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Twister (1996)
41 Plays5 months ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris face the dark side of nature and the 90s disaster classic Twister, as its sequel, Twisters, hits theaters this weekend.
Bill Paxton stars as former storm chaser Bill Harding, who reunites with his ex-wife Jo (Helen Hunt) to make sure she has finalized their divorce papers, but he gets pulled back into chasing tornadoes when he finds out Jo and her team have built "Dorothy," a device he and Jo designed to study tornadoes from within. Bill gives Jo one day to try to get Dorothy flying, and his new fiancée, Melissa (Jami Gertz), gets dragged along for the ride. Zach and Chris discuss what would probably really happen if you were super close to an F5 tornado, what Dusty's (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) job on Jo's team is, who is sponsoring the "evil" team led by Cary Elwes, the various mishaps and injuries that happened on set and more.
You can watch Twister currently on Max. Next week, we're digging into Logan's past and talking about X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your suggestions for movies for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Introduction to Everything Action Cast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast for the week of July 15th, 2024. I'm your host Zach.
Focus: 1986 Film Twister
00:00:25
Speaker
Hi, I'm your co-host Chris. And this week we are facing the dark side of nature and talking about 1986's Twister, because obviously Twisters is coming out this weekend, or it's out right now if you're hearing this. The standalone sequel, it remains to be seen what, there's a tie as the original one, but the original one is a 90s classic, disaster classic.
Fascination with Tornadoes
00:00:55
Speaker
I think definitely, definitely a favorite of both of us. Right, Chris? Oh yeah. This, this was like, um, uh, coming from someone who like lived lived in an area where hurricanes were never possible, these tornadoes, i mean tornadoes and hurricanes. Um, well, hurricanes. Yeah. Once in a while in New York, especially in Brooklyn, like tornadoes don't happen. You know, it just, it's like, It's like camping. It's like, you know, it's just like you have to go, you have to actively seek it out. So watching a twister was interesting to learn about just that, like that, that more of America that this just happens and it happens so often that they, tornado aliens around it. So that's definitely like one of those early kid movies that you watch and you get kind of interested in hurricanes.
00:01:46
Speaker
and tornadoes, but I also feel like it's right at that cusp or right after you get obsessed with dinosaurs, you get into freaky nature things. And I definitely that was a lot with like my generation that generation of kids I grew up with who, Jurassic Park was over, now now they're into into the weather.
Crichton and Spielberg's Connection
00:02:08
Speaker
Whether in baseball? Well, they're they're definitely leading to the Jurassic Park ah connection to Twister because ah the movie was written by none other than Michael Crichton and his his wife Anne-Marie Martin. And um also produced by Steven Spielberg. So, you know, lots yeah lots of Jurassic Park kind of connections. And it definitely has that Michael Crichton kind of Jurassic Park, you know, like techno speak and
00:02:37
Speaker
you know, the scientific side of things, like there's a lot of like, you know, they're dropping like Doppler, you know, like Doppler readings and like, always like always like different like, ah you know, scientific ah jargon constantly. I was excited when I saw that one scene where there's just like a shot of a radar, like in their car, like a screen in their car. I was like, whoa, the future is now. Yeah. Oh man. That's the point. That's why they watching this movie now is like a lot of those guys, like a lot of the guys on like the, uh, the team package just be replaced by like a smartphone, like, like port, port Allen, rock rabbit.
00:03:17
Speaker
Like he was like, he's like the map guy. Like he's, he's, he's just replaced by phone now.
Modern Technology vs. Twister's Roles
00:03:22
Speaker
He's just a GPS. His whole role is just to figure out where they are. Yeah. Which I mean, I guess GPS wouldn't be able to like, like he's, he's following, finding these like rarely obscure, like back roads and stuff. But I think you can still see like, you can still come up on gp on your phone and stuff. It's like, oh, there's a road that goes right here. Let's go down it. Yeah, a Google car pretty much did this guy's cryptography. Cryptography? Cartography? Cartography. Yeah. But the thing is, also, um I guess when you're near, maybe, a tornado, you don't get power. But i mean you could still figure out from reading that digital map where, again, you can really reduce the screw size.
00:04:05
Speaker
hmm like like Phil Seamer Hoffman is just is just Spotify like is he just the music man I don't I don't know what his job is like cuz everyone everyone seems to have a job and then he's like hammer man he's like the hype man like he's just like the mascot of the team because everyone just loves him That's true. Like I'm surprised he's not the team drunk or high guy. Like out of everyone, he doesn't, need yeah he he doesn't, he doesn't drink or smoke. So he just hangs out and like plays like, you know, blast music out of his van or his bus. I give him credit. His music selection is on point at the time. He's got Eric Clapton and a whole bunch of hair metal band and and the the cutting edge, uh, van Halen song. yeah we that just come out That was that was't created. That was created for the movie.
00:04:53
Speaker
Wow. in must fear like There's no way this movie didn't have like a featured song. No. Yeah. he is It was that Van Halen song, but it was also like the worst iteration of Van Halen. It was like the, uh, what was was like that? Like it wasn't even Sammy Hager or like David Lee Roth. It was like the other guy that was in there for like one album.
Twister's Premise and Conflicts
00:05:16
Speaker
But yeah, but yeah yeah the actual, the premise, the premise of Twisters, if Twister, if you have not seen it is, um, So we got got Bill Paxton, who is formerly a storm chaser, and but now wants to settle down and be a weatherman. And he's also getting married soon to Jamie Gertz, who is a ah reproductive therapist, which is like a running joke for the first half of the movie. She's constantly seeing called these like awkward phone calls from clients.
00:05:44
Speaker
And then ah he has to go find ah his ex-wife, Helen Hunt, Um, and it's never signed the divorce papers, but then it's, it just happens happens that the day heat, they got out to get the paper side is today when like this like record breaking storms or like this storm systems coming through and they, it's going to cause like multiple tornadoes.
