Crazy Heart

Welcome to Rob and Tony's Cinematic Adventure. I'm Rob Wilson. And I am Tony the Quano.

So Tony. We have come to the last of our previous Oscar winners for this Oscar series. We still do have one more Oscar movie in our Oscar series, but that's not going to come for a couple more weeks. We gotta wait for this year's wonder to come out. So let's talk about a previous Best Actor. Best Actor, the last of our acting categories. Yes. The best actor winner from the 2010 Oscars for the 2009 movie, Jeff Bridges, who we talked about last week.

We did talk about him last week. But he was not the subject of our episode last week. Our subject last week was Mercedes Rule for the Fisher King. But our co-leads were Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams for that. So we talked about them a lot in that movie. We did, yeah. I mean it would be hard to not to. Yeah. But yes, our subject for last week's episode was Mercedes Rule. But this one, our subject is actually Jeff Bridges, as the best actor winner for the movie Crazy Heart.

Yes, for the movie Crazy Heart. Hit this was uh his fifth Oscar nomination and his first one and so far only win, right? And He should have won for Big Lebowski. He should have won for Big Lebowski, that's correct. He should have won for Trump. John Goodman both should have won for Big Lebowski. Yes. They both should have won. Bridges for best actor in a leading role. And John Goodman for Best Actor in a supporting role. Yes. But they did not, alas.

Unless it unless they wanted to do like co leads and just give'em both the lead actor and then give Uh Sam Elliott the supporting. Well d yes. And they could have done that too. And he would have had less screen time than Jack Sallance. Yes. But still play the cowboy. Yep. There's also cowboys in this movie. Yes, yes, there are. There are cowboys in this movie.

It was Cowboys in an Oscar movie we did last year, No Country for Old Men. This movie has cowboy hats. Mm-hmm. Some Stetsons, just like that. Yes. This movie does have some great hats. It does. It also has great music, which we'll get to in a minute. Yes, yes, it ha it does have some great music. Uh but yeah, I mean this was it's funny, like when this uh came out, like you know, obviously by this point the the big big Lebowski had cemented itself as like a cult.

hit, not just a cult hit, but like submitted itself within pop culture. Right? And uh Jeff Bridges had kind of ridden that wave and um it had some good roles between that and this. But uh and all of a sudden this movie came up and it was not even a movie that was even supposed to be originally slate it to be an Oscar contender. Uh CMT Country Music Television helped produce this movie. And then I thought it was going to be direct to video and then

People saw and they realized like Jeff Bridges is really, really good in this movie. Mm-hmm. And so Fox Searchlight helped pick it up. Uh they bought it from Paramount's independent label. And they released it late in the year and you know, it wasn't even six months like like summer of two thousand nine, right? I wasn't even really on a lot of radars as a p potential prestige pitcher, yeah, so to speak, right? Or Oscar bait pitcher.

But then it got picked up and because Jeff Bridges is I mean, it's he's great in this movie. Yes, he is. It got released and it gained traction. It's like he's due for an Oscar. And he won. Yeah. Is it his greatest performance? Maybe not, but he's really, really good in this movie. It's always great when a more independent movie you know, gets the recognition of, you know, being nominated for an Oscar.

It does, especially for the such a high level of these awards. It's it's funny'cause like we say it's independent, but at the time, like, yeah, I mean it has Jeff Bridges in it. Yes. It has Robert Duval on it. It has Robert Duval. It has Robert Duval. Um, you know, Maggie Gyllen Hall, right? You know, it had notable names, but the director Scott Cooper, like he was more known now. It was his first movie. He was a nobody. Right?

And um it has very much that feel of an independent produced movie. You could tell that the budget on this movie was not big. No. Despite having some very well known actors. Yeah, I mean that's that's where most of the budget went, I'm sure, was to pay the actors.

was to pay these these big name actors that are in it. Yes, exactly. And you know, I'm even you know, I'm I wouldn't have been surprised someone like a Robert Duvall who is really in at the back end of this movie and has like three smallest scenes and he's He's excellent. He's Robert Duvall. Yes.

He's gonna be excellent with anything you give him, even if it's really not that consequential of a role. Yes. He's gonna take it seriously and make it a really, really good performance. Yes. Rest in peace, Robert Guvall. And r I'm gonna say rest we're gonna say and yes, rest in peace, Robert Duvall. This movie was not selected because of his recent death. No. Um we will cover that very soon. We will be doing a Robert DeVall tribute episode soon.

And we we considered putting Tender Mercy's, his Oscar winning role role, into this slot. And this movie is very similar to Tender Mercy's, mm-hmm, for which he won his Oscar. But um we decided to hold off on that. Um and do a tribute episode that's not doubling as an Oscar episode. Yes, exactly.

So I I I think that works well. And uh this movie is, you know, also very much closely related uh kind of like a cousin of the first movie we did in the series, Walk the Line. Mm-hmm. This is not a biopic like that, but it involves the it's a fictional story of a Bated country star. Yes. Um and it shares a uh composer. It does. With uh T Bone Burnett. And this movie's not even really about um

not really even about his return to glory at all or even return to prominence for that matter to be honest. No, really. It's just about him. Just about you know Him kind of coming to terms coming to terms with what he is in his life. Sort of a washed up musician. But you know, but realizing he still has great talent and still has much to offer. Right? Yeah.

Um But yeah, so yeah, we um but yeah, so you know, obviously Jeff Bridges and you know He won his Oscar and it's funny, like the following year he plays almost a uh similar type character, uh in the true grit remake from the Cohen Brothers. Which he's also an also fantastic in. Yes. And then he also gave another Oscar nomination a few years later for another movie I wouldn't mind doing one day on the air is Hell Hell or High Water.

Which is another movie he's in that ha is a independent ish movie. Um, that's also really good.

But uh well one of the movies I was thinking about that we've done that this the storyline the stories are very different. Um but you know, a few years ago we did Coda. Mm-hmm. Another independent movie. Yep. Right. And uh that one obviously didn't didn't have quite nearly the star power.

of this, right? You know. Um Marley Matlin, right? Was the most prominent name within that cast, right? And she's not quite on the level of a Maggie Jill and Hall, a Robert Duvall, a Colin Farrell, right? A Jeff Bridges. But, you know, it makes the use of its setting to really help s sell the story. Yeah. Right? And this movie does that also. Yep. It does. And the music. And'cause I mean that movie's about a musician. This movie movie is about a musician also. Right, you know.

Different parts of their yeah journey, so to speak, obviously. Um and I mean that's the other thing, as he mentioned, like the music in this movie is fantastic. Yeah. It is. It really is. And uh Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell both did their own singing in this movie. They did, which I really appreciate. Yes, we do. It'd be easy it'd be easy for them not to do it because Ryan Bingham is was involved with this with T T Burn Burnett. Ryan Bingham appears in this movie in a small role. Yeah.

Um and he could have easily done just the singing himself because he's a competent musician like that. He's more trained than Colin Farrell or Jeff Bridges. Yeah, but they they both trained with him. Yeah, they both trained with him in order to sing in this movie. But yeah, no, I think it's very appropriate that they that it's their own voices. Just like just like Walk the Line, it was Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon doing the singing. Precisely.

It gives an authentic authenticity to the story. Yes. Which I think is important because like The story itself, right? It's not a groundbreaking type of storyline, right? No. Washed up, musician, washed up, whatever it might be. And there was another movie around the same time, the year before this, The Wrestler, right? With Vicky Ward. Yep. Um similar type of thing. Washed up, an alcoholic, a strange right? Mm-hmm. Start this relationship with someone else and uh

You know, and y you can put that in a variety of things. There's not nothing groundbreaking about it. And the movie itself is based off a novel that was over twenty years old at the point, right? From the late eighties. Yeah. And I'm not sure how well known that novel really is. I've never heard of the novel Crazy Heart. And um they they changed some things within within it to to make it work. Exactly. But the uh the movie really needs to be sold.

A you know, like you said, the music. The music has to be good in the movie Yeah. If it's a musician. If it's a movie about a musician, the music has to be good. And the music is fantastic. I just and it there's so many scenes where like it's just kind of going between scenes and shots. Mm-hmm.

And you're just getting pictures of this the the landscape. Yeah. And the music's going over. And it's just it's be it's great music and it's these beautiful shots of the landscape. And like this'cause the cinematography is really good in this awesome. Yes it is. And you just It allows you to just go take an into the the world that this story is taking place. Yeah. I mean Which is the American Southwest. Yeah. This movie mostly takes place in Arizona and Texas.

Yeah, well New Mexico also. Yeah, like Santa Fe and Yes, that's right. Like the first the first half of the movie is mostly Arizona and New Mexico. And then it kind of trans then for a little bit goes to Texas to Hugh specifically Houston, right? So you get to southwest. Then they kinda get more of the south with Houston. And then you kinda go back to the southwest. Yeah. Yeah y yeah, New Mexico more than Arizona.

Yeah,'cause it starts in New Mexico. Oh, I there's a few scenes in Colorado, but again it's kind of that w southwest, old west type of feel. Um because the first few places he plays is Colorado. He's Which she mentions in po in Pueblo. But we'll get to that. Um yeah, but yeah, you have to get that sense of this world of where he's traveling in these towns where he is, in these small bars. Mm-hmm. And how he's just this guy is not travelling in these huge tour buses, but

And it's suburban. Yeah. And it's 1981 suburban. And we mentioned that, you know, it a movie that's about a musician, the music has to be great. But in order for it to be a good movie, it's got to be more than just good music. Exactly. Right? A lot of Like musical biopicks. You know, I mean we talked about walk the line a few weeks ago. We did. And that is A phenomenal one, in my opinion. It is. It is. I agree.

I'm not a fan of most musical biopics because most of them seem to focus more on the music than the story. Yes. The music may be great at them. But there's not a whole lot of story to it. You're right. You're not telling a whole lot about the person behind the music.

And what I like about this though is it it it doesn't it focuses a little bit on his past and give us the nuggets of information that we need to know. Yes. But we but it's more concerned about where his entire pass is going. Exactly. That's what I liked about this one too. It's it's showing his journey from his point of view, from from his like where he is now. We get enough of his past to determine, you know, where he is now, but then we see where he's going as he goes. Yeah.

And it it's and for that you need a the right you need a great actor to do it. Jeff Ridges is perfect for. Yes. Right? Because like again, the character is kind of stereotypical. Right.'Cause we have the basic sketch, we know where he starts and we get enough to fill in the background. But now you want to take that journey with him in that story to about where he goes. Yeah.

And this would be a very easy character that'd be ver could be very cliched in the wrong with the wrong actor. Mm-hmm. Or very someone that you would not have a lot of sympathy or empathy for. But you do because Jeff Bridges is fantastic in the role. Yes. Yeah, I mean there are a couple of parts, especially early on, where he's kinda despicable. Yes. But you believe it because it's Jeff Bridges playing it, and he does it so well. But you also you kinda

You kinda empathize with him because Yes. Even before you find out about his past, any part of his past, he just plays this character in such a way that you feel like you know him like right off the bat. Exactly. And you know, allows you to take that journey and then you get to a point that a a pivotal moment late in the movie. Mm-hmm. Where again he we'll get to it, where he does something really stupid. Yeah. And he does and you you would his his response to it is heartbreaking. Yeah.

