Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
24:30 – 27:18… Weapon was a one and done with the South African villains, man. The South African racist just, you couldn't do better than this. This is, it literally is apex mountain for South African villains. It is true. If you do like cartels, like ultimately, fundamentally, those guys are just driven by money, which you can make them as evil as possible and they could kill whoever. However, for these guys, they're also motivated by money, but, but also this horrible ideology that you're like, Oh, I double hate these guys, which is a really hard thing to achieve. You know, the thing about it was that it was touchy, …
The whole segment, as transcribed
You know, you think about in the eighties, we had a, you know, you had cartels, you had Libyans, you had Russians. Like there was all types of, of villains in eighties action movies, but Lethal Weapon was a one and done with the South African villains, man. The South African racist just, you couldn't do better than this. This is, it literally is apex mountain for South African villains. It is true. If you do like cartels, like ultimately, fundamentally, those guys are just driven by money, which you can make them as evil as possible and they could kill whoever. However, for these guys, they're also motivated by money, but, but also this horrible ideology that you're like, Oh, I double hate these guys, which is a really hard thing to achieve. You know, the thing about it was that it was touchy, right? There was a huge divestment call that was in the, I guess, all throughout the eighties, but they're not going to play Sun City. Yeah. Yeah. But there, there were, there were places that didn't want to do it. There was people that were in business with South Africa and it wasn't. And obviously we're going to talk about Shane Black at some point during this, uh, during this podcast and just the, I'm sure you guys talked about it in the other one, just the absolute sort of storm that he was as a screenwriter and as a creative, he was just like the first rock star that I got. He's the first time I can remember hearing about the guy who wrote the movie. You know what I mean? Um, at least being at the age I was at then, but yeah, so it wasn't, I think it wasn't cut and dry. I think a lot of them, I think a lot of films had some, the product placement was starting to become a big deal. And a lot of these companies weren't fully divested from South Africa. I can remember my, my siblings being in college at the time being like, yo, we got to get this person to divest and get this person in divest and whatever. And by the time a lot of companies did, you know, we're only talking about, a couple of more years to where things changed in South Africa. So maybe people missed the boat because it was a real political issue. Yeah. I remember, I remember you two, like, that was like a big thing for you too, was like them not playing in certain venues there or not touring to there. Yeah. It would almost be like if there were like a lot of NBA players with business in China, China. Exactly. Oh, right. Yeah. I mean, to be real with you right now, that's your point though. Like we can't do a bunch of movies. Do you remember the Red Dawn remake that they did? Fucking terrible. I'd have to say. We didn't need it. The Red Dawn remake. They actually changed the villains from the Chinese to the North Koreans because China's a huge market and we're ready to say fuck China, but only with a small F. So we can't be like big about whatever's going on over there because we don't want to miss out on the back.
70:48 – 80:51… coach and then pulls the lethal weapon and pulls the house down on stilts as an homage to the weapon. That was the only new piece of information I found. Apex Mountain. Gibson still probably not, but we're, after this movie, he could basically do whatever he wants for the entire 90s. And unfortunately, he can do whatever he wants, which leads to a lot of the Mel Gibson issues we eventually have. But I would still say it's Braveheart. Glover, I think yes. And this seems like the perfect time for Van to give his, these two movies were bad for Danny Glover theory. Okay. So these movies come out. Danny Glover …
The whole segment, as transcribed
We pretty much covered everything except for Grand Theft Auto V. Pretty iconic video game. One of the main protagonists finds out the wife is cheating on him with a tennis coach and then pulls the lethal weapon and pulls the house down on stilts as an homage to the weapon. That was the only new piece of information I found. Apex Mountain. Gibson still probably not, but we're, after this movie, he could basically do whatever he wants for the entire 90s. And unfortunately, he can do whatever he wants, which leads to a lot of the Mel Gibson issues we eventually have. But I would still say it's Braveheart. Glover, I think yes. And this seems like the perfect time for Van to give his, these two movies were bad for Danny Glover theory. Okay. So these movies come out. Danny Glover is playing an older cop, but he's still actually only like in his 40s. Yep. Yep. And I think, so this same decade, Danny Glover had done The Color Purple. He had, you know, done some other films. He's Places in the Heart. I think he was in- Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon. I think the movie aged Danny Glover in our subconscious, like 30 years, which when you look at a 40-year-old actor then, or if you look at a 45, 46, 47-year-old actor now, there were still roles that Danny Glover probably could have played. Like, but like he's, he's 74 now. He's only 74 now. Yeah. Yeah. He was 43 in this movie. Right. So that, the thing about what's- And he's playing 50, 50, right? Yeah. Something. And when you think he's 43 in this film, think about what 43 is. I'm 41. Right. You know what I mean? And so when you, when you look at it moving forward, I think the aging of Danny Glover in this movie, kind of like, it, it, it