00:06:07
Speaker
Well, I think it was also her like sneaky meat cute. Cause she definitely has an agenda during this whole thing. but This, this, this interesting thing is like, like Helen hunt is the one it's like pining for like. get relationships back like usually it's like the guy that's like but let like get back with the girl but hele and hunt it's like the one who's like oh man um i really want to get back with bill paxton But she doesn't know how to do it. like She's very awkward about it. and because she Because she's also obsessed with her work and obsessed with like tornadoes because tornadoes killed her father.
00:06:39
Speaker
She has this very a bad habit during this movie where she will just stare at danger. She needs she used to see the tornadoes. She's like... but Not only see it, but like almost wants to touch it and it's like, you know better than this. she has Yeah, she has like a weird death wish sort of of like, I want to get like sucked up by a tornado like my dad did. I think that's her, that was her problem. It's like, she kind of needs therapy, but she which uses, you know, the whole thing, the whole thing with like the that opening with like the dad game six and tornado, like,
00:07:12
Speaker
Like, young Howard Hunter, if mom did get sucked up, even when the door was wide open, so like... He was on the door. I don't think he needed to hold the door open or close because they could just huddle in the back of the shelter and it seemed like they were fine. Was it Randy Travis? Randy Travis? I don't think it was a cameo. If it was a cameo, they would really focus on his face and be like, hey, look, it's this guy. But I think it was just a random dude.
00:07:45
Speaker
It's definitely someone I've seen. like yeah I've seen this actor, yeah, but they don't focus so much. but Yeah, that's right. I thought like it was more of life saving. He had to hold the door shut, or else like they all get sucked out, like an executive decision move. He gets he is sucked out, but then like ah Joe and her mom are fine, like apparently. They just get windy, and then that's it.
00:08:13
Speaker
But yeah, the beginning is cool. Even the title screen gets blown away in the beginning. And then just to show people that how the Midwest just sucks for nature. You're sleeping one night. I think you're great. It's a good night. And then here comes a tornado out of nowhere. I think, there was there just like a warning like siren and that's all they had? Well, that's the whole thing about like ah like Joe and her team is that that they they want to like increase the warning time. Because there's basically there's like at the time of this movie, or like they say in this movie, like there's no warning. It's like, you obviously have a couple minutes before you can, like, no, Torino's coming. They want to try to increase the time with ah their big invention, which is Dorothy, which is this like ah sensor package that's housed in this kind of drum thing. And they went and then they want to, like,
00:09:07
Speaker
drop it in front of a tornado and have it gets sucked up by a tornado and they and they can get sensor readings from a tornado and like learn how it forms and how it operates and then they can like make a better warning system. Yeah, but that that's not going to save like ah that'll same a lot of people who could get in the shelter, but even then it's not like, the hell Hunt's dad, he got in that shelter, he still got sucked out. Yeah. And so it's like, if anything, they should be menting
Critique of Twister's Physics
00:09:34
Speaker
two from their shelters. Yeah. Yeah. Ones that don't require the dad to sacrifice himself to like, that's more than just like one like slide lock on the door.
00:09:47
Speaker
I'm not gonna get into the part just yet because it's the movie magic of what the true hero of the movie is, or what like things that are actually ah are hurricane and tornado tornado proof. Yeah. um But yeah, no, this flimsy barn door that is their storm door. um Yeah, no, that comes flying out and he I forget how quick it is. That scene, he just does the whole like, all right, you'll be there, no, and just flies away. And you're like, oh, he's gone. He might as well have fallen into the ocean in that effect of the dot gets smaller. To be fair, that was an F5, which we all know is the finger of God.
00:10:31
Speaker
And at that point, it's like, unless your door was buried 30 deep, 30 feet deep, and I don't know, weighed down. Also, physics can I get wonky in this movie? Like things that you expect to be heavy are like easily taken and things that you expect to be light are just still on the ground. Yeah. Like tractors can get sucked in and which weigh like easily a ton. Yeah. But but humans who weigh Maybe a hundred and fifty pounds. Yeah, we' we're just as close to tornadoes as like a truck that got just sucked up in the tornado, like, are fine. Are just totally able to run and still breathe. Because I think also, like, it's so windy, you can't, like, breathe well, like, in a tornado. Well, I think so much air. I think this is like it like an F5 is like 300 mile per hour winds. Yeah, it's like, you ever try to breathe, like, your head out of a car window?
00:11:28
Speaker
Mm-hmm. It's hard. like Yeah, it's very harsh on your lungs. So we can't imagine being something at 300 like 300 miles an hour and then trying to like inhale So yeah, no the physics of this is like where you know that to me is some illusion because it's fun for some parts But the other parts are like wait, what's happening? This is the worst of the worst. is is is It's like the tornadoes get stronger because that's the whole thing. like is like as the As the day goes out and like the days go out and the tornadoes get stronger, they start with like an F2 and they get up to F5s for like the finale. But it's this yeah' like like it seems like the stronger like stronger tornado, like it's like but the the walker like the everything gets. like <unk> It's like a mile wide tornado with 300 mile per wind and it' you're like running away from it fairly easily.
00:12:19
Speaker
like
00:12:24
Speaker
And it's like not like it's like it's sucking things up right behind you, but you're not getting sucked up by it. Yeah. It's like, yeah. yeah Yes. Yes. I just believe a little bit for, for some of the, for like the sake of like being like exciting movie, but yeah, I don't, I don't know if i don't this is like like ah extremely like scientifically accurate. Some of it, some of it is, but some of it probably is definitely not. I think the equipment and then some of the terms are accurate. And then I think at least for the first two like weather events, the small minor ones, they're probably more accurate. It's like storm chasing probably is that for anything close to like an F zero to an F two. Yeah. And then as soon as it's ramping up, that's where the physics are thrown out the window. Yeah, let you want to you want to get into um
00:13:17
Speaker
after the ah the horrible flashback and then into Bill Paxson trying to get married. Yeah. he yeah So you start to get remarried. and Yeah. So they come out to get the ah divorce papers because like Helen Hunt hasn't signed one of them or like they they but need a copy of it to like ah you know finalize the divorce. But then he gets roped into ah spending it. He gives them one day because he finds out that they actually built like his design that he designed with Helen Hunt, like the Dorothy. And so he wants to see that, like, realized. So he's like, I'll give you one day of storm tracing, and then we're out.
