Latest / The Director's Chair Network / Courage Under Fire

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Courage Under Fire · The Director's Chair Network

• 0:04 [Music] [Applause] 0:14 [Music] 0:25 welcome everyone to another episode of zwix flicks the edwick podcast I'm your host Ryan and with me today I have a 0:31 first time appearing guest co-host his name is Jared he is 0:36 from okay Jared I appreciate sorry I'm laughing because it's right there at the 0:41 bottom Ryan come on you can do it I'm laughing because Jared is guest 0:48 hosted with me a few times on my Rambo podcast my Rocky podcast and the last of 0:53 the action heroes type podcast that we do on that Network check those shows out and I often butchered the podcast that 0:59 Jared runs but I won't do it today this is too important this podcast Wix fli is too serious we're too important no no 1:06 Shenanigans here Jared so Jared is the podcast God from the hyperspace podcasting in the 25th 1:13 Century Jared how you doing man what an intro I'm doing good Ryan how are you 1:19 good I just want to say to all of our viewers yeah do not adjust your dials that is the the best podcast Radio voice will hear ever on this 1:26 feed well I don't know about that Katie's pretty good but she's great but 1:32 she's done she's retired she's doing no more I don't think I'd even joking she's done three which which is fantastic and 1:38 like we said in the last episode she was the guest co-host for three episodes that just happened to be at the beginning of the movies but uh I think 1:45 she's done she's gone we've got more people coming she's done her three okay Jared thank you so much for coming on as 1:50 Wix Flix I'm really excited to talk about courage Under Fire with you one because you're a great podcaster and a 1:56 good online friend we haven't met in person yet but I hope to one day you're just a good I appreciate your friendship 2:01 and your kindness and your time that's very kind Ryan back at you buddy no 2:06 thanks man if you ever come down to Florida to visit our beautiful beaches and theme parks please look me up I'm 2:13 right down I've been to Disney World but back when you and I didn't know each other I was 15 that's the last time I've 2:18 been toid wow okay many many moons ago yeah it's been a while it's been a while yeah so Jared you asked me a question 2:25 offline would you mind baring repeating that question though I just wondered why you in particular would start of all 2:34 things an Ed's Wick podcast it's funny I'm not a fanatic of all of his films 2:41 per se in the sense I hadn't seen a couple like leaving normal when Katie and I covered leaving normal never seen it before till I started this podcast so 2:48 that was part of the reason I started the podcast was there are films in his filmography that I love I.E Legends of 2:54 the Fall the episode before this one that I've seen numerous times over decades Last Samurai glor 3:00 those are like the big kind of Holy Grail of his films that jump out at me off the top of my head and so there's 3:06 certain directors that speak to me on certain movies that other directors just 3:11 never have so I thought well why not just do a not just the ones I enjoy why not just do his whole filmography what 3:17 made edwick Ed wicker how does a director handle other films when other films touch you so deeply and that's 3:23 kind of what it's about so it's interesting to watch his styling which will come into play with courage on fire 3:29 for sure oh that's a kind of edwick that's his flavor or that's his Mantra 3:35 you know how like Quenton tarantina likes feet sure you I think edwick likes 3:41 the big sweeping scores he likes the war scenes and things like that he's really good at that kind of stuff feet and war 3:47 war scenes you got your depends on what your flavor is I guess okay so that's basically why and I will tease something 3:53 here edwick only has 13 films that made it to the you know that are considered his films that are Studio films not TV 3:59 films but 13 Studio films the next director I'm going to tackle because I've already got my next project L lined 4:05 up is actually Michael man okay same idea and I would actually say Michael man might even have more films that I've 4:10 enjoyed you know like heat last M heans Man Hunter there's some incredible films there so uh we'll get into those uh 4:17 that'll be my next project so of course Jared I'll invite you on that one as well if you be so willing yeah 4:22 absolutely now why did you choose C Under Fire because you asked me to do it 4:28 okay all right so that add I can't remember some people I gave a 4:33 choice too some people said this is what's left I don't know if I recall that's kind of what it was it was like well here's the films that okay that we 4:40 haven't haven't assigned a co-host to I pick courage Under Fire all right now 4:46 what is your history with the movie was this your first time seeing it for the podcast had you seen it before some moons ago what's going on here I saw it 4:54 in the theater when it was released by that time 1996 5:00 I was already you know I've been a film buff for quite a while at that point I was 21 years old I think so and Ed's 5:08 Wick was definitely on my radar for movies like Legends of the Fall Glory being the two that are top of my mind of 5:15 course this movie I remember being excited about it seeing commercials and trailers for it because it was uh at 5:22 that time in the mid 90s it was like a Gulf War movie we'd seen plenty of 5:28 Vietnam movies yes you know and of course there's a whole back catalog of World War II movies but at that time the 5:35 Gulf War was only a few years old yeah and I thought well this is an interesting place to set a film I 5:42 remember in the theater watching it I did enjoy it you get caught up in it yeah it certainly isn't like an action 5:49 adventure film although there are scenes of great the war scenes in this are 5:55 fantastic I remember walking away from the movie thinking that it's it was a 6:00 way more introspective movie than I was anticipating going in and after seeing 6:06 it in the theater I had not watched it until I sat down just a few days ago to 6:14 prep for this podcast so it had been you know almost 30 years since I'd watched 6:20 it it's funny Jared you and I are the you're born in 75 Yeah March 4th 1975 6:26 yeah I was born October 75 yeah we're the same same age that's I thought so and I I knew we came from very similar 6:32 background so it's funny everything you said it's almost there's my intro I'm not even joking that's my same we're I 6:40 was 21 when I saw us in the theaters I saw in the theaters as well one because like you was a big film buff so I saw 6:47 everything in the theaters it was almost insulting to watch things on VHS back then you remember like back in the days like if I watched something on VHS it 6:53 was because I wasn't sure about the film so I wasn't going to waste money at the theater or it was an older movie that 6:59 just I missed during its original run I got over pretty quick after I got my driver's license at 16 I got over the 7:07 fear of sitting in the theater by myself and watching a film were you a solo film 7:12 goer yes I loved it I did it all the time me too my buddies are like what are you doing what that you're a a only 7:19 losers do that well I am a loser but I still enjoyed it good because I saw this 7:24 was one I remember seeing by myself I don't know why if my friends weren't interested didn't seeing it or whatever 7:30 but I found that getting over that hump of going to see movies by yourself for a film buff it's one of the greatest 7:37 things ever is just going to a movie not worrying about anything but you and watching a movie still to this day I'm 7:44 the same I don't do as much today just because uh I would love to it's just you know family obligations work you know 7:50 what it's like but yeah those early days man like pre kids movie going experience for me and I'm sure the same for you I 7:56 would rent movies by the dozens you know I go to like the old video store and get like seven movies for a dollar each type 8:03 thing you remember doing that too yeah yeah oh there's also something nostalgic and romantic about walking through the 8:08 video store and pick up movies and or going to the the new release and it's old take and you're like no I have to 8:13 wait I have to wait just the that wall of the same film and all of them have 8:19 the the big case taken out from back of them so you know it's gone or you see the one only one like 8:25 you're the last one yeah you're the last or you go to the desk at Blockbuster and say hey do you got any more courage 8:30 Under Fire back there not that yeah or has somebody returned it's in the return bin but they hav put on the yeah or I've 8:36 actually seen it before it's like hey can you check that back in so I can check it out kids today will never 8:43 understand and the Walk of Shame through the beads to the adle section you 8:49 know the beads yes there were beads there were those sometimes the Western 8:55 saloon doors you know they were always separated somewhere they they had an 9:00 alarm on them pervert exactly oh man I'm sorry for the 9:06 aside but back in my hometown of Knoxville Tennessee I visit there my parents are still there and we went into 9:12 this store that used to be a video store back when I was a teenager and it's now like a clothing store and I was in there 9:18 with my mom and my sister and back where you go the The Fitting 9:23 rooms in this store now is where the adult section used to be that's hilarious so my sister was trying 9:30 something on I was like hey just so you know that's back where the adult section used to be when this was Movie Stop they 9:36 probably haven't taken the cameras out yet so Oh Boy geez but yeah man Memory 9:41 Lane fun stuff guys well let's get into the film itself courage on the Fire release in 96 directed by Ed Wick what 9:48 is your well I mean I kind of heard it already so beyond yeah we're the same age you of course experienced glory and 9:55 Legends of the Fall before seen this in the film have you followed Ed wi's career after courage on the fire or like 10:02 were you aware of it through his other film I tried to but it it seemed like 10:08 courage Under Fire is to my knowledge I know the probably the last high-profile 10:14 thing he did was the Jack Reacher movie after courage Under Fire I have probably 10:20 not seen another zck movie in the theater you didn't see Last Samurai in the theater no I did not I saw Last 10:27 Samurai on DVD it seems like lately he's done some streaming stuff I'm not sure 10:34 he semi-retired from big-time film making and I mean anyone that falls his career it's no secret he hasn't done a 10:40 film a studio film since 2018 okay uh that would be my last episode I mean 10:46 until he does another Studio film that as of right now will be my last episode of this miniseries covering his films 10:51 he's worked on some TV since then I mean he's getting older too he's not you know he's not 35 anymore he's 71 or two you 10:58 know so get older and you slow down a little bit and want to retire so the writer of this film was interesting his 11:04 name is Patrick Sheen Duncan he's a graduate from Grand Valley State University he experienced the Vietnam 11:11 War firsthand and so he wrote stories or films from that experience he did a 11:16 television miniseries called the Vietnam War Story in ' 87 with its sequel in '89 11:21 called the Vietnam War Story the last days he did a film which I actually would really like to cover one day for 11:27 the last of the action heroes podcast Network