‘RoboCop’ (1987) With Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt

Summary

The Rewatchables: ‘RoboCop’ (1987) with Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt

Overview In this episode of The Rewatchables, hosted by Bill Simmons, Bill and co-host Kyle Brandt delve into the 1987 classic RoboCop. They explore why the film remains a rewatchable favorite, dissect its themes, memorable scenes, and performances, and discuss its enduring legacy in the science fiction and action genres.

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1. Introduction to RoboCop

Bill Simmons opens the discussion by highlighting Kyle Brandt's enthusiasm for featuring RoboCop, noting it as a standout film worth revisiting.

Notable Quote:

Bill Simmons [00:00]: "The Rewatchables is brought to you by the Ringer Podcast network where you can't find Kyle Brand unless he comes on the Rewatchables."

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2. Why RoboCop Stands Out

Kyle Brandt emphasizes RoboCop's unique blend of action, satire, and depth, distinguishing it from typical B-movies of its time.

Notable Quotes:

Kyle Brandt [02:06]: "I love RoboCop because it should be a B movie and it refuses to be. It decided to be an A movie. It doesn't have to be half as interesting as it is."

Bill Simmons [03:14]: "We're like, we're going to be an A minus here or we might even be an A because, you know, there's some other good ones from the earlier 80s that are like that."

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3. Paul Verhoeven’s Vision and Direction

The duo discusses Paul Verhoeven's directorial prowess, noting how his vision elevated RoboCop beyond its budgetary constraints and typical action fare.

Notable Quotes:

Kyle Brandt [03:08]: "Paul Verhoeven, our guy, corniest man in Hollywood at this era. And he just composed the masterpiece here."

Bill Simmons [06:01]: "We didn't know a lot about Verhoeven back then... But I can't say I had high expectations. This was a classic."

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4. Themes and Societal Commentary

RoboCop is examined for its satirical take on media, corporate overreach, and urban decay, themes that remain relevant decades later.

Notable Quotes:

Bill Simmons [07:16]: "This is considered one of the best kind of science fiction futuristic action movies ever made."

Kyle Brandt [05:30]: "It's a mild have a glass of settle down juice for him. But also like eh, he should maybe take a victory lap."

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5. Iconic Scenes and Characters

Key scenes, such as the malfunctioning ED-209 demonstration and Murphy's tragic demise, are highlighted for their impact and execution.

Notable Quotes:

Bill Simmons [29:56]: "That's my number one. When RoboCop's in the beginning and that's coming, it's like, oh man, I got, I got to see what happens with that two or nine."

Kyle Brandt [30:15]: "We gotta laugh out loud on the screening when he did that."

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6. Performances and Character Analysis

Peter Weller’s portrayal of Alex Murphy/RoboCop and Kurtwood Smith’s dual roles are analyzed, showcasing their contributions to the film's depth and entertainment value.

Notable Quotes:

Kyle Brandt [20:09]: "He’s the RoboCop guy for me."

Bill Simmons [20:16]: "Bob Morton in the elevator... Drives Neil to offing himself... I hate that guy."

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7. Weak Links and Critiques

While RoboCop is praised, the hosts also address its shortcomings, such as the film’s brevity and underdeveloped characters.

Notable Quotes:

Kyle Brandt [64:54]: "The weak link of this film is that this movie is too short. I want more."

Bill Simmons [66:20]: "Could have been enhanced with more family scenes and character development."

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8. Legacy and Cultural Impact

The episode touches on RoboCop's influence on future media, its enduring popularity, and its place within the broader context of 1980s cinema.

Notable Quotes:

Bill Simmons [48:22]: "Lisa Gibbons, deep dive for you. She has three grown children and a rescue dog named Biggie."

Kyle Brandt [50:16]: "Having two elite pass rushers in the NFL, but better."

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9. Fun Facts and Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Bill and Kyle share amusing anecdotes and lesser-known facts about the film's production, such as actor training and special effects challenges.

Notable Quotes:

Bill Simmons [53:35]: "RoboCop's Madden score is like 82."

Kyle Brandt [54:23]: "Peter Weller was losing three pounds a day from water loss due to the heavy suit."

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10. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Wrapping up, Bill and Kyle reaffirm RoboCop's status as a rewatchable classic, celebrating its achievements while acknowledging areas where it could have been improved.

Notable Quotes:

Bill Simmons [111:38]: "We have completely corrupted them."

Kyle Brandt [113:37]: "Kyle Pitt is the ED 209 of fantasy players. It's so true. That should be his nickname."

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Key Takeaways

• RoboCop is lauded for transcending its B-movie roots, offering a sharp satire wrapped in compelling action.
• Paul Verhoeven’s direction and the performances by Peter Weller and Kurtwood Smith are central to the film’s enduring appeal.
• Iconic scenes like the ED-209 malfunction and Murphy’s death underscore the movie’s blend of humor and tragedy.
• While celebrated, the film's brevity and certain character developments are noted as areas for improvement.
• RoboCop continues to influence and resonate, making it a quintessential rewatchable film.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Kyle Brandt [02:06]: "I love RoboCop because it should be a B movie and it refuses to be."
• Bill Simmons [07:16]: "This is considered one of the best kind of science fiction futuristic action movies ever made."
• Bill Simmons [29:56]: "That's my number one. When RoboCop's in the beginning... I got to see what happens with that two or nine."
• Kyle Brandt [64:54]: "The weak link of this film is that this movie is too short. I want more."

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Final Thoughts This episode of The Rewatchables offers a comprehensive and engaging exploration of RoboCop (1987), providing both nostalgic appreciation and critical analysis. Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt effectively capture the film’s essence, making the discussion insightful for both longtime fans and newcomers curious about why RoboCop remains a beloved classic.

Transcript

[Bill Simmons]

This episode is brought to you by Disney. This summer, Disney is going retro with all your Disney and Hulu throwback faves. Hit endless rewind on Disney with the Princess diaries, the Lizzie McGuire Movie and Freaky Friday. Then with Hulu, Throw it back with Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill and Full House. All of these and much more now streaming with Hulu on Disney plus with a bundle subscription available with bundle plans starting at $10.99 a month. Terms apply. Visit disneyplus.com hulu for details. The Rewatchables is brought to you by the Ringer Podcast network where you can't find Kyle Brand unless he comes on the Rewatchables. And it's been a while you push for this. You've been watching a bunch. Robocop. Yes, There's a new guy in town and he's next.

[Kyle Brandt]

He died a hero target and was reborn as RoboCop, a one man police force with the strength of an army, the speed of a laser, the brain of a computer and a body made of steel. Looking for me? RoboCop Radar starts Friday, July 17th at a theater near you.

[Bill Simmons]

This episode of the Rewatchables is presented by Prime. You listen to this podcast for the movie Talk. So let's set the scene. Our lead, tall, dark, stranded at the airport. Hours of delays. He scrolled, strolled and loitered by every overpriced snack stand. But just when all hope seems lost. Plot twist, he remembers he has Prime. And with that, a whole library of free ebooks ready to read right from his device. Cue the triumphant score. Roll credits. Free ebooks library. It's on pr. All right, Kyle Brandt, you pushed for this. Why?

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, we had this great conversation going into it, Bill, where I'm texting Bill and I say, robocop. And Bill responds, we have never done robocop. And I said, I'll buy that for a dollar. We're up and running. I couldn't believe it hadn't been done. It's one of these. There's still gold in these rewatchables. Hills, we found it. I'm thrilled to be doing it. I like RoboCop, Bill, because there's cool shooting and violence and funny lines. I love RoboCop because it should be a B movie and it refuses to be. It decided to be an A movie. It doesn't have to be half as interesting as it is. It could have just been. We're Toomey Terminator. We got a robot who shoots people and it's violence and we'll take your five bucks this movie decided it has something to say and it has things to educate us on. And a lot of it is because of our guy. Blood stained horn dog Dutch Paul Verhoeven, our guy, corniest man in Hollywood at this era. And he just composed the masterpiece here. I love this movie.

[Bill Simmons]

That would have been a great list for movies that just should have been a B and wouldn't accept the grade.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And we're like, we're going to be an A minus here or we might even be an A because, you know, there's some other good ones from the earlier 80s that are like that, I guess, like Escape from New York's a good example. They were really trying, but at the same time that's a B movie and they just kind of elevate it beyond this one. This movie's really saying something. And then as the years pass, it becomes even more poignant because it's basically like corporations are going to take over everything. Detroit is going to go bankrupt, basically collapse, which it does in 2013. And then it's just really stylish and it moves. Craig. Producer Craig was saying how when we sent it to him that it was like 102 minutes start to finish. They make this movie now, it's probably what, 145 minutes?

[Kyle Brandt]

Oh, yeah. Well, if Marvel does it in the comic thing, it's three hours and 20 with an intermission and some bonus shit scene after the credits, all that. This doesn't have an ounce of fat on it. It's short.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, don't you think that this would now be a Marvel movie? I mean, that's, that, that's the other thing is like, they would have, they would have seen this as some sort of franchise, which it weirdly became. But I don't think they intended it to be a franchise when they made it. Right.

[Kyle Brandt]

No. And even more so than we think, Marvel made a RoboCop comic book after this when they were merchandising it and it was on lunchboxes and thermoses and cartoons and video games and it was everywhere. There actually was a comic book even in the 80s that Marvel took over. So now it would be six different movies and they would do everything with it. But the fact that Verhoeven took this thing and made it lean and mean and was like, you know, Bill, like there's, there's Jesus motifs here, there's thoughts about AI ahead of its time, and yet it's not all preachy because just when they get into that, they'll give you a scene where RoboCop shoots somebody's dick off and you just laugh out loud. It does it all.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, it has those news breaks, too, to always lighten it up. And, you know, this is really. I don't know what you think the peak year was for villains overlapping as they're evil, but it's somewhere in the 80s, the death wish movies were doing it too. But these three, four people would get together downtown, wherever is just in complete disarray. They have guns, they're just blowing stuff up. They're laughing their asses off. Like it's the funniest thing ever. I don't know when this ended, and I don't know why I can't come back.

[Kyle Brandt]

One of the details, too, that it's in this movie that's in a lot of those movies you're talking about, is that they're just casually, no big deal, doing drugs for the whole movie. Like in this movie, they keep snorting these things and they never even address what it is or what it does. But just between dialogue, they'll just. Clarence Bideticle just get a quick double nostril blast and then he's off and running. But it's not even addressed. And it's just. It's so fun, man. You mentioned like that. I try to imagine I didn't get to see this movie in the theater, thank God, because I was 8 years old. But if you're. Did you see the theater?

[Bill Simmons]

I did.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right. So when you're sitting down in the theater and you're like, all right, the RoboCop movie, cheesy name. Let's see some guns. And the first scene out of the opening is this satirical news desk. And then a fake commercial. Like, what, Did I walk into the wrong movie? What is this? They're playing the wrong reel. It's really cool, though.

[Bill Simmons]

It felt. It's weird when it came out, it felt like it got lost in that whole, like, Stallone, Schwarzenegger vortex we're in where all these movies are coming out left and right and Cobra and Running man and Predator, and it's just that. It's just. It's just an onslaught, right? So this is like, all right, what's this? This feels like a movie Stallone or Schwarzenegger could have been. And then you see it, and it's really stylish and well done. We didn't know a lot about Verhoeven back then. He had just, like, made his first America movie two years before we did Flesh and Blood. We said some pretty racy Nude scenes which were a big deal on cable in the mid-80s. But I, I, I can't say I had high expectations. This was a classic. You just went to the movies every weekend. Hey, people are saying RoboCop's pretty good. I think the thing that shocked me was how good the reviews were in the moment and then after the fact. Like this is now considered one of the best kind of science fiction futuristic action movies ever made. Which I don't think anyone was thinking in 1987.

[Kyle Brandt]

No small budget, unproven director, no major movie star, unproven villain. Like all these technical aspects that they were going to pull off. And to your point, the fish are jumping into the boat in 1987. Like we're not. It's so much muscle, so much machine gun. I bet all the critics sat down for this ready to hate it because you know, you get into it a lot and a lot of people making the movie are like we can't call the movie robocop. It sounds horrible. It's so cheesy. And I think you sit down for RoboCop and just expect Schlock's shoot em up idiocy because that's what was running the day. Yeah, but then you're like right out of the gates. We're satirizing cable news before cable news and politics and it's just the IQ is so high and yet still the firepower is just so pleasing and it.

[Bill Simmons]

Feels relatively realistic even though it's insane as a movie. But every single thing they're doing it. And I'm like ah, maybe like maybe corporations would buy out the police force as like a business move and then put in robots that would police 24 7. Like it's not inconceivable in 1987. Could this be where we're going? I don't know.

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, even just as employees, do you really think Bezos is not going to have ED 209 stocking shelves like in the next 20 minutes? Like that's it's all sitting right there. There's that scene where, where they first take RoboCop to the shooting range and it's like it's pulled out of 2025. They're like it's not a cop, it's a robot. And the guy literally says he's going to take all our jobs. And it's everything we're hearing now. It's AI at the shooting range and people really afraid of it. But they made this thing in 86. It's so cool. It's 84.

[Bill Simmons]

Well then you think Rocky 4 is when. When Rocky gets the robot for Paulie.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. Oh yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

So this is peak. Robots might be in our life, but we were 40 years early. But now, I don't know if they must have this in New York. They have it in L. A where these little robots that deliver stuff. Sure, right. They have robot Waymos, basically those robot Ubers.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

So this stuff's now in our lives, but I think it took a lot longer than maybe the 1980s was anticipating.

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, we were expecting hoverboards, but instead when I go to stop and shop, there's this idiot robot in aisle six asking me if I want to scan anything. Just getting in the way of my cart. Hate it. I don't like that stuff. I don't like those self driven cars. They freak me out. I'm not riding in it. I don't like any of that stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm not a good place to have sex.

[Kyle Brandt]

Is that right?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I mean you lose your Waymo privileges, but for one time. It's a hell of a ride.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's an f. Shack just said there's no driver. Why the hell not?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's a big thing. It was a big thing for a while. Unfortunately for the people in the car having sex, they. They're being videotaped the entire time. So, you know, buyer beware.

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, taxicab confessionals previewed that, you know, that's 25 years ago as well. That's great. I gotta try that. I just asked the wife.

