This week, Roy Scheider stars in an Elmore Leonard adaptation from acclaimed action/thriller filmmaker John Frankenheimer (and reuniting with his OUTSIDE MAN co-star Ann-Margret while he's at it) - it's time for 52 PICK-UP!
[00:00:00] It's showtime, folks! It's on bad hat, Harry.
[00:00:04] What was the weight of the car when you got it, eh?
[00:00:06] You're not right or wrong. You just don't care.
[00:00:09] Benway! Oh, sons of bitches.
[00:00:13] I didn't know. I didn't know.
[00:00:18] Hello and welcome to episode 24 of The Complete Works Season 4,
[00:00:27] a deep dive into the career and films of actor Roy Scheider.
[00:00:31] My name is Mike Smith and joining me on this journey across the Scheiderverse
[00:00:35] is my friend, co-host, and fellow Roy boy, Mike Tricio.
[00:00:39] How are you doing today, Mike?
[00:00:40] I'm doing just great. I feel like we're on the cusp of an exciting time here on the Scheiderpod.
[00:00:47] Scheidercast? I don't know how to say that this season.
[00:00:50] We're 24 episodes in. We should have settled on something by now.
[00:00:53] I think Scheiderpod is fine. That's good.
[00:00:55] That works. It's not as quick off the tongue as Yo-Pod.
[00:00:58] So it made me scared when I started to say it.
[00:01:00] What exciting time are you referring to, Mike? What are you talking about?
[00:01:03] Just these uncharted 80s.
[00:01:04] I don't know. Anything could happen, you know?
[00:01:08] I think that's fair.
[00:01:09] Although, I think we're going to be out of the 80s very soon, Mike.
[00:01:12] I think you're right, yeah.
[00:01:14] I think our next Scheider episode after this one is 1989.
[00:01:18] So, yeah, there's a couple years gap again.
[00:01:22] Wow.
[00:01:22] He's not really making movies for a little bit.
[00:01:25] There is more Scheider to come in the 90s.
[00:01:27] We still have stuff.
[00:01:28] We still have stuff.
[00:01:28] But I think the season's like, I think we're probably at like almost the halfway point here.
[00:01:32] I think we're getting closer to the end of the season than we may be expected.
[00:01:35] I think I remember it being somewhere in the 50s and 60s, like total credits at IMDB.
[00:01:41] Right.
[00:01:41] Something like that.
[00:01:42] So, yeah, we're getting towards the halfway point, which is wild.
[00:01:46] Yes.
[00:01:46] Pretty soon, Mike, we're going to have to do a poll for season five.
[00:01:49] I hope, hopefully Blue Sky will have polls by then.
[00:01:55] Yeah.
[00:01:55] Oh, by the way, I'm back on Blue Sky.
[00:01:57] Back on Blue Sky to Big Way, baby.
[00:01:58] Yes.
[00:01:59] The mass migration has seemingly officially happened.
[00:02:02] Yeah.
[00:02:03] Still on Twitter.
[00:02:03] Still doing stuff there.
[00:02:04] But I am.
[00:02:05] I'm trying to do Blue Sky again.
[00:02:07] We'll see how it goes.
[00:02:08] It's a lot easier now that there's people there.
[00:02:10] That is the thing.
[00:02:11] When it was me and the six people I know.
[00:02:14] It was great, but not really much happening.
[00:02:16] But now there's a lot of action.
[00:02:18] But today, Mike, we're not talking about Blue Sky or Twitter or any of the various awful things happening in 2024.
[00:02:24] Let's talk about Elmore Leonard.
[00:02:26] Yes, baby.
[00:02:27] Let's go.
[00:02:27] Are you an Elmore Leonard fan, Mike, in general?
[00:02:30] What's your take on?
[00:02:31] Well, culturally.
[00:02:32] Culturally, okay.
[00:02:33] Yeah.
[00:02:33] I mean, I've never read any of his books, but I sure like adaptations of them into movies.
[00:02:38] So that's pretty cool.
[00:02:40] I'm sort of in the same boat.
[00:02:41] I have not really read any Elmore Leonard books, but I have seen many of them in movie form and also in TV form.
[00:02:48] Justified, which is, I think, one of the best shows of the 2010s.
[00:02:50] That was based on an Elmore Leonard short story and kind of used his kind of stylistic prose throughout the whole series.
[00:02:57] Jackie Brown, another one that I was a huge fan of.
[00:02:59] Of course, Quentin Tarantino movie.
[00:03:00] I think those are like my two first exposures to Elmore Leonard's work.
[00:03:04] Yeah.
[00:03:05] Is there anything else like specifically that you would point to is like this was my Elmore Leonard-esque thing?
[00:03:09] Not particularly because you made me watch Jackie Brown.
[00:03:12] That's true.
[00:03:13] Yeah, that was a Mike makes Mike watch a while back.
[00:03:16] Yeah, either earlier this year or last year.
[00:03:18] So that's kind of like one of the first ones that I was like consciously aware of an Elmore Leonard adaptation, but also out of sight.
[00:03:26] The Steven Soderbergh movie.
[00:03:27] Right.
[00:03:28] I mean, I'm a pretty new convert to the Elmore Leonard-verse.
[00:03:33] All right.
[00:03:33] Fair enough.
[00:03:34] Well, Elmore Leonard's work has been adapted for film and TV many, many times.
[00:03:37] Some of the most well known include Jackie Brown, out of sight, like Mike mentioned, 310 to Yuma, both versions.
[00:03:43] Oh yeah, that's right.
[00:03:44] Yeah.
[00:03:44] Really terrific.
[00:03:45] Get Shorty is an Elmore Leonard adaptation and justified.
[00:03:48] And in 1974, Elmore Leonard wrote a novel called 52 Pickup.
[00:03:53] And in the early 80s, Manaheim Golan and Yoram Globus, best known as the co-founders of the Canon Group, a studio very prevalent in the 80s for their low budget horror and action movies.
[00:04:04] They produced a ton of Chuck Norris movies, Breaking 2, Electric Boogaloo.
[00:04:09] Right, right.
[00:04:09] Toby Hooper's Life Force was a Canon film, among many others.
[00:04:13] They acquired the rights to the story and they hired Elmore Leonard to adapt it for film himself.
[00:04:19] And so he did for a little bit.
[00:04:24] He wrote two drafts and then he quit the project, telling them to get another writer because Golan and Globus were changing too much from the original text and he felt his name just shouldn't be attached to it.
[00:04:33] So Elmore Leonard was completely removed from the project, replaced by a screenwriter named Max Jack.
[00:04:39] And it was ultimately directed by Jay Lee Thompson, friend of the podcast, friend of the show.
[00:04:43] Yeah.
[00:04:44] Yes, of course.
[00:04:44] I think Jay Lee Thompson directed St. Ives, right?
[00:04:47] The Charles Bronson movie that with Jeff Goldblum in it.
[00:04:50] I think there was another Jay Lee Thompson movie in the Goldblum season that we talked about, right?
[00:04:53] There definitely was.
[00:04:54] And I can't remember what it was off the top of my head.
[00:04:56] Same.
[00:04:57] But I remember St. Ives for sure.
[00:04:58] Yeah.
[00:04:58] I actually just watched Guns of Navarone, which is also a Jay Lee Thompson joint.
[00:05:02] Jay Lee Thompson joint, yeah.
[00:05:03] And I know you were a big fan of, I think, Happy Birthday to Me, his horror movie.
[00:05:07] Yep.
