The discussion gives opposing predictions for Dottie and Bob's first night: energetic reunion versus brief, tender sex without strong chemistry. — Bill Simmons
Dottie is compared with Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk as a large, durable, star catcher. — Bill Simmons
Geena Davis refuses to say whether Dottie intentionally dropped the ball, while Lori Petty reportedly says she did not. — Bill Simmons
Both participants ultimately conclude the collision caused an unintentional drop, while acknowledging visual ambiguity and possible subconscious feeling. — Mallory Rubin
One proposed fix has Dottie hold the ball while Kit beats the throw; the objection favors preserving the collision and error. — Bill Simmons
A contemporary media cycle is imagined attacking Dottie's preparation, absence, size advantage, and possible intent before a backlash defends her wellbeing. — Mallory Rubin
The discussion invents newspaper investigations and headlines for Jimmy's conduct, Dottie's retirement and departure, the owner's threat, and the dropped ball. — Mallory Rubin
The final question asks what Mae told the priest in confession; her recent escapades are the proposed answer. — Bill Simmons
Anne Ramsay reportedly broke her nose, while other cast members sustained bruises, damaged skin, broken fingers, and a broken foot during baseball work. — Bill Simmons
Wrigley Field, League Stadium in Huntingburg, and Evansville supplied the tryout, home, and championship locations. — Bill Simmons
Madonna's song was excluded from the soundtrack for contractual reasons, and Lori Petty described the period uniform as difficult to play in. — Bill Simmons
Several cast members reportedly shared a house, socialized together, and received wine from Francis Ford Coppola. — Bill Simmons
Petty reportedly hit the home run herself, ran the bases repeatedly, and became sick after the final take. — Bill Simmons
The real league began under Philip Wrigley as softball; the film's switch to baseball is endorsed. — Bill Simmons
Jimmy Dugan is described as drawing principally from Jimmie Foxx, with Hack Wilson also mentioned. — Mallory Rubin
A stunt double performed the split catch, Penny Marshall created the urination effect, and Tom Hanks gained weight for the role. — Bill Simmons
Madonna was moved from third base to the outfield because she struggled with ground balls. — Bill Simmons
Working title Redline; the title was owned by Roger Corman and traded for stock footage; Dom's house is really at 724 East Kensington Road in Echo Park; LA locations including Dodger Stadium and San Bernardino International Airport for Race Wars; the rig heist on Domagoni Parkway (as transcribed); Neil Moritz's Ferrari cameo; the Neptune's Net nod to Point Break; an alternate ending with Brian resigning from the LAPD; 1,500 real drivers at Race Wars; Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez dated during filming; the camera-truck rig for driving shots; Brewster and Rodriguez had no driver's licenses; Vin Diesel and the director chose XXX over the sequel
The working title was Redline, which sounds like a Nick Cage or Timothy Olyphant Netflix movie; redline refers to a car's maximum speed; the title The Fast and the Furious belonged to director Roger Corman, who traded it for some stock footage owned by Universal Studios, a trade jokingly ranked with the Luka Doncic trade.
One host thought the title was bad when it came out and loves it now; it is a running frustration that in all the ridiculous things the series has done nobody has ever said 'the Fast and the Furious', and the hosts script how Dom could have dropped it into the 'Salud Me Familia' toast after the heist before cutting to credits.
A tangent on saying 'Salud Me Familia' at Ringer holiday parties, and on how by Fast Five even people barely in parts two through four were part of Vin's extended family: a touch on the forehead or passing the barbecue sauce gets you in.
Dom's house shows the address 1327 but the real house is at 724 East Kensington Road in Echo Park, blocks from Dodger Stadium and now a tourist place; the hosts plan a field trip to shoot an Instagram video re-creating Jesse getting shot, one as Jesse and one as Vin crawling across the yard.
Key LA locations: the Dodger Stadium parking lot where Brian tests his car in the opening, Angelino Heights, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Little Saigon, and San Bernardino International Airport as the venue for Race Wars, which one host of sixteen years in LA had never heard of; the entire rig heist was filmed on the Domagoni Parkway (as transcribed) on the south side of the San Jacinto Valley.
