205. A Southern Yankee (1948)

[00:00:36] Welcome to SpyHards Podcast, where your hosts go deep undercover into the world of spy movies to decipher which films make the knock list. But remember this information is strictly for your ears only. I'm Agent Scott. And I'm Cam the Provocateur. Pussyfooting around? Spying. Yes you are! Right? Isn't that a cute way to put it? Is pussyfooting around a new turn of phrase for you?

[00:01:05] Uh, it's not a phrase that I have tossed out in the past, no. It's because that's actually pretty common parlance here in the UK. Well I mean it's a term that's well known, but I feel like it's pretty outdated at this point. Common parlance infers that people are saying it on the street. I'm not sure that's necessarily like what everyone... Hey Scott, stop pussyfooting around this intro. Like it's not everyone saying it, but like I wouldn't be shocked if I had heard someone say it. That is not a Gen Zed thing to be saying.

[00:01:33] Uh, it's Gen Alpha now isn't it? They've been taking over. Oh, Gen Alpha. Whatever. They aren't saying it either. All the... they're not talking. They're on their phones. Like what's the youngest person saying pussyfooting around? Ooh, I think our age. You think that's the youngest? Yeah, so mid-30s to mid-40s. I just think that is a saying that really doesn't... you know, a term that does not really apply anymore.

[00:01:58] Let us know folks. Do you pussyfoot around? How old are you? What's the age gap? What's the like... What's our youngest pussyfooter? That is a weird sentence. I didn't think I'd ever say that in my life. I was gonna say that is something you don't normally hear on a podcast, but welcome to Spy Hearts. Welcome indeed. We have an interesting film to talk about this week. I say that every week, but I think I mean it a little bit more this week.

[00:02:26] Yeah, this is... I don't know if it's a Spy Hearts special. I don't think it is. But it's one that I think is sort of... Not necessarily on the tip of everyone's tongues when they think of spy movies. No. It's funny because like when I prepare for a film, I often think about like what's my social media gonna be? How am I gonna promote this film to get people to click on it to listen to it? I mean a lot of you listening are subscribed. Welcome you.

[00:02:56] Our greatest fans, the Spy Hearts, Die Hearts out there. Thank you for hitting subscribe if you haven't already. Do that by the way. But there's a lot of people that will click on like a poster of this and be like, hey, what is this film? But like after that, how the hell do I market this? I don't know. Maybe just start marketing the back catalog that week. Yeah, it's one year ago we spoke about GoldenEye or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe that's my exit strategy.

[00:03:24] But we've jazzed it up a little bit. It's not as... I mean, I would argue this is a Spy Hearts special. But I think it's down to the listeners to define what a Spy Hearts special is, not us. I just don't think it's quite obscure enough. I mean, this is a major star in this movie. It's fairly obscure though. It's fairly, but I think Red Skelton is a pretty big name. So that's where I kind of bump up against it. It's like saying a Bob Hope movie is a Spy Hearts special. Let us know.

[00:03:54] By the end of this discussion, is it a special? I mean, we clearly think it's very special. But I think let's get to it, Cam. What are we talking about? We are talking about 1948's A Southern Yankee starring Red Skelton. Boy, are we. A movie that I think was added to our list around the time we were looking at The General and maybe Springfield Rifle.

[00:04:23] And I was searching around for other Civil War spy films. And this one jumped out pretty quickly during that Google searching. Cam had also been taking quite a few edibles before he wrote this list. So we're sorry. We're sorry, everyone. Yeah, and it was one that I was always like, is this going to be an awkward sit? And you know what? Surprisingly, not so much. No, I think this is this pass is muster better than some of our other films that would seem quite straight.

[00:04:54] Yeah, yeah. And even The General has some splaining to do. This one, not so much. No, I don't. See, you were talking about like Gen Z and Gen Alphas before. And I don't know how they would react to this film. There's a really funny like series of YouTube videos where they show like old technology. Yeah. To Gen Alphas like a rotary phone, right? Sure. I say really funny. It's actually really low hanging fruit. Lowest common denominator stuff. But it's probably why it appeals to me.

[00:05:22] I can't imagine a Gen Alpha watching this without being just utterly baffled. I mean, I see the videos where it's like, you know, teens react to Slipknot. And I'm just like sobbing into my hands that this is like... I was the teen. I was there. Like it's not that long ago. So like the idea of maybe that's something we should start is like teens react to and then insert the like completely forgotten Spy Hards special film.

[00:05:52] Teens react to I was a spy with Natalie and Carol. Teens react to my favorite spy with Bob Hope. What's the weirdest? Teens react to Possession. Teens react to British Agent. And then one of them in the middle of it gets confused and watches Confidential Agent. And it's just like, oh, I watched the wrong film. Or Secret Agent or whatever. There's so many.

[00:06:20] I actually would be interested to see how someone deals with this form of comedy. Yeah. Yeah. It feels like it's like, even in my youth, this comedy was a bit tired. Right. Yeah. It's a lot of like pratfalls and characters who are kind of dumb. But although it's like, I don't know. I feel like in some ways it kind of just evolves into like the Adam Sandler types of films. Sure.

[00:06:50] But it's like, you know, is it the Marx Brothers? Is that who I'm thinking of? Marx Brothers are the 30s and 40s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like that was kind of their comedy too. Or Laurel and Hardy, all this sort of stuff. Like there is a foundation of that, but it's evolved over time. Yeah. And maybe even finessed, you could argue. This is sort of its purest essence. Sure. Yeah. I would say like Marx Brothers are hitting like the top tier of what you can achieve in that sort of form.

[00:07:16] I haven't watched a lot of Laurel and Hardy, but I know they're pretty beloved as well. So I'm going to guess that they did as well. It's the same sort of comedy, I'd say. The bits I've seen comparatively. Right. Right. Like Marx Brothers is very verbal, which is not as much the case for some of the other ones. Like Abbott and Costello. I mean, it did have the whole who's on first bit, which is a good gag, but there's a lot of, I feel like there's even more physical comedy in some of the others.

[00:07:44] The Marx Brothers there is, but it's the Groucho Marx quips just firing a million miles a second. And then, you know, you mentioned it before the general, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin. A lot of that is all sprinkled into this film. I mean, there's a direct through line to the general and Buster Keaton in this film. Yes. And I did have a question for you. Okay. Are you familiar with Red Skelton? Not in the slightest. That was part of this sort of a Southern Yankee discovery for me was discovering Red Skelton.

[00:08:14] And it's funny because Red Skelton was a massive star, like massive for decades, like a beloved figure in comedy. And I think his legacy is pretty much like fading away. Like, I just don't think Red Skelton's work has stood the test of time in the same way. Like Bob Hope, we can watch his movies and say, hey, this one has an age great. This one, you know, it's a little corny.

