'80s Movie Montage

Christine

• Anna Keizer & Derek Dehanke • Season 5 • Episode 19

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In this episode, Anna and Derek discuss Arnie's super cringe relationship with a car, if Darnell was really that bad of a guy, and much more during their chat of the John Carpenter-Stephen King classic Christine (1983).

Connect with '80s Movie Montage on Facebook, Twitter/X or Instagram! It's the same handle for all three... @80smontagepod.

Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.

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SPEAKER_01:

Arnie would have never bought that car if he'd known somebody died in it. You're dumber than you look. You don't

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know your friend very well. He had the same look in his eye my brother always had. Probably the only thing my brother ever loved in his whole rotten life was that car.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello and welcome to 80s Movie Montage. This is Derek.

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And this is Anna.

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And that was Roberts Blossom as LeBay telling John Stockwell as Dennis all about his brother and that damn car in 1983's John Carpenter's

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Oh my gosh, Derek.

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Christine by Stephen King.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, all right. Well done. Really, really honing in on that intro. I

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was a little surprised when it said John Carpenter's Christine. I

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think that just became a thing for him.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it just reminded me a little bit of Michael Scott's Wayne Gretzky quote in The Office.

SPEAKER_00:

I think with Halloween, that really kicked it off with like... John Carpenter's Halloween, John Carpenter's The Thing, which actually kind of led to this being his next film because The Thing didn't actually fare well when it first came out.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is crazy because it's generally considered a real good movie.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's just one of those things that, in retrospect, people have... recognized like how how good of a movie it is but that's not the movie we're covering today we've actually already covered the thing yeah so you should go check that episode out

SPEAKER_01:

it's how everyone thinks about the uh star wars prequels now right sure okay moving on in

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comparison so yes uh you just named a ton of people involved with this film um we're gonna get to every single one of them and as we normally do we're gonna start with the writers you did really quickly mention the year so we're uh 1983 yep And yes, this is the third time that we are covering a Stephen King property.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it is.

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Do you remember what the first two were?

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No. No? I don't. I should. One

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of them was our very first season, probably the most infamous.

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Oh, The Shining. Yes. Yeah.

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And then last year, another one of our most popular episodes, actually, but

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not

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horror.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, Stand By Me. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, my perspective has generally been that the less scary his story or novel is, the more it's grounded in some other themes, the better it does on film.

SPEAKER_00:

I would agree with you. I would also say that the less out of the realm of reality, the more grounded it is just in reality.

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Yeah, which... Gets tough when you're dealing with a killer car.

SPEAKER_00:

But this, I mean, I like this film. I'm not saying it's like one of my top horror films, but I do enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01:

It is, like a lot of his works, like a lot of things that are adapted from a novel into a film, there are some pretty significant differences. And you get to them... In like the intro. Yeah. When you see the car in the assembly line and it like chomps down in that guy's hand and kills someone.

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That is such a hilarious opening to me because...

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That car is truly bad to the bone.

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Bad to the bone. Born to be bad. Or what was the... It

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was George Thurgood, bad to be bone. Bad to be bone. Bad to the bone.

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Bad to the bone.

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Bad to be bone.

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But it's really funny in the opening scene where you see her coming down the line and she's the only red car. And I'm like, that's not how a factory would work. Should have

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fucking known. Look at this. Look at this one dark, evil

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red car. All these white cars and you got this one red car. Anyway.

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Yeah, they should have known.

SPEAKER_00:

Stephen King. So yes, as mentioned, we have brought him up on the show before and probably also just a ton in passing. I feel like a lot of episodes. It comes up a lot. It just comes up. But it has been a minute. Because he is such a wild... He's not really so much a screenwriter. It's really like people adapting his novels and novellas. And sometimes

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he's more involved than other times. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's impossible to do a really thorough rundown of everything because like... As of this recording, he has like 350 current credits with like a ton more upcoming. So people just are constantly using his work. I think maybe not even that long ago. He used to have this program where I feel like there was like a special name for it, but basically like indie filmmakers, people who are just trying to get like their foot in the door of the industry could option or use one of his stories for like a dollar. Amazing. I think that's gone away,

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though. Oh, damn. I was going to say, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00:

For a while, he was doing that just to help aspiring filmmakers. But in any case, so I'm going to go through a list of credits, and probably for so many of these, it hasn't even been adapted even one time. Like, all of these properties, I feel like, for the most part, are adapted over and over and over again. But we are starting with Carrie. So that's been done a couple times. It's too bad that that is a 70s film, because I think that'd be such an interesting... I know I've said this before. Such an interesting film to cover. We tried

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watching the remake, and I don't

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think we... Couldn't even get through the first scene.

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It was... I don't... I don't like when it's just like... There's like a cruelness. And, you know, I get the relationships between some of the characters and Carrie reflect that, but it was... So tough to watch.

SPEAKER_00:

I love Julianne Moore. I think she's a phenomenal actor, but it was so over the top.

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Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

She was trying to do kind of a... Oh, my goodness. She just passed away recently, too. The mom in the original. But, you know, she had a really over-the-top performance, and I feel like Moore was trying to evoke that. Piper Laurie. Oh, okay. The original actor. And... That was like a very specific performance to Piper Laurie that I think you shouldn't try to replicate. Yeah. In any case. So he has had that adapted. Of course, The Shining.

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Mm-hmm.

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Creepshow. That was actually, like he actually did write the screenplay for that. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. Cujo, which we could totally do.

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I don't want to do that. That's like my old yeller. Yeah.

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yeah

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it's tough

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it's it's tough it's been ages since i've seen it that was one of the ones i saw way too young

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i don't think the ending in the book is as optimistic or fun as the ending in the movie

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doesn't the kid die

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i don't think it's uh like a happy ending either way but it's way less happy and whenever i like even see part of the movie it reminds me of reading the book and i'm like

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uh the kid from who's the boss

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Yeah.

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It was real little. I

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think so, right?

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Real little, yeah. The Dead Zone, I definitely want to do this film at some point because it's kind of bonkers. Children of the Corn.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I

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want to do that. His most successful franchise, I think that film has like spun off, I don't know, seven or eight other movies. Has it? Yeah. That

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many?

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A lot of children of the corn movies.

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I wonder why they don't do a remake of The Dead Zone where somebody comes out of a coma and shakes hands with a presidential nominee and sees the future and decides that he has to try to kill him. I wonder why they don't do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Firestarter, which...

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With George C. Scott.

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Yeah, and Drew Barrymore, which you would think, oh, wow, great film. Not a great film, but in any case. He also did Cat's Eye. So this one for sure will do. Silver Bullet.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We even were considering it this season. It's not going to be part of this season's Halloween series, but for sure in the future. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

I think I actually like the title of that better because it's based on his book Cycle of the Werewolf. I think Silver Bullet makes a lot more sense.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure.

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Yeah.

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Stand By Me, which we did early last season with Danny. Go check that one out. This is not horror, right? You know this movie, The Running Man. I don't know this movie.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you've probably seen it with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, I know who's in it. Richard Dawson. And he used a pseudonym, too. He wrote it under Richard Bachman.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he had a few stories under Bachman's name. I think Running Man... was like a really fun book uh the movie was way over the top it was like the perfect vehicle for like an art of schwarzenegger type of movie i think it's being remade with that guy whose name i can't remember but he's in everything lately he

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was in twisters

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yeah glenn powell

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yeah

SPEAKER_01:

yeah interesting i think they're doing a remake of that with him

SPEAKER_00:

okay

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yeah

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Pet Sematary, which has been done a couple times, and he did do the screenplay on that one. It, which of course is one of the most famous properties, I think, that's been done several times over. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah. We have like the original TV series, which was really cool at the time, but I don't think it's held up super

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well. Except for Tim Curry. Oh,

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yeah. And then we have like the part one and part two. Part one was really cool. Yeah. And part two also was part of that... we

SPEAKER_00:

hung with that one for a while and then eventually like and this is so it's so rare I know what this particular podcast is indicating seems to be the contrary we really don't turn off movies a lot but but I eventually gave up on it part two because I was like nothing is happening yeah and I just had to like say goodbye So, anyway. I'm kind of surprised that Misery, unless I'm just not familiar with any more recent remakes other than the Kathy Bates one. What

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about

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it? I'm just surprised that somebody hasn't tried to do it again.

SPEAKER_01:

It's really good. Like, it... would almost make no sense to try to remake that movie. It stands on its own

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so well. That hasn't stopped people before.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, but for a lot of these properties we're talking about potential remakes, I think the way that those were made kind of lends themselves to decades later giving it another shot. Sure. I just don't think you have to do that with Misery, which you're right,

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doesn't mean someone won't. I would agree with you. I would agree with you fully. I just am surprised.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like if someone was dumb enough to make another Poltergeist, that would never happen. God, it's been a while since they all just, like...

SPEAKER_00:

Bring in our hatred of the reboot. He, of course, wrote The Stand. And same thing here. This one, I understand why they would probably never redo this one. Shawshank.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, same reason, probably. How do you top that?

SPEAKER_00:

Those early 90s... adaptations were really good.

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Yeah.

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Dolores Claiborne, Thinner, Apt Pupil. I got to just blow through these because we could be talking. I could talk about every single one of

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them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. The Green Mile, The Mist, 1408. This is the one that you were also talking about before. 112263. That was a

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good series. Yeah. Good

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series. Gerald's Game.

