Steven Berkoff and Charles Napier are the candidates; Napier is favored despite discussion of whether knowing his name disqualifies him. His Cable Guy appearance is another supporting example. — Kyle Brandt
Charles Napier is considered overqualified after repeated wins, with his scream compared with the moment Lecter attacks him; Henry Gibson is a leading alternative despite cinephile familiarity.
The child attempting to steal at Ray’s shop is recognized as the later Die Hard chauffeur; the first name is recalled uncertainly, so no new full identity is asserted. — Bill Simmons
Chris chooses Andy’s promotion scene for Demme’s unsettling head-on framing and authentic wood-paneled club culture, compared with Trading Places’ banquet sequence. — Chris Ryan
Aged best: Hanks and Banderas’s authentic relationship scenes despite the thin Miguel role; Hanks’s Oscar speech inspiring In & Out. — Bill Simmons
Aged best: the awkward aftermath of the opera scene as Joe leaves rather than a sentimental fade. Wesley questions how much Andy’s solitude is actually shown, again connecting the perspective to Joe.
Joe’s hesitation on the stairs after leaving Andy is praised as an actorly moment; possible concern for his vulnerability is offered, while Wesley explicitly denies suggesting a sexual return. — Wesley Morris
Aged best: the family, the reuse of Demme actors such as Charles Napier, Philadelphia’s wealthy-club culture, period fear of lesions, and Andy briefly glimpsing his possible future in a dying patient. — Bill Simmons
Andy’s theater mustache and stubbled baseball-cap appearance prompt appreciation of Hanks’s looks and a teasing callback to Wesley’s earlier celebrity attractiveness opinion. — Wesley Morris
Aged best: jury deliberations reverse expectations about the apparent conservative juror, and the verdict reactions work. Robards’s villain and Joanne Woodward’s mother are praised. — Bill Simmons
Aged best: Springsteen’s award sweep is compared with Carly Simon’s Working Girl song; Robert Ridgely’s presence inevitably recalls his Boogie Nights character. — Bill Simmons
Dr. Evil as Lorne Michaels; Elizabeth Hurley; Mimi Rogers as her mother; opening credits; musical interstitials; Will Ferrell as Mustafa; steamroller murder; the sequels; five stages of defrosting; head-loss jokes; Basil's mom; character names; the capitalism line
Dr. Evil as Lorne Michaels remains hilarious; every Dr. Evil scene is lights out, from Bigglesworth to the finger to the mouth and the run, an all-time creation.
Elizabeth Hurley is great and still aging well; this is really her only well-known movie besides Bedazzled; casting her as Mimi Rogers' daughter is a home run. — Bill Simmons
The opening credits are praised as unusual for a comedy; a world-famous spy living through Beatlemania is a stupid paradox only noticed on this rewatch. — Bill Simmons
The dance interstitials with close-ups of Austin's teeth are funny. — Bill Simmons
The slow-motion steamroller murder, still ten feet away in the wide shot, is called the funniest thing ever seen. — Bill Simmons
The sequels belong here, since some, including someone who might produce the podcast, find them better than the original. — Bill Simmons
The five stages of defrosting, with cutaways to Michael York and Charles Napier nodding, and the FemBots are cited, though the FemBots' 60s parody may land less in 2022. — Bill Simmons
Beating a dumb joke into the ground works in the five-straight head jokes ('a shame he wasn't more headstrong'), and punching Basil's mom kills. — Bill Simmons
The character names (Basil Exposition, the name heard as 'A lot of vagina', Random Task) and Austin emerging from cryo with the capitalism line are highlights.
What did Lecter say to make Miggs kill himself?; Is it okay to root for Hannibal Lecter?; Did Catherine Martin keep Precious?; Would you watch a 1997 Buffalo Bill prequel with Ted Levine?; Should Jodie Foster have done the Hannibal sequel?; Was Jodie Foster good in this movie?
Is it okay to root for Lecter: he is one of the five worst people the hosts have rooted for, they cheer when he attacks Charles Napier's character, Clarice tells her FBI roommate he would not come after her because he would find it rude, and he seems to attack only people he has a grudge against.
