We are heading back to August of 1984 for the dramedy Grandview, U.S.A., featuring a youthful Jamie Lee Curtis alongside the always delightful Patrick Swayze. This film captures the essence of small-town life in America, blending romance, comedy, and a bit of drama as it explores the intertwined lives of its quirky residents.

Plus, I talk about the finale season of a little iconic show: Three's Company - check it out!

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Hello.

Hello.

I'm Katie and welcome to Retro Made, your pop culture rewind.

We're going to head back to August of 1984 for the dramedy, Grandview USA.

Featuring a youthful Jamie Lee Curtis alongside the always delightful Patrick

Swayze, this film, I would say, captures the essence of small town life in America.

It blends romance, comedy, and a bit of drama.

It explores the intertwined lives of very quirky residents.

It did not make a splash at the box office, but.

It's still a nostalgic look at youthful dreams and aspirations

in a small town, which is perfect for our pop culture rewind today.

If you're new to the show, welcome.

I do sometimes do solo shows as you will see me today or hear me today.

There's just a few episodes left in season 1 of our Ultimate Everyman.

Kurt Russell and Patrick Swayze.

Stick around to see what's left.

There's a couple surprises in there that we haven't gotten to yet.

But yeah, if you're new.

Retro made I cover retro movies along with the TV music and

other pop culture of the time.

Most of the time with another co host guest.

If you have been with me this whole time along my journey you know, into the

retro goodness of the 80s and 90s movies of Kurt Russell and Patrick Swayze.

In season one, thank you for tuning in as always.

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Okay, so we're going to open the time capsule from August 1984.

This movie came out August 3rd, which is a week earlier than another movie

that we've already covered Red Dawn.

Also with Patrick Swayze and Steve Thomas Howell, which we'll

get to so literally a week apart.

We've already covered what was happening in terms of, billboard

hits from a musical perspective, news and events from this time and TV

both some premieres, finales and what was topping those Nielsen ratings.

However.

I would like to call attention to a particular notable finale from

this season 1984 3's company.

This was its final season.

And so I think that 3's company deserves a little love.

So I'm going to expand on it right now and I hope you'll, you'll

join me on this little ride.

Interestingly, 3's company, I I'm very familiar with it.

so much.

But it was really before my time, but we'll get into maybe why, why

I remember it so well, but I'm sure you've all seen it a bazillion times.

It's iconic for a number of reasons, but 3's company, classic sitcom.

I love sitcoms, so maybe that's where part of my love for it comes from.

It centers on 3 roommates, Jack Tripper, Janet Wood and Chrissy

Snow, aka Christmas Snow.

Yes, that's her.

Real full name.

They share an apartment in Santa Monica, California.

Jack is a culinary student and he this is just wild.

The 70s because it started in the 70s because it's similar to bosom buddies

in this way, Jack has to pretend to be gay to appease the prudish landlord.

Mr.

Roper.

Because he disapproves of mixed gender living arrangements, like they're

all adults who's just, it's just wild that they had to do that anyway.

And this is even in California, but the shows humor does revolve around

misunderstandings which reminds me of that friends episode where they're

watching an episode of 3's company and Phoebe's like, Oh, is this one

where there's a misunderstanding?

Chandler's like, yeah, yeah.

And she's like, Oh, I've already seen this one.

And he just looks at her funny.

Cause they're all around that anyway.

It's very slapstick comedy, which was, a sign of its time and quite

a few pretty risque innuendos, particularly of the time and cast

members did change over the years.

Including the landlords, including the blonde roommate, but the core of

the show, the dynamic of mischief, friendship, and farcical situations

did remain throughout the whole series, making it a beloved TV staple.

I don't know if you guys knew that Jack originally lived at the Y.

M.

C.

A.

before moving in with Janet and Christy.

Norman fell we'll get into the cast who they are, but he played Mr Roper

and the early seasons he would say something like, after he made a joke,

he would kind of smile and look at the, the camera knowingly, like, we're

all in on the joke at the expense of another character, usually his,

his wife, Mrs Roper but so this was an example of breaking the 4th wall,

which wasn't done a lot at this time.

So I guess it was his idea to do that.

And it's kind of the signature of the show.

It was an ABC show ran from 1977 to 1984.

That's eight seasons, 172 episodes, which I think is wild because eight seasons

now would be max like 80 episodes.

Nothing would go 8 seasons now, seemingly, but there's 10 episodes a

season if we're lucky on shows now.

So it was literally twice that or more back in the day.

It is a 7.

5 on IMDb, which is pretty good.

It was a major hit when it first aired on ABC, it consistently ranked in the

top 10 of those Nielsen ratings, which I bring up every, every retro made episode.

I would say.

Not all seasons, though particularly, you know, it took a minute to get its

footing and then at its peak, it was the 2nd most watched show in America.

During its 3rd season, so that was so the season of 1978 to

1979 most watched show in America.

2nd, most watch.

I'm sorry.

