#65 - Death Wish (1974)

[00:00:00] Welcome to Properly Howard, a podcast that reviews classic films and other full fiction.

[00:00:25] Today we take a look at the 1974 pro-vigilante film Death Wish.

[00:00:31] Death Wish stars Charles Bronson as an architect who seems mildly perturbed that his wife is killed, but goes on a revenge spree anyway.

[00:00:41] Death Wish delivers a message that is about as subtle as a wet fart during a Thanksgiving prayer.

[00:00:47] With me as always to discuss this film is Dr. Anthony Ladon.

[00:00:53] I think we ought to mention this is the 50th anniversary, right?

[00:00:57] Yeah.

[00:00:58] So this podcast is really celebrating a Hollywood touchdown.

[00:01:08] We are inadvertently part of the problem.

[00:01:11] Oh, for sure we are.

[00:01:13] For sure.

[00:01:14] Be-be-be-be-be-be-be-be-be-be-be.

[00:01:16] Steve, I don't know why this is uploaded, but I thought I'd tempt your tummy with a little of this.

[00:01:36] For one million dollars, can you name the artist behind this song?

[00:01:42] Is this Katrina and the Waves?

[00:01:44] I had no idea whether or not you'd get that right, but it thrills me that you got it right.

[00:01:54] What is your feeling about One Hit Wonders, Steve?

[00:01:59] I think One Hit Wonders...

[00:02:02] This is great.

[00:02:02] I'm glad you asked this question.

[00:02:04] I think One Hit Wonders tends to be considered almost a pejorative term.

[00:02:10] Like, hey, they couldn't do anything other than this one.

[00:02:12] And a lot of times it's, like, associated with, like, the 1980s.

[00:02:16] But if you look historically and continually, One Hit Wonders is, like, it's as much the norm.

[00:02:24] Yeah.

[00:02:25] Almost, you know what I mean?

[00:02:26] Like, maybe even more so the norm than, like, an artist or a band with a prolific library.

[00:02:34] Has it gone away, though?

[00:02:36] I mean, I think that the industry is definitely different now.

[00:02:39] I don't think it's gone away.

[00:02:40] In fact, if anything, I think it's maybe even more of a model.

[00:02:45] Because the purchase of an album is sort of a different animal, right?

[00:02:52] I mean, you can just get...

[00:02:54] You just sort of take your songs a la carte, right?

[00:02:57] I mean...

[00:02:58] So you're saying that the One Hit Wonders, which was once a pejorative, is now the model of the industry.

[00:03:03] I think so.

[00:03:05] I don't even think it's an issue, right?

[00:03:06] I just think it's like, well, give me one.

[00:03:08] Give me that hit.

[00:03:09] Great.

[00:03:10] I'm good.

[00:03:14] I mean, I bought albums and I'm like, let's look at the...

[00:03:17] Let's look at Living Color, right?

[00:03:20] You know, Cult of Personality was a smash hit.

[00:03:46] Their second, like, their follow-up one that was on MTV that they were trying to make a thing was Glamour Boys.

[00:03:52] Yeah.

[00:03:52] And Glamour Boys couldn't be any further away from the Cult of Personality as any one band could do.

[00:04:01] I don't know.

[00:04:16] It was pretty fierce.

[00:04:17] So if...

[00:04:18] But if you listen to the majority of that album, it's more Glamour Boy than it is Cult of Personality.

[00:04:24] Right, right.

[00:04:25] And that happens a lot.

[00:04:26] Like, I think you'll find out that like that one hit is sometimes the outlier and there's a reason why it's a one hit wonder.

[00:04:32] It's like that one just happened to sort of sneak through.

[00:04:34] One of my brilliant ideas was that there should be a cover band called the One Hit Wonders that only covers these kinds of songs.

[00:04:44] Right.

[00:04:44] You'd have American Pie.

[00:04:46] You would have, you know, Walking on Sunshine.

[00:04:50] Take on Me.

[00:04:51] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:04:52] I mean, these are songs that people love.

[00:04:56] Right.

[00:04:57] And for whatever reason have been relegated to like the oldies station or whatever.

[00:05:02] But if you had a band that could pull all of these off, oh man, I'd be all over it.

[00:05:07] Yeah, I feel it.

[00:05:08] So anyway...

[00:05:10] And that was brought up because...

[00:05:15] That was brought up because for some reason the Lorehounds had that song uploaded onto the soundboard.

[00:05:23] Okay.

[00:05:24] And I heard it.

[00:05:26] I like that song.

[00:05:27] I had to look up that it was Katrina and the waves.

[00:05:30] And I thought, you know what?

[00:05:31] I bet you Steve will get this without any prompting at all.

[00:05:36] And for whatever reason, all of the useless information that you've got in your head doesn't seem to be dissipating.

[00:05:44] No.

[00:05:45] As you get older.

[00:05:46] In fact, if anything, the useless information is probably getting stronger.

[00:05:50] Maybe you won't remember your daughter's name, but Katrina and the waves for sure you're going to get...

[00:05:57] There's going to be that like, oh, I went to work and I totally forgot to wipe, you know?

[00:06:01] And that's going to be like just the norm.

[00:06:06] But I'll be able to tell you that in Death Wish, Paul Dooley had an uncredited cameo as the detective.

[00:06:12] Oh!

[00:06:14] A nice transition for sure.

[00:06:17] How do you like your liver cooked, Steve?

[00:06:21] Do you like it medium?

[00:06:23] I don't enjoy liver.

[00:06:26] When's the last time you had a medium cooked liver?

[00:06:32] This movie is the exact kind of movie that serves medium liver with spaghetti.

[00:06:40] All right, next question.

[00:06:42] What do you think the Venn diagram is between serial killers and people who like their liver medium?

[00:06:48] Just one circle.

[00:06:50] I think I might have eaten liver once in my life.

[00:06:53] I've had liver worst and I'm assuming that that is made from liver?

[00:06:58] That's the worst liver.

[00:07:01] Just by design, I guess.

[00:07:03] Yeah.

[00:07:05] Yeah.

[00:07:05] You were a child in the 70s.

[00:07:07] Did you get served liver at times?

[00:07:10] My parents already kind of knew.

[00:07:12] Like they would eat liver and they just sort of said, you probably won't want this.

[00:07:16] And I said, just by the fact that it's liver.

[00:07:23] Just, you just called it liver.

[00:07:25] I mean like you could have said anything like inner meat.

[00:07:33] I guess, I mean, I think I should try it as an adult.

[00:07:37] My parents both hated liver.

