Danielle Walker and Goodfellas

Hello, Peter, Hell, are you here? Welcome to you Ain't seen nothing yet? The Movie Podcast we're our chat to a movie lover about a classic or beloved movie they haven't quite got around to watching until now. And today's guest comedian Danielle Walker.

All below. I want to stay here with you, the jobble, my hat, snake shocked, Why hail.

Happening?

Right?

So don't see nothing here.

Danielle Walker has gotten into the habit of winning things. This hilarious rural Queenslander burst onto the Aussie comedy scene by taking out Raw Comedy at a twenty sixteen Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She then won Best Newcomer at the same festival in twenty eighteen with her debut show Bush Rat,

Hello, my name is Daniel Walker. My three favorite films are Andre the Seal. He came to us from the wild and I named him Andre after a famous seal train. He's my best friend, and our favorite colors Bom.

Relic.

It's here.

Under the bed, No, there's nothing under the bad nam, Are you sure?

And Hunt for the Wilder People. Haukner is Cork.

Cork Asian, while they got their own because you're obviously white. And up until last night, I hadn't seen Goodfellas.

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.

I know I'd go from rides through. It's in the mid to late nineteen eighties. Martins Corsese rings, author of Mafioso crime bestseller Wise Guys, and declares, this is the book I've been waiting my whole life for. The author replies, this is the phone call I've waited my whole life for. So begins the partnership that brings us one of the all time great crime films. The mere fact that it gets mentioned in the same breath as Coppler's The Godfather

I haven't splurged on a pink Cadillac, but I did get a purple Honda jazz, so not too disimal.

And off the books. Off the books, of course.

You got to do some off the books gigs.

Welcome, welcome to you. Ain't seeing nothing again. I'm thrilled to have you on board, and I'm thrilled to talk about this movie, which I'll say off the get going, unless we want to know what you thought of the film from the get go. We'll get to that later. But I do love this film. This is right up there for me. Why haven't you seen Good Fellows or how aware of it were you?

Well, I when I was growing up. We'll use the video store, and I just don't think it occurred to me to get that one out. I think I was like, oh, I got to pick something that my sisters can watch too, and it wasn't on teeth. I had a bedtime of eight thirty until the end of high school.

So to the end of high school, yeah, I was.

Like seventeen being forced to go to my room at eight thirty. I'd put a towel down underneath the door though, so Dad couldn't see the light streaming out, and try and read a book if I could, so, I think that's why I haven't seen it.

Even reading up until year twelve? Was in bed was a no night?

Yeah no, because if not, I'd be tired for school the next day because you couldn't put a book down. I think it was that mum also had books in the You know, I think people think books are like that is a pursuit of somebody with an intelligent mind.

But there's also a lot of.

A lot of absolute drivel, right, and that's what I think I really went towards as a teenage girl, was like, what do you have their?

Mum?

Is that Virginia?

My mom recommended me Virginia Andrews to read as like a fourteen year old, that's a lot of incest and stuff. And I was like, Mum, as an adult going, what are you? What did you recommend me?

I'm not aware of Virginia Andrews?

Was it?

Yeah?

She wrote flowers in the attic?

Heard of that? Okay, yeah that's big. So so with that said, what were your movie Did you go to the movies at the cinema? You came from a small town in Queensland. Was there a cinema there that you go a lot? As a family? Did you go with friends? How did you what was your movie diet.

Like, I think I probably went to the movies twice a year as a kid, probably with Nana on school holidays, or as a teenager, maybe with friends every now and then, but that would usually be more of like a comedy situation with friends. We wouldn't go for a drama. We'd go to watch like Hangover or something like that.

Yeah.

Yeah, And as a kid, it was like, well, well then I got to go with my sisters. They're eight years younger than me, so yeah. Also, Nana would fall asleep in movies all the time, so you've got to keep it to ninety minutes.

Well, there's nothing wrong with a ninety minute film. We're not dealing with a nine minute film today. And I do thank you for putting aside two and a half hours to watch Good Fellas. Let's get to your three favorite films. A couple that I actually haven't seen, Andre the Seal. Yes, take us through Andrea Seal.

I thought that Andre the Seal was a very big movie in the zeitgeist for everybody in the world until I was an adult and realized that I just video taped it and watched it regularly over like every week, and that was not everybody else's experience. And so the film is it's based off a true story. A man who's a fisherman in town. He is having trouble. The seals keep eating all the fish, and other fishermen are

What I like about that is often on this podcast when we chat about movies we loved as a kid, it kind of what comes up quite a bit is that thing where this happened to video, you know, record on the VHS tape these four or five movies and they're the ones you just watched, like you watched them over and over again. And I remember, and even more to your point, I remember there was a few movies that I just kind of discovered on TV because you know, we had we had those options, we had like those

I think that's the most sensitive way of putting it. Didn't say he looked messed up, he was gross looking. He didn't say anything. He said he just he had a condition. That's a really sensate way.

