Dutch

Katie rewinds to 1991 to unpack the forgotten John Hughes-scripted road-trip comedy Dutch – a working-class guy vs. spoiled prep-school brat odyssey starring Ed O’Neal and a young Ethan Embry (billed as Ethan Randall) that bombed hard at the box office ($4.6M against $17M) yet somehow earned a 6.5 on IMDb and a soft spot in holiday watchlists. From class warfare and fireworks fails to hitchhiking disasters, prostitute pick-ups, homeless-shelter revelations, and one very questionable BB-gun payback at the Thanksgiving table, Katie argues it’s basically an uncredited Over the Top rip-off, drops 1991 pop-culture trivia (Cindy Crawford Pepsi ad, “Everything I Do” overload, Vanilla Ice arrests), and wonders why this Planes, Trains & Automobiles lite sequel never became the annual tradition it probably deserves to be.

Creators and Guests

Host

Katie Geilenkirchen

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!

0:01
I'm so mad. [Applause]
0:07
Let me go down and get him. I'm a communicator. I'm a breakthrough kind of guy.
0:12
Your mom's on the phone. I don't have a mom. You may have a mom. I have a
0:18
mother. They've only just met. I'm a friend of your mothers. I came to get you to bring you home. And already they get along
0:28
like family. I'm not going anywhere with you. [Music]
0:34
What do you like to do for fun? Well, you like to wiggle and crunch. Me, too.
0:39
So, you and Dory are getting along well. Ah, he's not a bad kid. We're getting along just great. All right, give it to me, Pipsqueak.
0:48
[Music] We're taking a time. We're seeing the country. And as Doyle himself said,
0:54
nothing beats traveling the highways and byways. Okay, sugar. What'll it be? What won't
0:59
make me vomit? Give me the keys.
1:08
This isn't working out. We're not masters of the highway. We were robbed by homebound hookers. Only cuz you fell asleep and I got
1:15
excited. You did? I know where Dutch and Doyle are staying tonight. Knowing Doyle, it'll be first class.
1:24
20th Century Fox presents the story of a boy. I got a deck of Rey the playing
1:30
card who lost the child in himself and the man
1:36
who helped him find it. Is that your most pathetic look? That's not going to get us right. This
1:41
is pathetic. Try it. See, I'm not such a bad guy, huh?
1:48
Dutch, you're like a great big demented child. [Music]
2:11
Hello. Hello. I'm Katie and welcome to Retro, your pop culture rewind. Today
2:16
we're going to head back to 1991 to revisit Dutch. This is to get us in the
2:22
mood for Thanksgiving. And I am solo again today because guess what guys, Dutch is not readily
2:30
available to stream either. And this poor guest who will come on for another
2:36
episode. I promise you will hear from him. But he picked two in a row that just so happened to not have streaming
2:44
capabilities for these movies. So yes, I watched Dutch from my library again. And
2:50
this time it didn't skip on me. So I got to watch the whole movie. I had seen it before, though, but I didn't really
2:55
remember a lot of it, so you're stuck with me. If you're new to RetroAde, welcome. We like to go back to the 80s
3:03
and '9s in these themed seasons. We have a little time capsules setting the stage
3:09
in the form of trivia questions this season. And we're heading through the
3:15
John Hughes catalog. So Dutch is what we're covering today. If you have come
3:20
to RetroAde via the Director's Chair Network, welcome again. Like I said, I'm
3:26
glad to have you here. You can check out all the other John Hughes movies as well as go back to the back catalog from
3:32
season 1 where I covered Kurt Russell and Patrick Sees, The Ultimate Everyman.
3:39
And if you have not checked out the director's chair network and you're you're listening to this Retromate
3:46
episode, I would highly encourage you to do so. It's very varied, which is great. Lots of different directors, and you'll
3:53
hear different voices, different hosts covering different directors. So, you might find some that you really connect
4:00
with. Let's see, some of the directors over there. We've got Michael Man, we've got Edwick, there was a Brian De Palma.
4:06
I think that's concluded there. Edgar Wright, I know I am missing some just
4:14
off the top of my head. There's a lot of fun directors, lots of different movies. So, head on over to the Director's Chair
4:20
Network to check out a lot of different movies covered by some super fun hosts.
4:26
So, check that out. Now, have you rated or reviewed RetroAde yet
4:32
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4:38
would love a review, but if you only have a few seconds, a rating would also be sufficient at this time. Or go to
4:45
YouTube, too. Make sure that you subscribe to the RetroAde podcast channel. And if you're already over on
4:51
YouTube, make sure that you like and comment on some of these episodes. I certainly
4:56
appreciate it. Also, you can send me an email to tell me what you think about what you like, what you want more of,
5:03
what you want less of, just whatever your thoughts are. I ask a lot of questions to you as an audience, especially on these solo episodes that I
5:09
don't have a guest. So, would love to hear some feedback. [e-mail].
5:14
All right, without further ado, let's open the time capsule from 1991. You guys, if you feel like we've covered 91
5:23
before, you are correct. We have Curly Sue as well as Career Opportunities were
5:29
both from 1991 on this John Hughes season. So,
5:34
I am going to cherrypick the categories that we did not land on when we spun the
5:40
time capsule wheel for those two episodes. Let's do maybe commercial countdown.
5:47
Okay, you guys. This one is a soda brand launched a wildly successful commercial
5:54
featuring a supermodel who steps out of a red Lamborghini to grab a drink from a vending machine, turning the heads of
6:00
two young boys. What was the soda brand and who was the supermodel?
6:06
I can picture her outfit and that hair is coming back from the 90s. That that that big blown out hair. It's Cindy
6:13
Crawford and it's Pepsi. That's that's correct. Here's
6:19
a soap brand ran commercials fe featuring the slogan, "Aren't you glad
6:24
you use blank? Don't you wish everybody did?" Continuing a campaign that had
6:30
started in the 80s but remained one of the most recognizable adlines of the year. This is in ' 91. Was a soap brand.
6:37
You guys, aren't you glad you use blank? It's dial soap.
6:44
That is the correct answer. Okay. The stars and scandals are
6:49
interesting. Let's see. Okay.
