Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Career Opportunities (1991): John Hughes’ Underrated Gem or Flawed Flop?
Dive into the lesser-known John Hughes flick Career Opportunities (1991) with Retromade: Your Pop Culture Rewind! Host Katie, joined by guests Sean Malloy and Anson Kessinger, explores this quirky tale of a slacker and a dreamer locked in a Target overnight.
We unpack Career Opportunities, a John Hughes-written comedy that he disowned due to studio meddling. Starring Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly, this Home Alone-esque romp has charm but falls short of Hughes’ classics. We dive into its nostalgic appeal, production drama, and 1991 pop culture with trivia on Pringles, Capri Sun, and more!
Creators and Guests
What is The Director's Chair Network?
Join Ryan and many featured guests and other hosts as they break down and review a variety of directors and their films!
So far, this podcast has featured films from Edward Zwick, John Hughes, Brian De Palma, and Michael Mann.
Soon, we will feature Edgar Wright, Sam Peckinpah, Paul Verhoeven, and David Fincher!
0:07
I was 15 when I invented the artificial dog heart. How you doing?
0:14
John Hughes, the creator of the Breakfast Club, Ferris Buer's Day Off, and Uncle Buck.
0:20
Did I ever tell you about the time that I signed a professional ball contract? Would like to introduce you to Jim Dodge.
0:26
You got a cardigan, didn't you? I'm not like everybody else. She's got brain damage. He does not.
0:32
He spent 21 years improving on reality. Going to Paris on an F-14.
0:38
Jimmy is going to find himself. Are you a slacker? No. Presbyterian.
0:43
I can offer you $4.44 per hour. $444.
0:48
What about the benefits? There's no eating. You're not being paid to eat. So don't play any music.
0:53
I don't have any time to play any music. Don't touch me. Welcome to the target team. You're locking me in.
1:00
Boo. Then one wild night, Jim Dodge finally found the real thing
1:07
[Music] in aisle five.
1:13
What are you doing here? I I work here.
1:20
Do you know how you make me feel? Like a natural woman. I'm a janitor in training. You're an
1:27
actress. You know what your problem is? No, but let me go get my list. What were you planning to steal?
1:33
Hairspray. Well, we haven't decided yet, have we? From John Hughes,
1:39
career opportunities, the story of a man and a woman, aisles
1:45
apart. If I was sweating, would you touch me? I would probably touch you even if you
1:51
were covered with spiders. And one night that changed everything. It's not as uncomfortable as I thought it'd
1:56
be. Oh, no. No. No. It's not that.
2:07
[Music]
Guest Sean Malloy on Dolph Lundgren Podcast
2:14
Hello. Hello. I'm Katie and welcome to Retro, your pop culture rewind. Today we
2:21
are flashing back to 1991 to discuss a little lesserk known John
2:27
Hughes flick career opportunities. Returning to the show is Shawn Mallaloy
2:35
formerly of formerly question mark I don't know of I must break this podcast
2:41
covering one of my favorite action stars Dolph Lungren. Sean welcome back. What's
2:47
new with you? Are we going to get any more episodes? What's going on with I Must Break This? Yeah. Yeah. I closed out the journey of
2:54
the episode just because it seems like his career's kind of run its course. You know, he seems to have kind of slipped
3:00
into kind of a semi-retirement of sorts. And so, I felt like ending it the way I
3:05
did felt like a good step. But I have had a few people who have reached out and have said like, "Are you going to
3:10
put any of the old episodes up on YouTube or put them back on the feed and everything?" I'm considering bringing it
3:15
back. You know, like you can probably attest, podcasting is that itch you got to scratch every now and again. So, I
3:21
mean, kicking around with a couple buddies some ideas of some some shows, but I don't know. I have to admit, I
3:28
mean, podcasting, like you can attest, at the hobbyist level, is a lot of work.
3:33
And so, so it's one of those things where it's been kind of nice having the year off and to be a guest on on shows
3:40
like this here. Awesome. We're gonna spin the retroade wheel for 1991. So, let's open the time
1991 Time Capsule: Snacks and Drinks Trivia
3:47
capsule. Sean, I'm going to share my screen. Let me know if you can see it. Okay. Are you ready to spin? I'm going
3:53
to spin on your behalf, but let's see what category we come up with. Let's see if we can test your knowledge for 1991.
3:59
We've come to Totally Tasty. All right. Which chip brand launched its
4:05
now iconic Once You Pop, you can't stop campaign in 1991, cementing its
4:11
stackable chips in the cultural snack lexicon? Pringles,
4:16
right? Yeah, Pringles. Definitely. Good job. Good job. Which
4:22
lunchbox drink saw a spike in popularity in 1991? in part due to its flashy
4:29
silver pouch and extreme sports themed commercials targeting kids.
4:34
Capri Sun. Capri Sun. It's amazing you mentioned Louis cuz yeah, these are
4:40
these are staples of my kids lunches even to this day. I love that.
4:45
That's awesome. All right, let's do another category. Let's see what we come
4:50
up with here. Perfect for a teacher. Pages of the
Books and Magazines from 1991
4:57
Past, which Scholastic published mystery book series,
5:02
already well established by 1991, remained a book fair favorite thanks to
5:08
titles like Who Killed Harlo Trombi and The Case of the Silk King. Letting
5:15
readers choose the path. What were these series called? Oh, or what was this type of book
5:20
called? Choose Choose Your Own Adventure. Those those were amazing, weren't they?
5:26
Yeah. In fact, I can still remember my very first choose your own adventure book. It was something about the space
5:32
vampires or something like that. It was something space vampires, but the covers of those books were so electric. The
5:39
paintings were just amazing. So, yes, choose your own adventure. Great, great,
5:45
great. Now, this one is a magazine.
5:50
Which monthly teen magazine featured cover stories like Crush Confessions and
5:55
How to Flirt Without Freaking Out and was known for its iconic trauma section.
6:02
Was that Tiger Beat? Good guess. It's for I would say a little bit older
6:08
teens. I'm going to guess 17. Very good, Sean. 17. I loved this
6:14
magazine. Let's Let's do another category. This category is can Shawn come out to play?
Gaming and Tabletop Hits
6:22
Released by Nintendo a few years earlier, this handheld console dominated 91's gaming scene with titles like Super
6:30
Mario Land 2, Six Golden Coins. What was this device?
6:35
The Game Boy. The Game Boy. Yep. Very good. Game Boy was correct.
6:43
This tabletop game became hugely popular in 1991, inviting players to assume the
6:48
roles of adventurers in a fantasy world, rolling dice to determine outcomes. What
6:54
was the name of this game? Dungeons and Dragons.
6:59
Yes. Very good. Very good. Yep. Dungeons and Dragons. All right, let's do one more category
7:05
before we get into the meat of the episode. Oh, these are always fun. fire.
Top 1991 Box Office Movies
7:11
Big screen time machine. You are on fire. You're doing very well. Well, they're kind of easy questions,
7:17
but let's see. These are the top five
7:22
box office hits for 1991. Do you have any guesses before I start giving you
7:28
clues what the top five movies were for 91? For 1991, I mean, I was going to the
7:35
movie movies regularly then. I'm going to guess that one of them was Hook. Good guess, but no.
7:41
Okay. Is Beauty and the Beast one? It is not, but I do think that's in the top 10.
7:47
Oh boy. Then 1991. Oh, T2. T2 has got to be one of them,
7:53
right? Terminator 2.
