December 26, 2025 • 38 mins
-
Hollywood and Media Bias:
- Cruz argues that the NYT list prioritizes political messaging over storytelling and entertainment.
- He claims the list reflects elitist, left-leaning Hollywood values and ignores popular, inspirational, or patriotic films.
-
Alternative Film List:
- Cruz presents his own list of 30 films from the past 25 years that he believes are more representative of quality cinema.
- His selections include:
- Gladiator, The Patriot, A Beautiful Mind, Lord of the Rings, Saving Private Ryan, American Sniper, Hidden Figures, Top Gun: Maverick, and Avatar.
- He emphasizes true stories, war films, musicals, and movies with strong moral or patriotic themes.
-
Personal Movie Preferences:
- Cruz shares his favorite films (The Princess Bride, The Godfather, Scarface, Fletch), and discusses his love for musicals and classic comedies.
- He recounts personal anecdotes, including taking his mother to Broadway shows and watching Saving Private Ryan and Dallas Buyers Club.
-
Cultural Commentary:
- The conversation touches on broader cultural issues, such as the disconnect between Hollywood and everyday Americans, the importance of storytelling, and the role of cinema in shaping public perception.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in is Verdicuous Center Ted Cruse Ben Ferguson with you.
And on this holiday weekend, we decided to replay an
awesome episode that we did about a year ago, and
that is Centator Ted Cruise's favorite movies a great list.
And if you are like the two of us and
you'll love to watch movies over the holiday break with
(00:21):
your family, you do not want to miss this list, Cenator.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What's on your list? What are you going to rewatch
during Christmas this year?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, listen, let me just say Merry Christmas to everyone.
I hope you're having a wonderful, relaxing Christmas. And one
of the things that I've always done at Christmas from
when I was a kid to now is my family
we go to the movies. My dad loves movies, my
mom loves movies, and so we go to the movies.
Particularly Christmas time, we'll go see movies. And so we
want to play you a list of thirty of the
(00:49):
greatest movies of the twenty first century and and and
if you watch them, put a comment down below, let
us know if you like the movies, let us know
if there are anything you want to add. But but
here is thirty any one of which would be a
great way to spend some time with your family over
this Christmas break center.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
People that don't know you, well, I'm gonna give them
a little bit of a clue. You absolutely love movies,
and you put together a list of your favorite movies
and also series and shows that you watch. And if
you've ever wondered what Senator Cruz is watching when he's
flying all the time, here's a really good list we're
(01:29):
gonna be giving you on this Christmas.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well, and let me just echo that, Merry Christmas. I
hope you're having a wonderful and blessed day. I hope
Sanna came down the chimney and your kids are overjoyed,
and you're spending time, maybe with some hot cocoa. We
often do Christmas by the tree, where all be in
my bathrobe, We'll all be in our pajamas, the kids
will be opening presents. We all actually have cups of
(01:51):
hot cocoa, and it's a beautiful time, and it's a
beautiful time to reflect not just on the love your
family has for each other, but the love God has
us in the salvation He sent for us. Now I
don't know about you, but but over holidays, what my
family has always done is we go to movies. We
go to movies over Thanksgiving break, we go to movies
over Christmas break.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I love movies. As a kid, both my parents love movies.
I would go to movies with my mom and dad
when I was a little kid. I still go to
movies with them now.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
But way, you're a movie theater guy. Just so people know.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
This, I like the real theater, so I like the
big screen.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I like popcorn and gummy bears and and you know,
the the experience of being there. And by the way,
I'm also rabid about staying until the very end, till
the last moment of the credits play.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I will not get up and leave. There's a sense
of completeness.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Of appreciating the entirety of of the the movie. And
so what we decided we do today is put together
just a compilation of movies that that that I love,
that I that I recommend to you, and and and
hopefully as you're taking some time with your family, maybe
you'll go watch one of them and laugh or cry,
and it'll touch you and you'll enjoy it. And I
think art and storytelling or are beautiful, beautiful things.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So that being said here in the big shows and
the big movies on Senator Cruise's list, Merry Christmas. I
get asked all the time from many of you guys
that are watching or listening right now, what is Ted
Cruz like behind the scenes. So we thought we'd have
a little fun. I'm gonna ask him some questions, and
you're even gonna find out what his favorite movies are.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Senator, We're gonna have a little fun.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I get asked all the time when I'm all over
the country in half of this last week in New York,
so what is Ted Cruz really like behind the scenes?
And I say, I actually, if people got to see
the side of you that I know, you're actually really
fun to be around. You're also a huge movie buff
as well, And so I'm gonna ask some fun questions
(03:46):
just to kind of let people know behind the curtain
who you really are. So let's start with this. What
is the last thing you watched on a plane?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
What is the last thing I watched on a plane
was Outer Banks, which is a series. It's a teeny
bopper series and it's phenomenal. I am in the middle
of season three. And there's a reason I'm watching a
teeny bopper series, which is my youngest daughter, Catherine loves
Outer Banks.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
She's at camp right now, yep.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
And when I dropped her off at camp, she said, Dad,
I want you to watch out her Banks, and I
want you to write to me in letters and tell
me what you think is the season's progressing.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
And so I've been regularly.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I write to her about every couple of days and
I tell her, Okay, here's where I am. I'm at
this point. I'm at this point. This character just my
favorite character, JB. Yeah too, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
So she asked me that I'm a little troubled.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Her favorite character is JJ who who is kind of
a look I guess if you're a thirteen year old girl,
he's you know, he's always doing the dumbest thing imaginable,
but he's kind of a I like John B.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
John B is a good character.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It's such a fun show.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So when you were growing up, what was it that
you were watching high school college?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
But by the way, spoiler alert, I apologize if you
haven't seen seen I'm gonna give a spoiler alert right now,
So just fast forward through this if you don't want
a spoiler alert. But in season two, when when when
Ward is blown blown up, I knew Ward was not
blown up, and so I wrote her, I said, yeah,
Ward just died. I'm very confident he's alive. And I
remembered they keep scuba gear in the boat. He got
(05:17):
in the scuba gear and then like.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Seven epsom there you got to figure it out, and
you're like, they got to keep this, they gotta keep
the series.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So I felt pretty good that I was at least
a step ahead of the teeny Bopper series.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So what were you watching in high school? Like what
were your favorite shows? What was your favorite movie?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
So I love movies.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
My parents love movies, like like we would, you know,
this is what we do. So so every holiday, every Thanksgiving,
every Christmas, my family would go out and watch.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Movies that Diehard a Christmas movie.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Of course it is okay, good, absolutely, yes, there's only
one right answer. Diehart is absolutely a Christmas movie. But
we would go out and do movies. When I was
a kid, when I was like eight nine years old,
my dad would drop me off at the theater.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
All Saturday and I'd watch like five movies.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I'd go from one theater to the next to the
next and just watch everything there.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
It's we all love movies.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So what I've done done today for this show is
I put together a list of twenty five movies. Now
this is not exclusive, this is not the only twenty
five movies I like, and I don't even know that
it's my twenty five favorite. But it's twenty five awesome movies,
which if you haven't watched, I recommend you watch. You
will enjoy them, you will laugh, you will be moved,
(06:28):
you will get good things from them. So let's go
through the twenty five.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I gotta ask for one more question for you, twenty
five what movie have you watched the most in your
life over and over again?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Well, that actually happens to be number one on the list.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I knew it. I like this.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So my favorite movie of all time is The Princess Bride. Really,
I love The Princess Bride. I think every character in
it is exquisite. Every line from every character is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
In college, we used to play a game called Drinking
Princess Bride. And so the way you play Drinking Princess Bride.
As you sit down with a bunch of college kids,
you put the movie on and you try to say
each line immediately before it's said. If you get it right,
you point at somebody. They have to drink. If you
screw it up even slightly, you drink. And if two
(07:17):
or more people say the same line at the same time,
everybody drinks.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So when you get to the as you wish, why.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You were so sober in college? Now I understand.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Look, when you get to the as you wishes? Yeah,
everyone can get them. So they're all socials and it
is a fun game. My problem is I know just
about every line from the movie, but I'll screw them
up slightly, so I end up kind of getting myself
because I try an awful lot of them. But is
an exquisite movie. I probably watched The Princess Bride, I
don't know, a couple hundred times. No way, it is fantastic.
(07:46):
So that's number one on your list, far and away.
