January 20, 2026 • 55 mins
In this episode, Anna and Derek chat about the effortless charisma of Gene Kelly, the reality of "making it" in Hollywood, and much more during their discussion of the cult classic Xanadu (1980).
Connect with '80s Movie Montage on Facebook, Bluesky or Instagram! It's the same handle for all three... @80smontagepod.
Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_05 (00:08):
Here it I want you to promise me one thing.
Any on opening night, I get thefirst dance.
You're gonna dance.
Oh, I've been known to twinkle atoe or two.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
Listen, if you're gonna dance, you have to wear
something uh uh that looksspecial.
SPEAKER_05 (00:24):
You need some uh glitz.
Glitz?
Something sharp looking.
SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
You know, something with a bit of pizzazz to it.
SPEAKER_02 (00:32):
Hello and welcome to 80s movie montage.
This is Derek.
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
And this is Anna.
SPEAKER_02 (00:36):
And that was Olivia Newton-John as Kira, Gene Kelly
as Danny McGuire, and MichaelBeck as Sonny Malone in 1980's
Xanadu.
SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
Xanadu.
SPEAKER_02 (00:48):
Wow.
And and yes, Gene Kelly, youhave been known to twinkle a toe
or two.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
I know.
I loved that little wink too.
SPEAKER_02 (00:57):
It was, you know, it was tough because like I I
couldn't resist that.
I was very tempted to have theconversation between Sonny and
Zeus.
SPEAKER_01 (01:07):
Oh, sure.
SPEAKER_02 (01:08):
But I was afraid that people would think that's
not even a real movie.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
It I mean, what kind of movie this is, I'm not sure I
know, but it was uh I know whatit is.
SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
It was in part the inspiration for the first ever
Razzie Awards.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Oh, that's right.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
So that's that's what uh that's what kind of
movie this is.
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
I mean, I know that this film very much has a cult
following and is much beloved bycertain audiences, and I am not
here to dispute that.
But it was it was a wild prideto watch this movie in full.
It was the first time I had seenit in full.
SPEAKER_02 (01:50):
And the best thing that comes out of this movie for
me is the song Magic.
SPEAKER_01 (01:56):
Yeah, which was literally the one song that they
didn't allow Olivia Newton Johnto sing in full.
SPEAKER_02 (02:01):
Yeah, you get you get it a couple times, but
neither time.
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
No, you get like a couple bars, and that was so
infuriating because I actuallylove that song.
Yeah, and it's by far, in myhumble opinion, the strongest
song of any of these.
SPEAKER_02 (02:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
So not to say that there aren't other great tunes,
but that went on to be a numberone.
Yeah, it's a great song.
Anyway, all right.
So Xanadu 1980.
And uh yeah, let's dive in.
So as far as the writing creditsgo, we have two why are you
laughing already?
SPEAKER_03 (02:35):
I didn't know there were.
SPEAKER_01 (02:36):
Oh wow.
Uh throwing some shade.
SPEAKER_02 (02:41):
Uh I thought we were just gonna spend three hours
going through all the Xanadudancer credits.
SPEAKER_01 (02:45):
It's it's not a it's not a totally unfounded dig.
Um and you'll see that like forthe first guy I'm gonna bring up
Richard Christian Danis is howI'm gonna say his last name.
SPEAKER_02 (02:56):
I respect that you just don't want to say De Anis.
SPEAKER_01 (03:01):
First writing credit.
SPEAKER_02 (03:02):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
For for this gentleman.
Uh four writing credits total.
So this is one of the four.
The other ones that I have.
Uh all TV.
So he wrote on a show, and Imean, I guess one of them I'm
familiar with.
Uh he wrote on a show calledMatt Houston.
SPEAKER_03 (03:20):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
That's not one I'm familiar with.
He wrote on a show called CrimeStory and O'Hara.
SPEAKER_03 (03:26):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
So that's that's uh that's Richard.
All right.
Okay, so moving on, we have bothwriters with like three names.
Mark Reed Rubel.
SPEAKER_03 (03:36):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
So we have him also credited as a screen runner,
screenwriter on this.
He has eight total writingcredits.
Nice.
So neither of these gentlemenhave extensive filmographies.
It's possible that they pivotedtheir creative pursuits into
other places that wouldn't benoted on IMDb.
(03:57):
But there's there's one actuallyreally interesting credit that
this guy has.
So a couple of them that I wrotedown, uh a few films, Alm Almost
Summer, Big Business.
I'm pretty sure that's the onewith Bet Midler?
SPEAKER_03 (04:09):
Yes.
Okay.
And uh Shelly.
SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
No, no, no.
You're thinking uh wait, maybeyou're right.
Shelly's because uh what's theone that she did with Lily
Tomlin?
SPEAKER_02 (04:19):
Um It's either Shelly.
SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
That was it.
SPEAKER_02 (04:22):
That was it.
Oh, it was it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
Okay, okay.
But I think you're right, shedid do a movie with um Shelly
Long, pretty sure.
So anyway.
And he also did some TV movies,some TV shows.
But the one the one notable onethat I was like, huh,
interesting.
So the reason why it firstcaught my eye is because he did
a TV movie called Prince of BelAir.
SPEAKER_03 (04:43):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (04:44):
And then I was like, what's this about?
It stars Mark Harmon and KirstyAlley.
SPEAKER_02 (04:51):
It has nothing to do with Will Smith or Summer
School.
unknown (04:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Because they reteam.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:58):
It's so funny.
The just okay.
SPEAKER_02 (05:01):
Nobody let Will Smith know about this because
he's liable to slap someone.
SPEAKER_01 (05:05):
Keep Prince of Bel Air out of your mouth.
Yeah.
Anyway.
So there we go.
Those are the writing creditsfor Xanadu.
And moving on.
SPEAKER_02 (05:17):
You know how like a lot of times we're like, oh my
god, this person has like acouple hundred credits.
We've gone over a few, so we'regonna cross-reference.
Not this time.
SPEAKER_01 (05:26):
Not this time.
Well, it's possible that Markwill, you know, at some point in
the future, we might do bigbusiness.
We might so he might come upagain.
But otherwise, I think that willbe the only time we speak of
these gentlemen.
Okay, so moving on to thedirector, Robert Greenwald.
So this was his feature filmdirectorial debut.
(05:49):
And I think he has a reallyinteresting, especially in the
last couple of years, veryinteresting pivot in terms of
where his career has gone.
SPEAKER_04 (05:58):
Oh.
SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
So earlier on, I mean, obviously, this is like a
narrative feature.
Um, another one that I think wasearlier in his career, Hear No
Evil.
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
But Wait, Here No Evil.
The one with um Richard Pryor.
No, I'm thinking of his own.
SPEAKER_01 (06:16):
You're thinking, I know what you're thinking of,
though.
SPEAKER_02 (06:18):
And Richard, no, um Gene Wilder.
And Richard Pryor.
SPEAKER_01 (06:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, they did a couple filmstogether.
But here's what's interestingabout his career is that as of
late, he's gone hard into moreum I guess.
Political documentary.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
Document uh documentaries.
SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Documentaries, yes.
Yes, thank you, thank you forthat.
So some of his credits includeOut Foxed, Rupert Murdoch's War
on Journalism, Iraq for Sale,The W War Profiteers, Donald
Trump's Crime Wave, DonaldTrump, or I'm sorry, Trump's War
on Women, Donald Trump a racistwith racist policies.
SPEAKER_02 (06:55):
Yeah, I gotta give credit to whoever's titling
these because they're doing abang-up job.
SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
And Robert, you go, you go, Robert.
Keep it like I said, we're happyto the good fight.
SPEAKER_02 (07:05):
We're happy to talk about Zadadu, one of the best
movies ever made.
Yeah.
By one of the best directors.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
Keep going with it, Robert.
And then he's also, again,earlier in his career, because
he has pivoted pretty solelyinto, like you said, that
political documentary sphere.
But he did a lot of TV moviestoo earlier in his career.
So okay.
Familiar name.
Victor J.
Kemper.
SPEAKER_03 (07:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
We've brought him up several times.
SPEAKER_03 (07:31):
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
Yes, we have.
SPEAKER_03 (07:33):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Um, and not even that long ago, he passed away in
2023.
But what a filmography he had.
And because it's been a minute,we'll go over some of these
credits.
Um, I have exclusively films forhim.
So, well, one was probablystraight to video, but we'll
we'll make it count.
(07:54):
So and it's fun because since hehas come up a couple times, some
of these credits, even though wehave never covered these films
because I don't think they're80s films, but we've brought
them up enough on his account,they might be giants, as well as
who is Harry Kellerman and whyis he saying those terrible
things about me?
Okay.
Always love when those filmscome back.
SPEAKER_02 (08:14):
Yeah, I mean, I I'm not even gonna say it, but I
love it.
SPEAKER_01 (08:18):
I love it.
SPEAKER_02 (08:19):
I love the might be they might be giants reference.
SPEAKER_01 (08:21):
Uh so he also shot The Candidate, Dog Day
Afternoon, The Last Tycoon, SlapShot.
Too bad that's not an 80s film.
SPEAKER_02 (08:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
Oh God, The Jerk.
SPEAKER_02 (08:33):
Too bad that's not an 80s film as well.
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
The jerk.
What is it?
Right under 789, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (08:38):
Yep.
So Well you might do some somemore of the movies that he
worked on, like the finalcountdown.
SPEAKER_01 (08:44):
Oh, for sure.
Oh, I don't know how that one.
But um, the ones that so the thecouple times that he's been
brought up, we brought him upfor Mr.
Mom.
SPEAKER_03 (08:51):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (08:52):
Go check out that episode.
Probably most recently.
No, no, no, no.
Yes.
That we almost did, I think wedid him almost back to back last
year.
Uh, we brought him up forNational Lampoons Vacation.
SPEAKER_03 (09:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:04):
And then we also brought him up last season for
Cloak and Dagger.
SPEAKER_03 (09:07):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
And those were in very quick succession.
I don't know if they wereactually back to back.
They might have been, to bequite honest.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
Call to action.
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
Call to action.
When did we do those films?
Uh we he will certainly come upagain because at some point we
will do Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
SPEAKER_03 (09:20):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
And probably the first time we brought him up was
for the movie Clue.
SPEAKER_03 (09:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:27):
So definitely check that.
That one was so fun with Andy.
She loves that movie so much.
It was it was really fun talkingto her about that.
He also shot Beethoven, TommyBoy, a film that we have ragged
on quite a bit, even though it'snot even an 80s film, Jingle All
the Way.
SPEAKER_02 (09:41):
He also did that movie that I misplaced for the
um one of the writers, I think.
See no evil, hear no evil.
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
Oh, good job.
SPEAKER_02 (09:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:50):
Well, thank you for bringing up these titles.
SPEAKER_02 (09:52):
Uh director of photography on that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:53):
Yeah.
No, thank you for bringing thatup.
And then his final credit, Imentioned straight to video,
bring it on, all or nothing.
SPEAKER_02 (10:01):
Okay.
How many of those were theremade?
I feel like there was like awhole Bring It On franchise.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
I think it is one of those where like the first film,
obviously huge with KirstenDunce.
I think after that, though, Iwant to say they were probably
all straight to video.
But there's probably more thanone.
SPEAKER_02 (10:17):
It just like found tapped into this like hidden
market of people that lovewatching cheerleaders fight.
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
I guess so.
And it didn't star any of the,to my knowledge, any of the
people that were in theoriginal, but all right.
Which okay, in a way, it makessense because they're high
schoolers, so it's like theywould they would cycle out.
SPEAKER_02 (10:35):
Tell that to the duffers.
SPEAKER_01 (10:38):
I knew I knew like I knew you were gonna say that.
Like even as I'm what a setup.
All right, moving on to music.
Uh the first time, but not thelast time.
I I feel pretty confident sayingthat, that we will bring up
Barry Devorzen.
He is still with us, 91 yearsold.
(10:59):
Uh probably retired at thispoint.
Uh, so he is an Oscar nominatedcomposer earlier in his career.
He scored, I don't, I don't knowthis movie, Bless the Beasts and
Children.
Don't know it.
But he got a best music originalsong Oscar nomination for it.
(11:19):
He scored Dillinger.
Here's nice little connectionhere to one of the actors.
He scored the Warriors.
SPEAKER_02 (11:26):
Nice.
Yeah, that's uh that's the leadin this movie, right?
We'll call him the lead.
The guy.
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
We'll call him the guy, the artist.
We'll get we'll get I'm beingmean, but okay.
So he also scored on some TVshows.
He scored for the TV seriesversion of Private Benjamin.
He did Simon and Simon.
That's a pretty well-known one.
SPEAKER_02 (11:47):
Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
The reason why I said that we will almost
certainly bring him up again isbecause maybe even this season,
I really, really want to coverNight of the Creeps for our
Halloween series.
SPEAKER_02 (11:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
And he scored that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
Too bad that the uh other horror movie is a decade
too like Go for it.
The Exorcist Part Three, whichshould have been The Exorcist
Part Two.
SPEAKER_01 (12:08):
And then it sounds like, and I feel like we have
brought this up before, eventhough not an 80s film, but
somehow when The Exorcist IIIcame up, there is like a
different version of it thatthey call the Exorcist III Colon
Legion.
SPEAKER_02 (12:20):
That's interesting because that was the title of
the book.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (12:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
So my guess is that it's like, is it kind of like
Superman 2, the Donner Cut orsomething like that?
SPEAKER_02 (12:29):
This is literally the first I've heard of it, so
I'm gonna track it down afterthis.
We've talked about it.
I really like that movie andalso have a bad memory.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
Okay.
So moving on to film editing,Dennis Verkler.
So he also has passed.
He passed away in 2022.
He had a great career.
And hmm, yeah, possibly.
We'll bring him up again at somepoint.
He was an Oscar-nominatededitor, and I have exclusively
(13:00):
filmed for him.
