Transcript
Speaker: Bye.
Speaker: Welcome back to the Stakeouts and Shakedowns podcast, everybody. ah This is episode two, and I feel like that's, so I don't know, some kind of milestone. We made it past episode one. I just wanted to say, first off, right out the jump here, ah thank you to anybody who's reached out with kind words ah and encouragement and just told us that you were and enjoying the show.
Speaker: I've had several people reach out and tell me that they enjoyed the first episode and I just really appreciate that. Thanks so much. um Also, a few people have ah given us nice ratings on Apple Podcasts, which I really appreciate.
Speaker: If you're looking for a good way to help the podcast, like one of the best ways that you can help a podcast is to go to something like Apple Podcasts and leave a nice rating, a nice review. It just, it really helps out ah the podcast and helps us to find ah listeners. So if that's something that you feel inclined to do, that will be great. And if you're just here to listen Glad to have you.
Speaker: So like I said, we're here for episode two. um We've got a long road ahead of us. One thing I'll mention is since the last episode, I've been doing a lot of research and I've come up with a very long list, much longer than I initially thought it was going to be of buddy cop films. Turns out I've got this huge list and I myself have only seen about 35% of them and I thought I'd seen a lot. So this will be ah a learning journey For all of us, and I'm just glad you're here.
Speaker: Speaking of somebody that I am ah glad is here, my guest for episode number two is a longtime friend of mine, probably one of my longest standing friends at this point. It's my good buddy, Donnie Harden. Hey, buddy, how's it going?
Speaker: Hey, Wes, man. Thanks for having me on the show. It's ah it's a real honor. Well, thanks, man. i'm I'm really glad you could be here. I knew basically from from the moment that I started this podcast, I knew that you were one of the people I was going to want to have on pretty early on.
Speaker: ah Like I said, we've just been buds for a long time. You are a frequent member of my movie-going cinema-haunting posse, so ah we hang out a lot and talk movies. And also, i was a big fan of your podcast that you used to do ah with our friend Tarl, Stephen King Rules, all about Stephen King.
Speaker: I am a big horror movie guy, but I you know i feel like horror fans, we all have like our people that we're super into. I was like always a big ah Romero guy, a big Lucio Fulci guy.
Speaker: ah But you guys know a lot more about Stephen King than me, so I always really loved listening to the podcast and learning a lot about ah about Stephen King. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Um, it's been a while since we, um, uh, since we had that one. Yeah. like As you mentioned, uh, yeah, me and my cousin Tarl, uh, started it, uh, a couple of years ago. um it's, uh, sort of in its ah defunct phase right now, you know, we've kind of gone on to other things, uh, gotten busy and all that, but we, uh, we had a pretty good run. We were able to get out, uh, uh, about, ah about a baker's dozen worth of episodes, if I recall correctly. And, uh,
Speaker: and Yeah, it was ah kind of like – kind of had a sort of sort of format like you're kind of going for here where we would ah pick a work. I think we were mainly actually mostly focused on like ah movies and adaptions and everything of Stephen King. And we ah and I think we were we were going to venture into the original ah source material a little deeper later. But eventually it eventually sort of became sort of a movie podcast on its own.
Speaker: Well, thanks a lot. um And I've known you for a really long time, ah but the listeners, some some may, some may not. um And so just other than the the podcast, ah your your podcast, maybe just tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and who you are.
Speaker: Oh, sure thing. Yeah. um Well, we meet as you said, me and you, we've been friends since ah it' time out of mind. yeah Oh, gosh, yeah. definitely been over 20 years now. And I know that, yeah, I know both of us have been just, you know, we've really bonded over a lot of ah ah over so many different movies and we're both, uh, you know, we're both very, uh, very interested in the craft where we're, I know we're both just like you. I'm a kind of a creative type, uh, love, i love learning about how things were made, you know, what was the, was what's the, what were some of the behind the scenes stories, you know, where did the, uh, where did the ideas come from, you know, you know, a lot of things like that. So, um,
Speaker: I've also – got to tell you, when it comes to ah you know hobbies and interests and things I do, I'm definitely yeah burning through them at an unsustainable rate at this point. I think if we're talking about like – if we're talking about podcasts, things like that, I will say that I've really actually gotten rather interested into – a lot of the behind the scenes stuff that goes into producing and making a podcast and video cast and things of that nature. So a lot of, a lot of my time has been going into um kind of like learning about what are some of the new technologies coming out and, uh,
Speaker: A lot of the stuff is making a lot easier and a lot more efficient to make a quality a podcast or a product for listeners out there. I mean, stuff that we didn't even have five years ago. So ah it's definitely a good definitely definitely a good time to get into it. But as as I'm sure you've already seen, it as a it is a lot of work, isn't it? at attend Well, yeah.
Speaker: oh I'm always thankful to have friends like ah like you and a lot of our other friends because I'm like probably the least tech-savvy millennial of all time, so I always need all ought to lean on my friends to help me figure out all the technical aspects. But yeah, I've been finding it...
Speaker: finding it ah and Not too bad learning how to do all this, but you know it's it's a learning process. Oh, you've been doing phenomenal, man. Thanks, man. Yeah, and also if this is is this is a great example of ah for anyone else out there that's wanting to put something out there in the world. If you've been working on that, if got that audio book you've been thinking about doing or a podcast of your own out there, just the the best thing to do, even you know don't be intimidated, just best thing to do is just jump right in and start doing it.
Speaker: So, Donnie, just um I mentioned already earlier that you and I are pretty frequent cinema goers. ah One thing that I think helps an audience set in podcasts like this to learn a little bit about who they're listening to is just if you could state some of your favorite films. You're probably like me where like your favorite list of favorite films like that could be a whole episode on its own. But like just a handful of like what kinds of movies you enjoy, you know?
Speaker: Oh, my goodness. Yeah, this is one of those things. For people like us, it's it's it's actually the question that I fear the most when in a yeah yeah with when networking or meeting new people is like, what's your favorite movie? And I freeze up because I start to just really way weighing them and everything. and then i And then I usually regret the one that I did say and like – yeah, so it's – I kind of got – I need to work on my ah kind of my elevator speech for that or just – or I need to just pick one and go with it even if it's not the – even if there's one I might pick over that or something. But, but yeah, it is – but there's a – it's also not even just good movies. I'm even a fan of the –
Speaker: the sort of the activity that I've really enjoyed over the last few years is what what could we could almost call it the sport of bad movie watching. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it's a time-honored tradition. and If you go back into the years of like, you know, people talk about like the movie, ah like Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space and all that. You know, lot of the old good bad movies. And now our generation has movies like Tommy Wiseau's The Room. course.
Speaker: And then there's even some lesser-known gems that you and I have found out just by... just by picking up tapes and watching them, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And it's a, it was a fine line too. You know, there's some stuff that's just almost, know,
Speaker: not quite bad enough to come back around to being entertaining and funny bad again, you know, but sometimes you'll find one that is so bad that it's, it's, it's, it's just, in it's just entertaining to watch, you know? So yeah, that's kinds dude.
Speaker: Um, so I will say though, like talking about like maybe some specific movies, one that movie that I always associate you with, or at least the franchise, cause I'm not sure which one I always think of you, uh, and the alien franchise. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, yes. That's a big Donnie movie to me. And like The Thing is a big Donnie movie for me when think about those movies. and And of course, you're a big fan of things like Hunt for the Red October.
Speaker: These are films that I associate with Donnie Hart. These are Donnie Hart films in my mind. Oh, I'm so glad. i You know, sometimes I think you may, you actually may know me better than I do because that, and you just, let go yeah, yeah. You kind of remember, yeah. I would say, yeah. One of my favorite recent experiences was seeing, ah the hunt for October in a theater for the first time. Yeah. Yeah. Our, uh, our friends at the Carolina theater of Durham actually, uh, actually, uh, put it on, ah recently. And, uh,
Speaker: ah yeah And I admit, you know, I was too young when it came out to see it, sure you know, what is out for the first time. But the the immersive experience you have in there, you know, with, you know, it' ah you almost get to feel claustrophobic with it because, you know, you feel like you're actually kind of in the submarine underwater, you know, and the that that experience of sort of sharing it with, you the other moviegoers and in, you know, and in front of just a towering screen that really brings you in. It really, is yeah.
Speaker: Moviegoing a very communal experience. and And I always think that's something that hopefully hopefully we're not losing in this day and age with with all the streaming. I think that moviegoing is a very communal experience. So I definitely get that.
Speaker: And you know, Donnie, something we were talking about earlier that i didn't think about last week was the audience. Some of them are still getting to know me as well. So I thought maybe I would throw in some of my favorite movies. ah So I will just say, I just real quickly pulled up my Letterboxd account and just just to read off the top four favorites on there and like already top four. It's just, it's not enough, but I will say the ones that I chose when they like held a gun to my head and made me choose four. I put Jaws classic, uh, Halloween, the OG, the original, uh, the first Terminator film.
