#123 - "Gremlins" (1984) with Gerry D (Special Replay) - 80s Flick Flashback

Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
Steven Spielberg presents gremlins.
They're clever. They're mischievous.
They'll get into the kitchen, the basement.
The garage. They'll get into anything, and
once they get in, you're in for it.

(00:28):
Gremlins. They'll be expecting
you. I'm Tim Williams, the mastermind
behind the mic at the 80s Flick Flashback Podcast.
Joining me on each epic episode is a guest Co host who's as

(00:51):
crazy about 80s flicks as they are about wearing parachute
pants and solving Rubik's cubes.We're diving into nostalgic
treasures we saw at the local theater written on VHS tapes
were discovered on cable TV. From blockbusters that make you
say I feel the need to hidden gems that'll have you screaming.

(01:18):
It's a blast to relive these oldmemories and share our thoughts
and what made these movies so special.
We reminisce about our first time watch experiences, share
our favorite scenes, and even discover fascinating behind the
scenes tales about the cast and crew along the way.
Haven't hit that subscribe button yet?
What are you waiting for? Come on, do.

(01:38):
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There is no try. Click the link in our episode
show notes and while you're there, soak up the extra trivia
and fun stuff that didn't make it into today's show.
Thanks again for tuning in. Now let's get right into today's
episode. Welcome to the party, pal.

(02:41):
Welcome in everybody. I'm so excited for this episode.
It's a great movie and a great guest.
I want to introduce everyone to the creator and host of the
Totally Rad Christmas Podcast, Mr. Jerry D Welcome, Sir.
Hey, Tim, how's it going? Going great man, I'm glad to
have you on this episode. This was perfect because during

(03:03):
the summertime, I like to kind of hit movies that are summer
related. And this one was released in
summer, but of course it's set at Christmas.
And I was like, well, then this is right in Jerry's wheelhouse.
But I was honored to be a part of your podcast.
Last earlier this year, we went,we did a Lethal Weapon.
Yeah. So if you haven't checked that
one out, definitely go check that out.

(03:23):
But let's jump into Gremlins. So all right, here we go.
But before we go, we get we got to get the rules down because we
don't talk about the rules. The rules could be broken before
this podcast is over. So the rules are keep them out
of sunlight, Don't let them get wet, and whatever you do, no
matter how much they beg, don't ever feed them after midnight.

(03:46):
And I think we're good because we got a couple hours worth
hitting midnight. So I think we're OK.
I know, and I get snacky, so yeah, yeah.
But I, but I, yeah, but I did check my alarm clock to make
sure they didn't chew the the the plug so it didn't get stuck
on 1140 and so. We won't.
Get tricked this time. So, all right, Jerry, when did
you see Gremlins for the very first time?

(04:07):
So I was four years old when I saw Gremlins.
We. Went to a double feature.
Yeah, well, I mean, the part of it was the marketing.
So yeah, especially here in the US, they kind of really focused
a lot more on Gizmo and on Billy, like in the marketing,
you know, the trailers, things like that.
And they barely showed the the creatures.
So we went to a double feature, which I mean, I don't know why
my parents took me to a double feature when I was four years

(04:28):
old, but we went to see Ghostbusters and Gremlins
together. And it, I know the, the
librarian scene in Ghostbusters Scared me so much that I'm sure
I, I, yeah. And then I fell asleep a little
bit during the rest of it. But then Gremlins, I thought
Gizmo was super cute and I wanted one.
And then I was scared of the creatures, as any 4 year old

(04:51):
would be. Yeah, but I, I always remember
that. Just just go into the because it
was one of those. It was a movie theater set like
in a mall. And I'll never forget, we went
to LA Plaza Mall and there was atheater there and we saw it and
it was awesome. Cool.
Yeah. And I think I talked about this
on last episode. So Ghostbusters and Gremlins
actually released the same week.So and I think Ghostbusters

(05:15):
ended up in first place. Gremlins was second.
We'll talk about that later withBox Office.
So yeah, I'm trying to remember when I saw Go Ahead, I was just.
Going to say what a great week. Yeah, exactly.
Ghostbusters and Gremlins. Wow, that's great.
And then I think I read and I probably, it's probably in the
notes too, that like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had
come out like 2 weeks before this.
So if you had missed, you know, it's like this.

(05:36):
It was a great summer for the movies.
Yeah, wish I was a little older so I could appreciate it better.
Yeah, that's all right. Yeah, I was definitely older.
I would have been 8 going on 9, so a little bit, little bit
older than you were at that point.
But I, I'm pretty sure I don't, I don't have the most vivid
memory of singing this in the theatre, but I know I did

(05:59):
because I remember talking aboutit with my friends, like because
I think we all went to see it atdifferent times.
So I remember talking to them about it and like how cool it
was and how scary it was and allthat kind of stuff.
So I'm sure I went and saw the theatre and I'm sure my mom took
me and probably my sister who's a little older than me and I
think she was kind of freaked out by how, you know, scary, you

(06:21):
know, critical scary. It was.
And I, I don't remember like I remember like you, I remember
Ghostbusters and I remember the librarian scene.
I remember being freaked out by that for sure.
So that totally freaked me out. This one I don't think scared me
as much. I think the only scene that
probably like made me really nervous was the little pods
scene where they were, they're coming out of the pods.

(06:42):
That's probably the most creepy.And then that and then for some
reason them eating the chicken is really kind of creepy as
well. And maybe that's more creepy to
me as an adult. Like that's just gross.
Well, I remember when, when and.Spoiler alert and but no, I
remember when Stripe is melting at the end and that used to that
scared the heck out of me as well.

(07:03):
Yeah. I think by that point you've
kind of been desensitized enough.
You've seen enough kind. Of crazy true.
So, but we'll get, we'll get into that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that. We'll definitely going to talk
about that a little bit later. So.
So when was the last time you saw it before watching it for?
This podcast, so I, I watched ittoday for this podcast, but
before then I watched it for my own podcast back in, in let's

(07:28):
see, I recorded in October, so October was the last time.
But again, that was for a podcast prior to that, I hadn't
seen it probably in about 10 years, not because I, I didn't
want to. It was just, you know, with life
and you just, you don't really get to sit down and watch too
many movies. And so when I do, it's usually
it's usually something that thatwill relax me and calm me down

(07:49):
and just, you know, I'll fall asleep to it and not even pay
attention. You know, it's a long day.
So it's usually not gremlins is what I think of when I think of
that. I'm thinking more like clue, you
know, or Fletch or some somebodylike that.
But yeah, so it'd been probably a good decade.
And then I saw it in October. And then, of course, I saw it
again today. And man, it still holds up.

(08:11):
I love. Yeah.
It's so good. It is so good.
Maybe about the same time as youdid, because I think it was
October of last year. No, it might have been October
of 2019. Maybe it's been 2 years.
But when my daughter hit like 910, we were just talking about
movies I watched as a kid. I think we, I think it was
Goonies. I wanted to watch Goonies and so
I wanted her to watch movies with me.

(08:32):
And so, and she was like, not, she was totally not into it for
the first like 20 or 30 minutes.But then at the end, you know,
she was fully invested. And so then I think around
October, I was like, oh, you know, this is the prime time.
You've got ET, you've got Gremlins, you've got, you know,
monster squads like that. And so we watched ET, which she
made it almost all the way through, but it was late.

(08:53):
We started a little later than we should have and she fell
asleep and I think she finished it.
So so I was like, Oh yeah, Gremlins.
But I had not seen it once again, like kind of you.
It had been a long time since I've seen it.
So that whole opening, even watching it again today is like
like the first 45 minutes are kind of like a blur.
It's like I'd like have I did I did they add this scene?
Do I remember this before? You know, because there's just a

(09:15):
lot of like stuff that's seems like it's not important, but
they're just kind of kind of setting the story up.
But those are those are not the scenes that you remember going
back and watching it. So so she gave up like way
early. Like she was like she it took
too long for Gizmo to kind of become a a character get totally
engaged with. But I went ahead and watched it

(09:35):
all the way to the end. And I was like, wow, I don't
remember this being I was like, I'm glad she didn't watch it
because she probably would not have made it to the end anyway.
It was, it was, you know, much scarier, you know, than then I
remembered it for, for someone her age to watch.
So, so then I watched it again today for the podcast and my
wife and I watched it together. And so and she was the same age.

