Cherry’s villain rating starts at5.5–6; a defense of uncomplicated psychopathic villains prompts a suggested8 and continues. — Chris Ryan
Cherry’s villain ranking remains split between5.5–6 and an enthusiastic suggested8; his uncomplicated violence is defended. — Chris Ryan
Hottest take: release the Walter Hill cut, with Eyes Wide Shut second. Snyder-cut satisfaction and Bill’s supposed renewed influence are separate banter.
Director-cut digression:54 disappoints, Kingdom of Heaven transforms the film, and Proof of Life’s missing romance is discussed with uncertain production recollections. — Bill Simmons
A possible Lambert–Kane romance is inferred from her affectionate looks, presented as speculation rather than established plot. — Bill Simmons
Unanswerable questions ask why a commercial towing vessel needs self-destruct and how its ore trade and Antarctica destination function in this future economy.
Long hypersleep inspires questions about missed sports results; a speaker would prioritize championship and draft outcomes over mainstream news when waking.
The hypersleep joke contrasts missing major sports events with waking to an unexpected presidential outcome. — Bill Simmons
A hypothetical late-1970s film-industry assistant job prompts Walter Hill and John Carpenter as cool choices, Spielberg or Lucas for financial security, Coppola as financially unstable, and Scorsese as a desired artistic vantage point despite drug-related objections. — Bill Simmons
The production reportedly built planetary terrain in a warehouse and sourced bomber scrap for the designs. — Chris Ryan
Unusual organic materials and children beside oversized landing gear reportedly enhanced the design and perceived scale. — Chris Ryan
Weaver's Alien Resurrection salary reportedly exceeded the entire budget of Alien.
The egg chamber's blue lasers reportedly came from the Who rehearsing nearby at Shepperton; the panel discusses the timing around Keith Moon's death.
For the director's-cut slap, Cartwright reportedly switched hands at Scott's instruction after Weaver kept ducking, producing a visibly surprising hit. — Bill Simmons
Scott reportedly instructed Kotto to annoy Weaver off camera; the panel questions this directing tactic and jokes about method acting.
A German shepherd hidden behind a screen reportedly frightened the cat for its reaction to the descending alien.
Ash's artificial head reportedly contained milk, caviar, pasta and glass marbles. — Chris Ryan
Hurt's head and arms projected through the table into a mechanical torso filled with animal guts; the smell and effect reportedly distressed the cast, including Kotto. — Chris Ryan
Actors reportedly fainted in inadequately ventilated spacesuits; Scott reconsidered the problem when his own children fainted during shots using them for scale. — Bill Simmons
The dead facehugger reportedly used oysters, sheep kidney and fresh shellfish. — Bill Simmons
Four different cats reportedly played Jones. — Bill Simmons
The director's cut reportedly followed discovery of one hundred boxes of footage in a London vault in the early 2000s. — Bill Simmons
Walter Hill reportedly noticed Weaver and Michael Beck in a film transcribed as Mad Men, leading to Weaver's Alien opportunity and Beck's Warriors casting; the title remains uncertain in this ASR.
The trailer is praised as a model for later thriller and horror advertising, using cutting and sound to generate urgency despite a cast without major stars.
Spacesuited exploration and the concise opening information card have aged well, establishing mission and crew without an explanatory scene.
The tactile, worn spaceship and visibly tired crew make the future feel used and believable, contrasting with cleaner, brighter science-fiction settings. — Bill Simmons
The body's space burial is an aged-best selection. — Chris Ryan
Walter Hill’s contribution is praised alongside the indispensable work of Giger, O’Bannon, Weaver and Scott; the film’s success is collaborative rather than attributable to one person.
Scott’s principle of showing little of the monster and letting viewers’ imagination work is praised as enduring advice. — Chris Ryan
Scott’s later technology-heavy Alien films are said to violate that restraint, while some awkward staging of Lambert and Parker’s deaths exposes the original’s practical limitations. — Sean Fennessey
The first-hour humor, Kane’s opening remark about feeling dead and biblical or creation imagery gain resonance through later films. — Chris Ryan
Ash’s corporate function recalls HAL, while the minimally explained company becomes a lasting theme; facehugger and chestburster are production terms adopted by audiences despite not being spoken in the film. — Chris Ryan
Cartwright's terrified reactions are an aged-best choice. — Sean Fennessey
An unranked five-film list groups Alien, The Birds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Witches of Eastwick and Inserts as Cartwright in an auteur's nightmare. — Bill Simmons
Inserts is corrected as involving Jessica Harper and Richard Dreyfuss rather than Margot Kidder; a Cartwright SVU appearance is also recalled.
The franchise and especially Aliens are enduring benefits; Aliens is considered more fun but sometimes too long, while Alien is scarier. — Sean Fennessey
Concept artist Ron Cobb reportedly originated the alien's acid blood; the panel praises both the idea and the shot of acid burning through the ship. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say Keanu Reeves was originally set to play Chris and lost the part when Kilmer fit it around Batman Forever; one host would totally go for Keanu. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say Ted Levine was offered Waingro and turned it down to avoid typecasting after Buffalo Bill; one host can't fathom it, the other thinks he would like that movie more. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say Voight initially turned down Nate, saying others could do it better, until Mann insisted. — Bill Simmons
An internet claim that the actress later in Mann's Miami Vice refused Justine unless the script was translated into Mandarin is called half-fast and fishy. — Bill Simmons
The Thief star lamented on a 1998 Thief DVD commentary with Mann that he had no role in Heat; the hosts say he should have played Nate. — Bill Simmons
Offered the Thief star as Nate plus Keanu as Chris, one host would rather keep Kilmer, whose unpredictable performance he loves. — Bill Simmons
Lisa Eilbacher as Jenny Summers (disputed); Jenny's red Mercedes convertible; the title; Harold Faltermeyer's score and the soundtrack; the Mumford Phys Ed t-shirt and cropped sweatshirts; Taggart and Rosewood; Murphy's early run of good directors; the rival cop duo
One host is still in love with Jenny Summers, played by Lisa Eilbach (as transcribed); the objection is not to the actress but to Hollywood casting interchangeable blondes with the same Kate Capshaw haircut, and another did not recognize her at all; what one host wants from the token female character in an Eddie Murphy movie is to dress well, laugh at his jokes and look great.
