Ol' Dirty Basement: True Crime and Vintage Movie Reviews
Join Dave, Matt and Zap every week as they cover a true crime or compelling story as well as Vintage Cinema and Album Review where they break down some of the best movies and music from the past.
Ol' Dirty Basement: True Crime and Vintage Movie Reviews
V.C.R. Presents: It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
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Ever stumbled upon a film so late in life that it feels like discovering a hidden treasure? That's exactly how many of us felt with "It's a Wonderful Life." Join us as we explore the journey of George Bailey and the enchanting world of Bedford Falls. From its rushed 1946 release to its eventual ascension as a holiday classic, we dissect the film's cultural impact and the many reasons it resonates across generations. From nostalgic childhood tales of sledding adventures to the Spanish flu's historical parallels, this episode is a rich tapestry of history, cinema, and personal reflections.
Picture yourself back in time, immersed in the innocence of youth and the landmarks of your high school days. Our conversation shifts between the adventures of George Bailey and our own past escapades. We unravel the layers of love, sacrifice, and community spirit woven into this cinematic masterpiece, alongside a dive into the socio-economic dynamics of the Bailey household and their timeless relevance. There's humor, warmth, and a touch of nostalgia as we revisit iconic scenes and ponder over the ethical dilemmas faced by our beloved characters, drawing surprising connections to modern-day societal shifts.
As we trace George Bailey's transformative journey, we can't help but marvel at the film's exploration of alternate realities and timeless themes. The episode takes a fascinating detour into the world of copyright intricacies, colorization controversies, and the evolution of villainy in film. With insights into Jimmy Stewart's military background and the film's eventual rise to iconic status post-copyright expiration, we wrap up with heartfelt personal stories and reflections on the movie's enduring legacy. Whether you're a long-time fan or a curious newcomer, "It's a Wonderful Life" continues to be a source of inspiration, reminding us of the power of community, redemption, and hope.
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Hey, this is Dave. Matt and Zap, and welcome to the Vintage Cinema Review where, every week, we review some of our favorite films from the past.
Speaker 2:Hey, there ain't no late fees here.
Speaker 3:Silence is golden and be kind rewind.
Speaker 2:Ah, getting in that holiday spirit, yeah, oh, I'm feeling it. Something, something wonderful about it, I would say, indeed right, just like life what are you loading up on the old projector there?
Speaker 3:oh, today it's gonna be. It's a wonderful life. Oh man, this is a classic. This is truly a christmas classic. Dare I say it's an any time of year classic yes, life is wonderful, especially in this movie yeah, this is one that I slept on for a long time and talking to people.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of people did. We were talking about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you are not alone. There's a number of people I've come across and, hell, I'm even one of them. I didn't come across this until man, high school, late high school, Hell, maybe even after high school.
Speaker 2:Yeah literally I slept watching this.
Speaker 1:Did you? Yes, that's a shame.
Speaker 2:It's wonderful. It's not shocking, though.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's a Wonderful Life was rated PG 1946, released with a runtime of two hours and ten minutes. This is ranked as the number one most inspirational movie of all time by the American Film Institute, and that's from 2006. There is no doubt yeah and it was added to the US Library of Congress registry in 1990 for being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. So I thought there was a two important things to bring up in the beginning.
Speaker 2:Hell yeah, yeah, that's baller status for any movies that we do.
Speaker 1:Once, you once you reach that. Yeah, for sure Big stuff.
Speaker 3:It speaks volumes, it really does.
Speaker 1:Yup, so release date on this, to be exact, was december 20th 1946, which was a limited release, and then released nationwide, uh, january 7th 1947 and, I'm assuming, other countries. Do you think back then? I don't know, I didn't really see, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had uh. I'd read somewhere that the the release for this was to uh was actually rushed. It was supposed to come out in 47, but they, they really rushed it to for twofold one. They wanted to have it out in 47, but they really rushed it for twofold One. They wanted to have it out in time for the Christmas season. Two, they wanted to be part of the 16th annual Academy Awards.
Speaker 1:Oh, how about that? So this was based on a short story. I guess you would call that. It was called the Greatest Gift by Philip Van Dorn Stem, and this was directed by Frank Capra, produced by Frank Capra. Now budget on this Insane $3.18 million.
Speaker 3:That's in 1946.
Speaker 1:Yes, god damn. Now. Box office was $3.3 million, so it did make its money back. But how much were tickets in 1946?
Speaker 2:Man, I got a nickel, yeah, maybe even a little more for like a newly yeah, newly run movie so that's a lot of ticket sales and you're not talking about rentals after that.
Speaker 1:So you know what I mean. Like to make your money back, and I would imagine, like, uh, when this would be released on television, then, uh, like I'm sure they would make money off that, correct? Oh yeah, yeah, this was filmed in several locations in california, so mostly on it was a pretty elaborate set on the rko, encino ranch and then culver city what's rko?
Speaker 2:is that more? Is that like a record company also? Or was that the studio?
Speaker 3:I mean it. You, if you watch some really old shit, like if you watch old Three Stooges stuff, anything of that nature, you're going to see RKO. Like RKO was the Warner Brothers at the time, the Universal at the time, the United Artists at the time.
Speaker 2:I mean they were pretty big, yeah, probably like the conglomerate. Then all these other things were under that umbrella.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they had a big swath. I've heard of it.
Speaker 1:it yeah radio telly movies and then also at the beverly hills high school, the dance scene yeah yeah, that was filmed with the pool. Yep, also, uh, the exterior of martini's house was in, uh, la canada, flint, flint ridge. I don't know if that's like a town or what in california I would assume this is all california, sure? That's pretty much all I have for that fun stuff, so I'll turn over to zap for the cast thanks, man.
Speaker 3:The cast of it's a wonderful life includes, but is certainly not limited to, because I had to cut a lot of people out of this I'd imagine there's twice as many people as I have listed and I got a shit ton of people listed all those people in the room at the end I mean, I mean, dude, yeah, we got James Stewart as George Bailey.
Speaker 3:Jimmy Stewart, that is, donna Reed as Mary Hatch, lionel Barrymore as Mr Potter, thomas Mitchell as Uncle Billy. Henry Travers as Clarence. Frank Phelan as Ernie Ward. Bond as Bert Thank you. Samuel S Hines as George's father, mr Bailey Beulah Bondy as George's mother, mrs Bailey Bobby Anderson as a young George Bailey. Jean Gale as a young Mary. Janine Ann Roos as a young Violet. Bill Edmonds as Mr Martini. Argentina Brunetti as mrs martini. Sheldon leonard as nick the bartender and as the bailey children. We had carol coombs as janie. Larry sims as pete, jimmy hawkins as tommy.
Speaker 1:Last but not least, carolyn grimes as zuzu do we know if anybody's alive from this movie?
Speaker 2:possibly one of the kids, possibly one of the bailey kids yeah, I was just curious I'm sure, but you say like 1946, 47, I mean that was only like 30 years before we were born, it's not like very long. Like, if you look back on it, that's some shit yeah, like think about it, that's only 30 years, so I'm pretty sure a lot of these people are still maybe still kicking the kids. At least you know yeah, so scarier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it would be that that would be like a movie, now us watching something from like not what 96, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, yeah, from then to now, I'm even for sure, yeah, with music and stuff too, when you show your kid like this is stuff that was like 30 years ago so it's kind of like when we heard our parents' music. Growing up we're like dang that sucks.
Speaker 3:It's the same shit, man, and it just goes. It's generation after generation after generation. You're going to see it. It's amazing, though I'm really fond of that.
Speaker 2:One thing I do enjoy about when we do these older movies is the names, because you don't hear like Ward, it's not a very. Or like Beulah Clarence.
Speaker 3:You don't hear these names that much anymore. I just had a conversation like this the other day. I was thinking like the name Maude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maude, you don't see many Maudes.
Speaker 3:You definitely don't see any Maudes. You don't see any Murrays. Lionel, lionel, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Richie, yeah, lionel Richie, but yeah, not many Lionels.
Speaker 1:Still. So, matt, you got a synopsis.
Speaker 2:Yes, a very brief synopsis of the movie. It's a Wonderful Life. George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all and it's Christmas. As the angels discuss George, we see his life in flashbacks. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, clarence, who then shows George what his town would have looked like if he hadn't been for all of his good deeds over the years. So he was a pretty good guy. Yeah absolutely yeah when you look back on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was a good synopsis. That was a fantastic synopsis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was brief and fun, to the point.
Speaker 1:To the point. Yeah. So, Zap, are we going to steer through the movie here? Then we are.
Speaker 3:Now look, there's detail in this, but that detail is important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so let's hop in our Model T and then be on our way.
Speaker 3:Absolutely All right. Well, our story begins in the small town of Bedford Falls, where we hear a number of voices praying for George Bailey, who's apparently fallen on hard times. Of course, answering the calls of the faithful, a guardian angel, Clarence Oddbody, is assigned to George. Now, Clarence, look man, he's just an angel, right, he's just looking to earn his wings. He knows nothing about George Bailey. Senior Angel Franklin takes Clarence and us on a flashback through George's life. So this was an interesting little scene. In the beginning. You just see a little starscape, right, he's just looking out at the universe and these couple of stars are blinking at one another, talking to each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that was what was be God.
Speaker 3:So God was not there. You had senior angel Franklin, you had Joseph, the other angel, and then you had Clarence, who's just looking to earn his wings.
Speaker 1:So they're just all angels up there, they're all angels oh earn his wings. I remember that out and that's probably a scene most people don't see Because, like I said, a lot of people for me I'd catch this movie if I did see parts of it. It would be in the middle. I'd always remember the scenes near the end.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:So I think this is something that, if you never sat down and watched it, you'd probably miss.
Speaker 2:Yep, because they have a lot of the Christmas movies now Like this. Like this doesn't have a 24 hours, but you always see it during christmas absolutely because most like now. Elf, I think, got a 24 hour thing. A christmas story has been its thing, but I don't know. They need to bring some of the older ones back, I believe at least.
Speaker 3:At least give it like eight hours I'm with matt on that one, I'm with matt 100. So through those flashbacks, as we're talking about, we're introduced to george when he was just 12 years old and the year is 1919. He, his brother Harry, and a group of neighborhood kids are all just taking turns sledding down a small embankment onto a frozen pond. This, this is our first glimpse at the quality of George's character, where he saves his brother from drowning after breaking through the ice. Now this incident causes George to catch a nasty cold that ultimately causes him to lose his hearing in one ear.
Speaker 1:That was all his fault.
Speaker 3:You guys ever go sledding on shovels.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, I would always like trash can lids and stuff.
Speaker 2:You guys didn't have like real sleds, they were just plastic. Back then they weren't very expensive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had those like. Yeah, we had those kind too.
