We Recommend: A Movie Podcast
We Recommend is a movie podcast where every week Jesse and Jason discuss a movie that they love and recommend you to watch and then come back and listen to their podcast!
We Recommend: A Movie Podcast
Speed
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What if one movie could capture the essence of '90s action cinema and still keep you on the edge of your seat today? This week on the "We Recommend" podcast, we return to the high-octane world of "Speed" and share our journey from childhood awe to adult appreciation. Hear our take on Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock's electric chemistry, fueled by Joss Whedon's sharp dialogue, and Dennis Hopper's unforgettable performance as the quirky villain that added a perfect dash of humor to the thrilling tension.
Ever wondered what makes a great movie villain stand out? We dive into Dennis Hopper's iconic roles in the '90s, breaking down his masterful portrayal of antagonists from "Blue Velvet" to "Super Mario Brothers," and how his unique style enriched "Speed." We also compare the exhilarating bus sequences and clever plot twists of "Speed" to its lackluster sequel, "Speed 2: Cruise Control," while revealing behind-the-scenes trivia that could have changed the film's dynamic. From the iconic bus jump to Keanu's stunt dedication, we've got plenty of Hollywood action movie gossip to keep you captivated.
Join us as we break down "Speed's" most intense scenes—from the elevator hostage crisis to the high-speed bus bomb threat, and the nail-biting freeway jump. Celebrate with us the relentless pacing and gripping action that make this film a timeless classic. We also touch on the tragic yet motivating loss of Harry and the humorous yet high-stakes moments that define the movie.
We would love to hear from you! Send us an email and maybe it will be read on the podcast! werecommendmailbag@gmail.com
To quickly follow us on social's or listen on another platform follow the link!
http://linktr.ee/werecommendpodcast
Music produced by Joey Prosser. X @mrjoeyprosser
Hello and welcome to the we Recommend podcast, a movie podcast where every week, we recommend a movie for you to watch and then come back here and listen to us discuss. I'm Jesse, I'm Jason. You're crazy. No, poor people are crazy. I'm eccentric because this week we recommend Speed, Speed.
Speaker 2We are crazy, we are crazy, I'm poor, so this was the first time you saw the movie no hell no, okay, I thought it was, but it was the first time I had seen the movie in about 20 something years. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1It's been probably like five years since I saw, like it's always watched as a kid, 500 times.
Speaker 3Yeah, as a kid.
Speaker 1It's awesome, it's like the best movie ever made. And then you grow up and you rewatch it and you're like, oh so still the best movie ever made.
Speaker 2I didn't have that feeling what?
Speaker 1Bro, is this another point break situation where you're like what, how is this about?
Speaker 2because me and Madeline, just it was. So it was such a bonding moment and me and her just talking shit on a movie the whole time and it was fun there's nothing to talk shit about.
Speaker 1On this. I know we had to make it all up what's like a part where you're like, oh, this sucks.
Speaker 2I don't know, maybe when the bus jumps a hole, okay, that's the most unbelievable part of the movie.
Speaker 1Everything else, and then he jumps a train. Yeah, they don't jump. Yeah, that is pretty wild. You know something? I always forget that LA has subways. Yeah, no one ever talks about like, yeah, I took the LA train. I don't even know what you call it.
Speaker 2I've never been on a subway, I have been on a real, real, a rail bus, a rail bus, a real bus, a real bus, a Greyhound.
Speaker 1That bus is a real bus. It was scary, it was the.
Speaker 3Pinocchio buses.
Speaker 1It got longer every time it lied. It does. Someone lies on it. It gets longer. Nobody lies on buses.
Speaker 2These are bad jokes. That's why they're short buses.
Speaker 1Yeah, because they tell the truth.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh, my God.
Speaker 1All right. Well, I mean, I think this movie is 10 out of 10.
Speaker 1It was so fun no problems, no issues. This is like grip onto your seat type of action. I love that. So the movie just never has a dull moment really. I mean the times where it slows down. You're just getting character moments. But because the actors are so charismatic, it does like dull writing, though I think it's actually funny. I did read that they actually wanted it to be more action. Like more action, more action. One-liners from typical movies but they cut a lot of them out because they're like bad wait.
Speaker 1I think we actually have a decent movie here.
Speaker 2So let's let's not make it too cheesy, so like they just stopped adding things. Yeah, when it was good enough yeah, they, yeah, they had their cup of speed and they're like we gotta fill this up.
Speaker 1That's essentially well. This went through like three different people for rewrite it was. Were they alive? Um, yeah, so it was. So it's directed by John.
Speaker 2DeBond no, they were sixth graders.
Speaker 1That's what it was Like. John DeBond he was a cinematographer. He did like Die Hard. He was a cinematographer of that and which this movie is Die Hard on a Bus. That's how it was sold. But it was written by Graham Yost and then it had some sort of other like secret screenwriter for it that was supposed to do like the second draft, but it was apparently so bad that they cut him off. They kicked him out. And then Joss Whedon the guy he he did the dialogue mainly for the movie Turns out and then when you rewatch it you're like this is Joss Whedon, especially the Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves like dialogue back and back, yes their epic love story and the little whippy, the like whippy, like dialogue that they have together.
Speaker 1I don't know. I love their two characters. I think they're so good together. I think they're. I think they started dating after this movie actually.
Speaker 2Oh See the chemistry a little bit. They just go on buses.
Speaker 1Yeah, they're just like this has to go over 50. Everybody's like this isn't a movie We've got to keep our adrenaline up. That's the only way this relationship works. After this movie, no buses would pick up Keanu Reeves.
Speaker 2They had a sign with his face crossed out.
Speaker 1We don't trust you on this. I don't know.
Speaker 2What did you think about Dennis Hopper in this movie? The villain? He's fine. I liked his attitude. I liked his attitude Like he was just cracking beers while he was killing people.
Speaker 1I love it, His character is definitely the character you can see that had like a Joss Whedon type of rewrite, just because he's kind of funny throughout the whole thing. It just reminded me of like quippy Avengers type of villains.
Speaker 2It kind of reminded me of if I was a type of it kind of reminded me of what I would If I was a villain like this would be kind of be me like incompetent drinking, like Watching football, while you got a whole.
Speaker 1I don't want to watch football A whole bus of people about to get blown up.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, you play like bus exploding simulator while you watch.
Dennis Hopper and Speed Sequels
Speaker 1He's playing crazy taxi while checking in on the video feed Bomber man. I think he's such a good villain in this movie there's like Dennis well, because he's the villain of. He's like in the 90s he was just a villain in every movie.
Speaker 3You got the.
Speaker 1Mario Brothers movie.
Speaker 3Yeah, the really bad one, but he's great in it.
Speaker 2Yeah, he was, he was the best part of that movie you ever seen what's his name?
Speaker 1David Lynch's Blue Velvet. No Dude, he's psycho in that movie. I heard it was a psycho movie.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's a crazy movie.
Speaker 1He's crazy and he's really good in it, but it's classic David Lynch type of acting where everything's insane. It's like why are you acting like this? What is this? And he's kind of the perfect villain. I feel like he's you know, you never know when he's going to just go insane yeah.
Speaker 2I saw. I had never really heard of that movie Blue Velvet until I watched the movie the Squid and the Whale.
Speaker 1Oh yeah.
Speaker 2And they kind of mentioned it in that one. I saw that movie.
Speaker 1No bomb back Bad dad. I think that was Jesse Eisenberg's first movie or second, something like that. It was a cool movie, yeah. And I mean I picked up a lot of notes like how to terrorize the library, yeah, I'm just like I just need to rewatch this and write notes, but something I love about Dennis Hopper's character is that he wants the money.
Speaker 2That's why he's for it. He does want the money.
Speaker 1But more so. He wants to embarrass the LAPD and it seems like that's his main goal of it, I guess, because I mean he's so mad at him the whole time. He's just like. He's constantly like I got away again, like at the end with the trash can, then putting the money in it, and then he flips it over and there's a hole in this concrete, I'm like Jesus Christ, that's so fucking good, it's so fucking good, it's so good whoever thought I don't know that was pretty smart, I don't know which screenwriter that worked on the script came up with that idea, but congratulations that was very.
Speaker 2That was kind of cool.
Speaker 1I love you for it and because whatever I did, that was like oh snap I completely forgot.
Speaker 2There's just tons of mail, a pile of mail at the bottom yeah, it's like, oh, he's been living here, he's eating the mail as it drops.
Speaker 1I know, and something else that, like I think this puts this movie like in, like the action, the great action movies of the nineties is you think the movie's over after the bus and he says hold up, this is the nineties, somebody's got to fight on a train. It's like we saw Tom Cruise do it. Now it's our turn, keanu.
Speaker 2I feel like they could have squeezed a couple more vehicles in there.
Speaker 1Yeah. Have a boat fight maybe you mean like Speed 2 Cruise Control. Ah, there we go. Or, as I like to call it, speed 2 Snooze Control Zing Hot take.
Speaker 2Natalie loves that movie so much and like it's so bad, but it's got william defoe, is it the?
