Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) | Ep. 118 - All The Right Movies

Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
All the right movies. So you look good.
You sound good. Thank you.
You may have 10 years, man. 10. Where have you been for 10
years? I freaked out, joined the Army,
went into business for myself. I'm a professional killer.
Oh, does that do you have to do postgraduate work for that or

(00:25):
can you can you jump right in? I'm curious about that.
It's an it's an open market. Open market.
That's good. Wow. 10 years, man, 1010 years,
10 years. 1010 years, 10 years, 10 years.
I freaked out. I joined the Army.
I worked for the government. I went into business with

(00:46):
myself. I'm a professional killer.
That's what I did. OK, well, can I join up?
Yes. Professional killer Martin Blanc
is invited to his 10 year high school reunion while being
contracted to do one last job inthe same location.
All flames reignite and buried secrets surface as Martin faces

(01:09):
his past and he looks to his future.
Grosse Pointe Blank started out as a pipe dream from an unknown
writer but was beaten into shapeby John Cusack and his Chicago
buddies to become a modest hit at the box office and later a
genre defy and cult classic about American masculinity and
moral flexibility. My name is Luke and the two
fellas putting together a littleconcern are Westie.

(01:30):
I'm doing a double shift. What does it look like?
And Matt? I killed the president of
Paraguay with a fork. How have you been?
All the right movies are going back to Grosse Pointe, where you
can never go home again, but youcan always shop there.

(02:01):
Hi everyone, welcome to All the Right Movies, a podcast on
classic and hit films that's having its own reunion with the
past. We revisited in the 80s by we
have the 90s telling the story of Hollywood one film at a time.
It's not a huge blockbuster of the era, but it's a very
important film to us, a cult classic and charted the
evolution of John Cusack as an actor.
It is gross, point blank. Sure is.

(02:23):
Oh, now we've been excited aboutthis one for a long time.
Very exciting. While.
Yeah, you can't wait. Before we head back to our old
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No, absolutely. Oh yeah.
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(02:46):
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(03:09):
Yes, if you're a John Cusack fan, we've covered High Fidelity
and interviewed the Co writer ofthat and this DVD even sent us.
We did. So check that out.
And we've talked about countlessmore films.
Yeah, you can support us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube
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(03:32):
content and the chance to ask questions for our upcoming
episodes. Indeed you will.
If you could, if you would, thatwould be very much appreciated.
Oh, absolutely, yeah. Thank you very much everybody.
Thank you guys. But now it is back to the
reunion with Martin Blank. Matt, this was your choice.
Why do you want to talk about Gorge Point Blank?
This one's very important and very personal to me because this

(03:55):
comes out in 97 and that was pretty much the year where I
realized cinema was the thing I was really passionate about over
anything else. And this sounded like such an
intriguing film. But the thing was House at six
form and all my friends at the time that just weren't that
first about cinema like I was. So if it wasn't the latest
blockbuster or big comedy with ahuge name attached, the one
interested. So I had this conundrum.
Either I didn't go and see this despite how much I wanted to, or

(04:19):
I had to go to the cinema by myself.
And I don't know if it's different now, but back then
going to the cinema by yourself,that was a big deal that.
Was not cool. It was not cool.
It wasn't something you told people you did.
Nope. Now obviously I did go and see
by myself and coming out of it afterwards, it wasn't just the
fact that I've seen this film that I'd loved and I was so glad
that I did go and see it. It was more the realization that

(04:39):
it felt absolutely fine to go onyour own, and I could easily
shrug off someone going well, it's not a bit strange.
I've got a geek. Yeah, exactly.
And it just gave me the confidence to keep on doing
that, which is a good thing because.
As you haven't looked back since, have you?
Well, that's absolutely it. That's because I've said this
before the end of the 90s. That's such a pivotal period if

(05:01):
cinema was going to see the likes of Magnolia, Being John
Malkovich, The Insider, and thatall stemmed for me.
Go on. No, I'm going to go seagulls
point blank on my own and I don't care.
And I think if I didn't have theconfidence to keep on doing
that, which expanded my look forcinema, there's a very real
chance I might not be Saturn nowwith you fellas.
Oh, profound. That's how important this one
is. And the cherry on top is when I

(05:22):
got this film on VHS, every single person who are sure to do
who didn't want to go to the cinema absolutely loved it.
Brilliant, very brave Matt and the pivotal film amazing.
Yeah, huge. Well, if my mind were a video
store, and let's face it, it pretty much is.
Yeah. This film would definitely be on

(05:44):
the shelf. Yeah, I didn't catch the cinema
like you might, probably wasn't brave enough to go and watch it
by myself, but I did read a positive review in Empire at the
time, so it was on my radar. I watched it when it first came
out on video and I've watched itwell at least every year ever
since. Yeah, right.
It sits in that bracket of filmsthat I'll always return back to.

(06:05):
I'll go for comfort. I'll put it on the background
when I'm doing something else. I've been a Cusack fan ever
since this film. I think this was like Patience
Zero in my Cusack fandom. He's amazing.
He is such natural charm and energy.
And obviously all of the cast are incredible.
Mini Driver. Forget about it.
Oh yeah. It's been a constant and it
constantly surprises me. There are layers to the dialogue

(06:26):
that still reveal themselves. It's not flashy film and it's
never going to be pulling up trees, but it just strikes a
chord with me that is always playing.
It's an old timer for me. Yeah.
I'm very much the same. It was a late 90s VHS affair for
me. This one, I don't think I saw
it. 97, I could be about 99 I think when I started working at
the cinema and then I was with like minded people and like
you've got to see this, you've got to see this, you've got to

(06:47):
see this. And there was a lot of people
pointing me towards this film. What really put me off was the
artwork. Yeah, I just thought, yeah,
yeah, I'm not watching that and we'll get into that later on,
but I think that was a real downpoint for me.
And then when I actually watchedit, I loved it because I was
right into this style of film atthe time.
It reminded me of like that really independent, young snappy
feel, a bit really fresh feel where there was like Clerks who

(07:10):
had the comedy of like, so I married Maximo, that kind of
field to it where it wasn't taking itself too seriously.
It was them films that I was kind of just devouring
everything and not really in me pretentious pompouspheres just
yet. So it kind of fit just right.
I think that was about 2001 ish.Wasn't too long after that.
Not the film, the actual year, but yeah, that's, that's where

(07:30):
it sat with me. And I just absolutely loved it
when I was younger and I love itnow.
And I think it is a very personal film.
Once it gets you, it gets you. And it just seems to have so
much presence and memory for me when I want to think back about
this film. There's so many highlights.
And maybe that's to its detriment that it's not a really
solid, finished, kind of thorough narrative film where

(07:50):
you go, you know, you've got allthese arcs and all these ups and
downs. Maybe it is just a collection of
great scenes, but you know, somefilms, awesome films on and this
one for me definitely sits in there because I'm watching this
and I watch it with anybody and I'm looking forward to what's
coming next. Yes, it is a really exciting
film and a really good one. If it gets you at the right
time, it really gets. You.
It really does. Yeah.
Grosse Pointe Blank was written by Tom Jankowitz, Steve Pink DVD

(08:13):
Even Centers and John Cusack. Directed by George Armitage.
It was produced by Susan Arnold,Donna Arkoff Roth and Roger
Birnbaum for Hollywood Pictures and distributed by one of his
two pictures in the theaters on April the 11th, 1997.
Shot largely in California, it stars John Cusack as blank mini
driver as Debbie, Dan Aykroyd aslunatic hitman Grosser,

(08:35):
Amazingly. Yeah, he's unreal.
And there's a great supporting cast including Jeremy Piven,
Alan Arkin, John Cusack and manymore.
Ready to take a trip up to Grosse Pointe fellas?
Let's do it. Yep, let's go.
Firstly, we're picking up with Martin Q Blank as he takes out
the target. 10 years. 10 years. 10, 10 years.

(09:02):
The beginning. The beautiful sounds of Johnny
Nash players. The credits roll, but violence
erupts on the streets. Is it going to be a bright,
sunshiny day, Westie? I think it might just be, you
know, I think it might just be what a great scene this is.
Exposition, introduction of characters, introduction to
tone, introduction to plot, introduction to everything.

(09:23):
Yeah, in what, 3 minutes? Amazing with that song in the
background as well. Yeah, I mean, that really works.
And it's it kind of offsets everything that you're watching.
You think what on earth is goingon?
He's making a rifle. Was back and forth between him
and John Cusack, which is alwayssnappy.
It's always sharp. Yeah.
Always. Just know each other's kind of
tone. Even though they're not
necessarily in the same scene. I think it's a really, really

(09:45):
good setup for them. And even when he snaps, as you
know what I do for a living. That's me.
That's great because it's the right Well, there's an element
of threat there. He's got a little patience and
it's great that you get to see what he says.
Now he's going for the cyclist and that's totally out of the
blue. Takes him out.
Fantastic. And then Grosser shows up.

(10:07):
Oh man, I've never been so happyto see Dark Roy just pop around
the corner just wearing like a bellhop out in.
The full garb in. The full garb and just pulls out
them two massive guns and and I mean, he doesn't waste a bullet.
Let's be honest. He absolutely goes for this.
And it just shows he's very thorough.
He's attention to detail. This guy we've got to look out

(10:29):
for. He's going to be a problem.
And it's Dan Aykroyd who's the problem.
And it's really harsh. It's really kind of it's
hilarious and you just sit right, OK, this is going to be
violent. It's going to be funny.
It's going to be stylish, I mean.
Crosser just blasting everybody away.
Fantastic. Takes the court off, just walks
back in the hotel. Yes, then we do finally make

(10:50):
Rosa Martin. Martin, where are you?
Right there on the bridge of theden, you kid.
Yeah, I mean, the dialogue is sosnappy and instant between these
two. And it's immediately funny how
since he gets out the car, he and Martin are both facing to
the side on Martin's hands. Knee was good.

(11:10):
It's it's the most cautious handshake you'll ever see in
your life. Now them trust the other.
I think this whole thing is about deconstructing the myth of
the hitman because like, the cinematic trope of the hitman is
he's sleek and he's cool. He's a person of very little
words. Martin is that to some extent,
Grosser Definitely isn't. You know, You know, he's packing
a little weird. He's really verbose.

(11:30):
You know, this isn't Jean Renault in Leon.
Say the least. He's not a samuraiser.
Exactly. That was the other one I was
thinking of. Yeah.
And this whole conversation is as far away as he can get from
this, like, kind of almost romantic version of the the
Brood and Hitman because, gross.He's just talking about forming
a union. And I think one of the best,
like, satirical running jokes, is how much been Hitman is just

(11:53):
like any of the job. It's got its issues.
Of course. It says work, let's make more.
Let's do consolidated bargainingbecause the markets flooded.
Like, really, if you've ever worked freelance, you go, yeah,
you know what? That is a problem.
There was too many people out there.
You know. Stealing your jobs, undercutting
you. This is a genuine issue and I
think there's a great description of all the others
who've come in, the Stasi guys and that description of the

(12:15):
Filipino ladies. The status.
The status. The status the.
Queen's the hotel hit. It just sets up this world
beautifully and I think talking to create dialogue.
Just want to quickly mention John Cusack again because, Yeah,
I mean, she's so funny in this. So great.
And when Martin's on the phone about the reunion and she says
she went to hers. Oh, how was it?
It was just as if everyone had swelled.

(12:36):
Yes. The obvious sign is everyone got
fat, but that's not a funny line.
Yeah, everyone swelled. That's.
Funny. Great sizzling dialogue.
Grosser. If you want a father, I'll give
you a spanget. And it is that rat attack tat
that Dan Ackroyd saw famous for that Bing Bing Bang Bang

(12:58):
popcorn. Amazing.
And that comes up. There's a lot of recurring
motifs. There is, yes.
So after this, Martin goes down to Miami to take on a job, and
despite a lot of people being blasted away in the opening,
it's kind of being quite a lighthearted affair.
I mean, in no small part becauseof Johnny Nash thinking.
I can see clearly now. But this scene does take a

(13:18):
different turn, highlighting thedifferent tones that the film is
going to traverse for the next hour and 40.
I think there's something terrifying about how vulnerable
you are when you're asleep. You're at the mercy of anybody
who holds a grudge. And this is quite the elaborate
situation, plunging some unknownpoison down a thread.
But ingenious, yeah. Yes, absolutely is.

(13:39):
There's that perfectly executed moment when the guy turns his
face and the liquid drops and his little frightened inhale is
wonderful. Yeah, Yeah.
And then he gets up, and this iswhere we see Martin burst
interaction. This is where we see that he's
not just a distance killer. He can get up close and personal
in his line of work. That can be no hesitations.
And he busts through that door with exact inefficiency.

(14:01):
He's really good at what he does.
And this thing starts the theme of his need to emotionally
detach from his target. Whatever it is that I'm doing
that you don't like, I'll stop doing it.
It's not me. Yeah.
Why do people keep on saying that?
Another recurring motif. Yeah.
In this attempted poisoning by string in this scene, that's a
direct reference to the Bond film You Only Live Twice.

(14:22):
Yeah, and that's not the only reference to Double O 7.
When Martin was on the front of Marcella, he says I've got a job
to do and I'm going to do it right.
A similar line can be found in the song Live and Let Die, which
plays a part a lot later on. Ah, yes, of course.
Yeah. And Cusack's character called
Martin Q Blank Q being a reference to Bond.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's such a strange tie in,
isn't it? You wouldn't expect them to be

(14:44):
natural bedfellows, but yeah, itworks.
Yeah. So our characters are set up,
but cracks are beginning to appear.
Marcella is getting a Black Cat Friday the 13th kind of feeling
about this one. So the gods want Martin to go
back home and they want him to delete somebody while he's
there. But first he needs to do some
soul searching. And this is where we see the
other side of Martin. We've got the cold contract

(15:05):
killer. But at his analysts place we see
what's happening and all the surface.
He's a well of regret and unresolved issues.
He's failing, uneasy issues at work, concept execution stuff,
you know, that kind of thing. Cusack's always had this knack
of doing the whole straight to camera monologue, and this one
is great to open the scene. Your quote at the Star Mass,

(15:29):
when he's come and played and going back to the reunion, he's
all his anxieties are laid out. They'll have husbands and wives
and they can talk about what they do and what am I going to
say? I killed the president of
Paraguay, the fork. How have you been?
But then we get Doctor Ortman, who's just taken a back seat
because he's an absolute fear ofhis life.

(15:51):
He's brilliant. Absolutely.
He's taken Martin on as a patient, and after four
sessions, he's revealed that he's a contract killer.
And this has made Ortman very, very jittery.
There couldn't be more perfect casting than Alan Arkin as this
character. Yeah, exactly.
He's amazing. He's spectacular.
Just beautiful moments of great dialogue and irresistible
delivery. Ortman lays it down straight

(16:13):
away. I'm afraid of you, Martin says.
Well, I know where you live. And he just jumps out of his
chair. It fills with anxiety and you're
left with the aftermath of that.I've got to be creative in a
really interesting way. Are you going to blow me?
Brits that. Wasn't very nice.
That wasn't a nice thing to say.That wasn't designed to make me
feel good. I love the way Martin says he's

(16:35):
read both his books, both New York Times bestsellers and he
said who both ghost written. Martin, he's just trying to
detach himself from. It.
And then he suggests that maybe part of his problem is the angst
over killed. And a lot of people maybe just
put it in the background there. And then after that, Debbie is
thrown into the mix. And this is just great writing.
After a few sentences, we know what she means to Martin, the

(16:58):
play she holds in his psyche andhis history and how that
situation remains completely unresolved.
And he says of the recurring dreams of lost and paying for 10
years featuring the same person.Yeah, maybe it's a bit
obsessive. Dreams.
Yeah. You want to talk about dreams?
It's your neck, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, she's got the Rose, Green his hands, like he's

(17:18):
praying at the same night. Like, oh God, he's.
Got a great detail. Yeah.
And I love his reaction, that the Battery Bunny story.
He just whips up Martin. It's a terrible dream.
It's got no brain, it's got no blood, it's got no anima.
It just keeps on banging those symbols and go in and go, yeah.
Yeah. And right at the end, get out of

(17:38):
town, go and see some old friends, have some punch, visit
with what's her name, Debbie. Debbie and give it a shot.
No, don't give it a shot. Don't shoot anything.
It's I mean, I could go on and on about this dialogue in this
scene. Yeah.
It's simply in the performance is particularly Alan Arke.
It's bubbling over with some amazing ideas, this scene.
Yeah. So rewrites were being done on

(18:00):
set, something we'll touch on later.
The writing team were relativelyinexperienced and soon learned
the hard way about movie politics.
Doctor Rotman, as we've talked about, was originally written as
a more straight laced character,but Alan Arkin suggested the
therapist should be scared witless instead, which is
absolutely necessary. The licensing for that
character. That's brilliant.
Yeah. And Pink and Even Centre spent
days rewriting the scenes and arrived proudly on set on the

(18:22):
first day of shooting with the newly written pages completely
unaware they should have run therewrites past the studio or
director first. Can you imagine how excited they
would have been? I'm doing that.
Pink said that he got a finger stabbing into the chest
reprimand from one of the producers as a result.
Don't do this again. So then after this, Martin's on

(18:45):
his way to Detroit, we'll get one of the many perfect needle
drops in the film with Blister in the Sun on the side back
here. Then Walter introduced to the
two feds who were tailing them, Laudner and Mccullers, and they
both saw goodness as well. I think one of the great things
that Gross Point Blank does is it makes every character, no
matter how little the screen time, feel very rounded and

(19:06):
believable and just this good-natured squabbling you've
got going on in the car between these over the file.
Have you read the file? I don't need to read the file.
I know Martin well, maybe I'll take the weekend off and you can
kill them. Well, all that stuff.
It's really, really great. I mean, like I think we get just
as much as we need of these two.The part of me thinks actually
I'd like to see more of them. I'd like to see them wind Gross
would be a bit more that they dohere on.