[00:08:43] But I feel like the, just the legacy of Bob Hope as a figure in comedy continues to endure. Whereas like Red Skelton, I don't think so. And I mean, I'm someone who watches a lot of old movies. I've only seen one like Red Skelton film in the past, which was a musical called Do Berry Was a Lady. And I watched it like maybe three weeks ago, a month ago. Like it's not something I saw way back in the day. Well, I mean, he obviously had quite the legacy.

[00:09:12] There was a TV show called The Red Skelton Hour that ran for... 20 years. 20 years, man. You know, three little words, whistling in the dark. The films I'm reading off of is IMDb. And there are listeners to the show that are older than us. Or maybe even people who have spent more time studying older comedians that are younger than us or the same age. Who would know tons of Red Skelton. So I'm not going to come in and say like I know enough about this. I know. I don't know enough about Red Skelton.

[00:09:41] Maybe if I knew more about his type of comedy and sort of what he was like, I would have appreciated this a bit more. But I need to take this as a holistic package, this film, and not worry about his legacy. Like I went into My Favourite Spy with Bob Hope completely blind to Bob Hope. Sure. I wasn't that impressed and I haven't really been since. We'll get to Red Skelton in a bit, I'm sure. But yeah, to answer your question, no. I had no idea.

[00:10:08] I wrote down in my notes, he's a Bob Hope-er like. I disagree. I think like there's big differences between the two. And I don't know, like Red Skelton, yeah, I wasn't being disparaging in terms of like his legacy not being deserved or anything. It's more just like for whatever reason, it's like whoever carries the names of these people forward and their work forward.

[00:10:32] I feel like that sort of energy has not gone into giving Red Skelton the boost with future generations the way that some of his other peers did. Well, you know, you could look at it in terms of Red passed away in 1997. Yeah. His last acting credit was 1981. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you look at Bob Hope, he was turning up in Spies Like Us and things like that way past this point.

[00:11:01] And I know it was a cameo and it was basically a joke about him doing the USO tour, but it was keeping Bob Hope's name in the zeitgeist. I hate using that word, but you get what I mean. Like, I don't know if there are as many champions of Red Skelton out there. Well, and also I think of like Bob Hope showing up on like The Simpsons. Sure. You know, and like that's a show that was pitched at, you know, my age group. I mean, it's still around, but I don't know who watches it anymore.

[00:11:27] But, you know, like classic Simpsons really spoke to my generation and they would have like a Bob Hope joke or something or a reference. Whereas like I just don't feel like Red Skelton became that iconic, instantly recognizable figure that would pop up throughout pop culture. No, I think he has sort of faded away. But there are a lot of comedians and actors that sort of had their day or their moment in the sun and faded off a little bit. And that's okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People pick things up.

[00:11:56] I'm sure there are comedians and entertainers out there, maybe there were, that owe their career to Red Skelton. For sure. And I think if you flash forward 50 years from now, there's going to be some comedians of this time period or a little bit earlier that people don't really know anymore. And it'll be like, huh, like they were huge in their time. Yeah. I mean, can you picture it?

[00:12:23] Maybe someone is going to take up podcasting because of us. Maybe. Maybe. I hope not. I honestly hope not. We should not inspire any of you. We are the Red Skelton of podcast hosts. We truly are Southern Yankees. We are. We are. And actually a note, when I was a kid, I just would see the name Red Skelton in reference to movies. And I always thought he had a really cool name because it reminded me of Red Skull from Marvel. Yeah. That makes sense that you went there as a kid.

[00:12:53] That seems very cam. It sounds kind of like Red Skeleton. And so I was like, ooh, Red Skeleton? Red Skull? That's awesome. I just wrote down Hell to Skelton. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just little beetles for you there. But we're dancing around the subject. We're having a cotillion here by the looks of it. I can't remember the name of the actual dance they did in this film, so I just said cotillion. I'm sorry. Oh, do not ask me the name of that dance. I don't have a clue.

[00:13:20] I actually looked it up and have I deleted it since? I think I've deleted it since. That's really annoying. It's an official dance and everything has steps and stuff. Anyway, a Southern Yankee. If you haven't for some reason seen it, I will point out it's actually on YouTube right now for free. Is it really? Yeah. I paid money to watch this. Did you? Yeah, I paid $4.99 at Apple. Where did you think I watched it? I don't know.

[00:13:49] I thought you were, you know, surfing into pirate waters. I don't do that sort of thing, Cameron. I'm an upstanding member of the public. I don't do such things. No, I'm just checking to see how many versions of this film there are out there. Yeah. Yeah. And how many views they have. You know, I was just checking YouTube and it turns out I obviously was chewing on some edibles too because I actually paid for this.

[00:14:19] I went and checked my bank account. I paid for this on Amazon. So, yeah. Sorry. Whoopsie. It's not on YouTube, folks. Phew. I'm so happy to hear that. And I'm glad to know that the Skelton estate got a check. But people listening to this want to know if it's worth paying for. So we'll get to that. Like, is it worth renting? We'll discuss that towards the end. But if you haven't enjoyed the delicacies of a Southern Yankee, here is your synopsis.

[00:14:48] And there's a line in this synopsis that I feel I'll need to read back again afterwards. But here it is. Okay. A Southern Yankee. He's a spy for both sides. Right. Okay. Red Skelton plays Aubrey Fillmore, a feather-brained but lovable bellboy who dreams of becoming an agent for the Union's Secret Service during the Civil War. Now, there's a line in that I'm going to read back to you.

[00:15:16] When I think to do it justice, I need to do it in a certain voice. Okay. He's a spy for both sides. On whose side? Are you some kind of Southern Yankee boy? I couldn't get that voice out of my head the entire film. Yeah. And I guess, like, you'd watch Red Skelton and be like, are you some kind of doomsday machine boy?

[00:15:46] Yeah, exactly. I wrote down this is J.W. Pepper's favorite spy film. It's the only one he's heard of. Wow. But that's your synopsis. Maybe that wets your whistle. Maybe you want to get some more. Stay tuned. Maybe go watch it and come back if you'd like. But it's a first watch for us both. I don't need to dig into that. So your other first experience of Red Skelton was three weeks ago with a different film. Do Barry with a lady. What did you make of him in that?

[00:16:15] That movie is horrible. Oh. It's like, yeah, I watched it with my parents. It was one I picked up at a thrift store. And I just like to grab classic movies sometimes when I see them because why not? And it's this very bizarre adaptation of a play. Right. And it's starring Gene Kelly and Lucille Ball along with Red Skelton. Okay. Which it's like, this is star power. That's what I grabbed it for. Yeah.

[00:16:43] And it's like you can tell they took like a relatively short play and just padded it out like crazy. I think the first half of the movie is all just invented material. And it's not funny. It just drags forever. And you're just waiting to get to this fantasy sequence set in like old France. And then you go there and you're like, I wish we could leave old France. Like the movie is just, it's a real failure of a comedy and a musical.

[00:17:11] But I'll say two really nice things about it. Neither of which involve Red Skelton. Sure. Number one. Number one. Gene Kelly has an amazing dance number where he does like push-ups and goes in a circle in perfect timing of girls jumping over him as he goes around. And it's like clockwork. I think I've seen that clip somewhere else before. I saw it actually relatively recently on Instagram. And it was just like, huh, well, it's out there.

