Night Shift (1982)

Night Shift is a comedy classic that largely goes unnoticed and my guest Bill and I are here to give it the proper respect it deserves. 

Podcast may contain minimal profanity.

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Transcript

Sean 0:02

Hello and welcome to Scenes from the Screen, the film-focused show for all ages, where we cover movies that flicker to life on screens both big and small. You'll find everything from comedy to horror, cult classics to major studio franchises, big budget to independent, theater releases, streaming premieres, and everything in between. Stick around and you might discover a new gem or be reintroduced to an old forgotten favorite. My name is Sean, and I'll be your host. On this episode, we are doing one of my personal favorites and also a favorite of my guest, my friend Bill, is here to discuss the movie Night Shift from 1982. So welcome aboard, Bill, and tell us a little bit about yourself and movies, whatever you want to, whatever you want to let people know.

Bill 0:43

I'm just a big fan of early comedies, 80s, 80s, 90s, early 2000s. This here we've talked about it. It's one of the most underrated comedies that I've seen.

Sean 0:55

I I agree. And you I think you said that not many people appreciate it, which they don't. Not many people, I mean, even know it exists, much less love it for just being hilarious.

Bill 1:07

I think I think the issue is is like it never got a big run in the theaters. I think most people picked it up like when it became available on VHS.

Sean 1:16

Yeah, I mean, for me it was HBO. Uh, I mean I watched it religiously. It was on five times a day. That's how many times I was watching it. That's one of the first VHS I ever bought in that big plastic clamshell. I still remember that, like how huge those things were. But there's one, you know, watching this again, you know, and I laugh all the way through and I pretty much memorized it. But you know, here's a question I have for you. Did the idea of being a pimp seem to be enticing back in the 80s? Because with this and like Dr. Detroit and a couple other ones, I mean, you know, notwithstanding the elements of danger surrounding the profession, but it seemed to be really like they promoted it as like an actual career choice. I mean, I I can imagine the news interviews, you know, analysts going, like, oh, we're really seeing an uptick in young males entering the pimp hood.

Bill 1:55

Are we talking about pimps or are we talking about love brokers?

Sean 1:59

Love brokers! You and me, buddy. Yeah, I mean, it was just it's odd, like how many when you think back, how many movies they had about pimps back then, which you know, and later on in the 80s, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, had a pimp in it. I just thought that was strange, but...

Bill 2:12

That was the ultimate pimp and uh pimp, and I'm gonna get you some...

Sean 2:15

...fly guy, man. You better believe it. So basically, the premise of the movie is Henry Winkler plays this beleaugered meek man who has a knack for finance but not the intestinal fortitude to follow through with it. He's just kind of you know, shy and reserved, and he's he's anxious. So he works at a morgue and gets demoted in a way to the night shift, where his new partner, Billy Blazejowski, played by Michael Keaton, kind of comes into his life like a Tasmanian devil almost and uh throws it into a tizzy. Kid. You like music? I mean, it's just well, let me ask you because I didn't notice this until I watched it again the other day. So the two kids playing basketball at the beginning...

Bill 2:54

Yeah.

Sean 2:54

...did you recognize the one from anything?

Bill 2:56

I recognized him, but I don't remember what he was in.

Sean 2:59

So immediately I thought I was like, I watch him and go, that's special agent Johnson from Die Hard. The other one. Remember how they were special agent Johnson, special agent Johnson he's like "no relation". He was one of the special agent Johnsons. He was also in Lethal Weapon, he plays a detective in the Lethal Weapon movies. And I'm like, I never thought about him being in this film.

Bill 3:22

I mean, there's a lot of a lot of people. This was like one of their first movies.

Sean 3:25

Yeah, Shannon Doherty, I forgot, was in there. She played the little Girl Scout, she was the one blowing the whistle.

Bill 3:32

The bluebell.

Sean 3:32

Yeah, I mean, she with Kevin Costner. I mean, now I think that's pretty much common knowledge, but yeah, that I thought that was just kind of funny. I'm like, oh special agent Johnson. Like, how many people would think that?

