'80s Movie Montage
Breaking down our favorite decade of flicks. Hosted by Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke.
'80s Movie Montage
The Golden Child
Anna and Derek fly solo to chat about perhaps the most egregious wet shirt scene in '80s movie history, the confusing rules and limitations of mystical powers and so much more during their discussion of the Eddie Murphy starrer The Golden Child (1986).
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Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.
I'm not going to hurt anybody. I don't want no trouble. No trouble. I just... I'm sorry. I just... I just want some chips. I want some chips. That's all. All I want is some chips. See? A chip. That's it. Turn that over, man. It's burning. It's burning. Turn it over. It's burning. I just want some chips.
SPEAKER_01:Whoa, and welcome to 80s Movie Montage. This is Derek.
SPEAKER_04:And this is Anna.
SPEAKER_01:And that was just good barbecue assistance, kind of, I guess. Right?
SPEAKER_04:That was legitimately one of the, not to say that other parts weren't funny, but that was like one of the funniest parts to me.
SPEAKER_01:Of the Golden Child. Presents the Golden Child.
SPEAKER_04:Presented by... Yeah, The Golden Child. And why are we doing The Golden Child, Derek?
SPEAKER_01:Because we did the pirate movie. I think, right? A
SPEAKER_05:little tit for tat,
SPEAKER_01:yep. There was kind of a similar fever dream quality to both of these movies.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, sure. I mean, actually, very funny that you should say that, use that phrasing, because both movies do have, well, the pirate movie is 98% a dream, but the Golden Child has its own quite extensive dream sequence.
SPEAKER_01:It sure does. It sure does. Indeed.
SPEAKER_04:so just to say that this episode it's just you and me buddy
SPEAKER_01:yeah i got i got no one else to uh to lean on here i picked this movie and halfway through it i'm like oh yeah i'm gonna have to somehow defend this choice
SPEAKER_04:i mean i'm not i'm not gonna like lay into this movie i am curious though what is the um the range of the medic meta score because i just noticed that as we were about to launch this episode And it has a meta score of 37. Is that good or bad?
SPEAKER_01:I don't think that's good. I don't think that's good. I didn't look at the, like the meta score. Um, but on like rotten tomatoes, it's about 22%. Really? But, but Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars. Okay. And he said, quote, the golden child may not be the Eddie Murphy movie we're waiting for, but it will do.
SPEAKER_04:But it will do.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. That's
SPEAKER_04:the best he could do. I
SPEAKER_01:kind of agree with that. Okay,
SPEAKER_04:okay. Well, you don't have to go all lawyer on me just yet with your defense of the film. Let's dive in. So this was released in 1986. So at this point, I mean, I think when the opening credits came through, it even says, like, it was, like, some other production company, but it was in conjunction with, like, Eddie Murphy Productions. Oh.
SPEAKER_02:So
SPEAKER_04:at this point, he is very much, we've talked about this. We talked about it at length during our Coming to America episode about his trajectory and the agency that he gained through the 80s to create and do his own projects. So I feel like this is one of those.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't know all of the details and how this was made, but I know that originally it was going to be more of like a straight up drama kind of adventure movie with Mel Gibson
SPEAKER_05:oh
SPEAKER_01:and then Eddie Murphy uh was was brought in when Gibson turned it down
SPEAKER_05:okay
SPEAKER_01:and I think they had done some like test screeners this was after Beverly Hills Cop so even though they had taken they hadn't gone like full into like the Beverly Hills comedy type of Eddie Murphy originally but then after feedback they like they reshot some some stuff.
SPEAKER_04:So this is our fourth Eddie Murphy movie, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Trading Places.
SPEAKER_04:Well, no. We're not doing it in total chronological order. Because we started that way.
SPEAKER_01:Beverly Hills
SPEAKER_04:Cop. And then we did Coming to America and then this. So we went from like, what was it? 82 to 84 to 88 to 86.
SPEAKER_01:And I guess he wasn't, and by he I mean Mr. Murphy, was not necessarily completely complimentary about this movie while marketing Coming to America.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, so in retrospect.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Interesting. Okay. Well, we have one credited writer. I think he also was a producer on this. And I think that's what he... He's kind of a writer-producer type guy. Dennis Feldman. Okay. I am... So to that point, he doesn't have a very extensive filmography of writing credits, although there's one franchise that he really has hung his hat on and probably has made him a decent amount of money. I'll get to that one in a second. I really hope that we get the chance to talk about him again because he is also the writer of just one of the guys, which we have not covered yet. We have not. So he hasn't come up yet. But look, we talk all the time about problematic elements in 80s movies.
SPEAKER_01:They're everywhere.
SPEAKER_04:This movie and that movie movie are no exceptions.
SPEAKER_01:All of them. Almost all
SPEAKER_04:of them. Almost all of them. But it is a fun movie. And I'm not here to do a defense of just one of the guys in an episode about the golden child, but there are redeeming qualities to it. So yes, he is the screenwriter for that film. He's also the screenwriter for Real Men. And then that franchise that I was talking about is Species.
SPEAKER_01:Man, I remember seeing the first one and thinking like, well, that was a barely service kind of like sci-fi horror
SPEAKER_04:Natasha something
SPEAKER_01:yeah I think so
SPEAKER_04:yeah he is the screenwriter for the first one and I think they just you know he originated the material so for I mean this franchise was legit like there was a Species 2 Species 3 although I absolutely hate it when they change the way that they do the sequel so Species 2 is the numeral 2 but then Species 3 is like the Roman numerals For three. I hate when they do that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Gotta keep your naming convention straight.
SPEAKER_04:That's right. And then they have Species the Awakening. And he has character credits for all of them. So my assumption there is that that's as far as he was involved with the sequels. And then he also was the screenwriter for Virus. I'm not familiar
SPEAKER_01:with that.
SPEAKER_04:That's like the other one. There's like Outbreak and then there's the other pandemic movie, Virus.
SPEAKER_01:We need one that's just called Calm and Cold.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, I'd be super happy to not have any movies about any cynicism anymore. Like when the height of the pandemic, people were like actually seeking out those films. I'm like, why? Why
SPEAKER_01:are we living it? I'm waiting for some jackass to come up with a like really, really hyperbolic movie called like COVID-35.
SPEAKER_04:Don't press our luck. We might get there one day. All right. Moving on to the director of the film and Now, it's not quite back-to-back movies that we are covering from the same director. In between those two, we have Labyrinth. But we did very recently talk about Michael Ritchie because he was also the director of Fletch.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Well, so close. So close to back-to-back. That would have been amazing if it had been. Would it have been amazing or surprising? I'll never know.
SPEAKER_04:So, yeah. we talked about him pretty recently however we're not going to not talk about the director of this film I mean I think it's kind of interesting the stories that he I mean look his and I will do a really quick run through of his filmography in just a second but it is kind of interesting some of the stories that he gravitates towards because there's a similarity between Fletch and this film
SPEAKER_01:yeah very much so I think I'll give you you one aside which is that this was not originally like Eddie Murphy was trying to get George Miller to direct the George Miller who directed Mad Max Fury Road
SPEAKER_04:so okay so you mentioning that this was maybe going to be a Mel Gibson vehicle
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:so Mel Gibson and George Miller obviously have that connection
SPEAKER_01:well Miller was specifically Murphy's first choice for director but then Miller turned it down after Murphy apparently kept him waiting at a meeting for about four hours. Ooh,
SPEAKER_04:not cool. Not cool. Well, I mean, I think Michael Ritchie did a great job.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, I would have loved to have seen the golden child with like a Mad Max Fury Road.
SPEAKER_04:Sure.
SPEAKER_01:Look on it. That would have been incredible.