[Bill Simmons]

So Neumeier, one of the people that wrote this movie after 2013 when Detroit went bankrupt and it was supposedly the most dangerous place in the United States. And Neumeyer said we're now living in the world that I was proposing in robocop, how big corporations will take care of us and how they won't. It's a mild have a glass of settle down juice for him. But also like eh, he should maybe take a victory lap. I don't know. Some weird shit's happened since 1987.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, it's. I mean, listen, the crash was coming when they wrote this. All this labor versus management privatization and Dick Jones is good business is where you find it. It's all very, very current. This should be like, you know, people go back and watch Idiocracy now and they say that that's aged really well. I would say if I'm a gen Zer, watch RoboCop. If you don't like the violence or whatever, watch it for the politics. Like they saw this stuff coming in the 80s and they saw AI and they saw privatization and government. I mean it's, it's right in the middle of the Reagan era. It's so politically reflective that you could watch this movie 20 years from now and the special effects will look bad, but who cares? The movie works.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. And in the moment they were talking about how it was like a repudiation of Reaganomics and trickle down all that stuff. It was right as people were starting to turn against it and then when the crash happened. But this is a really interesting time for movies because on the one hand, you know, in 1987 was a murders row movies. I mean it's one of the best rewatchable movies years we've ever had. But you have Gordon Gekko on the one side where it's like greed is good. And this is like a whole motif that's all over the place. The movies secret of my success. Like I need to go, I need to make as much money as possible. How do I make money right away? And then on the other hand, you have movies like robocop that are like this is going to go badly. Like just, just be careful what you wish for, everybody. And I don't know, I don't think anyone in the moment ever thought that this would be considered one of the smart movies of the 80s, but I think it is because Working Girl came out, comes out in 87 too. And we did that on Rewatchables last month. But same kind of thing. Like some of the stuff it's trying to do with females in the workplace and it's like really ahead of its time.

[Kyle Brandt]

And this one was too surprisingly refreshingly progressive. Talking about the females in the workplace, there's a note where they call all the guys who kill Murphy. They refer to them in the producers, they refer to as the gang. And the exec producer was, I want this gang to be diverse. And I'm not saying I don't want it to be all white guys. I don't want it to all be people of color. I don't want to make a racist movie. And this is like, this is 1986 when they're shooting this. There weren't a lot of people saying that. But you look at how that gang is casted and it looks like 20, 25. It's, it's really interesting and I really respect what they were doing because again, just make a shoot them up movie with blood and guts and a robotic cop and we're going to give you our five bucks. They didn't have to do that shit. They could have been a B movie and they refused to be. It's awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

Another thing with this movie, just an all time great premise. 24. Seven robocops could work. They have three directives. Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law. But directive four is classified.

[Kyle Brandt]

Mystery. That's right.

[Bill Simmons]

I wonder what it is. And then we find out later. So 1987 Detroit, because you feel like this is maybe a bad movie for Detroit. Or you could say that's actually pretty good Detroit. Even though they filmed this movie in Dallas, which I found out the research.

[Kyle Brandt]

Oh well.

[Bill Simmons]

1987 Detroit has RoboCop, Beverly Hills Cop 2 because it starts out there. The 1987 Pistons take Larry Bird and the Celtics to game seven. It seems like they're going to win the title. First important Pistons basketball moment ever. They got next the Tigers, who won the title three years earlier. They won 98 games. Almost made the World Series again. Red Wings made the conference finals for the first time in six years. Anita Baker's rapture. Huge. And then the Fab Five. Jalen Rose and C. Web now playing together. Aau like the Fab Five is forming. I'll just go early. Apex Mountain for Detroit. I think this is it.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's tough to beat until. Until the Jared Goff Lions win a Super bowl, which I don't know if that's happening. 87 was a hell of a time. And listen, the best high school football player in Detroit at that time, Jerome bettis. That was 87. He was killing it. About to go to Notre Dame, not Michigan. They lost him. But like 87, Detroit was cooking like young. Young.

[Bill Simmons]

Do we have young Eminem there too?

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, he's definitely alive. I don't know if he's like drawing wraps on the chalk on the sidewalk.

[Bill Simmons]

Let's throw him in. Let's help that.

[Kyle Brandt]

Come on in, buddy.

[Bill Simmons]

Come on in. Eminem. But great times all around with Sanders. He wasn't on the Lions yet though.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, Sanders was 89 draft. So he was at Oklahoma State. He's coming. They got their eyes on him.

[Bill Simmons]

The Lions are are being bad and paving their way for Barry Sanders. Anyway, great time for Detroit. And then Verhoeven. So big Dutch filmmaker in the 70s. Did multiple rucker Hauer movies overseas. Dutch, have we done a movie with Rucker? How are yet?

[Kyle Brandt]

Have you done Blade Runner?

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think we have.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, I don't think so either. I don't. I can't think of a Rucker Howard movie.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the one that we would do is Nighthawks if we wanted to go Stallone, Billy Dee Williams. Stallone trying to kind of zag. Trying to zag away from Rocky. I don't know how you feel about Nighthawks.

[Kyle Brandt]

I'm in a Nighthawk. I'm in the Lady Hawk as well. I like all that stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. So Howard, he was basically like Dutch Robert Redford even though he was German, whatever. But he was in all these different movies that Verhoeven did. So he bangs out RoboCop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct in a six year run. Those are three movies in a row that he made that we have now. All done in the rewatchables. Little Horny, apparently a complete asshole on the set didn't really understand how American film sets worked and just yelled at everybody until people rebelled. And then after Basic Instinct, an all time classic, created a historical epic based around the Crusades that would have starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. It went into Pre production in 1993 and then our guys from Carolco pulled funding from the project because they're going bankrupt. We're back. Yet another podcast with Carol.

[Kyle Brandt]

They're back in town.

[Bill Simmons]

Their bankruptcy cost us an Arnold Schwarzenegger Paul Verhoeven Crusades movie.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, see, I bet the Carol company there was a scene in the Crusades movie where one of the women was topless and had three breasts. And they couldn't afford it for the budget. So they're like, I'm sorry Paul, you can't bring her back. She's still goaded, but we just can't afford it. That blew up the whole project.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, he got pissed and ends up ripping off showgirls a year later. Starship Troopers and Hollow Man. And then it kind of ends for him. But he's got like a nice 15 year run there of movies I would watch on cable. Starship Troopers, what's your relationship with that one?

[Kyle Brandt]

Love Starship Troopers. Love Johnny Rico. Hilarious football scene, co ed shower scene. A lot to like in that Neil Patrick Harris with a machine gun. Bill, when the call comes in for Starship Troopers, full disclosure here. When I was a freshman on the college on the football team, the seniors all nicknamed me Johnny Rico after Casper Van Dien.

[Bill Simmons]

Save it for the Starship Troopers podcast. I mentioned 87 as one of the great rewatchables years and we've done a few of these. The number of movie that year in year releases was Three Men and a.

[Kyle Brandt]

Baby, directed by Leonard Nimoy. Inexplicably, yes. Spock directed that movie.

[Bill Simmons]

Everything about that movie is inexplicable. I don't even know what would happen if that guy, like, could that even be an Amazon scripted show now? Three Men and a baby. Such a weird premise.

[Kyle Brandt]

You're talking about three, I don't know, like losers who all live together who are 40 years old, have a baby. And inexplicably in the middle of the movie there's a cocaine plot line that I'm not even sure why it's there. And then Spock directed it. There's a ghost kid in the background. There's all kinds of shit going on with that movie.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I mean, you, you didn't hit the key premise hard enough that these three dudes who were like 38, 41 and 43, I'll just live together and we're all single and. And just this baby shows up. Anyway, that was our number one movie. Fatal Attraction, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Good Morning Vietnam. Moonstruck is our top five untouchable secret of my success. Stakeout, Lethal Weapon, Dirty Dancing, Predator Bangers, Jesus, Dragnet, labomba, robocop, Outrageous Fortune, Broadcast News, Living Daylights, Eddie Murphy, Raw Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Full Metal Jacket, Wall Street Mannequin, Roxanne, Blind Date, the Running Man, Spaceballs. Summer school. You must have loved Summer School. Who did?

[Kyle Brandt]

Mark Harmon? Mr. Sh. Hell yes.

[Bill Simmons]

No Way Out. We've done that one. The Lost Boys Can't Buy Me Love, Princess Bride, Baby Boom, Tin Man, Black Widow. That's just our top 50. And that's where you get into Raising Arizona and Big Easy and Angel Heart. And over the Top came out that year. Less than zero. Just like Someone to Watch Over Me. We've done Jesus Christ.

[Kyle Brandt]

Kyle Brandt, you mentioned over the top as like 30th billion on that. It's not even above the fold. More good movies in one year than we've had in the last 25 years. I love you, Sean Fennesee. I'm sorry. That was an incredible list that Bill just rattled off.

[Bill Simmons]

Rewatchable movies too. Like movies that could just be on cable. All the. So kudos to 1987. Kudos to this movie with. I'm going to call it a. That guy tsunami.

[Kyle Brandt]

Let's go. Let's get into it. It's so good. I got a bunch of them.

[Bill Simmons]

There's that guy's who stopped being that guys. Ronnie Cox became Ronnie Cox.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Kurtwood Smith became Kurt Wood. Smith.

[Kyle Brandt]

Smith.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't know if Miguel Ferrer became Miguel Ferrer or he just became that guy who I knew from this movie and five other movies. It depends. I know him as Miguel Ferre.

[Kyle Brandt]

Know. I don't know him as Miguel Ferrer passed away. But I. I think of him. He's in some stuff. He's. He's a great actor. He's the RoboCop guy for me.

[Bill Simmons]

So he is Bob Morton in this movie.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Who has the cocaine threesome when he's sturning cocaine off the cleavage, which was a mid-80s staple. Kurtwood Smith is in this. And in then two years later, three years later, the dad and dead Poet Society. I'm just. Let's do this. Now who's a bigger villain because he plays in this movie? He plays Clarence Bodicker.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And then he plays Neil's dad in Dead Poets Society who drives Neil to offing himself and finds his body in the office.

[Kyle Brandt]

Says Neil, Neil, my boy, my boy.

[Bill Simmons]

I hate that guy so much. I hate that guy more than Clarence Bodicker.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right, this is a first round knockout. Clarence Bodicker is the drug addicted psycho asshole who torture murders a cop. And Neil's dad is 50 times worse. Drives his kid to suicide because he doesn't want him to be in the goddamn play. Even though he shows talent. And people say that Kirkland Smith is like the nicest, most generous person. I never watched that 70s show. I know he's massive in that. But they're like, he could not be a nicer guy to work with. What a great actor.

[Bill Simmons]

Drove Neil to his death.

[Kyle Brandt]

Terrible.

[Bill Simmons]

And then Ronny Cox, who is Bogumill and Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2. He's in Beverly Hills Cop too, in 1987 as he's finally gets to play a bad guy. He plays a bad guy for Verhoeven in this and then Total Recall.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

So.

[Kyle Brandt]

And loves being the bad guy and is great at the bad guy.

[Bill Simmons]

But then we have that redheaded guy from er. Yeah, he eventually he's walking with a cane in ER a million years later. You know that guy he plays? He plays your guy Emil in this.

[Kyle Brandt]

Emil, yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Who ends up dying in toxic. Toxic waste.

[Kyle Brandt]

I can't wait to talk about that scene. Emil also had a one season run as I think he was Jack Bauer's brother in 24. Like I love that guy. I don't know his name, but he's Emile. He's also a great actor. What are you, a college boy? It's great.

[Bill Simmons]

He's always up to stuff. Nancy Allen is the female cop in this. So has this. She's married to Brian Del Palma. She's in Dress to Kill. She's in Blowout. She earlier on was in Carrie has this whole run. This is kind of where it's about to end for her. And Verhoeven, because he wanted this movie to be as asexual as possible, told her to gain weight, which she did by not smoking anymore. And then just kept giving her a haircut until they gave her the one she liked. And they basically like they Cagney and Lacey, her just. Just full fledged. And there's no sexual tension at all.

[Kyle Brandt]

We have to stop the clock. I had it. When does. When does Louis's hair first come up in the pod? I knew this was going to be a point of con. It's an important conversation. If you had the under. I think you won. Kept making her cut her hair like five times to desexualize her. And my take on it, I think it's awesome. It's a total zag. Why have some like, I don't know, some sex pot in the female lead instead of the person who actually.

[Bill Simmons]

Like a Sharon Stone. She's sitting right there.

[Kyle Brandt]

She was coming. They were all coming. He's horny as hell. And despite that, he's like, no, let's have the cop be a badass female cop. They weren't doing that back then. They just weren't. You choose some, some Baywatch looking girl and she goes. And she's hot. And they have a sexual tension. Not at all. Lewis is a cool character. I like her.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, he had some vision for the future that was basically asexual. Because that locker room scene that's near the beginning is important. The police locker room. And just we see guys asses. All of a sudden there's a naked lady. They're all together and quick. Nothing is sexual at all.

[Kyle Brandt]

No. And he ran that back to Starship Troopers. He likes the, the. The co ed showers. I don't know if like sometimes I go to a restaurant now especially in New York more than ever, when you go back to the bathrooms, there's not men's and women's. There's just bathrooms. And everybody waits. I did it last night. Verhoeven was all over that. But there's not a men's and women's room. Not where I went last night. You just wait with everybody.

[Bill Simmons]

There's one place in Boston where it's a giant bathroom and there's just different stalls, but it's men and women. And then the common sink and it's. Is that Fenway park come out of your. No, no, it's the Quinn. This place in Boston.

[Kyle Brandt]

The Quinn? Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

You come out of one and you could be like, you could have been talking to some. Somebody like in the bar. And she's coming out of the other stall after you hear them blowing it up, like that's, you know, I don't know.

[Kyle Brandt]

And she comes out, she's got toilet paper on her foot, and she just blew up that thing. And you're like, oh, no, what's that over there? You run out?

[Bill Simmons]

I got to run. My. My dad called. He's getting surgery tomorrow. And then Peter Weller, who just kind of became RoboCop. I don't even know what else you would know him from.

[Kyle Brandt]

I had this conversation ready. I have never seen a Peter Weller film that is not RoboCop. And he's done a lot. He also was in a season of 24. But I am a one character guy for Peter. Well, all due respect to Peter Weller, like theater actor, very conscientious guy. I don't have it, Bill. I'm sorry. I don't know the other stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, there's some great stuff we have coming up for him later about some of his choices he made on the set in this movie that I can talk about.

[Kyle Brandt]

Come on.

[Bill Simmons]

$13.4 million budget made 53 million, two sequels. Then the remake in 2014 with Joel Kinnaman and Abby Cornish. What's your relationship with that movie?

[Kyle Brandt]

No relationship. My relationship is when you scan the cast. Holy shit. They spent money. Michael Keaton's in that movie. Sam Jackson's in it. Gary Oldman just picking up a check as the scientist. Like, they're like, we went cheap on robocop, so give us all the big money guys. And still, you know what? You know what they did? They rated it pg 13. Get out of here with that. Get out of here.

[Bill Simmons]

Give me an R. My shade just fell.

