Beethoven

Why Beethoven (1992) Is the Craziest Family Movie You Forgot About! 

Ever wonder why a slobbering St. Bernard became a ‘90s icon? Join Retromade: Your Pop Culture Rewind as we dive into Beethoven (1992), the chaotic family comedy written by John Hughes! From its bizarre dognapping plot to its nostalgic charm, we’re unpacking why this messy movie won over kids and families.
 

We’re rewinding to 1992 to explore Beethoven, a family flick with a surprisingly dark plot involving dognapping and animal testing (yep, it’s wild!). With guest Kyle, we break down the film’s formulaic ‘90s charm, its stellar cast, and why it grossed over $147 million despite its flaws. Plus, we play a fun 1992 trivia game covering movies, TV, and pop culture fads!

Creators and Guests

Host

Katie Geilenkirchen

Guest

Kyle Pederson

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!

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[Music] throughout the history of motion pictures there have been many big dog stars
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toto had a big adventure
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pey had a big appetite
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ren Tintin was a big hero
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and Lassie had a big heart you've come back but now Ivan Wrightman who brought you
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Ghostbusters Kindergarten Cop and Twins proudly presents the biggest
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dog star of them all [Music]
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you Beethoven no no no
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[Music]
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wherever there's trouble
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wherever there's danger oh my gosh Emily's in the pool
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[Music] wherever there's food
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mut oh I just love these big dumb animals
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look who's coming to the rescue
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wa honey with a little help from his friends
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check the voice really hun i never thought you were more attractive
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we're going in
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it's not even Saturday night she driving me crazy george who are you
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talking to charles Groden beethoven
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[Music]
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[Music]
Retro Made Pop Culture Rewind begins
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hello hello i'm Katie and welcome to Retromade your pop culture rewind today
Overview of Beethoven 1992 and John Hughes’ role
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we're digging into the 1992 family comedy Beethoven
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i bet you never realized that it was written by John Hughes did you we'll talk about the oddly dark plot question
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mark plot and its surprising box office success to unpack why this messy movie
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somehow became a staple of early9s kid culture if you listen to the Rocky series
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podcast One More Round my guests today will sound very familiar if not I don't
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know what you're doing with your life kyle welcome back thank you thanks for having me yeah if you're not listening
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to that podcast get your life together what are you doing exactly yeah now why
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should they get their life together and listen to One More Round got any any gems for why they should tune in well
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it's mostly because of Ryan he's the best we suck so we'll we'll try and put a show
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together still with just the two of us but uh it's true yeah i think we're a
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good team on that podcast we all bring something different to the table and if
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you're a nerd at all about the Rocky films you could watch us dissect everything but if you're not like
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there's we I we've had some converts to the cause which is surprising given that I I just figured everyone's seen Rocky
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but yeah we've we've brought people into the fold and they like Rocky so even if you haven't seen Rocky give it a chance
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agreed and if you haven't seen Rocky watch Rocky it's great okay we're gonna
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get right to the retroade time capsule are you ready to spin Kyle
1992 box office trivia challenge
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let's see what kind of a category we can ask some trivia questions for Kyle we
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have big screen time machine okay whatever
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that is well I mean you can kind of tell it's it's basically the top five movies
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at the box office for 1992 the whole year oh man 1992 that's That's hard
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because I feel like 94 or 93 I'd be good at that but 92 I don't
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normal well I'll give you hints then okay okay there are five films right
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in a single cinematic year audiences flocked to see a street smart shape
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shifter it's kind of a run-on clue like it's it basically gives a hint for each movie so
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I can pause okay there street shape shifter shape shifter
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Terminator 2: Judgement Day but that was 91 I think it is animated
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oh Street Shape Shifter animated i should know this this would have been my
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jam as a kid i was like eight when in 1982 the The Shape Shifter I will say is
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probably throwing you off but technically it is jeez I don't know aladdin aladdin oh man
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the genie yeah yeah street smart i that threw up too i wouldn't have
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characterize Aladdin is street smart but maybe I just The genie though
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yeah i don't know yeah a pop icon turned protector
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that's your clue god I suck so bad oh this is embarrassing
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a pop icon turned protector
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give you any hints for me other than that big song that you're if I give you the names of the people it will give it
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away [Music] and
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oh I still don't know Whitney Houston yeah
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well I know that but I still know what the movie would be the Bodyguard oh yeah I don't know if I saw that you Oh
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Great soundtrack too kevin Cosner and Whitney Houston
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okay you'll probably know this one a solo child in the big city
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oh was it Home Alone 2 mhm lost in New York yep yep wow so they they did that
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was really quick sequel i thought it was like a little bit later they did that one but cuz I think the first Home Alone
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was like 1990 or '9 yep 90 I think makes sense cuz he's still quite young looking
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like he doesn't look like he aged from the the two films really so
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capitalized quickly all right so number four a sultry ice pick wielding suspect
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ice pick wielding suspect sultry very famous scene when this person gets
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interrogated oh Basic Instinct mhm you see her kitty cat so to speak and then
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the last one is a sequel a pair of mismatched cops chasing gun
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runners oh would that be Lethal Weapon which one
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oh two you see three lethal Weapon 3 oh this is
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in the 90s right so yeah I know yeah like I I watched those but it's like I
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was eight in 1992 so it was not that honestly 94 I would do way better at
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there were so many good films that came out in '94 like 93,94 like Jurassic Park Forest Gump Dumb and Dumber yeah the
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mid9s really has its own identity for sure we're now we're still in the early
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90s so it's it's you know and agreed i honestly don't know if I've seen Lethal
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Weapon 3 either oh okay yeah I remember loving those as a kid which is funny that my parents let
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me watch that cuz there's like lots of like nudity and violence they're like "Whatever kid." Yeah my
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parents like were pretty chill like I saw Terminator 2: Judgement Day when I was seven and I'm like "Those seven-year-olds should watch that." I
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don't even remember that movie i'm sure I've seen it but I couldn't tell you just like extremely graphic violence I
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guess lots of swearing like you see like a nuclear bomb destroy a playground full
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of kids like like pretty [ __ ] up stuff
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yeah parenting was different back in the day I guess plus my my it was my dad too my dad was just like my dad didn't have
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the best judgment i I'll say that because I think a lot of parents back then would not have let their seven-year-olds watch that but I do
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agree with you though parenting like for instance in 1992 I was going home alone after school to
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an empty house cuz my parents were working like I had a shoelace around my neck with a house key on it and I was
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not the only one doing that where it's like nowadays you would never see that
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yeah that was very common place yeah ours was hidden in the garage
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yeah uhhuh yeah i I remember getting my snack
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watching TV after that's Oh for sure yeah yeah like you you you certainly didn't crack open your homework right
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away or anything oh god no i've always been a procrastinator all right Kyle i don't think you did
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very good let's see let's see what other category yeah I need to redeem myself you do you'll probably be pretty good at
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this one prime Time Rewind oh okay is this like TV stuff yeah okay i think I
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do better on TV than I do movies okay so this is the top five TV shows in on
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prime time uh for the year 1992 in a year when ticking clocks set the
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pace a sharp tonged matriarch ruled the Midwest a fictional journalist tackled
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real world issues a Boston bar remained the go-to spot for regulars oh so okay
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so these are like all of them but I thought it was like a single show with these like what the [ __ ] kind of like what show is all of them and a handyman
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with more power tools than sense grunts his way to fame what were the top five shows okay sorry could we just do one at
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a time because I don't know if I can remember yes but then it it's it's it's so easy it's too easy could you
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repeating ticking clocks set the pace okay what's that one that was the one I
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wasn't sure about the I'll go back to that one okay sharp tonged matriarch ruled the Midwest oh is it Roseanne yes
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that's number two number three is a fictional journalist tackled real world issues
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this might be tough yeah was it Murphy Brown it was Murphy Brown
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and a Boston bar remained the go-to spot for regulars cheers i've been to Cheers
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like in Boston oh yeah even though I think it was actually filmed in LA but you know they
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they they show the shot of the bar that's actually just off Boston Common
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like their like park area where their state house is i did not go to the Cheers Bar i've only