(19:28):
I'd like to see more of them trailer Martin around and doing
things like ringing into Debbie's shore to antagonize
them, you know, put them on alert.
Great. And then obviously talking of
Debbie, it's finally our introduction to her as well.
I mean you get the great transition from like non
diegetic soundtrack, violin femsinto the diegetic soundtrack
when Martin turns a radio on andit's it's that classic close of

(19:48):
a first speaking into the mic, which Hawks back to Pulp
Fiction, which harks back to thewarriors.
Warriors, yes. I mean, it's maybe a bit of a
not set up a thing that this radio station is just like
broadcasting onto the streets. Blaring onto the.
Street like you don't listen to it.
I don't know if that's an American thing.
Maybe American listeners and saythat's how it works.
I don't know. I quite like that.
I mean depending on like a. Particular speaker outside my

(20:09):
house while we're doing this. Come along everybody.
But. I think it's clear from this bit
as well just how smart she is. You know, where all the good men
dead in the heart or in the head, That's the Shakespeare
court, and she's just casually dropping it in there.
Brilliant. It's really funny how Martin
just automatically slips in the hitman mode when he's trying to

(20:30):
look, sneak a look at Debbie through the window, hat pulled
down, glasses on, covering his face with his hand.
So the music choices, the character introductions, it's
all been set up for the rest of the film perfectly.
Brilliant driving gloves as well.
Driving classic move. Yeah, lovely.
From there, he kind of loses thedisguise, then courses, places
that remind him of his past and we've all done this.

(20:50):
When you go back and you kind ofreminisce, you just drive past
somewhere and you're like the memory start could come flooding
back. But the first one is when he
visits the school. I absolutely love this back and
forth with Mrs. Kay. I think she is wonderful because
you can tell that couldn't fucking stand each other when
they were at school. She couldn't stand him And it's
like you've always been really good at that without sound like

(21:11):
a kiss ass like straight down the line and it's just them
little back and forth. Where have you been?
As if they've put bets on and she's lost and just kind of
pissed off. You know, we all lost and say
no, I'll win this world. That's a barrage of imagery.
That's fantastic. That's great, yeah.
He starts one line of conversation and then she just
changed. That's a nice tie you've got on.
You look like a mortician. It's like a really backhanded
covenant. And then he's like, you've got

(21:32):
that married to Elmore thing going on.
I love. That it's just.
The kind of slapping each other around and just like, where you
going? I'm going home.
Oh yeah. Really.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you've got surprise
coming. Yeah, Wait until you see that.
Sorry. Later on and when the bell goes
off the plane, the song. I love that.
Yeah, that's good. So from there, we'll come to the
probably the second best needle drop, which is live and let die

(21:55):
as he pulls up the ultimate. Yeah.
And I always think, and I know that you interviewed division
sent us about this and the change the music and we'll get
into that, but I do think that this cut leaves me wanting
slightly. I think it cuts to the Ultimart
slightly too early. Yeah, I know what you mean, OK.
This song doesn't kick in. Yeah, it kicks him when he walks
into the frame. And that should have been the

(22:17):
cut of the Ultimart. It should have been him getting
out the car, just his reaction, and then walking up to the
camera just as the song's kind of building and then cut to do.
And then as it kicks in, there'sthe Ultimart, and he's walking
towards it. Yeah, I think that would have
had a lot more of an impact, butit's it's wonderful.
He goes in this back and forth with this kid is just so good.
It feels like this is completelyad libbed.
I don't think they wrote a line of dialogue here.

(22:38):
Yeah. They basically said to the kid,
look, you're on a double shift and you work here, You've been
here a couple of months. That's all you need to know.
Yeah. And that's all he says.
He's I'm on a double shift. What does it look like?
How does he know he's on a double shift for a start.
That's great stuff. He's working a double shift and
say what the fuck do you want from is where is where's your
manager live? I'm not telling you.
Where do you live? I'm not telling you that.
Yeah, it's. Just going to hitman mode,
hasn't he? Where do you want to find you?

(23:01):
He's just trying to find sense out of this nonsensical
situation. He's got no idea what's going
on. And he's like, I used to what
are you doing here? What?
Are you doing here? I used to, he's just, I used to
live here, but he can't say thatbecause I used to live like
here. You know, I'm standing where my
living room used to be and then he phones and it's just that
wonderful moment from argument. He just wakes up and he goes and

(23:25):
he's just shocked with the with the phone ring and he's like,
OK, And he walks over to it really slowly.
And then he says, oh, it's Martin Blank.
He's just not, I'm not picking the phone yet.
He just hovers over it and then just walks back and.
Cushion over the head. In fetal position.
God leave this alone. Which is absolutely wonderful.
Really love that sequence. Again, I'm straightened.
Oh, it's wonderful. Yeah, what's done is done.

(23:45):
Let's forget. The whole let's just let's do
the whole thing that the kids just looking team looks around
kind of at the camera. He's kind of like, is that the
scene? Is that me Done.
So with Martin's existential crisis in false wing, the ghost
of his pastor colliding with hispresent, Yeah.
The director. Let's talk about the man behind

(24:08):
the camera who brought this cultclassic to life.
A man who will probably not showup on classic again.
No, no, although he has shown upon one of our Pit Run shows in
the past when he directed Hitmanthe remake of Get Carter.
Oh, that's right, yeah. Right.
OK, yes. OK, yeah, Yep.
Still not check that one out, no.
Don't bother. Yeah, I'm still trying to absorb

(24:28):
that one. George Armitage, who prior to
this had made one film in the last 21 years.
An unexpected mix. What are your thoughts of his
work? He Westie.
I mean, he's steering the ship, isn't he?
He is. I think there's so many people
here. There's such a mountain pot of
opinions and humor and directionthat it does feel quite muddled.

(24:51):
But what he does is he takes thethreads, and I think he does
neatly put them together and he does actually make this make
sense because it could so easilynot make sense, I think, because
of the nature of it. And we've said that rewrites are
being done literally on the set,but it does kind of stitch
together OK. I think if you look for it,
you'll see cracks everywhere in this film.
If you want to RIP this from thepieces, it's very easy to do.

(25:12):
So the second shot in this film that I was going to mention
later on with the DP, Jamie Anderson, I was going to say,
well, the second shot in this films of Dutch angle in an
office for no reason whatsoever.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Why? It just makes no sense.
There's crane shots in here. There's really fast editing.
There's really slow editing. There's cuts where there

(25:32):
shouldn't be cuts. There's cuts that don't
necessarily match. Our lines are pretty much all
over the place. But he makes it work and he
keeps that tone consistent. Every scene is on the same
level. It doesn't necessarily dip in
quality no matter where we are and what we're talking about.
If it's the romantic comedy, that works as a romantic comedy.
If it's an action sequence, it works as an action sequence.
If it's a dialogue sequence, it works as a dialogue sequence.

(25:54):
It keeps the tones. Exactly.
The tone is consistent, and I think that's what Armitage does
with this. He's a very consistent
storyteller and a very consistent filmmaker to just
say, right, the first scene of this film and the last scene of
this film are as good as each other.
There's that shoot out in the house and the assassination at
the start as both as good as each other.
So and everything in the middle does keep that consistency and

(26:17):
he does a really, really good job with that.
I think he's just a really good no man.
He's like, I'm not, we can't do that, no.
Yes. He's probably the most mature
person on the set, needs like a father figure just to kind of
go, look, we can't do everythingthat you want to do, Let's just
pick the best bits and put them in.
And I really, truly believe thatthat's what he's done.
Well, I think the thing about this, it's clearly a John Cusack

(26:38):
passion project, produce and star it.
So he's going to want someone who he knows is going to deliver
what he wants. And I agree with Wesley.
I don't think it's a case if he wants a yes man, but I think he
wants a good collaborator and Cusack.
I think a good collaborator is someone is going to be able to
come in and put what Cusack seeson the page, or is it in his
head and put it on screen from he doesn't want someone who's

(27:00):
going to come in and start pulling this thing to pieces and
go, you know, I've got a different vision for this.
Have you thought about doing this instead?
What Cusack wants to hear this? Well, this could be tricky, but
this is how we can do it. That sounds slightly dismisses
of Amnish, but don't mean to because ultimately he's doing
what Cusack can't. And it's not even as if this is
an absolute home run for anyone on the page.

(27:20):
The tone of this is so unique. It's funny, but the humor is
very offbeat. It's romantic, but it's not a
typical Hollywood romance. And then it has action sequences
in there. And then in amongst all that, it
does have these questions about having an existential crisis of
morality. So there's a lot of balance.
And I think that's what I think Cusack trusted Armitage with the
ability to balance everything. And, you know, at this point in

(27:42):
history, Cusack could have probably shocked this around to
quite a few people. I mean, he's worked with Rob
Reiner a few times by this point.
He could have got robbed, Ryan Win, but he doesn't.
He he wants Armitage. He repairs every single bid of
trust because this film agreed it could be all over the place,
really, but it's not. It's sharp as a tack, and that's
what Armitage deserves so much credit for, because he totally
guess what this film needs to be.

(28:03):
Yes. Yeah, he knows his place.
Homage doesn't. He does, yeah.
Yes, I think we're we're all on the same page and I think it's
very similar to Stephen Freeze his work on.
He. Said very similar things when we
covered that. Yeah, he's not a flashy
director. He services the material well.
He runs a good tight ship, and he's clearly In Sync with Cusack

(28:24):
and his buddies. And considering he's quite a bit
older than them, just like Stephen Freeze, I think the
collaboration really shines. I'm not tightened down with fear
and prayers either here. I mean, again, I think we said
the same thing on High Fidelity.There's no call for a flashy
director here or somebody tryingto elevate the material.
It already speaks for itself. What really impresses me about

(28:44):
amateurs work here is the location.
I mean, it's in the title. It's got to be a character in
the film, and there's something quite beautiful about the way
that he establishes Grosse Pointe and this idealized
American suburb or manicured lawns, perfect facades.
I think it works great with the story.
It feels like the kind of place that exists more in memory than
in reality, which kind of is representative of Martin.

(29:08):
I think I would have understood that he wasn't just recreating a
location. It was a state of mind or memory
or an idealized memory. Martin left.
Everybody else stayed behind andnever changed.
And what is amazing is that despite being set in Grosse
Pointe in Michigan, the production spent only a half a
day in the real gross point, mostly in that helicopter aerial

(29:28):
shots that you talked about whenhe's driving into Detroit.
Yeah, because budget constraintsmeant recreating the Detroit
suburb in Los Angeles with John Marshall High School, Dublin,
for Grosse Pointe High after thereal school board refused
permission, feeling it inappropriate to show someone
graduating from their system to become a hitman.
Fair enough, fair comment. Yeah, That is on that.
Yeah. Absolutely justified.

(29:49):
Yeah. I mean, the transformation was
so convincing. The crime novelist Elmore
Leonard, who lived in Oakland County, Michigan, thought the
entire film was shot in Grosse Pointe.
Wow, that's unbelievable, isn't?It Yeah, brilliant.
Yeah, because Auckland County isonly about 35 miles from Grosse
Pointe, so he knows what he's talking about.
Yeah. Yeah.
And it really is. It really makes its presence
known in the film. Yeah.

(30:10):
And just like Martin Blank itself, the movie is presenting
one thing while being something entirely different underneath,
which is a nice tie in. I like that.
When the project was initially picked up by producer John
Kaley, he asked Pink and Devicentes which director they
had in mind. Without missing a beat, they
said Stanley Kubrick. Natural fit.

(30:30):
It's like a reflex, isn't it? Stanley Cubic.
He did the spiral of me, didn't he?
A bit of it. No touch angles for Stanley.
Kayleigh immediately put in a call back to his assistant.
Marcy, get me Stanley on the phone.
And then the call came through. Hi Stanley.
I'm sending you a script. It's great.
You'll love it. Speak about that other thing
later. But looking back the right,
there's reckon that Kayleigh wasprobably just stringing them

(30:52):
along and his assistant was probably thinking, oh, he's
doing that fake Kubrick thing again.
So after this, the project foundthe perfect home with the
producing team, Susan Arnold andDonna Roth, and they've been
searching for exactly this type of script, Arnold said.
We wanted a script with a fresh,original feeling.
We were thrilled when John Cusack brought the material to
us and asked us to produce it. So then and George Armitage, a

(31:16):
Roger Coleman protegee who had disappeared from the movie scene
for well over 10 years but had made a splash direct in 1990s
Miami Blues star in Alec BaldwinCusack like this blend of
violence and quirky dark comedy with improv.
So he thought he was perfect forthis script.
And he brought a unique filmmaking philosophy to the
project. He essentially shot 3 different

(31:36):
movies simultaneously, one that struck to the script, one that
was mildly understated, and one that went completely over the
top with improvisation and energy.
And usually it was the third version.
I made it into the final cut. Nice.
That's amazing, and I'm drawing comparisons to Kubrick here.
Isn't that how he shot Doctor Strangelove?
Yes, yes, very much, yeah. Yeah.

(31:57):
So if you can't get Kubrick, yeah.
And this was an approach he usedwhen cast in the film as well.
He did the act, Let's read the script and throw it out and say,
okay, let's improvise. This method helped them find the
right chemistry and energy for each rule.
Knowing what would happen when the cameras are rolling.
I think that's a really, really good, smart way to do it.

(32:17):
That's great. Yeah, absolutely brilliant.
I love it. The script went through dramatic
changes under Armitages guidance.
When he first met the writing team, the script was 132 pages
and he told them that he wouldn't shoot anything over 100
pages. And they did a rewrite and it
came back 150 pages. We talked about this a million

(32:37):
times, but no, I want, I want less.
You've given me more, no? It's like me answering paper and
questions. Wesley, I want three only.
Well. Got 13.
And then Albert just told all the writing team that they were
fired, tongue in cheek of course.
And According to him, he spent most of pre production rewriting

(32:58):
the screenplay himself, getting it down to 1 or 202 pages.
Yeah. And he also said he could have
taken a screenplay credit for his rewrites, but he chose not
to because he failed. It would reduce the percentage
for the other writers due to theWriters Guild regulations.
But does he put it added as muchas anyone did in terms of
writing? Nice.
That's nice. Yeah, sweet man.
And the production was intense, shooting 750,000 feet of film

(33:20):
over 45 days. That sounds like Kubrick.
As Armitage noted, it was like using the Rodger Coleman method,
getting everything in the can, then using whatever time was
leftover to embellish and mess around.
During a Yeah. And the man in charge of messing
around was editor Brian Burden. He had worked with Oliver Stone
and David Lynch, so he wasn't adverse to working with a lot of

(33:40):
footage and it being weird, I suppose, Yeah.
Yeah, the improvisational style meant Burden dealt with an high
volume alternate takes and unscripted material.
The edit focused on maintaining pace and ensuring the film's
unique blend of tones were coherent.
Variety layer praise Burdens ratatatat editing for
accentuating the film's spiritedpace.

(34:00):
I mean, I can go along with that.
Yeah, definitely. And for a highly dynamic or
improvised scenes, Armitage would ask actors to occasionally
face each other and pause. This was to facilitate smooth
cutting, minimizing the risk of drawing edits from improvised
movement. Multiple cameras captured scenes
from various angles to provide material for coherent and
energetic editing. It's quite the elaborate set up

(34:21):
for Grosse Pointe Blank isn't. It it doesn't feel that
elaborate, does it? It doesn't.
But the improvisational freedom did create some pressure already
to remember that one actor saying, I've never felt so much
pressure to improvise. And Cusack went over and
apparently chewed him out and said, are you kidding?
This guy's the first director who's offered you the freedom to
improvise and actually stuck with it.
Yeah, and this approach did create some generational

(34:43):
friction as well, Pink and deep and sent as recalled that they
weren't always on the same page as Armitage, which is perhaps a
generational disconnect because he had a more traditional style
which ruled up against their very of the moment idiosyncratic
humor. Though they did say that
Armitage just rolled with it allin production.
Parallels with Stephen Free is on, Yeah, yeah, definitely.

(35:04):
Yeah, he did this exactly the same thing.
Yeah. Yeah.
Probably one of the reasons why they hired somebody like Stephen
Freeze on that because of the experience working with Armitage
here. Yeah, I think so.
It's kind of a blueprint, isn't it, that the.
Following like that so one and done for Armitage on ATRM
Classic. But if Grosse Point Blank is the
high point of your career, you've done something very
right. Absolutely.
Yeah, the cast. A great cast on Grosse Pointe

(35:32):
Blank. We're talking about the main
players, starting with my boy John Cusack as Martin Q Blank.
Where's our boy? There's something quite
remarkable about what Cusack achieves here for me, and it
starts with the fact that Martingets away with just a lot of
shit. Yes, in his wake in this film,
yeah. I mean, there's no comeback from

(35:52):
the Ultimar explosion. No.
No, even though there are witnesses, the guy pulling a
double shift would have definitely spoken to the police
about his place of work exploding.
Yeah, he just pissed off. He's got to find a new job.
And when he kills Lapu Bell, he doesn't try and clean himself
up, just straight downstairs fora club soda where everybody else
is. Yeah.