SPEAKER_04:Sure. I also, not to say that I like, obviously Eddie Murphy, he, I do think he is really great in this film and we will for sure get to him, but I'm like thinking about like a flashback. version of this as well I can kind of see that
SPEAKER_01:yeah and that's what it kind of
SPEAKER_04:yeah
SPEAKER_01:became so just with
SPEAKER_04:the different actor yeah so Richie um you know by the time we hit the 80s he's he's full stride in his career I mean he started out in the 50s um took a minute but like once we got a decade later into the 1960s he was working pretty regularly and as I mentioned the last time he came up started out in television some of his series were the big valley felony squad run for your life and then not to say that maybe there wasn't still TV work but he pivots primarily I would say into film so some of his other credits include The Candidate The Bad News Bears just mentioned Fletch and then he comes back for the sequel so he also directs Fletch Lives Wildcats I mean he might come up again for well Wildcats might be I would be interested in doing that film at some point
SPEAKER_01:yeah I'm so sad to see that Dick was a 90s movie. That would have been a good one, too.
SPEAKER_04:I didn't even put that one down.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, why would you?
SPEAKER_04:He did The Couch Trip, The Scout, A Simple Wish, and then his final credit from 2000 was The Fantastics.
SPEAKER_01:I know we don't always cover the TV movies, but I also know that you're a particular fan of wild titles. Yes, I
SPEAKER_03:am. I
SPEAKER_01:would be remiss if I didn't bring up that he also directed the TV movie titled The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, I would
SPEAKER_04:love that. to watch that
SPEAKER_01:we still can probably I
SPEAKER_04:don't know I mean
SPEAKER_01:there's this whole thing
SPEAKER_04:what year
SPEAKER_01:what year 93 there's this whole thing called the internet I bet we can find it I
SPEAKER_04:know but that's it's not like it's not even a well I'm not trying to say real movie but like TV movies would be I feel tough
SPEAKER_01:they're probably it's probably for free on YouTube
SPEAKER_04:I'd be very impressed if you can find it
SPEAKER_01:okay well okay there we go
SPEAKER_04:so moving on to cinematography this film was shot by gentlemen Donald and Thorin
SPEAKER_03:wow
SPEAKER_04:uh so he he started his career in the 80s so like he was pretty fresh when he came on board this film but boy did he have a great 80s um and 90s for for that matter uh he was the cinematographer on an officer and a gentleman
SPEAKER_01:okay he's got nowhere else to go
SPEAKER_04:against all odds I mean he again might very well come up at some point he did purple rain
SPEAKER_01:that's I mean those are all all like totally very much on the table
SPEAKER_04:yeah um and then he so maybe he got along with Richie because he was the DP on Wildcats and a couple of his other films The Couch Trip he did Midnight Run so I'm sure that will come up Troop Beverly Hills the one that you bring up all the time this might be your other um yeah I don't So he did that. The Marrying Man, Scent of a Woman, Boys on the Side, Ace Ventura, When Nature Calls. So he shot a ton of huge films. The First Wives Club, Mickey Blue Eyes, Shaft. He's no longer with us and his final credit was Head of State. Okay. They use the same refrain often.
SPEAKER_01:They got their money's worth out of that.
SPEAKER_04:They sure did. So the music, the composer for this film was Michel...
SPEAKER_01:Colombier.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you! That was really well done. Yeah, so he's French. Started his career in the 60s as well, so he's kind of on the same kind of track as Richie in terms of when his career first began. So because he is French, there are quite a few... like french production credits that are part of his filmography i didn't list those um i tried to stick to the ones that maybe more people would know who are probably more familiar with american cinema or american entertainment uh but he certainly does a ton of you know u.s backed productions and some it's really interesting because yes he works with rich a couple times, but there are other projects that he was part of that it wasn't a Ritchie production, but it was the same DP. So, like, it's just, yeah, it's kind of interesting, these crossovers. But his filmography includes A Scarlet Lady, The Hunter Will Get You.
SPEAKER_01:He
SPEAKER_04:will. I like that one. So he does Against All Odds, Purple
SPEAKER_01:Rain. When was that movie made, Against All Odds?
SPEAKER_04:That's the 80s.
SPEAKER_01:Is it? Okay. It's not like a super uplifting movie per se. It's like a
SPEAKER_04:romance, right? I
SPEAKER_01:think so, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Great, great Phil Collins song. It's one of those things, yeah. It's like one of the most popular soundtrack songs of all time. I'm not surprised. I
SPEAKER_01:know you don't like James Woods, though. Isn't he in it?
SPEAKER_05:I don't think
SPEAKER_04:so. You don't think James Woods is in it against all odds?
SPEAKER_05:Is he?
SPEAKER_01:We better check this out.
SPEAKER_05:You
SPEAKER_04:better check this out. What I was going to say while you were looking is that, you know, one thing that I'm like so sad about for younger generations is that I feel like they missed the era where you walk through a video store and you have imprinted on your mind the images of the VHS covers.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And that's what this movie is. Is
SPEAKER_01:that them on the beach or something? Yeah. Yep. Kind
SPEAKER_04:of like the From Here to Eternity.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, it's probably because of that. that you don't see James Woods on that cover, but he is in fact in the movie.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Is he a prominent character? How do you know this and I don't?
SPEAKER_01:He is in fact the villain of the movie.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, okay. Okay. Obviously, I'm not super familiar with that film. So moving back to, could you say his last name one more time?
SPEAKER_01:Michel Colombier.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you. So some of his other credits include The Money Pit. I know you love that film, so I'm sure we'll do it at some point. Ruthless People. He also does The Couch trip so that's his reunion with Richie Satisfaction who's Harry Crumb New Jack City Major League Two the Pamela Anderson vehicle barbed wire oh yeah that one
SPEAKER_01:okay I thought you were talking about the sex tape oh I mean that was kind of a Pamela Anderson vehicle it's like
SPEAKER_05:an official score
SPEAKER_04:to it
SPEAKER_01:it's a good point it's a good point that the score was probably from Tommy Lee
SPEAKER_03:really elevates it
SPEAKER_01:You need that crescendo.
SPEAKER_04:yeah that would be so insulting to Tommy Lee right if they didn't ask him to do the composition okay Hal Stella got her groove back this one so he's also no longer with us um final credit is an interesting title Mandela period the journey of a dancer colon Daniel Ezra Lowe all right yeah and then he also did he did some TV movies he did uh five different Desperado TV movies okay That was when I kept seeing.
SPEAKER_01:You know who was the actual original choice for the score? We've covered him before, I think. Mr. Silvestri.
SPEAKER_04:Oh,
SPEAKER_01:interesting. Alan Silvestri. Back to the Future, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah, I could see him working for that. Sure. Okay, so another very familiar name who we also covered for Fletch, Richard A. Harris.
SPEAKER_01:Richard Harris? Every Every time, I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_04:Every time. Well, last time you did Richard Marks.
SPEAKER_01:Shit, you're right.
SPEAKER_04:so he cut this film and yes definitely had a great working relationship with Richie because he was on board for many of his films he was very recently spoken of so I'm going to kind of quickly run through his filmography but we do encourage you I mean we just did Fletch a month ago go back to it listen to that one but he cut The Candidate
SPEAKER_01:we're gonna have to put like time stamps for each person so that when we do this we can tell them go to this thing you just click on this other thing it'll take you right there it's got to be easy to do right
SPEAKER_04:sure sure yeah did the bad news bears as well as the bad news bears go to japan the toy he like i said he does flutch he comes back for flutch lives or maybe he doesn't come back but they use the same same score wildcats the couch trip la story then i mentioned this last time he goes way big with a best film editing oscar nomination for terminator 2 japan judgment day he does the bodyguard the last action or i'm sorry just last action hero true lies he gets his oscar win for i'm
SPEAKER_01:gonna guess titanic sure yep that's it because he edited that 12 hour movie down to four
SPEAKER_04:and a half he does the x files i want to believe and then he's still with us but his last credit possible he's retired uh it was 2010 flying lessons all right okay We are at the stars of this film and one of those individuals is, of course, Eddie Murphy.