[00:07:39] They were given, they were forced to eat liver as children.

[00:07:43] And that's been most of my experience with liver is that it was like, I just assume it was like a depression era remnant.

[00:07:50] Like, well, I mean there's liver left.

[00:07:53] Yeah.

[00:07:54] It's actually, like it's really good for you if you're into that kind of thing.

[00:07:59] Like in which way?

[00:08:01] It's very, very high nutrient.

[00:08:04] In liver.

[00:08:08] High liver content.

[00:08:10] There's a lot of high liver content in this particular organ.

[00:08:15] And if you could eat liver and then that would replenish your own liver.

[00:08:19] I mean, that would be something like, I mean, drink up Johnny.

[00:08:23] For sure.

[00:08:24] Now, all right.

[00:08:25] So what is the, what is the Venn diagram between liver eaters and serial killers in your estimation?

[00:08:33] I said, I said it's a perfect circle.

[00:08:35] Oh, all right.

[00:08:40] That's an interesting suggestion.

[00:08:43] So maybe we're doing better as a society now?

[00:08:48] You know, Netflix would seem to suggest otherwise.

[00:08:51] Well, but a lot of these are like past serial killers.

[00:08:54] I mean, I don't, I like to think that there, that even a modern day serial killer is, has like an old school appetite.

[00:09:01] Okay.

[00:09:02] Ramon Salcido was probably big on liver and onions.

[00:09:06] What's your feeling on brightly painted interiors?

[00:09:11] I like them.

[00:09:12] You like them.

[00:09:13] All right.

[00:09:13] So I do too.

[00:09:16] That may be the next thing that we do.

[00:09:18] Cause I, I was looking at that when Charles Bronson started to have a sunnier disposition.

[00:09:25] Yeah.

[00:09:26] I realized that he, he really did enjoy killing muggers.

[00:09:29] Uh, I, I thought, Oh, maybe that'll work for me too.

[00:09:33] And not the killing muggers part, but just a couple, a couple bright orange walls in my house.

[00:09:39] I'm having a hard time knowing if it was the killing of the muggers or the fact that his wife was dead.

[00:09:43] I don't like Charles Bronson.

[00:09:46] He loved his wife.

[00:09:47] Come on.

[00:09:48] Dude, Charles Bronson was, was like kind of put out that his wife was killed.

[00:09:57] I mean, this tragedy happens and he's like, he's miffed.

[00:10:02] You know anything where they cut, stabbed, what?

[00:10:05] Uh, no, sir.

[00:10:07] Just beat up.

[00:10:09] This is officer Joe Charles.

[00:10:10] He came in the ambulance with mom and Carol.

[00:10:12] They going to be all right.

[00:10:13] I've told Mr. Toby, all I know.

[00:10:15] If there's anything I can do, ask for me at the 21st piece.

[00:10:17] He's miffed.

[00:10:18] That's it.

[00:10:19] He goes back to work right away.

[00:10:22] Just, well, you gotta go, you gotta go on with your life, you know.

[00:10:26] He suppressed it.

[00:10:28] He suppressed his emotions like.

[00:10:30] Yeah.

[00:10:31] Throughout the entire attempted acting.

[00:10:36] Very, very poorly acted.

[00:10:38] I have never seen a less invested human being with a camera in their face.

[00:10:43] All right.

[00:10:43] I want to point you to one scene.

[00:10:46] He, he was suppressing.

[00:10:48] And then there was that scene.

[00:10:50] Where he threw up.

[00:10:53] Where he had the sock full of quarters.

[00:10:56] Yeah.

[00:10:57] And he swung them around haphazardly.

[00:10:59] Yeah.

[00:11:01] I think that that was sort of like to show us that, you know, he does have emotion.

[00:11:07] It's in there somewhere.

[00:11:09] It can only be expressed with socks and quarters.

[00:11:15] I mean, in a movie that is oppressively joyless.

[00:11:23] That's, that scene is one of the funniest scenes I've seen in a while.

[00:11:28] I mean.

[00:11:30] We don't have a visual element of this.

[00:11:32] Every, every attempt.

[00:11:33] It's really worth watching.

[00:11:35] Every attempt in this movie to like give some sort of gravitas or is just a colossal misfire.

[00:11:44] But that scene.

[00:11:45] I mean, he is a professional.

[00:11:47] That scene is like, it's, it's so weird because, uh, I hated this movie by the way.

[00:11:56] Uh, just, just like, I was like, I take back everything I said about Teen Wolf 2.

[00:12:06] Um, and, and, but, and so that scene was like such a, like a weird, like, I couldn't even like get to a point like, okay, well, maybe things are about to get goofy.

[00:12:15] I was just like, it was jarring because it, it looked like a child, like trying to do one of those, those paper yo-yo things, but like really bad at it.

[00:12:26] And it just sort of unraveled.

[00:12:27] Uh, all right.

[00:12:31] So this movie, if you've not seen it and I don't blame you if you haven't seen it.

[00:12:37] Uh, this movie is, you know, basically Charles Bronson.

[00:12:41] Who?

[00:12:42] And that's it.

[00:12:43] Full stop.

[00:12:44] Who is, let me say this about this movie.

[00:12:47] I was, uh, I was not expecting what I got.

[00:12:50] Uh, because I, I thought that this was a full on action movie.

[00:12:54] Mm.

[00:12:55] And it could be that the sequels of Death Wish are indeed that.

[00:13:00] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:01] This movie has a lot more in common with like Taxi Driver than it does with.

[00:13:06] Sure.

[00:13:07] You know, like Rambo First Blood or something.

[00:13:10] Right, right.

[00:13:11] Uh, anyway, this guy is a, was a conscientious objector, uh, in Korea.

[00:13:17] Yeah, they, they, they mentioned that a couple of times.

[00:13:19] Uh, and, uh, his father was killed, uh, in a hunting accident.

[00:13:24] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:24] So he, he like his mother loathes guns.

[00:13:29] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:29] But, after his, um, after his little excursion in Maui.

[00:13:36] Jeez.

[00:13:37] What the hell?

[00:13:37] All right, so I'm sorry.

[00:13:38] I'm going to pause my, my synopsis here for a minute.

[00:13:42] Uh, so I'm sitting there with Sarah.

[00:13:45] And we watched a couple television shows.

[00:13:48] And, uh, I said, well, I, I really got to watch this movie next.

[00:13:51] She's like, oh, what?

[00:13:52] As if she was like, I'm up for a movie.

[00:13:55] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:55] Which does not happen often.

