'80s Movie Montage

Escape from New York

• Anna Keizer & Derek Dehanke • Season 6 • Episode 5

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In this episode, Anna and Derek chat about just how long it takes to walk down 50 flights of stairs, if Donald Pleasance was having any fun, and much more during their discussion of the John Carpenter classic Escape from New York (1981).

Connect with '80s Movie Montage on Facebook, Bluesky or Instagram! It's the same handle for all three... @80smontagepod.

Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.

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SPEAKER_00:

It was an accident about an hour ago. A small jet went down inside New York City. The president was on board. President of what? That's not funny, Plissken. You go in, find the president, bring him out in 24 hours, and you're a free man.

SPEAKER_01:

24 hours, huh?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm making you an offer. Bullshit. Straight, just like I said. I'll think about it. No time. Give me an answer.

SPEAKER_03:

Get a new president. Hello and welcome to 80s Movie Montage. This is Derek.

SPEAKER_02:

And this is Anna.

SPEAKER_03:

And that was Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken giving some pretty good, and I would say possibly timely advice to Lee Van Cleef as Hawk in 1981's Escape from New York.

SPEAKER_02:

That's right. But is it, I know that like for the purposes of IMDb, It's just called Escape from New York.

SPEAKER_03:

It is John Carpenter's

SPEAKER_02:

Escape from New York. Yeah. I can't remember. Did they bring it in that way? I

SPEAKER_03:

think

SPEAKER_02:

so. In the opening. Okay. Yeah. Because I thought that's like, this is now his thing.

SPEAKER_03:

I just didn't want two possessives in front of the title. 1981's John Carpenter.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, gotcha. Okay. Would have been so

SPEAKER_03:

much.

SPEAKER_02:

Nope. No worries. No worries. Yeah. Escape from New York. Were you happy that we finally covered...

SPEAKER_03:

I haven't seen the whole movie, like, from start to finish in a really long time. So, yeah. And that's always, like, the best opportunity to do so.

SPEAKER_02:

And I have never watched the entire thing through.

SPEAKER_03:

Just like me and

SPEAKER_02:

one of the guys. And I'm not talking about the thing. I'm talking about the film Escape from New

SPEAKER_03:

York. We got you.

SPEAKER_02:

So, yeah. This was– maybe I've seen bits and pieces here and there. Like, I kind of knew who was in it and, like, what the general storyline was. But, yeah, this was– essentially a first viewing for me. So, yeah. Let's dive in. Was

SPEAKER_03:

it everything you hoped it could be? It

SPEAKER_02:

was really interesting. For being a relatively short film, it's like under an hour 40, I think, it has really interesting pacing.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It feels like there's so much attention being put into creating this atmosphere.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Kind of like Blade Runner in a way, with just really setting up the world.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I mean, interesting that you say that, because they actually reused some of what they had built for this.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I had no idea, I swear. For

SPEAKER_03:

Blade Runner, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah. Well, I'm sure we'll get around to all those different interesting parts of the film, but we brought them up just a few minutes ago. John Carpenter. That's the guy. The other guy, I don't know if you're going to know who he is off the bat, but once you do, it's kind of a fun little trivia thing. Really? Okay. Yeah. But as far as John Carpenter is concerned, familiar name.

SPEAKER_03:

We've covered him a couple times.

SPEAKER_02:

We have. I love covering his films. It's awesome. He's a great director. I don't know if he's really doing... a ton nowadays. But boy, we have a lot to thank him for in terms of like some of the really great films that he has created. I

SPEAKER_03:

mean, he also, so besides Halloween, the Halloween franchise, we've covered him for The Thing

SPEAKER_02:

and

SPEAKER_03:

also They Live, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

And particularly given the sensibilities behind him making The Thing, some of that did, I think, carry over a little bit in his portrayal of what was happening in Escape from New York.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, like, Kurt Russell just didn't have to cut his hair, right? Because, like, that carried over.

SPEAKER_03:

That as well,

SPEAKER_02:

yeah. They're back-to-back films. Escape from New York's 81, The Thing's 82. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

but I think before Escape from New York, they had worked on Elvis.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure, okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Which was very different.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know if I actually even... Have that down. I

SPEAKER_03:

didn't even realize it until I looked at a little bit of stuff. Until this very moment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, as far as like the big hits, strictly speaking, his writing credits, although they're going to overlap a lot with his directing credits. Carpenter, so pretty much like made his name initially with Assault on Precinct 13, which I Also was a film he directed. Sorry if it's going to be a little redundant. He's one of those amazing guys who does it all. He writes, he directs, he composes music. And then, yes, he gets some cachet because of Assault on Precinct 13. But then it's Halloween, 1978's Halloween, that fully puts him on the map

SPEAKER_01:

and

SPEAKER_02:

just kicks off an incredible career. Although a couple hiccups along the way, which I don't feel were his fault. But... I mean, it's kind of... Or the

SPEAKER_03:

hiccups.

SPEAKER_02:

The thing. Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

well, that's ridiculous because

SPEAKER_02:

that movie is... It just wasn't appreciated when it came out. But so he follows up Halloween with first The Fog, which I'm sure we will cover at some point. Yeah. But... And, you know, he's also one of those directors where it's like you see a ton of familiar faces. Like in The Fog, we also have Adrian Barbeau and Tom Atkins. So he uses a lot of the same actors. It's kind of fun to see kind of this revolving group of actors. of performers and a lot of his work. We covered, because it happens to be the first Halloween film made in the 80s, probably technically like maybe 79, but Halloween 2, which we did with David. So please go check that one out. There is no bigger fan of that franchise than David.

SPEAKER_03:

There is not.

SPEAKER_02:

So that was a super, super fun film to cover with somebody who's such a huge fan of the franchise. I

SPEAKER_03:

wish that, like, because if I'm remembering right, Carpenter himself did not want to even make that

SPEAKER_02:

the way that it was. No, I mean, that's why it's fun. Yeah, I'm still on his writing credits. He and Deborah Hill didn't... They didn't want... If there was going to be a franchise, they didn't want the franchise to go that way. He wanted the anthology

SPEAKER_03:

with the Halloween 3. Which we are

SPEAKER_02:

going to cover. Because also Tom Atkins. Yeah. He basically was like, fine, I will do this. I think this was like, you do this for us, we do Halloween 3 for you. So... I'm sure he got a chunk of change for it as well. But in any case, more writing credits. So I guess the sequel. Have you seen Escape from L.A.?

SPEAKER_03:

I have not because I saw like an image or like a clip of Snake surfing on like a fucking tsunami or something at one point. And I'm like, oh, that looks so bad. And then there's like the clip that I've seen of him like just– chucking up like a half-court basketball shot at one

SPEAKER_02:

point. Oh, I think you've shown that to me.

SPEAKER_03:

So I haven't, but maybe I'll give it a shot. I've never watched

SPEAKER_02:

it. Yet another sequel that maybe, well, some people maybe would say shouldn't have happened. Yeah. He does have an uncredited credit, believe it or not, for Halloween 3, Season of the Witch. Oh. He did. Now, you like this film, right? Prince of Darkness?

SPEAKER_03:

I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_02:

Why do I keep thinking that?

SPEAKER_03:

I do not know.

SPEAKER_02:

Because I feel like I say that every time when it comes up.

SPEAKER_03:

Maybe. He

SPEAKER_02:

also took a pseudonym for that particular. He's taken a couple pseudonyms. For Prince of Darkness, he wrote it under Martin Quartermass. Okay. Okay. And then, yes, when we did They Live, which you should totally check out. We did with Bob. He wrote it under the pseudonym Frank Armitage.

SPEAKER_03:

Interesting. Armitage.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, is it... I thought it was... Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

I have no idea. I just wanted to say it

SPEAKER_02:

that way. You want a little bit more flair. Okay, gotcha. So that was honestly such a great film to cover. I really didn't know anything about They Live. That is an incredible film. There's a lot... Very timely.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, again, it

SPEAKER_02:

is... Way ahead of its time.

SPEAKER_03:

It is, but to the extent that people can interpret things one of a couple different ways, it does feel like some people are... Yeah. Yeah. I feel you. To be so misunderstood. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Well... Moving on. I mean, moving on. And of course, you know, Halloween is the franchise that he's known for. So he has writing credits because he originated the material along with Debra Hill. So Halloween 5, Halloween, I guess, 6, The Curse of Michael Myers. And then I think it's beginning to get more love again. I think it was... kind of dismissed for a while, but H2O. Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That's one of my favorites. I think it's beginning to kind of come around to people appreciating it in comedic retrospect because of what's come out since. But yeah, I love H2O. I

SPEAKER_03:

don't dislike the newest ones. They're not my favorites, but they're fun enough to watch. They have some great moments, but there are some in the middle that that are kind of rough and h2o is actually kind of fun to watch the rob zombie ones i just can't

SPEAKER_02:

oh no i don't even i don't even like that they're so this is kind of funny to say about what's already a horror franchise yeah they're so depraved like they're so they're so nihilistic like it's it's

SPEAKER_03:

the wildest thing is that not fun to watch the guy that made those also made that Yeah, you

SPEAKER_02:

sure did. Yeah, to your point, though, about kind of the middle Halloween movies, I'm not really plugged into the whole Jamie storyline. Yeah, isn't there

SPEAKER_03:

one with Coolio?

SPEAKER_02:

So that is Resurrection, but that's not Coolio. No, it's Busta. It's Busta. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

apologies. Apologies to both Coolio and Busta.

