Latest / All The Right Movies / Trading Places (1983) | Ep. 50 - Part 1

Transcript

Trading Places (1983) | Ep. 50 - Part 1 · All The Right Movies

• 0:04
  All the right. Movies given the right
• 0:06
  surroundings and encouragement, I'll bet that that man could run
• 0:11
  our company as well as your young Winthorpe.
• 0:14
  Are we talking about a wager, Randolph?
• 0:18
  I suppose you think Winthorpe say if he would lose his job,
• 0:22
  would resort to holding up people on the streets.
• 0:25
  No, I don't think just losing his job would be enough for
• 0:28
  Winthorpe. I think we'd have to keep a
• 0:30
  little more misfortune on those narrow shoulders.
• 0:35
  If he lost his job and his home and his fiance and his friends,
• 0:40
  if he were somehow disgraced and arrested with the police and
• 0:44
  thrown in jail even, yes, I'm sure he'd take the crime like a
• 0:51
  fish to water. An upper class commodities
• 0:55
  director and a lowly St. hustler unknowingly trade places as part
• 0:59
  of a scientific experiment orchestrated by the dastardly
• 1:02
  Duke and Duke. John Landis's 80s spin on The
• 1:05
  Prince and the Pauper was a seasonal smash in the early 80s.
• 1:08
  An outstanding cast and great writing combined to make Trading
• 1:11
  Places an Evergreen festive classic.
• 1:13
  My name is Luke and the two jive turkeys with me are Matt.
• 1:17
  My Harvard Thai like, oh sure, he went to Harvard.
• 1:21
  And Westie. Those men wanted to have sex
• 1:23
  with me. All the right movies are
• 1:25
  thinking big, thinking positive fear.
• 1:28
  That's the other guy's problem. Hi everyone, Murray, New Year
• 1:49
  and welcome to All the Right Movies, a podcast on classic and
• 1:52
  hit films whose stock is higher than pork bellies and frozen
• 1:55
  concentrated orange juice. Pork bellies.
• 1:58
  Pork bellies. I knew it.
• 1:59
  I knew it. We're back in the City of
• 2:02
  Brotherly Love this weekend. We're guaranteeing festive fun
• 2:05
  as we go behind the scenes on trading Blazers.
• 2:08
  Yeah. Oh, a hot potato, this one.
• 2:10
  Oh, it is too hot to handle. Almost.
• 2:13
  Sometimes. Yeah, definitely is.
• 2:15
  It's going to burn your mouth. Burn my fingers, man.
• 2:21
  Now, before we start, we're just going to remind you about the
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  Yeah. So we've talked about Eddie
• 2:56
  Murphy movies like 48 Hours in Beverly Hills Cop, Dan Aykroyd
• 2:59
  and Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers, JLC and Halloween in
• 3:01
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  Yeah, somebody to spend your Christmas money on.
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  An investment worth making, for certain.
• 3:25
  For the year, yeah. OK, so back to the main event.
• 3:30
  Why are we talking about Trading Places?
• 3:32
  Well, for me, this film was right there at the very, very,
• 3:36
  very start and very early memory for me, right.
• 3:39
  We had it at home when I was a kid and it was one of those
• 3:42
  titles which were very impressionable for me when I was
• 3:45
  78910 formative years. You know, the most suitable age
• 3:49
  for a child to be watching a film like this.
• 3:51
  Yeah, just watch it every year from 7 to 10 vulnerable times.
• 3:57
  We've mentioned how LAX parent and was in the 80s when it came
• 4:00
  to VHS consumption and this one is.
• 4:02
  Misunderstood. I think is.
• 4:03
  Misunderstood. Yeah.
• 4:06
  I loved it as a kid and I still do.
• 4:08
  I think it has a number of layers, some of which are a
• 4:10
  little muddled, maybe some of which work fantastically well.
• 4:13
  But I think the comedy is first rate, the themes are still
• 4:16
  relevant today and the cast are superb, a stand out.
• 4:21
  I also think that the film's been getting a little bit of a
• 4:23
  bad rap in recent years. Obviously some of it's
• 4:26
  justified, but I think a little bit of perspective is required
• 4:29
  to ensure that the film doesn't slip away, and I think we're
• 4:32
  just the type of chaps to provide that perspective.
• 4:35
  Absolutely. We do see so ourselves.
• 4:39
  Well, you do, but Lou comes in. Yeah.
• 4:41
  Exactly. Yeah, we're not applied out.
• 4:43
  Couple. Yeah, no.
• 4:46
  What's guaranteed, though, is that it's a hell of a film.
• 4:48
  It'll make for a hell of a podcast.
• 4:49
  Indeed. And Westy, unless I'm mistaken,
• 4:52
  you was in the tank last night bragging on your limousine.
• 4:55
  Yeah, yeah, it's just outside for me to go check it.
• 5:01
  Out right outside. Right outside you.
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  I got this one pretty late, and it was a late edition for me.
• 5:07
  I'm talking like five years ago. Really.
• 5:09
  Six years ago. Yeah, it just completely slipped
• 5:13
  through the net as as a John Landis film.
• 5:15
  I was in the Blues Brothers. I loved that.
• 5:18
  That was my kind of flagship for Landis.
• 5:20
  American Werewolf and the Coming to America, of course, was the
• 5:24
  stand out for me. I think Coming to America kind
• 5:26
  of replaced this one for me growing up.
• 5:28
  That was the one that I went to. It was either, I think it's this
• 5:30
  or Coming to America that you kind of gravitate towards.
• 5:33
  Take the Stones and The Beatles, isn't it really?
• 5:36
  It's one of the other. And I think for me, I just
• 5:38
  wanted to see more of Eddie Murphy, and that's why I love
• 5:40
  coming to America. And this felt very much a
• 5:42
  divided performance with him and Ackroyd.
• 5:45
  OK, always preferred Ackroyd and Ghostbusters, and coming to this
• 5:48
  one a little bit later, I can. It's painful because I can see
• 5:51
  how lovely this would have been if I watch it when I was seven,
• 5:53
  that the nostalgia is there, the Christmas theme, the comedy.
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  Eddie Murphy's just absolutely fire on all cylinders.
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  Ackroyd's hilarious, everyone's great denim.
• 6:02
  Elliot's there. And I would have been like,
• 6:03
  that's the guy from Raiders and it was just like 1 after the
• 6:06
  other and I just, I should have got to it sooner.
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  But I don't know what put us off for so long.
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  It just felt like I'd seen it all before and it was just going
• 6:14
  to be a rehash. But watching it again, it really
• 6:17
  is its own film. It really does stand on its own
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  and it really has got a lot to say.
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  It's a it's great and I do really, really enjoy it, but I
• 6:24
  just feel like I'm missing something.
• 6:26
  I feel like there's just a little something there that I
• 6:28
  can't. I really, really like it, but I
• 6:30
  don't know if I love it. OK.
• 6:32
  And I think I might have just missed the ball on it.
• 6:33
  But hearing you 2 guys talk about it, especially you look,
• 6:36
  suddenly you love it. This is probably going to change
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  your mind. And by the end of this, I'll be
• 6:39
  totally one over. OK, wonderful.
• 6:41
  Yeah, different perspective. Haven't only come to it about
• 6:43
  five years or so. Exactly.
• 6:44
  Hear about that? Yeah, my rose tinted glasses.
• 6:47
  You'll be able to knock them off a little bit.
• 6:50
  Unfortunately, I don't want to. But it's going to happen.
• 6:53
  I understand there. Was a lot of deep breaths when I
• 6:55
  was watching it. Really.
• 6:56
  Oh Gee. Can't do that.
• 6:58
  Wow, do that. Yeah.
• 6:59
  So we'll see where that goes. OK, finally looking good, Matt.
• 7:04
  Feeling good, Luke. Very nice.
• 7:08
  Why do you want to talk about Trading Places?
• 7:11
  Well, I'm kind of in the middle really.
• 7:12
  It wasn't one I watched as a kid, but I definitely didn't get
• 7:15
  to this late as Wesley did, so probably late teens.
• 7:18
  I think I first give this one a spin and I think it's always
• 7:21
  stood apart a little bit in a tea, right?
• 7:23
  I think if you say this film has got Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd
• 7:26
  in, that suggests a certain type of comedy, which this isn't
• 7:29
  really for the most part, in a lot of ways, it doesn't
• 7:32
  particularly feel like it does come from the 80s.
• 7:34
  I think that's really emphasized by having Don Amici and Ralph
• 7:38
  Bellamy in Denim Elliot in there as well.
• 7:40
  So it's got an interesting clash of Eus to it.
• 7:43
  It's got a bit more on its mind than the usual comedy, a bit
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  more to see. Especially for 80s comedies.
• 7:49
  It's seasonal, so makes sense to talk about now.
• 7:51
  There are moments of complete hilarity in it.
• 7:54
  There were moments that make you think.
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  There are moments that don't stand up to a lot of scrutiny
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  these days. So there's a surprising amount
• 8:01
  to unpack with this one, I think.
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  There certainly is much more than your average 80s comedy.
• 8:08
  Trading Places was written by Hershel Weingrad and Timothy
• 8:11
  Harris, directed by John Landis and produced for Aaron Russo for
• 8:14
  Paramount Pictures. Filmed on location in
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  Philadelphia, NY and the US Virgin Islands, it was released
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  on June 8th, 1983. It's another outstanding cast
• 8:23
  for us here including Dan Ackroyders, Lewis Winthorpe, The
• 8:26
  third Eddie Murphy has Billy Ray Valentine and they are supported
• 8:30
  by Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Amici, Ralph Bellamy, Denham Elliott,
• 8:33
  Paul Gleason. We're headed the streets of
• 8:35
  Philadelphia for the opening scene of Trading Places.
• 8:38
  Yeah. We open with the less than
• 9:06
  subtle images of wealth and poverty coexisting in the city.
• 9:09
  And Matt, you're starting us off here, the opening titles.
• 9:12
  Yeah, I mean, you've nailed it there.
• 9:14
  It is less than total, but that's fine sometimes because
• 9:17
  it's effective and it tells you straight away what the story is
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  going to be about. And you know, one of the most
• 9:22
  effective parts of the film is the location shooting
• 9:24
  Philadelphia, very cinematic city.
• 9:26
  I mean, one shot in particular, it really looks like it's shot
• 9:29
  on the same St. as Rocky from the training sequence where it's
• 9:33
  an orange. Someone throws at him and he
• 9:34
  catches it. Yeah.
• 9:35
  Yeah, and there's a shot of the Rocky statue as well, isn't?
• 9:38
  There statue as well. But it is all about introducing.
• 9:42
  The themes are hard to film. So it's about the juxtaposition.
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  If you get a you get the shots of immense privilege.
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  The Borden on the river, which if you're from this country, you
• 9:50
  see that you're always associate that with Oxford and Cambridge
• 9:53
  University. And I assume it's the same in
• 9:55
  America. It's it's a sport only played by
• 9:57
  the elite, played by the rich. And then you get the shots of
• 10:00
  the Salvation Army with their sharing his carrying adverts.
• 10:03
  So rich and poor side by side. You get the imagery of the
• 10:06
  financial market side by side with blue collar jobs like the
• 10:09
  Hoagie restaurant or the haulage trains.
• 10:12
  And it's kind of blinking, You'll miss it.
• 10:13
  But if you look at those holiday trains, the whole and propaganda
• 10:16
  orange juice, which is a nice little nod to the climax of the
• 10:19
  film. So yeah, it's all about that
• 10:22
  juxtaposition. I think the most effective 1 is
• 10:24
  that sort of corn and opening the front door to Louise grandly
• 10:27
  decorated house. And then the next thing you see
• 10:29
  is that warmest guy in the shop doorway to try to keep himself
• 10:32
  warm under some newspapers. So, so no, but effective.
• 10:36
  Yeah, It's very reminiscent of Beverly Hills Cop, this opening
• 10:40
  title sequence, isn't it? Yeah.
• 10:42
  Big, long, kind of like establishing shots of the city.
• 10:45
  It's on for 3 1/2 minutes. This.
• 10:49
  Yeah. I'll go straight off the back of
• 10:52
  this with what Matt said there throws an orange and he catches
• 10:54
  it. There's so many references to
• 10:55
  orange juice throughout this whole film.
• 10:57
  Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's not like the godfather
• 11:00
  where just something forboden, but it's it's still there and
• 11:03
  you know, denimally it just preparing the breakfast in that
• 11:06
  chefs hat is probably one of the best images, and I would like
• 11:09
  that to be on the screen for 3 1/2 minutes, If I'm honest, That
• 11:11
  would be my title sequence. Just definitely doing the orange
• 11:14
  juice in that hat and there's so many I am privileged bits in
• 11:18
  this. Just the you know, there's your
• 11:20
  breakfast, somebody standing over you, waking you up and just
• 11:22
  that quick cut room get in shape.
• 11:24
  You don't see him enjoying his breakfast.
• 11:25
  You don't know if he's had it or not, and then his pork bellies
• 11:28
  and he's all about work. But the bit for me and Akro and
• 11:31
  you know exactly what you're setting up with his when he's
• 11:33
  just standing outside waiting for that car door to be open.
• 11:35
  Yeah, that's outrageous. What a prick.
• 11:37
  And that's just like, it just infuriated straight away.
• 11:40
  And I was like, I know exactly what Ackroyd performance I'm
• 11:43
  getting from this. Each sets of character
• 11:45
  perfectly. I think it's just really,
• 11:46
  really, really well done. And then when he walks into the
• 11:49
  building and it's just good morning, Mr. Mcdole.
• 11:52
  Good. Morning.
• 11:53
  Good morning. Good morning.
• 11:55
  And he did. You can tell he doesn't know who
• 11:56
  anyone is. No, he doesn't care about these
• 11:58
  people. It's just a face.
• 12:00
  And he just answers back, good morning, good morning.
• 12:02
  Just being polite. But then going into that office
• 12:05
  and that fires on and it just looks incredible.
• 12:08
  It's like, imagine that was your job, that's where you work.
• 12:11
  It's just ridiculous. It's just so over the top.
• 12:15
  The visual nature of it being this overly excessive world that
• 12:21
  I can't stand to be honest. This kind of world, this elite
• 12:24
  world where everyone thinks the better than anyone else just
• 12:26
  because they've got money. Just, it really fucking pisses
• 12:30
  me off sort of see that wound down and spun around and having
• 12:34
  it played on its head and taking the piss out of it a little bit.
• 12:36
  I really enjoy that. I really enjoy how flamboyant
• 12:39
  this is in regards to that because it should be laughed at,
• 12:43
  but it's not far from the truth. No, no it isn't.
• 12:47
  No, that's the kind of take away we get from the film.
• 12:49
  It is grounded in that reality, but the kind of take the piss
• 12:52
  out of that reality which I enjoy.
• 12:54
  Yeah, yeah, Grace. I mean, Winthorpe's got a Butler
• 12:57
  for Christ's sake. And for the role of Coleman John
• 13:00
  giel Good and Ronnie Barker had been considered before denim
• 13:03
  Elliot but giel Good had played a very similar role to yes
• 13:06
  previously in author, which he won an Oscar and allegedly
• 13:09
  Ronnie Barker would only take the role on the condition it was
• 13:12
  filmed no more than 7 miles from his home that's.
• 13:14
  Such an odd request, considering he lives in England.
• 13:18
  Yeah. And he knows it's set in
• 13:20
  Philadelphia. Yeah.
• 13:21
  It's definitely more than 7 miles, Ronnie. 7 is a very
• 13:24
  particular number. Just say no.
• 13:27
  Yeah, not exactly. Yeah, You would have been great
• 13:29
  though, I think. Oh, you.
• 13:30
  Would have been brilliant. Love Ronnie Barker.
• 13:32
  It's Denim Elliot's reactions to things he's.
• 13:35
  Just a voice of reason. He's the moral.
• 13:37
  He's fantastic, yeah. Does a lot with just like a
• 13:40
  raised eyebrow, doesn't he? Oh, he does.
• 13:42
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 13:43
  The first person to welcome Lewis into Duke, and Duke takes
• 13:46
  off his scarf and his coat. Good morning, Fuzzy.
• 13:48
  That's George Fuzzy Junior than an exec producer from the film.
• 13:52
  All right. Yeah, there's a deleted scene
• 13:55
  where he also welcomes in Billy Ray into the building when he
• 13:58
  gets his job on the first day. All.
• 14:00
  Right. Like it's like it mirrors it.
• 14:01
  Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah.
• 14:02
  OK. And then after this, we get the
• 14:04
  introduction of Duke and Duke, the music kicks up to an almost
• 14:07
  regal March. Their existence is very similar
• 14:10
  to Winthorpe, so we know that they're operating on a kind of
• 14:13
  similar level, but these two are elevated because they've got
• 14:15
  multiple staff clocking around them.
• 14:20
  I've always found a weird that they appear to live in the same
• 14:23
  house. They may have a different wing
• 14:26
  or whatever, but considering their constant bickering, I'd
• 14:28
  have thought they would have When they have the means, I
• 14:30
  would have thought they would have liked to live apart.
• 14:33
  Possibly, but I think they just kind of married to the
• 14:35
  lifestyle, aren't they really? I agree, yeah.
• 14:37
  Kind of married to each other because they can't.
• 14:39
  They can't do without each other, really.
• 14:41
  Yeah, I think they're Co dependent.
• 14:42
  Yeah, definitely. We're introduced to their way of
• 14:44
  thinking in the limo, and there's already an abundance of
• 14:47
  character building here. Mortem is obsessed by money.
• 14:50
  It's the only thing he's bothered about.
• 14:51
  Randolph, for some reason, is interested in hereditary versus
• 14:54
  environment. Very, very convenient that that
• 14:58
  really plays a part in the plot later.
• 15:00
  But you know, it sets up their bet.
• 15:01
  It's there. Take it if you want.
• 15:05
  And their dealings on pork bellies tells you just how much
• 15:07
  money we're talking about here. Because of Wynn Phillips advice,
• 15:09
  they make an extra 347,000. Yeah, not 347,000 in total.
• 15:15
  Extra. Yeah, it is extra they.
• 15:17
  Always make money. And Ray Malanda was originally
• 15:21
  cast as Mortimer, and he was famous for roles like Hitchcock
• 15:24
  Style and for Murder and Billy Wilder's The Last Weekend.
• 15:27
  And for that film he won an Oscar and that actually made him
• 15:30
  the first Welsh actor to win one.
• 15:32
  But for this he didn't pass the physical which the part were
• 15:34
  quite so they couldn't get him and she would.
• 15:36
  Right. Well, I mean, probably for the
• 15:38
  best, because he did die three years later.
• 15:40
  Oh, really? And I imagine seeing Jamie Lee's
• 15:43
  rushes might have tipped him over the edge, to be quite
• 15:45
  honest. Landis attention then passed
• 15:49
  over to Don Amici, who was told that he hadn't made a film in 13
• 15:53
  years and that his residual checks were being sent to
• 15:55
  someone in Phoenix. Amici was considered dead by
• 15:58
  account. Thankfully, he was alive and
• 16:00
  well and had been spotted daily walking in Santa Monica.
• 16:02
  And when Landis asked him why he'd been out with the movie
• 16:05
  Game for so long, he said he just hadn't received any offers.
• 16:08
  Yeah, He hadn't done anything since 1970.
• 16:10
  You know, you don't see it or and stuff like that.
• 16:12
  He's actually referenced, if you can.
• 16:13
  You remember he's referenced in the French Connection, Cloudy
• 16:16
  says. Can you remember that old actor
• 16:18
  Don Amici? He lives.
• 16:19
  In this building, yeah. Telemetry.
• 16:24
  I'm always the last to know. Boom boom W Very good.
• 16:33
  So 13 years out of the game, Amici would go understand over a
• 16:37
  dozen more films in his career, one of which two years later was
• 16:40
  Cocoon, for which he won an Oscar.
• 16:42
  Yeah. Unbelievable.
• 16:43
  He's. Fantastic and I haven't seen
• 16:45
  that film for years, but I remember being fantastic.
• 16:47
  It's. Great.
• 16:48
  And then when Duke and Duke arrive at the at the office,
• 16:51
  they double down on their privilege with the way they
• 16:53
  treat Billy Ray. Randolph just steps over him
• 16:56
  like he's not there. Eddie Murphy here.
• 16:59
  Jesus. Billy Ray pops out of nowhere
• 17:01
  and he's this volcano immediately.
• 17:03
  Merry Christmas. Thank you very much.
• 17:05
  Vietnam did this to me, but I'm not better.
• 17:07
  Thank you. Merry Christmas.
• 17:08
  Happy Hanukkah. Yeah.
• 17:10
  How you doing? Spare poor veteran some change.
• 17:12
  I'm on my knees for life. He just.
• 17:15
  Goes and goes and goes. It's so funny.
• 17:19
  And then Morton replies. I have no money to give you,
• 17:22
  which I'll admit is a line that I try and crow by into everyday
• 17:25
  conversation. Right.
• 17:29
  There's going to be a lot of this, isn't it?
• 17:32
  So that rapid fire dialogue, Jesus, it's amazing.
• 17:36
  But then when Billy Ray starts breaking down, grabbing his
• 17:38
  legs, Mortimer slams on him with his paper.
• 17:41
  And this is what we're dealing with here.
• 17:42
  Mortimer has got absolutely no concern for this apparent
• 17:45
  disabled person. He could easily spare that extra
• 17:48
  347,000 and it would go unnoticed.
• 17:52
  But he doesn't bat an eyelid and he physically assaults Billy
• 17:55
  Ray. It's.
• 17:56
  One of us, by far the worst of the two.
