Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 31: The Balcony featuring Mallory Rine
43 Plays5 months ago
Chris and Greg are joined by Mallory Rine to talk about the absurdist theater adaptation, The Balcony. If you're a fan of that episode of Columbo with Leonard Nimoy, you want won't to miss our discussion of the first time they played a cop and his quarry. Except this time, Shelly Winters is there, too, and she plays a madame at a fantastical bordello in the midst of a revolution! There's a lot going on!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Premise
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. The only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, if this movie's so bad, why do you like it so much?
00:00:54
Speaker
We're your hosts. My name is Chris Anderson and with me I have the bishop to my judge, Greg Bossi. Hello. And I do not, unfortunately, have the general to my bishop, Anna, here tonight. They are laid out with a migraine.
Guest Introduction: Mallory Ryan
00:01:12
Speaker
Prayer's up for Anna, but we do have very special guests. You might know her as a foxy mauler. You might know her as an eight-wheeled dancer. You might know her as a shining star in Wichita's cinema firmament. But I know her as my friend, Mallory Ryan. Mallory, how are you?
00:01:32
Speaker
Oh, hello. Do it great. Thanks for having me. Delighted to be here.
Movie of the Week: 'The Balcony'
00:01:38
Speaker
You chose this week's movie and you chose The Balcony. That's right. Well, I'm just going to give a quick short summary for any members of the audience who have not seen The Balcony, which I have a feeling is going to be a lot of people. I have a feeling of that too.
00:01:56
Speaker
I don't know why. No, no, i it seems, so it's ah I'll tell you right now, it's a perfectly cromulent movie. Just listen to this plot.
00:02:12
Speaker
There's a revolution! And the chief of police and his favorite madam round up three of her more peculiar customers to impersonate the bishop, the general, and a judge in order to trick the population and into thinking that the revolution failed. Will they go mad with power? Find out!
00:02:38
Speaker
Fair enough? Yeah, I think that works.
Mallory's Discovery & Advocacy
00:02:41
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, so Mallory, how did you come across the balcony? I never saw it before. Greg, had you ever seen it before? No, no, I've got no personal history with this one. Never seen it, never heard of it. Came to an absolutely tabula rasa. Yep. Uh, so I don't have a very long history with this. I,
00:02:59
Speaker
Uh, got off work late one night, a couple of years ago. And I was just looking, I don't even know what I ended up watching it on, but I was just looking on a streamer for something to watch. And I came across this and I was like, Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Leonard Nimoy. Okay. So.
00:03:16
Speaker
I picked it and then I watched it twice and I could not stop just recommending it to people. I couldn't find anyone to talk to about it. Okay. Yeah, so I'm i'm pleased to finally be able to share this movie with everyone.
00:03:32
Speaker
All right. Yes. I love it. And yeah. Cause when I came to you, you were one of our hammers and horrors, just like your sister, Rebecca listeners might remember from conspirators
Critique: Film vs. Play Adaptation
00:03:42
Speaker
of pleasure. Check out episode 26, if I remember right. Uh, and, uh, yeah, you were also kind of a hammer and a horror, but then you thought, uh, you thought of the balcony and you thought you could like sneak it in as bad. What's your bad justification on the balcony? Strange. What are we saying?
Historical Context & Jean Genet's Story
00:04:02
Speaker
I think that one of the things that I like so much about it in in the in the sense that it's bad is it's very clearly a film adaptation of a play yes that I don't think is successful. yes yeah And that is a quality in a movie that I particularly love. I love when you can tell this was based on a play and that it almost feels like it's staged like a play and that is not translating to film. Yes, I could definitely. Yeah, it felt very much like you they were just filming a set. Yeah, this this to me seemed like they're like watching this on the BBC. It's like if you haven't seen this play, here's your chance. We're putting it on the BBC with two cameras and that's it. But I also kind of think that works for ah the surrealistic quality of the subject matter. So sure I do think I think it works.
00:05:03
Speaker
Um, but it's just not done well. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it does give it an artificial quality that I think suits the material, but does also make it more challenging. um Oh, yeah.
00:05:21
Speaker
Well, and I think part of that, when we get to our context section, our personal history is very short. But my context, I think is going to be very illuminating as to why this film is so uniquely strange in terms of vibes. Okay. So yeah, let's get to context.
Director Joseph Strick's Background
00:06:20
Speaker
So the balcony came out 1963, one of our oldest entries. Yeah. Uh, I'd say possibly only the atomic brain being older. Uh, and maybe, maybe, uh, world's greatest center. But anyway, it was directed by Joseph Strick and based on a play by Jean Genet and adapted for the screen by Ben Maddow. Now Jean Genet,
00:06:49
Speaker
was a playwright born in Paris in 1910. Are either of you guys particularly familiar with Jean Genet? I did pick up a copy of this play when I was in Brooklyn at Luftbank Books, e ah not Brooklyn, sorry, just in New York, but at Luftbank Books, ah and I have it, and I intended to read it, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I can understand that. What about you, Greg?
00:07:14
Speaker
Me, Jean Genet is like one of those names because I've done some theater stuff, so it's like it's a name I'm familiar with. Like someone says Jean Genet, like, oh, yeah, but I don't have any like real ah context for it or any. It's just one of those names that has come to me. I recognize as someone who is someone, and that's about as far as it goes.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's about as far as I went, but it turns out he had a pretty interesting life. Uh, his mother was a prostitute who gave him up for adoption at just seven months old. Wow. Uh, he ran away from foster care and found himself in the Mattray penal colony in central France at the age of 15. Dear Lord.
00:07:58
Speaker
After getting out at the age of 18, he joined the foreign Legion. I don't know why, since he was French, ah but who can say? He was kicked out for homosexuality. Okay. After that, he bums around Europe for a while, surviving as a petty thief and sex worker. Wow. Yeah. Well, life already. yeah no This should be the movie. Yeah, this is certainly very interesting and is not what I expected you to say.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah. ah In
Challenges in Filmmaking
00:08:30
Speaker
1937, he returned to Paris, where he was soon arrested. He was in and out of prison for a while. And while he was in there, he wrote his first novel ah called Our Lady of Flowers. I believe a semi autobiographical. Okay. ah Once he was out, he befriended film director Jean Cocteau, who helped him get published.
00:08:54
Speaker
ah When Janae was almost sentenced to life in prison for his 10th crime, they had something like a 10 strikes law, I think. A lot of strikes. Yeah. Yeah. But I think they included like minor crimes too. where They didn't have to be felonies. But still, that is a lot of strikes. That's more like a cricket, I think. Yeah.