Bill 3:42

I mean, if you think about it, Michael Keaton was an unknown.

Sean 3:46

This was his first major role, yeah.

Bill 3:48

Diane Keaton hadn't really hit it big on Cheers yet. Henry...

Sean 3:52

You mean uh uh Shelly Long.

Bill 3:54

Yeah, Shelly Long. Yeah, and then you're thinking about Hen Henry Winkler, he was trying to transition from the Fonz...

Sean 3:59

Right.

Bill 4:00

...so, yeah, I you know, there's a lot of people in this movie that you surprised like...

Sean 4:06

And it I mean it works, that's the thing. It really works on huge comedic level because I mean there's so many laughs in this film. Um, because it was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who did a lot of I think the Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley's back then, which were funny when they wrote them, you know. I mean...

Bill 4:23

Yeah.

Sean 4:23

...early on they were funny, they started to get a little stale towards the end.

Bill 4:26

I think I think in all those genres, you eventually you get stale. Because how many times can you go over teenage angst in Happy Days?

Sean 4:34

Exactly, right, and especially when they're in their like 40s, you know, at that point, but they're still in high school. Uh yeah, I think that's goes without saying, but you know, like I I mentioned before about real quick about 1982, this movie came out. We also did The King of Comedy, and I'm thinking, like, well, you know, can't keep doing 82, but I could probably do at least 26 weeks on 1982 films alone. There are tons of movies...

Bill 4:58

Absolutely.

Sean 4:58

...from 82. And maybe you know, we'll do one in the future. But so what when you saw this movie originally, like, what did you think of Henry Winkler? Or like, could you accept him as something else but the Fonz?

Bill 5:11

Yeah, I mean, I I guess I think his I think he shows his depth of what he can do. I mean, he just you know, in the as the Fonz, he was trying to be like this, you know, somewhat cool guy that all the kids looked up to. But here he kind of showed what his range would be.

Sean 5:30

Right. Because it was like a 180 from the Fonz. Oh, and he was not cool, he was just so put upon by his, you know, his girlfriend, fiance, I guess, you know, mother. Actually, everyone that comes into his life, basically, the guy who delivers sandwiches...

Bill 5:44

The dog.

Sean 5:44

...he never gets the right sandwich, the dog who chased him down the hall every day. I mean, he was, I think one of the funniest scenes is when he goes next door, he hears that music, and he knocks on the door, and the guy you just hear this voice, "Who the hell?!?" And he just lowers his head. Like you, he knows there's gonna be trouble. Like you it's just no stopping it now. So he's he's great in that, he really is.

Bill 6:05

And when he says, Is he gonna stop playing that awful music? What does she mean by awful? He's like, awful good.

Sean 6:12

He means awful good. Yeah, I mean he's yeah, he's fantastic in it.

Bill 6:17

It's just some of the delivery, like when she says, What does she do? Like when Shelley Long comes to the to the door and he's like, What does she do, Chuck? And he's like, She sells cowboy hats.

Sean 6:30

Man was in his underwear.

Bill 6:32

Cowboy underwear.

Sean 6:33

Cowboy underwear. It just seems natural, and I I don't know if she she bought it or not, but yeah, I mean it's just he's I love it. It it it takes a while to finally come around to to wanting to do that. You know, what first Keaton Billy Blazowski, he's driving, he's using his a limo service, yeah. Yeah, so he's like it's a limo, it's a limo for dead people. So I mean that's great. He's just starting his own business out of the board, you know, and then when Shelly Long's character loses her pimp, he's the pimp that dies at the beginning of the film.

Bill 7:06

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin or what is what is I remember?

Sean 7:11

Was Franklin Delano uh Roosevelt Jones?

Bill 7:14

Yeah, yeah that's it.

Sean 7:14

I think was it Jones? Yeah, I mean that's yeah, so she doesn't get a pimp, she's roughed up, that's when they decide to...

