Category: Season 07

Show Notes to follow

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Release date:  10/22/1976

Universal Pictures

Directed by

• Michael Schultz

Produced by

• Art Lindstrom
• Gary Stromberg

Written by

• Joel Schumacher

Cast

Lonnie

• Ivan Dixon

Lindy

• Antonio Fargas

T.C.

• Franklin Ajaye

Duane/Abdullah

• Bill Duke

Daddy Rich

• Richard Pryor

The hosts review:

Darrell found it kind of rough to watch a 35 year old film with no plot and a very thin story line because you’re waiting for something to happen… and it never really does.  Tony describes it as a ghetto slice of life movie, set in a car wash, with no over arcing plot.  It’s just a day in the life of guys who work in a car wash, although there are some very interesting characters who he would have liked to have had more of a story.  It’s basically a character study loosely strung together, which Darrell found to be the movie’s downfall.  Tony #2 brought up that, during the 1970s, there were quite a few films that experimented with character study as a structure.

They liked the character of Lindy, a flamboyantly gay man.  What they also liked was that their coworkers were supportive and, when Lindy was hassled, defended him, as well.

While Darrell thought it came close to being a Blaxploitation movie, Tony and Tony #2 disagreed and thought it was very much the opposite.  They go into a brief listing of Blaxploitation films… then drift back to Car Wash.  The only scene in the film that possibly came close to being a “stereotype” is the scene where the employees were dancing and singing while washing cars.  Tony thought that Kevin Smith borrowed heavily from this structure in making Clerks… slice of life study and people whose only common thread is working together.

They talked about Richard Pryor being one of the top-billed actors in the movie, although he was in only one scene.  One of Tony’s most memorable “one of” scenes in the movie was the Beverly Hills woman who comes to the car wash with her son with an upset stomach.  Her main concern is that the employees clean up her son’s vomit from the car, and NOT that fact that her son is sick.  When she drives away, her son projectile vomits all over the inside of her car and her.

The hosts discuss the more tragic story lines in the film.  T.C., who spend the entire movie trying to win concert tickets for a girl that he likes, but this girl barely gives him the time of day.  Lonnie, who works in an almost supervisory role, but doesn’t have the title or the pay that goes with it.  He’s also struggling to be a good father while dealing with a parole office that keeps popping in to check up on him.  Duane/Abdullah, the “angry young man,” knows most of the employees are slackers and he wants more for himself.  These also provided some of the serious moments in the midst of the comedy.

They note that the movie didn’t really become cohesive until the end when the different story lines came to a close, specifically the scene in which Lonnie is closing the car wash and Abdullah (after being fired) returns to the car wash with a gun.

They were also a little disappointed in George Carlin’s cab driver character.  They wished it was more like George Carlin – he wasn’t an intelligent character, he was a goofball character.  Carlin also had a high billing on the movie and wasn’t in it all that much.

Darrell brought up that there was a number of well-known actors whose scenes ended up on the cutting room floor; Brook Adams and Danny DeVito, to name a few

Darrell mentions that Car Wash was Ivan Dixon’s last movie role, and they briefly mention his long list as a Director.

Tony brings up Richard Pryor’s quote about his role in Car Wash: “On the set of ‘Car Wash’ I was too coked out to know any better.”

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

This was Ivan Dixon’s last movie acting role and Bill Duke’s first movie acting role, who also became a Director in later years.

The name of the Los Angeles car wash used to film the movie was the Figueroa Car Wash, near MacArthur Park.

The movie’s title song was a #1 hit and was also one of the biggest selling singles of  the 1970s disco era.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony (say what?) It’s the return of Tony #2!

This episode was recorded: 8/8/2012

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Release date:  3/30/1981

20^th Century Fox

Directed by

• Hugh Hudson

Produced by

• David Putnam

Written by

• Colin Welland

Cast

Harold Abrahams

• Ben Cross

Eric Liddell

• Ian Charleston

Ian Holm

• Sam Mussabini

The hosts review:

Darrell starts off by mentioning the Chariots of Fire representation in the opening ceremonies of this year’s Summer Olympics… featuring the one and only Mr. Bean!