Producer Neil Moritz made the movie happen and cameos as the bald driver of the black Ferrari who drag races Brian and Dom, as he told the hosts on an earlier podcast; the Malibu lunch at Neptune's Net on the Pacific Coast Highway is a little homage to Point Break, where Lori Petty's character worked there.
Asked whether Brian being a cop was a surprise on first viewing, since the film does not hint at it until the police pull him over, one host already knew from reading that it was Point Break and wishes that had not been the case.
An alternate ending was filmed in which Tanner drops Brian at the Toretto house, Mia is packing to move away, and Brian reveals he has resigned from the LAPD and has time; the hosts are glad it is not in the movie. Over 1,500 real drivers brought their cars to the Race Wars scene.
Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez dated during filming, which delights the hosts, who argue it should have been a magazine-cover story the way Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were and imagine how cool a kid of theirs would have been.
To put the real actors behind the wheel at 80 to 100 miles an hour, the production built a rig: a high-powered truck with a long chassis driven by a stunt driver while the actors steered a dummy car and bounced along; the hosts guess this decade just puts cameras in the car or uses CGI, and recall the chase in Ronan (as transcribed), where the lead actor, filmed beside the real driver, looks terrified and never cool for a single second.
Stepping on research earlier: neither Jordana Brewster nor Michelle Rodriguez had a driver's license before the film and both needed intensive driver training.
Forgotten research surfaced during Who Won: the director and Vin Diesel skipped Fast 2 to make XXX, wanting to own a franchise themselves; the hosts are unsure it was a good career move and place XXX in a weird era of music, video games and sports heroes, X games and Grand Theft Auto; Vin was pulled back for a cameo and did not really return until four.
Is this the best surfing movie ever?; Is it a surf movie or a bank robbery movie?; Why did Utah quit the FBI?; Why does Bodhi hit the vault at the end?; What would it take to jump out of a plane without a parachute?; Is that the craziest thing anyone has done in an action movie?; Did Bodhi die?; How good was Johnny Utah at Ohio State?; Why don't movies carry characters across films?; Why do we love bank robbery movies?; What is the best bank robbery scene of all time?; Would a Netflix series have beaten the remake?; Did Bodhi take a bigger cut?
Is this the best surfing movie ever? Alternatives come up, the one about the girl with one arm, Blue Crush, Endless Summer and Chasing Mavericks with Gerard Butler; a movie cannot only be a surfer movie, and this one is a bank robbery surfing movie, which is why it stands alone.
Why did Utah quit the FBI at the end? He had internalized Bodhi's dead-souls-on-the-freeway philosophy, which he had been looking for all along, and wanted to surf; he may also have realized he is a terrible cop who went undercover without changing his famous name and wore no mask on the stakeout, things The Fast and the Furious did better.
Why does Bodhi hit the vault at the end and betray his philosophy? Perhaps he had started to truly hate himself and was self-destructive, trying to die for the last ten minutes after ordering Rosie to kill a woman.
What chain of events would it take to jump out of an airplane without a parachute? Zero; asked about twin boys pushed out of the plane, the answer jokes about having another kid. It is called the single craziest believable thing in an action movie, more plausible than Dom diving off a crashing car to catch Letty, because Utah's fearless character is built to make it believable.
Did Bodhi actually die at the end? Yes. A host points out that the film opens alternating between Utah in a rainy FBI field test and Bodhi surfing and ends with both in the same situation, Bodhi surfing until he died and Utah in the FBI until he was not; the host who called it a bad movie is said to have walked that back.
How good was Johnny Utah at Ohio State? He was all-conference and wore number nine; Johnny Utah jerseys are seen around the Columbus campus; in the early era of athletic quarterbacks like Randall Cunningham he might have been a second-round pick rather than an Elway or Andrew Luck, and probably the greatest Ohio State quarterback to that point, with Troy Smith's Heisman noted.