[Kyle Brandt]

I saw it. It was like God looked down on you. Look at that. That was dramatic. Bill.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm gonna fix it. When we go to break The Roger Ebert 3 stars. Most thriller and special effects movies come right off the assembly line. You can call out every development in advance and usually be right. RoboCop is a thriller with a difference. Raj, I gotta be honest, could it could have gone three and a half stars there. Raj could have thrown in the half star for how ahead of the time this movie was, but whatever.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. When we get to like, what's age the worst? I'm looking at you, but I don't have a ton of what Stage is the worst. I've had a lot of what you're gonna. You're gonna carry the day on that one.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, we're gonna take a break. I'm gonna fix my shade. This is my last podcast in here before the Shades. We have actual shades. And we'll be back in a second. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Having the right people in your corner make all the difference. Just think of all the people we cycle in and out as co hosts here on the rewatchables. I send texts. Hey, you like this movie? Hey, you like that movie? All of a sudden Van Lathan's like, I love that movie. Chris Ryan's like, I love that movie. And by the way, can we do Hunt for Red October again? Like those people, State Farm is there to help you choose the coverage you need. With so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have help finding what fits for you. Go [e-mail] or use the award winning app to get help from one of their local agents. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, first category, most rewatchable scene. Murphy. Listen, this probably isn't even in the running, but I love when Murphy shows up for his first day. I love the 80s police stations. We've talked about this before. They're action packed. Shit's going down, wise cracks left and right. Bad guys just wander in and get beaten up. I like anytime a cop says to another cop, welcome to hell feels like a staple. Nancy Allen gets to kick someone's ass. I don't know, I just enjoy those police station scenes.

[Kyle Brandt]

There's always perps being pushed through across camera. One of them always fights one of the cops. And then you have the really grumpy ranking officer who's tired of this shit. Always the same thing. And the shirt that Murphy walks in with is so 1987, I almost thought about picking it for the most. 1987 thing. Silk, top button patterned it. That scene is really fun to watch.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't know. I don't think police stations move that way anymore. That's probably like way harder to get into. There's probably all these checks and balances, but back then it just felt like anybody could just wander in and take.

[Kyle Brandt]

A swing at a cop anytime you want. And I also don't think the cops brought the perps in or just like book them and throw them against the desk and then walk out like that. They always do that in TV shows, but I think it's probably really rigorous.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, my favorite movie ever. 48 Hours. There's a whole. After all the cops get wasted in the hotel. And Cates goes back to the station and he's just wandering around. He's barking at people, he's getting yelled at by his boss. And he's looking at Henry Wong's photo and he's just.

[Kyle Brandt]

Just.

[Bill Simmons]

It's just moving in this way that I just don't think they do.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's always. It's always, murphy, my office, now. It's just simple command. It's. That's the whole vibe. God, I love that shit.

[Bill Simmons]

Next scene is. Are we calling it ED 209 or ED 209?

[Kyle Brandt]

ED 209. ED 209. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

When do you think they moved it from Ed to Ed?

[Kyle Brandt]

I think it was just sitting there and I think it was right. They had a lot of problems with that 209, as we know, but I think it was late in production a lot.

[Bill Simmons]

Old Detroit has a cancer. This demo of 200 died. Big loser. Mr. Kinney, who wants to volunteer? There's 20 people at the table. Mr. Kinney's like, I might get some brownie points for this one. I'd love to volunteer. This is the 20 seconds when they realize it's malfunctioning.

[Kyle Brandt]

You now have 15 seconds to comply. You are in direct violation, section nine. You now have five seconds to comply. And Mr. You have 15 seconds. And the mosh breaks out.

[Bill Simmons]

And Mr.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's chaos.

[Bill Simmons]

I like when they're throwing them back.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

The best part, he gets shot, I don't know, 40 times. This is where Verhoeven's like, you're in for a ride today. And the guy's lying on the table, he's got 40 bullet holes. And somebody goes, somebody want to call goddamn paramedic. It's like we're past the paramedic.

[Kyle Brandt]

We gotta laugh out loud on the screening when he did that. I wonder who that actor is. I mean, what a line. What a fucking line.

[Bill Simmons]

So, like, Dick, I'm very disappointed. That's what Dick's boss says. You're disappointed that Ed 209 put 40 bullets into one of your board members. That's a bummer for you.

[Kyle Brandt]

There's that, and then there's Bob Morton in the elevator. And they're like, too bad about Kenny. Hey, that's life in the big city. No, it's not.

[Bill Simmons]

He's pumped.

[Kyle Brandt]

Life in the big cities. You can't find affordable housing. What you just saw was a tragedy. What are you doing?

[Bill Simmons]

I also feel like you're not in the elevator like four minutes after that happens.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Bill Simmons]

I would say that has to be in the running for the single craziest board meeting anyone's ever had. Like yeah, yeah, we're going to demonstrate the movie. Yeah, we're going to demonstrate at 209 everybody. Oh what's. What was the guy's name? Oh, Kenny's dead. What happened to Kenny? He got shot 42 times. We had a malfunction.

[Kyle Brandt]

You're so right about Kenny too. He, he volunteers as if he's like at a magic show and gets to go up and close his eyes and be hypnotized or something. He's so excited to be up there because you know, if you're at a kid's birthday or something like come on dad, help us out. And you feel like a celebrity because.

[Bill Simmons]

All his bosses are there. It's like, I can't wait. Yeah, I'm going to show off.

[Kyle Brandt]

And the next thing, they're ripping the cables out of the production board for ED209. It's an unbelievable scene.

[Bill Simmons]

Listen, I'm just telling you right now, that's my, that's my number one. When that movie, when RoboCop's in the beginning and that's coming, it's like, oh man, I got, I got to see what happens with that two or nine.

[Kyle Brandt]

So true.

[Bill Simmons]

This next one, I mean this is just ripping off rewatchable scenes coming out of the gate. The car chase, Clarence Bodicker's lair.

[Kyle Brandt]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Great warehouses in the 80s and movies. I know we always had nothing's that there's never any workers. They're always empty. But they always have all these things and there's always cranes and things and. And then Murphy ends up dying.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's always. What should we do for the final act? I don't know. How about a shootout in the steel mill? Yeah, that's perfect.

[Bill Simmons]

It's always that a lot of places to hide. There's like elevation. You could have bad guys looking down. You could have guys getting shot falling over the walkways, lava.

[Kyle Brandt]

And as we find out like a giant 5,000 gallon thing of toxic waste that we'll talk about. Yeah, the, the. I saw Murphy's death, I think on cable or video when I was in maybe fifth grade. Really, really upsetting to me. I watched it way too young. So where do, where do you come out? Because Weller is like, is acting his ass off. Do you think it's like, is it funny to watch him because he's acting so hard? Or does it mess with you like when you watch it?

[Bill Simmons]

You know what? Well, a couple things. They're in the van and the van chase and Clarence. Clarence throws out one of the bad guys, goes, can you fly, Bobby?

[Kyle Brandt]

Can you fly Bobby?

[Bill Simmons]

Whips him out into the car.

[Kyle Brandt]

Great line.

[Bill Simmons]

Has been repeated since. In other movies, like the Fanger did it. There's been. But I do feel like they invented the move of. To show how evil the lead evil guy is. He just immediately sacrifices one of the henchmen. But then that leads to all the other people that work for him. Got to be like, well, what? He. He just killed Bobby. Like, am I next? Like, how would you be able to stay loyal to Clarence at that point?

[Kyle Brandt]

Hey, don't burn the fucking money. He was. He was so pissed. He burnt the money. And I, I feel like I would be pissed too. I empathize with Clarence there. Like, yeah, he just pulled out the. All the fucking money is burnt, you idiot. It's like the poor man on the. On the group project who messes the whole thing up. I get it. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, anyway, you. You asked.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Am I scarred by that scene?

[Kyle Brandt]

Like, were people laughing in the theater or were they horrified? I'm wondering because it's.

[Bill Simmons]

I think that's the. The worst part of it. It's weird. It's not. The 30 times he gets shot. The first one where he shoots his hand when he's. He's like moving the gun around like he's going to shoot him. And you're like, oh, he's just fucking with him. And then he just fucking blows off his hand. And Weller's like, I know. And I think that is weirdly the worst part of it because then after that, you know he's going to die. No, it's. I had. I think this is the okay Motherfucker award for the exact moment when this movie goes up a notch. I don't think it's Ed. It's not Ed to.

[Kyle Brandt]

You know what mean?

[Bill Simmons]

I. I don't. I actually think it's this because Ed 209 is still fun and comic y. And, you know, that's such a ridiculous scene. This is like, oh, my God, they fucking just murdered the main guy.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's 10 minutes in and horribly. I think it's so funny you mentioned the okay Motherfucker because, like, some of the secrets of this movie is I think that the okay Motherfucker moment has like a four. There's like four or five moments of Those where you're like, it just. Even in the last. In the. In the last 10 minutes, when you get Toxic Waste Guy and the car hits him, you're like, jesus. They just did it again. I didn't even need that. I was ready for the credits. It has five of them. And certainly, like, the execution is one. I still watch it. And he blows his hand off. I think Weller's acting is so good and so heartbreaking. Like, I feel terrible for him. I was disturbed as a kid. I was disturbed now. It's one of the hardest scenes to watch of violence, like, I think, in film history. I think it's very difficult to watch.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. From an okay standpoint. And this movie does have, like, five or six. It is almost like a great professional wrestling match. We were like, man, that. That bump. Like a ladder match. Wow. That bump they took, that was amazing. That's got to be the peak. And then finally we peak with Toxic Waste Guy, which is coming up in a little bit. RoboCop's first day. We get the I'd buy that for a dollar guy. We get him wiping out the convenience store. Robert. We get him.

[C]

Can you. Can you explain that I'd buy that for a dollar guy? What's going on with those TV shows?

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, hey, can I have you? Oh, sure.

[Bill Simmons]

We've had our shots. I'd buy that for a dollar. It's an incredibly important question. So mid-80s is right as they're trying to spruce up local ads and cable ads. And like, the one in New York that was the big one was Crazy Eddie. It's like Crazy Eddie. And you can watch some of those on YouTube. That was one of the first ones I remember. But the ads were, like, really grab you by the throat. Just like nutty ads. So I think they're trying to say it's only going to get nuttier. Right?

[Kyle Brandt]

It's the wacky commercial. There's some, like, some Benny Hill stuff going on. And I think they're just looking at, like, television in the future is just going to be, like, boobs and stupid catchphrases. It's like that Ricky Gervais character. You're having a laugh. It's really stupid, and they think it's funny. The guy that they got to do that. I'll buy that for a dollar, Was this, like, K Rock personality who just did wacky characters, and he just. The I'll buy that for a dollar line. No one. No one who made the movie, like, he really knew that was going to be a thing but it became this recurring thing. And the joke is, I guess, like, I don't really believe you. But when you talk about RoboCop, invariably someone says, I'll buy that for a dollar. That's usually the line they say.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it's the most famous line from the movie.

[Kyle Brandt]

More than any RoboCop lines. I agree with you.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I think it is. Well, the most famous shot in the movie is when he shoots the rapist in the crotch.

[Kyle Brandt]

No doubt.

[Bill Simmons]

He's got killer.

[Kyle Brandt]

Oh, your move, creep.

[Bill Simmons]

By shooting through the woman's legs in the skirt. I gotta be honest, one of the great shooting scenes for. For our good guy hero in any movie, like aiming it through. I don't know if it could happen with a human. It's got to be RoboCop. And then he, you know, tells her.

[Kyle Brandt]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

About the crisis center right afterwards. Just by the way. Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

See, to me, that. That's another. Okay. Like that you jump out of your seat when he does that. Unanswerable question. God forbid. Do you think anywhere there is ever a police officer who's tried that move because they were inspired by RoboCop? I fucking hope not. Because like you said, he has a computer targeting system. Yeah. Take it easy, guys.

[Bill Simmons]

Please do not emulate this. We have Mayor Gibson's office.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

Deranged former city councilman Ron Miller is in there. And robocop just cleans him out. And then it all goes right to Lisa Gibbons. RoboCop. Who is he? What is he? I have some Lisa stuff going up. I can't wait to talk about Lisa.

[Kyle Brandt]

Was Lisa important for you?

[Bill Simmons]

I can't wait to talk about it. RoboCop returns to his house. I have. That's when the movie starts to have the human piece to it. Right. Like after. And he's like getting these flashbacks. You love that part.

[Kyle Brandt]

Do you do. Let me ask you this. If there was going to be a pee break, this is it. Do you get pee break vibes from him going back to his house?

[Bill Simmons]

I. Right. But I think the whole part when they're kind of assembling him before he becomes RoboCop is a good pee break. This is like maybe make some popcorn right here.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, it's. It has. You have to have the scene like it's the heart. Yeah. Kids and all that. And I like the computers, like the monitors with the talking realtor in there and everything. Like, I wish they had those for real. But if you were going to pee break, this would be it.

[Bill Simmons]

Here's why it's important Though you need it because all leads to the payoff at the end. Yeah, Murphy, I'm cashing you out. Bob is the next one. This includes Bob, I guess. Headed for a three. A cocaine fueled threesome.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

We get some cleavage snorting, which I think was a big 80s thing. I'm not sure. Are people still doing that? What's the. Craig, Craig, is the cleavage snorting still in. In the mid-2020s?

[C]

Well, my birthday's tomorrow, so I'll let you know what goes down in Manhattan.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, Happy birthday. Okay, Good luck.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, now they line up some zins on the breasts and they just tuck them into their lips like that. However you do that shit, Craig, I don't know how to do it, but I think of. I think Wolf of Wall street is. Is kind of probably apex for breast cocaine line snorting. It's a great Wolf of Margot Robbie.

[Bill Simmons]

Great point. I have no notes. RoboCop crashes the Clarence cocaine party and then the cocaine factory.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

I love the. Oh, I forgot to mention in the. In this because we have Clarence killing Bob Miller. Right. He blows him up with the grenade.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

But when he tells the girls to leave, he does the bitches leave unbelievable entrance. Puts the DVD in little. I'm not sure. Like, aren't you worried? Maybe they could recover the DVD and scrub it and we could do that in 19. I don't know if that was. I would have taken the DVD out before I blew the house up.

[Kyle Brandt]

When he takes out that dvd, it was like, holy shit, what is that thing? It was like he took out like some sort of magical wand or something. No one could believe that a CD could play a video in 1987. It blew you away about the technology. And then you have to take it.

[Bill Simmons]

That's a really good point. We didn't have DVDs until 10 years later.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, it was.

[Bill Simmons]

So I guess it was a CD.

[Kyle Brandt]

It was a DVD.

[Bill Simmons]

DVDs.

[Kyle Brandt]

I think it did, dude. I think it did. I'd never seen one before that.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, because if it was a dvd, it would have taken him like three minutes to play it. He would have been like, hold on, hold on. Just wait a second. Oh, I'm back in the menu.

[Kyle Brandt]

Dick Jones commentary of video. Yes. Menu.

