Top 5 Robert Duvall Scenes and '40s Madness Final 4 | #1060

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What kind of a show you guys put not here today?

We're not interested in art?

No.

Well, look, we're going to do this thing.

We're going to have a conversation.

From Chicago, this is FilmSpotting.

I'm Josh Larson, and I'm Adam Kempanar.

You smell it!

Hey, fun, son.

Nothing else on the world smells like that.

Come on, move, move, move.

I love the smell of night palm in the morning.

I love the smell of night palm in the morning.

Robert DuVal would be a movie immortal for that line alone,

but there was so much more.

We'll get to Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore and other roles as we honor the late

great Robert DuVal with our top five Robert DuVal scenes.

That plus the 40s madness final four ahead on FilmSpotting.

Welcome to FilmSpotting.

Josh, 40s madness talk is ahead.

We are down to the final four, and as you would expect,

only heavyweights.

The heaviest of heavyweights.

So heavy, I mean, this has been the best of the 1940s overall.

Right now, we're getting to a couple titles considered best of all titles.

Yeah, maybe.

So yeah, it's getting serious.

Final four matchups are live.

You can skip ahead if you want and vote now.

FilmSpotting madness.com will talk through the elite eight results

and share those final four matchups a bit later.

A quick reminder, FilmSpotting is now available as a video podcast.

You can find the show there on YouTube at youtube.com slash FilmSpotting

and you can see the link in the description.

You can find all of our episodes on our website, FilmSpotting.net slash episodes.

Josh, let's go ahead and get to our top five Robert Dubal scenes.

As we're taping this, it's been almost exactly two months since the late great actor

passed 95 years old as a character I may mention later said famously,

it was quite a party.

It was certainly quite a party on screen for Robert Dubal

and we were the beneficiaries of his immense talent.

And I think we're going to get to some very familiar names

and probably some very familiar scenes.

Maybe a few that are off the beaten path for our listeners.

But how did you tackle this formidable actor and all of these great options?

It should be a nice mix here.

I had a little bit of homework to do.

Thankfully not a ton to feel like I had a good grasp of his career.

And sometimes we do these Adam and you celebrate the breath of an actor's work,

the range. And you certainly could do that with Dubal.

Maybe between our two lists we'll have that.

Sometimes you narrow in, focus on their career,

look at a number of films altogether and you realize they were that.

And also a particular specialist, a particular kind of character.

That was my experience in considering the filmography of Robert Dubal.

I realized that this guy played a particular kind of bastard.

And I'm going to call him the irredeemable bastard.

So these are characters who, you know, they've been dragged into redemption

in a lot of these cases.

And I think that's a great idea.

So they've been dragged into redemption in a lot of these cases.

And they're trying their best to escape it.

I don't know that we see that kind of figure all that often in movies.

We see anti-heroes that maybe never get to that point.

We see people who are redeemed.

And that's the whole point of the film.

But man, he seemed to specialize in these guys who they just resisted being redeemed.

And that resulted for me in some of his best movies.

Some of his best performances is some of his best scenes.

So yeah, most of my picks are a variation on that.

I'll, you know, I'll nod in another direction because the guy absolutely did have range.

But that was, that was sort of the revelation for me in doing this.

Okay. I'll briefly acknowledge here in terms of Oscar nomination,

seven of them, four for supporting actor, the godfather in 72 apocalypse now, 79 best actor,

great Santini 79, tender mercies, best actor 83.

He did win for that his lone win actor again, the apostle and 97 and then two more supporting actor,

a civil action 98 in the judge in 2014.

I had two realizations, Josh, as I put together my list.

And one was that there are for me four definitive Robert Duval roles.

I was going to apply the Mount Rushmore test.

And I realized, dude, that there's no test more appropriate for Robert Duval than the Mount Rushmore test,

thinking about chiseled rocks.

I mean, I was remembering and I had to look it up.

I had to Google just to confirm it wasn't something my memory playing tricks with me that Saturday night live once put him in a game show

skit called Who's More Grizzled?

And it was hilarious, right?

It was it was him up against I don't remember who the other character was, but Garth Brooks was in it and Norma Guile

I think it was the host. It was Who's More Grizzled?

Well, now you know what time it is. It's time for the grizzled speed round.

This is your chance to catch up. Wait, one minute, two hundred dollars of question. Let's begin.

Money. Wait.

I don't believe in banks or keep my earners in a coffee can.

Correct. Before hardened faces, I see had to be represented.

Now, the fifth is up for some discussion.

I think you may have that fifth between two options covered on your list, but I love how you phrased it.

And I think we're going to have some overlap in our in our terminology or and how we ultimately looked at a few of these characters.

I just came at it maybe just through a little bit of a different door that quintessential trade that through line that connects these characters or at least the characters that are on my list as I was thinking about these definitive rules and these scenes ultimately.

And what what I think makes Duval so exciting to watch is that and this is where the Irradimil will bastard comes in right is that his characters so often have been humbled and are desperate.

Or are in desperate need of humbling the prideful ones are usually louder and the lowly are quieter.

But with Duval, the dynamics are never so simple.

There is range to all of these characters. And so we're going to see that with my list and your list as well.

We're going to see that range play out within all of these characters.

And so we're going to see that with my list and I think that's what I think is going to be about his face, his head, you know, on Mount Rushmore or even just a sculpture of him. And yeah, the artist doesn't have to work all that hard.

No, it's just it's pretty much right there in the rock.

Exactly. So definitely captures his physical quality.

Get us started. Your number five Duval scene.

You know, one of those guys who gives themselves a nickname, you got to love that.

Bo Meachum is a marine lieutenant colonel training pilots on a base in 1962 South Carolina.

I actually see more scenes of Meachum with his family than in the military on the base.

But that's the point because he runs his family with military precision.

And as the movie goes on, this creates increasing dismay and resentment and tension there.

My pick though, despite that family focus, although I think it's related in a way I'll explain.

My pick does take place on the base and this is his motivational speech that he gives his new squadron.

So up until this point in the movie, we've seen Meachum delivering a lot of bluster.

But it's mostly been in front of easy forgiving crowds.

The whole opening section were with him and his previous squadron overseas.

They love the guy. They think he's hilarious.

The bluster goes over just fine. His family at this point hasn't really turned on him.

You can see some of the reservations there.

But for the most part, they're on board with their, you know, very strict, but loving dad.

And then we meet a couple of buddies on this base who veterans he knows as well, who just eat up whatever he delivers this scene though.

He has to deliver the bluster and then back it up before a new crowd.

This is a new group. It's his new squadron in South Carolina.

And he comes through with a blowhard speech of biblical proportions.

Morning. You may know how the privilege of serving 100 of the meanest toughest screaming a squadron commander in a Marine Corps.

Me. Now, I don't want you to consider me as your commanding officer.

I want you to look on me. My guy was well.

God. And deval makes such a meal of this scene because that's exactly what Mechim is doing with the moment.

He's so, this is not scenery chewing because this is the character.

I love the long pause that he gives before he says, God, as if he thinks, am I really going to say this?

Am I going to go this far and compare myself to God? And then he does. And then after he says it, he gives just this little self-satisfied smirk.

So priceless. He's like, yeah, I just did that. Now we do get a clue here that the squadron, not everyone is maybe buying into this.

There's a quick shot of one pilot rolling his eyes. I don't know if we can tell if Mechim notices that, but either way, he just doubles down on on this speech delivery and more phrases.

And every time he comes up with one, like what he says, this is the eye of the storm being with him.

He lets out another little smile. He's entertaining himself so much in this scene.

Within 30 days, I'm going to leave the toughest flying as sons of bitches in the world. The three 12 world squadron will make history or it will die.

Now you're flying with Bull Mechim now and I kid you not. This is the eye of the storm.

Welcome aboard.

There is another layer at work here, though. I think this is where we get a hint of Mechim's worldview, fairly early on in the film.

And how much he believes in it. Another thing he tells this group is we're members of the proudest most elite group of fighting men in the world.

We are Marines Marine Corps fighter pilots. We have no other function. And there it is. That's the movie. He's a Marine fighter pilot, not a husband, not a father, not a father.

And so there's only one way for him to function even at home.

So you probably get a sense of how this fits into the character theme. I just will say that as far as the Iridima Iridima will bastard goes, the great Santini's best scene for me near the climax touches on this in an incredible way.

It involves his son. It dramatizes the sort of resistance to being saved that is at the core of this deval character type. It's not necessarily as great as this one is a deval scene.

So I didn't go with it for that reason. I also don't want to spoil it here in case there are those haven't seen great Santini and want to catch up with it doing their own deval homework.

But it does bring that theme together in a fascinating way for my pick though I'm going with Mechum's squadron speech. This is the eye of the storm.

Yeah, it's a great choice. And I mentioned that I thought you would have that fifth face and for many it should be one of the four faces that would be up there.

A definitive do-fall role, do-ball role and performance. Bull Mechum has to be considered and maybe for me I only didn't consider it because I don't consider the great Santini as a film to maybe be up there with some of these other movies that maybe we're going to talk about.

But yeah, he fits. He fits not only so nicely the overarching theme for your top five, but for mine as well.

There are few characters in do-balls filmography that I want to see again think about my theme and characters that you want to see characters who are in need of being humbled.

There are a few characters that you want to see get their comeuppance more.

I'm going to give you one that I think I actually even though he has such a much smaller role, one I actually want to see get humbled more.

And that's Frank Hackett in Sydney, LeMets Network. My number five and the scene is when Hackett fires William Holden's Max.

I gave it a show, Schumacher. I'm putting the network new show under programming. Mr. Ruddy has had a mild heart attack and is not taking calls in his absence.

I'm making all network decisions, including one I've been wanting to make a long time. You're fired. I want you out of the spilling by new.

I'll call the security guards and have you throw out if you still here.

That scene for me is one that I love. I love the movie as you know. And yes, as I just said, it's appropriate for my theme because I'll use your word, which I have in my notes probably 17 times bluster.

This scene is so much bluster and bravado, right? But I do also think it's such a showcase for DuVal.

And it's not just all that bluster and bravado. It is the dynamics at play too. He gets quiet. He gets in that mid range. And then he gets very loud as well.

And one of the reasons I picked it is because like Gene Hackman, DuVal is one of those guys who has a very distinct laugh. And I'm bummed that I don't have a good scene that really, really shows him with that, that that idiosyncratic laugh of his.

But we do get we get close here him doing something that is unique to him, I think, which is the way DuVal will really in certain scenes will really huff and puff a bit.