6:55
In 91, what actor shocked fans when he accidentally shot himself in the leg
7:01
while filming the movie's going to give it away. The Doors, later blaming the incident on
7:08
staying in character as Jim Morrison, Val Kilmer. Now, it does say here this
7:13
was a widely rumored at the time, but Kilmer later clarified that it was
7:19
dramaticized for effect, but this story still made the rounds in 1991.
7:27
Which rap artist had his public image scrutinized in '91 after being arrested
7:32
for allegedly beating a parking lot attendant in Hollywood, leading to a high-profile court appearance. I
7:40
actually don't think I remember this. It is Vanilla Ice aka Robert Van Winkle.
7:51
Here is a frequent tabloid person in 91. I guess we'll call him an action star
7:58
for lack of a better phrase. He was arrested after a bizarre incident at a Tucson bar involving verbal threats and
8:06
possession of a controlled substance. just months after his film, if I name
8:13
the film, it will give it away. But he had one of his films just had just hit theaters. Is this ringing a bell with
8:19
anybody? If not, the film is out for justice. Who is this action star in
8:26
heavy quotations? Says Katie Steven Seagal. Yep. And this is just one of
8:32
many, but this one was particularly from 91. This dude was frequently in the tabloids that year, I guess. Due to
8:40
off-screen behavior and legal drama. Yes, we were glad to be rid of the cigal. Um, let's see. Back in the
8:47
headlines. These are some easy ones, I think. In December, this historic
8:52
political entity officially dissolved, making the end of an era and shifting global geopolitics. What was it?
9:00
The historic political entity that you are looking for? Yes. The Soviet Union
9:06
officially dissolved in December of 1991. takes a while. All right. In early
9:14
91, a coalition of countries led by the US launched Operation Desert Storm to
9:20
liberate this nation after its invasion of a neighboring country.
9:25
Name the invaded country. Which country was invaded?
9:31
Kuwait. Who remembers that? Operation Desert Storm 91 man. And then which
9:37
South African political leader was released from prison in ' 91, paving the way for the end of aparthide and
9:44
eventual election as president? Of course, it's Nelson Mandela. That was the giveaway. Let's see. Is there
9:50
anything else? Ooh, the boom box bangers, you guys. Oh, there's some good ones. 91
9:57
Billboard top five charts. Number one hit from the 91 film Robin Hood, Prince
10:04
of Thieves, starring Kevin Cosner, was a massive power ballad sung by Brian
10:09
Adams. What was the name of this song? Easy, easy, easy. Everything I do, I do it for you. It is so good, but who got
10:17
so sick of it? Yeah, it's like I almost never hear it anymore, even on like throwback channels, cuz it got played
10:24
out in ' 91. This is the number two song.
10:30
Martha Wash. Hm. Who's Martha Wash?
10:37
Maybe. Hm. Interesting. Martha Wash famously provided the powerful uncredited vocals for the chorus of
10:44
which hit song by CNC Music Factory?
10:49
What was the name of this song? It looks like there was some drama. Maybe. Martha Wash versus CNC Music Factory. She won
10:56
lawsuits against groups like that for failing to provide vocal credits. Okay, so yes, it says uncredited vocals. So
11:05
there must have been a lawsuit. This must have happened to her a few times and by CNC Music Factory. Oh no, you
11:12
guys. Also, I don't even know who Martha Wash is, but it is going to make you
11:18
sweat and Frances Everybody Dance Now. That was the number two song in 91. It
11:25
is a really good song. One of my favorites from back in the day has the number three song. Paula Abdul.
11:35
And there's a famous actor who's in the video. Inspiration from a 1955 film
11:41
Rebel Without a Cause that was I I almost want to say it was black and white too this video. What was the name
11:47
of the song? Kiana Reeves is the actor I was referring to. I don't know if that is helping you come to the the answer that
11:54
is Rush Rush 91. All right. Number four, the R&B group Color Me Bad.
12:03
Oh, I loved them back in the day for all of their two songs that they had, but this one was a hit originally featured
12:09
on the soundtrack for the crime drama New Jack City. I don't think I knew
12:14
that. What was the name of this song? I want to sex you up. And it is so good.
12:21
I can still picture myself like listening to the tape in a boom box in a friend's car because the tape deck must
12:27
have broken or something in her car. Anyway, we're riding around town with the boom box jamming to I want to sex
12:34
you up by color me bad.
12:42
You girl to make love to me. Girl, you make me feel real good.
12:52
We can do it till we both wake up. All right, the last one I don't think I
12:57
will get. It wouldn't just come to me. But here's your clue, everyone. Which 1991
13:04
freestyle ballad by artist Timmy T was written and produced by him after
13:10
breaking up with a girlfriend and went on to become a number one hit on the
13:15
Billboard Hot 100. One More Try by Timmy T.
13:23
Is that a one hit wonder? This dude does not look familiar to me.
13:28
One more try. I didn't know how much I loved you.
13:34
One more try. Let me put my arms around you.
13:40
Okay, there you go. There is your top five Billboard hits from 1991.
13:47
Also, that concludes this portion of the time capsule on RetroAde. All right,
13:53
let's get into Dutch from 1991.