Speaker: Okay. Look, I'm a fan of Terminator 1 and Terminator 2, and I know that's a very ah contentious subject, but I'm a big Terminator 1 guy. And then, of course, ah the movie that I did mention last time and I think is very apropos of this podcast, Beverly Hills Cop, one of the all-time great films. Just a movie that I really love. So maybe that'll tell you a little bit about me moving forward, dear listener.
Speaker: So, Donnie, one other thing that I was going to ask you just before we get going ah is if you have a favorite buddy cop film. Oh, yeah. it's so i it's what i i hate to be i hate to sound like the – pick the most obvious choice. I literally just chose Beverly Hills Cop, so don't worry about that.
Speaker: i got to say I got to go with the original Lethal Weapon. That is, to me, yeah to me that is everything i want out of the buddy cop movie, out of the you know ah the the two two people from different sides of the track, you know two different styles of police officer, the hijinks that in shit ensues, what they learn about from each other. It is just the perfect movie. It's also a Christmas movie, and and it's the one that I feel like everyone seems to forget now. They always talk that.
Speaker: Die Hard is the yes the seminal action Christmas movie, but everyone forgets Lethal Weapon. It was a Christmas movie, too. So you just got me all hyped up. That's the thing I'm always saying. Why don't we ever think about Lethal Weapon around the holidays? No, you you never have to apologize for loving on some Lethal Weapon. This is a safe space for Lethal Weapon love here at Stakeouts and Shakedowns.
Speaker: ah So that's awesome, dude. And yeah, definitely one of my tops as well. You know, as we go through this podcast, it's one thing I'm trying to be really careful about is because like you just said, you know, I've honestly I've dug up like a little over 140 different buddy cop movies and I haven't even finished yet going through like some of the ones from other countries. But, you know, it's real tempting to just always think about the big boys, you know, the Beverly Hills Cops, Lethal Weapons, 48 Hours, Rush Hour.
Speaker: Bad Boys and all those are wonderful films. ah But I am trying to make sure to try and space those out and and get into some of the the unsung gems as well.
Speaker: um And so last thing before we kind of move into our feature presentation for this episode, ah have you seen anything good lately? And it doesn't have to be anything new, but anything good ah that you would recommend to the listeners to check out?
Speaker: Hmm. All right. Um, it's actually been a rather busy summer. This one. I feel like I, and i yeah, I cannot. yeah It's one of those things I'm really ashamed of because set to meet summer, that is the, that is movie going time. That's what you do. And I have not been holding up my end of the bargain there. So yeah, I'm around the Carolina quite a bit. You've been going to see some movies. We've been watching some classics. The classics. Yes, definitely. i As far as anything, any of the new releases, and i haven't gone to see see a lot. and And this is kind of a big summer for movies right here. So I really feel like I am kind of missing out. But still, the –
Speaker: Yeah, but the yeah stuff we we have been seeing, what was the last that few things we saw? We just saw the Goonies and Fletch on Friday. oh gosh, yes. Yeah, that that's what one of the ones that's – I've definitely seen some old ones that I kind of know by heart. Midnight Run.
Speaker: We saw Midnight Run. That's true. Yeah, i that's right. we got We got the opportunity. I got to see some – one thing that I've i've been ah been enjoying is seeing a lot of the old movies that that I never got the chance to see before. And Midnight Run was – yeah, it was amazing. I had a lot of fun with that one. that's ah And I definitely – I guess that's another one for the – that can be added to the buddy cop list. It's on the list, baby. It's on the list.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. I'm glad there's – yeah, so I was really happy to see something – kind of like a but like like ah with today's subject is a movie that actually had myself never seen before. So yeah, ah yeah there's – it's sad, um and I'm trying to be very careful about that because there's ah there's a lot of movies that just missed. You can't watch them all.
Speaker: yeah Especially now with in our day and age where we've got so there's so much content to choose from, it's almost overwhelming. so ah But yeah even going back to the yeah back to to the olden days or the good old days now you know of the 90s and 80s and everything, there's a lot of there's a lot of seminal works that I have not seen. And I'm going to save them rather than, yeah in some cases, if I can avoid renting them, in hopes that maybe some of the local theaters around here might want to...
Speaker: dig one of those up and throw it on the screen for a special occasion. Well, we're definitely lucky to have a lot of cool stuff around here. Show those classic movies to Carolina, the Rialto here in Raleigh. We have an Alamo in Raleigh now that does some good retro screening. So ah we're we're pretty for, and I think the Carolina in Greensboro also does some retro stuff too sometimes.
Speaker: It does. And actually, i kind of want to give Carolina Theater Greensboro a shout out because I actually got to see um I was able to see a few of the old, um you know, old age Hollywood movies, ah classics like there are some that I've never seen before. um One is like Casablanca. I had never seen it before. Yeah, that was a great time. that That was a great opportunity to be able to see it for the first time on the big screen. For sure. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, man, that's cool. I saw Ralph Stanley at the Carolina Theater of Greensboro many years ago. So cool. Well, all right, man, that's awesome. And so we're going to take just a little break and we're going to come back on the other side of that break and talk about tonight's feature presentation.
Speaker: Trust is a very important commodity in business. It's the cult I trust this guy with my life. Screw that. They were partners. Uh-oh, we got company. Smooth and easy.
Speaker: friends Everything we do, we split down the middle, right? Of course we do with partners. But every friendship... You're the only guy I've ever trusted in my entire life....hits the occasional bump in the road. You're under arrest.
Speaker: You better be messing around right You have the right to remain silent. How can you do this to me?
Speaker: This cost me millions of dollars. Millions, I'm very, very mad. For Detective Jack Keats... There he is. Not even a bullet in the head could stop him. The last man he wants to see... Have you been drinking, sir? had about a half a beer, but the dog had a lot....is the one witness he needs to protect.
Speaker: He knows my operation from top bottom. It's up to you to bring him in, Keats. You sneeze. If I even smell your breath, I will shoot you dead.
Speaker: How about if I chew loud? um now they don't know who to trust. Grab the wheel! Oh, my God, the guy looks like a tumbleweed. And they're on the run. I got one option first, and it's not very good. Okay, well, what is it? Crash landing, man. Okay, I'll be in the back sitting on the black box. From both sides of the law. You don't trust us all of a sudden? I don't trust anybody, Whoopi.
Speaker: Get down!
Speaker: I gotta learn learn how to fight. This is pathetic. Damon Wayans. So minded and simple. Adam Sandler. Bet you're glad you gave me that gun.
Speaker: Bulletproof.
Speaker: Will you up? Shut the hell up! You'll always be my bodyguard. You know that.
Speaker: All right. So we are back. And tonight we are talking about the 1996 film Bulletproof. Um, this movie was one that i watched fairly frequently, actually in the, in the nineties, I had it on VHS and before streaming, if you had a movie on VHS, you were going to watch it several times. So, uh, it's one that I had,
Speaker: ah certainly seen quite a few times, but I don't think I've revisited it in maybe, I don't even want to say how long, many years it's been since I had seen this film. um And so I was wanting to talk about this one. I didn't, when I was starting this all out, i didn't know it it would show up so early, but I definitely wanted to talk about this one as one that I remembered from my youth. ah And Donnie, you had not seen this film before.
Speaker: Is that right? Yeah. I had not. And yeah, I was ah actually kind of surprised that I missed it because this was from that golden age of the Adam Sandler when he was kind of really the ah second coming of comedy and Damon Wayans as big as he was with all. I mean, he was a 90s phenomenon as well, really. like Yeah, and I'm actually not surprised that you missed it because it seems like a lot of people missed this one. So we'll talk about that a little bit more later on. I don't remember how exactly that I ended up with that tape, but that's the reason why I'd seen it. So a little bit about this movie.
Speaker: It was released on September the 6th, 1996. The director of this film was Ernest Dickerson. The score was by a really famous film composer, Elmer Bernstein.
Speaker: The writer was Joe Gaten and also Louis Kolick. And I have a question here, and I don't think we'll be able to answer it, but ah we'll talk about this a little bit later, too. But but possibly Adam Sandler might have had something to do with the script. I'm not sure. He's certainly not credited.
Speaker: So the stars were Damon Wayans, Adam Sandler, James Caan, Kristen Wilson, among many others. ah And it had a budget of twenty five million dollars. And at the box office, it got ah twenty two point six million worldwide. Twenty one point six million ah for the U.S. And so it was a a pretty big flop. It was a very unsuccessful film at the box office. I mean, I guess it almost made back its its budget, but ah that's only good in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Speaker: um So I will say this, that one thing I found out that was very interesting to me was that it made $6 million dollars in its opening weekend. So it actually opened number one at the box office and nineteen in September 1996. That actually tracks to me because – yeah, because I mean remember how – How big, you know, Adam Seller, David Wayans were at this time. I mean, yeah right. to I mean, we were pretty much watching Billy Madison on repeat. as yeah ah Yeah, there was. um ah What else was there? the Oh, Major Pain was a big one. Yes. that's Yeah. That's one that is.
