125: Hot Rod Vampire

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To your stations. We have a movie meltdown. Strasse! What's up, and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian.

I'm Marlena. And we are coming to you from the outskirts of the parking lot here at Beedersville Car and Bike Show for what has become an annual event, but I don't know, everybody's... We're trying to keep them on board here. Misty and Jay have wandered off. He's usually... involved.

With his car group and this year he didn't have to do it so they're just vacationing. They're avoiding the whole situation so they don't have to deal with all the drama. Otherwise, I guess we can roll into this week's geek activities. Are you going to go into Friday night as part of yours? What happened Friday night?

We went to see a band. I don't know if you had cheesy stories. Related to that. Oh, yeah. No.

No stories. No stories. I think I've had my fill of rockabilly people, though. Yeah, it is weird that it was sort of all crammed into this one weekend. On the musical, uh, High Am, we did go see Hillbilly Casino, which is kind of fun if you like that.

They're, they're, they don't do anything out of the ordinary for a rockabilly band. I mean, I appreciate a good pompadour. Don't get me wrong. No offense to Jay. Jay has a good pompadour.

Yeah, he does. But I've had enough, like, hair grease for the weekend. Like, I've had enough hair grease to last me for, like, The next six months at least. Aside from that, trying to think of anything else I'd watch. Most of them were just in these last two days.

Yesterday morning, this was a nice morning breakfast kind of ensemble here. I was watching Black Dynamite and eating waffles. I posted, I was like, man, if I just had some chicken to go with this, I'd be all set. It's very racist. It's in the movie.

Oh, okay. I'm just quoting. Well, I was way more entertained because it goes back in time before Chicken and Waffles, and we see the guy who tapped into that, and he had a chili and donuts operation, which just wasn't. Going over well. So, really, that was one of my favorite parts.

That and the line, donuts don't wear alligator shoes. That makes absolutely no sense. You've got to watch the movie. It is genius, I have to say. It's one of those, I mean, if you appreciate blaxploitation on any level, it's, yeah, it's amazingly well done.

It's a hell of a lot of fun. Michael Jai White is awesome because he not only, like, can pull off the comedic end of it, which he does, like, super serious, but he also can do all the, like, fighting. Like, he really is, like, ridiculously ripped and knows all kinds of different, like, fighting stance and. All that type of thing. So it's amazing to watch on several.

Levels, especially if you get the joke of it, which, you know, the director does, Scott Sanders, who I kind of want to see what else. He does, because he also gets... Alright. He also gets the sense of humor of what they're trying to do. I mean, it's not just...

And that's the difference between something like this and. Like, your epic movie or, you know, your date movie. That kind of, like, those bullshit movies that. Like, don't even. get the joke of the genre that they're trying to make fun of they just do like specific rip-offs of specific scenes of specific movies and they do it uncreative and I mean that that is uh that's not what he does here he understands the genre he's like steeped in the genre and does a pretty good job as far as like just making fun of it but also there's like a very loving attitude that you know there's a lot of good things that were in those movies too as bad as some of the other stuff is so it's It's really entertaining if you like that kind of stuff.

Other than that, last night I watched The Descent 2. Have you seen that one? No, I haven't seen that one. There's only a handful of movies in the last 10 years or so that I've actually liked and thought were kind of impressive. I love horror movies, but it's funny when I list off my favorite ones, it's stuff from 20, 30, 50 years ago.

It's rare that I come into contact with ones now that I think are really impressive. And the first Descent was one of those. Like, I really think it tapped into the tension and builds it up as, like, a real story in the first half before you even get to the cheesy, you know. Horror element. So it's just a really well put together movie.

It's well acted. It's really tense. And it's shot, really, it's Neil Marshall back, you know, early on. And he does a really good job shooting it. Whereas this one, it kind of loses all that.

It's a new director. It's got John Harris, who's been an editor. He's a good editor. He does, like, tons of, like, super high-end a-list movies as far as editing but this was the only directing job he'd ever done and you can kind of tell it's it's definitely a step down in just overall it's like the the budget you can tell is kind of a step down the effects are definitely like it's noticeably different as far as like even makeup effects. Even practical makeup effects are like a step back so I don't know.

I was pretty disappointed. Even the acting didn't seem like it was quite as good as the first time out. So, yeah, it was a pretty big disappointment for me, but maybe just because I. Like The Descent so much. But that's most of what I've done this weekend.

How about you, Marla? Last night I watched Big Trouble in Little China. I'd never seen it before. Oh, my God. I know.

How did you make it this far? I don't know. It's like one of Jessica's favorite movies. It's one of Misty and Jay's favorite movies. And mine.

It's a really good movie. It's amazing. I love Kurt Russell. Oh, yeah. And now my friend and I, we couldn't stop saying, use your muscle, Russell.

So that's kind of like a thing. And then we were trying to think of other things that round with Russell. So he's like, you got to hustle, Russell. I don't know if I would be doing this. But, you know, you guys can do whatever you need to do.

Well, that's what we do. That's how we do. And I finished watching all the episodes of this really awesome British TV show called Pulling. It's about three... I don't want to say skanky, but three single ladies that live in a house together.

One of them is really skanky. But that's kind of her charm. She's a drunk skank. Slag, as they are known in England. Is this like an updated Absolutely Fabulous?

Because that's kind of how that rolled. What little I remember of that, it was two instead of three. It's more like real. Like, Absolutely Fabulous is like. It's ridiculous.

I mean, not that this show's not over the top, but like, Absolutely Fabulous is like... just ridiculous this is more like this could happen yeah you know as over top over the top as these ladies are like i know these. Ladies i've hung out with these. Ladies these ladies are my close friends. I'm not gonna name names yeah. But uh that's it i'm pretty much that's pretty.

Much all i watched this week I still, though, to go back to our initial kickoff there, I think, if nothing else, we need to, like, get the camera out and start a YouTube channel of just you dancing. At these clubs. Oh, yeah. Because, you know, you and Jessica, when you get going, it's a special event. Yeah.

I think you really kind of have to see it to appreciate it. I mean, if no one else is going to dance, it's going to be us. But it's never done seriously, and that's my favorite part. It's like you're both being goofy, and you know it. Because people who take themselves really seriously when they dance, unless you're on stage and being paid for it, it's kind of ridiculous.

So it's funny that you guys never fall into that. It's always goofy, and it's hilarious. That was half a lot. I was probably way more entertained with you two than watching the band. No offense to Hillbilly Casino, but it's always funny.

We're pretty darn entertaining. So, yeah, if anybody else wants to, you know, start a petition to get a YouTube channel going for your dance moves. I don't get to watch myself dance. I don't know what I look like. See, that's why we need it even more.

But, I mean, Jessica is a really good dancer. So, I think people are just like, hey, look, this girl is a really good dancer. What's she doing there? Oh, that's so funny. So, it's, like, very entertaining.

We need to start our own circus troupe. We've been talking this for years. You need to get on that show. Yeah, we were also talking today about how we start things and then we never actually do them. Like, hey, remember craft night?

Remember that time that we were going to do that? Remember those eight bands that we formed over the years? Well, I have those, but usually I have no intention. I just want to claim a name and then sometimes. I make flyers and t-shirts when I get really, you know, out of control.

Like, remember that blog I started? That's why I don't start all those. Remember that. thing I did. I'm awful at stuff. That's why I just focused on the show.

That's why the only thing I ever get done is show related. Because I know if I start anything else, it'll just, yeah, it'll never happen. I mean. I focus. That's all I can do.

I just need to do something. Because I was like, you know how some people, it's like, oh, there's John. He's in that band. Or like, oh, there's Steve. He owns that place.

Or, you know, there's. Doofus the artist or I don't know people are known for stuff it's just like there's that girl she's here all the time You know? I don't want to be that girl. There's that girl. She never finishes a damn thing.

I know. I don't want to be that girl. I want to be like, hey, there's that girl. She did that one really cool thing that one time. Remember?

Yeah. She's awesome because fill in blanks. You just need to come up with the fill in blank area. Yeah. I think you're kind of on to it.

Everybody seems to like your crazy storytelling. Yeah. There's that girl. She tells really awesome and sometimes horribly disgusting stories. Yeah.

I mean, I don't have a disgusting story this week. Thank God. But I did just learn something about myself. As soon as this is over, I'm running to my car because I'm about to have a panic attack because I'm not wearing a sweater. She's not joking.

It's like 95 degrees. That doesn't really matter to me. But I didn't realize until like 10 minutes ago that I always have to wear a sweater. I mean, I dress myself every day, but it never occurred to me that I constantly have a sweater on. And I was thinking about it.

In high school and middle school, I constantly had to have a hoodie. Like, I have to have it. I'm like Linus from Charlie Brown. Like, I have to have it. I'm having a panic attack.

It's not a specific sweater. It's just a sweater. Like, it's ridiculous. It's absolutely preposterous to be wearing a sweater right now. But if I had my way, I would be having a fucking sweater on because I need to wear a sweater always.

I didn't realize how completely insane I am. You kind of are. And what's sad is I knew it. Because you got here and you were like, I could go try to figure out what to wear. And I was like, I thought you were going to wear a sweater.

Wear a sweater. You usually wear a sweater in the middle of the sweltering 90 degree day. And I'm like, I saw some short sleeve sweaters at the store. I have to go buy one. You have a problem.

I know. I know. I do. I do. I didn't realize it.

I did not realize I had this problem. It's sad that I knew it and Jay has called you out on it before. We all knew it. Do you think I'm sweater girl? Maybe that's your thing.

God damn it. I need something cooler than that. There's worse things you could be known for around town. Hey, there's that girl. She always wears sweaters.

It's boring, but again, there's way worse things you could be known for. There's some girls here at this show that are known for some way worse things. Yeah, I keep, I'm like, hey, look, there's tall crazy slut over there. That's like half the girls. No, no, there's one.

Specifically tall crazy slut. Some of them aren't that tall. Yeah, most men aren't as tall as she. She's like 6'6. She's an Amazon woman.

Is she the one that was bent over that one time when we all saw her undercarriage? Tall crazy slut, yeah. See, I've actually had the misfortune of hanging out with her before. She is batshit crazy. Completely crazy.

Nice. So your breakdown, does that round out your geek week? Yeah, because I have to go buy a sweater. You do have a problem. I'm not joking.

All right. We will take a break here, and I'll go see if I can track down Eddie and make him tell us crazy stories. All right. Bye. We'll just roll in time again.

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They called him Machete. This is Danny Trello, a.k.a. Machete. And you're checking out Movie Meltdown. You better keep checking it out or.

I'll come looking for you. And I got machetes. I soon realized. They just fucked with the wrong Mexican. Machete.

Machete. All right, so we're back out here on the outskirts of the parking lot, and we're putting up with what exactly do you even call that process there, the blowing out of your vehicle? I'm pretty sure they're doing the flame throwing. They're throwing flames. It doesn't work as well on the audio.

From over here, all I do is hear a lot of noise. No. It sounds like Warzone. Yeah, you lose a little bit. Yeah.

All right, so we're here with Eddie, who I guess at this point you've become an extended member of the family. Whether you like it or not, I don't know. I was thinking it was more often, but it looks like it's become an annual event. It seems like we can only work it in during the meters full show. But, again, any time in between now and then, you know, you're welcome to join us for these festivities.

Oh, yeah. I guess we can get into your geek activities as well. But, in general, I guess I was going to ask how you've mentioned on many occasions, or just your continual Facebook posts, every time it's in a different city. You do a lot of traveling, so it seems. Is that fun?

Yeah. Uh, it's fun. I don't know if I'm buying that. It's, uh, it's something. I don't think, um, I don't know.

You know, everybody, everybody assumes that, like, bands travel in tour buses. Like your Aerosmith. You've got 14 buses and stay at five-star hotels. Yeah, and everybody, or, you know, at least assumes that you're traveling in a big 15-passenger van. Yeah.

That rarely breaks down. I've seen your car. Yeah, you've seen my car. It's not a tour bus. No.

Well, it's big enough. It's as big as it needs to be for my van. But let's see. Since last Beatersville, it's broken down. Well, the last run that I made, the run that I made in January, it's been out to New York. and back.

It's been down to Texas and back. The January run, I was supposed to go all the way out to the west coast. Okay, it's a 1985 Pontiac. It's a Parisienne, which I'd never heard of before this car showed up. They only made that one.

It's yours. I've now dubbed it Shitty Shitty Bang Bang. Nice. It looks cool. It does look cool.

It looks cool. The fact that it's still running is impressive in its own right, so, you know. Yeah, and I've put a lot of money into it. Whether you like it or not. It broke down in Fort Worth.

