October 8, 2025 • 50 mins
When Childhood Nostalgia Meets RealityKrissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell are joined by special guest Jordan Collier to revisit the 1985 spy comedy Spies Like Us, starring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd. What happens when a beloved childhood favorite gets the modern rewatch treatment? Sometimes the results are as bumbling as the protagonists themselves.The Verdict: When Memory Lane Takes a DetourOur hosts discovered that Spies Like Us suffers from an identity crisis—never quite deciding whether it wants to be silly slapstick or serious espionage. While Jordan and Nathan remembered loving the film as kids, their adult viewing revealed a movie that couldn't nail down its tone, leaving characters without clear motivations and comedy that felt more meandering than memorable. The film's training montages and "Doctor! Doctor!" scenes still delivered laughs, but the lack of genuine tension between Chase and Aykroyd's characters left much to be desired.The consensus? Spies Like Us earns a middling 5 to 5.5 missiles out of 10—a film that works better as a nostalgic memory than a current viewing experience. Sometimes childhood classics are best left in the vault of fond recollections.Additional Takeaways:
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- The movie needed a third character to complete the comedic trio
- Chevy Chase's character came across as surprisingly unlikable with modern eyes
- The film's tonal shifts from broad comedy to serious nuclear warfare felt jarring
- Dan Aykroyd's spy skills were inconsistent—sometimes brilliant, sometimes bumbling
- The Bob Hope cameo represented the kind of absurdist comedy the film needed more of
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- Support the hosts: Neighborhood Comedy Theatre | Squishy Studios
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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 perks that
come with it. Hello and welcome to the Most Excellent
(00:30):
Eighties Movies Podcast. It's the podcast where a filmmaker, a
comedian and their fabulous guests bungle and bumble their way
through the eighties movies we think we love or might
have missed, with these our modern eyes to see how
they hold up. And today we're talking about Spies like Us,
a movie selection from nineteen eighty five, about which Letterboxed says,
(00:56):
with spies like these, who needs enemies to humbling government
employees think they are US spies, only to discover that
they are actually decoys for nuclear war. Oh all right,
here comes the trailer.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Spies like us. Chevy Chase and danak Royd.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We've got a very special assignment for you too.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Boy, this is my sister. You can all have.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
He doesn't call that's a good idea, We see that.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Honestly, you two are unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Over in a minute.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
You don't tell us why you're here I.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Cut off a finger. Mine ears yours d oil silver. Hello,
Chevy Chase, get a foul out of here, Dan A. Lloyd.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I think my high school guidance counselor said I'd never
amount to anything.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Spies like us. We're America.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
At the end, it says coming for Christmas to a
theater near you. This was a Christmas movie.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
Oh man, I'm Christy Lanz.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
One of the directors at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater in
downtown Macea, Arizona, and with me as always is.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
Nathan Blackwell, independent filmmaker with Squishy Studios.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And joining us today is the picker of this movie,
the director and producer of the musical catering company that
performs monthly at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
It's Fabulous.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Comedian Jordan Collier.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Welcome back, Hello, Hello, thanks for having me again.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, well you mentioned this movie and we were like, okay,
we have to do it.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Yeah, because this was your your record.
Speaker 7 (03:35):
This is one of my childhood like go tos.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
For whatever reason, Yeah, I had the same experience. It
was like like I probably saw it many times in
an intense like you know, from like the age of
like ten, eleven or twelve, probably saw several times over
and then then took a thirty year break.
Speaker 7 (04:00):
Exactly. Yeah, I haven't watched it since I was maybe fifteen.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Okay, good, good, So we have kind of similar experiences
of like childhood. Me loved it. I'm sure it's great.
I'm sure it's still great.
Speaker 7 (04:18):
Yeah, I'm sure it's gonna make me laugh the whole time.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Oh my god, it's so GOODA just yeah, it's it's
it's gonna be great.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
I had never seen this movie.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
This was my first experience with spies like us, and
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
Why I would have missed it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It seems like this is the kind of movie that
my family would have thrown in constantly, like yeah, yeah,
always watching very similar movies. But for some reason, spies
like me never made the Stuart Family cut.
Speaker 7 (04:53):
Well that's a darn shame. I'm glad you got to
finally see it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I watched it on a plane on the way to
Portland this week, and so I don't have any notes
because I didn't have enough.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
Room in my seat to both watch it and take notes.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So I'm going I'm rockin' just based on vibes and
memory over watching them all.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Luckily, I took more notes than I've ever taken for
for one of our movies. I wouldn't say that's an
encouraging thing, Okay, but but yeah, are we starting with
hot takes? No, let's just let's just let's just roll out.
Let's let's let's go beat by beat in terms of
(05:41):
the story, and we'll and the audience how how we feel.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So I was actually confused by the beginning of the story.
So the very first thing that we see is a
big bomb being wheeled through the trees and just knocking
down trees and like coming to rest in the middle
of nowhere in Russia.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And then we meet a bunch of spies, a bunch
of stuffy spy people who are just like too classy
for words, and handlers.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
They're not I would classify them as like management spy handlers,
you know, adjacent maybe right right, spyers. You know, It's
like they get the nice office, they get the secret intel,
but they don't seem like they're at the top for sure.
It feels like they're they're in a middle zone and
(06:40):
they're jockeying for more success in their career.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
Needs to know basis too wheeling it out exactly.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yeah, they've got something to prove.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But there's very funny bits about the Acme Tomato company
being like the front for all of this, and a
guy with a briefcase with one single picture in it
shackled to his wrist and when he gets to these
spy management guys, he's like, I have the intel and
they're like, we'll give it to us.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
It's shackle to my wrist. Well open the thing. I can't.
It's tied to the shackle and there you won't see
them like get very frustrated, like, well, how the hell
do we get the picture?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Then?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Right?
Speaker 5 (07:23):
Is there? Is this their first time spying? Like there's
got to be a process through that, right right? I
So with this movie I had a lot of like
I felt that with with any kind of comedy, it's
got to establish kind of what is the tone of
(07:44):
the piece, Like how how realistic is it? How broad
is it? How you know, what what do the characters
really want? Like do they exist in a world where
Bob Hope can just magically enter a tent and appear?
You know, like are we existing in and like something
(08:04):
like Seana the Dead to where there's comedic things, but
it's a very real world with real consequences. People can die,
you know, or is it top secret where it's total
spoof and whatever the filmmakers want can can happen. It's
it's completely ridiculous. And I found I was having a
(08:27):
lot of problems like gauging the tone, and it kept
it kept going higher and higher, like it didn't kind
of really inform you what the tone was. It went
with some of its broadest stuff, like a half hour in.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, it's tough to nail down. And to me, it
wasn't silly enough, Like I wanted more silliness.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
And I remember it being really silly, yes, and really
like just slapstick and buddy comedy. But yeah, I was
kind of like misremembering or like maybe creating more in
my head because I watched it so much as a kid.
So I was a little Yeah, I was a little disappointed.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And here's my question is like, are they buddies like
when they meet each of them, when we first meet
each of them, Chevy Chase is sort of like a
flies by the seat of his pants, doesn't care.
Speaker 6 (09:30):
Very Yeah, but he's right, nonchalant.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
When they ask him if he's taking the test the
next day, He's like, oh, I've taken it four times.
So we get the idea that he's an idiot who
is like failing his.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Way to the middle.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, but dan Ackroyd is working at the as a
codebreaker in the basement of like the Beyond basement and
like a sub basement, and I got the impression that
he was like a real studious, efficient, no nonsense type.
Speaker 7 (10:13):
Yes, yeah, he didn't seem very like a bumbling idiot,
like the same way that chevy Chase was.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Right right, he was much more a little bit more
of a misanthrope, like the whole people thing, not so much.
But also he was just I felt like he was
more of a victim of being really good at something
and being abused by his bosses. Yeah right, yeah. But
I think a good way to describe like chevy Chase
(10:44):
and dan Ackroyd and their characters is that chevy Chase
is full on, one hundred percent just doing whatever chevy
Chase wants to do. That's his character, and dan Aykroyd,
who was one of the writers of the script, is
kind of doing his like a less enthusiastic version of
race Dance from Ghostbusters almost kind of like Ray and
(11:07):
like Harold Ramis combined, which is like they're they're very
like logical versus you know, like the the emotional you know,
kind of like chaotic Chevy chase, but they're basically just
doing themselves.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I thought they really needed more tension between them, as
though they didn't want to be paired up, because like
as soon as they do the test cheating scene, it
goes from feeling like, uh, just like you know his name,
Dad Akroyd is like reluctant to cheat to going He's
(11:49):
full force in it, doing stupid, stilly stuff fast.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, And that test cheating scene that
was that was just like it's like, Okay, here's what
we're gonna do, Chevy. Just do whatever you want. We'll
just keep the cameras rolling. It'll be a ten minute scene.