00:09:15
Speaker
Uh, but, uh, so he's about to be sentenced to life in prison when he was saved, uh, when artistic luminaries like Jean Carteau, Jean Paul Sartre, and Pablo Picasso wrote to the president on his behalf. After that, he stayed out of trouble. He didn't get arrested anymore. Uh, he continued to write, uh, but became politically active in the sixties. In 1970, he had a three month residency with the Black Panthers.
00:09:45
Speaker
Wow. And then after that, he spent six months in Palestinian refugee camps, helping out around there. OK. Also, the David Bowie song, The Gene Genie, is a pun based on his name. OK. So overall, Jean Genet, cool dude. Yeah. Now, our director, Joseph Strick, was also pretty cool. Not as cool, but let's face it, that's a pretty cool life. Yeah, yeah, it's hard to compare to that.
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this guy probably didn't have a residency with the Black Panthers. I'll i'll tell you right now he didn't, but it's still pretty cool guy. He was born outside of Pittsburgh in 1923. He briefly attended UCLA before enrolling in the army during World War II, wherein he served in the army air forces as a cameraman, just like Joseph V. Michelli from the atomic brain. Getting a lot of great directors from this army air force program. Yeah.
00:10:46
Speaker
Uh, in the forties, he worked in newspapers, uh, during the fifties, he founded several successful electronic companies. I think companies with names like Computron Corp and Hollisonics Corp. I don't know what these were, but they must have been successful in whatever they were doing to some extent, because he made enough money to commission the only home in North America built by famed Brazilian architect, Oscar Nymeyer. Okay.
00:11:17
Speaker
Interesting guy, this guy. That said, he also spent a good chunk of the fifties working ah in films, specifically on one film, an experimental documentary called The Savage Eye. Ooh.
00:11:33
Speaker
Tell us about it. It was about a, um, like a woman, I think getting divorced, but, uh, it was made just entirely of found footage of just like footage they shot walking around LA, just filming people on the street, I think. and Okay. Yeah. It's, it sounds very interesting, but maybe very challenging.
00:11:55
Speaker
Sure. Uh, he would later win an Academy award, uh, for best short documentary for his film interviews with my live veterans in 1970. I bet that's a fucking bummer. Yeah. Uh, yeah, probably. And in 1953, he directed his first feature, the big break, starring a young James Lipton, host of inside the actor's studio. Yeah. He's an unmitigated lover of the film. Pooty tang. So James.
00:12:26
Speaker
I wonder, is, is he still alive? i james look pan but i wrote I think he did. I just remember him of his dramatic reading, uh, of Pope Azzao. Such excellent work. Hopefully he didn't see Louis CK's fall from grace. it's all i Yes. Yes. There should be one person who truly appreciated Poudy Tang and never had that sullied.
00:12:49
Speaker
Yeah, I that's just a I had to caption that show. And that's just like, I am an unmitigated lover of the film Pudi Tang. It's just like runs through my head about twice a year. He's living there rent free. No, God, I got to see if I can find that audio clip. If I can, I'll put it in right here. and There's another there's another word that he uses. It's like I'm a something in an unmitigated. It was like unmitigated lover. of But this is crazy. Anyway, continue on with the movie we're actually talking about.
Opening Scenes & Musical Impact
00:13:20
Speaker
Oh, no problem. ah A decade later, after he finished The Big Break, he directed his second feature, The Balcony. This was his first in a series of adaptations of prestigious material. He would go on later in his career to direct adaptations of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and James Joyce's Ulysses and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. I think I read that he self-funded, he basically self-funded The Balcony.
00:13:48
Speaker
Yes. Was under a lot of pressure while making it. Yes, I have a quote from ah his writer slash co-producer Ben Maddow about that. He said, and I quote, it's not a very good film, though it has some interesting passages in it. So there we are, it's justified as being in our bad movie. The producer has certainly don't like it. And it really exploited this idea of making this whorehouse as a soundstage.
00:14:15
Speaker
I didn't know it at the time, but Strick had pledged his entire worth in order to get the bank loan to make this film. He never told anybody. So he was in a panic and it showed. The balcony did end up turning a profit on its mind. I think it had like 150,000 and made like 1.2 somewhere around there. No, Mazel Tov. Yeah, nice little earner. Other dramas of 1963.
00:14:43
Speaker
i I thought this was going to be, I they think this was more of a satirical comedy, but when I made my list, I was looking at dramas. But just to give you a vibe of what else is in the theaters. You got HUD starring Paul Newman. and okay The Great Escape. Oh, that's a classic. Liza Minnelli in Cleopatra, if I remember correctly. No. Who was in Cleopatra? Elizabeth.
00:15:12
Speaker
Elizabeth Taylor. taylor elizabeth taylor hey I'd love to see Liza Minnelli as Cleopatra. She would have crushed it. The Leopard. I believe Pasolini, if I remember right. sure Lord of the Flies. Shock Corridor by Samuel Fuller. Orson Welles is the trial and adaptation of Kafka. People were into adapting smart things at the time.
00:15:41
Speaker
Federico Fellini's eight and a half. Oh, yeah. And you hate to see it, but Roman Polanski's in the mix with knife in the water. Okay. Somebody should put that guy in the water, am I right? Yeah. Yeah. Long overdue. Yeah. Well, speaking of overdue, how about we get to the plot of the balcony?
00:16:50
Speaker
So we open with an overture and a little title card that says, the balcony overture pure class, not enough movies start with overtures. I was, that is one of the things I love about it. Classic overture that, and the, the.
00:17:07
Speaker
music that carries through the film and how it doesn't really feel like it fits the vibe of the movie throughout. Sure. No, it feels like it's improperly mixed. And like, it's strange because music, it's really hard to make music that doesn't work. Do you know what I mean? Like it's very easy to just throw any piece of music on any piece of like movie and they'll kind of feel like it works. But this somehow doesn't.
00:17:33
Speaker
And oddly enough, I sort of forgot the overture or the fact that there was music in this at all. so ah The first note that I have is I love an overture. OK, yeah, the overture is great. The overture will be our outro, ironically. So listeners, stick around for the overture.
00:17:52
Speaker
And I think it does such a nice job of setting a tone of letting you know what type of movie you're going to be watching. Yeah.