[Bill Simmons]

But then we get the cocaine factory. RoboCop killing everybody. Yeah, it has one of my favorites from the 80s. And I feel like we've lost it. The bad guy who gets shot falling backwards shooting the next bad guy. I don't. I feel like we've lost the narrative on Those. Let's bring that back.

[Kyle Brandt]

If you were a bad guy in the 80s who was shot by a weapon, you would always shoot as you were falling down. You had.

[Bill Simmons]

Sometimes you take or shoot sideways. Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Or worse. Spin. Spin.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Kyle Brandt]

Because then, like, the whole posse goes. I do have to call attention to something in that scene. It's the Marion Cobretti Cutting Pizza with Scissors award for someone has to step in and say, this would never happen. Why is the greasy drug lord walking around the coke house with, like, an estate Cabernet in his wine glass? And then why when Clarence puts his fingers through it, does he keep drinking? That whole scene reeks of cobra and the scissors and the pizza. It doesn't make any sense. It's ridiculous.

[Bill Simmons]

Do we have that award or did you just.

[Kyle Brandt]

Just made it up. Top of my head. Top of my head.

[Bill Simmons]

Craig, write that down. That's a good award.

[Kyle Brandt]

There's someone.

[Bill Simmons]

Why didn't anyone intervene on the set?

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, Someone needs to step in and say, guys, this would never happen. This. The Cobra Eating Pizza with Scissors award. The wine. Thing is, they tried to give the guy a prop to make him like a Bond villain. It doesn't work. It's this stupid sequence with the fingers and. What are we doing?

[Bill Simmons]

You're Clarence Boddicker. You're the king of. I'm writing this down in the rewatchables category. I really want to add that. So you did. What is it called, do you think? The.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's called the Mary Cutting Pizza with Scissors award.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Okay.

[Kyle Brandt]

I got it for something that would never happen.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. That's a great award. Great job.

[Kyle Brandt]

Thank you.

[Bill Simmons]

Really earned your keep already. We have so much of the podcast left, it's. Now you're just like. We have a 38 to 7 lead.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. Well, we haven't even gotten a hot shake.

[Bill Simmons]

Run the ball. Like. We don't even need to do anything else now. All right, I have Robocop. Takes his helmet off. That whole scene, the bad guys blowing up stuff while evil laughing. Mentioned that earlier. I like it. And then the big shootout. Let's talk about toxic waste of meal.

[Kyle Brandt]

Awesome. Oh, Bill, yours is perfect. Well, that's better than your Nell. That's your best impression.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe long legs, toxic waste of meal. Might have to add him into the long legs part.

[Kyle Brandt]

And how great is this boy when he goes, don't touch me, man. That's exactly what you would say. Exactly.

[Bill Simmons]

They also with his death scene, he hits the. The car hits him and his head just immediately comes off. Hits the car, it's like a watermelon. They said they filmed that and it was like an unexpected bonus when the head went forward and hit the windshield. They were hoping it would happen, but they didn't know. And then that happened. And then sayonar robocop. And then I guess the end where he, he. He kills Dick Jones. Dick Jones and Murphy. So what do you got for most rewatchable scene?

[Kyle Brandt]

It's definitely not the. The torture of Murphy. Listen, the Bob Morton's apartment from start to finish is a perfect scene. It's sex, drugs, rock and roll. And Verhoeven was just cooking. Yeah, I love that one. But robocops in it. So what was your suggestion for? It was the between the leg shot, right.

[Bill Simmons]

I have ED 209. I just think that's when the movies really grabs you by the balls and takes and is like we're coming for a ride.

[Kyle Brandt]

So imagine that you picked that as the most rewatchable scene and RoboCop's not even in it. And I get it like that. That's this movie. It's awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

Craig, what'd you have for most rewatchable scene?

[C]

It's honestly, I love all the boardroom scenes. I love the people who work in the office. All these like loser guys. The guy saying, that's life in the big city.

[Kyle Brandt]

Awesome. That that.

[C]

Love all that.

[Bill Simmons]

It's. It's very succession way star Logan Roy. You could see Ed209 coming in because Roman's like, dad, I got this new idea for crime robot ED 209. And then the robot shoots Carl. Um, what's the most 1987 thing about this movie? A lot of options.

[Kyle Brandt]

What do you got?

[Bill Simmons]

The stop motion robots, special effects which were very.

[Kyle Brandt]

Do you like them?

[Bill Simmons]

Do like now watching it way better than Terminator. Terminator three years earlier. I just thought. I don't know, it's kind of charming. It's. Now they would be, you know, 100% better.

[Kyle Brandt]

I adore him. It's. The guy is like the goat of stop motion. Phil Tippetts, the guy who did the chess scene in Star wars. He did the Walkers and Empire. He's like the. The Michael Jordan of stop motion. Did dead 209. I think. I think charming is the word. I like it. It kind of still is cool. And I like it better than all the CGI. I like it stands up.

[Bill Simmons]

Me too. Over the top 80s street thugs that's in there. Somebody watching eight TVs through a window on the street is very 80s nobody. When was the last time somebody watched eight TVs in a window in a store?

[Kyle Brandt]

I don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

No store would put the TVs in the window. Because somebody would just break the window and take the TVs. Because you have. You have the plasmas. There'd be like no way to do it. You couldn't even sit them up. Lee Iacocca Elementary School. Snuck in there.

[Kyle Brandt]

Great pull as a little Easter egg. You don't catch the first time around with RoboCop.

[Bill Simmons]

Could have won falling out of a building backwards with the. Because Die Hard has it too. I feel like that was some sort of era for that shot. Always look fake. But your winner is Lisa Gibbons. She's the most 1987 thing about this movie.

[Kyle Brandt]

Let's go. I love Lisa.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, Lisa. So Mary Hart's in there. Mary Hart, I think, has, you know, kind of. Kind of killing. I forget when Mary Hart joined Entertainment Tonight, but it was before. Or they were kind of on each other's corner.

[Kyle Brandt]

80S, I would say, what, 88. She and John Cash used to hold it down.

[Bill Simmons]

I remember Mary Hart. All right. I'm looking on Wikipedia. She. Yeah, we're in the 86 range. So she was earlier than Lisa Gibbons.

[Kyle Brandt]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Lisa comes in. It's a little. Mary Hart's like. She's established. Like she's about to be in a Seinfeld episode. When Kramer hears her voice like she's the og. Lisa Gibbons comes in. It's a little Ultimate Warrior to Hulk Hogan. Like I have.

[Kyle Brandt]

I'm gonna come in.

[Bill Simmons]

My entrance ends are gonna be louder. I'm gonna be bringing a little more. There was a little more sex appeal with Lisa, and she had a great run. And every high school kid had a crush on her in the 80s, I'll tell you that much. Including this guy right here.

[Kyle Brandt]

I can tell. And it's not Lisa. It's Lisa.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, there's like an automatic. Just felt a little. A little pornish, little stripperish. Just the name gave her like this extra, extra sauce. Meanwhile, she's competing against Mary Hart. Right? The all American sexual name. It's like Lisa Gibbons. But I always dug her.

[Kyle Brandt]

There's a funny red carpet moment when James Gandolfini was still alive and he ran into Mary Hart. And she's trying to interview Tony Soprano. And he says to her, you were my childhood crush. Like, he loved Mary Hart. I personally, I was a Nancy Odell guy. Still am for life. Love her. Wonderful woman.

[Bill Simmons]

What stage? The best. We mentioned in future, crime ridden Detroit we mentioned Kurt Rid Smith playing a bad guy.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Where do you stand on Dead or alive? You are coming with me. Murphy says that, then Robo says that. I enjoy that they have the callback.

[Kyle Brandt]

I like the callback. I like the writing. It's. Listen, this is a lot of. This is one of many times we'll talk about this movie comes up against Terminator and it's kind of the version of I'll be back. It sets up deliberately to be a catchphrase. It's short, concise, it works. And when he says it the second time at the gas station and Emil recognize it, it's a really good moment. His acting is really good in that scene.

[Bill Simmons]

I have a bunch of other ones. Do you have any. What stage the best you're passionate about?

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, I'm passionate about two villains in a movie is awesome. I think that works. Oh, you have Kurt, you have Dick Jones. Think about Dark Knight has two villains. Silence of Lambs has two villains. Return of the Jedi has two villains. And you kill one and then there's still business to take care of. I think that works a lot. And it really works here with Derek or Dick Jones and bodicker.

[Bill Simmons]

So like two elite pass rushers in the NFL, but better.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. It's like the 96 packers had Sean Jones and Reggie White and it's like we can. We can't block everybody. You can't. You can't double team Bodiker and then Dick Jones is going to get you exactly like that.

[Bill Simmons]

It's like the Steelers, if TJ Watt was still good, what they would have. Sorry, Craig, I just want to make sure.

[C]

What was he talking about?

[Bill Simmons]

Took the last six weeks off of the season last year he was there in uniform only. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see, Craig. The. Here's a good one. So Emil stops to get gas for his motorcycle.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Did you notice the price of the gas?

[Kyle Brandt]

I did not.

[Bill Simmons]

$5.79.

[Kyle Brandt]

Oh, he got it on fountain in Hollywood. Huh.

[Bill Simmons]

It's literally age of best. Because I think that's right what the price is now. Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Is that true?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Media Break as a futuristic news show. It feels kind of has Internet bones, right? Sure. I could see Media Break being some weird YouTube channel that has 15 million subscribers. You know how many of them they bought, Right? So, yeah, they probably bought 14 and a half million of them. But still. Media Break doing well, sir.

[Kyle Brandt]

Love it.

[Bill Simmons]

Azios is thinking of buying them, bring.

[Kyle Brandt]

Them in, get new talent and just churn out. Churn out. Takes all day long. Verhoeven loved the American news. He was like, really amused by it because he's like, yeah, in Holland, like, it was just one man with a graphic over his shoulder. But in the United States, it's like two people, like kind of laughing all the time in between stories. He's like, I thought it was so funny. And it is funny. It's a weird thing that we did and still do.

[Bill Simmons]

It's still really funny. He. He dialed it up at the end where they would go to break and it would just close in on their eyes and they would just be the screen of 20 eyes. I thought for what stage the best. The 6000 SUX is fucking hilarious. Talk about it how these new SUV they call it the SUX. But I just. I don't know when SUVs really started, but it was right around then. And they're just. Verhoeven's like, we're going after this.

[Kyle Brandt]

You went. It was the transition because there used to be minivans. And that was all through the 80s, early 90s, mid-90s, you started seeing like your Chevy Blazer. And the Jeeps became big. And the S6000 SUX. This car sucks. But bigger is better. And they do the stupid dinosaur commercial. That's the stuff that makes this movie fun.

[Bill Simmons]

Couldn't agree more. Also making the movie fun. Anytime a movie character is named dick, which we don't really have anymore because nobody would name their kid Dick. But in the 80s and 90s, we had a lot of dicks.

[Kyle Brandt]

This is a fantastic take. Go ahead.

[Bill Simmons]

When somebody does the pause before they say dick and we see this in there as like dick, it just works every time. We need more dicks, I take that.

[Kyle Brandt]

Sound bite and loop it. I couldn't agree more.

[Bill Simmons]

I just fucked myself for life.

[Kyle Brandt]

You know, what's the thing is the.

[Bill Simmons]

Internet is always nice about this stuff and they won't. They won't do. We need more dicks at all.

[Kyle Brandt]

Awful. Announcing Bill Simmons. We need more dicks.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, Bill Simmons eviscerates dicks.

[Kyle Brandt]

But the guy who does it, exactly what you're saying. Our guy John Bender, when he's talking to Vernon. Expect better manners from you dick. And it's just, it's name your bad guy's dick. It always works.

[Bill Simmons]

This was the heyday for dicks.

[Kyle Brandt]

Hell yes. Apex Mountain for dick.

[Bill Simmons]

I love. I love tidbits like this. The Robocop suit was so hot and heavy that Peter weller was losing $3 three pounds a day from water loss.

[Kyle Brandt]

Incredible.

[Bill Simmons]

They had to put an air conditioner in the suit so he didn't like basically become emaciated.

[Kyle Brandt]

Can we talk about Weller and the suit for a sec?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff on this.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right, so the suit, it was. The suit kind of strikes me as maybe as like the shark and Jaws where it was really difficult to work. Very, very problematic. But Weller shows up to this thing and is like this theater trained guy, does ballet, studying mimery and shit. And like he runs marathons. Yes, runs marathons. Literally runs marathons. Method acts it and people are like, he had to be called either Robo or Murphy when he's on set. And you always think that's all bullshit. And the actors deny it. Weller is like, fuck you. Yes, I method acted it. I prepared for six months. I'm in the suit at 130 degrees. I don't give a shit what you think. Call me Robo and Murphy. And I think it's cool. He owns it completely.

[Bill Simmons]

There's so much stuff about how some of the actors thought this was the most ridiculous thing ever. They're like, you're in a fucking robot suit, dude. Settle down. You're not Sir Laurence Olivier. You're not.

[Kyle Brandt]

You're Richard the Third over there with your gun and your helmet. He's like, I'm treating this like I'm Richard iii. Get out of my face and call me Robo.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, that, the, the other piece of it with the suit. This killed me that he did like three months of martial arts training. So when he got in the suit, he would be like, be able to. And then the suit, like, you couldn't move.

[Kyle Brandt]

You couldn't do it.

[Bill Simmons]

You basically. And he was like, fuck, I did all this martial arts training for nothing. He was like pissed about it. He signed up for a Robocop movie. It's a robot cop, which you think you're going to be like Bruce Lee.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yes, he did.

[Bill Simmons]

Last, what's aged the best? You mailed me a picture. It's a pretty famous picture that I've seen on Twitter a few times. Yeah, it's a Radio Shack Valley fourplex. And hold on, let me.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's the marquee for the movie theater of what's playing that weekend.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's really cool.

[Kyle Brandt]

I mean, take your pick. Jesus. The Internet caption on Instagram right there, the caption is Take me back.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Lost Boys, RoboCop, Predator, Full Metal Jacket. God damn, I'd take that in two years. They had it in One weekend.

[Bill Simmons]

We really knew what we were doing back then. The Big Kahuna Burger Award for best use of food and drink.

[Kyle Brandt]

What do you got?

[Bill Simmons]

Well, the organic food paste that RoboCop.

[Kyle Brandt]

Eats tastes like baby food.

[Bill Simmons]

It was made out of parsnip, tomato puree and crushed Butterfingers bars.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

Sounds delicious.

[Kyle Brandt]

Frozen yogurt. I'm in that.

[Bill Simmons]

I'd eat that right now. What'd you have for the great shot? Gordo Award for most cinematic shot?

[Kyle Brandt]

I have when the two hooligans are with the woman in the alley and he shoots between the legs. When Robo gets out and the shadow is projected against the wall behind them and he looks huge and it keeps getting bigger. Really cool shot because as he walked towards them, the shadow would actually get smaller. So they had him walk backwards so he gets bigger. Like fucking brilliant shot. Love it.

