 Hello, and welcome to Release Date Rewind. My name is Marc J. Parker, and I am a film lover, filmmaker, film celebrator. And normally, this is an audio podcast wherever you get your podcasts on your favorite apps. But thanks to Portland Media Center, you are about to watch the video component of this show where I celebrate movie anniversaries with my friends. Each month, I usually talk about two different movies that I love with different friends, and we talk about the making of the movies, trivia, any fun memories associated with them. So I hope you enjoy, because now it's time to rewind. What are some of your favorite moments? Well, I like the part when they go to the bar, and Madonna does the jitterbug with the two guys. And she is good. And I was looking closely, that's her, that's not like a dance double. No. She's taking her ass off. They're throwing her around so much fun. And the one guy was in Laverne and Shirley, the one that was dressed as the Army and with the Army outfit on or whatever it was. He was Shirley's boyfriend, Carmine. Oh, that's funny. I didn't know that. Yeah. Eddie Mecca. He just died last year. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think last year, yeah. But if you notice, he's from Laverne and Shirley, and Lenny and Squiggy, the one guy is the announcer at all the games. Oh, yep. Yep. He's great. Squiggy? I don't know. Yes. Yeah. Lenny and Squiggy, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And okay, so that's one of my favorite scenes. And then of course, the song that they sing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love that. Yep. And then the last like, you know, big scene, like does Dotty throw the game? Oh my gosh. Salana is so, because I had never seen that part. I never saw the ending. So that is one intense, great. I was on the edge of my seat. Yeah. I mean, it was shot so well. I mean, they must have shot just that scene for at least a whole week to get everyone's reactions and all the action. Oh my God. Yeah. It's good. Yeah. And it's like a big debate. Like people like argue, like did she throw the game for her sister? Or did her sister really beat her for once? I saw it as her sister really beat her, right? That's how I saw it. Yeah. That's how I saw it. Because I actually thought about it, like really thought about it. And she loved the game too much just to throw it because in her mind, she knew she was going to be done. Yeah. So she knew her sister would have, she knew her sister would keep it up and have more of a chance to shine on her own without her being there because she knew once she was done this game, she's going to go off with her husband and that's that. Who, by the way, who wouldn't want to run off with Bill Pullman? I know. I know. Yeah. It's like, okay. Yeah. Of course she wants to go. She's got to go make babies like tonight. Yeah. Right after the game. Yeah. Bye, Tom. Thanks, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Bye, Jimmy. Yeah. She's like bye, Jimmy. He's just like before she comes back and surprise. I love her surprise. Yes. I know we're talking about the end. I love when he, because he thinks who is Ellen Sue, I believe is the one blonde game player. She's tossing the ball with someone who's in the catcher outfit, right? And he's like, how's she doing? Come on, talk to me or whatever. And then it was just such a great surprise when Gina Davis stands up. She's like, why are you calling me someone else's name? It's me. He's shocked because he thought she was already on her way back home. I love that she came back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that whole intense moment. Yeah. Lori Petty does not get, in my opinion, enough recognition for how good she is. I mean, I loved her in Tank Girl, which was a couple years later, which is such a weird movie. Do you remember Tank Girl? I do. I do. Yeah. Oh, my God. I didn't see the whole thing, but yeah. Oh, it's a wacky, wacky movie. But she is so good. And when she's, you know, that big game in the finale, right? And she's the pitcher. And I think it was, yeah, then Gina Davis, Dotty's like up to bat. You could see like Lori Petty is like having a panic attack. Like this was after their big blowout fight, which is so funny and so sad at the same time. I love when all the girls are eavesdropping, you know, the door and all the stairs and Rosie's like, don't look at her. Don't look at her. Oh, my God. I love that moment. I know. But yeah, you know, you really do feel for Kit, at least I did. Yeah. I get it. Like she's overshadowed by her sister who's prettier, better, you know, everything. But it really is a complex fight because, yeah, you know, part of me is like, oh, just let Kit have her moment. But at the same time, like, yeah, Kit, you're kind of always hard on Dotty. Dotty can't control how people view her. Right. Yeah, it's not like she's doing bad things to you. No. She also might feel uncomfortable about it, but it's just her life as well. So I kind of liked when during their big blowout fight, Dotty's like, what does she say? I wrote it down. Blow it out your ass or something like that. Like, oh, my God, what a line when she, you know, she's sick of feeling like she's always doing something wrong because right is never happy. It's like, you know what? I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, I get it. You know, I really do see both sides, but I thought I thought Dotty was maybe going to throw the game or