Tony felt that the music, even being 30 years old, sounded dated even for its time, specifically the synthesizer.  Darrell thought that the music worked well, and was surprised that they used modern music for a movie that takes place from 1919-1924.  He then went on to talk about how the Chariots of Fire theme is integral to the movie, how it immediately conjures up that iconic image of men running on the beach.

Darrell enjoyed the movie and found it to be a true “drama.”  He appreciated the movie a lot more now than he did years ago, as did Tony.  Tony, though, didn’t think it was as fantastic as critics proclaimed it to be, and found the dialogue “clunky.”  Darrell said that a lot of the dialogue was based on a journal by one of the characters in the movie, and Tony concurred that it did sound like written word and didn’t always flow naturally.  He found that it almost appears to be a “talking down” to the audience.

Tony also brought up how the anti-Semitism and racism was apparent, even in a very polite manner, from the onset of the movie.  There were constant little snips at and about Abrahams Jewish heritage.  There were also offhand comments regarding Abrahams personal coach, Mussabini, who was of Italian and Arab descent.

The hosts also discussed the different reasons and passions behind each man needing to run.  Abrahams runs to win and Liddell runs for God, and how each of them faced hurdles (no pun intended… I think) to accomplish their goals of Olympic gold.

They talk about how in most other sports-themed movies, there is usually a big build-up to the main sporting event.  In this movie, the race was almost an anti-climactic moment, an after-thought.  The “meat” of the story was in getting to the Olympics, in each man’s journey and struggle to get there.

They found it almost amusing to compare the opening ceremony scene of the 1924 Olympics to the grand spectacle of the 2012 Olympics.

Darrell mentioned that he wondered what Liddell did when he returned to China as a missionary:

Liddell’s first job was as a teacher at an Anglo-Chinese school for wealthy Chinese students.  The belief at the time being that by teaching these wealthy children, they would grow up to be influential figures and promoters of Christianity in China.

He also competed periodically in local and North China championships.

In 1943, he was interned at the Weihsien Internment Camp when the Japanese took over the mission station he was serving.  He died in February of 1945, still in the internment camp, of an inoperable brain tumor.  In his final letter to his wife (who had returned to her native Canada with their children when the Japanese had become aggressive toward China), he told her that he had suffered a nervous breakdown.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

Most of the runners training on West Sands in St. Andrews during the title sequence were St. Andrews golf caddies.

Chariots of Fire was named as one of “The 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time” by Premiere.

The producers intentionally added profanity to the film to avoid a G rating because they thought people would associate a G rating with a film for children.

Abrahams also competed in the 1920 Olympics: he finished fourth in the 4×100 relay, 20th in the long jump and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of both the 100m and 200m races.

Kenneth Branagh was a gofer and an extra for the shoot. He is a Cambridge student in the “Society Day” crowds, wearing a grey knit vest with dark trim, a white shirt, and a dark tie. He’s on screen for 20 seconds, starting at about 11:00.

Stephen Fry is also an extra in the film, singing in the chorus of the Cambridge ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ production. He is the third face to the right of Harold Abrahams, singing “He Is An Englishman”. He’s on screen for about 35 seconds, starting at around 32:00.

