we're on a mission from god

wendy so i got that going darling

looks like i picked the wrong way to

quit sniffing blue light

of my life we enjoy your films

i thought they smelled bad on the

outside

[Music]

welcome to vintage video where we're

re-watching the 80s so you don't have to

we'll be reviewing every major film

release of the 1980s in real time

i'm patrick o'reilly i'm jesse bayless

and i'm richard wells and today marks

the 40th anniversary of the release of

hyde and plain sight on march 21

1980. it was written by spencer eastman

based on a novel by leslie waller

directed by james khan

produced by metro goldwyn mayer and

released by united artists

i only included the produced by metro

goldwyn mayer because i think this is

our first mgm movie

that's the first time i remember hearing

the lion roar so far since we've been

doing the podcast

that seems right uh but it's also based

on a true story

right not just a book about a a

different

named character which is odd that i

thought that that character would

feature

more what do you mean generally like

uh a legal drama or a material based on

a legal drama

focuses on a lawyer like okay like erin

brockovich

like that of the client instead of the

client okay uh

and and this or you at least get 50 50.

um this is like like 90 10

yeah that's right i think there's only

one scene where the lawyer is

away from the client and it's just him

shouting at his

speaker box on his yeah well from the

from the so i read a couple articles

about

the actual story yeah the actual story

back in the day like articles that came

out contemporaneously yeah um

and it was not like it was in the movie

no

it sounds just like an absolutely

dreadful

story like the reality of it is far

worse than what was in the movie

yeah and the problem when i was trying

to find information about the

the actual case was that the all of the

information i could find was too

contemporaneous

like none of it was from after 1980 so i

couldn't figure out what

happened right in the case yeah as far

as i can tell

um so the the lawyer

picked up the case uh you know this guy

went to look for his kids and

i mean i guess we're spoiling a little

bit of the movie here but right uh

he went to look for his kids the kids

weren't there um and so

eventually he you know files a missing

person's report which is all similar to

the movie

and then the lawyer picks up the case um

it seems like i mean i don't want to say

he wasn't a good lawyer but it didn't

seem like he

he seemed like a public defender type

player because i don't think that

the tom character here had a lot of

money to use correct

yes and it ended up and i think the guy

took it because he thought it was going

to be

uh like a famous type of case because

the the you know he was basically taking

on the the government and so he was

willing

willing to do this but it took a

very very very very very long time

to sort this all out yeah i mean yeah it

took

well i think yeah over eight years uh

you know he ended up not seeing his kids

for

11 years yeah um and i think the movie

takes place over the course of

a year yeah or less maybe i don't know

but uh yeah it definitely seemed far

worse than it than it

is in the movie he also ended up he did

as in the movie get custody of the kids

at some point

uh but the kids were grown like they

didn't by the time he met them again

they were like

uh we're gonna stay with our mom here in

reno yeah yeah they didn't even want to

come live with him he just let them

continue living with

their mother and yeah i mean it's just

tragic and the article that i read was

like

and they have visited him occasionally

and it's like oh that's a bummer

it's not like uh oh you get full-time

full custody it's more like a

oh yeah they acknowledge your existence

yeah the real world there was no real

happy ending for this one

so let's talk about this one venus yeah

the the book that uh that was adapted

into this film

was written by the same woman that uh

wrote

dog day afternoon that was adapted into

that film yeah um and i think uh

that's where because james kahn

obviously played

the brother of uh fredo and

and al pacino in the godfather movies

and so the two of them had success with

that story

and this became a passion project for

him um

and apparently during the production he

pushed pretty hard

uh to not have a score on the film

because he thought that it would feel

more serious if there was no music

underneath it

but i guess mgm prevailed and the film

had to go forward with a score

but we start with i think our first mgm

logo in 1980. well i i wanted to bring

up another point before we go in sure

yeah um

and it's just a stupid me point um

because

aren't they all yeah they all are so i'm

gonna i'm gonna i'm going to

just take a moment here to show the

poster

yes i thought i thought the poster was

of him holding a bullet

like he was trying to like track down

evidence because i didn't know anything

about this

and i thought it was a because i didn't

okay i i get the scene now

so so to describe this to the listeners

who

are our website yeah check our instagram

but it's just james kahn with a big fist

up in the air right but his fist is

is wrapped in a way that his thumb looks

like a bullet coming

out of it like like he's holding it and

examining it

that's what i thought was happening

that's not that's not what when it when

the moment happens for the fist i was

like

well this is much less interesting than

my theory

he's just holding a thumb but who's he

threatening

the department of justice he's fighting

justice literally the poster has him in

front of his chil like another picture

of his children

so he's like i'll get you a kiss

i punched everyone to get to you i'll

punch those kids if i have to punch

every kid

that's not no don't do that um

but yeah we start the film uh leaving a

tire factory at the end of the day

are they getting to work or leaving work

they're i think they're leaving work

because in the first shot it looks like

everyone's walking away from their cars

toward the factory but then

immediately they're getting in a car to

leave so i guess they were leaving and i

thought that they were dock workers

oh okay because because it seems like

they're like out on a

port or pier or something like well it's

funny because this factory reminds me

almost exactly of the building that they

used

in uh what's the movie with mark

wahlberg where he tries out for the

eagles

that's based on a true story oh my god i

have no idea

i forget what it's called but um the the

story of the movie is that like this guy

like worked at some factory but he was

really good at football

and they actually had like an open trial

for the team

that does sound familiar and he makes

the team and it's a true story about a

guy that made it onto the eagles

but uh at the beginning of the movie

they're they're all walking into a

factory and

it's like the shot from the same angle

like from up above and so it just

reminded me immediately of that

invincible invincible there you go it

reminds me of the

set for norma ray oh okay

but uh this is a tire factory so

uh as they're leaving thomas hacklin is

being invited by a co-worker on a double

date

because he's recently divorced and uh

hack complains that his ex is seeing a

guy named scalise

and that the two of them basically just

drag him in to watch the kids whenever

they feel like going anywhere

like he's just a free babysitter for

them but he is happy to do it right yeah

and he makes that point

too but uh that is also happening

tonight which is uh

why he's dropping his friend off and not

sticking around to hang out

when he pulls up to the house we're in

the apartment a little bit before tom

gets there

and she's saying to jack scalise

don't call him names in front of the

kids can you be nice to him when he gets

here

and the first thing he says when he

walks in he's like hey rubber man how's

it going how many tires you make today i

have to paint around here

is that one because he's just [ __ ]

