Terror In a Texas Town (1958) / Nobody (2021)

[00:00:02] Let's get together, talk about the movies that we saw this week. We'll have discussions, talk film news, we'll laugh a lot and act like geeks. Sometimes we'll have a guest or two, sometimes it's just the two of us. Let's crack some jokes and tell some folks to come along and hang with us! Mike and... Chosen wisely.

[00:00:28] Hello and welcome to the podcast that is marching down the street with a harpoon to protect our land from wealthy oil barons. It's Mike and Mike Go to the Movies. I'm Mike Smith and joining me as always is someone who just wants to find his daughter's kitty cat bracelet. Hi, Mike D'Cruccio. How are you doing today, Mike? I'm doing great. I'm excited. I think we accidentally stumbled our way into a pretty good double feature again. Oh, okay. Interesting. Yeah, I think that's probably fair to say. I like that. Yes, absolutely.

[00:00:55] There's thematic similarities between the two films. Thematic connections. Can we accidentally stumble into double features that work every month this year? We'll find out. Two for two. Yeah, so far we're two for two. Of course, last month we did the assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. And the great silence. Both very snowy westerns about the evils that men do. Yes. Which I don't think we realized like when we set that up. So that was great. That was that was terrific.

[00:01:22] And yeah today we are talking about movies both of which are about one lone man against the odds going up against everything. Yeah, a grieved man now to right wrongs. Yes, I think there's connection. That's about it. That's the connection. It's not a bad connection. I like it. And so yeah, no, we're doing a Mike makes Mike watch today, Mike. So that means that I'm making you watch something that you've never seen before. You're making me watch something that I've never seen before.

[00:01:47] And today on the podcast, I'm making you watch Ilya Neishuler's Nobody from 2021, the Bob Odenkirk starring action movie. And you are making me watch Joseph Lewis's Terror in a Texas Town from 1958, which I had heard that title before, I think because you had talked about it. I definitely when I watched this for the first time, I did it as a discussion way back when. Yes. A couple of years ago, you know. Right. Yeah. And so you had talked about it. I remembered that title because it is such a good title. It's a great title.

[00:02:15] And yeah, I had never gotten around to seeing it. So yeah, finally got to watch that movie and you got to watch Nobody. But yeah. How you been, Mike? What's going on? Good. Alive so far. Hey, we'll take that. So, you know, in the year 2025, unfortunately, that's the bar. Yes. We are still breathing and seeing things with our eyes. Yes. And that's that's all we can ask for in this world. Yes. But yeah, otherwise, fine. We're hanging in there. Got some good movies to watch. And we're going to talk about a couple of them.

[00:02:45] And so which one of these movies would you let's talk about first, Mike? Yeah. Terror to Texas Town. Come on. We're doing an actual for reals double feature by accident this time. You got to start with Terror to Texas Town. Sure. All right. Let's do it then. It's time for a Mike Makes Mike Watch. I hope they choose right. Mike's watching Mike's movie. Whoa. Mike's watching Mike's movie.

[00:03:47] I don't think I've ever met anyone like him before. That's because you've never seen death walking around in the shape of a man before. That's right. Death. It's in his blood. Why do you stay with a man like this? I stay with him because I'm what I am. I stay with him because no other man would have me.

[00:04:19] I stay with him because as low as I am, I can turn around and see him and remember there's somebody lower. They all came here to see blood. Why don't you bring them a little closer? Close so they can see it, huh?

[00:04:47] Just one step, just close enough so you can get a fair chance with that meat hook. All right. That was from the trailer, if there is a trailer available for Terror in a Texas Town from 1958, directed by Joseph Lewis and starring Sterling Hayden.

[00:05:16] And yeah, Mike D, why was this a movie that you wanted to make me watch? This is a movie that, yeah, I think I first heard about probably on Pure Cinema Podcast. I don't remember what context or where, when or whatever, but probably on there. And I got the Arrow Blu-ray, I think, at some point in one of their sales. I don't even know if it's still in print. I think this might have been one of the Arrow Select, which is one of the sub labels or something. I don't know, whatever. But I watched it a couple years ago and was like, holy shit, this rules.

[00:05:45] And I don't know, it just was like, hey, this feels like a pretty underseen neo-western noir. Western noir? I guess it can't be a neo-noir in 1958 or whatever it is. At that point, it would have just been a noir. No noir. So, and I don't know, I haven't really heard about it much outside that one episode of Pure Cinema Podcast or whatever it was. And I thought you'd like it. I thought you'd enjoy a little revenge movie with our boy Sterling Hayden, you know?

[00:06:13] Yeah, and you thought, right, man, this movie fucking riffs. Hell yeah, let's go. Yeah, no, I thought Terror in a Texas Town was super fun. Had a great time with this movie. I believe it is streaming on Pluto or Tubi, one of those ones. So you can watch it for free with ads if you want. That's just that one tweet that's like, it's on Plurk. It's on Pleba. Just watch it on Sleet. Yeah, pretty much.

[00:06:42] But it is available on one of those streaming services. You can watch it for free with ads right now. And yeah, no, I think this movie is awesome. For those who have not seen Terror in a Texas Town, it is a tight 80 minutes. Yeah, baby. It is a Western noir starring Sterling Hayden as the son of a Swedish immigrant doing a really just awful accent. What if like every other word was vaguely accented? Yes. One of the worst onscreen accents it's possible that I've ever heard in my life.

[00:07:12] Agreed. That said, the movie is so good that it overcomes that. Yeah. And so Sterling Hayden plays this guy whose father has just been killed. And he is unaware of that when he comes into town. He comes into town. He hasn't seen his father in like 20 years. He gets in. His father was killed the day before. Classic setup. But when he discovers this news, he's like, well, I will take the land that was that is mine by birthright because it was my father's.

[00:07:38] But in fact, there is this guy who's buying up all the land in town and he's trying to get these people to leave the land. And you don't really know why for a while. But then you find out there's oil in them. They're hills. Yes. Right. And so he's trying to get them to leave the land. He's trying to pay them off. Like, you know, I'll give you, you know, three hundred dollars to leave your land and go start life anew somewhere else. It's worth half that. But I'll pay you three hundred. I'll do you such a favor. Yes, exactly.