Number two on my list is The Godfather Saga.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Couldn't agree with you more. One of the best series
ever made period.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And I'm not gonna break it down between one, two
and three been like three, which is a bit of
a heretical idea. I think three stands on its own
as its own movie. The least that three only makes
sense in conjunction with one and two.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Which is when you're in the club.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I kind of like that, like you can't fake it
and go see number three and and think oh that
was incredible.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You have to be in it.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And look, I quote all of them all the time,
you know, from three. Every time I get out, they
keep pulling me back in. I will say it was
a little depressing with with with my team where I turned.
You know, senate staffers are all children.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
You know, your.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Average to put that on a T shirt, your average
senate staffer is like twenty three, twenty four, twenty five.
So so things like Godfather quotes they just don't get.
And so I I said something. I said, you know,
this is the business we have chosen. And like everyone
looked at me confused, and I said, okay, I'd like
six staffers there. I said, all right, do any of
(08:57):
you have any idea what I'm saying. They're all like no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I said, okay, this is Godfather too, and and and
this is a conversation between him and Roth, who is
clearly modeled after Meyer Lanski, him and Roth and and
Michael Corleone, and they're down in Miami and Hyman Roth
goes Michael.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I had a friend. I had a friend since childhood,
Moe Green was his name. And one day somebody put
a bullet in his eye. I did not ask who
was responsible. I did not seek retribution. I said, this
is the business we have chosen. None of them had
(09:38):
any idea what I was talking about.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Team building night in the Senate. You should totally, you
should totally bring him in one, two and.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Three nine hours.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yes, this is what you're gonna do. That's team building one.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday. Are favorite line from any
of the Godfather is the best one? Mine's the Canoli.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Leave, leave the gun and take the Cannolic?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, no brainer. Number three on your list Scarface? Really?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Oh, I love me some Scarface. Why notice Pacino has
two spots in my top three here? I like Pacina, Okay,
I love crime movies and look Scarface. Stony Montani's Cuban.
I'm Cuban. It's you know, it is larger than life.
I can quote a lot of lines from it to
be honest, I'm not going to because they're pretty off
(10:25):
color and I'm going to avoid putting out on the
podcast some of the language from it.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
But uh, it is so crime genre is your thing,
and I like Pacino.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, he's amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
So my favorite TV show is Criminal Minds. I love
Criminal Minds.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I'm actually shocked by that one because if there was
only one box that I can take with me my
whole life, like if I was stuck on it as
a island, it'd be West Wing.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
West Wing is fabulous. I've watched every episode of West Wing.
I've watched every episode of Criminal Minds. But Criminal Minds
is I just find it fascinating. Heidi hates it, by
the way. When Criminal Minds is on, She's like, turn
that garbage off because you know you've got evil, vicious murderers.
I'm like, no, no, they're the bad guys though, it's all
about stopping them.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
But she just doesn't like that. In the house all right.
Number four Fletch. Never seen it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
You've never seen Fletch. Go home tonight and watch Fletch.
It may be the funniest movie ever made.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Really.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Chevy Chase plays Irwin Fletcher, an undercover investigative reporter. It
is absolutely hysterical.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
You know, you love chevy Chase, so that's it's.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Chevy Chase's best movie, much better, much better than Lampoon's Vacation,
much better than and He's done a ton. I love
chevy Chase, but Fletch is head and shoulders above them all.
You know Grant who heads up my security detail. Grant
and I quote Fletch lines back and forth at each
other every week.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Really is Go and watch the movie. Never seen it?
It is spectacular, all right, Fletch, I'm on it all right,
number five amazing Grace also never A lot of people
have not seen it, but it is a very good.
It is the true story of William Wilberforce. Now William
Wilberforce was a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
(12:10):
who led the effort to abolish the slave trade.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Very cool, is it true?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Store, true, Store Oka and Wilberforce. So, when he started
as a young MP, the slave trade was the United
Kingdom's single greatest source of revenue. It was their business.
And he begins as this young MP arguing we must
end the slave trade. It is wrong, it is immoral,
(12:35):
and everyone laughs at him, and it would be like
if you were in Texas standing up saying we should
ban oil and gas.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I mean, it was that absurd of an idea back then.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And he spends fifty years battling for it, and the
movie ends with him successfully championing and passing the legislation
abolishing the slave trade and shutting down their most lucrative
business because it was. And by the way, the title
amazing grace, you know where it comes from. What so
(13:06):
the person who wrote the hymn amazing Grace was a
friar who had been the former captain of a slave ship. Really,
he was the captain of a slave ship. And think
of the words of the song, amazing grace, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
(13:27):
I once was lost, but now and found, was blind,
but now I see. And imagine the person writing that
in that context was the captain of a slave ship.
Presumably he had murdered people, he had beaten people, he
had whipped people. He mean, I mean, you think of
the evil entailed in being the captain of a slave ship,
(13:49):
and then the amazing grace that that that God offered
redemption even in the face of the horrific evil. It
puts a whole different character. The book is by Eric Metaxas,
who's a fantastic author. Christian author does great biographies. I
highly recommend Amazing Grace number six. Unforgiven, Never seen it? Oh, Unforgiven?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Is this is why it makes me laugh when we
get to do shows like this, because I mean, I
will go watch these now.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Okay, so Unforgiven best Western ever made won the Academy
Award for Best Picture.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Clint Eastwood is in it.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I could do an age joke. Here was it in
black and white?
Speaker 1 (14:30):
No?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
No, no, no, it was actually laid Eastwood. You were
actually out of diapers when it came out.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Morgan Freeman is in it. Gene Hackman is in it.
Gene Hackman is spectacular. What's interesting about Unforgiven that is
so powerful is it turns all of the stereotypes of
the Western on its head. So, for example, Clint Eastwood
plays this, this outlaw who had turned over a good
(14:59):
leaf when was good and then was going back gets hired.
What happens is a a woman who is a prostitute
is badly cut up by a drunk cowboy and they
put out a reward to kill the cowboy who cut
her up, and Clint Eastwood, as this retired outlaw, needs
the money and so it is coming to collect the reward,
(15:21):
and Morgan Freeman, his partner, comes with him. But there's
a point where where Clint east would you know, there's
there's a young kid who wants to be a gunslinger
and and he's like practicing on shooting fast, and like
Clint Eastwood says, well, you know, for me, this is
about as fast as I can draw my gun, point it,
aim at it, pull the trigger, and hit what I'm
(15:43):
aiming at. And he said, in most firefights, people are
scared out of their mind and they're just terrified. And
whoever can kind of calmly engages who wins. And there
are scenes where like everyone's like, oh crap, and they
shoot their foot and they drop their gun and they're
like freaking out and he kind of and he would
just get drunk and just sort of systematically banged and
(16:04):
it it really did.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Invert many of the conventional wisdom.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Of being a fast draw on everything else.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And Gene Hackman's character is hysterical. It is he's the
sheriff who initially you think might be the hero, but
he very quickly becomes an anti hero. So excellent movie
number eight. Team America.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I've actually seen it.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Hilarious, okay, and I'm going a little edgy, So Team America,
Team America, World Police.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
It's a puppet movie.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I remember when it came out, I was in shock,
but I was dying laughing. So Heidi didn't like movies
very much. I took Heidi to see it. She almost
fell to the floor laughing.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
So she y'all clicked on that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
It is screamingly funny. Now it makes fun of both sides.
It makes fun of Republicans, Democrats, everything. It's the guys
who do South Park who did it? It is puppets.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
They're truly opportunity offender.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
It is now.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I'm gonna give a warning. Every third word is a profanity.
If you're offended by profanity, skip this suggestion. I will say,
when we were fairly newlyweds, we went on vacation with
with Heidie's parents down at Lake Powell, which is fabulous,
and and and we brought it with us and we
sort of like Heidi and I remember, this is really,
(17:21):
really funny, and I think we didn't quite remember that
every third word is a profanity. And I'm sitting there
with Heidie's parents as we're listening to the blinkety blink
blink blink, blink blink. We didn't finish the movie, like
ten minutes into it.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
We just can't believe you brought this in front of
your parents.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Right, yeah, it was, but it's still funny as I'll
get it, all right.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Next movie, Patten, yep, amazing, amazing movie. I've watched Patton
probably five six times in my life. All Right, do
you know what I did before every Supreme Court argument
I ever did? Well, I can figure it out now
you watch Patten, not the whole thing, just which see
the opening speech, okay, yeah, just the opening speed George C.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Scott in front of the gigantic flag, standing up and saying, men,
the objective is not to give your life for your country.
The objective is to make that other, poor son of
a bitch give his life for his country.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I mean I can dig that.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I can dig that.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
It is sound advice.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
If you can watch that speech and not be inspired,
you're dead.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yeah, like it is.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
See, those are my weakness movies. I love true stories.