Bill 7:21

But the comedy starts right at the beginning when the guy goes to dunk and Franklin comes crashing down through the hoop. It like it doesn't even phase me. Turns... "Pay up!"

Sean 7:33

Right? Right, yeah, exactly. Like it's it's normal in the neighborhood.

Bill 7:37

A guy's dead on the on the concrete. He's like, pay up.

Sean 7:41

Yeah, I mean that's uh it's it's absolutely hysterical.

Bill 7:44

And then what it goes a little further. The cops come and he's like, he's like, "I won, he wouldn't pay me".

Sean 7:51

Right, right. And it's those little throwaway lines like that that really make I mean most movies too. And that's another uh that's a whole other podcast I'd like to do. I was sometimes I think about these throwaway lines in movies that are so good, just and and people overlook them, but they make you laugh.

Bill 8:06

But I don't think that's one of those things like you pick up on right away. You you start to see all the little things after you watch it more and more.

Sean 8:13

Oh, absolutely, yeah, and you still find things...

Bill 8:16

Oh absolutely.

Sean 8:16

...uh you know. Like I mean, I I knew the line, but so basically his fiancee she makes him check the apartment anytime before they have sex...

Bill 8:26

Yeah.

Sean 8:26

And at one point, you know, they bring the party when all the girls they have a frat party, they have it in the morgue because they can't have it at the frat house. So, you know, Henry Winkler's character Chuck, he said to Belinda, Oh, it is really weird and everything. And she goes, They're always looking for new ways to do it. She's like, Don't you have a fantasy? He said, One time I'd like to do it without checking the apartment first. I totally forgot about that line, and I just actually laughed out loud. So, yeah, there I mean there's a lot of good stuff.

Bill 8:53

It is good, it's subtle too.

Sean 8:55

It is, you know, I actually kind of laughed too because Richard Belzer's in it.

Bill 8:59

Yeah.

Sean 8:59

You know, and you know, and I was thinking, like, I wonder if at one point Detective Munch ever busted his doppelganger for anything at that point. You know, I mean, maybe the Munch was a little bit later, but because he was in Baltimore, probably at that point for um Homicide: Life on the Street. He didn't join the Special Victim's Unit, you know, Law and Order cast at that point. But I just kind of thought I thought that'd be kind of funny. You bust in your own "Hey, you look a lot like me".

Bill 9:25

Well, Belzer is like people can know him from those uh later roles, but he was actually a stand-up comic.

Sean 9:31

Right. Yeah, he absolutely was.

Bill 9:32

Yeah.

Sean 9:32

Yeah, he was he was a good stand-up comic, too.

Bill 9:34

He was. And then he transitioned to that the first one he was in that Baltimore...

Sean 9:40

Yeah, it was homicide, yeah. Life on the streets, yeah. Law and Order, yeah, and then S. I mean, he was in and plus he played him, he played that character on like X-Files and other shows, like he would just pop up on...

Bill 9:52

Yeah.

Sean 9:52

...which I thought was odd but funny. You know, hey, keep that running, you know, milk that cash cow. Yeah, it's sad. I I always loved Richard Belzer. Yeah, there's one thing too. It's got a great soundtrack, by the way.

Bill 10:05

Oh, yeah.

Sean 10:06

I mean, anytime somebody mentions Night Shift, I immediately not the Commodores, I immediately go to Quarter Flash.

Bill 10:10

I was you know, I was thinking about that and I was like, you know, it's one of those 80s bands, had a couple hits, but nothing major...

Sean 10:19

Right.

Bill 10:20

...but to have your song in a movie, whether it's a mainstream, yeah, it's pretty big.

Sean 10:25

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I I remember searching for that soundtrack back then. I it was it wasn't available on CD. I don't know if it ever has been. I think it was available on vinyl at one point, but at that point, you know, younger, you wanted kind of the CD or the cassette. So I never got it. I've actually had to download it by piecemeal over the years through you know, now through the internet, thankfully.

Bill 10:46

But I'm assuming back then there was no such thing as CDs. It was on...

Sean 10:51

82, there wasn't. Well...

