Artwork for podcast Cinematix Problematix
Trading Places: We Knew Wall Street Was Racist But DAMN
Episode 526th September 2025 • Cinematix Problematix • Cinematix Problematix
00:00:00 00:38:49

Share Episode

Shownotes

And today, we’re talking about  the 1983 classic Trading Places, which tells the tale of The extremely wealthy Wall Street executives Duke brothers who decide to place a friendly bet to see if nature beats nurture. They take the star employee at their financial firm,  Louis Winthorpe III, and try to see if a destitute Black man, Billy Ray Valentine, can effectively take his place and learn the ropes of the finance world if he’s given all of the privileges of his predecessor. The Dukes' exercise their power to take away Winthorpe’s job, home, and wealth and transfer it to Valentine to see whether nature or nurture wins out. And then blackface, the n-word, and bad Jamaican accents ensue!

The film stars Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy, and Denholm Elliot. It is directed by Jonathan Landis and has a run time of 1 hr 56 min.

CREDITS

Hosts: Erin Maxwell & Kristina "Krissie" Rettig

Edited by: Russ Lichter

Theme Song by: Spooky Dan

Transcripts

Speaker:

Speaker: She's the least offensive of all of them, I think.

Speaker:

Speaker: I think Eddie Murphy gets away with it because at least he's

Speaker:

Speaker: not in blackface.

Speaker:

Speaker: That would be really bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, if the movie went there,

Speaker:

Speaker: that would be pretty terrible,

Speaker:

Speaker: right?

Speaker:

Speaker: Aaron leads us shit to Lionel.

Speaker:

Speaker: Cinematic comedy.

Speaker:

Speaker: Hot takes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Bad taste.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're bringing it back.

Speaker:

Speaker: Cinematic.

Speaker:

Speaker: Problematic.

Speaker:

Speaker: If it's got issues, we've got your back.

Speaker:

Speaker: Welcome to cinematic problematic.

Speaker:

Speaker: I am Aaron Maxwell, and I'm Christina Redic.

Speaker:

Speaker: And today we are going to look at the film Trading Places, the

Speaker:

Speaker: important cinematic adventure that asks us the question, do

Speaker:

Speaker: you want to funk?

Speaker:

Speaker: Inspired by Prince and the

Speaker:

Speaker: pauper by Mark Twain, this was a

Speaker:

Speaker: movie originally written for

Speaker:

Speaker: Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor,

Speaker:

Speaker: and then added a well-known

Speaker:

Speaker: scream queen when those two were

Speaker:

Speaker: unavailable.

Speaker:

Speaker: So now starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd.

Speaker:

Speaker: A twenty four year old Jamie Lee

Speaker:

Speaker: Curtis and Don Ameche, and Ralph

Speaker:

Speaker: Bellamy with Paul Gleason as

Speaker:

Speaker: Beaks.

Speaker:

Speaker: This movie was a hit when it came out.

Speaker:

Speaker: Made for fifteen million dollars

Speaker:

Speaker: and it grossed over ninety

Speaker:

Speaker: million worldwide.

Speaker:

Speaker: It cemented the star status of all of its cast and its

Speaker:

Speaker: director, John Landis, making him a blockbuster director.

Speaker:

Speaker: Taking on classism and racism,

Speaker:

Speaker: this movie was voted one of the

Speaker:

Speaker: top comedies of all time by

Speaker:

Speaker: Premiere magazine.

Speaker:

Speaker: AU premiere.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yay!

Speaker:

Speaker: But despite all of its success,

Speaker:

Speaker: it is not without a few glaring

Speaker:

Speaker: issues.

Speaker:

Speaker: And that is what we are here to discuss today.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, we're going to discuss how we should be horrified by this

Speaker:

Speaker: movie while we love it.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: So I'm going to first do what we do and just talk about my first

Speaker:

Speaker: time seeing this movie and my recollections of it as a child.

Speaker:

Speaker: So I was a little bit older when I saw this one.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, uh, maybe.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, when I say older, I mean like ten or something, like I

Speaker:

Speaker: didn't see I don't think immediately when it came out.

Speaker:

Speaker: So Eddie Murphy was still, like, on fire.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like he was like, still like, super popular and everything.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I remember watching this movie and not really thinking

Speaker:

Speaker: anything of how bad this bet was that these two guys did, because

Speaker:

Speaker: I had no moral center.

Speaker:

Speaker: I was ten, so whatever.

Speaker:

Speaker: And then I remember hearing the N word was really shocking

Speaker:

Speaker: because it always just was.

Speaker:

Speaker: Back then, like when you were a little kid, you hear that word

Speaker:

Speaker: and you're like, ah, that hurts.

Speaker:

Speaker: And so I think that was like the most shocking part of it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, the rest of it I just found hilarious.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like I had no problems with it whatsoever.

Speaker:

Speaker: But I think that once I grew up, I did start to see some of the

Speaker:

Speaker: problematic issues with it.

Speaker:

Speaker: So, yeah, I mean, I've loved this movie forever.

Speaker:

Speaker: I've only watched it maybe, I

Speaker:

Speaker: think five times in my life,

Speaker:

Speaker: probably total, most of them way

Speaker:

Speaker: longer ago, um, up until

Speaker:

Speaker: recently.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I was expecting it to be way worse than what I recall from

Speaker:

Speaker: it, but it actually like there's a couple of like glaring things

Speaker:

Speaker: that are bad, but other than that, it's just kind of like a

Speaker:

Speaker: fun 80s comedy.

Speaker:

Speaker: But we're gonna get to it.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're gonna get to the bad stuff.

Speaker:

Speaker: What was your experience like?

Speaker:

Speaker: This was the first movie where I saw boobs.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, I was very.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's all I know.

Speaker:

Speaker: It was very exciting.

Speaker:

Speaker: I saw it on HBO.

Speaker:

Speaker: I was very excited.

Speaker:

Speaker: And when it came to the party scene where, um, Billy Ray

Speaker:

Speaker: Valentine invited everybody over to the house from the bar so we

Speaker:

Speaker: can show off his new digs, and all of the women started taking

Speaker:

Speaker: off their tops.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's where I saw boobs.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, I had seen boobs before outside of my family, but not

Speaker:

Speaker: like other boobs.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, okay, I also went to,

Speaker:

Speaker: like, a loehmann's dressing

Speaker:

Speaker: room.

Speaker:

Speaker: And you saw, like, old lady boobs there.

Speaker:

Speaker: But this was like, the first time you saw, like, nice boobs.

Speaker:

Speaker: But wait a second.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay, so.

Speaker:

Speaker: So you must have seen this one a little bit later, too.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm guessing you didn't see it, like, right when it came out,

Speaker:

Speaker: because there were other movies like revenge of the nerds.

Speaker:

Speaker: Obviously, that definitely showed boobs.

Speaker:

Speaker: I saw an edited version of revenge of the nerds.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, God.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Was it like ten minutes long?

Speaker:

Speaker: It was.

Speaker:

Speaker: Did not have as much breasts as as you would imagine.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I did see that later on.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like a fully.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is the one where I did see full on nudity.

Speaker:

Speaker: Wow.

Speaker:

Speaker: So you must have.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay, so you must have seen this one maybe, like, right when it

Speaker:

Speaker: came out or around that time.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: So I would say like it took like a year and a half I guess, to

Speaker:

Speaker: get to cable.

Speaker:

Speaker: So that's like a year and a half.