SPEAKER_03 (13:01):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
So really early in his career, he cut the bad news
Bears Go to Japan.
SPEAKER_02 (13:07):
That was that the sequel?
Yes.
To the just the Bad News Bears.
SPEAKER_01 (13:11):
I don't know if it's the first sequel.
I don't know how many sequelsthat particular franchise had.
SPEAKER_02 (13:15):
They the bad news bears got into like the bad news
bears versus Frankenstein kindof territory where it just got.
I don't think it really did, butthere were like old like kind of
crazy.
Old c like Laurel and Hardywould have like weird shit like
that, where like them versus thewolfman.
SPEAKER_01 (13:30):
Are you thinking Abbott Costello?
SPEAKER_02 (13:32):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
There you go.
Fuck a call out.
SPEAKER_02 (13:36):
I feel like I may have said something about my
memory, but I can't.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
So he also cut Airplane 2 Colon the sequel.
He did so.
There was a 1983 film calledIndependence Day.
He cut that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:49):
Probably nothing like the uh the other one.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
Gorky Park.
Uh this one also is a littleless well known, but there was a
1989 movie called The Favorite.
The reason why I brought that upis because I really do like the
one with Olivia Coleman and EmmaStone.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So he got his first film editingOscar nomination for The Hunt
for Red October.
SPEAKER_02 (14:11):
Probably that scene where they're like chomping away
at food and the and the languagetranslates or just kind of like
moves from Russian to English,but really Scottish because it
was Sean Connery.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
That makes me think so much of the 13th Warrior.
Yeah.
Where he They're all taught.
SPEAKER_02 (14:26):
Like I just learned.
SPEAKER_01 (14:27):
He's like, I just I will never forget.
I was in the theater.
I saw that movie in the theater.
I saw every movie in the theaterbefore like 2000.
And I remember fucking AntonioBanderas sitting at a campfire.
Yep.
And literally over the course ofone night, he like learns their
language.
It is so ridiculous, but that'swhat that makes me think of.
(14:47):
Uh he did so he kind of had likea niche for a while.
Under Siege, he got anotherediting Oscar nomination for the
fugitive.
Nice.
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
The one-armed man.
SPEAKER_01 (14:56):
He this is kind of an interesting duo.
He cut both Batman Forever andBatman and Robin.
He did The Devil's Own, APerfect Murder, Daredevil.
So it's like weird because hedid like these thrillers and
then also these like big timelike comic book.
SPEAKER_02 (15:12):
Oh, the the Ben Affleck Daredevil movie, right?
SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
That's I believe so.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:17):
I mean, it's quite gracious to call that a big
comic book movie, butnevertheless.
SPEAKER_01 (15:22):
Maybe what the uh what they had hoped it would be.
SPEAKER_02 (15:24):
I mean, the Ben Affleck version stumbled so that
the Netflix one could fly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
Sure.
Uh he did the 2005 The Fog, the2010, The Wolfman.
So he kind of did some likeremakes of some good horror
films.
And then his final credit was2017, uh, The Ottoman
Lieutenant.
All right.
Okay.
We're at the stars of this film.
Starting with Olivia NewtonJohn.
(15:52):
It uh it's hard for me to saythat she's passed away.
SPEAKER_03 (15:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
It's really hard for me to say that.
Um she was far too young.
Uh she passed in 2022.
And like you mentioned at thetop of the episode, she plays
Kira, so she plays one of thenine muses.
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
She doesn't actually say her full name, but she says
enough of it, I think.
SPEAKER_01 (16:13):
Yeah, and I'll be honest, I did not, I mean,
sitting at my computer, but uh Ididn't take down the names of
all the muses.
SPEAKER_03 (16:20):
It's fine.
SPEAKER_01 (16:21):
But one of my best, best friends um was inspired by
mythology to name like hersinging coaching company Nine
Muses.
Yeah, yeah.
So it is it is well known.
Kind of like the inspiration forartists comes from the Nine
Muses.
If you are familiar, have aninterest in uh Greek mythology.
(16:44):
So her career, uh, for the mostpart, I have films, and if you
go to her IMDB, um you're gonnafind a lot of music videos.
Yeah, I was thank you, thank youfor putting that away.
I was about to say somethingthat could be misconstrued as
being like uh rude because I waslike the IMDB uh kind of uh you
(17:09):
can be mistaken in thinking shewas in way more films than she
was, but because IMDB doesinclude music videos.
But she was primarily a singerand a great one at that.
SPEAKER_02 (17:18):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (17:18):
So she was like a huge star in in the music world.
SPEAKER_02 (17:22):
She was like a singer that then was in movies.
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (17:26):
It's kind of like how I like always thought of it.
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
And it's interesting because like, you know, we're
about to get to the other theother what I would say major
star.
Um he outshines everybody elsein this film.
The guy from the Warriors.
So, you know, back in the day,it I don't know, this is kind of
a rabbit hole, but like itprobably because a lot of the
very, very early actors camefrom vaudeville.
(17:51):
And in vaudeville, you had to doit all.
You had to sing, you had todance, you had to act.
SPEAKER_04 (17:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
And so a lot of these early actors, I mean, Gene
Kelly actually isn't part of theearliest round of actors, but he
comes from this um kind oflegacy of like, yeah, you do all
the things, and it's kind ofexpected of you.
Yeah.
Although he and like, you know,very rarely do you get somebody
of that caliber that he was.
I mean, him and Fred of Stairare the two that you think of
(18:19):
all the time.
Standard.
As far as like male dancers.
SPEAKER_04 (18:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:22):
But it's an interesting kind of pivot
because I feel like nowadays, ifyou like, maybe the closest that
we have to that is like someonelike Hugh Jackman.
SPEAKER_02 (18:32):
Yeah.
I think because he was just inthat um movie that I just
realized was not not about NeilDiamond.
No, it was about a guy that dida Neil Diamond like
impersonation act, right?
Yeah.
But between that and likegreatest showman.
Yeah, and he's all the dancinghe did as Wolverine.
SPEAKER_01 (18:52):
I feel like he's one of the few actors nowadays where
he is a competent actor, dancer,and singer, and he is looked at
positively for that.
Where I feel like a lot ofpeople who try to put their foot
in those different realms areusually like pick a lane.
SPEAKER_02 (19:08):
I feel like Ryan Gosling maybe got some of that
for La La Land.
SPEAKER_01 (19:12):
Probably got a little bit of that.
I feel like Jennifer Lilpez kindof gets that a little bit
because she like I don't know ifshe's looked at as like she was
like probably first andforemost, like a dancer.
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
That branched out into those other areas of
entertainment.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:28):
I just feel like people have like a weird kind of
like stay in your lane thing.
They don't want people tonecessarily be good at all the
things.
Um, so I don't know, and andwhatever.
I'm probably not being veryarticulate about it.
But Olivia Newton John, you'reabsolutely right.
Like she started out in musicand then kind of made her way
into acting.
Probably outside of this film,the biggest role that she had
(19:51):
was Grease.
She's Sandy, of Sandy and Danny.
And then she reteams with Danny,John Travolta.
From Greece for Two of a Kind.
Oh.
So they do that.
And she did, I guess she was ona TV series for a while, Snowy
River Colon the McGregor saga.
SPEAKER_02 (20:10):
That sounds very dramatic.
SPEAKER_01 (20:13):
She was in the film Sworded Lives, A Few Best Men.
I love that she was in Sharknado5.
Holy cow.
Colon Global Swarming.
Very fun.
SPEAKER_02 (20:26):
I didn't know there was a five.
I need to get caught up withthis.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
It's probably even past five at this point.
SPEAKER_02 (20:30):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
Um, and and as you mentioned, like a lot of her
credits are her music videos.
And she had some great, like,you know, if you're of a certain
generation, you definitelyremember the music video for
physical.
SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
I remember it just from the office where it's like
let's get ethical.
SPEAKER_01 (20:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (20:48):
But uh I feel like she was probably like singer,
dancer, actor.
Or singer, dancer, actor.
Like when I that that to me iswhat likes her in terms of like
talent, her like singingability, not because she wasn't
good at acting, but because shewas that good at singing.
SPEAKER_01 (21:09):
She was a phenomenal singer, she had so many hits.
I mean, yeah, she was amazing.
And even though I don't know ifI would say that she was like,
she's not a Meryl Streepcaliber, very few people are.
But she was one person is shehad a charisma.
She had a charisma about her.
Yeah.
And and so she definitely hadthat star quality.
(21:31):
To me, the most interesting,interesting thing about this
film is kind of oh, and this isjust gonna sound so awful the
way I'm putting it, but justkind of like how I look at the
three major actors in this film.
Oh, because you she's kind of inthe middle, and then let's move
on to the next person, GeneKelly, who is just top of the
(21:53):
top of the top.
SPEAKER_03 (21:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:54):
Even in his older age in this film, boy, does he
have it.
SPEAKER_02 (21:59):
He still does.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Just charm, charisma, magnetism.
I mean, he is just a movie star.
SPEAKER_02 (22:08):
And then Michael Beck is like I am physically
here and people remember me fromthe the uh Warriors.
SPEAKER_01 (22:16):
I feel like such an asshole, but it's you know, but
it was we'll get to him in asecond.
Yeah, we'll get to him.
Like it it was it was miscast.
Um anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (22:24):
It's tough.
It's tough for him to be 100%.
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
But there were options.
I mean, I d anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
But if you're just trying to get work, the option
is like, I'm gonna, yeah, I'mgonna take this job.
SPEAKER_01 (22:36):
I wish I did a deeper dive in terms of like how
it got to the point where he wascast for that role.
SPEAKER_02 (22:42):
I don't think he even auditioned.
SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
Shut up.
He didn't audition.
SPEAKER_02 (22:47):
It just they just like said, like, hey, we want
you to be this movie.
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
Gene Kelly and Olivia New John.
SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
So if someone said that to you, if they said that
to me right now, I'd be like,well, first of all, how?
But second of all, sure.
SPEAKER_01 (22:59):
So Gene Kelly, oh my goodness.
I I don't know.
I might get a little emotionalabout talking about him because
this will be the one and onlytime we get to do it.
SPEAKER_04 (23:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:08):
Um so, like he said, he plays Danny McGuire, which is
a very, I feel like 1930s, 1940suh character name from like any
movie.
SPEAKER_02 (23:16):
It is the same name as his character in Cover Girl
from 1944.
SPEAKER_01 (23:21):
That's right.
I did, I did uh remember readingthat.
So, I mean, this is interestingbecause this is 1980.
However, it was his finalfeature film.
He did other projects, he justwasn't in another movie.
Okay.
Um, but this still was 16 yearsbefore he passed away.
He didn't pass away until 1996,so he just kind of decided at
some point he wasn't gonna dofilm anymore.
(23:43):
And whew, what what an actor hewas.
It's interesting though, becauseyou look at his filmography, I
um the exact number escapes me,but he's in far fewer films that
I actually had realized, orprojects overall.
SPEAKER_02 (23:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:57):
Um was it somewhere in the 50s?
SPEAKER_02 (23:59):
47 overall.
Okay.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:01):
So, you know, but that just I think shows you what
a stamp he left on the industry.
And and he did far more, he, youknow, we're talking about
acting, singing, dancing.
He did far more than that.
He directed, he produced.
Um, yeah, he he was trulyamazing.
And I don't like to pit actorsagainst each other, even though
(24:23):
that's like what I've been doingthroughout this whole episode.
But, you know, again, he andAster are the two that you think
of as far as like male dancers.
Very different styles, very,very different styles.
Really?
Gene Kelly definitely had a waymore athletic, arguably, a more
like conventional masculine kindof energy to his work.
(24:47):
Um, Esther was much morerefined, more elegant, more
graceful in a lot of ways, butthey both were just truly
amazing.
And I love Gene Kelly.
Um, he got his, I think just oneand done.
Yeah, he had one uh best actorOscar nomination.
That was very early in hiscareers for Anchors Away.
(25:09):
And then some just huge, hugename movies that I think most
people are familiar with, evenif you maybe aren't interested
in older film.
On the Town, an American inParis, which won Best Picture.
It's fascinating to me thatSinging in the Rain didn't win
Best Picture because that's byfar of that in American in
Paris.
Love singing in the rain.
SPEAKER_02 (25:30):
And and everyone's at least heard of that.
Like, yeah.
American in people haven't seenit.
They like if you mentionedSinging in the Rain, they'd be
like, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:37):
You know, you know the song where he is literally I
mean, it's quite until dancingin the rain.
Literally singing in the rain.
SPEAKER_04 (25:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:44):
Um, probably a lot of people know the story.
It's like a very Michael Jordantype of story where it's like,
you know, everybody knows thatthat one game that Michael
Jordan played, he had like afever.
Oh, yeah.
And this was exactly that too.
Gene Kelly was quite ill when hedid that number, um, but he
knocked it out of the park.
Yeah, professional.
He was in Brigad Doom, Inherentthe Wind.
(26:06):
Um, he did do some TV work,especially later in his career.
He uh, I believe reprised therole of going my way, who was
that?
Was that Bean Crosby?
He did the TV series version ofit.
He also was in North and South,um, book one, North and South.
SPEAKER_02 (26:24):
Oh my god, those mini-series.
SPEAKER_01 (26:25):
Yeah, that mini-series, and another
miniseries called Sins.
SPEAKER_02 (26:28):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (26:29):
So even though he never won a competitive Oscar,
he did, and this is sointeresting to me because this
is so early in his career still,which shows you again just what
it what a quick impact he had onthe industry in 1952.
Um, still very much in hisprime, he got an honorary Oscar
for his contributions to theindustry.
(26:50):
So he was amazing.
Um, I know at this point I'mjust saying that over and over
again, but it cannot beoverstated.
It can't be overstated.
And if maybe you're curious, butyou don't know a lot about his
work, just take two hours towatch Singing in the Rain.
