Bill Simmons

51 sketches, 1,295 claims, and 677 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Showing 41–51 of 51 sketches.

The Rewatchables: ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Loves charisma performances, movie stars at their peak, and trivia from Tarantino's circle. Champions Brad Pitt as the winner. Can't stand awards mistakes like The Artist winning, and he warns about the 'Oscars should wait five years' view. A sucker for 1960s details, driving scenes, and Boogie Nights real estate.

Stances

  • Brad Pitt won the movie
  • Oscars should be awarded five years later
  • Focus is underrated

Humor: Runs bits on movies he almost bought, fake research, and sports-style comparisons.

In their words

  • “I think Pitt won the movie.” (1:17:58)
  • “I think I'm the only one that likes focus.” (0:32:43)

The Rewatchables: ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Loves the mid-80s Eddie Murphy and the movie's cultural phenomenon, and has a clear soft spot for Lisa Eilbacher. Is a sucker for Hollywood-excess anecdotes (Simpson, cocaine, Rourke, Stallone) and for sports analogies. Has little patience for plot logic holes but loves list games and categories.

Stances

  • Eddie Murphy in 1984 was the biggest star in the world after Michael Jackson
  • Lisa Eilbacher is the Apex Mountain and the film's winner
  • The Eddie-Murphy-as-star what-if game (Top Gun) is a worthwhile question

Humor: Rapid-fire sports analogies (WAR, LeBron, Dion Waiters, Shawn Michaels) and mock-indignant asides.

In their words

  • “Eddie Murphy was my guy.” (0:02:07)
  • “Dion Waiters Award” (1:05:34)
  • “Lisa Elbacher, 100,000%.” (1:09:44)

The Rewatchables: ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Loves the lore of how a movie got made, the lists (casting what-ifs, recasting), and the 'unanswerable questions' category. Has little patience for Lawrence Tierney's acting or for Ebert missing on Tarantino. He remembers the 1992 Boston era of a movie that mattered and is a sucker for a heist.

Stances

  • Tarantino won the movie
  • Lawrence Tierney is bad (the 'Mike Francesa' bit)
  • Does not want new Reservoir Dogs content
  • Wants to see the heist, plays devil's advocate

Humor: Throws sports analogies, invents award names, and runs recurring bits like Roger Ebert and Felony Land.

In their words

  • “I love bank ice scenes.” (1:23:55)
  • “It's Tarantino, and I think all of those actors robbing a bank.” (1:23:22)
  • “Can I make the case for seeing the heist?” (1:23:18)

The Rewatchables: ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins (host)

Loves ensemble casts and film-lineage framing, sports analogies (Dwight Gooden, Penny Hardaway), and the show's recurring awards. Wants a better soundtrack, and cannot stand the ending speech. Is a sucker for his wife and kids' opinions of the film.

Stances

  • Mean Girls is the best Lorne Michaels movie
  • Lohan's decline is like an athlete's lost career
  • Soundtrack and ending speech are weak

Humor: Dry, sports-and-family riffs, often teased by his co-hosts.

In their words

  • “that was like Dwight Gooden in 1985 on the Mets.” (0:27:59)
  • “I think this is the best Lauren Michaels movie.” (0:16:22)

The Rewatchables: ‘The Natural’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin (host)

Bill loves old-school sports myth-making, baseball nostalgia, the Natural's chill scene, and stat-nerd rabbit holes like reconstructing Roy Hobbs's season. He is picky about throwing motions and lineup logic, and is a sucker for the dugout-emptying slow-motion shot. He ranks Bull Durham/Hoosiers/Rocky near the top and finds slow hospital stretches in sports movies unbearable.

Stances

  • The Natural used to be the greatest sports movie but is now slower than he remembers
  • Every great sports movie needs a chill scene
  • Dislikes bad throwing motions on screen
  • Hospital detours in sports movies should be cut short
  • Roy Hobbs was a Bonds-level statistical machine, or worse

Humor: Dry, list-making sports-nerd riffs and reaching pop-culture asides (Bachelor, Harry Potter) delivered as if serious.

In their words

  • “My move with sports movies is like, get me out of the hospital as fast as possible.” (1:00:37)
  • “nothing drives me crazier than when somebody can't throw in a baseball movie.” (0:56:43)

The Rewatchables: ‘Reality Bites’ 25th Anniversary With Bill Simmons, Chuck Klosterman, and Chris Ryan (host)

Loves Gen X touchstones and basketball analogies; sticks up for Winona Ryder and Friends season one; mocks Troy-type guys and over-talky English majors. A sucker for half-assed internet research and awards-bit tradition.

Stances

  • Winona Ryder won the movie
  • Singles is a flawed but beloved sibling
  • Ben Stiller deserves credit

Humor: Rolls NBA references and mock-feuds into everything.

In their words

  • “I do look at her in a way, like, uh, like I look at some NBA players.” (0:32:14)
  • “I'm still sticking with Bunona.” (1:30:09)

The Rewatchables: ‘Old School’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey (host)

Loves sports-adjacent silliness, big broad comedy and quotable lines, and wedding toast chaos. Can't stand being wrong about movie trivia he has already litigated. A sucker for his own running categories and bits (Ebert, Joey Pants, Dion Waiters).

Stances

  • Roger Ebert is never to be trusted on comedies
  • Comedies of the era were a nice 6-7 year run
  • Open your movie with a wedding theory
  • Luke Wilson is not Harrison Ford

Humor: Deadpan rapid-fire teasing of co-hosts and mock-outrage, plus sports references.

In their words

  • “never to be trusted on comedies.” (0:15:17)
  • “This movie also nicely slots into my open your movie with a wedding theory.” (1:01:05)

The Rewatchables: ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (host)

Loves sports analogies, Kurt Russell and Pacino's Cruising, defends 90s movies like Fletch. Dislikes dated romance interludes like the picnic. A sucker for mustaches and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson.

Stances

  • Val Kilmer wins the movie
  • Wyatt Earp is the rival, Tombstone is more entertaining
  • Cruising is incredible
  • Cut the 12-minute theater scene

Humor: Rapid-fire sports comparisons and teasing his cohosts.

In their words

  • “I think this movie is the perfect microcosm of both of their careers.” (0:12:28)
  • “I just don't come to Tombstone for picnics” (0:29:44)

The Rewatchables: 'Taken' With Bill Simmons and Shea Serrano (host)

Loves old-school and 5 o'clocker action, Seagal, Stallone, Nick Cage, and movies that know exactly what they are. Can't stand over-explained worldbuilding or sequels that give the hero a known villain. A sucker for the Neeson comeback and for ranking things by era.

Stances

  • Taken is the perfect 5 o'clocker
  • Taken 2 is not better than the first
  • Neeson is the Apex Mountain of the movie
  • The first Taken works because there is no main villain

Humor: Deadpan nitpicking, escalating sports analogies, and long self-deprecating dad stories.