I love good versus evil movies. I absolutely love sports
movies as well, but there's always usually a big speech
in those.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
By the way, a buddy of mine collects historical military
equipment and clothing and uniforms, and he has patents dog tags,
no way, And I actually have worn Patten's dog tags.
They have rested on my bare chest and I literally
felt like I was ready to pull out a pistol
and start shooting in an airplane.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Like it made you.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
You think about that that actually rested right above the
heart of patent.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
That's incredible. That's a good thing to own, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Next movie, The Sting Classic. Have you seen this?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
You've never seen The Sting.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I don't even know. It's about Oh.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Oh, Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin the Sting, All time classic. Robert Redford,
Paul Newman, They're they're con men.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
It is this is this is what I can really
mess with. Wait, Newman does something outside of like SASA.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It is hysterical, It is beautifully done. Go and watch
and what's it about. It's about conman, Okay, and it's
it's worth watching. I probably watched it a hundred times.
Such a good movie. All right, next movie Awakenings.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yes, I've seen that, so Awake. It's only one.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
So Awakenings is fabulous. Robert de Niro, you're a de
Niro fan. I like de Niro a lot, not a
fan of his politics, but a big fan of his acting.
Is a great actor. Although as much de Niro got
all the acclaim, but I actually thought Robin Williams stole
the show.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I love Rob Williams, so this is what this is
right at my alley.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Robin Williams is one of my my all time favorite
actors ever. I mean, he's an incredible comedic act.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So you're gonna laugh.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I was asked a question if you could have dinner with,
like any five people who would be at your table, living.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Or alive or dead.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I had Robin Williams for years in my list because
I think he's just one of the most brilliant actors
and genuinely funny human beings.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
So when Robin and Williams passed, I genuinely cried and
I wrote a long statement about Robin Williams on Facebook
that I put up, but it just I hammered it
out of my iPad because he he is so funny
his stand up If you've ever watched his stand up.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Routine golf, yeah, I've watched it.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
The one on golf is again profane language, but as
funny as anything that has ever been said, like screamingly funny. Awakenings,
the portrayal he gives. I actually like Robin Williams even
better in dramatic performances than comedy. And he's one of
the funniest human beings ever alive. So Awakening on the list, Yes, fabulous,
(20:57):
all right. The next two I viewed again, Brave Heart
and Gladiator.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Both amazing, no brainers, incredible and mel Gibson Russell Crowe right, yes,
back to back. How can you get that wrong?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
And both standing and fighting and fighting against oppression and
their epic epic movies. Again, if you're not inspired by them,
you're dead, I will say, Mike Lee, there's an app
where you couldn't can put yourself you speaking into an
(21:35):
audio clip. And he and I used to send things
back and forth. And you know, at the end, when
mel Gibson is being executed, he screams freedom. So Mike
would send me videos of him screaming to mel Gibson's
voice Freedom. It was pretty powerful, all right. Next, Beverly
(21:57):
Hills Cop.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Hands down one of the funniest movies ever.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Just screamingly funny. Eddie Murphy, You're gonna laugh. I consider
that a Christmas movie because it's like days off. I
want to watch the classic. I watch that.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It is every moment of it.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Eddie Murphy remains one of my favorite actors of all times.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I he's got a new one coming out, a sequel
coming out on Amazon. I think it's on Amazon Prime.
Did you see that recently? I just saw it this
last week. I don't know which one it was, but
they were teasing.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yes, they're doing and Beverly Hills Cop too, Okay, is
that what it is or three?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
But look, the original Beverly Hills Cop is screamingly funny.
And I actually have three Eddie Murphy movies in a
row because I love Eddie Murphy. Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places, Yes,
and Coming to America.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So Coming America is one of the first movies that
was like really edgy that I remember, like in my
adolescent sing hilarious.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Again, screamingly funny, and Eddie Murphy and our Sinel Hall
and they play multiple characters at all the different you
know in the barbershop, when you have Eddie Murphy in
ar Sanuel Hall, going back and forth.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
I mean, it's.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Amazingly And you know what, they probably wouldn't let you
make that movie today because it gets racially edgy in
a way that like now you know, the woke world.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
No no, you can't laugh about that. No no, no, no, no you can't.
You can't. You can't have any of that humor. By
the way.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
You want funny humor, go back to young Eddie Murphy
on SNL when he was like nineteen years old, brilliant
and just edgy, comedic like brilliance.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
I love.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
He's by far my favorite character ever on SNL was
Young Eddie Murphy because it was just so funny.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Mine's Farley by the way, Look he was he was
great and he put his hole into it. Yeah, I mean,
you know, I also love that man and a little jacket,
that man down by the river. I mean, but I
also love like comedy when there's people falling over.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
And he could do that.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
His physical comedy was incredible.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
All right.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Next on the list, Wall Street, Yep, just all time
go and Gecko one of the great all time classics.
By the way, a line that I quote frequently. Gordon
Gecko is in the locker room getting cleaned up after
playing racquetball and he turns to Charlie Sheen and he goes,
(24:15):
I'm on the board of the Bronx Zoo. Cost me
a million bucks. That's the thing about wasps love animals,
hate people.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
There's some insight there.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
There is some insight there for sure.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Hidden figures. Yes, wonderful movie.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Incredible movie about the African American female mathematicians who were
foundational to America going to the Moon. And for me,
there are two kind of personal reasons why that movie
is significant to me.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Well, it's got to be because of Houston.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Well, when we went to see the movie, I took
my mother to the movie. I took Heidi to the movie.
I took both my daughters to the movie. And it
was interesting my girls. It was the first time they'd
seen a movie that had segregated.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, the bathroom is the one of the most iconic
scenes in that whole movie.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And it led to I had a long conversation with
both of them and they were like, well, why would
people have done that? And to talk about segregation and
civil rights and just sort of walk through the history
of it. It prompted really good conversations with my girls.
But secondly, so my mom. My mom graduated from Rice
in nineteen fifty six and she had a math degree,
(25:26):
and she went to work as a computer programmer at Shell.
She subsequently went to work at the Smithsonian. And remember
the movie Hidden Figures begins with Sputnik being launched and
sort of the space race being beginning. One of my
mother's first assignments at the Smithsonian was to help compute
the orbits of Sputnik. And so in front of the girls,
(25:49):
I asked my mom. I said, Mom, you were doing this,
and in fact, you were doing it ten years earlier.
You were doing it in the fifties. Hidden Figures is
set in the sixties, and I said, how accurate is it?
And my mother, I thought it was very accurate. That
it did a really good job of conveying what it
was like to be a woman in space and science
and in a technical environment. And I commented to her,
(26:12):
I said, okay, one of the strange things to a
more modern ear is that they referred to the women
there as computers. Yeah, and we think of a computer
as a piece of metal.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
But they were actually called computers because they were actually
doing the math.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
And my mother started laughing at me and she said
her first job title was computer and when she started
at Shell, she had a business card that said eleanor.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Dearra computer No Way.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
And so.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
In response to that, I introduced legislation to rename the
street in front of NASA headquarters Hidden Figures Way. And
this is actually a really cool story. I introduced that
legislation before it could pass, and we would have gotten
it passed, but a DC City councilman saw that legislation
and said, you know what, that's a great idea. And
(27:05):
the DC City councilman introduced it in the DC City council.
Guy's a Democrat, and he got it passed. So the
DC City Council passes.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
It's cool.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
So I went to the street signed dedication and that
that is the street sign there, and I was there,
I spoke at the denawary it it is the headquarters
of NASA in DC, and so NASA, the address of
NASA is one Hidden Figure's Way. And so I spoke
of the dedication the DC City councilman spoke, and he's
a Democrat.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
I'm a Republican.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
And I told the story of my mom, which was
really cool to get to tell, and I said, look,
at some level, you might say, listen, the street sign's
not that big.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
A deal, that one is.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
But at another level, you know, fifty years from now,
one hundred years from now, some little girl some little
boy is going to come visit NASA and they're gonna
look up and see the street sign and they're gonna say, hey,
what does that mean? And they're going to hear the
story of the pioneering African American women who were the
mathematicians that got us to the moon. And so it's
(28:03):
where movies and stories are powerful.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Did any of the characters of the movie? Did any
of them get to come to.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
That that they had passed by the time we did that?