(36:13):
Yeah. But somehow we let that pass.
And I think that's entirely downto Cusack's performance.
Casing for me is when he calls Upman near the end and he gives
him this brilliant pep talk. Take a deep breath.
Realise this is me breathing. You want me to realise it?
You want me to see it? Yeah.
See it. This is me breathing.
Good work. Keep it up.
Don't kill anybody More. Great stuff.
Yeah, and that's a turning pointfor Martin.

(36:35):
He leaves his gun behind before he picks Debbie up.
He's looking in the mirror, contemplate in his past, looking
for his future. He repeats the You're a Handsome
Devil line that his mother said earlier.
So it's really good, right, Because it's a one person scene
and we get all that character development without any dialogue
being explicit about what he's thinking and what he's doing.
Cusack in that one person sayingpulls it off magnificently.
You can see that he wants to make that change and go

(36:57):
straight, but he's clearly struggling with it.
There's a little bit of manic energy bubbling underneath that
performance in that specific scene.
Yeah. And I think just the fact that
he can pull off being a cold blooded assassin in any scenario
is pretty remarkable because it's John Cusack.
He's quite honest, human. He's in every man.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Martin's a complex
character, despite us knowing very little about his past or

(37:18):
what's gotten him to this point because his family unit is
completely destroyed, his mother's unstable, his dad is no
longer with us. And from that word, Lucene at
the grave, I can only imagine itwas self-inflicted.
Yeah. So you can draw some conclusions
about why he's taken this path. But Cusack makes a character
with so many holes and so many questions feel fully rounded.
The dialogue's not there. It's in his performance.

(37:40):
I think he's made a habit of kind of nostalgia in his best
roles this High Fidelity, and I'm going to throw it in there.
Even Hot Tub Time Machine. Okay, I was waiting for that.
Yeah, obviously. The 14 away.
Definitely not. I was saying you gonna.
Go stand by me. But no.
No, no, no, no, no. Nothing like that.

(38:03):
No. But they're all about a grown
man lost in his world, retracinghis past to improve his future.
All three of those films are. And it all started here.
I find it an interesting that Cusack was a staple of 80s teen
films. And so it's almost like he's
really visiting his own cinematic past here by looking
back to the 80s. And I mean, there's none too
subtle double meaning in his name.

(38:23):
Blank, the man who's emotionallyvacant.
But Cusack brings such charm andvulnerability to a making an
unlikeable person likeable. Yeah, his chemistry with
everybody, he's fantastic driver, obviously, but also with
Jeremy Piven and the great dynamic he has with his sister.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Love it when he calls Marcella.
So he says, listen, Sergeant Pepper, that's.

(38:44):
Great. I think he understands that
Martin isn't a traditional action hero or even a an anti
hero traditionally. He's deeply damaged man trying
to figure out if he can change. He wants to, but can he?
And Cusack plays all those contradictions very well.
Yeah, I think yeah, it's a career defining.
It's top three Cusack. Oh, yeah, yeah.

(39:07):
Without doubt. As he often does, Cusack
populated the film with his family and friends.
Three of his siblings, John, Anne and Bill, all appear in the
film, along with Piven, who had been part of a Chicago theatre
circle since they were teenagers.
The core group of Cusack Pinked even sent this Piven had all
studied acting together at the Piven Theatre Workshop, which is
run by Jeremy's parents. Yeah.

(39:27):
Oh nice. And Co writers DVD Vincentis and
Steve Pink both appeared in the film as Don Karetsky and Terry
Rostan respectively. And the film are connections to
Cusack's previous work too. Because both Jeremy Piven and
Patrick O'Neill and he plays Nathaniel had a piece of Cusack
and say anything. Brilliant, Debbie.
It's Nathaniel. I love that.

(39:47):
Guy, I'm not. Feeling any remorse here dude?
I'd make you wear that progress.The film's success came from
embracing chaos and creativity over rigid planning, as Cusack
explained. He said, I like to take risks
with acting. You want to see if you can get
into trouble without knowing you're going to get out of it.
It's the exact opposite of war, where you need an exit strategy.

(40:09):
When you're acting, you should get all the way into trouble
with no exit strategy and half the cameras rolling.
Yeah, yeah, great. Nice.
Yeah. And just linking.
And into all of his siblings playing a part.
Here we've got our first Patreonquestion from Alistair Block.
Hello, Alistair. Like Alistair, you can become a
parent of all the right movies. Ask us questions for the film
that we're covering. And this is what Alice has got

(40:30):
to say. First of all, he says hi gang.
Hello. Well, hello, good start.
Yeah, Alistair from the block. He'll love that.
Yeah, of course he will. He says thanks for consistently
great podcasts. I've been listening for a while
now and finally decided to take the plunge to support you in
period as this is one of my all time favorite films and I really

(40:51):
wanted to get on asking a question.
Now is my chance to get stuck into the rest of the archive as
well. Thank you for doing it Alistair.
You can do it listening as well if you want to.
Yes, definitely. As this question is this, he
says this is one of several films that John and John Cusack
appeared together. Notably, this one also has an
and Bill, and none of them are related in the film.
What other notable performances can you name star and relatives

(41:13):
playing characters who are not related?
He says off the top of his head he could only have the
Sutherlands in the Time to Kill and Frank was in The Disaster
Artist, so those are off the menu.
OK, yeah, thanks for the question, Alistair.
Welcome to the period community.Yes, welcome mate.
Thank you. And this is actually trickier
than it first appears because most of the time when you get
civilians in a film together, they are playing related
characters or one of them just has a small cameo.

(41:35):
Yeah, John and John have appeared in 10 films together.
Wow, didn't realize there was not many.
But a thought of the Wilson brothers in Tenenbaums.
Of course. Personal favorite.
Yeah, I've got that, yeah. Yeah, I've got William, Daniel
and Stephen Baldwin in Born on the 4th of July.
Yeah, yeah. Nice.
Right. Nice, Yeah.
Deep Code and I've got a few more.

(41:55):
I'll leave them. But my favorite out of the lot?
Emilio Estevez, Chuck Sheen. The film is Men At Work.
An. Absolute banger.
It is a banger. Best friends, yeah.
I've got Estevez and Sheen, young guns.
Brilliant. Of course you are, young guns.
Yeah, fantastic, brilliant film.And I just, I love John and John

(42:15):
in High Fidelity. I think that is them.
The pit bull for me are. You going to do Wesley?
I'll do it if you want. Do it.
Yeah, go for it. Hey Rob, you fucking asshole.
And the big Claudia Westies neighbors there.
Yes, sorry. And the one for me, it's not
necessarily a great performance and it is more a cameo, but in

(42:38):
researching this I found this out and I absolutely love this.
Robin Williams, his older brother, is the bartender in
Mrs. Doubtfire in the run by freaking scene.
They're not related. Love that.
Brilliant. Of course they're not related.
Not the film. That's wonderful.

(42:59):
That is a deep cut where I love.That one, and I want to be very
favorite teens. What about you, Matt?
Yeah, I mean, you can cheat a little bit on this question
because there's a few examples of actors getting relatives in
for very small walls. Like White Russell has small
walls in Soldier and Escaped from LA, both his father's
films. Brilliant.
Yeah. Tom Cruise, his cousin William

(43:19):
MAPPA there, who is more famous for being and lost the TV
series. Yeah, he's in quite a few.
I mean, we've mentioned born on the 4th of July.
He's one of the troopers now. He's in Magnolia.
Brilliant. Minority Report.
But you've mentioned Chuck ShaneSheen and Sheen senior in
potshots too. Pod.
Yeah, of you in All St. Excellent.
I love you in Wall Street. Yeah.

(43:41):
And then what? I had to double check and I'm
sure I'm right because I've got different surnames in the film,
but Ben and Casey Affleck on playing brothers in Goodwill
Hunting. They are not.
No, they're not. Yeah, that's easy for cleanup.
He's. A fucking double burger.
Yeah, they're in Chasing Amy as well.
And they're. Not.
Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
Yeah. Fantastic.

(44:01):
OK. Well, thank you very much for
the question. I'll still keep them coming.
Yes, thank you. Thank you.
I'll step. Anybody you've got any of your
own, let us know. Yes, please do.
Yep, and back to Cusack, surely one of the best characters in
his very career. Definitely.
I think so, yeah. Next up it's the sharp, toned
Grosse Pointe DJ Debbie Newbury.She's as wonderful as she is

(44:23):
forgiven. Isn't that right, Matt?
That is absolutely right. Because The thing is, drunk, he
was like a so goodness, he's so sharp, so stylish, so
charismatic that the girl he's been pining over for 10 years,
it better makes sense when you meet her.
And that's the thing about me driving this.
As soon as you meet Debbie, you go.
This makes complete sense. Yeah, that checks out.
I would be obsessed for 10 yearsover Debbie, no question.

(44:45):
Yeah, no question. And I think Minnie Dreyfuss just
has this very unique vibe and looked at as well.
Like not be too superficial about, but if you think about
the actress who plays Jenny Slater later in the film, you
might think, would she not be the perfect fit for this girl
that's obsessed? Martin for slang because she's
blonde, she's glamour. She turns to people's heads the
reunion. But Debbie has much more of the

(45:08):
girl next door type of quality. But as well as that, she's whip
smart, really confident, very funny, has a great job and
amazing tears of music. So if she's the girl next door,
then she's the girl next door who, to all one of Wesley's
favorite phrases, is also as cool as ice pops.
I. Like you think I'd love.
To live next door to her becauseshe has the measure of

(45:29):
absolutely everyone in this film.
Like she would get her composureso quickly when Martin rocks
back up on the scene, you know, mid and broadcast and she has
him at arm's length for the mostof the film.
She knows exactly what he wants,but she's going to make them
work for it and she's going to enjoy making them work for it.
Every time someone tries to say something really smarmy to it at
the reunion so just has this wither and sarcasm that cuts

(45:51):
them down. Like Debbie Radio.
Like she has this self-confidence to where that
elevates her above everyone elseat that reunion, but not in a
way that's cocky or annoying, just the way they go.
She's just got this innate coolness to her, you know, and
she's got this like little celebrity around town.
And you know, I think I've made this point before by ROM coms

(46:14):
and that a reason a lot of them aren't great is that you can
cast a great actor and a great actress.
They can both do good work. You can't really fake that kind
of chemistry on screen. And I think Cusack and Driver
have incredible chemistry in this that just crackers off
screen. Like, absolutely not suggesting
anything untoward here, but it'sjust the chemistry lab.
It's not just the chemistry of physical attraction.

(46:34):
You can tell these two characters make each other laugh
really hard, and they can. You're dropping references that
only like when Martin turns up the house.
Of course, you can't cure me in with something.
Specials to references. Yeah, you can come in.
It's like really playful, but itkind of lets you in as well.
So ultimately, I think Driver isevery inch and much for Cusack

(46:56):
and every sense in this film, and you can't really pay a
higher compliment than that. No, she was amazing.
Very self assured character. She's just adorable.
She is just. Amazing, yeah.
Yeah, she really is. There's so much magnetism in her
performance. Yeah, there is.
Yeah. In that scene when Martin can't
come in, man, Debbie mentions that her apartment burned down
on Devil's Night. Yeah, it's a specific reference

(47:19):
to Detroit, where traditionally there's a significant spike in
vandalism and arson. All right.
The night before Halloween. Yeah, right.
Anyone who's a massive fan of The Crow will know of this night
OK, as I am and I do. Brilliant.
That's not news to me. Excellent.
Mini Driver landing the role wasa dream come true when she first

(47:40):
arrived in America from England for a publicity tour of 1995.
Circle of friends. She was often asked by
interviewers to name actors she most wanted to work with, and
unbelievably, she often said John Cusack and Alan Arkin, not
known either of them personally,or imagining she would work with
both in a single film in less than a year.
What A twist of fate. Yeah.

(48:00):
And just with you saying that, Matt, I wouldn't be surprised if
people thought many driver was American.
All of the accents Faultless, yeah.
It really is, yeah. And Driver was completely
embraced by what she affectionately called the
Chicago Boys Club. As she explained, it all works
in this sort of strange, symbiotic way between the lot of
them. When one leaves off, another
begins. Yeah, I think you can feel that

(48:22):
in the writing. Yeah, you can't.
Yeah. She said she felt part of a
revolutionary new way of Megan films, something that she hadn't
been exposed to in a fledgling career.
Yeah. So a performance full of charm
for Mini Driver. A real standout in the film.
Definitely 100%. Finally, a man we have a lot of
affection for, a man who puts inprobably the last great

(48:44):
performance of his career. Yeah, it is Dan Aykroyd as
hitman. Grosser.
Just Grosser. That's it.
Yes, Westie, it's over to you. Oh.
Man, I absolutely love this guy.He's amazing.
Razor sharp, isn't he? Yeah, and he's a bit crap, but
amazing at the same time. You know, when he's running up
to the house with the two guns draw at the end, you'll score.

(49:05):
This guy not capable of much, ishe?
It's really podgy and just really focused.
But then the start you're like, I'm not crossing this guy at
all. Yeah, it is out of character for
him to play. It's out of type and he plays it
really well. You know, the the bad guy, the
angry bad guy. It's literally just the the left
hand side to his character in inDragnet for me, just that razor
sharp delivery. That's speed of it.

(49:27):
Just it's really great. I mean, there's a great moment
in the bathroom when he's torn to the feds and he's like, well,
you shoot the fuck that's. Him.
That's him. Yeah, I know people around.
It's just great. And then he's like, he's coming
back and he's like, fuck you guys.
I don't appreciate being hosed. It's absolutely great.
Just he's back and forth. He could easily override this
character easily been really tiresome and he could have

(49:48):
pushed and pushed. He hasn't got much else to say.
He hasn't got any more motivation than what he's got to
make this clue and kill Blank and then that's it.
That's his motivation. I love that.
But it's just so, so good when they're together.
It really sizzles for me. But even when he's by himself,
just sat at a computer screen spitting out a pencil, it's just
spits that fucking alternative vendor.

(50:13):
Absolutely. And he's like, preparations have
begun in good faith. It's just a brilliant way he
sets it all up. I love the way they're just so
standoff with you that I like Matt said when the first meeting
at the start and they've just got their hands back kind of
behind the back. The meeting in the diner.
Probably better than heat. I think it's just, I mean.

(50:34):
It's definitely funnier. It is definitely funnier, but
you could see where the drawn influence is from.
And I think it's wonderful when the order and the food and they
don't look at the waitresses, look at each other, yeah,
staring at each other straight down.
And just that quick, snappy dialogue.
And I'll tell you who doesn't get enough credit for that style
of dialogue delivery is Cusack, because he's so good at it.
He is. He's in a just enough.

(50:54):
He's incredible every time he's on the screen.
He's so funny, he's so likable and he's such a Dick at the same
time. I don't think anyone rat me
brains, but nobody but Dan Outrocould have pulled off this
performance. I think it's just a wonderful
character and a wonderful, wonderful performance from
Macro. Oh, it is.
It's great. Such a surprise and turn from
him and just kind of thinking back.

(51:14):
Some perspective is needed here because I remember this coming
out and thinking, thank God Dan Aykroyd is back.
Yeah, right, because he'd been missing for a long time.
Yeah, yeah. Because he's got so much talent
and this really, really showcases that, yeah.
So according to Aykroyd, his character's nickname came from
fellow hitman after he did a hitwhile wearing a grocer's smock.

(51:38):
We had never played this type ofbody role before, so he did
extensive research and completely got into character.
He even showed up on set with his own overgrown buzz cut
military style, something that the film makers hadn't
requested, hadn't written into the character.
Perfect, that little bald patches that's.
Perfect. Great.
It's wonderful. He also came up with an amusing

(51:59):
character quirk, suggesting thatGrocer would never reload his
gun, but instead just toss away empty weapons and pull out
another one. Yeah, that's great.
Yeah, that's great. Steve Pink, he said that he came
up to him and says, if possible,can I have a collection of 22
caliber or revolvers? Pink was like, yeah, go for it
of. Course you can.

(52:19):
And that first scene between himand Kiyosak, which I talked
about earlier, that featured what Pink called some of the
most extraordinary improvising I've ever seen.
Akroyd was so inventive during the shoot that Pink reflected.
To see someone like Dan Aykroyd join in the phone and just be so
inventive all the time, I'm so grateful to have been able to
watch that and have a guy like him in our movie.

(52:40):
Yeah, amazing. You can tell as well.
And that's the main cast of Grosse Pointe Blank, a wonderful
mixture of three leads. And of course, we've talked
about the great support from John Cusack and Arkin and the
rest. A great cast overall, Yeah.
Yeah. What have come from Piven
though. Oh yeah.
Don't leave me hanging, man. The middle.

