Hello, everyone, and welcome to Golden Talk is back in the New Year proper. Do and this is a podcast where we talk about films that came out 50 years ago this week. I am one of your hosts, Jamie. My other host is Duncan. You join us as we move from the torrid past of 1970 into the year of 1971.

Congratulations on this week's film. Was on a limited release during this time. And because not all films came in January, we're doing it this week and it is a vanishing point.

Anything to add, my dear compatriot?

No, I. We're just going to let you go. There you were. You were. I was in the zone. I like feeling good. And that was very nice.

Regular listeners will notice that I have bought a microphone at last, which is why I probably don't sound quite as much as usual. And I like it. I feel very professional. Yeah.

I still need to, uh, find a way to set mine up better because I'm still holding it and which is fine for little bit. I put my arm to start to get sore.

I should buy a little tripod thing for mine.

Came with a tripod so.

Well mine mine is an and microphone to be fair filter. So uh neat stuff. Nice right.

Yarning Historical context. I do. Good. Why don't you go for. So this film as Jamie mentioned, came out in limited release on the 15th of January. Uh, so that's this week. Obviously, as Jamie said, that's what we do in this, uh, this podcast. So the website I use Jamie to take you back to, you know, not sponsored, unfortunately still, but they had for the first time this week, you know, how they normally have what films are popular and what support play.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Guess what, new media. They had this this week to see the first week. I could see it.

Um, I mean music would seem to be the missing piece, but I can't imagine they didn't have that. No they had music always. Do they. They do.

They have a film that you mentioned. They had a phone call. Yeah. Uh TV.

TV must be the one. It's video games Jamie. But in seventy one apparently. Yes. The Atari was around what, what, what was hot. Was it Breakout or Star Trek. Uh, Galaxy game as computer game and a little known game called Oregon Trail.

Oh doesn't even matter. That's fucking Apple. Mac isn't the only believe so.

Yeah I believe so. No I'd like to play it sometime. Well it's available. I think it's one of these games.

It's available pretty much everywhere now. Nowadays it's kinda a cult classic. People still play anyway. I find it interesting that we are now uh yeah. We now have video games as a medium. I mean, obviously it's going to be many years until and yeah.

I think the video game crashes in nineteen seventy free. Right. And then there's a big gap until the NDIS comes out. Yeah. And they survive. But anyway that was a cool little thing. And it's Martin Luther King's birthday. Fifteenth for him and not Martin Martin Luther King Day because that's uh on the third Monday of every January, uh, which I didn't know, not on his birthday. But anyway and I guess you always want your public holiday to be on Monday, don't you?

It's true shit. If it's on a Saturday, can you guess which, uh, song was number one in the US? No.

Is the honest answer. It's Oh was it. No it seventy seventy one something by the Jackson five.

Again that's my no but it if you remember we had a little running gag last year about uh songs that were made by the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. Oh. Says one another one. OK, going for is it Spirit in the sky. No but that's the right themes. OK, uh it has religious themes which fits in nicely with this film as come today.

So Hallelujah and fucking Guardians of the Galaxy. Uh, what's the one that goes like.

You know, it's not I wonder. It's in I think this one's in Ghanzi Galaxy two. Oh, no, I'm less familiar with that soundtrack, I think. And, uh, I don't know. I only remember Brandy and Mr. Blue Sky from, uh.

OK, it's not. It's my sweet Lord.

Oh, George Harrison, of course. Yeah. The one that goes, uh, recreation. Uh, yeah. Uh, he got sued about not what I really want to hold. Yeah.

That one. Yeah. I like that song. It's a really good song. Yeah. I had to listen to it and can you guess. What song was no free in the UK? OK, the answer again is no, but I'm guessing it's by British artists to make up.

It is. It's by choice. I tell you who it's by. It's by T. Rex. I don't know who that is. No, you don't know. You don't know T. Rex. So you definitely will know some of their songs. It's a great whites on, uh, song. No, I listen very often. I'd recommend it. And if you're listen to his podcast, pause it and go and listen to know. Just listen after the podcast, finished the podcast, then listen to it right away.

So.

Yeah, right. And finally, Jamie. Yeah, I've got Time magazine article. Yeah.

So I seem to now have access to Time magazine articles as well, which was a bit confusing and good, I suppose maybe it's more recent.

This article was about how shit 1970 was and how 1971 might be better, which I thought was very relevant to a running theme that will be in literally that's like every first year issue.

Why does anyone ever, like said wasn't last year great? No one no one is capable of such a fault. It's true.

And the main complaints seem to be the economy, which in light of in light of currently shit last year was with the fires and pandemics and protests and riots and all sorts. Uh, I guess there were also protests and riots and stuff in 1970. But anyway, the comparison seems pretty fair at this point. This. Anyway, I just find it interesting. Pretty, pretty funny. So I can that's my sort of context. Isn't time just flat circle really.

What TIME magazine. No, it's more like I mean it is flat but it's more.

Can a magazine shoot on enough waka. Waka. What. What what wlox. We know what's great. Right if I can film is vanishing point.

Um this film is I think was massively successful, but it has something of a cult legacy described as, uh, it's described as an action slash cult film on Google.

Yeah. Um, um.

So how it's an inspiration to Quentin Tarantino for his least popular film, Grindhouse.

Uh, all I just I state with time directly reference to Avatar. Obviously it was an inspiration for a lot of things and was also an influence for Edgar Wright's baby driver film, where fifty percent of the main cast are sexual assault airs. Um, it's also apparently going to spew Berg's favorite films. Oh, yeah.

I was also an inspiration for Jewel, at least somewhat, wasn't it?

Well, could it be I mean, Jill came out in the same year. Oh, OK. I just thought, oh, maybe. I don't know.

