Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
26:39 – 29:28… and going back and forth. They do it a couple times. Chris, I felt like they really used the airport nicely in this. This is, I was going to say, is this Apex Mountain for airports and movie theaters and movies? Yeah. You know, it's like, and also like, I was actually heartbroken to find out this isn't actually Dulles, where they shot it. Because I was like, it kind of just feels like an East Coast airport at Christmas. But yeah, the baggage claim, really like just back in the Wild West, where you would just check your bag and you'd be like, let's just see what happens, you know? Right. Things just going …
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setups with just like these cluttered big areas with a lot of rooms and things, and you can climb on things, and you can hide behind things, and things are moving and going back and forth. They do it a couple times. Chris, I felt like they really used the airport nicely in this. This is, I was going to say, is this Apex Mountain for airports and movie theaters and movies? Yeah. You know, it's like, and also like, I was actually heartbroken to find out this isn't actually Dulles, where they shot it. Because I was like, it kind of just feels like an East Coast airport at Christmas. But yeah, the baggage claim, really like just back in the Wild West, where you would just check your bag and you'd be like, let's just see what happens, you know? Right. Things just going around. Do we know if that's what the baggage claim actually, the back area actually looks like? I think Rennie Harlan took great pains to make sure that baggage claim was depicted in the most accurate way possible. I see. Okay, good to know. I just, in the back of my head, I always think that's what it looks like, just from Die Harlan, I just assume it's like that. Next one. Carmine meets McClain. They're first seen together. John McClain. Yeah, yeah, I know who you are. You're the asshole that just broke seven FAA and five District of Columbia regulations running around my airport with a gun shooting at people. What do you call that shit? Self-defense. What do you think that LA badge is going to get you a free lunch or something around here? Both guys bringing it. I don't think there were a lot of takes. Diner's convention coming. I thought Dennis Farina was going to come flying in and be like, hey, you're on my corner right now with that accent. Dial it back. I love that this scene sets up one of my favorite things that could be in an action movie. The hero with the track record. The guy who's already come through on the biggest possible stage and then they'll have the sequel and there's some guy who is just completely unimpressed by the hero. Yeah, we're not at the Nakatomi building anymore, McClain. It's like, why are you giving this guy shit? He saved 180 people? Yeah, I read about Join People magazine. It's like, where's the animosity coming from? I was thinking about this if we had an example of this in real life and the closest I could think of was Sully Sullenberger. That was exactly the same. And it's like if he was a passenger on a flight that was going down and he tried to get into the cockpit and the other pilots were like, we heard about you, Sully. We don't need your help. We're not on the East River, Sullenberger. No bodies of water this time, Sully. Ain't no fucking geese in the engine here, Sully. Now take your seat. They just loved out in the heroes. Yeah. And at no point does McClain just like take a beat and be like, hey, wait a second. Well, I guess they didn't have Google back then. There was no way for him to be like. Like, but he was just like, can you call one of your friends and say, hey, who was the
61:58 – 72:29… band. We should do like alternative band, wet prints. A wet pod, you know, like where it's just let it fly. They're all wet pods, Chris. They're all wet pods. Apex Mountain. Oh, how many, how many people died in this movie? 300? Because there's like 200 people on the Windsor flight. The internet said 114, but I don't know how many people do we know were on the British Airways flight. I thought there was like 200 souls were on that flight, but I could be wrong. It looks like a big jet. So you imagine there's a lot of people on it. So I have one piece of half-assed internet research I wanted to just bounce off …
