Cinema Beef Podcast : Beefaversary Part 2 (Best In Show/Mr. No Legs/A Mighty Wind)

The Beefaverasry is back with 3 reviews that include two more entries in the Christopher Guest universe. We are joined by special guests Mr. Venom and Bo Ransdell for Best in Show and Smokeshow Scott Crawford joins us for A Mighty Wind. Also, look for a new Crippled Theater featuring Ricky Morgan and Mr. No Legs.

Yeah.

Cookie Googlman?

Yeah.

Does this ring a bell?

I'm not wearing underwear.

Bulge.

Yeah, that's me.

It's me.

You look fantastic.

You've grown.

I'm growing right now, girl.

Just looking at you.

That is the one and only time I've ever done it on a roller coaster.

Hello, folks, welcome to the Cinema Beef Podcast.

I am one of your hosts, Gary Hill.

Alone again in the introduction here, but that's more than fine.

You'll hear many more people on this episode.

I'm looking forward to you guys checking that out.

First of all, thank you for joining us.

This is part two of the Beefaverasry and our Christopher Guest exploding all in your face.

I don't have a name for this.

It's a celebration.

That's good shit, right?

This is the fun part of the show for me.

It might be a new segment of the show to replace my What You've Been Watching.

This might be a Patreon thing.

I don't know.

Give a little extended reviews on these.

I decided to do the horror and the horrible.

Question mark on the idea of horrible.

You never can tell.

I don't watch a lot of new horror, so I figured it would be fun for me to do, to review a new horror film with very little spoilers and review something that could be terrible, an older film, more than likely, and it might be really good.

I think the one in question is kind of in the middle, because it kind of, yeah.

But the first film I'm going to review for that is a brand new horror film that's out in Taiwan in selected theaters, I think, right now.

Comes to shutter on the 12th, so I'll keep my spoilers brief and hopefully just a little, little existent in this movie.

It's one of the cool kids are talking about called The Sadness.

This film is a film in which they're taking the pandemic that turns into like as a whole, I wouldn't call them zombies.

They're calling it a zombie film, but I wouldn't call it a zombie film because they're more like infected with like a rage virus that makes the limbic system go nuts and make them want to kill people in horrible bloody, bloody ways and make their sex drives go crazy so they want to rape people.

And this film, first of all, not for the Swedish.

If you do not like blood and stuff like eyeball removal and rape, male and female, yeah, there's that testicle smashing in this movie.

There's all kinds of nasty things.

Some guy gets hit in the face with some fry grease and his face starts to melt, so the infected person starts to tear his skin off, and you see everything.

My gosh.

The crux of this film is basically this couple trying to get back to each other.

Once she leaves for work and he finds out that this thing is going on, they're searching for each other, so you're basically following these two people through the whole run around the city and seeing all this craziness, and it's really wild shit, but I wouldn't recommend it for everybody.

It reminds me a lot of the film.

It would be a long time ago.

I forget with who.

It's called The Taint.

It's a trauma-produced film about a virus that gets loose via like the Omega Man type situation that makes dudes into like overly misogynistic pricks who want to kill women.

And your protagonist in the film is like this skateboarding douchebag who, I think at the end of the movie, I'm not going to watch The Taint again because it was kind of really stupid, but they have enlarged penises, like ridiculous penises, and he has to shoot the heads off these dicks to make them die to kill these people.

If you want something on the more playful side of ridiculousness, you can watch The Taint as well.

But the sadness, again, it comes to Shudder on the 12th, so if you have Shudder, you can watch it there.

I don't want to give a crazy amount away because it's very simplistic in nature.

It's nothing you really haven't seen before as far as plot goes, but as far as like gonzo violence, it's just like, yeah.

The only issue I have, and I listened to the Cult of Muscles review of this movie, and they're 100% correct, once you get about two-thirds of the way through this movie, you have a subplot where there's a lot of exposition that's had.

That's when the film takes a dip into the slow side, and you're not really caring what happens next because nothing really happens after this dip happens a lot.

It hurts the film, but all the stuff before it is just a gory fucking mess.

So, if you're interested in The Sadness, here comes a high recommend to me to check out.

Go do that when it comes to Shudder, if you haven't saw it already.

The horrible segment of this, I watched a film called The Day of the Dolphin, which is a film that stars George C.

Scott.

Your basic plot of this movie is he is a guy who works with dolphins and he is teaching the dolphins how to communicate with humans.

It's like secret because he doesn't want the government to corrupt his work or use them for nefarious means.

But wouldn't you know it, once the government stooges start to question the money they're giving him and what's going on with the money, what's our results, the government stooges get fucking curious as hell.

And there's a whole plot in here where they come to visit and they're going to take these dolphins for nefarious things, i.e.

using them to assassinate the president.

Yeah, it's nuts, but you know what, I'll tell you one thing about this film.

It has beautiful island locations, first of all.

So if you watch this, this is a Mike Nichols film, so it's a very legit thing.

It's based on a book I've never read before, but George C.

Scott in this movie is doing the best he can with a plot you wouldn't normally see him in.

You know, playing this scientist who cares deeply for these animals, and there's a point where he brings a female dolphin in to get him more chatty, so the whole idea of them having them, I imagine they're gonna breed these animals, they're successful in their assassination skills.

It's a ridiculous subplot to this movie, but it's not unsound to say if dolphins were as smart, and they are very smart creatures, but if they could follow human commands, would they follow those human commands to a T?

Would they find out in the end that you don't know, because they're not that stupid?

They could do the job, but they only follow the people they trust, which is our character played by George C.

Scott and his team, and it's really...

This sounds like a really dull plot, and let me tell you, it's not.

It's very interesting.

We got a lot of stuff in the 80s and the early 90s about animals and what they could do, i.e.

free willy and Project X, but this is a first film like that, to where you can see how they can use the science and stuff like that, and the personalities, and the wiseness of these creatures, and young Paul Sorvino in this, looking all baby-faced and stuff.

It's really strange to look at him like this.

Edward Herman shows up in this movie.

The guy whose name I always forget, but he plays the...

I forget who he plays.

He's the guy from Real Genius who tells young Mitch to never forget to check your references.

That guy shows up in this movie as one of the government stooges that steals the dolphins for nefarious.

They get their revenge, obviously.

But there's a part in this movie that will make you sad because it's a real Harry and the Hendersons moment to where George C.

Scott has to tell the dolphins to scram or else the government is just going to come take them again and use them for whatever they want to use them for.

And he has to look away and he has to yell at these dolphins.

You know, like when George has to slap Harry, tell him to go back in the woods.

Oh man, that part of them will make you sad every time.

This is a similar moment there because he loved these creatures.

He had to let them go because the government totally sucks.

Yes, sir.

Can't you have fucking dolphins?

Can't you have fucking dolphins?

This one you can find on a Kino Classics Blu-ray that came out recently.

So if you're interested at all in watching The Day of the Dolphin, I highly recommend it because it's a beautiful film.

It's very simplistic.

I mean, you see the poster, you're like, wow, I'm so disappointed these dolphins didn't like, you know, stick their fins in an assassin or something.

No, it's not about that.

It's about them being highly trained creatures, very noble and smart creatures and being exploited by our government.

And George C.

Scott doesn't want that.

So kudos to that guy.

So The Day of the Dolphin and The Sadness are recommended.

So it's not horrible.

Just the premise, if you look at the poster, I blame the poster.

I blame the poster for this.

And if I could find it right here, and I think it is right here, it's a ridiculous tagline to this movie.

And yeah, come on, dang it.

Something about, oh my gosh.

That's a science fiction thriller, which is not.

Okay, it's crazy.

New York Times says, The Day of the Dolphin takes off like a blazing forest fire with a thrill of minute.

It doesn't do that, but it's still enjoyable.

You know, don't be ridiculous reviews.

Man, oh man.

But I'll skip that.

But basically the poster gives you like this whole schmiel about, oh, did I train dolphins to kill the president or something?

And it really hams it up.

And this is a film that didn't deserve that.

And it deserved, you know, with sunscreen, which is them showcasing these creatures.

And you know, George C.

Scott's love for these creatures, including he rides, there's an underwater scene, which probably isn't even him.

Probably a stunt man where he's like in the water with the dolphins.

And it seems like he might be like dry humping it a little bit.

I don't know.

I don't want to sell eat Day of the Dolphin, but you guys should check it out.

If anything, George C.

Scott talks to dolphins in special languages.

So go look for it for that reason.

Not really streaming anywhere though, which is off to me.

They should fix that problem.

Let's see if we can buy it on iTunes or something.

But written by Buck Henry of all people, comedian Buck Henry, and like I said, Mike Nichols directed it.

Go check out his body of work if you don't know what that is.

That includes The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Birdcage, some good stuff in that mix.

He did some Playhouse 90s too, which those are like old school, like TV programs.

Some of them are on YouTube, so I recommend you check those out.

Good dramas there.

Data Dolphin, though, I recommend it.

It's like it's due to the saddest, but for a whole different sentimental reasons.

Next thing I want to bring up, because I watched something else this week that I, you know, you watch these films willingly, but they have an actress in there or an actor that you'll watch anything they're in, even though it's a giant fucking turd.

Well, that's the reason why I watched The Hot Chick on Amazon Prime.

This is a film which Rob Schneider, through ancient Egyptian earrings, switches places with the young Rachel McAdams.

This is the first thing she's ever done, who's like this mean girl in high school, cheerleader, you know?

And he has to live life as a man, but he's got the girl brain in him, and it's racially insensitive in parts and problematic in parts, and there's gay panic everywhere.

But you know who's in this movie that'll watch it any movie?

Anna Faris is in this movie.

I always find her charming as hell.

And on TV show Mom, her and Allison Janney were a perfect pair, and she's not on that show anymore.

That show's over with, I believe.

I've watched The House Bunny more than once because Anna Faris is in it.

I've watched that stinker, I think Scary 3 was where it really started to suck ass for me, but she's in that, but I'll watch it because she's in it.

If you know an actress like this, and you know, you'll watch anything that they're in, just let us know in the crew page, because I hate to bring up the hot chick, because it's really stupid, but Anna Faris, you know, takes that turn up a notch, I think.

She always does.

She's always a winner to me.

So, as an aside there.

But yeah, on this show, this very special, special show, you will hear myself, Bo Ransdell, Mr.

Venom, Suzanne and Iris, all discuss the Movie Best in Show on the next review that you will hear.

Sandwiched in there, you will hear myself and Ricky Morgan.

I call him Ricky Morton again.

He should be honored by this.

I'm calling him a member of the Rock and Roll Express.

Ricky Morgan.

We are going to do Crippled Theater once again with The Amazing Mr.

No Legs.

We'll get into why we, I should say, you should say The Amazing Mr.

No Legs.

He is spectacular.

That would be Crippled Theater.

And to close out the show, I'm looking for you guys here in this.

We are doing Mighty Wind.

These two films, spoilers, are probably my two favorite in the CRISPR Guest oeuvre, if you will.

The ones I go back to the most and get the most emotional with.

Yeah.

So you'll hear that Best in Show review right to the trailer.

Live from Philadelphia, it's the 125th Annual Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show.

3,000 dogs competing for Best in Show.

To think that in some countries these dogs are eaten.

Cokie and I work as a team.

We met at this dance.

I got two left feet.

I thought he was kidding.

But I wasn't.

I was born with two left feet.

Beatrice has been showing signs of depression.

Ever since she saw us having sex.

What would you like to say to Beatrice right now?

I'm sorry you had to see that.

I've been a hairdresser about 14 years.

And I went to a show.

I asked my ex-wife, I said, who's that?

She says, that's Scott.

We got top-blowing, auto house, T-bone.

We got everything.

So basically, you know, mute.

Leslie and I have an amazing relationship.

People say, oh, but he's so much older than you.

And you know what?

I'm the one having to push him away.

We both love soup.

The bloodhound not only has a great nose, but they can talk.

What you doing?

And he's saying, I'm ready.

That's when you know he's ready for show.

That goal is that Best in Show ribbon.

Actually, poodle means puddle in German.

You want your busy bee?

It's not in here.

You left it at the hotel.

That's my favorite.

The miniature schnauzer.

You'd think they'd want to breed them bigger, wouldn't you?

Like grapefruits or watermelons.

Don't look at the fat head.

Losers are freaks.

You look at me!

He went after her like she's made out of ham.

All right, folks, it's that time again.

This is the first review of the night of the Christopher Guest Love Fest, if you will.