Speaker 1same kind of idea. Uh yeah, william defoe takes over a uh like, I like william defoe. Is it a some sort of boat? I can't remember if it's a cruise ship or something and the thing is, is that the boat's got to go fast?
Speaker 2you know, it's hard to film a giant boat going fast because it doesn't look fast on the water. You just have a bunch of little boats going slow next to it Even in, because you're just like, oh what?
Speaker 1I feel like they got the wrong idea. They should have been another car, bus or something, but it has to go faster, right? That would have been the proper sequel. No, instead we'll just get a bigger mode of transportation.
Speaker 2Like a race car driver he has to go 100.
Speaker 1It's like does anybody know how to drive a car? I'm actually the world's greatest race car driver. Also, the problem with that movie is there is no Keanu Reeves in it, and that's a bummer. Oh yeah, that's a big no for me, because I believe Keanu and Sandra's character were supposed to be married in the sequel. But Keanu said no, good, very bad script, not doing the movie. And he said I'm out of here and he swung away on a vine. And Sandra said hey, I want more money, so I'll do this, I'll do the movie. Hell yeah, sandra, get a girl. So we'll hop into some facts here. Apparently, the bus was supposed to be going slower than 50 miles per hour.
Speaker 2Oh, that would have been so much better.
Speaker 1According to the. I don't know how. I mean, how are they going to jump something only going 20 miles per hour? I don't know, I don't know, you barely make it down the street. But according, just wait till I tell you how fast it was supposed to go. So according to the screenwriter, graham Yost, they were going to be going only 20 miles per hour. Oh, that would have been so fun.
Speaker 2Wow, that would have been great.
Speaker 1Just be like oh, keanu's like we got to hurry.
Speaker 2Oh, actually, he's just like running next to the bus.
Speaker 1He's like how fast are you going? I'm going 50. Slow it down Much action, but I mean like they would have been able to figure all this out pretty easily at that point.
Speaker 2It's like oh, there's nothing, there's nothing to worry about, We've got a lot of time now.
Speaker 1Yeah, so apparently the the bus jump that you think is unrealistic, and unbelievable.
Speaker 2It's hilarious.
Speaker 1It's so unrealistic because whenever you see the bus in the air, it's like well, how did the bus ramp? Like there's no ramp, it's just, it just goes off. I'm like wait, how did the bus get air?
Speaker 2and why was anyone driving on this road at all? If well, there wasn't at this point, if the road was out like, but no like. There was no like because it's all cops at this point okay, I mean, I guess I can just be like okay, there's a part of the road that's not everybody got off beforehand, but it seems like they could have just gotten off.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's the well they just their map was wrong yeah it was before.
Speaker 3GPS.
Hollywood Action Movie Industry Gossip
Speaker 1I can't wait till it gets to that, because I wrote down the line that the chief captain says Matt, what is it? Oh yeah, because the person in the truck that he's on is like I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. The map has that it's completed, but I guess it was bad intel and he's like you're fired, you're all fucking fired. Love that guy. So I guess in the bus jump scene, the vehicle defies audience expectations and the laws of physics Physics, yeah, by clearing a 50-foot gap in the road.
Speaker 2The bus would have had to have been going like 90 miles an hour to make that jump If there was a ramp.
Speaker 1So I guess the crew was worried that the stunt driver performing the jump would shatter a spine upon impact from doing the jump.
Speaker 1And if that wasn't enough, to the fact that the stunt driver could die, even if he didn't break his back, there was a possibility of the camera rig could have broken loose and skewered the poor guy from being inside the thing. It's so wild, it's like I don't know, but that's just, that's such a 90s things where it's like I mean, can this bus make the jump? Is it realistic? It's like no, it's not realistic.
Speaker 2So we really have to throw a bus off this huge highway.
Speaker 1I feel like they're like all right, so what's a realistic jump? They're like maybe 25 feet, maybe a speed bump, double it, double it and then triple it. But, sir the math, I don't care, you're fired, you're all fired and then, in a classic Keanu Reeves performance, in Keanu Reeves fashion, he performed all his own stunts. Of course nice, because he's just probably our best, our best, you know, action star.
Speaker 2We got kind of yeah, I mean, a lot of other actors do their own stunts, like I think Tom Cruise does a lot of his own stunts. Oh, he does like everything. He's this. No, I just don't really like him.
Speaker 1He's like hey can I die please soon, because that's what I'm trying to do here.
Speaker 2Let him do it.
Speaker 1He makes good movies, even though he's kind of a weirdo.
Speaker 2He is a weirdo. Yeah, he's a great actor.
Speaker 1Another thing I read was that Sandra Bullock actually learned to drive a bus for the filming.
Speaker 2That's some dedication.
Speaker 1Take that, Tom Cruise. You learned how to fly a jet.
Speaker 2She learned how to drive a bus. She got a skill she could work with. Yeah, I don't know. Well, tom grew's also like learned to fly a plane or top gun, top gun.
Speaker 1Yeah, maverick, he knows he can fly a helicopter, I think a jet. Now he can. How do you feel he can?
Speaker 2run. I mean judging by, uh, other actors who have been pilots. How would you feel if you just got, you're in trouble and they just pick you up in a helicopter? Dang would you what would you say wait, say that again, like if you're in trouble. And they just pick you up in a helicopter like dang. What would you say? Wait, say that again, like if you're in trouble. And then who was the guy who flew, who rescued the dude in the helicopter? Indiana Jones guy.
Speaker 1Oh, um Harrison Ford. Dude, if Harrison Ford just like rescued me in a helicopter, I'd be like cool, hey, can we like go to your house and hang out now?
Speaker 2Like just fly me to your house.
Speaker 1Let's chill a little bit. Just kiss you out of the helicopter and be like. I don't like talking to people. You're just going to want to talk about Star Wars, and I hate.
Speaker 2Star Wars. Pass me the whiskey.
Speaker 1And then, after Star Wars, you'll talk about Indiana Jones.
Speaker 3I'm a grumpy old man you're lucky.
Speaker 1I didn't wreck trying to save you, because I've wrecked five planes oh for, like Air Force One, he does no he, he's, I think he's been in like three plane crashes, or something like that he shouldn't have a license. Yeah, but you, you gonna tell Harrison Ford no dog.
Speaker 2I guess, yeah, if I'm the person handing out a license and like, if there's a limit, three strikes you're out, three helicopters you're you're gone, no more license. Like not a terracin ford I know, maybe if you gave me a ride, well, what if someone in a wookie costume was walking in with him?
Speaker 1could you say, no, be like?
Speaker 2okay, actually, hold on, I'm joining for the safety of everyone else in the area. I think you have to oh, so another interesting he can have one he can have one.
Speaker 1He seems young and spry. He'd probably get hot in the cockpit. So apparently Quentin Tarantino was originally supposed to direct the film but he decided nah, he could have made it fun. I swear to god if I recommend another action 90s action movie and I have to deal with this again.
Speaker 1You're off the pod. So yeah, I guess, following the release of reservoir dogs in 92, tarantino was one of the most sought out after directors in hollywood, and speeding was one of the many projects that landed on his desk. Uh, tarantino passed on the film and decided to make pulp fiction instead, which you know better choice was. It was pretty cool. Yeah, ip Fiction is like one of the best movies ever made. So you know I can't be too mad about that. Harry, his partner in the movie. He was originally supposed to be the bad guy.
Speaker 2Oh sweet In Pulp Fiction no in.
Speaker 1Speed. Oh, okay, yeah, instead of. He was supposed to be the bad guy, but they just chose not to because they kind of wanted a bigger actor. Yeah you need a good villain and he also needed like a buddy to kind of hang out with for a little bit and someone on the phone to be like hey, Bounce ideas, hey, you like figure this out so we can go surfing bro. So for our last bag, the movie tested so well, they moved up the release date.
Speaker 2Dang. People need to see this now.
Speaker 1Well, usually like that's very unusual. Mostly everything gets pushed back more. But yeah, I guess it was just so good that they were just like perfect.
Speaker 2get it out of here now Get it in people's faces faster.
Speaker 1According to the screenwriter, when 20th Century Fox witnessed the incredible reception speed received at test screenings, the studio suspected it had a hit on their hands. The premiere date was promptly rescheduled for june instead of august, which paid off. Speed debuted at number one ranking, raking in 14.5 million dollars first weekend, and it was made for 30 million so at the time, which is very good. And so the director, john debaunt. Uh, so he's only really made. Let's see how many movies has he made? Five movies, so he's made two masterpieces Speed, twister. And then he decided to destroy his career by making Speed 2, snooze Control, the remake of the Haunting, one of the most boring haunted house films and remakes ever, which also has a dope cast though Liam Neeson's in it, owen Wilson's in it. They don't work. And then he made Lara Croft, tomb Raider, the Cradle of Life.
Speaker 2I believe that's the sequel. That was a bad movie too, but it was still fun.
Speaker 1Yeah, it is man that just has to suck that. You made two really fun ridiculous action movies and it's like I can't make it happen again.
Speaker 2That has to be so frustrating. The formula has changed so much yeah.
