Renny Harlin - The Long Kiss Goodnight

0:00 I mean, it's Christmas time. It's it's the holidays are upon us. We're like three weeks out from the big day. I'm in, I'm in, I'm catching the spirit. I'm in the mood. What what do you need? Like, what's some things that make your Christmas complete? I am very much about like the old school animation, you know, the the claymation, Rudolph, Yeah, you know, Charlie Brown and the Hannah Barbera And I mean, I just pull all those DVDs out. I always like to try to find something new around the holidays because you watched so many of them over and over and over again. Oh naturally. So this year I watched Christmas in Connecticut for the first time, which version and the nineteen forty five version with you and og okay, I did. I love her. I can't believe I've never seen it, but oh my gosh, what I that was. So that's a new favorite that's getting put into the rotation. But then I just saw on social media the other day and I was like, oh my gosh, what a genius idea. Somebody was having the Shane Black Christmas Marathon. Yes, and I was like, yes, we're doing this.

1:18 Oh, that is a great idea. I'll tell you what. Since you brought that up, Let's talk about a film by Rennie Harlan, his nineteen ninety six underrated, action packed Christmas thriller The Long Kiss Good Night.

2:00 Hello everybody, and welcome back to a film by a podcast. I'm Jeff Johnson, I'm Amber Lewis from Docking Bay seventy seven. We're talking Reddy Harlan's The Long Kissed a Night starring Gina Davis. She's got many skill sets. She bakes, she's on the PTA, she's a school teacher, clause in the Missus Claus, she's an assassin. When I think of these skill sets, there's only one person I could think of that that could do all this, and it's you, Amber. So absolutely, thank you for joining me today. Thank you Samber. For those that haven't seen this film, The Long Kiss of Night, can you give us a brief synopsis? Absolutely?

2:47 This is from the back of the Blu Ray. Samantha Caine, played by Gina Davis, a suburban school teacher, suffers from amnesia. When her mysterious past begins to haunt her idyllic life, she sets out on a desperate search to discover her true identity. Aided by Mitch Hennessy played by Samuel L. Jackson, a deadbeat private detective, she follows a trail of clues into the middle of a terrorist conspiracy in the US intelligence community. They slowly learn that Kane is much more than a soft spoken teacher. Repressed from her memory is her former life as Charlie Baltimore, a highly trained secret agent and killer.

3:29 But Charlie is slowly re emerging, which spells trouble for the terrorists and anybody else who gets in her way. She suffers from focal retrograde amnesia. It's a condition where an individual cannot remember past memories, but their ability to create new memories remains intact. This can be caused by brain injuries, surgeries, traumatic events, even nutrition issues. Amber, as a school teacher, a chance like if we torture you, could you could you be an assassin? We just don't know. I mean, I have a lot of skill sets, but I don't think murder is one of them. Let's let's talk Shane black So he becomes the first writer to sell a script in Hollywood for four million dollars and some of his peers even suggest he so he sells out on this one. Yeah, And I don't you know, writers get have a hard enough time. I don't think that making money for doing something while is is necessarily something he should be ostracized for. Not at all, Not at all. There's probably a lot of jeousy there too. I'm sure there's a there's a tinge of that. Uh. You mentioned the Shane Black Christmas Marathon that people are now doing, And if you're you're wondering, like, well, what what what makes up that that list? Where to leath the Weapon,

5:00 the Last Boy, Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man three and the nice Guys? I was gonna say, not not a bad choice. No great Christmas movies that aren't Christmas movies, right, I don't know, that's a whole nother debate. Like I think the idea of Christmas movie is broadening somewhat, so, oh, it certainly is. And you know, anyone listening to our show this month, you know, just wait till they hear the next Christmas classic we got lined up for him. But yes, Renny Harlan and Gena Davis, you know, Geena Davis is playing Charlie Baltimore aka Samantha Kine. What a great name. It is a great name, right Wait, which with Charlie Baltimore, that is it's it's it's got character, it's got it's fun. We gotta think about this. Linda Hamilton, Sarah Connor, Sigourney Weavers, Ripley. These are two of the most famous female action heroes in cinema history, and Renny Harlan wants to generate more interest in female action stars, so he creates the Opper Tuning for his wife Geena Davis. You know, they do Cutthroat Island, then they do The Long Kiss Night. And I don't know why these movies, both of them especially, I don't know why they didn't hit bigger? Have you? I mean you, I mean have you seen cut Throat Island? I have not.

6:15 I was really swayed by just the horrible reviews and just the the nightmare stories of production, and you know, so I was like, why do I even want to do this? I'll be honest with you. I recently I watched it for the first time because, like you, it just didn't look appealing when it was marketed. I didn't buy Matthew Modine as like a squash buckling Errol Flynn type. I know we'll get into a little bit more later, but you're right, a lot of production issues on that one becomes the biggest box office bomb of all time. But but I watched it, and I don't see what the I don't see what all the hates for.

