Episode 40 LA Confidential and Broadcast News

Dave & Christopher review "LA Confidential" the multiple Oscar-nominated 1997 American neo-noir crime thriller directed, produced and co-written by Curtis Hanson and starring Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, David Strathairn and Danny DeVito 

They also review "Broadcast News" another multiple Oscar-nominated  American romantic comedy drama from 1987 written, produced & directed by James L Brooks and starring Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks and William Hurt

"If You Were Here" © writers: Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie, and Joe Leeway performed by J.Christopher Thomas

"Ride Captain Ride "© writers: Mike Pinera, Frank "Skip" Konte  performed by Blues Image

Transcript

LA Confidential

SPEAKER_03 0:25

If you're looking for a good movie or to make sure that you've come to the right place, let's get started. So Hello kids.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

So for this week, I picked No, you start this time.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Okay. Yes, this week I picked LA Confidential. I hadn't seen it in a while, and I really enjoyed it when I s when I have watched it. Yeah. And I'd still thoroughly enjoy it. I think it's a great film. Yes. It's the movie that really launched Russell Crowe. I mean, he'd been seen here and there, but that this and Guy Pierce, those two actors were really thrown into, if you want to say the stratosphere of Welcome to Hollywood, basically.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

This is their not their first movie, but notable.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Especially Hollywood, because Curtis Hansen, who directed it and co-wrote it, what I had read is he had read Elmo. It's based on Elmore Leonard, yeah. Right. He has several books, and this was one that somehow Curtis Hansen stumbled upon, but he loved the the characters in it so much. So he started tinkering with it. Um it's a film noir for those who don't know what that means. It's it's a cinematic term used to describe stylish Hollywood crying dramas from the 1940s and 50s. So it it it's French for dark film, so yes, it is very much that. So um can I just interject?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Um no. Yes. Sounds of us fighting. Umre Leonard has dozens of books, as far as I know, and I was thinking when I was watching this movie, it's a good movie, first of all. I was thinking, I wish Hollywood would go back to that. Because for a while they were they were doing these type of mysteries. Oh, yeah. I can cut it. And even like Jackie Brown, which we covered before, is uh based on a book as well, a mystery author. So I was like, I wish they would do more of these. I don't know why they stopped because they were doing them, they were successful, because this I think was nominated for a bunch of awards.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

I got nine Academy nominations.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah, from so why would you go away from it? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Um to piggyback up with your is Out of Sight also one of his Yeah, right. And it seemed like and uh these hits. I know we're gonna kind of go into uh and a few other ones too, I think. But this proves our point about today's filmmaking, right? Right? It's like you there's a bunch of material that's ripe to be made, right? And I agree with you. And some of these authors, there's many books that could be, you know, transformed into a movie.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

I was thinking when I was watching this, this is a great movie, timeless, I think.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

But I wouldn't mind seeing some newer people in it right now and seeing what they could do with it, you know, some current actors or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Or, like we just said, other adaptations from other novels.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Oh, sure. Uh yeah, I don't mean to redo this movie. I just mean like yeah, something like this now. Like I can go to the theater and watch it now with I don't know, Chalamer or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

I know you don't like him, but no, no, I don't I don't it's not that I think he's just too full of himself, but that's another time, kids.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yeah, but that my point is, yeah, like to see something like this now in the theater.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Right. So, real quick, yeah. LA Confidential is a 1997 American neo-noir crime thriller, film directed, produced, and co-written by Curtis Hansen. The film tells the story of a group of LAPD officers in 1953 and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity. Which was it was really fun to see that. It did remind me of the older movies that I from that era. Right. As I was saying at the time, the actors Guy Pierce and Russell Crowe were relatively unknown in North America. I know they were known in Australia because that's where the I was gonna say, uh aren't they both from Australia? Actually, they're New Zealanders.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

New Zealand. Same thing. Slapped down. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

No, you're good.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

But uh sorry her New Zealand.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

But yeah, Curtis Hansen uh uh saw he read the book and he wanted to he started working on a screenplay and then uh Brian Helgland, also a famous writer throughout Hollywood, saw that they were putting this in and he wanted to get on board. Uh he actually wrote a few drafts with Curtis Hansen and didn't get paid for it. Um so they were able to adapt it by just going with the characters, not the whole of the story, because I guess it's very elaborate and there's a bunch of different storylines going on. But they the heart of it was the Guy Pearson uh Russell Crowe characters, which was Guy Pierce plays Edmund Xley and Russell Crowe plays Wendell uh Bud White. Yeah, he's like a big thugish he gets justice done, let's put it that way. Or he gets it his own way.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

But I think the thing I like about him is that he aspires to be more. That's just what people uh narrow him down to be. They see the both and you beat people up, so that's what we're gonna have you do. But he wants to be more than that, which I think is a fascinating character. Character, right. Yeah. And they're like constantly saying, You're not as stupid as you look. They said like three times in the movie. It's like, yeah, because he wants to be he's a full-rounded human being.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

Well, as we open the story, the LAPD is looking to change their image because there's been a corruption scandal throughout the LAPD, so they're looking to clean up their act. And then Edmund or Ed excellent comes in who's uh by the book. I mean, he's the guy that you know they're they're willing to do whatever. You know, they're by the book, literally. There is no letter to the law letter to the law, there's no like, oh, spirit of law, it's literally Yeah, he's a second generation, at least second generation.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Yes, he's so he's very proud of that heritage or whatever. So he's very by the book.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Well, even when the captain was we meet them and Captain Smith, who was played by um James Cromwell, yeah, um tells him, Well, actually, you're not you don't you won't do these little things that have to be done because you're literally like straight and arrow.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I wanted to ask you about that. I don't want to derail your your train of thought there, but I appreciate it. Come back to it later. Sure. Um, but I wanted to ask you about do you think he's right? Because Cromwell is well, what's his character? His uh Captain Smith. Captain Smith. He says to him, he asks him a series of questions about they're basically corruption. We won't get I won't get into it. I want you to just see that for yourself. Right, thank you. But they're basically corruption. They they are by the law they are corruption, but there's there's there's the perfect world and there's the actual world that we live in.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

And so I guess between those two, I wonder like that dichotomy, right? Is I mean, is he I mean, because he's not wrong, right? So you know, I mean, he gets it's like it's like the old 80s action movies, he gets the job done. And it's always like one guy who's like a holdover from that time from the 50s or whatever, who's still like kicking ass and shooting uh recklessly or whatever, and it's yeah, but he gets the job done.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

So to kind of I guess answer also, you can play it straight arrow like Edmund tries, right? But you won't always be successful.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Right. Right? But you'll be legal. Sure. And that's what we supposedly build our country on. So it's kind of like that.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

