Days of Thunder Review

Hello discerning podcast listeners, this is Tom

Kenny and you are listening to the Geekcast Radio

Network. Hold on a minute, don't you think we

ought to talk? What, about how I'm gonna run?

Sure. About how you manage to live as long as

you have. Think he can drive? Oh, he can drive.

He can drive beyond the limits of the tires,

the engine, the car, anything else. There's nothing

I can't do with a race car. Well, that's the

difference between you and me. There's only so

much I can do. You want me to work the pit and

you drive? You're running good. Thank you. I

will see how you do the crop. I was desperate

to get your attention. Well, you got it. I've

walked into a jungle. Come up here and do it.

I'll take you to a race. Really? I can't. I'm

a doctor. I'm a cold. Think your driving can't

improve? I'll take your word for what a car can

do, but I'm not taking anybody's word for what

I can do. I don't want you to hold a bad opinion

of Cole. I believe it scares him. He needs reassurance

from you that he's okay. After all, uh... How

could you ignore me like that? I wasn't ignoring

you. You're his doctor. The driver gets his bell

rung and a couple of lights flicker. And loses

what he needs more than his eyesight, more than

his reflexes, more than anything in the world.

I've raced with my legs broke, heart bruised,

eyes popping out of my head like they're on springs.

He loses his need. The need to drive right out

there on the ragged edge. He doesn't believe

you can drive anymore. How long before you find

out? If you're really good. You just wanna race

again! Were you really lucky? If you get back

in that car, you'll die! Hello and welcome to

MWIRE, Movie Week in Review, brought to you by

the GeekCast Radio Network. I am one of your

hosts TFG1Mike and joining me is Gary Odso from

What's On Megatron's Mind. Oh wait, oops, sorry,

this is not Transformers, this is G .I. Joe.

What's On Joe's Mind? Hello Gary, how are you?

That's a low blow, Mike. Hey, I could have said

What's On Wheelie's Mind. Well, we'll stick with

the running joke. So, uh, yes, this is, uh, Gary

is from the, uh, it's not the first ever, but

it's probably the most popular, uh, G .I. Joe

podcast currently. Um, or, or is it the first?

I don't think you guys are the first G .I. Joe

podcast, are you? No, we are in a line of I think

four that have come out before us. The more well

-known is G .I. Joe Review, which pretty much

deals with the comics. We deal with a little

bit of everything, the action figures, the movie,

the cartoon, the comic, news, reviews, interviews,

that type of thing. Movie, that doesn't exist.

But the second one is going to be a lot better,

trust me on that one. And so we've teamed up

with the power of the GeekCast Radio Network

to become the number one weekly GI Joe podcast

on the internet. Yes, there you go. And yeah,

we're going to feature some of the What's On

Joe Mine crew here and there throughout different

episodes of GeekCast Radio, M -Wire, probably

Tooncast Beyond eventually, so stuff like that.

So yeah, Gary and I are here too. It's more so

been 80s months over the last few months. M -Wire

really hasn't... We've got so much other stuff

going on and wire is kind of like it's just there.

It's not that we don't love the podcast, but

my thing is if I can't like watch the film five

hours before I have to record the show or a day

before I have to record the show, then I'm not

going to do an episode just by the seat of my

pants. You know, well, that's in our show. We

like to call that show prep and. We have often

gone many times off the seat of our pants. Should

we say it's Chuck that helps us right there with

ship? No, we're not gonna say it's Chuck that

helps us right the ship But we got some good

cast members that actually keep us in line and

the show going but I'm ready to go for this one

I'm a big auto racing fan one of the things we

get all the time in our podcast is people like

you talk about sports too much talk Hey, man,

I'm sorry. I mean I got testosterone. I'm a guy

I like sports and I'm from Indianapolis And well

this year's not a very good year to talk about

football at all. It's very touchy subject So

it's not they'll just skip that But we're also

the home of the Indianapolis. Death to the Colts.

Long live New England Patriots. Oh, that's a

low blow, Mike. You're just racking them up there.

But this is definitely the home of auto racing.

We got two major races a year, a third one that's

kind of growing right now. We've had Formula

One here before. So if Indianapolis is known

for anything else, it's certainly auto racing.

And Days of Thunder is a. One of the better movies

in terms of ottery. Not the best, but one of

the better ones. Yes, we are here to discuss

Days of Thunder as Gary said and we're going

to head to JT from Saskatoon who has the Just

the Facts for this one. Hey guys, JT from Saskatoon

here with today's Just the Facts. Today the MWIRE

crew will be trying to outrace the Thunder when

they take a look at a film full of adrenaline,

car crashes, and Tom Cruise's grinning face.