it's called 84 Charlie mopic I've heard about this film even before I 11:33 knew about this guy I've heard of this Vietnam film it came out in ' 89 it's an independent type film he wrote and 11:39 directed this film Jared and apparently it's one of the most realistic Von films ever done wow it has like 84 fresh on 11:46 you know Rotten Tomatoes what year was that 89 oh wow and then of course in 96 11:52 Kur on a fire but that was his biggest commercial film was this film cour Under Fire he's done some other things but if 11:59 I nick of time he co-wrote or wrote that was that giant de film in 95 Mr Holland 12:04 Opus he wrote okay yeah that was a pretty big movie that was a pretty big movie so there you go those are his big 12:11 uh type films uh he's got a few under his belt not a hundred but you know not three either so he's done some work 12:17 before we get into the players of the film the budget was 46 million pretty hefty budget and only the Box off was 12:23 100 million so really it doubled its budget but as you know with advertising 12:28 fees and stuff like that being released in '96 it might have turned a profit they didn't spend as much back then as 12:34 they do these days it did all right it wasn't a failure in that sense I mean as we know edwick went on to do other other 12:41 films on top of this one what did you think of the music by James Horner in this film well one of the things 12:47 actually that this sounds strange but that Drew me to the theater to see this is because I was a huge James Herer fan 12:56 sure um and in the mid90s James Herer was hitting Grand Slams you know he had 13:02 Braveheart he had Apollo 13 I loved his score to Legends of the Fall his score 13:09 for Glory is amazing and so one of the things going into this movie that I was really anxious to hear was James her's 13:16 score because I mean Ed's Wick movies James Herer he there's always some magic there but the score is actually very 13:24 understated in this movie doesn't really come out big until the the last few 13:30 minutes of the movie because you am I just podcast with myself right now everything you're saying I'm literally 13:36 have thought the same thing I agree his score came out at the end when I first saw it I was a little disappointed 13:42 because I was looking forward to going sure then to like the Sam goody records 13:48 and picking up the CD of the score and I never bought this score yeah it didn't 13:53 stand out to me that much I mean it's fine it's good for for what you for when you hear it in the film I think it 13:59 reinforces the emotion they're trying to get across but it's just not thematic and big like his other scores around 14:07 that same time I didn't think much of the score until the final moments of the 14:12 film The Final Act you know it kind of came at the funeral scene the metal ceremony him rur home to his family all 14:18 that stuff it really came into PL theana and there were Echoes of course of Glory you know the same type of feeling of 14:23 Glory wasn't the same chords and the same same strings per se or compositions of course but it was very glor esque and 14:31 he tapped into that you know war hero type sound and it was there at the end 14:37 he got that Denzel single tier again and then from from when he's sitting in the parents living room there uh with James 14:45 horer behind it with very similar music so that was a little kind of recurring theme zwick had the zwick tier with 14:53 Denzel in his book he did not mention the tier though that did not come up again okay but he reinvestigate the tier 15:00 so he did it again uh maybe he can just tear up on demand come on good actors can apparently good actors can and 15:06 Denzel certainly is he's no slouch tenzel but we're going to get to him later we'll get into him later he's no slouch we'll get into some of the other 15:12 actors first but there yeah James Herer I totally agree with the soundtrack it fulfilled what it needed to fulfill but 15:18 it didn't sound James Hoy until correct until the end and and when it did come 15:23 at the end maybe that's what the point was because then you felt it all at the end everything all the good news comes at the end but back to Glory that film 15:31 would be there was and of course Legends of the Fall when those scores came in 15:36 throughout the movie especially Glory like the moment The Boy Choir starts singing and I start tearing up man it's 15:42 like the moment the first like throughout that whole film so you know this film wasn't designed necessarily to 15:48 make you cry though I did get I did get emotional I felt emotion at the end of the film but not the same way you do 15:53 when you watch Glory or the fall but that wasn't really the message of this film you know we don't do plot By plot 15:59 on this podcast it's kind of redundant because either you've seen the film you know the film or if you haven't seen the 16:04 film we'll discuss it in such a way that you know sure we're going to spoil things but it's it's worth your time to 16:09 go watch it regardless but overall Jared just want us to give a brief synopsis what happens 16:14 in the film Denzel plays uh a colonel who was in the Gulf War as a tank 16:20 commander we find out it very early on in the film that he is involved in a friendly fire incident uh against 16:28 another tank who was commanded by a friend of his and so he's responsible for his friend's 16:34 death and that haunts him after he comes home he is assigned to do some research 16:40 on an event that happened they're wanting to give a potimus medal of honor to uh Meg Ryan's character who was a a 16:48 medical Huey helicopter pilot in the Gulf War who crashed and her and her 16:55 crew held off some uh Iraqis from they had to hold their position until 17:01 and wait for rescue so The Story Goes Denzel then starts 17:06 investigating this matter he interviews the surviving crew of that Chopper 17:12 because Meg Ryan's character is killed as he goes deeper into the investigation he discovers there was maybe another 17:20 friendly fire incident that occurred and he starts to see discrepancies between 17:26 the between the stories of the survivors and it sets off alarm bells for him and 17:32 he goes down a couple of rabbit holes that there's plenty of twist and turns and some danger involved and ultimately 17:40 he has to in investigating this friendly fire incident it sort of brings it back 17:45 around full circle to his friendly fire incident and sort of a personal 17:50 Reckoning that happens towards the end of the film it's really kind of a mystery movie we see events play out 17:58 multiple times but with different perspectives which I always think is kind of interesting when he interviews 18:04 the witnesses we the viewer see the W uh the events played out on film the way 18:10 the witness is speaking it to Denzel's character so then another witness is interview we see the same events sort of 18:16 played out differently so they have to reshoot all the the same event four different times with four different 18:22 stories until we get to the truth yes clever I thought that was clever yeah it's very clever and once you find out 18:29 that that's what they're doing after they interview the first person they go to the second person you're like hey wait that's different than the last time 18:36 we saw that I think it's expecting the film is expecting you to have that light bulb moment going oh wait something's 18:43 not right here because they're telling different stories and they're hide they're all hiding something but what's 18:50 interesting is that the stories are different but because we the viewer seen much of the same event is that's the way 18:55 also memory can kind of work is that oh that's but that is what kind of happened but then a different weapon was used or 19:02 a different timeline was used or something different was said it's like so we're seeing it's not major diff 19:07 differences not like oh they weren't in a helicopter they were in an army truck it wasn't like that it was just like 19:13 it's interesting how memory is an issue but also what are we covering up what are we not willing to talk about and 19:18 yeah uh we're going to have to get into some spoiler stuff because there's some things we're going to need to talk to so if you're really don't want get anything spoiled recommend watching it and please 19:25 come back but if not let's keep moving forward Okay so so great synopsis by the way that was off the top of your head so 19:30 that was great I put you on the spot and Jared the cons professional from the hyperspace podcast in the 25th Century 19:36 podcast he he did amazing thank you for writing out by the way it does no problem no problem great job reading it 19:42 Brian well I me know how to read okay we have some great actors this is a huge 19:47 cast we have some uh incredible actors here we have Scott Glenn playing the uh 19:53 news reporter for I think the Washington Post I can't remember which paper it was but what I liked about Scott Glenn's character 19:59 playing this news reporter journalist this is the news journalism I grew up in in the sense of the Walter kronite type 20:06 news meaning he was looking for the truth there wasn't any spin there was no politics here I didn't know if he's 20:11 liberal I didn't know was he CNN was he Fox I don't really care yeah I kind of missed the days of here's a guy trying 20:17 to get the scoop yeah just an old school journalist yes yeah who also was a 20:23 Vietnam veteran yeah so he respected the forces he respected the sacrifices of the men and women of made in the 20:29 military but at the same time he respects the truth and people should be held accountable for the truth and part 20:36 of that truth of course was Denzel's he wasn't looking for the Medal of Honor truth that was going to be given to Meg 20:41 Ryan's character he was looking for the truth behind Denzel's involvement in the friendly fire which the Army reported 20:48 not as a friendly fire am I not right about that that's correct the Army lied about it I know Friendly Fire happens 20:54 and I know I've heard publicly and I've heard of it you know reported so I'm aware of it so we're aware that it 21:00 happens but maybe back then it might have been this was almost 30 years ago 28 years ago was it more hiddden back 21:06 then or are they more open about now or is why was this one covered if we're talking about real life scenarios the 21:13 the Army that's certainly not something or any branch of the military is is going to want to you know put out there 21:19 and wear on their sleeve like hey yeah hey you know how many people were killed by Friendly Fire last year oh man so 21:26 many you wouldn't even believe it I just don't think it's something they're interested in publicizing there's 21:33 probably a stat I'm sure we could a better a better podcaster like me would have had these stats ready but I'm sorry 21:38 I don't have them ready I'm sure there some sort of stat but the reality is how how I look at it is obviously it wasn't 21:44 malicious obviously it's War it's dark it's Smoky this is still 1990s early 90s 21:50 whatever their radar systems or whatever they had to make themselves available to each other wasn't as strong as it is now 21:57 I bet Crossfire fire misfire acci it's it's a war accident obviously he did not 22:03 mean to fire a friendly unit it's horrific it's horrific but it wasn't intenal yeah and something we find out 22:08 in that final scene with Scott Glenn when he has the radio communications this something that we weren't privy to 22:15 earlier in the movie that Denzel all of a sudden says every friendly turn on 22:20 your lights that