Speaker:

Speaker: So I want to say it was like eighty four.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because the eighties were

Speaker:

Speaker: obsessed with boobs or boobs

Speaker:

Speaker: everywhere.

Speaker:

Speaker: It was just like they got carte blanche to like, show boobs.

Speaker:

Speaker: And like, every movie tried to find a way to show boobs, right?

Speaker:

Speaker: My parents were actually.

Speaker:

Speaker: Really?

Speaker:

Speaker: Well, not my dad as much.

Speaker:

Speaker: My mom tried really hard to keep our childhood boob free.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh. My mom tried to so much in vain.

Speaker:

Speaker: I remember seeing Dangerous Liaisons in the theater, and she

Speaker:

Speaker: kept on trying to cover my eyes, and I was like, nice try, woman.

Speaker:

Speaker: Do you know who my father is?

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: My mom tried to take us to

Speaker:

Speaker: Educating Rita, and like all of

Speaker:

Speaker: her attempts to educate us,

Speaker:

Speaker: failed.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, man, you're not going to like.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're not going to be cultured.

Speaker:

Speaker: We will not be.

Speaker:

Speaker: We will not be held back.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're gonna go home and watch the Pac-Man cartoon and undo all

Speaker:

Speaker: of your efforts.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, man.

Speaker:

Speaker: But, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Saw it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Loved it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Had no idea how this movie ended when I was a child.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, I knew that they won, but

Speaker:

Speaker: I just didn't understand the

Speaker:

Speaker: ending.

Speaker:

Speaker: I had no concept of why they won, how they won.

Speaker:

Speaker: And like, because I just didn't

Speaker:

Speaker: understand how the stock market

Speaker:

Speaker: worked.

Speaker:

Speaker: I still kind of don't get it myself.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I have been studying the stock market for the past few

Speaker:

Speaker: years, and I'm still kind of confused by it, but, uh, it

Speaker:

Speaker: doesn't really matter.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's like they want it's like when I watch industry, it's like

Speaker:

Speaker: that show might as well be in Spanish or Chinese or something

Speaker:

Speaker: to me, because I know neither of those languages, and that's what

Speaker:

Speaker: it sounds like.

Speaker:

Speaker: They're speaking to me.

Speaker:

Speaker: Sometimes I'm just like, I have no freaking idea what you're

Speaker:

Speaker: saying, and I just wait to see a character freaking out.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I'm like, oh, that's bad, that's bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: Something bad is happening.

Speaker:

Speaker: So that's how I read the stock market is by reading other

Speaker:

Speaker: people's facial expressions.

Speaker:

Speaker: I yeah, I just knew that the rich guys are now poor.

Speaker:

Speaker: The poor guys are now rich.

Speaker:

Speaker: Everybody's happy.

Speaker:

Speaker: All the wrongs have been righted and everybody's happy.

Speaker:

Speaker: Now the race is loose.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, the race is loose.

Speaker:

Speaker: We like them losing.

Speaker:

Speaker: We don't like them toying with people's lives.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Are we ready to go into the charges against them?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: So now we're going to go deep

Speaker:

Speaker: into the charges against the

Speaker:

Speaker: film.

Speaker:

Speaker: Please lead the way.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right, all right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: So I think like, the first thing that is probably the most

Speaker:

Speaker: egregious is like this, the, the premise alone of this bet.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: So, um, as we all know, the Dukes, the Duke brothers, I

Speaker:

Speaker: think it's like.

Speaker:

Speaker: What?

Speaker:

Speaker: Mortimer and Randolph.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Mortimer is like the one that's less bad, right?

Speaker:

Speaker: And Randolph is the bad one.

Speaker:

Speaker: They're both terrible.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay, so they're equally

Speaker:

Speaker: terrible for different reasons,

Speaker:

Speaker: but they're both terrible at the

Speaker:

Speaker: end.

Speaker:

Speaker: So. So the crime here is gambling with people's lives and

Speaker:

Speaker: effectively using their power to completely strip Dan Aykroyd of

Speaker:

Speaker: his wealth, his home, his standing, his job, everything.

Speaker:

Speaker: And giving that to Eddie Murphy as just a game.

Speaker:

Speaker: This was like a game to them.

Speaker:

Speaker: Let's see.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, let's challenge our like, nature versus nurture thoughts.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, with these two men and let's completely upend their lives,

Speaker:

Speaker: um, in different ways and see if we are right.

Speaker:

Speaker: And we're going to bet a dollar

Speaker:

Speaker: for it, all the while holding

Speaker:

Speaker: very racist thoughts about black

Speaker:

Speaker: people.

Speaker:

Speaker: Uh, one way more than others, I will say.

Speaker:

Speaker: But yeah, I mean, that's the biggest crime.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like the premise alone, the very premise of the film is a crime.

Speaker:

Speaker: I don't know.

Speaker:

Speaker: I don't know if they could do this today.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm not entirely sure they could

Speaker:

Speaker: pull it off because I just

Speaker:

Speaker: don't.

Speaker:

Speaker: I think people are like, they

Speaker:

Speaker: just don't have the stomach for

Speaker:

Speaker: it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, even though I still love

Speaker:

Speaker: this movie, like, I adore this

Speaker:

Speaker: movie, but I. the the premise

Speaker:

Speaker: alone.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, I feel like you couldn't even ask the question today.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, we've seen the premise before in movies like Can't

Speaker:

Speaker: Hardly Wait or She's All That.

Speaker:

Speaker: We've just seen it with like lower risk.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Way lower risk.

Speaker:

Speaker: Lower risk.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: And also like there is the

Speaker:

Speaker: implication that they make where

Speaker:

Speaker: they've done this hundreds of

Speaker:

Speaker: times.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: No. Oh yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: They have ruined hundreds, if not thousands of lives with

Speaker:

Speaker: their little petty games.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: And but it seems like this is

Speaker:

Speaker: like, the first time that

Speaker:

Speaker: they've tried it in this kind of

Speaker:

Speaker: context, though.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, it's like, let's, let's let's take a completely,

Speaker:

Speaker: like, destitute black man who has turned to a life of crime or

Speaker:

Speaker: whatever they say.

Speaker:

Speaker: And, you know, let's swap places and see if, like, if he's just

Speaker:

Speaker: given the right, like if he's given the right opportunities

Speaker:

Speaker: and the right privileges, then he's going to excel just as much

Speaker:

Speaker: as the white person.

Speaker:

Speaker: Now, at the end of it, you know, you could argue one could argue

Speaker:

Speaker: that it is making an argument for the nurture argument, right?

Speaker:

Speaker: Which says that if you give

Speaker:

Speaker: people the right resources, they

Speaker:

Speaker: will flourish.

Speaker:

Speaker: So in a sense, like in the end,

Speaker:

Speaker: you could you could argue that

Speaker:

Speaker: it's trying to say something

Speaker:

Speaker: positive.

Speaker:

Speaker: But the way that they get there, oh my God, I mean, is it

Speaker:

Speaker: shocking that if you treat someone with a little fucking

Speaker:

Speaker: dignity that they're going to, like, thrive in that situation?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, I mean, look, it's obvious to us, right?

Speaker:

Speaker: It's obvious to us.

Speaker:

Speaker: I don't think that there's any

Speaker:

Speaker: question there, but yeah, like

Speaker:

Speaker: the premise alone is super

Speaker:

Speaker: cringe.

