Slaughterhouses as a horror setting; grave robbing as a premise; the graveyard scene; seatless 70s vans; the We Slaughter BBQ sign; chainsaws; the dad and his hitchhiker son; fear of the wrong hitchhiker; the poster; the one-chainsaw budget and 868 edits; its influence on Alien and other filmmakers; Daniel Pearl's cinematography; Marilyn Burns' screams; the helper who turns on you; Leatherface's masks; the film as a rich text
Slaughterhouses make a great horror location, tying human violence to a murderous bent of society, and grave robbing creates dread through the radio report and the opening shot of the statue of bones in the graveyard.
The graveyard scene, with the old drunk and the people leering at the women, is low-key creepy; every stop is meant to be small-town America backbone, a gas station or a graveyard, shown in its most demonic version.
Seventies vans with no seats or seatbelts and everyone piled in the back, and the We Slaughter BBQ sign, which promises the freshest possible barbecue.
Chainsaws are still underrated, Scarface has a great one, and seeing one makes you want to grab it and do the Leatherface.
The dad and his hitchhiker son, with lines like 'come here, you nap-haired idiot'; the fear of picking up the wrong hitchhiker; and the poster.
They had only one chainsaw and one Leatherface outfit for the whole movie, there are 868 edits in an 83-minute movie, and the film inspired Ridley Scott to make Alien.
It was hugely influential, loved by Scorsese, Spielberg, Tarantino and Friedkin; Daniel Pearl's cinematography is called easily the best aspect, a precursor to Paris, Texas vistas mixed with handheld documentary style, looking far better than the shoestring budget allows.
Marilyn Burns' screaming, the trope of the person you think will help turning on you, and the masks: Gunnar Hansen described a killing mask, an old lady mask and a pretty woman mask, the last worn at dinner with a wig and black suit because in Texas you dress up for dinner.
The film is a rich text, with countless books and analysis from gender studies to anthropology about its relevance to Texas and American history in the Nixon era; the best horror says something about its time.
Ridley Scott for directing is the extra-Oscar choice; the panel compares the 1979 directing nominees and argues Alien belongs among the retrospective five.
The directing nominees are enumerated as Robert Benton for Kramer vs. Kramer, Bob Fosse for All That Jazz, Francis Ford Coppola for Apocalypse Now, Peter Yates for Breaking Away and Édouard Molinaro for La Cage aux Folles; the Best Picture nominees instead include Norma Rae in place of La Cage aux Folles.
One hot take says Dallas’s tunnel death is scarier than the iconic chestburster; The Exorcist III and Friday the 13th provide jump-scare comparisons without a completed ranked list.
Ridley Scott and Tony Scott are described as foundational to the show's taste; Scott's genre range and enduring set pieces keep his films culturally present.
Scott's storyboards, lighting, textures and spaceship details reward repeat viewing, sometimes despite limited attention to actors. — Sean Fennessey
The hottest take attacks movie cats and argues Jones mainly leads people toward danger; The Godfather cat and Mr. Bigglesworth are offered as counterexamples but dismissed as villain props.
Ripley's late determination to rescue Jones is challenged because earlier crew behavior does not establish comparable attachment and the cat might carry the alien. — Bill Simmons
The pet rescue is compared with James Brolin returning for the dog in The Amityville Horror despite escaping a visibly dangerous house. — Bill Simmons
Alternative defenses suggest the cat provides crew comfort and a narrative parallel between predators; saving it may help audiences identify with Ripley.
A personal cat-and-mouse anecdote supports the anti-cat provocation; another speaker defends cats as normal pets while declining to take them into space.