13:59
[Music] It is PG. It was released in the summer,
14:08
but it is a Thanksgiving movie, or at least it's set over Thanksgiving, and it has a 6.5 on IMDb. This is on the John
14:15
Hughes season, and as we've covered a number of times now, he did not direct this. Peter Feamman directed this. Does
14:23
anyone know Peter Feamman? And Fayman is F AI M-N. He's Australian
14:30
and he's also known for Crocodile Dundee. Shocking, but I love that movie. I love
14:35
that. I mean, so that's like one of my favorite '8s movies. And also the Dawn Lane Show, and I didn't know what this
14:43
is, but any of you Aussies will probably. It was a talk show that ran
14:48
from 75 to 82. So, Peter Fman, that's who he is. But yes, of course, our writer is John Hughes. And I did learn
14:56
that at one point he was considering directing it, but then he reconsidered
15:02
because of its similarities to his other hit film, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which is another
15:08
Thanksgiving movie. It revolved around two characters who at first really don't like each other and go on a road trip to
15:13
get back to Chicago after having a bunch of setbacks which included a destroyed burnt car being robbed etc with a happy
15:20
resolution. So in essence this film is a sequel or remake to that film minus the
15:25
trains and planes. That is interesting. We will be covering planes, trains, and automobiles. That's probably going to be
15:31
the next episode. So I'll have to give that a rewatch. I don't know it by heart, but it's
15:37
interesting because when I was re-watching Dutch last week, that is not
15:43
the movie that came to mind. And I will get into what movie came to mind immediately once I started watching
15:49
this. And I am so curious who else had the same thought. You will have to email
15:54
me. So, if it has been a minute or two since you've seen Dutch,
16:00
the description is to get to know his girlfriend's son. A workingclass good guy volunteers to pick him up from his
16:06
prep school only to learn that he isn't the nicest young man. So, who are cast of characters here? The
16:13
bratty kid is Ethan Embry. He plays Doyle Standish. And I will say at this
16:21
time he wasn't going by Ethan Embry. He was going by Ethan Randall.
16:27
He's in a lot of things. I most recently know him from he plays one of either Grace or Frankie's kids on the show
16:34
Grace and Frankie. That's actually a really quite good show. But also Empire Records, anyone? Ethan Embry, he's in a
16:41
lot of things. And then of course Ed O'Neal plays Dutch Duly. Ethan Embry's.
16:48
So the kid I would say he's like junior high age. It doesn't explicitly say, I don't
16:53
think, but so he plays Doyle Standish and he's the bratty kid that is in a
17:00
like out of town boarding school and Dutch is going to go pick him up and do this road trip back to Chicago for
17:05
Thanksgiving. Dutch Douly is Ed O'Neal. Love Ed O'Neal. Everyone knows him probably best from playing Al Bundy,
17:13
right? Married with Children, Al Bundy. And then he also, actually, I don't know, is Modern Family still on? I doubt
17:19
it, but anyway, Modern Family, he's in that as well. So, I love Ed Ed O'Neal. I find him very charming in everything he
17:25
does. So, I I welcomed re-watching this movie partially because of him.
17:32
Now, the girlfriend, Doyle's mother and Dutch's girlfriend, is played by Joe
17:39
Beth Williams. She wasn't super familiar to me, but she probably is to a number
17:44
of you. She was nominated for an Oscar for a short film
17:49
on hope. I'm unfamiliar with this, but hey, you know, nominated for an Oscar.
17:54
And she's probably most known for Poltergeist. Also, The Big Chill, Kramer
18:00
versus Kramer, and all of you stopper My
18:05
Shoe fans out there. I believe she did she play the love interest? Did she play
18:10
Sly's love interest in that? So that is Joe Beth Williams.
18:15
And then we just recently talked about Christopher McDonald because he was in
18:22
the Flubber episode. He plays kind of the dickish sort of antagonist. We kind
18:27
of talked about on that episode. Is there an antagonist? You know, is there one? So he must have a good working
18:33
relationship with Hughes because I feel like there might even be a third one that I can't think of that he's in. But
18:39
he plays the dad. So, the ex-husband and this bratty kid's dad, Reed Standish.
18:48
And then we have these two young women that are in like a sports car that we'll
18:55
talk about later. I am not a car person. I could recognize that it was either a
19:01
Camaro or a Trans Am or Firebird, one of those one of those cars. So there's two
19:08
young women that we find out are they call themselves call girls, prostitutes,
19:13
and strippers. Like all three of those things. So the one who drives the car, her name apparently is Hie, even though
19:20
it's not said in the movie. And then the other the passenger, her friend, her
19:26
character's name is Brock, and she is mentioned, but these two ladies are played by So Brock is Ari Meyers,
19:33
and she did look familiar to me. She's the more innocent one. She played one of
19:38
the kids on Kate Nally and that does track now that I now that I see that I
19:43
can see it. And her very first role was playing Alpuccino's stepdaughter on
19:49
author author. And then so the other one, the more street smart of these ladies is and
19:59
she's played by Elizabeth Daly, but I think her stage name is EG Daily and she
20:07
is an actress and a singer and she's got a lot of voice work, so she's kind of
20:12
famous in that world. So classics like Die in Peewee's Big Adventure to Valley
20:19
Girl. And when I saw her, I couldn't place her. I was like, "Oh my god, she's
20:25
she's very specific." Both the combination of her look and her voice are very specific. And I was like, "God,
20:32
what do I I know I've seen her. I just can't place it." She is in the episode of Smelly Cat.
20:41
Remember on Friends when Phoebe sings smelly cat and she must have been like old partners with Phoebe where Phoebe
20:47
teaches her to play on the guitar smelly cat and she's kind of trying to convince
20:53
Phoebe to I think she's like oh you know you could really use this you could sell it could be for cat litter or whatnot
21:00
and Phoebe's like no no no you know she doesn't she's like don't ruin it with capitalism and then I think this this
21:06
gal screws Phoebe over again. So anyway, that's her.
21:18
It's not your fault. Wow, that's great.
21:25
Oh, yeah. You know, you could totally sell this. It'd be perfect for like um a kitty
21:30
litter campaign. A jingle? No, no, no, no, no. Why not? You make a ton of money.
21:37
Okay. Well, if I was in this for the money, I would be a millionaire by now, you know.
