How Did This Get Made? — Miami Connection LIVE! w/ Chris Geere

Date: November 11, 2025
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guest: Chris Geere
Venue: Largo, Los Angeles

Episode Overview

This live episode features the HDTGM crew—Paul, June, and Jason—with guest Chris Geere, breaking down the 1987 cult martial arts "classic" Miami Connection: a movie about a rock band/taekwondo team/orphan collective fighting drug-dealing ninjas in Orlando. The panel, energized by the film's oozing earnestness, wild soundtrack, baffling plot twists, and legendary bad acting, dissects the movie’s peculiar blend of violence, music, and 80s naivete while reveling in the joy of discovering a movie so bad it’s transcendent.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

First Impressions & Movie Experience

• Immediate Enthusiasm:
  • Paul: “For every piece of shit that we have made you watch, this is... this is a triumph.” [03:46]
  • Jason: “We have just thrown you a scrap of real meat. I mean, enjoy it like a choice.” [03:55]
• Why Buy It:
  • Paul: “I had first rented this movie, had to stop midway through. And then when I went back… I said, no, I want to fucking buy it.” [04:03]
  • Jason: “We should all own this movie.” [04:13]
• Celebrity Doppelgangers & Droll Nicknames:
  • The cast assigns characters jokey nicknames, like "Giant Michael Phelps" for the band’s towering member and riffs extensively on the sheer weirdness of the cast and costume choices. [05:18]

What Even Is Miami Connection?

• Geographic Inaccuracy:
  • Chris: “The connection to Miami is something... I can really relate to in that I have also been there once.” [09:38]
  • June: “Why is this movie called Miami Connection?” [09:59]
  • Jason: “The entirety of this is in Orlando!” [10:10]
• Opening Scene Confusion:
  • The hosts laugh at the film’s initial Miami-set drug deal featuring “the Village People of bad guys” (bikers, cowboys, ninjas—one even in a conspicuous all-white outfit). [10:18]

The Band/Ninja/Orphan Orbits—Character Dynamics

• Jane, the Perpetually Changing Woman:
  • June: “She to me looked different in every scene.” [16:08]
  • Paul: “Even in the first scene, I felt like she was just a groupie for the band, and then in the next scene, she leads singer.” [16:24]
• The Hairy Antagonist, Jeff:
  • June: “There’s hair at a density level that is so upsetting." [13:24]
  • Jason: "He is like a boiled wolf sweater on his entire body—that’s what he’s doing.” [13:30]
• Relationship Motivations & Sibling Rivalries:
  • The only reason given for Jeff’s antagonism: “Because the sister is dating giant Michael Phelps.” [13:11]
  • June: “So he’s just upset because his sister’s dating someone.” [14:27]

Plot Dissection: What Drives the Mayhem?

• Band Aspirations:
  • The group riffs on the hilariously clumsy “let’s tour our countries of origin!” scene [17:00–18:57], noting that every band member is—suddenly!—an orphan.
  • June: “They make a big point in this movie over establishing that everybody in the band is an orphan.” [19:16]
• Casting Real Talk:
  • Paul reveals that star and movie mastermind Y.K. Kim cast himself, all his students as the leads, and juggled writer/producer/casting director roles. [20:34]
  • Chris: "He was the casting director, writer and producer, along with the other guys… associate producers, production supervisor, lyricists.” [21:55]

Iconic (and Absurd) Scenes

• The Beach Montage:
  • Paul: “It starts off, you know, the band is driving on the beach and they’re like gawking at girls… Girls in bikinis. Old person on a scooter. Child.” [34:07]
  • June: “How dare you cut to a shot of a little girl also in a bikini, showering? Yeah, that’s really disturbing.” [36:23]
• Slow, Strange Kissing:
  • Jason: “It’s like they’re passing a gumball back and forth.” [38:24]
  • Paul: “It feels like when you put peanut butter, like, on a horse’s tongue to make them talk in a movie—like they’re both trying to get the peanut butter out of their own mouths.” [38:29]

Unforgettable Monologues & Performances

• Jim’s “My Mother Was Korean” Speech [42:04–46:39]:
  • Jason’s Recap (and the original):
    • “My mother was Korean and my father was black American. She gave me this picture when she was real sick… I knew one day when I grew up, I’d find him, whether he was dead or alive. I sent a couple letters to the Defense Department, and nothing happen…” [43:15, 44:14]
    • Chris: “An Oscar winning performance for Jim.” [42:05]
    • Paul: “Can’t beat the real thing.” [46:39]
• End Scene Reshoot:
  • The cast marvels at the abrupt, obviously re-shot hospital scene (with bizarrely young “old man makeup” for Jim’s father):
    • Jason: “Jim’s dad is conservatively 15 years younger than Jim…” [23:24]
    • Paul: “This is the reshoot scene.” [23:52]