People on this review, I'll start going from left to right, as I'm reading at the top there.

You guys may know him from many, many things.

We picked six movies.

Duncan and Bo go to Monte Carlo, stuff like that.

Mr.

Bo Ransdell, how you doing, sir?

Good, good.

Fresh, fresh back from Morocco with Duncan.

Do some Hopin Crosby shit with you and Duncan.

Come on, man, be amazing, yeah.

Yeah, I like to think that's kind of what that show is anyway.

It's without the song and dance numbers, although there's a surprising amount of us singing, but no, thanks for having me on this.

I'm excited to talk about movies.

Like, I never get to talk about comedies, and I'm a big, big fan of, you know, the Christopher Guest oeuvre, you know, starting way back in the, you know, Spinal Tap days.

You know, I was a young man when I first discovered Spinal Tap, and there is something I really love about that kind of brand of really wry, you know, obviously improvisational kind of comedy, of just like, we're going to let an idiot talk into the camera for a minute, and funny things are going to come out of their mouths.

So, yeah, it's a real treat to talk about this stuff.

Great.

Next in line, Iris is here.

How are you doing, girl?

I'm doing well.

How are you all doing?

Dandy.

Dandy, dandy.

Excellent.

And also with us is Suzanne.

How are you doing, girl?

I'm talking about my fat cat and my big dogs, but I am doing really, really well, and I absolutely love these movies.

I, he surrounded himself with some of the best actors, so it's just fun to talk about these.

And finally, last but certainly not least, from many, many things you'll hear in your ears, because he's a podcasting whore, almost like myself, you know.

Mr.

Venom's here.

How are you doing, sir?

Greetings and salutations, guestovians.

And yes, I have coined that term because there is not an all-encompassing term for Christopher Guest fans.

So if you are a Christopher Guest fan, you are a guestovian and you are one of my people.

Good on you.

I like it.

I'm going to start using it as of this recording.

Very cool.

Make that stick, y'all.

Today, tonight, we're going to talk about Best in Show from the year 2000.

A lot of the same cast you've seen in these other films, but this is a film in which Christopher Guest and his cast of Xanny characters apparently made a dog show from the ground up because they couldn't use a real one.

And yeah, these people are all obsessed with their dogs and this, this, this, this show, the Mayflower Kennel Show, I remember it was called, if it was called, this is Mayflower for sure.

And they've all come together to show their dogs off and show how crazy they are as dog people.

And we'll kick a cast right now.

Eugene Levy is back, and so is Kathar Harrah as Jared Cooke Fleck.

John Michael Higgins makes his debut in these films as Scott, Scott Donlin, I'm sorry.

Michael McKeon's back as Stefan Vanderhoof, his partner with the Shih Tzus.

Michael Hitchcock is back again as Hamilton Swan.

Parker Posey is back as Meg Swan with the braces.

We'll talk about that, I'm sure.

Oh my gosh, Jennifer Coolidge makes her debut as Sherry Ann Cabot.

Jane Lynch makes her debut as Christy Cummings.

A lot of debuts, it's pretty cool.

Christopher Guest is back again, of course, acting in his own movies as Harlan Pepper, the owner of The Hound and the Master of Nuts, apparently.

Larry Miller's back, being fucking hilarious in this movie as well.

Fred Willard, Ed Bagley Jr.

shows up in this movie.

Bob Balaban is back again.

Oh, I have so much love for this film, but probably, you know, more than any other one.

It's probably kick it to Bo first and ask him, what do you think about this film, sir?

Oh, I love this movie.

In fact, it hasn't been that long ago that I watched.

I do a movie night about once every month, six weeks, something like that at the house.

I'm like, make a big dinner for some friends of mine and I.

And we watch a movie, usually downstairs, I've got like a big 100 inch screen and projector and that kind of thing.

So like, really do it up.

And it was within the last six months that we did Best in Show.

I just adore it.

I think it's incredibly funny.

There, the moment you see like the Eugene Levy high school picture, which happens fairly early on, but when he's talking about how he used to be a little bit of a Casanova himself and they show that picture and it is the most like off putting hilarious picture of any human being ever.

I lose my shit.

It is one of my favorite like visual jokes ever.

Yeah, I mean, it's just one of those movies that every time you watch it, there's some other little nook and cranny of it that will sort of tickle your funny bone, which is, I think a phrase first used by Lawrence Welk, but yeah, it's just wonderful.

Like it's just, it's crammed with little subtle jokes.

And this time around watching it the other day in preparation for this, I think it was because he passed away not so long ago, but just watching Larry Miller talking about working as, you know, a hostage negotiator or a crisis counselor and saying, oh, that's the thing.

They all jump.

It's just hysterical.

It's maybe my favorite, like accepting Spinal Tap, which I have a real soft spot for, but in terms of, you know, the gestovian set of films, that I think this is my favorite because partly it's because I relate to it because I'm, you know, I love dogs and I don't go quite as far as, although I would probably say I was in the Harland Pepper range of dog ownership, but I don't go so far as some of the others, but it like, I like the fact that the movie also never punches down at these characters.

Like it has a lot of affection for these people, even as they're doing ridiculous things, that it seems like Christopher Guest as the director, as well as the actors who are kind of inhabiting these characters, that they all have, as silly as everything is, there's still a lot of affection and joy and that kind of thing.

And I think it's hard to walk away from this movie, like feeling bad about these people.

They're incredibly silly, but they're also kind of wonderful and lovable.

I like the book end of, you know, Parker Posey and her husband at the therapist.

And you know, what this therapist must be thinking of just like these stupid fucking, that I am absolutely taken for a ride.

But even with that, sorry, I'll shut up about it a second.

But even with that therapy stuff, like even that you kind of understand like, oh, they're not really talking about the dog.

They're talking about themselves and their relationship.

And you know, this movie is actually, you know, kind of getting at some stuff about the way that people use their dogs as surrogates for their own emotion and their own feelings.

And like it all comes down to Fred Willard being like, now do these dogs have any idea what's going on around them?

And of course not, you know, that this is all for the people who own the dogs.

And it's terrific, man.

This movie is the absolute best.

I love this movie.

I forgot I was watching, but there was a comment made by Neil that dogs don't wear the sweater because he likes it.

He's doing it to please you or something like that, he says.

Right.

And like his partner, Fred Willard, he's doing the color and the other guy is kind of the expert.

But the other guy having to kind of like, well, they know that they're special dogs, I guess, that it's just all this equivocation about, this is, of course, it's purely for the owners.

These dogs couldn't give a shit less as long as they're getting food and pets.

They don't care.

So it's wonderful.

Because that head got caught in the gargoyle's mouth and it popped off like a grape.

You know, that reminds me of, do you remember when we were at the lake?

Dude, Eugene Levy trying to, trying to get back at Larry Miller by saying, how about I just talk about your wife?

And she's got big, luscious melon breast.

And her reaction being like, thank you.

It's just the best.

Like I said, everywhere you look at this movie, somebody is doing something.

Oh my gosh, Suzanne.

Oh, God.

This is one of those movies that I end up going back to every few months.

Just if I need, you know, basically it's comfort food for my brain.

I, Bo nailed it.

I mean, there's so many, even after numerous viewings, there's still like little things that always pop out.

And I think, I love every character here, but Parker Posey does some of my favorite things.

And the psychiatrist's office with Beatrice, the, that poor dog.

I really feel bad for the dog because she is owned by two insane people.

And well, we got this book.

And it's just the tone that she uses when she's telling this little story to their dog, Shraink.

And Catherine O'Hara is just hilarious as Cookie.

And I mean, I remember the first time I saw it and everyone's like, Cookie Guggenheimer?

Is that you?

I don't bang that many waitresses.

I bang a lot of waitresses, but you were the best.

And it's just that continuous joke throughout the movie that just always makes me laugh in her.

She would have won the Ministry of Silly Walks when she hurt her knee when they were showing Winky.

And I just, you know, packing seven, seven to 10 kimonos for a two-day trip.

That was, I packed 10 pairs of shoes for four days and I wore one pair.

I understand the whole had to bring all of the kimonos.

You just never know.

Everybody in this movie was absolutely outstanding at what they bring to the table.

There is so much talent.

It's just overflowing in this movie and everybody gets their moment to shine.

It doesn't spend too much time on any character, but everybody has their moment.

And I think Jane Lynch and Jennifer Coolidge are just funny.

Jennifer Coolidge with that whole, well, they came in and took this poor little kennel and she's like, it's a shit box.

And brought it up to the state of the art facility.

And Rhapsody has two mommies.

I think the first time I saw this movie, I spit something all the way across the room when that happened.

It was way too funny.

And you know, well, her and her husband, they do, they can talk or not talk all night and they both love soup.

I was going to say, not to interrupt you, but what she says, we have a lot in common.

I mean, we both love soup.

Just devastates me.

Yeah.

Oh, I know.

We can talk and not talk all night.

I kind of got you there.

We both love snow peas, but there's so many wonderful elements to this.

And I swear to God, I sometimes think I side more with the dogs, except Harlan Pepper's dog and Wanky.

Those two, those two dogs made, they have got, and oh, yes, Vanderhoof and, oh God, I can't remember his name now.

Scott doing calendars of iconic scenes from movies of the forties and fifties.

It's just everybody, they really took on these personas and brought the whole thing to life in a way, there's very few filmmakers, we are custodians, that very few filmmakers ever possibly could.

And I like the fact that he keeps it, his cast fairly, I mean, just once again, brimming with talent, but he keeps everything on a manageable level.

But I just can't even say how much thank you, Mel, how much I love this movie.

Cool.

Venom next.

All right, man, what can I say about this movie that hasn't been said, this movie is near flawless.

There is not a bad performance in this film.

Christopher Guest really knows how to pick his actors, you know, incredibly funny people, but just the fact that they can ad lib, you know, three quarters of a film is spectacular.

I myself, for those who don't know, I probably mentioned it on the last Christopher Guest show, but I'm married to a veterinarian, have been for, we just celebrated our 26th anniversary.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So I love dogs.

I mean, that's a given.

I love animals in general.

And this movie just really speaks to me.

I've actually been to a dog show in Pittsburgh with my wife, like a much smaller one, honestly, nothing Westminster or cruft size, but just a great experience.

And, you know, when I was talking about this movie on the last episode about these Christopher Guest movies and how they speak to me and how maybe Waiting for Guffman didn't speak to me as loudly as something like a Best in Show or A Mighty Wind, and definitely not Spinal Tap as, you know, I am a big old metalhead.

It just kind of speaks to just the brilliance of Eugene and Christopher and, you know, how they're able to put this movie together and the people in this film, my God, it just just star after star after star with and the fact that he can bring in top name comedians to do like one line is just so epic.

I mean, Will Sasso, yeah, Will Sasso is not an A-list actor by any stretch, but in the late 90s, he was a big name because of his work in film and television to come in and do basically two lines and one of them being just one of the funniest goddamn deliveries in this film, just so much quality in this film to speak of.

And then the pièce de résistance, the cherry on top of my spectacular comedy Sunday, Fred goddamn Willard is, I'm sorry, Fred Willard is a goddamn treasure.

He makes this movie, at least the dog show part of this film, so incredibly entertaining.

Who else can do color commentary at a dog show and bring up countries that eat dogs and be completely oblivious to it and get away with it?

I'm sorry, just it is stellar.

May that man hold a high seat in Valhalla because he fucking deserves it.

But I mean, like I said, what else can be said about this film?

Bob Balaban, potentially one of the best straight men in history, in film history.

I mean, the fact that he's not even trying to be funny and somehow he tickles me in every scene he's in, it just speaks to the comedic genius that's just oozing off of this film from so many sources, writing, directing, performances.

Even the songs.

Oh my God, the songs.

God Loves a Terrier?

Come on now.

I would imagine God loves all dogs, but still to have to hear that song about God loving one breed of dog, excuse me, just absolutely stellar.

The songs that Cookie and her husband sing at the end, too, when they're recording the album, just, oh my God, so great.

And you know, unlike, excuse me, unlike the Cabots in this movie, my wife and I actually do run out of things to not talk about.

So it does turn into a little bit of a problem in our marriage, but it's okay.

Someday we'll have that ability to not talk about all sorts of topics.

And that's when I'll know we've made it as a married couple.

But yeah, this movie, my God, just an absolute 10 out of 10.

Oops, sorry, it's a spoiler, sorry.

But just, I adore this film.

I honestly, as I've said on the last episode, I love Christopher Guest.

