Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
55:43 – 62:39… this movie, but for life. Yeah. In the world. When was Roseanne? In 84? The Toto song? I think it was like a year. Maybe a year before. We'll come back to her apex mountain, I bet. And then the big one for me with Age of the Best is the Home Alone Parents preview. Yeah. I have that as well. We get one moment. It's unbelievable. Where we see Catherine O'Hara and John talking together. We don't even hear them talk. We just see them through a window. And then soon they will be two of the most famous parents in movie history, honestly. By the way, and looking for somebody again. That's right. Someone who's lost. I …
The whole segment, as transcribed
Thank you. Roseanne Arquette, 1985. It's got to be one of what's aged the best. You already mentioned it. Desperately Seeking Susan. Not just for this movie, but for life. Yeah. In the world. When was Roseanne? In 84? The Toto song? I think it was like a year. Maybe a year before. We'll come back to her apex mountain, I bet. And then the big one for me with Age of the Best is the Home Alone Parents preview. Yeah. I have that as well. We get one moment. It's unbelievable. Where we see Catherine O'Hara and John talking together. We don't even hear them talk. We just see them through a window. And then soon they will be two of the most famous parents in movie history, honestly. By the way, and looking for somebody again. That's right. Someone who's lost. I have the weird New York characters, because you could even add a couple, but specifically the incense cab driver, subway worker guy that we mentioned, and then diner guy are just like three so New York-y New York characters. Both diner guys. Dick Miller and Victor Argo, also a legendary New York actor. Yeah. Those are the two guys pouring coffee in that spot. I love vigilante mobs just in general in movies. Sure. People just holding candles at 4.30 in the morning. I have movies that use real phone numbers. I always enjoy it. Oh, good one. Like I'm at 243. I'm like, oh, they used a real one. Yeah. When you don't hear a 555. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Would you ever call one of the numbers you heard in a movie? No, but I know people do that. Okay. I like crazy. Wait, do you want to give out your phone number right now? No. Okay. I like crazy New York City cab ride scenes, because we've all been in those cabs when they're just like weaving through traffic and you're just like, oh my God, am I going to die? So there's a special feature on the Blu-ray of this movie that's a conversation between Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz, their old friends. And Fran Lebowitz also been living in New York for a hundred years. And she says about that moment when Griffin Dunn's character gets in the car and the cab just takes off. She said, you nailed it because at that time there was a change in New York. In the seventies, all the cab drivers were like Jewish and Italian American guys. And they all were just like family men who were trying to make a living. And then something changed where the only people who drove cabs were maniacs. Right. And she's like, these maniacs had lead foots and they just fucking drove so fast. They just want to get to the next stop. Yes. So he had his finger on the pulse of something. I'll probably get blamed for that. It was really funny when he sees a woman shoot the guy in the apartment. I love that part. It's so weird. Yeah. And he's not like horrified. He's just like, I'll probably get blamed for that. Well, we haven't. That's when the movies just got nuts. But I haven't said like there's Hitchcock and Fritz Lang noir movies are a huge influence on this movie. And that's like such a perfect rear window moment where you see something you weren't supposed to see. And then we never think about it again. Right. Like it never comes up again. Someone got shot in this neighborhood. Yeah. Nope. No sirens. No cop cars. Nothing. It's like the Russian and the Sopranos. The Russian in the woods. Right. Surrender Dorothy is hilarious. Just Cheech and Chong being in this movie is what's the best. Smart move. Chong said it was like we were in our own Cheech and Chong movie within a Scorsese movie, which is kind of true. And that's all I have for what's the best. I did forget to mention. Well, I'll get to another category. Well, the next award is the Sean Fentasy Award for stealth homage that gives every movie nerd a criteria orgasm. I just ruined it. I think Rear Window is my favorite one. I mean, there's a lot of them and a lot of them are about like modern art. There's plenty of Louis Bunuel in the movie with the surrealism that you're finding and the Edvard Munch painting and the plaster of Paris sculpture. But I like seeing that that gal get shot or that guy shoot that that girl shoot that guy. Big Kahuna Burger Award for best use of food and drink. The Uneaten Diner Cheeseburger. I always like when the that's what I have to bring it over. It's just feel it almost feels like a character for two minutes. Can we just talk very quickly