Speaker:

Speaker: And as you're kind of like

Speaker:

Speaker: watching it go down, you're just

Speaker:

Speaker: like, oof, oh, yeah, I remember

Speaker:

Speaker: this.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's like, I didn't think a thing of it when I was a kid,

Speaker:

Speaker: though, like didn't think one thing of it.

Speaker:

Speaker: I was just like, yeah, okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, go ahead and run the bet.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, it just didn't even cross my mind really, until they got

Speaker:

Speaker: like, you know, like I said, you know, hearing like the n word at

Speaker:

Speaker: the end, I was like, oh, okay, this is this isn't good anymore.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: I want to see them go down and usually using the n word in any

Speaker:

Speaker: movie would give anybody pause.

Speaker:

Speaker: As it should.

Speaker:

Speaker: But because they are the villains, you want them to go

Speaker:

Speaker: down even more.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: You want to see them fail?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because they're evil.

Speaker:

Speaker: And you know that because of their use of language.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: If it wasn't clear at the beginning of the movie, it's

Speaker:

Speaker: certainly clear towards the end, in the bathroom scene where

Speaker:

Speaker: Eddie Murphy's character is hiding in the stall and

Speaker:

Speaker: overhears the Dukes talking about the bet.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I think that's when they drop it, right?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, that's when they drop the the line.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, that's like the biggest one.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's the big enchilada.

Speaker:

Speaker: Any more thoughts on the premise?

Speaker:

Speaker: On the premise itself?

Speaker:

Speaker: There is lessons to be learned.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, I feel like Winthrop did need to learn a lesson there,

Speaker:

Speaker: because I think he's supposed to be, like, in his twenties, even

Speaker:

Speaker: though Dan Aykroyd, I don't think, was in his twenties.

Speaker:

Speaker: Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't look in her twenties.

Speaker:

Speaker: No, but she was twenty four.

Speaker:

Speaker: I know, that's nuts.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's nuts.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, and Eddie Murphy was twenty one.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, I believe that for sure.

Speaker:

Speaker: I totally believe that.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I'm going to say this several times.

Speaker:

Speaker: And Eddie Murphy is absolutely fantastic in this movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, my God, he's so good.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is prime Eddie Murphy.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is this is why he is a star.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's a genius.

Speaker:

Speaker: Absolute genius.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's a genius.

Speaker:

Speaker: We love him.

Speaker:

Speaker: But as for the experiment itself, the only good you could

Speaker:

Speaker: have gotten out of this experiment was the fact that

Speaker:

Speaker: Winthrop learned something.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: No. Winthrop is a dick because he is an absolute dick.

Speaker:

Speaker: And you take a lot of.

Speaker:

Speaker: Or at least I took a lot of

Speaker:

Speaker: pleasure in watching him lose

Speaker:

Speaker: everything.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because he's such a pompous asshole.

Speaker:

Speaker: And he's like, one of those guys

Speaker:

Speaker: that, you know, sees a black man

Speaker:

Speaker: on the street and starts

Speaker:

Speaker: screaming.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's trying to.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's trying to rob me.

Speaker:

Speaker: This man's trying to rob me.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, it's like, ah.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's like you kind of do want to

Speaker:

Speaker: see this guy go down, but you

Speaker:

Speaker: have to kind of like give Dan

Speaker:

Speaker: Aykroyd a little bit of credit,

Speaker:

Speaker: too, because he does take this

Speaker:

Speaker: character from being, like,

Speaker:

Speaker: somewhat despicable and totally

Speaker:

Speaker: unlikable Likable to like seeing

Speaker:

Speaker: him down in the dumps, to see

Speaker:

Speaker: him kind of turn over a new leaf

Speaker:

Speaker: and whatever.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like he hits bottom in a pretty memorable way.

Speaker:

Speaker: But that Santa is the Santa.

Speaker:

Speaker: So good.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, I'm still waiting for a

Speaker:

Speaker: Halloween for someone to do that

Speaker:

Speaker: Santa with a salmon stuck in his

Speaker:

Speaker: beard.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, just like sit across from you to party, eating salmon out

Speaker:

Speaker: of his beard and, like, so I could just do a slow clap.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, my God, somebody needs to do that.

Speaker:

Speaker: I want I I'm gonna I'm gonna talk my husband into doing.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'll be Ophelia and then he'll be like salmon eating Santa.

Speaker:

Speaker: And you have to get like, the beard all matted and sooty.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, and, like, just really, there's no other way.

Speaker:

Speaker: No, it has to be.

Speaker:

Speaker: You have to, like, carry around a flask and you're like Santa

Speaker:

Speaker: pocket for a group costume.

Speaker:

Speaker: You just have other people dressed as disgusted bus people

Speaker:

Speaker: looking at you.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, or they could be the characters from the train.

Speaker:

Speaker: Shall we go into that?

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm sorry.

Speaker:

Speaker: Our next crime.

Speaker:

Speaker: Our next crime.

Speaker:

Speaker: Erin doesn't even want to talk about it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Do you want me to talk about it first, or do you want to go?

Speaker:

Speaker: I would feel more comfortable if you were to talk about it first.

Speaker:

Speaker: I do have more protection

Speaker:

Speaker: naturally when talking about

Speaker:

Speaker: this, and I will agree with you

Speaker:

Speaker: enthusiastically with everything

Speaker:

Speaker: I say.

Speaker:

Speaker: Just nod and say yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes, you're right.

Speaker:

Speaker: That was that was really bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, okay, so the next one.

Speaker:

Speaker: I don't even know how you describe we.

Speaker:

Speaker: I had a hard time even naming

Speaker:

Speaker: what this crime is, because it

Speaker:

Speaker: is like a movie's worth of

Speaker:

Speaker: stereotypes into, like, one five

Speaker:

Speaker: minute scene.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's like all of, like, the bad things that happen in, like,

Speaker:

Speaker: revenge of the nerds in, like, one confined scene.

Speaker:

Speaker: So beaks has the briefcase with the numbers from, like, the

Speaker:

Speaker: orange juice Fucking Futures or whatever the fuck it is.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right?

Speaker:

Speaker: The stuff that the Dukes want

Speaker:

Speaker: has the briefcase in the train

Speaker:

Speaker: car, and the idea is to

Speaker:

Speaker: intercept this and do a little

Speaker:

Speaker: bit of a switcheroo with the

Speaker:

Speaker: briefcases.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: So our our cast of characters are now all friends.

Speaker:

Speaker: Eddie Murphy's character, Billy Ray Valentine.

Speaker:

Speaker: Winthorpe.

Speaker:

Speaker: Ophelia and the Butler.

Speaker:

Speaker: Coleman.

Speaker:

Speaker: Coleman.

Speaker:

Speaker: Coleman.

Speaker:

Speaker: Denholm.

Speaker:

Speaker: Elliott.

Speaker:

Speaker: Thank you Denholm.

Speaker:

Speaker: So they all go in at various times in disguise, and the first

Speaker:

Speaker: one to enter is Eddie Murphy's character, who is from Cameroon.

Speaker:

Speaker: And the best thing about this character?

Speaker:

Speaker: He walks in and I don't even know what you call this device,

Speaker:

Speaker: but he's like swatting imaginary flies away from himself on a bus

Speaker:

Speaker: or a train that has no flies on it, by the way.

Speaker:

Speaker: But the implication is that he's

Speaker:

Speaker: so used to swatting flies away

Speaker:

Speaker: that it's just part of his

Speaker:

Speaker: natural movement as a person

Speaker:

Speaker: from Cameroon, and he sits down

Speaker:

Speaker: and does like the stereotypical

Speaker:

Speaker: all smiling like student from

Speaker:

Speaker: Cameroon and just like swatting

Speaker:

Speaker: flies away from himself, doing

Speaker:

Speaker: the accent and everything,

Speaker:

Speaker: you're like, okay, that's Eddie

Speaker:

Speaker: Murphy.

