H.Y.S.T? | S2E12 | Robin Hood: Men in Tights & Deathtrap - H.Y.S.T?

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to Heist. I'm Bradly Hackworth joined by Jonathan Ems otherwise known as Doc.

(00:07):
Hello fellow humans.

And this week we are going to be covering Robin Hood (00:09):
Men in Tights and Death Trap.
Oh my god, I mean, we do this pretty often. They're different.
Good god.
Yeah, once again, we could not pick two more different movies.
But fantastic, like truly amazing stage actors getting on film for two wildly different purposes.

(00:35):
Which is just kind of crazy.
Look, what do you say we just get right into Robin Hood?
Alright, let's do this.
Although I will have to confess something ahead of time on this.
That may shade a few things.
As much as I have been a lifelong Mel Brooks fan,
Robin Hood, Men in Tights is my least favorite of his movies.

(00:59):
So you've said and well.
All right.
I mean, everybody's going in color.
You know, my my my main attitude towards this movie is general disappointment.
That's kind of where I'm at.
That's a bit of a bummer.

(01:20):
Yeah.
Because I had a lot. I mean, there are moments in here that, yeah, they don't.
I don't feel like they stand the test of time.
But my god, I love this movie.
It is at like I get a lot of really hard chuckles.
Like when I like when it gets me going, I stay going for a while.

(01:41):
And there's not a lot of movies that do that, especially on the rewatch.
And I've seen this one quite a few times.
OK, so as we're getting into it, I guess we'll find out what Doc hates.

(02:17):
Matthew Peretta, Tracy Ullman and Sir Patrick Stewart.
I mean, the cast alone.
No, of course, for sure.
Absolutely fantastic.
But we open on some Archer style credits until we see they're firing at the usual village for Robin Hood movies.

(02:38):
And I got a good chuckle out of that, that every every Robin Hood movie, they keep building burning down the same village.
Right. Yeah.
Yeah, no, that got that got me going pretty good.
I actually completely forgot about the.
Leave us alone Mel Brooks going right into the rap style opening credits.

(03:00):
The Hey, Nani Nani and an Expo dump.
Yeah. Good God.
There's opening narration and then there's that.
It was it was something for sure.
Yeah.
Good God, just be just because you don't like the movie.
Come on. Like if there's some praise to give, give some praise.

(03:22):
It was it was certainly a decision to be someone made a decision.
Good for them. That's.
This is going to be a real fun episode.
Robin Hood played by Kerry Elwes in a Mel Brooks prison crossing over stomping on fingers from the hands all begging away and then they fade down.
Back up with some middle fingers. Yeah, a solid gag.

(03:46):
The the Maithra the dungeon hooks him up with a dungeon beard is like, we have a dress code.
You see the depressed and the long beards. No, no, no.
Gives him a good old like pretty much Yiddish beard.
Right. Yeah. Like now you're good to go.
Here's the scream coming.
I mean, no Brooks like he has a style and a lot in this movie, a lot of his gags had been reused from some of his other ones.

(04:14):
Right. Yeah. A lot of recycling in this movie. Yeah.
So is that one of the things that builds your hatred up on this one?
Look, hey, well, hold on. Hold on.
I never said I hated this movie.
I said it was my least favorite of the Mel Brooks and I was generally disappointed.
I don't hate it. Never said never used the word hate.
I feel like if you take that entire explanation that you just put in, highlighted it and went thesaurus, you'd find hate.

(04:42):
No, this long dislike disappointed, disappointed could have been better.
It's no it's no space balls.
I mean, let's let's face it, man.
I mean, that's just where I really am sad that you brought that up because space balls is my least favorite.
See, OK, like I mean, if you were like everybody, I guess, yeah, you got your favorite.

(05:05):
You got your least favorite.
But I don't actually think there's a Mel Brooks film that I don't like.
I'm Jews in space. I don't know.
That never actually got made.
But still waiting, still waiting.
You ruined that joke before I even got to make it.
I go, but life stinks.

(05:32):
Probably would have been like this thing is that I saw it once and never saw it again.
So I'm guessing that that probably would be the one bad one because of just by that metric, I don't remember.
I haven't heard of that one. Yeah.
So there you go. Yeah, fair enough.
Smartass, Elvis.
And I'm sorry, man, those see the scene of evil, hear no evil, speak no evil prisoners is going into that like reflect.

(05:58):
It's a gag that has been done over a thousand times and a thousand movies, TV shows, everything.
But like I said before, you know, cliches are cliches for a reason.
If you can deliver them right. Sure. Yeah, why not? Yeah.
And not OK. So in all of Mel Brooks films, the racism is pretty high.

(06:22):
Sure. This one really has is no exception.
No, there isn't because we meet Isaac Hayes playing a sneeze, father of a chew, telling him, you're very brave for a not at home boy.
Right. Like.
See, here's the thing. Funny, I thought so.

(06:45):
Funny, very. Is it racist?
Because here's where I'm kind of before we actually get into it, here's where I'm coming from.
When you're like to play the existence of humor to not incorporate any other race, culture, anything like that into the humor and stuff like that.

(07:11):
It feels like a little more racist than actually addressing that homeboy was a term that was used.
Absolutely. Yeah. So I'm like, where's the racism line on that is where I'm confused by sometimes.
That's a really good question.
And I think if I guess the question is, who are we making fun of here?

(07:35):
Like, you know, and that would be my my first guess here.
I don't think anyone's being made fun of. I think it's just a good play on words.
Agree. It's being it's being delivered by Isaac Hayes.
That gives it a lot of validity. It's not like this guy is known for doing whatever his white director tells him to do.

(07:56):
So and also, yeah, it's Mel Brooks.
Like I said, there's always some level of racial stuff in there.
And it comes from the fact that Mel Brooks is not afraid to make fun of everyone.
He makes fun of black people. He makes fun of white people. He makes fun of Jews.
He makes fun of Arabs. He really makes fun of Arabs in this scene. Like, it's kind of crazy.

(08:18):
Like they're like I had to remind myself. Yeah, I had to remind myself that this movie was pre 9 11.
And this is just normal Mel Brooks making fun of Arabs.
You so. But yeah, that's and yeah, you kind of go in.
But I think part of it is because he does also, you know, he he makes fun of white people and Jews just as much.

(08:41):
And so it's kind of one of those like, all right, this is an all in good fun thing.
There is no there is no punching down on this one.
This is all just a bunch of ass slaps at the game kind of thing. OK, I can see that. Yeah.
And I don't know if everybody always gets that, but people who get it get it.
Yeah. Well, and there's a reason why Blazing Saddles conversation has to be done over and over again every other year.

(09:06):
It seems like every every two years we get some new asshole who's just now seeing Blazing Saddles for the first time.
It's like, wait a second. This is racist. It's like, dude, we talked about this.
Yeah, I'm with you on that. The reason that Isaac Hayes was arrested in this one, Jaywalking.
Right. And to get out of here, we'll need a great feat of strength.

(09:30):
No, now that we have you here, we have great strength of feet.
That. OK, here's the thing.
If I didn't know. Like, if I was not overly familiar with Mel Brooks films, I might have walked away at this point.

(09:51):
I will give you that. The humor on like the opening on this one, the archery scene, all that stuff.
Very, very slow. Like it does. It doesn't pick up until a good a good chunk in.
So I will give you that. But it does fucking pick up.

(10:14):
And there are a couple of scenes that do drag on a little bit too long in the later parts of the film.
But other than that, I will just keep going. I'm curious which scenes take you out of it.
I had some some sympathy for the jailer, like, oh, this poor man, he's going to confess and betray his beloved king.

(10:37):
Like, oh, yeah, I'm going to get promotion. Good news is always rewarded.
However, bad news is severely punished. His excitement and then his fear of like, OK, I think that's that's actually where I get roped into it every time.
Sure. Yeah. But I'm like, oh, OK, your little gag got me.
Actually, I think it's the middle fingers that kind of wrote me in the middle fingers were a good one.

(11:02):
That's that's true. I did get I did chuckle at that one. And yeah, I did. And the yeah, the guard just kind of getting there like, like, keeps coming back with, you know, they're they're going like, yeah, go, go tell your boss that the great news.
And he keeps he's like, yeah, I'm going to tell him good. And he keeps stopping and saying like, this will be great. I'll get a promotion.

(11:23):
He'll be so happy, you know, and they're just like, go, go. Like that was that was kind of funny. Yeah, I will. I will give it that. OK. All right.
All right. I mean, we'll work our way through it. I'll remind you of all the love that's here.
As a men and tights fanboy over here, I guess is the position I'm taking on this one. I mean, I love this movie, so it's not one I'm upset about. OK.

(11:48):
Off to the beach for a very slow camel race and we get the first mention of Achoo and love that he goes into that speech and he just starts getting like really into it.
And then Isaac, he stops like, oh, you better go. You're going to miss the tide. Right. Yeah.
I don't want to do an accent because I don't want to like because these are real accents and I do not want to play that game. Right.

(12:16):
Like we like we covered cool run runnings recently and like they Americanized slash made up an accent to have have fun with that.
So I can do that. Accidents have as much fun with it as I want to because it's completely fictitious. Right.
When I start trying to imitate the real stuff. No, that's where that's where that's rough.

(12:41):
Even when I go to the editing, I'm like, dude, that was offensive. Like it wouldn't have been offensive if you were good at it, but that was so bad that it became offensive.
That's like doing bad comedy and then getting upset and saying that, oh, people can't laugh at jokes anymore.
It's like, no, you just suck at it. I just did really bad. Right. Yeah. No, I feel you.

(13:03):
Oh, I know you've edited yourself in the past, too, on other things like, yeah, when you're sitting there watching yourself.
Yeah, I'm kind of giving up on doing accents period. Honestly, that's going to make it harder to do those audio books.
Yeah, a little bit. But hey, you know, I'll find a way swimming to England and kissing the sand in front of the England sign.

(13:25):
There's only one thing that I would have really appreciated about this scene if they would have added it because of the historical context.
If that would have been England land. Oh, right. Yeah, that would that would have been better. Yes.
They have the big they have the big England sign like the Hollywood sign up there in the mountains. Yeah.
And yeah, and it's supposed to be you old Mary England. So, yeah, it should have been England land. You're right. God, that would have been funnier.

(13:52):
We should talk to Mel Brooks. We should. Yeah, listen here, Mel. Yeah, let's have that conversation.
You had a golden opportunity here and you biffed it.
What do you think about it? Because the gag they have later on about 12th Century Fox.
Right. Oh, right. That was great. Like it would have paired so well with the rest of the film.

(14:14):
Getting a horse from rent a wreck and running right into Achoo. Bless you.
It's like it's every time I say Achoo, I do want to say it because of the gag off this one.
But I love that the watch my back because Robin Hood joins the fight, gets up and he's like, all right, watch my back.

(14:35):
And then he watches like your back just got way. Oh, no, sorry. Your back just got hit twice. Twice. Yep. Yep.
And he's like, hold on, guys, I need to pump up. And then he pumps up his frickin Jordan's Witch.
Probably. I don't know why they would need sponsors to make this film happen, but if they did, that's where it would have happened.

(14:57):
I feel like in that if memory serves from way back in the day, that wasn't as much a sponsorship thing as what as much as it was making fun of it, because that was literally that was in everywhere.
That was where the commercials were like they literally had when they did those Nike pumps, they literally had commercials where kids were like playing basketball in the streets.

(15:20):
And then one of the kids who suck and stops pumps his sneakers up a couple of times. And now remember this commercial.
That was their literal ad for the little shoes. And so, yeah, I don't know if that was a sponsorship or a parody or if they somehow finagled both, which I wouldn't put past them.
I was about to say I could say, I mean, if if we ever do get sponsorships on this show, doubtful. But if that ever does happen.

(15:52):
I can't believe I held the correctly for that. That was too easy. That was good. That was good. Logo up. Nice.
No, but we ever get sponsors on the show. My big goal is to like talk them into allowing me to do the sponsorship with jokes.
Sure. Yeah. Like the way we incorporated and they're like, yes, talk about it, but also just have fun with it. Roast and everything like that.

(16:16):
That's that's the kind of sponsors that I want because I don't I don't want to do something and have it not be entertaining.
That's the thing. Yeah, that would make it was not even try go down easier. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, God. OK.
Another might have quit moment. The praying mantis martial arts scene with Dave Chappelle and L.W.S. Yeah.

(16:41):
There were some rough moments. I will admit this, but I pretty sure there's rough moments in every Mel Brooks film.
He goes so hard in the paint on every joke that they don't land like not all of them land or everybody like they're they're so individualized and they go so hard that it.

(17:06):
I don't even I don't know what kind of person you would be to actually have all of these jokes land on you.
They're not all in the same. I mean, yeah. Well, and I guess depends. I mean, I know one of the things that I found amusing was when I showed young Frankenstein to my kids.
My son. Did not stop laughing like he was giggling like a madman.

(17:31):
Every like every joke landed on every joke of that movie landed. Some of that is shocking, like the role in the role in the joke. And I've got like my little like 12 year old son giggling his ass off on that one.
I'm like, whoa, wait a second. Red flag. Yeah.

(17:52):
That is fair. What about your daughter? How does she feel about that one?
She rarely laughs out loud about anything, but she said she liked it. That is true. I have met your daughter. That is true. Yeah.
I like that from one of the guys. You haven't seen the last. Oh, the way he does it to you haven't seen the last of us.
And like doing this afterwards, I'm like, OK, that is a stage actor through and through.

(18:18):
And he gets the six arrows that we see on the title card here or the right poster here. And you've seen the last of us. Right.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, the joke was the joke wasn't much anything like that. The delivery was funny, but the joke itself wasn't good.

(18:39):
Castle gets towed away and we get Blinken played by Mark Blankenfield reading ye old playboy, which the comedy on that one comes in.
The playboy is not is he's blind. The playboy is in not Braille because it is exactly the stencil of the woman. Right.
Exactly. Yeah. Which takes me it takes me back to when we saw sneakers and and Whistler was reading playboy in Braille and he acted right.

(19:10):
He's the one who's actually reading it for the articles because the jokes are good. Yeah.
Sometimes they try. That's that's two blind person reading playboy jokes that we've seen so far and they've both been.
Okay. Yeah, that's that. Yeah, that's a good point.

(19:31):
I wonder if that actually ever works. I like that. You lost your arms and bow.
How terrible. But you grew some nice boobs.
You can shake your head. It was funny. Okay. Just not your kind of just not your kind of humor.

(19:52):
I mean, it's not that it's not my kind of humor. I guess I just felt that. I mean, I don't know if it's one of those like modern things, but I seem to remember thinking that even back then that some of these was a delivery problem.
A lot of a lot of milk, maybe. But that I mean, I feel like a lot of milk, especially like his later stuff.
There was a lot of stuff he didn't he just did in one take like he didn't try to do in there. He didn't try to do another take and try to go for a close up. Didn't really edit much like everything was kind of like like when you and your friends are like messing around doing improv next to the ping pong table in the basement.

(20:29):
But we just happen to have a camera set up in the corner that catches some of it. A lot of Mel Brooks's movies feel like that. It seems like some of them come off better than others.
You know, but yeah, he did. It felt like he was putting more work in in his earlier days than he did in the end. His like in like the 90s in the 2000s.
I feel like that's kind of true for pretty much every director. I mean, Spielberg is good now as he used to be.

(20:55):
Scorsese, I mean, yes, he still does great work, but it's not the like if Scorsese was putting out the movies that he's putting out now at the beginning of his career, he would never have become Scorsese.
No, it's true. Yeah.
Like, I mean, that's I think that's just a thing that happens with directors. They get comfortable. But I mean, this wasn't this wasn't just written by him.

(21:18):
There were three. There were two other writers on this one. Well, I think maybe Mel Brooks lent his name to this one.
That could explain that could explain a lot of the formula change. I suppose that's possible.
I don't know. I didn't do as much research on this one because not going to lie, I watched Death Trap three times.

(21:39):
Wow. So, yeah, I was that. Yeah.
His whole family is dead, even the goldfish and the cat and just literally like everything is going through and it's just a hat on a hat on a hat on a hat with a feather in it.
It just was. And Robin gets the key to the greatest treasure in all the land.

(22:03):
I did that. That was I liked that gag when Blinken goes, he's like, oh, you know, your father left you this. He says it's the he says it's the key. It contains the key to the treasure in all the land. And then there's just like this beat as Robin looks at it.
And then Blinken goes, can I keep it like that? That got a chuckle out of me.
It was good. Home Alone style running boy being chased by the Kazoo Brigade and over that boy hand.

