Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
23:30 – 26:19… person who lives around him to make sure that he comes out on top. Some good laughing from him in this movie. Different styles of laughing. I have an early apex mountain for kicking. I think it's one of the great kicking performances I've ever seen. I had greatest De Niro moment. I'm going to give you the nominees. I have a bunch of special categories in this. The no, no, no, you insult him a little bit. Yeah, you insult him a little bit. The Billy bat stomping a second man in off the top rope comes in. They were like the Legion of Doom there. It was like Hawk following up animals. Everything he says, it's …
The whole segment, as transcribed
I think Jimmy is the cream shot of him smoking. I'm like, that's pure evil. Like this guy will eventually kill every single person who lives around him to make sure that he comes out on top. Some good laughing from him in this movie. Different styles of laughing. I have an early apex mountain for kicking. I think it's one of the great kicking performances I've ever seen. I had greatest De Niro moment. I'm going to give you the nominees. I have a bunch of special categories in this. The no, no, no, you insult him a little bit. Yeah, you insult him a little bit. The Billy bat stomping a second man in off the top rope comes in. They were like the Legion of Doom there. It was like Hawk following up animals. Everything he says, it's just like, Billy, drinks are on the house. Egging on Tommy with spider. Oh! That whole thing. You mentioned the slow motion when he's deciding to whack Maury. Which, I just don't know how many actors pull that scene off. And you can read in the research about the movie where they were just like, Scorsese is like, hey, I'm going to do the slow-mo thing with you. I'm just going to just be thinking about stuff and kind of thinking about how you're going to kill Maury and I'm going to come in and just do your thing. And fucking, who else does that? He does a couple of very small things in that sequence. One, obviously, he takes a drag off the cigarette and it's like Satan is on screen. You're like, this guy is going to really kill everyone here. And then he wrinkles his brow and closes one eye a little bit more than the other. And it's almost like he's sizing up what's the gun he's going to use. He's also having a separate conversation. Yeah, he's trying to listen to somebody. Meanwhile, it's just awesome. By the way, he played Satan already. 1986 in Angel Heart. So it's like, this guy is somehow worse than Lou Cipher. I forgot about Lou. His name is Lou Cipher. Two more. The phone booth scene when after Tommy gets whacked. I think that's the best explosive De Niro performance he's ever given. The best, because there's two versions, right? There's Heat, where he's whispering the whole movie. You can barely understand what the hell he's saying. And then there's Jake LaMotta, where he's just over the top and all power. And that is the most heartbreaking thing in the movie to me. There's tons of great stuff between Karen and Henry. But when he realizes that his friend has been killed and also that this whole world that they built for themselves is a house of cards. And it's all coming down. And Tommy's gone. And he smashes the phone. And then he kicks the thing over. And he does the half cry. He's a dude. Yeah. It's crushing. Well, the best part is he's already killed eight of his own friends. So it's like, hey, dude. Yeah. He's a sociopath. You gotta open the floodgates here, buddy? And then the last one is when he's telling Lorraine Bracco to go get the Dior coats.
125:37 – 140:33… like, you need help reaching anything? And Pesci's just like, you look like you're decorating a Christmas tree, you fucking prick. I'm really excited for Apex Mountain. Oh boy. Scorsese. I believe so. I also believe it is. Can I, can I give one reason why I think so? Yeah. Scorsese's only taken four screenwriting credits in his whole career. Two of them come at the very beginning. I think, who's that knocking on my doors, at my doors, first movie and then Mean Streets. And they're co-written. And he hasn't made a gangster movie in 17 years. And he'd sworn them off, basically. Yeah. And this was like, you …
The whole segment, as transcribed
sweat profanity guys. It's like when they're doing the bamboo lounge and, and Leota's like, you need help reaching anything? And Pesci's just like, you look like you're decorating a Christmas tree, you fucking prick. I'm really excited for Apex Mountain. Oh boy. Scorsese. I believe so. I also believe it is. Can I, can I give one reason why I think so? Yeah. Scorsese's only taken four screenwriting credits in his whole career. Two of them come at the very beginning. I think, who's that knocking on my doors, at my doors, first movie and then Mean Streets. And they're co-written. And he hasn't made a gangster movie in 17 years. And he'd sworn them off, basically. Yeah. And this was like, you know what? I have, I have to go back. I have to go back to my past. I have to go back to this world. I have to go