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- Episodes featuring their films
- 12
- Movies in this archive
- 12
Rewatchables episodes featuring Denzel Washington’s films
The Pelican Brief
1993 film
Bill Simmons · Chris Ryan · Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Aired December 12, 2023
Displaying all 12 episodes
Mentioned in discussions
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:23:29Read transcript
- The question is called really hard, with a joke not to say Ransone.
- A tangent calls The Doors terrible and jokes about Kyle McLaughlin's scenes.
- "It's got to be Spike," with repeated agreement: "I had Spike, I got Spike." — Sean Fennessey
- Denzel's mid-2000s run is then called a real sweet spot, without a separate vote. — Sean Fennessey
Podcast choices
What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?
Ransone's jacket; Gold Digger ringtone; Jodie Foster's power suit; Denzel's hat
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:22:41Read transcript
- Ransone's jacket and Peter Hammond's Gold Digger ringtone are named.
- Clive Owen's Yankees hat is suggested as a Christmas gift, and the intended recipient refuses to own one. — Sean Fennessey
- Jodie Foster's power suit and Denzel's City Hall outfit and hat are named.
- The diamond ring would be normal, but its legacy makes it unwanted.
Apex Mountain
Clive Owen; Jodie Foster; Juicy Fruit; Gangstas iz Genocide
In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:00Read transcript
- Denzel: no. Spike Lee: no.
- Clive Owen: yes; 2006 with Children of Men and Inside Man was his apex, among the best two-film years ever.
- Jodie Foster in the 21st century: yes, though Flight Plan was a big hit.
- Juicy Fruit gets a yes as its best use in a movie, after wondering whether Chuck Yeager chewed it in The Right Stuff.
- Gangst is genocide, the in-film video game, also gets a yes.
- For fixers, Winston Wolf is apex over Michael Clayton, and Foster's character, who proves ineffective, ranks third.
- Bruce Willis's girlfriend in Pulp Fiction is the apex of worst movie girlfriends, with a promise to rip that stretch apart in an in-person Pulp Fiction episode after the pandemic.
- On whether it is apex for post-Heat heist movies, the answer is only that it is "in the carousel," mocked as a non-answer. — Chris Ryan
- Candidates weighed include Den of Thieves, The Dark Knight, Logan Lucky, Hell or High Water, Widows, Baby Driver, The Town and Fast Five.
- The final ranking puts The Town first, Fast Five second and Inside Man third, with Den of Thieves fourth.
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:21Read transcript
- A new award launched the week before on New Jack City: the Judd Nelson Award for someone who is clearly in another movie; Chris was there and Sean was not.
- William Defoe seems to be in a completely different movie, generic and giving nothing interesting to say despite being a multi-Oscar nominee, like an old Law & Order episode.
- A partial dissent enjoys Defoe being given nothing to do, while noting his odd introduction as a jerk to Denzel followed quickly by an apology.
- Per the internet research, Spike and Defoe met in a men's room during an intermission of a Julius Caesar production with Denzel and agreed to work together, so Defoe feels shoehorned in, mainly setting up jokes.
- Judd Nelson's New Jack City performance was the model, and Defoe is called a good first winner.
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:32Read transcript
- There are about 12 That Guys; the vote goes to Peter Guybert as the mayor, whose name the speaker had to look up.
- James Ransone is not a That Guy; the police-truck actors Ashley Atkinson and Chill Mitchell are.
- The ultimate That Guy is Denzel's boss, Peter Garrity, from Homicide and The Wire, a celebrated New York theater actor. — Sean Fennessey
- Ken Lung was a That Guy until Industry; essentially everyone except the six leads qualifies.
Casting What-Ifs
Ron Howard as director; Denzel Washington as Dalton Russell
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:07Read transcript
- Ron Howard was supposed to direct.
- Spike Lee let Denzel choose either role; Denzel turned down the Clive Owen part because the character is always in disguise.
- Owen nearly turned the role down for the same reason, so scenes of him talking into the camera were added.
- Spike cast Amir Ali Saeed as the kid after seeing him in a Chappelle Show sketch.