[00:05:07] Yes.
[00:05:08] He's one of those kind of journeyman directors that is there.
[00:05:11] You see his name pop up a lot in the 70s and 80s.
[00:05:13] Ice Cold and Alex was another.
[00:05:15] Oh, yes.
[00:05:15] Yeah.
[00:05:15] Which that was a Mike Makes Mike watch also.
[00:05:17] Yeah.
[00:05:17] You made me watch that movie and that movie rules.
[00:05:18] It's incredible.
[00:05:19] Uh, all that is to say that movie is not the movie we're talking about today.
[00:05:24] Um, maybe it should be.
[00:05:26] Hold on.
[00:05:27] Let's reevaluate.
[00:05:28] Uh, so that movie, which came out in 1984 star Robert Mitchum directed by Jay Lee Thomas,
[00:05:34] and it was released under the title, the ambassador.
[00:05:37] Oh, okay.
[00:05:38] It got mixed reviews around the time that movie came out.
[00:05:42] Director John Frankenheimer read the book and really dug it.
[00:05:46] Golan and Globus still had the rights to it.
[00:05:48] So he, so he asked them if he could direct a more faithful adaptation.
[00:05:53] They said yes.
[00:05:55] And within two years, another adaptation of the same Elmore Leonard novel hit movie theaters.
[00:06:02] And since Roy Scheider is in it, we've got to talk about 52 pickup.
[00:06:07] We have to have positive identification.
[00:06:09] We've got to get some strong evidence.
[00:06:11] But there's no way in the world, once the story breaks, that you're going to keep it off
[00:06:15] the six o'clock news.
[00:06:16] Harry Mitchell, successful businessman, loving husband, a man who has now become the perfect
[00:06:23] target.
[00:06:24] Sit down.
[00:06:25] Poor.
[00:06:26] Look Mitch, you've seen some of this before.
[00:06:29] Stuff your girlfriend shot while your wife thought you were at a convention in Miami.
[00:06:33] Mitch, you're in very serious trouble.
[00:06:35] You pay us 105 grand a year for the rest of your life.
[00:06:39] No!
[00:06:41] They're ruthless.
[00:06:43] Cops find a body with no clothes on, a gun, your prints all over it.
[00:06:47] Desperate.
[00:06:48] They got an airtight case against me.
[00:06:51] It's my gun.
[00:06:52] I'm scared, Mitch.
[00:06:54] Yeah!
[00:06:55] The only thing they didn't count on was Mitch having a plan of his own.
[00:07:01] I want to deal only with you.
[00:07:03] How much is the man's save is going to give you?
[00:07:06] I'm going to pay them 52,000.
[00:07:09] I knew it.
[00:07:09] They're plotting me out.
[00:07:12] He's a murderer.
[00:07:14] I'll meet you at seven, Slick.
[00:07:16] On the button.
[00:07:17] I'll be there.
[00:07:18] Oh.
[00:07:20] Roy Scheider.
[00:07:30] Ann Margaret.
[00:07:32] And Vanity.
[00:07:33] In John Frankenheimer's suspense thriller.
[00:07:37] 52 Pickup.
[00:07:38] From acclaimed novelist Elmore Leonard's gripping bestseller.
[00:07:43] So Roy Scheider stars as Harry Mitchell, a wealthy construction guy who cheats in his wife and then gets blackmailed over it.
[00:07:51] Yeah, that's pretty much it.
[00:07:52] That's the plot of the movie, yeah.
[00:07:53] His wife, Barbara Mitchell, is running for city council and she can't have this ruin her career.
[00:07:58] She's played by Ann Margaret, which makes this an outside man reunion, which, of course, I'm very excited about because I'm a huge outside man guy.
[00:08:06] It's a big part of my personality.
[00:08:09] Dune guy, outside man guy.
[00:08:11] Exactly.
[00:08:12] Yes.
[00:08:12] I kind of fell off on being a Dune guy.
[00:08:14] I'm still reading Dune Messiah.
[00:08:15] I haven't picked it up in a while, but I'm going to get back to it.
[00:08:18] The leader of the three guys blackmailing them, Alan Ramey, is played by John Glover, which also makes this a last embrace reunion.
[00:08:25] Wow.
[00:08:26] So two reunions from two movies that we really just discovered through this podcast.
[00:08:29] They were both big fans of.
[00:08:31] Exciting, exciting times.
[00:08:32] Frankenheimer.
[00:08:32] Oh, my God.
[00:08:33] We got a stew going.
[00:08:34] Absolutely.
[00:08:35] His two henchmen are Bobby Shai played by Clarence Williams, the third from the Mod Squad and also from the Jeff Goldblum movie Deep Cover.
[00:08:43] I thought he looked familiar.
[00:08:45] Yeah.
[00:08:45] Yeah.
[00:08:46] There you go.
[00:08:47] And Leo Franks played by Robert Trebor, who was on the 90s Hercules show and its spinoffs, Xena Warrior Princess.
[00:08:53] He popped up on those pretty frequently from there.
[00:08:56] Kelly Preston, who we also talked about on the Jeff Goldblum season back in the day.
[00:09:00] She was in a couple of things, but more mostly holy man.
[00:09:03] That was like the thing she actually starred in.
[00:09:05] Yeah.
[00:09:05] Yes.
[00:09:06] She plays Sinny, the stripper that Shai had her cheats on his wife with vanity from the last dragon and action Jackson.
[00:09:12] She plays Doreen, Sinny's friend.
[00:09:14] Doug McClure from the Virginian plays Mark Arvison.
[00:09:17] And he was also the inspiration for Troy McClure on The Simpsons.
[00:09:20] I just want to throw that out there as well.
[00:09:23] Plus several real life porn stars make appearances as party goers in the movie.
[00:09:28] There was a lot of names like I saw people on Letterboxd being like, oh, yeah, and they got this person and this person.
[00:09:32] Like I recognize the name Ron Jeremy.
[00:09:36] Unfortunately.
[00:09:36] Yeah.
[00:09:37] Yeah.
[00:09:38] I did not know the rest like Amber Lynn.
[00:09:40] And I think Jamie Gillis, but like a lot of porn stars of the era are in this movie as well.
[00:09:45] It's class enough to join.
[00:09:46] Love this movie.
[00:09:47] Exactly.
[00:09:48] This is a real canon group production.
[00:09:50] Yeah.
[00:09:50] When you see that list.
[00:09:51] The movie was written by John Stepling and Elmore Leonard and directed by John Frankenheimer one year after his previous film, The Holcroft Covenant with Michael Caine.
[00:10:03] Whatever that is, I'm in.
[00:10:04] Yeah.
[00:10:04] Sounds like a great title.
[00:10:05] And three years before his next film, 1989's Dead Bang with Don Johnson, which I believe you're a big fan of.
[00:10:11] Right, Mike?
[00:10:12] Yeah.
[00:10:12] Yeah.
[00:10:12] I forgot that was him.
[00:10:13] Yeah.
[00:10:13] That movie is wild.
[00:10:14] Yeah.
[00:10:14] Want to see Don Johnson destroy a neo-Nazi underground group?
[00:10:19] Check out Dead Bang.
[00:10:20] Yes.
[00:10:20] I've been meaning to watch that one.
[00:10:21] It's also a Christmas movie, right?
[00:10:22] Yes.
[00:10:23] It is also a Christmas movie.
[00:10:25] Yeah.
[00:10:25] So it is the season.
[00:10:27] It's Christmas is coming up.