Speaker 1I think that happens to directors, though, where it's like, oh, no, like, what is this? What's happening?
Speaker 2Why can't I get this?
Speaker 1right now, but it's fine because he was like the director of, he was a cinematographer on like Cujo, you know Die Hard. Should we hop into the film, man? Yeah, all right, all right. So the movie starts with us going down an elevator shaft revealing the titles. Titles look terrible, but the music, kind of cues, come in. The music's really good.
Speaker 2Yeah, the music's fun yeah.
Speaker 1We see a man working on an elevator and like some guy comes up and he's like, hey, what are you doing down here? And he's like, oh, I got, I got like the work order, or whatever, and stabs him in the ear. Dude, stab him somewhere less painful, that would kill him faster.
Speaker 2Or if he, if he, your disguise. And why do you have to stop?
Speaker 1Well, because I guess since he knows he's in there whenever they have to evacuate the building. They'll be like, hey, there's a guy down here and go get him. It's like we got to kill him.
Elevator Hostage Crisis Rescue
Speaker 2Yeah, I guess you got to tie up and he was luckily in the one place where they didn't look. So we see the other elevator.
Speaker 1Yeah, well. Well, it was like a service, it was like a service the freight elevator.
Speaker 1Yeah, it was service stuff and stuff like that. So then we see some people get on the elevator. They get on there. They make fun of a guy named Bob because he pushed a button. He's like good job, bob, you're able to push a button. I'm like I don't know why we're being so harsh to this random guy that we're not going to know very long. The bomber blows the cables and the elevator descends, but emergency brakes stop the elevator and then the guy makes says to Bob which button did you push, bob?
Speaker 2It's like dude, get off his nuts man, damn.
Speaker 1It's like, why are we that's like a? That's definitely a Joss.
Speaker 2Whedon, the emergency cable release button yeah.
Speaker 1Duh. And then we're with the LAPD SWAT team. We see officers Jack Travon, sure, yeah, whatever Played by Keanu Reeves, and Harry Temple, played by Jeff Daniels. They're called to Los Angeles skyscraper, where the bomber has the elevator full of people hostage for a 3 million ransom, threatening to blow the emergency brakes, keeping the elevator from plunging to its doom.
Speaker 2Hell yeah, way to go, man. That's a cool villain move yeah.
Speaker 1And then Keanu Reeves, essentially, or Jack, just says, hey, harry will go solve the bomb problem. And then they go up to the elevator. They're examining the bomb so that they can disarm it. They only have like 23 minutes. We learn, they get to the shaft. We see that the bomber hears them coming because it's super loud in the elevator shaft, I guess. And this guy is professional at electronics because he's, I guess, set up a microphone up there so he could listen. He's so smart, this villain.
Speaker 2He is pretty smart. That's what I like about him.
Speaker 1I'm like wow, he's a really smart guy.
Speaker 2Like most of the time, he's pretty smart.
Speaker 1Sometimes he kind of yeah, oh, yeah, definitely. Sometimes he kind of screws things up so they see the bomb. Jack doesn't like the situation we get, like this whole hostage metaphor. I don't know Like Harry just randomly asked like someone's got a hostage, what do you do? And he's like I'll shoot the hostage. I won't kill him, but I'll, we'll see that it works I know, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1And then all this kind of leads to jack being like hey, uh, something's not right here. So jack quickly thinks, after he and harry examines the bomb, and gets an idea to rig a cable from the window washing crane on top of the building to hold the elevator.
Speaker 2It ends up being very smart heavy ass elevator apparently, because it rips that shit right off the thing.
Speaker 1Well, I guess it's just like because, well, I'm sure it's like the force of it initial, like I don't know man, those things are supposed to hold like billions of pounds. That's true. Well, I mean damn Bob, and they're probably shaking the elevator the whole time.
Speaker 2He's the crane operator and he's screwing all the bolts.
Speaker 1So the bomber figures out the plan and triggers the bomb, but the crane holds the elevator long enough for the hostages to be rescued via the access panel. Um you, of course, there always has to be one person in the elevator. I can't do it. It's like so you just would rather die in this elevator instead of potentially being chopped in half, which I understand, and I feel like terrifying.
Speaker 2Uh, jack and harry, they're pretty good. They seem like better cops than we have now, like they're pretty patient with people they're really good, they're patient, they're nice they're trying to save them yeah and I mean usually like the scene.
Speaker 1Well, they seem like the ones that kind of have a, like their jobs are pretty, but like when they're not doing their job, like I'm sure it's probably a more relaxed job at their desk and stuff like that. Yeah, probably, even though they're not. I don't know. I don't know anything about SWAT teams, but they are a SWAT team. Yeah, they seem to be the SWAT teams.
Speaker 3I just thought.
Speaker 2I don't know, and I to be good with people.
Speaker 1if you're a bomb expert, it's like you have to be cool.
Speaker 2I just think the only thing you have to do to be good at with bombs is bombs.
Speaker 1That's true.
Speaker 2Well, yeah, but you just got to be good under pressure, like this guy's pretty good, but his bedside manner is horrible.
Speaker 1One thing about this scene once that lady gets out of the elevator and she starts, they all start running. You know what she says. Oh no, I left my shoe in there, it's like hey, lady Bitch. Maybe if you took your shoes off and hurried up and got out of there, we wouldn't be worrying about a shoe, but you took forever about it.
Speaker 2Calvary just dives in after the shoe, the shoe.
Speaker 1What he ends up surviving the elevator crash.
Speaker 3No shoe left behind.
Speaker 1Bro, get a hop on my board. So Jack and Harry then figure out the bomber is hiding in one of the freight elevators which were not checked during the evacuation of the building because he blew the bomb early. That's how they know that he's there. Because he blew the bomb early, like three minutes early.
Speaker 2They're like why would he do that, he must still be here, that he's there because he blew the bomb early, like three minutes earlier like why would he do that?
Speaker 1he must still be here. He's watching him, yeah, and we get the line. It's like what is it? Oh yeah, harry says couldn't hold his wad common problem for middle-aged men.
Speaker 2I know such a cheap shot.
Speaker 1It's so good, or he's like, or so they say it's like, Harry. How do you know that it takes a lot of wads? Yeah, so as they corner the bomber in an elevator, he takes Harry hostage. They both get stuck in the elevator. The bomber has dynamite strapped to himself and as the bomber tries to escape with Harry, Harry says shoot the hostage. And then he shoots him.
Speaker 2It shoots him in a bad place. He shoots him in the leg right, but he shot him on the inside of the leg, which is where all your main arteries are when it was like down your leg, when he was like it was like six inches from being a bad shot a little later, yeah, you could.
Speaker 1You have lots of other parts of the leg you can shoot like shoot him in the I guess he was just going for like the chunky part, right, so so it just like knocks him down. But I guess I don't know, I don't know where you shoot people, man.
Speaker 2I hope I never have to. It seems like he could have, I don't know.
Speaker 1Yeah, it doesn't matter. So the Jack shoots Harry in the leg, forcing the bomber to release him.
Speaker 2God, I'd be pissed if somebody shot me in the leg.
Speaker 1Right, oh time, even if he was the one to tell him to do it. The bomber flees and activates the bomb, seemingly dying in the process, or did he no? And then we cut to Jack and Harry. They're being praised by Lieutenant Mac and they're getting medals and stuff like that, and then we learn that Harry's being promoted to detective and then, having survived the incident, however, the bomber watches on TV as they receive their medals.
Speaker 2Yeah, I love how he's got all the TVs and all the news coverage on every single channel.
Speaker 1Man, that's fun. He's a real news junkie.
Speaker 3He's just so smart.
Speaker 1He's like I can compute all of this. And then we see everybody celebrating and drinking. Everybody's getting super drunk. Harry's like just saying how lucky they were, and he's like he's getting super drunk. Harry's like just saying how lucky they were, and he's like he's not really celebrating. And Jack's like Harry, we survived. And then after all this, he's super drunk. He stands up. He's like I'm going to go home and have some sex. Yeah, so funny man. At least I hope Can we just like praise Jeff Daniels a little bit. Man, the guy is so good. Yeah, I love Jeff Daniels. He's amazing, it's wild. He's always funny in the movies. And it's still wild to me that in Dumb and Dumber they didn't want him to be in the movie because they're like he's more of a serious actor. But I'm like he's always funny in all his movies.
Speaker 2Yeah, he can't help it. I don't think thing, even when he's the villain, like there's a show with a western show with the he was like the villain leader, he's still funny deadwood.
Speaker 1No, it's the only one I know what's called. Okay, so the next morning, uh, jack's getting some coffee, he's got some back and forth with some random, you know blue collar workers inside. He's like, hey, we'll see you later. They're in LA, not New York, yep. And then Jack witnesses a bus explode which kills the driver, and then, for some reason, he doesn't call the police, no, he picks up a payphone and says this must be for me, which is right. I guess he was just assuming.
Speaker 2What's the first thing you do when a bus explodes?
Speaker 1Well, I think he's, he's like wait, the bus blew up and now we're getting a call. This is probably like a, like a, you know I mean yeah, that's a sign.