Bill 10:53

...you're looking at might have been even on eight-track...

Sean 10:55

I think it...

Bill 10:56

as opposed to cassette.

Sean 10:57

...and I think what the first CD was around 80? Because it was Billy Joel's Glass Houses was the first actually printed CD. So it might have been 80. Like they weren't mass-produced at that point, but that didn't come out till a little bit later. But I think I think they were like...

Bill 11:11

Yeah, the CD back in the 80s was like $9,000.

Sean 11:15

Right, right. Unless you joined the uh Columbia Record, uh, Record and Tape Club.

Bill 11:20

That was just the CDs. I'm talking about the C D player back then.

Sean 11:22

Oh, C D player. Oh, yeah. Well, those yeah, anything new was be was super expensive. But yeah, you know, I think the best thing about this movie, to be honest with you, and I thought a lot about this, it's got a lot of heart because there's that scene with the after the Christmas party where they're all talking about things, and you know, you see that Michael Keaton's depth at that point, too. You know, you see what he can do. But if if none of those people or any one of them weren't committed to this movie to play those characters with such nuances, this would not work, it would not be a good movie, not as good.

Bill 11:54

I mean, I think sometimes the the cast has to have that kind of commitment, chemistry with one another...

Sean 12:01

Right.

Bill 12:02

...to make it, you know, timeless. Well here we are talking about it in 2026. What is that, 50 years ago?

Sean 12:10

Yeah, I mean, nearly, yeah, nearly. I mean, that's I just think about it. That's insane. And again, not a lot of people have heard of this movie. I mean, my wife has a couple I loaned it to a friend about a year or so ago, and they're like, Yeah, it's okay. I'm like, What do you mean it's it's okay? And I get, but it's it is a timeless comedy, which I don't like it's like saying Trading Places is okay, but dude, that's like one of the funniest comedies ever, you know.

Bill 12:33

It's one of those things like you have to like that type of comedy, you know...

Sean 12:38

Raunchy comedy. Well, he does, and that's the that was the weird thing. Like, why I don't understand why you you don't like it because it is raunchy, and and I noticed this too, like the raunchier comedies, the raunchier the comedy the better...

Bill 12:52

Yeah.

Sean 12:52

...they they tend to be funnier, like it was I don't know how many PG funny movies are, maybe City Slickers, but it's not laugh out loud I mean it's funny, but it's not...

Bill 13:01

Yeah, but it's not like that raunchy comedy comedy like this. It was more like a wholesome kind of...

Sean 13:06

Right, right. Like a like again, like an Animal House is a raunchy comedy...

Bill 13:10

Oh yeah.

Sean 13:11

...you know, stuff like that, and those are always the funniest, those are the ones that are timeless classics. Let's see. I was laughing because I know you'd get this reference, but I was thinking like Keaton's Keaton's performance is one of unbridled enthusiasm. Do you know what I'm referring to there?

Bill 13:28

Uh-uh.

Sean 13:29

The Seinfeld, when they were talking about the Billy Mumphrey, when Elaine had to read that book and tell them what she thought. And Kramer read the book when he was in the when they were fumigating Jerry's apartment. Yeah, I just thought of unbridled enthusiasm and started laughing. Let's see. Did you catch the Pittsburgh reference, by the way, that Keaton throws out there?

Bill 13:52

The Jag off?

Sean 13:53

Yeah.

Bill 13:53

Yeah, I got that.

Sean 13:54

I had totally forgotten about that until we watched the movie.

Bill 13:58

I did too, I rewatched it I was like, Yeah, there's there's a Pittsburgh reference there with the Jagoff.

Sean 14:01

That's what my wife said. She says, I knew he did something Pittsburgh in there, and I'm like, Yeah, it wasn't until the end, so that's why, yeah. And it's um, I love you know, he's talking to Willie Chi-Chi...

Bill 14:09

Yeah.

Sean 14:09

...from The Godfather, you know, movies, which is that guy was from...

Bill 14:13

From the Rocky movies.

