Going In Style (1979)
Get ready to dive into the world of "Going in Style," where three elderly friends, played by the legendary George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg, decide to spice up their mundane lives by plotting a bank heist. Right from the start, we tackle the reality of aging and how these lovable characters grapple with loneliness, financial struggles, and the desire for a little thrill before it’s too late. Despite the comedic overtones, the film serves up a bittersweet slice of life, highlighting the importance of friendship and the fear of being forgotten in a fast-paced world. We’ll explore the hilarious and poignant moments that arise as they embark on this misadventure, and reflect on how their escapades resonate with our own lives. So, grab your popcorn and join us as we unpack this classic film filled with laughter, heart, and a few unexpected twists!
Takeaways:
- In the midst of a rainy month, we find ourselves reflecting on the beauty of flowers that bloom after the storms, reminding us that good things often follow tough times.
- When trapped indoors by the weather, we joke that the kids finally get a bath, proving that even the simplest moments can bring laughter amidst the chaos of parenting.
- As we prepare for Mother's Day, it's a good reminder to appreciate the women in our lives, whether they're our mothers or figures that have shaped us along the way.
- The podcast dives into the nostalgia of the 1979 film 'Going In Style', showcasing the struggles of aging and friendship through a humorous lens, a theme that resonates with many listeners today.
- The discussion touches on societal attitudes towards aging, reflecting on how the film portrays the elderly as both limited and liberating in their choices, prompting us to think about our own views on aging.
- With a playful banter about classic films, the hosts highlight how humor can be found in the most unexpected places, making light of life's challenges and the importance of camaraderie.
Transcript
It is the beginning of the month where we find out what kind of flowers we have after it's been raining a while.
Speaker A:Has it stopped raining outside there, Matt?
Speaker B:No, it is a huge downpour, and the kids are trapped inside.
Speaker B:We can't even pretend to shove them out the door for five seconds.
Speaker A:So I. I swear that I keep.
Speaker B:Chasing them out of the adult section.
Speaker B:I'm tired of them.
Speaker A:I swear that when it's raining out, it's about the only time some of those kids get a bath.
Speaker B:True.
Speaker B:Very true.
Speaker A:But when it's raining out, we don't have to be out mowing.
Speaker A:Those of us who don't rent.
Speaker A:That is the happy thought for the time being.
Speaker B:No, I don't mow.
Speaker B:I. I hire somebody because I'm always afraid I'm going to fall in a well.
Speaker B:And then I don't have Lassie.
Speaker B:Timmy won't be, oh, Timmy's in the well.
Speaker B:Nope, I have a chihuahua.
Speaker B:She'll be like, good luck, bitch.
Speaker A:Well, hopefully you don't have a neighbor who looks like Kathy Bates, because then there could be all sorts of trauma when you've fallen.
Speaker B:See, I would be the neighbor that would be friends with the Kathy Bates next door, and everybody else would be ignoring us because of that.
Speaker B:That's how I roll, right?
Speaker A:Or could roll.
Speaker A:But we've.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We have one of those holidays coming up here where we recognize the women in our lives, and we did.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We're supposed to be thankful for our mamas.
Speaker A:Should do something nice for them.
Speaker A:I wonder what the.
Speaker B:Thanks for enduring that whole five minutes with my dad.
Speaker B:If you were lucky.
Speaker A:Well.
Speaker A:But I. I wonder what the arcade kids are gonna do for Lula.
Speaker B:May probably steal some.
Speaker B:Probably steal the candies from in back and put them in a movie box and be like, look what we got you.
Speaker A:If it's anything like last year, somebody's gonna end up washing her car.
Speaker B:Probably be us.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Which reminds me, I've got to put in for a day off there.
Speaker A:Where.
Speaker A:Where is that vacation book?
Speaker B:Oh, it's the last day of the time we ever got a day off.
Speaker A:We are here on a Saturday.
Speaker B:True.
Speaker A:Well, we do have something that we do, I guess.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Your turn to get that over there to the vcr.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Watch your step.
Speaker A:There's lots of chords.
Speaker C:Good afternoon, time travelers.
Speaker C: Today you are in: Speaker C:The Iranian revolution reshaped global politics as the Shah was overthrown and Iran became an Islamic republic.
Speaker C:In the US the three Mile island accident sparked fear over nuclear energy after a partial meltdown.
Speaker C:Meanwhile, Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister made history as Britain's first female pm.
Speaker C:Born that year, actress Kate Hudson and rapper Flo Rita.
Speaker C:We also said goodbye to punk icon Sid Vicious and screen legend John Wayne.
Speaker B:And did you old Iron Maiden herself?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And did you know that John Wayne was not his name on his birth certificate?
Speaker B:Well, yes, not only that, John Wayne played for our team some of the time, if you know what I mean.
Speaker A:Oh, he knew how to keep the bed warm, huh?
Speaker B:Let's just say he was a true cal Poke.
Speaker A:Well, I. I hear tell that John Wayne's birth name was actually Marion.
Speaker B:Yes, that is correct.
Speaker B:I've known several men named Marion and well, works for me it's kind of.
Speaker A:Some of those names are quite popular there.
Speaker A:This tends to be more of a thing over there across the pond in Europe there.
Speaker A:Helly could be a man's name.
Speaker B:That's one of those.
Speaker B:I never questioned that Ellie was a man's name.
Speaker A:I just remember and I, I don't really want to say the guy that used to do the jello pudding pops commercials name a movie that he was in featured a character that was an Englishman and his name was Edith.
Speaker A:And yes, there was a little girl that read the name and was like, edith's a girl's name.
Speaker A:And he's like, it's Edith.
Speaker B:Do you remember that song from the 70s about John?
Speaker B:I think it was Johnny Cash song about before my father Lefty up and named me Sue.
Speaker B:Oh, a boy named sue.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:Remember that song?
Speaker B:That was great.
Speaker B:That was a good song.
Speaker A:Well, and I, I wasn't even a twinkle in the eye.
Speaker A:I do say that Jillian Anderson really made a good Margaret in that movie that she did.
Speaker B:Oh wait, Jillian.
Speaker A:Yes, Jillian Anderson played Margaret Thatcher in a role.
Speaker B:Who am I thinking of?
Speaker B:Jillian?
Speaker B:Oh, I'm thinking of Angelian.
Speaker B:Never mind.
Speaker B:No, she did.
Speaker B:She was wonderful in that.
Speaker A:And back there in 79 because we, we actually ended up going back a little bit in time here from where we were last.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:The smell of the gasoline's gotten a little bit stronger because we don't quite have the unleaded as much.
Speaker B:Prices are cheaper though, right?
Speaker A:Second hand smoke is a little stronger in the Aquanet.
Speaker A:Lots of scents that are related to nostalgia for 79 there.
Speaker B:Not to mention remember the Halloween costumes?
Speaker A:Oh yes.
Speaker B:Good thing we're not in October right now, right?
Speaker A:You could barely see out of them.
Speaker A:Well, folks like to get out on the town a little more often.
Speaker A:They're back in 79.
Speaker A:What were some of the things that they got up to on a date night or were when they were in a movie going sort of mood?
Speaker B:Give me back the paper, you brat.
Speaker B:Oh, all right.
Speaker B:Well, let's check these out.
Speaker B:1979.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Ms. Alien was sick.
Speaker B:Corny Weaver, which made her career, by the way.
Speaker B:And I've actually been meaning to go back and watch all the aliens.
Speaker B:Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen, when they were hot, you know what I mean?
Speaker B:And I played for our team, one of them.
Speaker B:Then we have Kramer vs Kramer with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.
Speaker A:Oh, yes.
Speaker A:We're not worth Meryl Streep.
Speaker A:I remember seeing Kramer and Kramer versus Kramer, I swear, was one of those staples of the early days of the home box office.
Speaker B:The kid.
Speaker B:Was it Danny Ventura who played the kid?
Speaker A:Oh, was.
Speaker A:I thought that that was talk show hostess.
Speaker A:That was in E.T.
Speaker A:Wasn't that.
Speaker A:Oh, well, we'll figure it out.
Speaker A:Originally, Alien.
Speaker A:Speaking of Sigourney Weaver, originally Alien wasn't going to have a woman lead.
Speaker A:It was going to be a man.
Speaker A:And when Sigourney Weaver auditioned for the part, they decided she's too good to turn down.
Speaker A:Now we're making our lead of woman.
Speaker B:Oh, yes, I heard about that.
Speaker B:I think that was great.
Speaker B:That really turned the whole end on its head.
Speaker B:And they didn't even rename the character either, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker B:By the way, it.
Speaker B:Justin Henry was the kid.
Speaker B:It was a little boy.
Speaker B:Oh, he was eight years old and he got an Oscar nomination.
Speaker B:All right, what else we got here?
Speaker B:Oh, Rocky 2.
Speaker B:Oh, Sylvester Stallone.
Speaker B:I actually like the Rocky movies.
Speaker A:He was in shorts.
Speaker B:Well, he wrote and directed Iraqi films and nobody believed in him.
Speaker B:And yet it incredible success with them.
Speaker B:He did a good job.
Speaker B:Too bad he's in that case now.
Speaker B:Anyway, and then.
Speaker B:Hello.
Speaker B:The Muppet Movie.
Speaker B:We gotta go see the Muppet Movie.
Speaker A:Oh, yes, that.
Speaker B:If it's starring this Kermit the frog.