(09:55):
Like this was Gremlins. What is this?
At the beginning of the first, she missed like the first 5
minutes and came in about 5 minutes in and she was like,
you're watching Gremlins. I don't remember this.
I was like, Oh yeah, keep keep watching it.
It'll, it'll, you'll get to the trust me.
Yeah, you'll get to the part you'll remember.
So, well, yeah, so it, it like you said, it does, it still
holds up. There's still some great,
there's some funny lines, there's some broken Jags and it,

(10:16):
you know, just, it's just a lot of fun.
It's just a fun movie and. It really is.
Yeah, Yeah. It's, it's funny because like
the, you know, the gremlins themselves, like you said, don't
show up till about 40 minutes inor so, 45 minutes in.
And so there's a lot of just character building, you know,
kind of kind of with Billy and his dad and, and just even
Phoebe Cates, you know, to a lesser extent, but they're,

(10:38):
they're really just kind of setting it up as a small, small
town. And because of that, they kind
of give you like a sense of comfort, you know, but you know
that, hey, the gremlins are coming.
Where are the gremlins? So you're also there's like
this, this dichotomy of like the, the comfort, but also like
the, the pull of intention of like, OK, when is it?
When are the creatures going to start attacking?
Right, right. And so it's, I think Joe Dante

(10:59):
just does like a brilliant job with that.
Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. So well, let's go ahead and jump
into the story, origin and pre production about how this movie
came about. And of course, you know, you've
you've done a podcast in this, so feel ready to jump in and
correct me if I make mistakes orthrow in something you might
have heard that kind of embellishes a little bit more.
So as I found out, the story of Gremlins was conceived by Chris

(11:21):
Columbus. You'll know his name as he was a
a well known screenwriter and director in the 90s.
As Columbus explained, his inspiration come came from his
loft when at night what sounded like a platoon of mice would
come out. And to hear them skittering
around in the blackness was really creepy.
He said he then wrote the original screenplay as a spec
script to show potential employers that had writing

(11:42):
abilities. The story was not actually
intended to be filmed until Steven Spielberg took an
interest in turning it into a film.
As Spielberg explained, it was one of the most original things
he'd come across in many years, which is why he bought it.
So Spielberg took the project toWarner Brothers and Co produced
it through his own company, Amblin Entertainment.
I think this was the very first Amblin Entertainment that had

(12:03):
the logo on there. So the movie's filled with a
bunch of sawed off little monsters wreaking havoc during
one of the most treasured holidays.
Sounds like something Tim Burtonwould have adored to direct.
And Burton was actually on Spielberg's short list to direct
the movie after seeing his Schwartz Frankenweenie.
However, the prevailing theory was that the guy who becomes Tim

(12:24):
Burton was still untested in directing feature films.
So Spielberg went with Joe Dante, who previously directed
The Howling and it's a good lifeportion from Twilight Zone the
movie so. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I love the howling too. Yeah, that's a good one.
And that's. Rather good one.
Yeah, that's one I haven't watched in a long time, but I
remember really liking that one as a kid.
Yeah. Yeah, same here.

(12:44):
It it's, I think I'm gonna have to add it like in October as a
Halloween episode. But but yeah, Joe Dante, I mean,
of course now he's known for hishorror comedy style, but at the
at the time, you know, like you said, he'd really only done a
couple of big things there. So he was even, even though he
was more tested than than Burton, he was also still kind
of wet behind the ears, essentially.

(13:05):
Oh yeah, yeah. But you but you got, but you got
Steven Spielberg who is executive producing.
And I'm saying that with air quotes because as we talked
about with Goonies and I think Poltergeist, which we haven't
covered, but I read about that, that he's there every day and
kind of Co directing as well. So you're getting a lot of those
Spielberg touches, even though it's Dante's name on his

(13:25):
director, you know what Spielberg involved, he's adding
a lot to that as well, so. And Chris Columbus, I believe, I
think he wrote this as like a spec script.
Yeah. Like, like I think he would be
really was just trying to to to get his foot in the door.
Exactly. Which is really cool also
because I mean, my brother is writing spec scripts for his

(13:48):
classes and stuff like that. And so, yeah, so just knowing
all this stuff about it and specscripts, it's like, wow, okay,
so most of the time they're not even, they're just kind of
junked. But just the fact that this one
actually got picked up, yeah. I mean, that in and of itself is
a remarkable feat. So it's, I mean, it's just
really exciting that that he didit.
And then it really launched Chris Columbus's career.

(14:08):
Exactly. Yeah.
And so then we got Home alone and stuff like that after that.
Yeah, I think he got gremlins because of this one.
Not gremlins. He got Goonies because of this
one. And so which I think we covered
that in the Goonies episode. But yeah, I think Spielberg
said, I think there was a quote that he said that was the when
he saw it, it wasn't so much, you know, what was what the

(14:29):
script was as much as the idea. And he thought the idea of
gremlins that, you know, wreaking havoc on a town was one
of the most original ideas he had seen in a while.
And so and that seemed to pique his creative interest,
especially after he had done ET close encounters to the third
kind that was kind of like in Jaws, you know, he's kind of
like, oh, this could be fun to kind of think, you know, kind of

(14:50):
play around in the background and and add my little two cents
in without being fully involved.So.
Which I'm I'm glad you brought up because it's one of those
where like I think the original script was a lot darker.
It was, yeah. If I recall, like I think I
think I read that the mom was going to be decapitated or
something like. That something like that, yeah.
They eat the dog, yeah. Yeah.
Can you imagine? Yeah.

(15:11):
Oh, gosh, yeah, yeah. How would you market that?
I don't know, but yeah. Well, and once again, you know,
and thing about, you know, Columbus wasn't he wasn't
expecting this to be filmed at all.
He was just kind of being creative and just throwing out,
you know, the most because probably some of the most
outrageous ideas. But but Spielberg knew he wanted
to keep it on the PG side, so they had to tone down a lot of

(15:33):
those those aspects of the script.
So yeah, I think I have that in my notes.
Yeah. The various scenes were cut,
including one who take Billy's mother dying in her struggle
with the gremlins, with her headthrown down the stairs when
Billy arrived. So yeah, you're right.
Dante later explained the scene made the film darker than the
film makers wanted. There was also a scene where the
gremlins ate Billy's dog and a scene where the gremlins
attacked the McDonald's and ate the customers instead of

(15:56):
burgers. Oh man.
Yeah. So, yeah, so that definitely
would have been a different, different take all together.
For sure. It's like there's AII know they
wanted Robert De Niro as one of the one of the Wet Bandits at
home alone. And it's that it's kind of like
the same thing, you know? It's like it would have been a
much darker film. Yeah, Yeah, this is this is that

(16:17):
version. You know, if if they had kept in
the McDonald's thing. Once again, what what started
off on the on the page isn't necessarily what they got, you
know, in the final product, but it all worked out.
You know, you know, having a good idea sometimes is better
than being a great scriptwriter,which, you know, Speaking of
Chris Columbus, he ended up being a great scriptwriter and

(16:37):
became a good director as as well.
So so but just a way to get yourget your foot in the door.
So all right, well, let's jump into casting.
This one's got some fun ones on this one, so we'll start with
Phoebe Cates. She was cast as Kate Billy's
girlfriend despite concerns thatshe was known for playing more
risque parts such as Linda Barrett and Fast Time Fast Times

(16:58):
at Ridgemont High in 1982. Yeah, I think everybody had a
crush on her after that. Spielberg urged the casting of
the relatively unknown Zach Galligan as Billy because he saw
chemistry between Galligan and Kate's during auditions.
Spielberg commented when Galligan was testing with Kate's
that it came across that he was in love with her already and

(17:20):
that was how Galligan won the part.
He still had to beat up some strong competition from other
more well established actors like Emilio Estevez and Judd
Nelson who were up for the lead role as well.
So I thought that was interesting that those two names
came up. Granted, Zach didn't really do
much more after this and Gremlins 2, which we won't talk
about in this one, but I could kind of see Emilio Estevez in

(17:43):
that role. Not so much Judd Nelson, but it
would have been interesting. Yeah, I think Judd Nelson would
be, would have been too harsh. Like he just has more of an edge
to him. And that I think wouldn't have
been quite suitable for this. And I think that's why Zach
works, because he is like just the sweet, you know, little guy.