Sean 14:14

He's from the Rocky movies too, yeah. Why can't I think of his name right now? It just escaped me. It'll come to me. What's that? Yeah, Joe Spinell. That's it. It's Joe Spinell. But...

Bill 14:27

...he plays the same type of character, like you know, almost every so that in this, he's kind of like a seedy mobster kind of guy...

Sean 14:37

Right.

Bill 14:37

I n Rocky, he's a loan shark, in...

Sean 14:40

Godfather

Bill 14:41

Godfather, he's a hit man.

Sean 14:44

Is he a he's a buffer?

Bill 14:46

He's a button man.

Sean 14:47

Yeah, he's a button man. Family had a lot of buffers.

Bill 14:50

Yeah, yeah. The family had a lot of buffers.

Sean 14:53

Yeah, he is great. I mean, he I'd watch him in anything.

Bill 14:57

He never really did that much. He died kind of young, uh, which is the weird thing. But I told you I just saw him in that movie Sorcerer not too long ago and from '77. Didn't know he was in that until he just popped up. I'm like, hey, this Willie Chi Chi again. Because that's all I'd call him is Willie Chi Chi. Yeah.

Sean 15:12

So what else? Anything that like I'm not mentioning that you might have noticed?

Bill 15:15

I I mean there's certain things like you you don't realize a lot of the the like the funny one-liners that are delivered in it. Like I when I was re-watching and I was right at the end when Michael Keaton jumps off the balcony.

Sean 15:27

Right.

Bill 15:28

And he's like, Oh yeah, the ground broke my fall. Like little things like that.

Sean 15:33

Right. It was an updraft.

Bill 15:34

Yeah.

Sean 15:34

Well, he was a stand-up comedian for a little while too, I believe. Like it is, he was never a huge stand-up, but I think he did some. But then Mr. Rogers, he was on that, and...

Bill 15:43

Yeah, he did a lot of local stuff and then moved out to Hollywood. And obviously at one point he was one of the biggest actors in Hollywood.

Sean 15:52

I mean, when you look at that, what's that?

Bill 15:54

He's Batman.

Sean 15:55

He is. I mean, and do you remember that? Do you remember when they were selecting him for Batman and everyone's in an uproar? He's not gonna be, you know, he might be actually pretty good. Well, he was!

Bill 16:05

Yeah.

Sean 16:06

He's fantastic. That's like when um The Dark Knight rolled around, and they're like, Oh, Heath Ledger, he's gonna like, no, you gotta look at it, maybe it might, and it did work out too, like Keaton. You know, these people have range, you just don't see it.

Bill 16:19

Yeah, I mean Keaton started, he had a lot of string of those comedies, Mr. Mom, Johnny Dangerous ly.

Sean 16:26

That's another movie I loved.

Bill 16:27

And then, you know, then he transitioned. I think that helped him, you know, Batman helped him transition into another...

Sean 16:34

Well, he did Clean and Sober, I think, too, which was he played uh in you know, an alcoholic in rehab. So yeah, he started to all those funny guys real try to transition into drama, which for some reason I don't...

Bill 16:46

I think they just I mean, I'm sure if you just do the same type of movie over and over again, you become Will Ferrell.

Sean 16:53

Exactly. You basically say the same thing about Will Ferrell my friend does. He goes, "He's exactly the same in every like, well...

Bill 16:59

And Vince Vaughn, they're all the same...

Sean 17:00

Yeah correct, they're all the same...

Bill 17:01

...they're all the same characters.

Sean 17:02

Yeah.

Bill 17:03

I really was just to get off the topic, but I remember hearing one of him talk one time and they were asking him if he would do an Old School 2. And he said, uh, I I don't know where I could take the character of Frank the Tank from here. And it's like you just transitioned it to the next movie.

Sean 17:18

Right. Exactly. You just I mean...

Bill 17:19

I think he did it with uh Ricky Bobby. You just went from one to another.

Sean 17:23

Yeah, it's it's really the same, just a slight new maybe got an accent in the in the other one, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, I do like some of his movies. Don't get me wrong, because I think Anchorman is...