• 17:58
  Yeah, yeah. He's horrific, Yeah, to be
• 18:01
  honest. Billy Ray's Subs of I really
• 18:03
  don't appreciate this as he's being wheeled away.
• 18:08
  It's just he's electric, isn't he?
• 18:11
  Unbelievable. Then the kicker at the the end
• 18:14
  of this scene, the plaque outside the Heritage Club, which
• 18:17
  reads with liberty and justice for all members only.
• 18:20
  Yeah, appreciate it. Subtle got a lot of soul.
• 18:26
  So there are a lot of things in the film that are on the nose,
• 18:28
  but Landis judges most of them just right.
• 18:31
  And these character intervals are superb.
• 18:33
  So far. Coming next is where 2 worlds
• 18:38
  collide and the Dukes concoct A diabolical plan.
• 18:42
  Man, it's over to you first. Yeah, because this is where you
• 18:44
  get the first conflict of the film, really, between Billy Ray
• 18:48
  and Louie when he bumps in from outside the Heritage Club, which
• 18:50
  leads in that chase. And it's just the most
• 18:52
  outrageous way to start because Louie immediately jumps to the
• 18:55
  conclusion Billy Ray is trying to rob him.
• 18:57
  Oh, he's not his bombing room. Sorry.
• 18:59
  About that. He couldn't be more apologetic.
• 19:02
  He's really. Apologizing.
• 19:03
  Really trying to help like it's the one time Billy Ray isn't
• 19:06
  trying to to get anything over on anyone and it still goes
• 19:09
  completely wrong for him. And it's that combination that
• 19:11
  the film does well of Juxtapose and the comic in the series
• 19:14
  score. Obviously it is a funny scene,
• 19:16
  but the serious underlying point is that the cop scene argument
• 19:19
  between the poor black man and a rich white man and the epic site
• 19:23
  immediately the straight on Louis side and Louis I mean
• 19:26
  Wesley said it to the Saudi such a prick and he is just continues
• 19:29
  to be such a prick He that he's just the absolute voice of
• 19:33
  arrogant privilege like trying to tell the cops what to do in
• 19:36
  there after him. He's getting away.
• 19:40
  But it's massed in comedy throughout every single scene of
• 19:43
  the song, which we'll get a new later.
• 19:45
  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Louis, he's just that
• 19:47
  kind of prick who thinks he needs to take charge of
• 19:50
  everything. And it's just typical coward
• 19:52
  behave as well, like he'd run enough to believe, but he always
• 19:54
  makes sure the cops are either in front of him or right behind
• 19:57
  him, so he's not going to really get caught up in this and that
• 19:59
  line he comes out with. People like this were menaced a
• 20:02
  decent society. We then see what decent society
• 20:05
  means to Louis when no one puts their hands up when Billy Ray
• 20:07
  asks if anyones lawyer. Is there a lawyer in the house?
• 20:11
  Yeah, they just. Call from the Shuffle and the
• 20:12
  Look Anywhere but Billy and then Martin are coming out with our
• 20:16
  racist about Billy Ray in his background.
• 20:18
  So, yeah, funny thing, but it's got a real, like, thematic
• 20:21
  importance behind it, yeah. Just before that, when he's
• 20:24
  outside and he's talking to the policeman, he sees them and he
• 20:27
  puts on his blind Stevie Wonder act.
• 20:29
  Yeah, he's talking about being in Vietnam.
• 20:31
  He's like I was with the Green Beret, especially unit battalion
• 20:34
  commando, airborne tactic, specialist tactic, unit
• 20:36
  battalion orange. He's just just seeing words me.
• 20:45
  Another reference to Orange, which is great, yeah.
• 20:47
  Yeah, yeah. And when when they pick him up
• 20:50
  from his little cart on wheels. It's not timing, isn't it can.
• 20:55
  See Legs. Oh my God.
• 21:00
  It's beautiful. I don't know what to say.
• 21:05
  Wonderful. I'll go for a little bit after
• 21:08
  that when the Dukes realized that they might have some kind
• 21:10
  of wager on the hands and they come up with this diabolical
• 21:15
  plan. Oh, horrific.
• 21:16
  It's a really good setup and you hear them from this moment on.
• 21:20
  The best thing about this is there's no reveal about how much
• 21:22
  the wage and and you don't know how much it's going to be set
• 21:25
  the usual amount and then the shake on it.
• 21:27
  But the destroying people's lives, the literally they this
• 21:31
  guy is managed the company. He's very, very good at his job.
• 21:34
  Yes, he's entitled. Yes, he's a bit of a prick, but
• 21:35
  he's making the money and they're just bored by being
• 21:38
  alive. They just got too much money,
• 21:40
  too much privilege, too much entitlement, and they just want
• 21:43
  to ruin somebody's life because they can.
• 21:45
  I felt quite depressed after watching this, but I was like,
• 21:48
  fucking hell, but what's what's the point of this with a couple
• 21:51
  of Dicks and they're trying to prove the point.
• 21:52
  And that's fair enough. That about he comes from a
• 21:55
  background that's not very privileged.
• 21:57
  He comes from a it's nothing to do with that.
• 21:59
  Anybody can be a success. Again, this is Landis put a very
• 22:02
  serious tone and masculine in comedy.
• 22:04
  Whereas it doesn't matter where you come from.
• 22:06
  It doesn't matter your background.
• 22:07
  You can't achieve things. It doesn't matter the color of
• 22:09
  your skin. It doesn't matter anything.
• 22:11
  You've just got to be given the opportunity and you'll be able
• 22:13
  to do it as Valentine does and then double crosses them and
• 22:16
  comes back on it, which I think it's it's got an important
• 22:19
  messages film, but I don't think it's just got so many.
• 22:22
  Though it's got. Too many, so you can't really
• 22:25
  hook on a bit. It's lost in all of this
• 22:27
  incredible comedy that kind of wraps it up and you miss these
• 22:30
  themes, I think, and this is one of their moments where you go,
• 22:33
  there's not much comedy wrapped on this.
• 22:35
  It is despicable, but a really, really brilliant setup and a
• 22:39
  really, really great concept for a film.
• 22:41
  Yeah, they are deliciously evil, these two brothers.
• 22:44
  Dick heads. Yeah, and I think this will be a
• 22:47
  constant in our conversation. The film comes under a lot
• 22:50
  criticism scrutiny, but I think there's some of it is undue.
• 22:54
  Mortimer's comments about what's wrong with Billy Reese is the N
• 22:57
  word, an N word at least obviously horrific.
• 23:01
  But if you think that the film celebrates that word and mortem
• 23:04
  as uses of it, then you just badly.
• 23:06
  Misread the film, doesn't celebrate that it's so loaded
• 23:09
  and so nastily said, and it's elongated as well.
• 23:13
  The way he says it's an obvious put down.
• 23:15
  This guy is obviously the bad guy.
• 23:18
  We're obviously not on his side. He's an absolute Dick.
• 23:21
  And from there, one of the great, great, great comedy
• 23:24
  scenes. Eddie Murphy had his finest as
• 23:27
  good if not better than the bar scene from 48 Hours when Billy
• 23:30
  Ray is in jail. Yeah.
• 23:32
  Which contrasts beautifully with Winthorpe and Penelope.
• 23:35
  He's romantic meal in the previous scene, Log, fire,
• 23:38
  Crips, Suzette, all of that. Shit, straight the bin.
• 23:44
  For Jesus Christ. Eddie here, Billy Rey is putting
• 23:47
  on this big short of proof. How much of a tough more four
• 23:51
  years. He's a chain belt in Kung Fu.
• 23:53
  Bruce Lee was his teacher and then he watched this and then he
• 23:56
  proceeds to do this ludicrous routine, loads of heavy
• 24:00
  breathing, the quarter blood technique.
• 24:02
  You do that, 1/4 blood will drop out of a person's body.
• 24:04
  That is dialogue to die for. That's amazing.
• 24:07
  It's just so off the cuff. It really is.
• 24:10
  It really reminds me of stir crazy this this whole scene.
• 24:12
  Yeah, it rolls off the toe. Prior as well.
• 24:16
  Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, he modelled himself on him.
• 24:18
  Did he? Yeah, definitely, yeah.
• 24:19
  The three people around Billy rear lapping up this shore, but
• 24:22
  the two big fellas aren't having any of it.
• 24:24
  When they brought you in here and booked you, you was grand
• 24:27
  like pussy. Yeah, yeah.
• 24:30
  That guy is amazing. That guy just says that, Billy
• 24:34
  Rear says. I threw tear gas on my face and
• 24:37
  that's the kind of shit they use on crowds and they're still
• 24:38
  walked in here like a man to get out of my face.
• 24:40
  All right. It's just one after the other,
• 24:47
  one after the other because I'm a karate man.
• 24:50
  Karate man. Bruise on the inside show their
• 24:52
  weakness. Oh wow, wow wow wow.
• 24:58
  Just dialogue left right and centre.
• 25:00
  Not just from Eddie it in Gooby nor Jive Turkey so close to
• 25:02
  Thanksgiving. That's great.
• 25:03
  That's great. Yeah, you used that on me a
• 25:06
  couple of weeks ago for being a Dick in the group, I believe.
• 25:13
  That guy is a musician and writer.
• 25:15
  He's called Big Ron Taylor. He was only 30 years older than
• 25:18
  this film, not 30. Years old is he Jesus Christ?
• 25:23
  Yeah, took paper round. Yeah, looks like you hate the
• 25:26
  papers. And even more famous is
• 25:32
  Giancarlo Esposito, who plays cellmate #2 here.
• 25:35
  He's probably best known to modern audiences.
• 25:37
  Gus Fring from Breaking Bad, but he's in loads of great stuff.
• 25:41
  Yeah, yeah. And talking about starring
• 25:43
  opposite Murphy, Esposito said. At that time, I was probably a
• 25:46
  little jealous of Eddie Murphy. A little jealous, really,
• 25:51
  because you work your early career to be a dramatic actor,
• 25:53
  and then this guy, a comedian with an affable personality
• 25:56
  who's incredibly talented, just shoots right by you to stardom.
• 25:59
  But that day, we became friends. And that nice yeah thank God I
• 26:03
  mean not surprising that heavy shots straight to stardom that
• 26:06
  deliveries out of this world. Yeah rapid fire hilarious
• 26:10
  instantly quotable if you're unsure about his comic talents
• 26:12
  haven't only seen him maybe on SNL.
• 26:15
  This scene puts pay to that, that.
• 26:16
  Yeah, it's one of my, if not my favorite comic performance of
• 26:20
  all time. Not just this scene, but Eddie
• 26:22
  in general. But I mean, I mean, all of them.
• 26:24
  As a comic performer in this scene, it's outstanding.
• 26:26
  It's one of the million, really. Yeah, he's amazing.
• 26:28
  And 22 years old, 22 what? He's so.
• 26:32
  Hungry in this film, it's just makes it so watchable because
• 26:36
  he's just electric and really, really.
• 26:38
  He's incredible. Yeah.
• 26:39
  OK, so that's the opening of Trading Places.
• 26:41
  It's going to get funnier, it's going to get more offensive and
• 26:43
  maybe a little bit more narratively confusing as we go,
• 26:46
  but it's a hell of a start. Yeah, the director.
• 26:55
  John Landis is the man at the helm of Trading Places, coming
• 26:58
  off the back of three consecutive classics, Animal
• 27:00
  House, The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London.
• 27:03
  Yeah, this is probably when he was at the height of his powers.
• 27:06
  Yeah, Westie, what do you think of his working?
• 27:09
  I mean, it's very John Landis. It comes to this knowing exactly
• 27:12
  what he wants to do comedy wise. I think he's got a lot to say.
• 27:15
  This feels very much like a 70s film to me.
• 27:18
  It feels like it's grounded in, you know, like 7879 maybe.
• 27:21
  It doesn't feel like an 80s comedy.
• 27:22
  I wouldn't go through it in places as a 1983 defines the
• 27:25
  80s. I'd come in.
• 27:27
  America is probably more of the 80s comedy.
• 27:29
  This. Is a great bit.
• 27:30
  Total, this has a bit more grit to it.
• 27:32
  It has a bit more zest to it. And what I want to touch on is
• 27:36
  just how, like we've said, he introduces comedy in these
• 27:40
  scenes that are just so serious and have these themes that are
• 27:43
  just so kind of repellent and hard to deal with.
• 27:46
  But he deals with them through comedy.
• 27:48
  And I'll go specifically for Louis, Loses his job, goes to
• 27:53
  prison, ends up with a prostitute, dresses up as Santa,
• 27:56
  starving, pissed, goes to kill himself, and it's still funny.
• 28:00
  Yes. I don't understand how that
• 28:02
  works. Even that scene when he's trying
• 28:04
  to kill himself, it's funny. Yeah, because then it just
• 28:06
  starts raining. He's on the bus, yet it's a
• 28:08
  salmon affair enough. It makes you think like, well,
• 28:10
  maybe all of the shit that we think about and all of the stuff
• 28:13
  that we stress over, just don't worry about it so much.
• 28:17
  Like, it's just life, isn't it? Shit happens, get on.
• 28:21
  And that's what I feel Landis is bringing to this, is that, you
• 28:23
  know, shit does happen and you can deal with it.
• 28:25
  And the Blues Brothers for me is Landis best.
• 28:28
  I'm going to say it's just so fucking original and clever and
• 28:33
  brilliant. But this is kind of it's up
• 28:35
  there with less cocaine. A.
• 28:41
  Lot less cocaine and he really has something to say.
• 28:44
  And this film, it might be lambasted now, it might be
• 28:47
  saying like that it is very racist.
• 28:49
  Yes, it does have these themes, but he dives into it 100% as if
• 28:53
  he's friends with everybody. He's not attacking anybody.
• 28:55
  He's exploring these themes without any kind of attack.
• 28:58
  He let's start to the Dukes to do that and everybody comes
• 29:01
  together at the end of it. And it's such a warm film when
• 29:04
  you finish watching it. And I think that was what he
• 29:06
  intended. So for me, it's a Landis comedy.
• 29:09
  It really is up there. I saw the Blues Brothers first.
• 29:11
  It's why it's kind of yes. But you can see he's all over
• 29:15
  this and he's trying to say a lot more than people are picking
• 29:18
  up from it. And I think that's a shame
• 29:19
  because it is far more intelligent people think it is.
• 29:22
  Yeah. Oh, it absolutely is.
• 29:24
  And yeah, this was my first Landis film.
• 29:27
  I think American Werewolf came quickly after it, but this was
• 29:30
  the first certain. That makes sense.
• 29:31
  And we've alluded to it already, but Landis really hammers home
• 29:34
  this social disparity in class and race in his visuals.
• 29:38
  Those credits highlight the contrast of classes coexisting
• 29:41
  in the same city, sometimes on the same street corner.
• 29:43
  It also clearly highlights the racial economic differences in
• 29:46
  the city. That shot that you mentioned,
• 29:48
  Mass Winthorpe. Been walking a couple of shots
• 29:52
  before. That is a black man sleeping
• 29:54
  rough on the streets of Philly in winter.
• 29:56
  That ain't no picnic. With newspapers as well.
• 29:58
  I mean, that's is it. Terrific, no?
• 30:01
  There's a scene which I think really exemplifies this
• 30:04
  representation, visual representation of race in
• 30:07
  particular. When the Dukes give Ezra the
• 30:10
  server at the Heritage Club $5, maybe he'll go to the movies by
• 30:14
  himself. Half of it is from.
• 30:15
  Me. That's great.
• 30:16
  What a prick. Yeah, half of that is from me.
• 30:19
  I go to the queue. Mr. Mortimer, he's so fucking
• 30:25
  furious. Yeah, yeah.
• 30:26
  He's just like, yeah, he's a human being, man.
• 30:29
  Yeah, no, yeah, $5. Jesus Christ.
• 30:31
  Outrageous. But it feels incredibly symbolic
• 30:34
  that he's serving the Dukes up a glass of milk each.
• 30:37
  Yeah, a glass of milk, that's the whitest drink in the world.
• 30:41
  It's such an odd thing for 270 somethings to be drinking, but
• 30:45
  it suggests a few things. That suggests that they haven't
• 30:47
  grown up, that they've been raised in an environment of
• 30:50
  privilege, haven't experienced life, and have been in a
• 30:53
  permanent state of Arrested Development since their child.
• 30:56
  Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I didn't think about that.
• 30:58
  But there's also a plate of Oreo cookies on that tree as well.
• 31:01
  Milk and cookies, yeah. And I think that's a not too
• 31:06
  subtle representation of races coexistent.
• 31:08
  My interpretation of that out the brown cookie keeps the white
• 31:12
  center secure, which is metaphorical of the film's
• 31:14
  themes. So loads to take from that small
• 31:17
  scene. And Landis sprinkles this
• 31:19
  throughout the film. I mentioned earlier that a few
• 31:21
  things are on the nose, but it feels to me that Landis really
• 31:24
  has a bee in his bonnet about social inequalities in the
• 31:27
  world. Yeah, it's hamming home here,
• 31:29
  and I think it's a ballsy move to make a comedy like this.
• 31:32
  If you consider that vacation, National Lampoon's vacation came
• 31:35
  out two weeks later. I mean, nothing against that
• 31:40
  film, it's great. We've talked about it on Double
• 31:42
  Feature recently. But the level of writing, the
• 31:45
  narrative, the dialogue in this film is miles above vacation.
• 31:49
  And I think what is also impressive is that this weighty
• 31:52
  message in the film about race and class doesn't bog the comedy
• 31:55
  down. It's akin to how Mel Brooks
• 31:58
  tackled a similar narrative in Business Settles.
• 32:01
  I think it's Landis's finest work from a director point of
• 32:04
  view here. From a thematic point of view,
• 32:06
  yeah, he's definitely got something to say.
• 32:08
  Without doubt. Yeah, great.
• 32:09
  I think this is the most mature work Landis has ever done.
• 32:12
  Like all those other films, I think that all have this very
• 32:15
  snarky quality, like he's pulling faces at everyone behind
• 32:18
  the camera to make them laugh. But this I think because he's
• 32:21
  looked at the script that he's been given and well, obviously
• 32:23
  top by the right in the bid and he realizes that as he's saying,
• 32:27
  there's some depth to this, right?
• 32:28
  And yes, it's a comedy, but it does talk about those serious
• 32:31
  issues you brought up race, class, capitalism.
• 32:34
  So I think all the goofiness years you get with Landis is
• 32:37
  very reined in. And you know, we've mentioned
• 32:39
  the Blues Brothers and for me that that's when I came to quite
• 32:41
  late. So it's not one of my favorites
• 32:43
  like this for you to, but I like it.
• 32:44
  But my main criticism of that results being it's quite a buggy
• 32:48
  film. It's very broad, it's really
• 32:49
  excessive, it's really self indulgent and that's fine.
• 32:52
  But Landers knows that's not right for Trading Places.
• 32:54
  Trading Places needs to be sharp and it needs to be refined.
• 32:58
  It's like, you know, this film a.
• 32:59
  Lot lean like you think about Blue Brothers, you think about
• 33:01
  like the restaurant scene where I cried in blue she had just
• 33:04
  riffing for. Ages.
• 33:06
  You can take scenes out of Blues Brothers.
• 33:08
  You can't take anything out. You take about 45 minutes out of
• 33:11
  Blues. The Twiggy scene, that's a
• 33:14
  dimension area, and I think with this, Landis is just absolutely
• 33:18
  stamping down on stuff like that.
• 33:20
  Yes, he lets Murphy improvise because you can't stop him,
• 33:23
  basically, But even then, the improvisation still feels very
• 33:26
  content. Landon doesn't let it drag.
• 33:29
  He may be let Murphy do it, but he could it out in the edit to
• 33:32
  keep a chop, to keep it lame. Because there is that underlying
• 33:35
  seriousness to the plot here. And I think Landis recognizes
• 33:38
  that, and I think he just grows up a little bit with this one.
• 33:41
  Yeah, very much. I mean, it's quite laughable if
• 33:44
  you said to someone the trade in places as John and Alison
• 33:46
  Moore's mature film. Yeah, yeah, what you're talking
• 33:49
  about. But it really is.
• 33:50
  Yeah, it really is. Because it's got a lot of things
• 33:53
  that over shadow it, like the racism, the language, the
• 33:57
  outdated ideas, Jamie Lee's nudity, all of that over shadow
• 34:01
  what is a really smart film with a lot to say.
• 34:05
  Yeah, Landis came on board. Haven't received the script from
• 34:07
  Jeff Katzenberg. It was a Paramount executive at
• 34:10
  the time. Yeah, the original title was
• 34:12
  Black and White, which he didn't like and had a change, which,
• 34:16
  yeah, definitely changed that. But he later observed the irony
• 34:19
  that he would go on to direct the music video for Black and
• 34:21
  White. Yeah, Michael Jackson's black
• 34:23
  and white. Yeah, I mean black and white.
• 34:25
  Could it have been a worse title?
• 34:28
  Title. Yeah.
• 34:30
  To me, you may as well have just went with Ebony and ivory, yeah.
• 34:35
  This is racist. Yeah.
• 34:40
  And Landa said he was drawn to material because in his words,
• 34:44
  it was very old fashioned, the social comedy very much like the
• 34:47
  screwball stuff done in the 1930s.
• 34:49
  But he said he gave AD 80s twist by adding in the bad language
• 34:52
  and the nudity. Yeah, he certainly did that.
• 34:56
  The cast got on famously with Landis.
• 34:57
  Eddie Murphy would go on to make a further 2 films with him.
• 35:00
  Jimmy Lee Curtis said she owed her career to Landis.