Awards won by Chariots of Fire:

1981 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Original Music Score, Writing Original Screenplay and Costume Design)

1981 Cannes Film Festival (Best Supporting Actor/Ian Holm, Prize of Ecumenical Jury-Special Mention/Hugh Hudson

1981 BAFTA (Best Film)

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell

This episode was recorded: 8/1/2012

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The summer movie series continues…

Release date:  6/3/1955

20^th Century Fox

Directed by

• Billy Wilder

Produced by

• Charles K. Feldman
• Billy Wilder

Written by

• George Axelrod
• Billy Wilder

Cast

The Girl

• Marilyn Monroe

Richard Sherman

• Tom Ewell

The hosts review:

The first point brought up is that, while The Seven Year Itch has the most iconic image of Marilyn Monroe (dress blowing up over the subway grate), the movie doesn’t show the full image.  They also talk about how it was said that Monroe was “difficult” to work with during this movie, with her being late more often than not and flubbing a number of her lines.  This was also due to her depression.

Both hosts found it a little disconcerting that the main character, Richard Sherman (Ewell) had an inner dialogue that he utilized by talking, out loud, to himself.  They played on Richard’s overactive imagination in a nice way, with his dialogue and his “fantasy thoughts.”  They also liked the scene in the vegetarian restaurant in the beginning of the movie… a very bohemian/hippie restaurant, very alternative for the mid-1950s.  Tony was really amused by the waitress who tries to talk Richard into donating to the nudist society.

The Seven Year Itch was originally a stage production, and the movie is played out in very much the same way, with Richard breaking the “fourth wall” quite a few times in the film.  It was also filmed in a stage style in that there were only four or five sets and there wasn’t a lot of movement outside of these scenes.

One of the differences between the stage version and the film version is that the film had to have the risqué stage dialogue toned down, which the hosts preferred because it gave Richard a more innocent look.  It also played well in how he over-reacted to the scenes he imagined in his head, which would have been much more blatant on the stage.

Lena (from the chat room) brought up that Walter Matthau was the original actor that Billy Wilder wanted to play the role of Richard Sherman, but 20^th Century Fox did not want to risk this movie on a newcomer, so they turned to the actor who played the role on stage, Tom Ewell.  Lena thought that, while Matthau certainly could have done a good job, Ewell was the better choice.  Tony disagreed and said that he would have liked to have seen Matthau take on the role of Richard.

One of the favorite lines from the film (Lena’s pick) was when Richard said, regarding his wife, “She’s not as young as she used to be.  She’s 31 now.”

Tony and Darrell also discussed Marilyn Monroe and her contribution to this movie and her other movies.  They also talked about what she had to go through; the paparazzi, the tabloids, and the pressure she was constantly under… and how even today celebrities have a hard time dealing with the pressures that almost originated with her.

All in all, they both found it to be a fun, sweet movie.  Monroe’s character (The Girl) was a very sweet girl, not at all malicious or seductive in nature.

Bonus… at approx. 27 minutes in, Tony and Darrell talk a little bit about The Dark Knight Rises… no spoilers are involved, just general movie chit-chat.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

As Tony brought up earlier in the podcast, the classic shot of Marilyn Monroe’s dress blowing up around her legs as she stands over a subway grate was originally shot on Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street (Manhattan) 1:00 am, with 5,000 onlookers whistling and cheering through take after take as she repeatedly missed her lines. That original footage never made it to the screen; the noise of the crowd had made it unusable.  Billy Wilder re-staged the scene on the 20th Century-Fox lot, on a set replicating Lexington Avenue, and got a more satisfactory result. However, it took another 40 takes for Marilyn to achieve the famous scene.

A 52-foot-high cutout of Marilyn Monroe (from the blowing-dress scene) was erected in front of Loews State Theater, in New York City’s Times Square as part of the campaign for the release of this film.

Tom Ewell won the 1953 Tony Award for Actor in a Drama for “The Seven Year Itch” in the role of Richard Sherman, which he reprised in this film.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell

This episode was recorded: 7/25/2012

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The Endless Summer

Release date:  6/15/1966

Monterey Media

Directed, Produced, Written by

• Bruce Brown

Cast (as themselves)

• Michael Hynson
• Robert August
• Bruce Brown (narrator)

Step into Liquid

Release date:  4/20/2004

Artisan Entertainment

Directed by

• Dana Brown

Produced by

• John-Paul Beeghly

Cast (as themselves)

• Laird Hamilton
• Dave Kalama
• Dale Webster
• Jesse Billauer

For any of you who might still be jonesing for more surfing documentaries, there are two follow-ups by the same producers: The Endless Summer II (1994) by Bruce Brown and The Endless Summer Revisited (2000), by Dana Brown, which contains unused footage from the The Endless Summer and The Endless Summer II.