Speaker:

Speaker: I guess he can get away with that, right?

Speaker:

Speaker: And so you're not too scared until.

Speaker:

Speaker: And then I believe that's when Coleman comes in.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's when Coleman comes in,

Speaker:

Speaker: and then he's just a drunk Irish

Speaker:

Speaker: priest.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: And so then we have our next.

Speaker:

Speaker: Not a great stereotype.

Speaker:

Speaker: Not a good look for for people from Ireland.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's just, you know, he's coming in.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's he's all dolled up, he's

Speaker:

Speaker: offering drinks out of his flask

Speaker:

Speaker: and kindly turns down some beef

Speaker:

Speaker: jerky.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, but not again, not the greatest.

Speaker:

Speaker: Look, we're we're about to see.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're about to see much worse.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: So by comparison.

Speaker:

Speaker: But it's fine.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right now we're just like, okay, so it was, you know, it was sale

Speaker:

Speaker: at the store.

Speaker:

Speaker: Fine.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: And then we get Jamie Lee Curtis.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Olga from Sweden.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Uh, dressed as an Austrian backpacker but with a Swedish

Speaker:

Speaker: accent, because Jamie Lee, God bless her Oscar winning soul,

Speaker:

Speaker: could not do an Austrian accent, so they just couldn't really be

Speaker:

Speaker: that important for this.

Speaker:

Speaker: I cannot believe they completely

Speaker:

Speaker: flipped on that character just

Speaker:

Speaker: because she couldn't do an

Speaker:

Speaker: Austrian accent.

Speaker:

Speaker: And who is really gonna know it works for the character?

Speaker:

Speaker: Like I believe Ophelia couldn't do an Austrian accent and just

Speaker:

Speaker: went with Sweden.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, it's fine, it's fine.

Speaker:

Speaker: It worked fine.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I mean, by the way, who's gonna notice her accent?

Speaker:

Speaker: The way she was dressed?

Speaker:

Speaker: Not to blame a woman for how she dresses, but let's just say that

Speaker:

Speaker: she looked pretty darn good.

Speaker:

Speaker: And she was dressed very

Speaker:

Speaker: deliberately to distract Mr.

Speaker:

Speaker: Beaks.

Speaker:

Speaker: Correct, yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: So she was like, putting her boobs in his face and saying,

Speaker:

Speaker: hey, can you help me with my backpack or whatever?

Speaker:

Speaker: Nutsack my nutsack.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: She had a very specific role in

Speaker:

Speaker: this shell game that they were

Speaker:

Speaker: playing with the briefcase and

Speaker:

Speaker: her roles, that she was the

Speaker:

Speaker: distraction.

Speaker:

Speaker: And she's the least offensive of all of them, I think.

Speaker:

Speaker: I think Eddie Murphy gets away with it because, I mean, at

Speaker:

Speaker: least he's not in blackface.

Speaker:

Speaker: That would be really bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, if the movie went there,

Speaker:

Speaker: that would be pretty terrible,

Speaker:

Speaker: right?

Speaker:

Speaker: That leads us to our final component.

Speaker:

Speaker: Lionel.

Speaker:

Speaker: Lionel.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay, I'll intro Lionel for you.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'll do it for you.

Speaker:

Speaker: Thank you.

Speaker:

Speaker: Lionel.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because I am not.

Speaker:

Speaker: Lionel is played by Dan Aykroyd and he is a Jamaican.

Speaker:

Speaker: It was a Jamaican student or something.

Speaker:

Speaker: Jamaican student.

Speaker:

Speaker: He has dreadlocks.

Speaker:

Speaker: He has like the Rastafarian hat on and he comes in in blackface.

Speaker:

Speaker: And just being totally stereotypical Jamaican like

Speaker:

Speaker: Rastafarian, it's just it's like, I think I blacked out.

Speaker:

Speaker: Pun intended, I guess when I saw it, because it's so bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's just like it's shocking.

Speaker:

Speaker: I forgot about this.

Speaker:

Speaker: I totally forgot about this one part when I was watching it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Part of the reason why I wanted to do this movie, and why it was

Speaker:

Speaker: suggested, is because whenever I watch reactors and I watch a lot

Speaker:

Speaker: of people reacting, especially like Gen Z reacting to movies

Speaker:

Speaker: from the eighties, I love it whenever they watch this movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: Whenever Lionel opens that door and comes through to the scene,

Speaker:

Speaker: there is an there's a pause and people gasp and they almost

Speaker:

Speaker: always pause the movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: and then there's just silence because no one can really take

Speaker:

Speaker: what in what is going on because no one has seen it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: No. I mean, and it's like people don't do this anymore.

Speaker:

Speaker: They don't do it anymore.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's like it is completely.

Speaker:

Speaker: And thank God it's not done anymore.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, for very good reason.

Speaker:

Speaker: People don't do this.

Speaker:

Speaker: Except for once again, like

Speaker:

Speaker: Robert Downey Jr and Tropic

Speaker:

Speaker: Thunder and.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: And they've seen Tropic Thunder.

Speaker:

Speaker: And even then, they don't realize what blackface is.

Speaker:

Speaker: They think that's maybe it.

Speaker:

Speaker: And because that's not it.

Speaker:

Speaker: And that's done to caricature an

Speaker:

Speaker: actor with like a method actor,

Speaker:

Speaker: like a method actor and not

Speaker:

Speaker: really what, that this is what

Speaker:

Speaker: that is.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right, right.

Speaker:

Speaker: No, this is like the worst example of it.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, okay, Soul Man beats it

Speaker:

Speaker: because the entire movie is in

Speaker:

Speaker: blackface.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're not going to talk about it.

Speaker:

Speaker: I saw Aaron's face just drop.

Speaker:

Speaker: So we're not going to mention Soul Man right now.

Speaker:

Speaker: My soul left my body just momentarily.

Speaker:

Speaker: No, even talking about Dan

Speaker:

Speaker: Aykroyd in blackface is too much

Speaker:

Speaker: for her.

Speaker:

Speaker: I have to be our strength for her again.

Speaker:

Speaker: When the ball will be back in my court.

Speaker:

Speaker: Whenever we talk about Yentl.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh. That's true.

Speaker:

Speaker: And then I'm going to be like, you take this one, girl.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, I don't want to do it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, for the eighties, it was.

Speaker:

Speaker: It was what the eighties did.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's just what they did.

Speaker:

Speaker: They just fucking didn't give a shit.

Speaker:

Speaker: They just, like, put people in blackface.

Speaker:

Speaker: They were misogynistic.

Speaker:

Speaker: They made fun of people from other countries, and they had a

Speaker:

Speaker: blast doing it.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's just the way that it was.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's not as funny now, but, you know, it was of the time and the

Speaker:

Speaker: whole thing is so slapstick, and the whole thing is so ridiculous

Speaker:

Speaker: that you can almost say, you know, that that's part of the

Speaker:

Speaker: ridiculousness of it, that it's like, so over the top.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, once again, I part of my job is to search for the good,

Speaker:

Speaker: which is what I am very clumsily attempting to doing right now.

Speaker:

Speaker: But but it's not good.

Speaker:

Speaker: But just in the scene.