[00:13:57] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:58] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:58] And this would be, and this would be the treat you would, you would grant her.

[00:14:01] And I said, uh, well, it's, it's Death Wish with Charles Bronson.

[00:14:05] And I couldn't say it without laughing.

[00:14:09] I mean, and so she's, she sat there for maybe 30 seconds.

[00:14:14] And, uh, she, you know, that, that opening beach scene.

[00:14:18] Mm-hmm.

[00:14:19] Mm-hmm.

[00:14:20] Her direct quote is, oh, Lord.

[00:14:23] And then she got up and walked out.

[00:14:25] Yeah.

[00:14:26] Yeah.

[00:14:26] That's why I didn't even give Heather the option.

[00:14:28] I, um, I was like, I'm not even, I'm not, I'm not even gonna try.

[00:14:33] I, I, I mean, so, yeah, I.

[00:14:37] Wait, let me finish my synopsis here.

[00:14:39] So his, his, uh, wife and daughter are brutally assaulted and his wife is killed and his wife

[00:14:46] or his daughter is, uh, uh, despondent to put it mildly.

[00:14:50] And so he, for, for work, he has to visit a Tucson, Arizona, which the entire, his entire

[00:15:01] time in Tucson is really being indoctrinated by cowboys.

[00:15:07] Mm-hmm.

[00:15:08] And, uh, he, he realizes that.

[00:15:12] He got to watch, he got to watch pretend cowboys, uh, fight.

[00:15:14] That a man's man is a guy who doesn't cower in fear that he's gonna fight back, comes back

[00:15:20] with a weapon and decides to use it.

[00:15:24] And that's basically the film.

[00:15:25] Now you do get a little bit of insight into the New York police department.

[00:15:30] Uh-huh.

[00:15:31] Who's trying to find this, uh, vigilante and also.

[00:15:34] More so than they are trying to find the people that attacked his, his wife and daughter.

[00:15:38] Right.

[00:15:38] The, the media and politicians who are, uh, in a frenzy over this, uh, vigilante.

[00:15:46] And, uh, so I was gonna ask you, is this movie more in conversation with like the Punisher

[00:15:53] or Hero at Large?

[00:15:54] I was just about to say this is essentially, uh, Hero at Large.

[00:16:01] I mean, except.

[00:16:03] Would you rather rewatch this movie or rewatch Hero at Large?

[00:16:06] Hero at Large.

[00:16:09] Is this your least favorite movie we've done so far?

[00:16:13] Yeah, I, yeah, for sure.

[00:16:15] I, uh, I was thinking about that.

[00:16:18] Like, this is, it's the earliest I've ever thought that in a movie that, that we've done.

[00:16:24] Like I was, I was looking at how much time is left at 11 minutes.

[00:16:33] It is such, it, it is such a, like I said, misfire.

[00:16:38] And is that's kind of like a polite way to put it.

[00:16:40] I mean, it is like every, it is such a poorly developed idea.

[00:16:48] Poorly developed idea, poorly acted and really, really boring for a long period, long stretches of time.

[00:16:55] Well, it's, it's, it's really brutal in the, the wife and daughter attack scene.

[00:17:03] Um, yeah.

[00:17:04] I like, I, I'm convincing myself that that was not Jeff Goldblum because it hurts to think that that was his debut.

[00:17:13] Um, oh no, that's him.

[00:17:14] Oh, it is.

[00:17:15] And he wasn't acting.

[00:17:15] He did not, he did not know he was acting.

[00:17:18] I just want you to know.

[00:17:19] This is just, this is, this is, they just, they just took him and pointed him in, in a direction.

[00:17:25] So.

[00:17:25] Turned on the cameras.

[00:17:26] So, so your, your synopsis was, was apt.

[00:17:29] Uh, but the way that they, they get you from taking conscientious, uh, objector to, uh, this kind of almost ruthless vigilante.

[00:17:39] Um, and someone who takes great joy in this.

[00:17:43] Right.

[00:17:44] They do, they do whatever the opposite of character development is.

[00:17:48] They did it.

[00:17:48] I mean, they, they go, look, we're going to show him and his wife in Maui for like a montage of a trip that seems at best fine.

[00:18:00] Uh, and then they come back.

[00:18:03] Yeah.

[00:18:03] And, and he's, uh, he's an architect.

[00:18:08] And then, uh, his wife and daughter get just brutally attacked by some of the most off putting, like not off putting in the sense that, Ooh, these guys are vile, but like, like, Oh my gosh, this is like a, like a local theater version of ruffians, but they're also like awful.

[00:18:27] And his reaction is nothing essentially.

[00:18:32] I mean, nothing.

[00:18:34] I wouldn't, I wouldn't say nothing.

[00:18:36] I would say, well, you should, you should, because it was nothing.

[00:18:40] It was understated.

[00:18:41] He was maybe irritated that his wife died, but not a right.

[00:18:47] He gets every, every delivery, like, like the police officer kind of has a smile.

[00:18:52] Yeah.

[00:18:52] No, they were, they were attacked and then they move on.

[00:18:56] And then, and then the, uh, the doctor, Oh, she, she like died a few minutes ago.

[00:19:01] And he was like, Oh, I mean, it's just, and then he goes back to work.

[00:19:06] Yes.

[00:19:06] And when he goes back to work, his colleagues are like slapping him on the back.

[00:19:12] Oh, we knew you'd be back.

[00:19:16] His colleagues are slapping him on the back, congratulating him for showing no remorse and no grief whatsoever that, I mean, this guy's a team player.

[00:19:29] He doesn't care.

[00:19:30] He doesn't care that his wife just died.

[00:19:32] So then he immediately goes to Tucson, uh, cause his, cause his daughter is catatonic and, uh, yeah.

[00:19:40] And then, uh, we find out he's a really, really good shot.

[00:19:45] And, uh, and we spend more time on the development of the development project that he's working on.

[00:19:53] Then we do anything with his relationship with this family.

[00:19:57] Well, it's true.

[00:19:58] And I'll tell you why that's the case because it's a bad movie.

[00:20:01] No, I'll tell you why this is the case.

[00:20:04] This is the case because serial killing is just as hobby.

[00:20:09] I think for a lot of serial killers, it's like I've, I put on a mask a day.

[00:20:14] What really, really gets me charged is my, the thing that I do at night.

[00:20:20] I don't get the sense of that with him because he works through the night.

[00:20:24] Just a side hustle.

[00:20:25] I think this is like the typical personality of most engineers.

[00:20:29] Okay.

[00:20:30] That's fair.