In their words

  • “I just like watching movies that know exactly what they are.” (0:32:10)
  • “I don't think it's a John Wick 2 situation where John Wick 2 is actually somehow better than John Wick one, or we could at least have the debate.” (0:42:12)

The Rewatchables: ‘The Departed’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan (host)

Loves big star-driven movies and sets the show's categories; adores the Wahlberg and Baldwin scenes, Boston flavor and the crazy cast what-ifs. Can't stand Nicholson's performance here, implausible plot points and the rat. A sucker for 'that guy' actors, Goodfellas and Boston details.

Stances

  • The Departed is a Hall of Famer because it is flawed and fun
  • Leo won the movie, Nicholson loses it
  • Costello should have been Pacino
  • Damon's Boston accent beats Wahlberg's
  • Scorsese's Stones fetish is funny

Humor: Deadpan nitpicking, jokes about plot holes and trivia, rapid mock-outrage.

In their words

  • “This is a perfect rewatchable because it is a great bad movie.” (0:12:23)
  • “Nicholson's entire performance.” (0:21:25)

The Big Picture: Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) (guest)

Calls Spielberg the greatest director ever but is skeptical of his late period and Munich. Loves Jaws, Raiders, and E.T. through his kids, and measures movies by whether kids can stay with them. Distrusts the calculating, career-minded side of Spielberg and Spielberg's DreamWorks hedging.

Stances

  • Spielberg's first 15 years are the greatest career stretch ever
  • His recent work is solid but not special
  • Spielberg is 'calculating' where Mann or Coppola are obsessive
  • Judges movies by whether his kids can watch them

Humor: Wry and teasing; leans on sports analogies (LeBron, Popovich) and bits like 'hit by a car in 1986'.

In their words

  • “if you just got hit by a car at the peak of your career, how would people remember you?” (0:51:08)
  • “I judge everything by my kids who have, you know, 21st century ADD with pop culture.” (1:00:09)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Big Picture

The Rewatchables

Their claims

Showing 1,001–1,100 of 1,295 claims.