back to this community of people that I understand so deeply. And I'm going to write it with the guy who's a journalist. And what makes the movie so special is that it feels real and it also feels like the craziest movie, movie, movie, operatic movie you've ever seen. And it's blending those two styles specifically from his point of view. So I say Scorsese. I agree. The only, like, for the sake of argument I would make for Departed in 06 is that there haven't been any real hiccups since then. Like, in terms of his perception within the larger, like, you know, pop culture. It's like he, from 06 to now he's like this emeritus, great American film, greatest living American filmmaker. Pretty much whatever he wants to get made he can get made. He pushes the envelope with Irishman. He gets this huge budget to make Killers of the Flower Moon from Apple. Like, he can do it. He's gotten television shows made. He gets to make two documentaries every 18 months. Like, you could say that, like, all of the stress. From a Juice standpoint, 06, I think from 06 to now we're in the kind of, like, this incredible twilight. I would have said King of New York, if you're gonna go Juice standpoint, turn of the 20th century into the 21st century, it felt like he had it then. Like, where he could be like, I'm gonna make a movie with Daniel Day-Lewis and Leo DiCaprio. Gangs of New York. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gangs of New York, I'm sorry. No, yeah. Yeah, I would say that for Juice and I think this for talent. This is artistically, I think this is... I would just, the counterpoint to that is as I said, he was not a huge box office draw previous to this movie. This movie did well, not amazing, but well, but it also lays the groundwork for five years later, you get Casino, which is his first true blue hit movie. Yeah. $100 million movie. And it's also an amazing movie. I hope we do it someday on this show. And that basically, the Goodfellas to Casino lineage allows for everything else you're talking about. It just would not happen without those movies. It's just like, you look at, so, 06 Departed, Shine a Light, Big Deal, Rolling Stones documentary, Shutter Island, did pretty well, right? Did well, yeah. Boardwalk Empire, six, seven years on HBO, more docs, George Harrison, public speaking, Hugo, whatever, but then Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, Oscar nominations, at least, Irishman. Yeah, I don't know. It's an argument, but I think it's it. How about gangster movies? Because I feel like Goodfather is an American movie. I think this actually ends them. I don't really know how you, I know Sopranos comes after this, but this is the capstone. Yeah, we have to move to TV after this, basically. That's a very interesting idea that it's almost like the end. Yeah. I think The Godfather is like the superior film, but it's also, like I'll never be able to. It's an American movie. I'll never be able to experience The Godfather in its time, whereas Goodfellas, like I said, like when I was growing up, Goodfellas was like in my ear all day long. I feel like I've been living with it my whole life. The Scorsese-De Palma rivalry. I feel like this was Apex Mountain, like November 1990. You know? And then it was a 10-8 first round and then a knockout in the second round. The truth is, is that there is no, I don't think there is a Scorsese without De Palma for one simple fact, is that De Palma discovered Robert De Niro. Yeah. And where is Martin Scorsese without Robert De Niro? Copacabana. Would you go Barry Manilow's song or Copacabana in this movie? That's like a, that's a real litmus test of you as a person. If I say Copacabana, do you think Goodfellas or Barry Manilow? It's Goodfellas for me. It's Goodfellas for me. Barry Manilow, that was an amazingly popular song when I was a kid. I mean, it was on for a few years. You a Manilow guy? No, I like that song though. Lola, she's a dancer. Movie gangster names. This is why he'll never be a made man, Bill. Yeah. Movie gangster names, unquestionably the apex. De Niro. De Niro. This is Midnight Run, the first, and then Goodfellas where they can't get the funding until he agrees to be in the movie. So he's at a different point in his A-listness. And then this happens and sets up basically whatever he wants to do. He has the Oscar nom, right? So this era. I gotta take a look at the Awakenings. I think 1990 is his apex. I think late 70s, early 80s, like you go with Taxi Driver, Godfather 2, and Raging Bull and Deer Hunter in there. Like, that's hard to top. But, again, we're talking- I feel like he has more juice now. It's a good argument. Uh, razor blade and garlic. I have this as Apex Mountain. I've never seen it done better. It's a one of one. So good. I don't have anyone in my family who does that. The Lufthansa heist. Is this Apex Mountain for the Lufthansa heist? For the Lufthansa heist. Yeah. Or was it something else? I mean, you mentioned two other movies that nobody's ever heard of. But what about the actual heist? I don't think this might have trumped the heist that it became the heist in Goodfellas. Have you ever heard of the Lufthansa heist before Goodfellas, really? I mean, I saw the Goodfellas at a young age. But just like, you lived closer to JFK than any of the other people at this table. That's, I live very close to JFK. I don't think so. But I mean, I saw the movie when I was nine. Yeah. So. Joe Pesci? Yes. Yes. Mob, murder, code, just a, note for Joe Pesci? You're gonna go home alone? You're gonna go, my cousin Vinny? Well, I mean, it probably is just worth acknowledging that little, that quarter of time when Joe Pesci was the most important movie star in America. I mean. I had it. And then he did, he made golf for 25 years and then made The Irishman. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. We just don't talk about this enough. Like, I don't, in, in, here's what he does. Oh, we did it in Lethal Weapon 2. He, we did a whole thing. Oh, you talked about it. Okay. Well, we just did a whole thing about it. He was basically done. He was doing like TV movies and then Lethal Weapon 2 and then rips off this seven-year run that, go ahead, give it to us. I mean, that's, you just said it. If you guys talked about it, I don't want to repeat, but Goodfellas, Home Alone, The Super, JFK, My Cousin Vinny, Lethal Weapon 3, The Public Eye, Home Alone 2, A Bronx Tale, Jimmy Hollywood, Jimmy Hollywood, with Honors Casino. And then he goes and plays golf for 20 years. And this, this like, five foot six guy from the Bronx is, is, is a matinee idol. Yeah. It's, and, and frankly, in half of those movies, he's phenomenal. I mean, he's, in, My Cousin Vinny, he's, he's magnificent. He's great in Home Alone. He's playing a different person. Yeah. His apex is right around, I'm going to say here. You're right. It probably starts right between Lethal Weapon 2. He can do it. Yeah, he can do whatever. Mob Murder Code Justifications. Down to three. Tell Mike it was only business. Godfather won. He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it. Good fellas. It is what it is. The Irishman. Yeah. What do you got? I like his, it is what it is, personally. I think I do too. I think Scorsese finally nailed it the best in that. It is what it is. That's a good case. Yeah, I like that. Pistol Whipping? Apex Mountain? God, that's so fucking violent. Both, both pistol whippings. When the fucking gun explodes on bats, and it just like shatters because he hits it so hard with it. So they must have edited that, right? So we're supposed to think he like shatters all his teeth. Smash the barrel out. Yeah. I think it's the Apex Mountain. Is it Apex Mountain for pistol whipping? Yeah. Like the act of pistol whipping or pistol whipping on film? Pistol whipping on film. Ever since I dropped Apex Mountain of Amsterdam in Ocean's 12, you've been very confused about Apex Mountain. Well, yeah, that's a, you know, a city with centuries of history. I don't know. That's very confusing. Mobster wigs, no question. Yes. Ray Liotta has to be yes. We're going to go into him in a second. Prison tomato sauce, unquestionably yes. I've never seen anyone make it. Yeah. So great. Lorraine Bracco. Yes. Paul Sorvino. Law and order, right? Wasn't he on law and order? He's been in a lot of stuff. He's had a really good career. He was in a movie back when I watched every TV movie. He was in a movie called Dummy with LeVar Burton. Mm-hmm. That was, I think, one of the best TV movies ever and he played a lawyer who was losing his hearing. Oh, no, he's not. I mean, he's in law and order but it wasn't like a big deal. He was losing his hearing as he was defending this guy for murder who couldn't speak. LeVar Burton was a guy who couldn't speak and he was amazing in that movie. I think he might have won an Emmy for that but, um, I don't know. He's just been around forever. I don't even know what his apex was. I just feel like he's been in our lives for 50 years. I mean, he goes cruising in reds back to back in 880 reds. You know, that's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. You see him wearing the jean jacket. See, aren't I? We're looking at each other like Bray Leona and Debbie Mazara right now. Why do you think I'm wearing this mustache out? Two guys with blue bandanas in your back pocket. Oh my God. We're doing cruising. Henny Youngman, no. The word fucko. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100% yes. Never been used ever better. Any other apex mountains? How about Cuddy Sark? Oh. You don't see a lot of Cuddy Sark in water. Yeah. But just like tonight when we get some dinner. Yeah. But Cuddy going in the front door and out the back door with the Maytag. I love, I love like seven and seven. Is that what, that's what Jimmy orders, I think. Yeah. I was trying to figure out, this is, can I step on a possibly unanswerable question? Yeah. How drunk is Tommy in this movie? Because there's a lot of times, there's a couple of times where they're like, oh, Tommy, Tommy's loaded. I'm sorry. Like, you know, it gets loaded. Don't, you know, like they take so many shots in this movie. Yeah. Like Sean and I were just talking about this