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Scariest book.

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The Dark Tower. We already covered it, but it came up again. Doctor Sleep. Which... I

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really...

SPEAKER_00:

It's an okay... Like, look, who was it? Mike Flanagan, who did it? He had to walk a really tricky line.

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Because they were already working with... They had to make a sequel to The Shining where there was already a pretty significant split between book shining and movie shining.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

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And now they're building off that again.

SPEAKER_00:

And Stephen King felt so burned by... the Kubrick shining that like, I remember listening, I was listening to a podcast where he was, his Flanagan himself was talking about like how he had these conversations with King to basically gain his trust and say like, look, I can't do exactly what you did in the book because then that would, it

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wouldn't match

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up. It wouldn't match up with the film version of the shining, but here's what I can do.

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Cause there's a return to the overlook, which can't really like the way that you do that in the movie versus the book, it kind of, Changes because in the book it was destroyed.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Yeah. And then lastly, Mr. Mercedes.

SPEAKER_01:

So,

SPEAKER_00:

however, even though this was adapted from a Stephen King work, the screenwriter for it is Bill Phillips. Not a ton of credits for him. We have, now this one is so fun because we have brought him up before. Yeah. This was two seasons ago. Okay. When we did Fire with Fire. Oh my

SPEAKER_01:

God, are you kidding

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me? With Margot, yes. He is the screenwriter of that one as well. I,

SPEAKER_01:

look, that movie- That was a fun surprise. Yeah, it surprised me. It was like- It was like a teen romance turned Mission Impossible. It's a really

SPEAKER_00:

interesting movie. It probably was one of the very few times... And I'm not saying we either of us have exhaustive knowledge of 80s films, but it was a title where I was like, oh, I've literally never heard of it before.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

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So that's one of the few times that's happened.

SPEAKER_01:

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

He also wrote There Goes the Neighborhood. So... I'm not familiar with this. Have you heard of these TV movies that were all with Brian Dennehy called Jack Reed? It's like a Jack Reed series.

SPEAKER_01:

I know of them just because of Dennehy, but I've never... Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

I

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don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

But he wrote those and then a film called Sabra. Sabra. Okay. Well, as you mentioned... It is called... Well, okay. As far as IMDb is concerned, it's just Christine. Yeah. But John Carpenter's Christine. So not the first time that we have brought him up, of course. And we'll get to some of these other titles. This is, I think... Now, he has come up a ton in passing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he has.

SPEAKER_00:

But this is also the fourth time, I think, that he's actually been brought up as the director of a film that we were covering. So... He's just come up a ton. John Carpenter, of course, right up there with Wes Craven. And like just, you know, the people that you would think of as like the heavy hitters of horror cinema.

SPEAKER_01:

I want to say that Wes Craven is looking up to see where John Carpenter would be. But that's just my opinion.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, Wes Craven's no longer with us. So he, you would say, would probably be looking down.

SPEAKER_01:

Damn, you're right. I'm not suggesting that he's in hell looking

SPEAKER_00:

up at- Yeah, that's really rude, Derek. By all accounts, Wes Craven was a lovely man. Just

SPEAKER_01:

talking about list-wise. He is lower on the list of my favorite-

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, that's fair. That's fair. Yeah. No, that's fair. I kind of knew that that's actually what you were referring to. I was just being difficult. I asked for it. But Carpenter, he's awesome, and- You know, I kind of alluded to it right when we opened this conversation that unfairly, in retrospect, the fact that the thing... Like, he was really on a hot streak, but then the thing did not fare well. And it, to some degree, kind of... I don't want... Derailed is really too strong of a word, but it kind of rerouted his career... I don't know how much more he would have had, like how many more opportunities he would have had in the 80s to do more high profile films. It just didn't turn out that way. But he was given this chance to do Christine. And of course, he still continued to do a lot more work. And not necessarily all horror. I mean, I think a lot of people think of him as a horror director. He doesn't do just horror. No. But in any case... He

SPEAKER_01:

did Big Trouble in Little China. That's

SPEAKER_00:

not horror. Which is like one of the first five films probably we did. Probably. For the podcast. That was with Owen.

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And...

SPEAKER_00:

As far as his filmography, his very first feature film was called Dark Star. The film that I think really put him on the map and even got him enough attention to be able to eventually do Halloween was Assault on Precinct 13.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's kind of what got him initial attention. He does, of course, do Halloween. That is the film that just blows up his career in the best way. Mm-hmm. So all of a sudden, he's this, like, huge director who... We watched last year for the first time The Fog. Now, a lot of people like The Fog. Wasn't really... I'm going to probably still buy it because I'm trying to build up our physical media library. It had so much

SPEAKER_01:

promise, but there were so many times we were watching it thinking like, oh.

SPEAKER_00:

There's something comforting about it because you're seeing so many familiar faces between Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Atkins and Adrienne Barbeau. So there's already a familiarity. Oh, and... curtis's mom she's in it too so like there's all these like familiar faces carpenter does tend to use a lot of the same actors yes so so there's there's that about it but the story itself didn't really do anything for me

SPEAKER_01:

yeah i feel like there was something there it just didn't just didn't uh the execution

SPEAKER_00:

but i feel like we're the outliers because i feel like a lot of people really love that oh

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really

SPEAKER_00:

yeah

SPEAKER_01:

i didn't realize that so

SPEAKER_00:

well Um, you, well, no, you didn't mention this yet, but he, so not, not horror, but like kind of action-y, uh, Escape from New York as well as its sequel Escape from L.A.

SPEAKER_01:

he

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does. You really like those films?

SPEAKER_01:

I like one of them.

SPEAKER_00:

The first one?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I, I, the second one, Escape from L.A. is not quite on par, but Escape from New York is super cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Carpenter, I love Carpenter. It's really his horror work that I gravitate towards. The other type of films that he does aren't exactly my cup of tea, but in any case. We did mention that we did the thing that was a couple seasons ago with Jeff. Please go check that one out. You know, I don't know if I've ever seen Starman from start to finish. I'd like to. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

he directed that? Mm-hmm. With Bridges?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

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And Karen Allen?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's an interesting movie.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm curious to see what it's about. You did mention Big Trouble in Little China. He does Prince of Darkness. Now, the last film that we had already covered with him, which, again, was a film that maybe I'd heard of but had never seen it, and I'm so glad we did it with Bob, They Live. Oh, yeah. Great film. It is. To me, probably his most meaningful work. It's as meaningful now. As far as, like, the thematic material.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Like... amazing that he did that film

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

so go please go check that one out I mean it's I consider it horror but it's not it's not this kind of horror it's not Halloween kind of horror it's it's Horror more so in the abstract.

SPEAKER_01:

Not even like even a sci-fi horror, although there are aliens. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

there are aliens. Yeah. But it's like a horrific story. Yeah. So, memoirs of an invisible man, In the Mouth of Madness, vampires, and Ghost of Mars. So... Those are just some of the big highlights of his very illustrious career. Okay, so moving on to cinematography. The gentleman who shot this is Donald M. Morgan. He is 92 years old.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Amazing. So I have said this before for a lot of people who work in the industry in terms of TV movies. being their bread and butter.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

This is, again, one of those cases. He has 82 current credits. I don't think he's actively working anymore, but of those 80-ish credits, over half of them are TV movies.

SPEAKER_01:

Or TV series.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I specifically did the TV movies, but sure, just like other TV work. Yeah. But some of his credits... Now, I did actually put mostly his films... This title is fun. Sheila Levine is dead and living in New York.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. It didn't start out that fun, but

SPEAKER_00:

it got more fun. Yeah. He shot Used Cars, which we could do at some point. Meatballs Part 2.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

He re-teams with Carpenter for Starman. Okay. So he shoots that. He does The Rage Carry 2.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

And then... I was about to say more recently, but this still was a show from a while ago, Crossing Jordan.

SPEAKER_01:

That sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I never watched it, but I can see the woman in my head. Sorry, I don't remember the actress. But I feel like I remember the key art or something, like the poster for the show.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing show.

SPEAKER_00:

Amazing show. Okay, moving on to music, which, hey! Yeah. John Carpenter.

SPEAKER_01:

John Carpenter got funky with the electric synth keyboard thingy again. I

SPEAKER_00:

do think that most people who have even kind of like a passing knowledge of his career know that he is also a musician. Yeah. And tends to do the scores for his films. So... And I think one of my most favorite things that he's done is when he kind of reworked the Halloween score, even though I'm really not a fan of the latest trilogy, love what they did with the

SPEAKER_01:

score. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's amazing. It is amazing. So good. Anyway. So he does have a collaborator most of the time for his music work. Okay. And we'll get to him in just a second. But, yeah. Someone's

SPEAKER_01:

got to plug in the keyboard.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm really curious about what their working relationship is in terms of how they do the music together. But I'm going to just be repeating everything. a ton of credits that I've already mentioned for his directing work. Okay. Because again, he tends to do the music. So, uh, Dark Star, Assault on Precinct 13. So even though he wasn't the director of any of the films, except for the first Halloween, like he has music credits for, uh, the first, the second season, the witch, which I was very close to pulling in for this year's Halloween series. We are doing that movie at some point.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I, I think it is just such a bizarre movie with so many fucking weird things. And in some cases, like not even, this isn't like the way that this character is acting towards this other character, not even cool. Like in terms of, um, I don't know, just some stuff happens with the lead guy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, Tom Atkins.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and his interactions with different women in the film.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a little questionable.