[00:17:41] That might have been where I saw it too. Maybe because we both had the SpyHards login and we both saw the video. Maybe. Because like that was incredible. And Virginia O'Brien shows up and does a song number. And Virginia O'Brien, for those that don't know, was this woman who is, she's an actress and singer who like her shtick was to sing songs with low energy. And she would have almost no facial expression when she would sing.

[00:18:07] And it was something she developed out of stage fright, but then realized the audience really responded to it and found it really funny. And you see her perform. And it's like, it's not just like someone who's like, I'm just going to like put no emotion into this. It is like an art. And that performance, which is worth watching on YouTube, is incredible. I didn't think that this review would pivot to other films so quickly, but I'm glad we are. Right?

[00:18:34] So yes, I would say skip Du Barry Was a Lady and watch those two performances on YouTube. Okay. Straight to YouTube, but not for a sudden Yankee, we've discovered. Right. But it is notable to me, like when you look up Red Skelton on IMDb, his top works are like this one. Like Du Barry Was a Lady is included in the four. So it's not like he had a real like, you know, killer collection of films under his name. Sure. It's interesting.

[00:19:01] I'm just looking at pictures of the film now, seeing him in color because a Southern Yankee is a black and white film. So I had never seen him in color until now. And your life has forever changed. And now you know why he was called Red. Red. Yeah. He's got very red hair. They do refer to him having red hair in this film. So I did do the assumption work there. Thank you. But yeah, he truly was red. Red ran so Conan could run as well. Uh-huh.

[00:19:30] I'm running away from that joke. Yep. Yep. Smart move. Hmm. Well, let's get into the background. I'm curious. It's one of those films. I don't know how much is actually out there. I want to see what your super sleuthing skills have come up with. How did this Yankee get so Southern? A shocking amount is out there on this movie. Like a lot? I sat down and I was like, okay, I can put together the notes on this one in like 20 minutes. Uh-huh.

[00:19:58] Cut to me like an hour and a half later, like pouring over sources for this film. You got like a whole whiteboard with pins and like little bits of cotton string going between them, just trying to connect the dots. My notes are more than one page. Oh, God. And I usually try to keep them to one page. But we're going to, it's not going to be that long. But it was actually surprising to me because a lot of these movies that are more forgotten, when you write the notes, there's not a lot there. So we talk more about the people involved.

[00:20:26] But the backstory on this one, there is a bit of a backstory. And so basically, this movie came out of the fact MGM didn't know what to do with Red Skelton. Shocker. He was one of their biggest stage and radio stars in the world. And they hadn't made him a top draw movie star. And so they were like, kind of like, what do we do with this guy? People love him, but he hasn't really connected in a big way.

[00:20:52] And he's been working in movies since 1938 with the Ginger Rogers film Having Wonderful Time. And he'd done some Dr. Kildare films. He popped up in the Whistling films, which are about a married couple kind of becoming embroiled in intrigue and mysteries. Somewhat akin, I'm guessing, to The Thin Man. And so there was like, you know, three Whistling films, I believe. And then, of course, he'd done Dewberry Was a Lady and showed up at the other musicals, Ziegfeld Follies.

[00:21:22] And some of these movies were hits. But it's not like Red Skelton was like the next coming of Bob Hope in terms of popularity. So I didn't really do the sort of charting of the history or the timelines. But so Bob Hope and Red Skelton were contemporaries then? Bob Hope got his start a little earlier. But yeah, yeah, they're working at the same time. So he's like James Bonding and then Red Skelton is us. Right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's a perfect parallel right there. Yeah. Far more popular.

[00:21:51] I mean, having met one half of that show, far funnier. Right. I'm probably far more down low. Let's keep moving on, Scott. That's really depressing. So it's probably because they're not talking about a Southern Yankee. But hey, hey, here we are. That's true. So Columbia was interested in borrowing Red Skelton. The country? From MGM. Yeah, the country. Columbia took Red Skelton in. Hey, we'll take some Red Skelton. Why not?

[00:22:21] We'll borrow him from your MGM. Sure. No, Columbia Pictures. Wouldn't get that on James Bonding, would you? Columbia Pictures, you know, got him for one movie in the same year. And the movie was called The Fuller Brush Man. And it was actually a hit. And so then MGM's going, well, wait a second. And the timelines are, when you read research, they saw the success of The Fuller Brush Man and then fast-tracked this movie.

[00:22:50] I don't know with release dates if that's true or if they just heard a lot of advanced buzz that was very positive and moved into this film. But ultimately, A Southern Yankee happened because Columbia made Fuller Brush Man. And this movie was made with Red Skelton not wanting to make it. He wanted out of his MGM contract, but had to be kind of pushed through this movie. So, metaphorically speaking, Red Skelton was his character in this film.

[00:23:19] And the MGM contract was that giant wooden thing rolling down the hill trying to run him over. Yeah, what the hell was that? So, I had to Google it. We had to take a brief pause there because Cam wanted some actual information. And so I found the Civil War entry on Wikipedia about this. It's a Cheval de Free. Oh, okay. Which is French. Basically, for those who haven't seen the film. You don't say. Oui, oui. Wasn't from Columbia, Cam. It was French.

[00:23:49] A Cheval de Free is basically one log. With a bunch of logs running through it, making spikes. And then it can also be put inside of a cylinder to roll. Oh, okay, okay. Gotcha. So, you can use it as a way of throwing it at people in a sense. Rolling it downhill. But mostly, it uses a barricade that you can't climb over because you'll get all stuck on it, basically. Sure. Okay, that makes sense.

[00:24:14] So, when it came to the screenplay for this, it started out as a story credit for Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, who are two friends from Chicago. They met in the University of Chicago. And broke into the screenwriting scene with the 1942 Bob Hope film, My Favorite Blonde, which is on our list to cover because it is a spy film. Yep.

[00:24:37] They got an Oscar nomination for Road to Utopia, the Bob Hope Bing Crosby buddy film, one of the entries in the Road series. Mm-hmm. And then they made Mr. Blanding's Builds His Dream House, which was a hit Cary Grant comedy. Mm-hmm. And then followed that film up with this. So, they had like a steady string of hits and then like some movies in there that legitimately were like phenomenons in their time. And they'd go on to do movies like White Christmas.

[00:25:04] They did Road to Hong Kong and had Oscar nominations for 1955's Knock on Wood and 1961's The Facts of Life. I bet Road to Hong Kong has aged really well. I thought the same thing when I saw that. I was like, oh boy. Oh boy. I mean, I haven't seen it, folks. Some of you may have, but I'm willing to put money down right now that either Bing Crosby or Bob Hope is in yellow face in that film.

[00:25:32] Find out on the Patreon when we tackle that with the agents in the field with Bob Hope. Cam is doing that one solo. And it will be an episode with solo downloads. No downloads. And that's the Bob Hope comedy I've come to love. Right.

