Author: Lena

Release date:  12/10/1999

Warner Bros.

Directed by

• Frank Darabont

Produced by

• Frank Darabont
• David Valdes

Screenplay by

• Frank Darabont

Based on

• The Green Mile, by Stephen King

Cast

Tom Hanks

• Paul Edgecomb

Michael Clarke Duncan

• John Coffey

David Morse

• Brutus “Brutal” Howell

The hosts review:

Darrell thought the movie wasn’t bad but had trouble getting into it because of the length of it, he thought the plot point dragged on.  The hosts break into a side discussion about Stephen King’s books and, when he writes about lighter supernatural elements and the characters are real, the stories are much better.  The human elements in this story aren’t driven by the supernatural events; the story is driven by the characters.  Another example of this is Shawshank Redemption, which has no supernatural elements at all.

David liked the movie, but he doesn’t like the use of older characters used to tell their stories from years ago, as Tom Hanks character does to begin and end the movie.  Tony brought up that in this particular case, it gives you a few hints as to what the “gift” is that John Coffey gave Paul Edgecomb.  This brought up the question of, ‘Just how old is John Coffey?  How long has been around before he’s ready to leave?’  Lena (chat room) thought that the scars on his arms might have meant that he might have been a slave.

In discussion the actors, the hosts agreed that Tom Hanks did a great job, and his best quality as an actor is the ability to be understated and to improve the quality of everyone working with him (see: Wilson – Castaway).  Michael Clarke Duncan did a really great job at playing Coffey’s character and switching from an innocent to someone with the power to heal.  The hosts thought Sam Rockwell did a fantastic job at Wild Bill.  Michael Jeter as Del, Doug Hutchison as Percy, David Morse as Brutal, James Cromwell as Warden Moores… all believable, all really good characters.

In true Stephen King style, a lot of the movie showed each character’s set up; who everyone is, what their role is, how everyone interacts, and each part was necessary.  There has to be three executions because each one sets up information about the next one.  Percy have to have every one of his scenes to show what kind of a character he is so that it’s understood why Coffey gives a small part of himself to Percy so that justice could ultimately be done to Wild Bill.  Edgecomb’s back story had to follow that particular path to understand why Coffey gives part of his gift to him.

The hosts go into short, impromptu lists of top boob movies and top dong movies… yeah, that’s what I said.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

At the beginning of the movie, when the old Paul Edgecomb is walking to get some breakfast after waking from that bad dream, he is walking on a tiled floor that is very green, as if it’s his Green Mile.

In actuality, Michael Clarke Duncan (6’5”) is only one inch taller than David Morse (6’4”) and two inches shorter than James Cromwell (6’7”). Among other things, creative camera angles were used to create the illusion that Duncan as John Coffey towered over the prison staff, even Brutal Howell and Warden Moores.

When Stephen King visited the set he asked to be strapped into Old Sparky to see how it felt. He didn’t like it and asked to be released.

When the producers were having trouble finding the right actor to fill the role of John Coffey, Bruce Willis suggested Duncan, who co-starred with him in Armageddon.

Many actors in this film have previously or subsequently appeared in other Stephen King adaptations.  Morse appeared in the Langoliers and Hearts in Atlantis.  Cromwell was in Salem’s Lot.  Patricia Clarkson acted in Carrie.  Jeffrey DeMunn and William Sadler were both in Shawshank Redemption and The Mist.  Harry Dean Stanton appeared in Christine and Gary Sinise was in The Stand.

Awards:

1999 Academy Awards – 4 nominations

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role-Michael Clarke Duncan
• Best Picture
• Best Sound Mixing
• Best Adapted Screenplay

2000 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films – 3 wins

• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Supporting Actress-Patricia Clarkson
• Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film

The Green Mile also won the following awards:

• 2000 Black Reel Award (Best Supporting Actor)
• 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award (Favorite Actor)
• 2000 Broadcast Film Critics Association (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor)
• 2000 People’s Choice Award (Favorite All-Around Motion Picture and Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture)

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

This episode was recorded: 9/19/2012

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Release date:  9/10/1993

Warner Bros.

Directed by

• Tony Scott

Produced by

• Gary Barber
• Samuel Hadida
• James G. Robinson

Written by

• Quentin Tarantino
• Roger Avary (uncredited)

Cast

Clarence Worley

• Christian Slater

Alabama Whitman

• Patricia Arquette

 

David enjoyed the movie and, because some of the scenes were so long and drawn out and Taratino-esque, he started to read the trivia and realizes that it was, in fact, written by Tarantino.  Tony added that it wasn’t completely like Tarantino because some of the dialogue wasn’t as clever and snappy throughout.  He does, though, keep to his love of monologues.  Tony felt that the Elvis parts could have been cut out and it wouldn’t have taken anything away from the movie, and David agreed that it didn’t seem to make much sense.  David originally thought the movie was going to be dreadful, judging solely by Christian Slater’s beginning monologue, but once Patricia Arquette showed up, it was a great improvement.

They break now to talk about the long list of actors/characters.  David thought that Slater improved greatly after the first monologue, although he’s not a big fan of Slater’s Jack Nicholson tones.  Both hosts really liked the scene where Slater confronts Gary Oldman.  The Dennis Hopper/Christopher Walken scene was fantastic, but what a letdown when neither of them were in the movie again!  The one that was surprising, as Tony thought his scene would be a “one & done” was Brad Pitt.