Heartbreaking and you know And at the same time you like you wanna look at him like what at the same time the kick in the pants that he needed to then improve his life. Ha ha ha. And there's reactions from a couple of different characters within it. And you completely side with both of them with how they decide to respond. Yes.

Yeah. Because they're at different situations themselves. They're different characters. They have different needs and um different respon different responsibilities. Yeah. So um yeah.

It it it needs it for that. So uh but to go along with that, right? So we talked about the music, T Bone Burnett, right? He does the music for this, and Ryan Bingham um is credited also um with some of it. Um so it wasn't nominated for score, it was nominated in one for best original song, the the Weary Kind. Mm-hmm. Which is a song we'll get late get late into the movie, right? And uh both of them were nominated for that and won.

And then Maggie Gyllenhall, right? He kind of rode Jeff Bridges kind of coattails on this to Oscar her Oscar nomination. This would have been soon after the Dark Knight. Yeah. I mean she already had been in plenty of movies. And strangely enough, this is um she's does not share screen time with this actress.

She didn't share with her with any other movie they were in together, Donnie Darko, but Beth Grant's in this movie. Yes. Beth Grant is in this movie. She does not have a single line in this movie. Nope. But she's in one scene and then a very quick shot in another scene. So yeah, she's like in yeah, one yeah. One in a fraction scene. Let's just say she has a tea party.

But no, uh so the whole time that I was watching this, so Maggie Jalen Hall reminded me in this movie. I don't know what it was, I don't know if it was just The wardrobe, the haircut, whatever well just the more of you know, a a southern movie kind of thing. She reminded me in this movie of Lauren Cohan. Specifically Okay. Lauren Cohan as Maggie in the Walking Dead. I can see that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Even though Lauren, go ahead and you know, sure born in America, raised in England.

You know, she's not Southern No, no. But plays a Southerner in Walking Dead. But no, z for some reason, like it Maggie Jillen Hall reminded me of her in this movie. Yeah, I see that. To the point where like I it I could have seen this movie with, you know Lauren Cohen could have played that part. Okay. Yeah, I g I could see that.'Cause it's a very again.

A very broad kind of role. Mm-hmm. And but both are also great actresses. And she's and Maggie Jalal's also very good at that. Both are both are very, very good actresses. And so I can see either one of them playing this part. Yeah, I I can too. Absolutely.

And I I you know, um It's funny than no, I do think it's funny like Con Farrell's in this movie. He is in a lot less of this movie than I thought he would be. Yeah, no, he's only in like two scenes, a sense I mean maybe three. Yeah, I think like three. Um but it's probably like three. Maybe maybe or more three, maybe four, I should say.

Even all of them together, he's not in this movie any more than like a three scene. I guess there's three at least three scenes. There's but maybe a fourth one. There's one scene that's very larger than the others. But e even then the he couldn't have been in this movie for more than fifteen minutes. Most of this movie is really mostly

Maggie Jill and Hall, one of the most uh the two biggest, I mean, outside of Jeff Rid, you know, Jeff Bridges. Like Maggie Jillen Hall is obviously the biggest. Yeah. Um Yeah, because it's just another c a lot of it's just like a collection of other characters he meets along with the case. As little of this movie as Robert Duvall's in, I think he has a

I think he might have more screen time than Colin Farrell. He probably does. Like Colin Farrell's care Colin Farrell's character is mentioned a lot in this movie. Yes. He's referee though. But uh yeah, he's not in a lot of it. I guess he does have four scenes'cause he's at the he's at the end also. There's a handful of scenes that are really all tied within one larger scene, I guess, uh in the middle of the movie. Um, but I mean even like the characters actually probably in this more than him.

It's probably Paul Herman. Yeah. Yeah. Right? He probably has a larger role than uh Colin Farrell, at least in terms of screen time. Yeah.

I mean Jack Nation has more screen time than Colin Farrell does in this movie. Yes. And he's a little kid. He yes. He's a four year old. He probably has he probably has the third mo he probably has the third longest screen time of anybody in this movie. Probably. Right? You know, because you got what Tom Bauer in this, but you know, he's in like two scenes. Mm-hmm. And like he's done halfway through the movie. It's really not a large cast. No, it's it's not.

Because it's really all about, you know, it's just kind of the travels of one person. Yeah. Jeff Bridges. Yep. And then kind of this relationship that he develops with Maggie Gyllenhall, who is What's exactly their age gap, by the way? Uh wide. It's really weird how that develops, or we'll talk about it as we get into the movie. Yeah, w wide's correct.

But you know, it's funny'cause okay, so be before we like actually really get into the movie, like this is my second time watching it. And the first time, I mean, was not long after it came out and Uh I knew she had like developed like this relationship, but I for some reason I was remembered it more as just kind of like this casual friendship. Yeah, but it's it's it's more than just a casual friendship.

It's quite a bit more than just casual friendship. I was not expecting going into this movie that Jeff Bridges would have a tea party with both Beth Grant and Maggie Jill. So but that that that's there, yes. Spoiler alert, by the way. Ha ha ha But yeah, it's a it's a it's a good watch, right? You know, is it a great movie? Probably not. Is a great performance? Absolutely. It's a good movie. But it's a great movie. I don't know. I guess great performances. Great performances. Good movie.

Definitely worth a watch. One of the things I kinda like about it is because like uh we talk about like yeah, he's kinda like this washed up singer and like he's playing at these Small bars, right? I don't know. I I like just Because again, they're making that low because it's low budget. Like the filming on location in these small bars, like it makes this it gets this nice authentic kind of grittiness to it. It's it's I think it really helps it. It gives it a lot more of an intimate feel.

It does than you know, your your bigger budget movies like this. So yeah, what yeah. So you know, you helps you believe kind of like that. his desperation why he might feel so down on himself like Kind of what he's reduced to. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

Where he's playing in like not e even like these nice dive bars, like you know, it's like his first these bars are probably going out of business as soon as the owner dies. The first one that he plays at is a bowling alley. It's a bowling alley. Yes. The movie with Jeff Bridges starts at a frickin' bowling. Yes. Yes. Which I thought was an excellent touch.

Which I guess we could jump into that in a few minutes more. But yes. Well I'm only mentioning that now because it is like the very beginning of the movie. It's a good idea. So we're not spoiling anything. We're not spoiling anything. But this movie has a boiling alley. Jeff Bridges at a bowling alley. That looks very similar to the big Lebowski bowling alley. This was at least the bar area has. Steve Bishemy, John Goodman, and John Taturo. Yep. The Jesus is not in this movie.

No. There's also no fight with Nihilas the Far. Nope. Carl Hungus is not among us. Ha ha ha. Now, Too Excited Trampoline Guy is somewhere probably in this movie. Yes, Two Excited Trampoline Guy is definitely somewhere in this movie. There are there are concerts in this movie. He's probably out in the parking lot at one of these concerts. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Because I mean there's a couple of bigger concerts I can go to in this movie. So he's probably at one of those concerts. He doesn't go he's one of those guys that doesn't go in the concert. He stays in the parking lot. Mm-hmm. With his giant track. And he's just he's looking at you ladies are going by that ready to be top less. It's like I got a trampoline, you have boobs out. Yeah. I'm gonna throw you on a trampoline. Now I'm just gonna get too excited. What's up?

Cheers for that. There we go. We should get in the movie. Yes we should.

But you should. So as always Spoiler alert, we are gonna be talking about this entire movie. beginning, middle, and end. So if you have not seen it and you don't want to be spoiled, pause the podcast, watch the movie, and come back and listen. If you have seen it or you just don't mind being spoiled, then keep on listening, but you have been warned we are going to be spoiling this movie.

Which we've already kinda spoiled a little bit of it, but that's okay because the stuff we spoiled was at the very beginning of the movie, so we didn't really spoil much. No, we didn't. So And w the thing we spoiled was this movie starts at at a bowling alley. With two excited trampoline guy. I guess I well actually I guess it it starts

Actually I guess it starts with a like a a you know, S C V like you know, jeep driving through like you know, these roads and the west. And it arrives at the bowling gap. It starts with some cinematography of the of the west of California. And some very nice country music. Yes. And we're talking about country music, we're talking about really more of your uh seventies eighties style country, right? Because again, he's kind of a washed up country singer.

Right. And they they do make a point of him thinking about how like, yeah, like country is country music has changed. In two thousand nine. Yeah. Country music has changed even a lot from then to what it is now. Right. But he arrives at a bowling alley. His name, you know, his name's up there. You know, it says his name is Bad Blake. Jeff Bridges plays a music musician called Bad Blake. He was once

a massive country star. His records sold easily. He headlined, right? He was a well known country artist. Yeah. Right. And now he is almost sixty years old. And he's playing at a bowling alley. Right? He doesn't have a tour bus that brings him there. He drives himself to the bowling alley. He's not playing at a stadium, he's playing at a bowling alley.

And not just like at a bowling alley like in this small corner of a bowling alley. Yes. Now grant this bowling alley has a stage, like you know, I guess they have another corner stage for some musicians, right? But And we find out that this bowling alley is in Pueblo, Colorado, right? And previously he was playing at this town kind of on the border of New Mexico and Texas.

And yeah, the uh bowling alley owner or manager's there. He's there to greet him. And he was telling him that, oh yeah, your manager said that you'd be coming and this and that. Mm-hmm. They explain their pleasantries and he tells them where he needs to go inside. Yeah. So he can kind of see he walks in there and he's smoking a cigarette. And the owner so tells him, you know, there's no smoking inside, but feel free to finish that one off.

Yeah, because the odor is a fan of his music and he's trying to be polite about it, right? It's like, Oh yeah, I know you can you know, I g I get it, you're smoking outside and uh you know You're you're welcome to finish that one, but just don't light up another. Yeah. It got th this is at the time too where like around two thousand nine

There's around a time where a lot of indoor places really started transitioning to like especially bowling alleys and bars. Yeah. By this by that time, most restaurants had eliminated smoking sections, but bars, bowling alleys and places like that. Still largely allowed spoken. And that's you know, but they were transitioning away from that because of state laws and everything else, right? Yeah. So yeah. And um

So you know, he's smoking out, it's like, Oh, okay. It's like, you know, well the stage is over there, the bar's there and all we should tell about the bar actually. No. He just tells them to the stages over there. You know, take a look at it, get used to where, you know, you can understand where it is. But he's got to walk past the bar in order to get to stage. But he has to walk like you said, he has to walk past the bar to get to where the stages.

It's actually a pretty nice bar for a bowling out this bowling alley. It looks a lot like the Big Lebowski bar. Bowling alley bar. Like I go I mean like we grew up in a nice suburbs and like the bowling alleys the bowl bowl America we went to. Yeah. It was a couple of macros and like a few rail bottles. Not not much else.

Yeah. But this is a almost like a full bar. Yeah. And so he goes with bar and he uh orders. Yours is a favorite whiskey. And then what was the brand he liked? McClure's, right? Yes, McClure's. Yeah, McClure's. Okay. Yes. But he's told that he was not that he's been told that he's not allowed to have any. No, no, no, no. He's not told he's not allowed to have any.

He's he's told that they won't pay for it. So the the owner of the place uh Well it's like'cause he that's like the bartender, she pours it for him. And she he tells her to put it on his tab. Yeah, put it on his tab. And then he's like, There is no tab and then he's like, What? And the owner comes over, he's like, Well Yes, I mean you're you're here playing for us and we're happy to, you know, pay for your hotel room, happy to cover your food, but we we can't pay your bar tax.

