Thief

[00:00:01] Blank Check with Griffin and David Blank Check with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to express All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check

[00:00:20] I have run out of time. I have lost it all, so I can't work fast enough to catch up I can't run fast enough to catch up And the only thing that catches me up is doing my podcast What a monologue! What a monologue!

[00:00:34] I'm getting chills. I might watch it again tonight Yeah, you'd love this movie Your criteria so far up, yes, you can't see daylight Well, you're making it sound very like Mugsy Yeah, right I am the laziest guy in the world you wanna fuck with

[00:00:50] You wanna pinch me, pinch me, but I ain't ever gonna be pinched What are you doing in your life that's so terrific? The I&B Quotes page has the entirety of the adoption agency Oh, yeah, that's so good It's the longest quote I've ever seen on I&B

[00:01:07] You're from the suburbs? Right? There's that whole thing? You didn't grow up in a green 4x4, is that what he says? Yeah, let me look at the actual line I got some ABC type information for you, lady I was state raised and this is a dead place

[00:01:17] I related to that Oh my god What about this one? I wear $150 slacks I wear soaked shirts I wear $800 suits I wear a gold watch I wear a perfect, deflawless 3-carat ring I change cars like other guys change their fucking shoes I'm a podcast

[00:01:31] I've been in prison all right That is so good God, if James Cohn yelled that at me I would both break up with him and have an orgasm At the same time I'd be like you're a problem but also, holy shit You're revving my engine

[00:01:47] You're making big profits from my work My risk, my sweat But that's okay because I elected to make that deal But now the deal is over I want my podcast and I am out My money in 24 hours or I will You will wear your podcast for a hat

[00:02:01] You're talking to me or someone else walking this room Your marketing time is what you are You're backing off, you're hiding out You're waiting for a bus that you hope never comes Because you don't want to get in on any way Because you don't want a podcast anywhere

[00:02:14] Okay Oh god, let's just read the screenplay This is some of the best dialogue we've ever covered on this show Yeah And it makes me He's such an underrated dialogue guy Like people sort of forget that Well you know what's weird about this guy who we're talking about

[00:02:30] Have we set the timer? Get that clock rolling baby Yeah, we've got a clock in the corner Ben where's what's going on with the clock? That was the clocky You're getting tight with the clock You're trying to pinch this clock? I was sneaky and I took 10 minutes out

[00:02:41] Oh What? How'd you do that? Just to try and get you guys to be Now basically we noticed You think you're gonna trick me into believing that we've already been talking for 13 minutes? We've been talking for 13 minutes Yes I did You're trying to pinch me? Yeah I am

[00:02:56] My money in one hour and 47 minutes So you will weigh your ass for a hat Okay, alright, alright Started back up Started at 2 I am not starting back up Started at 2 No Thief Thief Well everybody this is Blank Check with Griffin and David That's right

[00:03:12] It's a podcast about filmographies Directors who get massive success early on their careers experience a series of blank checks I switch the words experience and get Fair enough Make whatever crazy past your projects they want Sometimes those checks clear And sometimes they bounce baby

[00:03:28] And this is of course a mini series called The Cast of the Pot Heakens I guess I guess by default All his other titles are like one word and they don't work Yeah I was kinda pitching you on like doing one of his TV movies

[00:03:44] Like LA Takedown or the Jericho Mile But even those aren't very good Podcast lateral Podcast lateral Pod lateral No, pod lateral cast doesn't work You'd have pod lateral cast The answer is we're doing the cast of the pot heakens I know it's just annoying cause it's like

[00:04:02] My heekens It feels a little It feels a little dicey But here's the alternate title for this mini series As David takes us sip My lemonade Here's the alternate title for this mini series Michael Mansplaining Mmm, mmm I mean we are men And we're

[00:04:21] You're gonna start explaining this filmography hard I guess so This is your guy This is your Tim Burton Mmm I grew up in a dark little corner Oh God And you grew up I grew up in the city Fanatizing about men making Tough men making tough decisions

[00:04:36] Oh God, men who have to make decisions that are hard Oh my God They got a job to do They're trying to fight the system I guess so But I look out for me I look out for me I got my skill Yeah, he's got his skill

[00:04:49] My magic act Why do I love Michael Man? Why do I love him? Because you love bureaucracy Oh you love stories about bureaucracy Yeah, I do When did it start David? What was like your first couple of man films? Mmm, when did I become a man?

[00:05:03] I'm pretty sure the first Michael Man movie I saw was The Insider I was 13 Interesting, okay I maybe had seen I can't remember when I saw Heat Yeah If I saw Heat around there The Insider was when you came Yeah, sure

[00:05:15] But The Insider I saw for like Oscar purposes This was a big movie Yes And I was like Oh yeah, I'm gonna see this movie with this like Russell Crowe performance Everyone's talking about And 99, a big year for film

[00:05:26] And that was like a year that was like an activator For a lot of people Yeah, it's the only year we're allowed to talk about It's getting discussed this There's a lot of 99 stuff going on I know And I saw The Insider And I just remember being like

[00:05:42] Well Crowe is really good at Matt Which he is We'll get to it But also like What was up with that movie with like The weird opera score and those like long shots of him Like sitting in a chair and like what's going on here

[00:05:55] Who is this guy? Here's the thing that I find interesting about Michael Man That I was thinking a lot while watching Thief The film we're discussing today His debut film What Ben argues is perhaps the best debut film we've ever covered on the show

[00:06:08] Or you're saying one of the best debut films you've ever seen Yes, because I, you know the biggest film buff I don't feel like I've really visited many directors first Features Outside of this podcast Outside of this podcast So I think Where we always covered the debut feature

[00:06:24] Right To my own sort of dismay This one's good Yes I loved it I think this is the best one of the best debuts This is a very Ben move Like Mean Streets is I guess the other one that comes to mind That's not a debut though

[00:06:37] That's not a debut You made like four films before that That was his breakthrough That's the thing Often you get your breakthrough movie But after you made a couple maybe trashy movies Right Mean Streets was his sixth sense It was his matrix

[00:06:50] It was the one where it connects But here, that's what I want to go through I mean Bound is the other one that stands out to me That's the thing Oh yeah, Bound Okay, Bound But this is why I want to go through it Okay Praying with anger

[00:07:02] Whatever Bound fucking rules Yeah Bounds Say anything A strong debut Very strong debut Who else we got here Dada Dada Yeah, Piranha 2 The Spawning Forget it Perfect Masterpiece Let's see I'm so angry that Joe Dante Got knocked out of March Madness Cause then we could have covered Piranha 1

[00:07:25] I know we could have covered all our Piranha bases Yeah, well until we do our Alexandra Aja film Filmography miniseries And covered Piranha 3 W That's what we're really Yeah Three years past our sell-by date or whatever No, no, no, there's a lot going on here

[00:07:44] There's some stuff going on here Ilzavai's 2 is kind of an interesting film Violent Yeah, maybe he only made one Go on Yeah, I'm not sure We didn't do Spielberg's debut Following Yeah The Loveless These are movies that are more like Flavors of something to cool to come later

[00:08:02] We didn't do our opening debut Terms of endearment A good movie Yeah, that's a strong debut So we covered some good debuts We have The Iron Giant Good debut Not bad Not bad Pushing hands, that's more in the latter category The parent trap, you know, solid Yeah

[00:08:25] It's an on-base double And then Peewee's, you know, Peewee's Big Adventure Is a good debut So we've done some good ones So is this the best one we've covered on this podcast? No, I don't know It's not my favorite, it's definitely Ben's favorite

[00:08:38] Yeah, it's so my kind of movie It's just Gummy Like Neon noir If you like put your hand through the air You know, it would come back all sweaty There's a film sweaty, yeah Little greasy, little gritty Lot of great jackets Lot of great hand-in-pocket acting

[00:08:57] Which I love It is wet Maybe My favorite thing is I'd say it's damp What's his name? Jeez, come on David Is it Roger or Robert? Robert Prosky His debut film Acting Film acting debut TV acting debut Screen debut No, no, no, no

[00:09:14] He had TV credits before this I don't think so Yes, he did, I looked it up last night Because someone tweeted at us About You posted it on Letterbox So now everyone knows we're covering Michael Mayn How dare I honestly How dare you

[00:09:26] We've had a talk about this And refused to do it Okay, alright, alright I guess they weren't on his Wikipedia But if you go to his He had TV credits But even then He's 51 in this movie This is his first movie His first TV credit is only

[00:09:37] Like eight years earlier Yeah, it's in the 70s I mean he didn't get on camera Until his 40s Essentially The year before He had done I was like I did a deep dive into Prosky Prosky fucking rules Who is the best And I just watched The Natural

[00:09:52] Which I've never seen Which he's incredible Like he's always good Another re- Joe Dante We would have been able to cover His vampire character His vampire And Gremlins 2 Oh that's right, that's him He plays a vampire late night Monster movie TV host Like vampire who wants to be

[00:10:08] A newscaster And he's in broadcast news Which is really good Yes, so good in I'm trying to think of If we've done any other Proskies He's uh Oh he's in what Ben of course knows Is the most quotable movie of all time Mrs. Douthire That's correct

[00:10:23] He's the boss in Mrs. Douthire The famous Oh sure Seeing with the two dinners At the same time He's not in North Street But offensively is not playing Santa Claus Yeah that's weird Right? Yeah Especially because in his later years He grew a big white beard

[00:10:36] And he basically was Santa Claus Let me tell you something kid I'm gonna get you fucking present And you have presents I'm gonna bring down your chimney I'm gonna slide down that chimney So fucking hard And those boxes are gonna be there And you better want those boxes

[00:10:47] He's in that last section here So if we ever get to McTiernan We should get to McTiernan We should get to McTiernan Um Prosky What's his real name to say? Robert Prosky I've been talking about this with you guys His real name is like Proskyschek

[00:11:02] You know he's like a Polish guy But Prosky stole a good hard name He didn't change it to like Oh yeah Robert Johnson Robert Good Actor What if he did that? That's your pseudonym Robert Good Actor Griffin Good Actor I was getting some Ben vibes

[00:11:17] Like I'm gonna look like him when I get older From Prosky? Well I was gonna say I've been talking about this with you guys But I'm like very Frustrated with being 30 Right you wanna be 55 You mean like I feel like whenever the tick ends

[00:11:31] And hopefully by the time this episode comes out My show has not been canceled But whatever the tick ends I'm gonna be stuck in a fallow period Until I start looking like Dennis Franz And then I think I'm gonna pop Like I just look at like

[00:11:43] When I look at like fucking Kevin Dunn And Robert Prosky And Dennis Franz Prosky and Franz both came out of Hill Street Blues See those are two Hill Street bluesers And obviously people are gonna go like You're not a Robert Prosky type Yeah, Prosky's a pretty broad guy

[00:11:59] Here's my argument, okay? First of all I think I'm gonna balloon Oh jeez But you're gonna hit 30 and then suddenly I'm 30 now You just hit 30 I think like 35 I'm gonna be like Full like only like A horseshoe hair Body like a dumpling Petruding eye bags

[00:12:18] You're gonna be a little pot sticker I think give me five years And I'm gonna look like a little hairy pot sticker And the other thing is you go all these guys These are tough These are tough street guys For stuff I'm downtown Griffey Mumes

[00:12:30] I grew up on the hard streets of Greenwich Village Okay? I know the streets I know streets Here's another thing What's the other thing with those guys? They're frustrated They're tired They're given up They're fast talkers These are all things I got You know what I'm saying?

[00:12:46] And right now we're seeing them through a certain prism Which is flummoxed interns But someone asked me recently Like what do you want to do with your career Like what do you want to be doing as an actor

[00:12:58] And I was like I want to be like the guy behind the desk Yeah, you want to say the mayor's on your ass Like I want to be the frustrated guy behind the desk Saying the mayor's on my ass The mayor's on my ass

[00:13:06] Right or I pinch you, you pinch me Or whatever the fucking dialogue is So I look at Prosky and I'm just like God I want to look like that Well in 1980 The New York Times Which is a year before Thief Okay Wrote that Robert Prosky's performance

[00:13:21] In Death of a Salesman in regional theater He did a lot of regional theater in Washington DC Interesting Quote Represented a certification of the effectiveness Of the American regional theater movement I just got chills Prosky was so good I got chills But the Times was like Fucking shit

[00:13:38] Not only is he good at this Wow If you see his performance you'll be like Regional theater is good Yeah Like you know like the whole thing I believe in drama as a concept It needs to be for the people Prosky Can we do a Prosky miniseries?

[00:13:53] Prosky cast Proskast Proskast Prosnixon What if you didn't have your Nixon on? Come on you did it didn't ya Tell me you shit heel Talk straight to me dick Come on Prosky Yeah go go Give you equity in my laundromats

[00:14:12] Well the other guy who has a film debut In this movie is Dennis Farina Who falls in this category Dennis Farina who was robbing the set And then they just decided to cast him He was a Chicago cop He's got that push broom You know who Farina is?