6:56 It's it's a fun movie. You know. If you like pirate movie, it's it's. I mean, I love a good female pirate like that. She's fantastic. Okay, you know what it's. It's I'll tell you right now. It's on two B. Check it out because it it's a fun one. You know, if you like female pirates and you like Geena Davis, give it, give it a shot. That is what I tell you. I'll tell you one thing about Geena Davis amber she should stop driving Volvo station wagons, right, not a lot of luck, just stop driving well, I mean, I look, I don't want to say anything about her driving skills because she you know, she handles herself pretty good later in the movie. But she's driving a Volvo station wagon at the beginning of this.

7:39 Uh. It's it's basically it's the same making model as the one she's driving in beetlejuice, and in both situations she swerves to hit a deer or she swerves to hit a dog and runs the Volvo off the road and people die. So I don't know, maybe maybe stay away from Volvos in jail. I guess this episode not sponsored by Volvo, by the way, clearly, let's talk Samuel Jacksons Mitch Hennessy. Oh my gosh, I wrote really big in my notes. He has chemistry with everyone, everyone, right, you know, he claims this is his favorite role. I mean, you got to think about this for a second. This is in the Star Wars universe.

8:24 He's Mace wind Do. He's he's huge, a huge part of the MCU. You know, he's Jewels from Paul Fishy. He's done some epic roles, and Mitch Hennessy in this small, little Renny Harlan film is his all time favorite. I love that about Samuel Jackson, honestly, absolutely. I Mean it's easy to say that the most popular ones are your favorite, but I think that a movie like this, where his character has a lot of layers, you know, he gets to do a lot of fun stuff, get some stunts and some you know, kind of being the he's kind of the woman in the movie. He's the he's the sidekick. He's the sidekick. Yeah, yeah, you know, he's definitely leading. He has that great role. He even has that great line later in the movie where he he looks at it like they're you know, they're they're captured and he he looks at her says, hey, I'll be looking forward to you coming to save me here soon. She's like, she's like, give me a minute. I love that. I love that about his character. This is no spoiler because you know, we're talking about a movie from nineteen ninety six and it didn't happen, but his character dies in the movie initially. You know, that's that's the role. I love this. During a test screening, someone famously yelled out, you can't kill Samuel L. Jackson. Well,

9:54 guess what. The filmmakers agreed. You know, he tested through the roof his character, so they reached They go back, they reshoot the ending with him living, and as a nod to that that the theater patron and the test screening, Jackson's character when he explodes out of the back of that truck, he has that great line, that's right, you can't kill me. Mother efforts perfect perfect line. Yeah, I just I just I just love the guy. He's so fun in this Other than that, Amber, I know, we've got a who's who of that guy's like JD. Spradlin and David Morse. We gotta mention Brian Cox. Coincidentally, Cox has a knack for mentoring former assassins with amnesia. He goes on to do it again with Matt Damon in two thousand and two Is the Born Identity and you Jackman in two thousand and threes X two X Men United? Is this the guy you want mentoring you about X Men? Yeah? But yeah, the minute this movie kind of got going, I was like, oh, it's a Born Identity. Well it's funny you say that because this film is loosely based off Robert Lum's novel The Bourne Identity, and Brian Cox is in both of them. So there's there's your fun double feature, right there be long kiss, good night and The Bourne Identity. I think I mean his the people he mentors, you know, they come out on top. So fair to say that. You know, if you wake up tomorrow, Amber and you realize, hey, I'm not a school teacher, I'm a I'm a black Ops CIA assass and you're probably looking for Brian Cox first, right, I'm yeah, I'm gonna look for his phone number. Check my phone. I'll

11:26 definitely look for him. You know, he is a great mentor, is what I'm getting at. Brian Cox, great mentor. Well, Amber, let's take a quick break, and when we get back, I want to get into a little bit about this film's background and talk about the pivotal scene. Okay, awesome. Hi, I'm Dayton, the host of the docum based seventy seven podcast. We talk about everything from Anthrax to the Muppets to West Side Story. All Right, boys, buckle up, because we have hit the bottom of the barrel because he slaughters all the Tusken Raiders. The fact that she stays by his side, that that tells me everything I need to know about these women that write letters to serial killers in prison. You know, it makes it made sense. You know, MOPy Young Sad always dumped Tim. That was the theme song. You know when you listen, Tim, did you have the volume on? The witches are definitely much more nightmare fuel, but the fact that they look like the Texas chainsaw centerfolds if Jango fed is so awesome and he's hired to be cloned, why the hell isn't he doing the job. You're like, my client's getting impatient. Well, then what your slack ass mother? Won't you do it? You know, you're just check us out on Apple Podcast, Good Pods, pod Beam, or wherever you get your podcasts. We are back talking with Amber Lewis from the Docking Bay seventy seven podcast. Amber that you said this is this

12:58 was your first time watching it? Right? Yeah, I came completely cold. I knew almost nothing about it. So I got to ask, you know, initial thoughts, like what did you think of this one? I thought it was a great ride. I couldn't believe that I had missed it. You know, in the beginning, I was like, how did this one slip through? And I think, you know, I read a lot about how the failure of Cutthroat Island in the marketing for this movie really kind of hindered them in selling you know, another Geena Davis, Rennie Harlan, you know, matchup, and so I think, you know, it just kind of slipped through the cracks because it's really good. So I know there's been more than one more than one episode on docum based seventy seven where you've you know, you're you've kind of been a great advocate for female action stars, female action hero roles. Fair to say that Charlie Baltimore Samantha Caine does she does she rank? Would she rank in your top ten? If you did a you know, or even a top seven? You know Dayton loves his top seven. Would she would this role, with this, with this uh, this character make a make a top seven in uh? In your your lineup? Now? Well, I famously agonize over my lists, so I can tell you she would definitely be on the list at some point.

