[00:00:00]
Incredible. One of the worst performances of my career, and they never doubted it for a second.
How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?
This is my ninth sick day this semester. It’s getting pretty tough coming up with new illnesses.
Todd: I didn’t know this was a Bob Dylan song. It is. It’s the opening. Uh, hi everybody. My name’s Todd Adams. This is Cathy Adams. Welcome back to another episode of [00:01:00] Zen Pop Parenting. This is episode number 8 26, also known as episode number What sweetie?
Cathy: Well, this is our ninth Zen pop parenting episode. Um, but as Todd said, we’ve been, we’ve been episode for 15 years, so this is Zen Pop Parenting where Gen X pop culture meets real life reflection.
Cathy: And today we are gonna be talking about exactly what you just listened to. We’re gonna be talking about Ferris and the dude from the Big Lebowski and the art of doing nothing,
Todd: the dude abides. That’s
Cathy: right. So these two were teachers in how to do nothing, but from a di very different perspective.
Um, he has been absent nine times,
Cathy: nine times.
Todd: Nine times. And this is our ninth episode, sweetie.
Cathy: Oh, weird. Uh, isn’t that weird? We did not plan that, but that’s sometimes the way things are. They’re synergistic. I just told you I didn’t have a hot take, but I just came up with one. Let’s hear it. [00:02:00]
Boy, it’s hot. This is hot. Never got this hot in Brooklyn, just like Africa had.
Can’t take this kinda hat.
Todd: Um, this isn’t much of a hot take, but it’s a hot question. Let’s hear it. Desert Island. You can only bring one of these two movies with you. Oh boy. Which one is it going to be?
Cathy: This is hard because I think there’d be more to dig into in Lebowski, meaning like, you could watch it from all different angles.
Cathy: You know, there’s so many things in that movie that are so random and weird. But I think I would still have to go with Ferris because it would remind me of my own self in Chicago and all the things that are important to me being a Gen Xer.
Todd: That’s, uh, I’m on the other side. Okay. And maybe it’s because I’ve seen Ferris four times as many times as I, as I’ve seen Lebowski.
Todd: Yeah. And, and there’s certain parts of Lebowski that, um. That are just not [00:03:00] that fun. Like the whole Julian Moore part. Like I just, I just wanna see the guys in the bowling alley. So, Donny, I know I’m talking out of both sides. Oh, by the way, this is gonna have to be an explicit one ’cause there’s no way I could play any clip.
Todd: I know there’s too many, any clips from Lebowski without fbo. So if you are a parent listening to this with your children, um, don’t,
Cathy: or just, you know, put in your headphones, entertain them with something else.
Todd: Put in your headphones.
Cathy: Um, because the clips, they all have F-bombs. That’s just the way the Lebowski that the, the dude rolls.
Cathy: Are we
Todd: gonna set the scene?
Cathy: Do you want have my hot take or are we seeing it? No, no, no, no.
Todd: Go ahead. Your hot take. So
Cathy: we’re just jumping in. Yeah, because we don’t usually start with hot takes, but my hot take. It’s pretty hot. You ready? I think Jeannie Bueller was right and she had every reason to be annoyed at her brother.
Cathy: Uh,
Todd: that’s a very good, I I’m not saying I agree with you, but it’s an important hot take.
Cathy: Yeah. Everybody worships him. He doesn’t make great, I mean, when I say he doesn’t make great choices, he’s not following the rules. Um, he gets away with [00:04:00] everything. She does not, um, you know, she gets the car. Yes. But she, at the same time, she’s, she’s a justice warrior and she’s like, this is not fair.
Cathy: And she’s right.
Todd: Yeah. It’s
Cathy: not,
Todd: um, that is a hot take. I’m gonna give you a less hot take. Okay. This is more of a lukewarm take. Okay. ’cause everybody already knows it. Okay. This movie’s all about Cameron. Of course he’s, the whole movie is about Cameron. Mm-hmm. Even though it’s called Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Todd: And you just brought up Jenny. Jeanie. Jeanie, Shauna.
Cathy: Shauna.
Todd: This is all about Cameron’s journey.
Cathy: Well, I will say, I think it’s also about Jeannie’s. Oh, really? Interesting. Yes. All right. I not as much as Cameron. Cameron is really who the movie is about. Yeah. No doubt about it. I don’t think it’s that hot of a take.
Cathy: But Jeanie grows too. Yeah. Does Ferris change at all? No, not really. No. But Cameron and Jeanie do. Are we ready to set the scene? Let’s go. Set the scene.
Todd: All right, sweetie, go ahead and set the scene for us.
Cathy: Okay. Let’s [00:05:00] talk, uh, start with Ferris Bueller’s Day off. So, um, this is kind of like, you know, we’re talking about the art of doing nothing and Ferris’s whole thing was like the fun rebellion. Okay. So that’s his art of doing nothing, is that I’m gonna have fun.
Cathy: It’s the, it’s in the 1980s and, uh, in suburban Chicago. Specifically in Highland Park, right.
Todd: Uh, y well, yeah. I mean, I think they were at Glenbrook Glenbrook North for the high school, but it’s always the same three or four suburbs that John Hughes. Tends to do his thing.
Cathy: And this is one of the first John Hughes movies where he goes into the city.
Cathy: Yeah. So you get to see a lot of the beautiful parts of the city. So Ferris Skips school with his girlfriend, Sloan and his best friend Cameron, for a very spontaneous day in the city. They do the art museum, they do baseball game, they do a fancy lunch, the parade, and have a bunch of existential insights.
Cathy: So, um, the main villain is the principal. Um, he is a Ed Rooney. Ed Rooney. That was my question at a trivia game the other night and I couldn’t pull it up. Remember?
Todd: I don’t remember that. The
Cathy: question was, what’s the [00:06:00] principal’s name? I’m like, I know, but I couldn’t get it. Um, he’s obsessed with catching Ferris, um, and he also believes his bigger idea, the reason why he’s the villain in this is he thinks that teens, teenagers should be busy, responsible on track.
Cathy: And that is what Ferris is, um, rebelling against. Um, so
Ed Rooney Ferris, I’d like to have a word with you.
Cathy: So what was going on in the world?
I’m, I’m sorry. Did say you wanted to see a body. Go ahead. Sorry.
Cathy: What is, what is, that’s Mr. Peterson. That’s, this is
Todd: George Peterson.
Cathy: That’s Cameron being, um, uh, Stan look like an ass, is what he does.
Cathy: Ed,
go ahead.
Cathy: Can I talk or are you gonna do more clips? I love the clips though. No shade. Both. Okay. So what was going on in the world as far as setting the scene about, you know, where we were? This was 1986. Again, we talk about Reagan a lot, Reaganomics, consumerism success, wealth and image, where everything, um, [00:07:00] all the teen films were blowing up because of John Hughes.
Cathy: This is again, another John Hughes movie. Um, the, he was always making movies though about angst. Mm-hmm. And this was John Hughes’s first movie about celebrating joy and freedom. So it was kind of a different take and, um, you know. Achievement culture was becoming huge. And I still think we’re in achievement culture, but Ferris was kind of looking at the system and saying, not me.
Cathy: Um, so a few things, uh, Lebowski. Now I’m gonna go to Lebowski. Do you wanna say anything about Ferris as far as setting the
Todd: scene? Uh, I did wanna say one thing about Ferris, uh, 1986. Does that sound about right?
Cathy: I said 1986. I already said the date.
Todd: Um, and, uh, number one movie, 1986. Wow. Any guesses? Oh,
Cathy: I think that it was movie Ferris was 10th, 10th, gosh, 1986.
Cathy: Let me think. This was my sophomore year in high school. 85. 86. Eight. Seven eight. Um, maybe freshman year. I don’t know. What was it?
Todd: Um, [00:08:00] I’m going to play a little clip. Okay. And it’s gonna tell you what it is.
Cathy: Yes. Now we’re talking.
Todd: Danger zone by far, the number one. And you know, whatever, 35 years later, whatever it was, they came up with another number one called Top Gun Maverick.
Todd: Both, both good movies. Um, so Top Gun number Two, crocodile Dundee. Yeah, that sounds about right. That I might, that’s not a knife. Platoon. Oliver Stone, karate Kid, part two. Yeah. Star Trek four, the Voyage Home. Never, I don’t even know if we saw that Back to School. We talked about back to school already on this podcast with
Cathy: our buddy, uh, Billy Zaka,
Todd: aliens, then the Golden Child, then Ruthless People, which has some very funny parts to it.
Todd: Mm-hmm.
Cathy: It does.
Todd: And then lastly, Ferris Bueller, number 10.
Cathy: Interesting. I would thought it would be higher, but I think it’s just a cult classic for us. Gen Xers. Right. Maybe it just didn’t, A lot of these movies didn’t hit including Lebowski. It was not a hit in the theater either. So sometimes movies just, you know, they come back around later or they just have staying power.
Cathy: Yep. You know, they just never [00:09:00] leave us. Yep. Um, so yeah, that sounds good. Do you want me to move on to Lebowski? Okay. So the Big Lebowski, this was more, his rebellion was more about being absurd. Like he just, he was absurd and he thought. Things were absurd. So the Big Lebowski was, um, 1998. So it was a little over 10 years later than Ferris Bueller.