go up to Jimmy and be like, you know what, I have to let my sister do this. You know, yeah. So I was sort of surprised that she didn't do that, that she really did look Kit in the eye and wow, it was a war. It was a battle, you know. Yeah. And I mean, they were always competitive, like at the very beginning you saw. So maybe she didn't see it as, you know, something as serious, just like like almost as if they were playing at home still. You know what I mean? And it was just like another words. I'm not going to make it easy on her so she could learn and be better on her own. Like tough love, you know, totally tough, totally tough love. You're right. Yeah. Jimmy switches Kit. That that's what starts the whole right to the other team. But I forget why does she why she moved to the other team? Oh, I think because Gina Davis is something like I'm going to go home and something let my sister and he took it as. Oh, yeah. Like he they just took it as let's just get rid of the sister so then she'll stay and not have to worry about her because Dotty's so good. We can just lose the yeah, we'll swap. Right. It was like a miscommunication. Right. And yeah, when when Kit comes home, I love to the house they're all living in and she throws she catches the ball. They're throwing the ball inside. She catches it and she throws it through that window, scaring everyone. Wow, that's a really great explosive argument. Yeah. Yeah, that was good. I know. And that was true, though, because like, I mean, I don't have any siblings, but I've seen siblings fight. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And yeah, yeah, we go hard. Yeah. I saw both sides. I'm sure some people only kind of see one side. Once I think it's the racing team kits team that wins, which it's funny. Did you notice Taylor Leone is in this? Oh, I know. Yeah. No, I think she says one word when she's at that one time. But she's on the race team right away. I'm like, wait a minute, that's Taylor Leone and she pops up throughout all of it. That's so funny. Yeah, it's kind of sad because then they go separate ways at the end. I know. And then like at the beginning of the movie, you know, when they're old. And the daughter says something like, you know, you'll get to see Aunt Kit. You haven't seen her in a long time. And so like, I feel like they've seen each other throughout the years, but not enough to like, you know, like go over each other's houses. And yeah, it sounds like it was not like even just like once a year. It's like every few years, we'll see each other. Yeah. So that was kind of sad. But again, it's realistic. I mean, yeah, like how the movie is very sweet and, you know, it's for the most part pretty family friendly. I know Madal's got some fun, like kind of sexual stuff, you know, jokes. But it's pretty, you know, I mean, totally fine showing this to a kid, I think. But yeah, even though it's sweet, it does still hold on to a little bit of that, like kind of darkness, you know, just sort of like that realistic, like, yeah, you're not always going to be best friends with your sister or friends, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's funny. What do you think about the old, old versions of them? Like it's so funny how Gina Davis does the voice of her older self. I know that about, you know, I know. I mean, she really did look like an older Gina Davis. Oh, yeah. I thought the casting was good. But I wonder if her voice just wasn't appropriate. Yeah, maybe her voice. Yeah. Like Gina Davis has her voice isn't low, but like it's not high. Yeah, I would say it's a lower, like kind of, you know, it's got a real presence, her voice. Like she has a unique sound, you know. And maybe it just didn't look right, like or sound right. I mean, like, you know, because that was the only one because the one May and Doris is Rosie, right? Yeah. And they they were actual players. Yeah. Like when they the ones that came out. Yeah. Yeah. But I was trying to look for the real May, the one that that I sent you the article. She just came out at the. Yes. Let's talk about her. So yeah, she the real May. She's the real May. She's like ninety nine, right, ninety or ninety nine. Yeah, she's super, super old. And she just finally came out at the Tribeca Film Festival of the show, right? Yeah. Pull it up. And now I was trying to find her because they had all real players, like at the end in the beginning. Yeah, I was going to say the end of credits during the song. There's a lot of footage of older women playing. And I was wondering that they must be the real players. Yeah, from the from the. They are. Yeah, they are. Yeah. Maybell Blair is the real. She's so cute, though. Did you see her hair? Oh, yeah. She reminds me of the old woman on the nanny. Yeah, Grandma Yadda. Don't they kind of look similar? Yes, yes. Yeah, that is such a sweet video that you said. I'll I'll try to share that. But yeah, she just finally at like ninety five came out and she said she's only I think she's maybe only really been out or at least been living authentically like only these last few years. She's been so in the closet. I know I hope she lives like at least another 10 years to enjoy it. Enjoy yourself. I know, totally. I know it's, you know, and that's also what's so cool about this movie is it's about, you know, women, some of them, real women who are, obviously, we know queer, lesbian, bisexual, whatever, right? Not straight. Yeah. And how even some women in the in the cast are not straight. You know, Rosie's gay. We know Madonna. Yeah. Has tried it all. Yeah. But, you know, I'm glad that that they have, you know, just some diversity there in sexuality, like real women. Yeah. But I think with the new show, they're going to because it's a different time, like yeah, 2022, they're going to play on that more and not keep it like because, you know how like Rosie had the whole speech about, oh, this is my boyfriend back at home. Oh, yeah. Kind of thing. Mm hmm. They could have left that out, I think. And just, I don't know, because it was a different time. And I know probably back then they they would say, you know, don't go see that, you know, whatever. Yeah. And I think even does I know at the very end when Kit and Dottie are reunited as when they're older. She at first, I didn't realize that was Kit. But she also that was good casting of that woman. Yeah. Yeah. She had that same kind of thing, but she has like a bunch of kids. And I couldn't tell like, was her husband there? Or I couldn't tell if she had like a partner with her because she just was in this group of people. But yeah, it is interesting. I mean, I know 30 years ago, it still would have been, sadly, pretty bold to have one of them be like just right like lesbian. But yeah, I'm very much looking forward to and it makes perfect sense for the show to explore that. And maybe one of them it does have a boyfriend or husband, but is secretly gay. I mean, right. Yeah. Well, that's what they used to do back in the forties and fifties. Like just because it wasn't accepted, they would get married. And, you know, so maybe I guess they played that true, but they just couldn't say the full truth because it was the 90s. And like anything with it, with a TV show, now you have more room, more episodes to explore what's really going on. Maybe there's even like a secret relationship on the team. Right. Yeah. You would think, you know, yeah. Oh, yeah. That would be great like drama, you know, if someone finds out or whatever. So yeah, you can really play into all those things that the movie just didn't have time for. Right. And the good part is before Penny Marshall died, I read that she was like talking to the new writers and directors of the new show because they've been trying to get this. Wow. Yeah. So she hopefully gave like, you know, some ideas and stuff so she could still be a part of it, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think they were trying to get this going for a long time. But then that's great. I would be surprised if they dedicate, you know, something to Penny Marshall or if she just like credited as like a producer or something, you know, right, especially knowing that she was chatting with them. You know, that's yeah. Wow. Yeah. And I think they're also going to explore, you know, the one part when they're playing and this black woman comes and gets the ball and throws it. She's a real I can't think of her name, but that was based on an actual real player. OK. And they're going to explore like they're going to make episodes about all the black women, but they weren't allowed to play with the whatever, whatever the women. It was it was said. Yeah. Yeah. So they they had their own league. That makes sense. So they're going to probably focus on that, which is good because that's a part of history, too, that nobody knows about. Yeah. Yeah. So that like a perfect idea. So that one lady, I don't know if they even credit it her at the end. I forgot to look like if they gave her a name. Yeah. Because, you know, was she a real play like baseball player or she was just an actress? I think I think they based it on on a real player that she wanted to play on the on the league, but they wouldn't allow her. So then they started their own. Yeah. But then obviously that wasn't even, you know, publicized at the time because right. And also it's a cool little brief moment to show that many women like strangers on the street can be good at sports. Right. And do anything, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's a little touching moment for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Love that idea. They should totally explore the segregation, other races, other teams. There's they could do so much, honestly. Yeah. I hope it's good because I'd like to say it. Like a couple of seasons so they could hit on all those topics that were kind of, you know, they were hit, but not like totally. Yeah. And then the one other scene that sticks out for me is, you know, Betty Spaghetti, Betty Spaghetti, which one's she's the one that when the the military comes in the locker room. Yes. Oh, yes. Her husband is the one that died. Yes. That is a very intense. Yeah. And then, you know who she is, right? Why do I know her? She looks so familiar, Solana. She is Penny Marshall and Rob Reiner's daughter. Oh, Tracy Reiner. If you look her up. OK. So but she's pretty good. Like it's not like she lived up to her name. I know I've seen her in other things. Yeah. I think she was in other things. I don't know if she really kept up with the acting, but that, I mean, two good parents like to have some kind of talent. Oh, totally. Yeah. She's good. She's yeah. And she's in it throughout and she's I remember because she's sitting there right next to Tom Hanks during his famous. Are you crying? Yeah. There's no crying in baseball. What a great scene. But he is very intense, I have to say. Like when he really gets in, I love that players. Evelyn Evelyn has little still well. The boy. Oh, my God. He's such a brat. And when Tom Hanks throws the glove at him, I like gasped. I know, but I would do that to get like that. I'd be like, get out of here. He's such a little brat always in the way. But yeah, you know, yeah, going back to Tracy, yes, she's right there during that infamous scene. And yeah, that scene with the with the, you know, it's funny because it's so serious and we know immediately like knock knock, like this guy's coming in with mail, right? Yeah. With telegrams. So we kind of know, oh, boy, this might be kind of scary. But he's so comedic and he's like, I don't, I can't. I know. Yeah. And like, and Tom Hanks is like punching him and pushing him out the door. I'm like, well, but yeah, the whole dreaded like everyone's looking at each other. And we for a second, we think it's going to be Dottie. Yeah. But it's right next to her. Yeah, that is. I know. Yeah. Yeah. That's tough. But that's how it was back then. Like, yeah. And then how, you know, Jimmy has to awkwardly say like, all right, like pull yourselves together because we still have to play a game. It's like, yeah, I mean, life goes on even though this is such a horrible moment. Yeah. Yeah. That's a really interesting scene for sure. Columbia Pictures would like to take you out to the ballgame for an all-star comedy. They'll pay you seventy five dollars a week. We only make 30 at the dairy. Well, then this would be more, wouldn't it? And you know, the song was real. I looked that up, you know, we are the members. So was that really sung like in the real league? Two of the players wrote it and it's the victory song. Nalda Bird Phillips and Pepper Pair Davis. They were actual players. Yeah, I don't know if they played for the Peaches, but they were a part of the league of the league. And they wrote the song for Philip Wrigley, who Gary Marshall's character is based on. And like, obviously, like Wrigley Field. I know that much. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. I know that much. Yeah. Yeah, I think Madonna plays there once, like in a concert or something. Yeah. Yeah, so funny. The manager, Tom Hanks. Are you crying? There's no crying. There's no crying in baseball. The catcher, Gina Davis. What do you say we slip in the back seat and you make a man out of me? What do you say I smack you around for a while? Can't we do both? The pitcher, Laurie Petty. I made it. A Rockford Pete. The scout, John Lovitz. Are you coming? See how it works here. The train moves, not the station. And batting cleanup, Madonna. What if my uniform bursts open and oops, my bosoms come flying out? You think there are men in this country who ain't seen your bosoms? A league of their own. Right when we meet Rosie Doris, she's throwing the ball and that's the scene where she throws the ball to kind of like throw off Dottie, but Dottie catches it. Like she's like the terminator or something. She goes, some of yous are going home and then once Dottie catches it, she says, then oh, maybe it's May. I forget. One of them says, OK, some of them are going home. Yeah, I think, yeah. Two moment, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And, you know, speaking of the whole kind of lesbian, you know, sexuality thing, I thought it was also so interesting early on, the woman on the radio that so because a lot of women, I'm sure, we're so against women playing sports, like that's a man's thing. Yeah. The woman on the radio says, like, this is sexual confusion. Women. Oh, yeah. They it's going to be a competition to see which woman can be the most masculine. But it makes perfect sense, because I mean, there are still people today, especially women, too, which is, you know, pretty weird to say that about other women. You know, like that totally makes sense that there would be a total anti like, Ew, you're a woman playing this man's game. You know, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I forgot about that part. That's like at the very beginning and then they make them go to refinery school or whatever it was. And I thought that was so funny because it's like they will not need any of this on the team. But like you said, because Gary Marshall's Harvey wants them to also still be like sexy ladies, you know, bring the men out to see you play the game. But you also want to bring them to show, you know, your your girlishness. Yeah. Yeah. Such pressure. I know. I have a poor Marla. She's like, oh, my God. I know when we meet Marla, her eyes and when she's singing like basically karaoke to her lover. She is so funny. Oh, my gosh. I know she's good. I know she's good. Well, what's her real name? Megan Kavanaugh, I think she's a lot of things. Yeah. You know, it's funny because I first saw her in Mel Brooks's Robin Hood Men and Tights. Yes. Yeah. And Dracula, dead and loving. Yes. So she this was, I think, one of her first bigger things. But then she definitely was in some pretty iconic nineties comedies for sure. Oh, and then there's Miss Cuthbert, which, by the way, one thing that definitely wouldn't age well today is how Jimmy is so touchy with Miss Cuthbert. I know the lady who kind of is, I guess, there. I don't really know what she does. I guess she's there like, like you were saying, the refinery school. Yeah, she's their chaperone because I read that the real players had to have chaperones. Oh, interesting. And those two players that I mentioned that wrote the song, they would always break the rules and they'd have to pay a fine. Like they would always like, you weren't really supposed to go out. You couldn't be caught drinking, smoking, cursing. And you couldn't be caught wearing pants outside. Like if you were going to go to like the store, you had to wear a dress and a hat and gloves. Oh my God, so many goddamn rules. Yeah, yeah. Geez, life was hard for women back then and today, of course. Wow, geez. But yeah, I noticed, I really like made some notes. I was like, he's spanking her. He's kissing her on the bus. On the bus side. Oh my gosh. When he spanks her, he says, you gorgeous stack of pancakes, you. I'm like, I gotta start using that. That's good. Yeah. And also another fun Jimmy moment is when he, because he's like a famous, he used to be a famous baseball player. Right, yeah. And when the kids, later on the kids, there are boys that want him to sign his autograph on their baseball. And the boy reads, avoid the clash. Jimmy Dugan. Oh my God. And I'm sure as a kid, I would have just, that goes right over my head. I don't know, but oh my God, as an adult, what a great, dark, twisted line. I know. Oh my God. Yeah. I don't know if you remember, but when Prince died, I think it was at the Grammys or some kind of music awards. Madonna sang Nothing Compares and was wearing all purple and in a purple chair. Okay. That is sort of ringing a bell. Okay. So Lori Petty wrote something on her Instagram like, and her, I thought her and Madonna were friends and wrote something like, I don't know, she like bashed her performance and said that she shouldn't have sang that, it should have been somebody else or I don't know, something like that. So I wrote in reply on Instagram to Lori, I wrote, some friend you are and she blocked me. Oh. She blocked me. Oh my God, Solana, I am dying. I'm dying. I love that you're saving this for now. Like, oh my God, wow. She blocked me. And like, yeah. I was like, oh my God. Are you still blocked, do you think? No, I checked. I checked and it said I could follow her again. Oh, she completely blocked me. Like, I couldn't even look her up. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. On Instagram. Yeah, and I mean, all I said was some friend you are, I didn't say anything like, you know, like she was getting like a lot of like comments. Yeah, actually there was, yeah, some slack for sure. But like, Yeah, it's not like you cursed or like. All I said was some friend you are and she blocked me. Oh my gosh, Solana. Geez, wow. I had to stick up for Madonna, you know. Yeah, yeah, you know, that's so interesting. That makes me kind of sad that they aren't friends, I guess. I don't know. Like, and then she said something like it was taken out of context. And then I was just looking at her Instagram the other day and she, it seems like she either knew Prince or was like a really big fan. Okay. So like, okay. Feeling protective of him, I guess. Yeah, but then again, when's the last time she saw Madonna? Like, are they that friendly? Like, I don't know. Right. In like 19, it was after a League of their Own. So I think it was like 93 or 94. Greece was open on Broadway, like a revival, a revival conflict of work. And Rosie was in it. She played Rizzo. Megan Mullally was in it, played Marty. Billy Porter was in it. He played the Teen Angel. So I had the front row and it was my like summer gift that we'd go see a Broadway show. It was like probably my third Broadway show I saw. Oh, wow. Like ever. And I was in the front row and they all, you know, in Greece smoke cigarettes. Oh yeah. And Rosie didn't really smoke. She just held the cigarette and would throw it. And I saw when she threw it, it rolled between the lights and the stage. So I kept my eye on it the whole time until intermission. And here it is. Oh my God. In a little Petri dish, she has, now did Rosie light it? Do you think or no? It wasn't lit. I think it was lit. I mean, some of the stuff fell out. I don't know if you could. Oh my gosh. You are touching a little cigarette. She had her mouth right here. Wow. I have her DNA on my hands. A league of their own right here. Right here. So yeah. So a little post release, a little legacy of the movie. It opened at number two. It didn't open at number one. That was Batman Returns, but it did move to number one in its second weekend. And it was in theaters for a while. It ended up making around a little more than 130 million worldwide. It of course is a classic. So many people love it. I can't imagine anyone hating this movie, right? 10 years ago in December, 2012, it was announced that the movie was gonna be preserved as part of the US National Film Registry. So it's one of the best movies. Oh yeah. Gina Davis was nominated for a Golden Globe. Yep. And we're wrong. Actually Madonna's song was nominated for a Golden Globe. Oh it was? Okay. It didn't win, neither of them won. But yeah, so the Golden Globes did recognize it. And then there was a Carol King song called Now and Forever. Oh yeah. That was nominated for a Grammy. Madonna didn't get a Grammy nom, but Carol King, yeah. And then MTV Movie Award, Gina Davis was nominated, Rosie was nominated. And Best Kiss between Pauline Brailsford and Tom Hanks. Is that Miss? Is that Miss Copper? Oh my God, that's so twisted. Thanks so much for watching. Next time, there's gonna be a new movie that we'll talk about, so stay tuned. And please follow Release Date Rewind on Instagram for updates. Bye.