[00:20:31] Having worked, worked closely with engineers that tracks.

[00:20:34] I don't know that they would miss work if their, if their spouse was, was brutally killed.

[00:20:39] He's, he's pretty invested in his job and, uh, he does have a little hobby on the side, but I do feel like it's not a huge Jekyll and Hyde character that we're watching.

[00:20:53] So it's an interesting thing because I think, I think the movie now I could, I actually thought like, I bet you, I could advocate for this movie and I, and I could.

[00:21:01] Um, but it would be, there's too many tells in this movie to show that no, that's, there isn't an extra layer of, um, nuance and intelligence, uh, being, being portrayed here.

[00:21:14] Uh, because.

[00:21:17] A modern look would probably say, oh, this guy isn't so much, um, you know, a action hero, you know, out for revenge.

[00:21:27] He's autistic.

[00:21:28] And, but I, and, and that would be to give the movie and Bronson's performance credit.

[00:21:34] It does not deserve because, because I think the movie thinks that it did a good job of taking mild mannered, conscientious objector, loving husband.

[00:21:47] It thinks it did all that, like establish that and then transitioned him into, uh, this, this vigilante.

[00:21:54] And then had, then, then there was the, uh, the social, uh, and cultural ramifications because of that.

[00:22:00] But that, all of that assumes that, like I said, the first part that I mentioned actually happened and none of it did.

[00:22:07] He just, all of a sudden is like, well, I have a gun and I'll shoot and now I'll throw up and I'll just keep on shooting.

[00:22:13] And it's, it's, you don't, I, for me, I don't get any sense that his vigilante-ism is born from grief or a sense of, of wanting justice.

[00:22:24] It just is.

[00:22:26] Okay, so here's how I interpret this.

[00:22:28] And I think I like this movie more than you did.

[00:22:31] Uh, I don't think that's saying much.

[00:22:33] I feel like, uh, the story that the movie is telling is that you, that there, you can choose what kind of man you want to be.

[00:22:42] Do you want to be a cowboy or do you want to be a coward?

[00:22:46] Like it almost creates a binary between these two things.

[00:22:50] Sure.

[00:22:50] What New York City, which was called a toilet at one point in this film, what New York City really needs to clean it up is a cowboy.

[00:23:01] Right.

[00:23:02] And, and that's, you know, he's like the one man's man on the landscape, you know, and crooked cops and crooked politicians and, uh, cowardly liberals.

[00:23:14] And, uh, you know, what, what New York City doesn't have is a cowboy.

[00:23:18] And that's what Bronson brings to it.

[00:23:22] And, of course, he's heroic in this effort.

[00:23:26] If you were going to take this movie seriously, and I don't think that you should, uh, but if you're going to take it seriously, I think it would be a really interesting, unwitting display of masculinity.

[00:23:38] I don't think that they really know what they're trying to do with this other than just kind of like, Hey, we're, you know, weren't those cowboys brave at the end of the day.

[00:23:51] Right.

[00:23:52] Yeah.

[00:23:52] It's like a Western, it's a Western without allegory.

[00:23:55] It's a, uh, it's a story with no conscience.

[00:23:59] Mm-hmm.

[00:24:00] There is that one level of like, okay, well, he's inspiring people to, to, my understanding is the novel that this is based on has more of a critique on vigilantism.

[00:24:11] This one, I don't think does that.

[00:24:14] No, no.

[00:24:14] There's no critique at all.

[00:24:16] No.

[00:24:16] Yeah.

[00:24:16] There's no, there's no, uh, gray area at all in this movie.

[00:24:19] Uh, you're either kind of a beta cuck who's going to these liberal parties or you're, you're, uh, you're heroic vigilante or something like that.

[00:24:31] Right.

[00:24:32] Uh, not too subtle racism in this movie.

[00:24:36] No.

[00:24:37] In case, in case you needed another reason not to like this movie.

[00:24:41] I don't know that I would use the word subtle to describe any of this.

[00:24:47] I mean, the dialogue is, the dialogue is like so expositionally clear about what it is you're supposed to think in this movie.

[00:24:55] It's like bonkers.

[00:24:57] Like how it's, it's, it's crazy.

[00:24:59] Cause like one thing about the exposition is like, you see some movies like, you're like, let's just, I'll just, uh, uh, pick on, uh, Christopher Nolan.

[00:25:07] Who's kind of known for, uh, for that.

[00:25:10] Right.

[00:25:11] And like, especially with a movie like inception, you kind of have to find a way to describe what the hell is going on because it's on, you know, on screen.

[00:25:17] And so it's hard, but in this particular case, they actually do it with kind of like a little bit of an economy of, of dialogue.

[00:25:26] But the, the, the, the ham fisted way in which they're trying to sell this message is so overt that, I mean, it just feels like every bit of dialogue is, uh, is, is propaganda.

[00:25:39] Yeah.

[00:25:39] That's a good way to say that.

[00:25:40] Uh, I, I want to name a couple of things I like about this movie outside of the sock scene.

[00:25:45] I'm in the sock scenes.

[00:25:48] I love the way this is filmed.

[00:25:50] I don't know what it is about the seventies film, which piece of awful music was your favorite?

[00:25:57] I love the soundtrack.

[00:25:59] I love the Herbie Hancock music throughout.

[00:26:03] I loved every piece, even the stuff that sounded like Charlie Brown.

[00:26:07] I loved it.

[00:26:10] I, I just, I felt like I was transported.

[00:26:13] You know, I love that the, I just love seventies crime dramas.

[00:26:18] I know.

[00:26:18] So I don't like action movies.

[00:26:20] That's what I thought I was going to get.

[00:26:21] It's a little bit less that I loved every bit of, of costume.

[00:26:27] I loved every bit of facial hair.

[00:26:29] I love every, uh, old timey car that was in this.

[00:26:33] I love films that are actually filmed and not digital.

[00:26:37] Well, but here's the thing, right?

[00:26:38] There's a lot, there's a lot about this that is right in my wheelhouse for the kind of film that I would sit down and watch if I was just by myself on a, you know, random Thursday night.

[00:26:49] Yeah, I guess I, and I agree, but that's an appreciation of an inadvertent aesthetic, not a choice.

[00:26:57] Most of this that happens, you know what I mean?

[00:27:00] So you're drawn to, you're drawn to a setting and a timeframe that is almost inevitably going to be provided because they have a camera rolling in, in that time.

[00:27:11] So, and I'm not saying that you shouldn't enjoy that.