Oh, thank you, thank you, there have been time, because Rocky did become a bit of a like when I was younger at school because it was a well enough movie that most of the kids had seen it, and he became a bit of a punchline. So I am more sensitive around the Rocky Dennis got cultural references these days, but he it was a beautiful movie, like really sad, really sad. But it was one of those movies that I kind of thought, well, this must be one of the biggest, you know, every one of the world must

Really yeah, oh gosh, it's got the girl from uh this is a crossover because I listened to an app to know what the show was going to be, and I listened to the Sushi Mango and it's got the girl from Napoleon Dynamite in it as a child. She's the little girl who looks after Andre the Seal.

Oh, well, that's worth checking it out, just for that, just for that Andre the Seal. Okay, Well, if we can find it, we'll watch it. The relic that's kind of lives in the an action kind of alien style kind of film.

Is that relic is.

I only watched it recently, and I've only watched it once, but it's had like a really big effect on me. It's an Australian sort of I think it's like a horror psychological drama or something, and it's yes, really beautiful and terrifying. It's I can't I I was googling it after I watched it because I've really it's probably the film that I've felt like it had the most impact on me of recent times. I just really loved it.

For quite a while. So I just I really loved.

It, and I thought the imagery and the way it was shot and the storytelling and it was really beautiful.

Yeah. So's from twenty twenty. Emily Mortimer, the English actress who I think was in Frenzya many years ago for those who watch more TV and Robin Nevin plays the mother, and Bella Heathcot, who's wonderful Austraian young actress, is in it as well, so I know that I'm looking it up. So this is not the top of my head, but I do recall this. I don't want you to going

I think it's like one of those ones that when you're well, this is how I felt when I was watching it, I was like not like, it made me feel really uncomfortable, and I was like confused, and I didn't really like it. And then in the last you know when a movie just in the last bit it all falls into place and you completely get it and then you retroactively really love the way the story's been told.

Yeah, I just felt like it because, yeah, you can kind of relax after that, you can kind of go, Okay, it makes sense. Yeah, it's interesting that that happened. And you haven't gone back to watch it again. But is it something that you will go back and watch again or is it something where you go and go No. That lives perfectly fine in my head the way it is.

I think I will watch it again, but I think I'll need to do it when I'm feeling really happy and good because I Reckon. I cried for like forty five minutes after that film, and I was just My partner was very confused because it is a horror and I was just like, it's a beautiful film, and he was confused by that. But I really loved the way it was told and I thought it was executed really wonderfully.

Another film that was executed wonderfully, and it's come up a few times on this podcast, is Hunt for the World of People. What a gorgeous film. I saw this. I happen to be in New Zealand at the time. I went and saw it, and I then came back and took my kids, took my kids, picked them up from school and took them to see a Hunt for the World of People. It's just a beautiful, beautiful film and very funny.

Oh yeah, I love I love it. I mean, as somebody who is from the country and has quite an eccentric family and grew up with pig shooting like feral pig hunting and has an obsession with her granddad. Old older male figures off on a bush adventure is my dream cinematic experience.

Well, it is an extraordinary obviously, is taikow tit? The man behind that? Sam Neil is in it. A great performance and I apologize the young actor who's now doing gellect commercials, but I have just slipped his name has slipped my memory. And Rys Starby, he's very funny in it. I think Rachel House is in there as well. It's it's just a gorgeous film with and it's what New Zealanders and the Kiwis do really well. They seem to have nailed this kind of heart, funny, quirky with that,

Or Yeah?

I watched Boy and I watched that ages ago where I was working at a call center back in the day in Townsville and my best friend at work was from New Zealand, so she introduced me to Boy and a bunch of other sort of New Zealand films and I really loved all of them, and I don't know, I just like really find Yeah, that storytelling style really great. I feel like it captures the I don't know, like

But people miss it.

Yeah, yeah, and their ability to have those kind of insane moments. But you don't. They don't lose the fabric of what the movie's about, or you're not. You're not taking out of the movie for the sake of a joke like that. Yeah, the speech a tiger plays like a pastor or a priest in and he's given his sermon and he's mentioning like fanter and loes, you know, lollies and candy, and it's it's hilarious, but you're still

Yeah.

Well, I like it because I do think that I don't know, a priest is just a regular guy. Our priest out well, he was a Franciscan friar. I guess is that a I don't know, he was a father Jiles at school. He was absolutely wonderful. And also you know he wasn't just talking about the Bible. He was off on tangents constantly.

At church.

You'd be like, dude, it's thirty five degrees and humid in this church.

Does not have any fans. Wrap it up.

We had a priest too, whenever when they're Catholic, was raised Catholic. We've got to church every Saturday. And our parish priest was a mad Carlton support in the AFL or VFL back then. So if Carlton won, he would he would it would be the quickest mass ever because all he wanted to do was go back and wants

Support, I mean that's good as a win win. I guess either way, if they lose, then your team.

