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162 - The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) w/ J.P. Leck (Straight Up 001)
73 Plays11 months ago
"Captain, they’re playing your song…”
This week, we’re doing something a little different - it’s a brand new podcast-within-a-podcast! It’s called Straight Up! and it’s an opportunity for Tucker to share the films he loves with the people he loves… so he’s brought in his old buddy J.P. Leck of the Endless Elsewhere to talk about this Ozploitation superhero musical! We’re straight up talking about this movie’s cast (including a deep dive on the oeuvre of star Alan Arkin), the musical numbers, and Christian Bale’s accent!
Find the great J.P. Leck and his work in the following places:
- Check out all things related to The Endless Elsewhere (from films to writings to merch) on Joseph’s main website: https://endlesselsewhere.com
- @endlesselsewhere on Instagram
- @elsewhereworld on Twitter X
- @jpleck on Bluesky
- Check out Joseph’s first feature-length film - Circle City Supernatural - on Amazon Prime or on BluRay! (And watch out for some performances from ya bois!)
Wanna follow us on social media? Name Your Poison:
- @Disenfranchpod on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd, and YouTube
- Email us your thoughts or requests to [email protected]
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky, Instagram, and Letterboxd
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Instagram and Letterboxd or @suswarlock on Bluesky
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram
- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including our weekly What Are We Watching? show: https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
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Transcript
Opening Confusion and Disagreement
00:00:07
Speaker
What's wrong with you, man? Get the other record. Damn.
Introduction to 'Disenfranchised Podcast'
00:00:55
Speaker
Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Welcome to the disenfranchised podcast where that podcast all about those franchises have won those films that fancy themselves full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
Episode Dynamics and Special Films
00:01:12
Speaker
I am your host, Tucker. And this week we're doing something a little different every fifth Thursday of the year. I have been allowed to pick the movie.
00:01:25
Speaker
No matter what it is, it doesn't have to fit the format. Even though this week it does, it is still the disenfranchised podcast, but we are subtitling it straight up because outside of like, it's the thing I say the most.
00:01:45
Speaker
Straight up. With me, as always, is my co-host Steven, and I forgot to think of something clever to say before I said his name. How's it going, Steven? It's going well, Tucker. Thank you for letting me be on this podcast.
00:02:03
Speaker
No problem. You know, I'm glad that I allowed you to be on it, actually. I thought about not letting you be on it. Certainly that way and not the other way around. Absolutely. No, no. I feel really blessed by your presence here today. Unfortunately, Brett could not be with us because he's drunkenly shadowboxing on some cliff in Australia. Hopefully he does not fall.
Special Guest Introduction: JP Lech
00:02:31
Speaker
Uh, we have a very special guest with us today. Uh, my good friend of many years and friend of the podcast, Mr. JP lek. How's it going? Hello. Hello, gentlemen. It's great to be back. It's always good to have you. Thank you so much. It's great to be here. Let's talk about this movie that I'm currently watching as we're recording. I am an hour and 11 minutes in, so buy me about 20 minutes. Right. What is that for you? No problem.
00:03:00
Speaker
What is the film this week?
Discussion on 'The Return of Captain Invincible'
00:03:02
Speaker
I wonder if you'd tell us, I wonder. Oh, I will tell you that the film is the return of Captain Invincible. That's right. 1982 is the return of Captain Invincible. There it is. 83. It says 82 on my Blu-ray. Wikipedia and IMDB both said 1983. Color 1982.
00:03:27
Speaker
I trust the porn distributors over that, so. Okay. I don't know what to tell you. You know, they've got their heads on straight. They know what they're doing, man. They got a business plan. The number says 1984, so. I mean, who are you going to believe? I mean, the Internet has not steered me wrong. That's not true. The Internet steers me wrong all the time. That's why I can hold this in my hand and it says 1982. So I'm going to I'm going to believe it. I'm believing it.
00:03:58
Speaker
Uh, so yeah, we're talking about the return of captain invincible starring, uh, who's in this, who's in this piece of shit. Uh, we've got, uh, your boy, Alan Arkin, um, Christopher Lee, who is wonderful. Christopher Lee. I'm sorry. I forgot to say the great Christopher Lee. This is why I don't host normally. Um,
00:04:21
Speaker
Kate Fitzpatrick, Bill Hunter, David, what's this, Argue is his name? David Argue, Michael Pate as the president, all these people I am not familiar with at all. They're all like- It's for Alan Arkin. Right, and Chris Forley. Yeah, with the exception of those two, the entire rest of the cast are Australian actors.
00:04:43
Speaker
Except for the guy who plays the French guy, Mr. Midnight's French butler guy. He's a British man playing a French man in an Australian film.
00:05:01
Speaker
This is also this film is also one of the early film roles of the great Bruce Spence as well. So that's I think worth pointing out. Who's that? I don't know who that is. Oh, my God. This guy has so many franchise credits. He is in the Mad Max franchise. He is in the Lord of the Rings franchise. He is in the Star Wars franchise. He's in the Children of the Corn franchise. He's in Dark City. He's in one of the Chronicles of Narnia.
00:05:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. Just like an absolutely prolific Australian singer. That's right. He's the coachman or whatever. Yes, the train guy. The train guy, yeah. I didn't recognize him in this film. That's crazy because he's got a very unique face. You'd think I would have...
00:05:45
Speaker
Who was this? I don't remember. I would have thought of him. He was Midnight's doctor, is the role he's credited as in this film. I did not catch him either. So I kind of want to rewatch this just to see. He's also one of the sharks in Finding Nemo also. So he's just this. Like I said, this man is prolific.
00:06:08
Speaker
I also love in the credits here, there are so many people who played themselves through archive footage. One being Mr. Adolf Hitler, Joseph McCarthy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Kate Smith.
00:06:29
Speaker
I really enjoyed the McCarthy stuff. I thought that was fun. That was my favorite one. Yeah. Checking out Adolph Hitler on IMDB. And don't go down that rabbit hole too far. You do. The more I learn about this guy, the less I like.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, kind of an asshole. I don't think this Hitler guy is a good person. I don't know. To steal a joke from the great Norm McDonald. To quote Mr. Mushnick in The Little Shop of Horrors, I'm starting to think he's not such a nice boy. They make a very similar joke in the play Arsenic and Old Lace as well. I think this Mr. Hitler is not a Christian is what they say about him there.
00:07:10
Speaker
Always nice when it happens. Good. That's right. So, oh, I didn't say the thing. Wait, let me say it. Are you guys ready? What a cast, gentlemen. Dare I say. What a picture. Nicely done. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think it's quite a picture. I'm a big fan of this movie.
Film Preferences and Sharing
00:07:39
Speaker
I think it's suffice to say that any film that we cover in this slot is going to be one that you just are unequivocally a fan of. That's true. That is true. This, as I said before, this is kind of my kind of my soapbox, because we would even get tired of me nagging him to watch certain movies. And look, my intentions are pure. I just want to share the things I love with the people that I love.
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, I'm getting texts every day. Like, why isn't blank on the schedule yet? And me thinking if we front load all of these, it's just going to be like we're just not going to get a list. We're just not going to have listeners for a month and a half. I like movies that people like.
00:08:27
Speaker
But you know, I have to schedule them and I've got like 20 other things on the schedule that I have to fit in with new releases and guests that want to be on the podcast and things like that. So it and of course you have no sympathy whatsoever for what it takes to schedule this damn thing. So I just
00:08:44
Speaker
And by way of compromise, I said, look, you know how there are fifth Thursdays, four times a year? Those are your days. That's when I'm scheduling the stuff you want me to put in. So that's kind of been unofficially how we've been doing it for most of this year. Uh, and then we're just making it official this month. So, well, and initially I wanted to do it as like a, a Patreon show where I just kind of have my own show, but we are notoriously bad.
Podcast Scheduling Challenges
00:09:13
Speaker
at committing to Patreon content, which is another reason why, like I said before, I had to save the Patreon and invent what are we watching.
00:09:23
Speaker
Well, it's I mean, it's not like all four of us are just in or the three of us rather are are just, you know, free all the time to record whatever we want whenever we want, particularly when it's summertime when you're like barely available and then Brett's barely available. And I was the only one keeping regular hours for, you know, those several months. So it was just, you know, we just needed to find the time to record. Now, your schedule is a little lighter, but Brett's is still crazy. Mine's freer than ever.
00:09:51
Speaker
So you got all the time in the world. I hate that. So, yeah. But so, I mean, scheduling this thing is kind of an nightmare, which is why we usually end up recording these the Sunday before they come out. That's true. Or the Monday or Tuesday before they come out. There's a few times where we've been ahead or you just do them live a couple of times that evening, right?
00:10:14
Speaker
I mean, we could. There have been a couple times this year when we've been ahead of the game, but we usually shoot ourselves in the foot by just deciding to take a week off. We had a whole month where we just did archived episodes for an entire month, and we did not record a damn thing that entire month. We could have gotten so far ahead of ourselves, and we decided to squander all of that. Yeah, there was only one person working that month.
00:10:41
Speaker
You guys need your time off, right? It's me, you guys. I guess. I do think that
Film Selection and Discoveries
00:10:48
Speaker
we should. You know, are we taking a break at the beginning of the year? Um, I we can talk about it off, Mike. Oh, man, I forgot this was the main feed. Yeah. Well, it was so loosey goosey there with me being host. I just figured, you know, I run a tight ship. What can I say?
00:11:07
Speaker
It's true, you do. Now that I've pretended to be host for a while, go ahead and guide us, Steven. Guide us like you do to ask me what my history with this movie is. Ask me. Make it about 10 minutes worth. I'm almost done with the movie. It's almost there. Well, here's the thing. I'm going to ask Tucker a question and he'll just go off for 10 minutes. That's true.
00:11:30
Speaker
Uh, so apparently I'm host now again when it's convenient for you. So Tucker, what's your history with this movie? I just kind of, I just kind of assumed at this point you would have taken back over. No, dude, this is your, this is your show, man. I am, I'm, I serve, I serve as a pleasure of Tucker this week. Are you guys fighting? Should I go?
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah, you do hate it when mom and dad fight. That's something I love about you is that you can tell you can tell when it's time to I have some friends we're all getting a fight like with another friend. They'll just sit there like on their phone and I'm like, I'm trying to have an argument like leave.
00:12:07
Speaker
No, this is actually not a fight at all. Oh, I know. I know. I tease. This is just me being obstinate. Really is what it is. Well, and you guys don't have any history with this film outside of you watched it for this podcast. Correct. Yeah. You said, hey, this is I remember when you brought this up probably a month or two ago on what are we watching? You're like, this is something we're going to cover. And I was like, all right, when's the next fifth? I think actually, I think it was when the last time that Joseph was on.
00:12:37
Speaker
Um, when we did that, uh, and you're just like, this is, and he's like, you know, Joseph, you're coming back for it. Joseph's like, yeah, okay. So really you kind of, you kind of dug your own grave on this one, Joseph. I had to agree and had to be nice about it. Well, here, here's something I always, I always try to share, like I say, the movies and other entertainment that I enjoy with my friends, because whether they like, end up liking it or not.
