Blank Check with Griffin & David: Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis

Published 2025-02-09; 3:22:57 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims, Ben Hosley (producer, in the room and speaks). Guests: Brian Michael Bendis.

Subject films: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

On the transcript: No speaker labels and heavy transcription noise; many host lines cannot be split between Griffin and David, so most are tagged 'unknown' or low confidence. Ad reads at roughly 0:32:11-0:35:11 and 1:15:39-1:21:00 are skipped.

Films that came up

Claims (111)

career (career): Harrison Ford → Hollywood Homicide. Cranky Ford's start is dated around Hollywood Homicide.
“I would say it starts with Hollywood homicide?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:04:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Harrison Ford → Die Hard. Ford's Indiana Jones is a definitive movie-star performance, like Bruce Willis in Die Hard and John Wayne in Stagecoach.
“kind of like Bruce Willis and Die Hard.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:06:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Bendis says his childhood pop culture was Lucas and Spielberg magic tricks, not Marvel.
“At this stage that wasn't Marvel was Lucas and Spielberg.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:12:58 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
unmapped (experience): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Star Wars and Raiders as film-and-merch: the movie stays alive through soundtracks, cards and comics.
“in lieu of DVD and VHS, we have a soundtrack to just sit in our room, stare at the ceiling, and relive the movie in our mind's eye”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:24:26 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The novelization written by Spielberg internalized the story, which Bendis loved.
“it internalizes the story for a young person who's only seeing externalizing it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:25:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Walt Simonson. Walt Simonson drew the Close Encounters comic adaptation, whose behind-the-scenes showed directing versus the page.
“Walt Simonson doing the close encounters adaptation, and it is wonderful.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:25:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Klaus Janson. The two-issue Raiders comic adaptation by top artists left out the Well of Souls and enraged young Bendis.
“I remember the Raiders Lost Ark tube issue cliff notes came out and I was I was livid.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:27:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Peter Bogdanovich → John Ford. Ford's non-answers to Bogdanovich contrast with Lucas and Spielberg as open-source filmmakers.
“Peter Bogdanovich attempting to interview John Ford and John Ford just giving him like the steeliest non-answers of all time”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:28:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Jack Kirby → John Ford. Kirby was reticent about being an artist like the closed-off older directors; Lucas and Spielberg broke that mold.
“Jack Kirby was the John Ford of comics.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:30:47 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Fabelmans. Bendis says he sees the movie differently after The Fabelmans.
“I honestly don't think I've heard a serious conversation about this movie Post Fabelman's”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:36:23 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
people (people): George Lucas → Steven Spielberg. Their friendship is the mythology: two sides of the same coin, like the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
“here's like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones inspiring each other.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:41:14 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Flash Gordon (Republic serial). Lucas conceived Indiana Jones as a B-picture at A-picture scale, like the old Republic serials.
“let's make a sort of B picture at an A picture scale, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:46:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Raiders of the Lost Ark → James Bond films (the franchise). Lucas pitched Raiders to Spielberg as a better, American take on the Bond idea Spielberg had been wanting to do.
“I have the I have the same basic idea, but better, and it's this Raiders of the Lost Ark idea.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:49:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Steven Spielberg → James Bond films (the franchise). Spielberg begged Cubby Broccoli for a Bond job after Jaws and was refused, which fed the motive for Raiders.
“Spielberg had been, says he had called Cubby Broccoli after Jaws came out being like, hello?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:50:05 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Before release Lucas and Spielberg considered swapping profit participation on Star Wars and Close Encounters.
“And they consider making a deal to swap profit participation.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:51:00 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Philip Kaufman → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Kaufman was brought in to flesh out the story, was nominally the first director choice, and lost interest.
“Phil Kaufman loses interest, so Lucas brings it back to Spielberg”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:51:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Lawrence Kasdan → Howard Hawks. Lucas and Spielberg hired Kasdan because they thought he had a Hawksian sensibility, based on his earlier scripts.
“they think he has a Howard Hoxian sensibility, very fun.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:52:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Lawrence Kasdan → Body Heat. Surprise that the Raiders writer also did the sexy Body Heat.
“Raiders was written by the guy who did Mumford.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:52:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Body Heat → George Lucas. Lucas is said to have produced Body Heat and removed his name so his brand would not undercut its sexiness.
“Lucas produced body heat, but had his name removed from it because he thought that people would be turned off of the movie being sexy with his name attached.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:53:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): George Lucas → The Elephant Man. Compared to Mel Brooks hiding his name on The Elephant Man so audiences would not expect a comedy.
