November 8, 2025 • 39 mins
SMNTY gets our act together with the 90s films Sister Act and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit in this classic episode. We talk about sisterhood, believing in each other and the power of song.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I want your stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Never Told You Protection by her radio. Today we are
bringing back a classic in the midst of our discussion
of religious Horror, which if you're listening to this as
(00:29):
it comes out, we have two parts of I thought
we should bring back Sister Act, you know, as a
classic feminist movie Friday we did. I honestly think that
the Religious Horror episode we didn't even get into, Like
we kind of touched on it, but we didn't really
get into kind of the popular culture view on nuns
(00:53):
and priest and perhaps the sexualization of them are the
con twist of like I want to get the priest
to break his.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Vows or whatever. That's not what's going on here.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But I just I was thinking about what it did
come up in several articles I was researching for that
episode where people would talk about Sister Act, and I
just thought it was so funny because we were talking
about such dark material around this and they would bring
up Sister Act.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Was funny.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, So here you go, listeners, here's a lighter a
lighter movie.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yes, please enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stefan
Never Told you a protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
And for this feminist movie Friday, once again, Annie is
letting me well, letting my tea age itself live in
the wonderful memories of some of my favorite movies. So
excited and much like my love for Brandy and Whitney
Houston's Cinderella, these movies made my heart sore and it
(02:14):
still does. I rewatched it. I was like, it's so bad,
but it's so good. Yes, it's so bad, it's so good,
so we're gonna jump into it. And today we are
talking about the amazing performances by Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg
in the smash Hits. I say both of them, sister
act and sister Act two back in the habit? You
(02:35):
get it? Annie, do you get it?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And we've used this pun before in one of our
titles about women in their habits.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Here we go. I love it. And yes, even though
the second one scored like I think of nineteen percent
and rotten tomatoes at this point, how dare they be
smirch such an amazing movie? Would I? Cause, like Lauren
Hill and Jennifer love Hewitt being a part of it,
how dare you digress? And as per usual, we come
(03:04):
on the hills of the anniversary of these films, the
thirtieth anniversary. That is. So the first one was made
in nineteen ninety two and the second one was made
in nineteen ninety three. So yes, every time we do this,
I don't know how we get it done, but we
do so I'd like to think that we are more
relevant than we know. That's a nice thought. But also,
(03:26):
there is a third one in the works, and this
is all done with Disney. If you want to watch it,
you can go watch it on Disney. Plus, it began
with Disney. I didn't realize that. I thought it was
touch snown but they actually was a Disney film to
begin with. And yeah, there's a third one coming coming soon. Actually,
I think Tyler Perry has signed on to be a producer.
(03:46):
Will Be Goldberg is very excited. Apparently, Harvey Kayitel was like,
I wanted to be in the second one. Put me
in the third one. So you probably really loved this movie.
The gangster dude really loved this movie, So we'll see
what happens. Also on Broadway, it was anyways, and was
made into a musical, as it should be. I feel
like that's only natural. But yeah, so let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yes, let's so.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Sister Act was released in nineteen ninety two, and though
it ran into several barriers, including going through several writers,
it was a success as in fact, it hit the
eighth highest grossing film worldwide that year, and it sat
in the number two spot for four straight weeks, behind
Lethal Weapon Three, Patriot Games, and Batman Returns. That's right, which, yes,
(04:36):
was one of our other feminist movie Friday double features.
I think that one was actually technically a triple feature.
But yeah, that was a fun one. Oh yeah, because
I threw in Spider Verse at the end.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
That's right, Annie, Annie, you always got to add.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
The extra I've al Yeah, we might be talking about
Spider Verse at the end of this one.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Who knows. Anytime I can take it.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And with its thirty one million dollar budget, it grossed
two hundred and thirty one million dollars worldwide, which was yeah,
not so bad for a comedy film that was led
by a mostly women cast. So yeah, we're excited to
talk about it. I did love this movie when I
was a kid. I think I was a little bit
young for it, you were, I was a little young,
(05:17):
but I did love it, as we said. The movie
starred Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg, playing Dolores fan Cartier, who
had just won that award for her role in Ghost.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Which have I told you my story about Ghost?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
No, I've never seen it, but randomly one day the
DVD just showed up outside of my door.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Oh, and I haven't watched it yet.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But as adult, yes, like within, like the past. It
was before the pandemic, but maybe the year before the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Someone really wants to do the pottery scene with you.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I think it was a ghost obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Also starring in this film was Dave Maggie Smith playing
the reverend Mother Kathyen and Jimmy as the sunshine Sister Mary, Patrick,
Wendy mckinna as shy Sister Mary, Robert Harvey Kaitel as
the gangster boyfriend Vince Larocca, and Bill Nunn as Lieutenant
Eddie Southern. The original script and screenplay was completed by
(06:20):
Paul Rudnick, but due to some disagreement with the studio
in studio execs, he backed off and other writers stepped in,
including The Loved Carrie Fisher and Nancy Meyers, of nineties
rom com fame.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Right, so there's a lot and apparently like they had
Bett Middler as the original star, but she thought that
her audience wouldn't like her as a nun and would
be Goldberg stepped in, which was kind of controversial at
the time because a black woman being a lead like
this for a big comedy was unheard of, especially that
(06:55):
it kind of crossed over into worldwide fame. Also, there
was a complication in that there was a debate whether
or not the lieutenant should have been black or white. Well,
but race being a huge issue, finally settled in having
Bill Nunn, who had come off of several other big films,
finally being cast, and for some reason, the romance part
(07:18):
between the two of them, even though you see a
little chemistry, it's really played down, so you know, who
knows how that went down. But okay, so Annie, I'm
going to just go into this because I'm gonna get
really excited, you know this, because I love these movies
so much. I'm just going to go world win through
for you listeners as well as Franny. So we first
meet Dolores as a child at Catholic school, acting out
(07:42):
and making jokes being admonished by the nun for her silliness,
but then we jumped to present day nineteen ninety two.
I know that's not present day, don't start with me.
We see Dolores performing with her girl group a montage
of different sixties, fifties, seventies classics for gamblers barely pay
attention at the Las Vegas casino. We soon find now
(08:03):
that she's having an affair with a married gangster, Vince Larroca,
who she is not happy with, and after receiving a
purple mink coat that was formerly Loroca's wife, Dolores goes
to confront him and break up with him, but as
she walks in, she witnesses him and his boys are
murdering his driver for snitching. Oh no, so she quickly leaves,
but it's being chased by her boyfriend and his men,
(08:24):
and she rushes the police station to report what has happened,
which brings us to this hilarious hygiens of our time
with the nuns, which yes, this is very very dark,
by the way, very very dark beginning. You're like, oh god,
someone immediately gets murdered. Okay, and I saw this at twelve,
like I love this movie Wow. But anyway, so she
is soon placed in protective custody and is hidden with
(08:44):
nuns at the Saint Catharine's Catholic Church, and due to
the nature of the case, Lieutenant Eddie Southern is the
only one who knows of the location. And to say
the least, Dolores is unhappy with the arrangement that gives
in so she dons her habit and meets the other
women of the convent. Here we meet Sister Mary Robert,
Sister Mary Patrick, and several others, including the Reverend Mother,
(09:08):
who is not thrilled because Dolores tells of all these
things that she had done previously, trying to pretend like
she was a nun in Las Vegas with all the sinners.
But of course whatever, and now we know Dolores as
Sister Mary Clarence. And at this point, while she's telling
these stories and complaining about the food, the Reverend mothers
(09:29):
suggests that maybe she needs to fast and stop talking
all those things. Kind of cool. So the next day,
Sister Clarence has woken up bright and early, I mean
bright and early to attend church. There we see the
sad choir of the ladies with an almost empty church,
and though she tries to fit in, Sister married Clarence
(09:49):
decides to go to a local biker bar because you know,
she needs to get out, who was followed by a
Sister Mary Patrick and Sister Mary Robert, both thinking she's
going out to preach to the communities they want to join.