Speaker 2:You got them at.
Speaker 1:Kmart. But no, I never did it on a shovel. Like I said, trash can lid. I did, do that Right, but do you did?
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, oh I didn't, we would try anything. I'm absolutely. There was a kid that lived up the street from me and he had a significant embankment in the back of his house and, dude, we would pull out anything to try anything of how we were doing in the summer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just rolling down dirt and doing wild stuff. Hell yeah, it seems, back when we had like ice and ponds here, I remember, uh, zap, your cousin dave, yeah, yeah, right by his house, there was the pond that he had down there and we used to go down there and play. Whenever we get frozen, we mostly fall in most of the time. The reservoir, yeah, the pond right down from from his house, that's the reservoir, the reservoir yeah, yeah, that was a fun place to play shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had a spot in the hood called devil's den and that's where we would go sledding and stuff. It was like, uh, it wasn't. No, I went back as a an adult and it wasn't very intimidating was there a lot of gangsters that would hang out there? Yeah, on your way down you know it was hard.
Speaker 3:It's hard to go sledding there sledding over crack yeah but uh needles, they use coke as the snow yeah it cocaine, yeah, we would just go down in the summertime Sounds like a good time, but no, I never did that Zapp.
Speaker 2:All right, well, yeah, no shovel here either. I don't think I've known anybody but you.
Speaker 3:That's fine.
Speaker 2:That's cool though.
Speaker 3:You two didn't grow up broke enough.
Speaker 2:I don't know your dad's like get out there sledding boy use the shovel.
Speaker 1:God damn it right all right.
Speaker 3:A few weeks later, george is back to health. Uh, fun fact, when he's not in school, george works at the local pharmacy shop and dreams one day being an explorer. Uh, I always have a great fondness when he walks in the door and he, he, pulls that cigar lighter, that, that mounted lighter that's on the one countertop. He, he, you know, crosses his fingers and, uh, you know, it makes his wish and he's you know, I wish I had a million dollars pulls it and it lights up hot dog this is one of the things they say back there.
Speaker 3:That was a cool part hell yeah, man, this is, uh, this is such a nostalgic movie, like there's such purity and innocence to this see, this is the stuff that I that I like when I see in this movie.
Speaker 2:When, when he was in the uh you know has a job at, what was he like? 11?
Speaker 3:12, 12, yeah, 12 years old.
Speaker 2:The kids got a job, yeah yeah, the guys like he's hard working. He's like putting the riz on a couple girls that are in there chilling they were digging him yeah but he's he's like working hard, but it seems like a fun place to hang out. We really didn't have places like that growing up.
Speaker 1:That's right there was that one at the mall, at the East Mall, I remember. It was like two floors and they had like a little diner like restaurant Murphy's Murphy's yeah, I feel like that had like that kind of vibe, but like an 80s version.
Speaker 3:100%, yeah, 100%, matt had mentioned. So at this point we're now introduced to two young girls. One is Violet. Who this girl?
Speaker 2:she's a little she's a little uh flu. Yeah, she, she's a player, yeah.
Speaker 3:She'll. She'll talk to anybody, any young boy who will give her an attention, any attention, uh. And of course, in this case, she uses the excuse of just coming in to buy two cents worth of shoelace licorice, uh, as her reason for being there. Uh, and then the other, mary, who's there specifically to share time with George. Now, while we're there, something seems awry with the shop's owner, mr Gower. His voice is slurred, he's in a real foul mood. Well, meanwhile, george finds a telegram on the cash register Mr Gower had received, and that is in fact news that his son had died of influenza, which, I'm guessing, certainly explains. You know, the guy hit the bottle, he's down a little bit and this uh, so this is like 1919, right, it's?
Speaker 1:1919 so you know, I was wondering if that 105 years ago that's crazy. So that was the year, like the spanish flu, right?
Speaker 3:so I'm wondering if that was that that pandemic maybe that was the og covet 19, I think it was racist, yeah right in spain they just called the flu man.
Speaker 1:Come on like peanuts jeez the spanish a flu is a flu all right, spanish flu is different than spanish fly foreshadow foreshadow also.
Speaker 2:Oh, oh, yeah, like, yeah, like that's right.
Speaker 3:That's right. Uh, so you know george's work and he's got a job. Part of his job, he's got to deliver drugs because, again, this guy's a pharmacist. So george is tasked with delivering this bottle of pills to a customer for a kid. But when he goes back he sees that old drunk mr gower while in the midst of sipping on the old ripple. Uh, mistakenly filled these capsules with poison instead of the prescribed medicine so back then, these guys, these pharmacists, would actually made pills that's wild.
Speaker 3:There was no such things like hard pills, liquid gels, any of that shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there wasn't big pharma, it was just some guy that has a license.
Speaker 3:Correct, there was no bottles of powder and taking powder and putting that into capsules.
Speaker 1:No, astra, merck Correct Gotcha.
Speaker 2:You're just weighing stuff and hoping for the best.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, instead of delivering the pills, george runs to get help from his father, who happens to own and operate a Bailey building and loan with his brother, george's forgetful Uncle Billy. Unfortunately, his father's in the middle of a heated argument with one, mr Potter, the local robber baron who owns much of the town and wishes to dissolve Bailey Building and Trust. George returns to Mr Gower's shop and gets a beating for not delivering those pills. That's slapping him on the head on the ear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was like brutal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, please don't hit my sore ear. Mr Gower, please don't hit my sore ear.
Speaker 1:And I read that that was legit, like he really was hitting the kid and he was really bleeding. Yeah for sure. Yeah for the for the uh filming of it. Yeah, that's messed up, man, it is this you know that was the 40s, though, yeah so speaking of the fort.
Speaker 3:Well, and that's right, well for the 19.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're filming for sure.
Speaker 3:but we've, we've talked about this or we touched on this a couple of times. When you know, when we were kids, like I got slapped around by other friends of mine's parents Like that was for sure, like if you screw up when you're over at your friend's house, like it was free reign.
Speaker 2:You would get hit, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:You get a pass you absolutely get reprimanded.
Speaker 2:That's a bad one.
Speaker 1:Yep, and one other thing like I was thinking about when Mr Potter is rolling up in the carriage, you know like everybody else is in cars but he's up rolling up in a carriage but for some reason that to me seems like he's like it just shows that he's wealthy.
Speaker 1:I don't know why that's like an elitist thing that's because yeah, they were saying like oh, it's like a king yeah, like rolling up you know what I mean on a horse and carriage. Yep, like if I, if you did that even today, you'd be like yo this 100.
Speaker 2:I would do that today if I had the money. I would roll around in horse and carriage.
Speaker 3:Horse and carriage oh man, I'll give it a mix of two, like I would do 100. Yeah, like that's an elite baller thing to be rolling around in a horse-drawn carriage. But I think it also goes to show, or to illustrate, how old this guy is old school like he's the mr burns of bedford falls and that he's in no rush, like time's not, like I got money.
Speaker 1:I don't got a rush, it's true, everything revolves around me, but I just that scene got me. I'm like, oh, look at this guy. Like there's cars, you could drive a car, you could roll in a limo. I don't know if they had limos back then, but he's that hit the point.
Speaker 2:It's just he was so old school, that's that was wealth when he was growing up yeah, he's like look at these newfangled things with motors and engines.
Speaker 3:I don't need that so he's stuck in his era yeah, I got you his best times you know there's a couple of things that we've already seen, even you know we're only minutes, not minutes, but we're a little bit into this film. We're starting to really get the character of george right. So I mean with his brother. You know we're starting to. We're immediately seeing like his selflessness, like he did. He didn't blink or think twice as soon as his brother fell in that in that pond. He jumped right in to save him.
Speaker 2:Hero. He told his brother to go.
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Same. Thing.
Speaker 3:Same thing with now, same thing with this kid. By the kid I mean the, the, the, the, the would have been victim of Mr Gower. George inadvertently saved that kid's life.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Again, this is just what George does. He just is selfless. He puts the needs of others above his own.
Speaker 2:But what if he ruined that too? What if it was a new kind of penicillin? How did he know it was truly poison? Maybe it was poisoning, but in a good way.
Speaker 3:Some kind of concoction? It would have worked. Maybe it was French like poison.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who knows or.
Speaker 3:Italian like Paisan, but it was just misspelled.
Speaker 2:Maybe this guy seems a little off to me. So far, so far.
Speaker 3:Wait, mr Gow, or George Bailey? George Bailey Maybe? Well, let's fast forward to nine years later. Now again, we're all living through, at this point, the flashback with Clarence the angel. So, nine years later, george has since graduated from high school. Three years earlier, he earned some money while working at Bailey Building and Loan, and at this point he's planning a tour of the world before heading off to college. In fact, he goes to buy a sizable suitcase and he finds that Mr Gower, the same dude who's basically life and reputation he had saved, bought a suitcase for him. It's sitting there waiting for him. What a nice gesture. Well, george is, of of course, a man about town. Dude knows everybody and everybody knows him. Uh, we are now introduced to ernie the taxi driver, uh, burt the cop and uh, violence, all grown up too was that burt and ernie a reference to?
Speaker 1:were they out yet? Burt and ernie, yeah, no, uh, or do you think burt and ernie the character is on, like what's that?
Speaker 2:we're based on this.
Speaker 3:We're based on those guys I don't want to say that they were based on them, but it was. It's certainly way too much of a coincidence to have two guys named burt and ernie right characters created by jim henson in the 60s or 70s.
Speaker 1:So jim henson saw this movie and we're like, hey, yeah, I gotta believe that.
Speaker 3:true, I've read somewhere that they deny that, but they denied it after Henson had died.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how do you know for sure?
Speaker 3:I got to believe that the name's Bert and Ernie. That's just the way it worked out.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Because these two were decent buddies here in the film.
Speaker 2:Right, they were good characters.
Speaker 1:Yeah they're just hanging out talking all day.
Speaker 3:If one had like a flat round head, yeah, then you would. Definitely you would know. Yeah, you don't even know, you don't know. Well, that night, at the bailey family dinner we learned that harry george's younger brother is soon to graduate from high school. Um, did I mean, look, this is something. Again you want to talk about ball or something you don't see every day? Uh, annie, their housekeeper, their maid yeah I mean that's, that's pretty baller for a guy, that's just for george's father, that's just.
Speaker 2:You know, running a like a low ball savings and loan plays right well, back then too, I think people, I think in other countries is like that too you just have jobs at what you like. You're not really necessary like like a millionaire type to have, like somebody that works, a job as a as a maid, like I think it's yeah, I think a housekeeper was just a job. Then it's like that's fair, you know, like they pay them but that's part of like what they budget for.