took him out of contention for some roles that he probably should have been in. You know, that he, some things that he probably should have been able to do. I was shocked how many movies he's been in. If you go look at his IMDb, he's, he's like in 200 movies. And this is- He's done a lot. Even since 2000, he's in like a hundred movies. He just has been working all the time. I would have assumed after the four lethal weapons, that was it. But he's, he must like to work. You remember Predator 2? Right. Predator 2, Predator 2 was almost the movie to where- That was supposed to be his star turn. Yeah, it didn't happen. Like his star turn to where it was going to be like Danny Glover can now go do this. But you kind of didn't buy it because like Murtaugh is feeble. He's the Falcon of this whole franchise. He gets his ass kicked every time. He wins just by guile or luck at the end. And Riggs is the young, hot, virile hotshot. I think it is the character sort of went on to define him. I think you're right. I think he got trapped by the character. Angels in the outfield, maybe the one time he was able to break out of it a tiny bit. Richard Donner. I'd probably say yes. I think at this point he owned a big chunk of this movie and could do whatever he wanted to. Patsy Kenseth. I think also he wins whatever battle there is for the soul of this franchise from Shane Black with this movie. Yeah. Because the Shane Black idea is obviously a lot darker and Donner's like, let's keep it light. Let's have fun. Let's make these movies and make some money. Patsy Kenseth, obviously. Evil South Africans. Yeah. Gotta be, right? Yeah. Bad things happen in houses on stilts. I'd say absolutely. Ramsey's condoms? Apex Mountain? Has there been a better, more important Ramsey's condoms moment? Ramsey's had a run though. It did, but I don't... I think of this movie first when I think of Ramsey's. By the late 90s, Trojans, I think, overtook Ramsey's. I don't know. I don't even know why Ramsey's... I don't even know what Ramsey's is. Well, Ramsey's is a condom company. I never... I wasn't around. Yeah. It was like a Trojans rival. It was like the Pepsi to Coke's Trojans. Who is Ramsey's? Is Ramsey like the... He's like a pharaoh. Oh, we're talking about the pharaoh Ramsey. Man, why do condoms gotta be domestic? Why do we got like no Abraham Lincoln condoms? I also don't know why... Yeah. Why do they have to have like almost like classical connotations? Right, Abraham Lincoln condoms set you free from disease or pregnancy. That makes a lot more sense than like... I don't know. Ramsey was bad. He was keeping my homeboys down over there. Whatever. Go ahead. I don't think they cared in the late 80s. Separated shoulders? Apex Mountain? Yeah. Ooh, let me think about this though. Trying to think of a better separated shoulder. Emmitt Smith had one in the NFC Championship game that year. The area they played with and he had like 130 yards. That was a good one. I feel like Tony Romo got dropped on his shoulder like a bunch of times by various Eagles defensive linemen. Well, I'm trying to think of like somebody with a separated shoulder who still was fighting through it and succeeding in some way. I think this might be it. Joe Breeze came back after the separated shoulder. Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's another one. That's right. Yeah. Diving board bombs, definitely. That seems kind of cool. It doesn't seem CGI'd. No, I think it's... I mean, it might be a dummy, but it's definitely a very... It's very well done. It's pretty good. But nail guns, I say no. I think Snoop and The Wire, like that... Nail guns were an intricate plot device and The Wire just seemed more important. I agree. Picky knits. So the helicopter comes in the opening scene. I never understand. Don't these cops see other movies? Just shoot at the blades. What are you guys doing? They're just like shooting at the bottom thing. Just shoot at the blade a couple of times. As much as these cops break all the rules, they weirdly respect certain things. Like where they're like, oh, well, they got diplomatic immunity. We got to stand down. You know what I mean? Maybe they're just like, well, we can't shoot at a helicopter. Well, another shooting thing was... You might be right. Another shooting thing was... I don't know why they didn't kill Riggs. It's the classic action movie device where it's like, should we kill this guy? No. Let's actually give him a more complicated, longer way to die that he might be able to get out of. And before we throw him in the water, give him even more motivation to drive himself to get out. Yeah. Right. Taken's like this too, where they just could have killed Liam Neeson and take him. And instead they'd leave him just in handcuffs on a pole. Oh, no. You guys finish it. There was a reason why. Why? Because remember, I watched that so many times. He says, remember, if they dome him and they shoot him a bunch of times, the people upstairs at the party are going to hear. Oh, that's right. They have to wait. Yeah. So the guy goes, kill him. Do it quietly. I have guests. So that's why they were trying to suffocate him or do it. But first they wanted to find out what he knows. So they tried. They half-ass explained that. Yeah. They could have put one bullet in him. Or used the silencer, right? Which I'm sure they have access to. I don't know if they were doing condom ads in 1989. I just flagged it. I can't remember. I don't think so. I'm going to say no on that. They weren't really doing like cigarette ads in 1989. I'm going to say no on that one. And then Riggs thinking it was a good idea to bring his girlfriend back to her apartment after they just survived this bullet barrage for 20 minutes. And then he's like, all right, I'll see you guys later. What can go wrong? Why can't she stay with Murtaugh's wife's sister in Bellflower? You know? She works for these terrible South Africans. They know where she lives. He's like, all right. Talk to you tomorrow. Oh, by the way, we totally missed the Apex Mountain. What was it? Bellflower. Oh. There's actually a really good movie called Bellflower that came out a few years ago, though. Okay. I haven't seen that. Any other pick and nits? Yeah. What's up? How come Riggs, when they go into the toilet scene and Riggs is like, he's like, I was just so excited to read my issue of deep sea fishing. And Riggs is like, is that the one about deep sea fishing off the coast of Florida? And it's like, do you guys read deep sea fishing magazine like that? Where you're like just on first name basis with the feature well in this magazine? Yeah. My problem with that scene is that it's Roger who has the boat. Right. So Roger might. Yeah. Roger might. Is that the one with the article on deep sea fishing? Riggs wouldn't know that. Yeah. Like what does Riggs know about the damn deep sea fishing? Yeah, Riggs is in a freaking trailer with his dog watching Three Stooges. He's not reading deep dive magazine. Right. Which is my picking nit, by the way. Yeah. This dog is poorly cared for. Riggs spends all of his time at the Murtaugh's. Right. The place is getting shot up. Yeah. It's like, who's looking after this dog? Bill and I have discussed this. Bill and I have discussed this in various formats. I think we did it on Hottest Tape. This is an action movie trope. It's an action movie trope. People leaving the dog for 15 hours. In the 80s, there was just a different relationship to pets. And it was like, the pet will figure it out. Okay. Yeah. So here's the thing. Me and Kalika just went to Hawaii. We put Bozeman up in a $100 a night pet hotel to where before we went to sleep every night, we pressed the button, gave the dog treats on a thing that we could see. We could see him. Right. We would tap a button, like, and then he could hear us, which is probably torturing my little G. Yeah. Because he hears my voice, but I'm not right there. We did all of this. So when I'm watching this movie on vacation, I'm thinking, yo, who's looking after this dog? Nobody. You know what? The streets. The streets were looking after the dog. That's how we used to do it in the 80s. The dog will be fine. Yeah. It was like- The dog is fine. You would hire a 12-year-old for $2 a day to come by and open a can. And that was how the dog was taken care of. Well, the all-time dog negligence movie is Once Upon a Time in America. Brad Pitt's dog is alone for days at a time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In a trailer. It just-
84:18 – 87:08… and my boys just tried this sick prank on these South African diplomats. That would be good. That's a good one. Oh, my God. You know what I forgot to put in Apex Mountain is this was the last, Eddie Murphy starts the era of those like high school jackets. Oh, yeah. Riggs' varsity jacket. And then Riggs has his version. That was like a nice little four-year run of varsity jackets that kind of came and went. I'd like to bring those back. Yeah. I think they look great. I even think when Patsy Kent said it's dead wearing the jacket, I thought she looked great and then dead in the jacket. It's just I've never seen …
The whole segment, as transcribed
And they're like, me and my boys just tried this sick prank on these South African diplomats. That would be good. That's a good one. Oh, my God. You know what I forgot to put in Apex Mountain is this was the last, Eddie Murphy starts the era of those like high school jackets. Oh, yeah. Riggs' varsity jacket. And then Riggs has his version. That was like a nice little four-year run of varsity jackets that kind of came and went. I'd like to bring those back. Yeah. I think they look great. I even think when Patsy Kent said it's dead wearing the jacket, I thought she looked great and then dead in the jacket. It's just I've never seen those jackets not look awesome. Yeah. My school is sending me one. I lost mine. Like it actually got destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. And like my school is like sending one. It makes you feel powerful and youthful to put on your leather jacket. Your leather jacket. You're like, you know what? I'm a fucking man right now. And that's why those guys wore them. They were in their late 30s still trolling around L.A. Wearing varsity jackets. Wearing a varsity jacket. Looking like complete fucking tools. But it worked. I got to say those things are fucking hot. Like they're basically like wearing a fire retardant suit on the upper half of your body. So to wear those in L.A. is an aggressive move. There's a lot of stuff happening in all 80s L.A. action movies that is like pre-global warming. That is like everything that happens in the Hollywood Hills is just like a fire issue. Like now, like you can't pull down that house without lighting up all of Mulholland Drive. Yeah, that's true. That would have been a fire for three and a half weeks. Right. All right. This is where Van tells us that Joe Pesci won the movie. Who won the movie, Van? I'll be honest with you. I think Joe Pesci won the movie. I'm serious. I'll be honest with you. Obviously, Riggs wins the movie, right? Obviously, Riggs wins the movie. So this is more like a this is like a 1997. I'll tell you what situation this is. This is the 1997 Heisman Trophy. Or maybe it was 98. Remember the Heisman Trophy where everyone just assumed Peyton Manning was going to win the Heisman? And then so many people, because they assumed Peyton Manning was going to win the Heisman, they voted for Charles Woodson and he just ended up winning Charles Woodson won the Heisman. That's who Joe Pesci is in this situation. So you're going to throw your vote to Pesci knowing. I'm going to throw my vote to Pesci knowing. This is how Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar. You know that, right? Yeah. Well, Bozeman's going to win, but I'm just going to vote for Anthony just for the hell of it. Don't even get me fucking started on that. Hopkins is great.
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.