(53:03):
We're picking back up with Martin, who's having a little
memory lane, but it's all gone bad and now he needs his mom.
And that right, Matt? He does need his mom and it's
just such a quietly tragic seen this because it sheds more light
on Martin, you know, Marcella said from earlier.
I just find it amusing that you came from somewhere.
So he's clearly tried to erase his identity to start again,

(53:24):
leave everything behind. As we've said, the surname is
being very deliberately chosen by the writers here.
But he does come from somewhere.And the fact that all the time
we realise he's felt the guilt about abandoning his mother.
So he's been sending of this money, but that's it.
So he has no idea where the money's gone.
He knew nothing about her losingthe house.
If you find out who was responsible for that.

(53:45):
But I think he was like is particularly gritty because you
can feel that overwhelm and guilt had not been there for his
mother, who clearly has because he has dementia.
Maybe there's? Obviously something.
You know, badly wrong with that.And it's just all in, like, the
mannerisms and, you know, when he's kind of like, throwing his
brow with his thumbs and he's doing that.
He's like trying to work out, oh, God, what have I missed?

(54:07):
What have I missed? Why wasn't he?
Yeah. You know, Cusack has just got
those really expressive eyes. And when she gets wheeled away
by the nurse and she's off in the one little kind of, you can
see just that haunted look in his eyes, like, could have done
more. You know the money wasn't
enough. Yeah, but then you get the
complete contrast with his attitude towards his father at

(54:27):
the grave. Doesn't bring flowers, bring up
booze. Has nothing to say, no kind
words, just pause it over the grave.
And then what's key to me is he doesn't take the empty bottle
with him, he just drops it thereand walks off Like you don't
deserve to have a clean grave. You can have the bottle as well.
No word of dialogue, just the expression on his face in a 22nd

(54:48):
scene. Maybe you totally understand
what his relationship with his father was like, which explains
a lot about him now. It's great because a lot of the
things that you've said there, Matt, they're not written down.
We don't, we're not told those things all on Cusack.
Sure, don't tell exactly. Classic.
How much room is that taken up in the screenplay, by the way?
And they come back 152 pages. And it should just be stands

(55:10):
over grave, pours out booze. But it's like, you know, it's a
really good kind of minute of this.
It's really passionate and really powerful.
The date on the grave as well puts his dad in his 50s, I
think. And he left in the late 80s.
So obviously he wasn't sticking around for long.
Maybe he left before his dad died or after.
That's really. Yeah.
So powerful that. Yeah, it really is.

(55:30):
Yeah, for a very, very short scene as well.
So after that, he visits Debbie at the station.
She's at work. She's having a great time,
fucking loves the clash. Yeah, that's fine.
That's not a problem. And I think it's just a really
great touch when they walk in and that chemistry we've been
talking about, that math touchedon, that's insanely obvious,

(55:50):
incredibly quickly. The walkthrough, just, like,
shake my hand. And there's just real tension.
And there's this energy and there's this kind of
electricity, the sexual tension between them, which then just
has to explode into this case. And then they're like, right,
OK, all right. But yeah.
And then they start the conversation and just like,
right, I've got you right where I want you.
This is where I'm comfortable. You're now going to get put

(56:12):
through the ringer because he sat here and you're just going
to have to deal with it. Really love the touch of he not
sitting with his back to the door because he has to check the
blinds. That's really, really great
because that's. Going to get taken out.
Yeah, it's just the end of the theme that just runs all the way
through it. It's a really, really good
setup. And this humiliation is public.
She wants to punish him. She wants him to explain what

(56:34):
he's done. She wants answers and then the
feds are outside. They're ringing in what you're
doing. A tough guy in the then they
just need us go. Yellow ribbons.
Absolutely brilliant. No one we like.
We like tough guys, Marty. Yeah, tough guys like you.
Yeah, wonderful. And that gets cut off and never
mentioned again. Normally you'd go, that's a bit

(56:54):
weird, what's happening here, and then the story would spin
somewhere else. Debbie just dismisses it,
doesn't she? And it's just dismissed.
It's just not interested in thattone whatsoever.
It's just playful. You can see that she's almost
too big for this job. She's too, too good at it.
She is. It's just, you know, a big fish
in a small town and she needs anopportunity to get somewhere
else and do something bigger because she is genuinely

(57:14):
lovable. She's genuinely likeable.
She's got an incredible personality and that just comes
across on the radio. Imagine putting her on
television. Do you know what I mean?
She's just got this presence andthis whole scene sets that up.
He's so uncomfortable. She is so comfortable.
It's just, like I say, putting them through the ringer, and it
is an absolute joy to watch Cusack squirm and watch Driver
relish in that. It's a great, great sequence.

(57:36):
It's been building for a while as well, and they've finally
come together. Yeah, 10 years.
Yeah, We talked about the improvisation earlier, and one
of the most memorable moments came from that improvisation
when Martin walks in. You said it's this spontaneously
kiss. Yeah.
And that was done completely offthe cuff, Really wasn't

(57:57):
expected. You're massive, yeah.
Yeah, Ahmed had said. It was just wonderful,
completely out of the blue. You should have seen the smile
on Johnny's face afterwards, I bet.
Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, I think that would have
been the third take the improvised 1.
And then from here, Martin leadsthe radio station and all his
paranoia is overflowing. He sees the ghoul, the two

(58:19):
Spooks completely on the edge. But then he he is a familiar
friendly voice from the past. Paul, his all high school buddy.
What a sight for sore eyes. And who doesn't love Jeremy
Pepper? I mean nobody.
And Paul's got the same reactionto Martin that everybody in town
has. He can't believe his eyes.
He's looking at a ghost. You can tell that the two actors
know each other. They've got such a great

(58:41):
chemistry. And I think that Cusack
naturally brings that out of people anyway.
He's got a great knack for that throughout all of his films, but
particularly in this. And we see Paul at work.
He's got a couple who have got adecision making disorder.
He says Martin's waiting outsidethe house while Paul does his
thing. And then Terry Rostan shows up,

(59:01):
which is it's just Steve Pink. All right?
Yeah, He's dressed up just like a cop, but he's very forthcoming
with the information that he isn't.
He's basically a security guard,but in heightened circumstances
he has the authority to shoot you.
Two weeks. Yeah, yeah, that.
Was a two week course. That's brilliant.
Well, that's it. How did you get the cake?

(59:23):
Well, they were hiring well, obviously.
It's great performance from Pinkwhen he's just kind of fighting.
He's a little bit. He's like, yeah, yeah.
And just looking around. Yeah, yeah, it's great all.
These people in hush hush, yeah,we all know these people who try
to make things more important than actually, yeah, just to try
and justify their existence. And this guy is no different.
The two week course, it's a nicescathing commentary on gun

(59:44):
control as well in America. Done very swiftly, very
humorously. Yeah, Terry's obviously the
scourge of the town, throwing his weight round as if he's a
policeman. Yeah.
And Paul obviously can't stand it.
And showing up around to get thequarter together.
I was just driving and by and I saw some people milling around
and Blank says no, it was just me, it was just one guy.
He's like, all right. And then at the end, there's

(01:00:08):
this wonderful little gag where Paul asks if Blank has seen the
house. He broke the deal.
Oh, thank you for profiting my on my childhood.
Yeah, amazing. Yeah, great.
I love Blank's delivery when he's just trying to fit into
this over like everyday life. And he's like, I want I'd have a
house like this. I want a wife like you.
And you'll be safe. Very temporary about myself.

(01:00:30):
And you'll be safe, Terry. Rubbish.
I think Blank does more to torpedo that situation than
Terry does to be. Quite honest.
But Paul just takes it out on Terry.
Oh. That's wonderful.
Yeah, it's great. So Martin is revisiting his past
and the puzzle pieces are beginning to slot together.

(01:00:55):
Leaving the house. We're still with Martin and
Paul. Paul struggles to contain his
emotions. It has been 10 years, Matt.
It has somehow. So he's driving him around.
Look, all past Debbie's house. Kind of crept up.
And you, didn't it? No.
You drove us here. Brilliant.
As we've said, the chemistry between these two, it's
incredible. And you do get this like,

(01:01:17):
implicit shared history between them, which is somehow very
understandable. You know, just shooting the
beat, you know, did your sister ever marry that guy?
Kenny, Kenny, Kenny Kenny. He's got A tag on his like 3.
Years of Juliet, Yeah, Let's notgo there, yeah.
Let's not go there. See, you feel like you've just
dropped in on two offense catching up, but then out of
nowhere there's that explosion from Paul.

(01:01:40):
Brilliant. Just the blast on the car horn.
First of all, 10 years, man, 10.And then the conversation comes
back to Martin trying to justify10.
He's a hit man. And it comes back down again.
Oh, do you have to do a post grad to do that or can you jump
right in? I'm I'm curious about that.
Not to not market. OK, 10 years man, 10 years 10,

(01:02:03):
10/10. Years. 1010 years, 10, It's so
funny. I mean, this is clearly one of
the most simplified scenes by clearly.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. It really feels like they've
just said, Jeremy, 10 years is the line.
Do what you want with it. Because when he blasts that car
hard, John Hughes like, really dropped.
It's a surprise. What where's he going with this?
One of the most memorable scenesin the film, obviously.

(01:02:25):
And it just makes that point again, though, about no one
questioning Martin's job, despite the fact he's really
honest about it, because who would make up something like
that? Yeah.
It just really sells the friendship these two hard, which
is really important because you need that for Paul helping them
to sports the Felix later on. Yeah.
But yeah, once you've seen this,anyone says 10.
Yeah. Instant reaction in 10.
Years 10 years 1010. It's fantastic that laugh that

(01:02:53):
they both share right at the end, just before a cut that was
clearly genuine. Genuine, yeah.
I love it right at the end. And he drops him off and Paul
says I'll see you at the peaks and I'm kidding your party.
Yeah. Brilliant, brilliant dialogue.
From there we're back at the Ultimate and this scene is just
fantastic stuff. It is fantastic.

(01:03:14):
So there's a lot of nods here with the films that came out
before. Great touch with that kid
playing Doom 2, probably one of the greatest video games about
all the time. It's still amazing.
I've just downloaded that after watching this this morning.
So I've downloaded that for me, son.
So we're going to play that later on.
He's got the two guns out. There's a massive John Woo
reference here. There's the suit that he's

(01:03:35):
wearing that's kind of flying all the way through.
The destruction of this whole place is fantastically set up.
Just when he just turns up just running through the door. 2
Oozies. Just brilliant.
Just. Did not expect them.
And it's just right here we'll go and we're into the action and
it's got a real Dustal Dawn vibefor me, opening a Dustal door

(01:03:56):
and it's very, very similar to that, just with everything
exploding. The way it goes and even the
explosion itself is excellent. I will say this, it's very fast
and I remember it being longer. Just like the fight later, yeah.
Exactly. Quite fast I.
Think you fill in a lot of the gaps and I think a lot of that's
down to the editing as well. This this rabbit at just this
real kinetic vibe to the energy.But what I will say is that the

(01:04:18):
most childish explosive device you've ever seen made in your
entire life. Did you used to do the same
thing with just like a lump of plaster scene and some speaker
wire. You find light in the third
drawer down in the kitchen. You just like, let's get all
this, put some drawn pins in it and then stick it in the
microwave. It's just really takes me out.
But you just go, you know what? That's really, really fun,
because that makes sense. Yeah, he was caught on the hot,

(01:04:40):
wasn't he? Had limited time.
It's great because you just lookat it and you know for a fact
that's an explosive. There's no research that doesn't
say, say 4 on it or anything. You just look at it and go,
that's going to explode. Brilliant, Perfect.
Like it's like something that Wallace and Gromit would invent.
It's just really, really great. And you've got that look from
Cusack where he's like just thinking about it for a second

(01:05:02):
and he's like, oh shit, he's gotto like move and get out of
there. When you're looking at that
counter, it's in the teens, it'sin like 14/15/14, which you
think great, he's got time to get out of there.
He's got enough time. But then think about the whole
thing. He gets away with murder all the
way through the film. So it's grosser, but you just
think that's unrealistic if thatdidn't count down in the right
amount of time. So they've got to make some
parts of it realistic for you tobuy the actual tone, which

(01:05:24):
totally, totally works. It does.
And then it cuts to the outside and I've watched this good
couple of times. I don't think the hard
necessarily a huge explosion here because it's not
necessarily shot very wide. It's very close.
It's like I made. It's.
Quite tight, which makes it looka little bit more.
It makes it look bigger, Yeah. And I think when it cuts back to

(01:05:45):
blank and the kid on the floor, you can tell that people are
just off camera throwing shit out.
Yeah, sure. Like Ping and Devil said this
sort of behind the cameras throwing milk cartoons and just
be like. Brilliant.
Hit him with that one, right? Yeah.
Absolutely. Tell.
And when the kid just walks off,are you OK?
That's the last thing he says. The kid, which is also the first

(01:06:05):
lady, says to Martin when he walks in the first time, say,
are you OK, man? He's like, yeah, yeah, I'm fine.
And he's like, are you OK? He's like, no, I'm not, I'm
going to go find another job. That's it.
And then it is, it is over with no consequences.
A lot of fun and a lot of nods to, you know, classic actioners
like John Woo, like Tarantino, like Rodriguez.

(01:06:26):
It's all in there and it really works.
And shooting up that Pulp Fiction stand up as well, I
think is a really nice touch. Yes, indeed.
Yeah, I mean, talking about thatbit, Yeah, Armitage had called
Tarantino personally to ask if he could use that Pulp Fiction
lobby card. Nice.
And QT was a fan of Armitage work and he knew infamous days
of working in video archives as well, so it was actually wide
with scripts and shot up during the scene.

(01:06:46):
And Tarantino even wanted a cameo where he'd be shot up,
blown up, but sadly that never materialized.
That would have been great. That would have been beautiful.
Yeah, right in the sweet spot for Tarantino as well.
The danger is set up during the shootout.
Added real tension in the film and said my biggest memory of
the Civil Infant Shootout is that the place was wired to
blow. The explosives were being set up

(01:07:07):
as we were filming so it was a little nerve wracking.
Dangerous, that. The whole place could have gone
up at any time. It's really dangerous.
I'll tell you what as well though, what a cool move is
sliding on his knees towards themicrowave.
Yeah, that's great. That looks great.
Not great comic code, just the kid playing Doom oblivious to
the police. Gamble ownership.

(01:07:27):
It's great, but I'm picking up after the whole Altamar tobacco.
Martin and Debbie meet for drinks at the Hippo Club and
it's a little bit of exposition.We find out that Debbie's been
married and divorced. The fact that Martin knows this
already reinforces that he's obsessed over Debbie for 10
years. 10 years, 1010 Martin hasDebbie to go to the reunion with

(01:07:48):
them. Revisiting a film that I've held
near and dear for almost 30 years and being critical of it
is a difficult thing. But I suppose this is a bit of a
stretch in the narrative for me.We know how emotionally damaged
in the last 10 years of being for Martin.
We can assume that it's been equally heroin, if not more so
for Debbie. She's just said for the last 10
years she's been left wondering what did she do or could she

(01:08:10):
have done to stop and running away.
She's been married and divorced,suggesting the state of Arrested
Development as a result of Martin's cruel dawn departure.
Maybe she forgives Martin very quickly and doesn't put up too
much of a fight. We all know that she's going to
that reunion 100%. Nothing's going to stop her.
So I'm struggling to buy this a little bit from the character if
I'm being. Critical.

(01:08:30):
I know what you mean. Yeah, Yeah.
But I do level when Amy shows upcompletely pissed somebody else
from Martins past asking them where the hell he's been for 10
years still. Together, yeah.
Drivers creative yeah. Marv, where you been?
That's fantastic. And Amy is and Cusack, John
Sister. Yes.
And then finally, the scene in the bathroom where the two

(01:08:51):
Spooks are just hanging out there scoping out their target.
Yeah. They did not think it was a
possibility that Martin would need to go to the toilet at some
point. Yeah, just one of them not want
to stay out, just keep an eye onhim and the other one just go in
one at a time. They've done a terrible job of
remaining inconspicuous up to this point.
And when Grosser comes out of that cubicle, that's him.

(01:09:12):
Yeah, why did you just go and shoot the fuck?
But that's great because it explains why they don't.
They have to wait until they seehim in an illegal act and then
they can pounce, which is why they show up right at the end.
Yeah, that's great, right? Yeah.
And then when they fool him intogoing back into the stalls and

(01:09:32):
oh fuck you guys not. The fact he's got a paper with
him, he's obviously reading. So it's all set up.
Martin and Debbie have rekindledBethlehem.
What could possibly get in theirway?
Nothing truly. Let's find out the crew.

(01:09:53):
An eclectic mix in the crew on Grosse Pointe Blank.
Firstly, we're starting with theright in collaboration with an
unusual back story. We'll get to that in a moment.
Firstly, our thoughts on the screenplay by Steve Pink DVD
Vincentis, Tom Yankovic and and John Cusack.
Now, what I love about the writing here is that it takes
story beats we've seen quite a few times before, but then gives

(01:10:14):
them this completely fresh spin.Yeah, on paper you've got a
reunion movie, a hitman movie, aROM com all rolled into one.
But somehow it doesn't feel likeany of those things.
The film is very talky. There are action set pieces and
comedy moments, but generally the comedy is in the dialogue
and in the delivery. We've talked about that.
Yeah, But I think that could easily become tedious and has in

(01:10:35):
many other films in the past. Yeah.
But the writing's so sharp that you're hanging on every word.
Blank is in crisis. He's getting sloppy at his work.
His friendly rival with his colleague is getting less
friendly by the minute. His therapy sessions aren't
giving them the Cathars as he needs.
And he's a professional hitman. Very, very key piece of
information, which is very unusual.