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right before the release date. They call it wet prints. Good name for a website or a band. We should do like alternative band, wet prints. A wet pod, you know, like where it's just let it fly. They're all wet pods, Chris. They're all wet pods. Apex Mountain. Oh, how many, how many people died in this movie? 300? Because there's like 200 people on the Windsor flight. The internet said 114, but I don't know how many people do we know were on the British Airways flight. I thought there was like 200 souls were on that flight, but I could be wrong. It looks like a big jet. So you imagine there's a lot of people on it. So I have one piece of half-assed internet research I wanted to just bounce off you guys. And it's also comes in the form of a personal announcement. So Esperanza is actually a general in the country of Valverde, which is the same country used, the fictional South American country used in Commando. I had that in Apex Mountain for Valverde, but we can do it now. I just wanted to let you know that I will be leaving the ringer to write a Patrick Raddenkeith-esque non-fiction account of the drug wars in Valverde. I love that Joel Silver was like, let's just run fucking Valverde back. Well, maybe we could do a ringer narrative pod of the history of Valverde and just make up every piece of it. It's an incredible idea. I love it. You, me, Sean, and Shay would listen to it. Valverde, cocaine, guns, and beaches. Kyle Brandt is in on this. I know he's down. Of course he is. There's five listeners. Yeah. Kyle Brandt wants to be a WWF wrestler called Valverde. Flashback. Is he Valvenus' brother? Valvenus' brother, Valverde. All right, so Apex Mountain for Valverde to me is still Commando. All due respect to Valverde and Die Hard 2, but Commando, we actually go to Valverde. It's true. Bruce Willis for Apex Mountain. Well, this movie makes even more money than the first one. You could make the case, yeah. I do feel like he's getting anything greenlit after this. Sean's thinking Die Hard 1 still? I forget what we decided in Die Hard 1. That's what I was trying to remember is what we said. That was years ago he did Die Hard. It was years ago. I mean, he does, after this movie, takes some pretty big risks. Takes a lot of swings from his accumulated power, right? Because it goes Bonfire of the Vanities in which he's miscast, but I mean, huge movie before it came out. They shoehorn him in because he's such a big star. Yeah. And Hudson Hawk and Billy Bathgate and Last Boy Scout all in 91 plus Mortal Thoughts which you mentioned. So he's clearly like, he's putting all his chips down immediately after Die Hard 2. And he probably had a big cut of the, whatever the profits were. Billy Bathgate actually kind of underrated. I didn't mind it. Lauren Dean, kind of the Marco Ravaroni of that one. Yeah. He's way out of his depth among that cast. Tough, big, big gamble on him and I don't think it paid off. Yeah. Snowmobile Chases. Well, I think there's probably a couple in Reindeer Games, right? There's a really good Bond one, right? What's the Bond Snowmobile Chase? I'm with you. Inception has some Snowmobile stuff. The Living Daylights. There's a great one in The Living Daylights. Dennis Franz, no. NYPD Blue has to be that for him. What's Rennie Harlan's Apex Mountain, Sean? My favorite is Long Kiss Goodnight. That's, I think, the coolest movie he made but this has got to be his Apex Mountain. This is the most successful movie he made, right? Yeah, but I think he might actually be best known for Deep Blue Sea at this point. That's so crazy. I mean, I know people love Deep Blue Sea as kind of half a gag but I don't know. Have you watched Cliffhanger recently? Oh, it's on the list. I was kind of waiting for the 30th anniversary. I love that movie. It might be this year or is it next year? I think it's next year. It's 93, yeah. I love Cliffhanger. Cliffhanger is awesome. Was Rennie Harlan Cliffhanger? Yeah. Got to say, Lithgow does the Alan Rickman really as good as Alan Rickman in that movie. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Big hit. I mean, Rennie Harlan made a huge hit. I mean, Cutthroat Island is kind of the movie that pulled him down. It's been chronicled as like a huge bomb over the years but he's made some fun action movies. You know, Chris is a huge Janine Turner guy. Who isn't? Yeah. I'm the reason Northern Exposure isn't on streaming. I just, I got the rights in an NFT. I won't let them go. I'll tell you what, she is breathtakingly attractive in that movie. Janine Turner. Like, all time. Looks fantastic. She is in my, that's, that would be a good podcast of why weren't you a bigger star? She would definitely be in the first season. Who else? She could have gone, I don't know, I just don't know why she wasn't a bigger star. I think, is she, is she on? There was a moment there where you would have, her rookie cards were selling for a lot. Oh, no, I'm thinking it from someone else. I'm thinking of Ann Archer. Ann Archer is a good example of that too though. Why wasn't Ann Archer a bigger star? I don't know. She's in the dropout right now and I was trying to figure out who it was while I was watching it. I was like, holy cow. Is there anybody who's not in the dropout? There's a lot of people in the dropout. The dropout's kind of the diehard too. I love Guy Torrey. I don't know why he wasn't a bigger star. From American History X? Yeah. Yeah, he's good. American History X, that'll be near the tail end of the rewatchables. See our solo pod. Just to break down the pickup basketball scene, the two hand dunk by Ed. Yeah. Maury Pex Mountain. Oliver Stone rip off villains? Because they always said the Stuart in this movie is basically Oliver Stone. I think that was the peak of that. Oliver North. Oliver North. Oliver North. I'm sorry, not Oliver Stone. I'm getting old. It would be even better if he was Oliver Stone. Yeah. He's like, I want to make a film that tells the truth about Dulles at Christmas. Did that plane really crash? Evil John Amos, 100%. Bruce Willis's old hair before whatever chicanery started with it. I think this was the last wave of when he had like the peninsula at the top. Yeah. Then it starts, I don't know what happens. By the time we get to Pulp Fiction, there's some... TB12 is what happens. Yeah. Yeah. No question. So, here's the case for Bonnie Bedelia. She's in this and Presumed Innocent, two of the top 12 movies in 1990. They shoehorn all of her scenes in this because they feel like she has to be in it and everybody liked her. And I would say this 1990s is as good as it got for Bonnie Bedelia. Always had such a crush on her. I don't know. She's great. Sean having a crush on her was the lock of the podcast. Set in an airport movies. It's either this or airplane, right? What about airport? The movie. That's... Those movies have not aged well. Yeah, they're tough. How much airport is in planes, trains, and automobiles? I don't think enough. Okay. I don't think enough. How about icicle eye stabbings? It's one of the goats. You know, you always hear about that. It's the perfect murder weapon. It's rare that you get to see it used in action, though. So I have yes for icicle eye stabbings, but no for eye stabbings because I still think single white female, the heel into the eye is the number one eye stabbing that I can remember. It's funny that McLean gets really grossed out by the icicle eye stabbing thing, but does so many other grody things to the human body. Why is he grossed out by anything? Gotta tell you, there's a horror movie in theaters right now called X that's got a high-level eye stabbing in it. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. I'm going to see that soon. I'm excited for X. Looks good. Looks like it's in my wheelhouse. Getting fingerprints from a corpse? Yeah. What do you guys think about fax technology picking up the nuances of fingerprint identification in 1990? I like that. Seems flawed. Picky knits. Oh, wait. We got two more Apex Mountains. What's here? Airphones. Public airphone. They don't really have those anymore. Why not? It'd be kind of cool. Two, I think we should have the debate as to whether Sadler's fully nude Tai Chi tops Swayze's half-nude Tai Chi in Roadhouse. This is great. I'm glad I'm here for this. And I would love to know what the onset body oiling regimen was for those guys. Like, was that self-applied? Right. Was that Teamster? Was that like a union job? You know? I just don't know why you wouldn't put underwear on for the Tai Chi in the hotel room. That's the part I don't get. What is it about the full nudity? the bureau exactly positioned to cut off his package. That's the genius of Rennie Harlan there. That's cinema magic. I feel like Roadhouse, it's more important than Roadhouse, personally. If you put on one article of clothing while doing oily Tai Chi, are you then good? But then as soon as you remove all your clothing, you become evil? Well, I assume you have to shower afterwards, right? Sure. It's the difference that this is how we know if you have underwear on, you might be the good guy that naked is, you're unquestionably the bad guy. Interesting. Picking Nets. What's the plot of this movie? I said it to Chris right when I got on this, Bill. I was like, I don't understand this movie at all. So, here's what Wikipedia said. You guys really don't understand the plot of this movie? I'm just going to read you what Wikipedia said. A plane carrying corrupt foreign military leader, General Ramon Esperanza, is also headed to Dulles under extradition for using U.S. funds to buy drugs. Waiting to meet Esperanza's plane is disgraced former Colonel William Stewart and a group of ex-military sympathizers who supported Esperanza's actions. A couple questions. What are they supporting? He's a general in charge of a small country that is using drug money to like fund his regime. So, you have all these domestic terrorists now who are like, I like this guy. At what point is it like, yeah, I'm in, I'm in on Esperanza. Like, what do I have to do? And it's like, well, here's the third thing you're going to do. You're going to blow up this plane of 210 people because Esperanza's our guy. Like, whatever he could have meant versus what the outcome of some of the stuff they do is fucking insane.
80:19 – 83:16… Do you remember a taser being used for comedic effect before in a movie? Not before this. I will say this is not Apex. I feel like you invented it. It is not Apex Mountain though. Apex Mountain is the hangover. No, it's the hangover. Yeah. In the face. That's the best one. Hangover is pretty good though. It is. Yeah, that's tough. Hangover or jackass for Apex Mountain. Any other unanswerable questions? I feel like we had everything. Most importantly, whatever the plot was, which I still don't understand. We covered mine earlier, which was would everybody at the airport really be that chilled out after a …
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the recreational taser gun, Sean? I'm glad you went to Sean with this. Have you seen it? Do you remember a taser being used for comedic effect before in a movie? Not before this. I will say this is not Apex. I feel like you invented it. It is not Apex Mountain though. Apex Mountain is the hangover. No, it's the hangover. Yeah. In the face. That's the best one. Hangover is pretty good though. It is. Yeah, that's tough. Hangover or jackass for Apex Mountain. Any other unanswerable questions? I feel like we had everything. Most importantly, whatever the plot was, which I still don't understand. We covered mine earlier, which was would everybody at the airport really be that chilled out after a massive plane crash and just be like, great, when's my flight leave? I feel like that would be massive panic. And then at the end when everyone's hugging because people have been saved, I still feel like it's a little more somber. Yeah. It's not Dennis Franz being like, hey, McLean, you got this fucking parking ticket. Yeah, I'm ripping it up. I want to ask you what the parking ticket actually. So the movie opens with him, his car being towed away. Yeah. But what did he do? So he parked the car and he got out of the car? Yeah, he just left his car at the airport. Where did he go? To go to the bar. But then could he see the car from the bar? I think she's supposed to be arriving. I think it's like, because she's like delayed and then she calls and she's like, it's going to be another half an hour or whatever. He keeps getting paged. So I think he thought she would be like walking off the plane when he got in there and it turns out she's delayed. And then I tell his car. Who parks there though? Seriously? Nobody. Only people in movies. It's ridiculous. My only other unanswerable question, could anyone else have been John McLean for you guys? Ugh. Wow. It's a pretty nice mix of comedy and action that I think made it unique for Bruce Willis. And then every man too. What about like Treat Williams? I don't think he had the sense of humor piece. What about Jeff Bridges? That's not bad. It's a different vibe, but I think he could have done it. Yeah, that's not bad. I can't believe you dropped a Treat Williams on us. Yeah. Chris, do you think Dana Wheeler Nicholson could have done it? I mean, we'll never know, but that's a hell of a what if. Bridges is a good one. I don't think Bridges... When I direct Dana Wheeler Nicholson's last dance, I'll be sure to ask her. I'll show her the iPad of Die Hard 2. I was going to ask you if we'll never know because she's been locked in your basement for several years. She's Dana Wheeler Nicholson and Ryan. Jeff Bridges never did this every man thing. I guess the closest was probably blown away, right? But he's got the Irish accent in that. Yeah. Chris, what piece of memorabilia would you want from this movie? How about the charred remains of 210 British Airways passengers? No? Jesus Christ, Bill. I was going to say I like the white snowsuits those guys wear.
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