Ivan Reitman had a stretch that included some of the greatest comedies ever – that really spoke to us of a certain age – Animal House, Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters…. a look back at those films.
You ever realize you were a fan of somebody’s work without realizing it? That’s what happened to me last week when Ivan Reitman passed away. Now, I’m not really sure where today’s episode is going as a radio programmer. I have a concept that I call taking the car out for a drive. And what I mean about that is sometimes.
I just want to talk about something and it’s just nice memories. This is not going to be the most focused episode. I have it a little bit scripted out, but I thought I’d bounce around Mr. Reitmans I MDB and just see where life takes us. Now. I think the New York times obit really nailed it. They wrote, he injected giant marshmallow boogeymen and Toga parties and a popular.
Right. Man-made is mark with movies that offer and featured a memorably, outrageous scenes and unexpected casting, animal house stripes, Ghostbusters,
those films turned comedians like bill Murray and John Belushi, and a movie stars. Other Reitman films put established stars into new situations. An example of being Arnold Schwartzenegger in twins and kindergarten.
Reitman talked about his own work evolving over the years. He said all those early films were really about being in your twenties and being a teenager, as opposed to being in your thirties, forties, and fifties, and having children in your twenties. You say, what the hell? Let’s go start a war in Czechoslovakia.
Hey, it’s going to be fun. All right. Let’s just surf his IMDV and see what we find.
let’s start with this director credits 1968, a shirt called orientation, Foxy lady and 71 cannibal girls and 73. But then he listened to this run, meatball stripes, Ghostbusters legal Eagles, and right twins, Ghostbusters to kindergarten cop Dave that’s all in a row. So you’ve got one movie in there that’s maybe not the best movie, 1979 meatballs.
Are you ready for the summer? If you were of a certain age and I am of a certain age,
and meet for kids my age, we were just hung up on that movie approx road. Nobody’s going to call, meet bells and excellent film. I might, but I get what you’re saying there. It’s not exactly Lawrence of Arabia. I understand. But the 1979 production is key to understanding so many elements of Reitman success and the history of big screen.
Majoring the height of Canada’s tax shelter era, the grungy summer camp comedy would inspire Legion of SQLs, knockoffs and homages. Yeah. Let’s not talk about meatballs too, which Reitman isn’t involved with establish bill Murray’s deadpan slacker charm, and prove that Reitman was a trend-setter.
Uh, Brock’s rights, basically. There’s no plot to this movie. The entire film seems to hinge on turning the camera and letting bill Murray refer however long he wants at about any topic he wants. Good bill Murray plays, tripper Harrison, a wise ass counselor for camp north star, who, when we first meet him is telling a news crew about how Yasser Arafat and Henry Kissinger are going to come hang out at the camp with.
Approx rights. I have a hard time believing almost anything Marie says in this movie was actually in the script.
There are scenes where it feels like Marie literally jumps into frame. Does a comedy bit about something that has almost nothing to do with us going on in the movie that jumps out. It’s a movie star performance. We don’t see any more. It’s jarring. I had a whole movie hinges on one actor’s ability to capture the screen.
Approx ads. What’s surprising about meatballs. Is it never devolves into well, pretty much every other movie from that era with similar topics, there’s no scene of the boys peeking into the girl’s shower or any other crude tropes troopers, just a positive guy who wants the kids to feel good about themselves, do the best they can.
And I had forgotten until I started doing the prep for this episode about the, it just doesn’t matter speech. There’ve been times in my life where I have gone into a version of that speech without even connecting it back to meatballs, that speech. And I’m no bill Murray. Sure. Mohawk has beaten us 12 years in a row.
Sure. They’re terrific. Yeah. We’ve got the best equipment that money can buy hell. Every team they’re sitting over here has their own personal misuse, not Misoure misuse, but it doesn’t matter. Do you know that every Mohawk competitor has an electrocardiogram blood and urine tests, every 48 hours to see if there’s any physical change in his condition.
This is funny. Even with me reading it, I’m cracking myself up. You know, They use the most sophisticated training methods from the Soviet union east and west Germany and the newest Olympic power Trinidad, but it doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter. And the rest of hilarious.
I’ll stick with Uproxx here who say one of Reitman’s greatest attributes as a director.
