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Ep 7 - An American in Paris (1951) · Popcorn and Pals

• Justin Weakley: welcome back Popcorn and Pals, the podcast where we talk about all sorts of movies, good and bad, and we give you our completely unqualified takes on them. He's Zach and I'm Justin. And today we're talking about the 1951 musical that will make you want to sing and dance. It's in American and Paris. ⁓ But before dive into the details Zachary, how about you kick us off with your plot summary? Zachary Wheeler: right, I feel like this was a good one so I'm excited. A struggling artist is caught between two women, a rich benefactor ⁓ a teenager. Ultimately, he chooses the one that has been cheating on her fiance for the last three months. Justin Weakley: I can't wait to talk about the creep the creepy old man Yeah, there's a it was an interesting one, but I'm I'm very excited to talk about this movie Zachary Wheeler: No, man, I've got a lot of opinions about an American in Paris for sure. Yeah, before we get into it too much, musicals. So this is our first musical, 1950s musical. What are your thoughts on musicals? Not for you. ⁓ Justin Weakley: No, not for me. Hard and fast, not for me. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: What about 17 minute ballet scenes? Justin Weakley: ⁓ not for me normally, but I respected and appreciated this. Let me say that. Zachary Wheeler: you Okay, I enjoyed it. It was fine. It was good. Yeah. But I do like musicals. So I'm a relatively big musical guy. I love musical theater. Going to the theater is like one of my favorite experiences. Yeah. No, I've seen most of the big Broadways, Like Wicked, Phantom. Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I Color me shocked. I would have never anticipated that. Coming from you, of all people. What's your favorite Broadway musical? Zachary Wheeler: that I've seen live or like in general. Justin Weakley: Just in general, doesn't matter. Zachary Wheeler: I think my favorite live experience was Phantom of the Opera. It was very, very good live. I saw that on Broadway because I'm cultured. I also really liked Wicked a lot too. That was a really good one. Honestly, not a fan of The Lion King musical. I thought it was just over the top and it's just basically the movie. Justin Weakley: Mm. Mm-hmm. Get the fuck out of here. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: I fame, I've seen fame, you know, so it's good. I saw In the Heights with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Yeah. Justin Weakley: Do you? Yeah, so you really are ingrained in it. You enjoy it. Yeah. I've... Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Last time I was in New York, I saw the Back to the Future musical. Nah, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. Justin Weakley: Yeah Zachary Wheeler: But sometimes when you're in New York, it's so hard to get into the Broadway plays that you kind of just get stuck with like whatever's like not the most popular. That's actually how I saw In The Heights because it was like I couldn't find anything else. like, ⁓ this one's kind of a big one. I think we were trying to see Jersey Boys, but. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I saw Hannah and I saw Wicked ⁓ back when we first started dating 10 years ago. it was sold out because it was on Broadway. We were in New York. ⁓ yeah, we got on a lottery waiting list or something. And we just sat there for like an hour. And then finally they said they had some open seats and jokes on everybody. They sat us, I think like seven rows from the stage. It was insane. Zachary Wheeler: Nah. wow, that's incredible. ⁓ pretty sure I had binoculars to see what ⁓ was ⁓ far back. Justin Weakley: Yeah, but I feel like my overall opinion on Broadway and this movie is very parallel. It's not for me, but the talent on display is extremely impressive and there's a lot to enjoy about it. I will give it that. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Yeah, you know, I almost feel like Broadway type musicals and this musical while I think it has had Broadway versions, I don't really feel like it's a Broadway musical. I almost feel like it's more like a variety show. Like it's really highlighting the talent of the artists who are in it, right? Whether it's Gene Kelly's dancing, ⁓ whatever, Henri, Henry, Henri, whatever the actor's name is, I forget right now, but he was a singer. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: and then Oscar ⁓ Leavitt, right, his piano playing, right, so. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it was yeah, like it We'll get into it. But that that was my overall takeaway my my short summary recap is It's just really impressive watching all these people do All it's like they're triple threats like singing dancing acting. It's incredible Zachary Wheeler: But yeah. So before we get too deep into the movie, a couple things real quick. ⁓ Podcast structure. We'll do a quick chat about the movie, which we're already kind of in. We'll share some notes. We'll go over some superlatives. And then finally we'll rate ⁓ An American Paris if we think it should be a classic. ⁓ Just a real quick real synopsis of the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it. Because I don't know if it's a popular movie for sure and a classic movie, but I don't know if you know. Justin Weakley: Mm. Zachary Wheeler: the most, most people have seen the movie. So it's about a artist who, ⁓ post World War II lives in Paris and is studying art and trying to become successful in Paris. he is discovered by a rich woman benefactor named Milo, which is, I thought was an interesting name. she seems to be interested both in him and his art. ⁓ and he's kind of going along with it until he meets Lisa. Justin Weakley: Very. Zachary Wheeler: or Lise, or I feel like 80 different people say it 80 different ways in the movie, ⁓ who he falls madly in love with. And then really, but unfortunately she is engaged or about to be engaged to a man named Henry ⁓ Burrell or Henri? Henri? Henri? Burrell? ⁓ And so it's really kind of like a, like a quad. Justin Weakley: Yeah Yeah. On on on re yeah Zachary Wheeler: like a several love triangles, more like a love square where there's like four people involved and ultimately, you know, Lisa has to choose and he has to choose who to fall in love with. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. It's like. It's like a, it's still, it's a love triangle with Milo looking from the outside like wanting to be in on it. No, she's never really included, but she's there in spirit. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, she doesn't really stand a chance, does she? Yeah. And ⁓ along the way, peppered in some song and dance, you know? Justin Weakley: Yeah, very well done. Well said. Perfect plot explanation. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. So I had two things for our category categories. I thought I would propose a couple extra ones for this movie. Just want to know your thoughts. First one, best song and dance. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mmm. Zachary Wheeler: So I wrote them all down so we can go through them. I didn't give you this ahead of time, but I was like, I feel like best song and dance. That's good category for this one. Maybe when we have musicals, we can include it. And then I also thought about one, which I don't know, we don't have to do it for this episode, but I was like, what would you change in this movie that you think would make it better? Justin Weakley: For sure. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ easy. Creepy old men. Creepy old men out. No, yeah, no, we can go there because I feel like, Okay. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, put on your producer hat, right? We'll see. Well, when we get there, if it doesn't work, you know, that's what editing's for. So perfect. Justin Weakley: Because I feel like it kind of blends into some of the nitpicks and hot takes because there are some stuff, there's some goofy things that I had written down, but there are some bigger things that I feel like probably apply to that. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ yeah. Alright, so I want to do some note comparisons here. Justin Weakley: Yes. You go first. Zachary Wheeler: What do you got? What? Okay. I'll go first. Um, Jerry's apartment when the opening scene, it's a little like, he's like, got the routine down and he's knocking up things and pulling things up on levers. I'm like, tiny house living right there. He's ahead of the head of the trend. Yeah. Tiny house living, you know, I see where like, it's like Japanese, you know, apartments one-on-one right there. Justin Weakley: All of his furniture had wheels on it. I love that. He just rolled everything around. Yeah. Yeah. What's Marie Kondo was beaten to the punch in 1951. Zachary Wheeler: There you go, there you go. No, I loved his apartment though. I thought it was very fun. Honestly, that whole opening scene I thought was fun. But the narration. Justin Weakley: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, no, it was really cool. ⁓ I mean, yeah, there is, I have like a whole thing on cinematography, but that opening scene with some of those sweeping shots of Paris and, but especially I, with the apartment scenes, cause it goes from Jerry's apartment to Adam's apartment, I truly couldn't tell what was a set and what was. an actual building like shooting on location. And I feel like that. Zachary Wheeler: think everything was a set. don't think they went, other than maybe some B-roll stuff, I think everything was. So, which is impressive in its own right right there. Justin Weakley: Yeah, well, we'll talk more about that because there's some. No, I do not, but you do exactly. Well, that's what our own qualified takes. We're not qualified to speak on this, but we can speculate all day long. Zachary Wheeler: Okay, you got all the details. ⁓ perfect. We can speculate and get completely wrong. Got it. Justin Weakley: ⁓ but the opening shot, like, introducing us to Jerry and Adam is really well done. Really entertaining. I actually got really, not saying the entire movie didn't excite me, but the opening, the opening, was like, this is really kind of fun. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. You No, you took the words right out of my mouth. I was like, ⁓ man, we might be in for a journey here. And then we were, and it was not what I was expecting after the first 10 minutes, but. Justin Weakley: Hahahaha So let's roll back real quick. have you seen this before? Or was this your first time? Zachary Wheeler: No, this is, it was a, I was green. Yeah. I've seen a Gene Kelly movie. The only ⁓ Gene Kelly movie I've seen is Singing in the Rain. And it comes out a year after this movie. And it's almost like, I was gonna save it for sequels. It's almost a spiritual sequel to this movie. It's very similar in that the plot is kind of And it's really just a vehicle to showcase a bunch of people who are very talented, whether that's dancing, singing. Justin Weakley: Okay, we're on the same page. feel like... Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ goofball humor whatever it is right like they kind of have this like this variety act as well in that movie it's honestly one of my biggest criticisms of singing in the rain which is probably sacrilege actually this reminds me so i don't think we've talked about this since our first episode but i do feel like it is important because this is a classic and ⁓ there's a lot of very well respected performances in this movie Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: and I feel like I'm gonna dog on it a little bit in places. So like. Justin Weakley: fair. Zachary Wheeler: Not a film buff, not a film expert, right? We're not, you know, ⁓ no. And so ⁓ there's people who love this movie, I'm sure there's people probably who's, this is one of their favorite movies. look, we're not gonna give it the respect it deserves. not on purpose, just because of our own inadequacies. Justin Weakley: No. And we don't claim to be. We can be harsh. Yeah, you're... this is... For anybody who might take offense to some of our opinions, these are two guys that our favorite movie in high school was arguably Starship Troopers. So I don't think you can feel too offended by anything that we have to say. It is a classic, isn't it? To us, just like this is a classic to other people. Zachary Wheeler: Hey, that's a classic, Starship Troopers. Yeah, yeah. All right, so with that said, this movie is like way hornier than I thought it was gonna be. Like there are some horns on going in this movie. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah, it was. Zachary Wheeler: Especially from Milo, I feel like Milo is horned up. Justin Weakley: Yeah, Milo was, I mean, okay, we'll call it like it is. I think everybody was a little bit creepy in their own right, except for, I guess, except for Adam. Adam wasn't really that creepy. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: Sure, sure. Yeah, he's got like no romantic interest or no romantic stakes throughout the movie. But if you do, you're you're got some creep going on. Justin Weakley: Yeah, exactly. think like the first at the very beginning of the movie when Henri is talking to Adam about Lise and the way that he describes her, I was like, wow, this dude is really he's he's really fallen. And then he says, well, she's 19. Whoa. I that was. Zachary Wheeler: We'll get to age the worst or nitpicks. don't know where I'm going to put that. We're going to discuss that. And it's like, he's like, ⁓ what is she young? She's like, no, she's 19. And I'm like, dude, that's young. Justin Weakley: Yeah, but there is yeah right out of the gate Yeah, yeah, but you, yeah, you make a good point. It was, especially for 1951, I feel like back then, sexualization was not like what it is now. And it was... Zachary Wheeler: You have gray hair, Okay? Calm down. Well, there's so many more like, like we've talked about the Hayes code before. There was like so many more rules around it that I feel like this one is like sneaky, pretty horny and creepy. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah, you know what even like extending like past the fourth wall when I was looking up just the Wikipedia page on this movie And I'm always curious to see what critics thought of it at the time when these older movies came out and like the top review I can't remember what the dude's name was but ⁓ he said in his review that the movie outside of the song and dance numbers, the movie kind of meanders and the plot is just kind of patched together except for when Lisa's on the screen and then it shines. And I mean she really was 19 at the time that this movie came out. She was a teenager. Look just a little creepy. I think I don't know. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ no, it was like Bosch was, I saw this review, that review too, was like, the guy was like a New York Times or New York something paper. He said his favorite things were right, the 17 minute ballet and lease. I'm like, we'll get to the ballet, but it was like, those are your two highlights from this movie? And which I get why people would love that ballet scene. God, it is so long. But I get why people, the... Justin Weakley: Yeah, that one. Yeah. It is. Zachary Wheeler: What's called? Has one of those, the singing in the rain. They have like some really extended, you know, kind of artsy dance scenes. They're so long. It's just, yeah. Justin Weakley: Mm. Mm-hmm. Never seen it. But after this movie, I don't know if I want to see it. Zachary Wheeler: It's fun because it has Debbie Reynolds in it. ⁓ Princess Leia's mom. And so was kind of fun, seeing a really it's like one of Debbie Reynolds first roles. So it's kind of fun to see her. You usually I see her like the smart mouth kind of older lady who's like, you know, very fun, like great interview with like a like a Johnny Carson or something. Right. And it's fun to see her really young in that movie. ⁓ Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: I liked it better than this movie, I'll just say that. Justin Weakley: I've never seen it, but I feel like everybody knows the song. Singing in the rain, everybody knows the song, even if you've never seen the movie. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ yeah. What else you got? Any other notes you want to compare? Justin Weakley: No, I mean like I said, that was really my in a nutshell take is just really, really impressed with the sheer amount of talent on display. ⁓ So many other things we'll get into the gritty of some stuff, but you have to respect it for what it is. Especially Gene Kelly. ⁓ I've never seen a Gene Kelly movie before, but it... Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Justin Weakley: It didn't matter. feel like you got everything you needed to know about that man in this movie and I respect him wholeheartedly because he was he was a sheer talent. Very. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ no, his dancing? remember, because again, I hate to keep flipping back to Singing the Rain, but like this movie, Singing the Rain, right? It's the first time I saw him dance. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ the first times I saw him dance and like he's doing ballet right it's like he's a ballet trained ballet dancer but there's something like there's like a masculinness to the way he dances and like an intensity even when he's smiling and he's like doing it with kids like in front of kids and it's like so he's being silly right like maybe not frame it maybe I'll say to dancing around Justin Weakley: Yeah. That's how it works. It just sounded really funny the way you said it. Zachary Wheeler: Dancing to entertain kids, maybe. Yeah, well, whatever. but like he, like watching him dance, I'd be like, cause like, you know, I almost want to be like, Oh man, I should have been a dancer. That's so cool. He looks so cool dancing. And he's like doing ballet, right? But he just, there's like an intensity and a masculinist to it that I really have never seen in dance. You know, we were talking about Broadway musicals and man like, Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: watching the men dance in those, it's just there's like a much more like a softness to it or like an exaggeratedness to it, where his almost it almost felt like watching a sport like athletics. Like I almost felt like watching a basketball game or something or football game. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think I was really, I don't know, not to get too sidetracked off the rails here. I feel like I was questioning the entire time I was watching this movie. It came out at such a curious time, 1951, right? Right after the war, just a few years after the war is over. But I feel like that generation, like our grandparents' generation, they were very, at least... Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Justin Weakley: the older men that I have been exposed to were very masculine. I would love to know what the general consensus was around this movie when it came out because it's, it feels like something that just would not have been popular with a lot of men back then. I guess like I can't, let me put it this way. I cannot imagine my grandfather seeing this movie in theaters and saying, that was so cool. I can't. Zachary Wheeler: Sure. Hahaha Justin Weakley: You know, it feels like he did something at a time where maybe it probably just wasn't that popular. Zachary Wheeler: So I don't know, because like in the same way we have like superhero movies today, that was like the musical back then or the Western maybe in like the 60s. It's like I feel like the musical was like the genre. You think about like the most famous people from that time period of the 50s, right? Like. Justin Weakley: Mm. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, like the men's men were like the singers and dancers, right? Sammy Davis Jr., right? Like those were like the men's men were like smoking cigarettes, drinking bourbon, drinking whiskey or sherry. That's like one thing I'm like, have you ever had sherry? I've never even seen anyone drink sherry, but they're offering it all for the place in this movie. But, ⁓ but like, Justin Weakley: Mmm. ⁓ Sherry, yeah. No. Zachary Wheeler: And they were like, and we're singing and dancing. That's what we're doing. That's what men do. It's just really funny because it's just such a different time period. So maybe, maybe, maybe, who knows? Maybe your grandpa was, he was a dancer. You don't know that. Justin Weakley: Hmm Yeah, yeah, yeah. He could have been, I mean, we're talking from, you know, a good old boy from the South, so he might not have been the demographic. But yeah, no, you make a good point outside of the bubble of, you know, the southern United States, southeastern. Maybe, yeah, it was probably really, really big. But yeah, I mean, just the talent of Gene Kelly, amongst others. This so many other people in this movie were exceptionally talented. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, Oscar Levant, I've never heard of him, or Levant, I'm not even sure how to say it properly. Adam Cooke, like the, I mean we'll get to best scenes, but man, that dude can play the shit out of some piano. Like, incredible. Justin Weakley: Adam. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, he could, which was really funny because after our last episode, guess who's coming to dinner? And we talked about that wonderful ⁓ supporting. Yeah. I think I feel like I'm extra critical whenever I see somebody playing a piano in a movie. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ fake piano planks. I do feel like there's some running theme with these older movies, like Casablanca heavily features a piano player, right? Like guess who's coming to dinner? Piano scene. This movie, know, Adam Cooke. You got some piano playing going on. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Maybe that was shorthand for like sensitive but cool. I don't know. Justin Weakley: Yeah, probably. Zachary Wheeler: I literally, I was looking at my notes, I was like, see if I'm missing anything else, and I literally wrote down that same review by Bosley Craworth, that was his name, Craworth. Because he did, I was like, the two things I loved, was like, man, those are the two things I like the least. But okay. Justin Weakley: Mm. This is so don't know this is so creepy. Yeah different time Zachary Wheeler: Different time, yeah. All right, you wanna get into the categories then? Since I think I'm out of my initial thoughts, right? had, you Yeah, I'm out. So, let's just get into it. We'll see where it takes us. All right, so to recap on the categories here, we got best scene, best character, worst character, age the best, age the worst. What are they talking about? Justin Weakley: Yeah, let's kick them off. Zachary Wheeler: Could this movie have a sequel or what would maybe happen the next day? Hot takes and nitpicks. Where do you want to throw in best songs? Justin Weakley: Well, okay, so here's what I'm thinking. I'm looking at all of the best scenes that I have written down. I have four out of, no, actually I take it back, all five, which not all five are best scenes, but all five of my examples that I jotted down are song and dance numbers. So do you want to just rename best scene to best song slash dance, I guess? Zachary Wheeler: Okay. Okay. Here, how about this, let's do song first and then we can kinda dance around the scenes. Let's just give a yes or no to this song. All right? So first one, by Strauss. That's the very first song, we're all three them, we're in the cafe. Really? Justin Weakley: Is that the very first song that they like? That was my favorite one because, for sheer sheer enjoyment because one, it's the first time that I feel like you got to see everybody's talent on display. Adam's playing the shit out of that piano. Henri blew me away. He hit some vocals that I was not anticipating. And then Gene Kelly actually made me laugh when he put the, I don't know, it was like a tablecloth or something on his head and he was acting like an old grandma, but Henri's like spinning him around and. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ go ahead. No, no, tell me why. Justin Weakley: It was really entertaining. The boys were getting down and I was having a fun time watching them get down. And that was probably out of all of the song and dance numbers throughout this movie. I think I had the most fun with that one. And it could just be because it was early on in the movie. We didn't know character motivations or how creepy some of these older guys are. Maybe that's why, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was fun. Zachary Wheeler: Okay, okay. That song was a hard note for me. Justin Weakley: The song itself, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't even know, I don't know if I actually paid attention to the song. I was just enjoying watching them. What was the song even a? Zachary Wheeler: I just, don't even know what it was about. Like. I had my subtitles going because of course I did. And ⁓ I was reading the lyrics and I'm don't even know what they're singing about. Like, what is this even about? Justin Weakley: Yeah, what was it about? Because I don't even know. Zachary Wheeler: I have no idea. still don't know. Weistraus. Something German. lot of German-ness going on there. One thing I thought was interesting as we're going through these songs. ⁓ So we're used to seeing musicals today with original music. This musical is not original music, which I thought was really interesting. And it kind of makes me reflect on some of the older 50s movies I've watched that are musicals. And I do wonder, like... Justin Weakley: Yeah. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: Like obviously White Christmas, the song White Christmas comes from the movie Holiday Inn, but I'm like, do the rest of those songs come, are they like, know, from somewhere else or like, you know, again, we talk about singing in the rain, singing in the rain. I have no idea. Like, I was like, me too, I'm go a back, like, were they just like picking, you know, popular songs and then just kind of building this very weak narrative around them? It explains why when I was watching some of them. Justin Weakley: Yeah. So. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Like, ⁓ yeah, that kind of explains the weakness of these narratives, some of these narratives in these movies. Justin Weakley: Why don't you, ⁓ because I read through that part very quickly on the Wikipedia page. know about Gershwin, right? Why don't you explain it briefly to me and anybody who doesn't understand? Because I know it was established music before this movie was made. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, so the movie is based, so the end ballet, that song at the end, that kind of orchestral song that they're doing the ballet to, that song is called An American in Paris. And then, so when Gene Kelly and the producer of this movie, which escapes me, heard that song, they wrote this movie around it. And the only way to get the rights to that song was Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ to be used in the rest of it. So they had used George Gershwin's music so that's why like so they picked ⁓ Like there most of the music doesn't come from a movie at the time It was like from like Broadway plays at the time, but they basically pick cherry picked ⁓ like four or five different movies Let's see. There's ⁓ that first song by Strauss it's from a play called the show is on Justin Weakley: Mm. Mm. Zachary Wheeler: I Got Rhythm is from a play called Crazy Girl. There's like, there's several other, or not Crazy Girl, sorry, Girl Crazy. A Damsel in Distress is another one that one of them comes from, For God, For Goodness Sake. And I'm not, I didn't research every single one of these, but I just thought it was really interesting that they kind of like, were like, we want the rights to this, you gotta stick my other stuff into the play, all right, we'll write something around it all. Yeah. Justin Weakley: Yeah, I feel like that is really helpful. That would have been really helpful to know. I should have looked that up beforehand going into the movie knowing that I think I would have been less harsh on it because you're right. It does. It feels like they had existing material and they're like, okay, how are we going to stitch this together to make it work? Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. You Well, it's like they have like the, you know, there's just some of the by Strauss song. Like there's just no reason to sing it. It has nothing to do with what they're doing other than like, ⁓ we're going to have fun singing a song or like when he comes and does the I got rhythm song, which was my favorite song of the movie with the kids, just kind of he's like, I'm just going to be charming with the kids. And it's going to be this song called I got rhythm, which is like, it's just kind of shoehorned in at the time, right? Or, you know, the song some, ⁓ like Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: so wonderful, so wonderful, right? The one where, when, ⁓ Henri and, yeah, they kind of like figure out that they're both in love and they're like, we're so lucky and the wonderful woman, and it happens to be the same woman, but, ⁓ when Henri and Gene Kelly, I keep calling him Gene Kelly, Jerry, Jerry Mulligan, ⁓ they sing it together, but I'm like, you listen to the lyrics of the song. Yeah. And it's about like, we're in love with a woman and it's, isn't it wonderful to have, to be in love or whatever. Justin Weakley: that do duet. Yeah. You Jerry, Jerry. Zachary Wheeler: But it's kind of like, it's like they had to force the scene to get to the song, which I feel like is what this movie is really about. It's like every scene is just forcing them to get to the, you know, it's where they have so many daydreams where they can like highlight their talent. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. it's, it's no, I was, yeah, all of that makes perfect sense now hearing it. And like I said, I wish I wish I would have known that going into it. Because yeah, even like you talked about the scene where he sings a song with the kids and the whole context of that scene, it works because he's in Paris and it starts off as he's teaching these kids English. Zachary Wheeler: So I got, go ahead, sorry. Mm-hmm. Justin Weakley: And you know, then they just sing this random song, but it's kind of like, well, I was teaching them English, so I'm going to lead into just some whatever. I guess that fits, but it really serves no purpose to any the rest of the movie. Those kids aren't even really in the movie except it's just background extras. ⁓ But that I feel like the important part of it is that it showcases Gene Kelly's talents. I feel like that scene is where I was like, holy shit, this dude is incredible because he's on top of. Zachary Wheeler: Oh yeah, I loved all the types of like, when he's like pretending to be like, you know, I don't know, like, I forget whether it's like a robot or a, like a penguin or whatever. Like he's like, you know, doing all this tap dancing. That's like very like mimicking things, which was very talented. I thought it was very cool. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah, and on top of everything, showcasing all of his skills and abilities, he's super charismatic. Like he is really almost energetically fun to just watch perform. He's just, yeah, it's hard to put into words, yeah, it's, it's just an interesting fact that this movie, it's almost like it was built backwards. ⁓ Where music, yeah. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ yeah. Exactly, I think it was, yeah, exactly. You can feel it, ⁓ Tra La La, that's the one where they're in the apartment together and he like has just had his first date with Lisa and Adam is like playing the piano. I said, not the worst, you know? Justin Weakley: Which one was that? That's what, okay, yeah, Man, thumbs down, I hated that one. It wasn't worth it. Zachary Wheeler: So apparently that scene was like the most technical to shoot because they shot it on such a small set and when he's dancing around, if he's off by a foot or a step, he's out of camera. Or he's like, so apparently that was like the most technical one to shoot. And then this is, our love is here to stay, which I think is the one that he sings to Lisa when he's like, I don't know, trying to convince her to, you know. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Hmm. Zachary Wheeler: be wearing her down. But it was okay. ⁓ Justin Weakley: Hmm. I see. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: The stairway to Paradise, that's like the only show tune that they have where Henri's walking up the stairs that are lighting up everything. Justin Weakley: where he's performing. I really enjoyed just that scene. It was very brief. It wasn't like a full drawn out thing, but I really enjoyed it because it was like full on show and dance with dancers with big feathers. And I enjoyed that piece of it. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I said fine. It was fine. It was good. ⁓ Tom's, ⁓ Tom, ⁓ Adam's concert. Justin Weakley: Man. I have that, I actually have that one as it's under my nip picks. Zachary Wheeler: Okay, alright, alright, ⁓ so, I thought it was fine. ⁓ some wonderful. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah, it was fine, I guess. ⁓ I don't know. Zachary Wheeler: And then the ballet at the end, I called the Madeline dance scene, because I felt like they were like from the book Madeline, all the backgrounds. But I they were mimicking different artists and things. ⁓ I just wrote too long. mean. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah. It's, yeah. I think if you, it is. I feel like if you didn't watch any of this movie, but you watched the final ballet, I think that's probably all you need. I think because it's at the very end and I was already exhausted, I was like. Zachary Wheeler: I think all the music is too. Justin Weakley: Could this be just like a pinch shorter? And I'm sure that's probably blasphemous. I feel like that 17 minute scene is probably in the hall of fame of Broadway. I'm sure. Zachary Wheeler: No, I think it's what won it, because you know, we didn't talk about this, right? Nominated for a ton of Oscars, won six. And I think that scene is what won it. Like, the artistry of that scene. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Like I feel like you cannot be involved in stage theater in any capacity unless you have to watch that scene. That's what it feels like. It feels like it belongs in the Broadway Bible or something. It's that impressive. ⁓ Very long, very long winded, but impressive nonetheless. Zachary Wheeler: So best song for you, by Strauss. Justin Weakley: I mean, I guess I'll be honest. really I didn't really pay attention to any of the music. I was really I was just enthralled with the dancing and the singing, but I didn't pay attention to anything they sang about or any of the words. Zachary Wheeler: You Alright, good. Then my default answer, I got rhythm, is mine. So that's our champion. Alright, let's get back to scenes. So... We talked already kind of about the By Strauss scene, which was my first one, right? Where there... I thought... Well, I thought... Actually, I had the opening scene as a good scene. Where they're doing the narration. I thought it was kind of clever how, like, it switches between all three of them. And then there's, like, the constant fake-outs of, like, well, that's not me. That's too good-looking, right? You know, where, like... Justin Weakley: Okay. No. Mm-hmm. Yeah Zachary Wheeler: He's like, ⁓ that's not me. He's too young, you know, kind of thing. I thought that was great. And then it went into that first dance scene where he's describing Lise and it's like changing between her person, like the way he's describing her personality, which I thought was also very cool. Justin Weakley: Yeah. I really enjoyed it. I have that down as one of my favorite scenes. I guess you could put it as a dance, because she's kind of dancing throughout all of it. But just the visuals of it with these hard color-drenched backgrounds, and then she's usually in some kind of opposing color. She sticks out. But yeah, I thought them just... So you can understand Lisa's character through Andrei's eyes and they matched those what he was describing about her with color. I it was so cool. Really, really cool. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I mean, from a narrative perspective, you had the opening, like, voiceover, which I thought was a pretty creative way of doing that. And then it goes immediately into that scene where she is... Or not, I think, is this his apartment first? Or is that afterwards? Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. No, I think his apartment's first, because Adam... Zachary Wheeler: Okay, and then it goes into like his creative apartment with all the little like orchestra of how he, you know, kind of navigates his little tiny house. And then it goes into that scene. like, wow, like this movie is like crazy. Like, this is going to be a very creative movie. I'm not saying it's not, but I'm like the highs of those first three scenes, those first three, you know, kind of little scenes to me set my expectations a little probably higher than the rest of the movie delivered for me. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I agree. I think the beginning of the movie, it opened really, really well. They came out swinging with like a lot of cool scenes, a lot of cool cinematography, and a lot of just creativity, really. And then I think they lost me on like the Jerry's Pursuit of Lise. We'll get into it later. But it just started to go downhill from there. Strong opening, though. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. What's next thing you want to talk about? Justin Weakley: one of the scenes that I really really enjoyed the scene leading up to what'd you call it? Is that right? Wonderful? Yeah. The scene leading up to the song and dance I thought was really really funny. So Jerry, yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Yes, wonderful. It's like S wonderful. S-postrophe wonderful. It's wonderful. Yeah, that's not mine. The Jerry, Adam, and Henri discussing each other's love lives. Justin Weakley: Yeah, but Adam, when Adam makes the connection that they're dating the same girl and he starts freaking out, he's like, I need I need a drink. And he tries to change the subject. And then he's I think they like the camera switches multiple times. But every time it goes to Adam, he's trying to light a new cigarette. I thought that was really funny because he's nervous. And at one point it's like he takes a sip or he puts a cigarette in his drink and takes a sip of it. I don't know. He's but Adam's freaking out because he's trying to not let it go there and have them understand what's going on. Zachary Wheeler: No, I wrote that Adam was legitimately funny in that scene. The part, yeah, where he has a cigarette in his mouth and he takes a sip of coffee and then comes down the cigarettes and the coffee. I was like... Also, smoking in this movie, Jesus. Speaking of cigarettes, everyone is just a chimney. Justin Weakley: He was. Yeah. Yeah, know. mean, I know we don't smoke cigarettes, but there are multiple times when I'm man, I kind of want a cigarette right now. everybody's doing it and they're all just in there. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, our grandparents, yeah, I can understand why they would go to the theater and be like, yeah, I want to be cool like that. I want to smoke. Zachary Wheeler: You No, they look cool doing it. You're like, I get why it was cool, man. It is cool. Justin Weakley: But yeah, that scene was really funny. I really enjoyed it. And it led into the song and dance, which again, I think it was it was fine. There's nothing wrong with it. ⁓ It is I think you I think you hit the nail on the head. Gene Kelly is kind of like the triple threat where Henri is more of a singer because that particular song and dance on it's wonderful. Henri, think he out. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. Justin Weakley: classes Gene Kelly on the singing part which Gene Kelly sings really really well but Henri is just he was out of this world it he blew me away on some of his vocals I kind of got goosebumps a little bit but Gene Kelly he'd tap dance Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, but Gene Kelly, think first and foremost is a dancer. Like that's his thing. Justin Weakley: Yeah, he he'd tap dance circles around on res ass and that's great as well. He should be He's wonderful. So he's wonderful Zachary Wheeler: Well, he's the choreographer of the movie. Yeah. Like, yeah. It's wonderful. Nice. Yeah, I did like that scene. Yeah, we've talked about the creepiness with ⁓ Gene Kelly and Lisa, and I'm sure we'll get to Lisa because he says Lisa and then other people are like, Lisa or like, Lisa. Yeah, I have no idea. ⁓ Justin Weakley: You Hmm. Is that what it is? Zachary Wheeler: I was trying to figure out how I was going to say her name the whole time and I'm like, I don't know. Justin Weakley: Did you just want to, we can call her little L since she's a teenager or big L if you prefer. Zachary Wheeler: There you go. Barely legal L. No, I'm just kidding ⁓ No, but the one scene I actually did like even though he is kind of creepy so you have to kind of like get past it Justin Weakley: Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: But when he's at the perfume shop, like asking her out and he's helping the woman pick the perfume, I thought I'm like, I'm like, I get it. Like you're really just not letting this go, man. And this girl's like shot you down. I'm like, come on, like you gotta be cooler than this. But he is very charming in that scene, I thought. Justin Weakley: Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is he is wait, was he charming before or after he threw out the subtle underhanded threat to lease? He says, was actually wrote it down like that. He says something she's like, leave me alone or I can't remember what she says. It wasn't that but Zachary Wheeler: No, it was during. I thought the threat was the charming part. Justin Weakley: Something about him being aggressive and he says like I'm I'm not you haven't even seen me be aggressive yet This is like a subtle threat of I'm not going away. So you better go on a date with me Zachary Wheeler: Hahaha Justin Weakley: my god. Yeah. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: But I did think like the whole thing where he's helping the woman pick the perfume and I'm like, I can see why someone would be like, all right, I'll go out with you, okay. You seem like fine, you're nice enough. Even if you are unrelenting, but. Justin Weakley: Yeah, he was... I know we... Yeah, it's tough, right? Because like we were looking at it through a modern day lens where that behavior was very like a creepy old man. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. Justin Weakley: But you're right, it's when you watch his character, he is very charming, he's very charismatic. yeah, the scene where she's, the lady is like, I can't pick between these two, which one do you like best? And he's sniffing it, and he's like, oh, well, this is the one. Like these Frenchmen won't be able to stay away from you if you wear this. And you're like, God, I love you. You are so great, but I wish you weren't creepy. Zachary Wheeler: I wish the whole fleet up to this wasn't you being creepy, but I agree He's got like you can tell Jean Jean Jean Kelly's got some charm for sure. Yeah Justin Weakley: yeah yeah but that scene is yeah it's there are pieces ⁓ for sure yeah and it's just it's just the way his character is written and just in that point and then it's when lease finally gives in which I thought was also kind of she pulled him 180 extremely quickly she rebuted him the entire time and then was like you know what let's go on a date ⁓ but after they got past the that little hump ⁓ It's like it was fine. mean, yeah, it felt a little weird seeing a 30 something year old dude dating a... Yeah, dating a... He's our age. I mean, us dating a teenage. You're right, he's a teenager. It feels so weird by modern standards, but I mean, the rest of the movie was fine. You know, but... Zachary Wheeler: 37. 19. Yeah. teenager. But think, I mean, the more we watch these older movies and are doing this podcast, we're only like, what, seven movies deep at this point, eight movies deep at this point. I think we're at seven. And I'm like, it is so common. This age gap between men and women in these movies is just crazy. that's, yeah. It's almost to the point where we're like, we gotta stop pointing it out, because it's just what it is, guys. Justin Weakley: Yeah, it really is. Yeah, yeah, it's very, I don't know, it's interesting that that was like such a big, well, not like a big thing, but a common thing in older movies, because it's, this feels weird now. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: The last scene I had was the New Year's party with the costume party. was just really, like, it's not my favorite scene, but I feel like it's probably one of the most iconic from this movie. And I just want to get your thoughts on it, kind of talk about it a little bit. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I think my mouth hit the floor when they threw the first girl off the balcony and then they just kept doing it. But that first one I was like, whoa, what was that? And they just catch her like she's nothing. It's that shit right there. I don't care about anything else in the movie, but the talent on display, it's impressive. I mean, the rest of the... It was fine, I guess. I don't know. I thought it was entertaining from like the costume standpoint, which I think it did win an Oscar for best costume. Yeah. And I feel like when they pulled up to the party, I'd never seen a party scene done that way before. was like, whoa, this is really, it's kind of different. And yeah, it was fine, I guess. I don't know. I didn't have any complaints. What do you got? Zachary Wheeler: Yep, best costume design. Okay, so. You walk into that party, all right? Today, I'm walking into that party and there's people getting thrown off stuff. It's manic. I'm like, this is my nightmare. This party is a nightmare. Like, where is the, like, I don't, I get it why Gene Kelly went out on the balcony. It's like, I gotta get away from this party. It is too intense, too crazy. I'm catching women I don't know, because they're falling off of balconies. Dude, nightmare of a party. Everyone's in black and white. It's like, I'm gonna get, I'm gonna have a seizure. Justin Weakley: You Yeah. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: from all the, like, the way people are moving around manically. like a great scene, very talented, very choreographed, like really cool for the visual. If I'm going to that party, I'm walking in and I'm like, is there free drinks? Nope, I'm out. Justin Weakley: So. Yeah. I Do think it's like a testament I think if you watch the movie all the way through to that scene I think you're so numb by just the sheer level of shenanigans From the dancing and everything that when you get to that point of the party it did really did not slap me either way I was like throwing people off the balcony It's I don't know. It's such an interesting scene for sure, but now I know now I know Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, there's a lot. Justin Weakley: for your birthday next year, we're gonna tell Carly that we're gonna throw a birthday party for you where people can only wear black and white in those aggressive patterns that they have. It was almost like, ⁓ maybe think of like medieval court jester costumes. Yeah, it's interesting for sure. Zachary Wheeler: Hahaha Yeah, he's dressed like Robin Hood. He's like black and white Robin Hood, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I wish I would have taken more notes at like what people are wearing. I felt like one dude had like a dog house on his head or something. I don't know. It was crazy. They all kinds of just a goofy. Also, I mean, we'll get to nitpicks, but. But yeah, I just want to talk about the because it was was also when ⁓ one note I had on that scene when Justin Weakley: Hmm You Zachary Wheeler: Lisa's finally about to leave and she's like, can't, we can't touch, you know? And they give their hug at the end. It's like so dramatic. And like, it's, think the transition from like theater acting to screen acting, like was still in progress. And it's like, you know, they just throw each other or throw themselves at each other. They're cocking their head back and it's just so dramatic, but. Justin Weakley: Mm. Yeah. Yeah, it's very similar hug when lease comes back and gets out of the car and meets him on the stairs and they like Yeah, it's just very I have it down. It's as a nitpick I guess I guess you would call it overacting. ⁓ but yeah Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's just like, yeah, you're like, we can see you, you're right. We're not in the audience 20 feet away where we have to see your shoulders move to understand your emotions. You know what I mean? Like, camera's on you guys, you're fine. All right, so best scene. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Well. I don't even know, man. I truly don't know. I feel like... I think you have to go, I guess you... See, this is why I don't do musicals. Because I feel like you have to say it's the final dance is the best scene. You have to, you're obligated. But I don't feel that way. I guess... I'm gonna go with... Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ did you? We're like Switzerland over here getting neutral on all of these. I'm not, I'm not, I don't feel that way at all, Justin. I do not feel that way at all about this. We didn't even talk about it. Actually, how about this? Before we move on from best scene, we have to talk about the ballet. It was not even on my list. Justin Weakley: It's just... Zachary Wheeler: I fell asleep, I'm not gonna lie. I fell asleep during that scene. It's great, it's boring, ⁓ sorry, it's great, it's interesting, it's creative. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: The movie is over. If you take that scene out, it doesn't take anything away from the movie as far as the narrative. And it's over in 13 seconds. That's how much time is like in that movie after the scene ends. So just extends the movie 17 minutes and it's cool. It's creative. It showcases the talent. It's that for me. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, I agree. I think I'm with you. I checked out after because they, you know, he changed. They they seen change like one after another. It starts off, really cool. You're right. It looks like Madeline with like hand drawn elements in the background on the set. And I was like, wow, that's really cool. And then it goes into, I think he's like in a, in a normal looking background setting, but there's like flower shops and he's picking up flowers. And then it goes to another thing and another thing and another thing. And after like the third or fourth thing, I kind of, I kind of checked out. mean, yeah, no. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Five minutes of it. Five minutes. Like it's 17 minutes long. It feels like 100 minutes, but it's 17. I mean for me it did, okay? Again, everyone who loves this movie, I'm so sorry. Okay, I get it. I get why you would like this. I get like if you love old movies, this is like as classic movie, golden age Hollywood stuff that you can get. Just five minutes. I wanna appreciate it. It's just too long for me. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. You Yeah, I agree. Mm-hmm. It is. Yeah, I agree. It's, I don't know. There's nothing... No, you go. Zachary Wheeler: Honestly, think good I Said honestly for me. The best scene was the first 10 minutes of the movie. I thought it was the most creative It was it really set up some really interesting, you know kind of narrative devices I thought it was very creative and I really enjoyed this first. I was was all I was on board the first 10 minutes Justin Weakley: Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I'm going to agree with you. I'm going to say I'm going to also throw my hat in that ring because, and I don't mean this in a mean way, but that was the happiest I was during that movie is during the first, during the first 10 minutes. Cause it was, it was a great, it opened really, really strong and it got off to such a great start. Zachary Wheeler: You All right. Best Character. Who are your candidates? Justin Weakley: I mean, okay, I only had one down. There's probably more. I don't know. I only had one down. I said Jerry, but not let me scratch that. Not Jerry. Gene Kelly. This is this is Gene Kelly's movie. Gene Kelly deserves all the billing. He's firing on all cylinders. Zachary Wheeler: Gene Kelly, yes. Yeah, he's awesome. Justin Weakley: in every aspect. He was phenomenal, right? I think, yeah, his character, there were just like certain quirks that I really didn't like about Jerry, but that's outside the point. I mean, that's just how the character was written. That's how this movie was pieced together. But Gene Kelly himself, phenomenal. Chef's kiss. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, that was my takeaway when I watched Singing in the Rain. I was like, this is not my kind of movie necessarily, right? It's, you know, the narrative, I feel like it's kind of weak. But it's the same with this movie. It's not necessarily my kind of movie. You know, there's other, I like musicals that are much more intentional about their story, like story first, music second, or maybe story and music equal. But the dude is so talented. Yeah. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm. Yeah, he really is. mean, it's I do feel like if you I don't know, I'm not trying to dig into, know, is this deserve to be a classic all of that, but I do think everybody should see at least just like one scene of him doing one of these song and dance numbers because it's just so impressive. Zachary Wheeler: I've never seen anyone else like we've you know, we talked about a bunch of musicals like His talent his like dancing ability is just incredible ⁓ Any other candidates you want to throw out there? Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. I mean that's everybody else was fine and that's really I think that's the point right like Lisa's great She's great from a talent perspective her character sucks. She's I have her in the next category But Henri is fine Adams fine, they're all fine, but Milo I mean Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Yeah, me too. What about Milo? Justin Weakley: feel bad for Milo, but then I'm like, Milo was kind of pushing stuff like that she probably should have been pushing conflict of interest type stuff. ⁓ But again, she was fine. She was just a side character. I really was impartial to her because on the one hand, she's just a rich, rich lady. I'm just like, that's, you know, really, I don't have any sympathy for Milo when she did not gain. Zachary Wheeler: Okay. Justin Weakley: Jerry's favor. I like, go cry, wipe your eyes with your money. You're rich. Go deal with it. But she was okay. Yeah. No, I mean, it's yeah. Yeah, she was fine. Zachary Wheeler: It's not her fault that her dad gave her a bunch of money, okay? Come on. Nah, I'm just kidding. Yeah, I liked her. I thought she was fine. The one, the scene where he's on the date with her and he sees Lise for the first time and he's totally just like creeping on, like just like, I'm like, dude, have some chill. But anyways, it's like literally sitting in the seat just staring at her. I was like, Gene, Kelly, again, we're not in theater, dude. We can see you. You can just do glances. Like, you don't need to be like... Justin Weakley: You ⁓ Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ don't worry. I... I... Zachary Wheeler: a puppy staring at a tray of food. Justin Weakley: I have a running tally of grievances on Jerry and his behavior. We'll get to that on Age the Worst. Zachary Wheeler: And so like, but after that scene, right, like Milo is furious with them, justifiably so, but furious. And then she comes back the next morning and she's like, you know, like nothing happened. And it's like, I was like, whoa, she might be a little crazy, but, but, but I didn't mind her, but I do. think, yeah. Gene Kelly is Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah. Zachary Wheeler: is the best character. Not Jerry Mulligan, but Gene Kelly. Justin Weakley: Yeah. No. Yeah. Completely agree. Zachary Wheeler: All right, worst character. Justin Weakley: Worst character, ⁓ Lise. Hands down, or, I mean really, it's a toss up between Lise and Jerry, they're both equally kind of, Lise only because, not necessarily the actress that played her, but purely because her character played two men, literally right up until the last second. The day before she's about to get married, she was playing two men at the same time and it wasn't... Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I have her. I have it in hot takes, but I'm like, is least like a terrible person like they date for he she dates Jerry for three months while she's engaged. And then it's not like it's not like, you know, we watched Philadelphia story where it's like one night she gets drunk. She kisses, ⁓ you know, James Stewart, right? Like Tracy Lord kisses James Stewart in that movie. You're like, Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm. Zachary Wheeler: I mean like it's not great, but I she's married the wrong guys the night before she's obviously always Had not you know, whatever like this girl is just straight up Justin Weakley: The motivation is pretty bad. Yeah, she does. Both men. She had every opportunity in the world to do the right thing and present it to them. I feel like it wasn't was she forced? Yeah, no, she did. Because she had to break things off with Jerry. I was going to say I couldn't remember there for a second if Jerry found out. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. Yeah, she chooses her fiance. Justin Weakley: Yeah, the guy that took care of her during the war while her parents were in the resistance effort who talks about her... Time out. Zachary Wheeler: So, all right, all right. Okay, I have, again, I was gonna save these for like hot takes, but we can do this now, because we're talking about her. So first hot take, Lisa's like a bad person, like she's cheating on her fiance. Second hot take, like Lisa's the victim of this movie. Like what was Henri doing? She's 19, it's 51. He took care of her during the war. She was 10? Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. You Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: maybe 12, 13 when she meets him, he's grooming her. So I'm like, maybe she's not a bad person, she just has no idea what to do, because she's 19 years old and she's been groomed by some creepy old man for last five, 10 years. I'm like, there's both, to me I see like both sides. like, she's either the most sympathetic character in this movie because she's been groomed by some creepy old singer guy, or... Justin Weakley: Yeah, that's fair. You Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: She's the world's worst person because she's cheating on her fiance for three months before she gets married. So those are my hot tags. I have no idea what to make of her because I feel like if anything, she's a victim. She's 19, but like, and she had some just awful guy grooming her for. Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, I think yeah Mm-hmm. I mean, really, it's a rough journey for Lise because she didn't have just one old man. She had two pursuing her feverishly. I think that's why, okay, so run her up for worst character. I present to you, Jerry. You have a 37-year-old man who is pursuing a teenager, literal teenager. Zachary Wheeler: You Justin Weakley: probably young enough to be his daughter if we're being honest with ourselves here. ⁓ Maybe. Definitely Henri's. I think Henri is older in this movie. Or was... Zachary Wheeler: It's ironic, the actor is actually younger than Gene Kelly, but they added gray to his hair to make him look older. Yeah, he's supposed to be older. Justin Weakley: That's okay. Yeah, I couldn't remember which one was older, which one was younger. Yeah. But we'll get into age the worst, but the tactics that Jerry deployed was, it was tough to watch. It actually made me kind of angry at some parts, but yeah. But again, oh yeah, like really badly on all levels. Zachary Wheeler: Nah, just... Yeah, just nagged her until... And forced himself into her... Life. Justin Weakley: ⁓ firing on all cylinders. Like Gene Kelly's talent, Jerry's creepiness. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: No, did you ever watch how I met your mother? So there's the character that ⁓ Barney Stenson that no Patrick Harris plays. Like his whole thing is he's just a liar to pick up women basically. And I'm like, that's my God, Gene Kelly took a play right out of or Jerry took a. Justin Weakley: Never watched the whole series. Mm-hmm. You too. Zachary Wheeler: took a page right out of his playbook. He's like, I'm, my wife hasn't seen you come here, you know, like basically like kidnaps her to the dance floor. And I'm like, all right, that's the bro code book. We're how to pick up women, you know, from, from how I met your brother. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's so forceful. And I mean, I don't know, I didn't see who wrote it. It was Alan J. Lerner. I don't know if, who knows, but maybe back then that's how men thought that they had to court women is by being very intrusive and yeah, yeah. But I don't know, between two of those, you make a great point with Lise. Maybe Lise was the victim in all of this, but. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, a different time for sure. Yeah, still didn't make me like her moments in the movie anymore, but I'm like, ⁓ you know, maybe you could justify real creepiness going on there for her. She's just a victim of just two creepy men. Justin Weakley: Yeah, I think out of... Yeah. Yeah, out of everybody in the movie, those two rubbed me the worst, I guess, for worst character. Zachary Wheeler: Okay, so we're gonna say let's just for symmetry, Gene Kelly, best. Jared Mogan, worse. Symmetrical, there you go, okay. There you go. All right, what's aged the best for you? Justin Weakley: Yeah, I like it. Kinda like Jekyll I had two big ones. feel like we've already we've we can talk it into the dirt, but the sheer amount of talent on display, it goes without saying. I think that is that will stay on the test of time. The other thing, the cinematography for me, really, from start to finish, it was awesome. And this is where I would love to get your take on some of these, because there were so many scenes and I don't know if it's because, you know, just how maybe how some of these scenes were shot, but I really, truly struggled in some scenes to differentiate, is this a set or is this shot on location? And like, for example, I have two examples for you. You tell me if you think these were on set or if these were actually there. ⁓ When Jerry goes to set up his artwork on that side street in Paris, when he first meets Milo and she comes over, that... Zachary Wheeler: Okay. Justin Weakley: I couldn't tell because it's shot very close up and intimately like it's on a set, but you had this whole noise of background going on behind them. It looked like they were shooting under real sun, but I felt like that it created a level of immersion in these this older movie that I feel like I haven't felt. ⁓ outside of some modern day stuff where they really do shoot on location and they'll fly up to the moon if it means that they can get a good shot for their sci-fi movie. What is your take on that scene? Was it real or was it on set? Zachary Wheeler: It's on set for sure. ⁓ Might be in a back lot, which is why the sun feels real. ⁓ But no, it's a for sure on set. I don't think they went to Paris. Like I don't, other than like to get some B roll. But Gene Kelly, I don't think went to Paris to shoot. ⁓ Fun fact about that scene though, the third year college student that he's like a complete dick to, who comes up in that scene. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. yeah. Zachary Wheeler: that actress is the voice of Lois Lane on the Superman radio show from like the 50s. Yeah, I was like, that's fun. That's a fun fact. I don't know why he's such a dick to her. Justin Weakley: Huh, I had no idea. Yeah. yeah yeah make this that ⁓ okay so next yeah he has he has a type apparently another feather in the cap for worst character jerry okay second Zachary Wheeler: Who's only nice to really rich women or teenagers, I guess okay, that's cool You Yeah, but I do think that is a, I do think that's a set for sure. But I agree with you. Like I thought the sets were amazing. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah, they were really good. I really struggled. ⁓ When Jerry and Lise are on their date and they go down by the water. So the way that the scene starts, start, they're at the top of these stone steps and they're walking down. Zachary Wheeler: What's your second scene? Justin Weakley: When they're at the top of the steps, I was like, ⁓ yeah, this is clearly a set. It doesn't even look real. And then they get down to the bottom. And then you see in the background this massive bridge with these lights on. You can see there's moving water in the background behind them. That one, I was like, I really can't tell. It kind of looks like a set, but there's water behind them. That makes me feel like they're there. But again, I feel like regardless of if they were there or they're not, the level of immersion that you feel where you can't really tell, that had to have been mind boggling back then. I can't imagine watching this movie back then and you're not exposed to what we have nowadays with technology and shit. And... Zachary Wheeler: Well, you notice how the movie is constantly in fog. And so they do that to hide the sets, right? Like a little bit. So it's like how they put fog over CGI now, right? That's like not as convincing. But, know, I agree with you. Like it almost makes me believe, I'm like, what are we doing? Spending so much money on our movies today to achieve with a relatively more modest set design. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm. you Zachary Wheeler: Like, I just, I don't know. We've talked about this before, but I just think the artist's vision, because we have so much more technology and so much more, ⁓ like, because we can doesn't mean we should, but we still do it anyways kind of thing nowadays. And I'm like, I just, I feel like we waste so much effort. Like the one thing that drives me crazy. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: So let's get onto my new favorite segment, what grinds Zach's gears. ⁓ one thing that drives me crazy, for example, Disney animated is like the worst about this, is I'm like, I'm watching an animated movie of, I don't know. Justin Weakley: Yeah Mm. Zachary Wheeler: Frozen where Elsa's eyes are like the size of saucers, right? It's not believable But for some reason the grass in that movie has to be hyper real or the water has to be hyper real We're gonna waste all these resources to improve the technology this movie and it doesn't really add anything to the story to me Beauty and the Beast is just as impactful and it's a 2D animated movie. Like, and it does, you the hair doesn't have to have a thousand digital strands. I'm like, this is the same thing with this movie, right? The, these sets are, they're practically built. They're small in scale, but they're shot in a way that's cinematic. And they're shot in a way that, yeah, that makes you like, it, for somehow they created a way to you. Justin Weakley: Mm. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: You can't see it. You just don't see it. In the scene, the acting is so good, the dancing is so good, ⁓ the way the cinematography is shot where the camera is positioned, you just, you don't see it. I'm like, do that. Stop wasting money on crunching, you know, visual effects artists so that you can make something that looks hyper real and then you go change it at the last second and it looks bad and you throw some CGI fog over it anyways. Like, I don't know. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, maybe that's why it sticks out more nowadays is because we're so used to seeing computer generated everything on just about anything that we watch. mean, it little shit to, know, where you see behind the scenes stuff of your favorite shows and movies. And it's like, ⁓ you know, the character, we wanted them to eat, eat cereal for breakfast. So we had a CGI and a cereal box in and, you know, stuff like that, where it's like, you, I don't know, it's, it's really impressive to see things. in real time that were there and they just yeah it's but the cinematography i thought throughout the movie was just phenomenal it really it was it was great yeah what did you have Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I agree. That age is the best for sure. It's awesome. I did the handshake at the end of the piano scene, where Adam Cook is daydreaming, right? And he's like all of him in these different scenes, right? And they do a handshake at the end of it between the, like, he's the maestro and the pianist. And so it's just him shaking his own hand. I'm like, 1951, actually. Justin Weakley: Mm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah, yeah, Zachary Wheeler: doing interaction between split screen. I thought that was pretty cool. Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now that you say that, I do remember thinking like that's, I wonder how they shot that. I feel like it had to... Yeah. It's, I feel like they probably used a double that maybe looked like him. Cause the one on the right, I feel like he kind of had his head turned more to where you couldn't. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, you watch the I almost think it's not even split screen. So. And he doesn't move like he doesn't really move. Like I almost wonder if it's just an image like a still image actually on set and he's shaking someone's hand behind behind the picture. But I thought it was cool. It was like good try. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Hmm. No, it is impressive. There was a lot of things in this movie. feel like they were kind of ahead of their time in terms of like technical shooting with the camera and tricks that they did. Stuff that I was like, I feel like I haven't seen that before. And that's coming off of some of the other movies that we've watched around this time period loosely, 40s and the 60s and stuff. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's really impressive stuff. Zachary Wheeler: I have Gene Kelly's Yeah, he's like always kind of cocky. He can't put a hat. He doesn't know how to put a hat on normally, but you know, I was like, I'm like, honestly, I wish I could pull off like just kind of cockeyed hat barely on my head. Like because it looks stupid. I look stupid on me. But yeah, I was like, I'm like, ah man, that looks like he just looks comfortable, you know? Justin Weakley: his hat so how he would wear them like. Why don't you do it? Give it a shot. I'll call Eugene if it'll make you feel better. Gene Wheeler. Yeah. How about, I really appreciated his outfits throughout the movie. He wore a lot of, we'll call him comfy clothes for back then. I really appreciated that. It made me feel better about myself. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Justin Weakley: seeing him not in a three-piece suit throughout the entirety of the movie. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I will say his shirts are very tight. I gotta lose like 25 pounds to even come close to pulling that shirt off. Yeah. Justin Weakley: Yeah. he's he's in great shape especially in the 17 minute scene where there's one where he was in a skin tight leotard and i was like yeah with the weird hat on the side that was interesting but yeah he's jane kelly man at almost 40 years old he's in phenomenal shape Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, like the tan one? Yeah. I don't know what's going on with that outfit, but... Yeah, all right. Any other what's aged the best? I the cinematography, I you hit it on the edge. think the inventiveness of it. Gene Kelly's hat, you know, top of the list too. All right, age the worst. We've hit a lot of them already, I think. Justin Weakley: No. Mm-hmm. No, I agree. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. I mean, we've hit it with the hammer a million times, I just, yeah, these older men going after a 19-year-old girl. ⁓ I mean, we can... Zachary Wheeler: At one point, one point, Henri calls her the gayest woman in the world. I was like, that didn't age well either. Justin Weakley: ⁓ yeah, I did. I was about to. No, no. Yeah, it just... I don't know. mean, I guess, you know, even by modern standards, like it's it's legal. She wasn't underage. I don't know what age limit was back then, but it doesn't it doesn't make it any less creepy. Yeah. I mean, just I have I have it on here. Age the worst Jerry's pursuit of lease and like just a laundry list of every grievance from him sitting and gawking at her at the table in the club where he goes with Milo. Like he literally sees this girl. Zachary Wheeler: Doesn't matter. That doesn't make it. Doesn't matter. Justin Weakley: for the first time and just turns his chair and just gawks at her and smiles. Oh, strike one, when he gets her on the dance floor, she's like, I don't want to dance with you. And he says, just give me a minute or something like that. Or you like, can go sit back down in a minute. Strike two, when he tries. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ no, worse, yeah. Well, keep going, dude. How many strikes we got? Let's go. Justin Weakley: ⁓ no, we'll go here. He takes her back to the table. She gives him a fake phone number and then the old... Dumbo next to her is like, that's not your number. It's blah, blah, blah. Right? So he takes her number even after she has refuted you multiple times, but you still, he still called her and she says, you went from a minor annoyance to being an actual nuisance or something like that. Don't ever call me again. That's like strike five. But when he, when he goes to her place of work and corners her there, And he, like I said, it actually made me a little bit frustrated watching this movie because at this point it's like, dude, what are we doing here, Jerry? She clearly doesn't want anything to do with you. And it's probably more necessary in the nitpick section of this, but he pushes so hard that she eventually is just like, you know what, whatever. Yeah, let's go on a date. Zachary Wheeler: Nags are into finally accepting it. Justin Weakley: Yeah, and she's like excited about it. Yeah, let's okay. I tell you what, let's go on a date. But just the whole that whole thing. age of the worst for me. He's Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I had I definitely had Jerry Perving on Lisa during his date with Milo. That's definitely one of them. In one of Henry's songs, he says six or seven, and I was like, it just can't now. I cannot hear six, seven. I was like, ⁓ my God. I can't remember which one it is, but I was like, he says six or seven. I think it's the smunderful one. I can't remember 100 percent, but he said six. It was six or seven, but I just heard six, seven. And then I had like Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah. What song was that? I didn't even hear that. Hmm. Ha ha. Zachary Wheeler: my little four-year-old running around saying it and I was like, can't. Age the worst by far. ⁓ French people liking Americans, age the worst. Yeah, they... ⁓ yeah, no, no. We're ugly Americans in France. Justin Weakley: Mmm. Yeah. Huh, I've never been to France. I don't have experience. So that's the truth. Zachary Wheeler: For sure, for sure. ⁓ Let's see. ⁓ the one where when he first meets, goes to Milo's place, he straight up asks her how she has so much money. Was it your, is it a rich husband or your rich father? And I'm like, whoa, bro. Justin Weakley: Yeah, I miss that but that's bad Jerry man, what who wrote this character? Zachary Wheeler: It's obviously not you, so who is it? Jesus, Jerry. Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, cherry. That's terrible. Zachary Wheeler: Anyways, I definitely think that the winner has to be just Jerry Pervin on a 19 year old. Or it has to be the honoree grooming a 19 year old. Either way, like both of them are just... Justin Weakley: Ugh. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think yeah by modern standards Jerry absolutely would have had a restraining order filed on him. He just that was he was relentless and it's tough. It's a tough tough thing to watch. Zachary Wheeler: You All right. Any other contenders for what's age the worst? Okay. Justin Weakley: No, I think that one takes it from me. Zachary Wheeler: I have a good list of what were they talking about, what the hell are they talking Justin Weakley: Good, because, well, I feel like you probably catch more of this, Mr. Subtitles. All I had down, similar to Casablanca, I really just struggled with the French accents and obviously native French. ⁓ But I really, I don't know, I could have zoned out, but I really struggled to find some words. I just didn't know what they meant, but I'm curious what you got. Zachary Wheeler: You Yeah. So in the ⁓ opening ⁓ voiceover, Jerry says, that's me on the West Bank. That's where I'm billeted. So I guess billeted means this is where I rent apartment or something. But it was billeted. I looked it up on, again, because I had my closed captions on. So I was like, what the hell is billeted? ⁓ There's another one where. ⁓ Justin Weakley: Hmm. Zachary Wheeler: And it's not like I didn't understand what he was saying, but he's, ⁓ I think it's Adam asked Jerry because Jerry looks like, guess he like looks good. He's like, have you been like, he's like, ⁓ your face looks glowing, right? Have you been taking injections? And I'm like, like Botox. I'm like, do they have Botox in the 50s? Like what injections are they talking about? That was another one. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: When ⁓ Jerry shows up at Milo's for their like that dinner party that's that she just tricks him into having a date with her. ⁓ He says I didn't know this was a formal brawl like B-R-A-W-L like a brawl. And I was like not what I would use to describe a formal you know event but whatever okay. When they're at when they're at the party. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah, me neither. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ Not the party but the ⁓ when on Milo and and Jerry's date they leave to go to that restaurant, right and she introduces him to someone and she's like I forget the guy's name but she's like he's on the Paris Telegraph and I'm like on the Paris Telegraph like is he does he work for the Telegraph is he like Is he is he is like a radio? I don't know what that means. Like what is it? What is being on the telegraph mean? Obviously we don't have telegraphs, but. And then the last one I had. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Yeah, yeah. Zachary Wheeler: was ⁓ there's like a guy, you know, in the beginning when he's walking over to where he kind of sets up to sell his art, he's walking past all the other artists and he's either like shaking their hands or looking. He looks at one of them. It's kind of like a more heavyset guy, do you remember this? And then he like walks past, like does like a double take and then he breaks the fourth wall, looks at the camera and goes, meh, I don't know, you know, maybe. Yeah. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. No, I didn't see that. I guess I was just like jotting notes down or something. that's yeah. Zachary Wheeler: So it's like it's kind of like a like a like a little head I think what it is I didn't look it up because I was like whatever I don't really care to go back and figure this out but what I think it is is that the actor who's playing the artist that's painting in that particular moment is meant to be a lookalike or meant to be implied to be Winston Churchill and so I think he like does like a double takes I was like Winston Churchill Justin Weakley: Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: And then he like looks back at the camera. He's like, I guess. And then he continues off. Justin Weakley: What a strange thing. I feel like, yeah, that seems like there'd be some weird humor that like audiences back in 51 would understand where it's just lost nowadays. But that's kind of a funny piece of, I don't know, history, I guess, with that movie. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. And ⁓ I should go look it up. I almost looked it up because I was like, what is, I'm like, I think this is supposed to be Winston Churchill. I think he's supposed to be like, that a painter? Yeah, whatever. But it definitely wasn't the real Winston Churchill. So I don't know what was going on. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Anyways, those were all of my kind of like, yeah, you what are they talking about kind of moments. Justin Weakley: Yeah, there's some good ones. Like I said, I really didn't, I don't know. Maybe I was like zoning out and working too hard on the notes, but I just didn't pick up a lot. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Well yeah, it's like, you I think you put it when they talk about like all the all the French like that's like honorees are very hard to understand. Justin Weakley: Yeah, he was. Like some of his conversations, like I think his conversation with Adam at the very beginning when he's talking about Lise, I mean, yeah, I think I picked up like maybe, I don't know, like six out of 10 words that he said, he just has such a thick accent that it was just, it's kind of tough to understand, but I got the general gist, but ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, the very first one. No, was straight reading that one. Mm-hmm. Justin Weakley: And then the obviously a lot of the scenes where they were just flat out French just right over my head. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, well, it's not subtitled. you're not meant to understand it other than like, you know, people just being French live in French lives or whatever, right? But. All right. Justin Weakley: Mmm. Zachary Wheeler: Sequel time, What sequel could be weird? Justin Weakley: I really struggled with this one because obviously, okay, me personally, I guess if I if I had to do a sequel, yeah, Jerry and least are gonna do whatever they're gonna do. They're gonna get married who I don't care. I don't know. And I don't care. I think what I would want to know is does Jerry's career still kind of take off or because after that party, I Milo gets kicked to the curb. Jerry comes clean, he's like, I shouldn't have invited you here tonight, Milo. I was a jerk. Zachary Wheeler: Well, yeah, in his defense, he takes it's like he puts it on himself as being the worst. So. Justin Weakley: Yeah, right. But like after that, does Milo, is she cool? Does she still want to be his sponsor or whatever she calls herself? Or does she say like, no, you know what, dude, that's I'm done with you. Bye bye. And, you know, what happens to his career? ⁓ Because I do feel like that's his character's motivation for a large part of the beginning of the movie is he wants to get better at art. And he has when Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. It's like... Justin Weakley: Milo talks about I've got like your first exhibition or whatever but it's in I think she says like three months and you have to get however many pieces done she's like it's gonna be a lot of hard work and you know there's a whole montage of him painting and he's doing all this stuff and I mean like that is his driving force his career as an artist and it takes a backseat to the love story but I guess I'd want to see what happens with that I know I just don't really care Zachary Wheeler: Look, that's like one of my criticisms of this movie is it like just ends. It's like. The movie's moving along, it abruptly cuts into a daydream of 17 minutes of ballet and then it's just over, right? And it's like, OK. Like like Adam Koch gets no resolution in any of his, Like he doesn't get to come back and be like, They did it, they're together, you know? Like he's just like, he's barely in the last 30 minutes of the movie. Like Milo's like kicked to the side, you have no idea what happens to his art career. He chooses what, you know? Like, and like, Henri's just like shows up in the car. She is what happened in the car ride, right? You know, like what made him turn around and be like, well, best of luck to you, kid. You know, like. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I groomed you for 15 years and it's time to let you go. Yeah, yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, guess he's not that committed, you know, but I'm just like I do feel like the movie abruptly ends and maybe ten minutes of the 17 minute ballet could have been like used for some more resolution into the film, but as far as a sequel though, you know Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: Like, or maybe it's maybe a sequel is not because this movie really is not made for a sequel. But what happens the next day, right? Like how long does does Jerry become like a super jealous boyfriend because he's realized that the woman he's loved has been like two timing him and he's like, how can he ever trust her again? You know, right? Like the relationship just devolves into paranoia and and he realizes while she's only 19 and Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: Can't relate to any of my 37 year old life. She's 19. Now granted, she's lived in France. So she went through the war too. But I mean, like he's a war hero. He's an artist, right? Like, or I don't know, hero, but he's a GI. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: I don't know, but like, you know, how do they relate? like she won't tell me anything about herself, but I love her. And then it's like, starts learning about her. He's like, wow, I can't trust you. I don't know. Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think you hit it. think it's, there's, it's not meant for a sequel. Zachary Wheeler: Does she give up her rich, you know, famous boyfriend to go live in a tiny room, a tiny house with Jerry? Justin Weakley: Yeah, with a struggling artist who may or may not have an exhibition. Zachary Wheeler: Another, ⁓ speaking of that, just remind me, I don't know why this just came to me. How annoying would Adam Cooke be to live next door to? A concert pianist in a tiny, tiny apartment. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: So she goes back, here's the sequel, right? Here's what happens, or here's what happens the next day. She moves into a tiny house. ⁓ He realized he can never trust her because she's been two-timing him for three months. And they live next to the world's most annoying piano constantly. I he might be a beautiful pianist, but how many songs can you listen to all the time before you're like, dude, get some soundproof walls, please. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: She's just like, this is the biggest mistake of my whole life. I had a rich husband and a rich fiance. Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. mean, it's tough. It's, I don't know what you do with the sequel. I just don't, like they're both shitty people. I don't know if I care to see what happens with them. Maybe the sequel focuses on Adam. Maybe that's what it goes. Or Henri, let's go explore Henri's journey to America and his show that he's gonna start doing over there. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I almost feel like a sequel to this movie is just like get three other super talented stars and go do another variety show-esque movie with a very loose plot. which is, and it comes out a year later, it's called Singing in the Rain. That might be sacrilege to a lot of people, but. Justin Weakley: Maybe that's it. Mm. we're gonna put it in reverse real quick. The sequel is Henri and the title is A Parisian in America. Boom, flip it on its script. then, but jokes on everybody, it has the same exact plot line except this time Henri plays Jerry's character and he has a love triangle with an 18 year old or something and there's another old creepy man. Zachary Wheeler: Okay. Who do think would be the old creepy man Bing Crosby? Justin Weakley: yeah it's got to be another it's got to be another american who has groomed another teenager you can't lose the heart and soul of the movie of all creepy men and teenagers okay let's move to hot takes and nip bangs Zachary Wheeler: Hahaha No, no, no, no, of course not. Alright. ⁓ Okay. You got me all distracted now. Honestly though, A Parisian in America is a great, that's a great sequel. It practically writes itself. Yeah. Yeah. You win that one. Justin Weakley: Yeah, it's perfect. It lines up very well. I don't want to win that one, but I'll take it. Zachary Wheeler: Ha ha ha. Justin Weakley: Hmm. Zachary Wheeler: All right, what's your first nitpick? Justin Weakley: Okay, I'll get let's get I have two nitpicks and two hot takes the nitpicks are very small and just goofy but well, we'll we'll fast we'll fast track them first nitpick the lip syncing on a lot of the songs just really bad, but it's fine. It's just a sign of the times the technology that they had but it was noticeable enough to throw me off nitpick number two. Henri's performance that night when Jerry and lease had their first date. Henri's performance way too late. He I think will be generous. I think he probably went on at the earliest at like 10 p.m. because lease runs away from her date with Jerry because she's like Jerry what time is it? He's like oh it's 11 p.m. and she's like oh my gosh I have to get to Henri's show. She shows up and he's done. He's walking out. Zachary Wheeler: Well, she doesn't tell on that because she's lying to him. But yeah, Justin Weakley: Yeah, yeah, but we know time stamp wise 11 p.m. Lisa's running to the show and when she gets there on race done with this show I know that when a four-hour show he did one song and dance at least that we know of well We'll say okay. Maybe he did a couple songs that puts this dude doing a 10 p.m. Show I don't know how they did things in 1951 or maybe we're just old and boring being dads, but you're not gonna get me out of the house to go to a 10 p.m show song and dance show you better have some pillows or something for me to fall asleep to way too late way too late not biden not going for it those are my nip picks yeah for sure Zachary Wheeler: It's France. They operate at different time over there, you know. They're not waking up till 10 o'clock anyways the next day. Justin Weakley: I think that's just like a sign of being a parent or I don't know, just this stage of life. I was like, there's no way in hell that I would be going to something that late. There's no way. But back then, maybe that was just kind of commonplace. I don't know. Zachary Wheeler: You don't wanna go see a midnight showing of a movie anymore. Justin Weakley: No, definitely not. will catch that movie on Netflix in 45 days before I go to a midnight showing. This is just a waste of a ticket. I'm going to fall asleep in 10 minutes. Zachary Wheeler: Hahaha Alright, what else you got? Justin Weakley: ⁓ Well those are my nitpicks. My hot takes, they get, I swing a little bit more with them. ⁓ Okay, we kind of already touched on it, but after Jerry gets his date with Elise, he, before he goes back to do the song with Adam, he is like swooning like a elementary school girl. Zachary Wheeler: Okay. Justin Weakley: It's extremely over the top for like a pushing 40 year old man to swoon and it's just so like theater dramatic but not in a good way. It kind of gave me some, I don't know, secondhand cringe or something. It was just like, what are you doing, dude? Like you... Zachary Wheeler: No, that's the thing, he acts like a teenager, right? He's falling in love for the first time. Yeah. Justin Weakley: Yeah, and it's that I don't know, but we don't have to spend more time on it. It was just like, come on, dude, you you won. were creeping out the butt trying to get this girl. You got her. And now you're acting like an eight year old. ⁓ That was one. And not to be mean, the Adams Daydream. ⁓ It was a really cool scene like the scene itself is really cool. I think knowing after the fact that they They had the music for this movie that explains a lot because as I watched the scene I was like this feels so shoehorned in here because. Zachary Wheeler: No, it's it's just to highlight his piano playing talent right like it's just like I just stick it in there, okay Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah, Adam is not even I don't even know if you can call Adam a supporting character. He is very loosely there in the background. ⁓ I mean, he does have screen time all the things, but for him, his character to get a very drawn out scene dedicated to him serves no purpose for the main overarching love story or what's going on. The scene itself, it really was. I wrote down it feels like somebody had a really cool idea for a scene where Adam played every instrument and they were going to splice these scenes together and but they were like we have this really cool scene for this movie but we don't have to do it. Let's just throw it in there who cares just put it in. That's what it felt like. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. That's why this movie, like I said, this movie is a variety show. It's what it is. It's like a variety show that they stuck a loose narrative in to make it a movie, but like it's a variety show. It's just, all right, here's this song and dance number. Here's this piano number. Here's this singing number. You know, it's like. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Is that how they said it? It's this number. Zachary Wheeler: Use his number, you know, like I just I was just ⁓ Okay I actually like that scene, but again, it is way too long. But it's too long with every single. Every single. Justin Weakley: No, I- I I enjoyed that scene too. I thought it was really fun. ⁓ Cause at first you don't know that it's Adam and then it starts kind of panning to each instrument player and you're like, ⁓ shit, that's Adam. ⁓ that's Adam too. but I was like, what? what is this what does this have to do with anything and again because i think like it's so much of this movie is just very exhausting at a certain point i'm like what are we doing here like why how did we get this off track from the shitty love triangle to now we're focusing on adam that's it that's all i had Zachary Wheeler: Why are we doing this? one of my nitpicks, ⁓ you talked about how the scene where he like was putting the painting, he's selling the paintings on ⁓ street side, how was he hanging them on the walls? Did he like drill holes into there? They're perfectly spaced out for his odd shaped paintings. ⁓ just walks up, hanging them on the wall and I'm like, dude, you're either defacing that property like the day before, or I'm like, what if your painting sizes change? What if you actually sell something? Justin Weakley: Mmm. Yeah. That's okay. That's a good point, I didn't think about it. You Zachary Wheeler: He starts doing it. I'm like, okay. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: And then, like, he talks constantly about how poor he is, right? And like how he has no money. Then finally, when like, Leis like breaks up with him and he goes to Milo and is like, all right, Milo, runner up, you're in, okay? Right? Like, he's like, come with me to this New Year's costume party. I'm like, one, it's a New Year's Eve party. So they're wearing like, Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Zachary Wheeler: t-shirts the entire movie it's January in France I know it's not like like I know we're not in Canada or Alaska or you know Siberian Russia but like France is cold okay there's no way that that movie takes place in January but anyways okay whatever besides that he's like I'll take care of the costumes don't even you worry I'm like where did he get those costumes he goes down to the like I have a very specific need Justin Weakley: You Yeah. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: It is, need a Robin Hood black and white costume for this costume party. I have no money. I'm sure you can just... I got it. How do you got it? Justin Weakley: You Yeah. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: So those are my two, those were two my NIPPIX. Justin Weakley: They're really good. I think you have a very keen eye for noticing stuff that just doesn't make sense that I think would go over the average viewer's head because you're exactly right. I never thought about how he hung those damn paintings on the wall, but he sure as shit did. And I don't know how he did it by like, yeah. Zachary Wheeler: It's the street wall. It's concrete. It's like this. I'm like, I guess maybe they had the, you know, the command hooks from back in the day, right? You it just gets a little glue. He's like, hold it up there for 30 seconds. Justin Weakley: Yeah, he had like the 3M. It makes me want to go back and watch like how he did that in real time because he does he just like puts it up. Zachary Wheeler: You can't even see anything so there are little tacks that they put in because that set is probably what like foam or something right? But yeah, I just maybe laugh. I was like, how are you doing this? Whatever. Okay, cool. Cool. Today if that movie was made today, have you seen those videos of like, you know, the people like hocking stuff in Paris and they got like the blankets that like a pole all up? Have you seen that? They've run away from the police because they're not like selling things legally. Justin Weakley: Yeah... Yeah... Hmm, maybe. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he he absolutely would do that. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, I could see Jerry doing that. Seems like we're out of his alley. All right. I wrote this question down. I'm not really sure how to justify it, but like was like, cause Milo's like, you're a great artist. I have to promote you. We watched his painting. We saw his paintings. Was, was, is Jerry a good artist? Justin Weakley: Mm. They're very... I mean, don't, art is, well, okay. I don't know, art is so subjective. And I feel like I've seen some shit where I'm like, this looks like you just threw paint on a painting and like literally just tossed it. And, that's a museum quality piece. I think, yeah, I mean, okay. Like for example, he does that quick doodle of, ⁓ I don't know, it's a scene when he's sitting there pouting on the balcony after Lise leaves him. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, yeah. Kinda like of the... Justin Weakley: It's very Madeline-esque. read that book to my daughter almost every single night before she goes to bed. It's fine. I mean, it kind of looks like just glorified doodles, but I don't know. Zachary Wheeler: Mm-hmm. Yeah, but see, is he headlining like a gallery? Like, I don't know, especially like as when he's doing like the big montage of getting ready for the gallery and he's like painting a bunch of stuff. And I'm like, I mean like, yeah, it's not bad. You know, it's fine. But I'm like, I'm like, think, I think Milo was just super horny for him. So. Justin Weakley: Ahem. Yeah, I think that's where you can you could That's what I was going to say. I think you could probably correlate that Milo was not really interested in the paintings or pushing him to be a successful artist. She just wanted to try to. Yeah. Yeah. If you think about it, it's kind of this weird. ⁓ It's this weird cycle, right? Like Jerry was creepy and forced himself onto Lise. Milo tried to be creepy and forced herself onto Jerry. The difference is. Zachary Wheeler: That's what I'm saying, you know? At least you're yourself up for destitute, girl. Justin Weakley: Jerry is older and just decided he didn't want that. Whereas Lise is, you know, 19 and is like, oh my God, this older man really, I guess I have to bend, you know, I have to bend, he has to get it. Who knows? But Milo, yeah, I don't know. Maybe Milo was pushing and Jerry was a shitty artist. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. I've gotten over most of my other big nip, my other big one I walked away with. I'm like, we talked about it, but I'm like, Andre groomed. Groomed Lise. I was like, dude is a predator. Justin Weakley: Yeah, he definitely did. I mean, I think you make a good point too. I think if Lise was not groomed by Henri and like really was in love with Henri, then she probably wouldn't have had any kind of relationship with Jerry. But I think clearly she did really love Jerry. She just was like, ⁓ I can't leave Henri. He took care of me. I think she tells him that too. He took care of me while my parents were away. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, he's my second dad. I mean, he makes me call him daddy, you know? Jesus. Alright, I'm out of hot takes now. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: Alright, final judgements. Should this be a classic? Or is this a classic for you? Justin Weakley: You go first. That's the right way to frame it. This, I don't, yeah, it is not a classic for me personally, but every theater kid and Broadway enthusiast and apparently AFI, it is a classic. I guess I get it. It's very impressive. ⁓ We've talked at Nausium about how talented Gene Kelly is and all of the things. I get it, but this is it's just not for me. It was really cool to watch and I had there was a lot that I really enjoyed, ⁓ but it's not on my top 10 list for sure. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. No, it's not for me either. Like I had fun. It was fun. I had a fun time. ⁓ you know, the whole time I was watching it, right? Like the thing is, is we've like given a lot of shit to the characterization of these, you know, of Jerry, of Henri. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: of Lise, of Milo, right? Like we've talked like they're just, they're creepy to each other, they're aggressive with each other, they're never ever, they're unrelenting in their, you know, pursuits or whatever. And in a modern context, it just does not work. Yada, yada, yada. But at the same time, like the plot of this movie is so secondary to what it's really trying to achieve, which is songs. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: dancing and all that stuff is great and like the it's really interesting to me that this one best picture because like it's clearly not about the narrative because it's not much of a narrative and it's just about like the performances that that happen in it Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: that I think must have driven it. even then, even when you look at all the nominations for it, mean, directing, I get, which was Vincent Minnelli, who is Liza Minnelli's father, I believe. Yeah, I was like, we'd be remiss if we didn't bring that up. know. But, so I get direction, right? It's really well shot. I get cinematography. I get the costume design. I get... Justin Weakley: wow, I did not know that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: the editing, like I get the scoring, the musical piece, it's not my style in music, but you know, it's been 70 years, so like things have changed dramatically since then. I get, yeah, I get most of those things. The two that it's nominated for that I'm not quite sure I understand, right, is the best picture nomination, because like, it's not much of a, it's not a story I find really that like, Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Zachary Wheeler: great or convincing or saying anything super interesting and then the story won for story and screenplay. I'm like, screenplay won for this movie? Yeah. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think like we talked about, knowing that this movie was built around the music, that helps going into it, but that's also a problem too, right? Exactly. A movie, you shouldn't need to know secondhand knowledge from something obscure like that. The movie should stand on its own. And I feel like if you go into a blind like we did, Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, it's his weakest part. Justin Weakley: Yeah, there's just a lot you're like, this doesn't make any sense. You know, all the things but I don't know. I mean, on the one hand, I'm like, I feel like a lot of people probably should watch it if they haven't already seen it. ⁓ Just for just sheer enjoyment of the song and dance aspects of it, or at least go and watch maybe not all of the 17 minute finale, just just a few minutes of it if you've never seen it, because it is it's really impressive. ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: It is, it is. Yeah, you know, I dogged on it because I found it boring, but it was after having put my kids to bed and started the movie at 840 at night and watching almost nearly two hours and I'm like, okay, this movie's only got 20 minutes left. like, let's, you know, let's see what happens plot wise and nothing. And I was like, okay. Justin Weakley: Yeah. ⁓ ⁓ not watch this movie late at night because there is ⁓ Unless you just really get into song and dance But I feel like the people that do have already seen this movie and it's probably one of their favorite movies for everybody else in the room ⁓ just go watch, you know, maybe like three or four minutes of the finale and you'll be you'll be good. That's about all you need to ⁓ your movie ⁓ Zachary Wheeler: Yeah. Yeah, like Gene Kelly, super talented. Best part of the movie, his talent. Justin Weakley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, completely agree. Zachary Wheeler: That's, you know, and that scene captures it and the rest of it's okay. Yeah. I agree. So not a classic for us. And, ⁓ yeah, there you go. I would, I do want to say ⁓ some plugs as we're closing out here. We have a YouTube channel now. So ⁓ ⁓ to Justin. ⁓ Justin Weakley: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. ⁓ hey! Yeah, I didn't know that! That's awesome! Zachary Wheeler: So it put our, ⁓ it puts the, it uploads the podcast to it, so whatever. But there's also some shorts that are clips from the movie, mostly, you know, out there to promote ourselves, right? Try to get the podcast out there little bit. But we have a YouTube channel now. It's just Popcorn & Pals Pod. Justin Weakley: Yeah. Zachary Wheeler: And then we also have an email address so if you have if anybody wants to recommend movies for us to watch or You know comment how many times I say the word like and how annoying that is ⁓ It's it's popcorns pals all spelled out at gmail.com Justin Weakley: I've been trying to watch mine too. I'm gonna start sending you some movie recommendations. I would love to hear what other people have, because there are so many, especially older movies, that I feel like, I don't know, there's no way that we can probably pick up on everything. So, recommendations, awesome. Zachary Wheeler: ⁓ yeah, no, yeah, All right, well any other last thoughts? Justin Weakley: No, I think we've talked about it. Good movie, good talent. ⁓ Might not be for everybody, but it's enjoyable. Zachary Wheeler: Yeah, fun movie, but you know. Alright, well everyone, thank you for ⁓ listening and everyone keep popping that popcorn.