I had to cancel all the dates across New Mexico, Arizona, California. Some of them were a little painful to cancel. I had a show opening up for. Phil Alvin from the Blasters and that didn't work out obviously I had to call ahead and let him know that I wasn't going to make it out there which is pretty painful and not to mention I had a lot of shows that were actually going to pay me. Which is kind of strange.

That would be nice. Pay me. Yeah, anyway, whatever. It broke down a couple times. I wound up taking a train back from Dallas, drinking the entire way because I didn't have to operate the train.

Yeah. That's probably for the best. And I made it back in time for that tour's final show in Bloomington. I made it back in time for my set. To close out your own tour?

Yeah. Of course, I'd been drinking for two days. I'm sure that was a really good set. No, it was beautiful. It was beautiful.

I was able to make an entrance with my guitar strapped around one shoulder and a half-drank bottle of whiskey in. The other hand. It was some rock star shit. Yeah, really. I don't know if we endorse these behaviors here on Movie Box.

But, you know, there's a lot of rock star lifestyle going on. That's what goes on. So then I got back from there and wound up having to hitchhike from Bloomington, Indiana, back down to Dallas to get the car. Nice. It was fixed.

When we actually made it down there, The car still wasn't completely fixed, so we wound up sleeping in the junkyard behind the shop, which I was informed the next day was full of rattlesnakes. This is fun. Yeah, it's fun. Adventure. It's adventure.

That it is. Adventure is not pleasant while you're experiencing it most of the time. We had a few pretty close calls. We almost got knifed in Memphis. Yeah.

It's Memphis. That does not surprise me. I've been to Memphis. It's Memphis. It's beautiful.

And, let's see, there are knives, there are guns, meth. It's a normal Thursday night, sure. Yeah, yeah. The usual hitchhiking shit, you know. Nothing that interesting.

We had one, this was interesting. We had a normal dude pick us up. Is that allowed in hitchhiking? No. I don't think so.

I'm not sure how it happened. We went from speed freak to normal dude to rapey ex-army guy. I fear for your safety many a time. I just see these posts and go, oh, well, that's the last. Time we'll have him on the show.

He's in a trunk now. He's buried in a shallow grave outside of Houston somewhere. No, you know, the Empire is still plugging along in one form or another. But yeah, anyway, it's, uh, it's good material. It certainly does.

Good stories to tell my daughter. Yeah, it certainly lends to that, uh, the traveling, uh, musician lifestyle. You know, you can definitely feed from that on the music. And kind of in one of the more extreme, one of the more extreme. Because we definitely, um, we ran into a lot of bands on the way down there because it was during South by Southwest.

Yeah. And, um, Out of six bands that we talked to that all had 15 passenger vans with four members traveling in them with all of their equipment in the trailer on the back of the van, none of those bands would give us a ride. Nice. They're like, there's suitcases in the back of the van. You guys are shady looking.

We don't want you on our bus. We've got a fancy bus and we want to keep it that way. We have some rules as far as how many patches you can have on your jacket. Sorry. You don't smell good.

So, sorry. But, you know, here's our email address. Sign up for our newsletter. And I guess hit us up when you get down to South By and we'll hang out. I don't want to hang out with you douchebags.

After you've blown us off and not given us a ride and left us stranded, yeah, I really want to hang out next time I get down there. So, yeah, but we made it back. The car made it back. My cousin kind of hated me most of the trip. He went down with me.

He was all stoked on some Kerouac and gotten all hopped up on Kerouac before we left. Yeah, this is kind of some of those stories. Crazy Kerouac stories. He wasn't so stoked on Kerouac. It's fun when you're reading it.

It's not so fun when you're living it. But, yes, we made it back, and now it's back to, you know, the grind. You continually, and have for a while. I mean, the band itself has changed over the years now. Oh, yeah.

Are you still multiple members now? My favorite part is you continually refer to yourself as a group. We continue to lose members every day. When most of the time I see you, you're there by yourself. And it makes me feel good because I do that now.

Like, I don't even think about it. It's like, we're doing this. And usually I'm the only one sitting there. I'm the only one, like, talking about something. And I talk about the show and the cast, as it were, half of which probably don't want to be doing whatever it is I'm talking about doing.

So I don't feel as bad when I feel like you also suffer from this group mentality. Yeah, and I'm also open to having members show up and play a set with me and, you know, just on their availability. Obviously, that's what I'm doing, too. Yeah. That's how I keep roping guys like you into this.

We're an open group, and, you know, come on, sit in with us. You know, I'm actually in the process of... I've got a bunch of different musical recordings I'm working on. I've got a gospel series that I'm putting out. Nice.

And that's all cassette singles that are released through a kind of weird, experimental, mostly metal label in my hometown. That's more annoying. Would you finish breaking into that car so we can continue on? So I'm working on this gospel series. It's a tape-by-tape.

It starts out with just me in the studio with my regular setup, and then it builds every single tape. It's going to be six tapes when it's done. Seven tapes, actually. The sixth will be cassette singles. The seventh will be a full length with full orchestration.

So we'll have choir on it. We'll have full horn section, organ. We may even have a preacher in there. breathing heavily into a microphone nice um. Is it all stuff you order directly from you guys or i'm just in in this uh era of itunes and nothing but digital download this is kind of cool as a retro uh return to physical music. Yeah no and the um as as long as we have we have we're releasing limited run um of the cassettes and uh it's like they're they're limited to 50 50 copies for each single.

And then. There's a word that hasn't been used in a long time. Once those are sold out, those albums are available for free download on RS Apothecary's website, which is... If you want to check out some of the stuff, some of the stuff they do is pretty epic. They've got a lot of these kind of soundscape recordings and just a lot of experimental stuff.

They just released an 8-track for one of the bands... that's on the label, which honestly, like I, I, I may or may not have taken a post-it note into the record store and, uh, posted on the eight tracks written. This is silly. It was absolutely silly. Um, they have recordings that is, it's just a clip of, it's a tape. It's audio tape that's been snipped off at the ends of the recordings and rolled up and put into little vials with some sand and you buy the vial and it just it just sits on your shelf if there's no real way to listen to it you know there's there's audio on it because they wouldn't lie about that.

But collectability yeah and novelty. And of course it's they make two copies well limited edition real limited but anyway that's so I got that gospel project going on I'm working on a tribute to the empires which is going to be released on um plastic picnic plates apparently or some kind of duck plate i don't know the dude tried to explain it to me yesterday i didn't really understand but i was like yep sounds good sign me up so it's a tribute to the empires it's the empires tributing the empire okay. So you are involved in the band's playing or is there anyone else playing it's just you tributing yourself. No this is me tributing this is The Empires. Tributing The Empires.

Nice. Which was a, it was a doo-wop group back in the 1950s. Okay. That clears it up a little bit. They put work in, and they didn't really get the recognition they should have.

They put a lot of work in. They released more 7-inches than any other doo-wop group out there. Wow. And never got any credibility for it, because they weren't the Cadillacs. Is that why you're hyphenated?

Yeah. Because you couldn't be with T-H-E. In case you aren't unaware, it's T-H apostrophe. so you're apostrophized as the empires without that extra E in the middle. I believe Nouveau Nouveau magazine in Indianapolis their only comment on an upcoming show that we had was something about our oddly truncated name. I actually liked it because I hadn't really seen that.

Before well uh Shack Shakers used to do that oh that's true yeah they used to be the legendary Shack Shakers and I've seen I've seen a couple others I don't know right off hand but uh yeah so there's that coming out um I'm working on another EP which will actually be with a full band with Upright Bass um some uh some pretty crazy rhythms I mean wild wow wacky A lot of South American influence. Nice. And some polka. Who knows? Yeah, so that's what's going on over in our world.

The past two recordings that I've done are actually available right now for free download or donation if the downloader. Feels that they should. Decides that they've. They can spend money on anything other than booze. I'm not saying that our listeners are alcoholics, but a lot of them are.

You said that. Let's see. Yeah, the two albums are available. It's at www.theempires.com. It's T-H-Empires.

Don't double E. No, no double E's. You don't want to go to that website. Lord only knows what you get on there. Oh, man.

I guess to bring it back around, have you watched any weird movies lately? Interesting, good? That's about all I watch. I just actually just finished Naked Lunch. Yeah, that certainly qualifies.

Yeah, and what was strange, real life, there's always real life events. I don't know if it's just that I'm taking notice of them because... Just got done watching a movie about bugs. About drugs and bugs. But I was getting attacked last night by large insects.

There were a lot of insect guts all over the place. Who were working on an old manual typewriter? No, there weren't any typewriters involved last night, but, you know, a lot of oddly sexual insects. Nice. Just attacking me left and right.

Oh, man. Yeah, last night was kind of It was a little gory. Let's see. Other. Oh, my favorite recently that I recently watched was Enter the Void, which I don't know if you guys have seen that one.

I think which one is that one? Is that the. It's Gaspar Nob. I know the title. I think I'm mixing it up with a couple different ones.

It's real fucked up. Yeah. It's basically... Well, it's shot from. The narrator's vision.

At first I thought it was a shaky cam. It was like a high quality shaky cam. And then I realized that the camera was blinking. And I was like, ah, okay. I like this.

And then it just gets crazy. It just gets crazy. Drug induced craziness. A lot of it is him floating over this like acid version of the club version of tokyo um a lot of flashing lights and uh two and a half hours long. Nice maybe that's why i haven't gotten to this one yet.

A lot of strippers a lot of colors strippers flashing colors two and a half hours that'd be some really good strippers for two and a half hours yeah you know it's off and on he floats his spirit floats through walls Into strip clubs, out of strip clubs. This sounds very arty. Yeah, it's good. It's good stuff. Well, this week we're watching Thunder Road.

Have you ever seen Thunder Road? Oh, yeah. What is your take on it? It's a classic. Robert Mitchum, right?

Yeah. Yeah, I saw that a long time ago, and I was actually really impressed. A lot of those old movies are pretty high quality. Yeah, I mean, it was back when they didn't, like, just half-ass things. Like, if they were going to do it, I mean, sometimes there's little weak points here and there.

Acting on occasion, but we'll get to it later. But, I mean, you know, like, especially then when a studio was behind it, that they were putting, you know, pretty top-notch people on it. So when you watch, like, those car wrecks and, you know, you're watching the chase scenes and stuff, it's like that was, especially for the time, was really impressive. It's a good subject matter, too. Yeah.

Because it was, like, it was based on real shit. That happened. Yeah, everything was. And real, like, some real good, real good shit going on. And it was, yeah, I mean, it really was a huge chunk of American history there where you had dealing with Prohibition, you had dealing with people, you know, making their own booze and running it, and then how the authorities get involved and how the organized.

Crime end of it came about. So there's a lot of things going on there, probably, like, a few of them that they just sort of graze. That are pretty huge... pieces of history that were real. Well, just the transportation. Yeah.

The transportation of the booze in these cars. They said they used to use trucks a lot. I mean, of course, for the movie, they were running, like, these hot rods and stuff. Souped-up cars. Yeah.

Which they would. They'd run some pretty souped-up trucks. Some of which were real, because, yeah, I think they said they bought some of those cars from drivers, like, from the actual drivers, and then they used that money to buy new and better cars. Well, and the entire thing started NASCAR. Yeah.

Yeah, it is. Like, if we didn't have Moonshine running and these, like, hopped-up farm vehicles, we wouldn't have NASCAR. Yeah. Because, and a lot of those dudes, I can't remember the one guy's name, like, Junior Johnny Johnson. Yeah.

That sounds like everybody in NASCAR. Junior Johnson or something like that. He, uh, that dude, if you see some like old, some old photos of him, like you'd believe he's a moonshine runner. Yeah. Like sitting there.

Um, I mean he'd race in Daytona, which was, which was a track on the beach. It was, it was sand. Um, or they'd have sections of it that would go out onto the beach and you'd actually be running like real cars, not these like plastic, um, bulletin boards. One big piece of car. Yeah.

Um, and the crashes were real, like these guys died. Yeah. And because of that, most of the guys that were racing were just completely off their rocker, like just crazy hillbillies. I mean, they'd smoke cigars while they were racing. As Mitchum does.

He's got the cigarette going just about the entire time he's driving. Helmets. Weren't really necessary. Hell no. Because, you know, if you crashed, you were going to die.

If you're Robert Mitchum, you're so badass, nothing can break your skull. Oh, he sings the song, too. Yeah, yeah. I think we'll go out on that, actually. Thunder Road.