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been to Boston once though nice city i recommend it yeah yeah what
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was the Handyman with power tools oh Home Improvement okay so do you know the ticking clock one this was an hourong
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show okay ticking clock what was it again the ticking ticking
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clock set the pace oh was it 60 Minutes it is that's the number one show there we go tv good job yeah when it raises
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you the TV raises you you remember the shows the movies not so much movies was a treat but yeah I remember TV back then
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i agree i agree and it was more regular like you watched them all the time yeah all right let's do another it's funny
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like some of these shows I watched as a kid like Cheers like my daughter would never watch Cheers it's very adult i
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don't remember loving it as a kid it made me sad the theme song oh I always
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thought like the art stuff on the theme song was really cool i really like the theme song as a kid actually i like it
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now but it gave me a homesick feeling when I was a kid oh there's a line in
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that song that's not in the show because the show's talking like your problems mhm and one is like your wife
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leaves you the other one is your husband wants to be a girl like transitioning
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what i missed that completely yeah yeah it's a great listen to the full song it's quite good all right
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yeah i think I'm due for some just like easy watching stuff like that like Mindless i'll have to like rewatch some
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80s shows okay i don't know how you're going to do with this category it is fad
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flashback yeah yeah we'll see we'll see there's two
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one's super easy and one's not so easy okay athletic footwear that was popularized in the early 90s especially
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by Michael Jordan oh like Air Jordans air Jordans yep '92
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do you remember the You was thinking of before you said Michael Jordan do you remember the pump shoes which on the
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tongue of the shoe had that look like a little basketball and you'd pump it up i think it was around the same time very
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much so it was in Whiteman Can't Jump i'm curious of the Can Kyle come out to
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play what is that back in the headlines oh so like current events
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well current in the time at the time yeah yeah yeah big news okay you'll
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definitely get You'll get these are pretty easy okay despite Rocky's best efforts it was actually Bush and Yeltson
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who did what 92 oh Bush and Yeltson
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is it like a arms reduction or something like that i don't know no you you you did you pick up on the first bit of it
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well the Rocky thing it's like negotiate peace or something the joke is always
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that Rocky ended the Cold War oh yeah but the Cold War was over by 92 that's I
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guess not officially they proclaimed a formal end to the Cold War okay like it
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didn't formally end until '92 i guess my like I didn't since I wasn't like I was around wouldn't be breeding stuff i in
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my mind I was just assumed that when the Soviet Union collapsed like by default the Cold
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War would be over mhm but okay yeah i guess in '92 those two Bush and Yeltson
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Yeah i guess it's like the year after the Soviet Union collapsed formally proclaimed a an end to the Cold War also
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in 1992 the US Supreme Court reaffirms
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your right to something and the hint is after 50 years that
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right got taken away what right was it 50 years
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okay i was going to say right is right to choose yeah your right to to have an abortion so in '92 the Supreme Court it
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must have come up to them and they reaffirmed it because and then what was
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it 70 I should know this early '7s yeah
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yeah or I thought you were saying like 50 years later it was repealed morgan hasn't been 50 years since the original
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though oh since the original okay since 92 yeah yeah yeah
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let's do one more i love doing [ __ ] like this
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say what so which 1992 catchphrase
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used to describe something that's considered impressive or superior was
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frequently paired with a popular snack in its expression
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all that in a bag of chips yeah what a weird catchphrase it's all that i
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remember um Austin Powers 2 Dr evil who uh had been frozen for a
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long since ' 69 came back in the '9s and then he goes back to the 60s to
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extort the world knowing what he knows in the '9s and he's talking to the president he's like
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"You're not all that in a bag of potato chips." That's right and he's like "What
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what are you talking about?" Oh my god also Austin Powers or is that Austin
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Powers or Dr evil yeah yeah yeah yeah austin Powers like Dr evil says it but
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he's the character in Austin Powers yeah yeah yeah well either way that character
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is and your Donald Trump are the same oh
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I disagree totally different okay all right well you did pretty good
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I would say yeah not bad that' be such a young end at that time right yes agreed
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agreed cuz you would have been like 11 mhm yeah i feel like when I was 11 I
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knew a lot more about what was going on around me still not like adult level but I don't think I would have done much
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better than you i would have done about the same that makes you feel better mhm
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all right Kyle are you a John Hughes movie fan or
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what's your history with John Hughes movies what are some What are the John Hughes
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movies well I'm really bad with like directors and stuff like that yeah I mean it would be like The Breakfast Club
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Weird Science Home Alone Home Alone Home Alone 2 Uncle Buck i love them love them
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like Weird Science i don't know if you've seen that but I love Breakfast Club a lot even though I saw that I was
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born the year that movie came out so I did not see that in the theater but I
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really like that film because it's so it's so weird right like such a weird movie but like in a in a great way like
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what a good idea it's my favorite for Is it your actual favorite movie well no my favorite John Hughes movie oh okay but
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The Breakfast Club is in my top you know 10 or what you know whatever it is it's very much up there speaking of The
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Breakfast Club I just saw an image i think it's like on Reddit or somewhere where they they had a reunion of all the
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people together for the Breakfast Club like this like re weeks ago or something they're all looking pretty good i agree
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i agree i think Amelia looks the best sure like aging ali looks pretty good
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too but yeah I was raised on like Uncle Buck and Home Alone in those films yeah no that was like the
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backbone of my childhood movie experiences for sure
Nostalgia of family movie nights and Blockbuster
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what about Beethoven did you see that when it came out originally yeah yeah for sure i reme you know I I didn't
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remember most of the film when I watched it again this week but there were definitely like memories that came back
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to me as I was watching it and you could almost feel like you're a kid again for a little bit of it
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and just you know in general I have to say cuz I watched the movie with my wife and
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my my 12-year-old and we don't watch movies as a family
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that often I realized mhm i feel like my family growing up like watching a movie
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together was like basically what you did on the weekend like a Friday night like you make it a blockbuster night make
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popcorn it's like a whole thing yeah yeah it's a whole thing and it's like nowadays it's like everyone has their
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phone and like you stream stuff but it's like movies are so easily accessible for
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the most part unless they like just came out where it's like
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you had your collection of VHS tapes at home which you've seen a thousand times that you weren't going to watch on a Friday night probably unless you were
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desperate and then you probably got something from Blockbuster if you got there early enough to actually get the
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new release and that was like a rush and yeah it any nostalgia could really miss Family Movie Day i like that yeah i mean
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Blockbuster was like a whole separate destination i remember there being a lot
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of just little video stores like inside of a grocery store so like on your way out from getting groceries
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that's I remember us doing that yeah i would go to the grocery store with my mom you know yeah like on a Friday or
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Saturday and then I'd be like "Oh can we get a movie can we get a movie?" Now that you say that I remember as a kid
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convenience stores some of them would have a little rotating circular thing
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with probably a couple dozen movies on it and you could rent it from like the lo like the corner store which is like
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never going to happen now no [ __ ] yeah like we had in our town there was
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Blockbuster came in and then before that we had this like huge video store called Jumbo Video and they gave you free
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popcorn like they had like a like a movie theater kind of popcorn maker there while you were like perusing or
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Yeah or you could take one on your way out and in fact when my wife and I got married in 2008
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it was like one of the last movie rental places still around in the city was called the movie studio and they also
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had free popcorn there and that's like my wife and I used to rent DVDs and just watch them at home and man I
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miss that i like I'm really really nostalgic for that it It was like The Hunt you know yeah
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exactly like you'd spend forever walking through and
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you'd get more than one you'd get like whatever the new release was or like and then you'd be like "Okay then the ones
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that aren't new releases there'd be like a dollar bin these ones are only a dollar yeah and you could like they're like "Bring it back next week." And then
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the new releases is like "Bring it back by Sunday or you're dead we'll find the [ __ ] out of you."
