Bonus Episode: The Screening Room – The Fisher King
This week in the Screening Room, Zeth is breaking down Terry Gilliam’s 1991 film The Fisher King, starring Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Mercedes Ruehl, and Amanda Plummer. Plus we make a mixtape inspired by the film with songs by Simon & Garfunkel, The Smiths, Queens of the Stone Age, and more. Become an All Access member and get ad-free listening by visiting disgracelandpod.com.
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Speaker 1: What's up, good people love Hollywoodland. My name is Seth Lundie, writer,
Speaker 1: showrunner and good doctor here at Double Elvis, and let
Speaker 1: me tell you something, Jack. We're heading for social anarchy
Speaker 1: when people start pissing on bookstores. Welcome once again to
Speaker 1: the screening room, our weekly episode of the Pod, in
Speaker 1: which we watch a movie that has something to do
Speaker 1: with our main episode subject and themes of the week,
Speaker 1: and then we talk about it. The movie we watched
Speaker 1: this week is called The Fisher King. It came out
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety one. It was directed by Terry Gilliam,
Speaker 1: with a screenplay by Richard Lagravine's. It was shot by
Speaker 1: the great British cinematographer Roger Pratt, and it stars Jeff Bridges,
Speaker 1: Mercedes Rule, Amanda Plumber and our guy Robin Williams, who
Speaker 1: was the subject of our archive episode back on Monday
Speaker 1: of this week. I'm psyched for this one, guys. This
Speaker 1: is a long time favorite of mine. It's the most
Speaker 1: down to earth thing Terry Gilliam ever made. It's got
Speaker 1: incredible performances from all four of the central actors. It's
Speaker 1: a comedy, it's a tragedy, it's a romance. Film. It's
Speaker 1: a buddy film. It's at times hallucinatory and other times absurd,
Speaker 1: and then it could be so human and so truthful.
Speaker 1: It really cuts to the bone about what it means
Speaker 1: to be human, what it means to be alive, and
Speaker 1: in the end reveals these truths about life itself, about
Speaker 1: the meaning of it all. And the funny thing is
Speaker 1: they are truths that have been transformed from these prosaic
Speaker 1: things into something profound. Now, there are so many Robin
Speaker 1: Williams films that I could have chosen for this today,
Speaker 1: many Hollywood Land Codd Robin Williams films. I thought about
Speaker 1: stuff like Cadillac Man. He plays a car salesman in
Speaker 1: that one whose dealership is taken hostage by Tim Robbins.
Speaker 1: I thought of Kenneth Brannaw's Dead Again, but his role
Speaker 1: is kind of small in that one hour photo Insomnia.
Speaker 1: There's a lot that could have worked for us, But
Speaker 1: in the end, the Fisher King is just too good
Speaker 1: for me to ignore. And like I said before, it's
Speaker 1: one of my favorites. This one came out back in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, one of those crucial moments in Hollywood
Speaker 1: in which risks were starting to be taken again, and
Speaker 1: everything about this film was risk. First was the script,
Speaker 1: which was the first screenplay that Richard Lagrabine's had ever written.
Speaker 1: He was a comedy writer at the time, writing for others,
Speaker 1: writing for no money, and he took a chance on himself.
Speaker 1: He wrote four different iterations of this thing over the
Speaker 1: course of two years, and in nineteen eighty eight, after
Speaker 1: the writer's strike had ended, he sold it. And one
Speaker 1: of the reasons he wrote so many versions is because
Speaker 1: an early version of the script wound up being too
Speaker 1: similar to Rainman, and when that film was announced. When
Speaker 1: that film was released, Lagravines was like, shit, these people
Speaker 1: like secretly read like what I was writing. I guess.
Speaker 1: He originally had Jeff Bridges' character, Jack Lucas, written as
Speaker 1: a cab driver, but he wound up changing Jack Lucas
Speaker 1: to a DJ after hearing Howard Stern on the radio
Speaker 1: there in New York and sort of having this epiphany
Speaker 1: about how to change his screenplay and his characters and
Speaker 1: really wrangle this into something unique. And this is written
Speaker 1: at the time, of course Howard Stern was big in
Speaker 1: New York, but this is right when Howard Stern was
Speaker 1: sort of becoming the national media figure that we all
Speaker 1: know now, So Lagravines was writing to that. He was
Speaker 1: also writing in reaction to the nineteen eighties, which was
Speaker 1: coming to a close, you know, the cynicism of that
Speaker 1: decade into the self serving archetype embodied by Jeff Bridges'
Speaker 1: character Jack Lucas, which I love because it makes its
Speaker 1: place in this transitional moment in Hollywood even stronger because
Speaker 1: it's riffing off the recent past, it's rejecting the recent
Speaker 1: past even and moving forward with new energy, just like
Speaker 1: the industry was at the time. That energy is supplied
Speaker 1: in equal parts by Robin Williams and Terry Gilliam. The director.
Speaker 1: Terry Gilliam was probably the biggest risk of them all.
Speaker 1: Though Gilliam of course came up with Monty Python's Flying Circus,
Speaker 1: he was the only American in that British comedy troupe.