Speaker B:I'm not sure who that is.
Speaker B:Anyway, we gotta go see it.
Speaker A:If we could actually open the door to the front when we time travel like this, I would step out and go to see the Muppet Movie in the theater.
Speaker B:Oh, hell.
Speaker B:In fact, we probably have a copy around here somewhere.
Speaker A:I'm sure.
Speaker A:Probably in the original case.
Speaker B:Well, hopefully we'll be seeing one of these movies.
Speaker B:Except maybe not Craver versus Kramer.
Speaker B:I don't want to cry today.
Speaker A:Oh, I know.
Speaker A:Well, let's go ahead and let the VCR do Its magic.
Speaker A:And let us know what we're watching today.
Speaker C:You're watching a movie called Going in Style, a warm, BITTERsweet comedy about three aging friends, played by George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg.
Speaker C:Grappling with retirement, loneliness and the loss of purpose.
Speaker C:Living on fixed incomes in New York City, they decide to break routine and reclaim excitement by robbing a bank.
Speaker C:Their impulsive plan becomes a humorous yet poignant journey about friendship, aging and.
Speaker C:And taking control of life before time runs out.
Speaker B:Oh, God, let me guess.
Speaker B:They all end up in a car in a garage, and their daughter is like, oh, my God, they're gonna kill themselves.
Speaker A:This sounds a little bit like the story of the landlord at the trailer park out back.
Speaker A:Rumor has it Lula May's aunt.
Speaker A:I thought that she sued for the rights for her story.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Anyways, the kiddos are playing with their little boom box there, and, well, I hear that familia tune.
Speaker A:Rewind through time into movie nights.
Speaker B:From many thrills to silver screen dreams.
Speaker B:Trapped in the past by a time.
Speaker A:Machine, it takes a door for DJ and Mac to explore the lore.
Speaker A:The past is present and you're gonna wander.
Speaker A:All right,.
Speaker B:Go.
Speaker A:79.
Speaker A:Huh?
Speaker A:As you heard, this is a film that was set in 79.
Speaker A:And it's the story of three seniors that are trying to figure out how to make ends meet, how to get by on a budget.
Speaker A:Here's the setup and the problem in Going In Style.
Speaker A:The setup centers on three elderly friends, Joe, Al and Willie, living together in New York City.
Speaker A:Not Nelson.
Speaker A:Struggling realities of aging.
Speaker A:Played by, of course, who else?
Speaker A:George Burns, as you heard, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg.
Speaker A:Now, some of these are names that folks, our generations would know who they are automatically.
Speaker A:Maybe you don't.
Speaker A:Maybe you're somebody who's tuning in to matinee minutiae and you're just soaking up the culture.
Speaker B:You're high and don't know how to change the channel.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Well, I mean, wave, we love you.
Speaker B:Hello.
Speaker A:They do take the remote away in some of those homes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Arnie and Lee Strasberg.
Speaker A:There's a name.
Speaker A:They face shrinking finances, declining health, and a growing sense of invisibility and boredom.
Speaker A:Now, Matt, what about the problem?
Speaker B:Well, the problem emerges when their fixed incomes and limited options make life feel small and controlled.
Speaker B:Watching others live freely, they feel.
Speaker B:They feel like their time is slipping away while they are, like, in their late 80s.
Speaker B:So, yes, basically, it sparks this desperate idea to do something before it's too late.
Speaker B:They want to break the norm.
Speaker B:They want to have a little excitement.
Speaker B:They want to have a little money.
Speaker B:They want to do something rather than just exist from day to day waiting to die.
Speaker B:And that's a little harsh.
Speaker B:This film is.
Speaker B:It's going to be a light comedy.
Speaker B:It's got some really serious issues.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:An amazing cast.
Speaker B:I mean, you.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The cast is.
Speaker B:I'm beginning.
Speaker B:I mean, right from the start.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That you.
Speaker B:You understand what they're going through.
Speaker B:I mean, up in the morning, they do a little bit routine.
Speaker B:They share.
Speaker B:An apart can share their income because they.
Speaker B:Their checks or their Social Security is next to nothing.
Speaker B:They go out and they sit in on a bench in the park and they watch the pigeons and they feel miserable and that's what they do.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now we've introduced the.
Speaker A:The two elements of the first to the film because, of course, a fancier version of a play and we're putting it on for a camera.
Speaker A:How does the film portray aging?
Speaker A:Is.
Speaker A:It's as something limiting, liberating, or both.
Speaker A:How do you feel this film illustrates.
Speaker A:I guess would be a good word.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That aging process for them is.
Speaker B:Is stifling.
Speaker B:Very said.
Speaker B:They're, they're.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They're limited in what they can do, and they're just sitting around waiting to die and really drives that point home.
Speaker B:And they probably have funds or the resources of the family or something like that.
Speaker B:These guys have nothing really left except one of them has.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker B:A nephew and his family.
Speaker B:Which.
Speaker B:Which was a nephew, wasn't it?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, the rest of them, they have anything.
Speaker B:They don't have any family.
Speaker B:They don't have any support.
Speaker B:They don't have any place where they can really go.
Speaker B:I'm surprised there wasn't a senior center, something they could at least like, go get a little bit of.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker A:The story that you're left to wonder is how did this group of people come to know each other and how did they get to this station in life, as we said, have somebody who still has relatives.
Speaker A:There's somebody involved somehow in the scene.
Speaker A:The other two guys, we don't know their story until things develop through the course of the story.
Speaker A:Bachelors, in a sense, just trying to figure out how to get through life.
Speaker A:It's very prominent that at their age they're not working anymore, so what can they do?
Speaker A:They go to the park.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it really makes it sense that they have also given up because three people and barely talk.
Speaker B:They just sit and they stare and they look and feel miserable.
Speaker B:And I think the director did an amazing job at giving you this sense of hopelessness for them.
Speaker B:You really feel how they are at their the end of everything for them.
Speaker A:And it's interesting because I think that since this film came out in 79 it also speaks to culture as well because there was some humor in the park when these three older men were sitting there that's a little bit more mean spirited than you might see in a film from today's age.
Speaker A:Just simply because it was a little bit more acceptable sort of the characters that they played, George Burns and they're.
Speaker A:One of the kids in the park comes up to him and he's just staring at him and he's just like get the hell out of here.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But I think it's also a representation of the culture at that time because the culture at that time was very much like you guys have outlived your usefulness, your purpose and, and you should just go away and die.
Speaker B:We don't want to see you.
Speaker B:And we didn't have the resources back then to take care of or, or you needed kind of the services that we we more of today or at least we did for a while and hopefully will again one day.
Speaker A:That brings us to the other question, Matt.
Speaker B:What.
Speaker B:What that be?
Speaker B:Oh you mean the one about what does the movie say about society's treatment of older adults?
Speaker A:Oh well, goodness.
Speaker A:I think we kind of question.
Speaker B:Yeah, I guess I kind of did.
Speaker A:It's okay.
Speaker A:It's uniquely American experience.
Speaker A:This, this illustrates that the being in a major metropolis like this.
Speaker A:They're in New York City.
Speaker A:This is supposed to be a portrayal of how things go on in America.
Speaker A:It's like this is old white men in this story.
Speaker A:It's, it's something from more readers would be.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Did you was doing any but anybody people in this film?
Speaker A:Oh no, no, no.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker A:And it's, it's very, it's very telling that if we did have any other influence culturally, you would an opportunity to drive a point.
Speaker A:We, we treat our in this country with less respect than other cultures.
Speaker A:So yes, they would have they think missed an opportunity there.
Speaker A:You're in New York.
Speaker A:You should have had somebody who was not a, a white story.
Speaker A:But then again you've got George.
Speaker B:Oh was he not.
Speaker A:A star of radio who of course sold cigarettes.
Speaker A:The fact that his also did not smoke in this movie, it, it sort of blew away.
Speaker A:Because as we get in story we'll talk more about the, the cast there.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:They missed Enough.
Speaker A:You're in the big.
Speaker A:Why not show us how some other cultures treat aging persons?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B: I think back in: Speaker B:True.
Speaker A:Because we.
Speaker A:We didn't give them time, that's for sure.
Speaker A:Speaking of screen, the person who was behind the camera, who is in charge of the overall viewpoint of the story.
Speaker A:Well, he was sort of a young, up and cominging person because some of the cast that worked with him said that they had clothing that were him.
Speaker A:Tell us a little about the director, Matt.
Speaker B:This would be Martin breast.
Speaker B:And yes, Mr.
Speaker B:Breast is of course.
Speaker B:And he's really worked in a lot of films that were very character driven and had more of a mainstream appeal.
Speaker B: He was born in: Speaker B:He knew the setting of where he was, the story was.
Speaker B:Of course, he studied at the universities of Titch School of the Arts.
Speaker B:That was made in very.
Speaker B:In the Art Film Festival.
Speaker B:I'm losing my place here.
Speaker B:I'm having a moment.
Speaker B:Ah, Breathe, breathe.
Speaker B:Okay, edit, edit, edit again, please.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:He knew what he wanted to do right away.
Speaker B:Oh, and he made his feature debut film with Going Style.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:This was the first feature debut he had ever made.
Speaker B:And he.
Speaker B:It of course got him lots of prison.
Speaker B:Look at aging and friendship.
Speaker B:You can call it humane, I guess.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And not only that, since when he did it.
Speaker B:That originally kind of set a little bit curious.
