Speaker 1: Anyone Juice Everything Podcast. Hello and welcome the All Eighties
Speaker 1: Movies Podcast, the podcast where we talk about the blockbusters,
Speaker 1: the flops, and everything in between from one of the
Speaker 1: precious decades from movies, the nineteen eighties. I'm your host
Speaker 1: Phil bet Long Beyond this journey revisiting eighties movies is
Speaker 1: my co host Jason Massek. Hello, Jason, Remember missus farmer.
Speaker 1: Whenever you buy a house, whatever's in the ground belongs
Speaker 1: to you, whether it's gold or oil or Claude Muscleman.
Speaker 1: That's right, listeners, we are discussing with spoilers of plenty,
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty eight Fish out of Water comedy Funny Farm.
Speaker 1: It was produced by Film Futures and distributed by Entertainment
Speaker 1: Film Distributors. Movie stars Chevy Chase and Madeline Smith. Directed
Speaker 1: by George roy Hill, This movie's right at PG with
Speaker 1: a running time of one hour and forty one minutes.
Speaker 1: This movie was adapted from the nineteen eighty five comedic
Speaker 1: novel of the same name by Jay Cronley. So what
Speaker 1: is this movie about? What's on the box if you
Speaker 1: grow up in the nineteen eighties, and what's your local
Speaker 1: video store to rend this movie. You would fine this
Speaker 1: description on the back of the VHS box. It is
Speaker 1: what's on the box. Take it away, Jason.
Speaker 2: When chevy Chase plays a Manhattan sportswriter who abandons his
Speaker 2: career for life in the country, you know that getting
Speaker 2: away from it all will inevitably mean Chevy's getting in deeper,
Speaker 2: and that the serenity of smalltown USA will hilariously turn
Speaker 2: into a city slickers nightmare. Funning Farm delivers the gut
Speaker 2: busting fund you expect from chevy Chase. National Lampoon's Vacation,
Speaker 2: National Lampoon's European Fagation. Fletch Spies Like Us and The
Speaker 2: Three Amigos tops It's performances in all those films with
Speaker 2: his pratt falling portrayal of urban transplant Andy Farmer. Madeline
Speaker 2: Smith co stars as Andy's supportive wife. Together, the Funny
Speaker 2: Farmers learned that the eccentric people and events of their
Speaker 2: new hometown outnumber even the mosquitoes. The postman guns along
Speaker 2: the back roads like mad Max. The sheriff travels nowhere
Speaker 2: without a chauffeur. Gruesome discoveries turn up in the garden
Speaker 2: and pond, and Andy becomes the punchline of the movie's
Speaker 2: rowdiest gag when he unsuspectingly brags call me mister lamb
Speaker 2: Fryes call Funny Farm. Endlessly entertaining, filled with comic delights.
Speaker 2: It also features the buoyant direction of George roy Hill,
Speaker 2: a vibrant Elmer Bernstein score, and the lush cinematography of
Speaker 2: Miroslav Underchek. Harvest the good times from Funny Farm.
Speaker 1: Funny Farm, So that was what's on the box. Let's
Speaker 1: move on to her eighty snapshot as we highlight some
Speaker 1: of the creative forces from this movie.
Speaker 2: Jason. For my eighties snapshot, I chose Jeffrey Boom, the
Speaker 2: screenwriter of Funny Farm. Jeffrey Bohm, writer and producer from Rochester,
Speaker 2: New York. Here's a little trivia actually from IMDb about
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Boem. Before becoming a successful screenwriter, he actually worked
Speaker 2: as a studio executive for many years. I never knew
Speaker 2: that Boem's films that he wrote screenplays for have a
Speaker 2: cumulative gross of over one billion dollars. That's right, folks,
Speaker 2: one billion dollars. Here's his eighty snapshot as a writer.
Speaker 2: These are the highlights the dead Zone in eighty three.
Speaker 2: He's uncredited on Lethal Weapon in nineteen eighty seven. He
Speaker 2: pens Innerspace in eighty seven, The Lost Boys in eighty seven,
Speaker 2: Funny Farm Here in eighty eight, Indiana Jones, and The
Speaker 2: Last Crusade in eighty nine, and then Lethal Weapon two
Speaker 2: in eighty nine. Not a bad eighties run. He would
Speaker 2: go on to write Leith Wepon three in ninety two,
Speaker 2: and then The Witches of Eastwick in ninety two. He
Speaker 2: does twenty seven episodes of the Adventures of Briscoe County Junior,
Speaker 2: which I thought was really cool. He penned The Phantom
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety six, so those are some of the
Speaker 2: highlights there. He did pass away on January twenty sixth
Speaker 2: and two thousand due to a heart failure from a
Speaker 2: rare lung disease. So here's a little quote from Jeffrey Boem.
Speaker 2: I get the thing in my head and see it
Speaker 2: from start to finish. Then I sit down and start
Speaker 2: writing it. I don't have any kind of routine where
Speaker 2: I do notes or outlines or character sketches. I just
Speaker 2: try and live with it in my head until it's
Speaker 2: ready to be spat out. Jeffrey Boem great screenwriter. He
Speaker 2: pops up every once in a while and these huge
Speaker 2: eighties films and I'm like, man, this guy had quite
Speaker 2: the career and we lost him too soon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I mean, you just
Speaker 1: listed off an impressive list of credits. As a writer,
Speaker 1: you would hope to maybe two two of those titles
Speaker 1: he has all then Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, every time I hear his name, I think of
Speaker 2: the opening credits of Last Crusade. For some reason, Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I can see it with that backdrop of where do
Speaker 2: they shoot that opening, like in Utah or wherever that was?
Speaker 1: Yeah, with that.
Speaker 2: Font they use for the credits in Indiana Jones Alascrusda,
Speaker 2: it just kind of pops. I'm like, oh, Jeffrey boem Right,
Speaker 2: he wrote this too, good stuff. What do you have
Speaker 2: for your idies? Snapshot Bill bant So.
Speaker 1: I went with director George Roy Hill, and George wasn't
Speaker 1: your typical Hollywood director. Born in nineteen twenty one to
Speaker 1: a wealthy Irish Catholic family in Minneapolis, Hill grew up
Speaker 1: loving music, airplanes, and stories, the three passions that would
Speaker 1: later define his life. He studied music at Yale under
Speaker 1: the great composer Paul Hindermith ran the university's drama society,
Speaker 1: and then went off to war. Hill served as a
Speaker 1: marine pilot in both World War Two and the Korean War,
Speaker 1: an experience that fueled his lifelong obsession with flying. After
Speaker 1: the war, he acted on stage in Ireland and on Broadway,
Speaker 1: and then turned to directing, first in live television and theater,
Speaker 1: and eventually in film. His first movie, Period of Adjustment, came
Speaker 1: out in nineteen sixty two, but it was Butch Cassidy
Speaker 1: and The Sundance Kid that made him a household name.
Speaker 1: Hill was the one who assisted on p arring Paul
Speaker 1: Newman and then up and coming Robert Redford, a decision
Speaker 1: that changed both their careers and movie history. He reunited
Speaker 1: with the duo for The Sting, a clever con artist
Speaker 1: caper that won seven Oscars, including Best Director for Hill.
Speaker 1: Hill goes on to direct the hockey comedy classic Slap Shot,
Speaker 1: again with Newman in nineteen seventy seven. By the nineteen eighties,
Speaker 1: George Roy Hill's film career was winding down. His major
Speaker 1: work from that decade was the World According to Garp
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two, based on John Irving's novel, starring
Speaker 1: Robin Williams and gun Clothes. The film was both a
Speaker 1: critical a commercial success, earning Oscar nominations for Close and
Speaker 1: John Lithgow. H'll followed it with The Little Drummer Girl
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty four, darring Diane Keaton. Though ambitious, it
Speaker 1: received mixed reviews and struggled at the box office, and
Speaker 1: then his final film was This Funny Farm in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight. After stepping away from Hollywood, He'll return to
Speaker 1: Yale to teach drama, sharing his love of storytelling with
Speaker 1: a new generation. He passed away in two thousand and
Speaker 1: two at the age of eighty one, after a long
Speaker 1: battle with Parkinson's I was director George roy Hill.
Speaker 2: Great stuff. That was excellent nineteen twenty one. Man, that
Speaker 2: guy goes way back, Yeah he does. I did not
Speaker 2: realize he also directed a slap shot that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. One of the actors that was driving up
Speaker 1: the wall when I was watching this brat Sullivan was Brock,
Speaker 1: the one who wants to kill Andy throughout the movie.
Speaker 2: Sure, what do I.
Speaker 1: Know him from? And then I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a slap shot and that's one of my favorite
Speaker 1: lines of the movie. Here you go. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's appropriate to repeat on this podcast.
Speaker 2: Love it all right.
Speaker 1: So this leads to earliest memories of the movie. Jason
Speaker 1: start us off. What do you remember about Funny Farm
Speaker 1: way back when?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, let's get funny with this film. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: know what, I remember always liking this movie. If I
Speaker 2: caught it on cable. It was one of those Yeah,
Speaker 2: if I caught it in the middle of it, I'd
Speaker 2: watch it. I'd watch the rest of it, at least
Speaker 2: a few scenes. It was always enjoyable to me as
Speaker 2: a young person. I've always been a fan of Chevy
Speaker 2: Chase and the livery and his physical comedy. There's the
Speaker 2: pratt falling that was mentioned in the What's on the
Speaker 2: Box segment, and that's was his talent. I recall being
Speaker 2: a fan of miss Madeline Smith in this. I always
Speaker 2: thought she was very attractive, She is quite adorable. I
Speaker 2: thought she gave a decent comedic performance. I remember a
Speaker 2: few of the highlights, of course, I mean before even
Speaker 2: watching this. I recall the lamb fries, of course, the
Speaker 2: crazed alcoholic Maleman, and I remember enjoying the holiday Christmas
Speaker 2: cheer of the ending. It just always gave me a warm,
Speaker 2: fuzzy feeling inside. I definitely remember the very scenic atmosphere,
Speaker 2: that rural feel, and that's pretty much it in a nutshell.