(22:35):
The running gag of Nottingham being able to do that. One, I thought was funny. Two, how well he pulled it off made it really funny for me.
See, they was the opposite. I didn't get it the whole time, the whole time, whenever it was a running gag, it was his thing. I get it. But I never thought it was funny once. I was just like, oh, I see what they're doing. OK.

(22:57):
Oh, I mean, like I said.
Oh, that's a bummer. But I mean, it's it's all preferential. Deared to kill a king's dare. The sheriff played by Roger Reese gets flipped upside down and sent on his way.
I mean, this whole scene, he shows up, we get a good solid introduction. He meets like he meets Robin.

(23:24):
It's kind of punked and put in his place and Dave Chappelle gets a good couple cracks. Yep. Like.
It's good. Again, I'm what I feel like a lot of Chappelle's lines he improvised himself.
I'm wondering why he didn't get a credit along with the other three writers, because I felt like he was writing his own lines in that movie.

(23:47):
Maybe. I don't know. I mean. I don't know. Like I said, I did you find anything on your research on it?
No, no. Oh, OK.
I did. I did. I was surprised to be reminded that that that that which was was Tracy Ullman. I remember going like, oh, right. You know, because that's the thing about Tracy Ullman is that that's the kind of actor that she is.

(24:18):
She is constantly she's one of those always transforming. You have to keep going. Wait, that's that's Tracy Ullman again. Oh, my God.
You know, even when you're watching the Tracy Ullman TV show where she was funny because you bring up, oh, they. Oh, damn. But see, like, there you go. Like that scene.
There was a scene later on in the film where the sheriff crashes through the ceiling like the ceiling and lands in her bed.

(24:40):
They improv basically that entire scene. Yeah. But no, I didn't see anything about like Chappelle improvising his lines or anything.
I didn't. I mean, I could believe it. It's Chappelle. Right. Well, I don't know if he improvised them.
I think he wrote them because they were because that's the thing is like they were all very much like he's center camera.

(25:01):
It's cut. Everyone's react to him. I think they were scripted lines, but they were way to him type lines. So I think he wrote his own lines.
I don't know. I'm just kind of guessing on that one is like, tell the people and he goes into a whole speech about everything to tell us.
Like, basically, just tell him everything. Right. Yeah. It was pretty good. Like, yeah. Tell him Robin LeVlox is back and the from the Crusades and this and I'm going to stop the taxing and I'm going to.

(25:31):
And I guarantee a four day work week. That was the one that got me. That was what that was when I started laughing was when he starts going into just like one one policy after one wish list policy after another. Yep.
And made Marion played by Amy Yazbek giving some Disney singing from the Royal Tub. I mean, that camera through the window.

(25:55):
It kind of missed me. But her reaction to it is what actually got a chuckle out of me. Her reactions to things were good.
Like later on in the later on in the movie when Elvis starts belt singing at her and she gives a little shriek right when he starts.
That I think was my biggest laugh of the entire movie. There were a few and she was responsible for a good chunk of them.

(26:19):
Broom Hilda played by Megan Cavanaugh rushes her out of the top for fear of rust and we get to see the everlast.
She has to be built. Where's the great I'm going to understand. I understand this is a dumb joke.
I do. I get it. I realize it before I even say it. It's kind of weird to have titty in chastity.

(26:46):
I mean, you cannot say chastity without thinking of a boob. Wait, without thinking of.
Are you thinking of the actress chastity? Is that what the no doc the chastity belt that she's wearing? Right. Right.
Yes. But she is also naked in the tub. Is that what you're referring to?

(27:09):
Wow. This joke is even worse than I thought it was. No, the word T like Titty T I T Y is in.
Oh, right. OK. Yeah, that was that. Yeah, no, that was that was bad.
Yeah, moving on. I'm sorry.

(27:34):
I feel bad. Wishing on a bird for the man who this the man who possesses the key to her.
Art, right. Some good chuckle.
Chuckles there. Prince John played by Richard Lewis and I think I'm going to go out and just say this.

(27:56):
I think he absolutely crushed every line that he was a part of every scene.
It really was the role of the role of lifetime for him.
Really? This was a guy who, yeah, he was one of those like stand up comedians that kept trying to do some acting,
never quite caught on. This was his biggest role and he did not waste it for sure.

(28:17):
He wants bad news in a good way. So the sheriff laughs through telling Robin is home and he flips out and was like, why are you laughing?
This is terrible news. Any references? We'll go see Latrine, that old hag. Right.
Which you were just speaking of. We meet Latrine, played by Tracy Ullman, and she's making breakfast because

(28:42):
and giving like a prediction. He's like, are you sure? He's like, are you certain? If you want certain, hire a witch.
I'm just your cook. Right. Yeah.
I know you're just giving me a right, yeah, but that got huge laugh from me.
I don't know how to approach this one with you, man. Like all the things that I would expect you to laugh at.

(29:09):
You're sitting over here going, yeah, impress me, asshole.
Well, that's not that's. I don't know what to say. It didn't make me laugh. I get it.
Yeah. I was like, oh, yeah, that's funny. Like, I don't know. I don't know what to tell you, man.
I'm not I'm not putting it on you. No.

(29:31):
I got to kick up the entertainment. I got to kick up the entertainment value because I'm disappointed in awkward.
I'm disappointed in Mel, of most all people like this was the this was the guy who brought us young Frankenstein blazing saddles, space balls.
What else? Those are just the ones that I've mentioned so far in the show.
What a silent history of the world, history of the world.

(29:53):
Like this guy is a powerhouse. And so when I saw this for the first time as a kid, I was like, what what are you doing now?
Like, is Mel dead? Is this is this is this?
I remember I remember literally thinking when this movie came out that that was the end of Mel's career right there.
Like, I was like, that's it. He hasn't got it anymore.
And that was back in nine and that was back in ninety three when I when I first saw it.

(30:16):
Huh? Well, like we kind of have all over the show, we are two people with wildly different tastes in film and television.
And yeah, the crossover, I was really expecting it to be here, especially with all like because a big part of this movie,
a lot of stage actor like love and like the craft that really shows up in this one that isn't really as prevalent in most of his other ones,

(30:47):
even though you can see it in Blazing Saddles and Young and Frankenstein. Right.
So moving on.
Finds out that Latrine changed the name of the family because it used to be Shit House.
And it's a good change. It's a good change.
Like, seriously, man, Richard Lewis's deliveries on this the whole way through, they were practically perfect.

(31:12):
She's got the hots for the sheriff and the cut and has a cardboard cut out.
And the fact that the cardboard, the expression on the cardboard cut out changes.
I like that got me in the same way that it did with OK, it got me the same way that it got you with auto an airplane.

(31:33):
OK, I was going to say I'm sitting there going like I remember that reminded me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
But that was it. Now you reminded me. Yes, it was auto an airplane.
See, and yeah, it's a decently done. It's a decent gag. Didn't get me as well this time. I don't know. Maybe it was the timing of it.

(31:54):
Hard to say. I mean, that that counts as a cutaway gag, which I've mentioned before is one of my favorite kind of gags.
This one didn't land on me for some reason, you know, which is strange because it's not even just a cutaway gag.
It's a cut out cutaway gag. And I gave you that one for free.
If you want to give it to me, you got it like the haha is where I get the appreciation from it, not the cool.

(32:23):
We get our introduction to Eric Allen Kramer as little John. Now, now I finally understand from the moment that that gay bar scene, like the conflict kicks on an American wedding.

(32:44):
Now I understand why I have loved that man from the before he even said a second of dialogue in that scene. Like I saw him.
I knew I'm like, hey, it's I have no idea who that is. I love that guy. Who is that?
And no, it's frickin little John from Robin Hood Men in Tights.
I. Are you familiar with the scene in which I'm talking from American wedding from American wedding? Yes.

(33:09):
I did not see that one. I saw I don't think I've seen any of the American pie movies other than number one, actually.
Now I think about it. I keep meaning to because I did like number one so much.
But yeah, I just never got around. I know you're always going off about coming of age stories and yet you miss like the biggest coming of age like trilogy of I saw American pie one.

(33:31):
So that was yeah. But yeah. Well, then you missed two thirds of the like coming of age trilogy.
But this scene, little John, Eric Allen Kramer shows up and has a dance off and a gay bar with Stifler and loses.
Oh, OK. No, it is a fantastically hilarious scene. I've always fricking I every time I've seen it, I just die of laughter.

(33:58):
I love it so much. He needs his toll and is happy to fight.
And then that line from Lincoln or Chappelle, you know, hey, Blinken, did you just say a Blinken?
No, I said, hey, Blinken, I love it. I mean, you know how I am with like wordplay.
Yeah. And well, and that that always came to mind the whole time that we had, you know, Anthony Blinken as a as a sec as one of the, you know, the cabinet secretaries of the president.

(34:27):
Like every time he was mentioned, I always thought, did you say, hey, Blinken, like that, like that joke stuck in my head, even though I didn't think much of it.
So every time Anthony Blinken is mentioned in the news, I just I quietly think to myself, did you say, hey, Blinken, I'm so confused how this doesn't land on you, even though it's stuck with you.
That's but moving forward, the stick fight and that I have a lot of love for this scene with like the the both staff just keep getting shorter and shorter and shorter.

(34:58):
Their reactions to each other as it's getting shorter and shorter than him falling down and acting like he can't swim and all this stuff.
The ridiculousness of it has always I have always appreciated and the direct the direct confrontation of Chappelle like coming in there and I'm on each side.

(35:25):
I'm on my side like all of this. The fun of that. I just I always had too much fun with it.
See, and I like that from Chappelle, too. Like I remember like even as a kid thinking like that is a really because I because at this point, I think I had probably seen like at least a dozen Robin Hood movies of some kind.
Some made for TV, some made by Disney, some, you know, I think the the Kevin Costner one was the one that I had not seen yet at that point.

(35:52):
It's kind of one of our oh sorry, I thought you were done.
The fight over that like that's one of those constant things. There's always the confrontation with Little John at the bridge over the river.
And in many of these movies that bridge that like it's exactly what Chappelle points out.
It's like a lot of these bridges that they that I have seen Robin Hood fight Little John over have been unnecessary bridges like you could just walk over the stream.

(36:16):
It's like, why are you fighting? Yeah.
And so putting finally put planting a flag on that joke. I appreciated Chappelle's role in that.
No, I can understand that. It's actually a joke that I put.
What's your favorite part of Robin Hood Mennon Tights? And one of our viewers and his favorite moments of the film are like when they come across a chew is like a chew here.

(36:43):
Oh, I thought that was kind of funny, too. Yeah, that was a good one.
And if we don't get no toes, then we don't eat no rolls.
Oh, my dad. Oh, okay.
I'm quoting the favorite comments, so I got it.
And I guess I forgot about that.

(37:05):
But like the sheer enjoyment that he gets out of like.
I made that up. Yeah, I do appreciate that. That was one of like the the the I'm the I'm proud of that rhyme, you know, kind of joke like that was good delivery on that one.
Yep, I agree. I agree with our commenter on both of those points.

(37:26):
You have already openly disagreed with the third one, though.
Oh, okay. Well, you know, nobody's perfect. So you've grown some nice boobs.
Oh, no, I like nothing wrong with the joke. I'm just saying it could have been funnier with better direction.
But it's one of those like when we covered Mortal Kombat, I'd seen the movie so many times and laughed so hard so many times that I was looking forward to each of these jokes as they were coming.

(37:55):
So I have a nostalgic factor really working for me over here. Okay, which does kind of play in a bit with it.
But my I think what might actually be my favorite joke from this moment is when he pulls my he's like, thanks.
I'm in your debit.
Now I understand why I said that wrong my whole childhood.

(38:20):
It took me forever to break that.
That's one of those. Yeah, yeah, it's clever. I mean, if I heard you say that, I probably would have like because I've mentioned this before.
I had a friend growing up who deliberately mispronounced the store Target as Tarjay because he thought that was you have told me about that person.

(38:43):
And so it's like if you had done that, if you had done that to me, if you had been like, I'm in your debit, I would have been like, got it.
Like I would have let it go. I would have been like, I got it. I got another one. Another one of these weirdos.
You see, here's the problem. Everybody got the joke except me.

(39:04):
I didn't realize that was a punch line because I was too young when I saw this that I didn't know anything about debt.
So I literally everybody's like, haha, funny, like how you're doing it.
We got thank God. Thank God. I'm not alone on that one.
I feel like I felt I felt dumb. I felt so dumb every time I thought about that.

(39:29):
Will Scarlett O'Hara from Georgia. He's got those daggers and he played by Matthew Peretta, who interestingly played Robin Hood in like the Young Adventures of Robin Hood on like TNT.
OK, so I thought that was kind of a cool thing that they did there.
And Robin is off to crash the party alone, tries to jump on that horse and.

(39:56):
An obvious gag, right? But you're right.
Chappelle is the one who actually sells the punch line on that one with the man.
White man can't jump right. Don't know if that line aged well because like the movie had just come out like very recently before that.
That was the yeah, that was the thing. Yeah.
Almost like while they like that whole bit almost seemed like they heard about this other, you know, the spike spike Lee movies coming out.

(40:23):
Let's make a joke about it real quick. Everyone grab grab the camera real quick before we shoot the real scene.
Let's shoot a quick jumping joke like. No, I get that.
Then we get that that mime in the castle like banquet hall.
And yes, that was a terrible thing to waste. That was the one that killed me.
That was the one that that where I really went like, do I want to sit here through the rest of this movie like that's right.

(40:49):
But I think I think personally, like they gave the crappy jokes to the bad guys.
I thought it was one of those like it's such a crappy joke that we gave it to the bad guy.
My guess Marion arrives and do the sheriff is so thirsty on that one like.

(41:14):
Do you have oh, that was so unsettling. I even saw myself in the window do that there.
That was even unsettling watching myself do that.
No, I did not like that.
And the king with the traveling mole or the prince with the traveling mole, the entire movie, that gag never got like to this day.

(41:35):
It never got old on me because the very first time that we saw Prince John, I was looking for where the mole was for position one.
So I like I like that one. I give that a lot of props.
And Robin enters and drops a pig and I like that.
No, that's a wild pig. That's a wild boar.

(41:57):
And again, Richard Lewis with Bonnie.
Very amusing.
His deliveries were perfect.
No, no, Richard Lewis could could not have done better on this. No, like that was the role he was born for for sure.
Yeah, I do kind of like how the king like kind of seems to be like Robin Hood's hype man a little bit.

(42:20):
He's like, I like this guy like in a different movie, different story, everything like that.
You kind of see Richard Lewis looking at him going like, God, you be the sheriff. You're funny.
This guy sucks.
But I know you said that this one didn't really land on you, but it crushed me.
King illegal forest, two pig wild kill in it is everybody.

(42:45):
What to pull that line off?
No, well, no, I respect the craft.
Mind you, like that that actor, I do respect the fact that he was able to deliver that wrong line so well, so rightly.
I mean, and with verb like that probably was one of the best line deliveries I have seen when you consider all of all of the all of the aspects that had to take place at once that he pulled off.

(43:12):
But yeah, no, the joke was just never funny to me.
I just thought it was a weird, weird thing.
It was a weird choice to make.
You know, see, the thing is, I don't know where like what they were making fun of, what they were ripping off, what they were parodying.
But I don't know of another joke like it.
So I love it that much more.

(43:34):
That is a good question.
I don't remember.
I don't know if I ever knew what they were making fun of there specifically, if there was a reference to another another Robin Hood movie villain somewhere or that that that just didn't catch or something.
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know.
The idea was behind that one.
But what he was saying is it is illegal to kill a pig in the king's forest.

(43:57):
I loved it.
The only thing that he was missing in that was the word.
So the thing was, he almost nailed that line.
But the fact that he was even that close blow that blew me away.
Right.
I like that.
Why should they listen to you?
Now, this is what I was telling you about before we even got started, because like some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent.

(44:24):
Now, I got the notes down here.
OK, here's the thing.
The gag about Robin being able to speak with an English accent is a reference to Kevin Costner's performance in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, the 1991 Robin Hood.
Viewers who saw both movies in dubbed version couldn't get this gag, so different languages had different versions.

(44:46):
For the German dubbed version, the gag was changed to because I, unlike some other Robin Hoods, do not cost the producers five million dollars.
In French and Italian, it's translated as because unlike other Robin Hoods, I do not dance with the wolves.