I mean, Jill came out later in the year when the You House sources, Jill, I think it probably took more than a year and it's quite short.

Do you fear? Oh, it's based on a short story from nineteen seventy one. Yeah. I guess Jill could be made after seeing this. I don't think it could be based on it in terms of like inspired to make it as a result of it. But certainly I think it could be an influence. Hearts, parts of it could be influenced by I guess.

Yeah right. The cinema film really reminds me of which film convoy I haven't seen convoy, but, uh, it's very similar.

It's got similar ending I guess we can be doing to see the ending there. But it's a similar ending and similar, uh, situation of being chased across country and stuff. Yeah. And also quite similar to Easy Rider and yeah.

I'm an Easy Rider. Yeah. It just came on Netflix. I want to watch. You should watch it. I feel like Thelma and Louise, so it's quite similar to I wonder if there's any influence there. Oh that's more of a buddy film but yeah. Yeah sure. All right. Yeah. Um, so our main character for this film is Kawalsky, uh, played by Barry Newman. All right. Uh, yeah, yeah. Looks a bit like, uh, he looks very 70s.

He's got a nice afro going on and at least three or four buttons undone.

He's a bit like gold, I thought. Yeah, I suppose he's not. He's sexier than Elliott got. Um. Wow.

Or at least five. He is I don't know. He looked a lot like someone and that's who I thought he looked a lot like. But maybe not maybe someone else. Um, I don't know. Yeah. I think it looks a bit like Han Solo but with the hair or someone else, uh, someone more ambitious actually, you know, who really looks like it looks like this guy Stu from The Simpsons.

Um, very. That's not how I think, you know, I'm sure it wasn't. Anyway, so this film, uh, Kawalsky, delivers cars for people like specialized modified cars and he drives them from the garage where they're made to whoever needs them on one such delivery.

He makes it back with his local drug dealer that he can get across the country in 15 hours. And I think if in return, his next dose of speed will be for free, I think say it's a low stakes bet on something like that.

Um, so it's quite a lot lighter, particularly in the first half, Kawalsky, is we it drives very fast and irresponsibly and very entertainingly across the country with the police on this trail initially for speeding, although so once he starts crossing, state lines are from real issues with the police don't really know what to charge him with. He's we find out for a series of flashbacks that he used to be a first motorbike driver and then a sort of touring car driver.

But he was involved in a big accident. And then he used to be a cop, but he stood up to a police officer who was sexually assaulting a witness under threat of pinning her for a crime hashtag AACAP. And then he had a girlfriend who died in a surfing accident. And that's just tragic. Back story for us to hear.

Um, so you see Archabbey here that he's a good cop, he's a hero cop, and he did what all hero cop should do, which is quit.

Um, but I don't think we'll get onto the themes of the song in a second, but I think it's not a coincidence either. Has a slightly not slightly negative view of police. Um, so he starts the first maybe half of the film or at least half an hour or so is just one really long, really good car chase. Kowalski inspires this blind radio DJ who tells him the last great hero in America. He's proving that man is free through speed and he plays his radio shows on in the background from the film, usually playing some really nice funky music.

I think the inspiration for baby drivers particularly clear in the first car chase, because whilst it's not, the music is synched up nearly as well as baby driver, because it's really time to it's definitely a big addition to the thing. It's it's a car chase that is greatly elevated by the use of music. And I can see where Baby Driver would have started as an idea from that anyway.

Then that's sort of the car chase begins to end as he runs out into that valley. And there he meets a man who captures snakes for a living and a sort of Christian rock camp. And then he meets another guy who's a drug dealer and a woman who rides around naked on a motorbike. And we find the blind deejay has been giving him advice throughout this journey. But he's his office is attacked in the middle of a race riot. The entire country has now been started up in his favor, but they force the deejay to give them false information and set a trap there.

But Kowalski is able to tell that something's wrong. So he gets advanced notice of the track and is able to outsmart them by sticking a police siren on his car so that they think to let them free. Yeah. And then begins one final chase where Kawalsky Brams very suddenly and slightly undiplomatically headfirst into two diggers and his car explodes. Yeah, that's the film. And so thanks for listening, guys.

Uh, cIass, as we all know, this podcast, we just like to summarize the plot and then move on.

So, yeah. Shall we start from the basic building blocks? What did you think of the car chases as I think that is the main thing in this film. I want it very real safe for. Yeah, I think so. And they were very nice.

How do you feel the sort of car chase cliches is like, you know, he's able to take a turn in the police cars and then it rolls over and he's able to do one jump by the police car pulls down.

It was it was very like Dukes of Hazzard kind of style. Yeah.

Which is it reminded me of the Italian job, but it's probably because I have referenced reference.

You know, it's it it's very classic. Uh, yeah.

There's nothing to over the top.

It's not like, you know, none of it's without outwith the boundaries of reality.

Yeah, exactly. Like there's a there's a helicopter chasing at one point, but it's not like a gunship or anything. It's just like a helicopter is tracking him and stuff like that. It's all very uh. Yeah. I don't know, I don't know if it's realistic. I've never been in a car chase, but relative. Some of the other stuff you see, it's not it's not fast and the Furious is not fast and Furious. Yeah, um, yeah, it's Italian job.

The 18 Dukes of Hazzard can take even a team got guns and stuff, but. Yeah, yeah. So we're both in agreement that that sort of half of the film works well. What did you think of the road trip? Uh, but that was a bit more meditative. Um, I would like to, you know, like you, I thought that as these things go, it was and I don't know that there's always the best time to dump.

I didn't find these as sort of philosophical diversions go. I didn't find this particularly entertaining or thought provoking. Um, no, that's true.

It certainly it wasn't like El Topo.

No, it wasn't like that. Or Wild at heart was the other one I was thinking of, which again, is perhaps an unfair comparison, I suppose. I don't really know if it was going further. I feel like it was it was so much more discreet.