21:42
She is also the voice of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats, Buttercup from the
21:48
Powerpuff Girls, Babe from Babe Pig in the City, Young Mumble from the Academy
21:53
Awardwinning Happy Feet. She does have a very interesting voice. So, that is EG
22:00
Daily playing a prostitute in Dutch. All right, we have a homeless woman that
22:08
talks to Doyle when they're all like kind of trying to sleep and she has a little bit of a bigger part in it in a
22:14
little a little while. And her the woman who plays her is L. Scott Caldwell. She
22:20
looks very familiar and she went on later to play Rose in the TV show Lost
22:28
as well as a lot of single episodes of TV. She had a recurring role in Judging Amy and The Secret Life of the American
22:35
Teenager. Now, she's a main character on a newish Apple Plus TV show with Vince
22:40
Vaughn called Bad Monkey. I have not seen this, but be on the lookout for El
22:46
Scott Caldwell in that. And then one more person that we should talk about
22:52
partially just cuz her background is is kind of interesting. She's credited as Gritsy, but I don't know if we ever know
22:58
her name in the movie, but that's the character's name. and she's played by Kathleen Freeman and her parents were
23:03
vaudevilians. So she made her debut at age two in their act and she also did a
23:09
lot of voice work including in there's a connection with Ed O'Neal in
23:15
Married with children where she was the voice of Peg's monstrous but never seen
23:21
mother. You guys remember those episodes? And then she was also memorable as sister Mary Stigmata,
23:28
the penguin, Dan Akroyd, and John Belalushi's nemesis in the Blues
23:33
Brothers from 1980. That is Kathleen Freeman. The music was
23:39
pretty good in this, meaning I guess I should say it did its job. The cues were
23:45
on point to help guide us as to how we should be feeling. Alan Sylvestri who is an incredible
23:54
composer. He works a lot with Robert Zmechus who I love from the 80s. So such
23:59
works as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future, Forest Gump, etc. Also Predator, the
24:08
Avengers films, and we talked about him last season in the Overboard episode
24:14
because he composed the music for Overboard. So there we go. Award-wise,
24:20
we do get a young artist award for Ethan Embry's starring role here,
24:26
which is interesting. Yeah, he was good. I mean, sure, why not? I do like Ethan
24:33
Embry as an actor. I just don't know. He was fine. He did his job in that we hated him at first and we did warm up to
24:40
him by the end. So, there you go. Ethan Embry. This movie had a budget. Okay, so this is this is perhaps why they haven't
24:48
bothered keeping this movie on streaming. I feel like it was on streaming like even last year around
24:53
Thanksgiving or 2 years ago, but it isn't at least available in the US to stream partially maybe because it had a
25:00
budget of $17 million and it only grossed $4.6 million worldwide. Yikes.
25:07
Right. So, we we'll talk about a little bit a little bit of fun poked at that by by some of the actors in this. We'll get
25:13
to that in some of the trivia. I kind of just skipped over the IMDb. It is a 6.5.
25:20
So, despite it doing poorly at the box office, it it is good. Like, it's not a
25:27
dumpster fire of a movie. 6.5. I think I would probably agree with that. That
25:34
seems like a fair rating. It's a good movie. It's not a great movie, but it's
25:39
a fun It's a fun watch for Thanksgiving. We open with a very fancy party filled
25:46
with snobby, rich people. And I love how they show us what we're supposed to
25:51
think about these people. For example, there's a mounted lion head in one of
25:57
the rooms, which I feel is a very purposeful choice to show us what kind
26:03
of people they are at this party. And so, they're all very snoody and snobby
26:09
and classist and and these are these people. So, Dutch is there with his
26:16
girlfriend and we're supposed to be saying that he is just a regular Joe. he
26:21
doesn't quite fit in. But so we're endeared to him partially because of that because we're
26:28
we're immediately shown that we don't really like these people and he stands
26:33
up to the very smug Reed like the exhusband who So that's so Michael
26:40
McDonald or not Michael McDonald, Christopher McDonald playing Reed just he plays this type of part perfectly.
26:48
So, we're endeared to Dutch. And now we cut to So, also Reed tells the ex-wife,
26:53
"Oh, you'll have to tell Doyle I can't take him for Thanksgiving. I have to go
26:59
to London for work." Or something along those lines. And she's sort of like, "Well, you can tell him yourself, but he
27:04
can't be bothered to do that." So, Dutch offers to go pick him up.
27:09
And he's like, "Oh, this is great. I Everybody loves me. A road trip is all it takes. We end up being best friends
27:15
by the end. Don't worry, it'll be a great bonding moment. Is so the ex-girlfriend's skeptical cuz she I
27:20
think she knows her kid very much takes after his dad and we see that then because we cut to Doyle at school who is
27:28
very much a mini read but somehow even worse cuz in kid form it's
27:35
it reminded me of the annoying kid from Over the Top. Now, more on this in a bit, but just we you just like squinty
27:44
eye at him, you know? You know, sometimes when you do that like about people or you're just like gh, how is
27:52
this person so awful? But he just has this air of superiority
27:57
on him. His worldview is such that he equates being born into money
28:03
with class and therefore better than everyone else. Especially the gasp
28:11
working class. They are so beneath him. He is the type of kid we see him
28:16
threatening to get people fired if they don't do what he want. Oh, I'll get my dad to call so and so and have you fired
28:24
because of who his dad is. So, it's Thanksgiving weekend. All his friends have now gone home. Someone has already
28:30
come to pick them up. We see him is at the school by himself. So, there's a
28:36
janitor in a room. There's a trash can and he's kind of sweeping up. He's cleaning up. And we see Doyle just go
28:43
just to be a dick kick over the trash can to have to make this janitor then
28:49
pick it up again right in front of him as he's cleaning. Just to be a dick. Now, we also see that he it all the kids
28:56
aren't this way. So, this isn't this isn't the kind of school that I mean it is a boarding school, so I'm sure
29:02
there's a fair amount of privilege and some attitudes that can sometimes go along with that. But the other kids we
29:09
see kind of be normal and they're kind. They're even inviting him to come, you know, have Thanksgiving with him. So,
29:15
they're not And even I think one of them even says something about
29:20
how hateful Doyle is for no reason. So we see at the beginning we're endeared
29:26
to Dutch at O'Neal. So we're setting up this dichotomy of what how this road trip is going to go, right? We see the
29:33
kid is like beyond a bratty privileged prick of a kid. So that's who we are.
