'80s Movie Montage
Breaking down our favorite decade of flicks. Hosted by Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke.
'80s Movie Montage
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
In this episode, Anna and Derek discuss lightning in a bottle casting, anti-John Hughes depictions of teen life, and much more during their chat of the seminal flick Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
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.
Why don't you get a job, Spicoli? What for? You need money.
SPEAKER_05:All I need are some tasty waves, cool buzz, and I'm fine.
SPEAKER_02:Whoa, and welcome to 80s Movie Montage. This is Derek.
SPEAKER_00:And this is Anna.
SPEAKER_02:And that was Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli. Telling Judge Reinhold, playing Brad, about all the things that he needed in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Good job. I made it. I got there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, my goodness, it's kind of crazy to think that we're only now... Covering this film, which is like pretty seminal to films of the 80s, especially teen films of
SPEAKER_02:the 80s. Had to save it. Had to wait for the time to be right,
SPEAKER_00:you know? Sure. The perfect time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And when that didn't show up, we just decided to do it now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I'm glad that we finally are because, I mean... I'm, I can't claim this is the favorite film of mine.
SPEAKER_02:Oh no, it's not one of mine. I mean, I've seen it before. I've probably
SPEAKER_00:seen it a couple times. I've seen it, not a ton, but I've seen it a handful of times as well.
SPEAKER_02:It's so uncomfortable at so many different times in the movie. So there are like genuinely funny moments, but a lot of it you're like, oh, I just got to make it through. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:which, you know, we can dive into the intention of... You know, the filmmaker, which very notable, Amy Heckerling.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm really excited about that, getting to talk about a female director, because that's extremely rare to get to do so. It wasn't
SPEAKER_02:a big thing in the 80s, was it?
SPEAKER_00:No, still not such a big thing in 2025.
SPEAKER_02:But it was also even less of a thing then.
SPEAKER_00:This is true. This is true. So let's jump in. You mentioned correctly, 1982. Okay, so...
SPEAKER_02:I knew I had seen that, but for whatever reason, the version of IMDb I have, it just doesn't say. It
SPEAKER_00:doesn't say?
SPEAKER_02:Not on the, I think it's just the particular tab that I'm in. Maybe, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Interesting.
SPEAKER_02:But if you look at where the tab is, it has a parenthetical 1982 on it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So
SPEAKER_02:it's not on the page itself.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. I'm such a creature of habit. I hate when IMDb makes their stupid updates. But anyway, they change things up a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Why? Why? Why do that? Okay. So, so, so interesting, the writing credit on this one. We have brought him up before, probably the last time we will be bringing him up for anything related to a film we're covering.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Cameron Crowe. Yeah,
SPEAKER_02:there's a lot, but not in the 80s.
SPEAKER_00:There's a lot, yes, but not in the 80s. Absolutely right. So... We have brought him up before because I think that was his directorial debut when he did Say Anything.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00:We did that with Danielle, so please go check that one out. But, okay, in case I am already coming across as confusing, he didn't direct this film, but he is the writer on it. And the story behind that, to me, is fascinating. I mean,
SPEAKER_02:how many movies has he written that he didn't direct?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think that came up. when we were talking about Say Anything, because I think he's pretty faithful to just wanting to direct the films that he writes himself. Because he's firstly a writer. So why wouldn't he? But the whole story around this, I think, is so interesting. I'm kind of... I feel like it doesn't get brought up enough. Because it's one of, I think, the more unique stories behind a film. Which is... Now, you might get a little bit of a sense of... Sorry for this aside, but another one of my favorite films of his is Almost Famous. He graduated high school at 15 years old. And also because of the age thing, never really fit into high school because he was so much younger than everybody else. So anyway, he goes on to have like a writing career with notably Rolling Stone. And then he does that for a couple years. That's actually where the story of Almost Famous comes in because he did go on the road with the band and covered them and the whole thing. So it's very, very true to his life. However... Now he's in his early 20s. Kind of that excitement of that part of his life has like worn off a little bit. He has this idea of going back to high school because he never really got that experience. So he gets the okay and goes undercover as a high school student. It's like the
SPEAKER_02:plot of Never Been Kissed.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, except for hopefully the inappropriate relationship with a teacher.
SPEAKER_02:That's fair.
SPEAKER_00:I don't really know that much. But out of it came the book, Fast Times at Richmond High. So that is the foundation of this film is like that story and his experience. You
SPEAKER_02:know how he got that to happen?
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_02:Because the principal was not a big fan of this idea.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:He mentioned, you know, how he had met musicians while he was doing this other stuff. And the principal happened to be a big fan of Kris Kristofferson, who he was able to kind of like talk about. So after that, the principal was like, okay.
SPEAKER_00:You know what? I got to say, that's like... crazy to me that any principal would have agreed to it under any circumstances.
SPEAKER_02:But especially the Kris Kristofferson circumstance.
SPEAKER_00:That was what turned the corner in that conversation. Oh,
SPEAKER_02:you met him? Okay. Yeah, I guess you can come back to high school.
SPEAKER_00:No shade to Kris Christofferson, rest in peace. No, he was amazing in Blade. Yeah, he was. So that's how this all came together, which I think is really, really fun. Also kind of sad because I think the stories that came out of his experience and in the book and what we see in the film, but it does speak, I think, for better or for worse, truthfully. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, all of the things that happen in the movie are all things that I could imagine But then slightly exaggerated.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Yes. You
SPEAKER_02:know.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Yeah. The. This film has a lot of like pendulum swings. In terms of tone.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And I think that's really interesting. So all to say. Go Cameron Crowe. That's like a pretty cool story and pretty ballsy. I would never even think to go undercover as anything. I
SPEAKER_02:mean, I said Never Been Kissed, but it's also 21 Jump Street.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's a lot of these stories, huh? Yeah. So to really quickly go through his writing credits, which to your earlier point also for him would also be like his directing credits. So Say Anything, now we're already– jumping into the 90s singles he gets his first uh oscar nomination it he gets a two first so he gets best original screenplay and best pitcher noms for jerry mcguire
SPEAKER_03:okay
SPEAKER_00:that and then he gets his win which i think very very much deserved he gets a best original screenplay oscar win for almost famous
SPEAKER_02:that makes sense
SPEAKER_00:and honestly that is probably my favorite but Cameron Crowe movie. I love that movie. That's one of those ones I just have on repeat.
SPEAKER_02:It is. It is. It's true.
SPEAKER_00:He does Vanilla Sky, Elizabeth. I love
SPEAKER_02:that movie, by the way. It's not one that's like you can watch it over and over again.
SPEAKER_00:Vanilla Sky.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. It's a super cool movie.
SPEAKER_00:I saw it once in the theater. Didn't really know what was going on. That's what I remember. That's fair. A little. Confused.
SPEAKER_02:It is a confusing movie.
SPEAKER_00:Intentionally so. Yeah. It's meant to not be a super linear story.
SPEAKER_02:It hides the ball until the very end.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. What did she say to him? Is it wake up?
SPEAKER_02:Probably something like that, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Elizabethtown, We Bought a Zoo, Aloha, which had a little bit of controversy around it with casting.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Well, just based on the name, I can't imagine why that could have been, and I will leave it at that.
SPEAKER_00:And then more recently, he has writing credit on the TV series Roadies.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so I brought her up a couple minutes ago, the director of this film, Amy Heckerling. So this is her first feature film credit. Wow. And I'm super excited about that. I mean, she's great. She's still very much working today, mostly in television. But it is no small feat that she was able to do this at this time, early 80s, when– I don't even– I can't throw out a percentage, but, like, the number of women who were put behind feature films in a directing capacity, very far and few between. So I think personally– Probably the reason why she was– I didn't do a huge deep dive into like how did she get this job. But she had done a short called Getting It Over With.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_00:So if that kind of gives you any indication, they probably thought they were putting this film in good hands with somebody who had done a short very, very in tune with like the high school experience. That
SPEAKER_02:makes sense. What movie were we talking– was it– We were talking about a horror movie that had a female director. Okay. And we kind of talked about how, like, over-the-top nudity and, you know...
