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The Rewatchables ·

Con Air

year 1997decade 90sdirector Simon Westgenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Shea Serranohost Chris Ryan
All 15 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 16:19

Cusack's scouting-report introduction of the inmates

Candidates open with the rainstorm fight in which Nick Cage kills the drunk; the whole fight makes one host mad every time because the lawyer, the guy from Miami Vice, gives terrible advice to plead guilty and it comes out as ten years. The hosts debate going not guilty unless a deal is agreed with the judge, and conclude that Cameron Poe is kind of a dumbass who should have just got in the car and later got off the plane rather than stay for his diabetic buddy and his insulin.

Cusack's scouting report for the inmates is phenomenal; a host wishes more graphics and background had flashed up for each guy, Creed-style, six minutes long, and would have watched it forever.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 1:00:42

"put the bunny back in the box"

Nominees: 'put the bunny back in the box'; Cyrus's 'Define irony. A bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song by a band that died in a car crash'; and 'Sorry, boss. There's only two men I trust. One of them's me. The other's not you', which gets a vote because it sounds like something one of the hosts has said to another human being in his life.

The film

Con Air (1997)

Directed by Simon West · Drama

115 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Nicolas Cage Cameron Poe, a paroled former Army Ranger who works with the authorities to retake the titular flight.
John Cusack U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin, who discovers Poe's role in retaking the plane.
John Malkovich Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, a highly intelligent career criminal and mastermind of the escape plot.
Ving Rhames Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones, a black nationalist convicted of terrorism and Grissom's second-in-command.
Mykelti Williamson Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell, Poe's diabetic friend and cellmate.
Rachel Ticotin Officer Sally Bishop, the flight's only female corrections officer who is protected by Poe after being attacked by Johnny 23.
Monica Potter Tricia Poe, Cameron Poe's wife.
Landry Allbright Casey Poe, Cameron Poe's seven-year-old daughter.
Colm Meaney DEA Agent Duncan Malloy
Steve Buscemi Garland "The Marietta Mangler" Greene, a notorious serial killer . Director Simon West and Buscemi based the character on real-life serial killers Ed Gein , Ted Bundy , Charles Manson , Jeffrey Dahmer , John Wayne Gacy and Edmund Kemper .
Nick Chinlund William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford, a mass murderer convicted for killing his unfaithful ex-wife's family .
Danny Trejo John "Johnny 23" Baca, a serial rapist , nicknamed for his number of sex offense convictions.
Dave Chappelle Joe "Pinball" Parker, a low-level inmate convicted of heroin, armed robbery, and arson charges.
M.C. Gainey Earl "Swamp Thing" Williams, a convict with aviation expertise who serves as Cyrus' pilot.
Jesse Borrego Francisco Cindino, a treacherous South American drug baron and terrorist who helps Grissom (offscreen) plot the hijacking. Borrego studied Colombian narcoterrorist kingpin Pablo Escobar for the portrayal of this character.
Renoly Santiago (credited "Renoly") as Ramon "Sally-Can't Dance" Martinez, a cross-dressing inmate convicted of narcotics charges.
Brendan Kelly Conrad
John Roselius Deputy Marshal Skip Devers.
Jose Zuniga DEA Agent Willie Sims
Steve Eastin Officer Falzon, the leader of corrections officers on board the flight.
Kevin Gage Billy Joe, a drunken bar patron whom Poe kills in self-defense.
Dabbs Greer Old Man under Truck, Lerner Airfield

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

6:22

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:22Read transcript
  • Ebert, reviewing for the Chicago Sun Times, gave it three out of four stars, and the hosts note he has got a few right on the nose; he wrote that it moves smoothly and with visual style and verbal wit, and the hosts count nine straight films where they have agreed with Ebert. Context recited alongside: $224 million gross on a $75 million budget, 55 on Rotten Tomatoes, mixed reviews.
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23:15

Picking Nits

Poe's manslaughter conviction and legal representation; the Vegas Strip landing; who is in charge of the pursuit; the...