It's like I like what? It's understandable. Well it's part of your contract. It's like what? It's like yeah, your uh agent actually stipulated that that would be put in the contract that we can't pay for your booth. Yeah. Which I mean makes sense, especially when you see how much he drinks. But also just from a bar perspective, it makes sense.

Yes. That you know they'd be able to pay for the food, but you know, liquor licenses and stuff like that, they're they're they're very picky on what's allowed. And all of that. And you know, obviously they don't want to lose their liquor license. So But yes, he specifies that it's in his contract that they are not allowed to pay for his boots. Again, especially because This is a small bowling alley. Mm-hmm. Right?

They not wealthy. Like they'd be an easy one that could easily lose to liquor license. Yeah. It's n again, it's not like he is playing at some big music venue where someone decides to gift him. Yeah. A box of liquor. Yeah. It's not like that. So right. It just it just goes goes to show you where his career is. Yeah.

So you know, he ends up putting out his cigarette. Fine, I I'll I'll pay for it. He drinks most of it. He leaves a little bit left in the glass. He hands it to the owner, he's like, Here, hold this for me and he drops a cigarette in there and then he goes over to the stake. Yep. He gets to lay that and the the owner's like, Oh my.

Right? So we get a scene like, you know, we we cut to the scene where he is uh you know, he checks out his hotel. And again, it's a small little roadside type motel. Yeah, this small little motel. And um and then we cut to him later, then like he f ends up finding out finding a the little liquor store that's nearby. First before uh That's after the'cause when he's at the at the motel, he's

Any getting ready to take a nap and the his accompaniment shows up? No, they that's after the scene. That's what it was. That's what it was. He's got his whiskey, right? Because he goes there, yeah. So he goes to this little you know the Christore and he's staring at their selection that they have of this you know whiskey and bourbon, and uh the store owner comes up, he's like, Oh, yeah, bad place.

You know, and like he's looking at it and he realizes that he bad bucks to buy. Yeah. And the guy's like, Yeah, I knew you were in town. It's like, I know this is McClure, that's your favorite. And so he he's got like carry the star's favorite. He's like, I special ordered McClure's just for you so that I could carry the star's favorite. And here you go. He just hands him the bottle and he's like

Let it be known that I bought that I bought bla bad Blake a drink. Then he just guy's name is Bill. Bill Wilson, played by Tom Bauer. And w oh what we did miss is that he had a conversation after he left at the hotel at his motel with his manager Um Jack Green. Yes. And he's not happy that he's having him play all these small talents. Yeah. So he's cussing him out good. Yeah.

But yeah, so Bill gives him a free bottle of McClure's. He's like, Oh yeah, my wife and I, we're coming to your show tonight. Can you play this song for us? It's my wife's favorite. Can you play I don't know? I don't know. So he's like, oh, and like and then you know, he's looking at the bottle that he just got handed to you for free. He's like, oh, I don't know. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll play it for you.

And um what's the wife's name? I can't remember the wife. Okay, anyway, that's not not that important. So um he goes back to the hotel and he's watching some shows. Yes, Anne, that's what it was. Anne. And so he goes back to uh his motel room. He's watching on T V and watching T V he's drinking some McClure's. Yep. And you know, it's he's got the windows drawn, right? It's dark in the room and his pants are unbuckled and And Tony shows knock on the door.

Not you, Tony. Right. You don't show up, Tony. A different Tony. But Tony in the movie shows up. Played by Ryan Bingham. And he's there with he's with their with his band. And then the band that's gonna company bad at the show. Mhm. And they would you know, they wanna know, you know, what music he has for them to play. And it's like you know, it's like, Okay, yeah, yeah, you gotta follow me to my my my truck and

Like, okay. He's like, what what time are we gonna show up? It's like, um, well, right before the show. Like, no, we're we're hoping maybe we could like play play first and you know you know get's like I don't do get to know each other and you know Be able to find a rhythm together. And so he he's like, Okay, well tell you what, I'll be there in an hour.

He's not there an hour. Let me get in He shows up right before. Let me take a quick nap, I'll be there in an hour. Uh yeah. So uh he goes and it's who knows how long later and he's in bed. He wakes up. And it seems like he's gonna miss the just it's that's that's the way they make it feel like, yeah. Yeah, he gets there right as the show is about to start.

And he's and but he's ready. He is ready to play. He's ready. And he's doing the good job at first. Yeah. You know, he's going through this entire set. Well, first he goes and he gets a he gets a glass of whiskey and he takes it up there to the stage with him. He's sort of drinking that while he's playing and And uh yeah, he's he's sort singing a song or two, you know, the crowd's getting hyped up, you know.

You know, out there in the audience with his wife. We see Beth Grant out there, and she's enjoying it. She plays Joanne. She's got her. The fabrics lady. She's got her lipstick and makeup on. She she she's been a fan of bads for a long time. Mm-hmm. That bartender's still there and she's listening, the owner's still there and he's listening.

Everybody's having a great time. And it's it's a having a great time. It's he's doing a good show. Like he might be a little bit washed up, but he still knows how to do a pretty good show for the most part. Right. But you know, between songs and stuff, he's taking some swigs of the whiskey and Yep. And then you know they have a little set break and he's out at the back of the bowling alley with the Tony and the rest of the band and they're drinking and they they go back for the rest of the show.

And then he you know, he realizes he still has the song they promised Bill. Yeah, when they come back, he sees he sees Bill and Anne sitting out there and He is like, hey, so this next song is from a good friend Bill and his lovely wife Anne. I'm gonna sing I don't know. And then, you know, Tony and his band start playing.

Yep. And he has not started singing. He has not started singing yet. And he you can tell he is stumbling a little bit and everyone's kinda watching him, like what's gonna happen? You know, he takes his and Tony starts singing. And you've you know, it you're expecting Bad Blake to to come in and to to come in and start singing also. Any moment. Any moment. So Tony's singing and Bad Blake takes off his cowboy hat, puts it on the mic, and walks out the back door.

They were like, Oh, what just happened? And yeah, you you see the band there the band's reacting to it. Tony and the band. But they keep on playing. They react, but they keep playing. They keep playing. And he goes right through that back exit. And he pukes into pukes into the trash can. And he's out there for a couple of minutes and he's he's just puking. And then he, you know, regains composure and he goes back in.

He sits down on an amp. Yeah, he sits down on an amp. And he just sits there while Tony's singing the song that he promised that he would sing for the mic, he puts it on his head. And then he sings the last couple of lines of lyrics. The show is over. And uh yeah. Everyone applauds. And you can tell you can tell that that Bill and Anne are disappointed. You know who's not disappointed disappointed? Joanne. Beth Grant, Joanne. Beth Grant. She's got she's got a whole car full of fabric.

Lifeline exercise cards. That's for a Donnie Darker episode, which is coming at some point. We don't know when yet, but Yeah. Yeah. So. So anyway, she's not getting on a bus that's gonna has say about fifty-five miles an hour. We know that.

But yes, she's smiling. She's happy. And we cut back to that motel room and she's there in bed, fast asleep the next morning. Dad's getting out of the room and they had a tea party. Yeah, you see you see Beth Grant naked in this movie under a blanket. Yes, under a blanket.

But yeah. Yep. Then we get, you know, more music and more car, you know, cars driving, more countryside and landscape. Right? And now he's heading to Santa Fe. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Right? And this time he's not gonna play the bowling alley, he's playing at a bar. Right. And he's uh meets this guy. It's gonna be one of his musicians that's playing it. This guy named Wesley. Yes, Wesley Barnes.

And he he gets into hears Wesley playing the piano. He's very impressed with played by Rick Dyes Wesley's um musician musicianship. Wesley is great with the piano. He's a great piano player. And so you know, they have a little conversation beforehand, right? You know. He's lucid. He's ha able to carry on a good conversation. But you can still tell that he's

Probably had a few drinks. Yes. But And you know, they're having a nice conversation about the show and what to expect and then Wesley brings up like, oh yeah, no, I have a niece that lives here and um and she's a you know she's a writer, uh she's a journalist, and she would really love to get a chance to interview. Like do you think she could stop by, you know, your motel l your your room later and give her his view? He he's it seems like he's like staying in somebody's house.

Yes. It's it's more than just like a hotel. It's it seems like it's he's you know, somebody's letting him stay in their house or something like a like a little guest room that they have, a little uh guest cottage, whatever they have, right?

And so like, yeah, you know, you know, I'm not one that normally does it. Like, okay, yeah, you can do that. I guess because he was he has a respect for Wesley, right? So you know. And but isn't it like this is gonna be a very consequential meeting for him? Yes.

Very consequential. So like this meeting he you know kind of defines the rest of the movie. It does define the rest of the movie. What's interesting is like, you know, so we we cut to that room. And he you can tell he's recently been out of the shower. His hair's still wet. Right? He's basically wearing a bath towel. Yeah. He's got a towel on the bottom. And he's sitting on a couch watching T V.

And he's got his dinner. And his door is slightly ajar. He's got a styrofoam container with his dinner in it. That's right. He's got a he's got a glass of McClure's. Yeah, and the door's slightly ajar. And then it kind of pushes open and Maggie Gyllenhall, Rachel Dahl's in the Dark Knight has resurrected. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And walks through the door. Spoiler alert for Dark Knight. We have not talked about that movie yet, Tony.

Anyway, of course she's a little embarrassed because Jeff Bridges is naked. Yep. He's sitting there in a towel. You know, she apologized. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this is a bad time. Oh no, no, no, I'm sorry. You know, I just got out of the shower, I was thinking my dinner. Just give me a minute to change.

So he really not can come back after the show. He's like, No, no, now's a good time. Now's a good time. Let me change, let me change. Yeah, so he goes into into the bedroom and he, you know, puts some pants on and

Throws a shirt on but doesn't button it. But he kinda combs his hair a bit you know, just combs his hair back a little bit, right? You know, it's still wet. Makes himself look somewhat presentable. And then he comes out, you know, he lets her in and you know they start having a conversation. He's still eating his dinner out of that container, right?

And they kind of cover the very basic facts to start with. So, you know, how do you learn, you know, where do you learn to play music? And talks about starting with his father. Right. And now this is when we start getting a little bit of that backstory. Yeah. Right. And so she asks this question about this guy that this other country star, that's the hot new thing in country now, right? Tommy Sweet. Tommy Sweet.

It's like, all right. And so we find out, you know, she's re alluding to that, bad was kind of a mentor to Tommy. Yeah. But he's very emphatic. I don't want to talk about Tommy. We're not going to talk about Tommy. Right? So we're talking about Tommy. We're not gonna talk about my marriages, right? So we've had four. Like, yeah, I had four, right? Mm-hmm. You know.

So you know she gets a little bit of a background. And then you guys like, you know what, no, the show's coming up soon. Like how about after the show? We want to talk a little bit more. We can talk a little bit more. Right. S you know, sh she agrees to this and no, we we cut to the show and you know, and this time he doesn't puke that we see of like he gets the entire show. He's not as drunk this time. Yeah, and he's actually singing the entire show.