00:13:59
Speaker
but And then they also get to team, build Paxton's supernatural storm sensing abilities.
00:14:09
Speaker
where it's like, like like Bill Paxton basically basically like like just like looks at the sky and senses where it's like, it's gonna form over there, or it's gonna shift, we gotta move this way. like he's like He's like a living like Doppler radar. Yeah, he he figures out from just weird context clues that a hurricane's happening. Yeah, there's there's like multiple scenes where he just like looks at things, he looks like like a flag blowing, or like he throw like throws some dirt near, it's like, tornado's coming, I sense it. I mean, I guess he's been around to them so much that he can sense it, sort of like an animal. He's the extreme, according to like ah the team, like because he was like so insane and crazy back in the day. I'm trying to think, like if he was so good at predicting hurricanes, that's your system. Just send Bill Paxton and beat your hurricane whisperer.
Technology vs. Intuition in Twister
00:15:05
Speaker
Tornado whisperer, yeah. tornado oh man Your tornado
00:15:11
Speaker
I mean, I mean, yeah, that's basically what he is. And and that's why, that's why, uh, Kerry Elway is the evil storm chaser who has corporate sponsors. Uh, he has no instincts. So it like, he has to rely on technology and money to like, try to like chase tornadoes. Well, the facts, the facts relies on full on guts and, uh, you know, like senses. Yeah, this guy who can sense tornadoes and stuff can't sense when he's in love or when he has other relationships on the rocks. Yeah. it' It's sort of like a daredevil thing where because he can't sense love, his sense of tornado is insanely high. You gotta to give it to JB Gertz, though, because she sticks it out for quite a while. like she's Way longer than you think. She has to go through like she goes through like three tornadoes.
00:16:07
Speaker
And then she's very like, i like, I'm out. Like, yeah, way more tomatoes just to figure out. Yeah, this isn't for me. Well, she only, gets like she only gets out because she overhears like Bill Paxson, like professing his love to like, uh, Helen Hunt still over like the radio. Okay. No, that was insane because it's still windy and rainy where she is. And for some reason that comes out that, that passionate speech about seeing what's in front of you comes out crystal clear. Yep.
00:16:40
Speaker
and just like super awkward just like dust like those are options standing there with like an umbrella that's like rip getting ripped apart just like standing there like trying to like cover with an umbrella yeah Jamie gets like stuck with like folks you're off of like constantly it's like hey go dusty she's like all right yeah they pretty much babysitter yeah the um my thing with her is She should have not followed Bill Paxton so much because it's like she should have been left with the ant. Oh, yeah. So we're like comment, comment, separate. I guess they didn't like they didn't think they were going to like storm chase, I guess, because they came in one truck. But like if they came, if they came to cars, I think they were going to go get the paper sign and leave. And then but then like they found out like you built Dorothy. She's here. I have to I have to go now. I have to see this through.
00:17:37
Speaker
In terms of this movie, I think this takes place over like... It's two days. Two days? Because they they chase for like a day, they stay overnight at that drive-in, and then the next day it's like the F5. No, no, the first day they go to the ant. Well, that was that was like that was like the end of like the first... that like the like They chase those first two, like the for like the the one where they go to ditch, and then they have to hide under the bridge, and then the the water tornado with the cow.
00:18:06
Speaker
And then they're like, oh, hey, we're near your aunt's house. Let's got like go over there and get like late lunch, early dinner. And then chase another we have to chase another one. And then it's then they end they they they're staying at like the like hotel like that motel slash drive-in. That also gets demolished. With the with the crazy cameo of like the Shining? Yeah. like They don't show you just like a so a reflection. It just like is on-screen version. Yeah, all right R.I.P. Shelley Duvall. But yeah, that's it. I i guess you guess Universal owns The Shining, I think, probably? Probably the only reason you could like show that.
00:18:53
Speaker
It doesn't play in. It's not like... Well, I guess maybe because they were chasing, they, they met the twins from the twin hurt. Oh my God. Is that maybe, you know, is that twins from that? Is that the only weird connection?
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah. We're so like, it's like Jack knows this is obsession is like reflects like Helen Hunter obsession between those. I see it. did We're gonna, we're gonna skip this part. uh every tornado in this movie roars oh yeah i was gonna i was gonna read it up some point but yeah they they add like these like animal roars to like tornadoes which i think i mean i think it's they definitely sound like a freight train or like they definitely make noise but i don't think they like roar like a like a bear or something ah but i its it's it's like it's like animalistic noises they're coming out of these tornadoes it
00:19:49
Speaker
It is a little hilarious because when you hear it the first time, you're like, okay, I mean, that's a one-time thing. No, every tornado has a sound effect that is just animalistic as if these are monsters. Yeah.
00:20:05
Speaker
it is the it's like It's like the ah like Jaws, like Jaws the Revenge where they hit the the shark roar where the sharks don't make noises. It's just like, we got to have something.
00:20:15
Speaker
Yeah, but I feel like you don't need to if basically everything around is making so much noise. It should be making noise, hurricanes, tornadoes are loud. Yeah. So, you know, the sound of wind would have been fine. But like I said, the movie plays with with physics where, oh, you're gonna have like a very like in depth conversation while tornadoes right in front of you. Or you can't hear shit.