Speaker 1:They're like oh, I need somebody to take care of the house, so it's like a job well, I know people like that are on my level I'd say income wise that have cleaners, house cleaners and stuff to come like for me I wouldn't think to spend that money on that, but I could see. Or people that like I like to cook, but I know there's people like that'll do that. What's that? One call ready to deliver the meals. Oh yeah, you know, I'm saying for me like I'm not gonna do that, but I guess in some ways people do that now it's just different what's funny?
Speaker 2:like I, I work with a guy who does that for him and his wife do it or whatever, and I was saying I was like they do what? Get those things in the like blue apron in the mail, yeah, whatever it's
Speaker 2:called oh yeah, okay and he's like oh no, you add like a couple ingredients. Like they're like oh, it helps me cook because you add a couple. I was like that's not cooking. But you got to put it in like this special oven that you order and everything. But again, and he was saying but by the time you go to the grocery store, you go in there, sometimes you end up spending way too much than you want. He's like it kind of balances out if you only do it like for three of the days of the week or something you use what you buy, so I can dig that so when you
Speaker 3:go out and buy something. A great example is any kind of recipe that involves celery. So celery it now. Granted, celery is only like what? Buck 50, two bucks for a head of celery, but you only need like one or two stalks, yeah and what are you gonna do with the rest of that celery? Yeah so you end up throwing it away like you would do anything else. You only need a very small portion of a very large, let's say, vegetable that you have to buy the whole goddamn thing right.
Speaker 1:You're gonna be wasteful.
Speaker 3:I got you so I can see the. I can see the. Yeah, they're saying yeah they're saying.
Speaker 2:It kind of makes sense when you talk the cost instead of, like you said, even if you want to do something like a nice dinner, you run out to the store to get whatever you want. Then you're in the store. Then you need this, you need this, you need this.
Speaker 1:You're right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it turns into it can kind of equal each other out. I don't know how you look at it.
Speaker 1:One other thing too, like I noticed that one scene was the brother like like goosing her, the maid like running into the kitchen. He was like chasing her. Oh yeah, trying to get with it what no, jesus did you see that family movie, but I'm sure that would be a charge today for something right, I mean yeah, no, but back then it was, it was called fun times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just having fun it was innocent clean fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he was just goofing off goofing with the goose, just well, just as she was goofing with the family yeah right. She's sitting there listening in, she's engaging back, she's bantering back and forth, dropping eaves.
Speaker 1:That's right, she is dropping eaves that was funny and she had her uh ear up to the door and he's like just come in and sit down. Like you know what I mean. That's right why don't you come?
Speaker 3:yeah, come, grab a seat, that way you can hear the whole conversation. Well, george has big plans for his life, as we've mentioned now. This dude's going to travel, then college, then he's going to go on to be an architect and a builder. Right, he's going to build big buildings and long bridges and all this great stuff. George's dad asks him if he will instead come back to bailey building alone after college. Of course george politely declines. He wants to get the hell out of the small town. He wants to move on to bigger and better things, like not for nothing, like his friends have done right well, that night is harry's high school graduation at the local high school.
Speaker 3:Of course george politely tags long. While there he runs into old classmates like we were talking about. He hears all their plans, uh, and he also runs into a now 18 year old mary. Now it's interesting, in their, in their back and forth, he mentions like man, I haven't seen you in years. All the while she's been in town she's seen him every day. He just never noticed it.
Speaker 1:Isn't that? I thought he did when she walked by and all the dudes were checking her out. That was Violet. Oh, that was Violet Okay.
Speaker 3:That was Violet, the little floozy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Violet was the place where all the guys were like, hey, remember Violet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you, I got you yeah.
Speaker 2:But he didn't want none of that. I'm not doing any, yeah, but he didn't want none of that.
Speaker 1:He didn't notice. We got to have it once, at least once.
Speaker 3:No no no. So you want to do a Bill Cosby? No, okay, they're.
Speaker 2:So they're going to come out for, like the uh, the special ODB, where that's? We're going to do a whole thing on voices.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all of us, I'll do Pharrell.
Speaker 2:It's going to be one whole impression episode of old, dirty basement. I'll do OJ.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, that's awesome. Don't stab me, though. That's right I got to say it was me.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh, that was a.
Speaker 3:So George and Mary are now joining the throng of people that are dancing the Charleston.
Speaker 2:I thought you said Mary had on some throngs. I was like dang. Let me see that throng.
Speaker 1:So just to clarify, at this point George Bailey is a couple years out of three years out of high school.
Speaker 3:George Bailey is three years out of high school.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, so he's supposed to be 21 there Because I was watching that. Now I know in these 80s movies we always make fun of like 28 year olds playing high school kids and stuff. So that makes more sense. And he and the people he were talking to were there more as like alumni.
Speaker 3:Yeah, correct. Yeah, this isn't like a creeper thing, nothing like that, I feel.
Speaker 1:I feel better because I thought they were portraying him as an 18 year old, as a senior. I kind of missed that part.
Speaker 2:Right, I wonder. I wonder how old he was in this 38. Okay.
Speaker 3:So they did state, in fact, quite clearly, that it was Harry's graduation. And he had graduated, you know, years, three years earlier.
Speaker 1:Right, I think I just missed that explanation or whatever, Because I mean yeah, I know I get you now.
Speaker 3:It's cool, not for nothing, man. I was going through the timeline just last night when I rewatched this for like the third day in a row. Night when I re-watched this for like the third day in a row and I was piecing together okay, if this is this, okay, this just mapping it all out right. What a great dance. Why don't they do the charleston anymore?
Speaker 1:yeah, my grandmother, I remember she always thought about that, like you know, to them that was the thing back then heck yeah, that was like doing the cabbage patch couldn't play exactly it was yeah, like guys that could dance, get like all the ladies Right Cause they could do like the trial or whatever.
Speaker 2:Whatever those dances were Right. Like the women like to go around and if they knew the dance would be cool if they knew a guy that knew it. So yeah, they would get all the ladies.
Speaker 3:So preoccupied with one another, george and Mary don't notice that a jealous Freddie Othello has activated a recently installed mechanism in the floor that opens it up to the swimming pool below. Of course they fall in, but the joke is actually on Freddie. He wanted to ruin the good time, but in the meantime dozens of other attendees decide to jump in and have fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was dangerous, man, when they were jumping on each other.
Speaker 3:I was looking at that like there was no lifeguard.
Speaker 2:No, well, two well too. Like no, because people could be getting knocked out like you said like everybody was just going for it and I think people probably got hurt right, michelle and I were watching and she mentioned that too.
Speaker 1:She's like, yeah, that's dangerous looking. I'm like, yeah, we had a pool below our gym, but I don't think our floor would open up no, you know they closed it up.
Speaker 3:Wait, wait if our gymnasium floor opened up, there would have been probably a 50-foot drop to then fall into the pool.
Speaker 1:Right, that's what I'm saying, yeah.
Speaker 3:In fact, 50 might be the right number.
Speaker 1:At the old McDevitt. There was a pool below and the legend is that somebody drowned down there.
Speaker 3:That's what I closed it. I believe that is an urban legend.
Speaker 2:Urban legend I heard that was true, or maybe that's why it's an urban legend. I heard that was true, or maybe that's why it's an urban legend. You should ask mr morrison. I think there was more of a chance. I saw mr morrison the other day, did you?
Speaker 1:yeah, he was at uh at um sam's club, sam's club, okay, but uh, I think you're more likely to die on a piece of gym equipment back then down there, because that was dangerous.
Speaker 3:Oh my god, yeah well, after everybody's now out of the pool, later that night George escorts Mary home, you know. Just this is a reminder. Both of their clothes are still soaked. George is now wearing an old football uniform and Mary's wearing a robe, you know, reconnecting with one another and harmonizing together to the song Buffalo Gals, they come upon an old and rundown Grantville house. The local tradition is to make a wish and throw a rock at the window, and if the window breaks, your wish will come true. Of course, george announces his wish to I can see the world build this, that and the other thing. Leave bedford falls, leave it all behind. Mary keeps her wish to herself, carrying on with their reconnecting. George is smitten and mary finds herself in a compromising situation. And in the midst of their whimsy, george is alerted that his father's had a stroke and he's whisked away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that old guy was there like, hey, dummy, kiss her already.
Speaker 3:And he basically along those lines Speaking of yeah, we were talking about dropping eaves that neighbor across the street neighbor and next door neighbor is just sitting there listening to these guys go and then George gets into it with him.
Speaker 3:Yeah just sitting there listening to these guys go and then george gets into it with him. Yeah, in fact, uh, that's this is how mary loses a robe. Uh, she gets afraid that they're, you know, guys going to come down and start throwing. So george is standing on that, on the the belt of the robe or the end of the robe, and she runs away and, lo and behold, robe falls off. Yeah, she jumps into the bush. Yeah, in the in the bush.
Speaker 2:That reminds me, like the the baby, it's cold outside song, I kept on thinking yeah my head. Like you know, they try to cancel that, yeah, but I'm just saying I was like kind of like he was like you know, hey, you got this robe on, taking you for a walk, yeah I can see that he was really pitching some, some uh risque stuff when you know she was, uh, she was, in the bush.
Speaker 3:Granted, there was nothing dirty or filthy about it, but he's like oh man, I could charge people to come here, I could do this, that and the other thing you know I had the advantage For 1946, like audiences were probably like ooh, you know, that's racy stuff. It was definitely racy at the time.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, did you ever hear the thing about, like when a couple would be kissing and the girl's leg would go up? Yeah, that that's supposed to signify an erection.
Speaker 3:I don't know. Okay, I was going to say some level of arousal, but I can see that.
Speaker 1:That's what I heard. I mean heard or read. I forget where I even came up with that. I didn't make it up, honestly, but I didn't see that in this movie, but it just had me thinking about these old movies like that. That was always a thing, sure, like come here, shane.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. Yeah, so dude had a stroke, george's father had a stroke, and now we're three months later where the board of Bailey Building and Trust is meeting to discuss the future of Bailey Building and Trust. Mr Potter, a member of the board, hates, absolutely hates, bailey Building and Loan. He wants to dissolve it. So George, of course, gives Potter the what for, calls him out for being a slumlord and a loan shark, and you name it. Of course, impressed by George's dedication, the remainder of the board offers to keep the building and loan open, but only if George will step in as the secretary, of course. Here we go. Good old, selfless George recognizes the greater good and the fruits of his father's work. He forgoes his tour of the world, he gives his college money to his little brother, harry, and he takes over the building alone. I mean, that's a kick in the nuts yeah for sure.
Speaker 3:This guy's just been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. It's like all right. I worked hard for three years. Now I'm gonna go shit. My dad died. I guess I gotta carry on the family business, or otherwise this mean old Mr Potter is going to take over the rest of the town.