[00:10:28] It's time to watch Dead Bang.
[00:10:31] Yeah.
[00:10:31] No, I think we'll talk about kind of the queer Frankenheimer in a little bit, but I think in general, we're both kind of big fans of his work.
[00:10:37] 52 Pickup was released on November 7th, 1986 and open to number eight at the box office.
[00:10:45] Also opening that weekend were Taipan, which is based on a novel by James Clavell, the author of Shogun, and Jonathan Demme's Something Wild also opened up that weekend.
[00:10:54] But in the number one spot in its seventh week, do you want to take a stab at what this is, Mike?
[00:11:00] What weekend was it?
[00:11:02] This is November 7th, 1986.
[00:11:04] Oh, man.
[00:11:06] 86?
[00:11:07] I can't think of anything off the top of my head, no.
[00:11:09] What if I told you that that's not a knife?
[00:11:13] This is a knife.
[00:11:15] Yeah.
[00:11:15] Okay.
[00:11:15] Yeah.
[00:11:16] Yeah.
[00:11:16] Yeah.
[00:11:17] Yeah.
[00:11:17] Yeah.
[00:11:17] Yeah.
[00:11:18] Yeah.
[00:11:18] Yeah.
[00:11:18] Yeah.
[00:11:18] Yeah.
[00:11:23] Yeah.
[00:11:25] Yeah.
[00:11:34] Yeah.
[00:11:45] Yeah, of course.
[00:11:51] Yeah.
[00:11:53] Yeah.
[00:11:53] harry mitchell and his stripper mistress sinny leads to three strangers blackmailing him for a
[00:11:58] six-figure sum followed by burglary theft and sinny's murder sluered away in the time in this
[00:12:05] in the flat synopsis could have just said end murder and yes specifically sinny's murder
[00:12:10] which doesn't really happen until like halfway through the movie yeah damn uh yeah there you go
[00:12:17] but 52 pickup uh so mike d like i said we're both kind of general in general fans of john
[00:12:21] frankenheimer i think you made me watch uh the train earlier this year right uh one of his earlier
[00:12:27] films but that movie rules uh of course the man cheering candidate is great uh ronan we're both
[00:12:32] big fans of ronan yeah so yeah he's directed a lot of like really terrific action and thriller pictures
[00:12:37] uh and uh i also actually watched uh french connection 2 which is a john frankenheimer joint
[00:12:41] right after right around the time we watched french connection for that podcast yes um but yeah so uh
[00:12:46] what were you expecting from 52 pickup were you excited about this one i was pretty excited yeah
[00:12:51] there was a um recently within the last couple months an episode of screen drafts uh where they
[00:12:56] did elmore runner movies okay um and i don't remember 52 pickup made the final list but i remember them
[00:13:02] talking about it and talking about it being like a like weirdly mean and scuzzy movie uh and then like
[00:13:09] also the frankenheimer of all and all that stuff so yeah i was like oh shit baby let's go it's it's
[00:13:13] it's coming up soon so i was excited for that so i was on my radar a little bit earlier uh than when
[00:13:18] we got to it and yeah i mean i'm broadly a frankenheimer fan i haven't seen a ton of his
[00:13:22] movies but other than the ones we've already mentioned uh and they all rule and they're
[00:13:26] exciting and the action's cool and everything so yeah i was excited for that and i gotta say 52 pickup
[00:13:31] lives up lives up to the hype i think uh this movie i had a really fun time with it's down and dirty it's
[00:13:37] it's got you know i mean i guess it's part it's got the the canon vibe so to speak yeah i haven't
[00:13:42] really seen a ton of movies like consciously same way like elmore leonard movies uh that i can
[00:13:47] definitively say like oh yeah that's a canon movie or whatever um but i'm definitely aware of it
[00:13:52] recently whenever i watch a movie and that logo shows up i'm like oh stick it and rub your fingers
[00:13:56] together or do the like uh like you're wearing a creep t-shirt saying haha yes um so i'm excited for
[00:14:02] that so i was excited about all that stuff and yeah fairly sad 52 pickup is a lot of fun it's it's
[00:14:07] guzzy it's it's twisty turny violent it's fucked up stuff uh which seems to be a lot of the elmore
[00:14:13] leonard vibe from a lot of the stuff lots of double crosses lots of criminals making crimes
[00:14:18] doing crimes um and that's exciting i think i think it is the a little bit of a weird thing with
[00:14:24] shider's character in this movie and like where he suddenly is like a master web weaver manipulator
[00:14:30] guy kind of like out of nowhere um and we'll get into that i'm sure sure but but uh yeah broadly
[00:14:36] overall i had a really fun time i think it's uh violent and gross and weird um in a way that we
[00:14:41] don't get anymore you know yeah no i think uh i i also had a really fun time with uh 52 pickup i
[00:14:47] think it's a really it is very sleazy and gross um but in a very fun way and yeah it fits very well
[00:14:54] with like the uh the canon films kind of vibe um the kind of stuff they tended to produce uh but also
[00:15:00] it feels like a little bit more elevated than their usual kind of stuff you know yeah it doesn't feel
[00:15:05] like it doesn't feel like a uh fifth sequel chuck norris movie or whatever you know not that i know
[00:15:10] that they made anything like that but uh you know it doesn't feel like that or like a direct-to-video
[00:15:15] jcvd movie sure it's a little bit more than that going on i mean i mean just like for context some
[00:15:20] of those like they did a ton of chuck norris movies like missing in action invasion usa delta force
[00:15:24] they also did like all like the death wish sequels um right so they didn't produce the original
[00:15:30] death wish but they got the rights to it and then they produced like death wish 2 3 and 4
[00:15:33] and like that's the kind of stuff they were doing ninja 3 the domination uh the ninja trilogy of
[00:15:39] movies uh all that stuff like that's that's kind of their bread and butter and they were all like
[00:15:43] you know movies that were fairly low budget for the most part that they can kind of put out pretty
[00:15:48] quickly uh you know in a similar vein to stuff like that roger corman was doing um yeah but i think
[00:15:54] kind of more this is a much more like 80s version of that uh where roger corman is more 60 70s uh and
[00:16:01] thus is like they're able to get away with a lot more like there's more like they're more explicit
[00:16:06] they're more in your face you know you could have a party full of famous adult porn star like porn stars
[00:16:12] in the right you know um yeah i think it's it's just interesting um to think about in the like i was
[00:16:19] saying before the modern landscape um i mean i guess maybe blumhouse is like this or was like this a little
[00:16:23] bit where it's like we just sort of they just sort of like shotgun blast movies out and like all we need
[00:16:29] is one of these to hit and we've got the budget for the next 10 you know yeah absolutely yeah i mean
[00:16:35] blumhouse like found a solid formula basically where yeah they they could you know produce like 12
[00:16:40] movies a year all with a budget of like five million dollars uh but then like if one of them
[00:16:44] breaks into the popular like into pop culture and like suddenly it was like 200 million dollars
[00:16:49] they're set for like another you know a couple of years exactly uh and so yeah it's that's a very
[00:16:55] similar kind of thing uh although blumhouse is mostly sticks to horror stuff that's like mostly their
[00:17:00] thing right yeah whereas and canon also did horror stuff they did action stuff they were they maybe had
[00:17:04] a wider portfolio than blumhouse tends tends to uh then again i mean blumhouse does like you know
[00:17:10] schlocky horror stuff but they also did like get out you know like there's you know so what i'm saying
[00:17:15] is it's a land of contrasts um but in any case human experience anyway anyway what what i do like
[00:17:23] about 52 pickup is that it this does feel very elmore leonard e and again neither one of us have
[00:17:28] read have read any of his books uh but i've seen many many adaptations of elmore leonard stuff uh and
[00:17:33] i think especially the justified tv show uh was something that i was really really into uh specifically
[00:17:38] for its dialogue uh and i think this movie uh which is co-written by elmore leonard is able to
[00:17:44] retain that and is able to kind of have a lot of those like kind of best of elements uh for elmore
