Career Opportunities | S2E9 - Retromade

Episode Transcript
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Katie (02:14):
Hello.
Hello, I'm Katie andwelcome to Retro Made.
You Are Pop Culture.
Rewind.
Today we are flashing back to 1991to discuss a little lesser known John
Hughes flick career opportunities.
Returning to the showis Sean Malloy formally.

(02:36):
Of formally question mark.
I don't know of, I must break this podcastcovering one of my favorite action stars.
Dolf L Grin.
Sean, welcome back.
What's new with you?
Are we gonna get any more episodes?
What's going on with?
I must break this.

Sean (02:51):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I closed out, the journey , of theepisode just because it seems like I.
His career has kind of run its course, youknow, he seems to have kind of, slipped
into kind of a semi-retirement of sorts.
And so I felt like ending it theway I did felt like a good step.
But I have had a few people who've reachedout and have said like, are you gonna put
any of the old episodes up on YouTube orput them back on the feed and everything?

(03:14):
I'm considering bringing it back.
You know, like you, Frankcan probably attest.
Podcasting is that itch.
You gotta scratch every now and again.
So I've been kicking around witha couple buddies, some ideas of,
some, some shows, but I don't know.
I have to admit, I mean, podcasting,like you can attest at the
hobbyist level is a lot of work.
And so, so it's one of thosethings where it's been kind of nice

(03:36):
having the year off and to be aguest on, on shows like this here.

Katie (03:41):
Awesome.
We're gonna spin theretro made wheel for 1991.
So let's open the time capsule.
Sean, I'm gonna share my screen.
Let me know if you can see it.
Okay.
Are you ready to spin?
I'm gonna spin on your behalf, butlet's see what category we come up with.
Let's see if we can testyour knowledge for 1991.
We've come to totally tasty.

(04:02):
Alright.
Which chip brand launched.
It's now iconic.
Once you pop, you can'tstop campaign in 1991.
Cementing.
Its stackable chips in thecultural snack lexicon.

Sean (04:14):
Pringles, right?
Yeah.
Pringles.

Katie (04:18):
Definitely.
Good job.
Good job.
Which lunchbox drink saw a spike inpopularity in 1991, in part due to its
flashy silver pouch and extreme sportsthemed commercials targeting kids.

Sean (04:34):
Capri Sun.
Capri Sun.
It's amazing you

Katie (04:37):
Very good.

' Sean (04:38):
cause

Katie (04:38):
Sean.

Sean (04:39):
yeah, these are these are staples of my kids' lunches even to this day.

Katie (04:43):
I love that.
That's awesome.
All right, let's do another category.
Let's see what we come up with here.
Perfect for a teacher, pages of the past,
which Scholastic publishedmystery book series.
Already well established by 1991remained a Book, fair favorite thanks

(05:08):
to titles like Who Killed HarlowTrombe and the case of the Silk King
letting readers choose the path.
What were these series called, orwhat was this type of book called?

Sean (05:21):
two.
Choose your own adventure.
Those, those were amazing, weren't they?
Yeah.
In fact, I can still remember my veryfirst choose your own adventure book.
It was something about the SpaceVampires or something like that.
It was something space vampires, but thecovers of those books were so electric.
The paintings were just amazing.

(05:41):
So, yes.

Katie (05:42):
Choose your own adventure.
Great, great, great.
Now this one is a magazine, which MonthlyTeen magazine featured cover stories
like Crush Confessions and How to FlirtWithout Freaking Out, and was known
for its iconic trauma rama section.

Sean (06:02):
Was that Tiger Bee?

Katie (06:03):
Good guess it's for, I would say a little bit older.
Teens.

Sean (06:10):
I'm gonna guess 17.

Katie (06:12):
Very good.
Sean?
17.
I loved this magazine.
Let's, let's do another category.
This category is, canSean come out to play?
Released by Nintendo.
A few years earlier, this handheldconsole dominated 90 ones gaming
scene with titles like SuperMario, land two Six Golden Coins.

(06:33):
What was this device

Sean (06:35):
The Game Boy.
The Game Boy.

Katie (06:39):
Yep.
Very good.
Game Boy was correct.
This tabletop game becamehugely popular in 1991.
Inviting players to assume the rulesof adventurers in a fantasy world.
Rolling dice to determine outcomes.
What was the name of this game?

Sean (06:57):
Dungeons and Dragons.

Katie (06:59):
Yes.
Very good.
Very good.
Yep.
Dungeons and Dragons.
All right.
Let's do one more category beforewe get into the meat of the episode.
Oh, these are always fun.
Big screen time machine.
I.
You are on fire.
You're doing very well.
Well, they're kind of easyquestions, but let's see.
These are the Top FiveBox office hits for 1991.

(07:24):
Do you have any guesses beforeI start giving you clues what
the top five movies were for?
91?

Sean (07:32):
1991 I mean, I was going to the movie movies regularly then.
I'm going to guess thatone of 'em was Hook.

Katie (07:39):
Good guess, but No.

Sean (07:41):
Okay.
Is Beauty and the Beast one.

Katie (07:44):
It is not, but I do think that's in the top 10.

Sean (07:47):
Oh boy.
Then, gosh 1991, oh T two, T twohas gotta be one of 'em, right?
Terminator two.
That was one.

Katie (08:00):
Yep,

Sean (08:01):
that was one of 'em.
And

Katie (08:03):
number one.
That's the number one.
I.

Sean (08:06):
And I'm trying to think of what else came out around that time.
I'm gonna kick myself because homeAlone was 1990, so it's not that.
Oh boy.
And are you sure it wasn't hook?
Okay, I'm throwing in the towel.
What were they?

Katie (08:21):
well you got the number one.
Okay.
Number two, a legendary outlawgets an American accent.
Morgan Freeman Sidekick and one killer.
Brian Adams Ballad.

Sean (08:33):
Robinhood, prince of Thieves.
Yeah.

Katie (08:35):
Yes.
Very good.
Yep.

Sean (08:41):
Great movie.
It

Katie (08:42):
The number, the number three movie, your hint is, I
haven't seen it in a while.
Maybe I'll have to give it a rewatch.

Sean (08:51):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Katie (08:52):
The number three movie.
Your Hint is an FBI trainee seeks helpfrom a charming cannibal to catch a
killer who loves his sewing machine.

Sean (09:03):
Yeah.
Silence of the Lambs.

Katie (09:05):
Yes, see sometimes the hints are just a little too easy.

Sean (09:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Silence of Lambs is an

Katie (09:11):
Number four.

Sean (09:12):
because if you break it down, if you really break it down, it's a horror movie.
I mean, it is the most grotesque.
Horror movie imaginable, but itwas never really labeled as much.
It was more a thriller, which is kind ofthe more prestigious version of horror.
So it's always kind of amazing to methat, that, that went on to win all of
these awards, including best picture.

(09:32):
When you really strip it down, it is themost basic of of slasher films imaginable.
You know what I mean?
But we don't want to call it that.
'cause then that makes itlook trashy and tasteless.
No, it is a thriller.
Katie though though that thatmakes it more acceptable.

Katie (09:48):
Indeed, you're right.
It was really good though.
I think it, you know, it's it'selevated from some of the others.
Number four, we have a midlife crisismeets cattle drives when three urbanites
trade briefcases for cowboy hats.

Sean (10:05):
Oh boy.
Hey, that clue may have stumped me.
I'm gonna give up.
What is that one?

Katie (10:11):
City slickers.

Sean (10:13):
Yep.
Okay.
Another

Katie (10:14):
I know.
I, I haven't seen that in so long.