Speaker 1:Did you think like, uh, maybe Potter was looking at George, like look at his woke ass. Uh, like back then woke, you know what I'm saying? Like he he's, he's down in the snapper. Yeah, like that version of back then, like sure. I have it, every generation has it, you know, just looking at like all the like how maybe we look at millennials and and we'll joke around about, like you know, because we're stuck in our ways.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in many ways that you know, I guess, every generation mr potter's complaining that people are riding around town and in vehicles without horses. Right the man's old school. What do you want me to tell you?
Speaker 2:horseless vehicles. Horseless vehicles, that's witchcraft, I tell right.
Speaker 3:That's witchcraft. I tell you Witchcraft.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but again, this is George's decision. He took this upon himself. He could have been traveling the world, he could have been on a boat. Yeah, could have been the next Titanic.
Speaker 3:It is assuredly George's decision, but it is a decision based on the weight of the consequences. Otherwise, like if George leaves, the place closes. And if the place closes, Mr Potter will take over the town and will make everybody basically beholden to him.
Speaker 1:And there'll be some cool fun facts I'm assuming maybe you have some too about how people viewed this movie back then, dealing with banking and all that.
Speaker 3:It has been since this and anything before and anything since I've. I've talked about this on other podcasts. Big bankers, wealthy people, you name it. They are crucified, they are made to look like evil incarnate, absolutely evil incarnate right because they're bringing the man down, I guess.
Speaker 3:Anyway, moving along, we're now in 1933, 1932, 1933. It's four years after his father's death and George, of course, has remained a staple in the community, still grinding away at that building alone. Harry's now fresh out of college and he arrives home married, to everybody's surprise. Harry's been offered a job by his father-in-law, but he offers to take George's place at the building alone so George can finally go to college. Well, a party that night on, or for, uh, for Harry's and his wife's honor prompts George's selflessness to kick in once again.
Speaker 3:You know he's got this is his older brother, and he's looking down. He's like, oh man, this little brother of mine, he's got his whole life ahead of him. I just can't bring myself to stand in the way of that. He's got married, got this great job offer. So, stewing over where his life is gone, george's mom encourages him to visit Mary, who's also since returned from college. Mary still burns a candle for George. He's been her first and only love her entire life. While away she'd actually drawn a sketch of old George lassoing the moon for her.
Speaker 2:I thought you meant like she went to church, like put a quarter in.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Got like one of them little wick things. Anybody who's Catholic might get that joke. I just now got it Drops a dollar in, Like the 25 red candles you get.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right at the back of oh, that's right at the back of church.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the back of church. Come on, you guys. Come on, I'm slow I'm slow with it that's what I thought. Like still burning candles, like oh, that's, it's kind, you know we never.
Speaker 3:I was like I didn't see that in the movie but I never had that at any church I came up in. I saw that in in some of the the more orthodox catholic churches, yeah, the older, the old school ones, yeah, like byzantine ones, basically anyone that wasn't following vatican council too, and that I think prince of peace has it, I think at the back maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, saint catherine's has one maybe I just don't remember.
Speaker 1:I mean I don't know if they had it back then, but I think in the last you know whatever 10 you're right.
Speaker 3:Saint catherine's did have that. They've always had that.
Speaker 2:You're right, I'm an idiot seven stars, does not um saint pete's and steelton, it did not. Saint joe's and steelton, back in like the uh, early 80s, had like 12 sections of those things I remember. Yeah, there's a bunch. That's what I was just trying to make. Yeah, catholic yeah.
Speaker 3:So in addition to that, in addition to that portrait of the uh, george last wing, the moon, that little comedic sketch, uh, she also has a record playing of Buffalo Gals. You know, just in time for him to arrive, that's the song that they were harmonizing to walking down the sidewalk.
Speaker 1:Was that song like in the 80s, like a takeoff of this one?
Speaker 3:No, you're thinking Buffalo's Dance. No, no, no, not that one.
Speaker 1:Well, the one where they go to Buffalo, we did the dive every time we danced. No, no before that, where the one was like two buffalo, go round the outside, round the outside. No, that's an Eminem song. No, but he took that from a song back in the day in the 80s Two buffalo goes round the outside, round the outside.
Speaker 3:Maybe the theme.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
Speaker 2:Well, this is too.
Speaker 3:This is like Buffalo Gals, like the gals, the gals. You know that song came out in like the 1800s, Right, Right, and, and and.
Speaker 1:they're playing it here, but I'm saying the one in the eighties. Like I never, like I said this movie, I probably called parts of it. So watching that and hearing that song, I'm like I wonder if there's a tie to the the rich. Oh yeah, you know how that was like out. And then they did it in the 80s and it was like well which one, yeah, taco.
Speaker 1:So which one was you know? Obviously was influenced, if you would ask me. Before we did young frankenstein, I've been like, well, that's a you know taco song, so I was just curious if you knew about that I.
Speaker 3:I had heard no or read no connection connection to that.
Speaker 2:I'm sure we can dig into it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'll look it up, yeah mailbag that mailbag.
Speaker 3:Well again, george is still sour that his brothers. You know he's going to allow his brother to carry on with his life and george is going to be left holding the bag. And that mood of his sours his and mary's evening. They ended up fighting. And on his way out their old friend sam wainwright calls in. Now Sam, of course, has since gone on to become a successful entrepreneur in the world of plastics. He even goes so far as to offer George a job on the ground floor, work his way in Again for the sake of the building and loan, for the sake of the town of Bedford Falls. George declines, but by now neither George nor Mary are listening to a word Sam has to say, but by now neither George nor Mary are listening to a word Sam has to say. Mary has loved George all this time and George realizes that he's in love with her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was up with the like he was up on her, like smelling her a little bit, and it was like rough kind of.
Speaker 3:They're sharing a phone.
Speaker 1:They're sharing a telephone, right. But and then he was like kissing her rough. Do you think it was just all that? Years of aggression Like not aggression, but like passion.
Speaker 2:I think they were trying to show passion, like they can't like go overboard on what they're trying to show, so like that long like kind of hard kiss shows. Yeah, he was like really putting it on her Shows passion it was very like.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. I just was that part. To me it was a little like oh, what the hell is going on, why is he being so rough?
Speaker 2:with her. That's why I got the PG 13 rating.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just PG. I think it was the pent up.
Speaker 1:Like I've been trying waiting for this so long and let me just yeah, I got you.
Speaker 3:Or maybe it's just the realization, like the whole again, since they were kids, just a little kid, eight years old, nine years old. She loved this guy.
Speaker 1:Well, he was in a pissy mood too, like you said. There's that, yeah. So instead of beating her, he's going to, he's next with her and kisses her Right. You gotta be gentle, though. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there was. There's such a speaking of gentle are on the phone, listening at the same time, like there's a closeness and and like you can really see a build between the two, like when, when mary's talking, george is there and he can. He can smell her and he can, you know, feel the softness of her skin or, like her, her hue or her aura about it, and it just it starts to capture him, and the same for her when he's talking was the other guy, so that was her man on the on the line at time.
Speaker 1:They were together or whatever.
Speaker 3:He remained interested in her Understand that the idea of courtship was far different than what we experienced.
Speaker 1:So was the girl behind him. Were they kind of insinuating he's got other women? Sam out in New York. Yeah, they have a girl. Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:He's living the life man. He's got his staff and secretaries all fondling him. Right okay, all over him. He had the money. Yeah right In America. First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women.
Speaker 1:That's right, that's true. Then you get the carriage, that's right.
Speaker 2:I would still get a carriage today. Honestly.
Speaker 3:God if I win that lottery jackpot.
Speaker 2:Who's that idiot in the carriage going?
Speaker 1:down Derry Street.
Speaker 3:With a big top hat on. Yeah, like a baller. I think he won the lottery. Absolutely, baller, pay with coins.
Speaker 2:Top hat like one of them, canes, oh yeah monocle so cool, oh you need a monocle, a cane with a white tip and then a top hat right and I want to get one of those big like where I write checks, but it's like the big big check.
Speaker 3:yeah, we're like you, whoosh you got to open it up Like the Happy Gilmore Checks. Yep, yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:All right, let's fast forward a few months. These two lovebirds it's their wedding day Now, flush with $2,000 in wedding cash. The two plan to travel and start their lives together, but their plans are swiftly cut short when they find there's a run on the banks in town, including Bailey Building and Loan. In the midst of the crisis, mr Potter now controls the town's main bank. The main bank has since called Bailey Building and Loan's line of credit, and Mr Potter is offering Bailey Building and Loan customers 50 cents on the dollar for their shares of Bailey Building and Loan Thrift Institution. George convinces the shareholders to wait it out, thereby saving the building and loan, but in doing so he exhausts all but $2 of the $2,000 he'd received in wedding proceeds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he was offering these people this is probably the Great Depression right. So we're in 1932, 1933.
Speaker 3:Great Depression started at the end of October. Whatever the hell, october, 29th, october, something 1929.
Speaker 1:So is this in the midst of that? I think they're coming out of it a little bit, aren't they?
Speaker 3:We're talking like three to four years later.
Speaker 1:So I was wondering if that was the reason for the run on the banks 100% Okay. So yeah, that's-.
Speaker 3:The run on the banks. There was certainly 100% a run on the banks right after that October date, 1929. But the run on the banks continued as time went on. It wasn't like all banks got hit all at once. It was a gradual thing that would affect different parts of the United States at different times.
Speaker 1:And there's a thing with banks too, like a lot of people don't realize at any time like they can call your loan right 100%. And you have to come up with the money like on the spot. What?
Speaker 3:about all that, not from a borrower's like, not from a simple borrower like.
Speaker 1:So if your mortgage they can't go, like Wells Fargo can't go- yeah you got to pay it all right now. No, okay.
Speaker 2:That's why you signed like there's contractual stuff yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, Now they can call it to the extent that. Look, man, we're going to call it, but you have 90 days, right.
Speaker 1:Or you can refinance somewhere else or whatever. Do something like that Absolutely I gotcha yeah.
Speaker 3:But the like, the immediacy doesn't happen. Now the the contrary to this. My money the hell out of there before it goes upside down.
Speaker 1:And like what's his name? The guy, I forget, the stock guy. What the hell is his name? He says when people get scared, get greedy. Sure, what's his name?
Speaker 3:Not Warren Buffett, warren Buffett.
Speaker 2:I thought Warren Buffett. That's what I thought, warren Buffett yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:Warren Buffett says when people get scared, get greedy. So that's kind of what Potter's doing. Sure, like everybody's scared, I'm just going to get greedy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because they just made it through the Depression where they know the actual value of how much like five cents is Big time. Yeah, like these people, you know, like today you see pennies on the street. People are like just.
Speaker 1:So was he buying them out at 50 cents on the dollar on their investments? Is that what that was?