Speaker 1: He was hired first as their animator and before long
Speaker 1: started acting with Eric Idol and John CLEAs and Michael
Speaker 1: Palin and the rest. And then he parleyed that into
Speaker 1: a career in film as a director, a director with
Speaker 1: a very singular style, This fantastical, absurd dystopian black comedy
Speaker 1: kind of thing. You know, you watch Time Bandits or
Speaker 1: Brazil or Twelve Month or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,
Speaker 1: and you know you're watching a Terry Gillion film, sometimes
Speaker 1: for better, sometimes for worse. But when The Fisher King
Speaker 1: was going into production and the producers in the studio
Speaker 1: were looking for a director and the name Terry Gilliam
Speaker 1: came up, the immediate reaction was fuck No, Actually it
Speaker 1: was fuck that guy, because Terry Gilliam was persona non
Speaker 1: grada in Hollywood at this time. His most recent film
Speaker 1: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen from nineteen eighty eight. This
Speaker 1: thing was a colossal flop, like one of the biggest
Speaker 1: bombs in Hollywood history at that time, ishtar level boom.
Speaker 1: I remember reading so much about this movie when it
Speaker 1: came out, and it was all about all the stuff
Speaker 1: I read about. It was about its troubled production, how
Speaker 1: it had gone way over budget. When the dust settled,
Speaker 1: the budget was somewhere around forty million dollars and it
Speaker 1: only made like eight million at the box office, So
Speaker 1: no one wanted to hire Terry Gilliam. And Terry Gilliam
Speaker 1: actually has said in hindsight that he thought he would
Speaker 1: never work again. He thought his film career was over,
Speaker 1: not even you know, ten years or so after it
Speaker 1: had begun. But I think part of the reason he
Speaker 1: wound up getting the gig is because the producers just
Speaker 1: thought he was perfect for this, and they lobbied very
Speaker 1: hard for him. And also, to his credit, he agreed
Speaker 1: to not make it a quote unquote Terry Gilliam film,
Speaker 1: which is to say, he didn't help with the script
Speaker 1: like he usually did. He rained himself in so that
Speaker 1: he wouldn't get creatively carried away and thus carry the
Speaker 1: budget away with him. And apparently besides the scene in
Speaker 1: Grand Central Station where everyone starts dancing, which was an
Speaker 1: idea that Gilliam had, Terry Gilliam stuck to that promise,
Speaker 1: almost like he was like a gun for hire. But
Speaker 1: I don't know. Even though that said, and that's the
Speaker 1: way the story is told. You watch this movie, there's
Speaker 1: no denying that's a Terry Gilliam film. His fingerprints are
Speaker 1: all over it. But I think what makes it special
Speaker 1: and makes it his greatest film, is that he made
Speaker 1: space for these other collaborators in a way that perhaps
Speaker 1: he hadn't done prior to this. I guess there are
Speaker 1: I read about that there's gilliam fans out there who
Speaker 1: call this his sellout film. People believe that he compromised
Speaker 1: his creativity to make something mainstream. I guess, but I disagree.
Speaker 1: I hard disagree. I don't think that anyone who watches this,
Speaker 1: especially now, would call this a sellout film. I mean,
Speaker 1: Disney tried to make this at first, and it was
Speaker 1: too dark for Disney. Disney would not make it. I
Speaker 1: think it's a brave, raw, uncompromising piece of art. And
Speaker 1: at the center of it is Robin Williams tapping into
Speaker 1: a very focused darkness and pain, but also into absolutely
Speaker 1: goofy flow state comedy. It's the duality of our human
Speaker 1: expits experience. This comes at a time too. Remember when
Speaker 1: Robin Williams was I think, surprising a lot of people
Speaker 1: with his dramatic acting chops and what I mean by
Speaker 1: that is he was just getting better and better. Sure,
Speaker 1: you know, he had done the world according to Garp
Speaker 1: in Moscow on the Hudson, But the Fisher King happens
Speaker 1: during this run that includes Good Morning Vietnam and Dead
Speaker 1: Poets Society. You know, He was nominated for an Academy
Speaker 1: Award for Best Actor for both of those films, and
Speaker 1: then again for The Fisher King. Hollywood was dead serious
Speaker 1: about this guy who just a few years earlier was
Speaker 1: making jokes on stage about God getting stoned and creating
Speaker 1: the platypus. Rob Williams did not win the Oscar for
Speaker 1: any of these films, by the way, However, Mercedes Rule
Speaker 1: did win Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anne
Speaker 1: and The Fisher King, and the film was also nominated
Speaker 1: for Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score.
Speaker 1: Best Original Screenplay that year went to Callie Curry for
Speaker 1: Filma and Louise. Best Actor was Anthony Hopkins for the
Speaker 1: Silence of the Lambs. I mean, this was a great
Speaker 1: year for film. This is the year of JFK. Barton, Fink,
Speaker 1: Boys in the Hood, Slacker, the Commitments, my own Private Idaho.
Speaker 1: Something was happening, but you don't know what it is,
Speaker 1: do you, mister Jones. I do think Terry Gilliams should
Speaker 1: have been nominated for Best Director. I mean, what a
Speaker 1: redemptive film for him at this point in his career.
Speaker 1: I mean, the whole damn movie is about Redemption, but
Speaker 1: it has Terry Gilliams Redemption too, and Jeff Bridges should
Speaker 1: have been nominated as well. Between himself and Robin Williams,
Speaker 1: he's playing the harder role because he has to play
Speaker 1: the straight man, so to speak. He's the guy who's
Speaker 1: reacting to Robin williams Utter insanity. So I think it's
Speaker 1: the harder role. And Jeff Bridges is so good at
Speaker 1: playing against type. Here at the time he was playing
Speaker 1: an asshole, and he's so damn believable as an asshole.
