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This week on Preposterous, but Viscerally Juicy:
It’s the episode you literally voted for, so this week democracy wins. We hesitantly got on peak dad-hero Harrison Ford’s Air Force One (and he seemed a little grumpy about it, tbh.)
It feels a lot like The Fugitive, but with more neck-snapping, and the delightfully unhinged Gary Oldman as a terrorist who somehow hijacks both the world’s most secure aircraft and Joe’s heart.
Directed by submarine-and-storm enthusiast Wolfgang Petersen, this is Greg’s ultimate “Die Hard on a blank” entry — a movie where the President of the United States personally handles hostage negotiations by punching them. (The Vice President, Glenn Close, does all the negotiations, obviously. Vice Presidents do that.)
Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it sincere? Also yes. Does it feature the Leader of the Free World growling “Get off my plane” before launching a man into open air? You bet your nuclear codes it does.
Greg and Joe strap in, secure the escape pod, and learn a little something about themselves along the way.
As with every episode, this is the love letter that needed to happen about this movie. Also: Drinking Games, Important Questions, Joe’s Back of the Box, and more.
Note: This transcript has been auto-generated, so… You know… It’s not our fault.
Greg: Joe in the movie we watched this week. Harrison Ford is the president and is very excited to watch a football game when he gets back on Air Force One. It was kind of like the guilty pleasure that you would watch on a flight that might be different than what you would watch in day to day life.
Joe: It’s sad to say it is not different at all. And the fact I really crave mindless entertainment on a plane, I go.
Greg: On. Yeah.
Joe: I’m not watching an Oscar movie on a plane now. I think the first time I saw Hobbs and Shaw, I was on a plane. And so I will take basically movies for the podcast all day long on planes.
Greg: That’s what the show is. The show is airplane movies, basically.
Joe: Exactly. It’s probably a better name for this first podcast. So what about you? What do you watch on planes?
Greg: Exactly the same. But I think I get a bit more emotional watching great bad movies on airplanes. There’s something about airplanes that make me just tear up a little more easily.
Joe: Well, I mean, I’m not going to lie. Mean, you know, at the end of last acts when you’re John Cena takes one for the team, but saves his son. Wow. A little emotional there for me.
Greg: So yeah, totally. About spoilers for Fast Ex. Just out of nowhere and out of the gate.
Joe: Sorry. Sorry everyone. If you haven’t seen that movie.
Greg: All right, well, should we get to the show?
Joe: Let’s do it.
Greg: All right. Harrison, are you a little afraid to do this? You’re trying to be a friend.
Joe: Okay. That’s ominous.
Greg: That’s ominous. Let’s do it.
Joe: Let’s do it.
Greg: Tonight, I come to you with a pledge to change America’s policy. Atrocity and terror are not political weapons. To those who would use them. Your day is over. Air force one, clear for takeoff. Thank you for your hospitality. Moscow. The president’s plane. Air Force One has been hijacked. How the hell did this happen? How the hell did they get Air Force One?
Greg: You’re national.
Clip: Security advisor. I mean, execute.
Greg: You just bought you another half hour. Sir. Your parachute. I’m not leaving without my family. You know who I am? I’m the president of the United States.
Greg: The year is 1997. Screenwriter Andrew Marlowe and director Wolfgang Petersen team up with Harrison Ford to make a movie called Air Force One. We are talking about Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson, Paul Guilfoyle, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell, Philip Baker Hall shows up for like, a minute in this movie. We are overdue for this episode, Joe.
Greg: And this is what the fans of our show voted for. On Instagram, we did a poll. It was this versus passenger 57 versus executive decision. We wanted to do an airplane movie and over 50% went for this movie, which is weird. Do you think they would have bet on black?
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: They didn’t. Yeah. No.
Joe: Missed opportunity? Yeah.
Greg: I mean, we’ll get to passenger 57 100%. Just not this week. All right. So Joe Sky Tucker, what makes Air Force One a great bad movie?
Joe: This was a fun little stroll down memory lane. Very nostalgic for me. Yeah. Such a 90s action movie.
Greg: It totally is.
Joe: And so many beautiful ways. I haven’t seen it in a really long time. Probably in the theater. Maybe we rented it. I, you know, but, you know, it’s easily 25 years since I’ve seen this movie.
Greg: It’s been a minute.
Joe: It’s been a minute. Famously, the you know what? Everyone remembers? What I remember from the trailers when it was coming out was the line, get off my plane.
Greg: Yep.
Joe: And that is the best part of this entire movie, if I’m being honest. Also, you know, it’s our first Harrison Ford movie, which is a little crazy as well.
Greg: That is crazy.
Joe: He is such, 80s and 90s action star. But this is, by this point is kind of a little bit on the aging side, but he’s like 90s action hero.
Greg: Yeah, he.
Joe: Has that character down and he is great in this movie. My frustration with it is they don’t have they don’t give Gary Oldman enough to do in this.
Greg: Sure.
Joe: So they have him as one of the greatest actors, one of the best bad guys you’ll ever have in a movie. He’s just kind of a paint by numbers bad guy to me.
Greg: I think he didn’t entirely do that while they were filming it, and it was edited down to that. I think he had some trouble. He kind of spoke publicly about what it was edited down to for his character, because he didn’t he didn’t want to play, you know, just like an evil bad guy. Yeah. But anyway, so keep going.
Joe: There are moments where it’s so clearly die hard on a plane.
Greg: Yes.
Joe: How can we get him isolated and fighting back? My favorite part of this movie with, honestly, was he looks around corners at bad guys with guns a lot.
Greg: And.
Joe: Somehow, magically is always looking around the corner when they’re looking the other way. I don’t know.
Greg: If you noticed that in this movie.
Joe: But like, he’s so clearly like, if they were just facing the right way, they would see somebody peeking around the corner every single time. Yeah. But yeah, but magically like ten times in this movie, they’re looking the other way when he’s like running back and forth. It’s it’s hilarious. So that was my honestly my favorite part of the movie.
Joe: There’s a lot of those guys in this movie. So a lot of great character actors in it. Yeah. People you’ve seen in like everything else, everywhere. Yeah, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a really fun trip down memory lane for me. But what about you, Greg? What are your thoughts on Air Force One?
Greg: It feels like an 80s movie done almost perfectly.
Joe: Well, you.
Greg: Know, by 1997, they had figured out how to make the 80s action movie.
Joe: Yeah, it’s.
Greg: An interesting take because we had the Reluctant Hero and Die Hard. This is clearly a play on Die Hard. They weren’t necessarily looking for all the character aspects that that were in Die Hard. They were just looking for movies that were contained within a certain place. And in this movie. Yeah, it feels like it’s made by grown ups who are really trying to make something that would hold up.
Greg: And I think for the most part, it does accept that a lot of things in this movie were so played out in the next ten years that, you know, it definitely feels like a dated movie now, but Harrison Ford is so good. He’s having just the most incredible run at this point, and it’s unbelievable. I mean, he’s been going for when was Star Wars 77.
Joe: Yeah, 77.
Greg: But then, you know, Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981. But then he starts making like kind of grown up movies like Blade Runner, which is a sci fi movie, but rated R, witness, which is a drama. Mosquito Coast working girl. He’s he’s doing all kinds of different movies, but then he kind of gets in this run where it’s like Patriot Games, The Fugitive, Clear and Present Danger, Sabrina, The Devil Zone, and then Air Force One.
Greg: And it’s hard to watch this movie and not think it’s a Jack Ryan movie. To be honest, there are so many things that are a little bit Jack Ryan, but so much fun to just see him be an action star for a second and an older action star in that. When they were pitching the idea of the movie to him, he said, I want it to be not an action hero, but someone who used to be a hero.
Greg: He’s like past his hero days and now he’s just a.
Joe: Dude, right?
Greg: He really isn’t Liam Neeson and taken. He doesn’t have a special set of skills. He just has a moral core. It seems like. That’s all he needs. All of his fighting is pretty good. He’s flipping people around him all day in this movie. But the fights are not like choreographed martial arts. They are scrappy little fights with a guy who doesn’t really know how to be in a fist fight anymore.
Greg: It seems like. Yeah, and Harrison Ford plays that really well. Frazzled. Not sure what to do. Just making it up as he goes older. You know, a gentleman who’s just trying to do the right thing is the president, but also as a husband and a father. So aside from some of the things that are just clearly 90s tropes, like guy with the machine gun just spraying a room, that happens a lot in this movie because in the 80s, in the 90s, that was action.
Greg: Yeah, that is totally not action anymore. You just don’t see that in movies as far as I can tell.
Joe: Yeah. No.
Greg: And so it’s interesting when we talk about great bad movies and what makes a great action movie these days, you know David Leach has kind of taught us it’s stuff you haven’t seen before. And in this movie he probably hadn’t seen like Machine Gun in a contained small space. It’s pretty freaky, but you just wouldn’t see that in a movie anymore.
Greg: Like we did it here and we didn’t need to do it anymore. There’s so many moments in this movie, and I remember having this experience when I watched it, I don’t know, ten times back in the day. This was one of the movies that you could just watch over and over again, and it seems like you would get tired of it and it’s amazing to me as it goes along.
Greg: I realize I’m not tired of this yet, so I really liked it. I think Gary Oldman got a little bit robbed, but still, he’s incredible as a bad guy.
Joe: Agreed. And I remember it came out. It was like there was talk of this one the first time they’ve ever had like a female vice president.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: On screen. So we have Glenn Close as the vice president. I just have to say that the reaction shots of the crowd of the like, the different.
Greg: Rooms.