[00:14:28] Yeah Well and in this movie he's got black hair He does Which I've never seen I know it's sort of weird Because the key Farina look He was born the year before That's what he looked like as a baby That's why he doesn't have much dialogue

[00:14:41] In this movie because he hadn't learned to talk yet No it's good to say The classic Farina look is He's totally gray but the mustache Is still dark Right right right That beautiful thing Fuck you fuckball Right the fucking shoe polish Mustache Um yeah so

[00:15:00] On the salt color here What's he story he was born on a leap year Hey Is Dennis Farina a fucking mystical creature? Dennis Farina died at the age of 18 Born on a leap year in Chicago Yeah Chicago The fourth son of seven His father was from Sicily Yeah

[00:15:20] His mother a homemaker According to Wikipedia That's all they got I'm gonna say a sausage His mother was a nice bratwurst Grew up in Old Town Chicago Right Served in the Vietnam War Yes And then served for 18 years In the burglary department of the Chicago PD

[00:15:40] Right so man brings him on as a consultant Yes Cops consultant Because man obviously he loves the details I think even before this I think maybe for like a TV movie Maybe a Jericho mile Like you know Sure He was a crime consultant

[00:15:54] We'll get to the man back story in a second You know we gotta do prosky A Farina B Then man we can talk about Tief He brings Farina on God I feel so good to not be talking about Tim Burton Yeah okay That one shot early on

[00:16:10] There are concerts down next to the guy who's fishing And there's like a back lit shot of him Like you know looking out at the water I was like look at this just two people And they're nice it's great And they're nice

[00:16:22] That's not how anyone else would describe Tief And they're nice It's a nice move Nice boys This is about nice people right This is a movie about nice boys Oh boy I'm gonna find this Michael Mann quote that I love But he yes he like you know

[00:16:36] Danny Trejo is another example of this Where Danny Trejo was actually a convict Sure And then they brought him on as like a consultant Maybe for heat is that possible There's this whole world that's built around Eddie Bunker That guy who wrote that book

[00:16:51] Who's Mr. Blue and Reservoir Dogs Okay And like all these guys like Trejo knew him Man consulted with him for the Jericho mile Like he's the guy who's sort of like Hey yeah you should meet my friend Danny And Danny's like oh la how you doing you know

[00:17:07] He's like wow this guy needs to be in a movie Like look at him Right they would get these guys who had been on one side Or the other of crime And working it and guys like Michael Mann would be like I need versimilitude

[00:17:19] Like I want the details to all be right I want the language to be right I want it to feel right Right and in this movie he just like hired thieves And was like bring your equipment Yeah We're just gonna use it

[00:17:30] But then these guys would be such interesting characters That they'd be like you know what We're gonna put you in the movie And give you a thing to do And like Danny Trejo was just a convict He was And Dennis Farina was just a cop

[00:17:39] And then both of them became like incredible movie stars I'm gonna give you the Trejo story He's working as a, he'd been in prison And then he was working as a youth drug counselor Okay And a teenage patient was dealing with cocaine problems

[00:17:54] On the set of the Eric Roberts film runaway train There was cocaine on that set? In 1985? Weird I don't think that This must be untrue I'm gonna call Wikipedia angrily You're telling me an Eric Robert film And Robert's film in the 80s?

[00:18:09] With um, who else is the other John Voight Oh boy Sorry what were you gonna say? Have I ever told you the Eric Roberts Bert Young story? I don't know I heard from like a teen star I might save that for later in the episode Great

[00:18:24] And so Trejo was brought to the set It was heat right? No it's runaway train Oh runaway train And Eddie Bunker Who was already working on that set Who's another guy in an ex-con who wrote the crime fiction Oh gosh Was like, I was in jail with you

[00:18:39] Right And Trejo was like, yeah sure And he's like do you wanna train Eric Roberts in boxing? And he was like, yeah sure And that's how he So Trejo ended up on set just because he was like a sober companion to the kid Yes Amazing Exactly Crazy right?

[00:18:54] It's crazy Farina fucking rules And I'm trying to find this man quote That a bunch of people ran when Farina died Cause he died tragically A little too young Yeah, somewhat young 69 And it was like an embolism or something It was sort of a freak

[00:19:09] Not a freak but like a very Sudden death Pulmonary embolism Yeah As you say 2013 My phone is dying My phone's at that stage where it just doesn't work Charge it It's not because of the battery Oh okay It's just like your phone's just too old

[00:19:24] I'm just pushing the home button and nothing's happening But there's this Michael Mann quote where he was like You know I just thought the guy was so interesting And thank you Ben's handed me his phone I'm gonna try to get this exact quote

[00:19:35] Because it's so good that I don't want to paraphrase it Sure Okay so here's the quote So like man falls in love with Farina Right And then he gives him a much bigger role in Manhunter And then he makes a TV show based around him Crime story

[00:19:50] Which is good Yes I tried watching it when I was 14 Too young It's now streaming for the first time in a while Yeah you can only watch that when you are Robert Prasky aged Right I'm getting there Yeah No it's a good show

[00:20:03] I think two seasons like it didn't run very long It did And a lot of people credit it And I mean Manh's TV work in general As sort of being the early stages of the TV era we live in now We'll get to that in a second But

[00:20:15] Michael Mann was interviewed about Dennis Farina For some profile Because obviously he was one of his muses And they asked Michael Mann what makes Dennis Farina So captivating as an actor And Michael Mann's quote to the Miami Herald was

[00:20:30] It's a mystery to me because I know him so well And I think he's so fucking ugly When we had these casting meetings A couple of guys would say Well I don't know if he's good looking enough And there would be some women there

[00:20:42] And they'd say are you kidding To tell you the truth I think women sense his gentleness He's a real gentle guy There are two left turns there We paused the recording for 90 seconds So I could get that Because that's an incredible quote

[00:20:55] For someone to say about their friend I think he's so fucking ugly And then I think the end of that quote is he goes But I don't know women seem to like him I don't know beyond that women like him He's like it's because he's gentle Yeah

[00:21:05] It's not what I thought you were going to say The idea that Michael Mann in a casting room Full of guys would be like We all agree this guy's fucking butt ugly He's got a face like a slab With a mustache on it

[00:21:16] He's got a bunch of pockmark Like acne scars on his cheeks And this fucking jet black bush broom But let's talk about Michael Mann Michael Mann is interesting because He doesn't feel like a guy comes out of TV Nobody 100% is 100% is and not only that

[00:21:32] Then TV starts to follow Michael Mann's lead Yeah for sure Slowly TV becomes more and more like Michael Mann Because watching Thief I was like This is the kind of template For people making anti-hero shows now Like Tough Man Anti-hero TV shows

[00:21:48] You're right he's an anti-hero you can root for Right I thought of Drive Sure Drive 2 I mean Drive is definitely very I thought of stylized like thriller crime But this is so much better than Drive Yes Oh yeah I like Drive a lot I like Drive 2

[00:22:06] I mean the other one that he Even the font selection is like The other one that Refin always cites is The driver Well that movie The Walter Hill Right on your list I've never seen That movie fucking rules But that's basically like a silent movie Yeah

[00:22:21] Like this has can't con Right Sort of like giving a lot A lot of character to you Whereas like Ryan O'Neill and the driver is like He doesn't say anything But that's also Gosling and Drive The difference is Right that's what I'm saying That one's more

[00:22:35] That all the supporting characters in Drive Talk like Talk like this Of Michael Mann characters Right But they're all a little prettier Yes This is the thing that I find so interesting about man He is so stylized In so many ways But his stylization is so bizarre Right

[00:22:50] That like he is as stylized As Tim Burton In terms of like Totally What his universe is What his aesthetics are The themes of his work The company of actors He uses and all of that But it's also like The other guy I kept on thinking about

[00:23:03] Watching this was Mamet Right Because it's like Chicago set stuff Right And super verbal Like a lot of tough talk But there's something very Like Floury Yeah With Mamet Whereas this dialogue So straight Like it's so stripped Very blunt force It's very blunt force

[00:23:24] And it's a lot of like It's weirdly rhythmic Because they repeat the same words Like a bunch of times in a row It's a bunch of like Short sentence fragments That all have the same word Like pinch Or tight You know And then his look Obviously is like

[00:23:39] I think a lot of his aesthetic Comes by accident Because he likes shooting stuff at night He does It's very hard to shoot night on film Right And he doesn't want it to look over lit So he creates this kind of neon aesthetic of

[00:23:54] What if the green glow at the bar Is so bright That I can light the scene with that Right So you don't get bright white lights That take away the night Yeah It's the reflections It's the street signs Hell yeah You know it's the windows

[00:24:07] It's these sort of It's the reflection Yeah of the On the puddles Yes That sort of stuff It's like how do I get light sources in there And how do I give them a way A lot of puddles Love a pudd

[00:24:18] But he comes so much out of TV And especially in like crime TV Procedurels are so perfunctory at this point Right And the only style that those Procedurels have is Who's the lead guy You know Right Colombo Peter Fox

[00:24:33] Going to bring his own kind of vibe to it You know If it's iron side If it's Perry Mase If it's fucking whoever Right For decades and decades It's like The lead actor kind of sets the tone But you don't have shows that have You know a real

[00:24:45] A look Thracity They don't have a look They don't have a different rhythm Well also as you know You know it's so much about Like we got to make them fast We got to do them Like turn these things out as fast as we can No I think

[00:24:55] There's no time to worry about setting up a shot I think there's one exception to that Have you ever seen any of Johnny Staccato No No I've heard about it Yeah Which is John Casavete What a name Show That's like half crime show Half jazz music

[00:25:09] Yeah that's like The like 59 That's like a long time Right He wanted to be directing his own films Yeah And he needed money Because he would always put his own money Into his movies So he was like I'll take a TV job

[00:25:20] But I'm going to like set out some ground rules So A he was like I'm only in like two thirds of the episodes There's like another character That sometimes alternates with him And he's like B I want a bunch of it to be like Piano playing and stuff

[00:25:31] For years It only ran for one season I've never seen this But it's like a good batch of episodes In that one season I've only seen a handful It rules Sure But I wouldn't be surprised And this is pure conjecture That that was a thing that man saw

[00:25:43] At a young age Yeah Because it feels like That sense of that show Which is also about Kind of like these broken men It's not a copper detective Showing how cool he is Or how clever he is It's not Kojak You know it's not Colombo

[00:25:58] Who loves ya baby Michael Mann Probably does Sure But this is also about the thief Yes Right I mean Isn't it sort of a turn? Thief He's done both sides The key thing for him is He's interested in crime He's interested in structures He's interested in systems

[00:26:14] He likes process He likes professionals And he loves tough decisions I mean that's the thing All his movies are men kind of Stuck Backed into a corner Right How do you act When you're back to a corner Yeah Yeah I mean that's why

[00:26:29] Like we'll get to Ali eventually Oh yeah We'll get to Ali eventually Sure But people I think were confused by them When it came out Because it wasn't a conventional Sports biopic Right And he was like I'm more interested in Ali As like a political figure

[00:26:45] Yeah the tough decision points In his life Right And just for context I should mention to our listeners This whole miniseries is going to be Skins We're shirtless And we will be shirtless Throughout the run What is this bit based on What is this We're men

[00:27:01] Man it's a menly Menly It's a menly manly sort of Menly men Filography Yeah let's play that up As much as possible Michael Alright No no I don't know what's going on Two and a half mans Michael man Michael man You don't have to cut that Michael man

[00:27:17] Keep it in double Was Born in Chicago Triton He was born in Triton Okay He's a Russian Jew Love it Um His parents Esther and Jack Smell the borscht I know his parents Esther and Jack Grocers Oh That's right Uh he went to the university University of Wisconsin

[00:27:40] Uh-huh And then he saw Dr. Strangelove Proper Midwest Boy That's weird I would not expect that That was the movie that Activated Michael Man That's right I think he was basically like The way he talks about it Is like when I saw Strangelove

[00:27:54] I was like oh so you don't have To make a movie for everybody Like you know like Oh interesting Oh you're allowed to make this What did you do Rather than like a big commercial You know what I mean like Wouldn't it be great if Michael Man

[00:28:04] Was like yeah I mean all my Comedies I've made They're all comedies I don't You guys got that right Right Um That was just a bit What is his funniest movie His funniest movie Is it heat? Is it collateral? I think it's collateral

[00:28:20] Yeah I guess like it's a lot of dialogue At least like And it's at least got some odd Couple energy too Yeah Not really a You know his first choice Was for collateral right I mean Tom Cruise But then for the other We've talked about Sandler

[00:28:33] Yeah we've talked about it It was announced as a Sandler movie That's right Yeah That would have been weird Really weird Well James Cahn Sandler's idol Yeah You know And Sandler like Sates this movie a lot Kind of a tough Jewish guy He was like I grew up

[00:28:47] I saw this angry Jewish guy And that's what I wanted to be I always wanted to be James Cahn He tells this story on Conan's podcast Which is very good Not that he needs our fucking plug Um About working with James Cahn On Bullet Proof

[00:29:00] And he went up to him on the Universal lot And he was like Mr. Cahn is like You know my entire life I want to be like you Right And James Cahn says like Bad choice kid Right Is James Cahn basically like Sleaze royalty James Cahn is fascinating

[00:29:13] Cause here's the movie We've never talked about before Ben's pointing to his head He's very proud that his brain Came up with that Yeah Oh I remembered it That was what You said that to me earlier And I was like You gotta say that on the pod

[00:29:24] Here's the thing that I think is very interesting About James Cahn James Cahn's father Hey I like that Slicer meat Yeah Slicer meat And he went to Hofstra But he dropped out Cause he fell in love with acting But he was there with Coppola Right there are both

[00:29:41] Went to Hofstra with Coppola And Laney Cazan And Laney Cazan Whoa The wrecking crew It's really crazy He's from Sunnyside Yeah Um And he's a German Jew He is a German Jew Right He's parents were immigrants Right Um And he's from Palestine The thing I was gonna say

[00:29:59] That's interesting about James Cahn And his persona is well established At this point And this is in fact 1981 He takes a five year break From acting pretty shortly after this This movie I think really wiped him out Yeah he takes like a