All right, well, we will take a break here, and when we come back, we will go into this week's feature, Thunder Road, and we'll actually be in a makeshift studio, and we'll have a few extra members thrown in for this week's rundown. So we'll get a different take on Thunder Road. We'll be back. Please remember to replace the speaker on the post when you leave the theater. What's up?

It's Brian again. Just here to tell you it's coming up on one of our favorite times of year here at Movie Meltdown. It's coming up on the Fright Night Film Fest. This will be the seventh annual Fright Night Film Fest. But not only that.

This year also kicks off Fandom Fest. an entire second convention. Of geek and pop culture. But wait, you get both awesome shows for the same low price. Now this is no longer just a convention that caters to horror geeks, but it crosses over into a whole new realm where fantasy and sci-fi lovers, as well as comic book collectors, general film lovers, can hang out with gamers, authors, and artists of all types. It's like Geek Valhalla, only you don't have to die to get there, you just have to get your tickets now.

Now the main guest... The legend himself, director John Carpenter. Amazing. One of the most influential directors of our time. Not only that, this list of guests goes on.

We've got the Fonz himself, Henry Winkler. That is so awesome. Also, Margot Kidder, Tiffany Shephus, Larry Drake, Jeremy Bullock. Tony Moore and the Stars of The Walking Dead. The Stars of Enter the Dragon.

Bruce Lee not included. A Karate Kid Cobra Kai reunion. And give us a Revenge of the Nerds reunion. Seriously. Featuring Robert Carradine, Larry B.

Scott, Curtis Armstrong, and if booger bean there wasn't enough, Donald Gibb. Ogre, ladies and gentlemen, will be there. There's so many others. I mean, the stars of American Graffiti, Jaws, Phantasm, so many other stars. You'll just have to go look at the list.

It's ridiculous how many stars are there. Plus, again, we cross over into all the other activities that are added this year. You know, you've got Literary guests and gaming guests and artists. There'll be seminars and workshops going on. Movies the entire weekend.

Live music, a masquerade ball. And the now infamous Georgetown Drive-In event. Plus an appearance from your friends at Movie Meltdown. And isn't that really the most impressive thing? And it's all going on July 22nd through the 24th in Louisville, Kentucky.

So get your tickets now. You can go to FrightNightFilmFest.com or the site for the new convention, Fandom Fest. That's F-A-N-D-O-M-F-E-S-T dot com. It's going to be one hell of a weekend. The Fright Night Film Fest is my favorite film festival, hands down.

Welcome to a night. Of total terror. That's Mickey Mouse's penis. I knew it was that terrible. They don't look to be afraid.

They look to be shocked. Here's vagina. Did you see Miley Cyrus' globulous breasts? Night of the Living Podcast. I found more syrup on my pants.

There was, however, a guy using. An experience in shock more shattering than your strangest. Nightmare night of the living podcast. Ass to mouth is hot Fantastic. Holy shit!

That just happened. What's that bad man doing to my donkey? A night of total terror. I can't maintain this level of ridiculousness. They made a song.

Night of the Living Podcast. It's time for Sofa Theater. Each year, the millions of gallons of illegal whiskey manufactured in the southeastern United States represents millions of dollars in taxes lost to the American people. The AMTTU, in their continuing service to their country, have within one year captured over 10,000 stills and impounded over 3,000 of the powerful vehicles which are used by the transporters. Those wild and reckless men who transport illegal whiskey from its source to its point of distribution.

This is the story of a transporter and his opposite number, an agent of the U.S. Treasury. We got one last chance to make it real. To trade in these wings on some wheels. Climbing back in.

Alright, so we are back. To do another round of Sofa Theater. We've escaped the parking lot for a minute or two and assembled our own gang of bikers and hot rodders to talk about this week's movie. So once again, for the rundown of our own Roughneck crew here, once again, I'm Brian. I'm Marlena.

I'm Greg. I'm Frederick, Luke, and Laura Miller. I'm Lacey. So we're back for this week's Sofa Theater feature, which of course is Thunder Road. The year is 1958, director Arthur Ripley.

The plot, according to IMDb, a veteran comes home from the Korean War to the mountains and takes over the family moonshining business. He has to battle big city gangsters who are trying to take over the business and the police who are trying to put him in prison. All right. So with that, a big spoiler alert, because I'm sure, as usual, we will run the hell out of this movie. So go watch it.

It is available on DVD online. or anywhere else out there in the world, you run across it. So, go watch yourself a version of Thunder Road. All right, where would you guys like to begin? Well, I think it's one of those characters like a vampire, in a way. It's a romantic character because he is what he does.

He so identifies with being a bootlegger. And it has that vampire quality, too, because he has a younger brother who is his mechanic, No, he doesn't want his brother to ever become a bootlegger. And it's romantic because I think for people who, you know, they are the way they are, and maybe they're not especially successful at what it is, but they still, they cling to that. They are, for better or worse, they are what they are. And so I think it romanticizes this guy who is basically doing what...

I'm not an expert on it, but I believe NASCAR evolved. Out of this as a sport. And for, you know, for like mountain guys who, you know, are not suited for basketball or football, that's the sport, you know. Yeah, and it's a big deal to a lot of people. I don't know anything about it, but I think there's a romance to it, and it's a kind of, Well, you know, it's an anti-hero, a romantic anti-hero.

That's an interesting way to look at it. Yeah, I don't think I've thought of it, but it definitely works up the romanticized version of it because you see definitely one of the two, I mean, there's one woman involved that is, just completely enamored with this guy for no reason really i mean he's yeah that's why i mean yeah it's it's there's not really anything he's offering uh that this other guy isn't and and this guy's stepping up and wants to and you know our main character could care less about her really. But she is completely no i mean he she is completely and totally like in love with this guy for no real reason so i think some of it is that allure of the job if you want to call it that but mostly the lifestyle that he has that is how he exists and she's totally bought into.

It that's going off of Fred's theme that is the key to romance is. The most romantic moment in a movie or the most romantic woman is the love that cannot happen they play that up all the time when two lovers can't be together that's more romantic than them being. Together It usually... I mean, that becomes the more. The literary device of it.

Yeah, there's more drama there to play up than if they get together. Well, okay, the story, you know, there's nothing else to go with. It's just them skipping through a field. When he returns, he can't be the city guy. And he can't be with the girl back home.

Because he knows he's torn between. And I think this might sound too literary, you know, but. I think this movie, for me, I wasn't expecting a movie. I was expecting a car movie. I wasn't expecting the plight of the South, and especially the Tennessee-Kentucky South, of really still hanging on to that post-Civil War, what do we do now?

And the industrialization, the North coming in, the Treasury guys, the mob, Which, that is, you know, the Chicago mob is coming down to Memphis to enforce, and it's again, the Yankees are coming in and they're tearing our way of life out. Of the hills again. Yeah, and that's all based in reality. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, the main character that Mitchum is based on was loosely based on the story that has been passed along to Mitchum.

Yeah. And he set that up, but also the mob coming into Memphis was based on what was really going on at that point in time. So, I mean, it's all based in a world that kind of really existed. I just spent a weekend working in. The hills of southeastern Kentucky and seeing myself.

That we were working on homes for people and to see. And hear the stories of what the outsiders, the coal companies, have gone in and done. It's just like what this movie is. It's people coming in, forcing their way in, exploiting, not caring about the people and not caring about what they're doing and telling them how to live their life. And the people are left with what now?

What next? Our lives are, we have no choice. We're strong-armed into it not being the same again. And I wasn't ready for that when I saw this movie. Again, I was expecting a car movie.

It appears that this fella, Kogan, is out to put. Us in his pocket. No matter how rough he has to make it. And the revenue, boys, are tightening up. Now, I want some opinions as to what we.

Ought to do. What does Luke think is the best thing to do? He'd fight Kogan till hell freezes over. How should we go about it? Well, Luke and me has discussed it a good bit.

We'd start by rechecking every man who's hauling or making moon in this valley, including still men, watchers, walkers, and catchers. And when we were absolutely sure of our men, we'd move every still to a scared location, buy new transporter cars all around. And the last thing, we'd have the drivers change their road approach to every delivery point, carry automatic weapons in every car. That in itself is a violation, but Mr. Cogan intends to shoot us off the road if he has to.

Now, it seems to me you're You're going to have to come to this eventually. Yeah, I was going to say that's what I was surprised by this and kind of impressed with was the fact that I expected, you know, I kind of knew that's what it was about, but I also knew that, you know, what most movies do, and specifically this is, you know, a pretty Hollywood-made movie, and in the 50s, they're probably going to dumb down all these characters and they're going to play down the dumb people from the South, and it's a stereotype that exists now. Granted, there's a lot of people that really are. I think we've come in contact with many over the years. So we know it's based on real people, but it becomes a big stereotype that is thrown around, especially from people that don't come from that part of the world.

So, I mean, it's very easy to just make them, you know, paint the picture of these dumb Southern people and this little, you know, racket they have going on. But what I think what this did was it did at least make them all real characters. I mean, you look at, like, Mitchum's father... and they have that little meeting, the business meeting of illegal business, basically, but they all get together from that whole part of the country, and they're just kind of like, okay, what do we do now? And none of them, I mean, they were all simple people, but none of them were stupid, and they didn't play down, they didn't dumb down any of that. It's like they were just real people.

I was kind of impressed with that. It was kind of, and nobody seemed, other than the couple of yokels who flattened their tire, they were idiots. Right. And they were kind of creepy. Yeah.

And that was a shocking moment, too. Yeah. Because it didn't seem patronizing at all before that. Yeah. And then all of a sudden that moment, there's like, oh, these are the hayseeds that I thought would populate the film.

I thought that was going to be everybody. Right. So they threw that in. But other than that, it's like. Aside from the one that has the chewing tobacco.

In his mouth... But even then, it's like once he spits it out, he talks like a normal person, more or less. I mean, they're backwits people, but it didn't make them as dumb as I expected a Hollywood movie, especially a Hollywood movie in the 50s, to kind of play down to this type of people. It's not really just the South, but it's the Appalachian South. There's something about the character there.

And part of it, too, is the politeness, which I don't really think is just the period of the film. No, it's not. But that's actually something about Appalachian culture. Even amongst their enemies, there's this kind of odd restraint. And it's something that persists even...

Well, I'm no expert on Appalachian culture, but my dad was. My dad grew up right there, where that movie. Lester, North Carolina, which is close... to Asheville. And he knew pretty much everything you could know about Appalachian culture. But it does remind me of him and his family and how, in a way, although they're isolated up until the world encroaches on them, but then they also just sort of feel at home anywhere because they're so themselves.

Yeah. They're just so who they are. Like my aunt is married to a guy who's like the CFO of the Biltmore Estate. And so one time we had like a family reunion on the Biltmore Estate, which was, you know, my dad who's like a PhD and his next younger brother who never graduated fourth grade. But they're all just, you know, who they are.

So I was kind of surprised how vivid because I don't think he really knew. He wasn't from Appalachia. He didn't have any background. I think he was. From New York, wasn't he, Mitchum?

I can double-check. But it seemed like they had a credible style and feel that surprised me. Well, yeah, Mitchum did, and the father and the mother. I thought his son did, too. His son could have been my cousin.

That was his brother. Wasn't it? No, it's actually his son. His son's playing his brother. I assumed it was his brother.

I did too. He couldn't act his way out of the box. But he came off like a kid in that kind of town, really. He wasn't a great actor, but I bought him as that character. It's a fine line.

Except for the scenes they clearly had to reshoot because he was so horrible. Actually, the scene I. Really liked him in was when he was talking to the revenuer, and he just stood there with that blank look on his face, which... Maybe because he couldn't act, but I'm telling you, that's true. That's just true.

Did you notice when he was staring blankly at you that it was a painted background. At that moment? Uh-huh. Okay. There are a lot of painted.

And they cut back, and they're back at the schoolyard. Yeah. My friend that I was with, he was like, how cheap were. scene painters back then. It was somehow cheaper than just going back to that yard. I think it's because they had to take him into a confined area and say, read these lines, don't move, don't.

It was bad. I think he struggled. There was one scene when he comes into the cabin and he's talking to Mitchum and It's like he's supposed to be looking almost directly at the camera, maybe a little low, but he's looking down. And at one point, you can see his eyes. He's reading.

And I'm like, this is really bad. That's when it helps to have somebody in the business get you a job. I swear he was reading the word pause. At one point, I was like, he just mouthed the word pause. Pause.

It's a very primitive movie in a lot of ways, but effective, too. I mean, the storytelling, it's so funny now to have that community-spirited introduction. Like they had in, what was it, The Wild One? These are actual games that rove. And how at the end they make sure to thank the authorities.