[00:08:03] And of course, he's just, you know, a greedy oil baron who wants to, you know, make money through oil. And so he's hired this guy, this Johnny Crail, who is played by Nedrick Young, who is a screenwriter at the time. I think did some uncredited work on this movie as well. But yeah, and he's a bounty hunter who is just killing people. And so he kills this guy's dad. And then the whole movie is basically Sterling Hayden trying to rally the town together and rise up against these guys. Yeah. And then it whips.

[00:08:33] Yes. It has a harpoon. Yeah. The score is so good, too. Yes. Or like the recurring theme, because it's just the same 10 seconds that they play over and over again. But it rules. When the movie was starting, so the movie actually does an in media ray opening, right? Which is often something that I'm like, ah, you know, you don't need to do that. It's that Rick and Morty bit where it's like, you know, why you start the movie three weeks earlier when you were alive or something, right? Yeah. That whole bit.

[00:09:01] But watching the opening, which you don't really know is an in media ray opening thing at first until it starts play until you realize you're kind of flashing back. And you're just watching Sterling Hayden march through town with a harpoon and like slowly more and more people start to join him. And then it ends up with him like facing off against this guy. And you don't see who the guy is yet. Like he doesn't reveal Johnny Correll yet. I was convinced like this might be the best movie I've ever seen. And he's telling him like, just come one step closer. Come on, do it. Just take one step.

[00:09:31] He's trying to hang him on. Oh, it's so good. Yes. And then the rest of the movie happens and it's less action packed than I think other Westerns of this era. But I think just in terms of the way it kind of builds these characters and the suspense, it does such a great job. And so when it finally returns to that moment towards the end of the movie when he has the harpoon and you see somebody like run into the church and be like, I just want to let you know that Sterling Hayden is rushing down there to face down Johnny Crale with a harpoon. And everybody's like, well, I guess we better go follow him. And then they go and they do. Yeah.

[00:10:01] And you're seeing these exact same moment again, but from different angles. Rules. It's so good. Cinema, baby. Yes. No, had a blast with terror in Texas town. And I think what's really interesting about it. So Joseph Lewis is the director of this film. He also directed Gun Crazy in 1950, which is another it's another is that movie a Western? I have actually never seen Gun Crazy. I will be seeing it soon. It's going to be playing at the Roxy soon, so I'll go see it then.

[00:10:26] I've actually never seen it either, but I believe it is set in the contemporary, like contemporary. Contemporary. Well, I don't know. Contemporary times for 1950, right? Contemporary. Yes. To the 50s. Yeah. But yeah, but also a film noir. And this movie, I think, does a really cool job of like the blocking in this movie is so interesting. Yeah. You know, every time you're watching somebody talk on screen, often what is happening is you're seeing them in the foreground.

[00:10:52] And you've also got like two or three people in the background kind of doing their own thing, right? And it's not a split diopter shot necessarily because I don't think those were invented just yet. But it feels very similar to that where like everything is in focus, right? And you're always kind of like, there's always just so much detail going on in the background, which is really interesting. Yeah. There's one scene in particular that stood out to me.

[00:11:17] It's one of those things you just don't like see anymore in a lot of modern filmmaking. It's just like a medium master shot. And we're just going to let this scene play out. Yeah. These actors are going to act for an entire scene. Not a line, an entire scene. Yes. Where it's when the bad guy goes to the, kills Sterling Hayden's father for the first time. When he kills that guy, kills him. And his neighbor, is Pepe the son, I think?

[00:11:47] I should pull up IMDB or letterboxd and look at the names. I think Pepe's the son. Is it Jose? Jose, yeah. It's right after Jose has discovered there's oil on his land and he's come over to the father. And he's like, go hide in the shed. I'll talk to him. And they start in the field. They track them over to the shed where he picks up the harpoon. And then it tracks him up the pathway to talk to Johnny Crail. And their conversation, when they start talking, there's finally a cut. But it's like a three or four minute.

[00:12:16] And it's not like the, you know, or Scorsese one or like, you know, it's not drawing attention to itself. It's just, right. Is a scene where these people are acting the whole scene out. And it's just like, this fucking rules. It's so cool. And yeah, that's when he tries to get him to sign the rights to his land over. And yeah, you find out there's also some kind of scam thing they're running that to try to claim, try to say the deeds are no good. So you might as well sell me the three property for 300, like that whole thing. Yeah.

[00:12:46] And yeah, I agree with you though, that there's just interesting blogging. There's a lot of just like craft in what I think is like, was just a B movie at the time or something like that. No, this is 100% released like as a B movie. Like, you know, whatever, I don't, I'm not sure if it was like specifically paired up with anything in particular, if it was just kind of tossed on at the end of other movies or however it was. But yeah, no, this was a 100% a B movie at the time. Yeah. And, you know, they used to know how to make movies. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:15] One other interesting thing about it is also written by Dalton Trumbo. Ah. Yes. It's a Trumbo script. And yeah. So this was at the time, you know, Hollywood 10 was happening. We talked about this in the Jeff Goldblum podcast back in the day, one of the Hollywood 10. But yeah, the Hollywood blacklist was happening. Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted at the time. Sterling Hayden had had his own run in with being blacklisted. He wasn't ultimately, but he had like a lot of like. Didn't he name names? Wasn't he one of the guys that named names? He did name. He was sort of tricked into naming names, apparently. Okay.

[00:13:44] You know, from what I understand, like he names names and like immediately regretted it. He was really. I do know. Yeah. That he like came to really deeply regret that. But I didn't know the timeline of like when that happened versus Trumbo's blacklist versus the whole HUAC thing and stuff. So I was like, just all of that going on in the background of this movie is fascinating. And I think one one interesting thing about it. So Joseph Lewis was a director of this movie and he was actually set to retire. Like he was ready to really call it a day. And then Nedrick Young, who plays Johnny Crail, he was the one that gave him the script

[00:14:14] because he wanted to get him back in the film business. And Joseph Lewis liked the script and he agreed to do it because he was retiring anyway. He was set up to be his final film. So it's like, who cares about the Dalton Trumbo script? I could. Incredible. I mean, you know, if he's blacklisted out of the industry, doesn't matter. This is my last film anyway. I retire. Yeah. Yes. And then he ended up he actually didn't retire right away. He actually did TV for a while until like 1966 or something. But that's such a cool move to be like, yeah, I'm ending my time in film anyway.