“It's like the Mel Brooks elephant man thing, where it's like they'll think it's a comedy.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:53:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): George Lucas → Disney. Spielberg compared Lucas to Disney for putting out a vision so attractive you would be a fool to deny it.
“George is a bit like Disney.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:53:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → James Bond films (the franchise). Star Wars pushed Bond into outer space.
“James Bond went to went to the moon because of Star Wars.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:55:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Nevada Smith → Raiders of the Lost Ark. The hero was Indiana Smith until Nevada Smith made Spielberg object, so he became Indiana Jones.
“there's a Steve McQueen movie called Nevada Smith.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:55:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): 1941 → Finding Nemo. Eisner betting Pixar would flop is compared to the industry hoping 1941 would flop to rein in Spielberg.
“I think the industry probably was excited for 1941 to not work because it's like maybe this guy's come down to Earth.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:00:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): George Lucas → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Lucas's Star Wars deal (giving up salary for merch and control) enabled the Raiders deal of owning the negative.
“he gives up his salary and his points as a director on Star Wars to retain the control and the merch.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:01:43 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Tom Selleck → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Selleck was the famous first choice but was committed to Magnum PI.
“he was committed to a TV, to Magnum PI.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:02:41 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Tom Selleck → Jim Steranko. Steranko's concept art for Indiana Jones, and his Nick Fury, share the Selleck look, the classic square-jawed comic hero.
“Nick Fury looks like Tom Selleck, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:03:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Tim Matheson → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tim Matheson was the closest in the screen test, but not Harrison Ford.
“Tim Matheson is Interesting, but not Harrison Ford.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:06:46 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
people (people): The Frisco Kid → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Bendis's view of Harrison Ford was shaped by Frisco Kid, where Han Solo escorts a rabbi, shown in Jewish Cleveland.
“Han Solo is taking a rabbi across the, across the, uh, thing”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:09:42 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Frisco Kid. Indiana Jones and Marion both code as Jewish, to Bendis.
“Indiana Jones absolutely does code as a Jewish action hero”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:10:55 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade → Buster Keaton. Last Crusade reads as a Buster Keaton movie.
“It's a very Griffey movie and I feel like is a very Buster Keatney movie in particular.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:13:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Last Crusade shows that silent comedy, especially Buster Keaton, is part of the DNA of these movies.
“that's the huge part of the DNA of these movies is silent comedy and not just the adventure serials.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:14:01 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Each early film is a different religion: Jewish, Hindu, Christian folk mysticism.
“this is about Jewish mysticism, temple doom is about Hindu mysticism.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:14:29 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Crystal Skull drops the mysticism and goes to 1950s sci-fi aliens.
“it's sort of annoying that Crystal Skull doesn't have any of that”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:14:33 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull → Raiders of the Lost Ark. They devoted a whole episode to Crystal Skull.
“We devoted whole episode to it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:14:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Temple of Doom is nastier and mean-spirited; Raiders is haunted and scary but not mean.
“it's a mean-spirited movie in a way this isn't.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:14:58 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Harrison Ford → Witness. Witness, Working Girl, Jack Ryan and The Fugitive are Ford films that work within his persona.
“witness, working girl, and then the Jack Ryan movies”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:27:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Harrison Ford → The Mosquito Coast. Ford's dark-side movies like Mosquito Coast and Presumed Innocent did not click with audiences, though they age well.
“there's stuff like mosquito coast or presumed innocent or frantic or whatever, where it's like, what if I showed you a darker side?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:27:23 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Harrison Ford → What Lies Beneath. What Lies Beneath was the first time Ford weaponized audiences not expecting him to be dark.
“what lies beneath is the 1st time he weaponizes people don't expect me to be that dark.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:27:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Harrison Ford → Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Ford finally owned being an elder statesman with Force Awakens.
“not until force awakens where he kind of owns being elder statesman.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:28:12 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Stan Lee → George Lucas. Lucas and Spielberg not talking down to young audiences echoes Stan Lee's magic.
“that was kind of Stan Lee's magic too.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:30:57 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Chuck Jones. Spielberg's staging has a Chuck Jones element, going back to Chuck Jones as a cartoon influence.
“how important Chuck Jones was to Steven Spielberg at the time”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:36:15 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): 1941 → Chuck Jones. 1941 is Chuck Jones trying to come to life; Raiders uses the same storytelling with narrative discipline.
“that is a Chuck Jones cartoon trying to come to life.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:36:24 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Chuck Jones. The wordless anticipation and subversion of Wile E. Coyote shows up in Indy's silent action beats.