After the success of meatballs, he decided what if we let these kinds of moments happen in a movie where there is a plot. So instead of bill Murray, just hanging out, the next movie is let’s put bill Murray in the army and then bill Murray bus ghost. Yeah. What a great premise.
For military.com. I found some fun facts about stripes. Are you excited? E R did you know stripes was made by Canadians
Of course bill Murray and Harold Ramis from Chicago, but the rest of the crew Canadians fun fact, number two, Warren Oates was the movie’s only legit military.
boats played drill Sergeant Hulka I’m laughing, just remembering this. This is what I’m talking about by taking a car out for a drive. I’m just clearly free associating here. Hopefully this is bringing back memories for you as well. Actor, Warren oats enlisted in the Marines in 46 or two years as an aircraft mechanic.
He made the rank of corporal before being discharged in 1948.
oh, it’s managed to deliver a menace with a straight face while still conveying a sense that he was in on the movies. Joke.
The checklist of AKI and border scenes were filmed in Kentucky. The army left the production film at Fort Knox. Then the producers realized that Kentucky made a great stand in for Czechoslovakia.
You know, I, I think most people would agree. Stripes is two thirds. Awesome. One third. Okay. The whole beginning where they’re training themselves and that’s the fact Jack and all that stuff is awesome. Once they actually get into the Czechoslovakia part, it’s not as much fun, but boy stripes is amazing.
All right. Sammy balls was 79 stripes, 81 Ghostbusters, 1984.
I’ve never been like the biggest Ghostbusters fan. I enjoyed it. I remember as a kid, I would take the seven train into high school and there’d be the subway poster ads at the. And it just had the very familiar now to you Buster symbol. But at the time I was like, what does no ghosts mean? What does this mean?
Why are we crossing out a ghost? And it was like the best campaign. I always remember that image, the red cross out with the ghost on a black background and no words at all. Ghostbusters. I know some people, my former colleague mark says hi, I call them former colleague. My friend mark says hi from the serious days major Ghostbusters.
Also from 1984, he directed the Ghostbusters video. That’s fun, legal Eagles. Nobody has anything good to say about legal Eagles. And I don’t even remember what it was. Let’s click on this.
Robert Redford, Debra winger and Daryl Hannah. That’s pretty good cast, right? If I told you right now, I’m going to make a movie about this podcast, starring Robert Redford, Debra winger, and Daryl Hannah. And I’m going to make it 30 years ago. You’d be like, that sounds like a good movie. Let’s see.
Robert Redford obviously plays Johnny Mackey. You could see the resemblance Debra winger plays Mrs. Mack. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And Daryl Hannah. We’re only going to get into trouble here with this joke. I, New York district attorney works and flirts
with his adversary and her cookie or his client who’s on trial for murder. She did not commit.
I jumped on rotten tomatoes here, legal Eagles, the sort of project that gives a vies of being a carefully packaged studio deal. Legal Eagles primarily comes off as a lazy and fairly pointless vanity project. Okay. We get the vibe here. I’m here to celebrate Reitman. So let’s pretend that movie never happened.
Twins. Schwartzenegger DaVita. Are you a big fan of that?
Ghostbusters to kindergarten cop. I feel like that was right in the sweet spot of that. Schwartzenegger run where he couldn’t miss Dave is a nice change up. That’s a movie that I feel like I haven’t seen in a long time. It was probably aged really well. Junior father’s day, six days, seven nights.
I was thinking that was an Adam Sandler movie. No, that’s something else entirely. That would have been bad for me. If it was an Adam Sandler movie, no, six days, seven nights is Harrison Ford and Haitian David Schwimmer. If I told you right now, I was making a movie about this podcast. Starring obviously Harrison Ford is me and Hayes was my wife and David Schwimmer as.
You’d be like, all right, that’s pretty good movie. But this one, Robin Monroe in New York magazine editor and the gruff pilot queen Harris must put aside their mutual dislike. If there’s five after a crash landing on a south seas island, I don’t remember that movie.
Evolution. My super ex-girlfriend no strings attached draft day is underrated. People looked at that. Like it was a cheap Costner TV movie draft day as a lot of fun.
Washington post road. There are thick books and college courses taught on Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, and Ingmar Bergman. But as the film world mourns right, men it’s worth noting how many careers were built on the shoulders of his buddy ship.