Anything he's done, I will happily consume.

And this run of movies from Waiting for Guffman to For Your Considerations, I got some of the most stellar comedic films put together in a row from a writer-director team.

So yeah, just a stellar film that I will never ever get sick of.

I just watched it last night and big surprise, watched it for probably the 50th time, still ended the night with a stomach ache.

I was laughing so goddamn hard.

So yeah, spectacular.

Iris.

Just to jump in on what you said about Fred Willard when she's judging and she goes, the female judge goes up in cups, one of the dog's balls.

He's like, oh God, I wouldn't want to go on a date with her.

I don't know how she'd judge me.

When he's speaking of Bob Aliband, when he's interviewing Bob Aliband and is talking about the Mayflower landing in the West Indies, he's like, well, I don't think that's right.

Yeah, well, we'll leave that to the editors.

They'll clean that up in the office.

Oh, my God, like, as soon as this movie starts to lull even the slightest bit, Fred Willard shows up and just hits the booster rockets and makes the back end of this even funnier than the front.

100%.

Well, for me, this is my favorite of the guest movies.

It's a barrel of laughs.

Just Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy, when the card, the fucking credit card.

That's the good one.

Yeah, it is, right?

Wait, wait, like, two notices.

You tell them it's two notices.

Well, he says it's been two notices.

And then they start pulling cash out.

It's like $34.

But then again, I mean, the dude is so nice by just taking them and going, well, you know, we can bring a cotton here and you can spend the night, which is basically the room that he already gave you a tour of where all the cleaning stuff is because they know they're going to have dogs, which is another great bit because you have the nature's miracle bottle for the smaller dogs.

And then, you know, this huge lemon X for, you know, the Great Danes and then the nuclear power that that that whole bit right there is hilarious.

And of course, when Parker Posey is, I think Venom and I talked about this last time.

She starts accusing the maid of taking the toy.

I'm going to bring INS.

Oh, gosh, she was a Karen before the term was coined.

Right, right.

It was great.

It's not a B.

That's a parrot.

It's just, oh, my gosh, it's just so, so funny.

And of course, you know, how can you not love Scott and Vanderhoof, you know, it's they play off of each other so fucking well, and the way he carries himself and he's he reminds me of that inappropriate twink that a bear would have is basically it, you know, having to reign them in a little bit like, haha, you're funny.

Yeah, you're cute.

You just calm down a little bit, but it's just fucking hilarious.

Just the things he says like the poor butcher guy.

So in other words, me.

But he's like, why don't you pull out a pepperoni stick?

And this poor guy started like, wait, what are you like?

Oh my God.

And just all of his comments are just beautiful and lovely.

And I agree with Suzanne, cookie fleck, when she busts her ankle or knee or whatever.

She's fucking rocking when they've already won.

She's trying to get to her husband.

Oh my God.

Oh shit.

I was, oh my God, I was cracking up.

I'm sitting in the office and I'm cracking up.

And I know Lynn can hear me.

And she's probably thinking, what the fuck is she watching in there?

But yeah.

And you know what?

I've had her sit down and watch this movie with me.

And yeah, she kind of just stares at me sometimes when I'm laughing at some shit because, or even before stuff happens, you know, because Venom, I'm sure, you know, you know something funny is coming and you already, you're laughing already because you're already thinking of it.

Like Sasso when he's talking to them and he's like, so are you going to stop and fish?

And he's like, no, we're not fishing.

His character is so funny and Sasso is on the screen for like what, maybe three or four minutes.

And this guy is hilarious.

He used to play on something on a show here in Seattle.

It was kind of like Saturday Night Live.

Yeah, well, no, even before MADtv.

It was just here based in Seattle itself.

And Bill Nye, the science guy, was also on it.

And it's like an old show.

And this guy used to crack me all the fucking time.

And even on MADtv, he was hilarious.

But yeah, this whole movie in itself, I just love how tongue in cheek it is, even though, and you know, it's kind of like Willard is asking those questions that, you know, you kind of have when you are watching a dog show, because I like to watch dog shows.

And I do have those questions like, well, you know, why do they do this?

Or why do they tuck them here?

Or why do they pull them there?

Or why do they pick them up by their tail and throw?

It's, you know, it was just funny to watch because it's kind of like, here's this guy, Fred Willard, who is, you know, just dude off the street.

And he's paired up with Pepper, who is obviously a British, very well, you know, very proper type of guy.

Kudos to him about not breaking, well, from what we saw, what's been edited.

He did not crack up.

Every time Willard opened his mouth, man, because I do every time.

So it's hilarious.

It's funny.

It's really out there.

But it kind of like, it's also feels homey.

Like these are people that you either have in your circle of friends or coworkers.

So that I think that's why it's just so intriguing.

But yeah, that's, that's my two cents.

No, this, this film is filled with a lot of little things.

Like you guys mentioned the part where they're at the party and Harlan is talking to the two, two Parker Posey and her husband about flies and they can give a fuck about fishing.

What's the worst of these?

Look at you're gonna fall asleep standing there.

He just keeps going.

I had to break the tension by asking him what he was wearing.

So is that J.Crew?

Let me look.

Yeah.

Well, J.Crew is their kind of their their thing.

An entire relationship based on catalogs.

My God.

I love that whole scene where they were talking about the first time they saw each other.

And you can see in that scene that they're they're just totally like playing tennis of like, oh, remember that we were in the Starbucks?

And it's it's just watching them, yes, and each other through that scene until they get to.

And then we would just go into the Starbucks and we would look at the catalog.

And I would ask you, what's new?

Like, and you would pick out the things that were new in that that edition of the catalog.

And you can tell that this is just them completely improving all of it.

And and, you know, like you were saying, the fact that they don't lose their shit is a skill unto itself.

You know, it's one thing to invent that stuff.

It's another thing entirely to not lose your focus and just crack up.

And another, you know, the one thing that's interesting, because you have a gay couple and kind of a lesbian couple, even though it doesn't begin that way, but it's kind of clear that Jane Lynch is into her.

And for it being a movie in the year 2000, like, yes, Scott's kind of, you know, like Kyra said, like this ridiculous tweet character, but it doesn't treat those relationships any differently than any other relationship in the movie.

And it's weird, not weird, but I mean, it's just kind of nice to see that the movie doesn't have a stance on that.

It's not, there was nothing political about it, I suppose.

It's just kind of like for a movie that is 20 years old, it's strangely progressive in the way that it's gay and lesbian carrot.

Of just like, oh yeah, that's just, yeah, that's who they are.

And vice versa, too, you know, because at the same party scene, you know, Jerry meets our gay couple and they're just in love with this fucking square.

This white bread square that they met.

And, you know, he's getting right in the mix with them.

He's describing, again, super slow shit, the red stitching he did himself on those pants, you know, and it's just it's it's crazy.

And here is like, who did that?

You did?

It's oh, it's watching this again.

It was one of those because I don't think I'd watched it since I watched all of Schitt's Creek.

And it was fun to see like, oh, yeah, they're playing completely different characters together.

It's like they've been doing this for so long.

They're you know, it's no wonder that's as good as it is.

It's not a, you know, guestovian film, but it is certainly in the ballpark.

Because Cookie had dozens of boyfriends, hundreds, hundreds of boyfriends.

At once.

And she's so deadpan when she says it.

Hundreds.

Every time it happens though, I think it's at the same party scene to where he met another one of Cookie's ex-boyfriends and he just has that head tilt down.

Like he's so crestfallen like another one, another one, seriously.

A guy who, out of the way to the dog show, was going to stop at the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Factory just to go visit it.

He sees that white bread, he's going to do that.

Oh man.

It's funny standing here and listening to us talk about this.

It really speaks to the brilliance of the ad libs here.

Because I don't know if anybody's noticed, but we've spent half this review just quoting the movie.

I've never done that as a podcaster, and I am having an absolute blast.

It's hard not to, it's hard not to, you know.

It's hard not to.

Comedy gold, my friend.

Between this and Spinal Tap, I swear I've had conversations in this language.

I mean, the little, again, you guys mentioned Will Sasso, but he's still driving away and he's still convinced he's going to go fishing.

He's gawking at the dog, saying, who's going to catch a big fish?

Who's going to catch a big fish?

He plays these characters.

I'll endorse this film, but not as if it's a good film.

But if you haven't seen that Three Stooges film, just for their performances, I think you should do yourself a favor, because Will Sasso is curly in that movie, and it's kind of wonderful.

I can make a couple of friends of mine laugh just by saying, peanut nut.

Yeah.

Can we?

I was just going to name another nut.

He's driving his momma crazy.

Macadamia nut.

What?

Pistachio nut.

A macadamia nut.

That's good.

I mean, we're crazy.

Ultimately, Harlan Pepper is an expert on hounds, fly fishing and nuts.

And really, what else is there?

And ventriloquy.

Oh, I guess.

That's a new talent, though.

So, can we talk about how beautiful the relationship between the actors and the dogs were?

Absolutely.

Because in a way, at first I thought, are these actual their dogs?

But they're not.

They are actual Canadian champions.

They belong to other people.

And of course, the judges, some of the judges, were actual judges there, of course, except for the very last judge.

And it's kind of interesting to see that relationship they had with the dogs.

It's almost like that dog belonged to them.

And it always amazes me every time I see and watch this movie, especially the Shih Tzu's and Wink.

It's almost like they're bonded.

And I'm sure at the end of the filming of this, that the actors had a hard time saying goodbye to those dogs, because it just looked like the relationship that they had, a true relationship with that dog.

And I kind of wonder if they kind of like maybe borrowed the dog for a while and had the, you know, had the actors and the dogs kind of like live together and stuff.

So they could develop that bond.

But I don't know.

I thought, I think it's always amazing to watch.

Well, I feel bad for the dog.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry.

No, it's very quick.

But I think the way that they paired the dogs with the actors.

Yeah, that's another thing.

I mean, you could not, I mean, with Parkaposy and her husband, they have got the most neurotic dog.

Yes.

I mean, I feel bad for Beatrice.

Oh my God, right.

And then there's a down to earth wink that he's so cute.

And then the, oh, well, any Shih Tzu.

Hubert is like his buddy.

I mean, that is seriously, this is a pair.

These are two buddies.

They go fishing, they go hunting, they go for walks.

They go, it's a companion.

Right, it's a down to earth dog just like he is.

And then of course you've got the flamboyant Shih Tzus.

Oh, I know.

And the flamboyant couple.

And those dogs are just as flamboyant as they are.

Exactly.

And then the fancy Schmancy Poodle.

Oh, yeah.

Standard poodle.

So yeah, I mean, it all was amazing how well these dogs were paired up with the actors and just how it looks like it was, you know, it was like actually their dog.

So, and you know, kudos to the actors too, because they had to be trained on how to handle these dogs.

So, you know, a lot went into this movie, and you could really tell that, you know, these folks that were in this movie, these actors, everybody just really put a lot of heart in this.

And it's just such an amazing little movie that, you know, just makes you laugh, crack up.

You kind of get emotionally invested in some of the creatures.

Well, yeah, some of the dogs and also with some of the characters.

I just think it was random, stupid thing that I always found kind of, it's like I said, completely random, completely stupid.

But when they were at the dog show, when they were talking about the different breeds, they managed to slide Boarzoi in because somebody must have had fun saying Boarzoi because they kept talking about the Boarzoi.

Right, right.

And well, didn't somebody mention, I think it was Scott who was saying that when he met Vanderhoof, or Stefan, that Scott's dog was doing something to a Boarzoi.

Boarzoi.

Oh, boy.

Yeah, I love this film.

I haven't said a whole lot about it, but a lot of folks said a lot about it, and that's fine.

But I can relate to Jerry Flex so much.

Not his trophy husband, you know, but I've known guys like him, and I'm pretty milk toast myself, pretty simple myself.

You know, I have a cross between him and Harlan, I would say.

If I hadn't had the dog, though, it would be that nourished terrier.

I always like small dogs, and if he knows this or not, but when Darla, who's, you know, I'm starting to cry now.

I can't do that, though.

I know.

But when I first got her groomed, you know, because she was a big floofball mess, I said, I'm going to hold this dog up like Jerry Fleck at the end of this movie.

And it did.

And I was so happy to do that.

You know, it's just, oh my gosh.

I like when Fred Willard describes the sports dogs as the jocks of the dog world.

Even, I mean, even Fred Willard's non sequiturs just work so well.