(01:10:56):
Yeah, I think it's just smart writing, perceptive about
nostalgia, relationships, friendships, feeling out of
place with what's expected in society, those natural steps
that people take from school to family life and Korea that are
expected in society, the feelingof being a square peg in a round
hall, Blank says. I've always felt very temporary
about myself. That line could come from any

(01:11:17):
romantic comedy lead, but here it's coming from a contract
killer, which is great. What really impressed me.
The film recognizes people's flaws and doesn't judge them.
Everyone's got their own idiosyncrasies and the right and
captures the nuances of personalities very well, and it
feels like a natural fit for Cusack's voice as both an actor
and just a person. This doesn't feel forced.

(01:11:38):
No, not at all. It feels like every character is
actually based on someone they know.
Yes, very much, Very much, yeah.And then there's that dialogue,
multiple meanings embedded in everything.
Start with the title and there'sgot to be a nod to point Blank,
the mean Marvin film in there tobegin with.
Yeah. Yeah.
The script just drops in enough clues about Martin's trauma.
We've talked about it already. Might you mentioned it about the

(01:11:58):
the mother and father scenes. Mother's in a psychiatric
facility. His father's presumably drank
himself to death. It's never too explicit trust in
Cusack's performance to do all the heavy lifting.
So yeah, familiar territory madecompletely fresh by the
intelligence in the writing, which is unusual for a four way
writing team. It's usually too many cooks

(01:12:19):
spoil the broth. But not in this case, no.
What about UMass screenplay? It's all about the characters
for me. It's just full of stand out
character moments where everyonefeels very real, very relatable.
The scene Westie mentioned, the old high school teacher, Mrs. K,
totally by that. We'll we'll probably get into
this, but everything with Bob Destefalo later on, yeah, you

(01:12:41):
totally understand that character.
And maybe 3 scenes and that's actually everything they do
about him. When Martin and Debbie turn up
at the Union and you've got Arlene handed out the badges,
there's clearly some tension there between her and Debbie for
whatever reason. Love the show?
Love the show like they're good at.
You're our demographic. So something's happened, but we
don't know what. But we don't need to know.

(01:13:02):
But then later on when Felix turns up, she still sat at that
desk with the last of the badges, looking really
depressed, like she's been crying.
And I always think, you know what, this has been her whole
thing for years. She's wanted this reunion to
happen. She's probably been planning
this for months and now it's over with.
She's not even enjoying the party and.
She's not even. She can't party because she's

(01:13:23):
got to hand out the badges and Idon't think she's moved on from
high school at all. And I get that from 2 scenes
with very little dialogue. But I told you, get that
character great. And I think that speaks to how
you wanted the rightness, whether it was on the page,
whether it was improvised. We'll get in all that because he
got all the big elements of Modern's existential crisis, his
relationship with Debbie, the hit that's out on the father,

(01:13:44):
the people out to kill Martin. But in amongst that, all these
little character details that really stand out and everything
lands as it should and nothing makes you think, well, why is
that in there? Why do you only see Martin's
mother for one scene? You only need one saying what
happens to Marcella You don't need, no.
She gets a payoff, happy ending affair.
That's all you need. So I think it's really, really
clever and strong and quite complex character writing.

(01:14:06):
Yes, it is. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, the whole writing,for me, there's a complete
personality here. It's a personality in itself,
and they have to stick to that. They know what this personality
is. They know what's funny, they
know what's what to avoid. And the zero threat throughout
the whole thing. And I think that comes down to
the writing as well. It's got a very light touch, a
very deaf touch. I mean, it's not a history of
violence, is it? No, you know, and it's not like

(01:14:28):
the fastest gun alive, you know,it's not these where he's got to
prove himself. He's a hit man and somebody's in
danger. Yes, that does happen.
But still it's done with just a very light touch and a very
accessible touch. And I think that that's what
they do. They make it feel accessible and
they make it feel fun, no matterwhat the subject matter is.
I mean, you have got ball, man. He's addicted.
The cocaine, obviously, you know, he's really troubled, and

(01:14:50):
there's a lot of people who are really troubled in this town.
And this whole reunion, you knowwhat?
It cuts back to him in the dancefloor.
He's punching himself in the head.
It's absolutely. Hilarious.
But it's kind of like, you know,the might have written that down
to that is how this guy needs toact because it just does seem
like it's within the tone of thefilm.
Like that's not just thrown in there to be funny.

(01:15:11):
It's thrown in there because it totally works with the rest of
the film. It doesn't stand out.
The character definitely. And to me, I think the dialogue
is definitely better than the plot.
The dialogue, it's sharp and it's relatable.
Even though it's a small town inAmerica, you can still relate to
these characters. You can still relate to the
dialogue of what they're saying and where they've been.
And it has this real universal theme all the way through it.

(01:15:33):
You can't kind of tap onto that.Oh, that was me.
Oh, that's how I felt with that.Very much, yeah.
It's so personal in the writing.And like I say, the personality
that comes across is excellent. And the tone is consistent.
Whether you wanted it to go a little bit darker, whether you
wanted it to go a little bit more serious.
And it kind of spins on its headand it turns into something
totally different. I don't think they were
interested in that. I think they were interested in

(01:15:54):
making this full film with this tone, with this personality.
And I think they absolutely nailed it, to be fair.
Yes, I think we're all on the scene and page there.
Yeah, well, the story of how thewriting on Grosse Pointe Blank
came to be is a complicated 1. And here comes starts off In
1991, screenwriter Tom Yankowitzreceived a letter that would
change his life forever, an invitation to his 10 year high

(01:16:15):
school reunion in Madison Heights, MI.
At the time he was struggling tomake it as a screenwriter in LA,
substitute teaching and working at a retail store at night to
pay the bills. Big Lots retail store, Yeah.
The prospect of facing his former classmates when he hadn't
achieved his dreams filled him with absolute dread.
Yeah. But it also lit a fire
underneath him. He sat down and got serious

(01:16:36):
about what he always wanted to do, screen writing.
He started working on what wouldbecome gross Point Blank.
Amazing stuff, yeah. And ironically, Yankovic never
actually attended his reunion. He decided to have his fictional
hitman Martin Blanco for him instead.
But he did use the real reunion invitation as inspiration, and
the real invite was pretty much used verbatim for the invite in
the film. Nice.

(01:16:56):
Yeah, you can feel that. It's personal.
And he even borrowed the names of former classmates for
characters. So Pivens, Paul Speretti was
named after the Yankovic's best friend.
John Cusack's Marcello was namedafter his manager at Big Lots as
well, right? Nice.
And Jankowicz chose the upscale Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe
over his own working class hometown of Sterling Heights

(01:17:17):
because it sounded better in a projected the right image of
power and wealth, the Beverly Hills of Michigan, as he called
it. And as his brother later
observed, Grosse Pointe Blank isa better title than Sterling
Heights Blank. Yes, definitely, with no double
meaning, no double treble meaning or anything like that.
The title itself came to while he was substitute teaching.
He wrote gross point blank on the whiteboard to see how it

(01:17:39):
would look on the cinema marquee, and you would
immediately look in Tyson on a movie site.
Yeah, it's a fascinating title. It's a great title.
It is, yeah. And there was an urban legend
surrounding the making of the film that it was actually based
on. Real point blank student who
became a hitman. This is completely false.
Janglins loved the myth but admitted there was no truth to
it. He just didn't think a film

(01:18:00):
about a cashier at Big Lots attending his reunion would be
that sexy, so he drew on his love of crime fiction to create
a hitman premise. Yeah, really is.
And there were several production companies interested
in the concept in the early 90s,but they struggled to see a
market considering the mix of comedy and violence.
This despite Kiefer Sutherland shown strong interest in the
script at the time. All right.

(01:18:21):
And of course, that was before Tarantino blew the market open
with his particular brand of movie making, which kind of made
Hollywood see new movies in a different light.
And this is where Cusack enteredthe fray with his Chicago
buddies. He made a production deal with
Paramount in 1992, and Steve Pink and DVD Vicentes, his old
buddies, had both moved out LA as well.

(01:18:41):
And Stephen Sandus discovered the script in an unusual way
because at the time he was living in his car, just
bartending and making extra money doing script coverage for
kiosack empowerment. Yankovic's story arrived at
Cusack's New Crime Productions in a Manila envelope, and it was
a mystery script that Pink and Stephen Sandus were told not to
read as it was unsolicited. But the opened and read it
anywhere and it immediately tapped into ID that already been

(01:19:04):
discussing. Brilliant.
Yeah, the concept, it actually emerged from conversations
between Q second David sent us about what constituted the
ultimate American man. David sent us said.
I remember one day we were playing baseball and we cracked
ourselves up because we just decided the ultimate American
male will be somebody who kills for money.
Makes sense, and what followed was a complete rewrite to match

(01:19:26):
Cusack's specific tastes and talents, with the Chicago crew
essentially taking over the whole project.
Yeah, Jankowitz basically was not involved from this point
onwards. He was paid and that was it.
And he gets a sole story credit for that reason.
Right. And even Send has described the
creative process as us sitting in a room with a computer and
beginning a free for all competition to make each of the

(01:19:46):
laugh. That's when the good stuff
comes. We've been doing this since we
were 15, so it's become a prettynatural thing.
Yes, the story ended up being a satirical take on American
values, Cusack said. I grew up fascinated by people
in the Reagan administration, people who plan wars and then go
home to their wife and kids. How do they live?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he said.To me, growth point blank was a
metaphor for the people in the Bush White House, a tongue in

(01:20:08):
cheek look at American value system.
Nice. And a journalist who attended
high school with Cusack in Evanston, IL, found numerous
illusions to their actual schoolin the finished film, as he
noted, if I'm not mistaken, the heroin's last name?
Newberry belong to a pair of cute artistic Evanston sisters,
and the bully is a thinly disguised and inexplicably cruel

(01:20:29):
parody of another classmate who I pray hasn't seen this movie.
And the general consensus aroundthe original script with that,
it just wasn't very good, MinnieDriver later said.
The script wasn't really that good and everyone knew the
script wasn't really that good. We shot a couple of days and I
remember it wasn't that it was disastrous, it just wasn't

(01:20:49):
funny. But you can see that they've
added that secret sauce, haven'tyou?
Yeah. Cusack realizing that the film
was in trouble at that point, hemade a bold move and he went to
Disney, the studio chief, Joe Roth, And he essentially said,
can we just improvise? Will you just give us, like, a
week and then watch the dailies?And tell me if you don't think
that It's great. And the film is packed with
clever references and details that you only really pick up on

(01:21:12):
repeat viewings. We've mentioned the Bond
references. And Martin's reunion invitation
requires attendees to dress to kill the camera uses in the
reunion is a minox, a miniature camera popular with Cold War
spies and stands out a mile for me when he pulls out a.
New word. A new word.
A Minox. I'm getting very excited.

(01:21:34):
And then Felix Lapu Bell, Beni Urquodessa's character name
that's pronounced the same way as Poo Bell, which is French for
garbage can. Yes, OK, yeah, a nice fit and
moniker for a disposable assessor.
Yes, and I love the way Marsalissays it earlier on Felix Lapu
Bell. It's great.
Yeah, I mean, it's one of the greatest character names in

(01:21:54):
history, and we'll be talking more about that guy very soon
indeed. Unfortunately, there's a sad
quarter to the gross point blankstory.
Original screenwriter Tommy Ankowitz continued working in
Hollywood as an uncredited script doctor and journalist.
He never wrote another screenplay apart from this one.
Oh really? Oh.
Wow. He stayed largely out of the
spotlight. In January 2023, he accepted an

(01:22:15):
invite to a college screening ofthe film and participated in AQ
and a session with the studio, something he just never did.
He avoided interviews, invitations for interviews and
screenings. During the discussion, he
collapsed and died and hospital later that night.
He was only 49. Wow.
Sad news. That was sad.
But he's left the lasting legacy.
Oh, definitely. Lit the spark for this one,

(01:22:37):
didn't he? Certainly did, yes.
And talking about the screenplay, we've got our second
question from ATR MP and this one is from Gav Newton.
How are you doing, Gav? Gav?
Now Gav says this is one of my top ten favorite films, he said.
I once showed it to a mate of mine who after 30 minutes asked
when does it get going. Right.
I hate that question, That old. Chest Devastating.

(01:22:59):
Yeah. Devastating.
When do you get going now? Like I've said, it left me
shaking my head. My question is what film that
you love? Have you shown a friend or
family member only for them to be unimpressed, leaving your
question in their taste in film?Now I chose this question
because this is straight up youralley, Westie.
This is if we know someone, we know that.

(01:23:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, great.
If someone is not in the tune with your tastes, we know that
you just never need to speak to that person again.
Correct. That's a hill I'm going to die
on. Yes, yeah.
And this is awful when it happens because you find
yourself forced in a laptop preempt in the next good bit.
Yeah, try and desperately refer to resonate, but the race is

(01:23:44):
already run and you've lost. It's terrible.
Yeah, it's awful. Have you got an example of this
West? I've got loads.
Of course, you have to be honest.
And no friends as a result. I prefer to understand by
myself. I'm like, well, I mean, there's
there's a fair few that but I mean, found love of film and I
just really love a film as you know.

(01:24:05):
I mean, speaking about length, Imean The Assassination of Jesse
James, I've recommended to so many people and they've said,
oh, that's good, it was too long.
Yeah, bollocks. That's not an argument.
That's like saying that PhillipsDay, it's too big.
It's it's stupid, one that I never get away with now because
it was just one. I know you're going to agree
with this Lucas Highlander. I'll show that so many.
People and they kind. Of go.

(01:24:26):
What on earth is this? What is the matter with you?
That's another one. Mass is a prime example.
Yeah. It just.
It only works in your own littlevault, I think.
Another one of mine that nobody gets in the world apart from who
made it, Mike Lindsay and me, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I've recommended that to some people that I work with, and I

(01:24:46):
think they just went. It was just pretty boring and
we've seen it all before and they've missed the boat on it.
That's when you need to follow through on you.
You never need to talk to. Those people, again, I've quit
the job, left the whole thing, not interested.
They're the ones for me. But the my films, it's fine, you
know, That's OK. It is, that's your journey

(01:25:07):
waste. Of course it is.
What about you, Matt? Assured the Exorcist to flatmate
to university at the time. OK, good start.
Well you would think but they just laughed at it.
They couldn't get past like the head turning bit the cursor
expect which OK yeah fair enough, it looks a bit enough.
But if if that's the main thing you're taken from the Exorcist,

(01:25:28):
then I don't know what to say toyou.
Well, yeah, you know, it's so much more than.
That that's, that's just a question of respect for you and
the materials. And they're showing a lack of
respect. So lack of response.
I moved out the next day was good.
So there you go, beautiful. And another one showed someone
you know top secret, the AbrahamZucker film you thought I was on
to an absolute winner because she loved aeroplane Stony faced

(01:25:51):
thought the whole thing. No, nothing.
Nothing. Not one laugh.
Not one laugh. Surely there's one in there?
Yeah, that's a decent film. Yeah, I mean, OK, it's not
airplane, but still really funny.
No, no, it's not. I know that laughing thing had
that with Elm Street in the past.
And that you don't obviously know what this means to me.
Yeah, exactly. If you did, you wouldn't be

(01:26:13):
laughing. Yeah.
And I've had this experience with this very film, Right?
Oh wow. OK.
Yeah, personal favorite of mine,obviously, as discussed ad
nauseam. I thought it'd be straight up my
wife's alley. Girlfriend at the time, a big
job. Obviously she knows I like
Cusack, she loves Ackroyd. I thought it would be a
beautiful coming together. Not a bloody bit of it, no.

(01:26:35):
Didn't love Ackroyd. She said he was being over the
top, couldn't connect with Cusack and the least said about
her thoughts on Mini Driver the better.
Wow, what? Needless to say, she hasn't
revisited the film with me this time around when I've deep dived
interest. Yes.
But thank you very much for the question, Gav.
A great one, yes. Thank you, Gav.
Thanks, Gav. And a great piece of writing on

(01:26:57):
Grosse Pointe Blank with a greatHollywood story.
A sad ending, yeah, but a great legacy left behind.
Yeah. And now it's over to the music
in the film, scored by Joe Strummer with some incredibly
curated songs from the 80s. Yeah, top five Westy.
Not for me. Oh, I think it's not really my

(01:27:19):
cup of tea. I think a lot of the music in
this, it's a very mixed bag. So there is something for
everybody, but I just feel like I've heard all of these songs so
many times before and it's almost a cliche of itself, you
know, kind of like Mirrors in the Bathroom and Live and Let
Die. You would expect to hear them, I
guess. But I think the thing for me is
it's all just a little bit too reggae tinged.
You know you're not a regular fan.

(01:27:40):
Not a massive fan of regular. I've really tried and I just
went, you know, it just makes usfeel seasick.
Just it makes us feel a bit off kilter.
It's not the rhythm for me. Yeah, I'm a four, four man.
Can be John Bonham any day. There's just too much of the
specials in there, I think. Right.
Which kind of pulls us out a little bit.

(01:28:01):
The standouts though, I mean, I love Blister in the Sun.
I think that's an absolute banger by the Violet Firms.
That's brilliant, Brilliant song.
I'll never get tired of that. I love In between days by the
Cure. I think that's really beautiful.
It's great to hear white lines in there.
It is. That's the flash reminders of
Journey today. But it's just it's nice to have
it in there. It's just some songs that I just
think could have been a little bit more intelligent.