“the importance of anticipation, and how to visually, uh, sort of indicate to the audience, what the character thinks is going to happen”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:39:05 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Jacques Dutronc → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg wanted a Frenchman, Jacques Dutronc, for Belloc.
“Spielberg wanted Jacques Dutronck, who's a French actor.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:46:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Paul Freeman → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Freeman was cast for his eyes and a champagne villain film-noir vibe.
“Spielberg just liked his eyes, said he has the champagne villain from a film noir vibe.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:46:50 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Quantum of Solace. Modern movies make the main villain also the best fighter; Raiders keeps those as two separate guys, unlike Quantum of Solace's finale.
“they want the Belloc to also be the best fighter in the world.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:49:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → James Bond films (the franchise). The Cairo plane fight with the burly Nazi is called a straight James Bond henchman scene.
“that's that's a flat out James Bond jaw scene.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:50:56 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → James Bond films (the franchise). Raiders borrowed the Bond villain structure: a refined man in a lair with separate gimmicky henchmen to fight.
“that's a clear thing they lifted from James Bond very wisely, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:50:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Quantum of Solace → Casino Royale. Quantum of Solace is to Casino Royale as Temple of Doom is to Raiders, a bumpy follow-up; they will cover Quantum one day.
“I think of it as the Temple of Doom to Casino Royals, Raiders of the Lost Ark in like sort of complimentary...”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:52:10 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Willie Scott was built as the anti-Marion, which means doing the opposite of what works.
“the anti-Marian means you're doing the opposite of what works.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:53:35 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Steven Spielberg → Hitchcock. Precise directors usually dictate to actors like Hitchcock, but Spielberg stays collaborative.
“most filmmakers who are this precise in their craft, have a tendency to go towards the sort of like Hitchcock”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:54:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Karen Allen → Animal House. Spielberg noticed Karen Allen in Animal House.
“Spielberg had noticed her in Animal House”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:57:16 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Karen Allen → Catherine Hepburn. Allen saw Marion as a 1930s-40s firecracker heroine type that had vanished, a Katharine Hepburn type.
“Catherine, the very Catherine Hepburn.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:58:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → True Grit. Marion is like Mattie from True Grit, a tough girl who never gets over a youthful romance.
“I think about the end of true grit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:00:05 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Last Crusade avoids a third love interest by giving Indy a sparring partner in his dad.
“Indiana Jones needs a sparring partner, they just make it his dad instead of a love interest”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:04:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull → Karen Allen. Marion's return in Crystal Skull is the winning element; Allen is joyfully back.
“And a winning thing for Bristol Skull for me is when she comes back into it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:04:27 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Klaus Kinski → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg wanted Klaus Kinski for Toht, who would have unbalanced the film.
“Spielberg infamously wanted Klaus Kinsky and couldn't get him to agree.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:08:00 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Ronald Lacy → Peter Lorre. Spielberg said Lacy had Peter Lorre vibes.
“I thought he had Pierre Laurie vibes, which I think is right”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:08:35 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Danny DeVito → Raiders of the Lost Ark. DeVito was supposed to play Sallah; they doubt more comedy would help.
“Danny DeVito.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:09:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): John Rhys-Davies → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg cast Rhys-Davies as Sallah because of his drunk Portuguese role in Shogun.
“I loved you in Shogun.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:10:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Denholm Elliott → Trading Places. After Raiders Elliott won three consecutive supporting BAFTAs including Trading Places.
“He wins for trading places.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:12:50 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Billy Wilder. Brody's 'wrath of God' warning is a promise to the audience of a payoff by Billy Wilder's rules.
“by Billy Wilder rules, you are promising that we're going to see some wrath of God at the end of this movie”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:18:08 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Inglourious Basterds. The Ark ending is a mini alternate-history course correction, like Inglourious Basterds.
“this is me creating an alternate history where there is like some modicum of like a microcosm representation of a course correction”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:20:35 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The 'it belongs in a museum' line is questioned; in most of the films he keeps the object from bad guys.
“But in most of these movies, he is keeping it from bad guys who are taking it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:23:08 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Lucas's rule that the MacGuffin goes back where it was or disappears applies to Raiders, Temple of Doom's village and the Grail.
“The McGuffin always has to go back where it was or disappear.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:23:39 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Horizon Experiment (comic). A current comic flips Indiana Jones into someone taking things out of museums back to adventure.