identifies the enemy tanks and he is able to destroy all the 22:26 enemy tanks after that happen on us sa elements this is saber 6 stop all tanks turn on your lights I say 22:33 again stop all tanks and turn on your lights sa 6 now what's happening out 22:38 there goce something tell her find me a Target Come On Son snap out of it find 22:44 me a Target patella Come On Target lights on or off 22:51 [Music] off fire on the way 22:57 [Music] sir 23:08 fire now sa 6 situation under control General it was his courage Under Fire so 23:15 even though he knew that in that moment he effed up and he effed up bad with his tanker there played by Shan Austin Sam 23:22 wise gamji was Sam wise gamji that tank boy he might not have been able to 23:27 carry that but he also can't fire a tank properly poor poor Sam wise yeah you 23:33 know what's funny watching Shawn Aston play this very small role in this film at the very beginning but he's the one 23:39 that fires the tank though Denzel's character makes the order to fire of course he's the tank officer yeah 23:45 watching him kind of cry to Denzel afterwards like oh there it is there's the Sam wise we get that little bit of a 23:50 hint coming up not very much later like what four or five years later he started the first R Lord of the Rings yeah it's 23:57 crazy man good for Sean okay all right so yeah Scott did a great job I I don't 24:02 know Scott Glenn from a lot of films I just I knew he was in wasn't he in Backdraft I think was he he was in Backdraft uh he was in the right stuff 24:10 you know what I still haven't seen that film you haven't seen the right stuff I know oh boy I know well look we're not 24:16 gonna get to the movies I haven't I've seen a lot of films being a film guy but you know how there's some films that just seem to escape you that's just one 24:24 oh it's a good one especially if you're a space buff I am work in space right now in Canada I work in the space 24:30 program right now funny oh well I'm sorry to say the right stuff is about Americans oh fair enough fair enough so 24:38 that's maybe why you haven't heard of it all American propaganda is blocked up here in Canada okay perfect who else we 24:46 got here on theist okay well we got Bronson pincho he's the perfect stranger dude right he is also in Beverly Hills 24:53 Cop films but perfect strangers is is probably his biggest big every time I 24:59 see him not in a perfect strangers role he always seems like he's a cokehead I don't know what it is about well it's 25:04 because of True Romance I know I I know but I just feel like he's always I don't 25:10 know it's hard to explain it's just you know how some guys have like a stoner personality they have a stoner 25:15 personality he just seems like he's always hopped up on coke which may or may not have been the case I'm not sure I instantly got from him in this movie a 25:22 bit of a SLE bag Vibe I that's what I mean SLE bag that's the maybe the coke up part it's part of being a SLE B he 25:28 has not every Coke user is a SAS bag but every SAS bag is a Coke user I think that's good thing okay that's fair okay 25:36 now this is he didn't have a very big part in the film he's basically like a White House type adviser who helps set 25:42 up Denzel's character with some other uh veterans to talk about their stories 25:49 regarding a medal or whatever the experience was at the very beginning of the film and that was it then he was never shown again the film am I wrong 25:54 about that after that yeah he just popped up at the end during the metal C okay now listen to this this was from 26:00 October 2009 Bronson gave a candidate interview to the AV club in which he made controversial comments about 26:06 several of his former coold Stars including Denzel Washington regarding his experience working with Washington 26:11 on the 1996 film courage Under Fire Bronson claimed that Washington was quote really abusive end quote to him 26:17 and others on set specifically Bronson stated quote Denzel 26:23 was really abusive to me and everybody on that movie and His official explanation was that his character 26:28 didn't like me but it was a dreadful experience end quote Yeah it's weird because when you see the movie there's 26:34 no real indication in the film that the characters yes Denzel's character is this top-notch military type guy old 26:41 business type he was a bit dismissive towards his character but he seems like that would be the way it is in real life 26:48 uh danzel no no that just how he's he's treating you know these weird employees 26:55 of the White House who were I I I think dens care character would see them as 27:00 bothersome sure just like hey I I got no time to talk to you do you think he was method acting it's possible I mean it 27:07 doesn't surprise me there's more you know okay so Bronson went on to describe Washington as quote vile end quote 27:13 during the film process it's important to note however Jared that Bronson's comments spark controversy and he later 27:20 expressed regret for his choice of word so here we go here's the apology part so he initially said these things of course 27:26 it gets back to like who you can't see about denzo I who knows his agents his whoever he did initially say this but he 27:33 came back later with an apology in a follow-up statement Bronson said quote I regret my choice of words there and 27:39 would like to amend my statement by saying I found his willingness to remain in character impressive if occasionally 27:44 worrying end quote wow yeah I don't know I don't know either I find the behind 27:50 the scenes stuff interesting but maybe it's a bit of both maybe Denzel was in character so maybe Denzel didn't like 27:56 bronza but just blamed being a character that's that's very possible Denzel that was his movie he was carrying thing 28:03 maybe he didn't have time to be uh just polite yeah interesting interesting Side Story though Denzel's a jerk got 28:11 it you know what we'll get to Denzel we're actually got some stories on Denzel from the author of well the 28:16 author the director Ed from his book we'll end the episode with the book as we've been doing on every episode that's how we end each episode with the words 28:22 of Ed himself and we'll comment on his comments regarding the actors or his time on the film we also have I don't 28:28 know if did you ever watch The Walking Dead yeah I mean I didn't know he was in this film until watching this of course 28:33 many years later just like you I saw it in the theaters and I hadn't watched it again till preparing for this podcast episode Seth Gilliam he plays the 28:40 preacher in The Walking Dead he was the individual had stomach cancer yes I had to look on IMDb but when I was watching 28:47 the movie I was like this guy is so familiar to me and I was like oh he's 28:52 Gabriel in Walking Dead yeah well he doesn't age he looks very much the same 28:58 as he did 28 years ago yeah good for him he looks great a little heavier in the face maybe but sure for 25 years plus 29:05 ler absolutely recognizable as as Gabriel not a very big role in the film 29:11 uh other than his big stomach cancer scene not much more to him but yeah this nice to see an early role from him and 29:16 he went on of course great to work on The Walking Dead now do you know Michael Michael morard do you know him very well 29:22 outside this film no but he he has done a lot of stuff he's one of those characters guys yes who's there's 29:30 actually a documentary on those type of actors what's it called again it's something called like um you might know 29:35 me from or something like that it's a do yeah something like that yeah yeah he's one of those he's one of those you might 29:40 know me from you see his face you don't know his name but he's like oh he's that guy but he did a great job playing 29:46 danelle's boss I didn't know if you knew him from anything else I don't really know him from anything else off top of my head but again he's just somebody 29:51 that comes up and you're like oh yeah that guy the thing I that I knew him from was Law and Order of course that's 29:57 where I knew him from he he was in seasons 1 through four of Law and Order of course early Seasons it was bugging 30:02 me it's like why does he look so familiar I've yeah I've seen those Seasons too I used to watch all the time I think they saw the first nine or 10 30:08 seasons they're like on season 50 now but I can't yeah exactly it's the show that will never stop in whatever 30:14 iteration it's in yeah okay yeah he was great he great playing Denzel's boss I 30:19 think he did a great measured role in that but not much more to say to him now we're gonna get to some of the main cast here we've got of course Lou Diamond 30:25 Phillips oh yeah who played uh staff Sergeant John monr spoiler alert 30:32 ultimately the antagonist of the piece well what did you think of his job in the film I remember when I saw it the 30:38 first time his performance kind of makes you uncomfortable a little bit when they first start talking there's there's a 30:44 lot of tension between him and Denzel it's unspoken and sort of under the 30:49 surface and it's it's covered over with these fake niceties hey I'm going to get 30:54 a soda can I get you a soda no I'm okay you know I'm just work out 31:01 here so talk to me about um 25 February 25 February yes 31:10 sir ni some Fizz rehab time got into boxing want to soda pop something no sir 31:16 no I'm good 25 February so and but 31:21 there's a tension there and I think I remember when I saw it I was like something's up with him there's 31:27 something wrong with this guy and then of course uh as the story plays out he goes off 31:34 the rails or goes on the rails I should say on the rails right into a 31:39 train um yeah what' you think of a suicide I thought it was well done that 31:45 whole scene was great 31:56 [Music] intense when he's he's holding the 45 in Denzel's face exit this vehicle um get 32:04 out of here and he's like no you don't want to do this I strongly urge you to Dismount the 32:11 vehicle 32:18 [Music] 32:26 sir so you know immediately okay something and and at this point in the film we don't know what what has 32:33 happened yet and we're like what what's going on here why is he doing this yeah 32:39 we don't know what he's done just yet know that he's guilty of something but we're gonna find a later from a different character of what he actually 32:45 did but I thought he was he was well played I think Lou Diamond Phillips is a a solid actor yeah love him he's still 32:53 doing quite a bit I mean of course he in the 80s and early 90s he was the 32:58 he was a big heartthrob and you know very famous movie star but he's one of those guys who's sort of settled into 33:05 smaller roles these days he's still working yeah he's great he's one of my 33:11 uh one of my favorites out there I don't follow everything he's in but I've seen a lot of stuff that he's in one because 33:16 I'm a huge one of these days I'm going to do a western podcast I'm going to do it still but oh I'm I yeah Young Guns 33:23 yeah of course I mean did you not like Young Guns one and two and that came out when we were teenagers yeah of course oh I just love those 33:30 films I Fanboy on them the same way somebody might Fanboy on Star Wars or something like that I fanboyed about westerns I know I'm weird like Tombstone 33:37 Young Guns one two Western are fantastic yeah I love them I followed his career because of his performance that so when 33:43 you see actors from a a film that you love do other things you your interest is peaked you're like oh how are they 33:49 going to do this there's also on a TV show I quite enjoyed on