(18:04):
Emilio Estevez. Yeah, I can see him.
He's kind of in between. But yeah, I, I think it would
have been an interesting movie. But again, I don't know if it
would have had that same that that same bang that it has just
because he is, you know, Zach plays like that innocence, just
an average, you know, sweet guy.So.
Well, so. And I definitely see the

(18:25):
chemistry that that Spielberg was talking about.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Until he's got like a crush on
her or something, which I don't blame him.
I mean exactly. Is like who?
Like who wouldn't like that's, you know, you're looking for
chemistry. Sign me up, you know.
Yep, Yep, same thing. So, I mean, I I think it would
have been interesting with Emilio Estevez, but I think I

(18:47):
would have preferred him in a darker version of Grumpy.
Well, and then two, you kind of think about, you know, and, and
we'll kind of we'll talk a little bit more that Spielberg
really pushed for Billy not to be the hero.
Like he really wanted get he he saw the potential of Gizmo being
who every kid wanted to, you know, root for and keeping him
as like the, you know, the real underdog of the story, not so

(19:10):
much as Billy. And so to make him kind of be
the hero and Billy just kind of Billy's really a bystander in
the whole movie. I mean, I think he kind of he
saves, he saves Kate when they're all taking over the
taking over the bar. Does he say he saves his mom
when when she's almost being choked out at the tree?
But when it comes to actually taking out the gremlins at the

(19:32):
end, it's all Gizmo. So but we'll, we'll kind of talk
more about that as we get there.But well, yeah, so but yeah, I
think Phoebe Cates, Zach Galligan, I think those are
those are pretty perfect choicesfor this movie for what what
they were trying to do. So.
And I'm going to do really good if I call him Zach Galligan and
not call him Zach Galifianakis. I'm.

(19:53):
Really going to try and really that's why I stopped.
I just said Zach. Yeah.
So just all right, so go moving right along, Randall or Rand.
Billy's dad was played by Hoyt Axton, who was always the film
makers preferred choice for the role even though it was wildly
contested by other actors. Axton's experience including
acting as the father in The Black Stallion in 1979 and he

(20:16):
was also a country music singer-songwriter, which they
said during in between takes allhe would do is sit down with his
guitar and just sing songs for the crew.
In between takes, yeah. After an introductory scene to
Gremlins was cut, Axton's voice earned him the added role of the
narrator. To establish some context, Pat
Harrington Junior was also considered.

(20:37):
I'm not sure who that was, but Pat Hengel, who I know from
Batman 1989, was said to have delivered the best screen test
but was passed on because it wasfeared Randall would take over
the movie as a result of Ingel'sexcellent performance, which I
think is pretty hilarious. I don't you're, that's basically
you're saying you're too good, right?
Exactly. It's not going to work because
you're too good. Yeah, like, OK, well, like.

(20:59):
I don't see how that character'sgoing to take over the movie,
but OK. Like how do I not get it the
part if I'm like perfect for it?Right, Exactly.
No, but I could I could totally see that.
I mean, he's got A and nothing against Hoyt, but but you know,
the the other guy, Pat, Pat has more of a, he has more of a

(21:20):
gravitas. Yeah, I was going to say the
same thing. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. He's just, you know, it's like,
wow, there's there's that aura, that presence, you know, it's
commanding. So I can, I can kind of see
that, but again, I would have liked to have seen maybe him
with the Emilio Estevez with thedarker version.
You know, let's let's get that going.
Release, release the darker gremlins cut.

(21:41):
There you go. Release the Emilio Cut.
Yeah, Emilio cut. There you go.
So. But yeah, I'll but I'll, I mean,
I like Hoyt for what he is. I mean, you know, he's not a
major role in the movie. You know, he has the voice over
work at the beginning. He kind of he's there and then
he's gone and he's back again. But he does have that kind of
gullible, you know, down home small.
He he definitely has the small town feel more so than I think

(22:05):
Pat Hingle would have had. Not that I know his, I don't
know his career that extensively, but but he does
kind of he gives you that small town feel just to hear him talk
and how he interacts with the wife and and Billy.
I think it definitely it definitely builds that family
dynamic. So it could have been that maybe
the dynamics was a big part of it too.

(22:26):
Maybe padding was great Reed, but if he didn't have the
chemistry with the family, it wouldn't have worked as well.
So. Yeah, especially when you're
doing a family. I mean, you have to have
chemistry. It's got to be there.
I mean, there's there's a few movies where it's like, I don't
buy them as related, you know, that kind of thing.
So I'm glad they went with it. But he seemed like he was the
father of Billy, you know, like,like they you could tell where

(22:48):
the traits were coming from. So I I thought it was a great
job and great casting there. Yeah, all.
Right. So moving right along with Mr.
Wing, who is played by Kay Luke,a renowned film actor whose film
career spanned half a century, Ithought this is really cool.
He started in Hollywood as a mural artist, even.
Yeah, even though he was 80 at the time of filming, he actually

(23:10):
had to wear make up to look older.
So. It's awesome.
Yeah. So Zach told a story about
asking the actor what his secretwas to having such smooth,
youthful skin at his age. Bracing himself for an ancient
Chinese secret joke, Galligan was told that it was just no
fried foods. So I'm, I'm in, I'm in big

(23:30):
trouble. I'll never have that.
Exclusive Me too. Me too.
I I know well, I'm. Just going to be old and
wrinkly. And I just had some fries just a
little while ago, right? Right.
Oh shucks. So, yeah, but I, and it's funny
because I some of this I did, I did a lot of my research before
I watched it, which I don't normally do.
I normally watched it and then do research.

(23:51):
But because I, I, I'd recently watched it, I was like, I'm
going to do my research. So even on his scenes, I was
really looking. It's like how much of that is
makeup? Because he doesn't look really
old. I mean, they look, they make him
look a little weathered, but he still looks like he has pretty
smooth skin in in the movie as well.
But I just thought that was fun.No fried foods.
So one of my favorite characterswho's not in them very much
either is Corey Feldman, who wasup at that time, had primarily

(24:14):
been in commercials. He played Pete, establishing his
early credentials as a child actor.
It has been stated that he was added to this movie when Steven
Spielberg dropped his character from ET in 1982.
In both stories, he was to be the best friend of the boy who
has the creature. He's so young in this movie and
it's so crazy that it's just a year between this and Goonies,

(24:35):
but he looks so much older and Goonies than he does.
And Gremlins. You know, and, and I can see how
that, like his character in The Age, would have been perfect for
ET. Yeah.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
You know, it's like, it is a little odd because he's, you
know, he's so much younger than Billy.
But you know, I guess it's like a little brother, kind of.
Yeah, that's what it seemed like.

(24:57):
I mean, I, I remember and I, I wanted, I was doing some of the
research, like I was like, have I done a podcast on this sport?
And I know I haven't, but I had listened to a podcast that did
some deep dives into this stuff and they brought up the whole
thing about, you know, is it weird that Billy has such a
young friend as, as Pete? Like who thought this was a good
idea to have this, you know, youwould cut for Zach's look in the

(25:21):
80s, you would think they would have had him as like a 16 year
old high school student because he's not, you know, but he's
working in the bank. Obviously he's, you know, he's
graduated high school. So you got this kid who's, you
know, maybe gets not got not going to college, but he's
outside of high school talking to a kid who's maybe like a
freshman in high school, maybe maybe younger.
So so does kind of, you know, ifyou don't think about it too

(25:44):
much, doesn't bother you. But if you start thinking about
it's like, OK, but I I'm like you.
I think it was more the just a small town.
Everybody knows everybody. Billy's the only child.
Pete was probably a only child as well.
Just, you know, 22, you know, two guys that just kind of built
a friendship and just hey, kind of younger brother, older
brother, which is kind of the vibe you get from anyway, even

(26:04):
their interactions. So I think it works.
I think it works. Yeah, I do too.
I and I, you know, it was the 80s.
It was a little bit different. I know.
We we we say that by today's standards, yeah, that'd probably
be very problematic. I think back then most people
wouldn't even have had it. I didn't think about it so.
I didn't either. Yeah.