Speaker: Killing is my business and business is good. we used to watch Major Pain all the time, dude. Yes. And also, of course, Happy Gilmore, which we're getting a sequel to. Surprise, surprise at the end of this month. So ah wonder how that'll go.
Speaker: oh yeah. And i'm it's it's it's really hard to really fully convey and and ah just just just to really people help people understand how big yeah how big these guys were at this time and how and just how fast. funny it was i mean yeah they're both veterans of uh sketch comedy you know but for one adam sell of course i don't lie but the other uh damon wayans is i mean uh in living color was always on our sets on yeah every night that was the big one for us and uh even but it was actually kind of overshadowed as far as that uh that kind of sketch comedy goes for a while for a little for a little bit there it actually overshadows saturday live and uh
Speaker: And yeah, and actually, yes, they are both Saturday Night Live ah alumni as well. I guess somehow I didn't realize Damon Wands had been on SNL. For a short time. Very short. Okay. Interesting.
Speaker: Yeah. um There's only a only few sketches. And I really feel, I feel like just, and we've heard a lot of ah ah actors and comedians talk about this, that the Saturday Live environment is, know, it's a It's not for everybody, and it's also – sometimes it's it's got ah it's got its own problems. you know It's not as great as it's cracked up to be. And with what the Wayans brothers put together on a limb in color, I mean, I feel like it was the right – it was – yeah, that was definitely a much more funny home. And say yeah it was same for you know Jim Carrey actually. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: ah was also Yeah, one of the famous one ones who – For sure. Yeah, that didn't – that could have been on Saturday Night Live but was not offered the ah ah you know was that offered the role after his audition. and ah But he found a home on In Living Color. And as we've seen just how – that's another example of just how big some of these people were and got in the It was – it was It was something. And those – I don't say – yeah, to a lot of ah television at the time you know was really where a lot of the talent would come from. I don't know if it's quite the same nowadays or not. Well, the lines are so blurred now between television and and film. you know I mean when you have like Netflix becoming one of the major film studios and stuff, the lines are much more blurred now than they were ah once upon a time I think.
Speaker: But yeah, television television in the ninety s and and especially sketch comedy ah was a big proving ground for people who would become major stars. And what you just said, I mean, pretty much encompasses it, right? At least for me and the people I knew in the mid-90s, like Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler were the kings of comedy for us.
Speaker: When I was a little bit younger, you know it was adam it was ah ah Jim Carrey. And then when I got just a little older, I transitioned to a major Adam Sandler guy. Yeah. And I just call him Billy Madison. i might have called him Billy. I still do. That's one of the i it's one of the just it's hard to really separate him from a lot of those characters and especially from when we were watching. And.
Speaker: And it's one of those things, you know, we um we've been seeing a little bit less from Jim Carrey. These days, I'm just saying, I know Jim Carrey wasn't involved movie, just saying when it comes to some of the big, ah big stars of this era and everything. But it seems like we haven't seen ah quite as much on the radar from him and Damon Wayans as we've used to. i think Damon Wayans is still doing stuff and everything, but ah but. je But I feel like still out of all these right now, it's kind of Adam Sandler who's still in kind of like still kind of in the zeitgeist. And I think that's really because he still he kind of went on and made became a yeah kind of a filmmaker himself and really started sort of that.
Speaker: He's kind of a media juggernaut now. you know i well He's sort of he's sort of had a career comeback with Uncut Gems. Did you see Uncut Gems? Yeah. I did not. And i now did I want to. I want to be. Yeah, so I actually really want to see it as well. Supposedly he's great at it. And I think that really kind of helped to reboot his career. But like you said, he had been involved in pretty major projects, ah ah projects even behind the scenes. Like I think about funny people and stuff like that, you know, where he was kind of the the main dude putting all that together. And he got the Happy Madison thing going. So he sort of like made himself into a major player in the comedy world, you know.
Speaker: Yeah. And some of the stuff, even as, uh, as years went on, like, um, some the stuff came out, didn't really, wasn't really my kind of funny or whatsoever, or even, you know, some of our tastes have even changed, you know, but the products are still very, very good, really. ah I mean, a lot, a lot of good stuff. And just that, uh, I kinda, I kinda really like him, but just be ah because of all the work that he's done to put together, something like this, you know, I've i've always told you that i but I was always a fan of, uh,
Speaker: ah actors and artists and everything that ah that also create as well or ah do some behind the scenes stuff or have an interest in. I always felt kind of had a special interest in them and also kind of related to them better. yeah People like that put their sort of unique stamp on their projects, you know, so you kind of...
Speaker: get a feel for what their brand is when they're kind of behind the scenes doing a lot of that, they kind of put their unique stamp on it. So you come to, uh, to really know what to expect from a project like that.
Speaker: So speaking about, uh, this movie, I will say one other thing that I'll mention, and this probably will come as no surprise when, as we discuss, uh, bulletproof is that, uh, the rotten tomatoes for this, uh, had a 44% audience rating, 8% critic rating.
Speaker: Uh, eight percent critic rating So not only was it a failure at the box office, it was definitely no one's idea of a critical darling when Bulletproof came out.
Speaker: So i'm I'm sure that doesn't surprise you. No, I will say this. Listen, be i i um I will admit, yeah, I saw this one for the first time. I didn't think it was a ah perfect movie or anything like that, but I was well entertained and had fun, and I'm actually kind of i'm kind of surprised that it has that low of a score. I mean, I've seen stuff that's, you know, I've seen stuff stuff with scores, you know, I've seen worse things that have had higher scores, you know, at least I think I have, but...
Speaker: Yeah, I think the audience score maybe be surprises me. The critical one, not as much. I mean, even even the major Adam Sandler projects we were just talking about were not loved by critics. Billy Madison, which at one point I would have told you not. Oh, you're kidding. really But I would have told you was the was the most funny movie I'd ever seen. It was not loved by critics. Happy Gilmore, not loved by critics.
Speaker: So, you know, the the critics never were huge. Adam Sandler people. I didn't know that. yeah But they were they were at least commercially successful, whereas this film was not. So a little bit i'm going to read the plot description. So once inseparable pals, Moses, Archie Moses, played by Adam Sandler and Keats or we find out Carter, spoiler alert.
Speaker: played by Damon Wayans, find themselves on opposite sides of the law, each feeling betrayed by the other. In fact, the only person who hates them more than they hate each other is the ruthless drug pen, played by James Caan, who wants to put them both six feet under.
Speaker: Now, through a strange twist of fate, Moses and Keats are on the run, together. With a little luck, the bungling boys just might get out of this one alive, if they don't kill each other first. So there's your there's your plot description for Bulletproof. So basically what this movie is, for people who hopefully everybody's watched it if you've if you're listening, but you know what? There's times I listen to film podcasts and I haven't seen the movie and I just am like, hey, I'm here for the discussion. So just in case you haven't seen it, what this movie is, is it starts off with ah Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler.
Speaker: They are... committing a crime. It's, it's grand theft auto that they're committing together. And we find out that they are a basically a stick up crew. Uh, they rob car, they steal cars together. I guess, so I guess they're not sticking people up. They steal cars together.
Speaker: And then carjacking. Yeah. They're carjacking crew. That's like, Oh, wait, wait, no. like well jack Anyway, it's one of those. Anyway, they're stealing cars. there's still we don't know We don't know our crimes very well. You think I should as much Law and Order as I watch. but like True. So the yeah so they're they're robbing these cars. And then Damon Wayans kind of ah intentionally it sort of insinuates himself into um Adam Sandler, who's playing Archie Moses, into his ah dealings with a major...
Speaker: um major player in the drug world named ah Frank Colton, who's played by, we found out he's like a big car dealer, ah but he's also a major drug dealer and he, and Archie works for him.
Speaker: And so Archie Moses played by Adam Sandler brings Keats into this whole situation. He's like, I trust him. He makes a huge thing about, I trust this guy with my life. I trust him so much. And he brings him in. Well, it turns out after all,
Speaker: Damon Wayans is an undercover cop. And so he tries to bust the thing. It all goes bad when Adam Sandler accidentally uncovers the wire that Wayans is wearing and everything goes bad. And during the course of this, ah Sandler accidentally ah shoots Damon Wayans in the head, but he lives.