on the apartment that his

his girlfriend lives in but uh hack is

like

trying to be friendly and playing with

his kids and

um the two of them are heading out the

door and he's

trying to ask them like when you're

going to be back like what do i need to

do and they just like slam the door

they're just gone

before uh that night as he's tucking his

son and he tells him that he's going to

bring him to a baseball game in a couple

weeks

as a surprise that his his sister's too

young still but that he's gonna bring

his son to a baseball game pretty soon

we

uh cut from here to the party that that

ruth and jack scalise have headed off to

which is it's like a mob party they're

celebrating some guy that did time for

the family basically yeah

it's weird though because he thinks it's

like to celebrate

like he makes fun of the the party's

like all this for

six months or something like that like

and it's like it's not the amount of

time that he did it's the fact that he

was doing it for the family

and he's like trying to throw his weight

around the room and like oh i'm a friend

of bobby's like bobby invited me

personally and everyone's just like

i don't like you i don't like bobby has

a lot of people that nobody here likes

uh and he even tries to like he even

approaches the dawn he's like got the

the gall to approach the dawn

yeah and just introduce him to his

girlfriend yeah but

uh but a couple of the other guys here

just let him know to his face that they

don't care who he is and that there's

they have lots of people like him that

are just there to be like extra bodies

in the room if they need to

throw people at a problem there's a lot

of traditional italian music being

played here

and some of it sounds very specifically

like the music playing at the wedding

reception that kicks off the first

godfather movie

um but uh we cut from here to

scalise and a few other guys from the

mob trying to knock over a bank

on their way in like a guy's like

shoving him back

as he's trying to rob the bank because

he's like hey get in the back of the

line and he's like what are you crazy as

a goddamn sticker for christ said get

back there

okay it was it was a very quick change

moment actually there's a couple of

quick change moments

yes robert um but uh one other guy fires

a gun in the air to like get everyone's

attention and to shut everybody up

in real in real life when the gun gets

fired that's when everyone starts

screaming and running that doesn't like

immediately cause everyone to stop

talking in the whole bank

but for some reason in this bank

everyone's like oh a gun i better listen

to what this guy has to say

the banker is kind of in shock at uh at

being robbed and

can't respond to any of the demands

scalise makes so

uh he basically climbs over the counter

and knocks him out by

like cracking him across the face with

the gun right and uh

he just grabs the bag and all the money

that he wants and

starts to leave as they're coming out

the door of the bank they're looking for

the getaway car in one place but it's

like parked backwards against the curb

in a different place he's like

so everybody piles into it but uh it's

already like getting flubbed all over

the place

yeah and uh it's uh it doesn't seem like

they made off with a lot

no it was a very small bag yeah um

hopefully it was all thousand dollar

bills

yeah but now well i think it was

supposed to be um

it was the day that people were paying

their taxes so they expected there to be

a lot of money i think there was

supposed to be a lot of

of money because there was a little sign

right as people were coming in that's

like pay taxes here

oh okay well in in uh they also

kind of explained later that this wasn't

an official like mob

action like this wasn't cleared through

the family that was just kind of like

hey here's a thing we could do that

would make money and they're going to

love them

yeah also it wasn't a traditional bank

it was the treasury department

right so it it i guess that i mean i

think any bank robbery is a federal

crime

but i guess this would be like extremely

federal

yeah and it's and it's doubly bad

because he actually assaulted the guy

in the in the act so that

it just multiplies the problem of the

case he didn't him that hard

it doesn't matter he could have spit on

him it's still assault but uh

at the double date now uh maddie the

co-worker

is uh telling hack as he calls our our

lead character here tom

he tells him that he needs to look his

date in the eyes

like clark gable would in one of one of

his movies

and as a result like he takes this

advice a little too seriously and it

just keeps staring into her face while

they're talking but

this the girl that he ends up on this

date with elisa

is is not much for conversation she's

just kind of like

yes the weather here is different and

just stops talking and

um maddie mocks a waitress for taking

too long to bring them drinks

and uh all of the three people here that

we are friends with are pressuring elisa

to join them for the spring fling

they're like oh we don't want to press

you but you're not doing anything right

and you might as well go to this thing

because you obviously don't have any

plants

but this is like an upcoming dance i

guess it's

part of the the factory that they put on

by the union yeah

the local whatever yeah

but uh while they're in this bar uh hack

goes to

check on drinks and he notices on the tv

that their this bank robbery happened

and

that uh jack scalise his his ex's

boyfriend was

arrested and he was the only person that

was like he wasn't arrested he was yeah

he was id because he the only one who

didn't wear disguise

yes he was the only one that was

identified during this robbery

so he goes to confront his ex about it

and

she gives him a lot of crap like yeah i

heard about it what are you gonna do

like get out of here the kids are here

and it's fine he's not coming around and

i love and we'll get into the neighbor

later but yeah she here she's she's

already like just kind of flirting with

him like he got a good boyfriend there

she was like shut up like it's just like

you're you're typical like neighbor

banter where you just tell your neighbor

to shut up

yeah and then uh after like she's

she slams the door in uh his face and he

starts to leave and she's like

uh he turns to the neighbor and he's

like hey mrs novak just like thank you

for

trying to stand up for me there uh his

ex goes to see

uh jack scalise in hiding

where he's like basically taking a small

apartment and he's been cooped up here

for a couple days

waiting for the mob to help him out

because everybody else is fine

nothing happened to anybody else they're

all back to whatever jobs they had

before because they didn't get id'd

but she's having to bring him groceries

here so she's having to like

bring extra food to him and take care of

the kids by herself because he can't

come in the house

so uh but she tells him that the family

is planning on sending him a ride soon

basically

someone's gonna be by to help you out

and he's like oh it's about time it's

been a few days i've been here by myself

the the mob talks to him and

says that he screwed up by hitting the

banker and

that his best move at this point would

be to marry his girlfriend because

if they're married she can't be forced

to testify against him in court

and also it makes him look like a family

man it makes him look more defensible

and they'll pay for the attorney and

everything

hack meets with ruth again and

uh he's picking up the kids or dropping

off the kids with her

but either way kids are involved it's a

it's a trade-off and she tells him

by the way i should let you know i

married that idiot bank robber

after he robbed the bank and uh he's

