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329 — Sandwich Thieves
45 Plays1 year ago
Ty & Eric briefly pivot Think Fresh into a film review podcast so that they can discuss the 1948 neorealist masterpiece Bicycle Thieves. They talk about resurrecting ‘*capiche*’, the male urge to funnel all emotion into a vehicle, how handsome dudes can be down bad too, finding a serious movie for Ty, how the rich eat at Subway, how men used to put that shit on, and whether all movies are for children.
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Transcript
Nautical Nonsense & Episode Teasers
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready kids? I can't hear you. I wish we could lives in a pineapple under the sea to tie and Eric.
00:00:21
Speaker
Um, I don't know. I don't know how to, how else to freak that I was going to get real nasty with it, but I'm happy. I didn't, I don't think we should be going there this early in the episode. Maybe near the end when the, uh, all of the wussies have dropped off. Absolutely. Stick around for the 23rd minute mark. Yeah. Some nasty ass, some really creaky freaky things happening later on in this episode. But for now, let's start with more of a baseline of like how we are
Eric's Movie Challenge
00:00:46
Speaker
doing. How are we doing? Eric? Oh, just fan fucking tastic.
00:00:51
Speaker
Yeah, I forced you to watch a movie the other day, and you're a known movie hater. However, I thought it'd be nice for me to recommend you something and then for you to recommend me something to fill my time with.
00:01:07
Speaker
Mm hmm. How did you like that? It's true. It's true. I did. I watched a film. I think like the medium of this message here, Eric, I watched a film and as you know, and the bread has probably no two, I believe movies are for children.
Are Movies Just for Kids?
00:01:19
Speaker
And I think that this movie is no exception.
00:01:22
Speaker
Whenever you say that it's like I hear it for the first time and it just irks me so much like pisses me off so much. Why do you why would you possibly think that? Because every time I watch a movie I realize oh yeah I could see how this is for children and there's never been a situation where that isn't the case. But do you think you're just watching bad movies? Holographic films don't count by the way. Those are motion pictures. Yeah a lot of motion. So okay what makes you think that and also
00:01:49
Speaker
like are you watching like what the fuck are you watching that you think every movies for kids i'm guessing watching movies movies for kids i watch a lot of animated movies guys watching uh spongebob and he's like he's like damn dude show socket these days it's like no you're just watching something for kids explore some theme yeah exactly but even spongebob has like adult themes kind of baked in that
00:02:12
Speaker
you will understand if you're a parent watching with your kid you know it's true but you have to also deal with the children's themes that are layered on top of that like there's no just like. Hard cold boring film about getting like audited by the irs yeah there are are there definitely ones you have to record that. Yeah there's any any possible adult theme you can think of has been filmed.
00:02:35
Speaker
Okay. Well, okay. Here's what I'm gonna, here's my challenge to you. I'll tell you what I don't like. I don't like scary movies. Too scary. I don't even really like thrillers too much. Too thrilling. Find me the most adult film for adults with adult themes. That is not a scary movie.
00:02:54
Speaker
Okay, that's pretty easy right away. Wow good for you Okay, well if kids are in if there is a even a theme that I can derive for children in it Then I'm calling you out on it. Okay. Well, I'm thinking of one that obviously has Children in it. They're a center point in the story. However, it's not for children. I
00:03:15
Speaker
And I mean, children could watch it and feel something that's for sure. Um, but the, I don't know, I guess. Interesting. Okay. Okay. The movie Kramer versus Kramer is a divorce movie. Oh, yeah. Two parents who are fighting in court for custody of their child after their marriage falls apart.
00:03:37
Speaker
Oh, no child wants to watch that. Exactly. I mean, they could. Okay. Well, I will give that one of you then. I'll see what happens. I do like Kramer. This movie we just watched, La Dredi Bicicletta or Bicycle Thieves is supposedly a classic.
00:04:00
Speaker
Oh yeah, absolutely a classic. I think it was filmed in the 50s. I have 1948 written down in my notes an Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. Hell yeah dude, you have no idea how hype you just made me when you said neorealist. Hell yeah, you are a neorealist a little bitly.
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah. Bear with us because this is going to be a movie podcast episode. I think we're probably going to talk about this film the whole time.
Exploring 'Bicycle Thieves'
00:04:29
Speaker
Yeah. So maybe we should give the bread heads a little bit of a summary of what this silly little film is about. Yeah, please do it. Okay. So basically what happens is you got this like poor dude. He's a dad, poor daddy. Okay. Maybe I should tell the story of what happens. Oh, that's pretty good. Poor daddy lives in Rome. His name is Antonio Ricci.
00:04:47
Speaker
Okay. So you go from here. Okay. Let me pick up where you fumbled. Um, so Ty, this movie was filmed. Okay. Context matters here. Okay. I don't know if I just gave the con. I gave the set and the characters. If you've learned this in English class in high school, but, um, the movie was filmed immediately following world war two in Italy. Right. Obviously because of the year, we already established that dumb, dumb. It was important to.
00:05:13
Speaker
reiterate what we're trying to iterate you know i mean so obviously in the movie it starts out with everyone like kind of looking for jobs like no one's working cuz the more i just ended italy is obviously in a financial ruined state financially ruined and um
00:05:31
Speaker
There's this, the opening scene is someone of power, I guess is like handing out jobs to people as being like, okay, you get to do this job. You get to do this job. And okay guys, we ran out of jobs and there's like 30 people like looking right. Um, one guy is summoned and he said like, okay, you get to do this job of putting up these posters around the city. And the only requirement is that you need a bicycle to get around. And this guy is like,
00:05:59
Speaker
Oh, fuck. I don't have a bike, so I can't really do this job, can I? He's like, okay, I'll give it to someone else. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. I do it. I do it at a job. Yeah, he can procure a bicycle. Yeah, he's like, oh, we'll get the bicicleta. Just needs to sell everything he owns. Exactly. So he goes to sell, well, his wife sells their bedsheets, which is kind of funny. Yeah, that was kind of funny. So we don't need this. It's kind of funny because you don't really need them. Dude, my college roommate clearly didn't need them. Yeah, exactly.
00:06:25
Speaker
Old roommate also like filled the lights with shit. More on that later. If you see shit in your light on the ceiling, get new roommates. Yeah dude, kick out your roommate and call the plumber immediately. But I won't spoil the movie. It's only a hundred years old. But the rest of the movie, the guy gets his bike stolen.
00:06:52
Speaker
So he can no longer do the job. And then the rest of the movie, he's looking to get his bike back at all costs because right now at this moment, this bike is his world. It's the only thing unlocking his future. I mean, he's basically at a standstill. He could die poor. Sure. So you ended up watching the escapades of this, um, sad father with, he, he grabs his son. His son has to hang out with them because I guess they didn't invent elementary school at this point.
00:07:20
Speaker
And the two of them wander, make escapades all around Rome, looking left, right, and center for this bicycle, getting in all sorts of trouble. Um, we won't spoil the ending, but, uh, it was, it was quite the journey, a hero's journey of sorts. I think we have to spoil it to talk in detail about it. If you haven't seen it by now, I mean, it's only 80 years old. It's the most predictable ending you could have imagined, which is he
00:07:51
Speaker
Oh, come on. It's the first thing I thought he's going to steal a bike at the end. Yeah, but it's not really the act that is unpredictable. Like, yes, the ending, if you think of it as like, he's going to turn evil as yet, maybe it's predictable. The other thing about when this movie was made, it's like forties. They didn't know how to make movies back. You know what I mean? It's like no one was predicting anything because this is probably like a new thing. Like, you know, I guess so. And I can see how like,
00:08:18
Speaker
At that point, we hadn't really preestablished these kinds of like plots and stuff. Like this probably paved the way for Star Wars. It's the same plot. Man starts good, goes evil, son observes that, and then probably also goes evil. Oh, interesting. Literally Star Wars. Damn. Okay.
Emotional Depth in 'Bicycle Thieves'
00:08:40
Speaker
But the thing that he does might be predictable, but the, I guess the like fallout of it,
00:08:48
Speaker
is unpredictable. And maybe the whole movie is like it's building up to that point where it's like, I know this thing is going to happen. And then it's like there's tension building the whole time. It's like it's looking more and more dire for him. And then when it happens, you're like, no, like you're doing the thing that we all knew you were going to do. And then that's the emotional part. Right. And then you see what happens afterwards. Like he is unsuccessful. He gets caught and you can see it in his son's eyes. He's like, damn, like the only respect I had for you
00:09:18
Speaker
is gone. Totally. It's like we're after 300 attempts to make a subway podcast, we pivot to a movie podcast and our listeners say, yeah, this is where all podcasts eventually end up. Yeah. Shout out to Pat and George. The only reason I wanted you to watch this movie tie was because I want to discuss films with you because I think you have a
00:09:44
Speaker
Passion, for lack of a better word, for storytelling. Getting a reaction from people. Movies are designed to elicit an emotional response. Everyone takes something different from them. They also teach children how to navigate the world. Yeah, or how not to. Or how not to. Don't trust your dad as well. Yeah, well, I don't know what this one taught me, to be honest.
00:10:12
Speaker
There was a scene where they eat mozzarella sandwiches. Maybe we can tie that one back to Subway. Yeah, that was sick. I liked how they were like eating mozzarella sandwiches and they're like, um, rich people get to eat more food than this. And then I thought like, oh man, that's how every Subway enjoyer feels.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. It's like whenever you get the six inch, you're like, see, see, honey, rich people can get 12. One day we'll get 12 inches. Yeah. Dude, I did have a lot of, a lot of thoughts on this, this movie. I did solicit a lot of responses from me. Um, I should caveat to the breadheads that this is a black and white film and also subtitles on the entire time. Cause there are. Yeah. This is the farthest.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yeah, dude. The whole time we were waiting for subway surfers to kick in. Exactly. But I was able to grin and bear it. I got through. I actually did enjoy the film. I will say I enjoyed it. I liked the film. And I thought that the emotional kind of build up that you spoke to was really easy to connect with. It was an effortlessly done body of work. There were like some weird things there.
00:11:30
Speaker
And there's a lot of things I learned from it. I learned that people in our modern age don't say capiche enough. I think you need to bring that back, capiche. Yeah. My parents would say it to me when they, you're scolding me. Capiche. I might pass that on to my kids, that trauma. Yeah, I'm bringing it to my artist. You know, in urban cheese, capiche. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:55
Speaker
I like that quite a bit. There's like almost like some symmetry with the word caprese. Oh, dude, the iambic pentameter of that is very, very satisfying. Yeah. So what else did you learn from it? Oh, wow. I learned that even if you're a handsome dude, you can still be down bad. And our modern world kind of doesn't really tell us that, you know, they're like, they say like, have you got like a chiseled, looks maxed jawline and
00:12:25
Speaker
Um, you're well-dressed, you'll be successful. But this guy, he was, he was a good looking dude. He was tall. He was, he's got the three piece and oh, he's down bad. Yeah. You're talking with a guy who once fainted when he got pressed.
00:12:42
Speaker
Yeah, I'm talking about the guy that, uh, yeah, he was, he was a little bit weak in the knees. Uh, no, the main, the protagonist, the protagonist, uh, the father, he, uh, it's like clearly a main protagonist type, like Hollywood type, um, playing a guy who can't get a job. I'm like, dude could get a job. He could be a.
00:13:01
Speaker
you could be in a whatever the 1948 equivalent of a pornographic film is try something they think more creatively. That's true. Do you think people in the 40s were nostalgic for the 20s? Yeah, probably. They're like, I wish I could have been a soldier. Crazy, right? Yeah.
00:13:22
Speaker
Um, men were men were men back then. Yeah, no kidding. One thing I really noticed is like, even if you had just wrapped up world war, you know what I mean? You had just debriefed on the Nazi invasion and you have literally nothing to your name. You still look nice. Like everyone's wearing like a suit and it makes me think like,
00:13:45
Speaker
We like during the pandemic here, everyone immediately put on their sweatpants. Yeah. Like we had a global ceremony of everyone putting on their sweatpants and like not changing out of them for the next three years. 1000%. Shout out to fear of God. Yeah. This episode has really popped off in the last five years. Yeah.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah, there's this like, it's really weird like, even like the broy dudes back then wore the three piece suit with the top hat. Imagine like the douches guy, you know, wearing a full like head to toe suit. He's got the pointy shoes on he's got the hat that you
00:14:20
Speaker
You tip top of the morning. You know, it's crazy. Like the poorest people dress the most formally and it's kind of ironic. Yeah. Especially looking at reflecting on modern times. Yeah. I do really appreciate that about old society. You know what I mean? Even I think that goes all the way up to like the eighties. Like the eighties, like everyone is wearing like a suit to work. You know what I mean? I kind of long for that. Like people putting an effort.
00:14:50
Speaker
I mean, there's pros and cons. Think about it this way, Eric. This entire movie plot would not have happened if this dude worked from home. If he just worked from home, he wouldn't have got his bicycle stolen. There would be no bicycle stolen. It would have been called MacBook Thieves.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yeah, it would have been called time theft. Yeah, but I think about it. The equivalent today is like you're working at a cafe on your DTC kombucha business and then someone swipes your laptop from your gentrified cafe. Dude, that's crazy. Yeah. I looked away from my M3 chip on the Apple Mac Air just to sip this oat milk latte and when I turned back, it was gone.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah. Somebody broke into my fully converted sprinter van and stole my Chemex. And now my mobile coffee shop is no longer. I always have a funny relationship with the Chemex because it's like the most meth labby object a normal person can. Yeah.
00:15:52
Speaker
Yeah, that is true. Combine that with a nice gooseneck. Oh, yeah. Like what are you cooking? Oh, dude. 100%. Yeah. I got one last point for you. And it's probably the most meaty point for this entire thing, which is that like, it is, I thought this movie was the best representation of
00:16:14
Speaker
male emotional processing because what happens is this dude, family man gets his bike stolen and then like all other dudes, instead of like coming to terms with what he was experiencing emotionally, he hit his kid and then focused all of his energy into his mode of transportation. He's like the original car guy, you know? And I think that's like, there's a masculine issue that just like, Oh, I need to focus more on like how I get around.
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah, so he, okay, you can see the frustration building in him, right? Because the first thing he does is try to get it back and he enlists the help of others. So, including the police. And then all of his efforts are futile.
00:17:03
Speaker
The frustration is just building and building and then he hits his kid who is just causing problems for him at this moment. I don't know why he even brought the kid. Was he on day shift and mom's on nights and weekends?
00:17:18
Speaker
I don't know, man. There's something about the father-son dynamic there that it just makes a movie like. Yeah. I kind of felt like I was watching like Ash Ketchum take around a Pokemon. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's Pokemon's name is Bruno. Bruno. Bruno, shut the fuck up.
00:17:37
Speaker
Yeah. And honestly, honestly, the kid was not, he did more than he was credited. He should probably deserve more recognition as a child attempting to help, but he wasn't that helpful. So I would have left him at home. I left a little stinker with mama Maria. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's mama doing? She just went to the psychic every day. I was like, how the fuck do I.
00:17:57
Speaker
Deal with this. Like she's had hot yoga. She's gassing it up with the girlfriends at brunch. We saw it happen in the film. She's just, she's a yapper. Yeah. She's getting a lymphatic massage. Yeah. Well, this Antonio Ricky's hands look like this. So hers can look like that. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know the male emotional processing just that really stuck with me because that hasn't changed since 1948, you know? Yeah, dude. Um,
00:18:26
Speaker
but it's also like a real like action oriented kind of guy. You know what I mean? He's like solution oriented. Like, let me see how I can fix this problem before I even come home tonight. Like I'm not coming home until I get my bike back. That's ultimate male. 100% my attitude with most things. I can't bear to come home to my wife and tell her what's going on for sure. I'd rather be like a, a cat roaming, roaming the night, then come home and deal with that shame.
00:18:56
Speaker
and then some fights. And this guy's gone a lot of fights with the other street men, with the ops, with his son. One other thing that I think is missing from today's culture is the ability for men to go up to someone and just press them.
00:19:16
Speaker
Oh, yeah. That's like something that doesn't exist anymore. As soon as you like tell someone something because they're annoying you or like like, hey, can you turn down that music or hey, like you have my bike. Like, where is it like that? Like that doesn't exist anymore. People are just too pussy to say anything.
00:19:33
Speaker
You can't even make eye contact with a stranger anymore.
Subway Banter & Modern Life
00:19:36
Speaker
I think that's why we like Subway so much because it's an opportunity for banter with a stranger. Really? I don't know. I think people would rather order online and pick up. To avoid the banter? Exactly. I think people will do anything at all costs to avoid banter. Maybe we need to bring it back, Eric. Maybe you need to start talking up people in line for your fourth with coffee.
00:19:58
Speaker
If you need to pull up the Sprinter van to the park and start talking to children, just like this guy. I need to find my own Bruno. Go pick any Bruno out on the slider, the swing set.
00:20:13
Speaker
There it is folks. The 23 minute mark. We got there right on time. Um, so, okay. So are we totally like movie pill now? Are you a film critic now? I'm not, I'm, I'm feeling curious for sure. I think we need to get you on this movie train because based on what I know about you, you should in theory, like them. Theoretically. Theoretically you should like it. And I think it'd be fun to
00:20:39
Speaker
like unlock this new passion for you. This is starting to sound a little bit like Jim Jones of you. Jim Jones? Yeah, dude. You're going to make me drink the juice, the Kool-Aid. I don't know, man. I just think it'd be awesome.
00:20:55
Speaker
Well, I will humor you a little bit longer. We'll see if we can break the cycle. If we can find three films in a row that aren't for children, then I will rest my case. Cool. That is an important criteria to keep in mind for me. It's the critical eye. Because sometimes, without knowing that about you,
00:21:27
Speaker
What do you call it? Like, um, the bias, the confirmation bias. What do you mean? Well, I'm going to be watching that eyes peeled looking for any mention of children. Don't take it the wrong way. He probably had a Bruno. I wonder if he had kids. We'll never know.
00:21:41
Speaker
I might search for a movie with some childlike creativity and whimsy, you know what I mean, to appeal to you.
00:21:51
Speaker
I'm not goo. No. Yeah. That can be taken multiple ways, I guess. Well, I think that's all we got on the docket today, Eric. Um, it was great podcasting with you as well. Um, yeah. Next episode will be.
00:22:09
Speaker
Recap of my Japan trip. I'll have lots of notes for you. Take lots of pics. I requested a reservation, a sushi. I paid $400 upfront for dinner that I haven't even, I don't even know if I can go yet. Oh my God. $400 for a reservation. We need to shut down a rezi. Yeah, dude. Japan rezi is off the rails. Oh my God. It's off the Shinkansen bullet train rails. You better be eating that sushi off a naked woman if you're playing that much.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah. 100%. Um, it's a nigiri restaurant and, um, looks really good. Uh, I'm still waiting to find out if I can go. So we'll see. They haven't confirmed the reservation for me yet. I'm just surprised you're allowed to say that with a hard R. I have to say with a strong accent or else muscle memory will take over. Am I right? It's a protective measure. Jokes.
00:23:03
Speaker
All right, breadheads. Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed our film critique. And if you want more episodes like this, please let us know. I'm sure we can watch Super Size Me or something. Bye bye.