SPEAKER_01:

We're like, what

SPEAKER_00:

the fuck is going on? A little questionable that you're boning a chick whose dad just died in a pretty horrific way. It

SPEAKER_01:

was a pretty classy hotel, though, to be fair.

SPEAKER_00:

He's like a real ladies' man in that movie, and I don't get that, but so

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be

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it.

SPEAKER_01:

That's an attraction that only someone can write into

SPEAKER_00:

reality. Yeah, that's truly movie magic. So he does the score for Season of the Witch, and then he does come back to... He's not involved, which makes sense. He's not involved with the Rob Zombie Halloween films, because Rob Zombie himself is a musician. So I'm sure I have never done that deep dive, but I want to take a pretty confident guess that Zombie... Did the score work for those?

SPEAKER_01:

You think he did the music for the Munsters?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. I do. Although he was using... Like, even in the, like, kind of... That's a great trailer. We watched for that. It's obviously the very identifiable TV score that he worked with for that.

SPEAKER_01:

You gotta watch that Rob Zombie Munsters trailer. It is a master class in how to not

SPEAKER_00:

do a trailer. It's clear that he had a vision that just didn't work.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't even know if... If it's a fair trailer for the movie, I can't imagine the movie being as bad as the trailer would make it look to be. It

SPEAKER_00:

just can't be. He made a really deliberate choice in the visuals of that film, which made it... It was a weird... And I think to some degree, I understand the... strategy behind it because it is an adaptation of a tv series yeah it looks like a tv show on the big screen but that just like there's a jarring disconnect

SPEAKER_01:

oh yeah

SPEAKER_00:

it doesn't look cinematic at all

SPEAKER_01:

in any case

SPEAKER_00:

in any case nothing to do with this movie nothing to do with rob zombie halloween's but like i mentioned he he does and as far as like the music is concerned um does the score for the last trilogy of the Halloween movies. Oh, he did? Yeah. Of course, he does music for The Fog. So this is all still just Carpenter score work. The Fog, Escape from New York, Escape from L.A., Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live in the Mouth of Madness, Vampires, Ghosts of Mars, and the 2022 Firestarter. Okay. Yeah. Now, his collaborator, as far as the music is concerned, is Alan... I probably said this wrong the last time, too. Haworth?

SPEAKER_01:

Haworth?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Haworth? But all the same, well, okay, he doesn't work exclusively with Carpenter. So he does have a lot of the same titles. So the first Escape from New York, a lot of the Halloween movies. And in fact, what's kind of interesting, so he has credits for the second, the third. And then while John Carpenter does not, He has credits for The Return of Michael Myers, The Revenge of Michael Myers, and The Curse of Michael Myers.

SPEAKER_01:

The Return, The Revenge,

SPEAKER_00:

and The Curse. So four, five, and six.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. He has credits as well. Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live. And then he's done other stuff on his own. So he has score credits for, I don't know these films, but The Dentist.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

And The Dentist 2.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, those are, you don't want to watch those. Do

SPEAKER_00:

you know those movies? Like, for real?

SPEAKER_01:

I've seen The Dentist. Really? And if you have a horror movie about a psychotic dentist...

SPEAKER_00:

I literally just went to The Dentist yesterday.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You can imagine how bad it could... It was an okay appointment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I have to stop grinding my teeth, I've been told many, many times.

SPEAKER_01:

I have to stop thinking about that movie, The Dentist. It's

SPEAKER_00:

terrifying. I'm sorry I brought that up for you. It's okay. He scored, which... How does that work? because when we were just doing the Friday the 13th, it must have been somebody else in a different capacity. I remember bringing up The Omega Code.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh,

SPEAKER_00:

yeah. But he scored that. I like this. It's just a film called Boo. Boo. B-O-O. Boo. The House at the End of the Drive and Dante's Hotel. okay moving on to film editing marion rothman okay so we have and actually this isn't even the first time that we've brought them up because do you know and it's from this season i would be very impressed if you could remember what film that we

SPEAKER_01:

i'm going to guess mystic pizza

SPEAKER_00:

You're looking at her filmography. That's fine. That's fine. Yes, it was for Mystic Pizza, so go check that one out. But always love those lady film editors. I mean, that's actually historically where women have really... been able to make an impact before more opportunities opened up for them.

SPEAKER_03:

A

SPEAKER_00:

lot of female editors. In any case, so yeah, not that long ago that we brought her up, but we'll do a quick recap of her work. So she cut the Boston Strangler. She worked in a couple Planet of the Apes movies. She did Beneath the Planet of the Apes as well as Escape. from the Planet of the Apes. Okay. Funny Lady, the 1977 The Island of Dr. Moreau.

SPEAKER_01:

The non-Val Kilmer one. I'm sure I said that when we talked about Mystic Pizza.

SPEAKER_00:

Almost certainly you did. Yeah, we

SPEAKER_01:

talked about Brando? Probably.

SPEAKER_00:

Probably. I think it wasn't for that... episode but i do remember at some point in the last couple episodes you just called him fat brando i

SPEAKER_01:

mean i'd love to take credit for creating that name but i'm just

SPEAKER_00:

oh do people call him that

SPEAKER_01:

well there's a version of him where yeah

SPEAKER_00:

oh sure but do people just call him fat brando

SPEAKER_01:

uh-huh

SPEAKER_00:

yeah really yeah i did not know that yeah

SPEAKER_01:

no everyone does that

SPEAKER_00:

really

SPEAKER_01:

everyone

SPEAKER_00:

everybody okay all right sorry Sorry, I was out of that loop. I would love to see this movie. She cut Orca. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I've listened to a podcast about it, and it has piqued my interest. She cut Starman. So she collaborates again. As we mentioned, Mystic Pizza, Opportunity Knox, and then she's no longer with us. Her final credit was, again, another collaboration with Carpenter. She cut Memoirs of an Invisible Man. Okay, we're at the stars of the movie. We did it. We did it. Or halfway there. So, of course, we're going to start with Arnie, played by Keith Gordon. Mm-hmm. I mean, before we get into his filmography, I just would love to know, what do you think about his performance in this film?

SPEAKER_01:

Geez, he goes from, like, zero to 60, particularly in that one scene where he's, like, talking about, like, love, I think, while him and Dennis are driving, driving around, drinking, you know, just having a few beers while they're driving. So that moment, in my mind, like... It's like so crazy. He goes so hard in that one moment. In the rest of it, I don't know. I mean, I know how you feel about it because you expressed your thoughts on his performance in this movie while we were watching it. And I don't think I have quite the same thoughts. I thought it was fine.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't hate his performance at all. I don't want it to sound that way. Did you just feel

SPEAKER_01:

like it went over the top a bit at times?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I did. And I don't know if that's just... I don't know if that is the direction he was given.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Or if that was just a choice he made as an actor. I mean, he... They open on him as almost like a caricature in terms of just how awkward and fumbling

SPEAKER_01:

and

SPEAKER_00:

geeky he is.

SPEAKER_01:

Extremely geeky.

SPEAKER_00:

And I get that that is the arc that he goes through, but it's... And maybe I'm having a hard time because it's like I'm looking at it through a 2024 lens at this point. So if we're going back to 1983, you know, we haven't quite gotten to all those teenage stereotypes just yet. Yeah. In a large way. And so you made that joke of like, oh, is this She's All That? Is this going to be a She's All That movie?

SPEAKER_01:

Because he says at one point, he knows he's ugly. And I'm like, well, you're

SPEAKER_00:

probably-

SPEAKER_01:

That

SPEAKER_00:

actually made me really sad. That actually was one of my favorite scenes because that felt very real. Yeah. When Dennis is asking him like, what is it about that car? And when he's saying, oh, she's uglier than me, I- that broke my heart because it's like, I didn't think he was unaware of how he was perceived, but to, to like have it confirmed that this is how he feels about himself made me feel sad for him. Yeah. So, and even though none of them look like teenagers to me to know that, like

SPEAKER_01:

those bullies, that one

SPEAKER_00:

bully. Oh my God. Yeah. We'll get to buddy for sure. But it just, you know, makes me sad because it's like, That time in life is so vulnerable. And if you feel that way about yourself in high school, high school is already tough. And so when you are walking around thinking, I'm ugly, I'm a nobody, I'm this, I'm that, like, it's just sad. I

SPEAKER_01:

mean, he says that's why he picked the car, but I think that's why the car picked him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Right. The car is a predator.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So as far as the actor goes, Keith Gordon, he's more of a director now. The filmography I have for him strictly as an actor is pretty short, but that's not because he's not in the industry. He's just pivoted, as has the next person we're going to talk to. But he is more so working as a director nowadays, especially in television. But for film credits, I have Jaws 2. Oh, really? Yeah. I don't know who he is in that. All That Jazz, Dressed to Kill, probably the other film that I know him from. Now, you probably know him more so from two other films. I know him more so from The Legend of Billie Jean. So that's the other one that I would be like, oh yeah, he's in that. But I know that you like Back to School and he's... rodney dangerfield's kid right

SPEAKER_01:

there are some funny moments in that movie and uh yeah he's he's dangerfield's kid

SPEAKER_00:

and then he's also best buds with robert downey jr in that right

SPEAKER_01:

yes yeah

SPEAKER_00:

and then i love trouble so those are some of his acting credits moving on to john stockwell so he is and that's also another really interesting relationship I know that you made a joke about, what did you call it? Like the dark side Lucas or something like that? What did you?