Production & Cult Legacy

• Origins and Rediscovery:
  • Paul: “They get a distribution company to purchase this film for $100,000... It had a very poor critical reception and it ended after three weeks, never to be heard from. What year?... Then in 2009, a programmer at the Alamo Drafthouse was on eBay and saw the listing for a 35mm print... and in 2010, screened the film—people went nuts.” [59:05–59:56]
  • From forgotten regional oddity to sensation after the Drafthouse screening. [60:05]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Plot

• June: “What is this movie about?” [50:35]
• Paul: “It’s about following your dreams and your heart... and you can’t be under the thumb of your drug dealing brother.” [50:42]

On the Film's Message vs. Its Violence

• Jason: “The heroes of the movie are murderers. Murderers are unrepentant.” [51:17]
• June: “That’s what’s so weird about the statement you read at the end of the movie about world peace and not using violence. You never see them struggle to not fight.” [56:23]

Audience Q&A Highlights

• [62:03] Kid Rock Croc Top: An audience member calls out the “henchman who humped like the mound of dirt” in a train yard fight.
• [62:56] On Ninjas Riding Motorcycles:
  • Audience Q: “If you’re a ninja and you’re trying to be all stealthy, would you pull up in your loud ass motorcycle everywhere?”
  • Jason: “Yeah, true…”
• [65:14] Absurd Family Tree and Character Confusion:
  • The panel and audience discuss the baffling sibling relationships (Jane, Jeff, Yoshito), confusing plot threads, and probable misdelivered lines.

Music: The Real Star

• The panel repeatedly bursts into the film’s songs (especially “Against the Ninja” and “Tough Guys”) and agree that, miraculously, the music is amazing.
  • Jason: “The greatest soundtrack of any movie I’ve ever heard. I want these songs playing now.” [04:32]
  • Paul: “The music is, like, legitimately fantastic and good.” [04:54]
• They dream about a Dragon Sound T-shirt and agree it should be sold as HDTGM merch. [77:14]

Strange Details and Running Gags

• Violence with No Consequences: Characters murder others unrepentantly, and romance blooms undisturbed.
• Random Grapes: They riff on a scene where Y.K. Kim silently hands out grapes to his male friends, calling it a “Christ allegory.” [78:35–79:04]
• Lace Suit Admiration:
  • June: “I’ve never seen lace pants.” [78:17]
• Fan Theories: Multiple explanations and audience theories about family trees, plot motivations, and—ultimately—assertions that nothing makes sense and it's beautiful.

Second Opinions and Recommendations

• [70:04-73:15] The group reads loving (but hilarious) five-star Amazon reviews—one customer just brags about living “about 50 miles away from Orlando.”
• [81:17+] All panelists enthusiastically urge listeners to watch and buy the movie:
  • Jason: “I would urge our listeners to put this, to buy this movie immediately, and watch it with someone that they care about.”
  • June: “It is my kind of ninja movie, for sure.”
  • Chris: Sings: “We are friends through eternity... loyalty... honesty...”

Memorable Timestamps (Selected)

• 03:38–04:19 — Panel’s first euphoria about the movie
• 10:18 — The infamously pointless Miami drug deal opening
• 13:24–14:04 — Hair density rants about "Jeff"
• 16:08–16:33 — Jane’s confusing identity
• 17:00–18:57 — The world tour/orphan scene (audio clip)
• 34:07–36:41 — Beach montage and its disturbing juxtapositions
• 42:04–46:39 — “My mother was Korean…” monologue (panel + film clip)
• 50:35–52:17 — Summing up what the movie is about (and “unrepentant murderers”)
• 56:23–56:41 — Martial arts philosophy vs. straight-up brawling

Conclusion & Vibe

Miami Connection, as dissected by the HDTGM crew and Chris Geere, is a singular collision of bad acting, glorious music, accidental surrealism, and Florida weirdness. For the hosts (and their rollicking audience), it’s both a comedic goldmine and an infectiously joyful “good bad movie”—one whose earnest heart and delirious confusion demand to be shared with friends.
If you want to experience everything that’s lovable and hilarious about misbegotten cult cinema, this episode—and Miami Connection itself—should be on your list.

Notable Quotes for Posterity

• Paul: “For every piece of shit that we have made you watch, this is… this is a triumph.” [03:46]
• Jason: “The greatest soundtrack of any movie I’ve ever heard. I want these songs playing now.” [04:32]
• June: "What is this movie about?" [50:35]
• Chris: “We are friends through eternity, loyalty, honesty…” [81:58]

Highly recommended by the crew. And yes: “Bikers by day, ninjas by night.”