[Bill Simmons]

Verhoeven.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, Cooking.

[Bill Simmons]

So I don't have a kid. Cudi Pursuit of Happiness Award. Best needle drop. But I do have a note. Unless you have a. Do you have.

[Kyle Brandt]

I have two giant question marks under it. Just. I don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

So he goes to the nightclub when the. One of Bodicker's henchmen's in there, and he. The scene when he kicks robocop in the balls, which is a bad idea. The guy's a metal robot. I feel like they really missed a great song choice possibility for that scene. And this is where Verhoeven, you know, being a Dutch filmmaker, I just don't think he was on it because he could have gone. He could have gone like Rockwell. I always feel like somebody watching me could have gone that direction. We could have gone into the little alt late 80s. All we could have done like a Peter Murphy cut you up. Or we could have done some, you know, somewhere like a.

[Kyle Brandt]

Such a good point, though.

[Bill Simmons]

Somewhere like in the. Somewhere in that indie 80s. Could have done some XTC. I don't know what. I don't know what I wanted, but they didn't give it to me.

[Kyle Brandt]

I would jump into with like a hair metal deaf leopard. Do you take Sugar?

[Bill Simmons]

Right. Yeah. They could have done Def Leppard good.

[Kyle Brandt]

They could have done Duran Duran. They could have done. There's a lot of cool. They could have played there. Again, they pretty shoestring thin budget and they're trying to put it into his metal balls instead of the music. But a banger needle drop there would have really worked. Damn.

[Bill Simmons]

Chess. Rockwell Brocklanders award for best character name. It's obviously Dick Jones.

[Kyle Brandt]

Dick Jones. Name your villains, Dick Young screenwriters.

[Bill Simmons]

It works.

[Kyle Brandt]

Just name them Richard and someone can call them Dick.

[Bill Simmons]

We only really have football coaches left named Dick.

[Kyle Brandt]

And they're a dying breed as well. Dick. Yeah, Dick LeBeau. I mean, are there. Let me ask you this. Are there, like, people alive now who are kids, who will be Dick someday? Like, what? Let's say you're named Richard and it's a family name, and you're Richie or Rick or something. Are there. Are. Are Dicks as a name Done.

[Bill Simmons]

I think Dicky can come back.

[Kyle Brandt]

Dicky Greenleaf? Yeah. Like, I can. Dicky seems kind of cool.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I think you just audible right to Richie or Rick. Craig, do you know any Dicks?

[C]

No way. Dicks are dead forever, though.

[Kyle Brandt]

Like, won't they come back? Like Rosemary and Dorothy, all those vintage names? Like, will you ever be at a travel baseball game and some parents yelling, come on, Dick. Just throw strikes right to the glove.

[C]

I think Dick is dead. I think Guy is dead. No more guys. Never understood that one.

[Bill Simmons]

Names go away. I mean, we haven't seen an adolf in about 60 years. Like, sometimes it's just like, boom, we're done. We're never having another one. And I think Dicks have reached that point.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, but there's still kids named Harry, and Harry is like, Dick's stupid brother, you know, like.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Kyle Brandt]

And I just wonder. We'll see.

[Bill Simmons]

Dick Jones, you have a flex category. Kyle, what is it?

[Kyle Brandt]

Oh, my God, I have so many choices. I was going to do the. Does this movie have a porn parody? But it obviously does, and it will take you two seconds to think of what the name is.

[Bill Simmons]

What was it?

[C]

RoboCock.

[Kyle Brandt]

There you go. Horlbeck. Yes, RoboCock. There it is.

[Bill Simmons]

Gotta be.

[C]

What else it's gotta be.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's right there. And you know what? Honestly, Bill, like, given Verhoeven's horniness, he probably directed it. You know what I'm saying? Directed RoboCock. And he says, come quietly or there'll be trouble. But the coming is the reach in the orgasm. It's a great movie. He would have directed the porno parody of his own fucking movie if they asked him to. All right. No, my real flex category is I'm actually gonna go with the Fortune 3 Clap Award for most gifable moments. When Robo is brand new and he's in that chair in the factory and he starts having those dreams, he starts going like. And if you go to Twitter right now and type in the gift search RoboCop, it is that moment of RoboCop, like with his mouth open and it's all tweets of like. I'm not even gonna say. I'm like, when she stops, but you're still. And it's like the person's draft pick is terrible. And then it's the RoboCop, like, Red Sox trade deadline.

[Bill Simmons]

Here's my reaction to the Red Sox trade deadline.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yes. And it's a really funny gift to use when something terrible happens because he definitely looks like someone is performing something on him, and it makes me laugh.

[Bill Simmons]

That's a great one. I thought you were going to go for folks category. The did this movie need a sports scene? A random sports scene? Because we had Detroit and could we have had Clarence gang? I think it's Clarence's whole extended gang. Little. Little pickup. Three and three hoops, I think would have been great.

[Kyle Brandt]

In the warehouse.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, in the warehouse there's a hoop and they're just a half court only. Or maybe a shooting contest, something like that, I think.

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, if they remade it now, Clarence's gang would have their own pickleball court and they would just get after it. In between killing cops and stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, that would be the reason to kill them. They're not even committing crimes. They're just playing pickleball. RoboCops, like, we gotta take these guys out. I mean, look at that. Just saying he lost weight partly by playing pickleball is. Is one of the worst things that's happened in 2025. Hope that does start a trend. Just what we need, more pickleball. Let's take one more break and then we'll do Butch's Girlfriend. This episode is brought to you by TripAdvisor. If you're planning a trip, don't just wing it when you get there. We did this once when during COVID We went to Hawaii and we went for it. Didn't have any idea where we were staying, what we were eating. You just kind of go. You don't need to do it that way. That's why you have TripAdvisor. They have things to do, which makes finding things to do on your vacation an absolute breeze. I wish we'd use that when we went to Hawaii. You've got over 400,000 experiences to pick from, like food tours, guided hikes, snorkeling, even skydiving. If you want a real action sequence and with real reviews from travelers who've actually done the thing, you book with confidence and cancel if plans change. No sweat. So what are you waiting for? Use code Rewatch for 10% off Things to do on TripAdvisor terms Apply this episode is brought to you by Pretty Litter. If you're like me and you track your steps, your sleep, even your screen time, why wouldn't you track your cat's health too? Pretty Litter is like smart tech for your litter box. This color changing litter actually monitors your cat's health by detecting potential issues in their urine, things like ph changes or blood so you can catch problems early. Plus, Pretty Litter ships free right to your door so no heavy bags to carry and no last minute pet store runs right now. Save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy at PrettyLitter.com Rewatchables Once again, PrettyLitter.com Rewatchable to save 20% on your first order and Get a free cat toy PrettyLitter.com RewatchABLES Pretty Litter cannot detect every feline health issue or prevent or diagnose diseases. A diagnosis can only come from a licensed veterinarian. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn. In marketing, reaching the right audience is important because you want to reach people who are actually interested in what you're selling. And as a consumer, nothing is more annoying than getting ads for things you don't need or want. Like, if you're the worst cook in your family, those shiny new stainless steel pots and pans probably won't do you any good. You might be interested in some convenient food delivery services though, right? Reaching the right audience is key. So when it comes to B2B marketing, LinkedIn ads should be your first stop. LinkedIn has a network of over 130 million decision makers. They have targeting tools to help make sure you reach the right ones. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority, skills, or company revenue. So you can stop wasting your time and budget on the wrong people. LinkedIn will even give you a hundred dollar credit on your next campaign so you can try it yourself. Just go to LinkedIn.com rewatch that is LinkedIn.com Rewatch terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

Butch's Girlfriend Weak link of the film I have one. Do you have one?

[Kyle Brandt]

I do. Mine's a little asymmetrical. I do have when you want me to do mine. Yeah, this is kind of a hot take too for rewatchables. The weak link of this film is that this movie is too short. I want more. I've never said that amount of movie before. I am tired of this Korolbeckian philosophy that everything has to be 20 minutes long. It's too short. It's 102 minutes. I need five or 10 more minutes. Terminator 1's 107, Predator's 107, Lethal Weapons 109. I want two more scenes. And if you look, there was supposed to be a chase scene at the end where the Terrence's guys use the Clarence's guys use the big guns. I would have liked to see a chase scene with the guns. And there was supposed to be a scene where Robocop goes to the cemetery and sees his own grave as Murphy. That sounds heavy metal as shit. I would like to see that. I've never said it before. The weak link of this movie is that it is too short. I want more.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm gonna let Craig respond to that. Craig, if you want to come on the zoom even, even better.

[C]

Look, you're wrong. You're wrong, and I. And I won't allow it. However you make, you make a compelling case. I thought the movie is so tight. I think they literally don't even develop Murphy enough. Like, how is there not a scene of Murphy with his family in real life at the beginning of this movie? Like, he should be kissing his wife goodbye, playing with his kid. So then you have that emotional connection. And Verhoeven's like, fuck it, we don't need it. We'll do a couple flashbacks. 102 minutes.

[Bill Simmons]

Verhoeven's like, I need that extra 40 seconds for my cocaine cleavage scene.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Wait, Craig, stay on. Because this ties into my weak link in the film. I agree that this movie is like two scenes short, even though I love how fast it moves. How is there not a scene where Murphy's wife finds out that Murphy is not a RoboCop and she shows up at the police station?

[C]

Yeah, and then there's a lot of unexplored family stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Instead of that wife being played by some actress, I don't know who it is now. It's Geena Davis. And it's like, Gina, need you for one really good scene here where you go to the police station and you see Murphy and he doesn't recognize you, but he kind of. You start crying like you've turned him into a monster. Why'd you do this? Like, it's the easiest layup. And now Murphy's in crisis. He's like, am I a monster? He's looking at his robot arm. It's just sitting there.

[C]

And then that's the bridge to the porn parody where he's looking at his wife and she's like, if you're a robocop, that means you must have a Robo.

[Kyle Brandt]

Come quietly or there will be trouble. I will respond to what you just said, Bill. I have a theory about why that happened. Because after he dies, Louis tells RoboCop she moved on really quickly. My take, Murphy. Maybe not so great a guy at home. Maybe not so great a husband. Maybe a little verbally abusive. Maybe all kind. I think that she got out of there fast. I think she moved on fast. I think Murphy was fucking around. We don't know what that marriage is like. I think it was a disaster. Some marriages with police officers, I'm sorry to say it, are rough because of the lifestyle. I don't for her to move on that quickly and not even come back. Where the fuck is Murphy? I heard he's this robot guy. No, she was out of there.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it's a great point.

[Kyle Brandt]

Thank you.

[Bill Simmons]

Thanks, Craig. What takes the worst? The sequels.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

The 2014 remake. Why again? I've said this 50 times on rewatch was don't remake. Make movies. When I can watch the original movie and it's still really good. It's unacceptable. I can still. It's on Amazon prime right now. Can fucking watch it. I don't need to watch. And then it gets confusing. They're both RoboCop. You can accidentally click on the Joel Kinnaman one when you meant to click on the Weller one. Like, I don't need it. I don't need it in my Life. Call it RoboCop 2014, but don't do it anyway.

[Kyle Brandt]

Is there anything, Bill, that gets you more mad that when you're getting ready for this pod and you just Google robocop cast and the one from the remake comes up and it's Joel Kinnaman. You're looking. You're like, no one wants that. No one is ever looking for that cast. Ever. Even that cast themselves is looking for the original cast.

[Bill Simmons]

It's bullshit. Wood. Stage the worst police strikes. So I looked this up. We haven't had one in America since the 1910s.

[Kyle Brandt]

How'd that go?

[Bill Simmons]

Didn't go great, actually.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, I bet.

[Bill Simmons]

What Stage the worst. RoboCop. Joining Sting in 1990 for WCW. You might have it as a what stage the best.

[Kyle Brandt]

Anybody listening this has to watch this fucking clip. Sting is in a cell. And I don't mean in the ring. Is a tall, small jail cel next to the ring. RoboCop comes out and it's of course it's not Peter Weller and it's not the real costume. And RoboCop's supposed to bend the bars and the announcers are like, oh my God, look at that string. But when he goes to bend the bar, the whole wall comes off and he tries to put it back. It's absolutely horrible. But if you love wrestling Sting and Robo, like raising their hands together is fucking great.

[Bill Simmons]

This was a really weird era, the 90s for movie promo tie ins to actual wrestling. Plus, yeah, we mentioned for what stage the worst RoboCop's costume. Weller was so frustrated that he fell out with Verhoeven, who fired him. Went to try to get Lance Henriksen as a replacement and from Alien, and it was just too hard. The costume was designed for Weller. They would have to make a new costume. So then they had to kind of make up and Weller came back to the movie. Weller sounds like he might have been a little too method of a method actor.

[Kyle Brandt]

He was really method.

[Bill Simmons]

It's like he definitely gets some settle down for me.

[Kyle Brandt]

And yet Weller would look at you, Bill Simmons, and say, scoreboard. Look up at it, creep. I crushed this role. Lance Hendrickson can suck it.

[C]

It's like the guy trying too hard in like PE class or something, you know, it's like, settle down, Greg.

[Bill Simmons]

It's soccer. Diving, diving for kickballs. My last one, the lead is it's a white guy named Clarence Bodicker. Can we talk about this? I used to have, when I had my calm, I used to add the Reggie Cleveland hall of Fame because the Red Sox had this picture named Reggie Cleveland. And it was just this dumpy looking white guy. Clarence Bodicker. How did they come up with Clarence Bodicker? Does this guy seem like a Clarence Bodicker to you?

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, let's go directly to the Tarantino script in True Romance where Clarence Worley, in which Drexel says. Reads his name and says, it doesn't sound like it fits him either. And it's also Clarence. Yeah. So I just got wildly distracted though, Bill, when you were talking about your old column, because my favorite group used to be the Lindsey Hunter All Stars who are athletes that sound like hot girls. I used to love that shit. Lindsey Hunter sounds like a girl I dated. She was a publicist in la.

[Bill Simmons]

It the best one ever was when I did the. I had the Lindsay Hunter All Stars. Then like two years after I started it, Charlotte, the Charlotte Hornets drafted Alexis Ainka. And it was like, this is definitely a supermodel. 1990. Like she took the. Took the COVID from Elle McPherson.

[Kyle Brandt]

Incredible.

[Bill Simmons]

Did you see Alexis Ajinka on the New Si? And it was a power forward for the Hornets. So that was amazing.

[Kyle Brandt]

Wow. Is he dating Alexis Ajinka? No, he's still with Stacy. Augmented. I love that.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, that's it for what stage the best. What stage the worst? The overacting award. Miguel Ferrer kind of dials it up a few times as Bob Morton. Did you have another candidate though?