I mean, being strong armed certain things, I mean, do I I mean that's a moral question maybe and maybe ethics, but I don't think I agree with you, Smith is not wrong. In order to get produced um results, yeah, you know, you may have to be a little strong-arm, a little heavy-handed, right? You might have to do some underhanded stuff or whatever, but I guess what I'm saying, and from what I know is if you try to be the whole letter of the law, yeah, you're you're legally covered, but you're not gonna get results. Right. People are gonna clam up on you.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

The spirit of law, you can play, you know, you can get strong arm and you can kind of like they see you as a person, not just the badge and all that. Right. Right. So I agree with you, and that's another reason. Yeah, I love the movie.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

It does make you think. It's not like so black and white.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

It's just like, wow, okay. I mean, yeah, it just makes you makes you think. It makes you you kind of identify with a lot of the characters, which is great because most places they only most movies or you know, stories, whatever they want you to identify with the protagonist, and then there's a bad guy or whatever, or bad thing or whatever, but this is like you don't really know who's crooked. I mean, they're all kind of crooked, or except for actually Eben White isn't crooked.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Well, yeah, we don't want to give away too much.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

He does some crooked stuff too, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

I'm not disagreeing with him.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

So he's not perfect either, so it's like he's almost like disproving his own point. It's like I'm gonna be this letter of the law guy, but then you're doing this stuff on the side that's not And not to get too far ahead of ourselves.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

I know what you're referring to, and that's where he has that dilemma within himself, right? But at the moment, when he does work Because you're a human being and Well, I mean that's what it called for that, right? Right, and he realized black and white. Right, he realized, oh crap. You know, that I can't just be straight and narrow and think that's gonna get results. It's not right. Um but so anyway. No, no, I I that was fun. Um we also get Kevin Spacey before he and he played this role perfect. Yeah, he plays Detective Sergeant Jack Hollywood Jack Vincense, right? He's a liaison with Hollywood because they filmed that TV show.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

I'm gonna so hot take hot take or I miss Spacey in movies. I know I I well I don't know what he did off camera. I've heard he's a he's a dick and I've heard he's done some straight up foul stuff. I don't know all the details of it because I don't follow any of people's personal lives or whatever other than my own. But uh this is an actor. God, he just chews up the screen. He just like he could hit you with a facial expression and just like wow, that's just it's I don't see it. I don't see it nowadays necessarily. It's in the gold. I mean it is it's like old school. It's almost good that he's in this period piece. It reminds me of that old school acting, acting. Like it's a craft and we take it very seriously. Now it's kind of like it's a hustle.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

It's kind of like, oh I'll I'll do this, and we still got a couple, not to cut you off, but yeah, that are as good as he is, but you're right. It's so few and far between. It is just a spectrum.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

I want to be I'm you know, it's branding and it's like it's cool, it's kind of a cool thing to do, and it's like, yeah, that's all great, but uh there are people who come up to the theater, you could tell it's like they're just they project, and they can, like I said, hit you with just an expression. There's a scene where um actually asks him to help him with something, and he's just deadpan talking to him, but just the way that scene plays out is just like you have to have Kevin Spacey in that. Right. Or someone of his caliber, and there's not that many.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

And there's who, right? You know, it's fun to explore these movies going back and re-watching. I remember as a quick aside here, I know that it played at the Conn Film Festival, and they were actually a the studio was opposed to it. They told Curtis Hanson no. For what?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Oh, opposed to going to Conn?

SPEAKER_03 11:39

Okay, I don't know if they didn't get it or they didn't, but he played it and it did tremendous. Yeah, of course it would. You know, but and I remember watching the trailers, and back then we had a plethora of movies to go attend, but I knew I gotta see that movie. That's the one, yeah. And when I saw it, it was blew all my it exceeded all my expectations. It was phenomenal. Um yeah, after Curtis Hansen was able to because the studio wasn't sold on Russell and Guy. Yeah, what got Russell his part was Romper Stomper, which was famous and which was Russell Crowe. And Guy Pierce had done some other stuff that um Curtis had seen. Luckily he didn't watch Priscilla Adventures because that might have turned him off. But yeah, they were able to land those roles and he convinced the studio to go with these two relative unknowns. Because I mean, I think that obviously studio wants A-listers to play these roles, but I think when you have unknowns and which would these guys at the time were, right? It played better. Yeah. There's not as much with your celebrity, I think that brings along another whole cast of other things that I could overshadow the movie itself. Right. Because of your celebrity, not because of your acting. Right. But because of that, he was able to procure Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, and uh Kim Basinger. Yeah, and Crumble. And then Kim Basinger actually won an Oscar for her performance in this movie. And uh Helgan Heg Heglin won for adapted screenplay. Oh, okay. Those are the two that won out of the nine, but still and Kim going to Kim Basinger, she plays a how can I say this? Well, she's a prostitute, but they there's a guy, David Stratherin, who plays Pierce Morehouse Pachett, who basically is the C P M P He's a pimp, but C P-I-MP hires these girls who are looking for Hollywood fame off the bus, has them plastic surgery to make them look like certain famous actresses of that time period. Right. So these guys feel like Ava Ava Gardner, I slept with Ava Gardner or Verona Calake, or there's more Marilyn Monroe, right? That's but for any guy's fantasy back then, that was it.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

And these women go along with it. They do all right, they make, I guess, decent money. I guess he treats them pretty nice. Right. But that's not the whole of the story. The whole of the story is that we find that Mickey Cohen gets arrested, and what, 25 pounds of heroin turns up missing? And um Cohen's men start getting picked off.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Oh, Mickey Cohen is a gangster, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Known gangster at the time.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah. He's like the big ringleader or whatever. Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

But he's put away, right? And 25 pounds of heroin goes up missing. So these two crimes happen. The the night owl cafe one is the big one because there's a officer, uh I think it's Dick Stenslin or Richard.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Sten Stenzler or Stenzlin?