Sean (10:17):
yeah, but it's one of those ones that you know, because it was such a
monster hit, they made it a sequel.
When you look at it and you're like, didthe story really need to be told again?
Like, did it need to be continued?
But hey, money talks in Hollywood, so.

Katie (10:28):
Oh indeed, indeed.
Okay.
I think you'll get the last one.
They're creepy, kooky,mysterious, and spooky.

Sean (10:37):
The

Katie (10:38):
They made a snappy comeback in this ghoulish comedy.
Yes.
Oh my God.
I loved the Adams family.

Sean (10:44):
Mm-hmm.
Which trivia, if I could please posea, pose, a fun trivia question at you.
Do you by chance, know orremember the teaser that was put
in front of the Adams family?
In theaters that got alot of people excited.
They hadn't even shot the movieor finished it yet, but they put
a teaser in front of Adam's familyto get people talking and excited,

Katie (11:06):
What,

Sean (11:07):
Wayne's World.

Katie (11:08):
what?

Sean (11:09):
Yeah, look it up on YouTube.
It's quite funny, it's Wayneand Garth, you know, doing the,
the snapping to Adam's family.
'cause they were both Paramount movies.
So Paramount was,

Katie (11:18):
Oh, awesome.
Okay.

Sean (11:21):
it's, it's

Katie (11:21):
Got it.

Sean (11:22):
to to look at.

Katie (11:23):
Oh my God.
Yeah.
I'll have to check that out.
I totally forgot about that.
But now this, this isbringing back a memory.
Yeah.
Okay.
I.
Well, I think you did pretty good.
In the time machine, I wouldsay I would give that Mr.
Teacher an a minus.
Maybe you didn't get allthe movies, so a minus.

Sean (11:42):
it is

Katie (11:43):
Yeah,

Sean (11:44):
It is summertime, so you're gonna have to gimme a break

Katie (11:47):
that's true.

Sean (11:48):
on.

Katie (11:48):
Shall we get into the movie career opportunities?

Sean (11:57):
Yes.

Katie (11:58):
This came out March 29th, 1991.
It's PG 13.
It's very short even watching it lastnight, I was like, wow, it's over already.
Okay.
It's got a 5.8,
which is not very good on IMDB.
the director here is not John Hughes.

(12:18):
It is Brian Gordon who if thatdoesn't sound familiar to you, he's
done a lot of TV directing and hasbeen nominated for an Emmy twice.
It looks like for Curb YourEnthusiasm so that's Brian Gordon.
John Hughes is our writer here.
And this is an interesting movie because.

(12:39):
Hughes said that the film was adisappointment because he didn't
have his usual creative controlsand he later stated that the film
was cheap and vulgar and that hissuggestions for the movie were ignored.
Therefore, he was so unhappy how thismovie turned out that he asked Universal
to remove his name from it, but theyrefused because he was kind of a hot name

(13:02):
at this time, coming off of home along.
What do you think, Sean?

Sean (13:08):
Well, I was hoping you'd bring that up actually.
'cause I, you know, just found that outmyself about a year or two ago it's really
interesting to hear that because Yeah, I,I vividly remember seeing this I didn't
see it in theaters, but I did rent itwhen it came to VHS and i, I don't know.
I don't know how you feel, but I've alwaysfelt it was a delightful little movie.

(13:28):
Like, it's not, it'snot amazing or anything.
Is it one of John Hughes's best?
Probably not.
No.
But I think it is justa, a fun little movie.
If you, if you look at it compared to I.
His other movies that that he's known for.
Okay.
So if you look at it, comparedto his high school movies, right?
Breakfast Club weird Science and16 Candles, all of those, right.

(13:50):
I think it can be viewed almost as a asan interesting continuation of those.
Okay.
What does, what happens to the teenagerthat we've focused on in high school that
we spent this time with in high school?
What happens to that individual once theygraduate and go out into the real world?
And don't really know their place,don't really know where they're going or

(14:10):
what their, what their true purpose is.
And I think that is something that every,I, I mean, for the most part, I don't
know about you, but definitely me, anybodyin their early twenties who's, who's
kind of lost and is kind of figuring,okay, now what, what's the next step?
I, I think, you know, it'scertainly relatable on that end.
So when I hear, when I read thatHughes was not a fan of it and was
disappointed with how it turned out,that always kind of surprised me because.

(14:32):
I don't know if you felt this way, butit does feel like a John Hughes movie.
It does kind of have that, that smalltown, you know, kind of Midwestern kind
of look and feel and flavor about it.
It does have great characters.
I feel that the charactersare all, for the most part,
fairly, fairly well defined.
And so, yeah, I've neverreally understood that.
I don't know really where.

(14:54):
What Hughes was expecting.
I'd love to take a look at the originalscript to see kind of what he was hoping

Katie (14:59):
Yeah.

Sean (15:00):
In my opinion, I think it, it looks and feels like a, like
a John Hughes movie, percent.
So I, I've never really understood oragreed with his with his sentiment.

Katie (15:10):
You know, that's interesting you say that.
Here's something that might surprise you.
I had never seen this before.

Sean (15:16):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (15:17):
it's, it's lesser known, I think, for a reason.
But so last night was my first watchand because of the IMDB rating,
because I had read that I had a prettylow bar and I was kind of surprised.
I liked it way more than Ithought I was going to like it.
It does have a lot of beats of John Hughesmovies, but there's something a little.

(15:39):
His point about he thoughtit was cheap and vulgar.
I, I could see why he said that.
Like, it is different in that way.
Like he tended to shy away from,the cheap nature of teen movies that
are just like boobs and, you know,fart jokes and stuff like that.
And so this very clearly wastrying to capitalize on Jennifer

(16:02):
Connolly's looks that was veryclear to me watching it last night.
I.
So maybe that's kind ofwhat he, what he meant.
And I too would really like toknow what, what his suggestions
were that were ignored.
Well, listeners of Retro Made,we have a bonus guest today
for career opportunities.

(16:24):
I actually, having not seen careeropportunities before this episode was
really surprised to learn a lot about it.
And one of the things that came up is thatwhile John Hughes did write and produce.
This movie, he was not a superbig fan of how it turned out.
And so he wanted to disown it.

(16:44):
And that got me in conversation with ourspecial guest today, Anson Kessinger.
Did I pronounce that correctly?

Anson Kessinger (16:51):
correct.
Yes.

Katie (16:52):
Perfect.
Now, Anson, you seem to be a man of manytalents, writing, directing pinball,
pet putt, a little bit of everything.
Tell tell us about yourself.
Yeah.
Tell us about you.

no, I'm a, I'm, I'm a screenwriter.
Have won a few competitions just, youknow, love, love, just love the craft.
That's kind of what got me into thiswhole deep dive career opportunities
because I, I had heard about thedrama and how much John Hughes
wanted to distance himself from it.
Then to find out that so much hadbeen changed about the screenplay.

(17:27):
Like my, my Holy Grail right now, my, mywhite whale is to find an original script
just to see what, what was changed.

Katie (17:39):
I'd be very curious about that as well.
Yeah.
John didn't get his, his usuallicense to do what he wanted on this.
Did he?
Is that accurate?

As far as I can tell I, I
watched back

Katie (17:48):
I.

night.
Imprint films.
Put out a Blu-ray copy of itwith a commentary with Brian
Gordon, the director, and JillianWallace Horvat who was fantastic
in moderating the commentary.
And yeah, they said that yeah, thestudio really didn't like the opening.
They didn't like the ending.
Had both of those rewritten and reshot.

Katie (18:09):
Hmm.

So I think he was probably fairly annoyed by that.
But, but I mean, really tonally,it's all over the place, isn't it?
'cause it opens with the whole, likethis is a gangland murder, really rough,
but then it's like not threatening.
And I, tonally it's all over the place
for, for

Katie (18:27):
Mm-hmm.

