Good a. Peter Helly here, welcome to you Ain't seen Nothing Yet the movie podcast, where I 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 actor writer funny bloke Mark Humphrey's.
This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra violence.
How about now, You're crazy Dutch bastard?
You ever dance with the devil in the val lights?
Haven't a right?
You ain't seen nothing new.
When it comes to us attire In Australia, actor and writer Mark Humphreys has become the gold standard with his finger squarely on the pulse and prostate land of politics and society for the past decade. Mark and be seen performing hilarious on point skeedues on the ABC's seven point thirty and The Feed on SBS and for the best value follow find him on Twitter at Mark Humphreys. It'll be a follow well spent. Mark is hilarious, sharp as attack and he's here right now.
Hello. I'm celebrity Mastermind winner Mark Humphreys and my three favorite films are hook less.
Than One, Why pans eat their chose Bowfinger, Oh Carland.
Slide and bad damn and take a chance and tell the spitch said hello.
And Adam's family values, Oh your and up until recently, I'd never seen Greece.
Barry Gibbon vocals and Peter Franpton on guitar. Greece is the word. It's the word that you heard, and it's the movie you've seen time and time again since it hits cinemas in nineteen seventy eight, three years after a certain shark terrorized Amity Beach and one year after a farm boy helped blow up something called a Death's the Greece would for a long time hold the third highest
grossing film after Jaws and Star Wars. A summer romance between John Travolda's American Greece and Danny and Olivia Newton. John sweet Sydney side of Sandy gets put to the test when Sandy, unbeknownst to both her and Danny in roles in Rydale High School. Can the Summer of Love continue on in the world of clicks, cars and cool Please welcome Mark Humphreys, who undoubtedly would have been a t bird back in the day. Mark, did you get chills and did they multiply.
They did Pete, which was remarkable because you know those films that are just iconic and you just you know, the bar is so high. As part of the reason you actually kind of end up not watching these things is the feeling will be disappointed. But I'm going to say, I think I can finally see why people really like Greece. It is charming, and it is really funny, and Travolta is excellent. He is so charming with and funny in
his delivery. And no, I was really enjoyable. But I yeah, I felt I can't believe I went thirty five years without seeing it.
Reasons well, when we spoke about it, you and to make this clear, you are not like you've been shunning musicals. You you do love musicals exactly.
I have a whole separate Twitter account at Marx Musicals. It's so weird that I haven't seen Greece, but I'm mainly a kind of a stage musicals guy. Musicals are a bit patchy. Weirdly, I actually did a few years ago. I wrote a piece for The Guardian sort of arguing for more movie musicals. I now actually think I was wrong. I think most movie musicals, especially ones that are adapted from the stage, as Greece was, I think most adaptations
are actually pretty pretty poor. It's generally speaking, it's the ones that are concepts for the movies that work a lot better. So. But Greece, I think is an exception of one where I think some people would even argue the film is better than the stage version. But you know, I absolutely do adore musicals, but Greece, it's so it's so silly that the reason I haven't hadn't seen Greece. It's the tiniest thing. I feel it's an idiot, but it basically comes down to two notes. I never saw
Greence because of this noise. Yeah, that's why I never saw Greece. Because you would be on a school bus, like on a coach trip to Camber or what have you, and all the girls are being in the back row and you would just here.
Yeah, and I got that film sounds terrible.
Why would I watch that? So that's what's put me off the entire time.
Well, we are going to deep dive a little bit further into Rydeale High School and the tea birds and the pink ladies. I look forward to doing it. But I want to talk about your your three favorite films, which are these are three films? There has been often when everybody names their three favorites, a bit of overlap. We've heard The Princess Bride many times come up, Whiplashes come up a bit recently, we've had Moneyball. These three
films haven't appeared. Is no judgment, there's no judgment mark.
And yeah, and yet I heard judgment. Curious Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Where do we sack? And let's start with Hook? So this is the this is this is the Robin Williams Hook.
That's right, Yeah, that's right exactly, so nineteen ninety one, Stevens. I mean the credits alone, you shouldn't even need to see Hook to go. This must be a great film. Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, Maggie Smith, Bob Hoskins, Ridoth Pultrow. I think has three words. Glenn Close plays a man for one in one cameo. Phil Collins appears in a cameo. The music is composed
by John Williams. I mean, this is just and it's I've always just I saw it as a kid, and I think it's one of those things because Princess Bride is that interesting thing where I'm not a Princess Bride fan, and that's because I didn't, I think Jill, I didn't see it as a kid. I saw it as an adults after it had already kind of had cult status and everything, and I sort of went, yeah, yeah, okay, I can see it's charming. But I felt like, if you didn't see it as a kid, it didn't really kind of work.
Listeners to this podcast will know that that's exactly the experience I've had. I accept that I can see that it's good, and I can understand if I saw it, you know, as a thirteen year old, it would sean more to me. But you know, and I would love to see it again with my twelve year old maybe if there was a cinema who was playing a nostalgic kind of retro screening of it, I would go along and maybe I could see it through his eyes. That's my only home to have that genuine affection for it.
Yeah, And the other thing is like I'm as a musical theater I'm a huge Mandy Patinkin fan. And I've seen him on stage. I think four times I waited backstage. You get a photo with him if you go to Mark's Musicals. You've seen my profile photo is me with Mandy Patinkin. But you know, and he'll do all these musical theater songs in his show, and then he'll usually end the show by saying, my name is in ingram Mon Toya because my fad And I'm always like, I dropped that.
Do something from Homeland, do something.
In the first season of Criminal Minds before you left for some reason. So yeah, I just kind of never really got on board with that. But so I think Hook is one as well that if you didn't see it as a kid, I don't think it probably doesn't work because.
I'm not sure if I did see it as a kid, because I mean, out of the out of all of Steven Spielberg's films, if I was the right, I mean, from what meant the most, may Hook probably doesn't make the top ten.
But it's only because he's so I mean, that's only a reflection of his brilliance.
That's not really not at all. But I will revisit Hook. I'll revisit it with my twelve year old and see if I can find that feeling for it.
Yeah, what I'd say in my campaign pro hook is just that what it does. And it's a reason that I think also the musical Wicked is so successful is it takes a story that we all know. It takes, you know, the boy who never grew up and asks, well, what what would happen if the boy never grew up grew up? And I think Wicked does a similar thing where it takes the story of the Wizard of Oz and basically makes you question, well, why is she wicked? You know? And what what what were the events that
led to that? How does someone become wicked? And are they truly wicked? What is you know? What is it to be to be that you know? To be wicked? Anyway? So that's a separate conversation, but that's what I like about or it takes a story you already know and then looks at it sort of through a new.
Lens because I'm not as familiar with it. In terms of Robin Williams performances. How how great like is he great in it?
It's yeah, I think he is, And it's it's in this of sweet Spot where he's still funny. Sometimes it's almost a couple of moments where it's like he's kind of just being Robin Williams. In this scene, it's a very Robin Williams line where it's like there's a they're having this never feast where which is basically it's this huge feast, all the lost boys even together, but there's no there's no actual food. It's a it's a sort of an imaginary meal, and and they're all enjoying it.
Because Peter is an adult now and it's forgotten. He's sort of basically lost his ability to kind of imagine. He can't see any food. And he's got a line where he says, where I think tinker Bell says to him eat, he says, eat what gundhy ate more than this? And you know, it's a very Robin Williams.
When he goes off a monologue talking about Viagrays, I reckon, that's Robin Williams.
Any kind of mother toresa reference or what have you. But yeah, but he but then, but then there's great tender moments in the film because it's it's sort of about fatherhood as well, and because his two children are kidnapped by hook that's why he has to go back to Netherland to retrieve his own children. And uh and yeah, so you know his performance, and it's right in that sweet spot of missus doubtfire a Ladd and it's that, it's that, you know, it's that golden period of Robin Williams.
So that really works. And then Dustin Hoffman is so brilliant as Captain Hawk and kind of injects some pathos into him and great humor, and his rapport with Bob Hoskins is really he's really funny and yeah, and I just agnore it. And Maggie Smith plays so wendy, but now as an old lady, and you kind of realize that Maggie Smith has been old my entire Lifebury, you know.
Yeah, And and Denzel Washington so not Denzel. So Morgan Freeman is like that, I can't I can't picture a young Morgan Freeman at all. Both Finger, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin. This is a very funny film.