00:20:49
Speaker
Yeah, and like sometimes they'll pick up pick up ah like a car and throw it. Sometimes they'll just spin it around gently. It'll just push you. Yeah, I think like those like the twins, like the water tornadoes, they they don't seem that dangerous because just it's just water. It's just fun. The car did no damage. Yeah. this That seemed like less dangerous than the first tornado where they had like one that was coming at them from the ditch, and then they they destroyed an entire farm on their way toward them. Was that it? The first one? The first one like took out like at least like a silo or something, because it's in it's in like the background chasing them when they're driving through a ditch. they're like And then they have like hide they have to hide and the the ah under the bridge. But then that's where it picks up the truck and throws it into the bridge.
00:21:43
Speaker
Actually, do no it it picks up it picks up the entire truck because it it smashes it onto the road. And that was like an F2.
00:21:52
Speaker
Yeah, see, the strength level is weird. Because then, because then they ah have to like use a like Bill Paxton's truck after that, because that was that was a whole hunch truck. They got smashed. And then like, they run under that house, which completely just basically disappears. But then they're fine. And then they didn't need any special equipment or anything to. It was it was it was like, oh yeah it yeah, it was weird it was I think it it was just like a weird like, ah like so some farmer built a bridge like across like the ditch. that They hit under. a strong ass bridge. Uh, yeah, I forgot about Helen Hunt's like like Elise, like beats away from Philip. Well, well, Jamie Girs almost drives into it because it's right in front of her and she freaks out. And then, and then carry Elvis's, his crew just like drive past and be like,
00:22:46
Speaker
Well, it sucks for you guys. Later, like... Yeah, they don't care. They're just like, oh. Carrie Alois is just such a great, just slimy asshole in this movie. You wanted to break down Carrie Alois' version team, like his his evil crew?
00:23:03
Speaker
Well, it's, um, I thought it was crazy. I thought it was like, it's like, it's like a young, like David Desmelchian, like one of his guys, but it etc it's it's Patrick Fisher. They look exactly the same, like theyre like very similar, like character actor guys who has, and he has like one line and then like, uh, I think one of his guys, one of these guys, like, uh, is like Zach Grenier, who's like another, like, you know, that guy.
Personality of Antagonist's Team
00:23:28
Speaker
But yeah, they're, they're, they're all just like. Oh, you're going to mention, uh, of UC, Jake, UC just with them. Oh yeah. He has like no lines. Well, he has one. He's like reading off a thing and then he sort of leaves the movie. Yeah. It's like this bizarro version of Helen Hunt's team. Yeah, except it sounds like they have no personality like how that seems is all personality and they have like no personality. But the problem is I think they also knew their tech is stolen from Helen Hunt and Bill Paxson. Yeah, so to carry always.
00:24:00
Speaker
ah went to the same college as ah Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, and then he got corporate sponsors. And then, ah yeah, basically stole the design for Dorothy and made dots, which is basically the same thing. but I love the, like, they explicitly make his sensors squares to make him, it's like, ours are squares. those are but Those are better than circles. Yeah. And I was thinking, like, squares are aerodynamic. I wrote that down. I was like, I looked at it because when they showed review what's inside, I was like, oh, it's just like Dorothy. But then I'm like, high squares. Yeah. Just to make it just to make it like the complete opposite. Like copyrighted. Yeah. But it's the same ah mapping system so they can just figure out if error circulates in the right direction. And that's when you know it's going to be a tornado.
00:24:54
Speaker
Essentially, that's what it is. They're just trying to map a tornado. They're not trying to stop it. It's not some sort of disperser system. It's just, hey, we want to model a tornado. Well, yeah, because because obviously, you can't stand you can't stand in the middle of a tornado, like suck you up or like go over you and like get readings off it. So they're trying to get readings from inside a tornado ah and get like wind your wind speeds and all all that all this kind of like telemetry stuff to figure out how it forms, how it works, and then they can like you know go from there with data. but I think it took them a while to figure out that you can just drive something at it. Like they didn't have like, I know tornadoes are tricky to kind of predict their path, but sometimes they're accurate of like, Oh, it's going to go that way. It's like, well, this, new this was, uh, this is pre those like, uh, those like storm tracing trucks where you can like, add yourself into the, like into the the ground.
00:25:50
Speaker
Like i I think, I think, I think Glenn Powell has one of those in the Twisters. So that's, and that's his whole thing is like, he's like a, you know, an internet like storm chaser guy. That makes sense. I know storm chasers got way popular after this. And then it became obsession of anchoring your vehicle that makes sense. Yeah, basically being like an armored truck that can like anchor itself. then you can like, you go either you you can actually record, it like you have the Toyota like go over you and you can actually record like camera, like footage from inside of it and stuff. Yeah. You you must be way at least like, I don't know, five bill Paxons to do this. Yeah. but they Is the car made of the same leather belts that they found? Yeah. The leather belts that like just can withstand a F5.
00:26:44
Speaker
Well, I just go back to carry out was quick. I think we were talking before we started recording, but like we're trying, we're trying to figure out like who is sponsoring him. Cause he has, he has corporate sponsors, but they didn't ever mention who the corporate sponsors is. And we we were saying like, it'd be funny if it was like, um, like cause Michael Craig wrote, wrote the movie. I see if it was like a, like, uh, some sort of like Easter egg to like Jurassic park or something. It's like bio sin sponsored him or like in gen or. Yeah, there's no there's no evil meteorology group that they say basically is doing this. This carry always is undercutting. Yeah, I was so famous enough is being interviewed a lot.
00:27:23
Speaker
Yeah. I wish, I wish that, yeah, just, I wish his truck was just like a, like a NASCAR, like you said, like all this, like you got, he was like, like McDonald's and like whatever other like, uh, corporate logos on his truck and on dot stuff. Like dot, like Verizon presents dots. Yeah. I see the Spielberg didn't think of that until way later. Mm hmm. But also, again, you're not trying to present your company as evil. At least that's the point of doing that. I'm thinking. They should have made up a company so they could just blame them for being like dangerous and unethical. Yeah. But yeah, they use the real corporate sponsor. That's like a real company. Just like, oh, Burger King is trying to like understand tornadoes so that way.