[00:14:44] So here we go. What have I got to lose? You know? Yeah. And so, yeah, all that. I don't know. And also, man, Nedrick Young as Johnny Crail. Oh, what a performance. What a performance. He's so good in this movie. It's insane. And yeah, he's mostly a screenwriter. He was the screenwriter of Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley. Whoa. Yeah. Also. And he's but he pops up in an acting role. He's also in Gun Crazy. He's in House of Wax from around that time, too. Oh, but yeah, he wrote Jailhouse Rock.

[00:15:12] He also wrote The Defiant Ones and Inherit the Winds. So, yeah, it's a couple of like major films under under his name. And yeah, no, he is just immediately as soon as he walks on screen, you're like, well, this guy's a bastard. This guy sucks. He's evil. He's a perfect like black hat Western villain. And when he kills Sterling Hayden's father, the next day Sterling Hayden comes into town. He goes into a bar and he runs into Johnny Crail and they end up like having a drink together. And unbeknownst to him, the Johnny Crail is the one who killed his father.

[00:15:43] Right. Because, yeah, he the bartender. Sterling Hayden says, like, oh, I'm here to like, how do I get to the whatever farm? I forgot his character's name. And he tells him, oh, you know what? You better go to the sheriff there. I think there's something you should talk to him about. And like the bartender won't say what's going on. Yeah. But Johnny Crail is right there. He's right there. And he saunters on up like he's not the one who killed him. And it's like, oh, I'm sorry to tell you this. Your father died. Buy you a drink. And yeah, he totally like pretends that he's not involved in this whole situation and everything.

[00:16:12] And yeah, it was intense. Yeah, absolutely. And I, you know, I like the weird kind of relationship he has with his wife, girlfriend, whatever her role is. But how she's like, yeah, you know, I know this guy sucks. But like, what else am I going to do? You know, I don't know. Like, I liked her kind of like crisis of conscience throughout the movie, too. Yeah. I really like Sebastian Cabot, who plays Ed McNeil, the like oil baron guy. Yes. Who's this like big fat guy with a beard.

[00:16:40] And he's like, oh, these simpletons don't under. And he's just like eating grapes the whole time. Yes. Like he's the guy who plays the Panther in the original Jungle Book, the Disney Jungle Book. No way. Yeah. Whoa. And he was the narrator of all the old Winnie the Pooh movies as well. But yeah, he's Bagheera in the Jungle Book. Yeah. Goddamn. Movie royalty in Terror in a Texas Town. Yes. Yeah. But he's great.

[00:17:04] And yeah, that scene where it's him and Johnny Creole and his like secretary is so much fun. And, you know, him sort of taunting Johnny Creole. Like they've worked together in the past and it's like, oh, but I heard you got shot in your right arm or something. Can you still shoot with your left? And, you know, he draws and shoots a bunch of stuff on the table. Yeah. It's great. So cool. And yeah, the whole the whole bit. Yeah. I mean, two movies in a row with a revealed one handed character while we're recording them. Yes.

[00:17:32] But referring to Romeo is bleeding for podcast time travel purposes. Yeah. That his all of a sudden he carries two guns and it's and he wears gloves. So she never wore before. And it's to hide the fact that his right hand is missing and has been replaced with a steel mold. And he has to shoot lefty now. And yes. And yeah, when he asks him, like, are you still as fast as you used to be? And he's just like, pow, pow, pow, pow. And he shoots all the candles, I think, off the off the table. Fucking rips. Yes. No. So, so good.

[00:17:58] And then just to have Sterling Hayden marching down the street with a harpoon, which they're kind of setting up like, you know, his father in his previous life before he moved out here was a whaler. Right. Right. And so it's Sterling Hayden. He even says, like, I've killed. However, because the daughter, Jose's daughter asked him, like, have you ever killed a whale? And he's like, I've killed more than I could count or whatever he says in his weird accent. Yeah. And he's like kind of telling them how you kill it and you have the harpoon. But look, that only sticks to the whale. You got to use this thing to get him. Right.

[00:18:24] And so throughout the movie, you're hearing so much about Sterling Hayden's prowess with a harpoon. And so towards the end, when you're finally there and he's he doesn't have a gun on him or anything. He just has the harpoon. Yeah. And he and that's how he kills Johnny Corral is he hurls the harpoon at him and it kills him. And then roll credits. Movie's done. Just hard in the end. Hard card cut. Like, yeah, doesn't even roll credits because it's 1958. It's just the end. And then black screen. Just wits. So good.

[00:18:53] And yet the I liked the kind of relationship that starts to develop between Sterling Hayden and Jose's family where they, you know, kind of become friends. And I thought it was especially cruel that the movie kills Jose almost immediately after his wife gives birth. Right. Like, it's I think she's giving birth, like is giving birth. Right. You hear that like crying in the house while he's outside. Yes. And then Pepe comes out and finds his father. Pepe's going to be very traumatized after the ending of after this movie where he first

[00:19:21] watched George Sterling Hayden's dad die. Right. And then and then watched his own dad die. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think I think a lot of the there's a lot of like thematic stuff going on in the film. I mean, it's like in the text, right? They're constantly once they figure out the situation that there's that there's oil and Sterling Hayden realizes like, oh, these guys are killing us to steal the land. We have to stand up to them kind of thing. And there's a lot of talk about like how and how important solidarity is. Right.