So no, all right, we just got a few more.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Schindler's List one of the hardest movies to watch.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
The other one is that I can I've only watched
it one time because I just can't ring myself to
watch it again.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Is Lone Survivor.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Those two movies to me are must sees, But I
just I don't know if it's because I've become a
dad and having kids now and watching the kids, I
just can't watch them like I used to.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
So, as you know, a couple of weeks ago, I
was at Normandy for the eightieth anniversary of D Day,
and wildly enough I got to meet Steven Spielberg and
Tom Hanks, which was really cool, and I had pretty
extended conversations with both of them, and they've done Look,
their politics are both left of center, but they've done
an amazing job really honoring and telling the stories of
(28:58):
the greatest generation, whether saving Private Ryan, whether Band of Brothers,
whether the Pacific and so we're talking about that. And
I was talking with Spielberg about about Schindler's List and
just you know, talking with the heroes the World War
Two heroes who almost all say, well, I could have
done more. I could have done more, and the real
(29:20):
heroes are under those crosses behind us. And I was
telling Spielberg, I said, hearing them say that reminds me
of the end of Schindler's List, where Oscar Schindler is like,
I could have done more, and he looks down at
his gold watch and he said, this watch this watch
could have saved three more people. Three more people are
dead because I kept my watch. And you think about
(29:43):
the heroism of his rescuing Jews from the Nazis and
the incredible courage, But at the same time, the like
why didn't I do even more? And that, to me
is the most beautiful moment of that movie is the
sort of did I do enough?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Okay, I'm gonna take a detour, a detour to the
world of musicals.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
So I like musicals.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Do you like Broadway?
Speaker 4 (30:09):
I do. I love Broadway absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
So like you, if you go to New York, you
would put it on your list to go see a show.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
I love Broadway, and I'm gonna have four musicals on here.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
So number one is is my father's favorite movie of
all time, which is My Fair Lady.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Okay, and My Fair Lady is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I've seen it because of my mom and my sister
multiple times.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
English.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I've never watched that he's got of children how to speak,
Norwegians learn, Norwegians. The Greeks are taught their Greek.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
See.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
This is why I said this show would be entertaining,
because I would.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Have never thought you were musical.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
It is spec favorite Broadway sh you've ever been to.
I'm gonna get to that, Okay, go ahea, I'm gonna
get to that. So the second one there is Oliver Yep.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Great.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Oliver is spectacular. So look, I was in high school.
I was president of drama club.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I have way too many one liners, but I'll leave
that for another show.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Keep going.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
You were captain of the tennis team. I was president
of drama club. Okay, I get that. There's a reason
why you would have stuck me in the locker. If
you yes, that.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Would have that would have gotten you a SmackDown for sure.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
But so look, I I all politicians are frustrated actors.
It's just it's just part of the the It is oh, yes,
a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
What were you in?
Speaker 4 (31:23):
So I did?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Do we have eight tracks of this or what what
was it? Beta camp?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
There?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
They may be somewhere. Okay, So let's see. I've done
Sound of Music twice.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
What'd you play?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
So I played? The first time, I played Rolf yeah uh.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
You know, and I warbled out you are sixteen going
on seventeen, no way, And then the second time I
played Max Yep. I also so I did Oliver, and
Oliver is a fabulous classic. So Oliver was my senior year,
and the head of the music department told me, hey,
we're doing Oliver next year, and he said, you know,
(31:59):
I'd love to have you play Fagan if you can
sing it.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
And and my curse. Look, I'm a terrible singer.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I cannot carry save in a bucket like like I
wish I could I have you were not hearing.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
It.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And so I actually went and for like six months
I took voice lessons to try to get be able
to sing that Fagan is such a thing.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Did you get any better in the six months?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
A little bit?
Speaker 4 (32:26):
And so what happened?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
And the nice thing about Fagan is is Fagan's songs
are more spoken than sang. So, for example, the song
reviewing the situation, a man's got a hot isn't he
(32:47):
joking apart?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Hasn't he?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
And though I'd be the first to admit that I
wasn't a saint, I'm finding it hard to be really
as bad.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
So here I see you Dad, next, I'm gonna say
there six months is worth it now right.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I'm viewing the situation Can a fellow be a villain
all his life, all the trials to settle down and
get myself a wife.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And you remember.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
I will cook and sew for you, and come for you,
and go for you, and go for you, and nagget
you the finger.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
She will wag at you. How many tickets they sell for?
This is what I really want to know.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
So I prepared that song was one.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Now it's mostly spoken, it's not release, so I could
do it marginally competently after six months practicing. I did
that at the trio and then and then afterwards music
director said, hey, Ted, stick around, and he went to
the piano and he said sing this, and he went
and I went.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
And he did it like three times. He goes, Okay,
damn it not happening. So I was cast as Bill Sykes.
It's the second male lead with no singing. Yeah, it's
a fun role. You're the villain.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You get to like beat up Oliver, twist and like
you're but but I wanted.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I wanted to play that.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Role badly, and I did not get it all right.
Two more musicals. Hamilton, which is utterly exquisite. I've seen
it multiple times. It is brilliant, it is beautiful, it
is powerful. My girls know the songs. There are few
things that make me happier than when my daughters are
(34:31):
singing songs from Hamilton. I mean it was there was
a period where they were obsessed with it.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
You and I were talking about this the other day.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
My dad I took him to New York for the
first time ever for seventh birthday, and and you said,
did you go see a show? And I was like,
do you want to see Hamilton? He's like, I'd rather
go the Yankees game. And then the next night I
was like, we just that I'd rather have a nice meal.
I tried hard. I tried to give him to Hamilton.
It just wasn't on the list. And then my favorite
music of all time is le Miss really, and I
love le Miss I think, do you get choked out?
(34:59):
Be honest, because I'm a sucker for this. I get
I get the lump in the rooked up, all right?
So what song gets you choked up? Oh? The one
the most famous? I'm terrible with it. It's the one
that Anne Hathaway does. It's so good. Oh and she
won won the Academy Awards for every Time it gets me?
Speaker 4 (35:15):
So that is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I'll tell you that the two that get me choked
up are number one, when Jean Valjean is saying let
him live, yep, and he's looking down and he says,
you know, if I die, that one's InCred me die.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, let him live.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
And it's a prayer to God to let him live
every time. I have tears every time. Then the other
one that gets.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Me is the song empty chairs and empty tables at
the end when everyone has died. And I will confess
at the end of the presidential campaign in twenty sixteen,
as I walked through the empty campaign office and I
saw the empty chairs and empty tables, I heard.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
That sphrames of that song.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Uh so le miz is exquisite, all.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Right, by the way, when I was all right, So
nineteen ninety three, I was just finished my first year
of law school, and I had a job in New York.
I was working a law firm in New York for
the summer, and I decided to fly my mom to
New York for the weekend. And so it's nineteen ninety three.
So I actually fedexed a plane ticket. And this is
back when a plane ticket was a piece of cardboard. Yeah,
(36:27):
I fedexed a plane ticket to her with nothing else.
It was literally she opened the FedEx package and just
a plane ticket to New York fell out and she
called me and she's like, Ted, I assume this is you.
I said, yeah, I had no note, no nothing, just
a plane ticket and the FedEx thing.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Get on the plane. I'll see you soon, mom.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
So I fleir in New York and we went out
to dinner at Boult, which at the time was the
nicest restaurant in New York. Was fabulous, And then I
took her one night to see Camelot, which was really
fun yep, and then the next night.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
To see Lemiz And did she love it?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
She loved it, and it I that's one of those
ironed memories for rest of your life.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
That's just very cool to go do that. All right,
So we have a total of three more. I'm gonna
say The Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Seven, incredible, watch it ten times, the original one? Yes
with my dad all right, all right, that's like in
my dad's like I grew up on John Wayne and
war movies.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, like Magnificence seven and that was like I remember
watch then Unforgiven, The Magnificent seven is the greatest Western
that's actually originally at a Western. I'mforgiven with sort of a
modern remake format, but Magnificent seven exquisite with you know,
Yule Brenner and Charles Bronson.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
And that was the mos Coburn. Oh, when mom was
out of town, that was one of the movies we watched.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Oh, it was so good.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
It's it's a fabulous movie. And then I'm gonna end
with two Quentin Tarantino, is it? The Inglorious Bastards? Is
that where we're going with this? So I'm gonna start
with pulp Fiction, which is fantastic, and then the last
one is in Glorious Bastard.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And I feel bad that I left Reservoir Dogs off
because Reservoir Dogs is exquisite too. But maybe if you
made me pick two, I go with pulp Fiction and
Glorious and Glorius Bastards is.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
A spectacular movie.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
So that's twenty five movies, which if you've got some downtimes,
download them.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Watch them. You will enjoy them. You will laugh, you
will be moved, you will be.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
And send your critiques on Twitter. We'll take them. And
let me ask you one of the questions.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
If you can only take one movie and one TV
series to a desert island with you, what would you pick?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Only one movie and only one TV series? That's all
you got to watch.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
The Princess Bride and Criminal Minds.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
There you go, that's it.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
See now we know a little bit more about you.
