The 1969 prologue divides the panel: one participant would omit it, while the casting of the younger leads earns praise.
The supposed NSA agents confronting Marty is nominated.
The password-surveillance scene is nominated for Carl and Crease both wanting a look at the seduction.
Marty getting caught in the mathematician’s office is preferred to the preceding surveillance gag. — Bill Simmons
The Scrabble-code breakthrough is nominated. — Bill Simmons
Cosmo’s return and his financial-equality monologue are nominated.
Redford’s restrained reactions make an effective counterpoint to Kingsley’s large performance.
The discussion questions why the film treats Cosmo’s equality rhetoric as madness and compares its aging radicals with other films. — Bill Simmons
Reconstructing Marty’s journey through remembered sounds is selected for its suspense. — Bill Simmons
The sound deductions are enjoyed despite doubts about concussion and implausible memory; the apparent missing Bay Area bridge is defended geographically.
Cosmo addressing Marty over the intercom and revealing Liz as a hostage is nominated. — Bill Simmons
James Earl Jones’s surprise arrival gives the ending an extra burst of excitement.
The team’s requests for rewards make the final negotiation especially funny. — Bill Simmons
Praises the entire Warner Brandes operation, from identifying him to the restaurant ruse. — Kyle Brandt
Chooses the final fortress heist as his most rewatchable sequence. — Kyle Brandt
Chooses the cocktail-party sound reconstruction and also praises the simultaneous Scrabble decoding and box testing. — Joanna Robinson
Andrew Stevens is said to have competed with Hamill for both The Oregon Trail and Star Wars. — Bill Simmons
Karen Allen, Amy Irving, Cindy Williams, Linda Pearl, and Joe Foster are discussed as Leia possibilities, with uncertainty around some claims. — Bill Simmons
Russell is said to have auditioned for both Luke and Han because his age placed him between the roles. — Bill Simmons
Jack Nicholson is an intriguing Han thought experiment, while James Kahn and Al Pacino later claimed to have declined the role. — Bill Simmons
Peter Mayhew and David Prowse were offered a choice between Chewbacca and physical Vader and selected the good and bad roles respectively. — Bill Simmons
James Earl Jones's apex is debated: this film and Field of Dreams, the 70s, the voice of Darth Vader, the Yellow Pages ads, possibly no apex, or Sandlot as a belated apex.
Best of the Best is jokingly named as an apex and a future Rewatchables pick.
Vanessa Williams was originally considered for Lisa McDowell; her first album came out that year and she was staggeringly beautiful.
The most desired woman is the lightest-skinned woman in the movie, an eternal problem; casting Williams would make that scream louder. — Wesley Morris
Shari Headley sounds like she is from New York, and her sweetness makes her falling for a janitor believable. — Bill Simmons
Sidney Poitier was originally sought for King Jaffe Joffer and turned it down, doing Shoot to Kill instead; he would have pushed the movie up a level, though James Earl Jones is regal.
Paul Gleason was asked to reprise Clarence Beeks from Trading Places in the Duke brothers scene but was filming Die Hard. — Bill Simmons
The opening with Akeem waking up is floated as a pick; it is rewatchable but too long, since he barely reaches America 40 minutes in.
First pick: the presentation of the future queen, lavish and well executed, with James Earl Jones's line about having sex with the bathers. — Bill Simmons
The Zamunda sequence uses the old Hollywood trick of a lavish set piece, with elephants wandering past windows and 400 costumed people, compared with Cabin in the Sky. — Wesley Morris
The first nightclub scene is cleverly edited, with a string of women and ending with Arsenio in drag. — Bill Simmons
Invited to make a veiled joke, the reply notes this is the fourth Eddie Murphy conversation and riffs "Eddie, you talking to us." — Wesley Morris
The nightclub scene is blocked as shot-reverse-shot, but for Arsenio's turn Eddie sits beside him, so Arsenio is essentially reacting to himself. — Wesley Morris
The nightclub premise of judging which woman is good enough may belong in What's Aged the Worst; some moments are "definitely 1988". — Van Lathan
Black Awareness Week, called "probably going to be my winner", features Arsenio's reverend and Randy Watson with Sexual Chocolate to tepid applause; the makeup hides Eddie for about 40 seconds, in six great minutes. — Bill Simmons
The scene rings true to community events in Baton Rouge, at the Leo Butler Community Center, where a tired local celebrity always performs. — Van Lathan
Another had a version at Fairmont Park; the name Black Awareness Week is the canned-peas version, and the crowd's reaction to Randy Watson is captured perfectly.
Randy Watson sings The Greatest Love of All rather than Super Freak, a song sung at every graduation; without Whitney Houston you hear how mediocre it is.
The St. John's game brings back the 80s Big East; the bathroom recognition is called one participant's favorite scene and another's second favorite.
