November 14, 2024 • 28 mins
Jimbo and Kyle review Better Off Dead, a comedy from the 80's starring John Cusack. The movie revolves around Lane trying to get his girlfriend Beth back after she breaks up with him. The only way to ensure that is for Lane to ski the dreaded K-12, a challenging ski course that hardly anyone has conquered.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Tragedy of Cinema podcast is intended as a family
friendly program that by extension, strives to be inclusive to
all people, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, creed, or any
other identifying factors in this incredibly diverse world of ours.
With that said, some of the films we discuss may
contain serious subject matters or have content considered morally objectional
by today's standards. We do not intend to condone or
(00:24):
dismiss these aspects of these films, but our primary focus
beyond what we believe are the film succeeds at some
fun facts and our personal enjoyment factors of each film.
With that said, we help you enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Moder me on Light, She moves count to a flight
eighty three songs to light in the realm of black
and light movies and TV flo.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Through the stories we all know some screen tails un
fool in magic, They just sny cinema Memory Shimmer Joys.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
If we tell the tales we love the more.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
The treasure of seem with Themmory Shimmer joy Us sets
me a toast to the tells me I love the most.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Does it ever feel like everyone's got more going than
you do. Oops, that everyone is smart.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Shit, you'r al Myer's kids. You're pretty stupid to me.
Thank you?
Speaker 5 (02:17):
You say the best steel in town just ran off
with your girlfriend. Even your younger brother does better than
you do. And that nobody even cares.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
That's broke up quickly.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
Oh that's nice.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Well you might be right, but remember one thing.
Speaker 8 (02:37):
I haven't even been to New York City.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Nobody was ever better off.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
Yeah. The truth is I got out ski you any
day of the week. Oh really, Yeah, you.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Want to rest, I'll take you on any day.
Speaker 7 (02:47):
Sucker, go that way really fast. If something gets in
your way, turn.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
All you need is gut.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Right now, I'm gonna race, I'm gonna lose, and I'm
gonna die in that order.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
And you'll never doubt yourself again.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
Ski on one Ski better off debt.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
And that's a.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
Real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good
white boy.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Like that, an abnormal look at a normal teenager.
Speaker 8 (03:19):
Ali guys, welcome back to the Tragedy of Cinema podcast.
I'm your host Jimbo and my co host who only
wants his two dollars, mister Kyle. Kyle, Kyle did you
ever have a paper up?
Speaker 6 (03:29):
No, I never have paper out. He looks like a
guy out the country, man, I.
Speaker 9 (03:34):
We didn't have paper, have no news either, no news,
no paper out in the country.
Speaker 8 (03:44):
So, Kyle, today we are talking about another eighties comedy,
Better Off Dead, uh, from nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 10 (03:53):
Had you ever watched this movie before? We I haven't
even heard of this film until we sat doing the podcast. Yeah,
I remember seeing clips of it. I don't think I
had ever actually sat down and watch it until about
last year. I think when we were we were been
trying to do it for a couple of years now,
but it was never on the voodoo where you could
buy it.
Speaker 8 (04:12):
And finally Kyle's like, what hey here? So I was like, well,
let's get it and we'll do it. So yeah, Kyle,
go ahead and take it away.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
All right, Jimbo, we have a film.
Speaker 9 (04:23):
Better Off Dead, released on October eleventh, nineteen eighty five,
follows the story of a young man after his girlfriend
Beth Trust digits him for a Boris Ski jock Roy
stallin Stalin Satsack high school student Lane Meyer decides that
his suicide is the only answer, but as an apt
attempts to bring him nothing but agony and embarrassment.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
That's not quite the way I would scripe this film.
But okay, yeah, that's the official that's the official description.
Let's give Kyle, k Kyle, how would you describe this movie?
I would say that if you were.
Speaker 8 (04:55):
Trying to sell this movie for people to watch, what
would you tell them this movie is about.
Speaker 9 (05:01):
I would say a depressed young man strikes out after
being dumped by his longtime girlfriend and decides the only
way to recover is to act out and be a young,
dumb kid. That's definitely that's definitely what happens in this film,
at the very least. Anyways, This film was directed and
written by Savage Steve Holland, produced by Michael Jaffey, composed
(05:22):
by Rupert Hine. Cinematographer was Isidor Menkowski, editor was Alan Balsam,
and casting director was Carol Jones. Carol Jones, It's not
unusual to be loved by eighty one. Budget for the
film was three point five million dollars, very cheaply made
even for the time. That's pretty cheap, moly overall, just
(05:43):
in for inflation, that about ten point two million dollars today.
Opening weekend, the film made just fifty six point fifty
six three hundred and seventy one dollars total just for inflation,
thatbv about one hundred sixty five thousand dollars today. But
luckily at the end times in the gross worldwide they
made ten point three million dollars in just inflation, that'd
be about thirty point one million dollars. This Moon Film
(06:04):
made us money back and then some, so that's good
for them. On that it was a modest success if
put it that way. Let's see here going on here,
we're gonna go to some of the technical details. We
have a run time of ninety seven minutes, sound mixes stereo.
This is a color film, and that's technical details. There
no awards for this film because it was just a
(06:25):
kind of a one and done kind of deal. Start
going to go straight at the cast. Here we have
John Cusack and one of his earliest roles, if not Wayne,
maybe his first role. Honestly, I didn't check that John
Cusack playing the role of Laine Meyer. John Cusack also
many films such as fourteen oh eight in two thousand
and seven, Say Anything in nineteen eighty nine and uh
gross Gross point Blank in nineteen ninety seven and this
(06:45):
film and Better Off Dead in nineteen eighty five. So
pretty cool there. Next up we have Dagan Augden Steers
playing the role of Al Meyer. His father and film
David Ogden Stiers is also in the show Mash in
nineteen seventy two. Next time we have Kim Darby playing
the role of Jenny Mai. Kim Darby was also in
the film True Grit in nineteen sixty nine. Then we
have Demians demians Slade playing the role of Johnny Gasparnini.
(07:09):
Demian Slade was also in the film Back to the
Beach in ninet eighty seven and Radioactive Dream is ninety five.
Johnny was also the kid that said.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Make two dollars I need by two dollars.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
I got the entire film, So funny on that thing.
Next time we have Scooter Seasons Scooter Stevens playing the
role of Badge Meyer. Scooter Seasons was awesome in the
film Tales from the Dark Side in ninet eighty three.