Speaker 2: I was a fan of this movie when I was
Speaker 2: a kid, a teenager. I didn't think it was the
Speaker 2: greatest thing ever, but it was just simple feel good
Speaker 2: movie and I got a kick out of the goofy
Speaker 2: characters and site gags. Nothing else really to break down here,
Speaker 2: Bill Band. I didn't think it was outrageously hilarious, but
Speaker 2: always found it amusing. That's all I got for you
Speaker 2: for early memories. What are yours?
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was a rental for me. I do remember
Speaker 1: seeing the ads in the paper of Chevy Chase with
Speaker 1: the egg on his head, thinking it was a movie
Speaker 1: about farming, and then renting it and it's not even
Speaker 1: about farming whatsoever. But I do remember enjoying it, and
Speaker 1: I watched that one a lot on cable. I bet
Speaker 1: I watched Funny Farm more at one point than I
Speaker 1: watched Fletch right, just because it was on more. Not
Speaker 1: that I'm saying it's a better movie. It's almost like
Speaker 1: a comfort food kind of film.
Speaker 2: I just it was on. I like it.
Speaker 1: It just kind of flows. That's my earliest memory. I'm
Speaker 1: right there with you.
Speaker 2: It's one of those things that just happened to be
Speaker 2: on a lot, and you smile when chevy Chase does
Speaker 2: his thing. He's great, He's very charming, and he's good
Speaker 2: at falling down. Let's just put it that way.
Speaker 1: I agree, all right, So initial thoughts now of a
Speaker 1: funny farm all these years later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, an interesting rewatch as an adult, let's just talk
Speaker 2: about that cast real quick. I think chevy Chase is
Speaker 2: fine in this. Is he given a lot to do.
Speaker 2: I guess this is how I use the word serviceable.
Speaker 2: And I felt like Madeline Smith as Elizabeth Farmer, the
Speaker 2: wife of Andy Farmer played by Chevy Chase. I thought
Speaker 2: Madeline Smith was fine. I'm watching it now just saying,
Speaker 2: what's the relationship between her and chevy Chase? Is a
Speaker 2: good chemistry, etc. And they were good together. I thought
Speaker 2: they matched well together. It was fine. I wasn't necessarily
Speaker 2: laughing out loud at moments, but I found myself smiling often.
Speaker 2: There's just several moments throughout this film where I found
Speaker 2: it amusing once again as an adult. I must say
Speaker 2: the movie looks good to me. Credit to veteran DP
Speaker 2: director of photography Miroslav Underchek Elmer Bernstein. Love him he
Speaker 2: does the score for this film. Love his past work,
Speaker 2: wonderful Resume, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Animal House, Meatballs,
Speaker 2: Airplane Stripes, Trading Places, Ghostbusters, that's Elmer Bernstein. Now we
Speaker 2: have Funny Farm. It's fine. It's fine. That's kind of
Speaker 2: my overall feeling about this film this far.
Speaker 1: Did you have any commentary on you You're saying fine.
Speaker 1: I think my word for this is safe. This movie
Speaker 1: feels safe.
Speaker 2: Bill Bant is one of the last notes I wrote,
Speaker 2: and I was saving it for my conclusion. I wrote safe,
Speaker 2: it feels safe. I wrote that exact same thing. I'm
Speaker 2: glad you said it. Please continue.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was trying to think about how I would
Speaker 1: describe this movie. Because I do like it, I do
Speaker 1: enjoy it. I would recommend it. But if I recommend
Speaker 1: to someone and they never watched it, they're not really
Speaker 1: missing anything. But if they watched it, they wouldn't be like,
Speaker 1: why the hell did you recommend this movie? It's just there.
Speaker 1: It's just there. I'm not sitting through it. Going, oh
Speaker 1: my god, what is this going to end? I put
Speaker 1: it on and I chuckle a couple of times, and
Speaker 1: I like the premise. I mean, there's a one scene
Speaker 1: that does stand out that we'll talk about, but outside
Speaker 1: of that, there's nothing groundbreaking about it. It is funny
Speaker 1: when I was researching, how many people like chasing.
Speaker 2: This, Yeah, including himself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wish a little more could have been on
Speaker 1: the humor. The fish out of Water could have been
Speaker 1: hammered a little bit better. I think the issue is
Speaker 1: they make it seem like this town is full of
Speaker 1: crazed lunatics. It almost has that northern exposure shows with
Speaker 1: have all the quirky characters, but we never really get
Speaker 1: to see the quirky characters. We just kind of see
Speaker 1: how Andy and Elizabeth aren't adjusting well to life outside
Speaker 1: the city. Right. Maybe if it got a little more
Speaker 1: into that, had more of those standout characters, I think
Speaker 1: it would be a more fun film. So it just
Speaker 1: plays it safe, wholeheartedly.
Speaker 2: Agree, wholeheartedly agree that's safe, and it's on the surface.
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Boem himself was hoping to when he was writing it,
Speaker 2: was hoping to get a little more I don't know
Speaker 2: if gritty's the right word, but more based on the
Speaker 2: actual novel itself versus George roy Hill decided to go
Speaker 2: in a different direction with it and ultimately had control
Speaker 2: in the actual direction, of course, and it was on
Speaker 2: the life. That's the way he went with it, and
Speaker 2: it's pretty clear. But yeah, I'm going to get into
Speaker 2: it here. I mean, I actually want to take a
Speaker 2: step back and say that I had an interesting viewing
Speaker 2: experience this time because I was joined by a friend
Speaker 2: of mine, and she's a female friend of mine. She's
Speaker 2: significantly younger, she's a millennial, and she was watching it
Speaker 2: for the very first time. So I was watching it
Speaker 2: wondering in the back of my mind how she was
Speaker 2: seeing it. And of course, as we all know, watching
Speaker 2: a movie with someone else is an entirely different experience
Speaker 2: than just watching it by yourself. So what it did,
Speaker 2: interestingly enough, was make me look at it without my
Speaker 2: nostalgic glasses on. It wasn't as if I was watching
Speaker 2: this with like a contemporary like you in the room,
Speaker 2: Bill Bant, or a buddy of mine that grew up
Speaker 2: during the eighties and we could predict that next scene
Speaker 2: coming on or already start laughing about what was coming
Speaker 2: up next, or smile in that nostalgic moment. It was different.
Speaker 2: It's just different. So I felt I was a little
Speaker 2: more critical upon this viewing as an adult. So Funny
Speaker 2: Farm It's one of those movies just feels like a
Speaker 2: series of hijinks for the first hour or so. There's
Speaker 2: just not much in the way of story or character development.
Speaker 2: Like you were talking about these townsfolk that just fill
Speaker 2: out the scenery and you want to know more, but
Speaker 2: they all are just kind of the one note, one stick,
Speaker 2: one trick ponies. It's mostly like National Lampoon's vacation. Especially
Speaker 2: regarding Chevy Chase's character, Andy Farmer, He's like Clark Griswold
Speaker 2: on a farm, I guess, but it's or in the
Speaker 2: country and he's trying to stay positive all the time
Speaker 2: while everything is falling apart. However, the difference here's the wife,
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Farmer. She clearly isn't happy and he's oblivious to
Speaker 2: it the whole time. And then there's this series of
Speaker 2: light gags, silly gags, the one note characters, these one
Speaker 2: note character we really don't learn anything about these characters,
Speaker 2: like Sheriff Ledbetter, or that Brock character, or the crazed
Speaker 2: mailman who we learn as crumb Peatrie, the antique dealer
Speaker 2: that sells everything related to dead relatives. It's funny on
Speaker 2: the surface, but we don't get to know them at
Speaker 2: all or see a relationship developed between those characters. With
Speaker 2: Andy and Elizabeth Farmer, there's just no bond between them, really,
Speaker 2: so it's just more hyjinks of things going bad while
Speaker 2: now Andy Farmer. The whole idea here, folks, if you
Speaker 2: haven't seen the movie for any reason, is that Andy
Speaker 2: is moving on from the big city as a sports
Speaker 2: writer and he's been given correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker 2: he's been given in advance by a publisher to write
Speaker 2: his great, the great novel he has within him. Right,
Speaker 2: has he given like a ten thousand dollars advance?
Speaker 1: Ten thousand?
Speaker 2: Right? So the idea is that he and his wife
Speaker 2: Elizabeth have looked at this beautiful property out in the
Speaker 2: country and they're going to move there, and he's going
Speaker 2: to write this novel and live out their lives in
Speaker 2: this serene location. So then throughout these hijinks, Andy has
Speaker 2: writer's block. Then he manages to write a terrible first
Speaker 2: draft of his novel. Meanwhile, Elizabeth has inspired to write
Speaker 2: her own children's book, which becomes successful, and then Andy
Speaker 2: betrays her. Then they decide to divorce and sell the
Speaker 2: country house. And then they recruit, slash bribe the townspeople
Speaker 2: to help them sell the house. So the townspeople selfishly
Speaker 2: go overboard with the Christmas holiday costumes, caroling and themes.
Speaker 2: And after the farmer see what the fantasy of this town,
Speaker 2: which is called Redbud out in the country could be,
Speaker 2: they decide to make up and not get divorced, and
Speaker 2: they decide to stay after all this, the problem is
Speaker 2: that they're still hated by the townspeople and all of
Speaker 2: it is a facade. And more importantly, Andy was a
Speaker 2: complete asshole to Elizabeth and she somehow just forgave him overnight.
Speaker 2: I'm getting into my complaints clearly here, but that's like
Speaker 2: the gist of this movie as I'm watching it as
Speaker 2: an adult, Like this is how I'm seeing it. So
Speaker 2: I don't mean to sound overly critical, but I was
Speaker 2: a little surprised of like, this movie is really flawed.
Speaker 2: Everything else I said still holds true, where it's still
Speaker 2: fun and light on its feet at times, but from
Speaker 2: a story structure standpoint, I found it extremely flawed, and
Speaker 2: I did not understand the character's motivations at the end,
Speaker 2: and I found there was just real no connection to
Speaker 2: the town or townsfolk at all, which was concerning to me.