SPEAKER_02:

As long as you just skip over the... the beginning sequence of that film because it's such a lame send-off for Laurie Strode. Yeah. If you skip over that, it's just a dumb horror movie, but I kind of enjoy it. I don't actually mind Resurrection. And then, yes, to your point, the latest trilogy, which...

SPEAKER_03:

Halloween, Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends? Correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So, which... The best thing about those is the remastered soundtrack that he collaborated, I think, with his son. He came back to kind of juice up the music a little

SPEAKER_03:

bit. The scene of Michael Myers with the burning house in the background.

SPEAKER_02:

With the music.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, is one of the best things in the entire franchise.

SPEAKER_02:

Sorry for the lame description, but it's a killer scene. Killer scene. It's fucking metal. Yeah. It's amazing. And then last writing credit for him, Ghost of Mars. Okay. All right. So the other credited writer, if I say the name Nick Castle to you, do you know who that is?

SPEAKER_03:

Hmm. I mean, I'm looking at the IMDb.

SPEAKER_02:

That's fine. So kind of. D-P-E-F-D.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

But still, no, I wouldn't have known.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, but who is he now, now that you do know? I

SPEAKER_03:

mean, now I see that he's the guy that directed The Last Starfighter.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, he is. That's a really interesting credit that he has. But

SPEAKER_03:

I suspect that's not who you... Oh, wait, is he actual Michael Myers? Yes! Holy shit.

SPEAKER_02:

He's the original Michael Myers. Wow. Yeah. So they just have a friendship and have... collaborated on a couple of things and he's also done his own stuff.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I'll talk about this later, but it's good to be friends or on friendly terms with John

SPEAKER_02:

Carpenter. Yes. Turns out. Yes. Yeah. He seems like a pretty cool dude.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So Nick Castle, now to your point, he directed Flight of the Navigator. Yeah. The reason why I think it's fun that he's part of this film is because he is the original Michael Myers. But as far as writing credits, because that's his contribution to this particular film, we have Skatetown, USA, The Boy Who Could Fly, Tap,

SPEAKER_03:

Hook. I remember when The Boy Who Could Fly came out and it was like kind of a big thing.

SPEAKER_02:

Who's in that?

SPEAKER_03:

I have no idea. I never even saw it. I just remember seeing the commercials thinking like,

SPEAKER_02:

nope. Maybe, I don't know the finer details if it was like really a true collaboration or because he was part of this film. He also has a credit for Escape from L.A. Okay. Like character credit. Oh, characters, yeah. He has an uncredited credit for a film called Lockout, which I am not familiar with.

UNKNOWN:

Oh.

SPEAKER_02:

But here we go. There's also a film called Plissken. Interesting. That he is credited for, so. I

SPEAKER_03:

thought he was dead.

SPEAKER_02:

Is that like a tagline? I thought you were dead?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't, like, that just seems to be a gag. Well,

SPEAKER_02:

okay, so let's take a second here.

SPEAKER_03:

Everyone in the movie is like, everyone knows who he is. Yes. And everyone thought he was dead.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. So let's take a second because what we're going to do next is just go to Carpenter's directing credits, which is fantastic. A lot of the same names we've just brought up are titles. Why does everybody know who Snake Plissken is?

SPEAKER_03:

Not sure.

SPEAKER_02:

All I know about him, all that they actually reveal to us is that he was like in the military and he was extremely proficient at what he did while he was in the military.

SPEAKER_03:

He was real good. He

SPEAKER_02:

was real good. Special

SPEAKER_03:

forces.

SPEAKER_02:

And for some unknown reason, he goes rogue. So to speak. What he tried to steal something is steal money from a bank.

SPEAKER_03:

From a federal reserve. From a federal reserve. It seemed like Harold was part of that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Like they had a history.

SPEAKER_03:

Like you left. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And even Hawk. Am I saying that right?

SPEAKER_03:

Hawk.

SPEAKER_02:

Like he has like this weird kind of like respect for. Or like kind of a acknowledgement of who Plissken is. But even beyond that, yeah, every single person, even that one chick who immediately gets taken by the, I was going to say goonies, by the zombies, the crazies.

SPEAKER_01:

The crazies, yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Essentially act like zombies. They act like the 28 Days Later zombies.

SPEAKER_03:

They're just wild. Yeah. Just waving their arms.

SPEAKER_02:

She knows who he is.

SPEAKER_03:

Snake Plissken here.

SPEAKER_02:

How do they... Why? Why do they all know who this guy is? It's never explained.

SPEAKER_03:

It's not.

SPEAKER_02:

You would have expected even the president to be like, oh, yeah, I know you. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

I kind of was expecting even the president to be like, Snake

SPEAKER_02:

Plissken. Yeah, like... Why do they all know? I don't know if that was cut out of this. I don't know if there was more backstory that we just didn't get, but it would have been nice. I would have actually liked to have known why they all know who he is. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

Maybe there's a reason. Maybe there's not.

SPEAKER_02:

Maybe there's not. So back to Carpenter and his directing credits. So now his very first feature film, not Assault on Precinct 13. It was a film called Dark Star. From there he does Bounce to Precinct 13. And then again, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from L.A. He– Wasn't the writer, but he was the director on the thing. So we did that one with Jeff. Do check that one out. Like, it's a phenomenal film. We mentioned a couple minutes ago it wasn't received well when it came out. Which is

SPEAKER_03:

ridiculous. It is. I don't get it, but... I

SPEAKER_02:

don't know if it's just something... It's not probably really correct to say something in the zeitgeist, but the fact that, like, in the very same year, a very different alien movie came out called E.T. So maybe that's just, like, what people were leaning into at that point in time, and maybe that's why it wasn't appreciated. But it a tiny bit derailed his career because he was, like, set up to direct something else. I don't remember what it was at the top of my head. But, like, that– That's why that didn't happen, which is why kind of as a backup, he then directed next Christine, which we also did. Yes,

SPEAKER_03:

we did.

SPEAKER_02:

Which is a fantastic film. Go check that one out.

SPEAKER_03:

It's a pretty good adaptation of the novel, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I really like it. Yeah. So he also directs Starman, so veering a little bit away from what I think he is primarily known for. Gosh, one of the very first films we covered on this show, Big Trouble in Little China.

SPEAKER_03:

That might be one of my favorite movies of his. Okay. Honestly, yeah,

SPEAKER_02:

it's so good. Also with Kurt Russell.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he is not... the protagonist, but you're made to think that he

SPEAKER_02:

is. Kind of just along for the ride, to be honest.

SPEAKER_03:

But that's not what Jack Burton is about.

SPEAKER_02:

We did that one with Owen. Please go check that one out. Although, be kind. That was like one of our very first episodes. We didn't exactly have smooth running machine yet, if we even do

SPEAKER_01:

now. Do we now?

SPEAKER_02:

He directs Prince of Darkness. And then as mentioned, they live. Oh yeah, I love

SPEAKER_03:

that movie. Just kidding. I see.

SPEAKER_02:

And then he does Memoirs of an Invisible Man, In the Mouth of Madness, Vampires. Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

He also directed Ghost of

SPEAKER_03:

Mars. We've never seen John Carpenter's Vampires for one reason. Yeah. It rhymes with shmame schmoods.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, he can fuck off. Okay. Cinematography.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

We're going to have a lot of familiar names. Like I said, he likes to work with the same people. And why change things up when you're working with somebody as amazing as Dean Cundey? Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

I thought I recognized that name. We've done this long enough now to where when, you know, and this is something a little bit more unique to 80s films where you just have to suffer through like the first five minutes of opening credits. And I see the name and I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember that

SPEAKER_02:

name. Yeah, I mean, it is really funny. That is a very common thing. note that we have where you're just like sitting through two or three minutes of nothing but like credits on a black screen

SPEAKER_03:

and it's it's definitely not just the because like you know decades before then i'm assuming we're pretty similar i don't know when it stopped

SPEAKER_02:

that's a really great question I guess I would– I don't know. I guarantee you somebody out there has written about it or done a podcast about it. I guarantee you. But you're absolutely right. I mean it has really changed up because even in like– if we're talking like super early films, like, okay, so let's go back to like It's a Wonderful Life.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Then it's just like– I'm pretty sure it's just someone holding pages

SPEAKER_02:

of credits. It is a book pages being turned, yes. And so it had its own thing. Actually, a really fun opening credit sequence is To My Man Godfrey, where it's kind of like the names are lit up in high-rise buildings across the New York skyline.

SPEAKER_03:

That is fun.

SPEAKER_02:

So they used to have some fun with it. The 80s, they're just like, whatever. That's

SPEAKER_03:

just too bad, too. Well, especially for a lot of the Carpenter movies, it's just like, boom, boom.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Black screen. Yeah. White credits, boom, boom. Yeah. Good job. For like five minutes.

SPEAKER_02:

For five minutes. So Dean Cundey, though, he has had an amazing career, and we've had so many beautiful films because of him. He definitely has a stake in horror. Some of his earlier credits, Satan's Cheerleaders, which I bring up every time.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that title comes up a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

Such a fun title. Yeah. We need to just watch that at some point.

SPEAKER_03:

We should.

SPEAKER_02:

He was the DP for Halloween as well as Halloween 2. I mean, he and Carpenter have collaborated a bunch. So he also was the DP on The Fog. Another super fun film name, Jaws of Satan.

SPEAKER_03:

Jaws of Satan.

SPEAKER_02:

Jaws of Satan.