He's got this he's got this odd kind of breathy thing he'll do where he'll really let it out when he's when he's reacting when he's really blustering about something.

And here the obnoxiousness of Frank Hackett, the arrogance of Frank Hackett, the character, and I'll give you the line he does it in a second even though people who know the scene probably know the line I'm thinking of.

I was trying to trying to think about how I would describe Frank Hackett in this scene. And he plays him Josh like a seven year old kid who's been told he's won a toy shopping spree who then occasionally realizes he's actually an executive at a TV network.

What do you get specky? I have your ass. I got a hit shoemaker and ready doesn't count anymore. He was hoping I follow my face with this beel shell, but I didn't. It's a big fat big heated head and I have to walk him around with ready anymore.

If he wants to take me up and follow the CCA board, let him. Do you think ready is stupid enough to go to the CCA board and say, I'm taking on one, hit you off the air and come to know them before.

You know, he's bouncing around the room. He's so energetic. He the ratings, the fact that he's got to hit on his hands. He's got so much power because he knows that that ratings means money, money means power means that he's in charge means that he can do whatever he wants means that it doesn't matter what max or anyone else wants to do.

And he he's in control and he he wields that like a little kid running around almost this office. And then every once in a while he calms down. He calms down. He sits down in his chair and he acts like he's a businessman.

But then 30 seconds later, he's back up darting around the room again. You know, he just he can't he can't contain himself and and yet you've got with Duval. There's still such a precision to his movements with his hands. And I'll talk about this again with another character coming up and with that character too.

In neither case does it feel like the precision is planned or you know overly correct anything but purely in the moment, right? Purely spontaneous, but you see it with Hackett the way he'll he'll put his hands in the air when he talks when he's emphasizing something the way the way at one point when he sits down after one of these one of these moments where he's really been on a rampage and he sits down, you know, and he's got that that mostly balding head and like pat the pat the beads of sweat off his head like

you know, he's he's calming himself down after he's finally made his grand point and now the king gets to to relax a little bit and Lumet Lumet actually talks about this scene specifically on the criterion channel and you can find it on YouTube.

And Lumet says that he thinks the scene one of the reasons it's so effective is that there's a sincerity an inherent sincerity about Duval as an actor that makes the excessive vulgarity of the of the scene twice as effective.

And I think he might be right. Certainly when I think of Duval, I think about sincerity as an actor. I think I think about honestness and I think about truth and everything he does.

But I actually think he's suggesting that there's when he says sincerity, I think he might be suggesting that there's almost a politeness to Duval that we attribute to him because he says just a few moments later that you would never think of Duval for a part like this.

No. And and and my point my point my counter to that would be well maybe or maybe not in 1976 when he cast him. But as I doing this list look back on Duval's career now, I would argue that he's really good at playing these types of characters.

These characters who are in need of having their egos checked and checked hard. And so maybe that is, you know, maybe what he's getting at is and this goes back to his first role ever first screen role ever that isn't going to come up on my list, but is an honorable mention, Boo Radley.

Maybe there is something about Duval that made him so perfect for that role, even where there's something so naturally plain and unassuming and every day, guys about him that we do attribute a certain

gentile quality and a certain politeness to him. But the thing about Duval is is there does always seem to be that your redeemable bastard that little bit of a monster lurking within him.

Yeah, I think the kindness or you know that that comes from the fact how often his characters say sir to no matter who they're talking to.

They do have that sort of innate kindness. So maybe that's what I'm thinking of when I think about, you know, hack it just being the blatant, you know, bulldozer in this scene in particular.

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When you were talking about you know how nothing he seems to do particularly with his body or gestures is feels planned right.

Strategized it actually makes me think of a line from tender mercies which we're going to get to but this applies to your point and this is a line that his character says to his character is a once famous country singer says to a young up and coming band who

is asking for his advice. It's just a throw away line but do vol's character says sing it the way you feel it. And I remember when that scene happened I was like I think that's how you approach is acting like this character describing musical performance but that seems to be how do vol approaches performance on screen especially related to what you were just talking about when it comes to those gestures that are so crucial.

There's even one in this senior talking about something he does with his hands after I think max gives him the F you and his response is just kind of like I think you just kind of like wavy way like it's like it's smoke in the air that doesn't do anything.

Yeah that sort of shows in the door almost with his hands in the line I do have to say it the the vulgar line where he does the breathy do vol thing where he gets really blustery is we says when he says he's got a big fat big titted hit.

Oh yeah that's that's the clat that's do vol man that's the do vol line delivery. Yeah it's a great scene nice pick I definitely had network as a honorable mention so glad it made your list.

All right my number four is going to come from a much lesser known Robert DeVal film but again maybe I was too influenced by thinking of this character type I'm going with the funeral speech his character gives in a movie called get low.

Now get low you know Adam that was the film that was the prompting for your joint top five Robert DeVal movies list you did a matty back in the day right back before I joined the show.

And yeah that was just out in 2010 I reviewed it at the time and called out one scene in particular which now putting into the context of his career watching it again I just had to go with this was the funeral speech his character gives he plays Felix Bush hermit in 1930s Tennessee who announces to the nearby town suddenly that he wants to throw himself a funeral party before he dies.

He then uses the occasion to publicly confess a long held secret and the confession which he gives at the funeral that's that's my pick it's a very long scene it's a long speech it's probably too long I wish the music that creeps in at the very end wasn't there and the film had just trusted do vol despite all that man does he hold this moment especially the key early section where Felix talks about why.

He held on to the secret for so long essentially that he didn't want forgiveness that he wanted to make himself suffer the guilt.

You're probably thinking no you do what you wouldn't in a wish you good luck with that I really do.

When I told Charlie what I'd done.

He told me to confess to God the law and somebody else shows like a gift forgiveness.

But I didn't want forgiveness.

He needed to hold on to what I did to be sick from it every day of my life so I never told nobody else.

You see nobody.

So here is an irredeemable bastard who resist redemption like other do vol characters and then this is unique grasp that grasp for it at the end of his life which I think is significance and also this moment just shows you the shading of these aren't just you know these aren't just

bad guys who turn their life around like do vol came back to these figures frequently I'm assuming because they fascinated him but also because he knew he would be able to give each one distinct layers and that's the layer he gives here to Felix Bush is this one reason a guy might resist redemption is because he wanted to punish himself.

So that's that's from get low good movie not a great movie probably great probably better than the great Santini I'm kind of working working up towards better do vol movies I like them both but yeah Bill Murray co stars in this is the town funeral director and he's also he's also quite good so that's the funeral speech from get low.

I will have to take your word for that I didn't get a chance to rewatch that scene it's do vol I'm sure he's wonderful in it I'm I am now just bringing up my my notes I still have my notes from you know that that conversation in a Google Doc my my review notes and it looks like I was maybe a little bit hard on get low back in that review so I can see it I was mildly positive and I think the movie which my comments on the scene probably

already alluded to stacks the decks more than it probably needs to in terms of winning the audience over and you know the devol movies in his in his prime that took full advantage of him.

New they didn't need to do that because they had to fall.

Okay well let's let's go with an oldie but a goody a classic one of those faces obviously I felt like needed to be on that Mount Rush more despite the fact that this character maybe in the movie Josh for 10 minutes

12 minutes total but I think it's a testament to Francis Ford Coppola's vision and Robert Dubal skills as a performer that he is that memorable as lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in apocalypse now and look I love the smell of nae paul in the morning is the choice it's probably the better choice than the scene I'm going with which is his introduction

Kilgore's arrival but that's that's the one I'm going with and and the reason I'm going with it Josh is because I love everything about how Duval owns the scene primarily physically and of course a huge part of this is Coppola as a filmmaker and is directing choices but the way the way Coppola shoots Duval when he gets out of the chopper it's it's textbook low angle

medium shot into a medium close up that because of that low angle just immediately asserts Kilgore's authority but I don't know the Coppola even needs it because just the way Duval is standing right in in that costume that he's wearing the way he wears that uniform and the way he's standing with those shades on he already has all the authority that he needs and in terms of that bluster he's loud but he's loud

only because this is my theory he has to shout over the sound of the chopper blades and over the sound of the bombs exploding otherwise I do think his physical stature is bold enough to dominate anyone or any space that he's in otherwise he can he can communicate anything he needs to communicate and here again this is the movement I was talking about the precision with which he he cracks open the deck of cards those death cards

you know the way he taps the cards and then opens up even the precision with which he he throws the cards down and they they somehow like choppers are you know the wind is blowing around and he he throws them onto bodies and they land perfectly on their chest somehow the the way he walks all of it is just with purpose and and we even get then that brutal joke that Duval somehow does make funny where he Kilgore makes such a shit

of fighting against one of his men or whatever of giving that dying man water

and then of course as soon as he finds out that Lance Johnson the surfer is there he he just takes his canteen and even spills a bunch of it as he goes leaves the man just flailing there he turns he's I remember we call this out in our sacred

you just flips on a dime his personality from this supposedly merciful warrior to what famous surfer

famous surfer right and then the way he this guy this this soldier this guy who does not seem to care at all doesn't seem merciful at all

then somehow seems to have a code as you said and then he's looking at Lance a surfer like he's a four star general like he's an of him the absurdity of this guy who's so unaffected by slaughter and mayhem being odd by Lance and even just talking about surfing in Vietnam and how he does it

it's it's just such a wild ride from minute one until about minute four into this scene and it's it's easy to say following my theme that Kilgore needs to be knocked down a peg or two but you know what Josh you go tell him you go tell him I'm not going to go tell him that he needs to be knocked out a peg or two I'm not going to try in in Vietnam where especially in Copa is vision of it in sanity reigns Kilgore is

Kilgore is he's the king he's the ruler you know and and do all just seems to eat it up he he knows exactly how to embody this guy but here again we're talking about or or you know dancing around or even using some of the same phrases like arrogance and bluster and bravado but he plays him of course in a completely different way he he embodies this type of masculinity hypermasculine

and a completely different way than he does the childlike Frank Hackett for example. Yeah, I were going to stay with apocalypse now for my number three I couldn't talk myself out of the smell of napalm so that is my number three and I think of Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore now that I've seen some of other films from Duval as the great Santini unleashed in Vietnam. This is this is the war.

Meacham was likely waiting for just chomping at the bit for while he was stuck in South Carolina and you know he got there and morphed into this monster that is that is Kilgore it's it's chilling to me beyond the things you talked about which are so intimidating

and the level of his voice that you mentioned relates to this how casual Duval makes Kilgore because I agree with you he's only raising his voice out of necessity.