They all rush back home after listening to some delightful
music and dancing, but are caught by the reverend Mother
once again. And the following day, the Reverend Mother puts
(10:10):
Sister Clarence in the choir because she's like, you need
something new here, you go do this. Sister Clarence quickly
assesses the situation and the talents of the different women.
We discover that the church mouse can sing very loudly,
that they can harmonize, and maybe sister Patrick is a
little too loud, just just a little too loud, Yeah, okay.
And by the way, that's how she auditioned for that roles,
(10:31):
by doing the operatic voice. And they loved it so
much they're like, don't do anything else. And so soon
we come to the following church service where we see
a whole different type of choir. Sister Mary Clarence has
shaken the choir up a bed and it brings in
some new church attendees. Oh but the reverend mother is
not happy. However, the Monseignor is delighted and encourages Sister
(10:53):
Merrick Clarance to continue to work with a choir and
even to go out into the community to minister to
the neighbor. Of course, this gets them a lot of attention,
including a news report on how the nuns are out
in the streets connecting with the community, which is of course,
is a no no, and Lieutenant has to be like,
don't do that anymore. You can't be.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Out like that.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
How why are you? Why?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Just why?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And as everything seems to be going okay, we see
that there is a leak in the precinct and they
have discovered they being the gangsters that where Dolores is
and reports it to Vince, who's been on the hunt
for her the entire time, with a big hit out
on her. And though the legit comes to warn Dolores
because he figures it out, she tries to go back
to save the nuns from Vince because they're coming, and
(11:37):
only to be caught and taken back to the casinos
where he commands his men to shoot her, but they
can't because she's dressed like a nun. They're like, but
she's a nun, you can't, you can't kill on Lord.
Maybe she really converted and because of that, she's able
to get away. And at the same time, the nuns,
the actual nuns, have come to save her. And as
they catch up and they try to you know, trick them,
but no, the gangsters find them and catch up with
(11:58):
the nuns and Dolores and Vince's and his boys are
debating who's going to shoot home because again nuns, but
so that they get caught and arrested and everybody lives
happily ever after the.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
End, also, the Pope shows up.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I should just oh, yes, because they have the big
show at the end.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, that was my biggest So I can't believe I
forgot the Pope show again.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I probably forgot again even though I watched it again.
I was like, oh, yeah, you don't see the Pope.
You just see the back.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, you just see the bag.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Because they've gotten so much attention. He shows up and
of course they do the final performance, and yes, then
the nuns discover her true identity. But everybody loves her.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Nonetheless, Yes, more on that to come.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We need to talk about the amazing sequel, very predictable
in hokey, but I know it's one of your faves.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I still love it so much.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
This is my first I it's my first time seeing it.
I loved it too. It's fun. Sister Act two back
in the habit absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And we have once again the incomparable Whoopy Goldberg, Dame
Maggie Smith, Kathy and Jimmy, Wendy mckinna, and a majority
of the previous nuns, joined this time by the amazing
talents of Lauren Hill in her breakout role as Rita
Louise Watson and yes you do hear her full name.
Oh I forgot to mention. Did you notice that Bobby
(13:30):
from Supernatural was in the first one? He was one
of the cops. No, a young, a young Jim Bieber
is in it, just so you know. But back to
the second onek my bed I just needed so. Yes,
we have Emmy Award winner Sheryl Lee Ralph as the
mother of Florence Wilson, Rita's mother, Ryan Toby as Wesley
(13:52):
Glenn Amal James who by the Way wrote Miami for
Will Smith, so he's a songwriters a piece of tribute
for you. And of course there's more fathers than in
this one. I think they call them friars in this one,
which I was like, huh, interesting, and we add that
to the mix, and a mister Crisp who is the
antagonist played by James Coburn. Oh, I know, of course,
(14:12):
we can't forget Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is a part
of this one, very slight part, but she's still there
with all her makeup and glory. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I think I got to the end and I saw
her name show up and I was like, I knew it,
but the whole time it was kind of at the
back of my brain, like I know her from somewhere
you go, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So, yes, let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So the second one starts and we discover that Dolores
is thriving as a headlighter in a new Las Vegas
show which highlights her adventures.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
From the first sister Act.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It kind of reminds me of what happens in Chicago
where the end they have their like whole musical number
of Yes, what just happened in the movie sort of
like that. During the performance, her old friends Sister Mary
Patrick and Sister Mary Robert come to not just watch
the amazing performance, but to elicit her help. The sisters
had been sent by the Reverend Mother to help revive
(15:05):
the school that the teachers have started teaching at in
San Francisco. And so begins the new adventure of Sister
Mary Clarence.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yes, so back in the habit I said it. Sister
Mary Clarence arrives at Saint Francis Academy, a school that
has not been doing well, as in fact, the school
was on the verge of being shut down, to the
dismay of the sisters, but to the delight of the administrator,
mister Crisp, who was seeking in an early retirement. And
(15:33):
during this time, Sister Clarence is assigned to the music class,
which is labeled the Bird Class as students quote, fly
right through it and the rambunctious crew does not disappoint
with a wonderful rendition of Io Mama Jokes and introduction
to the class, including the wonderful Rita Luise Watson right.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And Sister Mary Clarence's relationship with the class does have
a rough start, yeah, but she soon gets them together
by laying down the law and though some protest aka
some Rita, mostly the class comes together and we soon
discovered the classes full of talented singers and rappers.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And piano players some of them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And here the sister Sister Mary Clarence decides, well, we
could make a choir. We can make this acchoir, and
that she does with the first performance, Oh Happy Day,
with an amazing solo from Wesley Slash a Mall. Soon
we discovered that school was once a reputable school that
won singing competitions like every year, and of course that
(16:43):
means this new choir would be joining this year, competing
and might even help save the school.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
A very popular trope in the Night and It's here
we see the return of Rita after Sister may I
Roberts discovered her talent for singing. It was a beautiful,
beautiful song by the way. Sister Clarence talks Rita to
come back and join the competition, but Rita has to
hide her lover singing from her mother, as the mother
(17:13):
disapproves of the dreams of being a singer because her
father kind of wasted away and never fulfilling that dream,
so she's like get it together, essentially really stern, but
the secret doesn't stay a secret after her mother discovers
that she's a part of the choir Florence. The mother
makes Rita quit to focus on her studies, and even
a visit from Sister Clarence does nothing to change her mind.
(17:35):
But Rita's friend reminds her of the importance of the
competition and being one of the group, and after being
kind of sneaky sneaky, she joins. After they do a
huge fundraiser for this trip because they all had to
raise the money, and we have a great sequence of
will be gold Burg pretending to be James Brown, wonderful,
and they all go to the competition together.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes, yes, yes, including Rita. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And at the com we see the many stumbling blocks
in front of the kids and the school, the disapproving mother,
the discovery of Sister Mary Clarence's real identity by mister Crisp,
and other groups who seem so put together, like they
hear another group sing the same song they're going to sing,
but of course they overcome with an updated rendition of Joyful, Joyful,
(18:20):
led by Rita.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
They win the.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Competition and the approval to keep the school open. Her
u Rita also gets approval from her stern mother, who's like, wow,
I didn't know you.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Were that good.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
And of course we couldn't end the movie without the
big reveal that sister Mary Clarence was not a sister
but a headliner of a Las Vegas show and she's like, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Show girl, and she's like, I have never been a showgirl.
I am a headliner. You know, you got to have
that moment. Of course, we do have to mention the
fact that they were all in these fancy robes, but
they were so uncomfortable they wore their street clothes. I'm
putting quotes here close so they can could be real
hip hop stars. Yeah, it's very cheesy. It is very cheesy.