Speaker 2That's a stretch. I mean when you who calls random payphone?
Speaker 3yeah, exactly so it's gotta be. It's gotta be for me.
High-Speed Bus Bomb Threat Rescue
Speaker 1That's what I'm gonna think if I ever. Well, we don't have them, so it doesn't matter anymore. So the bomber contacts jack on a nearby payphone explaining that a similar bomb is rigged on another bus, which will activate once it reaches 50 miles per hour and detonate.
Speaker 2Then he's like but you don't know which bus it is, yeah, but then immediately tells him Jack wait, he tells him which bus it is.
Speaker 1Yeah, he's like it's this bus 282 or something. Oh yeah, he should have watched the movie. Yeah, he wouldn't be making. It would be making fun of it just seemed like he's like.
Speaker 2You don't know which one it is, and then jack just gets on a motorcycle or he steals that dude's car, which is hilarious, so good he goes straight to the bus. Yeah, like he knows all the bus schedules he has not talked to anybody from headquarters.
Speaker 1That's true, he. He did just immediately know which bus it was which was kind of wild. Yeah well, I mean, maybe that's, I don't know, if cops just know the routes of the buses this bus driver, happiest bus driver on the fucking planet I love my boy sam yeah, sam's, great gone too soon.
Speaker 2I can't imagine any bus driver has a smile on his face ever hey, well, when you're, when sandra, when sandra?
Speaker 3bullock is your often bus passenger everything I mean, hey, if she got on the bus every day, he's like she's so cheerful and just like bubbly.
Speaker 2It's great, you don't know it's her. And then, I don't know, it just seemed to be like look, we know you're in a. It's great to be in a movie, but we need you to stop smiling. So big.
Speaker 1We need you to be a grumpy bush.
Speaker 2We need you to be miserable like this is draining your life away like a blue collar job is supposed to.
Speaker 1You know, some people like their jobs.
Speaker 2I guess, but it's, I think I should probably have like a job where I drive.
Speaker 1I feel like I love driving and I drive all the time.
Speaker 2Yeah, I could do that. I could maybe do that, but I fall asleep sometimes as long as I can listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1You fell asleep while driving A couple of times. Well, you don't need to be on this bus.
Speaker 2No, that's what I'm saying. I couldn't do a driving joke.
Speaker 1Jack. Why did the bus explode? The driver fell asleep.
Speaker 2He drove into a ball.
Speaker 1He was telling me he only got two hours of sleep. But yeah, so we learned that if the bus gets 50 miles per hour, reaches it, then the bomb is set, and if it goes below, then it explodes. He also may Howard, which we'll learn. That's the bomber's name demands a ransom of $3.7 million and threatens to detonate the bus if Jack tries to offload any passengers. We then cut to Sandra.
Speaker 2Bullock's character and this rules. This is a great thing for a villain to do. Yeah, it's a fucking cool concept.
Speaker 1It is such a good concept. We it is such a good concept. We should have 7,000 more concepts like this. But we finally get to meet Annie, played by Sandra Bullock she's so sweet. Who's getting on a bus? Then we also see Alan Ruck Worst part of this movie. Not enough Ruck.
Speaker 3But he's very annoying.
Speaker 1We see her, she moves to another place and then another person starts talking to her and she's like, oh my God, I need a car, which we'll learn a little later. She doesn't have a license because of speeding. Jack races through Los Angeles freeway traffic and after commandeering a civilian's car the Toon man he manages to get ahead of the bus, which had already gone over 50 miles per hour, because they wouldn't listen to him and let him on the bus whenever he got there.
Speaker 2Yeah, the guy with the car, it was so funny. Yeah, he's great. It's just like okay, just don't wreck it, don't scratch it.
Speaker 1I feel like a lot of movies like this always have just like a random side character that's just along for the ride for like five minutes of the movie, and they're always great yeah, but I feel like it's always kind of crazy as a police officer he probably should have been better. I guess he knew he was like, oh, I might need them, I don't know.
Speaker 2And can people, can police really do this? I don't know but movies think they can, movies do think they can, so I guess they can.
Speaker 1It's kind of something I've noticed that movies don't do this anymore.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's probably not like a it's.
Speaker 1We probably shouldn't have our cops stealing cars backward.
Speaker 2You could trust the police to do the right thing, maybe even a little bit, even though he makes a guy wreck his car he fucks his car. Oh, there's a door in my way between me and this bus.
Speaker 1Oh, bro, that ruled. So we see that he manages to get ahead of the bus, which had already gone over 50 miles per hour, and gets a message to the driver, sam, to keep the speed over 50 miles per hour, and gets a message to the driver, sam, to keep the speed over 50 miles per hour. I love this, though, this whole scene, because there's great suspense with the odometer. Never thought I'd be like so enthralled with the odometer.
Speaker 2Y'all ever watch your odometer go from like 99,000 miles to 100,000 miles. Oh and miles, oh. No, that's intense.
Speaker 1I said odometer I mean it's on the same thing, right?
Speaker 3yeah, yeah, yeah, you know no, I actually haven't, actually just said but it's great.
Speaker 1I love this scene, I love this movie. So what am I talking about? Um? And then jack calls harry, explaining that the bomber is still alive. He's like how do you know?
Speaker 2it's like I know, because there's the same guy I heard him call Jack then gets. Yeah, you saw him and heard him and like was held by him and smelled him, smelled him, kissed him.
Speaker 1Jack then gets on board. By jumping onto the moving bus, he breaks the car door, like you said. And he also drags his feet a little bit which is a theme.
Speaker 2His feet a lot uh and ouchy. Good thing he's got some tough boots on.
Speaker 1Yeah, you're going fast. That would hurt so bad, but he gets on the bus and of course there's a criminal on board yeah who is just? Terrified that he's gonna get arrested. And then uh gigantor, uh wrestles yeah, that was mean.
Speaker 2Why are you just giving this guy a nickname Jack?
Speaker 1Oh yeah, Maybe he's got some issues about being paid Well luckily, how we know Jack's a good guy, he later starts calling him by Otis oh yeah, that is good. But yeah, so the guy discharges his gun and accidentally wounds Sam or Sam, yeah, fucks him up, missed the old boy.
Speaker 2Sam didn't need that. Yeah, this is why people who are stressed shouldn't have a gun.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly, and this is one of the parts where I'm like Jack, pretty good cop. He didn't immediately shoot this guy Probably should have, probably just should have. I feel like it causes more problems, but hey, you know, get on him though Saved him, and then he ends up saving him again and I'm pretty sure that criminal never went to jail because yeah, what's his story?
Speaker 1He probably just robbed something. Yeah, he went to jail. But now Annie Porter, played by Sandra Bullock, is in action. She takes over for Sam, but when she tries to slow down to get help, jack is forced to reveal the bomb, shocking and horrifying All the passengers.
Speaker 2What if they're just like oh yeah.
Speaker 1It's like no, we don't believe you. Even though you've gone through so much to get on this bus, we don't believe you. And Andy, this is where we get. Andy reveals that she doesn't have a license. He's like oh yeah, why? Speeding Jack's like the perfect person for the job. He calls Harry again. He tells Harry that a bomb underneath the bus is connected to a gold watch, and you have Alan Rook doing like the back and forth for them all, being the middle man. He's so good, like when he starts cussing. He's like uh, darn it, so good.
Speaker 2Yeah, that was very funny.
Speaker 1Alan Rugg. He's the side character. He's the best friend of Ferris Bueller. That's Alan Rugg and he's in Succession. He's just kind of one of the I need to watch Succession Funny as heck. I heard it was good. Yeah, you should. You should just do it.
Speaker 3Leave.
Speaker 1I'll do the rest of the podcast by myself.
Speaker 2Go watch Succession.
Speaker 1All right, I'm going to watch it. Bum, bum, bum bum. See you, jason.
Speaker 2Bye, jason, never cut anything.
Speaker 1So the bus drives off the freeway, destroying so many cars and a ton of rails Hell yeah and just running over every sign it is blasting through these cars so great. No way, the bus is going over 50 miles per hour right?
Cliffhanger Freeway Jump Rescue
Speaker 2now, I know that's what I was thinking. You think maybe they would have slowed it down a little bit. And, like I don't know about buses, this is the go fast bus and they're heavy, so anything that touches it it's going to explode. It's going to explode, yeah, which is probably true, yeah, I would give it.
Speaker 1And this is where we see that the bomber is watching all the news and because there's so much news that he can see everything that's happening, and he's also watching football and cheering for some team in the middle of the week. I don't know, but maybe it's an old game he recorded.
Speaker 2Yeah, he did, he records them. Yeah, it's got time.
Speaker 1So then we cut to Harry. He comes up with the idea that it may be a cop because of the gold watch, because, like retirement watches, yes, pretty big, that's pretty cool, pretty big leap, I feel like immediately. But they have this whole tell me with this watch and I was like I don't know, maybe he's trying to tell you that time is on your side?