It'll be just comedy gold just go for it. And
(12:16):
there's like no like the first the first one or
two things like frank Oz, God Bless him, was the teacher.
I love frank Ozy.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
He's supposed to be like.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
The stern taskmaster, folding his arms in disapproval. The first
thing that chevy Chase did should have gotten him thrown
out of the room, you know, and he just keeps
doing more and more stick you know, with the eye patch,
Like what did he actually write? What could you write
on an eye patch for like a like a ten page,
(12:49):
you know, fifty question spy exam, you know.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
And then barely lifted above your eye to see it. Yeah,
and the.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Arms, the fake arm was ridiculous, And it's like you're
training to be a spy, be better at cheating. Yeah,
and then they're rolling on the floor like pretending that
they're having a heart attack. And by that point, dan
Ackroid's character is all in and it's and I'm just like,
when did that flip happen? Because I think dan Akroyd's
(13:21):
character should have hated chevy Chase's character.
Speaker 7 (13:25):
Yeah, that should have been super embarrassed.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Yeah. Yeah, they should have kept that attention throughout, I think,
and then and then that would have been something for
them to overcome and eventually be on the same side
halfway through the movie, you know, yeah, agree.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, I also thought they needed a third guy, Like
I found chevy Chase like profoundly unlikable.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
In this movie, and yeah, dan Akroyd is, that's so strange.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
How could that happen?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, do chevy Chase?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Never chevy Chase, but I find him likable in all
of the National Lampoon movies and in Three Amigos.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
So I want to make this comparison. So Spies Like
Us is nineteen eighty five Yepohn directed by John Landis,
with chevy Chase, written by Dan at Royd and two others.
Three Amigos is one year later, directed by John Landis
(14:30):
with chevy Chase, and in terms of writing and in
terms of of just like comedic muscle, they're so different,
you know, Like I feel like Spies Like Us is
pretty meandering.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
Yeah, they needed a third guy.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
They needed a Bill Murray or a Steve Martin to
complete a trio of some kind.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Or even like a Harold Ramis who they keep meeting
in the field as their contact.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah I that So that was my big takeaway was
just that I was like, Where's Where's the third guy?
And the third guy ends up being Dan Aykroyd's wife,
Donna Dixon, who is also a spy.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
But I'm jumping way ahead, So they.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
They get selected to be the higher ups decide that
they need two expendable men to send on this very
sensitive mission. Yes, yes, this is where Sli still One
got his inspiration, I think. But they're gonna go be
(15:45):
decoys for the real mission. Of course they don't know this,
but we know this as the audience. So they get
to go through a very ridiculous training montage that includes Ninja's.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (16:01):
Starts with them dropping in the woods with a bunch
of Ninja's Nina which they think are just attacking them, huh.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And then they have to do a bunch of like
obstacle courses with people shooting guns at them, and they
have to crash a plane that just falls into the ground,
and they do a G force test that makes their
faces all ridiculous, and it's comedy at its finest.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
No, I feel like this movie really, like its peak
level is as a trailer, Like You've got all these
like goofy moments of them in a test chamber and
them like what do I do with this grenade?
Speaker 5 (16:45):
I don't know? You know, and them in weird costumes
and them trying to speak to people who don't don't
understand them, or even if you just kind of come
in and for a moment, it's like, oh, and then
you see this this fun little scene. The problem is
that the stakes aren't there. There's no electricity between them. Yeah,
(17:12):
it's it's to me, it feels like it's the script's fault,
you know. And and and whenever we say like the
story or the script, that doesn't necessarily this is just
kind of like behind the scenes stuff that doesn't necessarily
mean it was the screenwriter's fault. Right, Sometimes thing people
(17:34):
have influence, Like we don't know if chevy Chase used
his influence to change all these different points, or they
even allowed him to go nuts. It's like, well, we
need chevy Chase to green light this movie. I think
originally it was supposed to be.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
John Belushi, right, Yeah, I read that as well.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Yeah, and so who knows what happened behind the scenes.
But yeah, it's just it's just missing that tension I
think that you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
But I could totally see being delighted by the training
sequence as a kid and just being like.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Oh, yeah, this is so silly.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
That added their job.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
I think these are the memories that Jordan and I
were both like hanging onto.
Speaker 7 (18:19):
Yes, desperately.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Yes, yes, yeah, the goofiness, Like I feel like this
was this was this movie was made for like a
twelve year old by twelve year olds.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, which is where, yes, which is where chevy Chase
really shines. Aside from all of his like very misogynistic
jokes against women, where his character's like only goal in
life is to get laid or to pawn his sister
off on a dozen ninjas. It's very repellent to me,
(18:55):
to me with my twenty twenty five eyes, I just
found it to be repugnant.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
And yeah, I didn't love it.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, but I can see it totally going over a
twelve year old's head.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Oh and then you even and then you even think
that that's goofy, and you don't understand what that really means.
You know, it just becomes it becomes another stick, you know.
Speaker 7 (19:24):
Yeah. Yeah, because this also is a movie that I
quoted with my friends a lot too, Like I showed
my friends this movie.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Like, oh, spies like us, You're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Love it.
Speaker 7 (19:36):
Friday Night Gang.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, they're spies, but they're bad at their job.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
But they weren't.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
It just keeps going on.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
They weren't bad enough at their job, you know, and
I it was weird because you got the impression of
the beginning that dan Ackroyd was really good at his job.
So I was just confused there, Like if I was
in an improv scene with that character, I'd be like,
what does your character want? Like did your character want
(20:05):
to be in the field or do you just want
to get out of the basement.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
I'm confused.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
So anyway, they get sent into enemy territory in a
big crate that's full of snacks, and then we immediately
have another moment where it's like, okay, but wait, dan
Ackroyd is.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Good at his job because they get picked up by
two white guys in the middle of like and obviously
not white country. Do you guys remember what country? They
get dropped into Afghanistan?
Speaker 7 (20:38):
Oh boy, okay, Afghanistan okay.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And these two white guys are like, we're your contacts,
and he's like great. So they start driving away in
a jeep together and dan Ackroyd's like, oh no, his
watch is Soviet era a copy of an American watch.
These guys are Soviets. Okay, that's really good spy craft.
(21:06):
He's doing a good job. After an annoying scene where
he's like, don't you have to take a piss? And
he's like, no, I don't. I think I should know
if I had to take a piss and he's like, no,
you really do have to take a whiz right now,
and he's like, oh, okay, after much convincing, too much convincing,
I would say, so they get away from the Russians
(21:27):
and find a bunch of doctors at a village settlement
and pose as doctors. The funniest bit I think in
the whole movie is when they're like doctor, doctor, Yes.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
I was just going to say, my favorite part of
the whole movie is that bit, and that's what I
remember the most.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, when they're doctor Doctor.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
Of the doctors, one is fucking Terry Gilliam and the
other is Ray Harryhausen. Like John Landis has this thing
to where he will put directors in cameos and it
only gets worse from here. Like the peak or or
(22:17):
maybe the nadear of that of just having directors being
all these cameos, I think is Beverly Hills Cut three
with George Lucas being an angry like, you know, like
roller coaster guy. In the line being hey, don't cut up,
don't cut me in line. Yeah, it gets it gets
(22:39):
really rough. Just how many cameos like John Landis tries
to put in Yeah, but yeah, that that blew my
mind that Terry Gilliam was the like the one with
a German accent.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
Mm hmmmm hm.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So they have to try and do appendic appendix surgery and.
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Obviously they can do it.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Dan Ackwright is reading under the table from a textbook
about what to do and the guy dies thankfully before
they have to cut him open, but they end up
having to go on the run from this little village.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
I think that you talk about like how what is
the tone of the comedy, like what is because you're
with any story, you're kind of creating what is reality?
What are the consequences? What are the morals of the universe?
You know, you know, like you could have a realistic
movie where someone goes rogue and it's treated as a
(23:42):
illegal act, or you could have a movie where someone
goes rogue and that's what they should do. Damn it.
There's like a built in code. But you're also like
building in like the reality of the comedy, and there's
two moments that just de railed the movie for me.
In the camp. That was where literally Bob Hope comes
(24:08):
in because his golf ball rolled into their camp and
he was just playing through and then he kept going
like that is full on like hot shots naked gun.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, and I wanted more of that instead of less
of it.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Yeah, uh huh, like start you had you can't do
that a half hour in. You've got to start with
that if that's the rule.
