1996: Mission:Impossible

0:05 Good morning, mister Johnson. The man you're looking at is Dayton Johnson. He's the host of a podcast called Docking Bay seventy seven, where he often shares very controversial opinions about movies, music, and pop culture in general. He also believes that the nineties are the best decade for cinema. Your mission, Jeff, should you choose to accept it, is to recruit Dayton as a guest for your limited nineteen ninety six series and engage him in discussion about one of the biggest summer blockbusters of that year. He will likely try to disparage the film Cobra or praise the Last Jedi as a good Star Wars film, so be ready to censor him as always. Should you or any member of the film Buy team be caught or found in copyright violation, the secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions. This message will self destruct in five seconds. Good luck, mister Johnson. What's up, everybody. I'm Jeff Johnson from a Film by podcast, and I'm hoping you're down for our latest dope new series. We've broken down the fresh films of nineteen eighty six.

1:37 We examined the gritty Cinemascape of nineteen seventy six, and now it's time to check out the Hella Good Flicks of nineteen ninety six. So I'm going to jam this week. A film by team is out of commission. The name at the top of the disavowed list is Docking based seventy seven host Dayton Johnson. Hey, what's up dating? What did I do to get this avowed? Man, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna story. Well, we're not gonna. We're not gonna put that out there just yet. You know, we want to We want to protect you as much as we can. Hey, maybe the listeners can come up with the story what did I do to get this avowed? Yeah? Oh, I'm sure they'd be go with.

2:19 I'm sure they come up with some good stuff. I'm sure they would. Day And I hope you brought your red light green light chewing gum because it's time to catch the train for mission impossible? Do you really think we can do this? What are going to do this summer? Would be impossible? Is he serious? To catch your breath, to keep your cool, to believe your eyes because you guys are trained to be ghosts. Because this summer. You don't know what you're missing. The impossible happens, Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible created Pg. Thirteen when IMF agents Ethan Hunt and his mentor Jim Phelps going a covert assignment that meets with disastrous results. Jim and the team are killed, leaving Ethan as the prime suspect on the run. Ethan recruits a brilliant hacker and a renegade pilot to help him break into a heavily guarded CIA building to steal the knock List, a confidential computer file that will prove his innocence. Daydan, it's been twenty years. We're going on twenty plus years of Ethan Hunt. Tom Cruise inaction as Ethan Hunt. It's hard to believe, isn't it. I feel like we were just at the movie theater a few weeks ago, yeah, and seeing Dead Reckoning, and you know,

3:51 every time they put on another movie, I kind of go back to memories of this one and seeing this one in the theater, and you know, the next level stunt that were in this and very iconic imagery in the very first one. And I was a fan of the TV show, so I was excited about them doing a film version and actually ultimately happy with what we got. Do you So you recall, okay, so you've seen the the nineteen sixty six television show. I'm assuming in reruns. Yes, yes, I never got to see it. You know, I'm wondering if it's on Paramount plus or two B or something like that. I'd love to catch it. Yeah, it was a fun show. It was one of those things that I remember. I remember when FX first started and they had to fill a lot of their time slots with and that most of what they filled it with was, you know, reruns of old shows, and I caught it on there for a while, and I remember as a kid living at home that it was on reruns as well. So, yeah, it's a cool show. And I liked that, you know, that spy attitude, the spy show that was. It was smart and fun and you know, kind of also ridiculous with their you know, the ripping of the mask off the face and everything. And but either way, it was always a fun, fun ride. And so, like I said, when it came to the movie, I was all in already. I came across a a fun fact doing doing a little homework for this first Mission Impossible. Apparently this is the only one in the series that that shows, you know, the whole

5:25 removing the mask is like a famous trope in these films. Now, apparently this is this is the only movie that where it was an actual mask like that they were ripping off their face affects Wizard Rob Bouteen responsible for it. Yeah, I'm kind of sad that we don't. We don't get the practical effects anymore though, Yeah, I mean I get it. Uh, you know, even though I think see they had masks on, but you can tell that they're at least for my eyes, it looked like it was emerging of two like they had the they had the mask, and then they had the version that they could rip off, and that was a It was a blend because you can kind of see it if you're really paying attention that you know, ever buy them, especially when he pulls off the Phelps mask.

6:11 There's a little bit difference from when he takes it off, first grabs it, when actually comes off, but either way, it's still fun. It still looks looks cool, and yeah, I mean, I'm always going to be a fan of practical effects, you know, But you know, as long as they can still make it look good, then yeah, I guess digital is okay. Well, I mean I'm taking a closer look at you right now. And if if at the end of this episode you you pull your face off and I've been talking to John Wright this whole time, I'll be I'll just be wowd Man. So, uh so do you what do you think about nineties culture? Was there was there a nineties culture uh influence for this film, because don't I can think of one thing, but I wanted I wanted to see what your your thoughts were. The only thing that kind of out at me, honestly was the computer screens, you know, when they were getting online or whatever. It felt very clunky considering they're supposed to be, like, you know, so advanced as far as their equipment.