(45:10):
In Quebec French, the translation becomes because unlike other Robin Hoods, I accept to wear tights,
which refers to the fact that Costner refused to wear tights in the 1991 movie.
And in the Hungarian version, like I was telling you, dude, they went hard in the paint against Costner and Mel Brooks went so light in the American version.

(45:35):
In the Hungarian version, because unlike Kevin Costner, I have a shapely bottom.
Wow.
And the reason was because in the nude scene, Kevin Costner used a body double for the butt.
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I don't know if I ever heard about the fact that, yeah, Costner refused to wear tights the whole time.

(45:59):
But not only is it because I can speak in English accent, but the very title Robin Hood Men in Tights is a dig at Costner.
The entire song and dance scene that we're going to talk about later, where they talk about how manly they are in their tights.
That's I mean, yeah, that's that's a full five minute.
Fuck you, Costner. I had no idea this movie was a hit job on Costner.

(46:23):
But oh, my God, I did not know that either. Or does that make it worse?
I don't know. For me, it makes it a little better. I know.
Well, OK, sure. For me, I don't know, because I got a lot of love for Costner, even though I don't have a lot of love for all of his films.
No, it's the thing. I got nothing personal against Costner. I just I'm one of those.
At least I'm not aware of any reason to be. Yeah.
I'm one of those petty bitches who just love seeing someone taking down a peg when they get a little too high.

(46:47):
And I think being the kind of actor who can completely change a production because I refuse to wear tights.
I'm like, get the fuck over yourself. Like, yeah, all here.
Put on your whore makeup or I like that. Oh, I challenge you to a duel.
Like leather glove slap. Armored gauntlet slap.

(47:10):
That is a classic. Yes. Yep. That is a fantastic gag.
And I'm pretty sure he stole that from Looney Tunes.
Probably possibly. I do remember in the Marx Brothers.
I don't think the Marx Brothers. Oh, no, they didn't do anything like that.
Oh, no, no, they didn't do anything like that.
It did something different. They did something similar, but different enough that I can't say I'm waiting for three more times before I actually stop you.

(47:34):
I have to sit here and rewatch all 19 Marx Brothers in my head again before I can answer that honestly.
But but yeah, I know the I do remember that one, though.
What what bugged me about that when I saw the movie in the theater was because that gauntlet joke was done so repeatedly in the TV trailers is that not only did I see it coming.

(47:57):
So it didn't quite hit, but also the version of it in the trailer was edited better than the version that was on screen.
And so it fell flat when I finally saw it.
So that was one of the things that bugged me.
Yeah, because the trailer had to only be 30 seconds long.
So it was a much tighter gag than it was in the actual movie.

(48:19):
I got you. But that's the but the gag is just you.
Man, oh, man, oh, man, just you, me and my guides.
Like I know because I think I remember seeing that in the trailer.
And I have a note in here. See, Doc, it never happens on the first try when he goes the swing that and it comes down on him instead of the guards.

(48:44):
We talked about that in Stardust. Never happens on the first try.
You got to screw up a little bit first. Of course, build it.
Build the drama. I mean, the fighting on this because little John comes in, Blinken comes in, Will Scarlett, O'Hara and Achoo.
Bless you. And Blinken is killing me more than anyone in this fight.

(49:06):
Like him attack, like just trying to like drag on with people's coattails, attacking that one pole like with all the sodas flowing around sped up and they even keep the.
Like, right. Like he really like he went until he was tired and he was like, all right, I'm done.
I thought I really enjoyed that.

(49:29):
Robin under the table to see Marion and flirt. To be continued.
If you didn't use that line at some point in your life, I mean, like you just kind of wrong, man.
Where's your sense of humor and like where's your comedy on that one?
Well, I mean, to be fair, I have used to be continued in life not because of that scene in the movie, but because when you watch another movie, not because of the scene.

(49:57):
I'm just saying if you haven't done that, you're kind of weird. Right.
Right. Yeah. That's the thing is at this point to be continued is such a part of our of our culture that if you're not using it in life and you're not paying attention.
All right. Broom Hilda catches the kiss and I'm sorry, man, every time that Megan Kavanaugh showed up on screen, I was dying from laughter.

(50:20):
Like Broom Hilda was a perfect character, like comedy wise.
She was all right. Sure. Oh, come on.
The villager meeting and the lend me your ear gag.
That would put whatever the on what made that work was Elvis's reaction when after all the years get thrown at him and he goes, that was disgusting.

(50:44):
That's what made it funny. OK, fair enough.
Some of her lines like Broom Hilda's lines, though, no ding ding without the wedding ring.
I'm sorry, but there is a level of hilarity that comes with lines like that that will just live inside my soul, man. They are too good.

(51:08):
Robin tries to hype, but he goes a little bit too Churchill. Right. I'm pretty sure that was Churchill. He was that was Churchill. Yes. OK. I was pretty sure.
And then Chappelle steps up for a Malcolm X gag.
I don't know how that one would age. I am not the person to check with on that one.
I like doing a Malcolm X gag. I mean, if it's if it wasn't Dave Chappelle. Right.

(51:35):
I mean, especially with who Dave Chappelle came or became. Yes.
But I mean, if we're if we're if we're comparing if we're comparing like, you know, inspirational speakers and the the draw line was Churchill put everyone to sleep.
But Malcolm X actually got everyone verved up. One might say I can see it was a rather complementary way to go about it. You know, fair enough.

(52:03):
Yeah. Yeah. You're with me. Which one means yes.
That's a line that I have.
Grown a further appreciation for as I've gone further in life just because of the memory of how many people have pulled that gag when we have like you because there was a sweet spot of time.

(52:27):
Sure. I'm sure I'm sure we've passed it that if you said yay or nay, somebody will respond with the right thing to say.
I don't think that time is still here. It's been a long time since I've tried that. But I have so many memories of it actually working.
Oh, Malcolm X. The movie came out the year prior to Robin Hood Men in Tights, which is probably why Chappelle did that gag in there.

(52:54):
Oh, that that makes perfect sense. That does make a lot of sense. I had a little bit of a question. Do pantyhose come in eggs? But I found out after the fact. Yes, they did.
Yeah. Yep. No. Yeah, that was it. That was a thing. Yeah, it was a it was a specific wasn't it. Was it just the one brand or was it a thing with all the brands? I can't remember for sure.
But yeah, not the dude, not the one to ask. Yeah, I remember seeing like, you know, the display cases with all the legs on them. And sometimes they were even you could tell what color the pantyhose were because the egg was that color.

(53:28):
Like that was that that was the thing that that was where they missed out here is all the eggs in this one were white. They should have all been green since the tights inside were green.
Ah, fair. Nice. But apparently legs, the brand legs legs was known for it. Right. Okay. Yep. Right. Because because it was L apostrophe eggs that was now I remember. Nice.

(53:55):
The Royal bubble blowers and the traveling mall. I can't I love it. I love that traveling mall. I like every time Prince John is on screen. I'm always looking for where it winds up. It is personal. Yeah, I mean, again, everything on these things.
Always subjective, just as what it is. But this is that where we were talking about with that catapult scene. Sheriff flies over lands in latrines bed as she's sitting there praying like if you see fit, you know, just send me some loving.

(54:29):
And the sheriff drops on the bed. This whole scene was improvised between Roger Reese and Tracy Ullman. Right. I'm sorry. He just keeps running away. I've got a headache. I've got a headache.
Her ending the scene with I touched it. Right. That was the fact that that was all improv. I love it. Loving it so much. Yeah. Oh, man.

(55:00):
Mel Brooks as the friar with a drunken mule.
And yeah, this is where like the joke was the okay. So here's the thing.
Did you ever watch the Not Another Gay Movie?
No, did not hear about that one. No. Well, no, this is back in like 2006 or seven or something like that. It's like not another teen movie gay parody. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

(55:26):
I did. Well, I tried to watch it.
Definitely not for me.
Especially at that time.
But that's kind of one of those things. This kind of joke. Is it offensive or is it hilarious? It like that really depends on the individual.
Oh, are you talking about the fact that friar tuck became Rabbi Tuckman played by by Mel Brooks? No. When they when all Robin Hood's men are like introduce themselves as the Merry Men and Mel Brooks goes, ah, Pegasus.

(56:01):
Right. That could be hilarious. That could be wildly offensive. I think it's actually both.
And I think like I mean, even to like get the gay community, I think there's going to be like individuals who find it going both ways because they understand the parody.
Right. Yeah. And I and I think, yeah, it definitely is going that is definitely going to be a depending who you are that might be complimentary. It might be offensive for sure. Yes. Yeah. And that's which is which lets that is that is where Mel Brooks is sweet spot is.

(56:32):
You are wildly correct there. I am. Yeah, I am 100% with you.
Tell us some about being meant for me or meant for made Marion like since they were little children and stuff like that. Right.
Which sets up the Chastity Belt payoff and the key. Right. OK.
I recognize how stupid this question is, and especially with this kind of movie, and I should not be thinking about logic when I'm watching a Mel Brooks movie.

(57:02):
I understand. Oh, no. But.
How could you have like if that Chastity Belt has been on forever, eventually at one point, it was too big.
I don't like how my brain works. It should not be tearing apart a Mel Brooks movie. And while we're at it, why is the dad referring to that as the as the greatest treasure in the world?

(57:27):
Why?
Yeah, no, hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
The bloodline may have been what he was talking about.
All right. All right. I will. I will give that.
But hey, if you're going to try to bring if you're going to try to bring logic into a Mel Brooks movie, let's go down the fucking rabbit hole, sir.

(57:48):
Why don't I shouldn't do it? I said I shouldn't.
Talks about circumcisions and everybody wants one like I'll take two. Then they find out. I think I'm good. And the rabbi's line like, I got to I got to play to a younger crowd like, dude.

(58:09):
But also what kind of like also kind of like a really smart commentary on the fact that if men had a say in this, we would all say no.
Right. Yep. Every single one of us. None of us would have said yes to this.
Right. Yep. It is kind of like I thought that was a really smart way to play that joke. And I don't think I ever caught that like that suggestion until this time.

(58:32):
Right. They want to get drunk, but it's sacramental wine. What happens?
Ah, we'll bless the rocks will bless the trees will bless the sun will bless them all. Let's get hammered. Right. Yeah.
There's a good friar tuck for you or what was the name friar what it was Rabbi Tuckman.
Rabbi.

(58:57):
I know Robin Hood so well that I never even bothered to learn his name in my mind. He's just been friar tuck every time I've been like he's like he's the rabbi friar tuck.
That's shit. I never even bothered to even try to learn that.
Godfather scene definitely it's I mean that's on the nose as I mean it's very very clear.

(59:19):
And it was supposed to be Don Giovanni played by Dom DeLuise with filthy Luca.
And it was supposed to be dirty Harry. But one of the producers guy named Ezio showed up on set that day.
So Mel Brooks decided to change his name from dirty Harry to dirty Ezio.

(59:40):
Okay. Okay. Sure. Why not?
The dude had Clint Eastwood's face. It didn't really matter what you called him. You know what we were like we knew what we were watching.
Right. That was really obvious. Cut out his tongue for making a goofy face. Just watching Dom DeLuise go.
That was yeah that was worth it.

(01:00:02):
But I mean Dom DeLuise is one of the was one of the Mel Brooks all stars like any any Mel Brooks movie like that's that's the moment where you know Mel Brooks is just saying okay point the camera at Dom Dom go whatever was in Blazing Saddles.
He was not in Blazing Saddles. Okay. I was about to say I'm really blanking on that. I'm not picking him up. Okay.

(01:00:27):
He was he played he played a big role in History of the World. He was Caesar in History of the World. Okay.
Okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm with you on that.
Marion overheard and it's time to Warren Robin jumps down to Lady and Farfyn Cougar and having it.

(01:00:50):
The subtitles under the horse because yeah you know what Amy Yazbek she cruises down there and yeah oh lady right.
The full Snow White treatment and everything and then you get Megan Kavanaugh coming in as Broome Hilda.
That horse. Yeah. Oh she's got to be kidding.

(01:01:14):
Every joke is offensive. It's Mel Brooks every single joke is offensive. It just is what it is like.
I don't know how to get around these things Robin Hood coming up and realizing they have Blinken as the lookout.
What are you doing? I'm guessing I guess there's no one coming.

(01:01:36):
That was pretty funny. I like that one. I was that's a gets his sight back falls out of the tree. I can see. No I was wrong.
Right. Like not. I can't see or it's like I'm blind again or something like that.
No he was just wrong. I thought that is what made that so much funnier and had it stand out from all the others.

(01:02:00):
Yes absolutely. I did like that one. Yep.
Dance number. Let's face it. You got to be a man to wear tights. Yep.
That dance number. Come on Doc. You've been pretty quiet on the love for this one.
It wasn't it wasn't bad. No and you know lyrics were good. It was solid. Yeah it was it was a decent number and it was kind of one of those things were

(01:02:29):
like I felt like the like this was the part that they thought of first like this was like the rest.
This is what they built the movie around. Right exactly. Everything leading up to this scene was just to get us to this scene and then everything after was just all right now we got to finish this fucking movie somehow.
We shot we shot our big scene our big dance number with the song. We make fun of Kevin Costner for five straight minutes you know and and you know we've got we've.

(01:02:59):
Yeah. Now this this scene was the reason the movie was made in my opinion everything else was just an excuse for the rest to get to get the budget you know so.
Which. I'm okay with that. Yeah no. I've made movies with worse reasons behind them.
There are like there are enough gags in this movie to keep me watching all the way from the beginning through to the end. Yeah. But that is why I go watch this movie as over and over and or I did as a child watch this movie every time it was on TV.

(01:03:34):
Yes my ass was making sure it was there like I used to check the TV.
We had you remember TV guide. Oh I remember TV guide. Yes. Yeah I remember every see and I would say movies were coming out that week what was going to be on like during the free like the hours that I was going to have access to a TV.
Yeah. No man like. Yeah. That was something that I just like that's that's dating me Sunday Sunday mornings getting the Sunday paper that's got the TV guide for the week and sitting there reading through it going like all right what's happening.

(01:04:08):
Yeah and same thing like what movies are playing when you know it is this week's episode of such and such show going to be a new episode or a rerun you know because they'll they'll market for you you know it'll have a little are next to it if it's going to be a rerun this week like that.
Those are the things they did for us and yeah just making sure I knew everything that was coming so I would know. All right. Thursday I got to make sure that I'm done with dinner by this time so I'm in front of the TV by this time for this show you know stuff like that.

(01:04:36):
Marion and Broom Hilda arrive and yeah like Marion gets helped off the horse and Broom Hilda falls off the horse on Little John and like can I do anything you can start by getting off me and he full like I like that like what's wrong with you like I panicked.
I like that it wasn't that he wasn't into the bigger gal but the fact that he was so into word that he panicked that was the jokes to go that direction is why I love Mel Brooks.

(01:05:09):
Yes.
I feel like I feel like pretty much anybody else would have gone the other direction. Probably yes. And like that she warns him and then lures him to the contest by the warning.
I that I did and especially Elvis's delivery on that where she's just like you can't go to the you can't go to the festival he's like fine I won't go and she's like oh good they were going to lure you there with an archery contest and he goes and archery like he pulled like hands to the beard looking off to the distance an archery contest you say like like he man you made a meal out of that.

(01:05:50):
Oh he did. I like that. Promise you want to go. All right. I promise you won't go.
I feel like this is the thing that my friends and I should have taken from this when we were kids like who let chilled.
I feel like that exchange is something that we should have taken but I feel like we were laughing so hard as children that we missed that line. That's the thing is that yeah that that that line comes so far into so many laugh lines right before it.

(01:06:21):
It's an easy one to miss for sure. It's a good one though. Like I really like that.
I have been singing this in the back of my mind ever since I watched this. The night is young and you're so beautiful.
E flat.
And it goes into the song that yeah that brings us to my favorite gag of the movie is when he starts singing and he belts full force right into her face and she gives a full shriek in response to it and it's just like ah oh okay right it's a romantic scene okay and like that whole that whole cascade in her face all in the span of a second was fucking hilarious to me that was my one laugh out loud moment of the movie.

(01:07:08):
One. Yes, I mean I got a decent. I got a decent chuckle out of some of the other stuff you know Richard Lewis I got plenty of chuckles out of him, but actual laugh out loud moment. That was it. That was the one for me and I scream laughed at, I touched it.
And I have a headache I have a headache.
I touched it.
And okay, the like I got I got a good belly chuckle from little john and Robin Hood like tolls a toll the rolls a roll. We don't get no tools, we don't eat no rolls.