“a comic book out right now called the Horizon experiment by the guys that did the good Asian”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:24:12 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Chuck Jones. Marion hiding in barrels is like Bugs Bunny dodging Elmer Fudd.
“Feels like a thing that Bugs Bunny does to like avoid Elmar Fudd.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:27:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Fabelmans. Marion's monkey scenes mirror Spielberg's mother's relationship with the monkey shown in The Fabelmans.
“the relationship Marion has with the monkey, in that brief amount of screen time, feels so mirrored to his mother's relationship with the monkey”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:28:09 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Fabelmans. Marion is partly Spielberg's mother, which keeps her from being an idealized tough-girl fantasy.
“it does feel like to some degree she's like his mom.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:28:40 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Sorcerer → Raiders of the Lost Ark. They will do Sorcerer one day.
“Source will probably do one day.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:32:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Sorcerer → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sorcerer, The Abyss and The Thing feel as difficult as they were to make; Raiders feels light despite a brutal shoot.
“It is wild to me that Raiders in particular does not have that kind of weight to it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:33:25 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Steven Spielberg → Michael Kahn. Spielberg and his editor Michael Kahn have a lifelong working relationship, and Kahn is the one who makes Spielberg look effortless.
“you know, relationship between him and his editor and him, and he does, he makes things look effortless”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:34:10 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Hook → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hook has no sense of struggle on air-conditioned sets; Raiders feels like a military operation.
“Hook, there's like no tension, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:34:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Hook → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hook is a movie they will cover and a defender will join that episode.
“We will have a defender on the episode.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:34:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Hook → Steven Spielberg. Spielberg himself said he lacked faith in Hook's meat and covered with bigger sets and colors.
“I didn't have a lot of faith in the meat of the movie, and I cover for it by being like, make the sense bigger”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:35:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Michael Kahn. Michael Kahn gets credit for making Raiders look effortless despite its grit and dust, in contrast to Hook, which shows its effort.
“I think you're right about Michael Khan deserving a lot of credit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:35:55 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → John Williams. Williams' Raiders score is lighter and jauntier than expected, with ten perfect alternating themes, Marion's theme only the fifth most important.
“I also think like John Williams score is so much lighter than you would think.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:35:58 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): John Williams → Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Williams delivered a career-defining score every few months: Jaws, Close Encounters, Star Wars, Superman.
“Jaws, close encounters, all the Star Wars, and then Superman”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:37:11 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
people (people): John Williams → Brian De Palma. John Williams scores led Bendis to other filmmakers like De Palma.
“John Williams works with him, then he must be equal to Spielberg.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:37:59 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (theme): John Williams → Harry Dean Stanton. A movie with John Williams cannot be entirely bad, like the Ebert rule about certain character actors.
“there is no entirely bad movie with a John Williams score.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:38:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): John Williams → 1941. 1941's score is argued to be among Williams' very best.
“you can argue 1941 is among his very, very best”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:38:44 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): John Williams → Heartbeeps. A speaker remembers John Williams' Heartbeeps score as good, though the exchange is garbled.
“I remember the heartbeat score being good.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:38:59 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Spider-Man. The big 2002 superhero films were limited by effects budgets in action; Raiders felt like it exceeded what was possible.
“this is more movie than you thought was previously possible.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:41:04 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Spider-Man → X-Men. Early superhero films ran out of action money, like the first X-Men.
“that's what the 1st X-Men movie is.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:41:41 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Brian Michael Bendis → Sam Raimi. Bendis says Raimi saw they shared the job of working out Spider-Man.
“Sam Raimi, uh, smartly figured out that he and I had the same job to to figure out Spider-Man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:42:41 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
unmapped (experience): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Spider-Man 2. Seeing Spider-Man 2's subway chase felt to him like watching Raiders' escalating set pieces in 1981.
“I imagine this is what it would have felt like to watch Raiders in the theater at the time, but seeing Spider-Man 2 opening nights”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:43:59 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Die Hard. The hero who is capable but visibly working it out is what the imitators miss; same as John McClane.
“it's the same thing that works about John McLean in the 1st Die Hard.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:45:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): George Lucas → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Lucas directed much of the second unit, taking over a lot of the stunt-heavy truck chase work to get the movie finished.