7:13 That kind of threw me off, and I kind of wish they would spend a little bit more time making it look a little bit more slick. But that's the first thing that jumps out at me as far as you know, nineteen nineties, and also the laptops and cell phones were you know, there wasn't that many in the movie, but there they definitely looked very period, very mid nineties. Yeah. See, that's that's where I was going with probably like the tech that we have. I mean, this is ninety six. We've seen the dawn of the Internet, but it's still very relatively new. We still were still dialing up at fifty six K on AOL to get into into chat rooms, like when he's when he's chatting with the Max, like the im chat. Yeah, you know that. That definitely feels like this is we're in the nineties here, right, But it was also you know, you watch a movie like this and you're like, you're not you know, for the first time, I feel like you're saying, well, that's really cool. I wish I could do that. You're saying, oh, that's cool, because I did. I did that before I came to the movie theater. You know, I was. I was on all earlier this afternoon chatting with people in a chat group. So right, So this is the first film to be released in three thousand plus theaters. It breaks the record for a film opening on a Wednesday with eleven point eight million dollars. It just beats out the previous box office holder. You want to tell us who that was, Dayton and he guesses, uh, I'm talking

8:45 for a Wednesday opening, But you're on the spot here see see see if you can get it, this is a Jurassic Park close. It was terminator to Judgment Day. It had held the record for a Wednesday opening with eleven point seven million. Cruise beats it with eleven point eight. But uh, and this book. I literally just read that too, and I was like, wait, I know which one it is. I mean this and this goes on. I mean, this is a blockbuster. It goes on to make four hundred and fifty eight million dollars. It's the third highest grossing film of nineteen ninety six, and while most critics take issue with the complicated plot, they all praise it for the action, the suspense, the visual effects. You were you were praising it for the visual effects earlier, are you?

9:30 I don't know, Like I I'll I get it. Like when I was when this, when this first came out, I was a lot younger. The plot is a little convoluted. See, But but I watch it now and I'm like, what what Why? Why didn't we get it? Why? What wasn't what what weren't we understanding? See? I see, to me, I don't feel like it was confluted. My only complaint. It's one of those that the first time you watch it, you're trying to figure it out. And to me sitting back because I saw those complaints too, and I don't see it, because how convlude it is it it? I mean, you know, Ethan basically gets set up and they think, you know, they're coming out his iron people are coming after him because I think it's him. He has to prove himself innocent. How is it convoluted?

10:13 I don't get It's not. It's not like there's ten different things going on. You know. We find out that, you know, Philips is still alive, and that's a great scene to when he's put piecing it together, you know, and what I love that scene. So to me, it doesn't it doesn't feel convoluted. Let's see, let's let's talk about let's talk about that scene because it is. It is such a great scene, and I feel like you need to be you need to be a little bit older. You need to watch it a couple more times to understand that that's probably the pivotal moment, that's the key scene, because the first time you watch it, you're like, oh, Phelps is alive, and he's explaining, he's telling Ethan what's happening. We're seeing, like, what's happening, but we don't know it's not matching, it's not really matching what what Felt is telling us. And Ethan is like why Jim, you know, and you just assumed that. He's like, why would they why would they do this? Jim? But all along Ethan is is hip to his scheme.

11:13 He's onto him, so we're he's it's it's such a brilliant scene because he's you know, you've you've got John Voight explaining, he's he's basically giving Ethan Hunt this story and meanwhile Ethan Hunt is taking his story and then he's putting it together and seeing in his mind what's actually happening. And it's such a brilliant moment in the film. Well, yes, that well his uh Cruz's reaction when he's thinking about how Hannah got blown up. He's trying to figure out who, you know, who did it, and then he sees Claire with the switch and he kind of just say, no, it can't be her. Yeah, So I love that. But what I really thought was slick was have Phelps explanation as to why Kittrick is doing it. You know, you got a bad marriage and the present front of the country without your permission, there's no Cold War anymore, and you know you're making sixty two thousand a year. Everything he's saying is why he did it, and I and I that you know, and and my only complaint with the whole reveal and it actually it takes place just before that scene when he picks up the Bible with the Drake colers damn damped in it, those damn gideons, right, And I'm watching that every time I watch this movie. Now you have that voice over that they go they kind of take you back to that scene where he says, oh, I was up in the Drake Hotel, and I'm like, we don't need that, you know. My thing is, you know, you don't need to over explain because they definitely explain it when Phelps shows up. So I think that we just didn't need that voiceover.

12:41 Sometimes I know there's a lot going on, but at the same time, don't talk down to us. You know, if you're paying attention, you caught the Drake Hotel and if you're not quite sure what that means they tell you in the next scene. Anyway, that's that's a fair that's a fair point. Let's say a quick break and when we get back, we'll go behind the scenes on this one. Dan. Let's let's talk a little bit about the film's production history. Obviously, it's based on the hit television series from nineteen sixty six, You Were you Know, you grew up? You Know you said you loved it yep. I was surprised to find out that the the series stars were offered the opportunity to cameo as the team that gets killed off in the opening, and they all flat out refuse, like they are not a fan of this film. Did you see that? Yes?

13:31 I did see that? Uh what was it? Mark Landau basically told everybody to not accept the parts because they did not like the idea of everybody getting killed off. He didn't like the story idea because it was more the TV show was more about getting in and getting out, nobody seeing you, and so he didn't like He basically didn't like the story. He didn't like the idea of everybody getting killed and a lot of people took issue with Phelips being the bad guy. So yeah, the original cast was not a fan. But you know, get over it. Well you said, okay, you say get over you say get over it. But I do think about this.