about the Mr. Softy truck? Yeah. Did you grow up with Mr. Softy? Didn't really have them. This is Mr. Softy is a fucking religion on Long Island, or at least it was when I was a kid. And there were two ice cream trucks. There was your work a day ice cream truck. We had that. All the regular stuff. All the blow pops. Yes. All the different everything in the wrapping, you know. And then the Mr. Softy truck was just dispensed by the machine. Yeah. Soft serve ice cream. And sounds great. You get it with sprinkles. You get it with the candy shell, you know, the cherry shell. And when it came, it was like Christmas morning. It's Mr. Softy was kind of a little bit. It'll leap. So Apex Mountain for Mr. Softy? It would probably be me at like nine years old after a baseball game. Big Kuhner Burger Award could technically be Mr. Softy, but we don't actually see a Mr. Softy in this. So I don't think it's eligible. Great shot Gorda Award. I don't even know where to go in this. I'll just let you pick. So there's the keys, which is an incredibly difficult shot to pull off. Linda Fiorentino goes up to the roof after he gets the address of where Marcy is and she throws the keys down off the roof. And the keys are coming right at the camera. For no reason. You think it's leading to something and it really doesn't. It's just a move. It's just like a move. Yeah. Well, I mean, if you wanted to speak metaphorically, you could be like sharp objects are racing towards this guy. You know what I mean? Yeah. This is danger at the very beginning of the movie setting us up for like almost don't go in there. But that shot apparently was really hard to do, really dangerous for Griffin Dunn to keep trying to do. But it's very, very memorable. I do think that shot of him flying in the cab where he's sitting in the back and it's bouncing and you're hearing the flamenco music and you're like, what is going on? This movie has this weird pace and energy that I've never seen before. And then I mentioned my favorite by far is the zoom in on Marcy when she winks to the camera. That's my favorite shot. I like when he's, it's like in the last 20 minutes, he's outdoors and he's kind of looking up and it's like a big crane shot that comes down on him. It's just good. That's a great one. Kid Coddy Preciate Happiness Award for Best Needle Drop. We do have the monkeys in this movie and we do have Joni Mitchell. But I think the winner is Is That All There Is by Peggy Lee. A favorite song of my mom's. A great song. I think. She said it's one of the great, it's one of the great divorce songs. I believe that it was featured in a very memorable episode of Mad Men at the end credits in a similar like post Don. Sopranos? No, Mad Men. Was it Sopranos? Maybe it was Sopranos. It was Sopranos too. Maybe it was Sopranos. I don't know. I thought I could have sworn there was a Betty and Don sequence. Probably was. Where, anyway, there's a couple of others I like. One, I like The Last Train of Clarksville, Monkeys, Drop because Terry Garr was in Head, the Monkeys movie. Also, pretty good song. Great song. I was kind of listening to it going, huh, might throw this on a summer mix. Yeah, the Monkeys are good, man. Pay to Come by Bad Brains in the club. And then I think Mozart's Symphony, number 45, at the beginning of the movie is pretty good. Wolfie? Yeah, Wolfie. Pay to Come, but it's spelled C-U-M, just for the record. Thanks for clarifying that. Yeah, I noticed that in the soundtrack. When, I'm not going to talk to you about that anymore. You know you're really serious when you're flipping the C-U-M spell. Punk rock icons. When are we doing Amadeus?
78:05 – 80:53… 90s, which I think was my number one, a magazine is coming out, I'm most excited to read this person moment. Like 94, 95. Him writing about OJ was like the apex mountain for me for, I can't wait until this. In Vanity Fair at that time. Yeah. Yeah. It was like all that mattered. He wrote amazing stories. He was a fascinating character. He really was. And he had good books too. I liked all of his books. He's a really, really great writer. And his, his aunt and uncle were, John Gregory Dunn and Joan Didion. Yeah. And he has, Griffin Dunn has kind of become like, I don't know if he's an estate manager, but he's …
The whole segment, as transcribed
and that led to Dominic Dunn throwing himself into true crime and led to the peak of him in the 90s, which I think was my number one, a magazine is coming out, I'm most excited to read this person moment. Like 94, 95. Him writing about OJ was like the apex mountain for me for, I can't wait until this. In Vanity Fair at that time. Yeah. Yeah. It was like all that mattered. He wrote amazing stories. He was a fascinating character. He really was. And he had good books too. I liked all of his books. He's a really, really great writer. And his, his aunt and uncle were, John Gregory Dunn and Joan Didion. Yeah. And he has, Griffin Dunn has kind of become like, I don't know if he's an estate manager, but he's somebody who like helps shepherd a lot of the legacy of Didion and Dunn. Pops in, and pops