Again, like that combination of provocative plot lines, the slapstick

humor, very likable characters made it, pop culture phenomenon, and though

it did kind of decline in ratings in later seasons, they kept switching

up the cast and, but despite that, it did remain popular throughout

its entire run and became cherished.

In syndication, which is where I found it in syndication.

So we'll talk about at the end where you can watch 3's company, but I

just, I remember it fondly clearly.

I wasn't around for its original run on ABC.

But I, I remember watching it fondly.

And only now, when I watch it, I'm like, oh, you know, it seemed odd.

I'm like, why are they having to lie about?

I don't know all the little things about, you know, Jack was

such a horn dog and Larry and I never really understood why mr.

Roper never wanted to have sex with his wife.

It was, it was wild.

And then we'll get to when Mr.

Furley comes along.

Don Knotts is wild.

So anyway.

3's company, I bet you everyone knows, even if they've never seen an

episode, they know if somebody says, come on, knock on a door, they know.

Right?

So it's iconic and I love that.

It's.

I mean, how can you not smile when you hear the theme song?

So.

I bet you did not know who composed it though.

Joe Raposo composed that and he composed several iconic songs throughout his

career, particularly for children's TV.

He wrote the beloved theme song for Sesame Street.

Also C is for cookie and it's not easy being green, which was famously

performed by Kermit the frog.

So all the same composer three's company was created by like a team, a trio, Don

nickel, Michael Ross, and Bernie West.

They adapted the show from a British sitcom, man about the house.

Did you guys know that it was originally British show?

This trio was also known for their successful writing

and production work on it.

You know, a couple of little shows like All in the Family, which was a

groundbreaking sitcom, which tackled social issues, as well as The Jeffersons,

which was a spinoff of All in the Family.

So there's this creation team, this writing team, they did set

the tone for this at the time, this farcical style of comedy.

If you think back to shows of its time, that kind of became you know, mistaken

identities, misunderstandings became the hallmark of this show and it was a

hit contributing to the development of the entire genre the late 70s and early

80s had a lot of that farcical style.

So we can kind of think Don nickel, Michael Ross and Bernie West for that.

Okay.

I think it's funny looking at the ages because, okay, so the

roommates were playing people.

They're supposed to be in their early to mid 20s.

Right?

So, like, Jack's still in school.

You know, they're, they're just getting out on their own, but

they were all at least 10 years quite a bit older than that.

So, John Ritter plays Jack Tripper.

He was 29.

In 1977 when he started playing Jack Tripper.

So yeah, a little older than an early 20s and he was only 54 when he died in 2003.

I thought this was really interesting.

I mean, he goes hand in hand with Jack Tripper.

John Ritter does, but Billy Crystal was considered for the role.

And I guess I can see that, but I'm glad I'm glad we had John Ritter.

I like him as Jack.

Then Joyce DeWitt plays Janet Wood.

She was 28 at the time.

Suzanne Summers plays Chrissy Christmas Snow, and she was 31, so she was

the oldest of our original cast.

And they're all again, supposed to be playing in their early to mid twenties.

Now she was in seasons 1 through 5.

We'll get to some of the other blonde roommates in a second.

And then Larry, Larry is sort of they're like so he's played by Richard Klein.

And I didn't even know he had a last name in the show, but Larry's

last name is Dallas, I guess.

And Richard Klein was 33 at the time.

And I think he was, I always assumed he was a little bit older than the others.

Cause he like lived upstairs or, I don't know, he lived in the same

complex, but, and he lived alone, you know, so he, you know, he was maybe a

little, little further in his career or whatever he was, but he has this

like used car salesman, like, you know, slick Rick style about him.

I liked Larry, but man.

If, you know, I thought he was so much older.

Again, we talk about this all the time on these shows.

People just looked older.

I didn't, I don't think they looked like they were, I know they were older.

They're all approximately 30 instead of 23, but.

They don't look 23 at all.

They look like they're 35 and then Larry looks like he's 45.

But at any rate, that's wild.

Norman fell.

We talked about him already.

He plays Stanley Roper.

He was 53 at the time and he and Audra Lindley, who plays his

wife, Helen Roper, who was 59.

They, so the Ropers were in the first three seasons and then the storyline was.

They got a spinoff show called the Ropers.

I think it only lasted like like 1 or 2 seasons.

But then Don Knotts comes in to be the new landlord.

Because his brother Bart bought the complex and so now Ralph manages it.

So, Ralph Furley, Mr.

Furley, he is the landlord from seasons 4 through 8.

The year was 1980 when he came in and he was 56 at the time again watching this

when I see Norman, stanley Roper or Mr.

Furley.

I think they look like they're well into their 60s.

But they're not they weren't.

All right.

Well, then we will get into why Suzanne Summers was replaced a little

bit later, but there was a little bit of musical blonde roommates.

In fact, I think Nick at night even did a cute little 3 blonde roommates.

Roommates or something like that instead of three blind mice.