Speaker B:We're gonna talk about aging with little child, Little guy.
Speaker B:Yeah, basically.
Speaker B: I mean,: Speaker B:So I mean, he was not.
Speaker B:Anyway, he went on to direct other than.
Speaker B:You're not gonna believe this.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:There was this film called Beverly hills cop.
Speaker B:Oh, 84.
Speaker B:And then midnight run in 88.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And you're not gonna believe this, but there was a film that won an Oscar called Scent of a Woman.
Speaker A:I think we have.
Speaker A:I think we have a copy of the adult section.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was a whole different thing.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:That was 92.
Speaker B:Yeah, he actually had a long career of like, very, very successful movies.
Speaker B: fter working called jiggly in: Speaker A:Or I think we have that one back too.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a whole different one.
Speaker B:Usually I never do pronounce that.
Speaker B:Anyway, you remember that film.
Speaker B:It was God awful.
Speaker B:Anyway, the production itself was heavily interfered with by the studio, leading to significant re.
Speaker B:Editing and the tone changes.
Speaker B:It departed completely from his original version.
Speaker B:And then when the film was released, it was both like critically and commercially just bombed, bombed hard.
Speaker B:And became actually as one of the big box office flops of its time.
Speaker B:It was just awful.
Speaker B:And I remember how horrible it was supposed to be, and I don't think I ever actually watched it.
Speaker B:Thankfully, it actually affected him much that he.
Speaker B:He stopped completely, which is a shame because he was a brilliant director.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, okay.
Speaker A:And alrighty.
Speaker A:It takes a boatload.
Speaker A:Of course, we're talking about the Big Apple here.
Speaker A:Got the, the Statue of Liberty and where everyone came.
Speaker A:Of course, we're going to have a boat.
Speaker A:Of all the people that were involved in Going In Style, we've got the leading man.
Speaker A:This is the person that's gonna sell the tickets for the movie.
Speaker A:This name on the marquee.
Speaker A:He was a man who was in his fame and glory back in the days of radio.
Speaker A:Don't you, Mr. George Burns.
Speaker A: urn of the century in January: Speaker A:George Burns was an American comedian, actor and writer whose career spanned vaudeville.
Speaker A:That was that period there between the silent movies and.
Speaker A:And radio, Television and film.
Speaker A:Radio before we actually got pictures.
Speaker A:You could listen stories while you did your, your cleaning and all that.
Speaker A:Did you.
Speaker A:His real birth name?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:He was born Nathan Burn.
Speaker B:Bomb.
Speaker A:What a name.
Speaker A:In New York City, he rose to fame alongside his wife and comedy partner, Gracie Allen.
Speaker A:Good night, Gracie.
Speaker A:Known for his cigar, his sharp timing, and that's why you saw a lot of mouth motions there in the movie, because he didn't have a stogie in his hand or his mouth all the time.
Speaker A:The Burns remained active well into his 90s, even winning an Academy Award.
Speaker A:The Sunshine Boys in 75.
Speaker A: after Gracie Allen's death in: Speaker B:He.
Speaker A:He knew the story of his character and Going In Style.
Speaker A:After his wife's death in 64, he continued performing solo off stage.
Speaker A:He was known for his warmth, longevity, and enduring love for entertaining audiences.
Speaker A:Before his passing in 96, George Burns had over a hundred acting credits.
Speaker A:And as we mentioned, that included the Sunshine boys in 75 that he got an Academy Award for in best supporting actor.
Speaker A:And in 77, he struck gold with the first installment in a series of films.
Speaker A:Oh, God, no, I'm.
Speaker A:I'm not complaining, but it was a major hit because George Burns the Almighty and he introduced himself to a new generation in 77 now going in Style.
Speaker A:That was his next big film a couple of years after oh God.
Speaker A:And it to this date he was one of his most beloved late in life career roles.
Speaker A: And in: Speaker A:Back in the days of the studio system, you didn't hear of sequels.
Speaker A:The 80s came around and suddenly since we had a president who was an actor in the White House, it's okay to do lots and lots of movies on the same stories.
Speaker A:We got oh God.
Speaker A:Book two, which was a sequel and of course got George Burns the opportunity to play the Almighty again.
Speaker A:And one of the other of his top five most memorable roles was a film he did in 88 called 18 Again.
Speaker A:And this was a body swap comedy that showcased George Burns humor into his 90s.
Speaker A:Matt, here we are with our little nerd lunch boxes and our collection of cards.
Speaker A:I have seen out of all those hundred movies and it should be noted that George Burns was one of my dad's favorite actors.
Speaker A:Especially since we used to go on car trips and would listen to cassette tape versions of old radio shows.
Speaker A:So we heard George Burns and Gracie Allen because it was wholesome entertainment for the family.
Speaker A:Yes, I've probably seen about four of George Burns's films and I will sat that my favorite of those was oh God, you did Devil, which I think was the third or the fourth film in that series where he got to play two parts because you've got the Almighty.
Speaker A:But then you also have the devil and really behavior the other way that you knew that George Burns was playing the devil was because his suit was all red.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was a, that was a fun version because of course you didn't it playing a villainous type role.
Speaker A:Although it was still wholesome sort of at the time.
Speaker A:Aside from oh God, you, it's not one that I've seen yet.
Speaker A:After looking at George Burns body work as you would, I am really interested in seeing this movie that he did in 82, which we sort of have a thing for these, these lost gems because they didn't go to jams.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Huh.
Speaker A:It's a gem in the same sense that the candy that was hers maybe was once stuck to a Kleenex or.
Speaker B:The, the candy necklaces, candy bracelets.
Speaker B:Oh, they were such gems.
Speaker A: this film that George did in: Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's the name of a hand in playing cards.
Speaker A:It's kind.
Speaker A:It's a title that's been used by several films over the years, including one John Travolta and.
Speaker B:And Olivia Newton John.
Speaker B:That's actually what I thought you were referencing.
Speaker B:I was remembering that.
Speaker A:Well, when I saw the title, I thought that that's what it was.
Speaker A:And I'm like, he wasn't in that.
Speaker A: George Burns was in a: Speaker A:And it starred Jerry Jewell, the actress who became infamous, some say, for being a differently abled person on the Facts of Life.
Speaker A:Who was Blair Cousin?
Speaker B:Yeah, she.
Speaker A:She brought differently abled people into the spotlight because she was a funny person.
Speaker A:She became an advocate for differently abled folks in the 80s as a result of her appearances on Facts of Life.
Speaker A: ly want to see Two of a Kind,: Speaker A:It's a TV movie.
Speaker A:I'll be digging for that one in the returns.
Speaker A:You just go, you'll know when I found it.
Speaker A:I'd be like, I got one Hot Sun, Ghostbusters.
Speaker B:Oh, which one?
Speaker A:Well, anytime she answered the phone.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker B:All right, well, let's see.
Speaker B:For me, I've seen about four films as well and a number of the TV shows.
Speaker B:Actually a couple years ago went back and watched some of the old George and George and Gracie TV shows.
Speaker B:Fun.
Speaker B:Just fun.
Speaker B:Innocent fun.
Speaker B:Fun.
Speaker B:I still think that favorite is probably the old oh God series.
Speaker B:First and second one, oh God Book Two.
Speaker B:Yeah, those are my favorites.
Speaker B:I think he was one of those people just loved because he was always on like back in the 80s and late 70s and well, 70s period and 80s there was always like, NBC would always have like.
Speaker B:And now a special presentation of Bob Hope entertaining the troops and would always about like, George Burns is like, oh, he's 98 years old.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He's muff.
Speaker B:He's got the cigar.
Speaker B:And when you're just.
Speaker B:We applauding him for getting there, made it across the stage.
Speaker B:Just go with it now.
Speaker B:Put him back on the trolley and get him out of here.
Speaker B:He was, he was cool.
Speaker A:And I don't remember.
Speaker A:I remember one of the films had Bob Denver in it.
Speaker A:Or is that.
Speaker A:No, not Bob Denver.
Speaker A:John Denver.
Speaker B:John Denver.
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker B:Yeah, because they were like religion, like God people, even God.
Speaker B:Like, even people that didn't believe in God could be like, oh, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker B:It wasn't like cramming religion down your throat or something.
Speaker A:It wasn't touched.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, now that would.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:I mean, that was basically the subtitle of the Weinstein story anyway.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Let's talk about the rising action in the middle of the story, shall we?
Speaker A:I always feel like red at this point because we're waiting for something to rise.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, that's in that adult section as well.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker A:In conflict builds once Joe Allen, played by George Burns, Art Kearney and Lee Strasberg, decide to act with aging, boredom and financial insecurity by planning a bank robbery.
Speaker B:Because that's where my mind right when you.
Speaker B:I can.
Speaker B:I can't hit 10 minutes to the block and I'm gonna do is hey, let's get a gun out of a bank.
Speaker B:Yeah, that sounds like a plan.
Speaker B:Is it a Tuesday?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:What about the rising?
Speaker B:Well, at their age.
Speaker B:Oh, basically it unfolds as they wrestle with their fear, morality and their physical limitations, obviously of how to actually rob a bank.
Speaker B:They scout locations, they debate the risks in like four minutes of the film and they test their courage all while they grow higher their bond.
Speaker B:What is the tension they Will they actually go through with it and can they handle the consequences if it's actually pretty smart?
Speaker B:Because what they were saying was, what are they going to do?
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We rob the bank if we get away with it.
