Southern Gothic & Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

On this week’s sultry episode of Dear Movies, I Love You, our hosts Millie and Casey discuss Southern Gothic films and the superb CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958). Plus, our fearless duo offers their sage wisdom in their “Film Advice” segment.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hey there, Casey O'Brien.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Well, hey, they are Melly to Jericho melely. This is
a big episode. We're talking about Southern Gothic and cat
on a hot tin roof, which is a topic very
near and dear to your heart.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
You just said roof.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
That's how I say it. In Minnesota, I say roof.
That's what I'm saying, Like, you can't do this properly.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Have you ever lived in the South, have you spent
Have you spent time in South at all?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yes? I have. I have been to Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas. Yeh,
been to all those places. I've never been to North
or South Carolina. But you consider that the south too, right,
Oh yeah, oh yeah, Okay.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
I just saw TikTok the other day. That was a
video podcast where these two Southern guys were kind of
talking about Florida and their take on what parts of
Florida are the South and what parts of Florida are
not the South. And they are probably the best explanation
and the best reasoning that I've ever heard, because, as

(01:05):
everybody knows, like there's the Deep South, but then there's
a different type of South, which is like Texas, you
know what I mean. I feel like Texas South and
Alabama South are two different things.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I feel like, well, what do you consider the true
dirty South?

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Dirty South would be anything below? I would say below
West Virginia, right or maybe like Virginia below Virginia below.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
So you consider Virginia the South.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, I think I do. I do definitely West Virginia.
But I would say Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi.
I mean, Arkansas is interesting because I've actually heard people
say it's not the South, and people do I think
the Arkansas is the South because of the Ozarks.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, it's interesting because like state's like Missouri Missouri, uh uh,
that's kind of a transitional state because it is Midwestern,
but some people consider that there's sort of a southern
twinge to that state as well.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, I would say Missouri is Midwest me personally, I
would do, but it's kind of it's got It's not
a like Minnesota, where I'm from, is so completely and
utterly only the Midwest. Yes, you know, I would agree,
But also there.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Are states that are kind of like in between tweeners.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, you know, well, and like to that point. So Oklahoma,
I feel like Oklahoma and Texas are southern states, but
they're not part of the Deep South. They're like a
different type of South. I don't know, it's interesting. People
love to debate it too, by the way, But anyway,
to my original point about Florida Panhandle, this is this

(02:46):
is according to what I heard on this on this
video podcast, and I co SA one hundred percent panhandles
the South. Jacksonville is sort of south. Adjay said anything
above Orlando is pretty much the South past southern past
Orlando going south, not the South, especially Miami. Miami is
not definitely not the South.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
It's so weird that Miami's even in that state.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Miami is it's like New Orleans. It's like this old
It's like another country. There's a lot of like it's
like Washington, DC, even though New Orleans is the South
for sure, but it also feels like a European country.
That's kind of how Miami feels.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Interesting. Yeah, well, Millie, we got a lot of Southern
talk going on, but I believe you prepared something for it.
Oh my god, yeah, can you give us an example.
I just want to hear what's going on? You know
something that can tease her for the upcoming episode.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, okay, so I figured I would do a line
from the movie that we're gonna be discussing this week.
Ken on a Hot tin Roof. My one of my
favorite characters in the film, the character of Sister Mother
aka May Pollett, played by Madeline Sherwood. She's always like
a whiny little bitch, uh huh, which is why I

(04:02):
like her so much. And she's the mother of the
no neck little monsters that Maggie Slash Elisaba Taylor are
always complaining about. Yes, but this is this is Sister
Mother talking to big Mama. Cooper is your first born?
Why do you always had to carry a bigger load
of responsibilities than Brick? Brick never carried a thing in

(04:25):
his life but a football or hobbo.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
And fan and scenesick. Wonderful. The I mean, the nicknames
in this we're going to get into that because some
really great nicknames. There's nothing nothing like a Southern nickname forname.
Oh my god. Well, so we're gonna be talking about
Southern Gothic films. Cat on a Hot ten Roof from

(04:50):
nineteen fifty eight. But we're also gonna be answering some
film advice, and we are your film advisors. We will
advise you and guide you through these hard by answering
some of your questions. And that's about it.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
That is about it, But stay tuned. It's gonna be
a fun episode. You're listening to damn movies.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
I love you, Dear, I love you, and I've got
to know you love me too. Check the box.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Alrighty, folks, you are listening to Dear Movies, I Love you.
This is a podcast for those who are in a
very problematic relationship with films. Maybe there's some you know,
feelings underneath the surface that are bubbling up that you're
not supposed to have, that are unnatural.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
But it feels so good, that's right.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
My name is Millia Chargo.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
I'm Casey O'Brien, and.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, this entire episode is the This is like my
version of our Purple Rain episode where it's extremely location specific,
and it's my location this time.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
So Millie, very quickly, I'm deterring us already. I have
to know. I have a question for you, Oh boy, Yeah,
tell me about your taco bell experiments that you've been conducting.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Okay, so this I actually have to go back a
little bit further because I this is a instance in
my life where I feel like I've won the lottery
in a lot of ways. So I you know about
the Rancho Gordo Bean Club. Have you heard about this
bean Club?

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yes, I'm aware. I'm not trying to be a member,
but I have friends who have it are trying to
be a member. It's hard to get.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
In, very hard to get in.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
So this is it's like the Eyes Wide Shut Society.
Oh yeah, the Bean Club.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
The password is Fidelio. Yeah for sure.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
So basically this is an incredible heirloom bean distributor or manufacturer.
They're based out of California, and they have the best beans.
They're like great rare but also tasty beans. And they
have a club where I think it's like quarterly, you
get a big box full of like, you know, random beans,

(07:14):
and a lot of them are like, you know, like
I said, heirloom or like kind of rare stuff. And
then they always throw in some hot sauces. There's some
chili powders and things, and so I just have a
lot of beans in my life now. And I was
looking at them, and I was like, you know what,
I think I want to try this. I don't know
about you, but I'm still fuck heavy with Taco Bell. Okay, good.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
I love Taco Bell.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
I absolutely love it. It's the one I gotta say.
It's the one fast food place that I have not
stopped going to over the years for like, you know,
I don't know at most people like you eat a
lot of fast food and then you kind of drop
off as you get to be like thirty.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
I'm not totally familiar with this drop off, but continue.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Well you know what I mean, Like you're not yeah,
you're not, you know, at waffle House for every meal
necessarily anymore. That's my point. But it's it's the one
where I was always like, I come back to it
all the time. And it had been a while, and
I went to Taco Bell because I was shopping in
this one area of town and I was starving in
the other places that you was talking about. As I'm there,

(08:28):
and I got myself a couple of bean burritos, just
plain old school bean burritos. I take the onions and
red sauce off because I feel like it, I personally
do not like onions and red sauce in the bean burrito.
I just like the bean and the cheese, And so
I was like, holy shit, if this isn't the most

(08:50):
delicious thing again consistently for decades the best though, dude,
the best thing in the world. Put them in the refrigerator. Oh,
next morning, a cold bean and cheese Taco Bell bean burrito.

(09:11):
Fucking unbelievable, dude. Like, I was like, I will never
eat these fresh. I only want them cold.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Are you a cold pizza person?