Five Seasons it's called Longmire I don't know if you ever watched that show I heard about 33:55 longm yeah great show great show on the sheriff and yeah he played Henry 34:01 Standing Bear on that but he the sheriff's friend he did a great job on that so it's just great to see him do other stuff and he's been actively 34:08 working in the industry he's 62 so he's not old old he's not young young but 34:13 he's still got a few years left in him to do some acting and good for him so yeah he's he's great it seems like to me 34:19 that seeing him in this movie in a supporting role this started I think 34:24 maybe the end of his run as a like a leading man type as a big star I mean he's came out 34:31 with labomba seven or eight years before and yeah it's weird that he didn't do 34:37 you're right yeah you look at his you kind of look at his uh filmography and 34:42 none of the films that I'm looking at here just from a quick scroll have anything to do with him being the main 34:48 actor yeah and I don't know why that is because even he wanted to Blockbuster entertainment award for supporting actor 34:53 for this film F Well I mean he does a great job in it for sure but I wonder why he I don't yeah maybe that's you 35:01 know what it could be a personal choice and this is a thing that I think we don't know what CU he's been steadily 35:06 working like hundreds of roles between TV and and movies so he's very hirable 35:12 like people are sure don't seem to have a problem hiring the guy yeah there are some actors and I don't know if this is 35:17 a bad place to be I sometimes wonder what kind of actor would I be had I been thrown in this industry do you want to 35:23 be Tom Cruz or Tom Hanks or do you want to be aou Diamond meaning like or 35:29 Michael Mori mean you work you're in the industry you're having fun like this is your day at work you're having a good 35:35 time but you can go shopping at the grocery store still yeah yeah yeah it's weird uh it's the trajectories different 35:41 actors take because he's sort of send settled into this supporting actor 35:48 status he probably has the more freedom to do what he wants and you're never blamed for a project that fails when 35:54 you're support when you're the supporting actor yeah you never here like let's just pretend uh the next uh 36:00 Mission Impossible film fails let's just say sure I mean and that's the thing that Tom Cruz has to deal with and yes 36:07 supporting actors they don't have to hear about it correct and you know guys like even still today you know Harrison 36:14 Ford he's never gone back to B player status even in his 80s the poor guy 36:20 still has to you know headline Indiana Jones and now Marvel movies and it's you 36:25 know it's like he's the Red Hulk now apparently and he's it's just man I wonder if Harrison Ford thinks well you 36:32 know maybe when I finished doing Indie back in 1989 I should have just taken 36:38 these meteor supporting roles but you know that probably didn't pay the bills 36:44 it's interesting to see the trajectory of these actors yeah Lou Diamond did a great job and yeah that whole him being 36:50 a total kind of dick and his behavior and what happened in those final moments with mag Ryan's character we talk about 36:56 when we talk about her character yeah he very well acted very intense uh problematic and then uh a painful tragic 37:04 ending to his life yeah very realistic ending to his life okay let's get to Matt Damon uh we should State Matt Damon 37:10 was 22 in this film this is kind of his first big film he was noticed or noticed 37:16 by Francis Ford Copa and that's how he got the job for a year later for the 37:22 rain maker the rain maker thank which I saw in the theaters I saw the rain maker in theaters because at the time there Jared Not only was I a big film buff I 37:28 saw a lot of stuff in the theaters but it was also a big John Grim novel reader so I read the novel then saw the film in the theater it's interesting that you 37:34 say this because this this is the first time that I remember taking notice of 37:41 because this is before Matt Damon was Matt Damon he'd been in some films but he was in school ties he was even that 37:48 movie jonal American Legend if you can believe that three years previous yeah Jason Patrick was in that I think yeah 37:54 Jason Patrick but I knew that film because of Jason Patrick and West study more than Matt Matt Damon of course but 37:59 you know this was his first big film though yeah what really caught my attention on him was the weight loss 38:06 that he transformed him his body from the Desert Storm scenes he looks very 38:12 much the same as he does like say in Saving Private Ryan very Matt Dam yeah he looks like Matt Damon and then you 38:19 see this skin and bones guy who pops up in later in the 38:25 film and I remember watching this movie going is that the same guy holy cow it 38:31 made me just think well you know this guy's got some Robert DeNiro Raging Bull 38:38 thing going on where he's probably a very healthy 170 pounds in the war 38:46 scenes and now this guy's probably a buck 40 sitting here with his skin and 38:51 bones talking about shooting up heroin between his toes yeah he really went method on that and and he lost 40 lbs in 38:59 100 days so when he came back to do those extra scenes for the you know future arario the character he played 39:06 was arario to play those scenes the director edwick was like what are you you're killing yourself stop like you 39:13 need to eat some like this is silly what are you doing and he didn't it took it took Matt Damon almost two years to fully recover from what he did to his 39:20 body he almost died for real it certainly made me pay attention to him and it worked and when he popped up 39:27 big in Goodwill Hunting a couple years later I was like that's the guy from 39:33 Courage Under Fire and yeah also if you tie this back to the Rain Maker Matt Damon was sort of he was big news where 39:40 I grew up because for prep for the rain maker which took place in I believe 39:47 Memphis Tennessee or in the South somewhere I can't remember it did it was 39:52 uh yeah it was Memphis State University well he lived in my hometown of 39:58 Knoxville for a few months tending bar he wasn't like a superstar yet but I 40:04 remember reading in like the local paper like uh Matt Damon who appeared in last 40:10 year's courage Under Fire uh is now tending bar at this place in town and I 40:17 was like well holy crap that's kind of cool but you know I didn't make like make it a point to rush out and order a 40:23 drink from him but but it was like a local paper interiew interviewing this character actor but that I remembered 40:30 him from Courage Under Fire and I was like holy crap that's kind of cool but yeah I didn't follow his crew after uh K 40:37 and to fire did it go anywhere or yeah I don't know you don't really hear much from him anymore but I think he's he's 40:43 friends with B Affleck or something yeah I think he's I think he's friends with Daredevil that's that's that's all I 40:49 know about it so Matt Damon had kind of had a he was kind of top of mine there for a lot of people in my hometown for a 40:56 little while I just remember watching that movie thinking man that kid's really good yeah and he is good he's 41:02 actually a good actor like I enjoy his films I probably have seen the majority of his films what about you I would say 41:09 so 70% 60 to 70% probably 70% I would say you know I think the last big one 41:14 was Oppenheimer that he was in what did you think of that film uh I I enjoyed it 41:20 I mean it's not one boring well I mean because I hate that I'm not like that I don't mean it like it's for me it's not 41:26 a movie you know I'm gonna throw on on a Sunday afternoon and be like hey I'm in the mood to watch Oppenheimer let's go 41:32 but I like talking movies I it's s it's weird I like like this is a talking move courage Under Fire maybe has almost the 41:39 same amount of quotequote action as Oppenheimer the big bomb scene but in the sense of like I I don't need an 41:45 action film to be engaged like I'm not eight years old I just I like talking movies I've always enjoyed dialog driven 41:51 Like A Few Good Men for example is a good example I enjoyed dialogue driven films I found the Oppenheimer 41:58 Direction editing I found it uh I don't know I mean yes it was all acted incredible I 42:04 get that but there's something to and it felt boring especially after the bomb explosion I admit I was like okay I 42:10 really don't care what happens to this guy they should have tightened it up a lot but whatever that's a sidebar 42:15 but fair enough yeah Different Strokes well I mean I know it's incredibly filmed and I know it was very well done 42:22 and yada yada yada I just at the same time I would rather watch Courage on fire I think again then oper what does 42:28 that tell you I don't know all right so Matt Damon good job good job an aimer Matt okay now let's get 42:34 to the second credited top actor of this film we're going to end with Denzel 42:39 let's just talk about mag Ryan right now what is your history or your fandom if any of Mag Ryan oh man huge crush on mag 42:46 Ryan when I was uh sure especially probably around this age so she's 36 in 42:53 this film FYI yeah I loved Mega r i mean the first thing that really I took 43:00 notice of her in was When Harry Met Sally what scene did you like about that one what was the scene that stood out for you there oh take your pick uh they 43:08 all involve the restaurant of course um I just thought she was like 43:15 adorable like uh she's adorable yeah just kind of a girl next door kind of 43:21 cuteness I just really had a crush on her and uh in this movie you know I got 43:27 to say on the revisit I wonder if we're going to say the same thing are you 43:32 reading my notes what's going on here I don't know but maybe I'm gonna say something different maybe you're gonna say something different please go on 43:37 please um I didn't buy the accent and the accent goes along with I don't think 43:42 I bought her as this hardened Warrior can I finish your sentiment could I be a 43:50 little bit less diplomatic sure she was horrible no she was if I'm being honest 43:56 object yes she's cute yes she's mag Ryan and so watching this film I haven't seen the 44:01 mag Ryan film in a while I admit and she hasn't really done very many in a while yeah however she actually hasn't done 44:08 that many movies she did the majority of her movies pre-2000 yeah but I haven't seen this film in 26 years I saw it in 44:15 28 years I saw it 96 it's now 2024 I hadn't seen mag Ryan in a while I 44:20 haven't seen this film in a while I've seen Meg Ryan films I've seen you got mail I've seen Proof of Life SE spe of 44:26 angels IQ Flesh and Bones sleep in Seattle pray the to a kiss the doors so 44:31 I've never thought much of her I don't really I think she's fine I think she's easy to watch she's cute she's an 44:37 actress yeah you know I never go to a MAG Ryan film but when she's in a film it's mag Ryan right I never see much of 44:42 it but watching this performance where she play Captain Karen Emma Walden who's GNA win the uh awarded the the Medal of 44:49 Honor after her death her acting in this was absolutely horrendous and I don't 44:55 know if it was and I'm not blaming Ed Ed zwick is an amazing film director that being said 45:02 he's an incredible director and he's taken on some big personalities like Denzel Matthew Brodrick Tom Cruz I don't 45:09 imagine M Ryan was a was an issue that way and his book doesn't mention anything like that he's not afraid to say that I think when he doesn't really 45:15 talk too much