It's a phenomenal film, even ifyou don't like musicals.
(27:13):
Seeing him, seeing DebbieReynolds, um, seeing oh my
goodness, the other gentleman'sname is escaping me, Donald
O'Connor.
SPEAKER_02 (27:21):
Um especially now when like a lot of people get
their like content in a verticalshort form format, it's tough.
It's a tough sell sometimes toto get anyone to watch just like
a a modern conventional film,much less one from like decades
(27:42):
ago, where it's just you have toat least open up your mind to
the notion that these were likejust it was it was different.
It was a it's gonna lookdifferent and sound different,
um but so many of like I'mlosing my train of thought here,
(28:04):
but like all of it was likefoundational to what we get to
see now.
I don't want to take awaybecause like look, um you know,
the people who we currently calllike content creators,
especially for social media,YouTube I'll I'll say this much,
and and maybe maybe I shouldn't,but I would say that if you add
(28:27):
up almost all of them together,you will get a fraction of the
actual talent that someone likeGene Kelly had.
And if that's offensive, thenNo, I'm not gonna disagree with
you.
SPEAKER_01 (28:38):
I do think that like regardless of talent, I do think
it takes usually hard work to dowhat content creators do.
But you know, like look,entertainment's constantly
changing.
There's really no point in kindof arguing where the tide is
(29:00):
going.
Maybe it'll swing back at somepoint, but it it does make me
sad to think that there aregenerations, and I know how much
this is gonna age me to saythis, but just that that aren't
familiar with this kind of work.
Even like earlier today, uh, Iwas kind of flipping through
channels and it happened onenight came on.
(29:23):
Yeah.
So that precedes like the heavyGene Kelly era by about 20
years.
But even that, I'm like, howmany people are familiar with
this movie nowadays?
SPEAKER_02 (29:33):
You know, like I mean, I'm gonna raise that and
say we primarily actuallyexclusively talk about movies
from the 80s.
SPEAKER_01 (29:40):
True.
How many people are familiarwith the 80s?
SPEAKER_02 (29:42):
Those are like, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:43):
Yeah, people are like, oh, it's so long ago.
I mean, okay, it is 40 years agoat this point.
SPEAKER_02 (29:48):
I'm assuming someone like it's kind of like the way
that you would think about likean older, older movie is how
people nowadays might thinkabout the movies we're talking
about.
SPEAKER_01 (29:57):
It's true.
Oh man.
Yeah.
Let's move on before I get toodepressed.
Okay, Michael back.
Uh, it's so funny to me thatlike, and then again, of like
all the character names thatthey pick, Sonny Malone.
Um, Sonny Malone, this guy is anartist.
He thinks of himself as anartist.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
He sure does.
He he scrawls things down,tosses them out a window,
awakens the nine muses.
SPEAKER_01 (30:23):
It's um, I don't know what to say.
He, I mean, he's the actorMichael Back's still very much
working today, but I I thinkit's unfair to him that he was
cast in this film because it isa miscast.
It is.
It it could have gone in so manyother directions.
(30:43):
I don't know if it would havebeen a better film, but they
needed somebody with a littlebit more pizzazz and a little
bit more charisma.
SPEAKER_02 (30:52):
They almost could have picked any one of the other
artists that worked in the likethe company he worked for just
like painting large, largeversions of album covers.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
Yeah, that was that was interesting.
That was interesting.
I mean, like, I'm not sure I'mI'm not disputing the fact that
there was like a job for thatback then.
Yeah.
Um, it was an interesting plotpoint in the film that that's
what he did.
And we all know that that's whathe did because that whole
fucking scene was just filledwith exposition about when he
(31:23):
comes in to work.
And I love how he comes.
So he comes in, he's like notreally eating crow, but he
admits that like he had to comeback because he wasn't making
any money.
Yeah.
He has these like weird fuckingaggro encounters with his boss,
and then like literally fiveminutes within him coming back
to work, he sees the album coverwith Kira on it, and he's
(31:45):
fucking out the door to go findher.
Like, it's so bizarre.
This movie is just, I don'tknow.
It's not, it all makes sense.
We're talking about the musesand and Greek mythology and the
whole thing.
So it's not necessarily a moviethat should be grounded, but it
is so fly by the seat of itspants.
It is not grounded in any kindof reality whatsoever.
SPEAKER_02 (32:05):
I just want to point out that while this movie was
part of the inspiration for thefirst ever Razzies Award, it did
not win.
SPEAKER_01 (32:13):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (32:13):
Can't stop the music.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
Oh.
SPEAKER_02 (32:15):
Which was at one point a 99 cent double feature
along with Xanadu.
SPEAKER_01 (32:20):
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (32:20):
One worst picture, although Robert Greenwald did
win Worst Director for Xanadu.
SPEAKER_01 (32:26):
And it's also, I mean, maybe I'll put a pin in
this.
It's interesting that the film'seven called Xanadu.
That's another callback to um,you know, what we were talking
about in terms of like umclassic cinema and Susan Kane,
and that is the name of um thecastle Xanadu, Charles Charles
Foster Kane's uh mansion.
(32:48):
Anyway, Michael Beck's careermostly mostly mostly films, um
as mentioned.
So let's say it's a toss-up,would you say, between this and
the Warriors, as far as likewhat people know him for?
SPEAKER_02 (33:03):
No.
SPEAKER_01 (33:04):
I'm gonna say solidly the Warriors.
SPEAKER_02 (33:06):
I think so.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
Okay.
I think, yeah.
You know that film much betterthan I do.
SPEAKER_02 (33:11):
And I think I think he was not poorly cast for that
film.
I think that worked.
Like I think that that yeah.
But it was like they literallyjust took that character from
the Warriors and gave him like anew set of clothes.
SPEAKER_03 (33:25):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (33:25):
And now he's running a club in Venice or something.
SPEAKER_03 (33:28):
I just yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:29):
So like I even in Xanadu, I remember him more from
the Warriors.
SPEAKER_01 (33:34):
So it it just is such it is really putting around
Peg in a square hole.
Like, I it anyway, I feel bad.
It's not it's not his fault.
SPEAKER_02 (33:46):
Uh look but I mean his performance he maybe he was
miscast, maybe she he was, butthat movie did not like it
wasn't gonna like live or die onlike his shoulders.
SPEAKER_01 (33:59):
I no, I agree with you completely.
I mean, it is wispy at best interms of like a real story, and
I don't know if they even wouldlike the filmmakers would even
argue against that.
SPEAKER_02 (34:12):
I mean, they might probably wanted him to stay out
of the way, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:15):
Probably pretty plainly say, like, hey, this is
a musical, we just want toshowcase these awesome dancers,
which they do, yeah.
Um, and some of these like greattunes that we have, and they do
that as well.
But back, so outside of thewarriors.
SPEAKER_02 (34:28):
Did he sing in the like the animated one?
SPEAKER_01 (34:30):
Like the yes, yeah, and then he like when he's
roller skating, so much rollerskating in this film.
Um he's singing, yeah, Ibelieve.
So Mega Force, the Golden Seal.
Uh, he didn't I bring this upearlier.
He was on the TV series HoustonKnights.
He was there.
Oh, yeah, you did.
Yeah, that's funny.
(34:50):
Uh, the Jungle Book, Cullen'sSearch for the Lost Treasure,
The Grace of Jake, and he's donejust a lot of TV movies outside
of all that.
Okay.
Okay, so we're gonna probablyfly through these next couple
people because really the filmis those three.
SPEAKER_02 (35:05):
Yeah, I don't even know who else you're gonna bring
up.
SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
I well, the first person I'm gonna bring up is the
like real persnickety.
Oh, the boss boss.
Okay.
Yeah.
Um, Simpson is his name.
And familiar face.
Yes.
Um, definitely familiar face,James Slo Slowyan.
SPEAKER_03 (35:22):
Sure.
SPEAKER_01 (35:23):
And he's, I mean, he's been in a ton of stuff.
I have more TV for him thanfilm.
Um, but one film I love thename, The Gang That Couldn't
Shoot Straight.
I think that's come up before.
SPEAKER_02 (35:36):
It it has, for sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:37):
Some people might familiar uh recognize him from
The Sting.
He has a bit part in that film.
SPEAKER_02 (35:44):
I do not, but that's that's uh cool credit.
SPEAKER_01 (35:47):
Yeah, he's in that.
And then the TV series that Ihave for him, West Side Medical,
oh Madeline, Murder She Wrote.
And I think it's one of thosedeals where he's he was on that
show multiple times as differentcharacters, if I remember
correctly.
Party of five, and then beyondthe series where he had kind of
a little bit of a longer stint,just again, a lot of TV
appearances.
SPEAKER_02 (36:07):
A ton of one-offs, including two episodes of Buck
Rogers in the 25th century,which I think they're remaking.
SPEAKER_01 (36:13):
Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (36:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (36:15):
So the three other people that we're gonna bring up
really quickly are three of hislike, I guess you would say
coworkers, but he doesn't reallywork there because he just kind
of comes in and comes out, and Imean, there is that one little
stint where he comes in and he'sdoing too good of a job and he's
taking too long.
Uh anyway, but Demetra.
SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
We didn't think we'd see you here again.
Yeah.
Well, you know, I need to getbread on the table.
Oh, are you saying that youtried to make it into artist and
then couldn't make enough moneyfor rent?
Yep.
That's it.
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:48):
Well done.
So the first person I'm gonnabring up, and I remember as soon
as the film started, I was like,I know that face.
Demetra Arles.
So she plays Helen, she passedin 2012.
The reason why I know her isbecause she's also in the sting.
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, she's like the um.
SPEAKER_01 (37:12):
Yeah, and okay, it's been a minute since I've watched
the film, but isn't she the loveinterest kind of?
SPEAKER_02 (37:19):
For Robert Rudding.
Yeah, yeah.
So I think so, and I think hejust like shows up at her place.
SPEAKER_01 (37:28):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
And she's like, What are you what are you doing here?
And like this is so weird, but Ithink that interaction was the
inspiration for Bob Seeger for aBob Seeger song.
SPEAKER_01 (37:42):
That's a random random poll.
Okay.
Uh she has, like I mentioned, Ithink I mentioned she passed in
2012.
But as far as her credits go,um, I have a couple TV, couple
films.
So she was in a TV series calledRich Man Poor Man Book Two.
SPEAKER_02 (37:59):
Book Two.
SPEAKER_01 (38:00):
We brought this up before.
She was on the show MaryHartman, Mary Hartman.
SPEAKER_02 (38:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:05):
Some films, A Perfect Couple, It's My Party,
and then her final credit was afilm called Lost of the Child.
SPEAKER_02 (38:10):
And then a film that we might cover 1982's Firefox.
SPEAKER_01 (38:16):
Oh, I'm sorry I didn't put that down.
That's okay.
Thank you for adding that.
Okay, so another one of Sonny'sco-workers.
Um, I should have flipped thesebecause she has probably the
least amount of lines.
But Sandra, played by KatieHanley.
So she's between these two womenthat I bring up, uh, sorry to to
state it this way, but she's theyounger, she's the younger of
the two women.
(38:37):
The other woman, she's a littlebit older, she has darker hair
as well.
But this actress, so a couple,she has four total acting
credits.
Uh so non-extensive filmography.
She was in the film Godspell,and then two TV series.
She was in a show called The TheChisholms.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_03 (38:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:56):
And Charlie's Angels.
SPEAKER_03 (38:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:58):
Okay, so lastly, and this is that faux conversation
that you were having withyourself earlier, just like a
minute ago.
It was between Sonny and thischaracter, Richie, played by
Fred McCarron.
He has passed.
He passed in 2006, and heprobably has the most lines of
anybody, to be quite honest.
SPEAKER_02 (39:17):
And he kind of He's just there to move things along.
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
Yeah, he's there to move the get the exposition out.
SPEAKER_02 (39:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:24):
He's not in any way a foil to Sonny, but he kind of
razzes him a little bit everytime he comes in.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
A little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (39:31):
A little bit.
SPEAKER_02 (39:32):
This guy.
SPEAKER_01 (39:33):
Yeah, exactly.
It's that kind of thing.
And as far as his credits go,little bit of film, a little bit
of TV.
I have a film called TheBoogans.
SPEAKER_03 (39:42):
Oh.
SPEAKER_01 (39:42):
Class Reunion.
SPEAKER_03 (39:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:44):
The American Snitch.
A TV series called Amandas.
Another TV series called TheShell Game.
Film called The Boost.
And then I think he was just aone and then on this, but his
final credit was on The GoldenGirls.
Nice.
Yeah.
Film synopsis.
SPEAKER_02 (40:01):
What is there is there a film synopsis?
Okay, let's see let's see whatit is.
SPEAKER_01 (40:06):
A struggling artist living in Los Angeles meets a
girl who may hold the key to hishappiness.
SPEAKER_02 (40:13):
That could be the synopsis to a movie that I would
have enjoyed more than what Iwatched.
SPEAKER_01 (40:20):
Yeah, I mean, okay.
You know what?
The most truthful thing I willsay about this film is the
depiction of somebody who comesto this town.
We live in Los Angeles, and nota lot has changed in the 46
years since this film came outin terms of and I'm not- I'm
(40:42):
really not trying to bedemeaning about this, but people
come out here because they havea dream and they want to act or
they want to sing or they wantto whatever.
And I think that a lot of peopleunderestimate how hard it is to
I'm not even talking about likethe level of Gene Kelly and
(41:05):
Olivia Newton John type status.
I'm just talking about puttinglike like this.
SPEAKER_02 (41:09):
They just want to be Sonny Malone.
SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
Like Sonny saying, I need bread.
I need to make rent.
I think people underestimate howchallenging, and I mean,
unfortunately, it's only gottenharder, in my my humble opinion,
um, to be able to do that outhere.