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I mean yeah video stores all right well speaking of which let's get into Beethoven
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[Music]
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it was released April 3rd 1992 pg it has a 5.7 on IMDb
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which is exactly the same as another John Hughes written movie Dennis the
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Menace did you know that was John Hughes 2 i'm so bad for that i'm a real [ __ ]
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guest when it comes to knowing no most people don't know that like the these are like Beethoven Dennis the Menace are
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are ones that probably don't come to mind like The Breakfast Club or Uncle
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Buck or Home Alone i did watch Dennis the Menace i remember that cuz Walter Matau was Mr wilson mr wilson yeah
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speaking of which actually the time of this Dennis Menace was last episode so it was just happen stance that two
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episodes in a row are kind of some of these like kid movies that he transitioned to after doing all those
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teen flicks and that they had much lower ratings the director was Brian Levent
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and he wasn't actually the original director he took over I don't know what happened but originally Steve Rash was
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supposed to direct and he directed Can't Buy Me Love as well as Sun-in-law
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with Poly Shore but Brian Levvent who did direct this movie which that doesn't
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sound very familiar to me but he did the Flintstones in '94 Problem Child 2 and
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Jingle All the Way in 1996 so John Hughes did not direct this but he did write it but this is the first movie
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that we see his pseudonym pop up did you know about this if you ever do Problem
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Child on this show please please have me as a guest for that one i vaguely
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remember it the little Was it a redheaded yeah he was such a little [ __ ] and and John
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Ritter or Yes yes that was the dad and I actually referenced that movie just this
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week at work actually in the lunchroom it was a scene where he pisses in a lemonade jug and sells it to a guy
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who remarks that it's tangy after he Oh gross god oh my god well I don't know it may
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it may pop up on you know some future season i don't know i don't know how Problem Child will come in you know my
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themes that I have so yeah amy Holden Jones and John Hughes wrote this movie
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amy Holden Jones also wrote Indecent proposal and Mystic Pizza one of my
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favorite movies it was Julia Robert's first movie role you have You will You
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really good oh okay lily Taylor is in it she could probably fit the entire pie in
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her mouth in one bite i would guess her stop just just messing with I love Julia
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Roberts i like her too wait no you got to watching Pizza it's so good it's such a great movie but also Amy Holden Jones
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there's a current show that she wrote or that she writes on The Resident i don't
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watch that but anyway I did find really interesting that several of these later
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John Hughes movies that aren't really his bread and butter he wrote under a pseudonym and so I was like well what's
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that all about it's Edmund Dante's so he's credited with that name instead of
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John Hughes for his writing credit and he came up with it as an homage to a
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character from The Count of Monte Cristo which I do not recall
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but he parted ways with the studio Universal after Beethoven
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and he didn't really want to be on it anymore like something must have happened and he wanted to take his name
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off of it but he he allowed it to to remain under the
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condition that his credit would be the pseudonym instead
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yeah that's what the kids would call sus these days which kind of tracks as we'll
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get into i think like in a lot of the prior movies he's had a lot of creative control with his you know his he didn't
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direct this but even as a writer a fair amount of control over the script and I
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think some of these family movies that quality wasn't quite up to up to standards you know maybe honestly just
27:44
to I don't know if I'm jumping the gun here but watching this film I'm like you couldn't put this out today if if you
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put a film just like this Say say you updated the clothing and cars and all that stuff so it it doesn't seem dated
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but like the actual script was the same no
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nope well so speaking of you guys I so I did see this movie in the theater i remember going probably a matinea and
Breaking down Beethoven’s chaotic plot
28:14
what's not to love it's a kids movie about a really cute dog so slobbering St bernard becomes the center of attention
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i loved it as a kid i remember like I I just remember like the feeling when I when you were asking like what film I
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wanted to be like reviewing with you i I saw Beetho like "Oh yeah I'll do that one." Even didn't remember like the
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details like the feeling remained is like I like this movie same and I
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remembered very little of it but yeah next to nothing yeah I remember the I remembered like the characters like I
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remembered what like the daughter looked like and the son and all that stuff and I remember the dog [ __ ] up their
28:51
house like stuff like that I remember but like the actual plot what's the the adversity they're trying to overcome or
28:56
whatever i'm like so it's George and Alice Newton is the
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mom and dad and they have three kids and they have to contend with dognapping
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local veterinarian Dr herman Varnick and his henchmen Harvey and Vernon that's
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what this movie is about you guys that like the they're dognappers
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yeah yeah actually I'm going to contend that they did not need to be in this film
29:26
you could take them out and just make it about these people got a dog that was a
29:32
stray and this dog is causing a bunch of problems but then they actually realize the dog is also bringing them together
29:38
as a family and then they try and get rid of the dog and then regret it and then get the dog back
29:44
exactly but instead they're those weird convoluted villains that like you have
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these two idiots who are the henchmen played by Oliver Platt and Stanley Tucci
29:57
might I add yeah and then you have this like at the beginning you have this vett
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he's like I need puppies i'm like you know what you could do they
30:10
sell puppies you could buy them are you short on cash like why like why are you
30:16
stealing puppies they're there you could just go in and say "I need some puppies please."