29:41
The other thing I wondered though, since we see him by himself, when they meet,
29:47
it starts with Doyle. It looks like he's walking home from class. He's in his uniform and he has his textbooks with
29:53
him, but it's Thanksgiving break. There's no class. So, I feel like that was a mistake. But,
30:00
I don't know, for whatever reason, he's walking to his dorm and Dutch is already
30:05
in his room and but his back is we can't see his face. It's just you can see that
30:11
there's a man there and so Doyle mistakes Dutch for his dad at first even
30:18
though he knew that his dad bailed and that Dutch was coming to pick him up. I think he just maybe had hope that his
30:24
dad changed his mind. So Dutch is trying to score points with his girlfriend by offering to pick up her kid. Bond road
30:31
trip from they're in Georgia is where the the school is and they're going to
30:37
head to Chicago. Of course, we're going to Chicago. This is Hugh's territory for
30:42
Thanksgiving. Now, I would like to go into a little bit of a deep dive into
30:49
why I think this movie reminds me of another movie. About 10 minutes in, I
30:55
out loud to myself said, "Is Dutch an over-the-top ripoff?" Because Over the
31:01
Top, I want to say, was like what, 86, 87, somewhere in there. This is 91. So
31:08
Hughes had said he didn't want to direct it because it was so similar to Planes, Transit, and Automobiles. But I thought it was so similar to Over-the-top Top.
31:16
First of all, I love Over the Top. Second of all, let me make my case for why I think Dutch is an Over-the-top
31:23
ripoff. We have an unknown father figure here that picks up a very bratty
31:29
private/military school kid because it would be a good bonding experience. We have a road trip
31:35
with lots of mishaps and shenanigans that over time bring these two closer
31:41
and they do actually bond and learn from each other over the course of the movie. And we have a huy father or grandfather
31:49
that gets in the way andor makes things worse. We have a kid that the movie
31:54
purposefully portrays as the shittiest, brattiest, classist, rich kid attitude
32:00
at first, but of course we warm up to later by the end of the movie, as does
32:06
the father figure. We get to kind of a fish out of water greasy style diner with the food and the
32:16
kid is disgusted by both the food as well as the patrons of said diner. We
32:23
have a scene where the two fight over the radio knob, over the windows. There are so many things about this that are
32:30
straight out of over the top. You have to rewatch Dutch to probably see it, but do so. Please re-watch both movies in
32:37
succession and then let me know if you agree or disagree with my take there.
32:43
Okay, that's that's that's that. We'll move on from the over-the-top ripoff conversation.
32:49
Okay, I know I do love Ed O'Neal, so I'm giving him so much. If it wasn't Ed O'Neal in this, I don't know if I would
32:56
like this movie as well, but I do find him extremely charming. But he's like, this is 91 and he is not he's not this
33:03
kid's father. Even though he's trying to suck up to his girlfriend by picking
33:09
this kid up, he is not babying this kid. He's like trying to take him down a peg
33:14
with guidance, but also kind of giving it to him a little bit. Like he does need to take him down a peg. And so
33:22
there are a few lines that I found very memorable that I kind of chuckled at. And one of them is he says to the kid
33:28
cuz Doyle threatens Dutch in some way and Dutch says, "You're about as
33:33
worrisome as a cloudy day." I had never heard that before and I think I'm going to use it. I like it. I like that a lot.
33:40
Now we're getting into the mishaps. They're on the road right wherever they stop. I think they're in Tennessee where
33:46
fireworks must be legal year round cuz he they stop to get gas maybe or
33:51
something from a store and there's a fireworks like a giant fireworks store and he goes in and he comes out with a
33:58
like a grocery bag full of fireworks and he's all excited probably thinking oh what you know 12 13year-old kid doesn't
34:05
love this kind of thing but of course the kid is unimpressed and he's like isn't that illegal again over the top
34:11
vibes but he's like well not in Tennessee so then they go somewhere where like in the middle of the country
34:17
and there's like an entire scene of the fireworks and it's not entertaining in
34:22
the slightest. So, I think that was a big miss. There were other scenes I feel like they could have expanded on that
34:29
were actually funny. This wasn't. It went on for a very long time and it just
34:34
wasn't that funny. There's some ballsiness happening with Ed O'Neal's character
34:40
kind of not being mean, but like, "Oh, kid, you think you're tough, let me tell
34:45
you." Or, "You think you're special because of this, that, or the other. Let me tell you about that. This would never
34:50
happen today, but there's this game of chicken of sorts that's super ballsy
34:56
where they must know, again, this is before you could see on like Google Maps how far away you are from a motel. And I
35:02
highly doubt they had reservations, but he knew they were coming upon a town that they must have planned to stay at
35:10
just like a little roadside motel. But they're in the car and he's is fed up
35:16
and he's like, "Fine. You think you're so whatever you fine, I'll meet you at the motel. Walk." So he kicks him out on
35:24
the highway like this kid and it's snowing. It's winter out. And he actually kicks this kid out of the car
35:29
and says he can walk the rest of the way in a motel. And I think that did actually knock this brat down a peg. But
35:35
of course, you could tell he was worried once he got to the motel. He kept looking out the window and stuff, but this is no cell phones, nothing. Like
35:42
pretty ballsy. Like what happens if this kid dies on the way to the motel or
35:47
something? But it's a it's a comedy movie from the early '9s. So, it is what it is. But the game of chicken then
35:52
comes because the kid does get back to the motel and he's pissed, but he it's like he needs
35:59
to get his bag out of the car or something. So, he takes Dutch's keys to get his bag out of the car and of course
36:05
he steals the car and he parks it in the middle of the icy road. It's wintry and
36:12
it's icy. The semi-truck driver rams through the car like pushes it over an
36:17
like an embankment into a into a ditch. And so Dutch and the truck driver are
36:22
completely freaking out. They're frantically searching looking for the kid. Well, of course, the kid had
36:28
already gotten. They didn't kill this kid. he had already gotten out of the car, but that he did that on purpose. He parked the car in the middle of the road
36:34
knowing that someone would come and hit it or or or whatnot. I don't even know.