00:28:15
Speaker
you know, something about values and you're like, but no, that's why it's hilarious that Jurassic World would later on involve like a real company in their evil dinosaur. Yeah. I think, um, I, I, I, I, I just noticed that like first time watching it again recently, but I think like, so like how and how it seemed like is from like, uh, a university. It's like Muskegee university or something. It's like, they're like, they're like, uh, where they work. Oh, she's from a university. Yeah. I think it's, it's, it's like, whatever. Like I think she tried to hold department out. It's like the, uh,
00:28:56
Speaker
ah It's like, you know, it's like the tornadoes. So I think they're all like, they're all like in like a, like a meteorological like department or something or like a, you know, weather department at the this university. Is this like off season where they can do this? like Where's your professor? It's like, oh, off chasing, uh, tornadoes. It seems like, it seems like it's summer. So it's but probably off, probably off the summer.
00:29:25
Speaker
is is like Is Dusty a professor? Are they all professors? Seva Hoffman is the professor? or Yeah, like what what what is his class like? If he he movie he's a professor. like We're going to talk about the cultural impact of ah Eric Clapton today. and
00:29:48
Speaker
Van Halen, we're going to like study the study Van Halen today.
00:29:55
Speaker
We're gonna actually learn about the history of David Lee Roth and then Sammy Hagar. Actually I had to look up who was the singer after Sammy. It was David Lee Roth temporarily. And then it was the Gary something from Austin. Yeah, that Gary Sharon.
00:30:16
Speaker
yeah So he's he's the singer on Human's Being, the song for Twister. And like I think it's universally agreed that that's like the worst era of Van Halen ever. didn't match. No.
00:30:30
Speaker
It wasn't even like, um like, because it was, is it you know, it's like, it's like pre like new metal and stuff. too So it's like, you know, mid 90s. It was in that weird, like, I don't have grudges, grudges, like early 90s. And then it was like, new metal was like, 99, 2000. So it's weird, like mid 90s rock, which, yeah, no identity. But
00:30:56
Speaker
i think I think I think I think I think they also made like an original like instrumental I think like the I think you hear over the end credits. It's like the song called respect the wind Yeah, I didn't say for the whole credits but damn I didn't know they actually had a they were part of the big soundtrack of twister. Yeah to two songs Did I know I could this is kind of off topic again, but did twister have a food tie-in
00:31:29
Speaker
I don't, I don't think so. I mean, what, what would you get? Like, what would be a Twister like food? oh no like ah I I think it was the Arby's. They get like curly fries, like the Twister fries or something. I'm going to take a look while we talk other things, but, um, yeah. Cause I know like, if you've got like an original soundtrack, if you've got like global phenomenon, you usually get a food tight. Like it's usually like it comes in threes back then. Yeah, I mean, so as far as like tie ins, I mean, there was there was like a like a pinball machine. um They published, they basically but they published with a crazy screenplay as a book, basically, which I have. ands but but so And they're basically trying to make it like it's like it's a new book writing book, quote unquote, but it was it was actually like the screenplay.
00:32:18
Speaker
And there's definitely there are some differences between the movie and the screenplay. It's kind of interesting. There's like different some different carry always things and like I think I think he I think he dies a different way in the book or in this in this original screenplay. I can't I can't remember how he how it goes ah off the top of my head, but I think I think it was different. I runs out of his truck gets torn apart. Yeah, that that that that's crazy. That the part is crazy. It's like, yeah, his driver gets impaled by like I'm like a girder or something. Yeah. And then they get, and they get sucked up and like throw, they didn't throw them up by the FBI and blown up. I'm surprised he didn't scream like my money or something. My sponsors.
00:33:04
Speaker
Um, yeah but yeah. So once you realize that Carrie always is trying to do the same thing of, of mapping out a tornado and trying to beat Helen hunt so they can claim like, I guess pioneer tech of that. Yeah. um Yeah, you realize these dumb dumbs couldn't just drive something into the tornado ah or just plant something ahead of the path like figure out or have multiple of these like mapping systems and just dump them in like what do you think the ideal paths are going to be?
00:33:37
Speaker
well Helen Hunt, our team only had four Dorothy's. I don't know how many Kerry Elweys had. I'm sure he probably had maybe more of them. He probably did, because you know like he had more money.
Dorothy Sensors' Failures
00:33:49
Speaker
And then Helen Hunt's team, they like two of them get like just like hit by debris and then scattered across the across the like the road. and then um And then the one one ah doesn't like just get yeah get knocked over. too like I think three of them get knocked over, right? then like They all get knocked over.
00:34:08
Speaker
Yeah, because because they're they're not heavy enough. And then they figured that's like the big thing at the end of like, oh, we anchor it so that they sacrifice like this truck to like drive it into the, send it into the Torado. Well, I was confused of like why Anita anchored the tub, because as long as the balls get released into the tornado, but then they also needed um like wings. Wings, yeah. Because they were getting like, like arrow they were getting like updrafted into the tornado. So that right so that they yeah they probably just mapped the foot of the tornado.
00:34:44
Speaker
But the crazy thing is they were spheres. They couldn't get uplifted. Just basically Christmas decoration, which I'm surprised no one's made a twister, a twister, like sensor a sensor ornament or something. I would put that on a tree and see who gets that. Yeah. Or even the dumb cube version. Yep. But yeah, like Kerry always his team is like, yeah, if the the balls couldn't get lifted up, there's no way these bricks are not going to get like. Oh, yeah. Mm hmm. I get why later on, they're like, OK, we need lift. We need to give this stuff wings. It's inspireds inspired by Helen Hunt's ants, like wind chime decorations.