SPEAKER_00:Oh, Slum Party Massacre.
SPEAKER_02:That's it, yeah. Yeah. And so I think it's interesting. That director obviously did what they felt they needed to do to work. Like, this is part of, like, what is being asked, or this is part of the expectations. And so... It's interesting that the sexuality in this movie is very deliberately made super awkward and painful. And that was something that Heckerling even commented on. So when you mentioned the short, like getting it over with, like that all falls in line with what the intent was for a lot of those scenes.
SPEAKER_00:And I think that I want to say that the director, Amy Holden Jones for Slumber Party Massacre, I think that that's an excellent comparison because she too was put in a really tight position because essentially Roger Corman, who produced that film, was like, you have to do this. So I find it. Really? They're different
SPEAKER_02:types of movies, too. So,
SPEAKER_00:yeah. And I wasn't going to say like inspiring, but like the fact that they were able to kind of like take this mandate and still find a way to put forward maybe what was a more. Like more than just on the cover of it. Oh, boobs. You know, like there was more to. There
SPEAKER_02:were. There were buts, too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like there was more behind.
SPEAKER_02:More behind, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, God. Anyway. Okay. I'm just going to jump off that. We understand each other. So some of our other credits. A couple of these, in theory, we could do because they're from the 80s. Johnny Dangerously.
SPEAKER_02:I'd do that one. That's with Michael Keaton?
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah?
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Yeah. This one, honestly, it's probably my least favorite of the franchise. National Lampoon's European Vacation.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I like that Johnny Lawrence is in it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, briefly.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So she did that. So this is one of those films that sparked, at least for a period of time, a TV series. So there was a TV series called Fast Times. Okay. So she directed on that for a bit. Then a different franchise, I guess you would say. She's the director behind both Look Who's Talking and Look Who's Talking 2, T-O-O. So she is a really interesting director because we said just a couple minutes ago that, I mean, my humble opinion, Fast Times is a seminal film, not just in like the 80s, but as like a teen film and what it portrays and what that experience is. specifically in the 80s, then she does it again with Clueless.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. In the 90s. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And actually, I just read recently that Clueless is coming back to theaters this year because it's going to be, God, it's terrible to say, the 30th anniversary already of Clueless.
SPEAKER_02:Clueless feels like kind of like a more definitive 90s teen kind of comedy, teen movie. Fast Times, in my mind, it feels like the... Like the reverse image or like the counter John Hughes kind of teen movie.
SPEAKER_00:Which is very interesting you say that because this preceded any of those movies.
SPEAKER_02:Well, then maybe John Hughes is the anti... Fast times.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Yeah. No, I think that's an excellent point in terms of the way that it describes or shows the teenage experience, the archetypes. I'm big on these teenage archetypes.
SPEAKER_02:Well, like Damone. Yeah. Is that his name? He like a lot of their like residences, they had like just pretty like typical humble, like either apartment or
SPEAKER_00:kind of like older homes. Yeah, when they showed him. Well, and that actually was something that, you know, when I did a, not a deep dive, But somewhat of a dive Into the whole Cameron Crowe Part of this Where Specifically who he followed when he went undercover in school. And specifically, they talk about a middle-class brother and sister who, of course, are Stacey and Brad. And that's so interesting to me, too, because for whatever reason, it seems like a pretty big deal that they have a pool. I
SPEAKER_02:mean, it was a big deal back then.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but it's Southern California. I feel like a lot of people would have had pools.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, it was a big deal in Arizona, and you'd think they'd all have them there,
SPEAKER_00:too. That's true. That's true. And also something that's really interesting is that both Fast Times and and Clueless are both set in Southern California. Yeah. And so to just show... I mean, Clueless, very intentionally, because it's based off Emma, the Jane Austen story. So it is of generally a higher socioeconomic class. And that comes through clearly in Clueless.
SPEAKER_02:I would say so.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So different kind of film, a little bit more heightened reality, for sure, than Fast Times. But still, I... I just think that is such an accomplishment that she made her mark with two films that really speak to different eras, but still kind of this experience that presumably we all go through. Presumably? Well, some people don't finish high school. Oh, okay. That's fair. That's fair. So also Clueless sparked a TV series, but I don't think it– went too far. She also directed the film Loser. And then more recently, I mentioned that she's done a ton of television. So she's done The Carrie Diaries, which also is about a younger Carrie Bradshaw. So she really, she really has her niche in like the teen world. Okay. Red Oaks and Royalties. I
SPEAKER_02:think we watched like an episode of Red Oaks.
SPEAKER_00:I think you're, oh yeah, that's the one that, was that also with Eugene? No, it was Burke. from
SPEAKER_02:paul reiser yeah okay
SPEAKER_00:yeah if i remember correctly so moving on to cinematography matthew f leonetti not the first time that we have brought him up and almost certainly not the last time we might even bring him up again this season actually so he very early in his career did i because i kind of clocked it again when i was doing my research on him a lot of TV movies under this guy's belt. So of his 90 total credits, a third of them were TV movies. So that is the bread and butter for a lot of people. So did a lot of those. And then let's get into his film work. So many movies. And yeah, I could see us bringing up Mr. Leonetti quite a few more times in the future. So he does Mr. Billion, Breaking Away. We have brought him up for Poltergeist.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. So that was with our great friend, Daniel. Please go check that one out. We will probably, maybe, spoiler alert, do Weird Science.
SPEAKER_02:It might. It might happen, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think we're going to have one of our, again, beloved friends and returning guests come to talk about that one with us. So he did Weird Science, Jagged Edge, which we could do, but it is a bummer of a film. Yeah. So we'll see. Commando.
SPEAKER_01:Heck yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we'd probably do Commando over Jagged Edge. Jumpin' Jack Flash, Dragnet, Red Heat, another 48 Hours, Dead Again, Leap of Faith. I mean... I think I'm only halfway through the credits about
SPEAKER_02:Red Heat. Red Heat is a tough one. It's another Schwarzenegger movie, but I
SPEAKER_00:just don't know. It's very, very unfamiliar or don't know a lot about it.
SPEAKER_02:I remember seeing it. It was cool. I just don't know if I have the appetite for it at this time because of its Kremlin.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, sure. Red Heat. Got it. Yeah, yeah. Angels in the Outfield, Strange Days. This guy... Every genre, man. Species 2, Rush Hour... And a lot of sequels, because he did Species 2, Rush Hour 2, as well as Too Fast, Too Furious. Oh, my God. Love that title. The Butterfly Effect, Dawn of the Dead, the, I presume, 2004 remake.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Fever Pitch, What Happens in Vegas, and the last credit, I think, as of now, 2014's Dumb and Dumber 2.
SPEAKER_02:They spelled the two wrong.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. Well, you know that that's... Yeah, I know. Yeah, you know. Okay. So... This is another film that has like an interesting music component to it. 95% of the time we talk about composers on this podcast once we get to this part of the show. Not so much in this case. We had that with Amadeus because they just pulled directly from...
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, this is like some guy just made a mixtape and sent it
SPEAKER_00:in. And actually, that's one way in which it's very similar to the John Hughes films because it pulls on so much popular music of the day. So that really is the soundtrack to this film. And also... kind of in its own way working girl because it was like just reiterations of that Carly Simon song
SPEAKER_02:throughout the film. Fewer of the original compositions
SPEAKER_00:for this film. Yes, exactly. Just weirdly lately with all the films we've been covering. So, yeah, I mean, you know, and it's funny because even in the film they talk about– there's so much talk about music. Maybe that was another Cameron Crowe influence. I don't think– Damone is supposed to meant meant to be in any way a stand-in for Cameron Crowe god I hope but no I don't I don't think at all that's the case but Damone you know yes he's like a ticket scalper but if
SPEAKER_02:anything he's the other he's he's rat because like I imagine that his experience in high school would not have been that of Damone
SPEAKER_00:the only tie-in I was trying to make is the fact that Damone's constantly talking about music
SPEAKER_02:yeah
SPEAKER_00:so that might
SPEAKER_02:be yeah
SPEAKER_00:so there's that component there was kind of like the joke throughout the film the um Three girls in high school who all were doing their Pat Benatar. So that's also a very present part of the film. The two people that I put down who contributed to the music, Joe Walsh, who did additional scoring. Additional scoring. Yeah. So I thought one fun credit for him is that he performed the theme song for the TV series Robocop.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We have a lot of films from the 80s that turned into TV shows, but... They, I think...