And and I think that is the mosttruthful thing about this film
is depicting somebody who hadthe depiction of the starving
(41:32):
artist is the most truthfulthing.
Yeah.
I think so.
I think so.
And just, you know, kind of thisattitude that he seems to have
of like, well, I'm talented, soI should be successful, you
know, and realizing uh that'sdoesn't always work out that
way.
SPEAKER_02 (41:50):
So success for him, it turns out it wasn't it wasn't
going to be found in the form ofsuccessful art.
It was having a businesspartnership where you bring
literally no assets intoanything.
SPEAKER_01 (42:01):
Literally fucking nothing to the table.
That's the other thing aboutthis film where it's like, what?
SPEAKER_02 (42:06):
Like when Danny, when Gene Kelly's character is
like, I want you to be mypartner, I'm like, what Why?
SPEAKER_01 (42:13):
Why?
Why would you?
And you know, Danny Danny, thisis a significant investment,
sir.
Yeah.
I mean, he's putting like lifesavings into this thing.
And the thing is, is that I waslike, what the fuck is Xanando?
It's just a space where peoplego roller skate.
Like I couldn't, I could notfigure out.
And then the whole fucking last20 minutes of the film is just
(42:33):
Olivia Newton John coming out indifferent outfits and singing
different songs.
SPEAKER_02 (42:37):
Like it is They gave up.
SPEAKER_01 (42:39):
They just totally gave up on the film.
Yeah.
It's I I could not figure outwhat Xanadu was really like a
third space, like just agathering place for people.
Like I just a nightclub.
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (42:53):
With bands and music.
SPEAKER_01 (42:55):
Okay, fair stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (42:56):
I don't know.
Um maybe they had like chickensandwiches or something, or like
they served fine dining.
SPEAKER_01 (43:02):
No, that's that's fair.
I just um I don't know.
It's really that part of thefilm is no different than really
any other part of the film interms of just being really light
on like significant, like layingdown a story.
SPEAKER_02 (43:16):
But there is for sure like an idea here with like
a struggling artist who receivesthis divine inspiration from the
muses, and there's like a loveinterest, and Zeus gets in like
there's a Zeus gets involved.
There's like a story there.
It just it it like theyobviously were like, we don't
(43:37):
really care about any of that.
We just need a reason to getfrom like one musical number to
the next.
SPEAKER_01 (43:42):
It definitely was a vehicle for Olivia Newton-John
to do her thing.
Yeah.
Um, and she does do her thing.
Like she's she again, like wesaid earlier, she's a fantastic
singer.
She definitely is a greatperformer.
She has the charisma to likethat conveys to me, at least, on
(44:02):
film.
Um, you know, you mentioned it,we so for the first time ever, I
think, for reasons you and I hadto watch this separately before
we we recorded this.
SPEAKER_02 (44:13):
Yeah, so then we got to uh basically say, like, so
what did you think?
SPEAKER_01 (44:19):
Yeah, yeah.
And um, and you mentionedsomething about like how
something you did really enjoywas that sequence where they
cross over between like big bandmusic.
It went on way too long.
SPEAKER_02 (44:32):
It did.
SPEAKER_01 (44:32):
Like, and the all of those sequences went on way too
long.
SPEAKER_02 (44:35):
The big band sequence was honestly like it
felt like it fit that era ofmusic that I was going for, and
then what was supposed to be the80s version or like that, I
don't know, new wave whateverwhatever it was, was pretty bad,
honestly.
And when they like mergedtogether, I was like, oh, that
was cool.
(44:55):
It just took like way too longfor them to get to it.
Like it was just they they gavethree times as much time to that
whole thing, and yet I didn'tget to hear all of magic.
SPEAKER_01 (45:07):
Correct.
Yeah, and it's interesting, andI really enjoy seeing dan the
dancers do their thing.
They they had greatchoreography.
I believe Danny Ortega, who's uhlike a celebrated cinema um
cinematographer, uhchoreographer, he I believe was
involved with the film, sopretty early in his career.
(45:29):
But like really cool to watch inthat regard, but I'm like, come
on, let's like, let's get backto the movie.
Like, like let's get back to thestory.
Like, I don't I don't need likea 15-minute sequence.
SPEAKER_02 (45:42):
It feels more like something I would see at like a
planetarium up in like just uhlike visual audio experience,
but it didn't feel like like aproper like movie with a story.
SPEAKER_01 (45:54):
And and and again, like you know what?
Maybe the people who were partof this don't care, but it it
was a very unbalanced filmbecause it was so light on
story, so heavy on these musicalnumbers.
Even for a musical, it feltpretty uneven.
(46:15):
Like, we've covered musicals,and we've covered some like
great musicals where there'sthese like amazing, like okay,
maybe people wouldn't say it'sgreat, but like uh the the one
that's coming to mind right nowis Annie.
SPEAKER_03 (46:26):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (46:27):
You know, so we covered that last year.
SPEAKER_02 (46:29):
But that that like knew exactly what it was.
SPEAKER_01 (46:32):
Exactly.
Yeah, and it had a real story.
Yes, it had a real story withreal stakes, still a musical,
still kind of heightenedreality, but it it at least
worked for me.
SPEAKER_02 (46:46):
I think like having Gene Kelly in this obviously
helped from like the pro like,wow, you got Gene Kelly in this.
But it almost raisedexpectations because if if I'm
seeing Gene Kelly in it, I'mkind of expecting at least some
other parts of the movie to riseup to that level.
SPEAKER_01 (47:05):
And again, it's kind of interesting.
I mean, maybe not exactly thesame thing, but it just makes me
think of other films where it'sjust it was kind of a
fascinating thing that they didin like the 70s and early 80s
where they would take, you know,somebody, you know, like for
instance, like Gregory Peck andThe Omen.
A great film.
So, like, you know, like I'm I'mnot making a one-to-one
(47:27):
comparison here, but just likewhere you take somebody who is
like incredibly celebrated forthe role that they've played in
the industry, and then you popthem into this movie.
Um, I mean, they did the samething in a number of different
genres and of films of differentcalibers, like obviously Alec
Guinness and Star Wars.
He loved that movie.
(47:48):
So you it meaning like, and Imean Olivia New John, not an
unknown, but just like it, it'skind of an interesting thing
that they did um with a lot ofolder actors at that time.
Anyway, I guess it's neitherhere nor there.
But but I think you'reabsolutely right.
I think like just having GeneKelly as part of the film yeah,
(48:08):
would raise expectations.
And if I'm being really honest,like he's my favorite part of
the movie because he just hasthis, you know, kind of charisma
about him that did not, for meat least, dissipate with age.
And so every time he's onscreen, he just brings it like
effortlessly.
Yeah.
And and it just, I don't know,it just then it and then I guess
(48:31):
it just kind of makes me alittle sad because again, like I
keep talking about how MichaelBeck was so woefully miscast,
it's like, oh, what could havethis film been?
Still probably not a great filmif they weren't gonna change
anything about the script.
Yeah, the script was was likebut just to have somebody who
brought it a little bit more,you know, um, because it is his
(48:51):
story.
SPEAKER_02 (48:52):
Even if they had just had like some fucking
voiceover narration, kind oflike connecting some of the dots
to make it connect a little bitbetter.
SPEAKER_01 (49:00):
But you know, it's the the dance sequences, the
singing sequences, they're fun.
They go on too long.
Love the costume design.
Costume design's fantastic inthis film, and that's about it.
SPEAKER_02 (49:12):
Yeah, the costumes have pizzazz.
SPEAKER_01 (49:14):
The costumes have pizzazz.
So I I am really glad that Ifinally got to see this movie.
SPEAKER_02 (49:20):
I've seen the the crazy poster of Olivia Newton
John and her absolutelyblown-out hair.
SPEAKER_01 (49:26):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (49:27):
So many times that I'm like, I never thought I
would actually see it, but Idid.
SPEAKER_01 (49:32):
And you know what?
For the people who love thisfilm for any reason, great.
Wonderful.
Keep loving the movie.
SPEAKER_02 (49:39):
Um You almost sound like I'm not trying to be
dismissive at all.
SPEAKER_01 (49:42):
I promise.
SPEAKER_02 (49:43):
Glad you like this piece of shit.
SPEAKER_01 (49:45):
No, I there are plenty of movies that I adore
that other people are like, ugh,it's trash.
Yeah.
So, and that's that's what'sgoing on.
SPEAKER_02 (49:52):
Just don't tell me, just don't tell me that you like
it for the uh for the greatwriting.
I get it.
Yeah, exactly.
You like it's just like for thefun, music.
SPEAKER_01 (49:59):
Love it for whatever reason you want to love it, but
just be truthful about it.
Totally get that.
Yeah.
Don't don't try to convince methat it's a great, great story.
Uh yeah, and so okay, so likeprobably leads to the next yeah,
probably the next question aboutwatching it again.
I don't need to see it again,even if it were on TV.
SPEAKER_03 (50:19):
Which it's not.
SPEAKER_01 (50:20):
It never is.
Um, maybe if I caught like ascene that had Gene Kelly in it,
I'd keep it on.
SPEAKER_03 (50:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:27):
But um otherwise, like again, I'm really glad I
finally saw it in full, and I'mI'm good.
I'm okay to move on.
SPEAKER_02 (50:35):
I might watch The Warriors again.
SPEAKER_01 (50:37):
Sure, you do kind of like that movie, too.
SPEAKER_02 (50:38):
Yeah, it's a fun movie, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:40):
Uh so like call to action.
I mean, I gosh, I haven't beentoo granular with these lately,
but because of just, you know,the experience washing over me
of seeing this film for thefirst time, I'm really curious
what other people think aboutthis movie.
I mean, we already, because Iwas, you know, teasing that this
was going to be the next episodeto drop, did get a couple
(51:00):
comments online.
Oh, really?
Okay.
Yeah, about like somebody whatdid somebody write?
It's the best, worst, bestmovie.
Which I thought that's a perfectway of putting it.
SPEAKER_02 (51:10):
Best, worst, best movie.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (51:12):
Yeah.
Um, so it's clear that there'slike a lot of love for this
movie, but I do think peoplefully acknowledge its its
shortcomings.
SPEAKER_02 (51:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know if I caught yourcall to action.
What was the the qu was Oh, Idon't know if I really finished
it.
SPEAKER_01 (51:26):
I'm just kind of curious what people think about
it.
Do you love it?
Have you seen it?
What do you think about it?
SPEAKER_02 (51:31):
I I I can't top that because I can't like when I when
I try to think of like what if Iwas really gonna Okay, who would
you cast for Sunny?
SPEAKER_01 (51:40):
That's what thank you.
I was actually just gonna say,if I was really gonna go for it
with these questions, yeah, whowho could have been Sunny?
Who could have been Sonny?
Talking 1980.
I mean, even like a reallyyoung, like Dennis Quaid.
I don't know.
I guess you do have to findsomebody who has some singing
and dancing ability, and I don'tI don't really know.
Um, you know, I know you can'tdo John Travolta again.
SPEAKER_02 (52:03):
Um He turned it down because he was doing Urban
Cowboy.
SPEAKER_01 (52:08):
Oh, that's right.
I did read that.
Yeah.
Although that would have beenfun.
They really they were a greatpairing together.
Um, you know who actually uh andlooks very much like Michael
Back?
Um fucking Kanicki from Greece.
He would have been even a littlebit of a better fit if they
wanted somebody with that look.
SPEAKER_03 (52:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (52:26):
Um, he could have been in it.
SPEAKER_02 (52:28):
Um that's the most interesting thing to me is I'm
like, oh, this guy that Irecognize from the warriors is
how?
How?
How did that happen?
SPEAKER_01 (52:37):
Right?
SPEAKER_02 (52:37):
Why?
SPEAKER_01 (52:38):
Why it's such an interesting decision to have
him.
So if you want to get in touchwith us, we would love to hear
from you.
You can reach out on Facebook,Instagram, or Blue Sky.
It's the same handle at allthree.
It is at 80smontagepod and 80sis 80S.
Sneak peek.
What do we got?
I'm trying to think of a clue.
Um I will try to think of ananswer.
(53:00):
I am not gonna sing this songthat I believe is I haven't seen
this film in total, but like Iremember there's like a really
uh, I don't know if I'd sayfamous, but like of like when a
kid is, I think, running aroundbases at a like Oh, we're
watching Parenthood.
Yeah, okay, so you know what I'mtalking about.
SPEAKER_02 (53:18):
Yes, and and the song is famously diarrhea.
It's the diarrhea.
Yeah.
Okay, cool.
Yeah, with uh Steve Martin, KinaReeves.
SPEAKER_01 (53:30):
Man, like the cast is nuts.
Yeah, this is gonna be anotherridiculous list of like because
what was the one that we justdid that had like the crazy
ensemble?
Oh, um, Christmas Vacation.
Yeah.
This might rival that.
We have a ton of fucking actorsin this movie.
Um, yeah, Steve Martin, uh, MarySteen Burgeon, Diane Weist, um,
(53:53):
Tom Hulse, uh Rick Moranis?
Rick Moranis.
Um, yes, you said Keanu Reeves,Joaquin Phoenix.
Oh yeah.
Um, oh my gosh, I can't believeI'm playing.
SPEAKER_02 (54:06):
Did you say the guy from Amadeus?
SPEAKER_01 (54:08):
Yes, Tom Holtz.
Okay.
Um and um from from Goonies.
Oh, Martha Plumpton.
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There are a lot of people inthis movie.
So buckle up.
Uh yeah, I'm excited to.
I feel like maybe I I I don'thave a recollection of seeing
this movie in full, but becauseof those types of memories, like
(54:29):
the diarrhea song, I feel likeat some point I must have
watched it, but I don't I don'treally recall anything about it.
Oh, and um, oh my gosh, the dad,the like patriarch.
Robards, yes.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh, so many people we'regonna cover.
Yeah.
So that's next on tap.