00:35:29
Speaker
After they rescue her from her collapsing house. Yeah, which that scene alone was a nice fun stunt scene, because there there was nothing like it yet ah until that. Because otherwise, it was a lot of driving and avoid hitting things. And then you actually now had a building that was basically teetering on just like one single beam.
00:35:54
Speaker
and and you And you can see some like real like impact from a tornado. Yeah, the humanity side of it. Not just like, we're in a field. Yeah, because because all all the other ones like before that were like, oh, it's like, a you know, it's a CG tornado, like destroy like CG buildings. I guess I guess the driving before that was like also like you get to like really like feel like the impact. ah Even though they got sideswiped according to Bouncer. And that was just microbursts. That wasn't actually a real tornado. That was like, this guy just like sideswiped us. Even though it threw like a ah truck into the building.
00:36:34
Speaker
Which I think the whole drive-in section of the movie is basically what inspired the the ride. Twister, ride it out.
00:36:44
Speaker
which which I think you went on it, Chris, right? Yeah, but I was so back of day was like ah nine. Yeah, I never got a chance to go out. I can watch it it like on the video. Not the same to feel the intensity, but it's the same like set show, set sun show. And you know Universal had this thing where it's like, come watch our shit explode, but we don't have the the insurance to throw live people in it. I think Twister open a better stunt show. If like, ah if you made an actor run around and like a boy. Yeah. And in the end they get tied down with a belt to survive the F5. Is it like a fake, a fake bill packs in Helen hunt instead of like them, like awkwardly at screens, like clearly not in the same area at all. Welcome you onto the ride. Yeah.
00:37:39
Speaker
man Yeah, Bill Paxton's, like, video for that ride is, like, legendary. or Just, like, how much he just seems like he just does not give a shit about it. I think that was a late contract for him. that that Yeah, it was like the last it was, like, the last day of shooting. He's already been, like, yeah he'd already been like blinded by lights and, like, had to get a hepatitis shot and, like, ah whatever else disasters happen on set. You did mention that him and Helen Hunt were not talking. yeah I think I think just like the whole like how like horrible like this shoot apparently was like and then it was just like but I never just like I this is this is horrible I don't know what I don't want see anyone involved this ever again it wasn't like she produces
00:38:22
Speaker
No, but yeah, it was like there's yeah, apparently there's like so some of the stuff that happened was like they had they had these special lights tell that they had to use to like make it look like make the when they were shooting to make it look like the skies were like dark from that storm. But the lights I like basically like like Pillbacks said they basically sunburned their eyes, so Pillbacks and Helena were basically blinded for a couple days because of these lights. So they put a filter on the lights afterwards, and the scene where they were in the ditch, in the mud, it was literally just like mud they found on the side of the road, so it wasn't like... It was like sanitary Hollywood mud. It was just like real like Nebraska mud or whatever they were. And so they had to get like hepatitis shots because of that. You know, it's funny. Like they could have just made mud. Yep. They could have just gotten sanitized dirt and
00:39:15
Speaker
in a set and done this, but they're like, no, get in this real ditch. Get in this real water. We have no idea. Jed, the bot was just driving down the road. He's like, there, the ditch. We can put them in the ditch. It's like, oh, it's not wet enough. It's like, we will make it wet enough. And then somehow they did. And it's like, what what did you use as a liquid? They're like, don't ask. Get me the hose. I'm in a hose, like tip over port a port of body station.
00:39:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think Jan DeBot was like a maniac. Like he was like knocking over camera assistants who missed cues and stuff like that. People were like walking off set. and see It its didn't seem like a very fun movie to shoot.
00:40:11
Speaker
and So they yes so that's that explains why they they were like seem they very very enthusiastic and recorded the ride audio of the ride videos.
00:40:26
Speaker
ah But yeah, you know, it's funny because this whole movie, it's just them trying to map out this tornado. Yet it gets second place between the love of Bill Paxson and Helen Hunt later on. Yes, because that that yeah that's that's the driving plot is Uh, well, actually it's kind of interesting flip on like what you normally expect because yeah, hell Helen, Helen is the one that's like kind of like pining for Bill Paxton and then she's the one that kind of wants them to like get back together and he's just like, Hey, I got a, I got a new job. I got a new wife. I don't sign the papers. Like, but then yeah because the failed attempt to map it, I think the second time that's when he's like, you gotta look at what's in front of you. was it's It's also like, I mean, gender bond directed speed. but so It's a, it's a, it's ah it's a thing of like, I think like, uh, like Sandra Bullock says data speed, like really she just built on extreme conditions or whatever. So I think that's part of it too. It was like, they're there're in such this, there was such an extreme,
00:41:24
Speaker
Uh, you know, a vet together that they just like, you know, rekindles their passion. But I think that's how they met. There's no way they did not meet during a tornado. Yeah. um And that's their like aphrodisiac. That's their, their like linchpin to their relationship is if it's not a tornado, they hate each other. They don't talk. Yeah.
00:41:49
Speaker
Because even you after like ah they survive the F5, they start arguing. with like like I'm going to do the lab. No, I'm going to do the lab. but
00:42:00
Speaker
but then But then they can't because in front of the whole crew that arrives.
00:42:09
Speaker
Which yeah, that that that final that final sequence is insane when they're like running from the F5 and then, like you mentioned Chris, like they they they lock themselves into pipes with just like random leather like saddle belts or whatever whatever those were in the in the barn they find and that keeps them from like flying off from like 300 mile per hour winds.