So you've seen you've seen, yes, yeah, right, so yeah, written by Steve Martin, starring Eddie Murphy in arguabally his last great comedic role fingers crossed for the sequel to come into America. That's optimistic about that, but it is. It's a film where he plays two roles, but it sort of feels a little bit like, you know, not the Professor to the clumps or something, but it's not.
It's not just part him. But Steve Martin wrote a really funny script about a character who Bobby Bofinger, who he is a filmmaker and he wants to get his film up and he tries to get the biggest action star in the world, played by Eddie Murphy, to be in it, but he doesn't want to do it, and so he decides he's just going to film around him. He's just going to basically have his actors come up to Eddie Murphy say their lines, and then whatever Eddie Murphy says, they're going to go with it and just
sort of build a film around that. There's a great line in the film where he says, did you know that Tom Cruise didn't know he was in that vampire movie till two years later? And it's never not relevant that line, I think, even especially you know, recently with his outburst. But and yeah, so Christine Baranski is in it, and she's also in Adam's Family Values and Christine Baranski. Everyone should know by now she is the star of
the Good Fight. But she was also a great musical theater actress, and she was She was also in both Finger, and she plays a very theatrical character in that, and had the Grahams in it. And it's directed by Frank oz Aka Yoda.
You know, of course, the scene, the scene of Eddie Murphy crushing the busy running across a highway, Like I remember amazing, laughing so hard at that, Like if every comedy gay, Like I laughed a lot during that Man, and I really like Both Finger. It's on a movie that I've revisited the whole I've probably seen it three times. But I if every movie gave me a laugh that hard, I'd be very happy with that. Like with comedy seems
to be judged. Comedy films seems to be judged, you know, on a different kind of scale to drama and and other genres. What when you walk out of a comedy, what do you you know? What are you satisfied with?
Well? I mean, I think the best experiences I've had in cinemas were at comedies. It was Both Finger, it was a Mighty Wind, it was Best in Show, and it was Alan Partridge Alf the Papa. All of those experiences were just to be in an audience of people and to laugh with other people. Yeah, that's that, That's what's special about that. I think I don't have a feeling. You know, I went and saw you know, I've seen a bunch of you know, dramatic films over the years
on the big screen, but I don't, I didn't. There wasn't anything I particularly felt about. Oh, I'm really glad that I saw you know, The Godfather with other people. You know, it didn't that didn't really do anything for me. But seeing those comedies and hearing a room for people laughing at I mean, in case of reminded when you know Fred Willard's unbelievable run of Hey, what happened that whole? You know that the most perfect one and a half minutes ever recorded on film.
We had to on the project recently just well behind the scenes, we're doing a bit of like doing a bit of our what happened and and we had to remind us of where it came from. Everyone's like, where's that? Where? Where did that start because it became its.
Own bigger than the film. Yeah yeah, yeah, he's like he and he steals the show in This is Final Tap as well. He's got a very small role in that. He's like in the military. And he works at some venue that the band are going to perform at, and he and so he's speaking to the band and he says, may I start by saying, how swilled we are to have you here. We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre.
Let me explain a bit about what's going on. This is our monthly at ease weekend gives us a chance of're gonna let down our hair. Although I see you all have a head start. These haircuts wouldn't past military must have, believe me. Although I shouldn't talk. My hair is getting a little shaggy too. Better not get too close to you. They'll think I'm part of the band. I'm Joey.
Of course.
Shall we go in and I'll show you around?
God Red Willand is a great example of this, like seeing the thinking, the cogs turning behind his eyes. He's so good at I love watching him him think his way through her performance. And that not not to say that you can see him acting at all, but just the character, you know, like him striking the chair in Waiting for Wait. We know all the terms, we know.
The musical number that he does with k and O'Hara there Midnight at the Oasis. I mean, it's like waiting for guffin is I mean if we if I could have given a few more films, I probably would have
I would have thrown Waiting for goin on there. What's quite nice about that scene is I saw an interview with him where someone asked him, like, what was the inspiration for basically that little mini musical that he and Katherine Ohara are put on where it's like his knocks at the door and she she's like, He's like, may I come in? It's like and and then they go into this song. He said the origin of it was that there was there's a series of ads called It's
for a coffee brand called something Choice. I'll have to find it starred Anthony Head who was in Buffy and he was the British Prime Minister on Little Britain and
Taste his Choice. That's right. So if you look up a brand of coffee called Taste's Choice and Anthony Head, you'll see a series of camp of advertisements which is so pretentious where it's sort of, you know, it's his neighbors just sort of knocking on the door and coffee and all this sort of there's this weird sort of dynamic between the man and woman, this sort of simmering chemistry accompanied with you know, beautiful product shots of the
tin of you know, ground coffee. And Fred Willard sort of said, I felt that my character in Wayne the Goufman thinks that that's the height of acting and once you know that instead of really enriches that that performance is.
A love Fred will sadly lost in twenty it was twenty twenty? Was it twenty twenty? Is it?
Yeah? I mean everything this year might as well. Yeah, I think it was this year.
Adam's Family Values. I have not seen this one, So is this the sequel? Was it original Adam's Family and then they follow up with Adams Family Values?
Okay, this is the second one, and it's funnier than the first, and it's it's just a perfect sweet spot where it totally worked for me as a seven year old or whatever old I was, and then you watch it and as an adult and you go, gosh, there's a lot of subversive stuff going on in this film. So this is and it was. So it was written by Paul Rudneck, who is a brilliant sort of satirical
American writer. He actually wrote the original and only wrote the original script for Sister Act, which then kind of got mangled away. He wrote the the cul Kiman remake of The Stepford Wives, which I think is actually really underrated in terms of some of the comedy in there. But there are just so many quotable lines in Adam's family values, many of them delivered by Joan Cuzak, who is Peter. I can't believe you haven't seen it. You're just gonna love it. It's it's and it's not something you
needed to see as a kid. You'll totally be able to get it as an adult. But it's just really dark humor and Ralgy Auliers going as Angelic Houston as Maultitia perfect but Christine Baranski and Peter McNichol. Peter mcnicholl, people would know from being the ultimate disaster movie, Sophie's Choice, which I saw recently and that was a mistake. No one is going to come on this podcast to say my three favorites.
Well, it's funny because a lot of actresses that I know like and I meant I think I mentioned this recently on the podcast, like if you're going to nominate a role that I would love to perform in, like it's always like, not always, but often I've heard Meryl strepin Service Choice that that's that's the role I would love to play.
Without question. Ship's performance in Sophi's Choice, I think is the greatest acting performance interesting, I have I absolutely endorsed that it's a horribly depressing It is so unnecessarily depressing. Yeah, the choice that she has to make is like that choice is such an it's such a I think it's such a small part of what that film is really about, and it actually to me feels almost pornographic that scene
that it's it's just so horrendously awful. But yes, her performance is brilliant, So I'm taking it down to the dark dark path there. But anyway, so ran Scapeede mcnickel play Camp Counselors at Camp chip awhile and it's it's just really up big kind of thing. Everyone you know, get involved. And Christina Ricci is playing Wednesday Adams and her you know, sort of Stephen Wright monitor, you know, kind of deadpan delivery. Contrasted with that, you know, upbeat
chip or energy is is just perfect. It's an American bald eagle. But aren't the extinct they are now so five stars we were.
I'm so excited because there is sincerely no judgment when people listen their three favorite films. Some people feel the pressure of naming three films. Some people, you know, I get the impression. Some some people on my guess are being you know, like, oh, put Citizen Kane in there and better case Blanca.
But how many Agnes Rada films can I list?
But you have named three, you know, commercial, largely comedic films, and and I'm thankful for that. And I would definitely be checking out Adam's Family Values and Hook and I might give both finger another watch as well. But let's take a quick break and we'll be back to hear more about what you thought about Greece. So, Mark Humphrey is Greece, nineteen seventy eight. We've discussed why it took
you so long, Just give us those two notes again. Yeah, so I'm going to say so my relationship with Greece. I think Star Wars is the film I've seen most out of any other film, I think Greece would be the second. As far as yes, like this has a real this like all good movies do, particularly the ones that you watch young, that it just takes me back and I have instant buy in. I spoke recently with Sam Mack about that we did the movie Mean Girls, and I spoke about my kind of like love and
fantasy of like attending an American high school. You know, I wanted to be an exchange student, and I think it comes from Greece. If I was to trace it back, I think seeing Greece, I thought, yeah, I want to go to an American high school. And even though there's a lot not to like about, you know what is happening at Rydale High and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been in the tea birds, but.