He doesn't really get riled up by any of this nonsense that's happening the only time he seems to get a little perturbed is when martensheans captain willard tries to try to like call out maybe it's not that safe to surf on the beach and he Charlie don't care.

So if he's sure to clear is he's going to surf and you know that's the only time he really gets animated again is about the surfing but otherwise think of the terrifying calm he projects amidst this this madness when he calls in the napalm strike like he's ordering pizza for him it it's as significant.

How about the language of this madman he talks about blowing them back to the stone age sound familiar I mean good to know that we have a president taking his one time leadership cues from the turn it kill Gorgon kill Gorg that's that's encouraging how about this touch and I'm not sure if this was a herster not there's a mortar strike that that hits the beach I don't know dozen yards or so behind his position I know where you're going everyone else everyone can.

Or cowers jumps he doesn't most of us yeah doesn't so they must never hurt that in stage it but it speaks to you know everything we have both just said this is you know do I'll show some.

In apocalypse now for a couple of I don't know how many minutes not many and comes away with perhaps it's most memorable scene so yeah it kind of works well that we were able to break it up into two moments because it it deserves.

Yeah I think so too and the fact is Josh you maybe didn't even touch on what I think is perhaps the most interesting line in that sequence and it's not even I love the smell of napalm in the morning it's his last line think about what do all does with some day this war is going to end I'm still I rewatch this scene and I'm still chewing on yeah some day this war is a mystery there there's such a mystery to it.

And I can imagine so many actors and I don't even mean on the level of do ball I just mean any actors who I don't know who would be daring enough to try to use that scene for a casting side you know trying out for a role with that scene but if you were imagine trying to make that line work it's such a non sequitur that's the point right is like you're doing all this all this nonsense about nails.

And this nonsense about napalm in the morning and war war war and then all of a sudden he gets really contemplative and says something like someday this war is going to end and and it's so open and mysterious that you you really can be left for weeks thinking what what does he really mean to suggest by that I don't know how many actors could imbu it with enough honesty like within of in the moment just truth to make it ring like it it makes sense for the

character to set that's you know I was going to say and keep it connected to the character that's the challenge with a line like that right and he he does make it work it is even though you don't understand what he means it makes sense as something

Kilgore would say in the little time we've come to know.

I love that touch and yeah everything everything he does with Kilgore is so insanely insane being the operative word insanely memorable we're going to go and then then to my number three and I do feel like that Mount Rushmore any any real investigation of do ball scenes has to include Tom Hagen.

The question is are you going to go with Tom Hagen from the godfather are you going to go with Tom Hagen from the godfather part two and then which scene which scenes are you going to choose from and it it was tough one of the first that came to mind because of the sensibility that he brought to Tom Hagen the way he balanced here going between that.

That need to be brought down and and that that sort of humility that i'm talking about with my characters the way he balanced the hot headedness of sunny in the first one and the ruthlessness of Michael he was the brother that was kind of in between right the advisor in between I always thought about or I immediately thought about the scene in godfather one where sunny blows up at him and says.

After after pop gets gets shot and and he says if I had a wartime concierge pop had Jenko look what I got it's such a dagger to his brother as both his brother and his concierge to say that to him and I remember watching the godfather Josh with friends in college and we we used to throw up we were such a cliche I guess is a group of guys we would throw on the godfather all the time in my dorm room and watch it and we would always

comment on how we couldn't believe sunny was that mean why would sunny say that to Tom Tom's Tom's such a good guy Tom so not here I guess we were falling prey to what limit was saying we saw do all in this role is so so nice and so so sincere and he's just trying to help the family and why is sunny being such a jerk to him right so that was that was something that I I thought about that scene and it would be appropriate for my scene in some ways because

do all their Tom Tom kind of rises up against sunny and he yells at him and sunny humbles him quickly like sunny puts him in about as low a place as you could possibly put him and really cuts him deep but the more I thought about it I realize that my true favorite scene with do all in in godfather one or two is the one in godfather to that makes us recall I think it has to at least a little bit this exchange

I'm talking about Josh between sunny and Tom in the first one where whereas I'm saying sunny uses Tom's heritage against him Tom's adopted as we recall famously he's German Irish right not Sicilian and and sunny his has made sure to remind him of that he's questioned him as a member of the Corleone family capital F and Corleone family lowercase F he's question him as a concierge because he's not Italian but that's to basically

say you don't you don't belong here and now in the godfather to the scene is that scene fairly early on where you have Michael in the boat house after the attempt has been made on his life in his home in his home sorry had to do it in my home he turns to the only person he can fully trust Tom and what does he tell him first what does he say to him he has Michael of course has has a reason for this

there's there's something he's trying to accomplish with this conversation but he doesn't get right to the point what does he say to him first

Tom I always wanted to be sort of as a brother by you like you real brother do vol's reaction is just so tender he has that subtle emotional breakdown and that line just

just cuts me every time I watch it Josh he says I always wanted to be thought of as a brother by you Mikey a real brother and then and then Michael unifies family and family he says you're going to take over you're going to be the dawn and I just I just love the push pull of it being that it's such a quiet such a tender scene there's zero do vol bravado it's obviously the complete opposite of kill or or hack it or some of these other men that we're talking about even though at the same time he's literally

being elevated he's being promoted to the dawn of the the family you know it could be this moment of of real sort of you know celebration and it's it's more significant to him though that he's getting that psychological and an emotional foundation that that that rigor that support that he's always longed for that he's being told what sunny didn't give him originally he's being told by Michael

finally the validation you're truly part of this family your your my brother I've always found that such a touching such a touching emotional scene and it's it's the way it's the way Duval and we're going to see this again coming up in in a scene that we may share it's the restraint Duval understanding how emotionally impactful that scene is for that character and thus for the audience

and and knowing just just at the right volume to play it and to not over play it.

Adam I think the next big release in theaters that we have our eyes on and we'll hopefully be reviewing soon here on the show is Mother Mary from director David Lowry and

and half way as a pop star I knew the basic sort of concept behind this but then in the theater for the drama this was the trailer beforehand and I don't know what to expect anymore I mean this seemed absolutely wild in terms of its visuals and also the metaphysical aspects that Lowry is bringing to this story so very excited for Mother Mary and to see it up there on the big screen

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yeah I love this pick because I think this is a great example of Duval's range just the different registers he's playing compared to some of the other characters we've been talking about while keeping some of those same qualities he always brought to the screen I think for me here's where you know the semantics of how we label our list sometimes comes into play I think if we had done top five Duval characters I would have had Tom hang it hanging on on my list for sure when it came to scenes I had a similar struggle you did

is like what where do I go what's the what's the central one I think what you pick does work really well I was also I heard from a listener James Decker when I was wrestling with this who sent in his pick and it was Tom Hagen for his favorite and said his haunting role in Godfather as constantly

there can see area there you go yeah staying quietly but powerfully and influential in the background in almost every scene where he appears and it was that background quality that James highlighted that really does stand out to me here I think of that meeting of the fine five families seen

and this is where I struggled because he doesn't really do anything but he is literally sitting behind Brando against the wall in this meeting when Brando stands to talk he looks back at Tom and Tom stands with him you know it's it's like there's so so of a piece but it's all in the background and I guess one litmus test for Duval is Tom Hagen is imagine someone else in the role

and this would be a forgettable part not only that it would probably be a part that might have been written out of you know I mean these are long films sure if you don't justify these moments they could be cut and just left on the editing room floor

but because of what Duval's ability to bring so much to them you remember Tom even though he never really takes over a scene so yeah in my honorable mentions but glad

glad Tom made your list all right we're at number two mm-hmm I wasn't sure where I was going to go with the apostle which was my favorite Duval starring film until I did some homework for this episode I love the apostle you should know it Duval here also served as writer and director and yes this is absolutely another era demable bastard Duval's sunny dui this is

Pentecostal preacher who discovers his wife is having an affair with the youth group leader at church he kills the man in a fit of rage and then flees Texas for Louisiana where he begins a new church and a radio ministry as the apostle EF

now sunny was actually on my list of the top five characters who shaped us back in 2023 with Aisha Harris as she was on the show with us then Adam it was around her book that was released at the time wannabe

I'll let film spotting family members take advantage of their archive access and check out my reasons for that pick by going back and listening to that episode before I get to my scene pick here though I want to share another listener comment

an email I got from a listener who chose a moment I didn't go with but definitely consider this is from Reid lackey who chose sunny's a final sermon and read as he'll explain did this for personal reasons

perhaps because of my personal upbringing in the Pentecostal church the scene that stands out to me as his tour de force is the final sermon in the church service at the end of the apostle my understanding is that scene was captured largely in one take using a multi camera setup with minimal pickups Duval taps into something uncommon here he connects to a lengthy American tradition that has to often been satirized and parodied and endows it with dignity reverence and power but the scene is also a masterclassic character work

that it concludes the complex and textured examination of a developed sinful man could have been a moment of supreme melodrama or worse saccharine sentiment but the scene lacks any musical score there's no sensationalized camera work

it's pure performance as believably authentic a portrait as I've ever seen put to film of that subculture which characterized so much of my childhood

so thank you for that read definitely thought about going that direction for some of those same reasons instead I'm going to go with a fire earlier scene this is before sunny's outburst of violence but his life is already crumbling he's learned of the affair the church is going to be taken away from him

and he's fervently praying to god for relief and direction and gets no answer

give it to me tonight Lord God your Holy if you won't give me back my wife give me peace give it to me give it to me give it to me give me peace give me peace

I don't know who's been fooling with me you are the devil I don't know and I won't even bring the human into this he's just a much so I'm not even going to bring him into it but I'm confused

I'm mad I love you Lord I love you but I'm mad at you I am mad at you

what I love about this scene is the way sunny vacillates between preacher mode so when he's giving it a bit of a performance you know the give it to me give it to me give it to me and when he hits genuine notes of surrender

here's maybe a little bit of the humbling that you've been talking about exactly I think this trajectory this from bluster and performance to genuine surrender that's the struggle

sunny is going to have for the rest of the film and it is brilliantly all set up here in this solo powerhouse moment so give me peace what one of the other things he cries out in that moment that's my number two pick from the

