While many of us previously only knew of Danny Kaye because of a hilariously vulgar line from ‘Christmas Vacation‘, thanks to our episode 37 pick, ‘The Court Jester’, we know him as a brilliantly funny physical and verbal comedian. We had a blast watching this one, but definitely had a tough time recasting him today – though we feel good about where we landed. Here we recast two major roles and five minor roles, and along the way wax poetic, often using alliteration, about skinny legs in tights, klutztastic buffoonery, and medieval hip-hop. Enjoy!

From cover bands, to ‘Back to the Future Day’, to a seemingly endless churn of sequels and remakes, the world of entertainment owes a lot to nostalgia for the money it makes. Sometimes this nostalgia can be a fun, positive force, and other times it can feel unoriginal, uninspired, and, frankly, overwrought to the point where the original property can get lessened because of it. This episode will talk a little bit about how this can happen, then go into movies from our childhood that we loved as kids that either do or do not hold up today, and why. Tears are shed, childhoods are ruined – pretty much a typical episode here. (Okay, it’s not that bad…mostly…sorry not sorry.) 

Also, you should check out all the amazing listener feedback about their nostalgia picks on this Facebook post – so many great suggestions here:

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Welcome to part two of our discussion of Thelma & Louise. Here we start with revealing some really great listener recasting suggestions, as well as the big winners from our picks in part one. From there we go into the way that female led movies can be viewed, especially by men, and how we’d like that to change, our thoughts on the tone of the original, and how we think it might be made better (or at least different) in a remake, touched on the performances and filmmaking, and finally talked about movie and cultural influences.

Welcome to the first part of our discussion of the genre-bending chase/buddy/crime caper film Thelma & Louise. Here we tackle recasting the film, with the titular main major characters as well as five wonderful minor characters. Along the way we tackle possible character age flips, the challenge in recasting a young Brad Pitt today, and the surprising goodness and sweetness that both Michael Madsen and Harvey Keitel brought to the original. I promise the episode won’t end the way the movie does…or will it!?!?

Romancing the Stone

Welcome to part two of our discussion of the 1980’s action/adventure/romance/comedy (acvenmancedy) ‘Romancing the Stone’. We start out by going over some great listener casting suggestions, and reveal who the big winners were from our picks in part one. From there we tackle lots of different discussion points about the original, which had a wide range of opinions amongst our hosts. We talked adventure, sass, whether the plot should have had more or less detail about the peril in Colombia, a studio ending vs. an independent ending, and how awesomely weird the music was. Enjoy!

Actors and Actresses Discussed

People, Movies, and Links Discussed

Next movie – Thelma & Louise

Romancing the Stone

After a rewarding but rough viewing and discussion of Saving Private Ryan, we decided to go a bit lighter this time around, tackling the 80’s adventure/romance/comedy ‘Romancing the Stone’. Here we recast the film, and along the way talk about mustaches, upping the villainy stakes, and villain catch-phrases. Look at those snappers!

Actors and Actresses Discussed

People, Movies, and Links Discussed

The Maltese Falcon

In this, the last of our first round of ‘For Shame‘ films, we discuss the beloved film noir ‘The Maltese Falcon’. While there’s lots to love about the original, there’s definitely lots that are tough to love, and things we had a rough time with, especially compared to our other For Shame picks so far. But, we’re definitely happy we gave it a shot, and hope you enjoy the discussion. It’s the, uh, stuff that dreams are made of, you see.

People, Movies, and Links Discussed

Here in part two of our discussion of Steven Spielberg’s gritty and emotional war film ‘Saving Private Ryan’, we start out with some casting suggestions from listeners, as well as reveal the winners amongst our choices from part one. Then we dive into our discussion of the filmmaking of the original, including the desaturated look and frame rates, how visceral this film was for non-veterans, let alone veterans, some sketchy history in the original, a possible 9/11 effect in the proliferation of war movies shortly after this film, and finally, a discussion of what it means to be Spielberg-y, how much this film felt that way (looking at you, bookends), and what we would do differently in a remake.

The Maltese Falcon

Romancing the Stone

Saving Private Ryan

This week’s episode focuses on one of the most harrowing films ever made, 1998’s ‘Saving Private Ryan’. Here we recast three major roles and fine minor roles. Along the way we talk about recasting the whole of America in one role, Brian Williams’ ethics, degrees of sass, and how dang much we loved the Private Jackson character. We promise listening to this won’t wear you out quite like the original film did.

Actors and Actresses Discussed

People, Movies, and Links Discussed

The Apartment

For our fourth ‘For Shame’ episode, Lee chose Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’, which appeared at first to be a pretty silly romantic comedy, but proved to have a much more serious, thoughtful tone and plot. Here we talk about our surprise at where this went tonally, wonder how accurate this was in terms of philandering businessmen of that time, and give gentle but firm props to filmmakers and actors/actresses alike.

People, Movies, and Links Discussed

Next movie – Saving Private Ryan