I never, I mean I never had. I mean, we had lockers at school, but that was never. Like there's all those things about American schools that are so yeah foreign to us, and yeah, exactly that's it. Yeah, just sort of standing by your giant locker. I mean I never had enough stuff to what's in there, and like picking up photos and things like a little house in
their own how that worked? And then I know I heard you speak to Sam mag about that, and just like you know, all the other things that I associated with those sorts of films, drinking out of red cups which now seem to have infiltrated Australia. I see that I've noticed red cups around. That seems to be I think we've finally kind of embraced that as well, and just phrases and homecoming Queen and the prime is sophomore and Ivy League school and all that, all that sort
of stuff. But yeah, no, there is something appealing I can I can totally see that that appeal.
Did you buy the Ages of the Tea Boy? This is really what this.
Whole conversation is going to be about. I thought of a lot about this because I've actually watched it twice now, I watched it two times in sort of quick succession since we spoke about doing it, and the first time it played as this is a really weird, really weird dozz thing, because yeah, everyone like and I've gone and looked up the ages of these actors, with the exception of Travolta, and I'm not sure how old then, but I.
Think Oliving Joe, I've got the ages here, so Olivia Josh Sandy was twenty nine. These are the pink Ladies. The youngest of the pink Ladies was Marty. Marty he was nineteen. French he was twenty five. Jan was thirty, and Rizzo brings it home at the ripe old age of thirty three. So which I think. I think the pig ladies collectively are older than the tea bird, which is, you know, like which is kind of a strange, slightly strange. Usually it's a younger women and an older man, but
the tea birds. Travolo was twenty three when he made this KNICKI was twenty six, Putsy was nineteen. Duty was twenty seven. Sonny was the oldest at thirty one.
But the is Putsy was he only? Okay? Was he all right? Because I thought that one of the blokes, one of the guys, he is sort of nuggety.
And yeah, so that's sunny, yeah, Sonny. Sorry, So how old how old was he? You're thirty one, thirty one. Yeah, that's right, there we go, Thank you.
Confirmed.
You can tell that's right. It's weird. There's a scene where he dropped his kids off at the school before he been start this scene. But anyway, yeah, that was so it's extremely jarring and and that was all I could really sort of focus on the first time. Second time I watched it, I started to think, oh, is this actually a really conscious choice? Is this actually like, is it like actually a parody of high school? Sort of?
It is this sort of a deliberate choice to say, this is what we as thirty somethings think of you, this is what you look like to us. And in the way it sort of felt like the reverse of like in a school production where you know, you've got you know, fourteen year old playing in a old man or what have you. Like, That's what it felt like.
It was just a sort of flip of that. So I always almost want it's had the field the second time, like a parody of high score, and that the choice of people in their mid thirties or whatever was was actually just to kind of enhance that joke.
I'm not sure they're working on that level to.
Be yeah, very being very generous.
But they yeah, I mean there was a tradition of casting and a lot of us got to do with I think even like child labor, casting a seventeen year old potentially, I think even back then was more complicated than casting a twenty one year old. But they could have. I mean thirty three reason I'm sunny in the two that really that do push the barriers. I mean, I mean Olivin Newton John looks you know, youthful, and yeah,
you kind of buy that. I mean it's funny because watching it when I did, you know, they just looked older and I thought that's what that's what the year twelve kids must look like.
You know.
Yeah, but I guess when you're watching it, and certainly over the years, I've kind of gone, wow, that seems you know, how old is Rizzo?
That's it. But on the plus side, and not to say that younger performers couldn't have pulled this off, but like Stockard Channey as a as a bit of an older actress there actually gives the very nuanced performance and adds a real kind of gravitas to her sort of arc and the sort of depths that her character starts to go down, so it's it's we Ultimately, I don't really fault it. I think they kind of they kind of work in their in their own way. That yeah, if you as long as you sort of put the
logic out of it. I just think she brings a lot of depth to that character that I think maybe younger performers might have struggled with.
But I think I think that Rizzo is the most nuanced character. And I must say it took me, you know, many growing up a bit and watching it over, you know, over and over again to appreciate what was going on. I think as you know, as a as an eight year old, as a ten year old, of twelve or fourteen year old, you know Rizzo like you know. Her song there were Worse Things I Can Do was one of the ones I used to fast forward. You watch it now and as an hour you realize how ahead of its time it is.
That's exactly right. Yeah, And I was expecting to fast forward a lot of songs.
The one I used to always. The other one was teen Angel, which I always got fast forward at our players that was unnecessary, and I still watching it again, and I watched it with my wife last nights. It's like, how did this make the final cut?
I watched it yesterday and I've already forgotten teen agel.
Yeah that's frank Frankie Avalon, who was it was offered to Elvis Press. School Dropout. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, I've got teenage Baudy. School drop Out is the name of the song. Did you have a favorite outside of Danny and Sandy or you can include them, but did you have a favorite Ta Bird or Pink Lady? I know, growing up for me, it was like, I love KANICKI.
Cure up Hickey from It's like a whole mock clock to send the very best. You're a pig.
I liked him more than I did Danny and was genuinely sad. And when Jeff Conway passed away in twenty twenty eleven.
Yeah right, well, I mean Kanicky, you've got to give it to him, just for the performance of seemingly getting a very mild concussion from the door of the car, that was a bit of a Yeah, that's a bigger stretch for me than the age gap. Yeah.
There was no concussion test back then, so he was just playing on the safe side.
Yeah. No, I'm going to say I was really sympathetic to Frensy. I thought, I think I really felt for her. I thought that was you know, I think it's someone not that I ever thought about going to duty school, but just like I was someone that can coming towards the end high school, I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I think that's a very relatable sort of thing of you know, is this do I continue with this or do I go and do something else?
And so I kind of, yeah, I found her sort of appealing, and you know, she's already got career ambition, she's already looked into the future. So she's also.
She's also the most solid friend in that in that group if you if you if you needed to lean on somebody in the Pink Ladies, Frenchise, French Asy girl.
Yeah. But I want to say my favorite characters were all the staff. They were all the older ones, because I like that they brought in, you know, comedy icons like since Alice Ghostly, I didn't didn't get I don't think they gave her enough to do in the film, but Alice Ghostly for people who don't remember, so in the film, she is I think she runs the mechanics. Uh what is that? What her job is, I'm not quite clear, but she's she's in she's in the workshop.
Mss Murder. I think she plays yes and she.
People might remember her from Bewitched. She was one of the two actors actresses who played Clara and she she and Paul Lynz also from the which were great friends and had similar style of delivery, which was that kind of they had that side of way speaking and that was there. That was their sort of that was the sort of thing. And so she was so she was she was es Molda, That's right, she was. She was Molder in the Witch. So she was nice seeing her
pop up. I love the scene with since Caesar where there's like it was like revving up the crowd and there's like like it's almost like a god I had the best describe, but where they've got like a burning
pyre and like it's it's so needlessly hostile. Yeah, So that's where I kind of that's why I sort of started thinking that maybe the older casting was a bit of a joke or something, because it's so it is really subversive in interesting ways and very adult in parts and quite absurd when Travolta sings what's that sort of romantic song he sings towards the end. I think it's just it's just called Sandy maybe.
Oh yeah at the drive in, at the driver Yeah, like.
The choice to have him sing this emotional song again and the backdrop is this piece of ship add like refreshments at the drive in. Like those sorts of choices I think are really really funny.
It's interesting just on that. He he he had a blue with the director, the directors like Randall Kleiser who would go under and director Blue Lagoon, and but Greece is without that his biggest, his biggest film, and Deravolta really wanted to end that song on a close up.
He really, you know, was kind of demanding it. But the background shot is the hot dog jumping into the bun, you know, which which they kind of they were trying to get as many sexual you know, innuendo as possible, and he said like this is no like this this is a shot. And the director won that won that fight. With that said, the reverse shot of Travolta kind of in the shadow because he's sitting on the swing, it was almost like silhouetted is one of the coolest shots of the movie.
So totally, and that's actually quite interesting that he wanted the close up because I'm a huge fan of Saturday Night Fever and that's a film where I know that he was in the He was in the edit suite for his iconic dance number to the Bug's you Should Be Dancing. The original edit was all done in close ups, and he was actually saying, no, you need to go wide.
You need because you can't see because he put all this work into getting you know, the moves doing you know, it's all the leg work and everything he was doing. But the original edit was entirely in close. It's quite funny that on Grease he's like, no, I want you to go close. On a Sunday night people, He's like, no, I want to go wide.