Speaker B:We money.
Speaker B:If we don't, they'll probably put us away for maybe four years.
Speaker B:When we get out, not only will we have that, we'll have like $8,000 each of pension check or of Social Security money.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I'm like, you know, that's not a bad idea for them to do you kind of logic in it and you know, a little something going on, honestly.
Speaker B:Oh my gosh.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A: hould be noted folks, this is: Speaker A:Somebody that was born after the.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The turn of the city.
Speaker A:You're probably not to the used to huntly check in the mail.
Speaker A:Nowadays everything's electronic and it doesn't matter if you're somebody who's able to work to earn a living or not.
Speaker A:You still have a card that you can swipe to pay for things because money is money.
Speaker A:In this day and age of going in, seniors were waiting for their checks to arrive in the mail.
Speaker A:Now did they think about the fact that if they get caught and go to are they still quote unquote, entitled to that money?
Speaker B:Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.
Speaker B:I'm like, I don't know, girl.
Speaker B:I mean Maybe.
Speaker B:I. I think it would probably depend.
Speaker B:On top of it, there were.
Speaker B: You also have to remember: Speaker B:There were not cameras everywhere.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:There weren't.
Speaker B:There weren't like fancy any things.
Speaker B:And then they picked like one.
Speaker B:It's about as old as they were.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And it was funny because when they walked in, they were noses and glasses that they weren't wearing masks or anything.
Speaker B:They just went out and they're like holding them up.
Speaker B:They've got guns in their faces and everybody just looking at them like, are you.
Speaker B:Are you serious?
Speaker B:What is going on now?
Speaker A:Well, well, leading man is.
Speaker A:It's kind of ironic that they have these actors robbing a bank wearing Groucho getups.
Speaker A:Because apparently in the heyday of George Burns contemporaries was Groucho.
Speaker A:They didn't always get along.
Speaker A:It's a little.
Speaker A:It's a little tongue in cheek that George Burns lived or out rather outlived Marx.
Speaker A:Now he could make fun of him because I'm robbing a bank and you can't tell who I am because I'm wearing this silly get up.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, it was, it was.
Speaker B:I mean, they.
Speaker B:They did a good job.
Speaker B:It is kind of preposterous because it's like even a bit away.
Speaker B:It's like very fast.
Speaker B:Probably just like walk up to the catch them.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They actually had to fire the gun for people to take it seriously.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And then they only made off with like, what was it, 33, $3,000, $35,000.
Speaker B:I guess now for their time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, how does the friendship influence their takes?
Speaker A:I mean, in one word or a couple of words?
Speaker A:It's peer pressure.
Speaker A:If your friends are going to jump off.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well, okay.
Speaker B:Today it would have been.
Speaker B:It would have been.
Speaker B:Basically, they made it off even in today's.
Speaker B:I mean, that's like if for a really good.
Speaker B:It would have been like one.
Speaker B:One person's salary if they.
Speaker B:Good job.
Speaker A:I mean, you'd be lucky if you could buy a house with the dump.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:That would be a dumpy place.
Speaker B:And then maybe Ohio or Nebraska, some middle state where nobody goes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The decision to take that drastic step.
Speaker A:It was peer pressure because Willie Lee Strasberg's character.
Speaker A:Well, I guess we'll get to that in a little bit.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:He wasn't quite on board with the rest of them.
Speaker A:And there comes a.
Speaker A:In the story where each of them sort of has their own crisis of faith, if you will.
Speaker A:They have to get on this heist together because otherwise the plan's not going to be carried out.
Speaker A:Do Joe, Al and Willie's actions feel justified or reckless?
Speaker A:And why?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's very reckless.
Speaker B:If one of them didn't put on their bat morning, they're moving for them to, to get going there.
Speaker B:I mean it.
Speaker B:In a way, it also kind of felt justified.
Speaker B:I mean, if you want to call it justified, it was.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I mean, it could kind of work.
Speaker B:Nobody would expect suspect them.
Speaker B:Of course they did not.
Speaker B:And I'm like, who ratted them out?
Speaker B:Because honestly, and there.
Speaker B:I don't remember there being any cameras to take pictures or anything.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker B:Was it the taxi driver?
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's another two.
Speaker A:I mean, this is 79.
Speaker A:So yeah, we just accept things as part of the den.
Speaker A:They did Taxi Driver for a specific reason.
Speaker A:And do you remember why?
Speaker B:No, I forget.
Speaker A:It was racist, to put it mildly.
Speaker A:They said that he was a gypsy taxi driver.
Speaker A:They could basically try to swindle him on the price of the fare because the quote unquote, really keep good records and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:And they could negotiate their price because the, the driver would have been under the impression going on.
Speaker B:Okay, I, I kind of, I kind of remember that.
Speaker B:I do remember.
Speaker B:That's not a good word to use now.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah, that whole thing was.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm really surprised that there was no more stuff that we would offensive now.
Speaker A:Well, I mean, by the fact that there's a lack of diversity.
Speaker A:The lack of diversity also limited the possibilities of racism.
Speaker A:Maybe.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker B:Well, and the other things that.
Speaker B:That was like, okay, remember when they went to Vegas?
Speaker B:Totally took me out.
Speaker B:I'm like, what are you doing?
Speaker B:And then they went to Vegas and the, the prostitute that was like trying to come on to Art Carney's character.
Speaker B:And it's all like, yeah, okay.
Speaker B:He's all like, ah.
Speaker B:And then George Burns walks up and goes, choose her away.
Speaker B:And I'm like, dude.
Speaker A:Well, that moment alone tells you that somebody's had an experience the other hasn't.
Speaker A:Because the Art Carny's character, who we'll get to in a moment here, was clueless why this quote unquote pretty young thing was paying attention to him even then.
Speaker B:And that's true because he didn't.
Speaker B:I guess he didn't realize.
Speaker B:Realized that she was prostitute like you.
Speaker B:You go, you rob a bank, your friend dies.
Speaker B:Spoiler alert.
Speaker B:You go to Vegas, of all places.
Speaker B:You're totally reckless.
Speaker B:You're like on cash and Then you're like dropping 25k when you just.
Speaker B:When you walk in the door playing craps.
Speaker B:Anyway, then they money off of craps.
Speaker B:And I was expecting them to make one bet and lose it all and like be stranded there or something.
Speaker B:I was waiting for them to like, to like, totally.
Speaker B:I was like, honestly, I actually had to get around during that part of the movie because I was so like, these people.
Speaker B:These guys are gonna mess this.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:What are they doing?
Speaker B:Just take that.
Speaker B:You did three.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:I was having so much anxiety during that gambling part.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Why else would you go there?
Speaker B:Like, let your friend.
Speaker B:Let your friend be like, yeah, she said it's probably going to be cheaper than we just love.
Speaker B:Just almost lost craps table.
Speaker B:Jeez, you robbed a bank to live a little.
Speaker B:Let him live a little.
Speaker A:I mean, I was talking about missed opportunities earlier.
Speaker A:That was a missed.
Speaker A:Well for more one reason.
Speaker A:Yeah, that could have been spoiler.
Speaker A:It could have been Art Carney's earlier.
Speaker A:As we.
Speaker A:As we have our church would say, that's a little Rose island going up.
Speaker B:I mean, that was like.
Speaker B:I was just like, why else was would you go to Venice and have some fun?
Speaker B:You're.
Speaker B:And that they end up getting money in cash somehow.
Speaker B:And I'm like, you still have to report that on your taxes.
Speaker B:Then they end up somehow.
Speaker B:And then I'm like, oh, my God, they're gonna get all that cash and put it in that thing and then somebody's gonna catch him and steal it and knock them over.
Speaker B:And then I'm like, oh, my God, what is going on with you guys?
Speaker B:You're making the most horrible choices.
Speaker B:And then they made it back to the apartment.
Speaker B:I was like, okay.
Speaker B:God, they're okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm the.
Speaker A:I'm the last person that you ask about things like I. I find casinos, aside from any potential entertainment act might be booked, I find casinos deadly dull.
Speaker A:I. I once went with an ex and at the time I want to.
Speaker B:Say but came on.
Speaker A:No, this was.
Speaker A:This was in Canada.
Speaker A:And in that province of Canada, the legal aid and Gamble was 19.
Speaker A:I. I was sitting on the floor next to the machine waiting for my.
Speaker B:Now well, my accident for your milk and cookies.
Speaker A:No, I was waiting for my partner at the time to finish playing the video poker game or whatever they were doing, and a security guard comes by and says to me, sir, you can't sleep here.
Speaker A:And I'm like, I'm not sleeping.
Speaker A:I'm bored out of my effing Mind.
Speaker A:Anyways, I would shudder to think that any casino would actually have paper money on hand in today's age.
Speaker B:Oh, in today's age.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Back then, I guess I understood it.
Speaker B:I mean.
Speaker B:I mean, they walked out with over 70,000 doll and I was just kidding me.
Speaker B:And somehow you shoved it all in that little suitcase too.
Speaker A:Well, it was hysterical though.
Speaker A:They went shopping for it and the guy, the guy's like, would you like something in leather?
Speaker A:And he's like, like, leather would be nice.
Speaker A:They ended up with something that looked like a tag.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:And then not only that, like you're gonna take that on a plane.
Speaker B:Did they they luggage back then?
Speaker B:I mean, like.
Speaker B:What you got, sir?
Speaker B:Nothing.
Speaker B:It's mine.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And then we home.