(01:28:22):
They've just went, oh, do you want to get that one?
Because that's what people have heard.
And some of them feel a little bit on the nose and a little bit
obvious, like Take on Me by Our heart doesn't need to be in
there. But wouldn't you think that
that's the exactly the kind of thing that will be played in an
80s high school reunion? Very possibly, yeah.
But there's also a far, far moresongs and not as obvious, like
it's ignorable, that song, it's so it's so popular and you've

(01:28:45):
heard it so many times, it doesn't have an impact.
It's too obvious. So for me, yeah, it is a great
collection of songs, but not onethat I'm just going to stick on
when I'm driving to work or anything, because once them
songs come on, I've heard them amillion times.
Right. Wow.
OK, I likened it to, I don't know if anybody listening knows
the history of the album The River by Springsteen, but it's a

(01:29:05):
double album and he envisaged that as part of the songs of
what the characters in the albumwould be listening to.
And the other half are about those characters.
And I feel that about this. The songs that Debbie players,
the songs that are playing throughout the film and
thematically relevant to the narrative, right?
The ones at the reunion are the ones that are just on and the

(01:29:27):
big hitters that they would be listening to anyway.
That's my problem where I think the ones that do tie into the
narrative, I much prefer that from a soundtrack.
I think it needs, it needs a little bit more attention for
me. Right, OK, no Springsteen on the
soundtrack, but you've still gotthem in there.
I love that. Well, he's not on the
soundtrack, so that's good. She wants Springsteen in there.
Come on. What I like about the soundtrack

(01:29:48):
is that it functions on quite a few levels for me.
For Martin, these songs represent his youth, that period
before everything went wrong. But for me and for other people
who discovered this film in the in the late 90s, we were
offering discovering the music at the same time, either through
our own endeavors or being introduced by the film.
So you get this double hit of nostalgia.

(01:30:08):
The character is nostalgia for the 80s and hours for
discovering both the film and the music.
So it hits on really a number oflevels.
The way that the songs are wovenin the narrative is smart for
me. When Debbie players, Rudy can't
fail, Martin tries past the radio station.
It's not just atmospheric and a banger, but those lyrics about
going to the market to realize your soul perfectly foreshadows
Martin's journey to his childhood home turned into an

(01:30:30):
ultimate. I don't think it's just
declaration. It does do storytelling work.
The soundtrack works because it's not trying to be cool or
hip. I think it's generally
reflecting what these characterswould have been listening to in
the 80s and what Martin would still be emotionally connected
to. I think it's comfort music for
damaged people, which is exactlythe what the film's about.
And it really helps that they are, for the most part, bangers

(01:30:53):
for me. Even they take on me or walk
like an Egyptian. Yeah, I don't think they've got
the tired feel that those familiar songs usually do
because they're in this specificset.
Right. Fair enough.
Yeah. That's why it works for me.
Yeah. Matt, what about you?
Music and the film. It's another aspect of the film
that's quite personal to me because when this film came out,
I was well into Empire magazine at the time.

(01:31:14):
And I remember when this came out on VHS, as was back then,
there was a competition in the back of Empire to win it.
So I ended and I was one of the 10 winners.
And as well as the VHS, you got the CD soundtrack, so this was
one of the first. Amazing.
Yeah, one of the first soundtracks I've won, so you
know, I have played a lot and. That's the big winner.
Gross point, Matt. He's all over this.

(01:31:38):
I did not know this about. Yes, this is a revelation.
I think the soundtrack though, Imean, it's clearly John Cusack's
own personal players to you. You know, he's always made his
own musical tears very clear. That's why you have to clash the
jam Toots and the metals. That's very much what he's into.
And I do think it works well forthe film.
I do think it's also quite clever because I take Wesley's
choice about, you know, our heart, take on me and the

(01:32:00):
Bengals. I don't ever need to hear them
again in my general life. But in context, I think they
work really well because I'm with with you on this, Luke, the
other types of songs that play reunions to get people.
So you've got these choices which are clearly personal to
Cusack. You've got choices which are
very obvious, but I do think necessary.
And then you've got songs which fit into the narrative.
But at the time, I've never heard them before.

(01:32:22):
You know, I've never heard Mirror in the Bathroom by the
beat, which I think works reallywell for the fighting cities of
just by Susie and the Banshees. I think that's an amazing song,
that one in there. And I think if you said to
someone you're putting together a soundtrack for a film which
includes the porks, but it's nota Christmas film.
I think everyone will go, ah, going to be Fiesta, is it?
But it's not. It's lockers Novena, which is

(01:32:42):
what plays around grocery attacks Debbie's house, which I
think works really well really since the piece of music.
So to me, this is a really, really great soundtrack because
it's not one song that doesn't earn its place on it for a
particular reason. Big praise.
Well, one of the most memorable music moments in the film is the
ultimate scene that you talked about, Western GNR blasting out

(01:33:02):
Live and Let Die before it switches to that supermarket
Muzak. And when we interviewed David,
even sent this for our High Fidelity podcast, he told this
amazing story. So the original concept was for
Smells Like Teen Spirit to play.They were sent a set of personal
connection to make this happen. He knew Courtney Love from
before she was famous. When they were teenagers, he
reached out to her and she said she would run it past the

(01:33:25):
Nirvana guys. Brilliant.
Nice, nice. Yeah, OK.
So this led to an arranged screening for Dave Grohl where
Devin Sandez sat next to the Nirvana drummer watching the
entire film with the song in place.
But when they were watching it, the same comes on, and Devin
Sandez realizes immediately it just doesn't work for the scene,
which is awkward because he's sitting right next to the

(01:33:46):
drummer who's come out of his way to watch this film with his
song in place. Amazing.
Yeah. So he said that the watch the
whole film, the rest of the filmand he's got this bubble in a
way underneath thinking I'm going to have to tackle this.
Dave Grohl loves the film, but Dave incentives has got to have
this awkward conversation. But thankfully Grohl was of the
same opinion. It doesn't work.

(01:34:07):
They both kind of like edged each other.
Well, he's and Grohl's like, well, it definitely doesn't
work. Yeah, but thinking about it, and
that's obviously with hindsight,retrospect and with it already
in place as Live and Let Die, I just don't feel as though it
could work. No, I can't.
In keeping with the Bond love inthey set their sights on Live
and Let Die, they couldn't get the rights to the original, but

(01:34:29):
got the GNR version instead, something which DVD said was the
best of all three ideas. And of course, back to something
he learned on High Fidelity, that the script is never
finished. He said that a totem, you can
have this idea and it's by no means correct until it actually
works. It's like setting up two friends
of yours and a blind date. It could also be a disaster.
Yeah. I mean, what seems like the best

(01:34:51):
thing doesn't necessarily plan out like that.
Definitely. And Grosse Pointe Blank had a
larger music budget than High Fidelity.
He said that both wouldn't have the soundtracks they have
without the guidance of music Supervisor Kathy Nelson do the
sentence described as the grand queen of soundtrack records.
If you consider this and high Fidelity as well, you've got 2
for me. Really, really distinct

(01:35:11):
soundtracks. Yeah.
To the best of the last 30 odd years.
The connection to the Clash ran deeper than just obviously the
soundtrack selections. Just drummer.
He was brought in a compose thisfilm's original score.
His involvement was a natural fit considering Cusack's deep
appreciation for the Clash. Yeah.
And strummer supporter to createin the skull was spontaneous and

(01:35:32):
collaborative. He worked with musicians Rats,
Scabies from the Damned and Sex Jennings from the Rutz recording
Dune studio downtime in sessionsthat was so informal that
sometimes sex has captured theirAirpod would be waiting outside
while they're finished recording.
Brilliant. Then Strummer's cues typically
appeared in the film's action heavy scenes, providing what was
described as a nervy Sonic signature with anxious synths

(01:35:54):
and dynamic percussion. The perfectly complemented
Martin Blanc's conflicted psychology.
And so subtly, in fact, that we don't necessarily notice them.
No. Very, very subtle, yeah.
So that isn't the only place to find references to Strummer and
the Clash. The high school hallway features
a banner read, and the future isunwritten, a quote from

(01:36:14):
Strummer. And there's even a poster for
the clashes out of control to a visible on Martin's wall as he
prepares for the reunion as well.
So it's stuffed with it. Yeah.
So a huge soundtrack for Grosse Pointe Blank.
Not just amazing songs on their own merit, but thematically
resonant for the most part. For the most part.
Finally, a cinematographer who, again, we'll almost certainly

(01:36:38):
never talk about. No, it's Jamie Anderson who made
a name for himself at the time by shooting films like Unlawful
Entry and The Juror. Matt Jamie Anderson's work here.
Well, the first thing in my headwhen I was thinking about this
one was, you know, we're following on from talking about
Roger Deakins on Plato. Exactly the same.
Like, Yikes. And like, that was stuck in my

(01:36:59):
head to the point where I'm onlygoing to sound like, really
dismissive about Anderson Hale. But then I thought, actually,
you know what? The thing is, ATV has one drop,
and one drop only make the film look good.
And Grosse Point Blank looks good.
Yeah, it's not about huge vistasand incredible use of contrast
and shadows because that's not this film and you can take any
frame of this film and you think, you know what?
I can tell who's important in the shot, what the relationship

(01:37:21):
between the characters is and what emotion Armitage wants you
to feel. It's like I initially thought
I'd be given very faint praise here, but I think I've just been
over inflating in my head how big or notable cinematography
has to be to say no, that works.And that's easy said than done
because we've done a video on Deliverance in the past, which
for the most part looks great. Then you've got the diff and I'd

(01:37:43):
sequence. And that's yes, yes.
So stuff can go wrong. Grosse Pointe Blank didn't need
to look as good as sisters. And I think Anderson just
delivers what this film needs. And yes, he's not exactly ripped
up trees in his career, to be fair.
And his filmography is quite workmanlike, But only if you
talk to him about his career, hecould turn around and say, yeah,
you know what? I'm not a household name, but I

(01:38:04):
shot Grosse Pointe Blank and thething anyone would be proud to
say on that? I think that anybody in the
crew, anybody who worked on the film would be proud to say that
the work he's done here is grace.
We're very interested in your thoughts on Anderson's work
here. It's very much like Armitage's
work here. I think he's brought on to make
something work irregardless of what he thinks should or
shouldn't work. But what he does is he makes

(01:38:25):
everything accessible and it's believable.
There's a lot of scenes here where it could have been
underexposed or he could have tried to go for something a
little bit more clever. You know, they throw a lot at
this. If you watch it from a technical
point of view, from a cinematography point of view,
we're going, I mean, that Dutch angle is a mistake.
You know, these things happen. Probably the tripod was broke or
something and that it's enough time to fix it.
We never can tell light and wiseit's exposed.

(01:38:48):
It does the job. But we're going from handheld
cameras, we're going to cranes, we're going to track and shots.
We're going to, you know, some really clean over the shoulders
and dirty over the shoulders andyou know, you know where you are
with everything that's going on.Really interesting if you just
take, let's just say the Diana sequence between grocer and
blank, that shot where it goes to the waitress and it's that
low angle giving her massive presence in the frame.

(01:39:10):
Doesn't need that doesn't need to happen, but it really works
and makes it seem a little bit more interesting that what the
you know, the mid shot he chooses where you see what the
holding underneath the table to then go onto the table and then
punch you to a closer. That's all considered because
you then brought into the conversation, the threat's been
taken care of and you can move into it.
A lot of what is happening technically has been really
considered when at the reunion and Martin's holding the baby

(01:39:32):
was holding Robbie and then whenhe puts Roy back at least
looking at the baby. And it's an incredible shot of
the baby just looking straight up and it's just beautifully lit
and it's just really nice catch lights.
And then it cuts to the side shot and that is beautifully
lit. That rim light is just perfect.
Yes, because of the situation that he's in.
It's not taking you out of the location because yes, there's
lights over there and that's going to happen.
But still really nicely considered, really nicely shot,

(01:39:55):
really nicely lit, and a really lovely moment that calms the
whole film down while some guys are over in one corner talking
about what's funny. And what the dialogue should be,
and you've got Armitage and you've got Anderson in the other
corner going. How the foot.
We're going to shoot this. Let's listen to what they're
saying. Yeah, we're going to do some
whip pants. It's going to be handheld.
Don't tell them because the lastget to change it.

(01:40:15):
Just go in there and shoot it the way you want to shoot it
without an opinion. You're a cinematographer and you
don't look at the cinematography.
You've done a really good job. Yes.
And I think he has done a reallygood job.
Yeah, very nice. Yeah, I think I'm very similar
to both of you. It's understated work.
There are some artistic flashes,like that moment in Miami near
the start where you get those beautiful neon pinks and greens
from the streets in the hotel room.

(01:40:37):
Really atmospheric, but without being showy.
Yeah. And what I really appreciate is
he's functional. Anderson.
We've talked about this kind of thing with the director, George
Armitage. He stays in his lane.
The cinematography serves the plot, never overshadows the
narrative, never makes its presence known.
It's kind of like Martin himself.
It's a ghost that you don't knowis there, but you can sometimes

(01:40:58):
feel its presence with those Korean shots, for example.
Westie. Yeah, yeah, he knows when to
pull back and let the performances breathe.
But there are some nice touches scattered throughout a few Dutch
angles that work. The one at the start doesn't.
They can't all be winners. That's too early.
Yeah, the visual approach maintains A naturalistic quality
that keeps the film grounded. Because the action can sometimes

(01:41:20):
get cartoonish, the dialogue is heightened.
Grosser gets outrageous, the camera works, stays realistic,
which helps sell those elements,those larger than life moments.
I think it's a kind of cinematography that doesn't win
awards because not flashy, but it's absolutely essential to
make a film like this work as a whole course.
Like professionalism there when you need it, invisible when you
don't. Exactly love it.

(01:41:40):
Imagine that it reduced Mrs. K like the reduced Shawn Young and
Blade Runner just walking down the corridor of a shaft of light
Martin. It wouldn't work but it.
It wouldn't. It just wouldn't work it.
Doesn't need it. Anderson's approach perfectly
complemented Armitage's improvisational style.
The director fostered the highlycollaborative environment
frequently used in three camerasand simultaneously, and rarely

(01:42:03):
had to instruct Anderson on camera placement.
This gave Anderson and his team the freedom to respond
dynamically to the actors, improvisation and evolving mood
on the set as well. Yeah.
So they're all one fluid hall, Yeah.
It's an Atlas film, isn't it? It is, yeah.
Anderson style was characterizedby versatility and flexibility,
able to pivot between comedic, romantic and action scenes

(01:42:25):
within the same day of shooting.He employed multi camera
coverage to catch various angles, especially during scenes
of improvisation or intricate choreography like the fight
sequences. Yeah, those fight sequences, the
shootout scene, I think he captures those really, really
well. He does, yeah.
So no real household names in the crew on Grosse Pointe Bank,
apart from John Cusack, who is the lead, of course.

(01:42:47):
But they all understand the material and they create
something greater than the sum of their parts.
Yeah, Definitely, yeah. The end.
The third act is upon us as the reunion draws near.
Martin and Debbie are taking an important step in their
burgeoning relationship and Martin gets the skinny on the 2

(01:43:07):
Spooks and the Google One Felix Lapu bell.
But it is the morning of firstlyand I'm starting off with Martin
being grocer for breakfast. Lovely.
Yeah, there's a lovely little detail as Martin pulls up
outside the restaurant. The two Spooks are in the car,
one's shave and the others brushing the teeth.
So they're just constantly telling them and sleeping in
their car, just waiting for him to step out of line, and then

(01:43:30):
they can take him out at any moment.
Yeah, great. And then they're there,
presumably because Grocer has fed them in the information that
he's going to meet them at this place, which is great.
And this coming together betweenGrocer and Blank, I mean, it's
just, I mean, it's just wonderful.
There's a slightly complicated story here about little Boutrod
the dog, the retriever who got mixed up in something way over

(01:43:51):
his head and got exploded. And that's the reason that Lapu
Bell is on the scene, to also take Blank down.
It's a little muddy for me that.Just a bit, yeah.
It's a little too complicated, but it does work if you're
paying attention to the dialogue.
It does work, but it doesn't stick.
Easy. No.
And the script knows that as well, too, because it has
Grosser stop blanking his tracks.

(01:44:12):
He says, Whoa, whoa, whoa. Chatty Cathy, clip your strings.
I don't need to know. He's doing our job for us.
Yeah. And there's some really, really
wonderful range here from Ackroyd.
Grosser tries again to get blankon side for his Gun for Hire
union, and he looks genuinely depressed when Martin turns him
down, his face pressed against the wall like a little puppy.