Speaker 1 (09:19):
I do love a cold pizza once in a while.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Man that I'm not a cold pizza person. So this
burrito freeze is scaring me a little bit. But listen,
maybe I don't know as.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
A breakfast option, Like you never think about this breakfast option,
A little cold, refrigerated bean and cheese bean burrito is
absolute to die for. So I was so amped that
I was like, guess what I'm going to recreate. I'm
going to recreate a taco Bell bean burrito in my
own home using these heirloom beans. Wow. So I made

(09:54):
a huge pot of refried beans. I cooked them. They're
basically the rio. I think it's called rio zape or
rio zapey. I don't know how to pronounce them, but
it's kind of like a pino bean fried a little uh, garlic,
onion and bacon. Put them ships in the pot with

(10:19):
the with the soaked beans, with the the bacon trimmings,
like the bacon fat, a little chili powder, and hours later,
took a little mashir to them ships. Put them in
a tortilla with some sharp checked.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Man, it was that sounds good.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
I got it, dude. That was the I'm gonna tell
you right now. Most of the time when I try
to recreate things, I'm bad. I like, I'm actually not
like too good of a cook. I nailed it. I'm sorry,
I'm gonna I'm gonna have another one after we're done.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Do you think the Bean club president would be mad
that you're using their their high quality beans to make
taco bell IFFs.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
I mean, he should not be, he should not be
at all.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, I tagged him in my posts, so I don't know.
If he has something to say about it, he can
come in my mansions.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
I'll jump in the mansions. Fabulous. Well, I just wanted
to I just known a little bit of an explanation
about that. Because I found it interesting and it looked delicious.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
The takeaway case is eat a cold bean burrito.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Okay, love to hear from our listeners what they think
of that. I personally find it a little disturbing, but
I'd be interested to hear how other people feel about
eating a cold burrito for breakfast. But this is not
a taco bell podcast, or this is not a bean podcast,
or this is a movie podcast. And we start every

(11:48):
episode by opening up our film diaries and talking about
the movies we saw this last week. So let's let
us open up our large volume diary and discuss the
movies we watched. Millie, what have you watched?

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Sorry, I'm out of breath because this film diary so heavy,
so heavy, and you have to carry it to our
recordings every time. Okay, I saw two huge films. Dude,
Huge laid on me number one as I saw Friendship.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Ah, I haven't seen want to see Friendship. I hear
it's a pro cigarette movie.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Is it really?

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, maybe it is.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
That was a headline to an article I saw. I'm
not sure, but continue please.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
This is a movie that came out since it came
out last year, but I saw it this year in
a movie theater. So I don't know what the real
story is with that, but it stars the comedian Tim
Robinson and the comedic actor Paul Rudd, and it is
it's a very very dark comedy. I believe that it

(13:01):
moves into the horror movie realm.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's what everybody's saying.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, it is, like, well, first of all, I think
I'm gonna say this. I feel like you will love
this movie if you're a fan of Tim Robinson big time. Okay,
and I am a fan, so I was. I was like,
that is.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
A specific breed, that's a specific genre.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
I agree. And what are some of the shows that
he was He was on the Netflix show I think.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
You should leave, He did Detroit Ters. Those are kind
of his two big shows.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
I think you'll enjoy the movie if you love Tim
Robinson's comedy I happen to. I think it's if you
enjoy Paul Rudd you'll love it. I mean it is
literally about these two white dad guys or husbands who
are neighbors, and it all plays upon the idea that
like straight white married guys like have no friends.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
I mean, this is a movie for me.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
It's true. I knew that going in because I was like, no,
y'all don't have friends. It's so true, and it kind
of exams I mean, I'm gonna it's a funny, sometimes
dumb movie. I'm gonna put my little intellectual psychologic psychology
one on one spin on it and say it is

(14:22):
literally like what happens when we examine the idea that
straight white guys have formed no social ties with each other,
who have never been able to be vulnerable and sensitive
because of the culture and how patriarchy is basically destroying

(14:43):
the ways in which men interact with each other where
they can't help it, be fucking freaks whenever they do
meet somebody that is like maybe has an interest that
they have, and they just like go feral, They go
feral with the experience.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
I mean, some of what you said can be applied
to the movie we're talking about today. Oh my god, right,
I'm excited to see it. It looks great. I kind of
have a loose I kind of I know the sister
of the director. Oh so, I've always been kind of
aware of him, but I've never actually met him. So
I'm excited to see it.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
My one critique and it's very, very small. Is that
one of my favorite comedians or comedy actors of all
time is in the film, but he has like virtually
no lines and it drives me absolutely crazy.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Isn't that weird when you like see an actor in
a movie that's like recognizable and I don't know if
they're scene got cut short or something, but they have
no lines, but they're like there.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yes, his name is John Glazer. I'm sure you know
John Glazer.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
He used to be He has it own TV show.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, he used to do Delocated on Adult Swim and
he's been in so many things. He's been on Codon
O'Brien and I think that's where he first got to start.
But I love him. I think he's like one of
the funniest dudes I've ever seen. And I'm like, why
did he not talk in that movie?

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Not to be confused with Academy Award winning director Jonathan Glazer.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
No, the one that got the one that made that
the pressing movie interest.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yep, fabulous. What's the other movie? Huge movie?

Speaker 1 (16:23):
The other huge movie that I watched was a documentary
on HBO Max called Pee Wee as himself.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Oh, I gotta watch it. I love Peewee.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Now I sort of know the director Matt Wolfe. He
is the partner of my friend Carl, who I've known
for like a million years, and pretty much I think
I met Carl off live journal, much like I met
Danielle off live journal. But I love Carl, and I
know Matt through Carl basically, even though I'm not sure

(16:55):
we've ever hung out in person. But even more interestingly
is that my connection to Matt is actually more through
his father, which is strange to say. Oh, so, Carl
told me a long time ago that Matt's dad is
like a cute mongus TCM fan and actually publishes his

(17:17):
own weekly newsletter about TCM that he sends to his
friends that give it's like his employee picks.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Basically, this is like a substack pre substack.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Absolutely, And so I was like, when I was still
working at TCM, I was like, well, I got to
see this newsletter. So I emailed him. I emailed Sandy,
that's Matt's dad, and I was like, Hi, so I
would love to read your newsletter. I'm you know, full disclosure,
I'm a programmer at TCM, but I would just love
to read it because I feel like I would enjoy

(17:50):
it and I would love to see what you like.
And he wrote back. He was very nice, but he
said right off the bat he was like, listen, I
don't tailor this shit to nobody, like he did say
it in those words, but he was like, you think
I'm gonna go easy because a programmers read in my newsletter.
He's like, I am honest and I don't care who.

(18:10):
This is my real feelings. And I was like, Sandy,
go for it. I mean, you say what you want
to say. And he has never held back, by the way,
like he loves calling the programmers the suits, so he'll
say in his zowsletter like, oh, the suits put on
another Catherine Hepburn Festival today and didn't have you know,
Christopher Strong, what's wrong with the suits this week? Or like,

(18:34):
oh my god, I love it. I love it so
much so I'm obsessed with Matt's dad.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, does he still write this newsletter?

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yes? I still get it. I still get it to
this day. I don't even work there anymore. I told
him I got laid off, and you know, he was apologetic, but.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
A suit no longer.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yes, But having said that, I obviously do not have
to tell you about how much I enjoy the Peewee documentary.
It's two parts on HBO. There's a lot out there
right now. Like Matt wrote a piece four I think
it's a New York magazine talking about his involvement, because
as you watch it, you'll understand why he's more involved than, say,

(19:13):
you know, a normal documentarian who's making a movie about someone.
I had a lot of feelings while watching it is Yeah,
it is great, Like it is wonderful, Like it's made wonderfully.
It's the tempo of it is great. Matt's did an
amazing job. So anyway, incredible. Sorry, that's my long winded
response to that, to seeing that, but that is my

(19:35):
film diary for this week.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
I can't wait to watch it. I was a huge
pee Wee Herman pee Wee's Playhouse and Pee's Big Adventure
fan when I was a kid. Those were like fundamental
shows and movies for me. And I got to work
with Paul Rubins a little bit on his pee Wee
Herman Radio Hour, which was an hour long special they

(19:57):
did on KCRW. Wow is basically like a Peewe's Playhouse
Radio Hour, but he's playing actually he's playing like he's
a DJ, and all these characters from Peewe's Playhouse show up,
like Clocky and stuff, and you know, he's an artist
and he was very particular, and so it took years
to make this one hour radio program. I mean, he

(20:21):
had like huge notes about the sound design and like
this sound is wrong, and we were constantly recutting and
re recording, and I was like the third editor that
got brought on. But I got to work with him
a little bit, editing and recording some stuff, and eventually
it became like we started with him sitting next to

