BDFR - Midweek Mention... Brewster's Millions

Brewster's Millions

Sidey: Brewster's

Howie: Yeah Yeah. Rated the DVD collection genuinely it's on DVD. I've got this. Don't remember buying it 5 99 special from Fox. I don't know if you guys ever been to a flop. They're like a chain of. I say they are, they might not be exist. It was when I lived in Scotland for, and they used to sell DVDs, asterix books, and seventies clothes.

Now, if that's not niche enough, I don't know what is yeah, so Bruce's millions and I in 85,

Sidey: Kate bushes hounds of love came out. instantly.

Howie: Excellent. Trivial knowledge.

Sidey: It's a good year.

Howie: Starring, which had prior John candy. So John candy was obviously flavor of the years at this point. And Richard Pryor main character plays Montgomery Brewster.

Now this is based on a 1902 novel, which

Dan: which was news to

Howie: I did not know this either. Apparently this is the seventh

Sidey: Yeah Well, I, I went to look from prime, so put

in bris And it came up with the 19 45, 1 side straight away didn't know that this was a remake. and then like looking into it more, I didn't realize like you say that there was so many,

and I think it's

been shown, but there was in 2015 a remake being

Another one.

Dan: But the first time they did, this was in 1940. Brewster's

Howie: Oh the actual film it's it's it's it's obviously just a scaled down

Dan: Well when it came up, it's considered a lost film.

Howie: you see it at the cinema?

Dan: It's in my my tape collection. No, it was a, they had a million dollars in those years though, you know, sort of money would go down, but they did it again in 1921, again in 1926, obviously, then Kenny, right.

They know something's in there. They're just not able to, to get the so they did it again in 19 35, 45, 54, 61 85. I mean, this has been done. This is

Howie: this is,

this is a tried and tested that apparently

Dan: but it was an, and it's been, it's gone out to other countries. I think at least four of them have been done in

Sidey: India.

at least.

Dan: And there's hello, Mr. Billionaire, which was a Chinese film based on the Brewster story. And it's kind of gone into the language a bit. Isn't it? You, you're a bit boosted by, you know, he's got loads of money. I've heard people

Sidey: say

Dan: anyway.

Howie: well, this film, this

Dan: boosted in like, oh,

Howie: th there is an aspect of this film that has definitely imprinted itself on the modern psyche, which has to do with voting, which is none of the above.

Sidey: Cause I got the, I don't know if you did, but I got the local election thing through the post today because because it's all changing and it actually says

you know, if, if, if there's a certain, certain criteria, certain amount people in it, you can do the none of the straightaway.

You're thinking Bruce.

has.

Howie: brilliant. Yeah, it's a, it's a weird one. Now that's kicked in and it's this film. We'll go into see the, the detail of it, but it's one of those ones that whether or not you like the film or not, it has a central message to it, which is a conversation pieces. Could you do it? Could you actually achieve the task that he set out?

And then the other, the construct behind that is so that money becomes. Not needed money becomes hated. And would you feel that way as well? If you had to go the rigmarole and the endurance of it and I, yeah.

Sidey: I just think even if you failed, you just have

a fucking,

great great 30 days.

Dan: yeah. So, so the plot of the film for anyone that doesn't know, it's a minor league baseball player, which is Richard Pryor has to spend 30 million in 30 days in order to inherit 300 million.

That is mad. Uncle's left Ms. I mean, Is white Encore and then he goes a little bit through the family tree. Doesn't he and says, yeah, well, this is how that happened.

Howie: what's a matter Brewster. Your uncle is a honky. And at that point, my daughter, who I watched this with, what's a honky. Let's just carry

Dan: Let's move on, move on. So there, yeah, it's like any of these eighties films, there's a language.

Howie: it's a PG. And I now know from experience that an eighties PG requires careful, careful viewing,

Dan: want parental guidance.

Howie: Well,

this one's all right. But I go back to the example of teen Wolf, where he walks around with a t-shirt that says I'm with cock nose now.

Sidey: And that guy in the background, who just exposes himself.

there is, there is specific rules that you allowed a shit. You'd have to say shit.

Howie: was used a few times.

Sidey: or is it one, is there a 12 I Think

is one

Dan: in this, we had four shits, two arces a couple of bullshits, a three God damns, three, all souls, two sons of a bitch and a, and a pissed off as well. So that's there was 13 uses of shit and Jesus and Christ sake was thrown in there as well for any parents concerned with that.

But the, the rules of the Brewster deal and his. Is challenged to spend 30 million in 30 days is he's not allowed to own any assets. He's good. He's not allowed to destroy the money, gift it, or give it a cherry, or he's not allowed to tell

Sidey: 5% is allowed to go to gambling and 5% on charity, he's allowed to pay people.

Howie: Yeah, he's allowed to pay people, but he's got to get

Sidey: go to get value Yeah.

Howie: He can't destroy anything that is of inherent value.

He's given this option by the two that by the executors of the will. And they've told if you can achieve by spending this 30 million in 30 days and have no assets. You will get the 300, as Dan has said, if though, you can't face this fact, there is a wimp fond of 1 million and they put the $1 million in a briefcase in front of him.

And the lawyers are obviously wanting him to take this because they can then become the executives of the world and stick huge. And rinse them and he goes, do you know what any clothes is? There's that bit of tension and he just closes the briefcase, pushes it towards them. I'll go for the 300

Sidey: it's also stated that his salary he's never

earned more than $11,000 a year,

So many of them would have been.

hell attempting. Yo.

Dan: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. You know, it's issue basic kind of riches to rags comedy, isn't it.

And I'm

Sidey: buying him as a pitcher in

Dan: I think he I think he, likes a bit of baseball. He doesn't, he's

Sidey: The arm, is not strong enough.

Howie: He did do some pitching in the hotel now, was that him

Sidey: not always watch that thing. And That's called because I didn't think it was John candy Catching and throwing

Howie: Yeah.

Cause it was quite, it was quite, quite good. Well, anyway so they, so what the law firm do is they assign him no alarm bells would have been going off here. If you want to break this down into alarm city, is they have they assign him Drake, Angela Drake. Who's an attorney trainee. Paralegal. Yeah. Eighties, heart.

And she's going to receipt everything he does through a ledger to prove that he spends all the money.

He can't see, he can't tell her either. So he instantly falls for her and he's trying to do all the slime moves and she is not interested. She actually has a boyfriend called Warren.

Dan: she gets pissed off that he's blowing all his money and just throwing it away and she can't understand why he's is doing it because he, that, I mean, this is the funny bit of the field, what he spends his money on. And obviously John Candy's his best friend. And he's a. Not really sure what's going on.

He can tell no one. So he's just kind of tied into this wall in the, in these challenges. And it, it was funny because I was in my deepen you know meaningful research. I looked him, would this actually stand up in court? And somebody else has looked into that already save me all the real hard work.

But in the case of Hicklin and Carroll 2014, it's a new south Wales thing the Supreme court Australians, but they were called upon to determine the the conditional a will. That was left for Mr. Carol.

He died in 2012 and left a well, and he needed his grandchildren to sign up to the Catholic church and different bits and pieces like that.

So, so conditions in it. So then they used the same criteria in the. To determine the Brewster case. And it's under it's gotta be, there's gotta be certainty. There's gotta be possible to, to perform this and it's gotta be not country contrary to public policy. So in fact, Brewster would stand up still, whatever they, if somebody did this mad thing, at least in the, the law in Australia, they could.

Howie: it.

will.

Sidey: is

Dan: true story. This is where we say,

Howie: Well, th the, the whole concept that looks at the culture behind it is that he, obviously, his uncle realizes that Brewster is a dropout.

Sidey: loser

Howie: And, and, and the amount of being given 300 million straight off will just result in a disaster. So.

Yes. Yeah. The only living uh he's designed this whole process to hopefully make Bruce to sick of money. And in theory, appreciate it more. Or, or, or just not treat it with the total, like spendthrift ways that he's not that his late great uncle thinks he's going to do

Sidey: Yeah. Cause he's he's like a

shit.

Howie: Oh yeah. A drunk

Sidey: he's a, Barfly sort of womanizing. you know, We were

first, we first. We see that they have a bar fight because they're

Trying to crack onto these two guys who were bang up for it,

Howie: naked massage

Sidey: Yeah. until their

partners who happened to be on the opposing team.

come in. There's a huge fight and this sort of private detective bails them out and takes them. So he's, you know, he's not complete data that, but you ain't

Howie: no he's and the baseball team lets him go.

So he's jobless, he's got nothing but that stained Cubs t-shirt on his back, which is gross. But as we said, he leaves the lawyers building with this. S w he's got to spend this 30 million. And the first thing he does is it goes over to the bank to see it. He refuses the interest rates. He's, he's realized that they say to him that 7.95, 20 20% interest rate or something.

Fuck that doesn't happen now. And then he employs security guards. He employees, he takes everybody for a meal, a high

Sidey: I've got the, I've got the full list of all the stuff that he wants to do that he does. So it's from Ms. Drake. She, tabulated this expense. reports and the list of the things that he buys include a security guard for 1.16 million bear and wine.

for 2.1 million 400 pounds of New York, debt for pitchers mountain 7,000 Rupert horn, commemorative statute 210, nightclub rental 602. furniture deposit. The Warren Cox with holds, which is key, and that was 20 grand an iceberg for 1 million.

Howie: engines that he slides in the back.

Sidey: just bought an iceberg

Howie: are no farmers in Saudi Arabia.

Sidey: My favorite, I think is the rare stamp for one, one and a quarter million, which he posts on a $1 postcard back to the

lawyers,

Yeah exercise video tapes of three grand dental care baseball team.

31 grand uniforms, 27 grand 27 lifetime health spa memberships. That's just under a mill office rental for his election campaigns, only 1600 campaign workers, salaries, 3 million separate salary for his campaign manager, 450 grand.

for week.

He rents a rolls Royce that was 1800 and none of the above paint job for the car was six grand.

Restoring the call back was,

another 12.

Howie: So he's, he's managing to get rid of the money surprising the lawyers massively that

Sidey: cause that they've, that bribed

the Mrs.

Howie: Drake's

Sidey: Ms. Strikes partner. They bribed him to make sure that barista

fucks it up.

Howie: They've promised him a partnership in the law firm.

Dan: yeah, there's a bit going on. Bad advice Bruce's getting. And it, it goes down to the wire. It really does. Doesn't

Howie: but what will he realize is that he's getting all this money out. He doesn't know that Cox has held it back and unfortunately, The money that he's put on the gambling debt suddenly comes in and he's won everything.

The fucking

Dan: the iceberg comes up comes up, trumps

Howie: up, trumps massive loads that, and John candy, his best mate has taken that money and reinvested it without him knowing thinking he's been really good and that's come up Trump. So he's. Back to where he started a weekend. And so he, he just happens to watch the news.

And they're talking about the New York mayor race, which is basically between two mafia leaders vying for a $60,000 a year job. And what he does is he realizes that he'll run for mayor and he buys prime time TV slots, all across the New York state and across the nation. In case there are New York state people on holiday who want to know about the vote.

Burning through the money. Like you wouldn't believe, but as he starts to go into the campaign, even though he's showing these huge rallies that he's paying for, you get this mantra, which is he saying to them, I don't want you to vote for me. I want you to vote for none of the. Why would you vote for me?

Why would you vote for him wide? And then he starts eat first. He then commits, slander by saying that there are a couple of, couple of rats and they Sue him in court and he's like, yeah, he just writes

Dan: there you go.

Howie: away. There's another one.

Dan: Yeah. It's a lot of fun. The idea. And the premise I think is, is a huge amount of fun.

You've got Richard Pryor and John candy

Sidey: You know, what's weird is I forgot John candy was in there.

and I also completely forgot Rick Maraniss

Howie: Oh, the

Sidey: in it. Yeah. He just copies. It's weird. Isn't it?

Howie: It's, it's just all the sycophants and entourage, just wanting to get money out of him. Before we sort of go into it, would you guys, do you think you could do it, do you think you could do 30 million in 30 days?

Sidey: Yeah. it feels like I do that. most months,

Howie: I just go for a shop at Waitrose,

Dan: it would be it, you know, to have nothing to show for it at the end, that was the. Condition, wasn't it. And that makes it more difficult. And not being able to gamble. It all makes even more difficult.

Sidey: tricky. It would be tricky, but I would like to have a go

that's a

Dan: I would love to have a crack at that. Yeah.

Howie: get your private jet to Western for the evening.

Private jet.

Sidey: fresh, it

Dan: would pay. Yeah. You wouldn't be emptied yet.

Howie: but and the other flip side of the story, just go to the sporting analogy as he's fixed it up for the Hackensack bulls to play the New York Yankees. And it's, he's got marching band that wouldn't perform on the runway. So he flew them on a helicopter to the ground

Dan: the whole ground for like milk and cookies after the game or something.

There's an ease. Yeah. There's there's loads going on. And lots of that, that for me is the most kind of fun at a film, watching him have these crazy ideas and spending the money.

Sidey: I don't think it is good anymore.

Howie: I think the ideas are

Sidey: I think the stuff that he does with gene Wilder

Like is still a lot is still really good this. For me, it was just a little bit frayed, a little bit and it kind of lost its spark a little bit.

I don't know couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was still

okay. It wasn't bad.

Maybe there's some fun in there, but

it wasn't that great.

Howie: No, no, I agree. And like I said, I hadn't seen it for years. Absolutely. Is it was one and a half hours and it, it just went that's okay. That's okay. It was an eighties film. It's kind of a, it had a guaranteed good ending and I didn't know what, and I was just like, I'm happy with that. I know he's going to do it.

I know he's going to do it.

Dan: that they may need to make it for 13th time to really knock this out of the park and give it some, some

Sidey: Johnson, weird film connection

trivia,

Dan: why not?

Sidey: nail Hamilton, who played commissioner Gordon in Batman, 1966 played the executor of the William Bruce's. But in 1945, pat Hengel who? played Commissioner Gordon and Batman, 1989 played the executor of the will improvements. But in

Howie: That's where I was trying to picture it. I was like, where have I seen him before? Yeah, it is.

Princess, this is my bit of fact princess own visited the film set on her tour of America. How

Sidey: princess. Andrea was not available

Howie: princess Andrew found it really hot, but he said,

Sidey: princess

Howie: princess Andrew, wasn't finding it too hot. Cause he never sweats.

So it was fine with it.

Sidey: There's also a load of connections with 48 hours, which is the director, Walter Hill did both of those films, the

in which they start, the fight is called Torchy's. And that's also in 48,

hours. Yeah. It's also

in a movie called when stranger calls and the waitress who phones the broad to the police is played by Margo rose, who also appears in 48 hours.

Howie: I always laugh at eighties bar brawls because it just to sense,

Sidey: WWF,

Howie: goes from punch punch. Someone picks up a table and absolutely ends someone. And then the whole place goes up. But imagine like, you were just sat there, like just having a drink and a whole pint comes to him to face

Sidey: the director. Possibly.

his heart wasn't entirely in This Cause he did.

say that He made the movie to improve his bank accounts and success quotient.

So,

Dan: Well, he did

48 hours aliens the warriors as well.

He's done it. Allianz. He was involved in it.

Sidey: He must've, bookies and Drake tests, James Cameron

but

Dan: No production, I think. Yeah. Producer in a

Sidey: He's got some decent, but

he doesn't, he said he doesn't really make comedies. This was the only out and out comedy.

movie that you ever

Dan: well he did it was involved in 48 hours, which is kind of a

Sidey: more of a actually yeah.

Dan: movie. Isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah, I I'm I'm in where you guys were. I would say if you never seen it, watch it, you know, it's, it will give you a laugh, particularly if you've got kids.

The idea, the premise is a lot of fun. Yeah, probably dated a little bit now. I was just looking back at some of the Indian versions of it, where they've got to spend like a hundred thousand rupees in 30 days. I don't think you get through that quite easy. Like, oh, it would not in 50, so maybe it went a lot further, but yeah, it would be nice to see what they would do now and how much money would be.

Sidey: I was thinking about that hundred million,

Howie: because you could spend 30 million on just hiring. Yeah for a week. So

Dan: Problem. You'd have to go and take out more money. When you hear me, you somehow at 300 million, I'm getting,

Howie: I got into a discussion with my wife who does a trust and it suddenly got very boring and she said to me, oh yeah, if you cumulate that level of wealth. Oh God.

Sidey: she was saying she was thinking about the fees.

Howie: Yeah.

Sidey: So yeah, to to summarize, I'd say.

decent enough,

But it don't go out your way to see if it's on Italian. you've got

you know, you're looking for a movie. You could do a lot worse.

Howie: It's an afternoon. Channel five film.

Sidey: Yeah. Agreed.