about an actor and actress in the book so far that I've discovered it's just because it's a non-issue they 45:21 just worked at their job went home not nothing to write home about she was horrible in this film and it was really 45:26 unfortunate because I think it took it down a notch because Denzel we'll get to him and look we're talking about Matt 45:32 Damon L Diamond Phillips the other two top actors of the film right they did not dial or phone it in Matt Damon 45:38 literally lost 40 pounds L Diamond Phils L Diamond Phils did a great job playing the dick and the a-hole of the film did 45:43 a great job doing that because he's just one of the nicest guys to play a against type doing that kind of film role and 45:49 then of course Denzel so I was watching this with the accent totally agree about the accent and I'm like this is a fake 45:55 person like this person doesn't exists why can't they just make May Ryan talk like Del's talked D is talked exactly 46:03 we're not yeah you're right it's not based on a true story so this was a choice that was made she needs to be 46:11 like Southern I told you R Can't Be Moved right arario it's just tension 46:18 [ __ ] it doesn't mean [ __ ] well that would be great if this was a democracy but it didn't we stay with r 46:27 I wouldn't risk your life I won't risk his no surrender and I say I heard 46:33 enough of that [ __ ] I am in command here you know I I think for me it started 46:39 with the accent but you know I think overall the part was miscast exactly it 46:45 was totally miscast I think I hate to say this and I don't think Ed I don't know how much he's in charge of casting 46:52 they are casting people that I'm sure the director has I'm sure the director has oh yeah they have say have say so 46:58 cuz the chemistry and the actors would have say as well but she's not tough some actresses and actors of course but 47:04 you know when a female has to play games type because that's the whole point of this film let's just be clear she is a female officer and she's leading a guy 47:11 like Lou Diamond's character who's a tough nut tough guy I don't take orders from a female that was the whole issue 47:16 there and so you kind of have to have someone every time she spoke when she was yelling orders when she's yelling at 47:22 the soldiers yeah I feel like hey pretend to be an army person like it wasn't authentic that's it was okay you 47:30 need to go over there and do this and first of all there's a lot of weird things happening there because one 47:37 I know Meg Ryan doesn't talk like that two I'm from the south and that's not a 47:43 great affectation of the southern accent yeah it wasn't necessary that's what 47:48 makes it even worse it wasn't necessary and there all these other weird choices you know there's that scene where she 47:54 starts crying and yes she's like no it's not I'm not scared it's just tension 48:01 maybe we slip by him in the dark I told you righty Can't Be Moved right arario 48:06 not long any movement might kill him then again he may die just lying here you see you see there radio never make 48:12 it I say we 48:18 go oh great great the captain's crying it's just tension 48:25 [ __ ] it doesn't mean [ __ ] and I'm like what what what is this 48:33 yeah odd it was odd dialogue in combination with an odd yeah why make the character you could have just had 48:39 her I would have no offense to Ed but maybe in this moment instead of having her just cry the way she did I maybe 48:45 would have had her like put her hands in her hand it just like it just like this like really angry look or just 48:52 type of it's okay to crack this war like you got bolts flying around you helicopters crashed you're being 48:58 surrounded by the Iraqi Soldiers the enemy soldiers whoever the country you're going to probably be shot to death soon and so of course it's 49:04 frighting men have cried and War don't kid yourself of course but I think this was done as you said earlier to uh give 49:11 Lou Diamond Phillips an in to be an a-hole yeah like because he's the one who's like what the hell are you doing 49:18 are you crying what what's wrong with you it just was a weird Choice well that 49:23 whole scene the truth scene I could say the fourth story regarding the the whole 49:29 what happened here folks spoiler spoiler spoiler so here's what happened so basically they're running out of ammo 49:35 and her character wanted him to hand over his weapon do you remember I can't remember what was the reason was just to 49:41 maintain the ammo or was he being weird with the weapon because she was telling him give me your weapon because he was 49:47 going to fire it off more than she wanted him to I say we make for the chopper now and I say I heard enough of 49:54 that [ __ ] you don't have to go with us Captain we don't even need your permission I am in command here well 50:00 maybe not anymore give me the saw m freeze I can't stop you from running but 50:05 you're not taking our Firepower with you you're not taking away my 50:14 weapon yes I am there's no way you're taking away my weapon 50:20 [ __ ] section 28 J Code of military Justice mutiny an offense punishable by 50:34 death yeah basically she wanted his weapon which sure and now this is where 50:39 I don't want to play like it was her fault but I will say from the events of the film The Story and what happened 50:46 with the truth they were both at fault I think that the deal was the Iraqis were 50:51 not actively attacking them and she thought Lou Diamond Phillips was going to open up with his machine gun and 50:59 bring a lot of hell down upon them cuz she wanted to wait till morning or something like that yeah and so she's 51:04 that's why she wanted his his gun she points her pistol at him saying give me 51:10 your weapon I when she did that I'm watching this I'm in the military myself I'm only in the Navy but I'm in the 51:15 military and I'm just think to myself boy you better be certain if you ever pointed your weapon at your own troop 51:21 that's pretty bad but she invokes Mutiny she does say something about what you're 51:27 doing is Mutiny and she quotes some regulation and she goes you know I can shoot you for that I looked up that 51:34 military Justice 28 Charlie or whatever it was I actually looked it up it doesn't exist there is a military justice of course whatever manual thing 51:41 in Miggy but uh it didn't exist unfortunately yeah so when she points the weapon forces him to hand it over 51:48 and then she has her weapon basically what happened with folks here she points the weapon at him but over his shoulder an Iraqi soldier comes over his shoulder 51:54 so she listed just a smidgen to fire the soldier that's going to shoot down them and then he Fires at her thinking that 52:01 he got fired at and then hits her in the gut and then what happens they win that little mini firefight she survives the 52:08 night with a gunshot wound in her stomach the following day she didn't want to leave she wanted to why didn't 52:14 she want to leave again you mean why she didn't want to leave during the night no with the rescue in the morning the 52:20 helicopters had come down they put the flares out or the smoke bombs I think I think at that point where because this 52:25 is where the M16 comes into play and they talk about the M16 very conspicuously through a lot of 52:33 this movie Denzel's curious who had the M16 because and everybody's being real 52:39 weird about it oh no I think the M16 was out of ammo I don't know about that M16 52:44 well we find out at the end she takes the M16 that's right and she she 52:49 provides cover five and I think what's happening is she knows she's dead right I don't think she had any intention of 52:56 leaving she she wants to cover their Retreat okay so she's she's sacrificing 53:02 her life yes because she knows that this gutshot is probably not survivable and she's just going to cover them while 53:08 they get to the the helicopters the the men get to the rescue copter they're inside a mon phrase played by L Diamond 53:16 Phillips tells the pilot there like they ask where's Walden where's your captain and he's like well she's dead so then 53:22 they name pal the area because of that but we don't know she's dead just yet 53:27 because of the gunshot wound so I like to think and not like to think I think the Napal killed her I don't think it 53:32 was The Gunshot W that I I think I think you're right um and that's even 53:38 something that that Denzel is talking to Matt Damon about towards the end when 53:43 they're sitting there by the lake he's like she was she was probably killed by 53:49 a small arms before Napal ever hit either way she never she never could 53:55 have survived that stuff stomach wound you think that 54:01 matters no that's not what we're talking about so you know Matt Damon he's trying 54:08 to sort of to justify I think what happened there like well you know she 54:15 was already dead and but you know that's sort of not what they're they're investigating cuz they were continuing 54:22 to hear the M16 be fired while Lou Diamond Phillips is saying no 54:28 she's dead then they're like well who's firing the M16 that's why the M16 keeps coming up and they make a point saying 54:35 the M16 has a very distinctive sound when it's being fired right so she's 54:41 still alive and well yeah yes she's still alive when they get out of there yeah so that's the tragedy of this film 54:47 folks right there is that she was under Fire even though she might have cried the night before she was couraged under 54:54 Fire for the rescue attempt she provided her men cover gave the ultimate sacrifice ultimately and maybe possibly 55:00 bit murdered before dying from the gunshot wound that she re so either way that guy killed her she was killed 55:06 either way by Nate Palmer gum shot wound by mon fr's character but at the end of the day I think Jared and I are in the 55:12 same page mag Ryan was a big miscast she was given an improper accent for no reason it didn't add to the story I 55:18 think it just made her seem more innocent and Charming I guess that she's from the south you know those girls from the south they're just more innocent 55:24 Charming those girls from the north and she was given arbitrarily she was given uh red hair I don't know make her seemed 55:31 less Meg ryy I guess I don't know maybe it was a way to change her looks she had red hair self accent just give me a 55:38 blonde hair mag Ryan and I think the film would have been a little bit better had she just been a normal blond haired mag Ryan without the accent it would 55:44 have helped it would have helped yeah the star of the film second time that Denzel's now worked with Ed the second 55:50 time he's a little bit older now in the both in the movie industry and of course in life he's 42 now at the time this 55:56 film what do you think of uh Denzel's performance overall in this film I thought he did great you know I could 56:01 watch Denzel Washington read the phone book everything I've seen him in I've enjoyed his equalizer movies are fun 56:09 Revenge Thrillers and he's great to look at in those for many years I've enjoyed 56:17 watching him pretty much in in anything so agreed yeah he's yeah if he's in the 56:23 film even if the film might be subar or whatever it might be it's Denzel is never boring to watch I know a lot of 56:30 people are pooping on Gladiator 2 but when I saw the trailers and I saw Denzel 56:36 in that role I'm like yeah man I'm gonna go watch that Denzel owning a bunch of Gladiators back in Roman times are you 56:43 kidding me I'll be there I Trust rley Scott here's another director I've actually thought about doing was Ridley 56:49 