It can be seen in the best will. Ferrell movies, five with John C. Riley three with mark Walberg in a goofy games on Jimmy Fallon’s version of the tonight show. And even in podcast occupied by buddies.
In most interviews he was generous and praising others, downright boring and explaining the art of what he did. If he didn’t know better, you’d have no clue that Reitman help write and direct some of the sharpest lines and modern comedy high. Put me in that camp guilty, but I’m really happy I’m doing this episode because I’m getting one, an appreciation for this body of work.
Take a break and I’ll come back and I’ll look at his production credits.
So one movie we haven’t looked at yet 1978 national Lampoon’s animal house. I loved that movie. My mom took me to see it. And the 1970 had, I would have been nine. Why am I at animal house mom, what’s going on here? And I remember when the, and my mom’s upstairs, which is why I was 52 years old. I don’t want my mom to hear this segment.
But when there was the scene with the ladder and the nice college student taking off her bra and mama, sit next to you who that’s awkward.
I love animal house. Let me just do some free association here for you, John Belushi, food fight, tow gut. So God, thank you. God Odus loves us. Shout. Do you ever not hear the song shout and it just makes you. And something that’s got really a of five, the 0.0 as I was doing prep for the podcast. I just typed in animal house.
And one of the Google autocompletes was why is animal house rated R? And I started to giggle, but. The answer, lots of sexual situations, including women giving a guy a favor, reading pornography, Bluto, looking up the skirts of some cheerleaders and watching shirtless women have a pillow fight, some naked breasts.
What do you mean? Why is that a whole house rated R
I love that movie that might be worth an episode for itself for some of the summer filler. I’m going to add that to the editorial calendar. When I’ve got some travel later in the year, that’s a good idea.
Delta house. Remember Delta house and ABC sitcom based on animal house. You didn’t have Bluto. You have blotto.
Some of the episode, sidles, the fall of Dean wormer. Oh no. The blotto who came to dinner, Hoover and the bomb, the matriculation of Kent Dorfman. Don’t you want to see Delta house? I, how bad could Delta house be? I watched it back in 1979. I haven’t seen it anywhere that two might be worth some weekend.
Stripes heavy metal. That’s the animated film in 1981.
Not going to read everything here. He produced a lot of things. Beethoven, second. Beethoven TV series that happened the late shift. I love the late shift. That’s the HBO TV movie about Leno and Letterman. I love that film. Is it a little cheesy? Yeah, but it knows it’s a little cheesy. If you’ve never seen the late shift it’s on HBO max.
Now watch it producer on space, jam, private parts, the movie that’s disappeared. I think that’s back. I think Howard sorta made that disappear for awhile. I believe that’s on HBO, max.
Old-school oh my goodness. I love old school. So I’m looking here just to make sure I’m not a horrible person. Old school came out in 2003 and had at that time a line that just cracked me up.
I’m paraphrasing here, but Vince Vaughn says, ? Do you think I like blowing off my family and hanging around college girls all day. Now at that point, I was only out of college, like 10 years. So it was for less creepy, still creepy, but for less creepy than it is now.
but back in 2003, that made me giggle
trailer park, boys, the movie that’s a big series. A lot of people are fans of that Canadian series
executive producer on space jam a new legacy. Oh, I’m sorry. And here, what is this? A TV series has been announced. Stripes, the TV series, executive producer. Is that a good idea? I am DB says this series is based on the 1981 comedy of the same.
I just typed into the Google machine Stripe CV series.
I don’t think this is real because now we’re going back to 2017. Deadline reports, CBS developing stripes series adaptation based on movie, lot of articles from 2017 at check your calendar, but at least five years, I dunno if that’s a real thing. Anyway, Ivan Reitman, what a great body of work. That’s your comedy news for today?
Follow the show on apple podcast, Spotify, Google, wherever you get your shows. And I will see you tomorrow.
National Donuts Chain Tees: https://tinyurl.com/donuts-chain
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/dcnpod – join us to to discuss comedy and your favorite comedians.Instagram is @dailycomedynews
Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/dailycomedynews/
Twitter is @dcnpod because the person with what I want tweeted once
Support the show by Buying Me A Coffee: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/dailycomedynews
Goodpods: https://goodpods.app.link/2OUMliguTkb and I am @johnnymac
Email: john at thesharkdeck dot com