[00:30:12] He doesn't make a film from 82 to 87 That's right Right And it's Coppola's the one Who brings him back Coppola brings him back For Gardens of Stone Yeah And it was a big deal That like Five years later He was like I thought I was a big movie star

[00:30:27] I have no mind to last me He realizes he's broke Right That's what happens Right Then he's literally living Like hand to mouth I think he's had two divorces At this point He's become addicted to cocaine Kicked the cocaine habit Wait in the 1980s Yes

[00:30:40] He became addicted to cocaine Weirdly In Hollywood Was he like a set of runaway train? Sorry Go ahead Yeah Talk about a runaway train Yeah Um But he His last movie in 1982 He walked off the set And they had to replace him With my son

[00:30:55] And they had to replace him With Michael Cain I'm forgetting It's a thriller His last Like What do you mean? His last film before He went into his self-imposed Exile Oh, I don't know 1982 Alright Let me look it up Let's see Michael Cain replaced him

[00:31:11] So then he had like Burned all his bridges in Hollywood The Holcroft Covenant Thank you Doesn't sound like A barnstormer That one Right So box office $393,000 Coppola brings him back For Gardens of Stone Sure And he's also the fourth The salary he got Five years earlier Right

[00:31:28] And they make him Put up his own bond For the insurance policy Because they're afraid He's gonna walk off the set Again Wow And then he kind of Rebuilds himself In the early 90s Yeah Late 80s, early 90s Misery, I feel like Is the big one

[00:31:42] That gets him sort of Which he said He fought really hard For that part Right And no one Wants to take it Because Because you lie in a bed All day That was his thing Yeah And then he has kind of Like a crazy 90s Sure

[00:31:57] Into the 2000s And then his career is Like Las Vegas Yeah Wasn't he in The early Star Trek movies? No He's not in a track He was like the villain I thought No Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Oh my God Oh my God What are you even

[00:32:23] I'm not even A horrible thing to happen I'm not even A horrible thing to happen What do you do In a way Of a thing like that I don't know What do you do Call the police Call the police Yeah Alright So just the icon

[00:32:41] He's in some movies Like rabbit running stuff The rain people But there are two things I want to say about him The godfather launches him And then in the 70s He was in the godfather? Yeah He got an Oscar nomination In the 70s He did like the gambler

[00:32:53] He did Freebie and the Bean He did Funny Lady He did Roller Ball He did a lot of good movies He has a big run And he's You know an angry man And here are the two things He's got a lot of Yeah a lot of

[00:33:03] Fuck you energy Right Right Sort of a simmering guy Yeah so here are the two things I want to say about Con That make him interesting as a movie star One He was one of the early guys Who was like I fucking hate this whole racket Yeah sure

[00:33:15] Right Like acting for flowers It's all horse shit I'm out of here Right I guess but he also like Studied with Sanford Meisner Like And Scott Con his son Of course Daniel on Hawaii 5-0 We all love him In interviews always says like He always books him

[00:33:30] He's like my dad always like Does that thing But he fucking loves acting Of course he loves it He dropped out of a He was probably in like Butcher school at Hofstra He was in the butchery department Or something And he fell in love with acting

[00:33:41] Right and he was You know like Why just like doing the improv Cause I was an angry guy I could yell people And all the improvs Always ended in violence Yeah he says that That's the key thing about James Con though Which I think is really interesting

[00:33:52] So he's the annoying guy At the improv class Who's like this is a stick up Yeah You're dead Yeah I killed you You're fucking dead Why now Yeah It is important to say James Con never made Harold Knight Never even made a Lloyd team

[00:34:08] But what I was going to say More importantly is I think his key movie star Trey Benz given a thumbs up This episode is a disaster No it's not I think the key movie star Trey for James Con Is self destruction You want me to Self sabotaging

[00:34:23] You know what I'm saying He's this guy Who can't keep it together Of course I mean of course that is Sunny Corleone's thing But that's the gambler That's this character It's these guys where It's like whether they're On the right side of the law Or not

[00:34:35] There's a pathway for them And they don't make it easy For themselves And that feels like He says thief is his favorite movie Along with the Godfather Thief the Godfather Two best movies he ever did But don't you think Like that combined With the man thing

[00:34:46] Is like this is starting To be the prototype for like 25 years down the line Like Sopranos and Breaking Bad And all these shows About these tough men With a weird element of sensitivity Who keep on getting themselves Deeper and deeper and deeper My favorite thing about thief

[00:34:59] Is that it's not about a heist That goes wrong Nothing goes wrong He's a professional Like that's it And then the guy is like Alright In return for your good work I'm ready to offer you A lucrative job And he's like Hey fuck you

[00:35:14] I don't work for anybody And you're like Jimmy But that's the man thing This guy bought you a baby That's the man thing That becomes the cornerstone Of prestige TV drama is He has like a tree on his shoulder Not a chip Right here are men

[00:35:29] Who are incredibly good at their jobs And find a way to continually Fuck themselves up And get themselves deeper and deeper But you know he's Well we'll get to He's a little different Incredibly good at very specific jobs I know I know But he doesn't want

[00:35:42] To fuck himself up And it's the interiority Of their emotional lives Yeah yeah yeah But the Chicago outfit Is so infamous for being So corrupt and so Like involved in all aspects Of racket in Chicago And I really like Cause I wasn't at first

[00:35:57] I was also too like Damn just take the job man But you realize He doesn't want to do it You kind of realize though That the cops are in on it And it's all this kind of loop And he's getting screwed over Well that's the other thing

[00:36:10] Is he makes these Crime movies That are not What's the word I'm looking for They're stylish Sure But they're also like Really kind of like Violent I'm not even talking about The violence themselves But violent in their language In their energy Like their blunt Yeah yeah

[00:36:34] But they're not lurid I guess is what you're saying No and they're not like pulpy Yeah right Like he's into doing Like really hard What it takes on pulpy material But he's like Before we get off-con I want to read you this from his wick

[00:36:49] Because you're talking about self-destructive The amount of things he says he's turned down Yes Turned down the French connection Turned down one flu over the Cougars now Close encounter Kramer vs Kramer Quote It was middle class Borgwa Bologna Oh I thought it was Bologna Bologna is even funnier

[00:37:06] You're right Apocalypse now Because Coppola was like 16 weeks in the jungle And he was like No thank you Yeah Blade Runner Love Story Superman I didn't want to wear the cape Yeah I want to wear that fucking cape Like I feel like Kahn is this guy

[00:37:23] Where it's like a producer comes Who's like Great news They want you for Superman You're gonna be Superman You're gonna fly in the air And he's like Fuck you I don't work for anybody Well like You've seen The Gambler A great film written by Horrible sex criminal

[00:37:37] No I've seen The Gambler A great film starring Mark Wahlberg Thank you very much Okay The original Gambler Is like the key to this Like James Cahn thing Because he's playing Like a sort of wealthy blue blood Like Connecticut kid Right Who is also an intellectual Right

[00:37:55] And an English professor at Columbia Who goes out every night And tries to ruin his life Right Exactly He is just He cannot help himself It is a great portrayal of compulsion Right And it's like Even when he like Somehow wins big He finds a way to like

[00:38:10] Fuck it up for himself again And the movie ends with him Evening out And then going to a bar And like daring a guy to stab him Right And then he looks in the mirror And smiles As his sliced face Like he just like He doesn't feel comfortable

[00:38:22] Being even The guy needs to To sink himself lower Somehow one way or another But Michael Mann Before we lose that track And then we can talk about A lot of things The fact that he's doing TV movies Is so bizarre because That's like a medium

[00:38:35] Where it's just like Just tell the story Just get it out Just do it cleanly Which is the opposite Of what Mann does Where he's like He's gonna live in these corners Yes, yes And it's like Just make like clean dialogue That people can follow

[00:38:48] Even if they're folding their laundry While they're watching the movie And like Michael Mann movies don't work that way You gotta watch them with full attention That is true Cause if you watch a Michael Mann movie While you're like Doing your taxes Or you know Checking your phone

[00:39:01] Or whatever the fuck Yeah You're just gonna come away Like I don't know I guess he like Robbed a place And then he Shot someone Like I don't know It seems like nothing Right, right Then it's like you can't just go Like okay I got it

[00:39:14] He's not the job And also you look up And you're like It's a guy with male pattern baldness You look down And you're like Is that the same guy? I can't remember It's like It's like just got a bunch of guys In like slacks Yeah Like you know

[00:39:27] The whole mob in this Right Like You know What says ten years It's nine years after the godfather Right And like you know The mob there is so romantic And there's like curling Scar smoke And it's You know this The mob is like

[00:39:41] You know it's like a guy in an office Who's like Get off my ass You know like You might as well have gone to the DMV I've definitely said this before In the podcast Because this is one of my favorite lines ever But Pat Nozl was talking about

[00:39:51] Why he loves the original Taking a Pelham 1, 2, 3 Which is one of my favorite movies Right And he was like In the remake It's like Denzel Washington And it like tells you How different our idea Of a movie star has become Because in the 70s You go like

[00:40:04] There's a horrible criminal He's holding the train hostage There's only one man Who can stop him And the camera whip pans over And his description is It's Walter Matthow Looking hungover In a cheap suit Eating a stale hot dog Yes Yes Wearing like a raincoat And like

[00:40:21] A hard old long He's wearing some plaid hats Right Right But eating a stale hot dog He has like a yellow shirt Yeah, no I know Right Yeah He looks like a cup of coffee I don't know what to get Right That you threw on the track

[00:40:34] That's the weird like Contradiction With man is that like His films like Don't have that romanticism But they still end up being Really sexy Sure You know Like he's not going for The Pulp Drills They are very sexy This is a very sexy movie

[00:40:48] It's a very sexy movie But it's a sexy movie And right it's like a guy Who can like You know sort of Precisely drill a hole Right And like you can kind Of see him work the Right The crank You know And like you're kind

[00:41:01] Of like look at this guy So good it is What he's doing But who's the other actor Yes Who is another Entirely self-sabotaging And self-destructive person Right She's a strange guy Was like a child model At like six And then by ten Was like getting dead

[00:41:15] Drunken bars in New York City You're right She is kind of The archetype of the like Child star You know Gone wrong And was like Fuck it I don't care It was like very open About like this whole Industry is full of Scumbags

[00:41:28] I fucking hate all of you And she has another list Of like turning down Every fucking big movie Yeah Like she turned down I mean there's a quote In her r&b where she's like I would turn down anything That felt like it was going

[00:41:38] To be a hit I read the Bonnie and Clyde script And I said this is going To be a hit I don't want to be anywhere near it Jesus Is that true Like she's this amazing cold Figure Like Michael Mann found these People who like Walked the walk

[00:41:50] This is crazy I'm sure you read this What She was Stanley Kubrick's First choice to play Lolita Yeah And she said I didn't have to play I already was Lolita Yeah Like Jesus Tuesday On 12 I was dating 45 year old man Right she's having like Affairs with married men

[00:42:06] Like on set Right What a person The first time she tried to commit Suicide was when she was 12 years old Because she had fallen in love With a gay man In his 30s And she couldn't get over it Right Bob and Carol and Fred And Sue or whatever

[00:42:19] It was called Reaked of success She said True grit she turned down Sure Like all these performances Where teenagers got Academy award nominations And she was like Go fuck yourself Suck a lemon Right But she was in The bar Which is a few years before

[00:42:34] Got Ask in Our Nation Yeah Which is a very dark movie Yeah Especially for that era And Shortly after this I guess she's kind of Rebuilding her career right now Shortly after this She kind of stops doing movies And mostly does TV movies Yeah She's in

[00:42:48] Once upon a time in America That's the only other thing I can think of her In like the 80s And there's She's a big 90s movie I'm forgetting Let's find out She's in a big 90s movie She's in Falling down Yeah that was it The Two Mocker joints

[00:43:02] Yeah an interesting movie Apparently she's also In Fuelling Minnesota Which I've seen But I don't remember It's also a great name But I like the idea Tuesday Weld for sure Michael Mann found these actors Who have the same sort of like Impulses You know I do

[00:43:18] I do know Like look at this cast You got like Fucking actual Like former criminals And former cops 100% And two Some of the criminals play cops Some of the cops play criminals Right Totally self destructive Addictive actors And Willie Nelson Who like never met a tax bill

[00:43:36] He couldn't pay Right Isn't that Willie Nelson's whole thing Where he's like Doing albums about all the Affairs he had Yeah And then they're like It's time to pay your taxes You made a four million dollars He's like No I didn't You're lying

[00:43:52] I didn't make four million dollars And everyone's like Oh Willie Nelson He's like a sweet guy Who gets high right And he's like I've just been so So You know It was one of the six Two where he like Shaved his beard On television

[00:44:06] For like half a million Dollars Cause he had to get himself Out of a legal hole That's a true thing No it is In like the late 90s Shaving my beard Yeah the IRS Seized his assets in 1990 Claiming he owed them 32 million dollars Which is a lot

[00:44:21] Of dollars No I only have 32 dollars Oh my god I mean, what a weird casting choice for this movie. He released an album called the IRS tapes, which literally was like, this will go to the IRS, like all profits to the IRS.

[00:44:41] That was the way he got himself out of the legal hall, was IRS was like, you get us one album. You're signing a recording deal with the IRS and it's not IRS records, the good thing that R.E.M did or whatever. It's the internal revenue service.

[00:44:58] You got a one album deal, 15 city promotional tour. We're giving you 50 bucks to record it because this thing better go in the black. Oh yeah, it's a one taker. Here's a guitar, go. We get merchandise sales, we get touring.