[00:19:49] And they're like, at the beginning, the Jose's family is like, well, we have to protect ourselves. We can't deal with this. Like, it's more important that we're fine than it is to like save this town and fuck this town. Right. It's kind of their thing. Right. But that's sort of the whole, you know, Sterling Hayden character. Like, well, no, somebody has to stand up to these people. And that only works if we all do it kind of thing. And that's like why the big march through the town and everything, you know, compound that with like we were just talking about all the HUAC stuff and like going on behind

[00:20:19] the scenes of this movie where it's like, well, if we all just individually protect ourselves and cave to this, this is going to fail or we're going to fail. But if we all band together in solidarity and stand up to these things, these injustices, maybe somebody will get harpooned in the street. Um, and you know, there's nothing that we could take away from that in the modern context. I don't think, you know, everybody get their harpoons out. What are we doing? Yeah. Yeah. But literally though, anyway, um, it's all we need the harpoons, you know? Um, so yeah, I don't know.

[00:20:49] I think, I think that's, that's, you know, interesting. Yeah, absolutely. I'll also one other quick thing too, is that the movie actually takes a while to introduce Sterling Hayden. Yeah, true. It's, it's probably like a, like it's an 80 minute runtime. It's a pretty short movie. It probably takes, I mean, other than the opening of the movie, it's like, it's like, opening, you know, when you're seeing him march through the street, once you start getting into the flashback, like post the opening credits, you're watching, I mean, this very long meeting between the people in the town who are like, what are we going to do about this? And nobody can really agree on it.

[00:21:16] And then you're having the scene where you're introduced to Johnny Crail and you're seeing him, uh, have dinner with, uh, the oil baron and his secretary. And then you get introduced to, uh, I mean, you've already been introduced to Sterling Hayden's dad because he's part of that town meeting, but he's like, you know, talking to Pepe and they're hanging out, all, all that stuff. It's probably like a good 20 to 30 minutes before Sterling Hayden even shows up like for the first time, really. Yeah. It takes a long time. Yeah. And so for a while I was like, he's in this movie somewhere, right? Like I know who Sterling Hayden is.

[00:21:45] I feel like he's not one of these guys and yeah, no, it's a, it takes a while to like kind of build up to his appearance. Um, and then once he does show up, he has again, the worst accent ever, but like it overcomes that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I think the, the, those first like 20 ish minutes or whatever that really set the stage for the, like the next 60, I guess, you know, do, it does a really great job of that. It's just a really tight, good movie. I liked it a lot. Yeah. We used to have movies in the 1950s.

[00:22:12] Um, and I just want to make them after 1958. That was the problem. They stopped making movies. Yeah. I do just want to shout out, uh, Frank Ferguson, who is one of the actors that plays like the deacon. I think he's one of the townsfolk in terror in a Texas town. I want to shout him out because he's a Mr. McDougal in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, the guy that owns the house of horrors. And as soon as he showed up, I'm like doing the Leo point. Like that's Mr. McDougal. That's him. That's the guy. Anyway. Awesome. All right.

[00:22:41] Any other thoughts about terror in a Texas town, Mike, before we move on into our other movie today? Um, no, I'm glad, I'm glad you really liked it. Uh, it's, it's an exciting, you know, it's always fun to discover like a, uh, sort of like forgotten film history movie. Yeah. You're like, yes, cinema. Absolutely. And it was fun. You know, our last Mike makes Mike watch, you made me watch the great silence. And so now we're, we're on like a Western kick here, uh, in these last two movies. I continue next week. If I remember correctly is next month and also a Western for you, for me. Let me take a look here. Yes.

[00:23:10] It's a, a modern Western. Okay. It's a John sales is lone star. Ooh. Okay. Yeah. Never seen that. So, I mean, that's the whole point of my, thanks. Watch that we haven't seen it. So, uh, yeah. All right. Very excited for that one, but all right. So that is terror in a Texas town. And now let's move on into the movie that I made Mike watch this week, uh, which is nobody. So they took 20 bucks in an old watch. Did you even take a swing? No. Could have taken her dad. I wish they'd have picked my place. You had to drop on one of them.

[00:23:39] Why didn't you take them out? There's a long dormant piece of me. Also very badly wants out. What are you still doing here, old man? I'm gonna mess you up. It's been a hell of a day. You can see that. I used to work for some dangerous people. But I left it behind to start a family. Hey!

[00:24:09] I might have overcorrected. They came after my family. And you don't do that. They stole my kitty cat bracelet. Give me the damn kitty cat bracelet! Who are you? I'm nobody. All right. That was from the trailer for Nobody, uh, directed by Ilya Neishuler from 2021, featuring Bob Odenkirk and many other people as well.

[00:24:36] Uh, and I think the reason I wanted to make you watch this movie, Mike, is that, A, I think it's a really, really fun action movie. I had a great time with it when I saw it in theaters, and this was one of those movies that I saw. It was April 2021 it came out. So, like, I had just gotten my COVID vaccine. Right. This was, like, probably among the first, like, three or four movies that I saw post my vaccine, right? Is it, like, two weeks after Godzilla vs. Kong or whatever that movie was? It would have been, yeah. Godzilla vs. Kong was my first post-COVID vaccine movie.

[00:25:03] Uh, and so nobody was, like, right around that time, probably, like, a week or two later. And so that's when I saw it, and I liked it a lot at the time. I've always wondered a little bit, like, is my view of the movie inflated just a touch? Because it was one of those movies for me. Sure. Yeah. And so I bought the Blu-ray a long time ago and haven't gotten around to rewatching it, so this was also sort of an excuse for me to rewatch the movie. Uh, but really the reason I wanted to make you watch it, A, I thought you would enjoy it because you like fun action movies, uh, especially fun action movies from the John Wick guys. Yep.

[00:25:33] B, there is a sequel coming out later this year, uh, called Nobody 2, and Nobody 2 is being directed by Timo Giahanto, uh, who is one of your guys. One of my guys, for sure, yeah. Uh, recently directed The Shadow Strays, uh, which is on Netflix. Uh, what was it? The Big Four is another one of his movies. Big Four, The Night Comes for Us. Night Comes for Us, a couple of segments in VHS, uh, over the last few years. And you've been, like, a big champion of Timo Giahanto's films. Uh, I think you were the one that really put me onto The Shadow Strays, uh, which,

[00:26:03] the action in that movie, next level, unbelievable. So, I'm very excited to see what he can do with Nobody 2. But I figured, you know what? Mike hasn't seen Nobody yet. He's such a Timo Giahanto guy. He has to catch up before Nobody 2 comes out. I gotta be on my, up on my deep Nobody lore, which there surprisingly is. Yes. I mean, that's sort of the thing. So, this is written by Derek Kolstad, who wrote John Wick. Right. And it's one of those things where, like, once you know that, you're like, yep, same guy. Yeah. This is doing the same thing.