In the middle of commentating on a dog show, he turns to his partner and says, hey, want to guess how much I can bench?

What?

What does that have to do with anything?

And you're saying this on live television.

Wow.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Just, just take a wild guess.

$3.50.

And $510, $510 deadlift.

So good.

I mean, and you know, like we were talking about with the dogs kind of being the reflection of their owners and kind of looking like them in a lot of ways, it really is a nice comment about like the role that dogs play in our lives.

And, you know, if, I mean, I think most of us here are dog owners.

And if you've got a dog or had a dog, you know, then it's like, it's just one of those things that like you, you will do crazy shit for your dog and the dog doesn't know it.

Like I seen no less than two different kinds of songs to my dog when I'm feeding him.

Couldn't care less.

Like that dog doesn't care, but I'm like appropriating songs from the musical, the producers as, oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Oh, I will definitely sing it's treat time for Johnson and Germany in a heartbeat.

And, and you know, it means nothing to him, but it brings me a lot of joy.

And I think that's kind of the, the thing about this movie is, you know, like for Harlan to put his dog in the, in his, in the pickup truck and drive him to this show.

It's, you know, it, it like, there is something kind of wonderful about that idea of like, yeah, I would love to just get in the car and just drive around with my dog at a place where a bunch of other cool dogs are going to be.

That sounds like a great time.

And, and I think it's one of the, it's one of the reasons I think this would work so well is that as the viewer, even as ridiculous as the characters are, there is something that you can like relatable in those characters.

And also there's a little bit of wish fulfillment too, that yeah, it's all nonsense, but you know, I mean, you got to do something with your life and, and, you know, treating your dog like over well, is that the worst choice you can make?

This movie also has, in my opinion, some of the strongest post-event scenes in a Christopher Guest movie or the What Are They Doing Now, if you will.

I brought it up during Waiting for Guffman because I talked about how some of the What Are They Doing Now scenes in Waiting for Guffman are a little sad, especially like Parker Posey and a Christopher Guest character.

This one, so funny and triumphant.

I mean, even the people that lost still found a way to get a win out of it.

You know, one couple starts a magazine, another couple shoots a calendar, another couple, well, the winning couple records an album, you know.

So just it leaves you with such a good feeling, this movie, whereas Waiting for Guffman leaves me a little sad sometimes when I walk away from it.

This one, no, ear to ear grin as I'm walking away from this film, knowing that everybody, including the shitty swans, even they are in a better situation at the end of the movie.

You know, they've got themselves a new dog who apparently doesn't mind watching them have sex.

They like to watch.

And humping the doctor.

How else would you end a Christopher Guest movie than having a dog hump a psychiatrist?

Come on.

There you go.

So have we talked about how the manager of the hotel mentioned the rock band roasting a goat?

It's a universe.

It's a multi-universe.

It is.

It is.

The fact that he refers to it as the smell of roasted goat and cumin.

And cumin.

Cumin is what sells me on that joke the most.

Apparently their drummer got reincarnated as a hotel manager.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah.

He was one of their original drummers.

But yeah, Eagle Eye fans, you will remember that the Taft Hotel is where Spinal Tap stayed when they stopped in Philadelphia during their film.

Oh my God.

What a beautiful, beautiful connection.

I love it.

Now we have the Gastopian.

There you go.

The Gastopian Universe.

The Guestiverse.

I like it.

Except that, you know, people play like five different characters in the in the Guestiverse.

So yeah, that could get confusing.

Who is Catherine O'Hare in the Guestiverse?

Dr.

Strange in the Guestiverse of Madness.

There you go.

I just saw a commercial for that.

Does it look good?

I don't watch trailers.

Well, I just saw part of it.

There's lots and lots of flashy lights and Benedict Cumberbatch.

And that's pretty much is all I got out of it.

So it's a Marvel movie.

There you go.

Sam Raimi is doing it, though.

I'm going to give it a day in court.

Yeah, but he did Aquaman.

Oh, no, no, my bad.

I'm thinking of Aquaman.

Yeah, no, he did Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 2 rules.

Spider-Man 2 is still one of the best superhero movies.

Oh, for sure.

By far.

Oh, Alfred Molina.

Oscar-worthy.

Yeah.

Still good in No Way Home, as it turns out.

Yeah, absolutely.

And then the last thing I can say about this movie is just the fact that we've got a little bit of Twin Peaks cred in here, too.

Anyone who knows me might know Twin Peaks is my favorite TV show of all time, and to see Major Briggs be the judge in the Best in Show category, just, it tickles me.

Even though he has, like, all four words, not even whole lines, just a few words here and there, for whatever it's worth, it makes me happy.

Yeah, I felt the same way.

I was like, oh, they need to have, like, the picture of his face floating, wavily over.

Or show the log lady in the audience somewhere.

Whatever.

My log likes that dog.

I'll kick it back to Bo.

Anything else you'd like to say, and what do you give it 1 to 10?

Oh, man, I think this is a solid 9 out of 10 for me.

It's hard to find fault with it in the grand scheme of things.

You know, there are little moments here or there that I feel like, oh, well, this is just a thread that kind of goes nowhere, but that's kind of the nature of these improvisational movies.

But that said, like, I find it ridiculously funny.

I think it's strangely sweet.

I love, you know, Megan.

What is her husband's name?

Parker Voser?

Yeah, they're matching outfits.

And the fact that even at the end of the movie, when they're dressed, strangely not unlike the parrot toy, it's got the same kind of color scheme, but they're the color coordinate with one another, I think is a really funny bit.

And the fact that they both have braces and everything, like that couple is such a disaster of a couple, but I can't get enough of it.

I would watch an entire movie just about their day-to-day life.

But yeah, it's really funny.

It's really sweet.

It is outside of Spinal Tap.

It is absolutely my favorite in the Guestiverse.

And I cannot say enough great things about it.

If someone is listening to this, who has never seen Best in Show, it's not bombastic or anything.

It doesn't go for gut laughs.

It just is insistently really, really funny.

And it's anchored by some of the best comedians that have ever worked.

And seeing them all together in this particular film is just a joy, especially because some of them are gone now.

And seeing this movie, it's like, man, what a wonderful testament, the work that they did.

It's so good.

Iris.

Sorry, I was muted.

Yeah, no, for me, this is, I mean, this is me.

This is the most favorite guest movie for me.

And I mean, I could sit and watch this even twice a day, I think, and I would still crack up laughing.

And it's not just, that's funny.

No, I was literally laughing out loud while I was watching this movie.

And every time, I will do it.

And like I was saying before, I know that certain scenes are coming, and I will start giggling even before the gag happens.

So yeah, this movie's a six.

I mean, a 10 out of 10 for me.

Sorry, I forgot what show I was on.

Man, absolutely love this movie.

This is a movie that I could probably never watch with someone who's never seen it before, because as Iris said, I would just start laughing before the gags even started.

And then the person with me would end up missing half of me because of my loud ass laughter.

So yeah, what a testament to this thing.

The fact that I just watched this last night, as I said, again, for the hundredth time, and it still gets me every time.

Every joke is on point.

Even the ones that maybe fall a little bit flat, you still let out a tiny little chuckle, because deep down inside, you know, this is ridiculous and it's very, very funny.

As I mentioned, probably the best post-event or what are they doing now scenes of the series.

Whether I can call this my favorite or not is a tough one.

On the last episode when we did Waiting for Guffman, I said A Mighty Wind is my favorite.

The thing is, is that with those two movies, A Mighty Wind and Best in Show, my favorite is just whatever the one I most recently saw is, because they entertain me to no end.

So I'll have to watch A Mighty Wind like really, really soon just to really lock down finally which one is my favorite.

But I mean, it's definitely between those two.

I am a musician, so anything they do involving music, like Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind is going to speak to me.

Obviously, you know, the love of animals and being married to a vet.

Best in Show is going to speak to me, my love of film and television.

So, you know, one of the last ones they did, I think it was called For Your Consideration, another one that I really liked.

So for me, I actually said 10 out of 10 earlier.

I'm going to amend that just a little bit, and I'm going to come in with a 9.5, only because Parker Posey was being racist to that hotel employee.

There's a lot of pluses in.

Oh, I love this movie.

And between this and A Mighty Wind, it is usually the one that I've seen most recently that is my favorite, but the two movies are just perfect.

But this one, there are so many little strings throughout the movie that you don't realize are there.

And it's the characters.

And yes, I sing silly songs to my dogs all the time.

I come up with ridiculously stupid nicknames for both of them.

Right now, I was really tired.

I wasn't sure who I was yelling at.

I've got Naya and Nara.

And it came out, Naira.

So now, when I don't know who I'm yelling at, I just call Naira.

So one of them knows they're in trouble.

But the way that we interact, it's...

This movie is just...

It's damn near perfect.

And it's...

You're right, it's not straight up belly laughs throughout the entire movie.

It's subtle humor.

But after you see it a few times, you know what's coming.

And I would be the same way.

I just start laughing because I know what's gonna happen.

And side note on Will Sasso.

He was in a movie, I think it was called...

I want to say Drop Dead Gorgeous with Denise Richards.

And what's that?

Oh, terrific movie.

He only had a few lines, but he's literally the same guy.

But in Drop Dead Gorgeous, he's just a little more perverted.

But I just...

I do adore this movie.

And I'll quit talking now.

Honestly, I can't go any lower than a 10.

There's just too much here to love.

And I can't say...

I can't say that there's anything in there that makes me look down upon it at all.

So it's gonna get my rare 10 out of 10.

I gotta mention how good our newcomers are in this movie, because Jane Lynch, who's not unknown at this point, I don't think, or she's pretty unknown.

She hasn't done much since then, but she's not waiting for Gufman, that's what made her want to be in this movie.

And John Michael Higgins is underutilized as a comedian, I think, because he's in this, he shows up in A Mighty Wind, which I think he's better in, because he shows his prowess as a musician and a singer in that movie, too.

And just underutilized as an actor.

I love everything I've ever seen him in.

I'm a sucker for Fred Claus with Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti.

He's in that movie.

Just great.

And it's a great film all around.

If you're a dog person at all, you're going to love this movie.

If you love anything that we've said on this episode, you're going to love this movie.

I enjoy every time I fucking watch it, every minute of it.

So I got to give it a 10 out of 10.

I love it that much.

So, yeah.

Speaking of pet names, one of my favorite things to do is to give overly elaborate names to buy pets.

And so when I got Johnson was a rescue, the dog I've got now, which always sounded very formal to me, although I think it's because he's got kind of a big dick.

I think that's why I'm going to do this name.

She does.

It's kind of distracting.

But so the name, the overly elaborate name I've given him is Johnson Presbyterian, Barkington the Third.

And so that's how I signed his name and stuff at doctor, you know, the vet offices and so forth.

And so every now and again, you'll get the notice of like, oh, it's time for Johnson Presbyterian, Barkington the Third's new round of anti-worm medicine.

And it delights me to know it.

It's no more exotic than Excel's Desi Does It With Pizzaz, which was rhapsody and light.

Yeah.

Oh, my Naya, my oldest, Naya Lasatab, Sheldon Cooper Capoletti, because, you know, lovecraft.

And from the time she was a puppy, if one of the cats, if one of us were in her spot, she would sit there and start barking.

Oh, she'll let you know.

That's how the Sheldon Cooper got attached to it.

And Nara, I had a great name picked out, but Pat's like, no, I want them to match.

So we have Nara instead of something really cool.

So, of course, I named her Black Nara Naya Lasatab, which is always fun to how do you pronounce that?

Nara.

My one cat that I had before we lost, unfortunately, in the fire was named Major Mittens Thunder Pussy McGillicutty.

That was that was that was her whole name.

And Duchess's whole name is Duchess Furiosa O'Shaughnessy.

So that's that's I like to give them the library names too.

I didn't name Darla, but she was just Darla.

And that was my friend.

I missed that.

God damn.

I just stopped doing this.

But I'm going to end this now.

Just put it that way.

Thank you all for being on here.

And we'll be right back with something else.

Now here's something we hope you'll really like.

You are about to see scenes from an unusual film about an amazing man.

And we really can't blame Andy for not wanting to take a leave of absence, can we, sir?

Not until after I got to kill her, sir.

Something else for you to take care of.

This man who called me, I don't have to beat him up, I just pay him money.

Says there's a leak in your territory.

You plan on starting your own operation here?

Don't miss it.

Hello, folks.

Welcome back once again to the Crippled Theater.

I am one guy on the show, but the other guy, I say, right next to me.