SPEAKER_02:I
SPEAKER_00:don't think that happens so much anymore.
SPEAKER_02:No, I think they just skip that and just make a series.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Because they
SPEAKER_02:can be as successful now, or...
SPEAKER_00:Or you do what Marvel did, where you have these films and TV shows that work in tandem.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So they still, they're more successful with it, and... I think in the 80s, they would have a really popular movie, and then the TV series would be like,
SPEAKER_00:who
SPEAKER_02:the fuck are these people? What is this?
SPEAKER_00:And then we have Bob...
SPEAKER_02:Dostocki?
SPEAKER_00:Thank you! No problem. Who is the musical coordinator for this film, and a couple of his credits include DC Cab and The Zoo Game, both films.
SPEAKER_02:Let me say that Mr. Dostocki, he coordinates his ass off.
SPEAKER_00:You sure did.
SPEAKER_02:He coordinated his ass off. Let me try to say it clearer because I tripped over it.
SPEAKER_00:No, I thought you did great the first time. Moving on to film editing, Eric Jenkins. We have not brought him up yet.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. Wow. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, he's a newbie.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And honestly, I'm not sure if we'll bring him up again. All right. But I have actually more so, as far as his filmography, TV rather than film. But one notable exception to that is the movie Altered States. So he cut that. I had to put this one in. I've said it before. I don't usually call out by name TV movies. But he cut Ewoks, The Battle for Endor. Okay. Oh, well, okay. I thought that was fun.
SPEAKER_02:It wasn't an editing problem.
SPEAKER_00:He presumably had a good working relationship with Heckerling. I don't know if she made the call on this, but he did cut episodes of the TV show Clueless. So he did that. And then more recently, well, this isn't so recent. He cut on Lizzie McGuire, Phil of the Future. I think he has done... Like a lot of kind of kiddie, younger than high school stuff. Phil of the Future, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. I'm
SPEAKER_02:glad they declassified that.
SPEAKER_00:And then Psych. Yeah, that was
SPEAKER_02:like a huge series, apparently, that they rebooted, I think, on Peacock.
SPEAKER_00:I think you're
SPEAKER_02:right. Possibly, but yeah, I don't know. I just never got
SPEAKER_00:into it. I never got into it.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, we're at the stars of the film. And there are a lot of them. I remarked this to you when we were watching this for the podcast. It is insane, the casting of this film. Because we're talking 1982. So it's hard for me to remove... the 40 plus years since and knowing that virtually every person featured in this film has gone on to become a huge star in some way or another to really truly go back to 1982 when every single one of these people was pretty much at the beginning of their careers is insane to think about like basically batting a thousand with like casting people who were just all going to be phenomenal in their careers.
SPEAKER_02:So there are three actors who later won Oscars for Best Actor. And Cameron Crowe, of course, went on to win an Oscar. And then another nominee.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So that's a lot.
SPEAKER_00:That is a lot. It's pretty
SPEAKER_02:solid. I mean, not for this, but that just shows, I guess, again, the casting. Oh, that's
SPEAKER_00:right. I'm so sorry. I forgot. Last night I did forget one who had actually won for Best Actor. Yeah, the three that won all won for Best Actor. Yeah. So we'll go to them individually. One
SPEAKER_02:of those three is barely in it, though.
SPEAKER_00:True. Very true. I think some of the scenes got cut down.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, that's because he lied.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Yes, he did. It's... Kind of a funny story. Okay, so let's start with Sean Penn, who is Jeff Spicoli. And, I mean, very much a breakout role, although I don't think he really wanted to initially do it. I think even at the outset of his career, he's like, I'm above this. It
SPEAKER_02:was either him or Brad, possibly, because he was potentially going to be Brad.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think that would have worked, so I'm glad that they didn't. I mean, look, he's obviously a versatile actor.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he took it really seriously. It's kind of a goofy character, but he apparently was so deep into it that the name on his trailer said Spicoli. He would only respond to Spicoli,
SPEAKER_00:that kind of thing. Between you and me and anybody who listens to this podcast, so for a period of time, I volunteered at a local shelter, and there was a dog named Spicoli, and I really, really, really wanted to adopt Spicoli. I do know his story. He ended up getting adopted, and he's okay.
SPEAKER_02:Good. Well, I mean, that's very much like the character in this movie. I think he probably turned out okay, too.
SPEAKER_00:He was not bad-intentioned.
SPEAKER_02:No, he was, like, in some ways... the most pure, wholesome teenager in this movie. He just hung out with people. He did drive very recklessly.
SPEAKER_00:Very recklessly.
SPEAKER_02:Went surfing, smoked a lot of pot. That was real pot they were smoking when they got out of the bus before the
SPEAKER_00:dance. Oh, Jesus Christ. Maybe he can work on the way he thinks about women. Because he's basically had the whole setup of Buddy, in just one of the guys in his bedroom.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, he
SPEAKER_00:did. It's like the same bedroom.
SPEAKER_02:He did.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So you can work on that a little bit, but otherwise... I
SPEAKER_02:like to think he has.
SPEAKER_00:I'd like to hope so. But in any case, Sean Penn, the actor... Actually, you know what's so funny? Boy, there's a real coming full circle moment here, which I just clocked. So he obviously has gone on to have... almost exclusively like an amazing film career. And definitely in the 80s, like this was a big breakout role for him, but it wasn't exactly the role where I think he was taken seriously. They just knew that he was like a very charismatic actor. Yeah. But over the course of the 80s, so he does films like Taps, The Falcon and the Snowman, At Close Range. At the time, I don't know if they were married at the time or going to get married, Shanghai Surprise with Madonna.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, no.
SPEAKER_00:So does that.
SPEAKER_02:That didn't, that didn't. No,
SPEAKER_00:I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole today. But yes, we, I try for the most part to not talk about off screen, what have you, but.
SPEAKER_02:It's better that way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Otherwise we wouldn't have a lot of people to probably talk about. But if we just, anyway, all to say, moving on. Casualties of war. Then. I'm actually kind of surprised he didn't win for this. I did watch this film. It's a tough film to get through. But Dead Man Walking, he gets his first Oscar nomination. And that to me, like obviously doing films like At Close Range and Casualties of War, heavy dramas. But I think that that film, I mean, almost to obviously he gets an Oscar nomination for it. But I think that's really when he turned a corner in terms of like being– thought of as a serious actor. Okay. And if memory serves, Susan Sarandon did win Best Actress for that same film. He does the game, which is a really good
SPEAKER_02:movie. It's a great movie. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:He's not... He's not in it a ton. He's not. It's Michael Douglas' film.
SPEAKER_02:It is. He's in it. He has an important character, but it's not really... Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. He comes in strong at the end, but Hurley Burley, oh, Lord. Yeah. I'm getting emotional just looking at the title of this movie. The Thin Red Line. So he plays Walsh in it. So this was a film... Sorry, this is going to be an aside. So Terrence Malick is notorious for just filming a ton. A ton, a ton, a ton, a ton of stuff. And this film in particular... Huge cast. Huge, huge, huge, huge, huge cast. And so, so many people had storylines in this film and so much of it got cut down where I think there were even actors who just ended up being completely on the cutting room floor. Big actors. However, I'm so thankful because what– if there's any kind– the film is not a linear film at all in terms of the way most films are.