Don't forget. We do the show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Every once in a while we get to do something
fun like this, So make sure that subscriber auto download
button and the Senate and I will see you back
here in a couple of days.
Welcome in is Verdicuous Center Ted Cruse Ben Ferguson with you.
And on this holiday weekend, we decided to replay an
awesome episode that we did about a year ago, and
that is Centator Ted Cruise's favorite movies a great list.
And if you are like the two of us and
you'll love to watch movies over the holiday break with
(00:21):
your family, you do not want to miss this list, Cenator.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What's on your list? What are you going to rewatch
during Christmas this year?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, listen, let me just say Merry Christmas to everyone.
I hope you're having a wonderful, relaxing Christmas. And one
of the things that I've always done at Christmas from
when I was a kid to now is my family
we go to the movies. My dad loves movies, my
mom loves movies, and so we go to the movies.
Particularly Christmas time, we'll go see movies. And so we
want to play you a list of thirty of the
(00:49):
greatest movies of the twenty first century and and and
if you watch them, put a comment down below, let
us know if you like the movies, let us know
if there are anything you want to add. But but
here is thirty any one of which would be a
great way to spend some time with your family over
this Christmas break center.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
People that don't know you, well, I'm gonna give them
a little bit of a clue. You absolutely love movies,
and you put together a list of your favorite movies
and also series and shows that you watch. And if
you've ever wondered what Senator Cruz is watching when he's
flying all the time, here's a really good list we're
(01:29):
gonna be giving you on this Christmas.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well, and let me just echo that, Merry Christmas. I
hope you're having a wonderful and blessed day. I hope
Sanna came down the chimney and your kids are overjoyed,
and you're spending time, maybe with some hot cocoa. We
often do Christmas by the tree, where all be in
my bathrobe, We'll all be in our pajamas, the kids
will be opening presents. We all actually have cups of
(01:51):
hot cocoa, and it's a beautiful time, and it's a
beautiful time to reflect not just on the love your
family has for each other, but the love God has
us in the salvation He sent for us. Now I
don't know about you, but but over holidays, what my
family has always done is we go to movies. We
go to movies over Thanksgiving break, we go to movies
over Christmas break.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I love movies. As a kid, both my parents love movies.
I would go to movies with my mom and dad
when I was a little kid. I still go to
movies with them now.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
But way, you're a movie theater guy. Just so people know.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
This, I like the real theater, so I like the
big screen.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I like popcorn and gummy bears and and you know,
the the experience of being there. And by the way,
I'm also rabid about staying until the very end, till
the last moment of the credits play.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I will not get up and leave. There's a sense
of completeness.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Of appreciating the entirety of of the the movie. And
so what we decided we do today is put together
just a compilation of movies that that that I love,
that I that I recommend to you, and and and
hopefully as you're taking some time with your family, maybe
you'll go watch one of them and laugh or cry,
and it'll touch you and you'll enjoy it. And I
think art and storytelling or are beautiful, beautiful things.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So that being said here in the big shows and
the big movies on Senator Cruise's list, Merry Christmas. I
get asked all the time from many of you guys
that are watching or listening right now, what is Ted
Cruz like behind the scenes. So we thought we'd have
a little fun. I'm gonna ask him some questions, and
you're even gonna find out what his favorite movies are.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Senator, We're gonna have a little fun.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I get asked all the time when I'm all over
the country in half of this last week in New York,
so what is Ted Cruz really like behind the scenes?
And I say, I actually, if people got to see
the side of you that I know, you're actually really
fun to be around. You're also a huge movie buff
as well, And so I'm gonna ask some fun questions
(03:46):
just to kind of let people know behind the curtain
who you really are. So let's start with this. What
is the last thing you watched on a plane?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
What is the last thing I watched on a plane
was Outer Banks, which is a series. It's a teeny
bopper series and it's phenomenal. I am in the middle
of season three. And there's a reason I'm watching a
teeny bopper series, which is my youngest daughter, Catherine loves
Outer Banks.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
She's at camp right now, yep.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
And when I dropped her off at camp, she said, Dad,
I want you to watch out her Banks, and I
want you to write to me in letters and tell
me what you think is the season's progressing.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
And so I've been regularly.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I write to her about every couple of days and
I tell her, Okay, here's where I am. I'm at
this point. I'm at this point. This character just my
favorite character, JB. Yeah too, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
So she asked me that I'm a little troubled.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Her favorite character is JJ who who is kind of
a look I guess if you're a thirteen year old girl,
he's you know, he's always doing the dumbest thing imaginable,
but he's kind of a I like John B.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
John B is a good character.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It's such a fun show.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So when you were growing up, what was it that
you were watching high school college?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
But by the way, spoiler alert, I apologize if you
haven't seen seen I'm gonna give a spoiler alert right now,
So just fast forward through this if you don't want
a spoiler alert. But in season two, when when when
Ward is blown blown up, I knew Ward was not
blown up, and so I wrote her, I said, yeah,
Ward just died. I'm very confident he's alive. And I
remembered they keep scuba gear in the boat. He got
(05:17):
in the scuba gear and then like.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Seven epsom there you got to figure it out, and
you're like, they got to keep this, they gotta keep
the series.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So I felt pretty good that I was at least
a step ahead of the teeny Bopper series.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So what were you watching in high school? Like what
were your favorite shows? What was your favorite movie?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
So I love movies.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
My parents love movies, like like we would, you know,
this is what we do. So so every holiday, every Thanksgiving,
every Christmas, my family would go out and watch.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Movies that Diehard a Christmas movie.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Of course it is okay, good, absolutely, yes, there's only
one right answer. Diehart is absolutely a Christmas movie. But
we would go out and do movies. When I was
a kid, when I was like eight nine years old,
my dad would drop me off at the theater.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
All Saturday and I'd watch like five movies.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I'd go from one theater to the next to the
next and just watch everything there.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
It's we all love movies.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So what I've done done today for this show is
I put together a list of twenty five movies. Now
this is not exclusive, this is not the only twenty
five movies I like, and I don't even know that
it's my twenty five favorite. But it's twenty five awesome movies,
which if you haven't watched, I recommend you watch. You
will enjoy them, you will laugh, you will be moved,
(06:28):
you will get good things from them. So let's go
through the twenty five.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I gotta ask for one more question for you, twenty
five what movie have you watched the most in your
life over and over again?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Well, that actually happens to be number one on the list.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I knew it. I like this.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So my favorite movie of all time is The Princess Bride. Really,
I love The Princess Bride. I think every character in
it is exquisite. Every line from every character is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
In college, we used to play a game called Drinking
Princess Bride. And so the way you play Drinking Princess Bride.
As you sit down with a bunch of college kids,
you put the movie on and you try to say
each line immediately before it's said. If you get it right,
you point at somebody. They have to drink. If you
screw it up even slightly, you drink. And if two
(07:17):
or more people say the same line at the same time,
everybody drinks.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So when you get to the as you wish, why.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You were so sober in college? Now I understand.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Look, when you get to the as you wishes? Yeah,
everyone can get them. So they're all socials and it
is a fun game. My problem is I know just
about every line from the movie, but I'll screw them
up slightly, so I end up kind of getting myself
because I try an awful lot of them. But is
an exquisite movie. I probably watched The Princess Bride, I
don't know, a couple hundred times. No way, it is fantastic.
(07:46):
So that's number one on your list, far and away.
Number two on my list is The Godfather Saga.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Couldn't agree with you more. One of the best series
ever made period.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And I'm not gonna break it down between one, two
and three been like three, which is a bit of
a heretical idea. I think three stands on its own
as its own movie. The least that three only makes
sense in conjunction with one and two.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Which is when you're in the club.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I kind of like that, like you can't fake it
and go see number three and and think oh that
was incredible.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You have to be in it.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And look, I quote all of them all the time,
you know, from three. Every time I get out, they
keep pulling me back in. I will say it was
a little depressing with with with my team where I turned.
You know, senate staffers are all children.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
You know, your.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Average to put that on a T shirt, your average
senate staffer is like twenty three, twenty four, twenty five.
So so things like Godfather quotes they just don't get.