SPEAKER_01:not the top build at least on imdb
SPEAKER_04:oh yeah it's the kid yep yeah um yeah it's kind of funny that they that they did that we'll get we'll get to that kid in just a second because i'm curious if people know uh little anyway
SPEAKER_01:this child was not golden at all
SPEAKER_04:so eddie murphy he plays chandler gerald so his job is to find missing children So, you know, it is a really interesting role that he took on. I think that, you know, you hear the main character, that's the kind of work that he does. It kind of immediately endears you to him.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's how you know that he is the chosen one because of that spirit. Yeah, he's a good
SPEAKER_04:guy. And I really, really love the scene where he is on that television show and I All he wants to do is try to give out the information about that girl. I will say the actor who, oh my goodness, I didn't write down their name, but that actor that he plays against did a very good job of just being that douchey...
SPEAKER_01:That was Charles Levin as the TV host. Okay, thank you
SPEAKER_04:for that. But he really holds his own with Murphy in terms of just being so oblivious, but also... I don't know. He's just he's so perfectly annoying. I
SPEAKER_01:remember you asking me, like, is he just like awkward on TV? And I think he was only there to, like, get this notice out for the missing kid that he was trying to find. And like, so he just he didn't give a shit about Teddy, the 80 year old tortoise. I don't even know what the other person was going to. I think there was one other person besides him and Teddy the tortoise, right?
SPEAKER_02:There was.
SPEAKER_01:So we remember what we got to. But yeah, he he was he was over it. He just wanted to get those details out. out and then he peaced out of that
SPEAKER_04:he did I mean that was a great I mean there are a lot of really great sequences to this film and so much of it is what Murphy brings to it
SPEAKER_01:some of it successful and some of it feels like like the whole movie in a way and it's not surprising after hearing that it like has kind of it changed conceptually from what it first was going to be like some of it really works and some of it just feels like jarring and Like the, some of the like more dramatic things that are happening don't really work with like the music is like, but it, it's all kind of like a mess that's entertaining enough.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. It's really interesting tonally. I mean, we'll, we'll get to that after we get through all the actors, but especially like, I don't, I don't know where I really fall on it too. Like for instance, you know, there's a pretty horrific scene where there's a dead 16 year old girl that, you know, They don't focus on her.
SPEAKER_01:And then all these, like, satanic symbols written in blood and the bloody oatmeal. And then this, like, kind of, like, bright, poppy, uplifting 80s
SPEAKER_04:music. Yeah. But so Murphy, I mean, it's been a half a minute since we've talked about him. 30 seconds. He was part of our season three finale when we talked about coming to America. So, I mean, whether it's coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop. Trading Places, all of those films. We've covered them all, so we encourage you to go back to those episodes. I think we did, well, I think Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop were both part of season two. And then, like I mentioned, Coming to America season three finale. I
SPEAKER_01:will take your word for it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I mean, his filmography, extremely impressive. Especially, you know, he came out real strong in the 80s. so among some of his big hits we have 48 Hours another 48 Hours so he comes back for that sequel like I said Trading Places so it's kind of after Trading Places I think and we've discussed this where that's really where he enters what you would call maybe like movie star status
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:and from there on out he can like
SPEAKER_01:he was like the man
SPEAKER_04:yeah yeah and I mean I think if you look at the numbers like he was for a time in the 80s, the biggest movie star for bringing in audiences. So he does Beverly Hills Cop. He does two of its sequels. I think the third one was somewhat, well, because it's like John Landis and there's a contention there. Anyway.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He does Coming to America, Harlem Nights. Not an 80s movie, but I do really enjoy it. I wish we could cover it. Boomerang.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He does that. The Distinguished Gentleman, Vampire in Brooklyn and then you know we've talked about a little bit of this pivot that he makes in his career
SPEAKER_03:pivot
SPEAKER_04:pivot where he starts to take on not that he doesn't do more adult-ish type films but like he does a lot of family-friendly films
SPEAKER_03:yeah
SPEAKER_04:so he does The Nutty Professor he does It's Sequel The Clumps as well as Dr. Dolittle and then It's Sequel just Dr. Dolittle too but i know he got a lot of acclaim for life
SPEAKER_01:yes yeah
SPEAKER_04:so he did that
SPEAKER_01:with martin lawrence right cracked
SPEAKER_04:yeah thank you for pulling that name he does bowfinger probably one of my least favorite
SPEAKER_01:it was disappointing because it was him and steve martin and they played up on that big time for like marketing
SPEAKER_03:like
SPEAKER_01:murphy martin but then i think they forgot to like um like make the funny movie part for them both being too like that's kind of important too I
SPEAKER_04:mean I think that shows that I don't know how involved if they were because that's not the movie we're covering that they might have been in the scripting of that film
SPEAKER_02:but
SPEAKER_04:it's like you can have two hilarious people but you still have to have like good material to work with
SPEAKER_02:yeah
SPEAKER_04:like they can't they can't perform miracles if the script's bad so anyway and then he hits yet another juggernaut of like a franchise he does Shrek
SPEAKER_01:oh yeah I always forget about that because it's just it's like the voice but yeah
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yep. So he is part of that franchise in a big way. Donkey. Yeah. Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the third, Shrek forever after. If you go through his filmography, I mean, there's like so many other projects, projects connected to the Shrek franchise. So he does more voice work for the TV series, the PJs. Oh yeah. Yep. Yeah. I remember that. So he does that. This is probably one of his least successful films The Adventures of Pluto Nash
SPEAKER_01:I knew that's what it was going to be before you even said it
SPEAKER_04:so there's that The Haunted Mansion but he comes back big he gets a best supporting actor Oscar nomination always a mouthful for Dreamgirls and then he does another film that I don't think it's like boy talk about highs and lows he does Norbit and Tower Heist but then yet again he comes back And, you know, I think it was a huge disappointment, maybe to him, maybe he doesn't care, but I think it was a disappointment to other people that he did not get nominated for Dolomite Is My Name.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think so. There was a lot of uproar over that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I think that was a big overlook. Now, the reason why I haven't brought up Saturday Night Live until now is just because the way that IMDb, you know, lists their credits, if you, let's say he was on... Which he was. On SNL, you know, maybe late 70s, very early 80s. And then he doesn't come back for decades. But then he does make an appearance. Well, then they jump that credit. Oh, really? Yeah. So they go by whatever was the most recent appearance. But yeah, that's how he came to fame. SNL is where he got his shot and was a huge star. I don't really know the finer details of like why there was a scene. seemingly falling out kind of situation
SPEAKER_01:there's something like that with like so many people all of like that classic yes like every single one of them there was there was something
SPEAKER_04:a lot of drama
SPEAKER_01:with
SPEAKER_04:that
SPEAKER_01:early
SPEAKER_04:set of
SPEAKER_01:people I mean every one of them was individually so talented that I'm not surprised there would be like butting heads because yeah
SPEAKER_04:it's kind of insane when you think about I mean look SNL generally does have a very good track record of truly funny people coming from that show
SPEAKER_01:the only thing they have a better track record for is having skits that go just a little too long
SPEAKER_04:so and then he did it the like what was it 30 years later sequel coming to numeral two America
SPEAKER_01:it certainly was a movie
SPEAKER_04:yeah we watched it finally watched it
SPEAKER_01:the the very end was the was the most fun part it was yeah
SPEAKER_04:he did now we still need to see this i think i've seen mixed reviews on it you people oh yeah i do want to see that okay moving on to tywin lannister uh
SPEAKER_01:yes mr charles dance
SPEAKER_04:that's right
SPEAKER_01:he's like the same he is basically tywin in this a little bit
SPEAKER_04:totally
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:there's there is a lot of overlap
SPEAKER_01:very sinister
SPEAKER_04:so he plays oh my goodness this character's name sardo num spa
SPEAKER_01:yeah so Or Brother Numpsby.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Good job. That was really well done. So what an interesting career this guy has had. He started out acting in the 70s, so he's been around for well over 40 years. However, as some actors do, really hits his stride later in life. I was so curious about the momentum of his career, and so I did a count. 107 of his current 157 credits are all after the year 2000
SPEAKER_01:wow so he finally he like quit that that part-time job and just decided to like i'm just gonna go full-time in
SPEAKER_04:acting so yeah like two-thirds of his credits are just from the last 20-ish years so but he he does have some early credits to speak of he was in for your eyes only
SPEAKER_01:yeah so we we We will probably talk about him again because we're probably going to cover some of those 80s Bond movies eventually. Yeah,
SPEAKER_04:I'm sure we will. He was in the TV movie GoldenEye and played Ian Fleming. So I thought that was interesting.