  1. lineage (influence): Vacation (National Lampoon's) → Appatow-era comedies. Vacation is called the father of later Apatow and Todd Phillips comedies.
    “I think is directly the, like the father of some of the appatau era comedies.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:09:26 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. career (chain: SNL comeback): Fletch → Lorne Michaels. Chase's mid-80s comeback with Three Amigos reunited him with Lorne Michaels and Spies Like Us with Dan Aykroyd.
    “The 3 amigos get some back with Lorne Michaels, which is huge.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:54 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  3. theme (persona parallel): Michael Keaton → Night Shift. Keaton was the other 80s wiseass; in Night Shift he is a cocky shithead, and Night Shift is a forgotten movie like Seems Like Old Times.
    “But I'm saying like when he, like he's in night shift, that guy's just like a cocky shithead, basically.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:24:38 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (source material): Fletch → Gregory McDonald. Fletch adapts the McDonald novels; the noir voiceover feels like the book, the ad-libbed scenes deviate.
    “So it's a Gregory McDonald novel”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:25:35 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  5. people (producer rescue): Michael Douglas → Fletch. After eight years of studio rejection, Michael Douglas got it over the finish line as producer.
    “Michael Douglas. Was the one who got it over the finish line as a producer”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:26:11 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (mocked expectation): Roger Ebert → The Killing Fields. Mock-Ebert asks why Fletch is not like serious dramas such as The Killing Fields or Chariots of Fire.
    “Why isn't this like the killing field?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:28:53 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. career (filmography): Kareem Abdul-Jabbar → Airplane!. Kareem's IMDb run: Game of Death, Airplane, and Fletch; later Mighty Ducks D2.
    “which inexplicably has that Bruce Lee movie, Airplane, and Fletch.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:39:45 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. people (athlete-actor contender): Jim Brown → The Dirty Dozen. Brown offered as most successful athlete-actor: Mars Attacks, Any Given Sunday, Running Man, Dirty Dozen.
    “Dirty dozen was like an actual real role in a great movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:40:49 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  9. people (director filmography): Michael Ritchie → Downhill Racer. Ritchie is called the best sports-movie director ever on the strength of Downhill Racer, Bad News Bears, Semi-Tough, Wildcats and Diggstown.
    “This is the this is the all-time best sports movie director ever.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:45:59 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  10. unmapped (mocked on MST3K): Joe Don Baker → Mitchell (the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode). Bill's favorite MST3K episode, Mitchell, mocks Baker's heavy breathing.
    “They do Mitchell, and it was my favorite one out of all of them.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:56:24 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  11. what-if (recast what-if): Geena Davis → Dana Wheeler-Nicholson. The hosts say Fletch improves if Davis and Wheeler-Nicholson swap parts.
    “Is this a better movie if they just flip Gina Davis and Dana Wheeler Nicholson?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:58:33 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  12. theme (shared location): Fletch → The Godfather. Alan Stanwick's house is the same house as the horse-head scene in The Godfather.
    “The godfather, when Jack Waltz finds the horse head in his bed”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:00:32 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  13. people (composer trajectory): Harold Faltermeyer → Top Gun. Faltermeyer scored Beverly Hills Cop then Fletch; the sky is the limit after, literally with Top Gun.
    “So he's got cop and then this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:04 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  14. theme (disguise motif): The Saint → Fletch. Both Fletch and The Saint are movies where the lead loves disguises.
    “That's a thing we're learning. Based on this movie and the Saint.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:13:17 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  15. people (director filmography): Philip Noyce → Clear and Present Danger. Noyce directed The Saint, Sliver and Clear and Present Danger; Bill wants to rewatch Clear and Present Danger.
    “I'd love to do clear and present danger on this podcast.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Fletch’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:13:57 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  16. what-if (casting what-if): Matthew Broderick → Family Ties. Broderick was first choice for Alex P. Keaton and turned it down, raising a Back to the Future ripple question.
    “He was the 1st choice to play Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:09:51 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  17. what-if (casting what-if): Matthew Broderick → Back to the Future. If Broderick took Family Ties, would Michael J. Fox have played Ferris and Broderick Marty McFly.
    “if Matthew Broderick's in family ties, does that mean he's then in back to the future? and Michael J. Fox's Ferris Bueller?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:09:57 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  18. what-if (casting what-if): Matthew Broderick → The Flamingo Kid. Broderick was cast but dropped out; it became Matt Dillon's breakout.
    “He was also cast in the Flamingo Kid, but he dropped out and that became Matt Dillon's breakout role.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:13 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  19. what-if (casting what-if): Matthew Broderick → Point Break. Broderick turned down Johnny Utah, which went to Keanu; hosts say he is too slight and not a quarterback type.
    “He turned down the role of Johnny Utah, point break.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:26 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  20. career (creator self-projection): John Hughes → The Breakfast Club. Hughes is a cross between Hall's Breakfast Club character and Cameron, and did his best writing for those guys.
    “my guess would be he was kind of a cross between Anthony Michael Hall's breakfast club character and Cameron in a lot of ways”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:11:32 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  21. unmapped (critical disagreement): Roger Ebert → Gene Siskel. Siskel disliked Ferris over Chicago accuracy, while Ebert gave it three stars and later Roeper made it his favorite.
    “Gene Siskel did not like the movie”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:28:50 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  22. craft (comedic device): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → Beverly Hills Cop. Impersonating people over multiple phones to outwit annoying people peaked in Ferris, Beverly Hills Cop, and Fletch.
    “This was peak trying to outwit really fucking annoying people by pretending to be different characters and using different phones.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:37:17 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  23. craft (cut music): Robert Smith → Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Robert Smith wrote original museum music that failed in screening; replaced by an instrumental of a Smiths song.
    “the music that they got rid of is was written for the movie by Robert Smith from The Cure.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:39:16 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  24. unmapped (same year): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → Platoon. Oscar year 1986 pairs Platoon with Ferris, and Platoon's nominees are listed alongside the 1986 supporting actor race.
    “Lucas, Ferris Bueller, Platoon. Iconic one year.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:51:38 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  25. career (breakout trajectory): Charlie Sheen → Platoon. Sheen goes from a bit part in Ferris to A-list in Platoon, then Wall Street.
    “He's the guy who is in a bit part in Ferris Bueller to all of a sudden he's an A-list star in Platoon”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:51:43 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  26. what-if (casting what-if): Paul Gleason → The Breakfast Club. Gleason, Dick Vernon in Breakfast Club, was considered for Rooney; hosts debate if that is too distracting.
    “Paul Gleason considered. For the role of Ed Rooney.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:00:54 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  27. unmapped (sibling film): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → The Breakfast Club. The two were basically filmed simultaneously at Shermer High, which also hosts Weird Science and Sixteen Candles.
    “Ferris Bewer and Breakfast Club were basically filmed simultaneously in Shermer High.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:01:03 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  28. theme (shared location): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → Weird Science. Shermer High is the location for Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, and Ferris.
    “Shermer High is the location for weird science, um, 16 candles, Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:01:12 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  29. people (that guy filmography): Larry 'Flash' Jenkins → Fletch. The other parking attendant was in Fletch and The White Shadow season 3.
    “Larry Flash Jenkins, who is in Fletch, and is in season 3 of The White Shadow”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:42 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  30. what-if (casting what-if): Alan Ruck → The Breakfast Club. Ruck had previously auditioned for Bender.
    “Ruck had previously editioned for what role? Bender, right?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:58 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  31. people (that guy filmography): Max Perlich → Beautiful Girls. Classroom actor Perlich also appears in Beautiful Girls, My Own Private Idaho, and Drugstore Cowboy.
    “Is he in my own private Idaho or drugstore cowboy?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:04:22 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  32. what-if (casting what-if): Ronny Cox → Total Recall. Ronny Cox's 83 to 90 run playing guys in charge makes him a Rooney candidate, tied to a past Total Recall episode.
    “You guys just talked about him on Total Recall.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:10:25 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  33. theme (shared location): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → The Blues Brothers. Chez Louis is the same restaurant as in Blues Brothers and St. Elmo's Fire, a three-year span of iconic 80s restaurant movies.