• 35:03
  Wow, wow. And Ackroyd said we were under
• 35:06
  the hand of a great director. I basically did just what Landis
• 35:09
  told me. He's very much an old school
• 35:11
  director, like Cecil B DeMille. All that's missing is the riding
• 35:15
  crop, the boots and the bullhorn.
• 35:18
  I'll end on a wonderful quote from the man himself, he said.
• 35:21
  My last in memory is that it was a good experience on Trading
• 35:24
  Places. It had a wonderful cast, a great
• 35:25
  script, and it was an absolute pleasure to make.
• 35:28
  You can tell everyone's having a great of course.
• 35:30
  Yeah. The cast.
• 35:37
  Continuing our trend of wonderful ensemble casts,
• 35:40
  trading places, there's no exception.
• 35:42
  We're focusing on the main players here and I think I'm
• 35:46
  right in seeing that they are three firm ATRM favorites.
• 35:49
  Oh, yes, yeah. And we're starting off with
• 35:52
  Eddie Murphy, of course. Yeah, I mean, it's just worth
• 35:55
  remembering this is only his second big screen role after 48
• 35:59
  hours. And when you bear that mind, it
• 36:01
  just reminds you just how confident he was straight out of
• 36:05
  the gate. He knew exactly who he was.
• 36:07
  He knew how good he looked on screen.
• 36:09
  And he knows how funny he is. And that's what he brings.
• 36:11
  See, this performance just uses confidence in Christmas.
• 36:16
  And I yeah, I fully believe he's the only person that land us
• 36:19
  would let improvise because he's that good at it.
• 36:21
  And why would you stop him improvising when he's that good?
• 36:24
  Because he is hysterically funny when he just.
• 36:30
  And he just bawled you over with his complete charm offensive and
• 36:34
  he just makes every line sing like no one else in this film
• 36:38
  could break the 4th wall and get away with it, but Murphy can.
• 36:42
  Does it a couple of times as well, doesn't.
• 36:43
  He 2 times, that's it. People forget the does it twice,
• 36:46
  doing it twice and nailing it both times.
• 36:49
  But it's performed. It's got dramatic weight to it
• 36:52
  as well. Like Billy Ray knows deep down
• 36:53
  something isn't right in this situation.
• 36:56
  He knows something is off with the Dukes and he plays it just
• 36:58
  so suddenly, just underneath the surface.
• 37:00
  Yes, I'm going to enjoy all the trap and stuff suddenly being
• 37:03
  given. But I know there's there's a
• 37:05
  catch to all this. He's not an idiot and he plays
• 37:08
  out really effectively and there's a real smartness to him.
• 37:11
  You completely believe. Yeah, actually put it in
• 37:14
  language he understands, and he will understand the commodities
• 37:17
  brokerage and he will make some great calls.
• 37:20
  You know, he's really smart with this.
• 37:21
  And the override and feeling get from Murphy is, yes, he's
• 37:23
  supremely confident, but he's not cocky with it at this point.
• 37:27
  I think he appreciates the comic trops that Donna Croyde has.
• 37:30
  I think he appreciates that Jimmy Lee Curtis is Hollywood
• 37:34
  royalty, practically, and you can learn from her.
• 37:36
  And I really think he respects the hell out of Donna Michi and
• 37:39
  Ralph Bellamy. Yeah.
• 37:41
  Everything they've done in their crease, which by this point is
• 37:43
  decades upon decades of great work.
• 37:45
  So he knows how good he is, but he knows how good everyone else
• 37:48
  is as well. And I'll just, you get the sense
• 37:50
  he's just learning from everyone.
• 37:52
  In this film he's electric book very humble in his performance I
• 37:55
  think. There's there's a humility here.
• 37:57
  Yeah, definitely. Definitely, yeah.
• 37:59
  And it's the last time he'd play a second fiddle to anybody.
• 38:01
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was always going to be a
• 38:04
  leading actor after this in that escargot scene.
• 38:07
  He's got so much confidence about the wheat harvest, and he
• 38:10
  fits in in that environment. He's settled in.
• 38:13
  And you believe it. From Eddie Murphy.
• 38:16
  It's at the coffee ground scene in Beverly Hills.
• 38:18
  Yeah. It's like, but he could score
• 38:20
  serious. And it's like, yeah, drugs and
• 38:21
  coffee grounds. There's no comedy there.
• 38:23
  No. OK, I'll take him seriously.
• 38:25
  Just switches. It's great for 22 years old as
• 38:27
  well. 22 cheeses. How is that possible?
• 38:31
  I have no idea and. What's sobering is that we're
• 38:34
  double that right now. Yeah, Thanks.
• 38:38
  Wow. Thanks for the We're talking
• 38:39
  about it. We'll close up the Dukes, and we
• 38:42
  are to Murphy. Amazing.
• 38:48
  As mentioned originally, the film was called Black and White
• 38:50
  and set up as a vehicle for Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor after
• 38:54
  their stir crazy success. Yeah, that makes sense.
• 38:57
  Does totally after priors notorious incident where he set
• 39:00
  himself on firewall, freebase and crack cocaine, Paramount had
• 39:04
  to look for another lead and. That actually weren't keen on
• 39:07
  Murphy initially because the scene rushes on 48 hours
• 39:10
  actually and I hadn't liked them.
• 39:12
  But when that film tested with audiences, Murphy scores were
• 39:16
  just absolutely through the roof.
• 39:17
  So that's when they suggested he would be a good fit for Blu-ray.
• 39:20
  Yeah, at the time, Blanders didn't know who he was, but he
• 39:23
  flew to New York to meet him and was instantly enamoured by him.
• 39:26
  Of course of. Course you would be here
• 39:28
  definitely. Yeah, allegedly, Murphy
• 39:30
  suggested recasting the Winthorpe part because he felt
• 39:33
  uncomfortable acting alongside Gene Wilder.
• 39:36
  He didn't want to be seen as a Richard Pryor clone.
• 39:38
  Yeah, that, that makes total sense.
• 39:40
  Definitely Eddie Murphy improvised some of the dialogue
• 39:43
  in the film. Some, I would imagine all of it.
• 39:46
  It was something that was natural to him and something
• 39:48
  that will be relied on heavily when he's from Beverly Hills
• 39:51
  Cop. The Randy Jackson bit in the
• 39:53
  limo was improvised, as was the quote of blood.
• 39:55
  Technique just falls out of his mouth and.
• 39:58
  It's just outstanding, amazing. And I cried about him, and he
• 40:01
  was just starting out and developing his comedic gift and
• 40:04
  comedic voice. To see and be a part of a
• 40:07
  talented merchant like that was part of film history.
• 40:09
  Oh, yeah, no doubt. Yeah.
• 40:11
  I mean, it was a huge comic force at this time.
• 40:13
  And this film is a major part of his grown success.
• 40:20
  Next up is the most pompous asshole in Philadelphia, Lewis
• 40:23
  Winthorpe the Third. They're going to say me there
• 40:25
  because I'm not in Philadelphia. Expertly played by Dan Aykroyd,
• 40:34
  not Westie. Imagine, I mean, he's just so
• 40:38
  diabolical in this, but I love his arc because he feels sorry
• 40:42
  for him. And you do end up loving the
• 40:44
  guy. He's all right.
• 40:45
  It's just one of the people where you just, you don't really
• 40:48
  want to be friends with him. He's just a bit of a Dick.
• 40:51
  He's so entitled, he's so privileged.
• 40:54
  But it's what Ackroyd does really, really well.
• 40:56
  Is this kind of over the top, really privileged?
• 41:00
  Really straight down the line idiot?
• 41:03
  I guess it was just completely baffling at how stupid he is.
• 41:07
  He's just so set in his ways, and I think when Ackroyd set in
• 41:11
  his ways, he delivers every single time he does here.
• 41:15
  He doesn't dragnet. It's a very similar kind of
• 41:18
  performance where he's just, that's what I believe in.
• 41:20
  That's what I'm going to do, that's I'm going to talk fast
• 41:22
  and I'm going to get that done. Some of the lines are so fucking
• 41:25
  funny when he delivers and it's just so amazing.
• 41:29
  I'll get into it with the scene that I'm going to talk about
• 41:31
  later, but when he's running through that party screaming
• 41:34
  without going, it kills me. Hilarious.
• 41:39
  Fucking brilliant. And the quote that I put at the
• 41:42
  top when he's just so entitled. He's just come out of prison,
• 41:45
  he's had a fight, he's tried to be raped.
• 41:47
  We're talking about serious stuff here.
• 41:49
  Those men wanted to have sex with me.
• 41:51
  They bent me over and did this. And it's just they store Mike
• 41:54
  the stole his clothes. Like at what point is this not
• 41:59
  hideous? It's awful.
• 42:01
  He really, really sells that. It's not dour because he's too
• 42:06
  stupid to understand how pathetic his life could be
• 42:09
  without this. Yeah, when he's talking to the
• 42:11
  guys at the start, it's got very much a Patrick Bateman kind of
• 42:13
  American cycle very much and very good getting this thing.
• 42:17
  That's that where they borrowed this from.
• 42:18
  It's always very entitled on everything on the wall.
• 42:21
  And it's like, but it's night and yes, she's going to be there
• 42:23
  and yes, and everything just works.
• 42:24
  It's not luck. Exactly.
• 42:27
  It's it's not luck, but yeah, I think he just completely sells
• 42:31
  the performance, completely sells the character.
• 42:33
  And it's to Ackroyd's absolute credit that you're clapping at
• 42:36
  the end for this guy because you really shouldn't be.
• 42:38
  And that's just down to down outward.
• 42:39
  Yeah, yeah, I mean, his arc is magnificent, of course.
• 42:42
  Really shit time. Yeah, he's got loads of stand
• 42:46
  out moments. That scene when he comes in the
• 42:47
  Tennis Club dressed like a pimp in completely mismatched clothes
• 42:51
  and a fur court. Jesus, he's hit rock bottom.
• 42:54
  But I do like the fact that all Always Crows are an abomination.
• 42:57
  He's still got a jacket and tie on to kind of maintain a modicum
• 43:00
  of dignity. Those guys, those American
• 43:05
  Psycho guys, they're singing that song.
• 43:08
  It's one of the worst things that's awful ever.
• 43:10
  Seen in my. Life.
• 43:12
  Awful. Muffy referenced in that song,
• 43:15
  Muffy is played by Jamie Lee's sister, Kelly Curtis.
• 43:18
  All right, nice. All right.
• 43:19
  And then you've got that scene where he's desperate that he's
• 43:22
  trying to Hock his watch. Bo Diddley.
• 43:25
  Bo Diddley and there's a pawbroker is amazing 6955 retail
• 43:30
  you've got a receipt. It tells the times
• 43:35
  simultaneously in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London parish,
• 43:38
  Rome and starred. Fucking starred.
• 43:44
  As if, but what diddly gives a fuck about that diddly squad?
• 43:50
  Great. If you were to look for that
• 43:54
  rush for core right now, you'd set you back around $30,000.
• 43:58
  Oh really? Yeah, an expensive time.
• 44:00
  Peace. Lovely peace.
• 44:01
  At the time there was a lot of speculation about Ackroyd being
• 44:04
  a bankable star without John Belushi.
• 44:06
  Obviously VMC is acting a writing partner because he died
• 44:09
  the year previously and apparently people were saying it
• 44:12
  was going to be like have an Abbot without Costello.
• 44:14
  Yeah, and because of this, Paramount weren't happy with the
• 44:16
  custom choice. Landis was adamant having worked
• 44:19
  with him on The Blues Brothers, and that road made it palatable
• 44:21
  to Paramount by accepting a much lower fee to be in the film.
• 44:24
  Yeah, I mean, I do get the concerns because I think we've
• 44:27
  talked about in the past Ackroyd works better as part of a double
• 44:30
  act he does in here, Ghostbusters, Blues Brothers,
• 44:33
  Dragnet. When he doesn't have a strong
• 44:35
  call lead to bounce off, he sometimes comes undone.
• 44:38
  Yeah, Ackroyd is very proud of Trading Places and considers it
• 44:41
  up there with his very best work, he said.
• 44:43
  I count that movie as AAA. It was intelligent and funny and
• 44:47
  had so much going for it. It was really satisfying.
• 44:50
  He meant Triple Ackroyd by that, didn't he AAA.
• 44:57
  And finally, it's always a pleasure to be talking about
• 44:59
  Jamie Lee Curtis, certainly when we're talking about a very
• 45:02
  important role in her career as Ophelia.
• 45:04
  I think with any Jamie Lee Curtis performance, you're going
• 45:07
  to get a bundle of personality, you're going to get a load of
• 45:09
  magnetism and a good dollop of comedy.
• 45:11
  And we get here. She's amazing.
• 45:13
  So good in this. I think unfortunate that she is
• 45:16
  kind of relegated to the background a lot of the time.
• 45:19
  She plays a hooker, which is not a great luck.
• 45:21
  It's a huge stereotype and she only has a handful of scenes and
• 45:24
  two of them she's naked in. But in spite the these
• 45:28
  negatives, she puts in a hugely memorable performance.
• 45:31
  She needs a strong personality for us to believe that she's got
• 45:33
  a smart business head on her shoulders.
• 45:35
  She may well be a prostitute with all the perceived seediness
• 45:38
  that comes with that, but she's got a long term plan and is
• 45:41
  strong willed enough to execute it.
• 45:44
  And I buy that completely from Jamie Lee Curtis.
• 45:46
  Yeah, I buy that 100%. It's no wonder that she went on
• 45:50
  to have the career that she has had because she really, really
• 45:53
  shine to you. Yeah.
• 45:55
  And I do like her dynamism with Ackroyd.
• 45:58
  There's a very sweet scene between the two of them when she
• 46:00
  turns her client away and she nurses Louis back to health.
• 46:03
  Yeah. I mean, the fact that she has to
• 46:05
  undress to do it is a fucking outrage.
• 46:08
  An outrage. But it shows there's some
• 46:11
  genuine affection there, even if she says she's only protecting
• 46:13
  her investment. But in amongst all the mayhem
• 46:16
  and insanity, there's some nice emotion at play there.
• 46:18
  And really watching it this time around, I really bought that in
• 46:21
  her performance, she brings that emotion to the film, which is
• 46:25
  lacking from the other two characters, the other. 2 exactly
• 46:28
  and there. Were also problems here with
• 46:31
  Landers getting Jamie Lee Curtis on board, he said.
• 46:33
  What really got me in trouble was Jamie Lee because up to that
• 46:37
  point should only do a horror picture.
• 46:39
  Just made Halloween 2 for which had been paid $1 million and we
• 46:43
  paid a 70,000 for this. I was called into the head of
• 46:45
  the studio's office and he said this woman's AB movie actress
• 46:49
  and I said not after this movie. Love that.
• 46:52
  Can you imagine getting paid $1,000,000 for Halloween 2A
• 46:55
  crappy horror sequel and only getting 70 grand for trading
• 46:58
  Blazers? You know, I mean, concern was
• 47:01
  understandable because how many horror movie stars have one
• 47:04
  serious dramatic role to their name or one good, serious role
• 47:07
  to their name, let alone the incredible crossover that Jamie
• 47:10
  Lee performed? Yeah.
• 47:12
  Up until that point, she'd started Halloween, Halloween to
• 47:14
  the Fog, Rd. Games Territory and Prom Night.
• 47:17
  All horror films. Only horror films that she
• 47:20
  started and. It's a really downhill that it.
• 47:26
  Started off good and she had recently turned down a part in
• 47:29
  Psycho 2 as well. Right.
• 47:31
  Yeah. And Jubilee.
• 47:32
  Kurt said that she knew her time was up in the horror genre and
• 47:35
  she needed to try something else.
• 47:36
  She said no one else wanted me. I guarantee you John Landis was
• 47:40
  the only person who said she's going to play this part.
• 47:42
  And without that moment, I wouldn't have the career that
• 47:44
  I've got now. Wow.
• 47:46
  Amazing sliding doors moment. Definitely.
• 47:48
  Having said all of that, then you know, we've alluded to it.
• 47:51
  There's the little issue of her nudity in the film.
• 47:55
  She said I was 21 years old. I think she was a little bit
• 47:58
  older than that, to be honest. I think she's got that wrong.
• 48:00
  But she said the partner required or feely to take her
• 48:02
  dress off. She said, Did I like doing it?
• 48:04
  No. Did I feel embarrassed that I
• 48:06
  was doing it? Yes.
• 48:07
  Did I look OK? Yeah.
• 48:09
  Fantastic. Did I know what I was doing?
• 48:11
  Yeah. Did I like it?
• 48:12
  No. Was I doing it because it was
• 48:14
  the job? Yes.
• 48:15
  And I certainly wouldn't do today.
• 48:16
  It's the last thing I would do now.
• 48:19
  Right. It's kind of the rotten core at
• 48:21
  the center of the industry, isn't it?
• 48:22
  If she'd said no to the nudity, that would have gotten somebody
• 48:25
  else into the pot and we would have missed out on Jimmy
• 48:28
  Curtis's amazing career. Yeah, and Landa said the only
• 48:31
  character in the script I had a problem with, because she's such
• 48:34
  a fantasy is Ophelia, the classic hooker with a heart of
• 48:37
  gold. I thought, how the fuck am I
• 48:38
  going to get away with this? But he then made a documentary
• 48:41
  made-up of old horror movie trailer school coming soon,
• 48:43
  which she narrated. And he said she was just so
• 48:46
  funny and smart and sexy and I thought to be terrific.
• 48:49
  Yeah, I mean, she's tailor made for this role.
• 48:51
  It really required somebody of her acting skill and presence,
• 48:54
  screen presence to be able to pull it off.
• 48:56
  Yeah, could have been like A2 dimensional character in the
• 48:59
  wrong could. Have been really throwaway,
• 49:01
  yeah. It could have been I'll.
• 49:02
  Be honest, if I was directing this and I got Jamie Lee Kurz,
• 49:05
  at this point in my career I would expect it to be
• 49:07
  two-dimensional. She absolutely delivers.
• 49:09
  Or something that's nobody else did.
• 49:11
  Exactly because she's not fantastic in Halloween and.
• 49:15
  Fantastic. Or anything before this.
• 49:16
  No, she's not. And she's absolutely amazing in
• 49:19
  this. Yes, she is.
• 49:21
  And it's been observed that there's absolutely no need for a
• 49:23
  feel it be a prostitute, which I kind of agree with a job as no
• 49:27
  bearer on the plot. And then she's sitting on a
• 49:28
  considerable number of T-bills earning interest.
• 49:31
  Well surely the right is kind of being that short sighted to
• 49:33
  think this is the only way a woman could make considerable
• 49:36
  amount of money in the 80s. It also feels like it's a bit of
• 49:39
  an excuse just for her to undress in front of Louis for
• 49:41
  that scene. You know, that scene.
• 49:43
  Yeah. You don't.
• 49:44
  You don't need it in one dress. Have you seen the dress?
• 49:46
  You don't need that take off. Nothing left of the imagination.
• 49:49
  Not, not a jot. It's fine with that.
• 49:52
  It has been argued that the character of Ophelia is an
• 49:54
  example of what's called or known as the Smurfette principle
• 49:57
  in movies. A woman in a largely male
• 49:59
  dominated cast who's there to be an attractive damsel in
• 50:02
  distress. Yeah.
• 50:03
  However, flipping it on its head, Ophelia is the one who
• 50:06
  rescues Louis ultimately. And I like, I like the right in
• 50:10
  there. But I've heard that they haven't
• 50:11
  got any money. No, they don't.
• 50:12
  And when asked about her preparation for the part, Curtis
• 50:15
  said. I'd love to say I went out and
• 50:17
  turned a couple of tricks on 42nd Street, but I didn't.
• 50:21
  Soon as she wouldn't love to have said that, no.
• 50:24
  Definitely not. However, we do have this film to
• 50:26
  thank for GLC Signature Shorthair.
• 50:29
  She had long hair at the time and the costume designer,
• 50:31
  Deborah Doolman thought that short hair would suit the
• 50:34
  character. Obviously it goes under the wig
• 50:35
  a lot easier as well. The hooker wig.
• 50:38
  Yeah, still a surprise every time.
• 50:40
  Yeah, And to wrap us up on the cast, we've got our first
• 50:43
  question from an ATR and Patreon supporter.
• 50:45
  Oh. Nice.
• 50:47
  I mentioned the benefits of signing up on Patreon.
• 50:49
  This is another one. Ask us a question for the film
• 50:52
  that we're talking about. We'll answer it right here,
• 50:54
  right now. And our first one comes from
• 50:56
  Uriah Young. How you doing Uriah?
• 50:58
  Hello. Uriah asks.
• 51:01
  If there was a remake of Trading Places, who would you choose to
• 51:03
  play? Billy Ray and Winthorpe.
• 51:05
  I think we're opening it up as well.
• 51:07
  We're also going to throw in and Ophelia and Duke and Duke into
• 51:09
  the mix as well for this question.
• 51:10
  OK, OK. So, Matt, over to you.
• 51:13
  Who are your picks? Do you reckon there's going to
• 51:15
  be any crossovers here? I think it's going to be
• 51:16
  straight down the line for each of us.
• 51:18
  I'm not going to predict what they are, but I don't think
• 51:20
  there's going to be any crossovers.
• 51:21
  No, I'd, I'd be surprised if you had any of mine.
• 51:24
  Yeah. OK, you kind of have to play
• 51:26
  fasteners with this a bit because he's talking about
• 51:28
  getting everyone at the right ear stuff to wear this film and
• 51:32
  some aren't going to match up so.
• 51:34
  That's all right, man. Well, nobody's going to pull you
• 51:36
  up on that one, Matt. The standout choice for me was
• 51:39
  Donald Glover. I just saw.
• 51:40
  Makes complete sense. Motherfucker, that's the same as
• 51:42
  me. There he goes.