(01:07:41):
I wrote that I like I, I fall in love with that dude every single time I see him deliver that line over and over again. But when I because I have the same laugh that you do, but I keep going immediately after when the merry men are like when they're doing all this stuff and doing the background

(01:08:08):
and they have like the shaker and all this stuff to add the music to it. And her confusion like where's all that. Oh no you know I'm still here you're singing it. Where's all that coming from.
Everything I don't stop laughing from the moment they start singing. From the moment they say you got to be a real man to wear tights to the archery contest. I don't stop laughing. Okay, like all the way up when he's singing and like the hilt of the sword or the sheath from the sword comes all the way up and then like the

(01:08:42):
the blanket comes down, and he like pushes the sheets down like he's trying to hide his penis. All of that just crushes. Yeah man I had like five lines here I didn't even need to look down at here because I already knew everything because you know I know this way too well.
Made Marion standards keep dropping all the way until because he's talking about like she has the Everlast and all that the chassis belt. My one true love or fully marries me, or if he's nice. Or unless he's really cute.

(01:09:15):
By the way, her chosen accent for this one was perfect. Yes, yeah, it was just comedic and amazing. No, I'm sorry, good. No, that was it just like yeah I agree she was fantastic.
One of my favorite lines. I don't know how to narrow this down really. But when he like, right into the chassis belt. She's like, Oh, it's an ever last.

(01:09:45):
Boxer. That is a joke that like I had not like I had I wore Everlast gear over my junk when I went into the ring. So that joke landed on me so hard that you cannot imagine.
Just talk about scream laughs, everything like that. The fact the the bummer part is I can never forget that she says that because of the fact like my experience as a boxer and everything like that's the bummer part.

(01:10:15):
I will always know that it's coming. But it still kills me.
Broomhill does worse than a chassis belt. No ding ding without a wedding ring.
Very much like Senka in Cool Runnings because we discovered that every time Megan Kavanaugh opens her mouth. Perfect.

(01:10:42):
Just perfect.
The merry men show up in drag for the archery contest, blinking looking like a bleeding Picasso, and the assassin is in position.
Okay, now between me and you. Right. Is it just me?
Or was his disguise not super convincing?

(01:11:05):
It was that was yeah I think I think probably more than half the budget went into that makeup to make that that disguise looks so good.
To the point, I think the first time I saw that I wondered if they actually had a separate actor playing him. Same. And then just in the last scene it was it was some sort of like half ass you know fake out to look kind of like that guy but because he's pulling it off so fast we don't notice that it's not him.

(01:11:31):
That was my thinking the first time I saw it. I did not watch closely enough to actually test that theory this time around.
I did. That's LOS's beard. Okay. The mustache no. The nose no but that is his beard under there. So that actually was a phenomenal makeup job. Yeah. Yeah. No I okay it looks like it's not just me. I think that's him. Looks like Mark Twain.

(01:11:56):
Which the line that comes up just right after that like it gets revealed that it's Robin Hood and we get the Arsenio which yes if you were not alive in the 90s you are not going to know what the fuck that is. I have no yeah I completely understand that.
But the Arsenio whoop was how he got like his show started the breaks everything.

(01:12:18):
Yep. And which is interesting because yeah it was so endemic like like his doing that caught on so fucking fast.
Dude we were doing it in gym class when I was a kid. That's the thing and the fact that as soon as he ended his show and went off the air that died with his show immediately like no one's really done it since and that kind of surprised me that he really owns it.

(01:12:44):
You know if he's if Arsenio is not doing it nobody is so seeing something that so seeing something where they do that you're like people nowadays like what the fuck are they doing.
It literally is like oh this show this movie came out when Arsenio was on because that's the only time anyone's ever done it.
That's a really and that's a really good. That's a really easy way to mark a movie that's kind of right. It's interesting. I didn't think about that but that makes complete sense.

(01:13:11):
The crowd his on his side until I split Robin's arrow in twine.
I okay the over the top delivery of like all of these one off characters.
It is as over the top as I'm delivering it like I'm not doing an exaggeration and that is the thing that makes it so great.

(01:13:34):
Like that's the thing about like Mel Brooks movies is if you're going to audition for one of his films you know that you're going to have to commit 100 like if he says be goofy like give it your all.
You should not have anything left to give no like put it on for sure no judgment you love just good God.

(01:13:58):
Then we get the chop which is that still a popular thing. I have no idea. I do not watch baseball.
I only remember back when it was like the big controversy was was first starting out with the Braves.
Yeah but most baseball teams did do that for home games. It wasn't just the Braves.

(01:14:21):
Really okay so I didn't know that I only heard about it through what about with the with the Braves controversy so I had no idea.
Like they stopped talking about it on the news. I don't know.
Oh fair enough.
He checks the script and he gets another shot and blinking with the epic real reflexes like I heard that coming a mile away. Who said that? I was like all that quick quick quick done we're out.

(01:14:51):
Patriot arrow. Okay. Is that a joke on the American military industrial complex.
That is absolutely a Gulf War joke for sure because yeah all right because yeah we because that is a lot a lot a lot of of hay was made over the Patriot missiles when we in the first first Iraq conflict.

(01:15:14):
Like that was basically what they were saying is like yeah there's this whole armed like we're shooting at them they're shooting at us it's this whole thing but we have the Patriot missile which is like you know is like the difference between a Gatling gun and a musket with what they're shooting at us like that.
That was the pride of the of the first of the first Gulf War conflict. Well the one in the 90s anyway so.

(01:15:38):
I was about to say I mean like yeah first is kind of a definitive thing to say on this one. Right yeah but Bush seniors Gulf War.
Yeah the Patriot missile was the star of it so yeah I'm they had another Bush joke in there somewhere I completely forgot about I remember when it maybe I'll maybe I'll find it.

(01:16:00):
It was at the beginning I know we already passed this was the second Bush joke I remember there was one earlier and now that we've passed it I can't remember what it was because I just remember thinking like oh wow Bush humor haven't heard I miss Bush humor it was so easy and simple.
That was innocent jokes.
For the most part.

(01:16:21):
Yeah.
It was a simpler time oh yeah I just remembered what it was it was when they were he was talking to the sheriff of Rottingham the first time and he was like oh you went to the the Crusades and he's like that's right my father couldn't get me into the National Guard.
Oh yeah.
But didn't that this movie came out during the Clinton administration I didn't think we would have Bush Jr jokes like that.

(01:16:46):
It is weird isn't it. Are you sure that's a Bush Jr joke or it's not just a National Guard joke.
That might it might be actually now that you mentioned it it may have just been a general like National Guard joke yeah.
I just happened to be it just happened to become prescient again 10 years later.
Fair enough arrested and sent to the gallows until Marion agrees to do the most disgusting thing she can think of. Mary the sheriff right that you can only have my body but you can never have my mind heart and my soul.

(01:17:20):
Oh yes I respect that right.
And that and that that was my dad the delivery of that too I do like the fact that like the easy joke would have just been like I'm okay with that but no he went with oh I respect that like that made it that made it funnier.
That kicked it up. Then the walk with this way gig. Walk this way.

(01:17:44):
And then all like Robin Hood is called all the guards, everybody they all do the hair flip and walk that way.
Yeah, I think that's a that's a signature from L Brooks I think that one's in all of his movies I think, oh is it. I think, I feel like it has been at the very least so fair enough we'll have to check.
And now it's time to Fox the villagers. The 12th century Fox gag, I got a huge laugh out of.

(01:18:13):
I may be alone, but I got it.
All right, let's get out of these ladies clothing and into our tights man like Dave Chappelle does kind of kick like kill it. I mean, Dave Chappelle you really can kind of a given Robert Ridgley as the hangman.
The second time we get him as a hangman, but the last time the eye patch was on the other eye.

(01:18:37):
Thought that was kind of funny that I decided to do that.
And then Dick Van Patten as the Abbott.
All to deliver one gag that somehow worked anyway.
It would great.
See, because here's the thing, I had no idea that was an Abbott and Costello gag.
And it still worked on me before I even found out what before I even saw in the other stuff that I was going to ask I'm like I kind of makes me wonder like, who would would anybody get it, because yeah I mean, I knew Abbott and Costello because you know I was I was I was a

(01:19:13):
I was a basic cable kid, I saw all that's how I learned about the Marx Brothers and and the, the, and the three stooges and Abbott and Costello I knew about all these guys because of that and but yeah it didn't take long for that to become one of those things where it's like
you have to be told about them to know about them so I got to wonder who's going to get a habit joke nowadays, but I got but there you go you just kind of said like even not knowing. It's still funny. I'm like, okay, then all right, good. Go Mel.

(01:19:43):
Yeah, that one.
The electronic castle gate. Good little chuckle.
Whatever.
Conducting the prayer in the new Latin.
Right, I didn't get that joke as a kid.
I have to admit that I was too dumb to get that one.
I, but I was always too dumb to properly learn how to speak big Latin.

(01:20:07):
Okay, well, real quick question when we talk about you, you as a kid since for the first time how old were you.
When this movie came out.
When you first saw it. I mean, did you see it in the theater or did you see it on home video. I was for when it came out in theaters I even if I saw it in theaters I wouldn't be able to recognize it so no I saw.
Video yeah, which is why I asked how old were you when you saw it.

(01:20:29):
Tough to say, like that's the thing like I just remember.
Like I don't remember when I first saw it like it's just one that I've always known.
Okay, I got you. My babysitter probably watched it like my mom like everybody was watching it as like so it was one of those things.
Okay, well then yeah I'd say I'd say I wouldn't say you know I'd call it forgivable then it's kind of one of those things like you keep saying like I was too dumb to get this I'm like, dude, what were you like six seven stop calling like it's not dumb that's just starting.

(01:20:59):
Hey, it's still dumb it's just justifiably dumb. Okay. All right. All right. That's fair. That's fair.
Everyone laughing at the sheriff's name being Mervin even the Abbott, like, can we move forward. Okay.
Just, I love it.
She appellation, she appell saves Robin, and that that Hangman pun. You know what they say, no news is good news.

(01:21:32):
I mean, I do got to appreciate the humor of a hangman who's trying real really hard to keep keep the mood up like they're that like that joke in and of itself is worthwhile you know, very fair.
The fight ensues and the sheriff kidnaps Marion, and he's going to deflower her in the tower.

(01:21:54):
Like, there was, there was no need to rhyme.
But I'm glad they did. Okay.
Like that, the sheriff's response to a chastity belt. That's gonna chafe my Willie.
Roger Reese, such a fantastic dramatic actor, committing all the way to these lines. I love when we get to see stuff like this.

(01:22:26):
I, I know, because we have Sir Patrick Stewart in this movie, still being serious.
Oh yeah, he's very, he's very much like, you know, he's coming in like, if I'm going to play King Richard, the Lionheart, I'm going to play King Richard the Lionheart.
Yeah, we didn't have to work with that. Yeah, we didn't get the comedy Patrick Stewart, like, like playing the baby on American dad and talking about soiling his diapies.

(01:22:52):
We didn't get that Patrick Stewart for a little while yet. This, like Sir Patrick Stewart, like he was still like, yeah, I'll do a comedy, but I'm going to be the straightest man here.
Like different kind of funny.
I love when he busts through the door, prepare for the fight scene.

(01:23:13):
And on guard. Thanks for the warning.
All of this. I love it. When the sword goes against the stone and gets those sparks.
Shocking.
Like all of these one liners for the trailer.
I loved them all.

(01:23:39):
You're gonna have to tell me if you got a good laugh out of this one. Harry, Harry, thrust, thrust, good.
Like as like El was his coaching, like rising.
Well, and that's the thing is like that kind of like that was a that was a a Princess Bride flashback was what that was. That was one of those moments where you're just where it's like, you got to wonder, was that the intentional joke or was that just a happy accident that everyone's you're looking at this and going like, dude, this is Wesley like Wesley is in is is is well.

(01:24:13):
I mean, so L.S. performance in the Princess Bride is what got Mel Brooks attention to get him to do this.
So.
Probably. Right. Yeah. So yeah. Okay. I mean, that kind of makes all the sense in the world when I think when you think about it.
The shadow puppet fight.

(01:24:34):
I love that one.
But the thing about this fight scene is it's the joy and L.S.'s face that sells the entire thing.
The swords are clanging. There's not there's not a blink.
There's not even a twitch. This is a man with so much experience doing this that he is comfortable to the maximum.
And I like I get so much enjoyment out of that fight scene.

(01:24:58):
I think that's part of it.
I mean, OK, like the calm and joy in his face, the smirk across is like that he wears, like every part of it.
It's too cool to me, man. And that's just what it is. It's just it's cool.
He is a very cool character. And I really appreciate it.
Growling like dogs and his necklace medallion gets busted off, breaks and the key goes down into that.

(01:25:26):
It's a perfect fit. It's the key to the greatest treasure in all the land.
All right. Go ahead.
No, it's it kind of like it's one of those hang a hat on the on the coincidence thing where he cuts it, flies through the air.
They're all watching it. It smashes against the ceiling.
The key comes out, tumbles through the air and lands perfectly right in the keyhole of her Cassidy belt.

(01:25:50):
And yeah, it's it's it's one of those like we see these sort of like, yeah, making fun of the Hollywood like coincidence machine to the max.
There you go. This proves you are always my one true love.
It's a perfect fit, just the right size.
And of course, if you say something about size, you got to have the other line.

(01:26:16):
It's not the size that counts. It's how you use it.
I want to know where that started because it doesn't really seem to be as much of a thing anymore.
I don't hear that ever these days.
But right. Damn, did I hear that in like like so much for so long?
Yeah, I don't want to know where that started.

(01:26:37):
Sheriff gets got and latrine saves the day. I've got this magic pill, which the fact that they used a lifesaver.
Right. Yeah. Peppermint lifesaver to save the sheriff's life.
You cheeky son of a bitch Mel Brooks. Yep. Yep.

(01:26:58):
The way she drags him off. I always wanted to marry a cop. Right.
Tracy Allman, dude. I know. Right. Yeah.
You know, you know, don't try to explain it just to appreciate the magic that she brings.
And Broom Hilda just comes in, sees like what's about to happen.
Yes. Yes. Yes. No.

(01:27:19):
Like that whole thing. I. Oh, my God.
Hey, rabbit. Hey, Rabbi. We need to get married in a hurry. Married in a hurry.
That's perfect. That chop and scream.
When I was a child not knowing what was happening in there, that was one thing.
As an adult, knowing what's happening in there, I get a reaction now.

(01:27:45):
I. And then Robin to you, marrying to you.
And I like that. I object. Who asked?
Oh, that that that was a good one.
Sir Patrick Stewart returns from the Crusades as King Richard.
And is Scottish for some reason. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

(01:28:06):
I kept I kept waiting because, you know, it had been a while.
So that was a corner of those things that I kept waiting for the someone to make the crack about that.
You know, like have Elvis go like, by the way, you're right.
I see. Why are you Scottish? You know, or maybe was there some history about, you know, Richard the Lionheart being.
No, the ironic, the ironic part is two miles away from where Sir Patrick Stewart grew up is the is where Robin Hood was buried.

(01:28:33):
Robin of Oxley is buried. No, there's probably no other actor who knows that story as well as he does.
Which is which is just which kind of makes it even funnier. Right. Yeah.
No, it's it is it is it was kind of weird like why. And again, maybe we're maybe we're still making fun of Kevin Costner.
You know, like that's you know, we're just using wrong accents everywhere.

(01:28:56):
Like who like who knows what for some weird reason. You're right. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You said maybe, but you were right. Sean Connery played the king in that, didn't he?
I don't remember. No, OK. Or were they making fun of Sean Connery being Arthur? That's also possible.
I do remember he was King Arthur, you know, back in the 80s. Sure. Yeah.

(01:29:19):
Who was who was King Richard in the Kevin Costner Men in Tights? I do not remember.
I only remember two actors from that movie. I remember Kevin Costner and I remember shit.
I don't even remember his name. I remember one actor from the Kevin Costner.
Yeah, I do not recall at all, Senator. All right. Fair enough.

(01:29:43):
So he objects all the toilets in the kingdom will henceforth be called John's.
Robin Hood gets knighted and the king gets a smooch, which I'm not going to lie.
That has popped up in so many movies and stuff like that. Like I got curious about it. That was not a thing.
Thank God that was not a thing. I have always hated that.