Speaker 2: You know. One thing I wanted to see a little
Speaker 2: more of, too, was really Andy's process, Like, because I'm
Speaker 2: a writer, you're a writer, you want to see what
Speaker 2: a writer goes through. And we just kind of see
Speaker 2: him frustrated with having the writer's block, and we see
Speaker 2: that Elizabeth goes behind his back to write her children's book.
Speaker 2: We're not getting into the process of a writer, in
Speaker 2: the head of a writer and what the a writer
Speaker 2: goes through and trying to develop a novel. It's all
Speaker 2: again just kind of safe and on the surface and
Speaker 2: goofy stuff happens, and that's it, and then it's over
Speaker 2: and I'm going to save more for favorite scenes and complaints.
Speaker 2: But watching it as an adult, it's all right, it's
Speaker 2: all right. I don't know if I need to see
Speaker 2: it again for a while. I feel like it was
Speaker 2: a different experience this time watching it, and if it's
Speaker 2: not terrible, it's just Okay, that's all I got, Bill.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I took. My big complaint about is there's definitely
Speaker 1: a disconnect between the farmers and the residents I red bud. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because when they decide to sell the house and then
Speaker 1: they present to the townsfolk, Hey, we need you to
Speaker 1: stop acting like idiots so we can sell our house.
Speaker 1: How did we get to this point from what I understand?
Speaker 1: And he's only had trouble with two of the townsfolk, right,
Speaker 1: It's not like they're walking through the town they're getting
Speaker 1: jeered and made fun of. Nothing really that bad has
Speaker 1: happened to them up to this point. So there's a
Speaker 1: disconnect that I didn't see him, Like, what am I
Speaker 1: missing that they've gotten to this point? All the characters
Speaker 1: are just one off jokes. The sheriff the fact that
Speaker 1: he cannot drive, right, I find that funny definitely. But
Speaker 1: let's bring something else. We meet the brothers Lahn and Dirk,
Speaker 1: who are supposed to be your goofballs. I think of
Speaker 1: a new Heart with Larry, Daryl and Darryl. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: let's beat into that a little bit more. Nope, they
Speaker 1: don't really do anything. Yep, crumb, Yeah, you get a
Speaker 1: little bit out of him, and then Brock, who he
Speaker 1: was doing the fishing with, and Brock just always wants
Speaker 1: to kill him. Well, the other two guys on the
Speaker 1: boat weren't any better than what Andy was doing, so
Speaker 1: why is the hate all towards him?
Speaker 2: Mm hm.
Speaker 1: I just wish they got into more of what the
Speaker 1: animosity is between the farmers and the residents of Rosebud.
Speaker 1: Play that up for laughs and develop the characters a
Speaker 1: little more. I do like Chase is in Smith's chemistry.
Speaker 2: Agreed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's some other complaints about their relationship.
Speaker 1: I'll get into the complaint department, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1: I just had to go back to it. It's a
Speaker 1: safe movie if you watch it. I think there's nothing
Speaker 1: groundbreaking about it. Kind of weird that Chase is the
Speaker 1: star of the movie but doesn't feel like he's the
Speaker 1: star of the movie. I would almost feel like it's
Speaker 1: more Madeleine Smith's movie.
Speaker 2: I like that take.
Speaker 1: Because she's the one that's going through changes throughout the movie. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you learn more about her than you do
Speaker 1: Andy in this.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I you know again, you said, you know, fish
Speaker 2: out of water. It's clearly a Fish out of Water story,
Speaker 2: and even within the movie, you have Madeline Smith writing
Speaker 2: this children's book which is based on Andy, but in
Speaker 2: the form of a squirrel being a fish out of water.
Speaker 2: It's going from the city to the country life. It's
Speaker 2: a change of pace, scenery, and again the town, the
Speaker 2: type of people. So you mentioned like northern exposure, but
Speaker 2: these are the farmers become strangers in a strange land,
Speaker 2: and I want to see how that affects their relationship.
Speaker 2: And there is a hint in the beginning when they
Speaker 2: first move there that Chevy is urging his wife to
Speaker 2: give this a chance, because he says, not only are
Speaker 2: we here to enjoy the scenery, but we're here to
Speaker 2: be together to work on a relationship. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: you've just planted a seed here. Was there something wrong
Speaker 2: with their relationship prior to this or something missing or Okay,
Speaker 2: So now move to the country supposedly is going to
Speaker 2: help them find some peace and serenity and they can
Speaker 2: work on themselves and being together. And we just don't
Speaker 2: get a lot of that. It's just more he's trying
Speaker 2: to write, she's frustrated, he's oblivious to it. Then she
Speaker 2: writes the book, and then he becomes jealous and turns
Speaker 2: to alcohol, and then she wants a divorce, And You're right,
Speaker 2: it's interesting looking at it now, thinking it's more of
Speaker 2: hers journey that we're following. But then it just turns
Speaker 2: all of a sudden in the last twenty minutes where
Speaker 2: everything becomes honky dory, and I'm like, I missed something
Speaker 2: in the just relationship development between the farmers and the
Speaker 2: relationship between the farmers and the townsfolk. That's it.
Speaker 1: I didn't think going into this move that they had
Speaker 1: an issue with their relationship. I think just because it's
Speaker 1: fast paced. He's a sports writer. I'm sure he's not
Speaker 1: around a lot. They go somewhere else where it's slows down,
Speaker 1: so they can actually have a family family right, thinking
Speaker 1: about having kids move in that direction, So I thought
Speaker 1: that was one of the reasons for the move. Also,
Speaker 1: outside of in the events for the book, I didn't
Speaker 1: think they really had issues until they moved and Elizabeth
Speaker 1: realized this is not really the life that she wants initially,
Speaker 1: but that does change by the.
Speaker 2: End, right, Yeah, because simply nothing's working. There's no phone
Speaker 2: in the house, there's a giant sea snake, and there's
Speaker 2: water snake in the bond, there's a dead body, there's
Speaker 2: bones buried in the garden. I mean, it's just one
Speaker 2: thing after another seems to go wrong, and she's increasingly
Speaker 2: becoming distraught about it, which is understandable. Yeah, I just
Speaker 2: would have liked to seen more a little more sensitivity
Speaker 2: from his character to her in recognizing that. It just
Speaker 2: feels like he's very much kind of self centered or
Speaker 2: self serving and working on his book, Like he's just like,
Speaker 2: I'm here to do this and it's going to be
Speaker 2: this is my dream and nothing's going to get in
Speaker 2: the way of it, while she's struggling the entire time.
Speaker 1: So it's basically Chevy Chase playing himself off screen.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, all right, So I just I think I
Speaker 2: just laid out all my complaints already, so I jumped
Speaker 2: away ahead anyway. Yeah, we can move on, all right,
Speaker 2: let's move on.
Speaker 1: Two favorite scenes or moments. Think I'm going first on
Speaker 1: this one, and it's just a laugh out moment for me.
Speaker 1: And then there was like a little follow up joke.
Speaker 1: So Andy and Elizabeth get to the house. They're all excited.
Speaker 1: They're running around and looking at it, and there's a pond,
Speaker 1: and there's ducks, and you might have a few mosquitoes.
Speaker 1: But they're about to go into the front door, and
Speaker 1: he decides that he's going to pick up Elizabeth and
Speaker 1: carry her through the threshold, and he opens the door,
Speaker 1: not knowing that the door is split top half bottom half,
Speaker 1: so it only opens the top half, and drops Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: Through the door, which hurts.
Speaker 1: It's funny at the same time, but I'm like, oh God,
Speaker 1: that must have hurt. So he opens the door, you know,
Speaker 1: make sure that she's okay, and then she says she's
Speaker 1: all right, and then they're talking about the house, and
Speaker 1: then she has this throw away line about I wonder
Speaker 1: how long it takes an ambulance to get here, meaning
Speaker 1: that she's still hurt from the fall. I don't think
Speaker 1: I ever caught that before, because I think the action
Speaker 1: of her him dropping her through just feels natural and
Speaker 1: like I could see that actually happening. How do they
Speaker 1: know the door is not locked to be connected, so
Speaker 1: it all opens a one piece. And then of course
Speaker 1: saying that you're okay, okay, But really, when everyone walks
Speaker 1: away and you're still like, oh Jesus Christ, that really hurt,
Speaker 1: might crack my tailbone kind of thing. So it's really brief,
Speaker 1: but I found it funny because it felt natural. It
Speaker 1: felt real to me. It wasn't like a stage little
Speaker 1: bit which happens throughout the movie.
Speaker 2: I laugh out loud every time it happens, and it
Speaker 2: caught me off guard a little bit on the rewatch,
Speaker 2: even though just at the very last millisecond I knew
Speaker 2: it was coming because it just made laugh so much.
Speaker 2: As a kid too, I definitely remember that moment, but
Speaker 2: it just happened so quickly in the film. It's it's
Speaker 2: smartly edited. I feel too. You just you forget that
Speaker 2: They're like, oh, here got and then he just walks
Speaker 2: her and drops her, and it's pretty brutal. It's a
Speaker 2: great physical bit. And with the clever line from her afterward,
Speaker 2: and she has some actual good lines in this, it
Speaker 2: made me think of a line it happens right after
Speaker 2: that when they have to spend the evening in the
Speaker 2: house without any of their belongings because the moving truck
Speaker 2: got lost and they're sleeping on the floor, and she
Speaker 2: says something to the effect of, oh, I know why
Speaker 2: they call them hardwood floors, because they're hard wood floors,
Speaker 2: so there's some good stuff. She has some good stuff,
Speaker 2: but that particular moment dropping her over the doors, it's priceless.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, What do we have next? I think
Speaker 1: we both are in agreement with this next scene.
Speaker 2: A thousand percent probably the most memorable scene for a
Speaker 2: lot of those of you that have seen this film.
Speaker 2: This is kind of a go to probably remember this.
Speaker 2: It's the lamb fries, that's right. It just so happens
Speaker 2: that it is the Farmer's anniversary and they're going to
Speaker 2: go out on the town for a little bit. So
Speaker 2: they decide to go to the local diner restaurant and
Speaker 2: just cuts to the waitress who's also the cook. As
Speaker 2: it turns out, she's just frying up some land fries
Speaker 2: that look like meatballs basically in a pan, and she's
Speaker 2: serving them up to Andy Farmer, and they're sitting right
Speaker 2: at the actual counter, and they're all dressed to the nines,
Speaker 2: looking good, but they're enjoying some of the good local
Speaker 2: fair and the grub and these lamb fries that look
Speaker 2: like meatballs. Well, Andy Farmer's just chowing down on these things.
