Rewatchables Reference

• The boxcar scene – entirely improvised, where they finally break down and become real friends. 'Ever have sex with an animal, Jack?'
• The litmus configuration test – they dupe guys in a bar into giving them money for allegedly counterfeit bills.
• Jack visiting his daughter – awkward, emotional, 40 seconds of A-list De Niro acting.
• The coffee shop/chorizo scene – 'Serrano's got the discs. Hope it's a wonderful coffee shop, Jack.'
• The 'I've come too far' chase scene – De Niro stops the car staring at helicopters.

• De Niro and Grodin's chemistry – one of the all-time great two-guy pairings in movie history.
• The unexpectedly poignant emotional moments, especially the daughter scene and the ending.
• Danny Elfman's score – Bill says anyone who's anti this soundtrack is a moron. Chris compares it to Steely Dan's backing band vamping.
• 'Looks like I'm walking' – one of the better last lines of a movie.

• Eight people get knocked out in this movie with zero concussion awareness. Marvin gets knocked out four times. Bill wrote in 2013 that this movie was 'actually directed by Roger Goodell.'
• De Niro bringing a gun on an airplane.
• The constant cigarette smoking everywhere – buses, pay phones, carpet hallways. De Niro puts out a cigarette on carpet outside someone's apartment door.
• Anytime the movie airs on cable with bleeps – the art of the F-bomb is essential to the film.

• Paramount originally lined up Harrison Ford as Jack Walsh and Chevy Chase as The Duke.
• De Niro only got the part after being turned down for Big – he wanted to show a funny side. Tom Hanks got Big instead and was nominated for Best Actor.
• Albert Brooks was offered The Duke after Chevy Chase dropped out – turned it down.
• Paramount pushed for Cher to play The Duke.
• Paramount pushed for Robin Williams as The Duke. Director Martin Brest insisted on Charles Grodin instead. Paramount said no and sold the rights to Universal, who made the movie.
• For Jimmy Serrano: Ron Perlman, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Alec Baldwin were all considered. Nobody's better than Dennis Farina.

• Dennis Farina as Jimmy Serrano – in maybe 5 scenes (all filmed in Vegas because he was doing Crime Story), completely over the top, iconic lines: 'I'm going to stab you through the heart with a fucking pencil.'
• Joe Pantoliano as Eddie Moscone – Bill says in any other movie he wins going away.
• Yaphet Kotto as FBI Agent Mosely – not in a lot of scenes but huge presence. 'Remember me?'
• John Ashton as Marvin – gets knocked out four times and keeps coming back.
• Philip Baker Hall as Sidney, Serrano's lawyer.

• Joe Pantoliano wins the Joey Pants Award (named after him). This movie is where he became Joey Pants – after 'Risky Business', 'Running Scared', and Eddie and the Cruisers, this cemented him.
• The dad from My So-Called Life as an FAA agent.
• Eddie Moscone's sidekick who's diming him out – 'Why don't I go get some donuts?'
• Moron #1 and Moron #2.

• Charles Grodin has permanent scars from wearing real handcuffs for much of the film, compounded by the endless takes.
• The boxcar scene was entirely improvised on set.
• De Niro got so into the part that during the fight scene on the train, he actually punched John Ashton for real.
• The script originally had Marvin die when Serrano's thugs knocked him out, but they felt the climax would be less dramatic without him, so they shoehorned him into the later scenes.
• Martin Brest shot tons and tons of takes – Yaphet Kotto called him a 'hair director' (like a Nazi).
• Dennis Farina was an actual Chicago cop for 18 years before becoming an actor.
• Grodin didn't get nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 1988 Oscars – Bill calls it a travesty.

• Charles Grodin: Yes, not even a debate.
• Robert De Niro: No – it's a high step on the way but not the apex. Bill says Raging Bull, Chris says 'Taxi Driver'. But Bill personally considers 'Midnight Run' his favorite De Niro performance.
• Dennis Farina: Yes – Bill's favorite Farina performance. Better than 'Manhunter', 'Out of Sight', or the first 'Miami Vice' season.
• John Ashton: Debated – Bill thinks 'Beverly Hills Cop' 2 might be his actual apex.
• Joe Pantoliano: Yes – this is where he became Joey Pants. Better than 'Memento' or The Matrix.

Nobody really overacts in this movie. Chris says Pantoliano never modulates his performance, but in a good way.

• The 'Serrano's got the discs' plan: The FBI agent trusts a bounty hunter who's been impersonating him for a week to execute a sting operation against a mob boss. Kotto throws the full force of the federal government behind a plan a bounty hunter came up with on a plane.
• Marvin consistently gets ahead of Walsh despite having severe head trauma and no apparent tracking resources in a pre-cell phone era.
• Jack Walsh won't take a bribe but will impersonate a federal officer, steal Marvin's car, and give people concussions.
• The Duke had a money belt with roughly $500,000 on him the entire movie but never peeled off a $100 bill to buy food when they were starving.

• How long does The Duke actually stay alive after the movie ends? Bill gives him six months.
• Does Jack Walsh actually use the money to start the coffee shop? If so, where – Bill says Koreatown (and it gets destroyed in the '92 riots), Chris says Ojai.

Robert De Niro. Bill's favorite De Niro performance ever – 1A with Goodfellas' Jimmy Conway at 1B. Honorable mention to Grodin and all the that-guy performances.