We'll kind of go back and go through more in order. But the end when the final song where Danny and sand you're the second last song, I think you're the one that I want, and they're kind of they go through that kind of like play kind of you know,
like a amusement amusement park kind of thing. Yeah, and it's got a lot the spinning kind of wheel, they kind of you know, they walk through when they're kind of coming back out, and the director actually he wanted the close up then and then the pan back out, but then he realized, no, with with the musical and when they're dancing, you do need to see their feet,
you know that that's kind of where it is. So I mean, I thought maybe it was ego with with Travola wanting that, but maybe you know, with what you say about Saurday Night Live, maybe he appreciates, No, there are times when you do need to be wide to capture the dancing and the feet. But you know, I'm sitting on a swing here, you know, give me, give me a closer.
Yeah, And he was my understanding that Travolsa when he was a real student of Hollywood and and when he came into the business. I remember I remember heing something about like he sought out Jimmy Cagney, who was very old at that point, and befriended him. And Cagney hadn't acted for years, and so I think he was you know, he wasn't just some kind of he wasn't just a kid, you know, he was someone who really cared about the Medium.
Mountain Shaker yet Jody Yellow Belly Door.
And so I had quite strong opinions that must have been an incredible period of him because he was so good in Fever as well. I just you've seen something that Fever. Yeah.
Absolutely, And see, I said my wife last night, I said, how like that's a movie star right there when you first see Danny Zuko at the school. Yeah, and he turns around. He's got the you know, the smoke, you know, the cigarette hanging over in his mouth, and he turns around and it's just it's a great shot and it's just like, that's a movie star right there.
Yeah. And you know, and his hair is so good. You can see why he went to the plugs later in life because it was, you know, because he started so strong and it's hard to let that go, it really is.
But you're right. But you I mentioned like earlier that he's funny in this, and like, I think he's as funny in this as he is in pulp fiction, like and almost anything I've seen him in, like that scene when he first sees Sandy at the school and then he has to kind of you know, he realizes that he's the tea birds. You know, you're not being cooled, and he and he rains it back in and you know, you know, look up the Yellow Pages. Don't know.
I'm obsessed with his delivery. This is where I'm annoyed that I hadn't wanted to f earlier, because if I had seen it as a kid, I think if people throughout my life, if people said to me, hey, what have you been up to? Would be rock. But that's delivery.
That's scene the in the in the diner when he's in the Sandy's with you know, the boy who gets you know, pretty dropped, you know, on the running track later on, pretty abruptly, but they're at the jukebox and he's delivery of that going don't make me laugh.
I've actually got that. I've written that down. Those the two lines I'd written down his standout comedic performance, like he's actually really sorry, we're just we're not here to talk about something. But he's very funny. He even has very funny moments in that where there's a line where he does he does a dance move and one of the actresses, one of the female characters, says to him, oh,
did you did you make that? Did you make that move up and he's like, yeah, yeah, I saw it on TV and then I made it up and like the same thing with it when he talks about speaking about his hair as well, like his father hits him over the head early in the film, it's like, spent a lot of my time in my hair and he hits it, hits my hair. He's got great coming. You can see why the look is talking. People are just like, well, this is the guy.
I mean the I did write another line I wrote down. There's a few lines that really I would have seen this film over thirty times and there's still some lines I picked up last night. I haven't watched it for
a while. But going back to Sid Caesar, who's who plays the you know, the high school sports coach, when he in that moment when he's at the rally and he's talking about, you know, we're gonna tear him apart and all that, and then he says, we're going to come back and we're going to ring that victory bell. And then he pauses and I've always missed him, and he says like we've always wanted to. They've never actually
they've never actually rung that victory bell. And then he pays, he pays the lectern and he hurts his hand and it's in a big wait, in a miss, but it's it's all there. And one of the things I'm so impressed with is the absolute buy in from everyone in this movie, Like it's not it's not just the pink ladies and the tea birds. The extras are just so good.
And I heard that all the extras, and there are quite a few of them, you know, throughout the school, they were all given names, and they were all given backstories, so they stayed in that in the character for the entirely background that they may have been acting a bit naughty because they were like a naughty kid, and you know, or this ex these two extras actually have a relationship, so you see something passion in the background. So that's that was their kind of you know, there are couples
so so and it just it makes sense. And only only found that out last night, and it makes perfectself. Always just thought that they are so good that dance number at the end, that I mean, top top marks. To the guy in the green polo, he is just giving it everything. We used to call him, we used to call him Penguin VIC. Penguin VIC was a camp Victorian campaign when we were growing up, because he does that kind of like thing. He almost looks like a
little penguin waddle. Towards the end of the movie.
He's doing a bit of he's doing a bit of grad show marks.
Yeah, yes, I saw its Penguin VIC.
Right, I'm sure show everything from Penguin VIC.
So funny he grad of course he was doing once my eight year old decided it was Penguin VIC. It was Penguin Vick.
It's Penguin Now it'll be on the Wikipedia page by the end of the day. Yeah, that's yeah, that's that's really nice when there's details that you can look for in the you know, when you know something like that that all those people are really sort of invested in, it's sort of fun to go back and I kind of watch what everyone's you know, doing and giving there all. It reminds me of there's a it's a weird reference. There's a when when there's the three Fox with Fox
Studios opened in Sydney. They put on a big kind of musical one hour presentation thing and you can find it on YouTube, and there's just certain performers who are performing behind David Campbell, behind Hugh Jackman, who are really they're giving it everything. Yeah, vision they know they're on camera. Yeah, so they're they're wonderful.
Let's go back, let's go. Before we go, I want to talk about the opening, but I just want to point out Randall Clark to the director to encourage improvisation, and in fact, the duty Sonny and Patsy would would. They were encouraged to go and come up with some kind of routine, and then they suggested, you know, maybe we can do it like a Max Brothers a routine. So they do three three stooges routine. Sorry, yes, and
they kind of, you know, came up with that. Apparently travleder And and Jeff Conway play Knicky got along really well and they the scene when Karnicky are standing to be second at thunder Road like they were, you know, wondering how to do that, and he Jeff couldn't Quoe get his head around it, and they kind of what if we hug and then you know, like you guys hugging in the in the you know, in the fifties is you know, it's kind of well, that's that's not cool.
So they then broke out into that kind of you know he you know, so combing their hair, and.
Those guys probably wrong, they're not fool around.
No, well you want me to punk out?
No, I'm not saying punking out, but I'm just.
You know what I mean.
Then I'm friends a long term right, Yeah, well you remember the driver in your night We went and the move and it was like the door in the guy's best friend one woman, and and like it was just.
Like his lieutenant, like a second you know. Yeah, so.
I thought that you could maybe be my second thunder Road. What do you mean you you want me to drive with you or what not? Oh?
Hey, open off the door, off the front of that. It's quite The movement's quite loose for a musical, like it's it's kind of quite in a really nice way, messy, you know, in a lovely good point.
I hadn't thought of that, but you're absolutely right. Yeah, it's Yeah, it feels it doesn't feel like insanely kind of North Korean military precision. Yeah, yeah, no, it does. It feels like a more natural Yeah, that's so true. It does feel like more natural sort of dance style. One thing I wanted to ask you just quickly was have you ever seen it on stage? Have you ever you know, have you ever seen any of those arena productions?
I saw it. I saw it in London on the on the West End. I was over there when I was nineteen star and I saw it because my sister, I'm not sure she really wants me to say this, this appoint in time, but a big Gray McLaughlin fan, and I went to see that because he was starring in it and he was great in it. But yeah, it was. It was really good. It was a really good production.
He was still playing that. I mean, as much as we think that the cast in this are quite odd, I might be wrong, but my memory is that Craig McLaughlin was playing that role quite late. Like I think there was an a Rena production, maybe only ten years ago or something where I think it was him and maybe Natalie bassing Sway.
Yeah, I think you're right.
Yeah, John Farnham I think was teen Angel, and then for some reason, because maybe Channel ten had a stake in it or something, all the rest of the cast were from that season of Australian Idol.
Speaker Pauline was Don Zucho.
That's it. That's my memory of it. I might be I might be wrong, but I do I just do remember. It just felt like one of those ideas of just like, how do we cash in on the success of this TV show. Oh, let's just you know, take him on the road. Craig McGoff has done this before. John Farnham can just come on, do one number and then just like you know, be in his car before the end of the first act. Yeah, I love I love performance.
You have to just do one song and then stick around for the rest of the night, saying earlier that I just seen Pippin and Kerry and Kennelly just has one song and then just has just I'm guessing she's just doing sudoku backstage for the rest.
So let's go back to the start. It's it's a pretty it's as cheesy as it is with the opening on the beach and you know, the waves and Danny and Sandy having their summer romance. It's very effective, like everything, all all the beats are there at the start. We have the summer that we understand, and then there's there's a feeling. I think it gives you really good feels
and good vibes, you know, the summer romance. You know, we all either had a summer romance or dreapt of having a summer romance, and then into the idea of going back to school and seeing your mate for the first time, you know, after after the holidays, and then we had the feeling of you know, Sandy starting in new school. We've all had that feeling, whether we're going from you know, grade six and the seven you know, and the pink ladies are excited because they're now they're
now seniors. So there's all these kind of like I think beats they hit that are kind of like touchstones that most of us have had.
I think it's also interesting as well that it feels like there's a lot of different kind of styles and I mean almost sort of filmmaking styles within this film like that, because that opening scene is almost like a short film in and of itself. It's in a completely
different style to really anything else in the film. You've then got the musical numbers, which kind of are always sort of heightened, especially like Beautyfuel School drop out, like that's essentially almost operates like yeah, as a dream sequence. But then you have there are scenes with Rizzo that are very grounded and play as sort of serious drama. So it's quite amazing that all these different styles actually really gel and work together when they could be I
think in other hands like completely jarring. And I think it's great the way that the opening titles just that just that really kick starts the film, so that if you felt that that opening was getting too sappy, you kind of like jolted into no, we're gonna have a good time.
Yeah. I never knew growing up why it was called Greece, because the term grease doesn't come into it. But the older I got, I realized that it's, you know, it's a it's a tribute to the fifties, and it's it's the greasy hair that was there at a time, the greasy food. You know, Greece. As far as cars go. In Mexico, it was actually released as Vaselina is the name of the Yes.
Well, then I think we should do a quick run of we'd foreign titles for American films. I lived in France for a year and one of my favorite things would be going to a video store and just staring at a film cover, trying to work out how they
got to that title from the original. So like the Home Alone series is like it's it's called mom, I missed the plane, And then the whole Naked Gun trilogy is like is there depending on who the main character, the other characters are in the film, it's like they're all called like, is there a policeman to save the Queen? One of the one of the titles, and I think my favorite one was I think it was either Remember there were two films which were like one was called
like Friends with Benefits. Yes, so there was one which was like Aston Kutcher and someone.
And then there was the Timberlake and Mylecunis I think.
Was Timberlake Millic and then Aston Culture and Adilmember that one was attached and the other. Yeah, so I think one or the other of it. In France, they didn't even give it a French title. They just get My favorite was when they took an English title, didn't translate into French, just gave it different English titles. So Friends with Benefits sex friends sex friends. Yeah, okay, so that's Alena, that's what that's what I'll be looking out for.
And gave you a Mexican blockbuster that's what that is what you're looking for the first song. I think what happens at the high school certainly is is summer love. And and it's a it's a pretty good start, uh, you know, well choreographed, and I think it's a good you know, very kind of broad strokes and stereotypical ways. The way you know a boy may have viewed that summer romance in front of his mate, and the way the girl kind of views it exactly.
I think that's a very effective way to convey that idea. And it's it's a it's a good sort of short, quick way to convey that story. And and yeah, and explain how those characters perceive the same event. You know, it's really clever. And you can see how that would work on stage as well. And yeah, so that yeah, because I gotta say, because of the summer nah thing, you know, I came into it with some just general pretrepidation.
When you heard it in real time, has had it? How did it make you feel?
I think it's less annoying when they sing it in the film than when I've experienced it in the real world.
It may be John has a better voice than the girls at the back of the basket.
That may be, but it's like, I'm a big embarrassment if I haven't already. But I'm a big karaoke fan. But one of my pet hates is, oh, let's sing Bohemian Rhapsody. Please don't sing it, because it's it's one of those songs that sort of sounds funny but it's not really, and it's actually long and quite tedious, and so people enjoy doing that. But I'm such a curmudgeon. I just sort of always you know, excuse me, I
just need to go theom what have you? And you go through the walls of the toilet, you can you can hear, you know, Yeah, And so someone those is one of those ones as well. But it's just like, please don't sing it in my presence, but in the but in the context of the film it works and I can see how, Yeah, if you're a kid, you'd like that choice of that note and that it's kind of it's but it's also I'm a big Begs fan and I love the kind of falsetto things, so that
sort of fits in with that. So I'm I'm opening up to it.
There are a lot of references that went over my head as when I was watching when I was younger, there was one and even sometimes just dialogue. I misunderstand dialogue. I mean I do that songs still sometimes and even in movies still sometimes you go, what do they just say? And there are times where I had to rewind, you know, dialogue to understand what they These are American you know TV shows or movies.
That's how you explained rewinding Basic instinct I'm trying to hear what Sarence Doone is saying in this interrogation scene. I just it's just not clear. I'm sorry.
My wife's like, yeah, you didn't understand a donnering Body of Evidence as well. There seems to be a theme developing anyone.
I'm talking about body of Evidence so needlessly pornographics.
It hasn't it hasn't come up in this podcast until now, So glad to go. I mentioned I would love.
Someone to come on here and say, you know, I'm you know whoever it is, I'm you know, Dave Hughes and I've never seen The King and I and my three favorite films are Body of Basic Instincts and Show Girl.
Okay, there's a there's a line in that where they say nobody's that they refer to and that's drugs and they say nobody's drugs are bigger than nets, and I always thought it was nobody's jugs are bigger than her nets. Like, so I was thinking, what's what's a net? Is that sexual innuendo? For like? Like, and I couldn't you know, I was like eleven, just going what what is What's a net? Is that like a vagina like is saying
that her drugs aren't bigger than her vagina? Like just so, there's a character in Greece and I don't think we ever meet, because it comes up again in the when the girls are having their sleep over. I think they say something like would you would you try that crap with a net? Or something or something like that. I'm paraphrasing a bit. So there's a character call of net that we don't actually that I'm not aware of. Yasney podcast at gmail dot com, if if if you know
who a net is? But yeah, it's so Annette is a character who don't see but she has big jugs.
It does feel like a missed opportunity that there is not just a cutaway at some point to a yes, a larger you know exactly and just and just one guy just going hey in that, like you just feel like that's something that should have come along.
Yeah, Eugene, Eugene should have walked fast and that in this year.
And then there should have been an.
Exactly what should have happened. Maybe it happened in Greece too. I haven't actually seen Greece too. I haven't put myself.
I've not seen obviously, I've not seen it. That's interesting that you are, because I would have guessed, as someone who has only seen Star Wars more than Greece, that you would have been curious and sometimes to see Grease too, or you just sort of scared that it will. Yeah.
I think I've always had that legacy. Yes, that that that's it. I've seen moments of it, and I just know that it did not appeal to me at all. And I love Michelle Faiffer. I'm glad you've done well, but.
And you've been openly. I mean, you won't find a bigger Maxwell core Field fan. I mean you've often spoken about his work on the podcast.
Yeah, and on the project I have a Maxfield makes I call Field a segment funnily enough, but the girls night is a fun night. There was another line that I kind of kind of picked up last night when they Jam brings the twinkies and Marty's at the wine and Jan grabs the bottle and says, look, it says dessert wine. It's a dessert wine, which I thought it was fun, fun, little fun fact. I mentioned earlier that Elvis was offered the role as the teen agel for
the Beauty Schuol dropout. He said no, maybe, Luckily he did. He actually died whilst this has been filmed. In fact, whilst this scene was being shot on the day of August sixteen, nineteen seventy seven, ironically, Rizzo kind of sings about Elvis, Trent, Donna Hue and then into Elvis, Elvis, Elvis, keep your pelvis far from me. And as you were saying that line, now Elvis was dying on a toilet in Graceland. I've timed it to the second.
Yeah, And I thought it was interesting at least that Priscilla said that in her eulogy was a weird thing to bring up. But yeah, no, fair enough, Yeah, no, yes, maybe, well, I mean, who's to say, maybe if he'd done the film, he would have lived. I don't know, maybe you would have gone and lost the weight and you got himself into shape for it and the Yeah, but this is a more broader cultural point.
I think.
The other problem, another reason I didn't see Grace for a long time, is another reason that I've never really fully embraced Elvis is that I think there's something about being born into a world where something is already revered
and and it's hard to kind of discover it for yourself. Yeah, the same thing with Princess Bride, Like because we missed it as kids, you know, we were now in a world where we were sort of led to believe it's this wonderful thing, and so it's there's all this expectation on it, and so you know, it took me years
to kind of appreciate Frank Sinatra. And I still have never really got into the Beatles because I was born into a world where the Beatles were the big thing, and you know, and I've heard the song, it's like they're fine, But to me then you know, it doesn't compare to tear Drops by Womack and Womack, you know, So that's it's I think I've always had a sort of a resistance to kind of any of those big sort of cultural icons.
I think it's the same when you know, I've been involved with launching TV shows and I've done it where and then radio shows where it's been like a big campaign to launch as opposed to a softer like Row. The original Rove series was on eleven o'clock at night on Channel nine, you know, and then before the game started as after the game, and that was on it, you know, eleven o'clock as well, and then became before the game, which you know went the prime time seven thirty.
And those shows kind of like had their own like people who discovered the show. And the difference between when somebody discovers the show as opposed to a massive campaign saying you must watch this show, is that the pressure that that kind of campaign puts on that show people judge it immediately as opposed to the word of mouthing
of being told. I mean, you look at Onie Donna now and like those boys have worked so hard, but they have they have grown their own fan base and they are getting all the rewards for it now much deservingly, and.
Let things find it. Things find their feet. I think it's very difficult to get something perfect out of the gate. Some things do, and that's that's that's brilliant. But I think there's a lot of shows, you know, Seinfeld famously is one of those examples of a show where if you go back and watch the Seinfeld chronicles, if you watched back and watch the you know where they started from. Thank god they were given a chance to keep going and and and kind of work it out.
Was one of those shows that television there's no television show in history where the first episode is the best episode that just does not exist.
No, No, I mean a very and very occasionally there are killer pilots, like Cheers is one show that the pilot is very very strong. Golden Girls is similar as well. But generally these things take time. So that's you know, that's that's that's our excuse for any future endeavors where we're not quite ready.
They spent too much on the promotion that that Olivia Newton John sings hopelessly devoted. Now, this was added to the film after it was written, after they had wrapped. Olivi Newton John had it in a contract to have one solo song and so it was kind of kind of working on I think during production, but it wasn't kind of completed until after and they had to kind of find it a point to put it in. It gonna work seamlessly. I mean I would never would.
Have I wouldn't have guessed that.
No, and the director Randall Kleiser was a bit hesitant, wasn't completely sold on the song. It was the only Oscar nomination they got that for that song. Amazing.
This reminds me of again of another example of an idiot I am. I've seen Olivia. I've seen Olivia and John perform live four times, I think and like, which makes no sense for someone who's never seen So for me everyone, the moment that everyone is looking forward to is the total chore for me during those concerts, because I'm like physical, do dare to dream from the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. Yeah, I'm an idiot, but never Yeah? Maybe now nice to go and actually see
her once. I now know that I learned what well I kind of.
I think that the first time I ever heard of a condom was Rizzo and Kaniki in the back for with his twenty five cent insurance policy. Could you call me my member's name o.
Bey Betty, Oh Betty, that's.
Something you can.
My twenty fist cent insurance policy.
Brogue. How could it break? I bought it when I was in the seventh.
Grade, and I like, weirdly when when they said it broke, I had to imagine what actually broke? Well well, and I think, I, yeah, you know, piece together what it actually was. But I always for quite a while I had like I was, I was just kind of think what breaks. It has to be something hard that breaks. For some reason, some reason, I wasn't thinking anything, you know, like a rubber could you know you could break a rubbit? But so I always thought, for some reason condoms were like a hard surface.
Well, I mean that just shows the level of sex education.
I would do a Christian Brothers college. They keet them away from us.
We had a video that was actually tweeted out this recently to see if anyone could actually dig it up. We were we were showing a video hosted by Roy slave Rampaging Royla, and it was so it was just a funny about sex and we basically it started with him in a mattress factory and and he's doing like a sort of George Nigas piece to camera, and he's got his leg up on one of the mattresses and he's talking talking about safe sex, and then just like the format of the factory says, oh could you fall
off that mattress? People gonna be written on that. That's how I learned about sex.
I really want to find that if anyone's.
In the ABC archives somewhere, eighty dollars for a copy to be transferred to digitalized?
What did you make it? A scorpions creater face?
And now was he always here's my question. Was he always called creater face? Or was it like they cast him and they went he's got that? Or did they cast him because he had the I don't that's scarring?
Yeah, yeah, because he's seen he always seemed like he might have been pushing forty.
He's the one who you really go, this seems a bit much. Yeah. But what I don't understand about creative face and jumping ahead to the racing the car racing under Yeah, I don't think under ro love how quickly you on the road just a car rige touch turnpike? Okay, Rod? So is it right? So that the race is to win the other car.
Yeah, ownership papers.
I think we found who's the eugene in the stomicas, like, why if you're going to try to win the other car, would you attach these blades to destroy the car you're trying to win yours?
Th shit's the bed Strategically in that race, when Danny's Zugo goes up the side, just keep going straight and you probably win. Let him take the wide turn. Its thunder road is a straight You must know it's a straight road. Just keep going straight.
Oh god, I do.
All say like that? He says the rules are there? Ain't no rules and then he outlays a rule the first ones at the bridge and back.
I can now see this is going to be a letter, dear Paramount Studio. We have a few notes.
Fifty years on forty two, Grease Lightning is one of the big songs and a big, a big production number in the production because this was a musical before it went to screen, it was Kanicki song and they had to kind of go to Jeff Conway and say, listen, we want to give this the the zuko. Are you okay with that? He was a bit resistant but he
came around. Good work. Jeff Conway, sadly he actually I've read two versions, one that was in the Beauty School Dropout Song, but he's not in that musical that number, so it doesn't quite make sense. I have heard that in this one he he did a stunt where he was they dropped him and he kind of fucked his back, which led to him getting on painkillers, which led to a lifetime addiction and and maybe in the cause of his demise. So sad note for Kanicki and Jeff Conway.
But it's a ripping song. Don't dwell on the he just noted, pay our respects and move on.
I like that. The dance moves are also something that I like. The lack of ambition on some of the dance moves, and they are things that if you were doing a school production, it's easily replicable. It's not going to be too much for stretch to do. Okay, it's fist up, fist for the right, fist up, stretched out across.
Yeah, we'll bring in actual dances in the side to show everybody that there is some dancing going on. But you know, you guys don't have to carry the low disciplines of three stooges routines. On the pig Lady side, Marty apparently the actually who played Marty, who would go on and become and who was my favorite by the way, pick Lady Ship. I thought she was one. She was really cute and really funny. I thought Marty was really funny. But she she would be the mum on Empty Nest.
I'm not sure if you remember the sitcom Empty Nest.
Well, Empty Nest was a spin off from The Golden Girls, right of course, yes.
So yeah, he was was was the mummy.
So you're saying she was. She did not spend her life on painkillers. That's what you're not.
You know, she did not. She got to I think she's still alive.
Like you're I feel like you're a producer sort of saying. But think of all the actors you didn't one was an emptinss.
But she famously could not apparently was hopeless at dancing. You know, they try to give a dancing lesson. She was no good. So Marty does not dance in any point in this. But there's always a reason why she's not dancing.
I love that. There's if you go and watch people should go and watch Waiting for Guffman. And there's if there's a scene where when Corky Harky is in Claire, eployed by Christopher Guest, is trying to teach this the true Teacher dance number to the actors, and he's got he's got his he's got his trousers on backwards anyway, and just watch Eugene Levy. Eugene Levy is liberately standing behind everyone else because he is laughing throughout the entire time.
I'm going to watch that tonight, Waiting for Government. It's agreed. Startning great. I gotta say, great transition. I'm all. I love a good transition from from the garage Danny going under under the under the car and one of those you know, I'm not sure what they in the mechanics call them, those rolling things that get him under the cars. And then he comes out the other side and they're in the shiny, the shiny world of the shiny car and the yeah, the shiny overalls.
Yeah, it's very you know, David Lean, you eat your heart out, you know, it's beautiful. Forget the sort of sun sunset and putting out the match. In Lawrence of Arabia. That's the real you know, these transitions in Greece where it's at.
And apparent when he gets a cling wrap, all of a sudden starts and he actually kind of puts it over it for a moment, he just kind of up puts it over his grin is apparently a reference. Apparently in the fifties there was a big a lot of misunderstood and misguided Uh you know teens, male teens would use clean rap as a contraception.
Well, I've heard of some kids even thinking that that condoms were like a solid hard something.
I mean, that's ridiculous. I'm not sure. I mean, do some facts searching before you come on this podcast, mate, I'm not sure where you're getting that crack on Daily Melee.