00:13:06
Speaker
Like, I don't know.
Alan Arkin's Role and Film Insights
00:13:08
Speaker
I feel like that's kind of like a part of like they they get me. So even if they don't like the media that I've suggested to them, they can be like, oh, yeah, I can see.
00:13:19
Speaker
I can see my boy in here. I get why he's way into this. And I'm sure that's how it'll be with me when it's my turn to bring movies to you guys. You may not like them all, but you'll see why I like them. So yeah, I see where you're coming from. And I think that's important. And I encourage my friends. There's a lot of stuff. Jimmy and I, last week's guest, our good friend Evan Tuey, AKA Jimmy, we do something that's called an album swap.
00:13:45
Speaker
And this is just really our excuse to make sure that we, you know, stay good buddies and stuff by talking to each other often is we will schedule a time and I will give him a record to listen to that he's never listened to, not physically give it to him, but like assign it to him. And he'll do the same for me and we will listen to them. And then when we are done, we talk to each other on the phone about both of those records.
00:14:10
Speaker
And it's it's a lot of fun because we're both dudes who like to be exposed to new music, even if it's not of a genre that's like specifically in our wheelhouse. And there have been.
00:14:26
Speaker
There have been some things that I've listened to that he sent me that I have not really liked and vice versa, but it's still fun. I've listened to it and like, I don't know if he brings it up, I know what he's talking about. And that's the same with these films and stuff that I suggest to you guys. It's like, I hope that you'll like it. I'm never going to suggest something that I know that you will not like.
00:14:51
Speaker
I will suggest something to him like I don't I don't really know if they'll like this or not but never if I see something I'm like yeah Joe's not gonna fucking like this like I would never suggest that to you I will say that I am glad to have seen this movie even though I didn't love it didn't hate it didn't love it glad to have seen it
00:15:18
Speaker
it's uh it's something else and it is at least that yes uh just briefly i discovered this because i was watching a youtube video i don't remember which youtuber it was one of the youtubers i watched that just watches like the weirdest and the worst films
00:15:42
Speaker
and talks about them. And this person briefly mentioned this film, maybe did like 30 seconds on this. And I was like, what? Alan Arkin, number one, Alan Arkin. I've been in love with that man since The Rocketeer. And- Yeah, Peavey. Yeah, dude. Your boy Peavey. One of my faves, and I love
00:16:08
Speaker
In this movie, it's so great because he does his best. But there are so many moments where it's just a look on his face. It's just like, what the fuck? Mm hmm. Like on Alan Arkin's face as he's acting, he's just like, my question was going to be whether whether any either one of you did any research and whether he like was coerced into this film or signed on and then
00:16:31
Speaker
because he, like you said, there are times where he really doesn't look like he wants to be there. He was not the original choice for Captain Invincible. Okay, so you did do the research. I did a peripheral amount of research on this. Help me, because I'm dying to know, please. So the original actor that was cast in the role was James Coburn.
00:16:59
Speaker
James Coburn was the original choice, the Magnificent Seven's own James Coburn, a Future Academy Award winner for Affliction, James Coburn.
00:17:09
Speaker
as opposed to future Academy Award winner for Little Miss Sunshine, Alan Arkin. But he was the original choice and he and Philippe Mora, the director of the film, had known one another and had wanted to work on a project together. And so he was cast in this film and got the script and could not for the life of him understand the point of the vacuum scene. That makes two of us.
00:17:40
Speaker
And Morat like explains it to him is like, this is what this is. This is why this is in the movie. I don't know what that explanation was, but suffice it to say, Coburn didn't get it.
Musical Aspects of the Film
00:17:51
Speaker
And so he's like, you know what, I'm out. Hit me on the next one. And so they did. And then Alan Arkin, I guess, was the second choice.
00:18:03
Speaker
Hmm. Now, I don't I don't think to me he doesn't look like he doesn't want to be there. The look that I see on his face every once in a while when he breaks character just a little bit is a look of like, are you seeing this shit? Did you see that? She did this ridiculous.
00:18:23
Speaker
Like it's kind of smiling and kind of looking confused. Oh, sometimes. Sometimes he really does. He brings this movie. Like sometimes I legitimately don't think he knows why he's in this movie. That's what I keep getting. OK, I'm to the credits. I have officially finished the movie. Now we can talk about it. Nice. Nice. I told you there's fireworks. They're flying through the city. She's sitting on his back. Yeah, I'm glad you finally rewatch Washington.
00:18:49
Speaker
You know, let's let's not let's make sure everyone knows that you did watch this last week. I did. I watched it last week. But my I've got the memory of a goldfish. So I really wanted to try to brush up on it. So as we were recording the Patreon thing before this, I was rewatching the film to try to, you know, brush up on it. And I feel brushed up. You look brushed. Thank you.
00:19:12
Speaker
Thank you. Very well thought. Well done. All right, go on. Had you finished your thing, Justin? I'm sure. Well, I was saying, in any way, I watched it on 2B. It was on 2B. And halfway through, I went and found the Blu-ray and purchased it. And boy am I glad I did. Because not only does it, it's three discs.
00:19:41
Speaker
The first disc is the theatrical cut, which is what we all watched. And it has interviews with the gal that played the gal. And it has an interview with the Englishman playing a Frenchman in an Australian movie. It has an interview with the cinematographer. And somebody else, I don't remember, it's right here in front of me. I just wanted to do it by memory. Producer, producer Andrew Gady.
00:20:08
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, cinematographer. Also one of the credits, credited screenwriters on the film. There's a really good clip from German TV where Christopher Lee, um, performs name, your poison. Hmm.
Film and Actor Tangents
00:20:21
Speaker
It's really, really good. And he's actually on time. A song that I'm kind of surprised that TikTok has not discovered and attempted to like. Just wait. It'll happen. Now that I've got wind of this, it's going to explode. Is that how that works?
00:20:38
Speaker
Yes. Yes, it is. I don't know why, but yes, it is. I will say I. While I didn't love this movie, any time they cut back to Christopher Lee, I was all in. Yeah, I think I feel like him above everybody else like knew what movie he was in being Christopher Lee. Right. Yeah.
00:21:00
Speaker
And yeah, I adored his parts. His parts were great. He is one of those actors. And we honestly, this feels like kind of this feels like a pattern in in some of the movies that Tucker has suggested to us, like the guys playing the villains tend to know what movie they're in better than anyone else in the cast. And their performances are like perfectly pitched. Like I'm thinking specifically of Malcolm McDowell and Tank Girl.
00:21:28
Speaker
John Lithgow in Buckaroo Bonsai? Correct. That's a good one. I think in Buckaroo Bonsai, Peter Weller knows pretty well what movie he's into. I think it's more than just Lithgow, but Lithgow in particular knows what movie he's in. And of course, in Pudding, the great Robert Vaughn.
00:21:47
Speaker
Well, let's be honest, I don't think Robert Vaughn knows what movie he's in. I legitimately don't think he has any idea what movie he's in. Oh, it's got Truckee, Bad Biddy and Reggie, the great Reggie, Kathy knows exactly what movie he's in. Dirty Deep. And I do love Reggie, Kathy. R.I.P.
00:22:11
Speaker
R.I.P. to a real legend, Reggie Cathy. But I mean, Christopher Lee is he's one of those that even when he's in direct and for the man to have done as many movies as he has, he has done a lot of direct. But he is he tends to know exactly what movie he's in. He is also in one of my all time favorite movies that I've invoked on this podcast a number of times. Gremlins to the new batch. Yeah, he sure is.
00:22:40
Speaker
The movie that, when he was in that movie, he apologized to Joe Dante for being in Howling 2. I recently watched The Howling 2 for the first time. I've never seen it. I don't know if I ever will. Directed by the same director who directed this, Philippe Mora.
00:22:59
Speaker
I think he did howling two and three, actually. I do not know that that blows my mind right out of the water. Yeah, he did. He did both howling two and three. Yeah. Oh, that's hilarious. And then a couple of years later, directs Richard the third. So, you know, you do like progression. Absolutely. Absolutely. Wow. But yeah.
00:23:24
Speaker
um, Philippe Mora, a French born director who moved to Australia at a very young age. Uh, and so grew up in, uh, Melbourne, Australia. And, um, yeah, just started making movies in the, I want to say, oh, in the sixties, he started his directing career in the late sixties, early seventies. He is.
00:23:48
Speaker
and kind of caught the wave of the ossploitation movement that was kind of picking up in the 70s and 80s. Maybe this is finally my introduction to that genre.
00:24:01
Speaker
I was, I mean, I was raised, born and raised a Mad Max boy myself. So Mad Max has always been my- Only the first one though. Only the first one. And even that one, it's kind of borderline. I watched Beyond Thunderdome. Beyond Thunderdome was, I think, either my dad's favorite or the one that was on TV most often. Oh, it's the latter for sure. It was on like every other Saturday. Can't we just get Beyond Thunderdome, you guys?
00:24:29
Speaker
I don't think we can ever get beyond Thunderdome, Tucker. Yeah, but. I mean, maybe if you take the Fury Road, you can get there, but it's going to there's I feel like there's a road where you're blocking the path. So I don't know. Med Max. Well done. Well done. Good job.
00:24:48
Speaker
But I mean, so that was my that was my introduction to Ozploitation for sure was was the work of George Miller. But then like Peter Weir does like the cars that ate Paris. Like there's there's a ton. There's some I've heard of a lot of them I've heard of. But for some reason, I've just never explored that. And you think that I mean, that's right up my alley.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, really. It feels like it would be. Absolutely. There are some in here that could probably be future episodes of this podcast. I'm going to dig into some Ozploitation stuff and see if we can maybe schedule an Ozploitation month sometime. I think that would be a lot of fun. Mabes.
00:25:27
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, I mean, just kind of a, a prolific, um, there's a prolific film industry that was at work in Australia starting in the early seventies in 1970. And what kind of continues continues to build there. Um, so yeah. This, the cars that ate Paris is looking really interesting.
00:25:52
Speaker
That's Peter Weir, man. That's the guy who gave us, like, Gallipoli. Oh, I'm aware of him. I just never heard of this movie. Yeah, man. It's, again, fucking wild that he, you know what? Peter Weir also gave us one of my favorite movies we've ever covered on this podcast. Master and Commander the Far Side of the World. Oh, that's a boat movie. I don't want to see that. Dude, if fucking rules, you are you are missing out if you are reducing that to a boat movie.
00:26:22
Speaker
I don't like movies they're boring Master Commander not boring man Master Commander fucking rules and look I didn't brides watching rising I didn't watch it for the longest time for the same reason but it's it's so much better he's even doesn't vote movies either Justin you remember going to see a deep rising at uh was it the Eastgate cinema I
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah, dude 30 each episode of this podcast deep rising. I remember you and I enjoyed it very much. Yes, we did. It's still it holds up. I still have a good time with it. Oh, yeah. This is totally off topic. You can cut this out, but I rewatched way at the gun here a couple weeks ago. Do you recall you, me and Molly going to see that also like 30 years ago, the Christopher McQuarrie movie?
