Filmmaker Series: Adam Pranica on Boogie Nights

Adam Pranica continues his Paul Thomas Anderson filmmaker series with the all-time classic, Boogie Nights. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio.

(00:29):
Hey everybody, Welcome to Movie Crush. Friday Interview Edition, Filmmaker
Series Edition, Long Distance Edition, One of My Good Friends edition.
Say hi, all the editions. So I'm here with Adam
Pranica of the Greatest Generation podcast and the Friendly Fire podcast?

(00:49):
And what else are you doing? Any other podcast? All
the podcasts? You know? It's funny on the way to work, dude,
I was thinking about I wonder how Adam feels about
the fact that his job now is to watch television
and movies and talk about that. I mean, that's the dream,
right that the dream is to turn something you love

(01:10):
into work. Ask anyone. I guess. So that's how you
know you've made it. Well, I should do a podcast
on naps. Oh really, that should come out next even
though I don't get to take many just the just
the low rumble of a c pat machine. Oh man,
that would be so nice. So Adam and I, as

(01:32):
you know, if you listen to the first episode, the
Hard eight episode, we have tackled Paul Thomas Anderson at
Adam's request, one of my favorite filmmakers along with yours
as well, and we are going in order here with
Boogie Nights, just a little movie called Boogie Nights, just like,
you know, a sophomore effort. But you got to forgive

(01:54):
a lot of sophomorish mistakes on this one. Right. Can
you believe that this, I mean Heart eight was good
enough as a first effort, But to go out and say,
you know what, I'm going to make a Scorsese esque
you know, two hour and forty five minute or whatever
it was epic on the porn industry in the seventies.

(02:14):
What an idea? Uh? John Roderick talks a lot on
Friendly Fire about like the hand of the director, right,
and and how some people some people don't like that,
some people don't like to feel the stylish nous put
all over the films that they watch and like for
a second film, and for Paul Thomas Anderson to come

(02:35):
out and like own it completely and do everything that
he ever wanted to do and open with like that,
like he throws the gavel into the ground on that
very first shot, like so I'm going to like here,
I am, I'm going to do better than Scorsese starting now.
It's incredible. Yeah, And well even pre that shot, I

(02:58):
do need to mention one thing I don't. I've seen
this movie a dozen times or more, and I don't
ever remember that little brief John Brian's score. Yeah, I
don't remember that over the black screen. Yeah, the the
the circus contraption style music, right, Yeah, it was really cool.
I don't I don't know why I don't remember ever

(03:20):
noticing that before, because the first thing I always remember
is that needle drop and the the movie Marquee that
literally says, you know, uh, bo, you know you're watching
boogie nights. It's nicely bookended with that tone like it.
It's important to remember that it doesn't just open with
that kneeon and that and that fun music like it

(03:43):
really does open with a dirge. Yeah, and and the
the audaciousness of that shot, not just the length of it,
because that's it's ridiculous all on its own, how how
far he takes this camera without cutting, but the uh
when he goes completely sideways right out of the gate
to get the recita you know, uh film sign or whatever.

(04:07):
It's just so show off ee but great. You know,
you gotta remember in ninety seven, like this was the
age of the eighty pounds steadicam like, and this was
a guy sitting on a crane holding his steadicam and
then getting off as gently as possible when the train descends,
and then doing that walk. And they actually had a

(04:28):
backup DP there, a backup steadicam operator there in case
they burned the first one out because it's such a
physically demanding thing to do. Yeah, I mean, how long
is that shot? I mean it's it's three ish minutes, right, Yeah,
in four minutes you. I mean you go from the crane,
you go to the street, you go inside, you go
all the way through this club, you go you meet

(04:51):
almost save like William H. Macy, you meet almost every
single main character in the movie in that opening, uh,
in that open shot, just kind of working your way
through the club and not only meet them, but get
to know enough about them to kind of know what
their deal is. Yeah, that's that's exactly right. It's a
it's a James Cameron in Aliens amount of of character

(05:15):
development in in such efficient bursts, right. Yeah, like Louis
g being maybe the most Louis G he's ever been
in any movie, Like one of the best character actors
of all time. He's amazing he's so great. And you
know what's funny about him and his performance here is
like he's a total boob, but he's not. Like I

(05:37):
would never make fun of him. He's so sincere and
what he wants and all of his motivations. Yeah, he
just wants to be in a movie, and he wants
to be in a movie for the right reasons because
he wants his family to be happy for him, right.
They want him to know he's been He's been a
success in America. That's that's noble. I know. One of
the funniest parts of the movie is later on when

(05:58):
he gets his own club, the Guitars Brothers, and they
misspell it. I God, I really wish you were up here.
A couple of weeks ago, because they screened Boogie Nights
Millimeter at the Cinerama and it was the first time
I had ever been able to see it in a
movie theater since, and it was such a joy to

(06:24):
see it, like on the big screen with a crowd
full of people and to hear the pop and the
audience at that moment. Yeah, was just a delight. It's
so fun. Was it crowded? It was? Yeah, it was.
I would say it's three quarters full on a weeknight,
you know, showing a movie that's years old. Yeah, God,
that's crazy. This movie is that old. Um. The other

(06:45):
thing I love about that opening scene, you know, you
get to you're getting to know everyone, but um, when
they introduce Amber, you know, Julian Moore's character, how they meet.
You know, obviously we're gonna talk a lot about family
in this movie, because most of his movies are about family, Um,
especially this one. But they really lock her in as
the mother. So straightaway when roller Girl comes up and

(07:06):
she's talking to her and she's dancing, and she's like,
what are you doing, honey, She's like, I gotta go
be She goes, well, then go Like that's such a
mom thing to say, Like, then don't talk to me,
go to the bathroom, honey. Yeah. And there's like an intimacy.
It's funny, like there's an intimacy between all of them
and their bodies that is very maternal almost, Like Amber

(07:27):
knows everything about roller Girl's body and so she's asking
what's going on down there in a very maternal kind
of way. Right. It's great. I think we all kind
of know everything about roller Girl's body at this point.
It's true, and it's said because Heather Graham is someone
who is sort of disavowed her involvement in this film.

(07:48):
I think that's a shame because I think she's really
great in it. She is, and I didn't know she
had done that. What what's the deal? I mean, I
won't say disavow might be too strong of a word,
but she just doesn't talk about it, and she doesn't
want to talk about it, Like she doesn't respond to
interview requests. You know, for example, like during twenty ten
or twenty year anniversaries for Boogie Nights Andre and oral

(08:11):
histories get written, she does not participate in those. That's
a shame. I mean, I guess I get it. But
it's such a great role and she really was great
in it. Um. I know she had to do some
things that, you know, we're maybe uncomfortable for her, but
I mean she's in the most hardcore sing of the movie,
I think, which we get to but you know, the beating,

(08:32):
the beat down of her classmate. Yeah, she's and she's
extraordinary in that scene. Yeah, she's so good. So uh,
you know, early on Bert sees in that shot, Um,
he sees I keep wanting to call him Marky Mark.
It's so hard not Edie Adams from Torrance, Eddie from Torrance.

(08:54):
And it's almost romantic the way he shoots that, you know,
that gaze from across the room, and you know when
they meet in the kitchen, clearly Eddie has taken on,
you know, guys just like Jack Horner who you know,
come out to see his his member, right, his notorious dong,

(09:14):
which is you know, the that kitchen scene is so great,
Like it reminds me. It reminds me that Mark Wahlberg
was not the Mark Walburg we know now back then, right,
and you get to believe that Paul Thomas Anderson was
taking a chance on him and for casting him. DiCaprio
was the first choice. Oh really yeah, so interesting, and

(09:36):
he kind of dodged it. A lot of people thought
that it was because he was in Titanic and you
chose Titanic over Boogie Nights. But I think it's been
revealed in retrospect that he was a little bit reluctant
to be involved. Uh. Like the shadow that Show Girls
cast on Hollywood was such that, uh, I mean it

(09:56):
really made a film like this difficult to make. Yeah,
seen an interview with Mark Wahlberg where he said he
was a little reluctant because of show Girls, but he's
so good in it, and this, I mean this launched
him into serious legit actor territory. So he owes a
debt to Paul thim At Sanderson. I think for sure
he's another actor that has an awkward relationship with this film.