to be honest with you that's that's been on my I'm not even joking Ridley Michael Ed these are all ones from my childhood 56:54 these are the directors the only one won't do is Stephen Spielberg oh well Spielberg's kind of been done to death 57:00 that is part of the reason but also I'm not you're not a big Spielberg guy I love Indiana Jones films he's got a 57:06 style and a flavor that does not speak to me the way yeah I'm definitely not 57:12 that it's almost like you're not allowed to say that about him and I think that's not really fa either look you don't like 57:18 Steven Spielberg you don't like Christopher Nolan Ryan it's okay no I like Christoper Nolan I love it's okay 57:24 to admit it briyan listen you just watch your other you 57:30 just do your edwick podcast and leave those guys alone I love Chris Nolan but you're right those films have been done 57:36 to death on podcast I don't think the edwick or the Michael mans have and I'm trying to offer something different to the podcasting world but Stephen sper 57:43 he's just interesting to me there are films that I've seen the majority of his films don't get me wrong but they're always just so heavy I hard to explain I 57:49 don't know what it is it started with ET I mentioned that on the last I I heard your I heard your anti rant he goes I 57:56 don't know man he's laying there in the creek like a fish he looks terrible and 58:02 listen I'm right there with you when I was a kid me and you were again are the same age we were seven when we saw that 58:09 movie yeah it was it scarvey it's scary it's scary maybe that's what it is maybe 58:15 I mean you know I always made sure that the shower curtain was closed in my bathroom because I was convinced that ET 58:22 was laying in my bathtub all white and gross you know what I'm talk about when 58:27 you're an eight-year-old kid seen a penis in the river a bloated dead penis 58:33 in the river it's stuff it's scary stuff although I 58:40 have stin come to really enjoy I just can't get around ET I can't get around to it uh first time I saw my father cry 58:46 was was he had like you know a Denzel single tier in the movies when I saw was 58:51 he getting whipped was he getting no no he was he was sad at the end of ET yeah I I Cry For Joy when he got in the 58:59 UFO good come on the best part of the whole film I'm not gonna I'm not gonna participate in this 59:05 anti TI raade that you've been on lately I love ET fine we go back to 59:12 Denzel we'll both agree that we love Denzel yeah he's an incredible actor I have well because of Glory it's the 59:18 first film I saw Denzel in of course was glory and I've been a fan since and I'm looking forward to Gladiator too and I'm 59:24 tired of everyone bitching the morning both sequels and remakes it's done well it's done well stories have been told 59:29 and told and told again a thousand times films are any different it's such a copout to say because it's is a sequel 59:35 it sucks now sequels can suck but if it's a good sequel It's a good sequel Really Scott is a good director I trust 59:40 him the trailer looks promising it looks fun it looks like it's revisiting a lot of the same hits the Gladiator hit with 59:46 different characters I'm all for it they maybe Gladiator 2 is not the best title they could have called The Gladiator and 59:53 then like a subtitle or something subtitle like I think the two probably isn't the best part I find that odd yeah 59:59 it's kind of on the nose it is on the nose and I'm surprised by that cuz they call it alien Romulus for example they 1:00:04 should have done something like that for Gladiator but just think about really there's not that many movies these days 1:00:11 well aside from the ongoing Creed films that just use the Roman numeral like now 1:00:16 a sequel is called this colon than a subtitle maybe because it is it's a 1:00:23 Roman story they have they're all Ed the Roman numeral yeah there you go that's 1:00:28 I'm looking forward to seeing it I'm going to see it I'm sure it's going to be I'm I doubt it's going to be a bore Fest or stupid I'm sure it's gonna be 1:00:34 just fine I'm sure it's gonna be just fine yeah you know I not I'm not saying Ridley Scott hits a home run every time 1:00:40 I no I think there he definitely has some stinkers in there but don't get me start on the Martian the Martian is not 1:00:47 one of the stinkers Ryan I look you know what Hey listen Matt Damon also another 1:00:54 Matt Damon movie I know it is and movie uh I couldn't it was boring I I'm not a big fan of single person so you don't 1:01:01 like people talking would you 1:01:06 listen okay I'm sorry even cway is kind of hard watching one person try to escape stuff it gets kind of like I 1:01:12 don't know why I get I get bored okay I'd like to see more interaction with human not human with other like 1:01:19 characters it's hard to watch the single person rescue stuff Cast Away Martian that kind of stuff I though weal filmed 1:01:26 well acted I get it but it's it's not very engaging any okay uh Denzel 1:01:31 incredible in this film we're gonna get to the book right now because I think it's going to tie into some Denzel stories and we've already spoken a lot 1:01:36 on Denzel of course with the glory episode check that out folks if you haven't already and Jared of course he just likes Denzel so we'll just yeah all 1:01:44 right so this first clip just the beginning of how Denzel and Ed came across the uh the script for courage 1:01:50 Under Fire we were about the same age both raising young families both trying to make maintained marriages while 1:01:57 balancing the demands and pleasures of blossoming careers after winning the Oscar Denzel was a shooting star in 1:02:03 short order he did Malcolm X Philadelphia and Crimson Tide I rebounded after my time in the 1:02:09 wilderness with Legends of the Fall and my soall life we even ended up indulging our success renting little houses next 1:02:16 to each other in Malibu where I got to know petta and their kids one day in 1:02:21 1995 my assistant told me there was a call from someone I didn't know named Joe singer Joe was a familiar Hollywood 1:02:28 archetype with no background to speak of in film but what he lacked in experience he made up for in huta he told me he had 1:02:35 a script that Denzel wanted to do what he didn't tell me was that he'd already called Denzel and told him I wanted to 1:02:41 direct it by the time Denzel and I made plans to meet for lunch it had all the makings of a done deal except Denzel had 1:02:48 no intention of doing the movie that was it just a fun little beginning of how the script came to both their 1:02:54 possessions where they were kind of lied to both parties were told the other person was good to go oh wow that's uh 1:03:01 that's crazy all right so the next clip is them talking about the script courage Under 1:03:07 Fire was written by Patrick Shawn Duncan an accomplished screenwriter in Vietnam vet within minutes of sitting down 1:03:14 Denzel didn't hold back his critique of the screenplay the lead character was mopi his investigation was passive his 1:03:22 marriage didn't feel real I couldn't disagree with anything he said and while the rasham man storytelling 1:03:28 device was compelling looking at the incident through the varied perspectives of the soldiers the characterizations 1:03:34 were two-dimensional and flat there was no point trying to convince Denzel of its merits so why do you want to do it 1:03:40 he asked I don't yet I said but I think there's a way to make it into an interesting character study okay so what 1:03:46 I like about this he had the same funny enough with Glory where he was given that script by Kevin jar and it was the 1:03:53 same idea like all the Beats were there this is where the characters are they're here now they're doing this now this is 1:03:59 happening now and Ed felt the same thing that the characters were sort of two-dimensional no heart no emotion and 1:04:05 Ed has this ability that he's able to incorporate or flesh out characters to make them more human have more heart 1:04:13 where we as a viewer just are drawn to them a little bit more and that's something he seems to bring to these 1:04:18 films Jared I don't know if you are feeling that too about Ed or yeah I think so especially I I mean I'm 1:04:25 obviously not familiar with the The Source material or the the draft of the script that they're talking about but I 1:04:32 did not feel when watching the movie that these characters were necessarily 1:04:38 two-dimensional I thought Lou Diamond Phillips through his performance there was some sort of you know underlying 1:04:45 menace to him but certainly not like a mustache twirling you know villain or or 1:04:52 anything like that whatever problems they had in Pre before they agreed to 1:04:58 jump on this it seems that they definitely work them out to speak to Denzel's comments about how the family 1:05:06 his family didn't feel like a real family his wife and kids that was very 1:05:11 well done it's not a huge story point but it is a little bit he he's an alcoholic he's always down in these 1:05:18 small you know Min bottles of scotch he calls not really an alcoholic when you 1:05:23 just drink small bottles Okay small bottles doesn't count got you okay well I take that back but he calls his wife 1:05:31 and he's he's like look I got a pine 1:05:37 ofpp Scotch here in a paper bag I don't want to drink any of 1:05:44 it I'm better go baby Don boiler call [Music] 1:05:50 Jesus I'm better go Natt talk to me I can't why not I can't [ __ ] bull talk 1:05:58 to me it's those kind of things that uh that really kind of sell him as a real 1:06:04 person I think in the movie and that drinking comes from PTSD and Ed talks 1:06:10 about I don't think I have the clip but he talked about it just before what I'm about to share with you his studying of 1:06:16 PTSD and even back then in the 90s Jared PTSD was still kind of a new thing that 1:06:21 term post-traumatic stress disorder is still kind of referred to as shell shock people thought oh it's a lot of explosions in war but obviously ptsc is 1:06:29 much more than just explosions we're very aware of what it is today but there still kind of A New Concept even the 90s 1:06:34 so Ed talked about how he delved into that it would add that to the characters Denzel put down his Fork I'll do it he 1:06:41 said Ed told Denzel about PTSD and what it can do to the characters and how they 1:06:46 could flesh out these characters with that knowledge that's when Denzel said okay I'll do it that's why okay I 1:06:51 couldn't help but laugh the funny thing was I honestly had no no expectation of convincing him I wasn't selling or 1:06:59 pitching just speaking passionately about something that interested me I was overjoyed at the thought of making 1:07:05 another movie with him he didn't think he's gonna convin Denzel with the PTSD talk he was just talked about what he's 1:07:10 learned about PTSD and after that that's when Denzel said okay I'll do it now I'll I'll do this I'll do the movie probably gave him that aspect of the 1:07:18 character gave him some you know there's some meat on the bone basically when it came down negotiating the fees for 1:07:23 Denzel of course at this time you know midnight 90s he's drawing a little bit more money than he did back in glory yeah the studio was saying this amount 1:07:30 his agent was saying this amount they finally negotiate whatever the amount was but danzel says no I want one 1:07:35 million more than whatever that number was well it turned out they gave it to him whatever that number was he gave him another million but he ended up donating 1:07:42 that million to his friend