Revolutionary Themes & Stock Footage
00:17:59
Speaker
But all the same way it does for theatrical play experience. But it also immediately lets you to know that this is an adaptation of a play. This is a play thing that we're doing here. But then, interestingly, it cuts to what appears to be documentary footage of a foreign revolution. This footage all looks real to me. Yeah.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yeah, I thought the stock footage was an interesting choice. And knowing Strick's background as a documentarian that blends documentary and narrative fiction together, I think that that makes sense with him as a filmmaker. And best I could guess was that this footage was from the Iraqi Ramadan revolution of 1963. That would have happened about six months before the movie was released, but I can't be a hundred percent sure.
00:18:57
Speaker
Yeah, it was very difficult to put it into context, which works well enough for the movie because it doesn't take place. We don't know where it takes place. No, not a specific country, but a foreign country. so Right.
Shelley Winters' Performance as Irma
00:19:11
Speaker
And ah we do get a couple of shots of Leonard Nimoy as Roger, the revolutionary, throwing grenades and looking through binoculars. Awesome. You'll see him again in about 60 minutes. Yeah.
00:19:28
Speaker
Then we cut to Shelley Winters Irma, who was addressing, I want to say, roughly 30 women who work at her brothel. And we got Shelley Winters in the mix. What did you guys think of Shelley Winters in this? Perfect casting. Yes. Nobody plays a body madam quite like Shelley Winters. Yes.
00:19:51
Speaker
I think, uh, she brought a great energy to this. She, uh, this is the type of thing that Shelley Winters is born to play.
Brothel as a Satirical Setting
00:20:02
Speaker
Now, uh, she lets all the gals know that there's a revolution going on outside, but no matter who wins, they should expect to be busy.
00:20:14
Speaker
As she walks through this sort of giant warehouse of a brothel, we see that it's filled with elaborate sets and large painted backdrops. There's a giant painting of kittens for some reason. I can only imagine what Pervert was like, well I'm going to need kittens. And I love that there's just they the director put in just the sound effects of the cats meowing as it's getting pushed off screen.
00:20:40
Speaker
yeah Yeah, he does a a lot of ah fourth wall sort of commentary on itself as a movie, I feel like. um I've read that the thing that this plays about the most is a transition from a democracy to a technocracy.
00:21:02
Speaker
i at the end of the day, but it also said like, this is about a lot of things. That's just sort of the main thing, but I, I'm going to need, this is one that you sort of need to roll around for a while. This is one that rewards thinking about it, which is always nice in a movie.
00:21:19
Speaker
Now, ah that thetater elaborate sets and backdrops. Irma is not so much in the business of selling sex, but sort of fantastical experiences that probably include sex in some point or the very least sexy ladies. ah The first such, and when we see the bevy of ladies that ah Irma has in her stable, they are certainly a lot of very beautiful women.
00:21:50
Speaker
And they are showing a lot of cleavage. It's great stuff. That's a movie to me. Now, uh, we get to see one of the experiences that she has on offer. The first one that we see is that of the Bishop. What did you guys think of the Bishop?
00:22:12
Speaker
I liked him. Mm hmm. He seemed like the most sympathetic of the proof. Yes. Yeah, I would agree. He seemed to. Other people seem to kind of want to take that like I'm in control here is he sort of wanted to just be something I feel like. And he wanted to forgive people. Yeah, you could also sense a sort of self-deprecation, I think, in a way to.
00:22:40
Speaker
And he couldnt couldn't quite he couldn't tell if he wanted to, like wanted her, the Madam's, or the- Sex worker? The sex workers. of Sins to be real or not, and I i love how wishy-washy he was about that. Yeah, yeah.
00:23:02
Speaker
Like, yeah, at first he's like, they were all real, weren't they? And like, because he was in character and he was in the illusion and in the moment. But then when you see him get out of his costume and he's got that post nut clarity and he's like, wait, wait, wait, you didn't really do those things, right? And then, uh, so then, and I thought he was a great character. I thought the actor did a fantastic job. And.
00:23:28
Speaker
He exits a staged confessional with a beautiful prostitute. Uh, he's ecstatic that she has confessed so many depraved sins, but it turns out he's not actually a Bishop. He's actually a gas meter man with a fetish. Then we hear some gunfire going on outside. Nirma says he's out of time, so he needs to start wrapping things up.
00:23:52
Speaker
She tells ah the woman that she needs to set up a scene where she'll be playing a corpse. She also pulls her aside and says, take it easy. Too much satisfaction and they don't come back. Good line.
00:24:09
Speaker
Yeah. And, uh, establishes that she's, I think it's very easy to see the, uh, one reading of the, uh, brothel is sort of mass media, I think, and sort of, or any sort of opiate of the masses like that sort of situation now. Uh, and so yeah, Irma is a master of getting her clients hooked, you know? Mm-hmm.
00:24:38
Speaker
Definitely, you in every scene, you get the impression that Irma is the smartest person in the entire movie. Oh yeah, definitely. No matter what happens, Irma's going to come out on top and she's barely even concerned about what's going on around her. She's 100% in control. Yeah. Now, Irma then goes to visit her second in command, right hand woman, Carmen. Carmen's office has, yeah, Carmen was a great character.
00:25:07
Speaker
Uh, her office has files on all their customers as well as camera feeds on the private rooms. They take a few minutes to spy on a milk man that likes to fantasize that he's a general ready to die for his country. And, uh, his prostitute is playing his loyal horse. Oh, yes. Again, the nay sound effects that were clear coming from the the woman. Yeah.
00:25:36
Speaker
Yeah, she does. Yeah. Winnie here and there, but they just do that with, uh, with Foley. And he asked her to cover him with flags as part of, uh, his elaborate ritual, which realizes that mate, when I saw the scene that made me realize that both Ryan sisters brought in movies where people have elaborate erotic rituals, which seems like an odd coincidence. Would you want to speak on that now? Do you have any comment?
00:26:07
Speaker
You know, I, think that we are just, uh, can appreciate someone with a quirky interests. I think that's true. I think that's definitely true. The both of you know, uh, we then cut to our final customer, the judge. Yes. This guy. Yes. He was questioning probably my, well,
00:26:32
Speaker
Another great prostitute, this one played by Ruby Dee, the only prostitute who's ah the actress name I knew. a And she's playing the role of a thief being questioned in court by the judge. And she seems a little confused as to what it is the judge wants exactly. She's not really like sliding into the pocket like the previous two gals. She keeps on confessing too quick or not, or too vague. You know, she's not into what's going on.
