Stanwyk's plan to have a lookalike drifter shoot him, then kill and burn the man, is ridiculous; it is very Raymond Chandler, with the story of Faulkner asking Chandler to explain The Big Sleep, and by 1985 forensic science made it less believable than in the mid-70s book. — Bill Simmons
Stephanie Mills' 'Bit by Bit' over the opening credits should have gone straight to Faltermeyer: 'let the chef cook'. — Bill Simmons
Producer Craig's take of not liking Fletch is jokingly named as what will age worst. — Bill Simmons
Chevy's clothes, like wide-bottomed jeans and a linen shirt with three buttons open, look clownish; the pushback is that he wears it well, and like Eddie Murphy he makes bad clothes look cool and looks like a classic leading man in Matheson's suit. — Sean Fennessey
Defense: Gail is the greatest hang of all time and nobody in Fletch is surprised by anything; the critic replies that an actress more interested in the part would have been better. — Chris Ryan
As said on the Tombstone podcast, she is a bad actress, and Elizabeth Shoe or Sharon Stone would make it a thousand times better. — Sean Fennessey
There is not enough Sally Ann Kavanaugh, set up in the low-key airline-counter scene; a face-off with Gail was wanted. — Chris Ryan
The hosts say Verhoeven went for Demi Moore, Amanda Donohoe was considered, and Douglas was talked into Sharon Stone, who made $500,000. — Bill Simmons
The Nick Curran role was said to be originally a lesbian cop written with Kathleen Turner in mind. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say Verhoeven was slated to direct Black Rain but left for Total Recall, and that he wanted Tom Berenger for RoboCop and for Nick and was turned down. — Bill Simmons
Per the hosts, Milos Forman was the first choice to direct and many leading men were allegedly considered, including Swayze, Costner, De Niro, Willis, Gibson and Harrison Ford, but the role is iconic Douglas. — Bill Simmons
One of the greatest cigarette-smoking movies ever; per the hosts, Eszterhas later regretted making cigarettes attractive after throat cancer, but smoking symbolizes Nick unraveling.
The opening scene is called one of the best-written openings, often ripped off.
Roxy is lights out, and it is unclear why she did not become a big star; Newman is also mentioned.
Nick calling her Rocky instead of Roxy is liked, whether a Douglas mistake or an insult. — Bill Simmons
The post-sex window-bench scene ("Somebody has to die") is liked.
The corny cop banter is shouted out, especially "Stop riding me, man! I'll kick your fucking teeth in!" at the bar.
Pre-tech-boom 1992 San Francisco, with Carmel and Marin, aged the best. — Mallory Rubin
Sharon Stone's performance is called the obvious answer, alongside ceiling sex mirrors, Picasso nods, the Bart Simpson keyring and Catherine's timeless fashion. — Mallory Rubin
Director's cuts generally seem a rip-off, adding a few seconds of shots rather than crazy material. — Bill Simmons
The director's cut differs in three scenes: a more violent opening murder, a longer Nick-Beth rape scene, and different angles in the main sex scene including the oral sex. — Mallory Rubin
The main sex scene was reportedly filmed for five days of 10-hour shoots because Douglas feared edits; Verhoeven choreographed every movement with storyboards.
Per the research, no body doubles were used in any of the sex scenes. — Bill Simmons
Per the research, Verhoeven had a lesbian sex scene rewritten after the screenwriter called it exploitative; four rewrites followed before he was brought back. — Bill Simmons
The Douglas-Tripplehorn sex scene was reportedly filmed while the performers thought they were rehearsing and kept in the final cut; the far-back camera is noted. — Bill Simmons
The screenwriter said he based Catherine on a go-go dancer in Ohio who pulled a .22 on him in a hotel room. — Bill Simmons
The screenwriter wrote in his book Hollywood Animal that he had a one-nighter with Sharon Stone after release; the recounting is called ungentlemanly. — Bill Simmons
He also said Nick was based on a cop he knew from his newspaper days. — Mallory Rubin
The script was apparently written in 10 days with no outline. — Bill Simmons
A high-school debate with a friend: is it OK to be attracted to the three-breasted woman, and could you date her? The answer given is yes. — Bill Simmons
The three-breasted woman has already drawn far more air time than an expected 40 seconds; Cohaagen versus Trump is deferred to a separate podcast. — Bill Simmons
Did Arnold make a run at Sharon Stone? One host calls it a 100% lock, reasoning that the lack of rumors proves it. — Bill Simmons
Shea agrees Arnold took a swing, and she likely said no thanks, or maybe found it fun. — Shea Serrano
Was it real? The hosts say Verhoeven wanted it ambiguous and believed it was a dream, while Arnold's casting pushed toward reality. — Bill Simmons
Dream evidence: the salesman promises he will get the girl, kill the bad guys and save the planet; the chosen woman's face appears on screen; 'Blue Sky on Mars' is named; the sweat-drop doctor describes later events. This host's official answer is a dream from the moment he is at Rekall. — Bill Simmons
Counter: it cannot start at Rekall because the film opens with him already dreaming of Ticotin's character; the construction coworker's and Lori's suspicious looks suggest it is real, and one host says it has to be real.
