We’re joined by comedian and writer Ritch Duncan to talk about Wild Hogs, the movie that posits that middle aged actors on motorcycles is inherently funny. Meanwhile, Elliott does his scarily accurate Ray Liotta laugh, Dan delves into John Travolta’s tortured psyche, and Ritch proposes a Bruce Springsteen simile that perfectly sums up The Flop House.
0:00 – 0:32 – Introduction and theme.
0:33 – 2:45 – We welcome back Elliott Kalan, make fun of Stuart, and reintroduce Ritch Duncan.
2:46 – 40:22 – We make up for our spottily-released late summer shows by making this our second-longest episode ever and spending far too much time discussing Wild Hogs– possibly more than the screenwriter took to write it.
40:23 – 44:30 – Final judgments.
44:31 – 49:10 – We congratulate Elliott on some huge news, and spend a little time discussing the Ewe Boll contest (with a brief R.I.P. for Dan’s local video rental place).
49:11 – 55:56 – The sad bastards recommend.
55:57 – 57:28 – Goodbyes, theme, and outtakes.
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I think you guys really missed out on the optimum title for the inevitable (?) sequel to “Wild Hogs” —
“Wild Hogs II: Two Shades of Hog.”
directed by Zalman King. A totally different movie.
I wrote a short review of Naked Jungle and the discussion went into interesting directions:
“The Naked Jungle (1954)
The Naked Jungle really needs an in depth look at its themes though I’m not sure it would survive it.
On the one hand we have a very paternalistic and conservative figure in Heston (Leiningen). So extreme he’s almost evil… But wait! There is someone who is even more extreme than he (Gruber, even his name evokes a Nazi better!), so maybe he is not that bad at all (So let’s just forget about the threats, insults, and the bluffing that almost results in the double murder of two innocent, runaway natives.)
On the other hand we have a woman, a native village, and an army of killer ants that our hero must dominate at all costs.
By the end the woman falls for him and his dominating personality is accepted by the audience. (Did the guy actually change for the better? That’s really hard to say.)
The fantastic element is the marabunta, carnivorous ants that, somehow, also de-forest gigantic tracts of jungle as they travel – never mind that it makes no ecological sense that any particular species be that destructive.
The film takes its time to develop the relationship between Leiningen and his sorta mail-order bride, and whether it believable at all will depend on how much one is willing to suspend one’s disbelief.
The highlight is, of course, the final confrontation between Leiningen and the Insect horde – probably the only reason why a Monster Kid would wanna see this – where Natives, Ants or Nature may very well stand for the Feminine principle and Colonialistic Leiningen for the Male principle. (Leiningen’s wife turns out to be the perfect Colonialistic wife, after all.) Again, this seems the very theme the movie is built on, but any scratching at the surface might very well reveal that there is nothing underneath.
I saw the movie version of Kon-Tiki (2013) only a night later and the themes of Man adapting to Nature (“We’ll do exactly the same as the pre-Colombian boat builders did!”) are in stark opposition of the Colonialistic attitudes here (“They were savages out of the forest until I came here!”) but strangely fitting, as the cacao plantation ends up being destroyed in order to save a handful of humans – Man does not win.
I read the story this was based on some decades ago, but all I really remember was the one character who trained the ants to stand on their heads. It probably had no resemblance to this film.
Fun, and likely effective for the time, but in our liberal times Leiningen could be naught but an utter villain.”
The discussion:
http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/57895/The-Naked-Jungle-1954?page=1#.VbqbJPnF8i0