Then next up we have Diane Franklin playing the role
of Monique Junots. We need Jannots, the French lady, the
French little foreign Change Student.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Yes, hilarious. Yes.
Speaker 9 (07:41):
Dian Franklin was also in the film Bill and Ted's
Excellent Adventure in nineteen eighty nine Believe she played one
of the princesses, and then she was also in the
film The Last American Version in nineteen eighty seven. The
next up we have Laura Waterberry playing the role of
Missus Smith. Laura Waterbury was also in the film Honey
Trunk with the Kids in ninete eighty nine. The next
up we have Dan Schneider playing the role of Ricky Smith.
Dan Schneider, for his acting role, is probably best known
(08:03):
for his role in the show Head of Class, where
were one hundred and fourteen episodes from nineteen eighty six
to nick name one, where he.
Speaker 8 (08:09):
Played the role of Ji Lis Blandon What's what's it again?
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Dennis Blandon, Dennis Blandon, That's right, Jimbo.
Speaker 8 (08:16):
Thank, It's been a long long time, but that was
one of my favorites growing up.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:22):
He was also a writer for the movie Good Burger
in nineteenninety seven and a writer of many of the
Nickelodeon shows from Basically I Carle Drake and Josh Yeah
Drake and Josh much of those shows well and uh yeah,
and he also had some later like twenty eighteen to
many some miscontact allegations that yeah, I was gonna say,
we might want to just briefly touch on uh he exists,
(08:44):
he had problems. He still live today and never fastnament.
So the Nickelodeon and him parked waves after internal reviews.
Speaker 6 (08:50):
So that's it. That is what it is.
Speaker 9 (08:53):
Next up, we have u g o Oko Moto playing
the role of you See You he suk Ree Yoji
Akamudu was also in the film The Karate Kid Part
two in nine eighty six. Next time we have Brian
A Mada playing the role of chin Ree. Brian Amda
was also in the film The Twilight Saga Breaking Down
Part two in twenty twelve. Then we have Chuck Mitchell
(09:15):
playing the role of Rocko. Chuck Mitchell was also in
the film Porky's ninete eighty one. We have Amanda Wise
playing the role of Beth Trust a man of Wise
is also in the film The ID in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
The ID, Yeah, the I D.
Speaker 9 (09:27):
I must say the ID because it's capital I D
so ID yeah, lower case d so Yeah.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Capitol.
Speaker 9 (09:35):
I yeah, you know it isn't mean like ID software
the con made Doom. Yeah. Curtis Armstrong played Charles d Maar.
Curtis Armstrong was also in the film Risky Business in
nineteen eighty three and Revenge of the Nerds series where
he starting in nineteen eighty four. And the next time we
have Aaron Doser playing the role of Roy Stallin. Aaron
Dozer was also in the film Hail to the Chief
(09:56):
in nineteen eighty five. The next up we have Vince
Chavelli playing a role of mister Kerber. Vincent Schnelly was
also in the film Tomorrow It Never Dies in nineteen
ninety seven. And then finally we have Edward Muller playing
the role of Buster. Edward Muller was also in the
film How I Got Into College at nineteen eighty nine.
And that's going to conclude the cast list for Better
(10:16):
Off Dead, So cool. There the rest of the actors
either like either no name roles or I'm just a
small roles that have no other films.
Speaker 10 (10:23):
Who who was the the lady singing at the at
the dance.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
At the dance lady singer, I'll I'll look it up.
But we go into some of the tribut stuff. We're wick.
Did you do the technical details there? Technical details? Yes?
I did? Yeah, Okay, yeah, sorry, I fell asleep there
you're find out kidding in the film too. Don't worry, Zane.
All right, here we go.
Speaker 8 (10:49):
So the voice of Yuji Okamuto doing the Howard cow
Sell was dubbed by impressionist Rich Little, who also plays
a DJ in on Crazy Summer, Steve Holland and John
Kuzick's next collaboration.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
That's cool.
Speaker 8 (11:06):
Lane's little brother. I didn't even know his name, but
his name is Badger. Has no lines in this movie,
but he is funny in this movie.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
That's hilarious. That's that's funny. He has a line.
Speaker 10 (11:17):
I didn't realize that that's either. He was just like
he was always annoyed when he came there.
Speaker 8 (11:24):
People protested this film's original tagline, sometimes you're better off dead, so.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
It has changed to relax, You're never better off de good,
Save oh Man.
Speaker 8 (11:36):
During the Christmas present scene at Lane's house, the large
toy robot is Tweaky from Buck Rogers in the twenty
fifth century. When Best shows up at the high school dance,
the person standing behind her is wearing a sweater very
similar to Freddy Krueger's. Amanda Weiss played Kruger's first victim
in a Nightmare on Elm Street.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
I think it's full circle. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 8 (12:02):
Let's see here in the grocery store scene, Nintendo's arcade
game punch Out is up front. Uh did you ever
play the punch Out there? Mike Tyson?
Speaker 9 (12:10):
I played the Wei version. Actually, I played the Wei
version once. Never played the original punch Out though. Never
beat Mike Tyson.
Speaker 10 (12:16):
That's one of the greatest games of a coat of
course beats of course. Okay, it took me many many
tries because he did that. Yeah, O one hit. Get
caught with that, dude, You done done.
Speaker 8 (12:31):
When Lane gets home from the dance, he opens his
brother's door to find lovely ladies in his room. The
camera angle was a classic scene from the Graduate. The
lady's legs are spread so we can see the boy
in the doorway admiring her. Here we go Savage. Steve
Holland said in an interview that John Cusack hated this
movie and walked out of the film after twenty minutes.
During a special screening, Holland said. The next morning, he
(12:55):
basically walked up to me and was like, you know,
you tricked me. Bet Off Dead was the worst thing
I've ever I will never trust you as a director
ever again. So don't speak to me.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Oh wow.
Speaker 8 (13:05):
He was just really upset, and I said, what happened,
what's wrong? And he just said that I sucked and
it was the worst thing he had ever seen, and
that I had used him and made a full out
of him and all this other stuff. It was so
out of left field that it just floored me.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
I would love to get his opinion now. I want
to like, like, has he grown up since then?
Speaker 9 (13:22):
Or is like, is he still just like just bitter
vinegar vinegar over that?
Speaker 6 (13:27):
And like I hate this. Well, there's some more ruined life.
I think I said something twenty thirteen. We'll get to it, okay.
Speaker 8 (13:32):
For the K twelve mountain scenes, John Cusack and stud
Doubles wore welding goggles as opposed to the traditional ski goggles.