Did Catherine Martin keep Precious: she carries the dog out at the end after the bone-and-bucket Hail Mary, and the host thinks she kept it.
Would they watch a Buffalo Bill prequel with Ted Levine in 1997: yes, though the investigation of serial killers interests one host more than their origins; should Foster have done the Hannibal sequel: no, she knew to leave well enough alone.
Was Foster good: one host thinks she is great; the other, since learning Michelle Pfeiffer had turned the role down, watches imagining Pfeiffer, would be more scared and more convinced, and thinks Pfeiffer the better actress, perhaps a year or two old for it.
The rebuttal is that Clarice's background as a rural West Virginia sheriff's daughter fits Foster, while Pfeiffer seems like a Tequila Sunrise, Fabulous Baker Boys person; the accent is still judged not good enough, with the claim that Hopkins knew it, and the advice is never to do an accent unless you are Daniel Day Lewis.
The Pfeiffer backer, calling her a favorite actress, adds that Castaway would be better with her in the Helen Hunt part and admits to simply not being a big Jodie Foster fan; another voice asked for an opinion praises her rookie vulnerability, Julia Roberts is rejected as too much of a megastar against Foster's diminutive presence, and there were few great actress options at the time.
Earlier, during the nits, what Lecter told Miggs over six hours to make him kill himself was parked for this segment.
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with fava beans and a nice glass of Chianti."; "Senator, one more thing. Love your suit."; "Hey, are you about a size 14?"; "You don't know what pain is!"; "Oh, is she a big fat person?"
With the Gumm lines already covered, the census-taker line is called iconic, along with Hopkins's pronunciation of Chianti, and 'Senator, one more thing. Love your suit' is praised for its delivery, which Gene Hackman might not have matched; it was an era, with Terminator 2, of lines built to be repeated.
Lecter's remark in the breastfeeding exchange with the senator made theater audiences squirm; Gumm's size 14 question and 'you don't know what pain is' are also cited.
One host's personal favorite is Gumm answering Clarice's knock about Mrs. Lippman by asking whether she was a big fat person and then fetching the index cards; the other has no additions, and Charles Napier's scream when he is hit is added.
Nominees: Chris Isaac's (as transcribed) three-second cameo getting out of the van with one line; Charles Napier's reaction on realizing he is handcuffed just before he is clubbed; and Catherine Martin shouting a profane insult at Clarice, the person trying to rescue her.
Buffalo Bill's dance scene is judged more disturbing than funny, and the lotion-in-the-basket lines are called an iconic thing to say.
Miggs is nominated; the reply is that Miggs is on the nominator's Mount Rushmore of references and the most disturbing over-the-top performance, but not unintentional comedy; the case is then made that nobody toned down his crude act toward Clarice.
Relaying Jim Cunningham's question about what became of the actor, the hosts name him as Stewart Rudin (as transcribed); a high-school friend's joking college-era question about the prop used in the scene is recalled, and a search for how it was made turned up nothing.
The lotion-in-the-basket scene takes the cake over Miggs; the host reads Gumm's five lines in the scene in order.
The host recalls seeing the film in a packed Worcester, Massachusetts theater in college and laughing through the lotion scene while people turned around and shushed the host, then doing Gumm impersonations with roommates for a decade before the internet showed everyone found it funny, while acknowledging the scene is about a man torturing a captive in a pit.
The hosts say they know who wins and there is no argument, but read the nominees anyway: Anthony healed (as transcribed) as Dr. Frederick Chilton, a classic 'that guy'; Charles Napier as Lieutenant Boyle with his great death scene; Chris Isaac (as transcribed) at his peak; and Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill.
Levine is called robbed of a supporting actor nomination; one host has rooted for him ever since and, seeing him as a detective in Heat in 1995, expected him to do something creepy, though the role probably pigeonholed him.
No one has won the award more convincingly: in the basketball metaphor he takes eight shots, all threes from 25 feet or more, makes them all, and is plus 38 in 12 minutes.
