Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #15: Treasure Of Sierra Madre & Double Indemnity

Episode Date: June 25, 2015

Each week, comedian Gilbert Gottfried and comedy writer Frank Santopadre share their appreciation of lesser-known films, underrated TV shows and hopelessly obscure character actors -- discussing, dissecting and (occasionally) defending their handpicked guilty pleasures and buried treasures. This week: Bugs Bunny meets Bogie! The return of Edward G. Robinson! And the strange mystery of B. Traven! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, or is it Gilbert and Frank's amazing? That's it, but that's okay. Gilbert and Frank's amazing, colossal obsession. Yeah, I just sweep up. I'm not an integral part of the show. One day, I'll learn what you do here, actually. Well, let's see. It took you seven weeks to get my name, four weeks to get the name of the main podcast, and seven weeks to get the name of the mini podcast.

Well, now you're just nitpicking. You've got a long learning curve, my friend. Now, last week, you talked about a long learning curve my friend now last week we talked you talked about a simple plan yes and we were kind of struggling to come up with movies about people who uh fall into money find money or getting five plans for money yeah and it rips their lives or just simple simple people whose greed destroys them. And here's a classic film, and this is, you know, sometimes we'll recommend more obscure movies,

and once in a while we're going to recommend a movie. This is one of the granddaddies of those type movies. One of the great American films, and certainly not obscure. But for those of you that haven't seen it, you must do so immediately. It's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, made by John Huston. And it was a father and son movie. Yes, yes. Well, John Huston's father, Walter Huston, who's in the film, won the Academy Award, I believe, for Best Supporting Actor.

And it's a fantastic performance. And he takes his teeth out. That's correct. He wore false teeth that he removes for the movie. You two are the biggest jackasses, and he does that wonderful jig. Why, you're dumber than the dumbest jackasses. It's the great stuff. It's a film that also is part of pop culture.

I mean, I'm reminded of the Bugs Bunny. Can you help out a fellow American to a meal? There you go. Right, which is John Huston's cameo in the film, because he's the guy that Bogart tries to bum. And do you remember who

the Mexican kid who sells him the lottery ticket is? I believe it's a young Robert Blake. Yep. Very good. Well, you know, in the old days, you could see Robert Blake on talk shows like Tom Snyder, and he would come on and tell his Bogart stories.

Oh, yeah. And his Walter Houston stories. Yeah, it's a terrific film. Of course, Alfonso Bedoya. Yeah. Bajis! We don't need no stinking bajis! Which was parodied

in Blazing Saddles. Oh, yeah. So it's a film that when you see the film you'll realize, oh, this led to that. This was in that Bugs Bunny thing, and this was in Blazing Saddles, and so many other things. But it's a great film about greed. And Bogart plays a character,

Fred Dobbs, Fred C. Dobbs, which was the name of a character Martin Landau would later play in a movie you can look up because the title is escaping me. Is it Battle of Battle Beyond Earth or something? Martin Landau was in a B movie before he had his career resurgence and won the Oscar for Ed Wood. I heard that during the making of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the movie execs saw rushes of the film and were complaining. They said, can't you get them to shave? That's typical. Yeah, they're stuck in the middle of the desert.

I think the Landau picture was called Without Warning. That's typical. Yeah. They're stuck in the middle of the desert. I think the Landau picture was called Without Warning. I'm going to check this because we don't do a ton of research for these. We just kind of do them off the top of our heads. But he played a character, Fred C. Dobbs. Terrific film. There's also a behind-the-scenes story about the making of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre because it's based on a book by a guy named B. Traven, who was a mysterious character in his own right.

And do a little, if you have the time, Google B. Traven, and there's a whole other story and a whole other movie in this guy's life. John Euston, the director of the film, made plans to meet him in Mexico to ask him about the film at a pre-production meeting, and the person who showed up was apparently not the writer at all, or may have been the writer, depending on what you believe. But go to Wikipedia or just Google the name B. Traven. There's also a great story about it in John Huston's memoir that makes this even more

fun. But it's a terrific film, music by the great Max Steiner. Tim Holt is in it, as you said, a young Robert Blake. It's genuinely scary. And it's one of those films of people starting out with like, the greed

takes over. Absolutely. And Bogart is great in it because he's the one, he turns to be the least trustworthy. That's right. Yeah. Oh, he's the one that really gets turned. Yeah.

By it. And when we had Brian Koppelman on the show, I was talking about movies that teach you something. Movies about something where you actually learn something. And this was a film I first saw in film school. And my professor at the time said, you learn a little bit about painting for gold when you watch the film. It's actually instructional. There's so much to like about this movie. If you haven't seen it, please rent it.