Kind of I suppose I just I'm I walked away, walked away because we're talking in a lockdown. I closed my laptop screen unsure of what the point of the diversion was supposed to be. Persay We don't get much more information about Kowalski's character. I didn't find most of the characters. We see that entertaining on their own. Um, I didn't know I didn't really feel many of them added to the content of the film. Much of I think about it all.

I know. I kind of get what you're saying. Yeah, I know. I thought they were a nice little I like these films where people are just coming across various things and people and stuff.

Yes, sir. I just think as diversions, they could have been more interesting or entertaining. Yeah. Yeah. Also one's quite homophobic, which I forgot to mention because it also wasn't very memorable.

Yes.

I thought it was going to be more homophobic than it was, but no, it was not really saying much because it was pretty homophobic still.

Yeah, it's two people coming. He picks up two hitchhikers and then they say you're laughing at us because we're queers on you and he's not laughing. He's just inner monologue laughing. And then they try and hold him up and then they'll start laughing for real and then he kicks them out. That's the scene.

And there yeah, there's another film.

Oh, there are this is the film where I get these like little flashes of scenes from other films. There's another film where that something similar happens. And, uh, and this is it's like a road trip film and they pick up a homosexual couple and it's like, oh, you think you're thinking of five easy pieces on you, maybe a lesbian couple.

Yeah, yeah. I think that's I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Well, that was a much better or more informative scene in that film. Oh definitely.

Work related a lot more to Jack Nicholson's character's issues. Um but also they were funny which helps.

Yeah. It's got the same sort of vibes. Yeah that's right. Yeah. It's not and not the same. Yeah. That's the one I was thinking of. Well well done for.

Uh uh yeah. I'm a master at reading you. May I go. Yeah.

Uh so long as you reference films that we have seen together, I knew that he could very easily not be one of those and um so yeah.

I guess to get into it. Did you think talking about The Hitchhiker's, did you did you have along with what the version that you saw?

Uh, I got the original USVI about how long it was because the UK one apparently features an extra scene with Charlotte Rampling in it as a heartbreaker. Towards the end.

I got I got it on DVD. Oh, apparently the DVD has both versions on it. This one didn't.

It had the US theatrical version of the US theatrical version with audio commentary and I think some sort of double screen thing.

OK, but yeah, OK, well I, I'm having shelled out the money for the DVD and Blu ray might be better. I thought it was pretty bare bones frankly. Yeah. Well apparently the DVD release has both versions on it, but maybe not the maybe not in my right.

Maybe the US release does. Uh yeah. Maybe it said the region one I think it said region one person in between it. So yeah. We don't know for sure. We don't know anything about the UK version.

But you know, I think the film was fine without ostracising. Yeah. Yes. I think was lacking. Um yeah.

So it's we're also talking about here, um, casual use of drugs in the film, worth noting from a historical point. Um, not in quite the same way that not in the same way I think you have it in the film today and it's not while she clearly is, I don't think Barry's really painted as an addict. The drugs are just kind of a thing he does and they don't really even seem to affect him in any way. He just kind of does the, uh.

Well, apparently, there's this extra scene. He does marijuana and then he he pulls over because he's too stoned and he has to wait for it to wear off barriers to speed, as you can imagine, because that does inform his character. Yeah. So I don't know, man, he likes to go fast. Yeah. Yeah. So, um. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Uh, so yeah. The last roadside diversion is one of those slightly.

We're the ones I think the most exploitative one, uh, with the woman on the motorbike where she just walks up to Barry asked if she can get him anything. Uh, yeah. Including, you know, sex. And then he says, no, uh, like a good man who knows he's in a film. And then she says, OK, then and gives him a big thumbs up and gets them some get some a cigarette, not marijuana.

Because Barry has clearly learned from his unseen experience. Yeah. And he would and he would never take it down the track. No, exactly.

And yeah, that seems interesting. I guess it I don't really know. It's kind of, uh of the time isn't it. Yeah. Sure thing to him. And yeah I think it's of the stuff of apparently a lot of the like sales appeal of these flicks was that if you are a young man in the 70s, they're one of the only ways you could reliably see a boob.

Well, that seems fair is a few boobs in this one. Yeah, but yeah, I wouldn't have that today. On the other hand, I don't think they really wanted very much.

So who's to say no, there's really no reason for it to be naked. No idea. Actually this film gets away with it a bit more than others, maybe because it's kind of got that, uh, like spiritual. Well I was thinking about that. Like, I read the blurb for the film before I watched it. And it mentioned, like, he runs across like a prospector and. Yeah, a blind guy and a woman on motorbike.

I like one of those three are like read together, it sounds like. Oh, I think the reason why I had wild heart in my head is that it sounds like it would be like a really spiritual thing.

But it isn't really at all, or at least not very much. So like I felt like naked women would be like a spiritual experience thing. And it's not she just rides up to him and says hi. And they have a fairly normal conversation, apart from the unacknowledged fact she's naked. And obviously she's the blind date, which I will call false advertising.

Right now, nobody talks to him spiritually. Yeah. I mean, he and the deejay that I would communicate directly that he just talks on his radio show and hopes that Kawalsky will hear, you know, because they know the DJ definitely knows that cause he's listening. You know, I can read his mind. Jamy, he understands this stuff. I could see the magical.

But, uh, that's a that's a good point. Doing well, even if really up in your film Fury, huh? Thank you. Thank you. But if you're too scared to say find work, so say, um.

But yeah, I thought the film didn't shy away from racial violence, which I thought was impressive. Yeah. And commendable. Uh, but I well, I think it's fair to say that he did get a bit of a stereotype, even if it is. Yeah. I don't wanna say a positive stereotype.