According to the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences,
the welding goggles blocked peripheral visions, thus forcing the stunt
doubles to ski fifty degree slopes looking straight down.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Oh my gosh, we terrifying cow. Have you ever skied
a you ski? I tried snowboarding once. If this untried,
and here's Kyle going down the half pipe. If this
is not going down.
Speaker 8 (14:04):
You'd like one of those Lutey two cartoons where he
gets up at the top of he like Wiley goes together.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
He just starts tumbling, turns into the big snowball, hits
every tree on the way down. It's also somehow, that's
what oh man.
Speaker 8 (14:18):
Some movie posters for this film featured a long blurb
that the red You've blown up your neighbor's mom. Your
seven year old brother has better luck with women than
you do. Your girlfriend has a new boyfriend, relaxed. You're
never better off dead. Did what he blew up? Is
the neighbors?
Speaker 6 (14:33):
Oh Man? Funzy crazy.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
In a two thousand and four interview Savage Steve Holland
said his suicide attempts inspired this movie. I went into
the garage and I put an extension court on a pipe,
and I'm on a garbage can, and I'm thinking should
I do this? And maybe this isn't a good idea anyway.
It was a plastic garbage can, and my weight just
like crashed through it and I fell and the pipe
broke and it started pouring water everywhere. And I'm basically
(14:58):
in a garbage can drowning, and my mom comes in
and starts yelling at me from breaking a pipe, which
is what any mom would do. So I started writing
down steeple ways to kill yourself that would fail. After that,
I put them in sort of a diary, and that
diary kind of became better off dead. The Camaro, the Camaro,
(15:20):
I guess. The Camaro SS in this film was owned
by the son of the transportation captain who sold the
car in nineteen eighty nine. In two thousand and two,
the Camaro was located in poor condition at a private residence.
It was purchase transport from Los Angeles to Orlando, Florida,
stripped down and restored by repair shop Time Machines of Hudson, Florida.
The film's car's engine had been swapped out for a
(15:42):
Chevrolet four hundred out of a mid nineteen seventies and
Paula or truck. As of twenty fourteen, the Camaro had
appeared at several car shows or has appeared.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
That's pretty cool. It'd be cool to get to see it.
Speaker 9 (15:54):
Yeah, schoolers come to school.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
It's been like restored several times now. It seems like.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
George Garage rock band Ba Barracas's bass player went on
by the stage name Badger due to it and can't
he resu to Lane's lover little Lover.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Boy, little Brother.
Speaker 8 (16:14):
The Burger, which is Kyle's favorite seeing this movie, plays
Everybody Wants Some by Van Halen from their nineteen name
but eighty album Women and the Children A Woman and
Children First. The Burger also plays a guitar that resembles
the type played by Eddie van Halen in his early career,
with a bass color of red layer with type of
varying colors.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
Yeah, it was pretty exceptely cool scene.
Speaker 8 (16:34):
The last line of the credits, Kyle, did you watch
the credits because the last line of the credits scroll reads,
this film's over.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
You can go now that's pretty good.
Speaker 8 (16:44):
This is the first porsing theme restaurant for the actor
who played Big Pig Burger owner Rocko Chuck. Mitchell also
played Porky, the owner of Porky's and Porky's Henry Winkler.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
You know who that is? Yeah, I know he's on
Barry's show. He was the principal on Screaming that guy.
He was the phones.
Speaker 8 (17:02):
Of course, he was in an instrumental in getting the
film this film made. In the early nineteen eighties, Savage
Steve Holland's short film My Eleven year Old Birthday Party
played but at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Winkler saw
that film and took a liking to Holland winkler suggestion.
Holland checked out John Cusack in The Sure Thing, which
Winkler executive produced. Holland thought that Kuzak was perfect for
(17:25):
the lead role. He had to fight to get Kuzack cast,
as the studio didn't think he was much of a
leading man based on his nerdy turn in sixteen Candles
Lane's mother experimental cooking that bacon.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Oh yeah, this section food or something like blue terrible.
I love it. It was actually pretty good, those really
good visual gags, all the food. Yeah, the food was
pretty good. She remember she's in there with that pother
is like an octopus or so.
Speaker 9 (17:49):
She's the French meal, you have French dressing, you have
French friend, frich fries.
Speaker 8 (17:57):
It was terrible, but her experimental cooking was inspired by
Savage Steve Holland's mother. My mom would get McCall's magazine
and she would find these recipes and make these things
and have some excuse why they didn't taste good because
she forgot something or she didn't have an ingredient, Holland
told Entertainment Weekly one year she gave him some TV
(18:18):
dinners for his birthday. She was like, and I got
you these really cool frozen dinners because you like the
peach colllar in this one or something. And I was like, wow, really,
this is my life. I go some of those ones
had a fire bomb brownie in it.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Oh oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
The claimation hamburger scene was inspired by Savage Steve Holland's
first job working at McDonald's. There was this rumor that
a rat fell into a vat at a chicken place
and somebody got served fried. Ratty said that was what
I had in the original script. The preacher said, that's
really just disgusting and not even funny.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
I would have laughed.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
So I just saw this guy, Jimmy Picker had made
this really funny claymation short film about Mayor ed Cock
called Sunday in New York. I was like, if I
could do something like that, it's still incorporated into a
Hamburger scenario. And then I had the Van Hamlen's on.
I put this together and it was just so so
out there stupid that everbody was really worried about it.
(19:16):
But it was the highest testing thing. When we went
to the test, they thought that was the greatest thing
in the whole movie.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
I agree, I all agree.
Speaker 9 (19:23):
Most out there seem retirely where like I'm fully off
a deep end. We're like, oh, now I know what
this film is now, you know, because I thought I
was taking itself a little too seriously, but then it's like,
oh no, this is a fun, dumb joke about.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
What young kids doing, feeling being young neutful. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (19:35):
When twelve year old Demi and Slade auditioned for the
Roll of paperway Johnny Gasparini, he wrote, he wore a
leather jacket and looked serious. I approached it as if I
were a silio serial killer with no intention of making
it funny.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (19:48):
Slade told The Entertainment Weekly, I brought in a hedshout
of me wearing a leather jacket and looking really menacing.