[00:17:49] leonard stuff um how it is like you know a group of criminals uh oftentimes they are like not the
[00:17:54] smartest criminals uh and can be very easily manipulated against each other uh and they're
[00:17:59] all vying for what is ultimately like in the grand scheme of things not that much money right but
[00:18:06] it's like to them a life-changing amount of money and you know i like i like that like they
[00:18:11] originally demand like 105 000 and he's eventually just like i can't pay that i'll give you 52 000
[00:18:18] and they're like okay yeah deal we'll do it and so yeah it's 52 000 and if it's all three of those
[00:18:23] guys and it's split three ways so it's more like you know 18 000 a person something along those lines
[00:18:29] yes right so it's it's a lot less and even though it is the 80s so like that does go a longer way
[00:18:34] that's still like not that much money in the grand scheme of things you know it's funny to have the
[00:18:41] the the criminals like think they are not smart but think they are and they've got this grand plan
[00:18:47] and they're like we'll be sipping uh drinks with the amarellas in them or whatever i forget what
[00:18:51] the line they say uh at the big house party it's just like immediately goes wrong and and then there's
[00:18:56] the plan having to uh scramble and it's like you know it's got like uh coen brothers elements to
[00:19:02] the difference between this and a coen brothers movie is the criminals would be the protagonists
[00:19:06] in the coen brothers movie sure and this it's the victim right uh but anyway yeah it's it's it's a
[00:19:11] fun time there's lots of good elements like that um and and i think just from the few movies like
[00:19:15] jackie brown and out of sight uh that i can think of off the top of my head yeah they're definitely
[00:19:19] it's definitely of a piece obviously yes definitely and i think part of what i also like about it too
[00:19:23] is sort of how mean-spirited it is yeah in a weird way i mean and i think part of that is like yeah
[00:19:29] like you mentioned roy scheider his character is blackmailed very early on in the movie like he's
[00:19:33] he's been cheating on his wife and uh the scene when he like reveals to her that he's been cheating
[00:19:39] on her he's very matter-of-fact about it yeah uh he's not like that apologetic he's like well yep
[00:19:44] this happened uh don't want this to ruin your career though so we're gonna keep it hush-hush you
[00:19:48] know that's and so he's he's not like that apologetic about it he does feel guilty when like
[00:19:52] you know the woman his mistress has murdered i think by the end of the movie he has learned
[00:19:57] nothing like he has not like had like a like a change of character no over the course of the
[00:20:02] movie right yeah it's interesting he seems perfectly content to be carrying on this marriage until his
[00:20:09] wife announces that she's running for city council or whatever she's running for uh running for office
[00:20:13] and he realizes that he now poses a threat to her career it's like a a selfishly selfless thing that
[00:20:21] he's doing right like he's like going to break this off because he realizes that he doesn't want to
[00:20:26] scandal that like that could be found out that would like negatively impact his wife running for
[00:20:29] city council right right but like that's you that's still bad you know like it's still bad that
[00:20:35] you've done this um so i don't know it's it's a i think um you know interestingly realized or
[00:20:41] realistic or whatever uh character characterization that is he's a a real person it feels like he doesn't
[00:20:47] feel like just a person in a movie feels like a guy that is rationalizing why he was doing this and
[00:20:51] all this stuff um in particular like you said in that scene when he uh confesses to his wife and
[00:20:56] he's like but it's done now so don't worry about like you know all good it's all good except for
[00:21:00] the blackmail part but uh he doesn't tell her that i don't think yet right right but then he does
[00:21:04] eventually like he like she makes him she makes him leave the house and then like the uh john glover
[00:21:09] like is at the house like when she shows up right yeah after she's thrown him out yeah yes and then
[00:21:14] they have like kind of a weird confrontation and then they he like kind of tells her about the
[00:21:17] blackmail uh and so yeah now he's like his entire thing is basically like covering his ass like for
[00:21:22] his wife it's it's a weird like you know i think their relationship in the movie is actually really
[00:21:26] interesting yeah ultimately he's a wife guy yeah exactly he's just trying to make sure that she can
[00:21:32] run for city council without any kind of you know uh impediments like this getting in the way uh this
[00:21:37] this annoying blackmail thing that keeps coming up uh and so his his whole goal is to uh eradicate the
[00:21:44] blackmailers uh you know and do so without uh getting caught by the police or anything like that
[00:21:49] uh so that his wife can run for city council and uh and you know get elected yeah i forget the exact
[00:21:53] phrase he's got he's got because he's talking to like a company lawyer investigator guy or whatever
[00:21:57] or a friend or something at some point and he says something along the lines of like well she's been
[00:22:02] there through everything i've built talking because he's like a entrepreneur or something he's a
[00:22:07] construction magnate yeah um he's like so i can't ruin this for her uh that's basically what he's
[00:22:12] saying um yeah it really feels like their their marriage is more of like a business arrangement
[00:22:17] uh than anything else uh between the two of them uh and they are both like very invested in protecting
[00:22:23] that arrangement uh as opposed to like them actually having love for each other i think that's maybe like
[00:22:27] part of it too you know in their own kind of weird way but like for the most part they're kind of just
[00:22:32] like together for like the social benefits that provides yeah yeah i think in that scene she's uh
[00:22:38] uh and margaret is like hurt obviously but that he's cheating on her and all this stuff uh but
[00:22:43] ultimately she's just kind of like well we're gonna deal with it you know yeah she's not like
[00:22:48] surprised yeah yeah i think that's it she's not necessarily surprised yes yes uh so rory scheider
[00:22:54] is in 52 pickup mike uh what did you think of his performance what a guy just like look at look at
[00:23:00] that guy yeah he's great he's great yeah he's really fun he's really good um he gets to walk that line
[00:23:07] uh i think in the first uh act or whatever the first 15 minutes you know before we see uh he's
[00:23:14] being blackmailed um when he's just like a business guy and he's got a life and he's doing
[00:23:18] whatever business guy stuff and he's like he's playing the roy scheider every man even though he's
[00:23:23] uh successful and he's a magnate and he owns a couple companies and all that stuff he's not like
[00:23:27] a beat cop or whatever like he was in the past movies but he is like a sort of every guy in reagan's
[00:23:32] america right uh he's like every and every man ever then also he makes that pivot halfway through
[00:23:38] basically once they show him that sinny is dead and he's like oh i'm gonna uh just tear these
[00:23:44] people's lives apart right uh and it's a wild pivot that he makes it because it's it's not even like
[00:23:49] an action pivot which i think is very like interesting part of this the movie the the poster
[00:23:54] or whatever for this is like him with a gun and like all this yes like a classic box art vhs box art
[00:23:59] that has nothing to do with the movie kind of situation yeah i mean i i definitely went into this
[00:24:04] thinking it was much more of an action movie than it turned out to be um i think partially because
[00:24:08] the poster and partially because it's directed by john frankenheimer who is a very good action
[00:24:12] director um but also a very good thriller director and i think that kind of more fits into sort of a
[00:24:16] neo-noir thriller sort of category right i think so too yeah it's definitely less of a death wish than
[00:24:22] i the poster might make you think right but yeah anyway uh scheider is really good i think he i think
[00:24:26] does a really good job yeah no i think he's terrific in this movie i think he gets to play a lot of