Bill 17:31

Oh no, I'm not saying I never saw I don't like him. It's just it's the same character from the movie. I like Vince Vaughn, but it's the same character from back when he did that the movie years ago with John Favreau.

Sean 17:45

Oh, Swingers.

Bill 17:45

Swingers, yeah.

Sean 17:46

Which is another one I watched not too long ago.

Bill 17:48

Yeah it's a great movie, but it's like the same character from that movie to where he's at now.

Sean 17:52

Well, you brought up an interesting point too, because I was thinking about this movie, and you know, obviously never got a sequel, but I think because it didn't really do well at the box office, and even you know, it's not gonna be like Eddie and the Cruisers, where that got a second life because of cable, and they came with Eddie and the Cruisers too, which obviously was not a good idea. But I'm I'm really happy they never made a sequel to this movie.

Bill 18:13

Eddie lived.

Sean 18:15

He did, but I like I don't want to see these characters after that because I think it would just it would just be terrible, it would just wouldn't be a good idea. Like, where else would you take this? I mean, I don't know.

Bill 18:26

What would they be like in City Hall running an escort service from here?

Sean 18:30

Yeah, and the escort service in space. Yeah, that's like that'd be seventh sequel.

Bill 18:35

This was what the one run.

Sean 18:37

Right? Yeah. Well, there are a couple movies, you know, back then, and I'm thinking, like, well, I'm glad they didn't have sequels. Trading Places, which I mentioned earlier, I'm glad that never had a sequel. And although they did kind of reference it in Coming to America, but it's not Coming to America should not have had a sequel. Uh Midnight Run didn't have a sequel, and thank God, because that it ended perfectly. You know, some movies are just not destined to it, but they want to milk the cash cow, so...

Bill 19:01

Yeah, eventually you you run out of different ways that you can use the character.

Sean 19:07

Right. Yeah, absolutely. There was something else to o. Well, this is a movie too where you get the at the very end on the uh closing credits, you get the Rod Stewart version of "That's What Friends Are For". Years before it was God, who was it? So Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick?

Bill 19:24

Yeah.

Sean 19:26

Who were the other two? And I can't remember offhand. Uh there's theirs hit it big. I actually like the Rod Stewart version kind of a little bit better.

Bill 19:34

Yeah, I mean I mean, Rod Stewart when he first got out on his own was gonna have to do some covers to you know kind of build up to it.

Sean 19:44

Right.

Bill 19:45

Cause he was what, in the Faces before that.

Sean 19:47

He was in Faces, yeah. Which is great. They they did great stuff in Faces.

Bill 19:52

But I don't know if he was like the main songwriter, you know.

Sean 19:56

Yeah, I doubt. I don't I don't really get that, but he you know, he had a string of a couple movie soundtracks, Legal Eagles. I just uh I was I don't know, I just happened upon it the other day when Love Touch. And it's yeah, it's like I mean it's actually a fun song, but it's it's really the only good thing about that movie. And what was that telling you? If that's the only good thing, you know, it's not a it's not a great movie.

Bill 20:20

I thought when we were talking about this movie the other day, and you were like, "Where the fuck is 4K"?

Sean 20:26

Yeah, excuse me. I didn't know you was deaf. Yeah, 4K, and that's uh Vincent Chiavelli from who was also in another movie, another movie from that year, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Yeah, and he and he was in what Ghost...

Bill 20:37

I mean he was I think he was in uh Better Off Dead with John Cusack.

Sean 20:41

He was, yeah. So I heard you're not dating Beth anymore.

Bill 20:45

I love that movie too.

Sean 20:47

Yeah, that's what we should do because I mean not many people really talk about that. That's I'll use that all the time. I mean, there are such there's such great great one-liners in that film. Oh, yeah. And it's uh yeah, and I mean Cusack was great back then. That's you know, he hit a stride pretty much in the 80s. I mean, oh, he did good stuff after that, but...

Bill 21:04

Dude, he uh one of his my favorite roles is he plays that geek in uh...

