June 4, 2025 • 64 mins
David Lynch's Dark Suburban MasterpieceJoin hosts Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell with special guests Andy Nelson and Pete Wright as they dive into David Lynch's controversial classic Blue Velvet (1986), a film that exposed the dark underbelly beneath idyllic small-town America.When college student Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers a severed ear in a field, he's drawn into a twisted mystery involving nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) and the terrifying Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). The hosts explore how Lynch creates a jarring contrast between 1950s suburban aesthetics and the disturbing criminal world that exists beneath the surface.The panel discusses how Blue Velvet serves as Lynch's most accessible work while still containing his signature surrealism. Unlike his later films that abandon traditional narrative structure, Blue Velvet follows a relatively straightforward detective story, making it an excellent entry point for viewers new to Lynch's filmography. The film's lasting impact can be seen in later works like Twin Peaks, which further developed many of the themes and visual styles first explored here.Dennis Hopper's unhinged performance as Frank Booth remains one of cinema's most memorable villains, with the hosts noting how Hopper reportedly told Lynch, "I am Frank Booth," when accepting the role that many actors had turned down due to its disturbing nature.Topics Discussed:
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- The film's juxtaposition of 1950s idealism with 1980s darkness
- Lynch's signature visual style and sound design techniques
- The voyeuristic themes and Jeffrey's seduction by darkness
- Isabella Rossellini's haunting performance as Dorothy Vallens
- How Blue Velvet compares to Lynch's other works
- The famous "Pabst Blue Ribbon" scene
- Lynch's influence on subsequent filmmakers and media
- Each host's rating of the film (on a scale of Pabst Blue Ribbons)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Most
Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast. Want to skip those ads and
get early access, become a member at true story dot fm,
slash join and discover all the other great parks that
come with it. Hello and welcome to the Most Excellent
(00:30):
Eighties Movies Podcast. It's the podcast where we huff our
way through the eighties movies we think we love, or
might have missed, or might have deliberately missed with these
our new modern eyes to see how they hold up
and how we feel about them today. And today we're
talking about Blue Velvet, a movie selection from nineteen eighty six,
(00:55):
about which the overview says, college student Jeffrey Beaumont played
by Kyle McLaughlin, returns home after his father has a stroke.
When he discovers a severed ear in an abandoned field,
Beaumont teams up with detective's daughter Sandy Williams played by
Laura Dern, to solve the mystery. They believe that beautiful
(01:16):
lounge singer Dorothy Vallens played by Isabella Rossellini may be
connected to the case, and Beaumont finds himself becoming drawn
into her dark, twisted World, where he encounters a phone call.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Gotta keep that in.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, where he encounters sexually depraved psychopath Frank Booth played
by Dennis Hopper. Oh all right, here comes the trailer.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Beneath the surface.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Of the perfect small town of dark World.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Wait, you're going to fell me?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know anything?
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
One name that keeps coming up is.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
This woman's super No, that's someone could learn a lot
about getting into that moment's apartment.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
I don't know if you're a detective Berbers for.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
We hadn't known you to find out? What are you
doing in my apartment?
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I close my.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And I hold me a good name?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Will you?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
There's too an interesting experience.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So okay. I really like the song they play in
the trailer. It's really good. It's a song, all right.
Chrissy Lenz one of the directors of the Neighborhood Comedy
Theater in downtown Mice, Arizona, and with me as ever
(03:39):
is award winning filmmaker who will say his name now.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Hello, I'm Nathan Blackwell.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Of Squishy Studios and joining us today for this epic
podcast adventure are our pod bosses, the geniuses behind True
Story FM, and the hosts of the next real podcast
and movies we like we have of course, mister Andy Nelson.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Hey everybody, and Pete Wright. I am also here Pod
Boston two. I've never heard definitely.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, okay, we're going to talk about Blue Velvet. I'm
so excited that you guys were both like super excited
to jump in when we pitched this movie at you,
and I hope you have a lot to say because
I am in.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
The weeds so this So you thought this was your
first ever Lynch movie, but we saw Dune together.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yes, we did Dune, which like, don't I don't think
that Dune should count because it's based on source material,
you know what I mean. So like, yeah, it's a
David Lynch movie, and it's a cuckoo bananas and Bonker's crazy, but.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
It's not like full David Lynch.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's not like from his mind right, you.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Know, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
David Lynch, right, which I've never even seen Twin Peaks,
so I've seen parodies.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And yeah, and even if it's seen like The Elephant
Man before, that also is like it's David Lynch, but
also not experiment. Yeah, not quite David Lynch like that
you get with.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I mean you could really say that this is like
the full like David Lynch experience, you know in.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
A lot of ways, like Blue Velvet is.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, at least what we know is like the David
Lynch you know.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, there's definitely other films that he has made that
are I would say even more David Lynch. Like this
in some aspects is perhaps like the most like straightforward
of David Lynch story.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
This is the most straightforward.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's still adhering to him a plot. Yeah right, it's
not it's not driving off the road into a strange.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
In the Empire. Yeah, in an Empires highway, We'll holland drive.
Like there's definitely a place that David Lynch goes where
his film's film feel a little more hallucinatory and the
story like you really have to sit and figure out,
like what was this story about? Like what happened? Like
what was that thing going on? This is like pretty straightforward.
(06:32):
You've got some crazy characters, but it's it is pretty
much a straightforward it's story with like real people.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Christy, It's never gonna make more sense than this.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
That's a great way to put it. That should be
on the poster on some sort of re released I was.
I actually found it that this might be the most
controversial thing I say today. I found it refreshingly simple
to rewatch this movie like there was. You know, the
things that were controversial at the time feel almost a
(07:09):
little bit banal today. Like we've had vastly worse criminals
in film since then, we've had vastly more sexual predation.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
We've been we are so numbed now, so numb Nathan.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
That may as well be a g rated film.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
It's I mean, PG thirteen, But do you know what
I mean? Like I watching it again, I realized just
how far I've come in journey toward complete anesthesia.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, well, I don't know what you're watching, Pete, but
this is not great for me. I was. I was
really thankful that it did have a plaque, because that's
one of the things I was worried about, that it
would just be like a music video that I couldn't understand.
(08:05):
Because that's why I've sort of avoided all of these
David Lynch movies. I think because much like Mandy of
the Make Me a Nerd Podcast, I just don't think
I'm smart enough to like understand what it's all supposed
to mean. And this one was pretty straightforward. It's like, Okay,
(08:26):
you've got a plot. It's a murder mystery. I can't
pretend that all the pieces fit into place for me
at the end, but it's followed along, you know, a
sort of predictable course. And the deeper meaning I think
(08:46):
was also pretty apparent too. I mean they even say
that in the trailer, like, oh, it's this idyllic, perfect
small town, but you didn't know there was this crazy
underbelly lurking there all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And the opening does a great, great job, yeah, of
introducing that with like his dad, it's just like the
classic Americana fifties town. The fire truck, you know, the
firefighter waving with the dalmatian, you know, and then the
kids crossing the crosswalk, and then the dad, you know,
(09:22):
watering his lawn and then he totally has a stroke.
You know, you get like the sound effects, it's like
evil is coming. Evil is coming. And then we see
like just the bizarre imagery of like the dog doesn't care,
he's just drinking from the hose, and then we go
(09:42):
down and like even like the wandering little baby. It's like, oh,
who's going to protect the baby?
Speaker 5 (09:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
But then we go down through the grass and see
all the bugs and it's like, yeah, it's it's such
a strong opening.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Well, and the sound effects, the sound design as we
go down into the grass with all the bugs and everything, like,
it just gets it feels like it's just eating away
your brains. And I think it's just a great way
to kind of depict that that dark underbelly that's perhaps
always here, but you just don't see it. You just
don't think about it because it's kind of it's hidden,
(10:18):
it's buried, but it's there, and it's it's disturbing when
you start digging into it.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
It is. It's and it's such a Lynchian favorite, right
that he loves to look at the superficiality of the
world we all live in and then demonstrate the decay underneath.
And that becomes a trope that's sort of introduced here
and continues in its spiritual you know, descendant Twin Peaks
(10:46):
written large.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, so this is the closest to Twin Peaks of
any of his other projects. It's kind of like this
began the itch that he then continued to scratch with
for techniques in Yeah, absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
So you know is a TV show, right, it's a
TV show, but still it's like there's a It starts
off with a local town girl who's been murdered, and
you know, the the FEDS come in and you've got
Cole MacLaughlin as an FBI agent who is here to
try to help figure out what's going on, and you
just as he's here, you're getting to know the townspeople
(11:26):
and it all feels very normal, but you're also seeing
like the dark underbelly of the town here, Like there's
there's you know, drug dealing going on. There's a prostitution
or like a you know, a whorehouse essentially across the border,
and that that people in town are involved in. There's
a lot of these other seedier things that people are doing.
(11:50):
And then even not just that sort of stuff, but
you're starting to get a sense of like you know,
familial abuse, like all the things that are always there,
but you're just not seeing because you're looking at this
kind of pristine picture of just the happy, little small town.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
And when does the idealic get in the way of
doing what's right? I mean, That's so much of what
mclaughlan's character is about, both here and and in Twin
Peaks is you know, we're just trying to do the
right thing, and we think we have an answer, but
this idyllic town wants to ignore all of the darkness. Right,
(12:29):
what happens when that conflict?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
It's not right and wrong? Yeah, it's not right or wrong.
It's kind of like surface versus evil, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Right, what are we afraid to face?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
It's the same sort of stuff that Stephen King plays
with and a lot of his stories about dairy and
all the small town I mean, just he's very much
looking more at the the overt horror as opposed to
I guess you could say with David Lynch it's more
of a not quite as overt straight up horror, but
there's definitely horror elements to it. Like when you think about.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
It, it's so funny. It's it actually, I think you
might call Mike White's successor to the David Lynch sort
of social for right, Like there's there's a lot of
white Lotus, or a lot of of David Lynch in
white Lotus, you know, Sue, it's a little bit more polished,
but yeah, but it's it's there exploring that undercurrent.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Mmmmm. And you even see it with the police involvement too,
that the there's the one very helpful Laura Dern's dad
who's like there to be very helpful and very very
accessible to the random public and people who just bring
(13:48):
him ears off the street.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Can we talk about the first tip off of like David.
I felt like David Lynch is like strange almost like
he's got a different a lot of different things going on,
but one of them is kind of this campy style,
you know, and maybe specifically how he directs, like some
(14:10):
actors and their performances. So when Kyle maclachlin finds the
ear in the field and brings it to the police chief,
Laura Deurn's dad he brought it and he's showing it
to her dad and he and then the dad goes like,
m yes, that's right, that's a human era, right, you know.
(14:31):
It's like, oh, David Lynch, I love you.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah. I mean, so he gets this ear and he's
like immediately like Okay, well we'll take care of this,
thank you for bringing us this ear. But his partner,
it turns out, is in the bad world, right, So
that's kind of like what we're talking about too, which
there's like one foot in the very helpful world and
(15:00):
one foot in the bad because the partner was involved somehow.