[00:27:14] I'm just saying that I don't believe that the filmmakers and anybody involved deserve any credit for those things because the reason why the cars and the facial hair and everything look like that and the clothing is because that's what people wore.

[00:27:25] That's what people drove.

[00:27:26] And that's how people's faces grew hair.

[00:27:29] And if you were going to make a film, you were going to use actual film.

[00:27:33] So.

[00:27:33] Well, you didn't have an alternative.

[00:27:34] You didn't have an alternative.

[00:27:35] So I do feel like just because of the budget of this movie, it was going to be the, and the, and the timeframe, it's going to have qualities that I like.

[00:27:46] And so I do look, if this movie was made today, it would absolutely be a superhero movie.

[00:27:51] Well, there is a death wish remake.

[00:27:53] It's a Bruce Willis joint.

[00:27:55] Is that right?

[00:27:55] Yeah.

[00:27:55] Yeah.

[00:27:55] I've not seen it.

[00:27:56] Okay.

[00:27:57] I'm not talking about like a remake.

[00:27:59] I'm like, if you were going to, if you wanted to tell this story, it would be a Batman movie.

[00:28:04] It would be a Punisher movie.

[00:28:06] You know, that's how you tell a vigilante story now.

[00:28:10] Right?

[00:28:11] Right.

[00:28:11] And you would not use film.

[00:28:13] And there would be CGI.

[00:28:15] And it would be, it would have all these, the same themes, underdeveloped themes.

[00:28:21] It'd be crappy and it would be horrible to look at as well.

[00:28:24] Let me explain to you this movie here.

[00:28:26] This movie is lazy in every aspect of filmmaking.

[00:28:30] It almost fetishizes the, uh, the brutality of the attack on the wife and daughter.

[00:28:37] Yeah.

[00:28:38] Oh yeah.

[00:28:38] And they do that in such a way that, that it assumes that you will now be on board.

[00:28:44] Like the, the one thing that they put any effort, they don't put any effort in developing a relationship between him and his family.

[00:28:50] They don't put any effort into understanding him as a person making this transition, him dealing with the loss.

[00:28:57] They put all of their eggs into a brutal scene, which assumes on one hand that that's enough.

[00:29:04] It's sort of like Avatar.

[00:29:06] We're going to put our main character in a wheelchair.

[00:29:09] And then just because of that, you will sympathize with him.

[00:29:12] And now you'll be on his side.

[00:29:14] And that's what they did with this is they go look something brutal happened.

[00:29:17] So anything that happens after the fact that that is to bring justice or violence as a kind of revenge porn motif is justified.

[00:29:26] And in doing so, it feels like an affront.

[00:29:32] It feels like an affront that, that is, that is a more pro-violence.

[00:29:37] And in this case, pro-violence towards women right out the gate.

[00:29:40] And then now it's pro-violence towards minorities afterwards.

[00:29:43] This movie is, is laughably bad, but it is, uh, inherently immoral.

[00:29:50] I agree with everything you just said.

[00:29:52] Um, and, uh, I will say that, uh, I still enjoy seventies crime dramas and this looked a lot like that.

[00:30:02] Yeah.

[00:30:02] And, and there were times during this film where I just really enjoyed the camera work.

[00:30:07] I enjoyed the setting.

[00:30:09] I enjoyed the costumes.

[00:30:10] I enjoyed the music, even though you did not.

[00:30:12] Uh, there are, there are certain aspects of this movie that I quite enjoyed, even if it's fundamentally immoral.

[00:30:20] And, and badly developed movie.

[00:30:23] Uh, there are moments where the music is enjoyable, but not, I think the problem is, is that like, I'm like, I didn't like it in this movie.

[00:30:31] And I felt like there were times where the, the, where the music did not, um, move the, uh, the tone appropriately.

[00:30:43] It was like, we have a soundtrack and we like it and we're going to just play it or never.

[00:30:48] And there were a few times where like it worked and I was in like, I'm like, okay, that makes sense.

[00:30:52] Then there were a lot of times I was like, it's just, it also just sometimes just won't stop.

[00:30:58] And not in a scene where there's any tension or action.

[00:31:01] It's just like, he's walking and it's, why, why, why is it, why is that happening?

[00:31:05] He's coming back to the grocery store.

[00:31:07] I want to talk.

[00:31:09] All right.

[00:31:09] Continue your diatribe on the music, which I've, I've no, I'm, I'm quite enjoyed.

[00:31:14] I'm done with the music.

[00:31:16] Okay.

[00:31:17] I want to talk about Christopher Guest.

[00:31:19] Sure.

[00:31:20] Yeah.

[00:31:20] The reason why we're here.

[00:31:21] The reason why we're watching this film is because, uh, I, okay.

[00:31:27] There's probably multiple reasons.

[00:31:28] One is I wanted to choose a guest movie.

[00:31:33] Right.

[00:31:34] And, but you chose this one.

[00:31:36] And I had never seen death wish and I'm always trying to find a way to bring more seventies

[00:31:43] crime dramas into our podcast.

[00:31:46] Yes.

[00:31:46] And how'd that work it out?

[00:31:47] Uh, I, I watch this movie.

[00:31:52] I was probably a good three force into this movie.

[00:31:54] I was like, Oh crap.

[00:31:55] Am I going to have to watch this again?

[00:31:56] Cause I misguessed.

[00:31:58] That's what I was thinking.

[00:32:00] I was like, he was listed in the opening credits.

[00:32:05] Surely, surely he's important to this movie.

[00:32:08] And yet I have not seen him yet.

[00:32:11] And, uh, waiting, waiting, waiting.

[00:32:14] And it's really toward the end that he, he pops up.

[00:32:18] Uh, why is he in the opening credits?

[00:32:24] Why is Vincent Gardena have a cold all the time?

[00:32:27] Allergies.

[00:32:28] Why is, why is any, any of this?

[00:32:34] Is this, uh, is this, all right.

[00:32:36] So this is certainly Jeff Goldblum's first movie, right?

[00:32:40] Yeah.

[00:32:41] Um, you know, foreshadowing a stellar career and that is wild.

[00:32:46] Think about that.

[00:32:47] Think about watching that movie and then thinking, if I told you one of the people in this movie

[00:32:53] is going to be a mega star.

[00:32:55] See if you can pick them out.

[00:32:56] How, how many do you go through before you get to Jeff Goldblum?

[00:33:02] I'm assuming this is guests first movie as well.

[00:33:05] I don't know.

[00:33:06] Uh, what years was he on SNL?

[00:33:10] That was, that was 80s.

[00:33:12] So he was, so this is certainly before that.