“George Lucas also did a lot of the 2nd unit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:46:12 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Star Wars merch got canonical names for every background character; Indiana Jones toys never do.
“None of these characters are ever named.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:47:27 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Harrison Ford → Dwayne Johnson. Modern stars with contractual limits on losing fights contrast with Ford letting the German mechanic beat him up.
“the infamous fucking like Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel contractual, how many punches they can take”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:48:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Today's body standard: Ford's buff Temple of Doom prep, Schwarzenegger in T2, now like Paul Rudd in Ant-Man.
“he is the exact same shape.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:52:06 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Burt Reynolds. Seventies action stars like Burt Reynolds and Dirty Harry never showed vulnerability; Indy licks his wounds on camera.
“Dirty Harry's never going to show fucking vulnerability.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:56:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Schindler's List → Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. After Schindler's List Spielberg refused to do cartoon Nazis in Crystal Skull.
“I'm not going back to doing cartoon Nazis post Schindler's list.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:58:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Temple of Doom was a prequel partly to avoid doing the Nazis again.
“part of the calculation of making a Temple of Doom, a prequel was that he didn't want to just do the Nazis again.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:59:23 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Jaws. Bendis lives in Portland, where Raiders and Jaws play theaters every summer; his kids found both still work.
“I'm here in Portland where Raiders and Jaws plays on theaters, at least once a summer.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:01:39 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
career (career): Two of a Kind → Gene Hackman. Gene Hackman played the voice of God in Two of a Kind.
“He is the voice of God in the John Travolta, Olivia Newton John.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:03:43 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Gene Siskel. Siskel and Ebert were giddy over Raiders and asked if it was a bad year or a truly great movie.
“they are just giddy with excitement over this movie”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:04:25 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Chariots of Fire. Raiders lost Best Picture to Chariots of Fire; Denholm Elliott lost his BAFTA to Ian Holm for it, and the score lost too.
“it loses to Chariots of Fire and Reds respectively for picture and director”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:05:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Reds. Raiders lost the directing Oscar to Reds; Bendis loves Reds.
“I love that movie dearly.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:05:41 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Chariots of Fire. The Oscars reward serious New Hollywood-style movies, not Spielberg's fun gumball-rally movies.
“Those are serious movies about serious things coming out of a 70s where New Hollywood was like, we got to fucking engage with shit politically.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:06:04 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Karen Allen → Starman. They have said Karen Allen should have won the Oscar that year for Starman.
“I think we both said that we think she should have won the Oscar that year and she wasn't even nominated”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:08:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Superman II. Raiders was not tracking well before release; Superman II was far ahead in tracking.
“There was there was a Superman 2 without tracking it by a mile.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:09:19 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Clash of the Titans → Ray Harryhausen. Clash of the Titans is described as the last work of Ray Harryhausen, a throwback where he does one last.
“We're letting Harry Hausen do one last. Yeah.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:10:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): History of the World, Part I → Mel Brooks. They will cover History of the World Part I one day.
“one that we will, I'm sure cover on this show one day.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:10:31 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Clash of the Titans. Raiders opened the same weekend as Clash of the Titans and History of the World Part I.
“Very weird that Raiders didn't Clash of the Titans, like those feel like way too much overlap there”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:11:14 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Yellowbeard → After Hours. Cheech and Chong in Yellowbeard and After Hours are reserved for future Mel Damski and Scorsese series.
“we'd want to save that for Martin Scorsese and Mel Damski series.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:12:46 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Jim Steranko → Outland. Steranko did the graphic-novel adaptation of Outland, better than the film.
“There is a comic, believe it or not, there is a graphic novel adaptation.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:16:13 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.65 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Outland → Alien. Outland tries to be Alien and does not connect; it is not as bad as The Black Hole.
“it's not as bad as black hole, but it's it's trying, it's trying to be alien and it's not, it's just not connecting.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:16:53 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Harrison Ford → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Raiders is the distillation of what Ford is uniquely great at as a movie star, though Han Solo is the favorite.
“I think it's his most important performance, and I think it's the greatest distillation of what he is uniquely great at as a movie star”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:21:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Next week's episode is E.T.; next the Patreon bonus covers Something Evil and Savage.
“I believe it's a movie called ET the Extra Terrestrial.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:27:19 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (26)