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Stenzlin, right. Richard Dick Sten Stenzlin. He uh is he's part of this other uh debacle called the bloody massacre or something that the hol the Christmas bloody there's something where they arrest these Hispanic these uh criminals, they say. And when they're arresting him, things get out of hand and they start and uh unfortunately for the police, the press happens to be there.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Is this the the scene that we're talking about in the movie? Yeah, yeah, right. Okay. It's towards the beginning. Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

Because Edmund is trying to work him, he's still on his uniform, he hasn't made it, he wants to be detective. Right. But he's a guy that even though he's straight and narrow, he is willing to sell you out to get his position.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yeah. So because everything's not like I said, everything's not black and white. That's just like it is in real life.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

Um, you know, yeah, but this whole this little thing that happens down in the holding cells doesn't go well for the police because presses they're taking pictures, and now the chief has to somehow clean this up. And Edmund comes up with a plan, like, well, you know, and they ask uh Bud, Russell Crowe, White, he gets suspended. But Exley comes in, oh, yeah, I'll tell you this.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Oh, who did this and who where? To be fair, he was trying to stop them from doing it. So yeah, so I can see how it's not like he's not made a turncoat. He didn't want that, and they locked him in a closet or some shit. So yeah, I'd I'd be snitching too. But I that's a whole other thing.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Right. But yeah, that's kind of the start of the movie, and then as we see going further, that Mickey Cohen gets we see the headlines of Mickey Cohen, they show here and there, and there's an unscrupulous what journalist? Uh Danny DeVito plays Sid Hutt Hudgens. He writes for like a uh a rag, they call it back in the day. And he gets tips from the cop. Basically, Jack Vincennes is his you know, his hustle. And I guess him and Jack set up people that get busted because Jack's always there to bust him, right? For prostitution or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

He's got like the nice suit on, you know, the tailored suit, and he's got the camera crew following him and wants to get like Hollywood landmarks in the background of his his bus. He's like the public-facing cop or whatever. Right. Wants to be the star cop.

SPEAKER_03 16:59

Yeah, so everyone goes, oh Jack, hey Hollywood Jack.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

And he makes the department look good, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:06

The further. Yeah, he's keeping the vice, you know, keeping that under control.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

As we meet Bud early in the movie, also, because we meet Xley because of the debacle at the bloody, I'm trying to look it up here real fast, what it was called, the bloody Christmas scandal involving drunken drunken cops beating Mexicans, you're right. But as we meet Bud, who has a thing for men who beat their women, and then there's a reason why he explains it later on the movie, and I'm not gonna give that away because it's very poignant and touching. You're like, ooh. It makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

He's very sensitive to uh men who are physically abusive to women, and he makes a point of going out of his way to handle those types of crimes personally. Yes. And hands-on, let's just say.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

But he this is where we see him meeting, because he sees he's at some kind of liquor store and he's procuring alcohol for the party that they're about the bloody Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

And as he's walking out, him and his partner, Dick Stenzlin, the other cop who's involved, and again, I won't get further into that, but uh as Bud's walking out, he notices in a car there's a girl with bandages on her nose, and there's a good-looking guy sitting in the back seat, and he's like, This isn't adding up. So he goes to the oh, he meets Lynn inside the the establishment too.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Uh Kim Basinger.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Yes. Yeah. Thank you. And they're kind of, you know, little niceties. Yeah. I mean, he knows that she's basically a whoa. But he's nice about it, right? Yeah. She's an escort, she'll have you know. There you go. Um But yeah, he lets it go. But when he goes outside and sees her and he goes into car, and Patchett, who's played by David Theron, the the pimp, and then the guy goes, tries to be all like Oh, the driver. Right. Yeah. And then Bud, like in two seconds, yeah, wraps him up and he goes, I'm a former cop.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Something meeks. I don't care what you are. So now, yeah, so to yeah, so he's White is pissed off because he sees this woman. He thinks she got beat. Right. That these men in the car may have had something to do with it. It turns out that they may or may not have. I won't really feel that or not.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

But well, they tell her, she goes, No, it's because she basically tells him, and then he finds out later this is not gonna ruin anything that it her nose is done because she's trying to emulate. Yeah, it's plastic surgery. Yeah, so he feels better about that.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

But but he doesn't know that, so the guy comes out of this the car to confront him, like, hey, get away from our car, and he's like, Oh no, I'm not so I'm gonna investigate what's going on here and I'm gonna flam you into the car. And white, yeah, easily handles him, and that's when he goes, Wait a minute, I'm a former cop.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

He's already manhandled.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah, a bad cop. Yeah, as I mean, as we find out later. Not like a corrupt cop, but that too. But I mean, like, just it turns out later that he was, you know, he wasn't a good cop.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

There's a reason he didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Didn't make the physical fitness and all that stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

But yeah, that that's when we roll into the night owl thing because uh Stenson gets in trouble. He actually gets fired, and and what X he proposes to the chief and the captain is that fire the get rid of the guys who are close to pension. They're not gonna lose anything, they're gonna get their pension. They're not, you know, they're old enough.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Well is that how that works? You get a percentage?

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Well, they're pension age, so yeah, they're good to go.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

They're not Stenzlin says they said he got he got fired a year before he was gonna get his pension. Right. But that does that mean he gets the percentage or just not at all? That would suck if it's not at all. I feel like they get a percentage.

SPEAKER_03 20:52

I I mean, I know how it works today. I don't know how it worked back then. That's a good question. I don't know. But he didn't, I mean he didn't see trouble.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Yeah, because if you worked all that time and you get nothing, I I'd be shooting the place up. I mean you're gonna have to come come and get my gun away from me. To be fair. Because he kind of just walks off and it's like, oh yeah, it has happened. Yeah, but I mean I'm sure it has. But I mean he's kind of sanguine about it when he gets fired and he's like, Oh yeah, whatever. Right. So so something's going on where he's still he's still gonna have money because he's he's being more mad about he's not worried about obviously right.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

He tells Bud, hey, good luck.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

And right, I'm out of a job and I'm in my what probably looks like your 40s-ish, maybe 50s.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Maybe, yeah, late 40s, maybe early 50s, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:31

So I'd be upset about that unless you got some kind of hustle going on on the side. Yeah. Getting paid on the table or something.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

Sure. As a night owl, we find out because Xley's on a patrol one night and he gets a call, and he's so happy to take the I'll take that call. And he gets there, it's this cafe, and it's been shot up. He sees, he looks over as uh Exley walks in, he sees that the cook or the guy that runs the cafe has been shot. He's dead. And he sees a trail of blood and it leads to the bathroom and there's a pile of bodies just stacked up. Yeah. So when they uncover when the rest of the police comes, we see that Dick Stanslin and that other the one that Bud Thought got beat, she's also in there and she was killed.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

They pinpoint these three suspects, supposedly.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Right. You're you're so politically correct. Okay. They pick out three black dudes and they frame them because they know they can get away with it. Right. Because people think that black people commit crimes. Here, I fixed it for you.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

All right. I won't tiptoe anymore.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

It's just an interesting dynamic to watch that. And I think it puts in perspective, obviously, what happens.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

That's ironic considering who actually.