Cathy: So early nineties, LA the dude played by our buddy Jeff Bridges, unemployed bowler, bathrobe enthusiast. Um, he gets pulled into a, like a crazy crime plot because somebody pees on his rug. And you know what the rug did?
Todd: Really tied the room together, tied
Cathy: the room together. And this was a problem for the dude.
Cathy: Um, but the dude doesn’t wanna solve much. He just wants peace together.
My rug,
Cathy: he just wants tied the room together.
This was a value dog. Go ahead.
Cathy: He wants his rug back.
Todd: He does.
Cathy: You have to tell me when you’re playing clips ’cause I don’t wanna talk over ’em.
Todd: Yeah, but that is gonna get complicated. I’m just gonna interrupt you.
Cathy: [00:10:00] Yeah, man. Well, I understand, I understand. Oh, that’s actually about last night. Yeah. Different movies. Sorry, everybody. Yeah, we’ll do that one later. Um, so again, what was going on in the world? So different time, this was like post Cold War Drift, you know? Yeah. This is, there were really no major threats.
Cathy: There was no clear direction. There was a lot of confusion and irony. This is pre nine 11, you know, so there was kind of like a, you know, different, a kind of a different vibe. It was like grunge, slacker culture. Um, basically the eighties became, we, we actually did a show all about a few shows ago, um, about grunge coming in in the nineties and how that changed the culture so dramatically.
Cathy: Um, and, you know, nobody wanted the corporate dream anymore, right? It was kind of a whole different thing. And then, um, and of course we have the Gulf War flashbacks because Walter. Likes to rant about Vietnam injustice. Um, he’s, you know, but he’s applying it to the bowling league instead of, you know, real life.
Cathy: Um, and then, so [00:11:00] something that, this is a little research that I did. So the movie, you know, it’s such a wor a weird movie. Like everybody talks about the baki, like, doesn’t really go anywhere and it doesn’t really make sense. Um, but it was based on Raymond Chandler. So he was, um, the, the film, I’m just gonna read what I wrote down.
Cathy: It borrows from the structure of the, this detective, these detective stories where a reluctant guy gets tangled into a mess. He doesn’t understand. It’s, it’s all parody. They don’t really solve the case. They just kind of move through it. And it’s so, it’s like, I didn’t know that. Mm-hmm. Like, I didn’t know that the Raymond Chandler thing was out there.
Cathy: Obviously people who. No, Lebowski probably did, but I didn’t know it was based on something. A
Todd: lot of, uh, big time Lebowski fans out there that probably know a lot more than you and I do.
Cathy: Totally. We’re, we’re gonna be scratching the surface, so if you guys are like hardcore, I, I hope we meet some of your needs, but for those of you that know more, we totally get it.
Cathy: Guess what wasn’t in the top 10?
Todd: Uh. In that year that it came out, [00:12:00] 1991, I think.
Cathy: Uh, 1998. Oh, 1998. Mm-hmm.
Todd: Oh, I screwed up. So, yeah. Uh, but look, regardless, Lebowski had a budget of 15 million and, uh, it grossed 19.5, so it barely made its money back in box office. Right.
Cathy: And I, but I bet it did in DVD. I’ll bet you it did too, and in whatever else it does.
Cathy: Yeah. So basically just to like, sum up the dude, he’s a counterculture guy. He’s like a sixties activist, laid back guy who never changed. Right. So it’s like he’s this sixties guy is bringing himself into the nineties, wearing his bathrobe. Drinking his white Russians is not much different than he was. So,
yeah, well, you know, that’s just like, uh.
Your opinion, man,
Todd: that’s not gonna be the last time I played.
Cathy: Just have it ready to go. I’ll So together if I’m gonna put these movies together, like what are they saying? Like what are Todd and I talking about today on this podcast? So Ferris, um, is [00:13:00] a kid who sees how the machine runs, you know, how our world runs and he wants to step out of it in a fun way.
Cathy: He’s like, see ya. And the dude is the adult who never stepped into it in the first place. Yep. So it’s kind of like the opposite. And he’s just fine with that. So one kind of resists it with kind of a smile and like being, you know, um, more childlike and the other kind of shrugs at the whole thing and they don’t wanna play the game.
Cathy: Boom, they’re out. Yep. So that’s, that’s the basics.
Remember when.
Todd: What do you remember when, sweetie?
Cathy: You couldn’t wait? I, it’s interesting. I’ll, I’ll be very quick ’cause I don’t have a ton here. I don’t remember seeing bu uh, Ferris Bueller in the theater. I know I did. I’m sure I did. Um, but I just remember owning it, watching it all the time.
Cathy: It, all the quotes are, um, a big part of our generation. You and I have a lot of quotes that we say in our home from this movie. Um, and I will also say that [00:14:00] two things that I can remember is, number one, I did a palm routine to the song Oh yeah. Which is from, you know, Ferris. Um, and, uh. That was kind of a, that whole soundtrack, even though I don’t even know if it was a soundtrack, we just kind of pulled the songs from it.
Cathy: Yeah. Like I don’t remember having the Bueller soundtrack. Do you have I sent you the song, I thought maybe you would pull it up. Um, I did not get that song. Which
Todd: song?
Cathy: We did? I sent you the whole,
Todd: all
Cathy: the,
Todd: that email with all the clips. Oh, I gotta find that. I’m not ready for that. I did not see that. I’m sorry, sweetie.
Todd: Oh. But go ahead and, uh, continue on and I will get that. There’s all the clips. There’s all the clips, and
Cathy: they’re all ready to go. It just should say, oh yeah.
Todd: Um, oh yeah. There it is, huh. All right.
Todd: Oh yeah.[00:15:00]
Cathy: And then stay where you are because I also remember knowing about Sig Sig Sputnik. Before this movie came out because my brother-in-law knew a lot of alternative music or, or was it him? Maybe it was my sister’s friends. ’cause I don’t even know if I knew Drew then. But regardless, we had the Sig SIGs Sputnik album.
Cathy: Yeah. So play that song and I don’t even song know what
Todd: you’re talking about. Song. I know. Play
Cathy: it and you’ll know what it is. Song. All
Todd: right. The six six Sputnik Sig Sig Sputnik. Oh, good old Sig. Sig Sputnik. I didn’t know. Yes.
Cathy: And you’ve actually already heard it once when we opened the show. But this is like the actual song.
Todd: How did John Hughes choose this song?
Cathy: I don’t know, but, uh, it was already out in the world. Like I knew this song and I remember seeing the movie going, oh my God, it’s six six Nik. [00:16:00] So like, so you knew who these people? Yes, but I didn’t know the band. I wasn’t like into them. I knew this song. My, it was like I was saying I was giving Drew credit, but I don’t think it was him.
Cathy: ’cause I don’t think Christine and Drew were together yet. But my sister knew alternative music. Like some of the music that she introduced that she kind of offered me or that she listened to was always a little bit. Lept of center.
Todd: I did not even know that there was a band called Sig Sig Sputnik.
Cathy: Absolutely. And it’s that song. So, um, and then I came to Lebowski very late. I did not see it in the theater. I did not get the hype. And then I think I watched it for the first time, maybe 20 years ago. Yep. And then since then I’ve watched it many, many times. That’s right. So that’s kind of mine. What’s yours?
Cathy: Uh,
Todd: what do I got? I got, uh, just in no particular order. Uh, first of all, my sister was at the parade with my cousin Jeanie. That’s right. Uh, for Ferris Bueller. Um, I just wanna say I never really played hookie, um, [00:17:00] missed school. The closest I came, um, senior
Cathy: skip day.
Todd: That doesn’t count. Oh, okay. I mean, I hear you, but Okay.
Todd: You know, not the way, not in the spirit of Ferris Ferris wouldn’t consider that. No. Um. Closest I came was I deliberately walked slow to day camp one time, so I wouldn’t have to get on the bus to go wherever we were going. You were a rebel. I was nuts. Um, mission boundary. I also remember at the end of the movie, um, that it’s not over when you think it’s over
Cathy: True.
Cathy: Because he comes back and he says,
Todd: you’re still here. You’re still here. Um, I always wanted to kind of replicate a day off the way Ferris did, but in the movies it’s so much better. Like if I, he does a lot.
Cathy: Well, I think someone has mapped it out and it’s impossible. Yeah, I think you’re right. Like someone figured out as far as the drive from the suburbs, which many do not consider, but just to give you an example, we live in a suburb called Elmhurst.
Cathy: We are probably 15 miles, tops, maybe like [00:18:00] 12 miles from Chicago and. If you drive in the middle of the night, I can get there in 20 minutes. Yeah. But if you’re driving at a normal time of day, it can take an hour to an hour and a half.
Todd: Yeah.
Cathy: So, you know, that in itself is gonna be a problem.
Todd: Um, and then I, uh, I’m okay with white Russians only one.