Thank you, government. Yes, thank you, government. It's almost like it's a school safety film. It kind of is. Because they don't want.

To seem like they're exploiting something. It kind of was in its own way. Well, it's funny. When you were talking about it not really being specifically of that time and finding that common ground, when you said that, what it reminded me of was Winter's Bone, which takes place in modern times, but you had that same little isolated group of people all kind of corrupt and doing their own thing, and then you have them also being completely cordial to each other right before they beat the hell out of you or possibly kill you. I thought about that, too.

Yeah, it's like... So, I mean, I don't think it has to be based in this time period. I think even now, in that same... And that's a little further down in the country where it's supposed to be, but, I mean, it's still... It's that same society of we take care of our own, good or bad.

We handle things our own way, you know? And that's what this... Little society seems like it was. And I think that's specific to the mountains. Yeah.

I think once you get into the flatlands, no, you don't find that. Or further out west, it becomes a very different culture. And Robert Mitchum was from Connecticut. Connecticut. But it looks like he moved around a lot.

At some point he's in New York, but then at some point he's down south. So, I mean, yeah, he seems like he did have a troubled youth, but... He's definitely the best actor in the movie. In his family in the movie? What's that?

In his family in the movie. Just in the movie in general. He almost looked a couple of times like he was smiling at how he was just playing. With people, almost. That he was, I am so good at this.

Which fit the role because he was supposed to be the guy that got out that he's seen the world, he's... He knows. What a mobile is. Right. Oh, that was so touching.

It's my favorite cinematic moment ever. I don't know what a mobile is. Yeah. And then there's, like, that insert of... I don't know if we're reaching each other.

I'm going to watch him now. He really is sophisticated, yeah. I liked at the very beginning um just some some elements actual of the film when um title screen he's dried or the He's driving, and it says Robert Mitchum, and right then he lights the cigarette, and he moves the flame over. So you can see his full face. The first time you see his, right when his face, right when his name's up there, it's.

They knew who to showcase. In this movie. Right, but you can almost see his ego just pouring through. Yeah. I mean, this is a Mitchum production.

I mean, think about it. Not only is it starring him, the story is by him. It's produced by him. He wrote the song, for God's sakes. I mean, it is nothing but his idea followed through, and oh yeah, at the center of it, it's going to be me.

I didn't realize he wrote the song. Yeah, he wrote both of them. He wrote the one that opens it. He didn't sing it. In the movie, but he did have a version.

Of it that was out. That's because I mean that's such a popular like god I can't tell you when I was growing up how many different versions. Of that song there's a lot of them out there but then like the Whippoorwill song is also like a very like sweet love song so are you talking about the one in the both of them he wrote or co-wrote yeah the club he wrote wrote or co-wrote depending on what you see both of those so I mean it's like the first one I can understand the ballad one is very you know just telling the story of the movie but the love song is like a really nice love song. So to imagine Robert Mitchum, badass that he is, writing this legitimately good love song is kind of weird, actually.

I just, I don't think I realized how involved in music he was. And now going back and see, I mean, he put out albums. He had a whole other career that was musically oriented, which is kind of weird. I'm not sure if it fits him. He does a good job on these songs, but then going back and looking, this was also the era of Calypso, right?

So his delivery is more of like Dean Martin, but sometimes it's in the middle of a Harry Belafonte song. So there's some odd songs of his out there if you go looking for them. Yeah, I didn't know about some of his musical endeavors. I'm going to have to. Did you notice every time.

They show the stills, you can hear a whippoorwill in the background? Yeah. Doing its song. And that's the only time, I believe it's the only time in the movie that you can hear that. But I was like, and that was even before I saw the song in the, in the, in the club scene.

Yeah. And, and, it's, they pour it on kind of thick. Yeah. It's, it's nice. It's subtle enough that, I guess you balance out all the other stuff.

I mean, you're like rolling cars and blowing shit up. So I guess to balance it out with some sort of nice touch to it, a sentimental moment here and there, I guess you balance it out a little bit. It has a song-like quality as a story. It's like a story that you would expect to have been. Because it doesn't really have a lot of things that a story could have, but you kind of can see it in retrospect as something that a song would remember.

I mean, yeah, that's how he builds that story, that is the ballad of. And it really is one of those, you know, you got three verses and you tell the whole little story and you're done. And that's kind of how this goes. It's a simple story. Yeah, like songs about Billy the Kid or Bonnie and Clyde or something like that.

And there's a chorus that's... this will be my last job. This will be my last job. This is my last job and then I'm out. Which is, it definitely transitions when he starts to say that, this is now a film noir. And we're going to stick with that and we're going to go down that path and we're going to.

You know, we're going to, this is my last out and from here on out, and you know at that point, I'm going to spoil the crap out of this, you know he's going to die. I was like, because what happened with me is, on the version I had, the last four and a half minutes, we're gone. I couldn't see him. And so I said to Brian, I said, so when I got here, I watched the last four and a half minutes. But I said to him, I go, kind of know how it ends.

I already know where it's going. I was actually. Kind of surprised by how sort of anticlimactic it was, too. I thought it was going to be a big spectacular and there was just like leading, leading, leading. Okay, stop.

Well, I mean, they set it up that way, too. It's just like there's all these, I'm not going to get into it because we haven't. Reached that point, but you know, they set it up like. It's going to, this is going to be amazing! And then it's just kind of like, kind of like a dud sparkler, you know?

Aw, that was weird. Actually, no, it's the cones that when they light it, it starts to fizzle. It's the cones that always make. It. We expect sparklers to suck.

I guess if you want to wait until the end and do a whole wrap-up on the end. But some of the stuff between now and then, this was something that... Almost, and again, this has nothing to do with the movie itself. Sometimes you bring a lot to the movie, so it's just you, like what you, again, like we were saying last time out, sometimes you just go in with your own personal agenda of problems, and you're just like, no, no, and you can't accept it. I'm sitting there the whole time going, okay, wait, he just got back from the war.

How old is this guy? Because from day one, I'm just like, Okay, Robert Mitchum is the kind of guy who I'm pretty sure was born about 40. I mean, he always looks old. That's his thing. And it works for him.

He had a double chin. Yeah, I mean, I'm not knocking him. It works for him. But at the same time, I'm just sitting there doing the math. I'm like... okay, now wait, Korea isn't...

I mean, this role could have been played by somebody like 25. I mean, if he'd been a stint in Korea and came back, it'd sound like he'd only been back for maybe a year or two. So it's like, he could have been... Even looking back, it's like, they weren't as young as Vietnam, but even then, like World War II and later, the soldiers were only 25, 26. So it's like, he should have been under 30 more than likely.

Yeah, I kept thinking that throughout the movie. I'm like, well, his. brother yeah you. Know it's just like did your mom wait like 20 years. Sometimes that happens it does sometimes. You slip one in the goal but how long does it.

Take to find out what a mogul is i. Had to travel the world for 20 years before i came back So, yeah, and I double-checked, and, yeah, I'd say at least at the time of shooting, he was probably 40 years old. Right. And, really, he looks a little older than that. He does.

He looks like he's 50. Yeah, he could be pushing 50. So, yeah, and Korea didn't last that long, so he couldn't have been there for, like, years. So, did his single girlfriend, did she. Go to the war, too?

Again, I'm not an unkind person. Again, one of us was going to have to say it, because... At first, I was just like, well, she's original looking. I thought, like, you know what I thought about her? I'm like, oh, she looks like she's left over from the 30s.

Kind of, yeah. I can see that. I guess the thing that bothered me, like, she was not so disturbing looking, but she had this curl in her lip. She had huge teeth. I was like, what is that about?

What did she keep? Is it like, is she trying to do an Elvis thing? She was ahead of her time. Has she got allergies? It may have just been she wasn't specifically an actress.

It's Keely Smith, and yeah, she's a performer. I guess that's why he brought her in to do that song, because that's what she was known for. She used to play with Louis Prima and eventually married the guy. So, I mean, that was more of her area. I think she only did about three movies and a couple of TV appearances.

So, I mean, really, acting wasn't her passion, I suppose. So maybe that shows through a little. Yeah, she wasn't really passionate in this either, which is odd considering she's the other half of this relationship. That seems a little bit like kind of an Appalachian thing. In the 60s, there were all those, like, folk singers who, like, were interested in the old ballads that came over and how they'd been preserved in Appalachia.

And they all had this, like, embarrassment. They didn't know how to be on stage. You know? And they would come out and they would, like, introduce a song by telling the whole story of what the song was. And you expect, are they going to start singing in German or what?

And they'd start singing it and it tells you exactly what they just told you. Like, They didn't really need the explanation for it. They R. Kelly'd it. Yes, they did.

When I think traditional. Folk music, I think R. Kelly. Do you now? I mean, where do you think R.

Kelly got his roots? I don't know what to do. Two episodes that we need to start. I wish somebody could present the driving gestures. Right, right.

Well okay yeah basically any if you're if you're like five years old and you're pretending to drive and you've never actually driven a car and you pretend you start doing the hand and yeah for some reason hollywood picked that up and for years and sometimes even now they they do a whole lot of hand motion yeah. I just think like are you driving up a rocky mountain like why why why are you over correct your. Constantly. So much. Back and forth.

Yeah, I don't even drive a go-kart that crazy. Like, why? I don't drive bumper cars like that. Why are you all over the place? But, you know, in the last season of the TV show Roseanne, when they apparently fired all the riders, and they were just making the episodes up as they were going along.

There was one when she was driving around town eating fast food, and she drove exactly the same way. It's like we had come... There had been no development. No. No progress.

Well, maybe she thought, I'm going to drive like Robert Mitch. I think she probably did. Nobody's cooler than Robert Mitch. So. I guess on this, we at some point should address the cars.

It is still very car-heavy. It is car. You can definitely see why the car crowd has attached themselves to this movie. I don't know. I think at least it's interesting in the fact that this is like back when they weren't doing car chases in movies.

I mean, other than the silly old ones where cars would fall off. Of buildings and stuff. But outside of those old Ridiculous car chase. This was one of the first ones that sort of took it seriously and worked that in and had a few really well put together. At least like sometimes you have to give them credit where it's like they can barely roll a car like that now.

Those were pretty cool. Those were impressive. Yeah, and they were life-size, too. Yeah, they were actually rolling a car. Yeah.

It wasn't miniatures. It wasn't blue screen or green screen. It was, yeah, they were rolling a car. I wondered about that. I'm like, I mean, I'm sure they didn't have, like, an unlimited supply of cars, and it was just so, like, perfect.

They did a good job on that. They did a good job, yeah. Yeah. Well, the one thing I. Heard that gave us sense of the budget was originally he had wanted Elvis to play his brother.

Yeah. But. The Colonel wanted so. Much money that it was more than the budget for the whole movie. That would have been a great movie.

Again, that early on in Elvis' career, yeah, he still kind of wanted to do real acting. So, I mean, you look at his first couple of roles and he's trying and later he's phoning it in because he realized they were just going to give him these movies that that's all you have to do. Stand there with a guitar, sing your song. But you look at his first movie, he was really still trying to act and that's around the same time. So I think this is This would have been interesting, and we wouldn't have had his son end.

Up in it. So it would have changed the dynamic of the movie quite a bit, I think. But yeah, the colonel, and he was supposedly interested. He actually wanted to do it, and the colonel said no. That would be it.

I'm pretty sure there's a ride at Dollywood called Thunder Road. I love that movie. Just a side note. It has nothing to do with this movie. I'm not sure all this would have worked.

It seems like he would have sucked all the charisma. I mean, like, Robert Mitchum seemed to sort of surround himself. We've been discussing people who are maybe less talented and less actively active than himself. And there was something kind of about it that that work i mean it was so stiff and primitive in a way but you know sometimes things that are primitive have a kind of power that more sophisticated things don't. Have yeah i think it can tap into the basics a little easier it's not distracted by all the other stuff i think it would have changed the dynamic with all this in it it definitely would have taken a little of the shine off of mitchum but at the same time it could have balanced it it could have made him that that darker, cooler version where Elvis was still just kind of the kid at home.

He hopefully would have done just a better acting job, but yeah, he definitely would have stole a little of the spotlight. Yeah, if Elvis was in the room, I. Can't imagine Roxanna's loyalty being that tried and true to Elder. You're right. Yeah, but it would have felt right, that weird tableau at the end.

They just do that. How long did they stand there? No, no, I kept going. That's what I'm saying. It's so primitive about it.