at the time Elsa Mandela to his cause oh interesting 1:07:47 another million that he was just given away yeah that he gave to Nelson Mandell I forget what the uh what the charity 1:07:53 was but yeah I thought that was pretty cool uh Denzel to do that he asked for another million but just rolled it over 1:07:58 and gave it to Nelson mandell's cause well hopefully we'll all get to that spot someday Ryan where we can just ask 1:08:04 for that extra million to hand off to someone else I'm not gonna give it to Nels Mandel though I'll tell you that 1:08:10 well he's dead now so oh okay all right is he though or is that just Mandela effect maybe he's alive again oh geez oh 1:08:17 geez do a side episode right now in the Mandel effect what's your favorite okay now we're going to hear 1:08:24 Ed's casting of Ryan talk here and I offered Meg Ryan the part of the heroic 1:08:29 Chopper pilot whose Medal of Honor Denzel's character is investigating like everyone I'd been 1:08:35 Enchanted by Meg's work as a comedian but I'd also been intrigued when she ventured out of her Comfort Zone in 1:08:41 movies like promised land and flesh and Bone and the strong but unfortunately 1:08:46 titled When a Man Loves a Woman after a great meeting she said yes to playing 1:08:51 Captain Karen Walden that was it that's how he got make he was impressed by by her previous roles of dram drama no talk 1:08:58 about her accent unfortunately you know he does say though he's like I'm definitely casting against type maybe 1:09:05 that wasn't the best decision I don't think it was I think he was hoping for something but he didn't get it he 1:09:11 doesn't mention the book but I bet she put a gun to Ed's head he probably said it could have been better I don't think he watch that film today and think she 1:09:16 did a good job there's no way objectively he could say that so one of those things you don't have anything nice to say then he just doesn't say 1:09:23 doesn't say it yeah well he's he's a good guy uh the next uh talk here is 1:09:28 about The Supporting Cast I cast Matt Damon Seth gilam Tim Guinea and Lou Diamond Phillips as her Army Medevac 1:09:35 helicopter crew Scott Glenn also did great work as an investigative journalist pressing Denzel's character 1:09:40 for the truth it Bears repeating no film is any better than its Supporting Cast 1:09:47 when they're boldly drawn and capable of holding the screen their strong distinctive voices and oppositional 1:09:53 points of view highlight the lead actors the way great orchestration of a musical score can support its Central themes 1:10:00 there you go just uh reiterating again what he's done in other films of course Legends of the Fall is a great example that and Glory as well the two other 1:10:06 great films he did well all of his films he always have a great Supporting Cast all of The Supporting Cast of Ed's films 1:10:12 are just they're flushed out you feel like you know a little bit of their stories with he has a great job of 1:10:17 nobody feels wasted or stupid all we just oh this is just a plot device character yeah now this next uh clip I 1:10:24 forgot to write down what it is is so let's just listen to a cold shall we sure could be dangerous here we go mag 1:10:29 had never fired a weapon before but she gamely joined the boys on a confidence course a training ground made up of 1:10:36 obstacles and moving targets designed to promote what the military calls confidence in self and team when we did 1:10:42 our improvs to create the kind of banter and camaraderie the group would have developed everything took on new energy 1:10:48 and urgency because they were forced to raise their voices above the den later while rehearsing a gun battle Meg came 1:10:55 up with what I consider to be one of the best lines in the movie I immediately put it in the script in a single 1:11:00 sentence she epitomizes her dilemma and her fortitude although Gravely wounded she keeps on fighting when it looks like 1:11:07 she might not be able to carry on Matt Damon's character tries to get her to lie down are you sure you can do this 1:11:14 ma'am he asks she stares up at him and growls I gave birth to a 9B baby [ __ ] 1:11:22 I think I can handle it those it make Ryan line I guess they kept it yeah I 1:11:28 guess Ed liked it he liked it well I mean that is a that is definitely a line I remember from the movie right so it 1:11:35 stands out I know in war films and I know good War films do this and it's interesting they have this I know priv 1:11:40 Ryan did this I know other War films have done this where they have the actors do this sort of boot camp type stuff to kind of get the mindset of 1:11:47 teamwork and grit and sounds like they did that for this film as well so it's 1:11:52 kind of cool to hear that they went through that together yeah yeah I like that that's always a highlight on some of those uh those War films you're 1:11:59 talking about I'm thinking currently of Band of Brothers there's a whole documentary that was shot uh for the 1:12:06 that Blu-ray release it's just about those guys you know in their experience in boot camp and that thing and it's 1:12:13 it's really cool to yeah I would like Banner Brothers better if it wasn't produced by step Spielberg yeah 1:12:19 apparently so and and and you know he didn't put ET in it yeah I did like why was ET there in 1:12:27 Normandy ET wasn't in Normandy what's going on they should use it for a body Shield 1:12:33 oh people are gonna get so bad I love battered Brothers before people like start it's like one the best like TV or 1:12:41 whatever Productions media Productions ever made of course can you believe those like 24 years ago that came out 1:12:47 yeah man it's crazy I me and my wife just rewatched it cuz we watched masters of the air you know on the new one oh 1:12:55 fantastic great after she watched that she's like I've never seen b of brothers so we sat down and watched B Brothers 1:13:01 was quite awesome yeah yeah it's a fantastic series okay the next one is 1:13:06 Denzel doesn't need practice Denzel scenes would be with each member individually he was their interrogator I 1:13:13 decided there was more to be gained by not letting them get to know each other hoping their scenes would carry the 1:13:19 electricity of a first meeting besides I knew Denzel wouldn't want to rehearse anyway instead we did research together 1:13:26 we went on night Maneuvers with the 11th armored Cavalry at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert months later when Denzel 1:13:32 climbed into a cutout model of an M1 Abrams tank on the set he knew what it felt like to fire high explosive rounds 1:13:38 in a real one the fact is great actors I mean the really great ones don't need 1:13:44 much help when it comes to preparation I like the story just just got right into it think that's part of his method gets 1:13:50 into the character gets his hands dirty as much as he can for each role the next clip here talks about how he does stay 1:13:56 on his method how he would call junior members of the military son you know he 1:14:02 calls hey son you know very he caught that with other officers doing that in real life I could never tell how much 1:14:08 Denzel was internalizing when we'd visit an army base or go drinking with soldiers after hours he was taciturn 1:14:14 when he met the real version of the character he was to play the next night when I looked at dailies everything 1:14:20 about Denzel had changed his eyes were troubled his posture bore an unseen burden but he would rather die than let 1:14:27 his characterization reveal even a glint of the guilt or dishonor that tormented him instead he would play against it 1:14:35 ferociously what's my character whining and moaning about I'm fine he'd say to me I'm [ __ ] square it away he was 1:14:43 right the audience knew exactly what had happened to him they'd watched it happen on screen he'd commanded sha Aston 1:14:50 playing the Gunner to pull the trigger on a lethal round of Friendly Fire to see him deny that that mistakes dominion 1:14:56 over himself was heartbreaking and ennobling I arranged for him to talk to a local psychologist when Denzel 1:15:03 returned to my office after his meeting I asked how it had gone he nodded solemnly I get it he said you going to 1:15:10 talk to him again I asked nah he wanted to get all up in my [ __ ] [ __ ] 1:15:15 that at last I just love I just love that how he got to his character so much 1:15:21 and stuff and then he sees like a war psychologist you know people who treat 1:15:26 yeah social workers mental health yes and he's like nah I don't need him getting well it sounded like that 1:15:32 psychologist may have known oh man I got Denzel on my couch sure uh why don't we 1:15:37 start talking about you Denzel so he was probably that's when he definitely put the walls up uh no no this is not about 1:15:45 me this next clip talks about Meg Ryan May being afraid of 1:15:51 flying the problem seems sorted until I received a call from Meg's agent who informed us she was too terrified to go 1:15:58 up in a helicopter at first I thought he was kidding she was playing a helicopter pilot how could anyone think they were 1:16:04 going to make a movie about Flying Without flying but apparently that's exactly what some business Affairs 1:16:10 lawyer at the studio had assured the agent when he first raised his concern when negotiating Meg's deal it was even 1:16:15 in her contract though no one had bothered to tell us again Ed 1:16:21 miscast it was a miscast I know he's scarring it a little bit he's not talking too much to but yeah well did 1:16:28 she just think that that was all going to be handled with visual effects or something that she didn't would not have to be in a helicopter well I forgot to 1:16:35 label this next clip again there's a couple I forgot to if this one doesn't address what they did okay to mitigate 1:16:41 that I'll tell you the moment where Matt Damon's young medic character almost falls out of the helicopter could only 1:16:46 be accomplished by the actor doing it for real its power in the film is at least in some measure because the terror 1:16:52 on Matt's face is genuine but Matt never hesitated he was 22 when we met and at 1:16:58 the time I had no idea how far he would go in search of authenticity a mutual friend from Harvard I think it was a 1:17:04 professor had sent me an early draft to Goodwill Hunting and asked if I would meet with Matt and discuss it the script 1:17:11 although unformed at that point was lovely and I was happy to make a few suggestions years later I was delighted 1:17:18 when Matt and Ben thanked me in the credits for my help oh okay so that was just uh them thanking edwick for their 1:17:23 help and Goodwill Hunting that's cool what they did though is they actually created lot of the flying scenes that 1:17:29 you see with mag the end scene with mag flying away that was real that was her in the helicopter you couldn't fake that 1:17:34 she's in the helicopter no CGI 96 she's just in a helicopter that takes off L you know when she leaves Denzel there 1:17:41 but throughout all the action sequences that we see in the film with her yelling and stuff they had a in a truck they 1:17:47 made this fake helicopter thing on the back of a big truck of a helicopter 1:17:53 shell on his like a semi truck near a a cliff to give that over the a shot so 1:17:58 she was never in the air she was on a rolling truck gotcha you know there is that scene at the very end of the movie 1:18:05 where Denzel kind of remembers that maybe he saw her yeah she was in the 1:18:11 helicopter then she was actually in the chopper as it was lifting off the ground that's what I was referring to