(10:19):
And I think, I mean Reynolds was another one who
who had kind of a tortured relationship with the film
and with the director. I think I think Wahlberg Wallberg
ended up getting religious, and I think that made his
relationship to Boogie Knights strained. But I think again that's
that's a tragic thing because his work in the film

(10:40):
is amazing and I think it's something he should be
proud of. Yeah, and there's a lot of hey that's
been made about you know, Burt Reynolds, like fired his agent.
I don't know if that is fully true. Do you
know if that's true. I mean I don't I read
the same thing, but I mean he was You talk
about a guy who you know a lot, like the
adult film industry changed completely in nineteen eighty, like old

(11:04):
Hollywood changed in like there weren't a lot of old
Hollywood working actors still in films at the time, and
and that had to be a constant conflict for him
to to strain against the things that he was seeing
and the and the disrespect that he was experiencing. He
probably expected a lot better treatment than he got, and

(11:27):
that was probably a reason he was so moody. Yeah,
I mean that's um. I was reading a Mental Floss article,
Uh that kind of tackled this, and that's what he said.
He said it was disrespect. He said. The quote is
I think mostly because Paul Thomas Anderson was young and
full of himself. Every shot we did it was like
it was the first time it had ever been done.
And he wanted to cast him in Magnolia as well,

(11:48):
and he turned him down. He said, I've done my
picture with Paul Thomas Anderson and that was enough for me.
He did his time. Yeah, he just said he wasn't
crazy about the movie. They almost got in a fistfight,
apparently in the alleyway behind one of the sets. Um
like one of the A d s or whatever went
outside and like Salbert Reynolds like screaming at him like
a father call him a little fucking punk kid and like,

(12:11):
don't tell me what to do. And man, that that
sounds a lot like the pool scene at the end, right,
like cool scene between Dirk and Uh and Jack. Oh
yeah yeah. I mean he can't deny. I mean, he
says he thought he was good in it, But um,
I don't know, man, how do you how do you
miss the boat that much? How much was he disrespected? Really?

(12:31):
You know? I mean how much self awareness do you
have after a lifetime of working in Hollywood and being worshiped,
Like he's just on a different level. He's on a
different planet that we can't possibly understand. Yeah, my friend
Justin um is Uh. He was his driver for a
movie in Atlanta years ago. It's a little like Hallmark

(12:51):
thing he did and drove him every morning and every
night for whatever three and a half weeks and got
to know him pretty well and he was always really
really good to Justin and treated him really well, and
he said it was just sort of a great experience. Um.
But you know, I asked him, I was like, what
does he look like without his makeup on? And he

(13:12):
was like, what are you talking about? It's like there
is no without his makeup on, Like he shows up
in the car in the morning fully made up, like
by himself. That's great. Yeah, and we school old school
r I P. We don't want to besmirch his name
or anything, but he's one of the favorites. I don't
know how you could direct this film and not come

(13:33):
from a position of a of a ton of confidence.
This is I mean, he said the same thing about
Hard eight, like Paul Thomas Anderson came to Hollywood fully
formed and and ready to strike. Yeah. Yeah, I mean
I think that's the only way you. I think that's
the only way you pull off something like whatever three
and a half minute tracking shot that comes from a

(13:55):
crane and down through a nightclub. Like how old was he?
He was probably in his late twenties. Yeah, yeah, I
think he was twenty seven or something. Crazy. It's ridiculous. Yeah.
I have a lot of my favorite lines kind of
pepper throughout my notes, so we'll just you feel free
to do the same. Just throw him in there whenever
you get to him. Um, but one of mine is

(14:16):
in that kitchen scene when Burt Reynolds says, uh so,
now you know I'm not full of doggie Doo doo
and then he calls him a seventeen year old piece
of gold. Reynolds. It's hard. It's hard to stack rank
all of the characters and their lines, but Reynolds might

(14:36):
have the best ones. Yeah for sure, um Bill. I mean,
it's full of my favorite actors. Julian Moore is probably
a top ten actor for me. William H. Macy is,
Philip Seymour, Hoffman is, John c Riley is. Yeah, it's
kind of like you get whip flash from the amount
of talent that he's got. Philip Baker Hall again, like

(14:57):
back to back Philip Baker Hall films. Yeah, what's his
him in here? Floyd Gondoli, Floyd one of my favorite.
Here's the thing, Like, one of the things that I
really sees down in Boogie Nights was the was the
three shot repetition to introduce new scenes. Right, we get
it a lot, like we get it in that breakfast

(15:18):
scene at Eddie Adams's house, Like I think we get
we get E c U coffee, E c U sausage
and then you see you like juice or something. But
later on we get we get a three shot sequence
of Floyd Gondoli entering the party that the New Year's party,
and it's all cross cut against itself. It's so like

(15:39):
dream like, and that Driver's Seat song plays Philip Baker
Hall gets one of the great entrances. One of my
favorite entrances in any movie is that moment. Yeah, and man,
that scene. Uh, I mean he's so good in it.
But uh, I think it's the second scene where he
comes in when he has the young kids. Oh yeah,

(16:00):
meet boys, meet girls. Yeah, that scene is so creepy
because it's just like, it's easy to fall in love
with this movie and like, oh, it's a love letter
to the porn industry and it's really just a big
happy family. But then you see ship like that with
him bringing in these like sixteen year old street kids
to exploit or the kernel stuff which we'll get to that.
I mean, that's like hard to watch. Um, it really

(16:23):
kind of makes you consider, like what you're loving about
this movie? Yeah, And I mean it telegraphs it throughout
the film, like nothing is ever happy. People are always
straining against their circumstances or like seeking love and having
that not be given, or trying to find parents or

(16:46):
parent figures and and latching onto the wrong ones, and
like it's you're You're never completely comfortable or happy or
safe in this film, and I think that's intentional. Yeah,
what is his do you know Paul Thomas Anderson's deal
with his parents? Like is this coming from a personal place?

(17:07):
I know, Like one of the things that I know
is that his relationship with his mom is not great.
And the character of Eddie adams mom in the film
is is kind of based on her a really in
a really sad way. Man, Well, we need to shout
her out. Joanna Gleason a very small part, and that's

(17:30):
one of those roles were like I felt bad for
Joanna Gleason for having to play such an awful, awful character.
I think she's one of the it's hard you can't
pick a best performance because they're also strong, but but
she is so powerful and such a short amount of
time and so devastating. Like I don't think anyone we've

(17:51):
talked about our families together before, but I don't know
anyone who doesn't know like the the sort of pain
that a parent really tearing into you can create. And
there's something so familiar and terrifying about that moment. Especially,
there's something so childlike about uh Wallburg's performance in that scene,

(18:12):
like Joanna Gleeson is so fiery and explosive in it.
But but what Wallberg is doing in reaction to in
reacting to it is it's almost as strong, like withering,
but also defensive but also like trying to stand up
for himself. It's really a great scene. Yeah, that that

(18:35):
I think it's his. I mean, she's so awful and
he could have if he would have played it more
angry and violent and coming back at her or like
a typical teenager that's like, you know, you don't know
what the you're talking about. Like he plays it as
as devastated and when he says, you know, stop being
mean to me, it's just like it's so hard to watch,

(18:57):
and the and the way the father is and at
the breakfast table, you can tell this woman has has
got this household like under her thumb in all the
worst ways. Crucially, they cut back to the father during
the fight and you see you see him live that
moment too. Just write about wal Briggs dialogue there, like
it'd be one thing if he were like fuck you,

(19:17):
I'm out, or if if he cussed out his mom.
But the terminology he uses is so childlike, like like
I have good things to me that you don't know about.
It really cuts hard. It's a really tough scene to watch. Yeah,
but in all the best ways, it would have changed