Speaker 7 (24:32):
And then never do it again.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
Yeah. But the other one was like they go to
start the operation on the guy and they just touch
him with the scalpel and then he seizes with a
heart attack and dies.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
They don't even like cut into him, Like we could
have had some really funny moments where they're like pulling
out yard after yard of intestines or something.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
Yeah, like honestly, like what incision and then uncontrollable blood you.
Speaker 7 (25:03):
Know, Yeah, that would have been there. Yeah, yeahs naked slapstick.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, there's a moment where he's about to do the
incision and he's like at the chest and they're like stop,
you're about to cut into his chest and he's like, no,
I wasn't and then he makes eye contact with one
of the other doctors and like he nods no as
he moves the blade lower and lower, and then when
he finally gets to like the abdomen, he nods yes.
(25:32):
And it's like, Okay, at this point, you're not suspicious
of these two guys.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Right, At some point, wouldn't one of the doctors take over?
It's like the test cheating thing, you know. Yeah, it's
like there is a there is a plot bubble that
lets them just mug and do their stick you know.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
And we later learn it's because the other two doctors
were also the spies, the real spies who were sent
there to do the real mission, and that's why they
couldn't do the surgery. But I don't think they needed
to explain that to us. It just it should have
been a bit, you know, like it should have been
(26:14):
more bits, more opportunities for comedy. So then they have
to go on the run and they're like, well, we
got to get back home because they don't know what
their endgame of the mission is, so they're like, send
us back home for God's sakes.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
They call collect.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
To the Pentagon and they're like, we have a collect
call from two spies and they're like, what on a
public line, and it's like, yep, that's what they did.
Silly but not silly enough.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Yeah, it's silly enough for me to smile a little bit,
but I'm not laughing consistently. And that was that was
hurtful for young.
Speaker 6 (27:01):
Jordan's little baby Jordan is getting let down.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
Yeah, memory Jordan is bummed.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Fact later they meet up with Donna Dixon's character and
they're like, Okay, well she's the real spy. We're just decoys,
but we are going to try and stick together and
complete this mission. So they walk into Russia. Am I
remembering that? Right?
Speaker 6 (27:29):
How do they get into Russia?
Speaker 5 (27:32):
They dress like the natives.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
In head to toe furs, right, which they they don't
really explain where they get that for, right? Or am
I is that correct?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Her?
Speaker 7 (27:46):
They're just one moment, all of a sudden, they have
all that stuff on.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah, they use their spy wiles there you go, but
they do look ridiculous in their head to toe puffy furs.
And then they just walk into the Russian snowy wilderness
and they find the bomb and so her partner has
died at this point, and she's like, well, I've got
(28:11):
to take over this encampment and do whatever I have
to do with this bomb. And they're like, okay, we'll
help you, and they do it. They take over the camp,
they take the Russian soldiers all hostage, and lo and behold.
(28:38):
The details of her mission are not to disarm the missile,
but to launch it.
Speaker 6 (28:46):
Yes, whoops, whoops of doodles.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
If someone went to go get a cold drink from
the refrigerator and didn't pause the movie and missed that part,
then the later parts would be surprising.
Speaker 7 (29:03):
Yeah, what just happened.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
But the point of launching the missile was so that
the Americans could test out their Star Wars technology and
try and blow the missile out of the sky with
their satellites, which.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
They don't do. And then.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
And then our two guys from the beginning, our spy
managers are like, well, we got to do something. We
have to tell the president that we launched the missile,
and the general guy is like no.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
What's revealed is that the general is kind of like
general like Ripper from Doctor Strangelove is like, I'm going
to start a war. I'm going to start a situation
where we have to retaliate against them. So the whole
plan is that the bad guy, our spies are supposed
to sneak into Russia launch a nuke at America, which
(30:06):
we stop, but that gives us a reason to escalate
or even fire on them.
Speaker 6 (30:12):
Mmmm.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But since they don't stop the missile, they're just gonna
let it hit. Yes, Detroit, they say, but then the
missile look looks to be pointed at New York, so
they're like, we can live down here for seventeen months
in this bunker, and the two spy manager guys are like,
we would prefer not to do that.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Can we please tell the president that we launched this
nuke and they're like, nope, We're gonna go to all
out nuclear war and the whole world.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Is going to be destroyed. And so.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
That's that until back at the camp, dan Ackroyd does
some quick math, which again good spy work, and he's like,
I guess we have about forty five minutes until the
end of the world. So they decide to pair off
and all have sex with each other.
Speaker 7 (31:11):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Yep, and then forty five minutes or like forty minutes later,
it's broad daylight.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, and he's like, oh wait a minute, I know
how to stop the missile. We can use our equipment
to jack into the satellite and point the missile out
into space. So that that's what they do. And the
funny bit is that chevy Chase has to hold two
wires together that are electrocuting him the whole time that
(31:44):
they're re routing the missile. And that's a little bit funny.
I like seeing him in pain, but yeah, otherwise you
wouldn't have known it's true.
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Yeah, yeah, I wasn't quite sure. I certainly didn't know.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
On a funny note, like this is the same composer
as Ghostbusters, and like during the sequence there's some some
really ghostbustery like musical cues that that sounds super reminiscent
and like totally out of place because of just like
how well you remember Ghostbusters, you know, like like really
(32:28):
with that's like the satellite music.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Okay, okay, well we'll just accept it. But they so
they saved the day and then they have a little
dance party. But I read that the original ending was
that the world ends.
Speaker 7 (32:53):
See that that's the change in tone again, like that
would have been that would have been really weird.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Uh huh, Yeah, that would have been like like where
I feel like that's definitely a moment to where it's
like and get this then the world ends. Like they're like,
they're like the writers themselves are excited about it, but
the problem is, yeah, you don't set any of that
(33:20):
up at all, you know, no.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And then so they had to shoot reshoot the save
the Day ending on a sound stage because they get which.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
Is admittedly funny. You know, I don't know why they're
in charge of diplomacy right of what happens between the
two countries. They're basically playing a board game deciding who
keeps what in terms of the like the global map.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, and they're just like making out in there, like
Chevy Chase and Donna Dixon have hooked up dan Ackroyd
is with the Russian woman who was just a boots
on the ground soldier.
Speaker 7 (34:06):
Mm hmmm yeah blink, and you you're confused why she's
their type of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
And he comes out of the room and he's like, yeah,
you know, negotiations are very tense. We have to be
very careful. And you go inside and they're playing trivial pursuit,
which seems unfair to the Russians to be playing a
game that's not in their language.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Yeah, did you also notice that like they're they're Russian
contacts who tried to who are dressed like they just
came from the country club. Both spoke perfect like American English,
and then when they were we revealed as bad guys.
Now they had Russian accents. Like finally, I don't have
to use those muscles so much in my mouth. We
(34:47):
can speak with our in our English with Russian accents.
Speaker 6 (34:52):
M hm, silly.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
So what what what moments Jordan jumped out to you
as being like still warm memories.
Speaker 7 (35:11):
Definitely the doctor bit like that that's going into putting
the movie on. That's what I was quoting to myself,
like that's what I remember the most. And then honestly
the test cheating scene because I like all that slapstick stuff.
I love that scene as a kid. And then a
lot of the middle and end stuff like I had
(35:31):
completely forgotten because it's it's kind of as you said,
broad and it's a little boring too.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
It's a little boring. It gets a little too serious. Yeah,
it's like, wait, I didn't sign up for an actual
spy movie.
Speaker 7 (35:46):
Yeah, exactly. It's like, I just want to see these
guys be super silly and be in all these awkward
fun situations, is what I want.
Speaker 5 (35:54):
Yeah, it's weird. So I guess we say that we
wish it had more stakes and the characters did more
and were more serious, and then the story becomes more
serious and it's a bit of a bummer.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Really, thing is that the characters have nothing to do
with anything, and they don't have any influence or impact
even on each other. It's not that they themselves like
they themselves are kind of like magically the ones who
are able to pull everything off and then reverse what
they've done. But there's no like, no sense of what
(36:30):
this character wants and the conflict to get it. They're
just basically being themselves in every scene. And when we
say it's exactly the things are serious, it suddenly starts
to become oh, we're going to start World War three
and if this if the characters, I mean, I mean
I kind of I do kind of like the general
(36:52):
he did it, Yeah, I really liked him. But yeah,
it's just that it was not like you can do
a version of that that's a little more entertaining, that's all.
You got a little more fun to it, even if
it's it goes dark or goes real.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, Like I was waiting for that moment that you
do get in Three Amigos where Chevy Chase wants to
like fuck off and burn it all down, yes, and
dan Ackrowight says, no, we have to take this seriously.