During the car washing. I remember the car machine where
he's hanging under the car. He actually broke the windshield
with his newspaper. Oh wow, it was an accident, but
I was pretty proud of myself. He told Facebook they
had to replace it. It's not easy to crack a
windshield with a newspaper, and especially when you were a
(20:09):
little kid.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Yeah, that is incredible, cool, It's crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
Elizabeth Day is a musical performer in this film. There
she is, I'd see She would later become a voice
over actress in Savage Steve Holland's Eke the Cat, which
is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. Especially
they should go by the name Sharky, which was the
Shark Dog so and I ain't never heard of it.
The film also featured a scene where Lane has a
(20:34):
pet cat, based on Holland's past as a cat owner.
Despite his initial hatred of this film as well as
director Steve Holland Our Savage Steve Holland, John Cusack admitted
in a twenty thirteen interview he does not hate this
film or making it, while he wishes some things in
it were better. He stated that he feels that way
(20:56):
about every movie he has made and is happy it
has achieved cult status and mains popular.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
Oh good, so he came around finally when I come right, Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
It's probably because hey, I'm still getting these residual checks
that all these people still five years Yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
And I believe this is the last one.
Speaker 8 (21:13):
After one of Lange's felt attempts at skiing K twelve,
he returned home to find a newspaper with the headline
New York Man's suicide by fire. The accompanying photograph is
a real life suicide of Thick Kwong Dook. On June eleventh,
nineteen sixty three, the Vietnamese Buddhist monks set himself on
fire on a busy Saigon street to protest the oppression
(21:33):
of Buddhist by the ruling government of SOF Vietnam, led
by Nago Din Dem. So they have a Kyle tell
me about Better Off Dead? Yeah, so overall I should
I read the message, Kyle said. I. I told him
(21:53):
the movie that we were doing was about howay through this?
I was really depressed, he said, I'm about halfway through
Better Off Dead?
Speaker 6 (21:58):
And I remember pressed to really.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
Fresh too, yeah, or really great award rather Yeah. So yeah,
I'm gonna say, probably the first two thirds of the
film were kind of boring to me. It wasn't till
we hit that kind of stop motion burger scene that
I was like, oh, okay, now see it's it's more
of a comedy than I realized. And there's more ridiculous
things going on here that I can appreciate you to
a degree. But in general, like I thought, this was
just a kind of a week by the numbers eighties
comedy for the most part, but there's some real sincerity
(22:23):
there going on there as well. So overall, I think
as a rating would go, i'd probably give it, uh
the seven out of ten overall, like this is this
is be good to solid. Like if you're a fan
of the kind of eighties comedies, this could be for you.
But like, unless you're like a fan of that kind
of genre of film, I wouldn't really bother with it.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
That's you.
Speaker 9 (22:41):
You know, you can miss it, You're not really missing
out that much. So overall it's okay though, So yeah,
I saw a film. Overall, there's nothing like too bad
to really complain about, and the scenes that are funny
are generally funny, and the scenes that are bad are
generally bad, but we'll.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
See how it goes. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (22:59):
So yeah, overall seven out of ten. I'm probably not
gonna watch it again anytime soon. If we do watch
more one more time, I'll maybe be even more fonder
of the film overall. Now they kind of know it's
vibe and what it goes for. But yeah, overall, film
is just okay.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
So that's how I feel about it. Jimbo, how do
you call the film?
Speaker 8 (23:16):
Well, it's it's an eighties comedy. If we look at
some of the comedies that came out around that time,
I mean, what do you have you have like Animal House,
like late seventies, early eighties you had?
Speaker 6 (23:30):
What else? Did you have? The nerds, weird science.
Speaker 8 (23:34):
Yeah, to me, it's just just right up there with them.
It's it's, it's it is. It's one of those you
get what you get.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:42):
In the eighties, I think the stunts in this were
pretty amazing and dangerous, especially when he's skiing on one
leg on one ski at the end of the game
and then you know, you see him trying to go
down the hills and he just starts tumbling down. I
was like, man, you know, even a stunt man going
down a cliff like that. That could be serious injuries.
Speaker 10 (24:03):
That's impressively the the dad did a really good job.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
You know.
Speaker 10 (24:08):
He wakes up trying to stop the newspaper guy from
throwing the newspaper through the garage door and ends up
shattering him.
Speaker 8 (24:16):
Newspaper guy a kid, hilarious. Yeah, he just two dollars.
He's even on the K twelve skiing down on his bike. Hilarious.
Speaker 10 (24:25):
I like the subtle comedy about everybody wanted to get
with Beth, even like this, even like his Bath teachers like, hey,
I got it?
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Can you stay after class? I need to He's like
he's like, hey, do you mind if I take out Beth?
When Barney from the Flimstone spreaks up the fourth wall? Yeah,
can I ask you Bath?
Speaker 10 (24:43):
What It would have been really funny if his brother
ended up with Beth. Yeah, that would have been hilarious.
His brother is hilarious. The mom's hilarious. So for me,
I think I'm gonna give this an eight out of
ten because there's several times I laughed really hard, like
the Howard a Cell thing when he drag races them
every day and he's like, oh, look here's what we
(25:04):
have here, and he'd always you know, he'd get mad,
he'd back into the guy hit the I think he
hit the same guy twice did. And then the French girl,
she's adorable in this way adorable and when she hides
uh speaking French from being speaking English from Yes, from
(25:26):
the mom.
Speaker 8 (25:26):
And his mom hilarious, and she comes to find out
that she helps fix this Camaro. It's just an overall
good film, and especially at the end when it brings
us all back around when he does ski the K
twelve on and ski and everybody's like and he best
right there and she leans over and gives him a kiss,
and that's when Dian Franklin's character gets mad and walks
(25:47):
away and he chases her down and then you have
the great sword fight with the sky sticks. So yeah,
it's definitely funny.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
So I I enjoyed it so well. There you have it.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
If you'd like to falls, we have the Tragedy of
Cinema podcast on Facebook. If you want to reach out
to us, we have the Tragedy of Cinema podcast at
gmail dot com. I want to thank everybody for listening
once again, thanks for putting up with Kyle still name
It's always good to see Kyle. I thought I forgot
I was gonna was gonna say somethingunny there, but I'll
let you slide. No, no, I mean in Kyle's world maybe.
(26:27):
But but with that being said, I think this episode
is coming to a clothing that's wrap.
Speaker 11 (26:32):
And them wim Then, Marius, we choosed to the tales
leading up the.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Most upset them.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Joy sent me to.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Love the most.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Most, We love the most.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
The tragedy of cinema and Mary Shimmer Joy.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
As if we too strough the tales we love the most.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
To the tails, we love the most, tragedy of saying the.