SPEAKER_03 22:43

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

I mean, we don't get ahead of that. You're right. And then as we go further along, Exley actually befriends Vincence. They kind of collaborate because Vincennes gets fired from his liaison job basically.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

He gets for his participation in the bloody Christmas.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

Right. And that was yeah. But uh him and Exley start collaborating.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Because there's you know, the night owl and I'm sorry to interrupt you. I'm gonna cut I'll cut this out, but I just have to say, like Don't I know I like it. Well, no, I mean Vincennes, Vincennes, how he gets involved in that, he gets a little couple spots of blue and he starts whooping. Hey, but that's true. That's what's funny. I know, like I was like, and he's kind of like, I'm out of it. I just do the what I have to do, I do my job, I go home. Right. But you get blood on my my sister. You son of a bitch. He just starts whipping at us. I was like, oh my god. No, it's it's great. And then even Russell Crowe, it's like, you know, I think what he was trying to break up the fight. Yeah, he was and then I guess the guy said something to him, like whatever he had. He's like, what?

unknown 23:46

Bam!

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Right. And next thing you know, they're all just all the cops. I just thought it was funny. Yeah. It's not funny.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

It's funny. But as Exley and Vincens kind of commiserate, he relays something, you know, that tells Vincence Rolo Tomasi. Rolo Tomasi. It's uh Exley's term for people who get away with stuff and not get caught. Right. So he's doctored with this name, and that's the reason he became a cop, as he explains. Right. Because his dad was killed kind of on a routine thing, and the guy never got caught.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Right. And his name was Rolo Tomasi, right?

SPEAKER_03 24:21

No, he just made up the name Rolo Tomasi to put on So he did? Uh Xley did because he wanted to put attach a name to the faceless person.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Okay, I thought he said his dad told him no or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

It was because of his dad's death, but he just attributed that name to people who get away with it. Don't get caught.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Yeah. Like I said, the this the cast is stellar. Who they picked, who Curtis Hanson was able to ascertain is amazing, and they all work and fit together. It's it's a great piece of art, if you want to call it, of filmmaking. Yeah. I definitely obviously from my voice can tell you that, yeah, definitely thumbs up. It's a must-see. If you haven't seen it, you need to see this movie.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah, it's a classic. Uh as a matter of fact, I seem to remember that it was this is another one of those movies that was put on the the film registry, I think. For significant like historical film or whatever, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Uh box office-wise.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

It did well. Um, it was budgeted for 36, it made 120 or 35 and it made 126. I mean, uh today that sounds like that's pretty good. No, it's really good. Because back then this is a ninety-seven movie. So that was still before we started tracking like we do today, because everything's box office. Right. And this is where people would do repeat viewings back then.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Right.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

So, you know, you still have Blockbuster, but people I mean, I went and saw movies a couple two, three times.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

And that's what's I miss that today people are, I see it in the first weekend, it's done. Where, you know, this is a great film.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

So before I let you go, I'm gonna before we stop on this, I'm gonna agree with you that it's sad. I'm not condoning what Spacey has ever done, but it's a sad thing that it's his own undoing. I get it, it's his own fault, but it's it's a miss that someone there's such great talent and you see it on screen and it's it's sad.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I I agree. I mean, if anybody listens to this and is offended and knows more about what he's done outside of the you know, his film career, I kinda've been rightfully offended. Okay, great, that's cool. I totally agree with you. I'm not being dismissive of that. Exactly. I'm saying I didn't follow that, so I don't know. All I know is like he was kicking ass in his career for a long time. I really loved watching him, and then I heard about the stuff that happened and he disappeared, and then he got canceled, quote unquote, which is not really a thing because some people get canceled and they come back, like Louis C.K. for example, who's now back on Netflix. So it's like, well, what's it? I'd like to see this guy come back unless he, you know. Did he get convicted? He got acquitted, actually. Right. So in this country, does that mean you're innocent? I mean, let's think he's define our terms.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

So he's making film over the across the pond still. Right. I don't know if he'll ever be allowed in Hollywood. Yeah, that's a bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

I we could go again. I can I can cut this out, but whoever's whoever's banning him, I bet they've done just as much bullshit. They just haven't been caught.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

You read my mind.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

They didn't get caught because they're not people don't scrutinize their life as much as they do Kevin Smacey and the other celebrities. Or these people behind the scenes, no one gives a shit about them.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Or they're still playing ball with the powers that be. Right. So anyway.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear, oh, he's bad, he's gotta be out. Right. We're not trying to get out.

SPEAKER_03 27:57

Again, we're not trying to be dismissive of anybody who's been victimized. We're just not we're pointing out facts of it's pick and choose who gets to get okay, we'll let you back in the club. Whereas you, you're out.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Well, yeah. So all I would say to that is like, where do you draw the line? Thank you. Okay, because like I said, the people that are banning him, that are doing the quote unquote righteous thing by not letting him act, which is what he clearly is put on this earth to do, they have shit too, and we just don't know about it. So they can come across like, oh, we're holier than that, we can judge you. No, you can't. So if you're upset with Kevin Spacey for what he's done, you should be upset with the people that pay him too. That are stopping him because they they've done some shit too, you just don't know about it.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

Fair enough, I agree. So, Chris, where did you how did you watch this movie?

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Uh I saw this movie on the evil empire, Amazon. Amazon.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

I knew you were gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Uh yes. One of these two, I can't remember which one, but one of them they were running because yesterday was Prime Day, so yeah, they were running some kind of thing where you could buy it for the same amount.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

It's basically from yesterday till I think Friday. Is it? But anyway, I yeah. I like well, yes, I own the movie, so I watched it. And yes, I'll before we stop this particular episode, this one, a fantastic, great movie.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Amazing, amazing movie.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

I know the the reception for it was all critics love the movie, I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

Oh, that's cool. Yes, yeah, as well as they should. All right, so I two thumbs up for that one, right? Yes, yes, definitely. I'd say go see it right

Broadcast News

SPEAKER_00 29:36

away.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Hey, sorry to interrupt, but if you're enjoying the reviews, please take a second to like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast. We'd really appreciate it. And now back to the reviews. Um, alright, so for mine, I chose the movie Broadcast News. I do remember that broadcast news is a movie that came out in 1987, right? When again, uh I was just meeting you, just starting at the theater. Sure. And I don't remember if we had this movie. Did I think we did, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:14

You know, that's a good question. I don't remember. I remember our me and Anna watching it. I don't it wasn't at our theater.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Um wasn't at the cinema six.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

I don't recall. I know I didn't see it.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

You might be right because I don't remember seeing it in our theater, but I just remember it being out at that time.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

Yes. I mean, it probably was, but I and I was I know we went and saw it. We might have gone had dinner in a movie, and I might have saw it in the city San Francisco at the time.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

