Helen Slater prompts debate among this film, Supergirl and The Secret of My Success, with box-office failures weighed against the Michael J. Fox opportunity. — Bill Simmons
City Slickers is counteroffered; expectations for Slater are compared to Elizabeth Shoe and Kelly Preston, with a hypothetical Working Girl role. — Bill Simmons
Billie Jeans prompt comparison of the film, song and tennis player, with uncertainty about the filmmakers’ reaction to the shared name and a Billy the Kid interpretation. — Bill Simmons
Fair being fair and short-haired women are proposed; specific haircut memories remain uncertain. — Chris Ryan
The retrospective list is framed around the speaker’s own high-school years and five favorite high-school movie characters. — Bill Simmons
The five named favorites are Kelly Preston in Secret Admirer and Mischief, Helen Slater in Billie Jean, Joyce [transcribed Heiser] in Just One of the Guys, an garbled Karate Kid actress, and Mia Sarah in Ferris Bueller. — Bill Simmons
Jennifer Gray in Ferris Bueller is added. — Bill Simmons
Rebecca D. Moray in Risky Business is excluded because her character is not in high school; Molly Ringwald was not a favorite, and Sean Young in Stripes is excluded as an adult. — Bill Simmons
Hibbert is described as a comedy writer married to Sweeney at the time. — Bill Simmons
A reported Lovitz anecdote has him recognizing the Gimp in the credits.
Tarantino bought Vincent’s Malibu with Natural Born Killers money; a different car was used for the crash. — Bill Simmons
A production assistant bought a Jheri-curl wig instead of an Afro; Jackson argued it fit the era and it became the character’s look. — Bill Simmons
The 50 ASA film stock was chosen for its proximity to 1950s Technicolor. — Bill Simmons
The Jack Rabbit Slim’s set-budget estimate is corrected to $150,000. — Bill Simmons
The pawnshop and other locations around Canoga Park, Atwater, Glendale, Hawthorne, Beverly Hills, Sun Valley and Pasadena are discussed, with several sites changed or demolished. — Bill Simmons
Butch’s apartment, Lance’s home and Jimmie’s house are placed in North Hollywood, Atwater Village and Studio City respectively. — Bill Simmons
The reported profanity count is 265. — Bill Simmons
Boxing undercard names Vossler and Martinez reportedly came from video-store colleagues. — Bill Simmons
The Malibu was stolen during filming and recovered through an altered-VIN investigation in 2013; whether Tarantino got it back is left uncertain. — Bill Simmons
Travolta researched heroin use through a recovering addict’s tequila-and-hot-water suggestion, tried with Kelly Preston. — Bill Simmons
Butch’s white 1980 Honda Civic also appears in Jackie Brown. — Bill Simmons
The obnoxious Yankees fan in the airport bar is nominated for overacting; his heckling is criticized as disrupting a rare communal sports experience, and drastically reducing the airport scenes is proposed. — Bill Simmons
Preston is the competing overacting choice, chiefly for the opening and hospital scenes; alternative endings sending Jane to London or pairing Chapel with the masseuse are joked about. — Mallory Rubin
Preston's performance is the first aged-worst nomination, characterized as stopping the movie's momentum. — Bill Simmons
Chapel watching Jane and Ian through her window in the rain is criticized as stalking. — Bill Simmons
The runaway-daughter subplot and Jane obtaining Chapel's direct stadium phone line are criticized; detailed objections are deferred. — Bill Simmons
The changed experience of seeing Simmons after his broader fame is an aged-worst observation: the surprising contrast with his Oz role has diminished. — Bill Simmons
The final diving play and comfortable margin at first are criticized as unrealistic; the batter's failure to beat it out inspires jokes about demotion. — Mallory Rubin
Removing the reported full-frontal scene is an aged-worst nomination; the quoted studio executive's doubts are rejected. — Mallory Rubin
The players holding up numbers when Heather boards the plane are interpreted as jokes about her age and an imagined relationship with Chapel, with the interpretation explicitly qualified as uncertain; this is judged poorly aged. — Mallory Rubin
Chapel's remark about wanting to kill Jane at the end of their phone argument is criticized. — Mallory Rubin
The owner's complaint that modern developments ruined baseball is rejected in favor of progress. — Mallory Rubin
Brad’s girlfriend is considered uninspiring and Preston an available replacement. Another participant is more interested in the alternate director. — Bill Simmons
Jay Mohr is the agreed Dion Waiters answer against Kelly Preston, the nanny and Glenn Frey, despite a brief screen-time eligibility objection. Drake Bell's early insult earns an additional mention for setting the story in motion.
