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235 - Innerspace (1987)
40 Plays12 days ago
“It’s just a little theistic hysteria, which is nothing.”
This week, we’re feeling the love as we talk about one of Tucker and Stephen’s favorite films by one of their favorite filmmakers! We go deep on the careers of Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, and Meg Ryan - this movie’s three main stars, the dichotomy of passion vis a vis retirement at a point in an artist’s life, and an extended riff on the work and auteurism of the great Joe Dante!
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Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
No sequel for you.
00:00:23
Speaker
We are twisting the night away here on the Disenfranchise Podcast, that podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
Hosts' Banter and Health Update
00:00:35
Speaker
i am your host, Stephen Foxworthy, and joining me as always, the man who has more symptoms than jackpotter, it's Tucker. Hey, Tucker. Hello, Stephen. How's it going? Not bad. How are you?
00:00:49
Speaker
of of Well, I'm okay, I guess. In the grand scheme of things, I've been worse. Yeah, I believe i much.
00:01:02
Speaker
Right. um So Tucker is... If you listened to last week's episode on Reign of Fire, you know that Tucker was feeling slightly under the weather.
00:01:12
Speaker
Now he is completely beneath the weather. ah He dug a hole and just just to get as far under it as he could. The weather exists solely above me. That's right. There is no one weather below, only above. Yeah.
00:01:27
Speaker
And, but we're here and we're here because we're talking about this movie.
Film Focus: 'Inner Space' Introduction
00:01:31
Speaker
I have a feeling if it were literally any other movie, Tucker would have thrown in the white flag or the towel or the white towel.
00:01:38
Speaker
But because we're talking about this movie, ah he is completely and totally locked in. Tucker, just for the folks at home who didn't maybe read the title of this episode, what movie are we discussing today?
00:01:52
Speaker
Well, Steven, We're talking about, i think this movie came out 1987. It did. by Jadante.
Cast and Characters Overview
00:02:00
Speaker
it's inner space by giantte ah Inner Space, directed by Joe Dante, based on a screenplay by Jeffrey Boehm and Chip Prosser, starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, Martin Short, Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis, ah Henry Gibson, John Ora, ri Robert Picardo, Wendy Shaw, William Shaffert, the great Vernon Wells, and also a couple of cameo appearances by the likes of Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, ah Kathleen Freeman, and Chuck Jones. What a cast!
00:02:33
Speaker
What a picture. Boy, this movie is so good, Steven. It is. I've been watching it. I think this is the Gidante film that I discovered first. Because we taped this off TV.
00:02:45
Speaker
My parents liked this movie. Yeah. So I think it was only maybe 15, 20 years ago when I was exposed to the dildo joke.
00:02:58
Speaker
Because that was not in the TV version. But that's a cool accessory to be able to snap onto your snap-on hand. I mean, if you gotta have a snap-on hand, you gotta be prepared for literally any inevitability.
Humor and Content Analysis
00:03:13
Speaker
throw a vibrator on there. Why the fuck not? Might as well. Might as well. if you're all If you're all hooked up, you might as well be hooked up to everything. If you're truly a feminist... Right. You will have a vibrator attachment for your snap-on hand. At least a vibrator attachment. At least. ah If not a couple of, you know, French ticklers, some other things.
00:03:33
Speaker
um Yeah, dude. Right. You know. We'll just say that Mr. Igo knows how to please a woman. I guess that's what we'll say. Um... I first discovered, i you know what? I caught snippets of this film. I didn't, don't think I watched this film in its entirety until I did my Dante watch through in 2020.
00:03:51
Speaker
But I had caught little bits and pieces of this movie on television over the years. My parents were also quite fond of this movie. um At least the television version.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah. And with the honestly, with the exception of the vibrator joke, which if you're not paying attention, it's it's so quick. you You'll miss it. Yeah. With the exception of that, it's like the cleanest movie ever.
00:04:13
Speaker
It's yeah, it's pretty, pretty squeaky clean. Not a lot of profanity. um yeah what the Yeah, you're right, with the exception of the dildo joke. like Like, even so much to where it seems intentional, like when they're in the lab and they shrink him down and everything, and the bad guys come, you would expect... Hold on, I'm trying to breathe.
00:04:37
Speaker
You would expect that they would have guns, but they just have little fire extinguishers. That's so kiddie movie shit. Well, and I think that's kind of john
Joe Dante's Film Style
00:04:47
Speaker
Dante's thing. like Dante is not one to really play up a lot. He doesn't do a lot of R-rated films. I think Small Soldiers is the one that...
00:04:56
Speaker
I think was originally supposed to be R and then got like kiddied down to a PG. I think the Burbs is probably his darkest just in tone. Oh, for sure. For sure. Starring Henry Gibson and Wendy Shaw from this movie. For the cast from this movie. yeah Robert Picardo and Dick Miller as well. I don't think Kevin McCarthy's in the Burbs, but yeah. though he's not.
00:05:17
Speaker
Like McCarthy Miller and Picardo are the, the Dante stalwarts that appear in just about every Dick Miller's in all of them, but the other two are in most of them.
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. Even like, even in Gremlins, Kevin McCarthy is they're watching, um they're watching the, the originalnachers body snatchers with Kevin McCarthy. So he's, they're coming for you next.
00:05:42
Speaker
oh there for you next I wish I could do his voice. He's got a great voice. See our previous episode on UHF. Kevin McCarthy talk. But he's got this like, it's it's it's almost like the Don Pardo vibrato, but like pitch just slightly higher.
00:06:01
Speaker
And it it's so it's so good. I've got those people right where I want them. Like, God,
Mentorship and Influences
00:06:10
Speaker
he's, yeah. what what What an actor. He's great. I like him lot.
00:06:15
Speaker
And he's he's really, he plays a really good villain. I like him as the this movie's villain. i love the the white motif that he's got going. And then when you get that huge pan out to just the empty warehouse and he's like tucked into a corner of it, such a great gag, like such a great visual gag.
00:06:33
Speaker
i I realized as I was watching this that I don't know that there are too many people, if any, who can do the high concept genre comedy quite as well as Joe Dante can.
00:06:46
Speaker
I think the reason he's so good at it is because, it was especially this movie, outside of the actual Looney Tunes movie he made, is he runs it through all through a fucking cartoon filter.
00:06:57
Speaker
It's like his brain is a cartoon filter, and so everything goes through it, comes out a little cartoonish, and it works. One of his mentors was Chuck Jones, who is in this movie as the um the grocery store customer who's like, well, at that price, I wouldn't pay for it.
00:07:13
Speaker
Like... Hey, and that lady that's in Martin Short's dream, that's the cooking lady from Gremlins 2. That's Kathleen Freeman. Noodle casserole. it becomes when guests arrive...
00:07:26
Speaker
um Yes. And she's also in the Blues Brothers. She's the nun in the Blues Brothers movies. Yes. um she's in She was in Singing in the Rain, a movie I watched for the first time recently. And I'm like, wait, is that Kathleen Freeman? And sure enough, I actually know an actor,
Spotlight on Martin Short
00:07:42
Speaker
an actor that I've worked with in the Indianapolis community theater scene took acting classes with her.
00:07:46
Speaker
um So like I'm like two steps removed from Kathleen Freeman, which means I'm three steps removed from Joe Dante, which is pretty fucking cool. Yeah, dude, that's the way to do it for sure. So, yeah. um But no, so I first watched this in 2025 when I did my full Dante deep dive.
00:08:04
Speaker
And this movie, if this movie, I know Dante is not a sequel guy, so he's not writing endings with sequels in mind. But this movie is so set up for a sequel. It's not. this movie is so The ending is so sequel coded. It's not even funny.