7:59
That was one. Yep. That was one of them. And that's the number one. That's the number
8:04
one. And I'm trying to think of what else came out around that time. I'm going to kick myself because Home Alone was 1990,
8:12
so it's not that. Oh boy. And are you sure it wasn't Hook?
8:18
Okay, I'm throwing in the towel. What were they? Well, you got the number one. Okay, number two.
8:25
A legendary outlaw gets an American accent, a Morgan Freeman sidekick, and
8:30
one killer Brian Adams ballad. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Yeah.
8:36
Yes. Very good. Yep.
8:41
Great movie. It stands up, too. Still holds up.
8:47
I haven't seen it in a while. Maybe I'll have to give it a rewatch. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
8:53
The number three movie. Your hint is an FBI trainee seeks help from a charming
8:59
cannibal to catch a killer who loves his sewing machine. Yeah. Silence of the Lambs.
9:05
Yes. See, sometimes the hints are just a little too easy. Yeah. Yeah. Silence of Lambs is an
9:11
interesting one, too, because if you break it down, if you really break it down, it's a horror movie. I mean, it is
9:17
the most grotesque horror movie imaginable, but it was never really labeled as much. it was more a thriller,
9:25
which is kind of the more prestigious version of horror. So, it's always kind of amazing to me that that that went on to win all of these awards, including
9:32
best picture. When you really strip it down, it is the most basic of of slasher
9:37
films imaginable. You know what I mean? But we don't want to call it that because then that makes it look trashy
9:43
and tasteless. No, it is a thriller, Katie. Though, though that that makes it more acceptable.
9:49
Indeed, you're right. It was really good, though. I think it, you know, it's it's elevated from some of the others.
9:55
Number four, we have a midlife crisis meets cattle drives when three urbanites
10:02
trade briefcases for cowboy hats. Oh boy. Okay, that clue may have stumped
10:09
me. I'm going to give up. What is that one? City Slickers. Okay, another classic.
10:14
I know. I I haven't seen that in so long. Yeah, but it's one of those ones that, you know, because it was such a monster
10:20
hit, they made it a sequel. when you look at it, you're like, did the story really need to be told again? Did it
10:25
need to be continued? But hey, money talks in Hollywood, so Oh, indeed. Indeed. Okay, I think you'll
10:32
get the last one. They're creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky.
10:37
The Adams. They made a snappy comeback in this ghoulish comedy. Yes. Oh my god, I loved the Adams family. Mhm.
10:44
Which trivia, if I could please pose a pose a fun trivia question at you, do you by chance know or remember the
10:52
teaser that was put in front of the Adams Family movie in theaters that got
10:58
a lot of people excited. They hadn't even shot the movie or finished it yet, but they put a teaser in front of Adam's
11:03
Family to get people talking and excited. What? Wayne's World. What?
11:09
Yeah. Look it up on YouTube. It's quite funny. It's Wayne and Gar, you know, doing the the snapping to Adam's family
11:15
because they were both Paramount movies, so Paramount was um you think both both of them. Awesome. Okay.
11:21
But it's it's it's kind of it's quite fun to to look at. Oh my god. Yeah. I'll have to check that out. I totally forgot about that. But
11:26
now this this is bringing back a memory. Yeah. Okay.
11:32
All right. Well, I think you did pretty good in the time machine. I would say I would give that Mr. Teacher an A minus
11:40
maybe. Okay. You didn't get all the movies, so A minus. It It is summer time. It is summertime.
11:45
So, you have to give me a break. That's true. Shall we get into the movie career
11:51
opportunities? [Music]
Movie Overview and John Hughes' Disappointment
11:57
Yes. This came out March 29th, 1991.
12:03
It's PG-13. It's very short. Even watching it last
12:09
night, I was like, "Wow, it's over already." Okay, it's got a 5.8, which is not very good on IMDb. The director here
12:17
is not John Hughes. It is Brian Gordon, who, if that doesn't sound familiar to
12:23
you, he's done a lot of TV directing and has been nominated for an Emmy twice, it
12:29
looks like, for Curb Your Enthusiasm. So, that's Brian Gordon. John Hughes is
12:34
our writer here. And this is an interesting movie because Hughes said
12:40
that the film was a disappointment because he didn't have his usual creative controls. And he later stated
12:47
that the film was cheap and vulgar and that his suggestions for the movie were
12:52
ignored. Therefore, he was so unhappy how this movie turned out that he asked Universal to remove his name from it,
12:59
but they refused because he was kind of a hot name at this time coming off of Home Alone. What do you think, Sean?
13:08
Well, I was hoping you'd bring that up actually because I, you know, just found that out myself about a year or two ago.
13:14
And it's really interesting to hear that because yeah, I I vividly remember seeing this. I didn't see it in
13:20
theaters, but I did rent it when it came to VHS. And I I don't know. I don't know how you feel, but I've always felt it
13:26
was a delightful little movie. You know what I mean? Like, it's not it's not amazing or anything. Is it one of John
13:31
Hughes's best? Probably not. No, but I think it is just a a fun little movie if
13:37
you if you look at it compared to his other movies that that he's known for.
13:43
Okay. So, if you look at it compared to his high school movies, right? Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and 16 Candles, all
13:49
of those, right? I think it can be viewed almost as a as an interesting continuation of those. Okay. What does
13:55
what happens to the teenager that we focused on in high school that we spent this time with in high school? What
14:01
happens to that individual once they graduate and go on to the real world and
14:06
don't really know their place? Don't really know where they're going or what their what their true purpose is. And I
14:12
think that is something that every I mean for the most part, I don't know about you, but definitely me, anybody in their early 20s who was kind of lost and
14:19
is kind of figuring, okay, now what what's the next step? I I think, you know, it's certainly relatable on that
14:24
end. So, when I when I read that Hughes was not a fan of it and was disappointed
14:30
with how it turned out, that always kind of surprised me because I don't know if you felt this way, but it does feel like
14:35
a John Hughes movie. It does kind of have that that small town, you know, kind of Midwestern kind of look and feel
14:42
and flavor about it. It does have great characters. I feel that the characters are all, for the most part, fairly
14:48
fairly well- definined. And so, yeah, I've never really understood that. I don't know really where what Hughes was
14:55
expecting. I'd love to take a look at the original script to see kind of what he was hoping for, but in my opinion, I
15:01
think it it looks and feels like a like a John Hughes movie 100%. So, I I've
15:07
never really understood or agreed with his with his sentiment. You know, that's interesting you say that. Here's something that might
15:13
surprise you. I had never seen this before and it's it's lesser known I
15:18
think for a reason. But so last night was my first watch and because of the IMDb rating because I had read that I
15:26
had a pretty low bar and I was kind of surprised. I liked it way more than I
15:31
thought I was going to like it. It does have a lot of beats of John Hughes movies, but there's something a little
15:40
his point about he thought it was cheap and vulgar. I I could see why he said that. Like it
15:47
is different in that way. Like he tended to shy away from the cheap nature of
15:53
teen movies that are just like boobs and you know fart jokes and stuff like that.
15:58
And so this very clearly was trying to capitalize on Jennifer Conny's looks.
16:04
That was very clear to me watching it last night. Um, so maybe that's kind of what he what he meant. And I too would
16:10
really like to know what what his suggestions were that were ignored.