(20:43):
me while we listened, and I was supposed to edit
while he would listen along live, but I feel like
he was kind of like we I don't like working
this way, Like this is like too high pressure or something.
So eventually we would just like, edit something, send it
to him. He'd send a million notes, edit it, send
it to him. He'd send a million minus four notes. Yeah,

(21:06):
and it just sort of kept going that one on
for a real long time. But we got a system
down and eventually we got it done and you can
still listen to that on kcow dot com. Wow. The
Pewe Herman Radio Hour it's really cool. It's like a
really it's like if you like Peb's playhouse, it's just
like that. So but I think of him as like
a real artist and a real unique person. And I

(21:27):
cannot wait to watch that documentary.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
You're gonna love it. I mean, honestly, there's the archival
footage is to die for. I mean it's like, yeah,
like he was a collector, which meane like that was
the thing that I actually didn't realize about Paul Rubins
was just how like he was so cool and like
punk rock and like transgressive and was like into like
cool things, and he like his house was seemed like

(21:52):
it was just like fill to the brim with like
old pop culture ephemera and like things they had kept
over the years. It looked like a museum.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
So yeah, I mean it's just inspiring. It's inspiring to see.
I mean, I know a little bit about just the
way he lived, and like, I don't know, it's just
like inspiring. It's like you can live the way you
want to live, Like you can create the world you
want to live in, And I just think that's so cool, amazing.
I'm gonna say the movies I saw, yeah, So I

(22:22):
watched a few movies this past week. I've been watching
a lot of the Mission Impossibles. I rewatch Mission Impossible,
Rogue Nation, and Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. Have not seen
the new one yet, but I will. Then I watched
You're not a Mission Impossible fan? And you hate Tom Cruise?

Speaker 1 (22:38):
And yeah, I only like Tom Cruise an interview with
the Vampire pretty much.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Okay, Like he's a problematic fave of mine. I mean,
obviously his involvement with the Scientology kids I don't love,
but I do appreciate his love of the cinema and
movie theater experience. And I love these movies. I love them, so.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
People listen, You're not the only one. I'm the odd
woman out here, so.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Sure, okay. And then I watched a movie I really
disliked called Dread The Judge Dread movie from twenty twelve.
I don't know it's by Alex Garland, but it just
felt like a mess. And there's like a certain way
that movies were shot in like the early two thousands,
where it's like everything looks absolutely fried, like yellow, do
you know what I'm talking about? Like there's a lot

(23:29):
of Tony Scott movies that looked like that.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, it doesn't Soderberg do a little bit of fry on.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
He does a little bit of fry Yeah, but his
is a little bit more golden to me. But I
just feel like there's this certain look that just makes
me feel gross. And this movie feels like that. I
didn't really enjoy this one.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Can I ask you, like a real ask question, what
compels you to randomly watch something like this? I mean,
this movie came out in twenty twelve.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, I mean I feel like people like the I
there are. Okay, So you know, I'm a film scholar,
as everyone knows, and so I've liked to watch my
you know, my gen Dielman's, My My four hundred blows,
my you know, seventh Samurai type movies as a part
of my studies, you know. But sometimes I just want

(24:17):
to watch something kind of schlocky and violent and sci fi.
And I really like sci fi action, big budget movies.
I love Starship Troopers, So I seek out movies like that. Yeah,
and Dread was a movie like that that ended up
on my list because I feel like people have talked
positively about that movie. It's an Alex Garland penned movie,

(24:38):
and so that's how I got there.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
See, Yeah, I guess this is an age thing because
I'm looking at this, I'm like, oh, I know Wood Harris.
I don't know anybody else in this movie. I mean,
I guess I do know domhal Gleason a little bit,
but it's like to me, I'm like, I have we
used a joke about this on I saw what she
did all the time that I have like a complete
and utter block to movies that were made in the

(25:01):
two thousands or later. I guess I was just out
there smoking cigarettes and running the streets.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
It was like you were like unfrozen caveman lawyer, yes
of that time, and we've defrosted you and we're educating
you now.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, because I'm like looking at the stuff going like, oh,
I barely remember what Looper twenty twelve.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, I exactly barely remember.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
That movie that just came up next to Dread when
I can.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, but it's like I haven't seen that, but yeahah.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Anyway, I'm just fascinating.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
That's part of my process. And sometimes I love action movies.
I love sci fi movies. I mean I love movies.
I love Paul Verhoven movies. Sure, and I'm always kind
of chasing that high of RoboCop or uh, what's the
one with Arnold Swartzenegger? Why am I blanking on that one?

Speaker 1 (25:51):
The Total movie?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
No Total Recall. I love Total Recall. So I'm kind
of like chasing that high all the time. Okay. Anyways,
there's a movie I thought was good and I want
to talk about. It's called It's from twenty twenty four, okay,
and it's called Ephis Have you heard about this movie?
It's a baseball movie, and it is a really low

(26:13):
budget small movie. And here's the kind of synopsis. As
an imminent construction project looms over their beloved small town
baseball field, a pair of New England w REC teams
face off for the last time, Tensions flare up, and
ceremonial laughs are shared as an era of camaraderie and
escapism fades into an uncertain future. It's a really good,

(26:35):
just kind of like slacker baseball movie of these old
farts playing baseball one last time in their rec leagues.
But it's really slow too. It's like a it's basically
you're watching an entire base ball game, and it's really interesting.
And structurally it's unlike anything I've ever seen. But it's
also really funny and silly, and it's just like a

(26:58):
bunch of old farts yelling at each other and playing baseball.
And I think you'd really like it, Milly.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
I am I seeing this right that Frederick Wiseman is
in the cast.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Frederick Wiseman does like he's like a radio voice that
you hear or twice. So he's not in it.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Oh god. I was like, oh my god, that would
be amazing if he was acting in a film.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
No, but it's it's I think you this is like
right up your alley. Oh, I think, Millie. So I
really enjoyed it. I thought it was really interesting.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Aphis is spelled e e p h.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Us yes, and it's a pitch. It's a specific pitch.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Oh. I see, Yeah, this looks cool. I'm like, I'm
googling it and gone, damn, this this is going.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
There's actually two guys from Uncut Gems that are in it.
I see old old guys. Yeah, uh yeah, check it out.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Great, Athis will do.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
It's great. All right, we really got to move on here.
Let's close it up.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
Oh god, Dusty crusty Milly threw her back out, closing
the diary.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
All right, moving on to our main discussion, which is
Southern Gothic movies and cat on a Hot Tin roof
from nineteen fifty eight. Did I say it normal that time?
Because I usually say roof?

Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, I guess you did say it normal. Were you
trying to say it normal?

Speaker 2 (28:45):
I was trying to say roof normally? Okay, thank you,
Thank you so much, Millie. This was the first time
watch for me, and I'm a fan of Southern Gothic movies.
But I guess and literature. I've read a lot of

(29:06):
Flannery O'Connor have you. But what do you what in
your estimation? It doesn't need to be the you know,
the dictionary definition. What do you make something Southern Gothic?

Speaker 1 (29:19):
So okay without going into a huge history lesson of course.
I mean, and you know you'll forgive me if I'm
not going to go beat by beat into like the
entire history of the term, and you know, the literature
and everything like that, right, So what I consider.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Lay off, MILLI everybody gets historians back off?

Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, Like, I don't have to be comprehensive. I'm not
the Encyclopedia Britannica. Okay, to me, Southern Gothic is a tradition.
It's sort of a vibe. It's a genre. I personally
think that there's a couple of different, you know, topics
or sort of recurring themes that pop up because the South,

(30:05):
as you know, very historical, lots of tragedy, some good
stuff too, but a lot of you know, big issues
played out done here. There was like, you know, where
slavery happened. It's where you know, race riots happened. It's where,
you know, there's a lot of the South is very
like it has a lot of you know, darkness mixed

(30:30):
with the lightness, because the South can also be very
sunny and warm and friendly. Everybody feels like Southerners are
super extra friendly and they want to tell you their
life story every time we talk to him at a
gas station. It's that kind of vibe. So it's kind
of like a swirling duality, if you will, kind of
the way we talked about it in the noir episode

(30:51):
with you know La, right, La is sunny but dark,
same thing I think, I think when it comes like
down to it, if you want to kind of pick
out a couple of recurring themes that happen within this
kind of Southern Gothic tradition. You've got obviously big topics
of class and race and all these like big kind

(31:13):
of social issues that play into a lot of the stories.
Right these like Southern Gothic tales, you know a lot
about outsiders that come in. I mean a lot of
times it's you know, people who you know. I mean,
if you think about to Kill a Mockingbird, which I
feel like is probably the most famous Southern Gothic story

(31:37):
that has you know, been written at least until this point,
where you know, if it's not to Kill a Mockingbird,
it's it's it's in the top three for sure. But
as we know about to Kill a Mockingbird, it's about
race and violence and you know, mental illness, and you
know this kind of these kind of things. It's all
about the ways in which we treat people who are

(31:59):
different than us. And I think that that's a common
theme within Southern Gothic literature and storytelling. You also have
the kind of idea of the kind of decaying or
the breaking down of institutions. You think about stories like Streetcard,
Name Desire, you know, It was read by Tennessee Williams.
Even if you think about like Belle reeve about this
like decaying plantation, this you know idea of like things

(32:24):
are breaking down, right, Marriages are breaking down, people's mental
states are breaking down. You know, towns are breaking down
and becoming ghost down. So is there's this kind of
like recurring decay theme happening in a lot of these stories.
But also you have this like a lot of times
it's very darkly humorous, So you've got like, you know,

(32:47):
dark humor people who are kind of it's like there's
an irony a lot of times with certain characters, you know,
people who shouldn't be best friends or best friends, and
you're like, how is that even possible? You know, thinking
about like The Heart is a Lonely Hunter that was
written by Carson McCullers about you know, that sort of
thing of like two unlikely people hanging out together. There's

(33:09):
also a lot of times, uh, you know, there's like
kind of supernatural elements too, like you know, sometimes it's magic,
sometimes it's kind of fantastical worlds. I mean, I would
say that the movie Eves by You is like a
Southern Gothic tale and of course you know about that movie,
and if you've seen that movie, it's about like magic
and you know, and like sort of that that kind

(33:32):
of thing. And so I don't know. I mean, I
think there's a lot of different kind of recurring things
that are happening. A lot of family strife. That's a
huge one. That's a huge thing for Tennessee Williams, but
it's also for Pat Conroy, who is one of my
favorite Southern Gothic writers. So yeah, I mean, I would

(33:52):
say there there was I think when it comes to film, right,
so there was the proliferation of film adaptations that were
happening kind of in the fifties and sixties in Hollywood, right,
And if you think about people like William Faulkner and
Carson McCullers and Flannery O'Connor and Tennessee Williams, you know,

(34:13):
they were kind of writing stories in like the thirties
and forties, and so a lot of their work was
being adapted, like in the fifties and sixties in Hollywood,
which including kad on a Hot and Roof. But you've
got stuff like to Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee obviously
wrote that in Cold Blood, Truman Capoti and other big

(34:38):
Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor doing Wise Blood. You know,
like I said, I mentioned Streetcar, I mentioned The Heartest
a Lonely Hunter, the Sound and the Fury. I personally,
like I said, I love Pat Conroy and it's because
I grew up in South Carolina a little bit when
I was a child. So I think the Prince of
Tides and the Great Santini are like like Southern Gothic

(34:59):
master pieces, if you will so, But I would say
that there was a golden period, which I feel like
is in the era of cat On a Hot and Roof.
There was a kind of stable of actors that were
appearing in a lot of these Tennessee Williams adaptations, including
Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
So I don't know.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
I think when we were kind of talking about Southern Gothic,
I was like, oh, I feel like kat On the
Hotten Roof has to be the anchor film because it
is the kind of best representation of everything.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, it's interesting you were talking about, you know, like
the decay of these sort of historical structures in the
Southern Gothic genre. And I think a lot of the
characters in Southern Gothic literature are both tangling with their
own personal conflicts and personal issues that they have with

(35:50):
people in their family and themselves internally, but they also
are kind of battling these larger historical traditions which are
sometimes decaying. And it's like whether they're trying to uphold
those historical traditions or those historical traditions are crushing them,
you know. But it's it's kind of something that is

(36:12):
always it feels like looming. It's kind of this fog
over all of these all these movies and all these
books that there's this sort of this, yeah, this historical
weight that everybody is carrying well, and to me, I.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Feel like there is something to be said for you know,
a lot of these Southern Gothic writers were queer m
and they had to. They're writing stories, you know, about outsiders,
about people who have to like natural desires that are
being suppressed by family or by you know, church or government.

(36:54):
I mean, I feel like that is such a Southern thing. Yeah,
And I know this because I used to DJ in
a gay bar for like a decade, where you would like,
this is something this is the thing, you know, I
guess the South has a lot of traditions. There's a
lot of religion here. You can't deny that that is,

(37:14):
you know, a part of the Southern Gothic literature tradition
or like some of the influences that pop up with
writers like Carson McCullers and Truman Capodi.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
And yeah, it was a very defined correct way to
be somebody, like be a person in the South or
within these Southern Gothic movies and books and stuff. But
and if you kind of fall out of that very
narrow pathway, you are an outsider. It's very easy to

(37:47):
be an outsider, almost.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
One hundred percent. And I think, I mean just not
not to talk about myself personally too much, but I
I mean I grew up in the South. I mean
I basically have lived in the South since I was
five years old. I was obviously like a child of immigrants,
so like two people that didn't learn even from this country.

(38:08):
And I grew up you know, with like rural South
Carolina and suburban Georgia basically, and in a lot of ways,
I think that's why I gravitate towards Southern Gothic literature
and films and the kind of again the vibe of
the Southern Gothic, because I feel like I was like
my own little Southern Gothic character for much of my

(38:31):
life living here and still do. I mean, you're right
that it's easy to be an outsider here. I mean
I when I was like in middle school, in high school,
I was it was really hard to find even people
who look like me. And I'm half white, you know
what I mean, Like it was like, yeah, there was

(38:52):
My high school was extremely white, like ninety percent white,
and it was really like, I think it was hard
for somebody like me to not feel like an outcast
because I was just like, oh, I don't my parents
aren't Baptists, you know, they don't go to the same
little things that all my my, the neighbors of all

(39:13):
the white kids go to. They don't have that, you know,
that sort of like Southern tradition of like, you know,
whatever it is like making you know, collared greens and
cornbread and things like that. You know. I grew to
love all that stuff because I just it's everywhere down here.
But it's like, yeah, I so I still feel like

(39:37):
a big weirdo because I do consider myself a Southern person.
I do have a lot of Southernism in me, even
though you know, my family moved here, you know, when
I was a child, and I have all these other
influences that are like from other parts of the world.
So it's interesting, I mean, and that's I think again,

(39:57):
like to your I just really do feel like it is.
It is a tradition of outsiderness and otherness that is
really interesting, and that's a good way to come into
a film or a piece of literature.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
So well, let me, do you mind if I do
the Oh yes, yes, please for cat On a Hot
Tin Roof. So this is from nineteen fifty eight cat
On a Hot ten Roof former football star and current
day drunk Brick Poult played by Paul Newman. He returns

(40:31):
home to his somewhat estranged family's Mississippi plantation. He's there
to celebrate his father's birthday and to hear news on
his father, Big Daddy, played by burl Ives. He's there
to hear his cancer diagnosis, So news comes back. Big
Daddy comes back with Big MoMA and he's apparently healthy,

(40:56):
so parties on. In the meantime, Let's navigate his recently
broken ankle. He broke it jumping hurdles at the local
his former high school while he was drunk, his unhappy
wife Maggie played by Elizabeth Taylor, the most annoying children
on the planet, the no neck monsters as we alluded