Speaker 11 (27:52):
Them Marie Schiller, Joy, U sets me toast to the
tells we love the most.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
To the seals, will love the wost, to the fells,
will love the coast
The Tragedy of Cinema podcast is intended as a family
friendly program that by extension, strives to be inclusive to
all people, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, creed, or any
other identifying factors in this incredibly diverse world of ours.
With that said, some of the films we discuss may
contain serious subject matters or have content considered morally objectional
by today's standards. We do not intend to condone or
(00:24):
dismiss these aspects of these films, but our primary focus
beyond what we believe are the film succeeds at some
fun facts and our personal enjoyment factors of each film.
With that said, we help you enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Moder me on Light, She moves count to a flight
eighty three songs to light in the realm of black
and light movies and TV flo.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Through the stories we all know some screen tails un
fool in magic, They just sny cinema Memory Shimmer Joys.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
If we tell the tales we love the more.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
The treasure of seem with Themmory Shimmer joy Us sets
me a toast to the tells me I love the most.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Does it ever feel like everyone's got more going than
you do. Oops, that everyone is smart.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Shit, you'r al Myer's kids. You're pretty stupid to me.
Thank you?
Speaker 5 (02:17):
You say the best steel in town just ran off
with your girlfriend. Even your younger brother does better than
you do. And that nobody even cares.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
That's broke up quickly.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
Oh that's nice.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Well you might be right, but remember one thing.
Speaker 8 (02:37):
I haven't even been to New York City.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Nobody was ever better off.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
Yeah. The truth is I got out ski you any
day of the week. Oh really, Yeah, you.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Want to rest, I'll take you on any day.
Speaker 7 (02:47):
Sucker, go that way really fast. If something gets in
your way, turn.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
All you need is gut.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Right now, I'm gonna race, I'm gonna lose, and I'm
gonna die in that order.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
And you'll never doubt yourself again.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
Ski on one Ski better off debt.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
And that's a.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
Real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good
white boy.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Like that, an abnormal look at a normal teenager.
Speaker 8 (03:19):
Ali guys, welcome back to the Tragedy of Cinema podcast.
I'm your host Jimbo and my co host who only
wants his two dollars, mister Kyle. Kyle, Kyle did you
ever have a paper up?
Speaker 6 (03:29):
No, I never have paper out. He looks like a
guy out the country, man, I.
Speaker 9 (03:34):
We didn't have paper, have no news either, no news,
no paper out in the country.
Speaker 8 (03:44):
So, Kyle, today we are talking about another eighties comedy,
Better Off Dead, uh, from nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 10 (03:53):
Had you ever watched this movie before? We I haven't
even heard of this film until we sat doing the podcast. Yeah,
I remember seeing clips of it. I don't think I
had ever actually sat down and watch it until about
last year. I think when we were we were been
trying to do it for a couple of years now,
but it was never on the voodoo where you could
buy it.
Speaker 8 (04:12):
And finally Kyle's like, what hey here? So I was like, well,
let's get it and we'll do it. So yeah, Kyle,
go ahead and take it away.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
All right, Jimbo, we have a film.
Speaker 9 (04:23):
Better Off Dead, released on October eleventh, nineteen eighty five,
follows the story of a young man after his girlfriend
Beth Trust digits him for a Boris Ski jock Roy
stallin Stalin Satsack high school student Lane Meyer decides that
his suicide is the only answer, but as an apt
attempts to bring him nothing but agony and embarrassment.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
That's not quite the way I would scripe this film.
But okay, yeah, that's the official that's the official description.
Let's give Kyle, k Kyle, how would you describe this movie?
I would say that if you were.
Speaker 8 (04:55):
Trying to sell this movie for people to watch, what
would you tell them this movie is about.
Speaker 9 (05:01):
I would say a depressed young man strikes out after
being dumped by his longtime girlfriend and decides the only
way to recover is to act out and be a young,
dumb kid. That's definitely that's definitely what happens in this film,
at the very least. Anyways, This film was directed and
written by Savage Steve Holland, produced by Michael Jaffey, composed
(05:22):
by Rupert Hine. Cinematographer was Isidor Menkowski, editor was Alan Balsam,
and casting director was Carol Jones. Carol Jones, It's not
unusual to be loved by eighty one. Budget for the
film was three point five million dollars, very cheaply made
even for the time. That's pretty cheap, moly overall, just
(05:43):
in for inflation, that about ten point two million dollars today.
Opening weekend, the film made just fifty six point fifty
six three hundred and seventy one dollars total just for inflation,
thatbv about one hundred sixty five thousand dollars today. But
luckily at the end times in the gross worldwide they
made ten point three million dollars in just inflation, that'd
be about thirty point one million dollars. This Moon Film
(06:04):
made us money back and then some, so that's good
for them. On that it was a modest success if
put it that way. Let's see here going on here,
we're gonna go to some of the technical details. We
have a run time of ninety seven minutes, sound mixes stereo.
This is a color film, and that's technical details. There
no awards for this film because it was just a
(06:25):
kind of a one and done kind of deal. Start
going to go straight at the cast. Here we have
John Cusack and one of his earliest roles, if not Wayne,
maybe his first role. Honestly, I didn't check that John
Cusack playing the role of Laine Meyer. John Cusack also
many films such as fourteen oh eight in two thousand
and seven, Say Anything in nineteen eighty nine and uh
gross Gross point Blank in nineteen ninety seven and this
(06:45):
film and Better Off Dead in nineteen eighty five. So
pretty cool there. Next up we have Dagan Augden Steers
playing the role of Al Meyer. His father and film
David Ogden Stiers is also in the show Mash in
nineteen seventy two. Next time we have Kim Darby playing
the role of Jenny Mai. Kim Darby was also in
the film True Grit in nineteen sixty nine. Then we
have Demians demians Slade playing the role of Johnny Gasparnini.
(07:09):
Demian Slade was also in the film Back to the
Beach in ninet eighty seven and Radioactive Dream is ninety five.
Johnny was also the kid that said.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Make two dollars I need by two dollars.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
I got the entire film, So funny on that thing.
Next time we have Scooter Seasons Scooter Stevens playing the
role of Badge Meyer. Scooter Seasons was awesome in the
film Tales from the Dark Side in ninet eighty three.
Then next up we have Diane Franklin playing the role
of Monique Junots. We need Jannots, the French lady, the
French little foreign Change Student.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Yes, hilarious. Yes.