It might it might have been like cinema one or two or something like that. Yeah, you might be. Anyway, I knew I knew I saw it at a theater, in a theater in 1987, uh, when it came out, and I remember it had an it had a um an effect on me because the basic premise of the movie is that you got it's a love triangle. Yes. And you and I have talked about um rom-coms and our differences on those. Sure. Necessarily. Um this is this kind of this kind of falls into my territory of like the things that I'm kind of comfortable with for whatever that says about me. Uh insofar as the three um, well, I won't give it away, but um there's an unrequited love part of this where um one of the characters who's played by Albert Brooks. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

He plays Aaron Altman.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Altman, that's it, yeah. Double A. He uh has a crush on his I guess his not really his boss, but producer. Right, producer who's Holly Hunter, who's what is who's what's her character's name? Jane Craig. Yeah. So he has a crush on her. They seem to have like a really tight friendship, like like you can tell it's kind of a long, they have a good chemistry, right? But he has those extra feelings that maybe she doesn't have for him, and then into the picture become comes William Hurt, who's like supposed to be this hunk newscaster, yes, Tom Grunick is what he plays, not to catch you up, yeah. And he's uh he's everyone, everything supposedly that Holly Hunter and Albert Brooks' characters are supposedly against, insofar he's uh not very bright, he's just very vapid and kind of like shallow.

SPEAKER_03 32:17

That's that's very accurate, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Yeah. Although for 1987, I mean he's I hate to say this, but in 2026, in the year of idiocracy, all three of these people are super smart. But at 87, William Hurt's character is the dummy, basically. And it's like nowadays, shit, people can barely read and write. So uh anyway, I I get the point. It back in then it was like, okay, I get what they're saying. He's he doesn't follow up on current events, he's not really dialed into them the way a news person should be, so therefore he's dumb, quote unquote. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

To piggyback off that, he's like you said, a good looking guy. He's charismatic on the camera.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah, he's telegenic, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Right. So you can push off.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

No, he's not a bad looking guy, but I mean But he doesn't translate like Tom does, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Right. And there's a part in the movie, I'm not trying to get ahead, but where he even says that people like me, right? And he's playing off that. He knows. I mean, he's good at doing what he does. Right. You might not like it because you consider him shallow or whatever beneath you, because yeah, you guys do your homework. He doesn't do any of that.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Right. And there's an interesting point where at the beginning, when there's doing a flashback when he was a kid, well, they're all three of them, right? Right, and his dad says to William Hurt's character when he was a kid. Right. He's saying, Oh, but you try so hard, you got C's and D's like an incomplete, yeah, and he feels really bad, which is like again trying to show that he's stupid or whatever, but it's like, but all C's back then, but the education standards then would be, you know, like A's or B's now or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Um, but he's like, Yeah, dad, I just you know, he can't. I I try so hard, and it's like, yeah, you get that he's but people love him the way to look at him, they're like, he's so cute, and uh they don't take him seriously, and he wants to be taken seriously.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

Yeah, I mean he's that's kind of reiterated throughout the film, too, by him, right? I mean, he gets the whatever he he he thrives off it, he knows it.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Right, he does play on it, so he tries to come off like, oh I know, I'm a good looking guy, I can't help it. But then he's yeah, but he can play into it.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Right, because he um argues back, he goes, you know, I want people to take he says it himself, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Right. Just because I don't follow what's happening in Nicaragua or whatever, blah blah blah, but I'm still, you know, right, you know, give me no give me what do I give me the words to say, you know, show me what to look at, and I'll I'll do it. I'll I'll do the work. Anyway, uh I I chose this movie because of that that love triangle thing. That dynamic, right? Where it's like the girl that the guy is attracted to is attracted to this other person who's not his intellectual equal, but he's better than him in every sus in every metric that society values, which is he's tall, he's handsome, he's good looking, blonde, blue eyes, you know, and he can't compete with that, or he feels like he can't compete with that, and it blows up his relationship with his friend, which is kind of sad.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

But Aaron is not good at vocalizing, he's not good at he's good at doing news reports and all that, but when it comes to one-on-one, he is kind of socially awkward.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

He's awkward, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

Or awkward, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

He's socially awkward, but but she gets him. So that's the part that got me when I was watching this at first, because he's not good with most people or whatever, but she and he and Holly Hunter seem like they're like thickest thieves, so it's like you're naturally gonna be like, I have feelings for you now, and then she's gonna be like, nah, I'm just nice, you know. But I like this other two.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

But there's I mean, in real life, yeah, we've seen that. Yeah, I have. Maybe we've been a part of that. Yeah, I I would hope people have can exp have experienced that if they've well, there's uh one female, right? And you're really good friends, you connect on a certain level. And as a guy, we'd think, ooh, right, right. But her, oh, he's just my friend, right? You're in you're forever in the friend zone, right? Maybe you're not what attractive enough or something. She likes you enough, right? She's not willing to go the distance.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Right. And that's a whole other podcast. Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

So I'm just piggying back off what you're saying. Poor Aaron, who, yeah, Albert Brooks plays him well. I mean, I think we all can not all, but there are a few of us can relate to that dynamic.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

I would hope that everyone can relate, at least can understand it. Even if you've never experienced it, I don't know how that's possible that unless you're William Hurt, you've always gotten every woman you've ever wanted or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

But that's not realistic. So everyone I think has experienced liking someone and not having them feel the same way toward you, I think. And then also seeing them shut down go with like, oh, but I don't love you. You're we're friends, but that guy over there that you hate, I love him. Right. It's like, oh, it's just so frustrating. Um, so anyway, uh the synopsis uh broadcast news came out in 1987. It's American romantic comedy drama, written, produced, and directed by James L. Brooks, no relation to Albert Brooks. And this is the second movie by him we've done. I think we did uh uh Spanglish. Spanglish, right. Sorry. Yeah, James L. Brooks did that too. And of course, known for The Simpsons. Yeah. And something else, Barry Taylor Moore show, something like that. I don't know. He's been around for a long time. Yes. Anyway, uh super producer. Uh so he wrote this, produced it, and directed it. Uh, as far as an original story goes, again, I was really attracted to this as a kid and kid, grew up getting out of high school. But I still am as a as a as a story, it's very fascinating. I mean, I'm not the the landscape has changed because these people all deal with uh television news, which is very different now than it was in 87. Right. Um this is when William Hurt is seen as a anchor figure, this is when they're they're going into I guess a period where like I don't know if CNN even existed back then in '87.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

It might have been on the fringes, beginnings of it. Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

I don't know. That's a good question. But the idea of new of news as as something you would need to have ratings for, right? We weren't there yet. But we're this is the that tipping point, like going that way. Back then we had Cronkite and older gentlemen who were like we didn't care what they looked like or whatever. They just we wanted the news, the unfiltered news from them.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

Because we trusted them. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

And now it's like, no, we have to have something that looks good. Right. And says the nice things that we want to hear or whatever, or the scary shit that we want to hear. I guess that that leads to.