It's not a mean spirited stereotype, but I know his his his name is super so which. Yes. Is pretty. Uh, uh, just like the first and on the nose. Is that the right term. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Is that what you just said.

No, I compared it to Peepshow character.

Super hands or is it cold. Is on the nose the right term. Yeah. Slow on the nose in it. So you'd say to do it you specifically would just love saying, you love saying in it.

Can we all know. I did. Um, I did. I did.

Yeah. Music choices for the film. Very commendable. Uh, as I mentioned before. But just to make absolutely clear, I think this is a very good soundtrack, a very of the era I like. Yeah. Like none specifically stand out to me now.

Uh, you know, I thought maybe it was good.

I think this film could have done with a title title song that tells the story of the film. I mean, every film can.

But I think you are right. It would fit here. Yeah.

Like like convoy. I know you can see in convoy, they've got a whole song about, hey, they're in a convoy.

It's not the one we're gonna do that. Can't. Yeah exactly. But then and it's like uh. This one could have been like bom bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom bom, Kowalski's heading to the vanishing point and he doesn't know where he's going. Point the vanishing point is the point where he stops.

Where does he stop by to stop by.

Incredible. The audience cheers. My complete company is a good film.

It's just that just the scene of the convoy with the song convoy playing makes the whole film worth it, even if you don't enjoy the film.

So my official.

Sure. You've got a hot take about this, right? I'm running out of service level stuff to talk about the flashing point. So dramatic discussion. So I think I was thinking watching convoy and I say I think because there's not that subtle about it, there's a very individualist movie. Yeah. I think it's fair to say very American in its own way. I think what we're supposed to take from the flashbacks to Kowalski's life, and I think to some extent from at least some of the roadside stops, is that Kawalsky has suffered from bureaucratic systems or perhaps just hierarchies of power above him and his is recklessly dangerous.

Drive is his way of rebelling against the forces that constrain him, which I think are primarily represented in the film by the police. I think it that as well. Yes, that's true. But that doesn't fit into the film. So shut up. And I guess it kind of does. Death itself is against him. Yeah. But yeah, I suppose. But yeah, I think the film is Kowalski's sort of pointless but ultimately spiritually inspiring rebellion against the man, very much the nebulously defined man.

But obviously the end of the film is that he fails to do that, do that, and it cost him his life, which I think is far right.

There's a lot of arguments. That is the ultimate freedom. Freedom. Isn't that mean yet?

Well, I was going to say that sort of tying into the historical context behind the whole thing, that that seemed very appropriate for a film from the early 70s where I read what I say. We there had just been the sort of idealism of the 60s, but that after Kent State had been sort of crushed, I was never really ever going to recover properly. So it seems to me a product of that mindset. But, you know, nonetheless, you know, it's a right wing film and put it on a spectrum, I suppose.

But I don't know. I thought it was interesting because.

Because of the individual liberties.

Yeah, I think that's definitely the take away, isn't it?

It's an on the political compass as well, but, uh.

Yeah, right. Bonbright, would you say? I would say it's not for a second, but I'm just a little bit right.

That's fair. I mean, I don't think it's talking too much about individuals rather than collectives, I suppose. Yeah. But then again, you know, I don't mean to map complex beliefs onto a thing. I'm just saying, you know, I don't think it's politically a film that would agree with me, but I still enjoyed it. That's what I was say.

OK, even though it's even those antipolice is antipolice and he has some points for that.

But as antipolice because they don't want to be controlled, man, rather than, uh, because it's bad. Uh uh. Right. Well, do I want to be controlled. Yeah, it sounds like you do, man.

Well, man.

Oh well I suppose I suppose I don't think Jamie is very high left on the political compass. Shut up. Authoritarian left and bottom left.

And you damn well know you're pretty clearly you want to be controlled.

You want the man to well do.

It's criticisms of the police I don't think come from any analysis of systemic abuses of power. I think it's one major scene, the space of an individual abuse. I think the film really is more outrageous that the police exist at all in any form. So I suppose that's my my interpretation.

Yeah, I think I really I don't think well, maybe I mean a little bit. I think the police are more just in it.

It's like a symbol of yeah, I think this is antipolice in a kind of low. The police are chasing us and you can't catch me kind of way more than. Yeah. Apart from I mean, obviously there is the element of he was discharged for reporting a pretty serious offence, which which I do think is part of it. But I also think on a scene by scene basis, the police are not present. It is like evil or bad.

That's fair. Yes. Like lol lol. I'm getting away from them. They can't catch me. It's kind of.

Well I just keep coming back to the very basic thing I said before. It's a very much a film focused on the freedom of the individual. Yeah, exactly. Yeah exactly. And it's basically about how Barry is a special odai and he should be able to do what he wants. Yeah. And obviously special little guys who should be able to do what they want.

Well, I don't know. Apparently he was it I found a quote somewhere that I think to be honest is Wikipedia and that like, uh, he is just passing through. I found his way to the next. Realm, you know, you can be you can't be held down by earthly powers, he's I see that being beyond that, I acknowledge it as valid. I will not adopt it myself because I think it's stupid, but it's not stupid.

But, yeah, I think it's very spiritual.

But it seems there seems to be two interpretations of the ending. Right. So, uh, Barry Newman himself said that he believed that the character saw a gap between the bulldozers and he went for the gap. And yeah. Whereas someone else gave the ending that I gave, which is that death is like his ultimate spiritual is beyond life because he's a spiritual being, a river. And I don't know which one it is. And maybe it's neither of them.

Yeah. Maybe it just looked cool. Um, I think so. I think it's, uh, it's kind of interesting. You can be free forever, you know. Yeah.

The ending felt appropriate to me, but it's very, very, very abrupt. I think it is. And I can't think.