14:22 Whether or not she would make it to the final broadcast, it kind of depends, but you would definitely make the first cut. But she's a contender, right, Yeah, absolutely good. You mentioned you really liked the name Charlie Baltimore. Quick thing about her other name in the movie, Samantha Caine. It's more than an alias, the name Sam Kine. No, it's an anagram, yes, an anagram for amnesiac. How great is that? I love that about this? Uh? Oh, that's hilarious. It's funny.

15:03 Now here's where you might gnash your teeth a little bit and uh and you got you got Shane Black to think, you know, he's in your corner. During the development phase, New Line execs considered switching the character to a man. Well, of course they did. And while they considered, they're they're trying to They're they're fighting amongst themselves whether it should be Steven Sagal or Sylvester Stallone. Shane Black insists that the character was female, is female, could only be female, and they, you know, you figure, well, we're giving the guy four million dollars, we should probably listen to him, so right, Yeah, they backed off. That was one of my biggest like gripes watching the movie was she's literally the only woman. Yeah, I mean, aside from the little girl playing her daughter. Who you know, she'll show up twenty years later in a couple other Shane Black or a couple of other shame Black movies. But that's it in the Secretary.

16:00 Oh yeah, like Samuel Jackson's accomplice trend. Yeah yeah, yeah, that's that's it. She's carrying a lot on her shoulders. And how awesome would this movie have been? You know, if, like we often talk it on the eighty six series that we do here, you know, prequel, sequel or remake. Well, if you made like a remake of this, just load it with women, just make it. You know, how many badass women could you fit into this movie as like the Assassin's Coming After and the people pulling the strings and well, Shane Black sells this script with the understanding that Harlan will direct it and Geena Davis will star. That's when Harlan explains to him, Hey, we're contractually obligated to make Cut Through It Island first, and that did not go well. As we said, it becomes one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. Shane Black actually he believes it's it's that and in poor advertising from New Line Cinema that led to the dismal box office that this one has. But the funny thing is this is a cult classic. Now like this, this is one of those that it didn't do really well and it's theatrical run, but then it hits on video, it hits on streaming, hits on DVD, Blu ray, and everyone loves this movie. Now. Yeah, I think the early days of cable were like a friend to it because it was one of those like it was always on TBS. Yeah, it's funny, like I remember seeing like

17:33 we've we've jokingly talked about TNT's movies for guys who like movies, where it's always like the macho you know, one guy like Schwartzenegger's fighting like a whole army by himself or whatever. This one was on the TNT movies for guys who like movies quite a bit, and I I think it rightly, so I mean it belongs to Yeah, we talked. You mentioned our limited nineteenth series of How You Know Things could be Like with a prequel sequel remake. Sadly, the last page of Shane Black's original script revealed that Charlie would return in a movie called The Kiss After Lightning, but it was in the works as of two thousand and seven and then they never moved forward on it, so I don't know at this point. You know, Geena Davis is I want to say, she's in her early sixties, so I'm guessing she's probably not wanting to jump off buildings and you know, ice skate across ponds with machine guns, but you'd have to, you have to. I think Helen Marin was well unto her seventies and doing red and that's a fair point.

18:41 The latest Fast and Furious or one of the latest twenty seven, Well, I'll tell you, you know, I almost feel like, you know, because they talk about Charlie's past, like doing black bag operations for the CIA. There's a great movie that Charlie's theirne did it called Atomic Blonde and it's set in the nineteen eighty Have you seen that one? Yes, I'm telling you, I mean change the names. And that could almost be the prequel to Lungkis Cannight. Like I could almost see Charlie Slurn's character being Geena Davis's character. Yeah, that's another that's another way I'm looking at it. A lot of great moments in this movie. It's Shane Black, so we know we're gonna get some great comedic beats spiced into our action. Great dialogue.

19:26 Obviously. Let me ask you, Amber, what for you, what's the pivotal scene in this movie? I don't know. For me, I like, and this was where I was thinking, It's like I clicked and it was the Bourne identity. I love that moment in the Matt Damon movie when he all of a sudden like realizes he can do these things. Yeah, and he sells that so well. So I love all those scenes that Geena Davis has of her like superpower emerging and you know, she can like vegetables. She's chopping that carrot like it's the first time she's ever held a knife in her hand. And the boyfriend is kind of you know, he's being a little snarky with her and making fun of her, and then you know, she flips a switch and she's she's Bobby Flay, you know, and then he's just throwing stuff at her out of the fridge and she's just i mean, just destroying these these vegetables, and they're laughing. The daughter's laughing.

