 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. Okay everybody, so this is a special episode because my husband, my boo, Greg Clements is on the show. Hi Greg. Hello. So Greg. Finally. Yeah, finally. Yeah, because this is- Some real talent. This is the 29th episode of Release Date Rewind. So, you know, finally you are here. And it's funny because you don't even listen to this show, so you don't even really know like what this show is about. I drips and drabs. You hear me through the walls and through the floors shouting at people online. I do know what it's about. I hope you can see that. You did, yes. So Greg and I were talking about this idea back in summer 2020 on a hike, I remember, which was great. Where were we hiking now? Do you remember? Mount Agamanicus. Oh, that was Agamanicus. Okay. In York, Maine. So, Greg is, you know, it's funny because he loves this movie that we are about to chat about, which I love it as well. But Greg doesn't really love rewatching old movies. Would you say you don't really love? I don't really like watching movies that are black and white. Oh, God. Yeah, that's hard for you. But I don't get a huge throw out of rewatching just like regular old movies. What do you mean? What do you mean? And that's that. Like, if you told me I had to rewatch, I don't know, The Client. Oh, that's so funny. I was thinking about that movie randomly today. That's so weird. I love that movie. Or you wouldn't want to rewatch that movie. Or Pelican Brief. I don't know. You're talking about movies that I would gladly watch. I don't know. Okay. Well, thank you. But so you wouldn't want to rewatch them? No. Wow. They don't like... They don't hold a special place in my heart. I'm pretty sure both those movies came out in the same year too, 1994-ish. Well, yeah, I was trying to think about movies around this time. Oh, yeah. That's a good idea. This was 1992, so close. But it's funny, because Greg has rewatched a couple old movies that I've needed to watch for this show that I feel like you enjoyed rewatching, like Romeo and Juliet. And... Oh, yeah. And let me think. Oh, Romeo and Michelle. You were enjoying most of that when I had that on. Yeah. But you did not love watching The Godfather. No. No. No. No, boring. You watched or rewatched... I think this was your first time seeing The Hand That Rocks the Cradle when I had to watch it for the show. You pretty much saw the whole thing. Yeah, it was interesting. I mean, problematic. Oh, yeah. Nowadays. But yeah, it was interesting. Yeah. But clockwork orange you watched, and you liked. Yeah, that was good. Yeah. Let's see The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. I don't need to rewatch. But Dolores Claiborne? I could rewatch. Well, maybe a hundred times. Do you know what year that came out? 1994. Close. I'm pretty sure. Wow, that's funny, from one Dolores to the other, because we're about to talk about Dolores... Yeah, spelled differently. Van Cartier. Yeah, that was 1995. Okay, I was going to say 93. So you were close. Oh, it's on Hulu. There you go. So maybe you'll come back in a couple years for that. And I have it on DVD. Yes. And I remember I brought that to college, and so I wrote my initials on it. Just so in case my roommate was going to steal my copy of Dolores Claiborne. Oh, that's true. Yeah. I remember my roommate short-lived, thank God, one of the worst people in the world. My roommate, when I was at Fordham for just a couple of months in the beginning of that of my time in New York, I found out he went through my DVDs and was watching my Are You Ready to the Dark collection. So I understand wanting to put your initials on things and all that. But not only did he design the logo for this show, I give thanks to you at the end of every episode. Yep. He's a great logo designer. Thanks. Yeah, I mean, isn't it just, you're just saying the credits. It's not like you're giving me praise. Well, I say thank you to Greg for doing the logo. Yeah, but you could praise a little bit more. A little bit of praise wouldn't hurt. So, yeah, you did that. He did that, everybody, ladies and gentlemen. This is the designer. And also, he's a candle maker. Right. NubbleLightCandle.com. This episode is brought to you by NubbleLightCandle. Right, NubbleLightCandle.com. A Maine's most loved soy candle. Yep. But anyway, okay, so let's rewind my boo. Let's go back to the early 90s. I was only five years old when this movie came out. You were probably, how old are you now? Seven. You were, you're not 37 yet. No, but I was born in 1985 and it came out. It came out. Okay, so I was six and a half. You were six and a half. Yeah. Okay, good. So we are going back to May 29th, 1992. It is when this such a funny, memorable, great movie, Sister Act was released wide in the US. So I'm going to just set the scene for you, Greg. And