[Kyle Brandt]

You know who over acts. Ed 209. Get the out of my face. Falling down the stairs. He. He balls on his back. He's crying. His legs are flailing. Yeah, the fuck up. Ed 209. I don't like that part of it. I think he gets it.

[Bill Simmons]

Ed209 had some flaws shooting people in the boardroom. Can't walk downstairs. Like they really rushed that one.

[Kyle Brandt]

Can I give you an ED 209 take?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

I think ED 209 is. Is a Freudian metaphor. I think it's. It's a penis thing for Dick Jones. I complete completely. I think Dick Jones has nothing down there. Can't work down there. And this thing is this big giant metal with balls that shoots and like his name is Dick. Ed209. I think Dick Jones was dealing with some of that. When we see Dick Jones in the bathroom, he's on the toilet sitting. I think he's peeing and hiding. He has no wedding ring on. He doesn't like how. What's his name? Bob Morton. Like womanizes. I think it is a big Freudian like look at this giant metal unit. And that's how it was in the 80s. I feel like it's a metaphor for that and it doesn't work. Work.

[Bill Simmons]

He's just sitting in the bathroom stall looking at his sad pud that used.

[Kyle Brandt]

To work with no phone, by the way.

[Bill Simmons]

Just sitting there thinking about how to create Ed219. Is he more of a thing? I like that. Take the CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford. Hottest. Take a word. I have one of my favorite ones I've ever had. But you go, hell yes.

[Kyle Brandt]

You want to go first? No, you go first. My hottest take is that this movie chokes. It chokes. And at the one yard line at desean Jackson's meaning we have an entire long movie of state of the art craftsmanship and incredible 1980s technical special effects. And in the last 30 seconds of the movie we get that asinine Dick Jones monster puppet fall shot out of the window. And it makes fucking. It's so, so, so, so bad. And it's so disappointing. It makes Mac and me look like Avatar. It's. They take the creature from the tool sober video and throw it out. And they didn't even need to have that in there. They've done all these brilliant special effects shots. And I feel like it blows a 31 series lead right at the end. And they choke at the goal line. And you walk into the lobby, you're like, what was that last shot of that dumb puppet falling out? Terrible. I hate that.

[Bill Simmons]

Might have been the half star for Ebert. He might have been three and a half stars with a minute left.

[Kyle Brandt]

And you mentioned this, the tough beat. And people point this out. The year later, you have Hans Gruber in the same exact shot. And it looks awesome. Yeah, I just think. I think Robocop blew the 28 to 3 lead. Did not get nominated for an Oscar for special effects. Predator and Inner Space only. No nomination. One for sound. And I think the voters were like, I can't nominate that shit with that thing falling out the window. It looks so bad. It's a shame that it ends that way.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a great point.

[Kyle Brandt]

What's yours? I can't. I'm curious. Is that one of the best ones you've ever had? Let's go.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. This is really good. It's meaningful. Ties into all your appearances on the pod. I think out of all the movie roles and any rewatchables we've ever done, I think this is the one you could have. When we say the what if? Kyle Brandt's acting career.

[Kyle Brandt]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Soaps, you know, you're in real world, then you're in the soaps, and it's like, someday I'm going to be an actor. Maybe I could even be an action star. I think he would have been a great robocop. You have the chin. You could have. You could have figured out the costume. You're athletic. I just think this could have been it. Like out of any movie we've done. You as robocop. I really excited me.

[Kyle Brandt]

I'm flattered. Thank you. And if it would be like this and come quietly or there will be trouble. Bill knows. I was on Days of Our Lives for three and a half years, and they offered me a contract extension. And I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going off to be Matt Damon. And I got this thing. And then like a year later, I was broke and depressed and sleeping in my robe. The last thing I ever Auditioned for Bill. My last Hollywood acting audition was a remake of Knight Rider. They did a remake like, I don't know, 15, 20 years ago. And I got really far in the process of getting cast in the Hasselhoff role and then didn't get it. And that was, like, my moment where I was like, this is it. I got to get out of here. So I wish there would have been a RoboCop, man. I don't know if we'd be having the same conversation.

[Bill Simmons]

I think you could have done it.

[Kyle Brandt]

Thanks, buddy.

[Bill Simmons]

Casting what ifs. Jonathan Kaplan was supposed to direct but decided to do Project X instead. I don't remember that one.

[Kyle Brandt]

Project X was with Matthew Broderick and Monkeys.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, the monkey. Yeah. Okay.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. Odd movie.

[Bill Simmons]

Verhoeven dismissed the script twice, didn't understand the comedy in it. And then his wife was like, no, no, this is good. You should do this movie. And then he ended up doing it. They Speaking of Kyle Brandt, they spend six to eight months searching for an actor to play Alex Murphy. You were too young. Yeah, Schwarzenegger, Ironside. They. They kicked the tires on Rucker Hauer. Verhoeven's like, let's just get Rucker. They were like, no, we're not getting Rucker Hauer. Tom Behringer, Armin Asante, Keith Carradine. My favorite choice, James Remar.

[Kyle Brandt]

Hell, yes. Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Gans from 48 Hours.

[Kyle Brandt]

I'm into Remar. I'm into all those guys. I so I watched. There's this. There's this documentary on Amazon called Robo Doc. This unbelievably thorough, exhaustive, detailed really well about the making of this. And when they're talking about the casting of RoboCop, they flash through some headshots and some of the names you mentioned. Did you come across this? Because in the doc, there's a headshot, and the headshot potentially to play Murphy is our guy, Steven Seagal. And I'm like, today, is that possibly true? Is that fucking real?

[Bill Simmons]

So I did not see that. But this is crazy because my recasting couch director or city category was Seagal as RoboCop. It's just a better movie. It's just Seagal being trapped in the Robo thing, but trying to add Seagal things where he said, no, no, I don't think RoboCop should get shot. All the shots miss. He's just cleaning out. He's never in danger. Nobody ever shoots at him. I just think it's a funnier movie.

[Kyle Brandt]

I I let's spitball this. I Think it'd be cool if Robocop had, like, a metal ponytail and a metal beret and he has his badge around his chain. And you know how he walks like he's like. Anybody seen Clarence Boddicker?

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Kyle Brandt]

Anybody know why Clarence Boddicker did Murphy? Oh, fucking. I'm gonna take you to the bank, Dick Jones to the blood bank. We need this.

[Bill Simmons]

Also in the beginning in the warehouse. He could have had, like, karate fights with guys before they finally got him and shot. He could have done Seagal. Shit it.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

But he never would have taken it because the guy loses in the movie. And Seagal never loses.

[Kyle Brandt]

Never.

[Bill Simmons]

Nobody ever landed a punch on Seagal. 12 by 4 in that one movie. That out for Justice. That was it. Somebody got me. The two by four recovered right away. Stephanie Zimbalist was cast as Anne Lewis, but had a Remington steel pickup.

[Kyle Brandt]

Tough.

[Bill Simmons]

Couldn't do it. I was. Had a huge crush on her in the 80s and ended up getting Nancy Allen instead. Weller was the only person out of all the actors who wanted to be in. And Verhoeven liked his chin. That's it. That's really what it came about.

[Kyle Brandt]

Great actor.

[Bill Simmons]

Michael Ironside. Offered the role of Bodicker. Did not want to be a psychopath again. Turned it down. I wonder. And then Kurtwood Smith auditioned for Dick Jones. Thought he got Dick Jones, but they gave him Clarence Bodicker. I wonder how many times Kurt Wood Smith and Michael Ironside were up for the same role as people just wondered what the fuck was going on.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's so true. I think Kurt Wood Smith probably, like, auditioned for Jester in top gun in 86.

[Bill Simmons]

No question.

[Kyle Brandt]

And then it's weird because Ironside then shows up in Total Recall and he's the bad guy again. So he does get the role. But that's. Those two guys definitely flock together.

[Bill Simmons]

I think that was his settle down moment when he turned down RoboCop. And then two years later, it's like, fuck.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Total Recall. Do It Best. That Guy Award. So we already mentioned Paul McCrane, who is toxic waste a meal.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

But I think the winner is Ray Wise, who is the. One of the other bad guys. The guy who kicks Robocop in the balls.

[Kyle Brandt]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

I for 40 years thought that this was Sosa from Scarface. I told you a long time ago not to fuck with me, Tony. I told you what would happen. But it's not. It's. I learned that this week.

[Kyle Brandt]

I thought.

[Bill Simmons]

For 40 years I thought it was sosa And I was like, what amazing range on this guy. He played Sosa. He played. But no, it's Ray Wise, character actor.

[Kyle Brandt]

I. I just have to shout out my guy. We've done this before in this category, the most legendary background ever. Our guy Alan Graff. I have the picture of him because no one knows who Alan Graffiti. Because this guy. This guy's in everything.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah, that guy.

[Kyle Brandt]

He's in. We had him in over the Top. He's the guy in the donut shop with the gun and Boogie Nights. He's in the background with. He's always the guy in the background. He's in Magnolia. He's in Jerry Maguire. Alan Graph, wherever you are, if you're still with us, that's.

[Bill Simmons]

Who'd you have for the DM Waiters Award?

[Kyle Brandt]

To me. And I'm like, I gotta go back to my guy. Ed 209. I. 3 scenes takes it away. I mean, it's either him or it's Buy that for a dollar guy. But I think it's at 209.

[Bill Simmons]

I had buy that for a dollar guy.

[Kyle Brandt]

But you could go either about Ed 209. At the end of the movie when RoboCop blows him up, RoboCop comes in. Ed 209 walks up and goes, you are parked illegally. You have 15 seconds. So does he blow people away for parking in the wrong spot? Was he about to open fire because of a parking violation? What's going on?

[Bill Simmons]

I think I do that. Had some serious malfunction glitches.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, he just shoots at any.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, I think that because he murdered the guy in the boardroom for no reason at all. Yeah, I don't think he was.

[Kyle Brandt]

That's life in the big city. Okay, you know what? I love that line.

[Bill Simmons]

Did you ever recasting couch or. No.

[Kyle Brandt]

Director City. I would love to see a Wes Anderson version of RoboCop. He's in like a corduroy suit and he goes into the Grand Budapest Hotel and beats people up with ironic banjos and typewriters. That would be a totally different take on it. Wes Anderson, RoboCop, I'd like to see.

[Bill Simmons]

Fantasy would be the other one who liked it.

[Kyle Brandt]

I listened to the picture.

[Bill Simmons]

Wes Anderson has made the movie of the year. Craig's choice for a flex category. Craig, you got to come on the zoom for this.

[C]

I'm going to do a hottest take, but I want to give one quick other thought first. Verhoeven wanted this to be an asexual movie. Well, he failed because I want to shout Out. I want to use a little bit of my time to shout out Dr. Tyler, played by a woman named Sage Parker. With the glasses, big glasses. Kind of crushing it in this movie. Looked her up. Didn't really have a career. Thought she looked like a. Like Parker Posey's sister. I was very into her, thought there'd be more of her in the second half of the movie. Was a little disappointed that she disappeared.

[Kyle Brandt]

And she kisses his visor with the lipstick smack on there. It's kind of hot.

[C]

I like. I was into her. Anyway. My hot take is that. Is that RoboCop? Not that hard to thwart. Not that impressive of an invention. Like. I think RoboCop's Madden score is like 82.

[Kyle Brandt]

Okay.

[C]

People are shooting rocket launchers in this movie. And he has one handgun. He's incredibly slow. He could. Can he run? Can he even run?

[Kyle Brandt]

We never see him run.

[C]

He can barely turn around. Just like, hit him with your car.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, just like.

[C]

Don't think he's that impressive.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, they show him driving, but we never see how he would have actually gotten into the car to drive because he seems so unflexible. I don't even know how he got in the car.

[Kyle Brandt]

I think Craig, the deal was that they couldn't get him in and out of the car because he was too big. So there's never a shot of him getting in or out of a car. There's. You bring up a great point. Like, you need to get away from RoboCop. Just run like he. He can't do anything.

[C]

Run around the corner, climb the stairs. Turn. Just turn him around a little bit.

[Kyle Brandt]

You're done. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It be like if they. If the cowboys. Like, everybody's like, michael Parsons is unstoppable. But he ran like an 11.040. Couldn't turn this guy. I just can't block this guy. It's like. No, he actually can't. He can't move.

[C]

Use one of those big SUVs to run him over. He's done.

[Bill Simmons]

That's a great take, Craig. Congrats. So you kind of did this already, but I had a bonus category in here. The Steven Seagal Shitting on Himself award for most unbelievable anecdote from the actual film. Just Weller only responding to Verhoeven when he was addressed as Robo when he was in the RoboCop. I had had to try to find it in multiple places because I just didn't believe it.

[Kyle Brandt]

It.

[Bill Simmons]

He's like, hey, Peter. It's like.

[Kyle Brandt]

And Murphy.

[Bill Simmons]

But Robo's funnier though. Murphy. I get Robo. I don't get Robo.

[Kyle Brandt]

I know. Not even Peter.

[Bill Simmons]

So you got to turn around in the costume. He's like, paul, I thought we covered this. Can you call me?

[Kyle Brandt]

I need you on set. Peter, can you call me Robo?

[Bill Simmons]

Call me Robo when I'm on the set. Like I'm really into this character. Half ass Internet research. The RoboCop suit costs somewhere between 500k and a million dollars. It was the story was conceived. I mentioned Neumeyer before he was Universal Pictures junior Story executive Edward Neumeyer developed it with a guy named Michael Miner who wrote it, and that was it. Verhoeven wanted to film in Dallas because it suggested the near future. I don't know if I agree.

[Kyle Brandt]

Talking about the mid-80s.

[Bill Simmons]

What would be the Robocop city now for suggest in the near future?

[Kyle Brandt]

Dubai.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

We'd have to go out of America.

[Bill Simmons]

Good point. Richard Nixon was hired to promote the home video release for 25K and donated the money. So you watched that RoboDoc doc? Yeah, I didn't watch it.

[Kyle Brandt]

The four parts. Exhaustive.

[Bill Simmons]

The four parts where it was like, I'm tapping out. Sorry.

[Kyle Brandt]

Incredibly well done though, huh?

[Bill Simmons]

It's revealed in that doc that all the cops in this movie are named after notorious mass murderers like Ramirez.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, and serial killers, stuff like that. See, Robocop's got so many Easter eggs, it's fun.

[Bill Simmons]

Verhoeven started taking prescription meds to cope with insomnia and. And was just apparently a maniac on the set. But got better as the years passed with movies. Although Sharon Stone might say differently. So when Boddicker's gang is blowing up storefronts, one explosion was bigger than they thought. And you see the actors scattering and somebody's coat got on fire. Ray Wise said he got some glass on his face. He was excited. They paid him extra.

[Kyle Brandt]

Awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

The movie was refused an R rating 11 times, although Verhoeven said it was eight. And they just kept like, you gotta tone down the violence. But they were like, the whole point of this is we're making fun of this stuff. Like we need the violence. And then the film's cars, the police cars were 86 Ford Tauruses.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

Probably the peak for Ford Taurus. I guess we'll cover an Apex.