20:30 No, she's no, she's no. I mean that's what I'm saying. She is just going to town, like you know, she's she's chopping those vegetables as fast as Bishop is jamming that knife in the table in between Bill Paxston's hand and Aliens as far as I'm concerned, And I love that everyone's laughing and smiling. It's this fun moment until she throws the tomato in the air and then throws the knife and like you know, splits the tomato into the cabinet and she's like, chefs do that. The look of the look of concern on the guy's face, like I don't want to go to sleep next to her tonight. That's but she just did. It was scary. Yeah, that's a great moment, I'll tell you. For me, similar would be Uh. For me, it's gonna be the water torture scene with her where she is still Samantha Kane. She's still confused, she still doesn't know who she is. Uh. And then David Moore starts like ice cold water. He's got her on this like wheel and he's like lowering into the water and then he pulls her back out and underwater. That's where you know she's getting the flashes of who she used to be. It's it's the death of Samantha Kane and the rebirth of Charlie Baltimore. And it for me, it highlights Gina's strength as an actress because she's playing two different roles in this movie, and she's bouncing back and forth between the two, and I love I love the fact that she does it so effortlessly. Yes, I would have said that scene, but I just cannot stand torture scenes like in all way, shape or form. So we started getting into that and I'm

22:00 like, okay, first of all, why is she stripped down to her underwear? Like you can't just like dunker with her clothes on. Like that felt gratuitous, and then you know, just the horrificness of it. Yeah, you know, I'm constantly like watching peeking between my fingers, so I didn't quite get the full impact because I probably only saw like twenty five percent of the sea. I will, like my counterpoint to your gratuitous comment, Let's not forget Shane Black. He's he's notorious for water torture. Martin Riggs stripped down, you know, he's he's there shirtless as as mister Indo is, uh, you know, soaking him in water and then you know, electrocuting him. Yeah, exactly. So you know it's it's one of those things like you know, it's freezing water, like you know, we want to torture the person. We can't have them, We can't let let them have their parka. You know, you gotta ship them down a little bit, right, you know, she said, hey, to be to be fair, she's wearing more clothes than Riggs was, So that's true. All right, Yeah, did you know a fun fact? She actually her and Rennie practiced in their bathtub at home to see how long she could hold her breath, so they could figure out the timing of those scenes where they got to, you know, drop her down and then they got cranked the thing back up and bring her back up. Yeah, she's she's doing her homework.

23:22 She's at home saying, Han, all right, I'm dunking myself time me. Yeah, fantastic stuff. Let's talk about the husband. Let's talk about the man of the hour, Rennie Harlan. I got a couple of things here for you. Rennie Lour Moritz Harjola was born in Rihiemki, Finland, in nineteen fifty nine, but took his father's original surname in nineteen eighty seven. He studied at the University of Art and Design Helsinki before directing commercials and company films for Shell in the nineteen eighties. It was nineteen eighty two while working as a buyer for a finished film distributor he meets Marcus Sieln.

24:03 They form a quick friendship and they write a screenplay called Arctic Heat, which will later become his directorial debut born American. Uh, more on that one in a minute, Amber, because I got I got something to say about that one. Okay, but uh, he moves to La to work for producer Erwin Yoblins. Uh, the Erwin Yoblins, famous for Halloween among other horror titles. Yoblins offers him a film called Prison in nineteen eighty eight. That very same year, he is persistently lobbying for the directing job on Nightmare on Elm Street four, The Dreammaster, and finally wins producer Bob shay Over and gets that gig. Yeah. I had no idea he did that.

24:47 Yeah, that one. That one makes his career. I know, I got a good one. Nightmare on Elm Street four is a good one. Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, all right, well all right, we're gonna we're gonna talk about that when a minute here. He was obviously he was married to Geena Davis from nineteen ninety three to nineteen ninety eight. What could possibly break these two up? Amber, Well, he was unfaithful. So oh, Gina, Gina, file for the Wondering Eye. Yeah, just like Samuel Jackson's Wondering Eye in the car when that lady was jogging by. Oh my gosh, she had something to say about that three six in the car. Yeah, but no. Sadly, Gina filed for divorce shortly after her personal assistant gave birth to Harlan's first child. So, oh, man, not somebody that worked for someone. Yeah, her personal assistant. On top of that, cheating with the nanny. Yeah, very very chrimy. It's a crummy thing to do. Let's get into his filmography.

25:55 He's he's got thirty seven credits to his name. I know he's got some music videos, he's got some foreignsuff. We're probably go to stay away from Amber, but I want to start off with his directorial debut, Born American. This one comes out in nineteen eighty six, And again, we love our nineteen eighty six movies on this on this podcast. Heck yeah, there's a reason we skipped this one. Amber. This I've never heard of it. No. I watched this one recently just because I was like, wait, did I see it? Why didn't I see? It's eighty six. So this one famously was going to star Chuck Norris, and I think ultimately what they got was, Hey, this really amazing movie. Red Dawn just came out a few years ago. Can we make that with like one tenth of the budget and and get whoever will be in it. Chuck has some production delays, he decides on I'm out, so they go after his son, Mike Norris, who you know, you know what, I'm not gonna say a bad thing about Chuck Norris's son, because if he's listening to this, Chuck Norris will get you. So. But there's plenty of other issues with Born Born American. You know, three college buddies, they're they're gonna go see Finland. And then they decide, uh, one drunken night to sneak into the border of Russia just to say they could do it.