But I think I think it's easy, if you like the other films I've mentioned all end in a similar way, like convoy. Uh, sorry to spoil it for you because I do think you should watch it. But he drives up a bridge at the end because he gets, uh, in a showdown with the police. Fellman Lui's, they drive off a cliff and it just ends, you know, it's kind of the way that these films end.

That's true. I suppose more time would have made it clear what his reasons were. And if you're wanting to preserve some sort of ambiguity.

Um, well, I think the Adrup this is definitely part of the emotional effect. I think it's kind of shocking. And I found that more anticlimactic than anything else, right? Yeah. I think it sort of meant that I sort of left the film in a weird place, if, you know. I mean. Yeah, yeah. Maybe it was intentional, but I think it was just I don't know, maybe if that had been a bit more tension running into it and I didn't sit well with so I didn't sit well if I wasn't like uneasy or anything, it was more like my reaction was just sort of an oh rather than wow or anything like that.

You got me.

You get me. I get you. Bonnie and Clyde. Mild surprise. That's quite similar to this one, isn't it? Was Bonnie and Clyde. Oh yeah. It kind of comes out of the road trip thing and I'm going to get shot right at the end. Yeah. Yeah.

We're really just spoiling every fabara.

So you said it yourself. They're all on the same.

Um, yeah, exactly. And I quite like as an ending to be honest. But I do know what you I think it is meant to be ambiguous and it really depends on if you are whether they are satisfied with that.

Well, I certainly don't think it would be a better film if I made it out safely or anything like that.

I just think that the the presentation of the moment could have been tweaked or so I think it could have been stronger, although I maybe I would, although I actually I wish I wish a film last night that wasn't well, it wasn't really Semitism, but it was kind of similar and it had a happy ending and. Right. And it worked actually.

But while Wildheart has a happy ending, I think a lot from work, although apparently originally had the more negative one.

Yeah. So I think you can I think it can be done. But what's the more negative film you watched. I see less negative when you watch, uh, the peanut butter Fokin was.

Oh yeah. You mentioned some Shila before and.

Yeah it does. I'm not I highly recommend it. I'm not going to say anything else about the plot because it's I think it's, uh, it's reasonable to spoil films from 1967, but maybe films from like two years ago is satire of a fair dick move by Druckman as well.

Hmm. And yeah, it's a happier ending. That's a spoiler in itself. But anyway, I think this story could have had a happy ending, but I do think it works with the ending as well.

Yeah. So how would you say this would stack up against a modern car chase film? Maybe that's the last sort of substantive point we should make. I think it had a lot to offer, but you wouldn't really get, uh, nowadays if I had a I like that the action was more grounded. I liked even if it didn't land properly for me, I liked that I had a sense of soul to it. And some even I reached for something meaningful to say, even if I'm a homosexual actually made it there.

Yeah, I agree with that. Um, I think it has it has more themes and it seems a more discreet and because I think a lot of car chase films nowadays, it's not that they don't have any feelings, but they kind of force the themes in what they're doing because they just want to get to the car chase. So they just put a dialogue that someone's brother died. So they're sad and like that's the theme of the film. Whereas this one's a lot more it kind of pans out gradually.

I mean, it's still has. I feel like it does still have I'm not a huge fan of flashbacks often, and, you know, it has flashbacks and a lot of his stories revealed through people just seeing what happened. But it's a lot more you know, it comes out throughout the film and you kind of get to know him as the film goes on rather than just like one piece of dialogue that explains the whole thing. Yeah. Or something.

I find just because you're running around the pacing on the film a little odd and I think the flashbacks are necessary, mostly just have downtime in the first half of the film. It always has be one long car chase, but in the second half of the film is much, much more low key. So I do think I don't I think it mitigates a lot of the damage, like keeping the pace that high would do, having the flashbacks in the first half.

But I. Do you think it would probably be a better film if the chases were spaced out or more?

They could if they could have extended the flashbacks. I mean, it kind of felt like because you see when you see his girlfriend dying, kind of. And that's also explained later on in the newspaper for anyone to miss it. And you see the motorcycle crash, you see the car crash, and then you see the police incident, but you don't see anything from Vietnam or, uh, what's the other thing I remember? But there's a couple of things the policeman just said at the end, which I feel like they could have included to kind of break up the film.

As far as a hypothetical version of the film, which I don't think would be better. But just to discuss, it could have been genuinely just one long car chase, but with Flash, with much lengthier flashbacks used says, yeah, keep the pace low in this. Sorry. Yeah. Now I feel like I think you need the stops. Yeah, I think the stops helped the film. I just I mean, I don't want to barge in on the structure because it's not something I'm an expert on or even remotely qualified.

So I just think the first half of the film feels it's a really good car chase. It's a really long chase.

And I think I would have appreciated more if it had come in two parts, basically. Right. Rather than one. I think that's a fair thing to say.

Yeah, I was glad the, uh, when the and she's the kind of romantic element I was glad to that went to the flashback and explained a bit because I kind of thought it was going to be pretty shitty. Like stereotypical. Oh yes. The woman to come with me or something. Yeah. But then as explained she reminds him of the Yeah. Person he saved, which is nice. His girlfriend was a hippie and he was a cop, so their romance was forbidden.

I'd forgotten about that but I was actually. Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah I suppose if we tie it into the wider framework of stuff we've done, uh I suppose a lot of films we've done for this podcast reflect the importance of being yourself.

I think less in our being true to yourself, less than the sort of introverts and less and quite the aggressive individualistic sense this film has. But I think it's definitely as I admire these questions of self and other life.

I mean, at this point, I say all this is taken out of film isn't, uh, but distrust of the police has been a very common theme in a lot of these films, which I imagine will start to change quite soon, uh, on that scene two years from now.