Yeah, he sings the entire show. He doesn't let the rest of the band. It's a great show. Wesley does a great job on piano. Right? Mm-hmm. And it's a good show. And you know, and then we see that uh Maggie Jillen Hall is there waiting after the show? Well well first off, so before so they they had to cut the interview short a little bit, and so then Maggie Jillen Hall asked

If uh or rather Jean. Jean Craddock. Jean, yes. She asks, you know, can we finish the interview after the show? And he's like, well, I don't know. We'll see how things go. Oh, so he says that yeah, that's right. He doesn't say I he doesn't commit to that person. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes. And then just before the show starts Then uh this woman comes up to him. And Wait a sec, maybe

Maybe this is Anne. No, she's there. It's Anne. Yes, Anne. This is Anne's. Yeah, so Bill's wife's not Anne. Um Yeah. Bill's wife wasn't Anne. This is Anne. Anne comes up to him and and Wants to, you know, see what he's doing after the show. You know, wants to grab a drink with him or something after the show and he's like, Sorry, I got a I got an interview that I'm doing.

Yes. When you see it, like, oh wow, that's interesting. Mm-hmm. I kinda thought she might be a hooker when I first saw it. Yeah. I was like, is she gonna like anyway? Yeah, so I mean at that point. I forgot about this part. Was unsure about it when he was talking to Gene and then he's like, Oh nope, nope, I can't get together with you. But then Anne says, That's okay, I know you're in town for another night. Mm-hmm.

Right. And she bought she brought him a drink also, right? You know. So she's like, you know, what about tomorrow? He's like, Oh, well, maybe tomorrow. It's like, Yeah, okay, another time would be fine. Yeah, maybe tomorrow, thanks to the drink, right? And she asks for she does she asks for her request, right? What love can do. Right? And so and then he finishes the show with what love can do for Anne. Right.

Right. So then yeah, and then he you know, he's outside the bar and Gene is ready outside this bar, right? And you know Gene's like, Oh, you know you're busy now? You know, it looks like you were busy. And he's like, No, no, I said I'd answer more questions, like you know, I said that we can. Right? And so they go back to his room. Was Bill's wife Donna? I don't know. Maybe. Trying to remember what her name was.

Right. And so the bad you know bad yeah, again, he's drinking, he offers her a drink, she says it's late. And you know, he sees she sees that he just he keeps smoking. It's like, how how much do you smoke? You know, and then they kinda get the the actual stuff, right? She's like, Oh, you know, what's your favorite record? And he says, Oh, yeah I have to say falling and flying, you know, made me a hell of a lot of money and turned my life around.

Right? You can tell like this is one of his famous songs, like his most popular one of his most popular songs. It's like, oh, do you ever get tired of playing that? Because some musicians get tired of playing their popular songs, right? So you don't know I only get tired but I have to play like you know, like three times a night, but The song's been good to me and made me a lot of money. Yeah. Right?

Yeah. Like uh, you know, it's like I can't really turn my back on it. Like I have to be loyal to that song. And then she kind of gets into real stuff. She's like, well, you know, today's all you know, as we talked about earlier, like there's this contrast between the modern country and the country of his day when he was at his peak. Yeah. Right? You know, it's like she asked him who's real country. And he g he he goes back to like some of the old names, like Earl Hagar, Lavetta Lynn.

Yeah. Hank Williams. And then that's when she had that's when she asked about, well, what about Tommy? Tommy about Tommy Sweet. It's like uh like yeah, more than he would admit it, because I taught him country. Mm-hmm. Like he tries to cover it up. Right? You know, competing in and he tries to compete with the modern people, but uh, you know, yeah, Tommy's real country when it comes down to it.

Probably the nicest thing that he has to say about Tommy Sweet in this entire movie. It was interesting, like I th you know, again, we'll we'll get into it. Like there's really not a whole lot of reason for them to have be super antagonistic towards each other. It From what it seemed to me, like from what I saw out of it, was Tommy, in the few times that we see him in this movie, seems very appreciative of You know, and and what he taught him and all that.

All the animosity seems to be coming from Bad Blake's side. Absolutely. Because it seems it seems to me like, you know, here he he teaches this kid, he mentors him, all this, and then this kid blows up. And sort of leaves them in the dust. And really what where his kind of but vitriol does should really be pointed is not so much towards Tommy, it should be pointed more towards the modern industry.

And how it now treats its fading stars. Yeah. And just how it you know, how they conduct business. Yeah. Yeah. I think we get kind of a big thing. you know, share in this movie, in like the three or four scenes that they share, I never get any sort of animosity coming from Tommy. And when you really boil down to it, like you get a sense like the really the real enemy here Okay.

Really is more you know, that that that wedge is really, yeah, the modern industry. And yeah. I mean Tommy was what people wanted to listen to now. Yeah. Bad may have been what they want to listen to 20, 30 years ago. Tommy's what people want to listen to now. And he's talented and bad helped him to reach his potential. And yeah, he blew up because of it. And he's thankful to to Bad for everything that he did for him. But because Tommy kinda got lifted to this higher level than Bad currently is.

You know, Bad seems to have taken some offense to that. If he's listen lifted to that level, but the industry has decided that he should be lowered because of it. Yeah. that doesn't have as much time. Like Yeah.'Cause one of the conversations he has with his agent is like, Well, you know, that uh no, like these stores they don't want to buy any of your records anymore. Right.

Yeah. Right. And so like that's why he's not making money because like the the label is not selling enough of his records to the stores. So Anyway, so she continues on like Well, is that his fault? She wants it's not his fault. Is that his fault or Jack Green's fault? It could be Jack Green's fault. Or it could just be the label's fault.

The label could find a way to market him if they want to, right? Yeah. And we get a sense of how that could be later. Because he's still making the same quality music he's always made. Yes. No, I think and you know there's a portion of that I think we can talk about when we get to with him and Tommy. Mm-hmm.

Gene asked him. It's like, you know, well, how'd you meet Tom? He's like, you know, I don't wanna be c you know, can't can't cr you know, like cranky about this, but like, you know, you you want I don't wanna talk about him. You know, and it's just like well, what do you want to talk about? It's like, well, how about, you know, do you have any idea how bad you make this room look? Yeah.

Like it was a dump when I first came in here, but you But you walk in and it it looks even worse compared to you. Ha ha ha ha. And then she blushes, like I haven't seen one blush like that since I don't know when. Beth Grant didn't blush like that. How do you know? We didn't actually get to see them. We didn't see if he made Beth Grant blush. I will tell you though, if there was a lifeline exercise card involved, there was some blushing.

Anyway, he asked her where she's from. She says in Ed Oklahoma. And Dow's just, you know, it's like, well, what's you know, what's important about you, Oklahoma? And she gives it no, she's willing to give him some of her backstory. I've got a son, buddy. He's four. Right? And I gotta go get him from the baby center soon. And it's like, yeah, I know, I know I should go. Like, I know he saw he turned that woman down at the bar. I'm sorry, I spoiled your evening.

He's like, Oh, don't worry about it, girl. You didn't spoil my evening at all. And then she's like, Well, you know, did it get what you need? Like, oh, I could use more okay, well, you know, after the show tomorrow night, best Lando Carizian. He is. But yeah, he promises her more another night of an interview, like so she get more material. Yeah. Like he's taken by her, not just because he wants to have a tea party with her. He's interested in her.

And like and and he even says like tomorrow after the show. After he already told Anne Even though he told Anne that maybe then I'll get you know I'll get a drink with you. But no, he's like, why don't we f have finish this interview tomorrow after the show? And then And he gets a call from Jack. And uh Jack, yeah, he's like, Hey, I g I got great news for you. Like can't cancer the next thing in th this small town, Benson, Arizona.

You gotta go into Phoenix to the Sun Pavilion for eight o'clock sharp tomorrow night because you're opening for Tommy. It's like I don't want to wait for I don't want to open the Tommy. And he's like, wait, and I like Jack's like, I just got you out of the red bison lounge. So you can play in the go and play in front of fifteen thousand people. And you're turning that down? You're opening for the hottest star in country. And they're gonna turn that down so you can play the bison lounge.

Ha ha ha.

He's like, well, I can open it like no, I got this like who else you can open for Madonna? And he's like, Oh, I can't I can't do it And then Jack's like, So you're gonna be there, right? He's like, Yeah, I'll be there And finally just like Yeah,'cause he's like I'll be there But you know it's like the dream of you know every Simon is that someday the front man he was ass he's been staring at is gonna open for him. I don't owe that dream to Tommy.

Like I'll I like this. Like it's funny, like I forgot like how foul of a mouth dad had on this. It's like, yep, you cocksucking son of a bitch. Anyway. You know, they you know, they hang up and you know, he's still in Santa Fe. Mm-hmm. He still goes and he plays this last show in Santa Fe. Yep. Because he's there for two. He's like, I want to thank you. He's like, I want to thank for helping Jean out. She's a real nice girl. Right? But she's real nice.

Oh no, no, no, Wesley says that to Bad. Thank you for helping out, you know, uh Gene out, right? Oh yeah, she's nice, she should be proud of her. Right. So you know, what's like, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I am, you know. I think the world of her and bad's like, Oh, yeah I'm s like yeah, yeah, I'm starting to think world of her too. Right.

And so it ends, he can't find Gene, right? No. Flip it around, show ends. Or is it there? I'm sorry, I missed the scene I thought. Okay, that that's right. That's there. Oh, so yeah, that's why she's like, yeah. She was waiting on the sitter for the son her son, buddy. Right? He's like he's like, Yeah, I know I had to find a sitter. It's like you know, it's really hard finding a sitter at one o'clock. Yeah.

He's like, Yeah, I know I like I I get off at one o'clock. I know how hard it is to find things at one o'clock, right? So then yeah, and this is when they're out of their cars. Yep. And uh so he's like, So you wanna go grab a drink? And she's like, Sure. And so Yeah, I could use one. Yeah. So he follows her to the bar.

Where are they gonna have drink? Yep. Keep having the little interview. Yeah, she's like, Oh yeah, where where do you find your songs from? I'm like, uh at a living unfortunately. Right? Like any good country song. I mean we covered that easily and walk the line. Yep. Yep. He's like, okay, well, you know, what about like Lonesome Nights? Oh, well that was Susie. That was my fourth wife. The one that ran off. She was twenty-three, I was forty-six.

And then again, he looks at jeans like, you know, I I had to I must be obliged, just you know, apologize for this ugly room that you're in again. Because she's so pretty. Yep. Yeah,'cause they're they're back in his d did they did they go to a bar and have a drink and then go back to this place or did they just go back to this place? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's right. And then it's like, you know, is this your f that famous country charm of yours? It's like, oh, I've never been famous for charm.

And then, instead of continuing at the end of it all, They go in for a kiss. Yeah, they go in for a kiss. Or he goes in for a kiss. And she obliges him. She reciprocates. And it's not entirely clear because the next What happens next? Except that the next scene she wakes up and she's undercovers. She's undercovers and It's implied. I guess it's implied that there was tea served.

Morning tea. This was you know this was a high quality tea party. This is not just a regular bull uh China shop tea party. No, this was this was like This was Linda Hamilton Michael Bain level emotional catharsis. I don't know if I'd if I'd quite put an emotional catharsis yet. This was definitely this is definitely like the tea party that uh Buzz Lightyear was part of in the first Toy Story. Yes. When he's with Marie Antoinette and her sister. I like this. Yes. Wow. He's missing a home.