00:27:03
Speaker
right I kind of disagree. I feel like she was actually enjoying it just as much as him and just finding the sweet spot where both of them have that role playing where it suits them. That's true. I think she was more emotionally involved than the other gals. I think she was more, but I don't think she was like as invested in fulfilling a customer's fantasy. You know what I mean? She wanted to fulfill her own.
00:27:31
Speaker
Yeah. She did a better job of forming a genuine connection with him because as you see, he like starts getting a little bit more into it. And then she confesses to murdering someone too quickly. And he's like, no, I need, yeah, I need you to deny and deny and deny. And then I'll beat it out of you and you'll be remorseful and you'll weep with tears of remorse and pain. And she's like, okay, if you want me to do that, you need to crawl over here and you need to lick my shoe. And probably the hottest scene in the movie.
00:28:01
Speaker
It was the most satisfying arc of all of them, I felt like, because they felt like there was some tension. Like, so when you're first, when I watched the first one, it's kind of like, what is this? i' like Oh, this is a fantasy. And then you watch the second one like, so these are all fantasies. And then this one, they kept kind of breaking it a little bit in talking about it more. And I felt like there was a tension. And then by the end, I was like, no, all of that tension played into this moment we're having now, which feels very real.
Power Dynamics & Societal Critique
00:28:29
Speaker
despite the fact that it's completely within that fantasy. And I found this to be the most, for lack of a better term, satisfying of the three scenarios. Oh, yeah. was I particularly enjoyed it when she was ah talking when she dialed back the murder and she was just stealing. Mm hmm. He asked, do you have a secret pocket? And she snapped back. Don't be nasty.
00:29:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And especially he was talking about a bird, like and sir if you've shoved a bird inside your book. Yeah. I'd yell at him too. Uh, but because she's able, I think also part of it, I think plays to, I don't know.
00:29:19
Speaker
What I imagine would be a ah ah sex work dynamic where you'd want to have something to ah show that you're retaining some sort of power in a situation. If you're going to be vulnerable and like let a customer beat you. Do you know what I mean? If the, well, in, in sort of, again, a sort of professional BDSM situation. I don't know. I am really only speculate, but I thought once again, it was a thought provoking film. Yeah.
00:29:46
Speaker
and And power dynamics play a huge part of this film. And like the idea of ah there's no such thing as false power in the universe. Do you know what I mean? That if you perceive ah somebody as being powerful, then that in and and of itself is power and people wanting to be perceived as powerful and fantasizing about it. Now, back in The Office, Carmen and Irma watch all this play out on one of their TV screens.
Plot Twist: The Illusion of Control
00:30:16
Speaker
Carmen laments that she has a desk job now and she misses the fun and of excitement of working directly with the customers. And Irma's like, no, this desk job is better. It pays better. You're staying out of trouble. And she kisses Irma or Irma kisses Carmen on the mouth when the doorbell rings in a way that I do think that Irma is gay. That's how I read her character at that point. I think she's definitely bisexual. Okay.
00:30:46
Speaker
So well you'll find later that she also has a relationship with the chief who comes into play. Yeah, if I read that as more as a professional than than pleasure, but maybe not who could say but who can say. Yeah, I guess Jean Genaik. I just love and I think that's part of what drew me to this movie. Is that in this came out in 1963.
00:31:11
Speaker
And there was an onscreen kiss between two women. Yeah. sexually thought about yeah yeah Yeah. Very transgressive. but Now, but yes, the doorbell does ring and who else could it be? Finally, at last, Peter Falk as George, the chief of police. What did you guys think of Peter Falk as George? I thought it was a real interesting turn from him.
00:31:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's very, very interesting to see him do this like fascist chief of police when I know him basically only as Colombo. Mm hmm. You know, yeah I got one more question. I got I got it. We got to we got to tamp down the rebels. You know, it's just like it's just really weird for me. He really does a great job at it. Yeah. I think he's very young here. Yes. I think he was perfect for this particular role and the quality of the movie. um so it There's parts where it does feel very cheesy, but there's so much passion in what he's giving that it really works. And I think it plays into the kind of character that he's that he's portraying. Yeah, he is both evil and funny. ah say i don't we're not I don't think we're supposed to really be taking him that seriously.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah. And therefore at the same time he does. Yeah. I don't think he's going to leap out of the movie and get me, you know, I'm not worried about checking my closet at night for chief George, but I do think in terms of the, uh, consequences of the character, like I don't think that he would hesitate to kill any other character in the movie. Oh yeah. And you know, and he is powerful and I do get the sense that he is, uh, uh,
00:33:08
Speaker
you know, sort of petty and of low moral character, which is something that you don't see a lot in Peter Falk. And I could maybe think of two other things that weren't Columbo, but obviously you wouldn't think of that as Columbo. And yeah, those other ones are very much Columbo types. So it's interesting to see a different Peter Falk on screen. And I think he crushes it. He does. Now,
00:33:35
Speaker
He's in danger, he got set on fire with some gasoline, his hands burned up. But also, the whole dang system is in danger. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Bishop of the National Church, and the Head General of the Army have all been killed, either by themselves, partisans, or Chief George. On top of that, the Queen was gonna come visit and try and settle everything down, but her flight was canceled because the airport got burned to the ground.
00:34:06
Speaker
What Chief George really needs to stop this revolution is a national figure to show the people that the government is still in charge. So he wants Irma to dress as the queen and drive through town, hopefully knocking the wind out of the revolution. Irma says, I'm not going to do that. I'll get shot. Fair enough. Yeah.
00:34:29
Speaker
Uh, so instead she offers up her own homegrown Bishop, General and Judge, her three customers to play the roles of those characters instead. What a coincidence. Yeah, it's interesting, right? Boy. Uh, but you know, this is a ah satirical play, you know? Yeah, yeah. No, no, it all works out perfectly for a reason. Yeah. If they weren't there, you couldn't have a movie.
00:34:59
Speaker
Exactly.
Embracing Roles & Authority
00:35:00
Speaker
Uh, so she tells Carmen to go convince the men to get on board. So we only see Carmen go to the Bishop. He's a little bit hesitant, but Carmen is able to convince him mostly just by moaning and wiggling in front of him. I'll convince, uh, I'll confess. I also found it rather convincing. Chief George announces on a remote radio broadcast from the brothel that the revolution has failed.
00:35:29
Speaker
And the authorities are still in charge of this glorious nation. I'm sorry. I think you'll be this national nation. Yes. This national nation. Composed of minerals and miracles. Yes. This was a fantastic monologue that it gives. I wish I was a high school drama student. I would love to deliver this monologue. Yeah. If you are a listener in high school drama class, check out the balcony and do this monologue. That'll be so much fun.
