Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

This pairing comes at the suggestion of a listner! Joe Nash sent us a request to review a film we thought this one would pair nicely with, so we begin this pairing with one of only three films to win the "Big-5" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs." Directed masterfully by Jonathan Demme, with the screenplay from Ted Tally (based on the novel by Thomas Harris), the film follows FBI Trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) as she is recruited by the Head of Behaviorial Sciences, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) to go and attempt to compile a profile of famous cannibal and serial-killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins). The FBI is currently trying to locate the killer they call Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) who has just kidnapped Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith) the daughter of a prominent senator. Through twists and turns, Lecter becomes a second mentor to Starling as they both pursue their individual goals, hers to track down the killer and save the senator's daughter, and his to escape! An amazing performance by both Foster and Hopkins, and one that made them household names from that point on!

Part two of "Buddy's Underrated Comedies" moves ahead to 1990 and a little-known Bill Murray black comedy called "Quick Change." Directed by Murray and Howard Franklin, the story follows Grimm (Murray), who dressed up as a clown and robs a bank. But there's more to the story than first appears to be the case. Two of the "hostages" turn out to be co-conspirators as Loomis (Randy Quaid) and Phyllis (Geena Davis) help Grimm escape the bank under the guise of hostages released as a quid-pro-quo for the accomodations provided by harried Chief of Police Rotzinger (Jason Robards). From there, however, the plan goes spectactularly astray as they run afoul of problem after problem in their attempts to get to the airport and out of the country with their million dollars! The film also features cameos from Phil Hartman, Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, and Kurtwood Smith. And the trio reveal the listener request that prompted the next pairing of cinematic psychopaths!

This pairing is "Buddy's Underrated Comedies" and we kick it off with a Richard Pryor/John Candy team-up from the mid 1980s! Directed by Walter Hill, and based on a novel by George Barr McCutcheon, written in 1902, this 1985 film tells the story of minor league baseball pitcher Monty Brewster (Pryor) and his best friend and catcher Spike Nolan (Candy). Brewster has just been kicked off the team when he's dragged into the office of Edward Roundfield (Pat Hingle) and, as the Executor of the will, informs Brewster that he's the last remaining heir of the late Rupert Horn (Hume Cronyn) and has been left 300 million dollars. But there's a catch: He has to spend 30 million in 30 days without telling anyone else it's a condition of the will. He is assigned a legal secretary, Angela Drake (Lonette McKee) who will keep track of his spending for the law firm, but her boyfriend Warren Cox (Stephen Collins) is secretly working for the bank to sabotage Monty's efforts.

Celebrating our 250th episode, this is week two of our movies about making movies with another forgotten classic from the early 80s! When a hotel owner leaves his nephew in charge, it turns into a comedy of errors at the Under the Rainbow hotel when the little-person cast of "The Wizard of Oz" checks in! Add in visiting dignitaries, assassins, and spies, and you have a madcap comedy of errors, all set in the late 1930s! Directed by Steve Rash, the film stars Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher, who make a surprisingly charismatic pair, along with Eve Arden, Joseph Maher, Billy Barty, Pat McCormick, Adam Arkin, and a compliment of little-person actors never before brought together in a film... except maybe in the movie this movie is all about! Plus, the trio reveals which two underrated comedies they'll be focusing on as they cruise into their second 250 reviews!

It's out 250th episode and we can't believe we've done 249 episodes before this! It seems like only yesterday we were starting out with an idea and hope. In actuality, it was June 5th of 2016, so almost 5 years ago! For this anniversary pairing, we're looking at movies about making movies! First up, it's director Black Edwards' lesser-known masterpiece, S.O.B. (which stands for "Standard Operational Bullshit" in this case). The story follows acclaimed Hollywood producer Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) whose latest film, starring his ex-wife Sally Miles (Julie Andrews) has bombed. Unable to cope with his first abject failure, Felix is suicidal, requiring the assistance of his friends Cully (William Holden), Ben (Robert Webber) and Dr. Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston). After literally falling into a party, Felix has an epiphany: He'll turn his family film bomb into an erotic masterpiece! Unfortunately, that means his rated-G wife would need to do a nude scene, something she has never even entertained, let alone done! With a supporting cast including such Hollywood staples as Larry Hagman, Robert Loggia, Stuart Margolin, Loretta Swit, Robert Vaughn, Shelly Winters, and Rosanna Arquette, it's a tour de force in dark comedy filmmaking!