into some movies from time to time. Yeah. He still acts for sure. But while we're talking about movies, I just want to recommend if people haven't read a book called The Studio that John Gregory Dunn wrote, that is about how a movie studio operates. It's one of the greatest, it's not a novel, it's a nonfiction book. It's one of the greatest books about Hollywood ever written. And it's like a little underrated. And since we're in the Dunn universe, give it a shout. Best that guy word. Is Griffin Dunn of that guy? I don't think so. He's Griffin. I think werewolf plus this, he makes him Griffin. I agree. You put his name on top of the poster. You're kind of, you're good to go. Is Horst of that guy? Will? I don't think so. No, because he's remembering the Titans or No Way Out. Yes. Oh, No Way Out. Yeah. What was Hackman's name? And he was like, huh? I don't remember at the end when he's about to kill himself. Yeah. Yeah. Horst is kind of a warmup for the crazy assistant to the secretary of defense in No Way Out. Is he the secretary of defense in that movie? He is, right? Yeah. Yeah. He's also a classic, you didn't have any hair and now you have a full head of hair actor. Yeah. I always enjoy those. Yeah. He's a very reliable. He was in Armageddon or one of those. Yeah. He's in Armageddon. Yeah. I mean, he's in, he's like in constantly on TV. Is he in the Taylor Sheridan universe now? Will Patton? He's, I always liked seeing him. Yeah. He's a great actor. Really good actor. I feel like he market corrected Terry Kinney a little bit. Oh. They were head to head there for a while. When's the Oz rewatch pod? Whenever you want. Emerald City? Van is watching him right now. Back to Emerald City. My, that guys were Dick Miller, Victor Argo, and Larry Block, who was the taxi driver. Yeah, those, I mean, those are literally that guys. Old school that guys. Deanne Waiters award. What a category. Terry Garr, Catherine O'Hara, Linda Fiorentino, Will Patton, Verna Bloom, and Cheech and Chong. I also, I'm not as good of a Deanne Waiters as it's going to get. I also had John Hurd. And John Hurd. Speaking of the Sopranos, legendary Sopranos player. I have a Fiorentino winning. Okay. I'll roll with that. But she's just out of control. I don't know what she's doing in this movie, but it's captivating.
88:36 – 95:46… movie. That's your girl, Linda. I feel like she could have gone three episodes with Tony Soprano. I feel like they could have figured it out. I think so too. Apex Mountain, Griffin Dunn, I'm going to say yes. Yes, without question. Roseanne Arcade, 100% 1985, yes. Without question. Hard cap, all caps, yes. Linda Fiorentino, Last Seduction, 1994, which she should have gotten nominated for an Oscar, but they had released it on HBO first. She's incredible in The Last Seduction, but probably Men in Black. I mean, Men in Black was a massive success, bigger than any other movie she'd ever been a part of. And she was …
The whole segment, as transcribed
who was under investigation by the FBI? That's a movie. That's your girl, Linda. I feel like she could have gone three episodes with Tony Soprano. I feel like they could have figured it out. I think so too. Apex Mountain, Griffin Dunn, I'm going to say yes. Yes, without question. Roseanne Arcade, 100% 1985, yes. Without question. Hard cap, all caps, yes. Linda Fiorentino, Last Seduction, 1994, which she should have gotten nominated for an Oscar, but they had released it on HBO first. She's incredible in The Last Seduction, but probably Men in Black. I mean, Men in Black was a massive success, bigger than any other movie she'd ever been a part of. And she was the star. Can I make the case for Last Seduction? Yes. Do you know this whole thing about how she should have won the Oscar that year? I feel like we've talked about it before. Do it. They couldn't get the movie funded to be in theaters, so they sold it to HBO. Right. It ran on HBO for a couple weeks. And then the movie gained steam, and they did this whole, they started, and they basically did the movie red carpet thing with it. And she started winning all of these awards. But it was ruled in eligible. Critics choice, whatever, but they were like, it can't, it was on TV first, you're not eligible. And that was the year Jessica Lange won for Blue Sky, which had been made four years earlier. And then like that was Jodie Foster, Nell. But it's just like a, it's like a particularly awful best actress category. Miranda Richardson and Tom and Viv, Winona Ryder and Little Women. And show some respect to Susan Sarandon and The Client, my beloved Reggie Love. That's weird. That's interesting. She could have won. So she wins in 1994. She's a massive star. This is just an extraordinary amount of time spent on Linda Fiorentino in this pod. Thank you. I did a lot of research. Henry Miller, Apex Mountain? Probably not. I would say no. Maybe the publication of Tropic of Cancer. Yeah. John Hurd? I think Home Alone. I think he was Cutter's Way was he was leading with somebody. Thank you for bringing that up. That movie is amazing. He plays a Vietnam vet with an eye