All I know is he got killed and his brains
were out and he was a bad guy.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Right. He's obviously a corrupt cop who's like working with
with Frank Booth as far as like all the whatever,
the drug dealing world that Frank is part of that
he's tapped into that as our crooked cop.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Right because there's no institution above corruption.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
With David Lynch ever, it seems like.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, but but yeah, I would say that, you know,
so I kind of agree with what Pete said, is
that I was this was kind of refreshingly straightforward in
terms of the story, like right now I'm I'm writing,
and so I'm super sensitive to like structure right now,
(15:55):
and I felt like it was it did a really
solid job of still being kind of like a pretty
muscular mystery, you know, and detective story because it really
is just about Kyle MacLaughlin living in one world and
being seduced by the other, needing to find answers and
(16:16):
when things get dangerous or perverse. He's compelled to go
into that world even more.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, it's an interesting place that he is drawn to,
Like he's drawn like he I mean, he seems like
a goodie goodie college student. But once he finds that ear,
it's like he goes through the ear canal into the
world of insanity and he kind of like happily takes
that plunge because there's this draw that he has that
he can't shake, Like he he wants to keep pursuing
(16:50):
this mystery of the ear. He is the one who's like,
once he finds out from Sandy information about Dorothy Vallence,
like he's like, Yeah, you know what, I could learn
a lot if I break into her apartment. Let's do
that like that.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Which is such a psycho thing to be, like, I
bet you could learn a lot by getting into that
woman's apartment. And it's like you're talking about breaking into
a woman's apartment. You hear this, right, We're hearing what
our plan is.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Yeah, And it just goes darker and darker because he
then gets this sense from of Dorothy's world as Frank
shows up and he witnesses how abusive Frank is to
her and how insane Dennis Hopper. I mean, this is
possibly the most Dennis Hopper's ever been in a performance,
with all of his huffing and everything that he's doing.
But then it gets to the point later when Jeffrey
(17:38):
is comforting Dorothy and they end up in bed together
and she's like hit me, hit me, and you get
this dark sense of how broken she is as a person,
and to a point where she pushes Jeffrey to a
point where suddenly he actively is doing it and it's
like wow, okay, like taking a bite of that darkness,
(17:59):
and it ends up feeling like he's compelled and needs
to now kind of keep jumping into it's like drug addiction,
you know.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And he he also, like like the movie like starts
off in kind of a PG and starts dipping its
toe into PG thirteen, and then like when he he
enters this dark world, it like goes virtually like NC
seventeen to hard R and he is shocked. We are shocked,
(18:32):
you know, and it's like, oh, this is the.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Movie now, Yeah, this is the movie now, and like,
oh my god, Dennis Hopper is a crazy person like I.
So his performance is so I don't know what the
word is, but it's like.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It is chaotic and intense, and.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It's hard to believe that he's like a normal man
in real you know, like, are you just a normal
man who's playing a part? I don't think so. I
think you might be a legit crazy person. One of
the facts that I read was that a lot of
people were offered that role and turned it down because
(19:15):
it was like too much. And he was like, no,
this is me. I I feel so seen and I'm
just like what Wow, okay.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Don't look at me. Was his line. That's like that's
in his head. He carries that around. Oh boy, yeah,
oh boy.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I just know him from Speed like that.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
He's not great. He's not a great guy in Speed either,
Like yeah, no, that's that's more like the Hollywood safe
version of this character.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Though you can see you can see that there. They
could be you know, they could be cousins. They've hung
out at family functions before.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, and who wants to go to those family functions?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Not but I mean, but but I love what Dennis
Hopper is doing here because it really puts you off
guard constantly in ways that like, I mean, villains can
definitely do that, but it is so unhinged, and I
mean he really is like a representative of chaos, Like
(20:25):
you just don't know what to expect. Like anytime he's
on screen, you know, it could feel like as a
as a crazy character, he's about to go left and
then suddenly he goes right. Like it's just it's wild
and it's over the top, and it just is constantly
making you uncomfortable and you just don't have any clear
sense as to like what is going to be next
(20:47):
with him, And that's I think what's so interesting as
a villain. And as we learn, aside from this abusive
relationship that he's kind of forcibly created with Dorothy, you're
also starting to learn he's he's dealing drug and he's
got this whole thing with the Yellow Man and this
mysterious man with a mustache that we later find out
who that is. But and then you know, you got
(21:10):
to also mention like Ben his his dealer, or I
think he's maybe his supplier, Dean Stockwell's weird character. Like
you just keep meeting these characters that are just so
not what you're expecting, And I think that's what David
Lynch does so well in creating this world where we
fully have entered that our territory that you're talking about, Nathan,
(21:31):
of this CD Underbelly, where just characters are like just
twisted versions of things that you might have seen in
the past, but they're just so much weirder than you've seen.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Before, so much weirder, so much weirder that there's going
to be like a surprise karaoke happening.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, that was a very twin peaksy, like I realized
he it's most twin peaksy anytime they're filming on a set,
Like when I feel like they're in the real life,
it feels a little more grounded. But when he can
just go nuts and he's on a set, like when
they're at that club or even like Isabella Rossellini's like apartment,
(22:17):
Like when they're on a set, he can just kind
of lean full into that kind of Darren poorly explain
like that twin Peaks vibe of just like everyone is
is in a different tempo and there's an ensemble of strange,
unusual characters and there's usually someone dancing or singing.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, there was the one lady who was like going
to dance on the roof of the car, which seemed
like a cloth roof of the car to me, And
I was like, oh, that's very dangerous, ma'am. You might
want to step down. But she's up there dancing while
he's like beating the shit out of Kyle McLaughlin. And
it's like, Okay, you're right, there's always going to be
(23:03):
someone singing and dancing because we have to have singing
and dancing happening while the extreme violence and crazy stuff
is happening. But so did I have it right that? Like, okay,
so they in order to have Dorothy Vallens, the lounge singer,
be his sort of like uh yes, that, thank you.
(23:29):
I could not think of words to describe.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
He kidnapped her husband and child and they were being
stored at that like trap house that they went to.
And how long had that been going on a long time.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I don't know if we ever get a real sense
as to the duration of that whole thing.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I feel like it'd be pretty close to the ear
situation if at most it was going on a few
weeks or a few months before.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
The ear, like long enough to form some routines, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
It's all seemed very routine.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
To escalate with the ear.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, right, So, and it seemed like there had been
rumblings going on in the world as far as like
what was going on with the drugs and stuff, like
when he talks to Detective Williams, it sounds like they,
I mean, the ear was a new thing obviously, but
it sounded like they had been like because Sandy is like, yeah,
she mentioned like she's the one who says, yeah, they
(24:48):
mentioned this this singer Dorothy Ballins. So it seems like
there's something that the cops have started watching, but they
just haven't quite pieced the puzzle together yet. And so yeah,
I would say probably, I would say closer to maybe
a few weeks is about where we're probably at here.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, weeks months.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
It's it's enough to the point where, I mean one
of one of the most disturbing scenes for me in
the film, which just you know, hits me every time,
when they go to Ben's and Dorothy is finally allowed
to go into the room to see her son, and
you just hear through the door door, no, no, Donnie, no,
Mommy loves you, and like she's just like, like, what
(25:31):
the hell is happening in that room? Like have they
so like brainwashed and abused this child where he is
like now like doing like torturing his own mother, Like
what the hell is going on back there? Like it's
it's like we'll stockholm. Yeah right, yeah, just it's really
(25:51):
a shocking element of the story that I always am
horrified by.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
I didn't like that part due though, because you know it,
like all of these characters, even to Laura dern right,
every character is a demonstration of just how little David
Lynch thinks he has to push to make you change sides, right,
to make you take a thing that seems horrific and
(26:18):
and make it become normal. And the kid is a
great example because like that's a child. Part of the
reason that it's so horrific is that it took, as
we're saying, weeks to convince a child to change sides
from his mother. That's that that maybe the darkest implementation
of this trope that you know, everybody else like the
(26:39):
mother will do anything you want because her family's at stake.
That's you, that's just a little push. Sandy sees how
things are unfolding with McLachlin and doesn't and and ends
up being able to let that go like, there, everybody
has a thing that the a button that can be pushed,
And I think that's part of Lynch's m is We're
(27:02):
gonna take all kinds of characters and I'm gonna show
you how little it's gonna take to make them do
something horrible.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
With the exception of the The part that I was
like a little bit weirded out by two is like
when Mike the ex boyfriend is going to beat up
Kyle McLaughlin for stealing Laura Dern and then that's the
moment when Isabella Rossellini comes stumbling out all like naked
and like beating up and she's like in a fugue
(27:35):
state of craziness and Mike's just like, okay, we're gonna go.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
It was that classic kind of like oh, you know,
the jock is gonna now and his team are going
to beat up the main character, and they're like, oh,
oh shit, we're in a different movie.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Sorry, We're just.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Gonna go oh really sorry, man, really sorry, and they
drive off.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Which is, yeah, that's yet another push, like pushing these
guys to ignore something horrible. They just ignored something horrible
and walk like that's so Lynchy. In right there.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, they're like, you've got you've got other things going on.
We'll come back right.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Well for the beating.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
For the beating, Yes, we'll be back for that. And
then the mom too, is like they bring her into
the house and the mom's like, well, I'll get her
a coat, I guess, you know, and no one's just
like hold the hold the phone. Where is this woman
coming from? And like what the hell is happening and
(28:43):
why is she naked and going crazy? Like uh, the
mom's just like, well, I'll make tea.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Well, to be fair though, like that was like clearly
somebody who had been beaten and like a lot of
psychological damage that probably needs medical attention. And so I
can see that conversation coming up after they've left. But
also it's it's such an interesting scene because that's so
I met.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Your new boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, that's where Sandy realizes and finds out that that
Jeffrey has been kind of seeing Dorothy and like has
started up aside from just sneaking into apartment, they're connected.
And the way that she's talking about I have his
seed in me or no, he's not his seed? What
is she's saying? Or maybe this seed. I can't remember,
but it's just like dang and Laura Dearned, Like her
(29:34):
face is so broken like she is. It's a perfect
like She's such an interesting character because I mean you
mentioned like the fire truck and all that stuff, but
they take you ground that they design it like it
is the fifties. Like her outfits in this are not
They're all like fifties outfits. And that's what's so interesting
is like he really is kind of putting this story
(29:55):
even though it's a present day story, He's making it
feel like like he's bringing those those fifties elements forward
almost just as a way to kind of like further
capture that sense of kind of like perfect you know,
kind of perfect family, perfect society.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah, you know, it kind of reminded me of which
is Edwards scissor Hands of taking kind of you know,
in the in the eighties, taking a very like you know,
fifties suburbian style with just the authors like full on
you know darkness. Yeah, as contrast you know, and their
(30:39):
kind of take on, their kind of rebellion against that world.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Yeah, great comparison.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Well, the eighties were so obsessed with the fifties. Yeah,
you know, even in like Back to the Future, you know,
like the fifties were just seen as the perfect time.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Which is so interesting because like David Lynch seems like
he you know, if you just met him on the street,
he would seem like he's from the fifties, you know,
like his hairstyle and the way he talks, like he
couldn't like he would talk to Dennis Hopper and he
couldn't say the word fuck, Like he would say, okay,
so now you say that word and then you say,
(31:23):
like even though he wrote all of this.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, interesting, he can write it.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
But that's it.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
I you know, we haven't even speaking of the ideal.