    “Same restaurant as the Blues Brothers, with Elwood and Jake.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:11:42 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  34. theme (shared location): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → St. Elmo's Fire. Same restaurant where Kirby (Estevez) waits for Andie McDowell.
    “same restaurant at St. Elmo's Fire, where Kirby played by Abilo Estevez, waits for Andy McDowell”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:11:56 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  35. lineage (adaptation): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → The Ferris Bueller Show (TV, 1990). A 1990 NBC series with Jennifer Aniston as Jeanie, which the hosts call bad.
    “The Ferris Bueller Show, 1990, NBC.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:14:56 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  36. theme (genre: Chicago movies): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → About Last Night. Ferris is argued as the Apex Mountain for Chicago in movies, alongside Blues Brothers and About Last Night.
    “is this is this Apex Mountain for Chicago in movies.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:18:20 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  37. theme (genre: all in one day): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → Dazed and Confused. Other nominees for the all-in-one-day genre include Dazed and Confused, Dog Day Afternoon, Before Sunrise/Sunset, Do the Right Thing.
    “Dazed and Confused, dog day afternoon. Um, the before sunrise before sunset movies. Do the right thing is on that list.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:18:50 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  38. unmapped (year context): Ferris Bueller's Day Off → Back to the Future. Hughes has the biggest cultural footprint of 80s directors, involved in five of the fifteen biggest 80s movies, plus Home Alone.
    “out of the 15 biggest 80s movies. I think he was involved in five.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:36:21 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  39. career (career comparison): Brad Pitt → Newitski. Simmons compares the role's effect on Pitt to a title lifting an already Hall of Fame player (the transcript renders it 'Newitski', a mangled Dirk Nowitzki).
    “I compared it to when Newitski, when the title in 2011, where Newitski was a Hall of Famer anyway”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:05:28 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  40. career (career stepping stone): Brad Pitt → Moneyball. Moneyball showed shades of the performance Pitt reaches here.
    “You see shades of it and moneyball, yeah.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:05:48 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  41. unmapped (charisma peak): George Clooney → Out of Sight. Clooney's best charisma movie is Out of Sight, powered by his chemistry with J.Lo.
    “Clooney's best charisma movie. I think was out of sight, which it's the charisma of him and J-Lo that makes that movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:07:42 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  42. unmapped (charisma peak): Paul Newman → Slap Shot. Slap Shot is Newman's charisma picture as an older, beaten-up star.
    “for Paul Newman, it's slapshot, weirdly.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:07:49 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  43. career (career contrast): Brad Pitt → Tom Cruise. Cruise plays variations of himself and may lack a Cliff Booth role.
    “He's basically playing variations of Tom Cruise in these different movies, but I don't know if he had a Cliff Booth part, did he?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:08:09 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  44. lineage (based on): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Wanted: Dead or Alive. Bounty Law is based on Steve McQueen's Wanted Dead or Alive.
    “Bounty Lostar, which was based on Wanted Dead or Alive with Steve McQueen”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:16:14 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  45. unmapped (real-life model): Burt Reynolds → Hal Needham. Rick and Cliff's relationship is based on Burt Reynolds and his stunt double Hal Needham.
    “Alton's relationship with Cliff is based on Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham, his longtime stunt double”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:16:32 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  46. unmapped (joke merge): Smokey and the Bandit → Every Which Way but Loose. They joke about merging the two movies via the orangutan.
    “Smoking the bandit with the ape from every which way you can.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:17:12 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  47. unmapped (needle-drop reference): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → The Graduate. Tarantino throws in Mrs. Robinson during the car scene.
    “Tarantino throws at Mrs. Robinson.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:23:39 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  48. unmapped (family): Margaret Qualley → Andy McDowell. Qualley is Andie MacDowell's daughter.
    “that's Andy McDowell's daughter.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:33:54 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  49. lineage (visual influence): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Tarantino wanted the Spahn Ranch sequence to feel like Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
    “Tarantino wanted it to look like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and had his crew research, Texas Chant, and the whole feel of it and how desolate it was.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:37:06 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  50. lineage (visual influence): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Apocalypse Now. The dogs at Spahn Ranch play the role of the Duvall helicopters, constantly present and disorienting.
    “He wanted the dogs to be the helicopters.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:37:25 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  51. unmapped (script anecdote): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → True Romance. Sharon watching her own movie came from Tarantino sneaking into a theater showing True Romance; Pitt's acid-trip moment is likened to Floyd from True Romance.
    “he's basically Floyd from True Romance for the 1st 2 minutes of that scene”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:38:23 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  52. lineage (ad-lib source): Brad Pitt → True Romance. Pitt's ad-libbed line was based on an actor who told him the same in the early 90s; they guess True Romance's Michael Rapaport/Saul Rubinek.
    “You're Rick fucking Dalton, don't you forget it?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:04:16 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  53. unmapped (prop reuse): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Reservoir Dogs. The Cadillac Michael Madsen drives in the movie is the same one from Reservoir Dogs.
    “Same Cadillac that appeared in Reservoir Dogs in 1992, driven by Michael...”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:05:26 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  54. unmapped (LA movie): Once Upon a Time in Hollywood → Heat. Heat is floated as a best Los Angeles movie in a list including Boyz n the Hood and Nightcrawler.
    “This, uh, he, Boys in the Hood, Nightcrawler, like what else?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:09:23 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  55. verdict (favorite actors): Quentin Tarantino → Michael Madsen. Tarantino has gotten the best out of actors like Travolta, Madsen, Jamie Foxx, David Carradine.
    “He's definitely gotten the best Madsons, yeah.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Live From Sundance With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:19:29 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  56. career (career): Eddie Murphy → Will Smith. The fish-out-of-water star moment is compared to Will Smith making the first Bad Boys.
    “when Will Smith made the 1st Bad Boys”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:08:34 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  57. career (career): Eddie Murphy → Michael Jackson. In four years Eddie became the biggest star in the world except for Michael Jackson.
    “he becomes the biggest star in the world except for Michael Jackson.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:16 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  58. career (career): Eddie Murphy → Jerry Lewis. Jerry Lewis is floated as the only comparable run to Eddie's three years as funniest person.
    “maybe Jerry Lewis is the only other comparable person.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:15:44 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  59. programming (programming): Saturday Night Live → Eddie Murphy. Being on SNL meant Eddie brought it every week; his movies were not shot 18 months earlier, he was appointment viewing.
    “oh, he was like on television every weekend was appointment viewing.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:16:07 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  60. career (career): 48 Hrs. → Trading Places. Eddie did three huge films in a row and nearly got fired from 48 Hrs.
    “It's also kind of amazing that he almost got fired from 48 hours.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:16:11 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  61. career (career): Eddie Murphy → Dan Aykroyd. Trading Places was a Dan Aykroyd movie; Eddie got Beverly Hills Cop only two weeks before shooting.
    “Trading Places was a Dan Ackroyd movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:16:15 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  62. theme (theme): Beverly Hills Cop → Purple Rain. 1984 context: Purple Rain and Prince became massive alongside this film and the Cosby Show.
    “You had Purple Rain and Prince become a massive star.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:24:43 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  63. verdict (verdict): Beverly Hills Cop → Roger Ebert. Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars, calling Eddie a victim of the Star Magic Syndrome.
    “Eddie Murphy looks like the latest victim of the Star Magic Syndrome, in which it is assumed that a movie will be a hit simply because it stars enormously talented person.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:30:12 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  64. industry (industry): Eddie Murphy → Walter Hill. Eddie mostly worked with really good directors early: Walter Hill, Tony Scott, Robert Townsend, Landis, with Brest the exception.
    “Walter Hill, Tony Scott, Robert Townsend, doing shooting the comedy special,”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:50:20 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  65. contrast (contrast): 48 Hrs. → Beverly Hills Cop. The 48 Hrs. fight with Nolte is intense; BHC softens the formula so Eddie never gets roughed up.