14:13 So think about this. So twenty thirty years from now, think of a hit television show that you and I love and they're going to make a film, only they're going to take our beloved cast, and they want to kill them all off, and they want to take the central character and they want to turn them into the villain. We probably be a little pissed, man. I think I think it depends on the story and how good of quality of the movies. Now, you did an episode with me and we discussed the Disney era movies. Yeah, and you and a couple other people were very unhappy with how some of the story aspects were handled in the Last Jedi. I don't know, boy, I'm just saying. I remember one of us in the chat was very upset because the lightsaber got thrown off.

15:00 I'm like one, but it goes to his character, now, you know. And so I think it's a great idea. If the hero of the old TV show turns bad, I mean that happens, it's it's if it works within the confines of the current story, Then yeah, I get over it, you know, I'm I mean, I guess if you if I was on the show, i'd probably be upset. But I wasn't on the show, so it doesn't really impact me that way, you know. But you know, if it works within the confines of the show, if it works within the story, if you can make it work, then you know, do whatever. Fans wondering what put you on the disavowed list just found out that that boldly absurd take on the last Jedi. But we're gonna move on date because you and I have I have battled many times. Well I'm boldly absurd, So it's fine. Growing up. Tom Cruise, he's a longtime fan of the show, chooses it as the first film for his newly minted production company, Cruz Wagner Productions. And this is his first time to be a this is his first shot to being a producer too, So gotta say he he handled him, he handled it. Well. There's one decision I think we're going to talk about here, you know, in a few minutes, and then i'll have I'm interested to hear your take on a certain decision he made. But another thing I found very interesting and would love to read it, except I'd probably will never get the chance. Marvel Comics published

16:30 a prequel comic in nineteen ninety six, written by Marv Wolfman. It's illustrated by Rob Leefeld. Cruise gets an advanced copy. He feels the illustrations of Ethan Hunt are just a bit too feminine, and this leads to the book being recalled. They pull it. It's it's now. It's now a very rare comic book. It's very what they call a key issue. I looked. I just looked, just because I was curious. You know, maybe you know you could find one for like one hundred two hundred bucks. Yeah, it's a it's selling for upwards of eight hundred and fifty dollars. So wow, so good luck finding that forty eight page spectacular. But how how many dollars is that per page? Let's do the mast Oh Wowanus thing Dayton.

17:21 This is the third film that Tom Cruise and Amelio Estevez worked together on. Can you can you tell me what the first two were? Uh? The Outsiders was one? Yep? Uh? Would it shock you to know that Tom Cruise was in Young Guns? No? Because I did know that he has a cameo he just pops up. He's he's one of he's one of the rustlers that gets shot off a roof So, right, yeah, I mean they they they kind of got close when they were making The Outsiders, and Cruise does this thing for Amelio. Amelio says, I'll show up in Mission Impossible. Now. Granted, his his is a little bit more of a glorified cameo. He's he's in it for a little bit longer than Cruse getting shot off a rooftop. But I always think that's fun. You know, anytime I watch Young Guns, I'm always looking to Oh, there's Cruise. Right. So it's like I'm blinking you most a type of moment blaze of glory. You know, we have John Boy Jovie shows up in that Oh in the pit. Yeah, he's in the pit, jumping out the Yeah, let's talk about the soundtrack for this film, and uh and a and a key decision. I'd love to hear your take on. So originally they hire Alan Silvestri to score the film. He finished about twenty five minutes of his score and he's removed from the picture. Allegedly. Allegedly, Tom Cruise made that decision as as producer. Huh and and Cruise. Obviously, Cruz brings in Danny Elfman. Sylvestry's so good. I mean, I'm

18:52 not saying it's a it's a bad call to replace anybody with Danny Elfman, but I mean that's an interesting choice. But maybe maybe it's because we have Elfman and he is relatively fresh as far as I mean, you know, he did Batman eighty nine, so he's still he's still in an early early part of his scoring career. And maybe it's just a little bit more modern is why he chose him. Maybe, you know, possible invests a little bit too, I don't want to say older, but a little you know, more of the TV series, more of the seventies vibe or something like that, and they decided to see they want something newer. Well we got now we gotta we gotta go back and watch. Uh. Schwarzenegger did a did a film in ninety six called a Racer. I remember that Silvestri he gets kicked off this project. He basically just took his twenty five minutes and put it into a racer. So healthy doesn't get him gone anywhere. Yeah, very very plug and play. Maybe so maybe maybe maybe a cruise is doing the right thing. Yeah, the theme is iconic though, Uh oh yeah, I remember do You Are Buying? Like the cassette single or the CD single The You Two, the band members Larry Mullen Junior and Adam Clayton, they put out their their theme. I played the ship out of that.

20:10 It was so cool. And uh they actually weren't. They nominated for a Grammy for the Yeah Pop Original Instrumental Performance. So that's that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. I love the idea that these guys, I mean, think about you're you're in a band with someone you both grow up loving. Mission impossible. You get the call these guys say, they don't decide to work together. They go, Okay, well you you do yours. I'm doing mine. We'll see, we'll see which one they're like. So one of them is recording in New York when I'm was in Dublin, and they basically turn them both and say, you guys, pick whatever you want. And then we get this this release that has both of them. It's got remixes by DJ's. It's it's like it's a win win as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, it was. It's fun for sure. Yeah.