just like you you married him

and like we just the camera like slowly

backs away so that we can't hear the

rest of this

argument well i hear one i heard one

part which is like i thought you'd be

happy for me

wow that's uh that's impressive

um we move into an interrogation room

where

um jack has been brought in because the

family has agreed to pay for his defense

right and they said to turn yourself in

yeah and so that's

we're assuming that's what he did well i

i just like when they're

they're in the car telling him what to

do to get married and to turn yourself

and he's like oh just go uptown you can

take care of both

things at once like yeah and i also like

that he's like what oh no yeah no we're

not gonna get married he's like

if it was me that's what i do yeah okay

i'm not gonna do that and he's like

you're gonna do that that's what we're

telling you you're doing right now like

it's like i don't think you understand

how this conversation is working but

we're telling you what you have to do

right now and if you don't do it then

you're on your own

so uh jack is being interrogated by

marzetta and they're basically

they're considering him for i think the

first witness relocation case

it seems like it's at least a very new

program well i i don't know if it's

witness relocation for the

for this is new i think it's this new

mob

task force okay that's new like he is he

is the test case to see if they can

get someone to turn on the mob protect

them and then

start taking down this organized crime

yeah um

and i think i've made this point talking

to you before during the macgyver

podcast but

witness relocation has a 100 percent

track record they've never lost

anybody who didn't like break all the

rules to give away their location

they weren't gonna tell anyone if they

did that's true

who could say for certain um

that's a good point but uh yeah so

uh hack sits down with alisa at the

spring fling

and uh i couldn't tell what happened

here she was like pulling out cigarettes

and asking for a light but he thought

she was offering him a cigarette

and he's like all embarrassed about it

because he thought

he misunderstood what was happening he's

just awkward i think his mind is

elsewhere

and i think it's also they're playing on

the fact that you know he's been married

for a number of years so he's kind of

out of practice dating people anyway

but um which i think is why he was like

taking tips from his friends so

seriously like

i guess i have to stare into her face

but uh he commits the rookie mistake of

inviting her to dance

right as the song is ending and then a

fight breaks out immediately

as they're like trying to clear the

dance floor a fight breaks out between

two of the other factory workers he's

like it happens every year

you know you wouldn't believe it but

those two guys are actually really good

friends

they uh she decides that she doesn't

want to go back into the dance

but she's not like leaving and

abandoning him she just doesn't want to

go back in because

she doesn't feel comfortable with those

people and the two of them decide

they're just gonna go for

kind of a walk and uh they talk about

his ex and his kids

and she likes that he cares about his

kids because in the 1980s this was like

a novel that a father would

care at all about his children thus

kramer versus kramer right

or was that 70s because that was 70s huh

yeah it's pretty close

and it has a very similar ending late

70s but

uh yeah so he's sharing pictures of his

kids and she

she says something like like always very

handsome

and then hack is trying to be

humble but he accidentally like

compliments his ex-wife by saying like

oh he he gets it from his mother and

it's just like wow oops i was

i was trying to just be like funny

humble and i accidentally was like oh my

my ex-wife is very attractive well

uh i know that uh coming from

a divorcee parents

uh that my dad will often

say that like he's like oh you know he

gets his looks from his mother yeah so

you know so

i i can see i don't know if that's it's

much of a compliment you know much as it

is

is like a it's not so much supporting

her but

diminishing him yes yeah no and it

definitely comes across that way

she comments on the the awkward eye

contact that he had going on in the

first date

he's like oh maddie you know maddie

he's got this thing you know uh about

how women uh how they uh respect uh

directness

says when you meet ali you look a right

in the eye you know uh

clock gable you never see clock gable

any of his movies looking down on the

ground

the cops talked to jack about witness

relocation

which is at least a relatively new

program so he he doesn't know what it is

he's never heard of it

yeah not that he seems like he's like up

to date on all the new things but

he seems very confused when they're

trying to explain it to him but

part of the problem or part of the

system is that he would get

a job he would get relocated he would

get a new name

i don't know if he gets like extra money

on the side i guess it's just a job

yeah i guess they just give him a job

but all of it sounds really

intriguing to him and he's a little bit

frustrated with

how he's been treated by the family

he doesn't feel like he got the support

that he needed as quickly as he needed

it

and now they're not helping him enough

hack takes

the kids to the zoo with elisa

and uh ruthie gives gives him crap when

uh he shows up to pick up the kids

um like i like him skinny now huh

because he brought his girlfriend

and uh it's like i've been putting up

with your boyfriend for a while now

like you don't need to give me crap

about this girl but at the zoo the kids

are like oh why are the monkeys rubbing

and hacks like oh they're very itchy

ruth goes to visit jack in jail and says

hey i don't know what you were talking

about when you said like the family was

going to help us out but

they're not helping me with groceries

and they're not you know they're not

doing anything to support me while

you're in here

and i'm actually getting more help from

the police than i am from

the the mob so uh this kind of sucks

and he tells her that he's gonna take

this witness relocation stuff

because it's a better offer than than

what he's getting from the family

we cut to him in court where he he his

testimony is putting 12

big mob bosses away yeah and he's just

pointing everybody out that we saw at

the

at the party with ruth earlier hack

heads to pick up his kids

from their house and they're gone um he

knocks on the door

um nobody's answering he leans back and

yells up to the neighbor woman who he's

friendly with

and she says she doesn't know what

happened and he's like come on you gotta

you gotta have some information for me

she's like

all right i think they left at midnight

and they were in two cars and like she

has all this like she was paying

attention she's a nosy lady well i like

because she still throws in

like she's like it was like midnight

because it woke me up

like she's annoyed like that's the name

that's the neighborly way to pay

attention to this

right and it's also like it woke me up

not i was watching intently the last

time like she's trying to make it seem

like it was an accident that she was

she partied to this information but um

hack goes to fill out a missing person's

report at the police station

and uh he keeps asking for more help and

they're like no

let's just fill out the paperwork first

and then you know we'll we'll

follow do everything according to the

system but uh

it's you know weeks are going by between

visits with police or any kind of

contact at all

and alisa is saying like you sh you

should be

trying harder to get through to these

people and he's like i'm i'm doing

everything

legal um and she says well what about

i looked into it and marzetta is the

head of this task force

you should try and talk to him about it

see if he can give you any information

about where

they went so he finds marzetta figures

out where he eats his lunch

and then goes to bug him at this

restaurant while he's eating

um and he's just like you know i'm on my

break like can i just finish the

sandwich he's like sure you can but

first let me just tell you what my

problem is and then finally like

marzeta psycho just leaves in the middle

of uh

he's like i'm gonna go get a cup of

coffee i'm going to sit down and we're

going to talk about my kids and then he

leaves while he's getting a cup of

coffee

he tries to like chase him back to his

car like but if i was crossing the

street there'd be five cops here to give

me a goddamn jaywalking time

i'm sorry what can i tell you i got

nothing to say to you elisa

spoke with someone at her school because

she's a school teacher

about the problem and they recommended

an attorney who

uh takes like special needs cases

and he uh would probably see them for

free at least

to discuss the case initially and hack

doesn't seem very interested

in going to a lawyer but when he finds

out that the talk would be free and that

they've already made an appointment

he's a little bit more on board so we

cut to

scalise and ruth at their new location

which i think

at first they're in michigan and uh

and they're all sitting at a table

eating and they're like yelling at the

kids because nobody's getting along and

everybody's uncomfortable with where

they are well and the irony is that jack

is now working at a plant

yeah he is now a blue-collar

schmoe that he's always looked down on

yeah and he's

complaining about the foreman and like

he's he's like

constantly phoning into the witness

relocation people like you got to get me

a better job or you got to get this guy

fired and it's like no no

we just got you a job you have to keep

the job but

uh he tells ruth that she needs to get a

job

because they can't afford things on just

his paycheck and she's like but you told

me i can't get a job

and he's like that's right you can't get

a job don't you dare get a job and it's

like you just told her to get a job

but then we cut to alisa and uh

hack and she tells him that she's

pregnant

and he basically proposes right there

she she expects him to be

upset about it like she's apologizing as

she tells him don't act like it was all

romantic on his part though

it was because it's very romantic no she

says she's pregnant he's like well i

guess we're gonna go get married

yeah it's very akin to the seating

caddyshack

yeah that's romantic you just for the

1980s that's romantic

before that it would have just been like

okay so who do i make the checkout too

like it wouldn't have it wouldn't have

been like hey let's go get married and

stay together for the rest of our lives

that's

that's comparatively romantic right but

i'm just saying he goes straight into

the

okay we could get married this weekend

not uh oh that's great i'm so

happy but he gets to that stuff too

yeah he says all of that in the scene

eventually i'm i'm in more in jessie's

camp than i am in here

i don't know i was

i get what he's trying to do yeah he's

trying to do the honorable thing i guess

is the way i would put it is that he's

like oh well we'll get married so you

don't

so people don't look down on you for

being right maybe

i think you can see by her reaction that

she is also in our camp with this one

because she's like

you don't have to marry me right fine

yeah

but you can tell that she wants to also

like by the end of the scene she's like

ecstatic that

this was his reaction that he's he's

ready to settle down with her and

fully prepared to take on this child uh

another weird thing about this scene

was when she comes to sit with him and

he goes that's canada over there did you

know that and she goes

uh-uh and i was like you're a teacher

like you have to know something about

where you live no i mean i know she's

new to the area but

this we're assuming that she's been

there a while right and she would know

at least that new york and buffalo is a

city that borders canada

nope no idea that'd be like like here it

was like

going out to the ocean it's like that's

pacific ocean did you know that no uh

oh what really they they go to see the

lawyer uh

that uh elisa's principal had

recommended was it the principal or just

someone else at the school

but either way um they go to see the the

attorney who is played by danny aiello

the the late great danny aiello and uh

he says he will take the case

but uh he doesn't want to see them go

broke so he's going to do it as cheaply

as he can

but he's giving them a lot of advice for

starters

and if they don't follow this advice

then they can't move forward with the

case but

james kahn seems very interested in

cooperating with everything the attorney

suggests

he the lawyer goes and uh gets in touch

with a few reporters because he wants

he wants the press to be following this

case because

if he's not going to get money from from

uh

the the client he needs to be getting

money from somewhere and he wants

this to be a public interest case and

for there to at least be pr

involved well i think it's not yeah i

think it's not just for him i think it's

for the case itself the best thing

possible is to have everybody outraged

in this

man's defense right but it also brings

like his name to the forefront and

people he gets notoriety from it

not that he's like totally out for that

but i think a part of it is that he's

just trying to get

credit and get his name out there um

hack is let go from his job

but he manages with the help of the

attorney to win custody in court which

is pretty easy when uh the other person

that's contesting your custody case

doesn't show up yes it's basically just

100

forfeited in your in your uh on your

side

and it's just a symbolic victory right

it doesn't really mean anything because

as much as he now has full custody of

his children he doesn't have any custody

of his children because they're in

another state and the government won't

give them back to him

so he's got this folded piece of paper

that says the kids belong to him and he

can do what

whatever he wants and uh and he walks

away from the attorney

with the piece of paper he's like oh

great now i got a piece of paper this is

wonderful

he's like hey where are you going he's

like i'm gonna go have lunch with my

kids and he just like waves the piece of

paper around

and uh the government basically

uh catches word of multiple articles

about

the case that hack is putting forth and

they basically want to stop the story

before

uh the public gets really upset about it

because they don't want to have to field

a bunch of phone calls from the public

the feds really want marzetta to lean on

the newspapers

to not publish anymore yes in court

hack basically stands up in the middle

of

uh deliberation and and uh he's

objecting to the treatment he says

that he always respected the government

and that he was like a good like

good american and he did what he was

supposed to do all the time

and the judge basically orders him

removed from the courthouse

outside he's getting interviewed by a

couple members of the press and he

doesn't want to talk to them because

he's embarrassed about

having just been thrown out of the

courtroom but the attorney's like no you

need to talk to these people

they're on your side and don't don't

have outbursts in court

these are the people that you should be

having your outburst

right and uh so he yells at them for a

while and while he while he's talking to

the the members of the press and saying