SPEAKER_03:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I could have an entire podcast about this film and how much I adore this movie. Unfortunately,
SPEAKER_02:that will not be part of 80s movie montage because that is 1998. It's
SPEAKER_00:not. And all I will say is I really encourage people to watch this film. It's brutal at times. It's brutal most of the time, to be honest. But it is this amazing balance. Like... there's a dichotomy but this balance of the brutality and the the ugliness which is not strong enough a term of war and and the way that it destroys this like beautiful natural world and then the natural harmony that I think humans do have so it is and the two actors like I don't really know what happened with Jim Caruso and the way that like his career went but but the the interplay Between Penn and Caviezel is just dynamic to watch. I love it. I love their scenes together. It's so good. All right.
SPEAKER_02:I believe
SPEAKER_00:you. Yeah. I think he should have at least gotten Best Supporting. Maybe? No, he didn't. I have seen it. But
SPEAKER_02:I've only seen it. It's one of those movies where I've seen it once and I'm like, yeah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00:That is how I felt the first time I saw it. I don't know what prompted me to watch it again. The first time I saw it, I was just confused because I was just too used to linear filmmaking, linear storytelling, and it didn't really click for me. And it was only after– I don't know if I had to watch it again in school or something, but after seeing it a second time, it just kind of clicked into place for me, and I just adore that movie. Okay. Thank you for that tangent. Of course. Allowing that tangent. So, okay, moving on. He gets his best– his next best– actor Oscar nomination for Sweet and Lowdown.
SPEAKER_02:Do they have an Oscar nom for next best?
SPEAKER_00:What did I say? I'm so caught up. No, no, you said it right. You just said the name. But
SPEAKER_02:I think it would be great if they had one, if they had a kid
SPEAKER_00:who worked for Next Best. Don't they have something kind of like that for the Golden Globes where it's like up-and-coming star or something? I don't
SPEAKER_03:know.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, I'm kind of surprised that this happened. He got another Best Actor Oscar nomination for I Am Sam. I don't know if that film would have been made today. Hey,
SPEAKER_02:just watch that and then watch Tropic Thunder.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, right. Yeah, so he gets that. Now, he is a two-time winning Oscar winner. Oscar winner. The first was for Mystic River.
SPEAKER_02:That is another movie that is a great movie that I watched once and I'm like, yeah, I'm
SPEAKER_00:good. Me too. I was like, I'm good with that. He's in 21 Grams. And then I love this film. He is dynamic. Very, very deserved win. He gets his second Oscar for Milk. The Life of Harry and Milk. He's in another Terrence Malick film, The Tree of Life. He's done a little bit of TV. I mean, he has like a pretty notable, I don't know, it was maybe two or three episodes on Friends, but also a film called The First, or I'm sorry, a TV show called The First, which, did you ever watch it?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_00:I watched an episode in school and it looked like it was kind of interesting. It was about Like NASA and he was an astronaut. Oh, okay. I'm not really sure. I think it maybe was like they're trying to get to Mars. One of those. More than one. All right. And then more recently, he's in the film Licorice Pizza.
SPEAKER_02:Which I didn't know that that was like a music store or a store. Me
SPEAKER_00:neither.
SPEAKER_02:From back then until we saw the Licorice Pizza sign. Yes. In the mall in Fast Times at Ridgemont
SPEAKER_00:High. Isn't that a fucking crazy full circle kind of thing? Wild.
SPEAKER_02:No idea. Yeah. Amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Moving on to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who plays Stacey Hamilton. So she presumably is like a freshman in high school.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think the– How do I put this? Like the way that they go through essentially, I guess, a year of high school is really interesting because there's not there aren't these like huge markers where I feel like there normally would be or would be nowadays. You get the
SPEAKER_02:holidays. You
SPEAKER_00:do see the holidays at some point. But also like the film, I think, presumably opens right before the next school year starts.
SPEAKER_02:I think so, because like at the beginning, someone says that she's like, Barely in high school, which I take to mean she's just starting.
SPEAKER_00:And they don't really make that explicitly clear.
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_00:Although I guess you can kind of read between the lines that like that first scene in school, it's meant to be the first day of school. She's a little confused. She doesn't really know where she's going. So that's how that all comes together. So Jennifer Jason Leigh, do you want to talk about her story now or later? We
SPEAKER_02:can. Yeah, we can. I mean, it's... I attribute most of the bad things that happen around her to the influence of Phoebe Cates' character.
SPEAKER_00:Sure.
SPEAKER_02:Because Stacey looks up to her, and that's kind of how she bases her entire way of being in school. And
SPEAKER_00:their friendship is interesting, because I guess they became friends by working together at that pizza shop.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because Stacey is a freshman, and... Phoebe Cates' character is presumably a senior.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because whether or not this boyfriend from Chicago is real or not, I think he is only because of the final scene where she's so emotional.
SPEAKER_02:She, like, breaks up with him?
SPEAKER_00:He broke up with her. Okay. I guess by saying, I'm not coming to your graduation. And by hence, I'm not coming to your graduation, that would mean that she's a senior.
SPEAKER_02:Linda is her character's name. Yeah. I think Linda is not as cool as she thinks she is and maybe does not have... the social circle that like maybe that's why she's just because the fact that like it seems like her best friend is this freshman is kind of odd like they don't they're not like really around a bunch of other friends.
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_02:It's just kind of like her and Stacey.
SPEAKER_00:Stacey definitely looks up to her. Looks to her for guidance.
SPEAKER_02:Linda giving real bad advice.
SPEAKER_00:Real bad advice. I mean, and at one point you made a really interesting comment because it's when Stacey and Damone are walking, I guess, towards her house and she's wearing that little hair piece with the feathers and you were like, what's that about? And that was the first time I clocked the fact that she's wearing what Linda was wearing in an earlier scene, which is a really nice subtle touch of showing how Stacey looks to Linda and kind of mimics what she does. I
SPEAKER_02:think the best thing that happens to Stacey is Linda graduating.
SPEAKER_00:Stacey is just so... I mean, it seems a little... too obvious to say this, but she's so impressionable.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like, I don't know what's gone on in her life up until now. And also, like, I mean, it's kind of one of those funny teen films where you never see the parents.
SPEAKER_02:Which also, like, Brad's working multiple... Like, he's always working, like, at least something. Hard worker! Yeah, he is, like, a hard worker, but for, like, an 80s film with... what you see to never see the parents. I'm like, yeah, I could see that. Although at night, they're always gone at night.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. I mean, they're out of town for the weekend. There's always these reasons why they're not there. But I only brought that up because Stacey seems really concerned about what her parents may or may not know. She's constantly telling Bri, please don't tell mom and dad.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Even the flowers that she got from the 26-year-old.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, so I guess I get that.
SPEAKER_02:I was so happy to read that that they were just a few months older.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they were just a couple months
SPEAKER_02:apart. So I'm so happy to see that in real life, it wasn't as creepy as they
SPEAKER_00:made it. Which again, really great casting because she looks younger. She looks so much younger than her real age. Like 19 years old.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And he looks way older. He
SPEAKER_02:looked like he was every one of those 26 years.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Before we dive a little bit into Stacey's storyline, I just want to say to your point about Linda and how she's not as like cool as she thinks she is. That to me, that is like an equal opportunity, you know, situation between guys and girls in terms of just like being super insecure in high school. And you project to, or maybe not project is the right word, but like you create this persona, this facade of what your life is to cover up the fact that you actually, you know, whether it's like poor self-esteem or whatever the case may be. I think that that's what's going on.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you see it on both of those sides because that's Damone's character.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly. You
SPEAKER_02:know,
SPEAKER_00:he's just... You know, you alluded to this at the top of the episode. It is hard. It is hard to watch her story. I do appreciate that Heckerling, to my mind, is trying to actually show how unglamorous– and this is interesting to me because this is, like, at the outset of the 80s. Yeah, we've probably had a couple teen flicks at this point, especially, like, the raunchy ones– They came in pretty early in the decade, but for her to so early kind of turn that on its ear and be like, no, the whole losing your virginity and that whole storyline that gets salacious in other films, it's real and it's uncomfortable and it's really sad that this is what happened for this girl, that she loses her virginity in this disgusting dugout where she's looking at graffiti that It's just not a romantic. I think very intentionally so. There's nothing romantic about that. It
SPEAKER_02:was awful. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's awful. It's very uncomfortable to watch. It's super annoying. What was the guy's name? Ron? Don?