Like we didn't even talk about the town. The town's
named Lumberton. And I don't know if you heard the
radio adds much, but they love fetishizing there would that
is so funny. I like yet another thing. This is
a town that exists for a single purpose. There is
(31:54):
no depth in this town. The only depth comes from
the criminal element on the other side because they just
want are just so horny for their would.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Not even speaks to Sandy's boyfriend because that feels very
much of that that fifties, you know, we're gonna, let's,
you know, meet at noon in the and have you know,
bring our knives, like you know James Dean sort of
rebel without a cause type of characters.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, and the friends who are just like giggling and
they're like, she's going to ride in a car with
a different boy.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
I One thing that I did not understand though, that
did not come together for me at the end, is
that the quote unquote like what who Kyle McLoughlin calls
the well dressed man with the mustache? So what was
going on there?
Speaker 5 (32:52):
What?
Speaker 2 (32:53):
So? So he has so Kyle McLaughlin was playing junior
detective and taking photos of some of the criminal endeavors,
and so he saw the the the what the yellow man.
It was a guy in a yellow suit who turned
out to be a police officer.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
And then and.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Then there was this mysterious guy with big, bushy eyebrows
and really dark hair in the photos. And so what
it revealed at the end is that was actually Dennis
Hopper disguised. So all the times we saw him out
and about doing some of these things, it was him
in disguise.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
And I think that's all just further just put in
here just to give it a sense that.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
A strangeness and a reveal at the end, and that.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Like Frank clearly, I mean, he's he's dealing drugs, he's
working with a cop in the process, like a dirty cop,
in the process of his dealings, and he's created this
alter ego that he uses as part of this. I
don't know. My hunch was so that certain people didn't
realize that he was involved in multiple aspects that they
(34:06):
thought he was. And maybe it was the Yellow Man,
because I think it's the Yellow Man who we see
with both versions of him. Yeah, And perhaps it was
too to make him think that there was a whole
other element to all of this, that that these people
were that his operation was bigger. I'm not exactly sure why,
(34:27):
but it definitely seemed like it was some element that
he'd come up with for some crazy reason as to
part of his strategy with his business.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I love that he's got a strategy like this to
think of this guy like sitting around with his goons
and being like, but what about this I dress up
in disguise.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
And then yeah, and it's just he's scary alone. But
it's it's really interesting when he's got a whole gang
of people with him, a gang of weirdos.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
He's very lynch. Yeah, he's very much. I couldn't help
but compare him to the Joker, right Like in all
of our interpretations that we've seen of the Joker, he
is just like unchecked I and you know, libido and chaos,
and there's very little rationalization behind what he does. And
(35:24):
we don't necessarily need it, right, we don't. He just
he just exists and he will always exist. And to
Andy's point earlier, Stephen King has characters like this and
this is, This is Frank Booth. Is is chaos, and
he is atrophy. And that's why he's a playground and
(35:45):
why we don't we don't need a lot of the
rationalization behind his his strategies because he's improvising. He's just
improvised rage and perhaps blue ribbon.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yes, and perhaps the blue ribbon and line.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
In the movie. Andy and I were celebrating that the
other day, Like I probably have said that one hundred
thousand times since I saw this movie.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
The first anytime Heineken comes.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Up, ribbon Yes. I love that he was like trying
to get to know him a little though he's like,
do you drink beer? What beer do you like?
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Oh really, well you're wrong. It's a blue Ribbon. Sorry
to have to tell you this, but it's the PBR
and the hipster has brought it back in the in
the two thousands.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
You know, there has got to be some fan fiction
out there that that answers the question what if he'd said,
my favorite beer is perhaps blue Ribbon? What kind of
friendship would have blossomed between them? Yes, glorious one friend.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, finally some common ground. That's why you always like
that's like one of those things that now you've learned
thing from this movie, because now you know, if a
crazy person asked you what's your favorite beer, you just
had your bets and say always, yeah, perhaps blue Ribbon
man PBR. That's what I'm into. And I like the
(37:14):
part too where they were at the house, the crazy House,
and they were like, he was like, get some glasses
for the beer. We need glasses for this beer. And
it's like, yeah, we are too sophisticated to drink right
out of the bottle around here. We need some glasses
for this beer so that we can be fancy and
(37:36):
sophisticated and spend our evening together. But I did like
that he was he was willing to provide the beer.
He brought the beer to the part.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Right right. I just think a lot of that scene
plays out in a way where we're getting a sense
of the constant power plays that both Frank and Ben
are making with the people that surround them. Like did
they actually care that the beer came in glasses? Maybe not,
but it was one of those things where they're like
(38:05):
they're pushing it to make their people realize that they're
always going to be the ones in charge, you know,
and to make them get these things.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
It's like weird twisted requests.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Though, yeah, and you have to get it. You have
to get it right or pay the price right. I
did notice that of all of the like filmmakery things
that are happening that are probably like David Lynchian signatures,
there was a lot of really interesting lighting happening, like
(38:38):
the glow that happens on them sometimes that fades into
the like when they get like really the light shines
on them really bright, and like when Laura Durren steps
out of the shadows to like meet him the first time,
and all the like interesting lighting stuff. What are some
things that I maybe missed that are like David Lynchian signatures.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
There's a curtains, red curtains, the curtains in general. Also
like there's he loves to use metaphoric imagery in the
in his projects, and so we definitely get that with
like the flickering flame that you get where it's just
like sputtering into.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
The Yeah, it's all dreamlike, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
He puts all that in to make it as hallucinatory
as possible.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Mm hmmm. So there's a lot more of that and
say like a Mulehaulland Drive or a lost Highway.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, yeah, you get there's much less in some a
lot of his other movies. There's much less of a
skeleton to put everything onto in terms of Okay, he
wants this and then this is going to happen, but
then this happens. You're just kind of like sometimes you're
just like knocked you're just in a boat, you know,
(39:57):
floating in dark waters at some point, you know, and
you don't know you're fully in the dream world and
you don't know where it's gonna go.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
And then you're going to read it afterwards. To see
what people how they interpret it. If you can figure out, oh,
is that what they were actually saying with the movie?
Like that, that's how more of the films end up
unfoldings as they as Pete and Nathan both said, this
one is, you know, kind of refreshingly straightforward.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Yeah, he has a really interesting filmography. There's definitely some
movies that are quote unquote like normal, you know, I
would say, like The Elephant Man and what I remember.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Of straight story.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
Yeah, it's very straightforward.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Like they like it is him doing a normal movie,
you know. And then Dune is like him doing a
big budget movie but just kind of like screaming on
the inside and getting as much of his own thing
going on as possible. Yeah, but it's still adapted from
(41:02):
Dune and so it still has that storyline. But yeah,
A Razorhead is like full on experimental, you know. And
then and then Twin Peaks is really kind of I feel,
you know, a continuation of Blue Velvet mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Yeah, and it's much more straightforward.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Yeah, and yeah, and then there's also just many versions
of Twin Peaks because there's the movie and then there's
the news series, which I haven't seen started.
Speaker 4 (41:34):
Yeah, Yeah, I think the other two things that I
would add to this question about David Lynch's sort of
signatures that apart from the you know, surrealism without any scaffolding,
like without explanation, it's very true voyeurism.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Like there's a lot of.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
People looking and asking the question, what is it that
we're looking at? And how does watching change the watcher?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Right?
Speaker 4 (42:02):
And this movie is full of that, right because he's
sides literally in the closet, and because yes, person, when
he comes out of it, he's.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Seduced by it. Yeah, he is being drawn into that world,
like you've got mister goody two shoes being drawn into
an adult voyeuristic world. And he likes it.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
And he likes it. He just gotta just got a
sniff at the Lynch's camera is like lingers really uncomfortably
long on really wide shots, Like that first shot of
just straight up voyeuristic abuse in the living room is
just very Lynch and it really foreshadows I think Twin
Peaks and Mulholland Drive, like looking too closely poses its
(42:47):
own huge questions and and reveals the rot beneath like
we get in this in this thing, the other thing
I would say is Lynch loves disorienting sound design. Yes,
sound is so important, Yeah, huge, right, whether it's just
kind of ambient hums, we get these weird dust, real
kind of drone going on.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Like you're descending or you're being swallowed up.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
Yeah, and going from loud, shocking sounds to straight silence
is just as as disorienting. So I think that's a
That's another one, And of course he works very very
closely with Angelo, but Elemente and the scores are pretty
legendary across many of their collaborations. So those would be
(43:35):
my two that I throw in.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
And a lot of the similar faces, like you'll see
the same faces over and over again in his projects.
I mean, Jack Nance, I feel like has been since
Eraserhead pretty much in most of the things that he did,
And it's just it's a very kind of consistent thread
of the same performers who clearly love being a part
of them and his projects.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
And basically half the people in the gang continue to
show up over and over again, you know. And then
that style, like that very offbeat, strange way of you know,
style that they've all got.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Yeah, they looked very eighties like like Brad Douraff's character
like looked like he was in like a silvery jacket,
Like he looked very eighties to me, right.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
So good, which is interesting, And I don't know if
he was trying to say something like this, but you've
got the fifties as like that, that kind of Christine
kind of Scholac. That's that's you know, the modern society
is designed to look like. But then the underbelly it
definitely has that more modern eighties feel, and I think
(44:47):
that's an interesting element that you don't see as much
of the eighties on the surface.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Yeah, it didn't feel like an eighties movie to me,
and I think that's part of why I felt like
so out of my depth doing this movie for this podcast,
because it didn't feel like an eighties movie, Like it
definitely felt out of time and like a movie that
you couldn't necessarily place in this era of movies if
(45:16):
you didn't necessarily know it was an eighties movie, you know.
So it's sort of left me a drift a bit
as to get it.
Speaker 4 (45:27):
But it's really funny, right because like this is this
is an eighties movies. Affection of the fifties, and I
think we see that in other eighties movies that that
are obsessed with the fifties. Is there's sort of its
own trope like that, that's just not what the fifties
looked like. This is what the eighties thinks the fifties
looked like. And that's eighties movie in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Hm hmm, yeah, I geta that is Yeah, that's very
very meta. So on a scale of one papspool ribbon
to ten Paps blue ribbons, how many Paps blue ribbons
do you give blue velvet? Nathan?
Speaker 6 (46:09):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Why am I always first?
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Because you're always first?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
So I'm so, I'm I think I'm going to I
think I'm going to I'm I'm vacillating a bit. I
think I'm going to give it an eight. OK, maybe
even higher, like an eight point five, But I think
maybe an eight is my safe bet. If so, if
(46:34):
you're interested, I feel like this is this is the classic.
This is the classic David Lynch film. You know, if
you want something that is both abstract but yet emotional
but still clings to a pretty strong mystery and plot,
(46:55):
this is this is the way to go. This is
if you had to just I feel like if you
had to just reduce his filmography to maybe two or
three movies. This would be on that list. Yeah that's
where I feel.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
Okay, great, how many PBRs do you give it? Andy?
Speaker 3 (47:14):
I mean, this is a this is a ten pbr
movie for me. I really yeah. I mean it's my
favorite David Lynch film. I just I love this film
so much. It gets better every time I see it.
It's I mean I remember the first time I watched
it in college. I mean I was like, what the
hell I just watched Like it just it breaks your brain,
but it also has never left. It just kind of
(47:35):
like burrows in and sits there. And I think that's
what I love about Lynch is he finds ways to
just kind of like put things in there that are
just so strange that you just can't forget them. And yeah,
I just what he's saying, what he's doing with this
film has just always been a favorite of mine. So
easy ten PBRs.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
This is this is a good This is a good
movie to see if you're like a young person, like
if in you're in if you're in your twenties and
you want to break your brain in a good way.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
No, I stand by it. Like I mean, if you
were trying to get into independent film or foreign film
and you want to kind of like throw yourself on
a grenade, but it's the story still makes sense because
he's got plenty that just go nuts. But if it
still makes sense, but yet you're still breaking the boundaries.