00:36:01
Speaker
So in order to prove that the authorities are still in charge, he says he's going to send the Bishop, the General and the Judge through town so everybody can see that they're still alive and well and everything's fine. He's also going to blow up the North side of the city where Roger and his partisans are said to be hiding in about three minutes. I love that the brothel can not only broadcast just out to the city, but there's also a detonator inside this house of illusion.
Symbolism: House of Illusion
00:36:31
Speaker
Well, they they brought the detonator there, I'm sure after, you know, the detonator is a mobile object. So you you definitely see someone bring the detonator in before they mention the bombing. And I was just like, what is this zany cartoon thing doing here? Like, what are we why are we weaving in a giant plunger with like what's going on here? It's a classic Acme style, Wylie Coyote, dynamite plunger. Yeah, you love to see.
00:37:01
Speaker
Um, and yeah, he says in three minutes, he's going to use it to blow up the entire North side of town. But yeah, the house of illusion. And I'm glad that you use the term house of illusion. Cause I found out that that actually is a, uh, a literal transition of the French term for brothel, apparently. Oh, yeah. It's term for a bra throughout the movie. It's c called, they refer to it as a house of illusion, a brothel and a house of pleasure. ah Yeah. Yeah. So those are fair to say all synonyms.
00:37:28
Speaker
But they took the House of Illusion part to the next level at this particular House of Illusion. Very much so. Very much so. Now, the fellas, they're all out on their big drive through town. At first, they're sort of nervous because they're driving through the part of town that was blown up. And that that's the part of the town that has the partisans. That's probably where they're most likely to get blown up. And they even see a little kid with a gun, but they're like, no, no, no.
00:37:55
Speaker
Revolution's over, Roger's dead. Long live the queen. The kid's like, yeah, yeah, along with the queen. Sounds good. And then they head to the populated part down and everyone's psyched to see them. and They're all cheering. Yeah. There and the fellas are loving it.
00:38:11
Speaker
Uh, then they each get a little scene where they get to sort of exercise little bits of their roles. Uh, the Bishop forgives the people. Uh, the general forgives the army and the judge forgives all the dead people. And so, hey, everything's good. Yeah. Uh, and they're loving it. And they're like, yes, by the time they get back to the brothel, they're like, we need to make this permanent. We could do this. We could pull this off. This could be our new lives.
00:38:42
Speaker
Uh, understandably, but the chief tells them that this is not going to happen. He's not going to let them actually be in charge of the government. This is over. And then he pulls out a gun to shoot the judge, but it turns out he was using a gun that he stole from Irma earlier. And like everything else in the house of illusion, it's just a prop gun. It just shoots blanks. He feels kind of like an asshole at this point.
00:39:09
Speaker
And they called them paper bullets, which threw me off for a while. I was like, what are paper bullets? But I'm guessing like caps. Maybe. I think they're like a kind of blank you use in the theater. That would make sense. He was upset that it wasn't even filled with blanks. That it was. Yeah. A blanket hurts somebody. Yeah. So he storms off to go yell at Irma. He briefly stops in Carmen's office and finds that they have a file on him themselves and he takes it out and he tears it up.
00:39:37
Speaker
And then he goes into Irma's next room where Irma is laying on a large bed dressed as a queen and is addressing him as though she were his queen.
Climactic Confrontation
00:39:49
Speaker
Clearly she's there to offer the chief his fantasy. And she says, yes, I will be the queen. I'll be your queen. But he seems less interested in the idea at this point.
00:40:03
Speaker
I love that in that scene, he's all of a sudden kind of slipping into some kind of muddled accent. Yeah. Every now and then it's, he makes it sound like he's from somewhere and then he drops it. Yeah. Uh, before the two of them can hash it out, Carmen busts in and tells them that Roger just showed up at the house of illusion and he wants to play chief of police naturally. That's all the revolutionaries really want, isn't it?
00:40:34
Speaker
Now, Irma tells her to set him up with one of the chief's old uniforms that she has in her assorted costumes and tells Carmen, yeah, go have a nice time. You get to you get to go hang out with the customer this time. Knock him down. Go swivel your hips at Roger. Yes. And in their scene, Carmen tells Roger that she is an angel and that he will die a martyr's death being poisoned by betrayers.
00:41:02
Speaker
but he will be remembered as a monument to the ages. And then the real chief comes in and kicks Carmen out. They exchange pleasantries for a little while before they begin throttling each other. They knock the whole set down, they're messing everything up. you see the kid That's a bit too much for Irma. Yeah, good to see them. ah So the gals rush out and start assaulting them and irmaales them ah Irma tells them to strip them naked and kick them out nude on the street with gunfire echoing through the city. The two men agreed to part ways with a little salute. Hey, and it's once again, very much like that Wiley coyote cartoon where he was up against the sheep dog. And at the end of the day, they both punch out and walk home. Oh yeah. Yeah. I think we're glossing over a little bit, the fact that these two,
00:42:00
Speaker
Actors, Peter Falk and Leonard Nimoy were naked in a scene together, running around. It's true. Yeah. It's true. They were both just in boxer shorts and little police caps. They eventually got some towels. Yeah. But this is 1963 and we've got two gentlemen naked on screen together. Yeah. pretty And they're both, and it's great to see an age when men didn't shave their chests. Fellas, let it all hang out. That's what I'm telling you.
00:42:30
Speaker
to, you could be just like Peter Falk and Leonard Nimoy. Two people, people are always trying to be emulate. Yes. And rightly so.
Final Scene & Message
00:42:41
Speaker
Back inside the brothel, Irma turns out the lights and then turns to the camera and says, you can all go home to your own homes, to your own beds, where everything will be falser than it is here, I assure you.
00:42:57
Speaker
The end done done done. There you go. I love that it ends with the breaking the fourth wall. Yeah. Yeah. Just so you can see Shelley winter stepping across the proscenium arch and just getting hit with the spotlight. Boy, that would have been powerful here. It felt sort of weird and abrupt. Yeah. It was a strange ending.
00:43:22
Speaker
felt like the end of cats if you've seen that adaptation of a stage production. Do you mean the filmed stage production or the 2019 film? The 2019 film. and Okay, because the film stage production is also charming. Oh, yes. Yeah. It really hits at home that they were just people wearing cat costumes jumping around, even more than the film does. Oh, definitely.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yeah. If listeners, if you like cats, check out cats. But anyway, version ah back to the balcony. ah Final thoughts, five stars. Mallory, you said, ah what did you want to say about the balcony? What have we not hit on?