Apostle I had a pretty strong feeling it would make your list and maybe that's why I felt comfortable just having this scene as an honorable mention despite the fact that to be totally honest it it was a guide for me it was one of the

things that helped lead me down the path I went down for my list because I felt like the Apostle EF was one of those key characters who who most

crystallized this idea of both needing to be humbled and also desperately was humbled right and that's the central struggle that we see play out with that that character so yeah absolutely an honorable mention for me

number two Josh I guess I may apologize to you but I don't feel that bad about it because I feel like this was fair for me to do my homework on the miniseries loan some

of did you just ultimately decide not to get to it here you you watched how many hours is that again remind me I I don't remember how long the series is but I'll tell you this it's only it's only four

episodes but they're very long episodes yeah they're almost like features right yeah multi hour yeah exactly but I'll tell you this I didn't realize there were only four and so when it

did I thought this isn't this isn't over there's like 10 more episodes right I was sort of shocked I this is what's helpful when you when you are ignorant about what you're about to embark on I did not think it was done so I did complete it and I felt

like I I did feel like I had to for this top five and the reason is because in in the wake of his death I saw a couple places where Duval said

the English play hamlet and kinglier my Shakespeare is Augustus McCray and loan some dove now having watched it I'll put this out there if there is a priority order on Mount Rushmore I don't I don't know if there is with our presidents

there there would be a number one spot if there was I think it would probably be Gus McCray even though I have it at number two and there's there's a reason why but if you if you didn't watch loan some dove or you haven't seen it yet and you think you will watch it and you don't want it spoiled

look do whatever you need to do Josh you can you can put me on mute if you need to but Larry McMurteries book came out in 1985 the mini series was on in 1989 so if I have to spoil

loan some dove in order to pay proper tribute to Robert Duval that's that's what I'm going to do broadly the part you've got my permission thank you the plot broadly very briefly he plays Gus McCray timeily Jones's Woodrow call they are too pretty famous retired Texas Rangers circa 1870 they live a pretty humble life in a small Texas border town and then they kind of get this dream to

start the first cattle ranch north of the Yellowstone River and they set out for Montana that that code I mentioned I I was of course familiar with that before I started watching the series it was really kind of the impetus to watch it so my expectations then for that character Gus McCray were pretty high I mean if you're going to throw around names like Lear and Hamlet I have to see what do all found so fascinated

there's nothing about about Gus and I got it I got it Gus is he's never anything but a man but he's also so richly drawn and portrayed by Duval

it is the friendship between Gus and Call and that partnership between Duval and Timely Jones,

as can Tancorous as it is, they're so damn entertaining together and it's so damn complicated.

That relationship, the pair of them together to Josh despite their ages, they seem so

indestructible. This is why I said they seem so human, but they also seem almost super heroic,

the way mythical western figures often do are superheroes before we had superheroes wearing capes,

right? That it's almost unfathomable to consider one of them not making it to Montana.

And I mean that in terms of the narrative, how I'm describing just the way they're portrayed

in this mythical fashion, but also just emotionally. You become invested enough in this journey

in these characters that you can't imagine them both not being around, but also you can't imagine

the other, the characters, all the supporting characters living without one of them. They're so

dependent on them, right? And yet with that context, somehow I found myself fairly early in the

fourth and final episode having to confront the fact that even Gus McCray wasn't going to be able

to fight his way out of this scenario, having been shot in the leg with arrows by Indians.

And the sepsis, you know, the infection has spread and he wakes up to a doctor having taken

one of his legs and it looks like it's over. And this is then when Tommy Lee Jones, when

when call shows up and it's just such a it's such a classic, you know, DuVal and Tommy Lee Jones

kind of showdown here in this moment, which is that there's so much tenderness and there's love,

but there is that kind of tankerousness as well, right? And there's humor to it despite the stakes

of the scene. And when call shows up, he the doctor says basically, you know, well, there's still time,

the other leg could come off and I could save his life. And before he's even done saying the line,

DuVal's gun comes out and points at the both of them, you know, and and then when that's settled

that the leg isn't coming off and the doctor leaves and it's just the two of them having these final

moments together, there's just some of the writing Josh, I have to say obviously the acting is impeccable,

but the writing too, you know, he says to call at one point like, why don't you relax? He can see

in his friend the toll it's taking on him and he's thinking about him, right? Even though he's the one

dying and he says, why don't you relax? You can't save me. And and it's such such a powerful line

because if you think back to what I was saying before, as viewers, you're thinking, well, this is just

one more scenario where where one of them will help the other get out of it, right? Except this is

one where there's no saving to be done. And and here's where the humbling really comes in even if

if Gus doesn't need it, need it the same way some of the other characters were talking about

really needed. He says he says this finally to to call he says, I walk this earth my whole life with

my pride, you see? Now if that's lost, the rest will be lost with it because there's certain things

my vanity won't abide. He's talking about losing that that other leg. So, you know, Gus McCray, this

character, the character in the world of Lonesome Dove, the man in the pages of McMurtry's book

who had to come to life on screen as we see him on screen is a legend and it only works if Duval

can embody that legend and legends don't die. And I think we as as viewers, as readers,

potentially too, but certainly as viewers here in my experience, we don't want we don't want to

be a made aware of their mortality. And this scene makes us sort of cruelly, but also I'll say

again, tenderly aware of of his mortality. And Josh, there's a moment, I'll tell you this, I'll warn

you in advance. If we're ever doing this top five treatment later for Tommy Lee Jones, I'm just

going to pick this scene again. So you better watch Lonesome Dove despite me having spoiled it for

you because he's just as good if not even better than Duval in this moment. And Jones, after this

exchange, this long exchange, this long exchange, Jones touches his head, his friend's head. And these

are these are grizzled Western men, right? In 1870, who they show their affection in ways that are

maybe not ways that sensitive men today would show their affection. And in this moment, he touches

his friend's head and he touches his cheek and they touches his chest because his eyes are closed.

And it seems like he might actually, he's passed, right? And then he pronounces his name slowly,

Augustus. And there's something about him saying his name, honestly, that's just like heart breaking

because it's just sort of like he's like he's by pronouncing his name, it's like he existed.

You know, that's the only way I can describe it. And as he says it, right after he says it, Duval's

eyes shoot open one more time, almost like he summoned him back by pronouncing his name. And

and that's the the line I was alluding to at the beginning of the show. His his character Gus has

one final line. He says, by God, Woodrow, it's been quite a party. And and then that's it. The

eyes close for good. And she's you're watching two legendary characters played by two legendary actors

just at the at the top of their craft in this moment and throughout this entire series. And you

can tell that they they they played these two characters like they like they believed they were

the equivalent of Kinglayer or Hamlet or any of those other great literary characters. It's

all there on the screen. Well, one sum of dove was a huge cultural event at the time of its release.

I mean, I you know, it was a point in viewing for my parents at in in our house. I can recall that.

And I don't know if they just wanted me out of the way, but I didn't watch it then. And yeah,

I wasn't able to get to it this time. But I'm glad you made the time for it. I did make time for a

movie that ended up being my number one pick, though. And it's you know, you you have sometimes

homework for these lists where you're glad you saw, you know, I would say for great Santini. I'm glad

I watched it. Good film. You know, is it great? No, but you've heard about it. You know, the

reputation, especially in relation to Duval. I'm glad I watched it. Then you have some titles. And it's

like, oh, that's a revelation. Like what took me so long? And that's what I would say about tender

mercies. I would say this to people who kind of know what it is. And it doesn't, you know, it sounds

yeah, maybe if you love Paris, Texas and you haven't seen tender mercies, I think this should be

your next watch. I think this came out a year earlier. Yeah, I think I have that right. And it's

very much a spiritual and aesthetic sibling as well. This is a gorgeous movie in a different way

than Paris Texas is. But I was thinking about both hand in hand. So that's just a bit of encouragement.

If you need one more nudge to see tender mercies, here's a second and it's this scene with Duval

wings of a dove. And Duval here plays Max Sledge, a alcoholic former country music star who wakes up

at a roadside Texas motel after being abandoned by his traveling companion. That's that's how we

meet him at the beginning. Tess Harper plays Rosalie, the devout single mother and owner of the motel.

She lets him work off his unpaid bill. She's hires him eventually to do our jobs. And this puts

Mac on a path towards toward redemption like so many Duval characters. But yeah, as with those

characters, Mac really struggles struggles to let it stick, but never in the ways you expect. Like

it flirts with the bender montage, right, right, very skillfully works its way around it without

making it a moment of triumph necessarily for Mac. I should probably note at this point,

director is Bruce Barisford gets a lot of credit for this. And it's from an original screenplay

by Horton foot. So the scene, okay, this struggle for Mac involves many quietly stunning scenes

in this. I've got two honorable mentions that come from tender mercies, but I went with the one

that offered me the biggest gut punch. Mac has gotten a surprise visit from his adult estranged

daughter played by a young Ellen Barkin. And in their conversations, he asks him if he remembers

this song, he used to sing to her when she was little. There was a song he used to sing to me when

I was little, I think it was something about a dove. Mama says she never heard you sing it to me.

I think it went something about a on the wings of a snow white dove. He sings it something, something love.

I don't remember that. I don't. And you know, he's been kind to her and you know,

open to a new relationship. This has been a very, you know, a congenial exchange. And he just

says no, you know, I'm sorry, I don't remember it. She leaves where you're left in the room with

Duval. And he goes over to a window, turns his back to the camera and just softly begins singing

that very song, wings of a dove. When Jesus went down to the waters that day, he was bad times.

And this is a 1958, I guess country spiritual, you'd call it written by Bob Ferguson. It's been

covered by countless artists. I don't know Adam. If there are many other scenes in cinema,

where an actor conveys more than Duval does here by doing less with his back turned to the camera,

it starts there. It starts with that choice. And not only that, but Barris Ferd's choice

to keep the camera at a distance from across the room. So this is a full-length body shot. We're

that far away from Mac. And he's singing softly, quietly, barely moving until he gets to the chorus.

And this is where you remember this guy's, you know, he's also a musician and a performer. And

he shifts his weight, the slightest bit for the chorus. Very slightly starts swaying to the rhythm,

getting a little bit louder, and then quietly drifts off again, shifts his weight once more,

and lets out this sigh. That's it. But oh, I'm, it's incredible. And so complicated,

this is the mystery we were talking about before with that kill-gore line reading.

Why did he lie to his daughter in the first place? What is he thinking while saying,

I'm happy to talk about it. Okay. I mean, we have, we can talk about it. And why can we talk

about it? Because Duval gave us that gift of wondering and theorizing rather than clearly

communicating it. He doesn't attempt to explain any of it. The movie, again, credit to Barris Ferdin

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Weight Watchers program lost an average of 12 pounds. Just worth noting, Duval does his own singing

here and throughout Tenderly. Yes, there's a lot of music. And I, yeah, I do know we both kind of like

stumbled into talking about this early because this was a bit of an awakening experience for you too.

