The Great Outdoors
:00
all [Music] right this is Chad you remember me chad
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Ripley how you doing this is his family you can run around here naked as a bear
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and not worry about running into anybody
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this is Roman what a guess this is his family i'm waiting for the heads to
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rotate around and invit they're about to spend one week together in the great outdoors we weren't invited ah they'll
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be tickled to death to see us who invited him anyway but this is no holiday
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the man is an ass this is war
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[Music]
1:01
you wouldn't know a good time if it fell out of the sky landed on your face and started a wiggle are you going to argue
1:06
or are you going to enjoy yourself
1:11
dan Ekroyd John Candy
1:17
The Great Outdoors outdoor fun for the whole family
1:24
that kind of hurt
1:30
[Music]
1:46
hello hello i'm Katie and welcome to Retro your pop culture rewind we're
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continuing the season 2 John Hughes season and so we're going to go back today to
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1988 for another brilliant dose of John Candy with John Hughes of course writing
2:05
and I'm happy to reintroduce all of you lovely listeners to returning guest
2:11
Jared Toxin from the hyperspace podcasting in the 25th century jared
2:17
thank you for coming back to join me for season two well Katie thank you for having me it's
2:23
a pleasure to be here and I can't wait to talk about the great outdoors indeed
2:29
tell us what's going on what's new in in your world of podcasting well the hyperspace me and the guys have kind of
2:36
struggled to get it together since since December i think the last episode we put
2:42
out was sort of like this this Christmas episode and um then uh we do also do
2:48
sort of reaction and review shows whenever Disney Plus puts out a new Star
2:54
Wars TV show and we put out one of those earlier this year so we've done a series
3:01
of episodes on the latest Star Wars TV series uh but for the past probably 6
3:07
weeks or so it's been pretty quiet at the Hyperspace Studios but we're always we're always talking about cranking it
3:13
up again and starting to do it but you know sometimes life happens and things
3:19
get in the way but it's not going anywhere we're certainly going to be continuing to do episodes uh well into
3:26
the future so glad to hear it i mean you got to continue on until at least the 25th century the 25th century i mean of
3:33
course i mean that's that's non-negotiable right so well I had inquired in the Breakfast Club
3:40
episode because I my school did not have Saturday detention and neither did Ryan
3:46
my guest Ryan's we had after school detention mhm and I was like is this a
3:52
thing is there detentions on Saturdays did your school have detention on
3:57
Saturdays Jared no not Not that I I I never had to go to detention i was a
4:03
nerdy good kid so it but it was mostly after school or in school suspension
4:10
they called it where you had to come to school on a school day and sit in detention which is a weird scenario
4:18
you're like double punishing i mean like you might as well educate the child if they're going to be there at any rate my
4:24
friend Kelly she informed me that her school did in fact have Saturday
4:30
detention so wow thank you Kelly for letting the Retro Show know that and I'd
4:36
love to hear from other people anyway yeah detention Saturday wow that that's
4:42
that's a fate worse than death for a for a school kid saturdays are sacred
4:49
without further ado should we spin the wheel for this absolutely
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forward to this yeah we're going to open the time caps for you guys we're going back to June of 1988 i'm going to spit
5:01
on your behalf let's see what we what we on
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oh it's a good one vhs vault okay okay 1988 it's a good year
5:17
can you name the five top video rentals so this is not at the big screen
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video rentals of 1988 uh woman discovers love passion and the art of dancing at a
5:30
summer resort dirty Dancing of course a gritty action movie featuring a
5:35
mismatched cup duo tango and Cash
5:42
no that was 89 oh crap or it came out in ' 89 it was in LA battling criminals in
5:47
LA lethal Weapon yes okay intense psychological
5:54
thriller about an affair that Fatal Attraction yes good you're
6:01
good let's see what Can I give you a hint that won't give it away it's a
6:06
prohibition era crime saga the Untouchables yes last
6:12
one supernatural romantic comedy three women
6:20
dabbling in witchcraft oh um is it the share yes um with Jack the Witches of
6:28
Eastwick yes very good very good very good Jared the hints are too easy i I I
6:35
need to find harder hints but yeah you did very well well I you know what i probably would not have landed on those
6:41
had it not been for your help let's spin it again okay
6:51
pages of the past interesting uhhuh i'm trying to find one that's not so easy
6:58
are is this about books mhm what or magazines okay book back to the
7:03
bookshelf pages of the past okay which early young adult horror
7:08
books by RL Stein goosebumps yes very good very good let
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me do another one i Which satirical magazine still going strong in 1988
7:21
continued to feature Alfred E newman with sharpwitted humor mad Magazine i
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wouldn't have got that one so very good yeah I wouldn't I'm unfamiliar with it okay i used to to read it on a kid okay
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all right let's spin another one
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return to ton time oh
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oh there's so many okay which trio of high-pitched musical rodents continued
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their antics in 1988 we're the chipmunks
8:01
coming on stronger than ever before where the
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chipmunks Theodore oh yeah you're good yeah alvin and the Chipmunks yep okay i
8:13
We'll do this this one more which mischievous orange cat battled dog
8:18
catchers and rival cats in 1988 is it Heathcliffe
8:24
and Yes it's Heath Cliff and Marmaduke
8:30
well that was the Marmaduke was the dog but Heath Cliff okay Heath Cliff but
8:37
this cartoon if you remember it was like the first half was Heath Cliff and then
8:42
the second half was like another group of they were called something else do
8:47
you remember second half was like these raga muffin
8:53
cats do you remember i don't remember this i remember Heath Cliff and
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Marmaduke that was the what I remember but together well they they sort of had
9:05
a an hour like Heath Cliff had 30 and Marmaduke had 30 but I guess they they
9:10
ditched Marmaduke at some point for these other cats you're talking No no it was just within the Heathcliffe half
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hour it was split oh well I don't remember this i'm stumped it was
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Heathcliffe and the Cadillac Cats remember there was one cat that had like a like a newsy boy hat on with a cane
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and a scarf and they rode in like a like a 57 Chevy type car
9:39
man I have no memory of this
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[Music] how do you plan on getting us to the
9:49
city trust me hurry up you guys ow look
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out [Music]
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now what now we need a lot of hot air to blow it up yeah [ __ ] some hot air
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[Music]
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heath Cliff and the Cadillac Cats who remembers this okay we'll spin it one more time
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we'll get another another category oh this will be an easy one
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prime Time Rewind okay they're not very tough these are the top prime time shows in
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1988 do you have any answers before I start with the clues yes okay i'm going
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to say Cosby Show cheers family Ties
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not Family Ties oh not Family Ties 88 i think Family T i don't know i think it
11:11
might Family Ties was still going was it okay well it wasn't in the top anymore dang but you have Cheers Cosby Show
11:19
cheers Cosby Show may an
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88 the A team i don't I'm standing firm on Cosby
11:32
Show and Cheers yes okay the other ones we have the central character is brash
11:37
sarcastic and an unfiltered view of life
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fresh sarcastic and an unfiltered view of biting humor so like the touchton tone for the show is it's biting humor
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and unvarnished look at everyday struggles balancing family