Yeah.

So cute, but I bet you guys forgot about the one in the middle.

So everybody remembers Chrissy.

Most people probably remember Terry who finished the show,

but there was one in between.

And her name is Cindy Snow and she is supposed to be in TV land.

She's Chrissy's cousin and she's played by Jenna Lee Harrison.

I think she is supposed to be a college student.

In the show, because she is younger and in real life.

So she comes in in 1981 and she was only 23.

At the time but even then, yeah she looked like she was 28.

It's, it's just wild.

So, yeah, so she Jenny Lee Harrison played Cindy snow.

And so she kind of carried on a little bit of that dumb blonde

bimbo, sort of like, silly.

Ha ha.

Look at me.

I'm just fine.

Similar to Chrissy but so Jenny Lee Harrison was a former L.

A.

Rams cheerleader and she was well liked by her coworkers but her inexperience

and a big drop in ratings, I guess, led them to search for yet another person

to fill the 3rd roommate position and another famous blonde was Considered

or a finalist supposedly for this role.

Anyone, anyone Heather Locklear, I guess was considered for Cindy, but.

We ultimately end up with the role, Terry Alden.

She's a nurse.

That's the, the final blonde roommate.

She comes in for seasons 6 through 8 and so she's 29 and 1982.

And she's played by Priscilla Barnes.

Terry is played by Priscilla Barnes.

And this is, I don't like seeing this, but she said that her years on this show were

the unhappiest in her professional career.

Yikes.

She said she almost quit as soon as she was cast because she did

not like the backstage atmosphere.

So we'll get into that a little bit more in a second, but yikes.

She's a constant professional though, because I loved her.

I.

Spoiler alert, she's my favorite blonde, blonde roommate.

I loved Terry.

Or maybe it's just those are the ones I'm more familiar with.

The later years.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Anybody?

Okay.

Who's your favorite blonde roommate?

Then we have one more kind of regular.

She was originally not a regular, but then towards the end she did

become a season regular in season 4.

The character of Lana.

She was supposed to be a little bit older.

I think she also lived in the complex and she was always, she had the hots

for Jack and was always, always kind of trying to get her claws in Jack.

And for whatever reason, I don't know if he wasn't interested.

I don't know why.

Cause she was very pretty anyway.

She's played by Anne Wedgeworth.

And so she comes in and season four, 1980, she was 46 at the time, which

is interesting because she probably actually looks a Like a 46 year old.

Yeah.

She, she's probably the only one that looks her age, but like a

pretty, like a good, like a good 46.

All right.

I've kind of alluded to, so why was Chrissy Snow, Suzanne Somers,

Replaced well, there's a famous feud.

I'm sure you guys have heard about it.

I'm sure you've heard tons of different stories.

I think there was like a behind the scenes movie or a mini series about it as well.

But, I mean, I could literally go on for an hour about this, but I won't I will

just quickly try and summarize that.

So there's a big juicy feud behind the scenes drama that sparked, it

was sparked by apparently Suzanne Somers demand for equal pay, God

forbid, with John Ritter in 1980.

So she becomes the breakout star of the show, but she was being paid much less.

So she wanted her salary bumped up to match Ritter's 150, 000 per episode.

Producers refused that, offering her just a token raise instead.

In retaliation, she began skipping tapings, showing up late Chrissy was

then sidelined into a brief there was, like, maybe a season where she

was, like, Either on the phone or just remote scenes or written off those

episodes entirely for a little while.

And so tensions with co stars, especially, I guess, Joyce DeWitt, you know, playing

Janet ran really high and her, so Summer's Exit left a really bitter legacy.

However, she and DeWitt did reconcile decades.

Not years later, decades later, and I guess the feud wasn't just about money.

It did expose cracks in the relationships between the cast and crew.

Her summer's bold pay demands were seen as a betrayal, particularly by Joyce

DeWitt and John Ritter, who kept their distance from her after this fallout.

And producers felt like she was becoming too demanding and that her husband.

Alan Hemel, who managed her career was, he was accused of fueling this conflict, like

kind of pushing her to ask for more and be more demanding and leaved afterwards.

And so she was ultimately fired and new characters.

Rotated into her place and, you know, there's, you know, this

clash, what's, what's really true.

What's not true.

Lots and lots of stuff.

Suzanne Summers has referred to the day that she got fired from 3's

company as the day my career ended in interviews, but she did go on, you

know, Thighmaster and what was the show?

Step.

Step by step, but but yeah, I mean, I think she probably would

have had a bigger career had this not happened, but That's the juicy

goss on the big 3's company feud.

Not so happy campers behind behind the scenes, but the show is super

popular and it got a ton of awards.

So, let's see in terms of Emmys.

John Ritter 1 outstanding lead actor in a comedy series in 1984,

and he was also nominated for that same category in 81 and 78.

the whole show was nominated in 78.

And Jerry Davis was nominated for editing in 1978.