Speaker 6 (37:28):
We're spies, we've been entrusted. We have to go save
the day.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
And like for chevy Chase to have that sort of
come to Jesus moment where he has to like put
his petty shit aside and then come and save the day,
it's about the characters.
Speaker 6 (37:45):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (37:47):
Yeah, that's what Three Amigos did so well, is like
El Elguappo was like legitimately a step ahead of them
and able to disregard any of their anti and then
then they were in danger, you know, And then the
Three Amigos themselves had that conflict and we're pushing and
(38:09):
pulling against themselves as.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Well, which is what we're missing in spies like us.
And even the woman character, it doesn't ever seem like
she she'll be like what is with you, guys, But
she's never like you almost need a Yeah, she hit
it together.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
She lets them goof off as much as possible, like
she the real spies seem are cartoony as well, right,
but she doesn't seem real at all. It would have
been nice if she was like legitimately like Rebecca Ferguson
from like Mission Impossible. It's like the for you guys
do and I am going to purposely put you in
(38:48):
danger so you die and I can do the actual
mission without distraction.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Yeah, that would be there should have been conflicts. Instead,
she was like, oh, whatever, you guys, come.
Speaker 6 (38:59):
On, I love you, Chevy j.
Speaker 7 (39:02):
She was literally just there, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Uh so on a scale of one nuclear missile that
will end all of humanity unless we stop it in time,
to ten missiles that will end humanity unless we stop
it in time, how many missiles do we give spies
(39:26):
like us. I'll let you go first, Jordan, since this
is your treasure.
Speaker 7 (39:31):
Okay, I want to say just four because I was
so disappointed, but I'm going to give it five because
the nostalgic factor still is going to weigh in and
it still kind of brings me to the halfway point. Okay,
I'll give it five missiles.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Okay, all right, yeah, very very stingy with your missiles.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Yes, I love it.
Speaker 7 (39:58):
Well, I mean they're very dangerous to you.
Speaker 6 (40:01):
Do you don't want to stockpile them? You want to
give them out?
Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (40:04):
Exactly what do you think, Nathan?
Speaker 5 (40:08):
I'm like, I'm totally on the same page as Jordan's, like,
I kind of want to give it a four because
I'm kind of kind of angry at it for having
you know, It's like, no, we used to be such
good friends. You've met.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
You.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
I was supposed to save the force, not betray it.
So yeah, I think I'm gonna give it a I
think a five is probably where I'm gonna settle on,
even though my first reaction is to give.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
It a four.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Okay, Well, I'm gonna go a smidge higher than you guys.
I I don't know why, but I didn't. I didn't
hate it. I thought it was just fine. And having
having never seen it before, experiencing it for the first time,
I didn't know what to expect. And although I was
confused and disappointed, I wasn't I wasn't mad at it.
(41:10):
So I'll give it a five and a half. I'm
giving an extra five point bump. That's fair a point
five bump because I thought it was just okay. I
was really expecting it to be like Top Secret. That's
(41:30):
what I was expecting. And I was disappointed that there
weren't more Bob Hopes trapesing through.
Speaker 6 (41:39):
And there was so much.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Opportunity with the drive in movie theater that was the
spy base of operations. There was so much opportunity for
just slapstick gold there. I think they should have ramped
it up a little bit more, but I didn't. I
didn't hate it, for sure. So what about a deep
(42:00):
cut recommendation? If you like spies like us, or if
you were disappointed in spies like us, or if you
once loved spies like us, what movie should you what
should you experience next? It doesn't have to be a movie.
It can be anything at all, but your deep cut
recommendation to go alongside spies like us.
Speaker 7 (42:22):
Jordan, I'm not sure how deep cut it is, but
I'm thinking of all the elements that spies like Us
failed at. And I recently watched the movie The Nice
Guys with Ryan Gosling y Russell Crowe, and I think
that does a really good job of having two characters
(42:42):
who are in conflict really interesting like motive and gold
that they're both trying to do and it's really really funny, yes,
like kind of blown away. How funny that movie is.
So if you haven't if you haven't seen that movie,
I would recommend that.
Speaker 6 (42:58):
I haven't seen it. No, that's a a good recommendation.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
I haven't. I've seen one part of it where Russell
Crowe breaks Ryan Gosling's arm. Yes, because that part like
resonated with me. He was like, take a deep breath, snap,
ooh ooh, it still makes hurt.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
I second Jordan's recommendation.
Speaker 6 (43:24):
Well, you have to have your own two.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Yes, I know, I do that one. Okay, okay, good God.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I'm not letting you get away with just seconding Jordan's recommendation,
although I do think Jordan's recommendation was very good.
Speaker 5 (43:40):
Good, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
What's yours? Nathan?
Speaker 5 (43:44):
So? I so, I really enjoy like spy comedy too.
But there's I mean, besides Austin Powers, there's not actually
a lot of good ones, though they're very kind of
it's tough, like, so what I there? But there is
(44:08):
one that I really enjoyed. So did you ever see
the movie The Artist, No, do you remember that one?
Speaker 2 (44:17):
So?
Speaker 7 (44:18):
Uh yeah one the Oscar right, yes, so.
Speaker 5 (44:21):
I love that movie. I know it wasn't for everyone,
but it was a French production. The star super charismatic,
but so he and the director previously did two spy
comedies with the same character. Very much kind of like
(44:42):
a French James Bond, you know, but a comedy. It doesn't.
It doesn't get Austin Powers goofy, but it's more of
a a a I would say, a take on the
Sean Connery era of spies. Okay, it's called It's called
oss One's Seventeen with Jean. I totally gon to mangle
(45:06):
his name, Jean Douja Den, Jean douja.
Speaker 7 (45:11):
I'm sure that's it.
Speaker 6 (45:12):
Yeah, that sounds perfect to me.
Speaker 5 (45:15):
Yeah, you nailed it, Jean dujon Den. He's great. He's
great in The Artist, he's great in oss One's seventeen.
It's a lot of fun. And I think you just
rented on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Okay, excellent, cool, a great recommendation and a very filmmakery
went as well, Nathan, well done. Uh So I was
going to recommend something different, and then today it came
to me a spy movie that I really enjoyed as
a younger person, which is relevant for two reasons.
Speaker 6 (45:51):
One that has to do with this movie, which is
that dan Ackroyd.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Is also in it, and uh two that one of
its stars passed away today.
Speaker 5 (46:01):
And yeah, I know the movie.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Yeah yeah, So I want to recommend nineteen ninety two's Sneakers.
Speaker 5 (46:10):
It's a great one.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
It has an amazing cast, River Phoenix, Ben Kingsley, just
so many people are in this movie. And it's about
a team of hackers, nineteen ninety two era hackers you
have to break into like a government mainframe to stop
(46:36):
a terrible thing from happening. And it's a really great
espionage sort of movie that stars you know, dan Ackroyd
and Robert Redford, who I love and who will be
greatly missed.
Speaker 6 (46:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yeah, this was a really fun movie that made me
fall in love with him. Well, no, Butch Cassidy and
the Sun Dance Kid maybe fall in love with him.
Speaker 6 (46:59):
But this movie cemented that love because I would watch
it with my dad all the time. We loved it.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
So I recommend Sneakers from nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 7 (47:12):
I'm going to add it to my list because I
had never heard of it before.
Speaker 5 (47:14):
Now it's so charming.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
It's so charming it is, and I'm going to watch
it with Rocket to see if it holds up.
Speaker 5 (47:21):
Yeah, I feel like I saw it like five years ago,
and my feeling was that it held up. Although all
the hacking, like all nineties movies, is like magic, It's.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Like completely it's just smashing keys and a keyboard.
Speaker 5 (47:37):
Yeah, it's the magical device, but it's it's it's very charismatic.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
And Dan Ackroyd plays the character in that movie that
I think you should have played in this movie, which
is just the sort of a conspiracy theory data nerd m. Yeah,
so excellent, well done. Spies like us, we give you
five to five point five stars. Nathan uh We'll start
(48:05):
with Jordan. Jordan, where can people find your art and
support you out in the world.
Speaker 5 (48:12):
Sure.
Speaker 7 (48:13):
I'm at Neighborhood Comedy Theater every first Friday of the
month with a musical catering company, So we do about
an hour and a half musical on the spot. It's
super fun. And then I'm also at the theater throughout
the month as well, just popping in.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
For shows, being hilarious, doing some improv.
Speaker 5 (48:36):
Improv Yeah, excellent.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
You can find out about all the information you need
to see the musical catering company and more at NCT
Phoenix dot com. It's end for neighborhoods, C for Comedy,
T for theater, and Phoenix all spelled out dot com.
Uh Nathan, Where can people support you and your filmmaking endeavors?