Todd: Oh,
Cathy: Todd, you cannot be okay with white Russians. That is milk. Yeah. We just had a conversation last weekend about how we can’t drink alcohol and then, and then have dairy. Only one. So why would you mix only one at the beginning of the night, but why would you put that dairy in your stomach and then have more alcohol and tastes good?
Cathy: That is it. Yeah. What else is in a white Russian besides milk? And, and by the way, the reason he is talking about white Russian is that’s what the dude drinks. Just in case you don’t know
Todd: what’s in a white Russian. Let’s see what it pops up. Um. White Russian is a classic cocktail. Two ounces of vodka, one ounce of kaa.
Todd: Okay. [00:19:00] There’s the sweet one ounce of heavy cream. Very simple.
Cathy: It’s a lot of cream for a drink. I, I just don’t think I’m in, but I will honor your just a small glass at the beginning of the night. Yeah. And the thing about the dude is he is got like a beard and a mustache and it’s just always stuck in there.
Cathy: It’s part of it, part of the charm. It’s, it’s part of the charm. Um, so going back to Bueller for a second, since we’re still under, remember when this, we have so many quotes that we’re trying to share throughout this podcast, so I’m just gonna do one right now. Okay? Um, and I, if you go to my email that I sent you, you’ll find this one.
Cathy: Um, whenever the girls get sick, um, or they don’t feel good, Todd says the exact same thing to them no matter what, or he’ll text it to them. That’s true. And so it kind of reminds me of our history with our girls. And I want you to play, gonna
lie down, take a hot bath and then, uh, wrap a hot towel around your head.
Wrap a hot towel around my head and then make yourself some soup. Get a nap. [00:20:00] Okay. Okay.
Todd: You know, he’s got the energy of Phil Dumpy. He’s total Phil Dumpy. He’s Phil Dumpy.
Cathy: Um, Todd says that more than you guys would wanna know.
Todd: I do. I love that. And thank you for reminding me that that line is in this movie.
Todd: ’cause I do that, that would be a good category under parental guidance. It sure would, but that’s okay.
Cathy: Is but is it helpful? Not really.
Todd: Uh, ‘
Cathy: cause do the, are the girls like, thanks dad. They’re, they’ve heard you say it since they were five years old. You wanna
Todd: know it, why? It’s helpful. It’s helpful because it makes them smile and laugh.
Todd: It. But no, generally speaking, it’s not a helpful idea. And that’s why it’s funny, dad, moms, you know, I’ll get in trouble with this mom. When I was sick, Uhhuh, I wanted my mom around, not my dad. Yeah. Moms were just more nurturing. Patient, loving, warm dads are like, oh, here you go. And they’ll just like plop it on your ed table or whatever.
Todd: They’re just not as warm. And there’s plenty of dudes out there that can be as warm if not more warm than their female partner if they have to have one. [00:21:00] And there’s plenty of moms out there that are not warm at all. But generally speaking, that’s the deal.
Cathy: And it is something that we can learn. I think a lot of, um, men or dads have not worked that muscle as much.
Cathy: That’s right. As women have. So it’s not biological because you can, because you, you’ve told me before, like when I was, I’m sick, you’re like. I wanna get you things, but I don’t really wanna hang out with you. Yeah. Like, you’re like, I, I don’t know what to say to you, so I just wanna like, get you things and leave.
Todd: I, I’m all acts of service.
Cathy: Yeah. And so, and I would like to sit with someone or rub their head, or sometimes
Todd: you just want me to be there.
Cathy: Yeah. Just be there. And you’re like, I, I just gotta move.
Todd: And when I’m sick, I don’t really feel like, I mean, maybe every now and again, I’d like to have you there, but for the most part, just let me be miserable alone.
Cathy: You’re like a sleeper. You’re like, put something over my head. You, you’re not interested in having someone there. So I get it. Yeah. So, random facts.
Todd: Uh, let’s head on over to random facts.
Cathy: Sounds.
Todd: I have a whole bunch [00:22:00] of things, so I’m gonna rattle some of ’em off.
Cathy: I wanna hear Jonathan one more time.
Todd: Oh, UNO MAs.
Todd: Perfect.
Human head aways eight pound.
Todd: I forgot. You like that. Uh, one twice. That’s my favorite sound. Yes. Uh, Ferris breaks the wall eight times. Okay. Breaks the fourth wall eight times. John Hughes wrote this in under a week. Yes,
Cathy: I saw that. Yeah,
Todd: Jeff Bridges wore his own clothes. The word man is said 147 times in the Big Lebowski.
Todd: Um, who is one of the nihilists sweetie?
Cathy: Is it the guy from, it’s always sunny in Philadelphia. Is he one of the nihilists? No, it’s always these, those, it’s, he can’t be. ’cause that was too long ago, right? Yeah. It always looks like that guy to me. Yeah. Um, I don’t know who’s one of the Nihilists Flea.
Todd: Oh, flea of course.
Todd: Course. Well that got that, got to give it the Ya Mama. That’s Red Hot Chili Peppers. Everybody. Uh, there’s a religion based on the dude called Doism with over 220,000 ordained Doist priests. It’s
Cathy: probably connected to, to Buddhism, right?
Todd: Uh, yeah, kind of idea. [00:23:00] Roger Ebert initially gave the film three stars, but later upgraded it to four.
Cathy: You know, Roger Ebert has a reputation for doing that.
Todd: Yes, he does.
Cathy: Where he, he’s given a review kind of based on initial vibes and then changed it. Uh,
Todd: entertainment Weekly ranked the do the 14th greatest character of the last 20 years.
Cathy: I agree with that.
Todd: Um. This is interesting. While being a member of the bowling team, the dude has never seen bowling.
Todd: What about Donnie? Donnie Bowls? He’s like, I’m throwing rocks tonight. And he is like, Donny, you’re outta your element. Uh, head down over to Ferris, uh, a ruck. Is that his name? Alan Ruck? Yeah. Guess how old he was when he filmed this movie? 25. 29. Wow. He was only six years younger than John Hughes at the time.
Todd: Connor Roy. That’s right. Uh, according to John Hughes, a scene at the Art Art Institute was a self-indulgent scene of mine, which was a place of refuge for me. Mm. You can feel
Cathy: it by the
Todd: music he chose. Tells you a little something about John Hughes. Like some, some kids go to ball games, some kids go to the arcades.
Todd: [00:24:00] This dude went to the Art Institute of Chicago
Cathy: and probably ’cause of where he lived, like I am more like him. I like libraries, I like bookstores, I like, um, museums. I like quiet places.
Todd: Um, you know Ben Stein, he’s the teacher. I do Bueller. Bueller. Um, he has that lecture and that was completely impromptu.
Todd: That he just started talking off camera and John Hughe said, say that again on camera. Um, voodoo something. DOO Economics. And then
Cathy: finally, did you notice the other night were we watching Stranger Things right now? Did you notice the Bueller, um, thing and Stranger Things, uh, where they were all in the classroom and he’s, and their teacher is talking to them and it’s the same, like the girl blows the bubble.
Cathy: Like it’s a total, um, what’s the word I’m looking for? Like they’re doing a Ferris Bueller scene. I did not know that. Yeah. Anyway,
Anderson here. Bueller,[00:25:00]
Bueller Buhler. Um, he. My best friend’s, sister’s, boyfriend’s brother’s, girl.
Todd: Who’s that? Actress sweetie. Christy Swanson. Christy Swanson. Whatever happened to her?
Cathy: I don’t know. She was in a lot of things. She
Todd: was,
Cathy: she’s Buffy.
Todd: Um, last last thing, uh, there’s a scene that was cut. Um, Ferris had a younger brother and sister.
Todd: Huh? Both of whom were completely removed from the film and additional lines of dialogue throughout the film, all of which can be seen in the original theatrical trailer. Um, and then Hughes also wanted to film a scene where Ferris Sloan and Cameron go to a strip club.
Cathy: Hmm. Doesn’t seem like them.
Todd: Paramount executives told them they were only so many shooting days left, so they seem was scrapped. I don’t know if I believe that. It’s such a different movie.
Cathy: Well, I mean, I could see them going for fun and to shock Cameron. Yeah. You know, I mean, I guess I could see it, but I am glad they didn’t
Todd: anything else on random facts.
Cathy: Yeah. So [00:26:00] a few things. Um, Charlie Sheen, who plays the guy, he has an uncredited role in Ferris Bueller. Um, and this is his
Todd: first
Cathy: role too? No, he was in Red Dawn. Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah, a couple years before, but he stayed awake for 48 hours before he played that role. So he could look really wiped out, you know, and exhausted.
Cathy: Um, a little bit of method acting there. Um, so are you gonna play something? I kind of watch your face. Yeah, go ahead. I hate my brother. How’s that?
It’s cool. Did you blow him away or something?
Todd: No, not yet. He actually has some pretty good advice in this scene.
Cathy: He does. He, well, it’s kind of that thing where he’s the one who’s supposed to be kinda like a, a delinquent, but he has more information except I don’t like, even though I get it and it fits the movie, I’m not saying it’s a screenplay problem, but I don’t like that after she tells him the whole story, he’s like, there’s someone you should talk to.