27:27 And then and truthfully, for the first twenty five minutes of the movie, it's good. But the last hour and change movie doesn't know what it wants to be. It becomes a war movie. It becomes like an underground pit fighting movie. It's it's all over the it's all over the place. It's the only way you should watch Born American is if you've if it's on like Mystery Science Theater three thousand, because these guys like would have a field day with it. And I would watch it. Uh, that would be fun, I think. Moving on to nineteen eighty seven, he does. He does everyone Yoblins movie Prison. This is what I haven't seen. Have you seen this one, Namber No, never even heard of it. I gotta be honest, I want to see it quick. Uh you know once one more one sentence synopsis. The spirit of a long dead prisoner returns for revenge, haunting the prison's new governor. And that one better. I scrolled down on IMDb as you're reading that Lane Smith and Vigo Mortenson. I mean, I'm in Chelsea Field from Last The Last Boy Scout and Master of the Universe.

28:34 You got Zeus the Human recor recking Machine Tony Lister. Yeah, this has got like a a pretty stellar cast. I gotta say so, I'm in on that one. I'm gonna I'm gonna try and find it. I have to believe it's probably playing on two be your Pluto TV, So gonna look for that one. But at this point, he's in la he's kind of homeless, he's sleeping on people's couches, and he is begging for the job to direct Nightmare on the Street. Four The dream Master now Here is a fun fact for you. They start shooting the movie without a director. They wanted Wes Craven. Craven was like, you know, no more, I'm moving on, you know. In Craven's real problem was, you know, after three Freddy had kind of become that comedic character. He wasn't terrifying, Like he wasn't the first one. Now he's he's got the one liners and people are kind of we're cheering for Freddy at this point, right right, So well, and the one that I liked was the Dream Warriors.

29:40 Was that's number three, Yeah, that's three Dream Warriors. Okay, So so I confused. I was about what you were so excited earlier about the dream Master and I was like, really like, okay, we're going to talk about this, because no, I think the Dream Warriors where they're like fighting back and yeah, this one, and so they they're they're they've got some feelers out to a couple of people, and ultimately there are several weeks into production they've been filming without a director because the studio feels like, well, we know what we're doing, we know what we need to do. And then finally Bob say yeah, finally, Bob She's like, you know what, let's let's this guy have it now. I gotta be honest because I love I love horror films. I think Nightmare up Street four The dream Master is kind of where that franchise went wrong. Okay it is in my opinion, it's not a good movie. However, it becomes the highest grossing Nightmare on M Street film to date, you know, and I think, uh, I think it's yeah. I think it had it going until maybe Freddy versus Jason, when finally there was a Freddy Krueger movie that did more money. So this, this movie makes Harlan's career, you know. After this it's like this kid, look what this kid did you know with a you know, a part four and nothing budget and it made all this money.

31:03 So he has arrived with a name on Elm Street for The Dreammaster. And to his point, to his credit, he famously said, look, look, Freddy Krueger is like James Bond. People want to see him succeed. They want a root for him, they want to share him on let him do that. So Robert England, who had a lot of say so on what he wanted the character to do, Harlan's like, go for it. So worked out well for him. I think it worked out well for us. A couple years later, in nineteen ninety, Harlan has The Adventures of ford Fairlane and die Hard to releasing, like he's doing the editing weeks apart on these two. Now. I know, I know Adventures The Adventures of ford Fairlane didn't make a lot of money. We probably could have covered that one for this up for a Harlan episode. But have you seen it?

31:52 You know? Any thoughts on ford Fairlane? No? I never appreciated Andrew dice Clay's humor. Yeah, yeah, you know their kind of thing. So I know that they have seen it. Uh huh, probably multiple times. But I bowed out of that one. But die Hard too, as show is a banger. Diehard two is fantastic. I mean, I know when it first came out, I was at an age where I was old enough to go, really, it's gonna happen again at Christmas time, But I didn't care because I was like, I believe it. I'm in, I'm buying it. You know, Bonnie Bonnie Badelia is back, William Atherton's back, you know, bel Johnson's back. I mean you're getting the band back together, and then you're giving us some amazing bad guys, you know, with John Amos and William Sadler. I love Diehard two, not nearly, not as much as as the original, but I feel like it is it holds its place as a Christmas time movie. Do you agree?

32:59 Yes, that's not for you know, hold his own in the Diehard franchise. I mean, there's there's a lot of them to choose from. Yeah, but I think it it really stands on its own two legs, which is nice. I love it. You know, I love Dennis Franz playing well, he's basically playing Dennis Franz because he's he's always that hard cop. He's that guy gonna bust chops. Yeah. I love Diehard too, fantastic And this I mean for for Rennie Harlan to get the get the job, I think that's amazing because you look at it's like, Okay, this guy's done a couple of nothing movies. Yeah he did. He did a horror film, he did a Freddy Krueger movie. But are we gonna give is?