(41:18):
to earlier, and his newly reinvigorated horny dad. That's all happening.
It's all one kind of evening. So that's Kat on
a hot tin roof.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Oh boy, I gotta tell you, I know, we have
a lot to talk about with this.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
There's so much. This is a rich tex this is.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
A rich text. So there was a moment where I
thought maybe I should actually introduce you to. Another Southern
Gothic tale from the late fifties is a movie called
The Long Hot Summer Okay, also from nineteen fifty eight,
also starring Paul Newman. This is a William Faulkner tail

(42:03):
because there is a character in that movie who is
played by Orson Wells, Yes, who is basically it's almost
like Orson Wells is doing a burrel Ives impression, Like
it's like the big puffy Southern dad guy, yeah, who
like runs the town and he's like meddling in all

(42:27):
of his kids' lives. Yeah, and he's like kind of
you know, basically like ruined. Like you know, he's like
the guy that's like gonna shut down your small business
if you fuck with him and his boys type of thing. Yes,
that kind of like the the sheriff, but not really
you know, he's like running everything. And so this is

(42:49):
I feel like a stock character. And there's a lot
of stock characters in Southern Gothic tradition, and one of
them is the like really overblown southern dad guy that's
just like me. What she says often the mendacity.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Yes, did you know what mendacity meant before you on me?
I'd never heard that word before. But they do define it.
They're like mendacity pertaining to lies and liars, they like
say the definition in the movie.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Well, because essentially that's what the movie is about, is
like secrets and lies. Right, Yes, Because okay, you've got
this structure where and I will say, I think we
should know by now that the production code is very
well alive in this era. So there is a lot

(43:45):
that is left out. I mean, obviously the place is
a lot different than the movie.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
Well, this is what I wanted to get into immediately
with this is that Tennessee Williams was apparently unhappy with
things they kind of cut out of the movie. Apparently
the play is much more overtly gay, And I understand that,

(44:09):
but I also it to me it was fairly obvious
early on that Paul Newman aka Brick was in love
with this guy Skipper who had killed himself. He's not
in the movie. He it's in the pasture, but he
obviously was in love with him. Yes, And I thought

(44:33):
the movie did a pretty good job of making that
fairly obvious while still you know, obeying the rules of
the time.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, I mean I think, yeah, I think it's probably
one of the better coded if you will situations, because
I I don't know, if it's like you would look
at if you were of today's mind, you would look
at this movie and be like, what the fuck are
they talking about? Like, but you know, if you if
you understand production code and you understand the ways in

(45:07):
which Hollywood had to like hide the fact that they
were talking about risk stuff, then you'd be like, Okay,
it's it's doing a pretty good job of towing that line.
But most of the Tennessee, Williams stuff was a lot,
a lot nastier than what they the movie was about.
I mean, I think about like Sweet Bird of Youth,
and you know, like even Streetcar. There's just a lot

(45:31):
of stuff that gets taken out of the play that
and is sort of cleaned up for the movie. But yeah,
I mean, the the interesting thing about Paul Newman because
Paul Newman was not a Southerner, right, isn't he from
like Massachusetts or something?

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Shaker Of course?

Speaker 1 (45:51):
What am I an idiot? The only reason why I
know Shaker Heights, so sad to say, is because of
Paul Newman. But Paul Newman, both in this film and
in The Long Hot Summer, I feel like nineteen fifty
eight was his fucking year. Could have been hotter, couldn't
have been hotter?

Speaker 2 (46:10):
Uh, peak peak hotness. It's almost it's again We've talked
about this before, where someone's so hot in a movie
that's inappropriate and should it should be commented on by others?
The lawn Yeah, of course, yes, yes, he is so
unbelievably hot. So is Elizabeth Taylor. She looks in They

(46:30):
both it's incredible. Yeah, firing on all cylinders scorching.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Scorching on all cylinders. Yeah, this was both their absolute
I mean, you know many people be like, oh, actually no,
it's a place in the sun. No, no, no. Elizabeth
Taylor as her like fully formed, hot, voluptuous mama self
is perfect in this movie.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
I think Paul Newman invented abs in this mix, like
we'd never seen them before.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Abs as if we've never seen before. But I think
that the central conflict is is actually an interesting one,
which is that Elizabeth Taylor aka Maggie the Cat, she
just wants to fuck her husband. She just is like
horny for him, and it's like, what's the vibe, dude,
Like I love you, I worship you, I want to

(47:23):
like touch those abs, yes, and yet you're drinking yourself
to death and I don't know what to do.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
I love when she was like, usually when men drink,
they get less attractive, but you've gotten hotter somehow.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Yeah. That's just like Paul Newman. I mean, wouldn't he
just like he could. He's the only person alive at
the time that could be hotter, wasted and bloated, you know,
I mean it's just insane. He is sort of like
his character again, we're gonna talk more about Southern Gothic archetypes.

(48:04):
He is what I call the bisexual drunk, like a
guy who is so kind of torn up about the
fact that he might be attracted to more than one
gender that he kind.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Of drinks himself yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
Away when he can, just like if it wasn't for
his stupid ass southern family putting pressure on him to
like have kids, which is essentially what they're doing, Like
like big Daddy, and is that big Daddy, big big.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
Papa, Papa, big daddy, Daddy, Mama, big Mama, sister mother,
brother daddy.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
I don't know all of these little Gooper, yeah, Gooper,
they're all they all want. Jack Carson plays Cooper right,
forgot about that. I love Jack Carson, but it's they're
all just like putting pressure on him and Maggie to
be like, Okay, what's the vibe, y'all ain't fucking and
having a bunch of kids. Then they're like, what's going

(49:11):
on here? Why is he drinking himself to death? He
must be gay? Like why don't you just say it
so we can ignore you and shun you. I mean,
it's kind of like there's a moment where you're just
going like, well, what are they supposed to do? Like,
you know, obviously y'all aren't. Y'all ain't cool with this,
so let's uh, let's stop trying to pressure the truth

(49:34):
to come out, because it feels like that's a whole
other Southern Gothic movie is what happens when you get
shunned by your community and sent away to you know,
but it's you know, my thing about the Paul Newman
character is that it feels like that character is a
Southern Gothic stereotype that's sort of like sexually confused, using

(49:59):
drugs and alcohol to like numb the pain kind of thing.
It's people who are just like so fraught with, you know,
their own desires that they have to hide them that
it causes them to be addicts and drinkers. So this
movie is really just a stage for these two extremely

(50:22):
hot actors, Elizabeth Taylor Paul Neumann, to just stand in
a doorway looking hot.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
We're in a bathrobe.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
We're in a bathrobe with one crutch one crutch m h.
Standing it like, is there anybody who's been hotter in
a doorway than Elizabeth Taylor? You know, like, yeah, it's
obviously a play, so the space is contained in the film.
It's really kind of just a house, right, Yeah, and

(50:56):
there's just such a like very simple sexuality to it
because it is like repression.

Speaker 5 (51:02):
Right.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Yeah, it's hot, people are sweating. We're in an old
southern house. There's probably no central ac so they're opening
all the windows. They're putting glasses of ice against their foreheads,
you know, like this is like again, another part of
I think what Southern tradition, Southern Gothic tradition is is
that whole undercurrent of like a sweltering sensuality, heat induced sexuality.

(51:33):
You know, there's a cat on a hot tin roof,
can't put the paws down on the hot.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Tin mm hmmmm. Yeah, and it's raining, there's like a storm,
so that it does feel very trapped. But I didn't
feel like it. You know, sometimes when plays are adapted
into movies, it's like this feels like a play, But
it didn't feel like that to me.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Yeah, I don't think it does. There's some of his
stuff that feels a lot more like a play, like uh,
Suddenly Less So, which I think was the movie she
made at Like it came out right after Roof. That's
another Tennessee Williams story. It's kind of famous for. This

(52:14):
was Montgomery Cliffs, like when he kind of came back
on the scene after his horrible accident. Yeah, and had
the facial reconstruction surgery. But it's like another kind of
Southern Gothic tale. I mean that one is wilder. Actually,
if you want to get down to brass text, that
story is totally insane and then got sort of cleaned up.