- A hostage named Miriam was played by Marsha Jean Kurtz because she played a bank hostage named Miriam in Dog Day Afternoon, which Spike loved.
- The pizza-delivering cop may be a second Dog Day actor, and the pizza comes from Sal's Pizzeria as a callback.
What’s Aged the Best?
Interrogation scenes; Albanian subplot; Denzel dolly shot; Rothschild quote; Nazi plot twist; hostage roll call; the boy; Terence Blanchard score; Chaiyya Chaiyya
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:44Read transcript
- The interrogation scenes are this speaker's number one aged-best item. — Sean Fennessey
- Continuing the Albanian theme is called a first on the show: Albanians in a movie are an automatic yes, with a dream 1988 bank movie involving Albanians.
- Asked about his "homeland," the reply jokes about being Albania's most prominent podcaster. — Chris Ryan
- Movies such as Taken 2 and Wag the Dog make Albania a go-to country for debauchery and crime.
- Subtle touches hold up, including the phone-call argument and the camera trick moving Denzel toward the camera on a dolly after the hostage shooting.
- Jodie Foster's Baron Rothschild quote about buying property when there is blood in the streets is cited.
- Nazi plot twists work in well-made movies, as in Marathon Man; this is about the last point when a present-day movie could have a functioning Nazi collaborator.
- Denzel going through the hostages, including Ken Lung, is cited.
- The little boy is cited, with the note that that material was ad-libbed.
- Terence Blanchard's booming noir jazz score is praised over a modern soundtrack of songs, compared with Touch of Evil.
- The opening and closing song Chaiyya Chaiyya by A.R. Rahman came a couple of years before Slumdog Millionaire, putting Spike ahead of the Bollywood boom. — Sean Fennessey
In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:58Read transcript
- The bank-robbery setup comes first: meticulous crime setups are a favorite, with the crew entering in painter jackets with fluorescent strips.
- Asked what disguise they would use for a heist, the picks are plumbers and a cable repairman installing the jails network, while another wants only to be the driver.
- The driver pitch prompts jokes about a risky U-turn bit and a terrifying wheelman, plus disappointment that the movie has no second switch van.
- Watching the people in line invites imagining your own move as a hostage: get straight down with hands visible, or offer to help the robbers.
- One of Clive Owen's best scenes is his anger when the Gold Digger ringtone goes off, followed by the strip-to-your-underwear order; it is tense because the character's limits are still unknown, and shuffling the hostages is disorienting.
- The first Foster-Plummer scene shows two strong actors, with Foster coming in off the bench, and the conversation is staged on the Brooklyn Promenade for scenery.
- The video-game scene is offered as a controversial pick: some found it hacky social commentary, but the speaker enjoyed Owen vibing with the boy, and their son asked if the game was real.
- Spike, pushing 50, is seen reacting to a generational gap in hip-hop culture, both criticizing it and trying to understand it; it plays a little old-guy. — Sean Fennessey
- Spike also added the imagined raid scene for action; the video game likewise slows the film but gives Owen a quieter moment, and the boy relates more to Owen than to Denzel.
- The boy's 50 Cent line is a little clumsy, but Spike committing to it and building the game from scratch is appreciated.
- The first Clive-Denzel phone call, with the pina colada and Amber-and-Tiffany back-and-forth, is praised as hard to pull off on a phone.
- Other beats listed are the first Owen-Foster meeting, and the hostage-release reveal that everyone is "actually hostage," a voila moment.
- The last Plummer-Foster scene, with "I sold my soul" and her Bin Laden's nephew joke, is named the speaker's pick for most rewatchable, a chess match and the exclamation point of the film.
- As a cap, the Foster-Denzel courthouse exchange with the Baron Rothschild blood-in-the-streets line is added, along with the interrogations, which the speaker read were improvised but was unsure count as scenes. — Sean Fennessey
- A dark-horse pick is the sequence where the police try to identify the Albanian recording: the most New York sequence, with the body-bags line and the woman with the bag of parking tickets.