00:08:18
Speaker
it's It kind of sucks because like when you first see what's going on, they get kidnapped and everything. You're like, oh fuck. Are we going to do this for another 20 minutes? This movie's already kind of long.
00:08:29
Speaker
It's about 20 minutes too long in my mind. But then by the time the credits were roll, you're like, wait, wait, no, no, no. I take it back. I want to know, though. Wait, wait. And you want to you want to see like Martin Short like scrambling to get onto the cruise ship at the last minute.
00:08:43
Speaker
You want to see like them doing bits with Robert Picardo. You want to see tiny ah tiny Kevin McCarthy running around a ship. Like I want to see all that shit. Yeah. I love Martin Short being tough in this movie because he does it with like a childlike gusto. Like he can't believe it when he's doing it.
00:09:00
Speaker
Please give me more of him punching people and like being shocked that he can actually do it. That is just the look on his face every time he like succeeds in overpowering someone. Mm hmm.
00:09:11
Speaker
It's fantastic. he is He is such an incredible physical comedian, but not only does he do the physical comedy so well, he just is so facially expressive. Like he's just got such an incredible face on him. Like every he he tried he everything that he is thinking and feeling at any moment, whether it's serious or silly, tracks right across his face. Like that moment at the end.
00:09:38
Speaker
when they pull Tuck out of the the ship and he and Lydia start kissing and he realizes, oh, those two are made for each other. You see that on his face in a one-er, like no cuts, nothing. It just, you see it him. The whole age of emotions, yeah. Like from from denial to acceptance plays out on his face in a one-er and it's so incredibly good.
00:09:59
Speaker
Like Martin Short, such an underrated comedic actor, such an underrated dramatic actor. Dare I say it, such an underrated actor. Like he I think he finally got an Emmy, like the first award that he's actually won for Only Murders in the Building, like just a couple years ago. Like that's insane to me that it took him that long.
00:10:18
Speaker
I think that people have enjoyed Martin Short. um I mean, even since he was on SCTV, obviously he wouldn't have a career if they didn't. But I think he's really he's really moving into his renaissance now. And I think people are starting to rediscover his old role roles that maybe they should have paid a little more attention to because he was really good at them.
00:10:36
Speaker
And he's he's just been kind of quietly... he's been kind of a B-list working actor for decades. He's been like a top comedic name. Like people who know comedy know Martin Short.
00:10:48
Speaker
and you yeah he and comedians comedian And if you've seen a movie that was released in the 90s, you've seen a Martin Short movie because he's in – fucking all of that every single one he's in so fucking many of them and but then he was he's on sc tv he's on mad t or not mad tv snl like he he's played so much across his time that it it it is finally good to see him getting his his due um and this is only i think his god am i reading this right is this only his second movie
00:11:21
Speaker
Maybe. I think I read that some of the people, he brought some SCTV people with him in one scene. they're like The people in the waiting room, Joe Flaherty
Cameos and Unique Performances
00:11:30
Speaker
and Andrea Martin. Yes. yeah yes Joe Flaherty from Freaks and Geeks and Andrea Martin from My Big Fat Greek Wedding are both in that scene.
00:11:38
Speaker
And they're they're very funny. um But yeah, his his first, I guess he did a ah movie in the 70s called Lost and Found that I've never heard of. But then his his second movie is The Three Amigos.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah. Every chase and Steve Martin, which is a fucking classic. And then this is his very next movie. So this is only his third film. Like he is ah just starting out here. But you it's like he's arriving fully formed.
00:12:05
Speaker
Like you get the Martin short. He's still doing the same shit he he would do. on all of his TV appearances on SNL, like the way he dances with his like knees and feet, like completely together, but he's like zigging and zagging back and forth. yeah I've seen him do that in so many things. Like that is just like his move. I equate that with Martin short.
00:12:25
Speaker
So when he's like dancing around in the living room, drunk on Southern comfort, like that's like, I was just like, fuck, this is Martin short. Like he just arrives on the scene completely fully formed.
00:12:37
Speaker
Indeed. Yes. I think, ah yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Steven. No, was just going to say, and good on Joe Dante for kind of recognizing that and putting him in. Because I can, I guarantee they probably had a list of other comedic actors that they probably would have rather gone with. But like, recognizing just the perfection of the physical comedy and knowing how much physical comedy you would need from this actor. Yeah.
00:13:02
Speaker
I often kind of wonder why he wasn't in other Gidante movies, but then I kind of think, well, but I don't can't think of any other Gidante movie that needs a Martin short.
00:13:15
Speaker
Right. Well, in this one, the the premise that really... Because this movie was originally presented to Dante as a um a sci-fi spy thriller.
00:13:26
Speaker
And he's like, I don't and don't care about that. And then they're like, okay, what if it's a sci-fi comedy? And he's like, talk to me more. And they're like, what if someone like Dean Martin was inside someone like Jerry Lewis?
00:13:37
Speaker
And he Dante's like, speak say less. Just stop. You you had me at Martin and Lewis. He goes, I know exactly what this movie is now. And the idea of Martin Short as a modern Jerry Lewis analog for the late 80s, early 90s is kind of perfect because he has that kind of hapless energy that Lewis brought to the screen. He's got that kind of manic physical presence.
00:14:00
Speaker
ah Like it he is kind of the perfect analog. And as an opposite number, it's hard to do better than Dennis Quaid, honestly. and That's true. Yeah, he's really great in this too. And I think this is the only... i think this is probably the silliest role I've seen Dennis Quaid in.
00:14:17
Speaker
he's He's over the top in the best way in this movie. Yes.
Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan's Career Insights
00:14:21
Speaker
he's He's a drunk is why he's so silly. He's a fucking drunk. And I mean, he's kind of having a resurgence in recent years as well. Like he was just in The Substance last year and was fucking incredible in that movie. He also had the the Ronald Reagan biopic that came out last year. Like he's he's kind of having a moment again.
00:14:42
Speaker
Hey, and his son's doing great too. I was going to say that when we get to the later in the episode, when we're pitching sequel ideas, i yeah if you're going to do a late stage sequel to inner space, you need Jack Quaid, the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan playing the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan.
00:15:00
Speaker
Because they were having a baby. They were in this movie. And then in real life, they had Jack Quaid. So. That's true. And I never, I never knew.
00:15:11
Speaker
i never noticed. Actually, i didn't notice it. I read it. And then I noticed it. um When, after they break up and um Meg Ryan's at her work, the picture of Jack. The ultrasound. Yeah.
00:15:24
Speaker
ah She has covered his face with the ultrasound. Yeah. Yeah. And I never noticed that, but I read about it before I watched it. And I was like, oh shit, look at that. You caught it this time. Yeah. It's, um, and I love, and in my headcanon, if, if you do a sequel to this movie, you name Jack Quaid's character, Jack, because they named their son after the guy who saved their lives
Speculations on 'Inner Space' Sequel?
00:15:47
Speaker
on their honeymoon.
00:15:48
Speaker
Like that just makes sense to me. Yep. Yep. So it, it all fits in my and like the head. The headcanon is complete. Now stay with me here. ah For the comedic lead, you get Justin Long instead of Martin Short. Yes, see what your day you did there.
00:16:10
Speaker
That's how you do that. I don't know if he's got the the the Marty energy is the only issue that I have with that casting. but and Well, see, that's what you do is you cast them both and he's not so much a chip off the old block. Maybe he's actually more like like Jack. Yeah.
00:16:25
Speaker
I was going to say, I think ah like a Jack Quaid type can play comedy. Like I, like Nova Cain this year was kind of a, an eye opener for me in terms of what that guy can do with like range wise.
00:16:40
Speaker
And I think guys a folks he's a gifted comedic actor. He really is. so I, I like the notion that the son of Dennis Quaid Meg Ryan is more of Martin short type. And then whoever, you know, the Martin short analog is, is, is more your stalwart hero character.