SPEAKER_01:That is very interesting.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so he did that.
SPEAKER_01:He played in a TV movie called GoldenEye. He played the author of the James Bond books. Okay, all right. Yep.
SPEAKER_04:He's in Alien 3. Alien Super Script
SPEAKER_01:3. He's really... Alien cubed. He's great in that. He's like one of the only, yeah, he's a good, he's kind of a good guy, which is interesting because his character is often so like sinister and evil. But yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, I mean, I feel like I've seen that movie a couple of times, but it just does not stick with me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, they're on like a, like a planet with, I'm not sure if it's, they're just like roughneck kind of characters. Because it also has,
SPEAKER_04:oh my goodness, what's his name? Ronald Perlman?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wait.
SPEAKER_04:Ron Perlman.
SPEAKER_01:No, he's in four. He's
SPEAKER_04:in four. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:My apologies.
SPEAKER_01:No worries.
SPEAKER_04:But is it three or is it four where Sigourney Weaver legitimately made that really amazing basketball shot?
SPEAKER_01:That was four.
SPEAKER_04:That was four. Yeah. Oh, man. Well.
SPEAKER_01:No hoops on the whatever the hell they were doing on this planet in three. Okay. It was quite bleak. Okay. No basketball.
SPEAKER_04:He is also in Last Action Hero.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think he was the... Wasn't he the... main baddie in that too i say
SPEAKER_04:he's really always almost always the baddie
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:uh michael collins gotsford park he has done some tv well before the big one um some tv work he was in the tv miniseries to your point bleak house as well as a tv show called trinity he's in the comedy your highness
SPEAKER_03:oh
SPEAKER_04:he's also in underworld awakening the guy's got range i mean he does your highness underworld awakening and then the imitation game three very different films. Very, very different films. And then, and then, we have Game of Thrones.
SPEAKER_01:I'm shocked that it was just 27 episodes.
SPEAKER_04:Right? He made such an impact on that show.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He was, like, in fact, I went down a rabbit hole because when I was doing my research for this film, as I was going through his filmography, I was like, oh, I want to watch an episode, or not an episode, but like some scenes of him from Game of Thrones And I just got totally carried away because he kills every single scene he's in.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean,
SPEAKER_04:he sucks that like in the best way, but he like sucks the air out of the, like, he's just so, he's so good. You can't, you can't take your eyes off him. No,
SPEAKER_01:he's, he, he has a very commanding presence in like every scene that he is in is Tywin. I love him. And creditors love him and his family.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:The Lannisters always pay their debts.
SPEAKER_01:Always.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So he's in that. Sorry, I could really go on and on. He's in Victor Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Nice. He is in the 2016 Ghostbusters. Okay. He's in that. As well as Godzilla King of the Monsters. And then another pivot from Tony Lee, he does Mank. And more TV work. So he was on a TV show called Rabbit Hole. And then, you know, in addition to everything that I've talked about, just lots of TV appearances. So Charles Dance. All right. Okay. Moving on to Charlotte Lewis. So she plays Ki Nang, only her second feature role. So she was very early in her career. All right. She doesn't have quite the length of filmography as the two gentlemen we've already talked about, but amongst some of her credits. So not the pirate movie, but the other one that like came out right around the same time, just called pirates
SPEAKER_01:pirates
SPEAKER_04:so she's in that she was in a tv miniseries called broken bridges and then the other credits i have for her all films excessive force men of war mutual needs and henry x
SPEAKER_01:and of course she played one episode in seinfeld there you go
SPEAKER_04:wonderful yeah okay moving on to oh
SPEAKER_01:and i also just want to i feel like we should apologize apologize to charlotte lewis on behalf of the entire 80s decade for that possibly one of the most egregious scenes oh yeah that was like so ridiculously unnecessary for just like the water to spray on her
SPEAKER_04:which really bums me out because
SPEAKER_01:like she's pulling she's pulling some sweet moves and then a pipe bursts and it just it turns into like a wet t-shirt thing
SPEAKER_04:yeah it turns into like a motley crew video
SPEAKER_01:even for the 80s it felt egregious
SPEAKER_04:that really bummed me out because I do think that generally the film does a very good job of portraying her as a very strong, very competent character.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And that's kind of almost
SPEAKER_04:the joke sometimes.
SPEAKER_01:We talked about it kind of feeling like Big Trouble in Little China plus Ghostbuster. It's like a combination of some of these 80s movies and it reminded me of Big Trouble in Little China where she is obviously far more skilled
SPEAKER_04:than
SPEAKER_01:Eddie Murphy in terms of Fighting. I
SPEAKER_04:mean, she is highly intelligent. You know, when you first are introduced to her character, I think she's like translating or at least like transcripting. Yeah. Like this, like these old texts.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. She's smoking scrolls. She's
SPEAKER_04:doing it all. So she's incredibly intelligent. She's very composed. She doesn't get over, like, that's one thing I thought was incredible about her character is that she is not that damsel in distress who's just like screaming all the time,
SPEAKER_01:annoyingly. So it was just like... Massive disrespect. Yeah. To that character. So
SPEAKER_04:disrespectful for them to do that. And that that bummed me out. But OK, well, we'll probably get into that more in a minute. But OK, moving on to Victor Wong, such a recognizable face. Yes. And his character name, they list him as the old Goopa. I love it. So that's that's the character name. And now, according to you, like he the characters, he's He was Key's father. I
SPEAKER_01:think so. Okay. Was, was he not? I
SPEAKER_04:don't know. I don't know. I couldn't get this because like sometimes I'd like what I thought perhaps was happening is that like culturally. I
SPEAKER_01:always thought that. She was
SPEAKER_04:referring to him as father, but I don't know. I
SPEAKER_01:always got the sense that, that he, he was her dad. Okay. And that's why she was talking to him about Eddie Murphy's character.
SPEAKER_04:After a minute, that's what I thought too. But I, at first I thought that they were just, I don't, I don't know. Not, not relation. Yeah. okay so his filmography he has some really memorable like films to his credit and I think yeah all all films I have Dim Sum A Little Bit of Heart Year of the Dragon we've talked I think it's like come up a couple times Big Trouble in Little China so boy that was all the way back in season one yeah yeah so if you want to go back to that one we talked about him there Shanghai Surprise, Last Emperor, Prince of Darkness, Eat a Bowl of Tea. That's actually a very well-known indie film. Tremors. So then he has his own franchise. So he's part of the Three Ninjas. God damn it. Franchise.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Yeah. All right.
SPEAKER_04:It's a legit, three movies. Yeah. So it's legit.
SPEAKER_01:Three Ninjas, three movies. It only makes sense.