    “the fight scene between Eddie and Nick Nolte and how when you watch that, you're like, he's going to fucking kill him.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:58:43 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  66. career (career): Jonathan Banks → Wiseguy. Known as 'that guy from Wise Guy and Beverly Hills Cop' before anyone knew his name.
    “that guy from Wise Guy and Beverly Hills cop, and nobody knew what his name was.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:54 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  67. career (career): Jonathan Banks → Breaking Bad. Banks was a first-ballot-hall-of-fame 'that guy' from Wiseguy and BHC until Breaking Bad made his name.
    “And then Breaking Bad happened and he became Jonathan Banks.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:59 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  68. career (career): Ronny Cox → RoboCop. Cox's 'that guy' run includes Vision Quest, Cop and Cop 2, RoboCop and Total Recall.
    “he ripped off Vision Quest, cop and cop two, Robocop, total recall”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:04:09 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  69. career (career): Bronson Pinchot → Dion Waiters. Pinchot's two scenes leading to a sitcom is likened to a Dion Waiters-style success story, awarded the Dion Waiters Award.
    “The Dion Waiters Award.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:05:34 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  70. industry (industry): Beverly Hills Cop → Michael Eisner. Eisner claims he came up with the idea after a speeding ticket in 1975; Simpson claimed it from 1977.
    “in 1975, he got a speeding ticket with a cop, thought the guy was a little bit of a dick”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:06:23 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  71. industry (industry): Beverly Hills Cop → Flashdance. Don Simpson made Flashdance and, asked what's next, said it was time for Beverly Hills Cop.
    “No, by the research, he made Flash Dance.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:07:50 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  72. programming (programming): Beverly Hills Cop → Shawn Ryan. Shawn Ryan tried a Beverly Hills Cop TV show; CBS made a pilot that didn't work.
    “that CBS did a pilot for and apparently it didn't work.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:09:37 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  73. programming (programming): Beverly Hills Cop → Brandon T. Jackson. In the pilot Brandon T. Jackson played Axel Foley's son.
    “Brandon T. Jackson was Axel Foley's son.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:09:39 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  74. what-if (what-if): Raw Deal → Eddie Murphy. Raw Deal is an Eddie Murphy movie with Schwarzenegger doing all the Eddie Murphy stuff.
    “it is an Eddie Murphy movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger doing all the Eddie Murphy stuff.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:11:08 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  75. career (career): Quentin Tarantino → Sleep with Me. His cameo in Sleep With Me, riffing on Top Gun, is the same kind of theory talk.
    “It was like that movie we talked about on a previous pod about his cameo and sleep with me.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:17 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  76. industry (industry): Reservoir Dogs → Boys n the Hood. Paired with Sex, Lies as signals of the early-90s indie wave.
    “we have a 91 Boys in the Hood.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:13:07 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  77. career (career): Reservoir Dogs → Natural Born Killers. The deluge: Natural Born Killers, True Romance, and this, then Pulp Fiction.
    “Natural born killers, true romance and this and then pulp fiction shortly after.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:19:43 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  78. people (people): Quentin Tarantino → Lawrence Bender. Bender's acting teacher's wife passed the script to Harvey Keitel, which got it financed.
    “Bender gives the script to his acting teacher, whose wife gave the script to Harvey Keitel.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:21:15 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  79. career (career): Harvey Keitel → Reservoir Dogs. Keitel signed on as co-producer and paid for casting sessions that found Buscemi and Madsen.
    “Signs on as a co-producer.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:21:23 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  80. verdict (verdict): Reservoir Dogs → Roger Ebert. Ebert gave it 2.5 of 4, saying the script lacked curiosity about the characters; the hosts call it a miss.
    “But Tarantino's script does not have much curiosity about the characters, gave it 2.5 stars out of four.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:22:05 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  81. career (career): Steve Buscemi → Miller's Crossing. Buscemi was known from Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink and Billy Bathgate before blossoming here.
    “he was that guy who was in Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink and Billy Bathgate.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:23:52 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  82. career (career): Chris Penn → Short Cuts. Chris Penn's three-movie run: Reservoir Dogs, Short Cuts, True Romance.
    “Chris Penn had a nice little 3 movie run here, Reservoir Dog, shortcuts, and true romance.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:24:02 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  83. career (career): Michael Madsen → Species. Madsen's run culminates in Species, a great performance with Marg Helgenberger.
    “All culminating in species, where he gets one of the great performances of all time.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:24:52 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  84. industry (industry): Tim Roth → My Beautiful Laundrette. Roth was a Brit Pack star; the group is discussed with Oldman and Day-Lewis.
    “Roth, Oldman, is DDL in there?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:25:15 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  85. contrast (contrast): Quentin Tarantino → Steven Spielberg. Spielberg would not do a talk-show couch turn the way Tarantino did.
    “That is Steven Spielberg doesn't do that.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:27:29 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  86. career (career): Quentin Tarantino → Spike Lee. Spike (via Jordan) is named as a rare comparable in sought-after notoriety.
    “Maybe Spike. It's like, because of Jordan.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:27:39 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  87. lineage (lineage): Very Bad Things → Reservoir Dogs. Part of the era of Tarantino ripoffs about groups of friends.
    “Well, that was the era of the Tarantino Ripoff era.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:37:51 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  88. lineage (lineage): Reservoir Dogs → The Killing. Tarantino said Reservoir Dogs was his version of Kubrick's heist film, without meaning it as a ripoff.
    “but I did think of it as my killing, my take on that kind of heist movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:47:05 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  89. lineage (lineage): Reservoir Dogs → The Big Combo. Per the host's notes, The Big Combo and Corbucci's Django inspired the scene of a cop torturing a chair (sic).
    “Joseph H. Lewis's filmed the big combo and Sergio Corbucci's 1966 spaghetti western Django inspired the scene”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:47:43 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  90. lineage (lineage): Reservoir Dogs → Django. Corbucci's 1966 Django is credited as an inspiration for the torture scene.
    “Sergio Corbucci's 1966 spaghetti western Django inspired the scene”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:47:43 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  91. people (people): Django → Franco Nero. Tarantino has a relationship with Franco Nero, who played the original Django.
    “he has like a relationship with Franco Nero, who played Django?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:48:10 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  92. industry (industry): Quentin Tarantino → City on Fire. Tarantino was accused of ripping off many movies while he called it homage.
    “He was saying he was doing homages and other people were saying, you just ripped off all of these 7 movies.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:49:33 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  93. lineage (lineage): Reservoir Dogs → Swingers. Swingers openly ripped off the opening credit strut and joked about everyone copying Tarantino.
    “The opening credit sequence is really fun to watch after swingers blatantly ripped it off”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:50:17 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  94. verdict (verdict): Reservoir Dogs → Lawrence Tierney. Bill thinks Tierney is the worst performance: Mike Francesa if he could not act.
    “He's basically Mike Francesa.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:59:42 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  95. what-if (what-if): James Woods → Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino made Woods five cash offers; the agent refused them; the role is rumored to be Mr. Orange.
    “Tarantino wanted James Woods made him 5 different cash offers.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:02:46 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  96. what-if (what-if): Michael Madsen → Reservoir Dogs. Madsen first auditioned for Mr. Pink.
    “Michael Madson originally auditioned for Mr. Pink.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:25 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  97. what-if (what-if): Vincent Gallo → Reservoir Dogs. Reported to have turned down Mr. Pink.
    “Vincent Gallo turned down the role of Mr. Pink.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:28 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  98. what-if (what-if): Tom Sizemore → Reservoir Dogs. Sizemore was a finalist for Mr. Pink.
    “Tom Sizemore was a finalist for Mr. Pink.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:03:37 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  99. what-if (what-if): Steve Buscemi → Reservoir Dogs. Buscemi first auditioned for Mr. White.
    “Bushemi originally auditioned for Mr. White.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:04:14 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  100. what-if (what-if): George Clooney → Reservoir Dogs. Clooney read for Mr. Blonde, later did From Dusk Till Dawn.
    “George Clooney, read for the role of Mr. Blonde.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Reservoir Dogs’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:04:17 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 101–200 of 677 fun items.