Wins exactly right. Hey, before we get onto good Fellas, Danielle, I want to our listeners they can get onto our speak pipe and leave a message and be part of the show, have a thought about something we've put out there on the show. So this is from Nick, who joined the speak Pipe.

Hey, Pete, thank you so much for the podcast. I've been loving it. I've been a massive Pete fan ever since Skit House and then watching on the Mainland comedy Gla Circuit and the Melbourne comedy Gala itself. Always loved it. Just really wanted to shout out Infernal Affairs, What a cracking, what a cracking movie one of my absolute favorites, and I have to say that, come on when you're comparing

Thank you. Nick's played that, Danielle just to you know, remind everybody that was on Skirit House and the National Comedy Festival. Have you seen any of those movies? Have you seen Fennal Affairs or The Departed?

No, I've not seen Oh wait, I watched The Departed way back in the day.

That's right. I watched that as a child.

That was one that was on TV on a weekend when I was allowed to stay up past eight thirty. The Departed, that's not Leonardo DiCaprio, isn't it.

The It's got the Caprio has got Matt Damon and yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a you know, there's a scene that Scorsese he put in. It's a remaker of a of a Chinese or Hong Kong film calling Ferneral Affairs. We covered a few weeks ago with Michael Hings a really fun episode and there's a scene at the end of the Scorsese version that Departed where there's a rat that crawls across the window, ledge or the balcony. But it's clearly saying, oh,

To me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United States.

Loves all.

Even before I first wandered into the cabstand for an after school job, I knew I wanted to be a part of them, and was there that I knew that I belonged to me, And then being somebody in the neighborhood that was full of nobody's they weren't like anybody else.

I mean, they did whatever they wanted. They double parked in front of a hydrant, and nobody ever gave them a ticket. In the summer, when they played cards all night, nobody ever called the cops.

Must Start Forever from nineteen ninety, based on the book Wise Guys by Nicholas Peleggi co written the screenplay with Martin Scorsese, who also directed, Obviously starring Rayleioda, The Like Great Rayleiota, Robert DeNiro, Jopesky, Lorraine Bracco, Daniel Walker. Did you enjoy Goodfellas I did?

There were there were little bits of it that I was like, Okay, that bit maybe could have been shorter, but I really I did enjoy it, Like I like a movie that starts with when I was a kid. Here's all the things, here's all the insight, this is everything you need to know about me.

It just helps me. I like it.

Well. It's a really interesting point because there are some people in you know, the cinephile world who you know, really do not like voiceovers, and this one in particular, I think it's one of the great voiceovers. I think this and Shawshank Redemption Till my favorite voiceover movies. But often they say show and don't tell in movies, so you know, less dialogue, and you know, it's a visual medium, so let's show the audience what you're trying to convey.

Yeah, I felt like I could understand.

I felt like you it'd be too much exposition to set up why he loves mob life if you didn't have all that, Like it would be like to have to show his dad hitting him and then to show all the stuff he gets, like it would be too much.

I liked it.

It was just like this, this, this this great. Now I can be in the story.

Yes, And because this is also over twenty five year period, it does kind of make these big dramatic cuts and goes back and forth. And you're right, and that's a really good example of the dad hitting him with the belt. Like, yeah, there's a way you could do that, but it's probably going to add another minute of screen time, you know, to actually build up to that moment. You can't just cut to him whacking him with that. Maybe a build up to that, I think, so, I think it's also

Devices.

Well, okay, so where do you want to Where do you want to start? Well, where do you want to go next?

Well?

I would like to go with the This is just a thing that they didn't Why did they mention the ages of characters at different points? Because that was bits that I was like, so, we're supposed to believe that Robert de Niro is twenty eight years old right here, and then I googled he's forty six years old. And then there was another bit where Raleiota when he's marrying Karen I think that's her name in the film at nineteen, and I'm like, that's clearly a mid thirty couple.

Well, you exactly right. As far as Rayleiota goes, he was thirty five I think when they sh shot this.

Yeah, and then yeah, I googled Robert de Niro and he said they said I think they said, yeah, forty six or something.

Oh.

I was like, this is not a twenty eight year old man. And then but then I liked it later on when he was supposed to age up. They just put some baby powder in his hair because they were like, really, can't look the same at fifty five as he did when he was supposedly twenty eight.

And I mean and Joe Pesky's character Tommy, his looks way older than he's supposed to to look as well. So how much did that? I have had people talk about this and that bothers some more than others. For me, I get used to American films. I mean, you would never enjoy Grease. You you wouldn't get past the first scene of Greece, you know, the movie, not the country, if you were perturbed by the ages of those characters. I mean, these are high school students, you know, Rizzo's

Well?