SPEAKER_03 38:42

And this leads into I didn't realize because I hadn't seen this movie in forever that I forgot Nicholson was in it. Jack Nicholson.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

And it's like, oh my god, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

He plays the head anchor. Right. He's already the national anchor or whatever. Right. That goes to what you're saying, right? William Hurt to get into.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Well, they didn't know that because at that time Jack Nicholson's character thought, you know, they they stayed on forever, literally.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 39:11

So they've they weren't necessarily forced out, but as the years went on, and this kind of fits what you're saying, that trajectory of, oh, ratings now.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Right. We have to it has to look good.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

You're a bit long in the tooth now. It's time for you to we'll we'll you still get paid, whatever, but go away.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Right. Or we're gonna have you be a correspondent, quote unquote. You'll you'll have you can do all the nerdy stuff, handle all the details, the facts, but you're gonna be off camera and we'll have the anchor, you know, kick to you for a second, then come back to this hot-looking anchor, whatever. Anyway, that's kind of part of the plot. Uh the plot is Jane Craig's a talented intense news producer, who's passionate about reporting, and it bores the trend towards soft news. That's a that's a good term in broadcast.

SPEAKER_03 39:54

I'm gonna interject real quick. We see, like you said, the flashbacks, because it shows the three leads, their flashback. Even as a kid, oh my, how hyper like oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

I think you call that type A. Oh, yeah. That's ultimate type A.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Because her dad's like, you need to go to bed. Well, hold on, dad, and it's like, holy. I mean, there's parts and this won't give anything away where she literally she's in her office and does that crying thing, right? Because she's so stressed and it helps alleviate it right at that moment.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

Yeah. And you're like, holy crazy several times during the movie. And I would say also another good indicator is whenever she gets in a cab and she's telling the person how to do their job, specific turns here and there. This is before GPS, and they're just like looking back, like, what the what?

SPEAKER_03 40:38

Also, on another aside, I guess to kind of go off what you were saying earlier, this depiction of news was very accurate the way the newsroom was back in those days. So it's pretty authentic. Yeah. So there are producers like her. There's that whole I love the VHS tape.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

That takes takes me back too. There's a scene where they're trying to get that tape to Joan Cusack or whatever, to run to the other whatever the news to get to Jack Nicholson. A big old VHS 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

She's running.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

Yeah. Nowadays it'd be like what you did, you know, a couple keystrokes or whatever in the video. Right. I just that I just kind of takes me back to nostalgia.

SPEAKER_03 41:21

It's it's a it it was fun to revisit the movie. I mean, I watched it when I was younger, yeah. And watching it now through different eyes is like, wow, how far we've come.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Right.

SPEAKER_03 41:30

Right? But in some ways, we've still digressed from even going forward. We kind of went backwards again.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Yeah. Uh so Jane Craig is that talented type A producer who runs the TV studio. Her best friend and collaborator, Aaron Altman, is a gifted writer and reporter who lacks in social skills. The two work in the Washington, D.C. Bureau of a National TV Network. That bureau hires Tom Grunick, played by William Hertz, a local news anchor who is handsome, likable, intelligent, but lacks news experience and isn't especially bright. Uh again, by 1987 standards. Today he'd be a fucking genius.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

Oh God, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Uh Aaron and Jane go to Nicaragua to report on the contrast and they get caught up in a battle. Um, they do all the legwork for that story, and they're the the nerds that are like in the trenches. Right. But then they hand off the information to Tom. They feel well, Holly Hunter feeds it to him in his ear.

SPEAKER_03 42:27

Well, he gets somehow for that particular because it's a breaking news. And Aaron's thinking, oh, I'll take it. And they go, No, no, here, Tom.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Right.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

He gets bypassed.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 42:38

And she knows, like, because we're going that way to piggyback what you're saying. They've come back from Nicaragua, and now they're like, Okay, we gotta break this story and we gotta get Tom in there. And she goes, Oh shit, he doesn't know anything. So she goes, I'll I'll feed it to him in an earpiece. And this is where Aaron, who's flower gasted, he got bypassed.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

I already know it. You don't have to feed nothing to my ear. I know it.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

I'm the one on the ground reporting.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

So now he's speaking Spanish or whatever, talking about calling soldiers.

SPEAKER_03 43:06

But he actually relays information on spot.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

But it's it's really cool how they all collaborate, it comes together well.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Yeah. And that kind of fly by fly by, you know, the seat of your pants, kind of like, hurry up, we don't have eight seconds or whatever, we're gonna be on air. You know, it's like, and there's one point where like I say, lose a connection or something like that, and she tells Tom to just like, you know, but that's a that's the brilliance of Tom. Right. So he's not stupid.

SPEAKER_03 43:31

I mean, even on the fly, right? Because when she's like, Tom, Tom, can you hear me? Right. This thing isn't working. I'm just messing with you. Right. I mean, he's a stone cold ice. Right. And when it comes to the news and she's giving him stuff, he says it, she tells him how to say it, but he says it in his way. Right. That still translates how people like they're great, you know, they're like totally like, oh wow. Yeah, on on the on your TV.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Yeah, which means he understands it. It he can process it immediately and he's quick and he boom boom boom again. He's not he's not stupid.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

But I mean compared to them because they study news that they live it.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

Tom's like, give me whatever I need right then. Right. I will sell it and I'll make it look good.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Right. I think he says that at one point, right? To one because it so basically the context of this, and I'm sorry I left that out, was that the network knows that it's uh losing money or it's gonna be up for some kind of change where they need to like you know start making money or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

It kind of goes to what you said. Now ratings and stuff have started to affect. Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

So they're having a budget shortfall. Let's let's call it that.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

It was like twenty-something million or something like that, I think it's stated.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

And so now they have to cut they're gonna have either have to have layoffs or they're gonna have to have people get get the much better ratings, which is you know, they decided to go back to the room.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

I like the one little joke. Hey, we could take one million off your salary.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

And then he looks at He's talking to Jack Nicholson's character. I know, I was gonna leave that, but yeah. And then uh the producer's like apologies. No, no, no, no. No, no, I was just joking. And I was inappropriate for saying that. He just like keeps apologizing, Jack just walks away.

SPEAKER_03 45:05

But his look, it goes to what you said just a second ago about LA.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

That's ext that's the thing of a great actor.