Tenderly. Yeah, I really liked the film. It was one I needed to watch as homework for this list,

same as you. And we, we did discuss this very briefly on air, even and off air as I recall. And

I just knew I just knew when I watched this scene, I, I knew this was going to make my list. I knew

it was going to be high on my list. And then my next thought was I hope somehow Josh is, is,

is taken with some other scene. He doesn't see the brilliance of this scene. And, and he's going to

be pulled in a different direction. And he'll have something else for tender mercies. And then sure

enough, we, we both saw the magic of this one because it's my number one as well. And I do like,

I like the connection. I like the connection you're making. I like the comparison to Paris, Texas.

I absolutely see it. And I think, I think there's accuracy there. And I could see someone hearing

that who hasn't seen this film and, and seeking it out because of that. It is different in its,

in its aesthetic choices for sure. And in, in just overall how, how challenging it is, I would say,

just in terms of its ambiguity, there, there isn't as much ambiguity or mystery to tender

mercies as there is, as there is in Paris, Texas. But in some of those artistic choices, and, and,

I laugh a little bit when I say this because I want to be careful. The choice

of the shot that you're mentioning. Not just to have it be a long shot, see the entire body

to have him across the room and, and to have the restraint, to be that restraint, to not tip

anything emotionally, to, to allow us to just keep that distance. That, that is one great artistic

choice in and of itself. But the reason I was kind of chuckling is because I'm watching this online

Josh, and I, it's been now at least a month since I saw tender mercies on the screen. So I don't

really remember it on the screen. I only remember watching the YouTube clip. And the YouTube clip is,

is sort of like, you know, a VHS, warn, sure, copy looking on YouTube, right? And it actually gives it

more texture. And in some ways, the YouTube clip makes it look better because it makes it look more

worn. And you realize, I'm guessing this still transfers to the actual crisper looking version

on the screen too. But, but the, the framing draws so much attention to the color palette,

all the, the browns and the different colors that are in that, the choices they made in the

production design and with the lighting to shoot that, that place where they live, the very modest

home that they live in, the, the types of furniture they have, the types of paintings they have on

the wall, the type of television set they have, all, all of this is, none of this is by accident,

right? And it, and it creates a tablo that looks like a pose. You could take that out, you could

take that frame out of Max sledge, looking out the window of, do all looking out the window. And

you could hang that in a museum. That is a portrait. That is a gorgeous portrait and put 10 different

titles on it and, and assign to 10 different people or 100 different people that walk through.

They could, they could put on to that their own thoughts about what they think they're looking at

and what that man is thinking, all because of the different, the ambiguity, but because of the

different layers that are there in the colors, in the choices of, of the design of it, it's, it's

that gorgeous of a shot. It really is as simple as it ultimately is. And you know, I like ending with

this for my theme as well because this other, other than that opening scene, and if I remember it

correctly, we don't really see Duval. There's, there's definitely a bunch of rabble rousing going on.

He's, he's carrying on. There's alcohol and, and, you know, a bunch of partying. But then when

we really meet him, it's the aftermath of that the next one. And the movie then really begins after

that. So this is like fully humbled Duval. This movie, Max sledge is pretty much fully humbled.

Like I'm trying to turn over a newly. Yeah. No more country singing, no more honky-tonk and,

you know, honky-tonk and I'm just now trying to just be a normal guy and put alcohol behind me.

And now I'm going to, you know, maybe try to be a family man. And on the quieter side, Josh, he,

he not only barely raises his voice, when he sings, he barely raises his voice. You know, he,

he keeps everything at a certain decibel level. And as a viewer, we know he's a flawed, you know,

he's a flawed character. He's a, he's a human being. He's a flawed man. But as a viewer, I'm on max

side. I'm rooting for him. And, and as soon as his daughter, Ellen Barkin, right, a very young,

Ellen Barkin starts to ask, Hey, do you remember like we kind of know where this is going, right?

And we're hoping we know that he wants to make this connection with his daughter. We know that he

does because he sought her out already, you know, earlier when he went to the show that his ex-wife

was performing at and he was looking for his daughter. We're rooting for him. We, we hope he'll remember

and that they'll have this moment together. And I remember so closely studying, I'm not going to

say do-of-all, I'm studying Max Sledge's face. I'm watching Max so closely, she's finishing her

question. I'm watching him and close up as she says, do you remember that song you used to sing to

me? It was something like, you know, the wings of a dove. And that pause that he has, he looks away

and then he looks back at her right and he says, I don't remember that. I don't. And maybe now, Josh,

now that we know the truth, maybe the fact that he adds, I don't, after already saying I don't

remember that, that should have been a tell that he was protesting too much, right? But I was studying

him so closely. I was sure that he genuinely didn't remember. I don't know about you, but I was sure

he was telling the truth in the moment that that that he did not remember or maybe it never even

happened that she was conflating something from her childhood, some other memory. But this didn't

happen, right? Or he just didn't remember it. And here again is the restraint to have Matt come

back in, go to the window, look at her leaving and start singing the song, hold that tablo

shot. He knows the truth and the only other people who are going to ever know the truth are

us, the audience, right? And she'll never know the truth. And the way I, what hits me so hard

about that scene is that he, he could have, this is why the moment you said at the top of the top

of the top five about being irredeemable, the irony about that is is that this character, Max

Ledge, could have had that moment of redemption. And maybe even we could say deserves in some way

to have it because he seems like a character who genuinely wants it and has changed his life in

some ways to, to earn it. And he wants it there who wouldn't want it there, right? But he has a

little bit of perspective, finally, and he lies to her. And I think he lies to her because he,

he has enough perspective to know. And he's actually caring enough to know he actually

listened to his ex-wife as much as they fight. He listened to her enough the night before,

when he saw her at the show. He knows that what his daughter is putting, he knows what his daughter

is putting his wife through. And some of it is her rebelliousness, right? But he knows that

they're having a tough time. And he knows that with his daughter coming out to see him that all

it would take is for him to verify that shared memory and sing that song to her now.

And she would, she would almost certainly melt. And she would be, if not full on, she'd be a lot

closer to being daddy's girl. And some of that would be to hurt her mom, right? Part of that

rebelliousness. But partly it would be to fill that void. That would be such a huge step. If they

had that moment of singing that song together, him singing that song, it would be like they were

father and daughter again. And everything in the past was water under the bridge. I think he

understands how powerful that could be, how genuinely redemptive that moment would be. And he knows

that he hasn't truly earned it. He doesn't deserve that redemption. And so he sacrifices the

satisfaction that he would get in that moment. The beauty that he would, he would share with her

in that moment. He sacrifices it because he hasn't earned it. He doesn't deserve the redemption.

Yeah, that's, I mean, I think that's a fair reading. And it connects very much to, you know,

the, the pick from Get Low that I made with Felix Bush, the hermit, who wanted to punish himself

for decades, you know, you do wonder watching Max Ledge. He becomes

in trying to turn his life around. He becomes something of a monk, but with a newfound family

and responsibilities, but he's at this very isolated place with strict daily duties and routines.

Yeah. And I think part of the emotional processing here might be that entering, having her enter

his life, his daughter again, disrupts all of that, which is a very fragile place. Now there's a part

of him that probably wants to. And I also, you know, there's another element at play here,

which are her motives, his daughter's motives, which we learn more about as, as the movie goes on,

but you can get a sense of, as you suggested, she's obviously trying to play parents against each

other against. Yes. But how genuine is this desire for connection? Is something else he's

processing? So yeah, just to allow all of this to percolate. Right. In a moment where he's alone

in the scene, and he's not even looking at towards the camera. Right. And the master. For an actor too,

I mean, to have the humility as an actor, to know that this could be your, your biggest dramatic

moment in many of us in the entire film. And to not, to not say, you know, when I start singing it,

be sure to cut to a close up from the side where I'm going to have a little tear come down my face.

I got a shot. The emotion on my face. Doval doesn't, he doesn't care. Go ahead and keep the camera

back there. Ninety nine out of a hundred films with this scene would cut to outside looking at him

through the window. Absolutely. And, and maybe even make it raining outside so that they're in the

reflection of her car driving away. Yeah, right. And this is just, nope, we're going to sit here and

let him have the, the privacy of this, of this space. Yeah, it's incredible. It is. Those are our top five

Robert DuVal scenes. We've heard a few honorable mentions along the way. Any you would like to

remension or highlight that haven't come up yet. I think, you know, the ones you had on your list

that I didn't, I would include as honorable mentions. And the one that hasn't come up is I didn't

get a chance to chase down this scene, but looking back at some of my reviews of Duval movies.

Crazy heart. He has a small, so pretty role. And there's a moment where I just wrote an excellent

Robert DuVal who saves Blake. That's Jeff Bridges, right? And Crazy Heart saves Blake and the movie

really with a few honest words during a fishing trip. So that's stood out to me, especially in the

context of our discussion here where honest has come up a couple times. So, so maybe that Crazy Heart

scene is worth considering. Otherwise, yeah, Tom Hagen, you mentioned to Killamockingbird as

Boo Radley, the other tender mercies options. I thought for sure, Adam, that you might go, I had

the same experience as we talked about. I thought for sure you were going to go with the guitar lesson.

Early on, tender mercies where he's teaching Rosalie's son how to play guitar. And the climatic,

I think it's the second to last scene, perhaps, where he's outtending the garden with Rosalie.

And I'll just say he gets some tragic news or is processing recent tragic news. And he's

complaining about unanswered prayer. We're back to the apostle here, just why? But the way Duval

plays it physically, they're in this shared garden. And he's very gently patting the earth

as you need to to not like not damage the seeds, even though everything else about him is expressing

this confusion and rage. There's just there's something about the gentility we've touched on with

Duval. That comes out in that scene is that even though this is a low point in his life, he's very

carefully patting the earth as you know, as a good gardener would. So that would have been maybe,

I could, you know, I could have done a top five of tender mercy scenes with Duval, obviously.

Yeah. So yeah, let's see yelling at the Lord in a apostle, Boo Radley, Smellin' Napalm,

what hasn't come up. Don't worry about anything, Frankie five angels in the Godfather Part Two.

That scene, Josh, if you remember the Godfather Part Two is when he goes, and this is the magic of

Duval and Tom Hagen. And you were, you were getting around this a little bit when you were talking

about how he's in the background and he has so much power, but he's in the background.

Until I considered it for this top five, I didn't fully process,

I didn't fully process the extent to which in that scene, and I know people listening,

sort of like, yeah, of course that's what the scene is about. No, I know. I didn't fully process

the extent to which he is the puppet master sending Frankie five angels to his death in that scene.