[00:45:13] Yeah exactly, you're going to Red Rocks for two weeks. Oh boy. Didn't pay him my bills. Anyway, right? Yes, Willie Nelson. Thief. Ebert's review is very strong, right? Yeah, he gives him like three and a half and he really likes Willie Nelson.

[00:45:36] I think it's a very good phone. Yeah, it's weird. Isn't Ebert's problem, he's like not enough Willie Nelson? That's exactly what he says. He's like, he's so good, I want more. Michael Mann, just to give you the end of him, he's the son of two grocers.

[00:45:50] I already told you that. He's a grocer son. Go buy yourself a fucking apple. He's so grocery. He was ahead of cabbage. Told him I said fuck you. He went to London. What? To study graduate film, you know, he went to the University of London.

[00:46:08] I've never got a school in London. Any school, primary school. I went to primary school in London. What? I went to secondary school in London. I went to Newcastle University. Getting fucking smart with me. I'll pinch you. And he would make commercials.

[00:46:26] Some of his friends from London, Ridley Scott, who he recently interviewed on the DJ podcast in a, I don't know, an interview I can only describe as incomprehensible. Yeah, they've had him moderate. An interview I can only describe is all grumbles.

[00:46:43] For those of you who have never listened to his DJ podcast, it rules. It's great. It's them recording Q&As after DJ's screenings where one director interviews the director who made the film. And there's usually some history between them, thematic link between their works, whatever it is.

[00:46:56] Michael Mann does it a lot. And he always goes like, so here's my question for you. When I was making the heat, I studied bank robbers for about 18 months. And there was a guy I met and he got real calloused hands.

[00:47:08] And he would always tell me that the key to being a good bank robber was breaking your hands down before you even start working. And then I watched in this film, of course, Dr. Strange, that he's got broken hands. So I don't really have a question.

[00:47:25] I guess I was just right. That's all of his questions are like, he goes on a long ramble and he's like, I don't know. I guess that was just something I appreciated. Ridley Scott is like, did you have a question for me?

[00:47:35] And Michael Mann is like, rich people are fucking disgusting. Another thing I love Michael Mann when he had to do his sight and sound top 10 list. Do you know this? No, I can look it up though. One of his 10 top 10 films of all time.

[00:47:49] One of his 10 and far and away the most recent of the 10. The goofing movie. Avatar. Really? Michael Mann loves Avatar. I love the Navi. I can't watch that shit without crying. Truly he's like, I just, I got stunned watching that fucking thing.

[00:48:03] I don't know how you made that. Here are his 10. No, another one of them is so wild. Oh my God. Really? Okay, give me the 10. I'm going to give you the 10 in obviousness order. Okay, ending with the wildest. Okay. Apocalypse now. Obvious. Battleship Potemkin. Of course. Citizen Kane.

[00:48:19] Doctor Strange. Why not? Passion of Joan of Arc. Reasonable. Raging Bull. Obvious, yeah. The Wild Munch. Of course. Yeah. Nice. Avatar. My Darling Clementine. Okay. Great movie. Great Western. Maybe not everyone's favorite. Yeah. John Ford movie. Avatar. Beautiful by Alejandro Gonzalez. Wow. That's right.

[00:48:42] Let's see what he says about it. Whoa. Which is not a movie I love. Gotta be honest. I've never seen it, but I don't like that guy's movies. The profound struggle through the lower depths of Barcelona street life of a human soul.

[00:48:59] Beautiful is resplendent with grace, pathos and love. Pure poetry. What do you say about Avatar? Let's talk Tar. Yeah, he's talking Tar right now. Let's see. Upon the foundation of an entirely invented bio system, Avatar is a brilliant synthesis

[00:49:15] of mythic tropes with debts to Levi Strauss and Frazier's the Golden Bow. It soars because simply it stones and transports you. What a great little thing. That is love that beautiful. All of these are good. Yeah. I mean you should go check out his list. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:36] He likes movies. It's surprising that he comes from the commercial world though because all those other guys are like primarily like very kinetic visual style. So people always name me, I really Scott, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne. Right.

[00:49:51] He shoots some footage of the visual artists Paris, then become filmmakers. Yeah, exactly. All of those dudes. Yeah. Which got which aired in the news. Yeah. He divorces his first wife in 71. Okay. Got started early. Yeah. At the age of 14. He looked probably like 28, 29. Yeah.

[00:50:11] Hawaii 5-0 guy Robert Lewin is like come on me Michael. I'll show you how to make a TV show. Right. He teaches him how to make a TV show. So Michael Mann writes some Starsky and Hutch's. Yeah. Crazy.

[00:50:24] I mean these things that are so rigid in their formula. He created a show called Vegas with a dollar sign. You know, which he worked on police story, which was more realistic, which is seen as sort of like an early good noir TV show. Like that.

[00:50:39] And then he makes this TV movie the Jericho mile, which is a big deal. The wins awards prison. You're saluting prison. I don't know what I'm doing. But then that gets him the runway to make a feature. That gets him thief. Yes.

[00:50:54] That's impressive enough that he gets 5.5 million bucks to make thief. Right. And then what's weird is he comes back around to TV. Sure. He sort of changes the landscape a little. Right. Because thief doesn't do that great. We'll cover this one when we get to it.

[00:51:08] But like he changes TV a little bit. Sure. Then goes back to features. And then 20 years later, like the seeds he planted in television have sort of blossomed into the entirety of prestige drama. Right. Should we do the Miami Vice pilot as like a bonus? Maybe we should.

[00:51:24] You know, even though he didn't direct it, but like we like to do that. He didn't direct the pilot? No. Interesting. Don't think so. Maybe we do some bonuses for it. Because there's also, I mean there's Jericho Milo and there's LA Takedown. LA Takedown.

[00:51:35] But LA Takedown as far as I am told is fairly boring. Interesting. Like if you've seen heat. Right. Because you're kind of like, oh this is heat. Right. But Robert De Niro and Pacino aren't in it? Right. It's more like Luke Warm. Yeah.

[00:51:48] That's the old man in the gun. Warm. Warm? You know, because it's like the old man in the gun is like heat. Except warm. Right. It's like a little chill. It's a little chill. Charming movie. Okay. So Thief. Yes.

[00:52:02] He gets James Cohn, he pulls him out of the drunk tank. Yes he does. Right? He pulls Tuesday Weld out of a knife fight at a bar. Uh-huh. That's right. Script written solely by him? Oh yeah.

[00:52:13] It's based on a, trying to tell if it's a novel or a nonfiction. It was based on a like confessional novel written by a Jewel thief. Oh. Called The Home Invaders. It's one of the consultants on the film. Okay. Called John Sable.

[00:52:30] And yeah, he was an outstanding FBI warrant. Yeah, he had FBI warrant. While he was on set. Yeah. Yeah. He was jailed later. He went to jail in 95. I love that fact. Yeah. That's a good fact.

[00:52:42] Now a lot of the guys like who come out of TV, right? TV, ay. Right. Get the fuck out of here. Someone like Sidney Lumet you're like, I can see. Hey, why don't you come the fuck out of here?

[00:52:51] Yeah, why don't you come the fuck out of here? And then like Sidney Lumet you totally see his origins in TV. Because you're like this is a pragmatic filmmaker. Very much. This is a guy who adapts to the style of the material. Actor focus, right. Yeah, bit chameleon-y.

[00:53:04] Right. And he's very practical in his sort of process and how he approaches coverage and all of that. Right. Michael Mann it's like a TV guy and then like here's a feature and he's like, cool, let me just stretch out quickly. You know?

[00:53:16] Like this is like the kind of thing that's so unlike how any cream TV crime TV show Jesus Christ. Cream TV. It is. Although it's not a very creamy movie. It's not a very creamy movie.

[00:53:26] Yeah, this is also just a movie where like TV is noted to death and the TV, you know, so many people are looking at everything. Did no one say anything? Yeah. How was he allowed to do this? Very bizarre.

[00:53:39] I guess the answer is like Khan's still pretty big at this point. Yeah, and the budget's like not that high. Right. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. It's just kind of wild that no one was like, hey, could you explain things a little more?

[00:53:51] You know what I mean? Like it just feels like a movie where a studio be like, this is too fucking obscure. It does also feel though for a long time and maybe this is sort of starting to become the end of it. Right.

[00:54:01] But for a long time in Hollywood, if you have like an OK real, right? If you had made a good TV movie, you had done some short films, whatever it was, right? And they were like, OK, this person knows where to put the camera. Right.

[00:54:15] And then you give them a script with a gun in it. They'd be like, here's four million. They'd like give you a shot. You know? Sure. Like even like Cassavetes talks about that where he was just like, I need to make a movie that made money.

[00:54:26] So I wrote Gloria because the character has a gun in it. Sure. And you watch Gloria and you're like, they gave him money to make this. And he's like, yeah, I had like a car chase and a gun in it.

[00:54:35] And it's like the most lethargic car chase of all time. But there was that kind of thing where it's like, even if you seemed uncommercial or the idea was uncommercial, they were like, if you have a movie star. Yeah, you could scrape together some cash.

[00:54:48] And the movie starts holding a gun on the poster. Right. We can we can make it work. And I mean, the poster of Thief is this very cool silhouette. You saw the poster, right? Of his of him over like the sparks flying.

[00:55:00] But it looks like a black light poster. It does. But there's also that poster of him pointing the gun that I feel like is all over the place. It looks very contemporary. It does. Well, this movie feels very contemporary.

[00:55:12] Like this feels certainly at least 10 years out of time. I was thinking good time, which I know is like the fluorescent lighting. Very exciting. Sadi-ish kind of urban sort of like pocket of like crime and some culture.

[00:55:26] The other thing I kept thinking watching this movie is like, oh man, I can't wait to watch that. That's Safdie Brothers Diamond movie. 100%. Right. And obviously I want to live in this milieu. I want to see a new movie like this to see more of their stuff.

[00:55:39] You know about their new movie. No, I don't. Oh, you don't? It's a diamond district movie with Adam Sandler. Whoa. Yeah. And it's going to roll in. And it's a trugal what Adam Sandler looks like in the movie for Ben.

[00:55:49] Ben needs to see this and he used to react to this live on mic. Oh boy. Ben just don't have any orgasms. Because Pauperazzi took photos of Adam Sandler and they were like, oh, is he having a midlife crisis? And they're like, no, he's fucking in the pocket.

[00:56:01] Oh boy. Adam Sandler is unrecognizable as slick New Yorker chasing ladies in cocktail dresses. Whoa. Right? There he is. Hucked in with a Gucci belt. Like, I'm scared. Oh my God. Ah, yes. Him yelling. That is so cool.

[00:56:20] That's why I'm hoping that's going to be his James Cahn performance. We could get them on the pod. I know that. The Safties? Yeah. We should do that. I'll ask them. Yeah. I mean, that's a promise I'm making that I may not be able to bring to first.

[00:56:32] Don't catch a fucking promise. Yeah, I can't. Whatever. You know, you think they'll want to talk Miyazaki? What? We already announced it. Oh, right. We can do it. We're allowed. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Also in that movie, Leakeith Stanfield. Hello. Yeah.

[00:56:48] Jonah Hill was going to be in a bit. He was going to be the lead. Sandler replaced him. Which that character is even more interesting as an older guy. I agree. As far as I know, at least the old premise of it was like a

[00:56:56] Jewel, a diamond guy lends a really good diamond to a basketball player because he's like, I want some, you know, something where we're something really good tonight and then it like gets lost or there's some kind of like he's like chasing the diamond through the city. Yeah.

[00:57:12] I mean, let's go through it. So the opening of the movie is very much like what Refin is pulling from and drive, right? This opening like wordless sort of just tangerine dream, pulsating score, dark streets, hard turns. And Willie Nelson. And Willie Nelson.

[00:57:31] I think I wrote, you know, cracking the save. Starting off right, Wet and Shady. Wet and Shady. Wet and Shady. And we got someone else in this cast. Uh, Prosky Nelson, Farina. Excuse me. Someone else is that thing credit Belushi. Oh my God.

[00:57:47] Belushi who somehow has less hair than ever in this one. Did he get it back? I don't know. Yeah. I don't know who he had to kill. He's got a weird bouffant going on. Belushi with a shirtless scene. A shirtless beach scene.

[00:57:58] That's what Michael Mann will give you. Who's the female lead Tuesday? Well, they dragged her out of a heroin clinic. Okay. Well, is there like, you know, someone can like wear a bikini? Belushi, put this on. I use, I use imagine it's like, so Michael,

[00:58:11] we're giving you $6 million. Let's go over the list of things we need. Big start. Yeah. I got a big stock guns crime. Got that. We need a topless scene. We need some primo tits in this movie. And he's like, so just all you're asking for is someone topless.

[00:58:24] No further questions. Cool. Jim, take it off. Oh boy. Willie and Peterson is in this movie. Billy Peterson. Yeah. He's a bartender. I'm trying to remember who showed up in the uncreds where I was like, oh, that was them in an early almost unrecognizable role.

[00:58:41] But the Belushi, this is his first movie. Belushi. Belushi's coming out second city of Chicago theater scene. He does this movie before he does two seasons on Saturday Night Live. Right. That's crazy. I was trying to find out what his parents did. They were Albanians. Yeah.

[00:58:59] But I don't know if they were like grossers or butchers. You know, they definitely are from Chicago. No question. But I think it's that there are people who are meat people. They're in meat. Right. But it's kind of interesting that you're like, oh,

[00:59:11] here's John Belushi's younger brother, right? Has Belushi not died yet at this point? I wouldn't have thought so. Belushi died in 82. Wow. Very soon after. Very soon after. So at this point, there isn't that like, fuck, we need someone to replace John Belushi. Right.