that was 1:18:17 the one scene that she where she was actually okay gotcha gotcha sorry so but for all the like the you know for think 1:18:24 about that that's an easy shot she's in one shot she flies away but they probably landed right away afterwards or something she didn't go very high uh 1:18:31 that's okay some people do have a fear of flying so like again miscast a little bit like hi I want to be in your film to 1:18:36 be a helicopter pilot but I'm afraid I'm not gonna ever get in a helicopter okay 1:18:41 well that's a problem you also don't talk like you're from the south either but that's the other here and or there 1:18:47 this clip here talks about how even Matt Damon impressed Denzel and that's pretty important this so 42-year-old Denzel was 1:18:53 impressed by 22-year-old Matt time here we go while casting courage Matt came to mind as I began to meet actors for the 1:18:59 drug addicted member of Meg Ryan's crew specialist delario by that point Matt was 24 and had done School ties in a few 1:19:06 smaller roles he came in and read for me and I cast him on the spot as fate would have it Matt's first save shooting was 1:19:13 scheduled opposite Denzel and his closeup was up first you can tell something special was happening on set 1:19:18 by watching the crew even the dolly grip who' made hundreds of movies was paying attention as those two actors began to 1:19:25 work it was as if a spell had been cast Over the set as we finished Matt's coverage Denzel caught my eye and nodded 1:19:32 approvingly later he took me aside who's that kid he asked I told him it was 1:19:38 Matt's first big role damn he said better get my game on he almost blew me off the 1:19:44 screen that's pretty cool pretty cool yeah that is pretty cool yeah it's always nice to hear too like danzel 1:19:50 course a very established actor in The mid90s of course this is you know his Peak kind of film time mid 90s early 1:19:56 2000s of denzz power at the at the theater give that kind of accl he didn't have to he didn't have to tell Ed 1:20:01 anything you know but the fact say who is that guy you know who's that guy that I was with I've never seen this guy before Oh that's Matt Damon he's young 1:20:08 kid acting now and like boy I better and that's just it you know when you're the young pups you come in hungry you're 1:20:13 starving yourself or whatever it is you're coming it's a wakeup call to the more of the veteran actress to say oh I 1:20:18 better yeah like hey I got to step it up yeah yeah cuz they're hungry for rolls 1:20:24 Matt Dame was hungry for rolls and that's exactly he was also hungry for food too yeah apparently so yeah this 1:20:31 next one talks about Matt's weight loss Matt wanted to physicalize the ravages of his character's Addiction in the 1:20:37 final scenes and went back to LA to lose weight he returned having lost so much 1:20:43 so quickly unsupervised that I was worried he might not make it through filming I knew it 1:20:48 was a big moment in Matt's career but was it worth him jeopardizing his health watching him was Terri terrifying but 1:20:55 also inspiring his performance was wonderful and his career took off a great actor is an athlete of the heart I 1:21:03 like that line there a great actor is an athlete of the heart as Katie pointed out last episode with when we're 1:21:08 covering Ed's book here she said boy he's got away with words yeah he's a Wordsmith I think that's what makes him 1:21:13 write these screenplays or help help the screenplays yeah absolutely you remember the end the film where Denzel's 1:21:20 character is walking to his family home he's got his luggage from the motel in his hands and there's that bike in front 1:21:25 of his way that he picks up yeah and puts upright well there's a story behind that scene okay we had come to know and 1:21:32 trust each other by the end of shooting courage we hardly needed to talk at all 1:21:38 sometimes at the end of a take I might step out from behind the camera and before I could speak he would say I know 1:21:45 I know and he usually did the best example of this nonverbal collaboration 1:21:51 took place on the final day of shooting we were filming his character's return home Lieutenant Colonel Nat Serling has 1:21:59 dealt with his guilt and self-loathing and accomplished the mission of corroborating the Medal of Honor for the 1:22:04 female pilot his wife and children are waiting inside the house he needs to put 1:22:10 his life back together I called action he walked up the stone pathway carrying his briefcase 1:22:17 then up the steps and into the house I called cut we could easily have moved on 1:22:24 but in one of the rare moments of the shoot we found ourselves ahead of schedule I sat in my chair staring at 1:22:30 the Little House something was off I called out to the prop man and asked if 1:22:35 he had any kid stuff on the truck I've got a bike he said 1:22:41 perfect I took the bike wheeled it into the shot and then laid it across the 1:22:46 walkway now it looked like a real house I didn't tell Denzel most actors tense up when you say 1:22:54 action but if you were to attach sensors to register Denzel's heart perspiration and 1:23:00 respiratory rate my guess is you would find him in a kind of monk-like Trance 1:23:05 his relaxation is so profound it's possible his vitals go down rather than up his unique gift is simply being 1:23:12 present I called action again Denzel walked in from below the camera carrying 1:23:18 his briefcase Midway up the walk there was now a bicycle I can imagine another 1:23:24 actor gracefully sidest stepping it and walking past it into the house I can even think of an actor or two who might 1:23:30 turn back to the camera and ask is this supposed to be here not Denzel he looked 1:23:36 down at the bike stopped put his briefcase on the ground then reached for 1:23:41 the handlebars and set it upright on the lawn before continuing into the house he 1:23:46 was a man putting his life back in order it's the moment in the movie when I begin to cry 1:23:55 what do you think of that that's pretty cool that's a cool story that little bicycle it added some meaning to the 1:24:03 scene yeah it's neat to hear those behind the scenes stuff it's just the things that we might take for of course we would as a viewer not notice these 1:24:09 things but yeah it's neat to hear those Tales of what happens behind the screen where they have an extra day of shooting or something or to see the actor like 1:24:16 Denzel going with it oh there's something different here and he does something different with that something different and they can keep it or not 1:24:22 keep it but allow the actors to feel something or to do something with different with the scene I think 1:24:29 it's great to see this is the last clip well Ed shares a bad story about Denzel Denzel's not perfect Jared oh boy yeah I 1:24:36 know here we go L my portrait of Denzel risk becoming heliography I'll offer one slightly less 1:24:43 admirable anecdote Denzel had been involved coaching teams with the Boys and Girls Clubs Of America since we' met 1:24:49 he would do everything he could to fly back to LA on the weekend on his own dime to coach his own kids teams and as 1:24:55 one who had coached my own son's teams I admired his dedication it was a Friday and I'd gone out of my way to get his 1:25:02 work finish so he could catch an early flight I waved goodbye and wished him good luck with the game later that night 1:25:08 I happened to turn on the TV in my hotel room to watch the Knicks in a playoff game in New York there was Denzel 1:25:15 sitting Courtside with Spike Lee on Monday when he walked on the set and saw 1:25:20 the look on my face he knew he'd been busted all he said said was I know I 1:25:27 know oh man oh what a scumbag what a what a 1:25:33 piece of [ __ ] that guy is I'm telling I'm not gonna watch another denzo film for as long as I live I hate to end the 1:25:38 episode on that sour note thank you so much for coming on this I hope you had a good time and I hope you enjoyed watching courage on the fire again and 1:25:45 coming on this podcast and talking about this film with yeah it was fun to uh it was fun to revisit after so many years 1:25:52 it was fun to revisit the film uh I really enjoy the film I was uh glad to 1:25:57 have the opportunity was okay would you recommend people to see this film or see it again well okay definitely uh it's 1:26:03 definitely worth a watch Great Performances I one thing we didn't touch on too much was edwick he knows how to 1:26:11 how to shoot uh big sweeping Epic War scenes and this this has a few yeah and 1:26:18 it's all the more impressive you know the these are real A10 War Hogs these 1:26:24 are real Huey cobras uh the Huey met medac uh Choppers the tanks um it it's 1:26:33 all practical I mean these are this this was you know I'm not saying this 96 was 1:26:40 before the prevalence of CGI but but but this is still practical yeah it's 1:26:45 practical and all the war she the war scenes are well staged you can tell 1:26:51 what's happening you you get a good sense of geography graphy and um I 1:26:56 that's something also I really appreciated yeah no and thanks for bringing that up yes we uh definitely 1:27:02 want to not miss that that Ed has a knack for War uh of course it will be 1:27:07 reinvestigated again Siege and also in last of the Samurai but not too much 1:27:12 after that per se but he definitely has a flare for it and he's definitely can do a epic sweeping type look or feeling 1:27:20 of War without glamorizing it or without making it seem silly or over the top although I got to say the just the scene 1:27:27 of the napom going off it's it's striking and I wonder did where they 1:27:32 shot that I mean obviously they're in Iraq in the film but if this was shot in like maybe the bad lands of America or I 1:27:40 think they actually just bombed Iraqis I think for the film they're just like ah screw it let's just go back we might as 1:27:46 well two person with one stone hit the enemy and film it too yeah that's uh but no I thought all that stuff was 1:27:51 extremely well done yeah good point yeah pick up the book about any of this it's funny in the book he doesn't mention 1:27:57 which is you can't write too much I mean the book would be you know 40 hours long it does seem like when you're 1:28:04 coordinating large Machinery like that like that is probably a movie's worth of 1:28:09 work in itself good like you have to communicate with the pilots where the pilots need to be who's shooting that 1:28:15 from the air and all the helicopters that are flying around with fake bullets 1:28:20 and squibs going off and people falling off cliffs that in itself is probably 1:28:25 more than a lot of movies have to deal with for their whole running time that's 1:28:31 something else I really appreciated about the film no thank you so much for bringing it up very well said uh yeah 1:28:36 good stuff and say again Jared where people can find you and you're showing what your show's about I am the co-host 1:28:42 of the hyperspace podcasting in the 25th Century uh we talk about things that we 1:28:48 enjoy we all me and my co-host Matt and Mike we are all children of the 70s as Ryan is himself uh we talk about stuff 1:28:54 that we loved things that we still love we do delve into a pop culture of the 1:29:00 present and the past we have a lot of fun come over and check us out the 1:29:05 hyperspace three words podcasting in the 25th Century look for the robot with the 1:29:10 microphone that's us I love it I love it Jared you're a good man thank you so much for coming on 1:29:16 and we'll see you on the next episode folks 1:29:29 you 1:29:38 [Music]