(01:30:05):
I looked at the pay like the monarchy and like that aspect.
Like that is Monarch has done like some really messed up stuff in my eyes.
That is like if that is a tradition, that is one like the good guy.
The rid of Prima Nocta. Is that what you're going to? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I knew. No, no. Wrong. Wrong.
Like big thing. New share that never happened because that was like the major plot point of Braveheart.

(01:30:32):
That was the entire point of the movie. I know.
And I like and so like I said, I did some research.
Obviously, I am not a historian. I didn't ask a historian like that.
But they said that that was never common practice or an accepted tradition. Wow. OK.
So were there some psychos that did some stuff with armed guards? Sure. Probably.

(01:30:57):
I mean, you never say never when it comes to humans.
Especially rich ones. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
But no, that was never an accepted practice. That was not something that was actually allowed.
The new sheriff, a black sheriff. And then it worked in Blazing Saddles.

(01:31:18):
Yep. Kind of weird to have Mel Brooks throw to himself as the success.
But at the same time, when you have a success at that level, maybe not that weird. Right.
And I was I was I thought it was funny enough that they go the black sheriff thing.
The fact that he actually had to hang it like that.
That calls to what you're always talking about about trust your audience.

(01:31:41):
I feel like actually saying Blazing Saddles was them not trusting their audience enough to get the
black sheriff in unison joke like they could have just cut it right there.
And that would have been funny enough. I felt like, you know, like really like planting a flag on it by having him look at the camera and say Blazing Saddles.
That ruined it for me. You know, and so I can see that. No. OK. I can see that.

(01:32:05):
The ending rap. Hey, Nani Nani and we're out.
And ending credits with short shots. I really do miss that for like the big ones, Mel Brooks, Dick Van Patten, like Patrick Stewart.
Welcome home, Mrs. Of Locksley.
And that whole call the locksmith like that a whole bit like.

(01:32:30):
The thing is, I don't like that it ended that way. However, I have never forgotten that it ends that way. So I guess a little bit of a wash, you know.
But OK, so final thoughts on Robin Hood, Men in Tights. Final thoughts. Well, I mean,
there are arguments that it is a classic because like airplane, it took what was a skyrocketing genre, which is a pretty specific genre.

(01:32:56):
It's weird to think that Robin Hood as a genre, but there really was a time where we were getting like two Robin Hood movies a year.
And so it just happened. But yeah, to the movie that finally wraps up that that franchise by planting a flag on everything wrong with it.
We get those and this is that movie for that era. So in that way, it's a classic.

(01:33:21):
However, like I said at the beginning, this is my least favorite Mel Brooks movie.
I feel like if you're going to go for that kind of humor, there are much, much better choices to go with.
There is Blazing Saddles. There is History of the World. There is Silent Movie. There is Young fucking Frankenstein.
All right. Fair enough. The the reason that I brought this one into it is kind of the same for a lot of the other ones that I bring in.

(01:33:48):
There's a whole host of love that I have with this. Just like I know that we did as a backup episode, but like Cool Runnings,
like we talk about explaining the jokes and all this. Cool Runnings has a bunch of one liners that a lot of people have quoted.
Robin Hood Man of Tights has a ton of one liners that people quote to this very day.

(01:34:09):
Culturally significant. I don't know. No more than any other Robin Hood movie.
Culturally significant. I don't know. No more than any other Mel Brooks movie.
Like it's not the it's not the best of either of them. However, film debut of Dave Chappelle.
Oh, that's right. That was his film debut. I forgot about that. OK.

(01:34:32):
So a little bit. I mean, so whether it's culturally, culturally significant or not, one of our cultural icons,
like one of the American icons of modern history film debut may be worth checking out because of that. Sure.
Dated jokes. It's always kind of fun to go to the eras and look at the jokes of the time and see what was pushing the envelope of that era.

(01:35:00):
Sure. OK. So I'm not going to put I'm not going to put this one on the must see,
but I'm definitely throwing it all the way up on the this movie is going to like it's enjoyable.
It's funny as hell. I don't think there's anybody who's going to watch it and not get a belly chuckle.
At least you're probably right. You're probably right. Yeah. And we're back.

(01:35:26):
Part two of tonight's episode is going to be death trap. So before we get into it.
Oh, yeah, about as about as big as it can get before we get into it, Doc, why don't you tell us why you brought this one to us?
This is one of those movies that has been on my mind for a long time.

(01:35:47):
And I've never I remember. Not really seeing it, seeing it as a kid.
My my parents watched it. My my parents really liked it. I remember they saw it like two or three times at home.
And for me as a kid, I was always very confused because I was like, what is Superman doing?

(01:36:09):
Because because Christopher Reeves, you know, my Superman is sitting there up there being a sociopathic killer.
And I'm just like, I'm such a confused child. Why is Clark Kent so angry?
And so but I as I grew older, I kind of like was able to put two and two together in a theater class reading the play Death Trap.

(01:36:31):
And I was like, oh, that's what that was. OK, now it all makes sense.
And I kept meaning to go back to it and never did.
This is actually the first time I have actually sat down and watched it all the way through as an adult.
Not, you know, only kind of knowing what I'm getting into because I want to top it off.
You know, I felt like there's probably something there to the fact that we've got two powerhouses like Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve doing a show like this.

(01:36:59):
I'm like, this this probably deserves a revisit. And so that was why.
Yeah. And so, yeah, I was I was only slightly more prepared for this than you were because of vague childhood memories of when my parents watched this.
Oh, that is fair enough. Yeah.
This I feel bad because after having done a little bit of research on it, after I watched it, I came across something that Michael Caine said.

(01:37:28):
Hmm. Sir Michael Caine once said of this movie, we all swore an oath in blood.
Well, perhaps it was Shabli not to spoil the fun by running off at the mouth.
This thing has more twist than the Grand Cornish, and there's nothing worse than seeing a mystery after some twit has told you the butler did it.

(01:37:49):
Right. And that's that occurred to me as I was watching it was like, oh, shit, we're we're about to give it all away, aren't we?
Like, oh, like if there was ever if there was ever a time to say to the audience, if you have not seen this movie yet, you need to stop this show and go go watch it before you.

(01:38:12):
You need you listen to the rest of this. Watch the rest of this because we're going to get into some spoilers.
And this is the kind of thing that the word spoilers was invented for.
This isn't just like, you know, oh, yeah, I saw it come a mile away that, you know, that all that.
You can't see it coming. No, this like a weird like we will truly I mean, we may not destroy your enjoyment of the movie, but it's going to be a measurable difference.

(01:38:42):
Like going in knowing nothing on this movie is a thousand times better than going and knowing what's happening.
You want to enjoy it. You can still enjoy it knowing what you're getting into, but not nearly as much for sure.
Like so, yeah, this is a fair, fair, fair warning.
Spoiler alert. No, seriously, no, seriously. Spoiler alert.

(01:39:07):
If you have not seen this one, trust us on this. We're going to get right to it.
I mean, before we cover it, it's a must see. Yes, absolutely.
So if you have not seen it, shut this down, go watch it and come revisit the edited episode on Saturday. Yeah, I got it.
Fair warning. You have had the fairest of warnings before we get into this one.

(01:39:32):
Death Trap play written by Ira Levin and screenplay by Jay Preson Allen directed by Sidney Lumet starring Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Diane Cannon with Irene Wirth and Henry Jones.
Very small cast, but after watching this really made me want to go watch Death and the Maiden.

(01:40:03):
Oh, yes, I remember that one. Yeah. No doubt. I never saw it.
I've only read the play. Oh, the play.
The play was handed to me to go through and pick out a scene to perform an acting class. I sat down, read the entire play, and then I couldn't find anybody who wanted to do a scene from that with me.

(01:40:26):
And I was like, you guys all suck.
Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. That was one of the greatest things that I'd ever read.
And I know that there's a what is it Sigourney Weaver and Sigourney Weaver and yeah, then Pete. No, not Pete Postolate. Kingsley, Ben Kingsley. Yeah, Ben Kingsley. Yeah, that I I need to see that.

(01:40:53):
Definitely. Yeah, no, it's pretty good. All right.
So you can't exactly miss who is in this with credits so huge over all these weapons. Sydney Brule played by Michael Cain watching his latest release from the back and listening to people trash his play.
Right. This is the worst play I've ever seen. I can't believe Sydney Brule wrote this.

(01:41:18):
Like, damn, he's he's taking a powder on it. Yeah. And he's feeling it too. Like you see him. You see him leave the theater in the middle of the show to go to the bar next door to have a drink.
But yeah, that's how bad it is.
And he calls his wife and Myra Brule played by Diane Cannon anxiously answers his call to comfort him. And yeah, I wasn't sure like, so we find out that she has a heart condition.

(01:41:48):
She's got pills. There's a bunch of cigarettes. Yeah.
Well, I mean, that's the thing is like he's well, I mean, that's things they don't they do look like joints. But at the same time, I mean, that's like a cigarette. That's the thing is when he's talking to her about it later on, he sounds like he's talking about cigarettes.
You know, yeah, Seymour played by Joe Silver tearing into Kane about if you trust a fool like if you trust a fool like Brule, you deserve to go broke. His lawyer, his wife, everybody warned him like three flops in a row. And now you got yours.

(01:42:25):
Like, yeah, it really hammers home how low this character is. Right? Yeah. Nobody is on his side right now, except his wife, but she's not there. She's at she's back at home.
Apparently, apparently sick because she has she has some sort of heart condition. She's kind of bedridden sort of, but she's also how soon do you want to get into the spoilers?

(01:42:48):
Well, I mean, we can we see right off the bat that she's got a condition because the first scene we see her in she's in bed taking pills. But we're also seeing at the same time.
Well, no, but where I'm talking about with the spoiler. Oh, the heart condition was the heart condition.
But also, Michael Kane later in the film says that he's been telling everybody for days now that she's been under the weather.

(01:43:11):
So her not being allowed to go to the opening night is him prefacing the fact that she has been sick. Right. That's yeah. You know what? I didn't even catch that. Oh, yeah.
I don't know if I'm right about that. Okay. So it could go either way because she is in bed taking pills when we first see her.

(01:43:32):
But she is also clearly high strung. That's the thing about this poor girl is that she has a heart condition and also extreme anxiety problems.
She jumps at every freaking noise. So it's like, Jesus, talk about talk about born under a bad sign.
Like, good God. And the bartender calling Michael Kane hid. Nope. That was weird.

(01:43:56):
And the reviews are coming in over the TV and damn, they were about as rough as could possibly be. Yeah.
The wife is crying and he is drunk yelling. I'm doing the only sensible thing. I'm getting pissed.
Now, I don't know about you, but to me, it felt like some parts were cut out there.
No, yes, I felt that too. And I kind of wrote personally, I wrote that off as the adaptation thing because this was a stage play, which means it probably originally all took place just in their living room.

(01:44:27):
And all the rest of the stuff we're saying is just sort of added in to set up the goings on.
So I figured these were all very quickly written, not really meant to be there other than to set things up to get us to the living room.
You know what I'm kind of thinking here? Because you're absolutely correct about that. Everything beyond that, like the him being at the play, the bar, everything, all of those scenes were added in.

(01:44:54):
Right. But the dialogue, I don't think the dialogue was added in. I think that dialogue is from the original, which is why it's there and everything like that.
And it would make sense if he was just at home delivering those lines and he had just gotten home and it wasn't happening over the phone.
Right. So I don't know if they changed any of the dialogue except for, well, I don't know.

(01:45:16):
Another one of those that I really need to go just read the play afterwards.
Sure. Yeah. The taxi ride home to our opening shot.
The wife screams and he follows suits. Like he comes in and she sees him and she just screams and he just tears into her.
And what we find out later in the film is he is trying to give her a heart attack.

(01:45:40):
So that like the Kellen, I were watching this and being like, is this them all the time?
But as the film progressed, it kind of made a lot more sense that he was kind of hauling off on her all the time at this point because of her heart condition.
And he was just trying to push her over the edge in a way without a third person there.

(01:46:03):
Like, do you know what I mean? Right. Yeah. Yeah.
But yeah, in first viewing, it starts to it feels like this is just kind of one of those weirdly like dysfunctional relationships in that she is trying everything to cheer him up, to be supportive.
And he's taking all of his shit out on her. And that's really what it looks like.

(01:46:27):
And to a degree, too, where it's like even as they're going to bed, he's telling her like, you know, you fucking he's basically cursing her out as they're going as they're calling into bed together.
You know, and so it's like. I guess no, it's not that bad, but he's still kind of like, I don't know, because he gets up there, he sees her medication and then she sees he sees all the cigarettes next to him is like, right.

(01:46:51):
I know you can't smoke like that was like the only part of the movie that I actually saw him care for her.
So that was kind of it's kind of weird that that's what you that's where you took that because that was like literally the only time that I actually saw him care about her.
But even but even then he's still putting it on her because he's saying, oh, I know.
Because what he's saying, like you can't smoke. He's like, I can't I can't I can't be worried that you're going to, you know, to not take my eyes off. He was what he's saying. He's basically like going like he's saying, like, look, I can't trust you.

(01:47:21):
You're you're you're painting my ass. You know, I can't leave you here for one day without you smoking the place up or, you know, and not taking your meds and stuff.
He's basically blaming her for not being good enough that he can't he can't leave her alone. So even on top so that that caring about her is layered with your burden to me like right there.

(01:47:42):
You know, while I see that, I see that later. I see that later. And like it's definitely in the character because when he's telling her like helping like forcing her down the stairs to go look outside, he's like, you're going to do this.
You're going to satisfy me. You're going to satisfy yourself. Like he says himself first when he shouldn't even have mentioned himself at all. Right. But the thing is like we're just getting we're getting layers of that character is there.

(01:48:09):
And at the end of this scene where she tries to like cuddle with him, but he refuses to let her there, I saw it this moment.
I didn't see that because like when he says like I can't take my eyes off you, she stops taking care of herself. And like she only does it when he's there. It's kind of that narcissist thing.
Like I'm only going to perform when somebody's looking at me. Okay. That like that's where I obviously we know this is not a good character. So I mean I can't I can't put any definitive stuff on this.

(01:48:42):
But that was the thing like his tone though the look in his eye everything about that. That was like the one moment he broke from his plan and actually in my eyes. That's what I saw.
Because like I said, I watched it a couple times. Right. When he picked that, he looked at the cigarettes and he looked at her. The anger, the yelling, all of that stuff. It wasn't there.

(01:49:04):
It was it felt more genuine. And I always and I kind of keyed in on that. I want so one of subtleties man subtleties a great writing which I would kind of does help because the what we're seeing here is this whole setup is like you said he's trying to prep her for a heart attack.
But for those of us who aren't in the know watching it for the first time, we're thinking it's just him having a bad day and taking it out on her. We're not we're not killing you on it because yeah, because there are little tiny soft moments where he actually acts like a husband for five seconds, you know, so literally only for a few seconds at a time like it right.

(01:49:42):
This is not a good dude. Yeah, because he's like freaking out about how he's written out and his work is terrible. But an infant writer from a former seminar sent a script and it was gold, which just makes things worse. You're at a point you're struggling with writing and then another young writer comes in and all of a sudden he just nails it like first time coming out of the park.

(01:50:03):
Yeah.
Doc, did you put this out here for a reason? Nope, nope, nope, nope.
Don't read into it. Don't read into it.
Don't read into it.
I can't believe I spent that much time on this shit and that didn't dawn on me until we were live.

(01:50:24):
Fuck.
Things he remembers the man as the obese glandular piggy who sat at the front and like it like you like we were just talking about a first because this movie. Yes, watch it a couple times. It is worth it.
Because the first time I was watching this one, I was seeing him like it's the fat guy. No, it's the guy with the stammer. He's just trying to find imperfections over. He read something that he viewed as perfect. So he's trying to find any imperfection in the person that he can feel okay about.

(01:50:59):
Exactly. Yeah.
The fact that he the fact that the character planned that out to like feed that into the wife and the audience.
You got to give the character credit not a good dude but still brilliant.
Right. Exactly. Yeah.
Then the next morning. How's it read when you're sober. Worse than I thought. It's perfect.

(01:51:24):
And then he goes into his like you know what I should do. I go ahead. That is the first clue in where he says like you know what I do. I didn't I didn't invite him over here club them over the head with my mace and put my name on the script. That's what I had to do when she's like, haha. Yeah, you're funny.
I so it's really that good.
And he's like, no, and that's where he come. He leads into my favorite line of this movie where he says this script is so good. Not even a gifted director could hurt it. And for the modern era gifted men special.