20:53 So the principal roles you might have this different I've got I've got it as Cruise, being Rams and John Voyd. That's my principal roles, the heavy hitters. Yeah, I mean at the time, Ving Raams wasn't really a big name yet. Principal actors. Yeah, I mean, I guess that makes sense because if you think about it, most of the other cast doesn't last very long. And guy who plays Kittridge, I can't even tell you something else he without my head. Yeah, well, I mean I don't have him. I don't even have him in my in the supporting category, honestly. I mean, I know he's he's crucial to the movie. But you know, I'm talking like as far as like marquee names I'm throwing, I'm talking being Rams just because he was an established actor. We had seen him, you know obviously two years prior he's Marcellus Wallace in pulp Fiction.

21:44 He is blowing the doors off of everybody that that amazing movie, that iconic seen. But I mean I had history with him before, like he this is his second time working with Brian de Palma, you remember a film that he did called Casualties of War, Michael J. Fox, that's right, and uh love People Under the Stairs. I think that was like nineteen ninety two maybe, Yeah, So I don't know, well, I mean, seanra know, I he's one of those that I kind of got really familiar with. You know. Obviously the professional was amazing, and so to me, I guess because you had a decent international cast in here, you know, Vanessa Redgrave and the manual be there. But yeah, these are people that you know, well, I think that helped. I think that helped overseas for sure. But yeah, I guess it works for the top three.

22:37 All right, well let's let's let's talk, you know, because we we just kind of like you just kind of peppered them all in there real quick. But uh, let's let's let's talk. You know. I think John Voight this is a this is a very smart piece of casting because you would never expect John Voight to play the villain of the film. It's a good reveal. He's he's he's been his his his his career has been the the hero role or the the protagonist role. He's he's he's the guy you trust right, you know, this is this is this is this isn't like it's a it's we're not talking Anacona times or he's you know, creepy with a bad accent. This is a bad movie. I'm not, I'm not.

23:18 I'm not arguing with you. So I love seeing John Voyton here. I think I think void, especially at this time when you look at someone like Tom Cruise. Who does Tom Cruise look to as a mentor figure? You know, because the only other person I could think that they could get would have been someone like Paul Newman. But we already seen that in the Color of Money in eighty six. True, So I like, I like void. Voight works really well for this film, you know, I yeah, I mean Paul Newman would have They've already done that, But yeah, I guess Voight works. I was starting to think of somebody else that run that same age range that's kind of always plays the good guy. It's hard to do. It would have been an interesting turn red for Okay, so Redford, oh you know what, you might have just sold me because now I'm thinking like Three Days of the Condor Redford. Yeah, and then later he does Spy Game spy game Pitt. Yeah, well, because there's there's a physicality that that the Jim Phelps role requires, Like you have to believe John Voight can face off against Ethan Hunt on that train on the roof of that train later, right, So I'm also I'm saying, is John Voyd, you know, the champ Rick Schroeder. I'm believing John Voyd's physicality.

24:29 I definitely would have believed Robert Redford. So yeah, if we could go back into if anyone maybe they maybe they called Redford, he just didn't pick up the phone. But you know, that's a good called date. I definitely see that one. Vanessa Redgrave is max. I wish we had more Vanessa Redgrave stuff in this in this day and age, like in the nineties, because she's, yeah, she's such a lady, you know. Yeah. I loved her interactions with Hunt. You know, it's it kind of went back and forth from I don't trust you to totally flirting with him, and yeah, you know, and and and I liked her because she's one of those villains that is charming and slick and you're kind of like, yeah, I could see how this person got to where they were. You know what I mean, you can you you know, you could believe that she'd be responsible for doing something horrible. I mean like, you know, at the same time, you're kind of like, eh, but i'd work for you. Would look the other way a lot with Vanessa Redgrave. I think like just just because she's Vanessa Redgrave, that her voice is just she's sultry.

25:40 Yeah, I'm a fan. I don't know if I was a fan. Look, I'm gonna I'll say this even though I don't I don't think I mean it, But I don't know that I was so much of a fan of Sean Reno as Kreeger. And it's not because he's not doing a great job. It's that I absolutely loved him as leone in the professional just at what like two years three years before this is a few years. Yeah, so it's hard for me to see him be a little slimy and be a little little cutthroat. He's fantastic in the role, but I just wish he wasn't such a a villain. Yeah, he's definitely a villain. Uh Yeah. But and I and that's one thing I because but I see I believed him because he uh his the way he delivered his lines, and you know his reactions, like especially once they get back to the hide out and he's harassing Hunt about did you say, you know, meeting and everything else, and then of course Cruise does that great you know sleide of handbit.

26:45 He's just so, he's just so irritated and so angry. And you know from the from the minute he gets on the screen, you're like, I don't trust him, you know, when they're having a meeting, I'm like, I don't trust this guy, you know, and he proved that you can't trust. Yeah, listen, I don't trust him. But if but if you're gonna lower me twenty feet on a slack rope and make sure I don't fall, like, I'll trust him there because he he does a bang up job holding that rope, even when there's a giant rat, you know, scurrying right by him. Man, that was you know, that was creepy. But of course it's just sneezing and you know, oh yeah, toast toast is this dayton is This probably the most memorable scene of the entire film when you look at the look at the overall because like mission impossible.