SPEAKER_00 45:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 45:11

He doesn't overplay it, right?

SPEAKER_00 45:13

But that look, it's just it's just kind of pats him on the shoulder and walks away. Just like, yeah, it's just like it's perfectly played by Jack Nicholson.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

But yeah, they're again Go ahead. Yeah, those three together, you know, yes, are phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Great actors, yeah. I meant to mention that. Thank you. Um Holly Hunter did she did not win for this, but she was nominated.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Al Al, I mean, I think all three were.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Albert Brooks was nominated, yeah. Yeah, you're I think you're right.

SPEAKER_03 45:39

All three were, yes.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Uh again, uh just like LA Confidential, I mean, you watch these people and it's like these people are made to do this. And again, Dak Nelson just throw that in there too. It's like, oh my god, come on. Uh, but Holly Hunter does an amazing job with the acting here. Uh Albert Brooks is a great job with that kind of um getting that feeling crisis. Again, he's the one that attracted me to this movie when I watched the movie, actually. Not that I said, Oh, Albert Brooks, I gotta go watch that. But when I watched the movie, it's like, yeah, I can relate to that guy about feeling like you're caught between two people and you just need to back out or whatever. But that feeling like, you know, like being awkward, but sometimes being on with the girl that you have a crush on or whatever, he relayed that perfectly for an adult, because I was younger then, but for a little bit of a there's a if I can interject with that, there's a part, and I'm not gonna say where, but he gets passive aggressive, and I'm like watching him, and I'm like, dude, I mean it's like it that's off-putting.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

You know, I get what's happening and how you feel, but the way you come across, it's like you think you're gonna get a girl?

SPEAKER_00 46:49

It's kind of like um in his mind, and I can kind of relate to that, although I never said anything. He said a couple things that kind of really fucked up.

unknown 46:57

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

Uh oh yeah. You're kind of like, well, in my mind, you've hurt me because you knew I had these feelings for you. Because he does say it a few times. Like I know. He kind of jokes around, quote unquote. And she laughs, oh, that's funny. But if she didn't feel that way, she's go, Oh, you know, we're not gonna, you know, we're not together, we're not gonna do it, you know. She could have like cut him off and said, Yeah, you know what? I don't, you know. I you said this thing in the joke the other day about us sleeping together, and I just want to let you know that's not a thing or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 47:24

I'm wondering to pay play off of that, if maybe there was a little I was thinking that too, before, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 47:32

And but you know, because he says some things that are kind of um flirty, yes, and she just laughs, oh you or whatever. I think he kisses her on the forehead or something. All that shit is like, no, that's that's too far. That's too to me, that's too far.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

But let's be frank, I mean, some people love that attraction, that adulation, right? They do. So maybe even a woman, even though she might not take you there, she likes that little, oh no, stop, you know. Right. So she doesn't put it out the fire, so to speak. She plays along with it.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Yeah, because I don't think she ever does in the movie say, Hey, look, I don't feel that way about you. She never does.

SPEAKER_03 48:08

No.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Even when she has a date with uh Tom, yeah, and and Aaron says, Come over here first, and she says, Well, I have to go. She's like, she feels bad about telling him that she's going to Tom. The fact that she feels bad is because A, he's the quote unquote the person we rail against, we don't believe in, who's anti-intellectual, whatever. But also because I think Harver knows that he has these feelings for her, and she doesn't want to bust him out, like, hey, by the way, uh, I know you want me to come out and hang out with you, but that's not gonna happen because I almost want to say that Studley over here.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

He's the consolation in this, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:42

Because I hate to say that, but I heard that called the in case of emergency break glass man.

SPEAKER_03 48:49

Right. And I'm I hate to say it, but it's kind of proven, it's a trope, but it's kind of proven, yeah. Because she doesn't necessarily tell him no, we're never gonna be a thing. She never ever says that. Right. But I got Tom, but hold on, just in case.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 49:04

Hey, Aaron.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

Because in on paper, they have everything in common. They fit together, they all this work they're doing. Tom's gonna look a puppet, you know. Aaron did the actual work, the legwork. He gives it to Holly Hunter's character, and then she just says, tells Tom, hey, just say this. He didn't go out and do any of this shit within you know in the jungle or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

But he doesn't care because that's not what he does.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

That's not his thing. Right. It's not my thing, baby. I'm a salesman. You just tell me what to say.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

It almost reminds me that in a lighter sense, Ron Burgundy, right? We've whatever he says, we're gonna repeat it.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

That's right. Right? There's a there's a great, I mean, the thing, okay, so I can't say enough about this movie. I'll just say that I like the movie.

SPEAKER_02 49:44

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Uh, it has so much depth to it, you really kind of have to see it. I'm just saying for me, I like the movie. But I will say this that uh there's a scene at the end where the three get back together after they've kind of parted ways. Just prior to that scene, William Hurd's character says something where it's like something to the effect of she says, You can't do such and such because it's unethical. And he says, Well, no, I did such and such, and it got me a promotion. And I was like, Wow. So I just have to sit there like Jesus Christ, he's totally right. Like he's kind of like a dicky thing to say, but he's not wrong at all. Right. I mean, he's like, you're wrong, lady. I I I'm I'm doing the right thing, I'm climbing up the ladder, I'm doing my thing, and you're getting phased out.

SPEAKER_03 50:34

To tell you there was an alternate ending.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_03 50:38

I watched. It's it was on the well, I'll just flat out tell you I own it and I own it on the criterion. Okay. And when you go through the supplementals, it states all so I had to watch that. I never knew that it was an alternate ending. Oh, okay. I'm not gonna ruin it for anybody here because you need to watch the film. Okay. I'll tell you when we're off what and I don't think it would have played as well as it played the way it ended. Okay. Because I mean, and I'll elaborate when we talk afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

We won't um I won't give away the ending of the film, but um the gist of it is there's this love triangle. I don't have to really I mean everyone kind of knows what that is. Right.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Uh she likes him, and he likes her, but she doesn't she likes him. It's a whoever, you know, but actually Tom does like Jane.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Well, I would just add this plot point just so you understand the movie. Uh Tom feels kind of belittled, I guess. He's always felt that way. So therefore he takes it upon himself to get his own story to get behind, and he talks, he does a cover, he does a story about date rape, right? Which was kind of a new-ish thing that in the 80s, of course, it's been around forever, but I mean that was a phenomenon back then. Anyway, he does a story on that, and um he kind of puts himself in the story, let's put it that way.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

I won't go into details, but he puts himself in the story, and there's a question of whether that's ethical or not, and that's the rest that's what kind of hijacks his relationship with uh Jane. Right. Because she's very ethical, very about journalistic, you know, ethics, and he kind of crosses that line, and now she's she's still attracted to him physically as a woman, she's still attracted to him, but as an intellectual, as someone who's a professional, she's like, that's kind of crossing the line, in her opinion.