00:27:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's such a good movie. I think it's better now, actually, because the things the things that kind of confuse me and put me off to it as a younger person, even though I still loved it, I understand those choice, those filmmaking choices now. Is there some kind of weird filmmaking choices in that movie? Sure.
00:27:35
Speaker
some weird transition, some weird like performance direction. Not bad. The shot composition is amazing though. Which I did not appreciate as a young man. I appreciated the crap out of it this time around. It was gorgeous. I loved it. I just I really love how like kind of narcissistic the whole thing is.
00:27:55
Speaker
I love the, the two main characters. Like nobody gives a shit about anything in that movie. Everybody's just out to get theirs. And it's depressing, but it's also awesome. And Ryan Phillippe is great. And beneath sale, don't, holy crap. When he, when he's in that, they get the, the tape of the ultrasound. He goes to the gas station. He puts it in, he lights two cigarettes, gives one to the lady and he's like,
00:28:25
Speaker
He's just everything he does in that movie is pure fucking gold. It's the kind of character you would want to copy. You would want to be that person in real life. Just his mannerisms and everything. It's so good. Absolutely. Yes. And the gunfight at the end. It's amazing. It's amazing. So good. They tried to somebody watched that and thought they'd do it again in a little movie called Two Guns. And even though I liked that movie a lot more than most people, they did not pull it off as well.
00:28:54
Speaker
Yeah, so anyway, sorry about that. That out diverted us from Captain Invincible. No, thank you, though, because I always forget about way of the gun. And sometimes I think about it. I'm like, Yeah, good movie. Good movie. It's really, really good. So good. I've forgotten classic.
00:29:14
Speaker
What do they call those? Hidden gyms. It's a hidden gym. Hidden gym. We might do it on a fifth Thursday sometimes. If we do all, you know, you're invited for sure. Oh, okay. Great. Yeah. I will commit on air right now as I always do. Great soundtrack too. And you got James Kahn in there and you've got... Scott Wilson's in there.
00:29:41
Speaker
Dude Diggs is in there. Nicky Catt is in there as one of the henchmen. Yeah, he's always great. Oh, Way of the Gun. You know what? I love this movie, but let's talk about Way of the Gun instead. We'll talk about Way of the Gun next week. Yeah, you guys into that? I've never seen Way of the Gun, so I'll go ahead and bow out and come back. Have you really, you haven't seen it? I've never seen it, no. You should check it out. Jeffrey Lewis in that movie as well, Juliette Lewis.
00:30:10
Speaker
Yeah dude, Sarah Silverman. Briefly. So the first five minutes of this movie, Steven, it's a trailer. It's giving you a chance. This movie's giving you a chance to be like, okay, this is my kind of movie or it's not. It's giving you an out, basically. It pretty much has a cold open and it just sets the entire, it has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. It just sets the tone. And if you like that, you're gonna have a good time. If you don't like that, abort.
00:30:39
Speaker
fucking abort. Fair enough. And Sarah Silverman is in that part. And Ryan Phillippe says he's going to fuck start her head. If you don't shut that cunt's mouth, I'm going to come up there and fuck start her head. That's what he says. Oh, that sounds awful. Let him be surprised. No, it's- She is a mouthy broad in that movie, though. I'll tell you what. You guys see it, it's great. It's wonderful.
00:31:06
Speaker
to me, you're not doing a great job of selling me right now. I always loved the just like in the middle of the movie for no reason. There's a Star Wars pan down, like from the stars. And I remember the exact scene that goes with it too. It's I mean, that's that's pretty much the the pan down is pretty much JP Lex favorite type of establishing course being honest.
00:31:30
Speaker
Or, or, or the pan up. That's true. A little too much coffee and he's like, Oh shit, do you do a pan up? You don't have a dolly or a jib. You got to find ways to be creative. You just pan. There's always so much, so much a tripod can do.
00:31:53
Speaker
Anyway, Captain Invincible, I apologize. Yeah, so the way of the gun is directed by- Joseph, here's the thing. You've listened to this podcast. You know this is what we do. You've been friends with Tucker and I for years. You know this is who we are.
00:32:08
Speaker
But now I'm on this episode and I don't want to be here for four hours. So we got to get back to Captain Invincible. Oh, man, you, you started it. Now you got to sit in it, sit in it and you gotta live with that. Fair. That's fair. That and the green bean casserole. One more time before we get back to return to Captain Invincible, let me just say, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, the weight of the gun is real, real good. And you should watch it.
00:32:34
Speaker
I recommend this to everyone because like I said, you get a chance. They give you a trailer at the beginning of the movie. So if you don't like that, just turn it off. No big deal. No time wasted. Fair enough. Oh, good old Chris McQuarrie. That's our boy. Fair enough. Yeah. So there you go. So how about that? How about that plot, you guys? Hey, hey, are you going to do the plot? Are you agreeing to that? Oh, no, we talked about earlier and I just forgot what you said.
00:33:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I can. I can do it. OK, good. As always, I'm going to cheat because I wrote a bunch of stuff down. But if you guys don't mind me cheating, I'm happy. That's that has always been allowed. Yeah, that's always allowed. For those of you just joining us for this episode of Boy, how does this work? People just turn in the middle of it. Like, hold on. No, I mean, if this is what I'm trying to say is if this is the first time you've listened to the disenfranchised podcast,
Film Plot Summary
00:33:28
Speaker
What a strange place to start. Agreed. 100% agreed. Something that we do on this podcast is called The Plot in 60 Seconds. I believe Steven stole it from a different podcast. I did. But we have claimed it as our own. And usually at the behest of the Canadian quarter of indifference or on the rare occasions that Brett joins us, we do the die of destiny.
00:33:52
Speaker
D6 of destiny. D6 of destiny. Yeah. We used to have a coin of justice that somebody, somebody spent a little bit of money on to get and Steven lost it. I moved. It's not lost. It's just still packed somewhere. Look, dude, you moved like a year ago.
00:34:09
Speaker
I know. I'm getting ready to move again. It's what I'm saying though. Oh, that's why you kept it all in boxes. Okay, I got you. No big one. Smart. Anyway, this is the part of the show where we recite the plot of the film we're talking about in 60 seconds or less, or your podcast is free. Free.
00:34:27
Speaker
So, uh, somebody's going to put 60 seconds on the clock. Hopefully it's not me. I guess. I mean, that's something the host does, but sure. I'll do it. Sweet. Thank you. Co-host. Um, and whenever you're ready, Steven, you ready with your 60 seconds? I've got the 60 seconds on the clock. Joseph, I'll start it whenever you do. Okay. I may go over 60 with this one. I have a lot written down for a movie that didn't love. Um, all right. I will start in three, two, one.
00:34:54
Speaker
Captain Invincible is an alien-sired American superhero who fights evil both domestically and abroad. That is, until he meets a foe greater than even Adolf Hitler, Joe McCarthy. After being blacklisted, the Captain retires to Australia and sadly turns to the drink. He is discovered ages later by police person Patty, who convinces him that the world needs the Captain once more.
00:35:14
Speaker
But the captain must crawl out of the bottle and relearn his powers in order to accomplish his latest mission to retrieve a stolen hypno ray that's now in the possession of a criminal mastermind, Mr. Midnight. Oh, did I mention this thing is a musical sometimes? Anyway, anyway, anyway, anyway, midnight uses the hypno ray to mesmerize people and moving from the urban decay of NYC to the suburbs, which is apparently all part of some greater scheme to conquer the world.
00:35:37
Speaker
So invincible with Patti and Toe heads home where they track down Midnight in his secret lair. After defeating henchmen and surviving traps, Midnight presents Invincible with his greatest challenge yet, booze. But the captain resists and through the awesome power of sobriety vanquishes Midnight, ensuring democracy and not tyranny will rule the day. God bless America. Perfect. Oh, perfectly done. Beautiful.
00:36:03
Speaker
I stumbled in there, but thank you. The villainous plot is like, it's a combination of Lex Luthor's plot. It is if Donald Trump decided to enact Lex Luthor's plot.
00:36:19
Speaker
from the first Superman movie. He's moving all of the non-white people into the suburbs. Which back then included Italians and Polish people. Did you see the Polish joke where like when the alarms are going off and they're about to bomb them and everything? There's four Polish people all screwing in one light bulb.
00:36:49
Speaker
I think I missed that one. I think I did. It's quick. It's so quick because it's just like a quick shot of them. And it's like them reacting like, huh, because they hear the bombs or whatever. But it's like there's four of them and they're screwing a life. I just this is my fourth time seeing it. I just noticed it this time. OK. And I had to pause the movie because I had to stop and laugh for like 10 minutes.
00:37:12
Speaker
But yeah, so he's moving all of the all of the, let's say ethnic people onto out to the suburbs, which in this case are right along the border. And then he's going to create a earthquake that will break those pieces off and float them out into the ocean, which is similar to what Lex Luthor was going to do with the state of California in the Superman movie. So, yeah, it's like if Donald Trump was Lex Luthor is really what it is.
00:37:41
Speaker
played by Christopher Lee. Played by Christopher Lee, who is 10 times more charismatic than both of those guys. I don't know, Gene Hackman in Superman is pretty damn charismatic. Yeah. That is true. That is true. Yeah. But yeah, that is the weird plot, like, because it gets really racial, weirdly racial there at the end, and you're like, wait, what? What am I watching? Like, it just kind of pivoted there, and I was just flummoxed for that moment.
00:38:11
Speaker
As was I, but maybe it's like, because it's an Australian production, maybe it's them trying to do American culture. And that's why it seems so weirdly done.
Racial Themes and Cultural Representation
00:38:22
Speaker
I don't know. That might be it. That might be why it's so like unhinged and doesn't seem to fit very well.
00:38:30
Speaker
Yeah. It was mostly, it was all like an Australian movie, right? Yeah. Okay. Maybe that was it. That's my theory. Yeah. You've got just those few actors that are not Australian. Everyone else is Australian. They submitted it for the tax breaks to the Australian government and they're like, no, not Australian. And they're like, what the hell? So they had to resubmit it in order and one on appeal.
00:38:52
Speaker
But yeah, the Australian government wasn't going to give them the tax breaks for filming in Australia. I'm like, what the hell? Just because we've gotten American and a Brit as our as our two leads, you're not going to give us this. Everyone else is Australian. So yeah.
00:39:07
Speaker
And now there's like you've got to have, I think when they do those films in Australia and in New Zealand, you have to have a percentage of both on screen and off screen talent that is it's a predetermined percentage, but that that is from that country of origin. So, boy, Baz Luhrmann beat the system there then with that Australia movie, eh? Because like there they I mean, are they American stars? Yeah. But where are both of those motherfuckers from? Correct.