Joe: As they learn the information, is one of my favorite things that I noticed in this movie, too. And then part of there’s a there’s a subplot in the movie of Dean Stockwell might be kind of like a, he’s not a bad guy, but he’s not necessarily on the everyone the same team is like, we gotta take him out of office because he’s compromised.
Joe: Yeah. And quite frankly, he’s 100% right.
Greg: To 100% totally, you know.
Joe: And like, close is like, no, he’s going to deliver. You can still be the present. No. He’s literally being held hostage. His family is held hostage on a plane with them. Right. Probably not making the most rational decisions. Yeah, yeah. The whole thing revolves around what is weirdly right now, echoes of what happened in Venezuela like three weeks ago, where it opens with capturing some president of Kazakhstan or something like that, and then arresting, you know, a sitting president and removing him from office.
Joe: Yeah. And then at a speech in Russia, he decides that that’s going to be how.
Greg: He litigate.
Joe: The world.
Greg: I suppose. We had done this in Panama earlier in the 90s. Maybe that was sort of what they were referencing a little bit. Yeah. Going back to Dean Stockwell when he was talking about he’s not making decisions as the president. He’s making decisions right now as a father and husband. He was totally right. And I think you can kind of go through this movie, and it’s a bunch of people doing their job to the best of their ability, and they’re kind of right from their perspective.
Greg: Yeah. And this was something that was so fascinating to me. The studio really didn’t want Gary Oldman and Wolfgang Petersen, the director of this movie, really did, because when he was meeting with people kind of having lunches around Hollywood, Gary Oldman said something to Wolfgang Petersen that really stuck with him and made him fight to have him play this role.
Greg: And the thing that Gary Oldman said was, what if this guy doesn’t think he’s the bad guy? What if this guy thinks he’s one of the good guys? The greatest thing a person who’s going to play a bad guy could possibly say, yeah, you know, they showed a little bit of that, a little bit of his humanity when he talked about his daughters.
Greg: And I bet they filmed more and they cut it out and he was upset about that. But that kind of humanity sort of does come through in this movie, through the eyes of the chief of staff, through the eyes of Dean Stockwell, through the eyes of Glenn Close. In fact, when Glenn Close, you know, disagrees and doesn’t sign whatever that is, it’s like the 25th amendment, I guess, or.
Greg: Right, it’s kind of like, oh, she probably should have signed that. What is she doing? You know? Yeah, that was a bad move. Yeah. But how often can you watch a movie like this and think, like, everybody’s kind of doing their job pretty well here? That’s pretty good.
Joe: I would like to see, a longer cut of of Gary Oldman character because he does. There are a couple moments where you kind of see the motivations, but really by the end of it is they just want to get their general or their president out of jail. And that’s the whole point of what they’re doing. And yeah, so there’s the Secret Service agent that helps them, helps the bad guys, I should say.
Joe: Sure.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: There’s never an explanation of why that happens or if it is, I missed the like, one line fix that someone threw in.
Greg: I think that was cut. I think that was in there. And they cut it out.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: And really, there’s no indication that how this came to be in the movie. No, they never talked about that. But then at the very end, William Macy says it was, you know, it’s like, what? Yeah. How did you come to that conclusion? It was you all along or something like that. It’s like, wait a minute, nobody has talked about this in this movie.
Greg: Yeah. What with him, nobody knows what he did. But we do. So that’s all that matters. It happened, we saw it.
Joe: So it kind of needs to end where Gary Oldman’s character spoilers for everyone listening is killed. Like, that’s kind of like to me, the like pinnacle of the movie. Then we kind of have 20 more minutes of the movie. Yeah, of him trying to fly the plane and it won’t fly. And then they have to connect the leash over from another plane and.
Greg: Cliffhanger it up.
Joe: Yeah, cliffhanger it up. Yeah. And to me, I would have rather taken that 20 minutes and put it earlier into the film. Maybe we understand why the Secret Service agent helps them out, and you bring a little bit more depth into that side of the movie. But I felt a little long. I felt a little long by the end, and I was a little confused that it was just like, oh, the plane can’t land all of a sudden.
Greg: Yeah, there’s five MiGs. Yeah.
Joe: So yeah. So I felt a little rushed at the end, I guess is the best way to put it for me.
Greg: I completely agree, except there are a few times when they were on the plane and things were going on in the different rooms, and it’s like, where is everybody else? This isn’t a big place. Yeah, the bad guys should be right there all the time. Yeah. People should be impatiently doing things all over the place and they they just kind of aren’t.
Greg: So I think they had to kind of just keep it going, or else you’d be like, there’s no way everybody’s just cool with them sitting around and telling you this back story right now.
Joe: Yeah. Or it’s it for me, it would have been the back story would have been they don’t get on the plane till 30 minutes, 45 minutes into the the movie.
Greg: Okay. So we see like their backstory before they get on the plane. Yeah okay. Okay.
Joe: And then you can kind of have the die hard on the plane set up. I mean, I think that that that’s also the beauty of Die Hard is there’s a lot of story that they’ve set up before you get to the action and before you even get to really know the bad guys. I just remember it was one of the first movies where you had a hero and you just really like Bruce Willis and Holly and like, they’re both trying to, like, make it work.
Joe: And he’s mad at himself because they got into he got into a stupid fight when he got, you know, got to our office and all that. Yeah. And so it takes its time to tell the story. And then then you get into just one of the greatest, you know, action movies ever. And I feel like this could have done the same thing.
Joe: That arc could have been a little bit longer, because once you’re on the plane and it’s so cloistered, it is kind of the bad guys are everywhere, and it’s a little hard to have a lot of character interaction of like basically all the hostages are in one room and then the bad guys are just guarding all the hallways is how it goes.
Joe: And then he picks them off one by one.
Greg: Essentially this this would be a good hangout for you and me. We watched the beginning of our first one and we watched the beginning of Die Hard. Okay, I think they’re probably pretty similar because the beginning of Air Force One, he, like, gives the speech. Then they’re driving to the airport. He’s talking to his staff, then he gets on the plane.
Greg: We’re kind of we’re getting the lay of the land with the with the plane and the security. We have a firm understanding of what kind of, you know, president, Harrison Ford is. And then he starts connecting with his family. And then we’re kind of hanging out with Harrison Ford and his wife and his daughter. It must be about the same amount of time in my mind, setting up the characters of Die Hard and setting up the characters of Air Force One.
Joe: All right, I’m betting you a dollar that die hard is longer in the sky.
Greg: Before the first machine gun is fired. Is.
Joe: That’s that’s that’s.
Greg: Literally a starting gun at.
Joe: The starting this not including when the people are in the first shot, like paragliding in and shooting people perfectly. Sure when they capture the president. So that’s kind of a pre credits scene. But yeah. When do the bad guys on Air Force One fire the first shots.
Greg: Yeah. Okay. Just another one of our greatest thing out of all time.
Joe: Exactly.
Greg: Yeah okay. So that opening shot, I think this is the kind of movie where all the credits happen with score over the top of it. Yeah. Before anything happens. And then you realize, sneakily, pair shooters have been kind of like slowly showing up on the screen in the night sky as they’re doing the final couple credits. Amazing first scene.
Greg: Yeah. In my mind. Really well done. Yeah. Wolfgang Petersen totally knows what’s up.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: He made Das Boot. He made the never ending story. I didn’t realize he directed the never ending story in the 80s. You made a movie called Enemy Mine, which I never saw. But then he did in the line of Fire outbreak, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, and then Troy and Poseidon. But in the line of fire outbreak.
Greg: And Air Force One is as like a three. He’s three for three. Those three movies are incredible.
Joe: Yeah, a great I remember when we lived together, we watched outbreak. Yeah. And that movie gave me nightmares.
Joe: Because it was just so visceral and it just felt like at any moment we could be dying from a virus. Yeah. No, it’s it was it was a really well done movie and it like, stuck with me for a while afterwards.
Greg: Yes. Yeah. It was an affecting movie. It also just had the most amazing pace. It kept just going and going and going. This movie as well. The pace of this movie, like for the first hour, is in incredible what they pull off. Yeah, it’s a little hilariously bonkers, like, all right guys, slow down a little bit. Yeah. But another thing that.
Greg: So the pacing of this movie and he is just directing the pants off of this movie, I think this movie is really well made as a film. And the airplane that they just kind of built on a soundstage. So that you could kind of walk from one place on the plane to another in one shot was incredible.
Greg: There is one elephant in the room, though, that really makes this feel like a 1997 movie. And that is the music in this movie is so funny to me.
Joe: And it it is so patriotic. I wrote because like when I was kind of flagging for drinking games and I stopped drinking games and, you know, opening credits scene, that’s a walking. I don’t even remember if it locks in a place with a sound. I just have the most patriotic music is playing, and the credits almost feel like from another era too.
Joe: So yeah, we don’t have that much anymore. Where before anything happened, before you see anything, you have the credits. And that used to be pretty common.
Greg: Pretty common. Yeah, there are rules about it, I think. Yeah. Actually.
Joe: Yeah. So I was like, I felt like credits from another era with the most patriotic music. I hope you have grabbed a little bit of that so that our listeners, our dear listeners, can hear just how amazing it is.
Greg: Well, this movie came out a couple of years before that show. The West Wing started, which really kind of drafted, I feel like on the vibe of Air Force One, but I have to tell you that Jerry Goldsmith, who did the music for this movie, the music in this movie just smacks you in the face all the time.
Greg: It’s like needle drops. But score of this movie. Randy Newman was initially hired to write the film score for this, and Wolfgang Petersen said that he considered it to be almost a parody and quickly commissioned Jerry Goldsmith, and Goldsmith had like 12 days to write and score this movie, and afterwards said he would never do it again. Like, it was just ridiculous.