Cathy: I know. And then she’s like, if you say you gotta tie it together, yeah, I, I get it. But [00:27:00] I don’t feel like that guy would say that
Your problem is you, excuse me, excuse you, excuse you. You wanna spend a little more time dealing with yourself, a little less time worrying about what your brother does. So
Todd: that is in, uh, refuting your hot take in that.
Todd: I think that’s really sound advice.
Cathy: It is. I, she, I’m not saying Jeanie’s choices were good. Okay. I’m saying Jeanie had a right to be annoyed. Totally agree. I think she becomes kind of the villain. Yeah. You know, ed Rooney’s the villain, but she becomes kind of the problem and Yes. They, she plays it, you know, Jennifer Gray plays it with an attitude and, and everything.
Cathy: I get it. But it, for someone like me who feels like thing, things should be a little more fair. Yeah. Jeanie didn’t get the,
Todd: she got the car though.
Cathy: She did, but he got a computer. Big whoop. He was able to like, pretend you know, how many computers you could buy for a car. He was able to do the pretend snoring he was, and he wouldn’t have had the day off without the [00:28:00] computer.
Cathy: This is my point. There you go. So a few other things. Uh, save Ferris as far as that line. And you know, my daughter, when she was like nine years old, had a Save Ferris shirt. Yeah. I don’t even know if she knew what that meant yet. Um, but it’s also, it’s, it’s kind of pop culture shorthand for, um, for sympathy.
Cathy: Yeah. You know what I mean? Like we all know what it means. Cameron’s house is actually a real house in Highland Park and it’s now a landmark. Yeah, it’s got landmark status. So let’s go to Loki. Um, the dude. Is based on a real guy, uh, named Jeff Dowd, who was a political activist. Oh, wait, did you do your Big Lebowski takes yet?
Todd: Uh, it was all intermingled,
Cathy: so, okay. So based on a real guy who was a political activist, film promoter that called himself the dude, and he was friends with the Cohen Brothers because the Cohen brothers did Lebowski. If you guys didn’t know that, um, the word, you know, you were talking about times the word dude is said 160 times in the movie, um, once every 90 seconds.
Cathy: Um, as you said, he wore his own clothes, blah, blah, blah. Um, and you know, you said [00:29:00] that Jeff Bridges never bowls or the dude never bowls, but I even have info that says no pins are ever knocked down on screen. Oh, interesting. You can hear it like, what’s John churros? Guy. Jesus. Yeah. He like, you see him get ready to bowl, but you don’t see, I feel like Donny’s throwing strikes, but maybe they don’t show the pins well, and you know, sometimes the research, yeah, it could be questionable.
Cathy: It is flawed. It, it can be flawed. And then a really interesting random fact that I just learned is I’ve been listening to, you know, I’m a Sex in the City fan and I watch in just like that. And I have many thoughts about that. Maybe we’ll talk about that show later. But Sarah Jessica Parker has been doing a lot of interviews, um, about Sex in the City.
Cathy: And she just said that, um, in the first, the first season of Sex in the City, I don’t know if you remember this, but there’s, they have Carrie talking back to the camera. Oh yeah. She’s like a narrator. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Do you remember that? Then they cut that, they break the fourth wall.
Todd: In the first season.
Cathy: Exactly. And [00:30:00] in season two they do it first or second episode, then they stop. Yeah. They stop interviewing people on the street, et cetera. But part of the reason Sarah Jessica Parker did not like doing that. She was very, did not like it at all is she. And Matthew Broder had just gotten married and she felt like it was, they were trying to have her do a Ferris Bueller thing.
Cathy: Oh, interesting. Yeah. And so she’s like, let me stay far away from that narration thing since that’s what my husband is known for. Sure. Um, but they also got married, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, like one week before she started. Filming Sex City. They
Todd: seem to be, uh, a couple that will always be together.
Todd: Yes, for
Cathy: sure.
Todd: And I have said that so many times only to be disappointed that some couple, like, no, really. Mm-hmm. So anyways,
Cathy: this seems like, uh, you know, they’re, I, we don’t know, but I’m agreeing with you that they seem like they’re going to make it. Um, also, uh, I have a question for you. It’s not necessarily a random fact, but I just thought [00:31:00] I’d throw it in.
Cathy: Okay. Who do you think Sam Elliott’s character is supposed to be in the Big Lebowski? Like, what is your take on who the stranger is? Like what do you think he’s supposed to represent? I don’t know if
Todd: I’ve really said it. I, I’ve never really thought about it. Um, I don’t know.
Cathy: Yeah. I got, I mean, he’s a narrator, you know, he’s obviously a narrator, right.
Cathy: I, he kind of, um. Someone said something like, he is doing what the Cohen brothers wish they could do. Yeah. To guide you through the story. Yeah. Um, and he’s also kind of a little bit of a guardian angel and someone who’s kind of watching out for the Duke. ’cause he does have a scene with at the very Jeff.
Cathy: Yeah. Yeah.
Todd: So
Cathy: he’s, you know, there is some realism there. But anyway, anything else?
Todd: Uh, I just wanna play this really quick.
Todd: Is that the last line in the movie or No? I don’t even,
Cathy: no, I think that Jeff Bridges said, says it. Oh,
Todd: a few
Cathy: times.
Todd: Yeah. I could be wrong. Um, [00:32:00] I don’t know the movie that extraordinarily well. All right, so we ready for the next category? So this is WTF
Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got outta hand fast.
All right. It jumped up a notch.
Todd: It did, didn’t it? Um, uh.
Todd: So I only have one big one.
Cathy: Let’s hear it.
Todd: And it’s about one of the actors in the movie.
Cathy: Which one?
Todd: Ferris Bueller.
Cathy: Okay, so let’s, I’m gonna go through it. Any idea who
Todd: you think I might be talking about? I think
Cathy: you’re
Todd: talking about Jeffrey Jones. I am,
Cathy: yes. Who played the Who plays Ed Rooney
Todd: in November of 2002.
Todd: He’s arrested and charged with violating California penal code section, blah, blah, blah of a minor to perform prohibit prohibitive use of a minor to perform prohibitive acts. He subsequently you
Cathy: do that word prohibitive is hurting you. I
Todd: know. He sub subsequently pled no contest to the charge of inducing a 14-year-old boy to pose for sexually explicit photos and was sentenced to [00:33:00] five years probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Todd: That’s sad. That’s rough. Yeah. So, um, that is my one WTFI thought I had a few others, but you can go ahead.
Cathy: Um, let me see if there’s any, I mean, there’s a lot of WTF in Lebowski. Well, I mean the whole, the whole scene, the whole like video scene, the whole music scene Yeah. Is a little WTF. Um,
Todd: what about Walter pulling the gun over, uh, over a bowling game, pulling a gun at Walter?
Cathy: Walter is WTF?
Todd: Yes, he is.
Cathy: He, you know, there’s, I wanna like, do quotes right now, but some of them I’m using in different categories. So, um, you know, the dream sequence is rough. Um, the, you know, everything that Walter says is kind of rough, the whole, his projection, he’s, he’s always projecting on other people.
Cathy: Um, one thing before, I’m gonna go finish with Bobowski, I wanna say something about Ferris Bueller, his parents, and [00:34:00] again, this is like quintessential eighties, but oblivious.
Todd: Uh, no doubt about it. So,
Cathy: WTF like the parents are so, like, they believe him that he’s sick. There’s a scene where, you know, they’re in Chicago, like Sloan and um.
Cathy: Well, they all see that they’re, that the dad is next to them in a cab. When they’re in a cab or whatever, he’s in a car or something and he looks over and sees them and Sloane like, kind of blows him a kiss or whatever. Or like, and how does he not recognize his, I totally agree
Todd: with you
Cathy: son’s girlfriend.
Cathy: Totally
Todd: agree with you. Like
Cathy: what the, I would, that’s Sloan. And then, so anyway, there’s a lot of obliviousness. Um, you know, he’s in his office when Ferris is seeing twist and shout and he’s just like dancing. He doesn’t even know. And then of course they get home like right before. It’s just
Todd: showing that Ferris leads a charm to life.
Cathy: He does. And again, that’s like the John Hughes thing. The parents in 16 candles, they weren’t awful, but they were pretty oblivious [00:35:00] to what was going on with her. A lot of oblivious parents. Yeah. You know, breakfast Club obviously. So, so
Todd: we’re not that oblivious, are we?
Cathy: I hope not. I hope not too.
Todd: I
Cathy: hope not.
Cathy: But at, in the Breakfast Club, remember? The janitor, the guy’s like Carl. Yeah. He’s kind of like you are those people now. Yeah. You know, you are the people that we used to make fun of. Or he says something in that. I’m not doing the quote right. But you do you wanna hear
Todd: a
Cathy: little bit of Walter please?
Todd: Uh, ear muffet for those young years here.
Todd: Okay. The fuck is this?
Obviously you are not a golfer. Hey, Pete, on the dude’s rug. Donnie, you are outta your element. This is what happens. What you fucking danger that here, dude, he talking my rug. Forget it, Donny. You’re outta your element.
