← Episodes

Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables

Cruising 1980

With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan and Wesley Morris · 8 November 2022 · 21,208 feet

The claim

94:34 – 97:20

… Also, just the way that, like, desire works when you're figuring out what you want as an adult. Like, you do... I mean, you do do a little bit of stalking. Apex Mountain. Pacino, no. Servino, no. Remar, no. Friedkin, no. Karen Allen, no. What about... Crisco? I don't know. Guys using nasal spray in movies? Yeah. What about the handkerchief? What are those? Well, I'm just talking about the cop who comes in. It looks like poppers. Poppers, yeah. But the guy who comes into the interrogation room and just... Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean... I don't... No. Nobody's... I mean, it is the apex for the S&M …

The whole segment, as transcribed

I think it's the idea that there might be multiple murders happening. Or copycat stuff. Who knows? I'm not buying it. Yeah, I'm not buying it either. Also, just the way that, like, desire works when you're figuring out what you want as an adult. Like, you do... I mean, you do do a little bit of stalking. Apex Mountain. Pacino, no. Servino, no. Remar, no. Friedkin, no. Karen Allen, no. What about... Crisco? I don't know. Guys using nasal spray in movies? Yeah. What about the handkerchief? What are those? Well, I'm just talking about the cop who comes in. It looks like poppers. Poppers, yeah. But the guy who comes into the interrogation room and just... Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean... I don't... No. Nobody's... I mean, it is the apex for the S&M leather scene in movies. So, I had, like, gay, late 70s underground something. Yeah. Not until the gimp in Pulp Fiction. I mean, and even that, that is more of a problem than anything in this movie. Yeah. In terms of, like, it's decontextualization, right? That's the fetish. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Best racehorse name from the movie. I have hips or lips. What about party size? Party size. Here comes party size! That is a really... Oh, my God. Cocaine. Cocaine. Okay. Cocaine. Picking nets. The killer's shooting blanks. Oh. This is one of those movie tropes where they always throw that in because... I don't know. It just feels like they're kind of out of ideas when they just whip that one in there. Oh, it's shooting blanks. Really? That's weird. The first time he's with Karen Allen, Pacino says, there's a lot about me you don't know. No. And it's so overt that I wonder, like, is that just the red herring from Friedkin? I also just kind of wonder, in general, like, where's that couple going? You know, like, how long... Yeah, why does she like him? How long is the relationship, are they? Why isn't she, like, with a cooler guy? Is he, like, I'm going to get this promotion so that you and me can get a place in Long Island? It sucks. A place in Long Island? It's about that apartment. She's like, I think we should cool it off for a little while. He's like, okay, fine. And he just leaves. He's like, go to a bar and meet somebody else. But you know what? He's got that covered. Like, the movie has a better understanding of, you know, S&M leather culture than it does of heterosexual relationships. I agree. Like, it is possible to watch this movie and think a gay person actually did make it. I'm just throwing that out there. Possible nitpick. Would a serial killer in the gay community who kills three people be a front page New York story in 1980?

Open the full episode on Spotify — it cannot start at the timestamp, so the segment above is the mp3.

What the board says

Their apex is elsewhere
Al Pacino26,470 ftThe Godfather Part II, 1974, by 6,736 feet.
Karen Allen20,760 ftStarman, 1984, by 2,549 feet.

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.