Greg: But Joe, can you tell me what you think Randy Newman’s, you know, like Toy Story, like, that’s all.
Joe: I have at my head is Toy Story.
Greg: Right now I’m.
Joe: So weird.
Greg: With being so.
Joe: Mismatched to me.
Greg: I just promise he was like the Air Force. Air Force one. Like, I promise you, that’s what it was.
Joe: There has got to be a tape somewhere in some vault. That is the Randy Newman score.
Greg: Yeah, for us. I have to hear the score. Yeah. Okay, so right from the beginning, it kind of opens like this.
Greg: Very West Wing, in which I think I’ve said this before, but West Wing is like my comfort zone. It’s like the machinations of TV shows for me. Yeah.
Greg: But then there are other times where it just drops in. This happens so many times, like the first hour and 15 minutes of this movie, we’re just out of nowhere. There’s just score smacking you in the face. So check this out, okay? Walter, you and your generals get to work. They’re getting to work. And then.
Greg: And we’re out onto the next scene.
Joe: That’s so great.
Greg: Unbelievable. Okay, and then there’s a scene where one of the bad guys walks into one of the rooms on the plane, and Harrison Ford is hiding behind a chair, and he, like, turns the chair, swivels this chair really quickly, like, attacks the guy with the chair. And he also attacks him with Jerry Goldsmith’s score. Here is Harrison Ford attacking with his chair.
Greg: Know?
Greg: That.
Greg: He.
Greg: Was.
Greg: It is the least restrained score in film history. Potentially.
Joe: I would agree with that. It is. I wrote a multiple notes. I don’t know if I put it in as a drink, a full on drinking game, but I just have a note of just like the score is so patriotic, it is ridiculous. It there’s like all drums and horns and, you know, like, I feel like it could be like a Top Gun score.
Joe: It could.
Greg: Be. Yeah.
Joe: And I have shades of West Wing and I feel like West Wing borrows heavily from basically from the speech. So like, from the car all the way onto the plane. So it’s like walking and talking. That’s kind of like my bike. Classic West Wing. Yeah. You know, he’s in and it’s like, oh, we’ve got a new guy. Apparently we’ve got a new policy.
Joe: And so like there’s just like there’s the camera swinging around everybody. It is it could be a West Wing episode if you didn’t have the no. It’s choice and happening on the plane. Totally. I feel like I’ve seen some I mean, you know, the show way better than I do, but.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: I feel like there were a few episodes on Air Force One where the.
Greg: Oh, totally very similar.
Joe: You know.
Greg: Probably this set, to be honest, they were borrowing stuff from movie sets for that show.
Joe: Yeah. So it just it totally could be a West Wing. I’m sorry. I had that thought as well.
Greg: Like, kind of feels.
Joe: Like a West Wing right here.
Greg: Totally. You know. Totally. So the football game that he wants to watch when he gets on the, on the plane and he’s like, don’t tell me the score. It’s been recorded. I’m going to go back and watch it. Don’t don’t spoil it for me. And it was a wasn’t it like Michigan and Notre Dame. Honestly I don’t want that game spoiled for me either.
Greg: Yeah. You know how I get with the Michigan Notre Dame games. Yeah. But isn’t Notre Dame where Bartlet went.
Joe: Should have been I think so.
Greg: And so who was he rooting for in that game? We’re gonna have to go back.
Joe: I think he’s rooting. I think he’s rooting for Notre Dame.
Greg: Okay.
Joe: Okay. But I remember I know there’s lots of talk of that in the beginning of it, which is again, a very classic. West Wing felt like I wonder if Aaron Sorkin was a ghostwriter on this movie.
Greg: Oh, that actually could be the case. He was in the mix for kind of like doing revisions back then. Yeah.
Joe: And that was back when folks that would come in and do that wouldn’t get any screenwriting credit. They were just kind of punch up the stars.
Greg: Well, that’s still happens famously.
Joe: Like Quentin Tarantino came in and did that on Crimson Tide.
Greg: Sure. And we’ll get to Crimson Tide. Are you kidding me?
Joe: Oh yeah. That’s our first Denzel Tony Scott collaboration.
Greg: Yeah. A lot of times, though, when you’re watching a, scene with Aaron Sorkin dialog, you can kind of tell. And I never got an Aaron Sorkin vibe from the finished dialog in these scenes. He might have said, like, let’s add this character point, you know, or let’s, let’s add the game or whatever to make him more human.
Greg: But there were no, like, actual lines in this movie. And sometimes you can totally tell, like, yeah, come on. Like you can’t in Crimson Tide. Like that is obviously Quentin Tarantino. Yeah. But in this movie I feel like I’ve got a pretty good Sorkin radar, and I feel like it did not go off. I was watching this, although, yeah, it could have.
Greg: I will just say that when I sat down to watch this movie in the last week, it was a little bit late. I was kind of dozing off a little bit because I’ve been pretty sick and the score kept waking me up. I’m so, you know, successful score in that way.
Joe: Yeah, absolutely.
Greg: Let’s talk about Glenn Close. Glenn Close is incredible in this movie. Glenn Close is incredible in everything. She’s in a grade, by the way, and Glenn Close is sitting in what is supposed to be the Situation Room. It’s the most Hollywood Situation room. And in this Situation Room, there’s like 20 guys will jump up from a table with their binders and run to another table at any given moment.
Greg: It’s so amazing. Guys in suits with binders running from table to table made me laugh every single time. Yeah, but Glenn Close is the one on the phone with Gary Oldman, and apparently is the one that talks to the terrorists for the United States. Yeah. And knows all the right questions to ask.
Joe: Without any consulting anybody throughout this. She just, like, owns the room. She’s the vice president and has everything under control. It’s awesome. Yeah. She’s great. And as those scenes to me were the funniest ones with all the different reaction shots that are happening as the, you know, the terrorists are, you know, they’re talking and, you know, negotiating or not negotiating with terrorists and.
Greg: Right, right.
Joe: There’s an escape pod. So in the beginning of the movie, when the terrorists take it on the Secret Service, are getting him to the escape pod, but don’t close the door all the way. And so he gets off, and then they the escape pod, and then they find the escape pod, and he’s not on it. And like, so there’s so many beautiful reaction shots of everyone in the Situation Room.
Joe: And it is probably purposefully so, like so many men around the room, our first female vice president in a movie, or maybe not the first, but one of the ones first that I remember.
Greg: Totally in not even really a thing other than she has about 80% more light on her hair than anybody else in this movie. And yeah, it’s unbelievable how no matter where she is, she is just totally illuminated by lights. Yeah. Like she is the what? She is the noble one that has all the good ideas. That’s what the lighting is telling us.
Greg: Incredible. Yeah. She steps out of one of those spotlights, is like, oh, she walked out of the light and steps right into another spot where there’s another light. I was like, oh, there we go. Okay, we’re good.
Greg: Yeah. The cinematographer of this movie knew what he was doing. He’s like, Martin Scorsese, this guy isn’t that amazing? Yeah. He also had done outbreak. Okay. Talking about Michael Ball House right now. And he had recently made Quinn’s show with Robert Redford as well.
Joe: I think I saw that movie once in the theater, and that was that.
Greg: I mean, you want to talk about great lighting in a movie? It’s like it takes place on like a quiz show TV set. And it is. I mean, there is a lot of dark and light going on in that, trying to figure out right from wrong. Classic ball ass. Yeah. This movie looks like a gazillion dollars, a gazillion dollars.
Greg: And partially because our guys know let’s flood Glenn Close with some light here guys. She’s got some good ideas. She represents a lot here.
Joe: Yeah she’s awesome in this and really provides an anchor that you need as a counterpoint to what’s happening on the plane, I think. Yeah. So like yeah, level head are trying to solve the problem. And I think you said it best like, this is everyone trying to do their best. Yeah. No movie. There’s it’s not you know, we don’t really have an incompetent good guy that makes some terrible mistake that, you know, can right lead to whatever it’s like everyone is.
Joe: We’ve seen that kind of trope a million times. But in this one, like, you know, it’s everyone’s trying to do their best, and they and they do and they succeed. So it’s awesome. That’s kind of fun to see. Yeah.
Greg: Spoilers.
Joe: Jeez, I know we go through the plot and we spoil this movie for you. You know, you had almost 30 years to watch.
Greg: This movie, so I think we owed people a full 30. I feel a little bad.
Joe: Yeah, yeah, sorry.
Greg: There are a few moments, though, where in this movie there’s really, like, only one man who can do the job, and it’s Harrison Ford. You know, they really do kind of like lean on that trope a little bit. And there is a great moment when they are thinking he might still be on the plane there. And if he is, you know, he’s the best guy for the job and they sell the good guy in just the greatest way possible.
Greg: So we hear that scene.
Joe: Absolutely.
Clip: Let’s not bury him yet. He could still be alive in that plane. Let’s not forget this president is a medal of honor winner. Vietnam. A few more helicopter rescue missions than any other man in my command. He knows how to fight.
Greg: And he’s taking a terrible chance with his life.
Clip: The element of surprise is a formidable advantage in combat. If he’s up there, he’s the best chance that we have.
Greg: Perfect. That’s a perfect killing of the good guy. Yeah, he was amazing 30 years ago. Is what they’re.
Joe: Saying right to to Harrison Ford’s point around he’s you know, he’s done it, but he’s not that guy anymore.
Greg: He used to be the hero.
Joe: Yeah. Where the missed opportunity was. And I’m wondering how many different kind of endings I thought about because they’re setting him up to land the plane. That’s like the first time I saw it. And even this time, even though I knew they have the the.
Greg: Cliffhanger.