Um, so, yeah. And it's I think it's quite different from a lot of the films we've done. Yeah. In terms of films, I think it's still definitely operating through the same lens, even if it's telling a different story.

Yeah. In a way I find quite interesting. Uh yeah. Uh yeah. Um so.

Did did you read the trivia stuff? No. Oh, no. Why don't you enlighten me and the audience?

So apparently this is one of the first ones where the cameras are mounted on the cars instead of, like, towed in a car or anything. That's cool. Which there are some nice shots. Yeah, the cinematography was very nice. He's not really into that part from a brief mention.

Yeah, I struggle to talk about that sort of thing. I will leave it in your capable hands, OK? The cinematography is really nice. Thank you. Thank you. What would you do. How are you. I know it's great.

And it was I think yeah. The cameras we mounted were really nice because otherwise it would have been really bumpy and stuff. And I kind of like the look of the car being framed, you know, when like it's like you're sitting in the bonnet and the car is like nicely framed around it. You can see the people through the window. They had a couple of shots that were nice. And the moving the moving photography was very nice. You know, there wasn't a lot of, uh, sometimes sometimes there's a real quality drop and stuff when especially in these older films when you do that kind of thing.

But there wasn't really that a couple of helicopter shots and nice landscape shots. Apparently they picked a white car because it would stand out more against the landscape. Yeah, good car.

Yeah. Top marks of that, huh? Yeah. Apparently some did a lot to popularize the Dodge challenger, the one. That's good. That's good night. Shall we move on to rating? Sandefur exhausted all avenues of discussion.

I'm exhausted and I'm pooped for I.

I mean, I have unique insight in that. I actually did buy it this week, um and so I can rate my purchase of my purchase and see how if I disagree with. But I regret it. I mean but I would say that this film I'm going to say by actually I don't regret my choices so I realise it's quite high, but I think it is worth seeing I think is quite a good film. It was quite easy. Watch.

I know it was good. I suppose so. Yeah. I think it a film that could be watched more than once. I suppose what I'm trying to say. Nice.

I'm going to say watch it. I'm going to go one down for me. And I do think it's a good film, but I think it's very similar films as well.

That's fine. Yeah. So yeah, I wouldn't say like it stood out to me, particularly against Jewel or convoy or or those kind of films. So I would definitely recommend you watch it, but I wouldn't necessarily say go out and buy it because I'm sure those other films that have a similar vibe are available.

It's also this film isn't streaming anywhere, which is really irritating.

Yeah, well, that's that's it's not really informing my ranking based kind of making me think bit more about and yeah.

Ignore that you want to buy it. And what was I going to say. Oh we should she be. So a rating system we should say. Uh for all the new listeners, the network. Twenty one listens so many but I mean so you will alternate you start from the list.

OK, we've got five five rank rating system, everyone else you stars. But we did well rather than just doing arbitrary stars. And so it was arbitrary. We actually attribute we actually attribute values to each of the stars in terms of what you should do with the film. So the lowest one is do not watch it. Just just don't watch it. If you're in a situation where it's on, just leave. Don't watch it. Yeah, it's bad.

Uh, the second one is watch bits on. The idea is that if you are channel flicking one day and our board or if, say, a flatmate or a loved one is watching it in the room, then you can you should stick around. It's where that level of investment but no more.

Yeah. Or someone says to you, do you want to watch this. You can go. Yeah. Right. Yeah sure. But not enthusiastic. Yes. No, no.

Not enthusiastic one because if it was enthusiastic it would be watch it. And this means if you can stream it, if it's or if it's coming up on TV, set some time aside for it. If it's on Netflix, line up. If it's on Amazon Prime, ever get it lined up, don't pay for it. That's the site. Yes. Aside from your streaming services, don't necessarily paper because maybe there's other alternatives that you can watch or you could wait for it to come in streaming service, but you should seek out if you can get it, not for free.

Obviously, you have to pay for streaming services, but you can get it without additional costs on top of what you're doing.

And then our fourth ranking is by it, which is what I write in this film.

The idea here is that you should you should you should spend money on it, although perhaps not too much. So this includes things like buying a DVD or Blu ray or I think we also. Renting on Amazon. Yeah, which is normally like a five year max. Yeah, that's not very expensive. The idea is that this is worth an extra marquetry cost, although, you know, it's a good film and you should actively pay and seek it out.

You should sacrifice for it.

And then our final ranking, Duncan, is by the Criterion Collection because of course, every single film has a Criterion collection. That's that's true. And every single one, basically, you want to be spending your life savings on this film.

You want to be buying the four disc behind the scenes ultra edition. You want to be buying merchandise for the film.

This is the film. That's it. It's worth being a fan of. Yeah. To a degree that you should seek to to the best version of it. Not just any. To a ridiculous degree. Yes, maybe not. Yeah but yeah. I like criterions action sets. I wish I owned one. I don't have any.

And it's the alternative. Of course we're not sponsored by the Criterion Collection is real alternative. And so elter releases of films. BFI do really high quality releases sometimes I think. Right of arthouse films and I think Warner Brothers has a special edition, a lot of special edition things you can buy by the special edition. I guess. You know, we're not we're not officially renaming it because it's tradition, but what it means is a special edition. Cool, cool.

Well, that was a bunch of rambling. So now we can talk about what we've been up to, if you want to know that we got that bloody film out the way.

Yeah, I bet this is everyone's favorite section.

I think it is people clicking the video. They listen to 45 to an hour of us talking about film and then what they want. God, I wish these two strangers would just talk about their personal lives.

I really wish they would. Please.

Well, we've not talked about it for some time, Jamie. Yeah. So I guess I'll mention those guys on lockdown is back in Scotland. So I've been hanging around my house. I haven't yet gone back to university accommodation. I don't know when I will. Yeah, hopefully sometime soon. But who's to say in terms of media, which is what this thing basically is. I mean, it's mostly just me and I can talk about what we've consumed before being honest, which to the podcast ish is relevant.