She is not a love interest for either man, though she tried with Eddie, which is saved for later; she is serious about her career and it costs her nothing, and her damselification is believable because she insists on driving to the warehouse; 'great character' is countered with 'definitely not a great character' since nothing motivates her, she works at a coke lord's art gallery, and the Jenny, Tandino and Axel triangle of friendship makes no sense.
Jenny is called a TV actress annihilated by everyone else on screen who did nothing afterward because she cannot hold the screen; a joke pitch imagines a Jenny Summers sequel in Don Simpson's office; she may be the first female gallerist in a movie.
The defense of Jenny Summers is framed as a 15-year-old's crush recalled in the past tense. — Bill Simmons
Jenny Summers' red Mercedes-Benz convertible is a dope car you cannot see anymore and is hard to keep in shape; in Beverly Hills they just take whatever car is closest; the little back seat is the Mikey spot.
The title is great, as if they came up with it before they had a script; Harold Faltemeyer's run through Top Gun and Fletch is admired, the score fit an era of synth musicians like Howard Jones and Wang Chung.
Faltermeyer is credited alongside Hans Zimmer on Top Gun Maverick, presumably because they use his themes; the soundtrack with The Heat Is On, Neutron Dance, Stir It Up and Nasty Girl is strong.
Martin Brest draws 'the less said the better' from one host and a Midnight Run defense from another, who calls it a perfect movie and credits Brest with two of the best comedies of all time, alongside Gigi (as transcribed) and Son of a Woman (as transcribed); it is hard to know how much credit he gets here beyond being smart enough to let Eddie ad-lib, and Midnight Run also does not work without its two stars.
The Mumford Phys Ed t-shirts were really a thing in the mid 80s with no internet to buy them, and the high school was flooded with requests; the Lions jacket in Cop 2 was intentional merchandising; the cropped sweatshirts, like the Josh Brolin Goonies look, are almost as iconic, and the hosts tease one of them about adopting cropped sweats.
The 'not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe' guy is enjoyed for setting it up earlier with the first team insult for Taggart, and the hosts miss the mid-80s cop movie rivalry duo with sarcastic comments; Eilbacher is put back in by a second and declared a law, with 'Eilbacher Mountain' floated.
Walter Hill, the director, is one pick for creating the prototype for the action movies that followed; another host did not know his name until this podcast.
Swan is praised as a sweetheart taking care of his people, smart and willing to turn it up when challenged by the Orphans, but another host does not think he won the movie.
Luther clearly won for one host as the one character everybody knows, whose 'Warriors' prompts the next four words; a case is made for Cyrus and for Dwayne The Rock Johnson for ripping off Cyrus's bit on WWE.
New York is another vote: cinematographer Andrew Laszlo's story about fearing rain led to an early rain sequence and wetting the streets every night, giving the neon a post-rain shimmer that makes the city a dingy crystal palace, seen across more of the city than Serpico or Dog Day Afternoon.
The wet-street trick was also a Miami Vice season one signature that many have since copied, and The Warriors may have started it.
Rushed to beat The Wanderers; Fox was meant to end up with Mercy; the Dingoes subplot was cut after Beck and Van Bakkenberg's chemistry showed; the Rogues drove a 1955 Cadillac hearse; Michael Beck became born again; Sunny Landon was hit by the bat; Mercy's stitches and broken wrist; production paid off gangs via an NYPD contact
The movie was rushed to get ahead of another gang movie, The Wanderers, by Philip Kaufman of The Right Stuff, with Ken Wall (as transcribed) of Wise Guy; two hosts have never seen it, prompting a joke about being only 26.
Fox was originally to end up with Mercy; in the book and original script Swan was captured by a gay gang called the Dingoes, who had Dobermans, and escaped later, but Walter Hill saw the dailies, noticed Beck and Van Bakkenberg (as transcribed) had chemistry, and rewrote everything to drop the Dingoes; Dobermans are compared to Halle Berry's dogs in John Wick 3.
The Rogues drove a 1955 Cadillac hearse; Michael Beck partied too much during filming and became born again; Sunny Landon (as transcribed), later in Predator, was the cop Swan hits with the bat, and in one take Mercy was hit in the face and needed stitches.
Mercy broke her wrist running with the stunt double, which is why she wears the jacket for the rest of the movie, explaining the odd 'where'd you get that jacket' exchange; to film anywhere in the five boroughs production paid off whoever ran that turf, with an NYPD contact telling Marshall the producer which gang members needed paying.
The novel's characters were not white and Paramount refused an all-black cast; Tony Danza was to play Vermin before taking Taxi, so Terry Michos was cast
In the book none of the characters were white, and Walter Hill has said Paramount did not want an all-black cast for commercial reasons; the hosts would like to see that movie.
Tony Danza was supposed to be Vermin, the slick Italian-American comic-relief guy, but took the sitcom Taxi; Terry Michos got the part and is now a news anchor in Wappinger Falls, New York.