[00:59:27] And it's like, look, here's just John Belushi's little brother. He's a pretty good character actor. Yeah. Like putting him in SNL was a disservice to him. He couldn't handle that. Right. And he wasn't very good. And making him like a leading man.

[00:59:39] Making him a leading man who has to like, you know, you know, cross his arms and like go back to back with someone on a poster. He's good as like a little color on the side. Can I? Right. The dog crossing its arm.

[00:59:52] The dog, I guess, has its paw on Belushi. Right. It's just interesting because he's so good in this. Then he largely sucks for the next 10 years with occasional bright spots. Right. And I feel like recently he's moved into a really good

[01:00:06] zone where it's just like, you know, like him and like show me a hero. Oh great. Oh, so good in that. James watched show me a hero and was like, there's this guy in it. And I'm watching it.

[01:00:16] I'm going like, who is this actor they found who looks so much like Jim Belushi? Because he couldn't believe that Jim Belushi was giving that good a performance. That's yeah. No, I mean, that's the thing. Yeah. He's actually kind of unrecognizable in show me. He's like fatter.

[01:00:30] Like he, he looks great. In the Ghostwriter, he's totally bald. He's got like Daddy Warbucks head. He's not bad in that. He's not bad in that. Yeah. He was in that show The Defenders with Jerry O'Connell. Right. He's apparently he's in, oh, he was in Twin Peaks.

[01:00:46] He was in Twin Peaks. Which he was so good in. Right. Like he's a good character actor. He played a character called Humpty in Wonder Wheel. Right. He's good at playing like, like pills. Yeah. Like assholes, sticks in the mud. You know? Fat cats.

[01:01:02] And like you watch him in this. He's a good fat cat. This is a totally promising like early performance. And then he becomes like the butt of everyone's jokes for a decade. Right. That's like sort of flounders for five years and then does like the worst sitcom ever

[01:01:14] for 28 seasons. Where he's married to Courtney Thornt Smith. Right. Is that about the one? Right. Like the sort of apex of totally unappealing guy has beautiful, incredibly tolerant white sitcoms. And it's like one. Yeah. It's one of those things where you're like,

[01:01:29] you don't think I've never watched a full episode of According to Jim. But I feel like they can't leave the house. Yeah. Like if they open the door, they would just, it would be a void. Exactly. They were just here screaming. Yeah.

[01:01:41] He's like, all right, I got to go to work. And he just walks into the next room and then just stands there. No, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, interesting. Oh, apparently in the show, according to Jim, he's a big fan of the Chicago Cubs.

[01:01:54] Have you seen someone, I think it was like Click Hall, but it was like the top 28 times. I really want to challenge myself in this. Yeah. What was it? Go ahead. I think it was someone did a list of cool that was top 28 times Jim Belushi has performed

[01:02:06] Sweet Home Chicago. And it's like 28 separate YouTube videos of him performing Sweet Home Chicago at different live events. Because that's the other thing. Like he starts to do Blues Brothers with Acroid and everyone's like, we don't want that. Like stop trying to be John Belushi. Exactly. Jim Belushi.

[01:02:23] Right. There's like such a clear line where you're absolutely right. That is that's the advice, right? Jim Belushi and thief. This is good. This is Jim. This is Jim according to Jim. According to David. This is good. Yeah. So they all right,

[01:02:37] they see they do Thieve it right. Do some nighttime. They've got the drill right into a safe. Yes. We just watched Ant-Man, which has a lot of safe work. Yeah. And this makes Ant-Man look like some, you know, baby garbage. This is a different time.

[01:02:51] No, here's how you work a fucking safe. No, I agree. You know, it's like the time like the way. And no point does anyone shrink to Ant-Size, for example, in this movie. And this, for example, in this movie, no, that does not happen.

[01:03:01] But like the tradition of like the brand name of the door. Yes. Oh, I love that. Like, oh, it's a thingy, Majigga. He's like, fuck, is a burn job. You know, and like to me with shady stuff when they like, they are like, Jack, we got a problem.

[01:03:15] Talk about it, you know what I mean? And they like have meetings about it. It's a Walenski Jack. Oh, I love it. They just have brought worse in their shirt. And just the amount of like sparks in this movie. So many sparks. So many sparks.

[01:03:30] He has a meeting at a fucking scrapyard or some shit. Yes. Yeah, he does. The drill they're using is a real piece of thief equipment that one of the thieves on set brought for thieving. Right. Thief. So he gets a bunch of diamonds.

[01:03:46] He gives the diamonds to his fence. Joe Gags. Oh, this guy. This guy. This guy. I mean, talk about various ovals sort of arranged. All these guys, the old guy he sees later. Like all these little one singing like expert guys are just like so such good color.

[01:04:06] He is so good. Who is Joe Gags? Hal Frank. Oh, Hal Frank. He gets murdered offscreen. Joe Gags doesn't make it. Right. So Frank James Khan has to go to the mob and be like, Hey, where's my fucking money? Right. Like that's his move. Right.

[01:04:24] He does this by going there and pointing a gun at the guy and saying, pay me now. We should say where he goes. His office. It's a business that we all know that exists. Plating. And she goes, what are you here for?

[01:04:36] He's like, I got to talk about some fucking plating. Yeah. I got to get some playing dumb. I got so bad plating and I need to talk to somebody. Eat all my farts. Fuck you. Who's basically like, I don't know you fuck you.

[01:04:47] And he points a gun and he's like, I guess I know you. Then the best thing is that he walks out of the office, closes the door behind him and keeps the gun up just to scare everyone else in the office. To scare the door. Yeah.

[01:04:59] A bunch of receptionists. So Prasky. Leo. Leo. Who's in charge of the outfit. He runs this city. He's a fence. He sells all your fancy diamonds, right? He meets with them. He's got aviator glasses, not even sunglasses. Aviator glasses. So good. Prescription aviator.

[01:05:17] Also another little thing in this first robbery. You notice him throwing the jewelry and just going for the packs. Yeah. And that's the start of the specificity of how much of an expert this guy is. God, you love this movie? Love it. Yeah. Because he's a pro.

[01:05:33] He's a professional. He's a pro. He's there to get when he's there to get. Yep. He's not going to get distracted by shit. Have you seen Triple Frontier yet? No. I like it a lot, right? Ma! What a good movie.

[01:05:43] Because that's a movie about you're there to get where you're there to get and then you're like, fuck, there's also this. I want it. You know, what do I do? That and then how that dooms you. It is crazy that that movie came so close to being

[01:05:56] made 10 years ago. The first thing post-Hert Locker with Will Smith, Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp. What a rule. What a rule. Yeah. But this version is great too. I mean, Affleck is just what's the magic of that move? He's owning the sad, right?

[01:06:12] Have I told you my opinion on it? When they offered him the role, he 100% was like, I am insulted but I will accept. You know what I mean? Where he reads the part, he's like, you want me for that guy? Yeah. We want you for that guy.

[01:06:25] Fuck you. All right. Sure. Let's do it. I'll be good at it. It's the same thing as the Jim Belushi thing. All these things we're talking about where we're like, there's so many actors like that where it's just like, there is so many quality to

[01:06:35] them that can ruin 98% of performances. Yeah. But if you cast them properly, it becomes such an asset to you. Like it's such a similar thing with like Affleck in Gone Girl. Were they announced he was doing that? I was like, why is David Fincher making Ben Affleck

[01:06:51] the lead in his movie? And then you see it and you're like, that fucking warminess. Yes. Right. It's that weird thing that insincerity to Ben Affleck where you're like, this guy feels like he's not trying hard enough. Like his smile, I'm like not buying it.

[01:07:04] And in Gone Girl, it's just like such a fucking asset. You know? Like when you watch him as Batman, you're like, this is uncomfortable. If you put in the triple frontier, you're like, well, yeah, the guy's a mess. Exactly.

[01:07:15] Triple frontier is about a guy who was good and now can barely flip a house in like suburban Miami or whatever. Right. He shouldn't be Batman. Right. Like Batman should have his shit together. Right. I guess he could be Batman who can't flip a house. Right.

[01:07:30] But like, I don't know if that's going to open your movie like, you know, 285. It could be a Batman the Vapes. You could be Batman the Vapes, but it also feels like... Instead he's a Batman that vapes when they call cut. Right.

[01:07:41] I mean, like that's sort of the vibe with that performance. Right. But it was like, oh, this is like a badass Batman whose face also weighs 45 pounds. I mean, man and... This guy is depressed. Man and Afflux. Man and Afflux at all. Get Man and Afflux together.

[01:07:55] If man's going to make another movie. Yeah, about a weasel. Yeah, the weasel. The weasel. Weasel. Weasel. Anyway, Proski's like, I'll hire you. You make you lots of money. God, and such good dialogue. This scene is so good. It's all good dialogue. It's just like jewel cut.

[01:08:12] And I just love all of Khan being like, okay, well, I only do this and you know, I'm not going to do that. Yeah. Right. And you're going to pay me then Proski's like, fine. He's not going to do home stuff. Right. He's not going to like burglarize,

[01:08:28] you know, residential. Like he's very specific. So much of like the stylization of his dialogue is taking out filler words. I mean, using all this lingo. The lingo of like words we all know, but you haven't heard them applied and things like this.

[01:08:41] And just like Proski like pointing at like James Khan saying like, you got pressure. You know? And you're just like, why is that so cool? Well, so he meets Proski that character. He meets Proski, but he's kind of like, I'm going to do one big job for you.

[01:08:56] You get me a big score. Right. And now it'll be that. Proski's like the industry. And he's like, look, there are a lot of benefits to working for me, mental, dental. Right. Yeah. Because Khan, all the stuff he's been stealing. Right. Just to buy you a baby.

[01:09:10] It ends up with Proski. Right. He knows like that it's being channeled. Proski's like, let's cut the middle man. Anyway, he's like, right, I sell your shit. I'll sign you. Classic 10% agent commission. Right. But then and Frank's like, I don't know. Right.

[01:09:25] You know, I'm not sure about this. Well, because there's the other thing that's gone on, which is when he goes out for lunch. Yeah. With the Eggman earlier in the film. It's at his usual diner he goes to where Tuesday well works the desk.

[01:09:36] And he asked her like, hey, we're going to go out tonight. Right. Like they have an ongoing thing going on. But it's just a thing. He's made the plans with her and now he's having the Protski meeting. Right. So when he leaves the Protski meeting, he's been standing

[01:09:47] for up for two hours straight at a jazz club. She's not having it. She doesn't like it. Yeah. Oh, well that's his club. It is his club. Now I just wanted to ask something because I wonder about if you guys picked up on this.

[01:09:59] Do you know why he has the two businesses that he has? It's where he like cleans his money. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure your crime boys. Yeah. Well, I mean, let's not indict us here. But yeah. So he also, he has this big scene with Tuesday.

[01:10:16] He has this big series of scenes with her, right? Right. Which is sort of his like, maybe I want to settle down. Maybe you know. Because he's already gone to see Willie Nelson at this time. He's gone to see Willie Nelson.

[01:10:26] They've had a conversation inches from each other's face through a prison window. Willie Nelson is doing this really, his eyes keep on like darting back and forth. Do you know all of his eyes? They're so good. Yes. And they're very like, they're very black. Right.

[01:10:42] And at first I was like, is he reading off of cue cards? Maybe. Like it was so specific what he was doing, but then the West, the performance, it doesn't feel like that. It feels like it's this very interesting whether he was conscious of doing this or not.

[01:10:55] It's a really interesting way to show someone's like vulnerability in a scene where they're trying to act calm because this whole thing is being like friendly and light. I'm like, I'm doing okay, but you can tell the guy's miserable. And he's like having a nervous breakdown. Right.

[01:11:10] And he's got a terminal illness and he doesn't want to die inside. Yeah. All he wants to do is get out. That's the thing. He knows he's dead. Right. But if he could only just die like out of prison. But James Cohn starts telling him about Tuesday.

[01:11:22] Well, because he got the sense that James Cohn's got no one else to talk to. Right. His only friend who we can actually talk to is in prison. So when he goes to see me is like, let me tell you about this girl I'm seeing.

[01:11:32] He has no life outside of his profession. He's got no life. But it makes it clear he's saying to Willie Nelson, he's like, I need your advice on this. Do I tell her or not? Right. Right. Because Willie Nelson asked him about his wife. That's the thing.

[01:11:45] He goes, how's your marriage going? He's like, it's done. And he goes, why is it done? And he goes, she was getting suspicious of everything. She didn't figure it out. She didn't think he was. She thought he was having an affair. Yeah, that's it.

[01:11:54] She was like, I could see you were hiding something. She thought I was having an affair and I thought it was better to just accept that than correct her. Right. So he lets her get away.

[01:12:00] And he's got this sense of like maybe I should start the next relationship on a right foot. Yeah. So he shows up late to this Tuesday while thing. She's mad. She's mad. Guys are trying to break them up thinking that he's given her the business. He's a jerk.

[01:12:12] Yes. But he flashes the pen. He is being a jerk. He is being a jerk. Sure. You know, this is a different time. Right. And also he's just a jerk. He's a jerk. Like he's the kind of guy who like snaps his fingers at a waiter, you know,

[01:12:25] like he's too much all business. You know the original title of this film? Oh, I do. What the fuck is it? The jerk. The original title of this film was violent streets. Bad title. I know. You know what's a good title? Thief. Thief. A pincher.