• 51:43
  Yeah. Well, honestly, when I thought
• 51:45
  of Billy May, I thought surely they're not going to pick anyone
• 51:48
  else as well, you know, to see what Luke says.
• 51:49
  So some. I'm going to change mine up.
• 51:52
  I've got I've got a backup. All right, fair enough, Louis.
• 51:55
  I've gone. Michael Sierra.
• 51:57
  I thought he'd work really well. Nice.
• 51:59
  Oh wow, that's great. OK, Ophelia, Alison Brie, Big
• 52:03
  fan of her. She's very.
• 52:04
  Very funny. Alison Brie a lot.
• 52:05
  Yeah, he's brilliant. And then for the Dukes, I've
• 52:07
  gone Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi.
• 52:09
  Oh wow, the fucker. Wow.
• 52:14
  OK then, Westie. Hold on, I'm.
• 52:16
  Mr. No crossover. Yeah, fucking loads of
• 52:18
  crossover. Do you have the same for the
• 52:21
  Dukes? Is that why you went?
• 52:22
  Mother pretty close. Jesus Christ.
• 52:25
  Motherfucker. Daniel Kaluya, Billy Ray.
• 52:32
  Oh, brilliant. I'll go.
• 52:33
  Ryan Gosling for Winthorpe. OK.
• 52:36
  Because he can really do that ridiculous comedy, you know?
• 52:39
  He's really for the A, yeah. He's zany kind of comedy.
• 52:43
  Anna de Armas is Ophelia. Oh Jesus Christ, I wonder why?
• 52:50
  And for the Dukes, I've got Ian McKellen, but I've got Patrick
• 52:52
  Stewart. Okay.
• 52:55
  Classic. Is there any nudity in it?
• 52:59
  It just fell off. All the clues have rotted off.
• 53:02
  I've seen everything. That'd be great.
• 53:07
  That's from. Extras if anybody doesn't know.
• 53:10
  Some great choices there fellas for certain and I'll take Matt's
• 53:14
  comments. Fast and loose is where I'm at
• 53:16
  with with my choices here. Yeah, for Winthorpe, I'm going
• 53:20
  to go with Hugh Grant. He can pull off that tough
• 53:22
  toffing and thing to AT. And for Billy Ray, I haven't
• 53:28
  gone for a black actor, right? OK, I've gone for there's too
• 53:31
  many themes in this script, so we're just going to strip away
• 53:34
  some of it, right? And I'm going with Zach
• 53:36
  Galifianakis as a slovenly bomb, right?
• 53:39
  OK. Who can?
• 53:41
  I think you can scrub up? Well, yeah.
• 53:45
  That's ridiculous. That's.
• 53:47
  Fantastic. Imagine them too.
• 53:49
  And for Ophelia? I haven't gone for Alison Brie.
• 53:52
  I haven't gone for Anna Deamas. I've gone for Melissa McCarthy.
• 53:57
  Now. A different spin.
• 53:59
  Can you imagine her being kind of like a, you know, an
• 54:02
  overweight, middle-aged prostitute?
• 54:04
  I'm having to now, yes. Yeah, thanks.
• 54:07
  Thanks for that. I think a different spin on the
• 54:09
  hooker with the heart of gold's motif.
• 54:11
  OK. And for Randolph and Mortimer, I
• 54:13
  initially thought Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd might have been
• 54:16
  quite nice. That would be a nice twist,
• 54:18
  yeah. But two personal favorites, some
• 54:20
  certainly of recent times and a lot of limelight on these two
• 54:24
  fellas recently, Martin Short and Steve Martin.
• 54:27
  Yeah, that's a good show. They're a delicious good show.
• 54:29
  Yeah, they'll be great. Yeah, yeah, they would.
• 54:32
  They would relish that outrageous behavior of Duke.
• 54:34
  Duke. Yeah.
• 54:36
  OK. So thank you for your question,
• 54:37
  Uriah. Fit and way to bring our peace
• 54:39
  on the cast to a close. Thank you.
• 54:42
  So 3 great lead performances, not forgetting Bellamy, Amici,
• 54:45
  Elliot and Gleason, but in Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie
• 54:49
  Lee Curtis. Trading Places has got some
• 54:50
  serious talent. Oh, absolutely.
• 54:52
  Classic. A lot to say.
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• 56:16
  The middle. In the second act of Trading
• 56:20
  Places, everything gets spun on its head, starting with Billy
• 56:23
  Ray being released from jail. Yeah.
• 56:26
  Released from jail, picked up by the Dukes in the car and they
• 56:29
  take him home and their opinion of him couldn't be clearer.
• 56:32
  Like waving that bottle of them whiskey.
• 56:34
  Whiskey. Yeah, it's ridiculous.
• 56:39
  Like he's just some kind of homeless dog on the street.
• 56:42
  They're trying to attempt in with the treat.
• 56:44
  And you know, we'll kind of mention them in passing.
• 56:45
  But I think we do have to say just how good Amici and Bellamy
• 56:48
  are. Wonderful, you know, despicable
• 56:50
  characters, but and you hate them, but they're so watchful
• 56:53
  and it's because of how good. And they've got that pretty old
• 56:55
  school classic Hollywood charisma.
• 56:58
  You would never think to put them in a scene with Eddie
• 57:00
  Murphy and think, well, that'll work.
• 57:02
  You'd think Eddie Murphy improvising around those two.
• 57:04
  That's not going to work. And yet it does, and it works.
• 57:06
  Brilliantly. Works totally.
• 57:08
  Works. But underneath that kind of like
• 57:11
  charisma, is the truth of these people, and their true nature is
• 57:14
  never far from the surface. Like when Billy rears in the
• 57:17
  jacuzzi, singing away to himself and Randolph says they're very
• 57:20
  musical people, aren't there? Which Jesus Christ?
• 57:23
  I mean Fox. Made so, but that's.
• 57:25
  The thing to him that's not offensive.
• 57:26
  He thinks he's been a genuine compliment.
• 57:28
  Yeah. Which is ridiculous and.
• 57:30
  It's outrageous. It is outrageous, but it's
• 57:32
  outrageous. Yeah, but it's.
• 57:34
  The total contrast between the world's these people come from.
• 57:37
  You know, we've mentioned that bit that if he's improvising
• 57:40
  when the kind of SWAT names Randy, that's like Randy Jackson
• 57:43
  from the Jackson 5, right? Yes, I saw.
• 57:46
  Yeah. Probably has no idea who he's
• 57:49
  talking about, but you know, Randolph just goes along with
• 57:52
  it. When the when the bring him
• 57:53
  home, he meets Coleman for the first time.
• 57:55
  Perhaps your court, Sir? Yes, this is my court.
• 57:59
  You get a glass, I give you a recip, man.
• 58:02
  Yeah, things he wants to like share the whiskey and I'll just
• 58:04
  put it away from some funny lines, but they've got the
• 58:06
  dramatic level to them as well that means something to the
• 58:08
  narrative and it's the same when they're trying to expand it.
• 58:10
  But he way that everything in this house he owns and it's the
• 58:13
  same way you think he's either testing them or it's just the
• 58:17
  nature. The way he's been brought up.
• 58:18
  This is his instinct to stop putting stuff in his pockets to
• 58:21
  see how they rock. Just moving around the room to
• 58:23
  try and distract them and he's putting stuff in his Jack of
• 58:25
  pocket. The curtains.
• 58:28
  They got this place set up. And it ends with that amazing
• 58:37
  bid at the end with the vase where it's going like from hand
• 58:39
  to hand to hand to hand. And then he smashes A barandal
• 58:42
  happy with that because they can claim on the insurance and then
• 58:45
  belly says you want me to break something else and they'll.
• 58:47
  Go no, no. Really.
• 58:49
  Land? Is that really?
• 58:52
  Yeah, When filming that, Lamorcy Landis was in the tow truck in
• 58:56
  the front and could hear the dialogue between Bellamy, Amici
• 58:59
  and Murphy. Or went something like this.
• 59:02
  Bellamy says, this is my 99th film, you know, just in between
• 59:05
  takes, just casual conversation. Amici says, oh, really?
• 59:08
  This my 100th film. And Murphy says, well, fellas,
• 59:11
  between us, we've done 201 films.
• 59:18
  Oh amazing. Love that.
• 59:19
  Yeah, depending on whose account you listen to, the numbers
• 59:22
  slightly differ, but that was Landis's take.
• 59:24
  Right. Tack sharp, isn't he?
• 59:27
  Oh yes, yeah, he's amazing focused.
• 59:29
  Yeah, well, I like the scene where Lewis World crumbles
• 59:32
  around him. Firstly, this scene in the
• 59:34
  Heritage Club, That place just absolutely reeks.
• 59:38
  Awful. I think Landis was incredibly
• 59:41
  forward thinking. I mentioned his visual
• 59:43
  storytelling. It's evident here again, that
• 59:45
  room is stuffed full of middle-aged white America,
• 59:48
  something that has perpetuated through big business for
• 59:51
  centuries, for decades. And it's only in recent times
• 59:53
  that kind of being called out to the state school has been
• 59:56
  ruffled somewhat. But not in 1983.
• 59:59
  And it's generational. You can see it in the portraits
• 1:00:02
  on the walls of the members from the heritage of years gone by.
• 1:00:06
  The Dukes and Winthorpe are continue in a tradition of
• 1:00:08
  history and greed, cruelty and elitism evident throughout the
• 1:00:12
  centuries. They're just doing what they've
• 1:00:14
  been told or what they've been shown and.
• 1:00:17
  Winthorpe judged by them paintings, yes.
• 1:00:19
  He is, yes he is. Love that.
• 1:00:21
  But that's all going to change once Winthorpe gets a big
• 1:00:24
  surprise administered by Clarence Beaks.
• 1:00:26
  And it comes as a double shock because, you know, considering
• 1:00:28
  he's just being congratulated from his bravery by the speaker.
• 1:00:32
  So he's not the type of criminal that Winthorpe had the guts to
• 1:00:35
  stand up to yesterday. I think it's incredibly
• 1:00:38
  convoluted way of rooting out the thief.
• 1:00:41
  Left hand on the shoulder of the man to your left, right hand in
• 1:00:43
  the coat pocket of the man to your right.
• 1:00:45
  What the fuck could? Be anything in.
• 1:00:48
  There, Big says that one of our reporters witnessed the theft.
• 1:00:54
  We'll just point the finger at Winthorpe immediately and forget
• 1:00:57
  about this charade that don't know what's going on here.
• 1:01:00
  It's really. Contrived it really is.
• 1:01:02
  It makes no sense. He's not going to save $150.00,
• 1:01:05
  is he? No.
• 1:01:06
  And in a wonderful contrast to that scene, when Lewis is in the
• 1:01:09
  police station, everyone around him is black.
• 1:01:12
  Again, Landis reinforcing this kind of societal disparity.
• 1:01:16
  I really, really like that. Right, so here's a fact for you.
• 1:01:18
  When Thorpe's prison number when his mudshot is taken is
• 1:01:21
  7474505-B, that's the same number that Jake Blues has in
• 1:01:27
  the Blues Brothers. Fantastic.
• 1:01:28
  Wow, that classic Landis. Yeah, OK, I'm going to go for
• 1:01:33
  Billy Ray goes back to the bar with his measly $27.00 and that
• 1:01:38
  bar is that looks like my heaven.
• 1:01:40
  I love that place. Now just written on the mirror.
• 1:01:44
  That's enough for Christmas. Nothing else needed.
• 1:01:46
  Lovely. Would the have champagne?
• 1:01:49
  I don't think the wood just cracked out the champagne.
• 1:01:54
  He's obviously had that for years and nobody's opened it.
• 1:01:57
  But I just think it's just great dialogue here.
• 1:01:59
  He's just so fast-paced and he's talking to the the ladies who
• 1:02:02
  are like on each on his arms. I'm a sexy man.
• 1:02:05
  I'm a sexy man. So good.
• 1:02:08
  Later on, he's like, I'm a peaceful man, just really
• 1:02:14
  begging himself. Up I love that when he says
• 1:02:16
  champagne for everybody cozy of Billy Ray Vanadine A toaster
• 1:02:19
  Billy Ray he's. Just like so self congratulary
• 1:02:24
  and he loves the fact that he's been given this situation, but
• 1:02:28
  then you see how quickly that this he could be taken advantage
• 1:02:32
  of and he's never had possessions before.
• 1:02:34
  I don't think anything that he can actually call his own that
• 1:02:36
  he's proud of. And I think that's a really
• 1:02:39
  great twist of the character. Again, getting back to what
• 1:02:41
  we're talking about with Landis, about how he kind of disguises
• 1:02:44
  all these serious things with comedy on top of it.
• 1:02:46
  But it's it's one of the greatest improv lines by Murphy
• 1:02:50
  is in this scene when he gets back to the house and he's like,
• 1:02:52
  who's putting out the cools on my floor?
• 1:02:57
  I've got to write that in. Great.
• 1:02:58
  And I didn't know what cools were.
• 1:02:59
  And I've looked no mental, mental cigarettes.
• 1:03:02
  Yeah. And I was like, alright, OK,
• 1:03:03
  fair enough. Apparently they said that that
• 1:03:05
  was racist towards black people because black people's more
• 1:03:08
  cools. Right.
• 1:03:08
  But he's fine with the black face.
• 1:03:09
  We'll get to that later. Yeah.
• 1:03:11
  Yeah. But when I take that out, that's
• 1:03:13
  a little bit too far. But I think that's really great
• 1:03:15
  when he's like, it's a Persian rogue.
• 1:03:17
  It's a Persian. I love that it's just.
• 1:03:22
  It's just wonderful. But then we get another topless
• 1:03:24
  scene which I don't know if this is relevant or this works.
• 1:03:28
  Definitely it doesn't. And I think this bit is where it
• 1:03:31
  gets quite convoluted and a little bit crossed with what
• 1:03:34
  Landis is trying to see. Yeah.
• 1:03:36
  And he loses track of it here a little bit.
• 1:03:38
  It kind of unravels a little bit.
• 1:03:40
  He lets. The delve down a little bit
• 1:03:42
  because he's got some weighty material, he's got some big
• 1:03:44
  things to say, but then he's got these scenes, yeah, we don't
• 1:03:48
  need. This no, I don't think we need
• 1:03:50
  the back to the to the house scene.
• 1:03:52
  I think it could have caught what he's like come back to mine
• 1:03:54
  then then the next morning could have been like this place is
• 1:03:56
  trashed. Not doing that again.
• 1:03:58
  We don't, I don't think we need to see the party, no, because
• 1:04:02
  none of the characters apart from the guys who were in
• 1:04:04
  prison. Fair enough.
• 1:04:05
  There's a lovely call back there when he's just like, you know,
• 1:04:07
  me Limits is actually outside. Great, right.
• 1:04:09
  And that's a great. Thing that's great writing and a
• 1:04:11
  really good call back, but I think everything in the bar
• 1:04:13
  works, yes, and it really works and it's done and it's finished.
• 1:04:17
  So Billy Ray is adapting to his new life and Lewis is looking at
• 1:04:20
  3:00 to 5:00. Mandatory.
• 1:04:21
  My how the tables have turned. Indeed.
• 1:04:26
  Lewis gets a temporary reprieve when Penelope gets him out of
• 1:04:29
  jail, but it doesn't last long and it sets in motion.
• 1:04:32
  The contrast and fortunes of our lead characters does.
• 1:04:35
  First off, we're back with Winthorpe, who is released from
• 1:04:38
  jail, and we can see how much of a terrible time he's had on
• 1:04:40
  account of his black eye and bloodied lip.
• 1:04:44
  Penelope doesn't belong in this environment, certainly when that
• 1:04:47
  huge gorilla bloke is trying it on, talking about her purse.
• 1:04:51
  Your voice, That's a nice voice. She's amazing as well.
• 1:04:55
  She's like, she's great. Manhunter and that's it.
• 1:04:57
  Yeah, she's great. Wonderful and manhunter as well.
• 1:05:00
  Oliver When Lewis first comes out and sees Penelope, he's
• 1:05:02
  darling. He's full of himself, so
• 1:05:04
  pompous, and he's dressed up in his ridiculous outfit which is
• 1:05:08
  probably being taken off some incarcerated hobo, and his hair
• 1:05:11
  is all over the place and he goes comes out spouting.
• 1:05:14
  The good news is I'm innocent. I'm doing anything vaguely
• 1:05:17
  resembling this, really. It's the truth.
• 1:05:19
  What a prick. So entitled.
• 1:05:23
  So entitled. Real life hasn't hit him yet,
• 1:05:26
  and the man who Penelope loves is kind of still there, so he
• 1:05:28
  gets a stay of execution. But it's fleeting because Beaks
• 1:05:32
  is up to his old tricks. And this is the moment that
• 1:05:34
  we're reduced to Ophelia, who will do all the things Louis
• 1:05:37
  likes just for a dime bag. No wonder Penelope Scarp has
• 1:05:41
  never to be seen again. Jesus Christ, she's never seen
• 1:05:43
  anything like this before in her life.
• 1:05:45
  No. And here you've got the makings
• 1:05:46
  of a beautiful relationship. There may be a slightly unlikely
• 1:05:50
  pair from two different sides of the tracks, but they work well
• 1:05:54
  off each other. Lewis thinks he's well above or
• 1:05:57
  Philia's level. At the start.
• 1:05:58
  He's a hustling you and then he brings out his, that was really
• 1:06:02
  good, his wallet. You don't think you'd give these
• 1:06:06
  to just anybody? What a prick.
• 1:06:08
  But he soon comes back down to earth with a bump and I love
• 1:06:11
  that Ophelia is smart. She's not buying any of Louis
• 1:06:13
  shit. And at each turn, at his house,
• 1:06:16
  at the bank, when Louis keeps on getting thwarted or Philia isn't
• 1:06:20
  surprised because she's seen this coming a mile away.
• 1:06:22
  She's seen this all her life. And it ends with Louis literally
• 1:06:25
  on his knees begging for help. I bet he didn't anticipate that
• 1:06:29
  at the start of the day, no. No, definitely not.
• 1:06:31
  Great and I totally buy Winthorpe slippery slope here
• 1:06:34
  and or Philia as I in a way to make money and fast track her
• 1:06:38
  retirement plans. I really like all the BT.
• 1:06:40
  Yeah, yeah. And that all contrasts really
• 1:06:43
  well to how Billy Rey's day is going, which is going really
• 1:06:46
  well for him. And then you see his first day
• 1:06:48
  at work and, you know, let's be honest, this explanation, what
• 1:06:50
  the deals do, it's not for Billy Rey's benefit.
• 1:06:53
  It's for us as well. Because yes, I know what
• 1:06:58
  commodities are, but a commodities broker not a clue
• 1:07:01
  what to do, how they do it, why they end up with so much money.
• 1:07:04
  And by the end of it, I'm still none the wise as to why this
• 1:07:08
  system exists and how it's something you can make so much
• 1:07:11
  money out of. So if anything, that sounds like
• 1:07:13
  an absolutely ridiculous way to make money, which I guess is the
• 1:07:16
  point the film is making. You know, how can you get so
• 1:07:19
  rich on doing seemingly so little?
• 1:07:22
  But as usual, the Dukes just so patronizing to believe we're
• 1:07:25
  explaining what commodities are and pointing out the examples on
• 1:07:28
  the table in front of them, what you might find in a bacon,
• 1:07:31
  lettuce and tomorrow sandwich. And then you get that look to
• 1:07:34
  camera. That look to camera is
• 1:07:36
  beautiful. It is.
• 1:07:37
  A thing of beauty, me mention it before, but it's it's just such
• 1:07:41
  a risky move to do that, to break the 4th wall.
• 1:07:44
  Twice. He's basically.
• 1:07:45
  Going yes, these guys are pricks, I agree, but The thing
• 1:07:49
  is that don't need to be that part nice and to him because he
• 1:07:52
  gets it. Like I said, when talk about
• 1:07:53
  just Murphy's performance in general, Billy Ray is smart.
• 1:07:56
  You know, he gets to the heart of the matter.
• 1:07:58
  Sounds like you guys were a couple of bookies.
• 1:08:00
  Love that line. Yeah, so he understands what to
• 1:08:02
  do. He just needs to get it on his
• 1:08:04
  terminology, his level of the life that he's lived, like how
• 1:08:07
  he works out later on. No, no, this is when he stopped
• 1:08:09
  selling the pork bellies because people are getting anxious over
• 1:08:12
  at Christmas dinner. It's all about that 4th wall
• 1:08:14
  break in this scene. But it's just so well done.
• 1:08:17
  It's so memorable. Yeah, it is.
• 1:08:19
  So then we get went off going back with failures and we'll
• 1:08:22
  find out that she actually has got brains as well as beauty and
• 1:08:27
  it's a wonderful thing. I think it's just a really
• 1:08:29
  strong, strong character, a really strong performance from
• 1:08:32
  Jamie Lee Kers. And a lot of people are going to
• 1:08:34
  be talking about a certain point of this scene, which is that's
• 1:08:37
  absolutely fine. And it's very 1983 think she is
• 1:08:41
  challenging this guy. She's challenging Winthorpe a
• 1:08:44
  little bit with her body and see how he would react and whether
• 1:08:47
  he would pounce on it or move back from it or whether that's
• 1:08:50
  something that because that's how she sells herself.
• 1:08:53
  And then she says this is what I've got.
• 1:08:55
  This is my commodity. And she heights if problem
• 1:08:57
  closes the door and says you have to sleep somewhere else,
• 1:08:59
  you're not part of this. You have to earn this.
• 1:09:01
  You have to earn who I am. That's, you know, food, rent.
