With Bad Boys: Ride or Die in theaters now, we went back to watch the original Bad Boys film from 1995. The Bad Boys franchise is now a billion dollar one, but it was fun to go back to before Will Smith became blockbuster box office and Michael Bay truly blew up!

Topics discussed:

• Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have a natural and (very) bankable on-screen chemistry. 
• Michael Bay does a solid job in his feature film directorial debut. 
• Part of the plot line feels like it is based on a typical 'Three's Company' misunderstanding. 
• The movie is lower on the scale of hip hop movies but we still consider it a hip hop movie. 
• Will Smith's career as an A-list blockbuster actor started with this film. 

Also check out:

Michael Bay directed many music videos at the beginning of his career, including two for Vanilla Ice: Play That Funky Music and I Love You.

Credits

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie. Follow @hiphopmovieclub on Instagram!

And remember:

Don't hate...operate!

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show

that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop with

2

the magic of movies.

3

Today we're discussing Bad Boys, the 1995

buddy cop action film starring Will Smith

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and Martin Lawrence.

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We're three old heads who put their old

heads together to vibe on these films for

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you.

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I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker,

longtime hip hop fan, and I'm digging the

8

new LL track Saturday Night Special.

9

I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long

time hip-hop fan, and I still crack up

10

every time I see a clip from the Martin

Lawrence show when Martin plays the role

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of Shenehneh That should have been spun

off.

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I'm Boogie, a DJ, long time hip hop fan,

and I've seen every installment of this

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franchise, including the one currently in

theaters.

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In this episode, we'll answer the

question, is the original Bad Boys movie

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worth going back to watch?

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And we'll give you five key takeaways to

make you a smarter hip hop movie fan.

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Bad Boys, directed by Michael Bay, is an

action comedy film that follows two Miami

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narcotics detectives, Mike Lowrey, played

by Will Smith, and Marcus Burnett, played

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by Martin Lawrence, as they investigate a

case involving a large drug heist.

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Here are five things you need to know

about Bad Boys.

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First one, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence

have a natural and very bankable on

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-screen chemistry.

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Number two, Michael Bay does a solid job

in his feature film directorial debut.

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Number three, part of the plot line feels

like it's based on a typical "Three's

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Company" misunderstanding.

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Four, the movie is lower on the scale of

hip hop movies, but we still consider it a

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hip hop movie.

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And the final one, Will Smith's career as

an A-list blockbuster actor started with

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this film.

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Right on, BooGie All right, we will dig

right into Bad Boys, the original in this

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franchise.

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And let's talk a little bit about Will

Smith and Martin Lawrence and their

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chemistry that they have, which, as you

mentioned, very bankable because it's made

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hundreds of millions, if not into the

billion dollar...

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With this last movie, it'll crack a

billion.

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There we go.

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So what is it about the chemistry between

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, that's

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special BooGie?

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What do you think?

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think?

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I mean, you look at the film and you see

the interactions and it feels like they

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feel like brothers.

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I mean, we talked about the chemistry

between the leading cast in The Wood.

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But this is right up there.

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I mean, it's instant.

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It looks natural.

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They feed off of one another like very

well, even to the point where I mean, it's

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so realistic and.

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their personalities balance one another

out.

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I mean, the jokes play off of one another,

even when there's serious moments, they

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play off of one another.

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It looks very realistic.

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And it just, you know, I mean, here we

are, you know, the fourth one in the

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theaters right now.

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So, I mean, they're doing something right.

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Yeah, I mean these are two guys that

carried long running sitcoms very

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successful ones Martin and Fresh Prince of

Bel -Air these guys are comedic geniuses

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and You know, they play off each other

very well, like you said they would appear

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very It's natural for them to play buddies

because it seems like they generally like

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each other DynoWright, want to add

anything to that point as well?

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Yeah, two things.

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One is that even when they're yelling at

each other, you never know if they're

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really yelling at each other or doing an

act.