Speaker: And after he recovers, he's got a real chip on his shoulder. And it turns out that, um, that Archie Moses is is stopped for drunk driving, gets picked up by the police and and agrees to turn state's evidence. I guess he doesn't really have another choice. And he, he's insistent that, um, that his, his former friend and and betrayer Keats, who, like I said, we find out is actually detective Carter be the one to bring him in. And then during the course of all this,
Speaker: Hilarity ensues. They have a lot of problems. the the Colton's men are on their tail the whole time chasing them. ah We have all kinds of chase scenes, shootouts, a lot of hiding out situation. and And so just adventures happen until at the very end, ah they kind of come together to take down Colton.
Speaker: And Damon Wayans lets Adam Sandler slip off into the night as a thank you for helping him win the day. So that's Bulletproof. So what were your overall, you this is your first time watching, what were your overall impressions of this film?
Speaker: Just to start us off. Yeah, the is this one, it's ah a definitely ah had fun with it. It was entertained. it did i won I won't put it as one of my one of my favorites as far as what we've seen so far and as far as ah buddy cop movies go. But I will say, i you know me, i've I think I might have told may have told you and ah in discussions before how much of a fan I am of road movies you know yeah but a buddy's going to go and i guess also this is um we're gonna this as far as buddy cop movies go uh one of them is not a cop one of them is but uh you know i i feel like on this on this cast you know where we it's it's the thought that counts and you know we you can do what whatever you want with and that's pretty common thing even even 48 hours the that we talked about on the last episode so sort of the father of the genre one was a cop one was a criminal so
Speaker: You know, it's, that's pretty common trope in these films. But it feels, it feels right. if It it yeah has the right DNA anyway. And yeah, like said, love ah to to two people, get two people love that are kind of put together and and have to go through a but lot of ah all sorts of hijinks or what have you, you know, but but there's like a, there's a little bit of an odd couple thing going where one of them is one way, one of them's another way. They clash, you know, it's, ah Oh, it's it. ah it has It has a lot of the ah lot of the things I love, but I definitely found myself laughing as well as being interested in the in the yeah, and the dramatic aspects of it. yeah So I'll say for me, I'm kind of about the same as you on that. Like, I really had fun with this movie. So I need to say from the jump that I am a fan of this movie. I was a fan of it when it came out.
Speaker: I watched it quite a bit when I was younger, but then I forgot about it for quite some time. And I mean, I would think about it on occasion, but I just sort of, it wasn't always on my radar. And I think that's kind of how I would describe this movie. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker: It's a fun popcorn movie to sit down. I'm glad I watched it. I'm glad I own it. I wish I still had that tape. Now I have it on Blu-ray. It's a fun movie. I had a good time. I can't really put my finger on anything that's wrong with it, but on the whole, i feel like it's, eh,
Speaker: it's mildly It's mildly forgettable. it sits It's not going to stand out in your mind. That being said, my philosophy as a movie watcher is that not every movie has to be Casablanca.
Speaker: Not every movie has to be the great the greatest film you've ever seen. Sometimes you want to sit down at night. after a hard day's work, turn your brain off and watch a movie and just have fun with it. And I think this movie definitely works for that, in my opinion. So the reason that I think it it didn't it didn't fare very well over the years, wasn't super successful at the box office, is it just feels, and I'm kind of borrowing this from the Siskel and Ebert review at the time, yeah they said it felt very formulaic.
Speaker: And I think so. I think this movie feels like it was really following the buddy cop formula. In fact, I got this from IMDb, so I can't verify that this is real or not. It was in the trivia section. But somebody said that the director, Ernest Dickerson, had described it as trying to be 48 Hours for the 1990s.
Speaker: And I definitely could see that. It just was missing some of the magic that made 48 Hours such a classic.
Speaker: Yeah, and I couldn't really – got tell you, I was trying to exactly really put my finger on what it was that just wasn't quite catching me the same way that some of other movies that we've watched have done. But the – I mean – i mean Well, well what one thing, I was actually kind of surprised at how hard it was to find just to watch. i mean Really? wasnt to Yeah, it wasn't really on any streaming services or anything like that. So like you, I ordered ah ordered it on Blu-ray, of course, and just popped it into the machine. And it was a cheap Blu-ray. It was like six bucks me. and that was like that
Speaker: And that was after because after I had already – I actually thought I found it on streaming earlier and got about 20 minutes into the movie in question and realized I was watching the wrong movie. I was actually watching – You watched the 80s one.
Speaker: No, I was actually watching Bulletproof Monk. oh nice. Chow Yun-Fat. Is that who's in that? It was fun. I was like – as I was getting into it, I was like, gosh, I kind of don't want to cut this one off. No, it's Chow Yun-Fat. You're right. It's Chow Yun-Fat.
Speaker: I'm just like, ooh, I kind of want to watch the rest of this one. A big Shaoyun fat guy as well. I really like I haven't seen that one, though. ah There's also ah an 80s movie that I think has Gary Busey called Bulletproof. um so But I think this one is available for rent on Amazon streaming and things like that. So I think you know if you're willing to cough up a couple bugs, I think you can find it.
Speaker: but Oh, yeah, yeah. i think it would be like three bucks, four bucks. Like I said, I paid a few dollars extra to get the Blu-ray. So, ah yeah. Yeah. But I was like you. The whole time I was watching it, I just thought, I can't put my finger on on what it is about this. I think it was just sort of like I said, it was it was nothing really bad and it was nothing super standout. It was just sort of a form. It was formula movie.
Speaker: And and it just kind of did what it was doing. And and and it was a good watch. And then afterwards, it's kind of forgettable. So, um, I will say Ernest Dickerson, who I found out actually, uh, directed another movie that I really liked, or maybe he, um, maybe he was a cinematographer cause he got started as a cinematographer. I can't remember. I think he directed it though.
Speaker: A movie called surviving the game, which is sort of a most, most dangerous game kind of thing. Starring ice tea. i don't know if you've ever seen that, but i really liked that one a lot. Um, But yeah, so he directed that one. But anyway, Ernest Dickerson said that this movie was castrated by producers and he said he'd like to erase the whole experience.
Speaker: That part I can verify because I tracked down that interview. It was actually not an interview about this movie. I had a really hard time finding any um research materials. There's no commentary track on the DVD on the Blu-ray.
Speaker: There's not really a lot out there. about the making of the film. So usually I try to put in a little research and find out some some deep dives on this stuff. But I couldn't find much other than the fact that Ernest Dickerson said he'd like to erase the whole experience.
Speaker: So he at least is not a big fan of this film. Yeah, and um i it is it's funny how on paper i would thought I would have thought, especially if we were talking about back in the 90s, I'd be like, oh my good she put you are oh my goodness, you put Adam Sandler and Damon Wayans together in a yeah and a cop drama, so to speak. That's a goldmine right there. How could that not be you know fun and hilarious, like top top one of the top five movies of the year? you know but Yeah.
Speaker: and and yeah And, you know, and i definitely don't have any problem with something formulaic. You know, when I want to go to a buddy crime movie, you know, I'm i'm going in to watch a fun buddy crime movie. And it's like, like you said, I'm not expecting, you know, I'm not expecting a Citizen Kane or Casablanca or – or so or anything like that, you know, it's, ah ah but still, it's one of those things, yeah, i just couldn't quite put my finger on why, what was not working. I feel like something wasn't working while I was, what it just while I watching, and maybe it's just, you know, sometimes some some of the, some of it can be lost in editing, some of it can be in, you know, some it can have to do with some of the narrative ah decisions, you know, i did it did look like there was a good deal of like,
Speaker: um but i think i saw a few instances of what looked like some obvious uh adr where they like put in some lines with that they may have rearranged some things uh um yeah and and yeah like you said i couldn't really find much uh really much about this one either and and that's usually that's rare for us usually we were able to find a lot of background on a lot a lot of films and also um Yeah, as far as being able to discuss this one, but being that it's a new watch, like ah this one that I haven't committed to memory where I like know the characters by name, by heart, or some of the backgrounds. so you know so But it's a a little bit frustrating to be trying to dig around and not really find...
Speaker: much about it you know especially because you know it's one of those things it really seems like it should have uh uh shoot even for making um uh it should should have been at least from from the uh yeah from the on-set stuff should have been good experience for because what i understand uh both uh damon wayans and uh adam sandler are very good actors to work with and stuff so you think they got along well It seems like they got it a along well. and And the one quote I found from James Caan seems like they got along fine with James Caan as well. So I don't think that I don't think any behind the scenes animosity ah was behind it at all. So speaking about what you just said, you were saying you were surprised, you know, because just this cast alone, you would think would have made it a big hit film in 1996. So let's talk a little bit about the cast and let's talk a little bit first off about about Damon Wayans. So Damon Wayans is somebody who I like.