I think you'll learn a lot about sex from the dad in Mail. I mean, I didn't know what an under boob was, and.
So I think we're circumnavigated the boob, I think, haven't we Like? I think, yeah, the clean he has always been.
A thing exactly.
Underboo.
Really, we just got to you just need to release the We're just skirting around the issue, aren't we.
Gibraltar at the gym fun then when he gets into his sports he's he wears a high short, he wears it, well.
Yeah, great comit of there, and and again it's his comedy chops like he just I think I've just forgotten how funny he can be, because yeah, because for most of my life he's just you know, he's been doing films like Old Old Dogs. Yeah, and it's so nice to see someone in there aliment and he said he was so good on Welcome Back Coddor as well. Yeah, like just such a such a clear star. I hope
he I hope he gets. I know he's had more career revivals than most, but it does feel like because I saw he did, he's hit the convention circuit in the last year or so and that's not that's dangerous exactly, that's it, but very lucrative. I think it's like three hundred dollars to get a photo with him, and uh, you know, good money. But I hope that someone can come along and give him that second you know, whoever the next tarantino Is can give from a late career resurgence.
Or maybe maybe Quanta full time gig. That's the part.
I'm obsessed with that does he have his own uniform, like does that Yeah? How does that work? And does it? Yeah? And what's the process for him to just go? Mind if I stole along or if I said, here, pop into the cockpit.
Yeah, if I'm on that plane, I just don't want John Travolda flying it and on Joyce if you're listening, Dennis kau is obviously never seen a game of basketball before because he doesn't know you need to dribble.
Here's something wonderful about how Yeah, if you actually follow through the logic of that, how sheltered you'd have to be to not be aware of of how the game works.
The let's go to the dance off. The dance off his is great. It was shot in a real gym. It was apparently with no air conditioning. It was hot. Yeah, people fainting on set. But Jesus works, Yeah.
No, big time. And so all I can think about with U, So just thinking about that scene is Vince Fontaine and just I mean just like, yeah, I mean, how can I put this? I just but basically what we now understand about certain TV presenters, Yes, we're sort of you know, openly displayed in that film.
But yeah, Rodan Pharaoh would have had a field day with Ben s Fontaine.
That's right. And it amuses me as well that like in I think the most recent stage production, Bert Newton played that role and I can't quite see it. I just can't quite see it.
But like you'll have like Burton Newton cracking onto like Olympia the Lance or something.
I mean, you can yes, essentially, and if you go and this is not this is not the same thing against but if you go on to YouTube and I think, you know, there's I think the interview with Niki Webster where now she was she was? Did be clear she was you know, she was of age by this point, but I think she she posed in Ralph HM. And you know Bert's kind of doing Burt So that's kind of I guess what that might have been like seeing that sort of thing. Yeah, I've entered into Murky Territorn't.
I had Vince Spontane written in He also, I'm not sure if you caught the line where Marty kind of says later that he actually Vince Fontaine spiked her cola with an aspirant exactly.
That didn't I didn't register that on the first fearing and the second one she with there is at it's interesting as well once you're kind of conscious of the adult kind of element to it. There are times where I'm like, going, then, now, I'm not sure if I'm
actually reading too much into it. Right at the end of the film, when you can throw a cream part the teachers just even just the sign saying cream a teacher, and then and then I think does always go to someone say you're gonna get it right in the puss or something. I'm kind of started confused by that. So again, I don't know if I'm.
But I think that it was I think the puss means because they used to use that kind of terminology in cartoons, like right in a puss, you know, So I think that means the face.
Right, Okay, Okay, So I'm just I'm just going to turn.
I mean, please, I'm not sure you're looking for sexual in your window in Greece. I really, I really don't know what film you were watching. The rules are interesting, but it must be boy and boy and girl. So you know, any reboot of Grease might want to address that.
Yeah, I'm interested to watch, like because there's been there's been like Grease Live.
Yeah, it's a little live show the NBC, I think about three years ago.
I think when well, I'm interested to see if they've done any sort of updates to that.
And no vulgar moves, which are KNICKI kind of he gets he gets on the ground and really goes for it in a move I think we now referred to as the Juliani.
Yeah, the no vulcary sort of goes out the window pretty quickly on that. In that Danes composition. I mean, it's not really vulgar when it's you know, men and women in there. What are the early forties.
It's just a night without the kids, really, isn't it. We all get a bit loose when we get the get the leave pass and we get to go and have date night.
But even they really like as well. Is the dynamic between Eve, between the principal and her secretary. It's a really nice fun dynamic there.
Yeah, they filled those roles. You know, there's comedy all the way through it. If you're watching the broadcast of that dance, you'd be basically watching it'd be like watching two hours of the aftermath of a State of Origin matches. People jumping in front of the camera just going Queensland. I want to That's all it was that people jumping in front of the camera. There's mugging in front of it.
That is exactly That is the perfect description of what that energy is. Yeah, I love that it's a dance competition and but then within you know, within seconds, just chaos exclu that let's get on camera. I mean you must have done stuff. You must have done so many outside broadcasts where I mean, if you had, you must have had experiences of people trying to get on camera.
And you know, it's a tough gig. And I feel so over the weather men who have to go out and do it constantly, and the reporters at sporting events because you're concentrating on what you need to do, and you know, and whenever I've done it, I've done it. You know where if there's things go wrong, that's great. You know, we play with it and we handle, but there is that fear of the back. You kind of
go Jesus a loose unit over there. I just keep an eye on keep an eye on that guy because he is gonna you know, there's a famous there's a famous A few years ago, a sports reporter was outside of the Collingwood headquarters and he he was making a report about Collingwood and in the in the Julian the stupids name was and in the background, these two blokes come and they've got this like trophy and they're like at the back of him, they're going yeah, and he's
like this get away. You know, he caused im idiots. Turns out it was Paddy Mills and Aaron Baines who had just come back after winning the NBA Championship with the San Antonios. First they're in town for a couple of days. The actually had Larry the NBA Championship trophy with them. That was the trophy they had.
Oh man, oh gosh, that's great. That just makes me think now of the the classic. It's a radio thing of the guy running a running a quiz and just everyone just calling in and giving the answer. India you know, yes, yeah, that's it does. Never opened anything up to the public is basically what I'm saying. They can't be trusted.
The drive in is, uh, what do you think of the controversial move of Danny and CHARCHI are actually winning? I mean, can you swap partners halfway through a dance content.
So I don't think you can at all. I didn't care for that one bit. I mean, yeah, I think that's no, that's appalling. I think they should have been disqualified and you know, give it, you give it to Eugene and where he ended up with no, that was that left a very very sour taste in my mouth, that whole thing. And I just think Charcher behaved, you know, she was bang out of order. And I think I think Danny was in a tough position, you know, I think he panicked. I think he panicked.
He makes up for it at the driving though, when he gives a Sandy the ring and the go steady with him. It goes pear shape pretty quickly when he goes to grab a test.
And he was doing so well. But the yeah, but there is some again, there's a great comic comedic performance there from Travolta, just off the back of Sandy saying, you know, you know, and I can really tell that you respect geez.
It is such a funny look. It's like, is that what this is all about?
He's not a line which I should have written down, but it made me laugh. When she storms off, he says something like along the lines of you can't walk out of a drive in something like that. I've never been to a drive in. I don't know where they are, is that?
Yeah?
To one?
Yeah, I went to one when I was younger. In fact, I think I saw Xana do at the driving. Funnily enough, there is one down at the Peninsula hearing the Victorian in Mornington, and there's also one recently closer away leaving Coburg, the KOBG Driving, which has kind of had a bit of a little bit of a renaissance recently.
Yeah.
Right now. The only experience I've had of a drive in was I was I went to see slum Dog Millionaire at a dandy cinema in Sydney, and there was there was the two women behind me talking the entire time like they were playing. It was like they were playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? At home? It's sort of like, you know, oh, is it is it Michael Slater or is it oh, which is it A or B or? And I just eventually and I'm a non confrontational person, and I was interesting, just.
Like and like, if you don't want people talking during a movie, you should go to a drive in like, no, you should go to a drive in.
That's what the so you can talk. They're wrong.
So this was an out loud conversation that was happening out loud.
I mean, people are so rude. Again, you can't trust the general.
Problem you really, you really can't. That one great line I caught at the in that driving sequence was when Rizzo tells Marty that she's pregnant, which I never got as a kid. But because I feel like a defective typewriter, I skipped the period.