I just wish they hadn't mentioned the ages, because I didn't think that I needed to. But they bothered me with that bit because also I remembered growing up and people were older in films, but I didn't clock that the actors were older because I thought, well, they've cast somebody who looks that age to play that thing. So I grew up genuinely, I had this whole theory in my head because I didn't ask anybody about it, that you know how you got to go grow corn in

I had the same theory but without the corn. So I honestly thought Americans are just they must grow differently and maybe go through puberty before we do, or or because they all look older. I mean, yeah, you go through high school movies and you know, from without a cause, like I said, the Grease. You know, even there's something like mean Girls and like everyone's playing and it's gotten better. I think, I think now we're onto it. But yeah, it is a weird thing that can It can ruin

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean the corn theory I love. I mean, like I said, I never I never went deep enough to kind of understand why Americans, you know, looked thirty five at high school.

It's just because they were at thirty five. But I just didn't know that.

And by the way, I think when you say, I think, okay, it makes sense. But I didn't know. If you said to me this corn had to be grown in the box, I was like, maybe maybe not. I don't know. So I've learned something today.

Thank you, no worries.

I mean I did learn something in the I did learn a lot in the film, which I liked as well.

I did, like the.

Never to rat on your friends.

I learned not to run.

On my friends, and I learned that you can't be a made man if you've got a bit of Irish in you. Yes, And so I mean, I guess anything that's just not Italian, because I was like my partner, he's Italian, but he's like, I mean, we've got a magnet on the fridge that says proud Aussie wog, but he's like one Italian grandparent and the rest are all different immigrants. And so I was last night a girl,

I didn't know.

I didn't know. Well, I have an update on that, to be honest, Danny else. So this may be good news because they changed it in two thousand oh the five families who were referred to as the Commission got together and they have changed it. So you don't need to be full Italian as long as long as your father is Italian. Ah okay, and your surname needs to be Italian, which means that Jimmy Conway and Henry Hill still couldn't actually be made man, but I'm not sure how that affects your your bl.

Like if you've got if you've got like if your grandfather, if your paternal grandfather is Italian, that would make your father like half Italian, which would make you then fine, right, and he's got the last name, he's Master Polita.

Oh that's that sounds atating. I think it could be a made man by the end of the year.

Great, I'll send him out off on some missions.

Did he enjoy it? Did he watch all of the film?

Or yeah, he enjoyed it.

I mean, he'd watched it before, so he was excited to watch it again. He said he really liked it, So, I mean he did fall asleep towards the end. But we've kind of we've got pneumonia in this house, so where we're on any biotics where really.

I had to I'm not gonna lie. I did have to.

Look up the end of the film this morning, just to see if I did remember the end of the film, because it just sort of I felt like the way it was was like here's all the information at the start, and then these really long scenes and or like really intricate storytelling. And then towards the end, which I guess is I guess it's supposed to portray his descent into sort of manic thoughts and sort of stress or something like the really short, sharp scenes that came towards the end.

Yeah, well, I mean it's obviously a deliberate choice. To the start of the film has these beautiful, long kind of tracking shots where we get introduced to everyone. In fact, let's have a little listen to the first introduction. We're walking into the Bamboo Lounge, which is soon to be set on fire, but this is where we meet the guys.

There was Jimmy and Tommy and me, and there was Anthony Stabile, Frankie Carbone, and then there was more Black's brother Fat Andy and his guys, Frankie the Wild, Freddie No Nose, and then there was Pete the Killer who was Sally Balls's brother. And you had Nicky Ayes and Mikey franchise I want to see it, and Jimmy two times you've got that nickname because he said everything twice late you want to go.

Get thee get the people might wind it up. Yeah, I said, it's it's beautiful. And again go back to the voiceover and introducing us to the work that world.

Yeah.

I I.

Did have some questions about the film, and maybe I can ask just those two, which was because I loved I think like the thing that really set up like the love of the Mafia sort of mob situation was like that scene when he goes to court and then at the end they're all sort of waiting there to like hug him and congratulated him and be like, oh, you're a part of this family and stuff like that was really nice, and also you could see why, you know, I did Scouts growing up, and I was like, oh, yes,

My reading on Tommy, I don't think they're doing it for strategic reasons because he might be a made man at some point. It's more that simpler that they are. They're aware that they are surrounded by potentially dangerous characters, but because they the family feel too. And you said, you know, when the young Henry comes out of the court case, you know he's embraced, and you do. I think it's an excellent point that you make. You really do feel you feel good for him. You know, he's

Well, I I think we are him in that moment where Henry in that moment, like, yeah, I think we have to wait till the moment to be like, oh, I think he's ah, he's joking with us, but he's just like you can't really tell. But also it felt like a dominance move a little bit, and I was like, Okay, oh, he wants us to like he's joking with us, but he also wants to see if he'll be able to

Out with this little absolute fruit loop?

He's gonna kill I Just like I didn't find any redeeming qualities in Tommy at all. And that also that then made me question the judgment of everybody else.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, and like I said, I actually forget that whatever joke he was telling. And you know, I said, he wasn't judging his material, but just the idea that he that he had he had the room. Yeah, and those people are anyone can know who can have

Yeah, it does make you feel like a certain I like I did feel like a if he wasn't killing people, I would have felt a little bit like sorry for him a little bit with that sort of little man syndrome of like I got to prove myself like a chihuahua.