33:44 You know, like if you're a Fox exec, like you're gonna give a potential you know that at this point, Diehard is not a franchise, you know, so you gotta ask yourself, like you're gonna let this guy build, you know, your franchise. And he does. He succeeds. He knocks it out of the park. I would have loved to have heard his pitch, his director vision that, like be in the meeting, like why should we why should you direct this movie? Kind of a yes, yes, that would be a good one to hear here. I think now he may have knocked this one out of the park. His next one, he knocks off the cliff nineteen ninety three Cliff Sorry, sorry for the book, Yeah I had to go. Nineteen ninety three's Cliffhanger is one of the coolest action movies of the nineties. Please tell me you agree. Oh my gosh. I remember seeing this in the theater and like literally hyperventilating in the opening sequence, like that opening sequence was so much, and then just enjoying the ride for the rest of it. I to this day, I still remember seeing that opening. Weekend, I took a date and that opening scene.

34:59 The minute he miraculously catches her with one arm, my date's hand just gripped into mind. Like, you know, she's like, she just sunk her fingers into my forearm, and I, with all the confidence in the world, I remember leaning over and whispering, it's stallone. She's fine, He's not gonna drop her because she's like breathing heavy. And then all of a sudden, you're like, I'm slepting, and that slow motion shot of her slowly falling, and I just couldn't believe it. I was I was shocked, and she looked over at me, she's like, really, I didn't take her out again. Yeah, I didn't take her out again.

35:45 But yeah, that that's where you know you got your money's words right there in that opening moment, Michael Rooker, people forget or ever ever get on a zip line ever, No, No, three feet off the ground and like, ah, well, you know, you know you gotta remember something. Stallone. He took that project because he was afraid of heights and he wanted, no, he wanted to he wanted to kind of force himself to conquer his fear of heights. Because you know, this is nineteen ninety three. There's a lot of this isn't a lot of green screen. There's still like a lot of practical effects happening. Yeah, I remember them showing like how he was really climbing with a safety wire and then they like digitized it out, but that was really him climbing. Uh huh. And to his credit, Renny Harlan, just to show the cast, just to show Rooker, just to show Stallone and all the others that the safety equipment was in fact safe, he put a harness on and flung himself over the cliff just to show, and like they weren't ready for that. He'd just like, hey, it's fine, look watch me, and he just dives off the cliff and you know, I mean dag. I mean if that's I mean credit to him that if you're gonna really win your cast over and show them like, hey, I'm leading this project and you can you can trust me.

37:07 You know, Hey, if I can do it, you can do it. So that's what. Yeah, I love I love that Rennie Harlan did that for Cliffhanger and U supposedly they're working on a sequel to Cliffhanger. I don't have a whole lot of information about it just yet, but I'm digging because I would love to see that, because you know, we always Rooker. We know him as Yondue, you know, thanks to the Marvel movies. But we gotta we gotta forget he was. This was this guy was rowdy Burns and Days of Thunder. You know, he's in Cliffhanger with Stallone. He he was. He was a badass. So yep, absolutely, So you know the eighties, you know, obviously this is where Rennie Harlan is kind of cutting his teeth. He's trying to earn his reputation.

37:51 The nineties is where he's exploding, because again he opens nineteen ninety with with two big movies, Diehard, Two Adventures Award fair Lane. He's that cliffhanger and then he spectacularly crashes and burns in nineteen ninety five. Cause this is when Cut Through It Island comes out. It's just so rough, like one failure can just like destroy you. Yeah, and I gotta tell you, like the more like I know you did a little bit of digging into Cut Through It Island, I did too. I almost want to do another Renny Harlan episode like next Year and cover this one because there are so many incredible stories coming out of the out of the making of this movie. And I know we can't talk about him right now, but I'm telling you, if you if you want to know, like why it had such a trouble production, just go online and do a little bit digging yourself. Or I tell you like it, and I tell you amber like, give it a chance, turn on turn on a t B, watch it for free, and uh, you know you might you might be pleasantly surprised. Yeah, sometimes those those treasures, you know, that are just enjoyable films. You know, it's not winning any Oscars, but it's a fun couple of hours.

39:09 Yeah, listeners, if I am, if I'm off the mark, let us know, you know, email us, hit us up on social media. Tell us what you think of Cutthroat Island. If you haven't seen it, I'm giving you the Hey, just try it's it's free. Can't hurt you, right, Yeah, we've been talking about long kisca night in nineteen ninety six, he he turns up again with Samuel Jackson in nineteen ninety nine does a movie called Deep Blue Sea? Did you see that one? I will hear nothing bad about this movie. I love this movie. Hey, leta watch it all the time. Hey, I'm a big Tom Jayne fan.

39:50 So you're not going to have me upset you if you say, hey, let's watch Deep Blue Sea. It's a fun it's a fun shark movie. This and it came out came out when we really needed it too, because if you love shark attack movies, you love if you love the Jaws franchise, you had been starving because you know, Jaws of the Revenge came out in eighty seven, and you know, we're waiting all this time, you know, you know, nearly nearly, you know, more than more than ten years for a shark movie. I was, we get, we get genetically engineered. Oh cool, Jay is the cook, I mean rap reports. They're still in scars guards there. It's a fun movie. I love it. I love this movie. Yeah, I think I think it's a good, good one. And it was great. You know, it was nice to see him bounce back because, like you figure, yes, if he does a big bomb in ninety five, you know, Longkis Knight was already he already had that like in the bag, like he was, you know, contracts are written. It's all you can do after cut through an island bombs is hope that Longkis can I and you know, even what, even watching it this week, you can see the Shane Black in the movie. So I think any you know, no offense to Harlan, but I feel like anyone could have directed this movie and it would have been fine.