Speaker 5 (48:55):
Squishy Studios that's the easiest way. If you want to
check out our shorts, web series or feature film The
Last Movie Ever.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
Made excellent, And you can listen to me on Gank
That Drink, a supernatural drinking game podcast, also a true
Story FM product. And if you're here with us at
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(49:22):
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(49:45):
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Tell your local spy contingents, whether they are decoys or
(50:09):
the real thing, Let them know they should be listening
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Be excellent to each other and party our
Speaker 6 (50:27):
Dudes,
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 perks that
come with it. Hello and welcome to the Most Excellent
(00:30):
Eighties Movies Podcast. It's the podcast where a filmmaker, a
comedian and their fabulous guests bungle and bumble their way
through the eighties movies we think we love or might
have missed, with these our modern eyes to see how
they hold up. And today we're talking about Spies like Us,
a movie selection from nineteen eighty five, about which Letterboxed says,
(00:56):
with spies like these, who needs enemies to humbling government
employees think they are US spies, only to discover that
they are actually decoys for nuclear war. Oh all right,
here comes the trailer.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Spies like us. Chevy Chase and danak Royd.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We've got a very special assignment for you too.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Boy, this is my sister. You can all have.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
He doesn't call that's a good idea, We see that.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Honestly, you two are unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Over in a minute.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
You don't tell us why you're here I.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Cut off a finger. Mine ears yours d oil silver. Hello,
Chevy Chase, get a foul out of here, Dan A. Lloyd.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I think my high school guidance counselor said I'd never
amount to anything.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Spies like us. We're America.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
At the end, it says coming for Christmas to a
theater near you. This was a Christmas movie.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
Oh man, I'm Christy Lanz.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
One of the directors at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater in
downtown Macea, Arizona, and with me as always is.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
Nathan Blackwell, independent filmmaker with Squishy Studios.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And joining us today is the picker of this movie,
the director and producer of the musical catering company that
performs monthly at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
It's Fabulous.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Comedian Jordan Collier.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Welcome back, Hello, Hello, thanks for having me again.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, well you mentioned this movie and we were like, okay,
we have to do it.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Yeah, because this was your your record.
Speaker 7 (03:35):
This is one of my childhood like go tos.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
For whatever reason, Yeah, I had the same experience. It
was like like I probably saw it many times in
an intense like you know, from like the age of
like ten, eleven or twelve, probably saw several times over
and then then took a thirty year break.
Speaker 7 (04:00):
Exactly. Yeah, I haven't watched it since I was maybe fifteen.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Okay, good, good, So we have kind of similar experiences
of like childhood. Me loved it. I'm sure it's great.
I'm sure it's still great.
Speaker 7 (04:18):
Yeah, I'm sure it's gonna make me laugh the whole time.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Oh my god, it's so GOODA just yeah, it's it's
it's gonna be great.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
I had never seen this movie.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
This was my first experience with spies like us, and
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
Why I would have missed it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It seems like this is the kind of movie that
my family would have thrown in constantly, like yeah, yeah,
always watching very similar movies. But for some reason, spies
like me never made the Stuart Family cut.
Speaker 7 (04:53):
Well that's a darn shame. I'm glad you got to
finally see it.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I watched it on a plane on the way to
Portland this week, and so I don't have any notes
because I didn't have enough.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
Room in my seat to both watch it and take notes.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So I'm going I'm rockin' just based on vibes and
memory over watching them all.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Luckily, I took more notes than I've ever taken for
for one of our movies. I wouldn't say that's an
encouraging thing, Okay, but but yeah, are we starting with
hot takes? No, let's just let's just let's just roll out.
Let's let's let's go beat by beat in terms of
(05:41):
the story, and we'll and the audience how how we feel.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So I was actually confused by the beginning of the story.
So the very first thing that we see is a
big bomb being wheeled through the trees and just knocking
down trees and like coming to rest in the middle
of nowhere in Russia.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And then we meet a bunch of spies, a bunch
of stuffy spy people who are just like too classy
for words, and handlers.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
They're not I would classify them as like management spy handlers,
you know, adjacent maybe right right, spyers. You know, It's
like they get the nice office, they get the secret intel,
but they don't seem like they're at the top for sure.
It feels like they're they're in a middle zone and
(06:40):
they're jockeying for more success in their career.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
Needs to know basis too wheeling it out exactly.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yeah, they've got something to prove.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But there's very funny bits about the Acme Tomato company
being like the front for all of this, and a
guy with a briefcase with one single picture in it
shackled to his wrist and when he gets to these
spy management guys, he's like, I have the intel and
they're like, we'll give it to us.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
It's shackle to my wrist. Well open the thing. I can't.
It's tied to the shackle and there you won't see
them like get very frustrated, like, well, how the hell
do we get the picture?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Then?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Right?
Speaker 5 (07:23):
Is there? Is this their first time spying? Like there's
got to be a process through that, right right? I
So with this movie I had a lot of like
I felt that with with any kind of comedy, it's
got to establish kind of what is the tone of
(07:44):
the piece, Like how how realistic is it? How broad
is it? How you know, what what do the characters
really want? Like do they exist in a world where
Bob Hope can just magically enter a tent and appear?
You know, like are we existing in and like something
(08:04):
like Seana the Dead to where there's comedic things, but
it's a very real world with real consequences. People can die,
you know, or is it top secret where it's total
spoof and whatever the filmmakers want can can happen. It's
it's completely ridiculous. And I found I was having a
(08:27):
lot of problems like gauging the tone, and it kept
it kept going higher and higher, like it didn't kind
of really inform you what the tone was. It went
with some of its broadest stuff, like a half hour in.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, it's tough to nail down. And to me, it
wasn't silly enough, Like I wanted more silliness.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
And I remember it being really silly, yes, and really
like just slapstick and buddy comedy. But yeah, I was
kind of like misremembering or like maybe creating more in
my head because I watched it so much as a kid.
So I was a little Yeah, I was a little disappointed.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And here's my question is like, are they buddies like
when they meet each of them, when we first meet
each of them, Chevy Chase is sort of like a
flies by the seat of his pants, doesn't care.
Speaker 6 (09:30):
Very Yeah, but he's right, nonchalant.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
When they ask him if he's taking the test the
next day, He's like, oh, I've taken it four times.
So we get the idea that he's an idiot who
is like failing his.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Way to the middle.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, but dan Ackroyd is working at the as a
codebreaker in the basement of like the Beyond basement and
like a sub basement, and I got the impression that
he was like a real studious, efficient, no nonsense type.
Speaker 7 (10:13):
Yes, yeah, he didn't seem very like a bumbling idiot,
like the same way that chevy Chase was.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Right right, he was much more a little bit more
of a misanthrope, like the whole people thing, not so much.
But also he was just I felt like he was
more of a victim of being really good at something
and being abused by his bosses. Yeah right, yeah. But
I think a good way to describe like chevy Chase
(10:44):
and dan Ackroyd and their characters is that chevy Chase
is full on, one hundred percent just doing whatever chevy
Chase wants to do. That's his character, and dan Aykroyd,
who was one of the writers of the script, is
kind of doing his like a less enthusiastic version of
race Dance from Ghostbusters almost kind of like Ray and
(11:07):
like Harold Ramis combined, which is like they're they're very
like logical versus you know, like the the emotional you know,
kind of like chaotic Chevy chase, but they're basically just
doing themselves.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I thought they really needed more tension between them, as
though they didn't want to be paired up, because like
as soon as they do the test cheating scene, it
goes from feeling like, uh, just like you know his name,
Dad Akroyd is like reluctant to cheat to going He's
(11:49):
full force in it, doing stupid, stilly stuff fast.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, And that test cheating scene that
was that was just like it's like, Okay, here's what
we're gonna do, Chevy. Just do whatever you want. We'll
just keep the cameras rolling. It'll be a ten minute scene.
It'll be just comedy gold just go for it. And
(12:16):
there's like no like the first the first one or
two things like frank Oz, God Bless him, was the teacher.
I love frank Ozy.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
He's supposed to be like.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
The stern taskmaster, folding his arms in disapproval. The first
thing that chevy Chase did should have gotten him thrown
out of the room, you know, and he just keeps
doing more and more stick you know, with the eye patch,
Like what did he actually write? What could you write
on an eye patch for like a like a ten page,
(12:49):
you know, fifty question spy exam, you know.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
And then barely lifted above your eye to see it. Yeah,
and the.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Arms, the fake arm was ridiculous, And it's like you're
training to be a spy, be better at cheating. Yeah,
and then they're rolling on the floor like pretending that
they're having a heart attack. And by that point, dan
Ackroid's character is all in and it's and I'm just like,
when did that flip happen? Because I think dan Akroyd's
(13:21):
character should have hated chevy Chase's character.