And if you have seen it, it's worth another watch. This is a paid advertisement from BetterHelp. As a podcast listener, you've heard from us before. Today, let's hear what members have told us. One member said, I would recommend my therapist 1,000 times over. She has truly changed my life. Another member said, the day after my first session, my friends and family said I sounded like myself again for the first time in weeks. You deserve to invest in your well-being. Visit BetterHelp.com to see what it can do for you. That's BetterHelp.com.

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and Maddie Matheson is ready to heat up screens once again. All new episodes of FX's The Bear are streaming June 27, only on Disney+. And you, sir? Okay. Staying on a theme? Well, this one, it stars an actor who I've mentioned in a previous one of these minisodes.

Edward G. Robinson. Oh, yeah. Who's co-starred with Bogart a few times, like Key Largo. Sure. And this one is made from a novel, and it's double indemnit. Oh, of course. Of course. A classic film novel.

So we're recommending two major American movies this week, not obscure movies. And I think it's James Keen. James M. Keen. But the movie itself, I heard was the script for the movie was the screenplay was written by the great Billy Wilder. Or is it Wilder? Wilder. Billy Wilder. And who also did, of course, some like it hot. You connected Billy Wilder and the great William Wyler.

Yeah, that's it. They were often confused. I still don't know, and I've worked with him, Gene Wilder or Wilder. You've worked with Gene Wilder. That's another episode. No relation. But this one, I heard Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler worked on the screenplay together. And it's Edward G. Robinson and Fred McMurray as insurance investigators.

And Fred McMurray gets involved with Barbara Stanway. Never a good idea. Yeah. And they start having an affair, you know, always in film noir, you know, watch out for the dame. Absolutely. Absolutely. And what is really interesting about the film is, you know, there's a big sexual chemistry of Fred McMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. But there's a genuine love story between Fred McMurray and Edward G. Robinson. Right. He plays keys. Yeah. Right. And you go, and it's fascinating to watch. Like, the real love in this picture is between these two guys. Yeah, it's interesting.

And McMurray, who was mostly known for light comedy, certain later audiences knew him in the Disney pictures, you know, absent-minded professor and things like that. But he played a great heel. Oh, yes. For Wilder twice, because he played a great heel for Wilder twice because he plays a great creep in The Apartment. Oh, that's right.

Right. With Jack Lemmon. Right. And more importantly, Edward G. Robinson's real name, I think, was like Rosenberg. Yeah, it sounds right. Which makes him a Jew.

Yes, very much so. Oh, he's a big lefty. He's a big liberal. Where are you going with this? And Billy Wilder was a Jew also. Yes. Because I've been having people tweeting to me saying how I met you. Which famous Jew.

And I pitched you a Jew of free film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Walter Houston, nope. No. Bogart, nope. Wow. But Bogart was married to Lauren Bacall, who was a Jew. There you go. Double Indemnity is a great movie.

Again, I saw it in film school. Merits of film school. And, you know, loosely remade a couple of times. We were talking about it in the cab the other day. Remade as a comedy with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. Oh, God, Big Trouble. Big Trouble directed by the very funny John Cassavetes.

Yeah, I once, well, I actually worked with Alan Alda. When we, those 30 years we did Magic. Oh, you were great. You were a great clinger. I worked with Alan Arkin once, and I asked him about that. And he said that he and Peter Falk doing a comedy directed by John Cassavetes, he said, was like the Marx Brothers being directed by Bela Lugosi. Perfect. Because Cassavetes is not a particularly lighthearted or funny guy.

I love his work, but for different reasons. But, you know, I'm sure Humphrey Bogart's dentist, accountant, and agent were all Jews. How possible? See our James Caron story, our James Caron Clark Gable story from an earlier episode. And Double Indemnity was remade a little bit, or maybe not so much a little bit, by Lawrence Kasdan as Body Heat with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt. But it's just a wonderful film that holds up. It's got that great, great 40s dialogue. Everything about it's great. They're films both from the 40s that I love and must be seen.

Want to take us out with a little bogey? Okay. From Sierra Madre? Or, oh, well, there was also a bogey. Well, another one I'll be recommending in a future one is Maltese Falcon. And I've already done Peter Lorre. You could do every part in that one. Take us out with a little bogey.

Yes. I sure hope they don't hang you by that sweet neck of yours, precious. But if they do, I'll always remember you. And if they don't, I'll be waiting for you. So the movies this week are The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Double Indemnity. You want to take us out of the show? This has been Gilbert Gottfried and my co-host Frank Santopadre. And this has been Gilbert and Frank's amazing, colossal obsessions.

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