Special Guest Anson Kessinger on Production Drama
16:17
Well, listeners of RetroAde, we have a bonus guest today for career
16:23
opportunities. I actually having not seen career opportunities before this episode was really surprised to learn a
16:31
lot about it. And one of the things that came up is that while John Hughes did
16:36
write and produce this movie, he was not a super big fan of how it turned out and
16:42
so he wanted to disown it. And that got me in conversation with our special
16:47
guest today, Anson Kessinger. Did I pronounce that correctly? That is correct. Yes. Perfect. Now, Anson, you seem to be a
16:55
man of many talents. Writing, directing, pinball, pet putt, a little bit of
17:01
everything. Tell us about yourself. Yeah, tell us about yourself. Um, no, I'm a I'm a screenwriter. I have
17:07
won a few competitions. I just, you know, love just love the craft. That's
17:13
kind of what got me into this whole deep dive into career opportunities because I
17:18
I I had heard about the drama and how much John Hughes wanted to distance himself from it and then to find out
17:25
that so much had been changed about the screenplay. Like my my holy grail right now, my my white whale is to find an
17:33
original script just to see what what was changed.
17:39
I'd be very curious about that as well. Yeah, John didn't get his his usual license to do what he wanted on this,
17:45
did he? Is that accurate? As far as I can tell, I I watched back in last night Imprint Films put out a
17:51
Blu-ray copy of it with a commentary with Brian Gordon, the director. Um, and
17:56
Jillian Wallace Horbat, who was fantastic in moderating the commentary, and yeah, they said that yeah, the
18:03
studio really didn't like the opening, they didn't like the ending, had both of those rewritten and reshot. Hm.
18:10
So, I think he was probably fairly annoyed by that. But, but I mean really tonally it's all
18:15
over the place, isn't it? Because it opens with the whole like this is a gangland murder. Really rough, but then
18:20
it's like not threatening and I tonally it's all over the place for
18:27
sure. Um, both Brian Gordon, yeah, Brian Gordon, the director, and Frank Whley, who I I
18:35
because I'm insane and I actually got a cameo from Frank Why to tell me just
18:41
just give give me the dirt. Like I I wanted to know what what happened. Um, and he mentioned that John Hughes
18:48
probably wasn't so much of a fan of both he and Brian Gordon just played around with the script.
18:53
They did not stick to dialogue. They thought that they would punch up dialogue and make it in in Frank
19:00
Williams's words, they would make it better. So the fact that they were playing around, I think so much with the script
19:07
and then you had the drama from the studio saying like, "Yeah, we we want to do this." He he said that John Hughes
19:13
wanted one for his name to be taken off of it. Uh tried to distance himself from it and also tried just to not have it
19:20
released. Question about that. Do you know at what point he determined that he didn't want
19:26
his name on it anymore? I I that I don't know. I mean, it it could have been when they started with
19:32
re-shoots or when maybe he saw a rough cut. I I I don't know. I do know though
19:37
that through through the commentary, they said that the only day he came to set was the John
19:42
Candy shot. Okay, that's very interesting
19:48
and unusual. now because I'm doing a whole season of John Hughes movies, you know, I'm I'm
19:54
learning more about him and his style. Big fan growing up, but some movies that
20:01
he, you know, maybe not quite as proud of, he has used the
20:08
pseudonym Edmund Dante, but that didn't come until I want to say what was it 92.
20:16
So maybe like a year later. So, I was just curious maybe why he didn't maybe he came to that realization that that's
20:22
something that he could do later, but he used the pseudonym. I mean, it seems like everybody knows that that's John
20:29
Hughes, but Right. Um, yeah. So, I guess I'm curious why he didn't Was this a catalyst, do you think? I
20:35
mean, were were those pseudonym titles did they come after 91? Yeah. Yeah. Beethoven, I think, the
20:41
first movie and that came out in '92 that he wrote under a pseudonym. Mhm.
20:46
This must have been the the title that gave him a plan. Maybe. That's interesting. So, so it
20:53
sounds like Frank Why didn't have I don't want to put words in his mouth, but maybe Well, I can I can tell you what he what
21:00
he told me. Yeah, please do. I mean, he was, you know, young Connelly, of course, and Brian Gordon
21:06
was a first time director on this. So, I think they were just kind, you know, they were just getting their legs.
21:12
They were really just, you know, trying to have fun with it. And I think maybe John Hughes was maybe a little more rigid and like, "No, this is the way
21:19
that I I want it to go." But Frank White also said that he's proud of it. He thinks it stands up and he's like, "It's
21:25
not Citizen Cane. It's not." He said, "It's it's not The Godfather." No, but but you know, he's like, "Yeah, I
21:32
think it stands up." And I saw it originally in the theater in ' 91. It's kind of nostalgic for me. My grandmother took me to see it, you know, and you
21:38
know, a young boy of 16, Jennifer Connelly, she was fantastic. So, yeah. I mean, it's it it's not a great movie, but it I
21:47
I I I can still see them, you know, being proud of it. Interesting. Okay. Thank you for that
21:53
story. That's really interesting insight. Do you mind my asking how much his cameo cost? How much he you know, I
21:58
find that it was it was 50 American dollars. Okay. Um and I also I I also made sure to make
22:05
the most of my money. I actually asked him a second question, which was screenwriting advice. Um,
22:11
what do you recall what he said? Just keep writing, keep at it, refine
22:16
your craft in a nutshell. Yeah, that that was it. Okay. So, so nothing new for you there. No,
22:21
I mean, but you know, I I guess there's a way to kind of press, you know, just just keep pressing you on, you know,
22:28
you're on the way out. Okay. Are you a fan of John Hughes or
22:33
not? Do you have thoughts about John as a writer or director? I I think he he
22:38
he's a he's a he's a product of his time. I think you know a a lot of stuff I think socially doesn't really work
22:44
today, right? Like I said, you know, I like care opportunities, but there there are there are some icky
22:50
parts for sure. Well, in a lot of his movies as we're re-watching them, I'm like, "Ooh, yikes."
22:56
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but this will bring me to I want to put my wife over real quick. I introduced her to Weird Science.
23:03
Uh probably just about five ten years ago. I love it. Um and it was her first time ever seeing
23:10
it. Oh wow. And we we get to the end and we get to the end credits and she blows my mind.
23:16
She says, "I get it. It's Mary Poppins for Teenage Boys."
23:22
Oh, wow. And I was just like, I I cannot. That is amazing.
23:30
It is, isn't it? That's great. I've not heard anyone use that comparison before.
23:38
I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She she she nailed it. Yes, she did. This has been a Thank you.
Screenwriter Insights and Modern Comparisons
23:45
First of all, it's a great No, thank you. What kind of stuff do you work on? You said you're a screenwriter.
23:50
I I do some contests. I'm just writing my own stuff, trying to get my stuff out. I do 48 hour film projects, if
23:56
you're familiar with those. No, it's where teams assemble and within the time frame of 48 hours they write,
24:03
shoot, edit, and submit a 4 to seven minute film. Oh, yes. Now, this I have heard of this,
24:09
but I Okay. Yep. Yep. And and you're giving the prompt of a required character, required line of
24:14
dialogue and a prop, and all of those must be included.
24:20
You have some very fascinating experience. And so I wondered if there was anywhere that you wanted to send people to learn about you or your work.
24:27
I actually won the 48 hour film project for Richmond last year. And if anybody
24:32
would like to check that film out, it's on YouTube. It's called Modern Love. Um if you just search Modern Love 48.