[00:24:30] different uh interesting facets of his character um like we said like you know we see him at the
[00:24:35] beginning and he's you know doing his uh thing as a you know construction guy and he has like weirdly
[00:24:41] specific about what he does then he like owns the patent on how to fuse these sheets of metal together
[00:24:47] so that they can be used on spacecraft it's like okay cool can't he just be like construction guy
[00:24:55] they do seem obscenely rich uh i think that's part of it yeah i think that has to be why
[00:25:00] yes there has to be some insane thing of her why he why they're so rich um but yeah so we see him a
[00:25:06] little bit uh you know with uh sinny i mean i think do we only ever see him with sinny in the video the
[00:25:12] blackmailers show us yeah okay because she's not in the apartment when he goes to find her um right
[00:25:16] and then yeah you only see them in the blackmail videos gotcha yeah and so you see them in the blackmail
[00:25:21] videos and you see him kind of just like you know having loose like he's a he's having fun you know
[00:25:26] yeah uh but we see him with his wife and it's a little bit different and you can feel that there
[00:25:31] is like a connection there but like it's you know they've been together for so long and it's just
[00:25:34] different than what it is with what he had with sinny uh and then yeah once he goes into overdrive
[00:25:40] once like that halfway mark kind of kicks in and uh sinny's been killed and they show him that
[00:25:44] sinny's been killed and uh you know they're blackmailing him continually something changes in his like
[00:25:49] brain chemistry and yeah it's it's less of it feels like it's less about like he cared for sinny
[00:25:55] uh then it's more about like they took something away from me like i have to kill them whoa yeah i
[00:26:01] think you're right it goes from a pretty straightforward blackmail thing right they
[00:26:06] just want the 105 uh 105 000 i don't remember when he brings john glover to his like office and
[00:26:13] is like look at my books i can't afford this if that's before or after he knows sinny's dead i think
[00:26:17] that might be after it might be after yeah but yeah he should he like shows them his like tax
[00:26:21] papers and is like yeah this is this is how much money i actually have i can't give you that much
[00:26:25] money right no none of this is liquid cash as he points to the built foundry behind him right
[00:26:32] basically it's like the simpsons thing was like as you can see this old place is falling apart and
[00:26:36] then a bunch of gold like comes like falls through the ceiling exactly yeah um so i know but i think
[00:26:42] that's that's like one of the weird things about this movie uh is that it takes the time like a
[00:26:47] whole scene like it takes the time to have john glover going through accounting records to be like well
[00:26:53] okay fine i'll take 52 000 instead like when it's in the title you could have skipped this too um
[00:26:59] yeah i think i think that just lends to the like weirdness of the the of the movie uh or granted
[00:27:06] nature of it and stuff yes i mean i i like that john glover is willing to compromise here
[00:27:10] yeah he's willing to negotiate yeah willing to negotiate uh speaking of john glover unbelievable
[00:27:16] in this movie what a freak what a weird guy just an insane like perfect like villain performance
[00:27:22] a really really strange accent that he's doing what's he doing with that voice man yeah he really
[00:27:27] reminded me of john malkovich uh especially like that kind of like very enunciated uh sort of
[00:27:33] unplaceable voice yeah yeah yeah uh and so and my letterbox review is like john john glover in 52
[00:27:40] to pick up walked so that john malkovich in con air could run um that's exactly it yeah you know
[00:27:45] like that he he has that same kind of energy to him uh which uh is pretty cool and yeah i mean we've
[00:27:50] we talked about him a little bit uh he was in last embrace uh but he was also he's in gremlins too
[00:27:55] he's the uh like crazy professor in gremlins too that's right and uh and i think a lot of people
[00:28:01] know him from smallville he was lex luther's dad in smallville uh as well yeah i think that's it too
[00:28:05] yeah but uh yeah he's he's unbelievable in this movie like like truly like a revelation i think yeah
[00:28:10] just the meanest son of a bitch um and all of them are the three of them the whole the whole crew
[00:28:16] are just awful uh but in the best way like they're just terrifying yeah except for lenny i guess but
[00:28:21] yeah in the way where like they keep betraying each other but like you know are bad at it um
[00:28:25] yeah exactly they're betraying each other because roy scheider was like you know you're being
[00:28:31] you're betrayed right like what oh what me yeah yeah the scene where um uh what's what's the
[00:28:38] character's name again like shy guy or something lenny bobby shy bobby shy bobby shy yeah uh the guy
[00:28:42] from deep cover clearance williams uh when he like breaks into scheider's house oh man uh that whole scene
[00:28:48] is so great um because yeah they he breaks into scheider's house uh scheider realizes that some
[00:28:53] some but some somebody's in the house and he like gets in margaret and uh they are running around the
[00:28:58] house they're chasing after him and they do overpower him they get him uh and uh you know
[00:29:03] they have him sitting there and nori scheider offers him a drink uh and you know they get the
[00:29:07] information out of them they need and he's like oh you know uh you know things have changed you know i
[00:29:12] i'm sure he told you that uh now it's 52 000 and all that kind of stuff and and bobby's like i i
[00:29:18] haven't heard anything about yeah well i think it starts with him going to uh the you know like live
[00:29:24] models uh place that where lenny works where sinny was a dancer whatever model right uh right and uh
[00:29:31] he finds out where where uh john glover is working or something from one of the girls but at the end of
[00:29:37] that that meeting glover tells it asks him like okay but how'd you find me and he's like oh lenny told
[00:29:42] me he just like puts the little plant what's the little seed there so that they start having strife
[00:29:46] yes and then and then our deal offers him the 52 000 blah blah blah and yeah he just starts
[00:29:51] starts giving everybody different information so that none of them trust each other and they all
[00:29:56] just they all just turn on each other and try to kill each other yes uh and roy scheider is really
[00:30:01] good at playing that like a master master manipulator uh and i really love uh so the climax of the movie
[00:30:07] is uh is this terrific payoff to this thing where throughout the movie every once in a while roy
[00:30:12] scheider's working on a car and like ann margaret even comments like what are you working on that
[00:30:15] car for shouldn't you be out like you know getting money or like figuring out how to get rid of
[00:30:19] this blackmail and he's like oh don't worry i'm working on it uh and so the very end of the movie
[00:30:24] he gives the car to john glover on the bridge yeah uh and the second john glover walks like goes in
[00:30:30] the car turns it on like like all the doors automatically lock uh and the tape player turns
[00:30:36] on yeah it's very scheider like taunting him and then the car explodes perfect great these will be
[00:30:41] the last 10 seconds of your life what no as all the door handles fall off somehow or whatever uh
[00:30:47] and then he blows up it's the coolest shit ever yes yeah which is apparently was roy scheider's idea
[00:30:52] there was like a different no climax in place and uh roy scheider wanted something like more elaborate
[00:30:57] uh and that's what they landed on i mean it's so dark it's like this movie's so bleak and we're like
[00:31:04] we're having a lot of fun with it because it is a crazy fun movie yeah but they kidnap ann margaret
[00:31:10] they give her heroin yes implied sexual assault i'm not really sure what that is uh right with with
[00:31:18] john glover but um yeah all this crazy shit and the end of this movie is her like strung out into like
[00:31:24] beat up and bloody and and just like them walking off the like limping off the bridge together