Speaker:

Speaker: But yeah, I mean it's this entire scene is almost like just

Speaker:

Speaker: a standalone SNL sketch.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, like the whole the whole movie is kind of like

Speaker:

Speaker: it's, you know, a little bit over the top kind of slapstick,

Speaker:

Speaker: but this is like way over the top of the costumes and the

Speaker:

Speaker: caricatures and all that stuff.

Speaker:

Speaker: And like the shell game, as you called it, with the briefcase.

Speaker:

Speaker: So it definitely does stand out for that.

Speaker:

Speaker: But, uh, yeah, that was bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're not like, Dan Aykroyd doesn't get to do that anymore.

Speaker:

Speaker: I wonder what he thinks about that.

Speaker:

Speaker: Has he ever commented on that?

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm sure he has.

Speaker:

Speaker: I haven't been able to find anything online, but I'm sure

Speaker:

Speaker: it's out there.

Speaker:

Speaker: So find it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, we'll find it.

Speaker:

Speaker: We'll find it.

Speaker:

Speaker: We're emotionally exhausted from talking about this one scene, so

Speaker:

Speaker: I do want to say that I'm sure Dan Aykroyd is a lovely, lovely,

Speaker:

Speaker: lovely human being.

Speaker:

Speaker: He sang on the way of the world album.

Speaker:

Speaker: Of course he's lovely.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, he makes like, like skull

Speaker:

Speaker: vodka and he's like, super into

Speaker:

Speaker: aliens.

Speaker:

Speaker: He seems really nice.

Speaker:

Speaker: He seems like a really nice human being.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, I'm sure that he wrote Ghostbusters, like.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's so good.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's good.

Speaker:

Speaker: Good.

Speaker:

Speaker: I feel like he is.

Speaker:

Speaker: Ghostbusters.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, that's his character from, like.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's that guy.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's just Ray.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's just Ray.

Speaker:

Speaker: He's just Ray.

Speaker:

Speaker: And he happens to make vodka.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm into it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Good for him.

Speaker:

Speaker: Good for Ray.

Speaker:

Speaker: Seems like he's doing great.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm a fan.

Speaker:

Speaker: Well, we'll forgive him.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, it was a different time.

Speaker:

Speaker: Different time?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I don't think he wrote this, so I think you're fine.

Speaker:

Speaker: Well, we'll just throw this in Landis's direction.

Speaker:

Speaker: Well, he's already blamed for some much bigger things.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is the least of Landis's.

Speaker:

Speaker: Really?

Speaker:

Speaker: Several months before this, I believe.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Do you want to.

Speaker:

Speaker: Do you want to explain what happened?

Speaker:

Speaker: For the people that don't know.

Speaker:

Speaker: Several months before this, Mr.

Speaker:

Speaker: Landis was involved in a

Speaker:

Speaker: horrific accident on set during

Speaker:

Speaker: the making of the Twilight Zone

Speaker:

Speaker: movie, in which his segment went

Speaker:

Speaker: horribly awry.

Speaker:

Speaker: And the star of his segment, along with two child actors.

Speaker:

Speaker: So Vic Morrow and two child actors were horrifically killed

Speaker:

Speaker: and he then had to go to trial.

Speaker:

Speaker: Mhm.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Threatened to end his career.

Speaker:

Speaker: But I don't believe it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Did I think that like he still got coming to America and some

Speaker:

Speaker: other stuff too.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um in spite of it, it was I believe.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: The trial ended up.

Speaker:

Speaker: He was found not guilty.

Speaker:

Speaker: I believe he there were fines and such that he had to pay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because I think that her safety issues.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like there were safety issues that were overlooked.

Speaker:

Speaker: I think if I'm recalling

Speaker:

Speaker: correctly, it's a longer

Speaker:

Speaker: discussion.

Speaker:

Speaker: There's a lot.

Speaker:

Speaker: There was a lot going on there.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: And to tell you the truth, I'm not so well versed in exactly

Speaker:

Speaker: what happened on that set to talk about it, but.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes, but there were multitude of issues.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay, fair.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: We can move on.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Move on.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, okay, so the next crime, I mean, this is we're about to get

Speaker:

Speaker: into kind of like.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like we're moving into misdemeanor territory because I

Speaker:

Speaker: think that those are, those are like the big ones.

Speaker:

Speaker: Am I missing any big, big ones?

Speaker:

Speaker: Well, I mean, these are just

Speaker:

Speaker: like, you know, crimes against

Speaker:

Speaker: the audience.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, crimes against the audience.

Speaker:

Speaker: Crimes against our conscience.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, there's other crimes like within the movie, but

Speaker:

Speaker: there's also many crimes that are not actual crimes that I

Speaker:

Speaker: feel are criminal.

Speaker:

Speaker: Still like.

Speaker:

Speaker: And we can get to the misdemeanors.

Speaker:

Speaker: I don't want to.

Speaker:

Speaker: I want to know what those are.

Speaker:

Speaker: Misdemeanors.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: The little ones.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Use of the word mumsy.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like I felt my stomach sink when I heard, like the way that she

Speaker:

Speaker: says it too is like, mumsy.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's, uh, gross.

Speaker:

Speaker: I will say this, that everybody that that isn't Lewis and that

Speaker:

Speaker: isn't Billy Ray is a stereotype.

Speaker:

Speaker: So all of the white people are super white, like the whitest.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: That you've ever seen on film.

Speaker:

Speaker: They are the yuppies at Jello

Speaker:

Speaker: Biafra have warned us about for

Speaker:

Speaker: years.

Speaker:

Speaker: They are straight out of an L.L. bean catalog.

Speaker:

Speaker: They are singing in barbershop quartets.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, we'll get to that.

Speaker:

Speaker: They are.

Speaker:

Speaker: They are wearing horrific fashions.

Speaker:

Speaker: They are terrible treating their

Speaker:

Speaker: servants in the worst possible

Speaker:

Speaker: way.

Speaker:

Speaker: They're just awful.

Speaker:

Speaker: And then everybody that Billy

Speaker:

Speaker: Ray hangs out with, they're also

Speaker:

Speaker: stereotypes.

Speaker:

Speaker: They're they're kind of depicted as trash because they don't have

Speaker:

Speaker: any respect for his household.

Speaker:

Speaker: They don't have any respect for him.

Speaker:

Speaker: And they party topless.

Speaker:

Speaker: They wreck the place.

Speaker:

Speaker: They wreck the place.

Speaker:

Speaker: They put their coals out on his rug.

Speaker:

Speaker: His very expensive rug.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, not cool at all.

Speaker:

Speaker: And he kicks them all out.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because he's learned the.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is when he starts to turn,

Speaker:

Speaker: when he starts to be a

Speaker:

Speaker: respectable human being, I guess

Speaker:

Speaker: according to the movie

Speaker:

Speaker: standards.

Speaker:

Speaker: But yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: So you just listed a whole bunch of misdemeanors, actually,

Speaker:

Speaker: mumsy, the a cappella song at the country club, that.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's pretty bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: And you brought this up earlier before we started recording.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's not the song or who sings it.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's the lyrics.

Speaker:

Speaker: If you listen to them, if you really listen to them, it's

Speaker:

Speaker: basically these four.

Speaker:

Speaker: Was it four guys at the country

Speaker:

Speaker: club singing about the sexual

Speaker:

Speaker: personalities, I guess, of each

Speaker:

Speaker: one of the women that are at the

Speaker:

Speaker: country club.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's where each of them had had sexual relations with each one

Speaker:

Speaker: of the girls and then whatever she was doing.