SPEAKER_04:So he does Three Ninjas, Three Ninjas Kick Back, and then what ultimately- would be his final credit is three ninjas high noon at mega mountain mega mountain yeah all right um before his passing though he also did the joy luck club and seven years in tibet
SPEAKER_01:and then to keep uh some of the fun titles alive there's one called give and take ellipsis oh shit that's it that's the title that's great and then and then one that was really way ahead of its time it would have been you know it really would have hit high home a couple years ago in particular life is cheap but toilet paper is expensive
SPEAKER_05:i love that
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_05:yeah i love that
SPEAKER_01:got had to get those in
SPEAKER_04:he had such great energy in his roles like yeah really yeah he was really he's always been really fun to watch okay so moving on to i mean it's like a it's a very odd role um so the character they call him till i don't know if really you ever hear hear that in the film
SPEAKER_01:i don't think so he's they're like he had to have a name
SPEAKER_04:he had to have a name he's the character that appears to be cognitively challenged is what i'll say
SPEAKER_02:he
SPEAKER_04:appears to have some kind of like facial yeah facial something going on and he is the one that is seems to be in the presence the most of like guarding so i would imagine the golden child and he quickly becomes very enamored with these like little things that the golden child could do and you know like at one point one of them otter
SPEAKER_01:putting on the writs bit so so odd so there's like a whole production yes yes pepsi can turning into a little little guy dancing with a little cane and i think it was like a match sticker yeah
SPEAKER_04:he was very amused by that um
SPEAKER_01:he was just trying to lure him to get him which he does for sure successfully does that like later on to get him to help
SPEAKER_04:yeah so so that's who this character is um played by randall nicknamed tax cob and this is not the first time we've brought him up
SPEAKER_01:it sure isn't he was the uh biker
SPEAKER_04:yes
SPEAKER_01:from raising arizona
SPEAKER_04:yes he like he does actually have um a fair amount of credits but he i mean this was like kind of his like third career he was a former kickboxer and boxer shit yeah so which kind of makes sense like his physique is quite imposing
SPEAKER_01:he had some pretty sweet spin kicks as Leonard Smalls in Raising Arizona so
SPEAKER_04:yeah so among his credits Critical Condition aforementioned Raising Arizona he's in Police Academy 4 Citizens on Patrol Fletch Lives so he's in the sequel Blind Fury Ernest Goes to Jail the movie that I did not bring up before Diggstown oh yeah there you go he he is in Diggstown.
SPEAKER_01:He must be one. I think he's one of the fighters that,
SPEAKER_04:okay.
SPEAKER_01:That, um,
SPEAKER_04:yeah, he is in H Ventura pet detective. So the original film, and then he's also in naked gun 33 and a third, the final insult.
SPEAKER_01:And of course he was in one episode uncredited as the big guy in gas station on the TV show from the eighties that I will say has one of the best theme songs of any TV show from that decade. Moonlighting. What a buildup. You're welcome.
SPEAKER_04:Wow. I didn't think that that's what you're going to say. I didn't know you were such a fan of the moonlighting.
SPEAKER_01:It's a great, it's a great opening. Great song. That's
SPEAKER_04:another thing that I feel bad for some, um, younger generations. I don't, I mean, look, you, to, to your earlier point, you can find a lot of things online or.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. I already found that movie. While we were talking. Yeah. I already found a way to watch it. Yeah. Oh my
SPEAKER_04:gosh.
UNKNOWN:Um,
SPEAKER_04:but what i was gonna say is that in fact there was one evening where you and i did this we just went through a ton of 80s all
SPEAKER_01:the 80s intros yeah
SPEAKER_04:yeah tv show intros
SPEAKER_01:that was prompted by um the one of the one of the actors from airwolf passing away
SPEAKER_05:yeah
SPEAKER_01:and so we we played that and there's this part where he's just like playing a cello in a like canoe it's so and then it goes right from that to like ernest borgdine in a like combat helicopter and you're like what is happening
SPEAKER_04:probably like half those uh intros were probably created by alan thick because although he was an actor he also um did a lot of that so yeah and they just they don't they don't apparently have credits at all i mean probably the closest to an opening credit sequence that people enjoyed or were maybe disinclined to just fast forward through is the game of thrones
SPEAKER_01:yeah yeah there's like something to see that everyone likes the music
SPEAKER_04:incredible Okay, moving to our second-to-last actor. I mean, some of these notes that I have for him, they're all with exclamation points. So James Hong. He's 94 years old. He has 452 acting credits. He started in the 50s.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, his career is insanely amazing.
SPEAKER_04:I think just recently, too, he finally, finally got his star on the Walk of
SPEAKER_01:Fame. That's very long overdue. Very
SPEAKER_04:long overdue. So he plays Dr. Hong. He's kind of underutilized in this. He is, yeah. But, you know, kind of in a similar vein to what I did with Charles Dance, I was just kind of curious because, like, I mean, look, he has, I think, at least a decade, if not more, on Charles Dance. Charles Dance, what do you think he's like in his late 70s, maybe?
SPEAKER_01:That sounds right.
SPEAKER_04:So, I mean, man, I'm so impressed by James Hong, how he can be 94-year-old. old and just is not slowing down at all
SPEAKER_01:yeah no i'm impressed just with anyone who can be 94 years old
SPEAKER_04:exactly and so in terms of his credits so 400 and as of right now and i expect that number to grow 452 acting
SPEAKER_01:credits okay so here's what i propose let's just take the next hour going through the first hundred
SPEAKER_04:but for him over 150 credits are since 2000 holy
SPEAKER_01:shit
SPEAKER_04:so he's He was already like 75 years old or approaching 75 years old when, you know, he he's like I said, like it's really wild.
SPEAKER_01:It's a lot. It's a lot more like voice stuff now. Right. Or is it a there is a lot.
SPEAKER_04:There is a lot of voice stuff, but not entirely. I mean, OK, I'll just go through some of his credits because it's been a minute since we've talked about him, but he has come up. So he was in the Sand Pebbles Chinatown. He was on the TV series Jigsaw John
SPEAKER_02:we
SPEAKER_04:didn't bring him up for this because I think it was a very quick I mean there were so many cameos in Airplane but he is in Airplane okay he's in Blade Runner so he I always love when this happens he was for a while on the TV show The Soap Days of Our Lives but he plays like different characters every time he comes back he I loved this so he was mentioned way back in season one because he was in Big Trouble, in Big Trouble in Little China.
SPEAKER_01:He was David Lopan and that character, he basically played like two different versions of that same character, right? Yeah. Because he played like the young, like the ageless one and then the very, very old one.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so he's in that, but then I think this is so fun that he agreed to do this. He is in a short called No E.V. Trouble in Little China.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. Which I just
SPEAKER_04:thought that was so fun that he was like sure you know I'll do that he uh yeah I think I have until more recently um well no I shouldn't say that at all I mean he's done so many TV appearances but I mostly have film for him
SPEAKER_01:okay
SPEAKER_04:so vice versa he's in Tango and Cash
SPEAKER_01:oh my god are we gonna have to cover Tango and Cash it just keeps on coming up maybe
SPEAKER_04:The Two Jakes Wayne's World 2 The Shadow he is in Bloodsport
SPEAKER_01:2 I've never I don't know if I've seen any of the sequels
SPEAKER_04:and 3 Oh my God. And they do the same thing where they change the, the,
SPEAKER_01:Oh, they change the numbering.
SPEAKER_04:Can't stand it. He does voice work for the 1998 Mulan, but then again, these people, you, you find a franchise you're going to do probably. Okay. So he has his franchise Kung Fu Panda. Hmm. So he, um, does voice for he's Mr. Ping.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. He's done a lot of dream work stuff. So,
SPEAKER_04:yeah. And I mean, just, like um i was speaking before about some of these like you know beyond just like the films then there's like tv shows and you know tv movies and things like that that they do all connected to the franchise so he's part of that whole universe but but but but he was just in the film that most recently won best picture everything everywhere all at once yeah yeah so he's in that And then also the TV series... I don't... Is it AirJet? Gremlins, Secrets of the Mogwai.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. I feel like I've seen some trailers or some promo stuff for it, but I don't know if it's out there yet.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:But I know it's an animated series, but I'd be willing to give it a fair shot. Sure. Just because I like Gremlins.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Look, I watched Gremlins 2, and it was... possibly more wild than the golden child, but it's close. But yeah, those are fun. Those are fun stories.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So finally we get to the golden child. So here's why this is so interesting. Maybe, maybe other people are well aware of this fact.
SPEAKER_01:I literally didn't know this fact until you told me while the movie was starting. And I've seen this movie a zillion times. So I never knew. The
SPEAKER_04:golden child is in fact a female actress.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I don't, I mean we kind of tried to pay attention to it in the movie and if they made any reference to him as like a little boy it is a boy it's meant to be a boy okay
SPEAKER_04:yeah and especially at the end of the film when
SPEAKER_01:they yes that's that's that's where it's like most overt that yeah
SPEAKER_04:it's so interesting to me
SPEAKER_01:but why why did they do this
SPEAKER_04:they're
SPEAKER_01:for one for one like why couldn't the golden child have been a little
SPEAKER_04:girl been a little girl
SPEAKER_01:yeah because like not even not even like Just going over the fact that they could have just cast a boy to be the little boy. But if they're casting a girl, why not just have... Just
SPEAKER_04:make it a girl.