00:44:10
Speaker
you know i i but I should have brought this up in the in the context portion of the show. That's okay. ah But the film was really sold as like this shocking movie, so shocking subject matter. um If you look at the posters for it, they're quotes on their a bold, sexy, disquieting film strictly for adults. Yeah.
00:44:35
Speaker
um Let's see. There's also. I'd say it's strictly for adults because most children don't appreciate. ti Sure. Yeah. A shocking film worth being shocked by. True. Absolutely true. Yeah. Sure. So I don't know. It just, I'm curious what the, like the reception at the time based on that, those, those quotes that were pulled. Yeah. And I wonder what its distribution was like.
00:45:05
Speaker
Because was, was this like a touring movie where you'd be like, did you hear the balcony? It's that movie about the, the horror revolution and a revolution. What happens? Anything could happen in this, this realm of fantasies, this house of illusions, or was it like playing, you know, with the same places that would be showing eight and a half in America? Was it an art house? it I don't know.
00:45:33
Speaker
Based on the way that it's marketed, it sounds more like it was more a roadshow movie. Yeah. So out of five stars, where did you land, Mallory? Final thoughts, five stars.
00:45:48
Speaker
I got to give it a four. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think, are we talking five stars on the, on the bad meter? Is this a bad meter? We've gotten really, we've gotten really fuzzy on it. Okay. Five stars in any way you're feeling.
00:46:02
Speaker
You know, when I first watched this movie, I could not wait to talk about it with somebody and I wasn't able to find anyone to talk to about it. um That's the worst feeling. But it's what you know it it's one of those movies that sat with me for a long time and just, I felt like I had to talk about it and I kept telling people about it. um I've been telling of people about it since I saw it. Anytime I have an opportunity to recommend ah recommend a movie, there's just something about this I feel like people need to see. I think that's true. I think you could definitely call this one under seen. I wound up at about, ooh, I want to say three and a half. I thought it was both goofy and thought provoking.
00:46:51
Speaker
But it was a little mannered for my taste. It was a little bit too stylized in a way that I found to be kind of alienating. And I think that's just part of it being part of the theater of the surreal, specifically, as well as being an adapted theater piece. But it felt a little too theater to me. Oh, yeah. That's probably why it gets that extra half point for me. Yeah, yeah. This is strictly matters of taste. Greg, where did you land?
00:47:21
Speaker
So I've got a very complex answer. I've been trying to figure this out since I watched it. i feel that this is smoking movie oh yeah I feel like this is probably a pretty good play. I feel like as a play, which is basically what this movie is, this is ah to me, this didn't feel like a movie. It felt just like a play that someone put on screen. I think it's a play.
00:47:44
Speaker
It's like 4 out of 5. It's a bit heady, challenging, it's interesting. I feel like but I would like to see a stage production of it to try to rate the play itself. As ah as a movie, if I were to call it a a bad movie, I'm gonna give it a 2.
00:48:03
Speaker
Because I feel like it's only for a certain type of person who can engage with the material in this way. Like I think your average person who's like watching Troll 2 in various other bad movies could just after like 15 minutes be like, I don't know what this is. I don't want to watch any more of it. But there's certainly someone who's more interested in watching something that is bad.
00:48:28
Speaker
uh in trying to get something from that could certainly get something from this as an actual movie i'm going to give it like a it it bounces back and forth between like a one and a half and a two and a half for me because it's all provoking and interesting but it really feel Like they just filmed a play like I don't understand what part of this movie makes it a movie Like the cameras not really doing anything I feel like that you know aren't really doing anything like they're not like one of my notes was people should move
00:49:05
Speaker
Yeah, it's a lot of standing. It's a lot of just a lot of dead air, a lot of dead air also. A lot of it's really strange. Yeah. Is that this was nominated for cinematography? That makes zero sense to me. Yeah. I can't imagine what the state of the art was at that time. Because it really feels like I said it earlier. It feels like someone's like, we got a stage here, put the camera there, put the camera there. We'll just cut between them live.
00:49:33
Speaker
Like I would not be surprised if all of this was done in a take. Not because it's bad or anything, but because it feels so much like a play. ah And the delivery is not film delivery. It is play delivery, which is not bad, but it just doesn't read to the camera in any way of the music. As I said, I couldn't remember any music.
00:49:57
Speaker
um And I think that's just because it it it just, it, this is one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. I didn't know if it was sci-fi because they're like looking at things through cameras. And I was just like, where are we? When are we? What, what am I, you know, this one really kind of flew by me. Having that our context and discussing it makes me like it a little more and understand it a little better.
00:50:20
Speaker
Yeah, lot of it I was just like, this feels super surreal. And I think it only makes sense on a stage. And I think you could film this, but you have to film it, not just put cameras down and cut them together. At least that's what it felt like. Fair enough, Greg. Fair enough. I'm going to say it's time for us to move on to act three of the show, and it's going to start off with a tangent.
00:50:53
Speaker
Sure the movie is the main event But that's not the case with this Cause we're going on
00:51:39
Speaker
So we're going on a little bit of a TV tangent today. I might make a separate but TV tangent bumper. I don't know. I like it. But we're going to be talking about The big dog, we're gonna be talking about Columbo. Okay. Now, the balcony was not the only collaboration between TV icons Peter Falk and Leonard Nimoy. They would team up again ten years later, once again playing a cop and a criminal, but this time with a very different vibe on a 1973 episode of Columbo. Did Nimoy do it? ah He did. yeah Yeah. I believe it was called The Stitch in Time.
00:52:17
Speaker
Falk plays his iconic rumpled detective, Lieutenant Colombo, and Nimoy plays the calculating and a murderously ambitious surgeon, Dr. Barry Mayfield. It has all the joys of a classic episode of Colombo, opening with a twisty, perfect crime, before Colombo instantly clocks Dr. Barry as our killer the first time he sees him, and the two of them lie to each other for the remaining hour of the show.
00:52:48
Speaker
This I think is a big part of what makes Columbo such endearing and enduring joy is that the main actors are always really talented, much like Falk and Nimoy, classic example. And they always play the subtext for the entire show. It's always just them lying to each other. So every line is just subtext. And so you as the audience get to know that someone is lying and be like, Oh, I'm as smart as Lieutenant Columbo. Cause I know that guy's lying.