Poe's manslaughter conviction and legal representation; the Vegas Strip landing; who is in charge of the pursuit; the Jailbird as transport; no visibly armed guard; the DEA agent's collapse; cockpit access; Chappelle's fall from 20,000 feet

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:15Read transcript
  • Usually saved for picking nits but raised at the top: the conviction is one of the most ludicrous moments in movie history. An honorably discharged Army Ranger back from serving his country is set upon by three degenerates in a rainstorm, one pulls a knife, and in self-defense he kills one with a palm strike, nose into the brain, then somehow goes to jail with the worst legal representation of all time. The judge's reasoning that his military skills make him a deadly weapon not subject to the same laws is questioned, Alabama lawyers are invited to write in, the knife that was never found and the witness who ran away are noted, and Serial season four is proposed for the parking lot.
  • Picking nits is moved up with 67 options because of the lawyers and the way movie bad guys love to antagonize military heroes; the host wants to know once and for all whether you can pull safety pins out of your hand like that, pointing listeners to themailbagattheringer.com while warning nobody to actually do it. The biggest absurdity besides Poe going to jail is landing a plane on the Vegas Strip, which is always packed and would take out a thousand people, being busier at four in the morning than anywhere in the world.
  • That one did not bother this host, who has been to Vegas twice but does not go out of the hotel room after 10 p.m. and assumes it is quiet. — Shea Serrano
  • Vegas is dubbed the city that sleeps at 11, going to bed in time for Kimmel.
  • Resuming, the hosts note only two nits were actually raised despite the promised 67; the whole movie is a nitpick.
  • Operational priorities on the cop side are unclear: the DEA guy Colm Meaney (transcribed 'Cole Meany') driving a sports car and throwing his weight around, the U.S. Marshals guy Cusack, the military's Black Hawk helicopters chasing the Jailbird and the army at the air base, with nobody clearly in charge of the pursuit of 20 terrible criminals. It is unclear where everybody was going beyond a new supermax for the worst of the worst or why non-terrible people are on board, and the Jailbird, 'no disrespect', is an old piece of junk hunker.
  • Why is nobody visibly armed on the plane, up on the platform with a rifle just in case? The man secretly armed instead, the DEA agent, pulled a Fredo Corleone or a Nathan Peterman, grabbing the gun, sweating and completely falling apart; this comes from the post-Miami Vice period when movie criminals really hated DEA scumbags.
  • Other nits: why not have someone with a gun shooting everybody when needed, and why is the cockpit not impossible to reach rather than a knock on the door.
  • As a nitpick on Chappelle's exit, throwing a guy out of a plane at 20,000 feet would cause far more damage than shown: he should have burst like a water balloon or gone seven feet into the concrete rather than ending up lying on a Volvo.
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42:28

Casting What-Ifs

Gary Oldman was the first choice for Cyrus the Virus; Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Sheen and Matthew Broderick were con...

Gary Oldman was the first choice for Cyrus the Virus; Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Sheen and Matthew Broderick were considered for Vince Larkin; Tim Roth was the first choice for the Marietta Mangler

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:28Read transcript
  • Gary Oldman was the first choice to play Cyrus the Virus; the hosts pass, glad it worked out the way it did.
  • Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Sheen and Matthew Broderick were considered for Vince Larkin, John Cusack's character, Downey then trying to get his career rehab going and winding up in US Marshals soon after. One host insists it is a better movie with Downey, who would sell the shaking hand with the gun on Poe; others disagree that Downey, 30% too cool, could play a role that needs to be a little nerdy. A host who takes Downey liked Cusack through Say Anything, then turned on him, and could see in his eyes that he felt Con Air was beneath him.
  • Tim Roth was the first choice for the Marietta Mangler, a dip into the Reservoir Dogs ensemble; thank God that did not work out.
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44:30

Half-Assed Internet Research

Kid Rock based 'American Badass' on Cameron Poe; Cage did most of his own stunts; Wendover Airport in Utah stood in f...

Kid Rock based 'American Badass' on Cameron Poe; Cage did most of his own stunts; Wendover Airport in Utah stood in for Lerner Airfield; the crash was originally set at the White House; the TV version adds a prison-riot rescue scene; the Sands Hotel was filmed before its November 1996 demolition; a crew member was crushed by a static C-123 model; Trisha Yearwood's version of the song was chosen over 14-year-old LeAnn Rimes'; Malkovich was unhappy with daily rewrites; Cusack reportedly refuses interviews about it yet told the BBC he would do a sequel; Simon West wanted a sequel in space; Chappelle improvised most of his lines