[00:31:28] yeah it's just like yeah the car explodes roll credits movie credits yeah yeah just we're out uh
[00:31:35] yeah you don't really know if she's okay i mean it seems like she'll survive like she'll be alive
[00:31:39] at least she'll be alive yeah and presumably will still run for city council i guess yeah um but
[00:31:45] yeah no the uh the heroin thing was especially crazy uh partially because uh that has that also
[00:31:51] happens in french connection too oh yeah that's right yeah i remember talking about that because
[00:31:56] half that movie is uh is popeye doyle like forcibly getting hooked on heroin and then having to detox
[00:32:02] uh and so when it happened again in this movie i was like what is this like a thing that john
[00:32:07] frankenheimer like yeah yeah is into like is this like an obsession of his that i'm that i'm discovering
[00:32:12] here just forced heroin addiction like what yes yeah no it's it's very very strange uh i'm very
[00:32:18] grateful that less of the movie uh this time around does that because that's like the most boring part
[00:32:24] of french connection too is uh just watching pop by doyle like trying to kick the habit of heroin
[00:32:30] that's crazy i should watch that movie just for archaeology's sake you know the beginning and the
[00:32:35] ending are pretty good i think the the middle hour is very boring but like the first half hour last
[00:32:41] half hour good stuff in french connection too but uh this movie is better i think 52 pickup much better
[00:32:46] than french connection too i'll i'll throw that out there uh yeah any other scenes or uh moments in uh
[00:32:52] 52 pickup that stand out to you mike and that you wanted to talk about well i think the the like
[00:32:55] party scene the house party scene where you sort of meet all the uh actually we sinny is in that
[00:33:00] scene too i did forget about that she's at the house party okay yeah because they ask her or actually
[00:33:06] at the end of the first blackmail scene in the hotel room uh as they're leaving he asks uh roy scheider
[00:33:12] asks like just tell me was the girl in on it uh and they say something cryptic they're like we forced
[00:33:18] her basically is what they're getting i think they sort of imply that she was yeah or like she did what
[00:33:23] she was told or something like that something like that yeah uh because then she's at the house party
[00:33:27] with all of them uh and seems pretty upset about the whole thing you know um so yeah but that whole
[00:33:33] party scene with the with the ron jeremy and and all the other porn stars in the background and stuff
[00:33:38] is just wild i think it's uh such a like just debaucherous like la beach thing yeah that's pretty fun
[00:33:46] but it also gets at the proto surveillance state shit that's going on in this movie right like they're
[00:33:52] like they they have these you know uh portable cameras i'll say by the 1986 standards uh yeah
[00:33:59] that they're able to film roy scheider right like this and they're always there's always tvs and
[00:34:04] they're always john glover's always filming everything with with this camera and stuff i don't
[00:34:08] know it's just like a weird a weird setup a weird a weird theme that runs through a lot of the movie
[00:34:12] yeah definitely i i do like i mean so uh we should talk about cine a little bit
[00:34:17] yeah uh you know because uh she is sort of the catalyst for like everything that happens in this
[00:34:21] movie and then gets murdered halfway through but i think what i like about it is that the movie does
[00:34:25] give her like some interiority or something like you know there's a little bit of character with her
[00:34:30] yeah uh and i think they're very easily could not have been uh you know like this this character could
[00:34:36] very much just be like a prop for like to get the movie kicked off kind of thing uh and in fact like
[00:34:42] you do have a few scenes that are just focused on her like like divorced from the rest of roy scheider
[00:34:48] and all that stuff like you have scenes of like her hanging out with vanity and kind of being like
[00:34:52] ah you know she dropped out of college and she's like trying to figure out what she's doing in her
[00:34:56] life and all that kind of stuff and how she was sort of tricked into this blackmail situation and she
[00:35:00] doesn't really want to be a part of it and she's trying to get out of it uh and then of course you
[00:35:04] know things take a turn but i do like that there is like some there's more for kelly preston to play
[00:35:09] with the character than just like she is the hot girl who dies you know right that's true yeah yeah i mean
[00:35:15] and and her death scene is like truly horrific that whole sequence yeah it's brutal uh yeah and
[00:35:22] and they film the death they they like film her death she's like tied up and then she gets shot a
[00:35:26] couple times right is that yeah in the scene where john glover uh breaks into the house with ann margaret
[00:35:32] there or when amara comes home right and he pretends to be like an insurance or an accounting
[00:35:37] salesman or whatever he uh finds a gun he finds roy scheider's gun right and a suit jacket or
[00:35:43] something that or an overcoat that has his like name stitched into it uh and so they set up this
[00:35:47] like they frame him for murder right they use his gun to kill sinny uh and get her blood on his coat
[00:35:53] or something like that whatever it is so they have the evidence so they can change the blackmail to be
[00:35:58] i think a thousand one one hundred five thousand dollars a year for your life uh is how they escalate
[00:36:04] it before they find out that he only has fifty two thousand dollars right yeah but yeah that that scene
[00:36:08] where they they kidnap roy scheider tie him to a chair and force him to watch them kill sinny is
[00:36:12] just like horrific yes yeah it's it's really really intense uh and yeah and that like we said that's
[00:36:18] that's when roy scheider goes into like master manipulator mode uh like you know he goes into
[00:36:24] overdrive and uh then the rest of the movie is him kind of just like investigating and trying to figure
[00:36:28] out where people are and like really kind of narrowing down who the blackmailers are uh and i
[00:36:33] think when he finds uh john glover in the porn theater uh is a really really fun scene where he
[00:36:38] goes upstairs and uh he's like you know i know who you are and it's like oh do you know who i am yeah
[00:36:43] i know who you are do i know who you are are you the guy yeah yeah um yeah which is good because
[00:36:50] there's also the site earlier in the movie they they have uh they do like a money drop thing at a
[00:36:55] dodgers game right yes a real dodgers game really a real a real dodgers mets game the dodgers won
[00:37:01] incredible yeah um he gives them an envelope of like newspaper clippings right basically uh right
[00:37:08] and that's when they decide to escalate to the to the murder and all that shit because he burned them
[00:37:12] but yeah that that turn i feel like is like for schreider's character is like i don't want to say
[00:37:17] unjustified but like kind of comes out of like they don't set up that he was once anybody like that he
[00:37:23] was a hostage negotiator or like some crazy like you know or he was a green beret or whatever they
[00:37:27] could have thrown in there um just one line of dialogue to explain why he can do this uh other
[00:37:33] than that he's a successful businessman um right he's got connections you know he's got patents
[00:37:38] he's got patents you know i think i kind of like that about it where he is just a normal guy
[00:37:42] uh and he's just he the only thing is he's smarter than the criminals who are blackmailing him
[00:37:47] that's true yeah and so as long as he can stay a step ahead of them uh which he does at every turn
[00:37:53] uh except for the part where they kidnap his wife and force her to take care of one
[00:37:57] i guess right uh but otherwise like he is kind of ahead of them in almost every regard and like
[00:38:03] is able to very easily kind of manipulate them uh and i like that that's like yeah it's it's just
[00:38:09] something i like sort of unlocked within himself i guess yeah it's pushed to the brink and this is his
[00:38:14] superpower man on the edge superpowers he's just smarter than everybody else