SPEAKER_01:

It was like evil Lucas.

SPEAKER_00:

Evil Lucas? Yeah. To me, there felt like there was a similarity between the relationship between Dennis and Arnie and then Lucas and Cappy.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And Lucas. And I mean, right down to the more popular kid being the football player. and the other one having the dorky glasses.

SPEAKER_01:

Because it's Evil Lucas, in the Evil Lucas version, Arnie ends up getting the girl, not the football star, but then he also almost kills her.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a very interesting love triangle in this film because, I mean, we can go wherever we want with the conversation. I hope you're including

SPEAKER_01:

Christine in that triangle.

SPEAKER_00:

I actually, okay, the human, the human love triangle. No, that's a good clarification. Because they give you no indication that Arnie is even interested in Lee.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they don't, do they? No. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

All of a sudden it just goes from...

SPEAKER_01:

You

SPEAKER_00:

have no idea. You have no idea. You don't even see them interact. I mean, the only time... No, actually, you don't even see them interact. That was him making fun of Kelly Preston. Yeah. So it goes from Dennis asking Lee out in the library to her saying, I have a date, and then you don't... Even then, you don't have any indication that it's Arnie. And all you see, it goes... I mean, this film does... Sorry for the pun, but it does speed along with plot progression. Because all of a sudden, now Dennis is playing a football game, and you just see Arnie and Lee full-on making out.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you feel like there's any moments where it kind of grinds its gears?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, man.

SPEAKER_01:

Does it stall out at all?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, boy. You're just throwing them all out. You're not even spacing them out. You're just throwing them all out there. I

SPEAKER_01:

mean, there are some moments where I wish they'd hit the brakes.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So John Stockwell, he also... is more so a director now. Notably, do you know what film that I have, one of my, I'm not gonna call it guilty pleasure, but like one of the films that I love that he directed? I

SPEAKER_01:

don't.

SPEAKER_00:

Blue Crush.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that is a guilty pleasure of yours, isn't

SPEAKER_00:

it? Hey, it's not that bad. It's not that bad. But yeah, he directed Blue Crush. That's cool. Yeah. As far as his acting work goes, very similar to keith gordon in that it's like pretty concise because he has pivoted to behind the camera but he was in eddie and the cruisers which we should do at some point i think that's 80s and for some reason i saw that all the time as a kid

SPEAKER_01:

yeah why not let's do it

SPEAKER_00:

my science project

SPEAKER_01:

i actually kind of like that yeah

SPEAKER_00:

okay

SPEAKER_01:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

i don't know that film that well

SPEAKER_01:

Is that the one with Dennis Hopper, I

SPEAKER_00:

think? Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

And Fisher Stevens?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. That's a fun... It's crazy, but it's a fun movie.

SPEAKER_00:

I vaguely remember seeing this, but the North and South TV miniseries. I know that there used to be, like, in the 80s, these, like, event miniseries. Yes. I feel like... To be quite honest, it feels... Well, now... Okay, so here's the thing. There used to be these event miniseries. Now, I think that's been replaced by what is referred to as a limited series. They're not exactly these event entertainment type things. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. There's still, like... Nothing's really changed in terms of, like, there's... these forms of entertainment that are created for television and it's meant to be like five episodes or something and it's

SPEAKER_01:

done. Like Mr. Throwback. Not

SPEAKER_00:

quite. Well, that's supposed to have another season. Is it? Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it's gotten greenlit for it, but things like North and South, it...

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

The stand.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I feel like the early 90s kind of were the cutoff point for when people were like, oh, my God, they're going to come out with like the stand. Like it used to be kind of this thing because now there's just so much out there. It doesn't rally people in the same way. But North and South was one of those. And he was in it. I don't know what he was. North and

SPEAKER_01:

South, book one, comma,

SPEAKER_00:

North and South. I know, it's ridiculous, the redundancy. Probably people might, because his hair's much darker. He's Cougar in Top Gun.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

He lost the edge.

SPEAKER_01:

You know what? Yeah, I can see that now, because he's right at the beginning, right? Yeah. Yeah, he turns in his wings.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, turns in his wings. All right. He never even met his kid yet.

SPEAKER_01:

Well,

SPEAKER_00:

I hope he does. Almost made him a morphin'.

SPEAKER_01:

He better be going straight to meet that kid.

SPEAKER_00:

Better be going straight to meet that kid. And then the nurse. So that's what I have for Stockwell. Okay, moving on to Alexandra Paul. She is Arnie's girlfriend. It's weird. I really don't see what she sees in him, but... He's so cool. In that car. That's the thing, though. They're a real odd couple because... She doesn't seem entirely into the dating scene to begin with.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, she seems kind of nerdy and Arnie is nerdy. Maybe he was like right at that like... Right at that critical point where he was kind of cool because of the evil demonic car possession, but still nerdy enough. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I agree with you. I think that probably there was this kind of apex of the balance between nerdy Arnie and cool Arnie, and maybe that's what she was attracted to. But real quickly, because also, again, in terms of what I was saying with plot progression... they're just like kind of making out and things seem whatever normal. And then all of a sudden she's like, I hate your car, you know? And it's just like a funny, like there's not a lot of like, uh, balanced lead up to these conflict points, but whatever. It

SPEAKER_01:

escalates quickly.

SPEAKER_00:

It escalates quickly. So, I hate

SPEAKER_01:

your car. Car is going to fucking try to murder you right now.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And, I mean, the most egregious example is, like, the fight with the dad. Oh, my

SPEAKER_01:

God, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That escalates real fast. He's not even really... Honestly, obviously, Arnie has, like, this, like, kind of bratty whatever persona, but the conversation that is had at the dinner table is... Isn't, in my estimation, him really... Like, he doesn't raise his voice. He doesn't swear at his parents or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

He's just being... Like, he's just kind of pushing back against what they're saying, and he leaves the table, and they just, like... His father just fucking, like... Throws him against the wall. Yeah, and he's like, you better apologize to your mom. And then that, in turn, causes him to retaliate and like with physical violence. Well,

SPEAKER_01:

he grabs him by the throat and pins him up against the stairs, the side of the stairs, and then just gives him, like... like one of those like super emasculating little pats on the cheek.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Like

SPEAKER_00:

we're done. His dad just stands there with his head still like his chin still raised as if Arnie is still holding onto his neck. It's really,

SPEAKER_01:

it's like his dad was in a totally different horror

SPEAKER_00:

movie.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I

SPEAKER_00:

love Jack Carpenter, but I'm like, I don't... Is this the direction? That's like... I don't... In any case. Look horrified. More horrified. So she's a very familiar figure. I would say more so in television. But as far as her... So... I don't have a ton of credits for her, but it's only because she had some really lengthy stints with some of her properties. But as far as films go, she's in American Flyers.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. We're going to cover that one day or we'll

SPEAKER_00:

just talk about it forever. Do you remember her in it?

SPEAKER_01:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. She is in Dragnet, the film. Baywatch is just the big thing that she was a part of. So she was one of the longtime series regulars on that. And that's... If you're like, she was. She was, I think her character's name was Stephanie.

SPEAKER_01:

Stephanie Holden.

SPEAKER_00:

And, you know, as far as like her and the other women, obviously like people like Pamela Anderson or Yasmin Bleeth, they had maybe the more voluptuous, like they were kind of the sexy female Baywatch, whatever. And she- Lifeguards? Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. And she was like, had a more athletic build and was a little bit more of the, I don't know, more competent of the lifeguards. And she also had chopped her hair. So she had like a pixie cut.

SPEAKER_01:

Are you saying that there is a like a correlation? Here, it's not, like, where sometimes people say correlation doesn't mean causation,

SPEAKER_00:

but. Meaning, like, if you're sexy, you're not competent? They were competent. I'm being rude, but, like, they, in that show. That

SPEAKER_01:

was how she was

SPEAKER_00:

portrayed, though, right? Yes, there was a very clear demarcation between the sexy female lifeguards and the, like, got their shit together, not supposed to be. I mean, she still is running around in a bathing suit all day. I don't have

SPEAKER_01:

time for long hair.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm doing work.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Saving lives. So that was her big one. She also was on Meryl's Place. And then I love this. She was in Sharknado 4, The Fourth Awakens.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Fun times. All right. Moving on to Robert Prosky. So he plays Darnell. He has passed away. He passed away in 2008. Sorry. He had his first credit when he was 41 years old, so he was a little bit older when he got it. As far as IMDb, we've brought this up before, actually with people like Brian Dennehy, where it appears that their credits start later in life. I don't know if he was doing a ton of live performance work. Did

SPEAKER_01:

Brian Dennehy start later?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

He was one of the ones where I'm like, oh, that's interesting. I mean, I think he was still a little bit younger, but I think... If I'm remembering correctly from First Blood, his... Yeah, we just talked about

SPEAKER_01:

him not too long ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

When I was talking about him, I think his first credit was like at 36 or something, which is a little bit older for an actor. Yeah. In any case, we brought up Prosky not super recently, but also not that long ago. Do you know what film it was for? Not this season.