I actually don't think I even got it until you just said it. Now. I think I just sort of once she said defective typewriter, I think I tuned out because it already sounded like such a strange analogy. Yeah, I don't need to hear the rest of it, right, Okay, I get you. Yeah, By the way that sequence of her, you know, saying telling her and then I just I love the way that that's done off the word of mouth spreading, and that it's already got to Kiniki by
the time that she gets the cards. That's really well done. To feel like a defective typewriter, I skipped a period.
Think good for you.
No, you don't know the guy.
Hey, whizz, look look Lis, it's okay, I'm going to trying to go to ask him.
I'm i hook at the advance.
Okay, Marty, you ain't gonna tell nobody about this, right?
Oh sure, Look I'll take it to the grave.
Okay, coming through, coming through, Come on, lady with the baby.
So, who's got a bun in the oven.
Up here? Knocked up?
You do?
Yeah? Boy, got no really travels fast.
It's really it's so well directed. This I never maybe appreciated it growing up, but watching it again last night, it's, like you said, it doesn't feel like it's it's you know, so like down to the nth degree that the choreography, it's it's a bit clums it's a bit messy at times, but just it just works. They've kind of kept that reasonably simple. But keeping I imagine shooting a musical and trying to keep it simple is harder than it seems.
Yeah, I mean, like I think film musicals, I think they're really hard to pull off. I think there are more bad film musicals than good ones, and so it's actually quite a miracle whenever they actually do do work.
Let's get let's get to the Carnival. At the end of this fantastic movie, it's the end of the year. They've broken up. It's weird that this has gone over like I imagine gone over a semester or a year, because it's the end of the the school year. I never really had a concept of how much time had gone had gone, but I don't think it really matters.
But the Carnival is great. We see bad Sandy has come to play, and apparently Oliving Newton John had to be sewn into those and into those pants, and her big fear on the day was that she would need to do a wee and she basically once she was in it was hard to get her out.
This is true. It's sort of like a precursor to Michelle five has costume in Batman Returns. In that way, I think she is similarly kind of had to be stitched into that. Yeah, it's funny because coming into the film, where again I'm like, I was conscious of some of the debates around the film before I had seen it. One of the big arguments you'd always hear is that Greece sends a bad message to girls, which is that
they need to change to get a man. But but when I didn't realize that I saw the film, is that you can see that Travolta is clearly Danny Zuko is clearly attempted to do the same thing. Maybe hasn't gone to the extent that she has in terms of complete, uh you know, persona transformation, but he's clearly making an effort to be what he thinks she wants. Yeah, so I so I just discarbed that theory.
I don't know what they're talking about.
I don't know. Yeah, having only just seen it, I can definitively say that's wrong.
But it's it's a joyous ending to the film. I find both the You're the one that I want and then the final song bab I can ever do those quick noises that they could and they could be should be congratulated for it.
You're not. You've never done scattered. That's not something.
Not a scat guy in any in any possible way.
Just immediately, yes, right, okay.
So's not he must have been to the other scat.
Yeah, speaking of Olivia and John, you know, possibly peeing in her own outfits, that.
Was a second fear obvious. Apparently that was all that was a real kind of carnival, a setup carnival and that kind of playground that they kind of go through just Danny and Sandy we mentioned before that was kind of this there. They didn't have to build that. They just kind of took what it was and and yeah and kind of like almost did it with that choreography.
They kind of just worked out a rough kind of you know, thing that would happen, and they had to go back later and get close ups because they didn't get the close ups they were running out of time. You never think of these movies when you see them as like, oh, yeah, you have the schedule to keep and you know you had Daylight that was you know, fading, and yeah.
I'd like to imagine that they still had a line item on the accounts where they said they had to go to they had to go to the studio and go, yeah, we had to build that whole carnival. So that's where that money when going to other stuff. It was like definitely that. Yeah, it's sort of funny to think also as well of like like a major Hollywood production as still needing to be kind of like hey, can we use your you know, can we use your stuff? But if we use this.
Yeah, we should before we before we wrap up, we should talk about a living JOHNA. We've given John Dravold a lot of props. You know, I think TREVOLDA makes this movie. I think a living Newton John the role doesn't. I don't know, maybe doesn't ask her as much. It's been making mild you know, for a lot of a lot of the movie. She's had her best when she's singing and performing. This's no doubt about it.
Yes, yeah, no, she's she's lovely and she does Yeah, I don't I don't know. I think she Yeah, I think she does what needs to be done, But I don't think that. Yeah, I don't think she's given a role with which she really had a chance to show much more. But I think, you know, you could argue that that final scene, you know that that's a real transformation, and she does pull that off. So yeah, but she's perfectly lovely, and I'm guessing in the stage show she's not.
I'm guessing the Australian ness with something where that's something where I wonder whether it was like, so, can you do an American accent? No? Not really, Okay, I guess the character's Australian.
Now well in the theater production it was she was Polish. Well at least it might have been American Polish, but Mate had a Polish surname so that they did change up for a living Newton John Quick a quick shout out of the rizzo before we wrap up Rizzo. I hadn't really noticed before walks walking out of a bathroom licking an ice cream is a boss move. That is in the diner. She walks out halfway through an ice cream and looking at walks out of the ladies. Talk well,
well played, well played. If I see my wife doing that, I'll have a differentpea. But I'm happy for Starckard Channing to do that in Greece.
The joy of watching a film a dozen times.
But Mate, thank you so much. I know this is a podcast that comes with homework.
No, but I think you're doing I think you're doing your guests as service because it's like this, These are these weird things because it's such a true I think everyone has got that film, that everyone has seen it. For whatever reason, it just hasn't come up. And I think I actually really appreciated having a reason because I just probably would have gone to my grave, never having again heard or at least never having heard the original.
Yeah, it has been. It has been. The lovely thing in the podcast one that the response I'm getting from guests who are happy to come on and watch particular movies, but also when I'm saying, you know, like oh, I'm doing you know, I'm talking about Greece in the morning, and they're like, oh, who hasn't seen Greece? And I'm like my comforts and they're like, my Comfyes, hasn't seen Grace?
You know, like the action that from other people about people my guests who haven't seen certain films, like wow, does the seem star Wars?
What? It's funny that because like it's something that always you always bubbed me the wrong way when you'd had that conversation because I wased to work in the video store and you haven't seen Grief.
I'm like, yeah, I've seen a thousand things I've seen that you haven't seen. You haven't seen Waking then the Vine, you haven't seen mister Holland's Opus.
Maybe maybe we don't.
Work then, By the way, in my top five.
It is a nice Irish film that one. Thank you mate, Thank you so much. It has been out of joy and uh and anything. So anything we want to we want to plug right now.
I mean, you know how it is rocking and rolling and whatnot.
Look all the all the stuff I did for seven point thirty and sketches all go up on Twitter at twitter dot com Mark Humphreys. So that's that's where the good stuff is.
Like I mentioned at the start, you are putting out some such amazing content and some hilarious stuff. I've been doing it for years and even recently your twenty twenty Everything must go. It was brilliant, labeled a genius by my good friend Lisa Wilkinson.
Yes, that is all you need to know. So thank you genius, Thank you, Thank you so much, Pete.
This really was a joy.
So when I say her, I mean Mark Humphreys. We will still be friends. That was an absolute delight. I'm such a fan of Mark's work. Do follow him on Twitter. The content that he's putting out is so great and you laugh your socks and jocks and all of your clothes off, if that is at all possible. When I asked him to do it, he mentioned, he goes, it's
really weird. I'm a big musical fan, and I've never seen Greece, which he just made him the perfect person to cover that classic, the most popular musical of all time. Thank you Mark for doing that. Thank you to Derek Myers at Casawaystudios dot com dot au get on the Derek for all your podcast needs. We have a great space here where we record each and every episode when we're not in lockdown. You ain't seen nothing yet. Thank you to everyone who's listening and spreading the word. Just
telling your friends is great. But also drop us a line at Yasney podcast at gmail dot com and I will get back to you. I read them all and thank you very much. Also like and review at all the places on the podcasts forums and places where you do that stuff. I've not got the lingo still down yet, but but just you listening is the reward. Next week on the show, my great mate Dave Hughesy Hughes has never seen the John Hughes classic from nineteen eighty six,
Pretty in Pink. How will Hughesy go? Will he will he favored Ducky? Will he go with Blaine or even staff? Find out next week and you ain't seen nothing yet until then bye, and so we leave old Pete see fan Salt, and to old friends of the radio audience, we've been a pleasant good name.