fun, about Thunderbolt Ross: Cold open: the hosts and Bendis riff on Harrison Ford as Thunderbolt Ross and the Red Hulk mustache.
“Is Thunderbolt Ross right wing?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:00:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Red Hulk: At Marvel retreats, where Red Hulk's mustache went was a major conversation; Bendis declined to engage.
“I just went, listen, not every fight's my fight and then moved on with my life.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:03:25 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Raiders of the Lost Ark (comic adaptation): Bendis was livid at the two-issue Marvel adaptation, which skipped the Well of Souls entirely.
“I mean, they skipped the well of the souls.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:27:27 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Steven Spielberg: Bendis, who never knew until The Fabelmans, is stunned that young Spielberg lived with a pet monkey, which the film's Marion scenes echo.
“He lived with the monkey.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:36:39 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Steven Spielberg: Bendis's mom sold Spielberg to him as the guy who gave his mother a Bloomingdale's card with no limit, the aspirational image of success.
“Steven Spielberg gave his mother, uh, uh, a Bloomingdale's card with no limit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:37:19 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Raiders story conference: In the Lucas/Spielberg/Kasdan story-conference transcript, someone floats that Marion is the villain; Bendis loves that even masters do not solve it right away.
“my favorite moment in the transcript is when someone says, maybe Marion's the villain.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:42:50 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Aaron Sorkin: Griffin or David imagines Sorkin writing a movie about three vacations of Lucas and Spielberg at three different ages.
“I believe Aaron Storken will one day write a movie about 3 vacations of Lucas and Spielberg at 3 different ages.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:51:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Toht: Spielberg wanted Toht to have a machine-gun and flamethrower prosthetic hand; Lucas vetoed it as the wrong genre, James Bond stuff.
“Spielberg wanted to have a prosthetic hand that was like a machine gun and a flamethrower”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:54:10 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Raiders of the Lost Ark: The spider shot: the spiders would not move until a female spider was put in, which explains the crawling on Alfred Molina.
“Just got to put a female spite around there and all the spikeles would start getting all excited.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:32:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Brian Michael Bendis: At about 16, during a Passover vacation, he paused a VHS of Raiders at every edit and drew each shot to make his own comic adaptation to send to Marvel; he drew 45 pages and never got out of the jungle.
“I drew 45 pages of comic book art.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:34:03 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Raiders opening: Bendis on the idol sandbag swap: a complicated trap idea conveyed wordlessly in seconds.
“that's a kind of complicated idea that is being conveyed to us in like 15 seconds.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:40:18 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Karen Allen: The Marion-Belloc drinking scene was improvised by Karen Allen and Paul Freeman off to the side and given to Spielberg, who adopted it.
“the scene between her and Belloc, you know, drinking each other under the table was improv.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:54:11 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Steven Spielberg: In the making-of documentary Spielberg, in love with Kate Capshaw, looks into the camera and says Indiana Jones did not get the girl.
“Indiana Jones didn't get the girl.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:07:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Raiders of the Lost Ark: In Cairo the producer had to remove every TV antenna from the rooftops so the setting looked timeless.
“when I had to go down and yank every one of those TV antennas off of every rooftop”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:24:43 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Harrison Ford: The planned sword-versus-whip fight in Cairo became Indy simply shooting the swordsman after Ford suggested it, because the cast was sick and time was short.
“Harrison Ford's like, what if I just shot?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:26:08 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Kate Capshaw: Capshaw refused the snake but agreed to the bugs, then Spielberg's cut has her saying he promised bugs.
“the cuts of the bug scene goes, you promised me bugs.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:30:29 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Heartbeeps: Griffin's childhood obsession with the Andy Kaufman robot movie turned out not to work when he finally saw it, with a hated cigar-smoking robot.
“Catskills is the least funny character in the history of movies, the cigar smoking robot.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:40:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Spider-Man: Bendis first saw Spider-Man on an AV cart in Sam Raimi's office with Stan Lee beside him, who left saying he wrote 126 issues and the rest were Bendis's.
“I wrote 126 issues of Spider-Man, they're all yours.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:43:28 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Indiana Jones merchandise: Unlike Star Wars, no Indiana Jones background character is ever canonically named; 1981 toys were just German Mechanic and Monkey Man.
“In 1981, they are German mechanic, Monkey Man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:47:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Toht: Toht's melting head was built layer by layer like a candle and hit with dozens of hairdryers; they could do it only once.
“they had like 40 fucking hairdryers on it and then we're speeding it up even further.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:01:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Siskel and Ebert: Siskel and Ebert, who Bendis treats as his film school, told each other it had been a terrible year for movies and Raiders just felt good.
“honestly, Robert, we haven't seen a good movie in like 6 months, like a really good movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:04:48 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Raiders ending: The warehouse of crates gives Bendis's story brain a million adventures.
“Every one of these is a comic book I have to read.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:07:18 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about On the Right Track: The Gary Coleman movie, a Raiders-weekend competitor, concerns an orphan living in a locker at Chicago's Union Station.
“Gary Coleman plays an orphan who lives in a locker at Union Station in Chicago.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:18:24 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Stripes: Everyone knows the first half of Stripes by heart and nobody has seen the second.
“It's the most watched 1st half in history.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:20:29 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Harrison Ford: Bendis's nomination for Ford's greatest performance is the Jimmy Kimmel Live sketch where he confronts Chewbacca for sleeping with his wife.
“The greatest thing he ever put on film was on Jimmy Kimmel live, the sketch where he confronts Chewbacca for sleeping with his wife.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:23:09 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Brian Michael Bendis: Bendis's upcoming graphic novel Fortune and Glory is the true story of writing the Spider-Man Broadway musical for a week and a half.
“I was the writer of the Spider-Man Broadway musical, turn off the dark for a week and a half”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:25:09 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.95 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Brian Michael Bendis (guest): Raised on Lucas and Spielberg and says the magic-trick-then-show-how-it-was-done openness of that era shaped his craft. Loves Raiders over Temple of Doom even though Temple of Doom met him at a pivotal age; adores Reds, Siskel and Ebert, John Williams, Karen Allen. Cannot stand writers telling the audience the theme outright and hates snakes.
Griffin Newman (host): Came to Indiana Jones late, via box sets before Crystal Skull, and prefers Last Crusade for its silent-comedy streak, with reservations about Temple of Doom. Fascinated by how movies were made and by fandom history; a sucker for Spielberg staging, action craft and comics-era nostalgia.
David Sims (host): Marvel and comics devotee who treats Thunderbolt Ross as the best character in the Marvel universe. Loves Harrison Ford's craftsmanship, Bond, and chronicling career arcs; cares about movie-star persona and industry history.
Ben Hosley (host): Producer present in the room; a lifelong Indiana Jones fan raised on cable showings and the computer games, drawn to the franchise's bones, dust and a hero who is both bad boy and egghead.

The show's recurring bits

The box office game: Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against.
The sung theme: "Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it.

Names the transcriber got wrong

'Clapjack' in the cold open is probably the show intro/theme
'Kazden' / 'Larry Kazen' = Lawrence Kasdan
'Staranko' / 'Duranko' = Jim Steranko
'Mason Claus Jansen' = probably Walt Simonson and Klaus Janson
'Dutronck' = Jacques Dutronc; 'Crock, monsieur ... Croissant, Dufremage' appears to be a joke
'Bone Dirt River' = Nice Dreams (the third Cheech and Chong film, named in the next lines)
'Rumor of the View' = A Room with a View
'Heartbeat' / 'Mickey Kaufman' = Heartbeeps (Andy Kaufman)
'Aaron Storken' = Aaron Sorkin
'Mads Nicholson' = Mads Mikkelsen
'Matt Palmroy' (Esquire essay) uncertain real name
'Pierre Laurie' = Peter Lorre
'Truror number two' = Juror #2
'Zutoki' = Zootopia
'Greece' = Grease
'Mel damn ski' = Mel Damski
'Peter Himes' = Peter Hyams
'Bristol Skull' = Crystal Skull
'last year's state of' = Last Crusade's ('it belongs in a museum')
'Hoken' = Hook
'Dental Man Elliott' / 'Dan Holm Elliot' = Denholm Elliott
'Wombat' (2:06:19) possibly Short Round? unresolved
'Scott Auckerman and Scott' = possibly Scott Aukerman's podcast
'Connor' = host of the George Lucas Talk Show (surname not said)

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Films that came up

subject (1)

passing (67)

compared (41)

anecdote (5)

recommended (1)

Claims (111)

Fun items (26)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong