SPEAKER_03 0:00

Really harper on that last scene.

SPEAKER_05 0:02

It left an impression, I guess. I'm sure it's nice that he put his wife on this pedestal and that she is, you know, this goddess. I mean, I guess everyone would like that to be reality, but um it just seems so silly.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

You know, we're not videoing these podcasts yet.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

We should be. Because I'm actively looking at her going, I put you on a pedestal every day. And I'm afraid of heights.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

And she is afraid of heights.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

The Imbibe Cinema Podcast is brought to you by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as BWF. We are currently accepting submissions for our 2025 festival. We seek independent character-driven films of all lengths, styles, and genres. To learn more, please visit BWIFF.com. I'm Festival Operations Director and MC Jonathan C. Leggett, along with my co-hosts, Executive Director, Michael Newens, and Cinema Centennial Program Director Trisha Leggett. In this episode, we are going to be discussing the quintessential Thanksgiving movie, at least in my humble opinion, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The cocktails that we are imbibing, and I said cocktails, zzzz. Yes, John and uh the imbibe cinema have gone for loco. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Um we have gone off the rails, uh, if you will, and the cocktails that we are imbibing uh were found uh on the interwebs uh as a cute idea, and I I thought, yes, let's do this, because I'm dumb like that. Um it is Aviation Gin on Yeah, I know, right? Uh Aviation Gin on the Rocks for planes. Uh there is a cocktail called the Boxcar, which has bourbon triple sec and sour mix for trains, and something called an automobile, uh, which has gin, scotch, vermouth, orange bitters, and absinthe. Uh, that is for obviously automobiles.

SPEAKER_05 2:23

And it does have a motor oil kind of glisten.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

You have a motor oil kind of glisten. Oh.

SPEAKER_05 2:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Wow. All right.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Yeah, whack whack wow. Um, the recipes as well as pictures are available on our websites, imbibesinema.com and uh our mobile app. In addition to this podcast, we also offer a variety of shorts and featured-length independent films that can be enjoyed for free. But when you become an Imbibe Cinema member for only $59.99 a year, you also gain access to monthly limited releases as well as virtual BWIFF BIF experiences for next spring when we do our week-long fest. To learn more and begin your membership, please visit imbibesinema.com or download the Imbibe Cinema mobile app available at all app stores and Google Play.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

I like that. Let's make it download. Download that app.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Somebody needs to get on the download. Um I like it. I I will state that uh, you know, I'm we were having some technical good difficulties. Um, and uh the aviation gin on the rocks is already gone, and I'm on to the boxcar before we've even done the intro.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

However, did you happen to like get a uh a giant bottle of this size? Because it doesn't seem like they have any other sizes.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

I did not see any other size, and yes, I got that size aviation gin, and it was used for both the uh obviously the aviation gin on the rocks, uh, but uh uh but also the um uh for the automobiles. You also needed gin in that, so I used the aviation on that, and let me tell you, um uh for those imbibe listeners who have uh either seen the behind the scenes footage uh or or or remember uh when we have previously drank gin, there's a uh uh behind the scenes where Michael and I take a shot of straight gin uh and I had likened uh gin to um phalleting a Christmas tree. Um I think is the the most apt way of putting it. Uh young l young listeners might not understand what exactly I'm saying, but um it is definitely uh has the sensation of going down on a pine uh you know tree. Um aviation gin, uh which is even funnier because I would think Ryan Reynolds would appreciate filating a Christmas tree, uh, does not taste like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

No, it really doesn't surprisingly it really doesn't. I I'm because I'm not a gin fan. Me neither. Same.

SPEAKER_05 4:59

I think it's for uh rappers and old ladies. Yes, not for me. But I mean I am getting old, but uh one of the things that I found interesting is he mentioned the size of the bottle, like you can't get smaller than that. And I think, yeah, in order to achieve takeoff, you have to have the right amount of fuel.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Oh, that that is a very good point. Well played.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Oh, nice. I like that. Is that from his website?

SPEAKER_05 5:25

No. No, but maybe, maybe now it is. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

It's just a new tagline for aviation. Um uh aptly enough as well, uh, we are experiencing our first snowstorm here in Illinois uh this evening. Uh, and I say that because uh this whole situation of planes, trains, and automobiles starts because they cannot fly into Chicago due to a Chicago snowstorm.

SPEAKER_05 5:52

Which is really funny because when you're old enough to have traveled around via plane and to St. Louis as they do in the film, um, we're kind of like the travel times here seem strange. Like and even at the time, I would think traffic didn't move slower.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

True, but they they actually fly into Wichita, Kansas. So they are diverted to Kansas. Right. And then uh I I did pull up a a number of uh uh uh websites that are trying to determine like what their locations were. Um, but uh at the same time I still agree with Trish that like the drive from St. Louis to Chicago should not have taken that long.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Right. Well, you know, they had a lot of obstacles in their way.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

True. But they left St. Louis when it was light out, and I mean, don't get me wrong, there's the whole like, you know, car fire thing that happens, but they switched off who was driving. That's like when they left St. Louis, Steve Steve Martin was driving, and by the time the car fire happens, John Candy somewhere. Right. No, the the the they stay the night after the car fire, right?

SPEAKER_05 7:13

And then in the next day, when they're trying to get up to Chicago, it's still three hours. And I'm like, you did all that in two hours?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Like so what we're not factoring into this whole thing is uh movie time, which moves at a different speed. So like in in the show 24, um, no matter where you are in LA, you're always an hour away. Um, which according to anybody in LA, uh, that's impossible. So um movie time though, um, you know, can also uh work differently where it's slower, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 7:51

So well, because it's the past and and things moved slower and yeah, maybe the maybe the speed limit was uh ooh, the um the time it takes the meeting to end and him to get to the airport, and you're like, in New York, in downtown New York. Oh yeah, you're like, wait a minute, he's in a meeting and it's like a quarter to five and the flight is at six, and it's not like the meeting ends then, it keeps going. And then he ends up being like in the airport at five to six, and I'm like, that's impressive now.

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Again, we we do have to go with the like, you know, airplane the movie. Uh, you know, back in the eighties, you could walk into an airport for dinner. Like you could just go there to like, you know, ha have a meal or go hang out or meet somebody at a gate. Uh obviously restrictions have gotten a little bit more tight uh since the eighties. Uh what a wonderful time.

SPEAKER_05 8:49

All those Howry Krishna's are gone.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

Yeah. I obviously wasn't doing a whole lot of flying in in the eighties as I was in my diaper aughts.

SPEAKER_05 9:00

No, I I would say not the entire eighties, but sure. My whole like experience of what flying would be is the movie airplane as a child. So I just expected a lot more religious fanatics in the airplane. Yes. Like that's the same.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

You have a punch to get past, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 9:15

But you get lots of flowers as you go.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Yeah. It's fair.

SPEAKER_05 9:21

I do love everybody waiting in line for the payphones.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

Because they have to find a place to stay for the night.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

Oh, yeah. Uh I I think one of the the the other quintessential, like, you know, 80s tells is the sheer fact that like he can't get a hold of his wife uh at all times. There's uh a lock, a lock on one of the rotaries uh in one of the hotels that he would have to pay like extra money to get to be able to make a call out. Um the sheer fact that we don't have cell phones in this style.

SPEAKER_05 9:51

Oh yeah, and having a credit card is like a taboo. Well, not taboo, obviously, but it's like uh not many people have one. Correct. It's not and if they have one, they have one, they don't have multiple credit cards.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

And the fact that the thieves who steal all the cash out of their uh wallets opt not to take the credit cards because at that point it wouldn't be as advantageous for them.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

Yeah, but they wouldn't know how to use it.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:18

But it was also nice to see a lot of familiar faces in smaller roles where you're like, oh my god. Kevin Bacon.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon right away in the very beginning of the film.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Michael McGean is the colleague. The other, sorry, in the in the beginning, um, the other um the the the colleague, um, isn't he Ferris Bueller's dad? Correct. I can't remember, I can't remember the actor's name, but I was like, hey, that's Ferris Bueller's dad.

SPEAKER_05 10:44

Right. And then secretary for uh the for uh the principal at Ferris Bueller's Day Off. She's Oh yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

She's the car uh Marathon uh uh car rental, yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yeah, Edie McClerg, when he's in line and she's you know putting him on hold.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's putting him on a hold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I'm remembering, yep. I'm now I'm remembering um I'm picturing Ferris Bueller's Day off now. I was like, I couldn't make the connection. But um, yeah, um I I just a moment about this particular sequence. I mean, there's just so many F-words in this scene. Oh god, yes. I was like, Steve Martin, I forgot how much swearing you do in this movie. It's really uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

It really is.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

But uh yeah, I just I I just like what people didn't swear like that.

SPEAKER_05 11:46

Then they did in reality, but in movies.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

No, not in movies 80s, they didn't swear.

SPEAKER_05 11:52

Yeah, um they were very hyritical. Smoked like uh chimneys. Yes, and they drank like fish, yep, and they um talked about sex in front of children, and we all went, I don't know, it's ghostbusters, there are ghosts in there.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

Yeah, comedy, of course, is is I remember seeing this as a kid. And my parents didn't bat an Yeah. Oh wow. Oh yeah. I used to quote this movie. The whole like between two pillows thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Well, you know what? I would put I would say that this movie might be it's probably in the same vein um as far as vulgarity goes. Um actually probably worse than my cousin Vinny. And I remember I was a child when I first saw my cousin Vinny. I was playing outside, I remember, and uh came inside and it was like, okay, we're gonna watch this movie. And there was like this whole sit-down, all right, you're gonna hear words in this movie, and they are not okay to say be like ever. Like, it's nice that they at least. Yeah, I was given that, I was given that little, and I was like, oh, I'm gonna watch them a movie that's not like you know cartoons. And uh it was awesome. Yes. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, that was a good movie.

SPEAKER_05 13:17

Oh, but hey, speaking of two pillows, um back to that. No, uh inappropriate. Here's the bears when you mention it, it then makes me think of any uh Chris Farley and David Spade film. Oh yeah, like if this movie was made later, it would have been those two in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

I mean, if if Chris Farley was still alive, this movie probably would have already been remade with the two of them. I could totally see that. Yeah, I could totally see that.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

In fact, to to to a degree, I would almost say that Tommy Boy is a a version of this. Um it is a road movie. Uh a la um Bob Hope and uh oh old blue eyes shucks.

SPEAKER_05 14:06

Oh, you'd have a bing crossing.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

Bing. Good old bing. Um yeah, I would almost say that this is uh akin to a road movie in the sheer fact that it is, you know, them traveling from one destination to the next.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

Um and the hijinks that ensue. Uh I do think that they obviously, you know, 80's the road movie by making it vulgar and uh filthy and horrible.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

And just speaking of 80s, man, the music in this movie. You're just like so scared. I remember so many scenes in this movie, but I don't remember how eighties the music was. Oh yeah. I like porked that out of my memory.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

I mean, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I just I don't maybe when I first saw it, I didn't appreciate it as much. That's fair. The music, but I like, oh, it was great. It was it was so fun. Um because otherwise I feel like without that, you could really kind of I mean, other than like the phones situation, you could really kind of pluck this out um of time, really. Yeah. Um to a degree, yes. To a degree.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

As it relates to the the the music, uh no matter how many times I hear the song, um, and I I I know Trisha did not have the same reaction I do, but I think this might have actually been Trisha's official first time seeing the movie. Yes, bits and pieces. Every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you. Like that song to this day, uh, I cannot hear without thinking of the two of them walking with the trunk down the Winnetka streets and like practically sobbing. Whereas Trisha's like, oh come on, like this is oh, what's with this hold? And like, you know, freeze frame and wow, god, this is taking too long and onwards.

SPEAKER_05 15:56

No, there I have a whole thing that I would like to discuss about. Mind you, I grew up watching John Hughes movies, so I don't know why it was so jarring, but it just seems like the relationship. Well, I mean, yeah, we talk about like how it was not it's not a kid's film, and he did m movies with teenagers for quite some time, and then uh um and they explained that in the um behind the scenes director's cut thing that we saw where there was an interview with him.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 16:29

But uh whatever Steve Martin's relationship with his wife is so weird, it's very weird. Well, yeah, like she's like 40s movie star look, which is no, she's a beautiful lady. But she's kind of like this uh thing, this unattainable like thing. Like the fact that like there are lots of the scenes with her, sh there's no speaking, you just see her.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:56

And uh and then like when they finally see each other again, there is this incredible like love story, kind of crazy over the top thing, which uh with people with three small children seems a little insane.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Fair, but I I I I think that you know the the the the whole part of I mean, you know, Steve Martin's character is the protagonist. Uh and and I think that being with Del Griffith uh is what causes him to change. He realizes that there are more important things than the job, that that he realizes that he's been on, you know, a way too long, that he is missing uh moments with his kids, with his wife, but we don't get that.