SPEAKER_01:

Hmm. No.

SPEAKER_00:

Broadcast news!

SPEAKER_01:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

What was... Who is he? Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

He was like the... Not the head of the network, but he was like the guy managing Holly Hunter. And I think he was retiring. Okay. And so she was like, I think, up for his job.

SPEAKER_01:

He wasn't the guy that those other two guys sang to. I don't think so. The

SPEAKER_00:

guy that the other two guys sang to. When they were

SPEAKER_01:

like pitching the new intro for the show. Oh,

SPEAKER_00:

he might have been.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

He might have been. But in any case, great actor. He's so good in this movie. I know that I was maybe a little bit critical of Keith Gordon for his over-the-top performance. I would say Prosky also has a really kind of heightened performance, but it works.

SPEAKER_01:

He is such a slimeball. He's such an unnecessarily aggressive, mean guy. But he is... You know, that character from, like, the novel was doing, like, some illegal, like, drug-running stuff at night. Like, the trips that Arnie would be going on weren't just parts. Like, he was doing some illicit shit.

SPEAKER_00:

I like him. And I think, actually, there's a sweetness to him because of that one moment where he comes over to Arnie. And you know it's kind of hard for him to be nice.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But he tells Arnie, like, hey, like, in his own way, he's like, you're doing a really great job with this car.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

and You know, he basically is offering him a job and he has he like shows this little bit of a smile. Yeah. Where he's like trying to kind of just be a nice guy. And Arnie's like, Arnie has to fuck it up and say, well, I got to think about it. And then he puts back on that like really rough exterior.

SPEAKER_01:

My favorite moment with him. And I really wanted to get in a clip that had Dennis and LeBay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Otherwise, I would have had the clip from when Arnie first brings Christine into Darnell's, right? Darnell's garage. And he's telling Arnie, there's no smoking in here. If I catch you smoking. And meanwhile, there's like a table of Darnell's friends smoking, playing cards. And Dennis just says, sir, there's some gentlemen over there smoking. I think you better tell them. I

SPEAKER_00:

mean, it's a very funny moment. And I like that Dennis has that kind of like smart ass side of him. And and yeah, that I would fully agree with you. I mean, I the only death that I disagree with in this film is is Darnell's death.

SPEAKER_01:

Darnell didn't die because he fucked up Christine, but he did talk a lot of shit about Christine to her face.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm going to argue counterpoint that by saying that if it wasn't for Darnell, there would be no revitalized Christine. It. necessitated Arnie having space and resources to rebuild Christine, which only was made possible through Darnell.

SPEAKER_01:

I will counter counterpoint and say that's the only reason he was allowed to live as long as he did.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, but she didn't even know who he was before she came into that shop. And like... I don't know. I just I hate I mean, like, whatever. It happens a lot in horror films. Like, I mean, that's actually the mark of like a successful horror film where actually are sad that the person died.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I just felt really bad for him. I didn't I didn't want him to die. I knew he was. I've seen this film, but

SPEAKER_01:

because at the time he died, he actually he had confirmed that Arnie was like doing some of the deliveries. So he knew that it wasn't him. I'm assuming he wasn't thinking that a demonic-possessed vehicle just drove itself into his garage, so he thought he was actually helping Arnie

SPEAKER_00:

out. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And... Yeah, it really bumped me out that he died. But I really loved him in this movie, and I love every scene with him. It seemed like he

SPEAKER_02:

was

SPEAKER_00:

having a lot of fun

SPEAKER_02:

with

SPEAKER_00:

this role. And that's what I love, is when it seems like an actor is just really enjoying the part that they play. And that's what I got from him. So as far as his other credits go... I have mostly films for him. So, Hanky Panky.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

He's in The Natural. He

SPEAKER_01:

is. He is pretty... I think he's kind of a bad guy in that, too.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, man. Outrageous Fortune. Probably a generation older than us might know him because I feel like he had a pretty long stint on Hill Street Blues.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

That's like his notable TV series. He might have been the captain or something. I already mentioned Broadcast News. Please go check that one out. That was Jennifer. That was a really fun episode to do. Big Shots. The Great Outdoors. He is in Gremlins 2, the new batch.

SPEAKER_01:

Crazy, crazy movie. Insanity. I

SPEAKER_00:

wonder who he was in Far and Away. don't, it's been a really long time since I've seen that, but Hoffa, Last Action Hero, we didn't see that too long ago again. I don't remember who he is in that.

SPEAKER_01:

He's the guy that, like, runs the cinema, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Got it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Rudy, Mrs. Doubtfire, the 1994 Miracle on 34th Street, Dead Man Walking, Veronica's Closet, and The Skeptic was his final credit.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright, moving on to another really notable actor who This was 83. I feel like he kind of picked up steam later in his career as well. Harry Dean Stanton. Yes. So he... I mean, it's a really funny character. So he's like, what, the detective, I guess, who's kind of assigned to this...

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he's investigating all these murders.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but it is... I just find it interesting that... He's so quick to suspect Arnie.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I would say that Christine is a fairly recognizable car, and all of the murders involved at least one person saying, like, they saw this car.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure, sure, sure. But Arnie has alibis. He does. For every single instance.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

he does yeah

SPEAKER_00:

it's it's only at the very end with the final showdown at darnell's that arnie is in the car um and you don't know and i do think that that's a really nice kind of reveal at the end because it is really clear when christine's going on her killing rampage that she's doing this on her own

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

and but it's just interesting to me like i i don't know if ever is he mentioned by name his he's junkins is harry dean stanton's character name junkins junkins yeah but he He's the detective. I think that's like a better way of identifying him. Detective

SPEAKER_02:

Junkins.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So he, and he kind of plays a pretty straight character. He does. In this film. I kind of think of him more as like a quirky actor. I mean, of course, I'm just thinking of Alien.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And Brett.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Yeah. And so it's an interesting role that I think he took. in this film so I'm curious if Carpenter just like really wanted to work with him but I don't I don't know I

SPEAKER_01:

don't know I mean he I thought he was he was good because Artie at that point had kind of been like bullying people like he bullied his parents at this point and Detective Junkins wasn't having it. He was not

SPEAKER_00:

intimidated in the slightest. No, I mean, Harry Dean Stanton, he's no longer with us, but he was a really good actor. Yeah. So... Yeah, it's interesting. There are scenes together because Arnie comes across as even more so. And like, again, I'm not trying to disparage Keith Gordon, but like the caliber of acting, like Harry Dean Stanton is just like a really strong presence on the screen in the scenes he has with Arnie.

SPEAKER_01:

Arnie would say something trying to like intimidate him. And Junkin's response is like, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. He just doesn't, he doesn't waver at all. So as far as his career goes, I mean, my goodness, he did a ton of of work. A lot of early TV work, but then I have... Except for maybe much later in his career, I have all films for him. Actually, you know, I'm really surprised that he didn't get a nomination. I thought he would have. But in any case, I'll get to that in a second. Some of his films, Cool Hand Luke. I do have really early in his career, he was on the TV show Gunsmoke. The Godfather. He has a tiny role in it, but he is in The Godfather Part II. Do you know who he plays? I

SPEAKER_01:

don't.

SPEAKER_00:

So... Is his last name Corleone? He's like the cousin who is going to testify against Michael.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

But he doesn't, and this sounds very convoluted, Harry Dean Stanton's one of the FBI agents who... is watching over him. Oh, that's why. But he manages

SPEAKER_01:

to slip his wrists anyway. I think I remember that. They're like playing poker. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

In the hotel room.

SPEAKER_01:

FBI man number

SPEAKER_00:

one. Yes, exactly. Okay. So that's who he is in that. Which, 74, so yeah, it is a couple years before Alien comes along. He is in the Missouri Breaks. Of course, I think the breakout role for him is Alien. You think?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I think so. I

SPEAKER_01:

honestly don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

I can't say for certain. I haven't done a ton of research on his career, but I feel like that's when he first really got noticed. He is in The Rose, Private Benjamin. He is in Escape from New York. Yeah, he

SPEAKER_01:

has a big part in that,

SPEAKER_00:

I think. Does that precede this? What year did that come out? No,

SPEAKER_01:

1981.

SPEAKER_00:

So it does precede Christine.

SPEAKER_01:

It does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Okay. So Carpenter already worked with him. Yeah. Young Doctors in Love, Repo Man. So this is the one that I was kind of talking to myself. I'm surprised that he did not get an Oscar nom for Paris, Texas. That, I think, is what people consider his finest work. Okay. And really the only leading role he ever had in his career. He often was like a side character in a lot of stuff. Yeah. So he was in that. Red Dawn. A lot of people would maybe know him as Molly Ringwald's dad. Yes. In Pretty in

SPEAKER_02:

Pink.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean, God, he was so good. Because even in these, like, smaller bits, he brought such depth to all of his characters. I mean, you don't see him a lot in Pretty in Pink. But you can tell that he's depressed. He sleeps away the day. She's trying to convince him to, you know... Interview for jobs. You can tell that even in the little amount of time that he's on screen that he's grieving his wife who left them. He's really good even in these really small roles. Yeah, he is. I thought this was interesting. He's in The Last Temptation of Christ. So he's Saul slash Paul. That figure in the Bible, his name changes after his... conversion to christianity so that's why both but i never this is such a random thing i have i don't know if i really have a reason to to believe this but saul prior to anyway i'm not gonna go down the path i didn't i don't know if that's really like great casting i wouldn't see him as that figure but

SPEAKER_02:

okay

SPEAKER_00:

in any case who am i to argue with martin scorsese so um he is well

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, yeah, there are a couple movies of Scorsese where I'm like, look, when we talked about, not necessarily on this podcast, but we talked about, what was it, Silence? Oh, sure. I didn't necessarily love either version of it. But I felt

SPEAKER_00:

like... He drastically changes the messaging of the American version.