Joe: Wire. Yeah, the cliffhanger wire.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: All of that. Like, I know that’s how it ends, but you don’t throw that line in there to have him not fly the plane like that. You know, it’s like the Chekhov. If you have a gun in a play, it better go off like, yeah, it does fly. It for a second. Once he gets kind of, you know, back in control, but then they find out they can’t land.
Joe: But that was the missed opportunity of like, why are you telling me that he’s a pilot and a medal of honor winner? Self a good guy I love that.
Greg: But yeah.
Joe: This means he’s going to fly the plane at some point and he’s going to be awesome. You know, it’s all going to come back to him. That was that’s what I was thinking when they when they when they have that line in a movie like that.
Greg: So it’s such an interesting contrast when you think about this movie coming out in 1997, the president is like a war hero, and he has just a total moral core. Interesting movie in the mid 90s when Clinton was president. Yeah, but I mean, the country was just kind of hungry for that, you know, and, interesting that when Clinton was finishing up and George W Bush was going to be president, that’s when the West Wing was made.
Greg: It was it was like, we’re going to make a Democratic White House on TV because that is fictional, because we have a Republican, you know, in the white House right now. And then when George W Bush was going to be done, they actually were if they kept making the West Wing, it was going to go to be, Republican president.
Greg: When if Obama won.
Joe: Interesting.
Greg: Such a good counter, you know, programing to what was happening in the real world. The West Wing does this all the time where it’s a democratic for white and sorry, I’m you know, I got in the West Wing gutter again.
Joe: Let’s keep it rolling.
Greg: Well I just loved it that, you know, you can kind of play with expectations and play with people’s bias, even if it even if the bias is just coming from watching your story. And if your story is a Democratic white House, you’re rooting for the president to do the right thing, even if you’re not a Democrat. But then they would also set up like John Goodman is like this seemingly evil Republican.
Greg: But then it turns out John Goodman is right and is the good guy, it turns out, and the white House has to go like, oh, man, you know, our bias said he wasn’t a good guy, and now he it turns out he was right. You know, they play with those expectations all the time. So I kind of feel like this is a little bit of counterprogramming a little bit with Harrison Ford.
Greg: Like, wouldn’t it be amazing if our president was a war hero, you know, and did have more of a moral core, which I feel like America was looking for at the time? Yeah.
Joe: Trying to think of other presidents we’ve seen in movies. I mean, also famously in Independence Day, the president, a former fighter pilot.
Greg: Right. Bill Pullman. The guy from babe, the Pigs was the president in clear and present danger. Right. James Cromwell James Cromwell was like, good. Do it. I don’t do it, I don’t care. Yeah. My favorite line in Hollywood history. So I mean if there’s anything that we really want to hit home on this episode, it’s that babe is classic Cromwell.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: Classic Cromwell. Yeah. One of the best presidents we’ve seen on screen.
Greg: They wake up the president in the long kiss good night.
Joe: It’s shocking to me now that the president hasn’t been woken up in a Fast and Furious movie.
Greg: How has that not happened? Yeah, Joe. Oh, my gosh, we could make ten more movies. I know.
Joe: I’m sorry. We’re going to have to go down that rabbit hole for a second. Who is the actor that you want as the president?
Greg: Okay, I think there’s a couple different ways you could do this. First, Charlize Theron’s character becomes president of the United States.
Joe: Okay, I like it.
Greg: She somehow hacks her way into and wins. Wins the election.
Joe: Sylvester Stallone would be. Oh.
Greg: Yes. That’s totally what anybody in The Expendables will take. Anybody from The Expendables. Statham can play a different character and be president. Give him a prosthetic nose and we’re good. Yeah, perfect. Sigourney Weaver, obviously. Yeah. I’m just trying to think of who are the most famous people that you’re just you would love to see walk on screen.
Joe: And you would not. I would expect Sylvester Stallone to be in a Fast and Furious movie. Sigourney Weaver, that’s like the unexpected. She’s. I think she.
Greg: Would be perfect. I would love it if the president was a super dry, boring person that just is totally nonplused and rolling their eyes and everything that this group is doing. Yeah, I would love it if there’s just the entire planet that is just so over it. Yeah, the Fast and Furious crew. Yeah.
Joe: It’s like again, with these people.
Greg: They need their car parachutes for a different mission, but the Fast and Furious crew is already taking them. Yeah, and the government is just livid. That has to happen. And that’s one. If that doesn’t happen in the next one, I have not put the lid on the series.
Joe: Yeah, exactly. We’re I have ten more movies to get to the president.
Greg: Totally.
Joe: I don’t know how this came about and why these two. I like why the actors made this choice, but Harrison Ford and the person plays his wife.
Greg: Wendy Crewson.
Joe: Share weirdly passionate hugs and kisses throughout this movie.
Greg: Yep.
Joe: And it’s very offputting for me throughout.
Greg: As.
Joe: The anti romance person. Yes, they just get together at the beginning like seeing the daughter and okay, fine. But then like they’ve just been kind of reunited.
Greg: With.
Joe: The bad guys and they’re both being held hostage. But they share like a really weird passionate kiss in front of everybody. It just bothered me. And it happens like 3 or 4 times throughout the movie.
Greg: So here’s how you know it’s 1997. There are hilarious punch sounds in this movie. I’m like, you know, Indiana Jones has the most hilarious punch sounds. If a comic book could possibly have a punch sound, that’s what Indiana Jones punch sounds are like. They kind of give that to Harrison Ford a couple times to kind of like, draw instinctually on the, the Indiana Jones ness.
Greg: Yeah. Okay. I’m going to play you a clip that has three punches. The first one is Harrison Ford, the next two are the bad guy. Okay. Listen to the difference in these punch sounds.
Greg: That first punch has, like, the weirdest sound to it in history. It’s like there’s a really high like a.
Joe: Crackle at the end.
Greg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just incredible. Just incredible when.
Joe: You are playing, like, when we’re listening for the store, and the first time and there’s a, there’s a fight scene over it. The sound effects of fight scenes without seeing them are so ridiculous. It is so great to listen.
Greg: To kind of. Is it a little bit weird to see Harrison Ford in a rated R action movie like The Fugitive was PG 13, wasn’t it? I think so, it was still intense, but in this movie it’s basically The Fugitive, but with neck cracking. I guess people also get shot in kind of 90s. Crazy squib time.
Joe: This was kind of before they really figured out the PG 13 action movie, which I feel like kind of the 2000 really, like figured out, oh, if we do, we can still have an action movie, right? But as you know, more people will come to see it. And if we dial back the blood and then we’ll do a special feature, unrated version that if they wanted probably more, more squibs.
Joe: And then the digital blood feels like a 20 tens and on.
Greg: All right. So where were we? Oh yeah. There are Russian ultra nationalist radicals on this air Force One. Right. What does that mean to you? There are Russian ultra nationalist radicals. If someone said that to you, would you know what they were talking about?
Joe: I would just assume they’re really bad.
Greg: It’s got to be made up, right?
Joe: Yeah. It sounds it definitely sounds made up for a 1997 movie, because that’s basically Vladimir Putin.
Greg: Now as.
Joe: Like an ultra nationalist, despot dictator.
Greg: So who would Radic be then? Putin? That’s Putin. Oh, okay. I mean.
Joe: Although Putin famously came up to the KGB.
Greg: So,
Joe: You know, they’re showing Russia as, you know, a free democracy in 1997, right? Sort of was. But then Putin rises to power in like 2000, 2001 and has just not let go of control. So. Right, right. Basically the remake of this movie is right. It gets away and becomes president of Russia and we need a sequel is what I’m saying, where Harrison Ford has to go back Air Force two.
Greg: Well, I should probably ask you about that in the important questions. Like when.
Joe: Exactly.
Greg: Interesting. How many times they say Radic in this movie.
Joe: So it’s a lot in the beginning especially.
Greg: I feel like they’re reaching to say Radic and every given like his wife says it to him in conversation many times I feel like, yeah.
Joe: Like, oh yeah. Roddick.
Greg: She does a thing in this movie where she is just yelling plot points occasionally, like, go call Petroff. Oh, go, oh crap. Trump is the thing that she says at one point it’s like, what? Okay, yeah, I guess call Petrov if you need to. Yeah. Do you remember when Radic is getting out of prison and everyone in the Russian jail is like singing the Russian song?
Greg: Yeah, that is coming through to Air Force One. And Gary Oldman’s like, we should play this over the whole plane doesn’t even look. He just turns on, like four switches behind him. He knows how to go through from the radio. The camera’s just like floating through the plane.
Clip: That his twin. Oh.
Greg: Very, very, very much like Red October in that mom to me. Like, let them shrink. You know, I feel like Red October has a long shadow over the 90s.
Joe: Agreed. Also, it really raises an important question how was the phone hearing this in the Russian prison as they’re listening?
Greg: Right. It was like they were talking to people over a radio or something. Was it a phone? It was a phone, I guess.
Joe: I guess, or I don’t know, it was I have I have the question of how is everyone hearing it? I, I didn’t question it because it was awesome.
Greg: Quite frankly. I think we wanted to hear it because we loved that moment of Red October.
Joe: Yeah, exactly.
Greg: They obviously get five megs on them. We’re just talking about MiGs, you know, Russian fighter planes. How many minutes do you have on you right now, Joe?
Joe: I at least one. But is it a fifth generation, or is it. What generation of fighter plane is it?
Greg: They were very big because it was still 97.
Joe: That’s true. They had invented that term.
Greg: No, no, no. A lot of countermeasures going on in this movie. For missiles. Glorious. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. What I was going to say it wasn’t time for Top Gun Maverick yet. So we didn’t have, you know fifth generation. Yeah we did have countermeasures all over the place. Much like Top Gun Maverick which was just glorious.