Speaker 7 (13:25):
Yeah, that should have been super embarrassed.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Yeah. Yeah, they should have kept that attention throughout, I think,
and then and then that would have been something for
them to overcome and eventually be on the same side
halfway through the movie, you know, yeah, agree.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, I also thought they needed a third guy, Like
I found chevy Chase like profoundly unlikable.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
In this movie, and yeah, dan Akroyd is, that's so strange.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
How could that happen?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, do chevy Chase?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Never chevy Chase, but I find him likable in all
of the National Lampoon movies and in Three Amigos.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
So I want to make this comparison. So Spies Like
Us is nineteen eighty five Yepohn directed by John Landis,
with chevy Chase, written by Dan at Royd and two others.
Three Amigos is one year later, directed by John Landis
(14:30):
with chevy Chase, and in terms of writing and in
terms of of just like comedic muscle, they're so different,
you know, Like I feel like Spies Like Us is
pretty meandering.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
Yeah, they needed a third guy.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
They needed a Bill Murray or a Steve Martin to
complete a trio of some kind.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Or even like a Harold Ramis who they keep meeting
in the field as their contact.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah I that So that was my big takeaway was
just that I was like, Where's Where's the third guy?
And the third guy ends up being Dan Aykroyd's wife,
Donna Dixon, who is also a spy.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
But I'm jumping way ahead, So they.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
They get selected to be the higher ups decide that
they need two expendable men to send on this very
sensitive mission. Yes, yes, this is where Sli still One
got his inspiration, I think. But they're gonna go be
(15:45):
decoys for the real mission. Of course they don't know this,
but we know this as the audience. So they get
to go through a very ridiculous training montage that includes Ninja's.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (16:01):
Starts with them dropping in the woods with a bunch
of Ninja's Nina which they think are just attacking them, huh.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And then they have to do a bunch of like
obstacle courses with people shooting guns at them, and they
have to crash a plane that just falls into the ground,
and they do a G force test that makes their
faces all ridiculous, and it's comedy at its finest.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
No, I feel like this movie really, like its peak
level is as a trailer, Like You've got all these
like goofy moments of them in a test chamber and
them like what do I do with this grenade?
Speaker 5 (16:45):
I don't know? You know, and them in weird costumes
and them trying to speak to people who don't don't
understand them, or even if you just kind of come
in and for a moment, it's like, oh, and then
you see this this fun little scene. The problem is
that the stakes aren't there. There's no electricity between them. Yeah,
(17:12):
it's it's to me, it feels like it's the script's fault,
you know. And and and whenever we say like the
story or the script, that doesn't necessarily this is just
kind of like behind the scenes stuff that doesn't necessarily
mean it was the screenwriter's fault. Right, Sometimes thing people
(17:34):
have influence, Like we don't know if chevy Chase used
his influence to change all these different points, or they
even allowed him to go nuts. It's like, well, we
need chevy Chase to green light this movie. I think
originally it was supposed to be.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
John Belushi, right, Yeah, I read that as well.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Yeah, and so who knows what happened behind the scenes.
But yeah, it's just it's just missing that tension I
think that you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
But I could totally see being delighted by the training
sequence as a kid and just being like.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Oh, yeah, this is so silly.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
That added their job.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
I think these are the memories that Jordan and I
were both like hanging onto.
Speaker 7 (18:19):
Yes, desperately.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Yes, yes, yeah, the goofiness, Like I feel like this
was this was this movie was made for like a
twelve year old by twelve year olds.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, which is where, yes, which is where chevy Chase
really shines. Aside from all of his like very misogynistic
jokes against women, where his character's like only goal in
life is to get laid or to pawn his sister
off on a dozen ninjas. It's very repellent to me,
(18:55):
to me with my twenty twenty five eyes, I just
found it to be repugnant.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
And yeah, I didn't love it.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, but I can see it totally going over a
twelve year old's head.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Oh and then you even and then you even think
that that's goofy, and you don't understand what that really means.
You know, it just becomes it becomes another stick, you know.
Speaker 7 (19:24):
Yeah. Yeah, because this also is a movie that I
quoted with my friends a lot too, Like I showed
my friends this movie.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Like, oh, spies like us, You're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Love it.
Speaker 7 (19:36):
Friday Night Gang.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, they're spies, but they're bad at their job.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
But they weren't.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
It just keeps going on.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
They weren't bad enough at their job, you know, and
I it was weird because you got the impression of
the beginning that dan Ackroyd was really good at his job.
So I was just confused there, Like if I was
in an improv scene with that character, I'd be like,
what does your character want? Like did your character want
(20:05):
to be in the field or do you just want
to get out of the basement.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
I'm confused.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
So anyway, they get sent into enemy territory in a
big crate that's full of snacks, and then we immediately
have another moment where it's like, okay, but wait, dan
Ackroyd is.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Good at his job because they get picked up by
two white guys in the middle of like and obviously
not white country. Do you guys remember what country? They
get dropped into Afghanistan?
Speaker 7 (20:38):
Oh boy, okay, Afghanistan okay.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And these two white guys are like, we're your contacts,
and he's like great. So they start driving away in
a jeep together and dan Ackroyd's like, oh no, his
watch is Soviet era a copy of an American watch.
These guys are Soviets. Okay, that's really good spy craft.
(21:06):
He's doing a good job. After an annoying scene where
he's like, don't you have to take a piss? And
he's like, no, I don't. I think I should know
if I had to take a piss and he's like, no,
you really do have to take a whiz right now,
and he's like, oh, okay, after much convincing, too much convincing,
I would say, so they get away from the Russians
(21:27):
and find a bunch of doctors at a village settlement
and pose as doctors. The funniest bit I think in
the whole movie is when they're like doctor, doctor, Yes.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
I was just going to say, my favorite part of
the whole movie is that bit, and that's what I
remember the most.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, when they're doctor Doctor.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
Of the doctors, one is fucking Terry Gilliam and the
other is Ray Harryhausen. Like John Landis has this thing
to where he will put directors in cameos and it
only gets worse from here. Like the peak or or
(22:17):
maybe the nadear of that of just having directors being
all these cameos, I think is Beverly Hills Cut three
with George Lucas being an angry like, you know, like
roller coaster guy. In the line being hey, don't cut up,
don't cut me in line. Yeah, it gets it gets
(22:39):
really rough. Just how many cameos like John Landis tries
to put in Yeah, but yeah, that that blew my
mind that Terry Gilliam was the like the one with
a German accent.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
Mm hmmmm hm.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So they have to try and do appendic appendix surgery and.
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Obviously they can do it.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Dan Ackwright is reading under the table from a textbook
about what to do and the guy dies thankfully before
they have to cut him open, but they end up
having to go on the run from this little village.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
I think that you talk about like how what is
the tone of the comedy, like what is because you're
with any story, you're kind of creating what is reality?
What are the consequences? What are the morals of the universe?
You know, you know, like you could have a realistic
movie where someone goes rogue and it's treated as a
(23:42):
illegal act, or you could have a movie where someone
goes rogue and that's what they should do. Damn it.
There's like a built in code. But you're also like
building in like the reality of the comedy, and there's
two moments that just de railed the movie for me.
In the camp. That was where literally Bob Hope comes
(24:08):
in because his golf ball rolled into their camp and
he was just playing through and then he kept going
like that is full on like hot shots naked gun.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, and I wanted more of that instead of less
of it.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Yeah, uh huh, like start you had you can't do
that a half hour in. You've got to start with
that if that's the rule.
Speaker 7 (24:32):
And then never do it again.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
Yeah. But the other one was like they go to
start the operation on the guy and they just touch
him with the scalpel and then he seizes with a
heart attack and dies.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
They don't even like cut into him, Like we could
have had some really funny moments where they're like pulling
out yard after yard of intestines or something.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
Yeah, like honestly, like what incision and then uncontrollable blood you.
Speaker 7 (25:03):
Know, Yeah, that would have been there. Yeah, yeahs naked slapstick.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, there's a moment where he's about to do the
incision and he's like at the chest and they're like stop,
you're about to cut into his chest and he's like, no,
I wasn't and then he makes eye contact with one
of the other doctors and like he nods no as
he moves the blade lower and lower, and then when
he finally gets to like the abdomen, he nods yes.
(25:32):
And it's like, Okay, at this point, you're not suspicious
of these two guys.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Right, At some point, wouldn't one of the doctors take over?