(01:52:01):
Or, how do we know I think I think they literally, I think they literally meant like the great director like, like, taking your script, handing it to your favorite most gifted director and they go, I'm going to make this my baby and turn it into something like that still happens.
You know, like I took that way the other direction. I took that as though like you could hand this to a director that's been touched. And yeah, even I had something different these days. God damn. What do you say to actually reference what those jokes like mean?

(01:52:37):
Oh, but no, I definitely think that he was saying like a gifted director as in a director who has who believes they can do no wrong. Like and who everyone around them tells they can do no wrong. Even even they could not ruin this script because that's how scripts get ruined is that they get handed to a director who thinks they shit gold.
I would not call that a gifted director. I would call that it. I got plenty other words for that. That was my love. I boy subjective. That's the whole point of these things.

(01:53:10):
What's a maze for if you don't use it.
I.
They read herring check off does so hard. Oh, I know right like we bring up Chekhov's gun allegories in this in this show a lot. But my God, did they have the Chekhov's wall of medieval contraptions in this movie.

(01:53:34):
Yeah, my God, there are axes. There are maces. There are swords. There are shackles. There are handcuffs like pick up the pick a Chekhov's thing. It's all in here.
And then the wife can and suggests that he produced the play a fantastic idea, which, you know, it's I mean in another scenario, it would have been the right way to go.

(01:53:58):
And the way that he tries to like gas gas lighter. Yeah, gas lighter. Yeah, it must have been fun for you to be married to that Sydney Bruehl like where he's talking about himself like where she's like, you're still the Sydney Bruehl who wrote murder men or whatever it was.
And murder murder gate.

(01:54:20):
That doesn't seem right either.
No, you're right. I see that I was so positive that that's what it was that when I said it like that. But now that I've said it out loud, it doesn't sound right.
Whatever it was. She's like, you are still that man. You were that man. You are still that man. And then his response is like, God, I never realized how much you enjoyed that as well.

(01:54:44):
She she didn't say anything. She's doing nothing but being encouraging and he's doing everything he can to stress her out and gaslight her. And like, like I said, he's trying to give her a heart attack before the plans get set into motion.
Right. Yeah, like I'm pretty sure. But yeah, but that's the thing is like from this from this angle first time around, he just looks like a shitty husband.
Very much. And then this is our first mention that we that we get of crap. I didn't put her name down. Oh, the psychic neighbor. Yes. Yeah.

(01:55:16):
The site is a second. It's Helga.
Dorp on Dorp 10 Dorp.
Something like that. Yeah, it's Helga 10 Dorp. Right.
Helga 10 Dorp. Yes. I said Dorp and I was like, oh, God, that can't be. And it was. Yeah. So she she's moved in next door because apparently she has the same.

(01:55:39):
She's written a book of her exploits as a psychic finding murderers.
She's a professional like, you know, like a TV psychic, you know, finds murderers, helps the police out in France and Belgium and stuff like that. She's written a book about it and she has the same publisher as he does.
So her publisher set her up in the house next door.

(01:56:03):
So that's that's that's how we get the fact that in the midst of all of this craziness happening, there is a literal psychic next door neighbor, a psychic who works with police.
Yeah. And Canon, like her character just keeps laughing at everything. She's trying to laugh everything off.
Right. And Cain just keeps trying to remember him. But oh, where's that? And her response, like when she's like, no, I'm really going to kill this guy.

(01:56:34):
She's like, you really did have a bad night. And three to five million dollars. If that's not the thinking man's motive for murder, I don't know what is.
Yeah. And he said you need to put thinking man's motive like in there. I think three to five million probably would have covered pretty much anybody in the 70s.

(01:56:55):
That's but yeah, back then. Yeah, that would come to what like 50 million nowadays, almost. Jesus, I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to.
But yeah, like she's she's trying really hard to laugh off that he's talking that he's joking about killing a guy for his play. He's driving home. No, I'm serious. I'm looking as I really sells it to.

(01:57:18):
Yeah. And he's like, I, I think that this is yeah. And and that just kind of like and the funny part is this is what's interesting is because the part where she like she's still trying really hard to think the best of him.
Even despite the fact he's been such a prick to her for like a full 24 hours. He's still trying to think the best of him and still trying to laugh off.

(01:57:40):
So he calls the phone number on the script and we only hear his side of the conversation as she does. And we hear him lie to this guy and invite him over and basically say like, oh, your scripts fine. Could use some work.
Oh, that's the thing. Look in her eye as she is watching him lie with ease like the you can see the terror growing in her. Exactly. The whole time that he's on the phone and lying with ease, inviting the guy over, kind of being a little smarmy and sly about it.

(01:58:13):
Even glancing in her direction every once in a while going, see what I'm doing. I'm I'm going to do it. I'm bringing you can see me invite this man over to get murdered in our home.
Oh, but I also really like the fact that he's like, oh, I'm writing a play right now. What's it called? Oh, the frowning wife frowning wife.
It's a working title. It's a work. Yeah, that was that was a great moment in there. Yeah, but but yeah, you can see that growing look of terror on her face as she's she's coming to realize no he has not been joking this whole time.

(01:58:46):
And yeah, and the turn here where the you know, the tone changes. Oh my god.
Let's move on to the next. You got it.
He goes or she talks about what errands and he just starts gaslighting her about library books, talking about opening night and the author's mother running down the aisle and protest with the police saying like, it's my son and he's just laughing about it and she joins him in the laugh.

(01:59:16):
Right. Yeah. Oh, that was some painful stuff right there.
Then, Michael Caine goes to pick up a weak kid and winds up picking up Superman instead.
I know. I noticed there were moments in that too where it seemed like Reeves was punching a little bit because he didn't want to tower over the two of them too much because if he actually stood up straight, he would have been a head taller than both of them in that in that scene.

(01:59:43):
So I don't know about Michael Caine, but definitely her. Definitely her. Yeah, but no, it seemed like he was like he was hunched over a little bit like this and even then, yeah, he was he was acting meek for sure.
He was still taller than Michael Caine the whole time he was doing that. So I yeah.
I as he was a big man.

(02:00:06):
Reeves fanboying as Canon wears hesitation and fear.
Talking about being in the early stages of writer's disease and grabbing the original and so excited to be sitting with his writer hero. Cheers to death and oh Canon's cheers to death trap and then at the end of it.
I'll be quiet.

(02:00:28):
Yeah, like, oh man I was feeling for her dude.
I ice finds out there's no other carbon copy and then a very jarring cut to let me think for a moment.
Right? Yeah, like there is like, I don't know how to piece the scene together because like it's not that nothing makes sense.

(02:00:49):
It's just that it's it flows so quickly from one place to the next and you're not sure that you can keep up and that's part of your anxiety as an audience member your anxiety is going up because you're having a hard time keeping up with what's going on because so keep changing, but they all do change naturally.
So specifically.

(02:01:10):
Sydney Lulamays directing style is that high anxiety scene so a lot of the reviews on this one.
That yes people did praise the movie a lot of people hated the movie because there was the gay aspect to it.
But they a big critique on this one was the directors frantic directing style did not match the subtlety and the.

(02:01:38):
I'm struggling to remember the review.
Exactly.
But it was the frantic directing style of Sydney Lulamay did not pair with the subtle brilliance of the dialogue from the playwright.
I have to disagree with that from what I saw.
I thought it went together really well myself.

(02:01:59):
I would have to I would have to see the play.
I would actually have to see like because there's no way that I can even say on that that is just like that was said enough times that the director definitely made decisions.
And it all had to do with the frantic and high anxiety of those moments.
So you're thinking maybe the original stage play might have been more subtle and that or something like that.

(02:02:25):
I'm thinking the screaming may not have been as violent and all that I think there may have been a lot more subdued performances that actually revolved more around the dialogue instead of the imposing forces.
OK I see what you're saying and OK yeah I guess it would be interesting to actually see the stage play yeah for sure.
If I ever get a chance to I'm definitely going to.

(02:02:46):
Like this is not what I'm like like I've had the same opinion about death in the maiden for a long time if it ever comes across I'm going to see it.
It's been on my mind for a long time and it's never come across.
Right. OK.
So I'm hoping for one day.
She steps up to not plea or to plead not to kill him make money instead of murder and put aside the drowning wife like that.

(02:03:13):
I thought it was frowning frowning.
No it's a dumb title and the way she goes and this that whole point of that man murdered that man.
Like yeah and just letting it know she is a moment she is trying so hard to tell her husband you don't have to kill him without actually saying that in front of him so that he doesn't freak out.

(02:03:37):
He's but I mean before I even knew though like it seemed like he was catching on but I like that Reeve was healthily confident about his work and he tries to leave.
And then yeah Michael Caine like ripping into Canon like don't beg.
We don't.
He's going to think we're a couple of long John Silvers which I don't know what that means.

(02:03:58):
I just ate there a couple of times.
So yeah I don't know what that meant either.
Yeah.
Times have changed.
He decides to stick it out or Reeve decides to stick it out and Caine sets up Houdini's handcuffs and Canon continues pleading.
Reeve falls for it.
Yeah.
That scene with the handcuffs man.

(02:04:20):
Oh god.
Turn press and pull and Caine acts like he can't find the key.
The camera deciding to go in on Reeve's hand shaking out of fear and just in particular Reeve's performance during this scene.
Absolutely outstanding.
Oh yes.
One.

(02:04:41):
So yes Reeves did take this role and he he wanted it.
The reason he wanted is because he'd been doing Superman and he wanted with the popularity that he had gained from Superman.
He wanted to show people that he was a serious actor as well that could actually do the good heavy stuff.
Even though Reeve did petition to have the homosexuality aspect of the film toned down as much as it did.

(02:05:05):
I got even so that like the amount of damage that they said to the market that that kiss or the gay aspect of the film cost cost about 10 million dollars in 1970s money.
And that's I'm wondering how one figures a metric like that.
That is weird.
That's a good question.

(02:05:27):
I mean I would have to guess maybe there was probably some theaters that refused to play it because of it.
If you know if we're talking the 70s and how it went there there is that was what they're there.
Maybe that was how they calculated it out.
Maybe like the like your average Michael Caine release your average Christopher Reeve release kind of maybe going off of like metrics like that.

(02:05:48):
And when you put the two of them together you kind of expect a box office smash.
You don't expect a flop.
Right. That's probably true.
But yeah it's a little I don't know.
I mean that's kind of strange.
It's one of those things where I mean it's like you know when we talked about with the with the Golden Compass like you know they took out a lot of that you know critique of you know the church specifically.

(02:06:11):
And it's like that's like one of the reasons why people are into it.
That's what makes it work.
If you take that out.
What's going on here.
What is the point of any of this.
And I think that's one of the reasons that we don't like have this as a national conversation every once in a while is because they played it safe.
They didn't honor the original work.

(02:06:32):
The original work like it got picked up it was carried it was famous it was running in Broadway for a reason.
Right. Yeah exactly.
They changed it.
And the people who loved the original.
They didn't honor the original so the people who love the original didn't like it as much.
Okay.
They didn't change it enough.

(02:06:53):
So the people that they were changing it for would be satisfied.
So it didn't work for them either.
Okay.
This is that this is that problem that we keep actually running into in modern culture where we talk about changing characters.
Right.
Gender race XYZ like what have you.
If you do it well we don't care.
Right.

(02:07:14):
But if you just change it for literally no reason it's like why did you do this.
Who are you who are you satisfying you.
You took a character that was bad ass you changed it to appease somebody and then you made the character really bullying boring so they don't even become legendary to that culture.
Right. Exactly.
Why did you do this.
Yeah.
Like you can clearly see for decades it has not worked.

(02:07:39):
Yeah.
Why they have not keyed in on that is very hard to understand.
Really good question.
Really good question.
Which yeah is just kind of raising my my curiosity of the stage play.
Yeah.
Right.
That's why like this is another this is another one of those is going to wind up on the bookshelf when I'm going to have time to get to it because bone collector is there.

(02:08:04):
That was that was the first one brings up a fictitious phone call and story and holy shit resells his fear.
So well seemingly out of the blue decides to say by the way someone knows I'm here like like you can't just disappear me like he's there with the handcuffs we see his hands shaking and and Michael Cain's looking for the key.

(02:08:33):
In quotes.
And that's when that's when Reeves goes.
So maybe now is a good time to mention I could be expecting a phone call any minute now.
You know because I was supposed to I was supposed to meet a lady tonight and I canceled for this and I left her a note.
Well here's the thing like he's doing all the right stuff because he is also a thriller writer and he has thought of all these scenarios and everything like that.

(02:08:56):
So he knows how to be on the victim side.
He knows how to be on the killer side.
He's seeing everything.
But again that's in the first watch.
That's the that's the thing this one is amazing.
Cannon says my heart won't take it at the same time my heart is feeling beyond heavy like we don't know about her heart condition yet she is continuously telling us about her heart condition.

(02:09:22):
Right exactly yeah.
Like that is one of like that was finds the key and pockets it and Reeve just keeps reaching for it like that whole that whole dynamic the anxiety that came out of that scene was palpable.
It was so good that tension was amazing.

(02:09:44):
I was not ready for the scene to like I was putting this note I was right in the middle of writing a note.
I was not ready for the scene to go. Oh not the right key.
I was like writing as I was like writing my thought the choke attack with that morbid success do that chain that attack everything about that that was amazing.

(02:10:07):
Yeah.
Practical effects for the win.
Yep.
So yeah like mid mid conversation Kane finally does it he fucking kills Christopher Reeves character right in front of his wife strangles him with some shackle chains and then and then immediately like as soon as he's dead immediately starts yelling at his wife like help me with the fucking body basically like.

(02:10:35):
Oh well the align that I absolutely loved which again on first and second viewing when they land on that carpet.
Oh so the first one is like one point for lucky landing or whatever he said at that moment. But when you really think about that after watching and watching it the second time they rehearsed that so well that he landed there so the white so he wouldn't have to be drug onto the carpet and maybe found out that he's alive.

(02:11:06):
Right. Yeah.
That's the crazy that's yeah that's the crazy thing we find out later on is that they were literally like rehearsing this for who knows how long before they finally pulled it off. Yeah.
Well we find out that I guess something about this since second week of rehearsal like he's known that it wasn't going to go and it wasn't going to work right.

(02:11:27):
They've been like practicing in that motel room and then claim Kane cleans up like nothing just happened starts burning evidence and saying all your friends are going to see you living off my money like first watch I am just thinking like dude this guy's ego it has like it's gone too far buddy.
Yep. And what you're saying came continuously screaming at cannon to help I mean dude is evil in this. Yep. And it's like, just how jovially he is that we're out one rug.

(02:12:00):
Rude.
And just trying to understand how you could do it and ever feel like a winner. And right. Yeah. Yeah. And she says she like her, her, and this is another thing that I love when we get stage adaptations into movies is the killer monologues.

(02:12:24):
The week we don't get enough killer monologues anymore but her monologue here where she's sitting there going like this was nuts. You, I do not understand how you can enjoy the wealth that's going to come from this knowing that you're a fraud.
You're not the man that I'm married and respected, and I've decided, I want a divorce will will have, you know, we don't, it doesn't have to be over this. We can have fights with each other in public. Oh yeah, she comes up with a full plan.

(02:12:55):
She's like, well, wait a month, if neither of us have been arrested, like she's sitting there starts coming up the plan like that is the moment you start seeing where his partner. Amen. Right. Where they were together in the first place because their brains do work in a similar way when they're on the same wavelength, it looks like.

(02:13:16):
Yeah, and at the same time we're also seeing, and it kind of makes you wonder, like, have they done something like this before because she's very confidently going like, we'll have arguments in front of our friends, you can write them if you want to.
And, like, it's like, it's literally like we find out later on, it's literally what just happened. He scripted a fight with a student in front of her, like that's like, so she knows that this is a thing that he can do, you know, and.

(02:13:46):
Yeah, but the but we're seeing her be like very stand up about this like going, like, I don't want your money. I don't want your fame anymore. I don't want anything to do with you. You're not the man that I respected when we married. We can, we'll have a public breakup and go our separate ways and that and that's it.
And he's kind of, or he acts like he's guilt ridden about being insane enough to do it. And they hear that doorbell. But this might be my favorite line in this movie.