The hosts review of The Endless Summer:

Darrell thought The Endless Summer was fun to watch.  It’s a travelogue type movie and easy to watch.  He liked that it showed a more innocent time; two surfers travelling the world, chasing the sun and the surf, literally having an “endless summer.”

He also liked the scene at their first stop in Africa where the surfers complained about the cost of their hotel as $30 per night, per person!  Tony added that in that scene, they also complained that the cost of gas was close to $1.00 a gallon (which, truly, was A LOT for 1966).

Tony’s first impression was that it reminded him of a lot of the school documentaries he saw as a child: single camera, lock focus, no dialogue, a single narrator.

Darrell noted that Bruce Brown read a book on how to make movies on the flight to meet his fellow surfers.  Also, to raise money for this film, he gathered his previously shot 16mm footage on surfers (called Waterlogged) and showed it around.

What kept Tony going throughout the documentary was the sense of humor from Brown.  He was occasionally snarky and dry and witty, but if you weren’t watching the film at the same time, the jokes were easily lost.  One such comment was when the surfers were in South Africa, and Brown stated that when not surfing, the guys hung out with the natives.  On the film, though, one of the men is laying on the beach between two bikini-clad South African women.

Both hosts agreed that it’s probably best to watch The Endless Summer in small doses, as opposed to sitting through the full 95 minutes all at once.

Lena’s (from the chat room) favorite line came during the filming in Africa.  Some of the locals were gathered at the beach watching the surfers and Brown said, “Being good Africans, they threw rocks.”  Tony’s favorite was when they were talking about the female surfers in Australia, Brown said (of the girls’ bikinis, when they wipe out), “They just roll up in a ball and go into a clam hole.”

Darrell thought that this was a great time capsule to look at the world in the mid-sixties.  There was no hidden message to this movie… just two guys travelling around the world trying to surf and live an endless summer.

The hosts review of Step into Liquid:

Darrell compared the two as “stepping from the stone age to the space age,” in terms of the technical sport of surfing.  This was the difference between surfing six foot waves and then sixty foot waves.  Both Darrell and Tony also really liked the advances in how they surf (using the wakes from super tankers was pretty cool to see).

Also, the cinematography was amazing (not just in comparison to The Endless Summer, but just within the movie itself.)

This wasn’t noted earlier, but Dana Brown (Step into Liquid) is the son of Bruce Brown (The Endless Summer) and dad Bruce is featured in son Dana’s film.

There was also a much broader group of surfers in Step into Liquid, covering the sport of surfing itself, instead of a singular focus on the two surfers travelling the world in The Endless Summer.

Tony talked about the scene with Jesse Billauer, where they talk about the different ways to surf.  You can be standing on the board, sitting, kneeling, even flat on your belly; it’s all surfing.  You then find out that Jessie was paralyzed in an earlier surfing accident and continues to surf with his buddies (they carry him to his board and he surfs on his belly).  The camaraderie between the surfers was really nice to see.

The section in the second movie that focused on the female surfers was worlds away from the brief mention in the first movie, as well.  A quote (or as close as I can remember) about the women: “Remember that tomboy girl that beat you in sports when you were a little kid?  Well, she’s grown up now and gorgeous and she STILL beats you in sports.”

