February 8

The Eiger Sanction, 1975

Welcome to another exciting edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This time around, J. Blake and Dion Baia are kicking in an all new installment of Kung Fu February (minus the Kung Fu this year), and this week the boys are mountain climbing, and chatting the Clint Eastwood, Cold War/spy/espionage thriller, The Eiger Sanction, from 1975!

The fellas jump right in, discussing the original 1972 novel by the famed author Trevanian and the differences between the movie and source material. They chat about all the practical stunts Eastwood and his crew performed on the legendary Eiger mountain, back before CGI when you just had to go out and do the stunts yourself… and the many “un-P.C.” aspects to the film that don’t age so well. So grab your climbing gear, some meal bars, and your courage, because Blake and Dion are headed up the Eiger Death Bivouac in this all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Here’s a great BBC documentary on the truly horrifying history of the North Face of Eiger, called The North Face of Eiger: Wall of Death.

Check out The Eiger Sanction Soundtrack, by John Williams!

As discussed in the podcast, check out this fabulous and insane 1979 TV movie, Disaster of a Coastliner, that stars the phone book and was part of inspiration for the 1980 spoof, Airplane!

July 15

Ghostbusters, 1984

The boys are back with another exciting episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week and Dion and Blake take on a popular favorite from their childhood that has stood the test of time and is regarded now as a cult classic. Of course we’re talking about the spook and goblin-filled spectacular, Ghostbusters, from 1984!

Ghostbusters, 1984

After briefly dipping back into last podcast’s discussion on the ‘Wold Newton Universe‘ theory by bringing up the companion ‘Tommy Westphall Hypnosis‘, and after also playing another exciting addition of what-has-Blake-brought-back-from-his-parent’s-house-to-surprise-Dion-with? game (which ends up playing brilliantly into this week’s choice of movie), the boys attempt to dissect the origins of the Ghostbusters by laying out the backstory and various incarnations of the script. They play their patented what-if’ game, and discuss the many people who were originally envisioned to play the now famous characters. They also talk about Elmer Bernstein‘s score and his issues with unused portions of his compositions for the film, leading to a bigger chat about other legendary music cues in cinema that have went unused, or completely omitted scores altogether (see Lalo Schifrin‘s notorious rejected Exorcist soundtrack), and then the eventual legal problems that Ray Parker Jr‘s now iconic song saw. So what was the idea for the potential third installment in the series that Dan Aykroyd outlined in the 1990s involving a ‘ManHellTown‘? Was the original Ecto-1 really supposed to be a different color and fly? What about the bigger world that was fleshed out by the NOW/Marvel UK comics, and the fabulous cartoon? How about that elephant in the room, an explanation to what the heck was the difference between The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series and the Filmation Company’s live-action 1970s Ghostbusters show and it’s subsequent 1986 cartoon reboot?(which ended up confusing the heck out of all of us kids at the time!) So prepare for an eerie, mysterious and terrifying journey as Dion and Blake try to do the Ghostheads some justice, as they throw on their jumpsuits and proton packs, jump into their converted ‘59 Cadillac Miller-Meteor, and embark on another edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

EXTRAS:

As discussed in the cast, take a look at some of the deleted scenes from the original film!

Have a look at the original full Ghostbusters television commercial with the cast from the 1984 film.

Here’s a great 1984 interview with Harold Ramis about the film.

Check out this vintage 1984 commercial for the Ghostbusters toys.

Watch this EXTREMELY RARE the behind-the-scenes video from the voice recording sessions of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon show featuring the legendary Frank Welker, alongside fellow voice acting great, Maurice LaMarche!

Take a look at the classic Ray Parker Jr. music video for his song Ghostbusters.

Have a look at London’s Waterloo Station and see what has invaded!

Here’s the picture Dion snapped of the new Ecto-1 parked in Manhattan.

These are Blake’s original 1984 Ghostbuster pinsHERE and HERE!

Lastly, here’s the progression of selfies Blake and Dion attempted to take wearing their pins, as Dion’s Yorkshire Terrier Babe wanted in on the action: HERE, HERE, and HERE!

May 22

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, 1985

Continuing with their Wilfred Brimley double-feature, this week around Dion Baia and J. Blake take on an 1980’s classic, and a pretty remarkable film on its own right (if not downright puzzling), 1985’s Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.

remo williams

With a title like that, the boys are all in! Especially since Bond directing legend Guy Hamilton was brought in to helm this project. But Dion and Blake are kinda confused… Exactly what audience were the filmmakers aiming for- Kids or adults? Or was it purposefully muddled in that ’80’s sort of way?  Why did it flop? Was there any blowback for a caucasian to play an asian in 1985, even though that was what the film was nominated for? And does Adam West have a cameo in it or not? And how about that ABC TV pilot from 2 years later? Well we’ve got a lot of questions, and hopefully enough answers to go around in this all new adventure that begins here, on this edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

(Here is the 1987 ABC TV pilot, starring Roddy McDowall

(Check out this overture for Remo Williams written by Craig Safan especially for the 2014 International Film Music Festival in Cordoba, Spain)

(Have a look at the 1985 TV spot for Remo)