And he's just discovered this fancy real space thing. This is this is the fancy tea party, like Ha ha ha. Anyway.

That's seared in there. Yeah. All right then. Yeah. So it's like they they start talking business again and not the you know D business. They we start talking about music and articles. We may have to find a new analogy. We might have one considering what next week's episode is. Yeah, true. True. We might. But to find that out, we gotta listen to the end of this episode. Yeah.

So anyway, so she's like, No, yeah, you know, well I do have something you know, I do have some other news for you before you go, right? You know, that you can you know, talk you can write about, like I'm opening Fatami. Right? And she's like, what? What? I thought you had it, Tom. Whoa. Whoa. No, no, but my eight says it's a big no, my eighth says it's a big deal.

You know. And then we kind of like, you know, what did you you know, did you do an album together? Like, well we kinda did, but you know, it was um he got most of the checks, right? So decide I talk about later, you know, they decide, you know, we're gonna finish the rest of this later. And before he goes though, he uh ends up going you know, before he goes to that show, which I guess it's still like another day away. He gets breakfast at Jean Town.

He makes biscuits. Mm-hmm. Right? And he Yeah,'cause he asks her if if uh yeah.'Cause he asks her if you know he wants her to make him to if he asks her if she wants him to make his special biscuits for her and her son. And we realize he's a good he's a good breakfast baker. Yes. And he's great with Buddy. Oh yeah.

They very quick. Yeah. The two of them both. Yeah, we discovered later that he has one son that he hasn't spoken with. In you know twenty four years. Almost thirty like twenty four years. Yeah. His son's about in his late twenties and he hasn't spoken to him with the since the boy's been four. Mm-hmm. And he's gonna buddy is four. Yeah. Right. So they have this nice breakfast with his biscuits, they wave him goodbye, right? And he drives off to Arizona to Phoenix.

Right. Yeah, we get more shots of the countryside, nice country music that goes with it, and then It's such a different experience. Like last time we see him going into this bowling alley, this dive bar, he's going into the back entrance of this big pavilion. Music Pavilion, right? And like and he walks into the dressing room. There's an actual dressing room there for him for him and the band. Yes. He walks in there and there is this case of McClure's.

Right? And he's got this nice you know, uh the band that's gonna be his backing band, you know, he meets them. It's like, oh yeah, nice to meet you. Yeah, we'll go out and stage practice soon, right? You know, and but yeah, but he opens up that case and he pulls out a bottle. And there's a note. There's a note sitting on the case. Oh, from Tommy. That's right. From Tommy. It says, all it says is.

Just save me some. Tommy. And it's a k it's a case of McClure's. Like there's easily a bottle in there for Tommy. Yeah. So, you know, he also meets the recording engineer that's gonna be there, right? And so they get out there and they're playing some of his songs, and he doesn't like the mix.

So he shouts out to the guy the engineer and he's like it's like no no you can't hear how it sounds out here, like out here it's gonna sound fine. It's like no, I know how my sound my song should sound like. You need to adjust it like this. And this guy right now, like doesn't want to listen to him. He's l listen to him. Yeah. This sound guy, you know, he

He's got the mix perfect for what he thinks it should sound like, and Tom and uh Bad's like, no, this that's not what my song is supposed to sound like. He's like, We'll we will stand here through Tommy's set. If we have to. I'm not moving. Until we get my sound right. Until you make the adjustments that I'm telling you to make. So you know, he makes the adjustments. He's like, Oh, that sounds great. Thanks. Ha ha ha.

So yeah, yep, they they get through their sound check, right? And then, you know, he decides he needs to go get his you know, some some food. So he he goes to like this little steakhouse. No nothing fancy. Not some fancy steakhouse. No. Right. Some regular steakhouse and he's eating there and he's sitting kind of in the back of this booth. Tommy walks in. Callin Colin Farrell. Right? Mm-hmm. A couple of some you know, some you know, young girls see him, they want his autograph.

You know, and they say hi it was like we'll be at the show. And he sits down across from that. And then you know they they start talking, right? You know, we don't know how long it's been since they've actually sat together or talked, right? I mean we get the sense that it's been a while, but we don't know exactly how long. And you can tell that Tommy has no bad blood.

Again, bad. And even like, you know, bad's bad blood, it's not deep bad blood, it's just a little bit more resentful. He's envy than it is Resentment. Like hatred or resentment, right? You know, and so that was like, Yeah, I heard he might be here, right? You know. And like when uh Tommy comes in, like he's you know, he's got a nice bottle of water, right? You know? His bottle of water is that cost four or five dollars when you go to the gas station to buy, right?

And then uh bad's like, You're not drinking any Southern Comfort? I thought you liked Southern Comfort. It's like, oh no, I only drink it on stage'cause you know, it's good for the throat. And Bad's like, yeah, yeah, no, I I heard that. Too sweet for me, right? Which yeah, I mean so co. Yeah. He like he like he likes his whiskey, right? You know.

You know, I was like, yo, yeah. Well you know, so they you know they continue the conversation and this guy comes up. He's like, oh, I hate to bother you, Tommy, but I'd like I'd love to have your autograph. Like I got all your records. Right? I'm gonna be at the show tonight. Is everybody coming to the show? And to you know, Tommy science is like, yo, that guy over there, that's the autograph we really need. That's that's bad Blake. Yeah.

The guy has no idea. And then he has like whoop. Like he's like, Oh yeah, yeah, that's that's cool. And you know, he hands the paper, he hands it over to the bad. Ty hands it to bad. It's like bad sick now. Kinda kinda reminded me of Avengers Endgame. With Hulk and Ant Man. When the kids come up to get Hulk's autograph. And Ant-Man's like, but I'm Ant-Man and like who? It's like Ant Man, come on, come on, you don't you want your picture with me? He's like, uh sure.

So that's that's kind of what that reminded me of. Before Tommy leaves, like, yeah, you know, we I enjoy our tours together, right? You know, it's good to see you again. I'm glad to agree to do this, right? And Bad's like, Yeah, you know, well Need the money. I'd be in Benson, not not here, right? If I didn't need that money.

So yeah. And then you know we kind of get a continued conversation um before the show though, where like, oh yeah, they walk out, yeah, af they finished a meal and they walk out in the parking lot. And Tommy talks about the story that when they broke down in Texas somewhere, in the middle of West Texas, right? This the you know, the middle nowhere.

Right. And it's like, yeah, it's like it was over a hundred degrees outside. Right. And you know, talk about some of those old times. Like, you know, why not? You know, and so fine, you know, they get on. Bats like, okay, you know, well, how's your tour going? It's like, oh yeah, I got 50 states 50 dates in two months.

He's like, oh no, I'm out for a month with six dates, right? Not dates. You know, six dates, it's a month. You know, we all know what it is, right? You know, it's all pickup bands. And then Ty's like, oh man, that sucks. Like, we should have gotten together earlier. We could have done this whole tour together. And badly we tried that once.

And now it's like, oh, there's other all these other things going on. This and this and that, right? You can tell like Tommy really wants to help back. Yeah, he does. Right. Like Tommy Tommy doesn't deserve the at least from what we see of Tommy in this movie, Tommy doesn't deserve the shit that bad is giving him. Yes. And Tommy's like, well, you know, and he tells her like, well the one that one tour we're to get like it where Tommy was probably the headliner. Bad was the you know, the opener.

Like, well, I guess it, you know, it sent seemed like they had to like arrange things differently. Cause Tonic's like, I had a mirror to think about. And you know, I I I had a couple I wanted to keep together also in a career. Right? And so like and then you know you know Tommy looks at the you know the suburban's like oh I'm glad the Bessie's still like like yeah yeah still runs well

And time it finally time it gets real bounds. Like, you know, you he gave me my start. Like, I I I remember that. I'm I'm grateful for it. And I, you know It's like and you can tell bad doesn't want to talk about because then he changed the subject. He talks about Tommy's boots. Like Like that salesman did a hell of a job. He must have threatened to shoot your dog. Right? And so that's like, you know, fine, like why why you know, and Tommy brings it to like, why don't we do an album together?

And Bad's like, well why why the hell would you want to do one with me? Like, no, I didn't say I wouldn't do one with No, I guess that it it comes up. And Tommy's like I I didn't say I wouldn't do one with you. It's like my label right now wants me to do m things I should do more solos before I do do one album with you. Right? Mm-hmm. And it seems like that's the second part really where like this animosity or at least this resentment comes from.

Right? Yeah. Because Tommy's atra attached to a label. He's attached to a record label. And bad is no longer attached to a label. And bad's like, listen, like, I'm almost 60. Like, I I need to do something new. I might like. Like I I can't get a solo album. I need an actual album. And I can't get one by myself. Right? Like I I need to be connected with you. We'll do that.

And then Tyler comes up like well here's the thing though, like how about this in the meantime? Like you're the songwriter. You're the best writer there is out there. Like you could just write the songs. And get the checks off that. Mm-hmm. And I would sing'em. And then like you may not appear playing on the album, but you would get credit for the songs, right?

But Bad's not at that point yet where you can accept that as being that next step. No. And'cause bad just says, like, I haven't been that songwriter in years. And Bad's like, Well, we can do an album but I can't write you any songs. It's kinda how they leave it.

They have music to get there. They the shows to get to, right? So we cut backstage. Ralphie's kind of like the stage manager. He's like, oh yeah, no, you're, you know, Mr. Green sent you five boxes of product that's sell here at the show. Bad's like, what? I'm not selling any product, like I'm not here to sell product. Yeah. I'm here to play. I'm not here to sell. I'm here to sing. Right. Right. And so you know he gets out there with the band.

You know, and they play and they have a good set. They have forty they're told he has forty five minutes, right? Mm-hmm. And that is it, right? Because Tommy has to be so long after that and Tommy can't go more than three minutes past eleven o'clock. So you know he has to stay to his 45 minutes to make sure everything falls in the place, right? So Bad's out there, he's playing his heart out. You know, he's he's having a grand old time playing in front of these 15,000 people. And

From backstage? Here comes Tommy. Sneaking up. And gets up there and he he's telling the corral to be quiet. Mm-hmm. And he comes right into the middle of the song at Bad Singer. Yeah. And he starts singing right into the mic. As bad sort of steps away, you know, to strum the guitar a little bit. Yep. And bad just rolls with it. Mm-hmm. I mean you can tell bad's kind of miff.

Yes, again. He's not expecting this at all. But he as like he's he's professional. He he just rolls with it, keeps playing. This song turns into a duet. You know, they're they're singing together on it, and then once they're done with that song, then Tommy excuses himself from the stitch. Yep. You know, they kinda go on and uh and um well before he leaves the stage, then you know, bad kind of suggests that hey, why don't we do one of your songs?

And Tommy's like Oh no, I gotta I don't wanna you know I don't wanna spoil everything for later. You know, this is your time. Yep. And so yeah, Tommy goes off. And he fin you know, and Bad finishes his set. He gets off stage. Ralphie, the manager, tells him, like, Oh yeah, you know Ty we would love for you to come on a couple of his songs. Right. Yeah, he's like he's got four songs, I think it was. Yeah. Tommy wants you to play with him on four songs and Bad's like, No, I'm not gonna do that.

And we see him kind of walk off. It looks like he's kind of going towards like I got albums to side uh sell or something like that, right? Yeah. I got albums to sell. And so you can kinda see him at the back of the arena and then he he's kind of watching it from a f you know, Tommy set from afar. And he walks off.