[01:12:41] But then this great scene where he's in the car with her. When he says I'll pinch it, he's just going to pinch him. Pinch is so good. It really is. The first time they said it, I was like, oh, I like it when they say pinch. Right.

[01:12:53] And then I was so satisfied that they say it 45 more times. Right. Exactly. Man was like, oh, you like that, huh? Right. Like his movies established their own vocabulary. Yeah. They have this street dictionary that they're using. They always do.

[01:13:06] And I mean, that's the thing that he really goes all in on in some movies where people are like, excuse me, can I, can someone just tell me what's going on? Yeah. Like, I mean, that's because that's the Miami Vice thing where the first

[01:13:15] 20 minutes, no one says a word anyone can understand. Yes. It's all like your op sec is blown, you know, all that stuff. Right, in that minute 21 he says I'm a fiend from Ojitas. Hell yeah. And then we're all like back on board, baby. Yeah.

[01:13:26] But I love this in the car where he's like, fuck, am I going to have to do this? Right. Like, I want her to put it together and he runs down that whole thing. Yeah. Don't you know who I am right now.

[01:13:39] Look at my clothes, this and that. But it's also cathartic for him. Right. He's like, I'm a fiend. Look, I'm saying it. Exactly. I'm like, I'm a woman for the first time in his life.

[01:13:48] So then they have the great scene at the diner and he talks about how he learns to just not care anymore and how he just became invincible. That he's just a man. Great story. Who gives no fucks.

[01:13:57] That whole story though and like that is such a guy thing too. It's magic. Of like your war story kind of moment, you know? I loved it. Well, and this is such a classic like acting class monologue, right?

[01:14:11] Especially for anyone who wants to be like a tough guy or a broken guy, right? Right. Two things. One pitfall is oversell it. You sell it like it is a dramatic monologue, right? The other pitfall is you want to make it so offhand that it feels completely unspecific.

[01:14:26] Yeah. You need to compel people with this, right? You can't just do it like, yeah, I guess I'm a thief or something. He's doing this magic trick where it's just like, he's like tossing everything off over his shoulder, but you actually see in his eyes like the experience.

[01:14:39] You see that he's living through the memory and he's making enough weird physical choices with his body language. But he keeps on kind of like scrunching away and like looking over his shoulder and like tossing things off, but it's so compelling because you see the vulnerability

[01:14:53] underneath the story. I am a true blue kind of a guy. Yeah. I've been cool. I've been cool. And he's got that great like pretty subtle scar on his jaw. Right, right, right. Like that's the man thing. Like you don't give him like a Paul Mooney scar.

[01:15:07] You give him like just a little bit of like... You know what else he's got though? What? A vision board. Well, yeah. This is one of the craziest things in the movie. It's like a weird clock. He is like the secret. Right. With like Willie Nelson's on it.

[01:15:20] He's like sitting in the junkyard. He's such a weirdo. In his car shop where Del Close is one of the mechanics. Really? Yes. In Chicago. Who by the way was never on a Herald team. But I taught the Herald. Never on a team. Never on a team.

[01:15:35] Made the teams. Never was on them. He sits down on like I don't know like a fucking milk crate or something. Opens up his wallet and I was like this is the most man thing in any movie ever.

[01:15:49] It's just a man sitting down on garbage looking at his wallet. He just takes out. He has 300 credit cards. Yeah, the most generic brown bifold wallet. He's got 27 credit cards on each side. Right. He has 6000 in cash. And then he unfolds a fucking vision board collage. That's crazy.

[01:16:10] I mean that is my life right here. It's such a man thing of like these men. Right. I got a picture of my wall of what I want my life to be. Exactly. Where they're like I have one feeling it's this picture.

[01:16:21] I allow myself one feeling and it is this. It is a dream that I will never achieve. Yeah. Instead I murder. Right. It's like always that. I'm like glue sticks crafting scissors and I made myself my one feeling making a vision.

[01:16:37] She goes what did you cut the newspapers whatever made this collage. It's like a layered Willie Nelson. A picture two kids Willie Nelson as a guy called oklah right. His real name is real names David that is my favorite scene yeah is they want a baby.

[01:16:54] Yeah they go to the adoption agency and James Khan doesn't accredit himself great by being like I'll take whatever garbage you've got. I'll say this the Tuesday world character is kind of underwritten and by kind of underwritten I mean fully underwritten.

[01:17:05] Sure I mean but she brings like everyone's pretty underwritten yes yes. But what's interesting is that once he fesses up to her she's 100% in because they're both broken people. What I don't want to get involved with was the guy who was hiding stuff from her.

[01:17:17] Yes she thought he was cheating on her just like you know going around town you know. Or just that he was emotionally unavailable or any of that right. The second that he was like I'll tell you who I am. She was in South America with him.

[01:17:27] I think she sort of eventually came aware that he was a drug dealer. Sure I think that she my understanding I only saw this once but my take was that when she sort of explains her back story she knew kind of that he was a drug dealer.

[01:17:39] She was like what have I got myself into and then she ended up penniless in Bolivia. Right right fair enough right she gets it right. But yes this idea that like you don't have the scene of them saying like we want to have kids.

[01:17:53] They cut all those scenes out but you see them moving into the nicer house. You see them going to the adoption agency. And this idea that like you know his new attitude of just like I don't care anymore.

[01:18:04] He puts down his prison stint as part of his employment history on his application. Right I mean he did work in prison. Right. And they're like we're not going to give you a baby and he's gives the whole speech about how they're from the suburbs.

[01:18:19] And he grew up in the system. He did grow up in the system. He knows what it feels like to be the kid that no one wants. He's basically like I'm doing you a service give me the toughest kid you've got.

[01:18:27] I'll handle him and they're like sir please leave this office. He also does say a bunch of racial slurs. Yeah I mean which is one of those things where you go like this is uncomfortable but also this is how these shitty people talk.

[01:18:39] Like when Robert Promsky throws out like three slurs in one sentence I'm like I don't question that the real guy would do that. Well also that's when he's in like full tough guy fuck you mode.

[01:18:50] I'm throwing you in jail you know what I mean where he's like you have crossed me you brought a piece to his house which. I also think that high level criminals are all very racist. Yes of course they see people as like piles of money and vice.

[01:19:04] And the other thing is that they're like they look at everyone as like tribes. Right. Like high level criminals are like you can't trust them. They're allies.

[01:19:11] And they're like the entire time when I'm in a band there's a lot of guys like to be part of it right. I don't think people are just the kind of people who have to be like brothers and sisters or whatever.

[01:19:18] I mean they're like the kind of people who like to be like girls but yeah do some things. And people like to be like that it's a bit hard to deal with that. I mean like they're like real people and you know what I mean,

[01:19:28] like from the early days that is called the유빢 and sometimes it's called the black pencil. And they see what's going on and they're like let's say like what's going on to the place they're like.

[01:19:35] They see what's going on and so they're like they're like this guy is a big idiot. He's like, what am I, chocolate? Come on, ask me for things. I've got babies. I'm your friend. I work with you. I take care of people. I just had a baby.

[01:19:46] Right, don't go around asking other people for things I can figure out. And he's really throwing the fatherly vibes. He is, but of course, as he's gonna reveal later, that's all just ways for him to get his hooks at you so that if you'd fuck him,

[01:19:57] he can be like, I'll take your baby back. Right, and he's like, where do you get the babies? That baby's an escrow. And he's like, mothers need money. And James comes like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And he's like, hey, don't hold against the kid that the mother's an asshole.

[01:20:06] Like you're doing them a favor, you're helping the kid. If the mother's willing to sell their kids, then they shouldn't be raising them. So why not have them go to a house that wants them? Right, and I just love that scene in a Chinese restaurant

[01:20:17] where they don't have a name for the baby. And she says to him like, well, what about Okla? Like, you know. And Khan allows himself to smile. Like where it's like, oh, I never thought of like that. Name him after my friend. That's nice. I like that.

[01:20:32] And he's like, actually his name isn't Okla. No shit, his name isn't Okla. His name's David. David, that's my name. That's a crappy name. Wow. I don't have diarrhea name. His name was a Mr. Diarrhea Pants, actually. It was his given name. But there's also, of course-

[01:20:49] The waiter's like, good name, good name, Mr. Diarrhea Pants. Before this, the cop pulls him over. Yeah. What's his name? Commander Lucio or whatever? He's the guy who's actually a criminal. Right. He's a real dirty cop. A thiefer. Yeah. He makes pig pen look clean.

[01:21:09] I don't know, Urizy maybe? Pig pen. Well, I think we're getting a little ahead. So- Of what? Well, we have to set up that- We're putting in the clock, Ben. I just wanted to say that we have to set up

[01:21:20] that he's now on board and he's getting information. Working for us. He's like- We're getting to the job. We're getting to the job. He's casing the job. Yes, he gets a job. He's casing the joint. And he's gone Willie Nelson out. That's another great scene.

[01:21:30] Yeah, he gets Nelson out. Where the lawyer and the judge are negotiating with their fingers. Because then at the same time, the police- That's so good. On their cheeks. Oh yeah. I need six grand for Earl Warren. What's this guy trying to do? Pick his nose.

[01:21:42] And then the guy behind him is like, yo you got me a min-cote? So that's James Cahn's thing. He's like, fucking everyone's asking me for everything all the time. How does everyone in this town know I'm working for you? Right. And he's like, how do you know

[01:21:52] I was trying to adopt the baby? And he's like, because this person told this person that you said this to them, they saw you there. I love it. It's all connected. And this fucking cop is like, look I know what's going on.

[01:22:02] And James Cahn says, if you want to pinch me, pinch me. Right. Yeah. That's what his best line is. Shoulder get off the pot. What do you want to say, Ben? About the job? You were talking. Yeah, no I just said that in the plot. Yes.

[01:22:17] He has already started to begin doing the process of figuring out how he's going to achieve. He's doing reconnaissance. Yeah, yeah. He's starting to talk to that old guy. Form arms. And then there's a fifth alarm. And I just love that they really set that up

[01:22:29] in such a clear way that you can follow along when he's like going through the steps of figuring out how he's going to achieve this. Yeah, because it's not like an Ocean's Eleven heist. Yes. It's like they're showing you all the things he has to prepare for.

[01:22:43] The wiring, the schematic of the lock and what different parts of the lock he has to eliminate. So that when he actually gets to the heist, there's no dialogue for 10 minutes because they've already explained all the different stages. So into it. Yeah. And it's a burn job.

[01:22:58] It's a burn job. It's a plant. You know, one of those. Yeah. But yeah, where do they go to the beach? There's a lot of times when they're trying to figure out the fit you see blue sheet it kind of figure out that fifth alarm. Right.

[01:23:12] You know, the Mexico right now. Whatever the passcode is. Yeah. Well, they figure out that then, you know, it's like they can kill the wiring. But for the fifth one, it's like this closed basically like closed like intercom system with a passcode. Right.

[01:23:27] He bugs them and I love all that stuff. I love analog. Just all the analog thing. The briefcase and the like the walkie talkie and the tape recorder. It's like shallow focus close up thing. You're just like one Belushi eye. And they're like diverting, like grounding wires

[01:23:43] electricity and it just all looks like it would really be wired. Yeah. He unscrews the phone from his wall at his house, sees the trip, runs the water, tells Tuesday, well we're bugged. Right. Right. And that's the other thing where he goes into to Protsky. Right.

[01:24:01] And he's like, this is the bug they wanted me to find. Right. This is the one I wasn't supposed to find. In the car. Yeah, it's no, I love it. He knows that like it's all he's part of the whole system now. He's functioning independently.

[01:24:14] But now he's in this world of everyone shaking hands with everyone. It's so funny that this is his first movie because right, you could take it as like a movie director makes later in their career where they're like it don't join up with the big shots

[01:24:25] because then all they'll do is control you. And also his next movie is like a B horror film, which is how most directors start before they get to make the film of their own interest. His next movie is easily his most baffling movie. Right.

[01:24:36] It's the only one where you're like, Michael Mann made this? Right. You'll see it. But it is one of those things where so many surprising directors started out in horror because it's like, they'll give you a budget and you get in, you get out.

[01:24:45] It's weird that he follows Thief with like, here's like a Nazi monster movie. Yeah, it's a, you know, Nazi ghost. Watch out. Ian McKellan's there. Hey, fucking pinch you. Fucking Nazi ghost. Fucking Nazi ghost. Go get me some. I got the pressure.

[01:25:07] Jonathan, trying to think of forgetting everything before the job. Yeah, I mean, I think this is pretty much the job. They burn themselves. William Nelson gets out and he dies. Yeah, that's sad. Right. Okla. Right. It's a pretty great James Consign of just,

[01:25:20] oh wow, this guy truly does not know how to process emotions. Right. Like he just kind of shuts down. Probably shouldn't have a baby. They get the money. It works. I mean, it all goes fine. Yeah. They get the four million dollars in diamonds.

[01:25:33] The burning the sparks, that's all great. Like, right. The movie, you feel like this could be the triumph at the end of the film. Right. Like I paused it and I was like, wait, there's 30 minutes left? Sure.

[01:25:45] The, when they're breaking the safe, it made me think of the dentist. Because like one guy is the suction. He's like, you know, spraying. Right. And you know. He's the hygienist. Yup.

[01:25:56] And then you have the dentist operating the precision and then you have the assistant sort of just helping out. They let you pick cinnamon, bubblegum or mint. Yep. Remember when that was the exciting thing about going to the dentist?