I'm looking at him to the right of me on my screen, so that's good enough.

Well, not good enough for him to be here, be here.

That'd be awesome.

But Ricky Morgan is here.

How are you doing, sir?

Great, man.

Yeah, I'm sitting here, shaving off my big bushy eyebrows, even though I'm blind and I can't see.

But we're gonna talk about another movie that pushes the boundaries of The Little Engine That Could.

It has at least 30% less eyebrows, I think.

Right.

We're talking about the movie you heard in the trailer, Mr.

No Legs, or The Amazing Mr.

No Legs, which to chair is the least impressive thing about it, in my opinion, but we'll get into that.

Your cheapo plot synopsis is, Head's role is two cops, Chuck and Andy, go against Mr.

D'Angelo, the biggest drug dealer in Florida, and his ruthless enforcer, Fred, who has no legs, but does have two mean double-barrel shotguns built into his wheelchair.

The stars, yeah, I'm sorry.

No, that's okay, what else you need?

What else you need, exactly, right?

The stars, Richard Jekyll as Chuck, and former professional wrestler, Ron Slinker.

I'm not sure what he came out as, as his partner, Andy, in this movie.

Lloyd Bachner as D'Angelo, your drug dealer.

And we're gonna find the guy's name, he's pretty important.

Rance Howard shows up in this movie.

Don't forget Rance, don't forget your Rance, man.

Rance Howard as Lou, one of the subordinates of Mr.

D'Angelo.

And I'm starring Ted Bullrath as Mr.

No Legs in this movie.

He's impressive.

I gotta get in there right now.

Why is he so impressive?

Because he does some martial arts in this movie and it looks strange in our eyes, thinking like it's all a work, but this guy was the real deal in so many ways.

Fought in the Korean War, lost both of his legs there.

And I imagine some kind of fatal things that have happened to his legs.

I imagine he got shot terribly or blown up terribly, one or two.

It doesn't say all that at IMDB.

Figured it's probably a mine or something.

Yeah.

You think about losing both legs like that, then yeah, I mean, but yeah, come on.

This dude's bad.

But didn't stop him though.

Began training in martial arts in 1967.

He was the first person to wear a black belt in karate while training out of a wheelchair.

Eventually became a grandmaster, acquired black belts and several different styles of martial arts.

And in 1971, he founded the Martial Arts School for the Handicapable Incorporated, an organization dedicated to teaching the martial arts to disabled people.

And to be in this oddity and for him to be the real deal, it doesn't hurt it.

It helps me.

Yeah, here we go.

While serving in the Marine Corps, his legs got shattered by an enemy mortar shell in 1952 during a battle near Incheon, Korea when he was only 13 years later.

His legs were probably taken off.

But yeah, thank you for your service and service in this movie, sir, because you elevated his donkey.

Sure.

Well, and again, of course, I didn't know any of the backstory stuff that you were talking about here.

So, I mean, come on.

That's even greater than the fact that this movie has him in it doing what he does.

The fact that he challenged himself to push himself beyond what, you know, I'm sure people said, no, you can't do that.

And for him to fund his own martial arts school, that's pretty crazy.

That's nice, man.

Yeah, it's awesome.

This is directed by Riku Browning, which if you don't know that name, he is the one in the Creature in Black Lagoon that does the swimming scenes as the creature.

He's the only creature, man.

He's like the only living one that there is.

So if you don't have something from him, he's like 90 something years old.

So he's still with us.

And this is written with his, apparently this guy, Jack Cowden, the writer, and Riku Browning created Flipper.

I had no idea.

Yeah, he was the director of Flipper.

I mean, I watched a few episodes.

He gets to work on Gentle Ben, too.

Oh, nice.

I watched a few episodes here and there of Flipper, but Gentle Ben wasn't, because they had played him on Nickelodeon when I was younger, younger, but they didn't show a lot of Gentle Ben on Nickelodeon, unfortunately.

Who doesn't love that?

A man is a bear.

Come on, man.

I mean, the transition of I'm the creature to Flipper to Mr.

No Legs.

I mean, you can see that transition, right?

Oh, totally.

Maybe the Flipper to the creature thing, but not so much the other, but you know.

Right.

But, yeah, this movie, it takes place in a CD, whatever you want to call it.

You know, you got these two cops, one of which has a sister who's in college, hanging out with some frigate degenerates that's into some drugs.

This movie starts with somebody rolling cocaine pills and size cigars or something.

I don't know what's going on in this movie with the drugs.

But he, of course, you know, tries to play a game with Mr.

D'Angelo, you know, getting himself in trouble and actually kills his girlfriend, which is Andy's sister.

And this sets all this in the motion along with Mr.

D'Angelo's enforcer.

I know nothing to do with her death, but, you know, there's a guy in a wheelchair who has guns attached to his wheelchair.

He could fire at any time, I guess.

It's I guess that's the least impressive thing about him.

You know, double barrel shotguns.

But he's got these arm rest on it and he hits the switch and arm rest drop down.

And it exposes these two double barrel shotguns.

And he just turns into a blasted beast.

It's fun, you know, if you watch like stuff like those Italian Westerns where they have the gadgets and stuff.

Like I think it's like Django, not Django, but Ringo, I think it is, is a series.

Django had the big gun in the coffin.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, stuff like that, you know, they're to use later in other films.

It's a neat little gadget, you know, I do enjoy it.

But you're right, I mean, it's not the most impressive thing.

But you got to remember, what year is this 76, 70, 78, there you go.

78.

Yeah.

So, I mean, it was it was all about, you know, how, you know, just doing something different, right?

So for this guy to have gadgets on a wheelchair, you know, you probably never seen that before.

Yeah.

So they were in this investigation and they're wondering why she would do this because she set up to have an overdose.

But the dumbasses didn't know how forensics work because they put the drugs in the system like an hour after she died, like, they're not going to notice this, you know.

It's like, oh, no, she's out of the smack, but not really.

She died anticipating the drugs hit in her system.

Yes.

So terrified, the needle jumped into her vein after she died and said, OK, there you go.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, this film is also known as Gunfighter.

I forgot to mention that, which is more which is as accurate as Mr.

No Legs.

We'll get into that in a little while.

I got to mention Richard, Richard J.

Jago's car in this movie.

Oh, yeah.

I think it's some kind of orange Camaro.

But for some reason, they took on any, you know, identifiable tags off of the car, including the grill.

It looks like a kid car, unfortunately.

Yeah, it's definitely a Camaro.

But still pretty badass.

Yeah, it's bright orange, almost like the 76 gas stations, you know, that old emblem, the big round circle that said 76.

And it was like that color orange, almost kind of a burnt, bright orange.

Yes, I was enjoying a cool car by an older gentleman, you know, thank you, Jim Rockford, Rockford Files, you know.

Yes.

Cruisers it around.

See, that made him cool, you know.

Yeah, that and the theme song, man.

I thought the Rockford Files were awesome just because of the theme song.

We don't go too deep into the plot here, but I'm going to ask Ricky, you know, what he thinks about the film in general?

Well, I was saying before we kind of got rolling here, there's something I just absolutely love about the 70s grindhouse era of movies because, you know, even though I'm an 80s person through and through, as far as TV and movies, I'm always a sucker for low-budget 70s movies.

And because, like I said earlier when we were talking, you almost feel like you're not supposed to be seeing this.

It's almost like you found this movie that's been put away that you're not supposed to see because it's nasty to some degree, right?

It's like this movie was shot with the same camera that they just shot some 70s porn with.

It just feels like one could run into the other and nothing would feel out of place.

So, I don't know.

There's just something I love about this time period of movies.

And this one, I think it's funny that the movie is called Mr.

No Legs.

Obviously, he's the talking point of the movie, but the movie is not really his story.

He just happens to be in the movie because he works with this guy and they turned their back on him and stuff.

And he has to kind of plot his own little revenge.

But it's weird.

It's called Mr.

No Legs.

But really, the story is about more of the cops.

It's more about Andy than anything else.

So, it's a fun watch.

I don't know that Rantz plays a good bad guy or drug dealer.

I think because we've just seen him in so many other things, it's hard to see him that way.

But you can't deny the Jakel.

I mean, anything he's in, I'm game.

He's certainly elevating his partner who should have a bigger role in this movie.

They maybe should have been a different actor, but they got this big old hunky, like I said, former wrestler, apparently.

This guy was, you know.

And that makes a lot of sense, too, because the fight scenes are pretty dang good.

So, you've got this ex-pro wrestler, and then you've got Mr.

No Legs, who's got this martial arts degree.

That's why these fight scenes work.

Yeah, we gotta talk about Mr.

No Legs, too, because our character, our title character, he gets screwed over by his subordinates, and he decides he's going to get revenge by killing some of his subordinates.

Yeah, with the guns, and there's a particular pool scene that anybody listening to at least has to watch, because he gets to show off his martial arts skills.

But it starts with a ninja star on the side of his wheel.

Yeah, absolutely.

Just reaches down and pops it off the spoke in his wheelchair wheel, and he's ready for action.

It's like, somebody told me I was going to need this one day, and here it is.

The moment is now.

Ninja star.

No, but it's great, though, because you get to see our title character, he's doing some push-ups on the chair.

Oh yeah, showing off for the ladies, yeah.

Oh yeah, because later on, he has to have this fight, and he's really showing off his, I don't want to use the word stump, but he hits people with his stump, okay?

And it's pretty awesome.

That's the way I describe it, his bottom part of his body.

Man, it's just fun to watch, and I can see why he has it.

I was looking, trying my damn best to find some video of some possible competitions he was in, or anything, and I couldn't find anything, and it kind of makes me sad, because I like to see him do some stuff, you know, in competition type, you know, and it's not there, it's just not there.

And it's amazing that he's like the basis of the title and the cover and all the good stuff, but he's not really the big enemy, and he gets dispatched about two-thirds into this movie, unfortunately, and then it turns into The Duke's a Hazard, for some reason.

I was going to say, you've got the bar fight scene between the two girls, which is pretty cool.

My God, it's hilarious.

Yeah, then you've got the pool scene, and you've got, well, you've got Andy at the bar, too, after the girls fight, and he throws some guys around, which looks really good, but then the pool scene and then the car chase, man.

I mean, this movie's got it.

That bar scene reminds me so much of, like, the nothing scenes that are in street trash that make you laugh so hard.

Like the scene where the guy goes in the grocery store and he's stealing all the groceries.

That bar scene is just like, hey, here's this girl that's mine.

I think she's supposed to be his informant that he's waiting for.

But she's just in this bar starting shit with somebody.

And it turns into this big, like, bottle breaking, like, comedic thing.

And she gets stabbed with a broken bottle.

And there's a little person in the back laughing his ass off.

It's the 70s, man.

It's the magic of the 70s.

It's like anything goes.

It didn't have to make sense.

We're shooting a movie here.

That little person needed to be doing some martial arts, is all I'm saying.

It'd be amazing.

Sure.

I didn't see it, but I'm sure if I looked real hard, I could find it.

But Jim Kelly shows up in this movie for a hot second from End of the Dragon and Black Belt Jones.

Oh, yeah.

How can I not mention Three the Hard Way?

That movie, too.

It comes straight out of a comic book.

So good.

Yeah, this film, I think, you know, that when you learn that things about, you know, about the actor and, you know, performer, martial artist, you see what you could do with with no legs that a lot of men can't do with with full bodies.

Yeah.

It makes this film all that much more impressive to me.

You know, well, so I think the only thing, like I said, no, I'm sorry.

I'm stepping on you.

I think we got a little delayed, but that's fine.

But again, it's like, it's called Mr.

No Legs, but really he's, he's not in it a lot.

I mean, you know, he shows up, he shoots some people goes, I don't care if they die.

They needed to die.

You know, so he's got this attitude and he's a pretty good hit guy, but you just figure that the movie would be more about following him around and him being a bad guy, getting his back turned, which all this stuff happens, but it's not the main focus of the movie, which makes it really kind of odd.

You got to love that he looks kind of unassuming too, that he rolls up in this wheelchair.

He's got no legs and he's got like a 10-year-old boy's haircut going on.

He's like this big stocky dude.

Yeah, yeah, the haircut kind of throws it a little bit for sure.

Hey, you know, he's too busy learning martial arts.

He ain't got time to learn to cut his own hair.

Man, ain't that true, man.

I just see the picture of the little dude.

You know, it's hilarious.

He's got a big old hat on and stuff.

Damn, that's funny.

It's so funny.