SPEAKER_02:Ron Johnson
SPEAKER_00:or something? Ron Johnson. I mean, like, this fucking fool. Like, what a clown. He, like, doesn't even take her out to dinner. He picks her up on the street corner, and immediately they just go to this place. I was just like, what a, what a, ugh, gross. I mean, I guess at least he got her flowers, but, man, that's, ugh.
SPEAKER_02:He did, yeah, he did send flowers
SPEAKER_00:out. She did send flowers afterwards, but then it creates this weird shift in her character because it's so clear that she didn't like the experience.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. But then Linda just keeps on telling her, like, oh, it gets better. You just have to keep doing it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and so then she becomes, like, so narrowly focused on trying again. And first the attempt is with Rat, and he's uncomfortable. She's
SPEAKER_02:way ahead of him.
SPEAKER_00:She is way ahead of him.
SPEAKER_02:Like, experience-wise, even with just that limited, terrible experience, because— She's had that and he's had like a summer where he couldn't even talk to a girl that he had a crush on. So, yeah, he was not ready for that.
SPEAKER_00:For her at 15 to be like– you know, he comes into her house. She asks him to unzipper her dress. Yeah. She puts on a robe in her bedroom. I mean it's like wild to see– just her behavior in these moments. I'm not trying to put a judgment on it, but it's like, oh, you're 15 years old. And so he leaves and, you know, I get it. She feels rejected by that. And then she sees Damone and takes to his demeanor. Well, because he's
SPEAKER_02:more like aggressive as far as like, you know, Pursuing her.
SPEAKER_00:But when the rubber hits the road, so to speak, he is very uncomfortable as well when she takes him into that, like, change house for the pool. And I agree with her because, like, you know, when she tells him that she's pregnant and he's like, you wanted this more than I did. And she's like, no. I fully agree with her that, like, look, it takes two to tango. So he agreed to do it. I don't think... I'm all about consent. That's not a term that was used back then. But I think that she didn't unduly force him to do anything.
SPEAKER_02:No, no. I think she's... Again, this is what she almost has been conditioned to think she should be doing. And he has painted himself into a corner where he is the cool guy that's all about this life. And it turns out... He was not ready either.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I think that's a perfect way of describing it. It's
SPEAKER_02:got to be the fastest pregnancy of all time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that too. I mean, those little swimmers were aggressive because. So, yeah, I mean, thank you for kind of moving us along because. She has sex a total of two times, gets pregnant. Yeah. Between Ron and Damone. Yeah. And then it's this whole other storyline where I find it fascinating because for 1982, I don't know if I'd use the word refreshing, but like the candor. With which they talk about, okay, I'm going to have an abortion.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Is really interesting to me for that period of time. And the accessibility. I mean, some things I think are movie things. Because it's like, I am certain you'd have to have a parent with you if you're under 18. And you're going to go through that.
SPEAKER_02:Probably. Although, I think...
SPEAKER_00:Unless she lies, but...
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there may have been... A time where that was less strictly enforced, which is why it is more strictly enforced
SPEAKER_00:now. Maybe. I don't know. I have no idea. I did not go down that rabbit hole. That
SPEAKER_02:was not my experience in the 80s.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because I was like 10.
SPEAKER_00:You're a baby. So I found that really interesting. And then here's the thing. Here's where the heart of the whole film is, is fucking Damone. He had agreed verbally to pay half and give her a ride to the clinic. He doesn't do either. He
SPEAKER_02:tries. He tries. I do not like this character, but watching the movie again, I realized that... He he's just like a kid and he's he's in over his head and he makes really bad decisions and then he runs away from any accountability for making those bad decisions. So like he tried to have a little bit of a conversation with Rat. He tried to get some of the money, but then he totally screwed over his like ostensible best friend and he just ghosted Stacy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, when you put it that way, it actually gives me more consideration for this character than I think I had.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, because you're right. You're right on all those points of, like, he's not a total bad guy. He tries to do the right thing in a lot of cases, but doesn't quite hit the mark.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So in any case, because of that, she lies to Brad, tells her she needs a ride to the bowling alley. He drops her off. He sees her going across the street, puts two and two together. She doesn't think she has a ride home, but she allows them to let her leave the clinic anyway.
SPEAKER_03:When
SPEAKER_00:she comes out, Brad's waiting for her. It's a very kind of bittersweet scene because, you know, she just had to go through this. But he's so kind to her. And it's really clear how much he cares about her. It's interesting to me because when the film first opens, she walks into school and he drives separately. I'm like, why didn't you drive your little sister to school? And so I didn't quite... And they kind of bicker with each other a little bit, a lot about chores and things like that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But when it comes to something like this, he's a good guy. And he... She knows him
SPEAKER_02:well enough to not tell him who did it because...
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he'd probably beat the shit out of him. Yeah. And... he he plays it really well like he does ask her like who who did this she won't tell him and then he's like okay like he accepts it
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_00:and it's it's a really great scene it's a really great scene between the two of them and you know he opens the car door for her and he's like are you hungry like it everything about it just hits all the feels
SPEAKER_02:yeah
SPEAKER_00:and and so that to me is like as difficult as, like, the circumstances around that scene are, it's, like, my favorite scene in the movie.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, he gets a couple redemption scenes from the awful bathroom scene.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Where?
SPEAKER_00:When we get to his character, that's when we can talk about that.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:But I haven't even gone through Jennifer Jason Leigh's credits yet, so let's do that real quick. Mostly film, although a lot more TV later in her career. Okay. Oh, yeah. But then we are moving into the 90s. She's in Backdraft, Rush, which I remember she got a lot of critical acclaim for. Surprisingly, though, no Oscar love. Single White Female, some people might think of her from that. Short Cuts, The Hudsucker Proxy, Dolores Claiborne, Existence, tons of film. Road to Perdition, The Machinist. I'm not going to say this correctly. Sorry.
SPEAKER_03:The
SPEAKER_00:New York one. Synecdoche? Okay. No, that's not right at all. Synecdoche. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:That sounded kind of the
SPEAKER_00:same. So she's in that. And then some TV work, Weeds, Revenge. So you had mentioned we have knocked one out of the way. Sean Penn is an Oscar winner. She's an Oscar nominee.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:She, as of now, has her one and only best supporting actress nom for The Hateful Eight. She's in Amityville, The Awakening. So with that reboot of Twin Peaks, she was part of that, the TV show. Okay. You like this movie, right? She's in Annihilation.
SPEAKER_02:I do like that, yeah. It is an interesting movie.
SPEAKER_00:So she's in that. That is a really strong female cast, correct?
SPEAKER_02:Very much so.
SPEAKER_00:I think I've only seen bits and pieces because you have watched it a few times.
SPEAKER_02:It's a weird movie, kind of like one of those weird alien types of movies, but I liked it.
UNKNOWN:Good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And then more recently, more TV work, Atypical in Fargo.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So now on to her brother, Brad Hamilton, played by Judge Reinhold. Not the first time we have brought him up, but it's been a minute. Actually, two of these actors we brought up earlier for Gremlins. So go check. That was all the way in season one, I'm pretty sure. Was it really? I think so. Yeah. Season one. Good times. Yeah. Oh, and also, I mean, that was the first time we brought him up, but not the only time. Because we also talked about him in Beverly Hills Cop. Yes, very much. With Intay, so go check that one out. But probably a couple other times we can talk about him because he had a very strong 80s. He has a very small role in this, but he is in Stripes. Yeah, that's right. So that might be one coming down the pipeline this season. We'll see. I already mentioned Gremlins. And he's been... basically part of the whole Beverly Hills Cop franchise. He
SPEAKER_02:was in the last one, right?