Speaker: Pretty much if I see Damon Wayans in something, I'm like, this is going to be ah This is going to be pretty good, I would assume, especially around that time. or He had been, as you said, he had been one of the founding ah people who started the show In Living Color, which was a really popular sketch comedy ah show in the 1990s. Now, you know a lot more about In Living Color, I think, than me. as we We were actually talking about this at the movies the other day, and you were saying about how you had been a big fan of In Living Color, whereas I pretty much stayed a ah a Saturday Night Live guy with ah a brief foray into MADtv for a little while. But so he had been on In Living Color and he'd been very um he'd been very successful in that. Apparently he left in 1992 to pursue his film career. So he did a string of films ah in the 90s. I can't claim to have seen them all. I wrote down a few here. The Last Boy Scout...
Speaker: Mo Money, Major Pain, and the two other films that he that he had that at least released the same year as Bulletproof were Celtic Pride. I'm a history nerd, so I always want to say Celtic Pride, but I know it's a sports movie, so it's Celtic Pride and The Great White Hype, neither of which I have seen.
Speaker: um But I have seen ah Major Pain and I have seen The Last Boy Scout, and I really like both of those. Last Boy Scout is 1991. I can't remember Major Pain. It's between that and Bulletproof. It's like 94 or something.
Speaker: ah So, yeah, what do what do you think about Damon Wayans in this film? You know, actually, that may have been be one of the things that i i i got I got to say that might have been one of the weak spots of this. I'm not – it's – I'm so – and it's not one of those things like um I believe he can play a straight man and everything. what mean the you know yeah more buttoned down type more serious type the uh comedy one but it it but it felt like this was like almost too bland and boring you know it's uh it it didn't see it just didn't seem like him i guess not even not even his in an in a uh you know not even his serious tone i suppose yeah i don't know what got lost there Well, I think it's interesting because – and I think maybe now that I'm hearing you talk about it, we might have meant different things. But you and I both had in our notes something about Damon Wayans as a straight man. And so that's the reason why I do think that Damon Wayans play in the straight man in this comedy duo because you know it's sort of like the classic Abbott and Costello, you know ah Laurel and Hardy a formula of a straight man. oh Never should I leave out ah Martin and Lewis, one of my faves. But you know kind of the straight man and the the the goof off, the the crack up.
Speaker: And so in this one, obviously, Sandler is the goofy guy. Damon Wayans playing the straight man. And I think, I too think he struggled a little bit to play the straight man in this. And I think for me, so I was thinking about it. It's been a little while since I've revisited The Last Boy Scout, which is another buddy cop movie that I that i really like quite a lot.
Speaker: um But in that one, he's, they're not really quite so well defined as like the straight man in the crack up as they are in this one. But he's he's sort of playing the, the goofier character. But even then, he he's ah kind of angry and and straightforward. So I know he doesn't have to just be a comic all the time.
Speaker: But in this one, it was almost like he was kind of chafing at being the straight man to me. It was like every once in a while, it seemed like he wanted to throw in the funny stuff too. So it was like it was like it was hard for him to let Sandler. And I mean, that might not be his fault. That might be the writing. But it was almost like it was It was almost like it was hard not to let Damon Wayans kind of slip over into that that funny role every once a while. he just seemed not settled into his into his role for me, into his performance in this.
Speaker: Yeah, and then and like we said, you know this is one of those cases where since we we can't really find much about the making of it, or we can't we can't even really i I didn't even see really any ah evidence of where you know there were deleted scenes or re-engineering. Yeah, so for all we know, there could be entire other cuts or scenes or whatever where that were much more natural. you know this may not they it may have just been...
Speaker: um Just the way he was yeah just ways framed, so to speak, or just the ah or just the takes that were chosen for it. You know, you really never – yeah, I can't really – I definitely don't want to hold – can't hold Damon Wayans or hold – Hold any ah any performance stuff against them. but The um ah because i mean it just seems like something he should be. it Yeah, he should be able to prepare it to film like yeah you compare it to a film like Major Pain when he's like goofing off and doing character work. He is so good and so funny in Major Pain. You know what mean? I just feel like.
Speaker: I feel like this movie, unfortunately, didn't play to his strengths. But I will say one line that he says that makes me laugh so much is when they the plane is... So they're getting on this plane, and their pilot gets shot.
Speaker: And ah fortunately, we find out that Archie Moses can fly a plane a little. So he gets up there, he's flying the plane, and it's in just like a nosedive. He's got to pull it up. And so they're pulling up. And at one point, Damon Wayans says...
Speaker: I can actually taste my nuts. And I laughed so hard at time when I was watching it. i guess I have a juvenile sense of humor, which I will say another thing about this movie is it has a pretty juvenile sense of humor, which was perfect for me at the time. This comes out.
Speaker: I'm, you know, an early teenager when this comes out. So this is the perfect time ah for me to to be laughing at juvenile humor. But I thought that line was so funny, even in rewatch. That's what I mean. So in that moment, his comedy shines through, but he's but he's not the cut up in this movie. So it just felt like his role was a little off balance to me.
Speaker: I agree. And it's – yeah, it's one of those things well that just I just felt myself – I want to see break out crazy Damon Wayans a little bit more or just a funny – and also even – it almost seemed like Sandler kind of wanted that too you know because Sandler kind of ah was just his – probably his most juvenile, most – Yeah, itself. yeah and i will say yeah I kind of miss that. you know there I mean, i I know both of us, we've talked about what's funny, what's not. Everyone has different ideas. But I'm like, um yeah, I think both of us, we're guys, we can laugh at stupid, you know, first grade humor. have very low brow sense of humor.
Speaker: And also, and yeah, sometimes even the ah upper brow sense of humor, I feel like it might be, is kind of overrated, you know, but we like we like our stuff. yeah spark And this was this kind of harking back to some of the what we're talking about Adam Sandler. But during this period, you know what? He was I think he was he was already out of Saturday Night Live, but around in the early 90s. So he did release these comedy albums that were are still I'm sorry. I still laugh, but I don't care how mature they are. I laugh my butt off. i the yeah What was it?
Speaker: They're all going to laugh. at you that was what yeah and uh what the hell happened to me i want to cue those up because it feels like there is a lot of when he was doing that kind of stuff in this you know mean that nowadays i love his lot of stuff he's in and everything i mean he's he he he runs the the spectrum i know he does a lot of uh he does some more family friendly movies well later off you like later later yeah that's what mean later but uh but now so but it's kind of funny to see this real that some of this uh you know, some of this more crass humor and everything. And he's more crass. He's more crass in this sort of like he is on the standup albums, even than he was in his kind of bigger hit movies. yeah Like he's more crass in this than he is in a happy Gilmore or a, or a, um or a, ah why can't I think of Billy Madison or even one? Like, ah you know, I just remembered the wedding singer. I didn't even thought about that. I didn't even list when he did that one. But now that we're talking about Sandler now, I thought he was good this.
Speaker: I thought he was good in this. Um, he was, as you just said, a huge comedy star at this time. And and he had already found his footing. i mean, he had been in, ah in airheads in 94, which I love, love airheads.
Speaker: Um, he had been in Billy Madison in 95. He had been in already in happy Gilmore because happy Gilmore was released earlier in the year. it was released the same year as bulletproof, but it was released in February.
Speaker: Uh, whereas this film bulletproof was released in in September. And then of course he would go on to do the water boy and, uh, Wedding Singer and Big Daddy and movies like that. ah But i thought I thought he was really good in this. But like you said, he he leaned back into his like crass stand-up style. And I think it just it just fit him. he He felt like he fit better into his role.
Speaker: I wouldn't mind seeing something that really harkens back to this era of Adam Sandler, you know? Where it was still... He was i just really just... really far out of left field comedy and, and just crass as he wants to be, you know, it was a, yeah he had no filter at the all this period, you know, now they yeah let's say, let's, let's, we'll see how happy Gilmore two comes out. I mean, you know, I have high hopes. I'm one of these people though. I'll confess, like I'm a sucker for when my favorites come back and do the stuff that I loved. You know, i I've had some disagreements with people over, um over Axel F, you know, but I thought Axel F was,
Speaker: Oh, it was great. Loved it. But I know those people are wrong. I agree. They are wrong. You know, everybody's got their opinion, but some of them, unfortunately, are wrong. So, yeah, but so I'm i'm already like geared to like Happy Gilmore 2. Hopefully it'll be good. We'll see how it goes.
Speaker: Oh, but yeah. But yeah. as sad was Sandra was ah was big at the time, and so I thought he did good. Now, i will say if I had a criticism of him in this movie, ah in the last episode, Mo and I talked about 48 Hours, and that was Eddie Murphy's breakout role. And he had been a comic. He had been on SNL.
Speaker: um But I thought he – really had the chops of not only a com a comedian, but an action star in that he handled the action well.