Asked, Jason says it is a brain-damage delusion, running the memories in a loop because his brain was fried; another host calls that depressing. — Jason Concepcion
A closing view: they are all kind of right, because Verhoeven put everything on the table and wanted ambiguity; there is more evidence for a dream, but it could go either way. — Bill Simmons
Neck injections; the oversized nose tracker; Arnold punching Lori without a mark; the Hauser memory-wipe plot; sending a recognizable giant to Earth; the name Quaid near Kuato
The plot says Hauser worked for Cohaagen, switched sides and underwent the memory wipe; the hosts find this confusing. — Bill Simmons
Asked, Jason says he thought Cohaagen wiped him and stashed him on Earth, wonders why Cohaagen does not just kill Quaid, and why Hauser would wipe his own memory. — Jason Concepcion
Asked to explain, Shea lays out two plot lines: Richter truly wants Quaid dead, while Cohaagen and Hauser planned to wipe him, push him back to Rekall and Mars to infiltrate the mutants and kill Kuato, then restore Hauser. — Shea Serrano
Further flaws: sending a 6'3", 280-pound hero back to Earth unnoticed, and the name Quaid being so close to Kuato. — Bill Simmons
Verhoeven signing in autumn 1988; 500 crew, 45 sets and eight Mexico City sound stages; Rambo III as the costliest film; Stone's Playboy shoot; the VHS-cover setting date; the four-breasted mutant draft
The research segment was flagged early as the place to cover how the script kept falling through. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say Verhoeven signed in autumn 1988, and 500 people built 45 sets on eight sound stages in Mexico City over six months. — Bill Simmons
Correction: the most expensive film before this was Rambo 3, not Rambo 2. — Bill Simmons
Sharon Stone posed nude for Playboy to coincide with the release, which the hosts recall was a common move then. — Bill Simmons
The VHS cover gives the film's year, which the hosts say Verhoeven confirmed, though it is not stated in the movie. — Bill Simmons
A favorite find: the three-breasted mutant Mary was originally meant to have four breasts, but producers thought it looked like a cow, leading to jokes about studio notes in Verhoeven's office. — Bill Simmons
Nominees include the three-breasted woman and Kuato in his two scenes. — Bill Simmons
Sharon Stone is the quintessential winner: three scenes, beats Arnold twice, super sexy, and you leave thinking she will be a massive star. — Bill Simmons
The woman at customs whom Arnold disguises himself as ('Two weeks') is also included for going so hard.
Opening credits; human-shield gore; plasma wall TVs and video calls; virtual-reality tennis; ESPN World Series from Tokyo; Cohaagen raising the price of air; "Give these people air"; fingernail-polish tech; the humor; Sharon Stone; the safety-deposit-box message
The terrible but beloved opening credits say 'Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna present'; the hosts wonder whether those producers were real or pseudonyms. — Bill Simmons
In the airport escalator scene Quaid uses a bystander as a human shield who is shot many times, and Richter stomps on the bullet-ridden chest with a squishing sound; the hosts cannot recall that much splatter in earlier action movies.
The hosts say it first got an X rating for gore and had to be scaled back, but Verhoeven would not cut the human-shield stomp. — Bill Simmons
Futuristic predictions: plasma wall TVs, video calls like FaceTime, possibly Johnny Cabs as Uber or Tesla autopilot, and Lori's virtual-reality tennis, her best moment in the film. — Bill Simmons
An ESPN promo for game five of the World Series live from Tokyo is enjoyed even if the prediction missed. — Bill Simmons
Cohaagen raising the price of air is a classic subtle evil move; the hosts work out how air billing might work through dome taxes and compare it to Trump in a pandemic.