41:15 But I don't know. Two thousands is where he kind of, in my opinion, he stumbles a little bit. Two thousand and one he does the uh the stallone, he's back with stallone. He does that the car movie Driven. Did you see that one? Nope, you're not missing anything. I really feel like because there's a lot of his movies that I forgot were his yeah, you know, until like looking for this episode, kind of looking through his filmography, and I was like, oh, yeah, he did do that one, you know, after Cutthroat Island. It was kind of like his name is mud, Like, if his name's attached to something, I'm probably not gonna watch it. A movie I can't have known that he made deeply see because I probably wouldn't have watched it to begin with.

42:08 Oh good thing, you weren't checking the credits and but no. Driven. It's like when you tell me, like, hey, we're gonna do an action movie in the world of car Racing, starring Sylvester Sloan and Burt Reynolds. That's a no brainer, like like here's a here's a blank check, take all the money you need because it'll make a billion dollars. And here's a supermodel Estella Warren. You know everyone knows her face. Yep, do it should it should work, but it it does not work. It's not a great movie in my estimation. You know, I don't know. I don't know what happened there. It's got like a four point six on IMDb if that tells you anything. Bag Yeah. Uh. Two thousand and four, he does Exorcists the Beginning, which was I want to say, the first prequel that they tried in that uh, that franchise. I have not watched this one, and I've heard that it's truly good. Then you've heard this one's good with Stelling scars Guard. Yeah, mostly because of Stelling Scarsgard. Well, okay, so he plays the the Father. Yeah, it's like you know, so it's like it's like his first The movie is all about his first encounter with Pozozu, the demon that you know, went after the you know, Reagan. I don't know, Maybe maybe I need to give it. The brad Cos is famous for giving movies a second chance Sunday, you know, like it's been it's been a decade. Maybe next

43:42 maybe next Halloween. I'll dig into it because, uh, the exstious movie that came out, Believer. I don't know if you went and saw that at the theater that that would Actually it was pretty good. I thumbs up on that. It's actually it's on Peacock right now. Not to turn this into a horror horror not really in a horror kind of place Christmas, but well, you know, if you're having a bad day and you just don't want to you don't want to follow a lot with everybody else. Uh Exorcist. Believer is now streaming on Peacock. Hed In two thousand and six, he does another forgettable film, The Covenant. Just Y, I shouldn't look it. I mean I I just watched the trailer and that was enough for me to go nope, you know, but I don't know now I'm looking at this. A young Sebastian Stan was one of the main main main roles.

44:37 Maybe I was wrong. Taylorish from uh fright night Lights, Yeah, tailor Tish, Uh, but you know, four young men with a supernatural legacy are forced to battle a power that was thought long died out, and meanwhile, jealousy and suspicion threatens to tear them apart. I mean, watching the trailer, it just felt like a really shitty CW TV show. Here's like four or five really good looking guys who have powers, and but they also have issues. I don't know. I do know this though. Two thousand and seven, he does a movie called The clean It's called Cleaner. This is a very underrated. You did not see this at the theater, and you should see this Cleaner. It's uh, it's Samuel Jackson, Ed Harris, even Mendez and uh he kind of not. I don't want to give away the movie, so I'll be careful here, but basically, Samuel Jackson's character is the guy you call when there's been like a murder, you know, and like there's a mess the crime scene. He's the guy that comes into clean things up, you know. Okay, yeah, yeah, I'll say no more. But it is such a great movie. I'm gonna give a little shout out to my mom. Robert Forrester, your buddy Bobby, isn't it She met him once. Did she their besties? Yeah,

46:07 one of his one of his last movies. He's incredible, So so yeah, definitely if you if you like Forrester, then you know you gotta see this one. I mean I'm tragued. Yeah, I think you'll like it. I think our listeners would like it too if they if they give it a shot. Samuel Jackson fantastic in it. I mean it's Sam Jackson. Come on, Sam Jackson. Yeah. So two thousand and nine, this is where you know now, it's like he's feel I feel like he's struggling. He does a movie called Twelve Rounds with John Cena. I'm gonna be honest, you would think it is an absolute movies for guys who like movies kind of. It's got a situation. Well, like I'm cracking up, like Johnston is your headliner, Like I feel like I know what this movie is going to be. Well, he's a detective and his girlfriend's been kidnapped.