And it's that that basically turns the whole movie on its head because it's his inability to take this kind of pretty gently gentle ribbing from Billy Batts about him being a shoe shiner. Yeah, that turns everything upside down because they kill a made man, and then it's and then it's it's you know, it's it's how to pay after that. There's an interesting thing about that scene. How my funny scene is that joke Joe Pesky, it actually

I Love's yeah, that's really cool.

And because it does obviously get to the point where, like I said, a lot of the stuff doesn't happen, we don't get through the film without Tommy because he's the one who keeps sucking up, you know, and then he starts, he certainly starts to fucking up, and then Henry Hill starts fucking up. They start losing trust each other,

All Right, your little wreck. I thought, I thought I wants a drink.

Now I'll bring it.

Yeah, I'll give me a fucking drink, moving a little thread.

You want my fucking stuff, and.

Everybody else you're fucking run for mere dance, dance the fucking drink back here. Watch that movie which one, the one where we played a coup. We only do you alcohola kit, Malklahoma kit.

That's me. Yeah.

Now he's moving army. All right, So he got shot in the foot. What is it to take him the bank?

Caset?

A little prick?

Let him crawl there like he cross.

For get back about the street physics.

So he is shot Spider in the foot. Yeah, he shot about four four rounds. So it's actually it's actually almost an accident that he didn't actually shoot him, which

Yeah, well, I guess he's like in his like in my mind, I think that's so funny because it is like that thing of like he's like, ah well I could have killed him.

Look, I just did a tiny little thing.

It's like a slap on the wrist in his mind, like if if the punishment normally is death, then this is just like a little slap to him.

Yeah. Yeah. And the great thing about this is the next THINGE almost works without that even scene happening. You have to obviously change I think week because we know Tommy is on edge and he's thin skinned. But then we come back Spider's returned with his foot bandaged up. Spider played of course by Michael Imperiali from The Sopranos we'll get to the amount of sopranos actors in this film,

Tell it you you looking for sympathy?

Is that it's sweety? Why don't you go fuck yourself?

Tommy?

Believe I just hope it's fair.

Feel got a boy, but it's gives.

Me a lot of fucking balls.

Good for you. Don't take your shoot off nobody.

She shoots them of their.

Get away with you. Canna let this fucking punk get away with the smile?

What's the world coming to?

What the fucking world is coming to?

You?

Like that?

That's that?

All right?

What's the fun?

The matter? What is the fucking matter? What are you stupid?

Or one?

I'm kidding with you?

What the fuck are you doing? You?

What a fucking sick maniac?

I don't know if your kid?

What do you mean?

You're kidding you freaking my fucking blah, fucking kidd it with you?

You'll fucking shoot the guy. He's dead? What was going through you? I mean, were you expecting that? Like were you when those discussions were happening, when you know, even earlier, when when when Spider was saying, you know, I didn't know, I didn't know what you meant. I didn't know you meant you're kind of almost arguing with him, You're almost nervous. Then and then when he comes back and says fuck you and the ribbing that then de Niro Jimmy gives him.

Oh?

Yeah, I felt like I knew he was gonna kill him as soon as he spoke back, and it stressed me out. And then also when he had that he had like a different gun, Like he didn't have one of those little guns. He had like a bigger I don't know what it is, like if it's automatic handgun or something like. It was different to those are the ones. And that was like I was like, Oh, he's like gotten a bigger gun, and this is stressful. But also I felt like I felt like it was like Spy.

Yeah, yeah, Henry Henry.

And I felt like it was like, oh, these guys are not creating that family environment that he had growing up, and so it's not going to have the same end of like the way PAULI has like this peaceful.

I don't know.

He comes out of prison and it's just like, nah, I don't want to die, I don't want I just

I think that's such an excellent point because I had a wrote down that it's no coincidence that Spider looks like a young young Henry like in Scorsese films. I've often said covered a few, there's no coincidences. So the casting, I mean, obviously they've cast an Italian to play it,

Yeah, I felt like.

I felt like Henry just likes the like he's like results driven, Like he just wants the outcomes, Like he wants to be treated like a celebrity. He wants to have the money to buy things and do things. And I felt like Tommy was like he likes the power that comes with killing people and like he doesn't necessarily care as much about the money as he cares about having respect from other people.

Yeah, Henry wants Henry wants to be a rock star and he wants he doesn't want to work the way the other slubs work, And he points out out in the you know, in those early voiceovers and to the point where, in real life, once this movie comes out, Henry Hill starts start doing interviews and ringing Howard Stern on air and like, so the FBI basically had their basically say, Okay, well you're not You're noting witness relocation anymore.

Yeah, I thought it was really interesting though, different ways of being in situations.

Did you love What did you think of Henry Hill? Did you I think it's an amazing performance from Rayleiota. He doesn't get nominated for an Oscar, which I think we'll get through the Oscars of that year because it is one of the more controversial oscars. Did you like Henry do you? What were your thoughts?

