Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #38: The Big Knife and The Rocketeer

Episode Date: December 10, 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: Calling Dick Tracy! The return of Rod Steiger! And "Errol Flynn" romances "Bettie Page"! MeUndies is offering you TWENTY PERCENT off your first order at http://meundies.com/gilbert. That’s a special offer just for GGACP listeners. Make sure you go to http://meundies.com/gilbert to get twenty percent off your first order of underwear in tons of styles and colors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Go there right now. I can wait. Are you there? I'm not joking. Meundies.com slash Gilbert. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gott... No. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert and Frank's amazing, colossal obsessions. One day, oh, God, one day I'll get through this and not fuck it up in the beginning.

Should we say where we are? Oh, yes. We're at Nutmeg Post. With the very patient Frank Verderosa. Yes. And you have raided the kitchen. Yes. And you've got a pocket full, a bag full of Twizzlers.

Yes. What else did he take, Frank? And you've got a pocket full, a bag full of Twizzlers. Yes. What else did he take, Frank? And Frank Verderosa also has been naked in several movies. Really? Yeah.

Frank, you've been holding out on us. They're all in Canada. They're what, all in Canada? Okay, I'll go with mine first. Okay. Because you went first the last time. I did indeed. This sounds like a gay couple having an argument. Sounds like.

Now, this time I'll be the man. Okay, go. You want to be the top? I'm going to take... Go ahead. I'm going to be the aggress? I'm going to take... Go ahead. I'm going to be the aggressor. This reminds me of that movie. What was that movie?

Was it The Staircase? The one with Richard Burton and Rex Harrison where they were a gay couple? Oh, yes. You know that film? Yeah. I'd be that... Connected to nothing in particular. Now, since a lot of people have been complaining,

I'm not mentioning Jack Palance enough. Really? It's been overwhelming. You're getting tweets from the Jack Palance Appreciation Society? People said, you haven't mentioned Jack Palance and a former listener. But Jack Guilford comes up a lot. Yes, a lot. Okay.

And oh, I forget. It's a famous screenwriter. Was this Odette's? Oh, I'm intrigued. It was a play at first, and they used to show it on TV. It used to pop up a lot, and that's The Big Knife. Oh, I know this. And it's Jack Palance, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters. Never seen it, but I know about it. Everett Sloan. Oh, love Everett Sloan. Yeah. And Everett Sloan, who was in Citizen Kane, Lady from Shanghai.

And he was the voice of Dick Tracy. I know. Isn't that great trivia? Yes. I love that. On the Dick Tracy cartoons that were pulled for racial insensitivity oh yes because of the character jujitsu oh mr tracy yeah and and and the funny thing about those cartoons is dick tracy never did a goddamn thing in those commercials he used to just summon his uh yes yeah his his emissaries.

Yeah. There was Hippo Calorie. You know, they were offended by the Asian stereotype. Oh, yes. But there was an Irish cop... Yes. ...that stole apples. There was a big, fat Irish cop named Hippo Calorie,

and he sounded a little bit like... Andy Devine? No, he wasn't kind of as raspy as Andy Devine, but I guess it was a bad Andy Devine impression. Oh, and I remember, like, Mr. Magoo had that defensive... Charlie. Yeah, Charlie. And he'd go, oh, that no good me for Magoo.

Oh, boy. You're also getting letters, please do more Asian stereotypes. Yes, yes. And it's like Jack Palin's play, and it's odd casting because he's like supposed to be like a romantic movie lead. He plays an actor who's a big star who was involved in an accidental death, I think, through drunk driving. Was that the name of the feature or was the movie based on – because I remember the play was called The Big Knife. Yeah. The play was The Big Knife. And the film is – also the big also the big knife yeah it's a film noir

uh yeah well it ends horribly okay with everyone unhappy great and and your kind of movie yes and and i remember rod steiger uh saying oh well you know what's weird about this movie, too? Jack Palin says something and he goes, you know, I used to be scared of you, but then I realized you're a little. And he goes, the lizard. And the way he does it, I thought, I wonder if Michael Richards saw that. That one movie. How interesting. Yeah.

So you think Michael Richards took some of his kramer affectations from rod steiger no no from jack from jack but rod steiger and i remember this from years ago says to jack palance he goes no no i let the lord do it they'll take away your home, your car, your wife's car, the clothes off your back, off her back. Oh, no, Charlie, you threw away a kingdom today. Oh, I like that. You're the only comic still doing Rod Steiger. By the way. And he's one of my more contemporary Rods.

Yeah. Since Fred Travolina left us. Yes. I'm working on my Nehemiah Pursoff. Really? Yes. Is Nehemiah Pursoff

still around? If he is, he's got to be on there. I think he is. He is? I think he's in his 90s. Ooh. Yeah.

We got to look into that. So the movie is The Big Knife. Well, we better get him fucking quick. Frank, get Nehemiah Purse off on the phone. I know we've been talking about me undies for a few episodes now, but we wanted to take a moment and tell you again how great an opportunity this is.

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Since you did so well on underwear trivia. Yes. I have something new. I did great on underwear. You did three out of three. Yes. I have a new challenge for you. Uh-oh.