Speaker: And I do think that Adam Sandler didn't really get in a lot of action here. He did some shooting and stuff like that, but most of like the really jumping across the tables and stuff, Damon Wayans took care of that stuff. Sandler ah stuck mostly to the comedy. He didn't play into the...
Speaker: action in the same way that somebody like an Eddie Murphy would have done in, in, in other movies, you know, not that you can compare everyone to Eddie Murphy, because let's be honest, he's the guy. but Oh, exactly. Yeah. I mean, we're talking about, uh, uh, yeah, as far as where Adam Sandler being ah even, uh, not just being, doing action segments, but also, uh, let's say serious segments or something like that. um i He grew into, he grew into into it later. Yeah.
Speaker: Maybe just at this time, did this period, he what yeah wasn't really the really the time for him to do that yet. you know But adam so see and as you mentioned earlier, you know there's a lot of his ah later stuff I've seen. that and but And I really felt that he probably had, even at this time, had more range than he maybe even himself thought. you Sure, or that he'd been or that he'd been given an opportunity. you know He's one of those people that early on, he kind of got plugged into that role. he was so yeah Billy Madison might not have been critically a darling, but it was commercially successful. And in the end, cash is king when you're doing that stuff. So he's done these movies. They want to see more of these movies. And it probably took him a while to build up enough clout to kind of spread his wings a little.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what I will say. One thing I kind of like about buddy movies, or excuse me, well, generally buddy cop, buddy crap, this this sort of thing is I feel like it's in a unique place where where we get – where comedy and action or comedy and drama get to overlap, you know? oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, and i think that that's one is the and one of the things that that I really like. I like when people who are usually the funny man or the funny guy or funny girl or what have you, and they yeah will do something different outside their usual – what they usually – Yeah, sure. It's so many times they can – it's almost a phenomenon. I bet there's plenty of people that have ah have seen a lot more patterns and have probably –
Speaker: ah probably a solid case has been made by someone else. But I personally, it seems like a lot of comedy actors or a lot of people that are known for comedy roles, I have a hard time finding ones where they don't do well in a more serious role or an action role or what have you. I wonder if there is a connection to that because love I guess one example, I think you and I were, we were talking about the, you know, the late great what Robin Williams the other day and all his, and his impact on people of our generation and everything. And a lot of the,
Speaker: movies like that And um I found that in his later years, a lot of his stuff when he would take on a a serious role or whatever was some of his best work, in my opinion. I mean that yeah look i think that speaks to the the quality of the actor. I mean, Robin Williams, great actor. you know um And that's kind of what I'm i'm getting at. I don't think that every comedian can be thrust into a into a serious, whether it be action, drama, whatever role, and be successful in much the same way that I don't think every great action star can be thrust into a comedic setting. I mean, there are people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, in my opinion, does great in comedic roles. He has a comedic timing. He has a sense of being able to sort of poke fun at himself.
Speaker: And I think Schwarzenegger really took well to more like action comedy type roles later, personally. Yeah. Then you have somebody like Stallone, who, while I may personally enjoy Stopper My Mom Will Shoot, it was certainly not as successful as a kindergarten cop or or something like that, a last action hero.
Speaker: And also, then you have people who I really love as action stars, like Dolph Lundgren, who, I am just going to be honest, anytime he tries to do a movie like he was in Kindergarten Cop 2, it's
Speaker: Comedy is not his strength. Action is his strength. And I like when he leans into that. So, you know, but there are some people who can cross over and it's it's really nice to see. Well, you and I, and I will definitely say I got agree with you on that point, at least from, at least from the action star or action, action, more people that are more associated with action movies or, or actors that just, that's their thing, more drama, more action.
Speaker: I can, yeah, I, I, I can say right here already, I can think of a lot of folks that I'm like, they just, they're not going to be well at comedy. Oh gosh, a lot of them can't. but up a no there's the You know who I'm thinking of, don't you? I think so. steve seagal it seemed like that man could not uh no no sense of humor or if he did have a sense of humor it was kind of a strange sense of humor i guess but but also yeah and and also i think he just he'd like really uh took himself as one of those cases that might have taken himself almost too seriously so to speak and also and And it was almost sad because I could almost see him being funny if he would put his mind to it. But he actively, as we've seen, I think he actively did not want to be seen as anything but Mr. Tough Guy, The famous story of his failed SNL episode is ah yeah pretty good evidence of that. But yeah, i'm I'm a huge fan of his early works, obviously, as an action star, but certainly no sense of of comedy, at least that I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of his.
Speaker: So next star i wanted to talk about is a guy who I feel like is underutilized in this movie, and that is the great James Caan. ah James Caan as the heavy in this, a great actor.
Speaker: ah I just felt like he pops up a handful of times, but just and when he does, he's great, but just really underused in this. Yeah, I is. Gosh, James Caan is someone that it it was with watching this. It was like, you know, I think that's that role is not big enough for him. You know, yeah, they don't give enough to do, you know, what I mean, he's he would have been such a wonderful heavy actor.
Speaker: And they just I mean, I know you can't have the heavy in the scenes all the time, but I felt like, for example, in the last movie, the the villains were um were in 48 hours. That's the last movie. And if you guys haven't listened to that episode, hey, go ahead and go back and that next.
Speaker: ah But I just felt like those villains, you thought like, man, they're doing so well in this. And there was a part at the end when rob when ah when James Caan showed back up in this. And I was like, oh, yeah, James Caan's in this.
Speaker: I just felt like they just didn't use him enough. They – yeah. It just – they didn't do that. didn't seem to have a very compelling backstory. I mean I guess – again, one of those things can't really put my finger on 100 percent. But it did did feel like – it felt like he would have been better if they had they given someone a little bit more ah a little bit more of a compelling story background. Yeah, he's a cutout. He's a cardboard cutout. He's like a cutout. Yeah. Yeah. and Sometimes that's fine. Some people can do it, but I feel like that not for them. They could have probably also had more fun with this too. Some of these movies I've seen actually will go and spend a good deal of time on the bad guy or the heavy and let them do stuff. yeah and it felt like we didn't get It almost felt like the movie could have you know you could about cut cut all those scenes out of of the of the of the movie of of where he's involved and you wouldn't lose very much. he doesn I feel like they just underused them. Yeah. You've got Sonny Corleone in your picture here, man. Make use of make it make use of James Caan.
Speaker: And I did write down some of his roles just because I was like, you know to me, he's just a huge – he's Sonny in The Godfather. he was He was in Howard Hawks' El Dorado with John Wayne which is and Robert Mitchum, which is a film that I really like. It's sort of a kind of sort of remake of Rio Bravo, which is one of my all-time favorite Westerns.
Speaker: ah but So he's in El Dorado. ah He's in Misery, which I thought of for you because of your your Stephen King rules chops. and and he's And he's in Thief, ah which is a film that I hate to admit that I've never seen. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I recently got to see Thief for the first time. um i think it was – I think it may have even released under a different title. Oh, interesting. can't remember. i I may even be flubbing that up. i might be cro ah I may be misremembering. But it seemed like it was one of those that I actually hadn't didn't hear about until rather recently. And, oh, yeah it's it's a must-watch, especially for any – Yeah, I want to see it. I think anyone would have a good time with that movie as well. I'm something of a a movie score aficionado, as you know, and it's got that Tangerine Dream score. Tangerine Dream. Yeah, the score is fantastic.
Speaker: Yeah, so I definitely want to see that that film soon. So, um ah you know, just real briefly here talking about now we've talked about the stars a little. ah What were some of your either favorite or least favorite scenes from Bulletproof?
Speaker: Well, I and don't know if I'll call it my favorite, but by didp by um ah my senses did were triggered when they yeah do the sort of the um you know formulaic or the ah trope where they take the ah but they take our heroes to a hideout. or a you know again and it's and it's a old it's And it's a warehouse. you know it's like a it's like a oh yeah And I'm just looking at that. I'm like, oh, they took them to the RoboCop warehouse. Okay. So I saw that in your notes. well So it wasn't actually the Robocop warehouse. You just, it reminded you of it or was it really? just No, I don't think so, but it just what reminds me of that. It's just, I don't know. It's just one of those trips that I just get in my head where it's like, yeah you know, where can you just go to? If, if, I mean, one of the things, if, if I were start up,
Speaker: start henchmaning or yeah sure whatever. I don't even know if I'd be able to find a rundown, cool-looking, foreboding kind of place that like an old steel factory or whatever yeah that I could use.
Speaker: Are there listings for bad guy warehouses on Craigslist or something? I don't know, but you're right. that's a There should be. There should be. It's pretty ubiquitous setting for that kind of scene, and and I thought it great too. So I hear you on that one.