[00:26:32] That's so funny. Uh, so what did you think of Nobody, Mike? Um, Nobody surprised me a lot. I, uh, I don't know what I thought this movie was when I, when it came out. I mean, plus, you get the whole Bob Odenkirk in an action movie thing. And you're like, okay, whatever. I guess it's like Taken or something. You know, it's like, we're also so far past that, but in 2021, that it feels a little old hat, you know, is what I'm thinking back then. And like, ah, whatever. It's just a John Wick ripoff. I'm good. I remember when it was coming out, I had the opposite reaction.

[00:27:01] I was like, Bob Odenkirk's in a John Wick ripoff? Hell yeah. I'm there. But I'm such a bit, I'm a big Odenkirk guy is all through that thing. Yeah. I love Mr. Show. I love Breaking Bad, Butter Call Saul, all that stuff. So, yeah. I was really hyped for this movie when it was coming out. Yeah, I remember. And yeah, I mean, I'm sure I wasn't like down on it, but I just was like, whatever. Like, I felt like it would, I assumed it would just be forgettable, right? It's just like, well, you know, I don't need to see this. I'm good. And that's just like totally wrong.

[00:27:28] I think this movie is those things, but is not, it's something else actually. Like, you know, it's wearing those influences, obviously, that like John Wick guys are involved and stuff. So there's that going on. It's written by Derek Holstead. It is produced by 87 North, who are the stunt team that, you know, does all the John Wick movies, plus all David Leach's movies and all that stuff. And it very much feels like ripped out of the John Wick playbook, but it feels like just different enough where it's its own thing. Yeah. It's, it's not, I don't know.

[00:27:57] I don't know what I thought it was. Like my preconceived notion was that it like sort of would be a little bit like Death Wish too, like a guy, a normal guy pushed to the edge. And there's a twist to that in the movie. Yeah. Uh, that I was like, oh, actually this is kind of fun. And then it, it, it is more cartoony, which, you know, uh, the John Wick movies are like wear that on their sleeve. Like they literally John Wick two opens with the Buster Keaton thing. Yeah. Or, you know, they're always part of that, that lineage. Um, so this movie is a little more cartoony than that.

[00:28:26] Um, and the twist on it being that like, he's not just really a normal guy, uh, kind of thing is fun. And then it's not that he's Baba Yaga, like he's not the most hyper competent kill mass murderer guy ever. Yeah. It's like somewhere in between those two things. And I had like a lot of fun in that space where it's like, actually this is a guy with a history and the training of that, that he is suppressed, uh, that these people pull back out of him, uh, kind of thing. Like, you know, and that's, that's a pretty fun twist on that.

[00:28:53] Um, and the violence is exciting and then the action is cool. So it's yeah, it's, I had a, I had a fun time with nobody. I don't know why, why I ever thought I wouldn't like, I feel like watching it. I'm like, what was I an idiot? I don't know. Um, yeah. So I'm glad you made me finally watch nobody. So I'm, I'm prepped to understand what all the tattoos mean or whatever is nobody too. The lore will be expanded in interesting ways, which is, you know, how the John Wick movies played out. Yeah.

[00:29:20] I'm really curious about nobody too, because it does feel like, I mean, nobody came out. It was a hit. Like when it came out, it did well at the box office. But like relative to like, you know, it's a COVID hit, you know, it's April 2021. Like who knows how much this could have actually made if it was released in normal times or whatever. So I'm curious to see if like people have caught up with it in the last few years. And if nobody too will be like a bigger hit, sort of like how John Wick ended up being a thing where like John Wick one when it came out very well received, very well reviewed and a solid hit, but it wasn't like a runaway type thing.

[00:29:50] And then when John Wick two came out, it was like, Oh, this like doubled the money that John Wick made. And like, it was clear that a lot of people had caught up with John Wick. So I'm curious to see if that happens with nobody. Cause it doesn't feel like it has the same like cultural impacts that John Wick had, like even when it first came out. Right. Yeah. I agree with that. And, and I also haven't seen a ton and I'm sure we will, uh, you know, just with the team of it all, uh, as it gets closer to release date and stuff, but like, plus also, uh, to a Twitter's dead.

[00:30:18] But so like, I was gonna say like action Twitter, you know, like, which I follow a couple people that are part of that, all that stuff. And you see that, uh, people that are, I follow that are like, Oh, Hey, check out this, you know, Chinese direct to video movie. And you're like, what? Who's like, who's that's how I found one perfect or, uh, one more shot, uh, which made my number 11 on my, uh, best of the year episode. Um, so yeah, those, those kinds of crowds, but, but all that to say, they, they, I haven't really seen them talking about nobody a ton, uh, which maybe that's recency or it's sort

[00:30:47] of like in that, that like Valley between this wasn't a mega smash hit, but it's only been a couple of years. So like nobody feels the need to be like trumpet, like tramping championing nobody, you know? Right. Um, so maybe when nobody two comes out, cause Timo is a big guy and all that stuff. So, uh, well, you know, we'll see. I think watching it again, I think I realized, I think I've known about this, this about myself for a while now, but one of my favorite tropes in any kind of movie is when you're up against

[00:31:17] somebody and then another character discovers who this person is. Oh, that's the hundred percent, the scene I was going to talk about. Absolutely. You know, somebody like discovers like, Oh, this, like, yeah, I mean, you know, the John Wick one is obviously like, you know, the iconic thing where it's like, Oh, he, he killed John Wick's dog. And you hear Michael Nicklaus go, Oh, uh, and you learn more about who John Wick is. Uh, as he's like preparing to do all the shit that he's about to do. Uh, Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise does that also.

[00:31:44] Um, you know, rebel Ridge has a great moment in, in that movie where they're like, I think he's on the Wikipedia page, uh, for this special ops thing. And yeah, nobody is, is very much in that vein. Absolutely. Yeah. When he goes to the, uh, so the, his house has been robbed is the whole thing. Right. Uh, and they explain why he didn't act the way that everyone thinks he should have acted. Right. He seems like a coward, but really he's calculating about why he hasn't done the thing. Um, it's so, it's so funny when, um, so yeah, the house gets robbed, uh, and it's just like

[00:32:13] two random burglars and they end up stealing a couple of dollars. Like they basically get nothing out of it. Like their change jar basically. Uh, and the, his kid like tackles one of them. And, uh, so he does have like the drop on them if he wants to attack them, but he lets them go. Yeah. Uh, and there's a moment where like the cops are like, you know, interrogating them and the one cop's like, you know, this is my family. I wouldn't have let them, like you, like just, just sort of being like you cuck. Like what do you, a hundred percent. Yeah.

[00:32:42] And, um, uh, whatever he, he seems to know more than you would expect from his, uh, his banal life that we've seen so far about the, you can tell the gun was unloaded. He can tell they're desperate, like, you know, whatever, all this stuff. And he noticed a tattoo. So he starts, uh, going to all these tattoo shops to question, have you seen this tattoo? Have you seen this tattoo? You've seen this. Uh, and he goes to one and it's all like big beefy biker looking dudes with like, you know, giant muscles and they're covered in tats and all this stuff.

[00:33:08] Uh, and he starts trying to like intimidate the guy behind the counter and they immediately are like, you're going to have to go through all of us or whatever. Uh, and at some point he, he reaches his hand out and reveals a tattoo of his own. Yeah. Uh, which is like a ace of spades or something. It's something new with cards. Uh, I don't remember exactly. Uh, and one of the guys sees it and like literally runs out of the scene and is like, well, you have a good day, sir. And, uh, runs away and you hear all the doors and the bolts and the, and the chains and he like is locking the back door.

[00:33:36] Uh, and that is so funny and just tells you like everything you need to know. And it's just like, oh my God. Okay. He's there's something else, which is what I enjoyed about that twist. Cause I did think it, I mean, by, by that scene, you like, he's already revealed that he knows all this stuff about like telling the gun is unloaded. I didn't know blah, blah, blah. Yeah. So there's more name than you, uh, have first been led to believe. But like, I really did think it was just going to be a death wish thing where it's like, he's experienced this grievance, uh, of some sort about his masculinity and he must get revenge for it.

[00:34:06] Um, but like, oh no, he's like a special forces or whatever. We don't, I don't even think, you know, it's, it's actually a secret sequel to Ben Affleck's the accountant. Um, cause isn't he, oh, he's an auditor is what he says. That's what it is. Yes. Yeah. He's an auditor. Yeah. Yeah. And then like JP man, like the, you know, the guy in the FBI, um, is like looking him up. It's like, we don't have anybody about that. Like any, that title doesn't exist because it's so secretive. Nobody knows about it. Yeah.

[00:34:33] And he goes, and I forget exactly what the stick is, but yeah, they're, they're the last people they send in when they need a situation cleaned up to make sure there's, I forget how he phrases it. And so there's some accounting bun about how they kill everybody. Yes. Yeah. But what I do like about it, I mean, um, like you said, he is a, you know, super good at what he does. He's a former assassin, you know, all, all that stuff. So that sets it up as like, you know, he's basically John wick, but at the same time, like he gets beat the hell up in this movie. Yeah.

[00:35:01] Uh, like he, he's getting actively very hurt, uh, in the movie. Uh, so even he's, you know, very skilled, but he's not like a super, he's not the Baba Yaga, right? He's not a super assassin. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think it's actually interesting now thinking about it, uh, like John wick one, he ends with him in the vet in the vet. That's true. Stapling his bullet holes back together. I guess they get the bulletproof suits. Yeah. Well, which I think is only in two. It's two forward. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:35:29] Well, no, I think they get rid of it in three and four because I think people were like, he's got to be able to get hurt, uh, more. Cause I don't remember. He does get hurt in the other movies, but yeah, in, in John wick one, he does get hurt much more often for sure. So yeah, I mean, it's like we said, it's very much out of the John wick playbook. Um, but it does, it, it feels like he's much more vulnerable than John wick is. Oh yeah, for sure. He's much, he's much more just a regular dad by now in this movie. Uh, yeah. Well, especially cause he's, he's been like, I would have practiced for like 20 years at this point or something. Right.

[00:35:56] Like he's supposed to have been like, you know, has not done this for a very long time. He's retired. Yeah. There's like a hint, which I thought was interesting that like his wife knows this. And I mean, by the end of the movie, for sure, I think, but, uh, cause she's like, you know, asking about that new house. Does it have a basement? Um, but, uh, when he gets in the fight on the bus, which is with just like the, just like the dudes that are like harassing this woman on the bus and they stab him. So, uh, he like wrecks, he wrecks their days.

[00:36:25] Uh, and yeah, he gets sad. Then he goes back home and his, uh, wife is like super luing the wound back together. Right. She's like, and, and either she says, or he says like, ah, like the old days, right? Like there's like a shared, like, do you remember who we used to be kind of? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Which is pretty fun. It's a pretty fun twist on what they set up in the beginning that it's like, oh, she's a nag. Great. I did really like the montage of him just like Monday and it's like coffee, bus, work Tuesday, missing the garbage to bus.

[00:36:55] Right. It's like just the same thing every single day. Uh, yes. Which based on how many times he's missed the garbage, like that has to be overflowing. It's just mostly garbage. Yeah. Um, but I like that it reveals that like, oh no, once his wife was part of this world, it seems, uh, and it's definitely part of it by the end. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And Connie Nielsen plays his wife, uh, who, uh, I think will probably have a bigger role in, and nobody to just kind of based on where this, her character is in this movie.

[00:37:22] Um, but then also Michael Ironsides in this movie, his father-in-law, Christopher Lloyd plays Bob Odenkirk's dad. RZA is his brother. Um, so fucking good. And, and what's so great about this movie, uh, is that Bob Odenkirk's killing it in the, uh, in the action department. He's great as the lead in this movie. But like, I, I looked back, I, my immediate letterbox review rewatching it this time was like one of the smartest things any movie has ever done is getting 90 year old Christopher Lloyd in an action scene. Yeah.

[00:37:49] Uh, and then I looked back at my previous review and it was the exact same thing. I was like, Christopher Lloyd for the, he's so good at this movie. That's so funny. Uh, and, and it's such a fun, like climactic in the climactic moments. Uh, like the last like 15, 20 minutes, uh, it's Bob Odenkirk, RZA and Christopher Lloyd, like fighting against an army of dudes and it rules. It's so much fun. I love the RZA reveal when they, cause it's just been a guy on the other end of like a CB radio you've been hearing.

[00:38:15] Uh, and yeah, they, they like show up at that warehouse or whatever. And like somebody gets shot or sniped from off screen and like saves, uh, Odenkirk's life in the fight and like just a second early, you know, he's going to die kind of thing. And the camera cuts to like the guy picks his head up from behind the scope, but it's RZA and you're like, yeah, let's go. Yes. And the reveal, I mean, Christopher Lloyd's like in the first, like, you know, half of the movie or so. Yeah. He visits him in the movie. Yeah. And it's, and he's sort of like portrayed as like, oh, he's like this feeble old man.

[00:38:44] He's in a retirement home, all that stuff. And then there's this moment where, uh, after, uh, the home invasion has happened, um, which is also just an incredible action. It's really fun. You know, he calls, you know, Christopher Lloyd and tells him like, Hey, some people might be coming. Like, you know, be, be warned, be wary. Uh, and then sure enough, there is a moment where, uh, two guys, I think one of them is the director of the movie, Ilya Neishuler. They, they go into their retirement home and they enter his room, uh, and they're about to kill him. And he has a shotgun underneath the blanket and shoots them. Yeah.

[00:39:13] Uh, and then like gets one of them and it's like, it's like choking them to death while, uh, the nurse like checks in on them. Uh, but it's like disguised by how loud the TV is. So yeah, he's, I forget. I don't know if they show what movie he's watching, but he's watching like an action movie with all kinds of gunshots and crazy explode. And the nurse is like, you turn that shit down. And he's like, Oh yeah. As he's just like slitting this guy's throat or whatever, whatever he's doing to that guy. It's awesome. Yes. Um, yeah, that home invasion scene is incredible where, uh, where it's after everything is going

[00:39:42] on, gone down. And, uh, I forget they, they, he sees somebody at the window or something. I forget how he realizes what's happening. Yeah. He sees like a row of cars, like stop on their street. Yeah. And he, uh, he gets, he like ferries his family to the, to the basement door and he's just got the hardest line of all time where he just like kisses his wife and says, don't call nine one one and shuts the door and he's like, yeah, uh, he just annihilates those dudes. Yes. Uh, and they never get to eat his lasagna, which is a real shame.

[00:40:12] That was when it looked very good. Uh, yeah. Any other scenes in, uh, nobody that you feel like we should, uh, mention Mike, anything real quick? What did I, what was I thinking about? I like the, uh, sequence where he like destroys the, the, the Obashka or whatever it's called the like Russian oligarch 401k. It's like their safe house of all the money of all the, the laundered dirty money for when they retire. Uh, and he just goes and burns it down. Yes. It's like, hell yeah. It's rules. Yes.

[00:40:42] I love, uh, I mean, it's because we're playing out of the John May playbook. Of course there's nightclub, uh, in this movie, uh, owned by Russian mobsters. And yeah, I love the scene where he's like eating dinner at the nightclub and he has the conversation with them, uh, and basically just challenges them to like get into the fight. Yeah. And then they do, and then they kills them all. It's great. It's just so much fun. It's awesome. Uh, yeah. I'm glad you made me watch a nobody cause I definitely would have never pushed play on this. And I just kind of was like, whatever. Like I just thought it was a nothing movie. Uh, and it's, and it's not.

[00:41:10] Yeah, no, it's a, I think it's a really, really fun action movie. I was glad to rewatch it and kind of confirm like, oh yeah, this is very, very good. And I'm excited to see, uh, what nobody too has in store. Cause I mean, I, I think, you know, Ilya and I, Shuler was the director of this movie. Uh, he also directed hardcore Henry a few years back, uh, which was the like first person point of view action movie. I did not like hardcore Henry. I never saw that. I, I was very against them. Isn't a friend of the show. Charlotte Copley in that? Uh, yes, yes, yes. Friend of the show. Charlotte Copley.

[00:41:39] Uh, I think he's, he's the villain. I think he's the villain. I don't think Henry speaks cause Henry, it's all first, first person with Henry. Yeah. And I think my issue with it was like, this feels like I'm playing a video game. Like this doesn't feel like a movie. Um, I think Charlotte Copley is the villain in hardcore Henry, but it's been, you know, seven years or whatever since I've seen it. Um, but yeah, I didn't like hardcore Henry. And so I was like a little, like that was my kind of thing against this movie going in. It was like, I'm excited to see a Bob Odenkirk action movie from the stunt team behind John Wick. Like, however, I think I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

[00:42:08] I think, you know, it's, it's, it's well directed. The action looks great. Uh, you know, it, it, it feels very much of a piece with the John Wick movies, but it's, it's sort of its own thing. And so, yeah. And there's just so much, you know, the John Wick movies are funny, but I think nobody leans a little bit heavier into the humor than those movies do. Yes. Way funnier. Yeah. You know, and part of that is maybe because it's Bob Odenkirk who is known to be very funny, but there's this one moment after, after the home invasion has happened, he like

[00:42:36] he goes after them and he kills like two more guys in a car and somebody is like, you know, uh, like the son, I think it's like the son of the guy who is the ultimate bad guy of the movie. Right. Um, who is like, uh, who are you? And you know, Bob Odenkirk's like me, well, you know, and he like starts describing his backstory and it's one of those things where it's like, Oh, maybe like this might reveal too much. I don't want to know that much about what's going on, but he's like talking about a little bit and then stops halfway through because the guy has died. Like while he's telling his backstory.

[00:43:06] Uh, just bits like that, which are so funny. And, uh, you know, it's, it's funny. Like when John wick came out, people were like, Oh, like, you know, obviously the, the dog dying is the one that like spurs on the whole, you know, saga really. But that first movie, uh, and there were people who were like, that seems like a small, a too small of an incident to like start this whole chain of events. And I liked that this movie is like, it's, it's an even smaller instance, right? Yeah. Cause they, uh, they maybe steal a kitty cat bracelet.

[00:43:34] Uh, and he's like, I gotta go kill these motherfuckers. Gotta go kill them. And then he finds out they didn't write. It's like under the couch or something. Yeah. It's he finds it right before he burns down the house. Yeah. Which is insane. Yes. Uh, yeah. So much fun. I'm trying to find, so there's the, one of the stunt men. Oh no. Letterboxd. What have you done? Oh no. Okay. Here we go. Daniel Bernhardt is one of the stunt men. Okay. Um, he's, he's listed as bus goon in this film.

[00:44:00] Uh, but he seems to be in all the 87, 11 or 87 North or whatever their movies are. They're 87 North now, but they used to be 87 11. Yeah. Uh, he's in extraction. He's a, he's, he's just a stunt man in a lot of stuff. Um, but he is the star of one of our favorite in college mystery science theater movies. And I can't remember what movie it is. I'm trying to look through his future war. It might be. I think it's future war. It looks like, yeah. Future war is a, yeah.

[00:44:28] Daniel Bernhardt plays the runaway in future war. Yeah. Uh, which yeah, the future war MSC three K is unbelievable. Uh, it's crazy. And, uh, I remember, I think he, I first like noticed him. Um, so in that, uh, obviously, and then in, I think John Mc1, he's also one of the henchmen. Uh, yep. Yeah. He plays Kirill. Uh, I think it's one of like, uh, the on gray joys guy. Yeah. He's one of those guys, you know, but yeah, he's in a ton of stuff. I mean, he's in, um, he's in the matrix movies also.

[00:44:56] He plays agent Johnson in, uh, the matrix reloaded and in resurrections, uh, as well. Incredible. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, I was like, Oh my God, the guy from future war. And then it turns out like, Oh, he has a robust stunt career. Like it's incredible. Uh, and he's in, he's in extraction to playing Constantine. Uh, so there you go for him. Yeah. No, he, I mean, he's been doing a lot of stunt stuff since from the mid nineties onward. It looks like, um, uh, mid eighties. He's in like the blood sport sequels. He's in blood sport two, three and four. Hell yeah.

[00:45:26] Yeah. So, uh, yeah, no, it's the stunt, the stunt work in this movie, as you would expect from 87 North. Very, very good. And yeah, that is nobody. Good movie. Good movie. Turns out. Yeah. No, I'm glad you enjoyed it, Mike. And, uh, I'm glad that you are now fully prepared for a Timo Jihanto's nobody too, uh, which I can't wait for it. And it's going to be so much fun. Yeah. I mean, I really like shadow strays. Uh, so I'm very excited for, um, more Timo movies. Hopefully, hopefully a little more, uh, streamlined in the runtime, which can be an issue with some of his stuff.

[00:45:56] That's true. One nice thing about nobody 92 minutes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Like even John wick is like pushing two hours. I think, uh, you know, even the first one, I think, I think even the first, maybe it's like an hour 40. I don't remember. Honestly. Yeah. But no, nobody is definitely like shorter than all those movies, but does not feel like slight by comparison. It feels like it just, it just feels very tight. Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, no. So very excited for nobody too. Yeah. I'm excited to see what Timo Jihanto brings to it. And yeah, I think he's also, I think he just announced like another project that he's working on. Right. Um, there was something announced with him. Yeah.

[00:46:26] This past week. And eco aways, I think is going to be in it. Yes. I think that might've been it that they're working together. Yeah. Okay. Which I, did I say what it is? Is it, is it shadow strays too? Cause I feel like that should happen. Just based on, I mean, that would make a lot of sense. Um, just based on the post credit scene of that movie. Like, come on. Yeah. Right. I don't think I are, it's not shadow strays too, but I don't remember what the specifics were, uh, specifics are other than that. They're together working together. Okay. Well, he has a new movie out this year. It's nobody too. And I'm excited to see it. It won't be out until like August.

[00:46:53] So we have some time before then, uh, but all right, I think it's going to wrap things up for this week's episode of Mike, go to the movies, Mike. We did it. We did it. We survived. We talked about some more movies. So where can we find you online this week? You can find me at MD film blog on blue sky and letterbox. You can also donate to support the show on our Kofi page, which is Kofi.com slash Mike and Mike pods, where you can donate $50 to pick a topic for this very show. Uh, we have a, uh, let's, or another let's rank coming up that were, or something, we're a something coming up. I don't remember.

[00:47:23] Uh, I'm not sure exactly how we'll treat it, but it's going to be some kind of tangerine dream themed episode. Yes, that's right. So we'll be with a heavy emphasis on miracle mile, because that's what the movie that Jake really wanted us to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, we'll be digging into some tangerine dream scored films soon. Um, you can do that. Like I said, donate on our Kofi page. Uh, and if you want to merch, we have merch available on our red bubble, which is Mike and Mike pods dot red bubble.com. That's right. You can find me online at Ms. Smith film blog on Twitter and blue sky, Mike Smith film and letterbox and radio. Mike sandwich Instagram.

[00:47:52] Uh, thanks so much for listening to Mike, Mike go to the movies. I'm Mike Smith. That's my decree show. Don't forget to rate interview the show on Apple podcast or any other podcast app. And if you want to contact us, you can tweet at us at Mike Mike pod. You can find the rest of our podcast and rapture press alongside many other podcasts about constant comic books and movie news and all that good stuff. Uh, you can check out the main podcast, the complete worst, keep up with all of our Roy Scheider movies. If you want thoughts on Romeo is bleeding, we've got it. And, uh, and that's the end of this week's episode of Mike and Mike go to the movies. We will see you on the other side.