Right. And the next thing we have is him in the middle of the desert on some dirt ro some desert you know not dirt run on a high you know highway in the middle of the desert, kinda like we saw him break down, right? And he's pulled over the side by a foam.

Yeah. Now you remember this this is two thousand nine, right? There's still some phone booths around. There's still some phone booths, especially in the middle of nowhere on roads. Mm-hmm. Right?'Cause at this point this would have been a place where you definitely would, you know, occasionally see phone booths. Is in the middle of nowhere where you might not actually have cell coverage. Yeah.

Because, you know, if you break down and your car might not be coming by for at least thirty minutes, then it might be a good idea to call somebody before J2L shows up in a semi. Or the Hills Have Eyes happens. That too. Right. And he calls, you know, no, he calls to Santa Fe. And, you know, he calls Buddy and Jean. Buddy answers, right? And you know, he bad's like, Oh yeah, it's your old biscuit maker, buddy.

Right. And then he ends up talking with Gene. She said, yeah, that's about how Phoenix was. And he doesn't really say like he he wants to know really know about how Gene is. Mm-hmm. And he's like, oh, are you thinking about me? I'm always thinking about you. Right. You say, well listen, you know, I I have a couple days here before I need to get back to Houston. I was thinking of, you know, Santa Fe's on the way from to Houston from Phoenix. Yeah, I was thinking about swinging by.

And she's like, oh, that'd be great. Come on down. Come on down. Right? So we cut, he's driving his suburban and you can see him, he is dozing off. Mm-hmm. And then he dozes off and he realizes he hears himself skidding towards the other side of the road.

And he overcorrects and starts he flips his car as it goes down this embankment on the other side of the road. Yeah, just roll it just tumbles down this embankment. He is not wearing his seatbelt and he so he tumbles down, yeah. He's laying on the passenger side. The vehicle. Yeah, he's like basically between between the seat and the dashboard. Yeah, he's hit his head. Yeah, he's bleeding from the head and yeah, this couple comes up.

Yep. And you know, the next thing we see is he wakes up and he's in a hospital bed, right? He's got a broken leg, he's got like a broken arm. Right. And the nurse, you know, he's like, Well, where am I? Where am I? And the nurse's like, Wait, relax. Mr. You know, like you're in Santa Fe, you got a broken ankle, you have a concussion. He's like we're saying you got no not with you gotta see the doctor first. You gotta speak with the doctor, right?

And so, you know, cut back, you know, it's you know, a little bit later and he's having a conversation with this doctor. The doctor's just sitting down there, he's like it's like, you know, the the real problem like, yeah, I mean your your ankle's gonna heal, right? You know, and Um, but like we gotta talk m really more about your general lack of condition, right?

You know, you you you're at chronic risk for heart failure, emphysema, cancer, right, stroke, you know, all these things if you keep living this way. Keep smoking as much as you're smoking, keep drinking as much as you're drinking. And yeah, bad things are getting you need to lose twenty five pounds and stop these habits if you want to live much longer.

But that doesn't seem to phase that all that much. No. So we eventually cut and we see a Gene is there to be able to pick him up from the hospital. Mm-hmm. Right. And he's gonna stay just briefly over at her place while he recuperates until he's able to get back to Houston because you know he's got a broken ankle. He can't Really dry with a broken ankle, especially it looks like it's it's his right ankle. Yep. Right? Yep. So

And you know, they uh kind of can they kindle up this relationship. Yes. At the time that he's being tended to here. Yes. Even though she thinks it's not a good idea that they sleep in the same bed, so Buddy doesn't get confused. So she allows him since he has the broken ankle, she offers him the bed, and she's gonna sleep on the pullout couch.

Mm-hmm. And he's like, no, no, no, no, you take the bat, I'll take the couch. He's like, no, you need the extra comfort of the bed. You you sleep in that, I'll sleep on the couch. So, you know, he he's spending his time there and he he's having his great time with Buddy. They're having a fun time. You know, they're they're baking together, he's taking them to the playground and having fun. Yeah, uh all these things. Yeah, so there's Gene Gene is gonna take Buddy to

The uh she's gonna take'em to daycare. And Bad's like, Oh, what I'll watch'em. Yeah. And Jean's like, Are you sure? He's like, Yeah, yeah, we'll have fun. And he's like fun daylight. Would you rather go to the daycare? Do you want to stay here and have fun with me? And buddy's like, Oh, I want to stay here and have fun with you. Yeah. And they have fun. Like they go to the playground, like he goes to the swing park. He's pushing it with a crutch. Like he's pushing with the crutch in the swing.

And they get you know, Gene gets home later that day, they've had this great day together. It's been Gene gets home and they're not home yet.

Oh that's right. The that's right. And well th first uh so before before they go, before Gene leaves them to have a day together, she makes bad promise one thing. Not to drink around Buddy. She says, That's right. One thing I want you to promise me: don't drink around buddy. And he's like, All right, I won't drink around buddy. Yeah, so they're you know they're they're at the park and they're playing and Jean gets home and she calls out to Buddy and so she starts to panic.

And as she turns around, they just walk in? Yeah, so she turns around, she's gonna go grab the phone and then they walk in the in the door and they're you know, they're laughing, they're you know, they're they're having a great time. And then she sees him and s and she's relieved. He's with bad and, you know He's safe. So no they they continue the time there and then there's we have a scene where

Man Neo, he's on his guitar and he's strumming and you can tell he's p working out this song. Mm-hmm. Right? And he's saying these looks like you called all your shots, shooting eight balls at the corner truck stop. Somehow this don't feel like home anymore. Right. And Jean comes in is like you know, she's s kind of smiling at the song and

It's like, oh, you you know that song? It's like, oh yeah, I think I know it, but I can't remember who did it. It's like, oh that's the way it is. The good ones are the ones that you're sure you've heard before. She's like, oh, you wrote this song? It's like, yeah, I just wrote it right now. She's like, oh, like, that's unfair. And Bad's like, what? Well, what's unfair about that?

It's like well well some people would trade ten years of their life to be able to write something like that and it just pours out of you. And you know, Bad's kind of confused. Like, he thinks she's she's mad at him. It's like It's like Jesus, like no, like, no, don't be Dan. It's like I I don't want to go. And you know, it's like, well, what's wrong then? It's like You're writing a song on my bed. Mm-hmm. Right? It's like s I was like

Now they keep it for the rest of my life. And every time I lay down and hear this beautiful song. I'm gonna think of it. You'd be out there running around, not even r remembering a day that I can't forget. It's like what maybe like I'll remember this day. It's like I'd like never remember that. He's still not quite getting what she's saying. What do you mean? It's like

It's like no, like it's like in the hospital, all I could think about to who to call was like it was like you. Like I like I won't I I won't forget this day. I promise.

Right. And so yeah, we kinda cut to another day, like, you know, Jack's now but I'm bad talking to Jack. It's like no, I I wasn't drinking, I just fell asleep. You know, Jack's like, what are you doing back in Santa Fe? It's like, oh I'm visiting, you know, he's like, I'm visiting a forever, right? Like, well, and Jack's like, well, you know, I want you to get back on your tour soon. Like, you know, can you drive? So yeah, I'll be able to drive soon, right?

And then finally it cut is he Jack has the goal. See, I have a contract here offering you seventy-five thousand dollars for an album to be recorded at a feature date, plus twenty thousand refusal rights to all songs written or co-written by you over the next two years. Right. He's like, and you have Tommy to think for this. And Jack's like, get back to Houston and I'll talk to you there. Like, and don't get married. Yeah, don't get married again.

Jean's Jean's back here listening to all this like, do you want me to call him back and tell him he I'm not gonna marry you? And then yeah, before he leaves, he's like, you know, let me get I got a good buddy, like I told him I could you could he could draw on a cast, right? And so you know, we finally have a scene before they leave like he pours out a finally because it's not like that uh they could

Give a little bit more about his backstory where he's like, you know, I have a twenty-eight-year-old son, Gene. I haven't seen him since he was four. And like I don't even know where his at he is. His mom lives in Marfa, Texas. I don't even know what he looks like and what he's doing. I didn't teach him how to ride a bike. drive a car, I never threw a baseball to him. None of this, right? And Gene's like, you know, why not? It's like, well I wasn't there, and when I was, I wasn't there.

Yeah, Gene's like, oh yeah, well, you know, I c I couldn't live if I lost buddy. Right. You know. And the bad's like, well, you know, that's damn that's the damnedest thing, is like you you do live. Right. So you know they they they have all the time there and you know he eventually makes it all the way back. to um Houston before offering biscuits again before they before they leave. Right.

So they go through all that. And he pulls up this house. Oh, this this is where he meets up with Robert Duvall, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. So he gets back, he gets back to his house in Houston. And he goes to his favorite bar there where he's real you know, he knows the owner. Wayne. And he's Wayne. Yeah, somewhere they're in Houston, right? You know, you can tell this is uh

Probably the middle of the afternoon. It's not a very busy bar. Right? Yeah. So yeah. He so Bad and Wayne have known each other for years. For years. And like you could tell like Wayne seems to Mad will just play at Wayne's bar. Yeah. Wayne seems to be one of the bad closest friends in a contract that's contracted out through his agent. He'll just play there. No, Wayne seems to be one of Bad's closest friends. Yep.

Yeah, you know, so when he'cause the first thing Wayne says when he gets in the way only way Robert Duval ever I mean, I shouldn't think I mean Robert Duvall is So much range. He was such a terrific actor. We'll talk more about that in a few weeks. He just he just looks at Jeff Fridge like bad, you look like shit. In that with that Robert Duvall zest he puts into it. Yes, he does. No matter like what type of character he plays, he'll have just his own That the the zest as you said.

And that's like, oh you know, it's probably all the toilets I have I've had to play in the last few months, right? You know. And then they just could kind of continue this friendly banter that these two friends have. Right? You know, he's like, Yeah, I heard about Iraq, that's a shame. Bad's like, yeah, it could have been worse. He asked Wayne about how business has been. Wayne said it's been that's been great. Kind of no, I had to lay off a bunch of people. I only have hey Steues here. Right.

He calls Jesus over instead of calling him Jesus, he calls him like Juan. You know, he talks about being in Santa Fe and meeting a woman in Santa Fe. I love how Andy B has Richard Galegos um he he's credited as Jesus and Juan. It's two slash one. There could be only one! His character's name is Juan, but Robert DeVal keeps fell in Masus. Yeah. Not Hey Zeus, Hey Zeus. We'll get to that movie too. Eventually.

So anyway, you can tell that later that night, bad's butt gonna play there for Wayne, right? But we you know, we we go back to Bad's house first and he's he's still on the sofa and he is strumming he has made put more lyrics to this song that he was working in Gene's house, right? He's talking about the whiskey, the highway, and then we get to this line that this ain't no place for the weary kind. This ain't no place to lose your mind. This ain't no place to fall behind.

Right, pick up your crazy heart, give it one more try. Right. You know, and he he starts thinking about things, right?

And he finally gets this idea. He's gotta call somebody. He goes out, he finds a phone book. There's a phone book in this movie. There's a phone book in this movie and he doesn't attach to a penny phone. No. There's a phone book in someone's house. This person goes and grabs the phone book. And he doesn't even tear a page out of it.