It's almost like there should be a ballet going on around them. They just stand there. I wasn't sure what was going on. I was like, is the movie over now? No way, it's still going.

They should do that cry thing again. Oh, God. I don't know. It could have ended there. with the car wreck. It didn't even need, you know, it didn't even need that.

That was just, it seemed like. Gone with the wind. It kind of made it more confusing, too, because at that point, you're like, all right, well, Mitchum's dead. And then later, they do that pullback, and then somebody's walking, and I was like, wait, now are they trying to bring him back? But then you realize, it's not something...

They might have wanted a sequel. It almost, yeah, it's almost, well, that's the thing. At first, I was like, are they trying to pretend like he made it out of this now? So it almost makes it more confusing for a second, and then it gets more confusing because they just stand there forever. But, I just thought it was tied into what he wanted for his brother.

It was so important to him. That his brother wouldn't live this life that he lived. And it's part of the evil fantasy is that it has to end on some sort of renunciation of whatever naughtiness they're into. Well, at the time, you couldn't have let the lawless person... who was the Shine Runner, win. I don't think the girl was such a.

Big issue in movies at that time. It's like, who. Gets the girl? I don't think. Like, Hollywood's crime doesn't pay you well.

Yeah, I wonder if that was still factoring in. Well, and also, if. You change your ways, I don't know. Yeah, that's what I don't know. Is he still considered the bad guy?

I mean, granted, he's breaking the law, but if this entire movie is shifted towards... Everybody on the wrong side of the law is the good guys. How much does that make the gray area of what's right and wrong? I just, yeah, I think. But since it's sponsored by the government, they're probably not going to want him to look good at the end.

Right. He had to die and he had to say, what I'm doing is wrong and I don't want my brother doing it. Yeah. I think that's the only way. And they didn't get into the mob.

If they would have done that, it would have, you know, all of that. Wouldn't have flown at the time, I don't think. Probably not. As far as getting the movie made. Right.

As a story, it could have gone either way. But, yeah, getting the movie out there might have changed that stuff. Was it well-received? At the time, I think it was, actually. And then it's actually gotten more popular since then.

Right. It was. I think it did relatively well to begin with. But then they were saying... it automatically got picked up as time went on as your go-to hot rod kind of movie, and then it became the big performance for Mitchum, but at the same time, they said, Thunderdome continued to generate annual five- and six-figure ticket sales from drive-ins in the border and southern states for 25 years after its original release. That's what I thought was drive-ins.

I thought it would be the perfect drive-in movie. And they said that's why they... prolonged putting it out on videotape all the way into like the end of the 80s because it was still making so much money at drive-ins they didn't even want to give them the opportunity to watch it at home yeah which that's a big factor yeah the. Driving thing is a big deal there's uh author uh sharon macron her i think her most recent book is uh. St. Dale, about Dale Earnhardt.

And it's just such a big deal to her audience that she researched and became kind of an expert on NASCAR. That's all I know about it is from hearing some talk she gave on researching the book. And it's... got that kind of an audience that would keep a movie running. Like that yeah i mean they are dedicated i don't get the nascar thing but again i know people that are into that world i don't quite understand it but. Did talking about the cars did i don't know if anyone paid attention or not because i'm not a car guy but.

It seemed like because his was a His. Car was a Ford, right? 1954, they say in the movie, but I read the wiki, and it was like a 51. They modified the grille. People who know these things.

It's got like a 50 grille, but it's a 51 car. Yeah, I know, and I do the same thing with Star Wars. Geeks are geeks, no matter what the genre. But the Treasury guys had I think they had Chevys. Chevys.

And all of the runners had Fords. I think. I think that is true. And I think it was, I mean, that's, that's. In a way, I was thinking it was all Ford, and I was wondering if that's where the money was coming from.

But they worked in Chevys. I think the mafia guy drove a Honda Odyssey. I thought it was a Gremlin. Wait a minute. Right no i'm pretty i'm pretty sure all of the all of them had chevys and all.

It could be a yeah good versus bad which again that argument still goes on right in the uh in the car parking lot we're dealing with now i'm sure there are people arguing over which is better chevys and fords that argument will continually go on but what i thought was cool again i don't get the nascar end of it what i thought was cool and again is more of the dorky end of it is like the fact that this was pre-James Bond, but they were rigging these things with more gadgets. I mean, they'd had, oh, an oil slick. It had the detachable bumper was awesome. Like, I didn't even catch that at first. I was like, wait.

I guess at that point, and maybe that's based in reality, I guess the law at the time had a big hook that would come out and attach itself to the car so that it couldn't take off, and they had gotten so smart about it, they made a latch that would detach your bumper and you could take off and leave them. That was kind of genius. Well, the tank that was in, but the fact that he could dump it all with a button. Yeah, dump out all these. It's funny how I noticed, because when you're watching a movie from that period, You know, back then they used to do all these things to speed up the action.

Yeah. Like they'd have somebody dial a phone like, and they dialed it. Or they'd have somebody smoke, like you'd see Humphrey Bogart smoke a cigarette and go. And he's done. But it was odd because over some of those gadgets and things, they would linger on how slowly, He let the last little bit of alcohol out of that nozzle, and.

They spent time. So there's kind of a fetish quality. Kind of. Again, because that was all pretty new at that point, too. I mean, it's different now seeing tons of weird spy movies that do this kind of stuff.

But thinking about having never seen a car with an oil slick built into the back of it, It's different for me. I'm like, dude, it's like Spy Hunter. That's what I thought it would be. Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. But in, you know, 1958, I had to blow some kid's mind that's sitting in the theater like, whoa, you know, that you've never experienced that before.

That's kind of interesting to throw that out there like one of the first times. I was waiting for a smoke screen. Right. If you could pull up into a back of a semi... A big truck.

Install a missile launcher. Right. They were almost to that point. They were getting some pretty creative things on there. I wanted, like, the rim spikes.

Yeah, the rim spikes. Like some grease. That would happen. I think it would give them enough time. They were driving along side by side so they could, like.

Yeah, yeah. You know, in that scene, when he's driving side by side. Mitchum's still smoking, and he's, like, nonchalantly smoking. He's like. It just does, it takes a long draw and just kind of looks around.

And you know what. That reminded me of? Speaking of NASCAR, it's like in the Ricky Bobby movie when Borat is like reading Camus and drinking espresso. That's what it made me think of when I saw that. Because to me that was like one of the genius moments in that movie.

It was like, Was it The Stranger? I wasn't reading. I don't know. Yeah. Oh, man.

He was probably one of the better moments in that movie as Sacha Baron Cohen. Well, I liked that movie because I thought there was a lot of legitimate observation, especially parenting style. Because a lot of people, you know, they wonder, you know, they think kids are neglected and that's why they're turning out. The way they are. No, they're actually encouraged to be assholes by people who believe in being assholes.

And that movie captures that. You know, he's training them to be assholes. And that's true. That is what happens a lot of times. That's why there are so many assholes out there.

That's the only movie I've ever seen that came out and said it. It's like, yeah, people believe in being assholes and they teach their kids to be assholes. You leave them alone. Those kids might be okay. They're not naturally assholes.

You're Robin Doolin? Yeah, I reckon I am. So I'm a treasury agent. Troy Barrett. I'll call the back-up tax division.

I want to talk to you. I'd rather talk to a skunk. Oh, I wrote down a quote. I liked that he said, used to be what a man did on his own land was his business. But he said it.

It almost had, like, innuendo qualities when he said it. Like, I'm throwing a softball up there. You all are going to. Don't worry what I'm doing with my livestock. You stay on your own land.

Right. So it was an inside joke or something. Because he might have even paused before he said it. It was. Either that, or it was his attempt at being philosophical.

But I think there is an aspect of that in there, because the other thing that I wrote down, I mean, they do have that moment of They specifically say, basic rights of free men. And they really, there is a level. That's the philosophy. It's a very specific thing that they're like talking about, you know, people infringing upon, you know, what we can do, what we can. I mean, it was sort of that moment, especially in 58.

I guess they're dealing with this on a lot of levels in this country. But, I mean. Well, yeah, sure. There's still, I mean, you know, we think that's, you know, less than 100 years away from the Civil War. That's no time at all.

There were still people, you know, that. Their parents or grandparents told them stories about it at that time. You know, in the South, they're still holding on to that. They're always going to hold on, especially in those hollers down there in Appalachia. Stuff stays forever.

And so if somebody now from the North again is coming in and tell them they can't sell their chyme, this is a big problem or trying to muscle in as the mafia another northerner coming in yeah. It's that's exactly what this movie's about. Or even like the the political stance at that point you know of things going on around the world that you know we're getting ourselves involved in at that point so it's it's got a couple of different levels where it seems like it brings that up but it's yeah and they don't dwell on it they don't beat it to death but I like that it specifically says that. It bothers to stop and make that statement of, I don't know, that it's kind of going into a little deeper area there, that you might just think it's, you know, yokels out in the field somewhere, but that it sort of uses that as an example of more important things, almost.

Well, I mean, and then you've got to think, these are people, like we were saying earlier, that govern themselves by their own specific law, like their own mountain law, and the way they probably felt is like, who will Are these people that aren't a part of our town, aren't a part of our community, telling us what we can and can't do? State's rights. They're still dealing with that at that time. It's too deep for a car movie. Kind of.

Maybe that, I don't know. I don't know if people just sort of ignored that part because it seems like the way that it was latched onto is not on any of those levels. It's just the role in the cars and, you know, screw the man. What I wouldn't know is in 40 years. There are a lot of people who latch onto it, but it's the kind of thing that people can latch onto in the most amorphous ways to serve whatever purpose they want, and they do, because it's not a philosophy that.

Has to be coherent. It can be as drunk as it wants and doing whatever it wants to on its own land. There's no There's no coherence to it. And it's almost, it really doesn't have to be grown up. It's like a great teenage fantasy that you can just do whatever you want in isolation from the rest of society.

That's sort of what built this country. I mean, if you think about it, the old world, you know, we leave there because we want to do whatever we want. We'll get our own land and we'll do whatever we want. It sounds a lot like. What Nathaniel says in Last of the Mohicans.

Yeah. Not living by another man's leave. It's the same philosophical. Stance. Again, are we going to, 50 years from now, be debating the philosophy within Fast and Furious?

Potentially. You never know. There's got to be something there. I was just saying about it, though, that it becomes hypocritical when people really aren't off by themselves, and they really are having a significant impact on lots of people around them, and then they hold that up. It doesn't have to be a coherent philosophy.

That's what I meant by that. Yeah, when you govern yourself, you adjust the rules to fit whatever the hell you need them to fit. Yeah, people can use that in all sorts of ways. And bastardize it in the wrong ways on occasion, so... But, I mean, again, I think you can do that.

I mean, obviously, we've shown that on this show. We've dug way deeper into much worse movies than this and sometimes come out with themes and thoughts that I'm sure the filmmakers themselves didn't even think of. But sometimes, in retrospect, you can find things. Sometimes, as time goes on, maybe things they didn't even know about at the time are kind of working. Maybe things come into play that you can see and sort of decipher as time goes on.

So maybe there's something a lot deeper going on in Fast and the Furious than we know or realize right now. I don't know about that. We're a pretty deep group. If there's a hardening underlying message, we're going to find it. I follow the Bible. of Vin Diesel anyway.

So that's it. I'm siding with the rock. I just haven't seen it. I've seen the original one. I don't remember which one.

It came out when I was in high school, and I remember going to see it with my boyfriend at the time and his family. And, like, finishing watching it and thinking, like, was there a plot to that at all? No, there was a lot of cars driving. I don't remember if there was one. I mean, you know, I'm not a, I'm a relatively observant person.

But, you know, they had to explain the concept of the movie to me. I'm just like, there was no plot. And they're like, yeah, there was. He was like a cop. And I'm like, when did they reveal that?

Like, I just, I mean, it totally eluded me. You might just be asleep at that point. There is a plot to the first one, but the weasel does a pretty good job of. Tearing that plot apart. Well, like he does with most movies.

I like that. I tend to have help now because my wife always picks out the things that I would not notice or. Mean nothing to me. She'll ask random questions like, What. Kind of refrigerator is that?

I don't know. And then it'll turn out to be some pivotal thing. I don't know. I wouldn't have noticed. I guess I just, after all these years, I've given over a part of my brain that's responsible for something.

Because I know she'll keep track of that. But the one thing was like when he said, I know what a mogul is. We both looked at each other. It's like, okay. You got that?

