Podcast (ICYMI) at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 3:13PM 
Have you had a chance to really bite in to the delicious Smackdown 1991 podcast yet? We know you read the article given the plentiful comments but there's so much to chat about within the podcast conversation. Nikki M James, Rory O'Malley, Nick Westrate, Mark Harris, and Katey Rich were all terrific guests, don'cha think? Dying to hear your thoughts on the specific things we discussed, but especially...
- Fried Green Tomatoes' 'food fight as lesbian sex' metaphor (!), the confusion over Ninny's identity, and its rose-colored lensing of race relations
- Whether Cape Fear's ending is confusingly botched or confusing on purpose... "my reminiscence"?
- Rambling Rose's Laura Dern / Lukas Haas sex scene driving mothers and spouses from the room!
- The camp of all the Barbra scenes in Prince of Tides. What word was Dr Lowenstein looking up in her Pocket Oxford Dictionary?
- Michael Jeter's "sprinkling for fairy dust" ("Sprinking?!") in The Fisher King and the AIDS crisis just beginning to hit the movies
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Reader Comments (15)
Any Barbra nail moments are always a pleasure and they probably got their own trailer when making The Prince of Tides considering how much they were shown.
Those rugs,cushions and throws at the Beach House.
Any bit with Nolte in the hospital,she almost undresses him.
The camp of that tackle in her office.Barbra is definitely Barbra during that scene
I too agree with people that there's no clear tread between Masterson's performance and the older version with Tandy,that's probably why confusion is what most people are left with at the end,is she Igee or not.
I sometimes think Cape Fear is Danielle's version of events and not necessarily Scorsese's.
Jessica Tandy naked > Nathaniel Rogers clothed
Regarding Cape Fear’s ‘confusing on purpose’ motif-it also almost feels like Robert De Niro/Max Cady Might be Juliette Lewis’s dad? She doesn’t seem like the offspring of JLange & NNotle. You could almost picture young newlywed JLange out on a (IDouglas terrifying?) one might stand and gets pregnant while hubbie Nick is out cheating at work. The scene with NN at his (?) daughter’s bedroom door... That makes the entire 12 minute theater scene even more scary. Max’s re-appearance into that family’s life would really open up into a nightmare, especially if lawyer Nick suspected something before hoisting him to prison. But, maybe the daughter was adopted.
The Prince of Tides-the entire son Jason Gould learning to play football is really stretching the audience’s limit. I kind’ve went ‘Oy’ when Notle is so passionately in love with Lowenstein that he had to grab Barbra’s perfectly shot derrière and lift her upward. It seemed like an ‘oh, geez, another The Main Event perfect ass shot yet again.’
The Fischer King-First time I saw it, back then, I was really blown away by the Amanda Plummer character. Guess I’d substitute her for KNelligan.
FGTomatoes-I still can never believe that MSMasterson turned out to be the JTandy character. Maybe it’s the mention of a husband and don passing away. Complete disconnect.
FGT doesn't make sense if Ninny and Idgie are the same person, but it also doesn't make sense if they aren't. If they aren't, why is this woman completely absent from her own stories and only obsessed with her sister-in-law (?) who never visits? Why do two separate people named Buddy get hit by two separate trains?
Valid points Dave S!
@the TANDYMAN:
Um... thank you for that mental image?
I absolutely love these Smackdown podcasts!
I watched The Fisher King last night for the first time and I was completely stunned. I never expected to enjoy the movie that much. I wish Amanda Plummer had been nominated too!
omg, PLEASE let this comment thread be as good as the last one. LOL
#justicefortandy
Random Fisher King facts that probably no one cares about:
Amanda Plummer was the only nominated cast member at the BAFTAs that year.
Michael Jeter is only credited as "Homeless Cabaret Singer". *(He's definitely making my top five supporting actors for that year.)
re: "food fight as lesbian sex" metaphor, how very joss whedon of them!
Bradley -- i'm so glad we introduced you to it. I love love love that movie and I always wished people would talk about it more. Crazy that Michael Jeter's character isn't named. He's so great in the movie.
Tom -- oh i'd definitely have Plummer in the mix (she's an easy medalist for me). My medalists that year would be
LEWIS - Cape Fear (Gold)
RUEHL - Fisher King (Silver)
PLUMMER - Fisher King (Bronze)
and for the routh and fifth spots.. I can't remember who it was at the time but i really like all of the following: Tilda Swinton in Edward II, Brooke Smith in Silence of the Lambs, Diane Ladd in Rambling Rose, Judy Davis in Naked Lunch/Barton Fink/Where Angles Fear to Tread, Kate Nelligan in Frankie & johnny, Emma Thompson in Impromptu, either of the Marys in Fried Green Tomatoes, or Alfre Woodard in Grand Canyon.
I've heard Maureen O'Hara is good in Only the Lonely (her last picture) but I haven't seen it.
Swinton absolutely should have been nominated for EDWARD II.
Gross Tandyman.....I mean it’s true, but because of the Tandy’s extraordinary sensuality, not any lacking from Nathaniel.
Emma Thompson in Impromptu! I still recall the delicious mockery by Judy Davis of Emma Thompson in that unfairly forgotten movie.