  1. fun, about Philadelphia: Bill's hot take: without Rocky, Philadelphia would be Delaware with more attitude and a nicer art museum.
    “If this movie didn't exist, Philadelphia would basically be Delaware with more attitude, a nicer art museum, and a couple pro sports.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:17:48 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Gazzo's driver: Best that guy award goes to Gazzo's driver, who also gets the 'take her to the zoo' line; Bill and his dad used the license plate joke for 20 years.
    “Hey, Rock, did you get the number?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:23:12 · Bill Simmons (0.55 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Rocky: The Gonna Fly Now moment is when a sleepy boxing movie jumps up a notch, about 90 minutes in.
    “when the movie jumps up a notches when gonna fly now, drops like 90 minutes in”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:27:51 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Adrian: Apex Mountain for a woman taking her glasses off and getting hotter: Adrian is the most famous example.
    “Is this apex mountain for a woman taking her glasses off and getting that much hotter?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:28:26 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Rocky: Women weaken legs: the hosts say HBO / science found no proof.
    “there's no scientific proof to it.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:41:29 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Rocky: Who won the movie: Stallone, as a writer and star from nowhere to A-list, beats Tarantino.
    “Have we ever had somebody win a movie harder than this?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:45:39 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): Halftime speech was improvised the night before.
    “And he does his big speech, which apparently was improvised the night before.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 0:44:38 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): The most 2004 thing is the football hits, which look like borderline beheadings now.
    “There's like 45 borderline beheadings.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 0:51:32 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Lee Jackson: The actor who played Preacher has only the one IMDb credit.
    “Only IMDB credit ever.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 0:56:49 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Connie Britton: Berg called her film part the shittiest job an actress could have before talking her into the TV series.
    “Connie Britton's role in the movie was sort of pretty wife clapping in the stands, which is about the shittiest job an actress could have.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:02:11 · Bill Simmons (0.55 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): Coach Gaines lying that Boobie will be fine, never getting an MRI: the hottest take is that he is a bad coach.
    “Coach Gaines, maybe just a bad coach.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:04:26 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Billy Bob Thornton: Bill as Billy Bob's career strategist: the TV show would have served him better than the post-2004 run.
    “I am speaking sure, uh, purely as Billy Bob's career strategist”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:17:52 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about James Hetfield: Berg's secret casting what-if: the Metallica frontman for Don's dad; Bill texted Berg to get a fresh nugget.
    “So I texted Peter Berg and I was like, can you give me one casting what if from the movie that nobody knows?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:19:13 · Bill Simmons (0.85 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): Real Boobie Miles plays an assistant coach in the film.
    “The real Booby Miles plays a permanent assistant.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:23:27 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): Charlie Billingsley's loss in the finals in 1968 means the ring he throws is a number 2 ring.
    “Don Billingsley's father, Charlie, lost the finals in 1968.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:23:44 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Brian Chavez: Played by Jay Hernandez; the real Chavez went to Harvard, moved back to Odessa, and later had a felony and license trouble.
    “And then there's a kind of a bummer of a story about Brian Chavez because he went to Harvard”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:24:49 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about Friday Night Lights (TV series): Bill nearly missed the show: he stopped watching, then caught up on Japanese DVDs one summer.
    “a friend of mine got me these Japanese DVDs that I watched that summer, caught up”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:26:31 · Bill Simmons (0.90 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Tom Hanks: Craig breaks the Cruise/Hanks tie and the running tally goes to 21-16, Hanks.
    “So if Hanks wins, it's 21 to 16, Hanks.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:31:36 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): Coin toss at an undisclosed truck stop, with Coach Gaines flipping a 1969 Buffalo nickel.
    “1969 Buffalo nickel.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:32:59 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): Odds: with Boobie, near +350; in the title game Carter is a huge favorite.
    “Dallas Carter, probably like 16 and half point underdogs.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:41:47 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Friday Night Lights (2004 film): Best life lesson pick: keep your helmet handy.
    “I'm going with always keep your helmet handy.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin · 1:44:20 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Royale with Cheese scene: Called the most ripped-off four and a half minutes of screenwriting of the last 30 years.
    “I would argue this is the most ripped off four and a half minutes of screenwriting in the past 30 years.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Pulp Fiction’ (Part 2) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:06:07 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Pulp Fiction (set date): The movie is set in 1992: Butch's fight date is a 1992 date.
    “I think it's 92 because Butch's fight was Thursday, July 16th, which was a 1992 date.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Pulp Fiction’ (Part 2) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 2:35:42 · Bill Simmons (0.45 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Twister script: Many writers worked on the script while shooting, including Crichton, Zaillian and Whedon, yet the film feels seamless.
    “There were people writing the scripts still like while this movie shooting.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:28:22 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Joe's dad (the opening scene): The panel invents a new category blaming Joe's dad: a cheap lock on the storm shelter door, and he should have just let go.
    “Terrible job by that guy.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:33:21 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about Twister (most 1996 thing): A one-off category inspired by the 1999 episode: options include no internet, the Dodge Ram, no Oklahoma City Thunder references, and Helen Hunt's hair.
    “What was the most 1996 thing about this movie?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:49:37 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  27. fun, about Aunt Meg's kitchen scene: Chris's favorite scene: steak and eggs, gravy and Aunt Meg, setting her up so the crew later saves her; Bill singles out the gravy and 8 coffees to go.
    “The gravy looked really good.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:01:14 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  28. fun, about Jan de Bont: He missed filming an oil tanker explosion and reportedly paid about 500,000 dollars to do it again.
    “missed the explosion of an oil tanker that wasn't caught on film and they had to do it again for a rumored $500,000.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:07:51 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  29. fun, about Philip Seymour Hoffman: In an early lawn-chair scene Hoffman lifts his leg laughing and a split second of exposure was edited from later DVD and VHS releases.
    “you can see his genitals for a split 2nd that they had to edit out of future DH DVD and VHS releases.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:08:20 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  30. fun, about Tom Hanks: Hanks read for Bill Harding, got wardrobe, then passed and recommended Paxton.
    “Tom Hanks read for the part of Bill.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:16:53 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  31. fun, about Twister (impact): Meteorology majors rose about 10 percent after the movie, and the University of Oklahoma program doubled.
    “increased by about 10% after this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:24:01 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  32. fun, about Wakita, Oklahoma: The real town was used; houses were bought and demolished; there is a Twister Museum there that Paxton helped stock with memorabilia.
    “The real town of Wakita was used during filming”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:24:09 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  33. fun, about Twister: On May 24, 1996 a tornado destroyed a screen at an Ontario drive-in scheduled to show Twister that night.
    “A tornado destroyed screen number 3 in Ontario at a drive-in theater.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:26:04 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  34. fun, about Jan de Bont: A vegetarian who hated the meat scene and a huge Tori Amos fan who personally appealed to her to be on the soundtrack.
    “He was a staunch vegetarian and hated the mag scene.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:26:48 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  35. fun, about Mike Myers: Wrote Austin Powers in three weeks after joking in an English accent to his wife in the car about whether she swung.
    “then he wrote the movie in 3 weeks”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me’ With Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:13:29 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  36. fun, about Rob Lowe: Got Number Two through a Robert Wagner impression while golfing with Myers.