Both Brian Gordon or yeah, Brian Gordon, the director and Frank
Whaley, who I, I, because I'm insane.
And I actually got a cameo from Frank
Whaley to

Katie (18:40):
Oh.

just, just give, gimme the dirt.
Like, I, I wanted toknow what, what happened.
and he mentioned that Hughes probablywasn't so much of a fan of both.
He and Brian Gordon justplayed around with the script.
They did not stick
to dialogue.

Katie (18:56):
Mm-hmm.

thought that they would punch up dialogue and make it in, in frank
with's words, they would make it better.
So the fact that they were playing around,I think so much with the script, and
then you had the drama from the studiosaying like, yeah, we, we wanna do this.
He, he said that John Hughes wantedone for his name to be taken off of it.
Tried to distance himself from it andalso tried just to not have it released.

Katie (19:21):
Question about that.
Do you know at what pointhe determined that he didn't
want his name on it anymore?

I I that, I don't know.

Katie (19:29):
Okay.

it could have been when they
started with reshoots or whenhe may, maybe he saw a rough
cut.
I

Katie (19:35):
Mm-hmm.

know.
I do know though that through, throughthe commentary they said that the only day
he came to set was the John Candy shop.

Katie (19:44):
Okay.
That's very interesting and unusual.
Now I.
Because I'm doing a wholeseason of John Hughes movies.
You know, I'm, I'm learning more abouthim and his style big fan growing up.
But some movies that he, you know,maybe not quite as proud of he has

(20:07):
used the pseudonym, Edmond, Dante.
But that didn't come until, I wanna say.
Was it 92?
So maybe like a year later.
So I was just curious maybe why he didn't,maybe he came to that realization that
that's something that he could do later.
But he used the pseudonym.
I mean, it seems like everybodyknows that that's John Hughes, but,

Right.

Katie (20:31):
yeah, so I, I'm curious why he didn't on this movie,

do you
think?
I mean, were were,

Katie (20:35):
maybe.

pseudonym titles, did they come
after 91?

Katie (20:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Beethoven.
I think the first movie and that came outin 92 that he wrote under a pseudonym.
Mm-hmm.

this must have been the, the, the title that
gave him a plan.

Katie (20:49):
Maybe That's interesting.
So, so it sounds likeFrank Whaley didn't have
I don't wanna put words in hismouth, but maybe butted ha.

I,

Katie (20:59):
yeah,
yeah,

me.

Katie (21:00):
yeah.
Please do.

I mean, he was young, young, Connolly, of course,
and Brian Gordon was a first
time director on this, so I thinkthey were just kind, you know,
they were just getting their legs.
They were really just, you know,trying to have fun with it.
And I think maybe John Hughes wasmaybe a little more rigid and like,
no, this is the way I, I want it to go.
But Frank Wiley also saidthat , he's proud of it.

(21:23):
He thinks it stands up.
And he is like, it's not Susan Kane.
It's not, he said it's, it's,
not the Godfather,

Katie (21:30):
Nope.

you know, he is like, yeah, I, I think it stands up and, I
saw it originally in the theater in 91.
It's kind of nostalgic for me.
My grandmother took me to see it.
You know, and, you know, a young boy of16, Jennifer Connolly, she was fantastic.
So yeah, I mean, it, it, it'snot a great movie, but it.
I, I, I, I can still seethem, you know, being
proud of it.

Katie (21:50):
Interesting.
Okay.
Thank you for that story.
That's really interesting insight.
Do you mind my asking howmuch his cameo cost, how much
he, you know, I find those, I

it was.
50
American dollars.

Katie (22:01):
Okay.
All right.

and I also, I, I also made sure to make the most of my
money, I actually asked him a secondquestion, which was screenwriting advice.

Katie (22:11):
What do you recall what he said?

Just keep writing, keep at it, your craft in a
nutshell.
Yeah, that, that, that was it.

Katie (22:18):
Okay, so, so nothing new for you there?
No.

I mean, but you know, I, I guess there's a way to kind of
press, you know, just, keep pressing
you on, you know,

Katie (22:28):
Mm-hmm.

path.

Katie (22:29):
Okay.
Are you a fan of John Hughes or not?
Do you have thoughts aboutJohn as a writer or director
Generally?

He's a, he's a,
he's a product of his time.
I

Katie (22:40):
Mm-hmm.

know, a lot, a lot of stuff, I think so socially doesn't
really work today.

Katie (22:45):
Right?

Like I said, you know, I, I like career opportunities, but
there there are, there are some icky
parts,

Katie (22:51):
I.

For sure.

Katie (22:52):
In a lot of his movies as we're rewatching them.
I'm like, Ooh, yikes.
yeah.

Yeah.
But this will bring me to, i, Iwanna put my wife over real quick.
I introduced her to
weird science,

Katie (23:03):
Oh,

probably just about
five, 10 years ago.

Katie (23:06):
I love it.

and it was her first time ever
seeing it.

Katie (23:10):
Oh, wow.

we, we get to the end and we get to the end
credits and she blows my mind.
She says, I get it.
Mary Poppins for Teenage Boys.

Katie (23:22):
Oh wow.

like, I, I cannot.
That is amazing.

Katie (23:30):
It is, isn't it?
That's great.
I've not heard anyone usethat comparison before.
I.
I love that.
Yeah.
Kudos to your wife.

nailed it.

Katie (23:42):
Yes, she did.
This has been awesome.
Thank you.
First of all, it's great meeting you.
What kind of stuff do you work on?
You said you're a screenwriter?

I do some contests.
I'm just writing my own stuff,trying to get myself out.
I do 48 hour phone projects.
If you're familiar with

Katie (23:57):
No.

It's where teams assemble and within the timeframe of 48 hours, they
write, shoot, edit, and submit a four to
seven minute film.

Katie (24:06):
Oh, yes.
Now this, I have heardof this, but I, okay.
Yep, yep.
Okay.

giving the prompt of a required character, required
line of dialogue, and a prop, andall of those must be included.

Katie-1 (24:19):
You have some very fascinating experience and so I wondered if there
was anywhere that you wanted to sendpeople to learn about you or your work

Anson Kessinger-2 (24:27):
I actually won the 48 hour film project for Richmond last year.
if anybody would like to checkthat film out it's on YouTube.
It's called Modern Love.
if you just search Modern Love 48

Katie-1 (24:39):
Awesome.
I'm excited to check it out.
And everybody, listeners, we have tosupport our independent filmmakers
and people trying to break in.
So please check out the link Anson's.
Film will be in the shownotes, so check that out.
And it was great to meet you.

Katie (24:58):
It, it does feel a little off to me.
It doesn't feel like a typical, it it,so we'll get to the plot in a second,
but here's how I, it's set in a targetand you know, the way that I looked
at it, I was like, well, it's sort oflike a Ferris Fueler meets mannequin,
but the Target brand version of it.

Sean (25:18):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (25:18):
It's not quite John Hughes.
It's like the generic version of a JohnHughes movie maybe is how I would put it.

Sean (25:27):
Well, it's really interesting you mentioned that because I mean, look, the
guy, is one of the most famous directorsI think we can agree of all time.
His scripts really captured aparticular gen generation we'll say
about, about him and his script.
I don't wanna mitigate his talentsor anything like that in terms of
in terms of writing or whatever.
But it seems to me, especially ashe got later on in his career, as we

(25:50):
approached the nineties, he was more.
Of, of, of a gimmick.
Writer, you know what I mean?
Like he was more,

Katie (25:57):
Mm-hmm.