Also Golden Globes, Ritter again, won best actor in 1984, nominated

in 80 and 79 Norman fell Mr.

Roper one for supporting in 79.

The show was nominated in 79.

Suzanne Summers was actually nominated for best actress in 1977.

79 and Audra Lindley was nominated for best supporting in 79.

Also people's choice got a favorite comedy in 81.

And then I didn't know this could happen, but I guess there was a

tie for people's choice award.

I did not know what year, sorry about that, but with the love boat.

I didn't know there were tie situations.

That's interesting.

And then I quite like the TV land awards because they're a little,

they're fun little categories.

So Don Knotts was nominated in, in both 2003 and five for favorite nosy neighbor.

That was a category.

Oh my God.

The bar, you guys, the bar that they went to was called the regal beagle.

And it was nominated in 2005 for most happen and hangout TV land award.

Norman Fallon, Aja Lindley also In 2005, in 2004 for favorite.

Cantankerous couple.

That was the category.

Richard Klein for hippest fashion in 2003 and Don Knotts for favorite fashion.

His ascot in in 2005.

Oh, TV land.

That's fun.

Okay.

So yeah, I did talk about the spinoffs.

So the Ropers, why, where'd they go?

I think they were upset because they probably would have rather stayed on

3's company, but at first it seemed like a great idea to give them.

Their own spinoff show, their dynamic was funny.

But so they were promised by the ABC network that if their show didn't make

it past its 1st season, their spots were secure for a return to 3's company.

But because there's been off lasted a season and a half.

ABC was not obliged to bring them back.

Do you think they did that on purpose?

So they were permanently replaced by Don knots.

Boy, what a cutthroat business, eh?

Then do you guys remember there was a spin off for Jack's

character called Three's a Crowd?

I've seen a few episodes, I didn't really get into it.

But he Is engaged or married.

Yeah, the final episode of the series didn't air until the beginning of

the 84 85 season when it served as the lead in to it's been off.

3 is a crowd.

It, it was planned at the start of the final season.

The producers tried to keep it a secret from the rest of the cast, but Joyce

to it accidentally walked in on the auditions for the part of Vicky, the

fiance or the girlfriend or wife of Jack and that caused tension on the

set between Ritter and the rest of the cast who were disappointed that series

would essentially continue without them.

And how Ritter was keeping it from them.

So, God, just lots of lots of perceived backstabbing which is, which is kind

of sad because then if, you know, that I don't kind of puts a little

stain on the show, but I just, I try and just watch it for what it is.

Just light hearted.

Fun.

There's a couple of trivia bits that are interesting about 3's company.

There were actually 3 different addresses given for the

apartment throughout the seasons.

Which is, I don't know why they wouldn't just keep that consistent,

but none of them were real addresses.

We talked about Chrissy's name being Christmas Snow.

Well, her full name, and I don't remember where we find this out,

but it's Christmas Noel Snow.

Wow.

In the show's opening, the beginning of the sixth season, there's a toddler.

Oh, I love the open opening sequence.

Like they're walking through different areas.

They're on a sailboat.

They're at the zoo.

A she's feeding a goat.

And that toddler is Jason Ritter, John's son.

I didn't know that.

That's fun.

And then the brunette again, same in that opening sequence.

There's a brunette walking by the beach and.

Jack turns to look at her and falls off.

He's riding a bike and he falls off.

That person is Suzanne Summers in a wig.

Joyce DeWitt refused to ever be shown bare legged.

I don't know why.

And always wore pantyhose when her legs were visible.

And yes, I remember that she'd wear really shorty shorts, but she'd have pantyhose.

I always thought that was weird.

I just maybe thought that was like the style or I don't know what

people did, but her commitment to hosiery earned her an endorsement

deal with the legs brand pantyhose.

All right.

I did not know this.

I thought that Mrs.

Roper's hair was Mrs.

Roper's hair.

It's not.

Audra Lindley wore a red curly wig to be Helen Roper.

Her natural hair is blonde and straight.

The exterior shots of the

Roper's apartment was an actual corner apartment house in Santa Monica.

In a Cafe Mom video segment hosted by Suzanne Summers, Joyce DeWitt

said that John Ritter had affairs with a lot of his female co stars.

Both DeWitt and Summers said they were unaware at the time.

I mean, shocking.

If you rewatch it now, a lot of the girlfriend characters, you'll

be like, Oh, that's so and so.

Oh, that's so and so.

I remember one time it was, Maggie from Maggie Seaver from growing pains.

I'm like, oh, my God.

Yeah.

She was 1 of 1 1 of his dates in an episode.

I remember.

Yeah, there's a lot of those instances.

I'm not saying that they had an affair.

I don't know.

I'm just saying I remembered her in the 1979 episode.

The party, it's become iconic because when Chrissy danced with Mr.

Roper, sans bra, bouncing around and jiggling, she became the symbol

for what is known as jiggle TV, exemplified in shows like Three's

Company, Soap, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, and The Love Boat.