(19:37):
it if he would have said, I have good things
like my donkey dick, and we might as well go
and talk about it like It was such a funny
and smart move as a director to make one of
the central, uh, central things he teases out in this
movie central suspenseful things. The the actual size of his penis. Yeah,

(20:02):
that that is uh. That is suggested throughout in costume posture,
and like the the when like the colonel's reaction to
seeing it for the first time. That's a that's a
thing that me and my friends have done quite a bit.
Is like the way his forehead is wrinkly and then

(20:22):
it goes flat when when he sees it. Thank you Eddie,
thank you Eddie. Is it is a thing that me
and my friends say to each other. It's so fun.
Jack tells me you have a great big cock, Nancy,
Oh goodness me. Um. We get to meet Buck early on,
who in the movie full of like likable characters, he

(20:45):
may be one of the most likable, like routable characters
in movie history for sure. Yeah, you know he's he's
gentle in a way that many of the characters aren't,
and innocent in his own way. Oh totally. He's just
you can tell he's an actor in that business as

(21:05):
a means to an end. He's uh. You never see
him like doing drugs or anything or even really drinking much.
He's in there to make a book until he can
start his business, like he claims that from the from
the get go when he's in the store. And another
one of my favorite exchanges there is when the store
manager comes over after he essentially runs the guy out
with the country music. He goes, look, I brought you

(21:27):
in here because I thought you're acting gig might bring
in some nice pussy. And it has, and it has.
As much as this film is about family, I think
it's a lot about confidence and what people do with
that confidence. And I think if there's one character that
actually goes through a change, because many of the characters

(21:48):
don't in this film, it might be the Buck Swope
character because when he when he meets them Laura Walter's
character at the New Year's party, that's the moment that
his confidence slips and the moment that it does, that's
when he finds love. Right, Yeah, for sure that happens.
That happens at the end of the film too, Like
Dirk isn't confident anymore. He goes back to his dad. Yeah,

(22:10):
and Burt Reynolds like he he lays on his mom's lap,
like his confidence has been shattered that moment with with
Laura Walters, like we talked about her in in the
Heard Aid episode. I think you and I both really
like her a lot. But that one of my favorite
lines in the movie is, uh is when they're going
back and forth about if they like sunsets or sunrises

(22:32):
and they both agree that sunrises are better. That's that's
sweet little detail. Yeah, and it makes me happy. Yeah.
He really frames that as like a couple of kids
like getting to know each other. Um, yeah, not like
these two porn actors. It's really I mean, he treats
everyone with love in this movie. But you do make
an interesting point about this isn't a kind of typical
film where the actors or where the characters really go

(22:54):
through these huge changes. Right in the end there they
all end it back together and go through a lot together,
but none of them are really that changed. It's true. Yeah. Um.
The other thing I thought was interesting that I never
really considered much until Two Nights Ago was the girlfriend
she never she never comes back around? Sheylynn? Is that?

(23:16):
Who was? Who plays his girlfriend? Yeah? The one that
he jumps up on her bed and and and uh
and bounces her. Yeah, Like, I wonder if that was
something on the cutting room floor he just didn't feel
like he needed, or if they just never shot anything
else with her. I read that there were quite a
few scenes that ended up being cut. The first cut
of the film was over three hours, and there was

(23:40):
a version of the film where Sheylyn does return and
she had moved into Eddie adams as parents home because
both of his parents were killed in a car accident,
and all of this stuff was shot, it just didn't
make the film. Oh interesting. Yeah, So after after Dirk
flees the fireworks party, uh at at Alfred Molina's house.

(24:05):
Look like one of the places he goes is his
old house and you find Sherylyn living there? And is
that where he learns that his parents were dead? Yeah?
Because she tells him. Oh interesting, huh, It's funny too
because you don't really miss that. Um, I can see
why it's cut because you don't need the parents and
I don't even think you need him to. It's almost

(24:28):
more powerful that they're still around and he just left
on the Yeah, I mean, on the one hand, I
can also understand why it's gone. On the other, this
is just another film that P. T. A didn't have
final cut on and it and it was straining against
studio forces to either get his vision created or get
something that was able to actually be released. Yeah. So

(24:50):
I wonder if one day we'll get a version of
the film that's that's more of a director's cut that
goes the full three hours. Yeah, I'm kind of surprised
that hasn't happened yet after this many years. Um, roller Girl,
you know, sent into sort of scout, uh the goods
as it were. And just on the size of this,
on the size of his penis, like there's so many

(25:12):
all the sex scenes, it's so funny to me, like
how they have to consider how big it is to
how they block and frame the shots, Like anytime someone
is is like giving him a blowjob, they're like starting
as like his stern um or if they're going down low,
they're like, you know, really submarining the whole process. It's

(25:34):
a film that's really built on the reaction shot, oh
for sure, in a big ways. So funny. Another one
of my favorite lines from Burt Reynolds again, uh, when
he's talking about you know, shooting shooting the scenes, he goes,
if you don't have any juices flowing in the Mr.
Torpedo area the fun zone. It's funny, how like the

(25:57):
way that he talks about for being someone who directs
adult films, his terminology is very non profane, right, yeah, yeah,
that's a fun contrast with him. I never really thought
about that the Mr. Torpedo area. Um. And another you know,
we both have talked in private about like lines from
this movie that we use in real life, and um,

(26:17):
I know we're going to get to the big one
that we both use. But one of mine is when, uh,
when roller Girl comes when they go back to his
house after that big night out and they have the
you know, the audition scene basically in front of him.
Roller Girl comes in and says, are we gonna fuck?
And Jack goes, oh yes, I say, oh yes, like
that A lot in my life and no one ever

(26:38):
knows what I'm talking about. Oh yes, are we gonna
go out for drinks? Chuck? Oh yes, yeah yeah. And
it's sort of that thing like when something's a given,
that kind of oh yes, yeah, I love it. Yeah,
it really works. It really hit me to watching in

(27:03):
a couple of nights ago, just like for for a
long film, just how well paced it is. It really
just hums along. Um, it never ever drags for a second. No,
not ever. And for a film that is really kind
of the full metal jacket of adult film, Yeah, like

(27:24):
there is definitely that that moment in where things change.
I feel like this film second half maintains the energy
in that portion in a way that that full Metal
Jacket didn't, you know, Like it's really consistent throughout in
a in a great way. Yeah, the consistency and there
you know, it's also a film of montages. Um, I

(27:46):
can't remember how many there are. I feel like there
were like four or five really great montages where, uh
you know that where they kind of just really bring
things along in an entertaining way. Um, whether it's like
when Eddie first has got money and they go to
the disco club and him like shopping and bragging about
his clothes and or the pool party scene. You know,

(28:10):
it's so great and it's such like a chunk of
this movie. When he's finally brought in and meets everybody,
it's just such a great sequence. It really makes California
look cool, you know. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Um, the John
c Riley Uh to this day, when Emily and I
are making mixed drinks, we always go one two for whatever.

(28:34):
That's a that's scene really emphasizes, you know, how familiar
all of these characters are. I think everyone has a
read rothschild in their life. Yeah, just the bullshit artist
that is. That is the John c Riley character, like everyone's.
And I think that probably shocked a lot of people
who had preconceived notions about what they were going to

(28:56):
go see when they were going to go see Boogie Nights,
and they had to be a shock to go there
and and see everyone act and perform in such a
familiar way, like, yeah, you know these people, you know
a scotty J. Yeah, it's got a scotty J. Yeah
for sure. Because I think I remember going to see

(29:17):
this film for the first time in knowing like, oh man,
this is Paul Thomas Anderson. He's like up and coming.
I loved Hard eight, and he's doing this long epic
about the porn industry. And I did not know that
what he was really doing was a movie about a
big family, right until you get in there and you see,
like see unfold before your eyes. It's it makes you

(29:38):
wonder how many people avoided this film for that reason
and ended up missing something great. I think a portion
of society that we could probably it's pretty predictable. I
know I was. I was a senior in high school
in and I know that going to go see Boogie
Nights was not a thing that I probably told a

(29:59):
bunch of people I was do wing. Like high school
kids probably looked at this film thinking it was it
was sleazy or whatever. So it's I think it took
a type of person to person. And Adam Frantic, who
who didn't tell his friends what movie he was going

(30:19):
to go see. Well, the speaking of John c Riley
when they first meet, you know that great scene at
the bar when he when he does make him the margharita,
that's it's such a like it was such a fun
thing to play that like they were basically two twelve
year olds meeting each other on the playground for the
first time. Yeah, the like the measuring contest that they
had in every way, and that the fun the fun

(30:41):
diving contest scene. He just never stopped trying to win
up each other. And John Riley, you gotta took your legs.
You knows you can get all the way around. I know,
I know. That was another wonder in that scene. You
follow the lady party goer into the into the pool,
and you're in on Dirk and Read and then you're

(31:02):
watching the dives from above water and below. Just it
really seems like a fun party. Chuck oh man, it
was like so wanted to be at that party at
one point in my life. Like now I want to
be on the fringe of that party, but I used
to want to be in that party. You don't. You
don't walk into a party of saying is there going
to be coke at this party? Anymore? I've gotten Bert, Oh,

(31:26):
I think we can probably find something. Yeah, that shot
is great. He I mean not um that one, or
he takes her he takes the camera underwater twice in
the same shot. I think, even yeah, it's so and
then back out again, I don't know how that's done
without Like when you put glass underwater, the glass will

(31:47):
start to streak and drip, like, I don't know how
you maintain clarity after popping up out of the water.
I don't know that that next time. That just seems
like magic to me. Yeah, I mean, I've seen the
underwater rigs um, but yeah, it seems like once you
go under, like you're stuck down there. Yeah. Yeah, I'm
not sure how he did that. The pool party scene

(32:09):
is that introduction to Scotty j and he is. He's
a pretty main concern throughout, I would say, the middle
third of the film. Yeah, I mean, what a what
a job, what a character? I mean one of the
other things that still say. I realized there's like five
or six lines I use from this movie in my
regular life is my buddy Brett and I always anytime

(32:33):
something goes wrong, I'm a fucking idiot. Yeah, yeah, every time.
It's so brutal. It took me fifteen watches of this
film to see what I saw at the cinerama a
couple of weeks ago, which was you see his primer
gray car parked outside the partys and the same car

(32:55):
that he paints competition orange later on at the New
Year's party to match the corvette, and that detail I
cannot believe I missed that the first fifteen times I
saw the film did not know that. I think that
speaks to a an essential quality to Paul Thomas Anderson films,
which is like there's always something else to appreciate. Totally, Um,

(33:20):
we also get you know, we haven't really talked much
about Bill Macy's character, but um that he's cut holded
uh in the earlier in the film in the bedroom,
but then at the at the party is when it
really is just too much, when she's real life born
Starnina Hartley is in the driveway with that crowd of
cagoons just watching, and then Ricky Jay has that great

(33:44):
conversation with him about the crew size and the lighting.
And the story is that is that he messed up
the line the fucking wife as an assid or cock,
and that Paul Thomas Anderson loved it so much he
just used it. It's such a classic and like there's
been there's never been a better straight man than Ricky j.
Like that that dead pan effect so perfect here, and

(34:08):
I love like the way the production jargon used here
is familiar to you and me, and so everything that
Ricky is saying and pushing back on his his A
D here is like a conversation we've heard a million times, like, yeah,
it's so great. He's like, well, you know, I get
it if you're busy and you don't have time to
meet or whatever. And Bill Macy's just like, dude, do

(34:31):
you know what's going on? Away? The god the cherry
on the cake of that scene is like, there's a beat,
and then Bill Macy walks out of frame and Ricky
j walks towards the driveway. It was so great. I
love seeing this with a with an audience because that
got such a huge pop to places that I'm used

(34:52):
to laughing by myself. Yeah, it was great to share that. Uh.
And of course at the party scene that's where have
the line that you and I both use a lot
in life is oh you think so doctor um? And
that great scene where you know, the O D scene
is just like brutal, that dumb ship on the floor.
I think she's sick. I think she's sick, and uh,

(35:15):
you know, like we're laughing about something horrific. But like
the there. There is something funny about the shock of this.
I think a lot of times in my life my
reaction to shocking is to laugh, and that's this is
one of those moments like when you when she starts
spazzing and he's freaking out and the limo driver, we

(35:36):
gotta give it up for this limo driver. Did you
recognize that actor? I think is that the guy who's
been in some Spike Lee stuff. I recognized him as
Captain Muffy from Magnolia. Do you remember there's Captain Muffy
and there's Doc Tom Cruise's uh personal assistance. He is

(35:59):
the order assistant. And I think it's great that he
was brought back, like he's one of the Poul Thomas
Anderson players. If I'm not mistaken, that's the same guy.
I'm trying to look it up now. Um, that has
been in and some Spike Lee movies in the past,
where every time he's in one of them, I'm like,
that guy's that guy's not an actor, but he is.

(36:22):
He seems like a real dude. Yeah, he's he's great.
He's great in this movie. Um, and I think that
scene like you shouldn't feel bad that's supposed to be
played for laughs, right, Yeah, I'm not gonna feel I'm
not gonna feel bad about feelings. Um. But there is

(36:42):
the foreshadowing of like some of the darkness around uh,
around the colonel, you know, like he's gone to this
party with an underage girl. He like it does not
move the needle for him at all, that this girl
is dying on the floor in this like, hell, he'll
just get another These are disposable for him. Yeah, yeah,

(37:03):
it's really gross. You know, it takes you know, make
sure and even uh, even Jack says, you know, make
sure you take her around the back. Yeah, you don't
want to kill the vibe. Check. That's why. That's why
you take all the dead girls around the back of
your party for disposal. Another one of my favorite sequences

(37:23):
comes up next when you know Dirk finally has his
first first job, um and the way they do that,
the whole sequence is so great with like how much care,
um Amber, how much care everyone is really taking. But
she's really taking care of him in that scene. And
it's also so sweet how you know he wants to
make it sexy, you know, yeah, it's really pretty sweet. Yeah,

(37:47):
and he wants it to feel good. For her also, Yeah,
in a way that's unexpected, especially in that industry. I
doubt if there's ever a lot of care about like,
you know, I want to make sure you really enjoy
the sex. I was pretty interested on the most recent
rewatch in like in the timeline of the film where
you put things like the hardest core sex scene in

(38:11):
the film, and this is it, isn't it Like it's
about twenty minutes in and it's and it's the Amber
Dirk scene right up top. I don't think any other
scene that we see is as hardcore? Is that? So? Like,
if you if you can get past it, if you
have a low tolerance for this, then I think the
rest of the sex scenes in the film are are

(38:31):
our downhill from there in terms of of how explicit
they are. Yeah, I mean plenty to be Uh. If
you know, if this is not the movie for you,
it's I don't think it's like the lack of explicit
sex scenes that's turning you off, right, I really if
if you don't think you're going to be into this movie,

(38:52):
you probably shouldn't try totally agree. Um, but in that
scene is when we you know, is when we get
the reveal about his penis size to the rest of
the crew, and there's all those great shots of the
like zooming in on the lens of the camera, and
then Scotty is the boom guy like audibly kind of
losing his breath and coughing. Yeah, so great, almost like

(39:18):
his arms up as if like he's surrendering right there. Oh,
I never thought about that. All the little tricks right
like how do you how do you show but not show?
We're cutting around to these reactions. We're seeing read rothschild
like lean all the way out of his director's chair. Yeah. Yeah,

(39:40):
and Becky does the same thing, like they both are
they're both like mere catting well. And then the cherry
on top of that scene is you know, they didn't
get the the ejaculate shot and uh and right at
the very end he goes, you know, I can I
can do it again, Jack if you need me to.
It's not a problem. That was real magic. When they cut,

(40:04):
they like they call cut it ends and then they
and then a p a comes in with a rope
or something like what Mark Wahlberg does with his body
to cover his junk turnaround. I think is it's great
physical acting that he does, and that seems really difficult
to do. Everyone in that shot has something to do

(40:24):
in order to to hide Dick. Really yeah, I mean
John c Riley comes over and like read basically comes
over to high five them right afterwards, and you know
he sort of yeah, like kind of hikes his leg
up on the bed so you can't see anything. It's
really well done and well timed. And it looks natural too, yeah,
because I think that's the deal a lot of times

(40:45):
and stuff like that, where you're trying to hide something
that you don't want to reveal, yet it can it
can seem really fakey and obvious. Yeah. God, Julianne Moore
is so awesome in this movie. And it really starts
there like she's she's playing this three dimensional chess in
her character, like in her her love for Dirk both

(41:07):
professional and personal, and and and the the tragedy of
not being able to be with her son that plays
out throughout the rest of the film. It's and you know,
like the daughter she adopts in Roller Girl when they're
doing all that cocaine later on, Man, what a scene,
what a scene? So good? Yeah? Yeah, and that that

(41:29):
how it all culminates and like, you know, you know,
let's go, let's go, let's do things. And she's like,
I don't want to leave this room neither. Why It's
like I've seen that ship happening, you know in real life.
Uh yeah, it's a it's a nasty drug. It's so
cokey at the end of this film, it really is. Yeah,

(41:49):
Like Scorsese is known for doing some some great coked
out scenes, and I'm sure he saw this one was like, Okay,
the student has become the master. Everyone loves Dirk and
it's not just Scottie. Like the more I was thinking
about it, the more I was thinking, how like, doesn't
read love Dirk, doesn't Todd love Dirk. Yeah, let's talk

(42:13):
about Todd Parker for a second. God, he's so can
talk about entrances to characters in this film. Don't dance
on Sundays is is one of my favorite lines. And yeah,
he's so good. He's just such a fucking sleeves ball,
and like it's so appropriate that he's he's not even
in that industry. He's an exotic dancer for tips and uh,

(42:37):
but so just you know when he comes in there,
he's just got that predatory that creepy predatory sense about
him walking into that party. He's he's got to be
the most intense part of the film, right he is.
He is like a razor blade at all times. Yeah.
And you know what he comes in, Um, that's the

(42:58):
that's Dirk's party, right. Yeah. So that's where you get
that big montage where he's stuff. Yeah, and they play
that too like he's a little kid. Yeah, exactly, there's
so much innocence. Yeah, it's so adorable. Um, and they
come up with brock Landers and Chess Rockwell and you
know he's got this corvette and it's just like it's

(43:20):
like this little kid in a candy store. And then
the thing that turns the entire film, ironically, is mom,
Julianne Moore, turning him onto drugs. It's from his mother,
his like adoptive mother basically drips the best part, that
drips the best parts. She's the one that introduces it

(43:42):
to him. And you know, it never really hit home
to me like it did the other night, that she
is this mother figure and that is the right turn
that his life takes. Right there is when he had
managed to avoid coke up into that point. It's presumed
I mean, there was never any chance he was going
to say no to that because it does two things right.
It's coming from a mother figure that he's always wanted

(44:04):
and and thus cannot deny her or anything she wants
him to do. And also it looks cool, Like he
asks in that scene, does it? Do I look cool
when I do it? That's all he cares about, That's
all he needs to know. Yeah. And again it's that
confidence thing you keep talking about, like he's constantly needing
asking for that validation. Uh, do I look cool while

(44:25):
I'm doing drugs or whatever? Yeah? Uh? And then you
know that that that party scene is really informative because
that's what takes us from the seventies into the eighties. Uh.
And it's such a transition in American cultural history and such.
And he uses that as the main transition in the film,

(44:46):
and it feels like it feels like the beginning of
the end for everybody in this movie. Yeah, I mean too,
to celebrate New Year's with that kind of bang, that
that sequence of following man Bill Macy out to his
car a card that he leaves his champagne on top

(45:07):
of and locks the door. Did you notice that that
little detail. Both of those details just give me the
chills to even think about. Yeah. Yeah, man, that was
tough stuff. I mean, it's interesting because you don't know
much about that character except that it's a constant series
of humiliations. Nothing about the film prepares you for that. Yeah,

(45:30):
and in a fucked up way, you get the sense
that in her own way, his his wife, the Nina
Harley character, Like, I don't think she hates him. I
think she's trying to change him and he's just incapable
of being the person she wants him to be. And
like that is that's the that's one of the tragedies

(45:53):
of that relationship. She is incredibly cruel to him. But
I mean, if h if she didn't love him, she'd
leave him, right, Like I think what I think what
she's going for is for him to grow a backbone. Yeah.
But it's also a time in the seventies where like
wife swapping was fine and key parties were part of
the cultural fabric for some people, and certainly in this um,

(46:18):
in this group of colleagues and friends, it's not unusual
for someone to be getting laid in the driveway and
everyone watching, and he never like he gets a little incense,
but he's never never since the anger that would lead
to the gun. Um, because he's just so dopey and
sad about it all. Yeah, it's such a it's such

(46:39):
a moment of violence without the accompanying anger. That's a
great that's a great point because usually he would storm
in there and like scream obscenities or it's all just
very and it's very effective the way he plays it.
It's all so matter of fact and just sad. There
are several moments in the film where characters just kind
of short circuit into into a mask, into like a

(47:02):
death mask, and that's that's Bill Macy's moment. And that
moment later on where Dirk is on the couch at
Alfred Melina's house, like where his face is just gone,
where he's just expressionless and and not even there. It's

(47:23):
you know, there are several moments in the film that
do that and I and I really love Paul Thomas
Anderson's interest in capturing them fully, like we stay on
those shots. Yeah, and the Bill Macy thing too was
never talked about again. Um, I think in a lot
of movies there's I mean, at least like one bit
of dialogue at some point about like, oh Bill's not

(47:46):
around anymore, like or what the funk was that all
about Bill? Because he was a family member that essentially
died in front of them, and he didn't get his
painting that Malaura Walters does like that's on the wall. Later,
I I had headcannon that the painting was hung in
the exact spot where he shot himself, but in watching

(48:07):
the movie over again checking for that, I don't think
it is. I think it's on a different wall. Those
paintings are so great. I wonder who did those. Yeah, yeah,
really cool. But it's such a great transition in the
film because um, like I said that, seventies is over,
but it sets up not just him, but everything is
set up for part two because Eddie's now doing drugs.

(48:27):
That's where don That's where Buck meets uh Laura Walter's character,
That's when Thomas Jane shows up. That's when um Gondoli
shows up and has the film is dead videos the
future scene, which is really like one of the big
messages of the movie. Yeah, hot funk action to the max, Jack,

(48:49):
I want to make a dollar in ascent in this industry. Well,
and you can't ignore the best line in that whole
that whole scene. I like some things butter my ass
and a lollipop in my mouth not so simple if
you've tried it. The other little thing I have in

(49:10):
my notes I'm meant to mention was when when how
many times do you think Bill Macy would have confused
those two things had that been his line. I just
like simple pleasures like butter in my mouth and lollipops
in my ass. Well, they're kind of interchangeable when you
think about it's neither one of them make any more
sense than the other. Um. But the scene where that

(49:30):
she's doing the coke and she introduces him to the coke,
and like, not only is it a mom giving him
his medicine, but I don't remember at the end he
asked for a drink of water. She goes, no, no
one more than a drink of water. Like it's literally
a mother giving a child medicine. It's true, It's it's
really true. So sad um So that sets everything up

(49:52):
for you know, the whole second half of the films,
Like that's a way that she expresses love for him, right,
it is additional in the way that she is caring
for him. She wants him to have a good time.
She wants to share something that's important to her with
him in order to bring them closer together. Like there's
a it's a she's like ministering to him, like he's

(50:15):
he's taking, like he's taking the communion away for from
her in that moment. Yeah, and there's also the cultural
thing of having a drug buddy. Um, you know, things
are really far gone when you're when you don't want
anyone around and you're locked by yourself in a room
doing coke like that, but mostly like, you want your

(50:36):
drug buddy, and if you feel like your other drug
buddies have left you, you're gonna go seek one out.
You want a read and a todd if you can
get one. God, God, he was so good in this.
This is some of that that carpet shit. Great Thomas
Jane put in a bathtub with carpet, Is that what

(50:57):
he said? God? Like, when things get super cokey that
he starts describing the different types of terrible cocaine you
can get. Oh that's right, good lord. Um. We also
get introduced in the beginning of that second half with
the documentary that Amber is making and it's so great because,

(51:18):
like you, you forget sometimes at Paul Thomas Anderson had
to shoot these fake porns and shoot this fake documentary
on a porn actor, and that must have been so
much fun. Can you imagine? For for a variety of reasons,
like the the production value aspect has got to be fun,

(51:38):
like to to go back and shoot on eight millimeter
or something and to do and to do all the
like in camera effects that he does. But also like
all the terminology, the inside baseball stuff about blocking your
own scenes and that's one of my favorite parts, and
Jack like chiming in right after I'm saying that he
doesn't let him. Yeah, I don't allow him to block

(51:59):
his own sex scenes. And for Amber to leave that
in the movie. Yeah, all three of those things are
such a great combo. Yeah, it's really great. There's another
little part in that scene that I thought was a
nice script touch was showing Um showing Eddie saying he
says vindictiveness and just instead of vindictive, and it's it's

(52:20):
just that's such a character touch, Like for him to
say a big word is a big deal and he
doesn't even say it right. Yeah, it's like, uh, it's like,
who's the guy in uh limb Biscuit, who's the lead
singer of that band? Uh Durst. Yeah, it's like when
fred Durst says, I think we're all in agreeance that

(52:41):
uh that's always stuck out to me. Man, he just
he's getting ranked off the coals because he just directed
that piece of ship Travolta movie. That's that everyone is
saying is like one of the worst movies ever made. Really.
I saw The Free Future that recently and I laughed
my ass off. It's not is to be funny, that

(53:04):
is that is a startling hair choice from an actor
who has had a lot of them. Yeah, it's really interesting.
I might have to hopefully the The Flop House will
cover that one. That can live it through them that's
right over the plate for them. Oh totally. Um. So
we we do get now to the Colonel. The jail

(53:24):
scene with the Colonel, which is really just every time
I see that scene it just gets more gross and pitiful.
Are you talking about the part where he and Jack
are on opposite sides of the glass or you're talking
about where he's being beaten in the cell? Oh? Well,
I was talking about he and Jack on the side
of the glass, so devastating, a little bit of retribution

(53:46):
for the audience if anything. That I mean, Look, Robert
Ridgeley's character is a scumbag. He's the worst character in
the film. It almost goes without saying, but the feeling
that he's expressing is what everyone in the film is
feeling but does not say, you know, and for that reason, Like,

(54:09):
it's a super emotional scene to watch, and it was
super affecting for me to see it again, Like it's
it's just terrific and it's so sad, And I think
one of the powers of the film and of the
filmmaker here is that I really felt empathy for a
terrible character in that moment. Yeah, I know what you mean.

(54:33):
Um uh yeah. Movies are complicated in the way they
make you feel about different characters. It's really manipulative in
a lot of ways. Yeah yeah, but I I mean
that's why I love movies. I like I like that
kind of manipulation, Like ultimately I want to feel something. Yeah, yeah,
even if it's the wrong thing for the wrong character. Yeah, totally,

(54:55):
just great stuff in that scene. Yeah. I thought another
scene kind of right before as when or maybe right
after that really is such a signifier where Dirk is
at the time, or Eddie is is when he's he's
a big asshole to roller Girl in that one scene
after doing the math, right, because this is such a
She's such a sweet character, and he was previously such

(55:16):
a sweet character and like this little kid, he was
just brand new to everything, and it really shows where
he's at when he acts out at her. Yeah, when
when he lashes out at characters who are unconditionally loving
to him, like a roller Girl and even like like
Scotty j he has that moment is another line I
use all the time, but like Scotty mind your business please?

(55:38):
What the fuck? When when he's when he's expressing a
little bit of doubt about their plan, like like people
are people are trying to love him and he's pushing
those people away. Yeah, I mean, well that that sequence
that it comes up next is the is the big
one of Burt Reynolds when he's all fucked up and
you know, Burt his er Jack has brought in this

(56:01):
who am I kidding? Bert has brought in this new
kid on the street, and yeah, and Johnny Doe wants
to like he wants to be Dirk and you know
he's obviously threatened right out of the gate. But that
scene is just so well acted when they when they
go after each other, and you know, there's one line
I don't think I ever really realized, but when market

(56:22):
Marker is yelling at him, he goes He's like, what
are you the king? And Burt Reynolds goes, yes and
shoves him, shoves him in the chest. I love that reply, Yes,
I'm the fucking king. Nobody's the king of Dirk. Jack
and Scotty is just so crawling out of his skin,
like seeing his family being torn apart like that. It's

(56:44):
like it's tough to watch, you know, it's not going
to go well. Like the moment that Dirk meets Johnny
Doe and he asks who's that? Yeah, that is such
a loaded word in that scene, this versus that has
a totally different meaning. Yeah, like who's this? Who's that? Yeah,

(57:06):
it's's very subtle, but yeah. Um. The one scene that
I thought is very funny but is completely indulgent and
by all accounts, should have been cut is the record
studio sequence. Big disagree for me? Really, I love this
scene so much. Oh, I loved it, but I just

(57:27):
thought it was like it doesn't really do much for
this It felt to me like clearly in there because
it was funny and it wasn't like necessary for the film.
I yeah, I mean yes, yes, I know ye, And
yet like the magic on those tapes belongs to us,

(57:49):
and you know that there's like in terms of great
line density in dialogue, I don't know that you do
better than than the studio part. It's amazing, they're right,
like how do you cut that? And Michael Penn on
the boards, right, Yeah, somebody who we both briefly met.
That's so great room. He's so great in this movie. Yeah,

(58:14):
just as like I've been I've been an editor, and
when you take notes from someone who's sitting on the couch,
you you learn to practice an expression of like this
is fucked up and wrong, but I'm gonna do it anyway.
Like my name is not going to be on it,
so who cares? Yeah, like that look is so great. Yeah,
I feel like I can't hear my vocals the basis

(58:36):
too loud. And then the way the way Reid handles it,
you know, with like he tens his hands in front
of his face. It's so great. I mean, trust me,
I would not want that scene to have not been
in the film. But it was the one where I
was like, all right, he clearly just thought this was
kind of fun to put in there. I mean, see,

(58:57):
Riley has guitar chops, like playing his own guitar in
that scene, like he was really doing the ship. He's great.
Does he ever play that song as as a touring
musician that he is? Oh? Is? Does he tour and play? Yeah?
I didn't know that. Yeah, he's he's got a stage
career right now. I haven't seen it yet, but I

(59:18):
want to. He's awesome. He's one of my favorites. He's
a dream guest. He uh did you ever listen to
the Mark Maren interview? Yes, he doesn't. He doesn't give
it away. I like it. Yeah, I agreed, it's a
little frustrating, but I was like, I got respect for
that guy because he didn't want to talk a lot
about acting. Yeah, yeah, I I admire that about him

(59:42):
and about others who have that sensibility that you know,
this is not all I am. Yeah, yeah, absolutely so.
I'm booking outs here. At this point, things are really starting,
like this movie has such a momentum about it, whether

(01:00:03):
it's in the right direction or in the wrong direction.
But like Pete Anderson really puts his foot on the
gas um kind of about this point when the switch
to video happens and Buck is denied the loan at
the bank for Buck Super Serio World. Uh. I think
that's all in one montage, and it's just everybody is

(01:00:25):
headed towards what looks like a bad ending. We get
those Clementine's bills from Hard eight in that scene and
the pickup truck with with Dirk God which was such
a a great callback, a musical callback. You know. Yeah
that that scene is tough, um and there's not a
lot of uh score, I guess that would count a score.

(01:00:49):
But in the in the scene just prior to that, um,
there is a little bit of score in the video
warehouse scene where Burt Reynolds is walking around and you've
got this really tragic, uh tragic score kind of playing out.
And then and then Johnny what's his name, Johnny Johnny
Doe is like as a misogynist and he's everything that

(01:01:11):
Dirk wasn't and what Dirk was trying to do, which
was to be cool and classy and respectful and um,
it really kind of win a bunch of Avien Awards.
If you're Johnny too, I don't think. I don't think
so either. It's a pretty funny sequence. But I think
I think the darkest line from this movie that I

(01:01:32):
use more than I should probably admit, is you Live,
You Live? Is that the Johnny dough Yeah. Yeah, and
he's and it says that because he's got a gun
to a girl's head that is blowing him. It's the
it's the most it's the worst. It's the worst scene

(01:01:53):
in the worst line of dialogue. Yeah. And there's a
lot of quick cuts there, and there's that one part
where he's just going, oh, he's like singing or something. Yeah,
I forgot about the custody hearing scene to like, yeah,
speaking of bringing everything to a brutal in that John

(01:02:14):
Doe in a very effective scene as an actor in
that film, just so sad and tragic. Great. I mean
we haven't said this at all in a film that's
full of great costumes, but holy sh it, great costumes
in this scene. Yeah, you get Julianne Moore in her
in in the best suit that she's got meeting with

(01:02:36):
the judge and her ex husband, Like it's it's so
placed in time. You got Reagan over the judge's shoulder.
Oh yeah, yeah, just staring down over the proceedings. Yeah,
it's brutal because you want you love that character. Uh
and like as like seeing it when I'm older now,
all I'm thinking is no way should she have custody

(01:02:59):
of a child. You know, her ex husband is saying
a lot of things that a lot of people said
about this movie before seeing it. I think, yeah, you're right,
and like, I mean, her husband is a reason why
I feel like I didn't tell a lot of people
that I went to it because you would get this
kind of reaction. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point and

(01:03:21):
I really thought about that. Um. The cross cutting here
in that sequence, though, is so well done. Like the
editing in this movie is just off the charts cutting
exterior when she's crying against the wall. Yeah, and that
matched up with the the truck the Donkey Dick scene
and then the limo scene with roller Girl, which is

(01:03:43):
just powerful on so many levels because of um, what
happens to her in the scene, of course, but where
it's all where they are at that point and how
far Jack has fallen in his career to where this
this douche bag in the back, like he does the
worst things and he's still just going to get out
and get away with it until he says, your movie

(01:04:04):
suck now anyway, Right, That's the one thing you can't
say to Jack Horner. It's like it's like calling Marty Chicken. Yeah,
I really, I mean I think you know, I'm as
about I'm about as gentle of a soul as they get.
But when roller Girl is smashing that guy's face in

(01:04:27):
with a roller skates like that is cathartic to me,
because you want that to happen, Yeah, you really do.
I'm no advocate for violence, but sometimes it beat down
like that in a movie. It's just like, yeah, he
deserved it. I mean, what justice is there for roller Girl?
But that at that moment in time. Yeah. Absolutely. Another

(01:04:49):
thing I never noticed in that sequence was in the car,
Eddie asks for twenty dollars and the guy says no,
and he goes back to ten Bucks, which was his
price in the kitchen at the beginning of this movie.
After all that, he asked for ten dollars to jerk
off full circle Yeah he does. God, p t A

(01:05:14):
does that thing that he does later on in Magnolia
where where we follow cars crossing each other, Yeah, on
a street, Like that's how this scene starts. We go
from truck to limo. That's right, to truck again. Like
it's so brilliant. Yeah, and I think, does it finally
end up with Buck? Is that a car switch? Yeah?

(01:05:36):
For the mis donuts scene, it's truck limo Buck. Yeah,
truck limo Buck. Yeah. And that scene is brutal that
I feel like it was a little Tarantino nod there.
Perhaps the way he blocked that scene out. You know
exactly what that donut shop smells like, you Like, there's
something so atmospheric about about the the fluorescent light. Yeah,

(01:06:02):
and uh when Buck asks, uh, you do the little
sprinkles for Christmas? It's so sweet. He's such a rutable
character and I love that. Like the worst thing that
Paul Thomas Anderson could have done is like killed off
Buck in that scene, Like that would have been just
a brutal thing to do to the audience because everyone's

(01:06:22):
too dark at that point. It's too dark, and everyone
needs Buck to come out on the other side of
this thing. But p t A drives that character right
up to the line like he soaks them in blood,
near death experience, brains on his fucking face. Yeah, yeah,
it's pruttle. I do love how calm that guy was

(01:06:43):
in the booth though, as like, as much as I'm
not a gun advocate and I believe the good guy
with a gun thing is generally a total myth, like
to see it play out like that, it's like, yeah, man,
I hope that guy's around one day when I need him.
That guy has got a fucking cannon too. You don't
just shoot at one hand it the way he does, No, no, no,

(01:07:05):
that was great. You get the feeling he got into
his eighteen wheel or right after this and just took off. Yeah. Yeah.
Buck's the only survivor in that scene though. Yeah, and
he does the right thing. He takes that money. Yeah. Um,
then we get our only title card in the whole movie,
which is kind of interesting. Long way, long way down,

(01:07:27):
one last thing in parentheses. Um, he didn't need to
do that, but for some reason, it was like, I
feel like it worked. It was like this announcement that
we've hit rock bottom or we're about to hit rock
bottom everybody. Yeah, yeah, I think there was effective and

(01:07:48):
and the right choice in that moment, because what did
they cut directly to after that card? Uh? Well, is
it the guys walking up the driveway? Yeah, to to
go to Alfred Malina's house. Yeah, the Alfred Molina, I assure,
do you want to get this right? I mean, that's
that's the next sequence. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's crazy to

(01:08:12):
think that you're not at rock bottom at this point
in the film. Yeah, And this next sequences is probably
the greatest sequence in a movie of great sequences. Um,
like Paul Timons, Paul Paul Thomas Anderson, they're not just
scenes like a column sequences because they play out over
the course of like ten to twelve minutes. And uh,

(01:08:36):
it's really interesting to to like examine the scene and
the timing of these music cues, which are three. He
goes through three full He might have tightened him up
a little bit, but basically three full songs in that
one scene. There is really a Paul Thomas Anderson rule
of threes happening in this film, especially, and Molina is

(01:08:57):
so good. Apparently he didn't know any of these songs
and he had to really drill them into his head. Yeah,
and he's wearing ear plug so that cosmos firecrackers don't
startle him like his calm. It's weird, like, how do
you play both super calm and totally coked up and frenetic.
He's somehow able to do both. Yeah, And it's the

(01:09:18):
fireworks that make that possible. Right. Without the fireworks, he's
just coked up, But with the fireworks he's also calm
in a fucked up way. Yeah. I mean the firework
thing was just fucking genius. It was really deafening in
a movie theater in a way that you just don't
experience when you're watching the film at home. Like it's
loud on a TV, it's loud on a home theater.

(01:09:39):
But there was a lot of jumping seats in this scene.
Well that's what he wanted to elictit, I'm sure was
um was that jumped scare almost after you know they
come in and when they when they first come in.
I just noticed this the other night too. The music
you starts not when they're in the room with him
and you see him pacing around, but the music he

(01:10:01):
starts when that that prison door gate starts to shut yep,
you hear that little piano tinkle of Sister Christian. What
a great description by you, though, like that that prison
tour shutting is so apt. I think locked inside, Locked Inside,
and Alf for Melita is in this movie for like
seven minutes, and he has a few of the best

(01:10:22):
lines in the movie. The plan was fucked from the beginning.
Anytime you tried to squeeze three people into the front
seat of a two seater car, you need to rethink
the plans logistics absolutely. Um. The first line that I
love with his in that scene is that's Cosmo, He's Chinese. Yeah.

(01:10:43):
And then of course the other great one, Ricky Springfield.
He's a buddy of mine, the fire man. God, he's
so good. He's he's on podcasts like he does one himself,
I think, really, and it's super game to be on podcast.
Apparently he's been on a couple of our ours, uh
in our Hollywood studio, and they're always saying like, hey, man,

(01:11:04):
if you want Molina, like, we'll try and line it
up for you. Great get oh man, he'd be fantastic. Yeah.
He I read that he chooses roles in such a
way that he doesn't want to do the same thing
twice in a row. He tells his agent like, give
me something different the very next time. And when he
was when he read the role over hot Jackson, he's like, yep,

(01:11:27):
I've never done anyone like this, And that's basically why
he did it. Man, that I mean, the whole sequence
is great. It's like, you know, Todd is gonna funk
it all up because they almost get away with it.
You know, they're almost out that door, and then Todd
is just so fucking drugged out. It's the gun. Like
the moment they see his gun and they start walking

(01:11:49):
it it can only ever end bad. Oh yeah, And
you know they noticed the gun in the in the bodyguards, uh,
inside his jacket or whatever. And it's just it's the
tension is so high because you know what's coming um
and you don't, like, I fully would could have seen
Read and Todd getting shot and killed in that scene. Yeah,

(01:12:12):
there's a fun moment where they're when they run out
of the house h A. P A. Or someone flings
the door open for them to run out of Did
you notice that there's a phantom arm either holding the
door open or flinging it open for them to escape
through really pretty great that it was left in the movie. Man,
that's fantastic. I gotta love all these little things that

(01:12:36):
you can notice after all these times that you see it.
It's yeah, um, so he gets away obviously, uh. And
then the first thing that he does is go back home.
You know, he goes back to Jack's. And what I
really love about this movie is how unconditionally they take
him back in. Yeah, you know, like there's no and

(01:12:58):
it's how like everyone that's how the ideal family is is,
even if they end up paying a penance later, Like
in that moment, all he needed was a place to
stay in, a hug from his his dad. That's how
it's supposed to work. And that's how you know he's
finally found his family. They really are good hearted people

(01:13:20):
in this movie, you know. Yeah, and it just kicks
off that amazing ending. It's just like it's so bursting
with love and positivity and even the music cues God
only knows the Beach Boys, and it's just like dripping
with with goodness. Jack's home is such an important it's
almost a character in the film, right, and that it's

(01:13:44):
home base for this entire family, and it's also the
place where they shoot a bunch of his films and
a place where people party like it's it's it's home base.
I love it so much. Do you know this? This
home was for sale a couple of years ago really
for I don't know, like two million dollars or you know,
it's it's how much houses are in southern California. But

(01:14:08):
could you imagine living at the Boogie Night's house and
how great that would be. I would just open up
a museum. You'd have to put a palapa in the
back and do blend or drinks right one and in
a cedar redwood hot tub. No kidding, it would be
a museum that that that you'd live in. I would
love it. I hope it's being appreciated by whoever bought

(01:14:30):
that house. Oh yeah, for sure. Um And here in
the end, you know, it's so dripping with love, and
you get the final two sort of, you get your
final montage and then your final tracking shot. The montages
when you get the colonel in prison, you get the
Rodriguez brothers opening up the bar. You get Buck and
Melaura with a kid and a family, and you get

(01:14:51):
Read moving on to his magic career. It's like all
you see is just like goodness happening to all these characters,
or at least in the Colonel's case. Uh, you know,
getting as just desserts. Right, and then it isn't it.
People are getting what they deserve. Yeah, that's it, That's
totally it. And most of them deserve goodness, yeah, the

(01:15:13):
colonel does not. Yeah, while at the same time, none
of them have really changed, which I think is an
interesting tension at the conclusion of the film, Right, there
is no hero's journey per se, but but there is
come up and for everyone. I feel like I feel
like there's are drug lessons that have been learned. Sure,

(01:15:35):
it doesn't really show like, um, you know, we're not
going to do this anymore. You never see Todd again, interestingly, Yeah,
um what happens to him? You also get the sense
that they're they're not I mean, if they're shooting porn,
they're they're not making art anymore, just because Dirk is back. Yeah,

(01:15:56):
I mean that great tracking shot at the end that
with jack Ye walking through a house and it's like
he's just he's a man at ease in his life
at this point, I think, like I get the feeling
that Jack may be retired or soon be retired. There's
that physicality in Reynolds is presence that is in this scene.
That walk is so specific and it's aged, you know,

(01:16:22):
like he's tired, but he's strong. Yeah. I don't know.
There's just a lot going on there and I don't
know to what degree, Like that is a choice that
Burt Reynolds makes versus just what an aging actor looks
like when he's walking through a home, right, right, But
I sure do you appreciate seeing it. It's it's a
really great thing. Yeah. And he has that great moment
when he comes up to Amber and he goes, I'm

(01:16:45):
staring at the foxiest bitch in the whole world. It's
just so sincere. It's sincere, and it's appreciated, sincerely. Yeah,
And then we get to the scene at him. Yeah,
we get we finally get the dick reveal, raging cock. Yeah,

(01:17:05):
what this whole movie has been leading toward, which he didn't.
I could see him not doing this and it literally
being like a cock tease to the to the viewer
of the film to not show it. But he did.
That's a great question, like what do you lose if
you don't show it, like like, does it change demonstrably

(01:17:26):
how we feel about Dirk or how we feel about
the movie. I don't know. I'm really glad it's in
the movie. I'm really glad it's there. I think it's
it is the ultimate way for the film to end,
but I don't think it makes the film. Like if
you were to see a made there's no way there's
a made for TV version of this film, but we're
there to be one that doesn't include this moment, Like

(01:17:48):
I don't know if I don't know, if you missed
the the feeling of it. I don't think so. In fact,
on the contrary, I think it would have. It's hard
to know now because it's so it's such an iconic
scene but completely removed, it might really elicit a different
feeling altogether of you know, you never got to see it,

(01:18:10):
and maybe that was the whole point, not the whole
point of the movie, but you know all this, but yeah,
exactly that it was legend. It's a I mean, we
get we get the circus dirge into the E L
O song and it's like it's it's triumphant in a

(01:18:30):
really powerful way. It gives me chills every time when
we smashed to black with that with that song. Yeah absolutely,
and the realization that the the ending of a major
Hollywood film film was a dick reveal. Yeah, yeah, it's
like what who does that? Yeah? I love Paul Thomas

(01:18:52):
Anderson films so much, and I love this film as
much as any I mean, I have a hard I'm
answering the question what's your favorite film? Because that answer
always changes? But I mean, right now, it's Boogie Nights.
It's Proximity Effect. I know that, but it's it's great
every time. Yeah, absolutely. I hadn't seen it in a while,

(01:19:13):
so a lot of fun watching it again and a
lot of fun talking about it. So what are we
up next, Magnolia? Yeah, sure do all right, So we'll
get you on the books sometime and like, uh maybe
November or so the dule Christmas a dish. I would
love that very much, you know what, Magnolia kind of
feels like a holiday film in a weird way. Does.

(01:19:35):
We'll be able to talk about Frank T. J. Mackie
and yeah, and another version of a family and P. T. Anderson.
This was a ton of fun, Chuck, Thanks, Yeah, man,
this is great. So h everyone will look forward to that.
And the great Adam Pranica can be found the Greatest
Generation podcast and the Friendly Fire Podcast and the Greatest

(01:19:56):
Discovery podcast. That's right, all three. And you're on tour.
You want to plug any in those dates? Oh yeah,
let me. You can go to Greatest Gen Tour dot
com to see all of the live show dates that
I'm doing with the great Benjamin R. Harrison for the
Greatest Generation and we're going to a ton of great

(01:20:17):
places eight dates before the end of And I hope
to see you out there on the road. Well, I
will see you in Atlanta for that show. Sure, Well,
I can't wait. I love it all right, Thanks buddy,
there's been a lot of fun. Thank you. Movie Crush

(01:20:43):
is produced, edited, and engineered by Ramsey Hunt here in
our home studio at Pont City Market, Atlanta, Georgia. For
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