And in the meantime, thank youto everybody for making the
(54:50):
choice to spend some time withus and listen along.
We really appreciate it.
And we will talk to you again intwo weeks' time.
Here it I want you to promise me one thing.
Any on opening night, I get thefirst dance.
You're gonna dance.
Oh, I've been known to twinkle atoe or two.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
Listen, if you're gonna dance, you have to wear
something uh uh that looksspecial.
SPEAKER_05 (00:24):
You need some uh glitz.
Glitz?
Something sharp looking.
SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
You know, something with a bit of pizzazz to it.
SPEAKER_02 (00:32):
Hello and welcome to 80s movie montage.
This is Derek.
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
And this is Anna.
SPEAKER_02 (00:36):
And that was Olivia Newton-John as Kira, Gene Kelly
as Danny McGuire, and MichaelBeck as Sonny Malone in 1980's
Xanadu.
SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
Xanadu.
SPEAKER_02 (00:48):
Wow.
And and yes, Gene Kelly, youhave been known to twinkle a toe
or two.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
I know.
I loved that little wink too.
SPEAKER_02 (00:57):
It was, you know, it was tough because like I I
couldn't resist that.
I was very tempted to have theconversation between Sonny and
Zeus.
SPEAKER_01 (01:07):
Oh, sure.
SPEAKER_02 (01:08):
But I was afraid that people would think that's
not even a real movie.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
It I mean, what kind of movie this is, I'm not sure I
know, but it was uh I know whatit is.
SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
It was in part the inspiration for the first ever
Razzie Awards.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Oh, that's right.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
So that's that's what uh that's what kind of
movie this is.
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
I mean, I know that this film very much has a cult
following and is much beloved bycertain audiences, and I am not
here to dispute that.
But it was it was a wild prideto watch this movie in full.
It was the first time I had seenit in full.
SPEAKER_02 (01:50):
And the best thing that comes out of this movie for
me is the song Magic.
SPEAKER_01 (01:56):
Yeah, which was literally the one song that they
didn't allow Olivia Newton Johnto sing in full.
SPEAKER_02 (02:01):
Yeah, you get you get it a couple times, but
neither time.
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
No, you get like a couple bars, and that was so
infuriating because I actuallylove that song.
Yeah, and it's by far, in myhumble opinion, the strongest
song of any of these.
SPEAKER_02 (02:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
So not to say that there aren't other great tunes,
but that went on to be a numberone.
Yeah, it's a great song.
Anyway, all right.
So Xanadu 1980.
And uh yeah, let's dive in.
So as far as the writing creditsgo, we have two why are you
laughing already?
SPEAKER_03 (02:35):
I didn't know there were.
SPEAKER_01 (02:36):
Oh wow.
Uh throwing some shade.
SPEAKER_02 (02:41):
Uh I thought we were just gonna spend three hours
going through all the Xanadudancer credits.
SPEAKER_01 (02:45):
It's it's not a it's not a totally unfounded dig.
Um and you'll see that like forthe first guy I'm gonna bring up
Richard Christian Danis is howI'm gonna say his last name.
SPEAKER_02 (02:56):
I respect that you just don't want to say De Anis.
SPEAKER_01 (03:01):
First writing credit.
SPEAKER_02 (03:02):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
For for this gentleman.
Uh four writing credits total.
So this is one of the four.
The other ones that I have.
Uh all TV.
So he wrote on a show, and Imean, I guess one of them I'm
familiar with.
Uh he wrote on a show calledMatt Houston.
SPEAKER_03 (03:20):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
That's not one I'm familiar with.
He wrote on a show called CrimeStory and O'Hara.
SPEAKER_03 (03:26):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
So that's that's uh that's Richard.
All right.
Okay, so moving on, we have bothwriters with like three names.
Mark Reed Rubel.
SPEAKER_03 (03:36):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
So we have him also credited as a screen runner,
screenwriter on this.
He has eight total writingcredits.
Nice.
So neither of these gentlemenhave extensive filmographies.
It's possible that they pivotedtheir creative pursuits into
other places that wouldn't benoted on IMDb.
(03:57):
But there's there's one actuallyreally interesting credit that
this guy has.
So a couple of them that I wrotedown, uh a few films, Alm Almost
Summer, Big Business.
I'm pretty sure that's the onewith Bet Midler?
SPEAKER_03 (04:09):
Yes.
Okay.
And uh Shelly.
SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
No, no, no.
You're thinking uh wait, maybeyou're right.
Shelly's because uh what's theone that she did with Lily
Tomlin?
SPEAKER_02 (04:19):
Um It's either Shelly.
SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
That was it.
SPEAKER_02 (04:22):
That was it.
Oh, it was it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
Okay, okay.
But I think you're right, shedid do a movie with um Shelly
Long, pretty sure.
So anyway.
And he also did some TV movies,some TV shows.
But the one the one notable onethat I was like, huh,
interesting.
So the reason why it firstcaught my eye is because he did
a TV movie called Prince of BelAir.
SPEAKER_03 (04:43):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (04:44):
And then I was like, what's this about?
It stars Mark Harmon and KirstyAlley.
SPEAKER_02 (04:51):
It has nothing to do with Will Smith or Summer
School.
unknown (04:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Because they reteam.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:58):
It's so funny.
The just okay.
SPEAKER_02 (05:01):
Nobody let Will Smith know about this because
he's liable to slap someone.
SPEAKER_01 (05:05):
Keep Prince of Bel Air out of your mouth.
Yeah.
Anyway.
So there we go.
Those are the writing creditsfor Xanadu.
And moving on.
SPEAKER_02 (05:17):
You know how like a lot of times we're like, oh my
god, this person has like acouple hundred credits.
We've gone over a few, so we'regonna cross-reference.
Not this time.
SPEAKER_01 (05:26):
Not this time.
Well, it's possible that Markwill, you know, at some point in
the future, we might do bigbusiness.
We might so he might come upagain.
But otherwise, I think that willbe the only time we speak of
these gentlemen.
Okay, so moving on to thedirector, Robert Greenwald.
So this was his feature filmdirectorial debut.
(05:49):
And I think he has a reallyinteresting, especially in the
last couple of years, veryinteresting pivot in terms of
where his career has gone.
SPEAKER_04 (05:58):
Oh.
SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
So earlier on, I mean, obviously, this is like a
narrative feature.
Um, another one that I think wasearlier in his career, Hear No
Evil.
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
But Wait, Here No Evil.
The one with um Richard Pryor.
No, I'm thinking of his own.
SPEAKER_01 (06:16):
You're thinking, I know what you're thinking of,
though.
SPEAKER_02 (06:18):
And Richard, no, um Gene Wilder.
And Richard Pryor.
SPEAKER_01 (06:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, they did a couple filmstogether.
But here's what's interestingabout his career is that as of
late, he's gone hard into moreum I guess.
Political documentary.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
Document uh documentaries.
SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Documentaries, yes.
Yes, thank you, thank you forthat.
So some of his credits includeOut Foxed, Rupert Murdoch's War
on Journalism, Iraq for Sale,The W War Profiteers, Donald
Trump's Crime Wave, DonaldTrump, or I'm sorry, Trump's War
on Women, Donald Trump a racistwith racist policies.
SPEAKER_02 (06:55):
Yeah, I gotta give credit to whoever's titling
these because they're doing abang-up job.
SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
And Robert, you go, you go, Robert.
Keep it like I said, we're happyto the good fight.
SPEAKER_02 (07:05):
We're happy to talk about Zadadu, one of the best
movies ever made.
Yeah.
By one of the best directors.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
Keep going with it, Robert.
And then he's also, again,earlier in his career, because
he has pivoted pretty solelyinto, like you said, that
political documentary sphere.
But he did a lot of TV moviestoo earlier in his career.
So okay.
Familiar name.
Victor J.
Kemper.
SPEAKER_03 (07:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
We've brought him up several times.
SPEAKER_03 (07:31):
Really?
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
Yes, we have.
SPEAKER_03 (07:33):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Um, and not even that long ago, he passed away in
2023.
But what a filmography he had.
And because it's been a minute,we'll go over some of these
credits.
Um, I have exclusively films forhim.
So, well, one was probablystraight to video, but we'll
we'll make it count.
(07:54):
So and it's fun because since hehas come up a couple times, some
of these credits, even though wehave never covered these films
because I don't think they're80s films, but we've brought
them up enough on his account,they might be giants, as well as
who is Harry Kellerman and whyis he saying those terrible
things about me?
Okay.
Always love when those filmscome back.
SPEAKER_02 (08:14):
Yeah, I mean, I I'm not even gonna say it, but I
love it.
SPEAKER_01 (08:18):
I love it.
SPEAKER_02 (08:19):
I love the might be they might be giants reference.
SPEAKER_01 (08:21):
Uh so he also shot The Candidate, Dog Day
Afternoon, The Last Tycoon, SlapShot.
Too bad that's not an 80s film.
SPEAKER_02 (08:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
Oh God, The Jerk.
SPEAKER_02 (08:33):
Too bad that's not an 80s film as well.
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
The jerk.
What is it?
Right under 789, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (08:38):
Yep.
So Well you might do some somemore of the movies that he
worked on, like the finalcountdown.
SPEAKER_01 (08:44):
Oh, for sure.
Oh, I don't know how that one.
But um, the ones that so the thecouple times that he's been
brought up, we brought him upfor Mr.
Mom.
SPEAKER_03 (08:51):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (08:52):
Go check out that episode.
Probably most recently.
No, no, no, no.
Yes.
That we almost did, I think wedid him almost back to back last
year.
Uh, we brought him up forNational Lampoons Vacation.
SPEAKER_03 (09:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:04):
And then we also brought him up last season for
Cloak and Dagger.
SPEAKER_03 (09:07):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
And those were in very quick succession.
I don't know if they wereactually back to back.
They might have been, to bequite honest.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
Call to action.
SPEAKER_01 (09:13):
Call to action.
When did we do those films?
Uh we he will certainly come upagain because at some point we
will do Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
SPEAKER_03 (09:20):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
And probably the first time we brought him up was
for the movie Clue.
SPEAKER_03 (09:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:27):
So definitely check that.
That one was so fun with Andy.
She loves that movie so much.
It was it was really fun talkingto her about that.
He also shot Beethoven, TommyBoy, a film that we have ragged
on quite a bit, even though it'snot even an 80s film, Jingle All
the Way.
SPEAKER_02 (09:41):
He also did that movie that I misplaced for the
um one of the writers, I think.
See no evil, hear no evil.
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
Oh, good job.
SPEAKER_02 (09:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:50):
Well, thank you for bringing up these titles.
SPEAKER_02 (09:52):
Uh director of photography on that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:53):
Yeah.
No, thank you for bringing thatup.
And then his final credit, Imentioned straight to video,
bring it on, all or nothing.
SPEAKER_02 (10:01):
Okay.
How many of those were theremade?
I feel like there was like awhole Bring It On franchise.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
I think it is one of those where like the first film,
obviously huge with KirstenDunce.
I think after that, though, Iwant to say they were probably
all straight to video.
But there's probably more thanone.
SPEAKER_02 (10:17):
It just like found tapped into this like hidden
market of people that lovewatching cheerleaders fight.
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
I guess so.
And it didn't star any of the,to my knowledge, any of the
people that were in theoriginal, but all right.
Which okay, in a way, it makessense because they're high
schoolers, so it's like theywould they would cycle out.
SPEAKER_02 (10:35):
Tell that to the duffers.
SPEAKER_01 (10:38):
I knew I knew like I knew you were gonna say that.
Like even as I'm what a setup.
All right, moving on to music.
Uh the first time, but not thelast time.
I I feel pretty confident sayingthat, that we will bring up
Barry Devorzen.
He is still with us, 91 yearsold.
(10:59):
Uh probably retired at thispoint.
Uh, so he is an Oscar nominatedcomposer earlier in his career.
He scored, I don't, I don't knowthis movie, Bless the Beasts and
Children.
Don't know it.
But he got a best music originalsong Oscar nomination for it.
(11:19):
He scored Dillinger.
Here's nice little connectionhere to one of the actors.
He scored the Warriors.
SPEAKER_02 (11:26):
Nice.
Yeah, that's uh that's the leadin this movie, right?
We'll call him the lead.
The guy.
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
We'll call him the guy, the artist.
We'll get we'll get I'm beingmean, but okay.
So he also scored on some TVshows.
He scored for the TV seriesversion of Private Benjamin.
He did Simon and Simon.
That's a pretty well-known one.
SPEAKER_02 (11:47):
Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
The reason why I said that we will almost
certainly bring him up again isbecause maybe even this season,
I really, really want to coverNight of the Creeps for our
Halloween series.
SPEAKER_02 (11:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
And he scored that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
Too bad that the uh other horror movie is a decade
too like Go for it.
The Exorcist Part Three, whichshould have been The Exorcist
Part Two.
SPEAKER_01 (12:08):
And then it sounds like, and I feel like we have
brought this up before, eventhough not an 80s film, but
somehow when The Exorcist IIIcame up, there is like a
different version of it thatthey call the Exorcist III Colon
Legion.
SPEAKER_02 (12:20):
That's interesting because that was the title of
the book.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (12:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
So my guess is that it's like, is it kind of like
Superman 2, the Donner Cut orsomething like that?
SPEAKER_02 (12:29):
This is literally the first I've heard of it, so
I'm gonna track it down afterthis.
We've talked about it.
I really like that movie andalso have a bad memory.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
Okay.
So moving on to film editing,Dennis Verkler.
So he also has passed.
He passed away in 2022.
He had a great career.
And hmm, yeah, possibly.
We'll bring him up again at somepoint.
He was an Oscar-nominatededitor, and I have exclusively
(13:00):
filmed for him.
SPEAKER_03 (13:01):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
So really early in his career, he cut the bad news
Bears Go to Japan.
SPEAKER_02 (13:07):
That was that the sequel?