36:40
Maybe they swerved or something. But he did this. He had already gotten out and he says something to the effect of, "I I
36:47
don't recall his words, but essentially, I did that to get back at you. Like that I'll teach you or something." So then we
36:52
see Dutch paying the truck driver essentially to avoid police. He's, you
36:58
know, he's like, "Oh, this kid, you know, I I don't want any police trouble or whatever." So, he just pays off the truck drivers. The police do come, of
37:05
course, but they had kind of concocted some sort of story that would prevent
37:10
anyone from getting into trouble. So, we see that happening. And my thought was like, "Oh my god, this kid is a
37:16
psychopath for doing this." And Dutch more or less tells him as such, like, "You this isn't
37:23
you you need to grow up and think outside of yourself for a second, kid. Someone could have gotten killed by your
37:30
little prank here. That's so not cool. This is serious business. You like don't don't do that kind of stuff. So now they
37:36
don't have a car. Okay. They don't have any luck hitchhiking. So now we see them
37:42
in a Greyhound bus to the next stop. Doyle gets his he has some fancy
37:48
expensive shoes on in ' 91. That was kind of a trope. his shoes get stolen or I should say just like some young adults
37:56
basically bully him out of them or they just take them and they're bullied away. So that was a little scene and then
38:03
wherever they are, they must be near a store, a gas station and these girls in that sports car see them and feel bad
38:11
for them because they're rehearsing. Ed O'Neal is kind of trying to convince him how to like be pathetic looking. He's
38:17
like, "You're a kid. you know, that's how we're gonna get somebody to to pick us up. And these girls see that and dupe
38:23
take pity on them. They're like, "Oh, yeah. We're go we're headed to wherever for Thanksgiving to see our families."
38:28
And they say that they are call girls. They say that they're prostitutes. And they're like, "Oh, and we also do some dancing for some extra money." And they
38:34
were just in some city for some show, expo, whatever to to make some dough as
38:41
call girls. And they're headed back for Thanksgiving. And the driver, she's way more street
38:48
smart. The other one seems kind of innocent and she's in back with the kid and Ed O'Neal is in the passenger seat
38:55
and he fell asleep. So the driver steals his wallet. She tries to take his ring.
39:01
He has a a pinky ring on, but she couldn't get that. Well, then they go to a gas station, wherever the next town
39:08
is. They're going to stretch their legs, go grab something to eat. But of course, what happens?
39:13
The girls of course ditch them at this gas station. So now Dutch and Doyle don't
39:20
have money because the wallet got stolen and they don't have any of their things, their bags, their luggage got stolen as
39:27
well. Oh, one more thing. So throughout the movie, a nice little touch is that Doyle
39:33
I have a hard time saying that his name is Doyle because he doesn't that doesn't seem like a kid name to me. Also, Dutch
39:39
and Doyle. It's just I get them kind of confused a little bit, but on purpose throughout the movie, Dutch calls Doyle
39:46
by the wrong name. And it's I feel like he doesn't even correct him. It's just kind of funny. So, he calls him Dale,
39:53
Dwight, Dobsy, etc. And again, like the way that Ed O'Neal delivers it, he
39:59
really pulls it off excellently. So, kudos to Ed O'Neal in this. He really was like by far my favorite part of the
40:05
movie. So, now we get to the crux. They're at this gas station. Now, what are we going to do? Are we going to call
40:12
your mother? You know, they're basically planning to like go their separate ways despite the fact that one is an adult
40:19
and one is a kid. They really have it out. There's sad music playing. And
40:24
Doyle goes in to the gas station. He tries to call his dad who remember said
40:29
that he couldn't spend Thanksgiving with him because he got called to London for business. Well, Doyle learns now here
40:36
that he lied because we're we're shown the scene where the phone is ringing and there he's in bed with a woman who we
40:43
assume is maybe his girlfriend or something. She answers the phone. So, he is at home and he can hear his dad like
40:50
in the background so he knows that he lied now. So, this prompts Doyle to make up with Dutch. And then there's a very
40:58
odd moment. Again, this wouldn't be in a movie now where
41:03
they bond over the fact that Doyle gets horny
41:09
when he was with the prostitute girl. This is like a 12 or 13year-old kid who like fell asleep on this girl's boobs,
41:17
you know, and but she's at least 18. Like she's an adult and he's a child and
41:25
I know this isn't his dad. I don't know if that's a thing. men bond over. It was almost like, "Oh, your first horniness."
41:31
I don't I don't know. But they bond over this somehow. It's weird. Maybe it wasn't in '91, but I I found it really
41:39
strange. Anyway, one of the call girls got them going. Okay, so now we see them
41:45
pulled together. They've made up. They're like, "Okay, we're going to do this. We're we're two capable dudes.
41:51
We're going to get the rest of the way home." Now we see them stowing away on the back of a semi and then wherever the
41:58
semi goes there's a yard where there's security guards and they get caught by
42:04
these security guys at this loading area for the semi and these cops actually
42:09
beat them up. It's kind of odd. Like they I don't know. I guess they're trespassing, but what? Jesus. Like it's
42:16
a bit much. And they also because they're assuming that they're homeless people. And this is the first of a
42:22
couple's series where we see other people treat them poorly because they
42:29
think they're homeless and therefore somehow less worthy of kindness. It's
42:34
which was probably done on purpose because this is a Thanksgiving movie. So, we're supposed to be reminded of and
42:40
be grateful for what we have and to be helpful to people who are less fortunate
42:45
than us and that these people have a hard time. It's a hard life. We more on that in a bit. So, the kid tries to use
42:52
some of his karate. We early kind of see that he's he really takes his karate practice seriously. Or maybe it's
42:58
taekwondo. I'm not entirely certain. And then they team up and have a ruse. the
43:04
kid is like loony and that his head is telling him to do crazy things and that the these police officers again like
43:11
bumbling police officers should be scared of that. They do finally get away by pulling the BB gun out from the
43:18
beginning of the movie when Doyle actually shoots Dutch in the butt with a
43:25
BB gun. And it took me a while to realize what it was cuz it looks like a gun, like a handgun. And I didn't learn
43:31
until later in the movie. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what it was shooting. I thought I don't know. Air or
43:37
I honestly I don't know anything about guns, but I always thought BB guns were like rifle style. Allah a Christmas
43:44
story. You're going to shoot your eye out, Ralphie. But this looked like a pistol. And I guess I didn't realize BB
43:50
guns came that way. But but apparently they do. They still have this gun. So it looks
43:56
like a real gun probably. And so that allows them to get away. a lot of crimes
44:01
happening in this movie that are just gone un unreported. So now because they
44:09
got beat up, this kid is bleeding from cut on his head. He's bleeding, but you know, they've been through a lot, so
44:15
they don't look great. They're dirty. Their clothes are kind of ripped and the
44:21
kid is bleeding. They go into this restaurant and immediately you can see everybody turn and look at them like,
44:27
"Oh, you don't belong here. So, they're quickly shued out because the waitress
44:33
assumes that they're homeless and therefore not welcome in this proper establishment. And Dutch is like, "Hey,
44:39
you know, no worries. No worries. We'll get out of your hair, but can the kid go use the bathroom to wash his face? He's
44:45
got to he's bleeding." But again, no sympathy because Oh,
44:51
don't don't be offensive to the the diners that are patroning this establishment.