(52:38):
Well it did get cleaned up for the film adaptation,
but if you read the actual play, you're like, oh god, damn,
like this is cannibals are involved, what the hell?

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Oh shit?

Speaker 1 (52:50):
But that to me feels a lot more like a play.
I think it's really Yeah, I just think it's because
it's in like one small room and the blocking is
kind of strange. But yeah, kund of hot Roof, I
think moves a little bit better.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
So well, Millie, something I wanted to ask you about
the Southern nickname. Do you have anything to talk about
with this history, because there's some wonderful h Paul Dooman's
character's name is Brick. How would you like to be
named Brick? What a name, and there's Big Daddy, there's Gooper,
Big Mama, Skipper Cat. I guess yeah, is this a

(53:28):
thing in the South that people are Is it a
nicknaming place it can be?

Speaker 1 (53:34):
I mean, I feel like it's kind of fallen out
of fashion these days, but I think everybody who was
born and raised in the South has like a cousin
or an uncle that's called like dirt Leg or some
shit like you know.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
It's like dirt Leg.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
And in fact, if you want to email us at
Dear Movies at exactly rightmedia dot com, if you got
a real if you can prove in some way that
you've got like a relative that has like a crazy
Southern nickname, like a cbe radio name type of thing,
let's know.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
I was just so taken aback by Brick. I love
the nickname Brick.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Can you come up with one for yourself?

Speaker 2 (54:15):
I don't know one for myself. Well, I'm not really
supposed to give myself a beef beef beef beef uh
beef it be beat beefer. It'd be beefer beefer.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
Up, Brian Hey, go down to the Volunteer fire department,
go get beefer O'Brien, tell him that is his uncle
had fallen down on the porch again, and he probably
needs to go get his fake leg this time, because
he's hopping around on out one leg and you know
he can't do that. Beefer, come get you, Come get

(54:56):
your uncle.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
What about you, Milly? What's yours? What's yours? Do you
have one? I guess Jesus.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Christ, No, at least I don't think so, unless somebody's
calling me something that I don't know about. I don't know, y'all.
I mean, I kind of want to be I don't know.
I think about like cebe radio names. I'd be like

(55:22):
a Dusty.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Beaver, Dusty Beaver, Dusty Beaver. Yeah, Dusty is great Dusty,
all right, Dusty, but I would it would.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Be Dusty dust Ee.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
Well. I think the funniest nickname in the movie is
Gooper because his real name in the movie is Cooper
with a C H, but everyone calls him Gooper, which
is very like appropriate for that character. He is kind
of a goop Gooper.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
The sister woman thing is insane.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Sister woman, that's what the men, that's what they like
call women that are It's like someone that you're like
related to basically as a woman.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
Like an antie.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Yeah, kind of yeah, antie, Like Paul Newman calls his
sister in law sister woman, but it's sort of like
insulting a little bit, calling somebody a woman like that,
sister woman.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
The phrase sister woman could also be used in a
more general sense to a ferneral woman who's considered a
friend or sisterly figure. I see, Oh yeah, I am sure.
It probably goes back a long, long long time. You
could be called sister woman. Do I want Burrel Eyes
to be screaming it at me in reference to me?

Speaker 2 (56:45):
No?

Speaker 1 (56:46):
I think it's all fun and well to be a
sister woman until an old, scary Southern white demon guy
is screaming it at you.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
Millie. Is there anything else you wanted to touch upon
with Kat on a hot tin roof?

Speaker 1 (57:00):
No. I will say that this was my early entry
point into my love for Southern gothicness. I can't tell
you how personally attached I feel to this genre, this essence,
this vibe. It's my favorite of all time. Like, in

(57:22):
terms of if you want to come up with like
a genre or microgenre that I personally love, it's this.
I mean, I think we still see the Southern Gothic
tradition like Alive and Well in a movie is like Sinners,
for example. I mean I would say Sinners is a
Southern Gothic tale. I mean I mentioned Eves by you.
But then there's stuff like, I mean, the Prince of Tides.

(57:44):
Don't even get me started. I went, I did an
entire bonus episode of I Saw, which did on the
Prince of Tides and my love for that. But you've
got stuff like yeah, Angel Heart and you know, Deliverance
Interview with the Vampire, which I actually mentioned earlier. But
it was like, there aren't moments of Southern gothicness still
happening in films, and I love it. And it's like

(58:07):
the moment it like it connects and clicks with me.
I'm like, oh yeah, I love this. I love this vibe.
I love this tradition. I love the storytelling. So I'm
glad we got to, you know, pick this, pick this
movie and chew on this bone for a while.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
Me too. It was like such a delight to watch this.
And like Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, they're so beautiful.
They don't make movie stars like that anymore. They just
like they're cut from marble. I mean, they just they visually.
I was absolutely hypnotized by their presence on screen. One

(58:49):
thing I will say, I was so disgusted by those
no neck children, particularly when the girl put both her
hands in the ice cream and Goop was like, why
don't you wash your hands first before you do that?
And I was like, these are It was a great
way of setting those characters up because I was like,
I hate these people. These are the enemy.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
Yeah, that's I mean, I think this movie. I mean,
spoiler alert, I suppose this movie is over fifty years
old or is about to be fifty years old.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Spoiler alert.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Maggie does have a life in her okay, meaning she
porked her husband at some point maybe he didn't realize it,
but now she got a baby in that belly. However,
this entire movie is about how you should not have
children and how annoying they are, and how you should never,
you know, become the fucking sister in law and brother

(59:46):
in law family that runs around unless their kids do
discussing things and they're just like doting on the parents
in a very fake way in order to get into
people's wills and things.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Wait, I thought that wasn't actually pregnant, that she was lying.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
I thought she was pregnant. Am I wrong about it? No?

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
I thought she said she was pregnant. And so that's
why Paul Newman at the end is like, let's fuck
to put the baby.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Ah, you're right about that. You're right about that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Which I in my notes I did say this is
the same ending as Eyes Wide Shut, when Nicole Kidman
says let's fuck. Paul Newman basically says that to Elizabeth
Taylor and it's great, Oh right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Because then Burl Lives is like, yeah, the Magg's got
a life in her and she's.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Like he he not yet, so not yet. But that
was a good That was a good way of getting
Paul Newman to pork her.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
I should try it sometime, be like I'm pregnant and
they're like, are you really? I'm like no, but I'm
on to.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Be well fabulous. I loved it, and thank you Millie
for bringing this movie to our show and to me personally.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Oh, you're so welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Moving on, we've got film advice where your film advisors
and we're here to advise you. Millie. I'm gonna play
a voicemail for you.

Speaker 6 (01:01:16):
Okay, hi Millian Casey, this is Jackie from New York.
I just listened to your episode about the Coppola kids
and Sophia Coppola was referred to as the ultimate Nepo baby.
But it just got me thinking about how in recent
years NEPO babies have gotten such a bad name, and
it's like become a thing where people are less likely

(01:01:37):
to have respect for actors or filmmakers who are Nepo babies.
And obviously there are so many that are mainstream these days,
but it almost feels like they try to hide their
NEPO baby origin since we've all as a society kind
of turned on them, Whereas in the past it kind
of felt like it was more interesting or respected if
a NEPO baby was in a film or made a film.

(01:02:01):
It kind of gave it more street cred.

Speaker 5 (01:02:03):
So I just want to get your take on the
NEPO babies in film conversation and do you have a
favorite film in involving a NEPO baby.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Thank you for this wonderful topic, Jackie, Really, did anything
come to mind for you?