(01:44:32):
Yeah, yeah. And then he draws his gun.
Tell him they're going to do a little job.
Oh yeah, Tell me about it. And then he erupts into this
geyser free. I'm going to put a bullet hole
in your fucking phone. I'm going to fuck the brain
hole. Nice talk, sugar mouth.
It's. I mean, that is grotesque

(01:44:55):
dialogue. Yeah.
It's just, it's the character, so.
Well, but nice talk, Sugar mouthis an ultimate comeback, isn't?
It it is. I say that often.
Yeah, often. I might have even said it when
you've been swim Westie on the in the past, I'm sure.
Possibly first person who could find that and put in the group.
Yeah, definitely. It'll have to be a parent

(01:45:15):
though. If you find it, let me know
which which one. Yes, if you do.
There's a task for you, yeah. So after this moment, he
actually turns up blank, turns up.
Debbie thinks he's not. Going to a little late.
Post a little late happening again.
There's a little bit of tension that's really great.
Shows it with the flowers. Who loves that?
That's really good. It's really kind of sour is now

(01:45:37):
to put these rub and alcohol. Yeah, that's really, really
good. It's a great moment as well.
Just before this where it's a little bit of exposition, but it
could really play out to be cheap just depending on your
opinion. Like she's ringing the phone and
then the invite's right next to it and the hands and picks up
the invite and then leaves it. All right, This guy's going to
show up. That's how he knows where it is.

(01:45:58):
Is it a little cheap? Is it a little lazy?
I don't know. But it works either way.
It works. It's kind of a bit like a horror
trope, isn't it? It is a little.
It's kind of like, look, we've ran out of pages.
Yeah, come and do this. Yeah, George, do something here.
Yeah. Yeah, quickly please.
So it's just the ringing form, which I think it works.
I think it's alright. It does.
A big shout out to Mitchell Ryanhere who really, really nails

(01:46:20):
this is like the dad who's like,look, I don't really give a
fuck. You so old enough now to deal
with this by yourselves. Like just obviously been banging
on about this guy for 10 years. He's.
Sick of hearing about? And he's so sick of you.
He's not just talk to him that much.
He's. I've been surprised to see him.
Yeah. He's like, I know you're left,
and I'm glad you did. Nobody else has said that.

(01:46:43):
So he's just straight down the line because he's like, if you
just stuck around, this would have been a hell of a a lot more
bother for me. So it's fine.
I've had to deal with it and you've come back and again, it's
just one of them wonderful scenes where you've got 2
incredible actors. I mean, it's a far cry away from
the general Lethal Weapon isn't?It yeah, he's McAllister and
Lethal Weapon, isn't he? Anything just really narrows
this down to like the guy who's just look at me, daughter's too

(01:47:04):
old to be living with us now. Yes.
Just fucking sort this out and get out, please.
Yeah. But some really, really snappy
dialogue, like you've beaten themillennia.
I've lost me bet. Like just himself, I think.
Yeah. But it's like, you know,
mercenary sensibility Sports X no real relationships with
anyone. How have you been?
How the years treating you? Yeah, yeah.

(01:47:24):
You know, he's just. Naturally, I.
Love his honesty. He's just like really down the
line contractilizer to growth industry, you know, classes back
on reads again and he's maybe thinking about what he's done.
Is Martin there for him, as we'll find that out later on?
Yeah. And potentially.
These little tones in there, that's just down in the whiskey
at the end, but it doesn't linger on it.
It doesn't make it obvious. It doesn't kind of pull you out.

(01:47:46):
The film. Again, keeping the tone light,
keeping the dialogue snappy. Fantastic sequence.
And then they get the reunion. Finally, finally, finally, we're
meet Nathaniel. I'm not hearing any real remote
here. So it's that guy love.
It. We'll meet Bob de Seplo, high as
a kite, but also this real passive, regressive attitude to
Mark. I'm drawing a real blank.

(01:48:07):
Blank right in. His face, right in his face.
All these are the random people from the past.
Terry's there freaking out with a gun, and then Paul turns up in
that cushion encounter he has with Jenny Slater, who clearly
takes a fancy to Martin. Yeah.
Remembers nothing about Paul. Hey, Jenny Slater.
Hey, Jenny Slater. Hey, Jenny Slater.

(01:48:28):
Paul like this, made like this would be the nightmare of going
to school reunion, no one remembering who you are or
having nothing in common with each.
There is no. Way I would put myself in this
situation. Absolutely.
Jenny is my worst nightmare. We've got a Patriot question
about have you been to your highschool reunion?
I didn't choose this. It's a great It would be a great

(01:48:49):
question. It's not really a thing over
here either. No.
But I just know that none of us would go no.
Definitely not, no. Exactly.
But the bit that always stands out to me, it's one of my very,
very favorite bits in the film is when he sees his old friend
Tracy, who has the baby. And this actress KK Dodds only
seen in very small role since a couple of things seen there, but

(01:49:09):
she's so good in the same. And it's it's another great
example of how this film can establish past relationships
between characters very quickly.Because with Tracy, I don't
think there was anything romantic between her and Martin
at all. But I get the feeling there were
really great platonic friends. And I'd have really like special
close friendship because he's delighted to see you and
everyone there. She's the one he's most excited

(01:49:31):
about. And Tracy is the one that gives
him this glimpse of maybe committing yourself to one
person and not running away fromthem.
It's actually a good thing. Like he says to her, it's not
like how it's meant to be, right?
Interest straight back. No, it's not true.
Gets better and better. How's your life?
Well in progress, just more great dialogue.
And we've talked about the musicand obviously, you know my

(01:49:51):
taste, so it takes a lot for me to say Queen on the soundtrack
is a great choice, but I think Under Pressure is so well used
here. Yeah, it is.
And it could be on the nose whenshe asks him to hold Robbie and
he just stares into into Robbie's eyes and he sees the
innocence in there. But it's so effective.
It's like I have like a psychic connection all of a sudden.
You know, this is the turning point, I think, for Martin,

(01:50:12):
again, with no dialogue, but with the head tilt that he does,
the way he just looks at the baby, you can see his
perspective on everything changing.
Like a hired killer listening toTracy say you spend the first
year just trying to keep them alive.
And it's like, that's what it's about.
It's the opposite of what he does.
It's the opposite what he does exactly So about take and life.
It's about having one and livingit and protecting it for other

(01:50:35):
people and not running away fromit.
And I think that's the message Martin has been eating here.
And once he has this moment, that's when he can have the
moment with Debbie when they're up on the sands where the
watching over everyone from a distance and he just says,
sorry, I fucked up your life. It's not over yet.
It's not over yet. That's a great line.
Wonderful because this is when both of them just take their
defenses down. Like she's been keeping an arm
saying he's been the all snappy and charming and this is just

(01:50:58):
pure honesty. And he gets off from this PVC
with Tracy. I think the whole reunion scene
is key to the whole front. But that bit in particular, I
just absolutely at all this. But yeah.
Yeah, it's beautiful. Couple of moments here that I
really like when Nathaniel takesthem over to see those two guys
strictly, Greco Roman also saw. Yeah, what's that about?

(01:51:20):
Really. Yeah, brilliant.
And the interaction that they have with Tanya, who's played by
Jenna Elfman, Yes, she's in thatfull body brace and she's
talking about being taken up by aliens in this wonderful
experience that she had. And Martin goes, Pardon me, I

(01:51:40):
cannot believe I wouldn't be. Told.
Yeah, Tag is played by Jenna Elfman, her film debut, and she
wears that body brace as a tribute to John Cusack's
character in 16 Candles. Right.
Nice. Touch OK.
Yeah, and we mentioned it earlier, but DVD Vincentis plays
Dan, he's greeted by Martin and Debbie just before Bobby Beamer

(01:52:02):
barges his way into the conversation.
OK yeah, a beautiful scene. So with Blank and Debbie doing
the wild thing in the nurse's office, we're hoping for All's
Well that ends well instead of All's well that ends Well we get
All's well that ends. Lapu Bell as Felix changed the
party. Very good, Westie, it's over to

(01:52:25):
you. It is I, Sidney Feldman, you
love it. Reply Been overseas.
Been overseas? Oh God, like that was that
crippled me when I watched it again last night and I watched
it again like last week and every time she said, oh, been

(01:52:46):
overseas a fucking I don't know why it's so funny.
It's so funny and just that now you have changed.
It's one of the strangest looking guys in the.
World, Yeah. Sure as shit doesn't look like
Sidney Feldman, but Martin's gone back to his locker.
He's got a joint in there that he had there maybe 10-11 years
ago, and it just crumbles away. But it's just that little bit of

(01:53:08):
nostalgia that he needs, which is nice.
That's good. And Love Bell shows up, and this
to me is the scene that I definitely remember the most
about the whole film. Yes, I'll come back every time I
hear Grosse point blank, I thinkat this fight in the corridor,
because it's so visceral, it's so real.
You can tell that they absolutely know each other and
they've trained together, which is fine.

(01:53:29):
But the great thing about this fight is the swings and misses.
There's not everything hits. Everything's really scrappy.
It's really violent and sweaty. And then when he's grabbed
Martin's hair and his head, his head's just like pulled back and
just think, fucking hell, they're really going for it
here. He cuts that wide shot and he
kicks him against the locker that kicks.
That's me. And then there's that smash
cutting, hitting the locker. Yeah, Blank can really look

(01:53:51):
after himself from that double kick where he kicks the gun out
of his hand, which is fucking fantastic.
And then that close up with the pen so you don't actually see
the pen go in. There's not that much violence.
It's just that close up, which is far more effective for me,
where you see it and then the move, but you don't actually see
anything happen, which really, really works.
It's lit under a minute and it'sfantastic.
And then you get Debbie running up her reaction to it.

(01:54:13):
That's. The end of it.
Amazing. And her reactions excellent.
Because we're thinking about howis this going to get darker now?
How are they going to get this tone back up?
How do you do it, Piven? That's how you do.
Where's our boy? Where's our boy?
And he's like, is that that guy's book?
He's like, yes, and then, you know, he's leaving fingerprints
on the walls, blood everywhere. And he's just a little bit of a

(01:54:35):
clean up, throws him in the furnace and then that's it.
It's great when he goes down, pivot opens, he orders the
whiskey and he's I'll have a club soda, you know, and he's
just not fazed by anything that's gone on.
And then there's just that this timing from Cusack, this moment,
this timing is so funny because he's like, have you seen Debbie?
The guy said no one walks away, have you seen Debbie to the

(01:54:56):
other guy and it just holds that.
It's just fantastic. You just tell he's like, oh fuck
this up again and she's gone. What am I supposed to do?
The fight seems so good though, It really works.
It's really realistic. There's really loose edits as
well. Fantastic, really memorable and
it's under a minute long. Yeah, incredible.
Cusack turned to his real life kickboxing instructor, Benny the
Jet Ercadez, which is the greatest nickname for anybody

(01:55:19):
named Benny. Yeah, he's a world champion with
9 black belts who'd been training Cusack since Say
Anything. Right.
OK. I mean, you can tell they're
really close. Yeah, there's a lot of.
Trust. A lot of trust, yeah.
It was choreographed in two dayswith both men taking real hits
or authenticity. As Erkadas remembered, John
kicked me so hard and fast that my back hit the dial on the

(01:55:40):
locker and it had the numbers drilled into my back in imprint.
That's that shot was we talked about.
When that was shot, is that sidekick?
Yeah. Brilliant.
Yeah, yeah. But Pratyush Sarotra Binbaum was
understandably stressed about the safety of a starting in
these scenes, he said. It wasn't shot with wild
abandoned. It was sort of very carefully.
It wasn't something where we said go on, go out of guys, best

(01:56:00):
man wins. He was highly controlled.
Best man wins Which? Wouldn't have been used like the
9 black belts for the jet. And Arbitrage kept the Mont
Blanc pen as a moment and on still used it until his sad
pass. And yes, and yes, this
interaction between him and LapuBell, wonderful in the hallway.

(01:56:22):
But there's another interaction in the hallway as well with
Bobby Beamer. Yeah, absolutely amazing.
It's a lovely moment. Because we get two sides of the
blank coin in that sequence. The sensitive type who talks
Bobby down and then the one who takes care of Lapu Bell with
absolute precision. Yeah, it's brilliant.
When he's talking about his poem.

(01:56:43):
Do you want to read me? Poem is it?
Why didn't you just skip to the end?
The very end. Yeah.
For a while. Oh wow, for a while.
That's good, man. Do you want to do some blow?
No, I don't. That's great.
But it just shows you the character.
And it also shows that Debbie's looking on lovingly as well, and

(01:57:05):
that's a great contrast to what she then comes back to Lapu Bell
with a pen in the neck. And we talked about the
improvisation. Perhaps the most creative
improvisation came in that scene.
It had a more straightforward altercation in the original
script, but Michael Cutler's, who plays Bema, came up with a
completely different approach. Yeah.
Kiosak asked him of another the way the scene could go, and he

(01:57:26):
said. I presented a version where Bob,
this big drop knucklehead, had actually been in love with Blank
all through high school and had penned a poem about it.
Cusette wrote part of the poem and Cudlitz wrote part, and they
improvised the entire scene fromscratch.
To this day, people still quote Bobby Beamer to Cudlitz,
particularly his line. Hey, do you want to do some
blow? No, I don't.

(01:57:50):
I don't. That's great.
So with Debbie scared off, I'm going to talk about the
following scene where she comes back to visit Martin.
Just before that, though, there's a beautiful sign off
from the reunion when Blank. Thanks, Ken, for the pen.
Yeah, that's great. Martin fires open, then he gets
an unexpected knock on the door.And this is where Martin's
chickens come home to roost. He's been telling people all

(01:58:13):
over town that he's a professional killer, and
nobody's believed him. Yeah, that's a great recurring
and gag that and he tries to justify it.
A psychopath kills for no reason.
That kill for money. It's just that didn't come out
right. And he probably doesn't need to
tell her that. Sooner or later you kind of get

(01:58:33):
to like it. Omit that information.
That's not relevant. That's not designed to make her
feel good. But as he explains himself to
Debbie, we realize how absurd the situation is, and that
there's no way that Debbie couldbe part of this or share her
life with somebody who kills forany reason.
The fact that he can emotionallyattach him from his line of work

(01:58:53):
means that he'll always be a loner.
So this scene hits, it works, and it makes sense.
It doesn't necessarily stay likethat, though, because Debbie
leaves. You don't get to have me.
That makes sense. Yeah, that's great.
Yeah. And just a final word on John
Cusack as Marcella. Hilarious when it cuts back to
her and she's doused in the office with petrol hammer and
the hard drive with the cigarette in the mouth, I mean.
Incredibly dangerous. I love that, yeah.

(01:59:16):
All right, I. Mean Spoon worries about her as
well at the start of the film when she's talking about the
bullet order and then she startstalking about the soup straight.
Soup. It's just a beer.
It's. Not a boring soup.
Yeah. Brilliant.
She's excellent. She is wonderful.
So then we get the end, the final shootout in Debbie's

(01:59:38):
house, because obviously the bigrevelation is Bart has been the
target all along. And when they get the house, I
mean, Ackroyd's been following them in the van.
And he seems genuinely deranged during this shootout.
He does. You know, singers should be
coming around the mountain when he's got in the house.
I'll be bone if I can head off. Whacking your fucking mind out.

(01:59:59):
I love him man. Shouting out these, like,
biblical quotations about the beast.
It's like, where's this maniac come from?
I mean, again, clearly improvised would work so well.
Yeah, but just another example in the scene how well that
action in the comedy blend because Cusack sneaking around
the house, taking all the other hit men out, pulling the fridge
door open to take refuge behind that.

(02:00:21):
And you can see the bullet in it.
That's all great. But at the same time, he's just
trying to get his true feelings out for Debbie in the most
inappropriate moments. Like, there's one guy who shoots
numerous times and then bashes his head in with a frying pad
and then says, Debbie, I'm in love with you.
And I know we can make this relationship like stretched and
sweat and blood. That's excellent.
And you could say Debbie and Bart are just so confused.

(02:00:43):
Like there's about half a dozen people trying to kill them.
And Martin is talking about redemption in your way and
driving over the dudes and seeing the seas on fight.
Like, can you take care of thoseguys first please?
That's great. You make this good work.
That's the important thing to him, not Grosser.
And you can see that scene wherehe says you can see the look of
annoyance on his face when he's trying to talk to Debbie about

(02:01:05):
their relationship. But Grosser is ranting way
downstairs and he says hold on aminute, I just got to go deal
with that guy first. But then obviously it's going to
come down to this final shootoutbetween Martin and Grosser in
the kitchen. Lautner and Mccullough's turn up
to try and ambush them. Amazing.
And it's really notable that Martin, he's firing really
defensively at them. He's trying to shelter Grosser

(02:01:26):
enjoying the hell out of this. He's he kills them.
Just straight up brutally murders and grinning away and he
thinks this is going to make himand Martin connect?
Like after he kills him? What, because of the world
unite? That's great, no?
Squad of the line, yeah. No meetings going to be means in
this unit. No meetings, no meetings.
But then the way that Martin takes him out because Grosser

(02:01:48):
knows he's empty. He thinks he finally has him
where he wants him, but he just doesn't anticipate Martin
putting a massive telly through his head, which is such a great
visual gag. Popcorn, Popcorn.
Popcorn. Yeah.
Brilliant. Yeah.
So yeah, this sequence, all the jokes land, the action's really
convincing and just a perfect end.
Martin going back up to the bathroom where Debbie and Bart

(02:02:09):
are hiding out. Debbie, will you marry me?
And then Bart's head just popping up out of the bath.
You've got my blessing. It stays on the right tone just
because it does get a little bitoverblown, this sequence and
their reactions to things, and it just manages to stay in Leon.
Yeah, the film went through multiple endings before finding
the right one. After seeing audiences react

(02:02:31):
negatively to Alec Baldens deathin Miami Blues, Armitage was
determined to let Martin Blank survive.
They showed several different conclusions, including extended
talk and scenes between Martin and Debbie, and even discussed a
dark end and featuring the ominous image of their future
tiled Take an aim at the camera with a finger gun.
Right, okay, it's really. Weird.
Outrageous. Is outrageous.