Speaker 9 (07:41):
Dian Franklin was also in the film Bill and Ted's
Excellent Adventure in nineteen eighty nine Believe she played one
of the princesses, and then she was also in the
film The Last American Version in nineteen eighty seven. The
next up we have Laura Waterberry playing the role of
Missus Smith. Laura Waterbury was also in the film Honey
Trunk with the Kids in ninete eighty nine. The next
up we have Dan Schneider playing the role of Ricky Smith.
Dan Schneider, for his acting role, is probably best known
(08:03):
for his role in the show Head of Class, where
were one hundred and fourteen episodes from nineteen eighty six
to nick name one, where he.
Speaker 8 (08:09):
Played the role of Ji Lis Blandon What's what's it again?
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Dennis Blandon, Dennis Blandon, That's right, Jimbo.
Speaker 8 (08:16):
Thank, It's been a long long time, but that was
one of my favorites growing up.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:22):
He was also a writer for the movie Good Burger
in nineteenninety seven and a writer of many of the
Nickelodeon shows from Basically I Carle Drake and Josh Yeah
Drake and Josh much of those shows well and uh yeah,
and he also had some later like twenty eighteen to
many some miscontact allegations that yeah, I was gonna say,
we might want to just briefly touch on uh he exists,
(08:44):
he had problems. He still live today and never fastnament.
So the Nickelodeon and him parked waves after internal reviews.
Speaker 6 (08:50):
So that's it. That is what it is.
Speaker 9 (08:53):
Next up, we have u g o Oko Moto playing
the role of you See You he suk Ree Yoji
Akamudu was also in the film The Karate Kid Part
two in nine eighty six. Next time we have Brian
A Mada playing the role of chin Ree. Brian Amda
was also in the film The Twilight Saga Breaking Down
Part two in twenty twelve. Then we have Chuck Mitchell
(09:15):
playing the role of Rocko. Chuck Mitchell was also in
the film Porky's ninete eighty one. We have Amanda Wise
playing the role of Beth Trust a man of Wise
is also in the film The ID in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
The ID, Yeah, the I D.
Speaker 9 (09:27):
I must say the ID because it's capital I D
so ID yeah, lower case d so Yeah.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Capitol.
Speaker 9 (09:35):
I yeah, you know it isn't mean like ID software
the con made Doom. Yeah. Curtis Armstrong played Charles d Maar.
Curtis Armstrong was also in the film Risky Business in
nineteen eighty three and Revenge of the Nerds series where
he starting in nineteen eighty four. And the next time we
have Aaron Doser playing the role of Roy Stallin. Aaron
Dozer was also in the film Hail to the Chief
(09:56):
in nineteen eighty five. The next up we have Vince
Chavelli playing a role of mister Kerber. Vincent Schnelly was
also in the film Tomorrow It Never Dies in nineteen
ninety seven. And then finally we have Edward Muller playing
the role of Buster. Edward Muller was also in the
film How I Got Into College at nineteen eighty nine.
And that's going to conclude the cast list for Better
(10:16):
Off Dead, So cool. There the rest of the actors
either like either no name roles or I'm just a
small roles that have no other films.
Speaker 10 (10:23):
Who who was the the lady singing at the at
the dance.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
At the dance lady singer, I'll I'll look it up.
But we go into some of the tribut stuff. We're wick.
Did you do the technical details there? Technical details? Yes?
I did? Yeah, Okay, yeah, sorry, I fell asleep there
you're find out kidding in the film too. Don't worry, Zane.
All right, here we go.
Speaker 8 (10:49):
So the voice of Yuji Okamuto doing the Howard cow
Sell was dubbed by impressionist Rich Little, who also plays
a DJ in on Crazy Summer, Steve Holland and John
Kuzick's next collaboration.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
That's cool.
Speaker 8 (11:06):
Lane's little brother. I didn't even know his name, but
his name is Badger. Has no lines in this movie,
but he is funny in this movie.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
That's hilarious. That's that's funny. He has a line.
Speaker 10 (11:17):
I didn't realize that that's either. He was just like
he was always annoyed when he came there.
Speaker 8 (11:24):
People protested this film's original tagline, sometimes you're better off dead, so.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
It has changed to relax, You're never better off de good,
Save oh Man.
Speaker 8 (11:36):
During the Christmas present scene at Lane's house, the large
toy robot is Tweaky from Buck Rogers in the twenty
fifth century. When Best shows up at the high school dance,
the person standing behind her is wearing a sweater very
similar to Freddy Krueger's. Amanda Weiss played Kruger's first victim
in a Nightmare on Elm Street.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
I think it's full circle. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 8 (12:02):
Let's see here in the grocery store scene, Nintendo's arcade
game punch Out is up front. Uh did you ever
play the punch Out there? Mike Tyson?
Speaker 9 (12:10):
I played the Wei version. Actually, I played the Wei
version once. Never played the original punch Out though. Never
beat Mike Tyson.
Speaker 10 (12:16):
That's one of the greatest games of a coat of
course beats of course. Okay, it took me many many
tries because he did that. Yeah, O one hit. Get
caught with that, dude, You done done.
Speaker 8 (12:31):
When Lane gets home from the dance, he opens his
brother's door to find lovely ladies in his room. The
camera angle was a classic scene from the Graduate. The
lady's legs are spread so we can see the boy
in the doorway admiring her. Here we go Savage. Steve
Holland said in an interview that John Cusack hated this
movie and walked out of the film after twenty minutes.
During a special screening, Holland said. The next morning, he
(12:55):
basically walked up to me and was like, you know,
you tricked me. Bet Off Dead was the worst thing
I've ever I will never trust you as a director
ever again. So don't speak to me.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Oh wow.
Speaker 8 (13:05):
He was just really upset, and I said, what happened,
what's wrong? And he just said that I sucked and
it was the worst thing he had ever seen, and
that I had used him and made a full out
of him and all this other stuff. It was so
out of left field that it just floored me.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
I would love to get his opinion now. I want
to like, like, has he grown up since then?
Speaker 9 (13:22):
Or is like, is he still just like just bitter
vinegar vinegar over that?
Speaker 6 (13:27):
And like I hate this. Well, there's some more ruined life.
I think I said something twenty thirteen. We'll get to it, okay.
Speaker 8 (13:32):
For the K twelve mountain scenes, John Cusack and stud
Doubles wore welding goggles as opposed to the traditional ski goggles.
