Billy Wilder

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q51547: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as other. The films the hosts said they were tied to, which the two lists below run through too: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); Full Metal Jacket (1987); Schindler's List (1993); The Fortune Cookie. Count them as director (6 films), writer (3 films) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

James Bond films (the franchise): 3 lines

lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): James Bond films (the franchise) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the maker said so: Spielberg's account of the Hawaii conversation with Lucas). 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)
craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): James Bond films (the franchise) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). 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) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): James Bond films (the franchise) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). 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)

Chuck Jones: 2 lines

craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Chuck Jones ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). 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) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Chuck Jones ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). 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)

Empire of the Sun (1987): 2 lines

contrast (method contrast) · through Schindler's List (1993), which they were tied to as would-be director: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). On Schindler Spielberg refused to storyboard, almost as a reaction to criticism of the puppet-show control in Empire.
“Schindler, the infamous thing, is that he was like, I won't storyboard this.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:31:40 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (dry run) · through Schindler's List (1993), which they were tied to as would-be director: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). Schindler's List is the more successful grown-up film that erased Empire of the Sun from memory; it was seen as the dry run.
“Look back as this was the dry run before he totally cracked it on Shell.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:30:35 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

The Fabelmans (2022): 2 lines

theme (theme) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): The Fabelmans ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). 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) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): The Fabelmans ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). 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)

Flash Gordon (Republic serial): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Flash Gordon (Republic serial) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). 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)

Holocaust movie (Kubrick's unmade film): 1 line

career (career sequence) · through Full Metal Jacket (1987), which they were tied to as quoted as calling the first 45 minutes the best movie ever made: Holocaust movie (Kubrick's unmade film) ⇒ Full Metal Jacket (the host's read). Full Metal Jacket came out of Kubrick failing to crack a Holocaust movie, as Barry Lyndon came out of Napoleon.
“it does feel similar to Full Metal Jacket coming out of him trying to make a Holocaust movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Barry Lyndon with Karina Longworth (Ad-Free) · 0:23:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

R. Lee Ermey: 1 line

lineage (source of the dialogue) · through Full Metal Jacket (1987), which they were tied to as quoted as calling the first 45 minutes the best movie ever made: R. Lee Ermey ⇒ Full Metal Jacket (the host's read). Per the dossier Hartman's insults came right from Ermey, whom Kubrick had write down what he screamed.
“No, obviously this guy is perfect and would write down everything he said because all the insults came right from him”
Blank Check — Patreon · Full Metal Jacket with Jon Gabrus (Ad-Free) · 1:05:50 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

The Short-Timers (novel): 1 line

lineage (adaptation) · through Full Metal Jacket (1987), which they were tied to as quoted as calling the first 45 minutes the best movie ever made: The Short-Timers (novel) ⇒ Full Metal Jacket (the host's read). Kubrick's film is based on Gustav Hasford's novel and keeps its three-part structure.
“Stanley Kubrick's film, 1987, based on the novel, The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Full Metal Jacket with Jon Gabrus (Ad-Free) · 0:25:08 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Wartime Lies / Aryan Papers (unmade Kubrick project): 1 line

career (project that led to another) · through Full Metal Jacket (1987), which they were tied to as quoted as calling the first 45 minutes the best movie ever made: Wartime Lies / Aryan Papers (unmade Kubrick project) ⇒ Full Metal Jacket (the host's read). The speaker says Full Metal Jacket came out of Kubrick searching for the right Holocaust material.
“Full Mal Jack comes out of him searching for the right Holocaust material.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:29:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): 2 lines

contrast (contrast) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the host's read). 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)
craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the host's read). 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)

Cameron Crowe: 1 line

lineage (lineage) · them, directly: Billy Wilder ⇒ Cameron Crowe (the host's read). Crowe worships Billy Wilder, whose versatility Brooks also has.
“Cameron Crowe worships at the feet of Billy Wilder, of course”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:14:32 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Chris Pratt: 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Chris Pratt (the host's read). The wrong lessons from Indiana Jones were taken by later action heroes like Pratt.
“the lessons that we took from that character that like Chris Pratt took maybe from that character are not the ones that I think we should have been taking”
The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) · 0:09:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Dead Presidents (1995): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Full Metal Jacket (1987), which they were tied to as quoted as calling the first 45 minutes the best movie ever made: Full Metal Jacket ⇒ Dead Presidents (the maker said so: Lorenz Tate recalling the Hughes brothers' videotapes). Allen Hughes made a VHS of Vietnam scenes; Tate was assigned Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Platoon.
“So I watched Full Metal Jacket.”
The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:50:43 · Lorenz Tate (0.80 sure it was them)

Empire of the Sun (1987): 1 line

craft (shot design) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Same slow reveal as Indiana Jones in pieces before the hero shot.
“which similarly has the like Spielberg taking 5 minutes to show you Indiana Jones in pieces before you really get the hero shot”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:38:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Home Wreckers (unmade script): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through The Fortune Cookie, which they were tied to as named in a studio note: The Fortune Cookie ⇒ Home Wreckers (unmade script) (the maker said so: a studio vice president's note to the writers). A studio note asked for a smart legal comedy like Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie.
“it should be more like a smart legal comedy like Billy Wilder is the fortune cookie”
The Big Picture · The 10 Best Horror Movies of the Decade | The Big Picture · 1:09:37 · unknown (Alexander or Karaszewski) (0.40 sure it was them)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008): 1 line

career (career) · through Schindler's List (1993), which they were tied to as would-be director: Schindler's List ⇒ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (the maker said so: Spielberg's statement while making 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)

Jarhead (2005): 1 line

unmapped (generational template) · through Full Metal Jacket (1987), which they were tied to as quoted as calling the first 45 minutes the best movie ever made: Full Metal Jacket ⇒ Jarhead (the host's read). Jarhead is described as trying to be the Full Metal Jacket of the Iraq war generation.
“like jarhead feels like it's very much trying to be the full metal jacket.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Full Metal Jacket with Jon Gabrus (Ad-Free) · 0:27:21 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)

Soderbergh's silent Raiders remix: 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Soderbergh's silent Raiders remix (the host's read). Soderbergh re-cut Raiders silent, black and white, over The Social Network score.
“It's basically his silent film remix of Raiders, black and white film with the social network score playing over it”
The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) · 0:10:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

The Color of Money (1986): 1 line

craft (camera-movement coverage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Scorsese covers scenes with morphing moving master shots, like Spielberg's quick efficient coverage, to stay under schedule.
“But he's doing like all this Spielberg, like coverage with camera movement.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 1:21:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Horizon Experiment (comic): 1 line

contrast (contrast) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ The Horizon Experiment (comic) (the host's read). 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)

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024): 1 line

craft (plot structure) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they were tied to as source of a screenwriting rule (promised payoff): Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (the host's read). The film fails to tie its Indiana-Jones-style MacGuffin to the Wallace-Gromit relationship.
“They fail to make the, um, the plot, the sort of like Indiana Jones-S McGuffin of what they're up against directly relate to Wallace and Gromit's relationship.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 2:11:21 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

What was said about them, by kind

craft (1)

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)

lineage (1)

lineage (lineage): Cameron Crowe → Billy Wilder. Crowe worships Billy Wilder, whose versatility Brooks also has.
“Cameron Crowe worships at the feet of Billy Wilder, of course”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:14:32 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

people (3)

people (people): Witness for the Prosecution → Billy Wilder. Written and directed by Wilder, in the middle of his great run.
“Written and directed by the great Billy Wilder”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:38:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
people (people): Ball of Fire → Billy Wilder. Ball of Fire was written by Billy Wilder and directed by Howard Hawks, with Barbara Stanwyck.
“by Billy Wilder, uh, and uh, directed by Howard Hawkes”
The Big Picture · The 10 Best Horror Movies of the Decade | The Big Picture · 1:48:59 · unknown (Alexander or Karaszewski) (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Billy Wilder → Witness for the Prosecution. Box office number three is Wilder's courtroom drama with Charles Laughton as the prosecutor.
“it's a Billy Wilder film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory with Sarah Marshall (Ad-Free) · 1:49:34 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (1)

unmapped (praise): Billy Wilder → Full Metal Jacket. Wilder is quoted calling the first 45 minutes the best movie ever made.
“I found some quote that like Billy Wilder said that he thought the 1st 45 minutes were the best movie ever made.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Full Metal Jacket with Jon Gabrus (Ad-Free) · 0:20:09 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

what-if (1)

what-if (what-if): Schindler's List → Billy Wilder. Wilder reportedly asked Spielberg to let him make Schindler's List as his last film, and Spielberg said no.
“Billy Wilder learned that Steven Spielberg acquired the rights to Schindler's list, and he came to Steven before he made the movie.”
The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) · 0:13:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

fun, about Billy Wilder: A staggering decade: Sunset Boulevard through The Apartment.
“that's just obscene on how many great films that is”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:39:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)