SPEAKER_01:Because clearly, they've changed almost everything else about this movie five different times.
SPEAKER_04:It's so... It
SPEAKER_01:was really weird.
SPEAKER_04:So odd to me, the choices made around that character. Because, yeah, I think you bring up a really good point. Like, okay, so let's say you went through this casting process. You're having a really hard time. Maybe the initial impulse was to cast... a little boy and it just wasn't happening
SPEAKER_01:maybe there's some actual like tibetan lore that was used in making this movie and they're like no we can't it's got well i mean i don't know
SPEAKER_04:there seems to be a huge nod to like the dalai lama and i don't i am i am not in any way able to speak in an informed way about
SPEAKER_01:i know that i am not an authority on this
SPEAKER_04:yeah so i don't know i don't know if the dalai lama can be a girl like i don't i don't know that
SPEAKER_01:i I know that Bobby Hill almost became the Dalai Lama in an episode of King of the Hill. That's kind of as far as my knowledge goes. But
SPEAKER_04:I'm totally with you. Like, I am like, just make it a girl then.
SPEAKER_01:Is it like, well, we can't have a little girl be in this much danger because it's the 80s and we're... They killed a
SPEAKER_04:16-year-old girl and had her blood splashed all over a house, so it's like... Yeah, well, they, you know... But in any case, this is her only acting credit.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Yeah. And what is her name
SPEAKER_04:well it they use her initials which i think was very deliberate so that people perhaps weren't aware that it was a little girl or who who knows i don't know i don't know if her parents were like you know we don't want so much notoriety around her so you can only use her initial like i don't know but the initials are j l riet okay i'm gonna say the last name but yeah super interesting right
SPEAKER_01:you can find um like there there was like a reunion of sorts between her and eddie murphy not and not that long like 2019 oh
SPEAKER_03:he
SPEAKER_01:reunited with her after like 33 years so i don't know what the context of all that was but yeah so
SPEAKER_04:well i hope it was a good reunion
SPEAKER_01:yeah i don't it doesn't seem like she has any of their creds for anything but that probably would have been cool
SPEAKER_04:i mean we've seen that from time to time where you know somebody is involved in a film at a very young age and that's it like they just kind of then decide to do something else and i mean that's actually really similar to um bastion from the never-ending story you know things like that so there's bastion and then like um danny from don't
SPEAKER_01:forget toby
SPEAKER_04:toby
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:yeah so there's a lot of that okay
SPEAKER_01:yeah well what do we what else we got film synopsis film synopsis how can you have a synopsis for this film i
SPEAKER_04:don't think it's too bad actually well i'm not gonna color your opinion a private detective specializing in missing children is charged with the task of finding a special child whom dark forces want to eliminate
SPEAKER_01:look that's that's solid yeah
SPEAKER_04:yeah
SPEAKER_01:that's all you need
SPEAKER_04:it is actually a pretty good synopsis
SPEAKER_01:yeah you don't need you don't need to specify dark forces including the soon-to-be tywin lannister becoming a demon after summoning the devil. That'd be too much.
SPEAKER_04:So that, okay, I'm glad that you brought that up because actually when I was like rereading this for the podcast, dark forces, like they mean, they mean the devil, right? Like the sequence where-
SPEAKER_01:They mean the devil.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Where he goes to talk to whoever they refuse to show on screen. Yeah. It's the devil.
SPEAKER_01:It certainly appeared to be hell.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I
SPEAKER_01:mean, he's like surrounded
SPEAKER_04:by flames.
SPEAKER_01:But he was astrally projecting himself. It's like a
SPEAKER_04:very old school version of what people believe hell to be but that's immediately what i assumed
SPEAKER_01:i mean yeah maybe it's one of the different hells like uh egg the character egg shen in big trouble little china talking about like the hell of whatever like a million different but
SPEAKER_04:that's what's so interesting like because so if this film is giving kind of a nod to the dalai lama the again like i i almost i don't want to speak out of turn because i'm i'm not in any way like a an informed person about that culture about the belief system but i don't think that there's a conventional idea of hell as what is depicted in this film
SPEAKER_01:no it was it was like uh it was a bit of a mash-up i mean look towards the end of the of the film i mean we were laughing seeing that it was almost turning into like an episode of supernatural
SPEAKER_04:yes yes
SPEAKER_01:and i and i feel like hmm i wonder if this movie influenced that show at some point because it kind of seems
SPEAKER_04:that
SPEAKER_01:way kind of felt like yeah right yeah
SPEAKER_04:and if i'm understanding correctly because like i'm looking to you literally looking to you
SPEAKER_03:you are
SPEAKER_04:as like the quote expert for this episode on this film so so this golden child is it something don't they mention that like they don't come along
SPEAKER_01:every thousand generations
SPEAKER_04:every thousand generations
SPEAKER_01:yeah not even a thousand years a thousand generations whoa that's a very long
SPEAKER_04:long time
SPEAKER_01:they lost they like reference the fact that the the golden child for like justice had been killed oh yeah and that was bad that was real bad so this one was for like uh love i think right
SPEAKER_04:oh
SPEAKER_01:so they like yeah that they like each golden child like kind of represents a different different thing i
SPEAKER_04:think that so what would you consider a generation like a 20 year span 20
SPEAKER_01:30 years something like that yeah
SPEAKER_04:i mean that's a a huge amount of time.
SPEAKER_01:Well, there haven't been that many golden children.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that seems like almost too much.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, it's probably too late now for us to give those notes.
SPEAKER_04:I feel like every couple hundred years, some. Anyway. Okay, so this golden child comes along. I mean, what I do remember... You're
SPEAKER_01:walking along, walking along. Golden child comes along.
SPEAKER_04:What I understood is that at one point, I think Key says... Like he's here to change the world. And my presumption is that these dark forces, they just like want to keep the world mired in like chaos.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. They're, they're evil. And so they like evil stuff. Okay. Yeah. That's as
SPEAKER_04:far as we're probably going to dive into that. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, yeah, they're like demons. So they, yeah, they want to plunge the world in chaos and, and terror
SPEAKER_04:and now the you know they look like kind of um like bizarro world or like the upside down monks that were all sitting around oh the golden child is that what they like were they also just demons who and that's why they looked kind of like these like inverse monks with like the face and the attire
SPEAKER_01:when they when he was in that room yeah in the in the cage and like yeah they were guarding him on all four sides yeah those were just like those were just like dudes that were like chanting incantations to keep the curses uh in place to prevent him from
SPEAKER_05:okay
SPEAKER_01:like when one of them like collapses from exhaustion and falls over that's when the golden child is able to project that image to eddie murphy
SPEAKER_05:okay
SPEAKER_01:and sent because he he like sends that and then sends the bird to like guide him
SPEAKER_04:so so that's supposed to be because like i asked you this when we were watching it like if he can manipulate an aluminum can and get it to dance I feel like he should have a little bit of agency and like getting out of his cage but no because those guys were I
SPEAKER_01:yeah I think it's I think it's meant to show like he was in he was in there to protect everybody else from from him like so that he didn't like make any contact but all of the like all the stuff that they had up on the walls and the guys chanting prevented him from using his power to escape
SPEAKER_04:no it's always a little tricky it's always a little tricky with the rules
SPEAKER_01:yeah otherwise this kid's gonna just like
SPEAKER_04:of what they can or can't do
SPEAKER_01:he's gonna hulk out and just like eliminate yeah
SPEAKER_04:yeah it's like it's literally no different than we were just watching the season finale of the mandalorian and like oh so grogu can like push back fire but he can't fight off the red dudes yeah like okay
SPEAKER_01:Well, what are you going to
SPEAKER_04:do? So, all right, all right. Well, that explains the dark forces.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, what I do really like about this synopsis, which actually is different than most of what I say about some of these, is I'm glad they don't include the love story because I feel like the love story is completely extraneous to what this film could have been. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:it's weird because at the end, it's like, oh, okay, so they're going to raise the golden child, I guess, because he's the... the chosen way. Like the, the whole love story is just, it felt really like weirdly ill fitting. Yes. And it, it, man, it happened fast.