(48:28):
I feel like this is a good film school film.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
You know, it very much felt like a film school
film to me, Like I felt like it felt to
me like homework. And then someone who's gonna ask me
at the end, like what did it all mean? And
I was going to be like, here's my essay, here's
my five paragraph essay on the symbolism that I found
(48:53):
in Blue Velvet, and it was going to have to
be a book report. So I agree with you there.
What about you, Pete, how many paps blue ribbons do
you give Blue Velvet?
Speaker 4 (49:07):
Well, perhaps blue ribbon is famously a pounding beer, so like, yeah,
handle kind of a lot at one time. I am
also an eight perhaps blue Ribbon because I I celebrate
the film. I really really like the film. I like
what it's saying and what it does, and and I'm like, Nathan,
(49:29):
there is no catalog of David Lynch's films that should
not include this movie. And and also I recognize the
areas where the film is, you know, is not completely
for me. There's a certain performative aspect to it. It
feels like everybody knows they're in a movie. And that's
also a bit of a hallmark of David Lynch. And
(49:52):
I've never really had like there there are movies with
Kyle MacLaughlin in them that that in it in them
that I do connect with. I never quite believe he
believes what he's doing in this movie. So I there
definitely issues with the movie that I have with some
of the performances, but definitely not Dennis Hoppers or Isabella
ROSLINI I just think there, I think it's it's great.
(50:15):
So eight, I'm an eight.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
An eight, okay, Well, I feel like I'm gonna disappoint
you all and give it six.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Much higher than I expected.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
So I went to see what I would consider a
ten out of ten movie last night at like a
revival screening of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. And I
walked out of that and was like, yeah, I love
this movie.
Speaker 6 (50:50):
Movies are fun, movies are joyful, and then I watched
Blue Velvet and was like, oh no, the world is
a scary, scary place.
Speaker 1 (51:03):
Uh, and I definitely yeah. I just felt like I
am just a lovable dumb dumb who's not smart enough
to watch the David Lynch films and be like, yes, yes,
I see it.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
So where did it go from here? My recommendation would
be for you Twin Peaks, Like, Okay, I wanted to
go more. I feel like that is more of a
chrissy direction than like moulhulland Drive, which is again crazier.
I feel like Twin Peaks also because it is longer
(51:40):
form there it is more of an ensemble. You can
kind of, you know, dip into it with the weirdness
but also the like the lovable and interesting characters. So
I would say, if you are more interested in taking
another dip into David Lynch world, I'd say Twin Peaks.
Speaker 3 (52:01):
Yeah. And he was collaborating on that, so I don't
think he got to be quite as.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
As Plus it had to go on TV. It had
to go on TV.
Speaker 4 (52:09):
But but by the same token, I think Twin Peaks
as a series, as a property is is the David
Lynch Rosetta Stone, like you watch that and then every
other film you watch, you'll understand a little bit more
about it because he has so much space to kind
of play and explore these areas, these these weird characters
and the psychological archetypes and dreamy pacing and also suburban
(52:35):
kind of horror in the woods, like it's it's it
just I think it's it's a great I don't know,
it's weird to say this huge long thing is a
cliff notes, but it's kind of a cliff note for
David Lynch.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Okay, all right, I could see that. That makes sense
to me. So speaking of recommendations, Nathan, do you have
and this one was really tough for me. So mine's
real dumb, but I'm expecting all of you to have
super smart ones. What's your deep cut recommendation?
Speaker 2 (53:10):
So my deep cut recommendation is it's a video game,
but it's actually two video games. So there's a company
called Remedy Entertainment and they made the games Alan Wake
and Control, and both of them have very there there.
Speaker 5 (53:27):
You know.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
Alan Wake is still kind of a horror survival game,
and Control is kind of a horror slash sci fi
action game, but they really have a very strong David
Lynchy and feel to it, Like Alan Wake kind of
takes place in kind of a Lumberton slash, you know,
(53:49):
like Twin Peaks Town to where there is like, you know,
like a mystery and a horror and a supernatural element
that they're building on top of it. But they have
these really strange characters and really weird layers, and they're
wearing their influence from David Lynch like on their sleeve
(54:09):
like as like, So I would recommend either of them.
If you're more of a horror mystery person or more
of an action gamer.
Speaker 3 (54:18):
Control would be the way to go.
Speaker 2 (54:21):
But it like, even though Control is an action game,
there are very like it goes all in on the
weirdness throughout the story. So I would say, if you're
a gamer, look into those games Alan Wake or Control.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
Okay, good one. It's sufficiently random and appreciate that. What
about you, Andy, what's your deep cut recommendation?
Speaker 3 (54:51):
This is a film actually that I hadn't even heard
of until we had a guest on our Movies that
we like podcast storyboard artist who picks this as his film.
It's a nineteen ninety film called the Reflecting Skin, which
is could you can see how people could potentially call
(55:14):
it a Lynchian type of story. It actually is set
in the fifties in kind of the heartland of America,
rural community. This eight year old kid who his dad
is kind of like a bitter I think his mom.
I can't remember about the mom, but anyway, they run
a gas station. It feels like, you know, he's kind
(55:35):
of in this oppressive society. He becomes convinced that this
new neighbor of theirs, who's very kind of reclusive, that
she's actually a vampire, and because she acts weird and everything,
and I mean, it's one of those movies that you
definitely see kids doing kids things like blowing frogs up
(55:57):
with iirocrackers and things like that. But he's drawn into
this story about this this woman possibly being a vampire.
And then when his brother comes home from the military,
Vigo Mortensen playces his brother. His brother starts seeing this woman,
and this kid really gets like freaked out that thinking
that his brother's dating this vampire now. And so it's
(56:21):
a wild, crazy film that definitely deals with like dark,
you know, dark things in the underbelly of society. Innocence
being corrupted all of this beautifully shot film. I mean,
it's it's stunning. The cinematography the film definitely worth checking out.
Called The Reflecting Skin cool.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
It's a very deep cut. I love it.
Speaker 4 (56:44):
I only gave it six exploding frogs, but I still
agree with Andy's recommication.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
It is so.
Speaker 1 (56:53):
It sounds really intriguing. I love a possible vampire in suburbia.
What is your deep cut recommendation, Pete?
Speaker 4 (57:02):
Okay, I come multimodal in. I was introduced to this
short story by my writing teacher in high school, Colin Chisholm.
Shout out Colin who introduced me to John Cheevers short stories.
And one of those short stories is called The Swimmer
and it was there was originally published in The New
(57:23):
Yorker in nineteen sixty four, and it is a beautiful
story about a guy who decides to swim home across
the pools in the backyards of his affluent neighbors, right,
and as he gets further and further along, time starts
to bend his You know, it goes from being kind
(57:45):
of a fun, fantastical satire to really surreal and tragic
and dark. And it also like Blue Velvet, right, it
really goes to expose the rot beneath the all of
the year of country club suburbia, and it's quite lovely.
So Chiever is an amazing writer. But I also get
(58:08):
to say that in nineteen sixty eight, The Swimmer was
adapted and Bert Lancaster plays Ned the Swimmer and he
goes to swim home, and the story's expanded a little bit,
and it it goes hard pretty quick. I think this
is it's a very Lynchian non lynch story, and I
(58:31):
think I think it works very well. So read the
short story. I'm sure it's out there on the Internet somewhere,
and then watch.
Speaker 2 (58:38):
The movie available on to Be.
Speaker 1 (58:41):
Oh is it good?
Speaker 5 (58:42):
Good?
Speaker 4 (58:43):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Okay? Yeah right, yeah kay?
Speaker 3 (58:48):
To Be.
Speaker 1 (58:50):
Okay? Cool. Well, you're all so smart and wonderful. I'm
gonna recommend h craft beer, oh if you.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
As an alternative to PBR, right.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
As an alternative to PBR, as an alternative to Heineken.
Those are not your only two choices. Every local community
has some beautiful, locally brewed craft beer. Here in our
community of downtown Mesa, Arizona, we've got the Phantom Fox
Brewing Company right on our street that brews incredible beer
(59:29):
right there in their tiny little hole in the wall.
So find you a place like that where they will
serve you beer in a glass.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
The only thing you can cling to that you liked.
Speaker 4 (59:43):
Yes, the idea of beer beer.
Speaker 1 (59:54):
So yes, thank you so much Pete and Andy for
being with this on this What I Feel is a
very special episode of the most excellent eighties movies podcast
tell Us, where we can find your other wonderful podcasts
about brilliant, important movies. I've been loving the Hannibal series.
(01:00:18):
I'm very into it. Yes, where can people find you
and listen to you?
Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
And I'm gonna let you plug the next reel since
that's where the Hannibal series is, Pete, But I'm just
gonna say. Movies We Like is another show we do
where we bring on filmmakers and other people in the
industry to talk about a movie that they love. And
for example, that's where we talked about the Reflecting Skin.
We've had plenty of other wonderful conversations on that show,
(01:00:47):
so you can find that on our network true Story
dot FM and Pete.
Speaker 4 (01:00:52):
Yeah, also a True Story The next Real Family of
Film podcasts, The original show that Andy and I started
back in twenty eleven. Each week we take a movie
and talk about it how it connects to other films
in series that sometimes we just make up but mostly
they're connected fairly obviously, and and we've we just we've
(01:01:13):
never missed a week. We love doing this show. We
love talking about movies and and talking about why they're
important to us and important to the art form. And
so we invite you to listen there. But the film
the family of Film Podcasts also includes a number of
other shows that we we would love you to be
to come be a part of and explore.
Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
And they're all great and I love them and I
in addition to the Hannibal series, which is happening happening
now or did you guys finish?
Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
We've finished, it's still playing. I think the last episode.
I'm not sure when this episode airs, but yeah, the
the final episode is about to go live to the public, so.
Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
Man, it's a fuck.
Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
I can't wait. I can't wait. I've been loving it.
But I loved your Twilight series perhaps more.
Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
Than anything you guys did all the Twilight movies. Speaking
of reflecting skin, yes, I listened to that with such Glee.
Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
I highly recommend going back and checking that one out.
Speaking of to B Nathan, where can people find and
support your filmmaking endeavors.
Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
Well, Squishy Studios is still the best place. But our movie,
Last Movie Ever Made is available on TB or you
can rent it on Amazon or Apple. If you hate ads,
which I hate as.
Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
Well, rented What That Ship? Buy it?
Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
Yeah, buy it for sure. It's a great movie.
Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
I had a blast with it and I'm proud to
say I owned that film and worth every watch. I
think it's great.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Oh, thank you, and the New York Potimes thinks it's great.
I love it. Okay. You can find me at the
Neighborhood Comedy Theater if you happen to be in downtown Mesa, Arizona,
being funny on stage every Friday and Saturday night. You
could also find me on my other podcast, Gank That Drink,
(01:03:17):
a supernatural drinking game podcast. Also available What do You
Know on True story dot Fm, where you can find
so many wonderful things. And if you are with us
here at the end of our podcast, it's because you
want more. You want more of Nathan and Chrissy and
(01:03:38):
our fabulous guests we've got bonus content for you when
you become a member. Just go to true story dot
fm and find our podcast and it's very straightforward and
easy to click all the little buttons and become a
member and you get extra special bonus content from us
every week. This week with our guests, we're going to
(01:03:59):
be talking about have you ever walked out of a movie?