Speaker: Yeah, and it definitely looked like the one – like, like it you just – it was those things where it's oh, you know something – our heroes are going to be in trouble here. it's to it they just get We can bring something like this, and then you have all the ah like all the lackeys up lined up with their guns and everything. you know it's just it's It's just one of that one of those usual things. It's classic action.
Speaker: Classic action. This is where it's going to be revealed that he's wearing wire, so to speak. Yeah. you know i a wearing a wire so to speak you know um but Other things, i did like ah I did like the time when they spent – what was the name of the town they spent the time in? Beaver Pelt.
Speaker: Beaver Pelt. Definitely, I love anything – this kind of harkens back to on-the-road movies that we love, like when we watch Midnight Run or even um even a movie that wasn't a crowd drop, like ah Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, where where it's still – one thing that cracks me up anytime is where ah where two men that that have to you know that just are opposite either opposite sides law or just like uh two complete opposites have to share a day i have to share a motel room together and just just how how how they clash you know just that's just always a always always a place for good comedy right there the um And every one of these run-down motels, there's always a funny person running it that's got something that's just a this's just a punchline in them themselves. Charlie? this guy I can't remember his name. It's Charlie.
Speaker: he that That archetype of a character has – I've seen – I think – I'm going to have to list going. I think can at least list four different people playing that character across several different movies and possibly TV shows. And ah probably probably the TV show Schitt's Creek is coming to mind that I watched quite a bit. I've never seen that. It's a funny one. Yeah, yeah. It's definitely got – oh, yeah, definitely in the – you know, the old, uh, you backwoods town kind of thing, you know, where the, the other people, you know, the general, the general cast of characters that live in the, in the little town and everything, you know, but, uh, it always seems like, yeah, the guy, the people running the, the little motel always, there's always something, ah captivating about them or funny or what, or stand out. So, and let's, let's give up. Yeah. Let's give it up for Mark Roberts as Charles in this movie. Great job.
Speaker: As the pervy innkeeper, Charles. Yeah. yeah i it was so weird yeah but so good and his interactions that's what i was gonna say so that's one of my favorite scenes from this film is the hunting lodge scene uh over the years when i've thought back about this movie and i don't know what it says about me but that is the scene that i always remember was them in the hunting lodge i had not really thought about it like you said it's sort of a plane strains and automobiles thing but as soon as you said that i was like oh absolutely uh i loved it at the time obviously because i really enjoyed the crass uh adam sandler humor i mean He was funny. I would always think about him talking to Charles. He's like, Charlie, is it? And he's like, I heard you got lot of porn here. That's good. I like the porno. I always thought that was really funny. Him messing with Charles was best. Well, Charles goes, oh, well, good. And then like the part where he's like, you know, you, me, your wife, a little sandwich action that always made me laugh. The one line I always remembered is when they were hotel room he's like, this is a 70s porno. You know I can tell? dick has sideburns. So was like,
Speaker: You know, I just all those lines when I was a kid, I thought it's kind of that was the Adam Sandler of that time period. So that that really stood out to me, that whole scene. And also another of my favorite scenes from this movie was the final kind of shootout in the ah bad guy mansion, which turns out I can't 100 percent verify this. But in my ah research, I found and once again, if we can trust the IMDb trivia section, apparently that is the same thing.
Speaker: Bad Guy Mansion from Beverly Hills Cop, from the end of Beverly Hills Cop, their final shootout scene. I trust the IMDb. Of course. If you can't trust nerds on the Internet, who can you trust? ah But yeah, so I really like that, though, because once again, it did remind me of a lot of my favorite shootout scenes from these movies, you know, like the Beverly Hills Cop ah closing scene and stuff like that.
Speaker: um So. Yeah, those are those are probably my favorite scenes. But like you, I really enjoyed all the classic action elements. I really loved the scene where the plane was crashing. I thought that was played very well. I as soon as I was watching it, I remembered the part where the plane is ah perched on the on the edge of the cliff and it's going to fall off. You know, that's something you've seen in other films before, but I thought it was done really well. Oh, I've always loved those bits. Yeah. Yeah. Cause they did, they did a good job of building the tension there. And I, I really, I felt tense in that moment. I mean, you know, you know, nothing bad's going to probably happen to them.
Speaker: Uh, and then, you know, one little fella I'll say, and just thought about this. I loved when they introduced, uh, reintroduced the dog, little Keats. Uh, and he was, uh, he was showing him like how to shoot and play dead and all that, just as a way to love it in Damon Wayans, his face. I loved that dog.
Speaker: He wasn't credited the dog. You know, a lot of times they are in the credits. I didn't see him credited in there unless I was. Oh, dang. I thought maybe he was like that the old, when we were going, the Budweiser What was his name? don't know. Spuds McKenzie was mckinsey was ok remember that. Yeah, yeah. you He was the same kind of dog. Yeah, yeah. One of those ah but i love that bull terries. Oh, God, he was so cute. Oh, God. i was glad he oh i was glad he made it through. um It was one of those things. I was hoping he would come back. but And he's having a great time at the end.
Speaker: Oh, gosh, yeah good good go to have yeah. He was almost like – I'm glad they they kind of gave him so such a nice ah such a nice role in the movie. I think – yeah. yeah I only had one beer, but the the dog had a lot.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. Awesome. And, you know, so ah kind of wrapping up here, one thing I never like to finish ah talking about a movie without talking about is the score. And in this instance, also the soundtrack. So this movie had a score by Elmer Bernstein, who was a very famous um composer. He had done ah a lot of stuff. I mean, I just wrote down a a few of them here, but I mean, just he, he did the music for the 10 commandments, the magnificent seven to kill a mockingbird, the original true grit trading places, ghostbusters, the blues brothers stripes.
Speaker: I mean, this is a guy who did a lot of great movies and a lot of great music. He's not one that like is in my, my kind of go-to canon like a Faltermeyer or James Horner or a Fabio Fritzi, ah John Carpenter. but But he's a name that I certainly immediately recognized and have so and have really enjoyed his music, especially in in ah The Magnificent Seven stands out to me as having a particularly cool theme song.
Speaker: And obviously, like said, he did all the music in the score music for Ghostbusters. ah would Do you have any thoughts about the score for this movie? Well, yeah, actually, since you mentioned – actually, I didn't know that about Elmer Burns, that he did – that his catalog goes as far back as he's had. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Now, yeah, and i would say that – some people actually say that the a score in the original Ghostbusters, it's almost ah it's almost as iconic ah to be a – almost to be a yeah ah character in itself. you know it does du Dump, dump, dump, dump, dump. That's what I – It was one of the things that a lot of people were complaining was lacking in like the in like the second Ghostbusters. There's a lot of ah yeah there's there's a lot of um lot of themes that you get that once you ah but you take them away, if you were to listen to the movie without it it's like, whoa, something's missing here. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, um ah yeah ah yeah definitely you know definitely for a fine score. Also, the the soundtrack, just the artists that contribute. I got to tell you, I want the CD for one thing. Well, you can get it on eBay. There were plenty of copies going the other day. So I i was going to say, but interesting that you switched to the soundtrack because I was going to say, actually, I didn't mean to like set you up in a way, but – I think it'd be hard to say much about the score because I feel like for having a ah famous composer like Elma Bernstein, the score in this was really underutilized.
Speaker: When I got to the end of the movie, and I did spend a little time listening to the score afterwards, when I got to the end of the movie, I realized I had not really – like none of the score music had really stood out to me. And in kind of a second, I didn't rewatch the whole thing, rewatched a little bit of it. There's parts where I'd be like, oh, okay, there's the score music.
Speaker: But really, it seemed like the focus was on the soundtrack. ah The kind of running theme through the movie was the first little bit. the den in it ten and ah ten tenant of ah That's the first of the Champagne, the Salt-N-Pepa song, ah that was sort of the lead single from the soundtrack.
Speaker: This seemed like one of those movies, and this happened a lot around this time in the 90s, where like they really wanted to push ah the soundtrack. Yeah. a lot And so I feel like the score kind of went almost kind of like James Caan, a little underutilized here.
Speaker: Yeah, it it almost seems like that tracks with ah what was happening in ah in the industry in as the late 90s progressed. I remember when it even got to the point where the score was ah scores for movies were so... oh yeah place It plays so secondary that yeah yeah you know that they will they would rather instead use just ah you know use art, you know like ah you're like like in this case, like Salt-N-Pepa or other actual um general billboard artists and stuff like that. And yeah they put that music in there. And sometimes for the ah in the commercials and trailers, that this happened that this didn't last super long, but I remember there in the late 90s, they would basically –
Speaker: they would make it a point to really push who was featured on the soundtrack, which aren't, which are artists and everything. And that's kind of kind of sad though, because there's, as you have said, I have also have started to get an ear just for the score instead full of, of movies and everything now.