One surfer that was shown in the movie, Dale “The Daily Wavester” Webster, was on his was to setting a record of consecutive days of surfing, at 10,407.  He did break that record on February 29, 2004.  I also found another mention of his consecutive days of surfing and found that he got at least as far as 13,000 days on April 6, 2011.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

In 2002, The Endless Summer was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

The previously unknown break off of Cape St. Francis in South Africa, featured in The Endless Summer, went on to become one of the world’s most famous surfing sites.

The 66-foot wave ridden by Mike Parsons in Step into Liquid at the Cortez Bank was believed to have been the largest wave ever surfed at the time the movie was released.  It has since been surpassed by a 70-foot wave ridden by Pete Cabrinha in 2004 at Peahi in Hawaii.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell

This episode was recorded: 7/17/2012

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Release date:  5/9/1980

Paramount Pictures

Directed and Produced by

• Sean S. Cunningham

Written by

• Victor Miller

Cast

Betsy Palmer

• Mrs. Pamela Voorhees

Adrienne King

• Alice Hardy

Your hosts review:

Darrell hadn’t watched the movie in decades… he could definitely see where it would have broken the bonds for horror movies (in its day), but after this length of time, it didn’t really work for him.  It’s easy to see now why the movie is considered a cliché.  Tony and Darrell discussed how this movie and, before it, Halloween, brought the slasher film into mainstream.

Tony thought that, in looking back, Friday the 13^th did some different things with the music, the camera work, the antagonist (in the shadows most of the time, the motivation of the killer).  He also found it interesting that Jason doesn’t really appear in this first movie (with the exception of a dream sequence), and he’s not even the killer (SPOILER!!) until the second movie.  They also discussed that the origin of the movie doesn’t even take place with this movie; it’s something that happened over 20 years earlier.

Lena’s tip (from the chat room):  A message for moms to their daughters… if you run around in your underwear at camp, you die.  If you remain fully clothed, you live.

They bring up the comparisons of how this would work… or not work, as the case would be… if this was happening in the present time.  If the camp counselors found a crazy old man hiding in their pantry, they would have simply beaten the guy up.  Tony and Darrell also admired the camp director and his super cool porn-stache!

Darrell commented about the acting, “If it was any more wooden, it would be in a saw mill.”  But both hosts had praise for Kevin Bacon for having a higher level of acting chops.

They also talked about the manner of killings in this first movie, compared with how much more creative they get in later films.  Tony waxed poetic about a scene involving a harpoon gun and a crotch.  Kevin Bacon’s death in this movie was the only one that still can make viewers squirm a bit.

Watching this film was interesting and fun in that you can see how far horror movies have come in the last 30+ years.  Tony remembered hearing a rumor, when he was a wee lad, that there was going to be 13 Friday the 13^th movies.  To date, there have been 12:

1980 – Friday the 13^th
1981 – Friday the 13^th Part 2
1982 – Friday the 13^th Part III
1984 – Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter
1985 – Friday the 13^th: A New Beginning
1986 – Friday the 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives
1988 – Friday the 13^th Part VII: The New Blood
1989 – Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
1993 – Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
2002 – Jason X
2003 – Freddy vs. Jason
2009 – Friday the 13^th

Tony also remembered a TV show based on Friday the 13^th (1987), which focused on two cousins’ attempts to recover cursed antiques that were sold from a shop they inherited from their uncle.

Scott (from the chat room) commented that for as simple as it was, it was so much better than all the other sequels.  Tony thought that the second movie was also pretty well done, but that one only.

Trivia bits ‘n pieces:

Betsy Palmer said that if it were not for the fact that she was in desperate need of a new car, she would never have taken the part of Pamela Voorhees. It’s said that after reading the script, she called the film “a piece of shit”.

The movie was filmed at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in New Jersey. The camp is still in operation, and it has a wall of Friday the 13^th movie paraphernalia to honor that it was set there.

Composer Harry Manfredini has said that the infamous “Chi, chi, chi; ha, ha, ha” in the film’s score is actually “Ki, ki, ki; ma, ma, ma”.  It’s meant to be Jason’s voice saying “Kill, kill, kill; mom, mom, mom” in Mrs. Voorhees’s mind.  The effect was created by speaking the syllables “ki” and “ma” into a microphone running through a delay effect.

The film made $39,754,601 and had a budget of $550,000.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell

This episode was recorded: 7/3/2012

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This is the first in the Summer Movie Series

Release date:  9/21/1975

Warner Bros.

Directed by

• Sidney Lumet

Produced by

• Martin Bregman
• Martin Elfand

Screenplay by

• Frank Pierson

Based on “The Boys in the Bank” (Life magazine article)

• P. F. Kluge
• Thomas Moore

Cast

Sonny Wortzik

• Al Pacino

Sal Naturile

• John Cazale

Sgt. Eugene Moretti

• Charles Durning

Leon Shermer

• Chris Sarandon

Before the hosts get into the movie review, they talk about a few documentaries they’ve recently seen.  Tony saw “The Other F-Word,” in which a number of former punk rockers, who are now fathers, are interviewed.  Jill watched one on PBS that covered the evolution of Pearl Jam, called “Pearl Jam Twenty.”  She also saw “The Woodmans,” about a family of artists and the aftermath after their photographer daughter killed herself… each one highly recommended.

The hosts review:

Darrell hadn’t seen the movie in a long time and found it refreshing to see again.  He also thought that Al Pacino completely dominated this film.  Thirty-seven years later, this film is still very watchable and very enjoyable.  Jill thought that Pacino brought the character of Sonny to an almost heroic stature, and she liked the conflict between the general populace and the “establishment.”  Tony thought the acting was fantastic; Pacino, Cazale, Sarandon, the bank staff, everything worked, and everyone was good.

They liked the opening scene, how it showed the juxtaposition of the grimy, rundown neighborhoods of New York and the more suburban areas.  Darrell mentioned that this is a Sidney Lumet theme, to show these stark differences.

Even though Sonny is robbing a bank, the character is played out in a way that the audience felt bad for Sonny, how his life is falling apart around him, and how all Sonny wanted to do was to take care of the people he loved and he wasn’t able to.

Jill liked “The Mouth” character, the head teller, who was the epitome of a stereotypical head-strong, opinionated New York woman.  Tony liked how she remained strong throughout the bank robbery and hostage situation, always making sure that “her girls” were taken care of and safe.  They also all agreed that the theme of this movie could play out today and be every bit as relevant.

Tony brought up one part of the film that he wasn’t sure if he liked or not… the scenes that kept cutting back to the airport and preparing the plane for Sonny and Sal’s escape.  Jill said it was to build up the hope that they might actually pull of their heist and escape, but Tony could not put his finger on what didn’t work for him.

The hosts talked about Al Pacino for a few minutes, how he controls his emotions within his characters, how his subtle movements show more than dialogue can.

Darrell brought up an interesting point in the contrast between Sonny and Sal as the day went on.  Sonny became more and more disheveled, the heat of the day gets to him, but Sal never seemed affected, in the physical sense.  He didn’t even appear to break into a sweat, even though every other person in the bank was covered in sweat.

Darrell also talked a little bit about Sidney Lumet’s directorial style, the fact that he started his career as a stage actor, thus giving him an insight into how actors tick.

Awards and Nominations:

Dog Day Afternoon won an Academy Award for Writing-Original Screenplay.  It was also nominated for five other Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role/Pacino, Best Actor in a Supporting Role/Sarandon, and Best Film Editing) and seven Golden Globes (Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor/Pacino, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor/Cazale and Sarandon, and Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture/Sarandon).

The film is #70 on AFI’s list of 100 Years… 100 Thrills.

Al Pacino’s quote of “Attica! Attica!” is #86 on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes.

In 2009, Dog Day Afternoon was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

John Wojtowicz, the real bank robber that the film was based on, watched The Godfather (Al Pacino and John Cazale were both in The Godfather) to get ideas on robbing the bank.

The phone call between Sonny and Leon was improvised.  Other noted improvised lines in the film were Sonny’s cry of “Attica! Attica!” and Sal’s response to what country he wanted to fly when they made their escape (Wyoming).

15 year-old Harvey Fierstein makes an uncredited appearance as one of the gay demonstrators.

The real life robbery and aftermath because a part of police training on how to deal with hostage and out of control crowd situations.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill

This episode was recorded: 6/27/2012

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Release date:  11/24/1966

Universal Pictures

Directed by

• Francois Truffaut

Produced by

• Lewis M. Allen

Screenplay by

• Jean-Louis Ricard
• Francois Truffaut

Story by (novel)

• Ray Bradbury

Cast

Oskar Werner

• Guy Montag

Julie Christie

• Clarisse/Linda Montag

Cyril Cusack

• The Captain

Darrell hadn’t seen the movie in a long time and thought it wasn’t bad; it had problems but it was a decent interpretation of the novel Fahrenheit 451.  Jill thought it had some good elements and was surprised at how prophetic the film was, especially in its use of language.  The hosts also commented on how a lot of what was written in 1953, especially the anti-socialism aspect, has come true today.

Darrell brought up the feud between Truffaut and Werner and how that affected the portrayal of Montag.  Tony liked the movie (both now and years ago).  He also likened Montag’s character to the concept of The Seven Year Itch in the way he reacts to his wife vs. Clarisse.  He thought some of the performances were robotic, on purpose, but it didn’t necessarily work.  The hosts all agreed that Julie Christie’s performance as Linda and Clarisse were very good.

Jill thought that the soundtrack acted almost as another character in the film and that the music drew you in.  The opening montage with only the spoken word introductions was also a brilliant move.  They also loved the scene in which Montag picks up a newspaper and the viewer sees that the newspaper is drawn as a cartoon and has no words at all.

The theme of narcissism, how the characters were almost programmed to be that way was an interesting contrast to The Captain’s earlier speech of how the only way to make everyone happy in society was to make everybody equal.

Jill liked the scene in which the older woman burned herself with her books, both as the woman’s stance as an individual and how the books seemed to come alive as they burned.  The group of people at the end of the film, who all memorized and subsequently “became” their book, brought up the very difficult question of, “Which book would you pick, which book would you BE?”  Tony would be The Stone and the Flute by Hans Bemmann.  Jill toyed with the thought of picking/being The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.  Darrell brought up an interesting point regarding the people who have chosen to memorize and become a book to preserve that particular work.  There are certainly many more books than there are people to memorize them (as far as the film goes) so there will still be many more books lost than kept alive.

The hosts discussed censorship today and what they remembered when they were younger.  None of them were alive when there really did burn books but they all remember the PRMC and music censorship.  Today there is internet censorship, but what exactly gets censored is interesting, which brought up the age-old question of who decides what should and should not be censored and how.

Movie trivia bits n’ pieces:

Among the books burned by the firemen is the film journal Cahiers du Cinema, which was written by director Francois Truffaut.  Also among the books burned are The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, both written by Ray Bradbury.

According to producer Lewis M. Allen, it was his idea to have Julie Christie play both main female roles, as Truffaut thought that the characters should not be good vs. evil but should instead be two sides of the same coin.  Allen said that Terence Stamp, who was originally slated to play Montag, then withdrew from the movie because Stamp felt that with two parts, Christie would overshadow him.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill

This episode was recorded: 6/13/2012

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Release date:  11/6/2009

Lionsgate

Directed by

• Lee Daniels

Produced by

• Lee Daniels
• Gary Magness
• Sarah Siegel-Magness
• Oprah Winfrey
• Tom Heller
• Tyler Perry

Screenplay by

• Geoffrey S. Fletcher

Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire

Cast

Gabourey Sidibe

• Precious

Mo’Nique

• Mary

Paula Patton

• Ms. Rain

In honor of the passing of Ray Bradbury (and keeping with the Recently Dead Guy Podcast convention), our next movie review will be Fahrenheit 451.

