‹ All people
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Over the Top
Independence Day
Midnight Run
Film credit
Robert Loggia
Stats
- Episodes featuring their films
- 4
- Movies in this archive
- 5
Rewatchables episodes featuring Robert Loggia’s films
An Officer and a Gentleman
1982 film
Bill Simmons · Chris Ryan · Sean Fennessey
Aired November 14, 2023
Displaying all 4 episodes
Mentioned in discussions
Is This Movie Better With…?
Byron Mayo could interrupt the love triangle with suggestive advice; Robert Loggia would also improve a role.
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:25:19Read transcript
- Byron Mayo could interrupt the love triangle with suggestive advice; Robert Loggia would also improve a role. — Chris Ryan
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:52Read transcript
- Robert Loggia wins for bending-the-law dialogue and his furious reaction on the stairs; Rick Zumwalt is an alternative. — Kyle Brandt
What’s Aged the Best?
Self-bet; bad dialogue; tournament; Hurley; Loggia; songs; Cannon credit; SNL; Grizzly; truck workout; funeral trope; father admiration
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:07Read transcript
- Lincoln betting all $7,000 from his truck sale on himself is admired. — Bill Simmons
- The cholesterol-poisoning exchange is enjoyed for its terrible dialogue. — Bill Simmons
- Tournament structure and Rick Zumwalt’s imposing Bull Hurley casting work well. — Kyle Brandt
- Evil Robert Loggia is a strength. — Bill Simmons
- The Hagar music video and a Golan-Globus production credit promise enjoyable excess. — Bill Simmons
- The SNL sketch in which Norm Macdonald mocks Stallone’s movies after an accident is recommended. — Bill Simmons
- Larry Greene’s opening song is considered underrated and better than Meet Me Half Way. — Bill Simmons
- The repeated double-elimination explanations, strap and John Grizzly’s eccentric performance remain enjoyable. — Bill Simmons
- The truck’s exercise apparatus remains a childhood favorite, despite likely producing an uneven physique. — Bill Simmons
- Arriving midway through a funeral, silently dropping flowers and leaving is enjoyed as an absurd recurring movie convention. — Bill Simmons
- A child watching an estranged father do something impressive captures a powerful emotional experience. — Kyle Brandt
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:53Read transcript
- Robert Loggia is the emphatic heat-check winner for his opening minutes. — Bill Simmons
- Paula’s father is a heat-check alternative. — Bill Simmons
- The hostile factory worker Bunny is a heat-check alternative. — Bill Simmons
- Seeger is a heat-check alternative, with a question about whether the part is too large.
- Victor French as the stepfather is a heat-check alternative.
- Grace Zabriskie as the mother is a heat-check alternative. — Sean Fennessey
Half-Assed Internet Research
Stargate origin; military withdrawal; model effects; Oscar-nominee game; Clinton screening; VHS campaign; improvisation; Loggia's Airplane mix-up
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:24Read transcript
- The idea came while Emmerich promoted Stargate: asked about aliens, he imagined waking to a 15-mile-wide spaceship and told Devlin it was their next movie. — Bill Simmons
- The U.S. military was originally involved and bowed out, apparently over Area 51. — Bill Simmons
- There were 3,000-plus effects shots, with models such as a 10-by-5-foot White House blown up; the White House interior set was reused from The American President and Nixon. — Bill Simmons
- In a game naming the six Oscar nominees in the cast, Will Smith and Pullman are named first. — Shea Serrano
- Goldblum and then Judd Hirsch are named, winning the game; Loggia, Mary McDonnell and Randy Quaid are the others. — Chris Ryan
- A White House screening for Bill Clinton, who loved it, and an oral-history anecdote about Vivica Fox meeting him. — Bill Simmons
- A six-week, $30 million VHS campaign made it the best-selling live-action video ever. — Bill Simmons
- Most scenes with Goldblum and Judd Hirsch or Will Smith were improvised, and 70 mock news broadcasts were made. — Bill Simmons
- Robert Loggia was told to watch Airplane instead of Airport, thought they were secretly making a spoof and refused to leave his trailer. — Bill Simmons
Casting What-Ifs
Paramount lined up Harrison Ford as Jack Walsh and Chevy Chase as the Duke; Chase had a conflict and Ford dropped out; De Niro came aboard only after being turned down for Big; Albert Brooks turned down the Duke; Paramount wanted Cher, then Robin Williams, as the Duke; Brest insisted on Grodin and Paramount sold the film to Universal; Ron Perlman, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Alec Baldwin were considered for Serrano
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:20Read transcript
- Called a pantheon casting what-if: Paramount obtained the script and lined up Harrison Ford as Jack Walsh and Chevy Chase as the Duke around 1986-87, post-Fletch, which would have been a pretty good backup movie, although Ford, basically in his Blade Runner outfit, might be too handsome and has rarely been heard cursing that much; Chase had a conflict with Funny Farm and another film, and Ford dropped out.
- De Niro opted in only after being turned down for Big; Albert Brooks was then offered the Duke and turned it down, which would also have been incredible, since Brooks and Grodin could have swapped parts for fifteen years and Brooks probably wins head to head.
- Paramount then decided Cher should play the Duke, which is unimaginable, during a brief three-year peak of Cher as a top-tier actress; the research came from a piece written five years earlier, with a shout-out to Alan Seppinwall (as transcribed) as one of the few listeners.
- Paramount pushed for Robin Williams, who wanted to audition, the same year as Good Morning Vietnam; Brest refused and wanted Charles Grodin, so Paramount sold the rights to Universal with Grodin and De Niro attached, and Universal had a major success.
- Better or worse with 1988 Robin Williams: a sliding-doors note that doing it before or after Good Morning Vietnam might have affected Dead Poets Society; one view is that Williams would have done bits throughout and turned it into a comedy, while Grodin's measured, deadpan complaining plays perfectly off De Niro; the counter is a mellow Garp or Dead Poets Williams could have done it, and the endless takes might have driven him to become Robin Williams anyway.
- Williams is judged the better actor but Grodin played it better; Williams only grew into his body by Good Will Hunting and was still slight in the eighties, so nobody but Grodin can be pictured in the part, with Grodin the safer pick though Williams playing it correctly would have been great; a crude aside recalls an anatomical revelation from the HBO Williams documentary.
- The only other what-if is Jimmy Serrano, played by the late Dennis Farina: Ron Perlman, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Alec Baldwin were all considered; late-eighties Baldwin would have been interesting, Liotta a little too young, and nobody could be better than Farina.
- Earlier aside: De Niro wanted the lead in Big to show a lighter side, the studio said no and went to Tom Hanks, who was nominated, while De Niro settled for Midnight Run and was not; which was the better career choice is left open, but De Niro as Josh Baskin, a thirteen-year-old at the piano with Robert Loggia, would have been creepy, so the studio made the right move.
Displaying all 6 discussions