00:39:37
Speaker
Throw Hugh Jackman in there and like. He Jackman made that joke with the Oscars, like the Academy loves diversity and he like points out a few of the, you know, he's like, whereas I am Australian playing an Australian in a movie called Australia, I'm hosting. So, yeah.
00:39:56
Speaker
You know what I love? I don't know why I just thought of this, but did you guys ever notice that in some interviews again, don't know why I just thought of this has nothing to do with anything that Christian Bale speaks in an American accent and interviews sometimes? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Because he doesn't want his accent to be the thing that distracts people. I know he did it all through Batman. I think it's if he's in a movie where he adopts that accent, he will basically do the American accent in the interview just to like keep people from being like, well, I didn't know we talked about that. That was weird.
00:40:27
Speaker
So what you're saying is there is an idea of a Christian Bale. Correct. Oh, OK. Just making sure. Because I remember someone asked him about that, because I think it was during one of the Batman press tours, someone was like, wait, aren't you British? And he was like, well, yeah, but I'll blow my mind, mate. But this is how I'm going to talk. Is he well? Deal with it. I think he's well. He is well. Yes. Yeah.
00:40:53
Speaker
So yeah, buddy. Well, I am, mate. I mean, he's been he's been playing American character since he was a kid. Yo, you know what I realized the other day that he's the kid newsies.
00:41:07
Speaker
in Uzi's? Is he the kid in Uzi's? That's the first thing I ever saw him. And that's like what I knew him from when I saw American Psycho. I was like, hey, it's the kids from Newsy's. Long before I knew who Christian Bale was. And then the next year, he's in a movie called Swing Kids about, you know, a couple of kids who beat Nazism with the power of swing dancing.
00:41:26
Speaker
Yo, have you guys seen that? I have. It's kind of fucked up, and I love it. It's kind of fucked up. My sister was obsessed with that movie when I was a kid. A buddy of mine was a big fan of Swing Kids. Yeah, it is. No doubt. It absolutely is. Really? Really? I recommend it for anybody who hasn't seen it, for sure. And then the year after that, he played Lori in Little Women, and then the year after that, he was the voice of a character in Disney's Pocahontas.
00:41:51
Speaker
Didn't know that either. Yeah. And then he was, um, the moving castle guy. What's that guy's name? Howl. Yeah. He was Howl in Howl's moving castle. And he's also the villain in the John Singleton shaft movie future episode of this podcast. Yeah, he sure is. I can't wait to watch all those shaft movies. I have the criterion 4k of shaft.
00:42:14
Speaker
Do you remember my poster joke when I was younger, Joseph? I had the poster to the Samuel L. Jackson shaft and then I had the poster to the Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams film, Dick. I was placed next to each other. Yeah, that was for the implication. That was a great joke.
00:42:35
Speaker
That's a good job. It's still funny. It's the test of time. It's great that it continues to be great now. As you can tell by the mirth, merriment, and enjoy just oozing from every ounce and corner of his voice. We are friends. We are friends. We are laughing.
00:42:56
Speaker
All right, I'm putting swing kids on my list. Guys, is it weird, dude? Well, why is it why is it messed up? You said it was like because it's about nazis, too. It's about nazi times. So it's got a really.
00:43:10
Speaker
I wasn't sure how seriously they were taking it with the swing dancing. They they take it like a serious like period drama. Oh, yes, very much so. Yeah. OK, OK. But it's good and it's fun and it's full of pretty young people. If you if you have a library card, which I assume you do as an author, it is on it is on the hoopla app. Yes, I love hoopla. There you go. That's where I found one of my most favorite movies, a movie that I'm going to discuss on this podcast someday. What is it? But I shan't say it. I'm not going to say it. You guys keep it.
00:43:40
Speaker
I mean, if you type it in the chat, we will keep it under apps. Type in the chat. Type it in the chat right now. Go ahead. Oh, I can't wait.
00:43:50
Speaker
I don't know. I've never even heard of that. That is, dude. Oh, nobody has. I'm way into that. High fives all around. It's like a $30,000 movie. And it's, oh, it's probably the most inspirational movie. I love it so much. That's that $30,000. That's like five times the budget of Circle City Supernatural. That's amazing. More than five times a show. Oh, OK. OK.
Actor Career Tangents
00:44:14
Speaker
Well, according to IMDB. Right. That's what I was going off of, but yeah.
00:44:20
Speaker
He saved up his lunch money for a year. Sold plasma. You know how we were talking about Christian Bale just because for some reason I thought about it. So he was in that movie, The Machinist, you remember that? Where he lost all that weight. Yeah, and there was another movie that came out around the same time with Adrian Brody called The Jacket.
00:44:44
Speaker
which even though they are in no way plot-wise similar, just visually and tonally, they are very similar and they both came out around the same time. So I always think of one, if I think of one, I think of the other. And I realized the other day that Jennifer Jason Lee is in both of them. Hmm. Fascinating. Yeah, because she was. I remember liking The Jacket quite a bit. Am I remembering it being a very good movie?
00:45:10
Speaker
It is really good. It's really, really, really good. Yeah, when he gets in there and they put him like it's not a morgue, they put him in a cabinet or something. Yeah, something, something. Yeah, I'm going to circle back to that one. I haven't seen that one. And I haven't seen that one since you lent it to me on DVD along with the machinist probably. Yeah, I promised you. It was because I had both of those on DVD when they came out. Sure did.
00:45:40
Speaker
word word so I'm sorry for that invincible and let's let's talk about returning captain invincible because the Christian Bale sidebar I feel bad about it because it did there was no natural transition I was just like hey guys I just randomly thought of this let's talk about really 10 minutes that cool and then we did it and here we are
00:46:01
Speaker
Are you apologizing for a tangent? No, I'm just... You're apologizing for a tangent? I'm just saying, like, I love my tangents, but I also take a lot of pride in making them natural transitions. Like, something from the film will make me think of this. And, I mean, there's always a crumb, a trail of breadcrumbs from the original film. So, do we need, like, seven degrees of Kevin Bacon, Christian Bale, back to... No, we don't. I'm just admitting. I'm just admitting. You could probably do it. You could probably do it.
00:46:31
Speaker
I'm just admitting. Absolutely. Do it that that that's what happened. And first one to figure out the trail wins. Not my proudest moment. I mean, Christopher Lee and Alan Arkin, you could get there. You get there real quick, probably. Right. That's what Christian Bale. Don't make me do this. I'm already doing it. I'm failing spectacularly.
00:46:56
Speaker
I'm not gonna be able to do it just by memory, and I'm not about to go through IMDb, but anyway, yeah, Christian Bale, listener of this podcast, we know you listen, so you're welcome for mentioning you for literally no reason, so free press.
00:47:12
Speaker
You're welcome. For the dozens of people that listen to this podcast every week. Not including the dozens that won't listen and if it's a movie they haven't seen and therefore will probably not listen to this episode. But that's how you find out about good movies. I won't abstain from a podcast if I haven't heard of the movie. That's how you find good movies. That's how movies do this podcast.
00:47:35
Speaker
That's people who do 50 percent 50 percent of why I listened to this podcast initially was one to find movies I haven't seen that, you know, maybe I'd want to look at and two to listen to the episodes about movies that I really like movies. I am very familiar with because I want to hear what other people have to say about them. So it's kind of the best of both worlds.
00:47:59
Speaker
I got it and kind of jump around like that. Oh, he didn't even go. I got it. Christopher Lee is in the two towers. Lord of the Rings, the two towers with one Andy Serkis, who is in the prestige with one Christian Bale. Yeah, dude. Nicely done. Nicely done.
00:48:18
Speaker
High five. There we go. I love the prestige, but I'm struggling to remember who Andy said. Oh, he was going. He was a Tesla's. Yeah, assistant assistant in the prestige. OK. Took me out. I love that movie. It's my favorite one. I think it's a tie between that and Memento as my favorite. No one. But I think it does get up with the procedures out. Yeah, I do love the prestige. Don't get don't get it. That was my favorite.
00:48:43
Speaker
I'd say following is probably my second favorite and then prestige. Hmm. It's up there, but I've got a special little hipster place in my heart for following because I was the guy. I was the guy who had that on VHS before you were followed. You're the guy they follow. No, I'm saying I was the guy following creepily enough.
Film Music Contributions
00:49:04
Speaker
Oh, I was watching following when it came out and nobody knew who like Brick and Ryan Johnson, man, I'm always on top of that shit, always on top of it.
00:49:14
Speaker
That is true. It's not a brag, it's just facts. It's kind of a brag. No, it's a burden, dude. It can be a burden. It's truth he's giving to us in a bragging way, so. He just happens, he's telling the truth, but his chest just happens to be really puffed out when he's doing it. Yes.
00:49:35
Speaker
So Tucker, what is it about this movie in particular that so enamored you that before you'd even seen the conclusion of it, you decided this was something you needed to own and would be added to the canon of your favorite films? Because it's really, really weird and sometimes seemingly nonsensical.
00:49:59
Speaker
but it manages to like make that work for me. It's hard, it's really hard to take what they have in this film and make that something that's not only watchable but enjoyable and entertaining. And I think about 50% of it in this movie is skill and 50% of it is dumb luck because all of the songs in this movie are, they're okay.
00:50:27
Speaker
and none of the people that are singing them are like singers at all, except for Christopher Lee. Right. And most of the time, they're not singing on time, they're barely singing in key, but it fucking, it works because of that. I will say, when Michael Cate starts singing that second song, that bullshit, but the second one, I was like, is this the guy
00:50:53
Speaker
who played Dr. Scott in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Because as soon as he started singing, the only thing I could think of was, from this day, he was born. Oh, he wanted like, all I could think of. When he started singing, I was like, is this the same guy that looked at IP is clearly not. But I was just like that the voices sound and then I was like, did that guy like overdub? Nope, sure didn't.
00:51:17
Speaker
Like you just, they happen to sound damn near identical, but at least to my ear, the guy I'm seeing here that the guy who.
00:51:28
Speaker
Did Rocky Horror Picture Show wrote songs for this movie? Yes. So three of the songs in this movie, the Captain Invincible theme, Evil Midnight and choose your name, your poison. Those three songs were written by Richard O'Brien and I think it's Richard Hartley.
00:51:51
Speaker
who are the guys who did all the music for the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Shock Treatment which came out several years later. So those three songs in particular were written by
00:52:05
Speaker
those. And so that that song wasn't even one of the ones written by O'Brien, but like, the voice sounded close enough. And then I went down that rabbit hole and yeah, discovered that Richard O'Brien did do a few songs for this movie. And I think the best of those might be Name Your Poison.
00:52:23
Speaker
least I thought so. Because it's got like the mountains of wordplay. It's really catchy and fucking Christopher Lee is singing the whole damn thing. So between that, you know, trifecta right there, it may be the best song in the whole movie.