• 1:09:04
  That's not the only things that cost money.
• 1:09:06
  She cost money. She's got respect for herself,
• 1:09:09
  which I think is really important for the character and
• 1:09:11
  it's really important for us going forward because she does
• 1:09:13
  save his life. There's her and Denim Elias
• 1:09:16
  character and they actually cough up the money and say
• 1:09:18
  without them guys there would be nothing.
• 1:09:21
  So she's got a head on her shoulder.
• 1:09:22
  She knows what she's doing. This is just a means to an end.
• 1:09:25
  When she takes that wig off, she's just a completely
• 1:09:27
  different person. Like she's disguising herself
• 1:09:30
  within that personality. She's in charge.
• 1:09:32
  I'm happy that she's in charge and it really works for me.
• 1:09:36
  It really shines. This whole scene is great.
• 1:09:37
  I love that scene. Next Wednesday poster in the
• 1:09:39
  background. Really Landis, This is John
• 1:09:42
  Landis film. It's a notorious scene for for
• 1:09:45
  one reason really put. Yeah, missing the point though.
• 1:09:48
  Yeah, beyond that, then the point has been missed.
• 1:09:51
  Absolutely. And that See you next Wednesday,
• 1:09:54
  a poster like you mentioned, Westie, it's a classic in joke
• 1:09:57
  from Landis. It's a fake film.
• 1:10:00
  It's a poster which you can see in most Landis works, including
• 1:10:03
  Schlock, The Blues Brothers, American Werewolf Commentary for
• 1:10:06
  America. It's a line taken from 2001, A
• 1:10:08
  Space Odyssey. Yeah.
• 1:10:10
  The final line on that video call with the video call with
• 1:10:13
  his daughter. Yeah.
• 1:10:13
  Yes. Well, we talked about that at
• 1:10:15
  length on our American well Wolf in London.
• 1:10:18
  Yes, classic podcasts. So if you want to listen to
• 1:10:20
  that, sign up. You will not be disappointed.
• 1:10:23
  Definitely. Not hit rihan so some very
• 1:10:25
  memorable scenes for more ways than one in the second act of
• 1:10:28
  Trading places the. Crew.
• 1:10:36
  As is often the case on a movie set, the crew are the unsung
• 1:10:38
  heroes. First on our crew list are a
• 1:10:41
  screen writing duel with one credit to their name.
• 1:10:43
  At this point the incredibly badly received cheaper to keep
• 1:10:47
  her from 1981, but they made a jump up in class and quality
• 1:10:52
  with trade in places. Matt, what do you think of the
• 1:10:55
  screenplay by Timothy Harrison? Hershel Wankrate.
• 1:10:58
  It's one I find difficult to know where to come down on it
• 1:11:03
  because on one hand, it's definitely smarter than it looks
• 1:11:07
  on the surface, smarter than a lot of 80s comedies.
• 1:11:09
  But I also don't think it's as clever as it thinks it is.
• 1:11:13
  And I think this mixed message and going on here, OK, on the
• 1:11:17
  one hand, it does have this seriousness at the heart of it.
• 1:11:19
  It addresses economic inequality and racism, class privilege and
• 1:11:23
  all that's really good. But on the other hand, I think
• 1:11:26
  it just doesn't address them enough or it addresses them in
• 1:11:29
  the wrong way. So on the surface, it looks like
• 1:11:31
  it's a film that's attacking like the Super rich as shown in
• 1:11:35
  the Dukes, but it only attacks them.
• 1:11:37
  It doesn't really attack the system.
• 1:11:39
  By the end of the film, the Dukes have been bankrupted by
• 1:11:42
  Billy Way and Louis, but Louis is back in his elevated position
• 1:11:46
  in society and Billy Way and a failure are rich now as well.
• 1:11:49
  So I don't know what the film is trying to say in that, you know,
• 1:11:53
  capitalism is OK as long as the right people get rewarded.
• 1:11:57
  Yeah, because it doesn't fix the inequality at the heart of the
• 1:12:00
  film. People like Billy we're are
• 1:12:02
  still out on the streets. They just don't have someone
• 1:12:04
  like Louis to help them and make them a lot of money in the
• 1:12:07
  process. And I think Louis in particular
• 1:12:09
  is quite a confused character. Like he doesn't have this
• 1:12:12
  revelation that all this shameless greed is abhorrent and
• 1:12:16
  he's been wasting his life in pursuit of it.
• 1:12:18
  He only wants to bring the Dukes down because they're trying to
• 1:12:21
  ruin his life. Yes, he doesn't have an epiphany
• 1:12:23
  about any of this. He doesn't learn anything.
• 1:12:25
  The system itself doesn't get critiqued by him.
• 1:12:28
  And that's fine to a degree, but I think the film just sinks.
• 1:12:31
  It's a bit smaller than it actually isn't, a bit more
• 1:12:33
  satirical than it actually is. And I think it would have been
• 1:12:35
  more interesting to me if it had been Louis that had overheard
• 1:12:38
  the Dukes using that racist language about.
• 1:12:42
  And that's what spurred him on to reflect on what kind of
• 1:12:44
  system he's been spending his life in with the don't go that
• 1:12:48
  way. And I feel like the film, it is
• 1:12:49
  partly inspired, I think, by the lesson that Scrooge learns in A
• 1:12:53
  Christmas Carol or George Bailey learns in its Wonderful Life,
• 1:12:56
  where the lesson is money isn't important, people are.
• 1:12:59
  But I don't think they've quite understood that lesson here.
• 1:13:03
  And I just think if this had been in the hands of someone
• 1:13:06
  like Frank Capra or some like Billy Wilder, because it does
• 1:13:09
  have these knots to classic Hollywood, it does, I think it
• 1:13:11
  would have absolutely nailed those elements.
• 1:13:14
  Whereas I think trying to address that stuff, it just
• 1:13:16
  falls a little short. Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree
• 1:13:19
  with you at all, Mass. Yeah, it's there's some mixed
• 1:13:21
  messaging. Blander seems to be very aware
• 1:13:23
  of racial inequality in the absurdity of the perceived white
• 1:13:26
  elite in Duke and Duke. But he's happy to have Ackroy do
• 1:13:29
  a blackface bit, which seems a little strange.
• 1:13:32
  Like we've talked, those messages really hammered home.
• 1:13:34
  But then he's got naked women in a lot of scenes, which kind of
• 1:13:38
  dumbs down his argument, really. Yeah.
• 1:13:41
  What I'm struck about in the right and it went all when every
• 1:13:45
  time I watch this comedy is the narrative beats and the comments
• 1:13:47
  on society. It's a weirdly subject for a
• 1:13:49
  comedy. But on top of all of that, he
• 1:13:51
  also added more complexity to it by setting it in a world which
• 1:13:54
  is alien to the majority of cinema goes the stock market.
• 1:13:58
  Can you imagine a film like this being pitched today?
• 1:14:00
  It's ridiculously high concept for a comedy and it just
• 1:14:03
  wouldn't get past the pitch. There's no way it's being remade
• 1:14:06
  today, this film. No.
• 1:14:08
  No, I think it's to the right discredit that they don't get
• 1:14:10
  bogged down in the detail of the stock market.
• 1:14:13
  There are a few exposition scenes peppered throughout that
• 1:14:15
  give us just enough information to keep us on side.
• 1:14:18
  Like you said, Matt, that scene with Billy Ray when he's in the
• 1:14:22
  office on his first day, it's Billy Ray being shown the ropes.
• 1:14:25
  He's basically the audience. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:14:27
  Yeah. Because we need to know all of
• 1:14:29
  this. And it's the same when they get
• 1:14:31
  to the trading flow in New York. When Thorpe's doing that voice
• 1:14:34
  over for Billy Ray, it's for us. Yeah.
• 1:14:37
  I think with the writing, you've got to be able to let a few wild
• 1:14:40
  swings go in the narrative. Billy Ray isn't stupid.
• 1:14:44
  And you mentioned it. Maddie protests, and he thinks
• 1:14:46
  the Dukes are up to something fishy.
• 1:14:48
  He goes from abject poverty to privilege, and he takes to it
• 1:14:51
  like a duck to water. All of a sudden, in the same,
• 1:14:53
  that very day, he's complaining about coasters.
• 1:14:57
  It is. It's a shortcut.
• 1:14:59
  It takes a shortcut. It does.
• 1:15:01
  Yeah. I do think that Lewis's arc is
• 1:15:03
  more believable than Billy Reyes.
• 1:15:04
  When we fall, we fall hard, and it's easier to drop than climb.
• 1:15:08
  Lewis does that spectacularly. And I think the writing does
• 1:15:11
  kneel that bit, but I don't think it's perfect.
• 1:15:13
  You've mentioned a few things there, Matt.
• 1:15:15
  There are a few other things coming up.
• 1:15:17
  It maybe tries to cram in too much for a comedy for me, for
• 1:15:20
  any genre for that matter, and maybe comes a little unstuck in
• 1:15:23
  the final third. Again, we'll be talking about
• 1:15:26
  that in a moment. But I do like the ambition for
• 1:15:30
  an 80s comedy. I love the ambition that they
• 1:15:32
  has and it's it's stuffed full of things that it wants to say
• 1:15:36
  and loads of great narrative beats.
• 1:15:38
  Yeah, I mean, I agree with both of you fellas as as always, but
• 1:15:42
  I just feel like this was written with Winthorpe in mind.
• 1:15:47
  And I think that didn't plan on Murphy being so fucking good and
• 1:15:52
  didn't plan on that that part being so kind of electric on the
• 1:15:56
  screen and the maybe need to give him a little bit more.
• 1:15:58
  It's hard to differentiate between what was written down
• 1:16:01
  and what was ad libbed over the top.
• 1:16:03
  So I mean, to read the script, I feel like it would be very bare
• 1:16:06
  bones, but then you start putting these actors in these
• 1:16:09
  roles and the IT the grow out of the roles.
• 1:16:13
  This film is a director's film. It's an actress film.
• 1:16:16
  I don't think it's down to the right and at all.
• 1:16:18
  The plot is secondary to the performances.
• 1:16:20
  It's all secondary to what they're trying to say, and
• 1:16:23
  they've used it as a bare bones kind of blueprint.
• 1:16:27
  The writing to me feels like the skeleton.
• 1:16:29
  It feels like the concept's there and these guys arrive and
• 1:16:32
  then deliver what they want on top of the concept.
• 1:16:35
  It is secondary to what Landis brings to it, what Murphy brings
• 1:16:39
  to it, what actually brings to it, what Lee Curtis brings to
• 1:16:40
  it. It's just the idea for me in the
• 1:16:43
  writing that works and they completely elaborate on that
• 1:16:47
  the. Co writer Timothy Harris came up
• 1:16:48
  with the initial premise. When he was playing tennis, he
• 1:16:51
  used to play it. For some reason.
• 1:16:52
  He used to play with two doctors who were brothers, and they had
• 1:16:55
  a terrible case of sibling rivalry, which laid the seed for
• 1:16:58
  Duke and Duke. He pitched the idea of two
• 1:17:00
  brothers argument over nature versus nurture to his writing
• 1:17:03
  partner Herschel Weingrod, who loved the idea.
• 1:17:05
  Obviously, and the criminal side of Trading Places was inspired
• 1:17:09
  by Harris's environment, he said.
• 1:17:11
  At the time, I was living in what was a fairly rundown part
• 1:17:14
  of LA that was completely crime ridden.
• 1:17:16
  I lived in an apartment complex where everybody either had a gun
• 1:17:19
  held to their head or had been raped.
• 1:17:21
  Jesus Christ, miserable. Yeah, sounds like they should
• 1:17:25
  Rd. taxi driver instead of. No, hardly the inspiration for a
• 1:17:29
  knockabout comedy. I'm having a terrible time to
• 1:17:33
  train places. Makes no sense.
• 1:17:38
  Research for the film about wine groud hanging out with real
• 1:17:40
  traders in LA. There were three hours behind
• 1:17:43
  New York time zone wise, which meant they were pissed early in
• 1:17:46
  the day because happy hour was a lot earlier for those guys.
• 1:17:49
  Wonderful. Yeah.
• 1:17:50
  You've got to fit in with them, haven't you?
• 1:17:53
  Winegrad and Harris researched the commodities market
• 1:17:56
  extensively. And I think that comes across in
• 1:17:58
  the film. Winegrad said the Russians tried
• 1:18:00
  to corner the wheat market, and the Hunt Brothers tried to
• 1:18:02
  corner the silver market. But pork bellies and frozen
• 1:18:05
  orange juice are much more funny, and most Americans didn't
• 1:18:07
  have a clue that such things were publicly traded and, in a
• 1:18:10
  really dire situation, could actually be delivered to your
• 1:18:12
  doorstep. Nice.
• 1:18:14
  The Cleveland knows about the subject.
• 1:18:16
  Oh yeah, definitely. And Harris said the choice to
• 1:18:18
  film in Philly was because it had a connection with the
• 1:18:21
  founding of the country, the Constitution, everyone being
• 1:18:24
  entitled to the pursuit of happiness or the idealism.
• 1:18:28
  It's all built in America. Yeah, that comes across in the
• 1:18:30
  visuals very much. Yeah.
• 1:18:32
  And the basic premise of the story takes inspiration from a
• 1:18:35
  few sources, most notably Mark Twain's classic story The Prince
• 1:18:39
  and the Pauper, in which those two characters who closely
• 1:18:42
  resemble each other swap lives. And Twain also had a short
• 1:18:46
  story, The £1,000,000 Banknote, and that involved two brothers
• 1:18:49
  who bet on the outcome of given a poor man, the titular unusable
• 1:18:53
  tender. And that was actually adapted
• 1:18:55
  for the screen in the 1954 film Man with a Million Stone.
• 1:18:58
  Gregory Peck. Yes, OK.
• 1:19:01
  Less directly, the film takes a lot of inspiration from a couple
• 1:19:04
  of other sources as well, the Three Stooges film Hoi Polloi
• 1:19:08
  and also an episode of The Twilight Zone from the very
• 1:19:11
  first season called A Nice Place to Visit.
• 1:19:13
  So it is taken a lot of inspiration from a lot of
• 1:19:16
  different sources, never actually been confirmed by the
• 1:19:18
  writers that that's where they took their inspiration from, but
• 1:19:22
  I think it's clear to see particularly The Prince and the
• 1:19:24
  Pauper and that £1,000,000 banknote as well.
• 1:19:27
  Yeah, yes. Ackroyd said that the two
• 1:19:29
  writers wrote the screenplay on fax machines.
• 1:19:31
  He said one of them was in Michigan and the other one was
• 1:19:33
  in Los Angeles. And they created pages by
• 1:19:35
  sending them back and forth, which is a strange way of
• 1:19:38
  collaborating. Yeah.
• 1:19:40
  So despite being in different states, Wine Growth and Harris
• 1:19:43
  wrote a screenplay. While not perfect, it's got a
• 1:19:45
  lot going for it, not to mention some wonderful comic dialogue
• 1:19:48
  and situations. Yeah, back on familiar territory
• 1:19:53
  for the Trade and Places score 2 episodes ago we talked about
• 1:19:57
  Albert Bernstein's iconic work on The Great Escape.
• 1:19:59
  Then. Unbelievable.
• 1:20:00
  He really is popping up in an 80s comedy.
• 1:20:04
  Huge range, multi talented. The fact that the music is
• 1:20:07
  largely classic pieces. I mean, it just adds to the
• 1:20:09
  pomposity of the world that we're peering into.
• 1:20:12
  It does. It's very elitist in the IT.
• 1:20:13
  Is oh, without doubt it's Mozart for the stuffy over classes who
• 1:20:16
  think there are cut above and it's do you want to funk by
• 1:20:20
  Sylvester and Billy Reid's party.
• 1:20:24
  Love that that contrast itself, that music that's something away
• 1:20:27
  surrounded by this opulence that the Duke owned home.
• 1:20:30
  I love that, and Bernstein has made a habit of this in the 80s
• 1:20:34
  when he switched to comedy, huge pieces of music, orchestral,
• 1:20:37
  Regal, Sirius, which works wonders in direct contrast to
• 1:20:40
  the comedy on screen, just like you did with Animal House and
• 1:20:42
  Ghostbusters. I think some of the best
• 1:20:45
  comedies have adapted this approach, and I think we've got
• 1:20:47
  Bernstein the thank for that trend.
• 1:20:50
  The grandiosity in the music adds a sense of history to the
• 1:20:53
  architecture that we see on screen of Philly works.
• 1:20:56
  Hand in hand with the visuals. It highlights an almost inbuilt
• 1:20:59
  kind of pre established etiquette.
• 1:21:02
  We don't need to be shown what's going on in these buildings.
• 1:21:04
  We already know because of the music.
• 1:21:06
  I think that's a great choice from Bernstein who's already
• 1:21:08
  collaborated with Landis on Animal House, Blues Brothers,
• 1:21:11
  American Werewolf in London. He's obviously his go to guy.
• 1:21:14
  He gave him a second life as a comedy movie scorer.
• 1:21:18
  Yeah. And I love the little cues that
• 1:21:20
  come into the Dukes when they're plotting their evil
• 1:21:22
  machinations. It underpins the scene when they
• 1:21:24
  come up with the wage after Billy Ray has been arrested.
• 1:21:27
  Just lovely little delicious cues here and there on top of
• 1:21:31
  all these huge classical pieces, which have a lot of reverence.
• 1:21:35
  I love that because I love the contrast.
• 1:21:36
  Westie, what do you think of the music in the film?
• 1:21:39
  I mean, it is what it is. I think the mix, now I'm
• 1:21:42
  watching it is really, really difficult because the music is
• 1:21:45
  so loud in the mix is so low. I don't know, I think it takes
• 1:21:51
  itself a little bit too seriously.
• 1:21:53
  It seems just too obvious. There's nothing in there where
• 1:21:56
  you're like, oh, that's the theme from Trading Places.
• 1:21:59
  This kind of classical look at things isn't welcome.
• 1:22:03
  There's a future now. People are looking at things
• 1:22:06
  differently. This doesn't stick.
• 1:22:08
  They're like looking at the paintings.
• 1:22:09
  I think it's the same with the music.
• 1:22:11
  It just has this very stuck in its ways, very much like
• 1:22:15
  overpowering, overbearing scent to it.
• 1:22:18
  For me, it just feels like it's slamming the point home a little
• 1:22:22
  bit too hard. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely
• 1:22:24
  doubling down on on its stance. It's like this is what we are.
• 1:22:28
  The film sounds like an oil painting, but it sounds like
• 1:22:33
  you're walking through a gallery.
• 1:22:34
  It's great. I would never have said it was
• 1:22:36
  Elmer Bernstein in a million years if I didn't know that.
• 1:22:39
  Yeah, it's amazing, isn't? It doesn't feel like that at all
• 1:22:42
  and it's all very heavy-handed. It's all a big punch in the
• 1:22:44
  face, which is great if you watch it in the cinema, but
• 1:22:48
  watching it at home it's a little bit too much.
• 1:22:50
  OK, right. Controversial views.
• 1:22:52
  Matt, what about you? Yeah, I don't think it's done
• 1:22:55
  any favours, US doing great escape, like sort of goal, yeah.
• 1:23:00
  I mean, that scores outrageous. Exactly.
• 1:23:03
  You mean that score is just incredibly memorable and this
• 1:23:07
  one just isn't really. It's fine for what it is.
• 1:23:10
  It accentuates themes, but when it's mainly the kind of
• 1:23:14
  classical reference which he's borrowed from somewhere else and
• 1:23:16
  he's just playing on that, it just feels it's probably a bit
• 1:23:19
  easy for him and a bit obvious. Like what's he saying to do that
• 1:23:21
  kind of thing? It is very obvious.
• 1:23:23
  Yeah, it is. This is really obvious, you know
• 1:23:26
  a couple of decent songs in there.
• 1:23:27
  Do you want to funk Condon? I've enjoyed the odd bop to the
• 1:23:30
  Locomotion over the years at the obstacle disco course.
• 1:23:32
  Not no going to deny that. Over the years, over the years.
• 1:23:36
  Yeah, overall, I'm just not going to get excited about the
• 1:23:39
  score for Trading Places, really.
• 1:23:41
  Whatever. Disappointed with that, but what
• 1:23:45
  do you expect? Yeah, but I mean, we've been
• 1:23:47
  alluding to the classical influence and the music in the
• 1:23:49
  opening titles. That's The Marriage of Figaro by
• 1:23:52
  Mozart in The importance of that is that opera has the subplot
• 1:23:56
  where the serpent is scheming to expose his employer.
• 1:23:59
  Yes. When Lewis is on his way to
• 1:24:01
  work, he whistles civil ballet from the opera itself.
• 1:24:05
  In that piece, Figaro says he'll overthrow the machinery, which
• 1:24:08
  obviously is thematically relevant at the end of the film.
• 1:24:13
  Really deep this film like it's. Outrageous.
• 1:24:15
  Yeah, so one of the legends of movie music doing good work in
• 1:24:21
  some people's eyes, not great work in others.
• 1:24:23
  Yeah, that's fair enough. Finally, we're talking about a
• 1:24:28
  man who flew under the radar, but was John Landis's go to DP
• 1:24:32
  shooting five of his most important films, not to mention
• 1:24:34
  the groundbreaking music video for Michael Jackson's thriller.
• 1:24:37
  Thriller. Yeah.
• 1:24:38
  Westie, what do you think of Robert Paint as cinematography?
• 1:24:43
  The big painter, the big painting.
• 1:24:44
  Picture painter by name, painter by nature.
• 1:24:47
  Wonderful. Think this looks very 70s.
• 1:24:50
  It's got that vibe to it. There's not a lot of moving
• 1:24:53
  camera. It's all very static.