SPEAKER_01:

He did, but then I find out that that's actually more in line with the novel. Oh, interesting. I don't know what to think about all that. All to say that there is occasionally plenty of room to disagree.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Especially when he talks about how awful movies like Marvel movies are.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. I mean, look, I respect the hell out of the guy, and he's one of the people who's keeping the history of cinema... In the public eye. Sure. As much as he can. So I appreciate that. To just finish off, I mean. We're still talking about her. Yeah, he worked in a lot of stuff. Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Straight Story, The Green Mile. And then, like I said, more like later in his career, he was on the TV show Big Love. I put this one in for you. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

I already know what it is. Please.

SPEAKER_00:

Say it.

SPEAKER_01:

He voiced alien isolation. There

SPEAKER_00:

you go. Yeah, that was for you.

SPEAKER_01:

And then the reason I brought up Scorsese in the Marvel movies is he was, I think, the security guard in the Avengers when the Hulk crashes into some building and he's transformed into Bruce Banner. I think that's who the security guard is that asks them if he's okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, interesting. Okay. So where am I? Okay. So Twin Peaks, he was on the TV, like the rebooted TV series of Twin Peaks. Yeah. And then his final credit was Frank and Ava. Okay. Which I'm guessing is Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner. Okay. Moving on to, I have three more people to talk about. I'll be honest, I did not put down anything for Arnie's father, even though we did talk about that infamous fight scene between them. But I do have down his mother. So it's hilarious to me. She

SPEAKER_01:

reminded me of the mom from Ordinary People.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, very much so, Mary Tyler Moore. Yeah. Yeah. In this film, the character's name is Regina Cunningham. And I just think that's funny because like, while I'm sure there's no connection whatsoever, it made me think of Mean Girls and Regina George.

SPEAKER_01:

She is a mean

SPEAKER_00:

girl. And they're pretty much the same person. Like Regina George would grow up to be this kind of mother. Yeah. If she didn't have her getting hit by the bus and maybe having a change of whatever. Those things

SPEAKER_01:

happened.

SPEAKER_00:

So the actress name is Christine Belford. And it's interesting because she's, to me, very recognizable. But really, when I was looking at her credits, I was like, there's only one thing that I think I... Well, maybe two things that I really know her from. Even though this is a film, I have all TV work for her. I think she more so really found her niche in the small screen. So some of her credits we have... Did you know there's a TV series called The Sixth Sense?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I had no idea. There was, and she was on it.

SPEAKER_00:

A TV series, I don't know what this is, Banachek?

SPEAKER_01:

Say that

SPEAKER_00:

again. Banachek? How do you say it? I don't know. What is it? I don't know how you say it, but she was on it. Marcus Welby, M.D., Barnaby Jones, Empire. So when we were watching this, you're like, why does she look familiar? I thought maybe it's because she was the mom on Silver Spoons.

SPEAKER_01:

That could be it.

SPEAKER_00:

So possibly she was, you know, or is Ricky Schroeder's mom. She was on a soap opera, All My Children, for a while. Now, she might also be known to people as, I think she was, what's his name? Ian Zerling. I think she's his mom on Beverly Hills 90210.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, really? I

SPEAKER_00:

think so. That or Kelly's mom, but I don't think she's Kelly's mom. I think she's his mom.

SPEAKER_01:

That's definitely not where I know her from because I never watched that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I never really was into it. Anyway, but she's done so much TV work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, she's been in one episode of a lot of shows that I used to watch. A ton

SPEAKER_00:

of TV work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, incredible. So much. Like the old Incredible Hulk TV show, Magnum P.I., Chips, just a bunch of TV shows that come from that era.

SPEAKER_00:

Moving on to, I've always thought he had the most interesting first name. It's not Robert. It's Roberts. Roberts Blossom.

SPEAKER_01:

Roberts.

SPEAKER_00:

Roberts? Is that how you say it? That's

SPEAKER_01:

how I say it. You say it,

SPEAKER_00:

Roberts? Uh-huh. Roberts Blossom?

SPEAKER_01:

Always have.

SPEAKER_00:

No, you haven't. Roberts Blossom, who plays LeBay. So, yes, he is in part of that clip that opens this episode, and he is a very interesting character. In a weird way, I feel like he and... Harry Dean Stanton could have switched roles. I could have totally seen Harry Dean Stanton in this role. Maybe more so than Roberts Blossom in the detective role.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, either one of them. I think that could work.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I feel like that could have been a swap. But in any case, he is LeBay who is the gentleman that sells Christine to Arnie. And I thought you had a really interesting comment because since you have read the book, you mentioned that In a way, Arnie is almost like a sacrifice to

SPEAKER_01:

Christine. In the world where Christine was not made bad, but was in fact kind of imprinted upon by the evil spirit of this other LeBay brother, I think that was part of how they drew Arnie in. But... It's interesting because the back brace that he was wearing, that's something that in the book, Arnie's character, through all of his work in getting Christine back up to speed, he ends up injuring his back and has to wear a brace.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

So there's all these things

SPEAKER_00:

that are happening. I don't know if it immediately comes across as a brace, though. It looks like a weird S&M kind of thing that he's wearing.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't pick up on it. It looked very medical

SPEAKER_00:

grade, whatever it was. It's a very odd thing to have a character her in with no explanation i mean it's

SPEAKER_01:

not if it was like some like uh thing with leather straps and studs maybe but

SPEAKER_00:

i mean it looked a little hell raiser but um in my estimation uh in any case so yeah and he i mean he is just uh

SPEAKER_01:

he talks about how he wants to just like like why why are you selling it because he's like selling everything and moving into a condo

SPEAKER_00:

god you know what he has to ask him so many damn times how much he wants for the car before he finally answers

SPEAKER_01:

you know what i think i think that he didn't move into a condo i think roberts moved into a home in illinois next to a family who left their kid alone at home

SPEAKER_00:

you know that's a really good point that you make and

SPEAKER_01:

oh my god really yeah

SPEAKER_00:

no because i'm just thinking Now that you bring it up, because, yeah, he probably, and I promise I'm going to get to his filmography in two seconds, but it is so interesting now that you think about it, because he does play Kevin's neighbor in Home Alone. Yeah. That is a very nice neighborhood. Mm-hmm. So he, too, must also come from money or have made a lot of money over the course of his lifetime to live in that kind of neighborhood.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, probably. And it's that much more rude. I mean, not that, like, money means that you're not a bad guy. But think of him, that he'd have this, like, urban legend around him as having been this, like, killer that, like, he's just a nice old man. Yeah. And honestly, the scene in the church with him and Kevin is probably my favorite scene of the entire film. But in any case, to get to his filmography. Yeah. So really interesting. And actually, I think one thing is going to maybe even blow your mind.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

Maybe. Maybe that's too strong of a term. But he... I have all films for him. Well, almost. So some of his work includes Slaughterhouse-Five, the 1974 The Great Gatsby.

SPEAKER_01:

What was his character's name in The Great Gatsby?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I didn't write that down.

SPEAKER_01:

It was Mr. Gats. That's just funny to me.

SPEAKER_00:

In a film called The Great Gatsby?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. No, that is funny. So he is... His credit name is Farmer, but he is in Close Encounters with Third Kind. Holy

SPEAKER_01:

shit, really?

SPEAKER_00:

Do you know who I think he is? Who?

SPEAKER_01:

When

SPEAKER_00:

the little kid is running down the road. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

that

SPEAKER_00:

is him. He's the guy that's also waiting for the aliens. I think

SPEAKER_01:

you're

SPEAKER_00:

right. And they kind of share a smile.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

That's him. I

SPEAKER_01:

think you're right.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. I don't think he has the line. Does he have any lines in that film?

SPEAKER_01:

He might,

SPEAKER_00:

but not much. But yeah, I was like, oh my God, that is him. So he's in Flashpoint, Vision Quest. He also is in The Last Temptation of Christ.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, that's a title that I did not expect to come up.