Why don't movies carry characters over? Keanu in The Replacements could have been Johnny Utah instead of Shane Falco, a former FBI agent, and Bodhi could have been Dalton, who lost his mind after Kelly Lynch left him.
Why do we love bank robbery movies so much? Free money, the excitement of imagining it even in Baby Driver, and ripping off a building rather than hurting people, taking down the man and the system.
What is the best bank robbery scene of all time? The bank robbery that goes bad in Heat and leads to the shootout, recalled from the Heat Rewatchables as feeling like people were shooting in the theater; another host leans toward the opening of Dark Knight, with the robbers killing each other and the bus escape.
Raised late as a forgotten unanswerable question: would a Netflix series about bank-robbing surfers and an infiltrating FBI agent have been better than the remake? Way better, with episodes for Lori Petty, the football backstory and the gang partying and surfing in Thailand, Australia and Goa.
Did Swayze get a bigger cut than everybody? He was democratic and they all got the same, whereas LeBron as a bank robber would take 35 percent.
On Lori Petty, one host does not know who she is beyond Tyler; her credits come up, League of Their Own, Free Willy, Patty Mayonnaise and Orange is the New Black; one host offers Tank Girl as the apex, as the moment someone thought she could carry a movie, another objects that Tank Girl tanked, and one goes with Patty Mayonnaise, so no yes for this film.
Her look in the film is called a leftover eighties one, like the Legend of Billie Jean, short hair and a little androgynous, and the hosts note she resembles Woody Harrelson, with a host choosing words carefully about a scene with Utah's FBI badge.
Gary Busey is a no: one host offers Surviving the Game, another calls the Buddy Holly story the correct answer because of the Oscar nomination, and another goes with Eye of the Tiger, in which a biker gang kills his wife and daughter after he comes back from Nam and goes to prison.
Keanu Reeves is a no way; his apex is debated as The Matrix or John Wick 2, and one host, expecting the others to be mad, says Speed, the 94 smash hit that created the early-released summer action movie and that he carries in nearly every scene; John Wick 2 is floated again as the global-superstar answer.
In Speed he took a different cop role, cutting his hair and bulking up to look squared away like a Marine, and Bullock is fantastic in it, which makes sense of her becoming a massive star.
Swayze is a yes when asked whether this is his apex: he is in the Milky Way galaxy in this movie, with a box score of 37, 12 and 15 on Isaiah Thomas minutes; a host recalls Michael Douglas on the Ghosts in the Darkness (as transcribed) DVD commentary describing the ideal role, talked about early, appearing a third of the way in and dying at the end, which is what Bodhi was.
A Roadhouse case follows: it still has to be Roadhouse, because watching Roadhouse makes you need to be Patrick Swayze, to become Dalton; another calls it the hardest one, likening Point Break to winning the title on a great team and Roadhouse to Kobe carrying the 2006 Lakers to 48 wins, number 8 Kobe versus number 24 Kobe.
Working titles Johnny Utah and Riders on the Storm; Keanu Reeves had never surfed and later took it up; Swayze had surfed only a couple of times; Lori Petty had never been in the ocean; two real surfers among the ex-presidents; Swayze really skydived, over 30 jumps, until a cease and desist; a body double in the foot chase while Swayze promoted Ghost; Swayze cracked four ribs; surf scenes at Latigo Beach in Malibu and the finale at Indian Beach in Oregon; Catherine Bigelow said Bodhi died
Point Break was first called Johnny Utah, the working title for years, then Riders on the Storm, which the studio liked less and which brings the Doors song to mind; Point Break is called a perfect, short, fast action title.
Keanu had not surfed and learned for the film; Swayze had surfed a couple of times but was not good yet; Lori Petty had never been in the ocean; the researcher admits not being positive any of it is true.
The ex-president crew included two real surfers who were not actors; Swayze really did his own skydiving out of the plane; Keanu took up surfing as a hobby afterwards; a body double was used for Swayze in the foot chase because he was overseas promoting Ghost.
Swayze became Bodhi during filming, cracked four ribs, did almost all of his chase scenes and over 30 parachute jumps until the production company issued a cease and desist; in the end fight he really kicks Keanu in the chest, with the camera staying on Keanu's face.