Also, before the hosts dig into the movie, all of you lucky home-listeners get a nice little history less about the naming of movies and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).  There may or may not be a test at the end of the movie review.

Initial comments by the hosts:

Darrell thought it was a movie worth watching, but not worth watching twice.  Lena really liked it and was pleasantly surprised by how good Mo’Nique was, and she probably would watch it again, although there were definitely parts that were tough to get through.  Tony thought it was a great movie but it was hard to watch because of the subject matter.  The way this very tense and uncomfortable subject was written and portrayed was very visceral and real.  Darrell classified it as one emotional punch right after the other.

Gabourey Sidibe, in her first major role, and Mo’Nique, who was known solely as a stand-up comedienne and from her roles in various comedies, both turned in fantastic performances as Precious and her mother, Mary.  Darrell was amazed at how raw and brutal Mo’Nique portrayed Mary.  All of the hosts liked Lenny Kravitz’s role as Nurse John and Mariah Carey’s role as Ms. Weiss.  They liked how both characters were humble and understated.

The language used in the movie was rough and raw, but completely necessary for both the area that the characters lived in and the time frame of the movie (1987).  Lena asked the hosts what they thought of Precious’ fantasy/dream sequences.  Darrell thought some of them were a little weird but understood what they were trying to accomplish.  The most telling one, they all agreed, was the fantasy where Precious was looking at herself in her bedroom mirror but the reflection that comes back to her is of a thin, white, rich girl.

The conversation turned to what Tony rightly called the elephant in the room… not just the fact that it was a “rapey” movie, but fact that Precious was repeatedly raped by her father (it was also mentioned that her grandfather raped her, as well) and impregnated twice by her father.  Mary (Mo’Nique) had a monologue at the end of the movie in which she explained what her life was and what she was upset about, which was mind-blowing, to say the very least.  That scene left the viewer running through every emotion during her 15-20 monologue, even to the point of almost feeling sorry for her, or possibly, having a little bit of empathy for her.  Even though Mary is seen as a purely evil character (and she pretty much is), you begin to see traces of humanity and pain.  The difference, though, is that Precious had no say in the unspeakable things that happened to her, but Mary did, and regardless of the fact that Mary was also damaged by it, she still could have stopped what happened to her daughter.

The way that Precious began her journey into self-discovery was handled very well, it was a slow progression and very real.  There was no light-bulb or Ah-ha moment, there were small steps taken over time as Precious began to realize that she was more than she had always been told she was.

Darrell wrapped up the review by stating that if you want to see a movie that’s raw, plays with your emotions, punches you in the face and then makes you feel good about it afterwards, this is the movie to see.

Trivial bits and pieces:

Precious was shot in five weeks.

During the scene in which Precious slaps a fellow student for calling her fat, Sidibe was instructed to slap the other actress as hard as she could, and the other actresses were not told about the slap beforehand, so their reactions were all unrehearsed and real.

The Awards for Precious (this is an abridged listing):

Mo’Nique

• Academy Award
• Critics Choice Award
• Golden Globe Award
• Independent Spirit Award
• NAACP Image Award
• Screen Actors Guild Award
• Sundance Film Festival – Special Jury Prize

Gabourey Sidibe

• Independent Spirit Award
• NAACP Image Award
• National Board of Review Award

Geoffrey Fletcher

• Academy Award
• Independent Spirit Award
• NAACP Image Award

Lee Daniels

• Independent Spirit Award
• NAACP Image Award

Precious

• American Film Institute Award (10 Best Movies of 2009)
• Independent Spirit Award
• NAACP Image Award

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Lena

This episode was recorded: 6/6/2012

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