• 1:24:54
  It's framed beautifully. When he cuts to the paintings,
• 1:24:58
  you're almost confused, thinking that could have been a shot of
• 1:25:01
  the guys just sat there. Yeah, yeah, the light.
• 1:25:03
  Is the same. It's the same kind of vibe.
• 1:25:05
  I think you just looked at their paintings and went, I want to
• 1:25:07
  make the whole film look like that, which is incredible.
• 1:25:11
  It looks great and it doesn't distract you at all.
• 1:25:14
  It doesn't pull you out of this film whatsoever.
• 1:25:16
  Everything is just so beautifully kind of framed and
• 1:25:20
  set up and it's very static. It's very back and forth.
• 1:25:23
  He knows what is in front of the camera as opposed to behind it.
• 1:25:27
  He knows exactly what he's shooting and he makes sure that
• 1:25:29
  everything's in the frame and everyone gets the place and he
• 1:25:32
  does it really, really well. I think it's a really good
• 1:25:35
  looking film. It stands up and it's a 70s film
• 1:25:39
  in 1983 that looks better than any other real 70s film.
• 1:25:45
  For me, it's like it's up there with French Connection.
• 1:25:47
  If you're going to look at like a 70s film, like a.
• 1:25:49
  Vibe looks great. It's up there and it looks
• 1:25:52
  fantastic, so for me did a great job.
• 1:25:55
  Main thing that stands out for me is doesn't look like a
• 1:25:58
  comedy, you know, certainly not an 80s comedy.
• 1:26:00
  It's got a different aesthetic. All the location shooting,
• 1:26:03
  that's excellent. You can like feel the cold at
• 1:26:06
  times, which he brings out the depth of some of the short
• 1:26:08
  compositions. It does feel like it's being
• 1:26:10
  shot more like a Wall Street drama than a comedy, and that's
• 1:26:13
  absolutely what Landis wanted to do.
• 1:26:16
  I mean, it's not the kind of cinematography for me that kind
• 1:26:19
  of shouts out loud and draws attention to itself.
• 1:26:22
  You know, tells a story. Yeah, tells a story.
• 1:26:25
  You know, it's not the kind of thing where you're going to get
• 1:26:27
  100 different screen grabs to put as your screensaver in the
• 1:26:31
  background, or it's not that type of film.
• 1:26:32
  But for what it is, it does the job very, very well indeed.
• 1:26:36
  Yeah, I think it's the cinematography which is one of
• 1:26:38
  the elements that elevates this film beyond being a mere cheeky
• 1:26:42
  80s comedy. It's clear that the city is a
• 1:26:45
  major part of the film, looming down at those who in Abbadish
• 1:26:48
  paint a clearly Revere Philadelphia.
• 1:26:51
  And I think that really comes across in the shot choices.
• 1:26:54
  Like you said, Matt, turn that volume down.
• 1:26:56
  Minus a few scenes, this looks like a really serious piece of
• 1:26:59
  work. It's in the architecture in the
• 1:27:01
  city, showing Philadelphia's rich history.
• 1:27:04
  Make that shot of Billy rear coming out of the elevator and
• 1:27:06
  Lewis at the end of that long, cold marble corridor.
• 1:27:09
  That's wonderful, as is the exterior shot of Lewis outside
• 1:27:13
  just after that. The architecture of the city is
• 1:27:16
  stunning and in direct contrast to the stinking mess that is
• 1:27:19
  Lewis Winthorpe, the third in that dirty old Santa suit, The
• 1:27:23
  Cut. From like the close to a wide,
• 1:27:24
  it's fantastic. It's great when he's in the bath
• 1:27:26
  and he's like your stuff from fart in the tub.
• 1:27:29
  It's like the close up and then you've got that wide and it's
• 1:27:31
  like you see everything great. It's so good.
• 1:27:34
  And then, you know, there's contrasts all over the place.
• 1:27:36
  One look at the street where Ophelia lives tell you that
• 1:27:38
  society has her in the same position as Billy Ray, which
• 1:27:42
  seems like 1000 miles away from the world of Duke and Duke, but
• 1:27:46
  they inhabit the same city again.
• 1:27:48
  It really kind of hammers home Landis's message and reinforces
• 1:27:53
  everything about that. So yeah, I think there's a
• 1:27:55
  wonderful harmony in the visuals, the music and the
• 1:27:58
  writing as well. I think they're all on the same
• 1:27:59
  team, elevating each other as a result to hit Landis's tune.
• 1:28:03
  Yeah. The end.
• 1:28:10
  The final act brings with it the fall before the rise, starting
• 1:28:14
  with Lewis reaching rock bottom Westerly.
• 1:28:18
  It's over to. You until bad Santa.
• 1:28:20
  Has anyone looked as disgusting as that?
• 1:28:22
  Roy does as Santa here? It's absolutely lifting isn't.
• 1:28:26
  It in the world. Disgusting and it's just the
• 1:28:29
  greyness of all the white. Why is it grey?
• 1:28:36
  Where has he been before this? It's just outrageous.
• 1:28:39
  Just the way he's stuffing everything into his pockets.
• 1:28:41
  He's just cutting slabs and meat off drinks absolutely off his
• 1:28:46
  face. It's just ludicrous.
• 1:28:49
  And you feel so sorry for the guy at this point, but at the
• 1:28:52
  same time you're kind of laughing, which is the the
• 1:28:54
  Landers for me in this whole situation is how he makes you
• 1:28:58
  know again. But we've talked about the
• 1:29:00
  comedy in the serious nature. This guy is fucked.
• 1:29:03
  He's done. He's done for.
• 1:29:04
  His life is over with. Yes, he is.
• 1:29:06
  And he's stealing food and putting it in his pockets and
• 1:29:10
  still trying to then frame Billy Ray.
• 1:29:16
  It's so funny. But at the same time, it's so
• 1:29:19
  heartbreaking because, I mean, I've had this is a 7 year old be
• 1:29:22
  like, oh, yeah, OK, fair enough. There he is, Sandra.
• 1:29:25
  Yeah, it's funny. But now I'm like, Jesus Christ,
• 1:29:27
  I understand this guy's plight. And it's really hard to get into
• 1:29:31
  the comedy element of it. And I think that's what randos
• 1:29:34
  was trying to do is say like, look, it is funny, but is it?
• 1:29:37
  Can you laugh at these people and getting back to the right?
• 1:29:40
  And when he talks to Billy Rey and he's like, if that's not the
• 1:29:42
  pot called, the cat will Black. Yeah.
• 1:29:45
  And he wipes it off and he's like doesn't respond to it,
• 1:29:49
  doesn't react to it. I've spoken about it before but
• 1:29:51
  when he runs out without gun and he's screaming jeez that's.
• 1:29:56
  Terrifying. It's terrifying.
• 1:29:58
  But he's got real control over the room and that's all he wants
• 1:30:01
  is respect from people and control and the way that
• 1:30:05
  Valentine changes and says, you know, you don't need to be soft
• 1:30:08
  on these people. He's got money to buy drugs and
• 1:30:10
  you see that kind of twist and you think, please don't go there
• 1:30:13
  and he doesn't. And it's great brilliant from
• 1:30:16
  Murphy because he's just playing to the Dukes hands and he knows
• 1:30:19
  what they want to hear. And you don't know that he's
• 1:30:21
  doing that until he pockets that joint because you're kind of oh,
• 1:30:24
  well, he's been one over now he's been one over.
• 1:30:26
  He's he's in the Dukes pocket. He knows exactly what he's
• 1:30:28
  doing. He's like, don't be, you know,
• 1:30:30
  don't be soft on this and then pockets a joint.
• 1:30:34
  He's. Playing.
• 1:30:35
  He's still Billy Ray. Yeah, he's.
• 1:30:36
  Still there in in spirit. And that works for me.
• 1:30:39
  And this is the scene that changed everything.
• 1:30:41
  Yeah, I love it when he's planting all of those just
• 1:30:44
  dumping shit loads of drugs. I found him.
• 1:30:48
  Marijuana quaaludes. Yellow ones, red ones.
• 1:30:51
  Cocaine grinder. He's the pusher, not me.
• 1:30:55
  Not me. When he pulls out that beef
• 1:30:58
  instead of a gun, that's. But he cuts the beef off and
• 1:31:02
  starts putting in his pockets. That's salmon when it goes into
• 1:31:05
  his shirt and it's just all the beard on it and it's just, oh
• 1:31:09
  God. You'll all be very, very sorry.
• 1:31:13
  Very, very sorry. That's.
• 1:31:19
  Hilarious. That's hilarious.
• 1:31:22
  And I do. Yeah, I do love the end of that
• 1:31:24
  scene when Billy rear sneaks the joint in his pocket and it sets
• 1:31:28
  the following scene up very nicely.
• 1:31:30
  A shotgun scene for certain, but a pivotal one for the plot and
• 1:31:34
  hardly surprising considering the Dukes disdain for the lower
• 1:31:37
  classes and their behavior towards Lewis.
• 1:31:39
  Billy Ray is catching a sneaky joint in the toilet and the
• 1:31:42
  Dukes walk in congratulating themselves on a job well done.
• 1:31:46
  Where he doesn't know where to blow the smoke.
• 1:31:48
  Yeah, yeah, brilliant. The Dukes of elevated Billy
• 1:31:52
  Ray's social status. He's adept in his role, and
• 1:31:55
  they've turned Lewis to crime. Sounds like the perfect way to
• 1:31:58
  win $1.00. I mean these guys, unscrupulous,
• 1:32:02
  incorrigible, down and dirty bastards.
• 1:32:04
  They don't care who they leave in their way.
• 1:32:07
  The worst? Horrific.
• 1:32:09
  And then comes that language from Mortimer.
• 1:32:11
  It's shocking to hear now. Probably less so in the 80s, but
• 1:32:15
  it's a tough pill to swallow. But I'm guessing not uncommon
• 1:32:18
  from the mouths of people in these positions with wealth and
• 1:32:20
  power in the 80s. Maybe not uncommon even now,
• 1:32:25
  Yeah. No, exactly.
• 1:32:26
  And in that kind of environment as well, where you think you're
• 1:32:29
  safe, where you've locked the door and you're in the bathroom.
• 1:32:31
  I guess you get that. And say what you want, it's got
• 1:32:35
  that RoboCop kind of vibe to it as well, where all the secrets
• 1:32:38
  come out in the bathroom. Yeah.
• 1:32:40
  It does. I mean, the message may be
• 1:32:42
  muddled, Matthew. We've talked about it in the
• 1:32:44
  writing, but I think it is a smart script and I think it's a
• 1:32:46
  brave thing for Landis to do this in a comedy.
• 1:32:49
  I must say Bellamy and particularly Amici are
• 1:32:52
  magnificent in this. Film.
• 1:32:54
  Oh they are. They completely embody the evil
• 1:32:57
  hidden in a racist upper class society.
• 1:33:00
  They know what they're doing and that's important.
• 1:33:01
  It's magnificent. They know that they are
• 1:33:03
  assholes. Yeah, they definitely know that.
• 1:33:05
  And Billy Ray's suspicions come to fruition.
• 1:33:08
  He he's he's known all along that something is up.
• 1:33:10
  And this is his evidence that physical comedy when he has no
• 1:33:13
  other alternatives but to put the joint in his mouth.
• 1:33:16
  I love that. I love that.
• 1:33:18
  Yeah. Could it have gone in the
• 1:33:19
  toilet? I would imagine so.
• 1:33:22
  I think so, yeah. How did the Dukes not smell that
• 1:33:25
  joint already? And you know, we'll put that
• 1:33:27
  down to their age it. Would have been very important.
• 1:33:30
  Yes, it would have. Yeah.
• 1:33:31
  And the final thing to say here for me is another piece of
• 1:33:34
  visual storytelling. The Dukes wash their hands in
• 1:33:36
  the bathroom, washing their evil scheme and clean.
• 1:33:39
  It's a very nice touch. Yeah, nice visual.
• 1:33:42
  Yeah. And then we pick up again with
• 1:33:44
  Louis getting on the bus, just reduced to just grunting people.
• 1:33:48
  He can't even be bothered to communicate, which I think is
• 1:33:51
  particularly effective because so much of the film he's been in
• 1:33:54
  love with the sound of his own voice.
• 1:33:56
  And now that's gone. That, like good Patrician, Rich,
• 1:33:59
  privileged voice is just gone. And he says no people now.
• 1:34:03
  There's no one listening to him anymore.
• 1:34:05
  No one, exactly no one's listening to him.
• 1:34:07
  He's absolutely at his loss and to seize.
• 1:34:09
  To say he's. Disheveled by this point is
• 1:34:11
  underselling it a bit, I mean. That's massively underselling.
• 1:34:15
  You mentioned. A book.
• 1:34:16
  That's it. Fucked.
• 1:34:17
  Yeah. Well, absolutely.
• 1:34:18
  Wait, I mean you said but I've never seen the beard just so
• 1:34:20
  monkey and dirty and mad. Was it back?
• 1:34:26
  Sick. Big.
• 1:34:28
  When he takes a bite of that salmon, like Croy really sells
• 1:34:32
  that and I think he takes a bite that is more beard than salmon
• 1:34:34
  to be honest. But what a thing to eat when
• 1:34:37
  you're drunk as a Lord like. Salmon don't think so.
• 1:34:42
  It's pulling that beard through his teeth.
• 1:34:44
  Yeah, because he can feel it. That horrible feel of fabric
• 1:34:48
  against his teeth, That's horrible.
• 1:34:50
  And when he gets on the bus that is a proper drunk and sit down,
• 1:34:54
  he does like when he's just plunking down there.
• 1:34:59
  And I think that's a young Edie Falco sitting opposite him.
• 1:35:02
  Isn't it like one of the? First, yes, yes.
• 1:35:04
  I kind of hadn't clocked until now.
• 1:35:06
  Yeah, very good. It's just the the litany of
• 1:35:08
  misfortune continues from the dog literally pisses on him,
• 1:35:12
  then it's also pissed down the thing and that great shot.
• 1:35:15
  Where would you say this is breaking the 4th wall because
• 1:35:17
  he's so constrained into the camera when he's putting the gun
• 1:35:20
  to his head? He's doing a Jonathan Demi Free.
• 1:35:22
  It is a Demi kind of move. It is a very much like a Not a
• 1:35:26
  Wonderful Life as well, I think. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:35:29
  Yeah, yeah, great. His luck is so out at this point
• 1:35:32
  that the gun won't even go off until he throws it away.
• 1:35:34
  Which I think. That's a really great goal.
• 1:35:36
  Funny. Yeah, you can't even get a break
• 1:35:38
  that way. But the way it ends, when he
• 1:35:40
  gets back to Phillies, I'm going to pick up Wesley Said that
• 1:35:43
  because I think there's another It's a Wonderful Life reference
• 1:35:45
  here. Because to me it's very
• 1:35:46
  reminiscent when George Bailey comes home on that Christmas
• 1:35:49
  Eve, totally despondent, but Mary Bailey is trimming the
• 1:35:52
  tree, completely oblivious. And it's the same as what of
• 1:35:55
  Philly's doing. Absolutely.
• 1:35:56
  And the other thing I think it references another Christmas
• 1:35:59
  film is the apartment. Because the suicide attempt, you
• 1:36:01
  know, it's what Fran does, the apartment, she tries to take an
• 1:36:04
  overdose of pills and gets rescued.
• 1:36:06
  So again, it's one of those things where you go through
• 1:36:09
  what's happening and you think, fucking hell, this is dark.
• 1:36:11
  This is serious stuff. It's really dark.
• 1:36:13
  Yeah, yeah. Really dark, but it's so.
• 1:36:15
  Funny. But it's funny.
• 1:36:16
  It's just all that likeness to touch, to make it funny.
• 1:36:19
  After everything, even his horrific plan to set Billy Rio
• 1:36:23
  hasn't worked. I mean, when would it ever dress
• 1:36:26
  the way he does? And then he's he tries to kill
• 1:36:29
  himself. That doesn't work.
• 1:36:30
  Gets pissed on by a dog and then and the drugs that he bought to
• 1:36:34
  said Billy Rio, which have failed, he uses them to OD and
• 1:36:38
  kill himself. I mean, it's so tragic.
• 1:36:42
  So with all the cards on the table, our unlikely dream team
• 1:36:45
  club together to take the Dukes down eggnog.
• 1:36:50
  Now we're getting down to business and boarding a train
• 1:36:52
  where there are a number of strange things going on.
• 1:36:57
  Yes, they. Are Matt, can you make sense of
• 1:37:00
  any of this? But John Landis can't make sense
• 1:37:02
  if any of those. So they've got the plan.
• 1:37:06
  They want to get the briefcase off beaks.
• 1:37:08
  OK, fine. This should be such like a
• 1:37:10
  classy heist move and it's anything but.
• 1:37:15
  And wants to get on that train. Strangers on the train or
• 1:37:17
  something it's. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:37:19
  Something like that, something like that.
• 1:37:21
  And this is where the film really starts to fall down for
• 1:37:24
  me. Everything has been really
• 1:37:26
  grounded up until now. It it's you know, we've been
• 1:37:29
  saying this is intelligent filmmaking for comedy.
• 1:37:31
  This is an intelligent script. It's it's one of the most
• 1:37:34
  realistic in kind of quotation marks comedies of the time.
• 1:37:37
  And like I said about Landis, this is his most mature film.
• 1:37:41
  But then you get to this. Point until now.
• 1:37:43
  Until now. And it's like the other John
• 1:37:44
  Landis comes in, the childish John Landis.
• 1:37:47
  And this is, it's like Landis has said to Aykroyd Murphy, OK,
• 1:37:51
  you can have this one scene, guys.
• 1:37:52
  You can do what you want in this scene because I've got all the
• 1:37:55
  rest, but it doesn't fit with the rest of it at all.
• 1:37:58
  And the whole sequence, it just comes across like some extended
• 1:38:01
  SNL skit from back in the day. Yeah.
• 1:38:05
  Everyone is just playing dress up.
• 1:38:07
  Everyone's playing a different character and none of it's
• 1:38:09
  believable. Like where would Louis get these
• 1:38:11
  performance skills from? Like it's just so out of
• 1:38:14
  character. Or they get the costumes.
• 1:38:16
  Where would Coleman get this drunken Irish pre stacked from
• 1:38:21
  an overt realistic? There's no way to think that
• 1:38:23
  this would plausibly work on Biggs.
• 1:38:25
  Who knows them anywhere? And yeah.
• 1:38:28
  They're trying to be, like, offensive to almost every race.
• 1:38:32
  Yeah, yeah. There's.
• 1:38:33
  Something that's offensive to everyone, pretty much.
• 1:38:36
  I mean, what is that gorilla doing being transported from DC
• 1:38:40
  to Philly by train? That's awful.
• 1:38:42
  The bit with the earth is that. Yeah.
• 1:38:46
  Who signed off on that? Exactly.
• 1:38:48
  And mistaken beaks for an actual gorilla.
• 1:38:50
  I mean, come on. Mental it's.
• 1:38:53
  Just so. She's in there.
• 1:38:55
  I believe she's. In that it's none of it makes
• 1:38:57
  sense. In.
• 1:38:59
  The Animal House. It's like it's like the spiced
• 1:39:01
  animal house into the end and none of it is judged well at
• 1:39:04
  all. It's like when the teacher goes
• 1:39:06
  out the classroom and all the kids, obviously it's.
• 1:39:08
  Exactly the same as that. Yeah.
• 1:39:09
  That's what it's like the telly in.
• 1:39:11
  Let's just watch that. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:39:12
  So it just sends the film into a tailspin from here on in for me,
• 1:39:16
  and it doesn't really recover at any point.
• 1:39:18
  Right. That's a shame.
• 1:39:19
  I mean, I totally, totally agree with you.
• 1:39:22
  Absurd characters, abstract comedy, funny costumes,
• 1:39:24
  character, truer accents. Yeah, the tone is a complete
• 1:39:27
  departure from the rest of the film.
• 1:39:29
  Yeah. Al Franken and Tom Davis play
• 1:39:31
  the Stoner bag of Chandlers in this scene, and they're great as
• 1:39:34
  well. Really, really funny.
• 1:39:35
  They're part of Saturday Night Live, as we've been talking
• 1:39:37
  about, but they weren't first choice, second City TV
• 1:39:40
  characters, the Mackenzie brothers, played by Rick Moranis
• 1:39:43
  and Dave Thomas. They were first picked by
• 1:39:45
  Landis, but scheduling conflicts means they couldn't do it.
• 1:39:48
  Yeah. Well, they would have been
• 1:39:49
  great, Moranis and. It would have been great, really
• 1:39:53
  funny. Moranis and Thomas would go on
• 1:39:55
  to play the Mackenzie brothers in the 1983 film Strange Brew,
• 1:39:59
  and Al Franken later became Senator Franken.
• 1:40:02
  He did because of his political position.
• 1:40:04
  His financial records were of public interest.
• 1:40:07
  So he still gets paid royalties for playing this part in trading
• 1:40:10
  places. Not really, which is nice.
• 1:40:12
  Yeah. Oh.
• 1:40:12
  Amazing. Yeah, before Paul Gleason came
• 1:40:15
  on board for the role of obviously Clarence Speaks,
• 1:40:18
  unbelievably, Gordon Liddy was being tapped up for the role.
• 1:40:22
  Now, if you don't know who that is, he was one of the main
• 1:40:24
  antagonists in the Watergate scandal.
• 1:40:27
  Oh yeah, I was thinking why don't all the names?
• 1:40:30
  Yeah, imagine that. What?