Speaker 1: And was even more believable is when he has his
Speaker 1: trans when this character, this piece of shit shock Jock
Speaker 1: realizes that the life that he used to have, the
Speaker 1: life that he thought he wanted to get back, is
Speaker 1: in fact not what he wants at all. And for
Speaker 1: as good as Robin Williams is in this, I think
Speaker 1: that's what ties this film together. To paraphrase another Jeff Bridges' character,
Speaker 1: the Dude. What ties this film together is Jeff Bridges
Speaker 1: and how he nails Jack Lucas's transformation. It's a beautiful thing,
Speaker 1: as is the Fisher King. This is a film about
Speaker 1: New York City. It's about tragedy, It's about falling from grace,
Speaker 1: about homeless encampments and red knights and basement layers. It's
Speaker 1: also about the search for the Holy Grail, and about
Speaker 1: how I like New York in June, how about you?
Speaker 1: And we're going to get into it right after this,
Speaker 1: The Fisher King opens with the sound of Ray Charles
Speaker 1: hit the Road Jack, and the sight of a darkened
Speaker 1: radio studio where New York City shock jock Jack Lucas
Speaker 1: played by Jeff Bridges is holding court live on the air.
Speaker 1: He is rude, he is crude. He gives callers the
Speaker 1: kind of advice that a man with a conscience would
Speaker 1: instantly regret. But Jack Lucas has no conscience. If Jack
Speaker 1: Lucas had a conscience, if he cared for his fellow man,
Speaker 1: truly cared for the people calling into his show looking
Speaker 1: for advice, looking for human connection and to be seen
Speaker 1: and heard and validated, then he would not be here
Speaker 1: dominating the airwaves, living in a swanky penthouse apartment. So
Speaker 1: when an audibly unstable man calls into Jack's show talking
Speaker 1: about a woman he's obsessed with that he saw out
Speaker 1: at a fancy restaurant, Jack responds, not with encouragement, but
Speaker 1: instead he tells the caller that the woman at that
Speaker 1: fancy restaurant, these people, as he says, they don't feel love.
Speaker 1: They only negotiate love moments that are repulsed by imperfection,
Speaker 1: horrified by the banal everything that America stands for. In effect,
Speaker 1: Jack Lucas says that women like the one that this
Speaker 1: caller is obsessed with this fancy restaurant, these yuppies, they
Speaker 1: are scum and they, as Jack Lucas says, they must
Speaker 1: be stopped before it's too late. The caller is silent
Speaker 1: for a moment, and then he simply responds okay, Jack,
Speaker 1: and he hangs up. Later that night, Jack is in
Speaker 1: his high rise apartment taking a long, luxurious bath, reading
Speaker 1: the script for this new TV sitcom he's about to
Speaker 1: start shooting, which is going to goose his career in
Speaker 1: the ass and send him higher than this high rise,
Speaker 1: straight into the stratosphere. He's contemplating what he will title
Speaker 1: his best selling autobiography when news breaks there on his
Speaker 1: three TV sets that he has in the living room.
Speaker 1: News breaks at the caller from earlier that day, the
Speaker 1: one who Jack told that the yuppies must be stopped
Speaker 1: before it's too late, which is ironic because Jack is
Speaker 1: the yuppies that he's describing. This caller has taken Jack's
Speaker 1: advice literally. He's gone to that restaurant and he's opened
Speaker 1: fire with a shotgun, killing seven people before turning the
Speaker 1: gun on himself. And in this moment, Jack's life changes forever.
Speaker 1: Three years pass we see that Jack has gone through
Speaker 1: transformation number one. He's no longer the hot shit shock jock.
Speaker 1: He no longer has that penthouse apartment. He's no longer
Speaker 1: driven around town in a limo where he gets to
Speaker 1: ignore the riff raff who come banging on the tinted windows.
Speaker 1: He's working for his new girlfriend and played by Mercedes Rule,
Speaker 1: at her video rental store video Spot, and they live
Speaker 1: together in a modest apartment directly upstairs. Jack is a drunk.
Speaker 1: He's drinking whiskey all day. He's drinking in the morning,
Speaker 1: he's drinking it at work whenever. He is haunted by
Speaker 1: the tragedy that was inspired by his comments on air,
Speaker 1: or maybe to put it to better put it, at
Speaker 1: this point in the film, he's probably more haunted by
Speaker 1: the fact that his life has been ruined. The life
Speaker 1: that he thought he was going to have, the person
Speaker 1: he thought he was going to be, has been taken
Speaker 1: away from him. So he stumbles around New York City
Speaker 1: looking disheveled, looking more and more like a bum, so
Speaker 1: much so that a little kid mistakes him for a bum.
Speaker 1: Jack's aid his lowest. He takes his seemingly bottomless bottle
Speaker 1: of Jack Daniels out into the night, roaming the streets.