SPEAKER_05 17:44

No, no, no, I understand. I get I mean, I think I think you don't need to set it up as much for a lot of people to feel that way, to and to uh go, oh yeah, I feel that way. I feel like I don't have enough time with my family and I give all this work to work, all this time to work. But um in the movie, it opens and he's just sitting in a meeting going, I've got a plane to catch. It's not like I over I I'm I'm spending too many late nights and I'm missing out on all this stuff, or I'm out of town all the time. It's more like I'll be I promised her I'd be home by nine.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 18:19

And that seems pretty impressive if you're in New York and she's in Chicago, and be like, I'll just be back a little late tonight, honey, you know? Um, it doesn't seem like he is he the realist, I mean they give they do a great job of him like coming to terms and questioning and th things like that, but it's not like we see him different, we only see this version of him. And like as much of a jerk as he is, he's a jerk who's provoked, right? He's he's not like he's not when when he's in his world and things are going right, he's a perfectly likable guy. But then as soon as things start to get awry, uh or go awry, that is, and they the further they go, the meaner he gets because it's like nothing goes his way, and the more it yeah, and then it's one of those things like it's like he gets punished for being a dick. For being a dick, but he's only being a dick because everything is just punishing him already. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Right. Well, and I think maybe what you know what I kind of got out of it was, you know, you know, like somebody that harbors um a lot of anger, and they don't necessarily show it in their day-to-day, but it's like underneath the surface, and that's kind of what I got from him, is it's like he never really faced this anger, these things that like are, you know, like because he I I there's the scene where he goes off on uh on uh Dell at at the you know in the hotel room.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

Yeah, before the two billows.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yes, you know, he says just really mean things. I mean, and and he he even references like how you know he can sit through these presentations, he can sit through like uh on the business end and be so angry, and it doesn't make him as angry as this. And so I don't know what that communicated to me was how um how like he has an anger issue, it's just beneath the surface and really Dell brought that uh out from underneath the surface so he could actually face it. Um which is really deeper than my first viewing of this movie. But uh that's very yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:44

No, I I agree, I agree. Like it uh it was unhealthy what he like and and uh that he buries this, but then it's societal norms, right? And I think this huge cathartic moment in the car rental situation at the counter, like that is something I think if not if not, I mean maybe it's just me, but I have wanted to say all of that for sure. I wanted to snap and all in and yet what keeps me from doing it is the thought that this is not going to be received well, and also the person at the counter had nothing to do with everything that went wrong in my personal experiences. So then I'm like, don't yell at them, they have nothing to do with it, but oh, did I want to? Yeah, and I think like that's that's what the audience kind of all gets like, oh, I've always wanted to do that, but I've never done well and what makes it acceptable for him, what makes it acceptable for him is how she treats him before he gets up to her, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

That's where she's on the phone, you're the one walking around. Yeah. Yeah. Now, at the same time, trick. Uh if you ever were in a situation where the person Was the person responsible? How would you handle it?

SPEAKER_05 22:06

It depends on my frame of mind at the moment.

unknown 22:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 22:11

I am not a confrontational person.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

No, you are not by nature.

SPEAKER_05 22:15

But if I never have to see them again, maybe. Maybe I would lose it.

unknown 22:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

I mean, yeah, it's really, it's really hard to probably tell what what cuts that string.

SPEAKER_03 22:27

No, you're I mean, you're you're 1,000% correct.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

When you're just dangling there and you're like, just say one more thing to me. Yeah, I I dare you, no.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

I dare you. Yeah. No, uh, and that and that was specifically what what what what took me aside was the sheer fact that like you know Trish lovingly pointed out, you know, I understand this person is not the person the reason that this is, you know, the way that it is. And so I don't want to take it out of them. So I'm like, oh I need to understand what would happen if it was the person who was responsible. Sure.