(26:25):
It wasn't until later, you know,a couple of years or not, a
couple of When I saw it in October, I was like, you know,
of course now it's been so long and it's modern.
But yeah, back then it was like,oh, OK.
Yeah. I mean, I would hang out, hang
out with my cousin, you know, and he was at least 10 years
older than I was. So I mean, I, I, I get it.
Yeah, yeah, exactly 1 One of thecharacters or one of the

(26:50):
actresses in this that I I always forget that she's in
until she pops on screen, but it's one of my favorite.
Polly Holiday, an actress best known for role is Alice from the
80s, played Missus Deagle. Missus Deagle.
So, and who can forget her? And Alice kiss my grits.
So that was one of my one of my,my family's favorite shows
watching as a kid. Yeah, we used to watch that a

(27:12):
lot too. So.
So. Yeah.
And she was. And so this was such a
interesting, a different, a, youknow, different character for
her. It was.
Though, which is you don't expect Alice to be like evil.
Yeah, yeah. But she's definitely, I mean,
she, I guess she's not evil, butshe's she's just very bitter and

(27:33):
mean. And I mean, it's it was
definitely a stretch and and it was kind of difficult to see her
in that. Yeah, right.
And I thought it was funny because she's kind of watching
it. She's kind of a mix between
Ebenezer Scrooge and Cruella because she wants to take over
that she stingy with their money, but that she's trying to
kill all the dogs and she's a cat person.

(27:55):
So it just is kind of a weird, you know, she's such a weird
character, but she's so much funto watch and that I just thought
that was that was awesome to seeher in this.
And she gets her comeuppance, yes.
I love that. All right, we'll get there.
We'll get there. Yeah.
Yeah. Two other well known actors,
Fast Times, Judge Reinhold and character actor Edward Andrews,

(28:17):
received roles that were significantly reduced after the
film was edited. They played Billy's superiors at
the bank. So yeah, I'll talk a little bit
more about their how their characters were.
Had more to do when we get into some deleted and omitted scenes.
But, and I thought this was cool.
A lot of people didn't realize I've been seeing this a lot for
some reason on social media. And I've known this for a couple
of years, that people are like, I was today, years old when I

(28:38):
realized that Howie Mandel was the voice of Gizmo.
Yeah. Yeah, he was.
And I, I found that out. When when was it?
When Howie Mandel started hosting Deal or no deal?
Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's what I learned
about it. Yeah, I.
Think and and probably because, and we've talked about this in

(28:59):
the previous episodes, because we had HBO as a when I was a
kid, that was like the channel I'd watch all the time.
And so back then, I don't know what it's that much, that much
anymore now, because now if I have HBOI just go to on demand
and watch whatever. I don't watch it like in
between. But back then it was like if you
won the next movie to come on, you had to sit through 20 or,
you know, between 15 and 20 minutes of I guess filler they

(29:20):
would create. And so a lot of times they'd
have a little behind the scenes things that we would now get on
DVDs and Blu rays. Back then, you didn't get that
kind of stuff. So I want to say that I had seen
some kind of behind the scenes thing with knowing that Howie
Mandel was the voice. And then when he became a little
bit more, you know, well known later in the 80s, I remember

(29:41):
seeing some of his stand up and he would do voices.
I mean, yeah, we won't talk about that right now, but
anyway. But yeah, so he was stand up,
but he would do the voices like he did Bob, You know, it was a
Bobby, Bobby. 'S world.
Bobby's World. Yeah, Bobby's world's like he
would do those voices and so I'dkind of put that together, but
but yeah, but yeah, he he, he, they they used him as a voice
actor for that. And then another name that I did

(30:03):
not realize through the doing the that's for doing the notes
for this one is some of the other gremlins were voiced by
Michael Winslow, who you would know from police Academy.
Yeah, nice. And I was like, yeah, exactly.
So I thought and, and Peter Cullen as well, who was a very
well known voice actor. So I just thought that was,
yeah, thought that was cool thatthey you had these great voice

(30:25):
actors working in the backgroundas well that I never knew that
until until recently. So.
It's super cool. Yeah, Yeah.
It's funny because sometimes, especially nowadays, they try to
use like big names for some of these movies.
And of course, big name actors are they work, But there's
something about voice actors specifically that just managed,

(30:50):
you know, they they managed to get all their emotion only in
their voice because that's, I mean, that's all they do.
Yeah, exactly. So they, they have a way that
I've noticed at least of, of really just being so much more.
Oh gosh, what's the word dramatic?
And so, so much, I mean, just better, I guess, even than some
of the the big name actors. Oh yeah.
Like, oh, yeah. Like you think of like the last

(31:10):
Unicorn, you know, and, and JeffBridges in there.
Jeff Bridges is a good actor, but he was not a good voice
actor, you know? Yeah.
So I would have rather heard, like, Paul Freeze or someone in
there. Yeah.
And I think, and I've heard, youknow, once again, behind the
scenes stuff, which is probably why I became, which is why I
love doing this podcast, right? I love to do the research and
find the behind the scenes stuffbecause I got hooked on those

(31:32):
behind the scenes, you know, little shorts or whatever.
But I've heard so many like big actors that get a, a voice over
role in like a movie and they talk about how much harder it is
to do than when they're doing a regular scene.
Because when you're voice acting, you're not using,
interacting with other people. You're totally in a booth by
yourself. You've got a script maybe and

(31:52):
maybe a maybe a couple like drawings, the concept art, but
that's all you have to go on. And so they, they then when
you're doing voice acting all the time, you know how to give
it, you know, from the, from theget go, whereas we're a big, big
name actor that's not used to doing that.
They have to work a lot harder to do that.
So I agree, I think I think thatwas, that makes sense.

(32:13):
Having, having good voice actorsdefinitely makes a difference.
So, and even though I think theysaid in the original script,
none of the gremlins had any speaking roles, like there were
no, there were no speaking partsat all.
And so because they had to use the the the puppets they with,
they knew their mouths were moving.
So they it was kind of more thing than post where they're
like, hey, we've got to add somedialogue here so it doesn't look

(32:35):
so weird. But I really want to know who
does the maniacal laugh of the gremlins because that is one of
my favorite. Hearing them laugh, just why
that brings me joy. I don't know what it's you
laugh. It's just that my Michael laugh
that they do is so funny. So.
Yeah, I, I love what they do with the gremlins here.
I mean, just in general, the theway they move, like, like when

(32:57):
they're, you know, chasing and again, I know I'm getting ahead
of it, but like when they're chasing Zach and and Phoebe, you
know, down in the the movie theater.
I mean, just the way that they move and somehow the the cameras
pixel them. I mean, it's just it, it's
framed so well. It they kind of have like a
little shuffle gauge kind of thing that I really employ.

(33:20):
It's just there and it for all animatronics and, you know, all
practical stuff. I mean, it really.
Yeah, it's well done. Yeah, very well done.
Because I believe it more than, you know, like critters or or
Gulis or some of the other ones.Yeah, these ones are just a lot
better. Yeah.
Oh yeah. And now these messages.
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(33:42):
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(35:33):
All right, well, let's let's jump into favorite scenes or
most iconic scenes. This is the real fun part.
We talked about the parts that we really like, so I'll let you
go first. So we'll start, we'll start with
iconic. So when you think of gremlins,
what is the first scene that comes to mind when you think of
gremlins? The very first scene that comes
to my mind is when Stripe is melting.

(35:55):
OK, which is not like it's not like a a major scene, but just
as soon as someone says gremlinslike that's what.
And I know it's because it scarred me as a kid, but I
think. Part.
Of it was because he was in the fountain, you know, and so he's
bubbling, he's getting ready to to reproduce, to reproduce, I
guess. And but at the same time he's,

(36:15):
you know, he's dying from the sunlight.
And so it's like like that imageand then you just see his skull
on the floor. Yeah, I mean, it just it, it
always sticks out. So as soon as someone says
gremlins, that's the first thingI think of.
And again, I know it's like not the the the most iconic, but
it's, it just it, I think there's something about it that

(36:36):
just stuck with me. And I think it was because I was
4 and freaked out, Yeah. I think that has a lot to do
with it. We'll we'll you know, we'll
yeah, I think yeah, but yeah, but that's a that's a pretty
visually stunning scene. I mean, I think especially for
then you hadn't seen anything like that, especially in like
APG kids movie, you wouldn't have seen anything close to

(36:58):
that. So yeah, definitely, definitely
iconic for sure. All right, so for me, in a very
similar fashion, my the most iconic scene for me is, and it's
kind of the full scene is the mom in the kitchen and her, you
know, the the gremlins. So though the explosion in the
in the microwave is by far the number one.
Like I that when I think of gremlins, I just remember seeing

(37:21):
that exploding. And probably because after
seeing that movie, every time I put something in the microwave
from that point forward, I wouldkind of watch it for a few
minutes like is it going to explode?
Is it going to explode? But but that and then when I
think it gets the first one getscaught in the juicer I think it
was, and you see the green, the green blood splatters
everywhere. By by the way, sorry for

(37:42):
interrupting, but Oh, good. That mom is awesome.
Yes, yes, she's she's amazing. She kills like four of them all
by herself. I just, I just wanted to bring
that up because it's a great, it's a great scene.
Yeah. All right, so those are iconic.
So then what's your favorite scene or, or you have or
favorite scenes? It could be more than one.