SPEAKER_00:

Twice, yeah. Always, of course, probably outside of this film, his most famous role is in Home Alone, Doc Holliday, The Quick and the Dead. And then I did include... He did now to... He did a ton of TV work. I just put in mostly films. But his final credit was a TV movie called Balloon Farm.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. And I have to bring up one additional movie because it is one of my... I don't know if it's one of my favorite, but I really enjoyed this Clint Eastwood movie, Escape from Alcatraz. Oh, okay. He is Chester Doc Dalton in that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. This is going to be our last credit. There are a couple notable faces that are part of this whole... bully group

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

but i'm just i'm gonna bring up the ringleader buddy who looks fucking 40 years old it's so ridiculous it is ridiculous it's

SPEAKER_01:

a ridiculous thing in a lot of movies there are

SPEAKER_00:

so why do the bullies always they just look like they're delinquents who have just never graduated high school and they've been in high school for 20 years

SPEAKER_01:

yeah it's it's so weird it's really

SPEAKER_00:

he is so not a teenager it's too

SPEAKER_01:

much

SPEAKER_00:

it's way too much i mean the casting like okay yeah sure he He's a great menacing bully, but I feel like you could have found somebody who looked more age-appropriate. It's almost like

SPEAKER_01:

how Travolta doesn't look like a high school student in Greece, only this guy looks like he's twice that age.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes! I mean, it is ridiculous. Anyway... I could just keep saying it's ridiculous because it is. But Buddy played by William Ostrander. And I mean, like, look, if you really want to go down the rabbit hole, like all of his cronies, they all do have credits. Like the one guy who gets cut in half by Christine, his other really notable role is in Flashdance. The guy with the crazy hair, his other most notable roles, Ghostbusters. And then the guy, the tall redhead, the real skinny, the beanpole guy. guy oh

SPEAKER_01:

yeah the guy that works at the gas station

SPEAKER_00:

the one that i was thinking of for him he's in actually friday the 13th part 2 so yeah they all have other roles but i'm gonna focus on buddy here some of his work uh i have mostly films for him film called striker mike's murder mike's murder red heat he also i don't know who he would be he's in red heat not red dawn but red heat

SPEAKER_01:

I

SPEAKER_00:

don't even know that film. You know that film?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I don't know that Red Heat, but there's a Red Heat with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, the 80s? Not the same Red Heat,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, different Red Heat?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, maybe that one was the 90s? Hmm, interesting. He's also in North and South? Oh, book one, North and South? Yeah. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00:

I feel like if they have him in the same get-up with the hair and the sideburns, he probably was on the Confederate side. That's just my guess, but anyway. He, for a while, was on the TV series Knot's Landing and Mulholland Drive.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Film synopsis.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, my goodness. What could it be? A

SPEAKER_00:

nerdish boy... Sure. Sure. I mean, that works. Yeah. I mean, it

SPEAKER_01:

is... A nerdish

SPEAKER_00:

boy. It is hilarious. I think the funniest part of the film is the way they keep bringing up the dates to just let you know, like, let you track how quickly this is all evolving.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think that's needed. I don't think so either.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It really doesn't do anything to like really in any. Do

SPEAKER_01:

they keep up with it? Meaningful way. I mean. I feel like there's a point where they just stop doing it maybe or if I just

SPEAKER_00:

stop noticing. You see September 12. That's like the date that the film opens. Then you see I want to say October 9.

SPEAKER_03:

Then

SPEAKER_00:

you see like Thanksgiving. I think it was like November 22 or 23. And I think that's the last date we're given. Yeah. But we do know that it goes into like further into the holiday season because at one point Dennis is like what, playing, doing a puzzle or something with his sister and you see like a Christmas tree. So it pretty much starts at the opening of the school year and then goes through like maybe New Year's or something like that. I

SPEAKER_01:

don't know. I didn't need to know any of that

SPEAKER_00:

really from the movie. It doesn't really do anything as far as the story. That's fine. But it does maybe put a finer point on how quickly this all progresses. Yeah. So, but, I mean... It's, I guess I'll kind of go back to the point I was making earlier just in terms of like, it's an interesting look. Yes, it's a horror film and it's really about this evil car. But I think it's an interesting look at like teenage life. And while it's completely over the top, it does have some kind of basis in just like... how teens feel about themselves. And especially like, it's sad to me how much Arnie kind of hated himself.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's, I think that's the one really nice subtle thing that the film does. Like you do have this one conversation between him and Dennis where he pretty much says that like, she's uglier than me. That tells you a lot about how he feels about himself. But otherwise I think that it's, he does in that regard do a good job of his performance in terms of like his physical acting, especially at the beginning of the film, like when Buddy and his friends are... Like

SPEAKER_01:

they have him cornered in the shop.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and like the way that he slips and he falls and he loses his glasses, like the physical performance there is a little bit over the top too. Yeah. But I do like... the way that he kind of presents himself at the beginning of the film in terms of, like, not having the self-confidence and just feeling very kind of, like, put upon by almost everybody except for Dennis.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, I feel like he's being portrayed like that. You have to skew it one way so that you can make the transition even more, like... It's very much noticeable, but to make it even more dramatic, to see how far his character goes before... You know, he ultimately dies in kind of horrific fashion, the way that he like has that jump scare at the end.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, what do you think about that? That reveal where he was in the final battle or whatever with Dennis and Lee? He was in the car.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think they needed to do that to be able to wrap it up, because if they just like. Christine and he wasn't there I don't know how you because he does die in both this and the novel in different ways but I think that was always going to be like an unfortunate necessary end and it's also pretty common with a lot of King's horror novels where the good guy doesn't make it through the end

SPEAKER_00:

see I think that's really interesting because I would have liked to have seen a version where the car takes over like I would have liked to have maybe explore the idea of Arnie splitting from Christine in terms of like, hey, I don't want you to kill my best friend and my girlfriend.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, and...

SPEAKER_01:

He was way too far gone.

SPEAKER_00:

He was way too far gone, but I think that could have been a really interesting pivot. Like, what is that story then when Arnie's like, hey, no, no, no, no. This is taking it too far.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And like, then what happens between him and Christine when he's not going to go along with it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I mean, he, he is a really interesting character. I think that like, I'm not sure what I think about the relationship between him and his parents because just from the jump, his mom is so oppressive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

They, the parents in some of these movies are just, they're like conveniently there when it helps with the plot. And then these high school kids had a lot of free time to just do whatever they go wherever. Yeah. Like other than Arnie's parents who just really did nothing other than like yell at him, but he still like kind of did whatever he wanted.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And again, I know that it had to like, in a way be that way because you do have to see.

SPEAKER_01:

If they were like, Arnie, you're not allowed to have that car. Okay. Credit.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I mean, and you do need to see him pushing back more so against his mom.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

To show the arc in his character. That's the purpose she serves. Is that at first he's completely dominated by her. And it's only as Christine's influence on him grows that he pushes back against his mom. So that's why she's in the story. But I think honestly the most interesting... I don't know what this is going to say about me. But I think the most interesting part... of the film is like kind of uncomfortable where Christine has gotten like the shit beat out of her by the bullies and he goes into the garage

SPEAKER_02:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

and he's like okay like what does he say show me what you got or he's like okay show me

SPEAKER_01:

show me then

SPEAKER_00:

and it's kind of a weird like it kind of has like a really subtle sexual kind of

SPEAKER_01:

The question is like, Hey, is Arnie fucking this car?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It's kind of a weird dynamic.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, there's, there is a remake that I think is in, like they started things. I think it was confirmed maybe in April that they're like Blumhouse is working on a Christine like

SPEAKER_00:

remake.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. And that's what I, I don't, I'm, I don't think they're going to have him like in that kind of relationship with the car. But it felt that way. It felt that that was like there on that scene that you mentioned in the 83 version.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's a very it's like a fascinating kind of scene, but kind of uncomfortable. And

SPEAKER_01:

even even Keith Gordon talked about how when he would like work with with one of the cars because there were like 20 some plus like versions of it. But he would imagine that he was touching a woman. When he was touching

SPEAKER_00:

the car. I mean, look, I get why he had to do that. Yeah. But it is really kind of like... Yipes. Yeah. Yipes. That's, like, the perfect way of explaining that. And then, again, going back to, like, the human love triangle, I think it's interesting at the end because... So, like, Lee and... Dennis kind of come together because they both have this common, like, we don't know what to do about Arnie anymore. Yeah. We have to stop the car.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It does seem like they're both legitimately concerned for Arnie's sake.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

There's no kiss shared between them or anything like that. But there is like she hugs him a lot. And at the end, they're like hugging. A lot of

SPEAKER_01:

hugging.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of hugging. At the end, they're at the dump, the car, whatever place together.

SPEAKER_01:

She hates rock and roll.

SPEAKER_00:

She hates rock and roll. So that's another really interesting dynamic that it's like, are they just, they've been bonded over this trauma and they have a friendship? Or is there something more between them as well?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that'd be a tough relationship, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they should probably just go their separate ways. I think so.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then I think it's also hilarious that, like, Ernie fucking dies and you just don't see his parents again. Like, it's... These parents just disappear in these movies. Like, we said the same thing about war games. The parents just kind of go away.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, what are we going to get out of seeing Ernie's parents again, though?

SPEAKER_00:

Which, now that I'm thinking about it, it wasn't intentional at all. But all the last four films, at least, that we've covered have all been, like, teenager flicks, just different genres, between War Games, Lucas, Friday the 13th, and Christine. Well,

SPEAKER_01:

like, I think it's more of just a coincidence for War Games and Lucas, but I feel like there's probably more of that with the horror genre.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes, for sure. Especially in the 80s.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But, I mean... I, like I said, do really enjoy this film. It's not necessarily one of my top horror films, but because you have a particular interest in Stephen King, how do you feel about this film as an adaptation first and a horror film second?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, I think that just as a Stephen King film from this era, he's done so much across so many decades that there are some things that are fantastic and some things that didn't turn out as well. This one, like... in my mind is, is like a solid, like fun. Although we've talked about some of the over the top kind of performances, I think it all works well enough. Like you really, you really hate some of the bullies. In fact, like, Like the guy that did the impromptu nut grab in the fight with Dennis. That was...