And if so, what movie? And why which I am
I can't I can't possibly guess the answer to for
most of these boys, So you can become a member.
Like we said, we appreciate you so much. And if
(01:04:21):
you don't feel like we becoming a member, please still
do all the things that help podcast out, like rate, review, subscribe,
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And when you're out there in the world, please keep
(01:04:43):
the most excellent Eighties Movies podcast motto in mind. Be
excellent to each other and party on
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Most
Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast. Want to skip those ads and
get early access, become a member at true story dot fm,
slash join and discover all the other great parks that
come with it. Hello and welcome to the Most Excellent
(00:30):
Eighties Movies Podcast. It's the podcast where we huff our
way through the eighties movies we think we love, or
might have missed, or might have deliberately missed with these
our new modern eyes to see how they hold up
and how we feel about them today. And today we're
talking about Blue Velvet, a movie selection from nineteen eighty six,
(00:55):
about which the overview says, college student Jeffrey Beaumont played
by Kyle McLaughlin, returns home after his father has a stroke.
When he discovers a severed ear in an abandoned field,
Beaumont teams up with detective's daughter Sandy Williams played by
Laura Dern, to solve the mystery. They believe that beautiful
(01:16):
lounge singer Dorothy Vallens played by Isabella Rossellini may be
connected to the case, and Beaumont finds himself becoming drawn
into her dark, twisted World, where he encounters a phone call.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Gotta keep that in.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, where he encounters sexually depraved psychopath Frank Booth played
by Dennis Hopper. Oh all right, here comes the trailer.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Beneath the surface.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Of the perfect small town of dark World.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Wait, you're going to fell me?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know anything?
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
One name that keeps coming up is.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
This woman's super No, that's someone could learn a lot
about getting into that moment's apartment.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
I don't know if you're a detective Berbers for.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
We hadn't known you to find out? What are you
doing in my apartment?
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I close my.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And I hold me a good name?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Will you?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
There's too an interesting experience.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So okay. I really like the song they play in
the trailer. It's really good. It's a song, all right.
Chrissy Lenz one of the directors of the Neighborhood Comedy
Theater in downtown Mice, Arizona, and with me as ever
(03:39):
is award winning filmmaker who will say his name now.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Hello, I'm Nathan Blackwell.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Of Squishy Studios and joining us today for this epic
podcast adventure are our pod bosses, the geniuses behind True
Story FM, and the hosts of the next real podcast
and movies we like we have of course, mister Andy Nelson.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Hey everybody, and Pete Wright. I am also here Pod
Boston two. I've never heard definitely.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, okay, we're going to talk about Blue Velvet. I'm
so excited that you guys were both like super excited
to jump in when we pitched this movie at you,
and I hope you have a lot to say because
I am in.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
The weeds so this So you thought this was your
first ever Lynch movie, but we saw Dune together.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yes, we did Dune, which like, don't I don't think
that Dune should count because it's based on source material,
you know what I mean. So like, yeah, it's a
David Lynch movie, and it's a cuckoo bananas and Bonker's crazy, but.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
It's not like full David Lynch.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's not like from his mind right, you.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Know, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
David Lynch, right, which I've never even seen Twin Peaks,
so I've seen parodies.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And yeah, and even if it's seen like The Elephant
Man before, that also is like it's David Lynch, but
also not experiment. Yeah, not quite David Lynch like that
you get with.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I mean you could really say that this is like
the full like David Lynch experience, you know in.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
A lot of ways, like Blue Velvet is.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, at least what we know is like the David
Lynch you know.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, there's definitely other films that he has made that
are I would say even more David Lynch. Like this
in some aspects is perhaps like the most like straightforward
of David Lynch story.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
This is the most straightforward.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's still adhering to him a plot. Yeah right, it's
not it's not driving off the road into a strange.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
In the Empire. Yeah, in an Empires highway, We'll holland drive.
Like there's definitely a place that David Lynch goes where
his film's film feel a little more hallucinatory and the
story like you really have to sit and figure out,
like what was this story about? Like what happened? Like
what was that thing going on? This is like pretty straightforward.
(06:32):
You've got some crazy characters, but it's it is pretty
much a straightforward it's story with like real people.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Christy, It's never gonna make more sense than this.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
That's a great way to put it. That should be
on the poster on some sort of re released I was.
I actually found it that this might be the most
controversial thing I say today. I found it refreshingly simple
to rewatch this movie like there was. You know, the
things that were controversial at the time feel almost a
(07:09):
little bit banal today. Like we've had vastly worse criminals
in film since then, we've had vastly more sexual predation.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
We've been we are so numbed now, so numb Nathan.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
That may as well be a g rated film.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
It's I mean, PG thirteen, But do you know what
I mean? Like I watching it again, I realized just
how far I've come in journey toward complete anesthesia.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, well, I don't know what you're watching, Pete, but
this is not great for me. I was. I was
really thankful that it did have a plaque, because that's
one of the things I was worried about, that it
would just be like a music video that I couldn't understand.
(08:05):
Because that's why I've sort of avoided all of these
David Lynch movies. I think because much like Mandy of
the Make Me a Nerd Podcast, I just don't think
I'm smart enough to like understand what it's all supposed
to mean. And this one was pretty straightforward. It's like, Okay,
(08:26):
you've got a plot. It's a murder mystery. I can't
pretend that all the pieces fit into place for me
at the end, but it's followed along, you know, a
sort of predictable course. And the deeper meaning I think
(08:46):
was also pretty apparent too. I mean they even say
that in the trailer, like, oh, it's this idyllic, perfect
small town, but you didn't know there was this crazy
underbelly lurking there all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And the opening does a great, great job, yeah, of
introducing that with like his dad, it's just like the
classic Americana fifties town. The fire truck, you know, the
firefighter waving with the dalmatian, you know, and then the
kids crossing the crosswalk, and then the dad, you know,
(09:22):
watering his lawn and then he totally has a stroke.
You know, you get like the sound effects, it's like
evil is coming. Evil is coming. And then we see
like just the bizarre imagery of like the dog doesn't care,
he's just drinking from the hose, and then we go
(09:42):
down and like even like the wandering little baby. It's like, oh,
who's going to protect the baby?
Speaker 5 (09:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
But then we go down through the grass and see
all the bugs and it's like, yeah, it's it's such
a strong opening.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Well, and the sound effects, the sound design as we
go down into the grass with all the bugs and everything, like,
it just gets it feels like it's just eating away
your brains. And I think it's just a great way
to kind of depict that that dark underbelly that's perhaps
always here, but you just don't see it. You just
don't think about it because it's kind of it's hidden,
(10:18):
it's buried, but it's there, and it's it's disturbing when
you start digging into it.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
It is. It's and it's such a Lynchian favorite, right
that he loves to look at the superficiality of the
world we all live in and then demonstrate the decay underneath.
And that becomes a trope that's sort of introduced here
and continues in its spiritual you know, descendant Twin Peaks
(10:46):
written large.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, so this is the closest to Twin Peaks of
any of his other projects. It's kind of like this
began the itch that he then continued to scratch with
for techniques in Yeah, absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
So you know is a TV show, right, it's a
TV show, but still it's like there's a It starts
off with a local town girl who's been murdered, and
you know, the the FEDS come in and you've got
Cole MacLaughlin as an FBI agent who is here to
try to help figure out what's going on, and you
just as he's here, you're getting to know the townspeople
(11:26):
and it all feels very normal, but you're also seeing
like the dark underbelly of the town here, Like there's
there's you know, drug dealing going on. There's a prostitution
or like a you know, a whorehouse essentially across the border,
and that that people in town are involved in. There's
a lot of these other seedier things that people are doing.
(11:50):
And then even not just that sort of stuff, but
you're starting to get a sense of like you know,
familial abuse, like all the things that are always there,
but you're just not seeing because you're looking at this
kind of pristine picture of just the happy, little small town.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
And when does the idealic get in the way of
doing what's right? I mean, That's so much of what
mclaughlan's character is about, both here and and in Twin
Peaks is you know, we're just trying to do the
right thing, and we think we have an answer, but
this idyllic town wants to ignore all of the darkness. Right,
(12:29):
what happens when that conflict?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
It's not right and wrong? Yeah, it's not right or wrong.
It's kind of like surface versus evil, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Right, what are we afraid to face?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
It's the same sort of stuff that Stephen King plays
with and a lot of his stories about dairy and
all the small town I mean, just he's very much
looking more at the the overt horror as opposed to
I guess you could say with David Lynch it's more
of a not quite as overt straight up horror, but
there's definitely horror elements to it. Like when you think about.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
It, it's so funny. It's it actually, I think you
might call Mike White's successor to the David Lynch sort
of social for right, Like there's there's a lot of
white Lotus, or a lot of of David Lynch in
white Lotus, you know, Sue, it's a little bit more polished,
but yeah, but it's it's there exploring that undercurrent.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Mmmmm. And you even see it with the police involvement too,
that the there's the one very helpful Laura Dern's dad
who's like there to be very helpful and very very
accessible to the random public and people who just bring
(13:48):
him ears off the street.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Can we talk about the first tip off of like David.
I felt like David Lynch is like strange almost like
he's got a different a lot of different things going on,
but one of them is kind of this campy style,
you know, and maybe specifically how he directs, like some
(14:10):
actors and their performances. So when Kyle maclachlin finds the
ear in the field and brings it to the police chief,
Laura Deurn's dad he brought it and he's showing it
to her dad and he and then the dad goes like,
m yes, that's right, that's a human era, right, you know.
(14:31):
It's like, oh, David Lynch, I love you.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah. I mean, so he gets this ear and he's
like immediately like Okay, well we'll take care of this,
thank you for bringing us this ear. But his partner,
it turns out, is in the bad world, right, So
that's kind of like what we're talking about too, which
there's like one foot in the very helpful world and
(15:00):
one foot in the bad because the partner was involved somehow.
All I know is he got killed and his brains
were out and he was a bad guy.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Right. He's obviously a corrupt cop who's like working with
with Frank Booth as far as like all the whatever,
the drug dealing world that Frank is part of that
he's tapped into that as our crooked cop.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Right because there's no institution above corruption.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
With David Lynch ever, it seems like.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, but but yeah, I would say that, you know,
so I kind of agree with what Pete said, is
that I was this was kind of refreshingly straightforward in
terms of the story, like right now I'm I'm writing,
and so I'm super sensitive to like structure right now,
(15:55):
and I felt like it was it did a really
solid job of still being kind of like a pretty
muscular mystery, you know, and detective story because it really
is just about Kyle MacLaughlin living in one world and
being seduced by the other, needing to find answers and
(16:16):
when things get dangerous or perverse. He's compelled to go
into that world even more.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, it's an interesting place that he is drawn to,
Like he's drawn like he I mean, he seems like
a goodie goodie college student. But once he finds that ear,
it's like he goes through the ear canal into the
world of insanity and he kind of like happily takes
that plunge because there's this draw that he has that
he can't shake, Like he he wants to keep pursuing
(16:50):
this mystery of the ear. He is the one who's like,
once he finds out from Sandy information about Dorothy Vallence,
like he's like, Yeah, you know what, I could learn
a lot if I break into her apartment. Let's do
that like that.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Which is such a psycho thing to be, like, I
bet you could learn a lot by getting into that
woman's apartment. And it's like you're talking about breaking into
a woman's apartment. You hear this, right, We're hearing what
our plan is.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Yeah, And it just goes darker and darker because he
then gets this sense from of Dorothy's world as Frank
shows up and he witnesses how abusive Frank is to
her and how insane Dennis Hopper. I mean, this is
possibly the most Dennis Hopper's ever been in a performance,
with all of his huffing and everything that he's doing.