[00:25:52] So, Melvin Frank outlived Norman Panama and actually also had two Oscar noms for writing and producing 1973's A Touch of Class, which is an Oscar nominee that I feel like it's kind of forgotten now. But it's a charming movie. And so that's like the story credit. That's where that's coming from, like a treatment.

[00:26:43] He's doing a whole bunch of Shirley Temple films. He did the Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne film Seven Sinners. And he also wrote the Bob Hope classic Caught in the Draft. I mean, I need a few Shirley Temples before I am known as the king of burlesque. And this was his follow-up to the 1946 Betty Hutton comedy, Cross My Heart. And he'd go on to do movies like Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra's Take Me Out to the Ball Game and Road to Bali.

[00:27:12] You're going to hear a lot of crossover with the road films here. I'm actually just more curious of Shirley Temple. Yeah, my whole joke doesn't work because Shirley Temple is non-alcoholic. Yeah, I drank those in Vegas. Right. So apparently I need no Dutch courage to become the king of whatever you said I was. King of burlesque. That's it. That's it. I just get my clothes off for anyone. That's right. But I do it seductively. That's right. And not all your clothes. That's not how burlesque works.

[00:27:41] It is if you pay well. Well, there you go. That's why they call me the king, baby. So this movie, the working title was The Spy. And they hired director. It's the best we got, guys. What do we call it? The Spy? Brilliant. You say that, but there's no other movie called The Spy on our list to cover. Well, there is Spy. Sure, but not The Spy. Not yet.

[00:28:11] It's unused. Don't tell them about our screenplay cam. Shh. Okay, okay. And so, yeah, it was known as The Spy. And they hired director S. Sylvan Simon, who had actually directed The Fuller Brush Man. And you may notice he's not credited as the director on the film. That's for a reason. All my notes are about it. I figured they would be, yes. Yes.

[00:28:38] Also from Chicago, like two of the writers there. And made his debut in 1937 with the film A Girl With Ideas. And worked with Red Skelton on Whistling in the Dark, Whistling in Dixie, and Whistling in Brooklyn. So he was along for those films directing them. He also worked with Abbott and Costello. He did the movie Son of Lassie. And then, as I said, Fuller Brush Man, which led right into this film. So who did he piss off to end up with this film, then?

[00:29:05] So what happened was, he was with the movie all during principal production. Yeah. So he shot the movie. Uh-huh. And the movie had some negative test screenings. And so they went back and shot two weeks' worth of footage to shift the direction of the movie. And so he had to leave. I believe it would have been because he was shooting Lust for Gold with Ida Lupino, which came out the next year. I think he probably had to leave to go do that. That makes me wonder what they changed. I have a sense of that. I'll get to that in a second.

[00:29:35] So, yeah, Simon actually died shortly after in 1951 at the age of 41, which, not uncommon in those days. Well, yeah, there is that, I suppose. But it's also sobering to hear people dying at that age when I'm so close to it. I know, right? I know. You're a goner, Cam. I found, well, in more ways than one.

[00:29:56] Um, so I found actually a good quote from S. Sylvan Simon about a movie he was doing. It was Abbott and Costello in Hollywood from 1945. But that film co-starred Wallace Beery, who was a big actor at the time, and also Red Skelton. Okay. And he said, um, Beery works from instinct, Skelton from the script, and Abbott and Costello work when they feel like it. Okay.

[00:30:27] Which I thought was interesting. Like, he's saying that, like, Red Skelton is very much script dependent, and that's something that he really depends on. It's not an instinct thing. Which is odd, given he had a television show for 20 years, which I would assume is a variety show. I don't, I think it was sketches more so. So I wonder if he's just someone who it's like, it's about the writing, it's not about, like, improvisation. So looking at it, it's kind of a mix of both. Okay.

[00:30:53] There's some variety acts, there is, it looks a bit improvisational, but mostly sketch-based. It's kind of like SNL. Sure. But with one host. Right. And they'd have musical acts on and stuff like that, people promoting other projects. Yeah. So a little bit like the Dean Martin show, too. Like, they had the Beach Boys on there, the Rolling Stones on, the Kinks. Yeah, all kinds of stuff.

[00:31:19] Scott is frantically buying seasons of this show to comb through for those pop culture nuggets there. Well, Robert Vaughn did a bit about Man From U.N.C.L.E. on there, apparently. Jeez. Should we be covering that? Come to the Patreon for more Red Skelton coverage. I can't hear the cash registers going, oh, wait, no, that's people taking their money back. Yeah, that's right. I see.

[00:31:44] So, obviously, Southern Yankee, it was in a state where they weren't happy with it. It apparently, like, part of the problem was that they felt that Red Skelton's character was too overtly dumb. Like, it was played up too big. Mm-hmm. And it was actually a suggestion from Buster Keaton to actually tone that stuff down and to inject some other gags.

[00:32:09] So, like, Buster Keaton is someone who actually contributed to the, kind of, the direction of this movie in subtle ways. And you will find quotes online saying, like, he submitted gags. The specifics of those are kind of lost. Although, it seems like he was involved with the doghouse bit. Yeah, I read that too. I would not have been surprised if he was also involved with the Cheval de Vries. Uh-huh. Because that feels, like, very much like a Buster Keaton thing. When it exploded. Yeah. Like, you know when there was an explosion?

[00:32:38] I was shocked. I thought Red Skelton had died on screen. I hoped. Briefly. It looked really, really good. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was surprised. There's a couple of moments like that. There's some actual, like, physicality involved in this film. And when I read Buster Keaton was involved afterwards, I was like, ah, there it is. Yeah. So, I think he submitted ideas for the reshoots, largely. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, overseeing the reshoots was director. It's like, put me in the film. Exactly. And they were like, no.

[00:33:08] That'll fix it. Oh. Apparently, he was actually a fan of Red Skelton and actually went to Louis B. Mare, the head of MGM, and said, give him to me. I can do something with this guy. And they were like, no. Wow. And then Buster Keaton was like, okay, well, see you later. I guess I'll just stay on the lot. Give me a shout if you need me. Yeah. And then submitted ideas, but this was not a, you know, this movie is not the vision of Buster Keaton. No. I don't.

[00:33:34] It's one of those things, I'm sure, like, Buster Keaton fans know this is something that's slightly connected to him. But they wouldn't say it's part of the Buster Keaton family, if you will. Like, the extended universe of Buster Keaton films, this is not one of them. No. No. No. And Buster Keaton, at this point, his career was not doing spectacular either. No. So. No. Which is, like, crazy, because he must have been in his, like, 40s at this point.

[00:33:59] Well, I mean, that's not a time that you have that much ahead of you, I suppose, in that time period. I suppose. Like, Buster Keaton did last a while. He did. He did. Lasted quite a long time. You know, Red Skelton did too. So, the director who was called in to, you know, fix the film was Edward Sedgwick, who was Texas born.