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Well I I assume he's making money somehow on this venture which we don't really find out so it's like okay we
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open up and it's evil immediately they are actually stealing puppies from a pet store which that was some pretty
30:35
high-tech security with laser beams at a pet store but these villains are not as
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dumb as they look one puff of cigarette smoke and the laser beam is uncovered i
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just I thought that was you know but then the cops were alerted to their presence anyway yeah also boo on pet
30:54
stores people yeah yeah exactly exactly adopt don't like they're making fat we
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find out later in the film he's making fat stacks off whatever he's doing
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like you see him putting money into the safe there's like tens of thousands of dollars so it's obviously very lucrative
31:13
it seems like the cost of the dog would not be would not bite into the profit
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margin that much also if we're really thinking about this this is what actual scumbags do is they
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go and collect free to good home in classified that's what they what I was thinking too
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cuz one of the things is can we see needles later on that that they're
31:37
somehow inject like yeah syringes like they're going to inject these animals for some kind of animal testing which is
31:43
done legally on animals to this day right like people companies corporations
31:49
do animal testing all the time some say they don't but a lot do and then if I'm
31:55
not mistaken what they're trying to do with Beethoven is they're trying to see what this bullets if you shoot a dog in
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the head and yeah like yeah it makes zero sense
32:06
ammunition's testing on a that's why they needed a big dog was it the
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military like who is like also in real life they actually do do that but sadly
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this again you know Katie Miss Miss Vegan over here they use pigs because
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they're the same as us essentially that's what I was going to suggest is okay
32:30
people don't use animals for that there's there are newer better techniques to test these things i see
32:35
stuff online where I'm not a huge gun person but this is in my algorithm where
32:41
they they have this material that replicates human flesh and it's almost like it's translucent and they'll have a
32:48
bone structure inside so you could see like the damage the bullet does and stuff so that's like what professionally
32:54
because you think munitions companies wouldn't outsource their testing to some small town veterinarian
33:01
well who needs to find a St bernard to shoot in the head you could be you can go to Okay this is the coverage go to
33:07
your local slaughter house and say "Hey do you have a couple pig heads I can have?" They're probably like "Sure we
33:13
have a bunch of these take it." And you could take your already killed pig which
33:18
I know sucks Katie i'm sorry and shoot that thing and then test it like I I
33:24
just the plot well first of all it's like well you they're dognapping okay it's like we don't we find out in like
33:31
pieces like what they're actually doing and it makes less sense as it goes on like at first we're like "Oh they're
33:37
dognapping they're going to sell them or whatever on the black market cute puppy you know I I steal it i sell it for
33:42
profit profit or whatever." Nope that's not what they're doing with these dogs they're Now we find out they're testing
33:48
doing some some sort of testing on them we're like "Okay well that's dumber but it still sort of makes sense." And then
33:55
lastly we find out it's munitions test like it makes no
34:02
sense i was stunned when I saw that i was like "No wonder he put it under a
34:08
pseudonym." Like I wouldn't put my name on that that is the stupidest plot line
34:13
i could not believe it if I'm 8-year-old me wouldn't care that passes the smell test for 8-year-old me so good enough I
34:19
guess i literally I have that exact note were they just like "Kids are dumb so
34:25
yeah go be cool." Like it's like "The parents aren't really here to see this movie they're just here if the kids are
34:31
happy the parents are happy the kids are too stupid to care." And to be fair if I
34:37
remember right this movie cost $18 million to make and it grossed in the box office like $143 million $147.2
34:45
million so yeah okay yeah they were right kids are dumb and this was like massively successful despite it being
34:53
pretty shitty there were four sequels and three standalone films um there was
34:59
like a very quickly after this one they did a Beethoven second which was a theatrical release and it was you know
35:06
cute i think I saw it it was like now there's a girl dog and they have puppies which don't do that either people and
35:12
then then there was sequels direct to video films beethoven's third
35:18
Beethoven's fourth Beethoven's fifth Beethoven's Big Break Christmas Adventure Treasure Trail Christ and an
35:25
animated TV series i I know this is a money-making business like I'm not
35:32
stupid that this is the they're in here for the art but I'm like it is to me it's so disheartening and I've said this
35:38
on the other podcast but it's so disheartening when they take something good or or
35:44
something like this something decent and then just try to milk every last penny
35:51
out of it and they're right cuz people keep buying it apparently they wouldn't make more sequels if they if they were
35:57
losing money but I feel this way with the Star Wars and other stuff too where I'm like come on like how how long are
36:05
we going to beat this dead horse like to me it almost ruins the other films i
36:10
kind I not I don't kind of agree i wholeheartedly agree it it makes it icky
36:16
just because my world doesn't revolve around like making an extra buck like I will pay more to do the right thing i
36:23
shocking but yeah so it's gross i don't know i find it gross yeah like just greed i guess if
36:31
there's a buck to be made someone's going to try and do it that's just the way the world works but it I think at
36:37
the end of the day it's the consumer that's to blame because you make a choice with your wallet right don't see
36:44
Beethoven five if these things stop making money they're not going to make more of them that's how I feel about
36:50
like the MCU but yeah and similarly adopt don't shop vote with your dollars things like that
36:56
but you were right like your very quick
37:01
plot that you came up with was way better than this plus we didn't even talk yet about there is technically a
37:08
subplot to this there's a few there's a only a few little tidy plots i think
37:15
depends what you count as a subplot but true i mean like those evil childless
37:23
career people that's like a common theme in these movies and now I I just laugh it's like they're so career oriented so
37:30
anyway what was that about that was convoluted too like again it was
37:35
Patricia Heaton and David Dubny are like these venture capitalists trying to bamboozle the dad yeah it they make it
37:43
seem that way they never explain how they're like the dad has this air
37:49
freshener business which I guess is doing pretty well because this is a I got to do a little sidetrack here mhm
37:56
every It's like every family movie like this people live in these I feel like are outrageously large homes yes and
38:04
like on this huge lot in like California i'm like Jesus Christ like I remember feeling so poor as a kid i'm like is
38:12
this how everyone in like I mean Canada like is this how like everyone in America lives are we just like super
38:17
poor and then I realized oh actually no this is just Hollywood or it's like Family Matters it's like Carl Winsel's a
38:24
cop and he has this huge house i'm like what the [ __ ] but anyways they seem to
38:29
be doing well as it is right now you could always do better you know you expand your business to have two air
38:35
freshener factories or whatever and yeah he needs he needs some capital investment
38:41
he seems to sell them on the tour and then they're trying to get him to sign this
38:48
contract without reading it which tells us that there's something [ __ ] up in there which is which for sure is how
38:55
things work in a way but in reality he would have a lawyer that looks at
39:00
that contract like there's no way he's going to read that at like the dinner table and sign it let alone not read it
39:07
and sign it does that bee plot get resolved in some way well
39:13
aside from the dog pulling you know with the patio yes and no my understanding is
39:18
that the dog ruins the evening and these people bolt and this guy's pissed off
39:23
about it cuz the dog just ruined his chance to expand even though he doesn't realize the dog really saved him from
39:30
from something we don't know about because it doesn't tell us right we just kind we're kind of we just assume that's
39:36
the case because they they're so shifty mhm and then there was the line after that where it's like "My dreams are
39:43
falling apart." And she's like "Well you can have your dream but you know it's your family that's falling apart."
39:51
That that like him that him doing this air freshener business thing is making his family fall apart which doesn't
39:58
really explain either cuz it's not like I don't feel like he was away that much
40:03
or something for this he's maybe kind of fixated on this air freshener deal like talking about it at the breakfast table
40:09
and being worried about it and having those people demean his kids and be like
40:15
treat his wife like a servant and stuff and he was kind of putting up with it to be polite so the deal wouldn't fall
40:21
through i I don't know if you would consider that your family falling apart
40:27
well I think it was that so the mom played by Bonnie Hunt it I don't think she ordinarily goes to