I got that? Okay. That's true coupledom right there. Once you've just assigned half of the responsibility to somebody else, that's when you know you're doing it right. Yeah, so I guess the test case is if we sit down and watch The Fast and the Furious together, then she'll keep me on point about the plot.

The complicated plot. I'm sure the kind of car that they're. Driving, I'm sure, has a. Yeah. You know, as a major.

Well, she would. Know that because I have no sense of types of cars. If I was, like, asked by a cop, what were they driving? I don't know. He's blue.

Who knows that? Who knows? It baffles me when people can do that. I have no idea. Or dates and times I'm really bad on.

So, you know, when we were watching this movie, my wife was like, which. War is this? I was doing that, but for other reasons. Yeah. How old is this guy?

Is he in World War I? Yeah, I think we mentioned the wrong one. That sounds like 50s music. This doesn't seem right at all. All right.

Well, I just have to say he had a lot of money. I mean, I'd kill for $ 4, 000 now, let alone in 1958. And how much did he give her towards the end there? Was it? 10 000 or was it more i think he said 10 000 yeah so i left it on the table yeah here you go see you later she goes to.

The jukebox and turns around. There's 10 grand yeah and that's 1958 10 grand yeah. Which will buy you like a sprawling. Mansion like a state. That was like 200 grand now so yeah i mean that's the thing where i at that point i'm like okay this really is just like destined for bad.

I mean it i mean there's no way that he could not get out of this with that i mean it'd be different if like they were barely getting by i mean you look at their land it looks like you know they're broke but he's carrying around this much money who knows how much is buried in the backyard as they mentioned earlier so i'm just like his. Mom working so hard at ironing when he had 10. Grand in his But she refused to use his dream. Again, I can understand her, but I'm just like, as it gets worse and worse, and it gets to the situation where, okay, now they're almost to the point of shutting down everything in your entire county, and he's still, I mean, it's this portrait of a hard-headed man who's just like, nope, still going to keep doing it.

And I'm like, what the hell? It'd be different if you had to do this to live. But he had convinced himself he had to do it because he had no other options. Well, that's why I think it's like he's a vampire. Yeah.

It's like that's what he is. It's what he is. And I always think of the cab driver and taxi driver. When, you know, Travis Bickle is all worked up about some amorphous thing about the world. And he's talking to the other taxi drivers.

And one of them says, well, the way I look at it is you have a job. And that's what you do. In a way, that's what you are. And Travis is like, I don't know. I don't know.

Well, I'm just a taxi driver. I don't know what you're talking about. That's just my philosophy. But it is kind of like that. And that comes up in a lot of movies and plays, this idea of just committed identity.

And I have to say, personally, I don't relate to it at all. I would be. The guy who's like, I've got $ 10, 000. Screw it. I'm getting out of here.

I know what a mobile is. I know what the world. Is like out there. I'm going. I'm going to go buy a mansion filled with mobiles.

Did they ever address why he had to finish that last run? I kept sitting there the whole time going, why does he have this one more or one more? Everything is shut down on this end. Can't you just call these people and be like, well, tough luck, they took it all. Well, there'd be no movie without that.

In a way, it's a crude approximation of the tragic hero. That's what I'm thinking. It's almost got this operatic feel to it, where it's like, I'm going to finish this no matter what. Well, see, remember, he wasn't going to. They kind of pulled him back in.

He's still there. Hello, Colgan? Doolin. What's on your mind, Mr. Doolin?

You, you're on my mind. You finally made the big mistake tonight, Kogan. Niles Pennant was a mistake. Jethro Moultrie and Williams, that was a mistake. That was a big mistake, a bad mistake.

But tonight you made the big mistake. You put your dirty, fat hands on my kid brother. I swore I'd kill anybody that tried to make him a whiskey runner. I'm on my way into Memphis right now. And when I get there, you're gonna find out He.

Still kind of was. They just, like, they stepped it up a notch once they got his brother involved. And then he showed off what a badass he is. And granted, he is a badass in this movie. But the fact that not only is he going to go kill the guy who was messing with his brother, he calls him first to tell him.

He's getting $ 1. 25. Yeah. Which, that's a lot of money. Yeah, and again, I noticed how slow the scene was.

Mm-hmm. That's a lot of money. It's like they took their time. It's not like this, Jing Jing, hi. Which they did.

In movies at that time. And I was even thinking, they dialed more numbers than they probably needed at that point. Yeah, what was that? When they were making local calls, I was like, he was dialing a whole lot of numbers. I was like, don't you need four back then?

And all he had to do was get to the operator and tell him where he wanted it. But it was so deliberate. I forgot about that, but it's what made me think of the phone dialing thing. It was so deliberate. They took so much time with it.

And that reminds me of that idea of. The certainty of fate. There's some Kafka quote about no matter how fast the rabbit runs, the dogs are playing in the yard, but no matter how fast the rabbit runs. They will catch up. It's like it's a predetermined fate.

Yeah, and that's what it seems like. It does have that horrific opera feel to it, where it's like, you know where this is going. Especially in the first half, I don't think it was necessarily like that. It could have had a cheesy Hollywood happy ending. But by the time, like, the brother gets involved at the end there, you're like, no, there's no coming.

Back from this. Yeah, then there's about as much suspense as in Toontz's The Cat. You know where it's going. Man, they should have worked him into this. My friend that I saw, who should actually be here more than I am, he was the one making all the estate observations, but he said, he was like, I think the only real...

The question here is if Mitchum is actually going to be able to write himself out of this movie. And it's so ego-driven. The only mystery is whether he can in fact bring himself to kill himself. That's why the movie ended almost immediately. I'm done now.

Whatever. Roll the credits. They probably had to pull teeth to get him to end the movie with Roxanne and his brother. There's probably a lost reel. Probably where he walks out of the fire and beats the hell out of the cops they were like cgi in the brother's face right yeah maybe that's not what happened in 1958 but but yeah i think it definitely has that like you know that doom at that point where he really he's a man with a death wish at that point and people are like Don't go.

And she's badly crying. And do you want to make fun of her for a second? Oh, I got her crying. It was so terrible. It was not crying.

I just like how she throws her hands to her head. It's like this was like day one in acting school. Okay, now I'm out. And she just does this. Horrible crying.

Is this the scene with the wife? Yeah. I love that scene because. There's like a weird subtext going on in that scene where like the wife seems to think. That maybe she's having an affair with her husband.

And that's why she's there. And was okay with it? Are you pregnant or something? Like, I don't know. Understand what your beef.

Is like right here that was well and she was being so friendly to her I was like in a minute is she going to offer to make out with her like it was almost like a sexual text. To it maybe she runs a back alley abortion clinic I don't know the poor young girl. With her husband not pregnant what did I just hear. Yeah, there was a lot of weird stuff in that scene that, like, I don't know where it came from or what it was doing there. Yeah, I don't know.

Maybe, like, the actress decided she was just going to really go, like, that's her scene. I'm going to create a backstory. How weird is it to just show up at a cop's house? I just, I didn't realize, I don't know what the point of that scene was at all other than, you know, for her to be like, he's going to die and kind of set the tone. She was also, like, betraying him.

Him and her entire town. Is this like a Shakespearean play? You've got the tragic hero. That is the stabbing in the back. But at the same time, I don't even know what good it was doing.

She was doing it almost for the sake of doing it. What good is it going to do you to save his life if he's in prison? You can't be with him still. You love him so much that you still don't want to be with him. There was no good that was going to come out of that situation.

The best, I guess, is he would be in jail for most of the rest of his life. Since he was only 25. And fresh out of the. Fresh. Out of the.

That was a strange scene. The way I feel about that scene, like you said, it was a very important scene, but it just didn't have that weight. I don't even know if it was important. It was just hot. It was, like you said, because it was where she betrayed him.

But it just didn't have that feel or that weight. Mostly due to her. It was just kind of wrong, and so I tended to ignore it. Yeah, exactly. I kind of just like, huh.

You got to shake it off. And you just move on. It's like. It's a weird. I was too distracted by her inability to cry.

Yeah. I think that's what it was. Well, just in, like, narrative problem solving, like, she couldn't tell the cop directly because then, like, it wouldn't work out. Like, she couldn't... They couldn't have all that exposition and then have.

The scene and then. Right. Because he'd just be racing out the door, so they had. To have this. They were trying to answer, well, people might be thinking this.

People might. So they're trying to, like, tie up ends. Set it all up. Yeah. I guess.

It was clumsy. Yeah. It's an odd scene. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, at that point, I mean, he is he's he's hardheaded.

He has this death wish to the point that I don't even know. I mean, I guess the only way to look at it from like his point of view is because I mean, everything else is just like you see it from the story standpoint of there's no good going to come out of this. This is going to end badly. So I think the only thing I was thinking for him was that he's. he's got this like uh that weird thing he keeps talking about about the past that like he just he can't that that notion of you can't go home again you know once he came back from the war he he couldn't be the man he used to be he couldn't be that innocent kid he couldn't just live in the town anymore he seems torn he can't i don't understand why he can't just go to the city and stay with her he seems so like tied to this job brother it's about the brother I guess.

He has to keep him from doing the family business. And if he dies doing it and gets rid of the. Money, you know, it cleans that up. It cleans that up. But, yeah, I mean, I guess the only, like, character arc you can take from that is that he gets to that point of, I can't ever go back to what I love, so I give up.

You know, I'm going to keep doing this until it kills me because I have no other options. Well, that is an interesting character problem. You know, like Eliza Doolittle. Like, once she learns how she can't go back. Yeah.

You can't go back once you get, like, edumacated to a certain extent. Once you know what a mobile is. Once you know what a mobile is. Yeah, you just can't be who you used to be. And it's weird because, I don't know, in terms of what happened to.

Appalachia, it kind of just wasn't even there. Anymore, really, for people to go back to. And a lot of people did, you know. go off to war and come back and there's this feeling of you can't go. Home but I mean it really wasn't it's I guess it's ahead of its time I mean they did nothing but make movies about that for Vietnam but you don't see that many for Korea you know it's like it just didn't I think we weren't at that point as a country to deal with that. Everything was still that World War II, well, tough luck, back to the job.

You just kind of dealt with it. You didn't have time to cry about it. You went back and took care of your family. People from World War II are sort of ignored in that respect. Like J.D.

Salinger, people don't really think of him as a war rider, but he was really marked and messed up by the war. Then you can see it. It's kind of like the way people read they catch her in their eye and they think it's just this whiny kid. And it's like, oh yeah, his little brother died. They just completely ignore that.

But that was what messed him up in the book. And I kind of think that's parallel to like Salinger. He was really, you know, he was in the war and he was messed up. But Hemingway is a war writer and Salinger is not looked at that way. But you know, everybody at that time was deeply affected by the war.

Every man had come back from the war. So there wasn't this, oh, we need to take care. Of you, because they all needed that taken care of. There was no male that wasn't affected by it. So if you're a war writer, at least you weren't carrying the gun.

You know what I'm saying? So we don't care. And there wasn't that level of coddling back then that there is now. Now. People are like, oh, you need to be sensitive to veterans.

You know, it's just like that's what makes you a man. At that era, yeah. That's just the way it is. It was more pride. Yeah.

You go back and you take care of your family. You go back and you run the farm. You go back and whatever. You just come back and be a man and take care of business. But it wasn't until, yeah, like the hippie age of the 70s when we were like, whoa, how did it mess you up?

And we started to come to terms with that. Not that it's not legitimate. I mean, you see now there are still tons of people that are, ruined by war. It's real, but it's just something as a society we didn't deal with in the 50s and wouldn't until the 70s. Also, there's that whole thing about losing.

There's that, too. They won World War II. We were the. Super after World War II. We were it.

There was nobody left. We were clean. We were relatively unscathed other than the men who came back. We were ready to start and just boom. And we did boom.

And everyone else just slowly came, you know, Europe was ravaged. They couldn't recover for years. And then we get the slap in the face of Korea. We thought we were Superman. And that's where Superman really takes hold is that time period too because we really thought we were.

Muscles. Right. And then we get a slap in the face and we're like, oh, shit. Yeah. You know, we only get Spider-Man.

A lot of those stem out of that. I mean, that's what the first run of those was like, you know, in World War II, where we started creating these heroes to sort of symbolize what it was we were supposed to be. So, I mean, you start to see, and it does differ, it does change as the years go on as to what kind of heroes we create. Is it like a reflection of what our country is, what we as a people are? Yeah, it definitely adjusts as time goes on.

And this hero is kind of like the old, you know, gangster heroes. Yeah. Pretty boy Floyd who left the $ 100 bill under the plate, you know, leaves the money on the table. He kind of is. He's a high roller, you know.

It's like he rolls into town, he messes up his car, he throws down money and fixes it, drives out in a new, you know, fixed up car again. The girl's waiting for him at the other end. The girl's waiting for him back at home. He definitely had that lifestyle of, if he wanted to, he didn't really glamorize it at all, but he was living that to some extent. Yeah, he couldn't be flashy because that would ruin the image.

I didn't have much sympathy for him as a result, either. He didn't really ask for it, either. He didn't ask for it. But he wanted to have something to identify with the main character as a victim somewhat. And he's not.

He's got money. He's got clout. He's got women. And he could have done things differently. He could have walked away.

He could have walked away. So that is a tragic. Well, I think it's trying to be tragic, but. I think it's more trying to teach a lesson in the end more than be a tragic hero. In the end, it's trying to.

It's more of a morality play than like, you know, I don't know, like Oedipus saying, I'm going to find whoever angered. Oh, whoops. You know especially since you see at the end the big thank you to the government i think it really is kind of that let's show the dark side of doing these underhanded deeds and you know all this this lifestyle that's going on that in the end everybody on the wrong like we said with the the haze code kind of thing everybody on the wrong end you know the gangster is going to go to jail the guy running moonshine's dead now so the only one that comes out you know is the kid's going to go have a you know get married and have a wonderful life and that's what you should do and It does sort of sell that by the end of this lesson learned.

Here's what you should be doing with your life. It does take a very conventional and conservative take on that by. The end of it. And I mean, can we talk about that end? Go for it like okay they set the spikes down they pour gasoline on them He runs his car over it at, like, I don't know, I don't remember what the speedometer said, but it's climbing up.

And why did the speedometer go up to, like, 250? Like, what car goes up to that? I think you said that it could go to 130-something. Yeah, but it went to, like, 200 or something ridiculous like that. It's a souped-up car.

I don't know why they do that when my car goes up. Yeah. It's like, maybe. Yeah, I always think that's odd on, especially normal cars. It's different with, like, you know, you're souping up a hot rod.

But, like, even traditional cars, it's going up to, what, 120 or something. I'm like, what's the speed limit? Are we encouraging people to drive that much faster than what's legal? I don't know. It always seemed odd to me.

But then it's like, okay. He's doing 100-something, whatever, runs over the spikes with the gasoline. Yeah. Like car flips over into like an electrical generator. Of some sort.

And it just kind of like, you expect like explosions and like. This horrible scene. And it just kind of like, he could have lived through that. That's why I wasn't sure at the end. It was like, it didn't explode or anything.

He just wrecked. So granted, he probably wasn't wearing a seatbelt because they didn't encourage that back then. But I mean, in any other person, in any other situation, It's a 50-50 shot. You might have walked away from that, or at least lived from it. I was really geared up for this horrific death scene.

I mean, like. Maybe because all the other ones were, like, almost better. Like, you know, that role at the very beginning is a really good, like, when Marie rolls and, like, turns around and leaves them. I'm like, that was an amazing role, even though it's sort of edited together. But still, just that role...

That roll on its own is pretty awesome. And then, like, they're blowing up cars in the middle there at the gas station. I mean, that was a good stunt for 58. It's like... One car rolls into the creek.

Yeah, it's like the fact that they didn't kill anybody in any of these stunts is probably impressive in its own. They may have. They just didn't talk about it back then. But still, I mean, it's like all of those stunts are really impressive. And this one, eh, flips over and hits a power grid or whatever.

Yeah, nice. It is kind of anticlimactic. But he couldn't, like she said, couldn't bring himself to kill himself. I'm too awesome. That's where the lost reel comes in.

And so then they took the two sort of helpless actors and staged like Barbie dolls. You could have. Played that scene with Ken and Barbie. They stand there for a while with that sort of odd posture. They both had the personality of Ken and Barbie.

Then you turn their hands to march them off. But I thought it was kind of effective. In a strange way. I still want to see that Barbie movie sometime. Because sometimes I think primitive things like that can have a crude power.

So I was so confused by the end. It's just like. is she going to be really upset because he's dead and start crying? Or is it just kind of like, Oh, well now you have to settle for a number two. You're still around. Um, all right.

You know, it's like, how is that a happy ending? She has to settle. There's a lot of truth in that. Yeah. Kind of.

I mean, that is how a lot, especially back then. I mean, there was a lot of, now everyone gets to pick and choose a little more and especially women have more of a role in it. But then it was just like. Well, who's here? That guy went off to war.

That guy already got married. This is what I was saying earlier. Who's here? Yes. I was thinking that as I went into it.

Sometimes it's just convenience. Why do you think they call it settling down? Settling, the key phrase there. You're just giving in to what's available. Well, but it can work the.

Other way, too. Because I found, like, with Len, her family had hated her previous boyfriend so much that I was just in. Once again, you're just there. And we don't hate you. It's not that other guy.

You're a little more attractive than Ed Asner. Alright, we'll take you. Hell, Schwarzenegger, man. I won't tell. As long as he pays you.

So, I don't know. I think it works in its own way. It's definitely an interesting movie to look at on a lot of different perspectives. But I can see why it was latched onto by the car crowd. It definitely has that.

It's got a lot of other things going on as well. So, I don't know. Any final thoughts on this one? I don't know. I think the character, in a way, is not like a real guy, but he's a spirit that lives on.

Like the spirit of, you know, the gangsters. Or, I don't know, there were union guys like that that they had songs about. And the song is to remember this. And I don't know. The South has... amazing tenacity to hold on to things even when they make no earthly sense you know there's this whole grand aristocracy this tradition that goes back curiously longer than the country has been here there's somehow like an old european tradition in the south that goes back Before anybody was here at all.

It goes so far back, and I don't know how much there is to it, really. There's some biscuit recipes, but I don't know how much real culture and tradition is behind it. But they modeled the mythology off of, you know, like the Russian aristocracy. You know, the idea of it, and they had people doctoring up like old, you know, because they had new money. And they wanted to have, like, ancestors, and they made stuff up because they wanted it, they were imitating the culture of old Europe.

And they wanted, because, you know, for a long time, culture came from Europe. There's still people, like, in Louisville today who just, you know, they decorate their houses like they get the idea of what aristocrats should be like from watching Beauty and the Beast or something. Right. Why do you think there's a Versailles, Kentucky? Yeah.

No, really, why is there? That's a real question. Yeah, and, you know, then there's, like, the decor and the pretense to being a kind of old-world aristocrat that just never really existed here. There just never was. But there's a desire to be that.

And I also see the. This character. I mean, like you said, it is more of an ideal. It is almost more of like idealizing everything. You know, he is almost like glamorized.

Like his life wasn't glamorized, but the death sort of elevates it to that. And he, it is kind of like the gangsters or like cowboys in a Western. It's like, They go out in a blaze of glory, and that makes them cool forever. To me, this played out like a gunfighter ballad of some sort. Like Billy the Kid, or like I said earlier, Bonnie and Clyde.

Something like that, where it can only end tragically, and that's what makes it such a good story. It's written toward that. It's almost like it's written from the point of view of remembering things. The song wouldn't have stuck if he had. Lived he can't be a legend if the hero doesn't.

Die so yeah I think on that level it does what it's supposed to do it kind of works especially for Robert Mitchum it is one of his most memorable roles as they say I still need to go back and find more of his and try to decide how definitive it really is but it certainly is like ultimate cool Mitchum I mean he's a badass at every turn there's never a time where he isn't lighting a cigarette looking cool looking bored while driving 120 I mean he's just he's cooler than everybody else without even trying and I think that is what sold this movie and he knew that because he made up this whole thing and he kind of realized how cool he was so I think again that's part of who he was was sort of you know selling that from day one it's not like he ever played anything less than that in most other roles.

It's like he kind of always played that role, and as time went on, knew that that was his role to play. Yeah, he did seem to know how he came off, and he used it. I think so. All right, I guess that wraps this up. All right.

All right, that is it for Thunder Road, so we will take a break and head back out to the car show. The night was young, And so were we beneath the old magnolia tree. And when you say. I love you so, well, thanks. Be to you.

Tweaked Audio, your source for high-performance, noise-reducing earbuds. Available in three styles and seven colors, durable and designed to sound great for both music and those chatty podcasts, like the one you're listening to now. Tweaked Audio earbuds come with a one-year warranty, and now there's a special deal for Movie Meltdown listeners. Just go to tweaked audio.com when you check out enter the discount code meltdown then you'll get 33 off and free shipping tweaked audio sounds better. It's part of your problem you know you haven't seen enough movies all of life's riddles are answered in the movies and now on with the show.

Magnolia tree And as you said I love you so The whippoorwill Sang sweet and low The moon was low Our hearts were high. You said, I will until I die. So otherwise, yeah, thank you, Daddy, for hanging out with us here today and putting on a good set. And assuming the sound came out okay, we're actually, as sort of a bonus track on this episode, we're going to round it out with your entire live set. If not, I'll just throw some stuff off the album on there and then tell people to go download and donate some money to you.

Either way. That would be nice. I don't know. I definitely don't operate like most rock star bands do. At this point, I've even kind of trimmed down the amount of bars that I play.

I make sure if I'm playing a commercial venue that they're paying me. But I don't like playing them. They're no fun. Houses, houses, street shows. I'm actually getting ready to go on tour on a motorcycle, much like a lot of these motorcycles here.

It's pretty sketchy looking. And I'll be out on that, you know. You may hear back from me. You may not. Or see something on the news.

Or see something on the news. Something horrendous happened to this guy on a motorcycle out in. The middle of nowhere. But a lot of street shows, a lot more fun. Cool yeah hopefully yeah things turn around a little bit from the these scary situations that you've uh fallen into in.

The last year so we'll see how that goes yeah or you. Know get more fun hopefully the fun will just increase from from where i've been well we'll continue to increase. We'll balance it out here well i thought it was important to tie in the mitchum song so we'll go out here with the ballad of thunder road but Stick around, because we'll come back with some Eddie in one form or another. So, once again, that is The Empires. TheEmpires.com.

Don't double the E. Otherwise, yes, once again, thanks to Scott for letting us come hang out at. Petersville this year, and we will round it out with some Mitchum here. Thanks for listening. Let me tell the story I can tell it all About the mountain boy who ran a league of alcohol His daddy made the whiskey Sometimes into Asheville, sometimes Memphis town.

The revenue has chased him, but they couldn't run him down. Each time they thought they had his engine would explode. He'd go by like they were standing still on Thunder Road. And there was thunder, thunder all over Thunder Road. Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load.

And there was moonshine, moonshine, crash, the devil's thirst. The law they. Swore they'd get him, but the devil got him first. On the 1st of April, 1954, a federal man sent word he'd better make his run no more. He said 200 agents were covering the state.

Whichever road he tried to take, they'd get him sure as fate. Son, his daddy told him, make this run your last. Your tank is filled with hundred proof. You're all tuned up and gassed. Now don't take any chances.

If you can't get through, I'd rather have you back again than pull that mountain dew. And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road. Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load. And there was moonshine, moonshine that quashed the devil's thirst. The law they swore.

They'd get him, but the devil got him first. Roaring out of Harlan, revving up his mill, he shot the gap at Cumberland and screamed by Maynardville. With T-Man on his taillight, roadblocks up ahead, the mountain boy took roads that even angels feared to tread. Blazing right through Knoxville, out on Kingston Pike, then right outside of Bearden, there they made the fatal strike. He left the road at night, that's all there is to say.

The devil got the moonshine and the mountain boy that day. And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road. Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load. And there was moonshine, moonshine crashed the devil's thirst. But law they never got him, cause the devil got him first.

Law they never got him, cause the devil got him. Thunder, thunder, thunder, oh. I have a feeling I'm going to get really sweaty here in two seconds. We're the Empires. We're from Bloomington, Indiana.

And this is like my tenth year playing Beatersville. Rain, rain, rain. Woo! Well, I'm gone completely insane, my rain Well, I'm gonna go completely insane, my rain Well, I'm gonna go completely insane. My rain Well, I'm gonna go completely insane, my rain Yeah, let's get it, man.

Come on. I gotta say I'm so bored of what to do Can't see the rainbow better than you Can't. Touch the lantern, it's just so plain. Flippin', cloppin' My poor heart's a-burning for you. Yeah, for you.

Yeah, no rain, no rain. I'm gonna do this, ain't no rain, no rain. Yeah, no rain, no rain. I'm gonna do this, ain't no rain, no rain. Oh, that's love, it's true.

Okay, this is called 50 Faces. We'll feel human nasty, we'll blow. Their soul, their friends and their mothers. We'll feel human nasty, nasty, we'll smooch. The air, the garbage, the rats.

Yeah! We've been so suspected, but we'll just let it ride. Everybody that saw him went to sleep. Well, he was breezy and dirty, a gentleman. With a birdie.

Yes, I said he's best when you can claim him. He's best when you can clean. With bad rats, bad rats, America is the best. With bad rats, bad rats, America is the best. Woo!

Oh, I knew it was going to get sweaty up here. I'm just feeling. Sexier than ever. Once again, we are the Empires. We've got a brand new album out.

It's called Strike Back. And it just sold out. Ha! Suckers. Alright, this is called Down With Luck.

You have no idea. Well, I'm down for love just as down as you can be With my head. Hung with love within a weeping. Willow tree There ain't nobody, nobody around But I'm about to bite it from the head to the ground Every time I see dogs wobbling about I sit right down and I'll be right back When my baby left, she didn't say bye-bye. I said, you gotta be real proud.

Well, well, well. Well, well, well. Well, well, well. Well, well, well. I've been sitting here crying for the past.

Couple of years. I got tears in my. Beard and tears in my ears. I'm laying on my back, crying all night over you. When the wind.

In that tree comes rumbling by, I sit right there. And I wonder why. When my baby left, she didn't say bye-bye. I sit right there and cry all the way, way, way. All right, let's.

Take a crowd dance, come. On. When that train comes a-rollin' by, I'll sit right down at the end of the line. When my baby lets you get to say bye-bye, I'll sit right. There and cry.

When that train comes a-rollin' by, I'll sit right down at the end of the line. When my baby lets you get to say bye-bye, I'll sit right there and cry. Alright, that song was just boring. Let's do some fun shit, come. On.

Listen here, it's called Life of Crime, it's about. Skateboarding, putting straight bang on things, and generally goofing around. Woo! When it blows up by no sign of my way to feel the good of it Lookin' around. What have you got of life?

Who's gonna stop me? This phone is yours, you put my balls. Right there Do or die, put it here or I'll knock you to the spot I'm staring, staring at you every time I wanna get right back to the life you find Hey! So, uh. I crashed the tour bus last night.

My drum tech died. My guitar tech died. My personal sound man died. Um. I, uh.

Well, my bassist died a long time ago. And that's fine. That's just fine. I was getting tired of his mouth thing. This is an old tune.

This is called Bloodshot Eyes. I hope you like it. I hope you know it. I expect every single one of you to sing along with me on it. Right?

Okay. Yeah. I hear ya! I was trying to give you a little boost there. They think that you're free.

They think you're mindless. They tell you. That you love me. Then you roll your big brown eyes. Well, when I saw you last.

Week, your eyes were turning black. Well, finally got a beat. Your past can't take you back. Don't let those bloodshot eyes on me. I can tell that you've been out on the street.

Well, it's plain natural, I know, when you say it's true, they're crying. Oh, but shut eyes on me. Yeah, I used to. Spend my money to make you look so sweet. Yeah, I wanted to be proud of you when we walked down the street.

But I'm not so dressed up, it's not an old city. Well, my eyes look like cherries in a glass of buttermilk. Oh, let's get rocked! When it seems like you're a mess, you're a fuss and a guy. When you storm the circus, you make the people cry.

Your eyes look like. No man's eyes, yet it's for your bread. You better shut. Your peepers before you bleed to death. And all those fleshed out eyes of evil, black and tan, never.

Achieving out on the screen. There's a plane that's run by, and they say she's been crying. All those fleshed out eyes of evil. Woo! Thank you.

Thank you. Alright, this next one is dedicated to all the beautiful women. Let me tell you something, Louisville. You got some of the prettiest. And the craziest.

I just happen to think I'm a pretty good match for him. This is called I'm Crazy. I'm not, actually. I don't know what you guys are thinking. I'm not.

Well, there ain't enough girls in this town. Come and date my brother I'll never run my. Eyes off But you see them They're all couples around. So I'll know you'll. Get When I'm crazy I'm crazy about you And you, and you, and.

You When my preacher doesn't tell me To take a spouse. The way that you've been acting Well it ain't so nice I'm gonna keep it right on But you see them As long as I can say It's gonna be it When I'm crazy. I'm crazy about you and you and you. I like the. Way you wiggle when you walk.

I like the way you giggle when you talk. It's all the little things. That you do that make me want to cuddle up to you. Well, I ain't had a girlfriend yet to begin I broke a few hearts and I shed a few tears I guess I. Ain't been slapped in a time With.

A great desperation in my mind And. I'm crazy I'm crazy about you And you, and you, and you And I'm crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy I'm crazy about. Oh, we went on out on Friday night. Why, you were late today. And I made a stroke down from the other.

Side of town. Oh, 45 in my hand. Oh, slow it down. Oh, slow it down. A little horror for the brain of the town.

We'll see a fast move. Take my knees apart. Gonna meet you there. Slow down. Slow down.

Now we're wearing all the lugs. That we need to save up before we can make some noise. It's part of the whole thing, man. A party just wants a man to cuss it. Now you're the first.

Shut it down, boy. Let's shut it down, boys. Shut it down. Let's make a big wave and all parts agree. We'll see it loud.

You can say, you better ease it back. Don't need to make a shut down. Shut it down. Yeah! Yeah, I found me Judy.

Oh, Judy, Judy. I saw her take her out on the town. Well, I'll come up to you, so you can find out your love. Won't get hurt if. You don't hang around.

Well, move along, move along. I don't like to face you, I don't. Like to say. As you see, I agree. I better move along, gotta keep on the way.

Move along, move along, move along. What's up, everybody? How about Jay Lowe's and the Pit End Boys? They got CDs and shit for sale. You could really help them out by buying one of those CDs to help them get back home.

They're gonna be camping out tonight if, you know, if they don't get the gas money together. That's alright, I am too. So. Yeah. Does an amazing job on this show.

An amazing job. What? They're trying to tell me something back there. They don't have microphones. Can we get them some microphones?

Okay, cool. I like to do this. I was trying to see how uncomfortable I could make myself and every single one of you. You guys are working yet? Cool.

Alright, that's fucking rock and roll, man. I'm sorry, kids. Kids, hide your ears. This is an old Bill Monroe tune. It's called Blue Moon in Kentucky.

It's one I like to play when I come down here. Because it reminds me that I'm in Kentucky. Well, blue moon, I can't tell you what you keep on shining. Shining on the one that's gonna left me blue. Well, blue moon, I can't tell which people shine.

Shine on the birds, gonna prove them true. Well, it was all through the night that the stars shined so hot. Little little hearts that I love in the end of the night. Say, blue moon, I can't tell which people shine. Shine on the birds, gonna prove them true.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey blue moon, I. Can tell you'll see the moon shine Shine. On through the mist on the blue moon Hey blue moon, I can tell you'll see the moon shine Shine on through the mist on the blue moon soon If you're looking for something to make love with, let me start shining bright Let out a pass, let out a run, let. Out a dash Every moon I can tell you what.

You're gonna shine Shine on through the days. You've been running. Through Every moon, every moon, every moon I'll shine so bright Cause every. Moon I can tell you. What you're gonna shine bright Every moon I can tell you what you're gonna shine bright Every moon, cause ain't no square dance, ain't no square dance And I'll be your last chance to kill chickens Well, get up now, let me see you shake it Well, I wake up, I've got.

To think about what's going on You say, well, you've. Been sitting still for way, way too long But I've got a chance, let me see you shake it I've got pictures of the beverage in the water, too. There's stars moving around and popping. Up in the trees. Get out here and I'll see you soon, kid.

We'll sing a sweet dance, sing. A sweet dance, and I'll be your last. Chance to get a shake of this. Well, get up now, let me see you shake it. Well, get up now, let me see you shake it.

Get up now. Let me see you shake it. Man, I hate having to tune my own guitar. I wish I hadn't killed all those fellows last night. I'm kind of sad about it now.

I think I'll. Play a sad song in memory of them. Well, the news is out All over town That you've been seen Well, all around Well, I guess that I. Should leave, but then I wonder what can I do. To do it again.

Well, this heart of mine Could never see. What a goodbye to do with me What can I do You. Live again. Baby, I want your gold. Well, I said, baby, baby.

I want your gold. Now you can buy me Lincoln on a big and black But don't you know, honey, I'm a takin' backers, baby Woo! Two, three, four, one, two, one I lost my. Rhythm Yeah, baby. Well, baby, I want you to go I said, baby Well, baby, I want.

You to go Well, I want. You, I said, way too cold Let's go, baby, let's go, go-go-go-go-go-go-go, baby Well, baby Baby, I want you to know, I said. Baby, baby, I want you to know, when you clap, clap, clap, and you. Dance, dance, dance, baby, I want you to get you out of that. Pants, baby.

Yeah, baby Well, baby, you want something I. Said, baby Well, baby, you want something. Yeah, you jump in the air You do some flip-flip-flip-flip. Shake those hips, baby Yeah, baby. Baby, worship me.

I said, baby. Baby, worship me. Baby, I want your eyes. It's way too cold. So, baby, I just.

Gotta let go. Baby. Alright, we got one more song for you. Two more songs, okay. I just made this song up two minutes ago.

That's impressive. I'm just so bored with all the songs that I've played. I gotta find stuff to do. In the meantime. Mostly licking sweat off the microphone.

This is called Guitar and a Bottle of Wine. This is about my recent ill-fated trips down to Texas. I'm making that up. I just play coffee shots most of the time. I don't really...

Go to Texas. It's a lie. Everything I say into this microphone is a complete lie. Except for the fact that this is called Guitar and a Bottle of Wine. Well, my car's broken down about an hour from town When I'm fretting, I don't frown I got sand in my step and.

A twinkle in my eye And I will tell you why. I got a guitar. I got a bottle of wine. And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine. I got a guitar.

I got a bottle of wine. And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine. Woo! Well, I'm stuck out in this wasteland. Yeah, I got a.

Really bad case of man, but I don't fuss and. I don't frown. I don't let nothing get me down. I got a guitar. I got a bottle of wine.

And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine. I got a guitar. I got a bottle of wine. And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine. Woo!

Well, I'm 300 miles from my girl. She's one of the prettiest in the world. I know I'm a holiday, but I don't think it'll break. Cause I got this medicine that I can take. I got a guitar.

I got a bottle of wine. And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine. I got a guitar. I got a bottle of wine. And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine.

Woo! Well, I ain't. Got a dime to my name And those folks think that it's a darn shame But if they just understand from the start It ain't the money in your pocket, but the love in. Your heart I got a guitar, I got a. Bottle of wine And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine I got a guitar, I got a bottle of wine And tonight, baby, I'm feeling fine Yeah!

Thank you guys so much! We are the Empire! Straight to Bloomington, Indiana. That's not that impressive. It's only like two hours away.

All the way down to Bloomington, Indiana. Okay, cool. This is our last song. And I am crying. I am sad to leave you folks.

Especially in this kind of a state. I'm doing it again. This is called Tear It Up. Thank you so much. Well, come on, little baby.

Let's tap dance. Come on, little baby. Let's tap dance. Come on, sweetheart. Let's see you.

Yeah, tell her. Tell her. Tell her. Well, come on, ladies and gentlemen. Let's tear it up, ladies and gentlemen.

Yeah! Oh, we're gonna make it, we're gonna be on the road. Oh, we're gonna make it, we're gonna be on the road. The black hole, come on, let's show the real world. Tear it up.

Tear it up. Tear it up. Tear it up. Well, come on, ladies and gentlemen, let's tear it up. Let's tear it up, come on.

Welcome, baby, to the wild way to the killer. Here you say, tell it up. Tell it up. Welcome, baby, to the killer. Tell it up.

Tell it up. Tell it up. Tell it up. Tell it up. Welcome, baby, to the killer.

Tell it up. That's how they get their hands through. Woo! Let's try that again. Well, come on, baby, let's move our way.

Do it again, let me hear you say, tear it up. Tear it up. Well, come on, baby, let's. Tear it down. Yeah, tear it up.

Tear it up. Tear it up. Tear it up. Well, come on, baby, let's tear it down. Well, come on, baby.

Let's tear it down. Well, come on, baby, let's tear it down. These fellas are trying to bum rap you. That's one of Kogan's cars. They just want to use you.

To bait the road for me. Stacy Goud, you dirty turncoat. If you make one more move toward that shotgun, I'll make a skullcap out of it for you. This show is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by Brian Renfro, with opening music performed by The Empires. To help support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com for ways that you can contribute or advertise with us.