00:16:55
Speaker
Yeah. Like, I think that's a lot more fun, personally. That would be fun, yeah. And, I mean, Martin Short and Dennis Quaid have been teasing an inner space, either reunion or sequel, since about the early 2000s.
00:17:08
Speaker
I think the latest one I saw was in, like, 2020. Dennis Quaid's like, oh, yeah, there's an inner space reunion in the works, but I can't say anything. And that was five years ago, and we've heard nothing about it.
00:17:19
Speaker
I'd be happy with a Super Bowl commercial. Honestly, so would I. i mean we saw We got Ferris Bueller back a couple years ago. That was fun. We A couple. That was like 10 years ago. But yeah.
00:17:31
Speaker
That was a while ago. Time means nothing to me. Steven, I'm the ocean. Just not giving that up, are you? Nope.
00:17:42
Speaker
um But I mean, yeah, I would go for that too. Like the, ah obviously the obvious hook for a sequel is in the first one, we shrink Dennis Quaid and put him in Martin Short. And the second one, we shrink Martin Short and put him in Dennis Quaid.
00:17:53
Speaker
That's, that's the obvious hook for a sequel for interspace. Obvious. um Or, you know, maybe this time ah you shrink, you shrink Meg Ryan and put her, but you both.
00:18:05
Speaker
I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. It, you do. ah Well, honey, I shrunk the kids. already told you how to do it. Now they have to get big. Hmm. Uh, honey, I blew up the kid. Kaiju Martin short. Yes.
00:18:17
Speaker
Let's do it. I mean, Dennis Quaid is kind of already an established name by this point. He's already done, um jaws 3d, the right stuff. Dreamscape, the big easy, like the big easy is his film before this one. And so after this, he kind of starts getting bigger.
00:18:34
Speaker
Great balls of fire. Speaking of Jerry Lee of Jerry Lewis, sorry. Um, Jerry Lee Lewis in this case, um, um Postcards from the Edge, Undercover Blues, Flesh and Bone, Wyatt Earp.
00:18:46
Speaker
He's gradually building until 96 he does Dragonheart, another reference to last week's episode. And meanwhile, Meg Ryan just kind of grows exponentially after this movie.
00:18:59
Speaker
Yo, I've actually, the more I watch this movie, the more I'm disappointed that Meg Ryan doesn't show up in more Jadante movies because she fits right in. Right in. She knows how to work that kind of material for sure.
00:19:13
Speaker
she is She was underserved as a comedic actress because she pretty much went right into rom-coms. ah Like, Sleepless in Seattle is 93. Yeah. Um, she just to kind of tie the rest of this month together.
00:19:26
Speaker
Uh, she's in the the Val Kilmer, Oliver Stone film, the doors in 91, just a few years after this one. Uh, let me actually start in the right place. So from this, she does promise land DOA with Dennis Quaid.
00:19:39
Speaker
89 is when Harry met Sally. 90 is Joe versus the volcano. 91 is the doors. 92 is Prelude to a Kiss, 93 Sleepless in Seattle. So she is almost immediately locked into rom-com territory, which takes her through. I mean, after that, you've got When a Man Loves a Woman and IQ in 94, French Kiss in 95.
00:20:02
Speaker
Not a bad place to be. She did really well. I mean, she made a lot of money on those movies. Oh, she was America's fucking sweetheart. um Courage Under Fire in 96, her attempt at something different. ah Then back to Addicted to Love in 97. Also, Anastasia in 97. City of Angels in 98.
00:20:19
Speaker
Also, You've Got Mail in 98. Yeah. um And then hanging up and then the movie that kind of broke her in terms of her, the the public perception of her ah proof of life, which she does with Russell Crowe, wherein apparently they have the affair and that goes public and it pretty much kind of ruins her reputation as America's sweetheart.
00:20:41
Speaker
What year was that, Stephen? That was that was 2000. That's why i never saw it. But I remember that being at the theater when I worked there. And being like, I have no interest in this, even though I like both of these actors. Right.
00:20:55
Speaker
Right. And then, I mean, her follow-up to that was kind of a return to rom-coms and Kate and Leopold. She does In the Cut in 2003, which is such a departure from her, like no one likes that one.
00:21:07
Speaker
um And then Against the Ropes, which is kind of a big, big yawn of a movie. And then, yeah, it's In the Land of Women, The Deal, My Mom's New Boyfriend, The Women, Serious Moonlight. Like she just kind of just starts...
00:21:22
Speaker
trickling down and like, and those, those last few over the course of 10 years. So like, again, just not really much happening for her after, after 2000. And honestly, i don't know, like as an actor, it's, I'm sure it's, um it's satisfying to practice your craft.
00:21:41
Speaker
But at some point, you make so much money, you get so many residuals from all of these classic movies that are going to endure forever. When do you just be like, I just want to retire and relax now? Because honestly, that's what I would do. Like, I love i would i love doing my art.
00:21:55
Speaker
But like, if if I was able to live off of art that I had already done, at a certain point, I'd just be like, I'm just going to chill. But you would still want to keep making art, though. Like, artists want to make art.
00:22:09
Speaker
And I think that's what it comes down to is that even though these people aren't considered quote bankable stars, they still want to keep practicing
Actors' Passion for Craft
00:22:16
Speaker
their craft. They still want to keep doing the work. Fair. Fair.
00:22:20
Speaker
So, i don't know. Just kind of throwing that out there as a counterpoint. But but i always I always notice that um a lot of actors like that that I think should do that or or would be prone to do that, they don't. And I think it's exactly what you're saying is that, like, you do it for so long and it is your passion that you have to do it in some way or another.
00:22:40
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Like it's the reason that Stephen King keeps writing novels. The man could retire at any point. And he's old. Easily. Residuals off of his books, off off of the movies. This man this man has a Scrooge McDuck room at his house somewhere.
00:22:57
Speaker
He has a money bank. in his palatial estate in, in Maine. um But he just, he, he keeps writing because he wants to write. He's a writer. That's what he does.
00:23:08
Speaker
And the story ideas keep coming and people keep buying them. And so he'll keep making, he'll keep writing them. And that's kind of what it comes down to. And I think that's what it is for a lot of these actors is, And I think at some point it may become easy to give up, but then at other points, it's just, you know, this is what I was made to do. Why would I stop doing it just because I'm not quote bankable or what have you, you know?
00:23:29
Speaker
What I really appreciate are the artists like, um for example, Neil Diamond. o um He got to a certain age to where he didn't want to do, he loved all the stuff that he'd done before, he didn't want to do pop music. He just wanted to do stuff for himself.
00:23:44
Speaker
called up Rick Rubin, did an album called 12 Songs. It's just him and acoustic guitar. and None of them are radio worthy, but they the whole record is fantastic. Right. And since then, he's just been doing stuff like that and Christmas records. He's like, this is I just want to do this now.
00:24:00
Speaker
This is easy. Plus, I still get to flex that muscle and I make money. I feel that way about Bob Dylan too. Like he just keeps right. He is always, but he's kind of always been that way. Just, I, yeah I like, he had his kind of brief galleons with the pop thing and just decided, you know what? I'm just going to do what I want to do.
00:24:16
Speaker
And he changed his voice. And all of a sudden he's like, yeah, Lay across my big brain space. Exactly. hurts my throat. Yeah, don't do that.
00:24:27
Speaker
ah You're not Bob Dylan, sir. um No. Or he you know he goes Christian. He goes electric. like He kind of has always followed his own artistic... you know whims wherever they may lead him and so and ah na i'm not necessarily saying that meg ryan is is neil diamond or or bob dylan but by the same token like if she wants to keep making art let her keep making art du yeah like she was the narrator for the the brief uh tv short how i met your dad apparently there's a thing that that happened um with uh
00:25:02
Speaker
who is in that Greta Gerwig was in that as yeah. But apparently Meg Ryan was the narrator. think it was a pilot for the, the, the first attempt to make a how I met your mother spinoff.