SPEAKER_03 52:24

Sure. I like that thing where he's showing his piece, right, to the whole newsroom.

SPEAKER_00 52:29

Yeah, right? He's very proud of it.

SPEAKER_03 52:30

And everyone's sitting there, they're like, Oh my, they're captivated, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:34

And here comes Aaron, like, and they're all shh sh like it's hilarious. And he's like, And he's hating, he's like, Oh, they hate this dude. It's like I hate him, I hate his story, and he's just trying to pick it apart. And you think like he's trying to pick it apart because he's a hater, but then it turns out maybe he's not. Maybe he was on to something, maybe it's a little bit of both.

SPEAKER_03 52:53

I mean, obviously it's jealousy, you know, and there's a little envy there because this guy is what I want to be, and I thought I was gonna be, and he comes in out of nowhere, and uh, what am I, tap liver? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 53:05

Right. It's but and another little smaller plot point, they do actually try to give Aaron a shot at being an anchor.

SPEAKER_03 53:11

We won't ruin that.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

I think you need to watch that. That kind of doesn't go so well. Yeah, so um, yeah, so it's a good story. Um, I like how it ends. Of course, um, won't give that away, but um, I think that the way it ends is I think it's a very realistic way these things kind of play out because all of this stuff is fleeting. I mean, if you find the right person, you find the right person you know.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

Any of this other stuff where you're like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, it's like you as a human being, you're attracted to someone, and that makes you kind of irrational to some degree. Yeah. But you get over it at some point, or something happens and you drift apart or whatever. But um, I do like the ending. I like how the story kind of wraps itself up, and it's a great story, it's a great ride.

SPEAKER_03 53:56

Um, yeah, James L. Brooks did a phenomenal job on this film.

SPEAKER_00 53:59

Yeah. You know, um box office-wise?

SPEAKER_03 54:03

It was produced or budgeted for 15. It made 67, so it made four times its budget.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

That's pretty good because it got a bunch of nominations, so usually nominations don't always translate to box office.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

I want to say it got seven nominations for the Academy Awards. Seven or eight, I remember.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

But oh, here's a little interesting point. The female lead was originally written for Deborah Winger.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

Yeah, I could see that.

SPEAKER_00 54:30

They worked with James Little Brooks in terms of endearment, which he also did.

SPEAKER_02 54:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:33

Winger became pregnant and was replaced by Holly Hunter. She's amazing. Gosh, she's so good. Why has she not been around? That's what I was thinking in my head. Holly? Holly Hunter.

SPEAKER_03 54:42

She was for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 54:43

Superman boo. Superman. Yeah, uh Man of Steel. She was in Man of Steel, right? Or is it Batman Superman? The one with Jesse Eisenberg. She played a senator and she had the bottle of piss or whatever. That might have been, like you said, uh Justice League? I don't know. I don't think I saw Justice League. So I saw maybe it was Batman Super. I don't know, whatever. The one with just Jesse Eisenberg, was that Justice League?

SPEAKER_03 55:08

Let me find out for you real fast. Calm down, Fable.

SPEAKER_00 55:13

So Gordon Weaver, ooh, she's hot. She's definitely hot in the 80s. Diane Weist, oh, she's cool.

SPEAKER_03 55:18

Batman versus Superman, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

Jessica Lang, Elizabeth Perkins. Those are the ones that were potentials to be. Mary Beth Hurt, I don't even know what that is. I do, but we're also considered for the role. Brooks originally wrote the role of Aaron specifically for Albert Brooks. Yeah. Albert Brooks is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

Um yeah, broadcast news, uh, limited release on December 16, 1987, did almost 200, went wide release on Christmas Day. That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

Your boy Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave broadcast news four out of four stars.

SPEAKER_00 55:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:53

And praised the film as being as knowledgeable about TV news gathering process as any movie ever made.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

Yes. Also as insights into the more personal matter of how people use high-pressure jobs as a way of avoiding time alone with themselves. That's true.

unknown 56:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:12

I think that's still pertinent today, but yes.

SPEAKER_00 56:14

Yeah. 84% on 98% on your favorite Rotten Tomatoes. They know what's up. Look at the awards here. American Comedy Awards, Albert Brooks won. That's weird.

SPEAKER_03 56:30

Hey, what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 56:31

Hey Best International Oh, Berlin International Film Festival, Best Actress Holly Hunter, Best Actor Albert Brooks, Boston Society of Film Critics. It's so weird. It's random. Los Angeles Film Critics, Best Actress, Holly Hunter. Best film, New York Film Critics, wow. And Best Director. Best Actress, Holly Hunter.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

Boston Society of Film Awards.

SPEAKER_00 56:54

Nicholson, Best Actor, what? Film Critics Circle Awards? Okay, he was on for like all of 30 seconds. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 57:06

How do you decipher that? How do you break that down?

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:09

I mean, he might have had, let's be frank, maybe five minutes.

SPEAKER_00 57:13

Yeah, if that. You know, I mean, but they're trying to say what, he saved the movie. If it wasn't for Jack. I mean, he's great. I mean, and it's it gives you that gravitas that you need of that cameo. It's one of the the better ones I've ever seen, but not award-winning, no offense to Jack, but it's hey, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 57:35

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 57:36

Anyway, yeah, um, so great movie. Um oftentimes I'll go back to these movies that I remember, uh especially in the early days of working at the theater. Um and some of them hold up and some of them don't. This definitely holds up.

SPEAKER_03 57:50

So you watched it on uh Amazon. And I watched it on I watched it at home at my Blu-ray.

SPEAKER_00 57:58

I was bummed that neither of these movies, I watched both of them on Amazon and neither of them had trivia or any of that shit.

SPEAKER_03 58:05

So I did research for both to kind of look, and I that's how I discovered the alternate ending, so which is kind of cool, interesting, gives you a different perspective.

SPEAKER_00 58:14

Yeah, I definitely want to hear about that. Alright, so uh two thumbs up for this one.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

Yeah, thumbs up for me too.

SPEAKER_00 58:20

Yes. All right, so we'll let you know about next week.

SPEAKER_03 58:24

We're still figuring that out ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

Yes. Until then, we're out. See you later.

SPEAKER_03 58:32

That's a wrap for today's movie reviews. Thanks for listening. Remember, if you like what you've heard, make sure you like, subscribe, and rate our show. Let's go get some ice cream.