Both Tony and David thought Arquette was fantastic, and they were pleasantly surprised by her performance.  They liked her playfulness and they thought she and Slater had good chemistry.  They both also really appreciated her fight scene with Gandolfini.  It was a very atypical fight scene and it worked really well.  Lena (from the chat room) said that she loved Gandolfini’s expression when he first punched Arquette; it was a mix of evil and joy.  Even the way that Arquette’s prostitute falls in love with and marries Slater’s character meshed and seemed realistic… as much as it could be.

Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Bronson Pinchot, Saul Rubinek… all really good performances.  They also talk about how they both feel that Brad Pitt is underrated as an actor.

Touching on the Recently Dead Guy Podcast theme, Tony said he could easily see why True Romance was one of Tony Scott’s most critically acclaimed films.  The hosts then go into a list of Scott’s films.

They returned to the cast again to talk about Oldman’s pimp character and Samuel L. Jackson’s dietary preferences.

Wrapping up, the hosts agreed that there were a few scenes that could have been cut a little shorter.  They liked that it was a very unpredictable movie where the slate is effectively wiped clean by the film’s end.  If you’re into Tarantino, you’ll like this film.  David brings up the alternately ending in which Clarence dies at the end and Alabama goes on a crime spree with Mr. White from Reservoir Dogs.

 

Trivial bits ‘n pieces (many of which the hosts brought up during the recording):

The screenplay of True Romance was originally part of a very long screenplay written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary.  The other half of it was used for the film Natural Born Killers.  In both films Tom Sizemore plays a cop.

The structure of the script was different in Tarantino’s original script. The first two parts of the movie were told in trademark Tarantino nonlinear fashion. Director Tony Scott hired Avery to change the script to linear structure for filming.

According to Dennis Hopper, the only words that were improvised in the scene with Christopher Walken were “eggplant” and “cantaloupe”.

Following the “eggplant scene”, Hopper was concerned about being “shot” by Walken with the prop gun so close against his head for fear of being burned by the barrel. Director Scott assured him the gun was 100% safe, and even tested it by having the prop man fire it against his (Scott’s) own forehead. But upon firing the prop gun the barrel extended about a third of an inch and Scott ended up on the floor with blood pouring from the wound.

The work “f*#k” and its derivatives are said 225 times.

Tony Scott gave Patricia Arquette the Cadillac featured heavily in the film as a gift after filming wrapped.

In the diner scene, when Clarence asks Alabama what her turn-offs are, she replies “Persians” in the finished film. Being turned off by her character appearing racist in that scene, Arquette name-dropped a different ethnicity for each take that was shot. She said she wanted to be equally offensive to all people.

 

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• David

This episode was recorded: 9/12/2012

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Release date:  4/7/1976

Paramount Pictures

Directed by

• Michael Ritchie

Produced by

• Stanley R. Jaffee

Written by

• Bill Lancaster

Cast

Coach Buttermaker

• Walter Matthau

Amanda Whurlitzer

• Tatum O’Neal

Roy Turner

• Vic Morrow

Jackie Earl Haley

• Kelly Leak

Chris Barnes

• Tanner Boyle

The hosts review:

First and foremost, welcome back to our long, lost host… David!

David liked it, but not for the obvious reasons.  He thought the racist epithets were weird and shocking, although it was more common for the mid-70s to hear that particular kind of language.  Lena brought up that there wasn’t any real cussing in the movie, as it was rated PG.  David was also surprised by the surprise “child abuse” when one of the coaches slaps a ballplayer in the face.  Tony brought up that the movie gets into the little social issues that surrounds kids sports that are still around and probably worse today.

Lena found some parts of the movie to still be funny, even after almost 40 years.  She also found it neat to remember what things were like from her childhood years.  Tony and Lena agreed that Tatum O’Neal was a fashion plate, and then it was briefly discussed the other actresses that were initially slated to play the role of Amanda.

Darrell found it interesting that, with all the racial slurs being tossed around in the movie, there was very little backlash at having a girl on the baseball team.

Tony mentioned that there was an alternate ending to the movie in which Kelly is safe at home and the Bears win, but test audiences liked the more realistic ending.

Lena learns what a “boilermaker” is… please hold your laughter until the end of the review, thank you.

We briefly break into a side conversation of how Vic Morrow died while filming Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Tony liked how the movie exposed what happens with kids and sports.  Lena’s favorite scene was when Kelly (Haley), a skinny fourteen year-old, was hitting on the adult woman in Amanda’s ballet class.  Tony also found that the way the parents were portrayed in the movie is pretty much still the way a lot of the parents are today.

The review breaks off into a discussion of which of the child stars did anything else after Bad News Bears.  Erin Blunt, who played Ahmad Abdul Rahim, also played one of Lonnie’s kids in our previous movie, Car Wash (full circle, baby!)

Trivial bits ‘n pieces: 

Tanner uses the word “crud” or “cruddy” 11 times in the movie (Tony brought this up early in the review)

Throughout the film, Buttermaker constantly drinks beer, yet is rarely seen drinking the same brand. He is seen at various times in the film drinking Budweiser, Miller High Life, Schlitz “Kingers”, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and original Coors.  On several occasions, he is shown drinking Budweiser.

Bill Lancaster’s screenplay was based on his experiences with his father, Burt Lancaster. Buttermaker was based on Burt, who was known for his grumpiness and the character of Amanda was based on himself.

Saturday Night Live did a parody of the film with Matthau as the guest host (12/2/1978) called “The Bad News Bees” with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and the rest of the cast in their recurring “bee” costumes.  The coach gives his team of bees some advice on life after one of them is caught masturbating, which was referred to as “buzzing-off”.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Lena
• David

This episode was recorded: 8/29/2012

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