It was an awesome big-screen movie that is not the same on any TV; a planned anniversary theater re-release was lost when the pandemic hit, and Jurassic Park is similar. — Bill Simmons
A Tarantino-hosted Tony Scott marathon at the New Beverly is proposed for when theaters reopen. — Bill Simmons
The man fixing the radio to save the world is the Bronx Tale actor Lillo Brancato, whose real life did not work out as well. — Bill Simmons
Hackman pulling a gun on Viggo, then switching targets once he remembers only Viggo knows the code, never sat right and should have come up in the report with Robards; the others seem fine with it. — Bill Simmons
Hackman going overtly racist at the tail end is questioned as a choice, especially with Black sailors aboard. — Bill Simmons
Tony Scott makes a two-minute montage of the sub slowly descending riveting with Hans Zimmer's score; only Spielberg or McTiernan, who made Hunt for Red October, might have pulled it off. — Bill Simmons
Denzel's line 'in the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself' is one of about seven such Denzel lines. — Bill Simmons
Viggo lights a cigarette when he decides to refuse the launch, and many sailors smoke Marlboro Reds underwater with no smoking section. — Bill Simmons
George Dzundza's IMDb highlights include The Deer Hunter, No Way Out, Basic Instinct and Law & Order; a lowlight is co-leading the 1985 TV movie The Rape of Richard Beck with Richard Crenna. — Bill Simmons
The Richard Beck plot summary is read, a 35th-anniversary episode is joked about, and early-80s cocaine is blamed for bad decisions. — Bill Simmons
The last 60 minutes play basically in real time, with Weps doing the clock; it may have inspired Snake Eyes. — Bill Simmons
The EAMs are cinematically great, with messages three people must read aloud and confirm and run down the hallway; it is also disturbing that nuclear war hinged on them. — Chris Ryan
The opening title card names the three most powerful people in the world, including a nuclear submarine captain, and the closing card says captains lost launch authority on January 1, 1996; Bruckheimer pitches the card almost word for word in a featurette. — Sean Fennessey
Choosing is hard because the whole movie is rewatchable. — Bill Simmons
The first Hackman-Denzel meeting, where Hackman compares horses to high school girls, has the two feeling each other out; Denzel realizes he needs to keep his guard up with this guy. — Bill Simmons
The semi-confrontation after the kitchen fire and the missile drill is where the sparring really begins, with Ramsey's speech about the unified chain of command and not questioning each other in front of the crew.
Calling a missile drill during a fire is joked to be a Bill Simmons move, like a 7 a.m. text or an emergency pod after an earthquake; the reply is that sometimes you have to run the missile drill.
The Silver Surfer argument with Danny Nucci's sailor is called clearly a Tarantino pop-culture scene; a little dated and not fully understood, but enjoyable. — Bill Simmons
The blow-up where Denzel relieves Hackman is praised for its overlapping speeches; the hosts say Lieutenant Zimmer was named as an homage to Hans Zimmer.
Hackman is guessed at 5-11; camera tricks sometimes make him look taller than Denzel, which is joked to be a Top Gun habit of Tony Scott's. — Bill Simmons
Quick cuts show the crew paralyzed watching; on rewatch, Hunter starts questioning the captain in public as soon as the fire happens. — Bill Simmons
A 'coming up next' take argues Hunter was in the wrong: in the military chain of command you never question the lead dog with other people around, so he loses Hackman from that point. — Bill Simmons
A counter-question asks whether Ramsey deliberately draws out Hunter's defiance; Hunter keeps asking why, echoing the Clausewitz exchange.
Because Ramsey hired Hunter, an early scene showing Hunter was not his choice would explain the testing; the counterpoint is that time was short while Radchenko fueled his missiles. — Bill Simmons
The torpedo attack, with the sub hit, water coming in and depths called out, is a hacky but necessary submarine-movie beat; from around there the last hour plays nearly in real time. — Bill Simmons
The bilge-bay 'Seal the bay' scene has Rick Schroder really going for it, joked to be how he got NYPD Blue.