[00:34:23] He was a director, writer, and actor who actually started out in shorts as an actor in 1914 and did countless shorts. And he played characters with names like Charlie Cupid, Heinrich Hippo, Fatty the Bellhop, and Buck Bowl. Weirdly, they were all my old ICQ nicknames. He he he. Oh, wow. I just had a flashback.

[00:34:51] And he made the jump to directing with the Fantomas shorts beginning in 1920, and they were about a master criminal. And he did tons of them. He did tons of Fantomas shorts and made his major motion picture debut with 1921's Live Wires. And then he did some uncredited work on the 1925 Phantom of the Opera, the classic black and white silent version.

[00:35:16] And then he did a whole bunch of Buster Keaton films, starting with 1928's The Cameraman and doing other ones like Spite Marriage and Estrellados. These were, you know, the latter two there are not considered Buster Keaton's best films. But he had a relationship with Buster Keaton, which makes a lot of sense why Buster Keaton would come in to play in this part of the process here. And just someone who directed a ton of movies. And he would later also work on Abbott and Costello stuff as well.

[00:35:46] So definitely in this sort of physical comedy, like B movie world. Yeah, you just get a sense like when you do the research on this one, how much connection there is with what's going on with Bob Hope, Abbott and Costello. A lot of these kind of comedy, you know, stars that are big kind of performers in the movies at this time period. They're all kind of like intermingling. The road films as well. And then that's all applying to Southern Yankee.

[00:36:13] Which also must speak to just the size of Hollywood at that point. Yeah, yeah. Like there aren't many cinematographers. There aren't many directors compared to now where like you could walk down. I don't know. Name a street in Hollywood. Sunset Boulevard. And just be like people with like cardboard signs saying director for hire. Right. They're everywhere. Yeah, yeah. We'll direct a Star Wars movie for free. And it won't even get off the ground. Yeah.

[00:36:43] And there was another writer who pops up on IMDb. I don't know if he actually did much on the movie, but he's worth mentioning. How many Yankees are there in this film? Good Lord. His name was Frank Tashlin and he worked on several Bob Hope comedies. And he also was big in Disney, working on Disney shorts. And also he did some work on like Pinocchio and Cinderella. And he would go on to direct a lot of Looney Tunes shorts as well. So it would make sense if he's a gag writer that he might have submitted some stuff here. Sure.

[00:37:12] This is, as you like to say, a close line of the gags. Yeah. Yeah. So the box office for this movie, I have no idea. Yeah. No one has any idea how Southern Yankee did. I'm going to guess it's not one of the all-time highest grossing comedies. Or else we might know. It's not one, because we often say, and sometimes we embellish, but like, you know, we get your emails. We know you want us to cover the lives of others. Or, you know, Mission Impossible. Yada, yada, yada. The big ones.

[00:37:39] I can guarantee to you, nobody has ever emailed us or tagged us in a post saying, Hey guys, Southern Yankee. Right. Question mark, question mark, question mark, winky face. No, no. But the top three for the year. Number one was The Red Shoes. The Powell and Pressburger film that Martin Scorsese says is the greatest film of all time. It's his favorite. Number two, Red River with John Wayne. One of his best performances. And number three was The Pale Face. Starring Bob Hope.

[00:38:09] I'm sure that one's aged well. I watched that right alongside my road to Hong Kong. And then just my final note was, yeah, that Red Skelton went on to do the Red Skelton Hour from 51 to 71. 439 episodes. And clearly found his place in TV more successfully than movies. I wonder if there's a podcast out there that's reviewed every single episode. There is no chance of that. But I suppose once we run out of spy films, that's where we're going.

[00:38:39] Skelton Hards? Red Hards? I think Red Hards, maybe? Say that again. It really doesn't say quite right, does it? No. Oh, the Red Hards. No. Red Hards? No. No. I'm trying to think of Pod Skelton. Oh! Pod Skelton. Oh, that's great. That's great. There it is. It's free, folks. If you want to take it, run with it. Just maybe give us a shout out in the first episode. Have fun.

[00:39:08] Coming to Patreon soon. The Pod Skelton spinoff podcast. Last one episode and then Scott will throw himself out of his window. We'll do all of the whistling films. Oh, no. No, that's a no from me. But maybe someone out there wants to pick up the baton and celebrate some Red Skelton. Maybe that can lead to his resurgence that Cam is clamoring for. Clamoring. I can't stop screaming to the heavens for the Red Skelton resurgence.

[00:39:36] I'm clamoring, but it's to get out of here. The Red Skelton. Oh, no. They're everywhere. Let's talk about it. Yeah. A sudden Yankee. You've been talking for a while, Cam. Let me take over. Let my silky smooth British tones soothe everyone's ears. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Do you know what? I was really worried about this film. Okay.

[00:40:06] Like, I saw some pictures and I'm like, Civil War. He's going to be fighting on the side of the Confederacy for a while. Is it going to make light of it? Yeah. Current things that are going on. All this sort of stuff. Like, how are we going to talk about it? And then I watched the film. And it's actually quite funny. Yeah. I was like, oh, I'm laughing at this. I'm laughing at this more than I've laughed at any of the Bob Hope films that we've done. Something about Red Skelton's comedy speaks to me.

[00:40:36] Clearly, like, the pratfalls got a bit much at times. They were good, though. But, like, some of the situations. They were good. I mean, they were acted well. But some of the more situational comedy was quite good. Like, the cotillion dance with the swapping of the papers through the doors. All that sort of stuff was just fun setup and payoff. It was very well executed stuff. And, you know, I couldn't name you any of the other characters. Sure. But that's okay. Because Red Skelton is quite fun to watch.

[00:41:04] And as far as, like, the Civil War spy films we've ever seen, I think this is probably the most watchable after The General. Um, you think Springfield Rifle you'd put below? Yeah. And The Great Locomotive Chase. Fess Parker, though, Scott. What about Fess Parker? That's for you and Janine. I'll take Red Skelton. You can have Fess Parker. I think you're right, though. There's a lightness to this movie that really works to its benefit.

[00:41:31] It's the perfect, like, Saturday afternoon film. Yeah. Like, 2pm. You've just had lunch and you kind of just want to watch a film for an hour and a half. It's light. It's frothy. It's funny. It does not take itself seriously. Honestly, it is pretty pitch perfect. And so, like, by the end, I was like, oh, this is a really pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. And I was not expecting that. No, this one kind of caught me by surprise, too.

[00:42:01] Look, this is not one of the all-time great comedies. But I was sick yesterday and today. And I was at work and I knew I had to come home and watch this movie. And I really was not in a state of being like, I can't wait to go home and watch Southern Yankee. Yankee. Yankee. Yankee. Yankee. It sounded like a fate worse than Grim Death. Like, to be honest, I was just like, oh, God. I'm going to have to watch this for 90 minutes. And I'm picturing some of the, like, bad comedies.