These are famous quotations about underwear. Yes. And you need to tell me. Yes. Who the quote is attributed to. First, here we go. On a good night, I get underwear, bras, and hotel room keys thrown on stage. You start to think that you're Tom Jones.

Uh, Frank Gorshin? No. No. The correct answer, and I can't believe this because it makes no sense, Keanu Reeves. Ah. 0 forves. Ah. 0 for 1. Okay, this one you'll know. Okay.

I don't want to sound disloyal, but I've never had a pair of Marvel comics pajamas or underwear. Would this be Stan Lee? Very good. All right, 1 for 2. And finally, are you ready? I know you'll know this one, too. I don't believe in the afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear. Woody Allen?

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D-I-E-S dot com slash Gilbert to get 20% off. My movie is a complete change of pace

from The Big Knife, which I now must see. I haven't seen it. This is a movie that came out in 1991, and I guess you've seen it. It's kind of a tribute to old movie serials that Disney made, I guess in the spirit of movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark. And I can tell you some of the actors in it. Alan Arkin's in it. Jennifer Connelly is in it playing a Betty Page type.

Oh. And he's ringing any bells for you yet? It's about a young stunt pilot who gets... Oh, the Rocketeer. Yeah, the Rocketeer. And they even have a guy made up to look like Rondo Hatton. Yes. Yes.

Oh, and Paul Sorvino. Yeah, yeah. Paul Sorvino's in it. Eddie Valentine. It's terrific. I think an underrated little film. Like I said, it's about a young stunt pilot

who gets his hands on this jet pack that allows him to fly, and he's pursued through the movie by everyone from the mob to the FBI to Howard Hughes. Oh, yes. Turns up. Oh, and they touch upon that.

You know, there was always at least a rumor that Errol Flynn was secretly a Nazi spy. Sure. Well, they work with that here. Yeah. Yeah. Timothy Dalton, who was a James Bond for a couple of films, British actor, plays a character based on Errol Flynn. And they say he's the number three box office star in the country. Oh, yes.

But he's a Nazi spy, which is a lot of fun. And he's trying to get his hands on this jetpack. Everybody's trying to get their hands on this jetpack. And the Rondo Hatton character is a villain named Lothar. Oh, yeah. Who's played by a wrestler in this Rondo Hatton makeup. And we've talked about Rondo Hatton. Oh, yes.

On the show. Acromegaly. The Acromegaly. We talked about him with Drew Friedman. And I think we talked about it with Mickey Dolenz, whose mother was in a movie with Rondo Hatton. Oh, my God. Yeah, the Creeper. And he did like Paul Benedict from The Jefferson, the agromegalo.

Who found out by accident when a doctor said, I want to see him after this play is over. Yep, you've told that story here. Alan Arkin plays Peavy, kind of his sidekick, his mentor. It's got great set pieces. There's a fake Nazi. There's a Nazi propaganda reel. Oh, yes. In the middle of the movie. There's a fake Nazi. There's a Nazi propaganda reel. Oh, yes. In the middle of the movie. There's a climax on a Zeppelin. It's really a lot of fun. There was a rumor, and I don't know where this got started, and it's probably just Hollywood

bullshit, that he was in the war. Oh, and some kind of gas. He was exposed to mustard gas or something. That doesn't sound quite right. I might have seen that in a Drew Friedman cartoon. Oh, yeah. I mean, I've heard that same one. Right. But he did suffer from acromegaly. Yeah. And look him up, for those of you that don't know Rondo Hatton. The poor guy was disfigured, so they made a horror character.

Oh, yeah. And they never had to put makeup on him. Right. So part of the fun of The Rocketeer is that if you like old movies, you're just catching these references. Part of the fun of The Rocketeer is that if you like old movies, you're just catching these references. And it's based on a comic book by the late Dave Stevens, directed by Joe Johnston, who revisited the period with Captain America. It's a lot of fun. Great score by James Horner.

And I don't think it did very well. No. I don't know why. I mean, I have to see when it was released and what it was up against. But it was a Disney movie, ambitious, and like I said, an attempt to capture not only those old serials, but the spirit of 1930s Hollywood. It's a lot of fun. It needs Jack Palance. Yes. That's what's missing. See, that was, I think, what the critics were saying about it.

Or some Asian stereotypes. You'll jack off. Oh, now you're doing a callback to Mr. Skin. Yes, yes. When he pulls out his lance. Oh, God. Oh, God. And, oh, just a callback to something else.

Yeah. Peter Dinklage. Oh, you ran into Peter Dinklage. Yeah, I think I ran into him. He's an angry elf. And he had a bag of Keebler. No, he did not. Peter Dinklage, call me.

Or get someone to hold you up to the phone. Do you even remember your movie? What? Do you even remember your movie, to recap? Okay. I think it had Jack Palance. Right. And Rod Steiger.

Yes. And I'm going to say it was the big knife. Okay. Which I need to see. And mine was the Rocketeer. Yeah. That's all I got, sir. Okay.

Thank God. Frank Verderosa, put your pants back on. See you next week. Here we go boys. One, two, three. Colossal Obsessions Colossal Obsessions