[00:33:15] Yeah, this is 74.

[00:33:16] Still breaking into the industry.

[00:33:19] Uh, Spinal Tap is 80s as well.

[00:33:22] I think it's like 80s as well.

[00:33:23] Yeah, 81.

[00:33:24] Man, I thought it would be interesting to like, see his early promise in a film.

[00:33:30] Uh-huh.

[00:33:31] I guess he's sort of like an aspiring dirty cop in this film?

[00:33:36] Yeah, I guess so.

[00:33:38] Uh, so two of his, two of his earliest film roles were small parts as uniformed police officers

[00:33:44] in the 1972 film The Hot Rock and Death Wish.

[00:33:50] Interesting.

[00:33:50] The Hot Rock.

[00:33:52] Yeah.

[00:33:53] I, I, I, I, I was almost, I was reluctant to even mention The Hot Rock because, um, it's

[00:33:59] a, it's a crime drama from the 70s and I'm like, uh, Anthony's going to find a way to

[00:34:04] somehow shoehorn this into our next film.

[00:34:06] Oh, I'm going to watch it for sure.

[00:34:07] I'm on.

[00:34:08] Robert Redford, George Segal, uh, it's a comedy drama.

[00:34:12] It's a comedy drama film.

[00:34:14] Ah, that, that, that muddies the waters a little bit for me.

[00:34:18] Now, I, uh, I, I know that you're, uh, an enormous Christopher Guest fan.

[00:34:24] Yes.

[00:34:25] And you really kind of brought Christopher Guest into my life as well.

[00:34:32] I had seen This Is Spinal Tap, but I wouldn't have been able to name the actors in that film.

[00:34:38] Uh, I think, uh, aside from Billy Crystal or something, I, I didn't, I don't think I knew

[00:34:43] any of those actors.

[00:34:45] But I think one time we were talking about, like, what your favorite comedy was and you

[00:34:51] told me it was Waiting for Guffman.

[00:34:53] This was probably back in the nineties and I had not seen it.

[00:34:57] He's a very interesting character in that.

[00:34:59] I, I kind of feel like he's one of the most brilliant comedic minds of his generation.

[00:35:07] Kind of had a streak and then kind of became a recluse.

[00:35:12] Was that an accurate assessment?

[00:35:15] Seems like it.

[00:35:16] Uh, he always struck me as somebody who, um, kind of worked when he wanted to work and, uh,

[00:35:24] and was happy to not work like on that kind of stuff.

[00:35:27] You know?

[00:35:28] Uh-huh.

[00:35:29] Did he invent the office?

[00:35:32] Um, I'm trying to think of other mockumentaries and maybe it goes back to like National Lampoon,

[00:35:39] um, or, or, you know, something maybe with Monty Python perhaps.

[00:35:43] But I think that he definitely had a hand, a hand in that.

[00:35:47] And that certainly, um, you know, this is Spinal Tap was, I think the, probably the most, uh,

[00:35:54] well-known and prolific.

[00:35:56] And then from there, I think that was like, he just kept going with that, with, you know,

[00:36:02] with Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show and, um.

[00:36:06] And continued to do kind of bit parts in dramas, like A Few Good Men, well past his comedic success.

[00:36:18] Right.

[00:36:19] Kind of an odd, kind of an odd character.

[00:36:21] Yeah, interesting that he never became, like, outside of the work that he did and, like,

[00:36:26] would, would his own vehicles, um, he didn't ever really play major roles.

[00:36:30] Like, I mean, he was the six-fingered man in Princess Bride.

[00:36:33] That's right.

[00:36:34] That's what else I was thinking.

[00:36:35] Yeah.

[00:36:36] Um, but it's interesting that there wasn't, you know, like a guy like that, I was like,

[00:36:40] I would have expected, why isn't he, like, for lack of a better term, like, why isn't

[00:36:46] he a bigger deal?

[00:36:47] Like, why isn't he, why isn't he out there more?

[00:36:49] Right.

[00:36:49] But I wonder if that's just, it's just sort of the way it works.

[00:36:53] You know, maybe you don't get the opportunities or you're just content.

[00:36:56] I will say this.

[00:36:58] I feel like his humor, his comedy movies almost thrive on the 1% humor.

[00:37:05] Mm-hmm.

[00:37:05] You have to kind of go in thinking, I'm going to laugh if it's funny, even if there isn't

[00:37:12] an obvious laugh line.

[00:37:14] Right.

[00:37:15] It's sort of like, I'm going to laugh at the expression on that guy's face or the absurdity

[00:37:20] of the situation.

[00:37:22] And for, you know, if there's not like a guy slipping on a banana, I think most people don't

[00:37:27] know when they're supposed to laugh.

[00:37:29] Yeah.

[00:37:29] This Is Spinal Tap probably became popular because of a very small group of people evangelizing

[00:37:38] that movie.

[00:37:39] It really doesn't have that commercial appeal for a comedy, especially at that particular

[00:37:44] time.

[00:37:44] He is the fifth Baron Hayden guest of great sailing in the country of Essex.

[00:37:50] I did not know this.

[00:37:53] Yeah.

[00:37:53] He succeeded upon the ineligibility of his older half-brother, Anthony Hayden guest.

[00:37:58] Huh.

[00:37:59] Interesting.

[00:38:00] Guest attended the House of Lords regularly until the House of Lords Act 1999 barred most

[00:38:04] hereditary peers from receipts.

[00:38:07] Hmm.

[00:38:07] Spinal.

[00:38:08] I did not know that.

[00:38:09] All right.

[00:38:11] Steve, is there a...

[00:38:11] One of my favorite moments of this movie, by the way, it's really important.

[00:38:14] I think there's a few movies do foreshadowing as well as Death Wish.

[00:38:21] Tell me more.

[00:38:22] So when Charles Bronson is walking, like I think this is his first little foray into maybe walking

[00:38:31] around with a gun, he bumps into two enthusiastic youths.

[00:38:38] Yeah.

[00:38:39] And they just got back from the movies.

[00:38:41] Oh, sure.

[00:38:42] And the guy bumps him and you hear him say, what a bummer.

[00:38:46] What a bummer.

[00:38:47] That's the worst fucking movie I've ever seen.

[00:38:49] And I'm like, ah, that's the foreshadowing.

[00:38:52] I was like, cool.

[00:38:56] Steve, was there a trope, a cliche or a device that you enjoyed in this movie?

[00:39:02] I do like a good subway altercation.

[00:39:08] Oh, yeah.

[00:39:09] It works every time.