[01:26:11] This is the only place where they got bubblegum toothpaste. I remember that about the dark. I always hate the dentist. Fucking dentist. That makes no sense though. I mean, that's usually because all Americans, people who grew up in America. Yeah. Right.

[01:26:25] In England, obviously like dentists have a better reputation. Are we forgetting something from earlier in the episode? There's revealed. I don't know. Did it come up? No. I'm the last guy you want to fuck with. I'll pinch you. The cops getting out the thermos. I remember that scene.

[01:26:40] That's really funny. Try to think. The scene with the cops in when they take them in and they're all around them and they're like, you've got to pay us. Yeah. That was a little weird.

[01:26:50] And they just keep on bringing in another guy and they're like, how about this guy? He's real good at punching. The punching isn't great. No, but it's the James Gunn. No. And the other thing is the gunshots at the end, like the squibs are like...

[01:27:03] Oh, I kind of love that though. He loves that. He loves those slightly unreal, full moves. They're very unreal. Yeah. And now with all the slow motions. I love that. Because Miami Vice kind of ends that way too with the final shot where you hear

[01:27:14] the bang and then you see the guy's head explode and then you kind of hear the bang. You know what I mean? That's a good thing you brought up because when I were talking about Miami Vice on this podcast. Right. Even though we're doing Michael M.

[01:27:27] We're doing this. Okay. I don't know. We're doing this. And they do the job. He goes to Leo. He's like, where's my money? He's handed a small envelope. Right. Where's the rest of my money? That's the great news. I'm getting you 10% of a shopping center niacet.

[01:27:46] No, it's literally like he's like... I know that's what it is. I've sent him an S-corp for you. Yeah, he starts talking about S-corp. So I'm like, has this guy gotten a legal zoom or something? Jesus. And Leo's...

[01:27:56] I mean, Frank's just got that whole thing where he's like, I can see your money is in my... My money's in your pocket, which is the yield of my labor. Yeah. My sweat. Right. And Leo's like, join a union. There's a route. I want my end. And Frank...

[01:28:10] He wants his end. Reacts. And you know what's interesting is, End has two meanings here. His back end of their financial agreement. But also he wants an end to his career as a thief. Thief. You're looking at me. I wanted you to say thief too.

[01:28:26] Protsky leaves it as, you know, How dare you bring a piece into my house? Yeah. Well, I mean gun... I mean gun. Like you're saying gun. Yeah. Con. Frank, he maybe could not react to every like speed bump in life by pulling out a gun

[01:28:40] and pointing it at someone dead. I hear that. But he goes home to Tuesday well. Problem solver. He is a problem solver. He's like, pack it up, get out of here. Here's the plan. Fuck you. First month, 25 the second month or the third month.

[01:28:52] He's a little upset that while she was sleeping he woke her up in the middle of the night and told her, ah, you're not my wife anymore. I will never see you again. Take the baby and leave. She's like, I love you. I'm in with you on this.

[01:29:05] Right. And he's like, I understand that. And that's why this much money is going to be delivered to you. And I will never see you again. Now get out of here. I'm gonna blow that up. And then she has the great line where she's like,

[01:29:14] This isn't some erector set where you can like take apart the pieces and put it back in a box. Right. Well, that's a great line. That's how Michael Mann and I think of it. But I'm setting some C4. Right. Yes, exactly. No, but that's it. Right.

[01:29:26] You know, the heat's around the corner. Right. So then he explodes every place he's ever been to. And they accidentally... His home. His businesses. His high school. Yeah, what if he's like... Local pharmacy. Yeah, I'm blowing up my dry cleaner. They know too much.

[01:29:38] They know I wear slacks. Expensive slacks. Yeah. My silk shirts. One of these explosions, they did not intend to blow up the building, but they damaged the building so hard that the building had to be demolished. Really? Yeah.

[01:29:56] They like built like a false front that they were gonna blow up, but they blew it up. Wow. Wow. Which is... And the punch in on that explosion in particular. Those are some good explosions. I mean, they really blew those things up.

[01:30:09] Has Beluce already died at this point? Yeah, they shoot him with a shotgun. Right. He goes there. They're setting him up. He's kind of baked. They're the car shop. And then Beluce dies quite a death. He's brutal. Right. That's when he goes into overdrive mode.

[01:30:25] That's when he goes into his... That's when it's like over. They feed his body to something. They put him in a tank. Yeah. And they talk about how do you want to end up at someone's burger? Right. And I just really like that.

[01:30:37] I think it's a deep prior, right? Yeah, he says you're gonna be fed to people in wimps like the next day. Leo suddenly just unleashes a monologue that's like insane. Yeah, we have a new special menu item. Belushi nuggets. Fried Beluce sandwich. It's a pickle. Slice of tomato.

[01:31:00] Two leaves of lettuce. And a hunk of fried Beluce. I mean, he's full of Beloni. He is full of Beloni. No, you gotta put it on like whack or whatever, right? Like, you know, you gotta put him on like a good and deep. American bun. It's a submarine.

[01:31:16] Yeah, put him on a Kaiser roll. Potato roll. Yeah. And then Frank goes to Leo's house. And I remember the first time I saw this movie, which is years ago. You were 4 or 5, right? Yeah, exactly. This was your fifth birthday party. Daddy, I want to watch thief.

[01:31:35] Imagine showing this movie to a child. I tell this... This guy seems stressed out. My brother James is, what would it be, 9th or 10th birthday party was watching Ali with his friends. You mentioned that, right? Because he loved boxing so much. So my brother James' birthday was

[01:31:54] James watching Ali for the fifth time and a bunch of kids on their Gameboys. No kidding. And he was just like, oh my god, Marvin Peoples was so good in this. And the kids were just like, I want like fucking gushers. What is this party?

[01:32:09] He didn't even have gushers? Maybe a pizza boy. Oh my gosh, sure. No, I just thought at the end of the first time I saw Frank's gonna die. This is it. This is Blazor Glory. Maybe he'll get through Farina. But he's not getting through everyone.

[01:32:23] But he gets through everyone. He gets through everyone. He shoots them all dead. And then he puts his gun away and he's like... He shoots them all the way to death. All the way to death. I guess it's justifiable that the cops are protecting the house.

[01:32:36] But I just find it really weird that all the mobsters are like hanging out and like asking if the other one wants milk. That was weird. It's very weird. Yeah. Farina's got a big coat on. His coat is so broad he almost looks like David Byrne

[01:32:52] and stop making sense. He's got this big black boxy coat. He's a boxy boy. It's filled with squibs. And he dies all the way to death. And then James Cohn just kind of walks off with his hands on his pockets. Yes, that's what I love.

[01:33:08] I feel like 95% of these movies would end with him dying. Obviously the classic Hollywood movies would, because crime has to pay. And you'd be like, well, he won somebody awesome and that's how it goes. He sell all his score but he didn't make it out alive.

[01:33:21] But in this it's so much better because he's just sort of cursed with what are you gonna do now? What are you doing now? You murdered 10 people in one night. Yeah, you were not nice to your wife.

[01:33:30] Told your wife and your son you're never gonna see them again. You lost one baby. Could you imagine what a field day... the woman at the Adoption Agency would have with this? Maybe like, yeah. Well, you know, thank you. You're right, right.

[01:33:41] Do you remember that guy last week was so mean? He was so upbeat. He was like, I was judgmental. He has to fight with some of the suburbs. Wait till you hear this. Guy leaves the kid. Murder's like 10 people. And he burnt out half the city.

[01:33:53] He blew up everywhere. He blew this place up. He tried to make it sound like I was a snob. Oh boy, Frank. What a movie. Frank Thief. What a good movie. It was an outstanding movie. I'm so, so happy I got to experience it.

[01:34:09] You know what's the most annoying thing about this movie? What? It was nominated for a razzie. For what? This is gonna hurt you. You're gonna be upset. Worst score? Worst score. Yeah. That's just rude. That was voted at a time where now this music again

[01:34:23] is like so in vogue. Like it feels... I know. I guess back then people were like, oh, like corny, like electronic music lane. People were super into that. Yeah, people were super into the Tangerine Dream scores. Cause there was even like there was shit like Legend

[01:34:38] where like they took it away from Ridley Scott and had Tangerine Dream recorded and everyone was always like, oh, I mean, I love the, you know, the what's it? Sorcerer. That's an incredible score. I love those scores. Were you able to find a box office for this movie?

[01:34:53] Not really. Interesting. Box office mojo's data only goes back to 1982. The year before this year. Okay. I forgot the numbers. I forgot that near dark was Tangerine Dream 2. Yeah. Yeah. And the numbers has box office data, but it's like incomplete. And so like you can't...

[01:35:12] But I'm going to give you... Well, first let's do 1981's Top 5 movies. Okay. I was going to suggest that. Yes. Let's do that. I'll tell you what was number one the week this came out. It was Omen 3, the final conflict. Okay. The one with Sam Neal.

[01:35:30] Where he's like running for president? Oh, when he's grown up Damien. Yes. Yes. Okay. That's the fifth highest grossing film I've ever seen. No, that was number one when this came out. That movie made a cool 20 mil. Thief made let's actually $11 million at the box office.

[01:35:47] That's better than I thought. Yeah. Adjusted for inflation is 37. Yeah. You know. Not hurting anyone. And Jerry Brackheimer produced it. That was the other thing I was very surprised to see. Young Brack. And what else are they going to say? Yeah.

[01:36:02] It came out, you know, the postman always rings twice. It just come out. The Bob Raffleson. Yeah. And we've also got something called Eyes of a Stranger. Don't know that. All right. So the number one movie of 1981 made $212 million in 1981. In 81. So adjusted that is $700 million.

[01:36:24] Raiders of the Lost Ark. Correct. Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark. A lot of money. That's a lot of money for a movie to make. Pretty good movie. Pretty good movie. The best one. I love Lost Crusade. I haven't seen that one in a long time.

[01:36:39] I guess maybe we should do those for our franchise. Yeah. I like that one because it's kind of like a Buster Keaton movie. It's a Buster? It's a Buster. It's very hijincy. It is. I love all the hijincy. But I think it's well orchestrated physical comedy.

[01:36:51] Anyway, so that thing just made more than anyone ever dared make. Right? I mean, that's just beyond all measures. Was it number one of all time at that point? Did it topple Star Wars or was it like number 10?

[01:37:02] No, there's no, it didn't come close to toppling Star Wars. Let's find out though. All time. Domestic. Star Wars has already had a couple re-releases. I know, but Star Wars, you know, the thing about Star Wars is that it made, let's, yeah, it made 307 in 77. Wow. Wow. Wow.

[01:37:22] Which is adjusted as 1.2 billion domestic. Yeah. You know, it's like there's nothing like Star Wars. No, there's nothing like Star Wars. All right. Number two though, because this is where it gets interesting, is not a franchise movie. What was the final gross? $119 million.

[01:37:38] It's a big gap, almost 100 million less. Right. But still, I mean, a colossal hit. It's not a franchise movie. No. Pointedly. But you know, it is a family movie. It's a family movie. It's got a family members in it. It's got family members. It's got real family members?

[01:37:54] Yes. Is it On Golden Pond? Oh, yes it is. Mark Ryadel's On Golden Pond, the most boring movie ever made. What a massive hit. Which won a shit ton of Oscars. Yeah. At least three, I think. Right.

[01:38:08] It was the only year where the Oscars gave out an award for a best movie ever. Actor, actress and screenplay. Yeah. Henry Fonda, Catherine Hepburn, you got Jane Fonda. Yeah, old fart. I mean, I've never seen it.

[01:38:19] Isn't it just like a bunch of people at like a lake house? No compulsion to watch that film. On Golden Pond. We'll do a Mark Ryadel series eventually. What else did he make? What'd he make? I don't know. Maybe like Neil Simon. He made Neil Simon?

[01:38:34] He made the Rose. He made the Rose. He made Four The Boys. Yeah. He made The River. With Mel Gibson. Yeah. You know, The Fox. He's very good in... Lunk Hiskenei. Not Lunk Hiskenei. I'm sorry, Lunk Goodbye. Oh yeah. He's very good in that as like a mobster.

[01:38:53] A mobster. Yeah. Alright. As an actor. Number three is a sequel. Number three is a sequel. It made 108. Is it a Star Trek? No. Interesting. It made 108 and it was a sequel. That's right. There aren't a ton of sequels at this point in time. No.

[01:39:11] You know what else it is? Well, I would give it away. Fuck. I would give it away. I would give it away? Give it away. Give it away. It's the kind of movie they make all the time now. Back then still a novel. Superman 2. Superman 2. Superman 2. Dick Lester.

[01:39:28] Richard Lester. A Lester picture. Of a Hard Days Night. And the director of Superman 2. And the director of Superman 2. Which is... Okay. I like Superman 2 a lot. You know, it's got Zod. I like it a lot. It's silly. Superman 2 is pretty good.

[01:39:41] It's got Superman and Lois Lane fucking. They do. They do. That's the one where he... No, the first one is the one where he flies backwards and resets. Yeah, that's the first one. Number four. The second one, he fights the evil version of himself. Right?

[01:39:55] That's the third one. Fuck, I get him all the time. That's right, Kryptonite. Right. The second one's Zod. Right. Neil. Right. Third one's a comedy. I'm kneeling for the list of all my new ones. I'm sorry. Number four is a comedy. Number four is a comedy? Big comedy.

[01:40:09] Stir crazy? No. One star. How do you describe this movie? It's an epic. Is it epic? No. Or like a... Is it a period comedy? Oh, I'm looking at the wrong one. Oh. Number four. This is a fucking movie that I love. Oh, yeah.

