New episode out today! We watched 1997’s L.A. Confidential, which made all of us Google very different things (historical exchange rates, when contacts were invented, Mickey Rooney…). We discuss the blatant corruption and racism of the 1950’s police force, the way the movie seemed to allude to a number of unconfirmed Hollywood murder and mafia stories, how well constructed the mystery and detective work is, and how this is the second time we’ve seen Russell Crowe as a bruiser in a period L.A. film. Katy doesn’t understand Australia apparently, Carrie sings two separate movie themes that were not in this movie, Maddy gets all the detective points, and Mack has a profound moment. We also discuss teeth conspiracy theories, have our first Squib Corner, learn that unlike Red Dead Redemption 2 you can’t control a movie shootout by pressing ‘square’ [Cover transition], and wonder if it’s just an L.A. thing to keep a gun in your cookie jar. We still don’t have a consensus on how to pronounce Basinger but we all love Danny DeVito. Originally recorded March 2020.
TW: Police corruption, Kevin Spacey, police killing of Black men, racism, pedophilia, domestic violence, rape, animal abuse
CORRECTIONS:
-Guy Pearce was born in the UK but moved to Victoria, Australia when he was 3. (Wiki)
-Russell Crowe was born in New Zealand but moved to Sydney, Australia when he was 4. He’s lived in both countries but mostly Australia. (Wiki)
-Straight from Wikipedia: “On the evening of April 4, 1958, 14-year-old Cheryl Crane stabbed 32-year-old Johnny Stompanato, the boyfriend of her mother, actress Lana Turner, at Turner’s rented home in Beverly Hills, California…Stompanato’s homicide has been subject of conspiracy theories that Turner had in fact stabbed him, and that Crane had taken the blame to protect her mother, though Crane has denied this.”
-Kevin Page played the ill-fated Mr. Kinney in 1987’s RoboCop. It is generally accepted he is the most squibbed person in film; the other major contender is James Caan as Sonny in 1972’s The Godfather. However, the Guinness Record for “Most explosives (squibs) on an individual” belongs to Michael Daugherty as of 2005, which seemed to be for a record attempt and not a film. Read more about Page’s experience and see the (gory) clip here from the Hollywood Reporter.
–Babe seems to be placeless and timeless and has no specific geography, but was filmed in Australia and has accents from all over the place. James Cromwell’s seemed to be Irish but could have been some amalgamation of “Ye Olde”. (Source)
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