27:38 When you say mission impossible, your brain should immediately go to big action spectacle, Tom Cruise risking his life doing some daredevil stunt. And really the most dangerous thing Tom Cruise does in this one is running out of the restaurant in Prague when they explode that giant tank. That's where all right? That is my favorite stunt in the whole movie. It's autumn. The train is great. Obviously, the him hanging suspended from the you know ceiling the FBI in Langley or whatever, that is iconic and it's been spoofed. It's been used in other movies and TV shows constantly. But man, everything like especially the lead up to it, when the tone of the conversation with him and Kitchrid's changes, the angle the camera angle changes to go from straight on to you know, looking up at him on an angle, and it's great. So he no, soon as that happens, things are gonna go bad. And he gets that piece of gum out and when he throws it, which is a great shot too, because his hand goes across the table the water and he hits that thing and that one four waight or is just staring at it like huh, and it explodes. The water comes down and what's so cool is I meant to look this up. But you got to wonder how many takes do they have to do? And I'm thinking it couldn't have been that many because two takes, that's what I thought. So here's here's the deal.

29:06 I think it was had to be La couple here here, So here's the deal. You have to remember we know that Cruise is going all in on stunts. He starts this in nineteen eighty six when he's filming with Ridley Scott doing Legend, so he wants to do his own stunt work. But this is ninety six when he wasn't known for doing that that kind of crazy off the wall stuff. So they shoot the They shoot the scene with his stunt double. The palm was not happy. He's like, it just doesn't look good. You can tell it's not you. Do you want to try it? And Cruise knows like there potentially you can drown doing this stunt. So are you? Are you cool with that? And you don't you don't ask Tom Cruise to stick his tongue on the flagpole in December. You know he's good, He's going to do it. You don't even need a double dog there, and so what what happens is we get this incredible moment and you when you watch that scene, the look of his face of sheer panic and terror is because he knows he is seconds away from dying, and they captured on film. It's it's awesome. Absolutely, It's what's so good about it because if you because you watch it and you know the waiter that got blasted to the window is is in front of the building now, so not only does he have to get out in front of all that water, but he has to not trip over that actor at the same time. Huh.

30:32 And I'm like, god, it's so great, such a great I mean, like I said, the train seemed at the end is great. Uh, but man, far and away the train, the train's fun. The train's fun. I'll say this, the train, the bullet train is fun. But at the same time, you know that, Okay, we're we're dealing with some some special effects here. I mean, they had like wind machines blowing on their faces like one hundred and forty eight miles an hour just to just to give us that illusion him and void. But you know they're safe. And I'm not saying I don't want him to be safe, but your heart has to pump a little bit faster when you're watching that that restaurant scene, when the when the aquarium explodes, and it's the better action scene. What's yeah, I think? And honestly when the when the plane or not the plane, when the helicopter crashes. See, I have an issue with how quickly the train stops because when the helicopter follows him in there, the conductor is telling him speed up, speed up, so it's already a bullet train and then it's now they're going faster. So the helicopter crashes, which it's great. I don't care when the explosion it blows him back onto the I love when it blows him back to the train. That's a fantastic moment. It doesn't really look dated either, know, it actually still looks really good. But uh, my issue is it's tumbling, you know, behind and it seems like all of a sudden it stops. And of course you have the cool part with propeller and it points right. It is, it's cool, but I'm thinking that thing literally came to a stop and it had to have been going I don't know. Ninety one hundred miles an hour, un miles an hour, probably, yeah, And it seemed to stop

32:04 almost on a dime. And I'm thinking, if that's the case, then interview people getting up off the ground and everything else in the trail there's actually nothing happened. I'm thinking a little bit more that would have been better, but I don't care. It's still cool scene. It just it kind of they forgot some detail. I'm with you. And as as the climactic action piece, it works, it's fun, it does, and I'm I'm I'm here for it, but I think the the aquarium is the better scene. And then on top of that, the break into Langley is probably the most fun we're gonna see. As you said, it's been, it's been. You know, people have borrowed from it that we've seen it. You know, it's a it's a popular moment and I love I just I still like watching it here recently, I'm like, damn, this scene's so great.

32:51 Well, and then the details they placed into that, because when the security card comes in and goes, wait there was two of you, there's three of you. The other one and you know, Kreeger knocks the guyle pulls out his knife. He's like, you know, zero body count and you see the knife that matched the one that yes earlier, and you might miss it. But they go back to it a little bit later when they talk about what happened. But man, that's such a great little hint right there that you mean, obviously somebody else could have that knife, but it's still placing that what if what if this guy, you know, because he's already kind of shown he's not trustworthy. One one one popular trope, and I don't know if Mission Impossible started it. You correct me if if if I'm wrong here, because I'd love to know. But I love the trope where we're explaining the heist and you're seeing it play out. I love that, you know, Like I love how he's like, you know, that's trust me, Luther. It's it's so much worse than you think. And he's you know, first you got to go through this access point and you're watching the whole Yeah, the whole show. I love when movies do that.