Sean 21:11

Is it Sixteen Candles?

Bill 21:12

...Sixteen Candles 

Sean 21:13

Yeah, yeah. I mean he was uh I Say Anything is really good too. Obviously, not as much of a comedy, but there are some funny lines in that. Let's see, what else? I don't know, anything else you could think of about talking about Night Shift?

Bill 21:29

I mean, the plot is it's kind of out there, you know, not you know, running an escort service out of a morgue.

Sean 21:38

Right, it's high concept. I mean, like who would who would think about that? Like, okay, yeah, let's I mean that's that's one I'd say yes to immediately back then. I mean, I'd say yes to it now.

Bill 21:46

They kind of reference it in there when he's taking the cops back, and the guy's like, Oh, the more he's like, uh it you don't mind so much if you don't think about the stiffs.

Sean 21:55

Exactly, exactly. You know, here's one line that kind of I I thought about. Now, actually, it's one that always bothered me. So at the very end, we're in there in that. I don't know, it's like, is it a Turkish bath or a spa? I don't know what it is, but it's...

Bill 22:09

Yeah, it's a spa. I don't think it's a Turkish bath.

Sean 22:11

...for hookers. Yeah, not a yeah, it's not all for guys. But uh, so Chuck goes, you know, to Billy. Hey, he's like, Hey, do you think I could do all this? And he goes, Do what? He goes, you know, he goes, When you first met me, you said I'm gonna make Chuck a man. That's not when they first met, it was like literally in the middle of the film. They've known each other for a long time. So that was one that always I'm thinking, like maybe they kind of shuffled around that line and they forgot about it.

Bill 22:36

Wasn't it? I think it was when they were in the car.

Sean 22:38

No, he no, it wasn't in the car, it was when uh Keaton was uh taking off his out his muscles. Remember when he put the uh the Kleenex or whatever, or the paper towels in, and like, what are you doing? Like, well, I gotta look muscular. It was that scene, but they had again they were already like running things for a while, so it's it wasn't a big ... I just thought that was kind of odd. Like, that wasn't the first time that they met that he said that it was a little bit later on.

Bill 23:09

You know an obscure thing that Keaton says in that scene where he's putting his muscles in, when he's stuffing them down his crotch and he has the corn dog, and he's like, "Corn dog!"...

Sean 23:11

Right. Corn dog!

Bill 23:13

I use that all the time.

Sean 23:16

Yeah, again, that's another throw because that's you barely hear it. I remember you barely hear it as it goes to yeah, corndog. There's a scene too where they, you know, so Chuck and Belinda are they they they have finally have sex, so they're in the tub, and Chuck tells her about the movie Klute...

Bill 23:33

Yeah.

Sean 23:33

...and he said how Jane Fonda's in it, and you think, like, oh, she's in all this passion, but then she checks her watch. And yeah, I'm like to the credit of the writers, they it could have come up with something stupid there. But the great line is, and she delivers it very well, is she's like, "I don't wear a watch". So I mean that's you know, it could have been something really bad, like that could have been a cringe line, but like that kind of stuff made that movie.

Bill 23:54

I mean, Shelley Long is she has comedic chops too.

Sean 23:57

She does, yeah, she does. I mean she's still not in enough.

Bill 24:01

I don't I think she kind of left Hollywood after...

Sean 24:04

She was in Modern Family for a while, like well, she'd make guest appearances, so but I mean, other than that, yeah, she has...

Bill 24:10

I think she took herself out of like the Hollywood scene and...

Sean 24:13

Yeah, which is probably a you know...

Bill 24:16

Think about how much money did she have after her run on Cheers.

Sean 24:19

Right. Yeah.

Bill 24:20

I mean, was she there four, five, six years?

Sean 24:23

Uh yeah, probably. Well, so it lasted how many eleven. So I think she was there about five because I think six, yeah, I think it was six without her. So I think she came back at the end, but all right...

Bill 24:36

But if you actually look at it, she he's referencing that movie that scene from Klute. But early earlier in the movie, he's in bed with his fiancee...