00:52:39
Speaker
Yeah, I like the I like the fun that that song has with names of drinks plays with those like really, really well. I like I like I say most of the songs in this movie are mediocre at best. And but for some reason, the performances of them, though they're not good, they're so weird that it elevates them for me, at least.
00:53:06
Speaker
I know we were talking about how uncomfortable Alan Arkin seems in some scenes. I think the most uncomfortable was when he's on the train singing Evil Midnight. Yes. All these other actors that you can tell are like stage trained and like they've got they've had like movement lessons and stuff because they're like very free with their movements and he's like keeping everything very stilted and like right in here.
00:53:30
Speaker
And most most of the movement he makes this movie are very stilted very measured very like he's not He can tell he's not comfortable with what he's
Alan Arkin's Career Context
00:53:40
Speaker
being asked to do. He's doing it because he's professional but you can tell he doesn't really want to be doing it like there's there's some
00:53:47
Speaker
discomfort there on his part and it feels very evident. It felt very evident in that song and then I started watching out for it. I'm curious if I were to give this a rewatch, which I've not decided I want to do yet. But I'm curious that if I do give this a rewatch, I will notice that from the very beginning.
00:54:05
Speaker
uh i think where was he in his career when he did this i'm very curious i'll try to find it here please do because i'm well you guys are looking that up i want to mention how um the best part of alan arkin's performance is his drunk acting
00:54:23
Speaker
at the beginning of the film. Agreed. Yes, it's hard. It's really hard to pull off drunk when you're not actually drunk. So hard. Very few people can do it convincingly. Some people can do it well. Very few can do it convincingly. And Alan Arkin nails it in this movie.
00:54:39
Speaker
So Arkin's first credited screen credit is from a 1963 short called That's Me. He is the original actor to portray Inspector Clouseau in the 1968 film Inspector Clouseau, which honestly, probably a future episode of this podcast, if I'm being real real honest.
00:55:00
Speaker
He's and he's he's does some films. He's the lead in the 1970 Mike Nichols film Catch-22. Like so he's had that's a really good movie, by the way. Good book, too. But also a really good film. Orson Welles is in Anthony Perkins is in that as well. Yeah. So great cast. He's in the seven percent future episode is podcast, the seven percent solution. Like so he's he's done stuff like he's he's
00:55:28
Speaker
He is a big enough name that you believe him as the lead in this movie, but not so big that his being the lead is going to be a draw. He has a role. He is. He's the other lead in the Peter Falk film, The In-laws, which was remade with Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas some years ago.
00:55:50
Speaker
So, I mean, he's got a lot of that leading up, but yeah, he's in a place where he's big, but not huge. And I don't think this movie really does him a lot of favors because his next credit is a three episode arc on St. Elsewhere. Wait, wasn't he in Wait Until Dark though? With Audrey Hepburn, she's blind. You guys see that movie.
00:56:19
Speaker
Wait until dark. Sure. Well, you know what? When I come to Indy for Christmas, I'm going to leave that DVD at your house. He is in wait until that is the movie he does right before and he does Inspector Cluzo. So wait until dark is an amazing thriller.
00:56:37
Speaker
Audrey Hepburn plays a blind gal and Alan Arkin is the dude what is fucking with her the whole movie. And it is scary as hell. A friend of mine directed this play, but I was not able to see it.
00:56:55
Speaker
Wait until dark, one of the DVDs that I still own that has the cardboard Warner Brothers like click cases. Yeah. I hate those cases. Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly what you're talking about. So after this, he's he kind of a bit of a decline. It's mostly television, TV, movies.
00:57:21
Speaker
He does have some films, but I think his next big role, like he just kind of shows up. I think his next big thing is seven years later in Edward Scissorhands. Then the year after that, he's in The Rocketeer. He is in the 90s. We're very kind to him.
00:57:37
Speaker
Yeah, the 90s. He's back on the upswing because 92 he's one of the like absolutely stacked and stellar cast of the 92 film Glengarry Glen Ross. Yes, I fucking love he's he's so he's in so I married an axe murderer, which might be one of my favorite Mike Myers films. He's in North he's in the future. So this podcast the jerky boys movie.
00:58:00
Speaker
And the second thing I ever saw him in gross point blank, where he plays John Cusack therapist and John Cusack as a hit man in that movie, and is basically holding him hostage as a therapist. He's making him be his therapist. He's great.
00:58:20
Speaker
Jacob the liar, like he's the 90s are kind of his way back. And then of course he skyrockets back to major prominence in the mid 2000s with Little Miss Sunshine. And after that, he's he wins the Oscar and is pretty much everywhere. Like people are like beating down his door to try to cast him and stuff. He's in Santa Claus three future episode of the unenfranchised podcast. He's an I go fuck yourself.
00:58:44
Speaker
future episode of this podcast gets smart. He's in our go fuck yourself. He has a cameo in the Muppets, the Muppet reboot. Like he he just he will he he'll just show up and stuff after that. But I think he he did he was very versatile early in his career.
00:59:05
Speaker
And I think recently, probably in the past 20 years or so, you kind of kind of call Alan Arkin for a particular kind of role. Exactly. And that's basically you just watch Argo. That's or even Gross Point Blank, like that's that's what you hire Alan Arkin for. Yeah. His final performance was last year in Minions, The Rise of Grow.
00:59:33
Speaker
because he passed away back in June. What? Oh, yeah, he did. That's right. I'm not surprised because I knew that. OK, calm down. OK. Yes, he is also a future episode of this podcast, Spencer Confidential. We I'm I'm learning today that we could do an Alan Arkin month on this podcast. I just haven't come to the terms. I just haven't come to terms with the fact that there's not going to be any more movies with Alan Arkin in them. And it makes me sad that that's a true thing.
01:00:00
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we still have Adam. Adam Arkin's still around. He's still kicking. Hey, he was an H2O. Mm hmm. Yeah. He was. Saw that movie at the movie theater too. Did you see that with me, Joe? I see that by myself. I'm pretty sure we did. I think we saw it. Oh, wow. That's his son. I know this guy. Yeah.
01:00:17
Speaker
You can tell they look almost identical to each other. They look identical, but their heads are different shapes, which is why the sun is a little more handsome, because his head like fits the facial structure. Whereas Alan Arkin, he just he's a circle. And then he has love that man. Both those Arkin boys, solid dudes. So Tucker, you were talking earlier about how the script for this movie is just
01:00:44
Speaker
There's a lot happening and so many gags and jokes. The third, the original script was written by Stephen DeSouza, who is one of the writers of Die Hard. He also wrote and directed previous episode of this podcast Street Fighter. Yep.
01:01:02
Speaker
And he turned in the script for this, which was apparently just a very straight script. And the gags were added into it later. And in fact, what Philippe Maura told Peter Smalley, the last of those film writers, is try to put a gag on every page. And when asked about this film, I think just last year in an interview with Bloody Disgusting, they asked him to describe it. And he's like, it's a cinematic minestrone. He goes, there's just a little bit of everything in there.
01:01:32
Speaker
I, you know, I hate to kind of bring it back to a previous part, but if you're going to mention his writing credits, you didn't mention Hudson Hawk. You didn't mention 48 hours.
01:01:45
Speaker
Well, you know, I'm trying to stick with, you know, the big relevant ones. I feel like those are important. Hey, we are both. Are we not Hudson Hawk apologists? We are. Even you and I. Future episode of this podcast, Hudson Hawk, man. Can't wait. I really like that. What a huge swing. That is everybody involved in that movie. And I just admire the shit out of them for taking that swing.
01:02:07
Speaker
That is that is Bruce Willis's blank check right there. It's him because I had a lot of fun with that movie. Same with Last Man Standing. I feel like he got kind of a second chance with Last Man Standing. Right. And that kind of too. But it's it's kind of a wonderful film. I don't know if you guys have seen Last Man Standing. Yes, it's it's great. It's a remake of the Leone film, right?
01:02:30
Speaker
Yep. Isn't it? I can't think of what it's called either. Blaking on it as well. Shamefully. I do not know Last Man Standing, unfortunately. It's really good. It's like a prohibition era gangster movie, but they do it. It's like Walter Hill. Yes, it is Walter Hill. Yeah. It's based on. It looks like it's based on a Kurosawa film.
01:02:55
Speaker
which Leone movies were based on, but it's a lot like those. It's like a spaghetti western set in prohibition America, it's really good.
Australian Film Industry Overview
01:03:04
Speaker
I wonder which, maybe Yojimbo? I don't know.
01:03:09
Speaker
No, it's gonna bother me. This movie, like a Fistful of Dollars, is a retelling of Yojimbo. Fistful of Dollars. And Yojimbo is based on the Dashill Hammett novel Red Harvest. Oh, that's funny. That part I didn't know. Full circle, baby. That's great. Lousers.
01:03:27
Speaker
We did it, you guys. Podcast over. Well, they did it. We're talking about it. Cut print. Put it out. But yeah, I mean, you're saying the gags weren't in it.
01:03:41
Speaker
Not, not initially. No, this is turned in from, from, from, according to Philippe Mora, a fairly straight script. And then somebody doing this straight forward. It wouldn't be anything like what we got, but I mean, the broad strokes are still there. Right. And I think it's worth mentioning that this is the first Australian superhero movie. And to the best of my knowledge, the first superhero musical, which is something Marvel hasn't even attempted yet.
01:04:09
Speaker
Well, they doubt they ever will, unless they do a Dazzler movie. In Hawkeye, they had the musical, the Avengers musical. That's the closest they've come. Right. The Steve Rogers, Hamilton-esque musical that culminates with the Battle of New York, where Ant-Man is there, apparently. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff.
01:04:32
Speaker
It's fun. And then, of course, the post credit scene for the series was just that full number, which apparently pissed off a bunch of people to which I said, good. I was into it. I mean, it wasn't great, but like I had a good time watching. What was it? What was their complaint with it? I enjoyed that as well. That it didn't tease whatever was coming next. They wanted, you know, they wanted something more. Well, it's just a fucking musical number. That's so lame, dude. You know, we're serious. I'll bullshit. Her building.
01:05:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Fanboys are dumb. That's true. If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times. Don't be a fan. Don't do it. Don't be a fan. And don't collect anything, apparently. Yeah. Don't be a collector, either. If you're neither one of those camps, this podcast is your enemy. Don't do it for the loot. Do it for the love. Put that on a bumper sticker. Don't be a fan. Just like stuff, man. That's kind of been our unofficial motto from day one.
01:05:31
Speaker
our official unofficial motto, actually. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, dude.
01:05:43
Speaker
I will say that Michael Pate, the guy who plays the president in this movie, just an insanely charismatic face actor. I don't know if he's a particularly great actor, but he is doing like, between his wig and his teeth, he is just doing so much work in this movie. And he's got like an interesting face. He's got like this kind of weathered old man kind of face. And I'm just like, this guy is really fun to look at.