00:25:16
Speaker
i think the reason I think the reason that I said what I said is because I think when it becomes too difficult for a previously very famous actor to get fulfilling work, that I think it would just be pretty easy to retire is why what I was saying. that's No. And I mean, and and i for for that for for that example, you have someone like a like a Bridget Fonda a Phoebe Cates.
00:25:40
Speaker
who just got to a point where they were just like, you know what? I would much rather just settle down with my spouse and start a family and just not have to deal with the headache that is Hollywood. And so they just hard retired and backed away from all of it.
00:25:54
Speaker
And you know what? Good for them. you know If that's what you want to do, if you don't want to do it anymore and you can afford to not do it. Now they're married, I think, to... um ah Kevin Kline and Danny Elfman respectively. Yeah. So, I mean, their husbands are very prominent within their fields, but by the same token, like, like Phoebe Cates is getting that, ah that Gremlins, Gremlins 2 and um ah Fast Times at Ridgemont High money. Also, pay Drop Dead Fred money. Like, she's got... Is there Drop Dead Fred money? Is there still?
00:26:28
Speaker
Somebody's got to be a fan, Tucker. I don't know. You tell me. I guess... But, I mean... that's a movie that didn't age well. i have You know what? I have never seen Drop Dead Fred. and I used to love that movie when I was a kid.
00:26:42
Speaker
Yeah, that was that was one of those that was one of those classics. that ah Playground classics all the kids would talk about. I never saw Like Little Monsters. Yep. A movie we covered for this very podcast. Could we cover Drop Dead Fred?
00:26:53
Speaker
I don't... I wasn't here if you did. i don't remember an episode on it. No, I was i didn't. i know we haven't. I was saying, could we? I mean... Technically, any movie that didn't get a sequel, if it had made enough money, it would have gotten a sequel, most likely. Touche.
00:27:12
Speaker
I like to play fast and loose sometimes with the format, you know. yeah we we We do tend to do, ah from time to time... um But yeah, like both of both Ryan and Quaid are kind of on all three of these guys are on the cusp of kind of hitting big.
00:27:30
Speaker
So it it while it while it's a bummer that none of them appeared in any other Dante films, it's also kind of understandable because their stars are on the rise. And outside of like Gremlins, Dante, for some reason, has just never been able to connect with audiences as strongly as he did with that One movie. I love his movies. I think his work is fucking amazing.
00:27:53
Speaker
I love Dante. Who else has always has never stopped believing in him is Steven Spielberg. Steven Spielberg's always he's this little behind him like, you can do it, Dante. I like your stuff. I believe in you.
00:28:04
Speaker
So Dante's first film ever. do you Have you heard this? you know about this? it was a Corman movie, wasn't it? ah It was called... No, before Piranha. Before that. Wow. OK. ah he There was a movie he did. It was kind of an editing experiment ah with Alan Arkish that he did called the Hollywood called Hollywood Boulevard.
00:28:26
Speaker
And it's kind of like a ah weird parody thing. It's kind of like one of those movies about making movies. And it stars, among other people, ah Dante Stallworth, Dick Miller.
00:28:38
Speaker
ah Mary Warren off is in it like it's got a really kind of solid, you know, cast from that era. ah Joe Joseph McBride, the great Orson Welles scholar Joseph McBride plays a character called me just adjust my glasses here drive in rapist good Lord.
00:28:56
Speaker
I'm sure this movie has not aged well because this is not a solo Dante joint. This is one of the few that I've not seen. um But i no, I'm thinking the one that I'm thinking of is Rock and Roll High School, which is the one he makes immediately after Piranha, which is. always forget that's Dante. that's Dante.
00:29:14
Speaker
Well, hes he's uncredited on it. Arkush, I think, is the credited director on that one But yeah, it's so he's I mean, he said there was one movie he did and I'm forgetting what it is now, but it's it's really just an editing experiment where he just cuts together like four hours worth of like movie trailers and just kind of releases that as kind of his own little it Amazon women on the moon.
00:29:39
Speaker
No, he does. ah That's a um that's an anthology film that he. Oh, those are fake commercials. Not. Yeah. OK, I see. I don't know, dude. I don't know. I don't remember what it's called. The name is completely spacing me right now, and I'm kicking myself for not remembering it. And for some reason, it's not listed on his IMDB credits either. so um But he gets his like his the the first movie that he he hits it big with is the Jaws parody Piranha.
00:30:06
Speaker
He follows that up with the second best werewolf movie 1981, Howling. um second only to John Landis' American Werewolf in London. Of all the movies that have gotten sequels that that of all the movies that haven't gotten sequels that deserve them and The Howling has like five of them.
00:30:27
Speaker
Right. right And they all suck. Yeah. Christopher Lee apologized to Joe Dante on the set of Gremlins 2 for being in one of those Howling sequels. He's like, yeah, I think it was Howling 3. He's like, yeah, sorry about that.
00:30:40
Speaker
good And Dante's like, hey, man, we all got to work. um He follows that up with the the best segment, I would argue, in Twilight Zone, the movie. um Which is it's ah It's a Good Life, a remake of It's a Good Life, which has, again, a lot of Dante regulars, including Kevin McCarthy, who I think Kevin McCarthy is the one that gets turned into the jack-in-the-box. Yeah.
00:31:04
Speaker
and very reliant on like German expressionism. And then 1984 it's gremlins and he's out the door. um Explorers his movie that gets hacked his movie. He does the next year, which gets hacked to shit.
00:31:17
Speaker
And he does then Inner Space after that. And that's, you know, this film. And he follows this up with the Burbs. So he's kind of getting like, I would say this is his most high concept movie.
00:31:29
Speaker
And the Burbs would probably be his darkest. And then, of course, after that, it's Gremlins 2, which is just the most purely Dante movie that he ever made. Like the one where you're just like, yeah, this is this is none more Dante. That's his blank check. That's his blank check No, literally, because they had been Warner Brothers had been trying for six years to get a Gremlin sequel off the ground.
00:31:51
Speaker
And they had picked like everyone was sending in pitches as crazy as the Gremlins in Las Vegas or the Gremlins on the moon. And so finally, they're like, Dante, none of this is working. If we give you complete creative freedom and back a dump truck full of money up to your house, will you direct a Gremlin sequel? And he's like, wait, artistic freedom. And they're like, yes. He goes, yes, absolutely.
00:32:11
Speaker
He goes, as long as I get final cut and no notes. And the whole movie is a big middle finger to Warner Brothers about why sequels aren't necessary. And it is my absolute favorite Joe Dante movie. One of my top five favorite movies of all time. It's a masterpiece. It's it's actually, I think it's really special because it's a middle finger and a love letter at the same time.
00:32:31
Speaker
It really is. It's like, I love you, but also fuck you. Yeah. it's It's because... And again, Dante's ah obviously a big Looney Tunes fan. Chuck Jones is his mentor. Chuck Jones has cameos in a lot of his movies, including this one, including Gremlins.
00:32:46
Speaker
Like, Chuck Jones is... um Zach Galligan's art teacher in Gremlins, the guy at the bar that's like, oh, your art's really coming along, Billy. um And then like the Looney Tunes, like there's a little Bugs Bunny toy in this movie. There's ah the rabbit that he's going to be injected into is called Bugs. Like,
00:33:04
Speaker
Dante is peppering the Looney Tunes in ever until he eventually gets to direct a Looney Tunes movie. But like he loves Warner Brothers and he also loves the Universal movies, which is why you get in Gremlins 2 the Busby Berkeley musical, the Phantom of the Opera reference. like he's Dante is what I call him...