According to the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences,
the welding goggles blocked peripheral visions, thus forcing the stunt
doubles to ski fifty degree slopes looking straight down.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Oh my gosh, we terrifying cow. Have you ever skied
a you ski? I tried snowboarding once. If this untried,
and here's Kyle going down the half pipe. If this
is not going down.
Speaker 8 (14:04):
You'd like one of those Lutey two cartoons where he
gets up at the top of he like Wiley goes together.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
He just starts tumbling, turns into the big snowball, hits
every tree on the way down. It's also somehow, that's
what oh man.
Speaker 8 (14:18):
Some movie posters for this film featured a long blurb
that the red You've blown up your neighbor's mom. Your
seven year old brother has better luck with women than
you do. Your girlfriend has a new boyfriend, relaxed. You're
never better off dead. Did what he blew up? Is
the neighbors?
Speaker 6 (14:33):
Oh Man? Funzy crazy.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
In a two thousand and four interview Savage Steve Holland
said his suicide attempts inspired this movie. I went into
the garage and I put an extension court on a pipe,
and I'm on a garbage can, and I'm thinking should
I do this? And maybe this isn't a good idea anyway.
It was a plastic garbage can, and my weight just
like crashed through it and I fell and the pipe
broke and it started pouring water everywhere. And I'm basically
(14:58):
in a garbage can drowning, and my mom comes in
and starts yelling at me from breaking a pipe, which
is what any mom would do. So I started writing
down steeple ways to kill yourself that would fail. After that,
I put them in sort of a diary, and that
diary kind of became better off dead. The Camaro, the Camaro,
(15:20):
I guess. The Camaro SS in this film was owned
by the son of the transportation captain who sold the
car in nineteen eighty nine. In two thousand and two,
the Camaro was located in poor condition at a private residence.
It was purchase transport from Los Angeles to Orlando, Florida,
stripped down and restored by repair shop Time Machines of Hudson, Florida.
The film's car's engine had been swapped out for a
(15:42):
Chevrolet four hundred out of a mid nineteen seventies and
Paula or truck. As of twenty fourteen, the Camaro had
appeared at several car shows or has appeared.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
That's pretty cool. It'd be cool to get to see it.
Speaker 9 (15:54):
Yeah, schoolers come to school.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
It's been like restored several times now. It seems like.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
George Garage rock band Ba Barracas's bass player went on
by the stage name Badger due to it and can't
he resu to Lane's lover little Lover.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Boy, little Brother.
Speaker 8 (16:14):
The Burger, which is Kyle's favorite seeing this movie, plays
Everybody Wants Some by Van Halen from their nineteen name
but eighty album Women and the Children A Woman and
Children First. The Burger also plays a guitar that resembles
the type played by Eddie van Halen in his early career,
with a bass color of red layer with type of
varying colors.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
Yeah, it was pretty exceptely cool scene.
Speaker 8 (16:34):
The last line of the credits, Kyle, did you watch
the credits because the last line of the credits scroll reads,
this film's over.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
You can go now that's pretty good.
Speaker 8 (16:44):
This is the first porsing theme restaurant for the actor
who played Big Pig Burger owner Rocko Chuck. Mitchell also
played Porky, the owner of Porky's and Porky's Henry Winkler.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
You know who that is? Yeah, I know he's on
Barry's show. He was the principal on Screaming that guy.
He was the phones.
Speaker 8 (17:02):
Of course, he was in an instrumental in getting the
film this film made. In the early nineteen eighties, Savage
Steve Holland's short film My Eleven year Old Birthday Party
played but at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Winkler saw
that film and took a liking to Holland winkler suggestion.
Holland checked out John Cusack in The Sure Thing, which
Winkler executive produced. Holland thought that Kuzak was perfect for
(17:25):
the lead role. He had to fight to get Kuzack cast,
as the studio didn't think he was much of a
leading man based on his nerdy turn in sixteen Candles
Lane's mother experimental cooking that bacon.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Oh yeah, this section food or something like blue terrible.
I love it. It was actually pretty good, those really
good visual gags, all the food. Yeah, the food was
pretty good. She remember she's in there with that pother
is like an octopus or so.
Speaker 9 (17:49):
She's the French meal, you have French dressing, you have
French friend, frich fries.
Speaker 8 (17:57):
It was terrible, but her experimental cooking was inspired by
Savage Steve Holland's mother. My mom would get McCall's magazine
and she would find these recipes and make these things
and have some excuse why they didn't taste good because
she forgot something or she didn't have an ingredient, Holland
told Entertainment Weekly one year she gave him some TV
(18:18):
dinners for his birthday. She was like, and I got
you these really cool frozen dinners because you like the
peach colllar in this one or something. And I was like, wow, really,
this is my life. I go some of those ones
had a fire bomb brownie in it.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Oh oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
The claimation hamburger scene was inspired by Savage Steve Holland's
first job working at McDonald's. There was this rumor that
a rat fell into a vat at a chicken place
and somebody got served fried. Ratty said that was what
I had in the original script. The preacher said, that's
really just disgusting and not even funny.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
I would have laughed.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
So I just saw this guy, Jimmy Picker had made
this really funny claymation short film about Mayor ed Cock
called Sunday in New York. I was like, if I
could do something like that, it's still incorporated into a
Hamburger scenario. And then I had the Van Hamlen's on.
I put this together and it was just so so
out there stupid that everbody was really worried about it.
(19:16):
But it was the highest testing thing. When we went
to the test, they thought that was the greatest thing
in the whole movie.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
I agree, I all agree.
Speaker 9 (19:23):
Most out there seem retirely where like I'm fully off
a deep end. We're like, oh, now I know what
this film is now, you know, because I thought I
was taking itself a little too seriously, but then it's like,
oh no, this is a fun, dumb joke about.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
What young kids doing, feeling being young neutful. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (19:35):
When twelve year old Demi and Slade auditioned for the
Roll of paperway Johnny Gasparini, he wrote, he wore a
leather jacket and looked serious. I approached it as if I
were a silio serial killer with no intention of making
it funny.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (19:48):
Slade told The Entertainment Weekly, I brought in a hedshout
of me wearing a leather jacket and looking really menacing.
During the car washing. I remember the car machine where
he's hanging under the car. He actually broke the windshield
with his newspaper. Oh wow, it was an accident, but
I was pretty proud of myself. He told Facebook they
had to replace it. It's not easy to crack a
windshield with a newspaper, and especially when you were a
(20:09):
little kid.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Yeah, that is incredible, cool, It's crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
Elizabeth Day is a musical performer in this film. There
she is, I'd see She would later become a voice
over actress in Savage Steve Holland's Eke the Cat, which
is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. Especially
they should go by the name Sharky, which was the
Shark Dog so and I ain't never heard of it.