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And it's kind of funny to watch along the

way.

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And one thing that struck me about this

movie, because I hadn't actually seen this

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before, I only saw the third one, but they

say they love each other.

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And that's not something you really heard

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You hear that more now.

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I think we've gotten more accepting of

that.

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It's good, it's great, but that's not

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So to put that in also was really good to

really show that they did care for each

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other as brothers and partners and sort of

like frenemies when they put their good

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cop, bad cop act on.

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Yeah.

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a good catch.

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That's a good catch though.

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You know, with no, they're showing they

love another.

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That's a great catch.

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I was reading that Will Smith was actually

reluctant to say that line.

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And he battled with Michael Bay a little

bit and then he finally conceded.

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And it was great that he did, like you

said.

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There were some very humorous parts, like

because of the different backgrounds, you

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know, Will Smith's character, Mike Lowrey,

was more of a well -to -do character,

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single.

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So he had a whole different lifestyle and

Martin Lawrence's character, Marcus, you

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know, more of a blue collar guy.

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He has the family and it was just the

funny interactions how he's spilling fries

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in very the beginning.

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He's spilling fries and Will Smith's

sports car.

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The way they actually turn about in terms

of,

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The way they capture some of these bad

guys and the way they have success is

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almost like each time they're like kind of

battling, you know, they're ragging on

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each other and getting under each other's

skin and all of a sudden they distract,

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they distract the bad guys and end up, on

top.

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So it's kind of funny chemistry that way.

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Anything else about the chemistry aspect?

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I mean, it's good that they had to flip

the script a bit to...

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they had to pretend they were each other

to really drive home both the character

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development and this like relationship

they have which like they bicker for

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effect and they play for a lot of laughs.

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We'll get into that in a little bit, the

plot line.

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I had a couple issues with it, but we'll

get to that.

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But the second takeaway you mentioned

there, Boogie, was Michael Bay does a

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solid job overall in his feature film

directorial debut.

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Michael Bay has this reputation of just

being all about explosions.

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There were some explosions in this one,

but overall, I mean, it was a fun movie

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and it was well done.

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funny scenes, dramatic scenes, action.

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It kept you on the edge of your seat.

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Yeah, yeah, I had something similar.

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I had something similar, I said, you know,

this movie is less over the top than what

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it's currently known for.

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But it's definitely was an impressive one.

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You didn't quite find the igniter yet.

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Yeah.

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Although of course when they like

commandeer a truck, it's an ether truck,

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you know, and there's these barrels of gas

and just so happened to be that that's

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what they had, right?

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To throw out on the back at the bad guys.

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He didn't really, right, exactly, right.

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for any.

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I guess, you know, he did music videos

before this, including a Vanilla Ice

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video.

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So there you go.

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But then, he does Bad Boys and then he

does The Rock and he does Armageddon.

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It's pretty good first three out of the

gate for your feature films.

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I'd expect if you were to chart the number

of explosions in each film, this just gets

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more.

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Yeah, until we get to the current day

persona, or at least his reputation for

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being an explosion director.

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that's a solid run though between this,

The Rock and Armageddon.

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I love all three movies.

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Yeah, he definitely has a gift when he's

not going super crazy with the explosions.

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But he can actually, you know, do a really

good movie, you know.

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The Rock was terrific.

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man.

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Such a great movie.

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Yeah.

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Armageddon is one of those movies that I

watch every single time I see it on no

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matter what part is on I will stop and

watch it and I will shed a tear every time

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Bruce Willis ignites the bomb.

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Nah.

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Some of the action scenes I really enjoyed

too, like the scene in Club Hell and then

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Marcus is spotted by the bad guys from up

above and Marcus is attacked in the

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bathroom, the aquarium breaking.

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The other scene with the convenience store

owner sticking them up in the funny turn

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of events and then they're like, you

freeze, back up and put the gun down, get

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me a pack of tropical fruit bubble

-licious and some Skittles.