(38:02):
So, so yeah, my all time favorite scene is the one you
just mentioned actually with thewith the mom where she, you
know, she kills the one in the juicer and then the microwave or
she stabs 1 next and then microwave and then the
fireplace. I mean, she is just, I know
she's like just in defense mode,but man, she she really does a
great job of killing those gremlins.

(38:24):
Oh yeah. And there's one thing that I, I
noticed this time, and probably because the last time I watched
this, I had not seen the movie that it references, but if you
know The Shining, at the beginning of that scene, the
music plays just a few notes or a little bit of that or music
from The Shining. And so I picked up on it because
I've seen The Shining since then.

(38:44):
And so I was kind of waiting forher to give some kind of like,
you know, Shelley Duvall pose orwhatever.
Oh, yeah, from that. But she doesn't.
But I just when that music started, I was like, oh, I never
noticed that before. Oh, that's very ominous.
And like that was totally for the adults in the theater.
You know, that was a great nod for the, you know, for horror
fans to pick up on that, which II picked up this time.

(39:07):
So I thought was really cool. So, but go ahead which?
Speaking of music, Jerry Goldsmith did this score and he,
I mean, he's like my all time favorite film composer.
I just, I think he's so creative.
His orchestrations are amazing. But the thing that I really like
about is that gizmo theme, like that, that main theme, it's just
so nice and sweet, you know? And then all of a sudden it

(39:27):
morphs into that, that frantic, you know, gremlins, bump, bump,
bump, bump, bump, bump. But, you know, it's just, it's
kind of almost like a little March or polka kind of a thing.
And it's just, it works because the the creatures are scary, but
they're also, you know, kind of kind of playful.
Yeah, it's just Sly and Wiley. So it just, I think he perfectly

(39:48):
captured that. And so every time the gremlins
would come on screen, you know, and you'd hear like that, that
music. I mean it just it, it always, it
just brings a huge smile to my face.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
My other favorite scene, by the way, is the the monologue that
Phoebe Cates gives about. Yeah, it's, it's just so, I

(40:10):
mean, it's, it's terrible. Let me say it.
It's terrible, but it's funny. It's so funny.
And I always feel bad laughing at it.
Yeah, because it's not somethingthat's that should be funny, but
right. But it is her delivery and and
everything. It's just.
Yeah, when she when she started that speech today and I knew it
was coming, my wife looked at meand she was like, really?

(40:32):
This is like what, what, what story is this?
How is really? And I was like, yeah, this is
part of the movie. And one little note was that the
producers or the studio did not want it in the movie at all and
wanted to pull it like it eitherbecause they couldn't tell based
on her delivery, they couldn't tell was she being serious or
was she being funny. And Dante was like, well, that's

(40:53):
the whole point of this movie. It's that it's the, it's the
perfect that is this movie. In a nutshell, are we?
Are we, are we trying to be scary, trying to be funny, or
are we just trying to be both? And so Spielberg said it's
Dante's movie. Yeah, he's director.
I'm going to let him have the final say, even though I don't
like it. And it got, it's stayed in the
movie. And I'm kind of glad it stayed,
because I am too. That is another.

(41:14):
Iconic part of this movie that you don't think about gremlins
without that speech for sure. So oh.
Man, her poor dad. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's one
of my favorite parts. I just every time it comes on, I
just like crack up and it just, it makes me laugh so bad.
And you've got to be thinking from.
Billy's perspective, like, who is this girl that I'm falling in

(41:36):
love with? Exactly?
What am I? What am I signing up for?
What am I getting into? Yeah.
Maybe I need to reassess my attraction.
Yeah. Oh, man.
Yeah, Yeah. We can't help who we fall in
love with. Exactly.
So, you know, take. You know, take, you know, take
the good, you take the bad, you take them both.
And there you have the facts of life.
The facts of life. That's right.

(41:59):
That's right. So, yeah.
So there's a lot of great. Scenes Favorite scenes Like I
said, I I think the the kitchen scene is probably my overall
favorite scene. Just that whole, that whole
section of the film is, is fantastic.
And, and I all my favorite scenes are all like the kills, I
guess you could say, But my, my favorite one is, is Missus

(42:20):
Deagle. And I told my wife and I was
like, this is my favorite scene when she gets on the, the
wheelchair or the, the the stairramp or whatever.
And I just remember as a kid, that was the coolest thing to
see that thing go speeding by and then her flying out through
the window and and I'm and watching it this time, I was
like, they allowed that to be inAPG movie.

(42:41):
It was like, it was like, that was totally OK.
You know I. Mean it.
It was back back then PG movies even had I mean, of course, you
know, they had like boobs and Ohyeah, yeah, cussing and stuff.
Oh yeah, yeah, PG. Yeah, of course.
Totally. Different PG yeah.
Than it was definitely differentPG yeah.
Yeah, nudity is is kind of par for the course a little bit.

(43:04):
And so, you know, it's I, I remember being scared whenever I
saw one in real life for the first time.
And I was afraid. I didn't want to get on.
It because I was afraid. It was going to shoot out the
window. So I mean, it was successful.
He he did a good job. So I have to applaud him for
that. But but yeah, it it's definitely

(43:24):
one of the funniest scenes and Ilove it because she goes outside
and the gremlins are just Caroline to her.
Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.
Because we go. Christmas, Caroline every year
like my brothers and I or my my family and I.
And so that's just to me, it's every time we go Caroline, I
always picture us like as gremlins, just not quite right,

(43:47):
right. But yeah, that and that that
scene is funny. And then I like, I like after
that. I think it's right after that is
when it's the two cops that are pulling up and then the the
Santa Claus comes running out ofthe house.
Or maybe it's right before. That I don't.
Remember, it's around the same time, but they're like, what is
he? He plays Santa every year and
it's like, what has he got now? What are those things on him?

(44:07):
As they get close to the window,the the partners like I want to
go back to the station now. I'm ready to go back to the
station now. Well, I love it because the cops
are just, I mean, and this is a typical TV trope, you know,
where they don't believe the kid, you know, And he's like,
like, it's the creatures. They're like the creatures,
whatever, you know, they're justso, so much doubters.

(44:28):
And then all of a sudden they'relike, yeah, let's get out of
here. Which, again, is that brilliant
blend of, like, comedy and horror that Joe Dante does.
He does so well. Yeah, so and.
Then yeah, I think the scene that I remember liking as a kid
that it doesn't, it hasn't aged as well.
But the whole bar scene where they're just, it's just it's

(44:51):
just full lunacy of them. You know, you're just kind of
seeing the different characteristics of the different
gremlins. They're dressed up, you know,
there's some female, there's some male.
They're you know, they're playing, they're break dancing,
they're playing poker, they're shooting each other.
It's like what, you know, like what in the world is going on.
But knowing now that Dante really wanted to be like a
Looney Tunes, like that was his whole idea of them being like

(45:14):
Looney Tunes characters. It makes sense that you just
going as zany as possible. But now as an adult, I'm
watching like, why is Phoebe? Kate's giving them.
Drinks. Why is she giving?
Like why? Why is she still pouring
alcohol? That's always my question.
Yeah, it's like, why is she serving them?
Get out of there, girl. And then they're totally getting
wet. From the drinks, but they're not

(45:34):
multiplying they're not multiplying.
Maybe there's got to be water. Yeah, there doesn't say.
There's there's a theory from I think the novelization or like
there's some like further story that that it was there was a
there was a line in the dialoguethat or there was a scene where
Billy had thrown spilled juice on on Gizmo and it didn't he

(45:56):
didn't nothing happened. So he realized, oh, it has to be
water. So that was never fully
explained in the final film. But once again, it's it's a it
when these movies weren't meant to be watched over and over and
over again to think about them that extensively.
So. Right.
But but yeah, I want to say, am I making it?
Up. But in the novelization, didn't
they say that they were like like creatures from another

(46:17):
world or something? And maybe so, I don't know, I
believe. They were like aliens.
And they were all Mogwai and only like 1 out of 10,000 would
be able to not become a gremlin.Oh, OK, but.
You. Know Gizmo was not one of those
apparently no but yeah but yeah it was something like that

(46:40):
something like like they were they were bred to like take
destroy worlds or something yeahso of course it's a novelization
so it's never you know the the the author can toss some changes
yeah and. And sometimes they work from.
Earlier scripts, but sometimes they just make up stuff to fill
in some gaps. Oh yeah, exactly.
Believe that's what happened there.
Yeah, probably so. So yeah, but I'm I'm.

