Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
87:55 – 95:07… bit. And now he's back. And it's all good. But it was a big story at the time because when it happened, the movie had happened, the TV show had happened. Apex Mountain. Friday Night Lights as a property. No. Come on. Next. This is not up for discussion. It isn't. You're trolling. I know you don't believe this. I don't. Okay. Billy Bob Thornton. No. It's going to be Landman. With apologies to this and Sling Blade and Monsters Ball, let's just carve out the necessary turf here for Landman. It's dialogue like, that wasn't Sunday morning sex. That was angry Saturday night sex. Great stuff. Peter Berg. No. No. …
The whole segment, as transcribed
and then ended up in this whole thing where he ended up in this huge fight. He got a felony. He had to give up his license for a little bit. And now he's back. And it's all good. But it was a big story at the time because when it happened, the movie had happened, the TV show had happened. Apex Mountain. Friday Night Lights as a property. No. Come on. Next. This is not up for discussion. It isn't. You're trolling. I know you don't believe this. I don't. Okay. Billy Bob Thornton. No. It's going to be Landman. With apologies to this and Sling Blade and Monsters Ball, let's just carve out the necessary turf here for Landman. It's dialogue like, that wasn't Sunday morning sex. That was angry Saturday night sex. Great stuff. Peter Berg. No. No. But I think it's actually the TV series putting that together. Yep. Agreed. I think it was such a hard achievement to pull off. And then all the ways that show almost died and it should have died after its first season. I remember writing, I wrote about this in the magazine piece I did that year. Wrote a magazine column about it because it seemed like it was going to get canceled. And I had stopped watching it like everybody else because it was pre-streaming. If you felt like the show was going to get canceled or you missed the first two episodes, it was really hard to jump into a show. And the show didn't do well. And then that summer, there was some rerun stuff. A friend of mine got me these Japanese DVDs that I watched that summer. Caught up. And then I was like, we can't get this. The show has to come back. It came back. Writer's Strike. Probably should have been canceled after the Writer's Strike because it had a bad second season, which we don't talk about. But three, four, and five are amazing. Three, four, and five. They also, they nailed, we have to graduate some of these guys and bring new people in. Are the new people going to hold up to the old people? And they have this new cast that included Michael B. Jordan. So everything he did with that show, I think, he's had a really good career. He's directed a lot of big movies. He's made a lot of money. But I still, I would think he would agree that the show is the apex. I mean, I think because they're so proximate to each other time-wise, like you could just lump it all together. The property. Yeah, the property. Like, I agree. I think that, you know, season one of Friday Night Lights is unbelievable. You mentioned season two. Season three is really great. I don't, it's hard for me to think of too many resets, like story resets that are on par with moving Coach Taylor to East Dillon. Yeah, it was great. Like, and pulling it off at that level and making you, you have invested for three seasons at that point in the Panthers, and you are rooting so fervently against them and for the Lions by the time they face off. It's just astonishing. Like, I have a Vince Howard jersey. I love the Lions. It's great. Season five of that show is unbelievable. Well, and then they had some of the casting too. Yeah, to get Michael B. Jordan at that point in his career is unbelievable. Yeah, my favorite show, and I wrote about this at the time, but my favorite sports show ever was The White Shadow. And they never figured out that third season when they had to graduate some of the people, and they kind of kept the coach there. The people they brought in weren't as fun as the previous people, and the show just got canceled. Right. So I think by the time we got to the late 2000s, they had enough evidence of how to not do this that they did it correctly. And they had a big twist. They brought in new people. They really took pains to figure out who to cast. Anyway, Garrett Hedlund, I think he's done some good stuff. I think his Apex Mountain was the country's strong rewatchables. Because he was probably as surprised as everyone else. Oh, man. With apologies to the entire Tron franchise. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Black Nikes? No, but big prominently displayed. Texas High School Football Content? Probably the TV show. TV show. Yeah. Tim McGraw? No. No. No. Sports Movie Coin Tosses? Oh, my God. Wow. That's a great one. That's a whole scene with a coin toss. I'm going to say yes. Jay Hernandez, no, because I think he's been in a bunch of stuff. Lucas Black? It's probably Tokyo Drift. I think it's Tokyo Drift, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Horrible Sports Movie Parents. Oh, boy. Crowded field. Really tough to top Charlie Billingsley. He's bad. Yeah. Jeez. That's a good one. That's a really good one. Ooh. I like that. Yeah. Anything else? Move on. No. I don't think it's the Apex Mountain really for anyone or anything. No. Even though it's a great movie. Cruise or Hanks? Cruise. Cruise? Yeah. Cruise. As Coach Gaines? As Coach Gaines. What? Yeah. Make the case. I mean, I think the moments of, like, mania that simmer to the fore, where you have this kind of calm, collected guy who, like you said, can sit there when the boosters charge into his office and just sort of, like, the boosters and just sort of nod and smirk and know that he has to play the game. He's got the button-down shirt collar popping over his sweater. Yeah. But then we'll call his player a village idiot. We'll just scream at them as they're letting this slip through their fingers, but then can kind of find the, like, it's time to rally. Let's get hyped. Jolt? I think the Cruise version of this would be deranged, but kind of mesmerizing. It's harder for me to see where Hanks slots in the movie, honestly. I usually pick Hanks, as you know. The answer's Hanks. But unfortunately, because we have a tie, we have to bring in producer Craig Early. He's got to decide it. Cruise or Hanks? Craig, you have the tiebreaker. Is it Cruise or Hanks? The answer is Tom Hanks. I'm sorry, Mal. Come on. But, first of all, Cruise is way too small. Nobody will buy it. You can't have him as a football coach. He's like 5'6". Billy Bob at least has some size. Yes. But Billy Bob is too slender. I think Cruise has a stoutness. He can wear thick jackets. I also, I don't buy Cruise in Texas. For some reason, Hanks, to me, can pull off the Southern. That's a great point, Craig. Yeah. Cruise being, like, a diehard, longtime Texas guy makes zero sense. No. I see Cruise going toe-to-toe with the boosters in a way that I don't see with Hanks here. I don't know. So what's the tally now, Craig? This is our last one of the year. So if Hanks wins, it's 21 to 16, Hanks. Well, Hanks won. I think this is the first time I've ever picked Cruise. Typical. Can't wait to get Craig's take at the end. Racehorse, rock band, wrestler, or fantasy team name. Would you go Boobie Miles or would you go Babies and Memories? Neither. I'm going Mojo. My racehorse is Mojo. Great dog name. You know, my wife looked at me last night as she was lying in bed with one dog on one side and one dog on the other side. And said, let's get a cat. I love it. Jesse is 11. And she said, when Ben goes to college, we're getting a third dog.
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