Sean 24:46

Right.

Bill 24:46

And she's over there like reaching for a...

Sean 24:49

Cadbury egg or something? Yeah, it was something that...

Bill 24:52

Yeah, some type of snack.

Sean 24:53

Right? Yeah, and that's a that's a nice call back to that too. She just doesn't care.

Bill 25:01

He's all hot and bothered and she's just reaching over for a snack.

Sean 25:01

And she's another one. She was in Seinfeld. I mean, there are actually, did you realize how many people that appeared in Seinfeld were in this movie? So she played George's therapist. Oh, who else was in there? There were like there were a couple that I noticed. Now I can't think of them.

Bill 25:16

I mean, I wasn't really looking back on it, trying to figure out where else they were at.

Sean 25:20

Yeah, sometimes I'll do that because I'm like, and like the uh her mother, Charlotte's mother, was in Groundhog Day. I'm like, oh my god, I forgot about it. She was a lady in the in the car that he, you know, he was jacking up and saving from the flat tire.

Bill 25:34

You know what he wanted to do? Build furniture. By hand!

Sean 25:36

By hand! She was like just his look in the car, you know, as the backseat as they zoom in on him. He's like, he just so defeated at that point. And I think that was when he decided to we've got to be pimps, let's be pimps. We couldn't be do...oh, another line at the end. I thought about "Great, you get me in jail with Peter Lorre's son here". Charles Fleischer was a Roger Rabbit, the voice of Roger Rabbit plays that cellmate who's just a complete psycho in there. Yeah, I mean, it's just a great overall comedy. Uh, there's just, I mean, laughs from beginning to end, and it is a good story. So, yeah, I mean, on a you know, we always talk about rewatchability, you know, in terms like glued to the set, doom scrolling and peeking, or just gonna change the channel. I'd be glued to the set, and it's never on enough, you know, for people to discover.

Bill 26:21

And the one the one line when they're when they're actually having corner him in the morgue, and the guy says, "It wouldn't be right if we let you live after we killed Franklin, he was our friend".

Sean 26:33

"Oh let me be your friend. Please let me be your friend". Yeah, I mean, it's just a great movie. If you catch it on streaming, I mean I would just buy the I think I bought the DVD. I didn't get the Blu-ray because Blu-ray is kind of pricey for some odd reason. But a DVD I got for like eight bucks, yeah. Like it's perfect, it's a crisp copy, you know, and it's how it's like it was meant to be seen. It's gritty, you know, it's almost like uh with New York back then. So all right. Well, we're gonna wrap it up in a second, or is there anything else that you you wanted to talk about real quick?

Bill 27:02

No, I'd give a shout out to Henry Winkler, Ron Howard, Michael Keaton, Shelly Long.

Sean 27:10

Wouldn't you talk... Ron Howard. Opie directed. I mean, just think about how you know he was so wholesome. And then, you know, he directs...

Bill 27:18

Richie Cunningham directed a movie about prostitutes and...

Sean 27:21

Yeah, and it was successful. It was it was great. I think I don't think he ever did anything like that again where it was just completely raunchy. Like that was his...

Bill 27:29

Yeah I don't think he did.

Sean 27:30

...well, unless you maybe like deleted scenes from Cocoon, which I don't really want to see. If that if that got raunchy...

Bill 27:36

I'd say like Splash was you know, maybe his...

Sean 27:38

...a little bit, yeah. Yeah, but all right. Well, I know you mentioned another movie, won't mention it here because we're gonna probably do it somewhere down the line, but it's gonna be another movie from the late 80s, and so that'll be coming up hopefully soon. All right, well, thank you for being here. I appreciate it, and uh, you're gonna come back, definitely?

Bill 27:55

Absolutely, buddy. I had a great time. That's all I have for today. So, as always, thank you for listening. If you liked it, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you're the first to know when new episodes become available on your favorite podcast platform. For Scenes from the Screen, I'm Sean, and until next time, don't let your screen go dark.