It leads to Arnold turning 'air' into three syllables in 'Give these people air.' — Bill Simmons
The fingernail-polish tech is singled out. — Shea Serrano
The humor carries and is funnier now; the line 'If you want to live, don't hang up' is believed to have been lifted for Terminator 2; Sharon Stone has aged best. — Shea Serrano
A late addition: the cryptic message in the safety deposit box, a trick that works every time. — Shea Serrano
The scene list opens with Quaid going to Rekall on a whim for a secret-agent vacation and choosing the woman who will accompany him (athletic, sleazy, demure). — Bill Simmons
The chair freak-out ('schizoid embolism', 'You blew my cover!') is combined with the Johnny Cab ride and the airport fight as one giant scene. — Bill Simmons
The middle act recalls The Fugitive: once he is on the run after Rekall it is escape after escape and fight after fight.
Asked for other thoughts, Shea says the Rekall sequence sets everything in motion, then the movie goes in the opposite direction from what you expect and it still makes perfect sense. — Shea Serrano
Rewatching after 10 or 15 years, the reveal that Arnold was actually the bad guy felt new again; his smirking arrogant Hauser is likened to Eddie Murphy playing several characters in The Nutty Professor. — Shea Serrano
Next nominee: Lori realizing Quaid knows and their fight; Sharon Stone had bounced around Hollywood for eight or nine years (Irreconcilable Differences, the Allan Quatermain movie, Action Jackson) and knew this would be her movie. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say she got in amazing shape and learned jiu-jitsu, so she looks like she could beat Arnold, who can only use brute strength. — Bill Simmons
80s action was about being huge, unlike today's Bourne and John Wick style; Arnold breaks steel restraints, and the Lori fight, with her technical stance, is the movie's best fight, like a king cobra against a grizzly bear. — Jason Concepcion
Arnold and Stallone made 19 action movies between them in the 80s and defined the action hero, compared with Tupac defining the gangster rapper. — Shea Serrano
Patrick Swayze in Road House may have advanced non-brute-force fighting a year earlier; Arnold and Sly are compared to low-post centers like Shaq, and the John Wick era to spreading the floor. — Bill Simmons
Sharon Stone has Sandra-Bullock-in-Speed star gravity; she is in only three scenes yet feels like she is in the whole movie. — Bill Simmons
Venusville nominee: the Sleaze Bar, Marsburger, the mutant hotel, and random Sharper Image, Jack in the Box and Pepsi branding. — Bill Simmons
Asked why Pepsi advertises in Venusville, Shea says one fast-food brand always survives through time, as Taco Bell did in Demolition Man. — Shea Serrano
Venusville was filmed in a refashioned Mexico City subway station; the mutant bar has everything and deserves a 20-minute freeze-frame video, a Disneyland for mutants with a brothel and drugs that the film never explains. — Bill Simmons
Next nominee: the bald Rekall man visiting Quaid on Mars with Lori to convince him it is all a dream; the dream question is saved for later, and the sweat drop is iconic. — Bill Simmons
Stone beats Arnold a second time, then fights Rachel Ticotin in what the hosts say Verhoeven's DVD commentary calls the first real two-woman fight in a feature film; it is called the Jackie Robinson of female fight scenes, with Rachel walking so Michelle Rodriguez could run. — Bill Simmons
The sequence ends with 'Consider that a divorce,' which brought the house down in theaters; the whole run is called a phenomenal seven minutes. — Bill Simmons
Kuato is nominated because it was unbelievable in 1990 and still looks real; a host first wondered what the man turning around was doing, with Silence of the Lambs fresh in mind.
At the Kuato reveal you stop guessing what will happen; 'A man is defined by his actions, not his memory,' and Marshall Bell is said to play George and voice Kuato. — Shea Serrano
A host who let his young twins watch John Wick would not let them see the Kuato scene because it is too disturbing. — Shea Serrano
The practical puppetry works because of the slimy texture and how light plays on it, which CGI would lose; one theory says the look was influenced by Garbage Pail Kids.
The hosts puzzle over what Kuato does when not needed and settle on a coma theory in which George passes out whenever Kuato emerges. — Bill Simmons
The final sequence is nominated: the cab driver turning on them with a tank, the hologram from the suitcase (likened to the Tupac hologram), 'See you at the party, Richter,' and Ronny Cox's bulging-eyes death. — Bill Simmons
Not a pick but a must-include: Arnold disguised as the woman at customs, with the head that comes off, talks back ('Get ready for a surprise') and explodes, while 20 guards point guns and nobody fires. — Shea Serrano
The pick is the Rekall man's visit with Sharon Stone, called a favorite seven minutes; a second voice picks the same scene because it has the line everybody remembers, 'Consider that a divorce.'
A third voice agrees it is where you begin to question whether he is still in the Rekall chair, ending on an iconic line. — Shea Serrano
The hosts say the original line was 'Consider it a divorce' and that Arnold workshopped it into 'Consider that a divorce.' — Bill Simmons