(47:01):
Glad you and I'm sorry to interrupt.
No, go ahead. No, go ahead.
I keep. Doing that, I'm sorry.
But I'm I'm glad you brought up the Looney Tunes part, because
Joe Dante actually prefers Gremlins 2 to this movie.
And in that one they're very much more.
It's Oh yeah, Oh yeah. It's.
It's a total farce. And I actually, the, when I
watched this one a couple years ago, I'd started to watch

(47:23):
Gremlins 2 because I, I, I got them as like a 2 pack when I
bought it. And so I didn't get very far.
And then IA couple like several months later, I was like, I want
to go back and finish watching it.
And I watched it and it'd been along time since I'd seen the
second one. And I was like, this movie
really is zany and crazy. And I remember loving it when I
saw it in the theater. I thought it was, I thought it
was great. And then everybody like it got

(47:44):
panned by the critics and it wasconsidered a bomb and nobody
really talked about it. But I was like, why did
everybody hate it so much? And now watching again, I was
like, well, if you watch the first one, if you watch them
back-to-back like I kind of did,you can see why.
It's like it's a total departurefrom first one.
But but it it it's. It's still, it's a lot if you
just want to be just laugh at crazy, stupid things.

(48:06):
It's a good one to watch. Yeah.
And I and I. Think why why this one works so
much is because it does have a lot more of the horror part.
And so the comedy balances out really well.
Whereas Part 2, it's much less horror, much more just zany
antiques and comedy. And so I think it kind of skews
in that One Direction. And because of that, it's just

(48:27):
not quite as successful. Although I I same thing.
I loved it. I love that, you know, the the
spider gremlin and the Oh, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah.
All the the kooky ones. And which by the way, if if
you've never seen that Key and Peele sketch, Oh yeah, where
they're. Pitching the idea.
They're pitching the ideas. Yeah, if.
You haven't seen it. You gotta go watch it.

(48:49):
Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
All right, so then so my last. Favorite scene and then we'll
move along. But so kind of switching from
like I, I didn't like the the bar scene as much, but the movie
theater. I love, I love doing the movie
theater and the scene of you know, you're looking like you're
like, it's this the screen looking at them and they're kind
of dancing back and forth. And of course it gives me old

(49:09):
muppet movie or The Muppets showkind of vibe of watching them
kind of move in in unison or youknow that kind of thing.
But when they start singing along to Snow White, I just it's
just so it's just so crazy and it's so funny and it's like what
a juxtaposition, like you're these total evil, maniacal
things that are laughing and enjoying the most, you know,

(49:30):
pure and simple. You know Disney movies there is
So it's just and that's what this.
Movie is like. Let's take the far extremes and
put them together and and and watch magic happen.
So yeah. And it works.
It it. Really does.
And then, of course, they they see them behind the screen and
then they go crazy. Yeah.
Yeah, they are. They are killer monsters.

(49:52):
That's yeah. And I read some.
I didn't. Put in my notes but I I was
thinking about it when we talkedtalking about it that I think
Phoebe Cates in an interview andthey were talking about the
scene where the theater blows upand this is also the same
theater because we didn't talk about this.
So the town of Kingston Falls isalso the same set that they use
for back to the future. So it's the same square same

(50:15):
town, same movie theater so thisthis movie theater that gets
blown up is the same theater that Martin McFly drives the
DeLorean into I think in back tothe future part too so little
add a bonus there for you when you get to the back to the
future. But when they blew that up, CV
Kate says you talked to one of the the special effects guy, she

(50:35):
was like, you know, how much, how much explosive did y'all put
in there and said, oh, we, we packed it pretty good.
It's like, I don't know what that meant.
And then when it went off, it blew the doors off the theater
and like, like it freaked everybody out.
And they said it actually did damage to other buildings on the
lot, like a mile away. So.

(50:55):
So that's pretty, pretty serious.
So yeah, that's awesome. I mean, hey, go big or go home,
right? Exactly.
Hey, you're going to. Have one big explosion in a
movie, Let's blow up the movie theater.
Let's just go for it right as well, yeah?
So that's cool. I I hadn't heard that one.
So that's, that's awesome. Yeah, I dig that.

(51:16):
So let's let's talk a little bitabout.
Some trivia. We'll kind of cover a few of the
scenes too. We'll not go too deep in this.
But you know, I, and I only put this in because my wife and I
were talking about it because she was asking about the
gremlin. And I said, oh, well, you know,
this isn't where the word gremlin originated.
Like this was a word from before.
And she was like, oh really? So the term gremlin is a neolod.

(51:36):
I'm going to say a word that I don't know how to say.
Neolo neologism. Neologism.
There you go. Jerry said it better than I did.
Originally coined by English Norwegian author Roald Dahl.
Missing all kinds of. Names up famous for his somewhat
dark children's books which I knew that his story Gremlin lore

(51:57):
about fictitious mischievous elves that were said to cause
unexplained damage on Royal Air Force planes was commissioned by
Walt Disney but was never made. In addition to restoring the
classic Warner Brothers logo to the opening of the movie, it was
hoped to release this movie along with the classic Looney
Tune short Falling Hair from 1943 where Bugs where Bugs Bunny

(52:18):
is harassed by an airplane gremlin during World War 2.
This fell through, but highlights from.
The short do. Appear as part of a behind the
scenes featurette and has also been included on the special
edition DVD. So, So, yeah, so Gremlins was
not it. It's probably more famous now
because the movie, but it was a well known, you know, term
before the movie came out. And I think, and what's the

(52:41):
character's name? It's the, the the neighbor.
Fetterman. Mr. Fetterman.
Fetterman. Fetterman.
Yeah, Fetterman. So the, his whole conversation
when he's coming out of the bar and he's pretty drunk and he's
like, you know, those Gremlins, they get in our TV and they get
in our wristwatch and they get on.
I had a an. Aunt of mine.
Or great aunt of mine that one day when she was, you know,

(53:03):
pretty close to her, you know, before she passed, she found out
that I was driving a foreign carand I was like 16 and she was
like, don't drive those foreign cars.
They have, you know, the, the, you know, I'm not going to use
this term because it's she used the term.
I will not say you know that, you know, put.
Those things in your car to spy.On all that kind of stuff.
And I was like, so watching it again, I was like, Oh my gosh,

(53:25):
people really thought that way. Like he was saying this stuff,
but that was like how people really thought.
But I just thought that was interesting story.
I may cut that out. But anyway, go ahead.
I remember the. I remember.
That Bugs Bunny, that Looney Tune sketch where he's fighting
the the Gremlin, you know, because he had like the airplane
wings coming out of his head andhis face was kind of like a
little cockpit. So I always remember that.

(53:46):
And so when we were going to go see Gremlins, which is funny
because I don't really remember things from when I'm like that
young exactly. But I remember that.
I remember because I'd seen the cartoon several, you know, quite
a few times. And so I was expecting the
Gremlins to look like that, and,well, they didn't.
Yeah, exactly. They didn't.
Oh, well, it's probably better that they didn't.

(54:08):
Yeah. Yeah.
So. So one.
Yeah. Go ahead.
No, I was just going to say. That I noticed when when they're
in the bar and and I I. Had to double.
Check and then I looked it up onIMDb to to to even check that
because I I wasn't sure but one of the gremlins is playing the
Star Wars arcade game. Yes, I did notice that too.
Yep. Which was awesome.
I didn't. Notice that I was like I I.

(54:29):
Remember playing that game so I did too when it when it popped.
Up. I was like, I know that.
Game. Yeah, yeah.
It's like, yes, yeah, yeah, thatwas a cool game.
Hey, they did pretty good. Warner Brothers got.
It's a Disney movie with Snow White.
They got a Star Wars property. I don't know if they get away
with that now without having to pay extra money to do that.
So that's right, yeah. They'd have to license it out.

