Costner's 'ashamed to be an American' moment and his New Orleans walk with his investigators, pointing out the FBI, CIA, Secret Service and O&I buildings, are nominated; the editing is praised.
The New Orleans scenes make participants want to drink and smoke; New Orleans is called the only place one participant still smokes.
John Candy's big scene is quoted at length: the big enchilada, a mouse fighting a gorilla, Kennedy as dead as that crab meat, and 'Daddy-o'; his moving sunglasses are praised.
Asked when Candy died, the joking reply is that 'they killed him'.
The hosts want to work Candy's 'any idea what you're getting into, Daddy-o' line into NBA conversations, such as Lakers defense and Frank Vogel.
Kevin Bacon's prison scene is quoted; he 'hits a four-three from 30 feet', culminating in a crude line one participant can't believe was in the script, likened to Ashley Schaeffer from Eastbound & Down.
Pesci's last big scene ('a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma', 'the shooters don't even know') is called great, though Pesci is said to dial it up too much.
Pesci's wig is called out of control, and he never inhales while smoking, compared to Tom Cruise smoking.
The first Pesci interrogation and the way Costner comports himself in the Sunday detention scene are singled out as a movie-star sequence noticed in the theater.
Setting the film in New Orleans lets the actors play Foghorn Leghorn, and Richardson's frames are packed with layers, such as the flambe in the restaurant scene.
For the Mr. X scene, Dale Die (as transcribed) wearing aviator sunglasses indoors is praised, and Garrison appearing as Earl Warren is a moment one participant rewinds to watch.
Anecdote: after moving to Los Angeles to work for Grantland, one participant repeatedly made his wife and a friend's wife watch the Mr. X scene on Friday nights to show how the two friends talk; they never enjoyed it.
The Mr. X scene is compared to the 35-minute Boogie Nights sequence at Jack Horner's house as a mega-sequence.
Two more nominations: Jim explaining the magic bullet theory, iconic once Seinfeld grabbed it, and 'back and to the left' leading to the big monologue.
'X is the answer' is stated over the John Candy scene, while another participant votes for the John Candy scene but says they understand.
Also praised: the Clay Shaw interrogation, Jack Lemmon at the horse track, and Ed Asner beating up Lemmon's character at the opening.

Gary Oldman as Oswald; Seinfeld spoof; Pesci-Tommy Lee Jones wig battle; Kevin Bacon's career revival; Oliver Stone's Dave cameo; Tommy Lee Jones in gold paint; Dealey Plaza recreation; John Williams score; New Orleans setting; specter of JFK; character actors in tiny roles

In the discussion (15)

Approx. transcript time · 01:12:33Read transcript

Offered as number one: Oldman as Oswald is creepy, great, and looks like Oswald.
Oldman must have shot much of his material separately with Stone; a 'Gary Oldman cut' as a standalone Oswald movie is wished for.
Deleted-scene story: Oldman asked Stone to point the camera at him late at night for an elegiac Oswald monologue; Stone shot him in a casket and planned to end the film with it before making a different call; it can be found on YouTube.
The 1992 Seinfeld spoof 'The Boyfriend' features Wayne Knight and Keith Hernandez; Hernandez is praised and then jabbed as possibly a QAnon guy.
'The Boyfriend' is remembered as the episode that showed Seinfeld would be the biggest show, with the spitter bit called lights out.
The wig battle between Pesci and Tommy Lee Jones: Tommy Lee wins a 10-8 round.
Bacon is said to call the film a turning point that reignited his career, leading to A Few Good Men.
Stone's self-deprecating cameo in Dave two years later has aged best for one participant.
Tommy Lee in gold paint getting slapped by Pesci in a Dangerous Liaisons outfit is praised as the good version of a wild idea, unlike a cut Nicholson idea in The Departed; Tommy Lee doing it is what makes it great.
Objection: the same scene bumps against what's aged worst, the film's attitude about homosexuality, called retrograde and unacceptable; the counterpoint is that it was part of Garrison's case against Shaw and that era's judgment.
Stone recreated the assassination in Dealey Plaza, spending $4 million to restore it to 1963 conditions and reroute traffic; Sutherland and Costner memorized their monologues.
Debate on whether acting is mostly memory: one participant says no, the camera reveals compelling people like Sutherland and memorizing matters more in theater; it is jokingly settled at 70% memory.
John Williams's score and New Orleans as a setting are named.
The specter of JFK himself: the speech that opens Stone's documentary, the Caesar-like shot in the X speech and the still photograph of Kennedy.
Top character actors appear for less than a scene, including Ron Rifkin with one line, Lolita Davidovich, Brian Doyle-Murray and John Larroquette.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Runtime; Garrison family scenes; 'I should have loved you more' line; Costner's accent; magic bullet theory; Pesci's performance

In the discussion (11)

Approx. transcript time · 01:24:27Read transcript

The movie is called too long at three hours and eight minutes; another disagrees, nearly naming three-hour movies as what aged best.
Cut the Sissy Spacek scenes: nobody cares about Garrison's family, compared to the domestic scenes in Donnie Brasco where the wife drags the hero away.
Liz Garrison's big contribution is telling the housekeeper to get hold of herself; Spacek has no good scene, and she yells at Jim over his JFK nightmares.
Counterpoint: the family scenes carry 'daddy never keeps his promises' and the trauma of the American male lied to by the American father; the reply is that the fatherhood style has aged the worst.
It should have been an assassination movie; a parenting tangent follows, then the argument that a movie about an obsessive must show the cost of obsession, with agreement that the scenes are badly written and could be cut.
Stone is said to have cared about making Garrison a well-rounded role Costner would want; the Kathleen Quinlan role in Apollo 13 works because her husband is in a spaceship.
Worst line: Garrison saying 'I should have loved you more' as he and his wife are about to have sex.
Tangent: Kay's return scene in The Godfather is called the worst scene of the best movie ever by one participant and defended as perfect by others.
Costner's accent goes in and out, better than his Prince of Thieves accent and like Bull Durham in the courtroom; Pesci's is worse; a courtroom line echoes The Untouchables.
The hosts say the magic bullet theory has been pretty much debunked over how Connolly was sitting, while Stone's documentary still argues the trajectory; one participant still believes in four bullets.
Last: Pesci, liked far less by two participants; conflating homosexuality with the mafia and anti-communist soldiers is called whacked, and one cannot suspend disbelief with Pesci's baggage in the role.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Jay O. Sanders; Peter Maloney; Beata Pozniak

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:35:17Read transcript

There are about 100 candidates; Wayne Knight is judged ineligible, and J.O. Sanders is in.
Michael Rooker is deferred to a later spot.
J.O. Sanders plays one of Costner's two cohorts who quits and shows up in the courtroom at the end; he has been in a million things and resembles a True Detective character.
Peter Maloney, the medical examiner, is also in The Thing and is recognizable once seen.
Oswald's wife, played by the actress who was a Russian doctor on Melrose Place (Dr. Katia Petrovna), is named as Bita Posniak (as transcribed); she is said to have read all 26 volumes of the Warren Report.
George C. Scott is floated as a great, angrier X, but Sutherland's bemused X is called perfect.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Joe Pesci

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:37:29Read transcript

It has to be Pesci, no doubt, and not in a good way.
Rooker and Asner are in the conversation; Asner is aggro, and his 'Camelot in ashes' line is called ridiculous.
Pesci wins.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

John Candy

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:37:55Read transcript

Called one of the most important awards handed out, with three nominees: John Candy, Kevin Bacon and Donald Sutherland.
Oldman is in the movie too much to be eligible; Brian Doyle-Murray is proposed and rejected.
Bacon and Candy annihilate brief roles, but Sutherland is first called the winner for the 16-minute monologue, then his screen time is said to be about third most.
The pick moves to Candy because he did something he never did before or after, while Bacon found a tough swagger and kept doing it, as in A Few Good Men.
Candy as Dusty Rhodes in a biopic is imagined on the spot; Candy wins.

Apex Mountain

Robert Richardson; Oliver Stone; JFK assassination conspiracies; Michael Rooker; Wayne Knight; Zapruder film

In the discussion (11)

Approx. transcript time · 01:42:09Read transcript

Costner: no; his peak is still Dances With Wolves, which won all the Oscars and made him the new Warren Beatty, with no argument.
Oliver Stone: it might be this, since he got a studio to fund an assassination movie with his made-up theory and made The Doors and JFK in the same year; called a really good case.
JFK assassination conspiracies peaked in the early 90s: agreed.
Michael Rooker: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is his high point, with Henry and JFK in about a two-year span when it was all happening for him.
Henry is recommended as a realistic, disturbing film; one participant recalls seeing it before a game at a theater near BU with seven other men; tangent: Henry and One False Move as a never-sleep-again home double feature.
Rooker being the most normal-seeming character shows how crazy the movie is; his LBJ argument scene is called absurd and possibly cut down.
Rooker is praised in Cliffhanger and now in the MCU; one participant has met with him.
Wayne Knight, no question: Newman at the same time and Jurassic around then.
The Zepruder (as transcribed) film as Apex Mountain: yes, with a reference to the Time-Life building.
Also joked about: the Cowboys doing well in '91, and a Zupruder (as transcribed) NFT pushed by Gary Vee.
Richardson: a filmography spanning Stone's films from Salvador through Nixon, John Sales (as transcribed), Scorsese and Tarantino; at the top of his game here; a jab that he's no Gordon Willis, but flexible with a distinctive blown-out overhead light.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Yes: a present-day fictional JFK conspiracy series

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:50:00Read transcript

An emphatic yes: there is no other reason for Netflix to exist, five seasons.
Doubt that Sarandos and Reed Hastings are brave enough, though Netflix could shut down Dealey Plaza for two months.
The preference is a fiction rather than a Garrison series: a present-day event with mafia and CIA plots that starts someone investigating, like The Crown for JFK.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

David Ferrie's wig; John Candy's sunglasses; Dealey Plaza model; Sutherland's fedora

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:56:09Read transcript

David Ferry's wig and John Candy's sunglasses.
The Dealey Plaza model from the courtroom, for a living room and a Vanity Fair cover pose.
Sutherland's fedora, with a proposed recurring Mr. X bit giving 16 uninterrupted minutes on the podcast.

Who Won the Movie?

Oliver Stone

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:57:08Read transcript

Asked who won the movie, the answer is Oliver Stone, echoed with 'Yeah, Stone'.
Another participant has Stone as well and calls the pick boring.
Lee Harvey Oswald is offered as the other argument, since the film does everything to take blame away from him.

Podcast choices

Speaker not identified: Oliver Stone
Speaker not identified: Oliver Stone