[00:38:19] uh yes any other uh scenes that you wanted to mention mike anything else that uh stands out to you
[00:38:23] um not that i could think of off the top of my head i think the scene when he goes to the bar and
[00:38:29] meets lenny is like one of the saddest or most pathetic like uh things ever where he just knows
[00:38:34] he's dead uh or lenny knows he's dead uh right he he tells he has told uh john gallover's character
[00:38:41] that that's how he found him and he's just like crying at the book ordering drinks and like just
[00:38:45] pounding him down and trying to get roi shatter to drink with him he won't and all this stuff
[00:38:49] yep uh just good good acting good good stuff yes yeah no i mean uh all three of those guys john
[00:38:55] glover clarence williams and uh robert trebor um as the three blackmailers are all just like really
[00:39:01] really terrific in very different ways uh i think um so yeah they're all really great uh vanity and
[00:39:07] her few scenes uh is pretty good you know she's solid in the movie um vanity for those who don't
[00:39:11] know is like prince's ex-girlfriend who was like part of his band for a while amazing and that's how
[00:39:16] she said that's how she kind of got her start but she was in a few movies in the 80s uh and i did um
[00:39:20] uh for inferno of danger back in february i played the last dragon uh where she's the female lead of
[00:39:25] that movie uh and she's super fun she's like a very fun presence in the 80s uh so nice yeah i think
[00:39:30] she's cool in this movie yeah she does a really good job she gets uh murdered i don't remember does he
[00:39:35] kill her i believe she does get murdered yeah i think i think she's dating one of the blackmailers
[00:39:40] isn't she she's dating bobby shy yes yeah she is yeah and then she gets killed and then he kills her
[00:39:45] because he knows she talks basically right yes uh because she was like friends with sinny and she
[00:39:50] found out what happened and she's talking to roy scheider and all that stuff yeah no there's it's
[00:39:55] a rich tapestry that this movie weaves lots of lots of twists and turns i had a lot of fun time
[00:40:00] yes absolutely all right uh well if we don't have any other scenes that you want to talk about we should
[00:40:04] get in some letterbox reviews what do the people have to say yes the people here we go here's a
[00:40:08] four-star review uh on letterbox for 52 pickup uh which reads roy scheider cheats in his
[00:40:15] smoking hot wife and margaret with a younger smoke show kelly preston and gets blackmailed by a gang of
[00:40:20] sociopathic pornographers just for being cool driving a sick car and having great hair a cautionary a
[00:40:26] cautionary tale for men everywhere yeah his car his his uh smoke too strong they're gonna kill him
[00:40:32] that's it that's the problem yeah that's what it was yeah that car is pretty sick that is a cool car
[00:40:37] yes uh there's more to the review mike um oh god i'm sorry it's okay it's okay a truly nasty sleazy
[00:40:43] golden glovis gem elevated above itself by god frankenheimer and a script by elmore leonard based
[00:40:48] in his novel however the movie truly distinguished itself with clarence williams iii and john glover
[00:40:52] who played two of the most upsettingly good villains i've seen in any movie i've watched in recent
[00:40:57] memory williams is the quiet affectless one who would kill you as easily as he would take a shit
[00:41:02] and glover is a fast-talking 80s business school to pornography pipeline psycho who talks to the
[00:41:08] dundak guy baltimore accent probably the best glover performance of all time or at least in the
[00:41:13] with gremlins 2 uh which gremlins 2 best movie ever made i don't know i mean that's uh it's up
[00:41:18] there it's possible it's been a long time since i've seen gremlins 2 oh man uh so i mean gremlins
[00:41:23] one is a movie that i watched a lot as a kid uh you know it's in have and i've watched many times as
[00:41:29] an adult like it's a semi-annual christmas movie i watch it pretty frequently gremlins 2 i've seen less
[00:41:35] times but i do think it's a perfect movie uh it is a an absolutely batshit insane ride hell yeah and i last time i
[00:41:42] watched it uh we did uh we did it at the roxy in the roxy garden uh and uh did a screening there and
[00:41:48] it was just uh such a blast it was so much fun uh to watch gremlins 2 with the crowd uh because yeah
[00:41:53] it's insane uh you should re-watch gremlins 2 and you get a chance mike i should yeah it opens with the
[00:41:59] fucking bugs bunny and daffy duck like they have like a little looney tunes bit what that happens
[00:42:03] at the beginning of the movie i do not remember that at all yeah it's wild and it really sets the
[00:42:07] tone for the movie that follows uh here's a three and a half star review from dallas france the majority
[00:42:12] of the film was made by the notorious canon film studio starred actors like chuck norris
[00:42:16] jean-claude van damme and dolph lundgren they were the hair metal of 80s films chock full of boobs
[00:42:21] guns and more boobs but i grew up in this era so i thought films like death wish 4 missing action 3
[00:42:27] and break into electric boogaloo were just the way the world worked it was either those films or
[00:42:32] snore fests like chariots of fire and yentl not a tough decision to be honest there were however a
[00:42:40] select few canon films that somehow ended up being pretty good 52 pickup a still fairly sleazy 80s neo
[00:42:47] noir starring roy scheider and ann margaret is one of them its plot summary does check off the necessary
[00:42:52] canon boxes though rich man has an affair the woman half his age sleazeballs blackmail rich man with the
[00:42:58] video recording of said affair rich man descends into a depraved world to fight for
[00:43:01] his marriage i guess uh the the main goons and 52 pickup are quintessentially 80s with overacting
[00:43:08] that feels inextricably linked to a massive cocaine use most of the actors whoever are cut above the
[00:43:13] chucks and the dolfs 52 pickup is not a very good movie but it's a great canon movie and that's all
[00:43:18] we can really ask for yes i subscribe to this philosophy i think yeah no it's uh i think there's
[00:43:23] a lot of like really fun canon movies but this really does feel like elevated above the kind of stuff
[00:43:28] they were mostly well known for yeah yeah yentl catching strays also damn yeah no i uh you know
[00:43:34] i've never seen yentl i mean either honestly yeah i but i i might watch it soon uh you know as as you
[00:43:40] know i am perpetually 10 months behind in all of my podcasts uh yes so i am about to uh catch up to
[00:43:45] the barbara streisand season of blank check uh which uh aired back in january uh i might watch
[00:43:51] yentl we'll see what happens hey why not you might as well yeah i got i got nothing else to do right
[00:43:56] now mike uh so i might as well watch yentl uh here's a three and a half star review from liz
[00:44:01] uh the actual plot is sleazy and entertaining enough but i really love this as a document of
[00:44:06] that weird period of transition from film to video when anyone could suddenly make porno or snuff films
[00:44:11] and someone like an untalented adult theater owner could fancy themselves a director just because they
[00:44:15] had a camcorder and could drop terms like reverse angle seeing jamie gillis sharon mitchell vanity
[00:44:21] and a poster for water power in a john frankenheimer film just feels weird but so great would love to
[00:44:26] pair this up with body double sometime whoa yeah that's an interesting double i like that'd be
[00:44:32] fun that'd be fun right uh i also thought yeah i didn't include this review but i think justin
[00:44:36] liberty compared it to uh eight millimeter as well yeah the nicholas cage joaquin phoenix movie which
[00:44:41] we talked about on the first season of the podcast um but yeah no absolutely i think there's
[00:44:45] definitely like similarities there here yeah there's there's connections yes definitely i got one more
[00:44:51] three-star review from philippe furtado this remains one of the better leonard adaptations he wrote it
[00:44:57] himself for once and it exists somewhere between his rich character detail and pure canon sleaze
[00:45:01] john frankenheimer directed it and i think a lot of the movie's pleasure is in the tension between