Sean (25:58):
into recycling some of his previous scripts and redoing
them and swapping them out.
I mean, the best example I can dois look as, as I love the movies.
I love Pretty and Pink and I love somekind of wonderful, you and I have talked
about them, but if you look at thosemovies, they are the exact same movie.
I mean, when he wrote some kindof wonderful, he wrote that.
Purely out of spite because he waspissed off that they went with the ending

(26:21):
that he didn't that he didn't intend.
So if you look at some kind ofwonderful, it's the exact same, it's
the exact same thing as pretty in pink.
He just swapped out instead of makingthe the lead a female, he made it a male
and the a tomboy as the best friend.
But it's the same thing.
And so if you look at careeropportunities, you know, you always
hear, I've always read in interviewsthat like he would write a script

(26:42):
over the course of a weekend.
And so if you look at a, at a

Katie (26:46):
Right.

Sean (26:46):
Career Opportunities, it's, it's very evident because all he's
doing is he's taking home alone.
Okay.
Which he had written, you know,about a year or two prior.
Alright?
He's taking home alone and he'ssaying, okay, well wait a minute.
What about instead of a boy beingtrapped alone in a in, in his house.
It's in a department store.
And what if instead of a little kid, itis a grown man just out of high school.

(27:07):
And so that's, what he's done.
You know,
I'm gonna get stones thrown at me forsaying this, so please don't be mad at me.
But I've never found Christmasvacation to be that wonderful.
It, it's amazing to me that, to me,that, that that film has gone down as
being such a classic, when in the endthere's really not much of a plot per se.
It's just a collection of, ofgags and various set pieces.

(27:29):
It, it feels like an, anextended sitcom in a lot of ways.
I don't look at that film as, as beinglike amazing writing by any means.
I mean, I don't know.
I, like I said, I can certainlysee, you know, there are some
John Hughes ingredients in it.
But all he's really doing withhis scripts at this point is
just, okay, I'm taking this one.
It's kinda like Mad Libs, right?
Okay, let's take thescript for home alone.

(27:51):
Let's take the script for
you, you know what I mean?
Whatever.
And then I'm just gonna kindof swap out these characters.
Boom.
A new movie.
So if he's mad that it didn't turnout that way, it's like, maybe don't
write a script over the course ofa weekend and collect the check.
John,

Katie (28:03):
it is very templated.
Yeah, you're absolutely right there.
It's interesting doingthis John Hughes season.
I'm learning a lot more abouthim as a person and he's.
Got a personality that not everyoneloves and not everyone gets along with.
And he butts heads a lot.
And yeah, I, it's just really interesting'cause I didn't know any of that.

(28:24):
But now revisiting the movies,you can see so many of the
same
beats.

Sean (28:29):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (28:30):
so it'll be interesting to see the rest of the nineties movies.
But yeah, like this is 91.
And if you guys haven't seen this movie.
Or you know, if it's beenover 30 years for you.
have Jim, and he is the dorky sonof a local cement contractor who
lives at home and has no direction.

(28:50):
Josie is the gorgeous daughterof a wealthy businessman who
dreams of leaving town when Jimis locked inside a target store.
On his first night as an overnightjanitor, he discovers Josie who fell
asleep while contemplating shoplifting.
locked in together.
The pair learns that theyhave a lot in common.

(29:11):
Little do they know that twopetty criminals are on the
lamb and looking for a place to
hide.

Sean (29:18):
And there's the home alone,

Katie (29:19):
is career

Sean (29:20):
the,
sorry,

Katie (29:23):
The

Sean (29:23):
there.

Katie (29:24):
the the incompetent.
No, you're
absolutely right.

Sean (29:27):
Yeah.
I mean,

Katie (29:28):
thieves.

Sean (29:29):
He took the home alone template

Katie (29:30):
com.
He did take the, yep.
Yep.
And instead of I guess like the, a lotof the adventures is really more like out
of boredom at first throughout the movie.
He's skating and he's cleaning and justhaving fun and costumes and, really do
the booby traps to catch the criminals.
I guess that's how it's slightlydifferent is it's just like that's

(29:53):
the Ferris Bueller of it all.
What would you do if you werestuck in a target, you know,
overnight kind of a thing.
I loved Target growing up, so I can'tbelieve I hadn't seen the smoothie before.

Sean (30:04):
And that's one thing that's actually kind of cool about this film in a lot
of ways is that target still exists.
I mean, that, that's one thing ina weird way that kind of makes this
film, I don't wanna say timeless,but where it can still play nowadays
I mean, and talk about some crazy productplacement for Target, because if John
Hughes and the production company wanted,they could have just made this some.

(30:27):
Regular department store that waskind of target adjacent, if you will.
But, you know, they could havecalled it bullseye for that matter.
But the fact that it is an actualtarget that every state has
makes this film a lot, very muchrelatable in, in a lot of ways.
And so that's one thing that Ithink is so cool is, I mean, this
movie came out how many yearsago, and Target is still around.
It's still, it still exists.

Katie (30:49):
I'm kind of surprised that they used Target instead of just some random,
you know, bullseye, like you mentioned.
But yeah,
so that was
kind of

Sean (30:58):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (30:59):
again, I can't believe I hadn't seen this movie before it might be in
part due to, I don't know if our leadcharacter here Frank Whaley, plays Jim
Dodge, and he's not a household name,but he has been in a lot of well-known
movies, including Pulp Fiction.
He has been working consistently andhas a lot of credits, but he's not

(31:20):
your, your Rob Lowe, he's not yourMatthew Broderick Anthony Michael Hall.
And so I think he even said, I thinkI saw somewhere that he was sort of
like, yeah, they took a gamble on me.
And kind of took a little bit of blamefor maybe why the movie didn't do so well.

Sean (31:37):
Which is unfortunate.
I think he's a wonderful character actor.
Anytime Frank Whaley pops up.
You know that you're gonna have a, acharacter on screen that gives a little
bit more than the average, actor.
I always love seeing him pop up.
He plays you know, he playskind of the, the nerdy awkward
fellow like he does in this film.
But he also plays meanand sadistic real well.

(31:57):
I don't know if you ever saw thefilm from 2007 2008 called vacancy.
With Luke Wilson and Kate Kinal, buthe plays the proprietor of a motel that
is making snuff films and he is justnasty mean in, in that particular film.
So yeah, I always love seeing him pop up.
I think, you know, you mentionedthat the production did take

(32:20):
a gamble on casting him.
However, I think if they hadcast anyone else at the time,
especially a known actor.
It would've cheapenedthe film a little bit.
You buy him as, as JimDodge, you know what I mean?
You buy him as being thisthis fast talking liar.
Much more so than youwould've if they had cast.
Any other,
yeah, yeah.

(32:41):
Any other name at the time?
I'm trying to think , of a.
You know, 20 somethingyear old name in 1991.
You know, I mean, can you imagineif Christian Slater was in this
film, for example, it, it wouldn'tplay as well, you know what I mean?
He, he would be much more cool.

Katie (32:54):
We have Jennifer Connolly playing Josie McClellan, and I think
they used her maybe after the fact.
Like they, they really, really leanedon her looks, I think, in this movie.
I mean, she was gorgeous.
She looked just likebreathtakingly beautiful.
But yeah, that White Tank top was, wasdoing a lot of the work for this movie.