Speaker 1I don't know, but the bus is narrowly misses so many cars and luckily the police clear a route to an unopened 105 freeway Before they get on it looks like they ran over a baby, though.
Speaker 2And this is a lady that has a bunch of cans.
Speaker 1My babies why? And then, of course, because everybody just wants to cross the street when this bus is going down the road, because a bunch of kids are crossing the street and they luckily miss them.
Speaker 2It's like Grand Theft Auto 5. Everything's running out in front of you. And he's just like you're supposed to be at school.
Speaker 1Ah, Sandra, she's great.
Speaker 2I love how ballsy these kids are. They just trust the light and that people are going to stop, you know?
Speaker 1well, they had an adult with them, didn't look both ways you just look at that little little man on the on the sign. Wait for it to go, I trust this light more than anything, I guess you have to, we're supposed to, you never get anywhere.
Speaker 1So they almost they're right there at the free, but they have to make a crazy turn jack, worried that that they will tip over. They have everybody sit on one side of the bus and then we see the bus making the turn. It looks like it's about to tip over, but doesn't, and I love it sure hell yeah weight displacement baby annie and jack kind of chit chat about the situation.
Speaker 1uh, sandra's really great in here. You're realizing oh wait, this is just one of the most charming actresses we've ever had. Oh no, she's adorable and it's like you kind of see, jag's like hey, I'm kind of liking her and I'm like man that's kind of Sandra Bullock for you.
Speaker 2People are going to die. Hey, it's an action movie.
Speaker 1We've got to have a love interest. I mean, and when are you going to meet Sandra Bullock on a bus?
Speaker 2come on you got to take a shot here. Keanu Reeves, you do have to do that, it's just true.
Speaker 1Harry gets the idea that the cop might be retired because it's like oh, they gave out gold watches for retired police officers, right, and he's like so now they're getting so close to figuring out who Howard is.
Speaker 2I feel like Howard, that was stupid, yeah, putting your watch on there, and then it was the golden opportunity to put in a cool watch.
Speaker 1Well, it's been like Mickey Mouse. He's so confident in his plan it's like I'm not going to get caught, and then they're going to realize later like oh a gold watch, and this is kind of spitting in the face of the LAPD.
Speaker 2Some more, yes, because he's so, but like they're not going to have the watch anymore, yeah, but they're going to.
Speaker 1So he's kind of expecting them to look at it. Yeah, he's expecting that. I don't think he's doing it on purpose. I don't think he's like this has to happen. Well, I guess he knows that Jack is such a good like bomb squad guy that he's going to end up probably seeing the bomb at some point, because you know he's the greatest.
Speaker 2So it's like a love letter to Jack. Yeah, he's in love with Jack.
Speaker 1That's the whole movie. That's the movie that I told you they kissed earlier.
Speaker 2They did kiss and he wants the money to take him on a cool vacation. Yeah.
Speaker 1On a cruise ship, Probably to Key West. Maybe that was what Speed 2 was going to be.
Speaker 2Howard's back and he takes Jack on a Love boat. Love boat, yeah, love, speed boat.
Speaker 1Yeah. So Mac the lieutenant demands that they offload the passengers onto a flatbed trailer. But Jack warns him about the bomber's plot and he's like remember, he's crazy, not stupid. Yeah, about Howard.
Speaker 2The chick gets fucked up so hard. Yeah, oh God.
Speaker 1The press shows up in helicopters which fly over the bus and would broadcast any rescue attempt made to the bomber, who calls Jack to reiterate his instructions not to unload any passengers. But Jack convinces him to allow the injured Sam to be offloaded for medical attention as a show of goodwill. This is where we hear Gigantor for the first time. But you know, it's just like Howard. You know it's just like Howard, you let a guy off.
Speaker 1He's kind of willing to be talked into situations which I think makes sense a little later, because he's like I don't want to talk to negotiators, All they want to do is be your friend, and I'm like does he not want to talk?
Speaker 2to negotiators.
Speaker 1Because they might be able to talk him into it.
Speaker 2And he's kind of willingly does it like, lets it happen.
Speaker 1He knows he's a big softy, but I think he, I think realistically he's just like well, I'll let somebody off, they'll maybe give me the actual money.
Speaker 2Sure, yeah, it's a negotiation.
Speaker 1And then we get the tense scene of them trying to get the driver off, and they successfully do. After witnessing a female passenger named Helen, shaken by everything that's happened, attempt to get off.
Speaker 3The bomber detonates a smaller bomb underneath the front of the bus, killing her.
Speaker 1What did he just say? He just told you that they can't get off or they're going to explode. And she's still like, oh, I guess I'll do it anyways. But I got to that actress, she's actually, she's done so many things. This movie is great. Sidekick Like the people on the bus are great.
Speaker 3The ones that get parts.
Speaker 1They're all really good like nervous actors. I'd be great at being nervous. Then Jack tells Mac, get the helicopters out of here because they're broadcasting everything that's happening, which is not smart. But hey, it bleeds, it leads everything that's happening, which is not smart, but hey, it bleeds it leads. Oh God, we see the people on the bus are starting to argue and name call everybody. Jack checks on Annie, who's scared and thought she was about to die. Tells her the bomber is the asshole and that she's doing a great job.
Speaker 2Good job, Trav it's like.
Speaker 1it's none of y'all's fault, it's him. He's an asshole.
Speaker 2And that's pretty cool. Yeah, way to go, keanu.
Speaker 1So the cops learn that the freeway is unfinished. Chief is pissed, you're fired.
Speaker 2Everybody's fucking fired. So yeah, he says the freeway is unfinished, but like I feel like there shouldn't have been so many cars on the road when, like as they're having this conversation.
Speaker 1Yeah, you know, here's the thing Somebody at some point should be like should we tell them that that road's not finished yet? I?
Speaker 2don't know. I mean, I guess, just roads. Why were the signs?
Speaker 1not closer to the like the main part of the road.
Speaker 2It's like 50 feet until there's a gap, and it's like you should have told everybody 5,000 feet, hit the exit.
Speaker 1Yeah, let's go. When Jack learns part of the freeway is incomplete, he realizes he's got to persuade Annie to accelerate the bus to maximum speed so they can jump the gap Maximum speed, which they do and it's great. But Jack's great in this he tells everybody put their bags, anything that's gonna hurt them, under the seats, everybody to hold on.
Speaker 2Put your luggage in the overhead compartment.
Speaker 1It's a great tense scene, though, and like the bus is trying to speed up, but it can only go like 70 miles an hour yeah, because they've got regulators on and then once it like jumps up, it magically somehow kind of goes like horizontal, a little bit vertical.
Speaker 2It does vertical, it hits the hydraulics yeah, it's like.
Speaker 1Luckily they got like silly. At the end of every freeway that isn't finished. They have, you know, a mario where you got the little jumpy things.
Speaker 2Luckily they always put those there in la yeah, man, they're everywhere, because this happens every single day no, I will say I love this jump.
Speaker 1I know it's dumb and stupid and it wouldn't work, but even today, just just seeing it, I put what I said in my notes. Whenever I saw it happen, I was like let's go.
Speaker 2We need to look up this. I wonder if we can find the physics that would be needed to do this job. I believe you probably can. I bet this has been explored.
Speaker 1My boys over at Mythbusters have done it. They did yeah, wow, I need to go back there and just rewatch all the movie.
Speaker 2Because realistically, it should have just crashed straight headfirst into the ground. You know what I need to do I need to go.
Speaker 1It's Shark Week when we're filming this. I need to go to the Mythbusters Shark Week. I love that one because they did Jaws. That's cool, Like whenever they shoot the air container in its mouth. They actually try that. And out they actually try that and it's really cool. That is cool because they don't really. They're made to not explode like that. Yeah, they're just supposed to. They'll like fly off or something, I guess. Um, so back to the movie.
Speaker 2He then directs annie to los angeles international airport to use their unobstructed runways so smart yeah, I thought it was a cool idea, but where's the plane that picks up the bus? That's what I wanted to see.
Speaker 1The plane.
Speaker 2the bus drives into a cargo plane. As they're both moving, it takes off.
Speaker 1Problem solved Except the bus is not moving.
Speaker 2Yeah, you're right.
Undercover Bomb Threat Resolved on Bus
Speaker 1It's not just like the container of the bus needs to go fast, it's the wheels on the bus has to go fast. Okay, yeah, you win this round, jesse, and plus plus. He's got a camera in that thing.
Speaker 2He'll just blow it up, he'd be, like whoa, a double whammy I get a plane and I get a local bus.
Speaker 1Okay, fine, I'm not a great writer yeah, so how about you and your daughter make fun of it now? Oh, we will snake bite him. Oh god, just kidding, don't make any noise. Thanks, my dog.
Speaker 2If you don't know, he's trained to bite people with bad taste.
Speaker 1God that'd be so.
Speaker 3Dope anytime someone comes to my house and they say they don't like a movie.
Speaker 1I like he's just sitting there watching the movie.
Speaker 2He's staring at him now.