This is Days of Thunder. Days of Thunder tells

the tale of Cole Trickle, a talented open wheel

racer, as he is recruited by businessman Tim

Dalen to race for him in the NASCAR Winston Cup

Series. Cole is paired with Harry Hogg, a former

NASCAR crew chief who retired amid some controversy

years before. At first Harry finds the young

racer brash and arrogant, but soon takes Cole

under his wing, teaching him how to handle the

bigger NASCAR stock cars and how to communicate

with his pit crew. Cole also finds a nemesis

out on the track in the form of two -time Daytona

500 winner Rowdy Burns, who disrespects Cole

and his natural racing talent. The veteran Rowdy

intimidates the more inexperienced Cole, which

results in his not finishing a lot of his races,

either due to crashes or engine failures. Harry

also finds out that Cole doesn't understand the

common lingo of NASCAR teams and puts Cole through

a racing school of sorts. Cole slowly becomes

a more effective racer due to the schooling,

which pays off at a race at the Darlington Raceway

where he uses a slingshot maneuver to win against

Rowdy. The fierce rivalry between the two racers

continues throughout the season and comes to

a head in Daytona at the Firecracker 400. Rowdy

and Cole are both seriously injured in a massive

pileup and in the aftermath of the accident they

are both put on probation by NASCAR president

Big John. Despite what has come before, Cole

and Rowdy soon become close friends and Cole

begins romancing Dr. Claire Lewicki, a neurosurgeon

who is overseeing both his and Rowdy's recovery.

While Cole is still undergoing physiotherapy,

team owner Dalen hires hotshot racer Russ Wheeler

to take his place. And after Cole returns to

racing, Dalen begins running each driver in separate

race teams. Cole struggles to get back into racing

form despite being intimidated by his new teammate.

However, Wheeler proves to be a spiteful and

arrogant racer, causing Cole to spin out during

a race at the North Wilkesboro Raceway. Cole

crashes his car into Russ's car in retaliation

during a victory lap and this causes Dalen to

fire Cole, Harry and the rest of their pit crew.

Cole and Harry are seemingly out of NASCAR but

hope arrives in the form of Rowdy Burns. His

doctors have discovered a blood clot in his brain

that requires immediate surgery so Rowdy asks

Cole to take his spot in the Daytona 500. Reluctantly

Cole agrees and proves to be a little gun shy

at the beginning of the race. But after driving

almost blind through a crash on the track Cole

regains his fighting spirit and surges forward

fighting for the lead. Russ again proves to be

an underhanded driver when he spins Cole out

once more causing damage to Cole's gear shifter.

With time running out Cole pits and the team

just barely gets the car operational again before

it's too late. Thus, the tone is set for a showdown

between Cole and Russ Wheeler during the final

lap of the race. Betting on Cole to remain true

to form, Russ plans to block his slingshot move

on the high part of the track, but Cole proves

too wily, executing a crossover on the inside

that allows him the lead and the win. Driving

into victory lane, the triumphant Cole celebrates

with his pit crew and Dr. Lewicki, but then sees

Harry sitting off to the side. When Cole goes

over to his mentor, Harry confesses he wasn't

sure Cole was going to win and asserts that Cole

really can do anything in a race car. The film

ends with Harry racing Cole on foot to Victory

Lane. Released on June 27, 1990, Days of Thunder

was directed by Tony Scott and produced by the

powerhouse duo of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer,

making this the second Tom Cruise film they produced

after Top Gun in 1986. The film starred Tom Cruise,

Robert Duvall, Michael Rooker, Carrie Elwes,

and the future Mrs. Cruise, Nicole Kidman. One

interesting fact about the film is that in addition

to starring in the film, Tom Cruise also receives

a writing credit for working on the script with

screenwriter Robert Town. Also interesting to

know is that the film's unofficial theme song,

The Last Note of Freedom, was written by composer

Hans Zimmer, legendary rocker Billy Idol, and

David Coverdale, lead singer of the hard rock

band Whitesnake. Coverdale also sang the song

at the request of the film's star, Tom Cruise.

Days of Thunder proved to be very popular with

movie -going public raking in nearly three times

its budget, totaling $157 .9 million worldwide.

Many movie critics were split as to whether it

was a good film or not. Some critics complained

of the plot and the over -the -top special effects.

However, many critics like Roger Ebert did enjoy

the film favorably comparing it to Top Gun. Ebert

said it followed much the same formula as other

Tom Cruise films of the era, but even with some

of those cliched elements wearing thin, the film

was still effectively entertaining. The film

even garnered a nomination for best sound mixing,

but lost to Dances with Wolves at the 63rd Academy

Awards in 1991. Days of Thunder made quite an

impact on the pop culture landscape. It came

at a time when Tom Cruise was hitting the peak

of his popularity and is one of the more well

-received films produced by Simpson and Bruckheimer.

It is also very likely that Days of Thunder has

influenced other racing -themed entertainment

projects, like Talladega Nights, The Legend of

Ricky Bobby, and the animated series NASCAR Racers.

It's full of adrenaline -charged thrills, clear

-cut heroes and villains, and is enormously entertaining.

If you haven't seen it yet, you are really missing

out. This was Just the Facts Days of Thunder.

I'm JT from Saskatoon. back to you guys we are

back thank you JT for that rousing just the facts

i love how he just you know brief plot synopsis

that way i don't have to do any of the work it

sounds professional for a canadian yeah no JT's

a good guy JT's awesome We've used him plenty

of times before on just the facts and and and

he will he is another one that will be making

more Appearances as we go along so good synopsis.

I liked it. Yes So we are going to be moving

on to the who's who of the movie the basic cast

rundown is Tom Cruise Nicole Kidman Robert Duvall

Michael Michael Rooker Carrie Elwes Randy Quaid

Fred Dalton Thompson, holy hell. What is um?

What's uh, oh, what's his name? Yeah What's the

DA from SVU doing in here? Well, this is also

the At this point. He's a future US senator of

Tennessee Yeah, that's true. He took the seat.

I believe that was held by Oh gosh now I should

really be Yeah, I should I should be I'm a political

science major and I should know this but Al Gore

geez you can edit that part out So he too can

take credit for he too could take credit for

creating the internet if you want. Yes John C.

Riley JC Quinn Carolyn Williams Lonnie Sorrell

and Chris Ellis and Don Simpson has a cameo As

far as the other cameos as themselves. We have

Richard Petty rusty Wallace Neil Bonnet Harry

Gant and dr. Jerry punch. I thought that yes,

I thought that said dr. Jekyll punch. I was like,

what? Well, they also don't have Bob Jenkins

in there but he also had a cameo where he and

you heard his voice as he was introducing some

races and that's a Another local to the Indianapolis

area worked as his wife met him. In fact, I think

I'm an IT guy and back his wife his company his

wife's company, excuse me. That was my first

IT job out of college. So I would often get used

and abused to help fix his computer after he

screwed it up. So I often fixed Bob Jenkins'

computer. Awesome. Hey, there you go. When did

you first see this? Because I remember seeing

this as a 10, 11 -year -old kid. Yeah, I think

we talked before in pre show there's you and

I have a bit Well, I think I'm actually one of

the older guys actually on the entire network.

I'm 37 I think there might be a couple other

one or two other guys that might be up in In

my age range, so I saw this actually in the theater.

I was a sophomore in high school So it would

put me around 15 16 And it was at the time, you

know, anytime you said It's it's like top gun

on wheels or it's like die hard in an airport

or you know it was when you could preface your

movie by another movie in front of it saying

it's like that. This was one of those big summer

blockbusters that everyone had to go out to and

if you're a fan of auto racing you knew well

about it because you saw it on TV and of course

the trailers leading up to it and it was supposed

to be the definitive auto racing movie that you've

ever seen at that point. Yes. Yes, and even though

we are still in 80s mode here on MWIRE, this

movie did come out in 90. But as you just said,

to me, and I have this note for later, but I'll

go ahead and say it now and I'll skip it later.

To me, this is basically Top Gun with stock guards.

This has that, by 1990, they weren't done with

the 80s as far as movies. So this has a very

80s feel to me. And and that's why we're doing

it here at episode 84 of MWIRE instead of later

on Because I just I love this movie this movie

is so awesome Well, it was back in the day notice

Gary's immense silence ladies and gentlemen You

can tell where this episode is going Days of

thunder is the NASCAR what firebirds is to fly

in a freaking helicopter absolutely nothing And

yes, I was a Nicolas Cage really bad movie reference

Yeah, I got it So what do you think of of the

casting choices for this movie Tom Cruise He's

still an a -lister today, and he was huge back

then and it It made all the sense in the world

back then. Robert Duvall is Harry Hogg, perfect

because he plays at the crusty, I know it all,

older NASCAR veteran. Michael Rooker, as Rowdy

Burns, as kind of the nemesis to Tom Cruise and

later becomes his ally, plays the kind of the

role of the guy in the black hat or Dale Earnhardt,

if you will, very well. Um, and then you got

some other roles that were thrown in here. Uh,

Carrie, uh, use, uh, which is he's probably best

known for Robin Hood men and tights. Yeah, he

is. Uh, Randy Quaid, of course, uh, Of course

his brother played General Hawk and G .I. Joe

rides a Cobra, so what can you go wrong there?

Well, it is Randy. There's a huge difference

in the genes from Dennis to Randy. Dennis is

great. Randy, all I can see in this movie, and

I know this is bad, but all I can see in this

movie is Cousin Eddie in a business suit and

he's more low down dirty handed rather than being

the dunce that the Criswolds don't want to acknowledge.

And here is your tie -in to Ricky Bobby, John's.