Viggo, very young and baby-faced, is great and pivotal, though his accent pops with little Dutch-like flourishes.
'You don't put on a condom unless you want to fuck' is called Chris's favorite line, prompting HR and WordPress jokes.
Other lines include the one about only two sides to a mutiny, and Denzel gets several yearbook-ready lines. — Bill Simmons
Matt Craven and Rocky Carroll are perfect as the officers running envelopes down hallways; Carroll was known as Joey from Rock on Fox, and both later spent years on NCIS.
Hackman taking the boat back includes Denzel's extra second-and-a-half stare at Viggo. — Bill Simmons
One pick is the final confrontation: Hackman hitting him, the 'God help you if you're wrong' exchange, the three-minute wait for the radio, and the final message reveal, called seven unassailable minutes. — Bill Simmons
Another pick is the first mutiny, for the overlapping dialogue while the missiles are fueled; the stallions scene is acknowledged as the famous one.
A further voice agrees the first mutiny is the favorite part and the turning point, starting when Ramsey yells 'Mr. Hunter, I've made a decision... shut the fuck up!' — Sean Fennessey
The line is joked about for Zoom meetings; NBA owners most likely to yell it include Tillman Fertitta and Mickey Arison. — Sean Fennessey
The Jason Lee apartment break-in, rooftop pursuit, shop exits, bicycle escape, and collision are nominated as one extended Tony Scott chase showcase.
Brill meeting Robert Clayton, identifying the trackers on him, and immediately controlling the situation is nominated.
Clayton’s hotel escape across balconies, the closet fire, and the ambulance exit are nominated. — Bill Simmons
Clayton’s first visit to Brill’s getaway lair, its destruction, their escape by car, and the train pursuit are nominated; two panelists ultimately prefer this sequence. — Bill Simmons
Clayton crashing the mafia dinner is nominated for the confrontation and Tom Sizemore’s committed spaghetti eating.
The opening park-bench exchange between Hammersley and Reynolds and Hammersley’s murder are added as a nomination.
A case is made for the train, 777, while conceding it is probably Tony: it becomes a King Kong-like monster, keeps beating all comers, and has its own theme.
As the train keeps winning, the officials sound silly; Denzel respects it, and viewers come to want it stopped rather than derailed or destroyed.
Judd's derailed engine shows what happens if the train blows up.
Bald know-it-all Denzel; Ethan Suplee and T.J. Miller as the screwups; railroad executives on the golf course; the wage-and-retirement conflict; authentic dialogue between the leads; nuanced family characterizations; Denzel's one rule; the mission-control structure; Tony Scott's mastery
Bald Denzel as a slightly condescending know-it-all works because only Denzel can pull it off. — Bill Simmons
Dewey and T.J. Miller's character are great as the screwups; Miller is unrecognizable without his long hair and mustache. — Bill Simmons
The evil executives seen briefly on a golf course are a highlight. — Bill Simmons
The labor politics have aged best: the company wants to retire expensive veterans and replace them with cheaply paid rookies, which hits harder now; a Saturday Night Live trailer parody mocked the expected old-versus-young cliche.
The reveal that Frank has already been pushed out is handled without a corny countdown scene, letting the wage dynamic emerge mid-movie.
Character-bonding scenes usually fail in action movies, but every line between the leads feels authentic, including "Ask your wife what she thinks".
Compared with the dialogue-driven Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, none of whose versions has a working ending, the dialogue here is functional and good, and the train jargon sells it.
Characterizations are nuanced: Denzel's daughters just work at Hooters through college rather than resenting him, and Pine's marriage is complicated. — Chris Ryan
Denzel's one rule speech to his conductor is cited as not the worst rule in the world. — Chris Ryan
It is a mission-control movie in the vein of Apollo 13, Armageddon, The Hunt for Red October and War Games, with Rosario Dawson's scenes a favorite; the Tony Scott version is looser, letting Kevin Corrigan's outsider interject. — Chris Ryan
Tony Scott's mastery, an answer the speaker also gave for Dunkirk, gets better on every viewing; it being his last movie adds weight.