(02:14:17):
Behind all this Sydney Brule dialogue is Sydney, I'm peeing Sydney Brule's pants.
That's a line. That's a line.
And the fact I mean, just Michael Caine.
Yeah, I love it, man. I love it so much.

(02:14:41):
Helga Tendorp played by Irene Worth shows up in a running outfit and she tracks the pain. There's pain in this house. Oh, no, no, no, not in the kitchen.
And it's bad enough that she's a nosy neighbor. She's a psychic nosy neighbor. God damn it.
Oh, yeah. And she shakes his hand and feels something and then checks in on cannon and all this. Now, here's my question. No, no, because we're going to like approach it full spoiler version.

(02:15:12):
Yeah, we gave our warning at the beginning. Yes, she is a real psychic. We find this out.
Do you think she let the wife die so she could make a play?
I don't know. It seems like because she touches her hand and it's like it washes over her and she sees it and she starts making the decisions or something like I don't know if she knows exactly what's up.

(02:15:37):
Because remember, even when we see her again in the next the next scene that she shows up, she's only just starting to realize what she saw because now she's seeing the clues of like, oh, this is just like what I saw.
Like that. That's where that's happening. So just like Michael Caine was setting up his wife was Helga setting up Michael Caine.

(02:15:59):
That's a good question. I don't know because that is a very good question. How good of a psychic she was because she's the one who wins this movie.
No, that's true. Yes, that's true. So if she walked in there and saw like if she had the psychic vision before she even went there, when did she start planning this and is she the ultimate bad guy?
I love if she I love stories like this. This is where independent films try to do and way too many of them fail. Yeah, that open ending bullshit. No, this is not open ended at all.

(02:16:37):
You have questions about what happened along the way. Right. Yes. Yeah. No, that's a good point. Yeah. That's that's like.
I'm gonna keep watching this one, man. It's so good. No. Yeah.
I'm there with you.
She says the plane knife will be used to do real harm and the way that Cain snaps his head back to cannon.

(02:17:05):
Bitch, you're gonna stab me. Right. Yeah. That was like, I don't know if that was played for humor, but my God, it got a huge laugh out of me. Yeah.
Says this room is a death trap. And then he's like, oh, the play I'm working on and all this plays it off in a really believable way retells the story of what just happened and then foretells what's and she foretells what's to come.

(02:17:33):
Yeah. And I liked it. The only thing though.
What was the deal with the knife because that never came true.
The dagger.
No, it did. When
she said she said a lady is going to use it. He was the lady.

(02:17:54):
When did she use it.
At the very, very, very end. She didn't. She had an inner. She had an inner hand and she was backing away and then
Christopher and then Reeve killed Cain and Reeve died from his injuries.
Huh?
Well, then, at least that's what the play at least that's what the play said happened. Right. Okay.

(02:18:16):
Okay, so
she's not that good of a psychic. Well, no. See, here's my point by saying that it upped a little bit of the danger, prompting the situation to continue.
Okay, so you think that's where you're thinking she let things play out by saying something that would get him moving.
Yes. In the direct. Okay. Okay. You might be on to something there.

(02:18:38):
By by having him think that he's in danger of her that guarantees the plan is going to move forward.
Right. Okay.
I like I like shit like this. This is the good stuff.
Pain thinks it's a fantastic gift and won't let cannon out. Like this is one every moment up until here. He's trying to get cannon as far away from him as possible.

(02:19:05):
At this moment, he will not like he moves and realize that she's not with him. So he goes back and grabs her and takes her with him.
Right.
Dynamics have shifted at this point. Now he doesn't want her to have access to that knife without him knowing
that scream when he opens the door to nothing. Oh, good God. I jumped a couple things there. Yeah, yeah. You jumped a couple minutes there. Yeah.

(02:19:32):
The psychic leaves and cannon wants a drink for bed.
Kane wants the whole bottle. But it was already at this moment he tried to get her to open the window. Reeb was already outside the window and he tried to get her to open it at this point.
But she wants a drink. So they have to go downstairs first. Right.
So, uh, Kane goes with and this is that moment I was talking about earlier where he's like, No, you're going to open.

(02:20:01):
I heard I saw there's somebody out there. He's like, No, there's nobody out there. You're going to satisfy me. You're going to satisfy yourself.
And like he pushes her to the door, forces it open and she screams.
Again, he's just trying to get her to have that heart attack. Yeah.
Like he is pulling every trigger he possibly can.

(02:20:24):
But then, yeah, she gets that big gulp of brandy.
She was funny.
I have to give her that. Yeah.
What was the actress's name again?
Diane. Diane Cannon.
Diane Cannon. Yeah. Like she's sitting here like.
Okay. To be clear about something, her name is spelled D-Y-A-N.

(02:20:49):
Right. Yes. So is it Dion? Diane? I don't know.
I went with Diane when I read it too. Okay. Okay. Fair enough.
I also could be wrong, but that's also what I saw.
Right.
But yeah, like she's basically in this like three man performance with Christopher Reeves and Michael Kane.

(02:21:12):
And she is not just holding her own.
She's carrying just as much of this performance as they are.
Why have I not heard of her? Why am I not when I'm telling people about this movie?
Oh, yeah. Death Trap with Christopher Reeve and Michael Kane and Diane Cannon.
Why am I never remembering her name? My assumption is she is much more of a stage performer.

(02:21:37):
You know what? You're probably right.
She probably came from Broadway and went right back as soon as this movie was over.
You're probably right. That's my guess because she is a powerhouse.
Yeah. So I don't know. They head back upstairs and Kane, do you think it's possible that murder is an aphrodisiac?
Yeah. Because she keeps talking.

(02:21:59):
She's like, there was some awful, terrible part of me that even though I didn't want you to do it,
there was a part of me that was really hoping.
Oh. Like, dude, like you start seeing it like, oh, God.
We're seeing this weird kind of thing because it's like he's trying to kind of like play up that,
oh, no, yeah, I really feel guilty about having done this.

(02:22:20):
Please don't be mad at me, baby.
And she's having a part of herself where she's trying really hard to cope with what's happening by kind of going,
maybe I was OK with it. I don't know. You know, I don't want to admit it.
There was a part of me like the the the the stages of acceptance are rolling through on the on these two with different pieces.
And just just as they're starting to, you know, wind their day now after a long day of murder,

(02:22:48):
it's it's finally time for a nightcap to go to bed.
And then that's when it's like, oh, a little warm in here.
Let's get some air in and open the window.
Attack of the wreath.
The the. A fucking zombie at the window like, holy shit.
And he comes in full. I mean, the dude's seven feet tall.

(02:23:11):
Let's face it. And he comes in covered in blood and mud and a giant log in his hand.
And he's just like, oh, like, like it is a bit intimidating.
Like any any like I'm surprised there weren't more audience members having a heart attack at that moment.

(02:23:32):
It was a great jump scare, especially first time. Oh, my. Really? Yeah.
It was outstanding. Kane goes down and cannons on the run and goes down.
At first, I thought it was a poison or something. I'm like, wait, what what just happened here?
We find out it's a heart attack and it's a different kind of job because Kane and Reeve are lovers in this.

(02:23:53):
And I like that line from Kane on this one. Farewell, Death Trap.
Would that you were the genuine article and tosses it right in the fire.
Yep. Love that line. That one shot of Kane getting like getting into the mood to call the ambulance.

(02:24:14):
Clear eyed, perfect. Just kissed his new boyfriend.
I don't know how long they've been together. Goes down and sits in the chair.
And in a one shot, he goes from saying goodbye or saying good night to his lover to sitting down, getting tears in his eyes and making the phone call to 911.
Yeah, Michael Frickin Kane. I know. Right. Yeah. Good God, man.

(02:24:39):
Just too good. And I mean, the funeral was quite possibly the fastest funeral I've ever seen in cinema.
Right. Yeah. Nope. Well, because that's you know, that's an added scene for a movie.
It definitely like it definitely wasn't in the play. So it's like we're now cutting to you know, that's the end of Act one.
Now we have our intermission, which happens to be a two second long funeral.

(02:25:02):
And now we're starting Act two. It's what which is now what? Like two months later.
And Christopher Reeve. I thought it was like two weeks later. Was it two weeks? OK.
Oh, yeah. Because because Von Drop, Ten Drop, Ten Dorp. Right. Wow.
Ten Dorp said that she's going to be on this show next week.

(02:25:25):
And then when we cut to Act two, we find out that she was on that show last week.
OK. So then, yes, it has been it's been two weeks. Yes. So it's been two weeks now. And Christopher Reeve has already fully moved in.
They've got they've got desks that face each other now. Partner Desk.
Oh, that is a that is only one desk. It is a partner desk.

(02:25:47):
That's right. That's right. Which I wanted.
I was looking up at the trivia and I never found this, but I wanted to see it.
So I wanted to see so bad that that was the lowest in Clark Desk.
That's what I wanted it to be. And I never found anything like that. But I'm like, dude, you have Superman.
It looked a little it looked a little vintage to be the kind of desk you would find at the Daily Planet, I think.

(02:26:14):
Fine, but still like the fact that you have Christopher Reeve sitting at a partner desk, you just want Lois Lane on the other end.
That's true. Margot Kidder. Margot Kidder. Exactly. Yeah.
But there's two typewriters now and only one is hammering away.
And the just the death stare in Michael Caine's eyes as he's looking at that like the pages just writing themselves.

(02:26:37):
Huh? All that animosity to the new blood that he was faking in the first in the first half, he now is genuinely feeling right there in the second half.
Yep. And but and what he says or what Reeve says is it's because they're real stories instead of a thriller that requires plotting and outlines and all of this.

(02:27:03):
Yeah. He's like, I want to make something relevant.
And I like that. Like when Michael Caine says, even though you use that word, I'm still going to let you stay here.
I like that. I like that a lot because you have to know that like like as a writer and stuff like that, like what you're writing right now, how is that relevant?

(02:27:25):
It shut up. It's what I'm writing. Right. Exactly.
Reeve suggests inviting Tendorp. And I like that.
I was like, do you have a death wish? You just love living on the edge, don't you? Right.
Yeah. And then Henry Jones showing up as Porter Milgram and admires the partner desk and Reeve's white pants really highlight the fact that he's wearing those boots.

(02:27:54):
I kind of figured that was a costume department decision, like to have it like everything be so light and then the dark boots.
Probably. Yeah. Yep. Really kind of. Yeah. Let it shine.
Well, yeah, because it because it's like Tendorp is like, oh, I see boots.
So like we have to see. Right. Now we all see the fucking boots. Yeah.

(02:28:17):
So, yeah, Caine has Reeve playing off as his secretary or assistant.
And then as he leaves, he looks to the Porter and he goes, do you think he's gay?
Like, no, I didn't see it was like, well, I guess it's none of my business as long as he doesn't put his little fairy wings on and float into my bed.
I'm like, dude, he is covering he is covering his gay tracks very well. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

(02:28:40):
Denial is a hell of a drug, man. Well, yeah. And it wasn't even just that.
Like earlier in the movie, before we find anything like that, he starts talking about his neighbor and she's like, you don't remember.
Our neighbor was like doing an impression of Tendorp for like 20 minutes and he's like, oh, I thought that was just him coming out of the closet.
No, dude, he is gay bashing all over the place in this movie and he's right. That's right. Yes.

(02:29:06):
Yeah. He's a little rainbow colored himself.
Putting the idea of Reeve stealing stories in Caine's head, he's staring at the desk.
And I mean, the way that he was staring at the desk, he paid so much attention that it almost seemed like he was in league with Reeve.
A little bit. Yes. And my first viewing of it is that I was thinking that that the lawyer is now kind of cluing in.

(02:29:33):
Like there's a part of him that's sitting there going like this guy moved in right after the funeral and their desks are and they're sharing it like he maybe like maybe.
And like that maybe that's why even Michael Caine is like sitting there going like, yes, you think that guys might be gay.
As long as he doesn't touch me like to kind of like take him off the trail of the lawyer who's kind of technically his dead wife's lawyer, you know, only his lawyer technicality.

(02:30:00):
Oh, I didn't catch that. He's the family lawyer is basically. Okay. Okay. That makes sense.
So he's now Caine's lawyer kind of as a technicality, you know.
But but yeah, like he like was was the lawyer putting it together like, wait a second. Wait a sec, you know, and then that's where Caine kind of comes in with the whole like misdirects and changing the subject.

(02:30:23):
Because he's he sees the lawyer looking at the desk and really kind of harping on and really kind of focusing on that desk.
And he's like, shit, he's he's thinking he's thinking I better get him thinking about something else, you know.
And so that was what I was taking it to. But you know, and yeah, then we find out, you know, a couple of minutes later at the end of the conversation, that's when that's when the lawyer actually goes, actually, I saw him.

(02:30:47):
I saw him lock something in there. That's what's weird.
Well, yeah. So he says that he saw like some locks him in there. And then he talks about working at the welfare office. And then the lawyer is like, oh, well, it's a force of habit.
And the fact that he the lawyer says, well, it's a force of habit, then keeps looking at the desk. That's where it's like, OK, that that that seems a little bit unnatural at this point.

(02:31:10):
You've already justified it to yourself. You've already explained it, yet you're continuing the suspicion for no reason at all.
That was a character decision that I didn't fully understand.
But yeah, I don't know. I guess I didn't. I mean, the thing that the thing that the thing that I like, you kind of skip over a lot of times when you're writing something or creating something.

(02:31:34):
People are people. Characters are going to make decisions that you don't totally understand just because they had a different flavored pop tart that morning.
Like people like that's that's the human thing. So, I mean, I may just be throwing a lot of a lot of attention to something that just is inconsequential.

(02:31:55):
That's possible. Yeah. But it's kind of hard to do that in a movie as this type we put together as this tightly put together as this.
You kind of have to assume every decision has a reason behind it because there are so many details that come into play later.
Oh, I missed that. The porter was working with the psychic and she told him what to pay attention to.

(02:32:18):
Also possible that seems like a little further reach to me. Oh, no, that is that is that is that is I'm reaching for like I'm doing yoga on that one.
But I'm having fun with it. Right.
But no, but I did I I did love that reaction. Like that's the thing is like McCain's like going like it's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. Anyway, goodbye. Close the door immediately.

(02:32:40):
Bolts for that fucking desk like he's there with a crowbar ripping that trying to rip that thing open. Oh, yeah.
And he breaks the knife. He doesn't even wait for the lawyer to leave the driveway. He is on that desk immediately.
That's that got a laugh out of me. Like that's like a serious moment. That is also funny.

(02:33:01):
Oh, OK. No, I'm with you on that. Because as he's panicking, he grabs a he grabs a knife and he breaks the knife in there.
So he goes and grabs a thicker dagger to help pry the desk open so he can get the knife out, goes to his side, pulls his drawer out and then reaches through that way.
Gets what we find out is the manuscript or death trap or literally going real about all of the real world events that just took place and not even changing the details, only changing the names.

(02:33:33):
Right. Exactly. So he finds out that minimal this script that he's been writing about this whole time that he thought were the other life stories of the welfare office people.
No, it turns out he's been basically writing a confession of what they just did last week. Oh, yeah.
And Reeve trying to comfort him while Kane flips about all the ways that it could go wrong.

(02:33:55):
Like, and what will you say when the man from the Times comes and says, didn't you work for Sydney Brol around the time his wife had a heart attack?
Chris Reeves replies, no comment. And like, oh my God, the way that Kane flips on this is like, I have a comment. No.
Like, like, like that was a great one. No comment. I have a comment. No. Goes to burn it.

(02:34:20):
And that coldness in what you're saying. Stop right there, fella. Stop right that because that was a Clark Kent line.
Dead with such venom, like I have never heard such a simple set of words said with so much evil.

(02:34:44):
So, yeah, if Christopher Reeves went out to do this movie in the hopes to set himself apart to show what kind of actor he could be,
he did it with that fucking line because he basically did a Clark Kent line as a monster and things that should not go together.

(02:35:06):
And he put them together in a it chilled your blood listening to it.
And yeah, right there, fella. Like, and we see it, the reaction from Kane because Kane stops dead in his fucking tracks when he says.
Oh, oh, what a moment. The fear that washes over on Michael Kane when he does like in that moment is it is pretty heavy.

