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Paul alluded to this, but I can't get over how bonkers the chewing-gum bug was. 1. You can't actually chew the gum with the bug inside it; it's just a thin circle of gum wrapped around a metal device. Even if you could, the way you'd be contorting your mouth to chew around the metal would look so awkward that it would defeat the whole purpose of surreptitiously disguising the device. You're going to be nearly as obvious when you try to extricate the bug from the gum. You're way better off just popping a regular piece of gum and then slipping the bug from your pocket into the chewed-up wad when no one is looking. 2. Since Cliff was just a normal college student, why did the bug have to be disguised in the first place? Designing bazookas, etc. is crazy, but you could say that Cliff was a pyro. Those weapons were out in the open for all to see (and apparently...not suspend him for?) Disguising a listening device is specific to spy gadgetry, a la James Bond. What did Cliff plan to eavesdrop on, so crucially that he'd go through the trouble of disguising it as a piece of gum? If I found out that my roommate planned to eavesdrop on people for fun, I'm not so sure I'd trust him. 3. I hate the wording Cliff uses, "Chew it up." GROSS.

This is a legitimately fun movie to watch, and the episode is a great listen. So what happened to Riley (played by "Nightmare on Elm Street";s Robert Englund (who even got a special credit)? After yelling "Good boy, Ripley", Ragnar leaves him behind, and the two punks protecting Riley get gunned down by Danja, but Riley is just left sitting there. Danja and Grady go running off to the chopper (after the hilarious image of Grady running one direction and then course correcting to follow Danja) and Lance jumps on the motorcycle. You'd think the guy who built the valve system might be useful in shutting the whole thing down.

Even for being a genius inventor in the 80s he wasn't once referred to as a nerd that nobody wanted around! He was maybe even more useful than Lance was considering how willing he was to also jump into action. What disappointed me was that Cliff didn't get to answer for himself when he was also offered a position as a spy, but he didn't protest and I guess went back to college too but I would think he would've been much happier building things that could be used to help people.

I think something needs to be said for how progressive Cliff's performance is, considering the context of when this movie was made. He's an Asian-American supporting character from the 80's that doesn't speak with an embarrassing accent or make offensive Asian metaphors. The fact that he's Asian-American isn't even referenced, which seems pretty much unthought of back then. Granted, he's a genius inventor, which could be considered a stereotype, but at least it's not an offensive one, which was a rarity.

I have to disagree with June on the amount of time it would have taken Gene to do that eye makeup in the helicopter! I do agree that it wasn't the best job done and it does look rushed, but that was for sure at least a 15 minute apply job. It takes me around 15-20 minutes to do my eyes and I'm not doing anything nearly extravagant as that and if you ask any drag queen how long it usually take them to do their makeup they all say usually on average 2 hours. Of course that is meticulously applying everything on the face perfectly, so if you just focus on the eyes and rush it that sounds like it could have taken him 15 minutes at least.

Just a note on Karate Dog: Pat Morita (a.k.a. Mr. Miyagi) is actually in Karate Dog. He plays a character named Chin Li.

The whole time I was wondering whose water supply Ragnar was planning on poisoning. After all, a water supply is a very limited geographical area. It's often just a city. But near the end Lance answered that question when he told Ragnar he was going to save the world. Ah! So it was the world's water supply! Wait... What?

Hilarious episode. My favorite part of the movie had to be Cliff. He is an absolute first ballot entry into the Roommate Hall of Fame. There is a good chance that Cliff and Lance never met before getting randomly paired up for their dorm assignment. Then a year or two later absolutely no questions asked he is a killing machine against impossible odds to help out Lance. Normally you are just happy if you have a roommate that keeps things relatively clean. Cliff puts everyone to shame. I don't know if the movie made this explicitly clear but Ragnar killed Carruthers and then assumed his identity, right? It makes me think the real Carruthers must not have had a great working relationship with his coworkers if no one in this organization ever batted an eye at his replacement. Also he must have had no friends or family to notice that he had gone missing. That unseen character is really bumming me out.

Loved the movie, loved the episode. As for the incinerator Vanity was tortured in, it appears to a brickyard facility, so it was an industrial kiln used to cure clay into bricks. So... 1: the temperature dial would not go by 100's as bricks are fired 1200 Celsius, roughly 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. 2: the human body shuts down at about 250 degree and at 700, she would be on fire, the metal table would be glowing red as would the cuffs holding her down And, probably the most baffling 3: why would someone install a two-way intercom in an oven?

Thus Lance saying "name" is what tipped off Ragnar that he was there under false pretenses, leading to the bug sweep. Never underestimate the mental acuity of Velvet von Ragnar.

It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle? and Norton: That witness from the train. What was his name? Keyes: His name was Jackson. Probably still is. and this one took me a second to get it haha: Phyllis: I was just fixing some iced tea. Would you like a glass? Neff: Yeah, unless you got a bottle of beer that's not working.