It's like the test cheating thing, you know. Yeah, it's
like there is a there is a plot bubble that
lets them just mug and do their stick you know.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
And we later learn it's because the other two doctors
were also the spies, the real spies who were sent
there to do the real mission, and that's why they
couldn't do the surgery. But I don't think they needed
to explain that to us. It just it should have
been a bit, you know, like it should have been
(26:14):
more bits, more opportunities for comedy. So then they have
to go on the run and they're like, well, we
got to get back home because they don't know what
their endgame of the mission is, so they're like, send
us back home for God's sakes.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
They call collect.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
To the Pentagon and they're like, we have a collect
call from two spies and they're like, what on a
public line, and it's like, yep, that's what they did.
Silly but not silly enough.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Yeah, it's silly enough for me to smile a little bit,
but I'm not laughing consistently. And that was that was
hurtful for young.
Speaker 6 (27:01):
Jordan's little baby Jordan is getting let down.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
Yeah, memory Jordan is bummed.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Fact later they meet up with Donna Dixon's character and
they're like, Okay, well she's the real spy. We're just decoys,
but we are going to try and stick together and
complete this mission. So they walk into Russia. Am I
remembering that? Right?
Speaker 6 (27:29):
How do they get into Russia?
Speaker 5 (27:32):
They dress like the natives.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
In head to toe furs, right, which they they don't
really explain where they get that for, right? Or am
I is that correct?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Her?
Speaker 7 (27:46):
They're just one moment, all of a sudden, they have
all that stuff on.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah, they use their spy wiles there you go, but
they do look ridiculous in their head to toe puffy furs.
And then they just walk into the Russian snowy wilderness
and they find the bomb and so her partner has
died at this point, and she's like, well, I've got
(28:11):
to take over this encampment and do whatever I have
to do with this bomb. And they're like, okay, we'll
help you, and they do it. They take over the camp,
they take the Russian soldiers all hostage, and lo and behold.
(28:38):
The details of her mission are not to disarm the missile,
but to launch it.
Speaker 6 (28:46):
Yes, whoops, whoops of doodles.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
If someone went to go get a cold drink from
the refrigerator and didn't pause the movie and missed that part,
then the later parts would be surprising.
Speaker 7 (29:03):
Yeah, what just happened.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
But the point of launching the missile was so that
the Americans could test out their Star Wars technology and
try and blow the missile out of the sky with
their satellites, which.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
They don't do. And then.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
And then our two guys from the beginning, our spy
managers are like, well, we got to do something. We
have to tell the president that we launched the missile,
and the general guy is like no.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
What's revealed is that the general is kind of like
general like Ripper from Doctor Strangelove is like, I'm going
to start a war. I'm going to start a situation
where we have to retaliate against them. So the whole
plan is that the bad guy, our spies are supposed
to sneak into Russia launch a nuke at America, which
(30:06):
we stop, but that gives us a reason to escalate
or even fire on them.
Speaker 6 (30:12):
Mmmm.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But since they don't stop the missile, they're just gonna
let it hit. Yes, Detroit, they say, but then the
missile look looks to be pointed at New York, so
they're like, we can live down here for seventeen months
in this bunker, and the two spy manager guys are like,
we would prefer not to do that.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Can we please tell the president that we launched this
nuke and they're like, nope, We're gonna go to all
out nuclear war and the whole world.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Is going to be destroyed. And so.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
That's that until back at the camp, dan Ackroyd does
some quick math, which again good spy work, and he's like,
I guess we have about forty five minutes until the
end of the world. So they decide to pair off
and all have sex with each other.
Speaker 7 (31:11):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Yep, and then forty five minutes or like forty minutes later,
it's broad daylight.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, and he's like, oh wait a minute, I know
how to stop the missile. We can use our equipment
to jack into the satellite and point the missile out
into space. So that that's what they do. And the
funny bit is that chevy Chase has to hold two
wires together that are electrocuting him the whole time that
(31:44):
they're re routing the missile. And that's a little bit funny.
I like seeing him in pain, but yeah, otherwise you
wouldn't have known it's true.
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Yeah, yeah, I wasn't quite sure. I certainly didn't know.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
On a funny note, like this is the same composer
as Ghostbusters, and like during the sequence there's some some
really ghostbustery like musical cues that that sounds super reminiscent
and like totally out of place because of just like
how well you remember Ghostbusters, you know, like like really
(32:28):
with that's like the satellite music.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Okay, okay, well we'll just accept it. But they so
they saved the day and then they have a little
dance party. But I read that the original ending was
that the world ends.
Speaker 7 (32:53):
See that that's the change in tone again, like that
would have been that would have been really weird.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Uh huh, Yeah, that would have been like like where
I feel like that's definitely a moment to where it's
like and get this then the world ends. Like they're like,
they're like the writers themselves are excited about it, but
the problem is, yeah, you don't set any of that
(33:20):
up at all, you know, no.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And then so they had to shoot reshoot the save
the Day ending on a sound stage because they get which.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
Is admittedly funny. You know, I don't know why they're
in charge of diplomacy right of what happens between the
two countries. They're basically playing a board game deciding who
keeps what in terms of the like the global map.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, and they're just like making out in there, like
Chevy Chase and Donna Dixon have hooked up dan Ackroyd
is with the Russian woman who was just a boots
on the ground soldier.
Speaker 7 (34:06):
Mm hmmm yeah blink, and you you're confused why she's
their type of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
And he comes out of the room and he's like, yeah,
you know, negotiations are very tense. We have to be
very careful. And you go inside and they're playing trivial pursuit,
which seems unfair to the Russians to be playing a
game that's not in their language.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Yeah, did you also notice that like they're they're Russian
contacts who tried to who are dressed like they just
came from the country club. Both spoke perfect like American English,
and then when they were we revealed as bad guys.
Now they had Russian accents. Like finally, I don't have
to use those muscles so much in my mouth. We
(34:47):
can speak with our in our English with Russian accents.
Speaker 6 (34:52):
M hm, silly.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
So what what what moments Jordan jumped out to you
as being like still warm memories.
Speaker 7 (35:11):
Definitely the doctor bit like that that's going into putting
the movie on. That's what I was quoting to myself,
like that's what I remember the most. And then honestly
the test cheating scene because I like all that slapstick stuff.
I love that scene as a kid. And then a
lot of the middle and end stuff like I had
(35:31):
completely forgotten because it's it's kind of as you said,
broad and it's a little boring too.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
It's a little boring. It gets a little too serious. Yeah,
it's like, wait, I didn't sign up for an actual
spy movie.
Speaker 7 (35:46):
Yeah, exactly. It's like, I just want to see these
guys be super silly and be in all these awkward
fun situations, is what I want.
Speaker 5 (35:54):
Yeah, it's weird. So I guess we say that we
wish it had more stakes and the characters did more
and were more serious, and then the story becomes more
serious and it's a bit of a bummer.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Really, thing is that the characters have nothing to do
with anything, and they don't have any influence or impact
even on each other. It's not that they themselves like
they themselves are kind of like magically the ones who
are able to pull everything off and then reverse what
they've done. But there's no like, no sense of what
(36:30):
this character wants and the conflict to get it. They're
just basically being themselves in every scene. And when we
say it's exactly the things are serious, it suddenly starts
to become oh, we're going to start World War three
and if this if the characters, I mean, I mean
I kind of I do kind of like the general
(36:52):
he did it, Yeah, I really liked him. But yeah,
it's just that it was not like you can do
a version of that that's a little more entertaining, that's all.
You got a little more fun to it, even if
it's it goes dark or goes real.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, Like I was waiting for that moment that you
do get in Three Amigos where Chevy Chase wants to
like fuck off and burn it all down, yes, and
dan Ackrowight says, no, we have to take this seriously.
Speaker 6 (37:28):
We're spies, we've been entrusted. We have to go save
the day.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
And like for chevy Chase to have that sort of
come to Jesus moment where he has to like put
his petty shit aside and then come and save the day,
it's about the characters.
Speaker 6 (37:45):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (37:47):
Yeah, that's what Three Amigos did so well, is like
El Elguappo was like legitimately a step ahead of them
and able to disregard any of their anti and then
then they were in danger, you know, And then the
Three Amigos themselves had that conflict and we're pushing and
(38:09):
pulling against themselves as.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Well, which is what we're missing in spies like us.
And even the woman character, it doesn't ever seem like
she she'll be like what is with you, guys, But
she's never like you almost need a Yeah, she hit
it together.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
She lets them goof off as much as possible, like
she the real spies seem are cartoony as well, right,
but she doesn't seem real at all. It would have
been nice if she was like legitimately like Rebecca Ferguson
from like Mission Impossible. It's like the for you guys
do and I am going to purposely put you in
(38:48):
danger so you die and I can do the actual
mission without distraction.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Yeah, that would be there should have been conflicts. Instead,
she was like, oh, whatever, you guys, come.