00:53:19
Speaker
And I know Colombo's lying cause I'm his best friend. We have a secret, me and Colombo. So you have that instant feeling of, of tightness with Colombo. So if you don't know where to start with Colombo and you like the balcony, I recommend checking out the episode A Stitch in Time. What are you guys thoughts on Colombo? You guys Colombo heads?
00:53:48
Speaker
ah Well, my sister, ah Rebecca Ryan, who as you mentioned has been a previous guest on your show, huge Colombo fan. She hasn't been able to convince me to get around to it just yet, but it's on my list. I think all right well there'll be a time where I i take take that dive. It's worth checking out.
00:54:07
Speaker
ah Yeah, my family was into Colombo, so we were watching it in the 80s when it was when they were doing the television movies or in the 90s. Maybe I really liked it then as a kid and then got to do some of it in my captioning work. And it's just been nice to see it like it was always like when you got one of those, you're like, oh, thank God. OK, cool. And then ah there's been a few times in my wild. um moves around the country of the last seven years and that i've been back at my mom's place and she still she dvrs a lot of colombo so like when that's honestly i'll sit down i'll sit down and i'll watch a colombo with you it's like i'll find something to do in the living room so that i can keep watching a colombo with you.
00:54:53
Speaker
um It's always a good time and I do love that you like you know when I said didn't emoid do it. You know who did it right away, which is such a different take on the format and they do such fun with it by just being like so you know so we can like play around with this. You get to watch the cat in the mouse as opposed to like the mice. Oh no, it's a cat and he knew the whole time. It's like no he knows.
00:55:20
Speaker
And you get to watch him play with that thing and do it, but still wonder, like, how is it going to finally play out? Like, what's the thing he's going to do? That's going to be like, that's what it was. That's the thing that gave it away. It was the chair. It was the chair he has in his living room.
00:55:36
Speaker
Do you guys want to know what happened in a stitch in time? I can tell you. So Leonard Nimoy, he's playing a Dr. Barry and he is working with another doctor on creating a new drug for transplants. It's a transplant drug. Okay. And, but the older doctor, he's got a bum ticker. And another problem they have is that someone has beaten down their door, right?
00:56:01
Speaker
Nimoy wants to get to testing human trials. The other guy doesn't think it's ready. And so Nimoy is also the other doctor's doctor. And he is going to put in a ah artificial valve or a replacement valve in his heart. He's got a bad valve, but he uses dissolving stitches, dissolving sutures instead of the real sutures that he's supposed to use. And a nurse figures it out.
00:56:32
Speaker
So he sews the doctor up with his dissolving stitches and then he goes and he kills the nurse. And then he makes the nurse look like she got killed for being into drugs. And then, uh, Colombo, when he hears, uh, Nimoy in his office getting the phone call that said, Oh, the nurse is dead.
00:56:57
Speaker
Colombo noticed that he was winding his clock while he was responding to that. And he's like, a lot of people wouldn't be, he'd be too shocked to be winding a clock while they were doing that. That's interesting about you. And that's when you knew Colombo knows this guy's a killer. yeah So then he spends the next hour proving he's the killer. And he convinces the other guy to replace, or he convinces Leonard Nimoy to replace the dissolving sutures with regular sutures so that the other guy doesn't die because they'll find them in an autopsy. And then, right He'll be like, well, I've got you for that one then. And then that's how he catches him is he finds the dissolving sutures, let her know he planted them in his coat. It's great. Nice. Spoiler alert. Yeah. With that, do you guys want to play a game? Please. Always.
00:57:53
Speaker
This guy played that guy.
00:58:12
Speaker
That's right. We're playing a, this guy played that guy. And Greg, you're famously not competitive when it comes to games. Yeah. Mallory famously very competitive when it comes to games.
00:58:25
Speaker
Although I'm a little nervous if you mentioned it specifically Leonard Nimoy. I don't know that I. Yes, this is more of a guessing game. This will largely be intuition and we're going to be playing buzz in style. So buzzing. Yeah, buzz into you just say your name. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a title of film. The year it came out in a brief description.
00:58:48
Speaker
And then I'm going to give you three character names from the film. I want you to tell me which one was played by Leonard Des Moines. They're all characters from the films. None of them are made up. None of them are made up. They're all characters from the film. Okay. Okay. Everybody ready? Yes. Let's do it. All right. Question number one, death watch 1965.
00:59:14
Speaker
A small time thief battles with his gay cellmate over a third illiterate muscular convict. Death Watch. Did he play Maurice? Green Eyes or La Frank?
00:59:32
Speaker
Greg. All right, Greg, what do you think? La Frank. Correct. Greg is on the board with one point. Question number two.
00:59:45
Speaker
Brain Eaters, 1958.
00:59:49
Speaker
The inhabitants of a small Illinois town begin disappearing after a strange cone is found sticking out of the ground nearby. Did Leonard Nimoy play the Sheriff, Professor Cole, or a Dr. Kettering? Mallory. Mallory, what's your answer? Dr. Kettering.
01:00:13
Speaker
I'm sorry, matt Greg. Greg, can you steal? What were the other two? The Sheriff or Professor Cole? The Sheriff. I'm sorry, it was Professor Cole in that one. All right. Question number three. Francis goes to West Point, 1952. Sounds wonderful. Francis, the talking mule, gets his owner in and out of trouble while he is in basic training at West Point.
01:00:44
Speaker
Did Leonard Nimoy play parade spectator, plant workman, or cadet football player? Mallory. Mallory? Cadet football player. Correct. You're on the board, Mallory. I felt it. I felt that. I knew it. It's all tied up. Question number four. Kid Monk Baroni, 1952. Okay.
01:01:13
Speaker
Kid Monk Baroni, the leader of a street gang, becomes a professional boxer to escape his life in Little Italy. Did Leonard Nimoy play Paul Monk Baroni, Gino Baroni, or Father Callahan? Greg. Greg? Gino Baroni. I'm sorry. Mallory. Mallory?
01:01:41
Speaker
Paul Monk Barone? With that, you've taken the lead, Mallory. All right, I'm in it.
01:01:51
Speaker
It was really hard. I had to find, I wanted to find specifically movies and most of Nimoy's career was in television. So his movies are all really strange. This sounds very strange. Question number five. Also from 1952, these last three films are all 1952, a very busy year for Leonard Nimoy. Yeah.