Speaker:

Speaker: But if you do it as an a

Speaker:

Speaker: cappella song, it actually

Speaker:

Speaker: sounds sweet.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, cool.

Speaker:

Speaker: Let's let's try that out.

Speaker:

Speaker: Valentine's day is coming up.

Speaker:

Speaker: Let's give that a try.

Speaker:

Speaker: We've got, like, a couple weeks.

Speaker:

Speaker: Let's throw a song together and go sing it out.

Speaker:

Speaker: Why not?

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, it's all in the packaging.

Speaker:

Speaker: Erin, you don't understand.

Speaker:

Speaker: My husband will divorce me.

Speaker:

Speaker: Do you know how quickly I will be single?

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh my God.

Speaker:

Speaker: Let's test it out.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, okay, so the a cappella song is terrible, and the guy singing

Speaker:

Speaker: it are just, like, giving such small d energy.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's, like, not even funny.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, also, those guys, like, I

Speaker:

Speaker: don't know, I think they're all

Speaker:

Speaker: supposed to be somewhat recent

Speaker:

Speaker: college graduates.

Speaker:

Speaker: And those guys are like range in ages between forty eight and

Speaker:

Speaker: like sixty two.

Speaker:

Speaker: But that's how they looked back then.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh my God.

Speaker:

Speaker: They just aged differently.

Speaker:

Speaker: They just aged differently.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like it's just like Jamie Lee Curtis.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, she doesn't look old, but she looks very mature, you

Speaker:

Speaker: know what I mean?

Speaker:

Speaker: She definitely looks like mature.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like she's hot.

Speaker:

Speaker: She's hot, smokin hot.

Speaker:

Speaker: So when she takes off her shirt,

Speaker:

Speaker: even I'm like, ooh, girl, look

Speaker:

Speaker: at you.

Speaker:

Speaker: You look great.

Speaker:

Speaker: You look fabulous.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, she looks awesome.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, like I would kill for that body.

Speaker:

Speaker: So good.

Speaker:

Speaker: Now, I mean, I get it.

Speaker:

Speaker: I understand why they made her take her shirt off.

Speaker:

Speaker: She offered.

Speaker:

Speaker: She did?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, because she wanted to

Speaker:

Speaker: break out of being a scream

Speaker:

Speaker: queen.

Speaker:

Speaker: And she wanted to get into comedic roles, and they didn't

Speaker:

Speaker: have a lot of faith in her.

Speaker:

Speaker: So her willingness to take her shirt off is really what sold

Speaker:

Speaker: her to the producers.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, I can see how it sold, like, good for her.

Speaker:

Speaker: Once again, it was a different time.

Speaker:

Speaker: Wait, what other misdemeanors are there?

Speaker:

Speaker: Those are.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, the bows in the hair.

Speaker:

Speaker: The grown women with bows in their hair.

Speaker:

Speaker: How all the yuppie women are dressed.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, they're dressed like JonBenet.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like they look terrible.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like they look like grown up JonBenet Ramsey.

Speaker:

Speaker: And that's terrible.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, rest in peace.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's so sad.

Speaker:

Speaker: But that's what she looks like.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like little girl pageant queens.

Speaker:

Speaker: But as grown women.

Speaker:

Speaker: And it's really, really, really bizarre.

Speaker:

Speaker: Penelope's white dress that she wears before she has sex with

Speaker:

Speaker: Louis is literally, what, like a four year old would wear to,

Speaker:

Speaker: like, a church ceremony.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's so disturbing.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, well, when they when they start to, like, get it on, like

Speaker:

Speaker: in that, like, what is it like the den or something?

Speaker:

Speaker: And she's, like, in her bra and underwear and the bow.

Speaker:

Speaker: I was just like, oh, this.

Speaker:

Speaker: There's so many elements of wrong here.

Speaker:

Speaker: There's so many elements wrong.

Speaker:

Speaker: It sounds it looks like a little girl is about to do something

Speaker:

Speaker: she should not be doing.

Speaker:

Speaker: And it's just the fashion that they put these women in.

Speaker:

Speaker: The yuppie, the yuppie women, I should say.

Speaker:

Speaker: Awful.

Speaker:

Speaker: Just terrible.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I don't think I've ever seen

Speaker:

Speaker: a person actually dressed like

Speaker:

Speaker: this?

Speaker:

Speaker: Maybe American Psycho had a couple.

Speaker:

Speaker: Was that American Psycho?

Speaker:

Speaker: I feel like American Psycho.

Speaker:

Speaker: They did a really good job of

Speaker:

Speaker: trying to make the women look

Speaker:

Speaker: sophisticated.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because they were always in, like, really chic restaurants,

Speaker:

Speaker: and they were in the back of limos, and they were going to

Speaker:

Speaker: upscale, like Christmas parties.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: So they were there making an effort to make them look very

Speaker:

Speaker: like top tier.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: That makes sense, you know.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, but still eighties.

Speaker:

Speaker: This was, uh.

Speaker:

Speaker: This was like role playing.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: This was gross.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's so gross.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Those are the three main misdemeanors I have.

Speaker:

Speaker: Do you have any?

Speaker:

Speaker: I have, like, a list of some of the fun actual crimes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Which the big one.

Speaker:

Speaker: And this is actually kind of like we fold this into, like,

Speaker:

Speaker: more of a fun fact, but it has to do with the ending, which is

Speaker:

Speaker: the insider trading, which is how the movie ends, which was

Speaker:

Speaker: rolled into a fun fact.

Speaker:

Speaker: So basically what they are trying to corner the frozen

Speaker:

Speaker: orange juice market.

Speaker:

Speaker: A little bit of insider trading

Speaker:

Speaker: done by buying the results of

Speaker:

Speaker: the market.

Speaker:

Speaker: Sure.

Speaker:

Speaker: Whatever the weather report.

Speaker:

Speaker: The weather report?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because of this, Wall Street, as part of the Transparency and

Speaker:

Speaker: Accountability Act, established what they now call the Eddie

Speaker:

Speaker: Murphy Rule, which is fun.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's a direct result of this movie because what the how the

Speaker:

Speaker: movie ended, even though what Beeks was doing was a crime.

Speaker:

Speaker: What Louis and Billy Ray were doing was not a crime.

Speaker:

Speaker: They were very much cornering the market.

Speaker:

Speaker: You were allowed to do that.

Speaker:

Speaker: That was very legal at the time, although not how they gained

Speaker:

Speaker: that information, but the act of actually how they were doing it

Speaker:

Speaker: was very legal.

Speaker:

Speaker: It was just like using the information that they got

Speaker:

Speaker: illegally that was illegal.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: So Congress passed the Eddie

Speaker:

Speaker: Murphy Rule, which was an act of

Speaker:

Speaker: financial reform, banning the

Speaker:

Speaker: kind of trading based on

Speaker:

Speaker: non-public government

Speaker:

Speaker: information depicted in the

Speaker:

Speaker: movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: So everything that was done at

Speaker:

Speaker: the end of the movie is now

Speaker:

Speaker: legal, but only as of twenty

Speaker:

Speaker: ten.

Speaker:

Speaker: Mhm.

Speaker:

Speaker: Wow.

Speaker:

Speaker: I love that I want a law named after me one day.

Speaker:

Speaker: One day a girl can dream.

Speaker:

Speaker: It could happen still.

Speaker:

Speaker: Thanks.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Any any other ones?