Great last movies are rare; examples include Phil Carlson's Framed with Joe Don Baker and a director's final Japanese-set film that he narrates himself.
Christopher Nolan reportedly screened Unstoppable while planning Dunkirk, and Tony Scott appears to have drawn on Apocalypse Now's rule that helicopters must fly through every shot to keep the energy alive.
The same idea was applied to the ranch scenes in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, keeping dogs crossing in the background of every shot; the scene was not the hardest to shoot.
Dewey losing the train is a first pick: he cannot catch it, falls, and is the kind of idiot a real person would be rather than a movie idiot. — Bill Simmons
Tony Scott gives fringe characters room, as with the surveillance guys in Enemy of the State, who almost steal that movie. — Bill Simmons
The train nearly hitting the horses is unreal; the audience knows the children are safe but the horse might not be, and the shot from inside the horse trailer amazes.
Made around 1990 the horse would have gone down; you do not kill a dog unless you are John Wick.
Planting a car in front of the train goes badly and it derails and explodes, the first sign it could take out a town. — Bill Simmons
Galvin's plan is never explained: the film cross-cuts between his boardroom and Rosario Dawson's people, and the audience watches the plan take shape without being told.
Information flows well: viewers see the broadcasts and everyone involved, while the men on the train keep being caught unaware.
Will falling while trying to couple the cars feels real with no CGI, making a participant nervous for Chris Pine; the foot injury looks like it hurts. — Bill Simmons
Denzel's line that Will is "different" when asked if he is okay is singled out as brutal.
The train heading into the big curve beside storage tanks is joked about as the worst city planning; a defense is promised for Picking Nits.
The curve sequence works because of the cross-cutting to everyone watching on TV: the engineers, Rosario Dawson's team, Denzel's daughters at Hooters, Pine's wife and son, and the bars, which makes it emotional.
Tilting trains are believable because nobody knows enough about trains, unlike buses taking a ramp at 55.
Will jumping out and back onto the train is chosen as the most rewatchable scene; it leads to Denzel standing on top of the train with his arms up. — Bill Simmons
Fast and Furious has desensitized viewers to jumping between moving vehicles; Dewey's run shows how hard it really is. — Bill Simmons
Runaway Train with Eric Roberts and Voight influenced Tony Scott; it is a cynical convict movie where the train is not a character, but Denzel atop the train echoes Voight's ending.
The helicopter attempt to stop the train with a man hanging out is picked; one shot holds two trains, three choppers and a fleet of emergency vehicles. — Chris Ryan
Favorite shot is the grain explosion while Pine works on the coupling, with the helicopter flying parallel through the cornstorm, likened to Days of Heaven and Apocalypse Now; the most rewatchable scene is Ned arriving at the end in his red truck and getting Chris Pine to the front. — Quentin Tarantino
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.
What is happening in Gardenia (as transcribed), where the crew meets with Nice Guy Eddie and Joe, also a huge location for Den of Thieves; is it a Mos Eisley spaceport where all the armed robbers live? A road trip in black suits is proposed.
Is this a better movie if we see the heist? No: as No Country for Old Men shows, Mr. White confronting Mr. Blonde and slowly unfurling what happened is more effective; the devil's-advocate case is that watching these actors rob a bank would be fun, and Tarantino might have shot it with money.
The heist is already given through Mr. Orange's account to Mr. White and the car-ride plan; one host loves bank scenes more than anyone in the room and would have liked to know who took it too far, probably Madsen.
Asked whether he has mapped out a bank robbery, one host recalls pitching an amusement park called Felony Land seven years ago with Wilds, which the others say predicted Westworld; he insists Westworld ripped off Felony Land despite the seventies movie and the Michael Creighton (as transcribed) book, and it is no bachelor party pitch.
Did Mr. Pink die, and does anybody live? Tarantino is quoted saying Pink survived while Orange and White die, and with the volume up he can be heard yelling not to shoot; a present-day Mr. Pink movie is imagined, though the 1992 LAPD would not have gently cuffed a man who shot eleven cops.