(54:53):
Wow, that's how times have changed.
Exactly. Exactly.
What did they show? And she's watching, the mom is
watching It's a Wonderful Life in the beginning as well.
Now, I know back then the the copyright had actually lapsed
and so it was actually free to to air and that's why it really
became a Christmas standard. But, you know, even even then,

(55:15):
that's still pretty good to to get it in your movie.
Yeah, that's smart. I mean everything.
They're watching on TV is old black and white movies and I'm
sure we're, you know, past the copyrights they're able to do
that. But they all kind of tie in to
the story as well. So that was good.
Yeah. 1 little cool trivia thingI found was one of the reasons
for the no bright lights rule was that in 1984, Dante and

(55:37):
Amblin could not completely navigate the perilous waters of
special effects for the gremlin puppets that will by keeping
them in the dark. This camouflage, this problem,
this is actually an old sci-fi trick, Dante.
They did the same thing with thetricky and lumpy practical
effects for the howling in 1981.They kept the monsters in the
dark to hide special effects problems.
So I mean that's they still do that today with CGI.

(55:59):
You know, it's why every big battle at the end of A at the
end of a big CGI movie is usually at night and it's very
dark so they can hide those kindof things.
But I did think that was interesting that you hey work
that in the script they they can't be in bright light to keep
everything dark. So.
Yeah, you know, when everything's practical, you got
to do what you can to to make itlook OK.

(56:20):
And I mean it. I like I said, it works.
They it's still it still looks good for for CGI, mean for for
not CG, you know, it still holdsup, I think.
Yeah. So exactly.
Hey, keep it in the dark. I'll take it.
Yeah, exactly. All right, let me do one, one or
two more and then we'll, we'll, we'll start to wrap this up.

(56:41):
So the Gizmo puppets were particularly frustrating because
they were smaller and thus brokedown more to satisfy the crew
that was very frustrated. A scene was included in which
the Gremlins hang Gizmo on a wall and throw darts at him.
They say this was included on a list that the crew created known
as known to them as the quote UNquote, horrible things to do to
Gizmo lists. So horrible things to do.

(57:04):
Yeah, Yeah. But yeah, hey, I get it.
Yeah. When technology doesn't work,
you. You.
You want to smash it sometimes. So every.
Yeah. And that was that.
And. That was a scene that I remember
like not liking as a kid. Me too when they was like so.
Terrified for Gizmo? Yeah, like no, no, don't do that
to him. No, don't hurt him.
Like, thank goodness they were such.

(57:24):
Terrible, you know, shots. Yeah.
Oh, man, I know at one point, one thing I read was that they
were trying to, I think they were going to use a spider
monkey in like a Gremlin costume, but like they couldn't
control it. It was just, it was just crazy.
And so eventually they're like, yeah, let's do puppets instead.
Yeah, yeah, they said it. It got.

(57:44):
When they tried to put the make up on it, it totally freaked the
monkey out. And the monkey just went berserk
and ended up like tearing up theset that day.
All the thing that, you know, whatever set they had for that
day, Like, Nope, we're not goingto do this because we'll we'll
never get through film. We'll never get through the
movie finished. Yeah.
So yeah, yeah, I read that had. That in my notes as well.
So yeah, that's crazy one littleanother.

(58:05):
I thought this was cool. The scene in the department
store where Stripe attacks Billywith a chainsaw was not in the
original script. It was added by director Dante
and Zach Galligan as an homage to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Oh, nice. Yeah.
You. Know and and that's one of the
scenes that always kind of bugged me even as a kid because
it's like he's not trying to usehis legs or anything to get to

(58:26):
get him off and so it's like what are you going to do Billy?
I mean, eventually he's going tosaw through the bat and I was
thinking I was like. Any pretty good chainsaw would
have saw through that pretty quickly, I think.
I think you're right. So.
That must have been a terrible like don't buy your chainsaws
for that department store. That was, that was the dulled.
Like you know when they have thedemo model the display.

(58:49):
You can hear the engine, but. It's not going to cut anything.
So Oh my goodness, yeah, that that would always that always
kind. Of bothered me, I although I did
love when Gizmo would drive around in that little car.
Little car. Yeah, that.
Was so cool. It's like, wow, well, how's he
doing that? And his eyes are always like
moving around. Really fast.
So that was cool. It was it was good.

(59:10):
I I know. They had issues with it.
They didn't like the puppet. But you know what?
It it it sold me. It sold me.
Yeah, I was. I was all in.
Yeah, there are a few. Spots like watching it again
today, there are a few spots where they mentioned Gizmo and
like that doesn't really look like Gizmo.
And I'm sure it's because they were still trying to fix things,
as you know, each one putting different faces and doing

(59:31):
different things with it. You know, if they didn't call
him Gizmo, I wouldn't have knownwhich one was which some of some
of the times. And that was kind of more in the
middle. But also, and, and I'll just
kind of briefly mention this. I don't have to unread the whole
thing, but in the original script, Gizmo was to turn into
Stripe. Yeah, like that.
There weren't 2. Separate things, but once again
Spielberg was like no, Gizmo is too cute, we can't have him turn

(59:54):
into the bad guys. So they had him be the hero and
so, but that was decision was made after they had already.
The puppeteers already created more Spike or you know, Gizmo
for the beginning, but they had not created any gizmos for the
end of the movie. So they said that's why a lot of
the middle section gizmos kind of not in the movie as much and
why at the end he's in that car.That car was strategic because

(01:00:17):
they didn't have time to do a full a full model or to have the
time to have him running. So let's just put him in this
this this remote control car andhave him go by so they could
hide his feet. Exactly.
Hey, it worked. It worked.
It did. Yeah, I I mean, and it was like
the coolest thing as a kid. Like, whoa, he drives a car.

(01:00:38):
He's super cool. Yeah.
Oh, and I do want to. Bring up the dog.
The dog is awesome, Yeah, and cute, cute little puppy there
and. I was, I didn't put.
In my notes, but I was reading some stuff the other day about
that the dog, they said the dog was perfect because he reacted
so well to everything going on. Like they didn't have to train
him as much for the reaction shots.

(01:01:00):
Like they just kept a camera on him and he gave great shots with
the puppets and stuff. Like he wasn't scared by all
the, you know, the, the things going on around him.
He was very, very disciplined. So, but I really watched the dog
this time watching it, I was like, the dog gave some great
expressions. And like the, the scene where,
and we think about it when, whenGizmo comes by with the car and
like comes behind the dog and the dog like jumps up and like

(01:01:23):
doesn't bark, doesn't run away. Like he stayed on his mark.
I was like, that's a, that's a well trained dog.
Good job. Well, and I love that scene
where they like wrap him in all the Christmas lights and
everything. I mean, it's just, it's, it's so
well done. All right, well, let's talk
about some deleted. And omitted scenes.
We talked a little bit about thenovelization earlier so these
are some things that I thought were were worth mentioning.

(01:01:43):
So one of the most memorable scenes in Gremlins is the demise
of the evil Missus Deagle, whichtalked about the heartless miser
was sent flying through the air after the creatures interfere
with her electric chair lift. Missus Deagle originally loomed
even larger over the entire story, as a cut subplot had her
buying up swaths of land in a bid to construct a new power
plant. This story thread was eventually

(01:02:05):
dropped to maintain focus on theGremlins themselves.
And so I think there were some actual deleted scenes they were
talking about where Phoebe Catesshows her plans to Billy and
kind of shows that there she's buying up all these properties
because she's building a power plant.
And so but they end up cutting that part.
So she's also kind of Mr. Potterfrom Yeah, it's a wonderful

(01:02:26):
life. A wonderful life.
Yeah, exactly so. Oh wow.
Another major deletion involved the fates of two other
antagonists, Billy Strict boss Mr. Corbin, played by Edward
Andrews, and the sleazy Co worker Gerald, played by Judge
Judge Reinhold. We talked about earlier in the
final cut. These two sources of stress in
Billy's life simply vanished from the story once the gremlin

(01:02:46):
rampage begins. However, scenes were shot which
revealed that an ironic death for Mr. Corbin, he was
bludgeoned by clocks after an earlier lecture about
punctuality. So there's also another deleted
scene where Billy comes late to work and he talks about
punctuality, you know, for a fewminutes and then the comeuppance
for Gerald that found him lockedin the bank's vault.

(01:03:07):
And I, I also saw that in when they would show this on TV back
in the 80s, they would insert that scene with them finding him
in the bank vault and deciding to leave him in there because it
was safer for him to stay in thebank vault than to be out.
But he basically told Billy he was like, hey, my boss is dead.
I'm going to be the new bank manager.
So if you want to keep your job,you got to save my life.