01:06:13
Speaker
He gives me like, I don't know. He gives such a unique and just kind of wild performance that every time I watch this movie, I'm like, where do I know him from? And the answer is nothing. But he comes across in such a way to where you're like,
01:06:36
Speaker
I know this guy's in stuff, right? Right. But he is. I'll tell you what he does do. A lot of Philippe Mora films.
01:06:45
Speaker
Um, he's, he's in no, no fewer than at least I think two or three Philip Mora films across his, I mean, he's in, he's the, he also reprises his role as the president in howling three. He's just a TV actor from the sixties basically. He's in Mad Dog Morgan, another Philippe Mora film. Like, yeah, he does a lot of Australian TV. Is that the Dennis Hopper movie? Yes. Which was directed by Philippe Mora.
01:07:13
Speaker
And he provides the voice in an animated feature called the camel boy. But just something something about his face and his performance, it just it feels so. I don't want to say familiar, but like it should be familiar. Mm hmm. Like you guys get that vibe to reminds you of somebody, maybe like he's got or he should. He should remind you of somebody. Right. If it feels that way, certainly. Yeah.
01:07:41
Speaker
and you know he's kind of older so you're like i'm sure i probably saw him when he was young and didn't recognize him but no he's in stuff he's a lot of stuff but just like nothing that's
01:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, nothing that you mentioned it. Nobody knows what you're talking about. Yeah, right. I mean, he's also in another. So he is his total of Philip Mora, Philippe Mora films is for the fourth one is death of a soldier. So this is his second of four Philippe Mora films that he that he does. So is he still alive? Do we know he died in 2008? Oh, boo. Well.
01:08:17
Speaker
I mean, but I just just go to IMDB and just look at this man's face. Like he he has got a face. Like this is just one of those actors. He just he's giving face and he looks like he should have been. Oh, he looks even more familiar. Yeah, he looks like he should be in gangster movies or like in Costa Blanca somewhere. I don't know. I'm seeing a bunch of Westerns. Yeah, he does look like.
01:08:42
Speaker
He's apparently in the movie McClintock, which is one of my dad's favorite movies. My dad, a big John Wayne fan, loved McClintock. I don't think I've seen that. Oh, you haven't seen McClintock, dude? McClintock kind of rules. I don't think so. Is it good? Let's check it out. Yeah, dude. No, I like my Westerns as spaghetti as possible. Yeah, you and your brother have that in common, for sure. Oh, yeah. We kind of came up together in that way. That makes sense.
01:09:12
Speaker
Yeah, great face. Great face on this guy. Yeah, I'm a big face, too. I kind of want like an eight by 10 of him in a frame. The picture that's on his IMDB profile. It's such a great picture, man. It really is. It's so good. He's so good. Compositions on point, you know, like it's perfect. Like, yeah, man, he just that's the face like you want that like the ideal.
01:09:36
Speaker
IMDB photo is Michael Pates IMDB photo. So yeah, if you need to go to school, just attend his IMDB page and you will know his another actor in this movie that is fairly prolific is Bill Hunter. Who is he? He he played Tupper and coach.
01:09:58
Speaker
Um, but he's, he's in Gallipoli, uh, Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding, like just- Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, another Australian film. Correct. It's kind of the Australian Tu Wong Fu. Uh, I think Tu Wong Fu is a remake of Priscilla, if I'm not mistaken. Nah, they're not related. They're not related. Are you sure? Promise. Okay.
01:10:22
Speaker
You can look it up if you want, but I'm just saying it's not worth it. That was I guess that was just my understanding, but I'm willing to be wrong. I've seen neither to be clear, but they're both on my list. That's what I've heard. They're both on my list. I do want to see them both, but I have not yet done so. Joe, did you ever watch Tuong Fu?
01:10:41
Speaker
I don't know that I did. That's too bad. You should watch it. I feel like I've mentioned it to you a few times, but it's it's the kind of movie that I really, really love. But like, I don't think about it very often. Every once in a while I'll be like, oh, yeah. And then I'll watch it. So, yeah, Tuang Fu, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Well, that's a double feature. Wait until dark. Wait until dark. That one looks good. Lindsay and I like watching the old movies.
01:11:12
Speaker
It's so good. I don't know if it's streaming anywhere. But like I say, I can bring the DVD to you. Yes, that and a nice big green bean casserole, please. You know, I'm going to get you that green bean casserole. I'm going to do it.
01:11:34
Speaker
Was that the, did we mention that in the Patreon? Okay, there's a nice tease, everybody, who's not on their Patreon. Go check out their Patreon, the one that you'll know what we're talking about with this Green Bean Casserole. Patreon.com slash disenfranch pod for $5 a month. You can get our weekly What Are We Watching show, which this Sunday will feature our guest JP Lech. Forward slash Green Bean Casserole.
01:11:56
Speaker
Yeah, that will get you nowhere. Is a health links work? No, not at all. And as as as a fellow elder millennial, you really should know better. Oh, there's there's so much I should know that I don't know. And that that is why I'm happy. Touché. I'm a happy person.
01:12:22
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, this so there this actually does. This movie actually does have a fairly great cast, but it's just these are mostly Australian actors that most of us have never heard of. So. Yeah.
Mixed Reactions to the Film
01:12:37
Speaker
Well, have we said everything we needed to say about the return? I feel like Tucker's got more to say. He's just not saying it. Right. No, I don't. I don't think I have much else to say about it. I just really, really.
01:12:50
Speaker
really, really, really, really like it. And since I first saw it, and what I want to say was maybe August or September when I watched it, because it wasn't too deep into fall, if I remember correctly. But since I've watched it the first time, I was gonna say it would have been when Joseph was on last, which I think would have been. Well, I mentioned it then, but I think I brought it up because we were talking about the fifth Thursdays.
01:13:17
Speaker
But I had seen the movie a couple of months before and I had mentioned it. OK, because I mean, that would have been late August when you when the last time he was on. Oh, well, maybe it was then. I thought it was more recent. That's my bad. Because he came on for detention. Detention. Yeah. Well, because it was another Fifth Thursday. Yeah. Yeah. That's yeah. Yeah. And I think that was the first time that you had watched it. Well, we watched the crap out of that movie, didn't we?
01:13:45
Speaker
That is another movie that we watched. Yeah, yeah, we did. You watched it how many times? Oh, I can't even count. Oh, I think seven in the week. And another movie that Joseph was similarly conflicted on. I enjoyed detention much more than I enjoyed this. Yeah, I was listening. You came up pretty positive on detention. Detention was fine. There was like that I felt were. Ridiculous and didn't I felt like you were on the positive side of indifference.
01:14:14
Speaker
Like here's indifferent and you were just like, just a little bit on top of it. Yeah. No others. Like here's the fence. And I was leaning towards the box. It wasn't bad. Sold out. I enjoyed my sit mostly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:14:27
Speaker
less so with this movie, sadly. Yeah, that's unfortunate. I wanted to like this movie, too. I started it. I was like, OK, this is going to be funky and weird and my level of crazy. And I really tried to get into it. I just couldn't. It just I couldn't make it work for myself. I don't know. Which I kind of understand because I've watched it four times total. The first time I saw it when I watched it after hearing about it,
01:14:55
Speaker
It blew me away. I just thought it was fantastic. The bee's knees. Um, and I bought the Blu-ray and I watched it for the first time once I got the Blu-ray and I kind of got bored the second time I watched it. It was maybe a week after I watched it for the first time. And I was like, maybe like, what's, what's different? Why don't, why am I not into this as much as I was the first time? And then the third time I watched it.
01:15:21
Speaker
I was, no, it didn't have anything to do with any sorts of inebriates. I was pretty balanced when I watched it each time in the same kind of head space. I don't believe you, but continue. But the third time, the third time I was kind of indifferent to it. And then this last time that I watched it last night, I really, really dug it. So I think it kind of might be a time and a place movie.
01:15:51
Speaker
Like I feel like based on my experience so far, there are going to be times when I watch it where I might shut it off in the middle, you know, and then another time where I will be engaged the whole time. It's kind of a movie you have to be in the mood for, I feel like. For sure. That a lot of like a lot of things you you end up loving. It's you discovered it like at just the right time. I get that. That makes sense. And sometimes you want to go back to it, but you're not, you know, in the same headspace you were.
01:16:20
Speaker
previously, so it's not as good. Joseph, it's like you and I were talking about when we watched Howard the Duck for this podcast, a movie that I could have sworn Tucker would probably love, but he hated it. And you and I were both very surprised by the fact that he didn't like it because it feels like the kind of movie he would love, but he didn't because he caught it at the wrong time and place. And I think if he were in the right mood for it, he could potentially love it. Or if he'd seen it when he was growing up, he probably would play out.
01:16:48
Speaker
had he not watched it in prison, he probably would have loved it. Yeah, there you go. Well, no, I think with this one, honestly, I would probably like this movie a lot, lot more if I had seen this growing up. Like I could see this being my jam and then getting older, not only it holds up because obviously I like it now.
01:17:11
Speaker
But then I would also have like with Poudy Tang and Buckaroo Banzai, I'd also have kind of that that nostalgia to sort of head trip on at the same time. So even like if I had grown up with Captain Invincible, I don't think I'd ever shut it off in the middle. But as it is now, I could see myself if I'm not in the mood for it, just being like, yeah, maybe maybe tonight wasn't the night to watch this, you know.
01:17:38
Speaker
It's kind of weird in that way. Like all four times that I've watched it have been completely different experiences just based on like kind of the mood I was in or the time of day, you know, or what's going on around me. It's a weird kind of movie. Kind of, it's a very particular mood. You have to be like ready for it, which is you said you were all gung-ho about it.
01:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, now I kind of want to like maybe I'll have the reverse effect that you had and maybe the second time I watch it, I'll really I'm not going to watch this movie. I would say I don't I don't want I don't want to say maybe I'll do an experiment and rewatch. I'm not going to I'm probably not going to watch this movie again. I'm going to be I'm going to be honest. Well, yeah, I don't want I don't want to imply that I was suggesting that you do. No, no, that was entirely me entirely me. And then halfway through my thing, I bailed on it. So I do. I do think that at some point
01:18:29
Speaker
in your life, you, there's about a 75% chance that you'll watch this movie at least one more time. I mean, I have learned not to, you know, I never say never, so I won't disagree with you. But as the self-appointed Criswell of this podcast, future events like these will affect you in the future. And that is my prediction. Yeah. Okay. We'll see how it goes. We'll see what happens.
01:18:56
Speaker
Check back with us. Let us know. I'll let you know. You'll call me in the middle of it. I did it. I can't believe I did it, but I did it. It's the best movie I've ever seen. I love it so much. What was I thinking? We'll redo the episode. Wow. Okay. Yeah,
Film's Financial Performance
01:19:18
Speaker
dudes. Good job, everybody. Yeah, I really like this movie.
01:19:21
Speaker
So the Return of Captain Invincible, according to IMDB, was released on February 17, 1984, but that's the West German release. The US release was in January 28, 1983, where it opened apparently in a theater in Austin, Texas.