    “he did a Robert Wagner impersonation for Mike Myers one day when they were golfing”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me’ With Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:39:58 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  37. fun, about Basic Instinct: The Rewatchables Basic Instinct episode did surprisingly well on YouTube.
    “For some reason, did really well on YouTube, that episode.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:07:53 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  38. fun, about The War of the Roses: The chandelier crash is the Great Shack order award for most cinematic shot.
    “which I would give the Great Shack order award for most cinematic shot as the things coming down.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:33:39 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  39. fun, about The War of the Roses: The nitpick that this is a roughly 20-foot drop, not a 100-foot one.
    “It feels like it's like a 100 foot drop.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:33:52 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  40. fun, about The War of the Roses: The famous line 'never apologize for being multi-orgasmic' wins most memorable quote.
    “Probably never apologized for being multi-orgasmic, pretty hilarious.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:56:45 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  41. fun, about Luke Wilson: Craig's hot take from a prior episode, that Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford, now has the hottest-take award renamed after him.
    “So the CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford, hottest take award.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:56:50 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  42. fun, about The War of the Roses: Test audiences were so horrified by the dog-pate idea that they added a shot of the dog.
    “the test audiences were so horrified that she killed the dog and made dog pate that they cut in the shot of the dog.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:03:41 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  43. fun, about The War of the Roses: Deleted scenes on YouTube include the indoor garden before he saws off her heels, and a heater scene explaining why everyone is sweaty.
    “So 20 minutes of deleted scenes are on YouTube.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:11:02 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  44. fun, about The War of the Roses: A real-life man was inspired by the movie and got a seven-year prison sentence.
    “There's a real life guy who got inspired by this movie and it gets super dark.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:12:12 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  45. fun, about The War of the Roses: A new category: could Cruise or Hanks have played the lead; the vote splits and ends 2-to-1 Cruise.
    “Cruise or Hanks?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:15:43 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  46. fun, about The War of the Roses: A race horse named The Bald Avenger would be hilarious.
    “Race horse name, the Bald Avenger, would be the funniest fucking race horse.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ With Bill Simmons, Mallory Rubin, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:19:47 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  47. fun, about Internal Affairs: Watching it feels like a genre of its own: you look behind you to see whether anyone is watching you watch it.
    “is anybody watching me watch this movie?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:03:18 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  48. fun, about Dennis Peck: Wikipedia's one-sentence plot: Peck runs a web of corruption, deals with pimps, and moonlights as a hitman.
    “He also moonlights as a hitman.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:05:58 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  49. fun, about Richard Gere: Gere's best performance, with An Officer and a Gentleman; he is shown as a villain who is still charismatic enough to root for.
    “I think this is his best performance in a movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:09:09 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  50. fun, about Billy Baldwin: The comeback-to-flop arc is told with an NFL analogy: Hollywood gave him a four-year window like Kenny Pickett on the Steelers.
    “Little like Kenny Pickett on the Steelers.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:18:52 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  51. fun, about Henry Bean / Mike Figgis: The film was written by Henry Bean and directed by Mike Figgis, who later made Leaving Las Vegas.
    “This movie was written by Henry Bean and directed by Mike Figgis.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:22:13 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  52. fun, about Roger Ebert: The running Ebert bit: no review found, but At the Movies with Siskel, where both loved it and Ebert called it a movie about personalities.
    “So, Ebert, I couldn't find a review.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:25:05 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  53. fun, about Richard Gere: The taco-stand scene wins the new Rick Dalton Award for best acting; the line is 'I'm married, you're married, we're married.'
    “I would like to introduce a new award to the rewatchables.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:31:33 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  54. fun, about Billy Baldwin: The camera pans back and Van Stretch's wife is on top of Dennis Peck while Van is on the phone; the theater audience gasped.
    “And the camera pan's back and she's riding Dennis Peck.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:39:09 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  55. fun, about Bill Simmons: Bill's Ron Silver story: at the Ali junket in 2001 he opened with Silent Rage and Silver answered 'the guy who wouldn't die.'
    “I interviewed Ron Silver at the Ali Junket in 2001.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:51:48 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  56. fun, about Daryl Gates: The LAPD chief of the day condemned the movie.
    “Daryl Gates condemned this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:14:56 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  57. fun, about Faye Grant: Faye Grant was married to Stephen Collins, whose abuse accusations ended his acting career.
    “Faye Grant was married to Stephen Collins, the actor.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:15:14 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  58. fun, about Tova Arocus: A hot take: Tova, the wife, is the real villain because she prompts the killing of her husband's parents, sleeps with Peck, then pays Peck to kill her husband.
    “Tova is the real villain of this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:22:54 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  59. fun, about Dennis Peck: His kids: eight kids with a ninth on the way, joked as Nick Cannon-style repopulating of L.A.
    “Peck has 8 kids 9 on the way, which we've covered.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:22:59 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  60. fun, about Dennis Peck: Recasting as a Patriots docuseries or Dennis Peck as the real hero trying to get a couple back together.
    “Dennis Peck is actually trying to get these 2 crazy kids back together.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Internal Affairs’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:25:31 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  61. fun, about Al Pacino: Pacino's hair in this movie is blown dry to perfection, like a White Snake video.
    “he's right off the set of a white snake video, I think.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:03:49 · Bill Simmons (0.35 sure it was them)
  62. fun, about Al Pacino: Pacino is in three late-90s dances with over-the-top; his Any Given Sunday inch-by-inch speech is called all time in a terrible movie, carrying it like LeBron.
    “The Inch's speech is all time for me and that movie's terrible and he's carrying it like LeBron carried the 2007 caps.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:09:36 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  63. fun, about Michael Mann: Gulf scene: Wigand staring at the water; joke that Joe Roth asked Mann to lose five minutes of golf and Mann refused.
    “You think maybe we could just lose like 5 minutes of golf?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:36:42 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  64. fun, about The Insider: The golf range scene: a henchman stares Wigand down after each swing until he grabs the 5 iron; the hosts rate the henchman a 9.5 swinger and Crowe a 4.
    “Crow's like a four.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:40:27 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  65. fun, about Bruce McGill: Bruce McGill's courtroom outburst, 'Wipe that smirk off your face,' wins the Dion Waiters award and is a triple-crown candidate.
    “This is not North Carolina, not South Carolina, nor Kentucky.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:41:19 · Bill Simmons (0.30 sure it was them)
  66. fun, about Christopher Plummer: Plummer sips from a CBS Sports mug as a detail in the Wallace scene.
    “he just like sits back and takes a sip out of a CBS sports mug.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:47:33 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  67. fun, about Al Pacino: Pacino was not nominated for The Insider, which the hosts call outrageous.
    “Pacino, not nominated at all.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:49:23 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  68. fun, about Christopher Plummer: Plummer was born in 1929, nearly 70 in this movie, and won his Oscar at about 83 for Beginners.
    “Christopher Plummer, never nominated for an Oscar before 2010.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:51:01 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  69. fun, about Michael Mann: Mann's slow-motion ending with Pacino walking down the street strikes Bill as tacky.
    “The slow motion, Pacino leaving the going down the street and it slows down, like all of a sudden we're making a movie in 1981.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:51:16 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  70. fun, about The Insider: Title brainstorm: a better title might have been The Whistleblower or Cigarette Burns; Thank You for Smoking is cited as a title that tells you the subject.
    “It just needed to have an element of danger to it.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:02:26 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  71. fun, about Gina Gershon: Gina Gershon cast as a corporate lawyer: some found it counterintuitive casting, others could not buy it.