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It was just silly.

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Like some of the dialogue.

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Yeah, I like how he places those humorous

lines in those serious situations.

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I love when that happens.

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It just, it lightens it up, but it, I

think that's what these movies have come

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to be known for, especially, this is where

it all started with this one.

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Yeah.

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a well time, like non -sequitur after

something like that.

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Yeah.

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Go ahead.

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Yeah.

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These kinds of things are the things that

are missing from a film like State

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Property.

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There were no laugh lines in State

Property.

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There could have been.

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There could have been.

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One of the failings.

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Not to harp on State Property again, but.

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You know, these kinds of jokes in films

like this, you know, we've seen this in

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Michael Bay films and Lethal Weapon films

and all those kinds of like buddy cop

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films.

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And, you know,

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The tradition continues in a good way in

this film.

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Another one that struck a chord with me

was after they broke into that wealthy

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house and Marcus is real nauseous around

the dead body that they discover and he's

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really nauseous then.

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After that, Mike is teasing him and then

after they're about to leave, Mike's like,

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let's go get burritos.

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I was just like, what?

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Hahaha!

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So I was like, how could you even think

about that at that time?

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Yeah, silly things like that.

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you know, make me laugh.

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It's a good balance of the action

suspense, the gore, the violence, and the

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comedy aspect, which makes this a bankable

franchise.

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Yeah, so there's some comedy, comic relief

to this, which is good to see.

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Now, as far as the plot, part of the plot

feels like it's based on a typical

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"Three's Company" misunderstanding.

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For me, the fact that they had to, I

understand that Julie was distraught, that

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her friend Max was killed as part of this

drug heist, and Max had said that she had

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trusted Mike, that she had known Mike, and

it's like,

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That's the only one I would confide in.

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But the fact of the matter is, you know,

like, all right, well, he was unavailable

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at the time and his partner, you know, at

some point I'm like, he couldn't just say

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that I'm Mike's partner, you know, things

just went on and went on and on and on.

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And.

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you know, for effect, at some point you're

like, okay, come on, you know, the gig is

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up.

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I would have thought Julie would have

figured it out like within like two

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seconds like, you're not really Mike.

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Yeah.

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they had all the pictures, all the

pictures in the house of Mike and Mark.

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That's my partner.

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We do that.

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fast talker, but really?

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Hahaha.

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All right.

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I mean, they did ramp it up for comedic

effect and it worked for some good laughs.

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But yeah, I love how you reference Three's

Company.

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I mean, this was more of like a less of a

misunderstanding, more like a calculated

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lie to get the witness protected and get

to justice.

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But, you know, I would say as JB, as

you're the charter member of the Larry

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Dallas Appreciation Society.

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That's right.

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The Three's Company thing was a really

interesting touch to this.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I love Three's Company.

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I own the whole series on DVD still.

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You know, like I love, but the joke, the

running joke is every episode is based on

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some sort of misunderstanding.

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And that one where the mistaken, well, the

switched identities, you know, it just

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seemed to linger on.

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And it was like, does it really make, who

cares at this point?

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It's like, I'm protecting you.

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It's fine.

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But then the other one that really took it

at another level, the misunderstanding was

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when Marcus called,

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You heard Mike talking to, because Mike

ends up staying at Marcus's house with the

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wife and the kids.

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And he thinks that he's cheating with her

because he said something like, yeah, you

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can't get it in.

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Okay, hold on a second.

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There was something like sexual innuendos

or double entendres.

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And I'm like, okay, then he flips out and

drives over there based on just hearing a

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few words.

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that was very much like John Ritter could

have been climbing that, climbing the

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house and then falling down from the

flower pots.

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Yep.

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Yeah.

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and then Mr.

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Furley comes out.

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with Ascot.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Yeah.

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man, that's right.

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Yes.