Surviving an F5 Tornado
00:42:35
Speaker
Because the pipes, the pipes go down and pretty far to the ground that holds them down, holds them into the ground when the tornado like literally goes over top of them. And F5 tornado was the top of them.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah, the um the fact that they didn't get ripped in half, I get like the leather would be there, the pipe would be there, but their bodies are not that same material. They would just be their their limbs would be torn. Yeah, or at least you you like they close the clothes should have got like at least a little bit like ripped up or something. Yeah. An F5 is like, like i think as I think it's like 300 mile per hour plus winds. And that's that's like, if you think about it, that's if you're, I don't know, like,
00:43:28
Speaker
if you're near that wind, let's just say 300 miles, but it like is over you. Like it rolled over you and and they're fine. And there's got to be all kinds of like, even like, not even like big debris, but like, you know, there's probably like, you know, like sand and like dirt, like, like that would that would be like, like inject, like embedding itself into your skin. Probably like like rocks become bullets. Yeah. Yeah. and they're fine. Like, I think, I think, the I think, I think Bill texting is like one scratch on his face. So it's like, and wow, that was, that was nuts. Wasn't it? I think the most damage that happens to him is when, um,
00:44:06
Speaker
when the word, the Dorothy gets like dropped on the second time before Bill Paxson has that heart to heart moment. He hits his head because Helen Hunt stopped short and he hits his face against the glass. in yeah Yeah. He was also getting hailed on too. yeah like I want to bring up another fact. Who was the car company making Bill Paxson's Jeep? I think it's like a Dodge, I think, or something, like maybe. that thing was also indestructible pretty much yeah who for all we know that that jeep is still there that that truck is still there by the end like i just drove through it got sucked up and then get dropped off and it's fine again yeah yeah it it was it was a dodge ram yeah because it drove through a house it survived previous encounters of tornadoes it it payload Dorothy but it also
00:45:03
Speaker
It has a like self-healing windshield. I don't know if you notice there's like a pretty major blooper in like the final sequence where when they're dodging all like the farm equipment is like falling. And there's like a, I don't know what kind of thing it is, but it's like a long arm at the end of it. And it hits the windshield. And then the next scene, like the windshield is like not cracked at all or not broken, but you could smash into the windshield. Well, maybe they replaced it somehow. Yeah. They did a safe flight. Safe flight did like an air drop. Do it yourself.
Special Effects Evaluation
00:45:49
Speaker
But yeah, ah ah one one one thing and if I felt like, I don't know how you felt like the the special effects, I think, pretty hold up pretty well. like The tornadoes look pretty good still, even though it's like, you know. The tornadoes? Almost a debris. Some of the debris, they didn't do lighting on it. They look very yeah i starfighter. um This kind of had the one basic ah model, and they didn't do about dynamic lighting. Talk about start fire like that. Uh what after the the prologue like that shot like the satellite that satellite looks but cell like like like it's from like the 80s like it's like 80 CG Where it's like the but It's like the satellite they goes into like it's like looking down at like the storms coming in and they you go to like the National Storm severe storm laboratory and SSL
00:46:42
Speaker
I like that they put an underline under each first letter, so you get it. It comes up as this National Severe Storm Lab, and it says every first letter has a big underline. So you're like, get it? And SSL.
00:47:06
Speaker
which Which actually is like a real yeah know organization. ah
00:47:14
Speaker
But I think they, I think they, um, they had nominated for, for best visual effects, but they didn't win. Oh, that sucks. cause and and and i'm like Who they lose to. Um, I think it was, uh, uh, independence day.
00:47:37
Speaker
That's a hard one. That makes sense. Silver of 96 was insane. It was Independence Day, Dragonheart, and Twister were the three nominees that year for Best Visual Facts. I don't know how Dragonheart snuck in there. I mean, I guess i guess like people's like that Sean Connery Dragon. Which did not age well. No, no. That age is significantly worse than Independence Day or Twister.
00:48:15
Speaker
But, uh, yeah, anything else about, uh, Mr. k Chris? It was, it was, uh, fun. Put this in like your, you know, your pub trivia, uh, hat, but like it was the first movie ever released on DVD, which is a fun, uh, fun fact. I definitely, one of the first DVDs I ever bought definitely was a Twister. You were all like DVD, hell yeah, Twister, double hell yeah. The the the shitty, it was like the like cardboard, and then it opened up, it had like a clip on the side, and then like it was like ah was was like dual site, like it had no like label on it, it was just like the like inner like inner ring had like the label on it.
00:48:59
Speaker
I think I think it would even have like the like ah like the one side was widescreen. The other side was like the you know four by three or whatever. So you had to flip it like whatever whatever version you want to watch.
00:49:13
Speaker
ah So what I wanted to say was, I think whatever like Twister was filmed, I remember that became a very big tourist destination. And it was like ah it was like a I think up until like a few years ago, it was like still there, like this town they filmed a lot of. It was like, oh, we saw have like the Twister Museum. ah Wakita. it's it's like the real It's like the real town they filmed. It's where like the ant lived. Oh, yeah, I think it's something where like they they really embrace that movie. Yeah, it's still there. It's called the Twister, the movie, movie the museum.
00:50:01
Speaker
It's in like doubt right off a main street. like ah If you Google it. ah Yeah, I think they play the movie once in a while there. ah There's a Facebook page to it. There's all these like things that that Wakita really embraced. And I think Twisters renewed interest in it. Well, I guess I guess yeah guess there was a... an older section of town and that's what they, yeah they like the town let them demolish that older section to make it look like, you know, make the tornado damage for like that, the scene where they rescued the ant.
00:50:42
Speaker
And then I think ah they're saying like, they've ran this for as much as they possibly can, but I think they're closing down that museum.
00:50:53
Speaker
don It's it's weird cuz like the the Facebook is that it's run by older people like, you know, it's like yeah grandmas run this museum It would be it'd be so weird that closed it like we're closing it like now But it's like you like it's there's never like it just has never been higher in the last like 30 years cuz twisters is how house it's like People be like flocking back there's like cuz like it there's like super renewed interest in the twister Oh, no, it's still around but yeah, I don't know for how long
00:51:23
Speaker
They're saying that basically, oh no, it's closing like tomorrow. yeah The last opening of the museum is July 19th. Wow. Okay. So or so so if you heard this is closed, yeah i oh right the the the day twisters open, they're going to close the twister museum. Yeah. Kind of weird, but yeah, man that's the fate.