And so I I said something. I said, you know,
this is the business we have chosen. And like everyone
looked at me confused, and I said, okay, I'd like
six staffers there. I said, all right, do any of
(08:57):
you have any idea what I'm saying. They're all like no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I said, okay, this is Godfather too, and and and
this is a conversation between him and Roth, who is
clearly modeled after Meyer Lanski, him and Roth and and
Michael Corleone, and they're down in Miami and Hyman Roth
goes Michael.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I had a friend. I had a friend since childhood,
Moe Green was his name. And one day somebody put
a bullet in his eye. I did not ask who
was responsible. I did not seek retribution. I said, this
is the business we have chosen. None of them had
(09:38):
any idea what I was talking about.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Team building night in the Senate. You should totally, you
should totally bring him in one, two and.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Three nine hours.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yes, this is what you're gonna do. That's team building one.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday. Are favorite line from any
of the Godfather is the best one? Mine's the Canoli.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Leave, leave the gun and take the Cannolic?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, no brainer. Number three on your list Scarface? Really?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Oh, I love me some Scarface. Why notice Pacino has
two spots in my top three here? I like Pacina, Okay,
I love crime movies and look Scarface. Stony Montani's Cuban.
I'm Cuban. It's you know, it is larger than life.
I can quote a lot of lines from it to
be honest, I'm not going to because they're pretty off
(10:25):
color and I'm going to avoid putting out on the
podcast some of the language from it.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
But uh, it is so crime genre is your thing,
and I like Pacino.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, he's amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
So my favorite TV show is Criminal Minds. I love
Criminal Minds.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I'm actually shocked by that one because if there was
only one box that I can take with me my
whole life, like if I was stuck on it as
a island, it'd be West Wing.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
West Wing is fabulous. I've watched every episode of West Wing.
I've watched every episode of Criminal Minds. But Criminal Minds
is I just find it fascinating. Heidi hates it, by
the way. When Criminal Minds is on, She's like, turn
that garbage off because you know you've got evil, vicious murderers.
I'm like, no, no, they're the bad guys though, it's all
about stopping them.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
But she just doesn't like that. In the house all right.
Number four Fletch. Never seen it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
You've never seen Fletch. Go home tonight and watch Fletch.
It may be the funniest movie ever made.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Really.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Chevy Chase plays Irwin Fletcher, an undercover investigative reporter. It
is absolutely hysterical.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
You know, you love chevy Chase, so that's it's.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Chevy Chase's best movie, much better, much better than Lampoon's Vacation,
much better than and He's done a ton. I love
chevy Chase, but Fletch is head and shoulders above them all.
You know Grant who heads up my security detail. Grant
and I quote Fletch lines back and forth at each
other every week.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Really is Go and watch the movie. Never seen it?
It is spectacular, all right, Fletch, I'm on it all right,
number five amazing Grace also never A lot of people
have not seen it, but it is a very good.
It is the true story of William Wilberforce. Now William
Wilberforce was a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
(12:10):
who led the effort to abolish the slave trade.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Very cool, is it true?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Store, true, Store Oka and Wilberforce. So, when he started
as a young MP, the slave trade was the United
Kingdom's single greatest source of revenue. It was their business.
And he begins as this young MP arguing we must
end the slave trade. It is wrong, it is immoral,
(12:35):
and everyone laughs at him, and it would be like
if you were in Texas standing up saying we should
ban oil and gas.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I mean, it was that absurd of an idea back then.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And he spends fifty years battling for it, and the
movie ends with him successfully championing and passing the legislation
abolishing the slave trade and shutting down their most lucrative
business because it was. And by the way, the title
amazing grace, you know where it comes from. What so
(13:06):
the person who wrote the hymn amazing Grace was a
friar who had been the former captain of a slave ship. Really,
he was the captain of a slave ship. And think
of the words of the song, amazing grace, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
(13:27):
I once was lost, but now and found, was blind,
but now I see. And imagine the person writing that
in that context was the captain of a slave ship.
Presumably he had murdered people, he had beaten people, he
had whipped people. He mean, I mean, you think of
the evil entailed in being the captain of a slave ship,
(13:49):
and then the amazing grace that that that God offered
redemption even in the face of the horrific evil. It
puts a whole different character. The book is by Eric Metaxas,
who's a fantastic author. Christian author does great biographies. I
highly recommend Amazing Grace number six. Unforgiven, Never seen it? Oh, Unforgiven?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Is this is why it makes me laugh when we
get to do shows like this, because I mean, I
will go watch these now.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Okay, so Unforgiven best Western ever made won the Academy
Award for Best Picture.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Clint Eastwood is in it.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I could do an age joke. Here was it in
black and white?
Speaker 1 (14:30):
No?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
No, no, no, it was actually laid Eastwood. You were
actually out of diapers when it came out.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Morgan Freeman is in it. Gene Hackman is in it.
Gene Hackman is spectacular. What's interesting about Unforgiven that is
so powerful is it turns all of the stereotypes of
the Western on its head. So, for example, Clint Eastwood
plays this, this outlaw who had turned over a good
(14:59):
leaf when was good and then was going back gets hired.
What happens is a a woman who is a prostitute
is badly cut up by a drunk cowboy and they
put out a reward to kill the cowboy who cut
her up, and Clint Eastwood, as this retired outlaw, needs
the money and so it is coming to collect the reward,
(15:21):
and Morgan Freeman, his partner, comes with him. But there's
a point where where Clint east would you know, there's
there's a young kid who wants to be a gunslinger
and and he's like practicing on shooting fast, and like
Clint Eastwood says, well, you know, for me, this is
about as fast as I can draw my gun, point it,
aim at it, pull the trigger, and hit what I'm
(15:43):
aiming at. And he said, in most firefights, people are
scared out of their mind and they're just terrified. And
whoever can kind of calmly engages who wins. And there
are scenes where like everyone's like, oh crap, and they
shoot their foot and they drop their gun and they're
like freaking out and he kind of and he would
just get drunk and just sort of systematically banged and
(16:04):
it it really did.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Invert many of the conventional wisdom.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Of being a fast draw on everything else.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And Gene Hackman's character is hysterical. It is he's the
sheriff who initially you think might be the hero, but
he very quickly becomes an anti hero. So excellent movie
number eight. Team America.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I've actually seen it.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Hilarious, okay, and I'm going a little edgy, So Team America,
Team America, World Police.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
It's a puppet movie.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I remember when it came out, I was in shock,
but I was dying laughing. So Heidi didn't like movies
very much. I took Heidi to see it. She almost
fell to the floor laughing.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
So she y'all clicked on that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
It is screamingly funny. Now it makes fun of both sides.
It makes fun of Republicans, Democrats, everything. It's the guys
who do South Park who did it? It is puppets.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
They're truly opportunity offender.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
It is now.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I'm gonna give a warning. Every third word is a profanity.
If you're offended by profanity, skip this suggestion. I will say,
when we were fairly newlyweds, we went on vacation with
with Heidie's parents down at Lake Powell, which is fabulous,
and and and we brought it with us and we
sort of like Heidi and I remember, this is really,
(17:21):
really funny, and I think we didn't quite remember that
every third word is a profanity. And I'm sitting there
with Heidie's parents as we're listening to the blinkety blink
blink blink, blink blink. We didn't finish the movie, like
ten minutes into it.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
We just can't believe you brought this in front of
your parents.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Right, yeah, it was, but it's still funny as I'll
get it, all right.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Next movie, Patten, yep, amazing, amazing movie. I've watched Patton
probably five six times in my life. All Right, do
you know what I did before every Supreme Court argument
I ever did? Well, I can figure it out now
you watch Patten, not the whole thing, just which see
the opening speech, okay, yeah, just the opening speed George C.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Scott in front of the gigantic flag, standing up and saying, men,
the objective is not to give your life for your country.
The objective is to make that other, poor son of
a bitch give his life for his country.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
I mean I can dig that.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I can dig that.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
It is sound advice.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
If you can watch that speech and not be inspired,
you're dead.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yeah, like it is.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
See, those are my weakness movies. I love true stories.
I love good versus evil movies. I absolutely love sports
movies as well, but there's always usually a big speech
in those.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
By the way, a buddy of mine collects historical military
equipment and clothing and uniforms, and he has patents dog tags,
no way, And I actually have worn Patten's dog tags.