(02:35:37):
I want like when they sit down to have that conversation, he says, I want a shortcut and I don't give a shit who's through property.
Yeah, that is a line. That is a hell of a line. Reeve has an extraordinarily nihilistic view of the world and.
Kane's response, the fear that he has, the level of control that he is trying to exhibit and everything over the scene when he says,

(02:36:08):
in all those times in your troubled youth before you straightened out, as it were, and calm down, did anybody ever use the term sociopath?
And very gently trying to ask the question, has this ever come up before?
Yes. And the thing is, Reeves response to that.

(02:36:33):
Does that word scare you? That this this exchange.
No, but that response does. No, this this exchange was absolutely amazing.
Yeah, like the again, the power of a stage play being brought to the screen is when you get you get to have these moments like like just the fierce, intense burn of something that that doesn't call for a lot of special effects, doesn't call for a lot of fancy camera tricks.

(02:37:08):
It's just two actors and good delivering good dialogue as hard as they can at each other.
Yes, this is what we were talking about just the other day with movies better from the 90s or movies better now.
Hmm. More moments like this. Yes. Back when you had to rehearse before going on set.

(02:37:33):
Right. Exactly. Yes. I see where your point is. Yes. Because back then they were working with film. If you had to do a take five times, that's $300 with a film you just pissed through. Yeah.
We don't have about this after we went off the air the other day.
But TV is better now than it was back then movies were better than than they are now.

(02:37:57):
Okay, yeah, I'll go with that.
I feel like there's no argument to say that TV got better.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. 100% Yeah.
Movies chasing the almighty buck has really screwed them.
It really has. Yeah.

(02:38:18):
Where he goes through a series of questions and explanations and Reeve responds with Are you asking if you can trust me? And the way that Kane responds.
How plainly you put it like that smile he wears while he's doing why he says that.
Ah, and basically the explanation of a sociopath boils down to do I need you?

(02:38:45):
Hmm. Because if I don't need you, you don't need to exist. Right. Yeah.
Which whoever wrote Star Wars Rogue One.
I'm pretty sure as a sociopath.
Oh, he finally watched it.
No, but I actually know enough about it.
Every single character in that movie once they serve their one purpose to the story, the writer just killed him.

(02:39:12):
Right. Let him go off in an explosion or something like that.
That's pretty I think it was written by a sociopath.
Oh, see, that's that's what that was kind of one of my points.
And I don't want to go on a tangent all of a sudden here.
But that was basically why I wanted you to see it first, because that was the point of the movie.
They literally have this whole like discussion in the middle about how they like heat like one of the guys is like a failed Jedi or something like that or a former Jedi or something.

(02:39:40):
He's like, he really likes the Jedi and follows their shit, but he's not a Jedi.
But he's always going off on how the force is with us and stuff like that.
And basically says like he's sure that they're going to succeed because the force will guide us there and basically sets up the fact that as soon as they have succeeded in their part of the mission, the force stops protecting them and they're done.

(02:40:02):
And so and so my whole take of what the whole movie was apparently the force is an absolute bitch as soon as you've served your purpose.
Fuck you.
By by pure logic, the force is a sociopath.
Right. Exactly.
That's that. That's a fun one to take to a convention.

(02:40:26):
Right.
Quotes their story and cheers to death trap and don't kid a kidder.
That's from Act one.
But that's the thing.
We're back in Act one.
And that was the only kind of nod to that.
But we are about to jump into Act two.
Kane says, let me worry about Act two and the way the camera and the shot and the whole scene ends on just him thinking.

(02:40:54):
Power from Michael Kane, man, just yeah, you can't you can't beat it.
Reeve is alone and feeling eerie until there's a knock on the window from the psychic.
And you can tell she's super uneasy about him right away.
That lady does not do doors, does she?
Like, like, this is the second time.
This is the second time she's appeared in both times.

(02:41:16):
She appeared pounding on the window going, let me in.
Well, no, no, no, the first time she just walked through the kitchen door.
I think she was knocking on a window at some point, and then she just walked around the house until she found a door because she was out running, I think.
Is that what that was?
Or was the second? I don't know.

(02:41:39):
She predicts the weather and Reeve asks if she's sure.
She's like, yeah, it was on the radio.
I appreciate moments like that.
Yeah, no, that was clever. I like that one.
Yeah. And she even later on, she even gives credit to which is like, yeah, so those weathermen, sometimes they get it right.
There you go. Yep.

(02:42:00):
And then like her free, she's like, boots.
You wear boots.
He's all I love that his response is, yeah, they're all the rage these days.
Like, like, yeah, everybody wears boots.
Like, that's a yeah.
And she's being a bit like, here's the thing.
She was being a bit too obvious to have survived that night.

(02:42:25):
That's where your suspension of disbelief comes in.
She comes in a sociopath very clearly knows that she like thinks it's him.
I don't think she would have survived that night.
To me, that's a bit of a plot hole.
That's just the story has to happen.
Maybe. Yeah.
Or maybe it was one of those things where he figured he'd take care of her later or something like that.

(02:42:51):
He didn't think she was an immediate threat.
The immediate threat was Michael Caine.
Potentially. I can see that.
Reeve goes to find candles and Tendorpe says she came to warn about him.
Sees the typewriter. Ah, it was Corona, not Smith and Colona.
And like, so that was the thing like the black suit.

(02:43:12):
That was the black typewriter.
The person named Colona.
It was Corona.
Like, right.
No, I like. But see, here's where I'm talking about.
She drops the hints and stuff like that, but they're vague enough.
And then she comes back and then she like highlights them again to pick up the conflict even more.
Right. OK.

(02:43:34):
She's kind of the catalyst that makes most of this movie happen, I think.
And yeah, to some degree, yeah.
But everyone kind of has their own role in this.
Where there is not an unnecessary character in this movie.
Yeah, like even even the wife, like she's kind of like a victim to a lot of this.
But there's even a point where she even furthers the plot by by trying to take initiative.

(02:43:59):
Like part of her own anxiety is built up with her trying to talk her husband out of doing the thing.
Or even instead of, you know, or saying like, I want a divorce at the end or even throwing him really further for a loop by saying,
actually, I think I might be OK with what you did later on.
You know, like like no, no one in here is a well, I kept seeing that as he kept trying to get her calm so she could be startled again.

(02:44:26):
Because going from going from an eight to a ten, not as dangerous as going from a two to a ten.
OK, that's that's a good point. Yeah.
But again, that's just what I saw. Yeah.
That's why I love movies like this.
Reed guesses correctly that she pointed out that he's the man in the boots who attacks him.
He gives a good lie while finishing it off with what he's doing, sticking as close to the truth as he can.

(02:44:53):
The thing is, Reeve is quoting it with him at the same time, thinking that he's in on it.
But this is like a like a lie on a lie on a lie.
Like it was very I don't even know how to properly describe this.
It was very, very well crafted. It was inception.
It was inception. That is exactly what it was. Correct.

(02:45:14):
Kane wants to act out scene two with a sassy Reeve and he gets that scratch on his neck.
He's setting up a believable scene for the police to find. Right.
Like he's completely setting it up and getting Reeve into position and then grabs a gun.
See, here's the thing.

(02:45:35):
I'll get that. Reeve mocks him as an aging broke broken down writer and Kane responds as that gun and click, click, points it at his own face, click.
Like, where's the bullets? I know. I feel like, whoa, whoa.
I can get you looking into the frickin like, but what are you putting it at your face for, man?

(02:45:59):
Like, don't do that. No, don't don't don't.
But I did. I that was that was one of those like already enough.
Like we get that scene, the click, click, click. And he's confused.
But then the like this I don't know how to describe like when we're talking about a movie like this, how do you sit there and say this one scene was so but somehow this one really did.

(02:46:23):
This really got me where we've got Reeves sitting there like first he's like and then he just goes like like, you know, like, oh, he acts along.
He acts along with it, even though he knows what he knows. Right.
And then he just and then he drops it. And now he's got that look of seriousness on his face.
And we see and the shot is kind of tight.

(02:46:45):
We're a little bit fooled because it's kind of tight, but it's not as tight as usual.
It's just wide enough that he goes that when he says there are no bullets in that gun, we see the gun he's reaching for off this wall.
And he goes, I took them to put in this gun like, yeah, it's a it's about it's about a two button shot.
Right. And the frame is no, it is.

(02:47:09):
So it was very masterfully done.
In fact, that it was it was a shot that normally would give away that there's something there like normally we would go, oh, there's a gun here.
So he's going to reach for that gun.
But you don't actually catch it because they bring it just in tight enough to fool you into thinking this is actually a one shot.
It was it was kind of brilliant because when he does reach for that gun, you are kind of like, oh, what the fuck?

(02:47:32):
There was a gun there. And he says, I took the bullets out of that gun to put them in this gun.
And that's like. We are now in what our third turnaround in this movie like, holy shit.
I couldn't I couldn't keep track in which is and that is why we are the twits that Michael Caine was talking about, like talking about this and going through all the twists.

(02:47:56):
We literally are those people.
Right.
And that sucks. But at this moment, Cain winds up in shackles because Reeve had it all planned out.
But he tells him he's like Reeve tells him what he thinks is going to happen.
And this whole plan Reeves going to walk away, he's going to say he got the idea.

(02:48:21):
He went to a work for Sidney Brewell after his wife had a heart attack.
And that's how we got the idea for this, which honestly should have been the idea from the very beginning.
Right. They could like he could he did not have to freak out.
Cain could have been like this was inspired by the tragedy of my wife and this is how I dealt with it.
Right. Exactly.
Like that could have been how that went. I actually think that would have been a believable thing.

(02:48:46):
And Reeve was right. There would have been some controversy.
Like, yeah, I mean, after after after Stephen King got hit by that truck, the next 30 books he came out with all had a dude getting hit by a truck in them.
Like, this is what writers do, man. Yeah, I didn't know that.
But yeah, I may have read a little too much Stephen King in my life.

(02:49:10):
OK, fair. Then Cain asks, he's like, because, you know, Reeve said he's going to like, you know,
basically, Cain's character in Death Trap, the story that Reeve wrote in Death Trap, complicated, is going to kill himself.
And Cain goes, Julian shoots himself? Well, that's exceedingly feeble.

(02:49:35):
That's how he says that's how he convinces him. Don't kill me and make it look like a make it look like a suicide. That's a shit ending.
Your play is going to suck if you do that. Yeah.
And Vanessa says, I'm not going to kill you. And then we get that lightning.

(02:49:57):
He's like, huh, electrical effects from God. Right.
That how very meta do you imagine that would be from watching it on stage and you're seeing the every time the lightning goes off,
the the actors are reacting to it like, boy, this would be great on stage, wouldn't it?
Like, right. Yeah, there you go. Cain escapes.

(02:50:20):
And the last thing he says before he runs out, those were Houdini's handcuffs.
I know. Right. So cheeky. So fun. I like. Yep. That is the best Chekhov's gun I have ever seen.
It was fantastic. Sneaks around and then goes back into the house and then catches Reeve with a crossbow.

(02:50:45):
Of all things, we've never had mention of a crossbow at any time.
The only time we saw the the only time we saw the crossbow is when he was running his finger behind it, looking for the key.
Right. Exactly. That was our clue in at the crossbow was there was when he was looking he was, quote unquote,
looking for the key, he ran his fingers behind the crossbow to look for it at one point.

(02:51:06):
So that was what that was our first look at it. That was that only there was no mention of it.
He talked about a mace. He talked about a gun. There was a dagger like all these things we talked about.
Superman got got by a crossbow. Yep. In the back. In the back.
And Reeve goes down and so do the lights. The psychic sneaks in and confronts him, grabs the gun and Reeve survived.

(02:51:32):
Why was the psychic there? That's the big thing.
Well, remember, he is she is a psychic for the cops. He was there to catch him for the cops.
Why was she there alone?
There's a murderer. There's two killers, both of them ginormous compared to her.

(02:51:53):
She didn't come in with a gun. She did not come in armed. She broke into this dude's house to confront him.
I really think there was like some like she was the secret character pushing things along because she actually wanted to prevent anything.
She would have showed up at some point with a cop.

(02:52:15):
I don't know how I'm wrong here.
So instead, she used her psychic powers to place herself in a position to make it all happen in a way that would make everybody dead,
but her and she gets to she gets both the fame of having been the psychic who discovered everything and wrote a hit play about it.

(02:52:36):
Correct. That is what I think happened.
Okay. All right. I will look for I will look for clues to that in my second watching.
But then, yes, the struggle for the gun and Reeve survived and he raises that axe high.
But we get to the stage play and the psychic survived and he wrote the play Death Trap by Helga Tendrop.

(02:53:03):
And it goes. Yes, it is an absolute smash.
And then on this because we don't see what happened in real life.
We see what happened on her stage and it was Reeve took the dagger and killed.
Okay. Yep. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

(02:53:24):
But then immediately afterwards dies of his own injuries that he received before.
No, the key took the he took I thought he took the crossbow bolt and then stabbed him again.
No, it looked like that was a knife he took out.
So clearly the state this the stage version had something else going on.
Yeah. Where Reeves the character playing Reeves his character takes the knife out of his own chest and uses it to stab Kane's character.

(02:53:48):
And then they both die at the same time.
But take note, no woman ever harmed or ever got harmed or harmed anybody with a dagger.
That whole bit, that whole thing was just to get Kane to hold the trigger on the plan against his wife.
Okay. Okay. That's where I'm coming from this one.

(02:54:10):
But all right. Last thought or final thoughts on Death Trap.
Final thoughts. I mean, like, holy shit, dude.
Like, yeah, this is a move. This is not just a must see movie. This is a movie to watch over and over and over again, because there is so fucking much in it.
And yeah, we. Yeah. And yeah, I explained ahead of time what what brought me to this.

(02:54:31):
This literally was just me going, hey, wasn't there a movie that mattered that I never actually watched?
So, yeah, like I said, I was only slightly more prepared than you were on this.
But yeah, it was a good. This was a payoff.
This was probably one of the better payoffs.
And yeah, I'm shocked that there hasn't been any remakes, especially nowadays where they wouldn't where they there wouldn't be as much danger in keeping the gay content in it.

(02:55:00):
Good point. Like what?
Like, yeah, like it's shocking that this movie has not held the staying power.
You're hitting the mic again. It's shocking that there hasn't been more staying power in the movie.
I haven't really heard of the play being performed much, except when I was in high school.
I remember my school, my high school put it on.

(02:55:22):
Really? Yeah, I.
OK, I didn't even then. Oh, no, that was the thing.
I auditioned for it and I didn't get a pardon because I was a teenage petty bitch.
I refused to go see it. So that was that one's on me.
I admit my faults. I have grown as a person since then.

(02:55:43):
And yeah, and I'm mad at and I'm mad at old young me for missing out on what would have been a phenomenal show.
Well, I mean, high school students. True.
But, you know, we had a pretty good department, I got to say.
We did some pretty good stuff. So we didn't.
I say that being the star of a lot of those, we were not good.

(02:56:06):
No, I feel you there. Yeah. But but yeah.
Yeah, I guess I guess that's it. Yeah.
This was amazing. This was amazing.
This was amazing. It is like like I said, both of us, I think both of us are throwing this on the must see list.
There's one dispute there.
If we were still doing the movie fights, it would easily win.

(02:56:30):
It's it's not as iconic as not as viewed.
And here's the thing, even though it made the mistakes of trying to play the middle ground, it still wound up being amazing.
So that really says a lot about it.
So even though I'm putting the movie really high towards the must see list, I'm putting the play on the must see list.
Oh, for sure. Yeah, definitely going to have to start checking around at local theaters.

(02:56:54):
So, you know, see, making sure I'm making sure I'm keeping tabs on who's doing what.
So if this play pops up, I'm definitely going to go see it.
There you go. All right.
Anything else for this week's episode, man?
That's all I got for this week, man.
If you guys watched us tonight, you guys know that on seven p.m. on Mountain Time, we are live every Thursday.

(02:57:18):
And we have the podcast up on Spotify, Apple, Pandora, pretty much wherever else you get podcast, you can find us.
If you're joining us live, thank you. If we're joining you on the podcast.
Thank you. Fuck, what am I saying? I don't even know what I'm saying here, man.
I don't know. I really need to write this down. Yeah, I need to come up with something. Yeah, same here.

(02:57:45):
And if you if you're listening to us while driving or falling asleep, you're welcome.
All right. Well, like I said, next Thursday, seven p.m. Mountain Time from now until then.
Stay safe and stay sane. Good night, everybody.

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H.Y.S.T? | S2E12 | Robin Hood: Men in Tights & Deathtrap

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}H.Y.S.T? | S2E12 | Robin Hood: Men in Tights & Deathtrap