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Yeah? You know what's so funny. First of all, I'm
convinced that Jackie is a NEPO baby, and now I'm
trying to figure out whose NEPO baby she is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Mmm, you think she's calling in because she wants some
NEPO baby validation.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Yes, I think she's like, I'm a NEPO baby, and
I feel like we're getting a bad rap, and so
I'm going to couch that conversation in a question to
a podcast. Listen, I'm here's the thing. I think you're
absolutely right. I do think that NEPO babies were celebrated
At one point, at least it felt like there was
a good, good feelings towards them, and I feel like

(01:03:04):
it still continues. I mean, there are certain NEPO babies,
so I feel like, if you wanted to do the
like ven diagram thing, I think it's like the hatred
for netper babies is in direct proportion to like how
annoying they are. So like everybody, I mean, I actually
know people that love Chet Hanks, but most everybody hate
Chet Hanks for being an idiot or whatever. Then there's

(01:03:26):
people like Wyatt Russell, who is Kurt Russell, and Goldie
hans Child who thrives. I feel like without was pretty much, no,
no smoke.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
I think I think the thing is it's like I
think neple babies are being too sensitive and they're calling
too much attention to it because whenever somebody asks the
Nepple baby like, oh, do you think it was easier
to make it because you're a Nepple baby, they freak out. Yeah.
They should just be like, yeah it was.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
But here's the thing. I feel like, if as the
NEPO baby, you are unfortunate position, you can't be like
too good. I feel like, if you can come across
this total normal person, we love you. If you seem
special or protected or extra rich an extra fancy in

(01:04:19):
any way, you're getting that hate. That's just the way
it is.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
I think.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
So one of my favorite modern NEPO babies. I don't
know if you uh follow his TikTok, but Jason Ritter,
you know Jason Ridder. Yes, I like Jason Riddle, John
Ritter's son. I find him very charming. He's extremely funny.
Have you seen him like doing the fan dancing like
he know, Oh my god, dude, I send it to

(01:04:46):
like every person I know. He does these like dances.
I guess it's in his living room. Then he decided
that he wanted to learn how to use a fan
in a dance, and interesting, I was laughing my fucking
ass off. I thought it was so funny. And he's
married to Melanie Lensky, who is beautiful, so.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Yeah, and she seems awesome too. They seem like an
amazing couple.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Yeah, I think you just have to own it. I
think NEPO babies they ain't going away, you know. And
I think once they own it is the thing. If
they're like, yeah, it was easier for me, and then
it goes I feel like the topic goes away and
people don't care. But who is a favorite NEPO baby
of mine? You know, she's like the ultimate NEPO baby.

(01:05:30):
But I just enjoy her Maya Hawk. I find her
kind of charming.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
Yeah, she's cute.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
I was like when she's in stuff and I think
she's cute.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Hey, she going back to our earlier conversation, she played
Flannaire O'Connor, so she did. Yeah, she was in a movie.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
I didn't know that with her dad.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
It was about Flannerio O'Connor. So there we go.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
I uh, but yeah, I don't really have anything else.
My dad hates NEPO babies and has been on this
beat much longer than the recent outrage that has come.
My dad has always always whenever an actor was in something,
he's like, you know, their dad was like the head
of the studio, did you know their their mom is

(01:06:10):
so and so he would he was really outraged by Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
Like I said, I think it depends on on the
obnoxiousness of the person. Yes, you know, And also I
got to admit I think it also is the obnoxiousness
of the parent. Like if the parent, I'll just say that,
I'm gonna say a family, the land, this family, That's
all I'll say. But but then there's NEPO babies that

(01:06:36):
you forget, our actual neo babies, Like, besides Jason Ritter,
I feel like one of my other favorite NEPO babies
is Amanda Plumber. Did you realize that her dad was
Christopher Plumber?

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
I did not even know, and she did.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
Yeah, who would have thought? I was like, oh, yeah,
she's like one of the most interesting, weirdest actresses ever
makes the weirdest, most amazing shit and her dad also
did cool shit and was it acting? So I mean,
you know, like.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
The Internet has really made it more difficult for these
nipple babies to kind of hide. All right, well, thank you, Jackie.
Great question. Really appreciate that. Okay, here's the next one.
I'm gonna read this to you. A million short films, Hi,
a million Casey. Lately, I've been enjoying the lower commitment
of watching a fifteen to thirty minute short film on canopy.

(01:07:26):
Do you have any recommendations of short films or places
to see more of them outside of film festivals?

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Thanks?

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
Ryan. The short film is great. It is a great
and underappreciated genre of film medium, and it is unique
to itself. It is different from a feature film. It's
not just you know, so I love short films.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
Yeah, I mean I like them too. Most film festivals
have a short session, so that's to me. One of
the best places to see short is that film festivals.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
M H.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
I also thank YouTube and Vimeo. Vimeo is another great
place to see shorts, even though Vimeo is kind of strange.
It's like, I don't know what happened with that app.
I feel like they're they're soft quitting or something. I
don't know what.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
It does feel like that it feels like they're going away. Yeah,
but I wanted to say, there's a bunch of great
short films. Speaking of the movie Friendship, directed by that
director Andrew DeYoung that he made with Kate Berlant and
John Early. Yeah, and in particular, they made a movie
in twenty nineteen, a short film called Rachel, which is

(01:08:41):
based on a true story that happened to John Early
and Kate Berlant, where there is a party and a
woman shows up who everyone assumes was invited or his
friends with somebody, and slowly they realize no one knows
this woman.

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
It's really great and it's kind of tense and kind
of scary and weird and very relatable. And so you
can just google that. Rachel is the name of it.
That's one of my favorites.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
There's actually a short film festival here in Atlanta. Oh yeah,
and it I think is happening in the summer. I
think it's in June. But it's basically, like, yeah, an
entire film festival. It's called Atlanta Shorts Fest, So I
mean there, but I will say, well, literally every time
I've ever seen great shorts, it's been at a film festival.
So you know, and a lot of times they'll be online,

(01:09:30):
so like you can, you know, either buy a ticket
for an entire shorts festival run or whatever. But it's cool.
It's a great place to see stuff. And like I said, oh,
a lot of stuff. It's on Criterion Channel. I mean,
you know, I would say it's that's probably the best
place to stream shorts beyond like I said, YouTube and
Vimeo and that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
So absolutely lots of great stuff on there. Yeah, short films.
I just watched Asparagus, the short anim film by Susan Pitt.
I believe that's still on the Criterion Channel. But that's
another really good short film. Yeah, uh okay, next questions, Brian,
last one, Thanks Brian. Thanks Brian. Hi Millian Casey. I've

(01:10:15):
been loving the podcast. I had a quick question about
letterbox tracking. Do you only log movies as you watch
them or have you gone back and list movies that
you know you've seen in the past as quote unquote watched.
I know this is a bit of a silly question,
but I was just curious as to what your letterboxed
methods are. Thanks Caro. I love this type of question too.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
It's like the rules of letterboxed for people are fascinating.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Do you have a rule or way you do thinks?

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
Yeah, So I log them as I watch them, and
I think it's because, quite frankly, I've seen a lot
of movies and there's no fucking way in hell I'm
gonna go back and like log them all.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Like I'm just like Millie's seen a movie or two. People.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
Yeah, I think I've seen a lot. I will do
the thing though, if I've watched a movie again and
I did not log it obviously, then I'll say that
I've watched it already.

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
Yeah, you'll smash that I've watched repeat watched. Yes, But I.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Don't like go back into my film diaries from you know,
middle school and ad movies. I just feel like I've
played that game before where I've used a website to
be very meticulous about cataloging things, and then that website
goes away in like a couple of years, right, Like

(01:11:39):
I used to get really obsessive at O City about Flicker.
Do you remember Flicker? So I used to put all
my photos on Flicker. I used to tag everything, put
all the metadata properly, make sure everything is in the
label and the way that this show was gone. I mean,
it's like, I haven't Flicker is probably no longer a
company period. But it's so I was like, you know what,

(01:12:00):
but none of this stuff lasts.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
So I'm not.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
Gonna like get too crazy about it. But if I'm
thinking about it, I'll do it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
What about you, I yeah, I would never. Like you said,
there's too much of life where I've seen the movies
and it's like, what am I supposed to do is
spend a half an hour every day sitting in silence
trying to think of all the movies I've seen in
my life, and you know, log down. That seems unpleasant
to me, So I just log the movie when I
watch the movie. Also, I always do a little review.