Cathy: I love, forget it, Donny. You’re outta your element. Oh, Donny, who’s the be?
Todd: I mean John Goodman. Geez Louise. He brings it Well
Cathy: I was thinking about that. About how like I was watching the scene, the, that scene in the bowling alley when he is first telling [00:36:00] about the rug.
Todd: Yeah.
Cathy: And I’m watching John Goodman. And how did he, I mean, again, I guess this is just acting, but how did he know how to play that guy?
Cathy: Like I just wonder ’cause he’s so physical. He’s so like, but it’s, it is over the top, but it’s not so over the top that he’s like not good. Right. It’s like Exactly. And Walter sometimes starts out really calm and then once he starts talking about things, he gets so elevated. And the dude, if, if you notice, the dude gets mad certain times, but he never.
Cathy: Gets like that.
Todd: Well, even at the, at one of my favorite moments is when they’re spreading the ashes. He’s so mad at Walter so mad and still hugs him. It’s pretty sweet.
Cathy: Right. Okay. So I think that’s the gist of WTF. Um, uh, so yeah. Are
Todd: we ready for best quotes?
Cathy: Uh, best scene,
Todd: uh, best scene, best quote, I think best quotes at again.
Todd: Oh yeah. Best senior. Yeah.
Cathy: Best scene.
Hey, dad, you must have jumped this thing about [00:37:00] 50 yards. That’s nothing to be proud of. Russy. It’s yards.
Todd: Um, I, I just, I don’t know if this is my favorite, um, scene, but it’s certainly my favorite quote. Okay. Come on. Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Um, oh, it’s right here.
Man, I’ve got certain information. Alright. Certain things have come to light and, you know, ha Has it ever occurred to you that, uh, instead of, uh, you know, running around, uh, uh, blaming me, you know, given the nature of all this new shit, you know, this could be a, a, a lot more, uh, uh, uh, uh, a complex. I mean, it’s not just, it might not be just such a simple, uh, you know, what is the holy name?
Are you blathering about? Oh my God, that is so good.
Cathy: Things have come to light. Oh my God, [00:38:00] it’s so funny. Um, I love him so much. I just love Jeffs so much. And he’s so, like, I’ve, you know, he talks about being the dude or whatever, and he’s really not that far from the sky.
Todd: Do you know who this reminds me of?
Todd: At least that scene. Who Right here, mark
It
Todd: gains traction. You,
there’s no way.
Todd: This is Fred Armisen on SNL playing. Nick Fa.
Oh, oh. Uh, this is classic, uh, the, uh, the Washington Post. This was great. Right on the front page, federal workers pay could bump up 0.5%.
One more. One more. Oh, I thought of you guys.
Cathy: I thought of you guys.
I was on my way here and, and, uh, you’re gonna love this or hate it. [00:39:00] Uh, uh. New York Times. The Great New York Times, uh, tweak and rule to ease a path to green card. Now there, this is exactly the moment that we, and if, if I were to take a poll.
And I don’t mean any poll, I don’t mean the kind of poll. I mean, I would never be the first person. I, I don’t think anyone as long as any poll taker.
Todd: Oh, I love Nick Fain. Nick Fain. That’s old school, babe. So what happened first, Nick Fain, or that line from Lebowski?
Cathy: I don’t know, but they’re, they have a similar rhythm, but it’s not the same.
Cathy: No,
Todd: it’s not because Nick
Cathy: FAEs is more about how people really have no idea what they’re talking about when they’re, where I think that certain information,
alright, certain things have come to light and, you know, has it ever occurred to you that instead of, uh, you know, running around that
Todd: is so good.
Todd: Jeff Bridges
Cathy: in the car. They’re
Todd: in the limousine. [00:40:00]
Cathy: Is Philip Seymour Hoffman? Yes. I can picture it.
Todd: Yes.
Cathy: They’re like, what?
Todd: Oh my god.
Cathy: You talking about?
Yeah.
Cathy: Um, okay. So funny. So mine, so Al kind of go a little lighter here. Um, my favorite scene in Ferris Bueller is very traditional. It is, uh, the art museum.
Cathy: So I gave you a clip just so you can play the music ’cause we obviously can’t see it. Okay. But the music kind of gives you the vibe.
Todd: It is like, there’s a pause in the move. There is like everybody, like, let’s collect ourselves. Stop laughing for a second and just let’s appreciate
Cathy: Yeah.
Todd: It makes you want to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. It
Cathy: does. And everybody should.
Cathy: And we get to see two things there.
Todd: It’s very melancholy. It’s very Yes. And then they zero in on Cameron. That’s
Cathy: what I was gonna say. There’s two things that happen there. Number, well, three things. Number one, they have fun, they’re with the kids, you know, they hold the hands [00:41:00] and then Cameron looks at the picture and sees himself as a dot.
Cathy: Yeah. You know, which we can read in many ways. And then also Ferris and Sloan Kiss, you know, so you see their relationship. Yep. And so there’s just a lot of, it’s their deeper selves are in the sweetie museum.
Todd: Unchangeable question, uh, how long until Ferris and Sloane break up?
Cathy: Oh boy. Well, she’s a junior.
Todd: Yeah. And he’s a senior. Yeah. Um, not unheard of to stay together. No. Through that. Not
Cathy: in our family. Yeah.
Todd: Right.
Cathy: A lot of people stay together. Um, I don’t know. I, I assume that, who knows what Ferris is gonna do? Is he gonna play the game and go to college? Like, did he do that? Maybe he’s probably like a congressman man or something.
Cathy: Like, that’s how things change. Um, I don’t know. I have no take on that.
Todd: Are we ready for ZPR?
Cathy: Um, no. I, one of, I have to, we have to just play either play or have me read my favorite scene in Lebowski, which you kind of already alluded to, which is the eulogy. Ugh. Um, and I gave it, I sent it to you. Yeah, [00:42:00] I got it.
Cathy: Um, so just play some of it. All right.
Wisdom, Lord, you took them, we took them as, you took so many bright flowering young men at Caseon, the lawn dock at Hill 360 4. These young men gave their lives. So, Donny, so Donny. Donnie who loved bowling
and so Theodore Donald Carbo, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been. We commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean. What’s what you loves so well.
Nice Sweet Prince. That’s my favorite. Goodnight Sweet Prince. Goodnight Sweet Prince.
Todd: And there go the ashes. The ashes are now all, and his response and the, [00:43:00] the dude is just like, not even reacting to it
Cathy: did well, especially when, ’cause you started it when Walter is supposed to be doing a eulogy for Donny and then he starts talking about everyone in Vietnam again.
Cathy: That’s,
I’m fucking asshole, dude. I’m sorry. The fucking travesty with you man. I’m sorry. It was an accident. What was that shit about? Vietnam? What the fuck does anything have to do with Vietnam? I’m sorry. Whatcha talking about dude? I’m sorry. Sorry.
Todd: And John Goodman, his character, um, falls into like little boy in that moment.
Todd: He
Cathy: does. He’s like, I’m so talking. He feels like he’s
Todd: getting in trouble. So anyways, it’s a wonderful scene. Sweet. Good
Cathy: night. Sweet Prince. Okay, I’m ready for Zen parenting babe.
Todd: Right now we head on over here.
Cathy: All right. Okay, so, um, you wanna start? Go ahead. [00:44:00] Sure. So, as we remember, rolling in the Deep is about the emotional depth of these, you know, movies because. Everything has emotional depth if you look for it. So let’s talk about, um, what these guys are doing. So Ferris isn’t lazy, right? He’s deliberate. Yep.
Cathy: He’s doing these things on purpose. His day off is calculated. He’s reclaiming his time, as they say in Congress. Um, in a culture that’s so obsessed with structure and, you know, achievement and everything he’s saying and appearances, he’s saying, Nope, I’m not gonna do it. So, um, his world, he, uh, as we haven’t even done his most famous quote, which is life moves pretty fast.
Cathy: Um, you know, you have to. You have to stop and look around once in a while. Life was
Todd: pretty fast. Uh, if you don’t stop and look around, you might, you might miss it. Missed it.
Cathy: Thank you. So basically he’s saying time is precious, especially when you’re young. And I think, you know, it’s so fun that Todd and I were young when we watched this, right?
Cathy: It was like kind of a wake up call, like, let’s do some things that we enjoy. Um, that success isn’t about grades or [00:45:00] obedience, that doing nothing is actually about doing everything. Yep. Focusing on, you know, who you love and art and, you know, the Cubs game and all the things that they did. Um, that’s slowing down doesn’t mean falling behind.
Cathy: Sometimes it means becoming more clear. I mean, let’s think about the movie is a movie and I get that. But think about all that was learned. Yeah. In that day. Think about what Jeanie experienced. Think about what Cameron experienced, you know, did they get behind or did they get ahead? Um, and that skipping, you know, kind of breaking the rules occasionally can make you feel more alive because that’s really what.
Cathy: Ferris was looking for. He wanted to be more alive. So it’s very, again, it’s very Gen X. Um, anything you wanna say deep about Ferris?
Todd: This is, this is the deepest moment in many, many movies right here.
My old man pushes me around.
I never said anything.[00:46:00]
Well, he’s not the problem. I’m the problem.
I gotta take a stand.
I gotta take a stand against him.
I am not gonna sit on my ass as the events that affect me unfold to determine the course of my life. I’m gonna take a stand, I’m gonna. Right or wrong, I’m gonna defend it.
Todd: It’s such a, and now he’s gonna just kick the shit outta the car. Um, once again, the movie just turns mm-hmm. On a dime. Like, we’re laughing, this is fun.
Todd: And then all of a sudden, and then there’s that scene where he like pretends to be drowning in that pool. Yes.
Cathy: There’s
Todd: so many, like, deep scenes scenes with Cameron and, um,
Cathy: because it’s not, you know, that scene is, it didn’t probably get as [00:47:00] much attention before, but it wouldn’t be crazy to Sloan and Ferris that he would hurt himself in the pool.
Cathy: Right. Like he could, he didn’t. And they, he thought it was kind of funny initially, but they did not think it was funny. Cheetah,
I’m so sick of this shit.
Todd: I remember when I was watching this. Um, as a kid, I’m like, stop it. Stop it. Don’t do it. Now as an adult, I’m like, keep going.
Yeah.
Todd: Like, get the, you, you’re gonna have to do this hopefully before you die, which is repair a father wound from a father who doesn’t love him, and he’s getting it done earlier than the most of us do.
Todd: Mm-hmm.
He’s
Todd: like, you know, he’s supposed to be 17 years old or whatever. Um, so as an adult, I see that scene so differently.
Cathy: He still has a lot to unwind, like, sorry to be the therapist here, but even if he confronts his dad, he’s learned so much anxiety
Todd: For sure. But he has taken that first. Yeah. Is he gonna take a bigger step than this one ever?
Todd: Like, [00:48:00] maybe not. He doesn’t know. He is about to destroy his dad’s a hundred thousand dollars car. $300,000 car. Yes. In today’s standard. Yes. Um, and then the fact that Ferris goes to bat for him saying, we’ll, stay home. We’ll stay here. I’ll take all the heat. Yeah.
Cathy: Which is great. ’cause he should,
Todd: which he should, right?
Cathy: Like as much as, um, it is, it’s a friendship thing to do. He made Cameron take that car out. He made Cameron come to his house. Like again, Cameron could have had choices, but he, he, you know, Cameron’s a, an interesting character. He sure did. Like he’s, he, as Todd said, he is the main character. So let’s go into the deeper message of, um, Leki Lebowski.
Cathy: So his doing nothing, you know, again, this show is about the art of doing nothing is more of a spiritual resistance to control. Mm-hmm. Like, he’s a much more, again, the Buddism, you know, this connected to Buddhism. Like he is going to do his own thing. Nothing makes sense. Let’s stop pretending it does.
Cathy: People overreach and they posture and they lie and he just wants his rug [00:49:00] back. Todd, yeah. Just gimme my rug back. Ties the room together. Ties the room together. And detachment is survival. And him abiding is his wisdom. And he, you know, what he believes. Is that life is kind of absurd. So let’s meet it with some softness instead of push against it.
Cathy: The nihilists.
Yeah.
Cathy: They thought life was absurd too, but they still wanted to win and they still wanted to be. Right. And they, so they were still kind of struggling with life being absurd. Yeah. The nihilists, and again, if you guys don’t remember the movie, there’s a whole, there’s these nihilists in the movie that cause problems and like, bring a ferret or something.
Todd: They sure do. That was one of the trivia questions.
Cathy: Oh, whoops. Sorry babe. So, uh, your, he believes, the dude believes that your worth isn’t tied to your ambition or success. Um, that just being enough is enough, which is pretty profound. Um, he love, you know what the dude loves to do? He loves bathrobes. He loves to take baths.
Cathy: He loves, he smokes a lot of weed. [00:50:00] Um, he likes his white Russians. He likes bowling. He likes his friends. He keeps it real and simple. And you know what he doesn’t like?
Todd: What’s that?
Cathy: He doesn’t like the eagles.
Todd: Yeah, he doesn’t.
Cathy: That’s one of my quotes later though. So we’ll hold off on that. Um, okay. You got anything else?
Cathy: No, I think that’s good. We can go to parental guidance.
I do have Jackson.
Um,
Todd: yeah, so parental guidance, obviously, uh, we, although we never meet Cameron’s dad mm-hmm. Here’s what, how not to parent a child.
Mm-hmm.
Todd: Um, what else? To be indifferent to ’em. Yeah. I think, well that’s like, um, Ali, she’s character from Breakfast club. Yeah. Um, they ask her, what do they do to you? And she says, they ignore me.
Todd: They ignore me. And that’s exactly what happens with, um. So
Cathy: obviously John Hughes had some issues. Right? And I mean that with great love because what he did with his issues is he wrote a lot of screenplays. I was just telling Todd the [00:51:00] other day that, you know, when he wrote Pretty and Pink, he, um, wanted that movie to end a certain way.
Cathy: If you guys don’t know this trivia, you probably already do, but it was supposed to end up that, um, Molly Ringwald and Ducky were supposed, Andy and Ducky were supposed to end up together, but because Ducky was replaced with John cri, John Crier came in when Robert Downey Jr. Dropped out of playing Ducky and they just didn’t feel like they had the same kind of chemistry.
Cathy: They had more of a friendship chemistry. So he changed the end of the movie and had Blaine be the guy she ends up with, you know Andrew McCarthy? Mm-hmm. So. He’s like, okay, whatever. Test audiences like it. So then he wrote a screenplay called Some Kind of Wonderful, and he, he flipped the genders, but had it end the way he wanted to, which was, he had at the end, what’s his name, ends up with Watts instead of ending up with, uh, Amanda Jones.
Cathy: So I said, what’s his name? I don’t remember Eric Stoltz name in that movie. Um, so he, Kenneth. Kenneth. Maybe it is. How’d [00:52:00] you know that? Kenneth? Isn’t it funny when things come into your head? So he then he basically did another movie name and he made it the way he wanted to. So he has very repetitive themes.
Cathy: Yep. And so you’re so right that in Breakfast Club, her Ali, she’s character is so similar to Cameron’s
Todd: Charact. Totally. And I didn’t put that together until we. I just started talking about it. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah. So,
Cathy: um, anything else you want to, I got nothing. Okay. So, you know, um, just a few things we’ve already said that I’m just reiterating Ferris isn’t acting out ’cause he’s bad.
Cathy: He just wants to be more alive. He’s like this, what people are working on right now is not doing it for me. As you said, Cameron is the emotional heart of the film. Um, the parents are oblivious to what’s going on and you know, I guess the things we can take away from it is that our kids don’t need constant oversight.
Cathy: Um, we just need to trust them that they can kind of figure out their lives and that they have some viewpoints and some goals and some things that they [00:53:00] wanna do. And that their rebellion isn’t always about breaking rules. They’re not always trying to push against us. It’s about they’re trying to find their own selfhood.
Cathy: Yeah.
And
Cathy: so sometimes when they do things that we’re like, but that’s not the rules. I understand. And maybe there will, you know, for a lot of families it’s like, sorry, there’s a consequence. But sometimes it’s interesting to listen. About why they’re doing what they’re doing and what they need. Um, because when kids don’t feel safe to be themselves at home, they’re gonna try and find that freedom somewhere else.
Cathy: They’re gonna push against you and it’s often in performative and really risky ways. And so if you can kind of understand their development, you know, this is basically, we have 800 and something podcasts. Yeah. That you can just go back and listen to
Todd: our archives. I just did a, uh, search for most oblivious parents in Gen X movies.
Cathy: Okay.
Todd: Some I agree with, some I don’t agree with.
Cathy: Ferriss are definitely in there.
Todd: Ferris is number one. Yes. Kevin’s parents from home alone. Oh,
Cathy: definitely.
Todd: They might, they might take the cake.
Cathy: And again, you, when you see the movies in home alone, you know, when you watch Home Alone, there are reasons [00:54:00] why they don’t know that Kevin’s with them.
Cathy: Because they count that kid’s head. Yeah. And he’s sleeping in the attic. It, but still, how do you not see,
Todd: um, Andy’s dad in pretty, in pink For sure.
Cathy: Well, he’s an addict. Yeah. That’s a whole different thing. I feel like
Todd: that’s a And what about Andy’s mom? She didn’t do that good of a job either. She left, she bailed, which is interesting.
Todd: She’s
gone. This,
Todd: that’s what’s interesting, John Hughes, because usually it’s the rich girl and the poor boy. Right. But instead it was the rich boy and the poor girl. And it’s usually the dad that bails. Yes. And it was the mom. And it was the mom. Mm-hmm. Um, Marty Mc, flyer’s parents.
Cathy: Pretty oblivious. Yeah.
Cathy: Until they come back to the future. Meaning, until they, they have a better life.
Todd: I don’t agree with this one. The Walsh parents and the Goonies.
Cathy: I don’t have any comment. I don’t know that
Todd: Josh’s parents from big. Well, where is his dad? We’ve talked, think about that. I don’t, I don’t think, I don’t think we meet his dad.
Todd: And his mom
Cathy: is a caring mom though. His dad is in the kitchen. Oh, really? We just never hear what he has to say. Interesting. So [00:55:00] the mom, uh, Mercedes rule, I think plays his mom. She of course cares and she’s freaks out and everything. How do you know that ladies? I just, she won an Academy Award for something else.
Cathy: What about Daniel La Russo’s mom, sweetie? No, she knew. I mean, she didn’t know what was going on though. She was close to him, but she kind of forced him. I think she was a good mom. Yeah. But she didn’t know what was going on until the tournament.
Todd: Right. Where was she? Uh, before the tournament? She was dropping him off at golf and stuff.
Todd: Sweetie. She was a hands-on parent. You know what she said? Push the car. Yeah. And then it’ll start. Well, and I think she’s like, you drive stick and there’s no way that that station wagon would stick. So anyways, and you
Cathy: know what she did? His girlfriend. What’s Yeah. Ally. Ally. Ally With an I ally with an I did drive stick.
Cathy: That’s right. Uh, okay. Are we ready for the next category? Um, no, because I wanted to say a few things about, uh, Lebowski. Go ahead. So, um, just a few things. These are just things to consider. It’s just fun thoughts. Um, Walter is [00:56:00] like a walking lesson of projection. You know, he hijacks every situation, talks about Vietnam all the time.
Cathy: Overreacts pulls other people into his unresolved past. Um, that’s the kind of parenting we do when we don’t do our own healing. So he, you know, he can’t, he projects it onto everybody else. Um, the dude is the opposite. We know that. And then this is interesting. This is kind of sweet. I’m gonna talk about Donnie for a second.
Cathy: Okay. Who Steve BMI plays? He’s the silent child. Okay. In the group, he’s like the figure of like the third child or the fourth child, or the one who nobody really recognizes. He’s kind, he’s unsure. He’s dismissed by Walter. He’s pretty much ignored. His death is totally chaotic and awkward, and no one knows how to deal with him or grieve him.
Cathy: Um, so I just kind of saw him as like, remember to pay attention that everybody needs some attention and validation. Totally
Todd: agree. Okay. What did it teach us? What did it teach us?[00:57:00]
Todd: Um, I got a bunch of random stuff. Me too. I have three random things. Um, just I guess le life lessons. Right? Okay. So let me scroll down. What did it teach us? Life moves pretty fast. Yeah. Thank you Ferris. Yeah. Um, what about this stillness is not laziness. It isn’t. I, but, but, but the dude was kind of lazy.
Cathy: He was, he wasn’t working in the air quotes.
Cathy: Mm-hmm. Um. But he, you know, the, the dude is a representation. It’s not like, you know, I don’t know where he got his money or how he did. Yeah. Right. What he did. Um, but he did have a sense of understanding that life was to be enjoyed.
Todd: Uh, friendship and loyalty matter. A lot of good friendship in
Cathy: both movies.
Todd: In both movies. And then sometimes a plot doesn’t matter, just the vibe. And that’s all about Lebowski.
Cathy: It is. It doesn’t it, you know, and again, as we said, it’s based on those, you know, what did I call it? The, those books. I wrote it down somewhere. [00:58:00] Raymond Chandler new, you know, so, you know, there was somewhat of a, a, they were tracking that.
Cathy: Um, so I have a few, one that I thought you’d think is really interesting. It’s kind of like, um, masculinity in crisis. Um, as far as Lebowski goes. Yeah. So Walter is stuck into the past. Yeah. Hasn’t healed. He’s, you know, dealing with anger. The Big Lebowski, the, the other Lebowski, the old guy. The old Lebowski.
Cathy: Yeah. The guy in the wheelchair. He’s performing masculinity through his wealth and authority. Sure. You know, all the things that you’re supposed to be. And then the, but the dude let’s all that go,
Todd: let go. Let’s go of the rope.
Cathy: Yeah. He’s like, I’m not gonna do any of this performative stuff that you guys do.
Cathy: And he survives and, and thrives.
Todd: I think Fair to say that the dude smoked weed every day. Throughout the day,
Cathy: and maybe we can say he was numbing. Yeah. Maybe that’s fair.
Todd: Yeah.
Cathy: Um,
Todd: fair to say. Fair to say. Numbing some pain that we’ll never realize where it came from or what it stem from.
Cathy: Yeah. Or what he doesn’t, maybe [00:59:00] he doesn’t feel great about everything.
Cathy: Who knows? He’s a character. I like him so abiding. This is interesting. Abiding as a philosophy. Okay, so we’re talking about the dude abides. So when the stranger says the dude abides, and again, that may be the only time he says it ’cause it says the stranger says it. So you might be right. It’s really the moral of the story to abide is not to check out, it’s to remain grounded.
Cathy: Yep. Even when everything feels ridiculous. And it’s like kind of a low key, as Skylar would say, low key, low key wisdom, a way to live without needing to escape.
Yep.
Cathy: You know, um, and you know, I ki I put this in here from, um. I don’t know why I put it here, but I’m gonna read it anyway. Go ahead. This is from, um,
Todd: nobody’s keeping track of it.
Cathy: We’re going back and forth. Everybody’s like, which movie are we talking about? So, Ferris Bueller, there’s a great quote, um, that I think is important to read that, that, uh, Ferris says about Cameron. He says, Cameron has never been in love, at least nobody’s ever been in love with him. [01:00:00] If things don’t change for him, he’s gonna marry the first girl he lays and she’s gonna treat him like shit because she will have given him, what he has built up in his mind is the end all, be all of human existence.
Cathy: She won’t respect him. ’cause you can’t respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn’t work.
Todd: Hmm. It’s
Cathy: kind of deep. Yeah,
Todd: it is.
Cathy: You know? Yeah. Like, and what I love is they show, as he’s saying that in the movie, they’re showing clips of Cameron. Yeah. Isn’t he like throwing stuff stuff into his mouth or something like that?
Cathy: Yes. Yes, he is. Then the last thing going back to Lebowski is I already talked about this, the nihilists, they are total contrast with the dude because they’re also detached. That’s what it means to be a nihilist. But, um, the dude does it with humility, humor, and some inner peace. And the nihilists are just angry and hollow and posturing.
Cathy: Yeah. If they don’t
Todd: believe in anything, they sure are angry about something.
Cathy: Right. It’s a, I actually wrote this quote. The nihilists are what happens when you believe in nothing but still need to win. The dude is what happens when you believe in nothing, but you still care.
Todd: Yeah.
Cathy: You know, it’s
Todd: pretty good.
Todd: Yeah. [01:01:00] Um, are we ready for best quotes? Sure. All right, let’s do that.
May the force be with you. May the force be with you. May the force be with you. May the force be with you.
Todd: May the force be
with you.
Todd: Now, I don’t know if this is the best quote, but this is the one that I’ve said to my friend Casey, since this movie came out.
Todd: Met, I met in the early nineties, uh, Ferris Bueller. Okay. Let’s
hear it. You’re not dying. You just can’t think of anything good to do.
Todd: We say that to each other all the time. We’ll just text each other that line. I don’t know. Why do
it again? You’re not dying. You just can’t think of anything good to do.
Todd: Well, what’s great about that scene is he’s dying. Cameron is saying that Ferris can’t hear him say that, but he knows he’s saying that ’cause he knows him so well.
Cathy: I thought it would be He’s gonna call me.
Todd: He’ll keep calling me. Keep
Cathy: calling
Todd: me. He’ll keep calling me. This is ridiculous. I’ll go, I’ll go.
Todd: I’ll go. I’ll go. I’ll go. I’ll go. I’ll go.
Cathy: Um, yes. So, um, I will start then with Lebowski and I sent it to you and it’s one of my favorites. It’s, hold on one second. [01:02:00] Oh, okay.
I’m so disappointed in Cameron 20 bucks as he’s sitting in his car debating about whether or not he should go out.
He’ll keep calling me, keep calling me. He’ll keep calling me until I come over. He’ll make me feel guilty. This, this is ridiculous. Okay, I’ll go. I’ll go. I’ll go. I’ll go. I’ll go with, I’ll go. Shit.
Todd: Uh, sweet Cameron. All right. You ready for some of your lines? So,
Cathy: Lebowski, uh, if you go to my email, it says something about a toe.
Cathy: Get you want go.
I can get you a toe. Get
Cathy: toe.
Believe me. There are ways, dude. You don’t wanna know about it. Believe it. Yeah, but Walter, hell, I can get you towed by three o’clock this afternoon with nail polish.
Todd: With nail polisher.
Walter,
Cathy: can you hear the dude being like,
Todd: Walter, he’s so mad. Are you ready for the other one?
Todd: Yes.
Back. Jesus, man. Could you change the channel? Fuck you, man. Feel like my fucking music. Get your own fucking [01:03:00] calf. I had a really rough, I flip this side and kick your ass out, man. Come on. I had a rough night and I hate the fucking Eagles, man.