SPEAKER_00:He was. He was in Axel F., which was fun, fun to watch. And then earlier, he was part of the original trilogy, so 1, 2, and 3. Ruthless People, that would be a fun one to do. I
SPEAKER_02:think, yeah, that's the one that really stands out that we should cover.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I agree. He is in Vice Versa, A Soldier's Tale. His other franchise, I did not know this, is The Santa Clause.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I didn't know that because I don't watch those movies.
SPEAKER_00:I don't watch those movies. But he's in the Santa Claus, Santa Claus 2, and then the Escape Clause, which I thought was very fun. Fun title. He is in a film which I presume is like kind of a play on Frankenstein. It's called Boltnack. So it's kind of a fun way of putting it. The O'Keefe's. And then there was a TV series, I guess, called Easy Money that he was part of. Okay. And yeah, to your point, Brad's a really interesting character because I just waxed on quite a bit about what a great brother he is. But there are other things that are like not great about him, but how he wanted to break up with his girlfriend, for instance, so he could play the field a little bit. And then there's a little bit of a karmic aspect to that. He
SPEAKER_02:gets a classic Uno reverse card.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yep. And then to what you were speaking about a few minutes ago, maybe the most notorious sequence
SPEAKER_01:of
SPEAKER_00:the film is him masturbating to Linda.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And I have heard that that scene where he is fantasizing about her and she does undo her bikini top is, like, one of the most paused moments in, like, at that time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, part of... Like, they talked about when... like her having some anxiety about filming that, including like, were there like neighbors near the film site that, that might be like peeking, peeking in. And, you know, the director was like, you're going to be, this is going to be on like a big screen. So don't worry about that. It's fine. And, and also like, it's such a short, short amount. It's like such a small point in the movie, which is funny in the context of like, The pause issue with all the VHS tapes where, yeah, where it's like every time it would get returned, there'd be a little flicker on that section because it wears out the tape if you just hold it on pause there. But I'd also thought it was funny because her character is like, oh, I got something in my ear. So she busts in on Brad while he's doing the deed.
SPEAKER_00:Her face when she is. And that's
SPEAKER_02:because he had like he had an adult voice. He had a dildo with him.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. So he had a prosthetic.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he had that with him. So the look of shock and disgust-
SPEAKER_00:She thought she was actually- Was real, yeah. That's great. That's great that he didn't tell her that. That's good. I mean, I think what- I don't want to linger on this too much. But the whole thing about this sequence is that it's like in a way very meta that there was a certain segment of the population that took to that sequence because of like what is happening where he is– it's not just like a fantasy sequence. It's Brad– masturbating to to her. And anyway, I'll say that is what happened. Yes. Well, meaning the meta of it. Like, why are people pausing it? Exactly. Exactly. That's my point.
SPEAKER_02:They were just like cosplaying as Brad. You know, they're just acting out what he
SPEAKER_00:acted out in the movie. Exactly. So. All right. Well, moving on to Robert Romanis. Who is Damone. We've talked about him actually quite a bit at this point. I
SPEAKER_02:hate this guy. Wait a second.
SPEAKER_00:He is still working a lot of television. So earlier in his career, he was in the film Foxes. But then we have I didn't realize this at all. He was on Days of Our Lives for a while.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So you did some soap opera work. The TV series of fame. So you had another film that was turned into a show. That
SPEAKER_02:was like one of the more successful adaptations. I think
SPEAKER_00:so. The Facts of Life, Fawlty Tower Oxnard.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:A couple films, like smaller parts, The Runaways, In the Shadows, and then has just beyond– The TV work where he had kind of a longer stint on those shows. He's just done a ton of like one-offs, two-offs on different shows.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So moving on to– we've maybe mentioned his name, but we haven't really talked about him a ton. Brian Backer, who does play– like Mark Rat Ratner. So his nickname is Rat because of his last
SPEAKER_02:name. We've been calling him
SPEAKER_00:Rat, yeah. And– You know, I think he maybe has in some ways the truest high school experience where he's just awkward. He's not sure of himself. He's a nice guy. He has this like part time job. He's just, you know, he's just like being himself. But
SPEAKER_01:yeah,
SPEAKER_00:but also doesn't really know how to navigate the world because he's a fucking teenager. So he's a very likable character, I think. And he also has like. You know, he cares about Stacey when she is uncomfortable when they go to... What is it? Just like a medical school and they're looking at... They're in like a
SPEAKER_02:hospital, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Is it just a hospital? Okay. You're right, because they have like the maternity ward and everything.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, when they're all taking part of the field trip that would never happen.
SPEAKER_00:No, I don't think so. I
SPEAKER_02:don't think so.
SPEAKER_00:You would... Just a real hospital? But he seems to just be a good guy, so... His career, he hasn't had a credit probably in the last 10 years, but among some of his other projects, The Money Pit, so he might come up again.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:two weeks. So we can, yeah, cover that one up.
SPEAKER_02:That's just, we're not doing that in two weeks. Not cover that one up, just cover. That's the phrase that gets used a lot. A lot,
SPEAKER_00:yeah. I do actually remember him very clearly from Police Academy 4, Citizens on Patrol. Yeah. He has a notable role in that. Oh, really? Yeah, he's like one of the cops. And he kind of plays like an older version where he's just like awkward. And if I'm remembering correctly, it's been a while. He, too, was on a soap, Santa Barbara. He was in the film Loser, so that Hagerling. And then as of right now, last credit, 2012's Vamps. Okay. Okay, so moving on to Linda, Linda Barrett, played by Phoebe Cates. And yeah, we've talked about her a bit at this point. She is Stacey's older friend who, you know, doesn't have great advice for Stacey, but that comes out of her own insecurity. Not that it's okay, because she kind of inadvertently or directly... is the impetus for Stacey to be in these situations that are not great situations. Yeah, I
SPEAKER_02:mean, maybe her advice would have been better suited for someone who was her same year in school. But even then, I don't think it's great advice. I just think it's not as terrible consequences for taking that
SPEAKER_00:advice. Yeah, I mean, maybe somebody even a couple years older, I used the term before, wouldn't be as impressionable. Yeah. But and just immediately do the things that Linda's telling her to do. I'm
SPEAKER_02:going to just say that the advice to the 15 year old of just have more sex. Yes. Is not great advice. Yes,
SPEAKER_00:I agree. So Kate's like I just mentioned with Judge Reinhold, not the first time that we've brought her up because she also was in Gremlins.
UNKNOWN:Mm hmm.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think we're ever going to cover this movie, Private School, but she... Have you ever seen Private School? No. I mean, it is one of the raunchy teen flicks. Is
SPEAKER_02:it like a Porky's kind of thing or something? Yes, very much so. No, I haven't seen it.
SPEAKER_00:So she's in that. She did return for Gremlins 2, the new batch, so she's in both of them. Yeah. She is in Bright Lights, Big City, Shag, maybe more... I don't know. I feel like there's definitely a cult following around Drop Dead Fred.
SPEAKER_02:There is, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. So she's in that. Yeah. Bodies rest in motion. She is Princess Caribou in Princess Caribou. I thought this was really interesting because I don't normally see these types of credits on IMDb. She does a lot of her
SPEAKER_02:commercial work. She has fewer credits than I would have thought.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, so, you know, for anybody who may not know, she went on to marry Kevin Kline. Okay. And then they had a couple children, and I think– for part of that time she devoted herself to being a mother and then she just I think didn't really want to come back to the film industry to my knowledge she has like an antique store In New York City.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Pretty sure. So that's kind of her thing now. So that's why her filmography is rather short because by the time like the early-ish 90s hit, she was kind of pivoting out.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. The industry. I did not know that.
