Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
74:17 – 80:05… one is a bummer, which I had forgotten. But the guy who played Merle was named Kent Poole. Killed himself in 2003. So sad one. Everyone else is still alive. Apex Mountain. Hackman, no. Hopper, no. Basketball? All the basketball guys, yes. All the basketball guys, yes. Just basketball? I love when you do this. Just sort of like- I'm going to say no. Sports movies. It's close. I think you can make a case this was the apex of sports movies. Because we're coming off 12 years of just bangers. We've got Longest Yard, Four Rockies, Slapshot, Caddyshack. Just go through it. It's a murderous- Just every sport breaking …
The whole segment, as transcribed
Because Hackman was like poison on the set, apparently. Come on, Gene Hackman. And then the last one is a bummer, which I had forgotten. But the guy who played Merle was named Kent Poole. Killed himself in 2003. So sad one. Everyone else is still alive. Apex Mountain. Hackman, no. Hopper, no. Basketball? All the basketball guys, yes. All the basketball guys, yes. Just basketball? I love when you do this. Just sort of like- I'm going to say no. Sports movies. It's close. I think you can make a case this was the apex of sports movies. Because we're coming off 12 years of just bangers. We've got Longest Yard, Four Rockies, Slapshot, Caddyshack. Just go through it. It's a murderous- Just every sport breaking away. Every sport has one. And then it kind of peaks with this. And then from 86 on, we either have to- It's people ripping off the movies we've already seen. Or the evolution, which has happened the last 12 years, which we talked about when United Warrior. Which is movies that happen to be rooted in sports in some way, but they're really just movies. Yeah, I also think it kind of set a template, or whatever, for a lot of the Disney stuff that happened later on. Or I mean, we're getting the same- It's the same formula. It's just different pictures, you know? And not to say this is the first underdog movie. It's certainly not true. But there can be some real cheesiness to something like this when you attempt to do it. It's almost like everybody's on the same page, just going, hey, let's just make it cheesy. He's an underdog. Remember, too, mid-80s, we're still Cold War. We're freaking out about it. I remember just being in grade school. I mean, I don't know if the younger audience can appreciate this as much as you should. And I'm not saying feel bad, but it was a weird time, man, to be a little kid, because you just kind of kept thinking Russia was going to blow you up for a couple years. That's just how you operated. I don't know how it was for you in high school. You guys probably had a little bit more worldly perspective. But I remember we'd just go to bathroom break before recess, being 7, 8, 9, 10 years old, and just thinking, the world is going to end. It was fucking weird. We just were cool with it. Like, oh, yeah, man. I don't know. I guess they could hit us with some big bomb or something. And I think there was an escapism. And granted, all these movies are that in a way. But these stories that make you feel good, you know, these down-home movies were a nice escapism from just a time where really we didn't have as much access to information. So the information could kind of be the same all the time. And I don't know if I'm misreading that. I mean, again, this is where the age gap can play. But that was a real thing as a little kid that I'll never forget, because it was just so fucking weird how you just accepted this thing that you didn't even know about, this enemy, this make-believe enemy that you're just in fear of. I think it was real. I was in high school at that point when the day after it came out. I remember the NBC movie. Unbelievable. With the nuclear bomb, which was like really emotionally scarring for everybody 18 and under. It really fucked everybody up. It's like, here's what it's going to be like when the world ends. And it felt realistic. We should do that movie. They never show that movie. I'd be interested to see. I'd like to watch it again. I'm sure the special effects are awful. I'm sure it's on YouTube. Last Apex Mountain, Indiana? I'm going to say Keith Smart. Good call. One more break, and then there's some nits to pick. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Shave ice by the beach. A trip to the state fair. 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All right, pick and nits. The South Bend Highs coach, I'll never understand why he ran a play. Let's just go through that. I'm just going to give you the background. They're up four in the final minute. There's no shot clock. If you watch any of the old NBA stuff from back then, it's just Bob Cousy dribbling around with a two-point lead for an hour as guys try to steal the ball. And I think if you fouled back then, you got the ball back. They call a play. And the announcer's like, oh, they're calling a play! And then the guy clangs a shot and opens the door for Hickory. Hickory scores. Now it's 54-52. Or whatever the score was. Hickory's down two. Probably call timeout there. No timeout. Bring it back up. Steal. Hickory scores. No timeout. Another turnover. Dribbles into a trap. Tie a game. And then another turnover after that. It's on par with Rick Adelman in the early 90s. And Mike Dunleavy in the 2000 against the Lakers. And Stan Van Gundy against the Lakers in Game 4 in 2009.
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