SPEAKER_00:

I didn't know what to think of that. I'm not a dude. So is that like a move that a dude would do for another dude?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, it was in this movie. I don't know. Have I ever gotten in a fight where I just immediately grab someone's junk? No. But you it's almost like you see like those cartoonish 80s villains and you get that and you know, oh, this is a movie about a car that's going to kill some people. I bet there's going to be some sweet kill scenes with these guys. And

SPEAKER_00:

I totally forgotten about that part of it. That is

SPEAKER_01:

an epic

SPEAKER_00:

part of the film, actually, where they all get blown up to smithereens.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the one where the guy gets cut in half is the guy that was the nut grabber. Correct. And we don't know that because even though I think this movie is like a solid, fun horror movie. It's very light on the gore. Yeah. It's so crazy. Like I'm not the person to be saying like, I need more gore, but I kind of hope that when in like the remake, show me this guy getting cut in half by the car.

SPEAKER_00:

John Carpenter. I mean, look,

SPEAKER_01:

They probably will, too. Blumhouse will probably do that.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't have exhaustive knowledge of all of his horror films, but I feel like he is a little bit more conservative when it comes to gore.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think so. And that holds true... Like, throughout. Like, you see the kid get just, like, pinned up against the wall, and it's over real quick. Darnell, when he's crushed with the seat moving forward...

SPEAKER_00:

They cut away.

SPEAKER_01:

It's over super quick.

SPEAKER_00:

You just see basically a dummy on fire. Yeah, when Buddy's... For Buddy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But you're right. Like, that scene when Christine runs into the gas station, and it's just... on fire chasing

SPEAKER_00:

him. The car on fire chasing him is fucking epic. Like, that is an amazing... And I remember, like, I was saying it over and over, like, how'd they do that? How'd they do that? Like, that is... That is a visually stunning part of the film.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that part was super cool. Although it also reminded me of Prometheus where everyone just runs in straight lines and forgets how to zig

SPEAKER_00:

when they should zag. It's like you got to listen to what they say when you're trying to outrun a crocodile. You got to zigzag.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know if that... Yeah, I've

SPEAKER_00:

heard that. I think that might be not factually correct, but... Like

SPEAKER_01:

Nut Grabber. I forgot his name. But when he was getting chased he just stands in the middle of the road I

SPEAKER_00:

know and literally with everybody I was like you know there are ways that you could probably get away from a speeding car like I feel like of all the I mean it's like it's own version of like Michael Myers or Jason at least the earlier Michael Myers and Jason's where they just do the slow steady walk it's like you could probably outrun them but they never do all

SPEAKER_01:

that being said I enjoyed it as like its own thing. I brought up all the distinctions that I can kind of remember and look back up again between this and the novel. But King was involved in this. And I'm not sure to what extent. I think he's already commented before on his displeasure with some of the older adaptations, including Shining, which you mentioned. So I like it. I like it better as a movie than as an adaptation, if that makes sense. Okay, that's fair. Yeah. I just enjoy it for what it is because compared to some of the other movies, I'd rather just watch this than watch Carrie again or Firestarter.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Carrie's... Even the original one is just tougher to watch because there's just...

SPEAKER_00:

Carrie's a tough film.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

it is. It is, because it, in some ways, like, I'm not, okay, I'm not a huge De Palma fan, and especially that opening scene is, like, really kind of egregious as far as the salaciousness of it. Yes. But it does hit pretty close to home, I think, on several levels in terms of, like, not actually too far apart from this film in terms of, like, the horror of high school.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And how brutal... kids that age can be to other kids. And also how brutal a teen can be to themselves in terms of how they feel about themselves. And so in that way, both films are, I think, really successful. But yeah, Carrie overall is just a really dope film to

SPEAKER_01:

watch. We even talk about that guy that also got killed, I'm pretty sure, in the gas station that got set on fire and exploded about 20 times. But that kid who had no telekinetic supernatural powers at the beginning of Ghostbusters, that was him.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, that's hilarious. Stephen Tash. Yeah, that the two of the other bullies are so nerdy looking. Like they're arguably way more nerdy looking than Arnie. And they're like the bullies? Like, okay. But in any case, call to action.

SPEAKER_01:

So my dad had a Plymouth, not the same kind of Plymouth that Christine was, but a Plymouth Volare.

SPEAKER_00:

I did not even know that that was the type of car. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he had a Plymouth Volare that would not start for my mom, would constantly break down if she was trying to drive it. She called that car Christine. So that's my question is whether anyone has had a car that they felt had a little bit of Christine in it. that just acted like it had something out against you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, I think that's a great call to action. I think that that's something also that maybe nowadays, I feel like I saw an article somewhere or maybe it was a podcast. There was something that I know I came across where they were talking about Like the characters of Cars and how characters have lost character through the years. Like where like older Cars used to have like a personality about them. Yeah. And nowadays you just don't have that anymore. I don't know if that's even going to like... be something that younger generations even understand, like, what the hell I'm talking about. I

SPEAKER_01:

don't know. I mean, that Cybertruck's got nothing

SPEAKER_00:

but its own personality. That's true, that's true. Cybertruck is maybe the outlier nowadays. That's the only thing it has going for

SPEAKER_01:

it.

SPEAKER_00:

Big fucking nerd. Or bully nerd. Anyway, it's like buddy. But, um... But yeah, I think that that's actually a really great call to action. I mean, my thing, and this was just such a random thing that I picked up on, again, because of all the dates that they throw out in this film, the fact that Christine was made in 1957. And then I was like, holy shit, because Friday the 13th, Jason Voorhees dies in 1957. And so my call to action is like, hey, I don't know the answer to this. Is there anything else out there, people, that's like 1957 that is like horror related? Like, let's find a trilogy. Yeah. Let's make it happen with something else from 1957. The

SPEAKER_01:

1957 horror multiverse.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean, Psycho's 1960, but I don't remember if something... Is it actually set in 1960? Is it maybe 1957? I don't know. That's the closest thing I can come to. But if you want to reach out to us, we would love to hear from you. You can reach out through Facebook, TwitterX... whatever you want to fucking call it, Instagram. It's the same handle. I call it

SPEAKER_01:

that social media platform run by that shithead.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I know. We're still on it, unfortunately. But there are some actually still really nice people that I connect with on it. So that's why I've stayed on. It's the same handle for all three. It is at 80s Montage Pod and 80s is 80S. All right. sneak peek

SPEAKER_01:

okay

SPEAKER_00:

i don't know what kind of clue i could give you that's

SPEAKER_01:

not as helpful

SPEAKER_00:

one thing that's really fantastic about it is like we are getting a female horror director

SPEAKER_01:

oh damn i wish that i wish that helped

SPEAKER_00:

oh my god you know what actually the clue might be let me make sure that i am uh right about this i

SPEAKER_01:

don't even know if i'm gonna guess the movie much less the clue

SPEAKER_00:

I think she came up not too long ago as a writer. Oh. And, yes! Okay. It's another Mystic Pizza connection. Oh my god. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was one of the writers on Mystic Pizza.

SPEAKER_01:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't believe you.

SPEAKER_00:

And she, I mean, should I just tell you what the movie is? No,

SPEAKER_01:

you don't have to. I can click through here while I'm...

SPEAKER_00:

And it also has, like, not even overtures. It's, like, so ridiculously obvious the metaphor for the killer's weapon of choice. It's a drill. Like, the sexual...

SPEAKER_01:

Is it a... Is this... No. What...

SPEAKER_00:

I think you were about to say it. I

SPEAKER_01:

was about to say the slumber

SPEAKER_00:

party massacre. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. Okay. Amy Holden Jones.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. I'm so excited to cover this one. It'll be a really interesting film to talk about. I mean, it is like another really fun slasher. I've never

SPEAKER_01:

seen this before.

SPEAKER_00:

You've seen it with me. No, that's not possible. You've seen it with me. I'm the one that usually says that to you. I don't think that's true. Yes, you watched it with me like two years ago. What? You did. Really? Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes. All right. So. I

SPEAKER_01:

look forward to seeing it again for the first time.

SPEAKER_00:

So, so excited. That will be the third in our five film series this year, our Halloween series. It goes way too fast.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah. Okay. I kind of remember, but you know what's really bizarre? I didn't. If you go to IMDb for the Slumber Party Massacre, IMDb will just autoplay trailers or, like, scenes. There's, like, full-on nudity. Oh, yes. Just in the trailer.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I know. I know. It's crazy, right? They've gotten a little loosey-goosey, I think. I don't think you should

SPEAKER_01:

do

SPEAKER_00:

that. I know, because it's, like, IMDb is available to anybody. There's no, like, age-gating anything? No, no. In any case. I know exactly what you're talking about. I've noticed that, too, lately. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And also, what's really fun about... So, we are... going to talk specifically about the first film but this is also a franchise there are multiple slumber party massacre films all directed by women okay pretty cool tell your friends tell your friends and in the meantime thank you so much for hanging with us we really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our podcast and we will talk to you again in two weeks time