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:30Read transcript
  • Kid Rock based 'American Badass' on Cameron Poe, who is the human version of that song; Cage did most of his own stunts and spoke of explosions five feet behind him, flaming helicopters dropping behind him and ball-bearing bullets over his head, 'a level of intensity, fear, you might say', which a host delivers in a voice halfway between Andrew Luck and Nick Cage.
  • Asked how many people died in the movie, answers of 24 and 43 are offered, since all those guys died at the boneyard, plus a case for another 500 in Vegas; fist-bumping on the Vegas Strip over a body shop for Colm Meaney's convertible is absurd after losing some 50 American soldiers in the desert. Wendover Airport in Utah stood in for the fictional Lerner Airfield, a fictional airfield with a lot of propane.
  • The climactic plane crash was originally intended to take place at the White House, which could have gone right into Olympus Has Fallen; Bruckheimer eventually decided Las Vegas was more in keeping with the spirit of the film, which the hosts sarcastically salute as a good call, Jerry.
  • The TV version includes an opening-credits scene in which a prison riot breaks out while Cage writes letters to his daughter and his diabetic friend saves him from the burning cell, which explains his loyalty; the hosts would have included it, trading fewer letters and less insulin for more prison riots, since the two-hour movie is a little fat at the end.
  • The hosts want a Cameron Poe prequel set in his eight years in prison, and before that a prequel to the prequel with Poe in the Army Rangers at war, perhaps narrated by Powers Boothe (transcribed 'Powers Booth'), who they think does the opening voiceover about the Rangers.
  • The crash site was filmed at the Sands Hotel before its demolition in November 1996, the production asking the hotel to wait a couple of weeks for the action scene; somebody was crushed to death at Wendover when a static model of the C-123 fell on him, which is why the credits end 'In Memory of Phil Schwartz'; Trisha Yearwood's version of the song was chosen over 14-year-old Leanne Rimes' original and became a massive hit.
  • True or false: Malkovich was unhappy during production because the script was being rewritten virtually every day and he had no idea how his character would turn out; the hosts believe it and think it shows in a performance that seems disturbed and angry, imagining him being handed the 'Cy... anara' exchange on set.
  • Two contradictory internet tidbits: Cusack allegedly dislikes the film so much he refuses to be interviewed about it, which would be odd given his many bad movies, versus Cusack telling the BBC News website in 2012 that a second Con Air 'would be fun' and he would do it if offered. Simon West thought another Con Air should be set in space, which the hosts greenlight as Con Shuttle with prisoners on Mars; on the DVD commentary of Chappelle's Show, Chappelle revealed that he improvised most of his lines on Con Air.
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1:01:46

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Was the movie named Con Air before or after the script? How many people died when the plane landed on the Strip? Woul...

Was the movie named Con Air before or after the script? How many people died when the plane landed on the Strip? Would Poe really stay to save Baby O and the guard? Would the plane have been shot down in the first five minutes? Did Billy Bedlam's wife live? Was Denzel asked to be in the movie? Would you tell your daughter not to visit you in prison? Can you drink insulin? Would Monica Potter's character stick around? Why was there no sequel?

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:46Read transcript
  • Did they name this movie Con Air before or after writing the script? Before: Con Air is the pitch, imagined as someone washing his hair in the shower, seeing a conditioner bottle and realizing it sounds like a flying prison.
  • How many people actually died in real life when they landed on the Strip? Guesses run to hundreds, 580, or 250 easy; a grisly question.
  • Would Nick Cage really care about saving Baby O and the female prison guard this much when he could just get off the plane and be with his wife and daughter? No; redemption and his being a good guy are offered, but he should have got off and then made a fuss.
  • In real life, wouldn't they have shot the plane down in the first five minutes? Yes; Colin Meaney (as transcribed) deciding not to shoot it down before it lands on the Vegas Strip as a fireball should put him on trial, hopefully not before Cameron Poe's judge, with the same lawyers urging a guilty plea.
  • Did Billy Bedlam's wife live after he killed her whole family, including the dog? Yes: he wanted her to live with the pain, 'heartbreak'; her story is pitched as another prequel, postquel or sequel.
  • Diamond Dog, Nathan Jones, former general of the Black Gorillas (as transcribed), wrote 'Reflections in a Diamond Eye' in prison, a bestseller and wake-up call that, according to the New York Times, has Denzel in talks for the movie; the hosts wonder whether Denzel was actually asked to be in this film, since Cusack's delivery sounds like a little shot at him. Denzel would have been great, though he would have had to play Cyrus, basically as the Training Day cop, making it a different movie with a different vibe.
  • Earlier: if you were in prison for eight years, would you tell your daughter not to come see you until you got out? One host would want to see the kids for something to look forward to every week; another counters that it depends whether you want to blend in or run the block, blood in, blood out; Poe's choice is called a little too unselfish.
  • A self-described dumb question: with no syringe to inject the insulin, could you not just drink it? Nobody knows how blood sugar works, and listeners are asked to answer.
  • Not to nitpick, but what is the likelihood that Monica Potter's character sticks around for Cage, who went into the Army to grow up, came back and went to prison the same night, showing up on a boat? She is probably married to a realtor in her area by year four, and Casey's new dad is pitched as the Con Air sequel, with Poe killing the real estate guy in Mobile.
  • Why wasn't there a sequel? Five or six new convicts and a hunt for the Marietta Mangler would do; you could make this movie every two years with new prisoners introduced the exact same way.
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