40:34
work but this is such a big deal that she has to like go to work and help him
40:39
with it for some period of time and so then the kids have to be slept to like a
40:44
babysitter or something where like one of them almost dies yeah beethoven has to save the little girl from the pool
40:51
and which he knows through his animal instincts from three houses down yeah by
40:58
the way he can maybe with his dog hearing yep his dog hearing can hear the scream and his animal instinct i can
41:04
just accept that that's okay in the movie i can suspend my disbelief for that that's no big deal so like I My
41:09
point though is I can kind of see their family having a rough time but that doesn't actually seem that bad
41:17
it's like oh you've gone from a super idllic thing where you have like the wife staying at home and the husband's
41:23
successful and you have this nice little nuclear family
41:29
to where oh you the kids have to go to a babysitter like you and I were just talking about being like latch key kids
41:35
god forbid well and it's sort of like again it borrows from other movies that
41:40
probably did it better you know like Turner and Hooch the dad never wants the dog yeah the dog really truly does bring
41:47
the family together but the dad can't see it because he's the one that has to pick up after it and he you know he Yeah
41:53
is making a mess and drool and then so then the dad gets blamed cuz the kids
41:58
love the dog and it's a whole So I don't know if that was part of it yeah and it's like I was really identifying with
42:05
the dad at first and my wife is like "Wow you're this guy." Cuz I was like "Do not get that [ __ ] dog." As much
42:13
as I love dogs I have a Shih Tzu at home that's a good dog for our family he's
42:18
small he's fairly lazy he doesn't do a lot he's good with kids that you know St
42:25
bernard is an in your house dog bad idea like we have my wife's cousins
42:32
they live out on a farm and their St bernard's outside all the time it loves life but like having this St bernard
42:41
cooped up in your house i'm like I would not do that that like you're
42:47
Yeah I'm like a giant breed dog person though well the problem is not him being so big
42:53
they they kind of make it seem that way it's that he's a puppy and he's growing and being a puppy and a teenage dog and
43:00
he is just in a big body so he would be cool if they just you know walked him
43:05
and made him behave you know well the dad and me knows what's going to happen
43:11
it's both the dad and a former kid where it's like the kids will make any promises they need to make to get that
43:17
dog in the house mhm yep and then they'll write off in like two weeks and
43:23
then the dad who's already busy is now on like [ __ ] patrol and walking patrol
43:29
and Exactly so you identified with his face what is his What's it George is it
43:34
George what was his name george Newton so it's George and Alice Newton i mean I
43:40
Yes well there's a meme about the But you do end up falling in love with the dog you never wanted yeah there's no
43:47
pure love exists between a man and then the dog that he never wanted never wanted yeah that's kind of like my dog
43:53
and I I didn't like my dog kind of got like sprung on us and I made like a
43:59
spur-of-the- moment decision to get him and I initially regretted it because we had a young but my daughter was a year
44:05
and a half we had a young toddler around and we have this puppy and puppies are as you know like they're a lot of work i
44:12
wouldn't say they're as much work as a new child but they're still a lot of work well and you have a a toddler and a
44:18
puppy at the same time that is a lot yeah yeah so it's like But it's worth it like he's he's family he's 11 they're
44:24
all like he's he grew up with your daughter that's so cute oh yeah they My kids don't know life without that dog
44:32
he's been all they cannot remember life before him so luckily little dogs live a
44:38
long time so but yeah yeah i was like don't get this dog even though I love
44:44
dogs and I think it's good for kids to have a dog like I think it's good or a
44:49
pet doesn't have to be a dog but I think it's good that you're responsible for something and like looking after it and
44:56
caring i think it's you know it's not like essential you don't have to but I I think it's nice and I think there's like
45:02
research to back that up i'm pretty sure but yeah this dog is wrecking their
45:07
house which they do that they certainly do i got to say though
45:13
and this is partially why kids kids love a dog and that Beethoven the puppy version i mean even when he's not a
45:19
puppy but a little fluffball i mean how could you not fall in love with that
45:24
cute little [ __ ] yeah yeah so my family has a tradition of like my the
45:32
family I grew up in of getting pets without asking other family members if it's okay like just bringing home
45:38
animals okay like how's that go over pretty good it works to be honest but
45:45
it's like what what makes it work is that they're so cute mhm so for instance
45:51
my parents got cancelled talking to my sister and I of course we're thrilled and then without telling my dad my mom
45:58
and my sister and I got a a dog like he was a German Shepherd crossing the border collie like I think he was like
46:05
six weeks old and we brought him home and my dad was like having a nap on the couch and we put him on my dad's chest
46:13
and he licked my dad's face and woke my dad up and my dad kind of like bonded with him right away right like he
46:19
charmed his way in right away and then my dad did a revenge purchase of a
46:25
different dog i love this oh my god and there's been a couple more
46:30
of those over the years so yes animals that does happen and they're cute and
46:36
they're that's I think literally like evolutionarily wise that's why like if young kids and babies are cute young
46:43
animals are cute it makes you not want to kill them cuz you would otherwise i say that to my now granted I have a dog
46:51
like they're not puppies and kids grow outgrow their cuteness but I guess by that time you've bonded and you've
46:58
already fall in love so yeah it's too late yeah once they're like a hormonal
47:03
teenager the bond's already rock solid so yeah but I say all the time oh you're
47:09
lucky you're cute you know when they're naughty speaking of which there's a scene where Beethoven steals food was it
47:17
like the Thanksgiving turkey or something what was it he steals a turkey leg he also gets He's also a very
47:25
altruistic dog where he gets baked goods from the bakery not stealing mind you
47:31
and then gives it to the homeless dog that he once kind of was connected to
47:37
from the pet theft ring yes and and I'm like no dog would ever do that that is
47:42
not how dogs roll like the phrase dog eat dog is a thing right but he Beethoven's not starving he doesn't need
47:49
it you know so in this give a [ __ ] they're like I'm eating this anyways they don't care like they're not going to they don't look after each other like
47:56
that especially if it's like not in their pack right but in this universe this child movie universe of course yes
48:02
it's totally fine poking fun like I have legit problems with the plot of shooting the dog in the head plot like that's
48:08
[ __ ] stupid easily solvable which is also not that familyfriendly of a plot yeah it's very
48:16
dark yeah whereas Beethoven giving like the cinnamon knot to that dog that's
48:22
cute it's like unrealistic but it's cute it makes sense for a family movie i'll allow it mhm and agreed yeah it there's
48:30
also like little tiny subplots too like the son getting bullied at school
48:38
which I don't think anything happens with that that I remember you just see Well Beethoven kind of
48:45
stands behind him and intimidates the kids cuz he's a big intimidating dog and
48:51
it makes the kid think he was intimidating them that's right yeah no you're right and then he also kind of
48:58
plays matchmaker with the daughter who's named Rice i don't get that name r Y C
49:04
that is There are two things I recall from this movie the fact that the oldest
49:10
daughter's name was Rice yeah I remember that too yeah that's why I remember it cuz it's so unusual
49:17
and you know the the corporate types in the patio chairs getting dragged off by
49:23
Beethoven that's literally all I remembered from this movie i remember the on when he shook off on the bed i
49:29
remember that part but yeah from I think I kind of liked Rice as a kid so
49:35
I remember her i remembered her quite a bit but yeah the dog plays some matchmaker but you don't really see
49:41
anything that happens with that other than like they know who she is yeah but like the dog escapes during
49:48
this is another weird plot where the dog like escapes the yard on the daily
49:54
because everyone recognizes him like the baker recognizes him they give him stuff
50:01
he comes to the school he doesn't seem to be noticed by anyone like he's kind of like a regular fixture around there
50:08
the kids are not surprised to see him they're like "Oh hey Beethoven." Imagine you're at school and your dog shows up
50:15
without your parents he's kind of doing his thing like he's he's moving he's shaking he's making
50:22
things happen with the kids at school so I guess they're not really subplots but it just shows like the you know the dog
50:28
he's he's earning his keep so to speak well and how he's so lovable like he's a
50:34
he's good for them it's trying to drive that point home that he he's a good thing in their lives well let's let's
Cast highlights and 90s formulaic charm
50:41
talk about our family in the cast so Charles Groden plays the dad did you
50:48
recognize him from anything Kyle you know what i thought I did i'm like man this guy's familiar i looked him up i
50:54
always look people up on Wikipedia while I'm watching a movie mhm and I'm like
51:00
were these titles that they sh I'm like I don't remember these movies but he looks familiar to you doesn't he but he
51:06
does but I think I might be from this film i just don't remember you maybe he
51:11
was also Did you see Midnight Run with Bobby D you don't That's That's Yeah I
51:17
don't think I did yeah he's got a lot of credits he started in TV
51:23