They have rested on my bare chest and I literally
felt like I was ready to pull out a pistol
and start shooting in an airplane.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Like it made you.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
You think about that that actually rested right above the
heart of patent.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
That's incredible. That's a good thing to own, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Next movie, The Sting Classic. Have you seen this?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
You've never seen The Sting.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I don't even know. It's about Oh.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Oh, Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin the Sting, All time classic. Robert Redford,
Paul Newman, They're they're con men.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
It is this is this is what I can really
mess with. Wait, Newman does something outside of like SASA.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It is hysterical, It is beautifully done. Go and watch
and what's it about. It's about conman, Okay, and it's
it's worth watching. I probably watched it a hundred times.
Such a good movie. All right, next movie Awakenings.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yes, I've seen that, so Awake. It's only one.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
So Awakenings is fabulous. Robert de Niro, you're a de
Niro fan. I like de Niro a lot, not a
fan of his politics, but a big fan of his acting.
Is a great actor. Although as much de Niro got
all the acclaim, but I actually thought Robin Williams stole
the show.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I love Rob Williams, so this is what this is
right at my alley.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Robin Williams is one of my my all time favorite
actors ever. I mean, he's an incredible comedic act.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So you're gonna laugh.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I was asked a question if you could have dinner with,
like any five people who would be at your table, living.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Or alive or dead.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I had Robin Williams for years in my list because
I think he's just one of the most brilliant actors
and genuinely funny human beings.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
So when Robin and Williams passed, I genuinely cried and
I wrote a long statement about Robin Williams on Facebook
that I put up, but it just I hammered it
out of my iPad because he he is so funny
his stand up If you've ever watched his stand up.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Routine golf, yeah, I've watched it.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
The one on golf is again profane language, but as
funny as anything that has ever been said, like screamingly funny. Awakenings,
the portrayal he gives. I actually like Robin Williams even
better in dramatic performances than comedy. And he's one of
the funniest human beings ever alive. So Awakening on the list, Yes, fabulous,
(20:57):
all right. The next two I viewed again, Brave Heart
and Gladiator.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Both amazing, no brainers, incredible and mel Gibson Russell Crowe right, yes,
back to back. How can you get that wrong?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
And both standing and fighting and fighting against oppression and
their epic epic movies. Again, if you're not inspired by them,
you're dead, I will say, Mike Lee, there's an app
where you couldn't can put yourself you speaking into an
(21:35):
audio clip. And he and I used to send things
back and forth. And you know, at the end, when
mel Gibson is being executed, he screams freedom. So Mike
would send me videos of him screaming to mel Gibson's
voice Freedom. It was pretty powerful, all right. Next, Beverly
(21:57):
Hills Cop.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Hands down one of the funniest movies ever.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Just screamingly funny. Eddie Murphy, You're gonna laugh. I consider
that a Christmas movie because it's like days off. I
want to watch the classic. I watch that.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
It is every moment of it.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Eddie Murphy remains one of my favorite actors of all times.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I he's got a new one coming out, a sequel
coming out on Amazon. I think it's on Amazon Prime.
Did you see that recently? I just saw it this
last week. I don't know which one it was, but
they were teasing.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yes, they're doing and Beverly Hills Cop too, Okay, is
that what it is or three?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
But look, the original Beverly Hills Cop is screamingly funny.
And I actually have three Eddie Murphy movies in a
row because I love Eddie Murphy. Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places, Yes,
and Coming to America.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So Coming America is one of the first movies that
was like really edgy that I remember, like in my
adolescent sing hilarious.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Again, screamingly funny, and Eddie Murphy and our Sinel Hall
and they play multiple characters at all the different you
know in the barbershop, when you have Eddie Murphy in
ar Sanuel Hall, going back and forth.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
I mean, it's.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Amazingly And you know what, they probably wouldn't let you
make that movie today because it gets racially edgy in
a way that like now you know, the woke world.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
No no, you can't laugh about that. No no, no, no, no you can't.
You can't. You can't have any of that humor. By
the way.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
You want funny humor, go back to young Eddie Murphy
on SNL when he was like nineteen years old, brilliant
and just edgy, comedic like brilliance.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
I love.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
He's by far my favorite character ever on SNL was
Young Eddie Murphy because it was just so funny.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Mine's Farley by the way, Look he was he was
great and he put his hole into it. Yeah, I mean,
you know, I also love that man and a little jacket,
that man down by the river. I mean, but I
also love like comedy when there's people falling over.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
And he could do that.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
His physical comedy was incredible.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
All right.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Next on the list, Wall Street, Yep, just all time
go and Gecko one of the great all time classics.
By the way, a line that I quote frequently. Gordon
Gecko is in the locker room getting cleaned up after
playing racquetball and he turns to Charlie Sheen and he goes,
(24:15):
I'm on the board of the Bronx Zoo. Cost me
a million bucks. That's the thing about wasps love animals,
hate people.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
There's some insight there.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
There is some insight there for sure.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Hidden figures. Yes, wonderful movie.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Incredible movie about the African American female mathematicians who were
foundational to America going to the Moon. And for me,
there are two kind of personal reasons why that movie
is significant to me.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Well, it's got to be because of Houston.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Well, when we went to see the movie, I took
my mother to the movie. I took Heidi to the movie.
I took both my daughters to the movie. And it
was interesting my girls. It was the first time they'd
seen a movie that had segregated.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, the bathroom is the one of the most iconic
scenes in that whole movie.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And it led to I had a long conversation with
both of them and they were like, well, why would
people have done that? And to talk about segregation and
civil rights and just sort of walk through the history
of it. It prompted really good conversations with my girls.
But secondly, so my mom. My mom graduated from Rice
in nineteen fifty six and she had a math degree,
(25:26):
and she went to work as a computer programmer at Shell.
She subsequently went to work at the Smithsonian. And remember
the movie Hidden Figures begins with Sputnik being launched and
sort of the space race being beginning. One of my
mother's first assignments at the Smithsonian was to help compute
the orbits of Sputnik. And so in front of the girls,
(25:49):
I asked my mom. I said, Mom, you were doing this,
and in fact, you were doing it ten years earlier.
You were doing it in the fifties. Hidden Figures is
set in the sixties, and I said, how accurate is it?
And my mother, I thought it was very accurate. That
it did a really good job of conveying what it
was like to be a woman in space and science
and in a technical environment. And I commented to her,
(26:12):
I said, okay, one of the strange things to a
more modern ear is that they referred to the women
there as computers. Yeah, and we think of a computer
as a piece of metal.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
But they were actually called computers because they were actually
doing the math.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
And my mother started laughing at me and she said
her first job title was computer and when she started
at Shell, she had a business card that said eleanor.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Dearra computer No Way.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
And so.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
In response to that, I introduced legislation to rename the
street in front of NASA headquarters Hidden Figures Way. And
this is actually a really cool story. I introduced that
legislation before it could pass, and we would have gotten
it passed, but a DC City councilman saw that legislation
and said, you know what, that's a great idea. And
(27:05):
the DC City councilman introduced it in the DC City council.
Guy's a Democrat, and he got it passed. So the
DC City Council passes.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
It's cool.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
So I went to the street signed dedication and that
that is the street sign there, and I was there,
I spoke at the denawary it it is the headquarters
of NASA in DC, and so NASA, the address of
NASA is one Hidden Figure's Way. And so I spoke
of the dedication the DC City councilman spoke, and he's
a Democrat.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
I'm a Republican.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
And I told the story of my mom, which was
really cool to get to tell, and I said, look,
at some level, you might say, listen, the street sign's
not that big.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
A deal, that one is.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
But at another level, you know, fifty years from now,
one hundred years from now, some little girl some little
boy is going to come visit NASA and they're gonna
look up and see the street sign and they're gonna say, hey,
what does that mean? And they're going to hear the
story of the pioneering African American women who were the
mathematicians that got us to the moon. And so it's
(28:03):
where movies and stories are powerful.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Did any of the characters of the movie? Did any
of them get to come to.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
That that they had passed by the time we did that?