Joe: So there’s a scene when he Harrison Ford is going to dump the fuel. And the only tool he has is a butter knife.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: And it turns out to be the sharpest butter knife that’s ever been invented. As he’s cutting wires with it and getting into things and like stripping wires to like, connect them to let the fuel out. It was awesome.
Greg: Yep.
Joe: The other question that I had is they have like a bay that opens on it. Yeah. How does that not just depressurize the plane and everyone just get sucked out of the plane because they’re from what I know. If you’re at 30,000ft, you’re pressurized because you have to keep it warm or it’s like freezing cold because you’re, like, above the apartment.
Joe: You’re basically in a really high atmosphere.
Greg: Sure.
Joe: And so kind of fake. So I’m saying.
Greg: Well, they were in 15,000ft, right.
Joe: Well, they dropped the 15,000ft to jump out of that bay when it comes down. But they do drop that down before they are at 15,000ft.
Greg: I believe I think well, you may see the declared it close enough. They were almost to 15,000.
Joe: All right. Well, William Macy says it’s okay.
Greg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey.
Joe: Chief science officer.
Greg: I think he literally says close enough. Okay.
Greg: All right. Joe. Well, it occurs to me that there are probably people out there who have not seen Air Force One, or if they have, it has been a while. So let’s pretend like we’re walking down the aisles of our favorite video store in the late 90s. We’re picking up VHS boxes to see what kind of movie we should rent.
Greg: Tonight we’re picking up the box. We’re seeing who is in it. But most importantly, we are reading the synopsis on the back to see if it’s the movie that we should rent for tonight. Are you even ready for this? Are you ready for what’s about to happen right now, Joe?
Joe: I am quivering in anticipation right now. So.
Greg: But what?
Joe: What’s going to happen?
Greg: All right. That’s right. It’s time for the back of the box.
Joe: It’s the back of the box. Danger! At 30,000ft. Air Force One has been captured by terrorists. Their demands are sky high and our faith is low that anything can be done. There is one man who can save the day. The president of the United States of America. He has a one man wrecking crew hell bent on saving his family and the world.
Joe: Strap in for action and adventure. Just remember to put your tray tables in their upright position.
Greg: What does that do for me? If I do that in this moment.
Joe: It saves you from, like, hurting yourself. Probably when you crashed into something I totally.
Greg: Drinks aren’t going to spill on me. That’s my number one concern. Yeah. As this whole thing. What? That’s so. Yeah. Amazing. Okay, well, that feels like. Well, I rent it. Obviously, I rent this movie. Yeah. Especially because they have, like what? What kind of pants am I wearing in 1997? These like a creased khaki. Probably pleated. Super pleated.
Greg: Oh my gosh. My khakis are so pleated and amazing. Let’s go on down to on his town. What’s the Joe Sky Tucker real back of the box for Air Force One?
Joe: Nostalgia is a powerful force. This is a fun romp back in time to when Harrison Ford always delivered us the hero. I love this movie when it came out and now, well, now I see the flaws.
Greg: The script.
Joe: Wastes Gary Oldman’s charisma. The story is a paint by numbers die hard on a plane with very little heart, and a couple too many ideas. That said, the get off my plane fight scene and line read as near perfect the rest of the movie as resting on this laurels.
Greg: Really.
Joe: As usual, when we start talking about the movie, I get more excited about that. But that’s how I felt when I wrote this.
Greg: Very little heart. You said very little heart. You weren’t getting a lot of heart from Harrison Ford in this movie.
Joe: I mean, he always delivers that, but.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: No, I didn’t get it from anyone else.
Greg: Okay, I need your list of Die Hard on a blank movies that are better than this movie.
Joe: Every Die Hard movie, up to three.
Greg: Okay, die hard and a Die Hard is better than flames. Yes.
Joe: Die hard. The original Die Hard under Siege might be better than this. The first one. Although even with a really annoying main character, an actor.
Greg: That one’s better because they let Tommy Lee Jones cook.
Joe: Yeah, better. Bad guy.
Greg: Obviously it’s classic Busey. I think the reason I ask is because I think this is one of the best die hards on a blank. I think it’s harder to find problems with this than Under Siege. Like Under Siege is pretty ridiculous at times because it’s, you know, Steven Seagal, but Harrison Ford kind of grounds this thing in, in a way that I’m not accustomed to.
Greg: He’s not pompous, he’s not snipes, you know, on a plane. I think this might be one of the best irons on the blank. But there’s a chance you just. You’re not a fan of that. Here’s on a blank.
Joe: I think where I struggled with this movie is, again, there are a few too many ideas happening. And to me, the best die hards in a whatever have a really good bad guy. So like.
Greg:
Joe: Alan Rickman sets the bar of what you want.
Greg: Yeah, totally.
Joe: Tommy Lee Jones again saves under siege.
Greg:
Joe: And you have one of the best actors and one of the best bad guy actors ever. And Gary Oldman.
Greg: Right. Not.
Joe: Given.
Greg: Or the.
Joe: Performance is edited down to what it is.
Greg: Yep. Agreed. Cliffhanger classic.
Joe: I would take cliffhanger over this movie.
Greg: Okay that’s fair. We got sudden death that hurt in a hockey rink.
Joe: And that’s in that movie.
Greg: What really.
Joe: If I have I don’t remember. Where do you stand on Home Alone being a Die Hard movie?
Greg: It’s sort of is he’s he’s like protecting the house, not stuck in a house with them. So slightly different. But, yeah, it’s close enough. Okay. I think it’s basically die hard for kids.
Joe: What about con er, how do you feel about con Air versus Air Force One? Although it’s a again, not quite a die hard in a.
Greg: Yeah. It’s not a die hard in a plane but it is a, it is a contained movie I guess. I mean Conair is just like pure Jerry Bruckheimer ridiculousness and Simon West doing his best Michael Bay, it’s like stage actors cashing in and making a gazillion dollars, with a questionable script. Yes. I think it’s probably harder to watch Con Air in 2026 than it is to watch Air Force One.
Greg: Agreed. Yeah.
Joe: I think yeah. If I, if if they let Gary Oldman cook. Yeah I think I would look on this movie differently.
Greg: That’s fair. You know, I mean at that point he was Gary Oldman from JFK and Dracula. We didn’t, you know, true romance. We would have recognized him in The Fifth Element and Lee on The Professional. So yeah, I guess he had been in quite a few movies that we would have seen at that point.
Joe: One of my favorite, and he is an amazing bad guy. And Lee on The Professional.
Greg: Yep.
Joe: And that that line read where he goes, bring me everyone. And then he just screams everyone. I saw an interview with him where he said that was a joke that he did because they had done multiple takes of it. And he was just again he was he said he warned the sound guys because he was just trying to make the director laugh at that point.
Joe: And so he just was like, okay, just be ready. I’m going to like. And then that’s the one, of course, that they use.
Greg: Yeah, right.
Joe: And that and I was like, and it’s it’s perfect. It’s perfect for his character. And he’s such a just, awful sociopath. But you also like he’s so charismatic on screen. That’s what I was missing from him is he’s got such a presence and an a weight to him that they just. I feel like was wasted.
Greg: I think if I was directing this movie and I was truly, like, watching out for Gary Oldman, I would say, Gary, you’re doing a great job. Let’s start with the positive here. I think you’re giving us a lot. Keep some of your gas in the tank for The Hitman’s Bodyguard. I think you got to, you know, do a slow build to that one, okay?
Greg: For for the great bad Movies podcast that will eventually be invented. Okay. Because we’ll get to The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Yeah. All right. Well, Joe, thank you for your honesty. Thank you for showing us your true colors for the the real back of the box. Joe, is it time for us to get to some box office reviews for this movie?
Joe: Let’s do it.
Greg: All right. This movie came out on July 25th, 1997. Its budget was $85 million.
Joe: That’s pretty large for that.
Greg: Pretty large. It looks like a gazillion dollars, except when there’s digital effects and it mostly looks a little rough. Yeah, especially Air Force One going into the ocean at the end.
Joe: Very good. That is that’s a painful that’s a painful moment.
Greg: But $85 million budget. But internationally, this movie made $315 million, 172 million in America. This thing was a big monster summer blockbuster. It’s a little tough to do Rotten Tomatoes with movies that old, but we have 65 real reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. What do you think the Rotten Tomatoes score is for those critics reviews?
Joe: It feels like 70.
Greg: It really does. It honestly does, because there’s like stuff that’s not great about it. But then there’s a lot that is really good.
Joe: I’m going to go 83.
Greg:
Joe: 7878 okay.
Greg: I mean it probably was 83. This isn’t like a real number that we can rely on I don’t think. But there are 250,000 reviews from the people from the audience. Okay. So what do you think the popcorn meter is for Air Force 1 in 2026?
Joe: We’re going to go 7566. Oh interesting. All right.
Greg: I feel like the people are kind of in line with you on this one.
Joe: Yeah I think they wanted more Gary Oldman.
Greg: I think this movie is easily an 85 from Gregg’s popcorn. Yeah, yeah. All right. Let’s talk about what some of the critics said back then. I couldn’t find anything for the, Seattle Times, so we can’t do our hometown paper. So let’s start with Janet Maslin, one of the greatest writers in history for The New York Times.
Greg: Janet Maslin says Peterson, known for the efficient and vigorously muscular action of Das Boot and In the Line of Fire, once again directs with galvanizing intensity. But the relentlessness of these thrills carries little in the way of a surprise. Hum carries little in the way of surprise, I guess, is what what she really said. Three out of five stars.