The film also featured a scene where Lane has a
(20:34):
pet cat, based on Holland's past as a cat owner.
Despite his initial hatred of this film as well as
director Steve Holland Our Savage Steve Holland, John Cusack admitted
in a twenty thirteen interview he does not hate this
film or making it, while he wishes some things in
it were better. He stated that he feels that way
(20:56):
about every movie he has made and is happy it
has achieved cult status and mains popular.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
Oh good, so he came around finally when I come right, Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
It's probably because hey, I'm still getting these residual checks
that all these people still five years Yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
And I believe this is the last one.
Speaker 8 (21:13):
After one of Lange's felt attempts at skiing K twelve,
he returned home to find a newspaper with the headline
New York Man's suicide by fire. The accompanying photograph is
a real life suicide of Thick Kwong Dook. On June eleventh,
nineteen sixty three, the Vietnamese Buddhist monks set himself on
fire on a busy Saigon street to protest the oppression
(21:33):
of Buddhist by the ruling government of SOF Vietnam, led
by Nago Din Dem. So they have a Kyle tell
me about Better Off Dead? Yeah, so overall I should
I read the message, Kyle said. I. I told him
(21:53):
the movie that we were doing was about howay through this?
I was really depressed, he said, I'm about halfway through
Better Off Dead?
Speaker 6 (21:58):
And I remember pressed to really.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
Fresh too, yeah, or really great award rather Yeah. So yeah,
I'm gonna say, probably the first two thirds of the
film were kind of boring to me. It wasn't till
we hit that kind of stop motion burger scene that
I was like, oh, okay, now see it's it's more
of a comedy than I realized. And there's more ridiculous
things going on here that I can appreciate you to
a degree. But in general, like I thought, this was
just a kind of a week by the numbers eighties
comedy for the most part, but there's some real sincerity
(22:23):
there going on there as well. So overall, I think
as a rating would go, i'd probably give it, uh
the seven out of ten overall, like this is this
is be good to solid. Like if you're a fan
of the kind of eighties comedies, this could be for you.
But like, unless you're like a fan of that kind
of genre of film, I wouldn't really bother with it.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
That's you.
Speaker 9 (22:41):
You know, you can miss it, You're not really missing
out that much. So overall it's okay though, So yeah,
I saw a film. Overall, there's nothing like too bad
to really complain about, and the scenes that are funny
are generally funny, and the scenes that are bad are
generally bad, but we'll.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
See how it goes. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (22:59):
So yeah, overall seven out of ten. I'm probably not
gonna watch it again anytime soon. If we do watch
more one more time, I'll maybe be even more fonder
of the film overall. Now they kind of know it's
vibe and what it goes for. But yeah, overall, film
is just okay.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
So that's how I feel about it. Jimbo, how do
you call the film?
Speaker 8 (23:16):
Well, it's it's an eighties comedy. If we look at
some of the comedies that came out around that time,
I mean, what do you have you have like Animal House,
like late seventies, early eighties you had?
Speaker 6 (23:30):
What else? Did you have? The nerds, weird science.
Speaker 8 (23:34):
Yeah, to me, it's just just right up there with them.
It's it's, it's it is. It's one of those you
get what you get.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:42):
In the eighties, I think the stunts in this were
pretty amazing and dangerous, especially when he's skiing on one
leg on one ski at the end of the game
and then you know, you see him trying to go
down the hills and he just starts tumbling down. I
was like, man, you know, even a stunt man going
down a cliff like that. That could be serious injuries.
Speaker 10 (24:03):
That's impressively the the dad did a really good job.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
You know.
Speaker 10 (24:08):
He wakes up trying to stop the newspaper guy from
throwing the newspaper through the garage door and ends up
shattering him.
Speaker 8 (24:16):
Newspaper guy a kid, hilarious. Yeah, he just two dollars.
He's even on the K twelve skiing down on his bike. Hilarious.
Speaker 10 (24:25):
I like the subtle comedy about everybody wanted to get
with Beth, even like this, even like his Bath teachers like, hey,
I got it?
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Can you stay after class? I need to He's like
he's like, hey, do you mind if I take out Beth?
When Barney from the Flimstone spreaks up the fourth wall? Yeah,
can I ask you Bath?
Speaker 10 (24:43):
What It would have been really funny if his brother
ended up with Beth. Yeah, that would have been hilarious.
His brother is hilarious. The mom's hilarious. So for me,
I think I'm gonna give this an eight out of
ten because there's several times I laughed really hard, like
the Howard a Cell thing when he drag races them
every day and he's like, oh, look here's what we
(25:04):
have here, and he'd always you know, he'd get mad,
he'd back into the guy hit the I think he
hit the same guy twice did. And then the French girl,
she's adorable in this way adorable and when she hides
uh speaking French from being speaking English from Yes, from
(25:26):
the mom.
Speaker 8 (25:26):
And his mom hilarious, and she comes to find out
that she helps fix this Camaro. It's just an overall
good film, and especially at the end when it brings
us all back around when he does ski the K
twelve on and ski and everybody's like and he best
right there and she leans over and gives him a kiss,
and that's when Dian Franklin's character gets mad and walks
(25:47):
away and he chases her down and then you have
the great sword fight with the sky sticks. So yeah,
it's definitely funny.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
So I I enjoyed it so well. There you have it.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
If you'd like to falls, we have the Tragedy of
Cinema podcast on Facebook. If you want to reach out
to us, we have the Tragedy of Cinema podcast at
gmail dot com. I want to thank everybody for listening
once again, thanks for putting up with Kyle still name
It's always good to see Kyle. I thought I forgot
I was gonna was gonna say somethingunny there, but I'll
let you slide. No, no, I mean in Kyle's world maybe.
(26:27):
But but with that being said, I think this episode
is coming to a clothing that's wrap.
Speaker 11 (26:32):
And them wim Then, Marius, we choosed to the tales
leading up the.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Most upset them.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Joy sent me to.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Love the most.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Most, We love the most.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
The tragedy of cinema and Mary Shimmer Joy.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
As if we too strough the tales we love the most.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
To the tails, we love the most, tragedy of saying the.
Speaker 11 (27:52):
Them Marie Schiller, Joy, U sets me toast to the
tells we love the most.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
To the seals, will love the wost, to the fells,
will love the coast
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