46:58 Sure, and you know he's gotta, he's gotta, he's got. It's amber. He has to complete twelve challenges in order to get her safe release. Oh good lord. And this is this is Sena. This is Sena. You guys, remember this is this two thousand and nine. This is this is sena hot off his WWE career and making the jump to movies, and he actually he actually does a good job in it, you know, because like as we see, like Seena's everywhere now in Hollywood and you know, people like John Cena. Yeah, so it's it's fun fun. I'm not gonna lie. I I bought it never seeing it. It was like, here's a Blu ray for five dollars at Target, and I was like, I gotta I gotta try, I gotta try. I I give a thumbs up to twelve rounds. I'm gonna say it. You know, it's like a candy bar. Yeah. So, over the next couple of years he does a couple of TV series, but twenty thirteen he does this super creepy movie called Devil's Any chance you saw that one. I heard about it because someone that I follow on social media was talking about this I don't know how to pronounce it, diet love the Doubt Love past incident, which I had never heard of. So then, of course, you know, I'm like lost in this deep dive on the internet about the story that I

48:29 had never heard of. So now seeing that it looks like a very intriguing, uh creepy movie, super creepy. This is where Okay, he kinda he kind of uh says, all right, I'm gonna go back home. I'm going to create a movie. No one that's in it is someone you've seen so and it's just it's a scary movie and you know, and it intrigues you. It's like, Okay, I want to know about this this incident that happened there well, and no one knows what happened, so exactly this could be really what happened you don't know. Yeah, I would say if you're a fan of stuff like the Blair Witch Project, you know where it's like, hey, we're gonna go we're gonna we're gonna research what happened, what really happened, and we're gonna make a documentary about it, or you know that, it's kind of in that same vein and I really love that. Yeah, I'll be honest. So after this one, not impressed.

49:30 I want to say this though, like they're not any of them to write home about. But like the man keeps working. Oh he's consistent. If anything else is hired, you know. Yeah, his last like I think his last big Hollywood movie is twenty fourteen with the Legend of Hercules. I think it's Kellen Lutz that's in that one hot off the Twilight movie. So oh yeah. But after that twenty sixteen, Skip Trace twenty eighteen, Legend of Ancient Sword twenty nineteen, Bodies at Rest twenty twenty one, The Misfits twenty twenty one, Class Reunion three. These are all movies like he's making back home. So he is making money, He's still doing what he does, and he is about to make a big splash again. Oh yes, what's he got coming up? Well, amazingly enough. Have you ever seen a horror film called The Strangers that came out years ago? Yes?

50:27 That movie. I cannot even ever watch that movie again. One of the scariest movies I've seen in a long time, Absolutely nightmare inducing. So check this out. It's not that he's doing a remake of The Strangers. He's doing a remake of The Strangers as a trilogy. He's already finished the first one, The Strangers, Chapter one. He is in I want to say, he's in post production on Chapter two, and in pre production on Chapter three, and they're supposed to come out. He's going to start releasing them in twenty twenty four. And if you're wondering if he's the right guy for the job, here is what he has to say about his work on these films. Quote. My mother instilled the love of movies in me through the world of Hitchcock and other masters of suspense and horror. My breakthrough to Hollywood happened with the success of A Nightmare on Street four. It is only fitting that I get to return to my favorite genre with the incredibly well written trilogy of The Strangers. The characters and the storyline are all grounded in reality and offer me an endless tapestry of haunting visuals and bringing these movies alive. Just based on that, I'm believing him. I'm ready for it. My heart can't take it. I don't know. I might have to have a couple of cocktails before I even attempt to turn it on. In the meantime, Amber, do you recommend seeing The Long Kiss of Night? I do.

51:51 I think that people's expectations are probably, you know, going to be blown out of the water with this. I think you, if you're willing to give it a shot. You're absolutely gonna have a really good time. I agree. It is currently streaming free on Pluto TV. It can be rented on Amazon. If you want a high deaf version, the Blu ray is available, which is what I recommend, because you should definitely see this one. It's a fun one if you want some actual missiles in your missile toe. I knew you would enjoy this one. I knew you'd have some great stuff to say about this one, So as always, thank you for joining us. Oh it was my pleasure, and I have to say I'm gonna add a little layer of trivia for you as a former figure skater. Okay, I am so disappointed that we didn't get the scene of Geena Davis doing a double axle flip and then shooting the guy. Yeah, I just got her speed skate and then shooting the guy. I mean, you got to give her credit because I know she did the majority of her stunts on Cutthroat Island, which which scares me for her. When you watch the movie, and you'll you'll know what I'm saying. But wow, I'm even Martin treated to watch it now. I appreciate that she gave it a shot. Though, like my understanding is that she tried. They had like a rig on

53:22 her, like they kept doing it. It was like below zero outside when they're trying to film it. So she's a trooper, you know, yep. But I'm just you know, it's a hard movie. Axel in the first place and then doing a flip and then shooting a gun accurately. Oh well, listeners, listeners as a as we thank you for joining us. Uh, we would love to hear your thoughts on Shane Black action movies at Christmas time and uh double axle flip and uh and how difficult they are.

54:02 Hit us up www dot a film by podcast dot com or hit us up on social media. Uh, Amber, I hope you have a wonderful holiday and uh can't wait to talk to you in twenty twenty four. Thank you you have a good holiday as well. We'll catch you guys next time. Friend time, baby hand us knows morning on crismas time, pretty baby hand us, no honors? Will you be are real good ever