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But yeah, I mean, it was a little

contrived, but I mean, okay, you know, you

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go with it.

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Cause it did lead to some funny scenes

when, Marcus is pretending that it's his

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home and Julie has the dog there and the

dog's on a leather couch and you can see

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Mike fuming inside.

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Like, okay, we're going to do this now,

right?

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yeah.

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Marcus doesn't realize, he doesn't know

where anything is in his own house.

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Yeah.

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At least this is a screen.

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Yeah.

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know what these are in your own house?

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Like...

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That plus, like I said, all the pictures

that were of Mike there.

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It's like, that's a little.

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Julie figured it out.

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Maybe just figured it out and just going

along.

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I think she did because when they finally

did reveal it, she's like, I knew it.

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And I think she said something.

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it's like Santa Claus.

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Hahaha.

266

Yeah

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Although it begs the question, she started

flirting with Marcus at the time.

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At that point, did she think it was Marcus

or Mike?

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I don't know.

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But yeah, a little contrived.

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Overall, the movie is lower on the scale

of hip hop movies, but we still consider

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it a hip hop movie.

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Dyno Wright, why would you say we consider

it a hip hop movie?

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You know, I guess based on our definition.

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Well, first of all, it does star Will

Smith, who got his start as a rapper, a

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very successful one at that.

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And then there's a lot of hip hop in the

soundtrack.

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And finally, this is maybe this third

piece is a little more debatable, but hip

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hop and film often go through these themes

of street level crime and glitz and

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glamour and drugs and guns.

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And so.

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these overlapping elements, you could make

an argument that because of these common

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themes, it's part of the hip hop film

spectrum, I guess, but Will Smith alone,

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and we can get into the Mount Rushmore of

rappers turned actors, but Will Smith is

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the.

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the real reason we're even watching this

movie.

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Yeah, I couldn't have said it better.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Exactly.

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We've had live events and we've talked

about our Mount Rushmore and Will Smith,

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making the transition more seamless than

anyone probably in history between him and

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Queen Latifah, like becoming starting as

rapper and then megastar.

293

Yeah, exactly.

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So, that's...

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right there.

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And the franchise obviously has grown and

literally as we're speaking, you know,

297

Boogie has seen the most recent one.

298

There's one in the theater as we're

recording right now.

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So it's grown by leaps and bounds from the

star power.

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And I think, too, over the course of the

series, you see cameos from artists in the

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films.

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You know, Nicky Jam is one of them.

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DJ Khaled's in a couple of them, you know,

like that.

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So even, you know, actual artists see the

appeal of the film.

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the correlation between hip hop and this

one that's Dyno Wright eloquently

306

explained.

307

So, and then one of our final takeaways

was then about Will Smith specifically.

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I mean, his run to dominance, the box

office really started with this film.

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This was his biggest, his first big

feature film that made a lot of bank.

310

Yeah, I remember doing the research on him

when we did our live events and he had a

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small film that was, he didn't even have a

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Takes You.

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But 1995 with Bad Boys, this hit it big

and put him on the map as a megastar.

314

Yeah.

315

Think about this run, even better.

316

Bad Boys in 95, 96 Independence Day, 97

Men in Black.

317

Boy, your first three blockbusters are

those three movies?

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Wow.

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Each better than the last.

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to...

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Yeah.

322

Yeah.

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And Bad Boys and Men in Black, two of

those three kick off a franchise, multiple

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sequels.

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Exactly.

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But yeah, I mean, I remember running down

the list shortly after Men in Black, Enemy

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of the State, Wild Wild West, Legend of

Bagger Vance, those weren't as huge, but

328

then to play Muhammad Ali in a feature

film, yep.

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absolutely.

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Yeah, it was great in Ali.

331

Yep.

332

Men in Black 2 would come out in 2002.

333

Bad Boys 2 comes out in 2003.

334

A series of other movies and then it

builds from there.

335

I, Robot, Hitch, Pursuit of Happiness, I

Am Legend.