Speaker:

Speaker: Anything that we're forgetting, like from the actual film?

Speaker:

Speaker: Because the film itself, it's

Speaker:

Speaker: like after, like, those major

Speaker:

Speaker: beats.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's just kind of like an eighties comedy.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's just funny.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, there are little things that you can pick apart with it

Speaker:

Speaker: as far as, like, plot issues and things like that.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, like, well, how did he kick him out of his house?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: How did he.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know that you can kind of tear apart and and throw.

Speaker:

Speaker: But the truth is, is like, in

Speaker:

Speaker: the end, it's a really well done

Speaker:

Speaker: comedy.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: And it's very hand wavy.

Speaker:

Speaker: And they hand wave the stuff that they should have.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's just like, I don't need to

Speaker:

Speaker: know that information

Speaker:

Speaker: necessarily.

Speaker:

Speaker: We just know that, like, the

Speaker:

Speaker: that the Dukes are very rich and

Speaker:

Speaker: powerful.

Speaker:

Speaker: They can probably do a lot.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like they probably have a lot of people on the payroll, like both

Speaker:

Speaker: within their company and outside of their company, you know.

Speaker:

Speaker: And so, you know, I'm glad that they kind of like glossed over

Speaker:

Speaker: that they were able to get their hands on angel dust.

Speaker:

Speaker: So maybe they were able to get

Speaker:

Speaker: their hands on like when the

Speaker:

Speaker: lease.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, you know, you never know.

Speaker:

Speaker: You never know.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, I don't know how he's able to get his lease.

Speaker:

Speaker: I don't know how he was able to get it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, I don't really understand how Louie's stealing marked

Speaker:

Speaker: fifty dollars bills, got him ejected from his club, because

Speaker:

Speaker: that seemed like such a low amount of money to steal.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: But I just it just goes towards integrity.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I don't belong to this club, so maybe that's something that

Speaker:

Speaker: comes up often, I don't know.

Speaker:

Speaker: Right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: But I'm willing to just go with it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, you have to go with it.

Speaker:

Speaker: In a movie like this.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is not like inception, right?

Speaker:

Speaker: Like you just go along with it.

Speaker:

Speaker: We don't need to know the details.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, the point is that these two men traded.

Speaker:

Speaker: They traded places.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: And we want to see the hilarity that ensues as a result of that.

Speaker:

Speaker: And they did a very, very good job.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: And the lessons that were

Speaker:

Speaker: learned and the lessons that

Speaker:

Speaker: were learned and the friends we

Speaker:

Speaker: made along the way, the friends

Speaker:

Speaker: we made along the way, they did

Speaker:

Speaker: make friends and the pina

Speaker:

Speaker: coladas.

Speaker:

Speaker: We sipped on the beach together after we won.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's not about whether or not

Speaker:

Speaker: they had the rights to that

Speaker:

Speaker: lease.

Speaker:

Speaker: No it's not.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's about do you want to funk?

Speaker:

Speaker: It's about do you want to funk?

Speaker:

Speaker: Nice.

Speaker:

Speaker: Nice way of bringing it all the way back.

Speaker:

Speaker: Full circle.

Speaker:

Speaker: Thank you very, very much.

Speaker:

Speaker: Thank you.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm very proud.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's so great.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Next up, do we Chuck or cherish?

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, we're gonna cherish this movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: I know, I love this movie so much.

Speaker:

Speaker: I love this movie so much.

Speaker:

Speaker: This is this is, like, so not up for debate at all.

Speaker:

Speaker: And let's face it, we cherish

Speaker:

Speaker: this movie because of Eddie

Speaker:

Speaker: Murphy.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh. So good.

Speaker:

Speaker: Dan aykroyd.

Speaker:

Speaker: Dan Aykroyd, Jamie lee Curtis.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Everybody in it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Denholm Elliott is great in it.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know, the Dukes are great.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, it's just it's just It's just a classic.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's just a classic and it brings me joy.

Speaker:

Speaker: It covers three holidays so you can watch it.

Speaker:

Speaker: You have three times a year in which you can watch, or you have

Speaker:

Speaker: an excuse to watch it.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: So you can watch it.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's a Thanksgiving movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's a Christmas movie, and it's a New Year's movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's definitely, you know what?

Speaker:

Speaker: I associate it the most with Christmas, I think, like, I

Speaker:

Speaker: think it is kind of like one of the lost Christmas movies that

Speaker:

Speaker: never gets put on the Christmas movie list, but I think it

Speaker:

Speaker: deserves to be there.

Speaker:

Speaker: I did learn during all my research for this that it is

Speaker:

Speaker: considered a major Christmas movie in Italy.

Speaker:

Speaker: So it is actually played on prime time in Italy every year.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's wild.

Speaker:

Speaker: I would never think that it is.

Speaker:

Speaker: Trading places would be an Italian hit.

Speaker:

Speaker: Over Christmas of all like it's their Christmas story.

Speaker:

Speaker: Interesting.

Speaker:

Speaker: And the families rejoice around it.

Speaker:

Speaker: And they have favorite scenes that they reenact, not conclave.

Speaker:

Speaker: Just kidding.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's conclave.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because I would think that they would rally around that one, if

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm being honest.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's kind of like how we cherish Die Hard as a Christmas movie?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: But they like, literally since

Speaker:

Speaker: it's come out like, like really

Speaker:

Speaker: get on board with this and watch

Speaker:

Speaker: the unedited version on prime

Speaker:

Speaker: time television.

Speaker:

Speaker: I love that every year.

Speaker:

Speaker: Wait, they can watch it unedited on prime time television?

Speaker:

Speaker: It's Italy.

Speaker:

Speaker: You can do that.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, same with France.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh my God.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, I need to move.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right, well, that's good.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Any bonus battery you want to discuss?

Speaker:

Speaker: Uh, yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: This film is filled with all sorts of crazy cameos.

Speaker:

Speaker: Some of them are really big.

Speaker:

Speaker: Some of them are very small.

Speaker:

Speaker: So I'm just going to quickly,

Speaker:

Speaker: quickly, quickly go through

Speaker:

Speaker: them.

Speaker:

Speaker: First one is Giancarlo Esposito as the fresh faced thug in jail

Speaker:

Speaker: with no lines.

Speaker:

Speaker: No lines.

Speaker:

Speaker: I think he does have one line where he like defends.

Speaker:

Speaker: He defends Billy.

Speaker:

Speaker: I don't remember him having

Speaker:

Speaker: seconds, but maybe he could be

Speaker:

Speaker: right.

Speaker:

Speaker: You could be right.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm not remembering.

Speaker:

Speaker: If you're not familiar with Mr.

Speaker:

Speaker: Esposito's work, he played Gus

Speaker:

Speaker: in Breaking Bad and Better Call

Speaker:

Speaker: Saul, Moff Gideon in The

Speaker:

Speaker: Mandalorian, and Stan Edgar and

Speaker:

Speaker: the boys?

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: And he is fabulous.

Speaker:

Speaker: And we love him.

Speaker:

Speaker: Frank Oz, better known as the voice of Yoda, the voice of

Speaker:

Speaker: Grover, and the voice of Miss Piggy, makes a brief appearance

Speaker:

Speaker: as the police officer who tests and tastes the angel dust when

Speaker:

Speaker: Louis is being booked.

Speaker:

Speaker: Going back to that question is, did cops actually ever really do

Speaker:

Speaker: that or was that a movie thing?

Speaker:

Speaker: I haven't the faintest idea.

