Willis is incredible, but the pick is Damon Wayans for a dynamite movie-star performance he never got the chance to repeat. — Chris Ryan
The pick is agreed with: multiple people could have played the Bruce Willis role, including Don Johnson, but nobody else in 1991 could have been Jimmy Dix (Eddie too old, Denzel too established, Wesley Snipes weird, Jamie Fox too early). — Bill Simmons
It was right time, right place for Wayans, who is likable, and it is a bummer he never got better scripts. — Bill Simmons
Tony Scott was considered but rejected because this is not seen as a signature Tony Scott movie and it sounds agonizing to make. — Bill Simmons
In a book about cocaine-era late 80s and 90s movies, this would be a chapter. — Bill Simmons
Wesley Snipes: yes, because the movie's success opened doors; he had bigger moments but not greater ones, and it is his signature performance. — Bill Simmons
Allen Payne is left unsettled: he worked a long time after, including Jason's Lyric and The Perfect Storm, but this was his biggest deal. — Van Lathan
Human bullet shields: yes, over Heat and The Dead Zone as the more recognizable example. — Van Lathan
New Jack swing is offered as an Apex Mountain. — Logan Murdock
In hindsight the moment is called the height of the genre, since it got so big it made a movie title and Hollywood. — Logan Murdock
Guy: no; their big cameo cannot be their apex, and pressing the point draws teasing.
Chris Rock's movie career: yes; it is the best he has been in a movie and his most recognizable role, with Head of State jokingly floated as an Obama precursor.
Box haircuts: Fresh Prince might be up there, but the movie plus the 1991 playoffs may be the peak for high tops; a flat top was kept until 1994.
Mario Van Peebles: 100% his apex; nothing hinted he would make a $50 million movie; later came Posse and Panther and a role in Ali, and his father Melvin Van Peebles was the architect of blaxploitation.
Bill Nunn: no, it has to be Radio Rahim; Judd Nelson: no, with discussion deferred.
Color Me Bad: no, because of their 90210 episode and a number-one record.
Zoot suits are left unresolved, perhaps some 1940s film. — Logan Murdock
Ice T said the sequel was botched by his Cop Killer trouble and by Snipes getting $7 million for Demolition Man. — Bill Simmons
In the sequel idea Nino survived the shooting, which is doubted, though one participant says he would have been there opening weekend. — Bill Simmons
Simon Phoenix from Demolition Man is called one of the great movie villains. — Logan Murdock
The name Nino Brown came from Nino Gabriel, a storefront on Third Avenue where Harlem gangsters bought shoes, per Barry Michael Cooper. — Logan Murdock
According to Chris Rock on Inside the Actor's Studio in 1994, dealers put crack and cocaine in his pockets for three years afterward, joking they thought it was a documentary. — Bill Simmons
The film premiered at Sundance in January in only the festival's second year, after Sex Lise and Videotape (transcribed form). — Bill Simmons
According to Cooper, they intentionally used a comic-book look, making Nino's mansion like Dracula's lair to suggest he was sucking the blood out of the neighborhood. — Bill Simmons
A question whether Snipes played a vampire in Blade sparks a mock rebuke about asking "King nerd Van Lathan".
Better than Ice T may have been possible, but the easy recast is Tom Seismore (transcribed form) as the Italian mobster with the ponytail, a part that needed a real actor. — Bill Simmons
Eddie Murphy as Nino is floated because the project began at Paramount as the Nikki Barnes story with Murphy attached; rejected as too beloved to flip to villain, like John Cena or the Rock.
Denzel as Nino is a maybe; he could have pulled it off but is too good and regal, while Snipes fit better.
The best what-if was already mentioned: Martin Lawrence was cast as Pookie and had the job; one view says he would have been better than Chris Rock. — Bill Simmons
A garbled passage concerns someone turning down Ice T's part; Michael Wright is named and would have killed the part, reuniting later for Sugar Hill. — Bill Simmons
Vibica A. Fox (transcribed form) auditioned for Selina and Keisha but did a 90210 episode that year instead; she would have been great as Keisha, as Set It Off showed.
The Vanessa Williams married to Rick Fox would have been a great girlfriend for Nino. — Logan Murdock
Allen Payne was a replacement: Orange Juice Jones was cast as G Money, filmed scenes and was fired, per research; his "Walking in the Rain" is called very 80s. — Van Lathan
Tupac could be both aggressive and vulnerable, as Birdie in Above the Rim; it would have been interesting, though Allen Payne was perfect. — Van Lathan
A case that Tupac should have been cast, rewritten as the best friend's younger brother, and would have been better. — Bill Simmons
The use of Scarface is mentioned again, and character names such as G Money, Pookie, Duh Duh Man and Frankie Needles are praised. — Bill Simmons
Nino's clothes are fantastic and possibly sampled by NBA players; lean, built Snipes could pull off the full suits.
Kente cloth, including Ice T's beanie in the beach scene, aged really well.