There's a lot of blacking. I would wish for more singing,
(19:07):
but I still love it. I still love everything about it.
I remember singing these songs, quoting these quotes like so good,
m hm, so good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I mean it's a very uplifting, fun story because I
remember because this was the first time i'd seen the
second one, and I like was all twisted up, like
what if they don't win like they built it up.
But it was just nice. It was just nice that
they won. It was nice that the school.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Of course, but I love that when they were announcing
the winner, the announcer was like so excited for them,
like over the top acting. It's like, of course saying Francis, yeah,
you're especially biased here, what's happening there. I did find
it interesting that you had the split between the school
that usually won, the one that sang the same song
(19:59):
was all right and very put together, as in like
they were polished, probably very rich school versus this school,
which was apparently the only one in that district, and
the because would have to have been pushed to other
districts and would have been separated and may not even
be able to go to those schools because of not
being able to get there. So a lot of things
(20:20):
that happened, but like, of course, it was an interesting
like opposite of each other. We love we love the underdogs,
we love an underdog. The nineties were all about the underdog,
and of course I think things have flipped on its
head more recently where they don't oftentimes win anymore, but
they get a good lesson instead.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I don't like that, well, I said it was nice.
It was one of those things where I was just like,
oh hey, I.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Also loved about the second one. There was no romance,
There was no like couple coupling. It was just literally
a coming of age story about dreams. Speaking of which
we'll get into some of the themes. I don't know.
Of course, all movies have themes. I don't know if
this one has a lot of themes. This is not
so much feminist as much as really new and different
(21:15):
in its perspective on how they did comedy and who
led these comedies and why it was so significant. It's
interesting to me because when this happened and Whoopi Goldberg
took the role over Bet Milder, I didn't see a
lot of articles where people were upset that a black
actress had taken over for a white actress, which I
(21:36):
think too often happens today when it doesn't even make sense.
Even if you have no investment in these characters, people
automatically have this conversation about what's woke, what's correct, what's
not correct, instead of just letting it be, which is
kind of that conversation we had about Brandy. There was
a lot of controversy with Cinderella, because the idea of Cinderella,
(21:57):
a very fictional character, was of one race, which is
that it was superior of a race, which is a
whole different conversation, but in this role it was not
that way. There was a conversation about not seeing many
black women being nuns and whether or not that's a thing,
very minute conversation. I will say. There were a couple
(22:19):
of lawsuits here. I don't know if you know this one.
There was a black nun, I think a named de
Luis or like. It was similar to Dolores who had
written a book in the eighties seventies that was similar
to this, how she got together the choir, revamped a city,
all these things, and that she really and she tried
(22:41):
to make it into a screenplay. No one took it,
but she felt like that Disney and these screenwriters had
taken their idea which was kind of similar. So they
were like, maybe she lost that lawsuit because she tried
for a billion dollars and that movie did not make
a billion dollars, but so that kind of went to
the wayside. It was another one with some fairly famous
(23:03):
writers who said that they had that idea in the
early eighties of a closeted nun so like a fake
nun coming out and being a comedy. But they also lost.
Even though Disney was willing to settle for a million dollars,
they were trying to super multimillion dollars. They lost completely
(23:24):
because they said there was not enough of the similarities.
But a lot of the similarities were that it was
a black nun. So I thought that was interesting in itself,
that that's such a novel idea, that it became something
that was like about copyright and infringement and all that.
I love that today we still talk about it as
(23:46):
just wholesome entertainment, even though again we talked about the
gangster and an affair thing that happened. It's like, oh,
but the fact that it happened, like she moved on
to the nunnery the convent, made it more wholesome perhaps.
And I think the only curse word I remember hearing
is hell and damn the entire time.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, I really liked about it that, which is not
what I was anticipating, because again I saw this movie
and everything liked it when I was a kid, but
I was young, so I didn't remember a lot of it,
but I.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Really liked that.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You know, they're kind of like painting Dolores as you know,
the antithesis of a nun, Like, oh, yeah, she smokes,
she drinks, she curses, she's like lived a life, as
they say. But in the end, like they don't really
judge her for that, and they also don't like throw
her out when they realize she's not sister Mary Clarence.
(24:41):
They're like, no, she's been somebody who's been there for us,
you know, has helped does and we're going to go
and be there for her and help her.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yes. I liked that a lot because I was expecting
a lot more like oh you're a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
The ending with with the kids too, like you deceived us.
They right, that are more impressive, even say you don't
act like a nun. I was like, wait, what, okay?
Right anyway, so let's get into some of these themes.
Of course, as you're mentioning about them rallying together sisterhood,
I feel like the literals being sisterhood, but the cammaraderie,
(25:18):
the love they have for each other, the fondness, and yeah,
the encouragement to have it for each other instead of judging,
they automatically are like, oh my god, that's amazing. Let's
do this together. I want to help you, or this
is even better, Like it's such a beautiful thing to
see and you can even see that not necessarily sisterhood,
but togetherness and the kids that they come together and
rally together and they really feel like something is important
(25:40):
and they fight for it and it's beautiful to see that.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, yeah, I really liked that too. One of my
favorite parts of both of them is I feel like Whoope.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Goldberg's character was such a good teacher.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
She was such a good like she could pick out
like oh you you could really sing the shy sister,
like oh you can do this, or you know, you
need to be a little bit more quiet, but does
it in a way that's very supportive and like not insulting.
And then with the kids, like she's never there's never
a piece of her even though she's confident in her
(26:13):
like I'm a headliner, there's never a piece of her
that's like putting down someone else for being better than
her or anything.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It's much more about like building.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Up, yeah, to make the best choir, this group effort
that she can make and everything like that, like in
the second when it kind of starts where she's very successful,
but it doesn't take much for them to convince her, like, hey,
will you come helpless out with these kids, like this
is my school.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
She's like okay.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Immediately she just thinks that the reverend mother is in trouble,
and she's she drops everything, even the publicist, who, by
the way, is an actor from Designing Women and so
he was pretty big back then, Yeah, he was. She's like, no, no,
these are my friends. No, I'll do what they ask.
I love that, but you know, apparently she was like
that in real life as well. So the first sister
(26:58):
act she'd gotten flew had to take off a couple
of days. But it was at that time she had
realized that the rest of the cast, the nuns who
weren't scripted, who weren't stars, or who may not have
speaking parts, were possibly paying for their own meals, paying
for their own hotels, and she was not allowing that.
So she took that time as to not necessarily protest,
she said, but put things in line to make sure
(27:21):
that their knees are being met and they're being taken
care of. And so apparently like she did that for
the cast Kathy and Jimmy had actually said that she
was one of the most wonderful people that she had
ever worked with, that she really cared about the rest
of the people on the set and Kathy the Jimmy
had worked with, and if I am correct, one of
(27:42):
the either producers or directors or writers was also from
hocus Pocus. So she really talked about how this was
a catalyst for her career, which is hilarious because she
would have met I don't know if she already knew
Bette Midler, who was supposed to be on this film,
so you know, you know the connections here. But it's
lovely to read that that's what happened, even though if
you read into it, there was a lot of controversy,
(28:03):
a lot of back and forth and a lot of
like uh not niceness that happened behind the scenes, not
necessarily again with the actors, but even just the whole process.
But yeah, that she stood up for her sisters literally
and making sure that they are cared for. I was like, oh,
I love that, and like you were talking about too,
something that I love to see is that they grow together,
(28:26):
like they learn from each other as where Willie Goldberg
is Sister Clarence is teaching them how to sing and
to be confident and to really come together as a group.
So do this, kids, She brings them together even if
they don't like the same thing. And I love the
same part of the young woman who kid doesn't know
Mary had a little lamb, so she sings show tunes,
(28:46):
which we have coorger who loves show tunes loves show tunes.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Yes, no, I love that. Again.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
That's like such a good example of her being a
good teacher because she was like, no, we're not gonna
make fun of her.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
She doesn't know it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
What do you know, Like we can we can come
from where you are and get this worked out. So
I loved that too, and I loved like her relationship
with the Reverend Mother, which was very kind of, you know, clashy.
Here's the antagonist in the first one, but the reverend mother,
you know, came around and was like, look, I can
(29:21):
I can appreciate what you've done. I can see what
you've done for this group and for this church. And
then in the second one it is that they're good
friends and protective of each other. So that was very
sweet to see that. Yeah, it was. I don't know,
it was very nice to see a character that was
so like willing to be open. Like when she enters
(29:43):
that class with the students, I would have like melted
into a puddle and oh god, but she tried, Like
she keeps, you know, talking about her favorite music and
trying to figure out what they like and how she
can get them to work together in the same the
sisters at the convents, but just kind of being an
(30:04):
open lister and open about how difficult things. I remember
she has that line where she says something like, you know,
the one thing I hate about this room is there's
nothing to throw when.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
She's so frustrated.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
So it was nice to see a character like that
that was so invested in other people growing together, coming
together while also being like growing herself and getting to
show off her own talent.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
And I have to say I forgot to add as
part sister Mary Lazarus was actually played by an iconic actress,
Mary Wicks, who was in movies like White Christmas that
start being Crosby as well, like one of the biggest
iconic Christmas movies Problematic, but you know, it's still there.
(31:05):
She was also in one of my favorite movies, The
Music Man, which I loved as well, so like she
was a big part of that. But she is the
original lead for the choir who steps down and instead
of getting mad, which oftentimes happened, she supports her and
it was like, oh, a great job. And she's also
the one that does the show tunes of the second one.
(31:25):
As we talked with these show tunes, but I kind
of forget that these actors are iconic in themselves and
even though we may not know their names. She has
been in acting since nineteen forty two, if not earlier,
so she's been around for a long time, and her
face is very familiar. You should probably you'll see her
and you'll be like, I've seen her in something. She's
just movies, And yeah, I think another part of the
(31:48):
growing together getting news believing in themselves. Of course, that's
the huge part of the nineties, really, like understanding who
you are, following your dreams. All of these things. The
first one is believing yourself. We have Mary Roberts who
doesn't sing loudly because she's so shy and embarrassed. You know,
she helps her come out of herself. She does the
(32:09):
same for Mary Patrick. She does the same for even
a sister. Alma turns off her battery, but then she
gives her a chance to play away on that piano
and she really gets into it.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Mm hmmm, yeah, yeah, and that was nice to see
because I feel like when the first one starts, you know,
the church is empty, and you hear kind of several
versions of you know, I joined to help people and
we're just kind of sitting here and following rules, and
(32:42):
then yeah, Dolorus comes in and it's like, no, here, well,
we can revitalize this choir. I know that you have
this strong voice. I know that you can do this,
and I know that you can do this and all
this stuff. But then that does lead to them going
out and like getting to know the community and bringing
other people in.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And seeing that confidence growing.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And the second one was the kids, because the kids
were kind of like, well, this is a bird class,
as you said, like this is there's no point to this,
and she Dolores kind of kind of shows them like,
oh no, they're you have talents. What you choose to
do with it, it's up to you. But you have talent,
and you should believe that you have talent. She does
that with a mall especially and rita especially. Yeah, like
(33:25):
you can do this and it's beautiful and wonderful and
like this gifts.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, and it's good. It's beautiful and wonderful. To here
is the audience.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yes, yes, a ma all that that note that hit
hits you're like what? Yes, love sing and of course
everything can be fixed with singing. Everything can be fixed
with singing. And did you know this? I will not lie.
I love musicals. And when I was explaining to a
(33:55):
good friend of mine why I love it, I just like, man,
I just wish a problem could be fixed with the song. Yeah,
and then you just move on.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, people join in.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
And people don't judge you.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
No, it is nice.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I've told you that musicals make me nervous, but musicals
like this don't because I can anticipate when the singing is.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
If it's surprise singing, then I'm yeah, the constant, over
the top singing where everything is a song which I love.
I love as in fact, went to karaoke this weekend
and I did my friend and I because we love that,
did a rendition of on my own from lay Miss
because I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Nice Matt did we kill it?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yes? Did we sound good? No? She did, she sounded
really good, screaming into the mike. But yeah, I just
love all that. And honestly though, that's one of her
things for Whoopy Goldberg, and I think it's like for
a lot of people. It's one of those commonalities that
people really can bond over, is music and songs and
(34:58):
your interest. Then she talked about that, she talks about
her love for old school motown music and the girl
groups and how she found them dynamic and how that
really really affects her heart. I feel the same way
right now. I'm really caught up in K pop music
a lot of it, trying to figure it out, and
it feels very familiar, and so it's comforting to that,
(35:20):
even though I have no idea what's happening right now.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Music is very cathartic, Like you find a good song
and it can just give you such emotions, such feelings.
And it was I mean, like, you know, as.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Hokey as it might be.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
At the end of the second one, all these kids
are coming together, they're singing this song and it's so
good and people are so into it, and you're just like, yes, Yeah,
it's true.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
It's true. We all are I think onto all of that.
One of the biggest complaints about the second one, and
people were like, you know, they didn't do this right,
was literally that there wasn't enough singing, that they cut
off at the wrong times. So when we have you
walking in to see Lauren Hill's character and her friend
(36:12):
and singing I sing because I'm happy together, and then
you only hear a snippet and you're like, no, why
didn't you at least let them finish? Right?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Hear that?
Speaker 3 (36:24):
And then that the only other song is joyful, Joyful
and oh Happy Day? You want more? Although this is realistic, y'all.
When you trying to rehearse for a song, it takes
a whole semester, especially if you're trying to do competition
to get it perfect.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Right. Oh yeah, absolutely, I thought they were.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
When they heard the other like more quote polished group
play the same song, I thought they were going to
switch it to is it oh happy Day?
Speaker 1 (36:52):
They in the beginning, I thought they were going to
switch it.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
I like what they did, it was good, but yeah,
I was also like, I love these singing parts.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Yeah, I will say my one complaint is the dude,
the white dude trying to rap. Oh yeah, yeah, it
made me change a little bit.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
No, I'm just kidding, but yeah, I love that they
came together. I love that they try to add rap.
It really did feel like old people try to figure
out rap and be like this is what this is?
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Right?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah, for sure, but.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
You know what they tried, It's okay. I think someone's
review said the Cassio beat and I was like, oh, oh,
that dates, that's so dated. Why that hurt my feelings?
Especially the quit quit hurting my feelings about this movie?
I love it so much. I watched this one, I
(37:51):
think way more than I did the first one. Uh.
It's just something to that soulfulness to it, and it
just felt so beautiful. My so used to direct our
little church choir and she would take influences from there.
Maybe that's why I love as much as I did,
because she loved these movies, but she would try to
do things from here. She would do that and then uh,
(38:12):
oh brother, where art thal? We had different renditions from
that too.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Very interesting, that's right? We were cool? Oh not? Why? Well?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
These were certainly fun fun for me to watch I'm
glad you got to watch them begin welcome. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
they are available for streaming listeners if you want to
check them out. And yeah, in the meantime, if you
have any suggestions for what movies we should talk about next,
you can send them to us. Our email is Stephanie
moms Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us
(38:47):
on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and
TikTok at stuff I Never Told You.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Thanks as always to our super producer Christina.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Thank you, Christina. I have a feeling she's never seen
these movies. Have you ever seen these movies?
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Yes, Christina, we must know. And thanks to you for listening.
Stefan Never Told You the protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
For more podcast from my Heart Radio, you can check
out the iHeart Radio app Apple podcast, where regular listen
to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I want your stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Never Told You Protection by her radio. Today we are
bringing back a classic in the midst of our discussion
of religious Horror, which if you're listening to this as
(00:29):
it comes out, we have two parts of I thought
we should bring back Sister Act, you know, as a
classic feminist movie Friday we did. I honestly think that
the Religious Horror episode we didn't even get into, Like
we kind of touched on it, but we didn't really
get into kind of the popular culture view on nuns
(00:53):
and priest and perhaps the sexualization of them are the
con twist of like I want to get the priest
to break his.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Vows or whatever. That's not what's going on here.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But I just I was thinking about what it did
come up in several articles I was researching for that
episode where people would talk about Sister Act, and I
just thought it was so funny because we were talking
about such dark material around this and they would bring
up Sister Act.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Was funny.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, So here you go, listeners, here's a lighter a
lighter movie.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yes, please enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stefan
Never Told you a protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
And for this feminist movie Friday, once again, Annie is
letting me well, letting my tea age itself live in
the wonderful memories of some of my favorite movies. So
excited and much like my love for Brandy and Whitney
Houston's Cinderella, these movies made my heart sore and it
(02:14):
still does. I rewatched it. I was like, it's so bad,
but it's so good. Yes, it's so bad, it's so good,
so we're gonna jump into it. And today we are
talking about the amazing performances by Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg
in the smash Hits. I say both of them, sister
act and sister Act two back in the habit? You
(02:35):
get it? Annie, do you get it?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And we've used this pun before in one of our
titles about women in their habits.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Here we go. I love it. And yes, even though
the second one scored like I think of nineteen percent
and rotten tomatoes at this point, how dare they be
smirch such an amazing movie? Would I? Cause, like Lauren
Hill and Jennifer love Hewitt being a part of it,
how dare you digress? And as per usual, we come
(03:04):
on the hills of the anniversary of these films, the
thirtieth anniversary. That is. So the first one was made
in nineteen ninety two and the second one was made
in nineteen ninety three. So yes, every time we do this,
I don't know how we get it done, but we
do so I'd like to think that we are more
relevant than we know. That's a nice thought. But also,
(03:26):
there is a third one in the works, and this
is all done with Disney. If you want to watch it,
you can go watch it on Disney. Plus, it began
with Disney. I didn't realize that. I thought it was
touch snown but they actually was a Disney film to
begin with. And yeah, there's a third one coming coming soon. Actually,
I think Tyler Perry has signed on to be a producer.
(03:46):
Will Be Goldberg is very excited. Apparently, Harvey Kayitel was like,
I wanted to be in the second one. Put me
in the third one. So you probably really loved this movie.
The gangster dude really loved this movie, So we'll see
what happens. Also on Broadway, it was anyways, and was
made into a musical, as it should be. I feel
like that's only natural. But yeah, so let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yes, let's so.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Sister Act was released in nineteen ninety two, and though
it ran into several barriers, including going through several writers,
it was a success as in fact, it hit the
eighth highest grossing film worldwide that year, and it sat
in the number two spot for four straight weeks, behind
Lethal Weapon Three, Patriot Games, and Batman Returns. That's right, which, yes,
(04:36):
was one of our other feminist movie Friday double features.
I think that one was actually technically a triple feature.
But yeah, that was a fun one. Oh yeah, because
I threw in Spider Verse at the end.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
That's right, Annie, Annie, you always got to add.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
The extra I've al Yeah, we might be talking about
Spider Verse at the end of this one.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Who knows. Anytime I can take it.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And with its thirty one million dollar budget, it grossed
two hundred and thirty one million dollars worldwide, which was yeah,
not so bad for a comedy film that was led
by a mostly women cast. So yeah, we're excited to
talk about it. I did love this movie when I
was a kid. I think I was a little bit
young for it, you were, I was a little young,
(05:17):
but I did love it, as we said. The movie
starred Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg, playing Dolores fan Cartier, who
had just won that award for her role in Ghost.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Which have I told you my story about Ghost?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
No, I've never seen it, but randomly one day the
DVD just showed up outside of my door.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Oh, and I haven't watched it yet.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But as adult, yes, like within, like the past. It
was before the pandemic, but maybe the year before the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Someone really wants to do the pottery scene with you.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I think it was a ghost obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Also starring in this film was Dave Maggie Smith playing
the reverend Mother Kathyen and Jimmy as the sunshine Sister Mary, Patrick,
Wendy mckinna as shy Sister Mary, Robert Harvey Kaitel as
the gangster boyfriend Vince Larocca, and Bill Nunn as Lieutenant
Eddie Southern. The original script and screenplay was completed by
(06:20):
Paul Rudnick, but due to some disagreement with the studio
in studio execs, he backed off and other writers stepped in,
including The Loved Carrie Fisher and Nancy Meyers, of nineties
rom com fame.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Right, so there's a lot and apparently like they had
Bett Middler as the original star, but she thought that
her audience wouldn't like her as a nun and would
be Goldberg stepped in, which was kind of controversial at
the time because a black woman being a lead like
this for a big comedy was unheard of, especially that
(06:55):
it kind of crossed over into worldwide fame. Also, there
was a complication in that there was a debate whether
or not the lieutenant should have been black or white. Well,
but race being a huge issue, finally settled in having
Bill Nunn, who had come off of several other big films,
finally being cast, and for some reason, the romance part
(07:18):
between the two of them, even though you see a
little chemistry, it's really played down, so you know, who
knows how that went down. But okay, so Annie, I'm
going to just go into this because I'm gonna get
really excited, you know this, because I love these movies
so much. I'm just going to go world win through
for you listeners as well as Franny. So we first
meet Dolores as a child at Catholic school, acting out
(07:42):
and making jokes being admonished by the nun for her silliness,
but then we jumped to present day nineteen ninety two.
I know that's not present day, don't start with me.
We see Dolores performing with her girl group a montage
of different sixties, fifties, seventies classics for gamblers barely pay
attention at the Las Vegas casino. We soon find now
(08:03):
that she's having an affair with a married gangster, Vince Larroca,
who she is not happy with, and after receiving a
purple mink coat that was formerly Loroca's wife, Dolores goes
to confront him and break up with him, but as
she walks in, she witnesses him and his boys are
murdering his driver for snitching. Oh no, so she quickly leaves,
but it's being chased by her boyfriend and his men,
(08:24):
and she rushes the police station to report what has happened,
which brings us to this hilarious hygiens of our time
with the nuns, which yes, this is very very dark,
by the way, very very dark beginning. You're like, oh god,
someone immediately gets murdered. Okay, and I saw this at twelve,
like I love this movie Wow. But anyway, so she
is soon placed in protective custody and is hidden with
(08:44):
nuns at the Saint Catharine's Catholic Church, and due to
the nature of the case, Lieutenant Eddie Southern is the
only one who knows of the location. And to say
the least, Dolores is unhappy with the arrangement that gives
in so she dons her habit and meets the other
women of the convent. Here we meet Sister Mary Robert,
Sister Mary Patrick, and several others, including the Reverend Mother,
(09:08):
who is not thrilled because Dolores tells of all these
things that she had done previously, trying to pretend like
she was a nun in Las Vegas with all the sinners.
But of course whatever, and now we know Dolores as
Sister Mary Clarence. And at this point, while she's telling
these stories and complaining about the food, the Reverend mothers
(09:29):
suggests that maybe she needs to fast and stop talking
all those things. Kind of cool. So the next day,
Sister Clarence has woken up bright and early, I mean
bright and early to attend church. There we see the
sad choir of the ladies with an almost empty church,
and though she tries to fit in, Sister married Clarence
(09:49):
decides to go to a local biker bar because you know,
she needs to get out, who was followed by a
Sister Mary Patrick and Sister Mary Robert, both thinking she's
going out to preach to the communities they want to join.
They all rush back home after listening to some delightful
music and dancing, but are caught by the reverend Mother
once again. And the following day, the Reverend Mother puts
(10:10):
Sister Clarence in the choir because she's like, you need
something new here, you go do this. Sister Clarence quickly
assesses the situation and the talents of the different women.
We discover that the church mouse can sing very loudly,
that they can harmonize, and maybe sister Patrick is a
little too loud, just just a little too loud, Yeah, okay.
And by the way, that's how she auditioned for that roles,
(10:31):
by doing the operatic voice. And they loved it so
much they're like, don't do anything else. And so soon
we come to the following church service where we see
a whole different type of choir. Sister Mary Clarence has
shaken the choir up a bed and it brings in
some new church attendees. Oh but the reverend mother is
not happy. However, the Monseignor is delighted and encourages Sister
(10:53):
Merrick Clarance to continue to work with a choir and
even to go out into the community to minister to
the neighbor. Of course, this gets them a lot of attention,
including a news report on how the nuns are out
in the streets connecting with the community, which is of course,
is a no no, and Lieutenant has to be like,
don't do that anymore. You can't be.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Out like that.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
How why are you? Why?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Just why?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And as everything seems to be going okay, we see
that there is a leak in the precinct and they
have discovered they being the gangsters that where Dolores is
and reports it to Vince, who's been on the hunt
for her the entire time, with a big hit out
on her. And though the legit comes to warn Dolores
because he figures it out, she tries to go back
to save the nuns from Vince because they're coming, and
(11:37):
only to be caught and taken back to the casinos
where he commands his men to shoot her, but they
can't because she's dressed like a nun. They're like, but
she's a nun, you can't, you can't kill on Lord.
Maybe she really converted and because of that, she's able
to get away. And at the same time, the nuns,
the actual nuns, have come to save her. And as
they catch up and they try to you know, trick them,
but no, the gangsters find them and catch up with
(11:58):
the nuns and Dolores and Vince's and his boys are
debating who's going to shoot home because again nuns, but
so that they get caught and arrested and everybody lives
happily ever after the.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
End, also, the Pope shows up.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
I should just oh, yes, because they have the big
show at the end.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, that was my biggest So I can't believe I
forgot the Pope show again.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I probably forgot again even though I watched it again.
I was like, oh, yeah, you don't see the Pope.
You just see the back.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, you just see the bag.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Because they've gotten so much attention. He shows up and
of course they do the final performance, and yes, then
the nuns discover her true identity. But everybody loves her.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Nonetheless, Yes, more on that to come.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We need to talk about the amazing sequel, very predictable
in hokey, but I know it's one of your faves.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I still love it so much.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
This is my first I it's my first time seeing it.
I loved it too. It's fun. Sister Act two back
in the habit absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And we have once again the incomparable Whoopy Goldberg, Dame
Maggie Smith, Kathy and Jimmy, Wendy mckinna, and a majority
of the previous nuns, joined this time by the amazing
talents of Lauren Hill in her breakout role as Rita
Louise Watson and yes you do hear her full name.
Oh I forgot to mention. Did you notice that Bobby
(13:30):
from Supernatural was in the first one? He was one
of the cops. No, a young, a young Jim Bieber
is in it, just so you know. But back to
the second onek my bed I just needed so. Yes,
we have Emmy Award winner Sheryl Lee Ralph as the
mother of Florence Wilson, Rita's mother, Ryan Toby as Wesley
(13:52):
Glenn Amal James who by the Way wrote Miami for
Will Smith, so he's a songwriters a piece of tribute
for you. And of course there's more fathers than in
this one. I think they call them friars in this one,
which I was like, huh, interesting, and we add that
to the mix, and a mister Crisp who is the
antagonist played by James Coburn. Oh, I know, of course,
(14:12):
we can't forget Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is a part
of this one, very slight part, but she's still there
with all her makeup and glory. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I think I got to the end and I saw
her name show up and I was like, I knew it,
but the whole time it was kind of at the
back of my brain, like I know her from somewhere
you go, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So, yes, let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So the second one starts and we discover that Dolores
is thriving as a headlighter in a new Las Vegas
show which highlights her adventures.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
From the first sister Act.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It kind of reminds me of what happens in Chicago
where the end they have their like whole musical number
of Yes, what just happened in the movie sort of
like that. During the performance, her old friends Sister Mary
Patrick and Sister Mary Robert come to not just watch
the amazing performance, but to elicit her help. The sisters
had been sent by the Reverend Mother to help revive
(15:05):
the school that the teachers have started teaching at in
San Francisco. And so begins the new adventure of Sister
Mary Clarence.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yes, so back in the habit I said it. Sister
Mary Clarence arrives at Saint Francis Academy, a school that
has not been doing well, as in fact, the school
was on the verge of being shut down, to the
dismay of the sisters, but to the delight of the administrator,
mister Crisp, who was seeking in an early retirement. And
(15:33):
during this time, Sister Clarence is assigned to the music class,
which is labeled the Bird Class as students quote, fly
right through it and the rambunctious crew does not disappoint
with a wonderful rendition of Io Mama Jokes and introduction
to the class, including the wonderful Rita Luise Watson right.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And Sister Mary Clarence's relationship with the class does have
a rough start, yeah, but she soon gets them together
by laying down the law and though some protest aka
some Rita, mostly the class comes together and we soon
discovered the classes full of talented singers and rappers.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And piano players some of them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And here the sister Sister Mary Clarence decides, well, we
could make a choir. We can make this acchoir, and
that she does with the first performance, Oh Happy Day,
with an amazing solo from Wesley Slash a Mall. Soon
we discovered that school was once a reputable school that
won singing competitions like every year, and of course that
(16:43):
means this new choir would be joining this year, competing
and might even help save the school.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
A very popular trope in the Night and It's here
we see the return of Rita after Sister may I
Roberts discovered her talent for singing. It was a beautiful,
beautiful song by the way. Sister Clarence talks Rita to
come back and join the competition, but Rita has to
hide her lover singing from her mother, as the mother
(17:13):
disapproves of the dreams of being a singer because her
father kind of wasted away and never fulfilling that dream,
so she's like get it together, essentially really stern, but
the secret doesn't stay a secret after her mother discovers
that she's a part of the choir Florence. The mother
makes Rita quit to focus on her studies, and even
a visit from Sister Clarence does nothing to change her mind.
(17:35):
But Rita's friend reminds her of the importance of the
competition and being one of the group, and after being
kind of sneaky sneaky, she joins. After they do a
huge fundraiser for this trip because they all had to
raise the money, and we have a great sequence of
will be gold Burg pretending to be James Brown, wonderful,
and they all go to the competition together.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes, yes, yes, including Rita. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And at the com we see the many stumbling blocks
in front of the kids and the school, the disapproving mother,
the discovery of Sister Mary Clarence's real identity by mister Crisp,
and other groups who seem so put together, like they
hear another group sing the same song they're going to sing,
but of course they overcome with an updated rendition of Joyful, Joyful,
(18:20):
led by Rita.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
They win the.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Competition and the approval to keep the school open. Her
u Rita also gets approval from her stern mother, who's like, wow,
I didn't know you.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Were that good.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
And of course we couldn't end the movie without the
big reveal that sister Mary Clarence was not a sister
but a headliner of a Las Vegas show and she's like, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Show girl, and she's like, I have never been a showgirl.
I am a headliner. You know, you got to have
that moment. Of course, we do have to mention the
fact that they were all in these fancy robes, but
they were so uncomfortable they wore their street clothes. I'm
putting quotes here close so they can could be real
hip hop stars. Yeah, it's very cheesy. It is very cheesy.
There's a lot of blacking. I would wish for more singing,
(19:07):
but I still love it. I still love everything about it.
I remember singing these songs, quoting these quotes like so good,
m hm, so good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I mean it's a very uplifting, fun story because I
remember because this was the first time i'd seen the
second one, and I like was all twisted up, like
what if they don't win like they built it up.
But it was just nice. It was just nice that
they won. It was nice that the school.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Of course, but I love that when they were announcing
the winner, the announcer was like so excited for them,
like over the top acting. It's like, of course saying Francis, yeah,
you're especially biased here, what's happening there. I did find
it interesting that you had the split between the school
that usually won, the one that sang the same song
(19:59):
was all right and very put together, as in like
they were polished, probably very rich school versus this school,
which was apparently the only one in that district, and
the because would have to have been pushed to other
districts and would have been separated and may not even
be able to go to those schools because of not
being able to get there. So a lot of things
(20:20):
that happened, but like, of course, it was an interesting
like opposite of each other. We love we love the underdogs,
we love an underdog. The nineties were all about the underdog,
and of course I think things have flipped on its
head more recently where they don't oftentimes win anymore, but
they get a good lesson instead.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I don't like that, well, I said it was nice.
It was one of those things where I was just like,
oh hey, I.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Also loved about the second one. There was no romance,
There was no like couple coupling. It was just literally
a coming of age story about dreams. Speaking of which
we'll get into some of the themes. I don't know.
Of course, all movies have themes. I don't know if
this one has a lot of themes. This is not
so much feminist as much as really new and different
(21:15):
in its perspective on how they did comedy and who
led these comedies and why it was so significant. It's
interesting to me because when this happened and Whoopi Goldberg
took the role over Bet Milder, I didn't see a
lot of articles where people were upset that a black
actress had taken over for a white actress, which I
(21:36):
think too often happens today when it doesn't even make sense.
Even if you have no investment in these characters, people
automatically have this conversation about what's woke, what's correct, what's
not correct, instead of just letting it be, which is
kind of that conversation we had about Brandy. There was
a lot of controversy with Cinderella, because the idea of Cinderella,
(21:57):
a very fictional character, was of one race, which is
that it was superior of a race, which is a
whole different conversation, but in this role it was not
that way. There was a conversation about not seeing many
black women being nuns and whether or not that's a thing,
very minute conversation. I will say. There were a couple
(22:19):
of lawsuits here. I don't know if you know this one.
There was a black nun, I think a named de
Luis or like. It was similar to Dolores who had
written a book in the eighties seventies that was similar
to this, how she got together the choir, revamped a city,
all these things, and that she really and she tried
(22:41):
to make it into a screenplay. No one took it,
but she felt like that Disney and these screenwriters had
taken their idea which was kind of similar. So they
were like, maybe she lost that lawsuit because she tried
for a billion dollars and that movie did not make
a billion dollars, but so that kind of went to
the wayside. It was another one with some fairly famous
(23:03):
writers who said that they had that idea in the
early eighties of a closeted nun so like a fake
nun coming out and being a comedy. But they also lost.
Even though Disney was willing to settle for a million dollars,
they were trying to super multimillion dollars. They lost completely
(23:24):
because they said there was not enough of the similarities.
But a lot of the similarities were that it was
a black nun. So I thought that was interesting in itself,
that that's such a novel idea, that it became something
that was like about copyright and infringement and all that.
I love that today we still talk about it as
(23:46):
just wholesome entertainment, even though again we talked about the
gangster and an affair thing that happened. It's like, oh,
but the fact that it happened, like she moved on
to the nunnery the convent, made it more wholesome perhaps.
And I think the only curse word I remember hearing
is hell and damn the entire time.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, I really liked about it that, which is not
what I was anticipating, because again I saw this movie
and everything liked it when I was a kid, but
I was young, so I didn't remember a lot of it,
but I.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Really liked that.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You know, they're kind of like painting Dolores as you know,
the antithesis of a nun, Like, oh, yeah, she smokes,
she drinks, she curses, she's like lived a life, as
they say. But in the end, like they don't really
judge her for that, and they also don't like throw
her out when they realize she's not sister Mary Clarence.
(24:41):
They're like, no, she's been somebody who's been there for us,
you know, has helped does and we're going to go
and be there for her and help her.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yes. I liked that a lot because I was expecting
a lot more like oh you're a lot.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
The ending with with the kids too, like you deceived us.
They right, that are more impressive, even say you don't
act like a nun. I was like, wait, what, okay?
Right anyway, so let's get into some of these themes.
Of course, as you're mentioning about them rallying together sisterhood,
I feel like the literals being sisterhood, but the cammaraderie,
(25:18):
the love they have for each other, the fondness, and yeah,
the encouragement to have it for each other instead of judging,
they automatically are like, oh my god, that's amazing. Let's
do this together. I want to help you, or this
is even better, Like it's such a beautiful thing to
see and you can even see that not necessarily sisterhood,
but togetherness and the kids that they come together and
rally together and they really feel like something is important
(25:40):
and they fight for it and it's beautiful to see that.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, yeah, I really liked that too. One of my
favorite parts of both of them is I feel like Whoope.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Goldberg's character was such a good teacher.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
She was such a good like she could pick out
like oh you you could really sing the shy sister,
like oh you can do this, or you know, you
need to be a little bit more quiet, but does
it in a way that's very supportive and like not insulting.
And then with the kids, like she's never there's never
a piece of her even though she's confident in her
(26:13):
like I'm a headliner, there's never a piece of her
that's like putting down someone else for being better than
her or anything.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It's much more about like building.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Up, yeah, to make the best choir, this group effort
that she can make and everything like that, like in
the second when it kind of starts where she's very successful,
but it doesn't take much for them to convince her, like, hey,
will you come helpless out with these kids, like this
is my school.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
She's like okay.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Immediately she just thinks that the reverend mother is in trouble,
and she's she drops everything, even the publicist, who, by
the way, is an actor from Designing Women and so
he was pretty big back then, Yeah, he was. She's like, no, no,
these are my friends. No, I'll do what they ask.
I love that, but you know, apparently she was like
that in real life as well. So the first sister
(26:58):
act she'd gotten flew had to take off a couple
of days. But it was at that time she had
realized that the rest of the cast, the nuns who
weren't scripted, who weren't stars, or who may not have
speaking parts, were possibly paying for their own meals, paying
for their own hotels, and she was not allowing that.
So she took that time as to not necessarily protest,
she said, but put things in line to make sure
(27:21):
that their knees are being met and they're being taken
care of. And so apparently like she did that for
the cast Kathy and Jimmy had actually said that she
was one of the most wonderful people that she had
ever worked with, that she really cared about the rest
of the people on the set and Kathy the Jimmy
had worked with, and if I am correct, one of
(27:42):
the either producers or directors or writers was also from
hocus Pocus. So she really talked about how this was
a catalyst for her career, which is hilarious because she
would have met I don't know if she already knew
Bette Midler, who was supposed to be on this film,
so you know, you know the connections here. But it's
lovely to read that that's what happened, even though if
you read into it, there was a lot of controversy,
(28:03):
a lot of back and forth and a lot of
like uh not niceness that happened behind the scenes, not
necessarily again with the actors, but even just the whole process.
But yeah, that she stood up for her sisters literally
and making sure that they are cared for. I was like, oh,
I love that, and like you were talking about too,
something that I love to see is that they grow together,
(28:26):
like they learn from each other as where Willie Goldberg
is Sister Clarence is teaching them how to sing and
to be confident and to really come together as a group.