I don't, I don't know if they still, that term, I don't think it's still

used, but I guess it was a whole thing.

Yeah.

Kind of cheap, but whatever.

Whatever.

Big shocker, big shocker.

All right.

Well,

3's company.

I grew up with reruns.

I think that the show feels like a warm hug.

It's like this blend of humor, misunderstandings, quirky characters

and navigating life together.

And among the blondes, like I said, Terry stood out to me, her charm and wit added

a fresh dynamic to the trio in my opinion.

And we cannot forget about Mr.

Furley.

He's my favorite of the landlords.

His eccentricities and comedic timing provided a delight, full contrast

to the more traditional Roper making every episode feel like a new

adventure in their small apartment.

And the laughter, lighthearted escapades, underlying friendships

remind me of the simple joys of life.

Now, isn't that what it's all about?

I think, again, the, the warm hug, the feeling like that, that apartment,

like I, you know, It's just, it's a, yeah, the show not only entertained,

it created extremely lasting memories, making it a classic in my heart.

And if you have not revisited it in a while, I do highly recommend diving back

into the antics of Jack, Janet and Chrissy and all of their unforgettable adventures.

And you can do that pretty easily because it's very widely available to watch.

It airs on Pluto, IFC, and Antenna TV and then the following.

If you have a subscription, Filo or Filo, Sling and DirecTV,

all right.

Well, shall we get into Grandview USA?

Like I said, it premiered one week before Red Dawn, which is wild

because there are two of the exact same characters in this movie.

It's rated R.

IMDb is a little lower than, you know, we've been in the mid fives to mid

six lately with, with this, the last several movies that we've been covering.

5.

5 we have for Granby USA.

I bet most of you have not seen this, so Here's a little synopsis with

only 1 week left before he graduates high school in the small middle

Western community of grand view.

The 18 year old dreamer Tim Pearson is it is itching to renounce an

uninspiring scholarship stand up to his despotic father and pursue a

career in oceanography away from home.

However, before long, an unexpected meeting with the struggling 27

year old owner of of the town's demolition derby track on the

other side of the tracks Michelle.

Mike Cody and the speed drums King Ernie slam Webster will bring

Tim one step closer not only to his aspirations, but also love.

But has anyone ever spread his wings away from Grandview USA?

That is different, right?

It's definitely a different movie.

I hadn't even heard of it before.

And I just remember, because One of the first movies I covered on the show was

Skatetown USA also with Patrick Swayze.

It was his first movie role and that was from 1979 and

it's just really, I don't know.

I'm like, oh, he had a Skatetown USA and a Grandview USA.

And they're both strange.

At any rate uh, Randall Kleiser.

Who is the director and he also directed really good movies, Greece,

the blue lagoon, flight of the navigator and white Fang writers.

Actually, it's just the 1 writer here, Ken Hickson, and he also

wrote inventing the Abbots.

and City by the Sea, but he he directed Mr.

Mom with Michael Keaton.

Love that movie.

All right.

So Jamie Lee Curtis in this, you guys, she's very young and her name is Mike.

I mean, technically her name is Michelle, but she goes by Mike, Mike Cody.

That's Jamie Lee Curtis.

Then we have C.

Thomas Howell as the 18 year old.

Thank God he's 18 as we will get into, Tim Pearson and

Patrick Swayze plays Ernie Slam.

Webster now, those 2 were, like I said, they were in Red Dawn a week later and

also the Outsiders together 3 movies in a really close period of time together,

which is interesting because I don't know.

It's just really interesting.

Anyway, then we have a Jennifer Jason Lee in an extremely different role for her.

I, I gotta say, I was really surprised to see who she played in this.

She plays candy Webster.

And that's so that's Patrick's wife.

Yeah, they're married.

Yeah, but she's cheating on him the whole time.

And we talked about Jennifer Jason Lee, you all know her, but

she was in back draft with Kurt.

So candy's cheating and her boyfriend that she's cheating.

I don't know why you would cheat on Patrick sleazy, but.

His name's Troy in the movie, and he's played by Donnie Benton, and

he actually had a small role in the Godfather part two, and he

was also in Crybaby, Johnny Depp.

And then Bob Cody Mike's uncle is played by William Wyndham.

He played the president.

Well, actually, so he has, he.

He kind of looks familiar, but he, you know, his credits go way far back.

I think you guys would think he was a familiar actor.

He has 257 acting credits.

So he's in a ton of stuff.

Most notably, I would say he played the president in Escape

from Planet of the Apes from 1971.

And he was in to kill a mockingbird from 1962 playing Mr.

Gilmer can't quite make it up.

I, I have seen that movie, but it's been a minute.

So I don't recall who that is.

And then we have Betty, she helps run the speedway at 1st.

I thought maybe she was her aunt, but I don't I don't think she is.

Her name, the actress's name is Carol cook.

She has roles in 16 candles and American gigolo and.