Speaker 1: He goes down in Brooklyn Bridge Park, ties these cinder
Speaker 1: blocks to his feet, and is about to jump into
Speaker 1: the East River when a couple of kids teenagers come
Speaker 1: upon him, looking to beat the shit out of him,
Speaker 1: just because he's pathetic and vulnerable and they have nothing
Speaker 1: else better to do. They are the people that Jack Lucas,
Speaker 1: the shock jock, has molded for years on air. Right
Speaker 1: they beat him, they pour gasoline all over his body,
Speaker 1: and they're about to light him on fire, when suddenly,
Speaker 1: out of the shadows comes this man, crazy man, homeless man,
Speaker 1: followed by an army of other homeless men who stopped
Speaker 1: the attack and saved Jack Lucas's life for it the
Speaker 1: first time. This man is Perry, played by Robin Williams,
Speaker 1: and he takes Jack first to a homeless encampment that
Speaker 1: looks like one of the rings of Dante's Inferno, and
Speaker 1: then he takes him into this basement lair where he
Speaker 1: lives surrounded by lit candles and makeshift shrines and books
Speaker 1: and ephemera about the Holy Grail. Because, as we quickly
Speaker 1: find out, Perry, who is obviously very mentally and emotionally disturbed,
Speaker 1: believes he is a knight. He believes that chubby, little
Speaker 1: flying people were sent to him by God, informing him
Speaker 1: that he is the janitor of God, as he says,
Speaker 1: and that he has been given a quest, and that
Speaker 1: quest begins with a page number and a specific issue
Speaker 1: of Architectural Digest, which profiles the New York City house
Speaker 1: of a billionaire who has what appears to be the
Speaker 1: Holy Grail on a bookshelf. And so Perry believes he
Speaker 1: has been put on this quest by God to find
Speaker 1: the Holy Grail. And now he further believes, now that
Speaker 1: Jack Lucas has come into his life, that God has
Speaker 1: sent Jack Lucas here to his system. Jack, of course,
Speaker 1: thinks Perry is batshit crazy, and when he leaves the
Speaker 1: apartment to go back home, he runs into the building super.
Speaker 1: I think it's the super who reveals to Jack that
Speaker 1: Perry is actually a former college professor named Henry Sagan,
Speaker 1: and that he used to live with his wife upstairs
Speaker 1: in that very building, but that his wife was one
Speaker 1: of the seven people murdered by the man who shot
Speaker 1: up that fancy restaurant. After calling into Jack Lucas's radio
Speaker 1: show for help, that Perry aka Henry Sagan here. He
Speaker 1: didn't speak for a year after that, and now with
Speaker 1: his life ruined, he's delusional, and the super is letting
Speaker 1: him live there in the building's basement. Jack, of course,
Speaker 1: cannot believe this. Of all the people in all the
Speaker 1: neighborhoods in New York, right, he's got to run into
Speaker 1: this guy. This alone could have been this film. This
Speaker 1: could have been the arc. It could have ended on
Speaker 1: Jack finding out this crazy and shattering piece of information
Speaker 1: about this man after spending an entire evening with him.
Speaker 1: But it's not the whole film. It's just the beginning.
Speaker 1: It's just the setup. What follows is Jack trying to
Speaker 1: throw money at the problem. He sees Perry again. He
Speaker 1: gives him seventy bucks, thinking that he'll ease his conscience
Speaker 1: and you know, make him forget about it all. But
Speaker 1: Perry immediately gives the money away to another homeless man,
Speaker 1: which only frustrates Jack. And meanwhile, Perry is trying to
Speaker 1: pull Jack into this Holy Grail quest, you know, and
Speaker 1: Jack counters by reminding Perry of what's real and what's not,
Speaker 1: you know. He thinks that this will snap him out
Speaker 1: of it. He confronts Perry and tells him that he
Speaker 1: knows who he is. He knows his real name is
Speaker 1: Henry Sagan, and that's when Perry sees the Red Knight
Speaker 1: for the first time, and we see the Red Knight
Speaker 1: for the first time. The Red Knight is this mysterious,
Speaker 1: terrifying medieval night on a horse. The Knight and the
Speaker 1: horse are all entirely clad in red. There are these
Speaker 1: long flowing strips of some sort of fabric for that
Speaker 1: are flowing everywhere. It's very intricate yet very hard to
Speaker 1: make sense of at the same time, and there's flames
Speaker 1: that are shooting out from the Knight's helmet, and the
Speaker 1: vision is you know, Perry is the only person that
Speaker 1: can see this, but it terrorizes him. It literally renders
Speaker 1: him unable to move he knocks him out of the ground.
Speaker 1: He's screaming out in this tremendous psychic pain, and we
Speaker 1: know right away that this hallucination is the thing that's
Speaker 1: been torturing Perry ever since his wife was murdered in
Speaker 1: that restaurant three years ago. Now Jack can't see the
Speaker 1: Red Knight, obviously, but watching Perry go through this does
Speaker 1: get Jack to stick around and try to help some
Speaker 1: more because he feels bad for him. I guess Perry also,
Speaker 1: he's got this crush on this woman, Lydia played by
Speaker 1: Amanda Plumber, a woman who awkwardly walks through the streets
Speaker 1: of New York City, flinching at trash floating in the
Speaker 1: wind like it's the first time she's ever experienced trash
Speaker 1: or wind. And Jack takes it upon himself to fix
Speaker 1: Perry up with Lydia and hopes that will snap him
Speaker 1: out of it. At the same time, Perry is still
Speaker 1: trying to get Jack to snap out of his own bullshit,
Speaker 1: this cardboard or plastic persona that he's fashioned for himself,
Speaker 1: this greedy, self centered, cynical prick. At one point, Perry
Speaker 1: strips naked in the middle of Central Park and tries
Speaker 1: to get Jack to do the same, but Jack isn't