The unexpected Flavor Flav cameo, the Cash Money and Carter album tie-ins, and the "wouldn't want to be" line Snipes seems to say in three movies are cited. — Bill Simmons
The women feel early 90s in a good way, capped by Michael Michelle, later cast in Ali as someone extremely beautiful. — Bill Simmons
Ice T and Judd Nelson together were the CBS police show never made; Judd commentary is held until the end. — Bill Simmons
Ice T as a cop aged beautifully: he played a cop before Cop Killer and Law & Order and has a complicated pop-culture history with cops.
The crooked cop's redemption story, for Ice T's and Judd Nelson's characters, is a recurring 80s trope that seems retired, as in Cobra.
A ruling is requested on whether the Chris Rock bike chase with Ice T chasing him counts; one objection is that it is short, and it is moved from aged-best into rewatchable scenes. — Bill Simmons
Riding the bike down the steps without flying over the handlebars is impressive. — Bill Simmons
The first scene with Nino, G Money and the stuttering guy (called Radio Rahim) in the Jeep, recalling playing ball as kids, lays out the relationships; a little hacky but liked. — Bill Simmons
Nino laying out the Carter complex leads into a money-making montage borrowed from Scarface; the best moment is holding up the vial and saying crack. — Bill Simmons
The plan for Fat Smitty and the Carter rollout is built like a real business, "Henry Ford type" and militant in its organization. — Bill Simmons
From the bridge-dangling opening credits through the money montage, the first 22 minutes are unassailably entertaining before the movie turns dark; the bridge drop with "wouldn't want to be you" is enjoyed. — Bill Simmons
Pookie explaining Nino's crack setup to Ice T's character is a really good scene.
The naked workers in the drug house were a first on film; the viewer, then in college in Massachusetts, was mesmerized, and the level of organization was new even to someone who knew dealers as a kid.
Nakedness in the movie is portrayed as stripping away humanity, including when Nino strips the Carter owner at gunpoint. — Logan Murdock
Pookie's cover getting blown after being placed around crack every day, followed by the building being blown up, is a good action sequence. — Bill Simmons
Nino and Ice T's character on the roof is a chess game with respect; an objection calls it hokey, Crash-level script cuteness that Nino killed the cop's mother, answered that the film had to establish a motive.
Nino's courtroom speech that the lawmakers, politicians and anti-legalization lobbyists are the guilty ones is played in full.
The raid scene where Nino, holding a dog, stabs Kareem Akbar is raised as missing from the list and possibly the coolest scene.
The omission of the raid scene is acknowledged as an accident. — Bill Simmons
In that meeting Nino requires everyone to wear black for the Carter's funeral and arrives with a chain and a sword in his cane, recalling Al Capone with the bat in The Untouchables and a Martin episode callback; Martin was supposed to be in the movie. — Van Lathan
The rooftop is called the winner and an iconic, Oscar-level scene inside a pop movie, with G Money's tearful plea and Snipes crying well. — Bill Simmons
Killing G Money is the moment Nino stops being one of the community; Scarface had even less reason to kill Manny, and older relatives could not believe Nino did his partner like that. — Van Lathan
A counterview says Nino believes his partner is after his place, and his face shows conflict as he hugs, kisses and almost spares him. — Logan Murdock
No character in the movie is redeemable, which makes it great; the rooftop scene is named the winner. — Logan Murdock
Alternatives for Arsenio's sidekick role are debated: Mario Joyner, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Townsend, Denzel, Wesley Snipes, Sinbad and David Alan Grier, with most judged too handsome, too early or a complexion mismatch.
Walken punching Snipes repeatedly at his first arrest would realistically have given the cops their excuse to shoot Frank.
The Chinatown shootout is little one-sided, a 10-to-zero win, though loved as a callback to Scarface. — Bill Simmons
Caruso being assassinated at a police funeral is still not fully believed, though enjoyed. — Bill Simmons
Snipes wandering into a dark open area calling out Jimmy is questioned; adrenaline after the car chase is offered as the explanation.
Why Joey, Paul Calderon's character, set up Frank's crew is questioned; one theory is he knew Frank was doomed and the cops were his only buyer.
Frank's plan seemed to work like a charm, compared to the unstoppable train 777 in Unstoppable, until the cops went rogue; whether cops can be trusted not to go rogue may be unanswerable.
The research says the real Walken called Biggie's hotel room in the mid-90s and left a message as the real King of New York; possibly apocryphal. — Bill Simmons
The research says Lawrence Fishburne and Nicholas St. John were booed off the stage at the second New York Film Festival showing. — Bill Simmons
The research says the first cut ran almost two hours and was edited to 106 minutes to avoid an X rating. — Bill Simmons
The director is quoted as saying Donald Trump let them film at the Plaza free on condition that Walken pose for a photograph with Ivana Trump. — Bill Simmons
The director claims Snipes was living in his car during production, which seems conceivable from his credits. — Bill Simmons
The research says the opening was shot partly at Sing Sing, the first time the prison was used in a movie. — Bill Simmons
A guess of 90 is offered for how many times 'fuck' is said. — Sean Fennessey
It is noted that Abel directed a porn film under a pseudonym. — Bill Simmons