Emmett Walsh he's literally in everything and we've talked

about him several times before.

He plays Mr.

Clark, who is Tim's prom date, Bonnie.

He plays her father.

We talked about him in the Best of Times episode as well as the Silkwood episode.

So he, everybody, M, M, M.

It's hard to say though, because it's M, the initial, and then Emmett Walsh.

Mr.

Pearson, Tim's dad, is played by Ramon Bieri.

He looks very familiar.

But he's not well known.

Bonnie, the prom date is played by Elizabeth Gorsy and she

is also in some 80s classics.

She plays Tina in Teen Wolf and Wendy Jo in Footloose.

So that's Elizabeth Gorsy and we have So Mike has a mentally challenged

brother named Cowboy in the movie and he is played by John Philbin.

Yes, you all know John Philbin.

He's very young in this and I'm like, Oh my God, he looks familiar.

And I, I didn't put two and two together until afterwards.

But yeah, John Philbin.

He's It's pretty well known, most notably playing Amos in Children

of the Corn, Nathaniel in Point Break, and Tom McLaury in Tombstone.

And then we have both John and Joan Cusack in Little Bit Parts.

I don't even know what characters, I think they play brother and

sister in the movie, but they're just some townspeople, I think.

But yeah, the music here.

Is phenomenal.

I mean, I don't the, the, I, let me take that back.

I don't really think I remember.

A lot about the music, but the composer.

Is is very well known.

His name is Thomas Newman, and he also scored the Shawshank Redemption.

I think is the number 1 IMDb movie.

I'm pretty sure the Green Mile, Finding Nemo, Cinderella Man, the

HBO series, 6 Feet Under, which, That music was good also shows

really good and a lot of others.

So he's been nominated for 15 academy awards, but he hasn't won any.

So anyway, that's him.

They spent 5M dollars on this movie and did not quite squeak that back 4.

7 in box office.

So, like I said, I hadn't even heard of this movie.

I, you have to let me know you guys if you've a heard of it and be seen it.

All right.

So, very reminiscent of the time, you know, it's early to mid 80s.

It opens with this all American small town life scene.

Very wholesome.

Just it's, it's quite sweet.

So then we meet Tim Pearson, who is our grand view high school senior.

He actually has aspirations for oceanography in Florida.

So, yeah.

Despite, so he is valedictorian.

And so he has a scholarship to ISU, so they must be in Illinois.

And he wants to like, turn down his scholarship and go to Florida instead.

I don't know.

He says he wants to be the next Jacques Cousteau.

So we see him in the movie scuba ing like in his bathtub and in

like the local gross lake and pond.

And it's just like catfish in there.

You know, it's a landlocked Midwestern town.

So he's like, get me out of here.

And then there's some, there's some cute things when we like meet our

characters that are major retro alerts.

So for example, He watches MTV on his in his room on this teeny tiny

tube TV and it's on a TV cart.

Do you guys remember those?

You don't see that anymore.

We also get these really strange.

There's two or three of them.

They're not dream sequences.

I think they're like Imagination sequences of him, you know, working out what he's

thinking or feeling in a music video.

And the characters that we know are and it's, it's different.

It's interesting for sure.

And then his mom, we see her in the living room again.

It's, it's bigger than his room TV, but, you know, back in the day TVs in the

living room were pretty small still.

And she's watching Richard Simmons.

As she aerobic sizes, so very early to mid 80s.

Love it.

Okay.

So then so it's prom time.

He's a senior.

It's from his, his date's name is Bonnie and he borrows his, his dad

has this brand new shiny Cadillac.

And he's, you know.

They make a big deal about don't scratch the car.

Be careful with the car, the car, the car, the car.

So we clearly can see something's going to happen to the car.

Yeah, so a prom they're like parked in this, like right

by a pond in a muddy area.

And they're making out in the back seat and Oh, it sinks in

the mud and goes into the pond.

What a dipshit.

So that's when we meet Mike, a.

k.

a.

Jamie Lee.

She gets rescued by Mike.

Who's way cooler.

This prom date.

She, she's pretty cool, but she's very androgynous a little bit.

She just wears jeans and like a flannel and she's got a short.

Unattractive haircut.

But she knows her way about around a toolbox and the demolition

Derby and he's You know, starting to get the hots for her.

She owns this speed Rome speedway speed Rome.

I don't they call it the speed Rome in the movie and I take it that her

family has had this in, you know, in the family for quite some time.

And she's having a hard time keeping up with repairs and stuff like that.

So they keep, you know, Trying to like, all the property around the speed room

has been bought up by this developer and she's the holdout and that kind

of becomes a thing in a little bit.

Well, that okay, so we're at the speed room.

We meet slam slam the Ram Webster, a.

k.

a.

Patrick Swayze.

So he wins the Derby, like he's a Derbier because he has to get his mind off of

the fact that his wife's cheating on him.

He makes a scene, you know, it's like out in the open.