24:39
Awesome. I'm excited to check it out. And everybody listeners, we have to support our independent filmmakers and
24:46
people trying to break in. So please check out the link. Anson's film will be
24:53
in the show notes, so check that out. And it was great to meet you. It does feel a little off to me. It
Plot Breakdown and Home Alone Parallels
25:00
doesn't feel like a typical it. So, we'll get to the plot in a second, but here's how I It's set in a Target. And
25:09
you know, the way that I looked at it, I was like, well, it's sort of like a Ferris Buer meets mannequin, but the
25:16
Target brand version of it. like it's not quite John Hughes. It's like the
25:22
generic version of a John Hughes movie maybe is how I would put it. Well, it's really interesting you
25:28
mentioned that because I mean look, the guy is one of the most famous directors I think we could agree of all time. His
25:35
scripts really captured a particular generation. I will say about um about
25:40
him and his script. I don't want to mitigate his talents or anything like that in terms of in terms of writing or
25:45
whatever, but it seems to me, especially as he got later on in his career, as we
25:51
approached the '9s, he was more of of a gimmick writer, you
25:56
know what I mean? Like he was more um into recycling some of his previous scripts and redoing them and slopping
26:04
them out. I mean, the best example I can do is look, as I love the movies, I love Pretty and Pink and I love Some Kind of
26:09
Wonderful. You and I have talked about them, but if you look at those movies, they are the exact same movie. I mean,
26:14
when he wrote Some Kind of Wonderful, he wrote that purely out of spite because he was pissed off that they went with
26:21
the ending that he didn't that he didn't intend. So, if you look at Some Kind of Wonderful, it's the exact same. It's the
26:27
exact same thing as Pretty and Pink. He just swapped out instead of making the the lead a female, he made it a male and
26:32
a tomboy as the best friend. You know what I mean? But it's the same thing. And so if you look at career
26:38
opportunities, you know, you always hear I've always read in interviews that like he would write a script over the course
26:43
of a weekend, you know what I mean? And so if you look at the the film like career opportunities, it's it's very evident because all he's
26:49
doing is he's taking Home Alone, okay, which he had written, you know, about a year or two prior. All right, he's
26:55
taking Home Alone and he's saying, "Okay, well, wait a minute. What about instead of a boy being trapped alone in
27:00
a in his house, it's in a department store? And what if instead of a little kid, it is a grown man just out of high
27:06
school? You know what I mean? And so that's what he's done. You know, I'm gonna get stones thrown at me for saying this. So, please don't be mad at
27:14
me. But I've never found Christmas Vacation to be that wonderful. You know, it's amazing to me that to me that that
27:19
that film has gone down as being such a classic when in the end there's really not much of a plot, per se. It's just a
27:26
collection of of gags and various set pieces. It it feels like an an extended
27:32
sitcom in a lot of ways. I don't look at that film as as being like amazing writing by any means. I mean, I don't
27:38
know. I like I said, I can certainly see, you know, there are some John Hughes ingredients in it, but all he's really doing with his
27:45
scripts at this point is just, okay, I'm taking this one. Kind of like Mad Libs, right? Okay, let's take the script for Home Alone. Let's take the script for
27:52
Yes. You know what I mean? Whatever. And then I'm just going to kind of swap out these characters. Boom. A new movie. So
27:57
if he's mad that it didn't turn out that way, it's like maybe don't write a script over the course of a weekend and collect the check. John,
28:03
it is very templated. Yeah, you're absolutely right there. It's interesting doing this John Hugh season. I'm
28:09
learning a lot more about him as a person and he's got a personality that
28:16
not everyone loves and not everyone gets along with and he butts heads a lot and yeah I it's just really interesting
28:22
because I didn't know any of that but now revisiting the movies you can see so
28:27
many of the same beats. Um, so it'll be interesting to see the rest of the '9s
28:33
movies. But yeah, like this is 91. And if you guys haven't seen this movie or,
28:39
you know, if it's been over 30 years for you, we have Jim and he is the dorky son
28:46
of a local cement contractor who lives at home and has no direction. Josie is
28:52
the gorgeous daughter of a wealthy businessman who dreams of leaving town. When Jim is locked inside a Target store
28:59
on his first night as an overnight janitor, he discovers Josie, who fell asleep while contemplating shoplifting.
29:07
Now locked in together, the pair learns that they have a lot in common. Little do they know that two petty criminals
29:14
are on the lamb and looking for a place to hide. And there's the home alone.
29:22
Yeah, the the thieves the the incompetent No, you're absolutely right. The two incompetent thieves.
29:29
He took the Home Alone template. He did take the Yep. Yep. And instead of
29:35
I guess like the a lot of the adventures is really more like out of boredom at first throughout the movie.
29:42
He's skating and he's cleaning and just having fun and costumes and really do
29:47
the booby traps to catch the criminals. I guess that's how it's slightly different is it's just like that's the
29:53
fairest viewer of it all. What would you do if you were stuck in a Target, you know, overnight
29:59
kind of a thing. I loved Target growing up. So, I can't believe I hadn't seen this movie before.
30:04
And that's one thing that's actually kind of cool about this film in a lot of ways is that Target still exists. You
30:10
know what I mean? I mean, that that's one thing in a weird way that kind of makes this film, I don't want to say timeless, but where it can still play
30:18
nowadays exists. I mean, and talk about some crazy product placement for Target. Because if John Hughes and the
30:24
production company wanted, they could have just made this some regular department store that was kind of Target
30:30
adjacent, if you will, but you know, they could have called it Bullseye for that matter. But the fact that it is an actual Target that every state has makes
30:37
this film a lot very much relatable in in a lot of ways. And so that's one thing that I think is so cool is I mean,
30:44
this movie came out how many years ago? And Target is still around. It's still it still exists.
30:49
I'm kind of surprised that they used Target instead of just some random, you
30:54
know, bullseye like you mentioned. Uh but yeah, so that was kind of cool. And again, I can't believe I hadn't seen
Cast Analysis: Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly
31:00
this movie before. And it might be in part due to I don't know if our lead
31:06
character here, Frank Why plays Jim Dodge. and he's not a household name,
31:12
but he has been in a lot of well-known movies, including Pulp Fiction. He has
31:17
been working consistently and has a lot of credits, but he's not your your Roblo. He's not your Matthew Brick or
31:26
Anthony Michael Hall. And so, I think he even said I think I saw somewhere that he was sort of like, yeah, they took a
31:32
gamble on me and kind of took a little bit of blame for maybe why the movie didn't do so well,
31:37
which is unfortunate. I think he's a wonderful character actor. Anytime Frank Why pops up, you know that you're going
31:43
to have a a character on screen that gives a little bit more than the average
31:48
actor. I always love seeing him pop up. He plays, you know, he plays kind of the the nerdy awkward fellow like he does in
31:54
this film, but he also plays mean and sadistic real well. I don't know if you ever saw the film from 2007
32:02
2008 called Vacancy um with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckansile, but he plays the uh
32:08
proprietor of a motel that is making snuff films and he is just nasty mean in
32:13
in that particular film. So yeah, I I always love seeing him pop up. I think you know you mentioned that the
32:20
production did take a gamble on casting him. However, I think if they had cast anyone else at the time, especially a
32:26
known actor, it would have cheapened the film a little bit. You buy him as as Jim
32:31
Dodge, you know what I mean? You buy him as being this this fasttalking liar, you know what I mean? Much more so than you
32:38
would have if they had cast liar. Yeah. Yeah. Any other name at the time. I'm trying to think of of a, you know,
32:44
20some year old name in 1991. You know, I mean, can you imagine if Christian Slater was in this film, for example? It
32:50
it wouldn't play as well. You know what I mean? He he would be much more cool. We have Jennifer Connelly playing Josie
32:57
Mlelen, and I think they used her maybe after the fact, like they they
33:04
really really leaned on her looks, I think, in this movie. I mean, she was gorgeous. She looked just like
33:10
breathtakingly beautiful. But yeah, that white tank top was was doing a lot of
33:16
the work for this movie. What do you think, Sean? I mean, I would agree. I would agree.
33:21
But I mean, you look at a film like Weird Science is Kelly Le Brock doing I
33:27
mean, Kelly Brock in that film is is a mentor, too. We can say she's a mentor figure, but I mean,
33:32
her entire role in Weird Science was was sex appeal as well. I mean, I don't know. I I hear some of these statements
33:38
from from Hughes, and it's kind of like, you know what I I mean, because again, if you break the film down, the the film
33:44
is pretty much based on the gimmick of what would you do if you were locked in I honestly think if if I could go back
33:50
real quick, I honestly think that Hughes wrote this over the course of a weekend purely under the idea of what would you
33:56
do if you were locked in the department store overnight with the girl of your dreams. And that's what the movie is. You know
34:02
what I mean? I think he he and that's what a lot of writers do. They they write a script, you know, on the fly based off a single idea. I think that's
34:09
what Hughes did only he had it in probably about maybe 60% Home Alone in there as well to kind
34:17
of sell it and and make it work. But yeah, no, I mean and I think all of the characters in this film, the the the two
34:23
characters that I will say I don't think are fleshed out that to be perfectly honest are the thieves. I don't think
34:28
the thieves are are really that strong. But if you look at Jim Dodge's dad in the film, I think he's doing an amazing
34:35
job. the actor who is playing Jennifer Conny's dad as well. I mean, you buy him as being this this millionaire who's
34:42
essentially running the town. And then, can we say William Foresight, oh my god, William Foresight as the as the manager
34:49
of the night cleaning crew in his one scene that he is in, he is he's awesome
34:54
as well. I mean, for 86 minutes, I think this is a fun movie. It really is.
35:01
Yeah, I I agree. And yeah, William I I knew William Foresight was in this, but then I didn't even catch him like
35:07
because he was it was so brief that he's like the custodian that locks Jim in until 7:00 a.m. the next day. We also
John Candy Cameo and Supporting Roles
35:15
get a you know per John Hughes movies usual. We get a John Candy cameo. He was
35:22
uncredited in this but he plays the manager of the Target store that hires Jim. So that like you can't go wrong
35:29
with John Candy in your movie. No, no. I mean, I think it goes without saying that he and John Hughes were like really
35:36
really really good friends in throughout throughout the 80s and everything. And you know, and there are various reports
35:43
that one of the reasons that caused John Hughes to kind of quit writing and directing throughout the 90s was he was
35:50
really really hit hard by John Candy's death. And I think if you look at a lot of the films that that he had done,
35:56
especially like Curly Sue for example, which was his last directorial effort, you can see that the magic really wasn't
36:03
there too much anymore with Hughes. However, I would also argue too, I think when he approached the '9s, he was kind
36:11
of in a in an awkward space because all of the muses that he had used throughout the 80s had grown up and were adults
36:18
now, too. So, I wonder if he kind of felt like a man at a time to where he didn't really like, okay, I can no
36:24
longer keep continue with the whole high school subgenre, but all of the
36:30
all of the the ingredients that I built this relationship with have have grown up and moved on without me. So, I wonder
36:36
if he was in a weird way in this transitional phase where he didn't really know what to do in some ways. And
36:41
I realize that sounds like I'm I'm throwing shade at Hughes, and I don't mean to do that at any means, but I think that could kind of explain the
36:49
disconnect that we saw him experience in that '90s period. 100%. He very clearly there was a clear
36:56
separation and there was a falling out with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall because they didn't want to keep
37:02
doing the same thing. And and I think you're absolutely right. And then he started doing Kidfair. Um, and this one
37:09
is kind of like a middle-of the road one, but you know, Home Alone and Beethoven and Dennis the Menace and
37:15
Curly Sue, like those are that's all like his '9s movies and Home Alone 2,
37:21
you know, seem to be more kidfair, but but this one is is still kind of
37:27
trying to lean into that. I think you brought up a good point about it's they're not teenagers. These two are,
37:34
you know, a few years removed. They're 21, I want to say. And yeah, it is like
37:39
you're stuck in a Target at night. It's it's a fun premise and it is a fun movie. Very short though. I It went by
37:45
very quickly. I do want to also quickly talk about some of the other cast, including our
37:52
incompetent robbers. We have Nester Pile and Gil Kenny were the characters'
37:57
names, which I don't even know if that ever came up in the movie, but they're played by brothers in real life. Dermit
38:05
and Kieran Molrron. And this was wild to me to see. I I'm
38:11
unfamiliar with Kieran, but but Dermit, everybody knows Dermit, and he was doing
38:17
something. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but he was definitely going for something in this movie. What did you
38:22
think of the our robbers here? I I honestly think I think they're the weakest link. I really do.
38:29
I think that I think Derma Moroni is like you said, he's doing something. He's kind of adding adding something
38:35
there. I I think the partner that they have partnered him up with, his brother
38:40
actually kind of hurts the dynamic a bit because that guy really adds absolutely nothing. So, in the end, it's kind of
38:46
Dermat who's, you know, pretty much carrying most of the weight there in that relationship.
38:52
Yep. But, yeah, I like I said, I think they're I I think they're kind of a weak element. They they don't really pose
38:58
much of a threat to be perfectly honest because they seem so inept that you don't really buy them and as giving Jim
39:05
Dodge and and Jennifer Connelly a run for their money in any kind of ways. You know what I mean? They're just kind of there. They're kind of dopey. You can
39:11
almost tell how we talk about how this script was templated. I would not be surprised if the whole robber element
39:18
was added in at the very 11th hour before it went in production because they figured, oh, Home Alone was it.
39:24
Let's add more of the Home Alone stew to to this particular concoction. I don't really think they work. They don't
39:30
completely derail the film, I don't think. But but yeah. Yeah, I think there was something missing there. They needed to be flushed
39:36
out a little more. It was just sort of like two movies in one. There didn't need to be robbers involved in this
39:41
situation, but if you're going to introduce it, like you said, because of Home Alone, yeah, there there needed to
39:47
be more of a reason why they were there. They were just bumbling idiots. But, you know, it was fun to see Dermit Molrron
39:54
doing something very strange. He also had an incredible unibrow in this movie.
40:00
Um, a couple of the other characters. So, Frank's parents, we we have Bud and
40:06
Daddy Dodge. Bud is played by John M. Jackson. He looked familiar to me, but I I didn't
40:13
really know why. And he but he's best known for playing Rear Admiral AJ Sheg
40:18
Whitten on the CBS series Jag and also guest star on its spin-off NCIS,
40:24
recurring cast to its spin-off NCIS Los Angeles. He didn't or regularly use his
40:32
middle initial M, but there was already a a John Jackson in the Screen Actors
40:38
Guild, so he had to use his middle initial. That's who he is. And then did you recognize the mom,
40:45
Doy Dodge, is played by Jenny O'Hara. She's a very familiar face. Did you recognize her?
40:50
I did. I did. Who's was still around, thank God. But I re I I recognized her as she played Doug's mom on King of
40:58
Queens. Yes. I remember her in the TV spots that they would play for this film. You know, the
41:03
those quick, you know, 30 seconds TV spots. She would always get the scene where she's at the dinner table with her
41:09
mouth full as they're eating dinner and she says that's not true or whatever. You know, I mean, for whatever reason,
41:14
the TV spots always played her moment when she said that, which I always thought was kind of a an interesting
41:21
part to play. But yeah, it took me a minute to remember where I was like, "God, she's familiar." But
41:27
yeah, Doug's mom and also she was in the Mindy Project, Big Love, My Sister Sam,
41:32
Transparent was a TV series book that I've not seen. And also Esther Harris in Mystic River. So, she's a super familiar
41:38
face. Then we have Noble Willingham. That is quite a name. He plays Roger Roy
41:46
Mlen, Jos's dad. And speaking of City Slickers, as one of the top five movies
41:52
in 91, he played Clay Stone in City Slickers, but I think he is most known
41:58
for playing CD Parker on Walker Texas Ranger. I have not seen that. I don't
42:05
know. The Sir Dawn plays is played by Barry Corbin.
42:11
He's best known for his starring role as Maurice Minfield in the TV series
42:18
Northern Exposure that ran from 90 to 95. So smack dab right now. And he
42:24
actually earned two Emmy awards. No, nominated. I don't think he won, but two noms for that. So yeah, that rounds out
42:30
our cast. Uh we have a very familiar composer here for our music. We talked
Music by Thomas Newman and Budget Details
42:38
about him in the Great Outdoors episode. Thomas Newman, who is a composer,
42:44
conductor, orchestrator, and in addition to being a frequent John Hughes collaborator, he's really best known for
42:50
his film scores, earning six Grammy awards, an Emmy award, two BAFTAs, and
42:56
15 Oscar nominations. So that is Thomas Newman.
43:03
And I think this the the music in this seemed very John Hughesy. So that that kind of tracks with your typical John
43:09
Hughes movie. You know, you mentioned music and what's also interesting, I remember in the in
43:15
the TV spots and trailers that aired on network TV at the time, but Fine Young Cannibals, their song She Drives Me
43:21
Crazy, accompanied this film in the trailers. I don't know if you've seen the trailers, but they picked a a catchy tune for the time to to accompany the
43:29
the TV spots. It wasn't super clear, but I found a $6 million budget, which is
43:35
pretty low. A lot of John Hughes movies have really low budgets, but $6 million, and it it grossed worldwide 11.3
43:44
million. So, it was a pretty big disappointment in terms of box office, as we kind of already talked about. As
Personal History and Viewer Thoughts
43:50
you said, you found this movie fun, as did I. And like I had said, I'd not seen it before, but you clearly have. What is
43:58
your history with career opportunities? I remember viv vividly seeing the TV
44:03
spots when I was when I was in school. So I was I'm trying to think at the time I was eight or nine years old, I want to
44:09
say something like that. And so I remember seeing the TV spots and I was I was kind of infatuated with the gimmick
44:14
of it. You know what what would I do if I was, you know, stuck in a Target overnight, okay, with a girl of my
44:20
dreams. I didn't really think of that at the times. I was too young. But the gimmick of it really sold it. And yeah, when it came to when it came to rental,
44:28
I rented the VHS from my grocery store. Actually, if you remember those days when grocery stores rented VHS tapes.
44:36
Yes. Yes. Yeah. I I rented it. Yeah. On a school night. And it's not like any of the other ones that resonated with me around
44:42
that time, you know, that I would come back to multiple times. I think Dylan Ted's Bogus Journey was one that I came
44:48
back to way more often than than this particular film, but it is one. It is in my collection and it is one that I I do
44:55
watch every few years because it is a pretty harmless movie. And again, I want
45:00
to stress if you look at it in the context of, you know, compared with the the 16 candles, the Breakfast Club, the
45:08
the some kind of wonderful, you know, if you look at it as a continuation of those movies, I think it does have a a
45:14
linear narrative because it does follow that that kid who maybe is awkward and
45:19
unsure about his future and it seems like everybody else has has their plan, their their, you know, five-year plan in
45:25
place except for him. You know what I mean? And there are a lot of young adults who are in that situation. And
45:31
yeah, I one one thing I will say every time I watch this movie, it's one thing that always bothers me,
45:37
but he's the night cleanup crew in the movie. And I don't know about you, but
45:42
he's making way more messes than than there were in the first place. So, every
45:48
time I watch this, I'm always kind of like, "Dude, you're going to have to clean that up." Like, what are you doing? That always kind of bothered me.
45:54
But as an adult, because I hadn't seen this as a kid, I very much that was bothering
46:00
me too, like my my OCD or or my just anal retentive nature. I was like, "Oh
46:06
my god." Yeah. Also, he's just like eating things, playing with things, trying on clothes, and it's like,
46:12
"You're going to have to put all that back." And he was a little bit driving me crazy also. But
46:18
I don't know. I feel like they could have elevated some of the the adventures. It was just sort of like he
46:24
roller they roller skated a lot. But I feel like they could have done a little bit more like the adventures, the things
46:31
he does. I they could have gotten a little more creative. I feel like for you know the what would you do if you
46:37
got stuck in a Target overnight? So I was maybe hoping for a little more excitement or entertainment in that
46:43
area. Um and maybe that's why they brought in the robbers to add another element of surprise and intrigue. And
46:50
I'm trying to think, but security cameras existed back in 1991, right? I I
46:56
would like to think that he had to know that everything was was on camera. Or maybe not. You know what I mean? But as
47:02
I watched it again, I I kind of thought to myself, you know, he's making this mess and he's roller skating around. I
47:08
feel like this is a guy who's just trying to get through the night because he doesn't plan on keeping that job past
47:13
the night. You know what I mean? And I I see this quite a bit with with, you know, adults. They'll try a job out. They had they do work at a few ships and
47:20
they're like, "This isn't for me. See you later." And I kind of wonder if maybe that's where he was like, "You
47:25
know what? Look, they didn't give me the management job that I thought I was going to get from John Candy. They gave
47:30
me this cleanup crew. They locked me in. I'm going to ride it out until sunrise and then I'm gone. And if I don't even
47:36
get my paycheck, then I don't care." I almost kind of wonder if that was his mentality, which again is something that
47:42
I think a lot of, let's be honest, fairly irresponsible young adults can
47:48
certainly relate to. You know what I mean? Not looking not looking beyond 100%.
47:54
6:00 p.m. that night. You know what I mean? It's just living in the moment. Yeah, I think so. I mean, he's 21. He's
48:00
living at home and he can't keep a job. So to your point, maybe he doesn't care if he gets fired because this is one one
48:06
of so many, you know, string of jobs where he gets fired from. He's aimless
48:11
and his dad is like, "Listen, you got to get a job or we're going to ship you to your work for your uncle in some other
48:17
state or something." They're like, "You," they keep pointing this out and I think this was a thing more so in the
48:23
80s and 90s because now it seems like a lot of adults live with their parents, but they're like, "Once you're out of
48:28
school, you either pay rent or you leave." Like that's that's the story here.
48:33
Yeah. No, I mean and and in a lot of ways, you know, could could his dad be a little more loving? Sure. But his dad is
48:39
also 100% justified. You know what I mean? If you're not going to school, you're not working. Well, you need to be
48:44
doing something. I've seen this quite a bit. It's like, dude, like you need to pick a lane. College isn't for everyone.
48:50
And I tell this all the time to my students. I totally get that. Find something. If you could find a trade, you'll probably be better off to be
48:56
perfectly honest. But I mean, man, just sitting and existing
49:02
until you find something that's not, you know, benefiting anybody. And so I think
49:07
that's kind of what Jim Dodge is is golly for being 1991. It's amazing how
49:13
that type of individual still very much exists today post post high school, you
49:20
know. Great point. I mean, he's 21. I would say nowadays you find people in their
49:26
late 20s or early 30s I think partially well to get to a financial element here
49:32
in a minute but things are very expensive now so I know that's a part of why a lot of young people have a hard
49:37
time moving out but to that point Josie says so she's this like spoiled rich
49:43
girl and she's sick of living under her father's thumb and she dreams of she wants to go to LA they get this plan
49:50
they're like when we leave here once ditch these robbers. We're going to go to LA together. I have $52,000
49:59
in my purse, which is wild. And then he says, "That's more than my house cost."
50:07
So, it just goes to show things were much more affordable back in the day.
50:14
Yeah. No, no, to be fair, no, you're exactly right there. So, yeah. Isn't it funny when you talk to, you know,
50:21
parents and and family members who bought houses back in like the 80s and early 90s, what they got them for, and
50:26
you're like, "Oh my god." That's how much a car costs. Like, what's happening here?
50:32
Yeah. Um, question for you. So, they call Jim the
50:38
town liar. Everybody kind of knows how he is. He He lies. He goes from one shitty job to the to the next. But we
50:45
see him over and over again trying to impress the neighborhood kids. Like
50:51
little kids. Why? He's 21 years old. Why is he trying to impress the neighborhood kids?
50:58
Because he can't impress anyone else his own age. That that's that's as simple as that. You know what I mean? They they
51:03
look up to him. People his own age, people who he's graduated with, people he's gone to high school with, they're on to his grift. They know what is true
51:11
and what isn't. You know what I mean? But a little kid that's a little impressionable and doesn't really know. Yeah. Heck yeah. And and what a great,
51:18
you know, what a great final scene though, too, where the kids get to see that, you know, maybe not everything out
51:25
of his mouth was was was complete crap. I always loved the ending where he's in
51:30
the car with Jennifer Connelly and he drives away and they're like, "Oh man, he's so cool." Because in the end, does
51:36
he does he have a career at the end of the film? No. But he does get to leave the film more respected, I think, than
51:43
he was when the film where we see him at the beginning of the film. You know what I'm saying? Good point. Yeah. So, they do end up
51:50
like I'm jumping around here, but the the movie ended I I can't determine whether I think it was abrupt or not
51:57
because the the final scene essentially is they escaped the robbers and cut to
52:03
these two are at a pool in LA in Hollywood. So they they did what they wanted to do, but then that's it. It
52:10
ends like so I was like, did we need more than that or not? I can't decide. What do you think, Sean?
52:16
I don't know if it's a matter of can't deciding. I think, you know what I mean? It's one of those things where
52:23
look, does he have to have his five-year plan, you know, immediately laid out? No. But we at least, like I said, I
52:30
think it was it's it's kind of the hero's journey archetype, you know. He comes back to where he started in the
52:36
film, being his hometown, being his house, but he is leaving with a newfound sense of respect. Maybe not so much
52:42
about himself because he is pretty cocky, but I think he the people around him certainly know that he can do more.
52:48
It would have been nice. I do think it would have been nice if we did get to see a little bit more closure between
52:54
him and his dad at the end of the movie because there are a few scenes in the film that almost come ac across as kind
53:00
of pointless. You know what I mean? And there's the scene where his dad can't sleep through the night and is raiding
53:05
the kitchen and eating chicken and peanut butter and you're kind of like, okay, obviously we have that scene
53:11
because he feels a little he doesn't like the way he left things with Jim, you know, and as a father I certainly
53:17
get that as well. You know, I mean, wake up in the middle of night, you're thinking, "Ah crap, I screwed up there. I should have been better." But we don't
53:23
get that that scene at the end where he and his dad kind of embrace and his dad's like, "Look, I don't expect you to
53:30
have it figured out, but I love you and I for you." We could have gotten that. Unfortunately, we didn't. The film was
53:35
short enough. I don't think they would have lost anything and probably would have gained something if they they added that a little bit, but
53:41
did you feel that way though about those scenes with his dad in the middle of the night? Yeah, it's not like they had to cut for
53:46
time because this movie was extremely short. So, I agree. That would have been a perfect way to make us feel cuz it did
53:53
feel a little abrupt to me. Yeah, they they should have reconciled the parent
53:58
relationship a little bit more. But I'm so glad you brought up that scene though, Sean, because granted I don't
54:05
eat chicken, but he's raiding the fridge. He sticks a chicken leg in the
54:12
peanut butter jar. And I was like, "Oh my god, that's disgusting on so many
54:17
levels." I mean, wow. Yeah. No, not a not very appetizing, but
54:23
hey, he's a dad who's having a sleepless night. You know what I mean? I guess it works to that end. But but yeah, you
54:30
know, you mentioned spring this came out. Can I just say real quick, too, the other thing, too, that I think is important to to note about this
54:36
particular film is just that a movie like this went to theaters. And I've been saying this numerous times. I think
54:42
I've echoed it on my show when I was going, but I've said it to friends and everything like that. But a movie like
54:48
like this nowadays would not go to theaters. At best, it would be premiered on like a Netflix or a Hulu like any
54:55
anymore. It seems like the only thing that comes to theaters are IPs and franchises, comic book movies, things of
55:01
that nature. So, it's really kind of cool that in the spring of 1991, this little movie managed to go to
55:08
theaters. And boy oh boy would I love to go back to those days because we got so
55:13
much more eclectic weird diverse content that occupied the multiplexes than we
55:20
get nowadays. The '9s were all about that. So this is the perfect opening for a trend that
Trivia and Alternate Casting
55:27
would continue in the '9s. While this wasn't like an independent film, it was like a a little film, you know. So I I
55:34
agree. And I also long for the days of of the '9s. You know, I wish we could go
55:40
back. Speaking of which, there is a a shot where they're they're showing all
55:46
the items that the robbers they're like filling up their carts that they're going to steal all this stuff from from
55:51
Target. And they they take this red phone and I had
55:58
that exact red phone. It's got a black handle on a red base. Do you know what
56:03
I'm talking about? Do you remember that scene? I had that phone. I loved it. I remember that scene. You know, the
56:08
other scene that I remember, if we're going to go back, you know, looking at Target, but the wall of tapes, the wall of cassette tapes. Um, I don't know if
56:15
you noticed that either, but that was an area that I loved perusing. Cassette
56:21
tapes were replaced by CDs. CDs were eventually replaced by MP3 and everything like that. But, you know, it's just wild to think that there was a
56:27
time where a target had a music section and the music section was one maybe two
56:34
walls that from ceiling to the ground were stacked with tapes in alphabetical
56:40
order by genre. You know what I mean? It was almost it was it was kind of fun in a weird way, you know, if we could go back. But it was it was always kind of
56:47
fun. You always I mean, this is before the age of Amazon, too. So if there was a song that you wanted, if there was a band that you wanted, whatever it may
56:53
be, going to the store and running down, going in alphabetical order trying to
56:58
find it, it almost felt like a fun scavenger hunt in a lot of ways. Great point. And that scene with the
57:05
wall of tapes when Jos's looking through them, one of the visible titles is the
57:10
soundtrack for The Breakfast Club. So of course, you know, there's always all these little John Hughes is notorious
57:17
for that. So doing things like that. So, that was kind of fun. Yeah. Yeah. I did not notice that, but
57:23
but yeah. No, it wouldn't it wouldn't surprise me. Not very much trivia, but I have a few pieces of trivia. I'm curious to see
57:29
what you think. In the UK, this movie
57:34
was called It was released as One Wild Night, which I think is a far better
57:41
title for what this movie is than Career Opportunities. What do you think?
57:46
I I think I'm going to have to kind of disagree there. But I think One Wild Night is is much more is too much more
57:52
on the nose. You know what I mean? I like the idea of career opportunities because
57:57
again, if you're going along with the idea of kind of the the waywards 21-year-old not knowing his place and
58:03
needing to have a career, I think it it kind of lends itself well. One Wild
58:09
Night. Yeah, maybe that that particular title would gotten this maybe a little
58:14
bit more recognized to where more people are talking about it maybe nowadays. I I guess I would assume. But I don't know.
58:19
I think the title Career Opportunities is pretty apt. I feel interesting. That's fair. I guess maybe
58:26
that's why like I was unfamiliar with this movie. Mhm. And based on the title, I sort of
58:32
thought it would be like a workplace comedy or something. So, I was kind of
58:38
surprised to realize what it was actually about, but you you bringing up the his like state of mind kind of makes
58:44
sense as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. But, but yeah, it's funny that you mentioned
58:49
Jennifer Connelly and how she is presented in the film. It's funny. The last time I watched this, my wife was
58:54
watching it with me and she was just like, "Oh my god, her eyebrows." It's so funny that she mentioned that. I don't
59:00
know if you picked up on that or not, but she was like, you know, her eyebrows are out of control. you know. So may
59:05
maybe that was a 1991 style. I don't know. But she she is she is beautiful in the film. She really is. So two things. Yes,
59:12
eyebrows like that style of eyebrows was much more of a thing in the early '9s. But B, Jennifer Connelly, it's kind of
59:20
her trademark. Like her eyebrows are kind of what she's she's always had those kind of eyebrows. She's kind of
59:27
known for that. Yeah. Interesting. There were a few other people considered for our for Jim
59:33
and Josie. Terry Polo screen tested for Josie. That would have been a very
59:39
different movie. Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting that she really didn't get her big role until
59:48
exactly 10 years later, nine years later and Meet the Parents. Huh. Yeah. And then she also kind of slowly disappeared
59:55
again, didn't she? But I I think Jennifer Connelly, I mean, she nails it. I mean, just like Frank Frank Why nails
1:00:02
the role of Jim Dodge. I think Jennifer Connelly really does nail the role of
1:00:07
that bombshell that is that is sexualized by everybody around her, even like her her dad's business partners,
1:00:13
which was really gross, but who who wants to break free of that? I agree. Jennifer Connelly was pretty
1:00:20
perfect for this. She's got that mysterious nature to her. Really beautiful. kind of that quietness and uh
1:00:27
yeah, like a seductiveness to her that even adults are grossly into. I guess
1:00:33
she was 21, but still. And then I did read that Josh Charles and Paulie Shore
1:00:40
were both considered for Jim Dodge. Now Josh Charles was was Christina
1:00:47
Applegate's love interest in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. And I never really loved him in that. I so I don't
1:00:54
know. I guess he would have been more or less the same. They're both kind of like eh to me um as Jim, but Paulie, sure
1:01:03
that takes it to a goofy level. And I almost think that would have been funnier. I don't know. I guess I'm just
1:01:11
not a big um Frank why person. I guess
1:01:17
I mean I I think it you know look I I think it would have worked if it was Polyshore. I I can certainly see that,
1:01:22
but it also would have become a Polyshore movie. It would have, you know, had that same type of humor that
1:01:28
we saw. Actually, maybe not 1991 cuz he really didn't develop the weasel persona
1:01:34
until about a year later really when he was doing MTV. So, maybe he would have been a little bit more normalized. I
1:01:41
could certainly have seen that maybe working. But I don't know. I think Frank Why is fun. I love what they give,
1:01:48
you know, the little characteristic with his hair, how he kind of has this Elvis style hair. He almost feels like a man
1:01:54
out of time in a lot of ways, you know, like he's from the 50s but in the 90s. Yeah. Even like his clothing that he's
1:01:59
wearing, you know. You know, I love the scene too where he's at the coffee shop at the beginning. That that's the other thing, too.
1:02:05
The scene at the beginning where he's at the coffee shop, you know, sitting by himself telling these stories, you know, trying to get people impressed and he's
1:02:12
saying, you know, what are you going to get? Is it shashimi or something like that? this dish, you know, he he reminds
1:02:17
me of the what's the term? My daughter taught me it actually about a a week ago. A pickme girl. You know, I mean, he
1:02:24
he kind of reminds me of someone who's purposely just saying something, throwing it out in the ether so that
1:02:31
someone could turn their head and be like, "Oh, wait a minute. You've had that particular dish from from this
1:02:36
other continent just so he can get the It's so cloying, but in a weird way that that's his character."
1:02:42
Yeah, you bring up good point. I don't I don't hate Frank why for this and yeah he plays that like desperation. It's
1:02:48
like he his character has this desperation for attention but he's like dorky and he gets his dream girl in the
1:02:54
end and so it's every boy's dream I guess the end of this movie. You guys tell me tell me what you think. Have you
Closing Thoughts and Plugs
1:03:00
guys seen Career Opportunities? Did you like it more um than John Hughes did? I
1:03:07
did. I think I liked it more than John Hughes did. It's a weird little ride through Target that it won me over
1:03:14
definitely more than I thought. Sean, do you have any closing thoughts about career opportunities
1:03:19
and then tell us where we can find more of you if you've got anything to plug?
1:03:25
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, like I said, I don't think it's John Hughes's best film. However, I would say, you know,
1:03:31
his final film was Curly Sue with Jim Belalushi. That was his final film. I would say I think this particular film
1:03:38
is a much better cap to his career. He's known for those 80s films. So, well, I
1:03:44
think if you were on a marathon and you started with what was it 16 candles, then Breakfast Club or excuse me, I
1:03:50
think it was Weird Science first, right? Weird Science, 16 Candles, Breakfast Club, then Pretty and Pink, then Some
1:03:56
Kind of Wonderful, and then Career Opportunities. I think it would be a really nice cap to that entire that
1:04:03
entire series. In a lot of ways, it's it's not the best. You know, obviously, it's for good reason that it's not as as
1:04:08
quotable and iconic, I think, as some of those other ones, but I do think it has, you know, a lot of things of merit. Like
1:04:14
I said, it is a delightful little movie that I don't think is terrible by any means. So, I really do appreciate you
1:04:21
extending the invite and allowing me to go down memory lane and watch this one again. This is one that I was able to
1:04:26
show my my tween at home, my pre-teen daughter at home. you know, there's a couple parts that I maybe had to mute or
1:04:32
something like that, but she did enjoy this one as well. As far as as far as any plugs, I really don't have anything
1:04:38
at the moment. I think continue checking out The Last of the Action Heroes podcast network feed because there are some cool shows on there. If anyone does
1:04:46
want to hear more of me, I think the final 22 23 episodes, something like
1:04:51
that, of my show are still on the to network feed, so you may have to go back a bit, but it's called I must break this
1:04:58
podcast and they can be found on there. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, I would definitely check out Sean's catalog from
1:05:04
I must break this podcast. It's It's fun. We all need a little more Dolphin our life is what I always say. But uh if
1:05:11
you had fun with us on this ride with career opportunities, I would very much appreciate it if you would let me know
1:05:18
by leaving a review. Pretty pretty please. And until next time, be kind.
1:05:24
Rewind.