[00:42:31] You know, like, imagine, like, the 1948 version of, like, Trenchcoat. That's what I was kind of imagining, right? Where I'm going to be like, oh, God. Uh-huh. Because Dewberry Was a Lady was not a movie I loved. And I thought, oh, Red Skelton was really grating in that. And I'm going to find him grating here. And color me surprised. I was actually like, huh, this was kind of a perfect homesick movie where it was, like, light. It was brisk. It, like, bounced from scenario to scenario in a way where it didn't overstay its welcome.

[00:43:01] And, like, some of them were pretty inspired. I thought the trips to the dentist's office were, like, really well done. The sort of, like, infirmary barracks slash dentist. That whole chase was well put together. When that guy did the backflip into the dentist's chair, I was genuinely impressed. Like, off the floor as well. Like, he had some acrobatic skills. It was a great scene. Yeah. Like, the physical comedy really worked.

[00:43:29] And it didn't drag out the story in a way which sometimes can be the case with these comedies. Like, I thought, like, the Bob Hope ones dragged it out more. Yeah. Where I just wasn't laughing and the story was just going and going. Whereas, like, here I felt like they kept it inventive enough or at least fun enough to keep my attention. And, yeah, like, Red Skelton. I give this guy a ton of points for his physical comedy. I think he was doing incredible stuff here.

[00:43:55] Like, when he's doing the, like, diving mount onto a horse and, like, plummeting right off the other side of the horse. I'm like, that's him. He is doing that kind of stuff. And it makes me understand now why Buster Keaton saw something in him that he could do something with. Well, it's kind of funny. Like, that was sort of expected of actors in these days. To have all these skills, ride horses and stuff like that. But he's not even just hopping onto a horse. He's hopping onto a horse backwards and then riding the horse. Yeah. And that is all Red Skelton.

[00:44:25] These days, there's no effing way Pedro Pascal, in one shot, in a wide shot, is jumping onto a horse and riding it backwards off into the sunset. No. And I think of the moment, too, where he's searching for the gray spider, the Confederate spy, right? Great name, by the way. I thought that was a good name, too. But there's a point where he kicks him in the head and knocks him out. And I was like, the way he does this wild windmill kick to the guy's head, I'm like, holy smokes, he was flexible.

[00:44:55] Like, that is not easy to do. And it's just like, I found myself appreciating the physical comedy. The storytelling itself, like, there's some stuff with love interests and rivals and stuff that's kind of like, whatever. You know, buy the number of stuff. I do declare, Aubrey, you're my kind of man. I gotta say, Sally Ann got off a little scot-free in this one. But, you know, Sally Ann has some answering to do in my book. I have some questions about the entire ending of this film.

[00:45:25] Yeah, yeah. But, like, overall, yeah, it was just like light entertainment that maybe it's more forgotten than some of the other ones we've talked about on the show, like some of the Bob Hope stuff. But it doesn't deserve to be. I think it's a movie that people would be, you know, moderately entertained by. Well, it's like you say, the fastest guitar alive is another Civil War spy movie we've tackled. Oh, boy. Not a great film, but that's had a longer life than this has. Yeah. And I think that's not quite right.

[00:45:55] Yeah. And I think, like, people probably nowadays see the term Southern Yankee and they go, 1948, Southern Yankee? Uh-oh. Pull up. And just stay away. Yeah. And I don't know that the movie. But it's poking fun at the Confederacy most of the film. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I would say, like, it actually doesn't kind of tiptoe into that problematic material.

[00:46:22] And you could also argue it takes the Mickey out of the entire concept of having a Civil War in the first place. Yeah. Yeah. Like, the scene, and I think one of the most inspired moments in the film, which I know is taken from a Buster Keaton film, probably due to his advising, is the whole, like, the two armies are fighting. And Red Skelton's character puts one half of a uniform on one half of his body and the other half on the other half. And then puts two flags together and runs down the middle of them, dressed up to appease both sides. And they're all cheering. Yeah.

[00:46:52] And it's, like, an inspired bit of comedy there. But also an inspired bit of commentary on just how silly this whole thing is. Yeah. I mean, like, the movie knows it's silly. There's no efforts to ground it in seriousness. When you have Red Skelton, I thought dressing as a southern belle and running, like, across the screen. I was, like, laughing at that. And I laughed even harder when he put that disguise on the back of a horse. Yeah.

[00:47:15] I had to add it to the list I've been keeping track of films where the protagonist or one of the lead's cross-dresses. Sure. You can also start a list of dentists, because we've had The Man Who Knew Too Much. Quite a few dentists. And then this movie. And Marathon Man is going to have more dentistry. Yeah. I think there's one more we're missing out on with dentists. I feel like there was another. I know you're talking about the Hitchcock one. I thought there was one more. It could be, yeah. Yeah.

[00:47:45] It's Bonnever Meet-a-Dentist. Oh! Was it something where it was like the dentist was actually, like, a spy or something? Like, information had to get passed in a dentist's office? Something like that, yeah. I feel like there is something in the back of my mind. Yeah. Like a molar. It's taking out. It's just there. It's increasingly putting pressure on my back teeth. 200-something episodes, folks. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost five years. We are prone to forgetting the odd thing.

[00:48:13] But if you remember the other film we're talking about, let us know. Help us complete the dental trifecta. Yes. Yes. Let's do it. Let's put that filling in. Let's talk about stuff we liked. Yeah. Because there's a lot of it here. And I think Red Skelton is number one with the bullet. Yeah. I think he's coming strong. Stronger than Bob Hope did with My Favourite Spy. Maybe we picked the wrong film to start with Bob Hope, but he has had two. They got me covered.

[00:48:43] That was the other one. Yeah. Yeah. And neither of them particularly impressed me, whereas I think I will remember bits of Southern Yankee. I'll be curious how we respond to My Favourite Blonde, which has a much better reputation. Okay. Yeah. I mean, you know, connective tissue.

[00:49:01] We were actually originally going to watch a film called Comrade X in this slot, but it got taken off of its online status and basically unwatchable at this moment in time, which had Teddy Lamar in it, who was also in My Favourite Spy. So there was going to be some connective tissue there, but back to Bob Hope anyway. Yeah. But yeah, I'm sure there's plenty of Bob Hope fans listening, but this one, he hasn't impressed me yet. But Red Skelton, I mean, some of the physical stuff did great on me after a while.

[00:49:29] Like some of the lengths he goes to, there's one where he's dismissing himself from the general. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And like he salutes and then spins around and falls on the door and stuff like that. He's overselling it at that point. Right. There's some like idiocy. And then there's like, you're just doing a pratfall. Yeah. But he's able to sell the pratfall. It's just like, I don't think it was necessary in that moment. Right.

[00:49:55] It's sometimes tough to do likes in comedies when they're so individual performer driven. Sure. Because it's like, if it clicks, that's the reason why this movie works. Like no one is going to like sit down and say, you know why this movie worked? I thought Brian Dunleavy as Kurt, the romantic rival, just injected so much pathos into this performance. It's like, no, you're not going to say that. It's like a generic performance in a generic stock character type, right?