Speaker B:And then the.
Speaker A:We are at about the halfway mark in our show.
Speaker A:Not really.
Speaker A:It's time to take a brief break for some.
Speaker A:Add some jingles, some nostalgia.
Speaker A:Something that screams because.
Speaker B:Let's go out to the lobby.
Speaker A:Screams because back in 79 there was so much pollution.
Speaker A:That's the only way you could get attention is screaming, please put out that.
Speaker B:Cigarette and not on me.
Speaker A:Be careful with using that lighter.
Speaker A:You just sprayed your hair and.
Speaker B:Well, yeah, they lost my grandmother.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Are you gonna call?
Speaker B:No, Frank, call.
Speaker A:Go on, talk to them.
Speaker A:You're telling me I can call Crocker bank and apply for a loan by phone.
Speaker B:Hub, huh?
Speaker A:That's how Mike and Jeannie got their new car.
Speaker A:They just dialed the Crockophone, gave them the information, and the next day the loan was approved.
Speaker A:Now I know you can do it.
Speaker A:Hello, Crockophone.
Speaker A:Morning, Crocker phone.
Speaker A:Francis Wiggins III here.
Speaker B:Yes, before.
Speaker B:Just pick up the phone and give us the business.
Speaker B:Then give us the business.
Speaker B:Oh, I can't fold this right.
Speaker A:Relax, Don.
Speaker B:You have a nice trip now.
Speaker A:Left out.
Speaker B:It's not the trip.
Speaker B:The doctor says caffeine makes him nervous.
Speaker A:Oh, you should drink Sanka Brandy Caffeinated coffee.
Speaker C:But I only like real coffee.
Speaker A:Sanka Brand is real coffee.
Speaker A:And taste it.
Speaker A:Try it.
Speaker A:This is real coffee.
Speaker A:That looked like a great trip.
Speaker B:Oh, it was.
Speaker C:And switching to Sana Brand helped make it a second honeymoon.
Speaker A:Sana Brand, the coffee that lets you be your best.
Speaker A:Polaroid's one step is the simplest camera in the world.
Speaker A:You don't have to focus or anything.
Speaker A:I thought this was the simplest camera.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:I just snap the shutter and I've got the picture.
Speaker A:Where?
Speaker A:Well, I have to get it developed and I just press this button.
Speaker A:A motor hands me the picture.
Speaker A:I See it in minutes.
Speaker A:It's pretty.
Speaker A:But mine's just as simple up to when the picture comes out.
Speaker A:What kind of logic is that?
Speaker A:Mine doesn't make any sense.
Speaker A:You mean you don't understand it.
Speaker A:Get the one step.
Speaker B:And then they make it all the way home.
Speaker B:They're home.
Speaker B:Like the second guy dies.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Before about the dead guy, let's say.
Speaker A:Let's talk about who played the guy who hasn't died yet.
Speaker B:We talked about George Burns.
Speaker B:He's the only one that did die.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:That actually was the twist.
Speaker A:If you want to talk about modern movies and M. Night, Shamalama, Ding Dong.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:The twist is George Burns doesn't Friends who.
Speaker B:He did robb a bank do.
Speaker B:Probably from all the excitement.
Speaker B:Anyways, the second guy to die, Art Carney, who got blocked by.
Speaker B:Sorry, who got prostitute blocked by George Burns.
Speaker B:Anyway, he was.
Speaker A:Wait, is it inappropriate?
Speaker A:It's called the movie Trapped.
Speaker B:Well, nothing was caught.
Speaker B:November.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:He was.
Speaker B:And sadly, he did pass away 2,000.
Speaker B:He was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the Honeymooners.
Speaker B:And he was born in Mount Vernon, New York.
Speaker B:He served in the US during World War II and was in Normandy, leaving him with a lifelong limp.
Speaker B:That's why that.
Speaker B:The limp that he.
Speaker B:He does was not affected.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It was really there.
Speaker B:Anyway, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor in Tonto and he married three kids.
Speaker B:And he was actually very well known for his warmth and versatility.
Speaker B:Versatility.
Speaker B:He balanced comedy and drama throughout a very long career.
Speaker B:And you remember him from the.
Speaker B:The Honeymooners and from his silly characters.
Speaker B:He actually was known for his dramatic roles.
Speaker B:Now, he did have over 100 acting credits.
Speaker B:Very long career.
Speaker A:Just as long as George Burns.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And he is.
Speaker B:His top film that he was known for was Harry and Tonto.
Speaker B:And that was in 74, where he won an Oscar for it.
Speaker B:And then of course, Going In Style and the Late show, which was a detective comedy.
Speaker B:So that was actually a television show.
Speaker B:And then he was also in House Calls, which was a very light romantic comedy.
Speaker B:And that was in 78.
Speaker B:And then finally he was also.
Speaker B:Now you.
Speaker B:You probably don't know this film.
Speaker B:It was called Fire Starter and It was in 84 with that sweet little Drew Barrymore.
Speaker B:Drew Barrymore, Yes.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Based on Step King's adaption.
Speaker B:How many of have you seen?
Speaker A:Well, it's interesting because you would think that Art Carney, being one of my dad's favorites, have seen more of his films.
Speaker A:I remember Honeymooners not because I'm old enough to have seen it when it was on.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker B:Yeah, let's make sure to throw that in there.
Speaker B:Nobody thinks you're actually older than you.
Speaker A:Well, I'm just.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm just the old man in the young man's suit.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:We were saying.
Speaker A:Played opposite Jackie Gleason in the famed Honeymooners.
Speaker A:He was.
Speaker A:He was the best friend.
Speaker A:He was the bus driver in that show.
Speaker A:Anyways, all those films that Art Carney has done.
Speaker A:I've seen four my favorites.
Speaker A: s is: Speaker A:Mark Carney was in a film called Take this Job and Shove It.
Speaker B:I Work and I Hear no More.
Speaker A:And of course it was named after a country song.
Speaker A: ke this Job and shove it from: Speaker B:Num num num.
Speaker A:And Eddie Albert from Green Acres was in this movie.
Speaker A:He was.
Speaker A:He was the bot.
Speaker A:The hot cup of coffee poured directly into his acted up.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because of some of these little alleys that we end up going down.
Speaker A:Just like a TV movie I want to see with George Burns in it.
Speaker A:There's a TV movie I want to now with Art Carney in it.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:Everyone knows her as.
Speaker A:And it was called you can't take it with you.
Speaker A:And it was a.
Speaker A:About.
Speaker A:Well, basically a. I. I found a very famous play.
Speaker A:Yes, it's a.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a family of misfits.
Speaker B:Crazy people.
Speaker A:Yes, those are amongst the four I've what I like the most.
Speaker A:Take this Job and Shove it.
Speaker B:Well, it's very 80s of you.
Speaker B:I've only seen about four and then TV shows.
Speaker B:I think my favorites probably were Charter because I mean it was probably the best that he was in that I saw.
Speaker B:And then Honeymooners.
Speaker B:Honeymooners only run like one season and it did not a bunch of episodes at all.
Speaker B:It still became cultural phenomenon that we still recognize today.
Speaker B:Not to mention spun off the Flintstones.
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:A lot of.
Speaker A:A lot of folks from the Honeymooners after that.
Speaker B:Yes, very much.
Speaker B:Unfortunately.
Speaker B:Hey, what I want to know know.
Speaker B:Let's talk about the climax.
Speaker A:These three old guys, they decide to rob a bank.
Speaker A:But yeah, in our version of the.
Speaker A:It's sort of like these three old guys have gotten on.
Speaker A:Gotten into the line at the amusement park because sitting on the roller coaster and just like some roller coasters at some amusement parks, you don't know if you're gonna make it.
Speaker A:The climax and the resolution and then going in style.
Speaker A:The climax comes really really at their age when Joe, Al and Willie finally carry out the plan to rob a bank.
Speaker A:And despite their age and inexperience the heist itself unfolds with surprising simplicity.
Speaker A:The real tension lies in whether they'll be caught and what it means for their futures.
Speaker A:Because it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's the Big Apple.
Speaker A:It's like the ant on the hill.
Speaker A:You step outside they don't see what direction you went.
Speaker A:You could go on anywhere.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well the other thing that I think was really interesting about the film is when started alive when they started planning it it wasn't even when they they did it.
Speaker B:It was when they were planning it.
Speaker B:Like their lives started changing.
Speaker B:Like you like they ended up like going to some place with a bunch of other people and dancing and they were scouting around trying to do this started living it even spend the they didn't even need the money to start having the Doing the types of things that.
Speaker B:That made them feel like living.
Speaker B:They the movie away from that they the.
Speaker B:The movie never made a point of that.
Speaker B:Them saying we really didn't money I'm enjoying life now.
Speaker B:That was very sad because moment where.
Speaker A:They're on the subway train they've essentially just broken out of their routine.
Speaker A:And Carney's character to your point makes mention of that.
Speaker A:He's like isn't it nice to be doing something again?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:And unfortunately I mean I. I don't think that they even really needed to go through with the actual robbery to I would have it would have been interesting to see them plan it all the way we're ready to walk through the bank bank walk into the bank and then change their minds.
Speaker B:Like they and they and one thing was interesting is they wanted would especially today would have thrown in some love interest.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like they met somebody and started falling in love or whatever.
Speaker B:And this didn't buddy movie anyway.
Speaker B:Hey what the real the resolution actually bittersweet oh yeah.