[00:45:05] his literal-minded approach and leonard's ironies i think frankenheimer has no idea he is directing
[00:45:10] a remarriage comedy uh but but given that he piles on gross sadistic detail that actually strengthens
[00:45:15] the material it is essential for the film that scheider is as guilty as it gets a rich asshole who
[00:45:20] learns no lesson barely shows himself capable of anything but put his family in more trouble
[00:45:25] yet gets rewarded with a stronger marriage because the danger of outside forces making the family unit
[00:45:31] tighter remarkably well acted by all but particularly the three schemers john glover is at a slimy best
[00:45:37] and clarence williams the third and robert trebor are equally good it's it is a uh a weird blend of
[00:45:42] the highbrow that's not the right right word um people of a certain caliber actors and frankenheimer
[00:45:49] is uh but in a canon movie yeah it's just not that's weird it feels like there's uh two different
[00:45:54] worlds sort of colliding here yeah uh and uh i think uh colliding fairly successfully uh had a
[00:45:59] great time with 52 pickup i think it's really fun uh it sounds like you were also a big fan yeah yeah
[00:46:03] i'm glad i'm glad this uh go got to watch this you know another w in the discoveries column yes
[00:46:09] absolutely all right mike d i think that's going to bring us to the end of this episode where can we
[00:46:14] you online this week i guess find me on blue sky now that that's popping off um place to be now
[00:46:19] that's the place to be that is uh at md film blog uh dot b sky dot social which is weird i don't know
[00:46:25] why they have that uh but anyway yeah you can find me there and if you want to donate to support the
[00:46:31] show you can do that at our ko-fi page which is ko-fi.com slash mike and mike pods where you can
[00:46:36] donate 50 and pick a topic for a bonus episode on mike and mike go to the movies and if you would like
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[00:46:46] that's right i was actually just talking to uh jake uh over the weekend frequent donator to uh
[00:46:50] podcast friend of the show a friend of the show and i but and he was telling me that uh he thinks
[00:46:55] he's probably going to make another 50 donation pretty soon but he's going to wait uh until we get
[00:47:00] to the punisher for the roy shadow season because he wants to make us watch punisher warzone
[00:47:04] uh as well uh so that that may be coming up uh in the near future i would love that
[00:47:12] i was gonna say i'm scared that we may be rewarded on one of those episodes but he also made us watch
[00:47:17] style like 17 which was really great so that's true yeah and yeah that movie ruled so uh we also he
[00:47:22] also made us watch freddie got fingered uh and that's what i was more what i was thinking of but
[00:47:26] you know i think like by the end of the episode we were both kind of like maybe it was pretty good
[00:47:30] misunderstood masterpiece misunderstood masterpiece it was on the criterion channel for a while it was
[00:47:35] yeah so uh you know anything can happen uh you can find me online at uh emma smith film blog on
[00:47:40] both twitter and blue sky uh mike smith films on letterbox and radio mike salient instagram uh thank
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[00:48:12] guard on twitter next week we're probably talking about wicked yeah yay i uh i cleared this with mike d
[00:48:22] right before the episode started right before we recorded uh and yeah the enthusiasm was not there on his
[00:48:27] part um but uh you know i i do want to see it i i hope that it's good uh and it we have to talk
[00:48:33] about it uh because both jeff goldblum and michelle yo are in it uh unprecedented times yes this has never
[00:48:40] happened before in the history of the complete works uh where two people that we've covered are in the
[00:48:44] same movie it's never never has a movie ever had two people in it before what do we do it's it's been
[00:48:52] nothing but one man shows i don't know what i'm gonna do during wikings i i feel like you know
[00:48:56] whenever we watch a movie for the complete works i'm so intensely focused on one actor's performance
[00:49:00] yeah now i got two to focus on what's gonna happen here what's gonna happen and you know what's
[00:49:04] definitely gonna happen they're both gonna be in it for five minutes uh and it's gonna be rough
[00:49:09] uh i i have heard that uh there is some scenes of like elphaba i think is the is the is the wicked
[00:49:16] i was gonna say the evil witch but that's like the whole point is that she's not evil turns out
[00:49:20] turns turns out there's more to it uh yes she's like the wicked witch elphaba but there's like
[00:49:25] scenes of her training with michelle yo so there will be like at least a few scenes of that in the
[00:49:31] movie it's not gonna be like um that netflix version of this movie what was that movie the
[00:49:36] school for good and evil that one yeah uh also a movie about uh wizards and witches in a school
[00:49:42] that had michelle yo in it she was in that movie for like less than 90 seconds yeah yeah and yeah
[00:49:47] that movie's not that good either but uh i i do think jeff goldblum will barely be in the movie
[00:49:53] that's that's my guess he'll probably have like one kind of big scene uh but since they are splitting
[00:49:57] it into two movies i would imagine a lot i would imagine a lot of the wizard stuff happens in act
[00:50:01] two uh i'm actually trying to i've seen wicked on broadway so i should know like exactly how much
[00:50:06] michelle yo and jeff goldblum should be in the movie but this movie is a lot longer than uh
[00:50:10] wicked on broadway which is what i've heard that that part one of this movie is longer than the length of
[00:50:15] the play yes uh so really curious about this like we we've been saying for a very long time that like
[00:50:21] you know i'm looking forward to it they've been trying to make wicked forever it it does feel like
[00:50:26] maybe it should have been one movie yeah uh it feels weird to like have have it split into two parts
[00:50:31] uh but i think i know they did film them back to back uh and this movie seems like it's going to be
[00:50:35] huge uh and i i think part two was scheduled for next year so it like it shouldn't be like too
[00:50:40] long of a wait either um but it is very strange for like part one which is basically act
[00:50:45] one of the play is like two hours and 40 minutes and like the runtime of the play is like two hours
[00:50:51] and 30 minutes bizarre yes truly wild what a very strange strange time we live in but we'll find out
[00:50:56] more next week i guess yes uh i'll be doing the uh i don't know if i'll do the actual double feature
[00:51:01] but i will be seeing both over the weekend i'll be doing wikiator uh wicked and gladiator 2
[00:51:06] you should not have defiance for them trying to manufacture more barbenheimers
[00:51:11] just no uh well you know what i i've been saying wikiator for a long time before this like kind of
[00:51:17] became a thing but here's the thing glicked or whatever the fuck that's the thing now they're
[00:51:22] saying glicked fuck that fuck that that's that's an awful portmanteau a very clumsy portmanteau uh
[00:51:28] wikiator is much better unless it's uh martin short doing a pre-show for every as uh jimmy glick
[00:51:34] i don't want to be glicking uh i mean actually that would be that would be and i'm in yeah if
[00:51:40] if martin short could play jimmy glick in front of every movie i see
[00:51:46] i just re-watched his uh thing with bill hater as jimmy glick uh the other day and uh man that's so
[00:51:51] funny it's so good what a wild time yes in any case wicked is happening uh and uh pretty soon our
[00:51:57] next rory shider picture uh will be cohen and tate from 1989 uh a buddy action movie with
[00:52:03] roy shider and adam baldwin sure
[00:52:07] is it a canon film it sounds like it it sounds like it could be a canon film i'm not i'm not
[00:52:12] sure on that one but that's gonna be coming up soon uh and remember to check out our other
[00:52:15] podcasts mike might go to the movies for all kinds of other movie related stuff including recent
[00:52:18] releases ranked lists general discussions and a lot more thanks so much for listening guys
[00:52:23] and thanks for becoming a hollywood insider