back in the 50s this is something I want to mention actually because I was surprised at how old he was mhm and how
51:31
young Bonnie Hunt is i was just going to Yes yeah like he was born in 35
51:38
or 39 or like in the 30s mhm and she was born in 60 60 or 61 there's like a 25
51:45
year age gap between them there is so he was 56 at the time of filming she was 29
51:53
but it didn't look weird to me until I read that like I I bought them as a
51:58
couple cuz he looks younger and she looks older I think yeah exactly exactly
52:03
it's funny too like now that this movie's like 33 years old the clothes she's wearing and the hairstyle she has
52:10
makes her seem so like matronly yeah makes her seem older in my view agreed i
52:17
bought him as like 42 like I I thought he looked way younger than which is
52:22
unusual we almost always say people look older like back in the day like I was going to
52:29
say like I'm 41 i don't look anywhere near the way he looks right yeah yeah i
52:34
don't know it's wild i was reading about this age difference being a thing it's interesting that I didn't blink twice
52:40
when I was watching the movie i didn't They didn't look weird to me together even though he technically could be her
52:48
dad oh sure age-wise so the director originally wanted a different actor that
52:53
was closer in age to Charles because they must have cast him first but then
52:59
they I guess had the best chemistry and he pointed out that like back in the day
53:05
Katherine Heppern would always co-star with people super old like Carrie Grant and Fred a stair Humphrey Bogart were
53:12
her romantic interests so he eventually agreed yeah you want someone around 40
53:19
in that role given the kid's age right right because I think Rice is in junior
53:25
high yeah i I think so cuz I think I remember
53:31
thinking I was about her age so she Yeah she was probably like 11 or 12 i'm the
53:36
actress who I looked up on Wikipedia [ __ ] smoke show now well did you watch The Nanny that's who she's she's
53:43
Maggie on the Nanny oh yeah okay thank you i was like she's been in other [ __ ]
53:49
mhm maggie and the Nanny the oldest daughter in that show yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah now that you say that I'm like
53:55
of course that's her but that was bugging me actually I didn't bother looking it up mind you but I saw I just
54:01
looked up on Wikipedia when I was watching i was just I was trying to find people's ages
54:07
like she's born in late '7s so she's like a few years older than you but she's close enough to your age the the
54:14
son is actually the middle son is actually just a year older than you and did you rec Okay so so the actress
54:22
who plays Rice her name is Nicole Tom and like we said she was on the nanny
54:28
and then Ted the middle child who's a boy
54:33
christopher Castile is the actor did you recognize him he seems so familiar but I
54:39
did not place him did you ever watch the show Step by Step yes yeah yeah that's
54:45
Yeah I Mark Suzanne Summer's Yeah son in that show yeah but he wasn't like that's
54:51
it i don't really I don't know what else he went on to do yeah that show was on the TJF lineup which was another as a
54:58
family we watched TGIF on Friday nights that's what you did yeah that's what he did i You know what i'm going to sell
55:05
this like an old person but I miss those days we've lost something katie I agree
55:10
i agree and I always I I am the old person like I don't have kids so nobody is to here to keep me young and hip hip
55:19
i'm worth it i'm hip tuck duck tuck duck and And I'm I don't care i feel like I
55:24
was born a grumpy old man like I've always been kind of a grumpy old man mhm
55:30
yeah it's just I feel like I'm like now that I'm 40 I'm like I feel more in my
55:35
own skin now then I don't think I was ever meant to be like a 21-year-old no yeah i've
55:42
always also like thinking about Bonnie Hunt and I feel bad because it's not like she was like wrinkly or anything it
55:48
was just again I think she just came across older for some reason than 29
55:55
yeah i would have pegged her closer to 40 yeah but I feel like I'm like that
56:00
like I always look older i don't know i always present older than I am when I
56:07
was 25 people probably thought I was 35 you know oh okay yeah so did you like buy liquor for your friends when you
56:13
were young no cuz they carred they you I didn't but
56:19
I bought cigarettes sometimes I could buy cigarettes they bought me as a as an 18-year-old when I was 15 but that's Oh
56:26
I forgot cuz you guys age 21 too yeah okay oh yeah you guys it's 18 eh
56:33
here in in Alberta it is some places in Canada it's 19 the little daughter
56:40
Sarah Rose Carr plays Emily the youngest daughter yeah yeah she has a very specific look about her right right i
56:49
feel like I remembered her from this vaguely or maybe it was from Kindergarten Cop because she was in
56:56
Kindergarten Cop and Father of the Bride it's not a tumor
57:02
and then Oliver Platt and Stanley Tucci i did not recall them at all they're the henchmen
57:09
david Dovny is one of the shady like finance types he and Patricia Heaton
57:16
they're I guess a couple because they have the same last name in the movie i
57:22
guess they have the same last name anyway um so Patricia Heaton is
57:29
obviously I mean I don't know you you've seen Everybody Loves Raymond I assume
57:35
yeah yeah yeah yeah so she's in that and then the middle which I really like the show The Middle i kind of like that show
57:42
i I liked them as villains even though their their villain character was so stupid like so stupid like big big city
57:50
people aren't like that but in these kind of movies they always are they always are like the childless career
57:57
woman in a lot of these movies is like a villain but they're invited for a
58:02
barbecue they're like "A barbecue how quaint i'm like no one would say that also
58:10
David Dubovnney I remember him being like the late '8s early 90s douchebag
58:18
type character like this like he was in he seems like that guy like he also played a very similar character in Don't
58:25
Tell Mom the babysitter's dead and I thought I misreciled
58:33
that he was Todd in like with Margot and Todd in Christmas Vacation oh yeah he's
58:40
not but it seems like one of those things when I looked it up
58:48
i just I don't know this is just wild it's like a communal misrememance
58:53
because all over the internet other people thought the same thing and it's the Mandela effect you know who is in
58:59
Christmas Vacation john Gleki or like he played Johnny Gleki yeah he played
59:05
Leonard in Big Bang Theory he's the son in that movie yeah yeah he is it's weird
59:11
like how many people like they have childhood roles you don't think about
59:17
and then you go back and you're like "Oh he's the Yeah he's David from Roseanne to me." Oh yeah for sure yeah m I think
59:25
the that Big Bang Theory and Roseanne that's like the same guy right who did those
59:31
who directed those i think it was like Marcy Cary i know no
59:36
no chuck Lori yeah i don't know if that was things
59:42
he did Big Bang Theory chuck Lori I think so yeah I think you're right he also did Roseanne i think they had that
59:48
the actress who played Darlene in Roseanne she's also on Big Bang yeah
59:54
it kind of has the same vibe a little bit actually he probably did he probably wasn't as big of a deal on Roseanne
1:00:01
because it was just so much further in the past yeah he was like his Yeah I think he was
1:00:08
involved in it yeah yeah I think you're right it happens occasionally you know mhm me
1:00:14
being right it does happen occasionally a broken clock is right twice a day this is true i was going to talk about Randy
1:00:22
Edelman who did the music for this because we talked about him in the Tall
1:00:29
Tale episode which actually Oliver Platt is also in
1:00:34
that anyway yeah he did the music for Tall Tale with Patrick in 95 as well as
1:00:40
the theme for MacGyver Randy Edelman and Twins
1:00:46
Ghostbusters 2 and Kindergarten Cop so he's got kind of a genre right yeah okay
1:00:53
so music-wise too I I showed my daughter the trailer for the movie to see if she
1:00:59
would be willing to watch it i was going to ask what she thought about it i was going to ask if she could be on
1:01:05
the pod for 5 minutes to talk about it but she's not here right now she's at her grandma's house or else I would have
1:01:11
asked you she didn't mind it it was like not her like different generation you
1:01:18
know what I mean like you show this to people she like but she she loves dogs
1:01:24
not only does she love our dog but she loves other dogs and she has like lots of dog stuffies like she's really into
1:01:29
dogs in general so that's the hook I use for this movie but I was going to say when I showed her the trailer
1:01:37
there's like this certain guitar riff that happens that I feel like is in
1:01:42
every '9s family movie trailer mhm mhm yeah like when there's like kind of the ramp up to what the movie's about and
1:01:49
I'm just like Jesus who what is this why does everyone have to play this i feel like I don't maybe I'm wrong but I just
1:01:55
feel like this is in every [ __ ] trailer back then you're right and there are certain
1:02:02
things like there's a formula to this type of a movie the from the opening to
1:02:08
the world building to the music yeah it's it's very formulaic
1:02:14
i guess there were a lot of good things about it like the actors were really good i thought all of the actors were good um the dog was great there were
1:02:22
like 12 standins for him but his name was Chris the dog's name Chris
1:02:30
what beethoven is Chris that's weird when you have Okay I've done this i made this i've had this sin with a dog before
1:02:37
but like giving dogs human names i had a dog named Marty remember I was
1:02:44
at work and I talked to this guy's name is Marty i'm like "Hey my dog's name Marty." He's like "Why did you give your dog a human name?" Marty
1:02:51
so there's some names like that that can kind of go either way but then there's
1:02:57
like what what are you going to name your dog your dog like Keith here Dave come here boy yeah you know there's
1:03:04
certain names that seem a little too human and it would be weird to name your dog that like Chris who names their dog
1:03:10