Speaker B:Because the money brings them a sense of freedom and can't fully.
Speaker B:They can't give the reality that they owed their.
Speaker B:Their aging and all just lands on the value of friendship when finding moments of joy and control which we just talked about in life.
Speaker B:And of course they spent weeks planning this.
Speaker B:They finally do it within like three days.
Speaker B:Two of them very sad.
Speaker B:I'm surprised they didn't accuse George Burns.
Speaker B:Like killing them.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Hey, question for you.
Speaker B:How might this story change if it were something today?
Speaker A:Oh, well, I promise not to talk too much.
Speaker A:I did a little extra credit and there was a remake done not too long ago.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:A remake?
Speaker B:No way.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And Zach Braff, who was in Scrubs, directed this.
Speaker A: Now the cast of the: Speaker A:So amazing we get some answers to that question in the remakes.
Speaker A:To your point, it does story when they introduce a love interest because in the remake.
Speaker A:And Margaret, a gal that works in the grocery store.
Speaker B:That hussy.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Well, they sort of have a practice run in the remake before they actually try to carry out bank heist.
Speaker A: g from a grocery store in the: Speaker A:And Ann Margaret happens to be working in the grocery store.
Speaker A:Alan Arkin's character ends up becoming interested.
Speaker A:That's how the story might be changed if it were set today.
Speaker A: set today in the same way the: Speaker A:An all white cast, for example.
Speaker A:I think that there would be more elements of like retirement communities.
Speaker A:These people probably wouldn't be in an apartment with rent control or whatever.
Speaker A:Probably that's a senior living situation.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well, and not only that, I mean, come on, with the, the amount of cameras tracking you and the forensics and the tenaciousness some cops and things like that, I just don't think this would have worked.
Speaker B:Worked?
Speaker A:Oh yeah, I don't think.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Now if they moved, if robbed like a convenience store have cameras and everything, at least could see them getting away a little bit more bank.
Speaker A:No, no, I think a, a realistic modern take on this would be people stealing folks's Amazon packages.
Speaker B:Or, or like if they're in an old folks home and they, they go to another old folks home and they steal all their puddings or something.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And somewhere in the mix.
Speaker A:What's her name?
Speaker A:Vicki Lawrence.
Speaker B:Oh, I would love that.
Speaker B:Do you remember the Cool Kids?
Speaker A:Yes, exactly is what I was thinking of.
Speaker B:I actually own that.
Speaker B:I love them.
Speaker B:And of course, these days you would have to have a character like Leslie Jordan.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:And Martin Mull was in it too.
Speaker A:I think that was one of the last things he did.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker A:So Matt, does the film ultimately feel hopeful, bittersweet or cautionary to you?
Speaker B:It feels like a funeral dirge because.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:It starts out with the.
Speaker B:Okay, well, this is interesting.
Speaker B:Let's see where this goes then and at.
Speaker B:While you're watching, like, sit on a park bench and decay.
Speaker B:And then, oh, well, this is kind of helpful.
Speaker B:What's going on here?
Speaker B:And then they die.
Speaker B:And then another one dies.
Speaker B:And then there's the whole gambling scene, which I was nervous through.
Speaker B:Couldn't believe that they did that.
Speaker B:They were just like, ah, let it ride.
Speaker A:And like, in a certain way, I feel that that was only done because Burns was the lead.
Speaker A:It's sort of an homage to his role as an entertainer.
Speaker A:That would have been the kind of place that George Burns would have been paying his bills earlier in his career.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then at the end, cautionary.
Speaker B:I don't know about cautionary, except basically, they got away with it.
Speaker B:I mean, yes, George Burns in the end went to.
Speaker B:Never told him where the money was.
Speaker B:The actually got the money at the end.
Speaker B:Although good luck spending it because you're probably on the watch list.
Speaker B:You can open your own fruit stand or something.
Speaker B:And they don't do it.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:Don't do it.
Speaker B:The minute you spend any money, it'd be like, right.
Speaker A:I love how they calmly and collectively revealed partly money that they into when one of their friends died.
Speaker A:They just concocted a story that he had insurance policy.
Speaker B:Right, Exactly.
Speaker B:That you don't have to sign anything.
Speaker B:Here it is all in cash.
Speaker B:The other thing was.
Speaker B:And remember when the police were all like, we kind of want to let you go.
Speaker B:Why don't you just give us back the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The money and call it good?
Speaker B:And George Burns was like, no, I'm going.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And also I'm like, after they, after they got that 70 grand where they won it, I'm like, okay, take the 30 grand or whatever.
Speaker B:Just pay money somehow.
Speaker B:Just leave a bag at the police station.
Speaker B:Just be like, I don't want it.
Speaker B:I, after all, just like, do that and like walk away.
Speaker B:That's what I was kind of expecting.
Speaker B:No twist with him going to jail and everything.
Speaker A:Well, and.
Speaker A:And it burns this character's point.
Speaker A:Like, they treat me good on the inside here and the food is better.
Speaker A:It's like he's basically getting free rent for his taxes, is his point to me.
Speaker A:When I, when I first moved away from home for the first time after college, I moved to.
Speaker A:I don't know if this is still the case.
Speaker A:There.
Speaker A:There used, I don't want to say a rumor or a legend.
Speaker A:It used to be like just a fact that the city jail in Dallas was limited with resources, didn't have their own food service.
Speaker A:People who in the city jail in Dallas which was only meant to be for like overnight or a couple of days or whatever before they put you in long term food brought in by McDonald's.
Speaker A:The joke was if you were arrested in Dallas, you were getting McDonald's for dinner.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:It was cautionary in a way in.
Speaker A:In a sort of an in your face way because these being seniors, it's their best to improve their lives.
Speaker A:They screwed up because they broke the law.
Speaker A:Behave yourself.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, I don't think they really did because once they more active.
Speaker B:This is even before they robbed the bank.
Speaker B:Bank.
Speaker B:I didn't have the money yet.
Speaker B:They were and they were more active and they were going places and like their lives.
Speaker B:They could have done that without that.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I don't see that side of it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I, I liked how they.
Speaker A:Funny that they were going to.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we don't have much time to talk about it.
Speaker A:That was something thing I found most hysterical about this movie there was.
Speaker A: lapstick moments which in the: Speaker A: There's in the: Speaker A:They have a way of getting a hold of weapons which isn't originally explained.
Speaker A:Basically Art Carney's character knows where he can get some gun guns and yeah.
Speaker A:When he brings them to their apartment and he puts them out of the table, he's like didn't know which kind of bullets these needed.
Speaker A:So I just took everything and they're sitting there at the table like you're counting pennies in a jar and they're trying to figure out the size of bullets that are needed for these guns.
Speaker B:Well he got them all from like his nephew.
Speaker B:His nephew didn't even know know that they took them.
Speaker A:Yeah, I. I think.
Speaker B:And how crazy would that would have been because they.
Speaker B: ld have like I don't know how: Speaker B:I don't know how in depth their forensics were back then.
Speaker B:I don't know if they could have identified like where the.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Anyway and we might, we might edit this out here.
Speaker A:Did you get the impression was a there with Art Carney's character?
Speaker A:I felt like, like even though they didn't really explain it until later that this wasn't his son, that it was his nephew.
Speaker A:I felt like the guy knew where all this stuff was because it had been his house before.
Speaker B:Well see I. I didn't know about that.
Speaker B:I Do know that he would, he would go over their daughter.
Speaker A:Oh, he had access.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So he drifting things so he could,.
Speaker A:He could plant interesting stuff.
Speaker A:Because who's gonna look in the back of the house?
Speaker B:Well, and that's it.
Speaker B:It's like, oh well we're gonna put, I put it all in a suitcase in the back of the closet.
Speaker B:Like don't do that.
Speaker B:They're gonna find it in.
Speaker A:Just a handful of years later.
Speaker A:It would be an after school special about how the girl found the gun in her closet.
Speaker B:Oh God.
Speaker B:Yeah, I thought about that too.
Speaker B:I'm like, you have access to like just guns.
Speaker B:And I'm like, you have a kid around.
Speaker B:What are you crazy?
Speaker B:And that's how we look at things now.
Speaker A:Oh, that's how we got, that's how we got movie stars as the, the leaders in our group.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:The third person in our little trio here was actually the first the cast to, to kick the bucket.
Speaker A:And this was in the movie, right.
Speaker A:Mr. Lee Strasberg played Willie and Willie was the guy who really didn't want a part of the bank.
Speaker A:And he actually played a sweet character because he had a very heartfelt moment where he shared about feeling bad about disciplining his child because this child passed away.
Speaker A:And I, I get through the course of the story and the, the age because he said he was.
Speaker A:Either something happened or he maybe went to war.
Speaker A:Like he'd gone to Vietnam and die.
Speaker A:Died.
Speaker B:Yeah, probably.
Speaker B:I, I don't, I don't know about but I, I thought that, that he disciplined.
Speaker B:He was disciplining the kid because he was, he was refusing to let him want him or something like that.
Speaker B:And then the way that he broke down about it and that was such a good, I mean of anything, if anything in this whole movie that was the scene that I was just.
Speaker B:Was really well done.
Speaker A:And if you're going to rely on anybody in the cast to give you a award winning presentation there it's going to be Mr. Lee Strasberg.
Speaker A:Because he had an acting school named Lee Strasberg was born in November of ought 1 and passed away in 82 just a handful of years after Going In Style was brought to theaters.