yesterday on text. There are scenes where like a guy will do a shot at the table, get up and go to the bar and do a shot as soon as he gets to the bar. Like that usually for me is like, I'm pretty close to being in the bag of that. That was my 50th birthday party, which I left after two hours. Yeah. You had to, you had to do like a, take it home. Where's Bill? Not the first time I've said, where's Bill at his own party. Fair. He's uh-oh. He took the glasses off. Fair. I get excited. I want to be a good host. But I, how much of this is like, if Tommy just has an Amstel, things are a lot more calm. Things are so much better. You know what I mean? Cuddy and water is aggressive. Like I've never heard anyone order that my entire life. Yeah. Is everyone in the movie a functioning alcoholic all the way up until 1975? I mean, Jimmy definitely is. I think it's also the second half of the movie, at least Henry and everybody around Henry is on cocaine the entire time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or pills. I mean, it kind of, it explains some of the aggressive behavior. I don't know if it explains, I mean, there's different kinds of drunks. You know, there's mean, violent drunks and then there's more relaxed drunks. Tommy is, it's pretty violent. I would also say Apex Mountain for me for Pittsburgh drug dealers. Mm. Want to see helicopters? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And that guy makes an incredible comeback in The Irishman, that actor, where he plays the guy who's kind of like trying to go around Harvey Keitel's back. I can't remember what that actor's name is, but that guy's, he's a great, picky nits. Biggest one is Leota and Pesci are just too old for their parts. It's crazy to read. Not gonna let it bother me, but Pesci's 18 years older than the guy he's playing. Tommy was 28 when he was killed. Yeah. 28. And, you know, you notice this when you see it a million times, but Tommy, young Tommy, is in the movie in the beginning when he gets pinched and he's the little guy and then we fast forward. Yeah, okay, Hendry. Five years. Ray Leota's like 35 in real life playing a 21-year-old and then Pesci's like at least 40. Right. Also playing a 21-year-old and it's, it's comical. Is it? Just one more Apex Mountain. Is it Apex Mountain for kid actors who look like their adult counterparts? That's a good one. Because Henry and Tommy, Tommy especially, it's unreal. That's a good one. Another pick of nits. Sonny's not discussing the bill in front of all of Tommy's friends with Tommy. No. There's just no fucking way you're doing that ever. Tommy's a lunatic. He's terrifying. You're saying, hey Tommy, can we come over here and talk? Call him the next day. It's crazy. It's a flaw I noticed maybe 37 scenes in. Another pick of nits. Where was the obligatory strip joint scene? Scorsese just doesn't deal with that. This is one of the only Scorsese movies that has a sex scene in it. It's not something he does. He doesn't not do this a lot. I just feel like these guys would have been at strip joints at least a little bit at the time. It's not his thing. But there's also the element of it where I think that this is this turning point. I'm sure that the old Corleone era mobsters went to burlesque shows or whatever but Paul is like don't do drugs. Don't bring drugs around here. So I think that there is a reticence to get into Vice the way that these guys did. They were more like numbers runners and racketeers. Are we okay with the elaborate meals they were cooking in prison? Was that realistic realistic or was that ridiculous? I choose to believe it. Yeah. It makes it more fun. I mean the idea of those guys having an absolute blast playing cards and eating pasta every night. Henry in his tracksuit going around dealing benzos all day. Yeah. Jesus. I'll just read what I wrote here for this next one. When Henry pistol whips the neighbor the neighbor stands there like a mannequin he's like the guy who fought Jake Paul. Little joke for the people who saw the Jake Paul fight. So they get married and they get like $50,000 in money but yet they're still living in Karen's mom's house for six months. He's a fucking gangster. He can't buy like a small apartment or Well isn't everything about what they're doing trying to hide the fact that they have the money that they have? Right. He says at the end I never paid my taxes. I don't have a social security card. He's trying to live off the grid. And one of the great way to do that is to And all of them they're all living in like row houses or townhouses on pretty quiet residential streets. It's not like they have these garish Long Island mansions or anything. Billy Batts has three people that is getting out of prison party. All of them leave him behind with the two people and some semi-rival gang who had a friend say keep him here. And those guys
Open the full episode on Spotify — it cannot start at the timestamp, so the segment above is the mp3.
A grade for each call is not built yet. The board's answer is shown; whether the pod landed on it is a separate judgement, and it is not made here.