44:56
But there is a couple of diners who do take pity on them. And we then see that
45:01
this couple drives the pair to a shelter where they eat and sleep for the night.
45:08
Here is kind of where we're seeing a little more. We've seen some improvement, some work done on both
45:15
parts. They're starting to work together a little bit. They're starting to warm up to each other a little bit. And here
45:21
at the homeless shelter is where we see Doyle come around and and start to see
45:27
things through. Now he's had an experience that a homeless person might have for a day anyway. And so he is
45:35
really possessive a little bit or protective of they're eating dinner and
45:41
he has a bread roll with his dinner and this little girl probably like m four or five. We see her
45:49
kind of try and take it and he slaps her hand away and grabs the roll and then he
45:54
thinks for a second and then he gives it to her because he realizes in that moment she is a real homeless person
46:02
that needs it and he doesn't. He'll have a he'll have a great meal tomorrow when he's at his mansion.
46:09
That's a turning point too where we see compassion from Doyle and then that
46:15
night. So it's time to go to bed. It's just a big room of CS. And of course,
46:20
Dutch's cot keeps breaking and waking everybody up. So, everybody's annoyed by him. But this the little girl who who
46:27
tried to take the the role, her mother, the homeless woman, mentioned when we were talking about who the players were,
46:33
El Scott Caldwell, she is having a conversation kind of helping us as an
46:40
audience as well as Doyle get to the point of the whole purpose of
46:45
Thanksgiving. you know, I bet you really miss your mom. Where's Is that your dad? So, he just kind of says, "Oh, yeah.
46:50
Yeah, that he tells her that that's his dad." And she inquires where the mom is. And so, they start talking about that
46:58
and this gets Doyle to realize that he despite his exterior where he kind of
47:03
hates his mom, he's the spoiled brat, he wants to be with his rich dad and he doesn't appreciate his mom throughout
47:09
the movie. And so the mom feels like this kid might hate her and he doesn't want her to think that now. Whereas
47:16
before he didn't care. He was just all about himself. He didn't really care about other people. So now he's
47:22
realizing how much he actually does appreciate and love his mother. And then the next morning
47:29
we see a really shitty station wagon type car, really beaten up, but it's
47:35
driving along the highway. And we see that Doyle and Dutch are in the back
47:41
seat. So they somebody is giving them a ride. And it's those people. Woman says,
47:46
she's telling Doyle, "Oh, my husband lost his job. We've been here for about a week. We were living in our car. It's
47:53
just tough out there." Blah, blah, blah. So, we get a little bit of their backstory and they're giving them a ride
47:59
in their car that they were living in to somewhere. We realize they're on the outskirts of
48:04
Chicago. So, they're almost home. Yay. This whole movie, we just hear Dutch
48:10
say, "Yes, I'm workingass. I I work for my money. I didn't inherit my money. I
48:15
actually work for it." He takes a lot of heat from Doyle for being quote unquote
48:20
working class. But we don't know what he does until now when we drive past a sign
48:26
as they're approaching Chicago that says Dutch Duly Construction. So now we know what Dutch does for a living. We're
48:34
getting to Chicago now. and this homeless family literally drops them off
48:40
at their mansion. I can't imagine what they were thinking. Now granted, we do
48:45
see that Dutch offers to give the guy, the husband, a job. He's like, "Oh, call the office on Monday." Gives him a a
48:51
business card or something, but hey, how about a little reward or some gas money
48:56
maybe for driving you from a homeless shelter and we don't have a home to your
49:02
literal mansion? I I was kind of surprised. was just it. I sort of thought there'd be a bigger or maybe
49:09
that there should have been like a a bigger help to these people than just, oh, call my office on Monday. I mean,
49:15
where are they going to go for Thanks? Like, they now still have nowhere to go on Thanksgiving. Like, maybe they should have invited them in to have dinner with
49:23
them perhaps. That seems like a missed opportunity in my view for a Thanksgiving movie and to show that
49:29
you've grown as a human. Anyway, now it's Thanksgiving. They're in the mansion now. The dad shows up. He's
49:37
saying that he now he wants to take Doyle to spend the day with him, but
49:42
Doyle no longer is enamored by him because he lied. And he gives his mom this huge hug. So things are going well.
49:50
I just feel like the wrap-up of the movie was very quick in like the quick
49:56
cuts like, "Okay, we got to get this in. We got to get this in. We got to get this in." So they make it home. the kid
50:02
loves his mom, not so enamored by his dad anymore. We see the dad be a total prick and that Doyle
50:09
chooses to spend Thanksgiving with his mom and Dutch. And Dutch finally gets
50:16
Doyle back because remember there's he throughout the movie he kept saying, "I'm going to get you back for that BB gun thing. You I'm going to I'm going to
50:22
get you. I'm going to get you." So, at the Thanksgiving dinner table, he does end up getting him back, but the scene
50:28
again felt rushed or not well written or thought out. It was just like they
50:34
shoved a bunch of things in the last like 5 minutes of the movie. And I think that was a mistake because he says to
50:40
the kid, "There's something very special for your mom in the pocket of my coat. Why don't you go get that?" So, clearly
50:47
we're thinking as an audience, it's an engagement ring. And the mom probably thinks that, too.