Speaker A:He was an influential acting teacher and performer who helped shape modern American actors acting.
Speaker A:He was born in Buda Niv, which I a Slavic country perhaps then part of the Austro Hungarian empire, now the Ukraine.
Speaker A:Immigrated to New York City as a child.
Speaker A:Strasberg became artistic director of the Actors Studio in more recent years.
Speaker A:Now this is recent as in like 10 years ago, the host of that since passed, James Lipton, was the host of the Actors Studio or Inside the Actors Studio.
Speaker A:And that's the namesake for Lee Strasberg's school, where he championed method acting training stars like Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
Speaker A:He earned an Academy Award nomination for the Godfather Part two.
Speaker A:And Strasberg was married twice.
Speaker A:He had four children, leaving a lasting legacy in film and theater Watch.
Speaker A:While his character was sort of a.
Speaker A:A background person in the story, because he wasn't really the strongest presence by virtue of his performance, he actually had the most range because, as we just said, his character had that standout moment where he talked about having reservations, having second thoughts about what he's done or is about to do do.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Mr. Strasberg had 25 acting credits, so not as many as Mr. George Burns or Carney because was busier teaching people than being in front of the camera.
Speaker A:Of those acting credits, his top five include the Godfather Part 2 in 74, which he got an Academy Award nomination.
Speaker A:Also going In Style that we're discussing today, he also starred in another film in 79 called Boardwalk.
Speaker A:It's about a drama of an elderly couple in Brooklyn.
Speaker A:And then in 76, a handful of years before this, he was in the Cassandra Crossing, which was a suspenseful disaster film.
Speaker A:And also in 76, the last tycoon, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel.
Speaker A:And of course, for those of you who may not know, F. Scott Fitzgerald was the man who wrote.
Speaker A:And I'm gonna forget the name now, the movie that had Robert Redford prominently and there was a remake with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Speaker A:What movie am I talking about, Matt?
Speaker B:Because Sting.
Speaker A:No, F. Scott's Fitzgerald.
Speaker A:And he.
Speaker A:His care.
Speaker A:The character was a playboy and Wolf of Wall Street.
Speaker A:No, let me see.
Speaker A:I'll have to.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Sounds boring now.
Speaker A:It wasn't Robert Redford.
Speaker A:I mean, you could just mute the dialogue and look at the.
Speaker A:Pretty sure Leo DiCaprio was in the Gatsby.
Speaker A:You don't remember the Great Gatsby with Robert Redford in it?
Speaker B:Yawn.
Speaker B:I mean, no, I don't.
Speaker A:Scott Fitzgerald was the author of the Great Gatsby.
Speaker A:All right, Matt.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker A:I don't have too many minor cards for Mr. Strasberg.
Speaker A:In fact, going In Style, I've seen.
Speaker A:With him in it.
Speaker A:How about you?
Speaker B:I've seen two because I have seen the.
Speaker B:God.
Speaker B:The Godfather Part two.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I actually like the films.
Speaker B:When I first watched them.
Speaker B:I recently tried to watch them, and after 20 minutes, of the one party scene I was like, oh no.
Speaker B:And I just off.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'll watch Naked and afraid.
Speaker B:It's about as.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I've only seen a films of his which he only made really surprised me especially for as influential and as he been.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:There were some other cast members.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:We had several of them including Charles Han Callahan who was best known for the thing and of course numerous television roles in the 80s.
Speaker B:He's one of the actors who like you may not have known his name, just sure knew who he was when he showed up in a TV show that week.
Speaker A:And he was the.
Speaker A:He was the.
Speaker A:The nephew in Going In Style.
Speaker A:The one that some of the money.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And we had Tony Le Blanco who is also known for the French Connection and we had had.
Speaker B:Honestly, I. I hate the fact that I watched this and didn't even realize in it Doris Roberts be a bank employee.
Speaker B:I have no idea.
Speaker B:I had to.
Speaker B:I'm gonna have to go back and like who was she?
Speaker B:Because she was actually named playing Lou Barone and Everybody Loves Raymond.
Speaker B:She to me moonlighting to.
Speaker B:I mean Doris Roberts.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:She's one of my absolute favorites of all time character actresses.
Speaker B:We had HB Haggerty, who is a former professional wrestler turned actor known for his supporting roles.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:And then we have Paula Truman who is remembered for films like in Dirty Dancing.
Speaker B:I know as we.
Speaker A:We often do, there was a connection with our sci Fi franchise here, our Star Trek connection.
Speaker A:It was actually sort of bittersweet because.
Speaker A:Spoiler.
Speaker A:Charles Halahan, who played Art Carney's character's nephew, he was cast to appear in an episode of Star Trek Deep space 9.
Speaker A:However, Mr. Hallahan passed time.
Speaker A:He suffered a heart attack and they had to recast the roles.
Speaker A:Originally going to be in a Deep Space Nine episode in the 90s before his untimely passing.
Speaker A:And for those of you who know the secrets to the seven herbs and spices, otherwise known as IMDb, if you look at Mr. Hallahan's IMDb, you'll see that his family contributes did to his credits in there.
Speaker A:In fact, one of the people that typed it out said I'm one of his children and we moved to Ireland after he passed away.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Which character would you most want to hang out with in Going In Style and why?
Speaker A:Why, Matt?
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:No, none of them.
Speaker B:They were all horrible people.
Speaker B:No, they were not people.
Speaker B:By the way, I'm Gonna correct myself.
Speaker B:I just did a double check and Doris Roberts was not this film.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker B:I'm not.
Speaker B:I'm not sure how she got listed.
Speaker A:She wished she could have been in it because she was a George Burns fan.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:She was pretty young at the time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's crazy how stuff like that happens.
Speaker A:Maybe it was.
Speaker A:Maybe it was Robert.
Speaker A:Doris.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I have no.
Speaker B:I mean, Alan Brooks was.
Speaker B:Karen Montgomery was in it, I think.
Speaker A:I think want to hang out with Art Carney's great niece there, the little girl.
Speaker A:Because she.
Speaker A:She was the most innocent of all those people.
Speaker A:She wasn't in this.
Speaker A:She was oblivious to the world.
Speaker A:It was all a happy place according to her because she was sweet and innocent that everyone smiled when she knew her.
Speaker A:Her.
Speaker A:Her great uncle's friend's name.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I can't think of anyone really that I wanted to.
Speaker B:To hang out with.
Speaker B:Maybe the nephew and his.
Speaker B:His wife.
Speaker B:Because his wife seemed like a really person.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And she didn't know what was going on and makes you wonder what she would have if she knew the truth.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Or maybe Karen Montgomery who played the hooker.
Speaker B:Her.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:That was actually.
Speaker B:And that's actually her.
Speaker B:Her Lake in the film Hooker.
Speaker A:We're not even gonna be sex.
Speaker B:And then they actually have like Tito Goya.
Speaker B:His.
Speaker B:His role as gypsy cab driver.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, what the heck.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Bet you got a question for me there.
Speaker B:A character that you.
Speaker B:More screen time have the ones that died.
Speaker B:For me, it would have been probably Lee Strasberg's character.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because he.
Speaker B:He's the one that died the soonest and missed all the.
Speaker B:The going to Vegas.
Speaker B:I didn't.
Speaker B:I didn't feel that his character got much or anything out of.
Speaker A:And I think it missed opportunity maybe just because of it being Lee Strasberg.
Speaker A:If they were to have made better use of his talents, they could have flushed.
Speaker A:They could have fleshed his character out.
Speaker A:Well, they would have had to have had equal men would.
Speaker A:Had to have had more backstory.
Speaker A:I like if Lee Strasberg's character had been given more backstory, family might have been like Holocaust survivors.
Speaker B:Yeah, that.
Speaker B:That would have been interesting.
Speaker B:And like George Burns's character, we knew that he.
Speaker B:World War II, that he kind of did scammy stuff in World War II was basically a good guy.
Speaker B:Like what else?
Speaker B:Yeah, like maybe his.
Speaker B:Maybe he had a wife that died a long time ago.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:I mean, were we from him pictures?
Speaker B:Like, we didn't really Know any.
Speaker B:Any real.
Speaker B:Anything of stories other than they were just old people who were living to.
Speaker A:And that's one of the improvements that they made in the remake if you get a chance to watch it right now at least folks.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A: In the: Speaker A: ese three men together in the: Speaker A:That gave them more of a story and how they knew each other.
Speaker A:If.
Speaker A:If I think think that I wish had more screen time.
Speaker A:Were the loved ones that weren't there a very lonely story and sure it was.
Speaker A:It was probably inevitable that you were supposed to feel lonely for these people.
Speaker A:You could have made yourself for them for experiencing their loss if you knew who their loved ones were.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I mean there wasn't even like when he went and he told.
Speaker B:He told the nephew loved one died.
Speaker B:There was like a.
Speaker B:An emotional that at all.
Speaker B:It was some stuff that was very disjointed.
Speaker B:Again, this was the director's first time.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And then also you have to take what's on the page and lift it to I don't know.
Speaker B:Yeah there.
Speaker B:There was some.
Speaker B:Some wonky stuff there.
Speaker A:Hey Matt, did you see yourself in any of the characters?
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:I'm recording podcasts with you know.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:Yes and no.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Actually I listeners after.
Speaker A:After all of we've been through.
Speaker A:They'll wrestle the remote out of Matt's.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Cooter Jack is gonna be beaten soon with the.