11:57
dynamics if I'm trying to I'm purposefully being a little vague
12:05
blue collar roots oh Roseanne yes yes Roseanne and another one is a
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college-based spin-off from a beloved sitcom this was a different world mhm
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one of them is not a sitcom it's a news program uh 60 Minutes 60 Minutes and the last
12:28
one one of my favorite shows of all time if you listen to the show Jared in 88
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mhm if I give you a hint it'll give it away
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dang it let me see oh God any hour long or 30 minute long 30 minutes
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it's a sitcom really great chemistry among the cast super funny
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well uh a famous sitcom in 1988
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i'm trying to find a hint that won't give it away but let's see
13:06
it's women four women four oh the Golden Girls yes
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yes the Golden Girls yes okay all right all right well that's
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enough of the time capsule well how old were you how old were
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That's That's a tacky question in 88 i was seven wow okay i was 13
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okay so Gotcha yeah you watching The Golden Girls at 7 yeah i mean I was
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watching any of these shows i mean I probably also watch cuz it's been on in
13:43
syndication forever too so yeah yeah that's true yeah i mean really a lot of
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the stuff that I cover on RetroAde I caught it later than its original
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release gotcha all right so I'm doing a whole season about John Hughes the
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director the writer i mean pretty much a quintessential '8s
14:07
presence in in a lot of teen kid centered films he came to my I
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came to John Hughes through Ferris Beller okay that was that was my first exposure
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and Ferris Beller was one of those that that was a VHS staple i think I recorded
14:30
it off of HBO i just wore that VHS tape
14:35
out i don't I I think I It wasn't until later maybe into the '9s when I would
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start to see his name pop up and be like "Oh crap." Well and Home Alone Mhm and
14:50
and things and Christmas Vacation and things like that where I was like "Oh
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wow this guy did a lot more than just Ferris Buer and but he he is he de he
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there's a he has a distinct flavor John Hughes and it's it's it speaks to I think it
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speaks to Gen X a lot sort of cuz Ferris Buer was sort of central in my my
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childhood and teenage years as something to try to emulate
15:25
But yeah but I I don't think it was it was until later that I I realized sort
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of the impact that he had and how much he was actually involved with so but
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yeah definitely just quintessential 1980s writer
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same i don't think I realized until later that he was kind of the mastermind behind all of these movies that I loved
15:47
and you're you're very you're spot on when you say he there's a certain flavor
15:54
you know that that with John Hughes mentioning Ferris Beller is that your is that your favorite John Hughes movie i
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would have to say Ferris Buer probably is my my my favorite John Hughes and I
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know that he he wrote and directed that one and but of so many of these he just
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wrote he did not he didn't direct but they they all sort of feel similar like
16:20
maybe he could have directed in some cases it was just a matter of a time
16:26
conflict so he needed so he and then there are themes there are he's worked with the same director for a handful of
16:33
films so there's there's some themes in that way well so speaking of which the
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great outdoors is the movie we're discussing today and it was not directed by John Hughes so let's get into the
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great outdoors [Music]
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let's do it june 17th 1988
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PG it's an let's see it's a 6.6 which is lower than the other ones we've covered
17:02
so far on season 2 but still still very good obviously written by John Hughes he
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actually I was mentioning he had intended to direct it but scheduling conflicts uh didn't allow for that and
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this is he teamed up with Howard Deutsch am I saying that right is it Howard yeah
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i mean that's how I would pronounce it okay and this was the third and final film that was written by John Hughes and
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directed by Howard Deutsch do you know what the other two were well was one of them 16 candles
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no he John Hughes No he directed that one but it's in a similar vein they're
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both teen teen movies
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I think i know but pretty pretty and pink pretty and pink and then some kind
17:54
of wonderful and then Okay and then this one which is interesting right yeah this
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this seems like one of these things is not like the other indeed this might
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surprise you Jared i had not seen this movie before i'm pretty sure what i know
18:11
i've heard I feel like I've maybe seen pieces of it but never the whole thing through it maybe wasn't one that ran a
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lot on USA or TBS or something
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well this the great outdoors for me
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is is one we spoke offline earlier about my my buddy Allen who's going to come
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see me very soon since this movie came out in theaters probably once a week for
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the past 30 something years this movie is part of our lexicon
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it's it's in our vocabulary i don't think a week goes by where we don't mention the old
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96er or Oh I forgot about that one of the things we do all the time is there's
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a little exchange between John Candy and Dan Akroyd in the movie where he goes "Was that a shot?" No that was the truth
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that was a shot that was a shot we we we quote that back and forth to each other
19:14
all the time i love that and and it's so I would say actually of all the movies
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even Ferris Buer I said was my favorite The Great Outdoors is a part of my
19:25
almost it's it's up here in my everyday life that I will just throw things like
19:32
that out like when they're the steak whenever I eat a steak I will say "Well there's nothing on left on that plate
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but fat and grizzle." Like you they talk when they're eating the 96er and I think
19:44
that's why of when you ask me which movie I'd like to talk about pick the great outdoors because it's it's just
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something that's and I haven't watched the movie sat down and watched it in probably 20 years but it always lives
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here i love that i love I forgot about the Is that even Is it possible to
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consume that amount that amount of food like the the steak scene that's that's insane you see people on YouTube of
20:11
course who consume massive amounts of food it's like a challenge that these
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restaurants put out i think it's probably possible whether it's remotely good for you or healthy is
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probably debatable i I think I don't know if it's even debatable no no it's
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you you would be vomiting within an hour of consuming that but I think you could
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probably be done i it looks like John Candy is a kind of guy who could have put that away if anyone yeah that's true
20:43
because there's competitive eaters i suppose they might yeah and there the guys who eat the hot dogs you know and
20:49
dip them in water and just go you know and hot dogs too another thing lips and
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[ __ ] mhm that that's something else that every time I see a hot dog hey how
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that's lips and [ __ ] right now do you eat hot dogs occasionally but but we
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get the we get the good stuff we get like the the kosher ones the Hebrew nationals
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yeah yeah yeah so that are made with the the finest cuts of beef mhm sure the
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finest lips and [ __ ] yes exactly okay I got it got it so but yeah that's
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again that's something else that just pops in my head every time I see a hot dog or something that is hilarious yeah
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i don't recall ever having I'm sure I did but I don't recall ever having eaten
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a hot dog oh my gosh now I know I know that you you are a vegetarian i'm vegan
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actually vegan okay so I eat vegan hot dogs regularly oh yeah yeah now I've had
21:47
my share of those cuz my my wife she likes the the vegan sausage links
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Morning Star stuff and that kind of stuff but it's I don't know i don't do
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Do plants have lips and [ __ ] because that's kind of what it tastes like to me when I have one of those oh well depends
22:06
they're not all created equal and yeah I think the fixings kind of make it
22:12
but actually I do recall as a child eating corn dogs okay so anytime a
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restaurant has a vegan corn dog I will order it because it's like And we used to get those when my daughter was
22:25
smaller we get the vegan like corn dog pups they call them those are so good
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yeah yeah they're just like the little bite-sized corn dogs yep yeah no those were good i I would sit down and eat a
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plate full of those things but Yeah hot dogs man well the So I hadn't seen The
22:45
Great Outdoors all the way through jared clearly has even though it's been 20 years but for the rest of you it's
22:52
possible you haven't seen it or if it's been 20 plus years for you it follows
22:57
Cadet Ripley played by John Candy a loving family man eager for a peaceful
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lakeside vacation his plans are upended when his overbearing brother-in-law Roman Craig played by Dan Akroyd
23:10
unexpectedly arrives with his family as the two clash over their different lifestyles the trip turns into a series
23:17
of comedic disasters from water skiing mishaps to an infamous steak eatating
23:22
challenge that we just talked about and a showdown with a bald-headed bear through the chaos both families learn a
23:29
little about each other and themselves making for a hilarious and heartwarming
23:35
getaway the great outdoors what a great summary now I did notice that Dan Akroyd
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was the first uh build over John Candy i don't think I realized
23:48
that yes he was was he a bigger at the time maybe well possibly i would say Candy and
23:55
Nackroyd were on very equal footing as far as the comedic stars i think
24:01
probably Akroyd had a great success with Ghostbusters but it would have been
24:06
years since Ghostbusters had come out at that point but maybe he just had a better agent maybe and negotiated top
24:12
billing so and by all accounts John Candy was a very sweet man who probably
24:19
wasn't going to fight anybody on it i was just going to say the same yeah um it's funny cuz we're just coming off of
24:25
Uncle Buck like last episode was Uncle Buck classic love Uncle Buck oh and it
24:31
was '89 this is 88 and I It was just It was wild for me to watch The Great
24:36
Outdoors where he's playing like literally the opposite character from Uncle Buck yeah he's he's the the the
24:43
family man and who wants to make his vacation per It's odd too that this this
24:49
movie is very it's very like National Lampoon's vacation adjacent it almost
24:56
could be a Clark Griswald adventure almost good point it's like that mixed with
25:03
what about Bob yeah right yeah like where you have the the the uninvited person that you don't want there who
25:09
comes crashing your vacation mhm but I got to thinking about that i was I was watching it last night i was like John
25:15
Hughes a year later we'd do another vacation movie with Christmas Vacation
25:20
and maybe he just maybe John Hughes just liked misadventures on vacation and this
25:29
was this was another adventure yeah there was a lot yeah cuz all the
25:34
lampoons movies this Uncle Buck is it's not really vacation but mishaps it's
25:41
either that or teen movies it's like one or the other seemingly yes yeah and and this is this movie actually I think it
25:47
has a little of both of those flavors good point because you cut away to the teen romance a lot which when I was a
25:56
kid I always thought kind of slowed things down and watching it again I was
26:01
like yeah it still kind of slows things down it kind You're you're right it you
26:08
know and it's interesting because I noticed so we'll get into the cast a little bit but so there's John Candy's
26:13
family has it's two boys right yes and one of them's name's Buck buck and Benny
26:21
benny benny yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you're right b B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B Buck and Benny Ripley and
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Buck is the one that has they're in this this like vacation town this like resort type of town and so there's a towny that
26:34
he you know kind of falls for and the only I think I did have tension when he
26:40
keeps looking at his watch he's supposed to meet Cammy at 9 or something and
26:45
they're still waiting for John Candy to eat this gigantor steak and it's like
26:50
he's like "Oh my god I'm going to be late meeting Cammy and she's going to be mad." And I'm like "If only he had a phone to text her." Oh it would all be
26:59
cell phones would cell phones would ruin 90% of the movies that came out in the
27:05
80s these days indeed like you would just get around every particular every
27:11
conceivable plot point that you could if you had a cell phone in those movies like you could have just texted that
27:17
person sure hey yeah my dad's eating this giant steak i I I can't get out of
27:23
here so but yeah no cell phones he's going to payoneses throughout the film
27:29
and he has to show up at her job and be like "Where's Cammy?" and go find her in the wild you know what's funny about
27:35
Cammy is that as a teenager I always got sort of flipped her and Tia from Uncle
27:42
Buck like I would always transpose the two is that the same girl yeah yeah very
27:48
very similar good yeah they look very much similar yes yeah they do maybe John
27:54
Candy maybe that's his deal i don't know or not John Kenny john Hughes john Hughes yeah and even when I sat down to
28:00
watch this last night I was like was this the same girl from Uncle Buck wait and then pulling up IMDb immediately and
28:08
you're like oh okay well she looks a little different i mean but they are very similar looking they are well let's
28:13
see lucy Deakons is the the the woman who or girl at the time who played Cammy
28:20
she was the local girl and the A&W waitress um what I found very
28:26
interesting is that she is not an actress anymore i saw this she she was
28:32
most known aside from this movie she starred as Millie in The Boy Who Could Fly and she originated the role of Lily
28:41
Walsh on As the World Turns i've never seen that show but maybe you all have but she is now an attorney in Denver
28:50
holy cow yeah she it says partner in the Denver law firm Duning Deacons and
28:55
Gallera man maybe I run into her at the grocery store you should have gone and
29:01
grabbed her and said "Hey can you Yeah we're doing a great outdoors podcast."
29:06
So that's amazing yeah yeah so that's that's Lucy Deakons as Cammy she was
29:12
very cute i liked her i I liked her character yeah and she was when I was a
29:17
kid i was 13 when this came out and I saw it in the theater so that the the
29:24
Buck he was a little older than me but I did even though I thought the romance
29:29
kind of slowed things down i I I I related to him a little bit because I
29:35
was 13 and I was I liked girls a lot and did you know um and and I so I was I
29:44
would see him and be like I would think I remember thinking man I wonder if I could talk to a girl like that if we're
29:51
on vacation so and I was so I was kind of pulling for him but anyway I I don't
29:57
know where the heck I was going with that but Well it's ballsy like you're on vacation with your family and he's he
30:03
didn't want to hug it's kind of embarrassing when you're a teenager exactly and you I I felt I I could
30:11
relate to Buck in that moment where John Candy
30:16
where Chad's trying to hug his son and now I relate to that as a father because
30:21
my daughter's like "Dad don't be dumb don't be gross." I was like "I just want to give you a hug what's the problem?"
30:28
You're never too old for a hug no exactly and so it's funny how you know
30:34
the movies that you grow up with they they sort of change as the years go on
30:39
and you start to relate to other people like watching that movie last night I mean John Candy's probably was probably
30:46
younger than I am now when he made that mo 100% he was probably in his 30s yeah
30:51
and I'm watching that going I can relate to this wanting my daughter to enjoy
30:57
herself or that goofy scene at the beginning when he's trying to fool around with his wife and he's like "Hey
31:04
the kids are gone what we got the house to oursel come on what are you doing?" These are all things you think about
31:10
sometimes when you got kids running around but it's it's just funny how I
31:16
start especially having not watched it in so long how I was like "Holy crap I I
31:21
think I'm I think I'm Cadet Ripley right now i'm more Chad than anybody else in
31:27
this movie." Mhm so that's just one of those crazy things it is so Chad Chad's
31:34
John Candy chad Riley's John Candy dan Akroyd plays Roman Craig his brother-in-law yes we were talking about
31:40
Oh go ahead no I'm sorry i just And I I kept forgetting that John Candy's wife
31:46
and Annette Benning are sisters mhm that's how they're Yeah good point yeah and because the whole I even last night
31:52
watching I was like "Wait a second what how what is their relationship how are they Oh and but they don't really go
31:59
much into that they they share they share a few scenes where it's like okay
32:04
well they're they're talking sister stuff but for the most part the the focus is on John Candy and Dan Roy yeah
32:12
I even similar to you Jared when I was watching it because there was a scene where John Candy is explaining why he
32:18
picked going to this particular like lake resort in Wisconsin I think is where they are supposed to be and he's
32:25
like "Oh I came here with my dad." And I at first I said "Why is he saying my dad?" Cuz I thought they were brothers
32:32
or something you thought that that and Candy were brothers and then I'm like "Oh no no that's why he's saying my dad
32:39
and it's their spouses are related that's Yeah yeah correct so we were
32:45
talking about Buck he He's played by Chris Young
32:51
what's Chris Young up to these days well nothing past 1998 apparently he did
32:58
look kind of familiar to me he was in several apparently Max Hedram episodes
33:03
okay and a 1990 TV show called Married People but his he must just be a regular
33:11
regular dude maybe he's just like maybe he's hanging out with Lucy Deakons he might be there in Denver you never know
33:17
he he might still be following her around it's it's highly likely i think
33:22
Yeah so that is the older brother so John Candy Chad Ripley he's married
33:28
to Connie played by Stephanie Ferris mhm a lot of episodic TV shows um the other
33:37
movies she was in were Sideways and Temple Grandon she has a familiar face but I I didn't I was I wasn't like "Oh
33:45
she's in blah blah blah." I think she's This movie is the only thing I've seen her in okay and then we have the
33:52
beautiful Annette Benning playing Roman's wife Kate Craig yes and we all
33:58
know who Annette Benning is of course yeah that this was a kind of an early role for her I think it's a good point
34:05
this was before she was a net Benning yeah yeah it's funny cuz I really
34:12
noticed like she really is beautiful and for I think it I think when she goes on later to have shorter hair it throws me
34:18
off mhm and I I feel like she's been around longer than she has been maybe i
34:23
don't know yeah also very Annette Benning's character at times reminds me
34:29
a lot of Marcy from Uncle Buck lorie Metap's character yes yes yes oh really
34:35
i She She does i mean she's not as kind of weird as as Marcy is but I don't know
34:42
it there's a similar thing they both have dress nicely in nice clothes and everything and that's just something
34:49
that comes up because this is it's it's almost like you've got the the this this
34:55
candy series of years from Planes Trains and Automobiles to this to Uncle Buck to
35:02
Home Alone it's it's follows this this trajectory and sometimes I transpose
35:08
characters from these movies yeah that totally makes sense yeah and I can see that like rich lady clothes she They all
35:14
have matching Louis Vuitton luggage and bags when they show up in the Mercedes yes yeah it's like clearly
35:22
and then it's like rich people food yeah with the lobster tails instead of the hot dogs and and goat cheese pizza that
35:30
must have been like He was Yes he's like "What what what did you say?" He goes
35:36
"No we're just having pizza it's pizza." No you said something else is it goat pizza what is
35:41
this so that was that's always love it but don't you remember that being like on fancy menus like a goat cheese in
35:49
things like that must be rich people food from the8s yeah goat cheese man
35:54
they have that and gray pupon come on yes yes okay so there's two sons that
36:02
the Ripleys have the younger one Benny is he played Zach in Girls Just Want to
36:09
Have Fun and then he was in a lot of oneoff episodes of pop like popular TV shows but just like a one-off character
36:16
and his name is Ian Giotti yeah he's kind of a hottie now is he i look it up
36:23
i saw him on IMDb and I was like "Well this is this guy's kind of handsome looking." And then and then I then I saw
36:30
who it was i was like "Holy crap that's the little brother." Let me see on IMDb
36:35
his picture is He looks pretty nice i It looks like Oh yeah he does you
36:42
He's like a male model looking guy you know what it is it's I think he must be Italian and I have a thing for the
36:49
Italians g yeah he's got that thing yeah he's definitely Italian durk yeah you're right i'm going to have
36:56
to find him in some stuff maybe he's in Denver too maybe maybe and then the then
37:03
the spooky redheaded twin daughters of Roman and and Kate her
37:12
name's Kate roman and Kate they are they they go out of their way
37:19
to make them really weird they per They do they do cuz like in and of themselves
37:24
they're like they're like cute kids but but they the way they act and the way
37:30
everybody reacts to them it's like "Oh these little kids are strange." When
37:35
Chad's like freaked out by him and the two sons don't really like their cousins very much they're just Well even then
37:41
their own father is weirded out by them yeah yeah he does that's that's part of the his his arc in the movie is that
37:48
he's he's always he's an absentee father he doesn't really get involved with them
37:53
so it's it's it's really strange I think are they are they still acting no they
38:01
only did one other thing so they are identical twins uh Hillary and Rebecca Gordon play Cara and Mara or is it Cara
38:09
and Mara craig either way okay same same difference well I because I feel like in
38:16
one instance he said Cara and in another instance he said Cara so I'm not sure
38:21
that he probably did they're just like well you know they did uh the mosqu the
38:27
mosquito coast from uh 1986 which I have no idea what that is that's a it's a
38:34
Harrison Ford movie oh the mosquito coast it has Harrison Ford and River
38:39
Phoenix in it really how have I not seen that no it's it's a pretty good movie
38:44
check it out sometime we have Wall-E and Wanita they are the
38:50
co-owners of Wall-E and Wanita's Perks Pine Lodge Resort yes funny funny
38:55
characters yeah they are super funny so Robert Proski plays Wall-E and did you
39:01
ever watch the show Veronica's Closet with Kirsty Ali no but I but you're aware of it yes and
39:09
I've seen that actor in a ton of things i don't remember who actually now I
39:15
think I can so he played a character called Pat on Veronica's Closet he was the judge in the 94 version of Miracle
39:23
on 34th Street he was in Mrs doubtfire he was Sergeant Jablonsky on Hill Street
39:29
Blues which I've not seen that show but that must be He must have been a regular
39:34
on that show yeah he's he's had a he had a career that went back decades he was
39:40
in you He even pops up i mean he's he's in a lot of those old like black and white TV shows from like the 60s and
39:47
stuff robert Proski all right just one of those faces those character actors
39:53
who pops up in everywhere i like it uh Wanita is played
40:01
by Zoan zuan Zuan z O A U N E loy or Leroy
40:12
i'm making it French i don't know that's quite a name i apologize miss Loy
40:17
she's not very well known yeah I don't I didn't really recognize her from anything she seems to play a waitress or
40:24
a nurse in like random t like one just like an episode here and there of TV
40:30
show and it's seemingly like a waitress or a nurse a lot okay so that's her
40:35
gotcha we talked about Lucy Deakons in Denver and then there was the the waitress with the 96
40:42
uh the 90 the old 96er the waitress at that lodge is Nancy
40:48
Lennahan okay she's very familiar did Didn't you think she was recognizable
40:53
did you recognize Nothing Nothing immediately jumped out at at me but I I
40:59
don't know she's probably been in other things I've seen i'm sure she is kind of one of those character actresses she's
41:06
been in a lot of TV she was most recently in Bless This Mess TV show VEP
41:13
My Name is Earl People of Earth Grace Under Fire so she was had pretty decent
41:19
sized parts in all of those shows gotcha yeah music by Thomas Newman
41:27
what did you think thomas Newman it was I think it was appropriate for what
41:33
where it was used i know they used a lot of like songs and stuff in this movie
41:38
but the score was the score sort of reacted to the sort of the goofiness that was going on i think it would I
41:45
think it did what was required of it but I I wouldn't say it's a classic film score by any stretch but it was it was
41:53
fine i I think I agree like I I definitely you you all know who Thomas
41:59
Newman is like he scored like The Green Mile American Beauty Cinderella Man The
42:06
Shaw Shank Redemption and Finding Nemo and then The Great Outdoors yeah crazy mhm one of the
42:14
Newman brothers David Newman is also a composer oh and uh what did he what is
42:21
he known for david Newman oh goodness no that's okay i would have to look it up but they they they are brothers and they
42:29
are quite quite prolific um and still still composing film scores as far as
42:35
I'm I'm aware oh good so I'm glad that they're alive and well that's good to
42:40
know yeah they are very good $24 million to make this and it
42:49
grossed 43.5 million
42:55
which I'm not sure so I was reading that it this was the 25th biggest film at the
43:00
American box office for that year okay
43:06
which doesn't seem to 40 43.5 million that doesn't seem to go does it that's
43:12
That's not That's not a huge That's not a huge take you know it didn't even double its money that's what I thought
43:19
so I don't know i do know that this film is one of those films that took off on VHS
43:25
like once it hit once it hit the video rental stores people discovered it and I
43:32
think it's because of the video stores that this this movie has become some
43:37
somewhat beloved by people you're absolutely right it was panned by critics but Yes of course but you're
43:44
you're right over over the years it's become more beloved yeah all right you had mentioned some of your history
43:51
with this that you you speak in the great outdoors yes versus how was it revisiting it
43:57
yesterday it was fantastic i the I was I
44:02
was laughing at out loud at parts of it and in parts that I didn't really necessarily remember and aren't burned
44:08
into my brain but just like some of the stuff Akoid was doing like when when he
44:14
he's telling the bear story and and and then he he goes "Oh Jesus Christ I'm 20
44:22
lb overweight are you trying?" He goes "I'm half drunk here what are you trying to do kill me?"
44:28
It's just I can hear like maybe one of my uncles saying that it It's just I I
44:34
don't know why that that made me laugh so much but a lot of the stuff Akoid was doing I thought was really funny and and
44:42
then too John Candy just like when he's he's just exhausted like when he his he
44:49
the horse runs away from him and he's trudging through the woods and he comes he's all red and sweaty and he's just
44:58
like I I don't know that stuff was just cracking me up and then of course it's
45:04
the the greatest hits the stuff that lives in my head always it was fun to to see that and I was like watching him eat
45:12
that steak and I'm like "Oh he's he's trying to do it in small bites." The bites were really small and I was like
45:18
"Well that's probably the the smart way if you're going to try to do something like that that's probably the way you
45:24
should try to do it." But eating an elephant one small bite at a time yeah
45:29
exactly just a little bit and then I I had a good time and I actually I put it back on this morning
45:36
as I was just sort of walking around doing stuff around the house and I don't know it was it's com it's comfortable it
45:41
was like it was like putting an old comfortable jacket on cuz it's like so much stuff I remembered but like I said
45:47
those bits that were sticking out to me that did not before just reacting to it as a as now as an
45:55
adult with with a kid of my own and and sort of seeing it through that lens now
46:01
it was interesting and for me it it it holds up i mean it's it's definitely
46:06
it's '8s and like I said the uh I think that the the teenage story sometimes
46:12
bogs it down a little bit cuz I I was thinking last night I like okay let's get back to Candy and Acroy but very
46:19
slapstick and goofy especially the stuff with the bear towards the end but for
46:24
the most part I was like yeah I I still really enjoy this there was things in it
46:31
that I was wondering about they they they call it the bear dump where they just go watch bears rifle through
46:38
garbage i forgot about that that's And I was like I was like is this a thing is
46:44
this a real thing that people do and I couldn't help but but wonder do people
46:50
do this at like campsites like they just go to where the trash is and watch the bears root through it there were several
46:56
instances where it's unrealistic in so many ways like when the bear breaks the door down and is on top of John Candy
47:03
who's keeps pushing him i'm like that would kill him like in real life right but it looked like there was a stunt man
47:09
under there yeah i don't know so I How did they pull that off speaking of the
47:14
bear it's Bart the Bear it is that's your Legends of the Fall bear mhm mhm that's uh I thought of that because I
47:21
listened to your and and Ryan's show that you did about Legends of the Fall on his
47:28
Edix show so check that out guys so I I was going to bring that up because that
47:35
is the bear from Legends of the Fall he was like a the bear of my childhood bart
47:40
was in a lot of things i remember him being in various movies i don't know
47:45
bart the Bear was like a big hit well I guess if you need a trained grizzly bear
47:50
I mean that's a pretty niche just you go to those people like "Hey I
47:57
need a grizzly bear for this film and I don't want to die trying to film with a wild one." So what's Bard doing well yes
48:04
okay so the so I don't know where I was going with that other than there are a lot of things with this that aren't actually realistic in and I don't know
48:11
how things were in the 80s but nowadays there would be clear signs do
48:17
not feed the wildlife don't leave trash out like there your the bear will rip
48:22
your car door off to get food inside do not interact with the bears in any way
48:28
yes and yet they they people go to a field to watch bears rifle through
48:34
garbage and John Candy's throwing candy bars at him come here Bear come here he
48:40
goes "What do we got we got a Zagn nut here." It's just oh man that's ridiculous it is
48:47
and one thing I wondered about Bart they obviously had to put like that makeup
48:52
appliance on his forehead because he's he's bald like right above his eyes and
48:59
his nose and that's what I was looking at going man how the heck did did they
49:06
get that on him and and how does it stay on him what what do they do i mean he's
49:11
not they're not sitting Bart in a makeup chair and saying "Okay let's just put
49:17
this appliance on your forehead buddy let's see how this works." Well he must be exceptionally well trained maybe he I
49:25
guess I would not I would not want to be putting makeup appliances on Bart's head
49:30
or on his backside i don't think animals like you messing with their backsides that's true but even a dog might bite
49:37
you you know oh yeah exactly and he had that big old giant bear ass
49:43
bear his bear's bear ass that big old butt when he got shot again by John
49:51
Candy with the birdshot buckshot i don't know some kind of with a It was a lamp
49:57
he picked up the lamp remember the the lamp was the shotgun
50:02
and and apparently it was loaded of course mhm even though it was a functioning lamp the the owner the
50:09
coowner of this this little resort um Oh and their dog too had porcupine needles
50:16
oh needles all in its face i kind of forgot about the quirky and they're like
50:22
"Oh have you ever given your dog a bath before?" Like they have to drive in the car with their dog they're like "Hey she
50:28
loves porcupines but hates humans and she's an eight too bad you're not a
50:33
dog." That reminds me of when he goes up to the to the counter and that there's that
50:39
horn it says "Blow me for service." Yeah yeah forgot about that yeah he goes He's
50:44
like "Hey blow me for service." Oh that's interesting and then the whole thing about putting your mouth on this
50:50
horn that's hanging there that other people have sure it's like "Hey who
50:56
cares yeah let's do this." And then he he gives it a good old he bellows into it and disturbs the whole place but I I
51:03
thought that was funny one of my favorite parts actually was the opening scene it was so like
51:10
classic8s like the contrasting drives to this this cabin
51:17
of the families even the music was contrasting i I I quite liked that maybe
51:23
one of my favorite parts actually they're singing yakity yak when which it
51:28
sort of goes to you go a year later in chvy chases they're singing Christmas
51:33
carols as they're driving and and the wagon earer it was very reminiscent of
51:40
the wood grain station wagon in exactly vacation yeah yes and at some points of
51:46
the movie you almost could literally swap out Chad with Clark Griswald it
51:52
seems like but I I do remember that I I watched this on
51:58
VHS for years with my parents cuz my mom loves John K and every time she would
52:04
watch this scene she'd be like "Oh that's your dad." Cuz my dad would like to sing and stuff when he was driving
52:10
and try to get the everybody involved and everybody's just sort of like "Okay." Although in this movie the
52:17
kids were everybody seemed to be having a good time when they're singing along with with the song but that's what
52:24
that's a memory I have is that my mom would just always laugh uncontrollably at John Candy doing this stuff a and um
52:33
and to this date my dad still sometimes will go big bear big bear big bear like
52:39
at the end when he's all out of breath and he's trying to explain what was going on there sometimes my dad will
52:44
just do that randomly well your whole family has has the great outdoors you speak in the great outdoors yes exactly
52:51
that's that's just it's one of those just through lines through my family i guess everybody likes the great outdoors
52:58
that was another scene where if only they had a phone that would have eliminated the need for the scene when
53:06
the girls the weird redheaded girls get stuck in a in a mine mine and John Candy
53:12
goes to get help while Roman like actually be finally steps up to the
53:18
plate and he's the hero but then he's like "Oh okay we're just going to go back to the cabin." But he doesn't john
53:24
Candy doesn't know that and he comes back he's out getting the ropes and stuff and the bears down there so yeah
53:31
if only Roman could have texted him and be like "I got him we're headed back." Yeah exactly again you wouldn't have a
53:37
movie at that point but yeah that was that was funny and how I'm not sure that
53:43
an abandoned mineshaft full of dynamite would be just sort of
53:49
so accessible like with with the the crappy little three pieces of wood they
53:55
had over the covering of it do not enter yeah do not enter oh gosh and how did the bear get down there and up
54:03
yeah well the the bear got up with the rope the chat pulled him up and because he's Oh go Jesus roman can you help me
54:10
out here i watched this two weeks ago that's why I'm like "Oh yeah that's right." But how did he Yeah oh wild yeah
54:16
but I actually I did some some research or I Googled it while the movie was
54:22
playing because Dan Akroyd was seem he was very concerned that it was old wet
54:27
dynamite and apparently old wet dynamite is extremely dangerous really yes i
54:35
wouldn't have guessed that wet dynamite would be yeah and and it was even like the the movie was scientifically
54:41
accurate because if you noticed on the dynamite boxes a lot of them had these
54:47
crystals it looked like salt on the outside of them and that's where the dynamite sweats and that's nitroglycerin
54:54
oh and that's what happens when dynamite gets when when dynamite is aged and gets
55:02
wet ah and it starts to sweat like that and it is incredibly volatile in that
55:08
state and I would wager to say everything that Dan Akroyd was doing
55:13
down there like moving around they they would have been blown to pieces just because there was a lot of
55:21
old wet dynamite down there and apparently you can't even you can barely jostle it and it would just explode so I
55:29
mean that tracks for the great outdoors with the all the things that happened with the bear and completely Oh the skis
55:35
oh that that skiing scene is hilarious i know how bad it is no meaning like I I
55:43
mean I don't know if they were like who cares because the stunt person was a very clearly a very skinny guy yeah he
55:52
was so obviously not he was like the opposite of John Candy well could you imagine John Candy on those skis today
55:59
now today's technology they could have made that happen probably but yeah back then it's obviously
56:06
a skinny water skier who's in good shape maybe wearing a couple of extra layers of clothes like his jack the jacket yeah
56:14
they try to bulk him up a little bit but you know you look at his legs it's like that guy he's in shape he knows what
56:20
he's doing that's not And it went on and on and on and on it just kept going but
56:27
one thing that made me laugh out loud last night was he was like calling Roman a bastard and they thought he was saying
56:34
go faster oh yeah yeah he was like "You bastard you bastard." And his wife's
56:40
like "He says go faster faster." He goes "Okay let's do it." So that made me
56:47
crazy did you recognize the guy again I don't know what the purpose of this character
56:53
was the guy who gets hit by lightning multiple times at the bar he's like the stuttering guy with
57:03
Did well I I was like that what was the purpose of him being in this movie aside
57:09
from maybe to tell him there was a storm coming I guess cuz you know he's running through the woods and he gets struck
57:15
again by lightning i did smile though because did you recognize him from
57:21
another John Hughes movie well now you've got me thinking
57:28
immediately when I saw him I was like "Oh my god it's Gary's dad from Weird
57:33
Science." Holy crap it is mhm maybe it's the pair that I recognize oh crap wow there you
57:42
go so maybe it was just like a They wanted to make a role for him to be in this movie sure come on in be the guy
57:48
who gets struck by lightning all the time i quite enjoyed the raccoons through
57:54
line with the the subtitles yeah that was actually very good did you watch it
58:00
it was and even I let it run all the way through to the There was a postredit
58:07
scene with the raccoons oh no kidding i just watched it through the dance sequence i didn't there there was a
58:13
raccoon scene at the end i can't even remember what it was there was a a final
58:19
postredit raccoon scene wow and that that kind of stuff was absolutely rare
58:25
back in those days i mean now they do it all the time but a postredit scene in
58:30
1988 is unheard of yeah that's a good point i'm trying to think if there were any so now because
58:38
of that I'm like well I better let the credits roll and watch till the very very very end for the rest of the well
58:45
in another John Hughes film Ferris Buer had had another scene at the very end
58:52
where Ferris walks out and goes you're still here he goes it's over
58:59
the movie's over go home and but with Ferris there was a whole scene that
59:06
played throughout the credits with the the principal getting on the bus and it
59:12
and that played throughout the whole thing so it was you would have sat there and probably watched it and not just be
59:18
watching credit scroll on a screen but yeah maybe that was just a huge thing hey yeah we'll just put something a
59:24
little extra in here a little wink for people who stuck around and I very much appreciated it well I'm now I'm going to
59:31
go watch it after we're done here to see what was they said well he also another
59:36
thing he uses the same names we have Chat here we also have a chat in
59:44
Weird Science correct buck buck here buck and Uncle Buck what's the story
59:50
John Hughes you just like this you just like chat and Buck i guess so or maybe he just gets into a
59:57
gets into a creative rut and he's like "Okay well this guy can be buck what the heck who cares?" I mean unless he like
1:00:04
in real life unless it's a nod to people he knows or something in real life that makes sense to me i think maybe maybe
1:00:12
that's that that could be part of it that he would just put maybe his buddies
1:00:17
names into his own movies just as a nod maybe
1:00:23
do you remember when you first watched this movie did you track immediately did
1:00:29
you predict that Roman was broke when you were a kid well at at
1:00:36
13 I saw this in the theater so I didn't that I wasn't picking up on that of
1:00:44
course I I wasn't reading too much into it so I didn't really see it coming but
1:00:50
watching it now if I think they drop a couple of breadcrumbs that you can say
1:00:56
well something's not adding up with Roman and so yeah it's a little more
1:01:02
obvious to me now as an adult watching it but as a kid I didn't I didn't have any idea that does make sense i just had
1:01:10
the you know I because I've only seen it as an adult I saw it coming a mile away because they did to your point they gave
1:01:16
us breadcrumbs but um yeah I was but I was like the whole time I'm like how are
1:01:21
they going to resolve it how is this going to come up so yeah yeah that was well one thing I did forget when when
1:01:27
Dan Akroyd tells him that story about how he was heard him overheard him in the bathroom on his wedding day saying
1:01:35
that Roman is one crooked son of a [ __ ] and I had forgotten I guess that he made
1:01:42
that up mhm because I just assumed I I totally forgot in the movie that later
1:01:47
he confessed to just making that up and that didn't happen at all but I think for a long time I just thought "Oh yeah
1:01:54
I guess John Candy just lost his patience completely and he could have certainly said something like that." But
1:02:01
you know last night I think was the first time I realized that oh wait he didn't say that mhm it did seem out of
1:02:09
character like what we're shown in the movie chad is like such a nice like a
1:02:15
good-hearted person that you're like that seems odd but well he Chad he he he
1:02:20
can be pushed and and I think we saw him at his lowest i want him out of here he
1:02:26
is ruining everything he's a jerk i don't like this and it just I I think
1:02:33
for for most of the time he handled it remarkably well if you just had somebody who you were like "Oh gosh you know that
1:02:41
whatever friend you have who you're just you need a break from." Mhm and then all of a sudden they're like "Hey we're
1:02:48
going to hang out all week." You'd be like "That's great." I would Oh I would
1:02:54
have been so pissed cuz it was they didn't know it was an unannounced visit
1:03:00
and he had very carefully picked this place for a week and then it's your like
1:03:06
in-law brother that you don't like anyway yeah oh it'd be hard to keep your
1:03:11
mouth shut in that scenario absolutely but he held it together pretty well throughout most of the film i mean when
1:03:19
when he first shows up videotaping with the giant camcorder on his shoulder of
1:03:26
Jen undressing undressing his wife it's like okay that's that probably would
1:03:32
have been it for me but it's it's one of those things even back then seeing it as
1:03:38
a kid I could relate to oh gosh that would be the worst if somebody you didn't like showed up to just ruin your
1:03:44
vacation mhm so and not to mention the fact that he kept changing everything he
1:03:50
got a jetboat instead of the pontoon boat that's right and he he wanted and
1:03:56
his sons would rather hang out with Uncle Roman than him and and all this stuff so just a just a nightmare
1:04:04
scenario they both played their parts very well
1:04:09
and I think Annette Benning played Yeah I I really think that the even the kids
1:04:14
were all right but particularly the adult actors really I think played the
1:04:23
family dynamics like just little things I picked up i was like "Oh that seems pretty realistic." Yes yes i I thought
1:04:31
everybody did a great job and I I sort of I liked Acroyd was he was definitely
1:04:37
attempting some certain way of speaking like really yeah that's right not that he talks like that but just sort of this
1:04:44
obnoxious Yeah [ __ ] that's I got to go introduce Mr thick Dick to Mr ural Cake
1:04:51
you know you That's a pretty good impression yeah well it's what is it like like
1:04:58
shyer stock broker accent just sort of like a a car salesman type of guy yeah
1:05:04
he's already going to talk like this but and then John Candy is he's pretty much
1:05:09
I mean John Candy has a he has kind of a baseline and he he turns it up a little
1:05:15
bit this way for Uncle Buck when he he has to be completely clueless and a goofball but then he does have sort of
1:05:21
like the family man Clark Griswald persona right where he he's sort of this put upon person and and he he amps and
1:05:30
he goes the he goes kind of a different way with it although I think his character in Planes Trains and
1:05:35
Automobiles is a little more like Buck than than his than his character in
1:05:41
Great Outdoors definitely definitely yeah although his character in Plains
1:05:46
has more of a sad story than than Buck who's sort of a loser by choice and and
1:05:54
his character in Plains is is he's he's really trying to to be a better guy but
1:06:01
True but both like have a bit of a lack of self-awareness oh 100%
1:06:08
yeah and but in this movie he's sort of he's he's very he's very even keeled i
1:06:13
think he's the straight man in this movie which at first I because I hadn't
1:06:19
seen this and when I was doing the research for this I was like "Oh Dan Akoid is playing the Bill Murray Bob." I
1:06:27
guess I I don't know why cuz I had just seen Uncle Buck is probably why and so I was like "Oh interesting." Yeah yeah
1:06:35
that's that's pretty crazy and it's all like I said sometimes that's why I interchange characters and attributes
1:06:42
because all these movies happened within a 4-year span it's like yeah you're
1:06:49
right and even it's sort of like the casting is just they're kind of interchangeable to I was reading that
1:06:56
both Chvy Chase and Bill Murray were considered for the part of Roman
1:07:01
yes yes chvy Chase was shooting another Funny Farm which are very similar movies
1:07:07
that came out two weeks apart in June of 1988 funny Farm in the Great Outdoors
1:07:12
isn't that that's wild and all with this pool of actors who who all sort of
1:07:17
intermingle in other movies too so it's it's easy to that's why I get this era
1:07:23
confused a lot because it's Chvy Chase Akroyd Bill Murray John Candy they're
1:07:29
They're all sort of weaving in and out of each other's orbits at this time they
1:07:35
are they are i was also reading that this only it was a three-w weekek production shoot which seems very small
1:07:42
like short right very short goodness gracious i mean I don't know a lot about movie making movie making but I was kind
1:07:48
of surprised by that well they definitely shot a lot of it on a lot of it seems well I mean the indoor stuff I
1:07:55
guess that could have been on that was probably on a stage obviously but Mhm they were out in this place in
1:08:01
California that they were shooting yeah and John Hughes I always think John
1:08:07
Hughes does confuse sort of the geography of the places that he's he's shooting because I
1:08:16
think to me the place they are looks very much like a California wilderness with with the
1:08:23
mountains and all the the big trees and everything now in Wisconsin does have
1:08:29
mountains but they're not as pronounced as what you see in the great outdoors
1:08:34
and it's the same with the beginning of National Lampoon's Vacation they're they're supposed to be in Illinois
1:08:40
somewhere illinois has no mountains whatsoever it's like all farmland and
1:08:45
they're they're driving around looking for their Christmas tree in these this this mountainous wilderness which they
1:08:52
actually shot up around Winter Park in Colorado oh interesting okay so there
1:08:58
there's John Hughes likes to substitute a lot of these these very mountainous
1:09:03
areas but he wants his people in Chicago to be able to commute to them easily so
1:09:09
he he just he gives the geography those attributes yeah and the raccoons i love
1:09:14
one of the parts I think my love for Chicago is rooted in John Hughes from my
1:09:20
childhood because I I absolutely love the city of Chicago which is why I think partially I thought it was funny that
1:09:26
the raccoons were like "Oh we're going to be eating good tonight the license plate says Illinois if they're from Chicago." Yeah yeah we got Illinois
1:09:33
plates and I I Me too when I was uh 20 when I was 20 in 95 me and my buddy
1:09:40
Allan the guys I' I've talked about before and another buddy of mine Josh we
1:09:46
we we went to Chicago and we're going to do the the Ferris Buer tour we just went
1:09:51
up there for 4 days and we and we were also big fans of the Fugitive movie with
1:09:56
Harrison Ford and and a lot of that's in Chicago is it i haven't seen it in a long time so we picked these locations
1:10:03
from The Fugitive and Ferris Buer and we walked around we went to Wrigley Field
1:10:08
and watched some Cubs games and just had a blast and that's mostly because of
1:10:15
Ferris Buer's day off and and it's funny that John Hughes his movies and it's
1:10:22
funny that these characters in the great outdoors they you never see them in Chicago but
1:10:28
they're from Chicago mhm they very purposefully show us the license plates
1:10:34
yes so I think he has a great affection for for the the city of Chicago that
1:10:41
even if his characters aren't going to be there they're going to be some connection back to Chicago mhm it's it's
1:10:47
his trademark absolutely yeah you you pointed out that they actually shot in California the
1:10:54
movie setting is a fictional place lake Pawatada Manak it's like really long
1:11:02
it's it's it's strictly for laughs yeah it is I think but it's shot in Bass Lake
1:11:08
was where they were in California and according to the locals some said
1:11:13
that Annette Benning was kind of demanding i read that as well that Dan
1:11:18
Akroyd was mostly polite but very aloof and kind of difficult to the actual
1:11:24
town's people uhhuh but big shocker John Candy has a reputation for being very
1:11:30
approachable friendly in real life and gotten along very well with everyone and the town's people said he was a joy to
1:11:36
work with so that was good to hear yeah he he seems like a a teddy bear mhm m
1:11:41
and it's good to hear that people would that people had that experience with him
1:11:46
cuz that's sort of how you picture him in your head if I ever met John Candy I would hope he would be nice to me mhm
1:11:53
and it sounds like that's the way he was yeah i'm very happy to hear that's cool
1:11:59
the original title I guess was Big Country big Country what do you think about that
1:12:08
i think the great outdoors is a much better title of course that's what I've lived with for 30 plus years so I like
1:12:15
the the great outdoors yeah I think I agree with you big Country could sounds like it could
1:12:21
be a western or something yeah or like a something about like country music star
1:12:26
or something like that yeah exactly yeah yeah you're right you're right
1:12:31
i think The Great Outdoors is is a perfect name for this film thanks to Jared for joining me to reminisce about
1:12:38
1988 and the great outdoors do you have any closing thoughts for us about this
1:12:45
movie and then tell us where we can find you well thank you Katie for having me
1:12:51
today it is a pleasure as I'm on the cusp of my 50th birthday looking back on
1:12:57
a seinal film for me thinking back how I
1:13:03
was h very happy I get to share these stories of me and my friend just still
1:13:08
quoting this movie to each other to this day and it it's it is funny that this
1:13:16
this particular movie and and not really any of the others but this is one that
1:13:22
that has just kind of followed me around and lived in my head for so long and it
1:13:28
was it was a lot of fun to to talk about it loved it it was fun for me too i
1:13:34
can't believe I hadn't seen it and my god the next time we podcast together Jared I swear to God the listeners every
1:13:40
time Jared and I do a show together I have some sort of technical issue my
1:13:46
power went out for backdraft my internet went out for this so I don't know
1:13:52
there's the universe we had str we had a struggle get even getting here today like it was the
1:13:59
against us let me say that I also completely forgot that we're doing this
1:14:06
a week late because it popped up on my phone last week and I was nowhere near
1:14:12
my house and I was like Katie but I'm so happy that we finally got it together we
1:14:19
conquered the gremlins that were giving you technical issues and we got this
1:14:24
sucker down we did so who knows what will happen next time i mean good grief
1:14:31
maybe an earthquake or something i couldn't even put that out there man don't do it sorry sorry um but listeners
1:14:38
thank you for tuning in and if you enjoyed this episode please do me a huge favor and tell a friend and or share the
1:14:46
show on social media so that other retro fans can join the fun that we have here
1:14:51
on Retro and until next time be kind rewind
1:14:59
[Music]
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