Speaker 3:So the way Bailey works is they borrow from a bank, they lend to other customers, they live on the spread. Now other customers, when they put money in deposit at Bailey Bank and Loan, which of course pays off, buys a piece of land and there's a mortgage on it. Like it's just. It's from left pocket to right pocket, to somebody else's pocket, to this pocket, to the other pocket. It's just a, it's just financing, one-on-one.
Speaker 1:I gotcha.
Speaker 3:And when all of that happens, people now are going to the in this case like the Bailey building and loan. They're like I want my money back. And George was very apt and I thought it was a great description for the lay person when he explained well, no, man, your money's not here, your money's invested in this guy's house and his money's invested in this guy's house and it's invested in the other guy's house. It's just that trickle down effect that if you start yanking all your money out, everything collapses because the money doesn't exist. It was exchanged to go to something else. Now there is instead an item of value to replace that money. I should say purchase for that money, that being the house, the dirt you name it.
Speaker 3:But to liquidate all that just to get all the money back is, it is impossible, right, absolutely impossible. So, circling back to what we were talking about, you had old Mr Potter, who is like you know what. I'll tell you what. You guys are all scared and you guys are worrying about your money. You might have a dollar worth of a share in that building and loan across the street. I'll give you 50 cents for every dollar you have invested. I mean. Then, of course, he then gets control and could liquidate and do whatever, but he had the baller money to do it. Exactly what you were saying relative to Warren Buffett when people get scared, that's when you buy you get greedy yeah yep, uh, quick.
Speaker 3:Uh did I? I don't want to say it quickly. Did you guys grow up watching the waltons? Did you guys grow up watching little house on the I?
Speaker 1:didn't watch it, but it was on in my house like I would catch parts of like michael landon and all that that's little house.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, then um that's a girl running through the field in the beginning. Yep, yeah you would remember it, if you.
Speaker 3:So there were two schools growing up. You were either a Walton's guy I should say a Walton's person or a Little House on the Prairie person, I guess I was Little House on the Prairie in my house, then I was Walton's Okay.
Speaker 3:Anyway, one of the name is mrs davis instead of. So, as george is now giving out, people like, look, what's it going to take to just get you through the week. Not hundreds of dollars, because you only got two thousand to go around here. So people like, all right, well, give me a hundred or, I'm sorry, give me 20 bucks, give me a little bit, whatever I can take, for they'll get me through the week. One of the ladies that pops up her name is mr davis. I'm sorry, mrs davis. In the in the movie that was actually grandma walton from the Walton.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Okay, again. Fun fact, that was a lot of explanation for unnecessary detail.
Speaker 2:I just remember like good night Zapp, bob. Correct, good night Dave.
Speaker 3:That's correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:That would happen. At the end of every episode you see the lights going off in all the rooms in the little Walton house.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right, well done, yes. Well, after this long day, george receives a call from Mary to come home, a home he didn't even know existed. Well, mary has since purchased that old Grantville house, that dilapidated one which they'd thrown the rocks at years earlier, nearly broke. George arrives to find that Mary has done her best to make that house look like a European hotel, complete with travel posters. There's a fire going. There's a fire going. There's a full meal, a makeshift bedroom in the, in the in the other room, hell, she's roasting chickens. That's connected to the pulley system. That's connected to the record player. Yeah, rotisserie, hell. Even Bert the cop and Ernie that taxi driver. They joined the char to. I love you truly. Outside. For george and mary to hear this is now when mary reveals to george the wish she'd made all those years ago. Her wish was for him to be married to her, living in that house, having a life together like dude.
Speaker 1:This is a tender moment, man, this is, it's wonderful it's a serious moment, dude like this chick loves him man. Yeah, and that money pit.
Speaker 3:And the money pit the house with a big-ass leaky roof.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's theirs.
Speaker 3:It is, it's their house.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:So they can always make something of it.
Speaker 3:They just started, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, much like the story. You can always make something out of.
Speaker 1:let's see you let's see, you know, people like that buy, like like have a house and they're just always working on it.
Speaker 3:It's never done, absolutely you know what I mean absolutely, that was uh hell, that was my uncle out in california yeah, he was forever working on that house. Now, granted, there was earthquakes that would kind of, you know, demolish whatever the hell he had been working on, but, dude, he was forever working on that house right well, we're now in the not too distant future, now 1935.
Speaker 3:Again, this is all flashbacks. Right, with Clarence the angel, the martini family is the newest addition to the neighborhood now known as Bailey park. George and Mary even helped them move in. Uh, did you guys take notice? Like as they're? As they say, hey kids get in the back, and Martini's kids get in the back. There's a goat in the back of their car. When they arrive at the Martini house, of course they help them celebrate. They offer them bread that the house may never know hunger, salt that life may always have flavor, and wine that joy and prosperity may reign forever.
Speaker 3:There's an impromptu visit from Sam Wainwright, who's gone on to become an extremely wealthy and successful man, and reminds George of the lack of material wealth that he's since accumulated. Later that day George is called into Mr Potter's office and is offered a job. Seems odd, but in fact it's a cunning attempt to dissolve Bailey building a loan. Now George is currently making $45 a week. Potter offers him $20,000 a year. To put that in perspective, $45 a week in 1935 is around $54,000 a year today. $20,000 a year in 1935 is around $460,000 per year today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would have did that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's buying mad carriages.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would have been on that yeah, I would have just uh at that point. Honestly, if it was me, I probably would have did it.
Speaker 3:But no, he only gave him a three-year contract it was a, it was a three-year, so you know he would have screwed him after the three years sure now, fortunately, I guess you know if you, if you think about we've talked about this in another podcast, right?
Speaker 3:This is all about choices and paths and how things spiderweb, how one choice will lead to another choice leads to another choice, and it's everything what you choose. Obviously, life is a choose your own adventure and it's up to you to decide. So I got to believe that, should he have gone down that path, and should Mr Potter or I should say, when Mr Potter, you know, gives him the heap hoe, he would have probably just gone to work with Sam Wainwright. He would have figured something out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, of course, george initially considers the offer, but he promptly rejects it. After shaking Potter's wretched hand, george returns home once again beaten down by life. Of course it's uplifting for him to find out that Mary is pregnant with their first child. What are you thinking, matt? What are you thinking?
Speaker 2:Just the whole thing. He had life by the cojones, cojones Again, and he was there. He had everything pretty much handed to him at that point. But what was the main? Was it just that, like you said, the wretched hand?
Speaker 1:He was going can eat his pride and like take money from that guy.
Speaker 3:I don't think it's that. I think it's knowing the consequences again jordan this guy's gonna own the town he's gonna own the town he is going to just rob and chisel everyone out of their money like that. We've already gotten past this part now. We, where we mentioned the bailey park right the, the martini's moving there, so bailey park is actually built at whatever cost, and then bailey building and loan isn't making much of a dime on that.
Speaker 3:They're instead passing those savings on to these people buying these houses like like amazon no, not really george even mentioned that in uh, an earlier part of the the movie, when he's given potter the what for after his dad dies and they're looking to dissolve the building and loan, then he's like look man, you're a slumlord Like you, just chisel these people out of this money.
Speaker 1:Well, they made a comment about that how he, that guy, was showing Potter like this Bailey Park and look how much rent you're losing. That's right. Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2:But he's making, as what you said, like $460,000 today. He could have done more with that money for the community if he would have took this job by Potter. I think he could have made some other little businesses. Potter couldn't control all that and him being in cahoots with him at that point working for him, I just think George made a bad decision in this. This is one of them things. Especially with the young one coming, mary's pregnant could have bought like a nice new crib.
Speaker 1:I think any like not say normal, but I think majority of people would probably jump on it. Again, this is a movie and it's for that point that they're making that point of how good of a person. This guy's just so good-hearted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's just so kind-hearted.
Speaker 3:He's forever thinking of anyone but himself. First, good old George. Good old George, here's a good George. Well, the years go by and George and Mary have since been blessed with a total of four kids, two boys, two girls. Damn, not much to do out there, I guess.
Speaker 2:In that house.
Speaker 3:Well, they never left Bedford Falls but they have slowly grown that building and loan into a pretty respectful outfit. Of course, at this point world war ii came and went. George was rejected in the draft, dude got bum earing his excuses but he did his part in the war effort around the town nonetheless. You know they did. They illustrate some clips of some old movie, clips of what happened. Like we see war now and we know that. You know our military is extremely well fundedfunded, like beyond well-funded, and can just throw shit away. Back in the day, man, I mean for World War II, you had rations. You had people recycling rubber and more frugal, I mean donating everything to the war effort. You had existing for-profit commercial businesses completely changing up their production to make tanks, airplanes, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 2:Something to send over to the troops, yeah man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was a whole different world back then. George's little brother, harry, has since become a war hero and was actually given the Congressional Medal of Honor. In fact, the whole town is anxiously awaiting his return to celebrate. In the process of making his week's deposit at the bank, old forgetful Uncle Billy unwittingly places the $8,000 cash deposit into Mr Putter's newspaper while gloating to him over Harry's success. This guy's an idiot.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:This guy's an absolute tool, like I wanted to throw my damn shoe at the screen. Every time I see it, I just want to punch him what's his care.
Speaker 2:Was he just like, was he just supposed to be like one of those kind-hearted you know what I mean? The uncle billy character just like, just like lovable yeah, lovable idiot like. He's not trying to be like that, that dumb, but he just is. He is. That's what makes him uncle billy 100.
Speaker 3:He is the lovable idiot. Yes, he's like the crackhead that you just can't be angry at right right right, except they didn't have crack. Bad that they didn't have poison, though they did, but he wasn't like.
Speaker 2:He wasn't like an alcoholic or anything. Either he wasn't like the town drunk or he just.
Speaker 3:I think he just was slow, slow-minded, he had I think he had what we could now call you know adult or whatever. This guy was just a scatterbrain. He couldn't keep track of anything.
Speaker 2:But he was, he was kind, he was having a good time, always doing his thing, but he just. Yeah, you have to feel bad for him, but it wasn't his fault.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wow. Despite frantic searches, the money is forever gone. Mr Potter kept it. What a dick.
Speaker 2:Dude. What potter kept it. What a dick, dude. What a dick is right man. Horrible ass yo man. Those coaches ain't gonna ride themselves, that's true. Come on, man.
Speaker 3:You gotta pay for apples and carrots, so feed the horse that's upkeep, you've got to pay for new leather whips, whatever. Yeah, and obviously upset, george returns home that night and lets his frustrations out on his family, nitpicking at everything and anything around the house. In fact, his youngest daughteruzu has since come down with a cold, and when her teacher, mrs Welsh, calls to follow up on her condition, old George lays into the teacher too. As her last resort, george pays a visit to Mr Potter in hopes of securing a loan with a life insurance policy with a cash value of $500 and a contingent value of $15,000 in the event of his death.