[00:50:25] Well, there's a reason why every other person on the listings on IMDb has a black and white photo apart from Red Skelton. Because it's Red Skelton and then like 20 lines down with blank spaces and then the rest of the cast. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, to me, it's like, it's the set pieces ultimately that make this movie. And so it's like, you know, the whole bit with him trying to catch the gray spider early in the film. There's like the, who is it?

[00:50:55] Like General Baker or something like that. Like the guy who's with the union that Red Skelton is wanting to get in goods with and accidentally follows him into like his hotel room. Thinks he might be the gray spider, not recognizing him. And like the way that that plays out where there's the boots under the bed. All that kind of stuff plays great. The scene where he actually encounters the gray spider is really funny. Where he's like getting the gray spider to help him catch the gray spider. Yeah.

[00:51:24] Like it's some great setup and payoff. And I think all of those scenes are dependent on Red Skelton being able to sell it. And he does. And he has like, he has charisma, but he's also able to be, to come across as a naive or dumb enough to actually feel like he's being earnest in these moments of where like you and I would. Actually, to be fair, let's also point out, this is probably the first film we've ever seen where there would.

[00:51:52] I feel like I could see myself in Aubrey's shoes. Sure. Like as, as a spy, I don't think I'd be very accomplished. So I think I'd be very much like him. Yeah. But I think it's, it's no wonder he ended up doing a variety show for 20 years. Like he has charisma. He has presence. Maybe just didn't find the right film to launch that career as well as it should have been.

[00:52:16] But he, he is undoubtedly the magic secret source of this film. Yeah. And I would laugh at, you know, his shtick throughout the movie. And there was just bits of him walking around, you know, throwing out the secret code phrase, you know, the, it's nice to be among the Magnolias again. Well, that's my outro gone. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah. But he made that funny every time he did it.

[00:52:44] Um, there was just lots of bits like that. And I appreciate it because it's brutal when you're watching a, think of like trench coat. Margot Kidder is a very, like, try not to. It's a very capable comic actress, right? In her time. And you could see that in her Lois Lane performance. It's brilliant stuff a lot of the time. And you just watch her flounder through that movie, trying to do something, trying to make it work. And that's not the case here.

[00:53:14] Like, I really think like Red Skelton just brings all this to, you know, to life. And it has a lot of set pieces that are dependent on him to perform them. Yeah. For them to succeed. And he's up to it. And I just loved how this, he's a very big guy. Like, he's not a like, you know, thin lanky guy. He's not a diminutive guy. But he's like a pretty big dude. That's why I made the reference earlier to like Conan O'Brien. It's kind of similar. They're both big people.

[00:53:42] And the way he's able to be so flexible and agile and just like have his limbs flying in different directions or take a hard fall. It's really impressive. Well, it feels like he's like training vaudeville or circus acts and that sort of thing. He's a very, very physical actor. Yeah. And, you know, I think you're right, though.

[00:54:05] Ultimately, with comedies, they are tough to review because if the comedy doesn't work for you, the fundamental part of it, trying to make you laugh, doesn't happen. The film will always fall flat. Sure. And so when you review it, you go, oh, was it funny or was it not? Yes or no. And it's like, oh, that's the end of the review. This was funny. And I don't think it's to do with anyone else. I think it's Red Skelton all the way and his ability to sell you on these moments. Yeah.

[00:54:35] And I like the bit where he starts singing that like, oh, Susanna song and then falls right through the secret door. Hmm. Like, well, the bit for me is like a perfect example of this is there's a moment where he's been riding that horse backwards for God knows how long. Yeah. He dismounts the horse and he goes, take a break. He hasn't ridden a horse, I think, in a long time. And he's got a little saddle sore. He wants to take a break. He wants to sit on the log and chill out.

[00:55:02] And he keeps sitting down hurting his butt and he can't figure out why. And it turns out there's a pine cone stuck in his butt. Very relatable, by the way. Of course. We've all been there. And he proceeds to sit down like three more times with the pine cone stuck in his butt and him knowing it's there but not being able to properly take it out or whatever. And you're like, this should stop being funny at some point. Yeah. But it just keeps making you laugh. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:55:29] And it's like there's just like a purity and an innocence to his performance. Like, the thing about Bob Hope is he's a little more lascivious. You know, you bring up like attractive female lead around Bob Hope. He's going to be making those tiger sounds. Yeah. Whereas like Scout was more like, oh, gee willikers. Oh, it's a girl. Yeah. And you have like the romance with Sally Ann in this. And it's like, it's very pure. And he's playing like he's, you know, just head over heels for her.

[00:55:58] But it's not played as like a wooga kind of thing. It's like. Humana, humana, humana. Uh, yeah. Yeah. It's genuinely like a character who's like kind of kind hearted. Who's just fallen for this woman. Yeah. Because like the prettiest girl he's ever seen. He's just fawning over her. And she's falling in love with him for his perceived strength and cunning. Which is mostly lies. But still. Well, I like that he's so chaotic that it kind of makes sense why people are confused. Yeah.

[00:56:25] Like there's this whole scheme that the romantic rival Kurt has to steal the information that Aubrey is carrying when he's undercover. Mm-hmm. And to sell it to the union. And so he hires some people to dress as the union to attack Aubrey and get him to like, I don't know, surrender the stuff to him. Like it was a little confusing.

[00:56:54] But like, um, the way he's like confesses to the fake union members who he thinks are like his union brothers. But then like it's these confederates undercover going like, wait, what? Like what is this guy doing? And I like how they play it so fast and loose that you can understand why it's not a like slap your forehead. These guys are so dumb. Like they are genuinely confused about what this guy's doing. Because that's a genuine way of deceiving people is misdirection. Yeah.

[00:57:23] Like overwhelming someone. It's like the, uh, there's a good trick where I say good trick, I'm not endorsing it, but, uh, a, an interesting trick of where people will go to cashiers. Yeah. And they'll, they'll buy something, pay with a big note and expect a few notes in, in exchange, but then they'll basically mess it around. So they only paid to the cashier will give them their money back, but then they'll sell, there'll be like confusing them, distracting them and whatnot and say, oh, you've only given me half.

[00:57:53] And then the cashier in there like laughing or whatever will give them more money. Yeah. And they'll end up with more money than they came with. Plus the item. All of that is achieved by basically just being loud or being funny or big. And you're distracting someone from focusing. And that's exactly what's happening on that scene. And I will also add it was, I mean, they did hand their guns over very quickly. Yes. But it was kind of great to see like that sword with like 10 revolvers on it and him like firing each one at the time. I've never seen that before. Yeah. I was thinking the same thing.

[00:58:22] I was like, oh, that's some shtick that I've never seen before either. That's pretty good. I was kind of wishing he like, kind of like grabbed the sword and just like pulled it at one and fired all the guns at the same time. Right. But that's probably a bit too much to ask. More of a Tarantino thing there. That would have been more of the sequel. Uh, a Southern Yankee 2 uncivil war. I guess. What about you, Cam? Something you liked. We've spoken about Red Skelton, but can you dig a little deeper?