He doesn't pull a Marty McFly and tear a page out of the phone book that nobody questions why he tore a page out of the phone book because that just seems to be something that everybody did. Back when phone books were wonder if there was any phone books left because of all the pages that were being torn out. Yeah. And what happens if somebody else needs a number that's on that page? Yes. What if someone needs to find the per the brown below Doc Brown? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's a common name. Yeah.

There's more than one dark brown in that town. Or I'm sure there's a brown that someone else wants to know about. What if somebody needs to find one of the other Sarah Connors? I know. Which I mean. But if the T eight hundred needs their execution, there aren't another Sarah Connor. Well, he got them all on the same page, which is why there aren't any more Sarah Connors. Sarah Connor Yes Sorry, why did she say yes? I I don't know. Oh no, no. She moved out yesterday.

The the blue house. She's wearing this pink dress. Can't miss her. Anyway, so he calls this guy, this youngest guy answers, and he's like, Oh, is this Steven Reynolds? Like, oh yeah, what he's calling? Well, uh I don't know, I'm I'm I'm actually trying to find this Mary Joe Reynolds from Lima, Ohio. And she lived in like Nashville back in like nineteen eighty five and But she died a couple of years ago.

Yeah, and uh yeah, and uh bats like kind of mumbling's like you know, it's like, Oh, I I can't hear you. It's like, oh who is this? Uh uh Your your father? Like um Bad Blake in Houston. I'm uh I'm I'm your father. And Steve's like I know. Like uh okay, so like she obviously told him that bad blake's your dad. His dad. It's like, oh, well, what do you want? Well, I don't know. I want to hear your voice. Uh, and wait, you just said Mary Joe died? So yeah, two years ago.

See what happened? Everything happened. He's like, Well I'm sorry to hear. Steven Steven's annoyed. Like he is you can tell he has he wants nothing to do with bad he wants nothing to do with bad. Bad like you know what he has. He hasn't seen bad since he was four years old. And she's like, No, no, I I don't think so. Can you think about it? It's like uh no, no, I I I uh I don't think so. Just just take my number. See I got I got color ID.

Well you know, I really would like to talk. Imagine that and this hangs up.

And this now, like, this is this is tough for him, right? Like Yeah. He gets he gets drunk. Yeah. He gets sloppy drunk. Like we we see he wakes up. Robert Evol is watching him in his tighty whiteys when he wakes up. Yeah.

Right. So but you know, Robert Duvall comes there, he's like, Yo, it's like, oh you know, he wakes him up and does this. No, no, Robert Duvall doesn't wake him up. He's in the study waities and a phone call wakes him up and it's Gene. Yeah, that's right. He's saying hello phone call. And Buddy's on there and he's Buddy's talking about these cars that badges sent them as a the as a present. They they go real fast. Yeah. They go boom.

And Gene's like, Thank you for sending those, but you can't be sending him presents. It'll confuse me. He thinks you're Santa Claus. Yeah, he thinks you're Santa Claus. Yeah. So they finish the conversation. He's like, he's like, oh do you think you can get them out here? It's like, you know, oh we'll think about it. We'll think about it.

And that's where Wayne wakes him up next, is like the next scene is he wakes them up and then they go fishing. And they're having a lovely afternoon fishing together. Yeah. Right, you know bad so you know, hand me one of those barley pops, you know. And Bad's like finally, you know what? This was a good idea. Thank you.

And then he finally says, you know, as they're talking, you know, they're putting out their lines and drinking, you know, some beer and just having a casual afternoon fishing as friends do together. Mm-hmm. Right? Basically, I just sent what might be my best song ever to Tommy. Right? And when's like what to record it? And Bad's like, yeah, it's one of those songs you hate to give up. Mm, you know, and like, well, why'd he give it up? It's like, well He's paying me really good. No.

Well they c hope we didn't butcher it. It's like no no no this thing's over bad like again, like he's resentful, but he knows Tommy is legit talent. Like no, no, he can't mess it up. He It's that part of this is also he knows how good the song is and how it matches Tommy's like, it's that good a song. He can't mess this up. And they talk about, you know, and they talk about his sounds like your boy don't want to talk to you. And back on the side's like, no.

Like I can't blame him. I didn't have a right to call him. And then Wayne's like, Well, no. You were wrong twenty years ago. You've been wrong most times since then. Because you didn't call him, but you weren't wrong calling him when you did. But he's wrong now, not giving you that chance. Not you. Say no, no, I want I want so long, like it no, it's too little too late. He know he he's still on the right.

Which you know, it c both can be true, right? You could, you know, totally not blame his son for not wanting to talk. Yeah. And you can't blame bad for honestly making the effort finally to talk. And he's actually he's he's he's going at this with a good attitude. Yeah, he is. So but when he's like, no, this time, like, yeah, you were late doing this, but you still like you did it. It's over. You changed it. You actually did make that effort to reach out. Like, you know.

It's on him now, you know, to whether to accept this like olive branch, so to speak, or not. Right? You know, and then finally like I think they they continue the you know, their cop you know, bad, uh continues this conversation with Gene. And you know, and finally Jeans is like, Yeah, oh yeah, well, you know, you know what? I call is like, you know, I've got four days off at the end of the month. I thought maybe we should come.

But like I don't know if it's a good idea. Bad's like, Oh no. It's a great idea. Why wouldn't it be a great idea? He wants he loves to hang out with Buddy. Mm-hmm. He uh You know. Wants to tolerate he tolerates hanging out with Gene. Oh boy.

Anyway. So we we cut several days later, and they're happy to be there. Buddy's happy to see bad. Bad's happy to see Bunny. He's the right gene. Oh, he's gonna tolerate Gene Good. Just sounds wrong. Oh my Yeah. Maybe the euphemism needs a little work. Yes. But anyway, uh by So And you know, again, they're they they have having a good visit for a while there. You know, visits there's some emotional catharsis. There's

Buddy falls asleep at the the the table because they make this nice dinner together, and he falls asleep at the dining room table, right? And then And they carry him off to the bed and you know, and he's just being a s he's a cute forward boy, it's falling asleep, you know, and everything is going back. Excellent. father figure to him right now. He is. He's been an excellent. He's been a great host.

Right. And then they decide to take a day to explore downtown Houston. Bad selling, but the history of Houston. He's proud of his city. Mm-hmm. Right. He's talking about this is where Sam Houston and his boys beat Santa Ana. Texas got its start here, not San Antonio. No, it got it start here in Houston. Like if it wasn't for that spot right over there, we'd be speaking in Mexican today. Right, you know.

And then you know it's like okay. And then finally, you know, they they get this thing, it's like, Oh, um I guess there's yeah, you know, they keep talking they talk later. It's like, oh yeah, the push wants to come by, you know, ten thirty tomorrow or later. It's like, how about I just drop you off, pick you up, and then take you up to this really good restaurant for lunch.

He's like buddy, oh we'll go downtown, we'll explore the tunnels. Oh yeah, this is whole city underneath. We'll love it. Like you know, we'll go through, we'll get out at noon, we'll get you and go to lunch.

I mean it it sounds like this great idea, right? You know, they're going to they end up going to this aquarium together. Right? The three of them before she heads off. Yeah. Right. And you know Unfortunately, these tunnels or wherever leads up to like this shopping mall or whatever, right? And there's a saloon. Yes, there is a bar in a mall. And this mall doesn't look like your typical mall. No. This mall actually kind of reminds me of uh Tyson's Corner. Yeah. A little bit.

Uh with a little bit of uh fair oaks thrown in there. And I know these are references that are only for like the people in Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia, yes. Anyway. But it's kinda yeah. Your your typical mall is more of like a big hallway with all the stores on either side with maybe a couple of little uh a few different wings. A couple of little wings that go out to like the food court and whatever.

But yeah, this mall is more like a wheel and spoke pattern kind of thing from the looks of it, where it's more like a bunch of different hallways that all meet in a centralized location. And so Yeah, it looks kinda like some airport terminals I've been in. Yeah, that's a good description. So we get to the bar, he orders a double JD, uh ginger ale for his little buddy. Yes, ginger ale for his little buddy. Now there's remember earlier Gene made him promise

He was not gonna drink in front of Buddy. But he takes Buddy right away. He brings him to the actual an actual he sits him at the bar. They're the only ones in there other than the bartender. Now the bartender would be like dude, are you sure you want to do this? Yeah. And Buddy's got this little backpack. And he doesn't seem like he wants to be at the bar.

So I don't blame him. So, you know So uh but uh Bad takes Buddy's backpack, you know, puts up on the bar It's like how I go explore. It's like hey yeah, you go go ahead, go explore. Now, he's again not thinking what a four year old might do when he's telling him to explore. Yeah. And he's not really paying attention to things as he has his drink and he's d doesn't pay attention to the time. And he thinks he's gonna see Buddy somewhere else in the restaurant, maybe in the bathroom. Mm-hmm.

Or in the bar, right? In the bath or in the bathroom and he doesn't see him. And he looks right around right around the area of the mall, right around the bar, and he doesn't see him too. Now he starts getting frantic and he just he's searching everywhere and now he realizes He has to get find like security, right? Yeah. He cannot find buddy anywhere. And the guy's like, Oh, what is he wearing? Like, oh I c I can't remember. He's gonna have his backpack. He's four years old. He's

We'll we'll go looking for him. He's like, No, I gotta go find him, I gotta go find him. Like, no, how no, no. We're looking for him you stay here. But he doesn't listen. No. So he's going everywhere And then the security guard's like, Sir, how much have you had to drink today? And because you know he's he's starting to slur a little bit and he's you know, acting like he may have had a few. Yep. So there's a whole sequence of the search and then finally

The Jean comes there and she's like, No, that looking and like she's obviously distraught and she's upset. And she's like, What happened? And yeah, bad No security's looking for him. We d we were over. And then finally they're waiting just together quietly and then finally they come back with Buddy. Yeah. He's been fouled. Security guards come back and they've got Buddy and

He's reunited with his mother and they're both very happy to see each other. And Jean is not happy one bit with Bad. Yep. They get back to Bad's place and she's upset. She starts packing immediately. It's like I knew she'd listen to that voice in my head not to come. Right? Like, you know, uh you know, I knew this could potentially happen. Like, you know, I cared about you, but like I knew you'd drinking and all that. Really?

And it's like look at him, he's frightened. And you can tell like he's frightened, but like he It's not like he's angry at bad or like he's scared of bad four years old, so he's four. He doesn't quite comprehend how the process everything that happened. Yeah. So you know they get in a cab and they leave and bad you know, buddy's staring at them at him as they leave and He's like, at least let me take you to the airport. And she's like, No No, no. Right?

You know, and then now, you know, he's this hits the point where he realizes he needs to get yeah. He needs to clean himself up. He needs to get sober. So he gets into rehab, you know, and so um Wayne takes him to you know a treatment center, a really nice treatment center that's there in Texas.

Um people there are really nice to him. Right. And then Wayne's there pick him back up after twenty eight days. Yep. Yeah. Sandra Borick comes with him. Yeah. Vigo Mortensen comes with them as well. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep, and then a zombie comes with him. Wait, that's twenty eight days later. Right.