SPEAKER_00:So. Okay. So we have a couple more people and a couple cameos. First of all, Ray Wolston, who is Mr. Hand. He has passed. He passed Yes. Yeah. So I have mostly film, but a couple very notable TV shows. So really early on, he did the TV show, You Are There. Some films, South Pacific.
SPEAKER_02:You Are There. Wherever you are, you are there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Damn Yankees, The Apartment. So he became really well known in the TV show, My Favorite Martian.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. That's honestly what I would probably most recognize him from.
SPEAKER_00:And that is exactly what- Most people were saying before this film came out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So he was really known for that. Although he does have like a fun little part in The Sting. He's in that movie. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_00:He is Popeye's dad. And Popeye.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, gosh. That's right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That's right.
SPEAKER_00:So he's in that. He also was in Private School, which I never put that together. But it's kind of funny. He also was on Santa Barbara, the TV series. He's in Johnny Dangerously. He does reprise his role in the TV show Fast Times. Okay. So he does that. He's in Saturday the 14th Strikes Back.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. I didn't know there was a sequel to Sight
SPEAKER_00:of the Fourteen. I didn't know either. So I thought that was really fun. Of the two, or I'm sorry, the 1992 Of Mice and Men, I think there's probably a segment of the population who might know them because this show was really popular and I think even got its own cult following, Picket Fences.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it did.
SPEAKER_00:So he was on that. I mean, he had a prolific career. Beyond everything I just mentioned, a lot of TV work in addition. And I think he came to appreciate, I mean, we've, we've mentioned this now with a couple older actors where they were really well known for a certain kind of work or a certain role. And then they do something really out of the box like he did here. And then he gains a whole new appreciation and like devoted fan following because of it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So, cause we've kind of talked about that in the same way about people like Leslie Nielsen.
SPEAKER_02:That's exactly who I was thinking
SPEAKER_00:about. Um, we've talked about it with Donald Pleasance. Um, we've talked about, uh, Alec Guinness. So there's an interesting kind of commonality with these older actors and certain roles they take later on in their careers. Okay. The other teacher who's just kind of briefly in the film, Mr. Vargas, Vincent Schiavelli, he too has passed. He passed in 2005. The reason why I wanted to bring him up is because even though he didn't have a huge role, he was actually– Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That brings the students to the hospital.
SPEAKER_02:He's going through a lot. He had to switch from Sanka to regular coffee.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And then he goes back.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But some of his credits, very early in his career, one flew over the cuckoo's nest. He also was a night shift, but I don't think we covered him. I
SPEAKER_02:can't remember him from that.
SPEAKER_00:He also, and I don't think we covered him for this. That's another reason I was like, we should just finally- Talk about this guy a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00:He's in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, which we did with Owen.
SPEAKER_02:Look, that movie is so crazy. I can't possibly be upset about not remembering whether or not we talked about him.
SPEAKER_00:He's also in better. I mean, there are a number of films now that we've covered that.
SPEAKER_02:He's always in these like really either a quirky movie or a quirky role.
SPEAKER_00:Because he has a look.
SPEAKER_02:He does.
SPEAKER_00:He has a look about him that like leans heavy into that. He too reprised his role for the TV show Fast Times.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I remember him in Ghost, the film. So now we're in the 90s, the movie Ghost. I also remember him in Batman Returns. He was like part of the Penguins crew.
SPEAKER_03:He
SPEAKER_00:was in The People versus Larry Flint. Okay. Tomorrow Never Dies, Man on the Moon. So I wonder if he had some kind of friendship with Foreman because he's in several of his films.
SPEAKER_02:Seems to happen a
SPEAKER_00:lot. Right? Yeah. Before his passing, more recently, he was in a show called The Eddie Files, and then just a ton of TV work. All right, so we have two more main characters. We'll probably get through them pretty quickly, and then these cameos I keep talking about.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I just had one quick, not a correction on this recording necessarily, but last night when we were watching it, I thought Mr. Hand was the name of the puppet for Mr. Garrison. Yeah. That's Mr. Hat.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Totally different.
SPEAKER_00:No worries. Yeah. Off mic conversation that we had, so I don't know if anybody else is going to understand. In
SPEAKER_02:case anyone else was confused about that.
SPEAKER_00:I appreciate the correction.
SPEAKER_02:It's Mr. Hat.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Yeah. So moving on to Lisa, who was... Brad's girlfriend for a period of time in this film. Amanda Wyss, you think? Weiss? Weiss. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My guess is Weiss. I think it's Weiss. Yep. And she will almost certainly come back because of one very notable film that, crazy enough, we haven't covered yet, which is A Nightmare on Elm Street.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So she's Nancy's pal. And we will for sure. And that might also be this season. So she's in that. Silverado?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we might. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:You had that on the other day.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It's good. Kevin Kline.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:What's his name? Feel the Dreams. Kevin Costner.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, both of them? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. It's
SPEAKER_02:got a stacked cast.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We have talked about her because she was also in Better Off Dead.
SPEAKER_02:That's right. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. So and that one we did with Megan. Go check that one out. A little bit of well, the most notable TV series I had down for her was Highlander, the TV show. Yeah, there's a
SPEAKER_02:couple because the teacher was also in an episode of the Highlander TV show.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, OK.
SPEAKER_02:Not Mr. Hat. I mean, Mr. Hand. But the other guy.
SPEAKER_00:OK.
SPEAKER_02:Vargas.
SPEAKER_00:Vargas.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:She was in the film Assassin's Fury. And then a lot of I mean, she's working a lot of TV work. So,
SPEAKER_02:OK.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so the last person we're going to cover in depth is... The character of Charles Jefferson, who is played by Forrest Whitaker. You
SPEAKER_02:got to cover him. I mean, because he's one of the actors that went on to win an Oscar.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Although the other one, I'm not going to cover him in depth because it was truly a cameo. Well, a couple scenes, but maybe one line.
SPEAKER_02:Spoilers. Nick Cage is in
SPEAKER_00:this movie. It's Nick Cage. But not really. We're not trying to withhold that information. He
SPEAKER_02:wanted to do more. He lied about his age. He was only 17. They found out. Yeah. And then so it was scaled back considerably. But you see him. in a few scenes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you do. But Whitaker, so he is the football player who has, you mentioned it earlier because Sean Penn was very erratically driving his car. What was it, Corvette?
SPEAKER_02:Jeez, I think it might've been a Camaro.
SPEAKER_00:Camaro, okay.
SPEAKER_02:Something, yeah, I think it was a Camaro, but it was pretty nice. And he was driving
SPEAKER_00:around with- And he loved this car.
SPEAKER_02:With Forrest Whitaker's Little brother? His character's little brother, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Genius way of covering up what they did, though. Yes, it was so good. Of making it seem like the rival football team had destroyed his car.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, good timing.
SPEAKER_00:Great timing. Yeah. Great motivation, because his big moment in the film is when they're playing Lincoln.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, because all the shirts were like, assassinate Lincoln.
SPEAKER_00:It's terrible.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:But he, you know... I don't remember what his position is, but he gets a ton of sacks, tackles.
SPEAKER_02:It seemed like he was that school's version of Aaron Donald. Sure. So that defensive...
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think the final score was like 42 to nothing.
SPEAKER_02:It was bad.
SPEAKER_00:It was bad.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he really took it out on him. I would say that in real life, he might actually kill someone, but... But instead in this movie, he just tackled really hard.
SPEAKER_00:Real hard. And he has had a phenomenal career, still very much working to this day. Mostly films I have for him. And then like a lot of actors more recently, TV work. But he was in, and some of these we might cover at some point. Actually, there's one film that we did cover, but I don't think he had a big role in it. He, over the 80s, did Vision Quest, The Color of Money, Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam. So he does these like back-to-back Vietnam War films. He's in Bloodsport.
SPEAKER_02:That's right. He is.