Everybody knows it.

She doesn't even really try and hide it.

You know, he smashes this guy's car.

You know, the guy gets shot in the foot.

It's a whole thing.

Just really quickly.

I always have to go over over my Patrick.

So it's the early 80s, Patrick Swayze.

So his hair situation as always, it kind of deserves its own

credit, but it's the early 80s.

And so it's sort of that not overly done, but it's a little that early

80s kind of feathered, but short.

Hair that looks good on no one except for Patrick Swayze.

Again we, you know, same with the mullet that he'll, he'll bring out

he'll haul that out in a few years.

But right now it's the short hair, the early eighties version of hair.

And I think you guys can picture it.

It's longer, it's short, but it's like longer than Jamie Lee's in this movie.

She has a really bad haircut.

I don't know.

But anyway, sometimes he pulls it off as he does with

everything because he is Patrick.

And again, okay.

So because he's Patrick and you know, he, you know, he just,

they don't make a lot of money.

Clearly money is more important to her than looks because she's

cheating with somebody not nearly as attractive and her husband's hot.

I don't know why you would cheat on him, but she does.

Candy, her, her name says it all.

If your wife's name is Candy.

She's probably cheating on you.

I'm kidding for all of you named candy out there.

It's just, you know, you, you get what I'm trying to say.

And then, so we learn that in high school, back in the day, slam and Mike, Jamie Lee.

So Patrick and Jamie Lee liked each other, but Jamie Lee pretty quickly

got married and she's not married now.

So she's divorced.

And they literally say in the show, or she, one of them, I forget who

it is, She is 27 and she is referred to, I guess, in the early eighties

in mid, in the Midwest at 27, you are an old maid if you're not married.

So she's divorced old maid.

That's what they call her.

She's 27.

This is wild.

So anyway, she needs 10, 000 to fix the speedway or it's going to get shut

down like I was saying, the developers and it turns out so Tim's dad.

Is the county commissioner.

And he's part of it.

Tim finds this out.

He finds these plans to build a country club with the land.

And so Tim is pissed that his dad is part of this because now he's developed

this friendship and, and crush on Mike.

And , she's teaching him how to Derby.

So he's, he's upset by this.

He comes to Mike's trailer upset, and, you know, they talk and.

Get something to eat and they end up having sex.

He's 18.

Gross.

He's a high school kid.

Ew.

Ew.

I don't like this at all.

Plus, plus she has already got this like budding romance with

Patrick Swayze's character.

They were supposed to go out to dinner that night.

And she ends up sleeping with the high school kid and then you guys

a sweet slam shows up at her trailer in the morning with a bag of groceries to

make her breakfast and he finds out, Oh, there's a high school kid in bed with her.

Can you imagine this poor man?

What in the actual fuck?

He, he leaned on her and trusted her.

After he's like, Hey my life sucks.

My wife's cheating on me.

And, you know, she's like, oh, well, we're friends.

Like, oh, maybe we could have dinner, blah, blah, blah.

And now you sleep with this teenager.

I, I mean, I don't know.

I don't know you guys.

Yeah, I don't know.

They do.

Okay.

I won't spoil it.

So then now there's like this.

So, so now they're both into.

A, Mike, and B, derbying.

And so there's this high stakes competition.

So Tim's in it.

Tim and Slam go head to head at the derby.

Slam gets his revenge.

After the derby I mean, obviously it kind of appears as though he's going

after Tim on purpose, but he's not.

So Mike kind of gets mad.

Slam then goes back to his house where he, I mean, he, he just cannot win Slam.

He goes back to his house where his wife is in bed with her boyfriend.

Literally, he is like either tied or handcuffed to the bed.

And Slam finally gets his revenge.

He's just continuing to see his wife flaunt this boyfriend in his face.

He literally bulldozes the house down with them in it after he smashes her VW bug.

How 80s is that?

So as they're experiencing this bulldozer come through the house,

they're like, what the hell?

She.

He.

He.

Proceeds to leave in what her little 90 or whatever she's wearing and leaves her

boyfriend tied to the bed to be bulldozed.

What a treat this candy is.

Yeah, I just, I was like, oh, he finally you go.

I mean, I'm not like, let's not do that, but I don't know.

It was finally, like, this poor guy.

I'll you can, you can put your head on my shoulder.

Slam.

All right.

Well, then.

There's a little bit of a twist at the end.

. So Mike and Tim discover the speedway has been burned down.

So what are we thinking is probably happening, right?

We're probably thinking, oh shit, like the towns, you know, the people who wanted to

buy it, you know, something along those lines, like they're forcing her hand

little nefarious shit going on like that.

But no, no.

It's courtesy of cowboy Mike's mentally challenged brother and a missing gas cap.

He purposefully didn't put the gas cap on something.

And it turns out he did that because Mike has been trying to find all these ways to

raise money to try and save the speedway.

By not selling it.

So she does this cause she had to sell a bunch of junkyard cars.