It's so random.

Like I said, it seems like that.

And like for no reason.

And they messed up Richard J.

Cole's whip, which is the most tragic death in the whole movie.

Yeah.

Because D'Angelo steals his car and he's chasing behind him in a damn police car.

And one of the most amazing things happened, and I love this trope about this random thing just sitting in the road and how D'Angelo is taken out, and how unfortunately our detective's car is taken out, is there are random blocks of ice in the way and you know he's going to run into them.

You just wait for it to happen.

There's no other reason for the ice to be there.

But I've got to admit, the cop car that's coming over the drawbridge is going up and it runs over the top of those cars.

It's got some smoky and abandoned things going on here.

Some great stunts for, I'd imagine this film was very cheap to make.

Oh yeah.

You get lots of fun.

I get down with it.

But again, J.

Cole, he's one of those actors that would elevate this inexperienced actor's performance.

He does it real well.

Yeah, it's funny.

My wife walked through when I was watching it and she's like, she pointed out to D'Angelo, she's like, I've seen that guy in a hundred movies.

And J.

Cole, that guy's been in a hundred movies.

And then of course Ransdell, she's like, what kind of movie is this?

I'm like, 70s schlock, baby.

It's best there are no legs, baby.

Come on.

Either you're on board or you're not.

She was it.

So.

Damn it.

But that's what's impressive about this time period again, because these people would make these movies and they were in tons of stuff back then.

And you would think, you know, is there a level that is too low for you to do these movies?

And it's probably favors.

They probably know the director, a good friend.

They trying to make this movie and they, you know, do it for a small fee or whatever.

So I don't know.

I would imagine the market was a little different during the 70s like that with all the independent, you know, filmmakers running around doing stuff and buddying up with people.

I mean, you watch, you watch many films like this.

You go watch.

There's a film called The Glove that features John Saxon.

Yeah.

It's about a guy who murders, who's a murderer on the loose.

And he's the he's the detective.

But this guy has fashioned like a like a metal gauntlet that can crush people's heads.

This is a movie for the 70s people, you know.

It can be made any other decade except for the 70s.

Poor John Saxon.

He was always the detective.

I can't tell you how many times I watched a movie, you know, like random movie, because that's that's one of the best things about the Internet is about social media is that people say, hey, look at this random thing.

They're like, hey, I've never seen it before.

So it's new to me.

And then you watch it and you say, hey, yeah, that can only be made in the 70s.

It can not be made now.

You know, right.

Never, ever.

Yep.

No doubt about it.

Any final things you want to say about Mr.

No Legs, sir?

You know, if you like, if you like the 70s grindhouse stuff, this is a must watch.

I mean, it fits right in there between they call her left eye and roller ball or it just kind of works with whatever.

It is just a slice of 70s Americana.

There's not so much corporate greed in this movie, OK, like in Rollerball, you know.

But she got it root for old John Deneen in that movie.

One of my most favorite closing shots in any movie is Rollerball.

It's so fucking satisfying.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, this is this is great, though.

I recommend watching it, you know, with maybe the new information that you have, you ever seen it before you say, wow, this this this because you'd see him doing this stuff in the chair.

You think, oh, this is just the work.

But now that you know, it's not a work that he was the real deal.

No longer with us, unfortunately.

But he kicked some ass over a lot of adversity.

And I admire that greatly.

And I admire this film more because of that.

It elevates it, I think.

Totally agree.

My gosh.

Well, that's Mr.

No Legs.

We'll see you next time with an 80s film about a wheelchair that actually does some more shit than this wheelchair.

See, they took it to the next level, didn't they?

They turned it up to 11.

With a post-apocalyptic sort of film that features Tiny Zeus Lister and a handicapped kid that's gonna tear him up because it's some vigilantes for their, I guess, to stay alive.

I never seen this before.

I'm excited to watch it again.

Look on the internet, you'll find some shit.

Wired to Kill from 1986.

Oh, man, I can't wait.

I haven't seen it either, so I'm excited about this one.

But you guys can find that on YouTube to watch for free.

If you don't want to watch before we review.

So check out that there.

Yo-yo.

Yo-yo.

Thank you, Rick.

Yeah, anytime, man.

And we'll be right back with something else.

It's odd that Lori came from such a different...

Right, a completely different path.

I was brought up in a very small town just south of the Chicago city limits and just far enough away to have been peopled with pure and adulterated white trash.

And because I was one of so many children, I don't believe that anyone noticed when I blew town at 15 and ended up in San Francisco, California.

And it's at this point in my story that the dark clouds part because I met a certain Mr.

Wiseman who gave me a job in his shop.

And before long, he tapped me to do some small roles in some of his short films for more mature audiences.

And before long, I had landed, if you will, some leads.

And then I started to do some cameos.

Well, I was known for doing a certain thing that many of the other girls wouldn't do.

And of course, I loved to sing ever since I was a little girl.

And I learned to play the ukulele in one of my last films, Not So Tiny Tim.

Finally, in the news tonight, the music world mourns the death of folk music icon Irving Steinblum.

Steinblum managed the careers of the Main Street Singers, The Folksman and Mitch and Mickey.

The only fitting tribute that we could come up with was a memorial concert.

I'd like to think that Mitch would agree to do this, because I already said yes.

Where else could we have such an event, the town hall?

We're very pleased to be having the folk people here.

The acoustics are just perfect.

All the way Well, there's a puppy in the parlor You went to the record store, you knew that the new Folksman album would be one word.

Mitch and Mitch and Ramblin singin They had no hole in the center of the records.

If you punched a hole in them, you'd have a good time.

My dad, Fred Knox, was an original Main Street singer.

He's a dead person now, but when he was alive, he was so happy.

There had been abuse in my family, but it was mostly musical in nature.

I must say, I was in awe of Mitch and Mickey.

Who was it?

Mitch was mysterious and intense.

I don't remember much.

We are so excited to be part of this project.

Absolutely.

It's something of a challenge for me because I don't like folk music.

Me too.

Quick plug, all.

I'm Mike LaFontaine, owner and founder of High Class Management.

Whoops!

I had a hit that you might have heard of, Hooded Legged Little Goman, which means How's It Hanging, Grandma?

Those are lights hanging up there?

Yes, those are lights.

Could they fall?

And that's a ceiling above us.

Excuse me, I must be full.

It's like a wire.

I see a wire.

I see a...

Ow!

I feel ready for a voyage on this magnificent vessel.

I love Mitch.

What if we see sailfish?

What?

Hello folks, welcome back to the show.

We're here to do one more Christopher Guest review for you guys, and that is A Mighty Wind from 2003.

And with us tonight, blowing peace and freedom and blowing you and me is...

Suzanne is here, how you doing, girl?

Oh, not much.

You had to do it?

Beautiful.

Doctor, a brief meltdown.

I'm here and I'm happy to be here.

That's okay.

Meltdowns are important, you know, to vent to somebody, you know.

With us tonight also is Lovely Iris.

Oh, hello.

How are you all doing?

Oh, fine, fine, fine, fine.

And our special guest panelists for this review, you may know him from the Friday Nightmares podcast and his Smokeshow OnlyFans account, as Heather would love to say, you know.

He is, I'm not going to give the big introduction.

He gives himself every show, just to, you know, blow gremlins or whatnot.

I don't know what he does, but he's here.

He's bearded.

He's waxed, waxed and all of that, all that stuff.

From Swords Creek, Michigan, this is the Smokeshow with Scott Crawford.

How are you doing, sir?

What's going on, everybody?

Man, I just, I'm very happy to be here and I'm hoping by the end of this, I get a kiss.

Oh, that would entertain Heather to no end if I fucking gave you a kiss at the end of the rainbow.

That's all I'm saying about that, you know.

Oh, God, no, that you could say your only fans paid up with.

OK, yeah, y'all, y'all ain't getting that shit for free.

You ain't getting that shit.

The beard, you ain't getting that shit for free.

We'll see you, but you buy the cow, you get the scott for free.

That doesn't work that way.

It doesn't work that way.

Yeah, I mean, you always get the scott.

I mean, I give myself up.

No problem.

But yeah, we're here to talk about A Mighty Wind, which is another mockumentary in the Christopher Guest oeuvre.

This is a story about a folk producer who dies, so they're going to put a concert with his major acts that he brought up and loved, and the conflicts that occur within the making of this concert.

And this has many of your principal cast members that you knew from the other Christopher Guest ones, Catherine O'Hara as Mickey Crabb, Eugene Levy as Mitch Cohen, Mickey and Mitch right there.

This, of course, reunites Spinal Tap in a film.

Harry Shearer as Mark Shove, Michael McKeon as Jerry Fuffalter, and Christopher Guest as Alan Barrows, so that's special.

Jane Lynch shows up in a much major role in this movie.

As Laurie Bonner, John Michael Higgins, again, underutilized in everything but these movies.

Terry Bonner as Terry Bonner, Parker Posey as Delightful, as Cissy Knox, Fred Willard, what happened?

as Michael LaFontaine, Bob Balaban as Jonathan Steinblum, the son of the Patriarch there, one of the sons.

Jennifer Coolidge shows up again, Larry Miller shows up again, with a delightful ponynode for no reason.

I don't know why that thing exists, but it's magical.

Ed Begley Jr.

as Lars Oflin, who puts on the concert.

Paul Dooley shows up again, bless him.

I didn't see her.

I gotta go back and look for this now.

Mary Gross shows up in this movie.

And I always love when she shows up in things, so now I gotta go back and look again, because I missed that.

Oh, she's only there very, very, very, very briefly.

I gotta look anyway, though.

She's one of the original Main Street singers.

I'm that kid that grew up in the WeFeds and watched it way too many times.

And one day on the show, ladies, one day on the show, I promise.

But I have a good time with the tunes in this movie and the acting, everything about it.

Music and lyrics by our Spinal Teff panelists and as well as Eugene Levy and Captain O'Hara.

And Michael McKean's wife has some writing credits and Nitto Tulle are married, and she has a writing credit on this as well.

They wrote A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, which I'm sure we'll talk about and probably weep about because that's the song in this movie that's pretty freaking special.

But I'll kick it to our guest first, The Smoke Show.

What's your thoughts, your initial thoughts on A Mighty Wind?

Oh man, so this, I'm kind of new to Christopher Guest movies.

I've only seen Best in Show and I freaking love that movie.

So when you offered me to join the podcast for one of the show episodes, I was like, all right, I hope I get A Mighty Wind because that's one I've always wanted to check out and I've got the lucky straw.

And man, I am so happy I got this one.

This was just so freaking funny and entertaining and kind of heartwarming.

And also just the music is amazing.

I love folk music and this was great and like beautifully done.

But holy shit, I just got to say Eugene Levy with the way he talks throughout this movie just steals the freaking show from me.

I kind of like doing this fun.

I just I love it and the combination between him and Catherine O'Hara, like as always, just so good.

Because, yeah, I love and I love seeing them in Schitt's Creek now.

So that just made me very happy to see them again from back in the day.

Cool.

Iris.

OK, first of all, I have to say that I'm very grateful for model trains or else without them, we wouldn't have real trains.

Holy shit, you know, that woman, the fucking screen, anytime she is on it because she is funny and she, I don't know, I just love her.

But this movie in itself, it's lots of fun.

I mean, you know, it's kind of funny, but I was talking with a friend of mine, Robin, from another podcast.

And I was telling her that, you know, I know people like this.

I mean, like in real life.

There is a gentleman by the name of Jim and he is basically a hippie type of artistic dude.

And his wife was a music teacher and it was guitar and the dulcimer, just like them.

And sadly, she passed away a couple of years ago.

But you know, he is that dude.

He is Mitch.

I mean, he walks around just like lost.

And they lived on a commune and everything.

Knowing stage people is funny because you can see every single person in this movie.

It's like you know someone.

You know someone that acts like this.

The music in this is fucking amazing.

I'm not too much into the folksy music, but you know I like music to tell stories.

And that's basically what these guys are doing.

And I think the music's great.

The singing is amazing.

Done by the actors themselves.

And of course, you know, who wouldn't want to worship another dimension where color is the 49th vibration?

We are the 49th vibration of color.

I mean, how would you not know that?

You know, anybody walking down the street knows that, right?

But, you know, they don't fly around on burbs.

No, they wear the witchy hats, but they don't fly around on burbs.

No, this movie is so much fun.

It's just such quirkiness.

And then, of course, Bob Balaban.

John, I mean, this guy.

Obviously, he had a Jewish mother.

They're very overbearing.

They played polo.

They played polo on Shetland Ponies.

So they wouldn't fall far.

Had to wear a football helmet when he was in the jazz club.

The fact that he's like walking around, he's on stage and he's like, he's like, are those lights up hanging up there?

Is that a wire?

The stage manager just slaps him on the head.

Don't get your eye gouged out by an apple blossom for the love of God.

Old people in wheelchairs are going to get tangled up in the vines.

Every character just takes it to that place where it's just over the top because the most creative people that are on stage are over the top because if they weren't, they wouldn't be on stage.

Mickey and Mitch, it's that typical love story that the two artists met.

They fell in love and there was a nasty breakup.

They never talked to each other.

Then here they are back and each one has their version of the kiss of like, well, I wasn't leading him on and then he's like, well, I wasn't leading her on.

But it's cute and I have to say, depending on what mood I'm in, the song at the end where they say the kiss at the end of the rainbow, sometimes I get like a little teary-eyed because it's such a sweet song.

And to see the two characters that have been at odds with each other for so long, and they do kiss, it's kind of cute.

But anyway, but yeah, this is a great movie.

Not one of my favorite, but pretty close to it.

I have a theory.

I think that this movie is Spinal Tap in alternate dimension.

Okay.

Okay, like a full song Spinal Tap.

No, I'm listening.

I can't really believe it.

It is.

Because, I mean, it was, as I was watching it, I can't even count how many times they've seen this movie.

And when they're talking to the one, you know, the magazine writer, his name, and this is what made me think of it, is Martin Berg, the guy that Paul Benedict, or as I always like to call him, Bentley.

And the filmographer was Marty de Burghie.

Yeah.

And like I said, you see the same three in the folksman, and you have these other acts around them.

But I swear to God, he wrote this and stuck them in a folk music alternate time lock.

Spinal tap, but now they're the folksman.

I don't want to interrupt you, but they do have a genuine spinal tap moment in the movie, at least one that I can recall, is where the Main Street singers do their song first, that they're going to do, and then...

Harry Shearer!

He goes, just as hypothetical, what state would you wander in?

And then he yells at him without yelling at him, you know?

It's just kind of wonderful.

It's like the Stonehenge thing.

Oh, I know.

I straight up...

Once again, but I think maybe just because I watch them so close together and I've never watched those two movies within a week or so of each other, and all of a sudden this just jumped at me.

So there's that, and I absolutely love...

There's just, once again, as Iris said, the quirkiness.

But I mean, going back to the song, The Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, there's something incredibly heartwarming and touching about that entire thing because everybody comes out, Michael McKean is sitting there, it's like, oh, it's such a pretty song.

Are they gonna do The Kiss?

And everybody is flooding side stage to get a glimpse to see if they're actually gonna do it.

And yes, I actually did shed a tear because it is just a beautiful song and I couldn't remember, but I was pretty sure that was the song that got nominated for an Oscar.

I don't think it won, fucking should have, but that scene is for me, I think that's like the pinnacle of the movie.

And you go through your rapid thing at the end of what everybody is up to.

I think Mickey and Maude, or Maude, what the hell?

Did I mention Mickey?

My God, where the hell is my head tonight?

I think theirs is the funniest, because she's there, you know, pimpin sure flow.

And he's writing poetry again, and he's like, I'm so open now.

I didn't want to leave her on.

And the folks that are playing casinos, which, awesome.

And well, we have a drastic transformation that happened too, which, you die the first time you see the movie, you're like, what?

Okay, I get that you're all about, you know, taking care of your skin.

Well, you know.

Apparently, maybe that was the next logical step for him.

You know, Norwegian fishermen, they use hand cream all the time, just throw it out there, you know.

And it's just, it's so, there's so many things.

And Iris, we talked a lot about Bob Balaban, but he is at his absolute neurotic best in this movie.

I'm very, very organized, and he's sitting there moving things around like, yeah, I know that feels.

And like I said, the apple blossom, like somebody's going to put their eye out.

They're going to get tangled in this vine.

Some very low hanging vines, so watch out for those.

But when the stage manager goes and slaps you upside the head, you just can't help but fucking fall out laughing.

That is one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

And this one for me, it's not like, is laugh out loud funny?

It's some of the other things.

There's just, there's, I guess it's just kind of, they're playing a lot on the nostalgia and making it work very well of, you know, bygone days and folk music and all the folk clubs and how everybody knew each other.

And they brought, for me, I think they did a great job.

And, you know, some of the songs that the Main Street singers did were just funny as hell.

It was like, you get the sweet potato going.

And yeah, I started singing that while I was watching the movie.

I'm like, you need to make that stop.

Do it.

Keep singing that song.

You know what?

I kind of agree with the folksmen or the folkmen.

Those really aren't folk songs.

Those are like ditties.

Yeah.

You know, because yeah, it does tell a story, but it's a happy-go-lucky story.

Yeah.

It does fit more into the ditty category than a folk song.

For the folk songs, there was always some kind of deepness to them.

Exactly.

Like the last song, A Mighty Wind.

I love that song, right?

Because it totally encompasses, and it's kind of like the personification of the time when they were, you know, they were it.

They were the big thing.

It was a time of, you know, civil rights and the civil rights movement, the women's movement, all of that.

And you know what it says, freedom and equality.

So to me, that is the perfect folk song.

And I'm glad that that's what they ended up.

Of course, you know, it's Christopher Guest.

Why wouldn't you do that?

But yeah, I kind of agree with the folks.

They're just too happy-go-lucky.

Yeah, and they're kind of like the fake knockoffs.

They're not the actual Main Street singers.

They're the new Main Street singers.

And the only one that's actually got any connection is Sissy.

And I'm sorry, Parker Posey is just as cute as a fucking button in this movie, especially when she's playing her ukulele for the class.

And she's just sitting there playing and just big ass smile on her face.

The kids are like, oh my God, what the fuck?

Fresh hell is this?

But this is just one of those movies that for me, it's basically a warm bowl of popcorn.

I'm always happy to go spend some time with it.

Yeah, yeah, I love this.

These two films are covered in this show are probably my favorite ones at all, and for good reason.

John Michael Higgins as Terry Bonner, just as an actor, but as a musician and as a singer, I think he's utilized that more in other things because he's not utilized today, and it makes me sad, like I said, in the Best in Show review.

He's great in this movie and telling the story about how he became in love with the Main Street Singers, which is basically his father locked him in a room.

He built the Main Street Singers on gin boxes.

Yeah, and then the Main Street Singers, his abuse was musical in nature.

Yeah, that whole introduction.

And I got to say, Jane Lynch, she's from where I'm from, from Dalton, Illinois.

She went to Thornridge High School.

So when she's doing her little schmiel about leaving that town just south of Chicago, which had poor unadulterated white trash in it, that's a jab and a love at Dalton.

And I got to say, that part, I did not notice till these viewings for this show.

And I was like, wow, that's fucking awesome.

She still shows a lot of love for that fucking shit town she's from and that I'm from.

And I think right now, if you watch TV around me and Suzanne, she does a tourism commercial for Illinois now.

Yeah, the folksmen, they're wonderful.

Harry Shearer just being awkward and it's amazing.

The whole thing about, oh, he caught me in the bathroom.

I threw my hands down and reminded me of his father catching him in the act with the hand cream.

And it's a little quirky shit, like we're talking about how the records came out.

And this one was big.

And then we got to push down to the lower label and the record didn't even have a hole in it or something, he says.

You had to drill your own hole and hopefully you got it centered.

It would just wobble on the spindle.

Good sound quality though.

Yeah, it's good sound quality for sure.

Yeah, the lyrics of some of these songs, you mentioned potatoes in the paddy wagon.

It's a really bad thing to say about your baby that she has the face of a parboiled yam.

You know, because it's like, oh, wow, that's ugly, man.

Oh, my God.

Don't let me sing anymore.

Oh, it'll happen one day.

The Mitch and Mickey stuff, we just lost Naomi Judd.

Yeah, I'm sorry, Naomi Judd.

And your interviews with her about her depression, this is where I get serious about things, about her staying in her house for three weeks at a time, not taking a shower in the same clothes and having to put on that face for the people.

And the whole idea of him falling, because they don't really explain a lot of why they broke up.

They just explain the anger, what happened when they broke up.

But that little level of depression, I think of my mother quite a bit.

Naomi Judd talks about her depression.

I just cry a little more.

Let's put it that way.

But their songs, not just in the movie, but on the soundtrack album, there's a song called The Ballad of Bobby and June that's not in the movie, but it's a wonderful song.

You guys should check it out if you guys haven't yet.

But that song, which I hear people have played at their weddings, A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, it's a lovely song.

And there's a part of this movie where they're at Mickey's house and they're rehearsing.

And you can see when he's playing and she's playing, and they're looking at each other, and you can see something clicks there.

And that's just that little love for each other and the compatibility as an actor and actress.

And there's something in that look, like he's ready to go at that point.

And of course, he's not ready to go again because he's that neurotic.

And the little stuff he does in this movie, like when the husband takes him down to go see the model train and he keeps calling it Crabville instead of Crab Town.

I think Crabville would look beautiful in the autumn.

Put some trees over there with the leaves.

He doesn't play roles like this.

He's a lot more exuberant and wild.

But this is a really reserved role for him for a lot of reasons.

That's what the character is.

And he learned to play guitar for this movie.

And Parker Posey learned to play the mandolin for this movie.

So the fact that all these people, I mentioned how much I love the film Nashville, the Robert Altman film Nashville, because those actors in that movie wrote and performed their own music in that movie as well.

I love shit like that.

And once again, you also got an Oscar nomination for Keith Carradine.

It gives a new level to what you're seeing on the screen.

And that's important.

Oh my gosh.

It gives it more of a level of authenticity.

And yeah, I definitely got to say like I with Mitch and Mickey like are.

Yeah.

But they have those two like just just the chemistry between those two.

Like if it wasn't those actors, I don't know if it would have been the same because, yeah, Eugene Levy and Kathy, Catherine O'Hare both just have such great chemistry together.

You need that, man.

It's good shit.

Yeah.

But the main the new Main Street singers, I love watching them perform because it's the Toothpaste commercial, as Michael McKean says in this movie.

And they're just so, you know, happy and smiling.

And, you know, there's a song about there where they sing about Bible stuff called The Good Book Song, which I've listed.

I've listed the soundtrack on my phone for at least, I think, like 15 times in the past month, just because I turn on every once in a while.

And I'm just singing along with The Good Book Song.

And, you know, any Mitch and Mickey song, which if you're wearing a mask, which is one of the most greatest things in the world for something like this, you can sing shit like this in the grocery store and they're none the wiser, okay?

None the wiser.

So good, man.

If you haven't listed the soundtrack album, there's stuff on there that's not in the movie, like that one song I had mentioned.

And songs in full.

If you don't own the Blu-ray or DVD, it's on both.

Great extras on there.

You can watch the whole concert in full on there.

As if it was aired on TV, you can watch it on there.

And of course, deleted scenes, because this is mostly fucking improvised with very little script there, which makes me happy about the Dalton Dig, because I'd have to ask her myself, but I would imagine that's something she threw in on her own, about this poor white trash girl from the south suburbs of Chicago, you know, and people that know, know what she's talking about.

That's all I'll say about that one, you know.

But yeah, I catch myself singing this stuff all the time.

Old Joe's plays the folksman song that really sticks out for me, because X made a post on Facebook last night.

I wish he could have been here for this, but he's semi-retired and he's hanging out with his wifey and stuff.

He just simply put E-O-A, you know, because you look for that busted neon sign and that's what it says.

E-O-O.

Yeah, X is fucking, that's my man.

I love that he did that.

Like what I respond to, I was like, is there always something cooking there, you know?

So fucking good.

I'll kick it back to Scotty.

Anything else you want to say about the film and what do you rate it 1 to 10?

Well, I was going to say, like talking about the soundtrack, I actually did download this on Spotify like immediately after I watched the movie because I was just like, oh my God, these songs are incredible and I could do this all day long.

And now like you guys have summed this up way better than I ever like.

But like, yeah, I am so glad that I was able to watch this because I've actually had a screener copy of this movie on DVD from when it was released and just sat on my shelf, sat on my shelf, sat on my shelf.

So when I got chose to do this movie, I was like, oh yes, finally get to bust this open and watch it.

Still had the whole screener disclaimer at the bottom of the screen and everything, which just kind of brought back some nostalgia from my old days with my stepdad and like his movie collection.