50:52
She's like, "Oh," you know, cuz they cut to her face. She's like, "Oh, what?" You know, "What is it? What is it?" But that
50:57
was just a ruse to get him up from the table so the Dutch could actually shoot him with the BB gun. And the mom is just
51:04
like totally laughing along. Haha, you're shooting my child with a BB gun. And I guess I don't get an engagement
51:11
ring out of this this whole scenario. And then credits roll along with some extra fireworks scene footage. Like, you
51:18
know how we talk about in these John Hughes movies? A lot of times I do let the credits completely roll because
51:23
there many times are either a credits scene or a postredit scene. This did
51:30
have a credits footage of just more. It was like, oh, we just have extra footage
51:37
of the fireworks scene that wasn't funny in the first place, so we're just going to shove that at the end. So, it was it
51:43
was not necessary or funny in any way. So, I was let down by the end of the movie. There were really good parts
51:49
about it, but I think they rushed to conclude the movie with some missed
51:54
opportunities as I mentioned. So that's Dutch. That's the end of Dutch. In
52:00
Australia and I think other parts of the world, like elsewhere internationally,
52:05
but definitely in Australia, the the movie was not called Dutch. It was called Driving Me Crazy,
52:12
which I don't know. That's fine. D. both fine. Like Dutch doesn't give you any
52:19
indication as to what the movie is about either. So I they're fine. I guess there was originally plans to do a sequel of
52:26
this movie, which clearly did not materialize. Obviously, I did see some disappointing news, and
52:34
this is not the first time we hear stuff like this about John Hughes, but in an interview, Ed O'Neal states
52:43
that during the shooting the movie, John Hughes was calling him every day like they were best friends. Ed was even
52:48
invited to John's house for dinner. They were supposed to do other movies together. But as soon as the movie
52:54
underperformed at the box office, John Hughes never spoke to Ed O'Neal ever again. Or the director, Peter Feman.
53:03
What the hell, John? And you know, I had I had indicated earlier that there were some because of
53:10
the poor box office. I think Ed O'Neal, again, I do really like him, but this shows that he's a
53:16
really good sport because there was mention of this movie in passing in an
53:22
episode of Married with Children during an in-flight movie to London as a joke
53:28
to the film's failure. Obviously, Ed was in Married with Children, star of that show. And then similarly showing a good
53:34
sport. The film was shown in another episode of Married with Children
53:40
titled Dial B for Virgin from 94 where main characters Ed O'Neal and Katie
53:46
Seagal were in a video store and looked briefly at a rack that showed a poster of the film with a sign over O'Neal's
53:53
face that said free video.
54:08
Now, all we have to do is find one movie that we can both watch. Hey, here's one.
54:15
Dice gum sucking pig dye. Larry Wilston and Sherman Hemsley in a
54:22
haunted house. Peg. Now, you have rented that 25 times
54:27
already. It's good. How about this? Four weddings and a
54:32
funeral. That's kind of like five of the same thing, isn't it?
54:37
Hey, how about Wrestlemania bloopers? You could have taped our honeymoon for
54:43
that. So, I I love those kind of things where he can poke poke fun at it. So, good on
54:49
you, Ed O'Neal. Oh, yeah. So, Doyle uses martial arts in the movie. And although in real life at
54:56
the time of filming, Ed O'Neal had actually been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. O'Neal received his black
55:02
belt from the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in 2007. Hm. Did you guys know that? I don't know
55:09
if I did. So, Doyle tells Dutch that he is a high brown belt in karate, but Ed
55:16
O'Neal in real life has a black belt. So, anyway, that's kind of fun. Another
55:22
little tidbit is that so Doyle's last name is Stish. So Reed and Doyle
55:28
Standish and the mom, what was her name? Natalie was the mom's name. So their
55:34
last name is Stish. And there is another character in the John Hughes universe
55:40
with the last name Standish. Anyone? Anyone? Buler. Buler. It's from the
55:47
Breakfast Club. Whose last name was Standish? It's never said in the movie,
55:52
I don't think, but it is in the script and her character name listed in the credits. Claire, Cla's last name is
55:59
Standish. So, little tidbit there. Now, in terms of casting, we always talk
56:05
about potential alternatives here. And apparently John Candy was the first
56:11
choice to play Dutch Dulie, which would have been stupid because it literally
56:16
would have been Planes Strange John Mobiles apparently. Robert Dairo was also considered which
56:24
at this time he was still doing a lot of very serious roles and I know later he would do more of this type of movie
56:30
Allah meet the parents but yeah that's interesting so I think he could have done it was just I think he was still
56:38
you know doing his like mobster stuff at this time I guess Mel Gibson
56:44
turned it down other considered Tim Allen Tom Hanks Jim Belalushi who was in
56:49
another Hughes Hughes and Curly Sue from ' 91. Robin Williams who was in Flubber,
56:55
John Goodman, and Bill Murray were all all considered to play Dutch. So, that's
57:00
that's it for the trivia. I do want to hear from you guys. What do you think about I know it's a lessernown movie. It
57:06
is a Thanksgiving movie, clearly overshadowed by the the far more favorable and well-known Planes, Trains,
57:13
and Automobiles that we will be covering soon. But let me know what you guys think about Dutch.
57:20
I did enjoy it. It wasn't great. It wasn't the funniest movie I've ever
57:25
seen, but I did enjoy the rewatch. So, I would recommend re-watching Dutch. It's
57:30
a great Thanksgiving movie and to kind of see people grow as humans. So, that's
57:35
kind of a nice little little bow for Thanksgiving. And let's see. You can,
57:42
like I said, send me an email. Let me know. Also, I want to know if you think it's similar to Over the Top like I did.
57:47
But that's it for this episode of Dutch from 1991. Thank you for revisiting it
57:53
with me. Please, like I said, send me an email and get in touch with me. Check
57:58
out the Facebook page if you're not over there, YouTube, rate, review, do all of the things that I always ask you
58:05
incessantly to do. Just throw me a bone. Maybe do do it for me as my as a
58:11
Thanksgiving treat for me, please. But until next time, be kind. Rewind.