SPEAKER_05 22:59

Unfortunately, you usually get that part because I will be a service industry problem, and I will be so mad and I will vent to you about how I'm going to, you know, just just lay them out. I'm just gonna scream at them and I'm gonna blah blah blah, and then I get on the phone and I'm like, hi. Um, so I have a problem. And in the times that I'm so angry that I'm gonna like just come off snippy and and whatnot, then I just give you the phone, and you are charming as all get out to the people I want to punch in the face, which is funny because considering I'm the one who like laid into you about them. So maybe you guys have like Yep.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

But thankfully I I don't take it out of the messenger. Or wait, I am the messenger. Who I don't even know.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

It's probably, you know, it's probably both of your um your your years of of service industry um of oh yeah but then that makes me mad.

SPEAKER_05 23:53

No because I have been in the service industry for so long that it's like there's a stand there's like there's there's a standard. Yeah. All right. And I have like when when people can't handle it, when you have bad customer service, then I get then I get even more mad because I it's like, look, I had to do this with the smile.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

The least you can do is to give me the same smile I had to give somebody else once upon a time.

SPEAKER_05 24:19

And they were screaming spit in my face, and all you're doing, like all I'm doing is saying, I need to to just tell you my grievance. And and they're like, no, I can't even like um what does the world come to? Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

That's fair.

SPEAKER_05 24:37

So uh the so the journey isn't just a physical journey from New York to Kansas to St. Louis to Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Correct.

SPEAKER_05 24:50

No, Kansas gets its own state. We're not gonna like St.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Louis, everybody else is a city, but with Wichita, did anybody else just immediately like when that happened to go, oh, the ice harvest? Yeah, my brain went right there. I was like, oh yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_05 25:09

John Q said that's the mob. Um, but uh yeah, so uh that yeah, all over the most of it is all over the good folks in the Midwest who are nice and warm and reception. Like yeah, don't swear.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

Um uh but I'm they'll also for some god unknown reason only have flatbed trucks and oh yeah, that's no back seat essentially.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

Oh, okay, yes. And I do love that scene. Uh I uh mind you, oh the uh the actor who plays that role.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

What's Oh, please, your call is important to me.

SPEAKER_05 25:46

I I only like whenever I see him, I think of Delirious, yep. Where he's the he's got this giant growth on his neck and he's like, what?

SPEAKER_03 25:55

Um that would be uh uh uh Dylan Baker.

SPEAKER_05 25:58

Yeah, and he usually plays a villain. He usually plays somebody smarmy, and it was and and but like upper class and smarmy, or you know, uh, but to see him uh play uh this um very redneck redneck uh there with a lot of a lot of phlegm issues.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 26:21

Uh that was that was definitely wow, I did not expect this actor in this position. He does an amazing job.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Yep. Yeah, I mean uh ever since I saw Happiness, I think like that has ruined him for every movie I've seen of him, I feel, because happiness is just so dark. Scarring dark, dark.

SPEAKER_05 26:45

It's just so scarring that you know I mean it's a it's an incredible idea and it's incredibly performed. It's really well done, but it is so dark. Dark.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Why have I not seen happiness? Oh, all-star cast though. Jesus.

unknown 27:04

But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Lovitz, we're wandering away. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

We always wander away. That's the thing. No, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Because when we talk when we talk about planes, trains, and automobiles, we also randomly talk about X, Y, and Z.

SPEAKER_05 27:20

Right. But as far as Okay, so John says this is his family's Thanksgiving film, which I find interesting because a lot of people have a Christmas film.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

So, so yeah, similar to how both of our families, the ref, uh uh uh may God rest its soul, um, you know, uh, was both of our family's uh uh Christmas movies, uh, at least amongst my brother and I, um, and this is why I call it the quintessential uh Thanksgiving movie, is to me, this is a movie that says Thanksgiving. Yeah. Um, you know, this is, you know, you're you're thankful for your family, you're thankful for the things that you've got, you're thankful for uh the friends that you have, and and you want to share that love and thanks with those who may not have as much. Um and and you know, to to have Del Griffith, um who has lost so much, uh become essentially a part of Steve Martin's family by the end, um, whether symbolically in the long weird looks and freeze frames, um, or other, um, to me, this is a a film that we would at least watch at Thanksgiving time because once we started quoting this movie, it was it was over, similar to the ref.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

You know.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

Oh, yes. Right. And why my brother bought me the director's cut. Yeah, the the the one that you know has all this.

SPEAKER_05 28:59

They weren't just one day, right? Because people came, like your family's all over the place. So like when they get together, it's for like a few you guys are in like of a day or two. It's it's more than just one day.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

Yeah, it was it was the full extended weekend, and again, my birthday also falls around Thanksgiving, sometimes on Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving moves. Um, but you know, that the this this has a special place in my heart.

SPEAKER_05 29:24

So there's the physical uh journey with its twists and turns, and the emotional journey with its twists and turns. And I think it did a great job of uh bonding these two guys. Like the he he they aren't always in a bad situation together. And there is this like the the drunk scene in the hotel room.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Yes, motel room after the the fire.

SPEAKER_05 29:49

After the fire, that's an that's a really sweet scene.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Yes, yeah. Uh, we're gonna take a few more minutes to fill oh at least one of our glasses. I don't know if I can do all three. I'd die. Um uh but uh get it ready to imbibe more after this. The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival exhibits short and feature-length motion pictures that utilize story elements in a new and exciting way. Our official selections are a carefully assembled blend of imaginative, sophisticated, and full-bodied stories. This is what our name represents. With audiences expect to experience character-driven independent cinema that is fueled by the filmmakers' passion for the art of visual storytelling. Filmmakers can expect an intimate festival experience where their personal story is valued as much as the one projected on the big screen. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, uh, and uh I am here with I'm Trisha Leggett.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

And I'm Michael Noens. And Agnes? Yeah, Agnes is there too. Sleeping.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

Agnes is just sleeping because she's a good girl. Uh we are discussing planes, trains, and automobiles. Enjoying this podcast? Please subscribe or follow us on all of your favorite podcast providers to get new episodes as soon as we release them. Rate andor leave us a review to help our show reach that larger audience. You can also uh follow Imbibe Cinema on Facebook, Instagram, and now Threads.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

That's right. Because we are not on X.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

Fuck that. FX. FX? No, that's FX.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

But no, actually, FX is great. They do good stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

I like FX. Let's not fuck X. But FX is great.

SPEAKER_05 32:00

So on that note, um, here, can we start off with uh have you ever had a situation in which you had like a long travel uh journey with another human being that brought you closer together?

SPEAKER_03 32:14

Uh yes, and and and and Michael can potentially attest to this. Uh I say potentially because I don't know if it had the exact same lasting impression on him as it did on me. But um we once did um a uh uh uh an independent film called Coasting, um where um we traveled to um Oh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohio. Sorry, Ohio. So I mean this is uh a lasting memory at least for me because you have uh the uh an actor, the director, the director of photography, the uh um camera operator, and the second assistant director. And we only could afford a single hotel room. Uh now, granted, uh, you know, obviously this uh nothing untoward uh uh occurred. And in fact, this was uh uh Michael's first opportunity to sleep with me, um, which sounds awkward, but it's probably not as awkward as you think. Um, but uh uh this was the first time's facial expression.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

It's it's pretty awkward.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Yeah. She looks real and this was the first time she's heard this story before. A number of times. But this was the first time Michael and I shared a bit together. That's true. Um, but um, you know, uh again, it was a lot of fun. There's a number of uh uh behind the scenes footage uh outtakes and whatnot that we uh we filmed with a uh a GoPro or or or a uh a tiny camera. But it was just very interesting to go on outside of the hotel room, right?

SPEAKER_05 33:50

Both.

SPEAKER_03 33:51

Well, I mean we we shot some stuff inside the hotel room because we were just having not not like that. Um it did not turn into prawn, um, if you will. Uh, but you know, it was just a lot of fun given how gorilla the shoot was that we were we were taking cameras out on the streets of Cincinnati and and filming um to try to get the the the larger feature film done, uh, but we had to do it in Cincinnati, and so so that we gave Cincinnati a voice and and and its own kind of uh additional character in the film, if you will. Um but that that that would be uh my my hot take on on that question.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Um I'm trying to remember if there has been a road trip or travel. What was the question?

SPEAKER_05 34:45

Yeah, uh like a road trip or travel in which you uh unexpectedly bonded with the people that you are on the trip with. And we could say every family vacation, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:56

I was gonna say, yeah, every I don't I mean I can't reference a specific moment or particular trip, but I do know that three kids in the back seat is uh is not fun.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

Did did you do off like road trips often as a family?

SPEAKER_05 35:14

No, we didn't uh go on vacations, I think, until um we went to the Dells.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Three hours in the car in the back seat.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

What was the longest road trip you guys as a family took? Sounds like three hours is pretty consistent.

SPEAKER_05 35:32

Um we drove to uh DC when I was in high school. And we took the van. It was so nice to have a van because we all had our own space for the first time instead of like being on top of each other. Um yeah. I remember yeah, that was that was a long family trip. Okay. But it was fine. I mean it wasn't yeah, I mean it wasn't filled with turmoil.

SPEAKER_03 35:59

No, yeah, that that those always help. See, my my road trip to remember was when my mother, my brother, and I went from Illinois all the way to the West Coast and then back. Um, my brother was in high school and then taking a pre-college class. And so we went to drive to get him, and then but my father abstained from the entire trip. But like we went all the way to Yellowstone, Oregon, and then like back.

SPEAKER_05 36:44

Yeah, I think your mom saved your journal because you were I did write a journal, yes. You did have journal and you were like talking about like the the lifespan of the bug that had hit the windshield, and it was very detailed.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

Oh, yeah, no, there was a number of of entries, including the one where I was specifically calling out that the uh the no hallway motel, like straight up motels, like once once you get out west of of Illinois, you end up with all these motels where you are going to the outside as soon as you leave your room.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

And what an interesting world that was to me.

SPEAKER_05 37:26

No, I've blocked out any because I've traveled and I've just I've blocked out. I right now I cannot. I'm the uh Alka Seltzer has really just clouded my brain.

SPEAKER_03 37:38

Which is funny because I could think of some of your travels, but I don't necessarily know if they needed it to be brought up onto the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 37:43

Right, no, I don't think so. I can't remember, but I will say no. No. Um let's let's not put everyone to sleep. They're not travels with me. Let's not put everybody to sleep, shall we? Okay, so uh big scene on uh in the film is uh I think that uh people who haven't seen the movie might have seen this, is them driving in the dark and they're going the wrong way on the highway. Oh yeah, and you're going the wrong way. How do you think that's the way to do that?

SPEAKER_03 38:08

You're gonna kill somebody.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

How do they know where we're going? That's a dumb. They must be drunk.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 38:13

Um and that sequence, um, uh leading but the the the part that caught me was the part leading up to that, where uh Steve Martin is asleep, which I find either exhaust like exhaustion has taken his toll, or he's a very trusting passenger. Um because yeah, uh uh John Candy is really getting down to oh god.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Mess around. Mess around. Everybody doing the mess around.

SPEAKER_05 38:44

Yeah, and it is hysterical to watch, but then him getting caught, it's like a testament to how dangerous his coat is.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

His coat was clearly, clearly formed for this horrible purpose.

SPEAKER_05 38:59

It's like, why does it have those?

SPEAKER_03 39:01

The look on Treasure's face is like it, you know, he gets the first arm stuck and he starts moving with the second arm, and she's like, no, no, don't do it, don't do that.

SPEAKER_05 39:12

And it's funny, but only because it's like there are things that people do in movies, and you're like, well, that's just ridiculous. That would never happen. But for whatever reason, I was like, no, that totally would happen.

unknown 39:22

That would happen.

SPEAKER_05 39:23

And the fact that he's like calmly like telling himself, I got this, and his pants match the steering wheel. Did you notice how like color coordinated his pants were with the interior of the car? Weird.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Um but easily one of my favorite moments is immediately after they have righted themselves from from narrowly surviving death between two semis, is them literally prying their fingers off the dashboard and the now bent steering wheel. Just hands down that, and then Steve Martin prying his fingers off the now burnt steering wheel.

SPEAKER_05 40:09

I love when he pulls out his credit cards.

unknown 40:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

I have a dagger scroll. Yep. I I've been wearing the same underwear since Tuesday.

SPEAKER_04 40:24

I can attest to that.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

How about forty uh forty-two dollars and a really nice watch? Yep.

SPEAKER_05 40:37

And then he's like, I've got two dollars and a Casio.

SPEAKER_03 40:40

And a Casio Again, 80s, just John Katie.

SPEAKER_05 40:49

Yeah, of course, yes. The shower curtain rings. How this is what he does, he's a shower curtain ring salesman.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

But then it's like, okay, so in the beginning, I'm like, okay, hotels. That makes sense, right? Uh motels, it makes sense that he he has uh people he knows through that. But then it's like the train. I'm like, why is why is why do why do you know people in the train industry wear the shower curtain rings? I don't understand. Are they the shipping? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Dell knows everybody and is lovable to everybody except for Steve Martin.

SPEAKER_05 41:24

Which is so funny because you call him by his character name and we don't remember Steve Martin's character name.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

Uh Neil Page.

SPEAKER_05 41:30

There you go. Neil Page.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

I remember everything.

SPEAKER_05 41:34

Yes. I also love how not only is his wife uh put on a pedestal and idealized throughout the film, but the children are beautiful little angels. Yes. And of course, you're like, yeah, no, that's that's not true. Um in his mind they are. He's blocking everything else out. Okay, so another point that brings this film uh is uh the fact that uh is John Candy is Canadian. Yeah. Right? He is, National Treasurer of Canada. Yes, yes, yes he is. And he uh so he has a book when they first are at the airport and it's Canadian mounted correct yeah, and it's a uh it's Canadian um erotica, yes, whatever. And it's a romance novel. And and he's uh he's uh reading, and I saw like the interview with um uh my next guest needs no introduction with Ryan Reynolds.

SPEAKER_03 42:36

Aviation gin. We've brought it back full circle. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

Um that's right. Yeah, where he talks about how Deadpool has a paperback that he carries around, and it's it's the same thing. Because his childhood hero was John Candy. Because Ryan Reynolds is also famously Canadian. Yes, it makes you like him more. You're like, I couldn't I don't think I could like that man more. Oh, nope, now I do again.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Yep. Yes. He's just great. Do we have anything else, or did you want me should we poke the bear?

SPEAKER_05 43:09

Oh, yeah, poke the bear. Yeah, poke bear.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

All right. Yes. First uh review here we have is from the United Press International. And uh they well, I guess you know, this is the first episode back. We should probably remind what poking the bear is. What I'm gonna do is I'm going to read some rotten reviews of this very well-received movie and how some people just didn't get it. So uh United Press International says the film barrels along with a bumbling zeal, but it's comedy at its most predictable.

SPEAKER_05 43:53

That's a really funny sentence. Like right, that's why I They write for a living? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Uh yeah, the the clearly this this particular uh uh uh journalist uh loves the thesaurus. Oh sh shit, that's three drinks. Nope, four drinks now, uh, that are really hitting hard.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Man, um this journalist look is so dangerous. It's smooth. It's so good. I and I lovingly convinced is not paying us.

SPEAKER_05 44:27

No, correct. All right, so what uh who else says this movie is so?

SPEAKER_01 44:31

So um let's go to a more reputable source. Um York Times. Oh I know, right? The film does have its scattered moments, but too often the audience has as much reason as Dell and Neil to wonder where, if anywhere, they are going. Home. And that's that's our comment.

SPEAKER_05 45:03

I'm sorry. Uh it was confusing for you. I mean, this is a very complicated plot. They're going home.

SPEAKER_03 45:10

Well, Neil is. Dell's technically not going home.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

But he but he didn't realize it. But he was. He was just going to somebody else's home.

SPEAKER_05 45:22

Yeah. And cut to three months later in the sequel where he won't move out. Then it becomes what about Bob. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Um, all right, and then last but not least, who do who do you think that this is gonna be from?

SPEAKER_05 45:34

Oh, is it the oh god, I can't think of the name. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

It's been too long. It's been too long. It's been too long. Who is the Chicago Reader?

SPEAKER_05 45:43

Oh, there it is. Because, you know, they're a reader, they don't go to movies. Correct.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

It's not called the Chicago Watcher.

SPEAKER_05 45:50

That's a that's a different thing entirely.

SPEAKER_03 45:53

They're actually just reading the script. Uh they're they're not watching the movie, they're just like, well, this script makes no fucking sense. If only there was visual representation of this.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

So Chicago Reader. This is very, very simple. I don't know if we're gonna even have a response to this, but Chicago Reader says, pretty dispensable.

SPEAKER_05 46:14

Aww. I feel like that about the Chicago Reader.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Shit.

SPEAKER_03 46:23

Well, there goes best best.

SPEAKER_05 46:25

Um me.

SPEAKER_03 46:28

I sank the ship. Well, we greatly appreciate all of our listeners for choosing this podcast and for supporting independent films. Keep an ear out for our next episodes uh to check out our show notes or to drop us a note. Please visit imbibesinema.com. I'm Jonathan C. Leggan, and thanks for imbibing with us. Cheers.