But then it gets to the point later when Jeffrey
(17:38):
is comforting Dorothy and they end up in bed together
and she's like hit me, hit me, and you get
this dark sense of how broken she is as a person,
and to a point where she pushes Jeffrey to a
point where suddenly he actively is doing it and it's
like wow, okay, like taking a bite of that darkness,
(17:59):
and it ends up feeling like he's compelled and needs
to now kind of keep jumping into it's like drug addiction,
you know.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And he he also, like like the movie like starts
off in kind of a PG and starts dipping its
toe into PG thirteen, and then like when he he
enters this dark world, it like goes virtually like NC
seventeen to hard R and he is shocked. We are shocked,
(18:32):
you know, and it's like, oh, this is the.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Movie now, Yeah, this is the movie now, and like,
oh my god, Dennis Hopper is a crazy person like I.
So his performance is so I don't know what the
word is, but it's like.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It is chaotic and intense, and.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It's hard to believe that he's like a normal man
in real you know, like, are you just a normal
man who's playing a part? I don't think so. I
think you might be a legit crazy person. One of
the facts that I read was that a lot of
people were offered that role and turned it down because
(19:15):
it was like too much. And he was like, no,
this is me. I I feel so seen and I'm
just like what Wow, okay.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Don't look at me. Was his line. That's like that's
in his head. He carries that around. Oh boy, yeah,
oh boy.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I just know him from Speed like that.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
He's not great. He's not a great guy in Speed either,
Like yeah, no, that's that's more like the Hollywood safe
version of this character.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Though you can see you can see that there. They
could be you know, they could be cousins. They've hung
out at family functions before.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, and who wants to go to those family functions?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Not but I mean, but but I love what Dennis
Hopper is doing here because it really puts you off
guard constantly in ways that like, I mean, villains can
definitely do that, but it is so unhinged, and I
mean he really is like a representative of chaos, Like
(20:25):
you just don't know what to expect. Like anytime he's
on screen, you know, it could feel like as a
as a crazy character, he's about to go left and
then suddenly he goes right. Like it's just it's wild
and it's over the top, and it just is constantly
making you uncomfortable and you just don't have any clear
sense as to like what is going to be next
(20:47):
with him, And that's I think what's so interesting as
a villain. And as we learn, aside from this abusive
relationship that he's kind of forcibly created with Dorothy, you're
also starting to learn he's he's dealing drug and he's
got this whole thing with the Yellow Man and this
mysterious man with a mustache that we later find out
who that is. But and then you know, you got
(21:10):
to also mention like Ben his his dealer, or I
think he's maybe his supplier, Dean Stockwell's weird character. Like
you just keep meeting these characters that are just so
not what you're expecting, And I think that's what David
Lynch does so well in creating this world where we
fully have entered that our territory that you're talking about, Nathan,
(21:31):
of this CD Underbelly, where just characters are like just
twisted versions of things that you might have seen in
the past, but they're just so much weirder than you've seen.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Before, so much weirder, so much weirder that there's going
to be like a surprise karaoke happening.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, that was a very twin peaksy, like I realized
he it's most twin peaksy anytime they're filming on a set,
Like when I feel like they're in the real life,
it feels a little more grounded. But when he can
just go nuts and he's on a set, like when
they're at that club or even like Isabella Rossellini's like apartment,
(22:17):
Like when they're on a set, he can just kind
of lean full into that kind of Darren poorly explain
like that twin Peaks vibe of just like everyone is
is in a different tempo and there's an ensemble of strange,
unusual characters and there's usually someone dancing or singing.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, there was the one lady who was like going
to dance on the roof of the car, which seemed
like a cloth roof of the car to me, And
I was like, oh, that's very dangerous, ma'am. You might
want to step down. But she's up there dancing while
he's like beating the shit out of Kyle McLaughlin. And
it's like, Okay, you're right, there's always going to be
(23:03):
someone singing and dancing because we have to have singing
and dancing happening while the extreme violence and crazy stuff
is happening. But so did I have it right that? Like, okay,
so they in order to have Dorothy Vallens, the lounge singer,
be his sort of like uh yes, that, thank you.
(23:29):
I could not think of words to describe.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
He kidnapped her husband and child and they were being
stored at that like trap house that they went to.
And how long had that been going on a long time.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I don't know if we ever get a real sense
as to the duration of that whole thing.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I feel like it'd be pretty close to the ear
situation if at most it was going on a few
weeks or a few months before.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
The ear, like long enough to form some routines, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
It's all seemed very routine.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
To escalate with the ear.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, right, So, and it seemed like there had been
rumblings going on in the world as far as like
what was going on with the drugs and stuff, like
when he talks to Detective Williams, it sounds like they,
I mean, the ear was a new thing obviously, but
it sounded like they had been like because Sandy is like, yeah,
she mentioned like she's the one who says, yeah, they
(24:48):
mentioned this this singer Dorothy Ballins. So it seems like
there's something that the cops have started watching, but they
just haven't quite pieced the puzzle together yet. And so yeah,
I would say probably, I would say closer to maybe
a few weeks is about where we're probably at here.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, weeks months.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
It's it's enough to the point where, I mean one
of one of the most disturbing scenes for me in
the film, which just you know, hits me every time,
when they go to Ben's and Dorothy is finally allowed
to go into the room to see her son, and
you just hear through the door door, no, no, Donnie, no,
Mommy loves you, and like she's just like, like, what
(25:31):
the hell is happening in that room? Like have they
so like brainwashed and abused this child where he is
like now like doing like torturing his own mother, Like
what the hell is going on back there? Like it's
it's like we'll stockholm. Yeah right, yeah, just it's really
(25:51):
a shocking element of the story that I always am
horrified by.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
I didn't like that part due though, because you know it,
like all of these characters, even to Laura dern right,
every character is a demonstration of just how little David
Lynch thinks he has to push to make you change sides, right,
to make you take a thing that seems horrific and
(26:18):
and make it become normal. And the kid is a
great example because like that's a child. Part of the
reason that it's so horrific is that it took, as
we're saying, weeks to convince a child to change sides
from his mother. That's that that maybe the darkest implementation
of this trope that you know, everybody else like the
(26:39):
mother will do anything you want because her family's at stake.
That's you, that's just a little push. Sandy sees how
things are unfolding with McLachlin and doesn't and and ends
up being able to let that go like, there, everybody
has a thing that the a button that can be pushed,
And I think that's part of Lynch's m is We're
(27:02):
gonna take all kinds of characters and I'm gonna show
you how little it's gonna take to make them do
something horrible.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
With the exception of the The part that I was
like a little bit weirded out by two is like
when Mike the ex boyfriend is going to beat up
Kyle McLaughlin for stealing Laura Dern and then that's the
moment when Isabella Rossellini comes stumbling out all like naked
and like beating up and she's like in a fugue
(27:35):
state of craziness and Mike's just like, okay, we're gonna go.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
It was that classic kind of like oh, you know,
the jock is gonna now and his team are going
to beat up the main character, and they're like, oh,
oh shit, we're in a different movie.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Sorry, We're just.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Gonna go oh really sorry, man, really sorry, and they
drive off.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Which is, yeah, that's yet another push, like pushing these
guys to ignore something horrible. They just ignored something horrible
and walk like that's so Lynchy. In right there.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, they're like, you've got you've got other things going on.
We'll come back right.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Well for the beating.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
For the beating, Yes, we'll be back for that. And
then the mom too, is like they bring her into
the house and the mom's like, well, I'll get her
a coat, I guess, you know, and no one's just
like hold the hold the phone. Where is this woman
coming from? And like what the hell is happening and
(28:43):
why is she naked and going crazy? Like uh, the
mom's just like, well, I'll make tea.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Well, to be fair though, like that was like clearly
somebody who had been beaten and like a lot of
psychological damage that probably needs medical attention. And so I
can see that conversation coming up after they've left. But
also it's it's such an interesting scene because that's so
I met.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Your new boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, that's where Sandy realizes and finds out that that
Jeffrey has been kind of seeing Dorothy and like has
started up aside from just sneaking into apartment, they're connected.
And the way that she's talking about I have his
seed in me or no, he's not his seed? What
is she's saying? Or maybe this seed. I can't remember,
but it's just like dang and Laura Dearned, Like her
(29:34):
face is so broken like she is. It's a perfect
like She's such an interesting character because I mean you
mentioned like the fire truck and all that stuff, but
they take you ground that they design it like it
is the fifties. Like her outfits in this are not
They're all like fifties outfits. And that's what's so interesting
is like he really is kind of putting this story
(29:55):
even though it's a present day story, He's making it
feel like like he's bringing those those fifties elements forward
almost just as a way to kind of like further
capture that sense of kind of like perfect you know,
kind of perfect family, perfect society.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah, you know, it kind of reminded me of which
is Edwards scissor Hands of taking kind of you know,
in the in the eighties, taking a very like you know,
fifties suburbian style with just the authors like full on
you know darkness. Yeah, as contrast you know, and their
(30:39):
kind of take on, their kind of rebellion against that world.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Yeah, great comparison.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Well, the eighties were so obsessed with the fifties. Yeah,
you know, even in like Back to the Future, you know,
like the fifties were just seen as the perfect time.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Which is so interesting because like David Lynch seems like
he you know, if you just met him on the street,
he would seem like he's from the fifties, you know,
like his hairstyle and the way he talks, like he
couldn't like he would talk to Dennis Hopper and he
couldn't say the word fuck, Like he would say, okay,
so now you say that word and then you say,
(31:23):
like even though he wrote all of this.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, interesting, he can write it.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
But that's it.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
I you know, we haven't even speaking of the ideal.
Like we didn't even talk about the town. The town's
named Lumberton. And I don't know if you heard the
radio adds much, but they love fetishizing there would that
is so funny. I like yet another thing. This is
a town that exists for a single purpose. There is
(31:54):
no depth in this town. The only depth comes from
the criminal element on the other side because they just
want are just so horny for their would.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Not even speaks to Sandy's boyfriend because that feels very
much of that that fifties, you know, we're gonna, let's,
you know, meet at noon in the and have you know,
bring our knives, like you know James Dean sort of
rebel without a cause type of characters.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, and the friends who are just like giggling and
they're like, she's going to ride in a car with
a different boy.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
I One thing that I did not understand though, that
did not come together for me at the end, is
that the quote unquote like what who Kyle McLoughlin calls
the well dressed man with the mustache? So what was
going on there?
Speaker 5 (32:52):
What?
Speaker 2 (32:53):
So? So he has so Kyle McLaughlin was playing junior
detective and taking photos of some of the criminal endeavors,
and so he saw the the the what the yellow man.