Speaker: And like, and gotta, I gotta tell you, I'm a, i I myself felt this one didn't really yeah stand out like some others did. you know And like said, yeah, kind of underutilized here. But yeah, but I'm thinking it may have been because this was era where a lot of the um a lot of the industry was seeing the opportunity in pushing ah soundtracks featuring big label artists and such. Yeah, and i know and this soundtrack was certainly that. I mean, this soundtrack, it peaked at 85 on the Billboard 200.
Speaker: And it got all the way up to number 23 on the R&B hip hop Billboard tracks or charts. So ah soundtrack seems to have done pretty well for itself. ah You know, not number one by any means, but it did pretty well. And it had five charting singles, you know, by artists, some of the artists I didn't recognize. Now, you know, ah that might just be because my lack of knowledge. But, you know, definitely Salt-N-Pepa had that song Champagne, which I said, you know, almost felt like the the running theme for the film. It would play a lot, ah just the little instrumental part. And also Casey and Jojo had a song on the record.
Speaker: on the soundtrack. They were really big at the time. So it definitely seemed like that. And it's funny how you just said that about, about scores. I definitely agree with you. It it feels like, and maybe was just my impression, but it feels like there was a ah time in sort of the late nineties, early two thousands when like scores, a film still had scores, but it was like, it was like the film scores were in ah a low, we're in sort of a drought because so much focus was on the soundtrack. And I feel like, um you know, as ah as a movie score fanatic uh that you know it kind of bums me out but they're they're starting to make more of a comeback now you have ah you know movies that have really recognizable scores nowadays like Hans Zimmer obviously still out there killing it you know he's doing stuff like and i never can remember which ones he's done of the newer movies but you know a lot of the Christopher Nolan movies have very recognizable standout scores I remember thinking that the score for the new Dune movies was particularly good, which I think is Hans Zimmer. I could be wrong about that. Don't get mad at me if I am.
Speaker: um You know, so I agree with you. There was definitely a slump in film scores at that time. Mm hmm. So. Well, great. So I have ah just here to say, ah did you have any final thoughts about this film just to kind of sum things up about about 1996 is classic?
Speaker: Not really. But fun popcorn movie, Bulletproof. Uh, not, not really. not that Like, like I said, this one, um, it was a fun first watch. It's not one that, uh,
Speaker: well how you never You never know about these things after you've watched it the first time. Maybe you'll get to wanting to watch it again right after. it's it's i don't know if it I don't think it's going to be one that's in my ah general rut by rotation, so to speak, of movies that watch over and over again.
Speaker: It's a little bit more difficult to acquire now unless you were to ah purchase it you're using either – I mean, excuse me. purchasing it in physical media forms on Blu-ray or DVD or just renting it via Amazon.
Speaker: I will say this. I am looking forward to picking up the other one. that they ah I believe you said it was The Last Boy Scout. That's one I haven't seen. Yeah, that's good. I want to watch it and compare it to this one. as so it might not It'll probably fare pretty well in comparison to this one. the last but yeah Yeah, but I would definitely say definitely Rediscover for anyone, you know for a lot of folks out here, ah definitely try to dig up some of old...
Speaker: ah There's a lot of old clips of um In Living Color all over YouTube. all you have to do is type in Damon Wayans In Living Color. You'll get some funny stuff there. ah The similar stuff you absolutely do have to watch ah with these ah with the with this cast, I'd say, yeah for... For Adam Sandler of course, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. His comedy albums, as mentioned earlier, ah They're All Gonna Laugh at You, What the Hell Happened to Me. You can find those a lot of places. And for, ah as far as Damon Wayans goes, ah major pain and Major Pain. It's a must-see, much-watch. It's on my list. I'd recommend it to anybody. He's in there. He ain't happy. it got That's an absolute must-see there. so
Speaker: yeah yeah That's pretty much all I have to say about that. Cool. Yeah, I tend to agree with you in a lot of those places. This is a movie that for me, I liked as ah as a teen, and I had fun re-watching it for the podcast.
Speaker: Certainly not one, like i like you said, it's certainly not one that's a must-see. It's not one that is a swing and a miss for me. It's also certainly not a swing and a home run either. It's just sort of... a formula. It's straightforward. If I, if you want to watch a movie and have some laughs and, you know, have some nice little action scenes and turn off your brain for a little while, you could, you could do a lot worse than this movie, but it's, it's certainly not one of the great classics of, of buddy cop films. It's just sort of a, it's one that I'm, I'm glad it exists and I'm, I'm glad to have revisited it. Not a swing and a miss, not a home run, just sort of ah a nice little fun flick for a, a rainy afternoon, maybe. So,
Speaker: Yeah, that's my ah my thoughts on that. So I will say this, couple of final things. It did receive a sequel, a straight-to-video sequel in in January of 2020, Bulletproof 2. Straight-to-video. Neither Sandler nor Wayans, of course, returned to the roles, but it did receive a sequel. I only found out about that in researching for this episode, so I cannot speak to the sequel.
Speaker: Uh, Siskel and Ebert, uh, who, who I don't, I definitely don't always see eye to eye with their reviews of stuff. Siskel and Ebert gave this film a very negative coverage and said that it was formulaic, uh, but they did at least seem to give some credit to, Sandler's performance, which is nice and kind of what we were saying as well.
Speaker: ah But yeah, a fine film, if if not a great film. Last thing I want to do is ah is maybe a recurring segment that I did last time, and this is, it's time for buddy cop crossovers. I didn't find nearly as many in this as I did in 48 Hours, but I did find some.
Speaker: So Damon Wayans is ah in The Last Boy Scout, which, like I said, I really like quite a bit. And also, he came back to fill the role of Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon television series that ran from 2016 to 2019. I haven't seen the whole thing. I watched some of that, and I thought he was actually pretty good in that.
Speaker: I think he grew more into his straight man role and and was pretty good in that from what I remember. so you've got Damon Wayans there. You've got James Caan, who was in one of the OG original buddy cop films, Freebie and the Bean, back in the 70s.
Speaker: And he also had a role in Alien Nation. ah You have Bill Nunn, who played the DEA agent in this, and he was in National Lampoon's Ledged Weapon 1. And you have the bad guy mansion, which was apparently in Beverly Hills Cop as the bad guy mansion and also apparently in Last Action Hero as the bad guy mansion as well. So those are my my buddy cop crossovers for this time.
Speaker: yeah All right. So that wraps up ah Bulletproof 1996. Donnie, anywhere, anything you want to plug anywhere that the the good people at home can check you out on online, on the socials, anything like that?
Speaker: Well, right now I have a Letterboxd account that is basically where i'm where I've got a lot of lists of um ah some of the movies I've watched and lot of the movies that I'm watching. I've got a couple of lists on there.
Speaker: um Basically, um if you go through, you'll see like my list of movies that feel underrated to me. You'll see a list of the biggest movies that I have never seen. And I've actually got a few movies on that list I get to cross out because, like i said, I did finally get to see Casablanca recently, and that's on that list. um A couple other fun things, and I encourage anyone to want to go on there and take a look at all the um ah the things that I've been watching or all the things that might be interesting watching if you're looking for some ideas on what to watch yourself. So that's probably about the best place i am under. It's listed as...
Speaker: D Chardon. So D C H A R D I N at letterbox D whatever. But yeah yeah, that, yeah, you'll probably find me under that. And that's where, yeah, and I've, I've actually got to do a good deal of updating to it myself because there's a, but a few things I've seen and, or want to see that I need to add to the list. So, but yeah that's probably about the best place to find me.
Speaker: I will say i fight I find that you have some really unique and interesting lists, so I definitely would encourage the the people to check that out. I've always found some of your lists to be ah pretty pretty interesting ideas that I wouldn't have thought of.
Speaker: You know, I didn't think of this last week, but I'm also on Letterboxd as well. I can't remember my username right now. I'm pretty sure. Well, actually, I've got it pulled up right here. I'm definitely Wes Clifton, but am I... Am I Cliff Weston? Oh no, I'm the strong bow, the underscore strong bow on there. So that's how you'll find me on there.
Speaker: Probably should have went with Cliff Weston if I was thinking about it, but who knew? So I'm on Letterboxd as well. And you can find me at Cliff Weston on Instagram and you can follow our podcast at steak and shake pod.
Speaker: on Instagram. So it's S T A K E steak and shake pod because steak and steakhouse and shakedowns was just far too long. The other thing I'll say ah once again is that you can ah go to Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker: And if you feel so inclined, if you're having a good time, leave us ah a nice rating, a nice review. It really helps us out a lot. Another thing that would really help us out a lot is if you would tell a friend, if you're like, Hey, I've got this podcast, I think it'd be great for your morning commute. That also helps us to get the word out.
Speaker: So thanks a lot, everyone. we will see you next time. And until then, y'all be cool. Right on.