feel free to chime in. This is what was going on in news and pop culture at the time. I always find this interesting because it's just funny to see, like, when, you know, kind of pieced together when things were happening. So on the news side, very interesting. Vice President of the US, Dan Quayle, spoke at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. During his speech, he criticized the TV show Murphy Brown and the character for mocking, I quote, for mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone. He was so put off that it was a poor example of family values. Isn't that interesting? So because I guess she was a single mom, I remember watching a few episodes of Murphy Brown and liking it, but I don't know the details. But so she's a single mom working mom and he put that show down. That was not a good American family. You need a father. You need a man in the family. So that's interesting. That happened in May 1992. Also, earlier in May 1992, also on the news front, the Rodney King riots had just happened a few weeks prior to this movie. So that's an interesting thing. And I'm bringing this up because I don't really remember it, but I feel like maybe you will because we've talked about Nickelodeon. The Nickelodeon time capsule was buried in May 1992. Does that ring a bell? Do you know anything about that? Yeah, but didn't they just dig it up recently? I feel like it's, I've heard about it, but maybe, maybe I don't. But anyway, so yeah, maybe they just recently dug it up, but it was buried this time 30 years ago. So I thought that was interesting. It's a good topic for your podcast. Is it buried or buried? Oh, I say buried because it's not. You know, you just said buried. No, buried. Yeah, exactly. Buried, but it's buried. Buried, buried. Buried, like strawberry. Well, that's B-E-R-R-Y. It's not for me to say. I don't bury a body. You bury a body. You have to ask the audience. Audience, what do you think? Oh, that one. Email us at releasedaterewind at gmail.com. Moving on, on the music side, this will be fun for you because Greg loves music, everyone. Okay. Jump by Chris Cross. That was very popular at the time. Number one single. My favorite song. Jump, jump, right? Yeah. And then, my lovin', I ain't never gonna get it. And Vogue. And Vogue. Those were very big songs at the time. Flipping back and forth between number one. Those were top songs. Billy Ray Cyrus' debut album dropped this month. Just right before this movie. Featuring A.K. Breakie Hart was a popular song. His album was out. Okay, so fun fact about that. Billy Ray Cyrus was my first crush concert ever. My first concert in, it was in New Hampshire. And wearing New Hampshire. It was on a big, I don't know. It was on like some big fairgrounds or whatever. So you guys drove a few hours? Yep. Went with some of my mom's coworkers. So I was like six. Wow. And that was my first. Yeah, it was probably right around this time. Concert. Real redness. Wow. Six years old is young for a concert too. Billy Ray Cyrus and the opening act or his band at the time or something was called the Kentucky Head Hunters. Did you like them? No, I didn't enjoy it. You know why? Because it was like in July and it was really, really hot. So that was right after this movie came out. Okay. Yeah, I was probably wishing I could get home and watch it. Yeah, probably. I could see that for you. But wow, six. Okay. You were young to go to a concert, but I'm sure it was fun. Yeah, I mean, it was like, it was part of like a fair. Was it like a, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's so funny. Do you think Miley was there? I mean, probably. Maybe. I don't know about probably, but maybe. Because she might have just been home with the mom. And her siblings. Wow, sexist. Okay. Well, I don't know. I'm just saying. Okay. So this time, Barney and friends had just premiered. Wow. The month prior, April on PBS. So Barney was taking over the world. Wow. Did you watch Barney when you were a kid? You know, I did, but I always knew that I was a little, a little like, I had too old for it because it was a little sing song. Oh, you were, you already kind of like, I felt like I always knew. I'm like, I don't think this is right for me. You know, that's interesting. Because I feel like I watched it and kind of enjoyed it. But you're younger. I was a little younger. Yeah. I was a year and a half younger. Well, I am a year and a half younger than you. Yeah. And I was then too. But I feel like I also kind of immediately, some songs I liked, but some I immediately started kind of making fun of in my mind. You know, the infamous. I love you. Anyway. What's that one? I love you. You love me. We are all in a family. Sing the whole. I just did. Did you do the whole song? No, no. I don't know. I'm making that up. Yeah. Anyway, moving on. Late night TV. Johnny Carson ended his run on the Tonight Show in May 1992. And Jay Leno officially replaced him. Wow. Right. That was big. Get this. All these major shows were ending in May, April, May 1992. Golden Girls. The Cosby Show. Growing Pains. Who's the boss and MacGyver. Those series finales had just aired right before this movie came out. Wow. That's a big. That's a big moment in TV. And then how funny. Just a couple weeks after Sister Act came out, the first ever MTV Movie Awards aired. Oh, interesting. First one was 1992. Maybe we'll talk about it later, but I have a fun fact about. Oh. About Sister Act and the MTV Movie Awards. Well, we're going to talk about it again later, but do you want to share it now? Well, Kathy Najimi was nominated for Best Breakthrough Performance. Yeah. I mean, that wouldn't just never happen today. Why not? Well, because it's all, you know. I think it would. I don't think they would give it to an older. I don't think they would do that for an older woman, especially a woman who was a little full-figured. Now? They would totally do that. Fuller-figured women are in. It's all like skinny little girls. Who's like the pretty little liars girls? You have to remember, though. You have to remember. Early 90s was a big time for, I don't want to say middle-aged people, but here. She's 65 years old right now. So 30 years ago when she was nominated, she was around 35 or 36. So I know what you mean. Right. Now things skew a little younger. Right. But back then, you didn't really have a lot of young, popular stars. Well. They were more musicians. Actors were still like in their like a little older, you know? Well, also Whoopi Goldberg was nominated. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Okay. For the MTV Movie Award. It's just so funny to me. What? I mean that makes perfect sense. No, because it's just like it wouldn't happen. It just wouldn't happen now. All right. I think it's kind of like cyclical. Back 30 years ago we had more movie stars that were a little bit older. Then it got a little younger with the wave of clueless and screaming Titanic. Then we were focused on the early 20s. Yeah. Then I think it got a little older again. You know, so it goes in and out. But anyway, so was that all you wanted to say about the MTV Movie Awards? Yeah. I couldn't believe. I was shocked. You were really shocked that she was nominated. Yeah. I was just shocked. I think it was a great breakthrough performance. I mean it's like a family film. And now you need like. Explosions. You need like two girls kissing. Well, yeah. That was snakes. Wild things. And cruel intentions changed that. And then now all these superhero movies. But back then I think all the action movies still were getting nominated. I know Terminator 2 got a lot. Independence Day. Like those movies were huge at the MTV Movie Awards. But you know. Anyway, okay. So moving on. Next step and last on my little news kind of setting the scene. Movies. Other popular movies at the time. Basic Instinct had been in theaters already for two months. That came out in March 1992. Never saw it. Okay. Yeah. I've seen most of it. Is that the one with the bunny and the boiling? No. That's fatal attraction. Different Michael Douglas movie. Basic Instinct is the infamous leg uncrossing. And she's not wearing underwear. Oh. And the ice pick. So that movie came out two months prior to this but was still at number one. This was back at a time when movies. Yeah. I saw that Cystrak never made it to number one. Isn't that fascinating? I spent four weeks at number two. Four weeks at number two. Open at number two. Stayed there for a while. But was in theaters. I have it in my notes somewhere. Was in theaters for like 17 weeks or something. Like all summer long. From May to past Labor Day. So it made a ton of money. But yeah. Isn't that interesting? Never number one. But so Basic Instinct was number one for a while. Beethoven. The dog. That was huge. White man can't jump. Never saw it. I never saw that either. But I know they just had their reunion at the Oscars this year. That was hugely popular. Now getting to main. Those were movies that were a little older that were still in the top. This movie came out at the time when lethal weapon three and alien three big sequels far and away which a movie is. I do like it's one of my guilty pleasures. Nicole came in and Tom Cruise and Enya and Encino man with Brendan Frazier as an actress. No, no, the famous song. Sorry. Yeah. She made a like a theme song for it. But that was big at this time when this movie came out as was Encino man. Um, Brandon. Brendan Frazier. Yeah. Polyshore. As a caveman. Yeah. But then like in 1992. That was like kind of the same blast from the past. Yeah. You're right. But at least he he wasn't a caveman. He was I think a guy from like the 50s or something. Then brought to the 90s. But like kind of. Kind of the same. Same. And I don't think I actually ever saw blast from the past or I didn't really care too much. But Encino man was quite funny because he's a true caveman and it's like party atmosphere, you know, with these teens in California and they and he has long hair and they think he's like just like cool and hot. Wasn't it Timothy Chalamet who like just said that the last the last great American actor was Brendan Frazier? Oh really? I know he's in a movie now or soon that apparently he's like amazing and like it's his big comeback. Maybe he like gained a ton of weight for it. Like he looks unrecognizable. Great. So yeah. But so yeah. So that's kind of me setting the scene. Now in comes Sister Act to blow them all out of the water. Lounge singer Dolores van Cartier always wanted to be a star performer. Nothing you can say can tear me away from my God. But tonight she's going to become a star witness. Hey, is there a problem? I've never seen anybody kill before. If you testify, I'm going to put you in the last place on or at the events, whatever look for you. She's an ideal prospect for rehabilitation. Absolutely not. That is not a person you can hide. That is a conspicuous person designed to stick out. Bill Nunn, the actor Bill Nunn comes up with the idea to hide Dolores in a convent in San Francisco. And it's all about how she figures out how to fit in this convent against all odds. And then it takes over the choir. Which is funny because it's like a punishment for her. But it ends up being amazing. So she kind of in through this process she kind of finds her calling because I feel like at the beginning of the movie we kind of think that she's like done with music. She's kind of disenchanted by the idea of just singing to an empty room. And so she finds herself through teaching, gospel, singing. Yeah. And that's an interesting point because we meet her in the beginning in that great, I mean it's so memorable and so fun when she's with her backup singers, the Ronnells I think they call themselves. Well the beginning is actually when she's younger. Oh the beginning she's younger. Yeah. With the nun. And you know when she says, when she says, who can name the twelve disciples? And she says Peter, Paul, something. And then she says, and Ringo. I had no idea what that meant. Oh yeah. I had no idea. I'm like, Ringo. It's funny, I probably didn't either because I'm pretty sure I saw this in theaters with my mom's mom, which is interesting. She was very religious. She went to church all the time. And I remember being so entranced by Whoopi. I loved Whoopi. But it's kind of interesting to see this movie as a five year old. So I don't know if I saw this in theaters or the sequel. All I know is, I know for a fact I saw one of them in theaters with my grandma and then talked to all my cousins on my mom's side at our old beach house in Ocean City about this movie. And I said, I love Whoopi. Like I feel like I am Whoopi. And they were like, what? And I truly felt like at a young age I was like, oh my god, this is, I'm watching myself on screen. It's crazy you grew up to be gay. I thought they were shocked. It's just so weird. And, you know, I meant to text my parents. I got to ask them, why did mom take me to see this and not you guys? Because they probably thought it was like, oh, she'll enjoy it with him because it's real interesting. They probably were like, Mark really wants to see this movie. He can't shut up seeing these commercials. It looks so funny. And mom likes going to church. So yeah, the two of them can go, you know. But yeah, anyway, so did you see this in theaters? I was thinking about that earlier. I actually don't think I saw it in theaters. Maybe rented it or saw it on demand. Well, because when did My Girl come out? We talked about that. That came out November 1991. So six months before this. So My Girl was the first movie I remember seeing in theaters. So it is possible that I saw Sister Act in theaters, but I don't remember it. It was a memorable experience. No, I don't really remember it. But I did have the VHS of Sister Act. So my guess is this came out in May. This was May 1982. So maybe six months later. My guess is that by the time that Christmas roll around, it was on VHS. I would think so. And I got it on VHS. Yeah, I would think so, but it's hard because back then movies really took a while. This was at a time when they took a whole year before they got to on demand. So yeah, I would think VHS was like six months around Christmas. That would have made sense. So yeah, you never know. Maybe you're on demand. Did you have on demand? Maybe two? Yeah, back then I think so. I mean, I remember watching movies from 1994 and 95 on first run, pay-per-view on demand. Yeah, so I don't know. I assume. Well, you're the host, so I don't know. Well, I don't know. Anyway, so of course it starts with the writer. This movie was written by Paul Rudnick, but it was under a pseudonym. It says in the credits, written by Joseph Howard. And that's because the script was rewritten so many times. And get this, look at all the people that worked on this movie. Of course, Paul Rudnick, like I just mentioned. Carrie Fisher, who apparently did a lot of whoopies dialogue. Nancy Meyers, who normally writes comedy, but not this colorful. Nancy Meyers, someone named Eleanor Bergstein, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., and Robert Harling, who, fun fact about Robert Harling, he was involved with First Wives Club, as was Paul Rudnick. He did some uncredited reworking of the script on First Wives Club, which I talked about in the show before. So a lot of people were involved, and Paul Rudnick first wrote this in 1987 with Bette Midler in mind. Oh, I could see that. Because, of course, she was huge, as she still is, but she was huge at that time. So he, I guess, was just not loving that the script changed so much since his original, you know, view, that he was like, don't put my name on it. Which is weird, because it's so good. Well, the script to me feels very tight. Yeah. Very, like, tight. So I wonder if each successive person that came into it just kept cutting and cutting and cutting. I have a feeling Carrie Fisher is to thank for a lot of that tightness and the comedy and just the pace and the speed. Because, yeah, you know, it's definitely, and we'll get into the sequel. It's definitely different than the sequel because the sequel doesn't have too many quieter moments. This movie definitely embraces some quieter moments, especially when, like, Dolores is in her cell, in her room, you know? Oh, yes. Moments that you don't remember too much, because, of course, with a movie like this, there were the louder, fun musical moments. It's very musical, the chasing and all that. But, yeah, this movie embraces some of the Maggie Smith quieter, slower scenes that are still very good, you know? So I wonder if maybe his original idea was a comedy, but it was quieter and everyone just kept bumping it up. Well, also, I think even with, even when there are some slower scenes, every single thing that happens matters or is pushing the plot forward. There's absolutely no observational just watching them move through the world kind of stuff in this movie. Right. With the exception of that one scene where Dolores is in her room and just sitting on the couch. On the bed. The bed. Looking out the window? Or she's just sitting there, kind of realizing, like, what is my life? Right. And it's funny because movies at this time always use the saxophone. Too dated. Right. To let the audience know that the main character is kind of feeling down. Oh, yeah. I think it would be great if you could find the sax moment and put that right. Oh, my God. That's funny. Yeah, I'll see. I mean, we'll see. But you know what I mean? I totally know what you mean. And you could almost envision some lounge singer, some saxophone player or something, standing outside underneath the streetlight with one foot propped up against the streetlight. It feels very much like that. Yeah. And it's funny because the music was made by Mark, I believe his last name is Shaman, who went on to do hairspray, the musical on Broadway. Oh, yeah. So major musical guy. But yes, some of the score is definitely dated. But that was very common at this time. But yeah. So Paul Rudnick, previous things he had worked on, just to give everyone a little taste, he hadn't done much. He had only previously done uncredited revisions on the Adams Family movie, which had just come out six months before. That was huge. Another great one. Okay. The first one or values? The first one. Values came out. It's funny. The first one's okay. But the second one is really great. First one is good. But again, kind of like this rare, sorry, rare instance of the sequel being better than that. Yeah. There aren't too many of them. Because that's not the case with Sister X. Yeah. Greg is not. We'll get into it because I'm so curious. Because I love both movies. Both are so memorable. So that's why I can't remember if maybe I saw Sister X too in theaters. Either way, that's more likely. That's more likely. I would have been, that came out only a year and a half after this one. It was very fast. And Kathy Najimi had an insane 1993 with Hocus Pocus and Sister XIII. Yeah. So, you know, but we'll get into the sequel. But so he worked on Adams Family and a movie called My Stepmother is an Alien. So this was big for him. The director, such a nice guy when I saw, and you were watching a little bit of the behind the scenes, he seemed so nice. He died soon after this movie came out, very sad. But director Emil Artilino, he had previously directed lots of dance documentaries, but then had major success with Dirty Dancing. Wow. Three Men and a Little Lady, the sequel. Again, we talked about our friend Melissa, who's been on the show a couple of times. She loves Three Men and a Baby, the first one. And probably the sequel. So he directed the sequel. And I do have a soft spot for, right around the same time, the Nutcracker with Macaulay Culkin. It's basically the ballet, but as a movie with Macaulay Culkin. I do love that one. Whoopi Goldberg. It's a movie without praising Whoopi Goldberg, who's real name. I learned long, long ago. I remember reading this in a magazine at my old house in Morristown, New Jersey at the pool. And I was shocked that Whoopi Goldberg and Sigourney Weaver's names were not real. I was like, I was like, mom, did you know their names are not real? Her real name is Karen, but spelled C-A-R-Y-N. So not like your typical Karen. Karen Elaine Johnson. Shout out to Whoopi Goldberg, the only black woman to be an egot winner, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. And only one of 16 people who have them. But she had just won the Oscar the year before this came out for Ghost, which you just finally saw with me, not that long ago. Great movie, great role. And she was already previously nominated for the Oscar for one of her very first movies. I think this was like the second movie she ever did, The Color Purple. I haven't seen it. I still haven't seen it either. I know, I know. We're really slacking because now they're making a movie of the, they're doing a movie musical, a movie version of the musical that Fantasia was in. Is Fantasia gonna be in it? I think so, yeah. A lot of people are in it. Maybe Whoopi might even be in it as a different role. She revitalized The Color Purple. Oh, yes, definitely. Yes. So, yeah, it's funny to think that Whoopi was like the Jennifer Hudson's, you know, like every now and then you have a star who wins the Oscar one, like they didn't really do much. Well, maybe in movies. Maybe you know this, but like, did we know like, did, like, was it known to the general public that Whoopi Goldberg could sing? I don't, I don't think so. I mean, she, when I was watching some behind the scenes making of stuff, they were like, can you sing? And she was like, sure, whatever. Like she didn't even really know if she could really sing. Right. But like she can. She can. She can enough in this movie. It's not like you needed, at least she has like a nice tone. And they, I feel like Harvey Keitel's character, what was his name? Vince. I feel like he even says, or someone says in this movie that she's not even that great of a singer. You know what I mean? Right. Like that's a line that she's sort of like, not even that good as a Vegas showgirl. Right. So it works. But yeah, she's great in this movie. Right. But 1992, they, there wasn't a lot of attention paid to like fixing the vocals. Right. In, in songs. In, you know, in production. Oh yeah. There wasn't a lot of producing. So like, I don't think, you know, there was no auto tune really. No. Or maybe there was something similar. But yeah, I was, I always, because I always thought, oh, she, she was a singer. Like when I was little, I was like, oh, this is a singer doing a movie. And if that, yes, if that movie was made now, absolutely a singer would be in that role. It would be Jennifer Hudson. It would be Jennifer Hudson. It would be Gaga, not Gaga, but you know, someone like her, you know. Right. That'd be pretty interesting if Gaga did this movie. I don't, she's so serious as an actress. Could she ever just have as much fun as this? That'd be really interesting. If anything, maybe her next thing should just be a comedy. But anyway. So Whoopi had already been in those big movies also at this exact same time. How interesting. She was also on TV in Star Trek Next Generation, a show, and A Voice in Captain Planet. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh yeah. She was Gaia, Gaia. Oh, The Mother Earth. Oh. Some other movies she had just done leading up to this. The Player, Robert Altman movie, same year. That was in theaters the same time this was in theaters. Soap Dish, which I love, was the year before. Never saw that one. Also with Kathina Jimmy. Such a fun movie. Sally Field, Elizabeth Shoe, Moving Right Along, Maggie Smith. She had just previously done. Hook, which you watched with me. Or you were working on Cannell's stuff while it was on. We talked about that on this show. There are three vows that we none must accept. The vows of poverty, the vows of obedience, and the vows of chat. I am out of here. Thanks so much for watching. Next week we'll be part two of this discussion. And in the meantime, please follow release date rewind on Instagram.