336

Yeah.

337

Yeah.

338

And he's got, I am legend 2 is in pre

-production right now.

339

I Am Legend 2 yeah.

340

Pre -production.

341

So there he's man.

342

I think the biggest grossing film was

Aladdin because of the connection with

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Disney.

344

People forget about that one being such a

345

He was great in Aladdin too.

346

I loved him in Aladdin.

347

great movie.

348

I watched that movie so many times with my

son.

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He loves it.

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Absolutely loves it.

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It's great acting, great story, dancing,

singing, et cetera.

352

And then so many more, too many to name

but the Karate Kid.

353

I really enjoyed Concussion too.

354

Will Smith's so versatile with the roles

that he plays.

355

I haven't seen King Richard just yet.

356

Have you guys seen King Richard?

357

Have not seen King Richard yet.

358

It's on my list.

359

an Oscar for it, right?

360

That's the one he won the Oscar for.

361

I think so.

362

That prompted the slap heard around the

world.

363

I think when he was on the stage.

364

seems he seems to have recovered from now.

365

That's good.

366

I saw an article today.

367

It was talking about his marketability and

they're saying that, because of the

368

success of the current, well, the current

run of Bad Boys Ride or Die that Sony is

369

considering considering for the role in

one of the upcoming sci -fi films.

370

Supposed to be like another mega

blockbuster.

371

I forgot the name of it, but it's

apparently based off of a book, I believe.

372

But yeah, it's supposed to be a mega

blockbuster.

373

It's coming soon.

374

Well, actually, well, it's rumored that

he's going to be in it, but yeah,

375

definitely consider him for the role.

376

I was like, well, that slap didn't affect

much.

377

It seemed like it did for a second, and

then everybody just kind of moved on past

378

it like, all right.

379

Because I mean, it even halted the...

380

even honked the Bad Boys for a second.

381

But pick right back up and...

382

And also, he's also in pre -production for

Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

383

I don't know how that's going to go, but

I'll go watch it.

384

It's Will Smith.

385

Yeah.

386

So yeah, I mean, big hits started with

this one.

387

You guys have any more tidbits you wanted

to mention about Bad Boys that you had

388

observed when going back to watch it or

rewatch it?

389

I like the John Salley cameo.

390

Yeah, as a sports fan, I caught that.

391

I was like, is that John Salley?

392

Yeah.

393

Fletcher.

394

I'm wearing a Los Angeles Kings jersey

because Marty McSorley, one of Wayne

395

Gretzky's enforcers, was also in the

movie.

396

He played the henchman who gets

interrogated and gives up Fouchet.

397

There you go.

398

And Tea Leoni and I have the same

birthday.

399

there we go.

400

Nice.

401

Yeah.

402

It's like the three movies that I love her

in.

403

This movie, Fun with Dick and Jane and

Jurassic Park III.

404

So it's three movies I love.

405

Completely different movies, completely

different roles, but I love her in all

406

three of them.

407

And I noticed Michael Imperioli in this

one played the role of Jojo, the young

408

tire guy.

409

He was Chris in Sopranos.

410

Yep.

411

Soprano's nephew or his cousin.

412

but I remember him, yeah.

413

He was a piece of work in that series.

414

Yeah.

415

trying to look at other notable cameos.

416

Those are some of the key ones.

417

It brought back a memory of Hard Copy.

418

There's one line where I should turn you

into Hard Copy.

419

Remember that show?

420

I'm sorry.

421

If you know, you know.

422

Yeah.

423

man.

424

the funny thing that I was cracking up at

was the police chief or the head

425

investigator, their boss, shooting mad

air, he was shooting mad air balls.

426

It was like, it was like Shaq trying to

shoot three -pointers or something.

427

I was just like, yeah, yeah, not even

close.

428

Yeah.

429

Yeah, I love his character.

430

Yeah, I love his character throughout the

series.