SPEAKER_04:Real fast. Real fast. Like they went from like barely acquaintances to, I want to, I love this woman. I want to marry her. How do I propose to her?
SPEAKER_01:It was like in the middle of watching this Eddie Murphy, eighties supernatural comedy, an episode of married at first sight just popped up.
UNKNOWN:Exactly.
SPEAKER_04:And I mean, I don't know it just it didn't have to be there like I kind of wish that it had been something similar to the relationship between like Ripley and Hicks and aliens where there's this like mutual respect and they work well together but there does and maybe maybe there's a hint a hint
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:of something but it doesn't have to be I
SPEAKER_01:mean the biggest problem was just like the time the timing it was like it was such a condensed timeline to have them like push that relationship as quickly as they did just didn't really work and I don't think you you didn't really need that to like give him a reason to try to save her at the end no not at all yeah
SPEAKER_04:so I mean it yeah it that was probably the part of the film that I enjoyed the least
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:because it could have worked just fine yeah with them being friends
SPEAKER_01:and what what if I told you there are so many other problems in this movie
SPEAKER_04:do tell but it just
SPEAKER_05:what if you You tell, do tell.
SPEAKER_01:We've talked through some of them, just how tonally it's all over the place. It's trying to be Beverly Hills Cop plus Big Trouble in Little China plus Ghostbuster. It's trying to do all these things, and it kind of succeeds in some ways, and it's entertaining enough. I'm fully on board with Roger Ebert's review of maybe it's not what we wanted, but it's what we got, and it's pretty funny.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I mean, it's interesting because, look, just because Feldman is... credited as the sole screenwriter of this film doesn't necessarily mean that there weren't other contributions from other people because it does come across as a script that's been rewritten quite a
SPEAKER_01:bit and it was yeah when they like again they like reshot stuff to make it more like his character from Beverly Hills Cop which you know I it is successful in some in some ways like with the you know the what we started with the barbecue where he's like, I just want some chips. And in other times it kind of fell a little flat or it felt like it just, again, this like, it just didn't fit the way that you would have wanted it to. I mean, it feels like as unique as Ghostbusters is, that's what it reminds me of, again, because of like the kind of the supernatural like comedy. And the way that it
SPEAKER_04:builds to that climax.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Obviously Ghostbusters was a more successful like imagining of something like this, but that's what it, that's what it reminded me of is like Ghostbusters plus Beverly Hills cop sprinkle in a little bit. I
SPEAKER_04:honestly think that like, and I, I'm probably throwing into the mix something that sounds ridiculous given what we're talking about, but I think it could have maybe benefited from like, well, it could have actually been, um, a better inclusion of Dr. Hong as like a third, third protagonist. Yeah, he
SPEAKER_01:did not
SPEAKER_04:get to do much. fourth with the addition of Winston so it I don't know I just I think I would have preferred to have a little bit more energy brought by like another character and you know as far as like the baddies are concerned I mean it is hard because like you know I was just gushing over Charles Dance and how how great he is but I think if there had been maybe I don't know like a more of a sidekick for him as well because I think I think that kind of energy plays better for this type of story but i will say that like one another thing i could have totally done without was that super long and weird dream sequence i'm not really sure what that was supposed to accomplish uh
SPEAKER_01:it it really only needed to go on long enough for uh numpsy to give his offer because he was trying to get the the dagger right and But then you
SPEAKER_04:were, you were totally right. Cause you're, cause he's like, what does he say something like, so are you going to accept my offer? And I don't think he had ever.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to repeat this offer. You got to say it once, man. I don't know what it is, but, but he does. And I thought it was, it was like hilarious that he kept on calling Eddie Murphy's character, uh, the wrong name. He kept on calling him, uh, Yarel. Cause he can't say J. And then when he was saying the Ajante dagger, he would just every time slip up and like, I can Yante dagger. So what was that? I don't know. I don't know if it was just, like, his accent or if it was intentional, but it was, like, kind of low-key amazing.
SPEAKER_04:Which, because then Chandler's like, how come you just keep saying my name wrong? Or he's like, do you realize you're saying my name wrong? That was a very funny moment, which I enjoyed. And that's something that was, like, definitely a strength of the film. I know you said that sometimes the humor fell flat, and I don't disagree, but, like, I think, you know, it just goes to say that, like, anything, like, automatically... something becomes you know 10 times funnier just because of Eddie Murphy
SPEAKER_01:yeah no so even if even if it like fell flat just because he was doing it's like this works
SPEAKER_03:yeah it's fine
SPEAKER_01:yeah but other things were like really funny and some of them weren't even things that he said but just his reactions like when like the half half woman half dragon
SPEAKER_04:yes
SPEAKER_01:first starts talking in that basement and it's like the voice of God booming all around and he's just like looking around like
SPEAKER_04:that was really good and yeah I mean, like for instance, when they are, um, gosh, where are they? The airport.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, in Nepal or in LA. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Back in LA. And although both, both sides of that
SPEAKER_01:had a, had a whole like fletch kind of Beverly Hills cop kind of thing. Yes.
SPEAKER_04:And I'm not sure if one was super more successful than the other, but even in those moments, like I'm thinking about when like Charles dances saying, you know, Russ, this man,
SPEAKER_01:because that's how it works I don't think yeah
SPEAKER_04:it's not how it works but then his little bit where he's talking about how he deserves to be
SPEAKER_01:but
SPEAKER_04:I
SPEAKER_01:don't see
SPEAKER_04:yeah and not the funniest sequence for me
SPEAKER_01:no that was the most straight up like this is basically Axel Foley
SPEAKER_04:yes
SPEAKER_01:in this in this yeah yeah
SPEAKER_04:yeah but still funny because it's just Eddie Murphy so and I think what I particularly enjoy is like he he does that little bit and it's kind of just just silly silliness and then charles dance pulls him away and basically like tries to be like you don't even know who i am you know
SPEAKER_01:yeah very very la by the way to be sure they're going like do you even know who i am
SPEAKER_04:even know who i am um and then chandler lays it out for him and says oh do you want me to get arrested well here's what's going to happen if i get arrested oh
SPEAKER_01:you mean yerel
SPEAKER_04:yes thank you but that's his last name right Yeah. Yeah. So, um, you know, I just, I love him flipping that switch from, he, you know, is doing this like really silly kind of stupid bit, but it breaks it down. It very much has a purpose to it. And he's like, if you get me arrested, here's what's going to happen to the sword or the dagger or whatever it is. And it's going to take you even longer to get it back. So what do you want to do? You know? So like, I just thought that that I'd like that play where he's actually incredibly smart. about what he's doing so I don't know I just thought that that was like one of the sequences that stood out to me where I like when they give that kind of dimension to his character that way
SPEAKER_01:how did you feel about the uh the whole quest for the Ayante dagger I
SPEAKER_04:didn't care that like it felt um
SPEAKER_01:it was very much like here is your quest you have to finish this quest and if you are worthy then you can fight this demon
SPEAKER_04:yeah it's like wasn't he a given a quest like the quest was to find the golden child and then it's like but
SPEAKER_01:you got all these side quests I mean but then
SPEAKER_04:he has to do this other quest to get the dagger and um yeah that's when it went off the rails a little bit for me
SPEAKER_01:that's where it really showed that like this was at one time probably supposed to be a more like serious yeah kind of thing that he had to get through yeah and now they're like kind of turning it into like the whole comedy thing like there's a floor there's a floor
SPEAKER_03:right
SPEAKER_01:and then right you know the whole like don't spill any water but when he gets it that
SPEAKER_04:that was my least favorite sequence where he's in that whatever strange world and yeah yeah I um yeah again it's it's such an interesting film because it
SPEAKER_01:like suddenly turned into an episode like we talked about what other things it was but at that moment it turned into an episode of the floor is lava
SPEAKER_04:floor is lava and it it is so interesting that it in some regards feels like this very piecemeal type of film
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:um
SPEAKER_01:and did you recognize you probably didn't recognize the dagger but did you
SPEAKER_04:no
SPEAKER_01:it was the uh same dagger from the movie with alec baldwin the shadow oh
SPEAKER_04:yeah that's interesting yeah i mean it's so again fast like this film is a real when when i first started i was like oh gosh it is a really short film it's like an hour 33 but
SPEAKER_01:you're gonna feel every one of those minutes
SPEAKER_04:yeah but then there are these sequences that are so bloated that like did not need to go on as long as they did which it's like okay so what's that telling me that there's not like much story there I mean it's not really any different than like Raiders where he's on this quest you know and but they yet they managed to make every sequence count and align with the overall through line of the film you know like
SPEAKER_01:I mean I don't know if it's fair to compare many movies to I I know. If that's your basis of comparison, then...