- The two conversations that Foster pivots are the favorites. — Sean Fennessey
Casting What-Ifs
Michael Biehn as the T-1000; Billy Idol; Blackie Lawless; Charlie Korsmo as John Connor; Denzel Washington as Miles Dyson
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:54Read transcript
- Michael Biehn was the first choice for the T-1000 in a role reversal, dropped as too confusing for viewers; it would have been too messed up for Sarah, though it could have been cool. — Bill Simmons
- Cameron considered Billy Idol, dropped after a motorcycle accident left him unable to run, and W.A.S.P. singer Blackie Lawless, who was too tall. — Bill Simmons
- Charlie Korsmo from What About Bob? was supposed to be John Connor but was filming that movie; he may not have read as a delinquent. — Bill Simmons
- The Miles Dyson role was offered to Denzel Washington, who passed because all the character does is look scared and sweat; the panel debates whether pre-Philadelphia Denzel was already too famous. — Bill Simmons
Casting What-Ifs
Billy Crystal, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis as Buzz; Jim Carrey as Buzz with Paul Newman as Woody; Rick Moranis as Rex
In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:03Read transcript
- Billy Crystal declined Buzz, later called it the biggest mistake of his career, and was then offered Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc. — Sean Fennessey
- Crystal is judged not rigid enough for Buzz, unlike Tim Allen's chin-out delivery. — Sean Fennessey
- Chevy Chase turned down Buzz; he is judged unable to pull it off because his corners are a little too rounded. — Shea Serrano
- Bill Murray is rejected as too snarky to deliver the "sad, strange little man" line seriously. — Shea Serrano
- A 1995 Mel Gibson is judged capable of the role. — Shea Serrano
- Bruce Willis gets a thumbs up with doubts, and his Look Who's Talking voice work is praised. — Shea Serrano
- Tim Allen has said Pixar wanted Jim Carrey for Buzz and Paul Newman for Woody but could not afford them, meant to reflect new Hollywood taking over old; Newman later voiced Doc Hudson in Cars. — Sean Fennessey
- One should never say no to Paul Newman, but Tom Hanks's Woody is too ingrained to imagine anyone else. — Mallory Rubin
- Hanks and Allen as generational peers, a movie pillar and a TV star, is preferred; Newman fits better as Doc. — Sean Fennessey
- Newman is the only name that could have replaced Hanks, because Woody needs a peach-soft voice; several actors, such as Robert Redford or Denzel Washington, could have played Buzz. — Shea Serrano
- Rick Moranis was reportedly approached for Rex, which would have been great. — Shea Serrano
- An online claim of Jeremy Irons as Mr. Potato Head is raised but unconfirmed. — Sean Fennessey
Recasting Couch
Diane Lane in Deborah Kara Unger’s role; Denzel Washington as Nicholas
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:45Read transcript
- Diane Lane is proposed over Deborah Kara Unger as a more involving version of the same role. — Bill Simmons
- Denzel Washington is proposed as Nicholas because he can hold attention while playing a flawed or unlikeable man. — Sean Fennessey
- Bill Murray is the joking fallback because he had already played a Scrooge figure.
- Robert De Niro’s Heat persona is imagined as another severe Nicholas alternative.
- The De Niro version resumes with an imagined CRS interview. — Chris Ryan
- Al Pacino is proposed for Conrad opposite the De Niro version. — Chris Ryan
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:14Read transcript
- Washington reportedly rejected Mills as too dark and later regretted it. — Bill Simmons
- The Stallone claim is doubted; Duvall and Hackman are reported Somerset alternatives, and Pacino reportedly chose City Hall.
- Kilmer as John Doe is enthusiastically imagined after a reported rejection; a Chechik directing attachment is questioned. — Bill Simmons
- The claim that del Toro rejected the film as too dark is treated skeptically. — Bill Simmons
Displaying discussions 49 - 60 of 101 in total
Films in the archive
American Gangster
2007
Crimson Tide
1995
Flight
2012
He Got Game
1998
Inside Man
2006
Man on Fire
2004
Philadelphia
1993
Remember the Titans
2000
The Equalizer
2014
The Pelican Brief
1993
Training Day
2001
Unstoppable
2010