So no, all right, we just got a few more.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Schindler's List one of the hardest movies to watch.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
The other one is that I can I've only watched
it one time because I just can't ring myself to
watch it again.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Is Lone Survivor.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Those two movies to me are must sees, But I
just I don't know if it's because I've become a
dad and having kids now and watching the kids, I
just can't watch them like I used to.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
So, as you know, a couple of weeks ago, I
was at Normandy for the eightieth anniversary of D Day,
and wildly enough I got to meet Steven Spielberg and
Tom Hanks, which was really cool, and I had pretty
extended conversations with both of them, and they've done Look,
their politics are both left of center, but they've done
an amazing job really honoring and telling the stories of
(28:58):
the greatest generation, whether saving Private Ryan, whether Band of Brothers,
whether the Pacific and so we're talking about that. And
I was talking with Spielberg about about Schindler's List and
just you know, talking with the heroes the World War
Two heroes who almost all say, well, I could have
done more. I could have done more, and the real
(29:20):
heroes are under those crosses behind us. And I was
telling Spielberg, I said, hearing them say that reminds me
of the end of Schindler's List, where Oscar Schindler is like,
I could have done more, and he looks down at
his gold watch and he said, this watch this watch
could have saved three more people. Three more people are
dead because I kept my watch. And you think about
(29:43):
the heroism of his rescuing Jews from the Nazis and
the incredible courage, But at the same time, the like
why didn't I do even more? And that, to me
is the most beautiful moment of that movie is the
sort of did I do enough?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Okay, I'm gonna take a detour, a detour to the
world of musicals.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
So I like musicals.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Do you like Broadway?
Speaker 4 (30:09):
I do. I love Broadway absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
So like you, if you go to New York, you
would put it on your list to go see a show.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
I love Broadway, and I'm gonna have four musicals on here.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
So number one is is my father's favorite movie of
all time, which is My Fair Lady.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Okay, and My Fair Lady is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I've seen it because of my mom and my sister
multiple times.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
English.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I've never watched that he's got of children how to speak,
Norwegians learn, Norwegians. The Greeks are taught their Greek.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
See.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
This is why I said this show would be entertaining,
because I would.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Have never thought you were musical.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
It is spec favorite Broadway sh you've ever been to.
I'm gonna get to that, Okay, go ahea, I'm gonna
get to that. So the second one there is Oliver Yep.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Great.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Oliver is spectacular. So look, I was in high school.
I was president of drama club.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I have way too many one liners, but I'll leave
that for another show.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Keep going.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
You were captain of the tennis team. I was president
of drama club. Okay, I get that. There's a reason
why you would have stuck me in the locker. If
you yes, that.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Would have that would have gotten you a SmackDown for sure.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
But so look, I I all politicians are frustrated actors.
It's just it's just part of the the It is oh, yes,
a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
What were you in?
Speaker 4 (31:23):
So I did?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Do we have eight tracks of this or what what
was it? Beta camp?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
There?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
They may be somewhere. Okay, So let's see. I've done
Sound of Music twice.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
What'd you play?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
So I played? The first time, I played Rolf yeah uh.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
You know, and I warbled out you are sixteen going
on seventeen, no way, And then the second time I
played Max Yep. I also so I did Oliver, and
Oliver is a fabulous classic. So Oliver was my senior year,
and the head of the music department told me, hey,
we're doing Oliver next year, and he said, you know,
(31:59):
I'd love to have you play Fagan if you can
sing it.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
And and my curse. Look, I'm a terrible singer.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I cannot carry save in a bucket like like I
wish I could I have you were not hearing.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
It.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And so I actually went and for like six months
I took voice lessons to try to get be able
to sing that Fagan is such a thing.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Did you get any better in the six months?
Speaker 1 (32:25):
A little bit?
Speaker 4 (32:26):
And so what happened?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
And the nice thing about Fagan is is Fagan's songs
are more spoken than sang. So, for example, the song
reviewing the situation, a man's got a hot isn't he
(32:47):
joking apart?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Hasn't he?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
And though I'd be the first to admit that I
wasn't a saint, I'm finding it hard to be really
as bad.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
So here I see you Dad, next, I'm gonna say
there six months is worth it now right.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I'm viewing the situation Can a fellow be a villain
all his life, all the trials to settle down and
get myself a wife.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And you remember.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
I will cook and sew for you, and come for you,
and go for you, and go for you, and nagget
you the finger.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
She will wag at you. How many tickets they sell for?
This is what I really want to know.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
So I prepared that song was one.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Now it's mostly spoken, it's not release, so I could
do it marginally competently after six months practicing. I did
that at the trio and then and then afterwards music
director said, hey, Ted, stick around, and he went to
the piano and he said sing this, and he went
and I went.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
And he did it like three times. He goes, Okay,
damn it not happening. So I was cast as Bill Sykes.
It's the second male lead with no singing. Yeah, it's
a fun role. You're the villain.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You get to like beat up Oliver, twist and like
you're but but I wanted.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I wanted to play that.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Role badly, and I did not get it all right.
Two more musicals. Hamilton, which is utterly exquisite. I've seen
it multiple times. It is brilliant, it is beautiful, it
is powerful. My girls know the songs. There are few
things that make me happier than when my daughters are
(34:31):
singing songs from Hamilton. I mean it was there was
a period where they were obsessed with it.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
You and I were talking about this the other day.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
My dad I took him to New York for the
first time ever for seventh birthday, and and you said,
did you go see a show? And I was like,
do you want to see Hamilton? He's like, I'd rather
go the Yankees game. And then the next night I
was like, we just that I'd rather have a nice meal.
I tried hard. I tried to give him to Hamilton.
It just wasn't on the list. And then my favorite
music of all time is le Miss really, and I
love le Miss I think, do you get choked out?
(34:59):
Be honest, because I'm a sucker for this. I get
I get the lump in the rooked up, all right?
So what song gets you choked up? Oh? The one
the most famous? I'm terrible with it. It's the one
that Anne Hathaway does. It's so good. Oh and she
won won the Academy Awards for every Time it gets me?
Speaker 4 (35:15):
So that is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I'll tell you that the two that get me choked
up are number one, when Jean Valjean is saying let
him live, yep, and he's looking down and he says,
you know, if I die, that one's InCred me die.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, let him live.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
And it's a prayer to God to let him live
every time. I have tears every time. Then the other
one that gets.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Me is the song empty chairs and empty tables at
the end when everyone has died. And I will confess
at the end of the presidential campaign in twenty sixteen,
as I walked through the empty campaign office and I
saw the empty chairs and empty tables, I heard.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
That sphrames of that song.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Uh so le miz is exquisite, all.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Right, by the way, when I was all right, So
nineteen ninety three, I was just finished my first year
of law school, and I had a job in New York.
I was working a law firm in New York for
the summer, and I decided to fly my mom to
New York for the weekend. And so it's nineteen ninety three.
So I actually fedexed a plane ticket. And this is
back when a plane ticket was a piece of cardboard. Yeah,
(36:27):
I fedexed a plane ticket to her with nothing else.
It was literally she opened the FedEx package and just
a plane ticket to New York fell out and she
called me and she's like, Ted, I assume this is you.
I said, yeah, I had no note, no nothing, just
a plane ticket and the FedEx thing.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Get on the plane. I'll see you soon, mom.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
So I fleir in New York and we went out
to dinner at Boult, which at the time was the
nicest restaurant in New York. Was fabulous, And then I
took her one night to see Camelot, which was really
fun yep, and then the next night.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
To see Lemiz And did she love it?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
She loved it, and it I that's one of those
ironed memories for rest of your life.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
That's just very cool to go do that. All right,
So we have a total of three more. I'm gonna
say The Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Seven, incredible, watch it ten times, the original one? Yes
with my dad all right, all right, that's like in
my dad's like I grew up on John Wayne and
war movies.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, like Magnificence seven and that was like I remember
watch then Unforgiven, The Magnificent seven is the greatest Western
that's actually originally at a Western. I'mforgiven with sort of a
modern remake format, but Magnificent seven exquisite with you know,
Yule Brenner and Charles Bronson.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
And that was the mos Coburn. Oh, when mom was
out of town, that was one of the movies we watched.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Oh, it was so good.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
It's it's a fabulous movie. And then I'm gonna end
with two Quentin Tarantino, is it? The Inglorious Bastards? Is
that where we're going with this? So I'm gonna start
with pulp Fiction, which is fantastic, and then the last
one is in Glorious Bastard.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And I feel bad that I left Reservoir Dogs off
because Reservoir Dogs is exquisite too. But maybe if you
made me pick two, I go with pulp Fiction and
Glorious and Glorius Bastards is.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
A spectacular movie.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
So that's twenty five movies, which if you've got some downtimes,
download them.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Watch them. You will enjoy them. You will laugh, you
will be moved, you will be.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
And send your critiques on Twitter. We'll take them. And
let me ask you one of the questions.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
If you can only take one movie and one TV
series to a desert island with you, what would you pick?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Only one movie and only one TV series? That's all
you got to watch.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
The Princess Bride and Criminal Minds.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
There you go, that's it.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
See now we know a little bit more about you.
Don't forget. We do the show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Every once in a while we get to do something
fun like this, So make sure that subscriber auto download
button and the Senate and I will see you back
here in a couple of days.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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