Chris we had a repair guy at our house and my dog Marty was doing something
1:03:15
stupid and my mom's like "Marty stop that." And this guy looked over and like
1:03:20
his name was Marty like Kyle or Katie would be weird dog
1:03:27
names right well they're weird names in general though not weird names but like
1:03:34
no one names their kids Kyle or maybe Katie a little bit but no one names their son Kyle nowadays very few people
1:03:42
like it's becoming an old person name katie is on its way i think Katie has a little more I think Kyle's a little more
1:03:47
flash in the pan yes that's the perfect Katie's more like traditional yeah a
1:03:53
little Your full name is Catherine right no it's Katie is it really katie okay
1:03:58
cool do you know my last name's a little long so I Yeah fair enough fair enough yeah um but yeah I feel like Katie or
1:04:07
Catherine is will come and go mhm but it will always be there i feel like Kyle
1:04:13
has always existed to a degree not always but like basically shot up in the
1:04:18
70s 80s 90s yes and then is done it's all Ethan it's like in that same vein
1:04:25
like it's like a cool edgy name kind of i think Kyle is like a internet
1:04:33
you call someone it's like a kind of like a [ __ ] boy who drinks like monsters and has like a Dodge Ram it's not good
1:04:42
oh I I thought you were thinking of like Chad a Chad or Yeah well that's like the new thing now yeah chad i think Chad is
1:04:49
kind of not a bad thing necessarily incelss will not like a Chad but like a Chad is like a Chad gets laid right yes
1:04:58
yeah yeah um I'm fine with my name i don't care if people make fun of it but yeah it's not like No one's name their
1:05:04
kid Kyle and I'm cool with that it's Might I suggest Rice who doesn't like
1:05:10
Grace it's not spelled like that though it's with a Y it's like It's like Bryce
1:05:17
it's like Bryce with an R i actually am against naming your kids weird names
1:05:23
especially I I'm really into conventional spelling for names same because it's like don't
1:05:30
make your [ __ ] kid have to spell their name out to everyone for the rest of their life if you're gonna name your
1:05:36
kid Ashley do not spell it with an L E I
1:05:41
G H yeah or even this is more controversial don't spell Jeff g E O FF
1:05:51
don't Joffrey it's like is he could do it but if you're English no don't do
1:05:57
that or there's Utah is really bad for this oh like they'll they'll find like
1:06:02
really just stupid ways to spell the most normal names i'm almost tempted to look up a few but it's like like Ashley
1:06:11
be like a s h l e it's like McKenzie it' be like m a m a k
1:06:19
e n s e i g h or something like McKenzie is one that that people if you're going
1:06:26
to name there's a certain type of person that names their kid McKenzie first of all and then they always spell it a
1:06:31
little weird I feel like Yeah yeah like I have to spell my last name to people because it's a slightly different
1:06:37
spelling and like I've accepted it in just what I do but thank God there are
1:06:46
other spellings of Kyle but mine's like by far the most common one if you do ke
1:06:52
I l or k i e l I've seen that a couple times yeah exactly exactly but in my
1:07:00
work there's like 110 people in my office there is a Kyle a Kyla and a
1:07:07
Kylie mhm so I've never felt but like growing up there was always another Kyle
1:07:12
in my class yeah anyway this we digress but yeah
1:07:18
Rice don't names fun with names
1:07:23
rice is a bad idea and if you're going to do it spell it R I C E don't be a [ __ ] [ __ ] and make them explain
1:07:31
both their weird name and the weird spelling of their weird name agreed
1:07:36
agreed agreed yeah let's see oh '9s things there was just like so many
1:07:43
formulaic stuff from the '9s which I kind of loved because it's it was like a time capsule but Doberman's as like mean
1:07:51
vicious dogs junkyard Dogs yeah mhm loved that yeah i just The '9s just
1:07:58
cheesy movie in general yes i'm like ah the '9s the '9s it's funny how as
1:08:04
different as it looked it wasn't that different true like that house could be a house today other than maybe some
1:08:12
technology differences but you know in general like the decor wasn't like
1:08:19
awful like screaming ' 90s at you yeah yeah or like the cars looked a bit
1:08:25
different mhm but you know and like clothes were a little bit It wasn't that
1:08:30
different though like it's we've talked about this on the other show but it's like there's something about I don't know why but like between the 70s and
1:08:38
the 90s seems like a long time maybe because I wasn't there for it but if you look at the style in 1972 versus 1992 or
1:08:47
let's go back 33 years from 1992 so like 1969 would look way [ __ ] different
1:08:54
from 1992 and it does look different from 1992 to
1:09:00
now that the difference isn't nearly as big i feel like if I showed up looking like this in 1992 no one would say [ __ ]
1:09:07
yeah you're right yeah they'd be like "Cool name Kyle." Such a stylish name i remember when I
1:09:14
saw Terminator and the character was Kyle Reese and I was like I've never seen a Kyle in film it was like you
1:09:21
don't see a lot of Kyle's in film but you don't yeah you're right interesting you see we got laid as we do
1:09:29
it's a kind of our thing just saying there was one thing that I was not expecting to happen that I enjoyed but
1:09:36
before that at the end when the bad guys get caught right that that of course is
1:09:41
going to happen it's a happy ending spoiler alert yes and they free all the dogs in the cages i Was it just me or
1:09:51
were you screaming at the TV what are you doing can we do this in an orderly fashion so we can find their owners
1:09:56
you're just setting you're just creating a bunch of stray animals just just the the you know okay haven't you ever heard
1:10:02
these stories about a family pet that gets lost on a road trip vacation and they somehow
1:10:10
homeward bounding like 700 miles to your house i think the movie producers Well
1:10:17
this will just happen with all these pets here they're probably find their way home no cars will hit them no other
1:10:23
shady characters will pick them up and try and sell them for some purposes that are not good like bait
1:10:30
dogs and stuff so yeah that drove me insane and then at the end when they're
1:10:36
like "Good night Beethoven." So now they love Beethoven and he gets to sleep in their room with them i can't remember if
1:10:41
he was on the bed or not was Beethoven on the bed with them oh I can't remember but yeah he's in that little dog house
1:10:47
that I'm like "How does he fit in that thing?" Oh well so then they're like "Good night good night Beethoven." And
1:10:53
then I thought "Oh for sure." Then they're going to We It's not over yet and I'm like "Oh they adopted the little
1:10:59
Jack Russell dog." That was kind of his little sidekick this Oh yes yes all the dogs live with them yeah i was not
1:11:06
expecting all of those dogs i guess that's where they all went
1:11:11
oh I didn't even realize that they tattoo the ears i don't know if they had microchips in the early 90s they did in
1:11:17
the late 90s i know in 1998 microchips for dogs was common because we
1:11:22
microchipped our dog in 1998 but there is identific
1:11:29
chipped I assume they are yeah yeah but yeah in '92 I don't know if they would be but still find their Yeah like cuz I
1:11:37
remember like the more expensive option was chipping but otherwise would get
1:11:42
neutered or whatever while they're down anyways they just tattoo their ear while they're like asleep oh okay it's just
1:11:49
the inside of their ear so like you can't you wouldn't notice it otherwise i had heard of people like high society
1:11:57
types that are like care about the bloodlines and stuff like they'll have there's like a specific tattoo for the
1:12:04
Oh sure whatever blood that's like huge business like you like certain dog breeding and bloodlines and just adopt
1:12:12
your local mut from your animal shelter exactly because they love you just as much as a peerbred and peerbred dogs
1:12:18
have many physical deficiencies because you're not supposed to inbreed them like that they are your dog will be far
1:12:24
healthier but I would also like to say even if even if you want a purebred dog
1:12:30
something like 40% of dogs in shelters are purebred plus there is a dog rescue for every breed
1:12:36
out there i have blood hounds and they're both rescues and Bubble was even a baby when I got her but from a rescue
1:12:44
yeah yeah well it's saying rescues are cheaper and like more ethical like what what's the
1:12:51
downside well they're not always cheaper but but they will already come sped or
1:12:56
neutered so there's that yeah I know like for cats here they just give
1:13:02
them away like they can't you don't have to pay for a cat here well the cuz cat
1:13:08
there's so gosh darn many of them yeah exactly charge something to to weed out
1:13:15
people will do horrible things that is a business that people will go in the take all the free animals and use them for
1:13:22
either food for their snake if it's a kitten or kitten to really
1:13:28
that's [ __ ] nuts i I know people do it with mice and stuff like that yeah or dog fighting bait or you know various
1:13:36
thing like pe people are sick so people are people are there's a lot of [ __ ] up people there really are also don't
1:13:43
ever let your pets outside unattended because they do actually get stolen for those same types of purposes anyway
1:13:49
that's my PSA for you all be careful people watch out your goddamn pets
1:13:54
people yeah keep an eye on them and yeah so I guess I didn't even think of that
1:14:00
all those dogs but either way they're out loose now you got to wrangle them
1:14:06
somehow how do they come home what do you You can't like It's just a
1:14:12
You know what i'm okay with all the dogs being there because it's so stupid at this point like my will is just broken i
1:14:17
also love how that guy the main villain the vet got like a
1:14:24
dozen syringes to the chest yeah they were like giant like cartoonish looking
1:14:30
fluid fil and so my wife works in the medical field and she thought it was funny that all of the syringes are like
1:14:37
up like this she's like "Who would do that?"