Speaker 3:No dice, no, mr Potter is just a hard no. In fact, mr Potter not only gives a resounding no, he also calls the sheriff to issue a warrant for George's arrest on the grounds of embezzlement and misappropriation, which is actually fair to the extent that George I'm sorry Mr Potter is on the board of the savings and loan. He's on the board of the bank. I mean, somehow, someway, this guy can't find $8,000, and his chance would have it if the state bank examiner is in town looking over his stuff. So I mean, mr Potter was within every right to do it, albeit the fact that he set the thing up in the first place the stars are aligning. Yeah well, the bad ones, the the stars are aligning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, the bad ones, the bad ones, yeah, yeah well, george is a mess, an absolute mess.
Speaker 3:He makes his way to Mr Martini's bar for a drink. Beside himself, george prays while at the bar asking to be shown the way, and just then Mr Welsh, who happens to be at the bar at the same time, learns of George's identity and punches him in the jaw for balling out his wife over the phone earlier. We don't, we don't talk like that anymore. Like you balled her out, man.
Speaker 2:Or I got balled out. Yes, it's something different when you're balling out. Yeah, balling out now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's sports related, yeah.
Speaker 3:It is sports related or it is a whole other perverted meeting. Right it is in fact an idiom for scolding or reprimanding someone for a harsh or, I'm sorry, in a harsh or forceful manner, anyway with the harsh reality that he's tangibly worth more dead than alive. George makes his way to the bridge over the town's river, contemplating suicide. Just then, an old man appears and jumps into the river ahead of george. George being george, he of course jumps in to save him.
Speaker 1:Much like his brother, much like his brother, just like his brother.
Speaker 3:George is going to put somebody else ahead of himself Every time. Every time, even at his lowest point, even at his lowest Well, while drying off and warming up, the old man reveals himself to be Clarence Clarence's parents have a real good marriage.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 3:Clarence's parents, nice. He's been assigned to be George's guardian angel. Now, during a heated conversation and still down on himself, george states that it would be better if he'd never been born. That's not a bad idea, says Clarence. It takes him up on that thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause he's thinking of a way to show him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if this would have happened.
Speaker 3:That's right, and indeed a series of strange events ensues. A walk to where George had left his car earlier reveals that the car is gone and there's no damage to the tree he'd hit while driving. The owner of the tree reveals the town's name to now be Potterville, no longer Bedford Falls. Everything that see, matt. This is what happens when George doesn't step in.
Speaker 1:Right Biff.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:This reminds me of. That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
Speaker 3:Martini's bar is now called Nick's Bar. Mr Gower, the pharmacist, had actually spent 20 years in prison for poisoning and killing a child years earlier and has since become the town drunk. George had earlier kept a few petals that had fallen from a flower held by his daughter Zuzu. Those petals, few petals that had fallen from a flower held by his, his, uh, his daughter zuzu. Those petals are no, are they're gone. They're no longer in his pocket, nor is his wallet or any sort of identification. Clearance explains. This is the world now, without george ever having been in it. Still, we go further. The main thoroughfare of what's now known as potterville is just one big red light district full of gambling, dancing, dancing houses of ill repute.
Speaker 2:So it's much like Amsterdam before Amsterdam. I think that would have been the coolest place.
Speaker 3:It's like Atlantic City, it's like Little Vegas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so if I was George? You don't need me Right Like come on you don't need me.
Speaker 3:The home he'd made with Mary at 320 Sycamore Street has reverted back to that dilapidated wreck it had been when he was young.
Speaker 2:That was lipstick on a pig was what Mary did to that.
Speaker 3:She did, but at least she stopped the rain from coming in, right.
Speaker 2:She patched it up.
Speaker 3:Livable, livable. Livable for a family of six Absolutely Not bad. What was the home in which he grew up is now Ma Bailey's boarding house. Old, forgetful Uncle Billy has since been placed in an insane asylum. Worse, george's little brother, harry, actually died at the age of nine when he fell through that ice and no one was there to save him. Once again, clarence reminds George that every man's life touches so many others and when it's not around, it leaves an awful hole. His last hope at finding some semblance of his life is Mary, but Mary's gone on to become an old maid and works at the town's library. George has lost it all, including his mind. After a scuffle with Bert the policeman, he makes his way back to the bridge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would all be very stressful.
Speaker 3:You don't say.
Speaker 1:Could you imagine Like your whole life is gone?
Speaker 3:You know before. So we all obviously grew up with science fiction and you know we already mentioned Back to the Future and stuff like that and timelines and shit like that. I think this was pretty brilliant for as far back in the day, as this was I was going to ask.
Speaker 1:I don't watch old movies like that unless they're recommended like that. You know, I watched Re watch, rear window, which was 10, some years after this, but I don't sit and watch these movies and unless there's, you know, for the vintage cinema review, I I enjoy it. So at that time was there movies like this that that would tie together. You know what I mean. That were like. I would, like you said, I would think at this time this movie was groundbreaking, groundbreaking, but I don't know if anybody else was doing things like that. As far as like writing a movie, not that I know of.
Speaker 2:Almost like a christmas carol. Was that before this right yeah?
Speaker 3:so I mean, dude, so you're talking about charles dickens, yeah, and I mean that is way before, yeah, way before, for sure, and there's absolutely parallels.
Speaker 2:Uh between that that's what I'm saying like a lot of like they were taking this and going back to like oh, let's see, like what was, or like ghost of, instead of a ghost, kind of like a angel.
Speaker 1:You wonder if they had like I had. The first time I saw Usual Suspects Like at the end you're just like mind blown.
Speaker 3:Like if you didn't know about it, you're watching. We're definitely going to do that movie by the way?
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, yeah, I dig that one. What?
Speaker 2:was the movie with Bruce Willis, with the I See Dead People.
Speaker 1:Oh, Sixth.
Speaker 2:Sense, sixth Sense, I remember that was just out, when I was at FedEx, there was this dude Sharif that me and Dix worked with. Yeah, and everybody was talking about it Like oh man, everybody's like oh, you didn't know he was dead the whole time. And we're like huh.
Speaker 3:That ruined the entire movie.
Speaker 2:And then the whole thing I'm going to watch. I was like it sucks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it was ruined.
Speaker 2:I was like oh man, thanks a lot Omar.
Speaker 1:My daughter. We introduced this movie to them a couple years ago and she didn't know anything about it. We were maybe a half hour I forget how long in the movie she's maybe a half hour. I forget how long in the movie she's like he's dead I'm like what I'm like. How did you know that? Yeah, I don't know how she picked it up, but she knew, and I'm like you're the first person that I know that I, you know most people.
Speaker 2:I would talk do you think she had a tipster. I think there's, I don't know she, she knew nothing of it.
Speaker 3:We were like, oh, this is a good movie, you'll dig it I only saw it for the first time within the last 10 years did.
Speaker 1:Did you know about that part?
Speaker 3:I had no idea.
Speaker 1:Right, what I'm saying is nobody ruined it for you before you saw it. Yeah, in fact.
Speaker 3:I watched it because somehow, some way, I had developed a terrible habit of leaving cabinet drawers open.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't know why. It just happened, Like if I'm in a hurry and I'm making stuff and I'm reaching from one to the other for this utens object or something else it's like it's a staging area and then I end up leaving the kitchen and then just leaving it in complete disarray. Uh, I've since, you know, happily gotten rid of that habit, but my wife had, you know, just, you know, you're like the six cents man, You're like the six cents. And I didn't understand what she was talking about so I watched it and, yeah, I had no idea.
Speaker 3:It blew me away at the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think matt's wife liked my joke the one time we were at it. Like a bar or something hanging out there's like a whole group and I'm talking and nobody's like listening to me, right, and like everybody's just doing their thing and I'm like is this like the sixth sense? Because if you didn't see the movie you wouldn't get the joke right. But she, I remember her laughing. She liked that little joke.
Speaker 2:I'm glad she got the reference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but nobody was listening, so nobody like nobody everybody's talking around me and I'm talking and nobody's listening.
Speaker 2:I'm like am.
Speaker 1:I in the sixth sense, or like. You know what I mean. So, but anyway back to this movie. Uh, that was all very cool. I was like when I got to that point in the movie and like really ramped up, I was like, all right, here we go. Like I like those kinds of movies where you get to see like an alternate universe.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like what would happen if things were different? And it reminded me of back to the future. Yeah, for sure, I guess oh my god, yeah for sure.
Speaker 3:I mean, you've got like this is twilight zone, this is like some really, this is some really forward thinking stuff for back then. But I say that, or we say that, or whatever says that. You know, years later, who knows, maybe they were thinking of it back then. They just this was happened to be one that did it right, oh, wow. So george got in a scuffle with bert, ran back to the bridge where this all started. So now, desperate george once again prays. He prays as hard as he can. Please, god, let me live again. Bert the policeman arrives not long after, but in this case not to arrest him. Instead, he has to take him home after he'd gone missing. He's back.
Speaker 3:George's life is right back where he left it, on the bridge earlier, running home and happier than he's ever been. He arrives at his house gleefully, waiting to be arrested and smeared by the local newspaper. Overjoyed to see his family, he soon learns that Mary and Uncle Billy have rallied the townsfolk on his behalf. You know, having devoted his life to the benefit of others, seemingly everyone in town returns the favor. They've all chipped in to bail out the Bailey Building and Loan catastrophe.
Speaker 3:Harry arrives home and toasts to his brother the richest man in town but not for his wealth, instead for his character and impact on everyone's lives. Amongst the pile of donations, george and his family find a copy of Tom Sawyer, placed there by Clarence with a note inside reading remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings. An innocent Zuzu hears a bell ornament ringing on the tree and tells her father that every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings a sentiment he'd heard not less than a half hour earlier from Clarence. Our film ends with the throng of townsfolk singing Auld Lang Syne, reminding us to remember longstanding friendships.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that scene at the end is very horrible. I mean, everybody's coming in dumping money on it. That's what I expected at the reunion. Like everybody's coming in dumping money on it, that's what I expected at the reunion. Everybody come up dump money on the table for the podcast like we want to invest. You know what I mean, but no, you could just feel the love in the room it was just a great scene well see if people don't know this movie, they know that part oh, that's the part I always catch. That's what.
Speaker 2:I know this movie from because you see every commercial that says you know, miracle, wonderful Life, and then you hear that and see that part, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:Now this is definitely like my dad, my memories of like he would watch these black and white movies, these old school movies. Obviously he loves them and this was one that would always be on All these old men. But this is like a part. This part and then a part of him running through the town is one that I always kind of remember seeing. So the early stuff, like the earlier parts, like I don't really before I sat down and watched it, which is the second time in the past five years, I'd say, but yeah, definitely a great ending. For sure it brought tears, like I told Matt, like he told me he's going to watch it.
Speaker 3:Last night I said yeah, yeah. I kind of cried at the end like tears dude, I get teary a few times in this movie, it's a deep it's a deep movie well, just that, the whole part.
Speaker 1:Like I could relate sometimes like I'm home from work and I'm annoyed I had a bad day like back to that part where he comes home and he's just like taking it and he won't say what's wrong, he's just being a jerk, and I think we've all done that, like we're having rough times and we take it out on people that are around us that we know like you can do that because they love you.
Speaker 1:It's unconditional, yeah, and you know you can get away with it, you know start playing like music in the background you start doing that little part there for here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like that little some, some like nice, like uh music in the background right, but you know, where I'm coming from, yeah, yeah I mean we've all done it.
Speaker 3:Of course there's I don't know, but this movie has so many just redeeming elements in it. It's so heartwarming and, on so many different levels, like to see the, the amount of against selfless generosity, that that that george puts out, but then I mean the, the unconditional, undying love that he gets from his wife.
Speaker 1:I mean that's just miraculous to me yeah, even being like that, like you know, they're even like how he was acting. You know what I mean. She's like worried about him. Let me go find. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 1:You got to wonder, like, what our wives would do if we came home acting like that.
Speaker 3:I get a kick in the nuts.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, I think George was on one of Mr Gower's poison pills for that whole segment there, hopped up on goofballs.
Speaker 1:Fun facts. Ooh, about that time? It is about that time.
Speaker 3:Who wants to lead it off? I'll start one. Okay, go ahead. So we had mentioned this movie didn't initially do well in theaters. It actually, on paper. It recorded a loss of $525,000 at the box office. It wasn't until I'm sorry the film's elevation to the status of what's now that beloved classic. That didn't come until three decades after its release. It became a television staple during the Christmas season of 1976 because the copyright on the film expired in 1974.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I heard that, but then it got reinstated later on. They had remastered it or did something.
Speaker 3:I hope somebody's making money off of this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I read that it might be here in the fun facts that I have.
Speaker 2:but yeah, that's pretty wild. Somebody's making money.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, let's hope so. James Stewart was in the war. A lot of people don't know that. Like leading up to the before this film, he was like Stuart was in the war, he was he was a war hero and stuff, and he was actually like in a very dark place when he returned from the war, like in a depressive state, uh, during the filming of this movie he couldn't find a job.
Speaker 3:What do you when he got back? Yeah, I think like this might've been the first work he had after he got back.
Speaker 1:I didn't know about that, but yeah, he was in a dark place A lot of people don't know that during this movie, but uh, the the phone kiss scene, he was very nervous about it. Uh, during that when he got back, um, no-transcript the part we were talking about, that part.
Speaker 3:They were worried for her sake.
Speaker 1:No, he was nervous about that scene because of the mind space he was in, because of the depression and all that, but they did it in one take, basically Nice, so he was really worried about it. I guess, leading up to that, his acting in this was so good.
Speaker 3:There's a scene, the scene when he's given the three months after his dad died, he's still wearing the black armband and he's given you know, mr Potter, the one for like again, you slumlord, you loan shark, you're a piece of shit. You can hear the cracking in his voice, hear the passion that's in his voice. Like he's, he really took on that part of just really giving this, this piece of shit, shyster, just the the business. And don't you talk about my dad like that. And don't you talk about the good work he's done for this town. Like again, this is for jimmy stewart.
Speaker 1:Like just a great job it was a good performance, yeah um, fun fact.
Speaker 2:Uh, beverly hills high school was where the swim part was filmed. And actually 1946,. If you think about a place that would have a pool like that that would open up, it would be Beverly Hills High School with the money they had there, they'd have that ball there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fun fact.
Speaker 3:Floors go like this. Fun fact Floors go like this Nice, that school's still open.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and that's still in use today. The same, the same swim, swim club thing.
Speaker 1:Well, it says here there was a movie, and I don't know this movie, whatever it takes from 2000. They filmed a similar school dance scene there.
Speaker 2:That was 54 years later, so yeah, and also with that this was filmed. It's supposed to be a Christmas movie. You know winter, but it was like so hot there sometimes that that they had to take days off oh, for the because because of the heat. And they said the special effects team invented the new type of snow for the film using uh, water, soap flakes and fomite. Yes, and that's a little bit of sugar, and that's what they still use today oh yeah, because to make like the winter scenes you know, you know what they used before that.
Speaker 1:What, uh, like painted cornflakes and they said and they said when they would uh like be filming and and doing the, uh taking the um audio side of things, it would be loud.
Speaker 2:The sound was so loud from the, but this, the thing matt's talking about, was more softer landing it sounded like yes, snow sounded like real snow basically and, yeah, they use that today, even though I hate the movies that are filmed with the fake snow, because the people are doing stuff and the snow just sits on them. Dude, is there any way they can figure out some way to like we?
Speaker 3:can melt. Yeah, I just hate that when Clarence jumps in the river and George jumps in after him. There Now they're in water, but snow is still sticking to them Like as they're coming out of the water and in the water like come on man
Speaker 2:man, right, there's got to be a way but see you actually like there's some movies that are filmed where you see them on location, like in the winter, where they're like battling or like somebody's like chasing somebody through the water and like they're just breathing, and you see, like that coat, like I dig that. I mean this isn't like an action movie or anything like that, but, um, yeah, like they could have did a little more on that, but it's still still nice, heart heartwarming movie absolutely giving the benefit of the doubt that it was the 40s.
Speaker 3:Yeah, fun fact. Cary Grant was intended to play George Bailey. Oh about that. Also fun fact, henry Fonda was also considered, but he was instead cast by the studio in my Darling Clementine, which was being filmed at the same time.
Speaker 1:So this set that they developed for this movie was, I think, at the time nothing like it, and I don't even know if since then there's ever been an undertaking like this. So it took two months to do, which is crazy when you look at the size of it it was 300 yards long, which is three whole city blocks.
Speaker 3:So you're talking about the town? Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:They built that for this movie which is insane. So it included 75 stores and buildings and then they had the main street, they had a factory district and the large residential and slum area. So all that basically built on this ranch. It was the Encino Ranch, rko owned it.
Speaker 2:I thought they were going to say Lucas.
Speaker 1:Ranch, so it was like about four acres. They said that's pretty large.
Speaker 3:Heck, yeah, yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Stuart actually did begin sobbing in that scene at the bar.
Speaker 1:Oh, really, with the prayer. Yes, that's pretty cool. Those were real tears, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Actually, the tears were bottled. Now they're held in a museum. A museum right In California.
Speaker 3:Nice, I believe it. Let's see. Oh, among a number of others, vincent Price was considered for the role of Mr Potter.
Speaker 1:That would have been good. He would have been younger though right?
Speaker 2:No really. I mean he would have been, he still would have probably been about 50 or 40, right.
Speaker 3:I'd put him in probably his 40s at this time. Yeah, I wonder how.
Speaker 1:Barrymore was at this time, I don't know 60s maybe.
Speaker 3:Probably, but Lionel Barrymore, including Drew Barrymore.
Speaker 2:Was that her uncle, then I guess, I mean, I would imagine.
Speaker 3:Great uncle, great, great uncle yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know the lineage of them, the Barrymores, but they were a huge acting family in Hollywood Not to be confused with Hugh Jackman. No.
Speaker 1:Hugh.
Speaker 2:Jackman, but instead Hugh Jackman as.
Speaker 3:Wolverine Huge acting. Let's see. Lionel Barrymore got that role thanks mostly in part to, in fact, his voice work as Ebenezer Scrooge that he'd done on the radio. That's pretty wild.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Matt mentioned the Christmas Carol earlier. It is a very interesting tie-in.
Speaker 1:That is cool, yeah, so in this, sorry, no, go ahead, sorry, no, I just I just have one final one for the fun fact from over here.
Speaker 2:It was nominated for five Academy Awards, but it won none.
Speaker 1:That's insane, that's a damn shame, yeah, what would? Have been better than this that year.
Speaker 2:I don't know Just the acting here. I would like to know what was acted out. What would have been better at that time? That's yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, in this movie, george, he wants to go on to build things in real life. But Jimmy Stewart actually majored in architecture at Princeton, oh shit, yeah At. Princeton. Yeah, so he was a smart guy, dang, and, like I talked about his military stuff, I think he retired as a brigadier general or something like that, something along those lines, from the military or. But yeah, he definitely had a um. He served in world war ii, yep, and then also, I think, in vietnam what well, I'm pretty sure, yeah, jimmy stewart now maybe korea korea man, there's no way from world war ii to vietnam I don't know
Speaker 1:he would have been in his 60s that's interesting he, he was like uh, I think he was in the uh air force. You can look it up, yeah look, that's what I'm looking up.
Speaker 3:I think he was in the Air Force, really. That's what I'm looking up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm curious.
Speaker 3:You know, the first script of this movie had George at the end. So when you see everybody singing, all the anxiety and stuff like that, right, the first script had actually George fall to his knees and recite the Lord's Prayer.
Speaker 1:Our Father.
Speaker 3:How about that? They cut it out even back then, because it would have seemed too churchy ah okay, which I can dig.
Speaker 2:What, what dave was uh saying? Uh, he did serve in world war ii. It was commanding officer 73 bob squad, uh bomb squadron squadron. Sorry about that, but it says here you got distinguished two flying crosses in world war ii. And it says vietnam war and it says stewart also served in the vietnam war.
Speaker 1:But it says nothing but that what he did, yeah, but I know he was like in the military, did he like?
Speaker 2:fly over there to do like uh, he's like with bob hope or something I think he served with stilton george over there maybe bob hope. Oh, you know, matt, you might be right he might have been serving like hot dogs it might have been like uso yeah, I'm thinking a USO type thing, where they may have given him a no.
Speaker 1:I'm pretty sure it was like he did something flying-wise.
Speaker 3:Interesting.
Speaker 1:Don't quote me on that, which is too late.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:But no. So, like I talked about earlier, with the banking and all that, the fun facts on that. So this was 1947. There was an FBI analyst. He was running a memo on communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. So they were trying to this was an obvious attempt to discredit. Discredit bankers is what they were saying. Uh, and it was a common trick that communists use. And they were saying, basically, like they were trying to, like, put this in the movie so that people would think, oh, banks are bad, and all that. And there was a whole thing Like it's crazy to think that there was conspiracy theories like that back then. Dude, people were, you know.
Speaker 3:You had bad villains. You know you used to have bad guys. You used to have Dracula and whatever like just nasty bad monsters that were the whatever Right that was replaced with bankers. Yeah, name me a movie where a banker's made out to look like a good guy.
Speaker 1:Like a good guy. Yeah, it makes sense, right, but I thought that was pretty wild.