The shower confrontation is praised for both actors at their best, screaming and Help me help you. Cruise is proposed for overacting but defended as effective because Jerry loses the control established at the start; Kelly Preston is another personal overacting answer. Rod's athlete-not-entertainer stance is considered distinctly of its era.
The bachelor-party video feels like a joyless gathering of former partners criticizing Jerry in front of his new fiancée; Cruise's excited arrival is nevertheless praised as overacting.
Kelly Preston is the explicit overacting choice while still praised as effective. Cruise singing Free Fallin' is his strongest competing scene; Gooding's heightened work is considered genuine rather than overacting, and Zellweger is comparatively restrained.
Jerry's firing lunch and the ensuing fight to save his clients is the first rewatchable-scene nominee; Sugar's confrontation is also proposed for the toe-to-toe award. — Bill Simmons
The competing client calls culminate in Show me the money; Cruise's progression from reluctant participant to desperate commitment is praised as his other lines disappear.
Jerry's office exit is treated as a separate scene, including the goldfish, Dorothy joining him and the signed You complete me in the elevator. — Bill Simmons
Jerry discovering that Cush has signed with Sugar is a favorite among the initial nominees; Cruise's restrained anguish, legal pad and inability to say Sugar's name are praised.
Jerry getting drunk with Rod at the airport and on the plane is another nominee, before the sunglasses visit to Dorothy. The cloak-of-failure line, the child, Bonnie Hunt and Clarence Thomas joke are highlighted. — Bill Simmons
The shower confrontation is praised for both actors at their best, screaming and Help me help you. Cruise is proposed for overacting but defended as effective because Jerry loses the control established at the start; Kelly Preston is another personal overacting answer. Rod's athlete-not-entertainer stance is considered distinctly of its era.
Jerry arriving for the date, the women's group, Dorothy's dress and the Secret Garden hug are scene nominees. Needle-drop choices divide Free Fallin' and Secret Garden, with one vote changing to the latter on seeing the scene. — Bill Simmons
Bonnie Hunt is praised but may appear too much for Dion Waiters. The wedding scene highlights Rod singing Marvin Gaye, Jerry's visibly unhappy video face and Bonnie's warning. — Bill Simmons
The confrontation about Rod playing with his head rather than heart is another scene nominee, ending in I'm all heart; Gooding is praised for going toe to toe with Cruise.
Rod's touchdown, dance and postgame press conference are nominated. Cruise reportedly supplied one script note asking where Jerry was during the celebration so he could build toward the ending, leading to his run onto the field. — Bill Simmons
Jerry's return and the You complete me/You had me at hello exchange introduce the final scene nominee. — Bill Simmons
The final reconciliation is proposed for the Rick Dalton best-acting award; Cruise in the shower is another best-acting preference. — Chris Ryan
Final rewatchable-scene votes mostly favor the client-saving phone sequence including Show me the money, with one shower-scene preference. The firing lunch is included in another vote for the client struggle.