Speaker:

Speaker: I see all the time in movies from like a long time ago where

Speaker:

Speaker: they like, kind of like dip their finger in the cocaine to

Speaker:

Speaker: see if it's actual cocaine.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's like, do you do, like, take

Speaker:

Speaker: a cocaine tasting test or

Speaker:

Speaker: something?

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, how does that work?

Speaker:

Speaker: And I don't get the rubbing it on their teeth either, so I

Speaker:

Speaker: don't know that one either.

Speaker:

Speaker: Um, I guess it's just because maybe we're sheltered and we

Speaker:

Speaker: just don't know, like, these things, but they're doing it on

Speaker:

Speaker: their gums, most likely.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: Because it absorbs faster that way.

Speaker:

Speaker: Don't ask me how I know.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Cool.

Speaker:

Speaker: I learned I'm learning things every day.

Speaker:

Speaker: And that is the beauty of life.

Speaker:

Speaker: Every day on the bus scene with, uh, grumpy Santa eating salmon

Speaker:

Speaker: out of his beard.

Speaker:

Speaker: One of the disgusted bus patrons is Edie Falco.

Speaker:

Speaker: Uh, so she is very young and she is trying to look away.

Speaker:

Speaker: Penelope's gal pal Muffy is played by Kelli Curtis.

Speaker:

Speaker: Jamie Lee's sister.

Speaker:

Speaker: Mhm.

Speaker:

Speaker: The pawnbroker that doesn't want to buy Louie's watch because it

Speaker:

Speaker: is hot is Bo Diddley.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, nice.

Speaker:

Speaker: Jim Belushi is Harvey, the drunk guest that is dressed like a

Speaker:

Speaker: gorilla that is later stripped.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Former Senator Al Franken and

Speaker:

Speaker: his comedy writing partner and

Speaker:

Speaker: best buddy, Tom Davis were the

Speaker:

Speaker: baggage handlers.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Originally, it was supposed to

Speaker:

Speaker: be, uh, Rick Moranis and Dave

Speaker:

Speaker: Thomas as the McKenzie brothers,

Speaker:

Speaker: but they couldn't make the

Speaker:

Speaker: scheduling work.

Speaker:

Speaker: Ah. Well, you know what?

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm glad I got to revisit Al Franken for, like, a second.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker:

Speaker: I miss him, I miss him, too.

Speaker:

Speaker: And we need him now.

Speaker:

Speaker: We need him back so bad.

Speaker:

Speaker: Arleen Sorkin, who was the

Speaker:

Speaker: original inspiration for Harley

Speaker:

Speaker: Quinn and soap folks, might

Speaker:

Speaker: recognize her from Days of Our

Speaker:

Speaker: Lives, she played Calliope was

Speaker:

Speaker: the high class blonde that was

Speaker:

Speaker: hitting on Billy Ray and finally

Speaker:

Speaker: Muppeteers.

Speaker:

Speaker: Richard Hunt plays Wilson, the

Speaker:

Speaker: Duke brothers trader who was

Speaker:

Speaker: demolished on the Stock Exchange

Speaker:

Speaker: floor.

Speaker:

Speaker: Nice.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, that was such a good rundown of all the cameos.

Speaker:

Speaker: Lots of cameos.

Speaker:

Speaker: That was really good.

Speaker:

Speaker: You know what?

Speaker:

Speaker: This movie holds a very special place in my heart.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I was.

Speaker:

Speaker: I got, like, little joy bursts whenever I saw, like, the cameos

Speaker:

Speaker: that I did recognize.

Speaker:

Speaker: You recognize way more than I did, actually.

Speaker:

Speaker: And despite, uh, some of the problematic parts of the film,

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm really glad that I got to rewatch it again.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm really glad that the bad parts didn't bother me that much

Speaker:

Speaker: to ruin the whole thing for me.

Speaker:

Speaker: And I mean, I was reminded of, like, Eddie Murphy's genius.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, I want to go and revisit,

Speaker:

Speaker: like, more Eddie Murphy movies

Speaker:

Speaker: from the eighties because he was

Speaker:

Speaker: just on fire back then, and he

Speaker:

Speaker: was legendary.

Speaker:

Speaker: Like, he was like one of the best comic actors.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, he's one of the best comic actors we've ever had.

Speaker:

Speaker: But I don't know, I just I feel

Speaker:

Speaker: like he kind of faded away a

Speaker:

Speaker: little bit.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm ready for him to come back.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm ready for him to be back in my life.

Speaker:

Speaker: I need to revisit some of this stuff.

Speaker:

Speaker: I feel like he comes and goes in waves.

Speaker:

Speaker: Uh, this was the second movie.

Speaker:

Speaker: This was right after forty eight hours.

Speaker:

Speaker: And again, I to cherish Eddie Murphy again.

Speaker:

Speaker: He comes and goes in waves, like every now and then, like he'll

Speaker:

Speaker: be on a downhill slope.

Speaker:

Speaker: And then he does Dreamgirls or he does, and then he's jacked

Speaker:

Speaker: down, and then he does Dolemite, and then he's like, back down.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Dolemite.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: And like, so he's due to come back.

Speaker:

Speaker: We do have a new Shrek movie

Speaker:

Speaker: coming out, so maybe that will

Speaker:

Speaker: help.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, donkey.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker:

Speaker: Can't wait.

Speaker:

Speaker: He is a great donkey.

Speaker:

Speaker: Uh, he is great in so many things.

Speaker:

Speaker: And again, just when he is on, he is a genius.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yes he is.

Speaker:

Speaker: I mean, definitely get your movie on.

Speaker:

Speaker: Get your Eddie Murphy appreciation on.

Speaker:

Speaker: If you haven't seen anything

Speaker:

Speaker: with him in a while, be reminded

Speaker:

Speaker: of what a joyful comedy looks

Speaker:

Speaker: like.

Speaker:

Speaker: That's something that we don't get a lot of nowadays or like a

Speaker:

Speaker: lot of comedies.

Speaker:

Speaker: And the eighties was filled with them, and it was also filled

Speaker:

Speaker: with a lot of misogyny.

Speaker:

Speaker: Racism.

Speaker:

Speaker: Yeah, but, you know, you gotta take the good you take.

Speaker:

Speaker: You gotta.

Speaker:

Speaker: There you have it.

Speaker:

Speaker: And there you go.

Speaker:

Speaker: Of life.

Speaker:

Speaker: The facts of life.

Speaker:

Speaker: Sorry.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh my gosh.

Speaker:

Speaker: I could keep on singing that song.

Speaker:

Speaker: You should not have started.

Speaker:

Speaker: You should not have started now.

Speaker:

Speaker: I will not be able to shake that theme song out of my head.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, thank you for that.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay, well, any any any parting words for our audience?

Speaker:

Speaker: Uh, no, I'm.

Speaker:

Speaker: I'm off to, uh, go funk.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, I wanna funk.

Speaker:

Speaker: Do you wanna funk?

Speaker:

Speaker: I do want to.

Speaker:

Speaker: Oh, my God, let's go funk.

Speaker:

Speaker: Eric is totally cool with it.

Speaker:

Speaker: My boyfriend's cool with it, too.

Speaker:

Speaker: It's cool.

Speaker:

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Awesome.

Speaker:

Speaker: Thanks.

Speaker:

Speaker: All right.

Speaker:

Speaker: Bye bye.

Speaker:

Speaker: Cinematic.

Speaker:

Speaker: Problematic.

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube