Joe Spinell

Made films the shows talk about.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: The Godfather (1972); The Godfather Part II (1974); Rocky (1976).

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.

Chuck Wepner: 1 line

  1. people (people) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Chuck Wepner ⇒ Rocky (the host's read). Stallone watched Wepner take a beating from Ali for 15 rounds and was inspired to write Rocky in 3.5 days.
    “He's watching Webner Ali in 75, which was the real life version of this.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:19:58 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Mario Puzo: 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through The Godfather (1972), which they acted in: Mario Puzo ⇒ The Godfather (the host's read). Coppola cut huge sections of Puzo's novel, as Gray cut Grann's book.
    “even there, Francis took out huge sections of the book and made very interesting decisions.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:23:12 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)

The Longest Yard: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: The Longest Yard ⇒ Rocky (the host's read). Longest Yard arguably started the big-event beats, but Rocky is what made the sports-movie recipe stick.
    “which I guess you could say longest yard started it, but once Rocky did this.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:06:09 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

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

Creed (2015): 2 lines

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Creed (the host's read). Merchant says Creed repeated Rocky's trick of making you care about the character before the fighting.
    “when they rebooted it with Creed, I think they did the same thing”
    The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting With My Family’ | Interview (Ep. 130) · 0:46:07 · Stephen Merchant (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Creed (the host's read). Creed closely follows Rocky's structure, but opens with Creed obviously able to fight, unlike Rocky's grim opening bout.
    “in Creed, which very closely follows some of the structures of rocky.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:38:15 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them)

Fighting with My Family (2019): 2 lines

  1. craft (craft) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Fighting with My Family (the maker said so: Merchant in this interview). Merchant says you cannot make a sports movie without watching Rocky and all its sequels.
    “make any kind of sports a movie without watching Rocky or indeed all of the Rockies”
    The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting With My Family’ | Interview (Ep. 130) · 0:45:46 · Stephen Merchant (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Fighting with My Family (the maker said so: Merchant in this interview). Merchant calls Rocky a template because it beds in character so you root for him before the fight, a lesson he applied.
    “a template in the sense that it really beds in character”
    The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting With My Family’ | Interview (Ep. 130) · 0:46:00 · Stephen Merchant (0.95 sure it was them)

Tombstone (1993): 2 lines

  1. craft (craft) · through The Godfather (1972), which they acted in: The Godfather ⇒ Tombstone (the maker said so: Russell, in his True West magazine interview). Russell's intended tone was a Western Godfather; Jarre's version was more elegant.
    “Well, Russell says it, it was basically the godfather of Westerns.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:03 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through The Godfather (1972), which they acted in: The Godfather ⇒ Tombstone (the host's read). The Oriental faro takeover shows the Godfather-like business side Russell wanted.
    “You could see the godfather thing that Russell's talking about when he moves into Tombstone and immediately takes over the Faro game at the Oriental.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:33:55 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

(the modern sports movie): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ (the modern sports movie) (the host's read). Rocky created the sports-movie prototype and the modern underdog.
    “created the sports movie prototype, like just period.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:05:47 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)

Bull Durham (1988): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Bull Durham (the host's read). Bull Durham took the Rocky motto a level further in how a sports movie is written.
    “how can we take that rocky motto and actually go the next level with how we write a movie”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Natural’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 0:25:51 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)

Cinderella Man (2005): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Cinderella Man (the host's read). Rocky set up the idea that a victory transforms the supporting cast too, as in Cinderella Man where he fights for Giamatti.
    “by the time you get to like Cinderella man, you realize that he's not just fighting for him, he's fighting for Giamatti.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:28:11 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them)

Raging Bull (1980): 1 line

  1. theme (anti-genre) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Raging Bull (the maker said so). Scorsese shot in black and white to differentiate from Rocky-era bright red-white-and-blue boxing movies, and producer Winkler produced both.
    “Number one, I want to differentiate from the Rockies and all the other sort of boxing movies right now.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raging Bull with David Krumholtz · 1:08:55 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Rocky Balboa (2006): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ Rocky Balboa (the host's read). The little girl Marie from Rocky grows up to be the love interest in Rocky Balboa.
    “she then becomes the Rocky Balboa love interest.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:14:31 · Van Lathan (0.45 sure it was them)

The Karate Kid (1984): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Rocky (1976), which they acted in: Rocky ⇒ The Karate Kid (the host's read). Rocky is eight years before Karate Kid, which is called the 2.0 version of the same underdog story but a completely different movie in every respect.
    “We're 8 years away from karate kid, which is the next, the 2.0 version of this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:11:32 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (3) everyone in acting

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career): Joe Spinell → The Godfather Part II. Spinell, who plays Gazzo, was also in Godfather 2.
    “Obviously, also in the Godfather.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:16:32 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Joe Spinell: Chris Ryan's hot take: the film would be better with two more Gazzo scenes and two fewer Paulie scenes.
    “If we had 2 more gazo scenes and 2 less poly scenes.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:16:50 · Chris Ryan (0.85 sure it was them)