S01E01: Wings

The Cinema Social Club takes flight with our very first episode. Tune in as we talk most watched films and we start our journey of reviewing every Best Picture Oscar winner with the very first: Wings.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Hello and welcome to the inaugural episode of the Cinema Social Club. I'm your neighborhood, Cameron, and joining at this round table of cinematic conversation are my co-hosts Glenn, Sarah, and Elisa. And in this season of Cinema Social Club, in addition to our normal movie talk, we will also be working our way through reviewing all of the best picture winners in Academy Award history, but more on that in a bit, because we begin with some entertainment news. And first up, Fox has announced their upcoming television renewals, and 17 of the series are so-called unscripted shows, or what we used to call reality shows, before realizing what a dumb name that was. Confusingly, two of the shows being renewed are Kitchen Nightmares, starring everyone's favorite lovable curmudgeon celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, and also Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service, which is basically Kitchen Nightmares with a bunch of phony, techy, covert weirdness thrown in. And don't worry if you're thinking it's too bad that poor Gordon only has two shows, because next level chef, in which he also stars, is also being renewed. And of course, Master Chef is in no danger of going away. At this point, Fox could rename themselves the Gordon Ramsey Network. In other news, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, better known as the people who hand out little gold sculptures once a year, have announced new rules for the Oscars. One of the rules changes now states that an actor can be nominated in multiple times in a single category in a single year. Asked for comment, Timothy Chalamet said simply, hold my beer. And an additional change to the Oscar rules, all acting nominations going forward will have to be proven to be performed by a human, because this is the world we live in now. This has not, of course, always been an Oscar rule, notably the 1999 Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar was won by a very robotic Gwyneth Paltrow. And now we look at the box office top five for this past weekend. At number five, a new entry from a brooding pop bad girl Billy Eilish, hit me hard and soft, the tour. At number four, it's another new entry, the mystery comedy The Sheep Detectives. It does what it says on the tin. At number three, on the slow slide out of the top five, it's all of your favorite Michael Jackson music video moments smashed into one convenient viewing experience, only without the actual Michael Jackson. It's the biopic Michael. At number two, yet another new entry, it's Mortal Kombat 2, which led me to ask the question hang on, they've made only two Mortal Kombat films? And then I remembered, oh right, it's a rebooted franchise. And finally at number one, for the second week in a row, it's the paycheck in search of a plot. The devil wears Prada 2. Before we get on to reviewing our main Oscar picture for this episode, we're going to briefly detour into some random discussion topic of the week. And for this week, we've assembled each of our top four most watched films of our entire lives. And hopefully, this will give you a little better understanding of the weird characters that we are. And just so there's no accusations of being uh unfair or cheating, this is not a scientifically exact study. These are the four top of our heads that we think we watched quite a lot list. And our heads don't work at the best of times. So good luck with this. Uh, and I think we'll just do round robin one each and go around.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 4:09

And you can give a brief explanation as to why it was why you've watched it more times than you probably should. Uh Glenn, your number one.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

My number one would be a film I watched every year since I can remember probably all the way back to being like seven years old.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

And that was that was during the Lincoln administration. That goes back a long way.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Actually, before TVs, ironically.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yeah, before film. That is the uh Christmas classic White Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

I have seen it. So that means I've seen it at least 58 times. Yeah, I feel like Christmas movies are kind of cheaty on this.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I took them out of it because if I did the math on that, they would win.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

I'll insert another one if you want me to. But you're only allowed one Christmas film before.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Good, because I have one as well.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

And that was because my my mother watched it every year. She loved it.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

And I mean, we were only watching it for the last scene.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

I mean, really, the rest of the is plot fluff that makes me.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

I probably slept through most of that movie as a kid, but I was the one on the sofa with my mom watching it faithfully every year, and I've watched it ever since.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Very nice.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Oh, Lisa.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Well, because Glenn and I are about the same age, I too have watched a movie since I was probably two with my mother.

SPEAKER_04 5:27

Texas Chainsaw Basics every year.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Probably.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

No, it would be The Wizard of Oz.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

That just was our movie. That's fair enough. Uh watched it.

SPEAKER_04 5:40

That was another age thing. Because I find older people think The Wizard of Oz is like a normal, well-done film. Whereas everyone younger just thinks it's like this weird sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

And no, it is true. I do wonder if it's like a bit of a generational film. I don't think it is a generation. Because my parents absolutely love that movie. And I think when I was a kid, I probably liked it well enough. But now as an adult, I just hold no interest for me.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Now, Return to Oz, that's freaky.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

There you go. Now you're cooking.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

That's a scary, freaky movie. Uh Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Uh, I did, and this is a movie that came out the same year that I was born, which was 1995, considerably more recent than my co-host. Um, but this is a movie that I've probably been watching since I was literally an infant, because I'm 100% sure my parents would have put it on when I was a baby, to put because they watched it probably hundreds of times. And that is Rob Reiner's American President. Oh. And I have not stopped watching that movie. As like first I watched it as a family. It was the go-to family movie night. We are a West, we are a West Wing house, so anything Aaron Sorkin related, it was just organically in our house all the time. Um, but then I watched it again as an adult independently, and I probably put it on at least once a year.

SPEAKER_04 6:53

It's just such a good movie. The plus is if you like the lines from an American president, they're gonna show up again in the West Wings. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

You could, it's really just a long West Wing episode.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Uh my first pick is uh sort sort of padded the numbers because when I first got it on VHS, I probably watched it a billion times. I I think I wore out at this at least one VHS tape with because I would watch it and then rewind it and watch it again and then rewind it and watch it again. And that is LA Confidential. Oh, yeah. Worthy. Yeah, quite worthy. One of those films where even when you know what the plot twists are, it's still a great film. Absolutely. Uh Glenn.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Uh, my second one also goes back quite a way. This is actually the second oldest. No, it is the first oldest film in my um four here. It is the thing from another world. Howard Hawkes. Um 1951 sci-fi epic. God, he was all over the map with genres, Howard Hawks.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

Exactly. Yeah. There's not a genre he didn't direct.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

It's probably my favorite sci one of my favorite sci-fi films. I almost said my favorite. Uh that we'll be all right. It's my favorite black and white sci-fi book. And I've been watching it. We recorded, I recorded it off of a VCR, or I had a VCR recorded off the TV one year, probably in the early 80s, and I have watched it multiple times a year.

SPEAKER_04 8:16

Glenn was 48 at the time. Uh Lisa.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Well, I hope I'm not stealing this from your third Glenn, because I think we might have it on our same list. I think we do.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

I think I know what this is.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Got to be the original Jaws. Yep, I figured that was gonna be it.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

Interestingly, I just watched that two days ago, although it is not on my list of most watch films.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Can't get enough. That's a good book.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

Uh I still hate the mayor as well. Uh Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Fair enough. Um, I and I swear not all of my lists contain Annette Benning films, just the first two. And I've decided to go in order by year. Uh, so this is 2003's Open Range, directed by Kevin Costner.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Picked her two best films.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

I really have, because I mean, again, that was a movie that I was introduced to by my parents, and we would always pick it for like Friday night movie nights. So we watched it quite a lot. But again, as I revisited it as an adult, it is such a good Western. It's a character-driven, it is care, it's a character study. It's not just shoot-em-ups and violence and this, that, and the other thing. Although it's also that. It is. It's both. It's like the final scene, the final showdown is probably one of my favorite scenes out of any Western. It's so good. Yeah, that one.

SPEAKER_04 9:28

I agree. It's just unfortunate that he's decided to start making terrible Western movies.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

No, we had a strong start.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Uh number two on my list, uh, may or may not have already shown up in this roundtable discussion. Uh, it is, in fact, the Michael Douglas headed an American president. Yes. Which uh I is on my list because I'm a political junkie. I'm l I'm slightly less interested in the love story aspect of the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

I love the love story.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

I like the fact that they're trying to pass a crime bill and all the intricacies involved in that. And Sarah's in it for the, you know, they're eating off the presidential China in their first date. But what's the point?

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Something for everyone. Something for everybody.

SPEAKER_04 10:09

Uh and Martin Sheen is probably my favorite person in that film, and he goes on to become president.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Uh Glenn. Well, this should come as no surprise to one of my co-hosts, but a movie I've seen almost more than any other, and probably my favorite movie on this list is Jaws. You just can't get enough of it. Absolutely. You can never remake it. That would be a crime against everything.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Um and the and the other ones that they made were horrible. Horrible.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

You know, yeah, horrible.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Standalone film. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:42

The mother still confuses me, though. I was just saying, I watched it two days ago, and I'm like, she looks like she's like 50 years older than this. How does this work? Uh, and then there's the guy standing behind her, and I'm like, well, that could be the grandfather or the father. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

Uh if you know, you know. Alisa.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Uh my third pick might also be on Glenn's list. But since I was 13, the Exorcist.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

The Exorcist, which I would argue is probably too young to be one of the extra.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

It explains a lot.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Probably when I first saw it.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Well, kudos to my aunt who took me at 13 to a 17 plus movie.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Heck yeah, that's what a answer for.

SPEAKER_04 11:29

Uh Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

All right. We are jumping two years forward to 2005's Pride and Prejudice. And that is just I have no notes about that movie.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

My worst watch film in the last year or something.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

I was gonna say I do agree that the American ending versus the original UK ending is significantly worse, but it is still a oh my god, I wouldn't change a casting decision, I wouldn't change a script decision. It is a great retelling of an excellent story, and I watch it at least twice a year.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

Yes, and I have to say, in a film almost entirely about women, the male characters are sort of my favorite of them. They're excellent. Mr. Bingley and the father. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

They're so good. And every casting-wise, there's not a person I would change across the board.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Uh yeah. Uh, my next one, it was a choice between two, because there are two films that as a family we watched every year for at two different times. One was a Fourth of July film, and one was a Thanksgiving film. I've gone with a Thanksgiving film, and that's The Last Walt, which is the film documentary of the band's last performance, live performance, directed by Martin Scorsese and featuring a cast of basically every musician from the 19th to the late 1970s. Uh Glenton. Which you introduced me to, by the way. Indeed, yeah. Well, and you know what the other film was, too, which didn't make my list. But Gettysburg. Gettysburg.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Oh, yeah. And it did not The Exorcist did not make my list. Not of most frequently seen films, definitely beyond the film.

SPEAKER_04 12:58

So yeah, I would find The Exorcist to be a hardware film to watch all the time. Jaw is like a watch. Oh, yeah, you can do that on any.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

So this is the silliest film on my list, and it was close between Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That's what I thought I thought so too. But it it was close between Monty Python and the Holy Grail and this film, but I realize I have seen this film at least twice as many times as Holy Grail. It's kidding. It is Caddyshack.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Oh I've seen that movie.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I mean, probably a hundred times I've seen that movie.

SPEAKER_04 13:27

I'm in the minority of not liking it.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

It's the movie I can quote the most, and it's very quotable, especially if you're a golfer. Sure. We love Rodney Dagerfield in that.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

And oddly, I like Chevy Chason. I like Chevy Chasen, but I don't really like the rest of it that much.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

But I just I've just seen it a million times. Not my favorite film in the world. Yeah. But I like it enough to have watched it.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

It ages better than Ampere. It does. Although that is an animal. That is doing an incredibly low amount of lifting.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Uh Alisa.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Uh well, following up with the exorcist, we're gonna stick to the horror theme. And that would be the original Halloween.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Oh, nice choice.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

So at least once a year on the holiday, but occasionally a few more times in between as well. I love that.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

You gotta love Jamie Lee Curtis.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

And Donald Pleasant.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

There's a lot to love about that movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Uh Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

All right. Mine, uh, even though it has only been out for 11 years, I can say with absolute certainty that I've seen it a billion times because, as listeners do not know, I'm a huge Tom Cruise fan. Every movie he has made, I enjoy. But specifically, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation is, in my opinion, the best of the franchise. They introduce a ton of new amazing characters, and it's just wildly entertaining. I will put it on his background all the time.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Just as a clarification, you are a fan of him as an actor. As an actor, let's be very specific.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

I will be so scared to meet him in real life, but I love him as an actor. That tiny man has a very infectious energy that I enjoy on screen.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Uh last one on my list is the film that I probably watch more than all of these. Uh, in fact, I watched it today as the time of this recording. And that is the film uh starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, All the Presidents Men of course at the Watergate break-in. Yeah, which somehow makes like just sitting at your desk and doing journalistic legwork into the most thrilling thing you've ever seen. It's literally just them reading off a list most of the time, and yet somehow it's very exciting. Uh, and with that little discussion out of the way, we turn to our ongoing self-imposed task of reviewing every Oscar-winning picture in the history of the Academy Awards. And this week, we jump in the Wayback Machine to 1929 and the very first Oscar ceremony. And it was there that our the film this week battled it out amongst so many competitors to take home the coveted best picture statue. And by so many, I mean two. It was one of three films nominated. Rough year for films, I suppose. Our film this week is Wings. The film was first released in New York on August 12th, 1927. And it took another half a year for it to be released in Los Angeles, because I guess things move slower back then, and then a full year later for it to be released nationwide. And oddly, for a film whose subject is a basically World War I air battles, the biggest star in the film is arguably actress Clara Bow. She was dubbed first to be dubbed the It Girl in Hollywood, although it was really more for practical reasons as much as anything else, as she had starred in a film called It. But she was an international star and early movie sex symbol. Alongside her in the film was Charles Buddy Rogers, who also sported a nickname. He was known as America's Boyfriend. Not sure whether everybody got together and took a vote on that or what, but there you go. Anyway, as already mentioned, uh Wings tells the story of air pilots fighting in the First World War. It is perhaps best known today simply because it was the first winner of Oscar's best picture category. But does this black and white silent film from almost a hundred years ago still hold up? Well, it's time for us to decide. Thoughts from my co-hosts are now welcome. So, what do we think? This I went into it thinking this was gonna be a sort of sloggy viewing experience.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

I pictured a snooze fest of sorts.

SPEAKER_04 17:33

And and to your credit, uh Sarah was by far doing the most yawning of the film.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

So that was less about the film and more about my sleep schedule. Um, no, I mean, I thought it was like I have to put myself back in the time period in which it was made because otherwise there's just not a fair way to look at this film. Because if you look at this film by today's standards, although some of the effects I would say hold up, but if you look at the actual storytelling by today's standards, it's it the plot is non-existent for all intents and being. Yeah, like it's there's just not much there um in terms of an actual tangible plot, which is fine. Um, but I will say I was really blown away by the visual effects and just how sprawling the set, because you made that comment, Glenn, while we were watching it, just how big the set would have had to have been to pull something like this off. And when you consider the access that we have now to different technology and different effects that assist in this process versus what they had to work with, and the fact that they were still able to create really riveting dogfight scenes, very convincing battles on the ground, and also just the full scope of movement in any given shot was really breathtaking. And that was the part that I found incredibly entertaining and captivating because it was a two-hour and 20-minute movie that did not necessarily feel like a two-hour and 20-minute movie. It didn't feel like a slog the way that I was about two hours and eighteen minutes. Exactly. And those extra two minutes, those are the difference makers. Um, I was impressed on the whole.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

I was gonna say, no one has mentioned that it was two hours and twenty minutes long. But it was, but it was, and it it actually was much better than I was going to give it credit for. And for me, besides all the great camera work and given the day, um, I learned a whole lot about World War One. Um so it it was a great uh history movie for me, um, as well as watching what they could do with what little they had cinematically in those days.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, I I think it was a worthy picture to have won best picture back then. Um because of the scope, the size of it, the the amount of money they poured into it. And the fact that if you're gonna have a big battle scene in 1927 when they made this, if you're gonna have a big battle scene with thousands of people, you had to have a big area with thousands of people actually in it. Yeah, and you had to, you know, had to have cameras everywhere to film it from different angles to get it. And the dogfight scenes, when you realize how how much better they were than they even looked, because of the fact that cameras back then weighed like 200, 300 pounds, you know, you for all the gear. Also, cameras they weren't digital, they carried only a certain amount of film in them at a time, and when that ran out, you had to land the plane, change out the film canisters, take off again, and start filming again. And it was, you know, just the logistics of making a film like that are insane. Just lots of great camera work. We talked about the cinematographer quite a bit. Yeah, great camera work, great uh visuals, Harry Perry.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Harry Perry. Not Harry Carrey, Harry Carey, different vibe, different energy.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

And you know what? This the story needed to be kind of simple because when you you're thinking about this, is films were still in the early stages. Films plots were simple. So even for that, it was kind of complicated in that they made it sort of a love triangle in a way, um, with the two American Flyers and the girl they loved.

SPEAKER_04 21:06

Well, and arguably it did have a plot twist.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

It did have a plot twist to it. It would have a very nice one.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

It did toward the end there.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Uh, I thought the acting was good for silent film acting. It was it was nice. The people looked great. I see why people loved Clara Bow, you know, and um yeah, I just thought it was an excellent film.

SPEAKER_04 21:22

Although not necessarily that character that she was like, she was a bit of a yeah, she was I found she did have a sort of presence.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

She has a something. I could definitely see why she would have a certain magnetism to her. Her character was very annoying. But I also have to just keep in mind that like I have never been a lover of old, old films because I'm not a fan of like, I'm not a fan of slapstick. I don't love hammed up acting, and that is the cornerstone of so many of these kinds of films that were made. So I it's it's almost unfair for me to judge it from that standpoint because that was just the style of the times. And there's a reason they don't hold a lot of interest. For me, but that doesn't mean that they're not good. Um, so I can definitely see why, especially for the kind of acting that people were responding to a lot then, why she would be such an icon so quickly, because she's got this great look. She is a very fun and engaging person and presence on the camera. Um, and she had a lot of chemistry with the main guy, even as he was like drunkenly rejecting her and obsessing with bubbles. Like they were fun together.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Such a weird scene.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Such an odd scene. They were like, Oh, we can animate bubbles. Let's go with it. A lot, a lot of bubbles.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

Uh, and I'll I'll also say in the about minute and a half that Gary Cooper popped up toward the beginning of the film, you did sort of you could see, like, oh, I could see how that guy, like, yeah, not particularly known now, but this film sort of you could tell there was something there that was going to be discovered.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

Because you sort of watched him versus the other two people on the screen, the the few minutes he was on the screen before they yanked his character away.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

That's pretty sure for him. Too short.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

And and arguably some of the better acting I've seen from Gary Cooper, who was less wooden than he sometimes has the tendency to be. Um so anything else standing out? I mean, I I I will say I did not miss dialogue, which I thought I would.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yeah, I don't just there was there was enough other stuff in there. There was plenty of sound in the picture. For sure. So it's a silent film as far as dialogue went, but there you heard machine gun fire, you heard lots of sound effects in the film, and the music was constant throughout the film and sort of went along with each scene or tried to be help describe each scene. Um, sometimes it was a little too on the nose, other times it was fine, but there was plenty of sound. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

And some of them were along earworms, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Those tunes.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Those little tunes. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

It was great. And you they did such a good job of acting, you knew what they were really talking about. Sure. Yeah, so it was it was pretty great.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Yeah, as far as that went. Uh, and I will and I don't know whether this was a conscious choice or not, but it did seem the acting became slightly more natural as the film went along. And I don't know whether that's because the tone shift and they intentionally did that, or I was just reading into that because of the tone shift that it seemed like they were. Because it at the beginning I'm like, okay, this is real silent movie acting where everything's like real broad and in your face, yeah. Very gestury. And it seemed to be less so as the movie went on. But again, it could have also been the subject matter. Yeah. So it started out kind of comic relief-y, and then obviously you are thrown into World War One, which is maybe the least funny thing to happen. Um, okay, well, let's move on to our categories. Now, the way that we do this is we have four categories that we're judging the movie on. We collectively decide of a score out of five for each of the categories, and those categories are visuals, which encompass a lot of things, cinematography, set design, set design, all sorts of things, uh, story, acting, and then re-watchability, which is basically would we watch this again both for ourselves and then I guess suppose with others, but sure. Uh so we'll start with visuals out of five. Bearing in mind, this is a film that was made in well, probably 1926, that'll be released in 1927.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Bearing in mind that it is nearly a hundred-year-old film, I would give the vis the the visuals five out of five because I was really, really impressed.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

There's some very interesting camera work. Yeah, that I've never seen. That even today you're like, how do they?

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Exactly. So I would give that a five out of five.

SPEAKER_04 25:55

And even when it didn't go like the swing thing, which would be really cool. At first, I'm like, this is kind of gimmicky, but then I'm like, this is really interesting. And how the heck did they do that?

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Or like the overlay of the war to kind of indicate the passage of time while he was sitting there and he just kind of had that running over his head. That was very cool. That split screen.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

It's a bit like having Kira Knightley in a swing going around.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Exactly. It's I love that energy. Really respond to it. So yeah, I mean, I would I this I was most impressed by the visuals.

SPEAKER_04 26:25

Okay. I will say, I first watched this, might have been high school or college, and it was literally like the worst possible. It was one of those things that you would have downloaded on a website. Gotcha. It was probably like, you know, a tiny file, and it was like a horrible quality. And I'm like, this is kind of hard to watch because it's it's real grainy and it does, and they like it was there was a lot of film flaw in it, which obviously this has been a restored right. We watched a restored copy, which they did clearly an incredible job with. Uh so visual, I can't complain about visuals. If we're including cinematography and like camera trick stuff, it would be a five out of five easy for me because there's a lot of stuff here that was impressive.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

I was uh super impressed. I have this was my first silent movie that I have ever watched, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_04 27:17

But I was I don't have that. Find it that hard to believe.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

That makes a lot of sense. I kind of was thinking of a four. Like I thought that would be a really good score until you guys came up with the five. So I'm still sticking to the four.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Okay. This is an easy five for me for a lot of the reasons. A lot of the things you guys said. Um I it was groundbreaking for its time. The the difficulty they had logistically just to create any of the shots they did in the air, I mean, make it worthy of a five for me.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Um I mean, this looks better than a lot of the films from like 1940s, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

No, it's very impressive. Especially because at first I did mistake some scenes for using miniatures that were not. I mean, they did use a few miniatures, but there were times when I thought, oh, there's miniatures, and then I'm realizing no, they get close to the character and the characters, and it's some pretty heavy stuff, so it's it's an easy five.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

Okay. Um, well, I think we'll take an average of five, five, five, four and go with a five.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Yeah, I think five, five. I think we could do that.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

Uh huh. Twist my arm. Next up we have story.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Um, parts of it I enjoyed thing.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

I yeah, yeah. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

I no, I I liked the story. It was good. It was a love triangle and um amidst war. We think of it today as pretty simplistic because we've seen a hundred years of movies since then. And for us, we need twists, we need all kinds of things. I think I'm basing it on its time period. I think the story is worth at least a three and a half to I'll say four. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

I mean, I was between three and four for this for the same reasons because, like, for me, the plot is ridiculously thin, but to your point, that was normal for then. And it was a mil it was a war film. They didn't need a super three-dimensional character plot. It was meant to be under the backdrop of war, and the plot that they wrote gave you what you needed to get out of the film what you needed to, and to pack the emotional punch with the various character deaths and what have you. It just was a little clunky. So I'm leaning.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

I actually think the war plot was better than the plastic. I agree. The war plot was much better than the emotional plot.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

So I'm I'm leaning three, but I could be persuaded to go for it.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

And I give them to Camp's point earlier, I give them credit for something they did at the end, which was a bit of a bit of a twist at the end there. Makes it a better story.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Sure. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Uh Alisa.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Same. I I'm between a three and a four, so I could be a three and a half. Okay. For all the things.

SPEAKER_04 29:55

I think three point five seems pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

I think so.

SPEAKER_04 29:58

Um, okay, next up, acting. Bearing in mind, again, we're judging it based on the 1920s standards. It's not the most naturalistic acting in the world.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

I I think it's I think it's good acting for the time period. I I've seen plenty of silent movies and scienties from that time period, and some of them are so stage-like and melodramatic, the acting and over the top, because most of these people were stage actors who then went on to do films, or a lot of them were. Um and this, despite some of the early scenes, seemed fairly naturalistic to me in the acting, especially with I the one character in particular, I thought David did a good job at that.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

Um I mean, David is arguably the best actor.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Yeah, and he's he's he's very magnetic, and uh he I think he did a great job. So for acting, I mean I gotta give it at least a three. Okay. Which to me is a good good enough. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

I was actually leaning four, I was giving it more credit than that, and I think it was because it it was a bit hammed up, but that again was very normal for the time. But the moments that had a lot of emotional impact, I think, were very intense, like the scene where David is dying and they are in the church together. Spoiler alert for this hundred-year-old film. Yeah. I think that was very good. I think, you know, kind of the feverish way that the actor who played Jack was chasing after everybody in that final battle scene. I thought that was very effective. So each each actor in it had a standout scene that I can think of that I was very impressed by their performance. So yeah, I it's it's a you know generous four, but I'm inclined to give it a four.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

Yeah, I was sort of close to a four as well. I can be talked into a four. Um the the scenes that are hammy are hammy. There's no really getting around it. But the but there was enough in the two plus hours where it was you saw signs of what acting was heading toward rather than what had it left behind that I I I can appreciate it's it's probably closer to a four for me.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Alisa to your point, Cameron. I I think that um I don't know if I saw the acting get better over the course of the film, but I do feel like the war acting was better than the familial and and you know the the parents of David. The home front. Yeah, I thought they were a little worse, but the um commanders and and everyone in the fighting scenes I thought was pretty realistic. So I was gonna give it a four. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

I'll give the guys props for being able to act while being staring around in the sky, too. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

Yeah. Well, and also having fake tanks roll up on you.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 32:54

Um so we have a four, four, four. I'll go with four, okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

So that's a four for acting and now re-watchability, which is, I guess, suppose either on your own or with others you can decide. Uh uh, we'll start with this. Is gonna be the toughest, probably.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Yeah, because this is where it starts to feel less fair.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

I guess I'm go ahead. I'm gonna give it a four.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Wow. We are in very different places with or myself.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

I okay I might watch it. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

Well, that's part of it.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

But I don't know that I have many people I would recommend it to that would not say, you know, why am I watching this when everything has gotten better in cinema?

SPEAKER_04 33:38

Well, and I can I think part of it is overcoming that.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

That's yeah, you gotta get it.

SPEAKER_04 33:42

Because there's gonna be a lot of people who just won't watch it because what they think it is. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:48

Uh Sarah?

SPEAKER_01 33:49

See, this is a tough one for me. And I my initial response for me personally, rewatching it, it's not going to happen. I really enjoyed it. I was very impressed. I could see a scenario where I look up clips of it that I enjoyed, but am I gonna sit down and do this for another two hours and 23 minutes? No, I'm not.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

Although I argue going on YouTube and finding clips is also part of rewatching.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Which is why I went from a two to a three and a half.

SPEAKER_04 34:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Primarily because there are clips of it that I would enjoy rewatching. And I do think there's an important difference between re-watchability and watchability because I do think this is a film that people should see because of what it is and when it came out and how really genuinely impressive it is. But I do think that you can watch it one time and be like, all right, I got it, I'm good, and then kind of not go back. So I went from like it's a personal two, but a deserving three and a half.

SPEAKER_02 34:42

I think I think only true film buffs watch it to specific audience. I want to see what what they did then and how far we've come now.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

And I think you could get that in one viewing.

SPEAKER_04 34:54

Yeah. Or, you know, fans of Claire Poe.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Yes, uh Glenn. Uh, for me, it's it's very rewatchable. I probably at some point will watch this film again, at least most of it. And so for me, it's like a four for watchability, rewatchability for introducing other people to it's maybe more like a three, because there's not a huge range of people I would introduce this to. But if they were film buffs or said they were film buffs, you gotta see it. Yeah, I mean, I just imagine how audiences, you know, in 1927 and 28 took this in because they had never seen anything like this. And if you can put yourself in that mindset of the audience, then it's uh it's very watchable. And so I'd I'll give it a three and a half for rewatchability.

SPEAKER_04 35:40

Uh yeah, I'm about there. I'm thinking in a two-hour and 20-minute film, there's probably about an hour and a half of it that I would go back and make it to rewatch. It's largely the war sections of it. Um, so I think three and a half is probably a good good sort of area for it. Um, so we have two three and a half is a seven plus four is plus five is it's a sixteen. That's true, respectable, which is very good. Yeah, that's pretty good for uh the very first Oscar Best Picture winner, Wings. Very nice, wings, and with that we move on to our final segment, which is fun and games, where each week I devise something to test the knowledge and frankly patience of my fellow co-hosts. And this week we're playing a little game called What's the Link? Okay, each round will have the names of five people, and my co-host will be tasked with figuring out what links them together.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Did not go well last time.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

Uh, we will start each round with three names, and each round, my co-host can ask up to three yes or no questions and can also ask for two additional names if they so need it. Are we ready? Ready, ready. The round one names are Daniel Day Lewis, Kate Blanchett, and Renee Zellweger.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Daniel Day Lewis, Kate Blanchett, Renee Zellweger. I can't think of any mayor that they're all in. They're all in Oscar-winning films. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

Two of them are Oscar winning films. Two of them are, yeah. Best actor, best actress.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Are they all? I think Kate Blanchett won.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

No.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Because Renee Zellweger has.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

And obviously D'Angelo Taylor was. Renee Zellwinger has? Oh, yeah. Um, I don't remember what Cold Mountain for her? For Renee Zellwinger? I think she won for Cold Mountain.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

Well, you can make that one of your yes or no questions, but I wouldn't. I was gonna say, no, I wouldn't, but I'm gonna go. She's marking up on a wrong tree here. Well, no, I'm just saying to discover whether Kate or whether one for Cold Mountain is not a good yes or no.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

I'm fairly certain she's an Oscar winner. Yeah, so we have another ask for another person.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Let's ask we'll ask our questions first before we go to another person.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

Now keep in mind you may want to save some of your questions for one. You know, because we only get three. You only get three questions. Oh, fine. You can use them whenever you can use all three before you get the next two names.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

What do you want to do? Do you want to ask for another person?

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Let's get a person, sure.

SPEAKER_04 38:14

Your fourth name is Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah, that helped.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Well, they are we're back to Oscar winners. Yes. Uh for me, yeah. Could it just be nominees, not winners?

SPEAKER_01 38:30

No, because two of those people have very definitely won.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Can I can I ask a question? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

Yes, if it's a yes or no question.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Okay, well, I want to talk to my co-host first. Did these people I know Leo did bring their one of their parents to the Oscars? Is this people who have no that for the Oscars brought a parent instead of husband, wife, or date?

SPEAKER_02 38:59

Why why would you think that?

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Because I think two of them have done that.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Who are you who do you think the other one?

SPEAKER_00 39:05

I think Kate Blanchett and Leo did.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Okay. I know Leo did, but I didn't know about Kate.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

And I'm wondering about Daniel Day Lewis. Did he bring his mom or something? How do you want to ask that or not? Or do or should we not and uh bark up that tree?

SPEAKER_01 39:20

The other thing, have they all starred in biopics? Daniel Day Lewis certainly has.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Renee Zellweger. Renee Zelwiger has. Kate Blanchett did the Elizabeth film. Oh, I like this better.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Leo also has. He's I'm just trying to think of let's go with that question. Does it which question? Are they all in biopics? Yeah. Okay. Are they all in bio? Is it related to them all being in biopics?

SPEAKER_04 39:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

Okay. I was gonna say the one I'm not sure about though is Leonardo DiCaprio because I can't think of what he was in. That he specifically played a oh, he was in um Oh, Howard Hughes. He played in Howard Hughes. Yeah, he was an aviator.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Yeah, he played in Howard Hughes in the aviator.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

He also played um the head of the CIA.

unknown 40:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:04

Uh FBI.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

FBI, too.

SPEAKER_04 40:06

I'm just giving you that word. No, I appreciate it. I was like, it's what I'm saying. I don't want you butchering history.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

Well, what if they all what if it just is? They all start in biopsy.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

They all started in biopics, and that's what I think it might be.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Like that's we can try it.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

I feel like that's gonna be too broad.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Let's get one more name.

SPEAKER_00 40:19

All right, let's get the last name. Gary Oldman is your favorite. Yeah, absolutely. That's gotta be what it is. I feel like it's gonna be too broad. No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

I bet it's gonna be broad. Let's let's try it.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Can we well we'll ask it as a question?

SPEAKER_04 40:33

No, because if it's if it's your actual guess, you and it's wrong, you're done.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Oh I don't care if we're wrong. That's a good that's a good guess.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

I think that's a good thing. I feel like it's gonna be down to what type of biopic they were in.

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Should I I'll I'll give I'll throw you a bone. Please. Sarah is correct. I know it.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

So broad. Like I think have they all played political figures? Daniel Day Lewis played Lincoln. DiCaprio played Hoover. Kate Planchet played somebody.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Because I can see her in my brain.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Renee Zellwigger.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Judy Garland. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think she's been anyone in anything else. That's the only biopic I can think that Renee Zellwigger is on.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

It has to do with their biopics.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

For sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

Two more questions. You can also give up.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Did they win? Did they win something for their biopics? Is that maybe that's it?

SPEAKER_01 41:29

I'm 99% sure Renee Zellweger did not win for Judy. I really don't think you she won from Judy.

SPEAKER_00 41:36

They were just nominated.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

That I could see. Well, that could be a yes or no.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

But that could be our that could be our final answer so we don't drag this on forever, too.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

We'll quickly ask. Does it have any um does it have to do with an award related to their role? Biopics. Biopics. Biopics.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Okay, so should we try nominated?

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Yeah. Were they all nominated for their roles in biopics?

SPEAKER_04 42:02

Is that your final answer? Yes, yes, that is. Your incorrect answer.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

So what was it?

SPEAKER_04 42:06

The correct answer is all have won the best actor, actress Oscar for playing real life individuals.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

I said Reneezo.

SPEAKER_04 42:15

Your answers are Daniel Day Lewis, Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln. Kate Blanchett, anyone? Dylan?

unknown 42:21

I think.

SPEAKER_04 42:22

Catherine Hepburn in the Aviator. Renee Zelegger, Judy Garland in Judy.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

I did not think she won for that.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Yes, she did. Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Glass in the Revelant. Revenant.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

I forgot that was a biopic.

SPEAKER_04 42:37

And Gary Oldman, Winston Churchill in the Darkest Hour. I will add to that, uh Kate Blenchett is the only actress to win best actress for playing an actress who is also one of best actress. Oh my god, look at that. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Look at her guy.

SPEAKER_04 42:51

We were good.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

We were awesomely close.

SPEAKER_04 42:53

Are we ready for round two? Let's go. Sure. Your first three names are Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sidney Portier, and Steven Spielberg.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

Directors?

SPEAKER_00 43:08

I do not know anything that Douglas Fairbanks.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

I was just going to say, I can't even think of what he looks like.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

He was dashing. He had a mustache. He had a pencil thin mustache, and he was dashing and did a lot of his own stunts.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

Okay, and that's all we know about him. Well, that's all you know about him now. All this table knows about him. Okay. Oh, God.

SPEAKER_04 43:26

Some of us may know more than that.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Douglas Fairbanks. He was a great actor. I'm going to need another name.

SPEAKER_04 43:32

Your fourth name is Kevin Spacey. Wow, this one's now really digging deep. Now bear in mind, you still have three questions.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Steven Spielberg is the one that's like really throwing me for a loop. The other three, I could probably kind of come up with some sort of thing. Well, what are you thinking? Well, I mean, for one thing, they're all actors. That's not too broad. Listen, I didn't say it was a good theory.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Well, why don't we just take the physical?

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Name, yeah, let's do it. No questions first.

SPEAKER_04 44:01

No, let's get the fifth one because I know is John Williams.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

Okay, well, this is really oh man.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

I'm just wondering about multiple Oscars because you could always ask the question, is this Oscar related?

SPEAKER_00 44:13

Sure. Is this Oscar related? No. Yeah, son of a guy.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Is it is there is there a world in which all of them could have worked on the same film or the same franchise?

SPEAKER_00 44:24

I feel like this entire game is just gonna be me prompting questions because you're like, were they all in movies that Steven Spielberg directed? Maybe.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Yeah, but then I feel like he wouldn't be on the list. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

Well, he was in he was in Jaws, technically. Among maybe others.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Well, ask that. That's okay. Do it, Glenn.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

We'll burn our other question. Were they all in movies that Steven Spielberg directed?

SPEAKER_04 44:48

Well, that seems more like a final example.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

I was gonna say, maybe ask if like it has to do with the director.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Does it have to do with the director of the film? No. Well, it's not that then.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Okay, there's that. I have nothing. Did all of them at one point have a tiny little charming mustache?

SPEAKER_04 45:07

Would you like a hint as uh to your third question?

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Sure. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

You may want to ask whether it even has anything to do with films.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Oh Jesus. You know, guys, it just occurred to me. Might this have nothing to do with films?

SPEAKER_00 45:21

I think you should ask him.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Is it possible that we should ask? Hey Kim, just out of the blue sky. Is it possible that this has nothing to do with films? Does this have anything to do with films?

SPEAKER_04 45:35

No.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Okay, well, crap, are they all from the same place? Where would where? I don't know where any of these people are from. Did they all go to high school together?

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Wouldn't he have a question that was just everybody grew up in the same town?

SPEAKER_01 45:48

No, because he's gonna want to know, he's gonna want us to say what the town is. There's no way he's just going to accept it. No, no, I need to. Do you think you would accept if they're all just from the same place? But do you think he would even ask a question like that?

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Go for it.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

You can't even begin to see inside that crazy mind.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

Go for it. Let's let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

We don't have a go for it at this point.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Do the honors. Are they all from the same town?

SPEAKER_04 46:10

That is your final guess as to what links them. Because you're out of questions. Oh, no, we're not.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Okay, then.

SPEAKER_04 46:20

And also that would have been a final guess rather than a question, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

They are all from the same small town.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

You are incorrect.

SPEAKER_02 46:26

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_04 46:27

The answer is they have all received honorary knighthoods from the British government.

unknown 46:32

What?

SPEAKER_04 46:32

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

Kevin Spacey?

SPEAKER_04 46:35

Yeah. Oh, he's done a lot of work in British theater.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

Yeah, he did well.

SPEAKER_04 46:39

And did a lot of work for the Prince's Trust. Uh, round number three. Your first three names are Donald Sutherland.

SPEAKER_01 46:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 46:46

Steve Buscemi, and Richard Gere.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

I mean, they're all handsome devils, especially Steve.

SPEAKER_04 46:52

Would we describe Donald Sutherland? I mean, I love Donald Sutherland. Would we describe him as a handful of the city? No, the eye.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

The only one on that list that is definitively considered handsome. Richard Geere. It's just Richard Gere. I think we get a fourth.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

Your fourth name is Mia Farrow.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Have they all been in what is that director?

SPEAKER_00 47:13

Woody Allen.

SPEAKER_01 47:15

Oh yeah. Um I don't. I the guys who did Fargo.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

The Cohen Brothers. Cohen Brothers.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Have they all been in Cohen Brothers films? Richard Gere, though. Okay. So we have nothing. You have also not asked any of the brother.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

We have nothing with the single thing. Does this have anything to do with films they were in? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

Okay. I was a very hesitant. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

Well, that should give you a glue. I was gonna say it might be a film they were in instead of films they were in.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

But you said that that would never be the thing. Is it their own films?

SPEAKER_00 47:50

They're not collectively in a film. In a film, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Yeah, okay. But it could be related to it's not it's film-related.

SPEAKER_00 47:55

Film-related, not outside of film, like you know, they all go to the same church or something.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

Sure. Should we get number five? Yeah. Yep. Let's get number five.

SPEAKER_04 48:02

Your fifth name, and this will confuse Sarah even further with her Cohen Brothers guess, is John Goodman.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Ooh, yeah, that that will do that.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

Who's been in many Cohen Brothers films? So we have Donald Sutherland, Steve Boucemi, Steve Buscemi, Richard Gere, Mia Farrow, and John Goodman.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

And it has to do with movies. It yeah, has has to do with maybe movies.

SPEAKER_04 48:28

It's tangentially related to film.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

Tangentally related to film.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Well, Steve Buscemi did um well, that was a television show, but I don't know. Maybe it could, maybe that's why it was a because it could be about a type of role that they played.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Mia Farrow throws this one off.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Mia Farrow is the one that easily throws me off. Because I could see it having something to do with like organized crime.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

Can I ask? Because well, why not? Because he Cameron's right. Maybe it's just all right.

SPEAKER_04 48:54

Here comes this is your this is one of the three questions. Which question? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

Are are they all related somehow to playing the same type of role in a movie? Like a detective.

SPEAKER_04 49:08

I will take that question as to be, is it is it based on a type of role? And the answer is no.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

This is a tough one because I'm trying to think, because even if it's not based on a type of role, it could be based on a type of film. Because even if they didn't play, even if they didn't all play detectives in like organized crime movies or something like that, they might have all been I just have a feeling this is gonna be so out of left field. I think it's gonna be something totally crazy.

SPEAKER_04 49:35

I will also slightly clarify because I think it's it's might might be slightly misleading when you said it does it have to do with film. I will say it has to do with the film industry.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Yeah, that's what I was wondering.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

You have one more question if you want to just no one's just throw something out there.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

It could be like, does it have to do with the way they came up in the industry?

SPEAKER_00 49:56

Did they all have the same either acting teacher, coach, or acting school? Well, but is kind of more of an answer than a yes.

SPEAKER_04 50:07

That is giving the answer to that's kind of a that's very specific.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

Did they have the same acting coach?

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Is that your final answer? That's a final question.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

That's a final answer. That's a final answer.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

Because that's like a singular because if the answer is yes, it has to do with how they were trained as actors. How they came.

SPEAKER_04 50:24

No, I would say no to that.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

So that was I have I can't blind alley.

SPEAKER_04 50:29

I've no you're out of questions, you're out of.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

I know. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_04 50:32

So you might as well just throw something at the at the window.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

There's nothing left.

SPEAKER_04 50:36

Or just give up. You can also give up.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

I'm ready to give up unless you I can't come to the case.

SPEAKER_01 50:41

I mean, have they all been in absolute box office flops? Like, I have no clue. I would just say that. All right, have they all been in box office flops?

SPEAKER_04 50:49

That's your answer. Sure. That's it. Uh incorrect. The answer is they are all notable actors who have never even been nominated for an Oscar in their careers.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

Oh yeah. Really? That kind of makes sense for some of them.

SPEAKER_04 51:02

Especially scandalous for Donald Sutherland, I have to say that. I will say that two.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

The two that I would push back on would be Goodman and Sutherland. The other three I think is completely fair. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Shocking.

SPEAKER_04 51:12

Yes. Uh, round number four, your first three actors are Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, and Liam Neeson.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

They are all men actors.

SPEAKER_00 51:24

I'm gonna burn a question just so we can keep going. Um, does this have anything to do with their personal relationships? No. Okay.

unknown 51:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

I was thinking multiple wives, sure, things like that.

SPEAKER_04 51:37

Well, it's Hollywood. I think we could probably assume that every actor ever has multiple wives.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

Okay, Liam Neeson.

SPEAKER_04 51:42

Not Tom Hanks.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

Liam Neeson, Richard Burton. No, he's married Rita Wilson for a billion years.

SPEAKER_04 51:48

Although, was he not married before Rita Wilson? Because they were married then.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

I don't actually know.

SPEAKER_04 51:52

No. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

Can we get a fourth name? Sure. Let's just say that.

SPEAKER_04 51:55

Well, you've already burned a question, so I'll give you a fourth name.

SPEAKER_00 51:57

The fourth name is Burt Reynolds.

SPEAKER_03 52:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:01

Okay, well, Stars of the 70s is out because of Liam Neeson. Yeah, he throws that. Tom Hanks was previously married. No, he wasn't. He was, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:09

Clint Eastwood's a director. Yep. Um, I guess Liam Neeson is not. No. Donald Trent.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

It's it's never gonna be something simple. Like if you've you've read if you realize the last several questions have all been Are they all Clint Eastwood, yes?

SPEAKER_01 52:25

Liam Neeson, yes. Were they all in Westerns?

SPEAKER_00 52:30

Well, I mean, Clint Eastwood Liam Neeson was in a western.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

He was to die in the west.

SPEAKER_00 52:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

I mean, it's like a comedy western, but it's a western.

SPEAKER_00 52:39

Richard Burton.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

That's the one I don't know. Yeah, that's what I don't know if he's ever been.

SPEAKER_04 52:43

Now you have two questions left and a name left.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

Shall we get the name? Let's get the name.

SPEAKER_04 52:48

Your fifth name is Christian Bale.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

Also has been in a Western. That's Rob for me, like Burt Reynolds. I have no clue.

SPEAKER_00 52:57

Does this have can I ask a question? Does this have to do with the genre of film that they did?

SPEAKER_04 53:03

Going strictly by your wording, no.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

I was thinking all Western.

SPEAKER_02 53:08

He's splitting hair somehow.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

Genre of film theory. So it has to do with something related to that.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

I mean, I think we're in the ballpark.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

With but I mean, if it's not if it because by the way, it was specifically the way that you said it.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

Yeah. Yeah. That came back with a no.

SPEAKER_01 53:26

But so something, something in there was I wonder if it's the types of role they played. But have they all played a bad guy? Liam Neeson was the bad guy in his. Clint East one, though, has he ever played the bad guy? Probably in something.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

Played an anti-hero. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

Like he's always played kind of uh Do you want to ask that question? Which question? The type of role? Or just don't use the one.

SPEAKER_04 53:56

Just name the five again, real quick. Okay. Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Liam Neeson, Burt Reynolds, Christian Bale. Glenn had a thought there for a second.

SPEAKER_00 54:06

It had to do with somebody playing like somebody come up with our last question.

SPEAKER_01 54:14

Um, does it have something to do with the type of role they played? We're circling around so much.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

Damn it. No. I'm just wondering if it's an archetype or something.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

That's what I like. That's what I've interested. You said you'd give us a clue. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:29

Well, I'll give you a clue after you get it. I'll give you a clue after you get it wrong.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

It's gonna give it away.

SPEAKER_04 54:33

Oh, yeah. Yeah, because it'll get it'll kind of give in the way.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Do you really think it would? I wonder like have they all played a bad guy?

SPEAKER_02 54:41

Have they all played Have they all played a masked bandit?

SPEAKER_01 54:44

Yes. Well, kind of. Have they all played like a mentor? I'm just now going through my Rolodex of Liam Nissan Rolls.

SPEAKER_00 54:54

And and the obvious thing.

SPEAKER_01 54:54

Did all their daughters get kidnapped?

SPEAKER_00 54:56

Because the Welshman he's throwing me off. He just said to me with the Welshman. Why?

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Why is it throwing off? Yeah, why is it?

SPEAKER_00 55:09

Well, no, I said the Welshman is throwing me off.

SPEAKER_01 55:12

Which one is the Welsh off your burden?

SPEAKER_04 55:14

I'll give you the hint. One of you should be slightly better at this question than the other two.

SPEAKER_01 55:19

That's got to crap. That's gotta be you.

SPEAKER_00 55:21

It's not me.

SPEAKER_01 55:22

I just gonna feel like it's gotta be you. It's gotta be you.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

And why should one be better?

SPEAKER_04 55:29

Well, if I told you that, then we'd really, really know it.

SPEAKER_02 55:32

I think it's something that Glenn, like a movie he absolutely loves, that's just not coming to his head right now. And you're gonna feel like, oh my god, are you kidding?

SPEAKER_00 55:47

I just can't think of a final guess.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

Have they all played pilots? I don't know. I'm just gonna think.

SPEAKER_04 55:55

Are we giving up? Yeah, yeah, I'm giving up.

SPEAKER_01 55:57

I think we have to.

SPEAKER_04 55:59

Okay, I will say, had you worded the question. Which one? Your question is this all about roles that they didn't play? Oh I can reveal to you the answer is they are all actors who have turned down playing James Bond.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04 56:20

Son of a guy. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

They were turned down, or they turned down. Liam Neeson would have been a terrible James Bond. Oh, good that he turned it down.

SPEAKER_01 56:30

He knew. He was, yeah. He was like, listen, guys, I know what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_04 56:34

That was good. That was good. That was good. And the final round, your three names are well, there's five rounds. Five rounds. There's always five. There's always five. Your final three names, Yule Brenner, Anne Bancroft, and Helen Miran.

SPEAKER_01 56:49

God.

SPEAKER_04 56:50

This is mostly because I had to crowbar some women in because it was becoming a very ambominator.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

It's been a sausage fest for sure. Were they all English? Yule Brenner. Anne Bancroft, is that what you said?

SPEAKER_04 57:01

And Helen Miren.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

I mean, one of them.

SPEAKER_00 57:03

She's from New York City. She's New Yorker. Yulbrenner's actually Russian by birth. Well, so is Helen Mirin.

SPEAKER_02 57:10

How about Anne Bancroft? Is she also Russian?

SPEAKER_00 57:13

She's Italian, and I wonder what the other half of her family is. Could they all be from give us a fourth name?

SPEAKER_04 57:20

Your fourth name is Viola Davis.

SPEAKER_03 57:22

Oh dang it!

SPEAKER_00 57:26

He was just waiting to give us that fourth name with the way we were going there.

SPEAKER_01 57:30

Oh man, oh man, oh man.

SPEAKER_02 57:31

What a what a well, we're talking about menage of people things again. They've all won multiple accolades, haven't they?

SPEAKER_04 57:40

I don't know. No, you have three questions.

SPEAKER_01 57:44

Has Halle Beeron won an Oscar? How could she name it?

SPEAKER_04 57:48

The Queen?

SPEAKER_01 57:48

Weirdly, I think that she I don't know that she has.

SPEAKER_00 57:51

She's nominated for the Queen.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

She's been nominated, but I don't know that she's won. Viola Davis has definitely won.

SPEAKER_00 57:57

What?

SPEAKER_02 57:58

Have they all played a king or a queen? The king of Siam, Yule Brenner. And then the Queen. Oh, Viola Davis.

SPEAKER_00 58:09

And then who was the other one?

SPEAKER_01 58:12

Viola Davis might have played a queen.

SPEAKER_00 58:14

Who was the other one?

SPEAKER_01 58:15

Who was the other one? Oh Helen Mirren. I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 58:19

As far as I know, did not play a queen, but I don't know. Maybe she did.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

Can we have name number five, please?

SPEAKER_04 58:24

You may have name number five, and that name is Rex Harrison.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

Oh god. Did not play a queen.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

Probably not. He played a king, though, right?

SPEAKER_00 58:33

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 58:34

Oh, I feel like he did.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

Oh, he he he oh, he played it.

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Can can I ask it? Ask a question. It's not like a guess.

SPEAKER_00 58:42

Yeah, he's played rulers.

SPEAKER_02 58:43

Have all of these people played some type of rulers?

SPEAKER_04 58:46

That's kind of more of an answer than a question.

SPEAKER_00 58:50

Does it have to do with a specific character type that they played? No. Okay. So not not a ruler. How about a yardstick?

SPEAKER_01 59:02

Violet Ames and Helen Mirin are throwing me a bit. Gap-wise, I don't I don't really know that there's a scenario where they would have worked with the same people.

SPEAKER_00 59:11

Can I ask another question? Just to speed this along. Does it have to do with film?

SPEAKER_01 59:17

It's a fair question anymore. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

Like the film industry.

SPEAKER_01 59:22

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 59:23

In part. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 59:25

In part. Is that a fair answer? Because that's just given us a little bit of a few.

SPEAKER_04 59:29

It's a fair answer once you get the answer.

SPEAKER_01 59:31

Yeah, I think that does.

SPEAKER_02 59:32

But that's not really helpful.

SPEAKER_04 59:34

Well, then I'll just say yes then and not you be confused.

SPEAKER_01 59:37

Have they all done stage productions? I know Viola didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

Ann Bancroft did, Yule Brenner did. I know.

unknown 59:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 59:43

Colin Mirenhouse. I think they played the same character on stage as they did in a film, maybe. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

Was Viola Davis in? Did she do? Because the only thing I can think of play-wise for her that I know she did as a film was fences. And I don't know if she ever did that on. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

But it's a play. Rex Harrison did.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:02

She might have.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:03

No Brenner did.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:04

Yeah. Maybe it's that.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:06

All right. So the third question should be have they had to do that. Does it have to do with them repeating a role?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

Okay, it's totally that. It's totally stage.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

But they played a role on stage and in a film, the same role.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:22

I mean, not I'll give it to you. Yeah. The actual answer is that they have all won both the Tony and the Oscar for playing the same character. No.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:31

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:32

So not only did they do it, they won.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

They freaking nailed the toes in both situations.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:36

Yule Brenner for the King of Siam, obviously, and Bancroft for Annie Sullivan for The Miracle Worker. Helen Miren played Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, and she also played it in played her in a different play, so it wasn't the same, but it's the same character. And Viola Davis rose uh Maxon in fences. Yeah, I've got to. We got one. Rex Sarrison, famously Henry Higgins.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:00

Yeah. Woo! Look at us go.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:02

So nice. And with that uh bit of frivolity out of the way, we reach the end of this, our very first episode of the Cinema Social Club. Thank you all for listening and tune in next time when we will continue our march through reviewing Oscar's best picture winners, as well as our other highly underappreciated takes on all things film. Until then, and with my thanks to my co-hosts and all of our lovely listeners, it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.