• 1:40:32
  Unbelievable. He had no experience whatsoever,
• 1:40:35
  but he recently been released from prison for the Watergate
• 1:40:38
  incident and was riding higher to the success of his
• 1:40:40
  autobiography. He was interested in the role,
• 1:40:42
  but then tapped out when he saw how it turned out for Clarence.
• 1:40:45
  Yeah. Exactly.
• 1:40:46
  Everyone would be. Yeah, he didn't really go over
• 1:40:48
  on the whole sexual assault. Thing, yeah, I'm fine with that,
• 1:40:51
  you know. Disgusting.
• 1:40:52
  Because he's great. He's a great character.
• 1:40:54
  At that point, I don't understand the end of this film
• 1:40:56
  at all. No, it's a maze.
• 1:40:58
  Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and the Symphony,
• 1:41:01
  and I think it just sums up this whole mess that it becomes at
• 1:41:03
  this point because Curtis, she's dressed in LEED Hosen but has a
• 1:41:08
  Swedish accent. And that was part improvisation,
• 1:41:10
  part necessity. She couldn't do the Austrian
• 1:41:13
  accent. Salandis just went with her
• 1:41:14
  being Swedish and tweaked the screenplay accordingly.
• 1:41:17
  Absolute pandemonium. Yeah, unbelievable.
• 1:41:20
  This wasn't the year. He wasn't there.
• 1:41:25
  Obviously, we're dancing around, but the scene is the cause of
• 1:41:28
  much controversy, which intensifies with each passing
• 1:41:30
  year. Yeah, detractors argue that the
• 1:41:32
  scene pushes the absurdity to breaking point, taking you out
• 1:41:35
  of the film. How could someone from Lewis's
• 1:41:37
  background be able to carry out this stereotype, considering his
• 1:41:40
  perceived ignorance to any class, creed or race other than
• 1:41:43
  his own? I'm sure others would argue that
• 1:41:46
  it's the absurdity which is the scene Saviour.
• 1:41:49
  Which, of course, brings us to our final Patreon question.
• 1:41:51
  This one is from Thomas Cole. Hi, Thomas.
• 1:41:54
  Thomas. Thomas.
• 1:41:55
  Thomas says. I watched this last night and
• 1:41:57
  completely forgotten about Dan Aykroyd doing blackface in the
• 1:42:00
  training. Do you think this is an impact
• 1:42:03
  on how the film might be viewed going forward?
• 1:42:05
  Mass. It's a cultural and racial hot
• 1:42:07
  potato. Certainly is catch.
• 1:42:09
  Thanks. Burn your fingers, man.
• 1:42:13
  Look, first thing to be said and I think everybody already know
• 1:42:16
  also, but I think they have to say it at the start.
• 1:42:18
  No one is suggesting from it at Landis or Aykroyd or racist as
• 1:42:21
  people. No, it's less than that.
• 1:42:23
  No, no, but it's a judgment call and blackface unequivocally is
• 1:42:29
  racist. And the question therefore has
• 1:42:31
  to be well, why is it in there? What purpose does it serve the
• 1:42:34
  narrative? Was there really no other way of
• 1:42:37
  Louis disguised himself here? Yes.
• 1:42:40
  And Smearin What I guess is to Polish the use.
• 1:42:43
  I don't know. It's what it looks like.
• 1:42:45
  Just smearing that over your face does not in any way, shape
• 1:42:48
  or form make you look anything like a black person.
• 1:42:50
  I mean, it's ridiculous to think so.
• 1:42:52
  And as I've said, this whole sequence is the worst sequence
• 1:42:55
  in the film, and this is the worst part of it.
• 1:42:58
  The only comparison in recent years to make is Tropic Thunder
• 1:43:02
  because that has Robert Downey Junior and blackface now.
• 1:43:05
  Is that OK? I mean, like you say, it's such
• 1:43:08
  a hot potato. I don't know.
• 1:43:09
  But the argument that that film makes is that Downey Junie's
• 1:43:12
  character is so pretentious as an actor that he thinks it's OK
• 1:43:17
  to go about method and die. Yeah.
• 1:43:19
  It works in that film. It works in that film because he
• 1:43:22
  gets called out for it. Yeah, he gets called out for
• 1:43:25
  being pretentious and offensive. Louis doesn't.
• 1:43:28
  At this point, everyone just thinks, yeah, it's OK to go
• 1:43:31
  along with this. So yes, there's no malice meant
• 1:43:35
  here, but I just think it's such a bad judgment call to go down
• 1:43:38
  this route with it. Yeah, I, I agree.
• 1:43:41
  I think it definitely casts a shadow over the film.
• 1:43:43
  And a film with already a lot of issues, this is probably the
• 1:43:47
  worst culprit as well. You know, of course it's
• 1:43:50
  terrific. It's a really bad choice.
• 1:43:52
  But you, I think you've got to give us some context as well.
• 1:43:54
  Context in the story that's been told, context in the characters
• 1:43:57
  which are absurd, and particularly this scene.
• 1:44:00
  I mean, how could they think that they could get away with
• 1:44:03
  this considering Beaks has had first hand contact with Ophelia
• 1:44:06
  and Winthorpe? You've also got to give context
• 1:44:08
  at the time it was made as well. I'm not advocating this behavior
• 1:44:11
  at all, but it's a product of its time, and I do not believe
• 1:44:14
  in censorship. If you remove this scene and
• 1:44:17
  remove the film as a result, which, you know, has been called
• 1:44:20
  for, how are we ever going to learn from our mistakes?
• 1:44:24
  And make no mistake about it, this is a big mistake.
• 1:44:27
  Yeah. This is the choice that you've
• 1:44:28
  made. Nope.
• 1:44:30
  You could have went down a million different routes.
• 1:44:33
  Westie, what about you? What are your thoughts?
• 1:44:35
  Yeah. I mean, coming back five or six
• 1:44:36
  years ago to this. Was a big big smart.
• 1:44:40
  Affair but it was like what on earth is happening here?
• 1:44:44
  Why is this? And like you guys have said,
• 1:44:46
  it's completely unnecessary and it makes.
• 1:44:49
  No sense it has no. Sense he's not disguising
• 1:44:52
  himself in any way. But I think the reason this
• 1:44:55
  works is because he's acting in the scene with Eddie.
• 1:44:58
  And if Eddie Murphy wasn't there, it would be offensive.
• 1:45:01
  But I think because Eddie Murphy's gone along with it, it
• 1:45:04
  becomes funny. OK, so I think Landis just goes,
• 1:45:07
  this is so stupid that nobody's actually going to take offence
• 1:45:10
  to this. It feels like it's in the wrong
• 1:45:12
  film. It feels like we've missed what?
• 1:45:14
  This whole scene does, doesn't it?
• 1:45:15
  The. Whole scene is like we've missed
• 1:45:17
  something here. Is there a different film where
• 1:45:19
  this is trying to plug in but just don't need these things?
• 1:45:22
  It's very, very easy to be a bit more subtle with it.
• 1:45:25
  It's very, very 1983 I guess as. Well, it's a product of its
• 1:45:28
  time, as you'd expect. Landis has had to see on this
• 1:45:32
  over the years, of course. So one thing he said, every
• 1:45:35
  movie is a product of its time and you have to understand it as
• 1:45:38
  such. The Birth of a Nation is
• 1:45:39
  genuinely offensive. There are scenes in it that are
• 1:45:42
  outrageous and unforgivable, But you don't say DW Griffith is not
• 1:45:46
  worthy of study. The guy was a genius and changed
• 1:45:49
  everything. But that movie is profoundly
• 1:45:51
  offensive. You don't cut it.
• 1:45:52
  It's better to see it. I see where he's coming from.
• 1:45:55
  It's got a point. You can only do what you can do
• 1:45:59
  within the the confines of what is acceptable at the time,
• 1:46:03
  right? There's so many things that are
• 1:46:05
  offensive. Yeah.
• 1:46:06
  But they didn't think they were. Supporters of this scene may ask
• 1:46:09
  why it isn't offensive that Dannam Elliott is dressed up as
• 1:46:12
  a priest and doing an Irish accent, perpetuating the
• 1:46:15
  stereotype that all priests are Alcoholics or all Irish people
• 1:46:18
  are Alcoholics, or both. Ackroyd said.
• 1:46:21
  I probably couldn't get away with it now.
• 1:46:23
  Ed and I were improvising there and he's a black man and his
• 1:46:26
  entourage were all black people, and I don't think they're better
• 1:46:29
  than I at all. There was no objection then.
• 1:46:31
  Nobody said anything. It was just good comic beat that
• 1:46:35
  was truthful to the story. Yeah.
• 1:46:37
  However, he now admits that he wouldn't choose to do the
• 1:46:40
  blackface thing, and he wouldn't be allowed to either.
• 1:46:43
  Certainly, you know, as he said, I probably wouldn't be allowed
• 1:46:44
  to do a Jamaican accent, whiteface or black in these days
• 1:46:47
  that we're living in. All of that out the window, I'd
• 1:46:49
  be hard pressed to do in an English accent and get away with
• 1:46:52
  it. They'd say, oh, you're not
• 1:46:53
  English, you can't do it. Yeah.
• 1:46:55
  Yeah, and Landis, he has no misgivings about the scene and
• 1:46:58
  he has said he would do it again now.
• 1:46:59
  And he said that this kind of behaviour is indicative of
• 1:47:02
  someone like Winthorpe who has lived a life of privileged
• 1:47:05
  ignorance. And this was last year, 2023.
• 1:47:08
  Well, and he used two real examples, he said.
• 1:47:11
  Brett Kavanaugh, one of the Supreme Court justices.
• 1:47:14
  Do you remember the pictures of the College in blackface?
• 1:47:16
  Or what about Prince Harry dressed up as a Nazi?
• 1:47:19
  It comes from a certain class of non thinkers.
• 1:47:21
  Yeah. I mean, I can see where he's
• 1:47:23
  coming from. There's not a definitive school
• 1:47:25
  of thought on it, I suppose. Like the only definitive we know
• 1:47:28
  is that it's not good to do blackface, no.
• 1:47:31
  Just don't do it. And it's fairly simple rule I
• 1:47:33
  think. It is.
• 1:47:34
  It is. As for the perceived gorilla
• 1:47:37
  rape scene, Lander said. I'm interested that people are
• 1:47:39
  offended by it. It's so ridiculous.
• 1:47:41
  I mean, the fact that the gorilla would accept this guy in
• 1:47:43
  a rubber mask, that's a cartoon gag.
• 1:47:46
  Yeah, I see where he's coming from.
• 1:47:47
  Yeah. Well, I like the bridge between
• 1:47:49
  the absurdity of the train and the trade and floor.
• 1:47:52
  I think it brings it back on track a little bit.
• 1:47:55
  Yeah. First off, you've got that scene
• 1:47:56
  in the car park where Billy Ray impersonates, beaks and provides
• 1:47:59
  the Dukes with the the bogus crop report.
• 1:48:01
  Almost certainly a nod to Deep Throat scenes from All the
• 1:48:04
  President's Men. Definitely is, yeah.
• 1:48:06
  It's great. When they're saying their
• 1:48:08
  goodbyes at the train station, Louis goes in for a smooch with
• 1:48:10
  Ophelia and Coleman looks away to give them some privacy.
• 1:48:14
  That great reaction. That denim Elliot is just pitch
• 1:48:17
  perfect in the in this film, Yeah.
• 1:48:19
  Yeah, so subtle. It's wonderful.
• 1:48:21
  Yeah. But when the boys get to
• 1:48:23
  Manhattan, they show up in a taxi compared to the Dukes in
• 1:48:25
  the limo. Another nice visual cue of
• 1:48:27
  standard and status. And I love the prep and tough
• 1:48:30
  talk that Louis gives Billy Ray. It kind of reminds me of the pep
• 1:48:34
  talk and Marin gives Karis in the Exorcist prior to go and
• 1:48:37
  talk to talk with the devil says the demon is a lie, will lie to
• 1:48:41
  confuse you, but it also makes lies with the truth to attack.
• 1:48:44
  But here it's think big thing positive.
• 1:48:46
  Never show any sign of weakness. Always go for the throat fear.
• 1:48:50
  That's the other guy's problem. That's the other guy's problem.
• 1:48:52
  I love that. Yeah, that's great.
• 1:48:54
  One minute you're up half a million in soybeans and the
• 1:48:57
  next, boom, Your kids don't go to college.
• 1:48:59
  They've repossessed your Bentley.
• 1:49:00
  I love it. That's great, right it?
• 1:49:05
  Is But this is Ackroyd scene. This is Lewis's arena.
• 1:49:09
  These are his people. And he's ultra confident combing
• 1:49:11
  his hair. And it's Valentine that's
• 1:49:13
  getting a little fidgety here. And you see that all the way
• 1:49:16
  through the trading floor. But Winthorpe is supremely
• 1:49:19
  confident and unflappable. Yeah.
• 1:49:22
  And they walk out of that bathroom with Lewis in.
• 1:49:24
  Let's kick some ass. Amazing.
• 1:49:26
  We're ready to go. Yeah.
• 1:49:27
  I love it. And then from there, we go into
• 1:49:30
  the trading floor. It's like, I haven't seen
• 1:49:32
  anything like this before. It's up there was like Wolf of
• 1:49:35
  Wall Street or Wall Street itself.
• 1:49:37
  Yeah, but it's my worst nightmare.
• 1:49:40
  This whole thing is my worst nightmare.
• 1:49:42
  People just have no identity. Everyone just becomes this thing
• 1:49:46
  that has to buy or sell, and it becomes about the commodity.
• 1:49:50
  And it's so chaotic. I don't understand how this
• 1:49:53
  works. They're just signing bits of
• 1:49:55
  paper and handing it, and how does that fucking work?
• 1:49:58
  There's that guarantee for the orange juice like, but it
• 1:50:03
  doesn't matter. That's the whole point of this
• 1:50:05
  whole sequence is that it doesn't matter.
• 1:50:07
  It's a classic 80s ending that people saw this and then just
• 1:50:11
  ran with it and just went, you know what?
• 1:50:13
  We're going to make the ending feel good and not make sense
• 1:50:16
  because it doesn't need to make sense.
• 1:50:18
  I think because I'm not very intelligent when it comes to
• 1:50:21
  this kind of bullshit. But they sell early and then buy
• 1:50:25
  late, right? So the sell at a higher price
• 1:50:28
  and then buy it back when it's a lower price.
• 1:50:30
  So I'll take this Westie, because I've got it in a
• 1:50:34
  nutshell. That that would be lovely.
• 1:50:35
  This is what I've gleaned from doing a lot of research on the
• 1:50:38
  Westie. OK Duke and Duke and bribe.
• 1:50:40
  The government official are going to copy the government
• 1:50:42
  orange crop report, meaning they'll have knowledge of the
• 1:50:44
  stock before it's announced. Winthorpe and Valentine get in
• 1:50:47
  before they get it and give the Dukes the opposite information.
• 1:50:50
  Yes, the crop is strong, the juice think it's weak and under
• 1:50:53
  the assumption that the price will rise.
• 1:50:55
  When Winthorpe shouts out and almost into unintelligible line
• 1:50:58
  that causes pandemonium on the trading floor, he says sell 38
• 1:51:02
  below 142, meaning they'll sell 30 contracts of frozen orange
• 1:51:05
  juice at 142 per pound. The pandemonium comes from the
• 1:51:09
  fact that the traders think the prices will be much higher than
• 1:51:11
  142 in the future. But then the crop report comes
• 1:51:14
  out. Lewis and Billy Ray bought it
• 1:51:16
  $0.29 per pound. It's the classic buy lower sale
• 1:51:19
  high that you the opposite and they are hundreds of millions
• 1:51:22
  down. I mean, that's not my world, but
• 1:51:24
  it works. It totally works because you're
• 1:51:26
  like, yeah, these guys have got it sorted.
• 1:51:28
  And for the writing of the final scene, Harris said.
• 1:51:30
  I asked some people who are in that business to kind of walk me
• 1:51:33
  through it. And then when I was writing, it
• 1:51:35
  was like studying for an exam. You kind of understand it the
• 1:51:37
  day of, but then 24 hours later you can't remember how anything
• 1:51:41
  works. Yeah, I totally get that, Landis
• 1:51:44
  said. It just took him ages to work
• 1:51:46
  out how the finale worked. He's directing it and he didn't
• 1:51:49
  know what's going on. Winegrad and Harris said that
• 1:51:53
  the new would confuse audiences, but kind of rolled the dice,
• 1:51:57
  hoping that they'd be invested in the characters and wouldn't
• 1:51:59
  pay too much attention to it. Right.
• 1:52:01
  I think it does work because I still don't know what it means.
• 1:52:04
  No, definitely. Doesn't matter though, does it?
• 1:52:06
  That's the point. No.
• 1:52:07
  And I love Winthorpe walking out here and he's Valentine's like
• 1:52:10
  now when, when do we do this? Is that not yet Lewis?
• 1:52:14
  Not yet Lewis? And then when it hits, it's it's
• 1:52:17
  great. It's one of them great feel good
• 1:52:19
  endings. Initially, the trading floor
• 1:52:21
  scene was set in Chicago. Landis said that once it was
• 1:52:24
  clear that the film makers had a good understanding of how
• 1:52:26
  everything worked, the Chicago Commodities Exchange just
• 1:52:29
  slammed the door on them. They didn't want them to know.
• 1:52:31
  Oh, really? Yeah, Wall Street were a little
• 1:52:33
  bit more forgiven. However, things did change
• 1:52:35
  slightly. That was supposed to film at the
• 1:52:37
  World Trade Center Commodities Exchange on a weekday during
• 1:52:40
  trade hours. But the presence of Ackroyd and
• 1:52:42
  Murphy distracted traders, and $6 billion of trades were
• 1:52:45
  halted. So they have to move location.
• 1:52:48
  Yeah. Jesus.
• 1:52:49
  Crazy and the ended up moving to the 50th floor of the World
• 1:52:53
  Trade tenant and Landis said there were no windows and it was
• 1:52:56
  three to four stories high and just said that was very strange
• 1:52:59
  to take an elevator up 50 or 60 floors and then you thought you
• 1:53:02
  were underground very disoriented and and then he said
• 1:53:05
  also around 90% of the X was in that scene where actual real
• 1:53:09
  traders. He said.
• 1:53:10
  I was quite taken aback at how physically rough it was.
• 1:53:14
  They really elbowed one another, like giving him six now.
• 1:53:16
  It was like a contact sport. They were basically trading 8 or
• 1:53:20
  9 hours a day. So we were in there for three to
• 1:53:22
  four hours on two days between opening and closing.
• 1:53:25
  I actually shot some gorilla stuff there that I used in the
• 1:53:27
  movie, but that sounds awful to me.
• 1:53:29
  You can tell that. You can tell that looks like
• 1:53:31
  real footage. You can tell.
• 1:53:33
  Yeah, it does. And then in 2010 there was a
• 1:53:36
  rule introduced into the trading of commodities, referred to as
• 1:53:38
  the Eddie Murphy rule, and that stipulated that using
• 1:53:41
  misappropriated government information for commodity
• 1:53:44
  markets trading was now illegal because prior to this it was a
• 1:53:48
  frowned upon practice, but you couldn't be prosecuted for it.
• 1:53:51
  Inside the trading basically. Yeah, Yeah.
• 1:53:52
  That's great. That's.
• 1:53:53
  Crazy. And then right at the end here,
• 1:53:56
  you've got obviously a beautifully delivered profanity
• 1:54:00
  from Don Amici. He took exception to the
• 1:54:03
  profanity here because he was deeply religious.
• 1:54:05
  He was from the golden age of cinema, where the F word was
• 1:54:07
  never wrote it. Yeah, according to Jamie Lee
• 1:54:10
  Curtis, this wasn't the only scene for which Amici had
• 1:54:12
  misgivings. After every scene with bad
• 1:54:15
  language, he went out of his way to apologize to cast and crew,
• 1:54:18
  even showing up early on set to get his apologies in before he
• 1:54:21
  did it. Outrageous.
• 1:54:23
  He's the worst guy in the film as well.
• 1:54:25
  He really is. Yeah, but for this scene, Landis
• 1:54:28
  eventually got to meet you to do one and only one take, he said.
• 1:54:31
  I'm going to do it once. I'm not going to do it again
• 1:54:33
  where Randolph collapses and Mortimer has to be aggressively
• 1:54:36
  dismissive about his brother's plate.
• 1:54:38
  It's. Fucking wonderful.
• 1:54:40
  I'm so glad he did because I mean delivery.
• 1:54:44
  Fuck him and the guy. He is stunned.
• 1:54:49
  It's amazing. Turn those machines back on.
• 1:54:54
  So a satisfying, if somewhat confusing, ended.
• 1:54:57
  We know one thing for certain though.
• 1:54:58
  Billy Ray and Lewis are looking good, feeling good.
• 1:55:02
  Too right reception and awards. A comedy with a mixed bag cast
• 1:55:11
  wasn't expected to do great business in the summer of 83,
• 1:55:14
  but we outperformed the majority of the competition.
• 1:55:16
  Yep, it became the fourth highest grossing film of 1983,
• 1:55:20
  behind Return of the Jedi. Understandable terms again.
• 1:55:23
  Demon and Flashdance, which obviously was a phenomenon back
• 1:55:26
  then. Yeah.
• 1:55:26
  Yeah. So they're returning $90 million
• 1:55:31
  from a budget of 15,000,000, which men did earn more than the
• 1:55:34
  likes of Superman 3, Sudden Impact and Octopussy.
• 1:55:38
  That's pretty impressive, really.
• 1:55:39
  So I'm established IP there as well.