I think at the start I did really like him because I could see like how intoxicating it would be and to feel like, you know, you've got your people and this nice, fun lifestyle. I think when he started to go through that downfall of being obsessed with it and putting it above everything else, that's, you know, when I was, I felt like he'd become a bit of a monster, and I didn't like him at the end. I felt like it was like too obsessive, like when

The rock War that opened was special. I mean, yeah, that was that was futuristic that he I loved his performance and and you know, I'm somebody who basically what I love about watching movies is I kind of you can root for people who you wouldn't usually root for in real life, you know, like, you know, I know Henry's a bad guy. You know, you watched Chopper and you kind of you root for Chopper even though you realize that he kills people, and you know, but that's

Yeah. No, I really loved her.

I thought that, I know, like I really empathized with her character, Like I felt like coming into it not knowing really about mob life or whatever, like she just saw similar Like she I felt like she started with the same perspective as Henry, Like it's sort of like, oh wow, look, these people sort of look after you and you get the best things and you get this special treatment that maybe she hasn't had in her life before,

At doing it.

And I think at the end seeing her fully frazzled and coped out too was like an interesting like she fully was like, I will commit to you no matter what, even if that means I will.

Sent with you.

Yeah. It was a really wonderfully complicated character in that she didn't make always the right choice. In fact, she makes a series of wrong choices. You know. She says when he handed me the gun, her girlfriends would have said, get what he'd get away from this guy. But I was turned on by this, you know. And she goes down his path and marries him, and instantly we know it's a bad marriage. I think they have the ceremony in the next I don't think it's necessarily the next day,

Yeah, I I it was that scene because I feel like it's such a hard scene to watch because I felt like she was trying to recapture that sort of like essence of being like angry at him. But then because she at the start she could go off at him because she didn't have anything to lose, but now she does have stuff to lose, so she can never fully just completely unleash on him in the same way

Seriously, I don't know it.

Just you can find another house with a rock wall that you know.

Yeah, I got to stop judging the characters and say because I do like the movie, but and the whole time, and this is the whole thing with movies with me is I I just want everybody to have a nice time and make the right decision. And then I realized that that's not a movie that people want to watch. But I just go, you know, this will be easier for you if you just communicated and then you left or whatever. But that's not a good movie, that.

Is, yeah, Bridge. My wife often says that she just, you know, when don't they do this or what do they you know, why did they choose to do that? And I'm like, well, because it's a movie and you need at least ninety minutes, and you're what you're proposing cuts it down to seven minutes, and that's too short.

I do think people would enjoy that though. As a child, that was my dream to just have a movie with none of the emotional arcs because I didn't want to feel them, Like in the Lying when with Foster died, I was like, this would be a great movie if it was just them in the jungle to Mon and Pomba and him singing on logs like I don't want to have the dad dying. I just want to have fun in the bush.

I do love. We kind of skipped over it a little bit, but it does obviously there's a little bit of a time linear thing, a nonlinear thing going on with the we join. We go back to the start of the movie, which we you know, which is the bang on the boot as a way of starting that movie, which goes into the voiceover and then coming back to it,

I really liked it because I liked at the start, Yeah, like it's like you start with this thing, so you've got to have something to warrant the six minutes of backstory that you're going to get as the next thing. So I really liked that, like reasoning of like how did he get there? And then I liked when seeing it, it was so comedic that evening like that evening is

She knows he's in the mob.

Yeah, but I guess that's what I'm saying in a way that these moments of real life that they don't like when Rayleiotto or Henry Hill is trying to do this last little kind of scheme of his at the end where there's helicopters and that he's still worried about the pasta sauce, you know, and he's still there's the fact that they have to go to the mother's house to get the shovel, like that is like some practical stuff that needs to happen for them to carry out

I mean, I do like that.

It's sort of like, I guess, like I haven't watched The Godfather or The Sopranos yet I got to get onto those. But I liked that it was a juxtaposition between Paulie, who's maybe moved into that next phase of his life where he's more calm and sensible and thinks things through, and these guys are just stuck in that puberty sort of insanity. I think it showed that they were probably never going to be Tommy was never going to be a made man. He's just not like he's

Yeah, it's just because DeNiro Jimmy Conway. He kind of feels like every time I watch good Fellers, and I would have seen it maybe ten times now, every time I watch it, I do I do kind of forget that Jimmy actually is as bad as Tommy, Like I always kind of think of him as the arm around Henry at the start of the film saying you know, you know, well done, you know you did the right thing, and you're part of the family now, and ushering him

That was something that I was confused by was if these are people that you have loved, surely, even if you're going to kill them, you kill them in a way that's not crazy grotesque, absolutely nightmarish. Like I just go, like, come on, hanging them up on a meat hook? Like what about just a yeah, just a the way Tommy does a little bit of a gun to the back of the head so he doesn't see it coming. Then in a nice little casket. You don't have to Absolutely no,

I mean, there is there is a tradition that you in these films, and you know, I'm not sure if it's reflecting life or life reflecting up that you make a statement, but that's often when somebody has done something horribly wrong. The only thing I could think of a character who gets hang up in the meat hook is that he bought his wife a mink coat and they're told not to show off the money. You know, don't spend don't spend any money soon, you know, anytime soon.