So do this, kids, She brings them together even if
they don't like the same thing. And I love the
same part of the young woman who kid doesn't know
Mary had a little lamb, so she sings show tunes,
(28:46):
which we have coorger who loves show tunes loves show tunes.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Yes, no, I love that. Again.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
That's like such a good example of her being a
good teacher because she was like, no, we're not gonna
make fun of her.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
She doesn't know it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
What do you know, Like we can we can come
from where you are and get this worked out. So
I loved that too, and I loved like her relationship
with the Reverend Mother, which was very kind of, you know, clashy.
Here's the antagonist in the first one, but the reverend mother,
you know, came around and was like, look, I can
(29:21):
I can appreciate what you've done. I can see what
you've done for this group and for this church. And
then in the second one it is that they're good
friends and protective of each other. So that was very
sweet to see that. Yeah, it was. I don't know,
it was very nice to see a character that was
so like willing to be open. Like when she enters
(29:43):
that class with the students, I would have like melted
into a puddle and oh god, but she tried, Like
she keeps, you know, talking about her favorite music and
trying to figure out what they like and how she
can get them to work together in the same the
sisters at the convents, but just kind of being an
(30:04):
open lister and open about how difficult things. I remember
she has that line where she says something like, you know,
the one thing I hate about this room is there's
nothing to throw when.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
She's so frustrated.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
So it was nice to see a character like that
that was so invested in other people growing together, coming
together while also being like growing herself and getting to
show off her own talent.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
And I have to say I forgot to add as
part sister Mary Lazarus was actually played by an iconic actress,
Mary Wicks, who was in movies like White Christmas that
start being Crosby as well, like one of the biggest
iconic Christmas movies Problematic, but you know, it's still there.
(31:05):
She was also in one of my favorite movies, The
Music Man, which I loved as well, so like she
was a big part of that. But she is the
original lead for the choir who steps down and instead
of getting mad, which oftentimes happened, she supports her and
it was like, oh, a great job. And she's also
the one that does the show tunes of the second one.
(31:25):
As we talked with these show tunes, but I kind
of forget that these actors are iconic in themselves and
even though we may not know their names. She has
been in acting since nineteen forty two, if not earlier,
so she's been around for a long time, and her
face is very familiar. You should probably you'll see her
and you'll be like, I've seen her in something. She's
just movies, And yeah, I think another part of the
(31:48):
growing together getting news believing in themselves. Of course, that's
the huge part of the nineties, really, like understanding who
you are, following your dreams. All of these things. The
first one is believing yourself. We have Mary Roberts who
doesn't sing loudly because she's so shy and embarrassed. You know,
she helps her come out of herself. She does the
(32:09):
same for Mary Patrick. She does the same for even
a sister. Alma turns off her battery, but then she
gives her a chance to play away on that piano
and she really gets into it.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Mm hmmm, yeah, yeah, and that was nice to see
because I feel like when the first one starts, you know,
the church is empty, and you hear kind of several
versions of you know, I joined to help people and
we're just kind of sitting here and following rules, and
(32:42):
then yeah, Dolorus comes in and it's like, no, here, well,
we can revitalize this choir. I know that you have
this strong voice. I know that you can do this,
and I know that you can do this and all
this stuff. But then that does lead to them going
out and like getting to know the community and bringing
other people in.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And seeing that confidence growing.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And the second one was the kids, because the kids
were kind of like, well, this is a bird class,
as you said, like this is there's no point to this,
and she Dolores kind of kind of shows them like,
oh no, they're you have talents. What you choose to
do with it, it's up to you. But you have talent,
and you should believe that you have talent. She does
that with a mall especially and rita especially. Yeah, like
(33:25):
you can do this and it's beautiful and wonderful and
like this gifts.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, and it's good. It's beautiful and wonderful. To here
is the audience.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yes, yes, a ma all that that note that hit
hits you're like what? Yes, love sing and of course
everything can be fixed with singing. Everything can be fixed
with singing. And did you know this? I will not lie.
I love musicals. And when I was explaining to a
(33:55):
good friend of mine why I love it, I just like, man,
I just wish a problem could be fixed with the song. Yeah,
and then you just move on.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, people join in.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
And people don't judge you.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
No, it is nice.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I've told you that musicals make me nervous, but musicals
like this don't because I can anticipate when the singing is.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
If it's surprise singing, then I'm yeah, the constant, over
the top singing where everything is a song which I love.
I love as in fact, went to karaoke this weekend
and I did my friend and I because we love that,
did a rendition of on my own from lay Miss
because I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Nice Matt did we kill it?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yes? Did we sound good? No? She did, she sounded
really good, screaming into the mike. But yeah, I just
love all that. And honestly though, that's one of her
things for Whoopy Goldberg, and I think it's like for
a lot of people. It's one of those commonalities that
people really can bond over, is music and songs and
(34:58):
your interest. Then she talked about that, she talks about
her love for old school motown music and the girl
groups and how she found them dynamic and how that
really really affects her heart. I feel the same way
right now. I'm really caught up in K pop music
a lot of it, trying to figure it out, and
it feels very familiar, and so it's comforting to that,
(35:20):
even though I have no idea what's happening right now.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Music is very cathartic, Like you find a good song
and it can just give you such emotions, such feelings.
And it was I mean, like, you know, as.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Hokey as it might be.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
At the end of the second one, all these kids
are coming together, they're singing this song and it's so
good and people are so into it, and you're just like, yes, Yeah,
it's true.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
It's true. We all are I think onto all of that.
One of the biggest complaints about the second one, and
people were like, you know, they didn't do this right,
was literally that there wasn't enough singing, that they cut
off at the wrong times. So when we have you
walking in to see Lauren Hill's character and her friend
(36:12):
and singing I sing because I'm happy together, and then
you only hear a snippet and you're like, no, why
didn't you at least let them finish? Right?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Hear that?
Speaker 3 (36:24):
And then that the only other song is joyful, Joyful
and oh Happy Day? You want more? Although this is realistic, y'all.
When you trying to rehearse for a song, it takes
a whole semester, especially if you're trying to do competition
to get it perfect.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Right. Oh yeah, absolutely, I thought they were.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
When they heard the other like more quote polished group
play the same song, I thought they were going to
switch it to is it oh happy Day?
Speaker 1 (36:52):
They in the beginning, I thought they were going to
switch it.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
I like what they did, it was good, but yeah,
I was also like, I love these singing parts.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Yeah, I will say my one complaint is the dude,
the white dude trying to rap. Oh yeah, yeah, it
made me change a little bit.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
No, I'm just kidding, but yeah, I love that they
came together. I love that they try to add rap.
It really did feel like old people try to figure
out rap and be like this is what this is?
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Right?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah, for sure, but.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
You know what they tried, It's okay. I think someone's
review said the Cassio beat and I was like, oh, oh,
that dates, that's so dated. Why that hurt my feelings?
Especially the quit quit hurting my feelings about this movie?
I love it so much. I watched this one, I
(37:51):
think way more than I did the first one. Uh.
It's just something to that soulfulness to it, and it
just felt so beautiful. My so used to direct our
little church choir and she would take influences from there.
Maybe that's why I love as much as I did,
because she loved these movies, but she would try to
do things from here. She would do that and then uh,
(38:12):
oh brother, where art thal? We had different renditions from
that too.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Very interesting, that's right? We were cool? Oh not? Why? Well?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
These were certainly fun fun for me to watch I'm
glad you got to watch them begin welcome. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
they are available for streaming listeners if you want to
check them out. And yeah, in the meantime, if you
have any suggestions for what movies we should talk about next,
you can send them to us. Our email is Stephanie
moms Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us
(38:47):
on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and
TikTok at stuff I Never Told You.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Thanks as always to our super producer Christina.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Thank you, Christina. I have a feeling she's never seen
these movies. Have you ever seen these movies?
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Yes, Christina, we must know. And thanks to you for listening.
Stefan Never Told You the protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
For more podcast from my Heart Radio, you can check
out the iHeart Radio app Apple podcast, where regular listen
to your favorite shows.
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