(33:17):

Sean (33:19):
I mean, I would agree.
I would agree.
But I mean, you look at afilm like Weird Science.
Is Kelly Lerock doing, I mean, KellyBrock in that film is, is a mentor too.
We can say she's a mentor figure,but I mean, her entire role in weird
science was was sex appeal as well.
I mean, I don't know, I, I hear some ofthese statements from, from Hughes and

(33:39):
it's kinda like, you know what I mean?
I mean, because again, if you breakthe film down, the, the film is pretty
much based on the gimmick of whatwould you do if you were locked in?
I honestly think if, if I could go backreal quick, I honestly think that Hughes
wrote this over the course of a weekend,purely under the idea of what would you do
if you were locked in the department storeovernight with the grill of your dreams?

(33:59):
I.
And that's what the movie is.
I, I think that he, he, andthat's what a lot of writers do.
They, they write a script, you know,on the fly based off a single idea.
I think that's what Hughes did, onlyhe added in probably about maybe 60%
home alone in there as well to kindof sell it and, and make it work.
But but yeah, no, I mean, and Ithink all of the characters in this

(34:22):
film, the, the, the two charactersthat I will say, I don't think.
Are flushed out that to beperfectly honest, are the thieves.
I don't think the thieves areare, are really that strong.
But if you look at Jim Dodge's dad in thefilm, I think he's doing an amazing job.
The actor who is playingJennifer Connolly's dad as well.
I mean, you buy him as beingthis this millionaire who's
essentially running the town.

(34:43):
And then can we say William Forsyth?
Oh my god, William Forsyth as the asthe manager of the night cleaning crew.
In his one scene that he is in.
He is.
He's awesome as well.
I mean, for 86 minutes, Ithink this is a fun movie.
It really is.

Katie (35:00):
Yeah, I, I agree.
And yeah, will I, I knew WilliamForsyth was in this, but then I
didn't even catch him like, 'causehe was, it was so brief that he's
like the custodian that locks Jim
in

Sean (35:11):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (35:12):
7:00 AM the next day.
We also get a.
Per John Hughes movies usual,we get a John Candy cameo.
He was uncredited in this, but he playsthe manager of the target store that
hires Jim so that like you can't gowrong with John Candy in your movie.

Sean (35:31):
No, no.
I mean, I think it goes without sayingthat he and John Hughes were like
really, really, really good friends.
I.
In in, throughout, throughoutthe eighties and everything.
And you know, and there are variousreports that one of the reasons that
caused John Hughes to kind of quitwriting and directing throughout the
nineties was he was really, reallyhit hard by John Candy's death.

(35:53):
And I think if you look at a lotof the films that that he had done,
especially like Curly Sue for example,which was his last directorial
effort, you can see that the magic.
Really wasn't there toomuch anymore with Hughes.
However, I would also argue too, Ithink when he approached the nineties,
he was kind of in a, in an awkwardspace because all of the muses that

(36:14):
he had used throughout the eightieshad grown up and were adults now too.
So I wonder if he kind of felt like aman at a time to where he didn't really
like, okay, I can no longer keep, continuewith the whole high school sub genre.
But all of the.
All of the, the ingredients that Ibuilt this relationship with have
have grown up and moved on without me.

(36:35):
So I wonder if he was in a weird way, inthis transitional phase where he didn't
really know what to do in some ways.
And I realize that sounds like I'm,I'm throwing shade at Hughes, and I
don't mean to do that at any means,but I think that could kind of
explain the disconnect that we saw himexperience in that nineties period.

Katie (36:53):
100%.
He very clearly, there was a clearseparation and there was a falling
out with Molly Ringwald and AnthonyMichael Hall, because they didn't
wanna keep doing the same thing and,and I think you're absolutely right.
then he started doing kid fair.
And this one is kind of like a middle ofthe road one, but, you know, home Alone
and Beethoven and Dennis, the Menace andCurly Sue, like those are, that's all

(37:18):
like his nineties movies and Home Alonetwo, you know, seem to be more kid fair.
But, but this one is, is stillkind of trying to lean into that.
I think you brought up a good point about.
They're not teenagers.
These two are, you know,a few years removed.
They're 21 I wanna say.
And yeah, it is like you'restuck in a target at night.

(37:40):
It's, it's a fun premise.
And it is a fun movie.
Very short though.
I, it went by
very
quickly.

Sean (37:46):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (37:46):
I do wanna also quickly talk about some of the other cast,
including our incompetent robbers wehave Nestor Pyle and Gil Kinney were
the characters' names, which I don'teven know if that ever came up in
the movie, they're played by brothers
in real
life,

Sean (38:04):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (38:05):
and Kiran Mulroney.
And this was wild to me to see.
I, I'm unfamiliar with Kieran but butDermot, everybody knows Dermo and he
was doing something I'm not sure whatit was exactly, but he was definitely
going for something in this movie.
What did you think ofthe, our robbers here?

Sean (38:25):
I, I honestly think, I think they're the weakest link.
I really do.
I.
I think that I think Germa Morone is,like you said, he's doing something, he's
kind of adding, adding something there.
I, I think the partner that they havepartnered him up with his brother actually
kind of hurts the dynamic a bit becausethat guy really adds absolutely nothing.

(38:45):
So in the end, it's kind of derma who's,you know, pretty much carrying most of
the weight there in that relationship.

Katie (38:52):
Yep.

Sean (38:52):
But but yeah, I, I, like I said, I think they're, I, I think
they're kind of a weak element.
They, they don't really pose muchof a threat, to be perfectly honest,
because they seem so inept that youdon't really buy them as, giving Jim
Dodge and and Jennifer Connolly run fortheir money in, in any kind of ways.
They're just kind of there,they're kind of dopey.
You can almost tell how we talkabout how this script was templated.

(39:14):
I would not be surprised if thewhole robber element was added in
at the very 11th hour before itwent in production because they
figured, oh, home alone was a hit.
Let's add more of the home alone stewto, to this particular concoction.
I don't really think they work.
They don't completely derailthe film, I don't think.
But but yeah.

Katie (39:32):
Yeah, I think there was something missing there.
They needed to be flushedout a little more.
It was just sort oflike two movies in one.
There didn't need to be robbersinvolved in this situation, but if
you're gonna introduce it, like yousaid, because of home Alone yeah.
There, there needed to be moreof a reason why they were there.
They were just, bumbling idiots.
But, you know, it was fun to see DermotMulroney doing something very strange.

(39:56):
He also had an incredible unibrow.
this movie, a couple of theother characters, so Frank's
parents, we we have Bud and DotieDodge Bud is played by John M.
Jackson.
He looked familiar to me, butI, I didn't really know why.
And he, but he's best known for playingrear Admiral AJ Chegg Whitten on the

(40:18):
CBS series, JAG, and also guest staron its spinoff, NCIS recurring cast
to its spinoff, NCIS, Los Angeles.
He didn't regularly use his middleinitial M, but there was already.
A a John Jackson in theScreen Actor's Guild.
So he had to use his middle initial.

(40:40):
That's who he is.
And then did you recognize the mom,Dottie Dodge is played by Jenny O'Hara.
She's a very familiar face.
Did you recognize
her?

Sean (40:50):
I did, I did.
Who's, who's still around, thank God.
But I rec, I, I recognized her as sheplayed Doug's mom on king of Queens.

Katie (40:59):
Yes.

Sean (40:59):
I remember her in the TV spots that they would play for this film.
You know, the, those, those quick,you know, 30 seconds TV spots.
She would always get the scene whereshe's at the dinner table with her
mouth full as they're eating dinnerand she says, that's not true, or
whatever, you know what I mean?
For whatever reason, theTV spots always played.
Her moment when she said that, whichI always thought was kind of a, an

(41:20):
interesting part to play, but yeah.

Katie (41:22):
It took me a minute to remember where I was like, God, she's familiar.
But yeah, Doug's mom and also shewas in the Mindy Project, big Love.
My sister Sam transparent was aTV series, but that I've not seen.
And also Esther Harris and Mystic River.
So she's a super familiar face.
Then we have Noble Willingham,that is quite a name.