If I was going to kill any of my friends, I would I would do it humanly. And I do have to stop. I just got to start accepting the plot because I do really enjoy it. It is just I want to create a world where the mobsters do right by their families, which is if they did that right the whole thing. I mean, I don't know what it would have happened. It seems like they probably would have had a downfall or something at some point.

But Poorly, Poorly didn't. Pully did his time.

Now he just has a beautiful family dinner and he's the only one alive at the end. Really, Oh well, I guess the others are alive, but he's the one who's living a life I guess seemingly worth living.

A little bit.

Yes, I could tell you a little true story fact about Pauli. When Henry Hill was in jail, him and Karen had an affair for Karen, good for Karen, good for Karen, good for Karen, just owning the situation. And you said you almost I mean to bring it up earlier when you said, Karen, he is in jail for four years, get on with living your life. Yeah, and well she got on with living your life a little bit.

Why didn't Paulie put him up in a place where they didn't have all have to sleep in the same room.

Paully liked the heart his wealth. He wasn't driving around in the pink Cadillac.

That's true.

I don't understand that it is a weird thing to show off. How long is a mink coat gonna last for? Like it's white, it doesn't seem it seems like two. I mean, I don't know what state they're in. I just guess New York because that's just what I feel like you always see in the films. But I don't know if they're a New York or not. So I guess it's cold, but I don't know how thick of it. How many months of the year are you going to wear a seven thousand dollars jacket or however much it costs.

Yeah, and you're wearing it often in a city that in the season, you're wearing it where it snows.

You know that's going to get wet. How long is that going to take to dry out?

Yeah? Just come on, guys, think about it. Please, please. What do you think when Tommy got knocked off? Were you expecting that? Was that? It's done really well? He gets ushered in by two gents, one of them the small agent, is again the parent of Martin Scorsese Scorl Sacy. And what I love about the way it's done is you get this little Tommy realizes just when it's too late. You actually hear him say oh no, almost as the bullet goes through his head.

Yeah. I didn't hear that bit.

So it's cool to know that because I feel like I was happy that he got I didn't expect it because it sort of was like he's being a made man like that sort of just like came in that day in my mind, like I didn't know that that was going to happen, or when it was gonna happen, or what was going on with that? And Yeah, when he was going to do it, I was like, Oh, that's interesting that they would allow that, just because he

Sort of.

Well, I do one. I mean, it's certainly because of the killing of Billy Bats, but I do wonder, and we don't see the discussions that took place, because obviously that would have ruined the surprise. But I do wonder if it was not the killing of Billy Bats in isolation, it was this guy's been getting loose. We don't trust him anymore. I mean, he killed one of their own. He killed Yeah, he killed a you know what, maybe a sixteen year old kid. Yeah.

I feel like that's a no note.

Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't get bumped off of that. But you know, this is what the code of honor comes in, and you know, we'll probably live by a different code of honor. I suspect Dannielle, but yeah, I mean, if Spider wasn't a made man, so I guess you know, it holds bigger weight, heavier weight when you kill a made man. But yeah, I agree that I think there was probably more to it than just Billy Bats, even that that was probably the thing the catalyst.

Yeah, because I was not sure.

I was like, Oh, how did they know that he killed Billy Bass? And why is he called Billy Bass? Has he got a big mouth or something?

I think it's Billy Bats.

Oh, Okay, I thought, because Billy Bass is the name of the talking fish. I was confused if it was like a nickname for that.

We waited for the bracket in the song.

Yeah, I was confused the whole time. Why his nickname was that Billy Bats? Okay, that makes far more sense to me.

Now, were you happy when they got into a witness relocation that, Yeah, they made the call to testify. They meet with the US attorney actually played by the US attorney who actually spoke a guy called Edward McDonald. He actually plays himself that in that moment and reliving the conversations he had with the Hills. And I gotta say that in a nice little performance. But what do you think were you happy enough that they relocated?

Yeah, I was happy that they relocated. I didn't want DeNiro's character to get the win for deciding to kill off everybody, because it doesn't seem like that's how you run business. You can't just kill off everybody because who's ever gonna work with you ever? Again, you got to start from the ground up again if you ever want to do it, and then what you got to target on the back for the rest of your life for

You're absolutely right. It was an insane move by Jimmy like to think it could get away with that many kills.

And nobody would trace it back to him.

Yeah. Yeah, because with you, you know enough people to know that this the Thunsa heist took place was actually a real heist. I think they took six million. Yeah, they wouldn't get back to him. It's actually it's actually a really good point that it's actually insanity that he thought he could get away of that.

Well.