It was a guy in a yellow suit who turned
out to be a police officer.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
And then and.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Then there was this mysterious guy with big, bushy eyebrows
and really dark hair in the photos. And so what
it revealed at the end is that was actually Dennis
Hopper disguised. So all the times we saw him out
and about doing some of these things, it was him
in disguise.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
And I think that's all just further just put in
here just to give it a sense that.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
A strangeness and a reveal at the end, and that.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Like Frank clearly, I mean, he's he's dealing drugs, he's
working with a cop in the process, like a dirty cop,
in the process of his dealings, and he's created this
alter ego that he uses as part of this. I
don't know. My hunch was so that certain people didn't
realize that he was involved in multiple aspects that they
(34:06):
thought he was. And maybe it was the Yellow Man,
because I think it's the Yellow Man who we see
with both versions of him. Yeah, And perhaps it was
too to make him think that there was a whole
other element to all of this, that that these people
were that his operation was bigger. I'm not exactly sure why,
(34:27):
but it definitely seemed like it was some element that
he'd come up with for some crazy reason as to
part of his strategy with his business.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I love that he's got a strategy like this to
think of this guy like sitting around with his goons
and being like, but what about this I dress up
in disguise.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
And then yeah, and it's just he's scary alone. But
it's it's really interesting when he's got a whole gang
of people with him, a gang of weirdos.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
He's very lynch. Yeah, he's very much. I couldn't help
but compare him to the Joker, right Like in all
of our interpretations that we've seen of the Joker, he
is just like unchecked I and you know, libido and chaos,
and there's very little rationalization behind what he does. And
(35:24):
we don't necessarily need it, right, we don't. He just
he just exists and he will always exist. And to
Andy's point earlier, Stephen King has characters like this and
this is, This is Frank Booth. Is is chaos, and
he is atrophy. And that's why he's a playground and
(35:45):
why we don't we don't need a lot of the
rationalization behind his his strategies because he's improvising. He's just
improvised rage and perhaps blue ribbon.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yes, and perhaps the blue ribbon and line.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
In the movie. Andy and I were celebrating that the
other day, Like I probably have said that one hundred
thousand times since I saw this movie.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
The first anytime Heineken comes.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Up, ribbon Yes. I love that he was like trying
to get to know him a little though he's like,
do you drink beer? What beer do you like?
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Oh really, well you're wrong. It's a blue Ribbon. Sorry
to have to tell you this, but it's the PBR
and the hipster has brought it back in the in
the two thousands.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
You know, there has got to be some fan fiction
out there that that answers the question what if he'd said,
my favorite beer is perhaps blue Ribbon? What kind of
friendship would have blossomed between them? Yes, glorious one friend.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, finally some common ground. That's why you always like
that's like one of those things that now you've learned
thing from this movie, because now you know, if a
crazy person asked you what's your favorite beer, you just
had your bets and say always, yeah, perhaps blue Ribbon
man PBR. That's what I'm into. And I like the
(37:14):
part too where they were at the house, the crazy House,
and they were like, he was like, get some glasses
for the beer. We need glasses for this beer. And
it's like, yeah, we are too sophisticated to drink right
out of the bottle around here. We need some glasses
for this beer so that we can be fancy and
(37:36):
sophisticated and spend our evening together. But I did like
that he was he was willing to provide the beer.
He brought the beer to the part.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Right right. I just think a lot of that scene
plays out in a way where we're getting a sense
of the constant power plays that both Frank and Ben
are making with the people that surround them. Like did
they actually care that the beer came in glasses? Maybe not,
but it was one of those things where they're like
(38:05):
they're pushing it to make their people realize that they're
always going to be the ones in charge, you know,
and to make them get these things.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
It's like weird twisted requests.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Though, yeah, and you have to get it. You have
to get it right or pay the price right. I
did notice that of all of the like filmmakery things
that are happening that are probably like David Lynchian signatures,
there was a lot of really interesting lighting happening, like
(38:38):
the glow that happens on them sometimes that fades into
the like when they get like really the light shines
on them really bright, and like when Laura Durren steps
out of the shadows to like meet him the first time,
and all the like interesting lighting stuff. What are some
things that I maybe missed that are like David Lynchian signatures.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
There's a curtains, red curtains, the curtains in general. Also
like there's he loves to use metaphoric imagery in the
in his projects, and so we definitely get that with
like the flickering flame that you get where it's just
like sputtering into.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
The Yeah, it's all dreamlike, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
He puts all that in to make it as hallucinatory
as possible.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Mm hmmm. So there's a lot more of that and
say like a Mulehaulland Drive or a lost Highway.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, yeah, you get there's much less in some a
lot of his other movies. There's much less of a
skeleton to put everything onto in terms of Okay, he
wants this and then this is going to happen, but
then this happens. You're just kind of like sometimes you're
just like knocked you're just in a boat, you know,
(39:57):
floating in dark waters at some point, you know, and
you don't know you're fully in the dream world and
you don't know where it's gonna go.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
And then you're going to read it afterwards. To see
what people how they interpret it. If you can figure out, oh,
is that what they were actually saying with the movie?
Like that, that's how more of the films end up
unfoldings as they as Pete and Nathan both said, this
one is, you know, kind of refreshingly straightforward.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Yeah, he has a really interesting filmography. There's definitely some
movies that are quote unquote like normal, you know, I
would say, like The Elephant Man and what I remember.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Of straight story.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
Yeah, it's very straightforward.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Like they like it is him doing a normal movie,
you know. And then Dune is like him doing a
big budget movie but just kind of like screaming on
the inside and getting as much of his own thing
going on as possible. Yeah, but it's still adapted from
(41:02):
Dune and so it still has that storyline. But yeah,
A Razorhead is like full on experimental, you know. And
then and then Twin Peaks is really kind of I feel,
you know, a continuation of Blue Velvet mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Yeah, and it's much more straightforward.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Yeah, and yeah, and then there's also just many versions
of Twin Peaks because there's the movie and then there's
the news series, which I haven't seen started.
Speaker 4 (41:34):
Yeah, Yeah, I think the other two things that I
would add to this question about David Lynch's sort of
signatures that apart from the you know, surrealism without any scaffolding,
like without explanation, it's very true voyeurism.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Like there's a lot of.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
People looking and asking the question, what is it that
we're looking at? And how does watching change the watcher?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Right?
Speaker 4 (42:02):
And this movie is full of that, right because he's
sides literally in the closet, and because yes, person, when
he comes out of it, he's.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Seduced by it. Yeah, he is being drawn into that world,
like you've got mister goody two shoes being drawn into
an adult voyeuristic world. And he likes it.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
And he likes it. He just gotta just got a
sniff at the Lynch's camera is like lingers really uncomfortably
long on really wide shots, Like that first shot of
just straight up voyeuristic abuse in the living room is
just very Lynch and it really foreshadows I think Twin
Peaks and Mulholland Drive, like looking too closely poses its
(42:47):
own huge questions and and reveals the rot beneath like
we get in this in this thing, the other thing
I would say is Lynch loves disorienting sound design. Yes,
sound is so important, Yeah, huge, right, whether it's just
kind of ambient hums, we get these weird dust, real
kind of drone going on.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Like you're descending or you're being swallowed up.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
Yeah, and going from loud, shocking sounds to straight silence
is just as as disorienting. So I think that's a
That's another one, And of course he works very very
closely with Angelo, but Elemente and the scores are pretty
legendary across many of their collaborations. So those would be
(43:35):
my two that I throw in.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
And a lot of the similar faces, like you'll see
the same faces over and over again in his projects.
I mean, Jack Nance, I feel like has been since
Eraserhead pretty much in most of the things that he did,
And it's just it's a very kind of consistent thread
of the same performers who clearly love being a part
of them and his projects.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
And basically half the people in the gang continue to
show up over and over again, you know. And then
that style, like that very offbeat, strange way of you know,
style that they've all got.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Yeah, they looked very eighties like like Brad Douraff's character
like looked like he was in like a silvery jacket,
Like he looked very eighties to me, right.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
So good, which is interesting, And I don't know if
he was trying to say something like this, but you've
got the fifties as like that, that kind of Christine
kind of Scholac. That's that's you know, the modern society
is designed to look like. But then the underbelly it
definitely has that more modern eighties feel, and I think
(44:47):
that's an interesting element that you don't see as much
of the eighties on the surface.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Yeah, it didn't feel like an eighties movie to me,
and I think that's part of why I felt like
so out of my depth doing this movie for this podcast,
because it didn't feel like an eighties movie, Like it
definitely felt out of time and like a movie that
you couldn't necessarily place in this era of movies if
(45:16):
you didn't necessarily know it was an eighties movie, you know.
So it's sort of left me a drift a bit
as to get it.
Speaker 4 (45:27):
But it's really funny, right because like this is this
is an eighties movies. Affection of the fifties, and I
think we see that in other eighties movies that that
are obsessed with the fifties. Is there's sort of its
own trope like that, that's just not what the fifties
looked like. This is what the eighties thinks the fifties
looked like. And that's eighties movie in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Hm hmm, yeah, I geta that is Yeah, that's very
very meta. So on a scale of one papspool ribbon
to ten Paps blue ribbons, how many Paps blue ribbons
do you give blue velvet? Nathan?
Speaker 6 (46:09):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Why am I always first?
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Because you're always first?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
So I'm so, I'm I think I'm going to I
think I'm going to I'm I'm vacillating a bit. I
think I'm going to give it an eight. OK, maybe
even higher, like an eight point five, But I think
maybe an eight is my safe bet. If so, if
(46:34):
you're interested, I feel like this is this is the classic.
This is the classic David Lynch film. You know, if
you want something that is both abstract but yet emotional
but still clings to a pretty strong mystery and plot,
(46:55):
this is this is the way to go. This is
if you had to just I feel like if you
had to just reduce his filmography to maybe two or
three movies. This would be on that list. Yeah that's
where I feel.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
Okay, great, how many PBRs do you give it? Andy?
Speaker 3 (47:14):
I mean, this is a this is a ten pbr
movie for me. I really yeah. I mean it's my
favorite David Lynch film. I just I love this film
so much. It gets better every time I see it.
It's I mean I remember the first time I watched
it in college. I mean I was like, what the
hell I just watched Like it just it breaks your brain,
but it also has never left. It just kind of
(47:35):
like burrows in and sits there. And I think that's
what I love about Lynch is he finds ways to
just kind of like put things in there that are
just so strange that you just can't forget them. And yeah,
I just what he's saying, what he's doing with this
film has just always been a favorite of mine. So
easy ten PBRs.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
This is this is a good This is a good
movie to see if you're like a young person, like
if in you're in if you're in your twenties and
you want to break your brain in a good way.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
No, I stand by it. Like I mean, if you
were trying to get into independent film or foreign film
and you want to kind of like throw yourself on
a grenade, but it's the story still makes sense because
he's got plenty that just go nuts. But if it
still makes sense, but yet you're still breaking the boundaries.
(48:28):
I feel like this is a good film school film.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
You know, it very much felt like a film school
film to me, Like I felt like it felt to
me like homework. And then someone who's gonna ask me
at the end, like what did it all mean? And
I was going to be like, here's my essay, here's
my five paragraph essay on the symbolism that I found
(48:53):
in Blue Velvet, and it was going to have to
be a book report. So I agree with you there.
What about you, Pete, how many paps blue ribbons do
you give Blue Velvet?