00:33:23
Speaker
The ah the horror fan or the I guess the vulgar Martin Scorsese because he also has this deep love of older movies, but the movies he has this deep love of are like these B horror movies that he grew up with as a kid.
Joe Dante's Inspirations and Impact
00:33:37
Speaker
Just check out trailers from hell. You'll get an idea. Anytime he's on there, what kind of movie he movies he likes. Yeah. and i mean And he talks about them the same way that Martin Scorsese does. like he just ah Out of just this is deep love and appreciation for these films that effectively raised him as a director.
00:33:55
Speaker
And so this movie has a lot of those references, including... ah the The doctor in this movie is was the doctor from The Incredible Shrinking Man. um like The obvious callbacks to The Fantastic Voyage, which this movie owes a great debt to.
00:34:09
Speaker
like There's so much that he's cribbing in this movie. um and And a lot of the stuff that is in all of his movies appears here as well, which is why you kind of have to call Dante, whether you want to or not, you kind of have to call him an auteur because he absolutely is.
00:34:24
Speaker
He truly, truly is. a lot of There's a lot of Looney Tunes sound effects in this movie as well. Which is a Dante Hallmark. like he like I think what is it like the burp or something was a Mel Blanc burp.
00:34:36
Speaker
Like something like that. It was a hiccup. You get a lot of Spike Jonze type. um Not director Spike Jonze, but old timey novelty song musician Spike Jonze. Sound effects in here. I'm surprised there's not like a gun going off.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah. you know right But you get like a like ah point In a poke. And you get all those old sound effects if you listen for them. They're there. They're there. Dante has been doing... Like, Raimi gets a lot of credit for doing... I think the same year that this comes out is the same year that we get Evil Dead 2.
00:35:07
Speaker
And, like, Raimi gets a lot of credit for for making the live-action cartoon with Evil Dead 2. Because that's effectively what... that movie is, is a live action cartoon. and But like this movie and all Dante movies really have a lot of cartoony elements. Gremlins has is such is such a cartoon.
00:35:27
Speaker
Like everything those damn puppets are doing is so cartoony and fun and weird. Like it it it is like Dante has been making live action cartoons since the early 80s. This is what he does. Well, that's and that's what makes Gremlins 2 so good is it's the bar scene from Gremlins, but it's the whole movie.
00:35:45
Speaker
Yes. Where they're all like dressed up in human clothes and like shooting each other and playing cards and hanging off the fans. But that's just the whole movie in a big ass mall. It's not a mall, but basically a big ass mall. It's a skyscraper, but the skyscraper has a mall and like a TV studio, yeah a TV studio. Like, and that's just it. Like he had all these ideas and he, and he just kind of collapsed them all into one movie And in most movies that wouldn't work, but because this movie is just so chaotic from top to bottom, it works perfectly. Like it's such a great encapsulation of who Dante is as a filmmaker.
00:36:21
Speaker
um Boy, and John Glover really brings it in Gremlins 2, I'll say. Yes, he does. Wow, he does. He does. Playing a a very clear Donald Trump analog, but playing him as unlike Donald Trump as anyone could possibly be.
00:36:38
Speaker
Yes, an actual human being with thoughts and emotions and empathy. Unlike Donald Trump. Yes. um Yeah, he like there's this kind of like gee whiz element to John Glover's performance. Childlike quality to him. Yeah. would not expect but works so well.
00:36:57
Speaker
Unlike the childlike qualities we see in Donald Trump, which are petulance and spoiled rottenness. Well, Daniel Clamp is the victim of the people that he employs to take care of things for him. Robert Picardo screws him so hard in that movie like a hundred times.
00:37:14
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. in in in many different ways. Yes. Anyway, we talk about interspace though. Gremlins 2 is good as hell. Gremlins 2 is it's my favorite Dante with a bullet. And again, one of my top five movies of all time. Like Dante is, i would say, one of my favorite living filmmakers. I would say top five favorite living filmmakers. I love Joe Dante.
00:37:36
Speaker
There is not a movie of his that I've seen. Even the ones that are bad. And really there are only two bad ones. ah But even the ones that are bad are interesting. I will say. yeah um in the If in case you're wondering what, what are the two bad ones, Steven? It's in two thousand and nine s The Hole and 2014's Burying the X, which as, ah as of this moment are unfortunately his last two films.
00:38:00
Speaker
um I really hope, I really hope he gets back to directing. According to IMDB, he's got three movies in pre-production right now. I really hope one of them gets made. Damn, he's old as hell though.
00:38:12
Speaker
he is. Yeah. um Yeah, he is ah was born in 1946, so he'll be turning... Oh, that's not as old as I thought he was. That's not bad. He could do a couple more. At least one more.
00:38:24
Speaker
i mean, Corman just passed away, like, a couple years ago. They announced ah that Corman was producing Dante's um Little Shop of Halloween Horrors, which is supposed to be a ah franchise starter.
00:38:38
Speaker
And then, like, Corman passed away, like, two weeks later. And it's it's still on IMDb, but there's a part of me that wonders, like, is that going to actually happen now that Corman's gone? Don't know.
00:38:49
Speaker
I don't either. But it's it's a set it effectively a reboot of the 1960 Corman picture, having nothing to do with the musical whatsoever. That's right. Or the animated series from the 90s.
00:39:03
Speaker
Oh, it's called The Movie Orgy, is what I was thinking of. The Movie Orgy, which is a seven-hour montage of B-movies, TV shows, and vintage commercials to create a nostalgic collage about aliens and monsters attacking America.
00:39:18
Speaker
It's called The Movie Orgy. It's seven hours long. Gotta love that. Go watch The Movie Orgy, everybody. Everyone is pretty much archived footage or appearing as themselves. So, yeah. There you go.
00:39:34
Speaker
Next time I have seven hours available to me. Yeah, ya anytime. It's not like you've got anything better going on, let's be honest. I'd rather do that than watch a 4 to 10 hour YouTube video that people are doing now.
00:39:49
Speaker
These YouTubers, documentary YouTubers that I like, instead of you know putting them out in parts, they'll put out a 14 hour video. And it's like, who who's going to sit there? for for No, do the work for me. Put this out in chapters. And you're going make more money that way.
00:40:04
Speaker
What's wrong with you? Cut it down. I would watch a series. I'm going to sit there for 14 fucking hours. Sorry. the The one time I did that, um I downloaded a five-hour YouTube video and watched it on the plane ride back from New York.
00:40:19
Speaker
Nice. Yeah. So, you know, that that's that's the one time I did that. Yeah. But yeah, otherwise, no thank you. um But yeah, Joe Dante, great filmmaker. um And again, i everything I've seen of his, I really, really enjoy.
00:40:37
Speaker
um so And this movie is absolutely no exception. In fact, I i think it think it's safe to say this is probably a top five Dante for me. Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think this is probably second favorite.
00:40:51
Speaker
Favorite of first being the Burbs and then Gremlins 2 after this, which I know it sounds like blast me to put this above Gremlins 2, but how fucking I just I Gremlins 2 is very special to me. But this movie, this is the one that started it all for me and Jadante.
00:41:09
Speaker
And I will always hold it a special place in my heart. And the Burbs is for me. It's just his best all around movie. Like it's it's kind of a perfect film. It's a perfect film. And Tom Hanks.
00:41:21
Speaker
Golly, I miss funny Tom Hanks. Yeah. i mean um han You're so funny. He's a good-natured guy who, i when he appears in comedies and on SNL, like we love to see it, but yeah, he just doesn't do it anymore. Last time I saw him in a comedy was The Lady Killers, and I'm the only person who liked that movie.