The second film in our "Fast Zombies" pairing is so good, we're breaking our "10 years old or older" rule for choosing movies! It's an amazing offering from the filmmakers in South Korea who may very well be the new masters of horror. Winner of over 30 awards from around the world, the film is 2016's "Train to Busan." Directed by Sang-ho Yeon, and follows the story of Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), a harried single father trying to deliver his daughter Soo-an (Su-an Kim) to her mother in Busan. As the train is departing, a zombie outbreak is beginning, and an infected woman boards the train, starting the infection spreading. The film also stars Ma Dong-seok and Jung Yu-mi, a husband traveling with his pregnant wife. This movie has scenes of such suspense and horror that it should come with content warnings, and it actually made the resident horror geek hold his breath! Plus, the geeks and G.I.T. reveal the films they'll be reviewing to help celebrate the 250th episode of the podcast!

The pairing Jeff swore he'd never do, but was persuaded by great films, this is the first of our "Fast Zombies" films! From 2009 comes the Ruben Fleisher-directed masterpiece that is "Zombieland." The film follows neurotic survivor Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) who is trying to get home to find his parents. En route, he crosses paths with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and they decide to travel together for a bit. They run across a pair of zombie-era con artists, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who, after taking Columbus and Tallahassee's vehicles and weapons not once, but twice, decide that four are better than two, as they change directions and head toward an amusement park in California, meeting a celebrity along the way, and all the while hunting the elusive last Twinkie. A post-modern zombie movie that's so good, the speed of the zombies becomes irrelevant, this is a new classic of the zombie genre.

Our second film in our "In Memorium" pairing honors the 1972 winner of the Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal of Ruth Popper in "The Last Picture Show." We lost film and television legend Cloris Leachman on January 27th, 2021. Although well-known for her comedic roles and her collaborations with Mel Brooks, Ms. Leachman won the Academy Award for her role in Peter Bogdanovich's magnum opus as the neglected wife of the high school athletics coach. Co-written by original novel author Larry McMurtry and Bogdanovich, the film co-starred Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Ben Johnson, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, and Clu Gulager. It also gave newcomers Cybill Shepherd and Randy Quaid their start in motion pictures! The film tells the story of the slow death of Anarene, Texas in the early 1950s, by telling the interwoven and tragic stories of its residents. The film gave Leachman her only Oscar, and also awarded Ben Johnson a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Sam the Lion. Plus, the trio discuss why they're afraid Chad won't be able to get through the next horror pairing!

We're dedicating this pairing to honoring two incredible actors who passed away quite recently. Our first film is from 1965, that year's winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Robert Wise-directed "The Sound of Music." It's the film Christopher Plummer is likely best known for, and the reason we chose it to honor him. Co-starring Julie Andrews, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr, Heather Menzies-Urich, Nicholas Hammond, Duane Chase, Angela Cartwright, Debbie Turner, and Kym Karath, this film tells (very loosely), the story of the Von Trapp family and their attempt to flee the Nazis annexation of Austria pre-World War II. Oh, and did we mention that it's a musical as well, written by famous duo Rogers and Hammerstein? Likely one of the most famous musicals of all time, and a film whose draw endures even to this day.

Our second musical from the 1980s comes only two years after "Fame," and set the box office record for highest grossing musicla of the 80s! Directed by Colin Higgins and based on the Tony-nominated Broadway show, it's 1982's film version of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas!" Based on actual history out of the great state of Texas, the film tells the story of the Chicken Ranch, a brothel that had been in business for close to a century. The current madam is Miss Mona (Dolly Parton), who is in a love affair with Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd (Burt Reynolds). Ed Earl is ably assisted by Deputy Fred (Jim Nabors) and everything is peaceful and quiet. That is, until TV huckster and rabble-rouser Melvin P. Thorpe (Dom DeLuise) decides to make closing down the Chicken Ranch his next big crusade! Sparks fly, dance numbers are performed, and it ends just like it does in the history books, albeit with a log more singing. And finally, the trio discuss why they decided to more their schedule back a pairing and do an "In Memorium" pairing for their next two episodes!