Speaker 3:Let's see. Oh, have either of you guys seen that movie that starred Andrew Dice Clay? It's called.
Speaker 1:Adventures of Fort Fairland. Yes, yeah, I love that movie.
Speaker 3:Do you guys remember the name of the one girl in that, the girl that went missing? I wouldn't remember her name was zuzu petals. Oh, from this. Yeah, that's got to be an ode to this, it has to be. She had the flower petals that george had in his pockets at zuzu zuzu petals do you know they uh released a colorized version of this film?
Speaker 1:I did not know that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in 1986, uh that would be lame yeah, it was a lot of controversy around it. There was a deal between frank capra and colorization incorporated. That was the producer of this version. He invested Capra invested in half of the coloration work in exchange for creative control and part ownership. However, though, they realized that since the film was supposedly in the public domain, they could do all the work and let him go. So they basically went and did it on their own and like trying to cut him out, so he wasn't really getting, I guess, any money from it or anything like that. And then that outcry from all that, from this going on, that did the creation of Library Congress's National Film Registry in 1989. There you go. So that's kind of why.
Speaker 3:Cash me out some. How about that?
Speaker 1:So the version was pulled from distribution in 93. And that's when the film's copyright was restored uh so I guess it is in copyright. Yeah, because how long does that last? Not 100 years, is it 70 years? I forget what. It is no idea, because you know that brought me back to one other thing.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna say at least 30. I'm gonna say 30 because this expired.
Speaker 1:The copyright expired in 74 74, so maybe it was 30 years. But there's a whole thing going on with like Disney stuff that's going out of there's Steamboat.
Speaker 2:Willie, you know that original Disney original with Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 1:Right. So there's a copyright on that that expired. So now these film creators are going and making these horror movies using that Steamboat Willie, because it's out of copyright, and they also did it with Winnie the Pooh. Oh, they have a horror movie on Winnie the Pooh, yes, so the reason they're able to get away with that is because of that I hope they do a brand new itchy and scratchy yeah, the copyright went out, so maybe we can use that stuff for the podcast. Hey, why not?
Speaker 3:yeah, some steamboat, willie. I got one more and this one's kind of like a twist tangent, as it were. So when you you're watching the movie and, uh, the guy that's pissed at George for stealing Mary away from the dance, there's that one guy. His name is. Last name is Othello, freddie Othello.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And he's, he gets. You know he's pissed because you know George takes Mary. He was about to dance with her. So Freddie gets together with this other guy who says hey look, man, freddie, I see you're kind of pissed at George over there. Well, did you know that this floor opens up and underneath is a pool and guess what? I've got the key? Yeah, I remember that part. So Freddie's the guy that turns the key and does whatever. I'd seen this long ago when I you know it's a face you just know from a kid or as a child, from from a kid or as a child.
Speaker 1:so when you guys were coming up. Did you guys ever watch?
Speaker 3:the little rascals our gang. Yeah, yeah, that guy was alfalfa. Oh, for real. Oh, so yeah, that guy's alfalfa he played.
Speaker 1:So the actor's name is carl switzer and that would have been like 15 years earlier or whatever.
Speaker 3:10 ish, 15 yeah sure about that close enough. But yeah, he just was alfalfa. That's his first role. So the guy's name is Carl Switzer. He was born in 1927.
Speaker 1:How about that?
Speaker 3:Cash me outside. So, besides acting, switzer bred and trained hunting dogs and guided hunting expeditions. Now among his notable clients were Roy Rogers, henry Fonda and, of all people, jimmy Stewart. Now here's where it gets twisty. In 1959, he was engaged to train a hunting dog for a guy named Moses Bud Stiltz. All right, so Stiltz. Now this guy's the actor's name is Switzer, the guy with the dog is named Stiltz. During training, the dog ran off after a bear. Stilts wanted a. You know the guy that owned the dog. He's like look man, I either want my dog bag or I want the cash equivalent for the dog. So, uh, switzer, alfalfa, uh, offered a 50. He put out a 50 reward for anyone that could find a dog. Now the dog was found, but now switzer was out 50, right? So, wanting reimbursement for the 50 bucks, switzer goes to stiltz's house, you know, to confront him about it. It's like, dude, I found your dog.
Speaker 1:I want the $50.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had to fork out 50, but you know, maybe you could, you know, reimburse me for it. So a fight ensued and, uh, Switzer actually hit this Stiltz dude over the head with a clock. One way or another. Alfalfa was then shot in the groin by a .38 revolver and died upon arrival at the hospital.
Speaker 1:That's how he died.
Speaker 3:Yeah, stiltz said it was in self-defense. But Stiltz's stepson, who was home at the time, said Stiltz shot him after he was leaving. Like Alfalfa was just walking away and then Stiltz shot him after he was leaving. Like Alfalfa was just walking away and then Stiltz shot him.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of referring to him as Alfalfa.
Speaker 3:I mean because it's Stiltz and Switzer I just want to make sure we're clear, so despite the physical evidence leading to Stiltz's story being false, he wasn't charged and the shooting was judged to be self-defense. Alfalfa was only 31 years old when he died.
Speaker 1:That's crazy years old when he died.
Speaker 3:That's crazy. We should do a true crime on that. Yeah, man, that's crazy. Man, that's crazy, that's pretty cool, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I guess it's the time where we'll do our little review on Earth Review, our uh, what do you call it? Late fee return or burn Sure? So, zav, I guess it's your movie that you picked, so why don't you go ahead and start us off?
Speaker 3:Well, we want to do classic, so I'll. I'll be very thankful to you, dave, for offering to let me pick this one right. Uh, for me, I mean it's, if it's not already evident, I would late be the shit out of this movie, buy it probably this, I would buy it, buy it.
Speaker 3:Oh, there you go. This, this movie holds such a special place in my heart and you know as chance would have it, uh, very early in the movie when we see george uh, I guess, I don't know, are you? I think I told you guys like I have a bad ear, like maybe six, seven years no, but I know that six, seven years ago I just this hissing started in my ear. It's not. It's not a ringing, it's a hissing like a tinnitus or whatever so tinnitus is a ringing.
Speaker 2:It's like a harry potter thing. You like talk to snakes Maybe but that would be awesome.
Speaker 3:But either way, that hissing of course now affects my hearing. So, uh, as I'm laying there watching the movie one night, uh, my wife comes over and you know she whispers. Well, anyway, there's a scene in the very beginning of the movie when George is a kid and he's working at the soda shop, at the pharmacist office and pharmacist place, and when he's down there behind the, the, the, the counter, uh, Mary, at what? Eight, nine years old at the time, you know, leans over and says you know, George, is this your bad ear? George Bailey, I'll love you till the day I die.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'm sitting there watching this movie and my wife movie and my what this is. Years ago, my wife, you know, said the same thing. You know. She just leans over and says that into my ear and so she was, you know, joking at the time. Did she say john zapp or?
Speaker 1:george bailey she said george bailey she said george bailey.
Speaker 3:Okay, but of course just to you know, mimic the right the movie, right, that's cool. So it's since then, though, while it was funny at the time, it's actually since then become, you know, just a, a really like a, a tender moment for us, like a lovely thing so, like when we watch that in the movie, like you know, both of us will get a little teary. That's cool, yeah, it's a. Anyway, it's just a little special thing, something that I I hold very dear that's awesome, just like this movie.
Speaker 3:This is such a fantastic movie, a great story of selflessness, putting the needs of others above your own, and really, you know you reap. You reap what you sow.
Speaker 1:Right so there's my whole diatribe of late fee, late fee, late fee for sure.
Speaker 2:So, Matt, what you got, Uh, real quick, before I say that, uh, he was a non-duty officer on a light bombing mission in Vietnam, so he was okay, good and a late fee, return or burn. I would try to actually watch this whole movie. Nice, is there rental? I would. I would rent and try to watch the movie we appreciate that it's good, uh, it's good with the fire going for a nice, nice, uh winter afternoon. But uh, yeah, you don't. So I like james stewart, he's all right, would you?
Speaker 1:so, would you? You're not burning?
Speaker 2:I would rent this. You would rent.
Speaker 1:You're not burning it, you're not leafing yeah, yeah I got you just straight up running it. Yeah, for me, like to put it in perspective, I saw this movie as an adult, so as an adult, like I can appreciate it. Obviously, I'm not going to see it back when it first came out. I would say, though, like we always talk about as a kid, you know, I'm not really paying attention to a movie like this.
Speaker 1:being honest, but I saw this as a young kid, being older and, obviously you know, understanding a little bit more. I definitely liked this. I wouldn't say that I would late fee it. Um, I'm definitely going to watch it a couple of times. I mean, obviously this is a movie that's on all the time, I can catch it whenever, um, but I enjoyed it. I mean I can definitely dig uh, for, especially for the time that it came out, like this movie was. Uh, I got to imagine there's not not much like that on this level back then. But maybe, maybe, I'm wrong on that. I'm not an aficionado of old school movies like this.
Speaker 2:So well, definitely yeah, this time of year it's going to be on, so if you just yeah, just you know, check, check your listing on the tv there it's going to be on somewhere it'd be like christmas vacation or christmas, uh, christmas story, any of those?
Speaker 1:they're going to play it all the time. Obviously, zap texted us like, hey, it's on, uh, whatever was it on uh e I guess.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's amazing the channels that run this thing. Yeah, like e is like such a gutter shitty channel, like just an awful channel.
Speaker 2:Why would they run such a great, awesome movie right, the uh. What's the one that starts with the w is what's called the w, the w, yeah, the w is running it and they might be running it.
Speaker 1:But uh, yeah, definitely a good movie. Uh, in between, I would say a late fee and a return, but be a late return, so I appreciate you picking this one. Nice, I was glad to sit on watch it again. But uh, yeah, that's going to be it for the vintage cinema for 2024. Yeah, this should be coming out two days before christmas, so merry christmas to everybody. And you guys got anything else in closing?
Speaker 3:I got nothing else. Just merry christmas to everybody and be thankful for what you got.
Speaker 2:Yeah, merry Christmas, happy holidays, Happy New Year. Yeah, enjoy, and we'll be back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll be back 2025. So don't forget to find us on Facebook and Instagram at Old Dirty Basement and TikTok at Old Dirty Basement Podcast. I guess that's it for now, so we'll catch you where.
Speaker 2:On the flip side If we don't see you sooner we'll see you later, peace. Thanks for listening to the Vintage Cinema Review in the Old Dirty Basement. If you dig our theme music, like we do, check out the Tsunami Experiment Find them on Facebook. Their music is streaming on Spotify and Apple and where great music is available.
Speaker 1:You can find us at old dirty basement on Facebook and Instagram and at old dirty basement podcast on Tik TOK Peace, we outtie 5,000.