(02:02:51):
Steve Pink later said. I still wake up going.
Why the hell didn't we put that in?
Maybe it was too dark or artsy or esoteric, do you think?
Yeah. A bit, and eventually it was
Disney's draw Roth who suggestedthe solution.
When Debbie Father gives Martin his blessing in the bathroom
after the shootout, simply cut to them leaving together is
armage reflected. I thought, let's give it a shot.

(02:03:12):
And it worked beautifully. It does.
Like I said, that works for thatcharacter that absolutely Debbie
should be nowhere near Martin Blanc in that hotel room.
Yeah. But really, how great is it that
they ride off into the sunset? Yeah, beautiful thing, Yeah.
And now it really is all as wellthat ends well.
Some people say forgive and forget.
We say forget about forgiven andjust accept and get the hell out

(02:03:34):
of town. Nice.
Wonderful. Reception and awards.
Made on a respectable budget of $15 million gross, Point Blank
was released in the US in April 97.
It went on to earn $28 million domestically and only an extra
3,000,000 internationally, 31 intotal.

(02:03:56):
It was well received in most critical circles.
Yeah, An Empire gave it 4 out offive, saying the result is one
of the smartest, most original offerings to roll off the studio
conveyor belt in a long while. Hugely recommended.
Agreed, Empire. Well, that's the review that we
all read. Yeah, Yes.
And all wanted to see for that reason, yeah.
And Rolling Stone loved the film's unique appeal, describing

(02:04:18):
it as a bright burst of action and comedy with the cast that
makes for rousing good company. And they also said that the
character of Martin Blanc was a cookie full of arsenic.
Agreed. Yeah.
Lovely. Yes, and as we usually do, our
third and final critic at the time, Roger Ebert, The man, the
myth, the legend. What do you think he gave it out
for? 3.
Geography. 30 A little bit generous there.

(02:04:40):
He gave it 2.5 out of. Oh, right.
OK. He said John Cusack is one of
those rare actors who can convincingly look as if he's
thinking about words of many syllables.
He seems smart, and that's crucial for the character he
plays in Grosse Pointe Blank because, like so many really
smart people, this one is clueless about matters of the
heart. Yeah.
All right. OK, didn't like the romantic

(02:05:01):
element of it. Oh big ship.
But it did bring high profile prayers in the industry as well.
The brutal killing of Lapu Bell with a ballpoint pen drew
prayers from QT, who called it probably the best fight scene
he'd ever seen. Wow, come on.
When Cusack worked with Clint Eastwood on Midnight in the
Garden of Good and Evil, Eastwood told him how much he

(02:05:24):
loved the film. Abitage said Clint loved the
fight scene, but the scene whereBlank and the baby exchange
close-ups was so cute. He was on the floor with that
one. And now Grosse Pointe Blank has
it. 2% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 7.3 out of 10 on IMDb.
Absolutely no awards recognitionto speak of, and with a
relatively quiet showing at the box office that could have been

(02:05:46):
the end of gross Point blank forever.
However, it's real cultural impact came through its post
theatrical life. The film found its lasting
popularity mainly through home video, cable television, word of
mouth, establishing its reputation as a cult classic
resonating strongly with so-called Gen.
X viewers. Yes, thankfully the film did

(02:06:06):
have that second life, and we certainly wouldn't be talking
about it here if it didn't, No. Definitely not.
Equals and influence The possibility of a sequel to
Grosse Point Blank was discussedfor years.
Co right. Their Co producer Steve Pink
remained enthusiastic about the prospect.
He said. I think a sequel would be great.

(02:06:27):
There's been talk about it for along time.
I mean, I would make a Grosse Point Blank too.
I'd love that. However, a sequel never
materialized. Instead, what emerged was an
informal spiritual successor. According to John Cusack, 2008
War, Inc served as an unofficialsequel.
Both films share similar style and theme, starring John Cusack

(02:06:49):
as an assassin with John as his assistant and Dan Outroyd in the
supporting role. While not directly connected to
Grosse Point Blank, it allowed the team to explore similar
themes. Yes, that kind of went under the
radar, that one. Yeah.
So we're not talking about warring.
Instead, we're talking about theinfluence and the legacy of
Grosse Point Blank, Matt. It's hard to say, isn't it, when

(02:07:10):
a film's like this and it doesn't make that much of a
critical splash at the time doesn't know much the box office
and this one just falls into that category of being a cult
film. There's been endless hitman
films after this, but none like this.
And I think that is probably it's legacy.
It's it's such a one off. As we've said, it's a word of
mouth film. You're only going to watch it if
people recommend it to you. And so maybe it's overriding

(02:07:32):
legacy as well. Is it is a bit of a time capsule
because John Cusack's career, itreally fell away in the mid
2000s on which which we talked about in the High Fidelity
episode because I know we have asimilar question for this one.
Mini drivers had a decent career.
She's always working, but she's never had a year that she had
with 1997 with this ungoodwill hunting.
So maybe that's what it's legacyis.

(02:07:54):
It's the definition of what is an underground 90s cult classic,
which goes point blank. That would be nice.
What to answer? So then in terms of influence,
there's been this weird recurring theme for us 2
episodes where we're talking about directors making films
that are then their next steps. Or Denis Villeneuve had to make
Blade Runner before making Duo. David Dean had to make with a
quite before he could make Lawrence Arabia.

(02:08:14):
I think this one, you don't get High Fidelity until Cusack and
his writing team do this one first and know how to go about
making a film. And I think that that is
obviously it's because you get High Fidelity a few years later.
Very much we'll see what about you legacy and influence on
cross point blank. I feel very much the same as
Matt does, to be honest. There's not much to talk about

(02:08:35):
here is the reason It's been like, I'm going to remake that
because I think it was such a great melting pot of ideas and
three guys who grew up together.So they have a very specific
outlook and a very specific sense of humor.
And you can't replicate that. Even if you want to do, even if
you tried to do it, it would just come across just a little
bit stupid and dumb and it wouldn't work.
So you need these people to do it.

(02:08:57):
And I think that its influence was on itself.
Its influence was on, like Matt said, it's high Fidelity for me,
which I think is a better film. I'll put that out there and see.
I think it's just it's it's justgot more to say.
It's more enjoyable for me. The acting slightly better in
it. I think the characters are a
little bit more defined. I think it's got a better
soundtrack, obviously. But at the end of the day,

(02:09:17):
Grosse Pointe Blank is a very lucky film, very lucky to exist
in the in the style that it doesand in the way that it does in
the runtime that it has. And it worked.
I think it's a lot of this was shut your eyes and throw
something and see if it lands. And fortunately it did.
But who's going to try and repeat that formula without
panicking? Nobody.
So I think it it took a chance and it worked, but no one else

(02:09:38):
has put the cards on the table. Yeah, it's a very quiet one,
this isn't. It's very lucky.
Quiet. Oh my God.
I think the immediate influencescited at the time for this were
QTS films, the influence of those films on this, But I think
with the benefit of hindsight, Ithink this is very different and
something quite influential. Like we said in a quiet way, The

(02:10:00):
Criminal Face and an ExistentialCrisis came up a couple of years
later in The Sopranos and then in analyze this, that and the
other thing as well, something which was never really tapped
into in popular culture before, I don't think.
Then other pieces like TV show Barry, I think has its roots
here, if you've seen that. OK.
You know. A hit man facing a similar
existential crisis. OK highly recommended.

(02:10:23):
Brilliant. OK, even something like John
Wick book kind of roles reverse coming out of retirement as
opposed to going. Into OK yeah, yeah.
Also killed a dog, yeah. Also killed a dog.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Legacy.
I guess it's a case of they don't make them like they used
to. No.
A sad state of affairs. And he's another one you
mentioned. That junk you sack just hasn't

(02:10:43):
been a mainstay in mainstream movies because he is really
magnetic on screen and we haven't seen that since, like
you said, Matt's the mid 2000s maybe.
So I think Grosse Pointe Blank left a subtle influence in pop
culture and a legacy leaving youwant and more for certain, yeah.
Yeah, all the right movies ranking.

(02:11:06):
We've been back to our reunion. Now it's time for us to
summarize and give our score outof 10 for growth.
Point blank. And I'm starting off.
The film means the world to me, and revision for the podcast is
only reinforced why I love it somuch.
I thought it was one of those where I would be starting to
pick holes and I'd start to think I'm a little bit
embarrassed by that, that. Yeah, yeah.

(02:11:26):
Same. Yeah.
And I think I did feel that about certain parts of High
Fidelity, which I didn't really notice before.
I really, really dove deep interest at the character of Rob
Gordon's an absolute asshole andthe right and I think is skewed
in the final third. I don't feel like that here.
I think it's endlessly rewatchable, packed with loads

(02:11:48):
of amazing dialogue and and one of Cusack's finest performances.
The improvisational approach created something I think quite
special, and I think it feels alive with spontaneity in the
way that films now really achieve.
And I know that. All right, Granddad, I know that
I sound like a boron or fart, but that's the way it is.
There are a few plot holes here and there.
Martin gets away with a few morethings than he realistically

(02:12:11):
should, but I don't think that'swhat the film's about.
I think it's about identity and nostalgia and redemption.
It's about whether people can really change and whether the
past can be truly escaped. I think it's very intelligent.
I think it's got a stellar soundtrack, great casting, and I
love that script. A trusted audience.
It's really brave, right? And I think because it it just

(02:12:33):
treats the audience with respectand it assumes that the audience
have got an intelligence. Yes, yes, yeah.
So yes, I am probably taking a little bit off for a few of the
issues that I have because I really couldn't give Grosse
Pointe Black 10 out of 10, Right.
No, like up there with, you know, The Godfather or whatever,
but I am going to give it a 9.5.I really, really love it.

(02:12:55):
Probably an extra .5 for nostalgia.
OK. It's probably a nine out of 10,
but I'm going to give it a .5 for nostalgia.
Right. Nice.
OK. What about you, Matt?
I'll just come back the fact that this is a very personal
film for me. I watch this and I do feel like
I'm the only person who's we've seen this film in the world.
And on one hand I want as many people to watch it as possible,
but on the other, I want this one to remain just for me

(02:13:17):
because everything about this plays to my sensibilities.
The offbeat sense of humour in that dialogue, the musical
choices, every performance is not perfect for me.
The comedy is hilarious, the action is really good, the
romance is really heartfelt and convincing.
You want these two to get together and it mixes all those
elements together while addressing genuine themes like
morality and the crisis of conscience.

(02:13:37):
And ultimately, this film is about making peace with your
past and who you are and revisiting past events.
Or if I could go back in time tosee 17 year old Matt who was
worried about what it would be like to go see this film by
himself, I'd be able to tell him, don't worry about it.
It's going to be a beautiful thing and it's going to change
your life forever. And that's why this this one for
me is is one of those yearly rotation films.

(02:13:59):
I'll always come back to this because it does feel like I'm
really acquitting myself with a really cool old school friend.
Every time he finishes, I'll just think, I can't wait till I
catch up with that person again.So it is a shameless indulgence
of nostalgia for me as well. But this is a 10 for me. 10/10

(02:14:19):
Ten. Wow.
Pulling out Matt big guns Bartley there it is very nice.
The big guns. Westie, how on earth would you
follow that? I mean, I don't think I'm going
to, but let's just leave it there.
That's fine. No problem.
Yeah. I don't have the nostalgia that
you guys have. I was kind of late at this one.
I didn't go to the cinema in 97 to see it, and I didn't see it

(02:14:40):
as soon as it came out on VHS. It was part of a pile of videos
that I was getting through at the time and it kind of stood
out, but not at the point where I'm going to watch this like
every year. And it's one of the ones I need
to come back there, which is maybe caught you guys a little
bit earlier than it caught me, which is fine.
Thoroughly enjoyable film. Really do love it.
It makes us feel good. Having said that, I'm more akin
to films where I will leave feeling a lot but like I'm going

(02:15:03):
to cry for a bit and just sit inthe dark room and feel like I've
been moved. I think.
Oh. My God, the depth of this.
Do you understand what it has been through?
You know what I mean? So it it does live there.
There is a place for this, but that place doesn't really get
used as much as it should really.
But this is definitely one of them films that lives in that
space. It's wonderful.
I mean that all the characters are great, all the acting is

(02:15:25):
fantastic. I love the improvisation.
I just think it's a very lucky film.
Like I've said, they've thrown alot of ideas at this and I took
a lot of deleting things to get things where they are now.
I think if they'd left everything and it'd be very
confused. It's not massively focused.
Like I said, the dialogue's better than the plot.
I don't really feel like I get much of A reward from it, apart

(02:15:46):
from a pretty good time. Alan Arkin's performance alone
is worthy of a rewatch, you know, because of that.
It's not perfect by any stretch.There's a lot to love and
there's a lot to kind of just have a little bit of a frowner.
And if you don't tap into this kind of humor, you are lost from
the start. So I think if it connects with
you, it really does. It does with me.
Not to the level that does you guys, but still.

(02:16:07):
Give me an 8.5 for me. 8.5 Stilla damn good score.
Yeah, yeah. So those are three down, one to
go. Our 4th and final score for
Grosse Pointe Blank comes from our wonderful, trusted
confidants, our period community.
Lovely. Yes, yes, the score will come in
a moment. I've got some comments as usual.
Nice firstly from Matthew Williams, he says great laughs,

(02:16:29):
amazing soundtrack and some of the cast career best
performances in my opinion. This went into my top ten when I
first watched it and has remained there ever since.
Yeah. Wonderful, strong, forget it and
a lot of top 10. Yeah.
That's the kind of film it is. Yeah, from Dave Sedgwick, he
said. My good lady brought this home
from the rental shop and I was furious.

(02:16:49):
What does the name even mean? I don't get it.
Gross. What?
What's this artwork? What's this crap?
However, Dave did a 180, he said.
I absolutely loved it from thosefirst frames and still to the
classic sleeper hit hitman. Explosions, romance, nostalgia,
comedy, hand to hand combat to the death, A terrified

(02:17:11):
therapist, a bangin soundtrack, Cuban civilian rivalry.
Ackroyd Piven. An absolute joy. 10 all day.
Nice. Wow.
OK. Brilliant is everything in the
film. It really is.
It's like the movie review equivalent of We Didn't Start
the Fire. Wonderful.

(02:17:34):
And for all you Billy Joel fans out there, very good.
Our final review comes from Damien Lennox.
And Damien says, I think it's one of those that is nostalgic
for those who seem that young. I didn't see it till I was maybe
30, so ages ago. Damien showing his age and he
thought it was OK. We watched it recently and it's

(02:17:54):
just all right. I don't think John Cusack is
convincing as a tough, ruthless hitman.
OK, I'll tell you what as well. Damien was not alone in those
thoughts. There were a few people that
came back and maybe didn't hit them because they didn't watch
it at a certain period of time. They've come back around and
thought, you know, it's fine, 7-8, you know, that kind of
thing. Yeah.

(02:18:15):
So on average, what do you thinkit got from our parents 9.
Out of 10 majority. Loved it.
Which means our combined score for Grosse Pointe Blank.
Is 37. Out of 40, massive.
That's not bad at all. That is huge for Grosse Pointe
Blank. Definitely join us again in all
the right movies. In two weeks.
When John and the two fellas here will be bringing you the

(02:18:36):
much anticipated, long-awaited behind the scenes story of
Amadeus. John is over the moon.
He's over the moon. Yeah.
I mean, you've said Maine W you're on it.
We're not. Not really it.
Will just be drawn. It will just.
We'll just take the week off. Also coming this month at 2
brand new shows. For our patrons, double feature

(02:18:57):
in the watch list. So if you'd like to listen to
those, and why wouldn't you exactly, then join us on
Patreon, patreon.com/all the Right Movies, or YouTube.
That's where it's. At absolutely.
If you haven't done it already, please give us a positive rate
and wherever you listen to podcasts doesn't matter.
Where you listen. Just do it.
Yeah, yeah, of course. Most like us, if you come this
far, definitely five stars all the way.

(02:19:18):
Don't knock about. Of course not.
And as ever, social media is where it's at for your daily fix
for ATRM. We're on X.
We're on blue sky, threads, Instagram and TikTok.
As always, our making of movie threads, Corp on X, blue Sky and
threads. And just like our podcasts, they
are extensively researched with information corroborated by at
least three sources or information coming from the

(02:19:38):
mouths of the cast or crew directly.
Yes. And you can join our Facebook
group for another of our wonderful movie communities, our
YouTube channel, youtube.com/allthe Right movies, all videos
going up there all the time. So don't forget to check back
regularly. Yes, please do.
And our website is All the rightmovies.com and that is a wrap.

(02:19:58):
Everyone. We're off to.
Grab ourselves a couple of reunion drinks, club soda for
the Westie Yep, Whiskey firmat Yep, and reminisce about the
good old days. Absolutely different drinks,
different needs. Come back for Amadeus in.
Two weeks. Thank you everybody for
listening. Yes.
Thank you so much guys. Take care.

(02:20:36):
Hey, if you want a father, I'll give you a spanking.

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Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) | Ep. 118

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) | Ep. 118