The first beach fight opens the list; nobody knows how the moped gang got to a beach at least 40 minutes from where they live, or who rides mopeds on the beach. — Bill Simmons
Daniel's soccer juggling on the beach is presented as forward-thinking but is basic stuff; Johnny smashes Ali's radio with uncomfortable, unexplored O.J.-Nicole vibes, and none of her friends stand up for her. — Bill Simmons
Daniel lands one cheap-shot punch before being finished off, and Freddy and his friends immediately drop him. — Bill Simmons
Starting to work out took a lot longer than age eight; the movie's first scene has Daniel boasting he can teach Freddy karate, and it is unclear whether the film wants viewers to think he can hang with Johnny or is just laying a foundation so his tournament rise is less absurd. — Ryen Russillo
Johnny's red jacket is dated to a nine-month fad; the beach is Elisabeth Shue's first scene, and she belongs on a Mount Rushmore of 80s movie crushes with Kelly Preston and Apollonia, and she is said to have later won an Oscar. — Bill Simmons
The Halloween fight: Daniel hoses Johnny while he rolls a joint wearing a Walkman, is too slow to escape over the fence, and gets run down to the 'Danger' song; 'I'll decide when he's had enough' is called one of the best lines ever. — Bill Simmons
Miyagi 'goes hero ball' like Kobe in 2006; the double punch and the tummy-slap finish on Johnny are questioned as unrealistic, though Zabka's footwork is praised. — Ryen Russillo
The hosts cite a Sports Illustrated oral history in which Macchio says the scene was filmed at 4 a.m. and Zabka, meant to fake a roundhouse, really hit him in the jaw; Zabka says Macchio leaned into it. — Bill Simmons
The episode exists partly because a son demanded it after re-bingeing Cobra Kai; they watched the movie on day two of the quarantine. — Bill Simmons
In Miyagi's visit to the Cobra Kai dojo, a background student does knuckle push-ups through every take; the favorite line is 'no one touches the prima donna until after the tournament.' — Bill Simmons
The Kreese actor reportedly stayed in character on set, and he was not one of only three real black belts in the movie. — Ryen Russillo
The All Valley Karate Championships poster is visible; reproductions are on eBay, but only an original would be worth buying. — Bill Simmons
After roughly ten minutes of Daniel remodeling Miyagi's house, the wax-on/wax-off confrontation reveals the chores were karate training; it is ridiculous but still enjoyable, and kids said 'wax on, wax off' to each other for years. — Ryen Russillo
The country club scene is not a top-five scene: it is unclear why Ali would date Daniel, her parents are an extreme cliché, and a whole dining room laughing at the spaghetti collision is called absurd. — Bill Simmons
A scene said to have been cut had Daniel sit on blueberry pie; the spaghetti coverage looks painted on. — Ryen Russillo
Daniel's unfunny flirting is compared with Serpico's painful dating phase; the couple is said to have fought like hell for each other. — Ryen Russillo
The training montage on the pier and the boat, with its music, is praised as high-level for the mid-1980s. — Bill Simmons
The declared pick is the tournament montage that kicks into Joe Esposito's 'You're the Best'; it is ranked with the opening of Rocky 3 (Eye of the Tiger) as the best movie music montage, and it is on-sight viewing whenever it airs. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say 'You're the Best' was originally meant for Rocky 3 and was also in play for Flashdance; the tournament was shot with about six cameras like live theater, with a real crowd, and Zabka's mother was upset by the booing. — Ryen Russillo
The referee Pat Johnson, described as a real black belt, brings authentic intensity; the hosts say the tournament was staged as a real event at Cal State Northridge's arena with 500 to 1,000 spectators and a couple hundred competitors. — Ryen Russillo
An alternative is the whole last stretch, from Daniel asking Miyagi to fix his leg through 'sweep the leg', 'get him a body bag', the crane kick and the trophy presentation. — Bill Simmons
Asked for a pick between the two or something else, the answer is the soccer tryout where Daniel is thrown off the team; the slide tackle was vicious, Daniel was right to punch back, and the coach just did not like him. — Bill Simmons
The segment ends with 'You're the Best' named as most rewatchable. — Bill Simmons