That's the thing.

As well as the podcast thing. We bring you what we need. We need us. We need a sound effect. We sound effects for our segments. And this is not going to happen because I don't put much effort into the editing.

And but if you had, like, sound effects, we could do one movie like it's like a back to the future sound effect. Or we could play just the start the back to future team.

So know like less than five seconds. So yeah.

So it doesn't break any rules.

We're then, you know, we've talked to in 1971 and we're not rushing forward fifty years to twenty, twenty one to talk about media we're consuming right now.

All right. OK, so I think I mean it's been like a month since the segment. I can't remember. OK.

Oh yeah. So over the last week I finished that. Now I watched schoolgirl's a couple of days ago. I thought it was a bit shit. And it's a film by Ralph Ralph Bakshi and sort of Roger Robert Roger Rabbit style with like humans and cartoons interacting. But it's an adult one. So the cartoons are sexy, right. And it's a very horny film. Capital murders. No, it's not it's not aggressively violent or anything like that.

They don't really talk about drugs a bit. It's not quite as hard as appetite murders. I think it is an artist's participation. It's just I think that vision shit. Right. It's just not very interesting. It doesn't really have a lot to offer. It doesn't really have much in the way of jokes. I didn't find the animation particularly good. Um, and it mostly just felt a bit uncomfortable, frankly. Uh, my review of Cool. Well, also one thing I did notice in that which I found strange is the way that the live action segments where they acted because Cool World hasn't followed has quite a few segments are purely live action.

And it sort of struck me how different the sort of toolset to use is compared to animation, just because, like, I think animation allows for a lot more close ups than a really tenable and live action without it feeling awkward, uh, because you spend a lot of cool world looking directly into Brad Pitt's face. And, you know, it's a nice place to be, but it does start to feel a bit weird when you're just constantly right up in people's grilles.

Wires and animation, I've never really noticed that as an issue, so that's just a little thing that struck me other than not particularly instructive experience then in terms of what I did say to movies. Yeah, yeah. Let's make this official TV. And so I watched the peanut butter Fokin, as I mentioned, I would highly recommend it's in 2019. It's got Shalaby in it. And what's it called? Sack something. It's a guy Down syndrome that wants to be a wrestler.

And it's really heartwarming and it's it's pretty. It's one of those films where I expected it to be one of those like really like I said, something really sad to happen. Like it kind of Mice and Men style ending where, you know, someone gets shot or whatever. And they didn't really as I said, it had definitely had ups and lows, but it had more highs, more highs and lows. Lows. But I wouldn't recommend it.

It's a really good film and I don't think I've really watched anything else recently that I can think of. And I watch a film called October Sky a couple weeks ago, which came out in the 1990s, late 1990s. I think it was good. It was about a rocket, a guy that wants to be a rocket scientist, and he's from a small mining town in the US and it was really good. And Jake Gyllenhaal in it. Yeah, I can't really remember any other terms.

I just remembered something. I watched. I watched Adaptation. Oh, yeah. You directed by Spike Jones and written by Charlie Kaufman, which I thought was really good. It's quite funny, although I think the interesting thing is I started like earlier, I would say Matt the other in the air. I want to I think I saw earlier last year, I think I'm thinking of ending things came out and I was like, I want to watch that.

I should probably get familiar with Hoffman's work beforehand. So I've very slowly been watching all his films and they are all extremely good, although the fact that he basically has one main character is beginning to irritate me now.

Adaptation, I think is one of the funniest ones I've seen of his. OK, it's good. I like Meryl Streep in it. I liked Nick Cage, I like the cage and everything.

But in this film, he was a good place to characters and but yeah, I think I feel like sometimes it's cheaper. I do quite like meta comedy and, you know, adaptations about vaguely. It's yeah.

It's just for the audience to see. It's about it's about Charlie Kaufman trying to adapt back into a film. I can't figure out ways to do it. And then the film gets quite cheeky in ways I thought were fun. I wanted to with the family, which turned out surprisingly well, although there are a lot of scenes of him masturbating. I wish.

Weren't there nice. Uh, yeah. So that's definitely the better of the two films by far side by comparison. Um, so moving on to Veja. Um, I play video games for yes or no educated listeners. I played The Devil May Cry Free Over. I wasn't in the Christmas shop sale. I played it over the last couple of weeks and it is fantastic. It is genuinely, I think, near perfect. I think probably one of the best combat systems I've played in any use in any game like the it's got a lot of variety I think is the key.

And it's all about trying to keep variety up so that you can be rated as a stylish fighter. But like you're just given you're given a lot of tools, but not overwhelming because they all sort of fit together quite logically.

Um, basically, you have five weapons, right? Yeah, five main weapons, each of which has two or three regular combos, and they almost all control fairly similar. So it's quite easy to remember them all. Then you have five sub weapons which are guns and they all act slightly differently as well. And then you have four styles which influence like one style gives you a dodge, one style I guess you have like one style gives you an extra two for your main weapon.

One style gives you an extra room for your weapon. And in the previous fashion you can switch between the switch. Right. And you switch between the styles at any time. So between the four styles and the five main weapons and the five sub weapons and the five main weapons, all having to every home is each one trying to size are a lot of options.

But they all flow together quite well in a way that's really fun. So I really enjoyed myself. It's a really fucking hard game, but I think just the main combat so fun. I think some of the bosses felt a bit cheap and one or two. Enemies towards the ends of the game started, I think a lot of the way they create difficulties in this games is to just give enemies where they've got some arbitrary gimmick that does irritate me. But overall, I had a fantastic time.

Good. Mm hmm. Well, I've been playing quite a lot of games. Not I've not played many long.