(01:03:29):
So. So Billy moves.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
And I want to say, like in one of the early drafts, the script
that Judge Reinhold's character was going to be more involved,
like he was going to be, it wasn't just going to be Billy
and Kate running, running aroundlike he was going to be the kind

(01:03:50):
of that trope of the enemy becomes the ally in the final
battle kind of a thing. So but they ended up scrapping
that to focus more on the gremlins.
So just going to say I'm glad. I'm glad they did.
That I thought just to keep the focus on the main, you know,
just just Gizmo and and Zach andPhoebe, I think was was probably
the the best strategy because really he's just an ancillary

(01:04:11):
character that would have just bogged down the film.
Yeah, exactly. So that was a good choice.
Yeah. Yeah.
I thought this was interesting and because I didn't think about
it until I read this, because you don't see Pete either
towards the end of the movie. Like what happened to Pete Corey
Feldman's character in the novel.
However, he is deeply saddened by the death of Mr. Hanson and
even blames himself for it and runs away from home and has

(01:04:33):
never seen again. So yeah.
I'm glad they kept that out of the movie, yeah.
I'd rather just it's like which is worse, to forget that he ever
existed in the movie at the end or to know that he felt guilty
and ran off by himself. So not good either way.
So no, no poor guy I. I like to think he just hunkered
down in his house and was prettysafe.

(01:04:54):
Yeah. And then one last little bit
that. I we, we have to talk about,
because it was such a big part of this movie, what happened
around this time. So Gremlins was produced by
Steven Spielberg. We've talked about that.
It was this movie and several others of his own flicks that
had the NPAA Motion Picture Association of America change
the way they rate films. Between this one and his Indiana

(01:05:16):
Jones movies. The films were a little darker
than the PG rating they were marked at.
Since there were more than a fewscenes in the flick that were
beyond appropriate for kids, theNPAA looked to give the film an
R rating. Spielberg had suggested to the
board that they come up with a grade between PG and R and
thanks to that suggestion, PG13 was created with the first film

(01:05:37):
they ever got that, which was Red Dawn, which came out in 1985
S So yeah, so I think it's funnybecause when I think about this
movie, I think of it as APG 13 movie, but it's still PG.
But it was, I remember at that time the same thing with Temple
of Doom had just come out beforethis.
And once again, it was a real. I remember going to the other
theater, my parents were like, what have we taken our kid to

(01:05:58):
see? You know, pulling hearts out of
men's chest was like, yeah, it. Was a little, a little, yeah.
Speaking of iconic, Yeah, exactly.
Which was a little much for PG. All right, last little bit and
we'll, we'll close it up, but box office and critical
reception. Originally planned and scheduled
for a Christmas release, this movie was rushed into production
shortly after Warner Brothers found out that it had no major

(01:06:21):
competition against Paramount Pictures Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom or Columbia Pictures Ghostbusters for the
summer movie season. About once we talked about the
two great movies that came out that year.
Financially, Gremlins was a success.
Produced on an $11 million budget, it was more expensive
than Spielberg had originally intended, but still relatively
cheap for the time. As it.

(01:06:42):
As Jerry mentioned earlier, the trailer introduced the film to
audiences by briefly explaining that Billy receives a strange
creature as a Christmas present.By going over the three rules
and then coming out with the fact that the creatures
transform into terrible monsters, this trailer showed
little of either the Mogwai or the Gremlins.
In contrast to this, other advertisements concentrated on

(01:07:02):
Gizmo overlooking the Gremlins of all together and made the
film look similar to Spielberg'searlier family film ET The
Extraterrestrial That. Did not that did not go.
Well, for them, no, no, because there were.
Well, I mean, I guess. It's still kind of, Yeah.
I mean, it's still made bank, but I know what you mean it.
I remember my parents being justshocked that they brought me to

(01:07:24):
this afterwards. Yeah.
And I read some stories about. Parents like pulling their kids
out of the theater and demandingtheir money back.
And you know, you, you bait and switched us.
How did you let us see this movie?
Things like that. So but but it was released on
June 8th, 1984, the same day as Ghostbusters.
Gremlins ranked second with 12.5million in its first weekend,

(01:07:45):
but only 1.1 million less than Ghostbusters, which was much
more heavily advertised and and anticipated.
By the end of its American screenings on November 29th, it
had grossed $148 million domestically.
This made it the fourth highest grossing film of the year behind
Beverly Hills College, Ghostbusters, and Indiana Jones
and the Temple of Doom. So it didn't do too bad.

(01:08:07):
But look, it's it came out. It came out in June and stayed
in the theaters until November 29th.
Do you remember movies used to do?
That Yeah, Yeah. I can't believe it.
It seems like ages ago. Yeah.
You know, now it's like they're in the theater for like, maybe
three months. Maybe.
Yeah. Well, but you know, these days,
as soon as it's when it's when it hits the theater, they

(01:08:28):
already know when they're releasing it on digital or
video. I mean, back then, I think back
then it was, I know it was at least one full year before it
was on cable. That was the earliest and then.
Video. Was usually a couple months
after it ended its run in the theaters.
So, but the first movie I remember being like, this movie

(01:08:49):
is still in the theater was Footloose.
I remember Footloose coming out and then like four or five
months later it was still playing in the theaters and it
was like, wow, I'm surprised it's still playing.
But we also. Had a lot of dollar theaters.
Back then too, that they would, you know, the older movies would
stay there a lot longer because you could see it cheaper.
So yeah, I love the dollar movies.
I missed the dollar movie theater I did.

(01:09:10):
Too. So much.
All right, so let's. Talk about the critical
reception. So Rotten Tomatoes has it at 85%
on the tomato meter with a 78% audience score.
IMDb has it at 7.3 out of 10 with a 70 on Metacritic.
They're pretty close. IMDb is a little lower.
But which are you, more Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb on this one?

(01:09:33):
I mean, I, I love it. So I, I would rank it higher in
general. I, I usually stick with just
Rotten Tomatoes 'cause I, that'sthe one I remember most.
But I, I, I think it's more of a, you know, I, I would say it's
definitely not quite 85%. I'd say it's, it's should be
higher. And I know that's just means 85%
of people will enjoyed it, but right, right.

(01:09:54):
But I, you know, I think that's kind of an average as well.
So, but I'd, I'd give it's like an A honestly.
Yeah, I, I think it's great Every it's got, it's got great
music. It's got a good plot.
Like you said, it's original, atleast for the time.
You know, it's the acting was great.
Even even Corey Feldman as a little boy, I thought he did a

(01:10:16):
great job. I mean, just everybody, they,
they nailed it. And and it's got a a really cool
scene where the mom just takes apart Gremlin, you know, one at
a time. She should give John Wick some
pointers. Yeah, she, she definitely holds
her own. Look, she did better than Billy.
Did in the department store. I can tell you that that's true.

(01:10:36):
Yeah, the only reason he he won and killed more was because he
blew up the theater and they exactly happened to be there.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. But, you know, taking him out
one by one, she showed him a thing or two.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. So yeah, I'd, I'd give it an A
for sure. This It was a great, great
movie. Yeah, and I've said it before,
I'm all. About rewatch ability and
watching it today, it's like this is one that I can I can

(01:10:58):
still enjoy to watch. So it ranks pretty high for me.
It does still have a few like those few things you can scratch
your head moments or you know, little things that could be done
better, but it it's still it it's still definitely one of the
best of the 80s movies. I probably I'm maybe not giving
it a maybe like AB plus maybe ora minus front somewhere in
there, but it's still it's stillI it's still higher up for me.

(01:11:21):
So but yeah, I enjoy it. It's a good one.
It is. Yeah, I agree.
All right. Well, that's good, yeah.
That's going to wrap it up for us.
So thank you so much, Jerry, forbeing a part of this episode.
It was so good to have you. Any final thoughts or final
words about Gremlins you want toshare with us?
You know you got to watch it. It's a is it a Christmas movie?
Well, that's up to you, but I think I think you'd enjoy it at

(01:11:44):
Christmas time. So, you know, TuneIn and and get
some popcorn and some hot chocolate.
Yeah. I'd say, I'd say watch it for
sure. Yeah.
Hey, Gizmo wears a Santa. Hat so.
And that's right. There you go.
Yeah. And the and the monologue is.
About It's all about Santa Santa.
So it's a Christmas movie. I'm down with that.

(01:12:05):
Yeah. All right.
Well, thanks everybody for listening.
Thank you, Jerry, so much for being a part of this episode.
I'm definitely have you back foranother episode.
It's it's a joy to have you. So definitely everybody go check
out Totally Rad Christmas podcast.

(01:12:45):
You still here? It's over.
Go home.

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#123 - "Gremlins" (1984) with Gerry D (Special Replay)

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