Greg: So a little lukewarm little Joe. Okay. Tucker in the New York Times. Yeah, on this one. Charles Taylor from Salon.com says the two hours of this movie felt like such an eternity that I was certain my clothes were going to be out of style by the time it was over. Wow.
Joe: Okay. Not a fan.
Greg: Not a fan.
Joe: I think I liked it more than that guy.
Greg: Manohla Dargis, writing for the L.A weekly in 2002, said most of the time it’s a kick. I love that review.
Joe: I agree with that.
Greg: Peter Travers in Rolling Stone magazine says Air Force One doesn’t insult the audience. It is crafted by a filmmaker who takes pride in the thrills and sly fun he packs into every frame. Three and a half out of four stars.
Joe: It’s a little generous for me, but all I want, I think.
Greg: I think I’m on Peter Travis’s page while walking out of this movie theater in 1997. If I had seen it, the Los Angeles Times says, a piece of expertly crafted entertainment that gets the job done with skill and panache.
Joe: I wish that was the name, the title of this show. You know.
Greg: I think a good drinking name is every time a reviewer says panache.
Joe: Yes, I agree for this show.
Greg: USA today Mike Clark his entire review that they have on Rotten Tomatoes is the perfect name for this podcast that we did not think of preposterous, but viscerally juicy.
Greg: That’s kind of gross, but also accurate. Oh, that is kind of gross. Never mind three out of four stars. Mike Clark like this movie. All right, let me read Roger Ebert. We had a Roger Ebert review for this one. He says Harrison Ford is one of the most likable and convincing of movie stars, and he almost pulls off the impossible in Air Force One.
Greg: I don’t mean he saves the day. I mean he almost saves the movie.
Joe: I’m closer to Roger Ebert on this one than I am.
Greg: Two and a half out of four stars in Chicago sometimes. All right, Joe, is it time for us to get into some drinking games?
Joe: Yes. Let’s do it. All right. Again, doesn’t have to be. Alcohol can be whatever you want to be. Beverage. It could be in an eating game if you’re you’re eating your dinner, listening to this podcast we’ll start with I stopped drinking games. Is there a silent helicopter?
Greg: No, I don’t think there is.
Joe: There is, there is. Yeah. So they parachute in and they capture the president and then a helicopter magically appears to take him away. It is glorious.
Greg: Starting strong out.
Joe: Of the gate. I was so.
Greg: Happy.
Joe: When that happened. There’s, there’s I think there’s another helicopter in it is not silent, but.
Greg: Yeah. No, I.
Joe: Didn’t put a push in and then hands. Although there probably could have been on some of the I think there’s kind of a little bit of selling the bad guy in the Situation Room.
Greg: But.
Joe: It wasn’t clear enough for me to.
Greg: Do it. Right. They’re looking at like old photos of him in his file. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Not quite okay. Yeah.
Joe: When two people share a slow motion look in the middle of chaos, I gave this one because we have. So the president is flying the plane, he’s finally got control of the plane. And then there’s whatever Air force is flying next to them, and they’re like, sharing a look.
Greg: Which would be.
Joe: Near impossible to do in real life. But it’s so perfect. Yes. We do not have an explosion with silent suffering or ringing in the ears. I do have opening credits box into place with a sound. It’s really incredibly patriotic music. It’s not our classic, but because the music is so unforgettable. This is our nod to the to the score and the work of.
Greg: Jerry Goldsmith.
Joe: Jerry Goldsmith.
Greg: Yeah, okay. But you do also always give it to us if they show the title of the movie on the screen. Yeah, they’re basically that’s.
Joe: The title of the movie. If they’re on screen.
Greg: I’ll take a drink. Take a drink? Yeah.
Joe: That’s not. Flash back to dialog. Two minutes ago, we just mentioned that there are real rough CGI, and there’s especially the plane crash into the ocean. Probably was better on the big screen with better graphics. And but on my TV, it was it was not good. Great bad shots are everywhere. They basically you talked about this spray room with machine gun bullets and hope for the best.
Greg: You mentioned that he peeks around corners magically when people aren’t looking. He also continually steps out to shoot people while they’re still shooting their machine gun, and somehow doesn’t get hit. That happens like a dozen times in this movie and it is amazing. It is amazing.
Joe: And I think he often hits them.
Greg: Yes, but they miss him. Yeah.
Joe: Are the streets inexplicably wet? Oh, it is so perfect as their motorcade from the speech to the plane.
Greg: Amazing.
Joe: And then and the I think we’re supposed to think it’s in Moscow Street.
Greg: So I mean, it’s probably wet in Moscow. Yeah, but not that wet now. It’s. Yeah, it’s inexplicable and inexplicable.
Joe: We do not have a, give us the room. Interpol or cell phone smash. But. And those are stark drinking. And so I toss it to you, Greg Steinhardt, for your first drinking game. I have a lot. I’m just a warning to everyone.
Greg: I think I have maybe 9 or 10. Yeah. Harrison Ford is famous for his half smirk while something else is going on. You know he like finds something. He’s looking for and there’s like a half smirk that happens. And then he goes back to his like flustered, confused look or whatever it is. He does that so many times in this movie, any time Harrison Ford half smirks, I take a drink.
Joe: I have my Harrison Ford specific one is every time he kill someone, but then looks really upset that he had to kill someone. Yes, I think I drink.
Greg: Oh that’s great. There are a few times in this movie where a bad guy is yelling something repeatedly in Russian. And, I wouldn’t say there’s like, three times where, like, you know, Gary Oldman or somebody else is just screaming the same word or phrase in Russian. Yeah. So any time that happens in this movie, take a drink.
Joe: All right. Awesome. I have anytime there are conversations about the game that has been taped. Take a drink.
Greg: Yes. Oh, that’s really good. They squeeze in the name Radic so many times in this movie. So I’m hesitant to bring this up, but it’s also just right there and we should use it. Yeah, anytime somebody says Radic, take a drink.
Joe: Awesome. I have anytime they say Air Force One.
Greg: Take a drink. Oh that’s good. Okay. When Harrison Ford is fighting people, there’s a lot of flipping people over. Any time Harrison Ford flips someone over, take a drink. Okay. That’s so awesome.
Joe: All right, so this is my reaction shot one. So anytime there’s a big group of people, especially in this situation room and they’re specifically for this first one reaction shots of them being upset or frustrated. Take a drink okay okay.
Greg: Really like where you’re going with that set of games by the way. Yeah. Any time a fax machine is a main plot point in the film, take a drink.
Joe: I had just taken a drink, and I almost had to do a split take on that one. That was awesome. All right. Reaction shots of a group, when they’re excited and happy and something good has happened. That’s my next.
Greg: Drinking. Incredible.
Joe: And like Cheering.
Greg: If 20 dudes in business casuals suddenly jump up from a table with their binders and run to a different table.
Joe: You’re finishing your.
Greg: Drink that you finish. Okay? Okay, yes. Any time his wife yells a plot point like, go call Petroff, take a drink. Some.
Joe: My next one is, any time he’s looking around the corner and the bad guy happens to just be looking the other way, like a drink. That’s so, so awesome.
Greg: Any time they say or use countermeasures, I’ll take a drink.
Joe: Any time he and his wife passionately kiss that. Weird moments that feel really awkward. Take a drink.
Greg: I’m down in my last one, and it is any time he steps out to shoot someone while they are actively shooting in his direction and he doesn’t get hit, let’s take a drink.
Joe: Oh yeah, my last one is every time he salutes someone.
Greg: That’s really.
Joe: Good or is saluted, take a drink. So by the way.
Greg: Here’s the forward. Pretty good. Salute her. Yeah. I’m not afraid to say it. Yeah. My dad was in the Army, and there was a lot of talk growing up about how some people just don’t know how to salute. I think I need to run this one by him and see what he thinks, because, I feel like he was doing a pretty good job on this one.
Greg: Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. Oh. Can I add one more to yours.
Joe: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Greg: If there’s a crowd cheering and the camera inexplicably just starts turning in circles, what do we do in this moment. I’m at a loss. Do we finish. Is it just another drink.
Joe: It might be. It might even almost be like a trope of because I’m thinking of, like, every movie where there’s like a NASA, space landing type of thing. There’s. Yeah, there is a shot of people cheering.
Greg: But this is something different. Yeah. This is like someone figured out how to do this and they were like, well, we have to do it. I think the whole time the camera is spinning, you have to be slowly sipping your drink. Okay.
Joe: Fair. Yeah I agree sipping quickly.
Greg: Yeah. But the whole spin you need to be sipping your drink. Yeah. All right, Joe, let’s go on down to Trope Town. It’s time for Joe’s Trope Lightning Round, aka signs. You might be watching a great bad movie.
Joe: Awesome. I will be as quick as I can. We don’t have as many as you might think, but there are some really good ones. We have the name of the movie I said, my character at the Air Force One, they say Air Force One a few times in this movie. Any time someone is unconvincingly knocked out.
Greg:
Joe: Or flipped over and just like knocked out. But, we have kind of the honorable man trope. I also have kind of out of retirement because he was a hero back in the day, but it’s kind of coming back. I have a friend or colleague who dies early in the film, so we have his press secretary who’s killed, we don’t have the most charismatic antagonist, but we do have Gary Oldman, who is incredibly charismatic.
Joe: So I gave that one to us.
Greg: Wasn’t it like the national security advisor who dies early in the movie?
Joe: Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s right. National security.
Greg: Yeah. Sorry. I’m sorry to call you out on that. So. Yeah. Yeah, it’s so forcefully.
Joe: Don’t let it happen again.
Greg: Late in the show. For his part, I’m so sorry.
Joe: We have checking if a gun is loaded and the protagonist is captured, but not killed right away, and then is saved by his own wiles at the end. That’s our trope, lightning round.