• 1:55:42
  Yeah, yeah, pretty good. Timothy Harris said that he got
• 1:55:44
  a call from his agent who had people approaching them asking
• 1:55:47
  if it was true that the idea for the film was producer Aaron
• 1:55:50
  Russo's and that he and mine grew up a hired hands.
• 1:55:53
  He found out that Geoffrey Kosenberg was going around town
• 1:55:56
  saying that was his idea, he said.
• 1:55:58
  Being a Hollywood cynic, by then I knew it was a hit because
• 1:56:01
  people were trying to steal credit for it already.
• 1:56:04
  And that's when you know you're honest.
• 1:56:05
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you've got something
• 1:56:07
  hot on your hands. Yeah.
• 1:56:08
  Yeah. I mean, it was popular from a
• 1:56:09
  critical lens. High.
• 1:56:11
  Profilable. Controversial film critic Rex
• 1:56:13
  Reid spoke fondly of the film, saying Trading Places in an
• 1:56:16
  updated Frank Capra with four letter words.
• 1:56:18
  And I could think of no higher prayers than that.
• 1:56:21
  If you can't, then that's not good journalism.
• 1:56:24
  It's not really good point. Jenna Maslin had positive things
• 1:56:29
  to say about Trading Places, but also said Preston Sturd just
• 1:56:32
  might have made a movie like Trading Places if he had a
• 1:56:35
  little less inspiration and a lot more money.
• 1:56:38
  Harsh, Harsh. That is harsh.
• 1:56:40
  In a retrospective review, Empire gave it 4 out of five, it
• 1:56:43
  said. A brilliant ensemble comedy with
• 1:56:46
  Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd at the top of their games.
• 1:56:48
  He, he and finally the big man Roger EBIT out of four.
• 1:56:53
  What do you think he gave it? 3 1/2.
• 1:56:56
  I'll go 2 1/2. I think he liked his old school
• 1:56:59
  stuff and he thought this wasn't quite up to this standard.
• 1:57:03
  I tell you what, split the difference, it's three out of
• 1:57:05
  four, he said. It's a great idea for a story.
• 1:57:09
  A white preppy snot and a black street hustler trade places and
• 1:57:13
  learn new skills they never dreamed existed.
• 1:57:15
  The movie's invention extends all the way to the climactic
• 1:57:18
  scenes, which involve not the usual manic chase but a
• 1:57:21
  commodity scam, a New Year's Eve party on a train and a gay
• 1:57:24
  gorilla. During award season, Trading
• 1:57:30
  Places was recognized with a smattering of nominations but no
• 1:57:33
  wins unfortunately. 1 Oscar nom, Bernstein for Best Score, who
• 1:57:37
  lost out to Michael Legrand and Alan and Marilyn Bergman for
• 1:57:40
  Yentl. The fact that War Games was
• 1:57:42
  nominated for its screenplay and this wasn't, I think it's a
• 1:57:45
  crime. That's outrageous.
• 1:57:46
  Wow, OK. Fucking outrageous. 2 Golden
• 1:57:50
  Globe noms best musical or comedy.
• 1:57:52
  It lost out again to Yentl and Murphy was nominated for Best
• 1:57:56
  Actor in Comedy and Musical, but lost out to Michael Caine for
• 1:57:58
  Educating Reader. Okay, I love.
• 1:58:00
  Educating me. He's great.
• 1:58:01
  Yeah, he's good. He's good in it.
• 1:58:03
  Yes, yes he is. More disappointment followed.
• 1:58:06
  At the Baftas. Denham Elliott and GLC were
• 1:58:08
  nominated in the supporting categories.
• 1:58:09
  Both missed out. Elliott was clearly the hometown
• 1:58:12
  vote. Yeah.
• 1:58:14
  Yeah, Harris and Wang God were nominated for their right and
• 1:58:17
  put lost out of Paul D Zimmerman for the King of Comedy.
• 1:58:20
  That's fair, I think. That's absolutely.
• 1:58:22
  That's fair. That's on the page, it's on the
• 1:58:25
  screen. It is, yes, it is.
• 1:58:26
  Yeah, it's great. And now, from a contemporary
• 1:58:28
  point of view, Trading Places has 89% on Rotten Tomatoes Very
• 1:58:32
  High and 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb, which if my memory serves me
• 1:58:37
  right, is .2 more than Beverly Hills Cop.
• 1:58:39
  Yes. So it's still got a good
• 1:58:40
  reputation, so performing well on all fronts.
• 1:58:43
  I'm sure that Landis wasn't expecting awards, but he'll have
• 1:58:46
  been happy that this risky cast brought home the bacon or pork
• 1:58:50
  bellies. Yeah.
• 1:58:55
  Sequels and influence. No sequel to Trade in Places of
• 1:59:00
  course, but in a very nice call back, the Landis directed Eddie
• 1:59:04
  Murphy vehicle Coming to America has a scene in which Prince
• 1:59:07
  Hakeem gives 2 hobos a bundle of cash.
• 1:59:10
  Yeah, and those whole balls turn out to be Randolph and Mortimer,
• 1:59:13
  who clearly put the money to good use and are referenced
• 1:59:15
  again in Coming to America, the sequel from a few years ago.
• 1:59:19
  Right. That aside, in the years since
• 1:59:21
  its release, where have you seen Trade in Places influence?
• 1:59:24
  What do you think its legacy is, Westie?
• 1:59:26
  I think it's mainly on the people who were in the film.
• 1:59:30
  I think everyone rose from this. It was Landis invested in
• 1:59:35
  people, I think, invested in actors, invested in their
• 1:59:38
  performances. Murphy couldn't have got bigger
• 1:59:41
  after this. Ackroyd.
• 1:59:43
  Ghostbusters straight after. Ghostbusters straight after this
• 1:59:47
  and it just kept rising. I just think this was just an
• 1:59:50
  absolute lesson in believing in people, believing in their
• 1:59:55
  ability and believing in what they can do and they will
• 1:59:58
  deliver. From 83 to like 89, any of these
• 2:00:02
  guys were complete commodities or just absolute gold to buy a
• 2:00:07
  new. And that's how it feels to me.
• 2:00:09
  It feels like Landis has planted something and it's just spawned
• 2:00:14
  all of these different branches that you get so much from this
• 2:00:17
  film. So for me, its influence and its
• 2:00:20
  legacy lies in whoever was involved in this film.
• 2:00:23
  Grew from it, Yeah. That's what I get from it.
• 2:00:26
  Yeah, From just a like a broad point of view, it's generally
• 2:00:28
  considered one of the best comedies of the 80s.
• 2:00:30
  It's a touchstone in the career of most, if not all of the casts
• 2:00:34
  respective careers. And the film that sprung Murphy
• 2:00:36
  to superstardom, Paramount, later tied him to a $25 million
• 2:00:40
  five picture deal and financed Eddie Murphy Productions along
• 2:00:43
  with it. On this alone, that's huge.
• 2:00:46
  Massive. That's too big 25,000,000.
• 2:00:50
  Without the success of Trading Places, you don't have a studio
• 2:00:53
  taken Dan Aykroyd's Ghostbusters script seriously for me, the
• 2:00:57
  implications of which would have been seismic for a number of
• 2:01:00
  reasons. The advancement in special
• 2:01:01
  effects would look different. So would Bill Murray's career.
• 2:01:04
  And that icon, like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man, would be
• 2:01:07
  erased from existence. Yeah.
• 2:01:09
  Big. Worth thinking about Big.
• 2:01:11
  News And as GLC has said, she wouldn't have the career she
• 2:01:14
  has, which means no fish call wonder, no anything, anywhere
• 2:01:17
  all at once, no Oscar win. No.
• 2:01:20
  We mentioned the impact it had on Don Amici's career.
• 2:01:22
  Yeah. Matt, what do you think about
• 2:01:24
  the legacy and influence of Trading Places?
• 2:01:27
  Definitely more of a legacy film than a film with influence.
• 2:01:30
  That saying, I can't think, can't think of more Chef Watch.
• 2:01:33
  We've got our definite Trading Places influence on that.
• 2:01:38
  The legacy is more to do with the fact that I said earlier, it
• 2:01:40
  just has a very different feel to more so the 80s comedies.
• 2:01:43
  It is trying to do something different and it has a veneer of
• 2:01:46
  quality you don't really get in this genre, certainly not from
• 2:01:49
  that decade. So I think maybe though, its
• 2:01:52
  biggest legacy is just making you reassess and realize again
• 2:01:56
  how amazing Eddie Murphy was right from the start.
• 2:02:00
  So early 22. It's still among his best films
• 2:02:03
  in terms of performance. And that's it.
• 2:02:05
  It's probably landed the second best after American.
• 2:02:08
  Werewolf. Unfortunately, when you speak
• 2:02:10
  about legacy, you've also got to mention that the blackface scene
• 2:02:12
  doesn't scan right in 2024 and as a result it was one of 16
• 2:02:17
  films that Sky ATV broadcaster in the UK added disclaimer to
• 2:02:20
  the start of the film. And the disclaimer reads, this
• 2:02:23
  film has outdated attitudes, language and cultural depictions
• 2:02:26
  which may cause offence today. Right.
• 2:02:29
  Fair enough. Unfortunate, but on the positive
• 2:02:31
  side, Business Insider claim that Trading Places is the
• 2:02:34
  greatest Wall Street movie ever made.
• 2:02:37
  OK. Right, OK.
• 2:02:38
  Timothy Harris said that he had people coming up to them saying
• 2:02:41
  the trading place has inspired them to become broker.
• 2:02:44
  Didn't inspire me to become a broker.
• 2:02:45
  No fucking chance. But she said it's a huge
• 2:02:49
  paradigm turn. The film, written as a satire of
• 2:02:53
  that world, ends up inspiring someone to go into the world and
• 2:02:56
  make a lot of money. Like it happens left right and
• 2:02:59
  centre though, doesn't it really?
• 2:03:00
  It does. It's like what happened with
• 2:03:02
  when Gordon Get Go inspired people to do the same thing.
• 2:03:05
  Yeah, exactly. Just.
• 2:03:05
  Like Dell boy. Wall Street and then same thing,
• 2:03:08
  yeah. Trading Places has become a
• 2:03:10
  Christmas Eve tradition in Italy.
• 2:03:12
  On Channel Italia One they have a trade in places on Christmas
• 2:03:15
  Eve for over 30 years and it's regularly sighted as one of the
• 2:03:18
  great Christmas movies overall as well.
• 2:03:21
  OK, in 2015, the Writers Guild of America voted the screenplay
• 2:03:26
  the 33rd funniest screenplay ever, joint with Ferris Bueller.
• 2:03:29
  Joint with Ferris Bueller. I think it's better than.
• 2:03:35
  That. Yeah, and finally, it was
• 2:03:37
  adapted for the stage in a musical version, which debuted
• 2:03:39
  in Atlanta in 2022. So there's life in the old dog
• 2:03:43
  yet? Oh wow.
• 2:03:44
  OK. Despite the controversy trade in
• 2:03:46
  places, impact on the industry is still big and it still has an
• 2:03:49
  incredibly strong reputation in pop culture and among film fans,
• 2:03:52
  no doubt helped by its seasonal set.
• 2:03:54
  Yeah, all the right movies ranking.
• 2:04:01
  Before we set sail for a Paradise Island, it's time for
• 2:04:04
  the renowned ATRM ranking. Matt, your summary and score for
• 2:04:08
  Trading Places, please. Loads to really enjoy about
• 2:04:11
  this. Brilliant performances from
• 2:04:13
  everyone. There's not one performance that
• 2:04:15
  lets this film down. Hilarious moments throughout and
• 2:04:17
  you can feel Land is trying something different with this
• 2:04:19
  one and recognising that he can grow up a bit and he can try to
• 2:04:22
  make something that carries a bit of weight to it.
• 2:04:25
  And for the most part it does that really successfully.
• 2:04:28
  But I think overall it's a nearly film for me.
• 2:04:31
  It's nearly a Christmas classic if you want to frame it that
• 2:04:34
  way, but it's not one I put up there with the likes of Die
• 2:04:37
  Hard, for example, you know, if it's on, I'll watch it, but
• 2:04:40
  could live without watching it every Christmas.
• 2:04:43
  And the reason for that is it's nearly a brilliantly directed
• 2:04:47
  film. It's nearly a brilliantly
• 2:04:48
  written film, but for the reasons I outlined in the
• 2:04:51
  writing, it just pulls its punches a bit.
• 2:04:53
  I think it knows what it wants to say.
• 2:04:56
  Don't think he knows how to say it.
• 2:04:57
  And so the message and just gets confused along the way.
• 2:05:00
  And then you do get to that final 20 minutes and it just
• 2:05:03
  collapses a bit. It's silly, it's confusing, it's
• 2:05:06
  offensive, it's contradictory because all we see in greed is
• 2:05:09
  bad. No, actually it's good as long
• 2:05:11
  as you're the right person to get it.
• 2:05:12
  I don't know what it's. I don't know what it wants me to
• 2:05:14
  think at the end. Paul from It's good to see a
• 2:05:17
  cried Murphy happy, which fair enough.
• 2:05:19
  And it's a shame because most of the pieces of film needs to be a
• 2:05:22
  masterpiece are here, it's just not all of them.
• 2:05:26
  So for that area, it's a surprisingly classy comedy, but
• 2:05:30
  it's not as sharp as it should be, and it doesn't quite have
• 2:05:33
  the teeth I think it could have. So it's a solid 8 out of 10 for
• 2:05:36
  me. 8 out of 10. Yeah, it's a solid score for
• 2:05:39
  certain. What about you, Wesley?
• 2:05:41
  I mean, if I could have summed it up before math, I'll probably
• 2:05:44
  have said exactly the same thing to be honest.
• 2:05:47
  And I came to this one really late and it was an eye opener
• 2:05:51
  and a jaw dropper at times. Of course.
• 2:05:54
  I mean, I knew Landis's career and I knew everything, you know,
• 2:05:58
  came that from this and before this and how important this was
• 2:06:01
  to him, how important it is to everybody who's involved in this
• 2:06:04
  film. But like Matt said, he's missed
• 2:06:05
  the trick. It just feels like there's just
• 2:06:08
  a home run here that hasn't been hit.
• 2:06:11
  Yeah, there's just something that.
• 2:06:13
  He's got the first base. Yeah, he's there.
• 2:06:16
  But I wanted to finish on a high and I didn't feel like
• 2:06:21
  incredibly moved by it. By the end of it, I didn't feel
• 2:06:25
  like anyone had got any further forward.
• 2:06:27
  I didn't feel like anyone understood any of the other
• 2:06:29
  characters. It was just let's go to the
• 2:06:31
  Virgin Islands and let's get a boat.
• 2:06:35
  So nothing's changed really from the start of the film as opposed
• 2:06:38
  to everyone's just in a better place because of money.
• 2:06:41
  It's great because it wants to say something and it pulls you
• 2:06:44
  through that, and I love it for that.
• 2:06:46
  But I'm the same as my. I'm going to have to give an 8
• 2:06:48
  out of 10. Yeah, OK.
• 2:06:49
  Well, again, solid scores. Yeah.
• 2:06:53
  And you know, we've looked in the dark corners of Trading
• 2:06:55
  Places. We found a few things that we
• 2:06:57
  don't like. Yeah, we found a few things that
• 2:06:59
  haven't aged well at all, but this is a rarity in the genre.
• 2:07:03
  A comedy with something to say, a lot to say, a lot on its mind.
• 2:07:06
  Yeah, it's a lot. There's a lot here.
• 2:07:07
  But like Matt said, he said it beautifully.
• 2:07:09
  It's like it doesn't know how to say it.
• 2:07:12
  Yeah, I agree with that and it's Moodle for certain.
• 2:07:15
  But the relevance of the message in the film and the narrative
• 2:07:18
  themes, that hasn't diminished with time.
• 2:07:20
  Some of the narrative beats don't hold up to scrutiny, but
• 2:07:23
  the comedy I think grabs a hold of you from the start and I
• 2:07:25
  think that sticks. The landed, but at least said
• 2:07:28
  about the train sequence the better and everything that comes
• 2:07:31
  with that. Yeah, agree with that.
• 2:07:33
  But the cast are outstanding and it's very important in the
• 2:07:36
  careers of at least four of the cast members.
• 2:07:39
  Without this, Curtis Murphy, Aykroyd Amici's respective
• 2:07:42
  careers would look dramatically different.
• 2:07:45
  There's so much more than Trading Places than meets the
• 2:07:47
  eye and it has been overshadowed for me.
• 2:07:49
  It is a top tier 80s comedy issues notwithstanding.
• 2:07:52
  I'm given Trading Places 9 out of 10.
• 2:07:55
  OK, fair enough. Yep, that's all that come in.
• 2:07:57
  That's fair enough. Yeah, yeah, of course.
• 2:08:00
  And I would say it's got a 9.5 of that is nostalgia.
• 2:08:03
  Yeah, that's me. That's always fair enough.
• 2:08:06
  Our 4th and final score come from our followers on X Trading
• 2:08:09
  Places is, as discussed, a hot potato at this time of year and
• 2:08:13
  that was certainly evident in the comments.
• 2:08:15
  Anthony at anti Juan Kenobi said 7 out of 10 movie 8 out 10
• 2:08:20
  comedy 9 out of 10 Christmas film 10 out of 10 Jamie Lee
• 2:08:23
  Curtis. Can't argue with that.
• 2:08:26
  Yeah, fair enough. Ian Cusick at Ian Cusick said
• 2:08:31
  one of my Christmas favorites. The image of Dan Aykroyd eaten
• 2:08:34
  salmon through his matted be. It always makes me gag as it
• 2:08:38
  does. Also you.
• 2:08:39
  Yeah, Eddie Murphy being real Eddie Murphy when he was funny.
• 2:08:42
  Fantastic denim Elliot performance.
• 2:08:44
  JLC looked amazing to a teenage viewer.
• 2:08:46
  Still does. 8.5 out of 10. Yeah, and back that up.
• 2:08:51
  And finally, stuck at Stuck in Middle You said, a comedy that
• 2:08:56
  hits mostly the right notes with a sublime performance from Eddie
• 2:08:58
  Murphy in Wonderful Turns by Dynamici and Ralph Bellamy.
• 2:09:01
  The romance between Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee is a bit stilted,
• 2:09:04
  but doesn't bog down the enjoyment of the film overall.
• 2:09:07
  That's fair enough, and I've left out a few comments because
• 2:09:10
  a lot of them were concerned. And Jamie Lee and her assets,
• 2:09:14
  shall we say. Right.
• 2:09:16
  Yeah, people have no shame in seeing what's on their mind on
• 2:09:20
  X. It's absolutely outrageous.
• 2:09:23
  Really keep it to yourself, everyone.
• 2:09:24
  Come on. A little bit of classic
• 2:09:26
  Christmas. See what they want.
• 2:09:28
  So considering all of that, what do you think?
• 2:09:30
  Trading Places scored out of 10 on X Chaps. 9. 8.5.
• 2:09:35
  Westie out of the park. That's a home run.
• 2:09:38
  Boom. Very solid, very surprising. 9
• 2:09:41
  out of 10. There were a lot of positive
• 2:09:43
  comments on X about this film. Very little on the negative
• 2:09:46
  side. OK.
• 2:09:46
  Yes, very little. If this gets you at the right
• 2:09:49
  time, it really gets, it's got a lot of say and you can get lots
• 2:09:52
  from it. It's great.
• 2:09:53
  Yeah, which means with all four combined, Trading Places scores
• 2:09:57
  34 out of 40. A fair score I think,
• 2:10:00
  considering the issues that the film has to be 6 off full marks
• 2:10:05
  is pretty remarkable really. Yeah, considering, yeah.
• 2:10:08
  Join us again on All the Right Movies in two weeks.
• 2:10:11
  We are taking a Christmas break, so you'll get to listen to an
• 2:10:14
  episode of our Patreon Double Feature show, which will only be
• 2:10:17
  available for a limited time. Then we're kicking the new year
• 2:10:19
  off with a bang by delving into Denis Villeneuve's outstanding
• 2:10:23
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• 2:10:26
  bringing you that story, a relatively new film, which is a
• 2:10:29
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• 2:10:33
  Outside of our classic show, we have a lot going on.
• 2:10:35
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• 2:10:38
  weeks. Alternative to this show,
• 2:10:40
  there's the Patreon exclusive podcast Double feature, the
• 2:10:42
  latest episode of which is live next week.
• 2:10:44
  And there's a Christmas bonus. It's three films on the show,
• 2:10:47
  not 2. Outrageously, we're talking
• 2:10:50
  about Jason Statham in Lock Stock, 2 Smoking Barrels, Snatch
• 2:10:54
  and Crank. Bound to be a lively discussion
• 2:10:56
  to be had there. Very good.
• 2:10:58
  So yeah. Save it for the episode Wesley I
• 2:11:02
  love. It keeping it really reserved,
• 2:11:05
  yeah. There'll be brand new episodes
• 2:11:08
  of our movie review show, The Watch List, available for our
• 2:11:11
  Patreon supporters in the middle of January.
• 2:11:13
  So for everything we've said at the top, all of our podcasts
• 2:11:15
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• 2:11:23
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• 2:12:55
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• 2:12:58
  Lobster and crack crab for everyone.
• 2:12:59
  Oh, it is Christmas after all. That sounds good.
• 2:13:02
  Feeling good? Look.
• 2:13:03
  Looking good Wesley, Merry Christmas everyone.
• 2:13:07
  Thank you so much for listening throughout the year.
• 2:13:09
  We love your support. Much more to come from ATRM in
• 2:13:12
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• 2:13:14
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• 2:13:16
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• 2:13:18
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• 2:13:20
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• 2:13:24
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• 2:13:52
  bucks.