Speaker 4 (49:07):
Well, perhaps blue ribbon is famously a pounding beer, so like, yeah,
handle kind of a lot at one time. I am
also an eight perhaps blue Ribbon because I I celebrate
the film. I really really like the film. I like
what it's saying and what it does, and and I'm like, Nathan,
(49:29):
there is no catalog of David Lynch's films that should
not include this movie. And and also I recognize the
areas where the film is, you know, is not completely
for me. There's a certain performative aspect to it. It
feels like everybody knows they're in a movie. And that's
also a bit of a hallmark of David Lynch. And
(49:52):
I've never really had like there there are movies with
Kyle MacLaughlin in them that that in it in them
that I do connect with. I never quite believe he
believes what he's doing in this movie. So I there
definitely issues with the movie that I have with some
of the performances, but definitely not Dennis Hoppers or Isabella
ROSLINI I just think there, I think it's it's great.
(50:15):
So eight, I'm an eight.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
An eight, okay, Well, I feel like I'm gonna disappoint
you all and give it six.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Much higher than I expected.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
So I went to see what I would consider a
ten out of ten movie last night at like a
revival screening of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. And I
walked out of that and was like, yeah, I love
this movie.
Speaker 6 (50:50):
Movies are fun, movies are joyful, and then I watched
Blue Velvet and was like, oh no, the world is
a scary, scary place.
Speaker 1 (51:03):
Uh, and I definitely yeah. I just felt like I
am just a lovable dumb dumb who's not smart enough
to watch the David Lynch films and be like, yes, yes,
I see it.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
So where did it go from here? My recommendation would
be for you Twin Peaks, Like, Okay, I wanted to
go more. I feel like that is more of a
chrissy direction than like moulhulland Drive, which is again crazier.
I feel like Twin Peaks also because it is longer
(51:40):
form there it is more of an ensemble. You can
kind of, you know, dip into it with the weirdness
but also the like the lovable and interesting characters. So
I would say, if you are more interested in taking
another dip into David Lynch world, I'd say Twin Peaks.
Speaker 3 (52:01):
Yeah. And he was collaborating on that, so I don't
think he got to be quite as.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
As Plus it had to go on TV. It had
to go on TV.
Speaker 4 (52:09):
But but by the same token, I think Twin Peaks
as a series, as a property is is the David
Lynch Rosetta Stone, like you watch that and then every
other film you watch, you'll understand a little bit more
about it because he has so much space to kind
of play and explore these areas, these these weird characters
and the psychological archetypes and dreamy pacing and also suburban
(52:35):
kind of horror in the woods, like it's it's it
just I think it's it's a great I don't know,
it's weird to say this huge long thing is a
cliff notes, but it's kind of a cliff note for
David Lynch.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Okay, all right, I could see that. That makes sense
to me. So speaking of recommendations, Nathan, do you have
and this one was really tough for me. So mine's
real dumb, but I'm expecting all of you to have
super smart ones. What's your deep cut recommendation?
Speaker 2 (53:10):
So my deep cut recommendation is it's a video game,
but it's actually two video games. So there's a company
called Remedy Entertainment and they made the games Alan Wake
and Control, and both of them have very there there.
Speaker 5 (53:27):
You know.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
Alan Wake is still kind of a horror survival game,
and Control is kind of a horror slash sci fi
action game, but they really have a very strong David
Lynchy and feel to it, Like Alan Wake kind of
takes place in kind of a Lumberton slash, you know,
(53:49):
like Twin Peaks Town to where there is like, you know,
like a mystery and a horror and a supernatural element
that they're building on top of it. But they have
these really strange characters and really weird layers, and they're
wearing their influence from David Lynch like on their sleeve
(54:09):
like as like, So I would recommend either of them.
If you're more of a horror mystery person or more
of an action gamer.
Speaker 3 (54:18):
Control would be the way to go.
Speaker 2 (54:21):
But it like, even though Control is an action game,
there are very like it goes all in on the
weirdness throughout the story. So I would say, if you're
a gamer, look into those games Alan Wake or Control.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
Okay, good one. It's sufficiently random and appreciate that. What
about you, Andy, what's your deep cut recommendation?
Speaker 3 (54:51):
This is a film actually that I hadn't even heard
of until we had a guest on our Movies that
we like podcast storyboard artist who picks this as his film.
It's a nineteen ninety film called the Reflecting Skin, which
is could you can see how people could potentially call
(55:14):
it a Lynchian type of story. It actually is set
in the fifties in kind of the heartland of America,
rural community. This eight year old kid who his dad
is kind of like a bitter I think his mom.
I can't remember about the mom, but anyway, they run
a gas station. It feels like, you know, he's kind
(55:35):
of in this oppressive society. He becomes convinced that this
new neighbor of theirs, who's very kind of reclusive, that
she's actually a vampire, and because she acts weird and everything,
and I mean, it's one of those movies that you
definitely see kids doing kids things like blowing frogs up
(55:57):
with iirocrackers and things like that. But he's drawn into
this story about this this woman possibly being a vampire.
And then when his brother comes home from the military,
Vigo Mortensen playces his brother. His brother starts seeing this woman,
and this kid really gets like freaked out that thinking
that his brother's dating this vampire now. And so it's
(56:21):
a wild, crazy film that definitely deals with like dark,
you know, dark things in the underbelly of society. Innocence
being corrupted all of this beautifully shot film. I mean,
it's it's stunning. The cinematography the film definitely worth checking out.
Called The Reflecting Skin cool.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
It's a very deep cut. I love it.
Speaker 4 (56:44):
I only gave it six exploding frogs, but I still
agree with Andy's recommication.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
It is so.
Speaker 1 (56:53):
It sounds really intriguing. I love a possible vampire in suburbia.
What is your deep cut recommendation, Pete?
Speaker 4 (57:02):
Okay, I come multimodal in. I was introduced to this
short story by my writing teacher in high school, Colin Chisholm.
Shout out Colin who introduced me to John Cheevers short stories.
And one of those short stories is called The Swimmer
and it was there was originally published in The New
(57:23):
Yorker in nineteen sixty four, and it is a beautiful
story about a guy who decides to swim home across
the pools in the backyards of his affluent neighbors, right,
and as he gets further and further along, time starts
to bend his You know, it goes from being kind
(57:45):
of a fun, fantastical satire to really surreal and tragic
and dark. And it also like Blue Velvet, right, it
really goes to expose the rot beneath the all of
the year of country club suburbia, and it's quite lovely.
So Chiever is an amazing writer. But I also get
(58:08):
to say that in nineteen sixty eight, The Swimmer was
adapted and Bert Lancaster plays Ned the Swimmer and he
goes to swim home, and the story's expanded a little bit,
and it it goes hard pretty quick. I think this
is it's a very Lynchian non lynch story, and I
(58:31):
think I think it works very well. So read the
short story. I'm sure it's out there on the Internet somewhere,
and then watch.
Speaker 2 (58:38):
The movie available on to Be.
Speaker 1 (58:41):
Oh is it good?
Speaker 5 (58:42):
Good?
Speaker 4 (58:43):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Okay? Yeah right, yeah kay?
Speaker 3 (58:48):
To Be.
Speaker 1 (58:50):
Okay? Cool. Well, you're all so smart and wonderful. I'm
gonna recommend h craft beer, oh if you.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
As an alternative to PBR, right.
Speaker 1 (59:04):
As an alternative to PBR, as an alternative to Heineken.
Those are not your only two choices. Every local community
has some beautiful, locally brewed craft beer. Here in our
community of downtown Mesa, Arizona, we've got the Phantom Fox
Brewing Company right on our street that brews incredible beer
(59:29):
right there in their tiny little hole in the wall.
So find you a place like that where they will
serve you beer in a glass.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
The only thing you can cling to that you liked.
Speaker 4 (59:43):
Yes, the idea of beer beer.
Speaker 1 (59:54):
So yes, thank you so much Pete and Andy for
being with this on this What I Feel is a
very special episode of the most excellent eighties movies podcast
tell Us, where we can find your other wonderful podcasts
about brilliant, important movies. I've been loving the Hannibal series.
(01:00:18):
I'm very into it. Yes, where can people find you
and listen to you?
Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
And I'm gonna let you plug the next reel since
that's where the Hannibal series is, Pete, But I'm just
gonna say. Movies We Like is another show we do
where we bring on filmmakers and other people in the
industry to talk about a movie that they love. And
for example, that's where we talked about the Reflecting Skin.
We've had plenty of other wonderful conversations on that show,
(01:00:47):
so you can find that on our network true Story
dot FM and Pete.
Speaker 4 (01:00:52):
Yeah, also a True Story The next Real Family of
Film podcasts, The original show that Andy and I started
back in twenty eleven. Each week we take a movie
and talk about it how it connects to other films
in series that sometimes we just make up but mostly
they're connected fairly obviously, and and we've we just we've
(01:01:13):
never missed a week. We love doing this show. We
love talking about movies and and talking about why they're
important to us and important to the art form. And
so we invite you to listen there. But the film
the family of Film Podcasts also includes a number of
other shows that we we would love you to be
to come be a part of and explore.
Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
And they're all great and I love them and I
in addition to the Hannibal series, which is happening happening
now or did you guys finish?
Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
We've finished, it's still playing. I think the last episode.
I'm not sure when this episode airs, but yeah, the
the final episode is about to go live to the public, so.
Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
Man, it's a fuck.
Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
I can't wait. I can't wait. I've been loving it.
But I loved your Twilight series perhaps more.
Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
Than anything you guys did all the Twilight movies. Speaking
of reflecting skin, yes, I listened to that with such Glee.
Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
I highly recommend going back and checking that one out.
Speaking of to B Nathan, where can people find and
support your filmmaking endeavors.
Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
Well, Squishy Studios is still the best place. But our movie,
Last Movie Ever Made is available on TB or you
can rent it on Amazon or Apple. If you hate ads,
which I hate as.
Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
Well, rented What That Ship? Buy it?
Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
Yeah, buy it for sure. It's a great movie.
Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
I had a blast with it and I'm proud to
say I owned that film and worth every watch. I
think it's great.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Oh, thank you, and the New York Potimes thinks it's great.
I love it. Okay. You can find me at the
Neighborhood Comedy Theater if you happen to be in downtown Mesa, Arizona,
being funny on stage every Friday and Saturday night. You
could also find me on my other podcast, Gank That Drink,
(01:03:17):
a supernatural drinking game podcast. Also available What do You
Know on True story dot Fm, where you can find
so many wonderful things. And if you are with us
here at the end of our podcast, it's because you
want more. You want more of Nathan and Chrissy and
(01:03:38):
our fabulous guests we've got bonus content for you when
you become a member. Just go to true story dot
fm and find our podcast and it's very straightforward and
easy to click all the little buttons and become a
member and you get extra special bonus content from us
every week. This week with our guests, we're going to
(01:03:59):
be talking about have you ever walked out of a movie?
And if so, what movie? And why which I am
I can't I can't possibly guess the answer to for
most of these boys, So you can become a member.
Like we said, we appreciate you so much. And if
(01:04:21):
you don't feel like we becoming a member, please still
do all the things that help podcast out, like rate, review, subscribe,
tell a friend, tell a neighbor, tell a local lounge
singer who is possibly part of a dark underbelly that
you love this podcast and maybe they'll love it too.
And when you're out there in the world, please keep
(01:04:43):
the most excellent Eighties Movies podcast motto in mind. Be
excellent to each other and party on
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