Greg: He did try to save everybody else, though, like he was insisting everybody else get off the plane.
Joe: That was that was good. I like that set up the final confrontation. The final, final confrontation. Right. It was you all along from William H. Macy.
Greg: Amazing. Which is perfect. Perfect. All right. Joe. Oh my gosh, I am bursting at the seams. We need to talk about the elephant in the room. Can I ask you some important questions? Oh, please. Let’s do it. Joe. In 1997, do you think Air Force One held up then?
Joe: I think it did.
Greg: Yeah, yeah. Massive hit. Does it hold up now?
Joe: It does. It has aged only in a way that it’s a product of its time where we’ve seen like there are some better action scenes and fight choreography that we’ve seen evolve through the kind of genre, but I don’t feel like it fell off. It doesn’t fall off a cliff or anything like that. It’s like to me, it’s still holds up.
Joe: So yeah, I would say, yes.
Greg: I’m with you there on all those things. I think the score is a wee bit dated as well. Yeah. And they’ve done a 4K release of this movie. Why didn’t they redo some of the special effects? That plane crash at the end. They really should George Lucas this thing and fix that. Yeah. Agreed Joe. Next important question. How hard do they sell the good guy in this movie?
Joe: I hope Freddie hard. You played the clip of it. Yeah.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: So perfect. It is perfect for this movie.
Greg: How do they sell the bad guy?
Joe: Not a lot. We get a little bit of like, oh, it’s the Russian separatist nationalists. Whatever. But missed opportunity.
Greg: Yeah. Why is there romance in this movie?
Joe: So Harrison Ford can have awkward kisses with his wife? That’s the only reason.
Greg: It’s the only reason. Okay. Yeah. Are we bad people for loving this movie? Well, am I a bad person for loving this movie?
Joe: You probably are. I’m not obvious.
Greg: No, because you’re lukewarm on it. Yeah. I’m local.
Joe: Okay. But I’m still a bad person. Don’t. Don’t let it fool you and their listeners.
Greg: For other reasons. Yes. So does Air Force One deserve a sequel?
Joe: Absolutely. I mean, how is there not an air Force Two? I mean, we have how many has fallen movies?
Greg: Well, that’s that’s the answer to this question. There are spiritual sequels to this movie. Yeah, yeah, there’s white House down. Olympus has Fallen, two movies that we will definitely be getting to potentially against each other in a versus mode because they released in the same summer. But you mentioned Air Force two. They weren’t going to be able to get Harrison Ford.
Greg: There was talk of a sequel like very, very serious talks of the sequel. But Harrison Ford is like, no, I’m not coming back. And Wolfgang Petersen didn’t want to either. So if they had done like a US marshals sequel, the way you know, that was the sequel to The Fugitive without Harrison Ford, right? They could have done Air Force Two, and it was with Glenn Close.
Greg: Then.
Joe: Yeah, done and done. I watched that all day long.
Greg: So 100% they never sold the vice president. What if the vice president was in Nam, you know? Yeah, also a pilot. But the sequel that they did want to move forward with was Marshall is no longer president. And he’s he’s in like a hostage situation on foreign soil. That was the best they’d come up with which.
Joe: We exhaust right.
Greg: Now. Pretty pretty weak. Yeah. Next important question. Does it deserve a prequel?
Joe: I rarely go this way, but I think I would have watched a movie of his exploits in Vietnam. No, as the greatest helicopter pilot ever. Yeah, I like that. Okay. Fertile ground for a prequel.
Greg: Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. And it’s his character from Apocalypse Now. Okay. Perfect. As he was in Apocalypse Now.
Joe: Right now that was Martin Sheen.
Greg: Okay. Harrison Ford has a bit part in Apocalypse Now and the prequel to Air Force One. Maybe just is Apocalypse Now sweet done. But also I think we bring the gang back together and we digitally de-aged Harrison Ford and we do adventures, you know, all around Apocalypse Now and make that a full fledged story.
Joe: Apocalypse soon. And that’s just.
Greg: Total, you know, they could do like a digitally de-aged like they did at the beginning of, Indiana Jones five that barely got by because it was Jimmy Mangold. I like the idea of Francis Ford Coppola cashing in a check. Yes. And, Harrison Ford going along with it. All right. Should this movie have been nominated for Best Picture in the Oscars?
Joe: What was nominated with it?
Greg: All right, Joe, we are in hilarious territory again because this is the second movie from 1997 that we have covered on this show. And the last time we covered a movie from 1997, Face Off was the first time I asked you this question. Okay, awesome. I went back and listen to it. You were immediately a hard pass. Absolutely not.
Greg: End of discussion.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: I briefly disagreed and said I you’re wrong, I 100 I 1,000% think it should have been nominated for Best Picture. And then we quickly moved on. So that’s out there. So maybe we should, you know, revisit that as well. Okay. The movie is nominated from 1997 at the 98 Oscars were as good as it gets okay, The Full Monty, good Will hunting, La confidential and of course, the big winner that year, which also won Best Picture Titanic.
Greg: Only five movies in 97. So we could.
Joe: Right.
Greg: We could widen this out. First question what do you do with Face Off. Is that still out.
Joe: It’s probably still out okay. But I’m, I’m more on the fence than I’ve been.
Greg: Okay.
Joe: Because I’m as good as it gets. Is to me the weakest link on these movies.
Greg: Okay.
Joe: So Face Off is probably out. Sure. Let’s throw it in there. Let’s see what.
Greg: I so blindly love James L Brooks that I think I take the full monty out before I take. Yeah. As good as it gets out.
Joe: I’m fine with either one of those being out.
Greg: But you know, they do ten movies now, so we can break this. Open to seven. Yeah, sure. I would love it if the movie is nominated for Best Picture in 1998. Where Titanic, as good as it gets, The Full Monty, good Will hunting, LA confidential, Face Off and Air Force One. So I think they both go in.
Joe: Okay, I’m in on that. I still think L.A. confidential should win.
Greg: Classic Curtis Hanson.
Joe: It’s one of the few movies that halfway through I had no idea was happening. And I was so gloriously lost in an amazing plot with great actors and a great script. James Ellroy, who wrote the book, one of my favorite kind of pulpy authors. But he’s, he’s an amazing writer.
Greg: Yeah. And then Curtis Hanson goes on and makes eight mile with Eminem. Yeah. A couple years later.
Joe: Is that the last movie he does or.
Greg: No. He also did get Richard die trying I think. Okay, 50 cent and he did in her shoes with Cameron Diaz, which was a bit more like about sisters. I think I’m trying to be drummer. Good director. Like that guy. Yeah, yeah. All right. We did it. Call the Oscars. We’ve got some additions. All right, Joe, next important question.
Greg: How can this movie be fixed? AKA who should be in the remake?
Joe: I really want to mash up the Has Fallen series, passenger 57 and Air Force One, and then just sprinkle in a little executive decision on top of that. So, you know, I want Gerard Butler who’s the president. And those Morgan Freeman.
Greg: Know he’s vice president.
Joe: Oh he’s vice president.
Greg: The president is the guy from thank you for smoking, Aaron Eckhart.
Joe: Okay. And then let’s have Wesley Snipes be the bad guy.
Greg: Oh, leave it. Okay.
Joe: So that’s kind of that’s how I do it. How do you how do you fix this? Or. Who’s in the remake on this?
Greg: I was pretty taken by this movie by the time the credits rolled. I think it’s a magic trick that, it keeps me interested. Specifically the hour mark. Every time I’ve watched this movie, I’ve been like, I can’t believe I’m still into this. And then when the credits roll, it’s like, I can’t believe that worked on me. You know?
Greg: So I but I like how this movie ends. I like that he’s flying the plane and and blah, blah, blah. So I think we just redo some of the digital effects and we somehow get some more Gary Oldman in there in the way that Gary Oldman wanted to be. Yeah. Which when Radic stands up in jail to be released, he stands up and looks like the most evil person in history, like they’re just really pushed out for, like, the arch evilness in this movie.
Greg: And so I think we could tone down some of the virtue signaling that we’re doing. That just had to happen, I guess, in 1997. And obviously we could tone down some of the music. And we’d be in good shape actually, you know what, I don’t know which direction this will take the music. But I say, you know, you bring back the
Greg: Oh Randy Newman. Yeah. Release the Newman cuts. Yeah. What are we doing here? Air force. All right.
Joe: So I’ve got a friend.
Greg: To back it, and it’s this.
Greg: Yeah, yeah, we’re bringing him back.
Joe: All right.
Greg: Sweet. That’s how it’s fixed. It’s fixed. Once you do that, everything else is just bonus. All right, Joe, very important. Next question. What album is Air Force One?
Joe: I really struggled with what album this was, and I may even need to change my answer, but I kind of had picked an album that I felt held up really well. When I listen to it the first few times and kind of liked it, but then when I came back to it, I saw more of its flaws and didn’t really watch it.
Joe: But the can. The problem is, when we start talking about these movies, I like them more. So the album I have picked and I may have, I’ve picked this for another show and I haven’t been released or not, but I really actually did like this album when it first came out, and that was U2’s album Pop which is a divisive album.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: And it’s an album that I’ve tried to listen to again, and I just it doesn’t hold up as well as this movie holds up for sure.
Greg: Okay, okay.
Joe: But wasn’t as bad as I remembered, but I also, when I was picking it was more in the in the mind of where I was when I did the real back of the box. I was a little bit more down on this movie.
Greg: Sure.
Joe: Than I am at this very moment.
Greg: Right?
Joe: That was kind of my thinking. I was like something that I really liked when I came out. But like over time has not held up as well.