1:14:43
Oh so many things not not quite right i did see so Dr dr varnick who we didn't
1:14:50
talk about he he's actually played by Dean Jones and he's a singer more so
1:14:55
than an actor and has won awards for it but they considered the dad from ALF to
1:15:02
play him h I got a kick out of his glasses
1:15:07
dr barnick yeah he had like really strong prescription glasses or like his
1:15:12
eyes were magnified it kind of reminds me of Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys
1:15:20
yeah yeah I can see that there's a bias against glasses though i think they did that for a reason
1:15:26
well he was supposed to be you know veterinarian they're like nerdy scientists i don't know the worse your
1:15:33
vision is the more the smarter you are that is how that works i'm pretty sure it Yes well I must be brilliant then
1:15:41
cuz I can't see for [ __ ] what's your prescription i don't have one i had
1:15:47
LASIC done twice oh okay but I like now and so the older you get they're like
1:15:53
"Well you'll need reading glasses." I'm like "No I need glasses." Glasses i can't see still fur there's a one in my
1:16:00
office that got LASIK at 40 and she's 51 now and she wears glasses i've never had
1:16:07
2020 even with LASIK do you ever Did you ever use contacts
1:16:12
i hated them i showed it one like one time and I wore them for like 20 years
1:16:18
from like sixth grade on i think there's like a ton of casting whatifs essentially like every famous actor in
1:16:24
the approximate age range for both George and Alice so I didn't really
1:16:29
think that was that interesting i was just thinking of the
1:16:34
I think Ed O'Neal would have been funniest to Did you see that he was one of them considered oh no i just
1:16:42
Beethoven really I think had probably one of the shakiest plots that I've ever seen in a
1:16:49
movie ever yeah ever ever not just like '90s family movies but yeah one of the dumbest plots now I haven't seen
1:16:55
Battlefield Earth i don't know what that is okay oh I think actually it's rated the worst
1:17:02
movie of all time but it was funded and written kind of a John Travolta but it's
1:17:08
based off a Elron Hubard yes yes I've heard of it this thing was just
1:17:14
shoehorned in there to promote Scientology it's the dumbest [ __ ] movie so people
1:17:21
say I actually kind of want to watch it just like to hate watch it suggestion Katie you know you don't have to do
1:17:27
Battlefield Earth so it's just it like a propaganda movie or I know I don't know it was based on a book written by Elron
1:17:33
Hubard where it's like it's like the year 3000 and these aliens kind of run Earth instead of humans and oh they're
1:17:40
like resisting against them and which doesn't sound horrible like that's but
1:17:46
Elbert was a nut job and I think a lot of his books sucked so and this apparently was one of them like had not
1:17:54
George Travolta funded it so much i think it never no one would have invested in it now that you brought that
1:17:59
I have heard of it i don't know if I want to waste two hours on something like that but anyways so this is
1:18:05
Battlefield Earth might be a contender for worst plot perhaps but this was one
1:18:10
of the stupidest plots you know just the fact that it's a dog that's all you need i love a giant breed
1:18:18
dog like I have blood hounds now i had I've had three Great Danes i had a mastiff mix i I love a big dog but man
1:18:27
not even that could rescue this movie for me it's just like a chaotic mix of
1:18:32
nonsense shoved together and it's almost like they tried to make the plot convoluted
1:18:39
and not make sense like you couldn't make it that bad if you tried so I don't
1:18:44
know i I do not blame John Hughes for not wanting to put his real name on this
1:18:49
but I feel like the villains and that was put in at the end
1:18:55
like I feel like they just had this family like they knew they would have to have a villain so they wrote it with
1:19:01
that in mind but I think they're like "Okay we need to come up with something like it was an afterthought." But there were two like there was even like a
1:19:08
Bplot there was like secondary villains yeah but it's like the villains are just I think they're there because you're
1:19:14
supposed to have them even though they're not needed but it's like as you were talking about how like formulaic
1:19:20
these '9s family movies are you have to have a villain i understand that you
1:19:26
have to have conflict you have to have a challenge to overcome but that can come from within in the family have to come from glasses [ __ ] which if you want
1:19:34
to like it's a trademark name but like if if you
1:19:40
really want to go with a plot where they're going to kill the doctors the dog do this big corporation Mhm want to
1:19:47
do testing on animals say it's like some European makeup company or some [ __ ] like that make them the corporate
1:19:53
henchmen what's wrong with that you could do that that's believable small town vet doing munitions testing is like
1:20:01
what drug were you doing when you came up with that and well I guess we have to seek out the big dog like biggest dog
1:20:09
also they not only want to keep Beethoven overnight for observation
1:20:15
after some just like annual shots not only that but then there is an
1:20:20
unannounced house call from the veterinarian to follow up about vaccines
1:20:29
it's I don't know man but at least Beethoven was cute in all stages beethoven was a cute dog kyle thank you
Final thoughts on Beethoven’s nostalgic value
1:20:36
so much for joining me on season two and living through Beethoven because I
1:20:42
remembered it very differently than re-watching it the other day what are
1:20:47
your closing thoughts i paid $5 to rent that off Prime and I don't feel bad okay
1:20:55
you know what it was even though the movie had a stupid plot it brought back some memories it brought some nostalgia
1:21:02
for me it was an excuse for my family to get together and I think that's what a lot of these movies were for and for
1:21:08
that reason I'm okay with it for its time and for its place it was good
1:21:14
enough it could have been better they definitely could have made some things better but it got the job done the box
1:21:20
office showed that it got the job done it is what it is and I'm just I'm
1:21:26
willing to just accept it's all good i concur i concur
1:21:33
well you guys if you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane even though we
1:21:38
poked a lot of holes in it share the show write a quick review or you can just say hi i'm all ears and until next
1:21:45
time be kind rewind