00:41:39
Speaker
Yeah, and that's probably why he doesn't do them anymore. was going to say, if he if that movie had done better... We probably he'd probably do, you know, two dramas and a comedy. Inner Space is four of five for me in my Dante top five.
00:41:53
Speaker
Cool, cool, cool. Would you care to guess what my top three are, Tucker? I know, you know, my number one.
00:42:00
Speaker
ah I don't know. No, go ahead and tell me. Number one, obviously, I've mentioned it multiple times, Gremlins 2, colon, the new batch. Actually, I have a Gremlins 2 baseball cap arriving in the mail later today.
00:42:13
Speaker
number Number two, matinee. ah dante Dante's love letter to cinema. ah Particularly the cinema he loves. the The gimmicky William Castle shit from the 50s.
00:42:25
Speaker
Number three. That 4K looked good too. Mmm. Boy do it though. Boy do it though. Number three, the original Gremlins. Nice. And a number four, Innerspace. Number five, I have The Howling.
00:42:39
Speaker
ah wow. Yeah. Burbs I don't have until number eight. I probably need to reevaluate the burbs. Or, you know, I don't know. It's whatever. You like what you like. Who cares what you like? I mean, and here's the thing.
00:42:51
Speaker
i There's only two Dante movies I dislike. So again, it's like I'm just kind of like trying to prioritize my favorite children, really, when it comes to watching Dante movies. so I love that he's um he's down for a commentary, too.
00:43:06
Speaker
a lot of his, I wouldn't say all of them, but a lot of his films, once they got to DVD or Blu-ray, he did a commentary for them. Some even on Laserdisc. And he's um it like, the I haven't listened to the inner space commentary because I was just, I felt too much like she shit to watch it twice last night.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah. You, you, you said you were feeling sick. ah Yeah. But I can't wait to listen to that though. I'm concerned there's too many people on it. Four.
00:43:37
Speaker
Oh, there's like, but hold on. Let me get the thing. I'll read them off. Cause I remember, I remember you listed three. I did, but that was only a few of them. Oh, I see.
00:43:50
Speaker
it wasn't the whole list because I had to type. Oh, of course. So what we have here, Joe Dante, producer producer Michael Fennell, co-stars Kevin McCarthy and Robert Picardo, and visual effects supervisor Dennis Murin.
00:44:08
Speaker
Okay. That's a full room. That is a full room. I will say ah this is the only Joe Dante movie that has ever won an Academy Award. and Oh, deservedly so,
Awards and Achievements of 'Inner Space'
00:44:20
Speaker
dude. It looks fantastic. Inside the body, man, that's practical and it looks great.
00:44:23
Speaker
It is. would look like shit if it were CGI. For best visual effects in 1988. The only Dante movie to ever win an Oscar, which is fucking amazing. Like, good for this movie, honestly.
00:44:34
Speaker
It's so real. It's so real and fantastical at the same time. Those shots of Inside the Body. Boy, and the little when they have the the bad guys, all that looks great, too. There's a few instances that look a little silly, but most of time it looks really, really good.
00:44:53
Speaker
Yeah, like and and it's again, it's all practical. It's either like oversized props or like they're kind of using green screen to bury them in the background perspective. Yeah, all that stuff. And it it works really, really well. it's It's a lot of fun the way they do it.
00:45:10
Speaker
the way they handle it. So indeed no, super fun. I, I love inner space. I love Joe Dante. I love his commitment to um again, kind of just the gimmicky, like again, the high concepts, genre thriller or genre comedy rather.
00:45:27
Speaker
Like he's just very good at five picking a high concepts in a, usually a genre he loves horror, sci-fi, and then just adding, that comedic voice that only he really can bring. And he's got such a pointed comedic voice. Dante does.
00:45:47
Speaker
And it absolutely shines in movies like this. Like it's, it's goofy. He's goofy. And maybe that's why his last several movies haven't done as well is because goofiness has kind of fallen out of favor.
00:46:00
Speaker
Like it would, ah these days, the youngsters might call it cringe, if you will. Let's say goofy has made way for snark. Yes. like it has to It has to be edgier. You can't just be like wholesomely goofy anymore.
00:46:13
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Which is a bummer because like that is something that Dante does so well. There is, I would say he's not as earnest a filmmaker as someone like David Lynch, but there is an earnestness to his, to his cinema, to his cinematic voice as an auteur. And it's really, um it, it comes through, but it comes through specifically in the comedy.
00:46:34
Speaker
um And any good comedian will tell you comedy is found in truth and Dante has a really good way of finding the truth and bringing out the humor in that in a way that feels very natural and organic to the story he's trying to tell.
00:46:48
Speaker
That is true. I completely agree. And I also love you Dante. Yeah.
00:46:56
Speaker
Sorry, I'm running out of gas, Steven. I apologize. we can We can start wrapping up whenever you need to, man. We can make this a short one because you're not feeling well. I know this is a movie we both love. It's hard to talk about movies you love because all you really want to do is just like, and this is great. I don't know. What do you want? It's a good movie.
00:47:12
Speaker
It's really good. Well, we were talking about the special effects. Like I said, all that is. yeah The scene, the transformation scene from Jack back to the cowboy is really good.
00:47:23
Speaker
Something I thought was impressive that I, again, read about and then noticed because I read about it was that when he first becomes the cowboy, when it's just the back of Robert Picardo, it's Martin Short.
00:47:35
Speaker
But then in all the scenes after that, it's Robert Picardo doing Martin Short. And he does a really good job. The cadence of his voice and everything. Well, the reason that he has to show is the back of his head and kind of walk off screen is so that Picardo can like strip down and because they do it all in a one or from his entrance in like Picardo's got to go off camera, strip completely back down, switch out his wig and like get all tied up and back in the tub.
00:48:02
Speaker
So that when Meg Ryan goes in to look at him, that's where he still is. Like it's, it's really, again, it's one of those great practical things. like you hear like Jim Carrey doing that on eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. And it's exactly that kind of thing.
00:48:15
Speaker
I was just going to bring up Michelle Gondry because guys like Michelle Gondry don't exist without Dante and the way that he did effects with that kind of stuff. Dante walks. Oh, Michelle Gondry can run. And Michelle Gondry is the kind of guy I, I'm, I'm pretty sure there aren't,
00:48:31
Speaker
i'll eat Everything's done in camera on Eternal Sunshine. Everything. Right. Which is, and again, makes perfect sense. And they're using a lot of the same tricks that they use in this movie. They use forced perspective.
00:48:45
Speaker
You know, it's ah there's a very clear line between this film and and other effects-heavy Dante films and stuff like Eternal Sunshine.
00:48:58
Speaker
Right. And and it's I think it's Dante's eye. And Dante doesn't get something like this without first getting Gremlins because Gremlins is kind of the original. It's kind of a masterclass in managing a lot of very complicated special effects because all the all the puppetry work on that had to be really tightly choreographed. And most people who work on movies like that say, I will never make another puppet movie again. And Dante made two more, Gremlins 2 and Small Soldiers. like god bless the man and I think part the reason he never did want to do a sequel to gremlins is because he had such a rough like not a bad time just a rough time on the first one yeah like take think of a child's play movie and just like multiply that by like a hundred more puppets yeah
00:49:46
Speaker
And then you've got basically the ending of like the the movie theater scene in Gremlins. And then you take something like the end of the Muppet movie in 1978 and like they get the entire puppet union, like every member of the puppet union in the United States, they fly them out to England to film that last shot.
00:50:04
Speaker
of that movie, including Tim Burton and John Landis, like our two like famous names that are among that sea of Muppets at the end of that movie. But again, that's all practical shit. And yeah, Dante is, is one of those filmmakers you I think because of gremlins gets kind of pigeonholed as a, as an effects guy
Joe Dante's Filmmaking Range
00:50:25
Speaker
explorers is a pretty effects heavy movie, um which has like kind of life-size puppets in it. Picardo does the voice of one of those.