SPEAKER_03:

So just taking a small step back. Sure. Satan's Cheerleaders is about a cheerleading squad that gets kidnapped by a janitor working for Satanists needing a virgin sacrifice. But one of the cheerleaders is a witch.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I actually love that. Yeah. I thought you were going to tell me none of the cheerleaders were virgins. I thought that was going to be kind of the joke.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, one

SPEAKER_02:

of them's a witch. That's actually kind of the joke in Jennifer's body. Yeah. Is that she's not actually... Okay. Um... And then also that's actually kind of a joke in Cabin in the Woods as well. Yes. So.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Isn't Sigourney's Weaver line like we work with what we have?

SPEAKER_02:

We work with what we got. It's really good. So, okay. And then Jaws of Satan. What's Jaws of Satan?

SPEAKER_03:

What is it about? Yes. Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

Is it? It's not like they can't. It cannot be about a shark, right? Like or any shark, shark adjacent type story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh, hmm. Jaws of Satan. Would it, could it possibly, uh, hmm. A preacher whose ancestors were cursed by druids battles Satan, who has taken the form of a huge snake.

SPEAKER_02:

Interesting. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Kind of intrigued, though.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I'd watch that as well. Also, listen to my new podcast where I just read the synopsis of movies on IMDb. I think it's going to do really well.

SPEAKER_02:

So, Cundy, also the DP on The Thing. He also, although, like, Carpenter wasn't as involved with this, Halloween 3, Season of the Witch.

SPEAKER_03:

Why was he not that involved with it if he wanted it to become more of an anthology? I'm not.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. That's a great question. I mean, he didn't direct it. So I don't know. Maybe the only thing I could think of is that that point, I'm trying to think of, as far as timeline, the thing had already come out.

SPEAKER_03:

He wrote it?

SPEAKER_02:

He has a credit for it, but it's uncredited credit. I don't know if because of... Okay. I don't know. I'm speaking out of turn. I would have to kind of do a little bit of a deeper dive on that. But Cundi... Also the DP on Romancing the Stone.

SPEAKER_03:

That is fun.

SPEAKER_02:

Which we did way back in season one with Krishna. Please go check that one out. I mean, we've covered him a ton. We've covered him a lot because we've also done Back to the Future as well as Back to the Future Part Two.

SPEAKER_03:

Which I think is your favorite of the trilogy, right?

SPEAKER_02:

He did three as well. He did shoot Big Trouble and Little China. Yet another film that we... I mean, okay, so wait. As far as all the films that I've listed... We've literally covered almost every single one except for two, which we almost certainly will do in the future, one sooner than later, because we are going to do Halloween 3. And probably even though it's not necessarily high on my list as far as favorite horror films, I'm sure we'll do The Fog.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_02:

He gets his one and only so far Best Cinematography Oscar nomination for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which we also did with Jonathan. Go check that out. Now we come into the 90s, so we can no longer cover the films that he did. But some huge, huge hits. Death Becomes Her. Oh, yeah. You love that one. I love that movie. It's great. He is the DP for Jurassic Park.

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to Jurassic Park.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So big, big, big, big film. That's good because

SPEAKER_03:

that's one of the things I remember about that production is that they spared no expense.

SPEAKER_02:

They spared no expense.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

He is the DP on Apollo 13. And then he has come around to television. So he has shot a few episodes of the book Above a Fet and The Mandalorian. Which one does The Mandalorian come back?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know. I'm not sure. It's been a minute. Yeah, it has been. And

SPEAKER_02:

it ended with Luke... Taking away Grogu, right?

SPEAKER_03:

No, there was another season after that. Oh God, I don't even remember. Where, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, it's because it wasn't that great.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that one episode was like one of the greatest things

SPEAKER_02:

I've seen. One of the greatest episodes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Just the end of that episode was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it really was. All right, music. Oh, would you look at that? It's John Carpenter. Yeah. So let's just go through these fairly quickly. I'd like to maybe spend a little bit more time on his composing partner. Well,

SPEAKER_03:

it is John Carpenter's

SPEAKER_02:

Escape from New York. That's what I was saying. He did kind of everything. So Assault on 13, Precinct 13. I cannot roll that off the tongue very easily. Hopefully that's the last time I have to say it.

SPEAKER_03:

Assault on 13.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, exactly. Halloween, The Fog, Halloween 2, Escape from L.A., Halloween 3, Season of the Witch, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live in the Mouth of Madness, Vampires, Ghost of Mars, the 2022 Firestarter. Oh, okay. Yeah. Uh-huh. And then also the trilogy, which I mentioned, which is honestly probably one of the best things about that final trilogy. Final as of right now.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But on a ton of these movies, Carpenter has a composing partner. His name is Alan Haworth. And, I mean, they do collaborate on a ton, especially like the Halloween movies. But he also does his own stuff.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But it's all kind of in the John Carpenter world, I guess you would say. John Carpenter, the JCU. Yeah. Okay. Called the JCU. So some of his credits. So he didn't work on the very first Halloween, but he does collaborate with Carpenter on Halloween 2 as well as Halloween 3. He's come up before because also between Halloween 2, he also did Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live. He also collaborates with Carpenter on Prince of Darkness and Halloween 4. Well, let's see. Hold on. Hold on. Back it up. Back it up. So Haworth kind of takes over as a four because Carpenter actually doesn't have a credit for those middle Halloween films. So it's Alan who is credited as composing on four and five and Curse of Michael Myers. Okay. And then the last one I have for him is a film that's called My Redneck Neighbor.

SPEAKER_03:

Chapter one, The Rednecks Are Coming.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, my apologies. No

SPEAKER_03:

worries.

SPEAKER_02:

So there you go. Okay. Not necessarily a new name, but not somebody that we've already talked about three times in this episode. Film editing, Todd C. Ramsey.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So interesting credits. I have all films for him. He was the guy who cut the original Star Trek, the motion picture.

SPEAKER_03:

There must have been some drugs involved because you've never seen the first one. No. We've all watched the second one. Yeah. together also with the one it's it's hard to describe just how different those two movies feel vibe like the vibe is so different um yeah yeah motion picture is a whole thing it's an experience

SPEAKER_02:

it's an experience 70s right

SPEAKER_03:

yes

SPEAKER_02:

okay so he cut that he was the editor on the thing so that's uh as of right now the first time we've brought him up i i don't I don't know if there's going to be another opportunity to talk about Mr. Ramsey. He also cut The Exorcist 3, which I know you hate. No,

SPEAKER_03:

I love The Exorcist 3.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, you do love... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. You do love Exorcist 3. It is The

SPEAKER_03:

Exorcist 2, The Heretic, that I think is terrible. But The Exorcist 3, I'm sure I've said this before, actually is the second novel. So if you're reading the books, it's more of like a direct sequel.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. So how did... Exorcist 2 ever even come about?

SPEAKER_03:

All I can say is it was probably the studio's fault.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay. That's fair. When in doubt. So there must have been like, I guess maybe director's cut of Exorcist 3 because he has credits for the Exorcist 3 and then Exorcist 3 colon Legion.

SPEAKER_03:

Which is the name of the book. Okay. Which is interesting. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

He also cut Highway to Hell, Game of Death. The Culling, and then 2021's Uploaded. Oh, okay.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Okay. Now we're at the stars of the film. First of all, we brought them up. Kurt Russell, Snake Plissken.

SPEAKER_03:

Kirk Douglas.

SPEAKER_02:

Kirk Douglas. Insider joke. Plissken, I've said, I said this off the record. I know you can't take the L out because then that makes his last name kind

SPEAKER_01:

of a joke. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But Plissken, and they all... It's such a recurrent thing in the film of calling him by his last name or him asking him to be called by his last name, whatever. Well, at the end. At the very

SPEAKER_03:

end, yeah. Yeah, because at the beginning he's like... Call me Snake. Call me Snake.

SPEAKER_02:

But Plissken is like... Am I just weird in thinking it's not... A name that easily rolls off the tongue?

SPEAKER_03:

You do not like that name. And I don't know how to judge that dislike of the name.

SPEAKER_02:

Do I just have a hard time saying words? Probably. But... Doesn't roll for me. But yes, Kurt Russell. I mean, he's very fun to watch.

SPEAKER_03:

So what if I told you that the name was taken from a real person?

SPEAKER_02:

Really? It was inspired by somebody who... Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Carpenter knew someone in high school or a friend of his suggested someone that he knew in high school who was sort of a tough guy who had a large snake tattoo on his abdomen. And his last name was Plissken and went by the nickname Snake.

SPEAKER_02:

No way. Really? All those things? Yeah. Isn't that like, can't you kind of get in trouble for that? Because if you're...

SPEAKER_03:

Carpenter said anyone with a snake tattooed on them someplace, that's my kind of hero.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Sure. Whatever. You wanted

SPEAKER_03:

to know why? That's why. Thank you. But also, like, yeah, they probably had to go through some process to get that name, to make sure that name

SPEAKER_02:

was okay. I mean, it's his real name. Well, Snake isn't his real name. Identifiers of, like, a snake on his abdomen. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Kurt Russell, he has had an amazing career. Not the first time, of course, given everything else we've just talked about in this episode. Not the first time we've brought him up. I guess it's been a couple years, though. I think maybe the last time we talked about him was The Thing. Probably. Probably. Yeah. So working very much up until this day, and I have– so, okay. I somewhat glossed over– he was a child actor. He's had a really interesting, like, professional life because he was a child actor.

SPEAKER_03:

He was, and that's why it was, like, getting this role– Yeah. Yeah. They were looking at people like Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson. No, he's

SPEAKER_02:

a good choice. Yeah, no, he

SPEAKER_03:

pitched himself hard because he really wanted to do this. And that, I think, was probably also why he came up with a patch to give himself a different look.

SPEAKER_02:

No, that's really interesting. Because also, he was this... Oh, really? Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

That's

SPEAKER_02:

–

SPEAKER_03:

That world. Super interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And it just didn't happen. And so he kind of reverted back to acting, which lucky for us

SPEAKER_03:

– What a shame.

SPEAKER_02:

But you know what? I can kind of– I don't know. I mean, I guess it all is like coulda, shoulda, woulda or whatever. But like whatever his talent might have been, he probably would have been a really charismatic athlete as well. Yeah. But he's a great actor. Some of the credits I have for him when he was much younger– A lot of TV. He was on a show called The Travels of Jamie McPheeters. Okay. Did that. A TV series called The Quest. And then now we are getting into the 80s, so we're bumping ahead a little bit. I have all films for him until very, very recently again. So he was in the film Used Cars. Yeah. This breaks my heart. He was the voice of Copper in The Fox and the Hound.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, my God. I

SPEAKER_02:

can't ever watch that movie again. But he's in that. As mentioned, The Thing. Silkwood. I don't think I want to watch that either. Silkwood. That's kind of heavy. It's a heavy film. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

They literally name a shower after that movie.

SPEAKER_02:

Almost anything that has Meryl Streep in it in the 80s is probably

SPEAKER_03:

like

SPEAKER_02:

real tough to get through.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't need this in my day today. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But a good film nonetheless. Yeah. Big Trouble in Little China. I don't know if we're ever going to do this one. Overboard. I... Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I know

SPEAKER_02:

I'm being incredibly like... Like I am not... There's no fair playing field here as far as like films that I won't cover because of being problematic. But... I don't know if I– I just maybe draw the line on completely duping somebody who's lost their memory and basically like indenturing them into your family, saying that they're the mother of these kids, sleeping with her under false pretenses.

SPEAKER_03:

That

SPEAKER_02:

all happens, yeah. It's not great.

SPEAKER_03:

I have a friend who for some reason has probably seen that well over 100 times.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Mostly because at the time, like when we were younger, his mom was a hairdresser and the shop that she worked out of was right next door to like a video rental place. And they just always had it on. Like whenever I'd stop, I'd stop by, we'd go somewhere. Like it was just, it was always on.

SPEAKER_02:

I am not one to judge having a movie on repeat, but that's an interesting one to have. He was in Tango and Cash with Stallone. We can cover that. We could. Yeah. Stallone is somebody who's also not on my favorite list. Well,

SPEAKER_03:

what better forum for us to talk and just shit on them for an

SPEAKER_02:

hour? Sure, sure. So now we're moving into the 90s. He's in Backdraft. Oh my goodness. So good. And Tombstone.

SPEAKER_03:

He's a good Wyatt Earp, but... it doesn't matter because of Val Kilmer. Of course. As Doc Holliday, it just outshines like, almost every other performance in that movie, but

SPEAKER_02:

he was great. Arguably not to like throw shade at whoever is the credited director. Apparently, like, I'm sure I brought this up last time we talked about it. Russell essentially directed that film because the director wasn't really directing. So, so he, thank God. It's a great film. He apparently uncredited credit for Kind of circling back to something you said a couple minutes ago, he was the voice of Elvis in Forrest Gump.

SPEAKER_03:

So did they just use the footage from his Elvis movie?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Elvis stays at Forrest's

SPEAKER_03:

mom's

SPEAKER_02:

boarding house.

SPEAKER_03:

So that's just him

SPEAKER_02:

doing the voice. It's him teaching Forrest how to dance.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Or rather... He's, like, strumming his guitar. Forrest does his own kind of interesting mode of dance because he's wearing the leg braces. Yes. And then so the joke is that Elvis was inspired by the way he danced, and that's how Elvis got his dance moves. That's

SPEAKER_03:

so interesting because—and I'm going to bring this up now. The fact that his character in this movie, Snake Plissken, was very much, like, that— The movie Escape from New York and the snake character were big parts of the inspiration for a video game series called Metal Gear, directed by Hideo Kojima, who John Carpenter knew and was friends with. And it was so heavily based, like there's one Metal Gear Solid where... It's a guy that kind of looks like him with a patch. And his nickname, his codename is Snake. And at one point, he goes undercover with the codename Plissken. And people were trying to encourage Carpenter to, like, sue because of this. And he's like, no, I know this guy. He's a good guy. I like him. They also tried to get Russell to do the voice of him,

SPEAKER_01:

of the character in the game. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03:

But he... I think he just wanted to do movie. Particularly back then, I don't think there was the same, like, no, I don't want to do a video game. But part of his response was that he works for these characters, he builds up to perform, and then it's over. So it's interesting that he did this Elvis thing in the late 70s and then did it again for Forrest Gump.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I'm also, I'm not super familiar with the film, but is he Elvis in 3,000 Miles to Graceland? No.

SPEAKER_03:

But it's kind of like a character. It's like an Elvis impersonator. Got it. Okay. So he can't escape Elvis, apparently.

SPEAKER_02:

He also can't escape L.A. Or can he? Because he comes back. Do you like my segue? That was

SPEAKER_03:

amazing. That was so good.

SPEAKER_02:

He's in Escape. Of course, he reprises his role in Escape from L.A. Also a film I really. Do we own it? I think we do own it. Stargate. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's in that. That's a good one. I wonder how many people know about Stargate. I feel like it's kind of under the radar.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I think people know about it because it was a pretty long-running series.

SPEAKER_02:

Is it the same world? It's the same, did the film precede the TV series? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, but there's

SPEAKER_02:

been like a- But it's based off the film.

SPEAKER_03:

Based off the film, yeah. Okay. There's like a long running Stargate

SPEAKER_02:

series. But none of the people, like him and James Spader are not part of it.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't think any of the same people are in it. Okay, gotcha. It's one of those series. Got it.

SPEAKER_02:

So he's in that, moving right along. Oh my God, this was so cringey the other night, where they interspersed Cuts of Miracle with Four Nations. Oh my God, yeah. That was so cringed. That was stupid. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03:

One, it's not the Olympics. It's not the Olympics. It was fantastic. For anyone who has no idea what we're talking about, we're talking about the Four Nations Face-Off, which was the NHL's solution to an all-star weekend that no one really was interested anymore.

SPEAKER_02:

Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep. And they had maybe a week and a half, two-week tournament. And... it just blew up. It became like huge. People were going crazy.

SPEAKER_02:

Kind of weird, but sure.

SPEAKER_03:

But it was a lot of fun. And then they take place around the same time as the NBA All-Star Game. Everyone's like, this is bullshit.

SPEAKER_02:

But I'll just say when it was the final, which was between Canada and USA.

SPEAKER_03:

There was like an intermission portion. Yeah. Where they were like showing clips of him and then just all the players were Like, actually in the locker

SPEAKER_02:

room. Probably listening to the real coach. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But they all kind of looked like, what?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it just

SPEAKER_03:

didn't work. It did

SPEAKER_02:

not work. It did not work for me. No. Okay, anyway, moving on with his filmography. So, Rodriguez's films, I think, and also Tarantino, right? Because didn't they kind of work together on Grindhouse and Death Proof?

SPEAKER_03:

And The Hateful Eight? Wasn't

SPEAKER_02:

he in that? Yes, I have that one as well. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then... God damn it. Yeah. Yeah. The first letter. That's why it makes sense. That's why I understood why that happened. But

SPEAKER_03:

it's Kirk versus Kurt, right? Correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

You get the K and the R. But that film is... Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

Bone Tomhawk. Yeah. And I recommend that everyone avoids this and do not watch it. Or if you're going to watch it, when they get caught, just assume that the movie's over and don't watch any more of it. Because... You're about to see a guy held upside down and split open with a tomahawk, and it's not fun.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I don't need to watch it.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm going to go back in his timeline just to give a shout out to Breakdown. Oh, okay. Which I thought was surprisingly not fun, because it's about a guy who's on a trip, I think, with his wife, and they stop to get some food or gas, and she's just gone. Oh. She disappears. And the whole movie is him trying to convince people that she didn't just leave him and him trying to find who abducted her.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

But I thought it was a good movie.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Well, also more recently, he was in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 as Star-Lord. That's his nickname, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Star-Lord is... Yeah. Is Chris Pratt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And... And Kurt Russell is his father. He's a god. His name's Ego, right?

SPEAKER_03:

He is a god who... It's kind of like a Zeus thing.

SPEAKER_02:

It is like a Zeus. It's exactly a Zeus thing. It is a Zeus thing. Yeah, it's exactly Zeus. And so he is his father, and... He's in that movie. He's in that. Fun, more recent, like on our revolving list of films, usually around the holidays, the Christmas Chronicles. He then returns for part two with Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus. That's kind of cute. He's in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, F9, The Fast Saga. And then I mentioned that he's kind of come right back to television. So more recently, he's been on a show called Monarch. Legacy of Monsters.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, Monarch. Yeah, Monarch is like, it's like Godzilla, King Kong. Monarch is the organization that was like the monster, the big kaiju monster people.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'd be kind of interested in that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, moving on to another actor that you really like. There is more than one actor in this movie. Yeah, I know we covered Russell really ridiculously a long time. I'm sorry. Sorry out there. Lee Van Cleef.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I do like him. He's, I mean- He is most memorable for me in the– it's like the Spaghetti Western

SPEAKER_02:

trilogy. He's in two of the three.

SPEAKER_03:

He's not in all three. So he's in For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's how I know him through you. I'm sad to say I didn't– I wasn't– and I'm still really not familiar with a lot of his work. Those movies aren't exactly my movies, but you love them. I mean, it's incredible that his very first credit was High Noon. Wow. That's insane. Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly. I mean, come on, man. And you can see very much a kind of a theme to his work. He's like in a lot of Westerns. He has that look to him. He has that kind of stature to him. So he's also in– I have– well, he did actually do a ton of TV, but I have all– Films credited for him. He was in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. So that's White Earp, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. That's what that fight was. I mean, yeah. That was it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

The man who shot Liberty Valance. Here you go. So he was in it for a few dollars more as well as the good, the bad, and the ugly. But different characters cracked. I believe so. Okay. Yeah. I watched. It must have been for a few dollars more. That end scene where I'm just like, oh, my God. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

They stretch it out a bit.

SPEAKER_02:

Do they?

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, they do in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, too. Sure. But they don't have the, there's like the little pocket music box.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Like, so when the music ends.

SPEAKER_02:

But it's like, you don't know it's ending. Is it just ending? Yes. Is it just slowing down? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know. Does it matter? Is there going to be like a penalty if you shoot? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

A lot of good questions.

SPEAKER_02:

He was also in, because he's no longer with us, but Death Rides a Horse, The Magnificent Seven Ride! And then his final credit was Thieves of Fortune. Okay. Okay. I feel so bad. I feel like he got shortchanged as well. Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine.

SPEAKER_03:

He got shortchanged. In this film. Borgnine did?

SPEAKER_02:

I kind of feel he did. Why

SPEAKER_03:

do you think that? I

SPEAKER_02:

don't know. I just think he

SPEAKER_03:

could have.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a pretty short film. They could have fleshed it out a little bit. That's what's so interesting about this film. There is no subplot, really. There's no other. It is just us following Snake.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I guess the only subplot, if there is one, was the tape. Sure. Sure. But that's, you know, we're not really sure. It is

SPEAKER_02:

as streamlined a plot as any film I've seen.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I will say one thing for Borgnine's character and not making it through to the end of the movie. He made the fatal mistake of saying, I thought you were dead. Because every character in this movie that says that dies.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Interesting. Doesn't explain it, but

SPEAKER_03:

fun

SPEAKER_02:

fact. Falk does not say that to him?

SPEAKER_03:

Nope.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. All right. Well, so he's credited in this film as cabby. He brings a much needed lightness to the film. I don't know what he could have done to have gotten into that prison, but yeah, I don't have a clue. It

SPEAKER_03:

sounds like he said he'd been driving cabs around. Yeah, so that's That's before. Yes. So did he just like stay?

SPEAKER_02:

That's actually a great question. Maybe he's not a prisoner. Maybe he just. Why are you here? Decided to stay. Yeah, I don't know. That's bizarre. So he had an amazing career. He is also no longer with us. A couple of these stories. Actors are not. Over 200 credits over his career. So I have mostly filmed some TV for him. Earlier in his career, he did a TV show called Captain Video and his Video Rangers. Damn, that sounds fucking awesome. Yeah. I know him mostly from From Here to Eternity. He was a Oscar winning actor. He won Best Actor for Marty. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. So he was in that. McHale's Navy. And then I guess similar to Stargate. So they had the film and then they kicked off a TV series, McHale's Navy, which he was part of as well.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. And then they made another movie with Tim Curry.

SPEAKER_02:

That was with Tim Curry?

SPEAKER_03:

He was in that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I vaguely remember that. He was in, I mean, a ton of just huge films. The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch, Willard, The Poseidon Adventure. There's a TV series, Airwolf.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, my God, Airwolf.

SPEAKER_02:

He was in All Dogs Go to Heaven Part II. Oh, yeah, you're right. Because he actually, he must have made an appearance. He is in the 1997 McHale's Navy movie.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, okay. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know if it's the same character. Sometimes it's just like a little fun cameo. He was in Gattaca.

SPEAKER_03:

Really?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I have seen that. Gattaca! I've seen the film, but it's been a minute, so I don't know who he is

SPEAKER_03:

in it. Yeah, I can't think of who he would have... Been in that. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

He had some fun credits towards the end of his career because he was in Basketball. He did that. Strange Wilderness.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Snatched. And then his final credit was Voice Work. It was for the TV series Spongebob Squarepants.

SPEAKER_03:

Really? Really. How many episodes was he in?

SPEAKER_02:

I do not

SPEAKER_03:

know. I don't

SPEAKER_02:

even know if it was longstanding, but it's just his final credit.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Looks like he was the Mermaid Man. I have no idea how many, oh, maybe 15 episodes. Okay. But still, that's cool. Yeah. I never got that show.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Moving on to the President Donald I maybe would like to have. Donald Pleasance. So he is the president- In this film... You know what's funny? The last time we brought him up, he had 242 acting credits. Somehow they have bumped that up, even though he hasn't been with us for a while, to 244. Okay. So, yeah. Don't know what happened there. They came across some lost footage of him or something. But he... So basically, completely separate from... Any of the characters in the film, which I feel like nowadays there would have been some connection, but some organization hijacks Air Force One.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And they are going to intentionally crash the plane with the president on it, of course. Right? Mm-hmm. It's not really the paperwork, right? Because you would think, oh, it's like the nuke codes.

SPEAKER_03:

There's a tape and I don't know if they're... I'd have to maybe watch through again or read up on the contents of the tape. It seemed like it was potentially for purposes of energy, like a world energy solution kind of thing. And they're in a war at the time that this movie takes place. I mean, Snake just like... says, well, you seem kind of like an asshole as president, so I'm going to destroy this tape. No idea on what impact that has on the rest of the world. I

SPEAKER_02:

mean, I think that... Maybe we

SPEAKER_03:

find out in the sequel.

SPEAKER_02:

I think that might tie back to the beginning because doesn't Hawk say effectively to him, like, I know you don't care. Yeah. And so I think that just proves... He's like, I sure don't. Yeah, I think he just proves out his point is that, yeah, he doesn't care. So as president, I mean... To me, it's so funny that, like, I think it's pretty well documented that when Pleasence was part of the original Halloween, he was not having a good time. And he was, like, quite dismissive of Carpenter. But somehow he came around. Yeah, he's in a lot of those. He's in a ton of his stuff. And not only is he in this film, but he... has to do some of the most ridiculous stuff, like wear a blonde wig at one point. He's

SPEAKER_03:

just tortured the whole movie, basically. Yes, the whole time. And I

SPEAKER_02:

mean, the fact that he was game to do it, I think is kind of fun because he's just dragged around and just, anyway. So yes, Pleasance, he... I feel like he has like a little bit of a similar trajectory to Alec Guinness where he had this like really kind of respected career and then gets a little bit older and then gets pulled into these types of films. But I think that he is extremely beloved because of it. So in any case, and as far as Guinness is concerned, I was referring to like Star Wars, of course.

SPEAKER_03:

Which he famously was like, I don't even really like

SPEAKER_02:

this. Yeah. Very same kind of attitude. Like I'm better than this.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So as far as Pleasance is concerned, some of his credits going like all the way back to the 50s. So 1956, he was in the film 1984. Okay. He was in the 1958 A Tale of Two Cities. I love the name of this film. No Place Like Homicide. Nice. The Great Escape. The Greatest Story Ever Told.

SPEAKER_03:

That sounds like an amazing story.

SPEAKER_02:

It's got a lot to live up to. Yes. Is this James Bond, You Only Live Twice?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, it is. He was Blofeld, right? You tell me. Well, you tell me. You tell me. What year was that?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. What the hell's going on? 60s?

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Yeah, he was Blofeld.

SPEAKER_02:

Is that Sean Connery

SPEAKER_03:

Bond? Yes, it was. And that was like their arch enemy kind of guy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

He's the baddie. Mm-hmm. Got it. I could see that. This is interesting. I have seen this, but I don't think I've seen it since film school. We did watch THX 1138, and he's in it, but I don't remember who. He is in Escape to Witch Mountain, the last tycoon. Escape to Witch Mountain? Yeah, which one? Oh, Derek. Oh, man. You got me. Such a... Sucker. He was in Oh God, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Really? It's a fucking mouthful. Of course, of course, of course. Like I was saying, a whole generation knows him and loves him as Dr. Loomis from Halloween and Halloween 2. Now, he comes back. That's not the end of his work on Halloween. But in between those, he does Prince of Darkness.

UNKNOWN:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

So in a different Carpenter film. And then he comes back. So he is part of the whole Jamie storyline.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So he's in 4, 5, and 6. I think by the time 6 came around, I think he was quite ill. So I think that was towards the end of his career. But he's fun. It's fun to see him in this film. He's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, like at the end. So I mentioned he was tortured throughout much of the film. Yeah. The Duke, like, you're the Duke. The Duke is Abe. Oh, my God. So at the end, when he, like, kind of, like, stops Kurt Russell from getting pulled up the wall. Just so he could. Just as bait, I think, so the Duke would have his attention on him so that he could just unload. And just light up the Duke while he's just screaming

SPEAKER_02:

at him. I hope he had fun. Yeah. I hope he had fun filming that. It looked like he had fun.

SPEAKER_03:

That's the moment where we're like, maybe this guy's okay. Yes. And then when he's getting cleaned up and he's shaving before this super important press thing that was the reason for the time limitation. And Snake asks him about everyone who died trying to rescue him.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I think that was the moment where he's like, I'm not giving you the real tape. That's the moment where he realized you fucking suck.

SPEAKER_02:

Maybe not as much as other presidents suck, but... I

SPEAKER_03:

would take Donald Pleasance's fucking corpse as president right now if that was possible.

SPEAKER_02:

So moving on to Isaac Hayes, who does play the Duke.

SPEAKER_03:

He is the Duke. He's a number one.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. He is a fun character to have in there, although I feel like we don't get a lot of, like, how did he get set up to be the guy who kind of runs the show in the prison? And, I mean, he has a fabulous car. Oh, my

SPEAKER_03:

God. The chandeliers on the front of the car.

SPEAKER_02:

Amazing. I

SPEAKER_03:

love it.

SPEAKER_02:

I love it. So it's extremely fun to have his character be part of this. I just wish that we had a little bit more to kind of understand how that all came to be. We don't cover his right hand man, but he has a lot of like devotees. Yes. That for whatever reason, follow whatever he says. And as far as Hayes is concerned, so he actually did a lot more acting than I ever thought he did. I knew him primarily for his music because he is an Oscar winner. winner for best music original song for what movie do you think it was

SPEAKER_03:

hmm i'm probably not going to get you are yeah because it's shaft

SPEAKER_02:

it is shaft yeah yes so he won best original song and then he was also nominated for the same film

SPEAKER_03:

i wasn't sure which one you were talking about and then i realized you're just talking about shaft

SPEAKER_02:

yeah yeah yeah um he was also nominated for best score But as far as acting, because that is his contribution to this film, yeah, a lot more acting than I ever, ever knew. So he was in Tough Guys, I'm Gonna Get You, Sucka.

SPEAKER_03:

That's what I remember him from. It's so ridiculous. That's like a Wayans Brothers movie. It is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02:

That family, man. They got crazy talent. It's wild.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

He was in Prime Target, Final Judgment. I mean, maybe not all these are like any of those movies, but acting on Impulse. He was in Robin Hood Men in Tights. Okay. Yeah, he's in that. Deadly Exposure. It Could Happen to You. Flipper. Okay. He was in Flipper. So there is an unconfirmed... So we have had our... A handful of like uncredited credits that we mention from time to time, almost in every episode. I don't know if I've ever seen an unconfirmed credit. Unconfirmed? It's uncredited and unconfirmed that he is in Escape from L.A.

SPEAKER_03:

Hmm. Well, I mean...

SPEAKER_02:

It has to be like a background character or something like that. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

the dude

SPEAKER_02:

definitely dies. Yeah. I mean, I think it's like, no, I... I don't want to cause any confusion because I think it has been confirmed that in some way, shape or form, Matthew Lillard is going to be part of the next Scream. But there's been like, oh, people have pointed him out, I think, in a previous Scream film or something like that, like as a background actor, even though that

SPEAKER_03:

character's dead. I'm surprised they put that up on IMDb. That's like

SPEAKER_02:

unconfirmed

SPEAKER_03:

and uncredited. It's like just someone said,

SPEAKER_02:

like, I saw it. I thought I saw him. So there's that. Blues Brothers 2000.

SPEAKER_01:

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02:

Reindeer Games, Hustle and Flow. And then I think there's probably a whole group of people who know him from South Park. As Chef. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

135 episodes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. So he did that TV series. And then his final credit, Return to Sleepaway Camp. Holy shit. Yeah. Wow. So, okay. Okay. Gosh, it makes me really sad that all these– so many people have passed from this film.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Harry Dean Stanton. So you brought him up earlier. He is Harold–

SPEAKER_03:

The brain.

SPEAKER_02:

Air quotes brain. Yeah, not even the

SPEAKER_03:

brain.

SPEAKER_02:

Just brain.

SPEAKER_03:

Just brain,

SPEAKER_02:

yeah. Just brain. So apparently he's a pretty smart guy. It sounds like he's pretty good at like– It seemed like he was the

SPEAKER_03:

smartest guy in an island full of idiots.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, cartography? Is that like the creation of maps? He

SPEAKER_03:

just had like some basic scientific background and he could like map out where the, he could figure out where the mines were. Not real great at that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Didn't, you know, he was maybe like 70% right. I

SPEAKER_02:

told you left. Yeah. He also had a prolific career. A lot, like he got a lot of, Momentum later in his career. But his first credit was all the way back in 1954. Wow. Yeah. So I have almost all films for him. A handful of TV. But earlier in his career, he was in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Okay. So they're a fistful of dollars. The 1974 TV prologue, he has an uncredited credit. Okay. Yeah. I don't know what that means. I think when that film was aired on TV, they included a prologue. Oh, okay. And so he, I guess, spoke it. He was part of that. Yeah. So he's in that. Cool Hand Luke. Nice. So here's one of the TV series. He was part of Gunsmoke. So I think this is so interesting because obviously he's already been working, but he has this pretty bit part in this huge movie. Called The Godfather Part 2.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I remember him in that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Because he's like one of the two FBI guys that are guarding the guy that ends up killing himself.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

I can't remember his name.

SPEAKER_02:

He's like a cousin. Yeah. Is the last name Corleone? I don't know if the last name is Corleone specifically. But he's one of Michael's cousins. He's family. Yeah. And he was going to testify. Yeah. against Michael. And then, I mean, it's a really interesting scene. It's, to me, that is a, like, I'm a bigger fan of part one. I like that film better just because in part, I think Marlon Brando, for all the craziness around Marlon Brando, he is magnificent in that movie. Yeah. So I miss him deeply from part two. But the scene where they're in the courtroom and the cousin, I'm just going to call him the cousin. Yeah. He is about to testify. Yeah. Against Michael. And

SPEAKER_03:

then, like, his brother

SPEAKER_02:

shows up. Yes. Michael flies in his brother from Sicily, who I don't think he has seen in forever. Yeah. He doesn't even speak English. Yeah. All he has to do is bring the brother into the courtroom. And he is so... So kind of like, I don't know what the word is, but all of a sudden he's like, well, like he's like shamed maybe, like going against the family. And just seeing the presence of his brother is enough for him to- He goes

SPEAKER_03:

back on all of

SPEAKER_02:

his- He goes back on all of it.

SPEAKER_03:

They're like, I

SPEAKER_02:

don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. And so then because of that, that completely changes the trajectory of his life, which is to say it ends.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because now he's in prison. Oh, my gosh. I'm forgetting his name.

SPEAKER_03:

Robert

SPEAKER_02:

Duvall? Yes, thank you. He comes out to see him. Both assures him that his family is going to be taken care of. Nothing's going to happen to his wife and kids. But also they talk about this little story about how I think Romans maybe used to– Unalive themselves. Yeah. With like some form of dignity instead of like rotting in jail or being killed or whatever. And so that's exactly what he does. All to say, it's Harry Dean Stanton, who is one of the FBI guys who's supposed to be watching him.

SPEAKER_03:

Just wanted to play some cards with him, give him a break. Yes. And yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So, yeah, that's his part. Now, he's in The Missouri Breaks. I forgot

SPEAKER_03:

who we were talking about

SPEAKER_02:

because we talked so much about... To me, it's such a fascinating part of the film.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, when it came back to Harry and Stanton, I'm like,

SPEAKER_02:

yeah. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I get on these sides, but it is... I don't know if it's my favorite part of the film, but I think it's one of the most interesting parts of the film. It is,

SPEAKER_03:

yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So, going back to Stanton, he's in The Missouri Breaks. So, again... At this point, we're in the 80s. We're 30 years long in his career, but he gets a ton of... Oh, I'm sorry. We're not in the 80s yet. We're 79. Yes. He gets a ton of notoriety for his role in Alien.

SPEAKER_03:

He was great in Alien. I think that's just because Alien became such this phenomenal hit. His presence in it just brought more attention to him maybe in a way that he hadn't before.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Agreed. So... He does that. He does The Rose, Private Benjamin. So he works with Kurt Russell's wife. Young Doctors in Love. I mean, just a ton of films. It's not the first time we've brought him up because he was in Christine.

SPEAKER_03:

And it won't be the last time because we're probably going to cover Repo Man.

SPEAKER_02:

We will.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. We will at some point. And it's funny because in Christine, I think I remember having this conversation about it. He plays like this really kind of straight dude. Usually he has like kind of a quirky character about him. Yeah. He's a great character actor.

SPEAKER_03:

He's a detective in Christine.

SPEAKER_02:

And he just plays it straight, man. Yeah. He's just on a straight and narrow detective. He just wants to figure out what's going on. So he's in that. Like you said, Repo Man. I think he probably, okay, so yes, there's a whole group of people who know him from Alien. I think people who really love more independent film really appreciate his performance in Paris, Texas. Okay. So he's in that. He's in Red Dawn. I don't

SPEAKER_03:

think anyone will watch that right now.

SPEAKER_02:

No. I mean, he's done so many different genres. So he is Andy's dad in Pretty in Pink.

SPEAKER_03:

That's right.

SPEAKER_02:

He's Molly Ringwald's father. Yeah. So he's in that. The Last Temptation of Christ. I think he's one of the disciples. maybe. Dream a Little Dream, Wild at Heart, Down Periscope, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Straight Story, The Green Mile, and then he did more TV work later in his career. He was in Big Love.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

I remember this actually very specifically. I don't know if he just really loved comic books, but he just has this little bit part. He's just a security guard in the first Avengers movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, when Hulk... crashes out of the giant flying aircraft carrier thing and crash lands in a building. He's the security guard there to ask him if he's okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So I don't know how that came about. It's

SPEAKER_03:

fun though.

SPEAKER_02:

It's fun to see him. I also don't know if they just pulled existing audio. I've said that before about a couple other circumstances of this happening. But he does have a voice credit for the video game Alien Isolation.

SPEAKER_03:

Which is the best survival horror video game maybe ever made, especially if you're a fan of the Alien franchise. Yes. Yeah. But you're probably right. They probably just pulled from... From the movie.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know for sure. Yeah. But he also was in the TV series Twin Peaks and just– he had a very prolific career. Great actor.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. We're making our way. We're making our way through the end. We got two more people to cover. Both– I mentioned them actually very early in the conversation because they are– So she plays Maggie, and she has a really interesting role to me. She is... Stated to be Brain's girlfriend. Yes. Or that she was like given to him or something.

SPEAKER_03:

That is how it was described. Yeah. Duke gave her to him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's not a great way of setting up that relationship, but they seem to care about each other. She was ride or die, literally. She was. She was. She was. And she's tough. Yeah. She knows how to shoot a gun. Well, she does until she doesn't. That was kind of a weak point in the film because there is a scene where she comes in with brain. Oh, my

SPEAKER_03:

God. She takes out like three guys.

SPEAKER_02:

Three shots, three guys.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And then at the fucking end of the film, she can't hit a fucking car coming right at her.

SPEAKER_03:

It's really ridiculous. That was her specialty was shooting guys five feet away instead of a car coming at her like however

SPEAKER_02:

fast. Yeah. Like that was lame. That that's how she went out? Because I was like, no, she could have absolutely got him. But in any case. It

SPEAKER_03:

would have been an interesting end of the movie if she just like killed the Duke and she's like, all

SPEAKER_02:

right, we're

SPEAKER_03:

good.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, so this is on me because this is maybe just I'm way too accustomed to this stuff happening in films. I thought for sure her and Snake were going to have some kind of relationship.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm glad they didn't.

SPEAKER_02:

And I was just going to say, I'm glad they didn't. I think that was an interesting choice made.

SPEAKER_03:

I it is. And like when when Brain dies and he's trying to convince her to, like, come with them. That's like maybe the only moment where it felt like, oh, she's just going to, like, leave with them. Like, that's what I thought. But she's like, nope. Brain was my guy. I'm staying here with him and I'm going to kill the Duke. You're not. But, you know, that's what that's what she tried.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So she's a really interesting figure. I'm glad. I mean, I don't know if they're just like, I mean, in the very next film that he does, there are no tricks at all. Although she is the voice of the computer. That's

SPEAKER_03:

cool.

SPEAKER_02:

In the thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. So she must not have been divorced just yet.

SPEAKER_02:

Maybe just not yet. But her work, she's still... Very much working. She has leaned heavily into her association with horror. But very early in her career, she was on the TV series Maud. Then she is in The Fog. So, again, another Carpenter film. The Cannonball Run. I don't know if we're going to cover that or not. I mean, she is smoking hot in that... outfit her and the other chick wear. In

SPEAKER_03:

the Cannonball Run? Yeah. Like, that's their thing. That's their thing. Yeah, they're smoking hot.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, she's smoking hot in this film, but yeah, that's very much their thing. She is the bitch to end all bitches in Creepshow. Boy, she really is. Is she married to Atkins in that story? Possibly? No, no, no. It's Holbrook. Hal Holbrook, I think, is her husband. So she's in Creepshow, which I would love to cover at some point. Yeah, so I guess it's uncredited, but I think it's generally known that she is the voice of the computer in The Thing. I never knew that

SPEAKER_03:

until now.

SPEAKER_02:

She is in– which I have another fun voice– Credit, uncredit for this film.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

She is in Back to School.

SPEAKER_03:

She is not a good person in that either. Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

she's not?

SPEAKER_03:

She's in it mostly at the beginning because that's when Rodney Dangerfield, she's Rodney Dangerfield's wife.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

So that helps you, like, it's a problem with suspending disbelief right from the get-go.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So their marriage does not last, and then the movie begins from there.

SPEAKER_02:

Got it. Yeah. Love... The name of this film. I'm going to mess it up from the beginning. Cannibal?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know why I was going hard to

SPEAKER_03:

say Cannibal. I was waiting for some really crazy

SPEAKER_02:

elaborate. It's not done yet. Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I like that. I'd watch that.

SPEAKER_02:

Is that an

SPEAKER_03:

80s movie? It is.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay. Okay. Actually, it's funny. She has a lot of uncredited voice credits. She apparently was the voice of the computer in Demolition Man.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

She also was the voice of Central in Judge Dredd. Can I make her the voice of Siri? Oh, that would be fun.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, no. Did I just activate

SPEAKER_02:

it? I doubt it. Okay. Just don't say anything. Let's just keep moving on.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So she– and she just in general has done a lot of voice work because she– and these are all very much credited to her. The TV series Batman, the animated series, Gotham Girls. So she must be part of that whole DC universe. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

She

SPEAKER_02:

was on the show Carnival.

SPEAKER_03:

She heard DC stuff because I think Swamp Thing is technically a DC thing, like a comic, and she was in Swamp Thing in the 80s.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay. Sorry, I missed that. She was on the TV series General Hospital, which I think is wild. That's super fun. Exorcism at 60,000 feet.

SPEAKER_03:

So in a plane. Probably, right? Probably. Yeah, yeah. Probably. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And then I'm so sad that this podcast didn't continue. I was told at one point that it was going to resume, but I don't think it has. There was a podcast called She Kills. She was essentially the host of it. Okay. She like did the intro and the outro. I think she also maybe was part of some of the interviews. And essentially the premise of the podcast is that they just talked to a ton of women who worked in horror. That's fun. In different capacities. Yeah. And it was a very, very good podcast. And I'm super sad it didn't stick. But she was part of that. Okay, moving on to our last person we're covering, Tom Atkins. Certainly not least. He's a little bit overlooked in this film, too. He doesn't get a lot to do. He does not. I mean, it could have all just been Hawk. They didn't really need his sidekick guy, who Tom Atkins essentially is.

SPEAKER_03:

No, they could have had him. It would have almost made more sense for him to... Bring up some of the medical stuff. Yeah. They're like, why is the doctor, like, telling Hawk, like, you're going to tell him now?

SPEAKER_02:

He should have been the

SPEAKER_03:

doctor. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Like, Hawk could have done all the military side stuff.

SPEAKER_03:

Or he's just there when the doctor injects the thing into Snake, and then he's the one who says, are you going to tell

SPEAKER_02:

him? Sure. You know. Yeah, yeah. So his character name is, like, Remy. Yeah. I don't know how often he's actually referred to by that. And

SPEAKER_03:

that was actually the inspiration for Ratatouille. No, not

SPEAKER_02:

really. I didn't think so. Okay. So he is a very, I think he's pretty beloved. I think people kind of like, they like Tom Atkins.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Right? Yeah. I think, especially within the world of horror. But some of his work, I have a little bit of film, a little bit of TV. Earlier on, we have the TV series, so not the film, Serpico.

SPEAKER_03:

Serpico.

SPEAKER_02:

The Rockford Files. Okay. It is so fun because in the movie The Fog, which he is in, he plays the character of Nick Castle. I

SPEAKER_03:

love

SPEAKER_02:

it. So fun. He is in Creepshow, but I don't think he's not Adrian Barbeau's husband. He's, I think, part of a different storyline. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

I think so.

SPEAKER_02:

He is in Halloween 3, Season of the Witch. I

SPEAKER_03:

mean, he's the guy. He is the guy. He's the main guy in that movie.

SPEAKER_02:

He is the main guy. Night of the Creeps, which I know I have said that I wanted to do both movies, but because he's not actually the lead in Night of the Creeps, but he has a pretty prominent part. So I don't know if we're going to do both those films in the same Halloween series. I'm going to have to spread them out. So maybe Night of the Creeps next year, but Halloween 3 this year. Okay. We'll see. Lethal Weapon. That's right, yeah. Which we covered not too long ago. Go check that one out. Maniac Cop, Bob Roberts. Apparently he's in the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine. Really? Okay. Yeah. He also was on the TV series Creepshow, but not the same character. That makes sense. But he came back. And he's just done a ton of TV work. So what I was going to say in terms of the other like uncredited voice. So the woman who is speaking at the beginning of this film. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Basically saying like we leave for New York or Manhattan in two hours if you want to just kill yourself. Yep. Basically. Yep. Right. Yeah. You could do that. Go see so and so.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. So a lot of those never been confirmed, I believe. Right. By either Carpenter or her, a lot of people believe that it's Jamie Lee Curtis.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh. I love when things like that come up and everyone's like, we'll just never tell you.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Like, why? I don't think they've ever confirmed it, but they've also not denied it. All right. So it's credited to somebody else, but her only credits are this film and Escape from L.A. So the thought is like, that's just a pseudonym.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Narrator, computer, voice, uncredited. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

So, in any case, synopsis. Finally. In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That's it. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I think, like, from what I know, he's more than just a bank robber. This is

SPEAKER_03:

true. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But it is generally pretty accurate. I'm glad I finally saw the film in its entirety, because I really like Carpenter. I like his work. I lean more into his horror, but I can appreciate these types of films. I do really love, if it works, when directors kind of use the same cast of characters, or like a cast of actors, I should say, for the different films that they do so it's fun to see a lot of these familiar faces um i think for me the biggest thing is like kind of too much of a lack of background on some of the actors or characters as well as the pacing

SPEAKER_03:

well it's weird because you're right like we there were things that we were supposed to already know about some of the characters it felt like Yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, it was kind of funny because like, I mean, they make it real clear to him. You got 24 hours and then the first four hours fly by. And, and so that's what I mean by like pacing and also, okay. Can I just say, um, I'm not saying it wouldn't be tiring, but the way that they all act after going downstairs versus going... You and I, we've actually gone up, like, what, a 70-floor building? I

SPEAKER_03:

think so, yeah. At least, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's not easy. It's not. That I understand.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

If you're going up.

SPEAKER_03:

They were all winded going down 50 or so flight stairs, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think that, like, roughly the time it took them to go, maybe, maybe, but I don't know. I think they like shaved another hour off for him to just go down those 50 flights of stairs.

SPEAKER_03:

They played pretty fast and loose with like the timer because I think it would take some time to walk down 50 flights of stairs.

SPEAKER_02:

It would take time, but would it take an hour?

SPEAKER_03:

Probably not.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

Although like- The time that he's having to go back up and down again is after he had had a fucking crossbow bolt in his leg.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true. That's true. That would have hurt. I do appreciate that they kept the limp. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

All the way to the end.

SPEAKER_02:

All the way to the end. Got to

SPEAKER_03:

get some Neosporin on that or something.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. That's going to get infected.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, they put a dirty rag over it, so tied it off.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I guess it was just really interesting to... see the world. I was really curious about Duke because I was like, okay, so in this world where there's like no law and order, how do you become the person who essentially like everybody else's rank and file to you?

SPEAKER_03:

He reminded me like all, all of those parts of it reminded me very much of like the warriors.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, like the, the, the man in charge, the guy in charge, they're just, you know, someone that like rules over this weird dystopian wasteland and, Just through essentially fear or just through power.

SPEAKER_02:

And am I to assume that the crazies do resort to cannibalism?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Okay. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

That's, yeah, they would catch you and eat you is what I took from that. Okay. So that was his wife, actually, I think. Kurt Russell's wife at the time. No.

SPEAKER_02:

Who was pulled down into the floor. No way.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_03:

That was season Hubli, Hubli? Yeah. Yeah, that's who that was. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So.

SPEAKER_02:

That was actually legit. That was like horror. Yeah. That was like the way she got taken out.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, when he walks in there, I think his foot kind of goes down into it. So you get a little foreshadowing. Yes. And then she's just like ripped through the floor and probably eaten.

SPEAKER_02:

It is horrifying. Yeah. That was legit the scariest part of the film, the way they move. There were a couple of fun little like tiny, tiny jump scares where somebody moves in the background and he's not aware of it. They

SPEAKER_03:

kind of move on from that once you're once they like establish the setting where he's at, like. Once things get rolling with the main story with like the Duke, they kind of like pivot away from that. Then really like none of those other things are really the– like the biggest danger is getting the president and getting past Duke.

SPEAKER_02:

Although I don't know if I still understand was it to set him up, although he's also putting himself in danger. Why did Brain have him take Broadway? Because Maggie– Oh, to get

SPEAKER_03:

there first. He thought– I– you know– That's fair because my perception or my memory was that Harry Dean Stanton's character was more of a double crosser. I don't think he was after like seeing the whole thing again. I remember that moment, though, thinking that he was trying to like double cross him.

SPEAKER_02:

Not as brainy as he thought he was because Maggie was like trying to say, no, that's not the way we

SPEAKER_03:

should go. He did get him there. faster, like fast enough to where there would have been a chance. Like if he had been successful in convincing that guy to go in, that would have given Snake a better chance of getting the president out. But he is smart. Like he's playing it both ways. I think he knew the way that he did it would give him the best chance of surviving no matter what happened.

SPEAKER_02:

Very much so. Yep. No, that's a really good point. Yeah. I mean... It was an interesting world that was set up. I actually, you know, occasionally I say this, like, I think they could have actually lengthened out the movie a little bit to fill in some of those blind spots, so to speak, of things that I didn't really understand or just wanted a little bit more of in terms of backstory. That being said, like, the whole setup to it could have maybe be condensed down a tiny bit.

SPEAKER_03:

A little bit. A

SPEAKER_02:

little

SPEAKER_03:

bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So, especially just, like... the whole like them showing the inner workings of the way that they yeah yeah so but yeah it was fun

SPEAKER_03:

yeah i i did enjoy it i don't know if it makes me more or less likely to watch escape from los angeles or escape from la it's just la

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_03:

it's not escape from ny

SPEAKER_02:

it's not

SPEAKER_03:

yeah

SPEAKER_02:

Escape from L.A. rolls off the tongue. I'm all about things rolling off the tongue. That rolls off the tongue.

SPEAKER_03:

One too many syllables. Yeah. Fine.

SPEAKER_02:

So I think I know the answer. You would definitely watch this film again. Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

yeah. Yeah. I like it. It's yeah, it's a fun it's a fun movie. It's not as it's not as fun. Fun is like. Big Trouble in Little China. Sure. But it's a cool movie. It's a cool premise. It was cool enough that it inspired, like, all these other characters and games and stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, if it was on, I don't know. Now that I'm more familiar with it, maybe.

SPEAKER_03:

Depends on where in the movie

SPEAKER_02:

it is. Yeah. And I'm glad I saw it. I'll say that much. So, Call to Action. Oh. Oh, my goodness.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

What's yours?

SPEAKER_03:

How does everyone know Snake? What's your best theory on how everyone knows who Snake

SPEAKER_02:

is? Well, because there's no IP for this, right? This was just created for this first film.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. How does everyone on the island, how does everyone on Manhattan know who he is? How do so many people know who he is? Is it just because he got that presidential award from the news? Like he's just famous?

UNKNOWN:

Maybe.

SPEAKER_02:

Maybe. So that's the thing. So that call to action would be mine as well, but I know that it has no answer.

SPEAKER_03:

That's why I asked it. All right.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, if you want to reach out, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach out through Facebook, Instagram, or Blue Sky. It is the same handle at all three. It is at 80s Montage Pod, and 80s is 80S. You don't know the next film, per usual.

SPEAKER_03:

Challenge accepted.

SPEAKER_02:

So... Here's the thing. By the time this, not this episode, but the next episode airs, we will have already passed the Oscars. But I was like, oh, let's maybe around this time of year do like an Oscar film.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, okay. So. That's not, that's definitely not going to.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so I'm going to narrow it down to best picture that gives you 10 choices.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Gives you 10 films to pick.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my goodness. Well, I'm just going to type in 80s

SPEAKER_02:

Oscar Best Picture winners. Oh my gosh. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

And then I'm going

SPEAKER_02:

to pick one. So a lot of these, this qualifies for a lot of films from the 80s that won Best Picture. I'm

SPEAKER_03:

clicking even louder so that it comes through.

SPEAKER_02:

Historical. Historical epic. Epic-y. Yeah. Epic-y.

SPEAKER_03:

Really?

SPEAKER_02:

Historical. I'll say like historical biopic. Biopic. Still doesn't totally narrow it down. There's a lot of those.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't think we're doing Chariots of Fire.

SPEAKER_02:

No. Bump it up a couple years. I think of any of the films that won Best Picture, this would hopefully be one that you would be interested. I don't honestly even know if you've seen it before. I love this movie.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, okay. Here's my guess. Amadeus. Yes! Nice. Have you seen it? I haven't seen it from start to finish. Like a lot of these, I've seen like... Escape from New York, I have seen it from start to finish. But Amadeus, I haven't ever watched it.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a great film.

SPEAKER_03:

All the way through. I

SPEAKER_02:

think it should be known that it plays very fast and loose with the actual historical facts. Oh, well, thank you for

SPEAKER_03:

telling me that

SPEAKER_02:

ahead of time. Yeah, of Mozart's life.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And the filmmaker makes no apologies for that as well. I think he thinks that that's kind of like... And I'm not arguing the point. But he doesn't necessarily think that it's his job to be... Obligated.

SPEAKER_03:

Historically accurate when making a movie about a real person. Correct.

SPEAKER_02:

Interesting. But it's a great film, glorious performances, opulent. It's just a really... And also, to be honest, really sad.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. The intro is just going to be him laughing for like 30

SPEAKER_02:

seconds. Oh, my God. And apparently that was something he just came up with on his own. People... I think as much as we know, as far as like historical records, I think there was some notation of the fact that Mozart had like a unique laugh. But nobody knows that that was the way that he laughed. So I think that Tom Holtz, which it's like amazing that the guy from Animal House is Mozart in this film.

SPEAKER_03:

That

SPEAKER_02:

is. I mean, it's like amazing. But yeah, he just kind of came up with that. Yeah. In any case, that's going to be the next film. All right. Are you excited? I

SPEAKER_03:

am, yeah. Yay! I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, on that note, thank you to everybody for hanging out with us. We really appreciate that nobody, everybody's busy. So little time. So little time, especially listening to podcasts. So we really appreciate that you are choosing to spend that time with us. We thank you for that. And we do. Sincerely. And we will talk to you again in two weeks time.