(01:12:32):
I always do a little I always I use usually
just one sentence because it helps me remember the movie
and I feel like I'm participating in the app as
it's properly created in that way.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
I lah, I'm super inconsistent about that. I think the
only time I review sething is when I'm absolutely stirred.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
Stirred.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
Yeah, but I can't do it for everything. I don't
even rate everything. Like sometimes I'm like, yeah, I don't
want to write that because a lot of times it's like,
I don't even want to get into it, guys, I
don't even want to get into it. I was like, Oh,
I saw fucking whatever, like solo, What do we want
me to do? Log it in view it?

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
Come on, I saw Barbie and I have opinions about it.
You just know that people are going to comment. That's
the problem. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
I didn't rate review Sinners. I did not rate review
Under the Cherry Moon, so but I did review Friendship
and I rated Heat, so I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:13:31):
Oh, I forgot to put Heat. I forgot to put that.
I watched Heat again. Come on, well, we got to
get back on there. Well. Thank you to everybody who
has written in for film advice. I hope your lives
are better because of the advice we've given you, and
I hope you're leading healthier, more positive existences because of

(01:13:52):
the gifts we've given you. If you want us to
answer your questions in the future, please write in it
Dear Movies at a technicallyrightmedia dot com. We love it. Well, Millie,
We're at the end of our show. Okay, the name
of our show is dear Movies. I love you and
we're at the end of it. Yeah, and we need

(01:14:12):
employees picks for people.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
Oh Jesus Christ, do.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
You have a employees pick for the people?

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Oh? My god, I named so many that I love.
I know, Oh Jesus Christ. Okay, So I mean I've
pretty much laid out my absolute faves. I laid out
Cana Houghton, Roof Suddenly last summer long hot summer, Prince

(01:14:49):
of Tides. I'm gonna say this is a Southern Gothic
tale and it's a movie from nineteen fifty five, and
it's called The Knight of the Hunter.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
Fabulous. I would consider that feels like a Southern Gothic movie.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
I feel like, simply from the inclusion of a Southern
preacher type and children in peril, I feel like, and
just the horror elements and the fantastical, you know, like
the sort of scenes of the underwater scenes and stuff.
And it's in black and white, and again it's like
about religion and yeah, and thievery and and and crimes.

(01:15:30):
If you haven't seen it, you absolutely must see it.
It's like not an option.

Speaker 2 (01:15:36):
It's such an interesting movie. It feels so expertly crafted.
But that is the director Charles Lawton's only movie.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
Charles Locker was The Hunchback, among other things. Yeah, he
played doctor Moreau I feel like at some point or
doctor Moreau type of character. He's wonderful and was married
to had a relationship with Elsa Lancaster who was the
Brider Frankenstein, and maybe they were like they maybe had

(01:16:09):
a little bisexuality in them too, Like it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
Feels like it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
Yeah, they're they're kind of like a real modern couple
for the time.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
Very cool. Uh, my recommendation my employees picks is a
nineteen seventy nine film called Wise Blood directed by John Houston,
based on the Flannery O'Connor book Wise Blood. This is
a strange movie and book, but it deals it's a

(01:16:40):
Southern Gothic tale, you know, it deals with kind of
corrupt preachers and there's there's not there. It feels like
there's sort of a fantastical element to it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
Yeah, I feel like it's kind of Brad Dort character
feels a little like Mitcham and not of the Hunter. Yeah,
there's like that weird, overblown Southern preacher guy vibe.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Yeah. Yeah, but I don't know, this movie feels like
no other movie I've ever seen, and wise Blood, I
don't really want to talk. Just go see it. It's
really good.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
I have to say, the name Asa, which is the
name of Harry Dean Stan's character in wise Blood, is
a very Southern name.

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
To me, Asa, I'm interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:17:27):
I'm thinking of Asa Candler, who was basically like the
businessman that created coke O. The Candler.

Speaker 2 (01:17:39):
ASA's Bagels is our local bagel shop. Yeah, and it's
my favorite.

Speaker 1 (01:17:44):
But yeah, Asa is to me, it feels like a
very Southern name.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
Very good. All right, Mellie, that's the end of our show.
Can you believe it? Wow?

Speaker 1 (01:17:55):
I cannot actually, And here's the thing. If you want
to email us if you are in need of film advice,
like a recommendation, or you just want to you know,
know a little bit more about a director's somography, or
you want to you got a film gripe. We haven't
had a film gripe in a while.

Speaker 2 (01:18:12):
I know.

Speaker 1 (01:18:13):
You can email us at Dearmovies at exactly wrightmedia dot com.
The other thing you can do is leave a leave
a voicemail like Jackie the NEPO Baby left. You can
record it on your phone, make it under a minute, like,
do it in the you know, voice notes app or
whatever it is you have and email it to Deer
Movies at exactly rightmedia dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
That's right. And please follow us on our socials at
Deer Movies I love you on Instagram and Facebook and
you can follow us. We were just talking about letterboxed.
Follow us at our handles at Casey leo'brien at and
at Mdechericho.

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
Yeah, and you can listen to us Deer Movies I
love you on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast wherever you
get podcasts. Please rate and review the show. Be nice,
be helpful, keep a on the error. We would love that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:02):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:19:03):
Yeah, please, you want to talk about next week?

Speaker 2 (01:19:05):
Yeah? I do. I feel like this is a topic
in a movie that you hate and are not excited about, but.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
I've never ever seen it. I know, I haven't seen
your movie. What the fuck?

Speaker 2 (01:19:20):
We're talking about nineties camp movies and the movie Heavyweights
from nineteen ninety five, and I'm really excited. I think
nineties camp movies is like a specific genre and kind
of a feel, and maybe we'll get even and get

(01:19:43):
into salute your shorts and you know, camp culture bugjuice.
You know, there's just a lot. I feel like Camp
was really in in the nineties and Heavyweights is one
of my faves from that time, so I can't wait
to well, I can't wait for you to watch it. Man.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like this is obviously like
a peek into your brain once again, which I'm excited
to do. I've never seen Heavyweights. By the time Heavyweights
came out, I was fully smoking cigarettes and do an acid,
so I was like, of course, kind of past the
Camp era, but I can't wait to go back. I
can't wait to see this. I mean, Ben Stiller looks insane.

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
It was written by Judd Apatow, and it is a
movie that there's no way in hell they would I
hate when people say this, but there is no way
they would make this today for children. It's a Disney movie. Wow.
And uh yeah, I'm curious to This is kind of
a nostalgia bomb, if I'm being honest. Okay, but I'm

(01:20:52):
excited to talk about it to get into it. That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:56):
That's it. Thanks again. I'm glad we got to do
this Southern episode.

Speaker 2 (01:21:03):
Me too. It was invigorating for me.

Speaker 1 (01:21:06):
Thanks everybody for listening and we'll see y'all later.

Speaker 2 (01:21:11):
Bye Sister Woman, Bye Beefer O'Brien.

Speaker 1 (01:21:18):
This has been an exactly right production, hosted by me,
Millie to Cherico and produced by my co host, Casey O'Brien.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
This episode was mixed by Tom Bryfogel. Our associate producer
is Christina Chamberlain, our guest booker is Patrick Cottner, and
our artwork is by Vanessa Lilac.

Speaker 1 (01:21:35):
Our incredible theme music is by the best band in
the entire world, The Softies.

Speaker 2 (01:21:40):
Thank you to our executive producers Karen Kilgareff, Georgia hart Stark,
Daniel Kramer and Millie to Chercho.

Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
We love you.

Speaker 3 (01:21:47):
Goodbye Beker