Speaker 2: And there's some locals also at the counter, and they're like, wow,
Speaker 2: he's going to town on these things, and just well,
Speaker 2: in particular, Elizabeth like, that's your third plate. Pretty impressive,
Speaker 2: and of course she says, yeah, that's your third plate,
Speaker 2: and he's like, well, calling mister lamb Fries. And then
Speaker 2: you have the local that's sitting to the right of Andy,
Speaker 2: I believe, who says, now, that's a man who knows
Speaker 2: when he's got something good in his mouth. And then
Speaker 2: we quickly discover that he's actually this is Andy about
Speaker 2: to break the record for eating the most lamb fries,
Speaker 2: these little meatballs. And there's an actual chalkboard hanging up
Speaker 2: behind the waitress and she's got a piece of chalk
Speaker 2: and she's changing the tally. She's telling up how many
Speaker 2: he's eaten. The record I believe is twenty eight, and
Speaker 2: he's at like twenty six, twenty seven. Then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, he's, of course, chevy Chase is all proud
Speaker 2: of himself as he downs number twenty nine, breaking the record,
Speaker 2: and she has to change the number on the chalkboard
Speaker 2: and he's like wait, wait, wait, like he's got more
Speaker 2: in him. And then he eats number thirty and I
Speaker 2: believe he goes to eat thirty one, and you just
Speaker 2: hear the line most folks don't seem to have a
Speaker 2: taste for testicles no more. You hear Elizabeth goes testicles,
Speaker 2: and then you hear the again. The locals say, yes,
Speaker 2: ma'am sheep balls. Tell them why yours are so tasty?
Speaker 2: As he's talking to the waitress, and the waitress responds,
Speaker 2: the trick is you gotta clip them off way up high,
Speaker 2: and she makes this gesture with like ess like doing
Speaker 2: the fingers like sit and then of course Andy spits
Speaker 2: the lambfry slash sheep ball right out of his mouth
Speaker 2: and makes for the exit as Elizabeth follows him out
Speaker 2: of the diner. It's actually a quick scene. It's memorable.
Speaker 2: You almost kind of see it coming. It's set up
Speaker 2: in a certain way, but it's still funny because of
Speaker 2: the performances by both the waitress and the local that's
Speaker 2: sitting next to Chevy Chase. And I also like the
Speaker 2: fact that it's subtle. But you see the waitress then
Speaker 2: erase the thirty one and she puts it back to
Speaker 2: thirty because he spit out the last lambfry, and I,
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, I don't know if this is like
Speaker 2: the Mandela effect, but I thought he was going to
Speaker 2: actually throw up in that she erased the entire board
Speaker 2: and it went back to twenty eight, the prior record.
Speaker 2: But he don't actually see him throw up. So I
Speaker 2: was going to save this for additional questions. But do
Speaker 2: you think he actually throws up or should he retain
Speaker 2: the record at thirty?
Speaker 1: I think he should retain the record, Yeah, I say so.
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, if you missed the thirty
Speaker 1: one to thirty, I was gonna point that out. But
Speaker 1: here again, here they are at the diner, the waitresses
Speaker 1: being nice, the towns focus being nice. When he breaks
Speaker 1: a record, everyone in the restaurant is clapping. So why
Speaker 1: later down the road does there seem to be a
Speaker 1: disconnect between them and the townsfolk. It's not showcased in
Speaker 1: this scene. It would make more sense if the record
Speaker 1: was sacred in the fact that Andy broke it, that
Speaker 1: people are pissed, and then well you're eating land testicles.
Speaker 1: But it's a funny, memorable scene.
Speaker 2: I have nothing that you make a really good point
Speaker 2: that they all are getting along, because I'm starting to
Speaker 2: think of the other scenes where there was real, like
Speaker 2: an antagonistic nature between them and the townsfolk. Elizabeth doesn't
Speaker 2: really have any negative run ins with anyone that go awry.
Speaker 2: It's just Chevy Chase and that boat scene with Brock
Speaker 2: and the other guy that goes and they're fishing and
Speaker 2: it goes all to hell. And then we have the
Speaker 2: crazed mailman, but we don't even know the man, like
Speaker 2: Andy doesn't have a relationship to the man man except
Speaker 2: that he just keeps blowing by the mailbox, throwing the
Speaker 2: mail out the window. We don't even see his face.
Speaker 2: We don't know why, if or why the mailman would
Speaker 2: hate Andy. We know why Andy doesn't like him. But
Speaker 2: as for the other townsfolk, they seem to all be
Speaker 2: getting along. It doesn't so why do they feel they
Speaker 2: all hate them? At the end, I don't know anyway,
Speaker 2: going off on a tangent.
Speaker 1: That's okay. So for my next well, it's a big
Speaker 1: scene because it's almost a third act of the movie,
Speaker 1: but I do like the premise of it. Unfortunately, it's
Speaker 1: gotten to the point where Andy and Elizabeth are talking
Speaker 1: about getting a divorce so they have to sell the house,
Speaker 1: and in their mind order to sell the house. The
Speaker 1: townsfolk need to help because they think the townsfolk are
Speaker 1: part of the problem of why they're getting divorced. So
Speaker 1: they speak at the local town hall meeting and they
Speaker 1: want the town to mimic basically Norman Rockwell paintings. So
Speaker 1: when prospective buyers come to look at the house, still
Speaker 1: think this is the most beautiful place in the world
Speaker 1: to be is in Rosebud.
Speaker 2: I like that, you said, Rosebud. That's great, little slip there,
Speaker 2: little citizen Kane slip Rosemud. So yeah, so Redbud.
Speaker 1: And we do have a couple that's coming to look
Speaker 1: at the house, and it just happens to be during
Speaker 1: the holidays, and the townfolk go all out, Yeah, Christmas,
Speaker 1: Carol's in the backyard. They take this couple downtown. They
Speaker 1: have this huge tree. Everybody, of course, is coming up
Speaker 1: and being super nice. The police chief, who can't drive
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, pulls up in a car and
Speaker 1: comes out and says, hell, he makes sure he sees
Speaker 1: the farmer house twice a day and checks the neighborhood
Speaker 1: whilst car drives off and runs over a tree. What's
Speaker 1: funny about this because when they have the town hall meeting.
Speaker 1: The farmers do say, hey, if we sell the house,
Speaker 1: we're going to donate x amount of money to Redbud,
Speaker 1: and if anyone does a active kindness in front of us,
Speaker 1: we'll give them fifty bucks. So the townsfolk are all
Speaker 1: going out, so just a factor walk across town. Everyone's
Speaker 1: coming up, Hey, Andy, hey, lisbit that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And then they give their names so they know they
Speaker 1: owe fifty bucks. And it gets to the point where
Speaker 1: they go back to the house, their house, and basically
Speaker 1: the whole town is outside. Kids are making snowballs, snowball fights.
Speaker 1: You know, we got the singers again. Andy invites them
Speaker 1: into the house and they're sharing eggnog. So they're going
Speaker 1: all out, and it's just funny because they're all doing
Speaker 1: this just to get fifty bucks per act of kindness,
Speaker 1: and plus with the money that the town is getting
Speaker 1: for them to sell the house. I just find it
Speaker 1: very amusing. I kind of forgot that there is a
Speaker 1: whole Christmas setting to this, and the third act it
Speaker 1: does kind of remind you like, oh, if I lived
Speaker 1: in a small town, this is exactly how I would
Speaker 1: like it to be during the Christmas time. I did
Speaker 1: enjoy it, just I did like that third act, how
Speaker 1: it kind of plays out, and how even Andy and
Speaker 1: Elizabeth have to keep up this front. They really love
Speaker 1: it here. They love each other, but unfortunately, due to circumstances,
Speaker 1: they have to move.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, you know, I'm glad you just covered the
Speaker 2: entire third act that now it's interesting. I'm going to
Speaker 2: jump to a complaint here again, mister complaints here. Sorry, folks,
Speaker 2: that's okay. This entire sequence doesn't actually really kick off
Speaker 2: until an hour and twenty one minutes into the film.
Speaker 2: There's only twenty minutes remaining in the entire movie, and
Speaker 2: this is my favorite part. It feels like this is
Speaker 2: when the movie really starts to kick into high gear.
Speaker 2: All the high jinks that ensued prior to this were
Speaker 2: fun and light and I get it, and it creates
Speaker 2: tension and causes obstacles for our protagonists. But because of
Speaker 2: the lack of kind of relationship development, either between the
Speaker 2: farmers or with the townsfolk, it was just high jinks.
Speaker 2: But now this is like an interesting problem where they
Speaker 2: do have to directly deal with all of the townsfolk,
Speaker 2: almost all at once. Where they're doing this performative bit
Speaker 2: embracing this Norman Rockwell lifestyle, and it's wonderful. I love
Speaker 2: the holiday spirit, the Christmas spirit, the feel of this
Speaker 2: whole thing. Because I grew up in a small town.