(41:44):
He plays Roger Roy McClellan Josie's dad.
speaking of City s Slickers as oneof the top five movies in 91, he
played Clay Stone in City S Slickers,I think he is most known for playing
CD Parker on Walker, Texas Ranger.
I have not seen that.

(42:05):
I dunno.

Sean (42:06):
Okay.

Katie (42:07):
plays or is played by Barry Corbin.
He's best known for his starring roleas Maurice Minifield in the TV series,
Northern Exposure that ran from 90 to 95.
So smack dab right now.
And he actually earned two Emmy awards.
No nominated.
I don't think you won,but two noms for that.

(42:29):
So yeah, that rounds out our cast.
we have a very familiarhere for our music.
We talked about him in the GreatOutdoors episode, Thomas Newman, who
is a composer, conductor, orchestrator.
And in addition to being a frequentJohn Hughes collaborator, he's really

(42:50):
best known for his film scores Earningsix Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award,
two BAFTAs and 15 Oscar nominations.
So that is Thomas Newman.
I think the, the the music inthis seemed very John Hughey, so
that, that kind of tracks withyour typical John Hughes movie.

Sean (43:10):
You know, you mentioned music and what's also interesting, I remember in the
in the TV spots and trailers that airedon Network TV at the time, but fine young
cannibals, their song she drives me crazy.
Accompanied this film in the trailers.
I don't know if you've seen the trailers,but they picked a a catchy tune for the
time to, to accompany the the TV spots.

Katie (43:30):
It wasn't super clear, but I found a $6 million budget, is pretty low.
A lot of John Hughes movies havereally low budgets, but $6 million
it, it grossed worldwide 11.3
million.
So it was a pretty big disappointmentin terms of box office as we
kind of already talked about.
As you said, you found this movie

(43:51):
fun, as
did

Sean (43:53):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (43:53):
Like I had said, I'd not seen it before, but you clearly have.
What is your history withcareer opportunities?

Sean (44:00):
I remember vi vividly seeing the TV spots when I was when I was in school.
So I was, I'm trying to think at thetime I was eight or nine years old,
I wanna say something like that.
And so I remember seeingthe TV spots and I was, I.
I was kind of infatuatedwith the gimmick of it.
You know, what, what would Ido if I was, you know, stuck
in a target overnight and okay.
With the girl in my dreams.

(44:21):
I didn't really think of that atthe time as I was too young, but
the gimmick of it really sold it.
And yeah, when it came to whenit came to rental I rented
the VHS from my grocery store.
Actually, if you remember those dayswhen grocery stores rented VHS tapes?

Katie (44:35):
Yes.

Sean (44:37):
yeah, I, I rented it.
Yeah.
On a school night, and it's not likeany of the other ones that resonated
with me around that time, you know?
That I would come back to multiple times.
I think Dylan, Ted's bogus journey wasone that I came back to way more often
than, than this particular film, but itis one, it is in my collection and it is
one that I, I do watch every few yearsbecause it is, a pretty harmless movie.

(44:59):
And again, I wanna stress.
If you look at it in the context of,you know, compared with the, the 16
candles, the Breakfast Club, the, the,some kind of wonderful, you know, if you
look at it as a continuation of thosemovies, I think it does have a a linear
narrative because it does follow that.
That kid who maybe as awkward andunsure about his future, and it

(45:20):
seems like everybody else has.
Has their plan, their, their, you know,five year plan in place except for him.
And there are a lot of youngadults who are in that situation.
And yeah, I, one, one thing I willsay, every time I watch this movie
it's one thing that always bothersme, but he's the night cleanup crew in
the movie, and I don't know about you,but he's making way more messes than,

(45:46):
than there were in the first place.
So every time I watch this,I'm always kinda like.
Dude, you're gonna have to clean that up.
Like, what are you doing?
That always gonna bother me, but.

Katie (45:55):
As an adult, because I hadn't seen this as a kid, I very
much, that was bothering me too.
Like my My OCD or, or myjust anal retentive nature.
I was like, oh my God.
Yeah.
Also, he's just like things, playingwith things, trying on clothes, and
it's like, you're gonna have to put all
that back.
And

Sean (46:14):
Yeah.

Katie (46:14):
It was a little bit driving me crazy also.
But I don't know.
I feel like they could have elevatedsome of the, the adventures.
It was just sort of like.
roller, they roller skated a lot.
But I feel like they could havedone a little bit more like the
adventures, the things he does.
I, they could have gottena little more creative,
I feel
like,

Sean (46:34):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (46:35):
you know, the, what would you do if you got stuck in a target overnight?
So I was maybe hoping for a littlemore excitement or entertainment in
that area.

Sean (46:44):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (46:44):
and maybe that's why they brought in the robbers to, add another
element , of surprise and intrigue.

Sean (46:50):
And I'm trying to think, but security cameras
existed back in 1991, right?
I would like to think that hehad to know that everything
was was on camera or maybe not.
But as I watched it again I, I kind ofthought to myself, you know, he's making
this mess and he is rollerskating around.
I feel like this is a guy who'sjust trying to get through the
night because he doesn't plan onkeeping that job past the night.

(47:14):
And I, I see this quite a bit with, withyoung adults, they'll try a job out.
They ha they do work at a fewshifts and they're like, Hmm.
This isn't for me.
See you later.
And I kind of wonder if maybe that'swhere he was like, you know what?
Look, they didn't gimme themanagement job that I thought I
was gonna get from John Candy.
They gave me this cleanupcrew, they locked me in.
Now I'm gonna ride it out untilsunrise, and then I'm gone.

(47:36):
And if I don't even get mypaycheck, then I don't care.
I almost kind of wonder if that washis mentality, which again is something
that I think a lot of, let's be honest,fairly irresponsible young adults.
Can certainly relate to,you know what I mean?
Not looking, not looking beyond
6:00 PM that night.

(47:56):
It's just living in the moment

Katie (47:58):
yeah, I think so.
I mean, he's 21, he's living athome and he can't keep a job.
So to your point, maybe he doesn'tcare if he gets fired because
this is one, one of so many.
String of jobs where he gets firedfrom he's aimless and his dad is like,
listen, you gotta get a job, or we'regonna ship you to your work for your
uncle in some other state or something.
They're like, you, they keep pointing thisout, and I think this was a thing more

(48:22):
so in the eighties and nineties, becausenow it seems like a lot of adults live
with their parents, but they're like,once you're outta school, you either
pay rent or you
leave.

Sean (48:31):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (48:31):
that's, the story here.

Sean (48:33):
Yeah.
No, I mean, and I, and in a lotof ways, you know, could, could
his dad be a little more loving?
Sure.
But his dad is also ahundred percent justified.
If you're not going to school,you're not working well, you
need to be doing something.
I've seen this quite a bit,
it's like, dude, like I.
You need to pick a lane.
College isn't for everyone.
I, and I tell this all the time tomy students, I totally get that.
Find something.

(48:53):
If you could find a trade, you're probablybe better off, to be perfectly honest.
But I mean, man, just sitting in existing.
You until you find something that'snot, you know, benefiting anybody.
And so I think that's kind of whatJim Dodge is, is golly for being 1991.
It's amazing how that type ofindividual still very much exists

(49:18):
today, post, post high school, you know.

Katie (49:20):
Great point.
I mean, he's 21.
I would say nowadays you find peoplein their late twenties or early
thirties, I think partially well toget to a financial element here in a
minute, but are very expensive now.
So I know that's a part of why a lot ofyoung people have a hard time moving out.
to that point, Josie says, so she'sthis like spoiled rich girl and she's

(49:45):
sick of, living under her father'sthumb and she dreams of, she wants
to go to la they get this plan.
They're like, when we leave here, once we.
Ditch these robbers.
We're gonna go to LA together.
I have $52,000 in my purse, is wild.
And then he says, that'smore than my house cost.

(50:07):
So it just goes to show were muchmore affordable back in the day.

Sean (50:14):
Yeah.
No, no.
To be fair, no, you'reexactly right there.
So yeah.
Isn't it funny when you talk to, youknow, parents and, and family members,
who bought houses back in like theeighties and early nineties, what they
got 'em for, and you're like, oh my gosh

Katie (50:29):
that's how much a car
costs,
like what's

Sean (50:31):
mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.

Katie (50:35):
a question for you.
They call Jim, the town liar.
Everybody kind of knows how he is.
He, he lies, he goes from oneshitty job to the, to the next.
But we see him over and overagain trying to impress the
neighborhood kids, like little kids.

Sean (50:52):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (50:53):
He's 21 years old.
Why is he trying to impressthe neighborhood kid?

Sean (50:58):
Because he can't impress anyone else's own h.
That, that's, it's, it's simple as that.
They, they look up to him.
People his own age, people who he'sgraduated with, people he is gone to
high school with, they're onto his grift.
They know, what is true and what isn't.
But a little kid that's a littleimpressionable and doesn't really know.
Yeah.
Heck yeah.
And, and what a great, you know, what agreat final scene though too, where the

(51:21):
kids get to see that, you know, maybenot everything out of his mouth was.
Was complete crap.
I always loved the ending where,he's in the car with Jennifer
Connolly and he drives away andthey're like, oh man, he's so cool.
Because in the end Does he, does hehave a career at the end of the film?
No, but he does get to leave the film.
More respected, I think, than he waswhen the film where, where we see

(51:45):
him at the beginning of the film.
You know what I'm saying?

Katie (51:47):
Good
point.
Yeah, so they do end up like jumpingaround here, but the, the movie ended.
I, I can't determine whether I thinkit was abrupt or not because the,
the final scene essentially is theyescaped the robbers and cut to these
two are at a pool in LA in Hollywood.
So they, they did what theywanted to do, but then that's it.

(52:10):
It ends like, so I was like, didwe need more than that or not?
I can't decide.

Sean (52:16):
I don't know if it's a matter of, can't deciding, I
think, you know what I mean?
It's one of those things where, look,does he have to have his five-year
plan, you know, immediately laid out.
No, but we, at least, like I said,I think it was, it's, it's kind
of the hero's journey archetype.
He comes back.
To where he started in the film beinghis hometown, being his house, but he is

(52:38):
leaving with a newfound sense of respect.
Maybe not so much about himself.
'cause he is pretty cocky, butI think he the people around him
certainly know that he can do more.
It would've been nice.
I do think it would've been nice if we.
Did get to see a little bit more closurebetween him and his dad at the end
of the movie because there are a fewscenes in the film that almost come

(52:58):
across, across as kind of pointless.
There's the scene where his dad

Katie (53:02):
Mm-hmm.

Sean (53:03):
sleep through the night and is raiding the kitchen and eating chicken and
peanut butter, and you're kind of like,okay, obviously we have that scene because
he feels a little, he, he doesn't likethe way he left things with Jim, you know?
And as a father Icertainly get that as well.
Wake up in the middle of the nightand you're thinking, ah, crap.
I screwed up there.
I should have been better.
But we don't get that, that scene,at the end where he and his dad

(53:26):
kind of embrace and his dad's like,look, I don't expect you to have
it figured out, but I love you.
And I said for you, wecould have gotten that.
Unfortunately, we didn't.
The film was short enough,
I don't think.
If they would've lost anything, Iprobably would've gained something if
they, they added that a little bit.
But Did you feel that way thoughabout those scenes with his
dad in the middle of the night

Katie (53:44):
yeah, it's not like they had to cut for time because
this movie was extremely short.
So I agree.
That would've been a perfectway to make us feel, 'cause it
did feel a little abrupt to me.
Yeah, they, they should have.
Reconciled the parentrelationship a little bit more.
But i'm so glad you brought up that scenethough, Sean, because granted, I don't

(54:05):
eat chicken, but he's raiding the fridge.
He sticks a chicken leg in the peanutbutter jar and I was like, oh my God.
That's disgusting on so many
levels.
I mean
like, wow.

Sean (54:20):
Yeah, no not a not very appetizing, but hey, he's a dad
who's having a sleepless night.
, I guess it works tothat end, but but yeah.
You know, you mentionedspring this came out.
Can I just say real quick too,the other thing too that I think
is important to, to note aboutthis particular film is just that.
A movie like this went to theaters,and I've been saying this numerous

(54:41):
times, I think I've echoed it on myshow when I was going, but I've said it
to, friends and everything like that.
But a movie like, like thisnowadays would not go to theaters.
At best.
It would be premiered onlike a Netflix or a Hulu,
like any, any more.
It seems like the only thing that comesto theaters are ips and franchises, comic
book, movies, things of that nature.
So it's really kind of coolthat in the spring of 1991.

(55:05):
This little movie, managed to goto theaters and boy, oh boy, would
I love to go back to those days.
Because we got so much more eclectic,weird, diverse content that occupied
the multiplexes than we get nowadays.

Katie (55:21):
The nineties were all about that.
So this is the perfect, opening.
For, a trend that wouldcontinue in the nineties.
While this wasn't like an independentfilm, it was like a, a little
film, you know, so I, I agree.
And I also long for the daysof, the nineties, you know,
I wish we could go back.
Speaking of which.

(55:43):
There is a a shot where they're,they're showing all the items that
the robbers, they're like filling uptheir carts, that they're gonna steal
all this stuff from, from Target.
And they, they take this red phoneand I had that exact red phone.
It's got a black handle on a red base.

(56:03):
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Do you remember that scene?
I had that
phone.
I loved
it.

Sean (56:07):
I remember that scene.
You know, the other scene that Iremember, if we're gonna go back, you
know, looking at Target, but the wallof tapes, the wall of cassette tapes.
I don't know if you noticed thateither, but that was an area
that I loved perusing, cassettetapes were replaced by CDs.
CDs were eventually replaced byMP three and everything like that.
But you know, it's just wild to thinkthat there was a time where a Target

(56:29):
had a music section, and the musicsection was one, maybe two walls
that from ceiling to the ground.
Were stacked with tapes inalphabetical order by genre.
It was almost, it was, it waskind of fun in a weird way,
you know, if we could go back.
But it was, it was always kind of fun.
You always, I mean, this is before theage of Amazon too, so if there was a song

(56:50):
that you wanted, if there was a band thatyou wanted, whatever it may be, going
to the store and running down, goingalphabetical or to trying to find it.
It almost felt like a funscavenger hunt in a lot of ways.

Katie (57:02):
Great point.
And that scene with the wall oftapes when Josie's looking through
them, one of the visible titles isthe soundtrack for the Breakfast
Club.
So of

Sean (57:14):
Oh,

Katie (57:14):
you know, there's always all these little John Hughes is notorious for that.
So doing things like that.
So that was kind of
fun.

Sean (57:21):
yeah, yeah, I did not notice that.
But but yeah, no, it wouldn't,it wouldn't surprise me.

Katie (57:26):
Not very much trivia, but I have a few pieces of trivia.
I'm curious to see what you think.
In the uk this movie was called,it was released as One Wild night,
which I think is a far better title.
For what this movie isthan career opportunities.
What do you think?

Sean (57:46):
I, I think I'm gonna have to kind of disagree there.
I think one wild night is, is muchmore, is too much more on the nose.
I like the idea of careeropportunities because I.
Again, if you're going along with the ideaof kind of the, the wayward 21-year-old
not knowing his place and needing tohave a career, I think it, it kind

(58:07):
of lends itself well, one wild night.
Yeah.
Maybe that, that particular titlewould gotten this maybe a little
bit more recognized to wheremore people are talking about it.
Maybe nowadays.
I, I guess I wouldassume, but I don't know.
I think the title careeropportunities is pretty apt.
I feel.

Katie (58:22):
Interesting.
That's fair.
I guess maybe that's why likeI was unfamiliar with this
movie

Sean (58:28):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (58:29):
and based on the title, I sort of thought it would be like a workplace.
Comedy or something.
So I was kind of surprised torealize what it was actually about.
But you, you bringing up the, the,his like state of mind kind of makes
sense as
well.

Sean (58:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
But but yeah, it's funny that youmentioned Jennifer Connolly and
how she is presented in the film.
It's funny, the last time I watched thismy wife was watching it with me and she
was just like, oh my God, her eyebrows.
It's so funny that she mentioned that.
I don't know if you picked up on thator not, but she was like, you know, her
eyebrows are outta control, you know,so May, maybe that was a 1991 style.

(59:07):
I don't know.
But she, she is, she'sbeautiful in the film.

Katie (59:09):
She really is.
So two things.
Yes.
Eyebrows, like that style ofeyebrows was much more of a
thing in the early nineties.
But b Jennifer Connolly,it's kind of her trademark.
Like her eyebrows are kind ofwhat she's, she's always had those
kind of
eyebrows,

Sean (59:26):
Okay.

Katie (59:27):
for
that.

Sean (59:28):
Yeah.
Interesting.

Katie (59:29):
There were a few other people considered for our, for Jim and Josie
Terry Polo screen tested for Josie.
That would've been a very different movie.
I.

Sean (59:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's, interesting that shereally didn't get her big role until
exactly 10 years later nine yearslater, and meet the parents, huh?
Yeah.
And then she also kind of.
Slowly disappeared again, didn't she?
But I, I think JenniferConnolly, I mean, she nails it.
I mean, just like Frank, FrankWhaley nails the role of Jim Dodge.

(01:00:03):
I think, Jennifer Connollyreally does nail the role of
that bombshell that is that issexualized by everybody around her.
Even like her, her dad's, businesspartners, which was really gross.
But who, who wants to, break free of that?

Katie (01:00:18):
I agree.
Jennifer Connolly waspretty perfect for this.
She's got that mysterious natureto her really beautiful kind of
that quietness and, yeah, like aseductiveness to her that even adults are.
Grossly into I guessshe was 21, but still.
And then I did read that Josh,Charles and Polly Shore were

(01:00:40):
both considered for Jim Dodge.
Now Josh Charles.
Was Christina Applegate's love, interestin Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's dead.
And
I never
really loved

Sean (01:00:51):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (01:00:52):
I, so I don't know.
I guess he would've beenmore or less the same.
They're both kind of like, eh to me,
as

Sean (01:01:00):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (01:01:01):
Pauly sure that takes it to a goofy level.
And I
almost think that would've been funnier.
I don't know.
I guess I'm just not a big,
Frank Whaley person, I guess.

Sean (01:01:17):
I mean, I, I think it, you know, look, I, I think it would've worked if it
was Poly Shore, I can certainly see that.
But it also would've become a polyshore movie, it would've, you know, had
that same type of humor that we saw.
Actually maybe not 1991.
'cause he really didn't develop theweasel persona until about a year
later, really, when he was doing MTV.

(01:01:37):
So maybe he would've been alittle bit more normalized.
I could certainly have seen thatmaybe working, but I don't know.
I think Frank Whaley is fun.
I love what they give, you know,the little characteristic with his
hair, how he kind of has this, Elvisstyle hair, he almost feels like
a man at a time in a lot of ways.
You know, like he's from thefifties, but in the nineties,

Katie (01:01:57):
Yeah.

Sean (01:01:57):
Even like his clothing that he is wearing, you know, you know,
I love the scene too, where he's atthe coffee shop at the beginning.
That, that's the other thing too.
The, the scene at the beginning wherehe's at the coffee shop, you know, sitting
by himself telling these stories, youknow, trying to get people impressed.
And he's saying, you know,what are you gonna get?
Is it shashimi or something like that?
This dish, you know, he, hereminds me of the what's the term?

(01:02:19):
My daughter taught me, it actually abouta week, a week ago, a pick me girl.
He, he kinda reminds me of.
Someone who's purposely just sayingsomething, thrown it out in the ether
so that someone could turn theirhead and be like, oh, wait a minute.
You've had that particular dishfrom, from this other continent.
Just so he can get the it'sso cloying, but in a weird

(01:02:40):
way that that's his character.

Katie (01:02:42):
Yeah, you bring up good point.
I don't, I don't hate FrankWhaley for this, and Yeah, he
plays that like desperation.
It's

Sean (01:02:48):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (01:02:48):
character has this desperation for attention but he's like dorky and
he gets his dream girl in the end.
And so it's, every boy's dream,I guess the end of this movie.
You guys tell me, tell me what you think.
Have you guys seen career opportunities?
Did you like it more?
Then John Hughes did.
I did, I think I liked itmore than John Hughes did.

(01:03:10):
It's a weird little ride throughtarget that it won me over
definitely more than I thought.
Sean, do you have any closingthoughts about career opportunities?
And then tell us where we can find moreof you if you've got anything to plug.

Sean (01:03:25):
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah, like I said, I don't thinkit's John Hughes's best film.
However, I would say, you know, his finalfilm was Curly Sue with jim Belushi.
That was his final film, I would say.
I think this particular film isa much better, cap to his career,
he's known for thoseeighties films, so well.
I think if you were on a marathon andyou started with what was it, 16 candles,

(01:03:49):
then Breakfast Club, or excuse me, Ithink it was Weird Science First, right?
Weird Science 16 Candles, breakfast Club.
Then pretty in pink, then some kind ofwonderful and then career opportunities.
I think it would be a reallynice cap to that entire that
entire series in a lot of ways.
It's, it's not the best.
I, you know, obviously it's forgood reason that it's not as
as quotable and iconic, I thinkas some of those other ones.

(01:04:11):
But I do think it has, youknow, a lot of things of merit.
Like I said, it is a delightful littlemovie that, I don't think it's terrible by
any means, so I really do appreciate youextending the invite and allowing me to go
down memory lane and watch this one again.
This, this is one that I was ableto show my, my tween at home.
My pre-teen daughter at home.
You know, there's a couple parts thatI maybe had to mute or something like

(01:04:33):
that, but she did enjoy this one as well,
as far as as far as any plugs, I reallydon't have anything at the moment.
I think continue checking out the last ofthe Action Heroes podcast Network Feed.
'cause there are some cool shows on there.
If anyone does want to hear moreof me I think the final 22, 23
episodes, something like that of myshow are still on that network feed.

(01:04:55):
So you may have to go back a bit,but it's called I Must Break This
Podcast and they can be found on there.

Katie (01:04:59):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah, I would definitely check out Sean'scatalog from I must break this podcast.
It's, it's fun.
We all need a little more do in our
life is what I
always say.
I.

Sean (01:05:10):
Mm-hmm.

Katie (01:05:10):
If you had fun with us on this ride with career
opportunities, I would very much
appreciate it.
If you would let me knowby leaving a review.
Pretty, pretty please anduntil next time, be kind.
Rewind.

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Career Opportunities | S2E9

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