431

He's funny.

432

Joe Pantoliano is good in everything.

433

Joe Pantoliano, yeah.

434

Yeah, he had me cracking up.

435

It was like the, kind of like the New York

accent and they're down in Miami.

436

He brought the toughness down there.

437

He's like the 90s Bill Burr.

438

Kind of like like Riley going from the

Knicks to the Heat or whatever, Lakers,

439

the Knicks to Heat, whatever.

440

So I was was wondering I was watching this

in the and they're Miami, and I thought of

441

Will Smith's Welcome to Miami song.

442

Do you guys recall, was that made for one

of the Bad Boys sequels or was it just

443

totally a standalone song?

444

Yeah, it did come later, but I didn't know

if it was affiliated with any of the

445

films.

446

I don't think it was actually.

447

Yeah.

448

pretty sure it was a standalone.

449

Right?

450

Just happened to be, you know, Miami as a

city.

451

That was from his, that was from Big

Willie Style.

452

That was a couple years after.

453

Right.

454

that was on the album, yeah.

455

I forgot that was his first solo album.

456

Wow.

457

That song was released in 97.

458

Yeah.

459

This film was from 95.

460

Yeah, it was even before the other, the

sequels would come out.

461

Yeah.

462

The 90s have become a blur.

463

no.

464

This is bad.

465

This is not good.

466

That was a fun video though.

467

Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's all in our heads

now.

468

Yeah.

469

You know the Miami Heat could have been

named, the basketball team could have been

470

named Miami Vice.

471

It was like a contest, I think.

472

And like Miami Vice was one of the

finalists.

473

I think it was between the Vice and the

Heat.

474

I almost think it would be cool to have

them called the Vice.

475

I mean, they actually do those throwback

uniforms, those alternate uniforms, and

476

they have like those themes.

477

Yeah, they're really hot pink and teal.

478

Yeah.

479

That's pretty cool.

480

Yeah.

481

It made me think of Crockett and Tubbs and

like, where was, we should have had Philip

482

Michael Thomas in this.

483

Where's Philip Michael Thomas?

484

cameo have them as like older detectives

or something.

485

Yeah.

486

You know, Will Smith drives the 911 in

this, Porsche 911 in this film, and it

487

very fits in well with, was it Don Johnson

had a Ferrari, I think, a white

488

Testarossa, right?

489

There's a lineage there is what I'm

saying.

490

Yeah, yeah, yeah, tighter.

491

And he stays with those car, the fantasy

sports cars throughout the movies too.

492

It's like, what the heck?

493

Trust fund, baby.

494

Yeah.

495

-hmm.

496

Yeah, right.

497

I'm gonna get a $100,000

498

1995!

499

Yeah, it's true.

500

So we went back to the OG of the Bad Boys.

501

Wanna go around and give our ratings?

502

Sound good, fellas?

503

All right.

504

So.

505

Boogie, for Bad Boys, the original from

506

Bring that funky flick back or leave it in

the vault.

507

It goes without saying for me, bring that

funky flick back.

508

DynoWright, Bad Boys, bring that funky

flick back or leave it in the vault.

509

Bring this funky flick back.

510

And as for me, I will also say bring this

funky flick back.

511

It was an enjoyable ride.

512

Yes.

513

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your

HHMC's JB, Boogie and Dyno Wright.

514

Theme music by Boogie.

515

Whether you're listening to the podcast or

watching us on YouTube, please give us a

516

follow.

517

It's a real power up for us.

518

Thanks for tuning in.

519

And remember, don't hate, operate.

520

Operate!

521

or Big Daddy Kane, the smooth operators.

522

Ha ha ha ha!

523

I like both of those songs.

524

They're both classics.

525

Yeah.

526

Both great.

527

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

528

both operators are smooth.

529

They both have a high level of smoothness,

yes.

530

I always love Coast to Coast, LA to

Chicago.

531

That could be used everywhere.