Speaker 1: doing that because Jack still has this blockage in his
Speaker 1: mind and in his soul, and it will remain there
Speaker 1: until he does something for Perry that is not self serving,
Speaker 1: because up until the end, all the ways in which
Speaker 1: Jack tries to help Perry is really just him trying
Speaker 1: to help himself, and he'll wind up doing the one
Speaker 1: thing that Perry ever asked him to do, the one
Speaker 1: thing that Jack has been avoiding by doing all these
Speaker 1: other things for himself. By doing that one thing who
Speaker 1: he really is, will smack him so hard in the
Speaker 1: fucking face that it will change him forever. But before that,
Speaker 1: we get Jack's, like I said, setting up this elaborate
Speaker 1: plan for Perry to go on a state with Lydia
Speaker 1: to double date with him and Anne. We get seen
Speaker 1: stealing minor roles from the great Michael Jeter as a
Speaker 1: homeless cabaret singer and Tom Waits as a disabled vet
Speaker 1: who has the great line there that I said at
Speaker 1: the top of the episode, We're heading for social me
Speaker 1: do it, Tom Waye's voice, We're heading for social anarchy
Speaker 1: when people start pissing on bookstores, Okay, great line. We
Speaker 1: get another run in with the Red Knight, this one
Speaker 1: which puts Perry right back in trouble, back to the
Speaker 1: spot near the East River where Jack nearly took his
Speaker 1: own life, where he's beaten within an inch of his
Speaker 1: life by some punk kids. And then Perry is back
Speaker 1: to not saying anything to lying in a hospital bed,
Speaker 1: his eyes open, he's mute, which sets in motion Jack's
Speaker 1: decision to go to this Billllionaire's house that they saw
Speaker 1: on architectural digest to steal the Holy Grail. Something he
Speaker 1: tells the nonverbal Perry that he's doing for him, for Perry. Now,
Speaker 1: this ties in directly to the film's title and the
Speaker 1: story of the Fisher King, which I haven't even gotten
Speaker 1: into yet. It's this Arthurian legend, you know, King arthur legend,
Speaker 1: this myth of the wounded King, the protector of the
Speaker 1: Holy Grail, who is He's waiting for someone to come
Speaker 1: along and heal him, and it's the fool who does
Speaker 1: so by asking the king what ails you like? You
Speaker 1: know what's wrong? Asking this on an empathetic level, with
Speaker 1: no self serving interest behind it, and in doing so
Speaker 1: that heals the king right it's the story is longer
Speaker 1: and more involved than that, but that's it in a nutshell.
Speaker 1: And this story is told to Jack by Perry at
Speaker 1: one point, and it obviously it resonates with these two
Speaker 1: characters and with the film at large. Here it's just
Speaker 1: another one of the many, many layers to this, which
Speaker 1: again I kind of can't believe, and I also can
Speaker 1: kind of believe at the same time that this script
Speaker 1: was written by someone who had never written a script before.
Speaker 1: I know some will argue that it's way too busy,
Speaker 1: that there are too many layers to it, But I
Speaker 1: love it, and I know some of you guys have
Speaker 1: seen this before, and I want to know what you
Speaker 1: all think. Is this, uh, your favorite Terry gilliam film?
Speaker 1: Is this your favorite Robin Williams performance or Jeff Bridges'
Speaker 1: performance or one of your favorites. How great are Mercedes
Speaker 1: Rule and Amanda Plumber in this? Tell me what you think?
Speaker 1: I'm interested? Six one seven nine oh six six six
Speaker 1: three eight. Yes, you can call me or you can
Speaker 1: text me. Uh six one seven nine oh six six
Speaker 1: six three eight. You can also email me at Disgrace
Speaker 1: lamb pod at gmail dot com. Listen I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: a quick break here once more, and then when we
Speaker 1: come back, I want to make a mixtape full of
Speaker 1: songs inspired by the great film The Fisher King. Hang type.
Speaker 1: All right, gang, welcome back into the screening room here
Speaker 1: in Hollywood Land. I am Doctor Lundy, and we are
Speaker 1: about to make a hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical, potentially possible mixtape
Speaker 1: based on the nineteen ninety one Terry Gilliam film The
Speaker 1: Fisher King. First of all, music is pretty important to
Speaker 1: this film. I associate the Power by Snap, the song
Speaker 1: called the Power by this group Snap from the early nineties.
Speaker 1: I Got the Power. That song I associate it with
Speaker 1: this film because it's used a few times in this.
Speaker 1: There's also the great Ray Chrials song hit the Roe
Speaker 1: Jack that I mentioned earlier in here. The classic standard
Speaker 1: how About You is reference to great comedic effect by
Speaker 1: Perry and his homeless crew a number of times in
Speaker 1: this That's the uh. I like New York in June
Speaker 1: how about You? And don't forget Michael Jeter all dressed
Speaker 1: up as the Singing Telegram singing some big like song
Speaker 1: and dance number to Lydia and then later Rob Williams
Speaker 1: is singing Lydia, the tattooed Lady to Lydia in the
Speaker 1: Chinese restaurant. I gotta go back to the how about
Speaker 1: you thing for one second. I just I gotta mention this.
Speaker 1: This is what I love about this movie is the
Speaker 1: confidence of tones. Here you get Jack Lucas at his lowest.
Speaker 1: He's just tried to jump into the East River with
Speaker 1: cinderblocks tied to his feet. Right. He believes his life
Speaker 1: is over. He's he's done this horrible thing, whether he
Speaker 1: realizes it or not. And he has gasoline portal over
Speaker 1: himself and he's almost lit on fire, and he's saved
Speaker 1: by these crazy homeless people who then began to start
Speaker 1: singing I like New York and June how about You?
Speaker 1: It's like, what the fuck is happening? It's so it's
Speaker 1: just so Terry Gilliam and I mean, which is funny
Speaker 1: because Terry Gilliam did not write it. Anyways, let's make
Speaker 1: our mixtape here. I'm going to start on the nose
Speaker 1: here with a song called Holy Grail by an Australian
Speaker 1: band called Hunters and Gatherers from their nineteen ninety two
Speaker 1: album Cut Now One of the discos here. Chris Disco
Speaker 1: Chris from down Under just sent me this extensive playlist
Speaker 1: of OSSI artists who aren't in excess in ACDC and
Speaker 1: I already thanked Chris for this in a message, but
Speaker 1: I'm thanking Chris again here because I just started digging
Speaker 1: into this and it's awesome and I love getting older
Speaker 1: in the whole blind spot, you know, discovering stuff, whether
Speaker 1: it's music or films that either I either ignored for
Speaker 1: some reason or I just didn't know about. And a
Speaker 1: lot of this stuff on this Australian playlist Disco Chris
Speaker 1: made is stuff that I don't know about. And it's
Speaker 1: so cool that this stuff has been out there for
Speaker 1: so long and it's fun to uh. I still enjoy discovering,
Speaker 1: you know, new to me stuff. So anyways, this song
Speaker 1: Holy Grail is not on Disco Chris's playlist, but there
Speaker 1: is some Hunters and Gatherers on there, which is rad.
Speaker 1: This track is pretty dope. I gotta say. It's like
Speaker 1: a mashup of all Right, wait for It, Jay Giles,
Speaker 1: Centerfold and the Pixies Wears My Mind, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: If you listen to it, it'll make sense, okay. Next
Speaker 1: song here on the mixtape, I want to use a
Speaker 1: song from a tribe called Quest. We need a song
Speaker 1: from a tribe called Quest because there's a Quest at
Speaker 1: the heart of this film, and the tribe is a
Speaker 1: New York City group came out, you know, hit the
Speaker 1: scene right around the same time and this movie came out.
Speaker 1: So maybe we take definition of a fool since the
Speaker 1: fool is part of the Fisher King Arthurian legend. And
Speaker 1: this song is the last track on Tribe's debut album,
Speaker 1: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, which is
Speaker 1: a great title, People's in Distinctive Travels and the Paths
Speaker 1: of Paths of Rhythm. I love that nineteen ninety Jive Records.
Speaker 1: This song gives a sly little nod to the Rolling Stones.
Speaker 1: Miss you if you. If you missed that homage, go
Speaker 1: take another listen and check it out again. All right?
Speaker 1: Next track here, Oh yeah, last night a DJ saved
Speaker 1: my life right by the group in Deep. That's one
Speaker 1: word I n d e ep in Deep nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 1: This track only reached number ten on the US charts,
Speaker 1: which seems kind of wild. This is the sort of thing,
Speaker 1: by the way, that I used to dismiss with extreme
Speaker 1: prejudice years ago because of its proximity to disco disco music.
Speaker 1: But now I can't get enough of this stuff. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm out there in my car listening to the Studio
Speaker 1: fifty four station and the yacht rock station on Serious
Speaker 1: Exam and last night a DJ saved My Life is
Speaker 1: a jam. So there it is on our mixtape. Here, guys,
Speaker 1: I want a song about architecture, because is the architectural
Speaker 1: digest in this thing? The building where the Holy Grail
Speaker 1: or the so called Holy Grail is being held, is
Speaker 1: this incredible castle like structure. It's really cool when the
Speaker 1: camera pans up and you see it for the first time.
Speaker 1: And I remember watched some little mini documentary about the
Speaker 1: making of this film this. I have the Criterion Collection
Speaker 1: edition of The Fisher King and there's some great supplemental
Speaker 1: material in here. And I remember the one of the producers,
Speaker 1: I think it was just saying that like when they
Speaker 1: were I forget if it was Terry Gilliam or if
Speaker 1: it was the screenwriter someone, and she was like, I'm
Speaker 1: from New York and like when they found this location
Speaker 1: of this castle. I was like, what the hell, I've
Speaker 1: never seen this thing before. It's so crazy. So anyways,
Speaker 1: architecture song, So my mind immediately went to so Long
Speaker 1: Frank Lloyd Wright from Simon and Garfunkel their nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: swan song Bridge over Troubled Water. This is the daddy
Speaker 1: of architecture song. And I know that this building in
Speaker 1: the film was not designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I
Speaker 1: know that I don't think it was. But this is
Speaker 1: like the daddy of Granddaddy of architecture songs. It's got
Speaker 1: those heavenly strings in there. Also one of the most
Speaker 1: curious and satisfying melodies that Paul Simon ever wrote. Can
Speaker 1: it be that Paul Simon is low key underrated? Like?
Speaker 1: Why is that even a thing? He's just he's so good,
Speaker 1: Like I was listening to I drove my son to
Speaker 1: band practice this morning, and I had Grace land On
Speaker 1: in the car. The first track, The Boy in the Bubble.
Speaker 1: Put the music aside for a minute. This is the
Speaker 1: opening verse of The Boy in the Bubble by Paul Simon.
Speaker 1: It was a slow day and the sun was beating
Speaker 1: on the soldiers by the side of the road. There
Speaker 1: was a bright light, a shattering of shop windows, the
Speaker 1: bomb and the baby carriage was wired to the radio
Speaker 1: like it's like fucking poetry. It's incredible. These are the
Speaker 1: days of miracle and wonder. This is the long distance call,
Speaker 1: the way the camera follows us in slow mo, the
Speaker 1: way we look to us all oh, Paul Simon Man. Anyways,
Speaker 1: so long Frank Lloyd Wrights. Such a great deep cut
Speaker 1: and again funky melody and it's going on a mixtape.
Speaker 1: All right, next song here, I'm gonna change gears big
Speaker 1: time and go with a song called The Boy with
Speaker 1: a Thorn in His Side by the Smiths. This is
Speaker 1: from their third studio album, The Queen Is Dead from
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six. First of all, all I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: about Morrissey is that quote from Robert Smith of The Cure,
Speaker 1: which I think is a real quote, where he said,
Speaker 1: if Morrisey tells me not to eat meat, then I'll
Speaker 1: eat meat. That's how much I hate Morse, which is funny.
Speaker 1: You know, you just like the image of Robert Smith.
Speaker 1: Isn't one who makes cracks jokes like that and then
Speaker 1: just cracks me up. Okay, we got that out of
Speaker 1: the way talk about the greatest thing in the Smiths,
Speaker 1: which is the guitar playing of the great, great, great
Speaker 1: Johnny Marr, one of the greatest. He's got to be
Speaker 1: one of the greatest guitar players of all time. And
Speaker 1: speaking of I just mentioned my son, it was his
Speaker 1: birthday recently. He's a guitar player. I got him. There's
Speaker 1: this book called Mars Guitars. It's this beautiful, big hardcover
Speaker 1: book that just features all these incredible images of Johnny
Speaker 1: Marr's extensive guitar collection, which I think he is putting
Speaker 1: up for auction right now. I think a large majority
Speaker 1: of them are on display almost like an art show,
Speaker 1: and then they're going to go out for auction. But anyways,
Speaker 1: there's this big, beautiful book of all of his guitars
Speaker 1: and there's a bunch of like I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's interviews with Johnny or essays that he's written, but
Speaker 1: there's all kinds of like technical information about these guitars.
Speaker 1: It's a true guitar geek piece of piece of art.
Speaker 1: So if you're if you're a guitar geek, I highly
Speaker 1: recommend you check that book out. Mars Guitars Johnny mar
Speaker 1: is playing. It's like it's like you when you listen
Speaker 1: to someone speak who has a slightly different way of
Speaker 1: phrasing things, you know, certain lilt in their tone. That's
Speaker 1: how Johnny Mar's guitar sounds to me. And I'm picking
Speaker 1: this song by the way, You're like, why are you
Speaker 1: picking the Boy with the Thorn in his side for
Speaker 1: the Fisher King. I'm picking it because of back to
Speaker 1: Morrissey now, the lyrics, Okay, specifically, how can they look
Speaker 1: into my eyes and still they don't believe me? How
Speaker 1: can they hear me say those words and still they
Speaker 1: don't believe me? Now, I think Morrissey was singing about
Speaker 1: record executives or whoever had done him wrong in the industry.
Speaker 1: But you can apply this to Perry in this film
Speaker 1: and how Jack isn't believing what Perry is telling him. Okay,
Speaker 1: is that a stretch maybe? But it's going on all right?
Speaker 1: Got another song here? Oh yeah? I love the song
Speaker 1: God Is in the Radio by Queens of the Stone
Speaker 1: Age from their third album Songs for the Deaf. This
Speaker 1: is from the two thousand and two record That's got
Speaker 1: Dave Grohl on drums. This is also not the fellow
Speaker 1: the I think is Mark Laningan on Rated R. No.
Speaker 1: Mark Lanningan was on a couple tracks on radiar, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure, So this is not the first album that
Speaker 1: Mark Lannigan's on, But this is when I think when
Speaker 1: Mark Lanninggan became like a regular part of the band.
Speaker 1: Getn't toured with them and stuff. This record, well, first
Speaker 1: of all, this song God Is in the Radio, the
Speaker 1: riff and the vibe has always reminded me of Spirit
Speaker 1: in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. That song. But this record,
Speaker 1: just like Queen's self titled first record, has got some
Speaker 1: of the most like simple groove based songs of their career.
Speaker 1: They're not complicated, they're just heavy, they're drop tuned, they're
Speaker 1: head nodding in the pocket rock and roll baby. And
Speaker 1: I'm including this on our mixtape here because obviously Jack
Speaker 1: Lucas thought he was God on the radio at one point.
Speaker 1: So there you go. Some songs to get this hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical,
Speaker 1: potentially possible mixtape started. God Is in the Radio by
Speaker 1: Queen's of the Stone Age, The Boy with a Thorn
Speaker 1: in his Side by the Smiths, Solon Frank Lloyd Wright
Speaker 1: by Simon and Garfunkel. Last night, a DJ saved My
Speaker 1: life by indep definition of a fool by a tribe
Speaker 1: called quest in Holy Grail by hunters and gatherers. Let
Speaker 1: me know if you've got any additions for this one.
Speaker 1: Songs about shock jocks and Holy Grails and red knights
Speaker 1: and basement layers six one seven nine oh six six
Speaker 1: six three eight send me an email at Disgrace lampod
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. And while you're doing that, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pause real quick, but stay put. I'll be right back.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, it's time for me to get out
Speaker 1: of here. I already asked you earlier in the episode,
Speaker 1: but it bears repeating here. What are your thoughts on
Speaker 1: the Fisher King? If you haven't seen this in a while,
Speaker 1: it's worth a rewatch. It is held up so well,
Speaker 1: and if you haven't seen it at all, definitely one
Speaker 1: to put on your list. And I get it my
Speaker 1: list of stuff to watch, stuff that you guys here
Speaker 1: have recommended to me, or stuff that has been a
Speaker 1: blind spot for me. It just gets longer and longer,
Speaker 1: and it feels more daunting and daunting. Do you guys
Speaker 1: feel that too, especially when you throw on that pile
Speaker 1: all the new stuff it's coming out that you want
Speaker 1: to see and also like your favorite stuff, the comfort
Speaker 1: watches that you want to rewatch and stuff. It's overwhelming,
Speaker 1: But consider this one for your list at some point
Speaker 1: and check it out and then holler at me and
Speaker 1: give me your thoughts. Six one seven nine oh six
Speaker 1: six six three eight or disgrace lamdpod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: If you're a member of disgrace Land All Access on Patreon,
Speaker 1: you can get at me in the chat there if
Speaker 1: you want more recommendations to you guys. Earlier this week
Speaker 1: over in our sister show, Disgraceland, Jake and I were
Speaker 1: talking about Robin Williams. Here Robin Williams Week, I was
Speaker 1: talking about the flow state, and Jake and I had
Speaker 1: a great conversation about the flow state, about the ways
Speaker 1: in which we access the flow state, what it is,
Speaker 1: what it means to us, and then we gave some
Speaker 1: some move and music recommendations. That's our flow state adjacent either.
Speaker 1: You know, Jake was talking about music that he listens
Speaker 1: to that inspires the flow state. I was talking about
Speaker 1: movies that I feel like, either the pov of the
Speaker 1: character is flow state esque, or the ways in which
Speaker 1: you imagine it was made was related to the flow state.
Speaker 1: So if you're interested in hearing about that. If you
Speaker 1: haven't heard that, go check out Disgraceland. Of course, you
Speaker 1: can listen to that on Apple Podcasts, on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: app or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, just like
Speaker 1: this show. Yeah, Now, next week in Hollywood Land, on Monday,
Speaker 1: we're bringing you our fully scripted and sound design episode
Speaker 1: from the archive on the Dating Game Killer. This is
Speaker 1: the real life murderer from the nineteen seventies who appeared
Speaker 1: as a contestant on the Dating Game TV show while
Speaker 1: in the middle of a killing spree. Believe us, the
Speaker 1: first and only time that has happened. Fucking crazy. And
Speaker 1: then on Friday in the screening room, the film we're
Speaker 1: gonna watch next week, we're gonna do a deep dive
Speaker 1: into the twenty twenty four film Woman of the Hour,
Speaker 1: directed by Anna Kendrick Shout Out Maine, which is a
Speaker 1: dramatization of the Dating Game Killer story. Full disclosure, I've
Speaker 1: never seen this one before, so this is gonna be
Speaker 1: new to me. Okay, and maybe think in advance, maybe
Speaker 1: you guys have got some thoughts for our hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical,
Speaker 1: potentially possible mixtape that we can make based on or
Speaker 1: inspired by a woman of the hour. Be thinking about that,
Speaker 1: Give me a shout, voicemail, text, email, whatever before next
Speaker 1: week's episode, and I can I can talk about your
Speaker 1: selections in the mixtape section here, all right, So if
Speaker 1: you want to do that in advance, get at me
Speaker 1: six one seven nine oh six six six three eight
Speaker 1: before we get to Friday. Though next week, Wednesday, this
Speaker 1: film should be played loud, brand new episode on Licorice Pizza.
Speaker 1: It's done, It's ready to go, It's ready to drop.
Speaker 1: It's going to drop. On Wednesday, this film should be
Speaker 1: played loud. Is our video podcast which is exclusive to
Speaker 1: Disgraceland All Access over on Patreon. It's me and Jake
Speaker 1: having a great time talking about the great, great music
Speaker 1: in some of our favorite movies from film history. And
Speaker 1: this month next week on Wednesday, we've got this brand
Speaker 1: new episode on Licorice Pizza which has a something like
Speaker 1: thirty almost forty different needle drops in this film, plus
Speaker 1: a score by Johnny Greenwood. And if you're not a
Speaker 1: member yet, or you're not a member at the Sound
Speaker 1: and Fury tier, which is the video tier there in
Speaker 1: all access on Patreon. Right now we are running a discount.
Speaker 1: You can get twenty percent off a monthly or annual
Speaker 1: subscription and that discount runs through the last Sunday of
Speaker 1: this month, like midnight Eastern time. So if you haven't
Speaker 1: pulled the trigger on that yet and you were thinking
Speaker 1: about it, now's a good time to do it. Disgracelamdpod
Speaker 1: dot com. Right there on the homepage is more info
Speaker 1: to sign up. All right, hope, hope you guys have
Speaker 1: a great weekend lined up. I hope there's some movies
Speaker 1: in your future. If so, give me a holler and
Speaker 1: let me know what you saw, what you thought of it.
Speaker 1: Six one seven nine oh six sixty six three eight.
Speaker 1: Perhaps I will play or read your message on the
Speaker 1: wrap party next week. But until then, I'm going to
Speaker 1: leave you here with this. Here's what America was watching
Speaker 1: at the movies in September nineteen ninety one, the month
Speaker 1: that The Fisher King was released in theaters. Number one
Speaker 1: Freddy's Dead The Final Nightmare, directed by Rachel Talally. Number
Speaker 1: two Dead Again directed by Kenneth Brennan. Hot Shots Number
Speaker 1: three Terminator two Judgment directed by James Cameron Bender directed
Speaker 1: by Number four hot Shots Doctor directed by Jim Abram.
Speaker 1: Number five Doc Hollywood Cities directed by Michael Caitmin Jones
Speaker 1: directed Number six Child's Play three I was directed by
Speaker 1: Jack Benners said, quit talking and start mixing.