00:50:34
Speaker
Um, and you've And you've got like the the the spacecraft and everything and all the effects that go with that and those effects shots. And then you have something like this a couple years after that.
00:50:46
Speaker
And so like he's really kind kind of gets pigeonholed into this. And so something like matinee, which he does after Gremlins 2, is really kind of a step back and a proof that, you know, eight i can do other stuff, guys. I can do stuff that's not quite as effects driven and effects heavy.
00:51:01
Speaker
I can just tell a simple story. Well, same with the burbs. I mean, there's not a lot. There's makeup effects there, like some camera tricks, but there's not a lot of moving parts. No, you're right. No, absolutely.
00:51:12
Speaker
and that but that And that one's very atmospheric. That one's very like, I think the burbs would make a really good double feature with the thing. Honestly, I feel like those would that would be a really good double feature where you kind of line those because it's about suspicion of the people right around you.
00:51:30
Speaker
like It feels like that Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, just blown up into a feature, really. yeah Agreed.
00:51:41
Speaker
Except, you know, with a lot more humor um because it's Dante. And again, it's a genre. It's a genre comedy. And the genre is like thriller, like suburban thriller.
00:51:54
Speaker
um I do. I do enjoy the burbs. it's It is a very I think it's a solid three and a half movie for me. um It's perfect for me. It's five five stars. Five stars from your boy on that one.
00:52:05
Speaker
No doubt. No doubt. And again, and again like with Dante, I feel like there are no bad picks. That's another one I kind of grew up on. no but that's another one i kind of grew up on Two, we had the burbs. I think we had that taped off of HBO because you always had those free weekends. Every once in while, you have a free weekend of HBO.
00:52:27
Speaker
Taped the burbs off that. And Gremlins, I don't think it was until I became a teenager and kind of became a film fan that I sort of ah understood that that was all the same guy and i I would seek out his other films. And that's how I saw...
00:52:45
Speaker
Gremlins 2 and some other stuff. I'm fading, Steve, we got to wrap this up. Okay. any Any last words you want to say about um about Inner Space?
00:52:58
Speaker
I like it a lot. I do want to shout out the great Vernon Wells. ah See our previous episode on space truckers and Commando. ah But he, of course, was also in The Road Warrior. That's kind of the his first big role, but becomes kind of synonymous as an 80s heavy character.
00:53:18
Speaker
throughout that decade base and and almost never talks because of his very thick Australian accent. ah They almost never have him speaking in his eighties roles as a result of that.
00:53:29
Speaker
um But phenomenal actor and very phenomenal here the whole time, like early, I'd forgotten Vernon Wells was in this. So I'm sitting there looking at going, I know that guy. I know him from several things and I'm thinking it's other Joe Dante movies. And then I get him pulled up and I'm like, fuck, no, that's Vernon Wells. Of course, fucking of course it's Vernon Wells.
00:53:47
Speaker
Um, so good. And his name is just one letter off from Igor, which I think is also, again, very, very intentional on Dante's part, uh, as being the kind of guy who will call out references like that. I also want to shout out John Hora, who is not an actor.
00:54:02
Speaker
ah John Hora was a cinematographer, ah was ah Dante's cinematographer actually for many years was on the camera department of the burbs was the cinematographer for gremlins, uh, matinee,
00:54:14
Speaker
um for ah at least one of Joe Dante's eerie Indiana episodes. He was DP on Gremlins too. Like, and Spielberg is like, this guy would play a great, like just hapless scientist.
00:54:28
Speaker
And Dante's like, no, no. like no no it adds It adds realism to the character too because he doesn't i mean he doesn't seem like an actor.
00:54:39
Speaker
he seems like he He seems more like he's in a documentary than ah a fictional film. Which grounds the movie early on right when you need it to be grounded. But like yeah, he's he's not an actor. Spielberg is the one that really insists that they give him a shot.
00:54:55
Speaker
um And he has two other film roles. He's credited in 1992 as Helicopter Observer in the previously mentioned in this episode, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. And he's also in Dante's most recent film, Burying the Ex, as Grumpy Customer.
00:55:11
Speaker
His only three acting roles and two of them are in Dante
Box Office and Reception
00:55:14
Speaker
films. so them Chuck Jones was dead by that point, so you had to get somebody else for the Grumpy Customer. That's right. Absolutely. Might as well get the guy who played ah the ah the the the hapless scientist to much acclaim. But yeah, he plays Ozzy, the frequently mentioned um ah scientist who dies at the hand of Vernon Wells early in this film.
00:55:35
Speaker
um But yeah, there you go. um Let's let's go ahead and move on to the box office. um Inner Space comes out July 3rd, 1987. It opens to it opens number three to four point seven million dollars.
00:55:52
Speaker
um on its way to 19.8 million domestic. So not a good multiplier. um i don't know that I have a budget read. oh according to IMDb, the budget was $27 million. dollars Although IMDb also estimates the box office at 95 million. I have to wonder if that includes re-releases ah because the numbers only gives it $19 million dollar domestic box office.
00:56:20
Speaker
Well, and this is 1987. You're not getting a lot of re-releases anymore because home video exists. That's true. That's very true. um At number one ah this weekend, in it in its second weekend, holding steady at number one is the, speaking of Tom Hanks, ah Tom Hanks, Dan Aykroyd film Dragnet.
00:56:40
Speaker
Oh, because Tom Hanks was going to be in this, but he was doing Dragnet instead. but Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. um In second place, we have ah a movie by a director i love and you loathe, um The Great Mel Brooks, Spaceballs, holding steady at number two.
00:56:59
Speaker
I'm sure he's a fine man. i mean know i just don't share his sense of humor. i I love it. I think he one of the greats. ah This movie, again, as I said, Inner Space opens at number three.
00:57:12
Speaker
um At number four, we get Beverly Hills Cop 2, which a seventh week has made or which is in seven weeks has made million. tony Scott's Beverly Hills Cop ah Rounding out the top five, you have George Miller's The Witches of Eastwick, another of the the guy who made the second best segment in Twilight Zone, the movie.
00:57:31
Speaker
ah That's down from number three from the previous weekend in its ah ah fourth weekend of release. Yeah. And then round of Happy Feet and Happy Feet 2 as well.
00:57:42
Speaker
Correct. And Babe Pig in the City, lest we forget. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and Mad Max. Every Mad Max movie. And one, two, three, four Mad Max movies. Five Mad Max movies. Five. Yeah, fucking five. Because Furiosa technically counts. um He's in it.
00:57:56
Speaker
Back of his head is in it. Yep. ah body double making it the first time that ah the part has been played by a a native Australian right yeah on screen yes the the video game that came out about 10 years ago was voiced by an Australian actor so that's the only two times that Max has been played by actual actual Australian take that Mel Gibson you're only kinda Australian um i mean In accent only.
00:58:27
Speaker
Yeah. ah Rounding out the top 10, in number six, you've got The Untouchables. At number seven, you've got- like that movie too. You've got Predator, a fucking classic. I like that movie too.
00:58:39
Speaker
In number eight, you've got Roxanne, the Steve Martin film, the Cyrano de Bergerac film. In ninth place, opening opening this week is Adventures in Babysitting.
00:58:51
Speaker
Oh, oh, Steven. you i know you love that movie, Tucker. You don't even need to say it. I'm not going to say it's one of my favorite movies, but it's one of my most rewatched films of all time. I will watch that on the drop of a fucking dime. You mentioned Adventures of Babysitting.
00:59:08
Speaker
Let's put it in. Let's watch it right now. Let's go. Let's fucking go. Let's watch it. Go watch it. go. No, I'm going to go directly to bed after this. Well, fall asleep watching Adventures in Babysitting. No, that'll give me a headache. More of a headache.
00:59:19
Speaker
In 10th place, you've got Benji the Hunted. i do want to shout out number 11 because you've got Vincent D'Onofrio in two spots on this list. a Full Metal Jacket at number 11. Because he was at the Dawson in Adventures and Babysitting.
00:59:33
Speaker
correct. And then, ah with nail and I at number 12, which I think is pretty cool. Uh, but yeah, this movie only makes about 19.8 million, not the commercial success that Warner brothers was hoping for sadly.
00:59:45
Speaker
um but has, they kind were hoping they were, they were, they were pushing this movie. Like they were like, this is fantastic. We're going to make buckets and boatloads of money. What they were saying is this is fantastic voyage. We're going to make buckets and buckets of blood. i see what you had did there.
01:00:01
Speaker
um But it's been kind of reappraised in recent years. The Tomatometer score on this one certified fresh at 82%. The critics consensus a manic overstuffed blend of sci-fi comedy and romance.
01:00:12
Speaker
Inner space nonetheless charms thanks to Martin Short's fine performance and the insistent zaniness of the plot. ah Selling Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan a little short but I'll allow it.
01:00:24
Speaker
ah This one has is a 66 on Metacritic um based on generally favorable reviews from 15 critics. Tucker, would you care to take a stab at what the letterbox score is for Joe Dante's Inner Space?
01:00:38
Speaker
Well, the kids love Dante. They do love the Dante. Sure. Sure. So I'm going to say, I'm going to repeat last week's and my last week's, I mean, yesterday's guess, uh, between a three and a 3.5. It is in fact a three, you, you went, you went back the other way. It's a 3.5.
01:00:56
Speaker
Fuck. Yeah, dude. And, and that's it. That's, that is, that is
Final Thoughts and Ratings
01:01:00
Speaker
interspace. How are, how many stars are you giving Jadante's interspace? ah I'm going to give it four.
01:01:08
Speaker
um I feel like if it were a little tighter... What? Why you looking at me like that? You'll see in a second. Okay, if if it were a little tighter...
01:01:22
Speaker
um And that's the thing with this. It is too long, but at the same time, I'm never bored. I just kind of noticed that it's been going on for a while. Right. It's never like, oh, I wish this was over. ah It's always just like, damn, this is still going. That's wild.
01:01:38
Speaker
So, yeah, I'm actually no, gonna give it 4.5. Okay, that's better because I'm giving it a four and a half and there's no way I can imagine giving this a higher score than you are. So we average out at four and a half because, and again, I love Dante. Like I've got at least two, when I rewatch Matinee, I may bump that one up to a five, but at least two of his movies are perfect movies for me.
01:01:59
Speaker
Like I just I he's he's one of the all time greats. And I love the man. I I I worship his work. ah Was it the ah the Bob say in Office Space? I worship the man's entire catalog.
01:02:13
Speaker
um That's that's me and Dante. I love Dante. i love his work. um What an incredible filmmaker would love to shake the man's hand one day. And just let him know how much how big a fan I am of what he's done.
01:02:24
Speaker
so But yeah, and ah Dennis Quaid is fucking charming in this movie. du john Even though he's kind of a dick. Yeah, charming as hell.
01:02:34
Speaker
And Meg Ryan looking maybe hotter than anyone has ever looked ever in this movie also. Like not to just be stereotypically male about it, but holy shit. hey we like we are We are animals and we we are attuned to attractiveness. so like they are like She and and Dennis Quaid are just two of the hottest people at the hottest they've ever been in this movie. And it yeah yeah it's hard it's hard to ignore.
01:03:02
Speaker
Hard to ignore, hard to argue. Um, and just for the sake of Tucker's general emotional and physical wellbeing, I'm going to throw it. I'm a, going to pull a Burgess Meredith and throw in the towel on this one.
01:03:14
Speaker
Um, so, uh, he's gonna, he's gonna crap thunder. All right. But not for the reasons you think, um, this is i have no lightning.
01:03:25
Speaker
No lightning has been consumed by me, but I will still crap. thunder You're still going to crap thunder. Yeah. Whether you want to or not. um Yeah, no, it's um there. There it is. That's our episode on Joe Dante's 1987 film, Inner Space.
01:03:41
Speaker
um This has been the Disenfranchised Podcast. um You can find us on wherever you get your podcasts. Obviously, probably how you found us now. ah But if you want to find us on social media, we're on Blue Sky Yellow Podcast.
01:03:54
Speaker
Blue Sky YouTube. Oh God, maybe I need a nap. Blue Sky YouTube and Letterboxd at DisinfranchPod. You can find us at on Patreon, disinfranchpod at gmail.com. Give us a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.
01:04:14
Speaker
ah For five bucks on Patreon, you can get access to our ah deep catalog of extra shows, ah including, have we done a Dante? um a Dante? We should. We should. We should just pick another Dante movie that doesn't meet our criteria and just cover it for no reason. If I didn't feel like shit right now, I would suggest we do it immediately after this recording, but I can't do another two hours.
01:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, you can't. And i honestly, i could record a Gremlins 2 episode off the dome. That's how much I love that movie. we could do an un fire self We could do an unenfranchised episode on Gremlins 2 literally any time. I would not even need to rewatch the movie. It's just memorized.
01:04:53
Speaker
So... Anytime. We're Dante fans around here. I'll tell you what. Love Dante. If we didn't record this episode, we were going to do a rewind of another Dante movie.
01:05:04
Speaker
Yeah. Looney Tunes back in action. Because there's a Looney Tunes movie dropping on Max this weekend. That's true. like they would have It would have fit. But instead, my schedule opened up and allowed us to do this. So we did this instead. And then Tucker got very sick, so we had to kind of curtail it a bit.
01:05:18
Speaker
But... smell Just a little... it's It's okay. But you can also join the official conversation of the Disenfranchised Podcast on Patreon at the free tier. So if you don't want to spend money, you don't have to. You can still communicate with Tucker and I on the regular and listen to all the main feed episodes dropping directly into your Patreon feed.
01:05:37
Speaker
ah You can find, you can also shoot us an email, distantfranchpod at gmail.com. You can find me, your host, Stephen Foxworthy on, ah what am I on these days? Blue Sky and Letterboxd. That's it. At Chewy Walrus.
01:05:49
Speaker
um And you can also listen to my other podcast with a friend of the show, past and future guest, Hope Stow, called Wells University, where we cover the ah the life and work of the great Orson Wells. Tucker is our producer, ah editor, theme songwriter. he's He's done a lot of work on that show.
01:06:07
Speaker
ah So it's it's kind of a labor of love for the both of us. um And I think that's all I have to talk about. ah You can find our absent co-host, Brett Wright. He might be swimming around in one of our insides right now. I won't say who's.
01:06:21
Speaker
He's just a tiny little skeleton. Just a tiny little skeleton. I think you just digested the Brett, Tucker. um ah You can find him on Letterboxd at sus underscore warlock, but that's the only place. Tucker, where can we find you on the socials?
01:06:36
Speaker
I'm on Instagram and YouTube at Ice909. I-C-E-N-I-N-E, the number zero and the number nine. Also, TuckMugs, Tuck underscore Mugs. Check that out to the end. Yeah, that's it. And that is our episode on...
01:06:52
Speaker
The, what is it? What do we call it? It's, ah it's ah Inner Space. Yeah, that's our episode on Inner Space. This has been the Disenfranchised Podcast. Good Lord. um For the absent Brett Wright, for the very present but very ill Tucker, I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy.
01:07:06
Speaker
Until next time, ah I'm right here. I'm inside you. Inside your body.
01:07:18
Speaker
Accept me.
01:07:25
Speaker
you