patch. Yeah. In a wheelchair. And he is crazy in that movie. Thank you for bringing that up. Cheech and Chong? Probably not. It's probably somewhere late 70s. Up and smoke for sure. Cheech and Chong, hard to explain all these years later. You know. Because I think they're just on YouTube though. Yeah. Meaning like how they hit? No, just like it's just very specific to an era that now they would just be guys. They'd be huge influencers. They'd probably have a billion dollar empire. It'd be like Cheech and Chong just did a one million, one billion dollar deal with Amazon. Yeah, they were kind of the Mr. Beast of their time. Yeah. Yeah. Late night New York City movies. I have a whole list. This is the best one. So, I think the Warriors is superior because it covers more ground. Hmm. It captures more of the city. We get more of the city. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. The Warriors would be number one. Coney Island. You're all over the place. This is very close behind, but in addition to that, I think taxi drivers certainly in the conversation. Hmm. 25th hour. Saturday night fever. Is 25th hour a late night New York City movie? Yeah, the club. When they're in the club for like 40 minutes. Yeah, you're right. Cruising. And they're in the diner when Barry Pepper and Hoffman go out to the diner. Ghostbusters? Hmm. Right? I mean, the whole third act is at night. American Psycho? Cruising? Well, cruising for sure. For sure. American Psycho is a good one. Um, I mean, Good Time and Uncut Gems? Yeah. Uncut Gems, I mean, could a movie owe more of a debt to After Hours than Uncut Gems? They're, they're... I was trying to think of the movies that probably were the most influenced by it and it's a long list. One of the ones I think is Go. Oh, definitely. Same feeling. Where they were just like, let's make late 90s Go and just put a bunch of weird actors with weird cameos and, um, it's basically they should have paid royalties to Super Sissy. Bright Lights, Big City is a big one from this era too. Um, which I feel like people don't talk about that anymore. And then just like every Lumet film. Yeah. Except for Dog Day Afternoon because it only takes place during the day. Good list. Thank you. Apex Mountain for Plaster? Sure. Yes. The answer is yes. Terry Gard, it's no because I think it's probably Tootsie era but we're, we're still, she was Oscar nominated for Tootsie. Still on the mountain. Yep. And then, what about Mom and Dad Save the World with John Lovitz and Terry Gard? I think that, she was off the mountain at that point. Soho. No. What is Apex Mountain for Soho? It's somewhere in the last 15 years. Basquiat painting masterpieces five years earlier? That's pretty good. Okay. Scorsese or Spielberg? Yes. I love when we, when we have that organically. Here's the thing. Steve doesn't have the juice to get into this energy. He could never get to this place. He wouldn't know what, he wouldn't know how to direct Linda Fiorentino. He definitely did not. He had no idea. This is our eighth Scorsese rewatchable. I was going to ask you that. How many has Steve had? It's one back. Spielberg's had how many? I'm going to say seven. Hold on, I can find this. Jaws, Close Encounters, ET, ! Scorsese at eight. Fincher at seven. That's our top, that's our top five. Are you done with Fincher? No. God, no. Would you ever do Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? I don't like that movie. Okay. God. Do you like it? It's one, it's been one of the biggest growers in my life in the last 10 years. Do I need to watch it? Yeah, I think it's like incredible and I didn't realize it at the time. I don't, I think I might not like it for the wrong reasons because I don't like, I really liked Rudy Mera and I think that the movie just made, sent her career in a weird direction and I want to redo it. I think she's an unusual person. Maybe. Well, it's good to see Kate in Friendship though. Great to see her working in a good movie. As you know, she matters to me. Yeah. Do you like Friendship? What'd you make of that? I don't think we've ever talked to Tim Robinson. I really liked it. My daughter, my daughter absolutely loved it. Oh, great. Yeah. And my wife was uncomfortable and complaining about it most of the time but still liked it. Not surprising. It's, it's good. It is really funny. It's really good. I, I, I thought people got a little carried away with how good it was but I thought it was really good. I didn't think it was the funniest movie of the last 15 years but I was happy to have a comedy with Tim Robinson in movie theaters. Yeah. What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman have played? So you said the bartender. Yeah, Tom. He could talk me into the lead at certain points in his career. Okay. Pick a nits. Not sure why he flips on Marcy and makes her cry. Never understood that. I, he just gets mad and I, I just don't get it. It's a weird plot device. I think it's because he realizes that he doesn't, he's afraid of sleeping with a burn victim and is trying to get out of there.
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