But yeah, I just absolutely adore this film and like it's got that like, like you guys are saying, it's quirky, but it has like that almost like British dry sense of humor compared to like Best in Show.

And I freaking love that so much.

And like every character in this is just like very, very entertaining to watch on the screen.

Yeah, as for a rating for this, I would give this eight out of ten.

This is just very enjoyable and something I will watch over and over and over again.

Oh, I still love this and I did forget to mention.

Well, I did mention his little catchphrase.

But for me, this is going to sound kind of goofy.

But, you know, he always plays a part in these movies.

Not Spinal Tap, but that was in Christopher Guest's movie.

But for me, he's like the goat cheese that pulls the whole thing together.

He's his presence, and just he's never plays the same character twice.

He's always so out there in his horrible show ideas for the Main Street Singers.

And for me, I can't believe I didn't mention him when I was going through my review.

But like I said, he's like the glue that holds.

It's like that one string that goes all the way through the movie, and it's Fred Willard.

I got an idea.

I got an idea for your act.

You know, Kat, did they have a Moby Dick?

We could just throw a bunch of water on stage and say, there she blows, especially on the women.

Turn your guitars up, say, got it.

Empty the water out.

Especially on the women.

Oh, yes, this is this movie.

I'm always, always, always enjoyed.

I enjoy there is not a single frame in any of these movies that I had, I do not enjoy.

And it's, you can, it's one of those, you always notice something different.

Like same with Best in Show.

Even the same with Spinal Tap and Gufman.

Some little thing that you knew was there, but you didn't pay that much attention to it at first.

And I still think this is Spinal Tap and an alternate folk music universe.

But yeah, I'm pretty much not as much my favorite as Best in Show, but it's a solid nine out of 10 for me.

Iris?

Yeah, this is, I'm with Suzanne.

It's fun, it's quirky, the music is kick ass.

The writing, well, let's just say the ad lib is amazing, the editing too, just like the other movies that we've discussed.

But this one, I'm gonna give like an 8.5.

It's not Best in Show, but it tried really hard.

That's fair enough.

You know, harmonies are hard, and these are actors who became musicians, and some of the harmonies in this film really clicked with me, and usually when I'm at work, I'll keep one earphone off to hear what people are telling me, but when this is on, I put both earphones on, because then you miss those harmonies otherwise, and I don't like that, so.

Um, but yeah, it's wonderful.

If you haven't seen it before, you want to smile and be sad at the same time, and get some quick jokes in there.

I mean, Jane Lynch, she's on point with the quick jokes, and she's talking...

We forgot about her little trick.

Yeah, she's talking about her parading mature movies, and you know, she learned how to play the ukulele, when she started with her last films, Not So Tiny Tim, you know.

Yeah, they're just nonchalantly talking about her freaking stint in mature films.

Oh my God, that had me dying.

So funny, man.

But I would average with an 8.5.

It's not as good as Best in Show, but I get as much enjoyment out of it as I do Best in Show.

These are my two favorites on this episode.

Not Disson Guffman or Spinal Tap, but these two right here are the ones I'll go to just about every time.

The music has a lot to do with it, and the performances, of course, and the fact that they're all in the whole thing.

It's not like there's not a kink in the armor there.

I gotta appreciate a pure good.

I mentioned films that I watch, even if they're bad, that are pure good.

This is something I can turn on that's pure good.

Right there with the Village Hill movie, Suzanne.

Can't stop the music.

It's not a good movie in the traditional way, but you know what?

When that Milkshake song hits, I'm all for it, man.

It's kind of like Xanadu.

Loving it when I was like eight or eight.

Let me stop you right there.

You love Xanadu now, too, OK?

I'm just starting out there, OK?

Xanadu's got a special place in my heart when you had us watch it first.

It's really that bad.

Well, that was something else made you watch that, but I'll make you watch it anyway, Scotty.

Any day of the week, you know.

Oh, a funny Xanadu story.

When Pat and I went to New Orleans for a vacation a couple of years ago, we basically bumped into the first New Orleans-esque bar that we found, and we're sitting there drinking amazing local beer and having our third bowl of gumbo in two hours.

And for some reason, we had just done that podcast with Xanadu, and we're talking about the bartender from all the way across the bar with lots of people in there comes over and he's like, did you say Xanadu?

Because it's infectious, that's why, you know.

So he actually sat over there, ignored other patrons just didn't talk to me and Pat about Xanadu.

It was kind of awesome.

Nice.

But yeah, this has been the Mighty Wind Review, and we'll come right back to close out the show.

Who are you trying to reach?

I don't know.

I think you've got the wrong number.

I'm gonna hang up.

Wait, don't hang up.

What's that noise?

Popcorn.

You're making popcorn?

Uh-huh.

I'm about to listen to a podcast.

Oh really, which one?

Probably the Podcast on Haunted Hill.

The one with the two guys with the beards?

Yeah, Dan and Gav.

Most episodes, they look at two different horror movies.

Each episode, they look at A World of the Strange, where they look at weird things from around the world.

Sometimes, they even do special episodes where they look at different genres or directors' discographies and talk about them.

Well, you can goto legionpodcasts.com, Facebook, Twitter, or just go into iTunes and search for the podcast on Haunted Hill.

So you can ask me out.

All right, kids, this is the kiss at the end of the rainbow, as Scotty said on the opening of The One Review for A Mighty Wind.

And that kiss, and I haven't done this in a long time, talked about somebody who died, but we lost some pretty cool people recently and one that stood out to me as a young comic book fan who, you know, whilst my cousin was making out with his girlfriends in his bedroom while he was supposed to be hanging out with me, you know, no love lost there.

I dove into those long boxes in his closet and I pulled out many of books that were drawn by this man.

Neil Adams was a comic book artist for DC and Marvel respectively.

Did a lot of cool Batman books and he notoriously did the Green Lantern and Green Arrow book, which is controversial.

A long time ago, there was something called The Comic Code where you couldn't show certain things in a book.

Well, the interesting storyline where Speedy, you got Green Arrow's sidekick, which is his sister on the Arrow TV show, if you guys didn't know that they changed it up for that.

But Speedy got addicted to drugs, like hard drugs, and they had to be really careful around this.

And this book has won awards before, and he's won many awards.

Should be commended and loved.

If you haven't looked up some of Neil Adams' work, you guys should go check that out.

How does it pertain to cinema?

Well, let me tell you.

Neil Adams has done many cool poster art, he did the pencils for a lot of cool poster art, including a lot of the Bruce Lee knockoff films, where Bruce Lee died.

Enter Three Dragons he did the art for.

The Death of Bruce Lee he did the art for.

Sister Street Fighter, which is not a Bruce Lee movie, but he did the art for that.

He did, oh, where's this at?

He did Bruce Lee, The Man, The Myth, starring Bruce Lai.

Again, he did a lot of these Bruce Lee knockoff films, posters, pretty dope.

It's a pretty cool part of history.

But a few really cool stuff he did that you guys may know.

He did the poster art for William Gertler's Grizzly, with the big, big bear, you know, you love.

It's jaws with claws, y'all.

If y'all don't love Grizzly, what's wrong with you people?

Death Promise is a okay exploitation movie.

He did the art for that.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Westworld, he did the poster art for that with fricking Yul Brynner with the robot face.

Pretty fricking terrifying.

And last but certainly not least, amongst other things, he did the poster art for Phantom of the Paradise.

And that's loved amongst many people.

And I'm one of those people.

So Neil Adams, for all the special time you've given me over the years, I got to meet you a couple of times over the years.

I think if you and Mr.

George Perez died this year, it'd be a very sad time for the comic book world.

And I'm thinking about it right now because he's got stage four cancer.

Yo, just keep losing these greats.

I mean, it's not just Stan Lee you should be blowing.

I mean, people are like, oh, you're picking on poor Stan Lee again?

No, I'm not picking on poor Stan Lee again, but there's more to love out there as you guys should know.

And yeah, go check out Neil Adams' work.

I'm sure there's many appendices that have his work in there that you can buy, trade paperbacks, outright back issues just sitting at your stores, your comic book stores.

Please support your comic book stores.

As I'm recording this, this is Friday.

The next day is free comic book day.

The first Saturday in May is free comic book day.

Now, what that is is the distributors of the comics give these stores a bunch of free books, like promotional free books for your kids to come inside and to get, you know, but this is meant for you to go into the store and support those stores that are fucking dying.

And it makes me sad.

It makes me sad in my cockles, in my sub-cockle area, that this is a thing, that comic book stores are dying, because there's one around me that's maybe, it's still a little ways away.

But you know what?

You need to support them.

Go buy your Cards Without Humanity, go buy your Magic Packs, go buy all this stuff from your local store.

Don't go to fucking Target.

Don't, and this bear's repeating, don't fucking go to those places to get this stuff.

I hide shit at those stores when I see it there, okay?

Strange to say, but this is what I'm passionate about.

Celebrating the little man, you know, and helping them out.

I mean, geez Louise, man.

I mean, they're dying.

Where would kids go to hang out?

You know, they want to be adventurous, to hang out with other like-minded nerds like themselves.

Public Service Announcement, you know, and so many more things.

And last but not least, you know, we discussed depression in a major way on the Mighty Wind review.

It was really a little short thing, but you know what?

If you're feeling, you know, that low, if you feel you need somebody to talk to, you know, now, in the age we live in, there's more and more opportunities for you to find somebody to talk to if your loved ones aren't good enough.

They have, you know, therapists online, like Zoom meeting therapists you can talk to.

Of course, the suicide hotline, if you're that, you're that, you know, down, you know, you can call them, I guess.

And that number, I'm gonna give it to you right now.

Available 24 hours a day, 800-273-8255, if you're in the States.

I mean, people can say it all the time.

I'm one of those people.

And that's why you probably won't hear from me for, you'll hear from me soon, but like there's times where there's been long gaps in this show.

I feel down and I don't wanna talk to the people that I love and push that evil on them.

I don't wanna do that.

But you know what?

It helps talk to people.

And I've always said this podcast is my best therapy and it has been.

It's got me out of some dumpy, some dumpy, skanky situations.

And if you feel you need to talk to somebody, fuck it, pick me up.

I mean, that's fine.

I can't say I've been there all the way, but I'm a good listener.

So, as Jerry Springer would say, take care of yourself and each other.

I'm gonna say that too, because it's very important.

And then a down note.

Let's not do that.

Thank you for eight great years.

Look for the next episode, which should be part three of this and the final part, where we discuss for your consideration with Derrick Boubou-Boujoie and Mascots with One Court Psyops.

And then me and Ricky will have one more episode of Crippled Theater for you, sandwiched in the middle of those two reviews.

And that'll be part three.

And then after that, I'm gonna move on to doing some shows without my co-host if they don't want to show up, because I'm gonna give them a brand opportunity to have a break.

If they don't want to take a little break, they can join in with whoever else I have on the show.

But I'm gonna record some surplus shows.

I got Kate and Madge from The Eternal Sunshine of the Not-So-Spotless Mind.

See, I almost messed it up, too, Heather.

See what I did there?

They're gonna come on for two films.

There's Specters and The Electricity, perhaps.

We're gonna do Ghosts in the Machine from 1993, and Pulse, I think, from 1986.

Not the Asian one, the American one, with Clif DeYoung and a young Joey Lawrence.

I think it's Joey Lawrence.

Maybe Matthew Lawrence.

I forget which Lawrence brother it is, but electricity's alive inside the houses, killing people.

There's no explanation, and I kinda love.

We'll hear that coming soon.

Hope to get Dan and Gab on the show very soon.

Cameron, I'm sure, will be on the show.

There's plans to do another Beef Out of the Cannon episode with the Russell, and hopefully Lady Lee Hardy will be with us.

We're gonna do The Apple, and America 3000 together, like two different kinds of post-apocalyptic movies, in Cannon style.

Sasquatch on the roller skates.

Gotta love it.

But anyhow, I'll leave much more spoilers to that, but I have a list of shows, and I think I know which one the Dan Bone will wanna pick.

I'm just gonna throw it out there.

This has been your Cinema Beef Podcast, where if you've got beef, I've got the grinder.

Thanks for listening.

Creators and Guests

Gary Hill
Host
Gary Hill
Host of the Butcher Shop podcast series Cinema Beef and Last Call at Torchy's
Cinema Beef Podcast : Beefaversary Part 2 (Best In Show/Mr. No Legs/A Mighty Wind)
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