    “I liked it as counterintuitive casting.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:10:19 · Bill Simmons (0.30 sure it was them)
  72. fun, about The Insider: The Knicks 'semifinals' line in the car scene draws a long riff on how nobody says semifinals; conference finals, since the Knicks were in the NBA finals that year.
    “Nobody's ever said semi-finals.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:15:32 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  73. fun, about Pacino: They suggest a James Dolan biopic starring Al Pacino, who would play blues the whole time.
    “They should, there should really, there should be a James Dolan biopic starring Al Pacino.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:16:10 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  74. fun, about The Insider: Apex Mountain: the golfing henchman, Bruce McGill and Plummer; Plummer's is probably The Sound of Music; Mann's apex may be getting this movie made 34 years after Heat.
    “The golfing henchman guy, definitely.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:20:53 · Bill Simmons (0.30 sure it was them)
  75. fun, about Bill Simmons: Bill's birthday movie each year; this year The Big Chill, previous years Boogie Nights and Shawshank.
    “Every year on my birthday, we do a movie that I love, and this year we're doing the big chill.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Big Chill’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:00:58 · Bill Simmons (0.90 sure it was them)
  76. fun, about The Big Chill: The Michigan football scenes come from a 1980 Michigan vs Michigan State game won 27-23.
    “The Michigan football scenes are from a 1980 game between Michigan and Michigan State that Michigan won 2723.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Big Chill’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:28:07 · Bill Simmons (0.30 sure it was them)
  77. fun, about The Big Chill: JoBeth Williams: for the Costner scene they rented a big house in Atlanta and installed bead curtains, rock posters, incense and 1968 Life magazines.
    “they rented a big house in Atlanta and installed bead curtains, rock posters, incense, and 1968 life magazines”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Big Chill’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:29:02 · Bill Simmons (0.30 sure it was them)
  78. fun, about A Bronx Tale / Lillo Brancato Jr.: The film's big line about wasted talent became Brancato's real life: found out of thousands of kids, he was doing drugs while shooting, later jailed after a robbery in which an off-duty cop died; the New York Post headline said 'wasted talent'.
    “And it says, wasted talent.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 0:30:12 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  79. fun, about A Bronx Tale / Chazz Palminteri: Palminteri refused to sell his one-man show unless he played Sonny, the Stallone-Rocky bet on himself. He was 40; De Niro offered to direct and play Lorenzo. He still tours the one-man show every year.
    “Yeah, this was also a famous Hollywood success story where Chaz Palmentari. There's a one-man show.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 0:32:13 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  80. fun, about A Bronx Tale: The door test: Sonny's rule that if a girl does not reach over and unlock your car door, dump her fast. It now fails because there are no pull-up knobs, and the hosts also debate the Mario test.
    “The door test is now defunct because we don't have buttons that you pull up and down?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 0:48:20 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  81. fun, about A Bronx Tale: Lessons from the movie, the show's rare lessons segment: better to be feared than loved (Machiavelli in prison), trouble is a cancer, nobody cares, a rat is the lowest thing, and three great women. 'Nobody cares' voted best.
    “I would say the best, greatest lesson from this movie is probably the nobody cares.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 0:54:57 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  82. fun, about Bill Simmons / TV channels: Simmons pitches a prison-movie channel called Bars (B-A-R-Z) running Shawshank, Escape from Alcatraz, Oz and Orange Is the New Black; a gambling-movie channel is also pitched for FanDuel TV.
    “I always wanted an all-jail movie channel called Bars, B-A-R-Z.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:05:05 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  83. fun, about A Bronx Tale: Best quote: 'The saddest thing in life is wasted talent', delivered by Coach Finstock-style line; it also resurfaces as the 'best quote' of the episode.
    “Best quote, saddest thing in life is wasted talent.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:18:46 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  84. fun, about A Bronx Tale casting: Casting what-ifs: Kathrine Narducci brought her nine-year-old to audition for Calogero; Frank Vincent was to play a boss but the scene was cut; Philip Garbarino lost the C role to Brancato and played Sonny's killer.
    “And he lost out to our guy Lola Broncado Jr. for the role.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:21:29 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  85. fun, about A Bronx Tale / Eddie Mush: They could not find anyone to play Eddie Mush, so they cast the real Eddie Mush, Eddie Montenero; on the first day it rained and they could not film. Mush is now gambling slang ('he's gonna mush me').
    “they ended up finding the real Eddie Mush, and his name is Eddie Montenero.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:24:57 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  86. fun, about A Bronx Tale / De Niro: Trivia: De Niro got a Class B commercial driver's license for the role; he tried in Boston and they would not let him. Hosts also note people think Rob Schneider is in the biker fight.
    “And then De Niro did get his commercial driver's license, Class B, and he tried to get it in Boston and they wouldn't let him.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:25:29 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  87. fun, about A Bronx Tale / Apex Mountain: Apex Mountain calls: crap scenes, bus drivers (this or Speed), racists burned alive (this or Django Unchained), Palminteri (this or Usual Suspects), Broncado yes, Pesci no, and Kathrine Narducci no.
    “Apex Mountain for bus drivers.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:27:14 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  88. fun, about A Bronx Tale / Satan's Messenger scene: Biker bar fight: would out-of-shape Italians really beat a biker gang? Ryan says gangsters have the fighting equivalent of dad strength; proposed sequel is Hell's Angels vs. the Mafia Battle Royale.
    “I feel like gangsters have the fighting equivalent of dad strength”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:29:43 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  89. fun, about A Bronx Tale: Is this movie better: Bill adds Frank Vincent to the candidates list (Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trejo, Catherine Keener, Steve Buscemi, Sam Jackson, J.T. Walsh, Philip Baker Hall).
    “I think it's time to add Frank Vincent.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘A Bronx Tale’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan · 1:35:30 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  90. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Mamet told the director it's the best American comedy ever written.
    “David Mammoth told the director that it's the best American comedy ever written.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:10:02 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  91. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Simmons had never seen the whole movie; he always caught the last half hour with the measuring tape scene.
    “I don't think I've seen this movie in its entirety.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:11:26 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  92. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Film's famous breakdown: the real difference between Jack Palance and the frozen envelope conspiracies in Tomei's Oscar win.
    “I believe the David Stern thing, the frozen envelope way more than the Jack Palance.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:17:18 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  93. fun, about Bruce McGill: Says Vinny is rerun more than anything he's done besides Animal House, and he laughed at himself on a flight.
    “gets rerun more than anything I've done except maybe Animal House.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:43:45 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  94. fun, about Bill Belichick: During Deflategate he said he's not the Mona Lisa Vito of inflation; Simmons thinks he should have done this episode.
    “I don't claim to be the Mona Lisa Vito of inflation.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:44:03 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  95. fun, about Austin Pendleton: Said in 2022 he regrets playing the stuttering lawyer after letters from the stuttering community; hosts say the device was low.
    “He regrets being in it.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:54:09 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  96. fun, about Joe Pesci: Walked off the courtroom set telling Lynn he wasn't there to entertain him, per Bruce McGill.
    “what, do you think I'm here to entertain you”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:57:06 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  97. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Best quote: there's nothing to worry about until there's something to worry about.
    “there's nothing to worry about until there's something to worry about.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:58:45 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  98. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Dice Clay was removed from the list after saying something horrible to a studio VP dating his manager.
    “can we take him off the list?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:02:20 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
  99. fun, about Will Smith: Auditioned for Stan Rothenstein; Wesley left the room when he heard it.
    “We auditioned Will Smith for Rothenstein.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:02:51 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  100. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Screenwriter got the idea from a lawyer who passed the bar on the 13th attempt.
    “after hearing about a lawyer who finally passed the bar after the 13th attempt.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:07:15 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)