The Great Outdoors

Creators and Guests

Host

Katie Geilenkirchen

Guest

Jared Tockstein

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!

:00
all [Music] right this is Chad you remember me chad
0:07
Ripley how you doing this is his family you can run around here naked as a bear
0:13
and not worry about running into anybody
0:20
this is Roman what a guess this is his family i'm waiting for the heads to
0:26
rotate around and invit they're about to spend one week together in the great outdoors we weren't invited ah they'll
0:34
be tickled to death to see us who invited him anyway but this is no holiday
0:40
the man is an ass this is war
0:51
[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
1:52
continuing the season 2 John Hughes season and so we're going to go back today to
1:59
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
4:55
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
5:07
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
5:24
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
7:28
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
7:36
all right let's spin another one
7:42
return to ton time oh
7:48
oh there's so many okay which trio of high-pitched musical rodents continued
7:54
their antics in 1988 we're the chipmunks
8:01
coming on stronger than ever before where the
8:06
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
8:58
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
9:16
hour it was split oh well I don't remember this i'm stumped it was
9:22
Heathcliffe and the Cadillac Cats remember there was one cat that had like a like a newsy boy hat on with a cane
9:31
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
9:54
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]
10:30
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
10:44
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
10:58
to say Cosby Show cheers family Ties
11:06
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
11:26
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
11:43
fresh sarcastic and an unfiltered view of biting humor so like the touchton tone for the show is it's biting humor
11:50
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
12:11
college-based spin-off from a beloved sitcom this was a different world mhm
12:19
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
12:35
mhm if I give you a hint it'll give it away
12:41
dang it let me see oh God any hour long or 30 minute long 30 minutes
12:48
it's a sitcom really great chemistry among the cast super funny
12:55
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
13:12
yes the Golden Girls yes okay all right all right well that's
13:19
enough of the time capsule well how old were you how old were
13:24
That's That's a tacky question in 88 i was seven wow okay i was 13
13:32
okay so Gotcha yeah you watching The Golden Girls at 7 yeah i mean I was
13:38
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
13:48
the stuff that I cover on RetroAde I caught it later than its original
13:54
release gotcha all right so I'm doing a whole season about John Hughes the
14:00
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
14:16
came to John Hughes through Ferris Beller okay that was that was my first exposure
14:23
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
14:43
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
14:55
wow this guy did a lot more than just Ferris Buer and but he he is he de he
15:02
there's a he has a distinct flavor John Hughes and it's it's it speaks to I think it
15:10
speaks to Gen X a lot sort of cuz Ferris Buer was sort of central in my my
15:19
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
15:30
of the impact that he had and how much he was actually involved with so but
15:36
yeah definitely just quintessential 1980s writer
15:42
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
16:01
would have to say Ferris Buer probably is my my my favorite John Hughes and I
16:07
know that he he wrote and directed that one and but of so many of these he just
16:14
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
16:45
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
17:09
actually I was mentioning he had intended to direct it but scheduling conflicts uh didn't allow for that and
17:16
this is he teamed up with Howard Deutsch am I saying that right is it Howard yeah
17:24
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
17:30
directed by Howard Deutsch do you know what the other two were well was one of them 16 candles
17:38
no he John Hughes No he directed that one but it's in a similar vein they're
17:44
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
18:00
this seems like one of these things is not like the other indeed this might
18:05
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
18:17
lot on USA or TBS or something
18:23
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
18:34
see me very soon since this movie came out in theaters probably once a week for
18:41
the past 30 something years this movie is part of our lexicon
18:47
it's it's in our vocabulary i don't think a week goes by where we don't mention the old
18:52
96er or Oh I forgot about that one of the things we do all the time is there's
18:59
a little exchange between John Candy and Dan Akroyd in the movie where he goes "Was that a shot?" No that was the truth
19:07
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
19:38
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
19:51
something that's and I haven't watched the movie sat down and watched it in probably 20 years but it always lives
19:57
here i love that i love I forgot about the Is that even Is it possible to
20:03
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
20:16
restaurants put out i think it's probably possible whether it's remotely good for you or healthy is
20:25
probably debatable i I think I don't know if it's even debatable no no it's
20:31
you you would be vomiting within an hour of consuming that but I think you could
20:36
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
20:54
[ __ ] mhm that that's something else that every time I see a hot dog hey how
21:00
that's lips and [ __ ] right now do you eat hot dogs occasionally but but we
21:06
get the we get the good stuff we get like the the kosher ones the Hebrew nationals
21:12
yeah yeah yeah so that are made with the the finest cuts of beef mhm sure the
21:17
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
21:30
i don't recall ever having I'm sure I did but I don't recall ever having eaten
21:36
a hot dog oh my gosh now I know I know that you you are a vegetarian i'm vegan
21:42
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
21:53
Morning Star stuff and that kind of stuff but it's I don't know i don't do
21:58
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
22:19
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
22:30
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
22:36
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
23:03
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
23:42
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
26:27
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]