The bathroom scene is moving: a Black man seeing a Black person who means something deep to him in a common space; truly touching rather than funny. — Wesley Morris
Akeem's first date with Lisa brings the cross-movie cameo of Mortimer and Randolph from Trading Places as homeless men, a huge theater surprise. — Bill Simmons
A dad expected the Dukes to take the money and come back; a movie of that was expected but never came. — Van Lathan
The barbershop scenes are held for What's Aged the Best because they are short. — Bill Simmons
The scene where all the characters come together to straighten out the plot is fine but a little long. — Bill Simmons
That plot-resolution scene is called a favorite: a party sequence with deep depth of field and stakes, plus a living-room farce where misunderstandings get ironed out like a Three's Company ending, with Amos, Madge Sinclair and James Earl Jones on different sides. — Wesley Morris
The barbershop scenes are the pick: so short that they're so rewatchable, arguing over the same things people argue about in the barbershop. — Van Lathan
In reply, the barbershop scenes, earlier held for What's Aged the Best, are accepted as collectively the most rewatchable scene; a YouTube clip strings them all together like its own movie. — Bill Simmons
The instinctive answer is Benny the Jet, but the Great Hambino is overpowering; a toss-up, with Benny chosen at gunpoint as a closer-than-expected lean. — Bill Simmons
Ham or Hercules are the real standouts on a rewatch, stealing scene after scene; a spinoff of the two would have made a better Sandlot 2. — Mallory Rubin
The sport itself wins: baseball for baseball's sake, kids who truly do not care about winning and never challenge another team, America's pastime. — Mina Kimes
Asked what James Earl Jones is good in, the reply invokes Darth Vader's 'I find your lack of faith disturbing'. — Bill Simmons
The show's producer, addressed as Craig and asked 'Benny or Ham', answers Ham.
Ham has every iconic line; the closing voice sides with Craig that Ham wins the movie and closes the segment. — Bill Simmons
Squints is proposed, but may be in too much of the movie. — Bill Simmons
If the award goes to someone rarely on screen it should be James Earl Jones, if to a side kid probably Squints; no answer is reached as the rules are still being litigated. — Bill Simmons
James Earl Jones is called really good in that scene, but a recent Best of the Best viewing prompts the take that he may just have a cool way about him.
The take is rebutted: his charisma is infectious and pulls you into any scene; a clip of the Myrtle monologue plays.
S'mores monologue; Wendy Peffercorn's name; Ham Porter; James Earl Jones; Kenny's Kansas City Monarchs hat; nicknames; retro fashion; on-the-nose music
The s'mores monologue lives on: the host's son recited it by age eight, and it has a new YouTube life.
Ham's s'mores setup resembles a caterer's station at a wedding, never explained. — Mina Kimes
Things the film taught an eight-year-old viewer: s'mores, tree houses, flashlight-under-the-chin stories, the word 'bitchin', and cannonballs. — Mina Kimes
The 'biggest pickle of my life' line recurs, teaching a generation that pickles are a big part of baseball, which they are not. — Mina Kimes
S'mores quibble: the chocolate must be allowed to melt; you can't rush the s'more.
Wendy Pfeffercorn (as transcribed) is the classic one-beautiful-person legend of a movie town, and her name is a great one. — Bill Simmons
Ham Porter could have been Oscar-nominated, carries scenes like Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam, and is the best performance in the film. — Bill Simmons
Ham walked so Jonah Hill could run; in an alternate universe Ham becomes an Apatow-era star. — Bill Simmons
James Earl Jones has a very high PER; seeing him is a pleasure, as with his Field of Dreams turn.
Kenny's Kansas City Monarchs hat is a subtle nice touch, though Kenny's role on the mound is unclear. — Bill Simmons
Mr. Myrtle's Negro Leagues background is noted; the hosts cite a 1993 New York Times article in which a Negro league historian said major leaguers barnstormed with Negro leaguers and Ruth played against them. — Mallory Rubin
Ham Porter, the Great Hambino, gets better every year. — Mallory Rubin
Nicknames in general and the retro fashion of tees, jeans and Chuck Taylors or PF Flyers hold up.
The music is on the nose but perfect for kids: This Magic Moment for the lifeguard scene, Green Onions against the rivals, Tequila, Wipe Out for chases; the score is by David Newman. — Mina Kimes
Costner is a yes for this movie rather than Dances with Wolves, since this sets up Dances with Wolves and made him the biggest star; a case for the Apex Mountain Supreme Court; he is cooler in Bull Durham, and 88 and 89 are treated as a pair, plus No Way Out, which deserves its own episode; he was able to direct Dances with Wolves only because of the roll he was on as the most bankable actor, and Robin Hood is placed after Dances with Wolves.
He was never more likable across America, everybody was in on Kevin Costner, whereas Dances with Wolves drew a fuck that guy backlash and Goodfellas-should-have-won complaints; this movie has no backlash.
James Earl Jones: not enough is known of his career, Darth Vader or Othello, but this feels like his longest-lasting performance, so no answer is given; Timothy Busfield was in thirtysomething and directed a lot of Sorkin, but no question this is his.
Iowa: late-80s Iowa, Kirk Ferentz, Steve Alford, its role in the presidential process, but it's hard to top literally standing in for heaven; 100 percent yes.
Baseball might have been at its apex: the end of the great baseball movie decade cresting with this, the 86 World Series, the Twins, before the earthquake series, steroids not yet involved though Consico and McGuire (as transcribed) looked like Pacific Rim, cocaine cleaned up, integration achieved; the thought trails off into I don't know.
Shoeless Joe as a sympathetic figure: Eight Men Out and this came back to back, and most people's knowledge of the Black Sox comes from these two movies; the Eight Men Out book is a staple that lays out how unfair some of it was; he's a tragic figure; Craig is asked whether his generation reads books.