Speaker 1do you think the movie is good now? Yes, I love, I love it, thank you. So the bomber calls Jack and compliments him, saying like how good of an idea it was to go into the airport. And plus, because nobody, they can't fly over the airport Protected airspace.
Speaker 1Yes, and Howard tells him that they need to get him that money. Jack says he knows he wants the money. Oh, he's like. Yeah, I know you want the money that you didn't earn, he's like. And then the bomber says that he did earn it and he has medals as well, just like.
Speaker 2Jack, I think they're saying something cool here. You know, take better care of your public servants, sure.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think that's exactly after they retire.
Speaker 2If you win a medal, you cover their healthcare stuff. I don't know.
Speaker 1Well, I mean, it's like they just should have better retirement options and teachers.
Speaker 2They should have put the bomber, should have been a teacher. Yeah.
Speaker 1They don't get paid shit. I can calculate the hell out of that jump. She could.
Speaker 2yeah, hell, yeah, she would have, he would have, he would have it's like if the bomber was a teacher, they'd be like, uh, let's see, there's a jump. Could this bus actually make this jump with children?
Speaker 1that would have been horrible.
Speaker 2One of the children's a convict, and he's also pulls a gun out of jack making out in the back.
Speaker 1God, this is turning super rowdy throw throwing like wads of paper, spitballs and like jack's like everybody shut up and sit down he's like there's a bob on the bus.
Speaker 2He's like your mom's a bus. Sit down. He's like there's a bomb on the bus. He's like your mom's a bus, like all the teenagers are like yo Annie, you hot girl.
Speaker 1Yeah, what that mouth do. Why do we always get a like New York?
Speaker 2type sex I don't know.
Speaker 1But Jack convinces him to let him off the bus so that he can help get the money to Howard. So then Jack ends up getting off the bus after getting the permission from Howard, saying that he needed to talk to the authorities face-to-face to organize the ransom. Jack's boss, mac, points out that in the airport the press can't fly over the helicopters in a restrictive airspace and thus can't report on any attempts to rescue the passengers. But Jack still thinks the barber will somehow still still no, he's smart, he's smart wicked smart, wicked smart.
Speaker 2I love how Sandra Bullock was like whenever he got off. She's like what the fuck? Yeah, everybody on the bus is like, oh, he's just gonna leave us here yeah, no, they should've like, switched him out with someone else and take care of stuff.
Speaker 1I don't know, probably would've blown him up so, in a last-ditch attempt to defuse the bomb, Jack goes under the bus on a towed sled and we see Harry's helping him on the phone.
Speaker 2That was kind of fun. This is really cool.
Speaker 1I forgot all about that and I was like hell.
Speaker 2yeah, this is great. Yeah, it's just like he barely gets under it, clears it. That was cool.
Speaker 1So Harry at the same time learns that the bomber is Howard Payne. He tells Jack to get out and that they are on the way to get him. I'm sure everything's going to go perfectly, but because, like, the tires on the bus are just like being destroyed slowly, yes, Because one of them got, they get shot, yeah, something yeah, which knows, because they went into the airport and it has the spikes.
Speaker 1The spike strips yes, slowly spikes the spike strips yeah so slowly one of the tires slowly, the wheels are like crumbling yeah, um, and because of this, these little toe sled thing kind of like messes up and jack has to puncture the right.
Speaker 2Okay, that was so fucking funny yeah rolled funny and rolled.
Bus Bomb Rescue Operation Success
Speaker 1It's like, out of all things that you had to hit, you had to hit the fuel line.
Speaker 2Yeah, that sucked see, I thought he was just trying to. He was trying to climb his way back, yeah, and he's like, can't lose the screwdriver.
Speaker 1This guy didn't stab shit and then he's like completely covered in gas, which is like the worst scenario, because now, like, your hands are all slippery and you're just getting high off gas yeah, sandra Bullock's going to hate this. Your butt and feet are dragging against the concrete. Oh man, so much pain. Like Sandra Bullock's expecting to have sex with him. The guy ain't going to be able to sit. He's stinky. He's like well, I guess I'm on top. Oh, but the passengers are able to bring him back on board. You have Annie screaming the whole time. It's so great he tells Annie that they are, because every time something's happening she's like get them up, come on. And she gets so mad at him, like, hits him when he gets back on the bus.
Speaker 1She's like how could you leave me? Yeah, us too. He tells Annie that they are losing gas and to tell the chief to get a fuel truck to them.
Speaker 2He's like it'll be here in 10 old minutes.
Speaker 1Yeah it's like that's not enough time and I love it. He's like I accidentally punctured the gas tank. He's like Andy, what do you think you needed another challenge, you fucker. It's like how could this get something about this movie? It just keeps regressing to crazier and crazier and adding so many obstacles. And it's just like every time you think, oh, they're at the airport, it's fine. Well, now they got a tire and now they have no gas.
Speaker 2And it's like God dang it. They can't catch a plane. Now they need a refueling plane to fly by it and gas it up. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1The plane would go so slow.
Speaker 2It would probably just be taxiing on their own way. It would just fall down.
Speaker 1So now? So now that they know who Howard is, who's a former police department bomb squad officer, harry then leads a SWAT team to raid Payne's home. However, payne anticipates their arrival and rigs his house to explode, which kills the SWAT and Harry.
Speaker 2Man hate to see Jeff Daniels go well, I mean, I feel like if you deal with a lot of bombs and people who do bombs and you just go in their house, you got to be like maybe there's a bomb.
Speaker 1It's like wait, this guy seems pretty bomb heavy. I guess they think he's in there, so they're not like he's not going to blow himself up, is he? And it's like what are you talking about? He literally is constantly like I'll blow myself up yeah, I do not care it's like, hey, harry, you told jack this guy's crazy, so let's, I don't know whoops, and harry shouldn't even been there.
Speaker 2He's still hurt from being shot the day before yeah, he shouldn't be going anywhere like six months, I think I think the script forgot about that part.
Speaker 1That's okay, you know, you can make fun of that. They cut. Okay, the rest of it adds up. You can make fun of this, okay. So Jack gets a call from Howard and learns that Harry has been killed. And then I love this. He's like I'm going to rip your fucking spine out. I'm like let's go, baby.
Speaker 2I'm just like pumping my fist in the sky.
Speaker 1It's like I know I should be typing, but I'm not, I'm going to get you Howard.
Speaker 1Howard, I've killed it for you. Your spine is mine. That rhymed, that ruled, yeah, because I was going to say ass is grass, but I was like spine is mine. Anyways, howard gives Jack the location of the drop point for the money. Jack agrees and then loses his shit. He's like God we're all going to die. But Annie calms him down and tells him that they need him and he can't tell Sander Bullock now, I wouldn't be able to. So Jack then notices that Payne has been watching the passengers on a hidden surveillance camera the whole time, allowing him to be one step ahead of Jack at every moment. And the reason he figures this out is because earlier in the film, howard calls Sandra Bullock's character Wildcat. Ah, yeah, right, and Arizona's football team, I guess, are the Wildcat. Jack, luckily, is a genius and saw this in the heat of the moment and then is able to find the camera because of it.
Speaker 1But this also, I love this. This rules Like everything here with like the transmission and stuff, is great because he, jack, tells Mac that like, hey, he's filming us in here. He can't hear us.
Speaker 2But he can see us. Yeah, how they loop it.
Speaker 1You should try to find into the transmission and then play something on a loop. That's always so. He tells everybody in the bus to stay perfectly still as long as that they can do. You think this is the first movie.
Speaker 2To do that because it's been done many times.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's definitely been done. Many times had to be done before this, but maybe I like to think this is the first time, because this movie fucking goes it's a really good villain guy, yeah um, so what they're going to do, they're going to put on loop.
Speaker 3So they can all loop up.
Speaker 1Yeah, they're going to loop up and offload all the passengers onto an airport bus before they run out of gas.
Speaker 2It's just to be funny if the video, the feed they got was just like him doing the floss over and over.
Speaker 1Everybody stand up, we're dancing.
Speaker 2They're doing the Michael Jackson thriller.
Speaker 1Howard's. Like you know what. They're going to die. This is pretty good, damn, do they? Got talent so? But we see that they only were able to loop the thing for essentially like a minute and a half, so that the loop's not very long, which kind of sucks because you know it's going to be easier to notice that it's looping. But they're able. They get everybody off the bus except for Jack and Annie before, because eventually the tire explodes. It's a little great. They have like another bus next to them. They put a plank of wood out. Of course Alan Rooks laughs and he almost dies because of it. Poor guy Guy's nervous. The entire movie Love it. So, jack and Annie, they rig the bus to drive on its own. They put like straps on it and they put some metal to like push down the gas. It's great, keep it going. And then Jack and Annie escaped the bus through a floor access panel before the empty bus collides with a Boeing 707 cargo plane and explodes.
Speaker 1Hell yeah, dope escape, though Just riding on the little thing yeah, I want to do it so bad, and then they're in love. Riding on the little thing yeah, I want to do it so bad, and then they're in love.
Speaker 3Yeah, they're in love.
Speaker 1Yeah, because you do get that fun scene between Jack and Annie. They're like. You know, most relationships don't end well if they're in like a hectic situation. Yeah, it's like maybe we should get some coffee or something. Let's keep this going.
Speaker 2Let go. You remember that song uh, intergalactic from planetary. Yeah, there's that line there he's like keep it going, keep it going, keep it going. Full sweet, full speed. Too sweet to be sour, too nice. I wonder if that's a reference to this movie.
Speaker 1I don't know, it was 90s. Yeah, it was bc boys intergalactic, planetary, planetary, planetary.
Speaker 1Fucking love that song. So, with no one dead in the explosion and realizing Payne has no leverage anymore, they decide to keep the ruse that the bus is still circling the airport and use this opportunity to get Payne, jack Mac and a platoon of SWAT officers head to the like, the perishing square, whatever that is in LA to drop off the ransom money. And for some reason, annie is there, I guess because they got to go bone after this. Oh, wow, and he was there. Yeah, she's in the ambulance. She's waiting on the whole thing to be over, so I guess she can hang out with Jack. But they were at the airport, yeah, but then they went to the place for the drop off.
Speaker 2Why would they?
Speaker 1go to the. Why would?
Speaker 2Jack probably has to.
Speaker 1Yeah, he probably shouldn't even.
Speaker 2He should probably get checked out too. Yeah, get someone else to do it.
Speaker 1His butt's got road rash on it the whole time. Yeah, that's another part of the movie where it's like why the fuck is Annie in an ambulance here? She's curious why didn't she just go to the hospital and make sure she's okay first.
Speaker 2Yeah, that would be the first place to go.
Speaker 1Yes. But then Payne realizes that he has been fooled and when he sees that the sudden jerks in the video when the tape loops, he's notices it and then he's like, ah, they got me. But also he's able to see all these snipers on all these rooftops. And it's like how? Because he's just looking out his window and he's just like hey maybe we have one sniper from a long distance.
Speaker 2Yeah, they kind of showed up with the whole crew. Yeah, it's like hey, and they know he's a cop and a SWAT guy a bomb squad guy. He's going to know what you're going to do, yeah.
Speaker 1So, seeing the LAPD are waiting for him, a furious Payne poses as a police officer to kidnap Annie and manages to recover the ransom from underneath the subway tunnel.
Speaker 3He's like hey, I'm a white dude, come with me. Yeah, it's like hey, uh, jack told me that you can't be here anymore. Uh, because you should not be near this situation.
Speaker 1Nobody should be near this situation, um, and this is the great part where that they turn over the trash can and where they put the money in and he like drilled it out, man, the rats here terrible and he had annie be the one to pull the suitcase out, which is great.
Speaker 1So the police start getting impatient and Jack realizes that Payne has already has the money and goes into pursuit of who he thinks is Payne by following him into the Metro Red Line subway. However, payne is a step ahead of Jack, who's actually been following Annie, as Payne sent her to get his money, as she has been fitted with an explosive vest rigged to a pressure release detonator, payne appears and tells Jack that if he follows them he will explode the bomb and kill Annie. And this is where we get the line that I said earlier it's like you're crazy.
Speaker 1No poor people are crazy. I'm eccentric.
Speaker 2Does that mean, he's crazy?
Speaker 1too, because he doesn't have $3.7 million.
Speaker 2He doesn't have $3.7 million, he has it now he's got the case. That's why he's saying no, poor people are crazy. Oh, now I'm not poor anymore, I'm just eccentric.
Speaker 1Cool Payne then enters a subway station and pulls out a machine gun, firing it into the air to scare people so he can get away from Jack in the confusion. He then hijacks a subway train by threatening to shoot the station and isn't there, like a lever, that the emergency?
Speaker 2oh shit, lever that is in every single train or car, or every two feet, I don't know I don't know.
Speaker 1I don't know if in la no one uses them no, I think people pull them all the time. I don't know I think it's in the. I think the only person that has that ability is actually the driver.
Speaker 2I think it's only that would be safer yeah. You'd never get anywhere.
Speaker 1I think you're thinking of like the. In California they got the tram rails Maybe.
Speaker 3That's probably what you're thinking of.
Speaker 2I don't know anything about public transportation. I think those have the thing where they go. Hey, I got to stop. Tennessee's never going to have real public transportation.
Speaker 1Yeah, they would rather have a bunch of car crashes, so they can probably get taxes from everything. I don't know.
Speaker 3It's all a conspiracy.
Speaker 1Welcome to the conspiracy. We recommend conspiracies. Hell yeah, man, so fun. Payne then kills the train driver who was going to the radio for help. And here's Jack on the roof of the train car. Payne paid Mission impossible. Exactly the 90s love fighting on trains. Howard playfully jokes that Jack should accept a bribe and attempts to open the bag of his ransom money, but a die pack goes off in his face.
Speaker 2Oh, he's so mad, he's so pissed. He's like my money. He didn't think of everything.
Speaker 1Yeah, like obviously they're going to do this.
Speaker 2So you can't use the money like hey, no die bags.
Speaker 1I think this is like he probably. If he wasn't in this situation he got away free, he probably would have figured out. He would have probably like, oh, let me open it from the bottom and pull the cash out that way.
Speaker 2I don't know how die bags work so it's like a crayon, and if you do, send us if you know how die bags work.
Speed Movie Analysis and Discussion
Speaker 1I would love to know. Like if you're an officer, please let us know. You also probably don't like our podcast because jason just keeps railing on officers. No, jack's a great one, just kidding. So, pushed into a psychotic frenzy, crazed howard battles jack on the train's roof, during which jack causes pain to decap to be decapitated by rails man for the longest time.
Speaker 2Growing up, I thought this was how the guy died in mission impossible, but that was like a helicopter blade, wasn't it?
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2And I remember this kill this is the only thing I remember from the movie was the well, of course, the bomb on the bus, but like this kill was so fucking cool, yeah, it rolls.
Speaker 1And then I love because they're having that conversation while he's up there, and then Howard says something, and then you got the final line after he gets decapitated yeah well, I'm taller yeah, that's so good.
Speaker 2Really, don't lose your head. Yeah, howard, I thought that's what he was gonna say. That'd been great. That was what. That's what, arnold would.
Speaker 1I think arnold says that in a movie so I don't think they can.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, somebody says I think they say that in Commando actually.
Speaker 1So Jack, thinking that they're safe, deactivates the vest from Annie but cannot free her from the pole, as Payne had the handcuff piece. But now the train is unstoppable, apparently, and because of that they're going to accelerate into the I guess, the end of the railway and they're going to crash. So Jack accelerates it to maximum speed, causing it to derail, where it plows through a construction site and bursts on a Hollywood Boulevard. Yeah, and luckily they're all unharmed.
Speaker 2Jack and Annie. Are they the only people on the train?
Speaker 1Yeah, because everybody, nobody got on, because they're like oh, a guy's shooting, yeah, okay, and unharmed, jack and Annie kiss, while a crowd looks on amazed.
Speaker 2Yeah, jack and Annie kiss while a crowd looks on amazed. Yeah, they're amazed because they're like when did this happen? It's like whoa.
Speaker 1Well, we're actually hoping this subway would actually kind of get built. But you know, I guess it's going to be half a year before we're going to build this again Great.
Speaker 2Thanks a lot. You could have just hit the stop button, I guess I don't know.
Speaker 1But that speed Speed Baby Love hit the stop button. I guess I don't know, but that speed speed baby love.
Speaker 2It never should have been a sequel at least not on a boat. Maybe put it like on a they could have stopped at comic book maybe put it on a speed boat, a go fast boat.
Speaker 1You know that would be cool, and then just add the Miami Vice characters in it, so they can just say go fast boat and he didn't even go back into time.
Speaker 2Did they get up to 88 miles per hour?
Speaker 1No, I don't think they, because they wouldn't go past 70. That's true, sadly. So we're going to hit our first category the good, the bad, the ugly, the fine. It's where we talk about the good of the film the good, something we liked about the movie the bad, something we didn't like about the movie the ugly, something that didn't age well. The fine, something that did age well. I messed up that.
Speaker 2That's fine. No, I thought the good was. This is like giving me a chance to bond with my daughter.
Speaker 1Yeah, you're welcome and talk shit about old movies.
Speaker 2A great movie, yeah, I don't know why was a bad movie.
Speaker 1It's okay because Natalie came home while I was watching this for lunch and she immediately started saying like that wouldn't work.
Speaker 2Yes, there's a lot of that here. It's not supposed to. It's a 90s movie.
Speaker 3It's an action movie. It's not supposed to be easy. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2It doesn't matter All that matters is that people are screaming in explosions.
Speaker 1Screaming and explosions yes, like something really good for me Falling in love the explosions with the bus when it hits the aircraft. Cool, Giant explosion, Great.
Speaker 2The reactions of everybody's are like oh my God, it's hot, even though it didn't have much gas on it left. I don't know Well, I mean the plane. I'm sure it did yeah.
Speaker 1Well, he exploded the bomb, that's true, because he's like, oh crap, forgot about the bomb. Yeah, so for the good, I really just put everything because I think this is a perfect movie. Hell, yeah, no, it's Keanu and Sandra. They're great, their chemistry with them. Just all the actors, the side actors, everybody Everybody's so good in this movie. Yeah, they're really cool. You can't help but root for everybody, even Dennis Hopper.
Speaker 2I'm like I don't know, I did Get your paycheck, dude, I know I just like he deserves it.
Speaker 3He doesn't have to do this. It's like a few movies.
Speaker 1Except for the girl that wants to get off the bus, like, yeah, she goes, she's dumb.
Speaker 2She dies a lot in movies.
Speaker 1I feel like Um something bad about the film.
Speaker 2I'll let you take over this one, for I mean, I think we covered it. You know, just like the just it's movie, magic is bad looking sometimes. I guess Sometimes ideas aren't as great as you think they are.
Speaker 1Don't listen to him. The bad nothing.
Speaker 2So let's go to the ugly something that didn't age well.
Speaker 1Is yours, the bus jumping?
Speaker 2In the nineties everybody thought buses could jump. Bus jumping is always cool, but I think you have to make it look real, like it could happen. I think they did the best they could. Because there could have been a mound of dirt.
Speaker 1There should have been. Oh yeah, let's have a mound of dirt on a freeway.
Speaker 2That makes sense. You're right, Jason. You figured the script out, and even then it probably would just plow through.
Speaker 1Rewatching it now, I did think that there was kind of a ramp at the end. There wasn't Like maybe that there was going to be like a truck that kind of had a ramp on it. Maybe they were carrying stuff and it was a chance to get a little extra.
Speaker 1The ramp transportation, you know, like maybe some beams, or I don't know how roads are made concrete, I don't know. That's just right in the middle of the freeway, well, no, at the end. Or maybe like just something that had a little bit more elevation than like a flat, just a flat surface. I wish it just had just something that had a little bit, that would have shown a little lift just like, at least so that it doesn't look so silly when it cuts to it like this, like just kind of at a vertical angle, and it's like, why, like one of those?
Speaker 2Napoleon Dynamite ramps where you just get into it and it breaks, oh god. But the bus jumps off of it.
Speaker 1Yeah, god, I will say really wish I could have been on set to see this. That would have been insane to see. That would have been cool. To learn how it all works. So what's something that aged? Well, what's the fine?
Speaker 2Man, I think just some of these action movies age. I mean, this one for me didn't age too well, but I just love the action stuff and the old 90s action aesthetic is always very close to my heart, please don't unsubscribe to our channel I'm sorry that you're saying so many mean things really.
Speaker 1I actually thought this movie looked great, like the explosions and like all the action. I thought it looked really good um, some of the ideas are all I what age? Well, to me is keanu reeves and sandra bullock oh yeah, always good man.
Speaker 2But I mean like keanu reeves obviously still.
Speaker 1Bullock, oh yeah, always good man, but I mean, like Keanu Reeves, obviously still a huge actor, we don't really see Sandra Bullock too much. I mean, the last movie I watched, most recent movie of hers I watched was the one where she can't see because there's monsters.
Speaker 3Bird Box, bird Box, yeah.
Speaker 1I forgot that was her.
Speaker 2That. I yeah, I think I saw the one where she was with the wrestler John Cena and there is like kind of like uh uh, what movie is this? It's. Her and John Cena are like in the jungle and they're trying to no, you're thinking of uh, you're thinking of Channing Tatum.
Speaker 1She's with.
Speaker 2Channing Tatum.
Speaker 3And then you got Harry.
Speaker 1Potter's like the bad guy in that movie. That movie. No, that was the most recent movie. I love that movie.
Speaker 2That movie is so fun. Brad Pitt's in it. She's great in it.
Speaker 1Brad Pitt just comes in. It's like I'm going to steal the show yeah.
Speaker 2With his long hair and he's like yeah Well, Channing Tatum's.
Speaker 1so good that movie is just so much fun.
Speaker 2That was clever, but Cedric Bullock's amazing. Yeah she's great, she's never done anything bad that I couldn't.
Speaker 1We should do Demolition man soon.
Speaker 2Hell yeah, man Okay Is that the one with Arnold?
Speaker 1Wait, no, no, that's Sylvester.
Speaker 2Stallone yes, that's correct.
Speaker 1Hey, I'm cold because I'm freezing here I don't know what voice.
Speaker 2This is.
Speaker 1As long as we don't do Scent of a Woman, I'm good. That's. Al Pacino won Academy.
Speaker 3Award for his role in that. Isn't that crazy yeah.
Speaker 1He's full Pacino in that. It's so much. Pacino, it's just like before every take he's like hold on. He's got his mountain of cocaine. He's like let's go.
Speaker 2I brought a couple props for my other movie.
Speaker 1Oh, I can't see Could accidentally touch some woman's butts, so I think that's a good place to end that category Our next category is double feature. We'll recommend a movie to go along with this movie?
Speaker 2What do you have? I do not know. I was thinking of movies we've talked about before. Jesse just mouthed Die Hard, so I guess it would be Die Hard, damn. I'd try to help him out here, Because that was going to be mine.
Speaker 3but then I thought of another one that could still be yours. That's yours. No, that's yours.
Speaker 1I have another one.
Speaker 3I write down like four movies. I'll take it.
Speaker 1So he recommends Die Die Hard without the help of me, because Jesse told me so Not cutting any of this out, I'm going to choose the Tony Scott movie Unstoppable Hell yeah, you ever seen it, no. It's a train movie, but the train can't stop it's unstoppable. That's fun. It's got Denzel Washington, chris Pine in it. It's Tony Scott's last movie and it's a masterpiece, dude.
Speaker 2You'll also probably think, man, this has some problems. But hey, it's a fucking. You know what movie. No, what movie I first thought of uh wasn't die hard, it was the transporter with jason statham.
Speaker 1Oh, and how ridiculous that you know, I've actually never seen those movies and I need to because I love jason statham they're fun, it was just kind of super machismo car driving movies love them. Yeah, he's the best at everything I'm such a typical boy just like make a vehicle go fast, and I'm like gotta go fast. Yeah, that's why I love the Fast and Furious movies. Because, they go fast but that's going to conclude our episode on speed. And we're on speed, I am a kind of laugh riot methylbenzaprine.
Speaker 2Oh cool, it's not speed.
Speaker 1Well, now you know I am a kind of methyl benzoprene.
Speaker 2Oh cool, it's not speed. Well, now you know that Jason's on drugs.
Speaker 1Yes, I'm on nicotine. So make sure you join us next week because we're actually going to do two of this director's John DeBont's movies in a row. Because, in celebration of Twisters, we're doing Twister. Let's go, it's a Twister, I love Twister. Let's go, it's a Twister, I love Twister so much. It's another movie which I'm just now realizing. This director really knows how to have a supporting cast. Yeah for sure, philip Seymour Hoffman, he goes so hard in that movie.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's one of my favorite.
Speaker 2I'm gonna cry watching Twister just cause I'm like, oh he's gone.
Speaker 1Gone but not forgotten. When did he die? He died like a long time ago heart attack, drugs, every great actor just can't. Pacino's still alive. That's cool. And he did drugs all through Sin of a Woman. He did not.
Speaker 3I think he did dude. Probably you've seen that before. I haven't seen it oh, you haven't.
Speaker 1Yeah, he's crazy and that's it. Make sure you join us next week for Twister, yay, twister. Leave us some fan mail. Guys, just click the links in the description. We got the email and if at the very beginning you can click the link that says send us some fan mail, and you can send us some fan mail, so please do that, please. Tell us how much you hate us. No, what I want to hear what movies do you want us to do?
Speaker 1yeah, that'd be badass I would love to do a movie a month where I just do listeners recommendations hell yeah, just send us some.
Speaker 2Make it a regular thing, if you put us a bunch in there.
Speaker 1Eventually, when we get some, we can do this all the time, yeah we'll put them in a bag and we'll pull out one and that's the one we'll pick we'll do. Every single day I'll write your name. You can give us your name just first or just last, or a nickname you want us to call you and I'll write it on the paper. When we pull yours out, I'll say your name and you'd be like I'm on the pod.
Speaker 2Or we can just say like this letter comes from who knows, maybe you can join the pod.
Speaker 1Just kidding, I don't know how to do that yet, but yeah, so send us some fan mail if you'd like Also go to our link tree forward slash. We recommend podcast, where you can follow us on our social networks or, if you want to get, it's the quickest way to get to our like whatever streaming platform you want to be on. I'd like to thank Joey Prosser for our intro and outro music. You can follow him on X at Mr Joey Prosser, and that's usually all I say right, yeah, cool, so I've been jesse, I've been jason and this is what we recommend podcast, um, do it? Uh, what's the line I can say to end this? What is it? I'm gonna rip your fucking spine out I'm gonna rip her spine out.
Speaker 2Bye, thanks for watching.
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
How to Survive a Horror Movie
Ryan Stacy
Blank Check with Griffin & David
Blank Check Productions
The Rewatchables
The Ringer
The Big Picture
The Ringer