like how would you feel if it was your

kids

um he notices this car pulling away from

the front of the courthouse

the lawyer's car yes i thought that this

was going to go somewhere

and it really doesn't what because like

oh

he's he's spotting the lawyer's car so

he's gonna like follow the lawyer

wait it was the lawyer's card that was

pulling away yeah oh like the other

attorney

yeah the yeah not danny aiello oh okay

but the the the

opposing attorney oh okay the government

and i thought

that he was following him because they

both go to the same location

but they're not going there for the same

reason it's completely coincidence that

they go to the same location

but the new location that they go to is

the unemployment office right right

um and uh he is basically refused

unemployment

because he was standing on the wrong

line yeah like he got there super early

in the morning

and when he gets to the front they're

like oh yeah you're supposed to be over

there

and he gets really mad and he's just

like leaves empty-handed because he

doesn't have time now to get in the

right line

and there's a lot of like anti-hippie

sentiments in this movie

yeah and the fact that the next person

in line is like a long-haired hippie and

he's like like scowling looking at him

like this guy gets unemployment but i

don't yeah

well i think this was definitely playing

to like the conservative viewer like

hey even like a red-blooded american

patriot can be screwed over by the

system and

it's not all it's not all great out

there but uh yeah so he's he doesn't get

his unemployment he's walking back to

his car and he sees

the other attorney's car in the parking

lot right and he decides that he's gonna

tap it and do a little love tap and then

he drives out of the shot and then he

just

comes back in full speed and crashes

into it again uh

but again i i thought that this was

going to go somewhere else like he was

going to follow the lawyer and the

lawyer is going to be on the take

uh like from somebody else because

because the lawyer gets out and he gets

when he gets out of his car another guy

gets out of the car

and hands him a briefcase but then they

walk separately i was like is there

something going on here

that i'm not seeing i didn't realize

that it was the other attorney and i

thought this was

either the mob or the police tailing him

but it makes more sense now that you say

that it's the attorney and he was just

blowing off steam by messing up the car

but it's just weird that they would both

happen to go to the unemployment office

yeah back wherever jack and ruth are

living i think this is

still michigan um jack is busting into a

car that was parked on their street

to yell at some kids that are having sex

in their car and he's trying to tell him

that it's a good neighborhood and get

out of here and he's got a knife and

everything like he's physically

threatening them i think

this is a show that he's paranoid yeah

that somebody's like

you know watching him but as soon as he

goes back inside ruth tells him like

hey you know you don't have to pick on

every single person that's

parked outside and and uh he goes to

beat her and they cut like basically

when his fist would have

made connection with her uh

ruth calls collect calls tom's house

while his mother is there

um his mom answers the phone and she's

like who is this

what no i can't understand operator i

can't hear what they're saying

okay i don't know this person okay bye

and hangs up

i'm assuming ruthie is probably crying

yeah and

and like frantic about calling

and so that's why she's not making

herself clear

we don't hear the other end of the

conversation right and i i couldn't tell

if

part of the point is supposed to be that

that his mother has like

any kind of mental problems no i think

she's just a

just an older lady and when he starts

yelling at her she starts

like yeah well i i couldn't i i think

it's possible that they might have been

hinting that she had some kind of

dementia like

she wasn't thinking about the fact that

i know a ruth and we're desperately

looking for a ruth and a ruth called

like it seems like a weird coincidence

that she would be like i don't know ruth

whatever that last name was that you

said i know a ruth but she just recently

changed her name as a part of a

government program and we're desperately

trying to get a hold of her

and is it that ruth but she does she

does successfully manage to come up

with the city name yeah i thought at

first that she was just

making it up like she was like will he

stop yelling if i can think of a single

city in michigan um

but uh he's like he's like who was that

who did you just hang up on and she's

like

i don't know ruth bocce or something

like that i don't know any ruth bocce

and he's like that ruth that's ruth

we're trying to get a hold of ruth

and uh he's chewing her out until uh

elisa is basically

intervening on her behalf like don't

yell at your mom we're gonna figure this

out

where were they where did they call from

and she she managed us to

to choke up michigan and ann arbor

before he like basically just bursts out

the door like

i'm going straight there right now he's

being pursued by a car

on the freeway and he keeps trying to

lose it and it keeps catching back up

with him so finally he just

pulls over on the side of the freeway

and waits for the guy to do the same

thing behind him so they can have a

conversation face to face which was

again weird because he just did all that

work to lose him

and then only to wait for him well i

think he got to the point where he

realized this guy's still behind me so

i'm just gonna pull over

and figure out who he is but this

conversation that they have

so infuriating like i was just like man

i wish this guy had a gun and he just

shot this guy on the side of the freeway

and left

because this guy's so annoying but um

he the guy gets out of his car and he's

like hey you need any help what's going

on

and he's like yeah i need help because

you're following me and i don't want you

to keep following me he's like

hey i don't know what you're talking

about man i'm just i'm just on the

freeway

and it's like yeah but i've tried to

lose you multiple times and you keep

getting back on the road and following

me you've been trailing me for a hundred

miles now and he's like

why don't you uh like me following you

do i stink or something shut up

i know what you're doing stop pretending

but then he gives it up anyway and goes

hey hacklin yeah what if you were just

gonna do that

anyway yeah why even pretend just at

right when you walk up just say hey

hacklin i'm part of the family

and uh we're trying to find the same guy

you are so let's team up

but instead he's like oh it's just a

crazy coincidence anyway get back in

your car so i can continue following you

to wherever the guy is

but it turns out yeah that he's not he's

not a member of the police

like hacklin thought that's trying to

like stop him from getting to

uh his ex's new boyfriend or i guess

husband now

it's actually a member of the mob and

they want to kill him so

it seems like at this point he decides

he's not going to go to ann arbor

because

he doesn't want to bring the mafia to

where his kids are correct he knows that

he's being watched

and then jack is even informed that

uh thomas and the hacklin family are

being watched

right yeah he's he he tells him also he

jack is informed that not only was tom

headed up there but that the family was

following him

and he's just like he's i think this is

where he gets in touch with

witness relocation and it's like hey we

got a problem the mob knows

that i'm in michigan and that's when

they get relocated again

to albuquerque because the next time we