Yes.
To the just the Bad News Bears.
SPEAKER_01 (13:11):
I don't know if it's the first sequel.
I don't know how many sequelsthat particular franchise had.
SPEAKER_02 (13:15):
They the bad news bears got into like the bad news
bears versus Frankenstein kindof territory where it just got.
I don't think it really did, butthere were like old like kind of
crazy.
Old c like Laurel and Hardywould have like weird shit like
that, where like them versus thewolfman.
SPEAKER_01 (13:30):
Are you thinking Abbott Costello?
SPEAKER_02 (13:32):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
There you go.
Fuck a call out.
SPEAKER_02 (13:36):
I feel like I may have said something about my
memory, but I can't.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
So he also cut Airplane 2 Colon the sequel.
He did so.
There was a 1983 film calledIndependence Day.
He cut that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:49):
Probably nothing like the uh the other one.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
Gorky Park.
Uh this one also is a littleless well known, but there was a
1989 movie called The Favorite.
The reason why I brought that upis because I really do like the
one with Olivia Coleman and EmmaStone.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So he got his first film editingOscar nomination for The Hunt
for Red October.
SPEAKER_02 (14:11):
Probably that scene where they're like chomping away
at food and the and the languagetranslates or just kind of like
moves from Russian to English,but really Scottish because it
was Sean Connery.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
That makes me think so much of the 13th Warrior.
Yeah.
Where he They're all taught.
SPEAKER_02 (14:26):
Like I just learned.
SPEAKER_01 (14:27):
He's like, I just I will never forget.
I was in the theater.
I saw that movie in the theater.
I saw every movie in the theaterbefore like 2000.
And I remember fucking AntonioBanderas sitting at a campfire.
Yep.
And literally over the course ofone night, he like learns their
language.
It is so ridiculous, but that'swhat that makes me think of.
(14:47):
Uh he did so he kind of had likea niche for a while.
Under Siege, he got anotherediting Oscar nomination for the
fugitive.
Nice.
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
The one-armed man.
SPEAKER_01 (14:56):
He this is kind of an interesting duo.
He cut both Batman Forever andBatman and Robin.
He did The Devil's Own, APerfect Murder, Daredevil.
So it's like weird because hedid like these thrillers and
then also these like big timelike comic book.
SPEAKER_02 (15:12):
Oh, the the Ben Affleck Daredevil movie, right?
SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
That's I believe so.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:17):
I mean, it's quite gracious to call that a big
comic book movie, butnevertheless.
SPEAKER_01 (15:22):
Maybe what the uh what they had hoped it would be.
SPEAKER_02 (15:24):
I mean, the Ben Affleck version stumbled so that
the Netflix one could fly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
Sure.
Uh he did the 2005 The Fog, the2010, The Wolfman.
So he kind of did some likeremakes of some good horror
films.
And then his final credit was2017, uh, The Ottoman
Lieutenant.
All right.
Okay.
We're at the stars of this film.
Starting with Olivia NewtonJohn.
(15:52):
It uh it's hard for me to saythat she's passed away.
SPEAKER_03 (15:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
It's really hard for me to say that.
Um she was far too young.
Uh she passed in 2022.
And like you mentioned at thetop of the episode, she plays
Kira, so she plays one of thenine muses.
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
She doesn't actually say her full name, but she says
enough of it, I think.
SPEAKER_01 (16:13):
Yeah, and I'll be honest, I did not, I mean,
sitting at my computer, but uh Ididn't take down the names of
all the muses.
SPEAKER_03 (16:20):
It's fine.
SPEAKER_01 (16:21):
But one of my best, best friends um was inspired by
mythology to name like hersinging coaching company Nine
Muses.
Yeah, yeah.
So it is it is well known.
Kind of like the inspiration forartists comes from the Nine
Muses.
If you are familiar, have aninterest in uh Greek mythology.
(16:44):
So her career, uh, for the mostpart, I have films, and if you
go to her IMDB, um you're gonnafind a lot of music videos.
Yeah, I was thank you, thank youfor putting that away.
I was about to say somethingthat could be misconstrued as
being like uh rude because I waslike the IMDB uh kind of uh you
(17:09):
can be mistaken in thinking shewas in way more films than she
was, but because IMDB doesinclude music videos.
But she was primarily a singerand a great one at that.
SPEAKER_02 (17:18):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (17:18):
So she was like a huge star in in the music world.
SPEAKER_02 (17:22):
She was like a singer that then was in movies.
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (17:26):
It's kind of like how I like always thought of it.
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
And it's interesting because like, you know, we're
about to get to the other theother what I would say major
star.
Um he outshines everybody elsein this film.
The guy from the Warriors.
So, you know, back in the day,it I don't know, this is kind of
a rabbit hole, but like itprobably because a lot of the
very, very early actors camefrom vaudeville.
(17:51):
And in vaudeville, you had to doit all.
You had to sing, you had todance, you had to act.
SPEAKER_04 (17:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
And so a lot of these early actors, I mean, Gene
Kelly actually isn't part of theearliest round of actors, but he
comes from this um kind oflegacy of like, yeah, you do all
the things, and it's kind ofexpected of you.
Yeah.
Although he and like, you know,very rarely do you get somebody
of that caliber that he was.
I mean, him and Fred of Stairare the two that you think of
(18:19):
all the time.
Standard.
As far as like male dancers.
SPEAKER_04 (18:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:22):
But it's an interesting kind of pivot
because I feel like nowadays, ifyou like, maybe the closest that
we have to that is like someonelike Hugh Jackman.
SPEAKER_02 (18:32):
Yeah.
I think because he was just inthat um movie that I just
realized was not not about NeilDiamond.
No, it was about a guy that dida Neil Diamond like
impersonation act, right?
Yeah.
But between that and likegreatest showman.
Yeah, and he's all the dancinghe did as Wolverine.
SPEAKER_01 (18:52):
I feel like he's one of the few actors nowadays where
he is a competent actor, dancer,and singer, and he is looked at
positively for that.
Where I feel like a lot ofpeople who try to put their foot
in those different realms areusually like pick a lane.
SPEAKER_02 (19:08):
I feel like Ryan Gosling maybe got some of that
for La La Land.
SPEAKER_01 (19:12):
Probably got a little bit of that.
I feel like Jennifer Lilpez kindof gets that a little bit
because she like I don't know ifshe's looked at as like she was
like probably first andforemost, like a dancer.
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
That branched out into those other areas of
entertainment.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:28):
I just feel like people have like a weird kind of
like stay in your lane thing.
They don't want people tonecessarily be good at all the
things.
Um, so I don't know, and andwhatever.
I'm probably not being veryarticulate about it.
But Olivia Newton John, you'reabsolutely right.
Like she started out in musicand then kind of made her way
into acting.
Probably outside of this film,the biggest role that she had
(19:51):
was Grease.
She's Sandy, of Sandy and Danny.
And then she reteams with Danny,John Travolta.
From Greece for Two of a Kind.
Oh.
So they do that.
And she did, I guess she was ona TV series for a while, Snowy
River Colon the McGregor saga.
SPEAKER_02 (20:10):
That sounds very dramatic.
SPEAKER_01 (20:13):
She was in the film Sworded Lives, A Few Best Men.
I love that she was in Sharknado5.
Holy cow.
Colon Global Swarming.
Very fun.
SPEAKER_02 (20:26):
I didn't know there was a five.
I need to get caught up withthis.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
It's probably even past five at this point.
SPEAKER_02 (20:30):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
Um, and and as you mentioned, like a lot of her
credits are her music videos.
And she had some great, like,you know, if you're of a certain
generation, you definitelyremember the music video for
physical.
SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
I remember it just from the office where it's like
let's get ethical.
SPEAKER_01 (20:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (20:48):
But uh I feel like she was probably like singer,
dancer, actor.
Or singer, dancer, actor.
Like when I that that to me iswhat likes her in terms of like
talent, her like singingability, not because she wasn't
good at acting, but because shewas that good at singing.
SPEAKER_01 (21:09):
She was a phenomenal singer, she had so many hits.
I mean, yeah, she was amazing.
And even though I don't know ifI would say that she was like,
she's not a Meryl Streepcaliber, very few people are.
But she was one person is shehad a charisma.
She had a charisma about her.
Yeah.
And and so she definitely hadthat star quality.
(21:31):
To me, the most interesting,interesting thing about this
film is kind of oh, and this isjust gonna sound so awful the
way I'm putting it, but justkind of like how I look at the
three major actors in this film.
Oh, because you she's kind of inthe middle, and then let's move
on to the next person, GeneKelly, who is just top of the
(21:53):
top of the top.
SPEAKER_03 (21:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:54):
Even in his older age in this film, boy, does he
have it.
SPEAKER_02 (21:59):
He still does.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Just charm, charisma, magnetism.
I mean, he is just a movie star.
SPEAKER_02 (22:08):
And then Michael Beck is like I am physically
here and people remember me fromthe the uh Warriors.
SPEAKER_01 (22:16):
I feel like such an asshole, but it's you know, but
it was we'll get to him in asecond.
Yeah, we'll get to him.
Like it it was it was miscast.
Um anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (22:24):
It's tough.
It's tough for him to be 100%.
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
But there were options.
I mean, I d anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
But if you're just trying to get work, the option
is like, I'm gonna, yeah, I'mgonna take this job.
SPEAKER_01 (22:36):
I wish I did a deeper dive in terms of like how
it got to the point where he wascast for that role.
SPEAKER_02 (22:42):
I don't think he even auditioned.
SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
Shut up.
He didn't audition.
SPEAKER_02 (22:47):
It just they just like said, like, hey, we want
you to be this movie.
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
Gene Kelly and Olivia New John.
SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
So if someone said that to you, if they said that
to me right now, I'd be like,well, first of all, how?
But second of all, sure.
SPEAKER_01 (22:59):
So Gene Kelly, oh my goodness.
I I don't know.
I might get a little emotionalabout talking about him because
this will be the one and onlytime we get to do it.
SPEAKER_04 (23:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:08):
Um so, like he said, he plays Danny McGuire, which is
a very, I feel like 1930s, 1940suh character name from like any
movie.
SPEAKER_02 (23:16):
It is the same name as his character in Cover Girl
from 1944.
SPEAKER_01 (23:21):
That's right.
I did, I did uh remember readingthat.
So, I mean, this is interestingbecause this is 1980.
However, it was his finalfeature film.
He did other projects, he justwasn't in another movie.
Okay.
Um, but this still was 16 yearsbefore he passed away.
He didn't pass away until 1996,so he just kind of decided at
some point he wasn't gonna dofilm anymore.
(23:43):
And whew, what what an actor hewas.
It's interesting though, becauseyou look at his filmography, I
um the exact number escapes me,but he's in far fewer films that
I actually had realized, orprojects overall.
SPEAKER_02 (23:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:57):
Um was it somewhere in the 50s?
SPEAKER_02 (23:59):
47 overall.
Okay.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:01):
So, you know, but that just I think shows you what
a stamp he left on the industry.
And and he did far more, he, youknow, we're talking about
acting, singing, dancing.
He did far more than that.
He directed, he produced.
Um, yeah, he he was trulyamazing.
And I don't like to pit actorsagainst each other, even though
(24:23):
that's like what I've been doingthroughout this whole episode.
But, you know, again, he andAster are the two that you think
of as far as like male dancers.
Very different styles, very,very different styles.
Really?
Gene Kelly definitely had a waymore athletic, arguably, a more
like conventional masculine kindof energy to his work.
(24:47):
Um, Esther was much morerefined, more elegant, more
graceful in a lot of ways, butthey both were just truly
amazing.
And I love Gene Kelly.
Um, he got his, I think just oneand done.
Yeah, he had one uh best actorOscar nomination.
That was very early in hiscareers for Anchors Away.
(25:09):
And then some just huge, hugename movies that I think most
people are familiar with, evenif you maybe aren't interested
in older film.
On the Town, an American inParis, which won Best Picture.
It's fascinating to me thatSinging in the Rain didn't win
Best Picture because that's byfar of that in American in
Paris.
Love singing in the rain.
SPEAKER_02 (25:30):
And and everyone's at least heard of that.
Like, yeah.
American in people haven't seenit.
They like if you mentionedSinging in the Rain, they'd be
like, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:37):
You know, you know the song where he is literally I
mean, it's quite until dancingin the rain.
Literally singing in the rain.
SPEAKER_04 (25:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:44):
Um, probably a lot of people know the story.
It's like a very Michael Jordantype of story where it's like,
you know, everybody knows thatthat one game that Michael
Jordan played, he had like afever.
Oh, yeah.
And this was exactly that too.
Gene Kelly was quite ill when hedid that number, um, but he
knocked it out of the park.
Yeah, professional.
He was in Brigad Doom, Inherentthe Wind.
(26:06):
Um, he did do some TV work,especially later in his career.
He uh, I believe reprised therole of going my way, who was
that?
Was that Bean Crosby?
He did the TV series version ofit.
He also was in North and South,um, book one, North and South.
SPEAKER_02 (26:24):
Oh my god, those mini-series.
SPEAKER_01 (26:25):
Yeah, that mini-series, and another
miniseries called Sins.
SPEAKER_02 (26:28):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (26:29):
So even though he never won a competitive Oscar,
he did, and this is sointeresting to me because this
is so early in his career still,which shows you again just what
it what a quick impact he had onthe industry in 1952.
Um, still very much in hisprime, he got an honorary Oscar
for his contributions to theindustry.
(26:50):
So he was amazing.
Um, I know at this point I'mjust saying that over and over
again, but it cannot beoverstated.
It can't be overstated.
And if maybe you're curious, butyou don't know a lot about his
work, just take two hours towatch Singing in the Rain.
It's a phenomenal film, even ifyou don't like musicals.
(27:13):
Seeing him, seeing DebbieReynolds, um, seeing oh my
goodness, the other gentleman'sname is escaping me, Donald
O'Connor.
SPEAKER_02 (27:21):
Um especially now when like a lot of people get
their like content in a verticalshort form format, it's tough.
It's a tough sell sometimes toto get anyone to watch just like
a a modern conventional film,much less one from like decades
(27:42):
ago, where it's just you have toat least open up your mind to
the notion that these were likejust it was it was different.
It was a it's gonna lookdifferent and sound different,
um but so many of like I'mlosing my train of thought here,
(28:04):
but like all of it was likefoundational to what we get to
see now.
I don't want to take awaybecause like look, um you know,
the people who we currently calllike content creators,
especially for social media,YouTube I'll I'll say this much,
and and maybe maybe I shouldn't,but I would say that if you add
(28:27):
up almost all of them together,you will get a fraction of the
actual talent that someone likeGene Kelly had.
And if that's offensive, thenNo, I'm not gonna disagree with
you.
SPEAKER_01 (28:38):
I do think that like regardless of talent, I do think
it takes usually hard work to dowhat content creators do.
But you know, like look,entertainment's constantly
changing.
There's really no point in kindof arguing where the tide is
(29:00):
going.
Maybe it'll swing back at somepoint, but it it does make me
sad to think that there aregenerations, and I know how much
this is gonna age me to saythis, but just that that aren't
familiar with this kind of work.
Even like earlier today, uh, Iwas kind of flipping through
channels and it happened onenight came on.
(29:23):
Yeah.
So that precedes like the heavyGene Kelly era by about 20
years.
But even that, I'm like, howmany people are familiar with
this movie nowadays?
SPEAKER_02 (29:33):
You know, like I mean, I'm gonna raise that and
say we primarily actuallyexclusively talk about movies
from the 80s.
SPEAKER_01 (29:40):
True.
How many people are familiarwith the 80s?
SPEAKER_02 (29:42):
Those are like, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:43):
Yeah, people are like, oh, it's so long ago.
I mean, okay, it is 40 years agoat this point.
SPEAKER_02 (29:48):
I'm assuming someone like it's kind of like the way
that you would think about likean older, older movie is how
people nowadays might thinkabout the movies we're talking
about.
SPEAKER_01 (29:57):
It's true.
Oh man.
Yeah.
Let's move on before I get toodepressed.
Okay, Michael back.
Uh, it's so funny to me thatlike, and then again, of like
all the character names thatthey pick, Sonny Malone.
Um, Sonny Malone, this guy is anartist.
He thinks of himself as anartist.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
He sure does.
He he scrawls things down,tosses them out a window,
awakens the nine muses.
SPEAKER_01 (30:23):
It's um, I don't know what to say.
He, I mean, he's the actorMichael Back's still very much
working today, but I I thinkit's unfair to him that he was
cast in this film because it isa miscast.
It is.
It it could have gone in so manyother directions.
(30:43):
I don't know if it would havebeen a better film, but they
needed somebody with a littlebit more pizzazz and a little
bit more charisma.
SPEAKER_02 (30:52):
They almost could have picked any one of the other
artists that worked in the likethe company he worked for just
like painting large, largeversions of album covers.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
Yeah, that was that was interesting.
That was interesting.
I mean, like, I'm not sure I'mI'm not disputing the fact that
there was like a job for thatback then.
Yeah.
Um, it was an interesting plotpoint in the film that that's
what he did.
And we all know that that's whathe did because that whole
fucking scene was just filledwith exposition about when he
(31:23):
comes in to work.
And I love how he comes.
So he comes in, he's like notreally eating crow, but he
admits that like he had to comeback because he wasn't making
any money.
Yeah.
He has these like weird fuckingaggro encounters with his boss,
and then like literally fiveminutes within him coming back
to work, he sees the album coverwith Kira on it, and he's
(31:45):
fucking out the door to go findher.
Like, it's so bizarre.
This movie is just, I don'tknow.
It's not, it all makes sense.
We're talking about the musesand and Greek mythology and the
whole thing.
So it's not necessarily a moviethat should be grounded, but it
is so fly by the seat of itspants.
It is not grounded in any kindof reality whatsoever.
SPEAKER_02 (32:05):
I just want to point out that while this movie was
part of the inspiration for thefirst ever Razzies Award, it did
not win.
SPEAKER_01 (32:13):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (32:13):
Can't stop the music.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
Oh.
SPEAKER_02 (32:15):
Which was at one point a 99 cent double feature
along with Xanadu.
SPEAKER_01 (32:20):
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (32:20):
One worst picture, although Robert Greenwald did
win Worst Director for Xanadu.
SPEAKER_01 (32:26):
And it's also, I mean, maybe I'll put a pin in
this.
It's interesting that the film'seven called Xanadu.
That's another callback to um,you know, what we were talking
about in terms of like umclassic cinema and Susan Kane,
and that is the name of um thecastle Xanadu, Charles Charles
Foster Kane's uh mansion.
(32:48):
Anyway, Michael Beck's careermostly mostly mostly films, um
as mentioned.
So let's say it's a toss-up,would you say, between this and
the Warriors, as far as likewhat people know him for?
SPEAKER_02 (33:03):
No.
SPEAKER_01 (33:04):
I'm gonna say solidly the Warriors.
SPEAKER_02 (33:06):
I think so.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
Okay.
I think, yeah.
You know that film much betterthan I do.
SPEAKER_02 (33:11):
And I think I think he was not poorly cast for that
film.
I think that worked.
Like I think that that yeah.
But it was like they literallyjust took that character from
the Warriors and gave him like anew set of clothes.
SPEAKER_03 (33:25):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (33:25):
And now he's running a club in Venice or something.
SPEAKER_03 (33:28):
I just yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:29):
So like I even in Xanadu, I remember him more from
the Warriors.
SPEAKER_01 (33:34):
So it it just is such it is really putting around
Peg in a square hole.
Like, I it anyway, I feel bad.
It's not it's not his fault.
SPEAKER_02 (33:46):
Uh look but I mean his performance he maybe he was
miscast, maybe she he was, butthat movie did not like it
wasn't gonna like live or die onlike his shoulders.
SPEAKER_01 (33:59):
I no, I agree with you completely.
I mean, it is wispy at best interms of like a real story, and
I don't know if they even wouldlike the filmmakers would even
argue against that.
SPEAKER_02 (34:12):
I mean, they might probably wanted him to stay out
of the way, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:15):
Probably pretty plainly say, like, hey, this is
a musical, we just want toshowcase these awesome dancers,
which they do, yeah.
Um, and some of these like greattunes that we have, and they do
that as well.
But back, so outside of thewarriors.
SPEAKER_02 (34:28):
Did he sing in the like the animated one?
SPEAKER_01 (34:30):
Like the yes, yeah, and then he like when he's
roller skating, so much rollerskating in this film.
Um he's singing, yeah, Ibelieve.
So Mega Force, the Golden Seal.
Uh, he didn't I bring this upearlier.
He was on the TV series HoustonKnights.
He was there.
Oh, yeah, you did.
Yeah, that's funny.
(34:50):
Uh, the Jungle Book, Cullen'sSearch for the Lost Treasure,
The Grace of Jake, and he's donejust a lot of TV movies outside
of all that.
Okay.
Okay, so we're gonna probablyfly through these next couple
people because really the filmis those three.
SPEAKER_02 (35:05):
Yeah, I don't even know who else you're gonna bring
up.
SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
I well, the first person I'm gonna bring up is the
like real persnickety.
Oh, the boss boss.
Okay.
Yeah.
Um, Simpson is his name.
And familiar face.
Yes.
Um, definitely familiar face,James Slo Slowyan.
SPEAKER_03 (35:22):
Sure.
SPEAKER_01 (35:23):
And he's, I mean, he's been in a ton of stuff.
I have more TV for him thanfilm.
Um, but one film I love thename, The Gang That Couldn't
Shoot Straight.
I think that's come up before.
SPEAKER_02 (35:36):
It it has, for sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:37):
Some people might familiar uh recognize him from
The Sting.
He has a bit part in that film.
SPEAKER_02 (35:44):
I do not, but that's that's uh cool credit.
SPEAKER_01 (35:47):
Yeah, he's in that.
And then the TV series that Ihave for him, West Side Medical,
oh Madeline, Murder She Wrote.
And I think it's one of thosedeals where he's he was on that
show multiple times as differentcharacters, if I remember
correctly.
Party of five, and then beyondthe series where he had kind of
a little bit of a longer stint,just again, a lot of TV
appearances.
SPEAKER_02 (36:07):
A ton of one-offs, including two episodes of Buck
Rogers in the 25th century,which I think they're remaking.
SPEAKER_01 (36:13):
Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (36:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (36:15):
So the three other people that we're gonna bring up
really quickly are three of hislike, I guess you would say
coworkers, but he doesn't reallywork there because he just kind
of comes in and comes out, and Imean, there is that one little
stint where he comes in and he'sdoing too good of a job and he's
taking too long.
Uh anyway, but Demetra.
SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
We didn't think we'd see you here again.
Yeah.
Well, you know, I need to getbread on the table.
Oh, are you saying that youtried to make it into artist and
then couldn't make enough moneyfor rent?
Yep.
That's it.
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:48):
Well done.
So the first person I'm gonnabring up, and I remember as soon
as the film started, I was like,I know that face.
Demetra Arles.
So she plays Helen, she passedin 2012.
The reason why I know her isbecause she's also in the sting.
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, she's like the um.
SPEAKER_01 (37:12):
Yeah, and okay, it's been a minute since I've watched
the film, but isn't she the loveinterest kind of?
SPEAKER_02 (37:19):
For Robert Rudding.
Yeah, yeah.
So I think so, and I think hejust like shows up at her place.
SPEAKER_01 (37:28):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
And she's like, What are you what are you doing here?
And like this is so weird, but Ithink that interaction was the
inspiration for Bob Seeger for aBob Seeger song.
SPEAKER_01 (37:42):
That's a random random poll.
Okay.
Uh she has, like I mentioned, Ithink I mentioned she passed in
2012.
But as far as her credits go,um, I have a couple TV, couple
films.
So she was in a TV series calledRich Man Poor Man Book Two.
SPEAKER_02 (37:59):
Book Two.
SPEAKER_01 (38:00):
We brought this up before.
She was on the show MaryHartman, Mary Hartman.
SPEAKER_02 (38:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:05):
Some films, A Perfect Couple, It's My Party,
and then her final credit was afilm called Lost of the Child.
SPEAKER_02 (38:10):
And then a film that we might cover 1982's Firefox.
SPEAKER_01 (38:16):
Oh, I'm sorry I didn't put that down.
That's okay.
Thank you for adding that.
Okay, so another one of Sonny'sco-workers.
Um, I should have flipped thesebecause she has probably the
least amount of lines.
But Sandra, played by KatieHanley.
So she's between these two womenthat I bring up, uh, sorry to to
state it this way, but she's theyounger, she's the younger of
the two women.
(38:37):
The other woman, she's a littlebit older, she has darker hair
as well.
But this actress, so a couple,she has four total acting
credits.
Uh so non-extensive filmography.
She was in the film Godspell,and then two TV series.
She was in a show called The TheChisholms.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_03 (38:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:56):
And Charlie's Angels.
SPEAKER_03 (38:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:58):
Okay, so lastly, and this is that faux conversation
that you were having withyourself earlier, just like a
minute ago.
It was between Sonny and thischaracter, Richie, played by
Fred McCarron.
He has passed.
He passed in 2006, and heprobably has the most lines of
anybody, to be quite honest.
SPEAKER_02 (39:17):
And he kind of He's just there to move things along.
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
Yeah, he's there to move the get the exposition out.
SPEAKER_02 (39:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:24):
He's not in any way a foil to Sonny, but he kind of
razzes him a little bit everytime he comes in.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
A little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (39:31):
A little bit.
SPEAKER_02 (39:32):
This guy.
SPEAKER_01 (39:33):
Yeah, exactly.
It's that kind of thing.
And as far as his credits go,little bit of film, a little bit
of TV.
I have a film called TheBoogans.
SPEAKER_03 (39:42):
Oh.
SPEAKER_01 (39:42):
Class Reunion.
SPEAKER_03 (39:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (39:44):
The American Snitch.
A TV series called Amandas.
Another TV series called TheShell Game.
Film called The Boost.
And then I think he was just aone and then on this, but his
final credit was on The GoldenGirls.
Nice.
Yeah.
Film synopsis.
SPEAKER_02 (40:01):
What is there is there a film synopsis?
Okay, let's see let's see whatit is.
SPEAKER_01 (40:06):
A struggling artist living in Los Angeles meets a
girl who may hold the key to hishappiness.
SPEAKER_02 (40:13):
That could be the synopsis to a movie that I would
have enjoyed more than what Iwatched.
SPEAKER_01 (40:20):
Yeah, I mean, okay.
You know what?
The most truthful thing I willsay about this film is the
depiction of somebody who comesto this town.
We live in Los Angeles, and nota lot has changed in the 46
years since this film came outin terms of and I'm not- I'm
(40:42):
really not trying to bedemeaning about this, but people
come out here because they havea dream and they want to act or
they want to sing or they wantto whatever.
And I think that a lot of peopleunderestimate how hard it is to
I'm not even talking about likethe level of Gene Kelly and
(41:05):
Olivia Newton John type status.
I'm just talking about puttinglike like this.
SPEAKER_02 (41:09):
They just want to be Sonny Malone.
SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
Like Sonny saying, I need bread.
I need to make rent.
I think people underestimate howchallenging, and I mean,
unfortunately, it's only gottenharder, in my my humble opinion,
um, to be able to do that outhere.
And and I think that is the mosttruthful thing about this film
is depicting somebody who hadthe depiction of the starving
(41:32):
artist is the most truthfulthing.
Yeah.
I think so.
I think so.
And just, you know, kind of thisattitude that he seems to have
of like, well, I'm talented, soI should be successful, you
know, and realizing uh that'sdoesn't always work out that
way.
SPEAKER_02 (41:50):
So success for him, it turns out it wasn't it wasn't
going to be found in the form ofsuccessful art.
It was having a businesspartnership where you bring
literally no assets intoanything.
SPEAKER_01 (42:01):
Literally fucking nothing to the table.
That's the other thing aboutthis film where it's like, what?
SPEAKER_02 (42:06):
Like when Danny, when Gene Kelly's character is
like, I want you to be mypartner, I'm like, what Why?
SPEAKER_01 (42:13):
Why?
Why would you?
And you know, Danny Danny, thisis a significant investment,
sir.
Yeah.
I mean, he's putting like lifesavings into this thing.
And the thing is, is that I waslike, what the fuck is Xanando?
It's just a space where peoplego roller skate.
Like I couldn't, I could notfigure out.
And then the whole fucking last20 minutes of the film is just
(42:33):
Olivia Newton John coming out indifferent outfits and singing
different songs.
SPEAKER_02 (42:37):
Like it is They gave up.
SPEAKER_01 (42:39):
They just totally gave up on the film.
Yeah.
It's I I could not figure outwhat Xanadu was really like a
third space, like just agathering place for people.
Like I just a nightclub.
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (42:53):
With bands and music.
SPEAKER_01 (42:55):
Okay, fair stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (42:56):
I don't know.
Um maybe they had like chickensandwiches or something, or like
they served fine dining.
SPEAKER_01 (43:02):
No, that's that's fair.
I just um I don't know.
It's really that part of thefilm is no different than really
any other part of the film interms of just being really light
on like significant, like layingdown a story.
SPEAKER_02 (43:16):
But there is for sure like an idea here with like
a struggling artist who receivesthis divine inspiration from the
muses, and there's like a loveinterest, and Zeus gets in like
there's a Zeus gets involved.
There's like a story there.
It just it it like theyobviously were like, we don't
(43:37):
really care about any of that.
We just need a reason to getfrom like one musical number to
the next.
SPEAKER_01 (43:42):
It definitely was a vehicle for Olivia Newton-John
to do her thing.
Yeah.
Um, and she does do her thing.
Like she's she again, like wesaid earlier, she's a fantastic
singer.
She definitely is a greatperformer.
She has the charisma to likethat conveys to me, at least, on
(44:02):
film.
Um, you know, you mentioned it,we so for the first time ever, I
think, for reasons you and I hadto watch this separately before
we we recorded this.
SPEAKER_02 (44:13):
Yeah, so then we got to uh basically say, like, so
what did you think?
SPEAKER_01 (44:19):
Yeah, yeah.
And um, and you mentionedsomething about like how
something you did really enjoywas that sequence where they
cross over between like big bandmusic.
It went on way too long.
SPEAKER_02 (44:32):
It did.
SPEAKER_01 (44:32):
Like, and the all of those sequences went on way too
long.
SPEAKER_02 (44:35):
The big band sequence was honestly like it
felt like it fit that era ofmusic that I was going for, and
then what was supposed to be the80s version or like that, I
don't know, new wave whateverwhatever it was, was pretty bad,
honestly.
And when they like mergedtogether, I was like, oh, that
was cool.
(44:55):
It just took like way too longfor them to get to it.
Like it was just they they gavethree times as much time to that
whole thing, and yet I didn'tget to hear all of magic.
SPEAKER_01 (45:07):
Correct.
Yeah, and it's interesting, andI really enjoy seeing dan the
dancers do their thing.
They they had greatchoreography.
I believe Danny Ortega, who's uhlike a celebrated cinema um
cinematographer, uhchoreographer, he I believe was
involved with the film, sopretty early in his career.
(45:29):
But like really cool to watch inthat regard, but I'm like, come
on, let's like, let's get backto the movie.
Like, like let's get back to thestory.
Like, I don't I don't need likea 15-minute sequence.
SPEAKER_02 (45:42):
It feels more like something I would see at like a
planetarium up in like just uhlike visual audio experience,
but it didn't feel like like aproper like movie with a story.
SPEAKER_01 (45:54):
And and and again, like you know what?
Maybe the people who were partof this don't care, but it it
was a very unbalanced filmbecause it was so light on
story, so heavy on these musicalnumbers.
Even for a musical, it feltpretty uneven.
(46:15):
Like, we've covered musicals,and we've covered some like
great musicals where there'sthese like amazing, like okay,
maybe people wouldn't say it'sgreat, but like uh the the one
that's coming to mind right nowis Annie.
SPEAKER_03 (46:26):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (46:27):
You know, so we covered that last year.
SPEAKER_02 (46:29):
But that that like knew exactly what it was.
SPEAKER_01 (46:32):
Exactly.
Yeah, and it had a real story.
Yes, it had a real story withreal stakes, still a musical,
still kind of heightenedreality, but it it at least
worked for me.
SPEAKER_02 (46:46):
I think like having Gene Kelly in this obviously
helped from like the pro like,wow, you got Gene Kelly in this.
But it almost raisedexpectations because if if I'm
seeing Gene Kelly in it, I'mkind of expecting at least some
other parts of the movie to riseup to that level.
SPEAKER_01 (47:05):
And again, it's kind of interesting.
I mean, maybe not exactly thesame thing, but it just makes me
think of other films where it'sjust it was kind of a
fascinating thing that they didin like the 70s and early 80s
where they would take, you know,somebody, you know, like for
instance, like Gregory Peck andThe Omen.
A great film.
So, like, you know, like I'm I'mnot making a one-to-one
(47:27):
comparison here, but just likewhere you take somebody who is
like incredibly celebrated forthe role that they've played in
the industry, and then you popthem into this movie.
Um, I mean, they did the samething in a number of different
genres and of films of differentcalibers, like obviously Alec
Guinness and Star Wars.
He loved that movie.
(47:48):
So you it meaning like, and Imean Olivia New John, not an
unknown, but just like it, it'skind of an interesting thing
that they did um with a lot ofolder actors at that time.
Anyway, I guess it's neitherhere nor there.
But but I think you'reabsolutely right.
I think like just having GeneKelly as part of the film yeah,
(48:08):
would raise expectations.
And if I'm being really honest,like he's my favorite part of
the movie because he just hasthis, you know, kind of charisma
about him that did not, for meat least, dissipate with age.
And so every time he's onscreen, he just brings it like
effortlessly.
Yeah.
And and it just, I don't know,it just then it and then I guess
(48:31):
it just kind of makes me alittle sad because again, like I
keep talking about how MichaelBeck was so woefully miscast,
it's like, oh, what could havethis film been?
Still probably not a great filmif they weren't gonna change
anything about the script.
Yeah, the script was was likebut just to have somebody who
brought it a little bit more,you know, um, because it is his
(48:51):
story.
SPEAKER_02 (48:52):
Even if they had just had like some fucking
voiceover narration, kind oflike connecting some of the dots
to make it connect a little bitbetter.
SPEAKER_01 (49:00):
But you know, it's the the dance sequences, the
singing sequences, they're fun.
They go on too long.
Love the costume design.
Costume design's fantastic inthis film, and that's about it.
SPEAKER_02 (49:12):
Yeah, the costumes have pizzazz.
SPEAKER_01 (49:14):
The costumes have pizzazz.
So I I am really glad that Ifinally got to see this movie.
SPEAKER_02 (49:20):
I've seen the the crazy poster of Olivia Newton
John and her absolutelyblown-out hair.
SPEAKER_01 (49:26):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (49:27):
So many times that I'm like, I never thought I
would actually see it, but Idid.
SPEAKER_01 (49:32):
And you know what?
For the people who love thisfilm for any reason, great.
Wonderful.
Keep loving the movie.
SPEAKER_02 (49:39):
Um You almost sound like I'm not trying to be
dismissive at all.
SPEAKER_01 (49:42):
I promise.
SPEAKER_02 (49:43):
Glad you like this piece of shit.
SPEAKER_01 (49:45):
No, I there are plenty of movies that I adore
that other people are like, ugh,it's trash.
Yeah.
So, and that's that's what'sgoing on.
SPEAKER_02 (49:52):
Just don't tell me, just don't tell me that you like
it for the uh for the greatwriting.
I get it.
Yeah, exactly.
You like it's just like for thefun, music.
SPEAKER_01 (49:59):
Love it for whatever reason you want to love it, but
just be truthful about it.
Totally get that.
Yeah.
Don't don't try to convince methat it's a great, great story.
Uh yeah, and so okay, so likeprobably leads to the next yeah,
probably the next question aboutwatching it again.
I don't need to see it again,even if it were on TV.
SPEAKER_03 (50:19):
Which it's not.
SPEAKER_01 (50:20):
It never is.
Um, maybe if I caught like ascene that had Gene Kelly in it,
I'd keep it on.
SPEAKER_03 (50:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:27):
But um otherwise, like again, I'm really glad I
finally saw it in full, and I'mI'm good.
I'm okay to move on.
SPEAKER_02 (50:35):
I might watch The Warriors again.
SPEAKER_01 (50:37):
Sure, you do kind of like that movie, too.
SPEAKER_02 (50:38):
Yeah, it's a fun movie, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:40):
Uh so like call to action.
I mean, I gosh, I haven't beentoo granular with these lately,
but because of just, you know,the experience washing over me
of seeing this film for thefirst time, I'm really curious
what other people think aboutthis movie.
I mean, we already, because Iwas, you know, teasing that this
was going to be the next episodeto drop, did get a couple
(51:00):
comments online.
Oh, really?
Okay.
Yeah, about like somebody whatdid somebody write?
It's the best, worst, bestmovie.
Which I thought that's a perfectway of putting it.
SPEAKER_02 (51:10):
Best, worst, best movie.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (51:12):
Yeah.
Um, so it's clear that there'slike a lot of love for this
movie, but I do think peoplefully acknowledge its its
shortcomings.
SPEAKER_02 (51:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know if I caught yourcall to action.
What was the the qu was Oh, Idon't know if I really finished
it.
SPEAKER_01 (51:26):
I'm just kind of curious what people think about
it.
Do you love it?
Have you seen it?
What do you think about it?
SPEAKER_02 (51:31):
I I I can't top that because I can't like when I when
I try to think of like what if Iwas really gonna Okay, who would
you cast for Sunny?
SPEAKER_01 (51:40):
That's what thank you.
I was actually just gonna say,if I was really gonna go for it
with these questions, yeah, whowho could have been Sunny?
Who could have been Sonny?
Talking 1980.
I mean, even like a reallyyoung, like Dennis Quaid.
I don't know.
I guess you do have to findsomebody who has some singing
and dancing ability, and I don'tI don't really know.
Um, you know, I know you can'tdo John Travolta again.
SPEAKER_02 (52:03):
Um He turned it down because he was doing Urban
Cowboy.
SPEAKER_01 (52:08):
Oh, that's right.
I did read that.
Yeah.
Although that would have beenfun.
They really they were a greatpairing together.
Um, you know who actually uh andlooks very much like Michael
Back?
Um fucking Kanicki from Greece.
He would have been even a littlebit of a better fit if they
wanted somebody with that look.
SPEAKER_03 (52:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (52:26):
Um, he could have been in it.
SPEAKER_02 (52:28):
Um that's the most interesting thing to me is I'm
like, oh, this guy that Irecognize from the warriors is
how?
How?
How did that happen?
SPEAKER_01 (52:37):
Right?
SPEAKER_02 (52:37):
Why?
SPEAKER_01 (52:38):
Why it's such an interesting decision to have
him.
So if you want to get in touchwith us, we would love to hear
from you.
You can reach out on Facebook,Instagram, or Blue Sky.
It's the same handle at allthree.
It is at 80smontagepod and 80sis 80S.
Sneak peek.
What do we got?
I'm trying to think of a clue.
Um I will try to think of ananswer.
(53:00):
I am not gonna sing this songthat I believe is I haven't seen
this film in total, but like Iremember there's like a really
uh, I don't know if I'd sayfamous, but like of like when a
kid is, I think, running aroundbases at a like Oh, we're
watching Parenthood.
Yeah, okay, so you know what I'mtalking about.
SPEAKER_02 (53:18):
Yes, and and the song is famously diarrhea.
It's the diarrhea.
Yeah.
Okay, cool.
Yeah, with uh Steve Martin, KinaReeves.
SPEAKER_01 (53:30):
Man, like the cast is nuts.
Yeah, this is gonna be anotherridiculous list of like because
what was the one that we justdid that had like the crazy
ensemble?
Oh, um, Christmas Vacation.
Yeah.
This might rival that.
We have a ton of fucking actorsin this movie.
Um, yeah, Steve Martin, uh, MarySteen Burgeon, Diane Weist, um,
(53:53):
Tom Hulse, uh Rick Moranis?
Rick Moranis.
Um, yes, you said Keanu Reeves,Joaquin Phoenix.
Oh yeah.
Um, oh my gosh, I can't believeI'm playing.
SPEAKER_02 (54:06):
Did you say the guy from Amadeus?
SPEAKER_01 (54:08):
Yes, Tom Holtz.
Okay.
Um and um from from Goonies.
Oh, Martha Plumpton.
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There are a lot of people inthis movie.
So buckle up.
Uh yeah, I'm excited to.
I feel like maybe I I I don'thave a recollection of seeing
this movie in full, but becauseof those types of memories, like
(54:29):
the diarrhea song, I feel likeat some point I must have
watched it, but I don't I don'treally recall anything about it.
Oh, and um, oh my gosh, the dad,the like patriarch.
Robards, yes.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh, so many people we'regonna cover.
Yeah.
So that's next on tap.
And in the meantime, thank youto everybody for making the
(54:50):
choice to spend some time withus and listen along.
We really appreciate it.
And we will talk to you again intwo weeks' time.
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