00:51:51
Speaker
Oh, it's it's weird that. It's closing, but then I think they're trying to run it to August just because like they have some renew interest. Yeah.
00:52:04
Speaker
So weird. Yeah, if it's still there, maybe in a year we'll go. Yeah. And it just get to just put like an S on it. They're just like, it's the twisters. Yeah. Yeah. We got we got good. We got Glenn Powell's shirt. Well, the museum is open only Tuesdays through so Saturdays from one to five. And it's open only through April through August. So it's a seasonal place. Maybe that's what it is. Yeah. That makes sense. I don't know if it's like closed forever, but it's basically just like a DQ.
00:52:45
Speaker
But yeah, Twister, it's still great. It's still super fun. Like just perfect 90s disaster action. Oh, yeah. And it capitalizes that craze where it's like, have you seen tornadoes? Like, whoa, I haven't. And you want to know more about it. I also think it's kind of like a perfect like early PG-13 maybe like if you're 12 to all ages at that point as if you're a young kid that opening scene is horrific just to watch your dad get sucked out a door yeah and then there's so many other like adult things going on like I didn't notice about the divorce thing um
00:53:31
Speaker
until like now, because I think at this point, also this movie, this movie gives you false hope about marriage where it's like a twister will save your love life. And this is, this is, this was also, it's right at the start of like the, like nineties disaster revival. Cause like, like literally like 90, 96 was twister independence day in daylight. And then the air that was done his peak volcano, uh, you had hard rain, deep impact Armageddon. Yeah. Titanic. If you want to throw it in there. Yeah, yeah, just natural disaster. I think when Titanic showed up, that's where now it's like, have you heard about Titanic?
Twister in 90s Disaster Genre
00:54:08
Speaker
And then people got obsessed with Titanic.
00:54:10
Speaker
Essentially, now this sounds kind of sexist, but I'm kind of right. um Twister was too titanic for like girls where like boys were like, hell yeah, tornadoes and nature. Woo. And then I showed up and it was like this love story. And then all these tragedies and the drama. Oh my gosh. To be, to be coming to America and finding love. I'm like, wait, what? That's not the message, but that's the, I remember a lot of people, a lot of people took away. on Titanic, at the love story. Like, okay. Not blaming the rich and blaming the the stupidity of the design of the Titanic.
00:54:52
Speaker
um And just want to clarify, yeah, no, maybe Zach will go to the Twister Museum. It's closing this July, but it'll be open in April, which is perfect for tornado season. Yeah, plant played your trip now.
00:55:10
Speaker
We'll be able to get some of that. Yes. so so Sweet Twisters memorabilia. Yeah. The reason why they're closing early because they're going to go see Twisters in theaters. Like they put that in their Facebook. It's something hidden. Like the message on the Facebook may seem like the museum itself is closing forever. And then like you have to read like so many comments deep to realize, oh, they mean they're just going to go see the movie.
00:55:37
Speaker
But yeah, i i'm I'm excited for Twisters.
Excitement for Sequel: Twisters
00:55:40
Speaker
ah and Obviously, none neither of us have seen it yet because we recorded this before it comes ah who comes out. But ah yeah, hopefully we'll be able to see it soon. And and hopefully hopefully it is like you know lives up to the original, or even like half as good as the original. Yeah, as long as I think that they do the cow, like some sort of nod to that. Yeah, that's it's like one of the most iconic things with Twister. Like now another cow, same cow, like just yeah just have something like that or have another breakfast scene, have another or the like the that steak and eggs and potato scene. Holy cow. That has influenced a lot of people to get messy diner food.
00:56:24
Speaker
Mm hmm. And also just like a great like when the great example is just like, like, yeah, like the the main crew just having like great, like if you lived in, like it feels like they've been like, you know, like they've been together for like years.
00:56:40
Speaker
Yeah, like, now yeah, yeah, they have all these like stories about like what happened in the past and history and in jokes and stuff like that. So all the all of that guys, the crew, like their crews is like that guys.
00:57:00
Speaker
But yes, so that they'll do it for this week for Twister. um So definitely, if you've been watching a while, head over to Macs, check it out. It's ah it's streaming on Macs right now. And then ah go check out Twisters. And we'll be back next week with ah ah ah tied to another big movie that's coming out next week, Deadpool Wolverine. We're about X-Men Origins Wolverine. The first time those two met up in a movie, and it was pride yeah kind definitely not as good as what Deadpool Wolverine is going to be. So we'll dig into all the wonky nonsense of X-Men Origins Wolverine next week. And also next week, we're going to have our
00:57:48
Speaker
ah monthly commentary, it's going to be Superman for the quest for peace, um, which, uh, continuing like a double dose of horrible superhero movies next week. If you're just in time for comic con.
00:58:06
Speaker
follow and Also following up our, our horrible superhero commentary from last month, uh, madam web. So but ah we're in a role of terrible superhero movies.
00:58:18
Speaker
So yeah, that's that's all next week. And we're such a call of our stuff, other yeah other stuff out. We got news, reviews, trailers, all this kind of stuff. I mean, definitely come back next week for it's Comic-Con. So like we'll definitely be posting like any big shows that come out or any big news that comes out next week. So take the site for that too. And Chris, chris you'll be at Comic-Con, right? So maybe. I mean, it's in your Comic-Con. What are you talking about? Maybe checker check out our social medias for potential you know stuff on the floor. If I get to it, because it's. yeah It's gonna be crazy. Yeah, it me it's gonna be nuts, but yeah. Yeah, so head over, check all the stuff out, ah the site, and all sorts of media. And yeah, so for Chris, I am Zach, and we will see you next week. For more from Everything Action, head to www.everythingaction.com.
00:59:08
Speaker
You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash everything.action and follow us on X at Evieaction. We're also on Instagram and threads at everything.action. Find more episodes of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast epic choice and be sure to rate and subscribe.