33:57 I love when action movies do that, Spy movies do that. That's one of my favorite things. It's one of my favorite tropes. I should say, yeah, I can't. I can't remember it happening and before mission impossible, though, Is there is this the first one or is there something that you can think of that that that predates this, you know, because the only other one that comes to about my mind immediately is like Oceans Oceans eleven eleven. Yeah, because I was just think, because I've watched it like four times in the last six months. Yeah, so I know they do a good job with that, But I'm trying to think off the top of my head. I'm sure there has to be and uh, I'm sure we'll hear from somebody. I'm you know, Robert's listening to this episode is probably yelling at me which one is. Uh, but you know, I'm sure there is. Although I think maybe this one kind of made it a trope, you know, kind of maybe this one, if this one doesn't invent it, maybe it popularizes it. Yeah, Okay, I absolutely love the beat of sweat on the lens of his glasses. Yes, and that quick drop that is such a such a moment. Man. I still to this day, I'm like, oh ah, you know, you're just you're holding your breath a little bit watching It's it's so it's so good. I want to take I want to take one more break. But before I do, I want to go back. There's one person you mentioned her, and I just have I just have a question. I can't say it's a cameo obviously, and you can't say I don't think she qualifies as before they were famous, because I think she had done on five or ten French films. But Emanuel Barrett as she plays Claire Dayton, why didn't she become like the next

35:30 Hollywood knew she's a fantastic actress. She's gorgeous, she had good chemistry with Tom Cruise. I felt, Yeah, where'd she go? That's a great question. I don't know where she went. Uh it's one of those that and you just don't know who's going to take off. And maybe she just didn't want to, you know, do all the you know, the American film stuff. I mean, she just wanted to keep doing uh, you know, you know, European films. I don't know, but it seems to me like she did her thing and she was happy with that, and that's kind of like a you know, I'm good. It just it's like doing a little bit of research on her. Her most famous role, she she played a nude model in some French movie that I had never heard of.

36:15 And I'm thinking that you went down that path and you could have you could have been like the next you know it it girl in Hollywood. I don't I don't understand, I really, I just I enjoyed her. I enjoyed her performance, filmography, almost every single one of the directors I did her films or foreign directors. Well, that's what I'm saying. She went, she went back to France, and just maybe she preferred, you know, maybe she's preferred that instead of the Hollywood glitz too much, rather just stay stay with what she knew. Yeah, I didn't prefer it, but I guess it's not it's not up to me. Let's let's take a break and when we get back, we'll be keeping it real. We are back an agent, Dayton Johnson has decided it's time for keeping it real. Dayton.

37:06 Three questions. First, one our favorite, one of our favorite actors, Billy Zobka, good friend of mine, met him last year. He's fantastic guy. Dan As you remember he was, he was dominating Dojo's high school cafeterias and college swimming pools in some of the best movies in the nineteen eighties. Then he's notably absent from Hollywood for most of the nineties. So the question is, what about zob Dayton. Let's replace one actor from this film with William Zobka. I'd love to hear your take on who he's playing, which which role is he taking? Okay, so I don't share your love of Billy Billy's portrayals in as far as his acting. Chops this about this, about there it is, but no, So I actually had to think about this for a little while, and because there's not a lot of options in in this in this movie, but what made the most sense was, uh, he he's going to be Jack. He's taken the place of Emilia s Tevez because I could totally buy into the snarky comments that Sves was making. I can totally believe him in that. And you know, he's part of the I am forced so cool And he's also the first one to die. Get so you were you were doing so good, you were doing so well there Dayton. Well, to be fair, I think he also has the uh, the coolest death out of the of the one group, it's the most of you, I mean you know, you get stabbed,

38:37 you get blown up, you know. Shot dude, he gets smashed by an elevator into spikes that come down. See, I'm like, what a way to go man. Gruesome but but but but probably the best the best offing of the I m F force there. Yeah, very memorable. So I do agree with you your take for the simple fact that Cruz isn't going to move through this film in Zopka's shadow. So I think it's best for everyone if Zopka just take the Miliss cameo role like Jack. And you're right, Like I could the banter. I can hear William Zopcha's you know when you think of what he's doing in Cobra Kai with that that punk Daniel LaRusso, the the jabs, the quick wit, the I totally buy it.

39:29 So yeah, yeah, he's playing Jack Dayton sequel, prequel or remake. You've answered this question so many times on our on our nineteen eighty six limited series, and you answered it a couple of times on our seventy six series. If you controlled this ip, what would be your pitch to the studio to revive it? And keep in mind we're in production. Uh, Christopher mcquarie is on the eighth film. They're production right now on the eighth film. So right, what's what's your thoughts here? So we obviously continue the franchise. But here's the thing. As much as we like to think that Tom Cruise is never gonna die because you know, in the last thirty years he's only aged like five years, at some point he's gonna have to have some may take us. So you need an Ethan Hunt heir apparent, so you know, or if you're listening, you need to bring somebody in.

40:23 And I have two options, maybe even get them both in there. But what you do is you bring in Ansel el Gort, who, of course we know from Baby Driver, and he was fantastic in that he's so he can He's already shown us he can handle a car. He can handle a vehicle, you know, and that does happen in these movies. And I think he has the charm, you know, he has a he's young enough, he could be a you know, a younger IMF agent and kinda be kind of set up to take over for Hunt. Now, we can either go with him or somebody who's familiar with him already having a franchise, I say you bring in Jennifer Lawrence as an option. The Hunter Games was great, and she's she can be physical, she can play smart, you know, she you can believe her a lot of different things. So maybe you bring them both in. Maybe they both you know, come in and that's you know, they kind of play off each other. I'm thinking, I'm thinking of her role in Red Sparrow, right see, Okay, Yeah, I this would be a situation where I'd be in favor of of going a different direction, like giving us a female agent because this this film, this film franchise, think about this mission impossible. The first one we got, we had what three three female agents yep. And then we kind of move away from that, and then we kind of get we we kind of drop down to like there's always gonna be one female agent or there's one fem fatale that Ethan's gotta gotta work with. So I'd I'd be okay with that,