Yeah, because I mean, if you've got everybody who's working beneath you is probably also Italian. It seems like that that's the way it sort of works a bit or like part Italian. Then they're also going to be connected to the other families from the other mob groups, like there's going to be a cross mingling area with that stuff. How how did he think that that was a good idea? Was he going to go offshore? I don't understand. I genuinely don't understand how. Because this is a real story.

I think it's a very good point, Like I can imagine if like I mean, I've got no issues with the way it plays out as a movie. But you're right as like, did he have a plan to go to Tahiti or like the live on an island for the rest of his life, like an escape plan an exit strategy? Yeah? Or did he think he to kill four or five of the family and as an unmade man, Yeah, and get away with it. It's it's crazy.

And also why didn't he then just not kill them, take all the money and get on a plane and come to a Darwin and go into hiding. They never would have found him.

Yeah, that's a bloody good point, and scol says he may have missed something that he could have. But like I said, it's a true story, and I don't know the story well enough to know where there's been some departing of truth and some creative license taken. But it's fascinating. I've got some fun facts for you. Speaking of Robert de Niro, he insisted on them using real money because he didn't like the way the fake money felt in

That is a nightmare.

I mean, I've heard some stories about you on the set of Gold Diggers, Danny Elder. Is it true that you requested real gold?

Oh?

Yeah, there was.

There's some nuggets lying around my house now big time.

The nero also called apparently Henry Hill like seven or eight times a day to ask questions like how you know, and even if he wasn't playing Henry Hill, but he was asking about you know, as supposed of being, you know, a part of the mafia or a gangster. How he would hold a cigarette, how he would smoke, how he would even like poor ketchup? Ketchup was one of his questions. Apparently, so takes his acting very seriously. Does missing DeNiro?

Oh okay, that would have fed that Henry Hill guy's ego like nothing else.

I know, Like you're right, like you think a lot of people will go oh eventually, oh bloody, how DENIERO is calling again. I'm not going to answer this one, but I get the impression of Henry Hill loved every second of that, and yeah, you're right, Fetti's ego.

I've got to look up what the real Henry Hill looks like and what all these real people look like, because it does seem like, you know, they're very handsome, put together people in this film. But I'm getting like a Tommy Wiseou vibe from him, a little bit like that's sort of like, yes, I'm very famous, Like he'd put a billboard up of his own face whilst he was in witness protection or something just to keep the fame going.

Yeah, the Tommy Wazoo. I like that comparison. Rayleiot his mum sadly died a cancer during the filming of good Fellers, and yeah, he apparently used that anger, particularly the pistol whip scene of the neighbor who. I don't know about you, Daniel, I kind of enjoyed because he was an asshole, that guy and set up very economically as being a bit of a jerk and be a bit of an asshole, and I kind of, I don't know, for some reason, I quite enjoyed that seemed very extremely violent, you know,

Stunt training you've done, Peter Hellier, but I've done about four hours of stunt training.

Here we go and some insightful it's all.

About camera angles and the way you hit using the camera angles. Well that's what we were taught when I was doing my four to six hours of stunt training. But now I do watch films and I can sort of like some Donet. I can't remember a movie what we watched recently, and I was just laughing at the stunt because it just seemed like so much like it's like a lot of like pushing and using the other person's weight on you. And now I find watching some stunts hard to watch because you can just see that

I loved it.

Sometimes the small stunts always get meet. As we spoke about Chinatown with Limo recently, and there's a bit where Jack Nicholson gets his nose like nostril slit and blood splitts up, and it's just like, how did they do that? Like it's sometimes it's a tiny stunt as supposed to a big kind of dramatic car crash kind of stunts that I'm more impressed with the little stuff. Murray's Whig commercial, by the way, I love this story. It's my favorite

Fellows that's so great, that's that's real fun Like, he thought that his ads were so funny and silly, so he made him do one I love that It's.

So good, and another quick one Mike Blue Heaven was also Nora Efron wrote a movie called My Blue Heaven, a comedy about a guy who goes into witness relocation, sawing Steve Martin. Nora Efron, married to Nicholas Peleggi, often would overhear conversations and sometimes answer the phone when Henry Hill would call, have these conversations with him, so she starts writing My Blue Heaven, you know, based on some of his stories. So My Blue Heaven weirdly is a kind of sequel to Good.

Fellows, if you definitely want to watch that.

And Joe Pesky won the Oscar the sixth shortest Oscar acceptance speech. He said, it's my privilege, thank you. That was his speech in total, the sixth shortest Oscar speech. And there we go, and we do have to go wrap up, but I just want to also point out you may not have got it, but when the door slams at the end, which only got kind of recently,

Next year twenty four, I think twenty four.

Forgot a year it was. And congratulations on gold Diggers, congratulations on winning Task Mats Australia in one and thanks for joining us on you ain't.

Say nothing yet, No worry SANX for having me.

That was Danielle Walker and good fellas love that give him our speak pipe throughout our pages and you can also get on to us at Yasney Podcast at gmail dot com. Thanks everyone for listening. We're going to keep this one short because I have to let somebody else into the studio. But thanks to everyone listening to the show, and we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening to you.