Oh God, no. So it was a good cast. I wouldn't

say it's an all -star ensemble. But of course,

I did not mention Nicole Kidman. And this was

what I say may be her breakout role. I certainly

believe this is a movie that I began to recognize

her at. Now after that, I really didn't care

as much. But I would say for me, this was her

breakout role. Hey, this is where I noticed her.

Oh, yeah. Well, and I and I don't know I don't

know why I remember this but I remember seeing

her next role with Tom I remember seeing it in

like Social Sciences class or something some

weird class in high school. We saw far and away

I saw far and away at school With the scene where

he exposed himself to her Awesome apparently

in the filming of that movie far away. She didn't

know that's what they were planning and she just

got so shocked about it Yeah, I skipped that

movie and then this was before you know days

of thunder and all these 80s movies This was

before really the Hollywood. I mean there was

there's always been Hollywood gossip, but this

is before My god, this person has a sex tape

now. That's their entrance into fame Yeah, we

were about two years prior to their well at least

my earliest recognition of the internet So yeah,

no TMZ. The worst you probably had was Entertainment

tonight probably on your butt. So entertainment

tonight and I remember a current affair as well.

Yes. Yeah uh... but you know that this is before

all the kardashians and before all the twenty

toplets and sex toplets and john and kate plus

twenty eight and all that bullshit uh... yeah

overall the casting for this movie for days of

thunder as we're talking about right yeah i think

that's under that yet yet is about i i really

love this cast you know i think that between

rowdy kohl harry and and clare between devol

crews in and workers characters and the goldman's

carrier they're basically the heart of the movie

i mean you know you know randy quaid's there

he's he's a you know evil businessman type who

eventually you know has his heart grow three

sizes and he likes roast beast and all that bullshit

but Who's in whoville we're saying yeah exactly

You know, I mean he's not a character But I mean

the real story focuses on on Rowdy and and Claire

and and Cole and and Harry Honestly, I mean everybody

else is kind of secondary. Yeah Carrie his character

Russ comes in midway after Cruz gets a gets injured

Quade you see him back and forth as he's just

trying to run his team Fred Thompson you don't

really see until like the middle when he scolds

him for you know driving so the the rest of the

Probably the other name you see more along the

lines During the racing scenes is John C Riley

again where he's the the car chief So you see

him with Tom Cruise or in this case Cole trickle.

Yeah, pretty much every racing scene, right?

Yeah And moving on to the well deep Do you have

a favorite character from the movie? Favorite

character? John C. Reilly, no. Tom Cruise as

Cole Trickle, but mainly he was patterned after

a real life NASCAR driver, Tim Richmond. And

my preference when it comes to auto racing. is

goes i know everyone's going to really turn those

appear unless you have any any international

listeners formula one first and that's an acquired

taste and no i'm not a gay frenchman uh... second

one is indy car racing and third is nascar uh...

tim richmond has roots in indy car racing he

was the rookie of the year in the nineteen eighty

indianapolis five hundred finished ninth and

ran out of fuel on the last lap so when his car

was stalled on the backstretch the eventual winner

johnny rutherford which just won his third Indianapolis

500 and actually ran from time to time some NASCAR

races, as a matter of fact. Picked him up on

the back stretch and rode in with Tim Richmond

riding on a side pod. So that's the kind of character

that you're looking at. Literally, he was riding

the side pod like a cowboy. He was pointing down

at Johnny Rutherford and showing the number one

figure. Just a whole bunch of enthusiasm for

a fellow driver of his. He's one of the few Indy

car drivers to actually make the jump to NASCAR.

and be successful. You look at the ones that

have done it recently. Well, Danica Patrick's

going to fail. I'm sorry. She looks good. The

only thing she's good at is the GoDaddy commercials,

I think. You have Juan Pablo Montoya has had

marginal success. But basically, the biggest

one from IndyCar Racing that's had any success

really since Tim Richmond has been Tony Stewart.

And Tony Stewart actually top the bar of actually

winning the championship. So Tim Stewart kind

of paved the way to a lesser extent for any car

drivers to make the jump. Tim Richmond, not Tim

Stewart. Tim Stewart? Did I say Tim? Yeah, that's

what you said. Tony Stewart. Tony Stewart. Tim

Richmond was the person that made the jump into

NASCAR and made the route possible for other

any car drivers to do it. So I like how Tom Cruise

was patterned after him as kind of this I'm a

hot shot, I know what I'm doing. And then he

literally spends the first half of the movie

learning terminology. Now I would think at that

point that he's already had a season or so under

IndyCar Racing under his belt, Tim Rich, and

he would probably know this terminology. So the

fact that... that Cole Trickle is jumping into

a NASCAR and doesn't know any of the terminology

whatsoever. I don't find that believable. But

then the fact, you know, he was my favorite character

and people are going to say, oh, it's so easy

because he's a lead character. But hey, you know,

it's the guy's pattern after more is why I'm

partial to him. That's why I liked I liked Rowdy.

I more so and this is how I cheat around the

favorite character question sometimes. I like

the rivalry between the two of them. You know

and then of course, you know in the end they

all you know become friends, but I like the rivalry

between Between Cole and Rowdy When I was watching

this back earlier Last night or the night before

I had caught Pixar's cars on on on either Disney

Channel or or ABC Family or something I caught

it on TV and I was like Wow, this has so many

things that relate to days of thunder Yeah Hot

shot learns to be humble comes back, you know

and ends up redeeming himself and somebody else

in the process. Yes, exactly So yeah moving on

to the good the bad and the fugly I've got a

couple of notes that I wrote down I honestly

think like I remember as a kid watching car crash

movies You know, I just do that's that's what

my I mean my mom let me watch anything it didn't

matter what it was i mean obviously you know

anything up to rated r i mean try at that point

there was no nc seventeen anything that was you

know extra triple x obviously that wasn't a fly

but i remember watching rated r movies as a eight

nine -year -old kid uh... and i honestly think

this was my very first actual Stock car racing

type movie that I ever saw you never saw a stroker

ace or six -pack. Nope stroker ace with Burt

Reynolds and Lonnie Anderson and Six -pack had

Kenny Rogers. I mean you couldn't The the audience

that this movie was looking for was entirely

different than those other stock car movies.

They were looking for more lowbrow Type humor

type stuff that was going on. I mean, especially

stroker ace I mean that that was directed by

freaking Hal Needham who does cannonball run

movies. I mean how much lower lowbrow can you

get? Yeah, but this one This one was aimed at

a higher audience and this movie I believe in

this if I want to talk about the good my good

coming out of this is this single handedly launched

NASCAR into probably national prominence and

made it for about a decade and a half become

the largest sport in America up until football

caught it here recently. Yeah. Yeah, I mean,

I didn't really start getting into NASCAR until

probably 2001. I was in a NASCAR between 2001

and 2005. I think it's a damn shame Junior didn't

get the cup in 2004. I don't know. Are you a

junior fan? Oh, yes. Womp, womp, womp. OK. I

know. I know. I know. Well, you know, Cole? It's

better than being a Gordon fan. No. No, that's

a low blow. I guess if I have any partial partiality

to any NASCAR drivers, it's certainly the guys

that come from Indiana or have Indiana roots.

But as Cole Trickle said when he was actually

getting in the car for the first time, to do

the test for Randy Quaid's character, Tim Deland.

I don't know how you say his last name, but that's

basically your Rick Hendrick. That's kind of

who he's modeled after, is Rick Hendrick. And

ironically, which was also an owner that Tim

Richmond raced for, as a matter of fact. But

when Coltricker gets in there, he goes, what

do you know about NASCAR? I goes, excellent coverage

on TV. And that's what it really was at the time.

I mean, ESPN. I think it was a Nashville network

were the only two that showed NASCAR racing on

TV and That's where you that's where I remember

seeing it in the late Late 80s early 90s up until

you know the network started to pick it up with

Fox ABC and NBC Yeah You know and again this

has I mean, because I just watched, not only

did I just see Cars the other night, the first

Pixar Cars movie, I saw this, I saw, and before

I watched this today, last night I had seen,

or the night before I had seen Top Gun on AMC.

So after seeing Top Gun and then watching this,

There are so many similarities between the two.

Between both of Tom Cruise's characters, between

Top Gun and this movie, and between Kelly McGillis's

character and Nicole Kidman's character in this

movie. It's basically like they just recast everybody

else. It's Tom Cruise and a cast of people. with

a different vehicle. Yeah. And but I'm going

to say because we're going to actually let the

cat out of the bag, but we're going to top gun

as well on a future broadcast. I believe the

action and top gun just because of the nature

of what they were filming jets, you know, supersonic,

high tech jets at the time. The action was much

more. Fast in your face turn your head, you know,

break your neck type thing going on. You can

kind of see in the filming of this that They

were they were going at a good clip maybe highway

speed but they weren't doing no 182 hundred miles

an hour and and you could it was it was blatantly

Evident even when they were showing some shots

at ground level when you had a camera mounted

to the car bumper like Really? And sometimes

you can actually see them when they kind of sped

up the video or sped up the film a little bit

to make it look like it was going faster. I didn't

buy it. I'm not going to say it's, well, always

the original is better. And if you want to call

Top Gun the original, it's better. And I have

every sense of the word. But if this is as close

as you're going to get for NASCAR to be put in

comparison to Top Gun, unless you really, really

liked Ricky Bobby, No, I don't know And and see

this is this is where my buddy Steve who runs

the network with me and our other friend Kevin

are like You have no sense of humor. I'm sorry.

There's maybe two Films in Will Ferrell's entire

career that I can actually watch and and not

just be utterly disgusted I think one is Old

-school and the other is stranger than fiction

But if I was a NASCAR fan, I think I would it's

clearly a parody of NASCAR Yeah, that's what

it is. But if I was a NASCAR fan, I think I mean,

am I really like that? Are my heroes really like

that now? You don't have that so much here in

days of thunder But over -the -top sponsorship

and you have the foreign driver who happens to

be a gay Frenchman and he's sponsored by Perrier

I mean, geez, come on. I mean And then you have

Will Ferrell that, you know, slaps a sponsor

to the windshield because it's extra space and

he can still drive. If I was a NASCAR fan, I

would be upset at that movie. Just like if I

was an IndyCar fan, I was upset at the movie

Driven. Oh, boy. Here we go. I got to add that

to the schedule at some point. Oh, I'll be on

that one, but that's going to be a painful watch

again. No, OK. Here's the thing. Days of Thunder.

No matter how many bad points it has, it is meant

to be a serious look at the NASCAR franchise.

Talladega Nights is just a spoof. Talladega Nights

is to NASCAR as Family Guy is to Star Wars, for

Christ's sake. Okay. I hate that cartoon. Overall,

I mean, for what the... for what the story is

which i mean there really isn't that much of

a story here i mean there is but there isn't

uh you know it's you know as you said before

it's you know hotshot comes into a new sport

learns his lesson gets redeemed and then everybody's

happy honky dory at the end uh even though tom

cruise runs like a girl What's the what's the

one line that you took from this movie that you

can remember right now? And I bet most people

are saying it right now when they're listening

to this pocket. What's the one line? Crap I hate

when I'm put on the spot like this. Um one line

that I remember Oh, yeah Ruben's racing. There

you go. Bing -bing -bing. There's your winners

and actually I hate that line. I hate it with

a passion as a fan of auto racing, open wheel

auto racing. I can go out in the highway right

now, Mike, and I can find a car and run into

it. That's rubbing. That doesn't take much skill.

That makes me qualified for NASCAR. You know,

you could hurt somebody by doing that's why they

that's why they put Kyle Busch on the on the

hook last weekend at the well Were they Texas

or Atlanta forget where they were because you

know He deliberately wrecked someone because

he was rubbing them actually personally as an

auto racing fan I think it takes more skill to

drive within inches of another car's bumper or

open wheel in a case of Indy car racing and not

touch them But that's the one line of this movie

that everyone remembers and rubbing is not racing

in my opinion Well isn't isn't when you draft

you're not exactly touching but he had that whole

spiel with Claire When you went when a car drafts

another car isn't that where you're just you

know You're not actually touching the car, but

you're you're still riding off of its aerodynamically

speaking the car in front Punching a hole in

the air right or as sometimes. They've actually

said on the broadcast. It's breaking wind You

actually hear the color guys say that, and then

they don't realize what they're saying until

after they said it. It's like, whoops, we got

to go with it because it's live TV. But no, it's

aerodynamically punch it a hole in the air. And

you could do the same thing on a highway. Get

behind a big rig. And get your car in between.

And let's say you had it not set on cruise control,

but let's say you had your pedal set at 55. You

get behind a semi. You will watch. You will speed

up. Because there's less resistance on the front

of your car and the second you pull out And you

don't apply any more or any less pressure on

your on your accelerator You will go back to

55 and that's what drafting is and he does a

good job at explaining it now JT said and Tyler

when he won the Darlington race that he drafted

at Darlington. That's funny because you can't

do that but But yeah, in terms of educating someone

who has no idea about anything NASCAR at that

point, which clearly Claire knew nothing about

NASCAR or racing, he did educate her properly

on the ethics of drafting. Okay. Well, at least

there are some good things. At least there are

some correct things in this film. because i think

people are listening to this court i'd i'd just

wanted to hear about days of thunder wrecks i

want to hear about gary talk about the history

in the nuances of auto racing well you can have

to because i mean this is as i said this is a

serious look on film even though it's a it's

a separate story loosely based on real life events

it's it's a movie you have to look at the logistics

of it, and that's the point of podcasting. The

point of doing reviews is that we break it down,

we analyze it, and we end up going off on tangents.

That's true. But yeah, if you want to look at

this movie seriously beyond that, it obviously

launched NASCAR into the the public mainstream.

I believe this got nominated for an Academy Award

for I think sound or something like that which

I remember in the studio or in the in the theater

it was a big deal about the super surround sound

this particular the track that this movie had.

So I do remember that was something a little

bit that you haven't heard before and that was

kind of different. But in terms of launching

NASCAR into the public limelight, at the time,

really, NASCAR, with the exception of maybe going

up to Michigan or up into New York or up into

Delaware, was pretty much a regionalized sport.

And they were kind of stuck down there in the

Southeast. This comes out two years later, they're

racing to Indianapolis. A couple years later

after that, they're racing out at California.

A couple years after that, they actually have

some exhibition races over in Japan and whatnot.

NASCAR really used this wisely as a proper stepping

stone to launch into what you know NASCAR as

today as this huge, big commercial conglomerate.

And in the meantime, IndyCar was bickering back

and forth with each other and pretty much killed

itself, so NASCAR took that momentum and run

and that's how they are the most popular racing

sport in America and not IndyCar racing anymore.

we have a what we call because We are not fans

of the people that rate and rank stuff over at

IGN. Their news articles are great, don't get

me wrong, but the way that they rate and rank

things, it just sucks. So we are the IGN replacement

crew. We have a one through four rating scale.

One is don't watch this even if it's free. Two

is it's worth a watch if it's free on TV. Three

is worth adding to the Netflix list, which it's

no longer in Netflix. which kind of socks uh...

and for is this one is a must add to your dvd

collection for me when i was collecting dvds

i had this so for me this movie out of just these

rankings this movie is a four because i had i

don't know i think it's more so for the classic

cruise eighties nineties movies that i have this

out of out of nostalgia it's not because the

movie is good or bad it's because at the time

i remember loving the movie and it's You know

as you said it launched NASCAR and it's one of

those things where it is a very popular movie

Yes for most people that grew up in that that

decade or that you know that age of film at the

time So for you between one to four, what would

you rank it? Actually, I own now. I'm dating

myself again. I actually own this on VHS Could

be worse it could be laser disk. Yeah, but actually

Never mind. VHS is still old school compared

to Laserdisc, I think. But I'll give it a two.

You certainly, if you have absolutely nothing

to watch on a rainy afternoon and this pops up

on stars or whatever, what the hell? You don't

have two hours? Go ahead. Watch it. Yes, and

apparently even though it did make its money

back and even though it was a Success when it

came out it was even more successful on home

video it grossed 40 million in rentals I guess

not every southern NASCAR fan is able to make

it to the movie theater. I don't know Don't know

it's it's well. I guess I mean how does that

compare to Top Gun? I'm guessing that's pretty

it's it's not exactly what Top Gun is, but I'm

willing to bet It's a it's a good chunk of what

Top Gun is So I'm willing to bet that a lot of

that has to do with the Tom Cruise factor about

you know He's my favorite actor that type of

thing Yeah, probably so let's see top gun. I'm

jumping ahead of myself here It does not I'll

have to look at this later. Oh God 3d conversion

in 22. Ah Holy crap. Alright, so it is on DVD

as I said One thing we haven't really talked

about is the music the score for days of thunder

was composed by none other than surprise surprise

Hans Zimmer Yep, Jeff Beck making a guest appearance

on guitar The song Last Note of Freedom was sung

by David Coverdale of the bands Deep Purple and

Whitesnake at the request of Tom Cruise himself.

Vocal parts of David Coverdale were recorded

in 1990 in Los Angeles during Day Off during

Whitesnake's Slip of the Tongue Liquor and Poker

World Tour. Wow. Liquor and Poker World Tour.

Yeah, what's in the front and what's in the rear?

But anyways... That's where you need my sound

effect. Yeah. That's where you need that rim

shot. That's right. That's my rim shot sound

effect. But I don't remember this soundtrack

at all. It's not ringing a bell. It was originally

released as a bootleg and then later released.

You know as being available honestly just looking

at the track listing here knocking on heaven's

door Okay, I remember. Okay. I'm looking at track

list right now I do remember they used give me

some loving during one of the montages they had

midway through where you started winning a bunch

of races Yeah, yeah, I remember that that's that's

about it. Yeah, pretty much So I mean, yeah,

yeah, give me some live loving and knocking on

heaven's door pretty much the only real Songs

on here not to take away from what David Coverdale

and John weight and Tina Turner in Chicago and

shared did As well as you got to love someone

by Elton John is in here. I think that was the

love theme Yeah for the two of them I can't really

picture Elton John singing about anything else

NASCAR related. Yeah, I Like Elton John But yeah,

he's better doing tributes to Diana. Lion King,

you know? There you go. L. John Lion King. I

like that. My daughter likes that. There you

go. L. John singing some ballad for fast cars

going around the circle. Doesn't really. No.

No. Rocketman? I don't know. Anyways, no. No,

that wouldn't fit. It's 270s. I love Rocketman

but that so would not fit this movie. No. And

the final little bit that we're going to talk

about is the fact that the film spawned two video

games. Why? The first one was Days of Thunder

in 1990. It was for the NES PC Amiga. A Game

Boy version was released in 1992. The game is

currently available for the PlayStation Network

and iOS. So you can download it for your iPhone.

That's really weird. Yeah, I'm not gonna lose

any bandwidth over that. Yeah, I don't think

I ever played this game on the any. I don't ever

think I even heard of this game. Until doing

research for this just about every back in the

day every big movie and it's the same as today

just about what I'll have the video game tie

-in and You know as well as I do and when you

get into the we start the video game podcast

when a network does that I mean just about every

single movie video game just sucks And this is

really no different. There's some rare cases

where the movie video game actually does pretty

good, but sorry the Not so much here in 90 and

then they remade one for 2011 on the next -gen

boxes and to be honest, I didn't even know it

was out. The game will include a 12 NASCAR sanctioned

tracks including Daytona International Speedway

and Talladega Super Speedway. In the film characters,

Cole Trickle, Rowdy Burns, Russ Wheeler, the

PS3 version, labeled Days of Thunder NASCAR Edition,

will have more than 12 select NASCAR Spirit Cup

driver, Sprint Cup, not Spirit Cup, what the

hell? I've been having a few too many spirits

tonight, sorry about that. That's alright. I'm

joking, I like to talk about Transformers. I'm

drunk. That's how we see most you guys anyways.

Shut up. That's it. You're off this network.

We were just exchanging. See, he got me with

an earlier low blow on the Pacers, too. And I

let it go. And he told me during JT's bit that

I missed a low blow. So back at you. These drivers

are including Denny Hamlin. uh... wonder if he's

ready to related to harry hamlin uh... ryan newman

and tony stuart i have never been a tony stuart

fan so i just don't care you're not too far away

from on the road there you just go right up sixty

five the columbus and that's where he's from

uh... who cares yeah nascar games are notoriously

bad Have always been bad. I can only think of

there was one really good one for the PC that

Sierra online came out with That was really really

good and they made a really good Indy car game,

too That was the same team that was making it

so there are a lot of similarities between two

but NASCAR games Even the ones EA sports have

tried to do you know, it's in the game It's in

the game and normally EA sports is really on

top of that stuff. Yes No, they failed miserably

Honestly for me when it comes to racing games

Need for speed all the way Gran Turismo, I guess

if you have to play anything on a console So

we are going to head to some ads and we're gonna

come back with our final thoughts on days of

thunder And then we'll close the show. We'll

be back after this. radio network, insidepulse

.com. Stitch your smart radio and iTunes. Download

and listen today. Can I say something about Transformers?

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on GeekCastRadio .com. That scar's very popular.

I know that. I just don't get it. What's a grown

white man going 500 miles in a circle? We are

back here on MWIRE and no, we won't be taking

another left turn. Come back in 10 minutes, you

haven't missed a thing. Yeah, what he really

said was, come back in 10 minutes, you ain't

gonna miss a fucking thing! Alright, so Gary,

final thoughts on Days of Thunder? Good late

80s early 90s action type movie If you don't

really care about any realism in NASCAR whatsoever,

you'll love it. If you're a passionate fan You'll

be like no that doesn't happen doesn't happen

that doesn't happen and you'll find yourself

miserably Not liking this movie very much, but

you know, I get oh, so you're basically saying

it's like Joe fans Now wait a second now that

now now we're just trading low blow for low blow

now You're basically saying it's like, you know

you you can relate that to Joe fans that way

ins guy He was never supposed to be ripcord.

I Never I never I never are that's another review

for another time. You gotta have the whole cast

on for that one Like I said, I gave it a two

So if you have nothing better to do and you see

it on TV, what the hell give it a watch. Yeah

for me just you know, everybody knows that that

listens to any of our shows I Mainly go off the

nostalgia. I don't care. I like wearing the as

much as this is gonna Make me sound really weird.

I like wearing the red rosy rimmed glasses of

nostalgia I can watch this movie at any time

and still love it just for what it is drink your

mellow yellow It's funny, I think I've only had

mellow yellow once in my entire lifetime And

that's where they got their most advertising

from right there, folks. Mellow Yellow. Well,

Mellow Yellow, which is a conglomerate of Coca

-Cola. There you go. A massive machine. Yes,

yes. We hope you enjoyed this episode of MWIRE

and wish you'll join us next time when we will

be continuing 80s Spotlight Month. Year, I don't

know. I don't know when the next episode is gonna

be but next episode we are going to be talking

about Somebody who did it in a room with this

weapon. We're gonna be talking about 1985's clue

So it's all it's all Tim Curry's fault Wasn't

it was his fault and reds reds or hunt for red

October too, wasn't it? After all, he is an evil

cardinal. Yes. There you go. Ah, very good. Three

musketeers. I love it. I so have to add that

to the NYS. You do, because no one really knows

Keeper Southern. And they're like, what's Jack

Bauer doing here? See, I knew that movie before

Jack Bauer. And how come Charlie Sheen has a

burnout yet? Great movie. I'm sorry, but now

we've now we've totally deviated from The next

episode episode 85 will be clue Hopefully I can

get lupus convoy from from secret origins podcast

He did that with me. Hopefully I can get him

back for that because I know he loves that movie

For now I am TFG one Mike and you are Gary commander

-in -chief of what's on Joe mine? Catch us out.

Check us out. Excuse me on the geek cast radio

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