[00:39:10] Fantastic.

[00:39:12] I like...

[00:39:12] I think it's amplified more because you and I spent so much time on the subway last year.

[00:39:16] So I really...

[00:39:16] It really did feel like...

[00:39:18] You know, I guess that was part of my enjoyment of the scenery is like, yeah, the same subway

[00:39:25] tiles, you know?

[00:39:26] Yeah, yeah.

[00:39:26] You know, there are certain parts of New York City that certainly do not feel updated.

[00:39:32] Right.

[00:39:32] And it really does feel like, oh, this is the same street that they used in Death Wish.

[00:39:40] Right.

[00:39:41] I like my muggers to have a bit of panache.

[00:39:45] You know, if I had to be mugged, would I rather be mugged on someone who's all business

[00:39:52] or someone who's, you know, really taking joy in the experience and maybe even like rhyming

[00:40:02] or, you know, sort of creative name calling.

[00:40:05] Okay.

[00:40:07] I, you know, there's a variety of muggers in this film and I really did enjoy the ones

[00:40:12] that have just a little bit more of a flair to them.

[00:40:16] That's good.

[00:40:17] What about you?

[00:40:18] Well, what kind of muggers do I like?

[00:40:20] Yeah.

[00:40:21] Well, if you had to be mugged.

[00:40:22] I like that you mentioned rhyming.

[00:40:24] I think I'd actually want it to be rhyming and maybe they're on roller skates like the

[00:40:30] cat in Heathcliff, the one that kept on talking in rhymes, the cartoon.

[00:40:33] What if it could be a full limerick?

[00:40:36] Ooh.

[00:40:38] That's like, that's sinister because you're, as you're waiting for it to resolve, you're

[00:40:42] like, well, what does this mean for me?

[00:40:46] Am I Batman?

[00:40:47] Is that what's happening here?

[00:40:53] All right.

[00:40:55] Is there a tweak that you would have made to improve this film?

[00:40:59] I probably would have set fire to the film.

[00:41:04] All right.

[00:41:05] Let me, let me suggest this.

[00:41:07] What if we remove Bronson from the film and add De Niro?

[00:41:13] So here's an interesting thing.

[00:41:14] I don't know if you, how much research you did on this film.

[00:41:16] I did a little.

[00:41:18] When it was originally going to be made and adapted, it was a different director.

[00:41:22] I forget who now it was, but it was going to be Jack Lemmon.

[00:41:26] Um, and wow.

[00:41:29] Because the, the character, I think in the book is even more passive.

[00:41:34] Interesting.

[00:41:34] And so, so the journey feels maybe a little bit more Walter White-ish.

[00:41:40] Right.

[00:41:40] Um, and, and, and because it's a critique, I think it's supposed to feel, uh, like maybe,

[00:41:48] maybe you, you go on the journey and then you're supposed to like, kind of feel bad for the journey.

[00:41:53] Right.

[00:41:54] Um, and when it went through a couple of different directors, Henry Fonda was attached at one point.

[00:42:00] And then, uh, when they went and they, and they, they were trying to promote it to a lot of different,

[00:42:06] uh, actors, a lot of them turned it down.

[00:42:07] Cause they just kind of thought this just feels sort of like nihilistic, right?

[00:42:10] It just feels like it's like, there's no, there's no, there's no story here really, you know?

[00:42:15] And so, and when they got to Bronson, Bronson changed the character.

[00:42:19] I forget who the character, what the, what the, um, the occupation was, but he,

[00:42:23] he didn't like it because he just like, that's not tough enough.

[00:42:26] So he's, so he settled on the architect.

[00:42:28] Like he needed to be like an engineer, like, like that was, so it needed, like he had to

[00:42:32] already sort of elevate the masculinity or the machismo compared to what it was in the book.

[00:42:38] I think even the author, um, spoke out against the adaptation and I think wrote another book

[00:42:44] kind of in, like maybe in response.

[00:42:49] That's interesting.

[00:42:50] Yeah.

[00:42:51] Was the, was the book called Death Wish as well?

[00:42:53] Cause I was kind of wondering like, what, why is it named this?

[00:42:56] Yeah.

[00:42:57] It's, I think the book is called Death Wish and it probably, and it probably plays up the idea

[00:43:01] that maybe he, because he's, I mean, just assuming that like, because he was so moved by this tragedy,

[00:43:09] uh, that he almost doesn't care if he dies.

[00:43:11] And I didn't get that sense.

[00:43:12] Yeah.

[00:43:13] I did not get that sense from Bronson at all.

[00:43:15] And so the Death Wish seems almost like it's pointed towards the, uh, the, the criminals.

[00:43:22] Like they have a Death Wish.

[00:43:23] You messed with this guy.

[00:43:24] You must have a Death Wish.

[00:43:25] You've got it.

[00:43:25] Yeah.

[00:43:25] Cause like at the end, I mean, what does he do?

[00:43:27] He's like, Ooh, cool.

[00:43:27] I get to do it again.

[00:43:29] And now it's Chicago.

[00:43:30] You know what I mean?

[00:43:30] It's like that, that to me was such an incongruous concept of what I thought the movie was supposed

[00:43:36] to be.

[00:43:36] And I'm like, Oh, so this guy's just terrible.

[00:43:37] I'd like to see that.

[00:43:38] I don't know if the Willis joint plays this up a little bit better, but I would like to

[00:43:42] see Lemon.

[00:43:43] I don't think so.

[00:43:44] I would love to see Lemon in this role.

[00:43:46] I think that's a great tweak.

[00:43:48] I, yeah.

[00:43:49] So I think if we, if, if maybe the, maybe the, the actual serious tweak would be to go

[00:43:54] to the source material a little bit more.

[00:43:57] Like there might be an interest.

[00:43:58] Uh huh.

[00:44:01] Steve, is this movie better, worse or on par with a Ron Howard film?

[00:44:05] Oh, it's a Ron Howard minus.

[00:44:06] It's, I'm going to say 13.

[00:44:08] Mm-hmm.

[00:44:09] I would say Howard minus four.

[00:44:12] It's, it's sort of in the range.

[00:44:14] I didn't.

[00:44:15] You think it's in the range?

[00:44:16] I think it's in the range.

[00:44:17] I feel like, uh, I certainly enjoyed, I enjoyed the scenery of this film.

[00:44:23] I almost felt like, uh, as a screensaver, aside from the brutality, the brutality of

[00:44:31] it, um, I, I did enjoy, I did enjoy kind of being awash with, uh, a 1970s film.