Greg: I think you’re really onto something here, because pop should have been amazing and it wasn’t. And then when you listen to it as time goes on, it really doesn’t hold up much.
Joe: It was an album that I listened to a lot when it came out, and like the lot when it came out, yeah, it signal kind of the end of my I Still Love You Too. I love Achtung Baby and their earlier stuff, but that was kind of the end of like for me of like their newer stuff that I didn’t really like get into any of the stuff after that.
Joe: Yeah, I don’t know. It’s an imperfect album. I don’t know that I had a really good I try. I looked at 1997, 1997. I would hold up as one of the best years for music ever.
Greg:
Joe: I was looking at like an album that came out and it is just an insane year capped off by Radiohead’s okay computer.
Greg:
Joe: Renowned as the best album that came out that year. But Blur Oasis have amazing album that come out that year. Missy Elliott has an amazing album that comes out that year. I think there’s The Notorious B.I.G. Has an album that comes out that year. So does Tupac like it is just if you haven’t done it, look up like top albums of 1990 or yeah, 1997.
Joe: It is a spectacular year for music. So what album did you choose? I’m dying to know.
Greg: All right, so this movie, it’s an old movie and you can kind of see how it doesn’t hold up. It’s defined by the time it came out where it feels like an old, oh, I don’t really do that anymore in movies where it does feel like that, I forgive it. And so I was looking for an album that was really like a sign of its time.
Greg: But even though it’s dated in a way and records kind of haven’t done this successfully since then, and I didn’t like this album when it came out, to be honest, because it was so new medically. But in retrospect, I think this movie is Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, from 2000. It’s an unbelievable record, and it definitely sounds like a record from 2000, you know, in.
Greg: Right. And I’m very unforgiving of most of the albums that sound like best. But for some reason, with that, what they’re trying to say with it comes through. And I think that’s that’s the case of Air Force One as well. I like your first one, even though, you know, it feels like an old movie now, and it’s definitely a movie of its time.
Greg: Hybrid theory is definitely, definitely an album of its time. But, you know what? I’m still going to listen to it sometimes.
Joe: That’s awesome.
Greg: Did you ever listen to Linkin Park?
Joe: Not really. I never really got into them.
Greg: Interesting. They’re kind of like Pop’s Nine Inch Nails in some ways. They had a little pretty hate machine in them.
Joe: I think by that point when they had kind of started, I had kind of moved on and like my.
Greg: Tastes.
Joe: Of that. And so I had I was all in on just like the Britpop scene. So I was.
Greg: Oh, 100% me too.
Joe: And so I wasn’t into listening to music that was as hard as Nine Inch Nails was. And I haven’t after The Fragile from Nine Inch Nails, I haven’t listened to any. I don’t have any of their stuff. I still love The Downward Spiral, Broken and Pretty Hate Machine.
Greg:
Joe: But my my musical tastes have changed. I wanted less anger and more like angst, I guess is the best way to put it.
Greg: Yeah. All right, Joe, last important question. It has all built to this. I can’t wait to hear what you say. How would you rate this movie? Great bad movie. Good bad movie. Okay. Bad movie, bad bad movie. Worst case scenario. Awful bad movie.
Joe: I am on the fence between an okay bad movie and a good bad movie and okay, like always, as we talk about it, I like it more. So I’m going to go with a good, bad movie. It’s not okay. It’s not a great bad.
Greg: Movie, okay.
Joe: But it’s definitely a movie that I will watch again and I will enjoy flaws and all. It’s not asking too much. It’s a good movie. It’s a fun movie. It’s of its time and it holds up well. And as you said there, there are parts that, you know, especially, like CGI stuff and a few of the action scenes, but it holds up remarkably well for a movie from 1997.
Greg: Yep.
Joe: That’s right. Then how do you read this movie?
Greg: I go, great bad movie. Yeah. That’s no surprise to anybody. Listen to this. Yeah, I think it is a great movie. And, there’s so many aspects of this movie where you just think they don’t make it like this these days. Like, this is like actual film and lighting rigs, and the Steadicam is moving through pretty small spaces, and, I’m sure they’re moving the walls around on the set all the time to get these shots.
Greg: But I’m not noticing that it doesn’t feel over directed. It feels just perfectly, balanced in how it’s framing everything. And I really like it. I think this is one of the best I heard on the blank movies.
Joe: Yeah. I mean, I definitely think that from, like, technical standpoint of the direction and the lighting and, just how it the look and the feel of it, it’s top notch.
Greg: Yeah. It’s also so cheesy. Yeah.
Joe: It’s like, but it’s other. It’s time like to me some of the cheesiness is like, that’s what you did in 1997 type of.
Greg: You know.
Joe: Why we have this score. You know those those pizzas. Although again, the hell with the Randy Newman.
Greg: Score for us. Yeah, totally. All right. Well Joe, we did it. Yeah.
Joe: It’s a conversation 29 years in the making. So you know you’re welcome. This is the conversation that needed to be had about Air Force One. So in fact, I don’t know if anyone really is needs to talk about this movie ever again, quite frankly.
Greg: So we should definitely say before we continue. As always, spoilers for the movie Air Force One.
Joe: Absolutely, yeah. If you’re worried about that, pauses. Go watch the movie. Come right back to this point and it’s the episode. Be great.
Greg: What if somebody just became worried about it? Well, this far into the to this episode like, oh geez, should I call this money? Yeah.
Joe: And also maybe look into some anxiety meds.
Greg: Because listen, if you’ve enjoyed what you’ve listened to, will you take a moment and either follow us on whatever you’re listening to us on on your favorite podcast app, but also will you give us a rating and a review in your podcast app? We would really appreciate it. It’s the best way to get the word out on this thing.
Greg: If you haven’t, like this episode, forget I ever said anything. But if you like this episode, yeah, give us five stars and write why you like this show that would be so helpful to us. Joe. How else can people find out about other great bad movies things?
Joe: We’re on Instagram, a great bad movie show. You can email us at Great Bad Movie show@gmail.com. We have a website great about movies.com. So find us, interact with us. We love.
Greg: Movies.
Joe: And if you’re listening to this show, tell your friends about us because, you know, the more people that listen, the longer we can do this show. So no pressure. But really, the future of this show is in your hand. So help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi, if you’re if you’re listening.
Greg: We didn’t give much time to the fact that we are doing this movie because of Instagram. We did a poll on Instagram, and, the people who, follow us on Instagram voted. So if you weren’t following us on Instagram, find us there because you’ll be able to influence what movies we review in the future. We’ll do another poll in the next little while.
Greg: Great Bad Movies show on Instagram. Oh my gosh, Joe, listen, this has been great. Yeah, don’t get me wrong, let me start with a positive. This has been really good. Yeah, but, I need to go meet with some of the other cabinet members to see if it’s time to invoke, I don’t know, maybe like the 25th amendment.
Greg: So I’ve been out. Yeah.
Joe: Yeah, that sounds serious. Listen, again, this has been so awesome. Great, in fact. But I’ve got to go negotiate with some terrorist right now. I know that you’re not supposed to do that, but, yeah, some lessons you just gotta learn on your own. So, you.
Greg: Know, you gotta learn the hard way. Yeah, sometime. All right, well, that works for me, because, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do in this little pickle that I’m in right now. And I just saw some milk spilled in the fridge, and it gave me an idea of how to get out of this jam. So.
Greg: Okay, I’m gonna go take care of this mess that I’m in.
Joe: Awesome. You know, listen, this has been great. Yeah. Super great. Yeah, but someone just said that. Get off of his plane. So now I’m going to listen. I’m going to listen to this guy, so he sounds serious.
Greg: Okay?
Joe: I don’t want to get hurt.
Greg: Get off my plane.
Greg: That works for me. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I am in a Russian jail right now.
Joe: I did notice that I.
Greg: We’ve buried the lead. It’s been quite obvious this whole time. And if I’m hearing my guys right back here, they’re letting General Radic out. So I need to go get the choir together and make some magic. Okay.
Joe: Yeah. That track, that track. Anyway, this this has been great. I’m running late. I got to go have uncomfortable kisses with my wife in front of people for no reason at all. Really? Just, make everyone feel really awkward. So.
Greg: Classic Joe.
Joe: Yeah, yeah. Classic.
Greg: Joe. Okay, well, that works for me because, I got to run as well. I was just hanging out with William H. Macy, who explicitly said he doesn’t know how to fly a plane. And so I’m going to ask him if he can fly this plane with me. Okay. Yeah, that.
Joe: Sounds, That sounds good. I got to run, too. I’ve just got seated next to a Russian journalist. I hope they’ll quote me in his next article. Although he doesn’t have any thing to take notes on or anything like that. So, Yeah.
Greg: Literally a red flag. Yeah, literally.
Joe: A red flag.
Greg: Okay, well, that works for me because I cannot stall this anymore. I’m so worried that someone’s going to spoil it for me. So I need to get back to my office to watch the Michigan Notre Dame game before it gets ruined for me. Okay.
Joe: I was worried I was going to have that ruined for me as well, but that’s all right. That’s been great. That’s a great thing.
Greg:
Joe: I need to tear up this piece of paper saying that the president should be temporarily removed from office. I mean, it’s probably a good idea as he’s being held captive by terrorists, and and no one makes good decisions while being held captive. For sure. Continue running the world’s strongest country. It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine if you’re, you know, a hostage at the moment.
Greg: Yeah, that makes sense. And by the way, if I could just say the light on your hair right now is you tear that and half is kind of amazing.
Joe: Okay. Sweet. I was hoping.
Greg: All right, well, that works for me. So, Joe, I will see you soon.
Joe: Something that works for me, too. I’ll see you.
Greg: Soon.