SPEAKER_00:Which was what our second episode? It was our
SPEAKER_02:second episode. He's like one of the two agents that are trying to bring back Frank Dukes from the Kumite.
SPEAKER_00:I probably did not point him out when we were, cause it was so early in the podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Like we were, we recorded that in like a hallway. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Hey,
SPEAKER_02:we did the best we could everyone. So
SPEAKER_00:he's in that. Now we're getting into the nineties. He's in the crying game, ready to wear species. He gets a lot of attention for this film, ghost dog, the way of the samurai.
SPEAKER_02:He does. Yeah. I don't, it's a, it's a interesting movie. I've tried watching it. I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_00:So he does that. Panic Room. He gets an Oscar win, Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Now he does some TV work. He's on ER for a while. He's on The Shield for a while. Still does some film, of course. He's in the 2010 Repo Man. More TV work, Criminal Minds, Suspect Behavior. He's in the film Southpaw. I remember he had a good role in Arrival, that alien film. Yes,
SPEAKER_02:yeah. The alien movie that's all about language.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Rogue One, A Star Wars Story.
SPEAKER_02:I do not love his character in Rogue One as much as I enjoy that movie.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And so I'm not sure how I feel about knowing that his character will be coming back in season two of Andor. Like,
SPEAKER_00:not sure. Remains to be seen. Sorry to Bother You, Black Panther, and then more TV work as of late, Empire, Godfather of Harlem, and Emperor... Okay. So these cameos. He's
SPEAKER_02:been like king. He's been emperor. Yeah. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Godfather. So cameos, you already mentioned Nick Cage, Spicoli's other buddy. Oh, wait. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Let me back up here. Nicholas Cage was Brad's buddy. Yes. So sorry for that confusion. Okay. But Spicoli had two very notable buddies who were Eric Stoltz and Anthony Edwards.
SPEAKER_02:Eric Stoltz is super obvious. Anthony Edwards is tough because he looks different.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And he doesn't have as many lines, I think.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And then I just wanted to quickly point out one thing that was fun. Bruce Springsteen's sister... Yeah, that's
SPEAKER_02:right. She's yeah.
SPEAKER_00:She has an appearance. And then also the woman who actually eventually married Cameron Crowe, Nancy Wilson from Heart. She has. Wow. I don't know where she is in the movie, but she's in the movie somewhere. So. All right. Film synopsis. Finally. Ready?
SPEAKER_02:I'm ready. Lay it on me.
SPEAKER_00:A group of SoCal high school students would rather ignore their studies and instead indulge in their teenage distractions.
UNKNOWN:I...
SPEAKER_02:hate this synopsis so
SPEAKER_00:much. I think it's terrible. It's
SPEAKER_02:really bad. This is late. Chat GPT would give me a better
SPEAKER_00:synopsis right now. It's pretty bad and really kind of dismissive of a lot of some of the more poignant stuff we've already talked about.
SPEAKER_02:It looks like someone came up with a one line synopsis based off of looking at the poster.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. So not Not a huge fan of it. It's kind of surprising. We
SPEAKER_02:haven't been this outspoken against the synopsis in
SPEAKER_00:a very long time. We've actually been very complimentary, I think, of it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but this one is rubbish. It's garbage. Sorry.
SPEAKER_00:So I think we've done a really good job of kind of talking over it. There's actually surprisingly so much to talk about because there's all these different storylines in the film.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I think I probably know the answer to this. I mean... You don't have to give just a yes or no, but in terms of wanting to watch this film again. I
SPEAKER_02:don't want to watch it, but watching it from start to finish last night, I felt was... Because there are so many scenes where you know that you're going to have to somehow fucking survive to get out the other end of it. I'm glad I watched it. It's... It's interesting. Like I talked before about how it almost feels like the opposite of like a John Hughes teen film because it gets almost like it gets not too real, but like very real with what some of the kids go through. So I like it for like the time capsule aspect of it, like seeing basically the valley. Mm hmm. kind of close to like round areas where we see on a daily basis. So seeing something take place back in time in that area is fun and interesting. The performances are good, but yeah, it's not one that I would watch frequently just because I feel so bad for what happens to some of the characters. It's hard to get through, but I liked it. I'm glad I saw it again because it had been a while since I've watched it from start to finish.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, same. I mean, as far as like call to action, I'm trying to think of any other films out there, especially from this era, where I know I've brought this up now a couple times, but I'm so like just kind of in awe of the casting of this film.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And how well they did with like picking actors who almost uniformly went on to have successful careers. Yeah. So I would love to know if somebody else can maybe point out a similar type of film. Where there's this like huge ensemble cast and...
SPEAKER_02:Mystic Pizza?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. That's actually a pretty good one, but still a smaller cast. Yeah, yeah. So I would love to kind of hear thoughts from other people. It doesn't necessarily have to, I guess, be from the 80s, but just like other films with big ensembles where they all were kind of like hitting it out of the park with their careers later on.
SPEAKER_02:That's such a better call to action than mine. Mine's just like Vans, Airwalk, or Converse.
SPEAKER_00:That's a good one, too.
SPEAKER_02:Got to pick one of those three.
SPEAKER_00:So pick one and reach out to us. You can find us at Facebook, Instagram, or Blue Sky. It is the same handle for all three, at 80s Montage Pod. And 80s is 8-0-S.
SPEAKER_02:Pod is P-O-D.
SPEAKER_00:Did I say podge?
SPEAKER_02:No, I just decided to
SPEAKER_00:add something extra there. I probably... I'd do that.
SPEAKER_02:Anyway. I'm sure you did not.
SPEAKER_00:Sneak peek. You don't know.
SPEAKER_02:Well... Gosh,
SPEAKER_00:what is the clue for this one?
SPEAKER_02:Pretty common for me not to know in advance.
SPEAKER_00:So we're a little bit veering back into Dramatic Fair, but hopefully it's still an interesting film to watch.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I hope so.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I do like this movie because the Oscar-winning performance is really interesting. The best clue I could give you, actually, is probably I Am Sam.
SPEAKER_02:What? Think
SPEAKER_00:about the type of character that is featured in I Am Sam.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, my God. I feel like I'm getting set up to...
SPEAKER_00:And then think about a similar type of film.
SPEAKER_02:Does it feature... Is one of the cast Tom Cruise?
SPEAKER_00:Correct.
SPEAKER_02:It's Rain Man.
SPEAKER_00:It
SPEAKER_02:is.
SPEAKER_00:It is. Was that a good clue?
SPEAKER_02:It was, yeah. But I'm like, oh, my God, if I say Rain Man and it's not, what am I saying?
SPEAKER_00:No, and I mean, that's actually... probably something we can talk about later on in terms of like there's so much conversation around who is appropriate to cast for these roles where you have somebody who um
SPEAKER_02:you could have also said this was also referenced in Tropic Thunder
SPEAKER_00:was it
SPEAKER_02:yeah yeah for sure
SPEAKER_00:Oh, because it's... Robert
SPEAKER_02:Downey Jr.''s character references both of those characters,
SPEAKER_00:yeah. Oh, okay. All right. So, yeah, I'm excited to talk about this one. We haven't talked about either of these actors, I think, in a minute. So, and this is kind of like what I was saying. I think I brought this up... I don't know why I did, and I think it was either Working Girl or Amadeus, where I was like, I love kind of pairings of actors where you wouldn't normally expect them to be in the same film together. I was saying it about The Color of Money.
SPEAKER_02:Another Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise and someone
SPEAKER_00:else. Yeah, kind of. So I think it's really interesting for that. Which, by the
SPEAKER_02:way, I realize how crazy that was to say Tom Cruise and someone else. It was Paul Newman.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Paul Newman. Yeah. No, it's okay. I get it. So that one is next up on tap. And in the meantime, thank you to everyone for taking the time to listen to our podcast. We really appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02:And I just want to note, since the inception of this podcast, it has been and always will be tariff-free podcasting.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, Lord. We'll talk to you again in two weeks' time.