Prosky is not at Apex despite a hell of a debut; he became Prosky in the early 90s with Hoffa and Mrs. Doubtfire.
Chicago diners are a yes.
Illegal adoption is floated as an Apex ("cut out the middleman") without an explicit yes, prompting a Thief 2 joke about Frank's grown son. — Chris Ryan
Robert Prosky death scenes are a yes, one of the first times someone makes noise after being shot in the head. — Bill Simmons
Joliet Prison never got better than the Blues Brothers-Thief stretch; its Apex Mountain is somewhere in there. — Bill Simmons
For Chicago movies, candidates include The Blues Brothers, The Fugitive, Ferris Bueller, Home Alone (ruled suburban) and Hoop Dreams; the answer is Ferris Bueller.
Running Scared is raised; as its self-described number one fan he finds it tough, but Ferris Bueller uses Chicago the best. — Bill Simmons
Also named: The Untouchables, Widows, Candyman and Public Enemies; there haven't been enough good Chicago movies. — Bill Simmons
Latimer's sexual assault scene; James Caan's performance; opening-game rainstorm; Joe Kane's age; cut road-lying scene; Kristy Swanson's tennis jorts; Ray the tailback's casting; Joe Kane's body double; no college overtime; Chris Berman's shtick; Ray Griffen's party sweater; Darnell licking his hands; quickly dropped assault charges; missed 1993 music
Latimer's sexual assault scene was rougher and more terrifying than remembered, deplorable for a liked character, yet realistic for late-80s and early-90s campuses.
A 2020 film would handle it differently; it recalled the Gandolfini and Alabama Worley scene. — Bill Simmons
The scene is accurate and terrifying, and the small cast heightens how scary it is. — Kyle Brandt
The scene is important because it shows Latimer as the worst character, which makes him conflicting and great; a comparison is drawn to a Vision Quest scene, and films have become more careful in the last 15 years. — Bill Simmons
James Kahn is not great here, like a coach who had a mild stroke; the "keep that index finger on the ball" line and the halftime speech lose the speaker.
Caan's best scenes are kicking a player off the team and the academic board hearing where he sells his soul to football. — Kyle Brandt
A research claim that Popovich adopted James Kahn's coaching personality is admitted to be made up, and another participant flags the habit of throwing in fake information. — Ryen Russillo
No NBA arena has ever hyped a crowd with the James Kahn scene. — Bill Simmons
The opening-game rainstorm looks like a monsoon. — Bill Simmons
A prediction game on the next item is won by the guess that Joe Kane is 32 years old; the deleted scene was next on the list.
The actor was actually 33, with a receding hairline, and Halle Berry at 27 with hair extensions seems like a teacher rather than a junior. — Bill Simmons
Craig Sheffer is the biggest flaw: not big enough to be a quarterback, never a big star, and too old, like an assistant coach.
Joe Kane is only a junior; Tim Weyman looks mid-40s; Halle Berry was making Boomerang at the same time. — Bill Simmons
The deleted scene of Joe lying in the road as cars swerve was cut after two young men were reportedly killed imitating it; it is missing from the VHS, later airings and Amazon but is on YouTube. — Bill Simmons
Sheffer's quote that he refused to do the scene until his agents were called is met with skepticism. — Ryen Russillo
The cut leaves a hole: pre-internet it was unobtainable, and without it Joe jumps from party quarterback to borderline suicidal, like cutting Maverick's MIG encounter. — Ryen Russillo
Cutting it while keeping the assault scene and the train-tracks stunt is inconsistent; the Cliffhanger comparison argues imitation risk does not justify it. — Bill Simmons
Further items: Christy Swanson playing tennis in jorts, Ray the tailback needing a better actor, Joe Kane's obvious heavier body double, the lack of college overtime, and Chris Berman doing the same shtick 27 years later, though that is countered as having come back around to respect. — Bill Simmons
Ray Griffin's party sweater (but not his khakis) has aged badly, as has Darnell licking his hands before the last kickoff; Newman gloves are fondly recalled. — Bill Simmons
The assault being resolved in seconds because the victim's booster father drops charges is not any real dad's reaction. — Bill Simmons
The film missed several chances to feel musically like 1993. — Bill Simmons
Castle Rock wanted to replace Matt and Ben with Leo and Brad, and Mel Gibson producing and directing would have been weird.
Nobody else seems to have been seriously considered for Sean until the tail end; there is an argument that Williams is more replaceable than Damon and Affleck, yet the movie is completely different with Jeff Bridges or Dustin Hoffman, and nobody else gets the community college bit about Freud doing cocaine, which must have been freestyled from his 70s stand-up.
After Gibson dropped out, Michael Mann wanted to direct, making the two slightly different, as car thieves; he also wanted to replace Matt Damon, which is why it went no further; the hosts joke about James Caan or a Hemsworth and tell Mann to buy the rights and remake it.
Earlier context: at Castle Rock the roles were at one point meant for Brad Pitt and Leo in a twice-as-long script whose second half had Chucky and Will on the run from the CIA; Mel Gibson was attached and developing it after Braveheart, and the writers asked him to let them have it back because they needed to make it faster.