SPEAKER_04:It's not Raiders.
SPEAKER_01:Then famously, as they say, comparison is the thief of joy. Oh
SPEAKER_04:my goodness. Oh my goodness. But yeah, so it's... Look, I'm really glad that I watched it. It's a fun movie. I think that...
SPEAKER_01:Notwithstanding the gratuitous wet t-shirt scene. Right. For the most part. That even made his dream sequence with her seem slightly less terrible but it was still pretty cringy that I think it was meant to be and the fact that it was part of what I think we're agreeing is a little bit of a bloated dream sequence where like can we just get out of this dream sequence
SPEAKER_04:although the only thing that like you know kind of redeems that is at the end where you know she saves him and then I mean it's what makes it funny and I don't know if I'm just like trying to twist what it was to fit like what i hope it is but it's like they both know that she saved his ass
SPEAKER_01:oh yeah
SPEAKER_04:but he so so like the like the misogyny like that's the joke of it is that he's like you know you need to i told you stay in the car this is man's work yeah this is man's this is man's work but the only thing that makes it funny is like they both know and yeah
SPEAKER_01:because she's looking at him like just like nodding like right yeah
SPEAKER_04:so so that's what makes it work it could play very different and maybe other people don't see it that way and they do see it as just kind of a like falling flat kind of misogynistic moment
SPEAKER_01:but even when I first saw it it was it was really obvious that
SPEAKER_04:yeah
SPEAKER_01:that it was just like he had like a kind of a pride thing and I think also
SPEAKER_04:there's a pride thing and but I do think that the one part of it that was sincere is like he doesn't want anything to happen to her you know and but yet he knows
SPEAKER_01:because he just met her and he loves her
SPEAKER_04:yeah like he knows that she I think he's already becoming a that she can handle herself um
SPEAKER_01:how'd you do that with the
SPEAKER_04:flip yeah and like like it was funny when um they decide to like he's like i don't like this let's get out of here and they exit the house and he's like slowly going down like what is like a ladder or something and she just jumps from the balcony
SPEAKER_01:yeah the sound that man they really got a lot of they got a lot of mileage from the soundtrack from that one theme and then the sound effects of her yes whooshing
SPEAKER_02:yeah
SPEAKER_01:through through the air as she would either drop down from great heights or Or jump up. Yeah. To equally great heights.
SPEAKER_04:Like, it's interesting because she certainly comes across as somebody who almost has, like, super power-ish type abilities.
SPEAKER_01:She has, like, the Big Trouble in Little China, like, almost supernatural level of martial arts proficiency. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So, but the wet t-shirt aside, I think that they did, you
SPEAKER_01:know. yeah
SPEAKER_04:that was funny um they do a good job of showing her as like a strong female character you know and um yeah and i mean to that point too i mean only because like i'm aware that the golden child was a little girl um i know that it is meant to be a boy in the film but i thought that that was an interesting depiction of the child maybe that's why they cast her because he she um they do a good job of with just the most subtle kind of facial expressions like there's this like kind of there is this like kind of maturity and kind of like agelessness composure to the golden child I mean I kind of joked that they showed no emotion but they're kind of in control of it the whole time
SPEAKER_01:yeah there was a little bit that you would see here and there
SPEAKER_04:yeah
SPEAKER_01:you know
SPEAKER_04:but for the most part I thought that for a little I think
SPEAKER_01:the only, the only thing that they say is at the end when Eddie Murphy says, everything's going to be okay. I know.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's my point is that like, I thought that, um, I don't know. That little kid definitely holds their presence on screen. So whether or not, you know, the parents or they, or whatever the case may be decided that acting wasn't going to be in their future, they did a really good job. in this film so
SPEAKER_01:so so anna
SPEAKER_04:yes
SPEAKER_01:would you watch this again i
SPEAKER_04:would i would watch it again because i think i've missed things about it
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_04:there's there's a certain a lot going on yeah there's a lot going on you do have to be paying attention um it's
SPEAKER_01:fun to it there's just a lot going on in the background because you can tell that they they are like in in like places in LA that you would recognize. Pinks! Yeah, like, pinks, but you can tell that, like, yeah, it's really, they did a good job of, like, portraying LA.
SPEAKER_04:They did a great job of portraying LA, and...
SPEAKER_01:Except for all the alleys, the scenes in the alleys. I'm like, look, there aren't that many. I
SPEAKER_04:feel like every movie, there's way more alleys than what most cities, I don't know. But, yeah, it was good. I would watch it again. I thought it was really entertaining, and I think that I would pick up on for whatever it's worth more nuances upon a second viewing so and as far as call to action yeah
SPEAKER_01:call to action what do you got
SPEAKER_04:you know what I'm actually the thing that I'm probably most curious about I'm just wanting to know how many people realize that that was a little girl playing the golden child that is a good like probably the simplest question I've ever asked just yes or no but I I find that really interesting that they did that.
SPEAKER_01:I had no idea literally until, uh, until yesterday when we were watching the movie.
SPEAKER_04:And if you want to get in touch with us,
SPEAKER_01:yes, we
SPEAKER_04:would love to hear from you. You can reach out through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. The handle is the same for all three. It is at eighties montage pod and eighties is eight zero S. Oh, right.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Sneak peek. What is it going to be? What's coming up next? Give me, give me a clue.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, A clue. Okay. Well.
SPEAKER_01:Uh-huh. I'm going to need more.
SPEAKER_04:the lead is a phenomenal singer okay we i don't think we've brought her up for anything yet so it's the first time we'll be bringing her up
SPEAKER_01:okay this is uh this is not as helpful she
SPEAKER_04:was married to the director oh
SPEAKER_01:okay okay
SPEAKER_04:okay so i'm just gonna maybe tell you
SPEAKER_01:well
SPEAKER_04:um
SPEAKER_01:I'm just trying to think. How many movies could there be where there's a singer who married the director? It's not The Exorcist, because that's a 70s movie,
SPEAKER_05:I think. No,
SPEAKER_01:not even close. I don't think Ellen Bernson's a singer. And I don't think she married the director. I think
SPEAKER_04:the closest that you could even get, as far as alternatives to what it actually is, is perhaps Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg. But we're not doing Temple of Doom. No, we're not doing Temple of Doom.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well.
SPEAKER_04:It is Victor Victoriano. All
SPEAKER_01:right. Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards. I'm excited. I've never seen it. I've never watched it.
SPEAKER_04:Honestly, I've never seen it the whole way through. I've only seen certain scenes. So I'm super excited. I love Julie Andrews.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you should have just told me James Garner's in it. I would have guessed.
SPEAKER_04:I don't think you would have. I think that is a bold-faced lie. But in any case, what's not a bold-faced lie?
SPEAKER_01:Is it bold-faced or bald-faced? What is this lie?
SPEAKER_04:It's not a lie. I'm about to tell you the truth, which is that we have a great returning guest on the show. That is the truth. That is the truth. Yes. So thank you to everybody out there for hanging along with us. We really appreciate it because there are, oh, so many podcasts out there. So the fact that you're listening to us means quite a bit.
SPEAKER_01:The fact that you listened to that entire tease, that whole sneak peek thing. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:And we will talk to you again in two weeks' time.