41:54 you know. And maybe if Ethan Hunt becomes like the Jim Phelps mentor role, like he's the and on the thing about this, he could just phone that in. He could he could produce these things, he could do the voice over you know, he could be uh take the part exactly, I'd be that'd be that'd be interesting. Yeah, because they're they're not gonna stop making these movies. He's he has said it himself. These things are gonna go forever. Not maybe not with him, but there they'll continue. So, uh, if I was gonna do anything you mentioned, Cruise refuses to age. So so if I can't read that Marvel prequel comic, let's just film it. Let's do a live action prequel. And here's what I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you. I don't know what the storyline is, but maybe let's tie it to uh Easa Morales from Dead Reckoning. We had that, Remember we had that that opening, that prequel opening. I'd love to see that film see what happened there. Yeah, that's true. That's a good idea, you know, give me and it wouldn't mean to think about it.

42:52 You're not gonna need a lot of it, but you could do a little bit of a of the uh the digital d aging on on Cruise and East Si Morales, and I think there'd be a fun movie. So that's what I'm going for DVD extras. It's nineteen ninety six, the DVD format has been introduced to US markets. You know, we got the simplicity of the compact disc. We love the high definition. It's wowing us. A lot of us are mistakingly thrown away our VHS tapes, not realizing we'll be trying to recollect them at flea markets twenty thirty years later. But you know, dating for centophiles like us, the special features were usually you know, we had the no frills package of scene selection or Spanish subtitles. Maybe you've got a trailer. I'm going to ask you this, what DVD extra would you want on your DVD for this film? Here's your choices. You can have an audio commentary, which doesn't exist for this film even in the re releases on Blu Ray. You have deleted scenes, which I'm sure there's plenty of out there right now. You can have a making of documentary, which I think exists now. Or this this category just got added a couple weeks ago when Amber Lewis joined me for Romeo and Juliet. You can have the Amber Lewis Actors round Table. You know, you could you could choose three or four of the cop you know, the actors and have a roundtable conversation with their their thoughts on making the film. What what what extra do you want on your DVD? I do like the actor around you, you know,

44:24 honestly, I think I still think I want to commentary, because you're right, it doesn't exist. I have the version I own came out shortly before am I three hit theaters. I know this because it has a sticker on it says get a free ticket to am I three And it does not have a commentary. And no, and now, granted not in all commentaries are great. There's some that Some of them are just that, you know, the director by themselves and that gets a little boring and they're kind of dry. But you know, some of them are great. They give you all the behind the scenes stuff. They kind of tell you some stories things you did really get anywhere else. So I'm always a fan of a good dog com Well, rumor has it, de Palma and Cruise didn't exactly get along during the production of this film. So I want a DiPalma and Cruz commentary track where maybe they hash it out, maybe they're you know, they give us some great stories. That's what that'd be my choice. Who do you want on your commentary? Do you just want like a DiPalma commentary?

45:25 Do you want do you want a Cruise Paula Wagner, Like a producer's commentary with a Wagner and Cruz. Maybe that would be interesting. But I you know, I'm one of those I'm I kind of like to look at things from the director's standpoint. So you know, maybe you do as you have you have to Palma, and then you have some of the actors come in, you know, and you have I mean, even though most of them weren't there. Maybe get John Waite who was there for a decent amount of it, and just share their stories. But it would be interesting to see. I'm afraid that if you had Cruise in there with him, that it might evolve into something we never get it anyway, Well, the only thing more dangerous and I don't know if this is what you were alluding to, but the one commentary track I don't care for, and you you said, sometimes when when a director is by himself, they you know, and they don't have anyone to to banter with, it can it can be a little dry. I think like Tim Burton might be one of the the prime examples of don't waste your time. I mean, I love Tim Burton, but his commentary is just they're hard to get through. Yeah, but the commentary tracks that I do not like are where you get three or four people together, but they're not together. So soone'll be talking and then I'll be like, you know, you like you've heard Tom Cruise talking or Brian de Palmer talking about a scene, and then you hear you hear someone go actor John Voight, and then he's like off, you know, he's as his cabin and cannon. He's like, oh, yeah, this is a good you know. I If you're gonna have more than one person on the commentary track,

46:59 get them in the room together, put them on a zoom call or something. They need to be reacting to one another, not just I don't want to hear sound bites that's someone edited into a conversation. So the and the only other problem, like A as much as I love Big Tomel Little China, that commentary is because they're not talking about the movie. They spent half the time talking about their their kids and I know, but dude, I adore it because they're talking about hockey and their their music, and it's just you're hearing too buddy movie. I know, but still, I've never listened to a John Carpenter audio commentary that that I didn't just love. So I'll say that fair Dan, Let's talk about this film's legacy. Is it a classic, a cult classic, or just a product of its time?

47:46 Oh, it's a classic. It's a classic, right, it has to be because it was huge at the box office. And there's the exception of the computer screens and the phones. There's nothing about it, the screams, and it's not like the pop culture was influencing it. Ultimately, if it led to since it did so well, we ended up getting more TV shows made into movies. Here's just a few I found. Just a couple of years after this one. We had the British TV show The Avengers was brought to the film in nineteen ninety eight, which of course just totally tanked. It was terrible. You have The Mod Squad, which is also not very good. That was a ninety Yeah, that wasn't that good. Yeah, And then you have Charlie's Angels two thousand, which wasn't bad. It was a fun movie, it was good. And then twenty one Jump Street was made into two successful comedic films. Not great, but they were fun.