But.

Cowboy kind of considered those his cars and she didn't talk to him about it.

So he said he did that because they took his cars away.

Oh.

Nothing like a little arson to spice up this already super strange storyline,

but it's kind of sad so now, so now Mike decides she is going to sell the speech.

She's like, well, fuck it.

Then I'm going to sell the speedway to Tim's dad.

So that so now all all of a sudden no more love triangle, like Tim's cool.

With, you know, now, all of a sudden, Mike and slam are just going to be together.

And so she decides to sell the speedway to Tim's dad so that she

can start a life with slam together.

And then we see Tim, he's on a bus to Chicago to go to college, you

know, he's, he didn't get his wish.

He has to take God forbid.

He has to take the scholarship to go to college, but that's

not what he wants to do.

Right?

So that's where his heart is.

And so this was really sweet.

Mike, it's always hard for me to say her name is Mike and slam.

They somehow get the bus to pull over.

He comes out and they give him the car that they're driving in.

And the money that she obtained by selling the Speedway so they give it

to Tim for his trip to Florida so that he can go pursue his dream in Florida

and become the next Jacques Cousteau.

And then Mike and Slam, they can still build a life together in this little town

and, you know, just have a happy, regular.

Small town life together, and so they're officially a couple there.

There's this parade summertime in in Grandview, USA.

So they're just, you know, off off marching together into their future while

Tim's left to chase the ocean waves.

It's a very classic small town closure.

So that is Grandview USA.

You guys.

A couple little pieces of trivia that you guys might find

interesting before we close.

It apparently is the 1st feature film of production company ocelot productions.

1 of only 4 CBS theatrical projects greenlit for production in the 1983 year,

and they looked at about 40 different towns across the Midwest before

setting on filming the entire picture in the American state of Illinois in

the cities of Pontiac and fairbury.

You know, the song she's like the wind that was in dirty dancing.

Patrick wrote it.

Patrick sang it right.

Well.

That was 1987 that movie was in this is what is this?

What is this?

1984?

Yeah.

So the song she's like the wind originally written by Patrick for Grandview USA.

This is a movie apparent.

I mean, apparently, supposedly as a love thing for the characters

played by him and Jamie Lee Curtis.

But it was scrapped because the comedic and somewhat raunchy

nature of the film, duh.

The track would later eventually be used 3 years later in Swayze's

film Dirty Dancing, 1987.

But, you listeners, if you've been paying attention, do you remember when we talked

about in the Youngblood episode that he shopped it around for that as well?

Remember, we talked about Rob Lowe talked about him coming to him

trying to use it in that movie too.

Patrick.

I love you.

I love it.

But man, he really shops this around.

I'm glad it was meant for dirty dancing.

Definitely not granted what a waste it would have been in this movie.

All right.

So, the demolition Derby part of it, it was a movie set construction,

which actually built and filmed on a baseball field and it costs.

300, 000.

A few casting what ifs.

Tim Pearson played by C.

Thomas Howell.

Which This might be a hot take, but there's nothing wrong.

I don't dislike him, but he's always flat.

He's always a character that I'm like, he could easily be swapped with someone else.

And I think it's sort of like, he did a bunch of stuff, maybe not

a bunch, like a handful of things in like, 83, 84, 85 and that's it.

And I think that's why, I don't know why they thought, he, he's not without talent.

It's just, he's so, eh, I don't know.

I, I, I don't think he has star power and I, I don't know.

He was given a lot of chances to become 1 and just didn't for whatever reason.

Anyway, that's my, that's my hot take on C.

Thomas Howell, but he played Tim Pearson, but Kevin Kostner,

I guess was offered the role.

Which I think would have been better.

I'm not like a huge Costner fan, but like I said, I'm not a big C.

Thomas Howell fan either.

So Jamie Lee Curtis was not who they originally cast as

Mike Cody, Michelle, Mike Cody.

Apparently Cher was originally the lead female role.

And according to an article published August 23rd, 1983

issue of the Hollywood Reporter.

There were creative differences between Cher and the producers

over the casting of the two male leads in the movie Patrick and C.

Thomas Howell.

Now, I'm on your side Cher with the C.

Thomas Howell, but Patrick, I don't know But we talked we talked about Cher because

she was in Silkwood with Kurt Yeah, so anyway And then you know how I mentioned

John and Joan Cusack were in this?

Wow.

This is one of about 10 feature films that the real life brother and

sister, John and Joan Cusack have both appeared in as cast members.

Yeah, that's funny.

All right.

You guys Grandview USA again, who's seen it.

Who's even heard of it?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Let me know.

Don't forget, you can email me if you would like to with

comments, questions, et cetera.

RetroMadePodcast at gmail.

com or you can always leave comments on the YouTube version.

I like that.

This movie was definitely an interesting one, a bit out of left field.

It is time to get off of this quirky ride and drive ourselves

back into the present day reality.

Until next time, be kind, rewind.