Speaker 2: I always wanted it to be that way. It did
Speaker 2: feel that way in moments, for sure, and I fall
Speaker 2: in love with it. And every time I think of
Speaker 2: this particular film, Funny Farm, I will think of the
Speaker 2: lamb fry scene, and I will think of this entire ending,
Speaker 2: and I always feel like it's a bigger part of
Speaker 2: the movie, and it really isn't. It's the very end,
Speaker 2: but it's so great, and it's very funny because all
Speaker 2: these townsfolk, they just want the farmer's money. They're just
Speaker 2: doing it for the extra fifty bucks. One scene in
Speaker 2: particular I want to call out has to do with
Speaker 2: our crazed alcoholic mailman. I assume he's an alcoholic. The
Speaker 2: sheriff led better. He does mention that the reason why
Speaker 2: the mailman is so angry by the time he reaches
Speaker 2: the farmer's household in Red Bud is that he's been
Speaker 2: drinking during his whole the mail route, and that he's
Speaker 2: good and saucy by the time he gets there and
Speaker 2: just honre and so he doesn't even stop to deliver
Speaker 2: the mail. He just throws the mail out of the
Speaker 2: truck window and keeps driving off, and you kind of
Speaker 2: hear his cackle fading off in the distance. And thus
Speaker 2: you have Andy standing there next to the mailbox, just
Speaker 2: left to pick up the mail off the ground. So
Speaker 2: that's a stick that runs throughout the movie. It's a
Speaker 2: runner throughout the movie and now here because they've made
Speaker 2: this proposal. They're going to pay everyone fifty bucks if
Speaker 2: they make an extra effort to be a traditional small town,
Speaker 2: the perfect small town in this setting of the Christmas
Speaker 2: and feeling all the holidays here while the farmers are
Speaker 2: entertaining these prospective buyers of their house and they're all
Speaker 2: sitting inside. You see this is great because you see
Speaker 2: Andy hear the backfire from the truck approaching the mailman's truck,
Speaker 2: and he recognizes it right away and he's like, oh no,
Speaker 2: this is going to ruin the whole ruse. If the
Speaker 2: mailman comes in or just drives by and is rude
Speaker 2: and throwing the mail out the window, it's just going
Speaker 2: to show a crack in this whole idea, and he
Speaker 2: doesn't want these buyers to see this. But then knock
Speaker 2: on the door, ring the door, and Anni Farmer goes
Speaker 2: to the door, and there's the mailman, crumb Petree, looking
Speaker 2: pretty good, cleaned up. He's wearing his coat, his scarf,
Speaker 2: his hat. I think he's got even like a mailman
Speaker 2: insigny on his coat. And he's personally brought the mail
Speaker 2: to the farmers and steps in and he says, oh,
Speaker 2: and by the way, missus Farmer, Missus Petrie, my wife
Speaker 2: wanted to give you this. This is her traditional rumnut
Speaker 2: plum raisin cake of the season. And then he's introduced
Speaker 2: to I think it's the Culbertsons who are these prospective buyers.
Speaker 2: By the way, there's recognizable character actors throughout this, and
Speaker 2: I think it's Gilpin is his name. I can't remember
Speaker 2: that his first name is one of the culbert sins here,
Speaker 2: but another recognizable actor in this, and the crumb Peatree
Speaker 2: is introduced to them, and now he's all put together
Speaker 2: and he seems to be the nicest guy ever and
Speaker 2: sober on top of it, and mentions, oh, he's going
Speaker 2: to be really sorry to see the farmers go, and
Speaker 2: as immediately as he says that, oh, it'll be really
Speaker 2: sorry to see the farmers go, he lets out the
Speaker 2: most amazing cackle and I won't even try to impersonate it,
Speaker 2: but I want to give a shout out to Kevin Conway,
Speaker 2: who plays Crumb Petrieck, because I love that cackle. And
Speaker 2: then he even pours on a little bit extra here
Speaker 2: and says, oh, you know what, later on, I'm just
Speaker 2: going to go do some ice fishing, you know. By
Speaker 2: the way he's looking at the buyers, he says, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pull out some nice sized pike out there
Speaker 2: ice fishing, pouring it on thick, just portraying this as
Speaker 2: the perfect small town, and then ends up leaving and
Speaker 2: to make sure to look at Andy and say, hey,
Speaker 2: you're going to be paying me a little extra, you know.
Speaker 2: And so I love that because one of the funny
Speaker 2: things throughout it is that runner with the mailman blazing
Speaker 2: by the mailbox and throwing the mail out, and now
Speaker 2: we see him all put together, but he still does
Speaker 2: the cackle, and we see him do it in person.
Speaker 2: It's great. So I found that very amusing. Also, yeah,
Speaker 2: I just wanted to back you up on the fact
Speaker 2: that when all the krollers go inside the house and
Speaker 2: they're all still singing, that they all make that point
Speaker 2: to say their full names one by one as they're
Speaker 2: exiting to Andy, to make sure he remembers that they
Speaker 2: are all individually owed fifty dollars. It's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say of all the characters, the mailman
Speaker 1: does pay off for me because you are interested. In
Speaker 1: the beginning, you never see him. You just see the
Speaker 1: cars go all by, and you just see the mail
Speaker 1: fly and a cackle, and and he becomes obsessed with
Speaker 1: trying to get him to stop. At one point tries
Speaker 1: to roll a boulder into his mail truck. So then
Speaker 1: when he finally comes, there's that comedic tension because you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: is he going to screw this up just because he
Speaker 1: hates the farmers or we don't even know if he
Speaker 1: hates the farmers, he just hates the fact he's got
Speaker 1: to drive out there for the mail, so you don't
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. The fact that he's so kind,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, okay, but he has to say something
Speaker 1: at the end, like I'm only doing this for the
Speaker 1: fifty bucks. The son of a Bitch. I'm out, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does work for me. I think it's the one
Speaker 1: character outside of Andrew Elizabeth that you kind of get to.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say no a little bit, but I think
Speaker 1: the character overall pays off.
Speaker 2: I agree you see at least there's a change in
Speaker 2: the character. He almost has a mini arc, if you will,
Speaker 2: like a mini mini mini arc. But still it's something.
Speaker 2: So I'm glad you highlighted the whole third act, if
Speaker 2: you will, because it's a lot of fun and that's
Speaker 2: really the highlight of the movie for me. There is
Speaker 2: some fun in this. I don't want to be mister
Speaker 2: Debbie Dunner either. There is definitely a movie that maybe
Speaker 2: you just look back on and it's funnier when you
Speaker 2: quote it, almost funnier than when you're watching it.
Speaker 1: Okay, So that takes us to Swiss Cheese and Complaints Apartment,
Speaker 1: and what don't we call it.
Speaker 2: Swiss Cheese because although this movie is delicious, it does
Speaker 2: have burnt manuscript holes.
Speaker 1: Yes, and if it doesn't have those burnt manuscript holes,
Speaker 1: we just file the complaint with the Complaints Apartment. So, Jason,
Speaker 1: do you have anything left for Swiss cheese or complaint.
Speaker 2: I know, right, Well, let's go back to you briefly
Speaker 2: touched on this the title itself. How do we feel
Speaker 2: about the title? Funny farm? Terrible, not great? No, it
Speaker 2: implies either they're actually living on a farm with crazy
Speaker 2: things happening, which is not true, or that it's a
Speaker 2: mental asylum with crazy people running around. And yeah, we
Speaker 2: have some goofy townspeople, but it's not a mental asylum,
Speaker 2: and we get that. Of course, their last names are
Speaker 2: they're the farmers, are protagonists, are protagonist couple, But still
Speaker 2: it just doesn't ring true the title.
Speaker 1: No, And even if you look at either of the posters,
Speaker 1: there's the one poster where Chivi Chase has an egg
Speaker 1: on his head, nothing like that happens in the movie,
Speaker 1: and the other one he's in a tractor with the dog.
Speaker 1: At least we have a dog at some point, very briefly.
Speaker 1: The first one he buys runs off, which is kind
Speaker 1: of funny, but it's very misleading. I don't know what
Speaker 1: I would call it, because I'm always terrible when it
Speaker 1: comes to titles, but I definitely would not have come
Speaker 1: up with plenty farm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, what do you have.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, my complaint is Andy's treatment of the movers. Okay,
Speaker 1: Andy gives them a map of how to get to
Speaker 1: the house, so they get lost. So Andy and Elizabeth
Speaker 1: have to sleep on the floor one night. Sound like
Speaker 1: it's been a couple of days. It's literally one day.
Speaker 1: Like my wife and I moved out to California, we
Speaker 1: didn't have furniture for four days, but we knew that
Speaker 1: going in. Yeah, so I'm like, sleep on the floor
Speaker 1: for one night is not going to kill you. And
Speaker 1: when they show up, Andy is laying into them hard.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, refund blah blah blah blah, And I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: at least your stuff is there. I'm sure there's tons
Speaker 1: of horror stories about movers, and I've read a lot
Speaker 1: about it, Like when you're moving and you're researching, that
Speaker 1: is a scary thing. There's so many times where you
Speaker 1: hear stories about movers who will bring your stuff and say, well,
Speaker 1: now you have to pay this charge in order to
Speaker 1: get for us to start on loading your stuff. So
Speaker 1: the fact that they showed up and started unloading right away,
Speaker 1: granted it was going into the lake out back.
Speaker 2: I was going to say, another actual fun moment, let's
Speaker 2: give credit to that is. I love that moment when
Speaker 2: that character one of the movers, is like, immediately they're
Speaker 2: unloading the truck after you have Andy like running alongside
Speaker 2: the truck as it's pulling in, berating them, and he
Speaker 2: just goes straight for like the office chair walks right
Speaker 2: and Andy's like, okay, finally you're unloading. You're gonna move
Speaker 2: this stuff into our house. And the guy just walks
Speaker 2: right by Andy with the chair in hand and throws
Speaker 2: it directly into the lake. Really funny.
Speaker 1: You're just excited that they showed up and just be like,
Speaker 1: oh right, I'd be more curious, like you know what happened?
Speaker 1: Are you?
Speaker 2: Okay? Yeah, what happened to you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the way he came into them, like, no,
Speaker 1: I felt the movers did the right thing. I think
Speaker 1: I would have threw his chair in the lake too.
Speaker 1: I would give a crap at that point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's funny. There's a funny line earlier than that,
Speaker 2: when you see the movers are stuck in the truck overnight.
Speaker 2: They have to basically sleep outside. They're in the truck technically,
Speaker 2: but one of them says to the other is something
Speaker 2: about you need to hold onto that map because I'm
Speaker 2: gonna need it as evidence as to a murder or
Speaker 2: something along the way. He's like, yeah, why, He's like,
Speaker 2: because I'm going to kill the son of a bitch
Speaker 2: true that map. It's pretty fun anyway, I have some
Speaker 2: character issues, motivation issues. There's a couple scenes maybe that'll
Speaker 2: explain this. The anniversary evening for the farmers. We know
Speaker 2: the lampfry scene right, very amusing, very funny, memorable. But
Speaker 2: then they move on to a bungalow where they're going
Speaker 2: to spend the evening in just a romantic little bungalow,
Speaker 2: and the fireplace is there. It's a beautiful setting here.
Speaker 2: And then this is where Andy just turns extremely selfish.
Speaker 2: It's the evening of their anniversary, and his gift to
Speaker 2: Elizabeth is the fact that he finally finished the first
Speaker 2: draft this manuscript of his great novel, which I think
Speaker 2: is it called The Big Heist. It sounds right, it
Speaker 2: was something like that he called it. It's basically The
Speaker 2: Ocean's Eleven Ideas, and he forces Elizabeth to read the
Speaker 2: entire draft there that night in front of him, and
Speaker 2: it's just kind of like what are you doing? Man?
Speaker 2: And I get there's supposed to be some comedy to this, right,
Speaker 2: it's a funny thing. But he's just so oblivious to
Speaker 2: taking care of It's their anniversary, he should be taking
Speaker 2: care of her and thinking about her needs. But he
Speaker 2: forces her to read the draft and then that goes
Speaker 2: to hell because she hates it, and then he throws
Speaker 2: it into the fireplace and then has to try to
Speaker 2: save it anyway. After this, then, of course she is
Speaker 2: It's revealed that she's been working on her own book,
Speaker 2: a children's book, and has completed it, has turned it
Speaker 2: into a publisher, and has received five thousand dollars in
Speaker 2: a contract to have it published, all these things, and
Speaker 2: this sets Andy off. He becomes a jealous jerk, and
Speaker 2: he turns into a drunk and then ends up betraying
Speaker 2: her and stealing her manuscript and handing it over to
Speaker 2: his publisher as if it were his own. And it's
Speaker 2: like he really turns into a prick, and that makes
Speaker 2: him very unlikable. And what I don't understand Bill, then
Speaker 2: is at the end, when we have our beautiful scenic
Speaker 2: Christmas seasonal third act, she seems to make a quick
Speaker 2: turnaround and I don't understand why he treated her very poorly.
Speaker 2: She wants a divorce. They're going to the lawyer, they're
Speaker 2: trying to get a divorce, and they're selling the house.
Speaker 2: But now because everything looks on the surface so perfect,
Speaker 2: because they've paid off the townsfolk, it kind of gives
Speaker 2: them this feeling of, oh, now we realize we're in
Speaker 2: the right place, we made the right move. This is
Speaker 2: so beautiful here and the people are so great. And
Speaker 2: now she's back in love with Andy. She's forgiven him.
Speaker 2: It seems real quick to me, And I had a big,
Speaker 2: big complaint with that. It just made no sense to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really didn't like Andy's jealousy towards Elizabeth with
Speaker 1: the children's book, and when he says to her, you
Speaker 1: know nothing about writing, but then says she's an English teacher.
Speaker 1: She seems pretty qualified. Just with that alone, right, And
Speaker 1: just because she doesn't like it doesn't mean it's finished, right, Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's just the first draft. Yeah, so just ask what's
Speaker 1: wrong and see what he needs to fix. But he
Speaker 1: just goes on this whole ti rate. And then with
Speaker 1: the children's book, he gets super upset about that that
Speaker 1: didn't work for me. I think at least he comes
Speaker 1: to realize he made that mistake. I think with a
Speaker 1: Elizabeth because that she didn't like living out there, but
Speaker 1: then it inspired her to write that book and maybe
Speaker 1: many books in the future. She learns to forgive Andy
Speaker 1: for it. But yeah, we don't see it. It just
Speaker 1: seems very abrupt because it almost sounds like they don't
Speaker 1: want to get divorced because I had to wait till
Speaker 1: July and it costs a lot of money because they
Speaker 1: don't love each other. And Andy realizes what a dumbass
Speaker 1: he was, which he kind of emits at one point,
Speaker 1: at least when he has to sleep on the floor
Speaker 1: and he says, I basically fuck everything up, right.
Speaker 2: That's there's a moment.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why people actually like Chase's performance
Speaker 1: in this because it's the one time he almost humanizes
Speaker 1: himself a little bit.
Speaker 2: I see that, Okay, I like that. I like that. Now.
Speaker 2: Just going back I think to the overall complaint is
Speaker 2: the fact that this entire holiday scene, this Christmas scene,
Speaker 2: doesn't start until an hour and twenty minutes into the film,
Speaker 2: and it's only an hour and forty minutes forty one
Speaker 2: minutes long, so I do appreciate the run time. By
Speaker 2: the way, However, structurally I would have liked to see
Speaker 2: and I don't mean to rewrite the movie, but I
Speaker 2: just would have appreciated less high jinks in the beginning,
Speaker 2: maybe only twenty minutes or so, let's get to really
Speaker 2: meet some of these townsfolk. But it's very interesting to
Speaker 2: me the idea of going to a town where then
Speaker 2: all the people that live there are faking it, like
Speaker 2: they're really putting on a show, so everything so I
Speaker 2: like that idea. There's something about pretending and that everything
Speaker 2: being on the surface level everything looks great, but then
Speaker 2: finding out that there's more underneath, and that could relate
Speaker 2: to also the farmer's relationship when they're moving out there,
Speaker 2: pretending as if now we've changed locations and we're in
Speaker 2: this beautiful place, everything's going to be great. I will
Speaker 2: be inspired to write the perfect book, and she's going
Speaker 2: to be the perfect wife, and we're going to have
Speaker 2: the most romantic build a family out here, when that's
Speaker 2: just not the reality. The reality is life is hard
Speaker 2: no matter where you are, and people are quirky and
Speaker 2: weird and goofy, and shit happens and we all have
Speaker 2: to find a way to get along and prosper together. Right,
Speaker 2: So I would have liked to kind of seen that
Speaker 2: theme play out, not just in the last twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: but throughout three quarters of the movie.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it would be kind of funny if the town
Speaker 1: really portrayed this ideal setting and the longer they live
Speaker 1: there they start seeing the cracks and just tell everybody
Speaker 1: is weird and quirky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, for sure. The scene that plays out on
Speaker 2: the boat with the fish hook in the neck and
Speaker 2: pulling it just was really over the top for me.
Speaker 2: It gets like really gaggy, and it's just kind of
Speaker 2: I didn't care for that scene that jumped.
Speaker 1: That was a little cringe for me. Yeah, that whole
Speaker 1: scene doesn't work.
Speaker 2: When he's fishing in his own lake behind their beautiful
Speaker 2: home and he pulls that giant water snake out, that's
Speaker 2: goofy and silly because you can tell it's like a
Speaker 2: giant rubber thing that probably comes fright out, but it's
Speaker 2: still a little bit of a surprise, And it's kind
Speaker 2: of funny because he's a great physical comedian in the
Speaker 2: way he reacts to it. It works in that scenario.
Speaker 2: But the boat, You're right.
Speaker 1: That's the thing. The snake scenario is plausible. You're fishing
Speaker 1: in the lake. There's sometimes snakes and lakes. Yeah, But
Speaker 1: here it is. You go downtown with your wife. These
Speaker 1: guys ask you to go on a fishing trip. It's
Speaker 1: not a twenty minute trip. Your wife's going to come
Speaker 1: back from the store and go where the hell's my
Speaker 1: husband and he's gonna be fishing for the next three
Speaker 1: hours or two hours? Why would you agree to go
Speaker 1: on the boat?
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: It's just an unplausible scenario. So the rest of it
Speaker 1: just doesn't work for Maison Fountain to find it very funny.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna stop there.
Speaker 1: Time to move on to Hey, it's that actor? All right?
Speaker 1: So this segment we spotlight a character actor you have
Speaker 1: seen in many other films, an actor making their big
Speaker 1: screen debut, or an actor that makes an un ready
Speaker 1: to cameo. It's Hey, it's an actor. So who do
Speaker 1: we choose this week? Because there are a lot of
Speaker 1: choices in this one. I was surprised, Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 2: Every other actor in this is a Hey it's that
Speaker 2: actor that's recognizable you're like, Wow, who is he or
Speaker 2: she from?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: What is that movie that they were in? It's great?
Speaker 2: So this week we've chosen for our Hey, it's that actor,
Speaker 2: Mike Star, Mike Starr. He plays one of the movers,
Speaker 2: and funny enough, the other mover actor actually is a
Speaker 2: hey it's that actor too. As soon as I saw him, like, hey,
Speaker 2: isn't he the guy driving the black Jack war and speed?
Speaker 2: Isn't that that guy?
Speaker 1: Yeah? It is?
Speaker 2: Yes, Goodwe totally so. But Mike Starr is great, immediately
Speaker 2: recognizable American character actor from New York City, standing tall
Speaker 2: at six three and a half. Known for playing bullying characters,
Speaker 2: he worked as a bouncer and bartender before landing a
Speaker 2: small part in the film Cruising in nineteen eighty. As
Speaker 2: it goes back to nineteen eighty, he's got two hundred
Speaker 2: and forty five credits on IMDb. So yes, Mike Starr
Speaker 2: was in Cruising in nineteen eighty. Then he was in
Speaker 2: the Natural in eighty four. He's in the Money Pit
Speaker 2: in eighty six, looking forward to doing that on this podcast.
Speaker 2: He was in a couple episodes of Crime Story in
Speaker 2: eighty seven. The film Who's That Girl? With Madonna in
Speaker 2: eighty seven, Funny Farm in eighty eight, and Punchline in
Speaker 2: eighty eight, Lean On Me in eighty nine, Uncle Buck
Speaker 2: as a character called Pooter the Clown in eighty nine,
Speaker 2: and then he is briefly featured in Born on the
Speaker 2: Fourth of July, also in eighty nine. So here's some
Speaker 2: highlights of his After the eighties. He was in Blue Steel,
Speaker 2: good Fellas as character Frenchy Miller's crossing Billy Bathgate, free
Speaker 2: Jack the Bodyguard, the Hotsucker Proxy, and he has a
Speaker 2: great role in ed Wood. That's one film you definitely
Speaker 2: would recognize him from. But the film I always associate
Speaker 2: him with is Dumb and Dumber. That's what I think of. First,
Speaker 2: he plays the character Joe Medalino, and I believe the
Speaker 2: big scene with him and Jim Carrey when he's choking
Speaker 2: on the hot peppers initially when they're at the diner restaurant,
Speaker 2: and then Carrie accidentally feeds him the poison pills as
Speaker 2: that's what happens, and then he's like foaming at the mouth.
Speaker 1: Mike Stars, Oh, I remember the together the most annoying
Speaker 1: sound in the world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. Yeah, So Mike Starr great, done it.
Speaker 2: He does a ton of TV episodes, makes appearances on
Speaker 2: a variety of soap opera's Funny Enough and still working.
Speaker 2: Has some upcoming projects. Love Mike stars, great character actor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny. When you were listing off his credits,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yep, I remember what seeing he said,
Speaker 1: Oh yep, I could see it as clear as today.
Speaker 1: If you asked me before to name I'm like, I
Speaker 1: can't name anything outside Dumb and Dumber. But as soon
Speaker 1: as you're saying the credits, I'm like, oh, yeah, I
Speaker 1: remember what's seen yous in that movie. So yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: an excellent choice for Hey, it's that actor.
Speaker 2: Just gonna give it a couple of shout outs to
Speaker 2: some other Hey it's that actors, because I was trying
Speaker 2: to remember this gentleman's name. He plays one of the Culbertson's,
Speaker 2: the prospective buyers of the Farmer's house. That was Jack Gilpin,
Speaker 2: very recognizable. I believe it's Alice Drummond who plays Ethel
Speaker 2: Dingis or Dingus who has the antique store. She's very recognizable. Yep,
Speaker 2: there you go. There's more that I'm missing here. Oh
Speaker 2: who is it that plays the lawyer. He was very
Speaker 2: recognizable to Michael.
Speaker 1: Oh no, it's thinking of the publisher guy, Michael Sinclair.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah he too, Yeah sure, yeah, anyway, he watched
Speaker 2: the movie a lot of recognizable faces. So I apologize
Speaker 2: for not naming all the actors here, but we got
Speaker 2: to move along.
Speaker 1: Yep, many, many all right, Time to move on to
Speaker 1: facts and trivia. What are some facts of trivia we
Speaker 1: have about Funny Farm.
Speaker 2: The film was mostly shot in southeastern Vermont, including the
Speaker 2: towns of Windsor, Vermont and Townshend, Vermont, and they were
Speaker 2: using locals as extras. This is from IMDb. By the way,
Speaker 2: the Townshend Common, the Townshend Common area today has an
Speaker 2: unusual souvenir from the production of Funny Farm, because to
Speaker 2: make the trees on the common look as if it
Speaker 2: was mid autumn, the film crew dyed the leaves, which
Speaker 2: killed all the trees except for one in the middle
Speaker 2: of the common. Today, the ring of newly planted trees
Speaker 2: around the edge of the common are significantly shorter than
Speaker 2: the much larger one that survived the filming of Funny Farm.
Speaker 1: Whoops, yeah right, oops, see so this was interesting. You know,
Speaker 1: who is supposed to be in this movie. Jason tell
Speaker 1: me Bill band Sarah Michelle Geller was he supposed to
Speaker 1: play one of Elizabeth's students in an early scene in
Speaker 1: the movie.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, Well that would make sense because I'm like
Speaker 2: she had been very young at that time. Yea.
Speaker 1: So unfortunately that scene was to lead it and I
Speaker 1: couldn't find it anywhere. M Yeah, I think that would
Speaker 1: have been one of her first credits.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 1: Things turned out okay for her, she did.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So Ivy's Cafe where Andy eats lamb fries was not
Speaker 1: in fact an actual restaurant. It was a set built
Speaker 1: in Townsend, Vermont, specifically for the film, and was destroyed
Speaker 1: after filming goes over. The site of the set is
Speaker 1: now occupied by residential homes which are across the street
Speaker 1: from the gazebo in Townshend where Andy is seen running
Speaker 1: to the softball game while Elizabeth goes antique shopping.
Speaker 2: This Funny Farm was the first of three consecutive movie
Speaker 2: adaptations of Jay Cronley novels in three consecutive years. The
Speaker 2: subsequent adaptations were Let It Ride in eighty nine, one
Speaker 2: of my cult favorites, and another cult favorite quick Change
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety. We'll have to save that one for
Speaker 2: the All Nineties Movies podcast. Yes, love both those movies.
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of Let It Rite.
Speaker 1: Yes, we know that one for sure.
Speaker 2: It was a rough year at the box office for
Speaker 2: mister Chevy Chase. So yeah, this was one of two
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight movies starring Chase. The other was Caddyshack two.
Speaker 2: I guess they're saying, well, Funny Farm was a minor hit. Well,
Speaker 2: Caddyshak two was a box office bomb, but Chase also
Speaker 2: cameoed in the box office bomb The Couch Trip of
Speaker 2: the same year in eighty eight.
Speaker 1: Ooh, yeah, tough year for him. So the kid who
Speaker 1: steals the street sign at the beginning of the movie
Speaker 1: was an extra from Windsor High School, where a fair
Speaker 1: amount of the filming takes place. He had not becoming
Speaker 1: a local cop.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I had that too, that's funny. Last one I
Speaker 2: got here real quick bill is the four thousand dollars
Speaker 2: bill for Claude Musselman's funeral. That's the the casket with
Speaker 2: the bones that was dug up in the farmer's backyard.
Speaker 2: That was claud Musselman in there. The four thousand dollars
Speaker 2: bill for Claude Musselman's funeral would equate to a little
Speaker 2: over eleven thousand dollars in twenty twenty five. Ouch, yeah,
Speaker 2: chuck a change, all right.
Speaker 1: Moving on to box office, so, Funny Farm was released
Speaker 1: on June third, nineteen eighty eight, in one thousand, five
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty seven theaters with an estimated budget of
Speaker 1: nineteen million. Bunny Farm pulled in twenty five point five
Speaker 1: million domestically. The film debuted number four at the box office,
Speaker 1: behind Big, which also opened that week in less theaters,
Speaker 1: and Funny Farm would only last another three weeks in
Speaker 1: the top ten and would be the thirty ninth highest
Speaker 1: grossing movie of nineteen eighty eight, just ahead of Alien Nation,
Speaker 1: which we covered back in season four.
Speaker 2: Yeah going against Big, that's tough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, who knew, right? Moving on to reviews. When growing
Speaker 1: up in the eighties, we would watch at the movies
Speaker 1: with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert to hear the reviews
Speaker 1: and watch clips of upcoming movies. Their review of Funny
Speaker 1: Farm was unanimous two thumbs up. Ebert described the film
Speaker 1: as one of the year's Funniest Movies, while Ciskel called
Speaker 1: it the best chase film his made. Together, Ciskel and
Speaker 1: Ebert praised the film for its abundance of laugh out
Speaker 1: loud moments, sharp direction, striking cinematography, and precise editing to
Speaker 1: consistently end scenes at the perfect moment.
Speaker 2: Wow, no kidding, You know it's funny Bilt because I
Speaker 2: left out one piece of trivia here and I'll just
Speaker 2: put it appropriately in this segment. Gene Siskel said he
Speaker 2: received the most complaints from Ciskel and Ebert viewers for
Speaker 2: recommending this film. So the viewers the audience did not
Speaker 2: agree with Ciskel and Ebert's very positive outlook on this film.
Speaker 1: So Rotten Tomatoes gives it a Tomato Meter score of
Speaker 1: sixty four percent, with the Popcorn Meter score of fifty
Speaker 1: one percent, and also has an IMDb rating of six
Speaker 1: point two. So that takes us to additional thoughts and questions.
Speaker 1: What are some additional thoughts and questions you have about
Speaker 1: Funny Farm?
Speaker 2: Did you have a question right off the.
Speaker 1: Top, Jason, what is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
Speaker 1: That is great?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I wish I could remember I was on
Speaker 2: a cruise ship and we went to a restaurer was
Speaker 2: a great like themed restaurant. I want to say. It
Speaker 2: had an Alison Wonderland theme. And there were some really
Speaker 2: strange dishes they were serving and I can't think of them.
Speaker 2: It was just interesting recipes and you wouldn't think to
Speaker 2: put this with that, but it paired nicely and it
Speaker 2: was very tasty. And now I can't think of any
Speaker 2: of those items. I just I can tell you this much.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget the first time I tried octopus a
Speaker 2: sushi restaurant. I know that's not weird for a lot
Speaker 2: of people, but it was for me because I had
Speaker 2: never had sushi and this was my first time ever.
Speaker 2: And this was in Miami, and I remember Craig Rose
Speaker 2: being there and he's like, oh, yeah, I try this
Speaker 2: octopus and I'm chewing on a tentacle with the suckers
Speaker 2: on it, and I'm like, this is not for me.
Speaker 2: This is definitely not for me. I wasn't going to
Speaker 2: break any record eating the most amount of octopus in
Speaker 2: one sitting. However, Yeah, I'll have to think about that
Speaker 2: and see if I can come up with something else.
Speaker 2: But the weirdest strangest thing I've ever eaten. What do
Speaker 2: you have for this?
Speaker 1: I think my number one would be jellyfish?
Speaker 2: Okay, wow, just because the.
Speaker 1: Connotation of jellyfish is stinging and stuff like that. Where
Speaker 1: did you have jellyfish in Hong Kong? Okay?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And it's very chewy and not much flavor to be honest,
Speaker 1: so I don't think you have to try. But yeah,
Speaker 1: when they put it at our table, I was the
Speaker 1: only one that would try it. I'm like, what's the
Speaker 1: worst it going to happen?
Speaker 2: That just makes me think of when you hear the
Speaker 2: nightmare stories about is it puffer fish? Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the.
Speaker 2: Very poisonous if you get the wrong Yeah.
Speaker 1: Just looks like a giant piece of gelatine. Just but yeah,
Speaker 1: I was super chewy. Second, I would go with cow's tongue. Okay,
Speaker 1: I can't remember where I had that at, but we
Speaker 1: were at there was a bunch of us and we
Speaker 1: were at a deli and they were serving it and
Speaker 1: everyone was daring each other to try it, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'll try it.
Speaker 2: Actually wasn't bad. There you go, tastes like chicken. Just kidding.
Speaker 1: No, Well, the third thing people say taste like chicken
Speaker 1: A lot alligator of course. H down in South Florida,
Speaker 1: I would say that's very close to chicken. So maybe
Speaker 1: people would be like, no, dude, you actually ate chicken.
Speaker 1: They just said it was alligator, But no, I think
Speaker 1: it was alligator.
Speaker 2: This was my mom. That would be my big three
Speaker 2: Great stuff. Man, Bill Bant, you're a writer. Sometimes I'm
Speaker 2: gonna ask maybe a few questions regarding this, and you're
Speaker 2: you're writing relationship with your wife, Hillary the Lovely Hillary Band.
Speaker 2: Have you ever had her read something of yours to
Speaker 2: give you feedback and how have you reacted to this feedback?
Speaker 2: Have you ever had to react to perhaps negative feedback
Speaker 2: as Andy Farmer has to deal with from Elizabeth in
Speaker 2: this film.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good question. There's definitely some things I've
Speaker 1: given her to read. I don't think she's ever given
Speaker 1: like pure negative feedback like Elizabeth did. But yeah, sometimes
Speaker 1: she'll have questions and I'll have to answer or constructive criticism,
Speaker 1: which I think most of the times warned because maybe
Speaker 1: something's not explained correctly, so I have to go back
Speaker 1: and fix it.
Speaker 2: So you do share your writing with her when it
Speaker 2: comes to your Yeah, on occasion like screenplays. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: not talking novels here, of course, we're taking more like
Speaker 2: writreen writing. Yeah, okay, okay, Because I was just going
Speaker 2: to ask, then, what how would you feel if Hillary
Speaker 2: wrote a screenplay and managed selling it for a million dollars?
Speaker 1: I wouldn't care.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you'd love it? Yeah, exactly, you are. Bill Bant
Speaker 2: doesn't get jealous for.
Speaker 1: A million dollars. I'm not gonna tell.
Speaker 2: You be like, way to be Hillary, keep writing?
Speaker 1: Yeah, god, one thousand dollars, I'd be excited.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to keep rolling with this writing theme
Speaker 2: that I just was in my head about, just because
Speaker 2: I always I am curious with other writers, you know,
Speaker 2: as to their process. Right. So Andy and Elizabeth they
Speaker 2: move out to this beautiful country and Vermont, and that's
Speaker 2: where he feels he will find his inspiration, find the
Speaker 2: the space and the time to pursue his novel. What's
Speaker 2: your great What's what's your preferred creative space? Bill Bant
Speaker 2: is a writer, what's your ideal space to work in?
Speaker 1: I don't think I have it right now? Pretty much
Speaker 1: whatever the house I can find. Yeah, yeah, so if
Speaker 1: I had the perfect setting, it would be like a
Speaker 1: house over looking the beach. Yeah, that would be it.
Speaker 1: I mean the countryside's cute with the bird out there.
Speaker 1: But I always thought about it if I had the money,
Speaker 1: if I was really successful, I'd want some beachfront property
Speaker 1: and I'd be sitting by a huge window overlooking the beach.
Speaker 2: There you go. Yeah, it's similar. I mean it's similar
Speaker 2: to this film. Similar to you, I would I'd be
Speaker 2: up in the mountains. I'd have a cabin in the mountains.
Speaker 2: I'd like the rural setting. I'd like that type of scenery. Also,
Speaker 2: I really love my quiet. I need the quiet, which
Speaker 2: is interesting. It's changed over the years where I used
Speaker 2: to always be listening to music, and I still very
Speaker 2: very much thousand percent need music as inspiration. I have
Speaker 2: to have my music. But I used to listen to
Speaker 2: music a lot while I was writing, versus now I
Speaker 2: think I really just treasure the silence.
Speaker 1: So it's funny you brought this up about the money
Speaker 1: with the equivalent nowadays. But I wanted to know how
Speaker 1: much it was going to cost Andy and Elizabeth today
Speaker 1: if they tried that with the thifty dollars. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, that equiveland today would be one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty six rounded up one hundred and thirty seven dollars
Speaker 1: they would have to give each townfolk for kindness today's dollars.
Speaker 2: I also was wondering just guestimating how many townsfolk there were?
Speaker 2: How many people? I mean, what was the population of Redbud? Like, right,
Speaker 2: you think they probably had to pay like fifty people,
Speaker 2: seventy five more?
Speaker 1: Oh, I would say over one hundred.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a lot, a lot of people participating,
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think I would have started around the ten
Speaker 1: dollars mark, Yeah, start low. Last thing for me, I
Speaker 1: found this very interesting and it certainly made a lot
Speaker 1: of Smith sense. So Madeline Smith was actually the first
Speaker 1: choice to replace Shelley Longlan cheers no kidding. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: supposedly she has health issues which kind of prevented her
Speaker 1: from taking the role. Huh when you think about it,
Speaker 1: you know, then they picked uh Cursty Allie. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure I said it right. Christi Ali,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, it makes sense. They look almost alike.
Speaker 2: Oh, Bill, this is great. I could totally see Madeline
Speaker 2: Smith in that part. Yes, thousand, absolutely, she would have
Speaker 2: been great. Yeah, yeah, she would have been excellent on cheers.
Speaker 2: I think I think she had some comedic chops in
Speaker 2: this movie. She's pretty funny in her delivery. I thought
Speaker 2: I thought she was good. Yeah, I said serviceable earlier,
Speaker 2: and that sounds as though it's a ding, but it's
Speaker 2: not really. I think she was good in this agreed. Well,
Speaker 2: I didn't really have anything else for thoughts or questions,
Speaker 2: not as of now.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to rating then. All right, all right,
Speaker 1: so here we go on a scale of one to
Speaker 1: five lamb Fries. What do you give funny Farm?
Speaker 2: So I'm going to surprise our listeners here a little bit.
Speaker 2: I'm kind of in a because of the I do
Speaker 2: love the ending, and I do have a nostalgic attachment
Speaker 2: to this film, and I do still look upon it
Speaker 2: overall fondly. I I'm going to give it three lamb Fries.
Speaker 2: I may begrudgingly maybe have to downgrade it to two
Speaker 2: point five that was my initial lamb Fry rating, but
Speaker 2: I'm going to give it three because I'm feeling positive
Speaker 2: and upbeat today. I have to say it's a little
Speaker 2: wild to think that the director of Butch Casside and
Speaker 2: The Sun Dance Kid made this movie and went safe
Speaker 2: with it doing this version because the book was not
Speaker 2: as safe, and that's what Jeffery Bowe wanted to do.
Speaker 2: But anyway, this is George broy Hill's vision of it,
Speaker 2: so it was, yeah, I agree with you, Bill, fine safe.
Speaker 2: I just felt like the development, especially at the end
Speaker 2: of the relationship between Andy and Elizabeth, wasn't fully fleshed out.
Speaker 2: I wished the obstacles with it of their relationship, the
Speaker 2: writing and the betrayal and stuff had happened sooner and
Speaker 2: that we could have gotten to the good stuff this
Speaker 2: Norman Rockwell Christmas painting of Red Bud. I wished all
Speaker 2: that had happened sooner in the films because that was
Speaker 2: the most fun. But chevy Chase, he's fun to watch.
Speaker 2: He might you know why chevy Chase. He reminds me
Speaker 2: of my dad. And I'm not you know, I'm not
Speaker 2: at all talking about chevy Chase is off screen persona
Speaker 2: or the things that say this is strictly the chevy
Speaker 2: Chase characters that he portrays, particularly Clark Griswold and National Lampoons.
Speaker 2: Just the always like kind of a gentle giant, tall,
Speaker 2: handsome guy that's always positive, always has an idea of
Speaker 2: things to do in itinerary, a plan and goals and
Speaker 2: things like that, and just wants to enjoy the outdoors
Speaker 2: and travel and all these things. That's my dad. And
Speaker 2: he's goofy and he's silly too, and he has silly
Speaker 2: jokes and things. So I do appreciate Chevy Chase characters
Speaker 2: for that because those characters he portrays remind me of
Speaker 2: my dad in the best possible way. So he's good
Speaker 2: in this. I didn't think. This is not Fletch, it's
Speaker 2: not National Lampoon, it's not Candy Shack. But he's good.
Speaker 2: I found the chemistry between him and Madeline Smith fine
Speaker 2: and good, and yeah, I would still. I think you
Speaker 2: said this earlier too, Bill, so to reiterate, if you
Speaker 2: come across this, give it a watch, give it a watch.
Speaker 2: It's feel good at the end. So I'm gonna give
Speaker 2: it three lamp fries.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you. I originally wrote three, and then
Speaker 1: we're going through the podcast, I'm like, do I need
Speaker 1: to knock this down to two right that half? But no,
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna keep it at three because I
Speaker 1: do laugh. It does make me smile. But when you, yeah,
Speaker 1: break it down, there's a lot of flaws. It's just
Speaker 1: a weird thing. It's like, if you never see the movie,
Speaker 1: you'll be okay. But I think if you watch it,
Speaker 1: you'll enjoy it. It's not a must watch if you're
Speaker 1: gonna watch Chevy Chase movies. Yeah, this is probably the
Speaker 1: fifth or sixth to one I'm gonna list. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not missing anything, but it won't hurt to watch it.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, I've watched a ton of times. I
Speaker 1: was still enjoying it. It goes by quick. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. That ending scene, Yeah, I wish that did
Speaker 1: play a little bit longer, well said. Okay, that about
Speaker 1: wraps up for this episode. As always, we appreciate you
Speaker 1: tuning in. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite
Speaker 1: streaming platform, leave your rating, and then drop us a review,
Speaker 1: hopefully positive one. I want to know more about our show,
Speaker 1: of course you do. Head over to All Eightiesmovies podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. We hopefully join us next time as we
Speaker 1: dive into another classic from the greatest movie decade ever
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighties. Till then, stay cool. We have an
Speaker 1: excellent to everyone.
Speaker 2: As a novelist. I turned out to be a pretty
Speaker 2: good sports writer. Thanks for staying up with us. Goodnight World,