[Kyle Brandt]

Apex Mountain for Ford Taurus for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

And then RoboCop. Huge VHS rental in the. In 1988. The biggest one.

[Kyle Brandt]

I saw it.

[Bill Simmons]

Massive. Longest waiting list for of the year. And then a Little bonus. Lisa Gibbons, deep dive for you.

[Kyle Brandt]

You give it to me.

[Bill Simmons]

She has three grown children and a rescue dog named Biggie.

[Kyle Brandt]

Okay. She's into rap.

[Bill Simmons]

She did Tony Robbins infomercials in the 80s, which I forgot. She hosted her own daytime show in the 90s for seven years.

[Kyle Brandt]

Seven years. That's a good run.

[Bill Simmons]

What do you have for Lisa Gibbons? Over under marriages? I'll give you over under three and a half.

[Kyle Brandt]

You told me how many times Lisa Gibbons been married.

[Bill Simmons]

Lisa Givens, marriage is over. Under three and a half.

[Kyle Brandt]

I would go under with three.

[Bill Simmons]

It was four. So the over hits. Yeah, should have FanDuel cover that one. But she's settled down. She's living her life. 68.

[Kyle Brandt]

When Macaulay is learning about Vincent Hannah and he hears he's been divorced three times because he's out there chasing guys like you. Lisa Gibbon's out there maybe chasing those celebrity news leads stories. Right, I get it.

[Bill Simmons]

Apex Mountain. Lisa Gibbons. Not yet.

[Kyle Brandt]

No.

[Bill Simmons]

I think getting your own daytime talk shows. Probably apex for seven years.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Detroit. That's pretty 87. Pretty good in Detroit.

[Kyle Brandt]

Early 90s. Bad Boy Pistons. Barry Sanders.

[Bill Simmons]

Early 90s.

[Kyle Brandt]

It's gotta be good.

[Bill Simmons]

Call Peter Weller. I'm gonna say yes, absolutely.

[Kyle Brandt]

I love Weller. But this is all I got.

[Bill Simmons]

Verhoeven? No, but I think it's Basic Instinct for him. So it's five years later.

[Kyle Brandt]

Basic Instinct was bigger than Total Recall, which was big. I think it is too.

[Bill Simmons]

After Basic Instinct, it was like, this guy's a guy movie. Heroes dying with the Christ arms throwing up. Fallback. I think it's Platoon. But we're right. We're right in the. I think if you combine it, this is kind of peak for that. And then we're right toward the peak of the puppet falling backwards as our character. But it's actually Alan Richmond. They figured it out. Nancy Allen. No, Famous Bodickers. See if Mike bodicker.

[Kyle Brandt]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Really good 80s Al pitcher. The Red Sox trade for him in. In 88 to make a little pennant push. I'm sorry, 80. They traded for him in 80. Yeah, 88. So the only two bodickers I could think of.

[Kyle Brandt]

I don't. I didn't even know the picture. So, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Ronnie Cox. I'm gonna say he's got this and bev2 in the same year.

[Kyle Brandt]

This is. This is. This is Ronnie Cox. Apex Mountain. Great actor too. I love that guy.

[Bill Simmons]

Two years earlier, is in Vision Quest with Linda Fiorentino staying at his house. Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Modine the Horniest character in history. Unbelievably horny.

[Bill Simmons]

Miguel Ferrer, probably.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yep. Yeah. Bob Morton. Great.

[Bill Simmons]

Kurtwood smith, probably. That 70s show. That was a pretty big show for, like, seven years.

[Kyle Brandt]

Massive show. And then it's got Kutcher and Mila, and one of its characters is in prison now. Like, just all kinds of stuff to talk about with that show. And, yeah, I think it's. I've never seen one episode, but apparently he's really good. And he's the dad.

[Bill Simmons]

Important show on the Reddit conspiracy board. Futuristic cop movies.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, I mean, you got Blade Runner. I mean, Blade Runner, Minority Report. Blade Runner did a lot to inspire this movie, too. I think it's Blade Runner still.

[Bill Simmons]

I agree. Cruiser Hanks.

[Kyle Brandt]

This is so funny. Robo Tom, which one do you go with?

[Bill Simmons]

I did Cruise. Cruz is way funnier. I think that Cruz in the first 15 minutes, Cruz getting shot. Cruz having to take his helmet off and having, like, the bald Cruise cap on.

[Kyle Brandt]

You don't play cops a lot. Like, I feel like the only time maybe he has his Minority Report, he's never really been in, like, a blue uniform. Hanks did it in Dragnet, and he did it in the one with the dog. Turner and Hooch. I think it's probably cruising with the dog. Yeah. I mix it up with canine, which was John Belushi.

[Bill Simmons]

Turner with canine. What's happening?

[Kyle Brandt]

That was like, turner. Are you gonna do the Turner and Hoots rewatch?

[Bill Simmons]

Listen, if there's ever a dog month, Turner, Hooch will be in dog month.

[Kyle Brandt]

Dog month. It's good dog.

[Bill Simmons]

High ratings. People love dogs.

[Kyle Brandt]

I would go with Cruz, though. I would go with Cruz.

[Bill Simmons]

Me too. Scorsese or Spielberg? Interesting that this could go either way, but this feels like very Spielberg trying to embrace his dark side but not really getting there.

[Kyle Brandt]

The problem is the hard R. The hard R rating. Scorsese has to do it. I mean, the coke scene alone is him. Spielberg did this movie. It was called AI and Haley. Zoell Osment was RoboCop.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, you're right. It's Scorsese. It's a good call.

[Kyle Brandt]

Scorsese.

[Bill Simmons]

So he's like. He's like, how many core. How many cocaine scenes are in there? Like, we got two. He's like, per, I'm in.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman played, clearly? Bodicker. What would you have done? RoboCop.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, no. I saw this as, like, young. Young up and coming. Like Twister, Boogie Nights. Philip Seymour Hoppin Ferrer. Not even him. Like, one of the, like, people in the lab, like, who works on Robocop. And he kind of has like Scotty J energy. You know, he's like a lab coat and he's walking next to robocop. He's like, I like your suit a lot. Looks really sexy. Thank you. I really like your name. Thank you. Like, I think he's just one of these guys who steals the scene despite having like two lines. I love him there.

[Bill Simmons]

He could have been Kenny.

[Kyle Brandt]

Okay. You love Kenny. Dude. Kenny is a Hilarious. Hilarious. Oh, sure, I'll volunteer, boss.

[Bill Simmons]

He could have done it like with his son of a woman kind of. Phil huffing.

[Kyle Brandt]

Wait, Bill, let me, Let me give you. There's one Apex mount I think is interesting. Yeah. Do you think is this Apex Mountain for violent scenes that are hard to watch? I'm talking about Murphy's execution. And I have a list. Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, I can't wait.

[Kyle Brandt]

All right, so you got. At the end of Casino, Tommy in the cornfield gets beaten up by Frank Vincent. It's tough to watch the Private Ryan slow motion stabbing in the end when they're in the room and he's like, no, no, no, no, no, don't. Gandolfini in Alabama and true romance is brutal.

[Bill Simmons]

Ooh, that would have been my pick.

[Kyle Brandt]

You have the hobbling and misery where she breaks his ankles, which I actually think is kind of funny. And then there's like really horrible stuff like the American History X Curb Stomp, which is terrible for a million reasons. Irreversible has an 11 minute scene that's unwatchable. But I kind of. The true romance one, especially the director's cut is really tough. It's not a fun topic, but it thought of this because I still had trouble watching the scene. And I was like, is this the hardest scene to watch? Put it this way. When I show my little kid content now, like, I don't care about profanity and usually I don't care about violence. It's the sex I try to keep him away from. He's only 11. I would not want him to watch this movie yet. I don't want him to watch that scene of Murphy being killed. It's just too much. Like I, I saw it too young and I don't want him to. It's intense.

[Bill Simmons]

I would have thrown Reservoir Dogs with the cutting the ear off Michael Madsen.

[Kyle Brandt]

Our guy, by the way. Species pod. Fantastic. Just fantastic.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, thank you. One of the all timers. Yeah, that Gandolfini scene is.

[Kyle Brandt]

Is.

[Bill Simmons]

I think that's the whole point, though.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. There's some other ones. Man on fire. When he's torturing the guy in the car. But you're kind of rooting for him to do it.

[Kyle Brandt]

I know.

[Bill Simmons]

Picking it.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Whose idea was it to give ED 209 actual bullets for the boardroom demonstration?

[Kyle Brandt]

Maybe we just go with blanks for the dem.

[Bill Simmons]

Just flanks for the demo. Just change out the bullets. You're arming him with real bullets? What if something goes wrong?

[Kyle Brandt]

They're ripping out wires from the control board. Maybe it just not load. Ed 209. Unbelievable.

[Bill Simmons]

It's not like he. It's not like Ed 209 went to the store and bought bullets. Like they were arming him with the bullets.

[Kyle Brandt]

With a lot of them. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Hot take. Did Murphy deserve to die? They go into a warehouse. Warehouse loaded with gunmen that they just chased. There's no backup coming for 20 minutes?

[Kyle Brandt]

Nope.

[Bill Simmons]

There's no harder place to navigate than a warehouse with nooks and crannies and levels. They're like, we'll go in first. The rest of the guys will come in later. How about this? Just hang outside for 20 minutes.

[Kyle Brandt]

Let's just chill. It's like. It's like in the town when the guy looks up and sees all the guys with the guns. The officer just looks back down. Not today.

[Bill Simmons]

Just wait.

[Kyle Brandt]

Not today.

[Bill Simmons]

Backup's not coming for 20 minutes.

[Kyle Brandt]

Cool.

[Bill Simmons]

We'll wait for the backup.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Let's go to Carl. Six of them and two for us. How do you feel about Nancy Allen's character not figuring out that Robocops Murphy for like 30 minutes?

[Kyle Brandt]

I feel all right. She. The second she sees the gun. Yeah. And she worked with him for like 20 minutes before he was murdered. It's not like they're all friends. All right? Right.

[Bill Simmons]

Murphy had no family or friends other than this one. Wife and kid. Nobody. Who knew he was nothing?

[Kyle Brandt]

No.

[Bill Simmons]

Was anyone at his bachelor party?

[Kyle Brandt]

That's a good point. I mean, he probably got married.

[Bill Simmons]

College. Remainder checked in every once in a while.

[Kyle Brandt]

No, it's side piece, which I think he had. And that she didn't show up. I have a picky knit about the family like that. When he goes in that flashback. That is such a bolstered demonstration of what a family is like. No family is that nice. The kid is like, hi, dad, take a picture with me. No kid says that. Well, that's the walk into the room.

[Bill Simmons]

Verheaven doesn't understand American families at all.

[Kyle Brandt]

Because you know what American families don't do? It's the Middle of the day, the wife is in a robe. It's like a Tuesday. And she's like, I have to tell you something. I love you. What is that? No wife behaves that way ever. If anything, that wife would be like really annoyed that why is he doing this new job in the tough district. We need more money. We got to get out of this house. Like, like that idyllic version of a family. Verhoeven, Ms. No family is like that.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, the way she says, I have to tell you something, I love you. You just have to assume there's a guy hiding in the closet that had just been having sex with her and she's trying to throw him off the scent. I love you. It's like, come get.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, definitely.

[Bill Simmons]

I have a problem with the Robocop costume. So why do you have the mouth and the jaw exposed? It feels like all the shots, like you just aim for his mouth, right? You try to hit it and then when they're shooting at him, he's covering his jaw. Like, why is it covering anything? He's a robot.

[Kyle Brandt]

Why wouldn't he have just a full metal over his face too?

[Bill Simmons]

Or like a little shield that comes down. Like if he's in battle, like, pull the shield down.

[Kyle Brandt]

There was a lot of people who didn't want to play the role because they didn't want half their face covered the whole time. And so that's it.

[Bill Simmons]

But maybe, maybe it's like it goes up and down though. It's like a mouthpiece in boxing. Like when you know you're in battle, you pull it down.

[Kyle Brandt]

Like a Wellness master. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

ED 209. Not being able to go downstairs. I know it's funny, but I also like, that's just insane. They didn't think of that. He's chasing criminals. There's criminals go up and down stairs. You didn't figure this out?

[Kyle Brandt]

Is ED 209, Apex Mountain for worst new technology rollout ever. It's like him, Google Glass, Quibi, ESPN Mobile and Ed 209. Like what? That's the worst thing I've seen ever seen. Really?

[Bill Simmons]

Here's my last one. Was Clarence Boddicker. Was he wanted criminal or not? Yeah, he's wanted for 31 cop killers, 31 deaths on his watch. The. The mob boss of Old Detroit. But then in the last half hour of this movie, he's just strolling into Dick Jones's office, going through saying hi to people. So is he a criminal or not?

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah. Lisa Gibbons even has him on the news as like known mob boss. Sometimes they do this in movies, like in 1989, Batman, like Carl Grissom and Jack Napier. They're just known mob bosses. They just walk around and they do stuff in public and no one arrests them or anything. So, yes, it is a little odd.

[Bill Simmons]

Get it? Do you have any picket?

[Kyle Brandt]

No, just the one about the family. Would never be that way. It's ridiculous.

[Bill Simmons]

Sequel Prequel. Prestige tv, All Black Cast Are Untouchable. A prequel with Murphy in the other part of Detroit. I. I'd probably watch 5 minutes all black cast. Maybe if you're going to that. That would have been the 2014 answer. If you're remaking RoboCop, like, let's go. All black cast and just go. But they made all these sequels, so I think that's the answer.

[Kyle Brandt]

The real answer to this category is none of them. It's video game. And they made a shitload of video games, and they're pretty cool. The arcade game was awesome. You could fight Ed 209. That's the answer.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm so old that I had the computer games in the 80s.

[Kyle Brandt]

You had a computer game?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Like on an Apple Computer or would you have a Commodore?

[Bill Simmons]

Apple.

[Kyle Brandt]

Awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

1988. That's the Apple that me and Gus Ramsey used to play microleague baseball on all the time. But I had a copy disk. I had only a few games, but I think I had the RoboCop one. I vaguely remember it. Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trejo, Doris Burke, Sam Jackson? No, Byron Mayo, Tony Romo, Chris Collinsworth, Daniel Plainview long legs, Peter Schrager or Wilford Brimley in the Firm.

[Kyle Brandt]

You know, I'm tempted to say peace, Rags, but I need the scene where he shoots through the woman's legs. I would love to have my guy Gus Johnson on the call. And it's just RoboCop young fella. Couple of scumbags about to give this woman a Brazilian, goes to the thigh holster, raises his gun and beans out much.

[Bill Simmons]

There we go.