For a long time.

I've been so jumping in and out of games more so you may remember an episode, whatever it was. I was getting excited for Watchdog's Legion. I do remember I got Zijn for Christmas and I spent two days playing it, so it was really good. But I've not gone back to it yet and it's been like a week. So, um, I don't know, I don't know why I not go back to kind of I don't like overload their system.

Yeah I can. Of jittery my system but I'm sure I'll play more but it's really fun and the like.

Recruiting anyone off the street is a really cool system and it's you can tell us at Ubisoft game, like you said, the world game, it's kind of got some of those troops.

Is it because Ubisoft that's making the new Indiana Jones game? Yes, I think so. They're making a new Star Wars game. Oh, yeah. And I think they're also making a new Indiana Jones game. But I don't really. Yeah, yeah. No longer has exclusive Star Wars. Yeah. That's thing. Yeah. OK, um, I don't really like the standard Ubisoft overenrolled for it simply. I don't really like license games so I don't know why I was taking that as important news.

I don't think I quite like the Ubisoft world.

So and I think I think they're very good at giving you busywork. But yeah, I'm an incredibly impatient man. Uh, that just irritates me. Yeah, that's fair.

Um, but anyway, what's your experience. Fun. The recruiting people in customising all of them. And they've all got like their own little treats and stuff. It's really fun. And it's got a couple of it's got a couple of elements like Capeman where if you recruit certain people that own certain uniforms, you can, like, just get in places and walk around. And it's really it's really well designed the way that you can every level can be played differently.

So there's like, you know, there's restricted areas. But if you have the right person, you can let you just walk right in there and and get the stuff. Or you could you could fly up to the roof using a cargo door. And if you got a construction worker or you can if you got a really good hacker, it's a lot easier to hack your way in. Or you can have people that could have stuff and all this stuff.

So it's really good. And it's really do you think it could be expanded upon or in a school or anything like that, or do you think it's good to is, um, do you think it's an imperfect system or are you happy with it?

As I say, I'm pretty happy with it. I don't really know. I need to pay a lot more. Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to think of it.

I saw I saw it game start with, um and I had perma death off because it's got a death option for me, Howard.

So after the first mission, I went back inside the game again and because I was like, you know, I'm going to get a lot more out of this game if I because the people are supposed to be expendable is kind of the thing. Like the whole point is that you recruit like twenty people and a bunch of them are going to die in missions. So, um, once I put that on, I find it a lot more fun because I was kind of deciding which ones I didn't want to die and then not using them.

So I like I would start missions with not my best guy just because I the other one was more expendable to me because I had spent ages customizing the first game. So so that's all really fun. And so I will get back to that for sure and probably finish. I finished one of the side storylines and it was good. It was kind of what it reminds me of, what looks to where there's like a underground coal and all that kind of stuff.

And if the game plays very nicely with, like the hacking and computer stuff and a lot of the missions are based around like real advancements in technology and where they would be in like ten years time or whatever, I think the game set in ten years or so. So it's like kind of current technology, but a little bit more. So there's like a lot of the stuff done by drones and there's more driverless cars and electric cars and, um, even more stuff is linked into computer systems and all that stuff.

So it's really good. And then I've also I bought a bunch of games and Christmas sales. I played like a little bit of yeah. So there's one called our rally, which is really good, is kind of like, uh, it's just a rally game, but it's got really nice art style. It's kind of cartoony and the camera is like right above you, pretty far away. But it the way it plays is like a proper rally game.

So it's not really very Arcady, but it's got a nice Arcady look and and you can adjust the difficulty slaters, which is always good in these games. You can get it just right where. You're good enough to finish the race, but it's still a challenge and you can adjust to the sliders because I get frustrated racing games a lot where they're either really easy because there's a lot of volatile things on or they're really hard because there's you know, it's like real life racing.

And I'm like, I have do that. But this one's very nice. You can slide everything along a slider to help you out. So that was good. I played Democracy for which is really what I did, but I'm not sure how much replay it's go.

I've already got a bit bored with it after like a few hours and because you literally you just click and policies you want to implement and like ones you want to take off and adjust the sliders. So it's really interesting to play it for a bit and see how the different things influence voter groups and all that kind of stuff. But then I'm not sure how much more I will play. I think I'll finish. I finish out the game that I'm doing now until I get voted out or assassinated.

But then and I probably won't start another one I or at least not until the updated or bring out some DLC, a river. And then the other game I've been playing is PC Building Simulator, which I did get really into and still I'm really into because it's just really satisfying to build a PC, build a PC. So yeah, that's my that's my gaming thing. I realize I totally watch this one. I don't want to go into every other game loads, but yeah, I've been playing.

I would recommend nice here. I'm sure there's a lot of I'm sure a lot of crossover between people that listen to podcasts. But films came out fifty years ago in gaming gaming fans.

Oh there is I'm almost certain I don't know our audience of about twelve people. I'm sure at least six of them are gamers and maybe go, how many pieces.

That one, although it was only really the one episode to go punch.

There's a couple that have weird bumps in viewership into like the 30s or 40s.

I think we want to think it's just the film title like yeah, must be, you know, this one could get very few because people are going to want to, you know, listen about it. And I don't know, I guess the last one love story or El Topo was really.

Yeah. Maybe just because we had two films that was enough to maybe go beyond the Valley of the Dolls has quite a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Well I think the Valley of the girls like a hit, right. So yeah.

Laughs Well, this film is a cult film. Jamie. True. Hello. Oh, the new viewers, please, can we please come back next week when we're not doing a film that you know? Yeah.

I forgot what film we're doing next week, so I won't bore you.

All right. We got a call today. Yeah, this is a little bit over an hour, which is still, I think, a good line in that case, silent. I'll be all right. Bye, everyone.