A correction for Jason: He says the wrestlers just came out of nowhere and weren't sharing space with the gymnasts but that is not true. During the montage where they play the Stargrove song, in the background you can see someone set up a mat on the spring floor for some reason and two guys are wrestling on it. There's no reason for them to be doing this here on the specialized gymnastics equipment when all they need is a floor, but it sets up the next shot where they watch Stargrove on the trampoline, which is also on the spring floor for unknown reasons.

The first time I saw this movie, I laughed like hell at "Shut up, baby."

They also started a thread about how unattractive Stanwyck is, for what its worth. But yea... the 'baby's are awesome. One key to understanding the best noir... is it's funny as hell. That's how I take the 'baby's. It is a simple character trait and has its purpose for sure, but it's also REALLY funny. Besides that, it's a cheap connection between two basically strangers to fake intimacy. I think it should be clear here, in this movie especially, that every word and line is intentional. It's there for a reason. Anyway, I had not seen Double Indemnity before and I LOVED it. Everything. As a Coen Brothers diehard, I felt like I was watching their favorite movie. The dry humor, the incredible dialogue, the cool plot, the femme fatale, all of it. I probably could trace something in every Coen movie back to this film. As a viewer, I felt like I'd been perfectly trained for a noir like this because of them. Paul at the end mentioned that next week's Singin' In The Rain is a good companion for Double Indemnity, but I actually think All About Eve was a great pair for it. (Maybe all three are a good menage a trois?) The dialogue, deep allusions, rewatchability, questionable motives, just the vaguely pulpy fun. And while I was slower to get my head around Eve than this one, seeing these two really made me glad I'm doing this endeavor in catching up on film history.

What was everyone’s favorite Noir line? Mine was: “They’ll hang you just as sure as ten dimes will buy you a dollar, and I don’t want you to hang, baby.”

Personally, I loved all the "babys." As I said on my initial Letterboxd review, I liked the movie for all the right reasons, but I think I loved it for all the wrong ones. I got so much joy out of how hard-boiled everything was. Everything Neff utters is pure brilliance. I also agree with you. As they said in the show, I feel like Neff (much like Eve) is playing a role. His life is kind of whatever, and when this woman seems a little interested in him, he really pours it on. In my mind, all the "babys" and everything are complete artifice. He's pretending to be something he's not - or something he wishes he could be. (You've got to stop slumming over there on Facebook )

I'm not sure they talked about this in the episode, but I particularly love the subtleties in the final scene. Neff can't light his own cigarette, so Keyes does it for him (using the same trick Neff always used to light matches for him), then Neff says "I love you too," only not in the sarcastic way he did earlier. A small gesture of pure kindness/mercy, followed by maybe the most sincere thing Neff ever says to anyone else. Some folks on the Facebook group were annoyed about all the times Neff says "Baby," but to me this pretty clearly indicates how shallow he is and is wholly intentional. He repeats a supposed term of endearment so often that it becomes meaningless. Tells you his motivation is not really love, it's massaging his own ego.

I think my favorite part was when Neff needed to cool off so he bowled a couple frames...and grabbed a beer a Drive-In restaurant. Oh, 1944, you so crazy.

Amy and Paul wondered why the movie was set in 1938 instead of 1944, and I wonder if maybe the studio was afraid audiences might not accept that Neff - a healthy, thirty-five year old man - wasn't enlisted in the military. While still a few years from America actually entering the war, 1938 is conspicuous in being the year before WW II began. While Neff is never portrayed as a "good guy," he still needed to be someone that the audience could root for. If there was a hint that he might be a draft dodger or something, they might have been afraid that people would turn on him off him right off the bat..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbbell_Indemnity

I want to do a podcast all about pogs. But it is NOT ALLOWED to be called a Pogcast.

The handkerchief got me too after (I think it was Paul) pointed out that an earlier draft of the script had some commentary about fingerprints being censored because it wasn't common knowledge that fingerprint technology existed.

I'm with Matt. I had no idea Gene Simmons was Carruthers. I thought Carruthers looked weird but it never once occurred to me he was Ragnar. That reveal blew my mind but made so much sense. I, like Paul thought, George Lazenby and John Stamos were connected with some psychic/physical connection. One of my only notes was something of the was some Corsican brothers or Xamot and Tomax type relationship.

Quentin Tarantino worked in a video store. Did you know that? He's actually like a real fan of cinema. I think Robin Williams worked at a truck stop selling pre-peeled oranges. Ooh, wouldn't this be a great idea for a podcast? We can talk about Hollywood Insider-type stuff and dish on gossip about celebs, and then gradually abandon that concept and it's just without direction or structure and we're also being funny.