[00:44:43] And I didn't, I didn't hate that experience.

[00:44:46] Yeah.

[00:44:46] I just think that the, I feel like absolutely nothing worked.

[00:44:49] But don't you feel like you would, I think maybe you feel the same way about shallow 80s

[00:44:57] movies as I maybe feel about shallow 70s movies?

[00:45:00] Perhaps.

[00:45:02] But, um, but this, like I said, the, the issue that I have is that it's, if this movie

[00:45:07] was about a very angry architect, you're onto something.

[00:45:11] But it's not what it's trying to tell me.

[00:45:14] I don't think.

[00:45:15] But that's what it told me.

[00:45:16] Like my whole life I've been hearing like Hollywood glorifies violence.

[00:45:20] Hollywood has a particular view of women.

[00:45:23] Hollywood has a particular like, uh, stereotypes of minorities.

[00:45:28] Um, I've been hearing that my entire life.

[00:45:32] I don't feel like I quite understood that until I saw that this movie.

[00:45:37] That's a great point.

[00:45:38] I think that's a really good way to put that.

[00:45:39] This movie is really like everything that's wrong with Hollywood.

[00:45:43] Right.

[00:45:44] And well, that's the thing that's kind of fascinating to you.

[00:45:46] Like you, you mentioned the taxi driver thing and we, and I, I saw taxi driver much younger

[00:45:50] and then, and, and revisited it later.

[00:45:54] Um, and it is, there is a bleakness.

[00:45:57] There is a downward spiral.

[00:45:59] There is a violence, but there is an intent to, uh, to paint a picture of, of a certain type

[00:46:08] of person.

[00:46:09] Right.

[00:46:10] Um, well, I think that I've said before that Scorsese really likes.

[00:46:16] To dive deep into a character who's on his way to hell.

[00:46:20] Right.

[00:46:21] Right.

[00:46:22] Almost explore, like, let's explore the dark elements of society in a way that really exposes

[00:46:29] the darkness.

[00:46:30] I, this movie does not do that.

[00:46:32] Right.

[00:46:32] Right.

[00:46:33] Yeah.

[00:46:33] So, and I, and I think what the Scorsese, um, and in doing so, he does not want you to

[00:46:39] lose any sort of grip, even if it's, if it's tenuous on, um, the humanity, right?

[00:46:45] Like, this is a person, this is, this is a person that may have been, uh, whether it

[00:46:51] be circumstance, uh, whether it be biology, whatever it may be, this is, this is, they're

[00:46:58] condemned either by their own doing or by someone else.

[00:47:01] But, but, and this is them wrestling with their condemnation, right?

[00:47:05] This is not, like you said, this doesn't do that.

[00:47:07] This doesn't care about the humanity.

[00:47:08] It doesn't care about the end of the movie is a perfect example of this.

[00:47:14] It's like, he's been run out of New York, but oh my goodness, there's so much to do

[00:47:21] in Chicago.

[00:47:22] Right.

[00:47:22] And he's going to enjoy, he's going to enjoy it.

[00:47:25] And these street punks are going to, uh, they're going to feel his wrath.

[00:47:31] Do you find it interesting that there was never an attempt on his part, it seems, to

[00:47:37] find the people that did this to his family.

[00:47:40] It was interesting to me.

[00:47:42] I thought, uh, surely he's going to stumble upon Jeff Goldblum at some point and figure

[00:47:51] out in some way, shape or form that this is, this was one of the guys.

[00:47:56] Nothing like that.

[00:47:58] No.

[00:47:59] And I think that that may be a little bit, you're going to scoff at this, but that is

[00:48:04] to the movie's credit.

[00:48:05] I think, well, and I, I, and I said, like, I probably could defend some of this movie

[00:48:09] if I believed that the people in charge of it put any care into it.

[00:48:17] You know what I mean?

[00:48:18] Like, like you could read it as, as well.

[00:48:22] It's, it's folly to try to find these guys.

[00:48:24] That's what the police are basically saying.

[00:48:26] The, the, the, the police aren't really gonna, they have so many, uh, of these criminals

[00:48:31] to choose from that it would be like, you know, just go ahead and pick any, you know?

[00:48:35] And you could make the argument that why are the police so hell bent on this vigilante,

[00:48:40] but they're not putting any effort in all these other killings.

[00:48:42] It's because the vigilante makes the police look bad because the vigilante, um, is changing

[00:48:47] the crime rates in a way that the police cannot.

[00:48:49] The vigilante is, is, is being lauded for justice and the police aren't, and they can't

[00:48:54] have that.

[00:48:54] So like there's, there is, and there are elements that I think are intentional, but

[00:48:58] my guess is those are from the book and it's sort of, so I could, I could buy that.

[00:49:05] You know what I mean?

[00:49:05] So as opposed to a director or, you know, a screenwriter in this particular film trying

[00:49:10] to like, trying to make a point, I think, I don't even know if that's the point that

[00:49:13] they realized they were making, you know, it just feels, it feels that haphazard.

[00:49:20] Is there a when to grow on half the battle moment in this film?

[00:49:25] Uh, you know, hang on to the sock.

[00:49:30] Um, if you're going to walk the streets of New York, maybe have a sock handy.

[00:49:37] Yeah.

[00:49:38] Well, you bought socks in New York.

[00:49:40] I did buy socks in New York.

[00:49:43] I didn't think to use them in that way though.

[00:49:46] But I think what you do is you were inadvertently sending a message to anybody that might've been

[00:49:50] casing us.

[00:49:51] Sure.

[00:49:52] Yeah.

[00:49:52] They're like, Oh, okay.

[00:49:53] These guys are, these guys are hip to it.

[00:49:59] Uh, did I not buy you socks as well?

[00:50:01] No.

[00:50:02] Oh, all right.

[00:50:04] It would have been better if like he had had like, uh, some sort of catchphrase when

[00:50:08] he hits the guy with a sock.

[00:50:09] Like you got changed for a 20 and then bam, you know?

[00:50:13] All right.

[00:50:13] We've been talking about ugly men lately.

[00:50:17] Yes.

[00:50:18] Let's, let's explore the crevices of Bronson's face.

[00:50:21] I wrote down several options here.

[00:50:23] Uh, this is the one that I liked best.

[00:50:25] Let me try this on you.

[00:50:26] So Charles Bronson has the hair and body of a California lifeguard, but the face of a

[00:50:33] California reason.

[00:50:35] Yeah.

[00:50:35] That's good.

[00:50:36] Yeah.

[00:50:37] Yeah.

[00:50:41] Yeah.