And he's doing it in the nicest way possible. He's, he doesn't even directly say anything. He

only hints at and alludes to things and mentions things from history and sends him off with a smile

and shaking his hands. And, and, and Frankie thinks him for it because he tells him his family will be

taken care of. You could listen to that entire conversation ten times and never know that Tom Hagen

basically said, Hey, be sure tonight to take a bath and slit your wrists and die because you went

against the family. Yeah, that was one of the, that was one of the Godfather scenes I definitely

thought about going with. It's so good. It's so good. Now again, from the Godfather one, Mr.

Waltz, the, the not only when he says, I'm German Irish and he says, well, you know, my

crowd, my friend, but, but the, the moment when do vol, just one of those idiosyncratic do vol

line readings when when he catches you almost feel like he had to catch other actors off guard when,

when they're having a nice dinner and then Mr. Waltz gets all heated and does the whole, you know,

I'm never going to give Johnny Fontaine a role. It'll make him a star again. And I ain't no band leader,

right? And, and what does, what does Tom do? What does do? Well, he just, he, he makes a face like,

well, that got out of hand. And he just then puts his, the napkin in his lap and he gets up and

is like, thank you for a lovely, lovely evening. Maybe one of your cars can take me to the airport.

And you can see that the, the character, Mr. Waltz is sort of stunned like I didn't, like he

expected to have a battle, right? But Tom instead, of course, is just like, you know, he's just like,

well, Mr. Corleone does, doesn't, doesn't want to hear, uh, he wants to hear bad news in person.

And just the way, the way he delivers that is just so kind of matter of fact. And I'm just going to

get out of here now. And he doesn't fight back at all. And the way, the way Duval does that, I just

think is, is so much fun to watch. A couple other characters I'll mention talk about in need of humbling.

Another one that's like, oh my god, Frank Hackett level come up in Max Mercy in the natural,

the, the scumbag journalist in the natural. I do, I do like him. I'm not picking individual scenes

here, but I like him as Frank Burns and Mash, Bernie White in the paper, Boss Spirman in Open

Range, the, the Kevin Costner film. And that's just, that's just, that's just Duval in classic,

like grizzled, wise old Western guy mode and just a blast to watch, right? And then,

you know, he only appears in two scenes, but he makes them fun in the two scenes he appears

in with Tom Cruise and Jack Reacher. So I'll mention them here in my own. I thought you were going,

he's in Days of Thunder too, right? He is in Days of Thunder. I thought you were going after

you know, I mean, whatever it is Days of Thunder is Days of Thunder. And that's, that's all I'll say

about that. Those are our top five Robert Duval scenes. We would love to hear your picks. You can

email us feedback at filmspotting.net. We may share your feedback on an upcoming show. You can also

find our lists and links to the scenes we mentioned by going to filmspotting.net and clicking on

lists right there at the top of the page. We'd like to mention the film Spotting Family here

in the show every once in a while. And those of you who aren't part of the family might be wondering

why take that leap? Why join? Well, here's some good reasons. It's only 499 a month to join. And

for that small amount, here's what you get bonus shows every month. Add free listening every

episode. You can join the conversation on the film Spotting Family Discord. You'll also receive

our newsletter once a week and you'll get pre-sales and discounts on live events. Of course,

that 499 a month price tag that becomes discounted if you decide to pay annually.

If you do the math and I know you love to do the math, it's only 76 cents more per month. If you

break it up that way, if you do the annual family plus plan, that means you get all those benefits,

you mentioned plus complete access to the film Spotting archive. You can learn everything you need

to know at filmspottingfamily.com. Let's thank a couple of film Spotting Family members here,

Brad in Denver and then film Spotting Family plus member, J.P. Aguyer, who is in Fontana, Florida.

J.P. wrote in this, found you in college around 2014. It was the end of the year list and finding

an hour long podcast where people were talking about the top films of the year made me so happy

and to hear people who love film made me feel like I found home. I think J.P. probably meant

there hours long. I don't know that we've ever done an end of the year list that's an hour long.

No, probably not. Half a segment. Just remember that part about people who love film. Just put a

pin in that for later. Okay, Josh. Brad says his favorite part of the show may be outside the

criteria, but the Varda marathon was great. She can do no wrong. Yeah, accurate. J.P. says,

absolutely love when you do deep dives on certain directors and can't wait for. Oh, so this

must have been submitted a while back. I hope he enjoyed our Andre Tarkovsky marathon.

We do have a rolling submission list here. So yes, we did Tarkovsky back in 2025. And if you missed

the announcement last week, we did tell you our 2026 marathon lineup dissident cinema. That's

coming in three or four weeks. It will begin and you can find that entire lineup at filmspotting.net

slash marathon. J.P. and Brad also weighed in on reviews. We got wrong for J.P. It's

Shasha and redemption. You guys praised it, but this movie more than so many others is a nostalgic

mid movie at best and made me happy to see at least Sam agrees with me. Brad for his part said,

I don't understand the praise for past lives. Okay. Movies they credit with becoming

cine files. J.P. says seven samurai, which my dad showed me when I was about five years old.

Brad says the win that shakes the barley. Interesting. We also love it when family members

recommend books about movies or movie making. Brad highlighted cameraman by Dana Stevens. Of

course, that's a great one. And for J.P. one that I am going to get around to at some point, I promise

Andre Tarkovsky's sculpting in time. We do think Brad and J.P. for being family members and

for all of their years of listening. You can follow Brad on letterboxed at Brad Leo 165. J.P.

is at J.P. is me. That's me M3. So J.P. IS M3. Now I did want to share this. Remember last week

we were having a little bit of an issue deciphering. Is it cachet? Is it cash?

Yes. We weren't sure. Well, we didn't get an email from cash. But I think this speaks to the

the great community that is film spotting. We got an email from a listener named James who said,

heads up my favorite film spotters. Cash may perhaps be too do mirror to weigh in himself. So I wanted

to let you know his name is indeed pronounced cash. And his letter box handle is cash eel. So

C-A-C-H-E-E-L-L. I was tickled to hear him shouted out on last week show. Cash and I met

thanks to the film spotting discord and have since been to many movies together by ourselves and

with our respective wives, the power of the film spotting family. See you at film spotting fest

James. How about that? How about that? So we we we solved that and we found out that two listeners

family members met through the discord hanging out going on double dates. It's it's always

heartwarming to hear about. So in addition to keeping us doing what we're doing, your membership

does come with various perks like Josh mentioned. And we're getting ready here pretty soon to record

our April bonus, which is an ask us anything addition, which yes, we we do cover movies, but usually

at least the other half is not movie related at all and more random talk. Yeah, random stuff. So

more about joining the family again available at film spotting family dot com. We do also like to

mention here that you can help a show like ours, which is still independently produced has been for

20 years by rating or reviewing us on Apple podcasts. Spotify again, we have we have a five star

rating system there. We have it on Apple podcasts and Josh, I do just want you I want you to humor me

for a minute. Okay, because this is fun. I think this is funny. And and it's not I think in 20

years, we have never once bemoaned a negative review. And if you look at if you if you look at no

listen, if you look at Apple podcasts, we have we've been around for 20 years. And if you look at

Apple podcasts, we have almost 4,000 I think 4,000 ratings and we have like a 4.6 out of five. I am

I am so overjoyed with how how people feel about the show. I will never critique an individual rating

or an individual review. But this was funny to me. I think I was looking at I was I had to look up

something over on Apple podcasts and I was like, Oh man, I haven't looked at reviews in a long time.

I made the mistake of looking. Okay, and I have to read this to you. It's very short and get your

response to it. Okay, here it is. Subject of the review is the you know show exclamation point

amateurs exclamation point update tried listening again after years of ignoring them. And there were

500 you knows within the first minute. These self proclaimed self proclaimed film freaks

have the most incredible ability to come up with reasons to dislike nearly every film in existence.

Great films are remembered forever. Not the critics who bash them.

And that was a one out of five star review. Sometimes possible. Josh that that was intended for a

different podcast. I was just going to say sometimes people review podcasts not realizing they're

thinking of another podcast. Also, whoever that podcast is, I like this notion that

they're apparently broadcasting beneath this person's window. They tried to ignore them.

It's tried to. It's not that hard to ignore. But they tried to, but then just found themselves

clicking on it. You just never come down. You don't you don't follow the show. But but apparently

this podcast is broadcasting. Yeah, out on the sidewalk 24 seven. And it's it's really hard.

Here all those who knows I don't know. I don't feel as if we say you know a lot, but I know this

for sure. We've never once referred to ourselves as film freaks. Those two words have never been

uttered in this show's history until right now. I don't think I've used that. And also going back

to the little note I made when we were reading those comments, don't we probably have a history

of liking more movies than bashing movies? I'm just certain. Yeah. I am certain that the

review is way out as as positive, which is not because we're not willing to give a negative

review. We just generally choose. We don't review everything. So we generally choose titles that we

think will likely have a good experience with. Right. So I just I couldn't resist. I saw that.

I was like, wait a second. This is a negative review. And there's no way it's even about our show.

What are we doing here? Apple podcasts. Now let me ask you this. Has this little session helped? Do

you think you'll sleep a little better tonight? Will you forget about this person? I don't know.

I have forgotten about it. Now more. Now I've brought it back. Look, just I guess I'm using it. I

would love film spotting listeners. Go rate us on Apple podcasts and cast that one to the back

of the reviews. Then I'll feel better. Bump it down. Okay. Bump it down. And I'll then feel

fair enough better. Okay.

Reef Hawk. For the last four decades, America's favorite movie star, starring in three of the biggest

franchises in film history, you've had five years off. How are you going to frame the five years

thing? I won't say that I was hiding a heroine addiction from the public. And that my best

and my insane lawyer have me covered up for years. That is a really smart omission.

Strong on this. Today I will. Outcome as we said last week on the show. Perfect example of a movie

nowhere near our radar. We need our streaming video unit investigators, Matt Singer and Jordan

Hoffman to make us aware of to tell us whether or not we should be on the case or not, whether

or not we should be paying attention to it. Well, I haven't listened to the entire episode,

but based on what I know, it sounds like we don't need to be paying too much attention to outcome.

Unfortunately, they took the hit for us. Is this going to be the subtitle of S for you?

We investigated so you don't have to. Yeah, it might be. We will see next week because here's

another one that I had no idea about and boy, does it have an entertaining title? And if I gave

you, if I just told you the title and then said, I'm going to give you three guesses. It's a known

director. I'm going to give you three, three guesses which director it is. I bet you would have

gotten it. If you haven't looked, we can play this game. I bet you get it within two guesses.

It's a new Amazon Prime comedy. It's definitely a director. Well done. It's definitely a director.

You know, the film is called balls up. Who does most of Adam Sandler's Netflix stuff? I'm blanking.

I see where you go, but that's not it. Do you even Brian? Is it a Brian? No, David or something like that.

No, I'll say just give it to me. Peter Farley. Doesn't it sound like a Farley production?

It does, but is he back to, I didn't know post green book. He's doing because he was green book,

right? Yeah. He was. Well, he's got a new one. He's got a new one with Mark Walberg and Paul Walter

Hauser. There you go. So you can hear next week, every Tuesday in your film spotting feed. You can

hear film spotting SVU. They talk about new streaming movies like balls up. They also share some

related streaming recommendations and they debuted a new game called Letter Boxing.

Letter Boxing. Yeah. Curious. Producer Sam Van Halgren played that last week. Did he really?

He did. He joined the show. All right. So a couple of extra reasons to make sure I listen to that

shortly here. Yeah. There you go. New episodes. As I mentioned, drop every Tuesday in the film

spotting feed. Wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to still make room for our other sister

podcasts. The next picture show looking at cinema's present via its past. As a matter of fact,

they have a new pairing beginning just this week. They're looking at the drama alongside David

Cronenberg's a history of violence. So this first episode is a history of violence, which

a beloved early film spotting movie. I understand Adam. Yeah. Number one film of the year 2005.

Adam and Sam, we both, we agreed on it that it was the best film of that year. I mean,

we might have seen that first year of film spotting 17 movies between us. So I don't know how much

stock you want to put in that, but we agreed that we love that movie. And I do say this from time

to time. I mean, they always do great work on the next picture show and their their pairings are

always on point. But this one's particularly inspired because it's one that doesn't have an

obvious corollary. The drama doesn't have just an obvious one to put with it. And this one makes

you think for a second. You have to say, okay, why exactly a history of violence? And then you go,

I get it. Okay. Secrets, married couples, the split. What do I, what do I think of my partner

now that I know this? It's, it's great. Yeah. I do enjoy those pairings as well. For the next

picture show, just look for episodes every Tuesday and you can find those wherever you get your

podcasts. Okay. We have the big news finally to share. We've been teasing it for weeks,

given you a little bread crumbs. Finally, we have some real details to share about film spotting

fest to or how we are at least lovingly nick naming it, if not officially naming it too fast,

too, film spotting. I mean, I don't know if it's going to make the posters, but it should,

no, but it should June 27th and 28th in Chicago. You've saved the dates. We've told you the venues,

the Athenaeum Center for Culture and Thought, the Music Box Theater. Now we need to give you the

movie titles and a few more details. And before we give you the movie titles, just a quick sketch of

of how we approach this and it goes back to what we did last year with the inaugural film spotting

fest. And that was different, of course, because it was celebrating 20 years of film spotting and

it was a bigger event, six films over kind of two and a half days. But we're approaching it the

same and that we're trying to represent what the show is. And that means we are thinking about

Pantheon titles. We're thinking about marathon titles. We're thinking about Golden Bricks,

discoveries, things like that. We're also just thinking about titles that will be good fun

communal experiences and other connections to the show. So all of those things are in our mind.

When we think about these titles, we want people to see the lineup and think that feels like film

spotting. We get it. I think we've done it. I think with this mix, we've managed to do that. I mean,

speaking of Pantheon titles, we're going to kick off the fest with the most one of the two most

recent inductees to the Pantheon Agnes Vardas Cleo from five to seven. I think it was inducted

two weeks ago. Maybe, yeah, maybe something like that. And yeah, so that'll be Saturday the 27th

at the Athenaeum Center. Probably is that going to be like a late morning, I think?

Yeah, 11 a.m. We'll be at 11 a.m. We'll be kicking things off with Cleo from five to seven.

That's right. And I've touched on this, I think, a little bit. But if you were a participant in

film spotting fest last year, we we crammed a lot in. And fortunately, everybody was game. Josh,

our our festgoers were awesome. They they barely had time to use the restroom. Much less, you know,

get a snack before they had to get back in the theater for movies in one day in the case of the

Saturday the Cisco. We have three movies in one day now. And the movies are all a little bit shorter.

That wasn't planned. That just worked out. But also we have more time built in. And it's just

going to be more relaxing all around. Also, since we're at the Athenaeum, we're going to have more

of a neighborhood to kind of roam around in more restaurants. So we we think it's going to be

just more relaxing in general. And that one starts at 11. We'll have our Q&A and everything after.

As we we always will with a guest. And then at three o'clock,

Kriesha, a 2016 Golden Brick nominee and currently scheduled writer director,

Trey Edward Schultz will be joining us at the Athenaeum for that screening to do an intro and

joining us on stage after for a conversation about the movie. I like the tradition where already

establishing is include at least one nerve jangling title. I think we could say take shelter,

fill that with the inaugural Spidey Fest. And and here now with take shelter is also yeah buckle

up for this one. A great one to have a conversation about afterwards as well. Let alone hopefully

likely it looks like at this point. We will be having that with director Trey Edward Schultz.

But then it after it gets you know, it starts out a little bit a little bit harrowing with

Cleo gets more intense way more intense with Kriesha. But then we all get to come down. We get to

we get to chill. We get to laugh. We get to be a bit ridiculous celebrating the 25th anniversary

of one of the great cult comedies of the 21st century directed by friend of the show David Wayne

Wet Hot American Summer in that 7 p.m. slot. That will be fun and it's going to be extra fun because

Katie from the film Marguerite Moro is going to be joining us for that screening and the intro and

Q&A after the love for this movie is just off the charts and seems to grow every year and I'm

especially eager for this because while I liked it when it came out, I feel like it for whatever reason

I didn't join in that fervor that everyone else had and has grown. So I'm going to be one of

join the crowd a little bit late perhaps and yeah another great Q&A afterwards comedies like

this you've got to have that experience with a pack theater. It'll be so fun to do that with

Wet Hot American Summer coming up here this summer. Closing it out Sunday morning late morning

screening on the 28th another 25th anniversary screening a pantheon film and the theme here all of

these movies have something in common in terms of time whether it's sort of characters haunted by

the past we have with Clio a movie that's effectively in real time 5 to 7 is built into the title

obviously you have a film like Wet Hot American Summer which is made in 2001 but is looking back

you know said in 1981 the the characters and tenimbombs that's the movie we have here in that

Sunday morning slot the Royal Tenimbombs where those characters are still unable to get past what they

see as the sins of the father right and the the children and the promised the promising children

that they once were that's that's why we have that movie closing out the fest you know

in addition to the fact that it's one of our favorite films of all time from one of our favorite

filmmakers and seeing that at the music box with Michael Phillips who was unable to be due to a

scheduling issue unable to be at film spotting fest one he's going to be here at the music box with

us now to talk about that yeah what what a shame that he couldn't be there but to bring him in for

this is perfect I can't wait for it I don't know if I've had you know we had Sam on for our

sacred cow review of Royal Tenimbombs many many years ago I guess we did that in spring green

together in spring green on a trip how I even know the episode is like 589 okay so yeah so the

three of us have have dug into a Royal Tenimbombs quite a bit bringing Michael into the fold

having him in the mix will be wonderful so yeah yeah I love the lineup I think it's a good mix of

types of experiences all which lend themselves to good conversations which we'll be having

afterwards and between this is going to be a lot of fun and you know we mentioned the film

spotting family and one of the benefits of joining the film spotting family are

access and discounts to live events like that so like this so that it will be the case with film

spotting fest family members will get access to tickets before everyone else and also a discount

and we're doing a meet and greet type thing as well for family hours yeah it's it's going to be

quite an affair for film spotting family members and I do need to go back extra plug here for

people to want to come to the best Michael Phillips has already told me he's gonna dress like richi

for the screening so okay and wrap it into the shorts if I had my choice yeah Richie's good Richie's

good yeah that okay I think that works so maybe that's not true but we'll see what we can do

film spotting family members this this does get us right into ticket information

Friday, Friday April 24th is when tickets will go on sale at noon

film spotting fest dot com is the hub for all of your information you can go there now

right at this moment depending on when you're listening you will not see links to buy tickets

they will not be available until Friday April 24th at noon but for film spotting family members

you will have access we will share a link with you privately you'll have access a couple days before

so Wednesday April 22nd at noon is when you'll get the link so you'll get first access to tickets

for all of those okay also the way we're doing this is you can buy tickets individually for all

four movies or you can buy a festival pass for the three movies on Saturday at the Athanam

and you get a discount if you buy the everybody gets a discount if you buy the festival pass to the

three films the film spotting family members get an even larger discount when you buy that festival

pass in addition to getting earlier tickets and a bigger discount on the festival pass we are going to

have a special meet and greet just for film spotting family members with us and our special guests

prior to the wet hot American summer screening at the Athanam so it really does benefit you

to get the benefits of being a film spotting family member film spotting family calm is where you

should sign up and film spotting fest calm is where you should go to get all of your details about

the festival we we really are excited about it we we didn't envision when we did film spotting

fest last year celebrating 20 years that we were going to do this every year I don't I don't know if

it's the smartest thing for us to do but damn that we had so much fun we we couldn't help but try it

again and it's coming together and we're we're happy with how it's come together so we're we're

doing it again it's happening again so that's one save the date to put in your calendars June 27

to 28 in Chicago I have another save the date for you coming up more quickly here and far away from

Chicago I'm going to do an Edinburgh meetup Saturday May 2 so yeah just around the corner but this

will be the last meetup of what's turned out to be a little bit of a world tour I guess you know a

UK slash European tour of meetups I've been able to do these last nine months or so that I've

been studying in Scotland definitely wanted to have one here in Scotland have met so many wonderful

people some of who are already familiar with the show some of whom have come to know the show

and to do that before I leave so Saturday May 2 is when we're going to be having that I'm

also coming fresh off the Berlin meetup so did want to say thank you to the folks who came to

that and give a little bit of a report we actually we were having so much fun talking Debbie and I

just pushed our dinner reservations back we were in the same place we were going to be having a meal

and they were kind enough they're like yeah what we'll hold your table you guys just keep chatting so

so thank you very much to Moritz O'Neill, Meekle and Uva who all came out Uva especially made

we mentioned this Adam earlier on a show a four hour train from Munich to hang out how many beers

did you buy? Well we went fancy we we had cocktails at the lounge and yeah they were they were

quite delicious but we don't have any hotel bills for Uva he stayed with his brother there in