Todd: I think, I think, um. Jeff Bridges ran into Don Henley at some point, and Don Henley was a little bit less than enthusiastic about that line.
Cathy: Really? Yeah.
Todd: Well, you know the quote, um, I don’t know if that’s true. I, I remember somebody saying something about it.
Cathy: If you play, um, the one about, that’s your opinion, man, play that one again.
Cathy: Oh,
Todd: it’s one of my favorites. Because
Cathy: you gotta listen to the background.
Yeah. Well, you know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.
Cathy: It always sounds like there’s, there’s hotel. Californias get the background. I don’t, hotel ca you don’t. Let’s give it one more.
Yeah. Well, you know, that’s just like, uh. Your opinion?
Todd: It is. It’s a different version of California.
Cathy: It’s a version of PO Hotel California.
Todd: Very good, sweetie.
Cathy: Well, I got a good ear. Well done. [01:04:00] Um, okay, so I don’t, I mean, I kind of just read my favorite quote from Ferris Bueller. Yeah. Um, about, you know, what he says about Cameron and there’s, there’s so many, and we’re gonna finish this podcast and be like, oh my gosh, wait a second.
Cathy: What about this thing that he says? Um, but you know, we can only do what we can do. That’s right.
Todd: Um, are we ready for the next category?
Cathy: Yeah. I think it’s music game or No, it’s cringe or classic.
Todd: Uh, yeah.
Todd: Nobody puts cable in the corner. Um, well, I don’t have anything for, I think they’re both classic. I think they’re classic. Anything about the movies you wanna weigh in on? Whether it’s cringey or classic or No.
Cathy: Well, I mean, they’re, they’re both, I mean, Lebowski is a cult classic for sure. Yeah. I think, um, Ferris Bueller is a generational classic.
Cathy: I think it’s, it’s at that John Hughes, you know, box. And yeah, we just love all of them and they’re meaningful to us and I feel really, really grateful that I got to grow up with all the John Hughes movies. I know some of [01:05:00] them have questionable things in them as all things do. We just, um, when you’re hearing this, you will have heard our.
Cathy: Podcast about the revenge of the nerds. Yeah. Nerds. We did one a few weeks ago and that has a lot of questionable stuff too. It weird science. Um, you know, it’s when you know better, you do better. Like, you know. But I also think that they were very, they connect us. Mm-hmm These movies, us Gen Xers. Yeah. You know, you know, everybody’s seen them.
Cathy: And then Lebowski is just a cult classic. Everybody who has seen it obsesses over it.
Todd: Um, are we ready for music game? I am. Let’s do music game. This’ll be interesting to see who wins this one. I know because I feel like I kind of have a good one. You do. You’ve
Cathy: been crushing in the music game. Oh, I don’t know about
Todd: that.
Todd: Um. So this is the category where we try to encapsulate the vibe [01:06:00] of this podcast, that these two movies into a song, and to not make it obvious and to come up with something different. I’m gonna play yours first.
Cathy: All right. Can I, can I talk about it first? Do you wanna
Todd: defend first or do you wanna I’m
Cathy: gonna say something I, I was trying to choose between two.
Cathy: Mm-hmm. And they both had completely different vibes. I, there’s this one which you’re about to play, but the other one I almost chose was Azzie Star Fade into You. Okay. But I didn’t choose it because it definitely captured that like vibe of like doing nothing and like a haziness, but it felt two nineties and two Lebowski.
Cathy: So I tried to choose something that that kind of encapsulated both of them. Okay. And that’s this song.
Cathy: And it’s not gonna start for a minute, so I’m just gonna say it’s [01:07:00] simple. They’re only talking about having fun. It’s by all these guys who are kind of like, like chill and like dudes. And it’s, it’s enjoyable.
I was, oh, Sunday morning last.
I think
Cathy: that’s a good entry, sweetie. It’s called Steal My Sunshine by Len. And I thought it kind of grabbed them both because. They, you know, maybe it’s a little more Ferris. I think Mazzie Star fade into you was a little more Lebowski, and this is a little more Pharis. Okay. But I was trying, but this is a song from the nineties, so that’s the way I was grabbing Lebowski.
Cathy: And, but they both were like, don’t steal my, don’t steal my sunshine. That’s
Todd: pretty good. Okay. Um, I did not go so obvious, but, but first of all, this was obvious. Did I go obvious? Well, no, no. Like the nineties thing. Okay. So I went with from a different decade, different
Cathy: era.
Todd: Um, but I think that this, uh, these two [01:08:00] movies, uh, lends themself easily to this, um, song, this song part of our category game.
Todd: Because, you know, like the dude Bears Bueller, like, so anyways, this is mine. Here we go.
Good. Just saved me from ru. Good. Good, good, good.
I say that apple kill you a little. Give me kinda strange. Surely you’re not happy now. You no longer. Okay. That’s a good quote.
Cathy: So I am gonna say that that total, that’s a great, that’s great. But it fits the dude than, than Ferris Mine Fits Ferris.
Todd: Yes, I agree.
Watch them roll.
Todd: So yeah, the dude sits around and watches the wheels go round. Ferris is on the go, so, right. [01:09:00] It’s not,
Cathy: I like the quote, I no longer play the game because Ferris doesn’t play the game either. That’s true. So you’re, you’re capturing. So you, that was really good. Oh, thank you. But I don’t know that it was better than mine.
Todd: Okay. Well, we’ll have to have the, um, the audience, the leadership. Oh,
Cathy: why don’t you, can you bring up really quick, can you blink, bring up and I’m not gonna, I I’m totally in with my steal my sunshine. Yeah, but pull up Azzie star fade into you and see what you think. All right. I think it’s more the dude. I just couldn’t get it to fit Ferris in my mind.
What
Cathy: do you think?
Todd: I like the first one.
Cathy: Okay, good. I’m glad I, I’m, I feel good about my pick, but I just, you know, it
Todd: just seems a little dark. Um, and watching the wheels is [01:10:00] kind of like, I don’t know, melancholy, I guess. Where Steel, my sunshine is the enthusiastic, optimistic,
Cathy: yeah.
Todd: Pieces of these movies. So,
Cathy: yeah.
Cathy: So we, we, we grabbed them both. Yeah,
Todd: we did.
Cathy: Let’s see who wins.
Okay.
Alright.
Todd: You ready for some rapid uh, fire trivia. Let’s go. What car is destroyed in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Is it a Ferrari? Any, uh, bonus points if you can say exactly what kind of Ferrari?
Cathy: 5 28 32 16. I don’t know.
Todd: Two 50 GT California.
Cathy: Yeah, that I wouldn’t know that.
Todd: Uh, we already talked about this, but I’ll ask it anyways.
Todd: What drink defines the dude? White Russian. What school does Ferris attend? Uh, I don’t remember. I believe it’s Shermer High School. No, I believe it is. For real. Yeah. I mean, it’s a fictitious high school and I think he just throws it in.
Cathy: So for everybody, if you haven’t listed all of our podcasts, Shermer High School [01:11:00] is in Breakfast Club.
Cathy: Shermer High School is in weird science, and now Schirmer High School is in
Todd: Ferris. We’ve covered each of these trivia questions, but I’ll ask anyways. What’s the pet in the dude’s tub? Ferret. Uh, and what does the dude hate?
Cathy: The Eagles man.
Todd: What alias does Ferris use when calling the restaurant?
Cathy: Um, Abe Broman
Todd: very good
Cathy: Sausage, king of Chicago.
Todd: Uh, name of Ferris’s Principle,
Cathy: ed Rooney. Rooney.
Todd: Um. What’s the last thing Ferris says to the camera? Go home. Very good. You’re still here. It’s over. Go home. Um, what’s the dude’s, uh, real first name, Jeffrey. Very good. Uh, what does Donny keep getting told throughout the movie? You’re
Cathy: outta your element.
Todd: Shut the fuck up, Donny.
Todd: What kind of therapy last? So funny because it’s, it’s not goodness. Good delivery. Uh, last but not least, what kind of therapy does Marty invite the dude to remember? They’re, they’re [01:12:00] watching this. The per they’re, there’s the stage performance. It’s some like, random, I don’t remember. It’s just a random, it’s just such a weird scene.
Todd: Like they go to their landlord’s stage performance and he’s right.
Cathy: He’s like, I gotta go
Todd: really untalented people doing this thing. So anyways, um, we didn’t talk about a closing song. Do you have any thoughts about a closing song?
Cathy: You know, I think we’ll just go classic and we’ll do the parade. Oh yeah. Um, yeah, because you know, one thing I’ll say again, we were talking about, remember when, way back when, but some friends of mine who I went to high school with were in one of the backyards that Ferris jumps through, and that was kind of their claim to fame.
Cathy: So everybody kind from Chicago always has like a connection to someone who was in this movie. And obviously your sister was here for this Yeah. Parade moment. And it’s one of the best scenes of all time really. That’s right.
Yeah. Thanks
Cathy: for joining us everybody.
What are you [01:13:00] interested in?
Yeah,
Mimi,
what do you think Paris is gonna do?
Round two. Change a little bit. And change a little bit. Pretty pleasant.