01:19:41
Speaker
So yeah, that's a thing. But I pulled up the box office for January 28, 1983. I will say that this movie did not have any kind of box office impact in the United States whatsoever. And it looks like it didn't have much of an impact in Australia as well. The budget was $7 million, and it grossed a total of $55,110 in the Australian box office. Nice.
01:20:10
Speaker
So not a not not one that we're going to get a sequel to in these days when, you know, superhero movies gross millions of dollars on the regular billions. And in a lot of cases, this one, it was the 80s. You know, not that great. You know, I was saying now Joker two is going to be a musical. So do they did Captain Invincible crawl so that they could run maybe?
Joker Sequel and Other Film Discussions
01:20:38
Speaker
Probably. Maybe. I was astonished to find out that the Joker was getting a sequel, but I did not know it was going to be a musical. Are you serious? Influenced, influenced heavily by The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Yeah. Which is a brilliant film. It's a French musical by Jacques Tati. And I cannot recommend that one enough. That movie is amazing.
01:21:00
Speaker
But I thought the first Joker was pretentious as shit. And I thought it was well made. I thought it was well performed like it. But I agree with you. It really it didn't so much where its influences on its sleeve. It wore its influences as its entire outfit. Correct. Yeah.
01:21:23
Speaker
Well, I guess well done, like very well made film and the performance is fucking stellar, but it's just kind of missing that soul because it gets its soul from, well, Taxi Driver. It gets its soul from Taxi Driver. Let's just say, Taxi Driver. There is a part of me that feels kind of embarrassed for Joaquin Phoenix, that that's the movie he has an Oscar for, too, like he deserves so many. That's a there's so many other movies I would rather he have an Oscar for than that one, you know.
01:21:51
Speaker
I think the performance deserved it though. I'm very weird about that movie because I agree with you, but I will still watch it because boy.
01:21:59
Speaker
Boy, it's a it's kind of an interesting ride. It can be a lot of something makes you feel kind of way. Definitely a lot of something about return to that one. That's that was a one and done for me as well. Yeah, I will. I will agree with you on that one. Oh, no, I don't. I don't think I've watched it again. I don't really have any desire to. I don't even know that I'm going to see the sequel sounds so wild. Sounds so wild. No interest. Yeah. I'll let you guys know how it is. OK.
01:22:29
Speaker
Uh, and you know what, Joseph's a patron and I'll be there with you when you talk about it on, uh, what are we watching? So yeah. Um, the number one film at the box office on January 28th, 1983, this is the American box office is a little movie called Tootsie, which after seven weeks is still at number one, having grossed $91.6 million up to this point. That's one of my favorite movies ever.
01:22:57
Speaker
Boy, I like that movie. Tootsie's good movie. Oh, so much. Tootsie's good. So much. In second place, another Steven D'Souza penned script. It's Walter Hill's 48 Hours.
01:23:10
Speaker
I like that movie a lot too. Look at you. We're just full of movies you love. It's just my week, dude. In third place, I mean, the first eight movies are all holding their position from the week before. Like this is not a movie where a new release even factors into the box office. It's January. This is not when you're releasing new movies into theaters generally. But in third place is the movie The Verdict.
01:23:40
Speaker
What if there was a verdict? What if there was a verdict? I think that's the if I'm not mistaken, that's yeah, that's the Paul Newman movie. James Mason, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden cameo from Bruce Willis in there. I still have no clue. Fourth place, Gandhi. What if there was a Gandhi? Well, what if? And your move slime ball.
01:24:09
Speaker
Yeah, not that one. That's that's the sequel. No more passive resistant. No more Mr. Passive Resistance. Yeah, he'll have the steak medium rare. In fifth place. Previous episode of this podcast, The Dark Crystal, which we discussed with our friends, Hope Liktor and style. Yeah. And that was a good episode, too. It was. I enjoyed it immensely.
01:24:34
Speaker
And then in sixth place, one of the worst movies to ever exist, one of the most racist films ever, Richard Donner's The Toy. What is that? That's the one where Jackie Gleason buys Richard Pryor to be a toy for his grandson. Oh, you haven't seen Soul Man. You said the most racist film ever. You haven't seen Soul Man.
01:24:59
Speaker
I mean, birth of a nation, I think. I was going to mention that too. But I've never heard a toy. Oh, yeah. Soul Man is a movie where a guy. I'm familiar with Soul Man. He wears the first five minutes of it on Comedy Central once. And I as a as a child, I turned the I didn't know what it was.
01:25:20
Speaker
I was I was like a young kid home from school and it was on. And I swear I watched maybe like the first five to 10 minutes and even I as a child who didn't know any better was offended. I was just like, this is wrong somehow. And I turned the channel. It's got great people in it, though. Right. That's the thing I've listened here. See, Thomas, how James Earl Jones, Leslie Nielsen, Julia, Julia Louis Dreyfus like you guys, come on.
01:25:47
Speaker
So Steve minor come on, but just like director of H2O directed by Steve minor director of H2O and a past episode of this podcast, the 2008 day of the dead remake. Also Friday the 13th parts three and another one also forever young with Mel Gibson, Steve minor, man. What a weird filmography. Correct. I'm pretty sure we brought up soul man on the
01:26:17
Speaker
on the Dawn of the Dead episode or on the Day of the Dead episode. I don't recall that. I don't recall that. I could be wrong. That's the Day of the Dead episode. You guys, I finally changed my name in the room here. You did. I've been a vegetarian since the Day of the Dead episode because that kid from Inside Lou and Davis is a vegetarian zombie in the Day of the Dead remake. And now your name in the chat is bullshit. Bullshit.
01:26:42
Speaker
In seventh, so the rest of the top 10, you've got in seventh place, Sophie's choice in eight place, best friends in ninth place, one of my dad's favorites, the man from Snowy River and in ninth place, future episode of this podcast, ET the extra terrestrial. We do an ET. We're doing ET. Did you not know ET was supposed to have a sequel? I hadn't really thought about it. If I'm being quite honest, ET was supposed to have a sequel, my friend, and it is fucking wild.
01:27:12
Speaker
We'll talk about it one day, I assure you. The Tomatometer score on the return of Captain Invincible is a 60 percent. Six zero.
01:27:23
Speaker
The Metascore does not exist. It is not logged on Metacritic at all. Also fair. And then the Letterbox score though is a 3.1. Joseph, as our guest, what are you going to give 1983 is the return of Captain Invincible? You guys do out of five, right? Correct. Yes.
01:27:50
Speaker
I'm going to give it a two. Give it a two. I don't think I don't think it doesn't deserve a one, two. And again, that's just my opinion. You can give half stars as well. You can do half stars. I'll stick with two. I think I'll sell it to is how I personally just one man's opinion. Yeah. Felt about this movie. I I gave it a three. Because I I thought it was I thought it was fun, but, you know, not like
01:28:20
Speaker
you know, the greatest thing I've ever seen, but no, this is a fun movie. I'll give it a three. Tucker, what about yourself? I give it a 4.5 because while it like owns the corner bodega in my alley, it is by no means a perfect
Personal Ratings and Guest Projects
01:28:39
Speaker
film. No, I'm like, like Pootie Tang, perfect film. This, not a perfect film, but I love it four and a half stars.
01:28:48
Speaker
The amount of four and a half stars is how much I love it. Fair enough, man. Fair enough. You know, like you do with reviews. Yeah, I know how we do with readings. I mean, that puts us kind of right in line with the with the letterbox average there. So sitting there right around three. Right around three point one one one six or something. I don't know. But yeah, there it is. That is our episode. Tucker, this is your show, man. Close us out.
01:29:17
Speaker
Oh, well, since it's my show, I'm going to tell you that this is the end and we're going to do our social medias now. And I think now you understand why I don't host this show. So, hey, Steven, where can we find the disenfranchised podcast? We should probably ask our guest where he can be found and what he's got cooking. Well, don't you normally say the podcast stuff and then move on to everybody else?
01:29:44
Speaker
I do the, I do the guest and then I do the podcast and then I do the OJT. We're doing some OJT right here on the air. Okay. You boys learn. You guys do your stuff and then you, then you throw it to me and then I'll do it. Learning to love, loving to learn, man. Yeah, dude. So, hey there JP Lech, how's it going over there? You want to tell us straight up where we can find you on the World Wide Web if we're out there surfing?
01:30:10
Speaker
And maybe what endless elsewhere has been cooking up lately and what you have in store for us. Oh, well, yeah, sure. It was all implied, Steven. Wasn't it was a bit on here a number of times. I feel like all your recurring listeners must know who I am by now.
01:30:28
Speaker
But yes, you can find me actually go just go to endless elsewhere.com. That is the best place to find everything I do. I am a novelist. I am a filmmaker. I am a podcaster myself. I have an award winning
01:30:44
Speaker
fiction podcast called The Endless Elsewhere Podcast, of which all the members of this podcast supply voices for it. Correct. Your last finale, I played four different characters in that one episode. Absolutely, you did. Which is kind of insane. That's where we operate. We operate in the insane. We do. But just this year, I also released my first feature film called Circle City Supernatural.
01:31:13
Speaker
Which also just so happens to include everyone on the podcast that you are listening to. If you've ever wanted to see what we look like, this is your chance. I don't know why, but you can. Um, and that is now available on Blu-ray at endlesselsewhere.com. It's also streaming on Prime.
01:31:37
Speaker
It has also been licensed by a couple of streamers who I cannot name just yet because until it goes live you are not allowed to actually say. What I will do is quote some Shakespeare. This has nothing to do with what streamer my movie will be on imminently but to be or not to be that is the question.
01:32:01
Speaker
Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them to die to sleep. To be or not to be. That is the question. What a question. What a question. Anyway, I think I think I'm I think I'm covered legally with that one Shakespeare.
01:32:36
Speaker
But yeah, I think that's everything. We do a little bit of everything. I try to make something for everyone. If you like to read, there's books. If you like films, which of course you do, you're listening to this podcast. We have Circle City Supernatural available. The Endless Elsewhere podcast, it's doing very well. It's gaining so much steam for reasons I still can't fully grasp. Definitely better than we are, that's for sure. It's doing very well. Yeah, when we get in season three, man, come on. Season four?
01:32:58
Speaker
Yes, indeed. We do love us. I'm Billy Shakes here on this podcast.
01:33:04
Speaker
Same thing. What I'm doing now, after I finally wrapped up the film, I decided to go fallow for a bit and just kind of rest. Yeah, I think you've heard it after that endeavor. Goodness. The agonizing thing about being Joseph Pollak is that when I'm not working, I get really, really miserable. And it's just if I'm not doing it, I'm not happy. And it's gotten to the point where the wife is like,
01:33:34
Speaker
Babe, just go back to work. So I am. I am trying not to think about a sequel to the film, but the ideas just keep coming. So I keep putting them down on paper. But I am also presently outlining season for the podcast, which I hope to go into production with here in a couple of months. We have been the last couple of seasons releasing them in spring. This one may be closer to the summer, depending on how long it takes to do everything.