Speaker 6 (38:59):
On, I love you, Chevy j.
Speaker 7 (39:02):
She was literally just there, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Uh so on a scale of one nuclear missile that
will end all of humanity unless we stop it in time,
to ten missiles that will end humanity unless we stop
it in time, how many missiles do we give spies
(39:26):
like us. I'll let you go first, Jordan, since this
is your treasure.
Speaker 7 (39:31):
Okay, I want to say just four because I was
so disappointed, but I'm going to give it five because
the nostalgic factor still is going to weigh in and
it still kind of brings me to the halfway point. Okay,
I'll give it five missiles.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Okay, all right, yeah, very very stingy with your missiles.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Yes, I love it.
Speaker 7 (39:58):
Well, I mean they're very dangerous to you.
Speaker 6 (40:01):
Do you don't want to stockpile them? You want to
give them out?
Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (40:04):
Exactly what do you think, Nathan?
Speaker 5 (40:08):
I'm like, I'm totally on the same page as Jordan's, like,
I kind of want to give it a four because
I'm kind of kind of angry at it for having
you know, It's like, no, we used to be such
good friends. You've met.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
You.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
I was supposed to save the force, not betray it.
So yeah, I think I'm gonna give it a I
think a five is probably where I'm gonna settle on,
even though my first reaction is to give.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
It a four.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Okay, Well, I'm gonna go a smidge higher than you guys.
I I don't know why, but I didn't. I didn't
hate it. I thought it was just fine. And having
having never seen it before, experiencing it for the first time,
I didn't know what to expect. And although I was
confused and disappointed, I wasn't I wasn't mad at it.
(41:10):
So I'll give it a five and a half. I'm
giving an extra five point bump. That's fair a point
five bump because I thought it was just okay. I
was really expecting it to be like Top Secret. That's
(41:30):
what I was expecting. And I was disappointed that there
weren't more Bob Hopes trapesing through.
Speaker 6 (41:39):
And there was so much.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Opportunity with the drive in movie theater that was the
spy base of operations. There was so much opportunity for
just slapstick gold there. I think they should have ramped
it up a little bit more, but I didn't. I
didn't hate it, for sure. So what about a deep
(42:00):
cut recommendation? If you like spies like us, or if
you were disappointed in spies like us, or if you
once loved spies like us, what movie should you what
should you experience next? It doesn't have to be a movie.
It can be anything at all, but your deep cut
recommendation to go alongside spies like us.
Speaker 7 (42:22):
Jordan, I'm not sure how deep cut it is, but
I'm thinking of all the elements that spies like Us
failed at. And I recently watched the movie The Nice
Guys with Ryan Gosling y Russell Crowe, and I think
that does a really good job of having two characters
(42:42):
who are in conflict really interesting like motive and gold
that they're both trying to do and it's really really funny, yes,
like kind of blown away. How funny that movie is.
So if you haven't if you haven't seen that movie,
I would recommend that.
Speaker 6 (42:58):
I haven't seen it. No, that's a a good recommendation.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
I haven't. I've seen one part of it where Russell
Crowe breaks Ryan Gosling's arm. Yes, because that part like
resonated with me. He was like, take a deep breath, snap,
ooh ooh, it still makes hurt.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
I second Jordan's recommendation.
Speaker 6 (43:24):
Well, you have to have your own two.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Yes, I know, I do that one. Okay, okay, good God.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I'm not letting you get away with just seconding Jordan's recommendation,
although I do think Jordan's recommendation was very good.
Speaker 5 (43:40):
Good, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
What's yours? Nathan?
Speaker 5 (43:44):
So? I so, I really enjoy like spy comedy too.
But there's I mean, besides Austin Powers, there's not actually
a lot of good ones, though they're very kind of
it's tough, like, so what I there? But there is
(44:08):
one that I really enjoyed. So did you ever see
the movie The Artist, No, do you remember that one?
Speaker 2 (44:17):
So?
Speaker 7 (44:18):
Uh yeah one the Oscar right, yes, so.
Speaker 5 (44:21):
I love that movie. I know it wasn't for everyone,
but it was a French production. The star super charismatic,
but so he and the director previously did two spy
comedies with the same character. Very much kind of like
(44:42):
a French James Bond, you know, but a comedy. It doesn't.
It doesn't get Austin Powers goofy, but it's more of
a a a I would say, a take on the
Sean Connery era of spies. Okay, it's called It's called
oss One's Seventeen with Jean. I totally gon to mangle
(45:06):
his name, Jean Douja Den, Jean douja.
Speaker 7 (45:11):
I'm sure that's it.
Speaker 6 (45:12):
Yeah, that sounds perfect to me.
Speaker 5 (45:15):
Yeah, you nailed it, Jean dujon Den. He's great. He's
great in The Artist, he's great in oss One's seventeen.
It's a lot of fun. And I think you just
rented on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Okay, excellent, cool, a great recommendation and a very filmmakery
went as well, Nathan, well done. Uh So I was
going to recommend something different, and then today it came
to me a spy movie that I really enjoyed as
a younger person, which is relevant for two reasons.
Speaker 6 (45:51):
One that has to do with this movie, which is
that dan Ackroyd.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Is also in it, and uh two that one of
its stars passed away today.
Speaker 5 (46:01):
And yeah, I know the movie.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Yeah yeah, So I want to recommend nineteen ninety two's Sneakers.
Speaker 5 (46:10):
It's a great one.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
It has an amazing cast, River Phoenix, Ben Kingsley, just
so many people are in this movie. And it's about
a team of hackers, nineteen ninety two era hackers you
have to break into like a government mainframe to stop
(46:36):
a terrible thing from happening. And it's a really great
espionage sort of movie that stars you know, dan Ackroyd
and Robert Redford, who I love and who will be
greatly missed.
Speaker 6 (46:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yeah, this was a really fun movie that made me
fall in love with him. Well, no, Butch Cassidy and
the Sun Dance Kid maybe fall in love with him.
Speaker 6 (46:59):
But this movie cemented that love because I would watch
it with my dad all the time. We loved it.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
So I recommend Sneakers from nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 7 (47:12):
I'm going to add it to my list because I
had never heard of it before.
Speaker 5 (47:14):
Now it's so charming.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
It's so charming it is, and I'm going to watch
it with Rocket to see if it holds up.
Speaker 5 (47:21):
Yeah, I feel like I saw it like five years ago,
and my feeling was that it held up. Although all
the hacking, like all nineties movies, is like magic, It's.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Like completely it's just smashing keys and a keyboard.
Speaker 5 (47:37):
Yeah, it's the magical device, but it's it's it's very charismatic.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
And Dan Ackroyd plays the character in that movie that
I think you should have played in this movie, which
is just the sort of a conspiracy theory data nerd m. Yeah,
so excellent, well done. Spies like us, we give you
five to five point five stars. Nathan uh We'll start
(48:05):
with Jordan. Jordan, where can people find your art and
support you out in the world.
Speaker 5 (48:12):
Sure.
Speaker 7 (48:13):
I'm at Neighborhood Comedy Theater every first Friday of the
month with a musical catering company, So we do about
an hour and a half musical on the spot. It's
super fun. And then I'm also at the theater throughout
the month as well, just popping in.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
For shows, being hilarious, doing some improv.
Speaker 5 (48:36):
Improv Yeah, excellent.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
You can find out about all the information you need
to see the musical catering company and more at NCT
Phoenix dot com. It's end for neighborhoods, C for Comedy,
T for theater, and Phoenix all spelled out dot com.
Uh Nathan, Where can people support you and your filmmaking endeavors?
Speaker 5 (48:55):
Squishy Studios that's the easiest way. If you want to
check out our shorts, web series or feature film The
Last Movie Ever.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
Made excellent, And you can listen to me on Gank
That Drink, a supernatural drinking game podcast, also a true
Story FM product. And if you're here with us at
the end, it's because you want more. You want more
of what we have to offer. You want to hear
(49:22):
more of what we have to say. And possibly you
hate ads in your podcast. I mean, I know we're
all used to it, but maybe you hate it, in
which case you should become a member at True Story FM.
Just click on our little podcast and click on the
little button and you can become a member for just
five dollars a month. You get episodes early in ad free,
(49:45):
and you get some extra special bonus content at the end,
which is super super super fun. And if you don't
feel like spending any money, you can still support the
podcast by like, rate, review, subscribe, thumbs up, Tell a friend,
Tell your local spy contingents, whether they are decoys or
(50:09):
the real thing, Let them know they should be listening
to the pod. And while you're out there in the world,
please keep the most excellent Eighties Movies podcast motto in mind.
Be excellent to each other and party our
Speaker 6 (50:27):
Dudes,
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