[01:40:28] See, I didn't know you loved this movie. This is like... It makes sense. This is a real Ben character-driven movie. Interesting. It's one comedy star? Yeah, one star. One star. And I guess this is his big movie star break. I mean, he's a big deal in...

[01:40:42] Especially in his home country. In his home country? But I feel like this is the beginning of him as a movie star. In his home country? No. I take it back. It's not. I take it back. In his home country? Yeah. Is it an English-speaking country?

[01:40:57] It is an English-speaking country. Is he from England? He's from London. Is this Dudley Moore? Yes. Is it Arthur? It's Arthur. So what... Ten had come before us? I mean, it was in 1979. I forgot about that. For some reason I thought ten was after.

[01:41:10] I mean, he'd done the movies with Peter Cook like he'd done to Dazzle. Yeah. But yeah, no. Right. I wouldn't re-watch this. Tuesday Well was married to Dudley Moore. Oh, really? Is that right? And they said, what do you think of Dudley Moore?

[01:41:20] And she went, he's an asshole. Dudley Moore had four wives. Yeah. One of them was Tuesday Well. Yeah, you're right. 75 to 80. So they were on the rocks at this point. Dudley Moore was kind of the reference star. No, we got it. We got it.

[01:41:35] Wow, you didn't like that. You didn't like that? Not at all. Dudley Moore was kind of the Pete Davidson of his time. You mean where everyone's like, how does this guy keep landing these ladies? Yeah. And especially like Dudley Moore was shorter than me.

[01:41:49] He was a short man. He was a short man with a bulbous nose. But you know, everything about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore is always like, that Dudley Moore was kind of like, yeah, all right, whatever, right. And Peter Cook's like, fuck you. I'm seething with rage.

[01:42:03] It's very weird that he just became like a total leading man in the 80s. Right. I don't know what to tell you. Yeah. Dudley Moore, Arthur, that's number four. Take responsibility. He's drunk. A big inspiration for me. What was the epic you were talking about, Ben? Number five.

[01:42:20] Number seven. Six. Oh yeah, yeah. Right. The Cannonball Run. Oh. Big epic. It is all kinds of giant news. Okay. Number five. It's with a star you love. A star I love? One star? It has... I mean, it's got other guys. It's the Stripes. Wow.

[01:42:39] I was going to say it has the best opening. Yeah, I mean, it's the classic Freezing Geeks. We at UNI always talk about it. The first half is what's better. No one can tell you what happens in the second half of Stripes.

[01:42:48] That movie essentially ends after, and that's the fact, Jack, you know, when he does, when they do their test. Then one becomes about the SUV, right? Yeah, no, the armored vehicle. Right. Then it's just like, what is this movie? Um, yeah. Is that a Ramos?

[01:43:03] No, it's a Rightman. It's a Rightman. That was the big thing was, rightman had sold it as Cheech and Chong go to the army. Right, right, right. He was trying to direct more. It was sold as a Cheech and Chong movie. Then Cheech and Chong dropped out. Right.

[01:43:18] He had it set up, and he was like, could I rewrite it as a Bill Murray movie? Bill Murray was like, I don't want to do it. And he was like, what if I cast the other guys Harold Raitmus?

[01:43:25] Knowing that Bill Murray loved Harold Raitmus at that point in time. And he was like, Harold will rewrite it for you and Harold will be the other guy and you'll have fun because you'll play with Harold. Right, right, right.

[01:43:35] So it was like Harold Raitmus became a movie star. This biggest hit of the year. Because that was how they could get Bill Murray to agree. Wow. But you see some other big movies, Cannibal Run, Charity to Fire,

[01:43:45] the best picture winner, For Your Eyes Only with the Bond movie. The Four Seasons. Alan Alde? Alan Alde picture. What is that? Alan Alde directed like eight movies. It's a better hotel or something. I don't know. It sounds like California Suite. Maybe it's not about it.

[01:44:04] Maybe it's about it's a romance or something. Who is it? Him and Carol Burnett. Him and Carol Burnett. You know what? What? They're an upper middle class married couple in New York City. Wow. Knock me over with a feather. And they take some vacations.

[01:44:19] It's set during four vacations. Oh, wow. Four Seasons. So you got Len Carrey, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis. Could you imagine how hard they would drag that movie today? Alan Alde's kids play his kids. I was like, so I'm making a movie about white people going on vacations.

[01:44:34] I cut out all the things in between the vacations. I gotta see this thing. It's just four vacations with none of the filler of them having responsibilities in life. This thing was nominated for four Golden Globes. My Alde impression is really bad.

[01:44:46] Another one that a lot of people do. I know. Or at least he's got an imitable voice. Yeah, but I found a new keeper today. What was that? Wheelie Nelson. Yeah, your Nelson's great. What was the thing I was going to say about Alde?

[01:45:00] Sag Magazine, I don't want to brag, but... Sag Mag? Sag Mag. Is this a Sag Mag brag? Yeah, The Screen Actors Guild Magazine. I'll be you to that, Ben. Okay.

[01:45:10] The Screen Actors Guild Magazine, which is one of the best magazines to line the bottom of your pet carrier with. Sure. I just have this one issue in my apartment that I haven't thrown out for some reason. That's just sitting on my table.

[01:45:23] That's a cover story on Alan Alde, because I guess he won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Sure, sure, sure. And the headline is, All the Way. All the Way. And every time I'm cleaning up my apartment, I'm like, I just can't do it. I can't throw it out.

[01:45:38] How do you get rid of that? All the way. Well, that was the ninth highest grosser of this year. You're a big star. Over time bandits, over reds. Yeah. Over the fox and the hound, over Excalibur, over the Great Muppet Caper.

[01:45:51] You know, there are some big movies here. You know, there was like a... Over Halloween too, Escape from New York. There was a thing where they like quiz children and more children recognized Alan Alde than they did Jesus Christ.

[01:46:02] I swear to God, this was like a real thing that happened in the 80s. He was so big Alde. It was the biggest TV show, right? Yeah. I mean, yeah. You went all the way.

[01:46:11] I was like a guy who can play like the manager of the insurance agency who tells a guy to do one thing and isn't in the movie again. Right, and somehow it was through Bill. You know Alan Alde's books? All have amazing titles.

[01:46:23] He's written a bunch of like, just like stories for me and show business books. Never have your dog stuffed. Right, one of them is called. I shouldn't even be doing this, right? Oh no, that's Bob Newhart's book. Things I overheard while talking to myself. That's it.

[01:46:36] And the new one, if I understood you would I have this look on my face? Yeah. All lightly amusing titles. Just very likely to do an Alde series. He made four movies. Alde is going in March Madness next year. Yeah, we're putting in four. Only four.

[01:46:52] Joe Tinian was that thing called the politician? The seduction of Joe Tinian. He only wrote that. He only wrote that. That's a Shatsburg movie. Okay. Sweet Liberty with Michael Cain, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bob Hoskins. Sounds good. Huge store, Alan Alde. And then a new life. Yeah. With Anne Margaret.

[01:47:11] Yeah. Okay, sure. And I guess, oh and the last one was called Betsy's Wedding. Molly Ringwald, Allie Sheedy, Madeline Conn, Joe Pesci, Anthony Lepoglia, Katharine O'Hara, Bert Young, Joey Bishop. You know what? You know what's interesting? Oh, we just ran out of time on the clock.

[01:47:30] Wait, but it doesn't like that Joey Bishop's in this movie? Clearly it's furious. Alan Alde is like if Chris Pratt left Parks and Rec and became a major A-list movie star through doing mild middle-aged relationship comedies. That was a niche. Yeah.

[01:47:47] Oh, Betsy's Wedding was inspired by the marriage of Alde's daughter, Alde. Oh, that's lovely. So I want to just tell you... This is good Michael Mann content, right? Yeah, no, I'm going to ramp back around. Okay. And I think this has been a gentleman's start

[01:48:01] to cast the Podheakens. Right. And I think we have a co-lin Michael Mann explaining. Yeah. James Cahn is on Twitter. I did not realize this. He seemed like someone who would not be on Twitter, okay? Certainly. So then I looked at his account. He has 8,000 followers. He's verified.

[01:48:19] It's him. Right. How's James Cahn on Twitter less than 10,000 followers? And all his tweets were in the last couple of weeks. So I was like, did he just join? No, he's been on since 2013. He just takes years-long gaps in between tweets.

[01:48:35] Can I read you his first couple tweets? Can I tell you something? What? It's his birthday today. Today's his birthday? Happy birthday, James Cahn. I just went to his page and the balloons floated up. You know how they do that on their birthday? Yes.

[01:48:47] On the day we're recording it is James Cahn's birthday. I just want to read his earliest tweets, okay? Yeah. August 15th, 2013. There's nothing more boring than an actor talking about acting. Period. End of tweet. Period. I'm going to go ahead. The way he wrote those things out? Okay.

[01:49:05] Next tweet a month later, September 17th. Don't run after a bus. There'll be another. And don't ever eat fried food. Thank you, Colin Mel Brooks. Not Colin, comma. Thank you, Mel Brooks. Period. End of tweet. Period. He likes this end of tweet sort of format.

[01:49:23] Watch hashtag back in the game tonight at 8.30 on ABC. I forgot. I think I reviewed that show. That was a sitcom. He's like an old baseball coach who manages a little league team or something. Correct. Right, yeah.

[01:49:35] It was like someone has to like, yeah, whatever the fuck it is. He used to coach the big leagues or whatever. Now he's with his daughter. But this tweet is watch hashtag back in the game tonight at 8.30 on ABC. It's very funny and I need the money.

[01:49:49] End of tweet. Jimmy! Next tweet, September 4th or October 4th. On my lunch break on hashtag back in the game while cutting a sandwich, my knife struck something hard. Dot, dot, dot. It was my thumb. Period. End of tweet. Period. Is James Cahn the best at Twitter?

[01:50:08] Wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm now looking. Did you see 11th November 2013? Go to that one. It's just a couple up. ABC has decided to can us. I will speak to you from somewhere else down the line. End of show. End of tweet.

[01:50:22] Has anyone used Twitter better than this? This is so interesting. Then almost a year later, August 27th. Hi, I think I'm still here. End of tweet. Jesus Christ. Then he doesn't post for another three years. February 2017, my youngest son Rich Homie Cahn, senior season end of tweet.

[01:50:41] He's posting just to highlight reel of his son. Then he retweets his own post. Rich Homie Cahn. Then he retweets other people posting it. And then doesn't post for another two years. Wait. Until this February. This February. Hi, end of tweet. Period.

[01:50:57] March 6th, rainy day in LA mood. End of tweet. It's just a photo of James Cahn looking at handsome at a young age. And now he's posting a lot of pictures. Now he's going down memory lane. He's posting an Al Hirschfeld that he's in.

[01:51:08] It's on my roller ball. We've got a history. It's a rainy gift. It's a Brian song. Hashtag Brian song. What would be your first thought if you showed up to a wedding and saw me standing up there officiating the ceremony? Hashtag that's my boy.

[01:51:24] Just a production photo from Adam Sandler. Hashtag that's my boy. Fingers tired. End of tweet for today. For today. So yes, James Cahn is the best at Twitter. Anyone's ever been at Twitter. He posted a picture from Thief saying, Willie my dear friend, that's pretty sweet. Wow.

[01:51:40] And these are all, now we're just reading things. He's posted in the last three weeks. I know this one. Now he's active. One with Pacino and De Niro. Now he's tweeting up a storm. He's retweeting people's birthday wishes.

[01:51:50] There's a gift of him getting ready to beat the shit out of Talia Shire's husband and the godfather. He throws the stick at him. He literally has posted like 40, posted or retweeted 40 different things in the last hour. I know. It lasts four hours. Wait really?

[01:52:04] Oh yeah, he's just gone wild. He's gone wild in the last four hours. Yeah, he really has. Well it's because it's his birthday. He's responding to like every birthday tweet. Right. Okay so here's, Tweet at him. Well no, here's what I'm gonna say. When this episode comes out,

[01:52:16] I'm gonna tweet at him. I'm gonna wish him a happy birthday. Thank you. From bottom of my heart. But when this episode comes out, I want all the blankies to tweet at James Cahn telling him to signal boost our episode. Sure.

[01:52:28] Because he seems to be quick with the retweet. He's having a signal boost. I mean, I gotta be honest, he has less followers than the blank check podcast. He has, I mean, and maybe punch up his account a little bit. I know.

[01:52:38] I mean no offense to him, I'm just saying. He could use an and. He could use an and. Okay and on that note, thank you all for listening. Could we share final thoughts? Final thoughts of rules. These are fucking good. Yeah, movie fucks. Cahn runs the jewels.

[01:52:53] Cahn runs the jewels. Oh, that's why I wanted to share final thoughts. That's why you wanted to say Cahn runs the jewels. He's punching David. The craziest thing is this might be one of my least favorite Michael Mann movies. Yeah. That's the thing that's insane.

[01:53:07] That's why I wanted to do this guy. Yeah, you love this guy. I love this guy. You love this guy. Yep. Cahn runs the jewels. Yeah, no, pinch me. Thanks to Antrigo for her social media. James Cahn, you should hire her. Thanks to Leymann for her theme song.

[01:53:20] Jill Bonpat-Rounds for artwork. Go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit. Go to T-Public for some real nerdy shirts. Remember to subscribe to Blank Check's special features on Patreon. Hell yeah. And it always. And it always. And it always. And it always goes.

[01:53:38] And it always goes with me saying, and as always. Right. I'm willing to elsin. Thieve in your jewels. I don't want to die in prison. Also don't want to pay my taxes.