Speaker B:He's making us watch.
Speaker B:No, actually these are good films.
Speaker B:It's just to one times but I do I. I see.
Speaker B:I see a projection of what I hope I'm able to avoid in the money to hardly get my basic needs met.
Speaker B:I mean things that I generally.
Speaker B:I genuinely worry about regard.
Speaker B:Yes, I saw myself in the characters far as the crotchet crotchy and crotchiness and the.
Speaker B:The balls to run bank.
Speaker B:Nope, that ain't me.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean mean I see myself in the characters in that I'm at my place in like I was newly out of college and I was in my first jobs.
Speaker A:I was ultimately going to people working there.
Speaker A:I'm at the point in my life now where people are getting younger than me and my.
Speaker A:My doctor is younger than me.
Speaker A:My doctor is younger than my nephews or my nieces.
Speaker A:My boss is younger than nieces and my nephews.
Speaker A:So I feel that impression there that see myself and those Those characters I identify with, sort of Carney's character, he have loved ones directly in his life.
Speaker A:He's an.
Speaker A:His nephew has a family.
Speaker A:By that extension he tries to do well by them because of course they, they negotiate to leave the money because the family he has left.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Well, we've got a few little breadcrumbs here to talk about involving the film.
Speaker A:So when he first met young Martin Breast, I wonder if he was nicknamed Booby Cool.
Speaker A:George Burns joked that he had neckties older than him, highlighting the age gap between cast and director.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I wonder how much the.
Speaker B:The collab of the.
Speaker B:The older guys because I remember one of the plays that I directed and I swung out.
Speaker B:It was like third or fourth play that I've ever directed was actually a trolling and it was a cast of actors who are all like 60 and above.
Speaker B:Maybe there was a 50ish in there.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They were all seniors and it.
Speaker B:All them basically life as older people dealing with younger pen.
Speaker B:Having to adopt like a young gay.
Speaker B:And I was very, as a director working with people, very experienced actors.
Speaker B:I had never who.
Speaker B:Who I had actually watched and admired for years.
Speaker B:Like I'm kind of an inexperienced director and I work with these guys.
Speaker B:I not only have the make that put my vision into it, also learn from them.
Speaker B:As we are doing this, I kind of wonder there was some of that where his first, his first direction that he was learning from.
Speaker B:Well, I hope hopefully it was a good.
Speaker B:Good how it could have the film marked actually his.
Speaker B:Not only his commercial feature launched that would later.
Speaker B:Later include of course like Beverly Hills Cop, which we talked about.
Speaker A:Now this was the final feature role of Lee Strasberg who played Willie, who ironically was the first one to pass away in the story.
Speaker A:And it added extra poignancy to his performance.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And if there was a scene where Joe looks through the old photographs that I kind of mentioned and picture represent his younger self and late wife, which is.
Speaker B:It was supposed to kind of add this subtle emotional backstory and I'm like no, no, just over the head with it.
Speaker B:Just looking at some old photographs and we're like maybe that was a weight a late wife.
Speaker B:Maybe that was a sister.
Speaker B:Like what?
Speaker B:I. I don't know.
Speaker B:It went by too quick.
Speaker B:You know, it was especially at 1.5 speed.
Speaker B:It just.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:It wasn't a prominent enough picture of the.
Speaker A:Oh, that's Gracie Allen.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Despite its modest budget, the film was a box office success.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Wow, that's.
Speaker A:That's a record maker.
Speaker A:Because we talk about successful films here.
Speaker A:True, it grossed far more than it cost and earned strong critical praise because, I mean, they had to pay for George Burns cigars, Right?
Speaker B: Well, it was: Speaker B:I mean, what else are you gonna watch?
Speaker B:Who's gonna hear that in 20 years, you know?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:We are the show.
Speaker A:Yes, you applaud now because you survived arrived.
Speaker A:We're going something else you might enjoy if you're the sort of person that likes going in Style.
Speaker A:Anything with George Burns or some, some performers in their twilight.
Speaker A:So I'm going to recommend something from just a few years before Going in Style.
Speaker A:This is a film that is about.
Speaker A:Well, it's set before the turn of the century.
Speaker A: The story goes, in: Speaker A:It's kind of like Burns and petty con artists get involved together with the most notorious bank robber in a New York City bank heist.
Speaker A:This film stars James Khan, Elliot Gould and Michael Caine.
Speaker A:Wow, that's.
Speaker A:That's quite a lineup right there.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's also on top of those, there's more.
Speaker A:Diane Keaton, Charles Durning, Leslie Ann Warren, Carol Kane.
Speaker A:I'm suggesting that if you like films like Going in style from 79, you're gonna enjoy 76's Harry and Walter Go to New York.
Speaker A:And this is directed by the future director of On Golden Pond, Mark Rydell.
Speaker A:Check out.
Speaker A:Oh, Harry and Walter Go to New York because Diane Keaton's in it.
Speaker B:That, that's okay.
Speaker B:I, your secondary cast line up there.
Speaker B:Diane Keaton, Charles turning Leslie and Warren and Carol Kane be the movie for the rather than con Elliott Gold and Michael Kane.
Speaker B:Although I love Michael Kane.
Speaker B:That's very interesting and it's funny, whenever I hear Charles during Name, there was a line on Will and Grace where she got Will a dog and Will comes home and he opens the door, he sees it and he goes, is that a dog?
Speaker B:And Grace says, no, it's character actor Charles Durning.
Speaker B:And whenever, whenever I hear Charles Dirty's name, I think of that scene.
Speaker B:Okay, well, what I'm gonna is a team of veteran stars.
Speaker B:I know this is really out of the left field by Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and like Arnold Schwarzenegger assemble to prove age doesn't dull their edge.
Speaker B:Though older than typical action heroes, they deliver explosive missions with grit, experience and old school toughness that celebrates enduring star power.
Speaker B: It's: Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:This is good.
Speaker B: s, even: Speaker B:They are just like, like, I mean, Dolph Lungren, right?
Speaker B:Who you're like, really?
Speaker B:Dolph Lungren?
Speaker B:And then you're watching like, okay, Dolph Lundgren.
Speaker B:It's a fun series.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And it plays into.
Speaker B:Just because you're older doesn't mean can't do it anymore and that you're forgotten.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Teach.
Speaker A:Teach the youngins how to do it.
Speaker B:The children.
Speaker B:Well, all right.
Speaker A:Don't bring it.
Speaker A:Don't break out into We Are the World.
Speaker B:That's a whole different movie.
Speaker B:Movie.
Speaker A:It is the 80s, which we seem to be stuck in a lot lately actually.
Speaker B:79.
Speaker B:Be careful.
Speaker A:Here comes I know.
Speaker A:I might be spoiling a song that hasn't been released yet.
Speaker A:Okay, well, we're gonna go ahead and get fourth wall again.
Speaker C:Next time on Matinee Minutia.
Speaker C:It's a quirky comedy starring Bronson Pinchot as.
Speaker C:As hired to find a missing heir whose eccentric visions clash with his skeptical partner.
Speaker C:Partner played by John Larroquette.
Speaker C:These visions lead to chaotic clues, absurd humor, and unexpected twists as they stumble towards solving the case with unpredictable results.
Speaker C: It's: Speaker A:Well, I hope that we're going to be doing something a little more recent.
Speaker B:Because, yeah, maybe we can get out of the 70s and 80s.
Speaker A:I mean, goodness, they were still using subway tokens in this that we just talked about.
Speaker A:Here, here.
Speaker B:What's a subway?
Speaker B:California.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Well, for those of you who have ladies in your life, make sure they're appreciated because Mother's Day is coming up here, and if you don't have a mom in your life, you just have.
Speaker A:Well, don't just have.
Speaker A:You have food that maybe was a figure in your growing up.
Speaker A:Make sure you let them know that they're appreciated and had an important part of, because that's what these parental appreciation days are all about.
Speaker B:Indeed.
Speaker A:And anything good coming up.
Speaker A:We're halfway to summer.
Speaker A:I guess June is going to be busting out all over.
Speaker A:And not too long.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That's in the back section as well, Right?
Speaker A:If Lula May has returned it, I.
Speaker B:Think we need to get three ghosts to visit her and.
Speaker B:And give the store a shop.
Speaker B:The shoplift.
Speaker B:A facelift.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I mean, maybe next season.
Speaker A:We can upgrade this VCR and get a dvr.
Speaker B:You know what, maybe we could actually get her to upgrade and get some VHS instead of these old Betas.
Speaker B:So right.
Speaker A:Maybe even, maybe even get some laser discs.
Speaker A:That would even be an upgrade.
Speaker B:Wow, that would be cool.
Speaker A:That would be a whole new Originally released on LaserDisc and only on LaserDisc.
Speaker A:Right, the after School special that Bill Shatner starred in.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Alrighty folks.
Speaker A:Enjoy your absurdly colored candies.
Speaker A:Get some plants and some some flowers for the special person in your life life no matter when it is.
Speaker A:For now, thank you for listening.
Speaker A:Bad Name Minutia.
Speaker B:Our show is released on the first and third Friday of most group on Facebook.
Speaker B:Find our videos on Odyssey.
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Speaker A:Us on Blue Sky DJ is that.
Speaker B:DJ star Sage Matt at SBA Matt send us an email@matt matinemanutia gmail.com because.
Speaker A:Nothing says 90s more than frozen yogurt.