But um So you know, he gets back, you know, to his his place and he's cleaning up and then th this this part's rough in my opinion. So Skiing up and he finds this little Superman t shirt. Yeah. That's Buddy's. Yep. We saw Buddy wearing it earlier. And like this I the it's it's a it's a hard little scene to be honest. Um yeah. Yeah and so he tries calling Jean. She doesn't answer. So he just folds it up and just kinda puts it to the side and

We know we get a little scene where he's just um working on his music. And like it could be a scene where like something like that could easily snap him back to the bottle. Yeah, but it doesn't. It doesn't. And he's determined to be good with with Gene and Buddy. And you can tell like, you know, his house is looking better. And his exp appearance is looking better. Looks like he's lost weights. Right?

And then so, you know, he finally decides to, you know, show up at Jean's place and he knocks on, you know, the the door you know, this door that she has there and she finally comes out. You know, it's just her. And it's like, you know, hey. So you know, just wanting to know why you're here. He's like, Oh, you know, I thought maybe I might see you. You know, I um

Yeah, I'm sober now. I I got clean, I'm sober, you know. I you know, I got the rehab and I'm sober now. I I know I thought I might check check on you guys, right? And she's like, you know, I I I'm really happy for you. Yeah. I really honestly am really, really happy that Yeah, that you cleaned yourself up, that you're sober now. I I should have listened to that voice and I I'm a different person now too.

Yeah, it is not a good idea for you to come in and see buddy. It's like, you know, if you really care about us, like I really need you not to contact us right now. Right? You could tell like he's hit hard by this. Again, this is something that could easily be a thing that gets him to fall off the wagon. Yeah.

And I guess this is actually when the same with the T shirt comes in'cause like he goes back to Houston. And again, you have him he's work you know, working through m different music and playing. Uh he's I think he has some you know, we see him doing different shows with Wayne's and then yeah, he seemed clean up and he finds that T shirt and he picks up the phone and he wants to call. But he doesn't. He hangs up. And like that I mean that's uh

It's hard. Yeah. It's a hard scene. And um it's not one spoken with words, it's spoken through this Jeff Bridges acting. Yeah.

Right? So um and that's it. Like right, then we cut to like, you know, a time jump. We have 16 months later. And we're at a music pavilion again. Well, it's the same one as in Phoenix or a different one. Looks like it might be the same one. Right. And you know, Tommy's there. He he's playing on stage. Mm-hmm. Right. And he's doing a good job. The crowd loves him, right?

And so you can kinda tell like this is where you can kinda tell beyond like the um small bars earlier in the movie where it's like lower budget, like They can't make the scope of this crowd seem as grand as yeah some big stars would be because it uh anyway. Um but yeah but yeah, he's off the back of the stage and his um manager's there with him, right? And they're talking and he's enjoying Tommy's set that Tommy's playing. His manager comes up. He's got a royalty check for him, right? Because

It's like, oh yeah, these checks keep getting bigger because that song, The Weary Kine, has become um huge Tommy's biggest hit. It's a huge hit. Right. And Tommy's playing it as his encore solo. Right. You know, he's like, Yeah, oh yeah, my mentor wrote this song and you know I you know, play you know, he talks about it and he plays it. He's listening

No. Bad is taking pride that his song's being played. He's tak taking pride that his protege is playing it well. And he's taking pride in the sides of this check that they just handed him. Keep coming. These royalty checks keep on coming. Right? And you know, and maybe maybe there's another album coming. You know all of it's coming through again, right? You know, as life is looking back up, right?

And so, you know, he walks off and he gets to the back of the stage, but towards like the stage in area, right? You know, his troll brushes and h his suburban is still there. Gotta love his suburban. It's own character in this movie. Mm-hmm. I always love this'cause they had the the back window with like roll down. Yep. She uses multiple times, like the roll it down, he goes in and gets it, right? You know, takes out his guitar, takes out some music.

I loved how when he has his car accident, one of the first things he wants to know about is how his guitar is through the accident. Yep. Right? And apparently, like, you know, he's still driving the same thing. Like you could tell the car got busted up and when it got rolled over multiple times. Of course, it's a nineteen eighty one car. It's a lot of steel. Mm-hmm. It can handle a couple of rolls. It can still Uh it's not fiberglass, right?

So yeah, he's walking back there and he hears a voice. And it's Gene. And things looking up for her. It's like, oh yeah, I heard he might be here. He looks at it like now she's working for a bigger publisher, right? Or um newspaper or And she's got full press passes and all this. And they have a nice little conversation, right? And he sees that she has a ring on her finger. And you know, it's like, you know, yeah, he's a really nice he's a really good guy.

And bad is bad jealous? No. No. Bad he's just he understands. Yep. He says, you know, you deserve someone good. You deserve someone good. And then he hands her the envelope with the check in it. He's like Put this in account for buddy. And she opens the envelope and she looks at it and it's like no. I can't accept this. I cannot take it z take it. It's yeah. This song would not exist if it weren't for you. Right.

I mean I wonder you know, so she takes it'cause like again, like he's had multiple of these checks and he'll probably get an even bigger one after this. Yeah. Um, you know, he he can do it and it's such a great gesture too. Like And it's like, well, you know, the buddy's here, do you want to see him? No, I don't think at first he he almost says yes, and he's like No, I don't I don't think that would be the best thing for him right now.

Yep. Yeah, and maybe in the future they do see each other again. Maybe Buddy remembers, maybe he doesn't. Yeah. About the really cool guy that hung out around a little bit when he was four. Maybe. But yeah, so then after that then Yeah, there's so th there's A lake or river or something right next to where they are. These these tables are covered.

He goes by the way. He says, Oh no, my my real name, Otis again. Like'cause she at that first interview she asked him, Well, what's your real name? It's like, Oh, that won't be revealed until my I'm dead, it'll be on my head my tombstone. But yeah, after he got clean, after he got sober, then then he decided to go back to his given name. O Otis. Otis. Otis Blake.

And yeah, so He's like, Well, how about an interview? And she's like, That sounds great. Like I could use the story, right? So they go walking over toward the tables over there by the w by the water. Yep. And the camera kinda pans out a bit so you really just get a really nice view of this vista that they would be looking over.

Right,'cause the offer's like, well, do you want to do it like, you know, on the bus? Do you want to do it over here? No, it's like, no, no, this is such a great view. Let's do it out here. So they sit down there and stare. You don't hear any of their interview? Nope. Because the weary kind starts playing as the credits start to roll. And that's the story of how he is able to kind of find the back to himself. It's his journey from this guy that thought he was washed up, had nothing left to give.

And he was able to find his songwriting skill again. Yep. How he was able to take appreciation of his protege and find someone to care about. And how to let go of things. Mm-hmm. And seeing that his life is not over. And to appreciate things. And um it all I mean, it it singes because like Jeff Bridges is fantastic in the role and the music we hear is fantastic. Mm-hmm. But yeah, it's Crazy Heart. That's Crazy Heart. Yeah. Good movie. I wouldn't call it great'cause again it's

A very standard story. Yeah. But good movie, definitely worth watching. Great performances. For great performances for someone's first time directing a movie. A very good effort. Mm-hmm. Said so much to like about the movie. Yeah. It's just yeah. It's just a solid movie all around and then again, like Jeff Bridges just elevates the things and the music is amazing. Yeah.

Without the ma without the great music, without the great central performance and bridges, the movie itself would be just it would be would be more average. Maybe below average. But it becomes a recommended movie because of both of those. Yeah. Yep. So exactly. So yeah. That uh that is crazy art. Anything else you can think of? I think that's it. Me too. So

As always, if you enjoy what you're hearing, then go ahead and check us out on our social media. We are on Facebook and Instagram and Threads is Rob Antoni's Cinematic Adventure. The And is spelled out. Andy is not an amber saying like the name of the podcast. We are also on X or Twitter, that is RT Cinematic.

And then we are also on Letterboxed. So you can check out some reviews that we've done on various movies, some we've done on the podcast, some we haven't done, some we will do, some we won't do. But anyway, that is Cine Adventure or Sign Adventure, C-I-N-E Adventure. And uh if you'd like, you can also send us an email at Robantoni Cinematic Adventure at gmail dot com. Once again, the and is spelled out. And D is not an eight percent like the name of the podcast.

But yeah, let us know what what did you think of Crazy Heart? Do you think Jeff Bridges deserved the Oscar that he won? I do. I thought he was great in this movie. I I do too. Do you disagree with us? Do you think somebody else should have won that year? Let us know. What what are your thoughts? And yeah, we just we want to hear from ya.

But anyway, so uh yeah, go to our social media, give us a like and a follow, go to your favorite podcast app where you're listening to us, give us a good rating, a good review, hit that subscribe button, comment on our stuff. You know, that's all how we uh move up in the standings and the recommendations and the search, all that stuff.'Cause we want to be able to reach as many ears as we can and people who like to listen to us ramble on about movies.

Because I know there are plenty of other people out there that uh that love movies as much as we do. Next time, next week we're gonna be taking a little bit of rip a break uh for our Oscar series. We are. Uh we still have one more movie to do. for the Oscar series before we close it out. It is yet to be decided. Yes, it is yet to be decided because we have to see what wins this year at the Oscars. And the Oscars has not have not happened yet as of the time of this recording.

So we gotta see We gotta look at the acting categories. figure out which winner we want to do a movie or that the winning movie we might be doing Marty Supreme. We might be doing one after after one battle after another. We might be doing Hamnet. We don't know. So Yeah. So we won't be doing one of those two movies, but we may do yeah. One of those three, or maybe there's a surprise winner in the category and we'd go that way. Maybe. We'll see.

But we gotta do something else a little bit different first, away from your usual Oscar fair, right? So we have had a couple of Hollywood losses recently. So we thought this was a this would be a good place to put in another one of our tribute episodes. And this will be a tribute to James Vanderby. Yes, not Robert DeBoy. James Vanderbeek. And not someone I think about necessarily with movies, but there is a movie in particular that came out when we were in high school.

That we thought would be appropriate to deal. Yes. Probably James Vanderbeek's biggest movie. Yes. Uh you know, he was more on the T V side with Dawson's Creek. Yeah, and all that. Dawson's Creek, right? But But I think th th this movie hit really well when we were in high school and I think it's in a you know, I think we thought this would be a Good movie to do the to represent that.

more of a teen oriented movie, which is not what you think of necessarily for the Oscars. Yeah. So we're gonna be talking about varsity blues next week. Which does have an Oscar one in it in John Voigt. Yes it does. Yeah. So but yeah, I'm uh I'm looking forward to doing some varsity blues because it's been a while since I've seen it. This is one that I have never seen. I've seen bits and pieces of it. I've seen bits and pieces of it, everybody loved it. When we're in high school. Yeah.

I like I liked it when I was in high school. I wanna see how it holds up. Right then, well no more than a few minutes total of the movie. interested to see uh what you think. And I'll also interested to see what I think'cause it's been a long time. Yeah. Now I I have seen well, a few times I have seen not another teen movie which borrows heavily from Farsty Blues. Force the Illusion be one of those ones. Yeah. Again, it's a movie of that era. And so again that's

We could've done a spoof. Not that this movie's I mean, this has s some serious things to it, but yeah, it's not one of those Oscar Beatty movies. So it would be a good one to insert where it is. Yeah. And it's and it's also a uh very good representation of James Vanderbeek and his acting. Yes, it is. So join us next time for Varsity Blues.