Ripley's rescue of Jones is defended as empathy toward innocents, continuing through Newt, the prisoners and the Winona Ryder character; the opposing view depends on not caring about cats. — Bill Simmons
Isobar reportedly involved a genetically created monster escaping on a train, with Stallone and Kim Basinger attached and successive departures by Ridley Scott and Emmerich. — Bill Simmons
Gale Force reportedly cast Stallone as an ex-Navy SEAL fighting pirates during a hurricane. — Bill Simmons
Harlin reportedly received three million dollars; four million went to writers, including a rejected erotic-thriller rewrite by Joe Eszterhas. — Bill Simmons
Cliffhanger reportedly followed the cancellation of Gale Force, with Harlin retaining his fee. — Bill Simmons
The rabbit’s survival reportedly required a100,000-dollar Stallone-funded reshoot after test screenings. The claim a rabbit was actually killed on camera is unverified speaker assertion. — Bill Simmons
The absurd forty-foot cliff jump was reportedly removed after trailer audiences laughed at it. — Bill Simmons
Carolco reportedly surrendered much of the revenue rights to finance production, stopped twice for inability to pay crews, overspent by 40 million and took a 2 million salary sacrifice from Stallone, leaving little benefit from the hit. — Bill Simmons
Stallone's reported top-three physical-condition films are RockyIV, Cliffhanger and RamboIII; RamboII is a wrong guess and Cobra misses the list. — Kyle Brandt
Mountain filming reportedly used the Italian Dolomites near Cortina d’Ampezzo. — Bill Simmons
Simon Crane’s million-dollar plane crossing is reported as a record aerial stunt; failure to enter the second plane required an edited close-up. — Bill Simmons
The opening glove reportedly would not slip despite oversizing and Vaseline because Stallone held too tightly, eventually yielding the desired take. — Kyle Brandt
Stallone reportedly injured his hand on a soundstage cliff but described it publicly as a climbing injury. — Bill Simmons
The 1998 Scott/Schwarzenegger version stalled over budget and recent commercial setbacks; the ability of Schwarzenegger to sustain the solo role is debated. — Bill Simmons
Whitney and Costner at their peaks; bodyguard-romance premise; soundtrack; Dolly Parton connection; resentful-sister concept; 'permanent position' quote; widescreen; Costner's haircut; a cappella opening; song-swap story; Costner's eulogy; Secret Service guys
Whitney in her late prime and Costner at his peak head the list. — Van Lathan
Professional bodyguard romances are loved, including Ridley Scott's late-80s Someone to Watch Over Me with Mimi Rogers, which has a similar premise. — Bill Simmons
A British terrorism series possibly called Bodyguard, with a Game of Thrones actor named Richard is liked. — Bill Simmons
Protectors crossing lines are compelling because the job is so intimate: a rigid, disciplined guy whose gooey center someone reaches. — Van Lathan
The Sentinel with Michael Douglas as a framed Secret Service agent is recommended as a rewatchable mid-2000s entry. — Bill Simmons
The soundtrack is loaded and called the best of all time; I Will Always Love You was a Dolly Parton song that finally found the right voice. — Bill Simmons
One participant learned only about four years earlier, from a Dolly Parton fan at TMZ, that the song was a cover, at 37 years old. — Van Lathan
The original singer owned and loved the cover, pulled over the first time she heard it, and showed no bitterness. — Bill Simmons
The resentful older sister-assistant concept is an untapped idea for movies and TV. — Bill Simmons
A favorite quote: "I'm no good in a permanent position, Monty, my feet go to sleep." — Bill Simmons
The widescreen framing was hard to follow on square TVs for 15 years and now plays better. — Bill Simmons
Costner's crew-cut, Steve McQueen-style hair became a thing that Clooney took further on ER and Jake tried on Melrose Place, sparking a Grant Show tangent. — Bill Simmons
Costner's idea to open I Will Always Love You a cappella was great. — Bill Simmons
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted was meant to be the cover until Fried Green Tomatoes used it to end that film in 1991. — Bill Simmons
A piece of Costner's eulogy is read: Whitney lacked confidence during filming, sang the whole song without a band, and was the only one who could have played Rachel at that time.
Costner's feelings for Houston deserve their own discussion; a Grantland party anecdote says Costner, brought by Kimmel five or six years earlier, still had it. — Bill Simmons
Secret Service guys have aged well: The Last Boy Scout is defended, later entries include the Channing Tatum White House movie and the Fallen films, and Ving Rhames in Dave is a shared favorite. — Van Lathan
Willis could have had Lethal Weapon and Gibson Die Hard; a hot take follows that Willis in 1986 was not believable as a super soldier, while his Die Hard hero is streetwise. — Chris Ryan
Willis looks like an everyman while Gibson looks cut from limestone; one host would have loved to see them switch, likened to a Brady-Brees swap. — Bill Simmons
Gibson turned down The Fly and The Untouchables for this film. — Bill Simmons
Gibson pursued Bond in The Living Daylights, but Broccoli turned him down for not being British and Timothy Dalton was cast; Dalton's Bond films are debated and called terrible. — Bill Simmons
Brosnan was held to Remington Steele and had to wait about ten years for Bond. — Bill Simmons
After the $250,000 script purchase, Ridley Scott was considered but had Blade Runner tensions with Warner Brothers; Leonard Nimoy was busy with Three Men and a Baby; Donner got it. — Bill Simmons
Brian Dennehy was lined up for Murtaugh but did not want to play a cop again; F/X is praised as influential. — Bill Simmons
The Joshua role was offered to Steve Railsback and John Saxon; Busey, ice cold after his Buddy Holly Story nomination, auditioned and lost weight. — Bill Simmons
Shane Black wanted William Hurt as Riggs; Hurt would play a damaged vet, not a super soldier, and a Hurt-Dennehy version would be a movie few watch. — Bill Simmons