see them they're they're in albuquerque

i'm i'm not clear why they would keep

their first names i felt like

witness relocation you the whole point

is you're supposed to change everything

yeah um i mean i mean homer

change only changed his last name to

thompson yeah i guess

we are we basing this off of the

simpsons now

i guess it's so when people call the

name you react you respond

but uh my dukey's talking to you

the yeah the other weird thing is that

when she collect calls the house she

uses her fake name if she's actually

trying to get a hold of someone yeah

like just use the name that everyone

here knows and would recognize when you

call

unless she's worried that the line is

being tapped but but if you're

only calling anyway either way yeah

you're going to be like oh no i used the

fake name so they couldn't possibly know

it was me

oh no it's not it's not ruthie hacklin

calling just hang up or

scalise just don't listen to the tap

yeah chief wiggin with the number

five ah it's gotta be a fake number

uh the the cops basically realize that

hacklin's not gonna stop until he gets a

hold of

his kids or the family and so and merced

is kind of having a little bit of a

change of heart like he he's seeing the

passion

yeah that hacklin has and it's funny

that they thought that he they could

just be like

yeah forget about your kids it's fine

don't worry about it

yeah well and i say 1980 but this

actually the story is taking place in 67

so

that was like a thing you could just be

like come on yeah these kids are you're

awesome

don't worry about it you got a new

family start a new family

but yeah so and i forget if it if it

already happened but

there is a scene where marzetta sits

down with another

member of the police force and he says

you know i feel sorry for this guy you

know he came in and he was basically

begging me for help

he's like has it ever occurred to you

that the mafia might be using him to get

to

that that was er that was earlier in the

yeah but so that's the first indication

that marzetta is

slightly on his team but he's still a

dick and he's not giving

uh hacklin any of his time but now he's

offering

to send uh letters right if hacklin will

write letters he'll send them on

and he'll give hacklin any responses

right and the responses he gets are

clearly not

from his family because they're spelling

the names wrong yeah

his wife son somehow forgets how to

spell her own last name hacklin

and all the letters are saying stop

trying to contact us yeah

it's weird that this guy's putting that

much effort into preventing the kids

from communicating with their father

because he doesn't really care about

them

either but when we see him reading all

these letters that basically the

the new husband has written and sent

back uh he's sitting on the docks with

a full-grown dog now when when he went

to go pick them up

when they were missing he had a puppy

with him that was supposed to be a

surprise

and now it's like a full grown dog

because

he's had the dog for so long and he

hasn't seen the kids since then

but someone else complains you can't

just keep calling it the dog and he's

like well the kids are gonna name it

when they get it and

whenever that happens in the meantime

his name is the dog

but uh tom's attorney books him a flight

to washington to meet with a

congressperson

he seems excited about it and his buddy

from the

from the factory is like oh you know how

many people you know

ever talk to a congressman like that's

that's incredible this where you're

making progress

um they go to meet with the congressman

and right before they start talking with

him he gets a phone call that someone

important is in the

is in his like waiting room he's like oh

he's here right now oh god okay

and then he sits then he's like hey so

heard about your case i'll do everything

i can

see you later yep and it's like we just

flew here

to talk to you and that's all the

conversation we're gonna have

he's like yeah cool and before they even

leave the room he's like calling his

secretary like you can send the next

person in that's a very important person

i need to talk to

uh he tom decides that he's gonna go to

the office

that's forwarding his letters and uh

he's gonna tear up the office and

destroy like the secretary's typewriter

and

beat everything up until she gives him

the address that the letters are being

sent to

which it seems like he gets the address

yeah because all of a sudden he's

now he's on his way to albuquerque but

uh

his new wife tells him that he needs to

stop freaking out like this because he's

gonna end up in jail if he keeps going

down this road

and that as much as he shouldn't go

straight down the line with all the

bureaucracy of like

this flawed system you also can't go and

assault people and destroy property

and he gets really mad at her because

she's trying to lay down a bunch of

rules for him and he feels like he's

been following the rules this whole time

and it hasn't gotten him anywhere

so he just tells her to leave him alone

and he drives off to albuquerque

keep in mind she's like six to eight

months pregnant at this point

and doesn't want to be alone and

thought that this guy was going to be

around to be the father of this kid and

so for him to be

completely obsessed with this other case

right now for her is very emotionally

damaging

but he leaves her there and the mob

finds jack in albuquerque somehow i

don't know if they like intercepted

information from

well i i think uh so there we got a

scene of

two guys in the restaurant and one of

the guys

just happens to just noticed him okay

yeah so i think it was

it was a coincidence it was just some

guys happen to be

in this restaurant and they one of them

recognizes jack

because i'm sure that the the robbery

was

probably a national news right and the

the mob has like ties all over the u.s

right uh so they made a call to the guy

who was

tailing hacklin right i guess

and he's like guess who's in albuquerque

yeah

so tom heads there to find jack but so

does that uh that guy that was following

him

before but now it's now uh hacklin's the

one following

and uh the cops basically ask the they

they pop into the house after tom

destroyed that office to get the address

and they're like

hey we gotta talk to tom and they're

like well you're too late he left yeah

and uh he says how long ago did he leave

we gotta call

and get police in pursuit uh immediately

this is an emergency

and and they go to use her phone and

they're like you don't mind if we use

your phone do you

and she's like yes i do mind well well

yeah the the one fed

is already using the phone but marzetta

again is the one who's trying to be

cordial yeah and ask and then she

realizes oh

i can buy him a little bit of time by

telling them not to use my phone

so she says yes i do mind and so they

have to go down to the precinct to

use their own phone and uh it buys tom

enough time to actually get to

albuquerque

before they can notify the local

officials

which seems a little bit weird to me

that

he can drive there buffalo to

albuquerque before they can make a phone

call

he takes a flight right but still like

there should be

local people that they could have called

to go intercept them yeah i mean it's

still it's still like a four or five

hour flight yeah

jack is at work at this bar or

restaurant or whatever

and the enforcer guy comes in he's like

hey you know a guy named jack

scalise or jackie or and he's like oh

yeah i know that guy and then jack like

hears his own name and perks up and he's

like oh crap i know this guy

yeah and he leaves but then we get uh

hacklin is across the street from the

house where his family is staying

and he sees the mob guy sneaking up on

the house

and he doesn't want guns around his kids

obviously and so he picks up a shovel

and follows the guy around the house

and smacks him in the back of the head

through a window into the home

and then jack starts opening fire

he's just been sitting in the living

room with a gun and uh

he he just likes madsen style kill build

us waiting for someone to come in

but this this body of this unconscious

like

mafioso comes through the window and he

just fires seven shots across the street

into his neighbor's house

um but then uh hacklin's trying to get

us in he's like hey i'm out here i'm out

here and he's like who is that and he's

like

it's me tom and he's like okay why are

you here what's happening why did a man

just come through my window

and he explains everything and he's like

okay now you gotta tell me where my

family is

and he's very like reluctant to give any

information here and it's like

this guy's gonna strangle you to death

if you don't like it doesn't matter that

you have a gun

he's gonna kill you if you don't tell

him where your kids are yeah

um but he says that they're staying at

the sundance motel

which is like three blocks down the road

because the whole

i think his whole plan was it's too

dangerous here someone's about to kill

me i just saw the enforcer at my job

so you guys stay at the motel and i'm

gonna stay here with a gun and take care

of it myself

which seems like the nicest this guy is

yes the entire film it's the most

considerate thing he's done

so tom decides he's going to go down to

this motel and he knocks on the door

but nobody's answering and he finds he

finds out from

the front desk that they're in room

three which i feel like is a violation

yeah already but again it's the 60s yeah

but he goes and he knocks on the door a

few times and then kicks it in but then

he doesn't check inside the room he just

kind of

looks in the doorway for a second he

closed it and i was like what is in

there

that he knew that he shouldn't go inside

like are they implying that like

there's a body in there like that all

three of them are in the bathroom you

could probably tell from the doorway

that they're not in there

i've been in the bathroom with all of

our children before

if she'd taken a bath then he might have

all three kids in the bathroom

but uh he leaves and basically finds

them eating at a restaurant across the

street from

this motel and he just sits on a car in

the parking lot and watches them eat

until

the kids notice him outside he hugs them

and

and he has like a tearful conversation

with his wife where it seems like

wordlessly we're not we don't see an

actual conversation happen but

she has basically agreed like well you

have full legal custody of these kids

and they shouldn't be with me because

i'm with a jerk who's constantly getting

harassed by the mob

so and it's probably dead by now yeah um

so

because they know where he lives yeah so

go ahead and take the kids and so he

buckles them into a cab and then right

as he's about to leave

the a couple agents of the doj

interrupt him and they're like hey

we're from the department of justice and

and uh

we have to put a stop to all this right

now and that's when he raises his

bullet bullet thumb up in the air i was

like whoa

whoa he is really like i have to say it

was like the most manliest fist

yeah like he was just like like it was

like

i was like oh my god he's gonna like

suck this guy yeah

but he's like nobody takes my kids away

from me

and like freaks out on on them and

they're like okay fine it doesn't matter

that's not even why we're here anyway

we're here to

keep this guy in witness relocation and

you have custody of the kids illegally

so just go

it's fine um and so he puts the kids in

the cab and

drives off and flies home and we just

get

you know he's he's arriving home with

his his pregnant wife and the two kids

and she asks if she can carry the

daughter because i i guess she was

asleep or

and uh it's just a happy family and and

he's gonna have

a third kid on the way soon and

everything's wonderful we get a and

titles over the screen saying that the

case is still pending and that's what

sparked me to go look up the information

where i couldn't really find much infor

as far as i could tell about the case it

seems like it was just dismissed out of

court

yeah they didn't want to like the court

system didn't want to deal with it

they didn't want to you know they didn't

want to side against the witness

relocation program

so they just dismissed it yeah but in in

the real case he gets to this restaurant

and watches the family eat

and the kids are like 10 years older

than they were the last time he saw him

and when he they come outside they're

like who are you and he's like i'm your

dad and they're like oh cool bye

and they just go home with mom torino a

couple more titles come up after the one

that says the case is still pending

that say that basically the scalises are

separated

they say that the mother uh is in nevada

but that the guy who is actually being

relocated

is living in a northwestern state which

it's like

northwestern like there's only two

states that i would call

northwestern um that would just be

oregon and washington well um

i would say uh wyoming and montana could

be considered northwestern

okay like if you're talking like custer

like old west kind of stuff yeah but

either way it's just like

it felt like the movie was literally

like hey mob

it's up in the top corner over there

go check the top corner and then the

next title says like

all 12 mobsters that he tattled on are

all out of prison

it's like so there's a lot of people

that are out to kill this guy

and he is in one of these four states

um just fyi the case is still pending

it just felt like they were trying to

get the guy caught and killed

yeah but that's the end of the movie so

the these

but these on-screen titles are implying

that the current year is 1980.

correct and you know this isn't like

happening in 1967. this is this is going

on for the last 13 years

right the writer of the of the script

uh spencer eastman um had written a

movie called kansas with matt dillon and

andrew mccarthy

and also night game with roy scheider do

you know night game

i don't know i feel like we had it at

our blockbuster because the cover box is

like

a baseball on a hook like a hook hand

the novel was written by leslie waller

who i said before also wrote the

dog day afternoon book and the director

was the star here

james khan as thomas hacklin jr this is

his only directing credit

um but you probably know him as sonny

corleone or

buddy the elf's father that's definitely

where i go to

yeah he was also paul sheldon in misery

he's tim lockwood in the cloudy with a

chance of meatballs movies

which is a great character jill

eichenberry was

alisa hacklin she's in 171 episodes of

l.a law

she plays susan johnson and arthur which

i think is the love interest in the

first film

well it's it's not the the liza minnelli

character but it's the the woman he's

supposed to marry

is liza minnelli in the first one i

thought she was only in the second now

she's in the first one oh

she's the woman that he meets that he

would rather be with than the rich woman

that his family is trying to hook him up

okay um and she also plays head of gary

in young adult the diablo cody jason

reitman film

robert vajaro played jack scalise at

first i thought he directed valley of

the dolls but he just played a director

in it

so that confused me joe grafassi was

maddie stanic he plays the deputy

sheriff and natural boy killers

he's a bank guard and batman forever he

was in five episodes of la la oh god

he's not the bank guard in batman

forever is he

oh no maybe boiling acid

[Laughter]

probably um he also plays a director in

the movie naked gun 33 and a third

uh and he's lou in the hudsucker proxy

but i'm not

sure who lou is yeah uh barbara ray was

ruthie hacklin

this was her third and last feature she

mostly did tv movies after this

kenneth mcmillan with sam marzetta he's

great he was baron vladimir harkinan in

dune

michael schlemberg in amadeus or

schloomberg

he's brannigan and little miss marker

and he'll come back again this year for

kearney and borderline

uh danny aiello was sal carvello the

attorney yeah

hudson hawk do the right thing

moonstruck defiance is probably his best

work oh

god uh thomas hill played bobby momisa

which is one of the the mob bosses that

gets turned in mimosa

mimosa no i'm sure mo misa

he will play the president in the nude

bomb later this year

that's the get smart movie he was also

conrad coriander in the neverending

story films

yeah which if you don't know who that is

it's

the bookstore owner right yeah because

there aren't many

characters that are named yeah chuck

hicks

uh plays frankie irish i think this is

the guy who tells him to his face that

he hates him at the

at the first party but he plays the brow

and dick tracy

so he's one of the creepy looking

henchmen characters

um andy fenwick played andy hacklin who

is the

the son uh of uh

the james khan character and he will

play dennis

stadling in christmas evil later this

year

um david clennan was

richard fieldston i don't remember who

that character is that that is the

prosecuting attorney or okay that's the

one

yeah um and he plays palmer in the thing

one of two there's a couple of the thing

people here

um peter maloney was lee mchugh um

he plays george bennings in the thing

yeah which which i immediately

recognized him only by his voice

yeah he's like can you turn that music

down i was shot today

but it's great that it's him and palmer

because palmer is the one who goes i've

known george bennings for years

he's my friend it's so upsetting i did

know him for years

we were in a movie together last year um

he also plays dr pill in requiem for a

dream

david margolies is detective riley

that's the the cop that is helping james

kahn

uh fill out his missing persons

paperwork and he's probably most famous

for being the mayor and ghostbusters and

ghostbusters too

the mayor of new york he also plays a

doctor in ace ventura

and he plays dr levi or levy

in dress to kill later this year

leonardo cimino

played don angelo vannucchi that's the

dawn the head of the mafia family

um he's the cardinal in the hudson hawk

aiello

um he's also the barons doctor in dune

so it's a connection to marzetti he's he

is one of those kind of character actors

that you just see all over the place

i think we were watching water world the

other day yeah and he was in there

he's one of the elders yeah okay if we

just watched him in in uh out of plain

sight

um he's also uh in moonstruck with danny

aiello

and uh he he's credited as scary german

guy in monster squad

yeah he is the scary german guy yeah um

anne helm plays reed's secretary

um which one is reed reed is the

more southern fed like the taller

skinnier one

okay she was married to the actor

playing uh scalise when they shot the

film but they divorced a couple weeks

before it came out actually

um charles hallahan played dixon the

bartender

um he's vance norris in the thing

so we have another the thing person and

then obviously mrs novak the neighbor

the upstairs neighbor who's always

flirting with james cohen is alice

drummond

the librarian from ghostbusters who i

love

yeah um she's also clara and tu wong fu

i always go to uh seneca new york oh

yeah

that was one of her later things because

she just passed away in what 2014 2015

but yeah she was uh she was one of the

the actresses in the universe of the

synecdoche

but also uh ace ventura mrs finkel

yeah finkel and einhorn finkel and

einhorn

but uh yeah richard up or down

uh you know i'm gonna give this one up

uh i

i didn't think it was the most

fast-paced movie uh but

it certainly wasn't poorly made uh i was

pretty invested in the story there was

some parts that i feel it could

be trimmed up or cut but uh overall i

was

i was pretty satisfied all right yeah

i'm a hundred percent on board with uh

richard's review here i think that we

are both also on board with what

cisco and ebert basically said yes they

were their complaint was basically that

it it held

too true to the story which it really

didn't

in that that's not the ending well in in

that it took 11 years instead of

a year yeah to deal with this situation

but i think that it

it could have benefited a lot from a

couple of twists and turns

that weren't true to reality but that

aside

i agree i i was pretty invested i

enjoyed the film i

i gave it up all right um i

enjoyed this film also i'm gonna give it

a down

um just cause i don't think it's it's

necessary to see

but it's capably made i don't think

james khan is a bad director

and uh the script makes sense and

everything like

flows pretty organically over the course

of it probably because

they they stuck so close to the the

actual story

but um but yeah i don't i don't think

there's anything here that's like

oh you gotta check this one out this guy

this stuff happens

but yeah letterboxed jess where's this

going so i put this one

uh right towards the middle of my list

um it's just above

uh midnight madness and just below simon

okay it is also just above midnight

madness

uh but on my other end is last married

couple

okay i think i'm actually going to put

it just below midnight madness but above

simon

uh which is the reverse the opposite of

what mine was but yeah it

goes right between those two for me but

in the opposite direction

um but i think that's about everything

for this one

uh if you guys have any thoughts you'd

like to share we have vintage video pod

on twitter facebook instagram and

letterboxed

or as i said before you can find each of

our full movie rankings for the year

we can also be found at

vintagevideopodcast.com please consider

rating us on itunes to help people find

the show and if you take the time to

leave us a review

we will thank you personally in an

upcoming episode if you're feeling

especially generous

you can support the show through

patreon.com vintagevideopodcast

thank you so much for joining us and i

hope that you will join us next time

when we will be discussing

little miss marker which imdb summarizes

like so sorrowful jones is a cheap

bookie

in the 1930s when a gambler leaves his

daughter as a marker for a bet

he gets stuck with her his life will

change a great deal

with her arrival and his sudden love for

a woman who is

also involved in gambling operations we

leave you now with the trailer for

little miss marker he's a small time

bookie and she's a girl from the other

side of the track but

that's what makes horse racing

[Music]

walter matthau julie andrews

little miss marker she's a legitimate

marker

she's only 10 bucks worth you really

keeping that little child for ransom

what gave you that dumb idea isn't that

what a marker is

uh just taking care of it till our old

man gets back

how come nobody's ever found out about

you i guess they never really looked

well you're really very domesticated you

know the way you are with the child

that was fun do it again

blackie shot him just like that

partnered

call a few places to see what you can

get for the fire

tell him it's a wolf you're not scared

of blackie are you

she's my girl sorrowful does she know

that

i know that and now you know that

i think i'm the one you're scared of you

you're a dane

i told everybody that i was gonna kill

you

change your mind you're entitled nobody

thinks you're hype at hoover

you ought to be scared i'd fill you

full of more holes than blackie and all

that

meanness would pour out where'd you get

the money

i want it you want it mr crunchy

she taught me how to play cards casino

pinnacle

and bishop you are far more trouble than

you are worth

it will take all our efforts to shape

you into any semblance of a human being

on the other hand i happen to be

stupidly in love with you

and that's what makes horse racing

walter matthau julie andrews and sarah

stimson as

little miss marker

you