Berlin so so that that worked out best probably for everybody but yeah thanks to that group for

coming it was a lot of fun and next one up as I said closer to home for me right now Edinburgh May 2

email us at feedback at filmspotting.net if you want details for that or let me know on social you

can find me Larson on film anything major decided at the Berlin convention the Berlin convention um

no we talked about the drama there was more support I mean I guess one resolution to come out

is that um people are concerned you might pull the plug someday on massacres theater and that's not

something I love that this is something Berlin wants to see happen yeah so so there is an official

Berlin resolution in favor of keeping massacres theater okay I might have to keep threatening this

this is good nobody else has ever danced the red shoes since you left nobody else ever

shell like I probably should have told you this before but you see well insanity runs in my family

if I could only get inside that brain of yours and understand what makes you do these crazy twisted

things put on the red shoes we keep and dance for us again

40s madness Josh it's down to four films are you ready we did it we've incinerated how many

classics at this point 60 right is the math workout that way yes at least 60 more than that

it's so proud yes that's that's exactly what films potting is all about just destroying movies

four films two matchups you can vote now at film spotting madness dot com polls close

Mondays 1159 pm central time and each new round opens on Tuesdays at noon central time again film spotting

madness dot com the elite eight results we had two blowouts we did have two matchups that

we're closer than you might expect a little closer than I expected but alas no upsets Josh the

first one are unrequited love matchup how did it come out this was kasa blanca versus brief encounter

and it wasn't close kasa blanca 80% of the vote taking out brief encounter which yeah I mean you

know brief encounter had some steam thought maybe is it put it possibly no way no way yeah yeah

it was quick you know Sophie PA behind the scenes was like brief encounters in the lead is this

gonna happen what's gonna happen and I'm like no this is just early film spotting family voting

and they're weird in this case and in this case right I mean because I also voted for brief encounter

but no eventually kasa blanca the juggernaut's gonna take over and it did here's grant average week

four of filling in blind spots to ethically vote for kasa blanca and this was the toughest we get

brief encounter was incredible gorgeous black and white cinematography brilliant script and wow

silly a johnson is Laura one of the finest cinematic performances I think I've ever seen five stars

but it's still no kasa blanca wow few films are hold the rug out next matchup citizen cane versus his

girl Friday so the newspaper man newspaper woman matchup let's call it that cane also prevailed quite

easily 76% to 24% we heard from Ethan johnson citizen cane is surely the better film but Friday has

given me the most joy of the two machine gun dialogue and charisma for days okay Sean

means also weighed in as a long time newspaper person citizen cane and his girl Friday are both

high on my personal list of most watched movies it's a tough pick but I choose Walter Burns and

Hildie johnson over Charles foster cane and jedleyland both for movie relationships and for who

I'd hired to work at my paper okay okay yeah interesting criteria yeah I think we we'd all agree

on on those fronts probably a little closer the number three C double and then we up against the

number four seed or is it the number four seed yes double and then we up against the number five

seed the third man and double and deputy took it 58% to 42% Dave Allen says scrolling down the

pole page and seeing these two paired up elicited a grown followed by a good deal of tense internal

debate these are both fantastic films so I had to split hairs the slightest edge went to the third

man for the masterful camera work and well speech in the Ferris wheel I already feel sad

oh that's the madness experience Dave how about this from Joseph Carr it's heartbreaking to vote

against a lead of alley in the third man she suffered enough but actually maybe I can use madness

incinerator rules to ensure she never has to suffer anymore by voting for double and

deputy so double and deputy it is Barbara stanwick gets to keep having her devilishly murderous

fun well who's gonna stop her you're not gonna stop her I'm not gonna stop Barbara stanwick

the last matchup it's a wonderful life the three seed up against our closest thing to a Cinderella

I guess the number six seed the red shoes and the red shoes it put up a good fight Josh but only

only a masked 44% of the vote here's Jennifer Milch this one kills me how do I choose between

the pathos filled funny sexy the chemistry between read and Stewart always moving wonderful life

in the fever dreamy surreal tragic shoes I hate this matchup I'm voting for shoes because I think life

will win but I want it to be close okay also because the last dance in that movie is one of the most

surprising chilling and beautiful endings ever to make this worse I'm a huge David Lynch fan and he

loves both oh wow Jennifer's just making things worse for herself by doing that stuff the research

Mike Weston says thanks to film spotting madness he actually saw both of these movies for the first

time wow oh wow voted for its wonderful life but it was a close call and it was our closest

call but still pretty decisive victory for it's a wonderful life and that means that our final

four is exactly the final four that we thought it would be we have the number one seed Kasa Blanca

versus the number four seed double indemnity we have the number two seed citizen Kane versus the

number three seed it's a wonderful life now Josh are you going to surprise anyone with your choices

here are you going with the top seeds is it one and two or yeah I mean if this is so boring I wish

I could annoy people but it's it's pretty clear to me that out of these four it's got to be

Kasa Blanca and Kane I just I could try to come up with a contrary and argument but I'd really

be bending over backwards okay I am going to go against the order of things a little bit you know

my love for double indemnity I have it beating Kasa Blanca in my personal preference vote not in my

bracket and I do have citizen Kane beating it's a wonderful life I do of course think it's going to

be Kasa Blanca versus citizen Kane in the final matchup that is what I predicted and we'll see how

things go but right now for our show next week our plan originally was to talk about the new

David Lowry film mother Mary doesn't look like that's going to work out for both of us schedule-wise

in terms of what's available for us both to see theatrically we had to pivot and citizen Kane has

been on our calendar as part of our pantheon project it turns 85 this year so we needed to talk

about citizen Kane anyway to check that box you suggested maybe we should check that box now

tying in with madness and we could bring Kasa Blanca into the mix because as I think we recently

put into the film spotting feed an archive drop that Kasa Blanca conversation from I don't know

10 years ago or whatever was myself and Michael Phillips you never got to talk about Kasa Blanca

so what if we did sort of a Kane versus Kasa Blanca just like we did rear window versus vertigo

conversation and I think that's what we're going to do that's right that's the last time we did

something like this just embracing the madness the ridiculousness of pitting these moves let's just

not pit them against each other in a bracket but in an actual conversation right and honestly that's

not the thinking about it I think as that vertigo rear window pairing revealed is there will be ways

these movies reflect off each other and bring things out of each other and also I was thinking we've

joked about the fact of how do you talk about something like citizen Kane right it's been so

studied so discussed it's so obviously great what new could we bring to it I feel we would have been

up to that challenge but this is kind of a nice workaround to that as well is to think about it

in light of something like Kasa Blanca so we'll see this could be an experiment that blows up in our

faces especially if there's an upset in film spotting madness but yeah it sounds like a fun plan

for now and the stars did align with how the bracket was heading there you go so let's take a look

at how things stand in the bracket prediction contest we did have to kind of guesstimate the results

because we recorded both we recorded the show before the polls that officially close but as anticipated

we we had Lewis Hill I don't know why he's called raising Kane here that's a Sam Nick name

he is at the top of the leaderboard he maybe it has to do with the fact that he has Kane winning

at all he is at the top 59 out of 60 picks correct he did only miss that one in round one and he does

have Kasa Blanca versus Kane in the finals with Kane taking it the winner will likely be dictated by

which film wins yes it will come down to that almost certainly if it's Kane Lewis wins if it's

Kasa Blanca it looks like it will be Samuel too many hitch cocks Maxston he's currently in third place

he missed three picks in in the first round Josh but he's been flawless sense on a roll yes if it's

it's a wonderful life Sam's doing the math here he's done the breakdown if it's it's a wonderful

life or double indemnity there are brackets out there that have gone with those films to win

and we shall see so he he decided I'm not going to do further analysis we'll just say fair enough

there are others that could win now we all thank you Sam yes our bracket challenge the internal

bracket challenge guess who's in ninth place overall me not me no I am in I am in ninth place I have

never been in the top 10 print the banner yeah yeah it's it's going to change though it's going to

change pretty quickly I I have a fear I am in ninth place Sam is second he's 50th overall very good

Mike Merrigan is in third place he's 71st overall and Josh you're picking up the rear you're 200

overall and and a big part of that has to do with you picking the third man over double indemnity so

didn't work out for me no as I mentioned last week we do though all have the same well we can't

all have the same final four can we if you pick the third man over double indemnity no I think I'm

I think I'm out I think I'm I'm just going to go walk around the block 20 times yeah yeah something

something must be off there but the big difference the big difference I know between our brackets

is that I'm the only one that picked cane to beat Casablanca so that's what's going to decide it

here it will definitely be Sam or Mike taking it I don't know if the point discrepancy is enough

with you picking Casablanca to overtake me but we will see if that's how it plays out cane

cane V Casablanca or not and if Casablanca the number one seed goes on to win we have a few few

rounds left right now the final four polls are open they close Monday April 20th at midnight

central time and the new round will begin the the championship match Josh plus the the third

place option will the third place match up I should say we'll begin on Tuesday the 21st at noon

central time film spotting madness dot com is your hub for all of the madness and that's where

our madness this show will end Josh if you would like to connect with the show on social media you

can find Adam and film spotting on Instagram Facebook letter box in YouTube at film spotting I'm at

those places as well as Larson on film we are independently produced and listener supported you

can support the show by joining the film spotting family at film spotting family dot com you can

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to the entire show archive for show t shirts and other merch go to film spotting dot net slash shop

out streaming or VOD this weekend yes you can see balls up starring Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter

Hauser on prime you can see Sadie Sandler and Chloe East in Netflix's college set comedy roommates

in limited release the new one from Francois Ozan he adapts al-Berkemou's the stranger

wide after going missing in the desert eight years earlier a young girl returns in or as

Lee cronens the mummy lecronin directed 2023's evil dead rise and we have Bob Odin Kirk is a small

town sheriff who uncovers an international criminal conspiracy in normal directed by Ben Wheatley

next week in your film spotting feed you will find film spotting SVU on a Wednesday you'll get

our archive drop Josh we're going to do the eight twenty four draft that we did back in 2022 to celebrate

the 10 year anniversary of eight twenty four so some some fun stuff to talk about there we'll get into

when we set up that draft and then Friday will be Kane the Casablanca and the 40s madness final film

spotting is produced by golden Joe D'Sou and Sam van Halgren without Sam and golden Joe this show

wouldn't go our production assistant is Sophie Kempanire special thanks to everyone at WBZ Chicago

more information is available at WBZ dot org for film spotting I'm Josh Larson and I'm Adam Kempanire

thanks for listening this conversation can serve no purpose anymore goodbye