01:02:11
Speaker
Question number five, zombies of the stratosphere, 1952. The invaders come to earth to create an H-bomb to blast earth out of orbit so that Mars can take its place. That's a weird thought. Yeah. Did Leonard Nimoy play NARAB? Marex or Mr. Steel. Greg. Greg? Marex.
01:02:41
Speaker
I was really hoping there was going to be a ding after that. Mary, do you have a steal? I'm going to go with NARAB. Correct. Three to one. Question number six. Valley of Mystery, 1967.
01:03:01
Speaker
A flight from Miami to Caracas crashes in the Venezuelan jungle, stranding 130 people in hostile surroundings. Did Leonard Nimoy play Dr. Weatherly, Ben Barstow, or Spencer Atherton? Greg? Greg. He played the doctor?
01:03:28
Speaker
Strangely, he did not. Yeah. I'm going to guess Ben Barstow for the alliteration. Sorry, he was Spencer Atherton. That was Spencer Atherton. No, it's a strange casting. yeah Maybe if he was wearing like a cravat. Question number seven, baffled 1972.
01:03:52
Speaker
A racing champion is haunted by visions of a woman in danger in an English mansion. An ESP expert believes his visions will come true and ask him for his help investigating them.
01:04:07
Speaker
Did he play Tom Kovac, Dr. Reed, or Verrelli?
01:04:16
Speaker
Greg? Greg. Tom Kovac. Correct. All right. You're just going behind Greg and there's two questions left. You can still take it. Okay. Eyes on the prize. Question number eight, the Alpha caper, 1973.
01:04:38
Speaker
A parole officer forced into early retirement gets together three ex-cons to pull off a $30 million dollars armed car robbery. Did Leonard Nimoy play Mark, Mitch, or Scat? Mallory. Mallory. Mitch. Correct. Clutch play from Mallory.
01:05:03
Speaker
yeah Alright, last one. My personal favorite from the list. Transformers the movie, 1986. Oh yeah. The Autobots must stop a colossal planet consuming robot. Did Leonard Nimoy play Ultra Magnus? Galvatron? Or Unicron? Greg? Greg. Unicron?
01:05:32
Speaker
shouldn't Sorry, Mallory, can you steal? I don't even remember the names that you gave me. I know this is a personal favorite, Chris. I'm sorry to disappoint you. It's all right. You'll just have to come over and watch it. it's ah Your other choices are Ultra Magnus or Galvatron. Ultra Magnus. No, I'm sorry. Unicron was Orson Welles. Ultra Magnus was Robert Stack. Leonard Nimoy played Galvatron.
01:06:00
Speaker
Hell of a cast on that Transformer, so... Congratulations to you, Mallory, and a great fight, Greg. You really hung in there. I... I try. You... you succeeded. I mean, not literally. Right. But you succeeded in trying. It's true. You guys ready for some Batty Awards? Hell yeah.
01:06:27
Speaker
Now you're messing with me.
01:06:52
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to all our nominees. I'll kick us off with the Batty Awards. I'm going to give my Batty Award for this is the No Blue Name on Wikipedia Award to Arnett Jens, the actress that played the prostitute that was the horse.
01:07:13
Speaker
Only member of the cast that was not blue on Wikipedia. Interesting. And also my favorite prostitute. She was apparently mostly a theater actress working in the DC area, but she had this really great deep voice and she had a very interesting face, a very good beautiful, yeah, I thought she was, she, I think she was great. So here's to you, Arnett Jens. I hope that your Wikipedia name is blue someday. Who wants to go next?
01:07:44
Speaker
Greg, after you. Sure. Uh, so I am going to give my Batty award to the scene stealer of the movie. Uh, in that to me was, uh, the piece of graffiti behind the car when it takes off with the Bishop, the judge, and the general, there's just one piece of graffiti that says Liberty and chastity. Uh, and I could not every time that that scene published, I was like Liberty and chastity. That's interesting.
01:08:13
Speaker
I just couldn't take my eyes off of it. It's an interesting piece of graffiti. Uh, and I found it pretty magnanimous. So, uh, good work. Yes. Fantastic work. How about you, Mallory? Well, I, I kind of touched on it already, but my Batty award goes to Verna Fields and Jeannie Turner, the sound editors for this movie. Okay.
01:08:38
Speaker
just really enjoyed those sound effects. The cat's meowing when the the cat backdrop rolled off screen. The whinny of the horse when it was clearly just a woman giving a horse. ah The repeated use of that same machine gun sound throughout. Just excellent choices.
01:09:00
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. And I think there was a lot of female talent behind the camera on this film. I think the cinematographer was also a woman. That's amazing. Yeah. So that's also really cool. So salute to you, the balcony, yeah a movie that more people should talk about. It's certainly very interesting. And I'm glad that you got us to watch it. So thank you. Yeah. Yes. Please reach out. I, I, like I said, I, I've been looking for years to, to be able to speak with people about this.
01:09:30
Speaker
Yes. If people wanted to reach out to you, Mallory, do you want do you have a way that you want people to reach out? are you Do you have anything you want to plug? Yes. I guess if you're if you live in Wichita, if you live in the area, you could check out our monthly film series at the Orpheum Theater. Yes. Every now and then, Mallory will ask,
01:09:48
Speaker
about movies that they should program. And I will suggest things and they will not be the right vibe. he
01:09:57
Speaker
I'm going to plug us for a second because that's the part of the show where we're at. ah First of all, listener, you probably got your phone in your hand. You're probably about to fast forward to something. Why don't you just give us that quick five stars? The real question is, if not you, then who? That's right.
01:10:17
Speaker
You're the person that's listening to the show. It sort of falls on you. ah Another thing that you could do that would be great would be if you could tell a friend about the show. Obviously word of mouth is even better than any rating you see on a website. That just helps us beat algorithms. But if we really want to win hearts and minds, we need you out there spreading the gospel.
01:10:40
Speaker
Now if you want to reach out to us, you can email us at favoritebadmovypod at gmail dot.com. And if you check the show description, you'll find the link to our link tree where you can find our Instagram and our Blue Sky and our YouTube ah where I've been pointing up a bunch of trailers for episodes. They've been really fun to do. And you should make sure that you come back next week when we will have returning guest, Matt Finnegan, and we'll be talking about Lords of Magic. You know, if Matt Finnegan's bringing you something called Lords of Magic, it's going to be a hit. So stick around if, if you're listening to an old episode, ah if you're, this was the latest episode and you listen to that, then come back next week for that one. And, uh, until next time, be good. Goodbye. Goodbye.
01:11:35
Speaker
So long. Thank you for having me. Thank you for coming.