01:34:01
Speaker
Because what I did with the first three seasons of the podcast was there's one big Arc that includes all three seasons So not only do I have to plan season four I have to plan seasons five and six because that two will be its own arc actually have even gone beyond that to Three seasons beyond that and then possibly a tenth and final season but nothing nothing half measures with
Host's Media Integration
01:34:24
Speaker
you, huh?
01:34:24
Speaker
No, it's just not the way my brain works. And as rewarding and wonderful as all this is, it's also very maddening. So having had the break, the break of mere weeks since I finally finished screening the film at theaters and doing the festivals and getting the Blu-ray release and all that,
01:34:43
Speaker
I'm I am inching back into my world. So there definitely will be more I would love to do a sequel to the film at some point. So if you want to check that out, please do. And yeah, check out the nsl store podcast. It's doing very well. And if you like if you like the one you like the other because they're both interconnected as is everything I do on an elemental level. It's all one big
01:35:05
Speaker
multimedia universe. So you can kind of engage with whatever media you like, and it will belong to everything else. The film itself kind of functions as a lead in to the podcast, right? Absolutely. It's a it's a great starter, really, because even though on the timeline, it kind of like is right in the middle. It's a great introduction to the whole thing. Like if you get if you watch the film and you like the film, you will like everything else that we have. It's a it's kind of a microcosm of the entire universe. So if you dig the film,
01:35:33
Speaker
You'll dig everything else. And if there is something, something, sorry, something that's very similar to the film are the the Patreon stuff that you release. Like, yes, just the phone calls, you know, instead of like with the podcast, it's like you get step as a phone calls, but it's mostly story. I know you've released stuff on the Patreon that's just like the phone calls in full. And I've always been a big fan of that stuff.
01:35:59
Speaker
Absolutely. So for those unaware in the universe, there is a late night am paranormal radio show called circle city supernatural. That's the name of the movie. It's the name of the movie. And it's it's a it's a big part of everything we've done, obviously the film, but it's also a big part of our podcast. And what we have done with our Patreon feed is that we we just take calls from that
01:36:22
Speaker
And so you can listen to all these like just weird little snippet stories. I usually release them as I'm working on whatever season of the podcast I'm doing. So look for fresh ones of those to come out pretty much right after this next season comes out because I kind of have to work on them at the same time. But yeah, it's a lot of fun. Check it out. Right on. And I mean, for those of you that are as steeped in the endless elsewhere lore as
01:36:47
Speaker
I am there's the movie has a ton of fun little Easter eggs if you're if you're watching and paying attention. Absolutely so many so many. So yeah, that's that's always a lot of fun. Oh, yeah. Hey, Steven, where can people find the podcast on social media?
01:37:07
Speaker
We are pretty much everywhere at Disinfranch Pod, that is to say Blue Sky, Letterboxd, Instagram, Facebook, you can find us in all those places.
Bonus Content and Social Media
01:37:20
Speaker
As we mentioned previously, you can also go to patreon.com slash Disinfranch Pod to find
01:37:26
Speaker
all of our bonus material, including the upcoming what are we watching, where Joseph talks about what he's been watching. And then Tucker and I talk significantly longer about what we've been watching. I just have watches things but has no opinions on them. So I have opinions. I just I'm when it comes to voicing those opinions. I'm not quite as nuanced as the guys on the show, which is why I am a guest and not a co-host because I'd be terrible at it.
01:37:56
Speaker
But if you want to hear the three movies that I watched today, Merely Listed told what I thought of them in very short order. Very briefly. Check out the picture. That was good. I like this one better than that other one. And he's straight up pushing me through the cold open too, man. Yeah, man. Let me do my thing. He's like, when we're going to talk about what we're watching, what's this? Where are we going to talk about the thing? Let's do the thing we came here to do. Let's get it done. Come on. Let's go. Get it done.
01:38:23
Speaker
You guys, you talk too much on this pod. It's too much talking. It's too much talking. I mean, it's too much. Some, some would say from me is too much talking. There are people that would say that. I won't say that because I'm the one who's been pushing to get you on this podcast for a while. So I won't have that people, people who listen to this podcast obviously are not those people. In fact, my roommate is one of those people and
01:38:52
Speaker
Every time she's like, Oh man, I should, you know, maybe I should listen to your podcast. And I'm like, do you really want to listen to me talk for like an hour and a half? And she's like, Oh no, you're right. Yeah, I don't. Hell no. Like I can't stand it for more than like 30 seconds. Like I would not last. I'm like, yeah, think about that next time you ask, come on. Yeah. I mean, you certainly can, but the question is, do you really want to? And the answer to that question is obviously no.
01:39:20
Speaker
Like this, this girl will be throwing herself off the roof after like five minutes for real. She's like, I can't stand it up. I regret nothing. You can tell your roommate that a complete random person messaged me through Instagram and was astonished that I replied. And he and I actually became friends. But I think he's sort of half in love with the foul mouthed character that your roommate did on our show. Yes. He talks about her quite a bit. It's quite funny.
01:39:49
Speaker
Wow. She had at least one Endless Elsewhere fan. I'm going to let her know. Yeah. Very exciting. She's really good in that, too. She is. Yeah, she's great. She crushed it. I'm going to I'm going to have her back as her character. I absolutely need to do that. I could just imagine you editing it, though, and beeping all that out and like your hair is curling. Oh, yeah. She didn't go back at all. No.
01:40:13
Speaker
You know who you're dealing with, man. I do. I do. I have. I know your roommate, so I was not. I was not shocked. I was going to say, I can't imagine Joseph writing down any of that in the script. No, I was like, pretty much just say whatever you like as far. I think that's why he had her mind for the part, honestly.
01:40:32
Speaker
Yep, yep. That was a life of imitating art, art imitating life, that whole thing. There have been a few occasions where you've had characters come right up to the line of swearing without actually doing it because then you would have to edit around it. So the fact that you actually had someone actually swear is pretty epic. All bleeped, of course. Right. Because we try to keep the show clean so everybody can listen to it. But yeah, she did a great job with that. Good job, everybody.
01:40:57
Speaker
Uh, also make sure that you are, uh, rating and reviewing the disenfranchised podcast on Spotify and Apple podcasts, because that will help us find more people like you. You can also shoot us an email, uh, disenfranch pod at gmail.com. Word. Well, uh, Steven, uh, where can we find you specifically?
01:41:18
Speaker
on the social media. Like what is your address? Yeah, can you give us your home address and your social security number, possibly your mother's maiden name and your first grade teacher's name? Well, you can find me on the internet in places like Blue Sky or Instagram or Letterboxd at Chewy Walrus. Coward. And that is all I will say. Smart. You made the right choice. Oh, I know.
01:41:48
Speaker
Uh, Hey Steven, uh, I'm also wondering, where can we find Brett on the internet? Well, apparently right now he's shadowboxing wind in Australia. But, uh, if you were wanting to find him on the internet, he is usually on Instagram or letterbox at sus underscore warlock or on blue sky at sus warlock. No underscore. Interesting. Interesting.
01:42:13
Speaker
Very cool information. Well, you can find me on the internets on YouTube and the Instagrams, uh, at ice 909. That's I C E N I N E the number zero and the number nine. Uh, and I also have tuck mugs on Instagram, tuck underscore mugs. Uh, I put together a post for tuck mugs. It's, it's in the works. I have photos taken.
01:42:41
Speaker
Uh, the description is being, uh, run through the writer's room. You know, I did, I did a pass at it, but we want to have everybody look at it and sort of see what we can do to, to make it perfect. So I know it's been about two weeks. Uh, a punch up. I can do a punch up on it. If you like, actually I was going to punch up work on people's Instagram posts. Do you have, do I need to fill out a gig I'm doing to make the ends meet?
01:43:06
Speaker
Do I need to fill out union paperwork or is that something you do off the books? No, no, I'm a scab. It's fine. OK, I was going to say, because like no shit, you guys are ruining this country.
01:43:19
Speaker
Like on what? No shit, you guys. The two themes that Jimmy wrote for us that I paid him to write, I had to fill out union paperwork for that. And it was kind of exciting. I felt like more American than I've ever felt in my life. Does he belong to some sort of he is a vice president, vice president of the Musicians Union in style. Dagnabbit. Amazing. Yeah, dude. Good for him. Deal. That's cool. Didn't realize that was a thing, but it probably should be. So it's a deal. Yeah, it's a whole thing.
01:43:48
Speaker
So yeah, TechMugs, it's been a few weeks, but we're going to get something up there pretty soon.
01:43:56
Speaker
And again, calling out for guest mugs. Man, give us some guest mugs. Joseph, if you've got another mug, you would like to submit your submission. I literally just today posted a mug in my new espresso machine that was given to me by some family. I did. Some family who is, funny thing, some family who is my sister and brother-in-law that's from the show, Piper and Dr. Zhao.
01:44:22
Speaker
for anyone who knows who that is. I do a real couple who get to be a real espresso machine. Well, she's been hyper like from the beginning. That's an old character, dude. She's she's OG like you are. You, her and Sam are well, and she wasn't wasn't she in the goners radio. Yeah.
01:44:40
Speaker
Um, no, that was Lindsay, but she Lauren, AKA Piper was that or a proto version of that character in the short films we did. I do remember. Yes. Way back. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I remember the ones we had like telekinetic powers that she got from the. I remember that scene with it.
01:44:58
Speaker
And then she moves the stuff around. Yeah, it's pretty great on the water. Right. It was on water or something. Yes. Yes. Actually, I still go to that park and I sometimes still look for all those. Put your hands out. The orange balls, wherever we threw them because they're somewhere trapped in that creek. I just know it. Well, there's anyway, the listener has no idea what we're talking about. We should probably move on. Yeah. Let's get some some tech mugs. Yes. Listeners, people on the show here, Steven, if you've got another mug, just holler at your boy.
01:45:27
Speaker
because guest mugs, I feel like is where we live and die on tuck mugs. I need some good guest mugs. Get on it, boys. And as Stephen said before, disenfranchpod at gmail.com is our email and you can email your submission to there and it will be placed upon tuck mugs. It's what everyone should aspire to do with their mugs. Have them on tuck mugs. It's going to be a whole thing.
01:45:57
Speaker
I hope so. I've sunk enough time and money into it. It better be. How much money have you poured into it? Man, you don't want to know. You don't even want to know. That's my accountant, boy. I don't know. I don't do my own books. I'm talking about I have a social media manager. I don't do my own books. I feel like we are doing what Mr. Tucker likes to call the Midwestern goodbye where we are just really taking our time. We're just we're slapping our knees and saying, well, well,
01:46:28
Speaker
Well, so that is our episode on straight up the return of Captain Invincible. So for myself and Steven and our very special guests, the letter J, the letter P Lek, Captain, they're playing your song.
01:47:01
Speaker
you