48:42 And of course you have still have this franchise, and recently we had The Fall Guy, so I love the fall Guy. So if you look at what you know, I mean, people love to say, how oh hollywoods out of ideas, blah blah blah. Well you know what, Support the smaller films, Support the ones that are new and different, and maybe we'll get some more of those. But as long as you're keep buying tickets to these popcorn movies, they're gonna keep making them. So we're just as most responsible for that as the as Hollywood is. But the fact is this was successful and other and studios will go, hey, what TV shows can we make into a movie? A lot of them didn't do well, some did well. You know, when you when you think about, well, when I think about if someone says erotic thriller or Hitchcockian thriller, Brian de Palmer is the first director I'm gonna think of, and his stuff is awesome.

49:31 But if someone says, take this TV show from thirty years ago and make it a hit film, Brian de Palma should be the name you think because he did it. He did it with this, He's gonna do it. He did? Is it? What? Nanta seven? With the Untouchables, he's kind of like you're he's he's a he's a go to guy, like and think about that's This and Untouchables are his two biggest uh when we're talking financial success, these are his two biggest films. I can only imagine, like if you if someone called him up and said, hey, we got this TV show from nineteen seventy three and we're gonna we're gonna do something with it. What do you say? I bet he's got another one in him. But oh, I think so, I think so. Well, you know, I don't think that there's a strong representation of nineties culture in this movie outside of some of the tech that we talked about. But as far as how this film impacts pop culture. The fun thing here and I didn't realize this until recently, but this movie reinvigorates Apple. Did you did you see about? Did you did you read that? Did you catch that one?

50:34 No? I didn't interest the company? So Apple loses. They post losses of seven hundred and forty million dollars, and in nineteen ninety six, that's quite a bit of money. You know, a lot happens earlier. It happens early in nineteen ninety six, but thanks to a huge product placement in this film, because Ethan's on the MacBook and you know, uh, they have a big ad campaign. They're doing commercials, they're doing print ads. Apples rowing right back, they bounce right back. You know, I want the cool laptop that Ethan Hunt used. And before you know it, Apple is taken over again. So you know, we mentioned they're in they're in production right now on the eighth film in this franchise. So to say it has not stood the test of time and has stayed in pop culture, I mean the theme. You know, who doesn't know this theme? If you're trying to do something in a hurry, or you're trying to do something that you can't do, it's it's there and day. And I I would say that this film, when you look at his filmography, I think you have to agree that this cements Tom Cruise's action hero status because before this, we you know Legend Top Gun, Days of Thunder, They're they're big blockbuster films, but they're not action hero movies. Right and after this, you know, he jumps into the Ethan Hunt roll every other couple of years, but he's also doing Oblivion, he's doing Minority Report, War in the World War, the World's Live lived. I repeat, I mean, there's the

52:06 he is. He is the action star and he probably he probably wasn't birth. We just were waiting for it. But I feel like this is the movie that that cements that, like we need an action movie, we need a summer blockbuster, we need Tom Cruise. He's he's gotta be the top answer with with the Honestly, if you look with the exception of his version of the Mummy, he has a tendency to surround himself because he's usually executive producer or producer on the movies, so he finds the right director, he finds the right people to be on there with him. So like him or not, he has a knack for surrounding himself with talent and quality, and we get good, good films out of him. We do, We absolutely do. I will not disagree with you one bit. It's funny you mentioned the Mummy because he can kind of do whatever he wants, like he's he's in pt Anderson films throughout his career. He's he's playing vampires. I remember when when The Mummy came out to theaters like that, there was like the ongoing joke was everyone's calling it Mission Impossible Mummy Protocol because because it was Tom Cruise and he was it was I mean, I love I thought that the movie was enjoyable, but it was more of an action movie than it was a horror film or a universal monster movie. So I don't know. I still wouldn't change a thing about it, honestly. Well, you know, from rock stars to international spies, it's been a great week dayton U.

53:30 You know, I still I'm still surprised at your your take on rock Star, but but I respect it. You want to tell us, you want to sell us. What's coming up on docum Base seventy seven next week? Yeah, next week, our next episode we are hitting. It was the first time watch for me, and it was suggested by one of our regular guests who's now a host. Robert suggested that we do the Gus van Zandt directed film Milk starring Sean Penn. And he's like a politician, right, Yes, it's that's a good Josh good, isn't that with Josh Brolin. Also he played the other guy that's running for a fantastic film. Yeah, it's so so good, so absolutely yeah, all right, I got it.

54:13 Who's on that one? Is that you? And Robert Me? Robert Namber. I'm looking forward to that one. I'll definitely be tuned in. It's a great film. I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say about it. Ask for you listeners out there, we want to thank you for checking out our limited series nineteen ninety six. We're gonna cover a lot of movies from this year, but we won't get to all of them. So if you got the one that you're like waiting for us to listen to, don't be shy reach out to us. You can email us at a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com, or leave us a message on a film by podcast dot com. You can even hit us up on social media. You'll find us on Facebook, Instagram, and X Me and Dayton got a bounce. But next time nineteen ninety six, we'll talk Murder, Mystery and Edward Norton when we investigate Primal Fear, Peace Sound