The surf scenes were mostly shot at Latigo Beach in Malibu, but the final scene was not shot at Bells Beach, home of the 50-year storm; it was Indian Beach in Oregon, which bums a host out.
Added late: Catherine Bigelow, the director, said in an interview that Bodhi did die at the end, which the hosts jokingly call a spoiler.
Utah's water tackle of Bodhi; Bodhi's 'never about money' speech; Busey's 'LA's changed' line; the lawnmower in the gunfight; the first Fast and Furious as a Point Break copy
Candidates include Utah's water tackle of Bodhi and Gary Busey playing someone with a job and credibility, but the hosts push back: Busey is actually good, the chemistry with Utah is well written and acted, and he is like the reporter in The Incredible Hulk with the right theory nobody believes.
The old-cop, young-cop gimmick is flipped: instead of the veteran teaching the rookie to calm down, the young cop gets the old cop mad on purpose so he can feel something again and work the theory; a host jokes that Titus does that to them.
Bodhi's speech that it was never about money but about standing against the system, showing the dead souls inching along the freeways in their metal coffins that the human spirit is alive, is read out; it is called a little awkward and over the top for a bank-robbing surfer, while another jokes about getting it tattooed.
For over-the-top lines, Gary Busey staring into the distance saying LA has changed in 22 years, the air got dirty, the air got cleaner, is offered.
One host does not feel anything in the movie has aged badly, since it all fits; another names the lawnmower in the gunfight, adding that a man keeps mowing the lawn during a massive gun battle, and the naked woman beats everyone up, earning a joke Best Supporting Actress.
The first Fast and Furious has aged worst, since watching Point Break closely shows it was ripped off beat by beat, right down to the Coronas; a host saw an unverified claim that the restaurant where Keanu meets Lori Petty is the same one where Dom and Brian sit down.
Candidate one is the beach football game, which one host has analyzed enough to nearly keep score: heavy air yardage to Lori Petty wide open in the end zone, unclear light from the car headlights, an offensive and a defensive line unheard of in backyard football, and Keanu always having time although Swayze nailed him once.
Other candidates: the surfer brawl, where Anthony Kiedis turns out to be one of the dudes, shoots himself in the foot and Busey has to intervene; the big bank robbery leading to the foot chase, the moderator's own preference; the airplane and parachute scene; the airport shootout; and the ending.
One host takes the parachute scene because it holds every part of the movie in three minutes: the two men battling for alpha-male status, Keanu backing down as Bodhi out-crazies him, the injury, and Bodhi letting the injured Utah know he has been beaten while staying just out of reach.
Picks the beach football game because it grounds these counterculture characters, who look weird and spout philosophical things, in an American tradition: good old American boys playing football on the beach. — Jason Concepcion
The football game also shows Bodhi's magnetic charisma, and when it devolves into Utah versus Bodhi, Utah earns his respect; it is a great introduction scene, with Bodhi's 'You don't know who this is?'
Another backs the first bank robbery, the stakeout: Busey sends Utah for two meatball subs ('give me two'), and at the very end Utah has the shot on Bodhi and does not take it, the moment the movie becomes a psychological contest with Bodhi holding the upper hand.
A host says 'I've changed my opinion' and goes with the beach football game, a scene they stay for even when the family is heading out to dinner, adding 'as you said' that it introduces the crew through the old eighties formula of bringing the new guy into the group with a contrived activity; the speaker is not identified.
The football scenes are hilarious: Keanu shows the seeds of The Replacements, scrambling like a little white Mike Vick; Swayze sacks him off the edge like DeMarcus Ware; Keanu sheds seven or eight tacklers and runs Swayze down after 840 yards, out of bounds and into the water.
When the surfers rush over and Bodhi introduces Johnny Utah as all-conference, the hosts say the writers could have made him a Heisman finalist, doubt surfers on the beach every day knew who he was, and one defends it because he beat SC in the Rose Bowl, so Southern California fans would know.
