah, so like I said, uh definitely watch Seems like Old Times.

Hollie 17:20

I do love the end though, and I always in my mind, Goldie Hawn's face at the very last scene. And I we can spoil this movie, I think.

Sean 17:30

Yes, well, she and Ira go finally, everything's over, they go away.

Hollie 17:35

Nick's free. Nick leaves, and their life's back to normal, but they're gonna go away for a while just to rekindle. And I always had the impression that they were recently married, not married a long time.

Sean 17:44

Not a very long time.

Hollie 17:46

Like maybe two years, three years.

Sean 17:47

Right, yeah, yeah.

Hollie 17:48

Like it was a new marriage.

Sean 17:49

Like the've had time, but not yeah, it hasn't been like a decade.

Hollie 17:51

Right. And he's the he's the attorney, he's a district attorney, she's a defense attorney, so they have that relationship too. But at the very end, they wreck their car because of an animal on their little trip, and they're lost, and she goes to look for help because Ira's hurt, and when she finds she finds his cabin, knocks at the door, and of course, who lives there? Nick, Chevy Chase character. So, and her face is just like a huge smile, you know. And in my head, I'm like, she loves Ira so and she really does, like, she really does love Ira. They have a very, very more of a stable marriage, like, you know, a Charles Grodin marriage, but she still has a thing for her ex Chevy Chase, who's a little more in the seat of his pants, you know, not a planner, you know, kind of fly by night type of person. And and her face at the end was just the best face. And when I was little, my whole thing was like, oh, she's back with Chevy Chase now. Because it I always wanted her with Chevy Chase because of Foul Play and because they had such a good chemistry.

Sean 18:53

Yeah, it's I think I told you the one flaw in that film for me is they shouldn't have revealed that it was Chevy Chase, that he it was his cabin until he actually opened the door. I mean, when she goes up to it, she's knocking, and they show him. I think again it would have it would that would be.

Hollie 19:08

Yeah, instead of showing him walk through to the door, they should have just waited, not even showed anything and waited until he opened it.

Sean 19:13

Yeah, exactly. That yeah, that's like I said, it's my one...

Hollie 19:14

Because you knew before she knew. We should have known at the same time.

Sean 19:16

Yeah, my one, my one problem with it, yeah, because that would have made it even better. Yeah, it's because you know you think he's done, and yeah, he's not, he's still back in their lives again.

Hollie 19:24

He'll always be in their lives.

Sean 19:24

So it's almost like almost like fated, correct. Yeah. Um, so another movie that ran on HBO around that time, it was from 1981, but it did play in a heavy rotation. It's Under the Rainbow.

Hollie 19:36

And I know this is one of your favorite movies, and I had seen it before. I thought it was funny, but it wasn't one I watched a lot. It's it's not it's not a Seems Like Old Times for me.

Sean 19:46

It's no, it doesn't quite match Seems Like Old Times in terms of in terms of enjoyment.

Hollie 19:50

Right.

Sean 19:51

I do think it's very funny.

Hollie 19:52

It is very funny.

Sean 19:53

It does have a lot of you know issues, which we'll touch upon.

Hollie 19:55

I mean, so does Seems Like Old Times if you think about it. They have some racial issues there too.

Sean 19:59

They do right, absolutely they do. Yeah, but I mean that was the thing. It's a product of its time, you know, and I get it. It's not something I thought about back then.

Hollie 20:06

No, but now...

Sean 20:06

I just thought it was funny.

Hollie 20:07

Now we we have a different mindset.

Sean 20:09

We do have a different mindset, but I still I still watch because I think it's a very good comedy. Um but Under the Rainbow. So that's another screwball comedy, and it was apparently critically panned back then. It bombed at the box office. It again got new life on HBO because of it constantly running. Here's a basic premise, though, because it's this is a long one, because it's it's so it takes place during the filming of The Wizard of Oz. This is to be honest with you, is one of the most creative, ludicrous, and ridiculous premises ever, due to the plots that intertwine. But all converging on a downtown LA hotel. So it's a diminutive dreamer looking to find fame in the movie business. He looks like he's from the maybe the Midwest, like the Dust Bowl region, something like that.

Hollie 20:50

Kansas I think he said.

Sean 20:50

Was it Kansas? Okay. You got Japanese tourists, a Japanese spy, a diminutive Nazi agent, a Duke and Duchess fearing assassination, their ever-changing dog, an actual assassin, a secret service agent assigned to protect them, a studio representative responsible for corralling around 150 little people as extras in the film who love to party hearty. Does that sound about right? Was I missing anything on that one?

Hollie 21:11

I think you got just about everything.

Sean 21:11

Well, you also have the hotel manager manager who's trying to prove himself. And you have the um drunkard, hotel security guard.

Hollie 21:18

Yeah, yeah.

Sean 21:19

Uh Pat McCormick. That's pretty exhausting for a film that's just shy of an hour and 45 minutes. But is is the convoluted and stupid as it sounds, it works for me.

Hollie 21:28

It does. And everything hits it, it's very like it is very convoluted and all these different things. And for a minute, I forgot about the assassin. And and you know, it has that Three's Company mistakes things like you know, with the wrong people get tranquilized...

Sean 21:45

Mistaken identities

Hollie 21:45

...or do it's identity mistaken, but they don't linger on it too long because with the Japanese spy, they told the little German guy that he would be in a white suit. Well, then uh a bus breaks down in front of the hotel of all All Japanese men in white suits. So...

Sean 22:03

And they tell the Japanese agent to look for...

Hollie 22:05

A little person.

Sean 22:07

...a little person, and of course, there's about 150 little people.

Hollie 22:09

150 little people and they all converge in one spot.

Sean 22:12

Yes.

Hollie 22:12

Which it was it's very funny, and it's very like you know it's not real life, but it is kind of believable that that shit can happen like that.

Sean 22:20

Yeah, I I mean I completely agree, especially back then. I believe that you know it could happen. Because why wouldn't I? You know, I was what, 12? I mean, you know, I mean it's it's it's funny when you're 12. I you don't the film definitely would not fly today because of the of the PC, which....

Hollie 22:34

Well, they're racist and...

Sean 22:36

...I mean right, and uh against little people because they refer to them as midgets...

Hollie 22:40

And dwarves.

Sean 22:40

...and dwarves and everything. You know, but I guess it's I don't know from what I understand, that's based... loosely based on the true story of like how they acted during that. But again, I don't know whether that's correct or not.

Hollie 22:51

The party hearty, huh?

Sean 22:52

Well, yeah, and then maybe they partied hearty. You know, I I thought it was funny. It did feature a lot of stereotypes, but it's supposed to be over the top and ridiculous.

Hollie 22:59

Right and it's funny.

Sean 23:00

Right so I don't lend any credence to the fact that like, oh, this is very serious. It's not, it's it's supposed to be like cartoonish in a way.

Hollie 23:07

Yes, it's very because people get killed in it and nobody really cares.

Sean 23:11

No.

Hollie 23:11

You know, nobody goes, Oh, I mean, you... she screams. The main...

Sean 23:17

Eve Arden?

Hollie 23:18

No. Um...

Sean 23:19

Oh, um, Carrie Fisher.

Hollie 23:20

Carrie Fisher screams when she sees the dead bodies in the freezer, but that's all you really they never say, oh you know, there was no sadness, there was no nothing. It was just oh well.

Sean 23:29

Yeah, yeah. I mean the...

Hollie 23:31

The guy dies in the dining room.

Sean 23:32

And the hotel guard, um...

Hollie 23:34

He takes the dead body to the bar with him.

Sean 23:36

Yeah, they're drinking Irish coffee. Well, you know, and all the little people.

Hollie 23:38

And he knew he was dead!

Sean 23:40

Yeah. Even even the people pointed out, you know, they're like, Oh, what's that hole in his shirt? Oh, you know...

Hollie 23:44

That's a bullet hole.

Sean 23:44

He tries to put gum in it. I mean, it's so it's so stupid.

Hollie 23:47

Right.

Sean 23:48

But it is, I think, exceptionally funny. I don't know.

Hollie 23:51

See, I think it's funny. It's it wouldn't be one that I would watch over and over and over and over again, and that I would quote lines from. But it is a funny movie.

Sean 23:59

I did a lot back then. It wouldn't be, I wouldn't watch it a lot now, I think, only because for me, it does kind of fall apart towards the end. I mean, it's a little bit like Blazing Saddles because they do have this big chase scene through the studio, especially during the...

Hollie 24:13

But I like that big chase scene.

Sean 24:13

...filming of Gone With the Wind. But it goes on way too long.

Hollie 24:16

I thought they did it. I that's what I wanted to tell you too. The one scene where the I guess the director or cinematographer or something on the set of Gone With the Wind is the running through it. He looks through a little peephole, and you actually do see a scene from Gone With the Wind. Like that was really, I think, Vivian Leigh. Janet Leigh, whatever it is.

Sean 24:34

Vivian Leigh. No, I mean that wasn't her, but that was suppose to be her...

Hollie 24:37

But it looked like they cut a film of Gone With the Wind and put it in there.

Sean 24:40

Oh, which is possible, I guess.

Hollie 24:42

Like they were, you know what I mean? Like they took that film through the hole of the door. Do you remember what we're talking about?

Sean 24:46

Yeah, I do remember, yeah. And it was uh I think it was Jack Kruschen. It was at the very beginning you're talking about. When he they were taking a shot, he puts his face in there.

Hollie 24:54

Yeah.

Sean 24:54

Yeah, yeah. That was actually no, I don't think it was I don't think it didn't look like it, but right, I don't think it was a...

Hollie 25:01

They did it very well. Well when they were running through, I knew they weren't the real actors. I knew that wasn't really him.

Sean 25:04

Well, I know it wasn't Clark Gable.

Hollie 25:07

It's not Clark Gable. I'm not stupid.

Sean 25:07

I think he might have been dead at that point, too.

Hollie 25:09

Or it cost too much money.

Sean 25:10

I well yeah, it would have definitely cost too much to get for Under the Rainbow.

Hollie 25:13

The one thing I didn't like about this, as a pair, uh if you want to compare this with Seems Like Old Times, Seems Like Old Times capitalized on Chevy Chase's comedy and how he could do the dry lines and the physical comedy, and then this movie, he wasn't the funny one.

Sean 25:30

This was more of an ensemble piece, too, whereas the other one wasn't.

Hollie 25:34

But he wasn't funny.

Sean 25:36

He tried, yeah, they I mean they that was...

Hollie 25:38

That's I feel you have to...

Sean 25:39

...trying to make him play more of a straight guy.

Hollie 25:40

Which is fine.

Sean 25:41

He was a secret service agent.

Hollie 25:42

Right, and the straight guy, but he could still do his his take on it.

Sean 25:45

Which he did a little bit. He some of the scenes with it.

Hollie 25:48

I I just think you have Chevy Chase in that role. See, Chevy Chase in Seems Like Old Times, only Chevy Chase could do that. This role, I think other actors could have done that too. And and my whole thing about Seems Like Old Times was Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn. And everyone else I love, but that's what drew me to keep watching it.

Sean 26:06

Well, I mean, it was it was a lot more fun. I think it was you know, uh it was again more of a screwball comedy, but in a lighthearted sense. This was a little bit more it kind of bordered. I don't think it really knew what wanted knew what I wanted to be. Did it want to be serious, did it want to be. I think they tried to walk that line, which sometimes worked, sometimes didn't.

Hollie 26:22

But I thought it was very funny. I mean, Carrie Fisher was good in it. I loved her in it.

Sean 26:26

Yeah, that would have been around the Empire Strikes Back time that she would have done that.

Hollie 26:29

Really?

Sean 26:29

Yeah, it was 81, so Empire Strikes Back was 1980.

Hollie 26:32

Yeah, she's very good, she's so tiny. I I I did I'm the the hotel guy, I think was my favorite.

Sean 26:38

Pat McCormick.

Hollie 26:39

No, the...

Sean 26:39

Oh Adam Arkin as the hotel manager. He is so dry...

Hollie 26:42

Adam Arkin was the best.

Sean 26:44

He gives Charles Grodin a run for his money in terms of dryness.

Hollie 26:46

He really does. But I I love Adam Arkin in a few things, but this is definitely top three Adam Arkin roles for me.

Sean 26:55

Yeah, he um, yeah, yeah. I mean he does a great job. Yeah, it just his facial expressions, his...

Hollie 27:00

Just like...

Sean 27:01

...delivery.

Hollie 27:02

It's a boring old hotel that nobody ever goes into. They were getting ready for the 150 guests of the the little people coming in, and then the lady leaves, so she doesn't tell anyone they're coming. So all of a sudden, Adam Arkin's just stuck with all this crap going on, and then the Duke and Justice , Duchess want the whole top floor, and then they also have the truck of the Japanese gentleman. It was just hysterical how he had to try to juggle all that with a staff that doesn't do anything and can't do anything.

Sean 27:28

Right, and and you know, I one of the big things we talked about too in the film was so the little people are all partying, they're drinking, they're eating dinner...

Hollie 27:35

Partying and having a good time.

Sean 27:36

...having like almost like a late dinner, and they say, Oh, we have to get you over to the studio for costuming. But then they come back to the hotel and party.

Hollie 27:42

In their costumes!

Sean 27:43

Right. I don't like I don't understand. Were you shooting this or were you not? I but then again, it couldn't have been...

Hollie 27:47

Those costumes are expensive.

Sean 27:48

It actually couldn't have been because then when the big chase scene takes place, it's during the day. So it wasn't at night, it was it was the time uh the timeline was kind of weird but...

Hollie 27:56

Yeah. It was almost always daytime.

Sean 27:58

It was almost always daytime. Yeah, I never saw anything during the evening, but you would have thought at one point...

Hollie 28:03

It's only about a 48-hour time span, but you never see night, really.

Sean 28:09

Yeah, you really don't.

Hollie 28:10

And you're with them the whole time. It's not like you know, the next day happens, you're always with the characters.

Sean 28:15

Yeah, you're inside the hotel, so you never really see...

Hollie 28:17

Yeah, you're always with them, and you just never know what's going on...

Sean 28:19

Wait, they are outside at night, remember? Uh so the Japanese and Nazi spy, they were out on the window ledge and it was nighttime.

Hollie 28:25

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It was nighttime.

Sean 28:26

So again, like when are they shooting this? Did they have night? I that's what I didn't understand.

Hollie 28:29

Is there a night scene in Wizard of Oz? And I don't remember.

Sean 28:33

Not no, because it was all in technicolor, so it's always...

Hollie 28:35

But I thought it was pretty cool that you know they played a lot of the Wizard of Oz stuff in it by having them in their costumes.

Sean 28:42

Right, like the flying monkeys, and...

Hollie 28:43

And they had the the little people in their costumes, which was funny, but you know that studio's not gonna let them run out with the costumes. And the hotel, the Adam Arkin's character wanted to change it to the rainbow, and there was a sign, so you walked in under the rainbow. So I thought that was really sweet.

Sean 28:58

A lot of nods to...

Hollie 28:58

A lot of nods to Wizard of Oz in a fun, light-hearted way.

Sean 29:02

Right, so the diminutive dreamer from Kansas, you know, uh Dust Bowl or whatever, Rollo, who was played by Cork Hubbard. So here's my question about the end. So I wonder, did this any of this really happen? Because it's kind of revealed that he is still back in Kansas.

Hollie 29:22

It didn't happen. It's just his dream.

Sean 29:22

But here's the weird thing. So the guy from the studio, remember that was Carrie Fisher's assistant, Homer, played by Peter Isacksen, who was in CPO Sharkey way back when. I figured I'd toss out. I gotta use my my stupid knowledge somewhere.

Hollie 29:35

Your stupid knowledge. Yeah, your ridiculous nerd knowledge.

Sean 29:36

So he was he was the representative of the studio. Well, how would how would Rollo have known that? Can he can again can he see the future? I don't know.

Hollie 29:43

Oh, like the characters that were in his his dream, like Dorothy.

Sean 29:46

But he was real, right. Whereas like most of the characters he based on people he knew. So, you know, so um Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Eve Arden, Joseph Maher, they were all in...

Hollie 29:55

In his neighborhood, his town.

Sean 29:57

In his neighborhood, right? And so that's that's what he envisioned, almost like Wizard of Oz. But but again, at the end, you know, the the studio rep Homer, how would he have known of his existence?

Hollie 30:07

Well, exactly.

Sean 30:09

He looked the same, so it's yeah, that now the Nazi spy turned out to be an agent. He was actually like a theatrical uh actor's agent with a different name.

Hollie 30:18

Right.

Sean 30:18

So that's what I mean kind of confused me. I thought his name would be Otto, and I was waiting to hear that again. And so I'm like, no, it actually wasn't. So I don't yeah, I mean it got weird for me.

Hollie 30:27

And I think it wasn't supposed to be like that deep of a thought either. You know, it was just...

Sean 30:31

What?

Hollie 30:32

...fun.

Sean 30:32

You're talking about Under the Rainbow is not supposed to be a deep thought?

Hollie 30:34

Cheeky fun. And at first, I thought at the very beginning, when he falls off the roof, is that when he has the dream?

Sean 30:41

Yes, that's when he starts having the dream.

Hollie 30:43

That's what I thought. And I for some reason I couldn't place it, but him have making it a dream, even though some of the people he shouldn't know he sees at the end that were in his dream. And how would they be in his dream if he never met them? I get that. But all the farcical, crazy stuff that happens, it was a dream. So I did like that.

Sean 31:02

It was, yeah, yeah. Even the little people he sees in the back, because they pick them up and they take them to LA.

Hollie 31:06

Right.

Sean 31:07

They're the same people that we had in his dream. So, like you said, maybe he's you know, maybe his future doesn't lie in acting, it may lie in prognostication.

Hollie 31:15

Maybe he has uh maybe he'll be investiging a bunch of paranormal stuff because he can see the future.

Sean 31:21

Hey, you never know. You never know, and that's probably what they needed back then. Maybe he could have predicted that the um depression was gonna end.

Hollie 31:27

Maybe he could have.

Sean 31:28

Uh yeah, and another thing I I think I pointed out to you while we were watching the film was that a few years later, well, within about eight years or so, that Chevy Chase and Joseph Maher, who played the The Duke, they were in Funny Farm together. And Funny Farm's another great movie.

Hollie 31:42

Funny Farm's hysterical.

Sean 31:44

It is, and that's one I think we're gonna have to do because uh it's one of the few films that there's uh share a common bond, and we'll talk about it more when we do Funny Farm.

Hollie 31:51

And Chevy Chase, like like I said before, I...

Sean 31:54

I know he's he's apparently he's kind of a dick in real life but I think he's funny as...

Hollie 31:57

I just can't see why he could how he could be that because I love him in everything.

Sean 32:02

I mean they say Bill Murray is the same way. Like sometimes they could be great, most oftentimes they're not. I don't I don't know. I've never met them, so I don't know what's going on.

Hollie 32:11

Chevy Chase in community.

Sean 32:12

He was great in Community. They don't like him, they couldn't work with him after a while.

Hollie 32:15

He's so good on film though. Like I just...

Sean 32:17

And the vacation movies and...

Hollie 32:19

How do you not like Chevy Chase? You have to like him. I guess you know, working with him is a whole other story. But if Chevy ever hears this, I don't care, I'd work with you. You uh you're just funny. And he was so so cute and handsome when he was young in a very odd, like boy next door way.

Sean 32:36

He was and and I I highly recommend, I don't think you saw it, but I did watch it. I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, which was the documentary about him.

Hollie 32:42

No, I did not see it.

Sean 32:43

It's it's very good, and he he even kind of admits he's a dick.

Hollie 32:48

Well, maybe it's just that way to keep people at bay.

Sean 32:50

Maybe that could be it.

Hollie 32:52

Maybe he wants his privacy. He's still alive right now.

Sean 32:54

He is still alive, yes. Yeah, I don't know what he's working on, but well, no, he was just uh just did that tour for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, remember?

Hollie 33:02

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sean 33:02

Where they talked about the film and everything. So yeah, I know that's I don't know if he has any other projects, but uh yeah, I always love seeing his. And this is I only chose these two together, and I didn't choose the you know, Foul Play because this was 1981.

Hollie 33:14

The year. I know you have a thing about years.

Sean 33:14

This was like a good, for me, one two punch, you know, that I enjoyed two years in a row. I thought he made some really funny films.

Hollie 33:21

Doesn't one of our friends really loved this movie too?

Sean 33:24

I don't really know anyone who loves this movie as much as I do.

Hollie 33:26

I think it's Jimmy.

Sean 33:27

I don't think he does, no.

Hollie 33:28

Oh, somebody does because you've talked about this movie with someone. I can't remember.

Sean 33:31

I know, but I don't...

Hollie 33:32

I'll have to figure it out.

Sean 33:33

Yeah, think about it because I don't think anyone like has the love for it that I do.

Hollie 33:38

Like I said, it's good, but I'll watch it again, but I won't be...

Sean 33:41

I think it's gonna be a while before I watch it again. Yeah, it's not I mean, if it was on, yes. I'm not gonna put in the DVD and watch it that way.

Hollie 33:48

But I do recommend if you like if you like um Wizard of Oz.

Sean 33:51

Yes, if you like Wizard of Oz, this is a great companion piece.

Hollie 33:54

Yeah, only funny.

Sean 33:55

That wraps up another episode, so make sure you hit that subscribe button and download new episodes every Saturday on your favorite podcast platform. For Scenes from the Screen. I'm Sean, and thanks for listening.