[Kyle Brandt]

Love you, Gus.

[Bill Simmons]

Great job.

[Kyle Brandt]

Love you.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, see, you stepped on mine. Now, I. First of all, I thought you were doing this for another scene, but I had Mike Breen for Ed 209 killing Kenny.

[Kyle Brandt]

Do it. Do it.

[Bill Simmons]

15 seconds. Five seconds.

[Kyle Brandt]

Bang, bang.

[Bill Simmons]

He just took 40 bags. His kitty's just taking unbelievable. All the shots.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, see, the shrager take would be. He'd be like. Like ED 209 is Mahomes. And him taking that loss early on is going to put a chip on my home shoulder. And Mahomes is out for revenge this year, and I'm taking the Chiefs. That's Peter. He kills that take that. He would. That would. That's what he would roll with. And it'd be good.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, I thought it would have been. Guys, I talked to Dick Jones last week, and he did not like what happened with Ed 209 in the boardroom. They're fixing it. They think that robot's going to be great and it's going to be ready to go for the season.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, look, everybody's moving on to Bob Morton. That's. I got news for you. Dick Jones, they still believe in him. They still like him. Let's go. Love you, Peter. I love you. And he would give his amazing take, and no one would laugh or respond. I love you, bud.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, Just freeze faces in the split screens. That ESPN for it. Just one Oscar. Who gets it? Special effects.

[Kyle Brandt]

No. Well, the sound effects actually won. Special effects. Not nominated one, then.

[Bill Simmons]

Sure. Okay.

[Kyle Brandt]

Cool. Sober character. Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

Probably unanswerable questions. So we have no idea what year this movie is in?

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Apparently there was a commercial for the film's home video release that said the movie was set in 1991, but nobody's ever established that. What year do you think this movie was set in? If you had to pick a year, it probably has to go at least 30 years ahead.

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, it's. It's tough because they have all this technology, but there's no cell phones, so nobody makes a cell phone call the whole time.

[Bill Simmons]

But do they know? And they. I guess in 87, they probably should have known cell phones were gonna be.

[Kyle Brandt]

A bigger part of these because we have the Gordon Gekko phone already. Like, they should have known.

[Bill Simmons]

But they figured out DVDs. They didn't figure out cell phones.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's like they made this in 86. They probably thought this was like 20, 2010, maybe 2005, 20 some years forward.

[Bill Simmons]

I was gonna say, like 2011. RA five years later.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, this is stealth RoboCop question, but do you think Bob Morton was behind transferring cops into the worst parts of Detroit that could eventually be good? RoboCop.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, he's almost like scouting. Combine it. And it's like there's this guy Murphy and the other. Like, he's really good. It's like, transfer that guy over. We got to get.

[Kyle Brandt]

I think it's almost inferred in the movie that Murphy's sudden transfer to the rough Thing is, because Murphy fit the profile. They set him up to be killed, and then they could use him because they knew he could be a Robocop.

[Bill Simmons]

Was it. Basically, they scouted him. This is our guy. Clarence Boddicker is going to lure him in. The backup is going to be 20 minutes away. Kind of weird. It's not like Detroit, Houston.

[Kyle Brandt]

I think it was completely masterminded. Yes, completely.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, so maybe that's answerable. What piece of memorabilia would you want or not want from this movie?

[Kyle Brandt]

Something that we have not talked about yet in this podcast. I'm going to have some friends over, some couples. We're going to have some wine, some IPAs, some charcute, and we're going to play around to Nukem and we're going to get the game out and we're going to say, pakistan's threatening my border. I want real Nukem. None of this cars against humanity shit. I want nuke them. The home game, the best.

[Bill Simmons]

We forgot to mention. That's. That's a good answer. We forgot to mention with those news breaks when they slide in, stuff like two presidents have been killed in Santa Barbara, and it's clearly inferring it was Nixon, Reagan. But then they have this other one. I don't know why it's so funny, but. But Rebels have taken over Acapulco. In the mid-80s, Acapulco was like St. Barts. That's where everybody went. And they just kind of slid that in. But now, I guess that could have been for most. 1987 thing about this movie, so true. Because now if that happened, you'd be like, oh, I totally believe Rebels took over Acapulco. 87. It was kind of a way to make fun of rich people. My piece of memorabilia that I'd want from the movie, I probably want the mask.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Just some, like, just have it behind me in the studio here. I don't know. That'd be cool. Coach Finstock award, best life lesson. You can kill somebody, but you can't take their humanity. I don't know, dude.

[Kyle Brandt]

They'll come back.

[Bill Simmons]

They'll resurrect or put blanks in ED 209 the next time.

[Kyle Brandt]

If there's any weapons companies out there developing new stuff and you're going to do a demo. Yeah, not really necessary.

[Bill Simmons]

20% boardroom.

[Kyle Brandt]

Like, what was it where, like, Elon was debuting the Cybertruck, and he's like, you can't break the window. And he threw the thing against it and it broke. That went terribly but still, ED 209 significantly worse.

[Bill Simmons]

Best double feature choice. I mean, you could go Terminator and go right into RoboCop right after and double robot it. You could go Verhoeven and do this with Starship Troopers or Total Recall. I don't know. What do you have?

[Kyle Brandt]

The Terminator thing is interesting. There's a couple things I just want to say about this because when the movie came out, allegedly James Cameron was pissed and he thought that they ripped them off. And they were. And if you look at the timeline, RoboCop is being developed well before Terminator. But there's a really interesting thing in Terminator 2 where there's a couple things in T2 Judgment Day that are like. They look like ripoffs of RoboCop. Like verbatim. They both end in a steel mill. There's a point where the T1000 stabs Arnold with a spike and then wrenches it back and forth just like Bodicker does. Like note for note. And then the whole backlit SWAT team where they drop the Terminator and robocop is like note for note. It's almost like Cameron was doing it on purpose because he thought they ripped it looks just like it. Like, you know how Larry does the spite store for Mocha Joe and Curb. It was like spike spite scenes. It's almost not ripoffs of RoboCop Cop. It's crazy.

[Bill Simmons]

And we know Cameron's a dick.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah, I think he's totally neurotic. He's like, I know you guys ripped my off, so I'm ripping yours. Look at those shots. It's the same sequences.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, that's such a good. Especially the steak is like almost no really good one. Who won the movie?

[Kyle Brandt]

A lot of people could have been RoboCop. We need the. The horny, blood soaked Dutchman, Paul Verhoeven. I think he absolutely cooked in every single sense of this. I think it's him.

[Bill Simmons]

I had him as well. All right, let's see what Craig thought. Craig, had you seen robocop?

[C]

No, and I haven't seen the new one, the Joel Kinnaman one. I kind of barely knew that, to be honest. I enjoyed this movie so much, I. The B movie that's trying to say something Trojan, horsing you into a message. This movie is interesting because I think if you're on your phone, if you're half watching the movie, it's kind of just a cheesy 80s science fiction movie with questionable CGI.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[C]

Which is a problem now because most people turning it on, they're probably half looking at their phone and you miss so much. But if you actually sit down, put your phone down and watch the movie, there is so much happening in the interstitials. There's so much being subliminally kind of delivered to you.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[C]

That is just so interesting. It reminded me a lot of they Live, the John Carpenter movie.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[C]

Just about its views on, like, the dystopian future and all the stuff like that.

[Kyle Brandt]

That.

[C]

I also think the villains in this movie are great. To me, personally, I feel like Nancy Allen and Peter Weller, I could take them or leave them. If you recasted both of them, I think I'd be fine. But I think the villains in this movie are awesome and they seem like genuinely terrible people and you really want them to die.

[Bill Simmons]

You know what's interesting about that? I almost feel like he didn't want the two leads to have any sort of personality. Like he wanted the villains to have to suck up. The personality of the movie would be my guess.

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, that's kind of like, that's like the Batman formula that the villains are so much more interesting than Batman. The scene that we didn't talk about is in the bathroom between Bob Morton and Dick Jones where he reaches back and touches his hair and pulls it. Like that is what you call a dick swinging contest. And it's a really good scene.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Well, I think, like, like 10 years later, this is Brad Pitt as RoboCop.

[Kyle Brandt]

As RoboCop.

[Bill Simmons]

Right.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Good chin. Like he would have fit it. I, I, they probably beef it up. I don't think they have Peter.

[Kyle Brandt]

Well, Channing Tatum, you know, it's one of those guys.

[Bill Simmons]

Would you like this movie more if it was Emilio Estevez's RoboCop?

[Kyle Brandt]

I didn't even think about that. There's a scene where RoboCop gets really high and then he screams and the glass breaks. It's awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

Rob Lowe, like, like they could have gone like that direction. Right. A little more famous. But I, I didn't know who Peter Weller was, but I also wasn't going to the movies to see Peter Weller. Yeah.

[C]

If it was Rob Lowe, when RoboCop takes out, they would need hair still you like, I didn't love the RoboCop. I didn't love Peter Weller. Bald cap, like, North Vader situation going on. That was a little uncomfortable. I also don't know why he did it. I guess it's him coming to terms with his humanity. I do think, technologically speaking, this movie's eyes were bigger than its stomach a little bit like they really tried and maybe they were a couple years to too early on. It struggles in some ways, I think in the effects. But, you know, they're doing their best.

[Bill Simmons]

Hey, Craig, when we do our live fantasy football draft on August 25th.

[C]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm going to demonstrate. I'm bringing a robot in. I'm going to demonstrate. It's a robot fantasy thing. We're going to do a little demonstration. I want you to be the one that challenges him with a trade.

[C]

Would volunteer.

[Bill Simmons]

Be like, I'll do it.

[C]

Ed 209 is like Anthony Richardson. They're like trying to make him work. He's firing missiles at running backs in the flat.

[Kyle Brandt]

Ed209, I'll trade you George Kittle for DeAndre Hopkins and Isaiah Pacheco. You have 15 seconds to accept this trade.

[Bill Simmons]

That is Anthony Richardson. As N209 is the funniest is everything looks good on paper until. Until he's faced with any sort of anything.

[Kyle Brandt]

Really trying to make this work.

[C]

Yeah.

[Kyle Brandt]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow. All right, Robocop. Another winner for Craig. We took him back to 1986.

[Kyle Brandt]

Way to go, baby.

[C]

These movies don't miss now. Like any. Any of these. I'm just in on. On all of these.

[Bill Simmons]

We've completely corrupted them.

[C]

I know. 102 minutes. Come on.

[Bill Simmons]

There's still some left. All right, Kyle, Brandon, Anything to. Anything to plug push. What do you got?

[Kyle Brandt]

No, just usual. We're doing my. My tenth season of Good Morning Football. Wow me live from New York. And I'll be getting after it, as always.

[Bill Simmons]

What was the stuff with you in a suit with Peyton Manning? Is that like a secret project?

[Kyle Brandt]

What was Eli Manning.

[Bill Simmons]

Eli Manning. What was that?

[Kyle Brandt]

I. We. I did a project with Eli where. Remember, like Bill. Do you remember back in the 80s when Bob Hope would do his Christmas special and they would introduce the all Americans and they would run out and they're like, I'm Steve Young, BYU quarterback.

[Bill Simmons]

I love that.

[Kyle Brandt]

We, like, kind of redid that and modernized it. It was awesome. It's coming soon.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, great. Can't wait. All right, thanks. And then Craig Ringer fantasy football podcast. This is when it becomes essential. We are now in August.

[C]

That's right. This is week two of training camp. There was a real football game last night. You know, lots going on.

[Kyle Brandt]

Trey Lance, who's the number one overall pick.

[C]

It's Jamar Chaser.

[Kyle Brandt]

Saquon, really at receiver. Not, not. Not Bijan. I'm hearing about him.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I'm not Taking a receiver with the number one pick. I'm sorry, I. I'm not going to be in a draft with the number one pick because I don't still pick my nose and eat it. I'm an adult with a wife and a family and a job.

[C]

Well, Bill, we're doing Snake for our live draft. I just want you to know that we have to.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, I'll get some boogers ready. I can pick them on the live show. Are we really doing Snake?

[C]

Yeah, we have for a live stream. The auction. I mean, that on offline auction is.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[C]

Really difficult to pull.

[Bill Simmons]

I guess we got to do it. Can we call it the. The first annual ringer Booger Eater fantasy football draft?

[Kyle Brandt]

Draft sounds good.

[C]

Yeah, that could be the name of the league.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, that sounds good. Who's the most polarizing fantasy football guy this year? Do we have one?

[C]

Is it Justin Fields, Kyle Pitts and Anthony Richardson? Run it back.

[Bill Simmons]

No, Kyle Pitts isn't polarizing anymore. There's no.

[Kyle Brandt]

He's going to be sitting there. He's going to be sitting there in like the seventh round and you're like, he's got such upside. He's so fast.

[C]

Nobody thinks that anymore for how cheap they are. They are basically going undrafted now, which is why they're starting to get interesting. The other team is the Dolphins. It's like, is Tyree Kill over the hill? Devon Hn when he's with tua, he's the best fantasy running back in the league. When he's not with tua, he's one of the worst. Dolphins are really hard to predict right now.

[Bill Simmons]

So it's not Justin Fields?

[C]

No, I think Fields actually is like kind of a high floor pick because.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I think he's going to be like a massive quarterback this year.

[C]

The most in the league.

[Bill Simmons]

He might rush for like 1500 yards.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, they're committing to him. There's not a real strong backup situation. Like if he plays 17 games, he's going to be a top 10 quarterback as well.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I think to me he's a polarizer. One JJ McCarthy would be another one.

[C]

He's a polarizer for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, because it's like, could you just plug and play him with the Sam Darnold stats? It's the same offense.

[C]

It's a huge risk. All the bike. I mean, Justin Jefferson even. It's like, how much do you take him second overall with JJ McCarthy? What if he's terrible?

[Bill Simmons]

Where do you have Ed? 209 in the rankings right now is in the top hundred.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. He just cracked it. He's right next to Kyle Pierce.

[Bill Simmons]

I would rather take ED 209 than Kyle Pitts and go through.

[Kyle Brandt]

Kyle Pitt is the ED 209 of fantasy players. It's so true. That should be his nickname.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, Kyle Brandt, great to see you as always. We're going to try to do one more of these in the next. You know, I feel like we haven't done a Stallone in a while. I'm just, just going to say that.

[Kyle Brandt]

Let's put meat on that bone.

[Bill Simmons]

Let's see what we can find some Stallone meat left. Anyway, great to see you. Thanks, Craig.

[Kyle Brandt]

Always great to be here. Foreign.

[Bill Simmons]

This episode is brought to you by FX's alien Earth. From creator Noah Hawley and executive producer Ridley Scott comes the first television series inspired by the legendary Alien film franchise. A spaceship crash lands on Earth, bringing five unique and deadly species more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined. And a technological advancement marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. FX's Alien Earth premieres August 12th on FX and Hulu.