[00:58:49] I mean, in terms of like other likes, it's like kind of tough because I just don't think the supporting cast is strong enough to stand out, which is fine. Like they fit the story, but they don't exactly exceed it. So I would really just say like the direction from S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick is quite strong.

[00:59:10] Like they are able to stage the types of virtuoso physical comedy that you might see in a Buster Keaton film really capably. And a lot of comedies that are physical don't really impress me anymore. But every now and again, you come across one that does. And at times this one did. So I give them a lot of props. Yeah. And to think, you know, people are struggling these days to make comedies. Yeah.

[00:59:36] And like to get audiences to even turn up for comedy seems like hard enough. But just to make them and make them funny. I think of one that came out recently that I ended up watching on VOD, which was Blockers. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Came out a couple of years ago. Yeah. I remember I watched the entire film. I don't think I laughed once. And there was like four different comedians in that film and John Cena. And I just thought, where are we going wrong with comedies? So what happened to the time when we were getting like 40 year old virgin and stuff like that?

[01:00:06] That I found to be genuinely funny. And we just seem to have lost that art now. Yeah. And it's like it's funny because you could see one. Actually, it's not so funny. But I remember going to see Joyride relatively recently. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is a comedy in theaters that was like legit hilarious. And it did not perform well at the box office. So you didn't get that experience of seeing like a really funny comedy with a sold out crowd,

[01:00:34] which is like the best possible outcome. Yeah, it's like even ones like that that I think do connect at a high level. You know, audiences are mixed. It just seems like people don't want to attend comedies as much because they can watch that stuff at home. Well, because a lot of people are like weighing up the expense of going to theaters now because it is far more expensive than it was to go and see a Southern Yankee. Even if you adjust for inflation, I'm sure that is the truth. Yeah. And like, I don't know if seeing it. I mean, I agree with you.

[01:01:04] Seeing a comedy in a full theater with everyone laughing at the film is a really cool way of watching a film. Like I've seen most of the Bond films in person. And no, they're not all comedies. But like hearing people laughing at Roger Moore's quips. Yeah. As he makes them is a fun way of watching stuff like Moonbreaker. Yeah. I mean, I remember going to see movies like the Judd Apatow comedies, Napoleon Dynamite back in the day.

[01:01:32] The Austin Powers films with like packed opening weekend crowds. And it was great. Yeah. And, but I don't know. I don't know if watching it on the big screen is enough for you to have to pay that money now. Yeah, I know. Whereas you can get, they are putting stuff like blockers on streaming pretty quickly. That's where I watched it. I did see that one in theaters. I think I was maybe slightly more positive, but it was a, I was pretty mixed on the movie overall. Yeah.

[01:02:02] I mean, I think John Cena's got himself a bit of a future in Hollywood, but I think that's all I took out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, back to this then. Well, I do agree with you. The last note I'll leave us on is this. I absolutely love that the gray spider has an identifying ring. Oh yeah. And I need to all get us all spy hards rings. Oh my God. Like if you got us, are they the spy hards logo?

[01:02:31] Or the gray spider logo? Oh, it's a spy hards logo, obviously. Okay. Okay. Yeah. But is it, is it because it's a logo? Is it just our two little silhouettes? It doesn't say spy hards. It's just the two silhouettes. I think so. Yeah. I mean, would you buy that? Well, I have to, I'd have to give you one for free. Wouldn't I really? Yeah. I was going to say it while you're selling it to me. I'm in the logo. Times are hard folks. Join our Patreon. Speaking of, here's an ad.

[01:02:58] We interrupt this program to bring you a special report. Agents, where are you? Why do you hide? Follow that Patreon trail and make spy hards your guide. That's right. From spy TV reviews covering the antics of George Smiley, Jack Bauer, and the slow horses to reviews of non-spy movies from your favorite spy actors. There's no more secrets over on our Patreon.

[01:03:26] But Cam, tell the listeners about this week's top secret broadcast. Scott, we have some serious dealings this week. To close out Animated April, we are going to be investigating a terrible case of garden sabotage. That's right. We're going to look at the Aardman animated film, Wallace and Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit from 2005. Will our annual giant vegetable growing contest be foiled forever? Find out.

[01:03:51] So accept your mission and help support your favorite spy movie podcast at patreon.com slash spyhards. But before we activate the fourth protocol, let's get back to the spy jinx. Well, thanks for listening to that ad. Hopefully that's all convinced you all. And yeah, we need to get these rings. Yes, it's true. Yeah. Maybe if there's enough seed money, like a venture capitalist, right?

[01:04:18] We want the seed money so we can maybe make a product. I think the audience for SpyHards rings is very small. If I can sell one Diane Keaton body pillow, I can sell 10 SpyHards rings. Well, you've yet to sell a Diane Keaton body pillow. So get back to what you do. Don't tell them that. I was coming at it with confidence. That's how you do sales pitches. Always be closing. No coffee for you, Cam. No steak knives. No, no, no.

[01:04:48] Well, let's talk about dislikes. I have a couple I want to bring up, but why don't you lead us off? I thought the romance with Sally Ann, it kind of just... Ah, gee. I don't know. Like, it's very generic, but I just thought, like, Sally Ann, come on. This character really gets off pretty easy by the end. What do you mean by that? I don't know. Like, she's on the opposing side and is pretty hardcore throughout.

[01:05:17] She's like, I would shoot a Union Man if I ever got one. Like, they really play up that, like, Sally Ann is hardcore for the cause. Well, they talk about her plantation at one point. I was like, oh, boy. I know, right? Like, I'm going, like, Sally Ann does not seem like a girl worth hanging around there, buddy. And the fact that it's just, like, a total hand wave of, like, oh, the war's over? Well, Sally Ann, you're marrying material. I'm like, really? Is she? No, I know what you mean.

[01:05:47] I think a lot of people get off quite easy. I don't know enough about the Civil War to know, but I think a lot of people must have still been tried for things post the war. I... Like, everyone in jail when the war ended wasn't released from jail. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not a historian of the Civil War, I suppose. But one thing I found interesting about Sally Ann, I found out, and I was looking at the trivia for this film, is that she mentions that her plantation is called Twelve Oaks. Okay.

[01:06:16] Which is the same one as Melanie from Gone With The Wind. Oh. Okay. Wow. But that's like the plantation in the film, right? Yeah. It must be a nod. And also, I don't know if it was a real place, though, but I assume it was more of a nod to Gone With The Wind. I mean, that book was a phenomenon, and the movie is massive, and that movie comes out, what, nine years before this? So... Yeah. So, yeah. I found that to be an interesting Sally Ann connection.

[01:06:44] But this whole, like, we've seen it before. The lady falls for the spy, despite the fact that the spy is either A, a complete dickhead, B, an idiot, or C, someone like James Bond, who's clearly walking around with some form of STD. Yeah. Or, you know, just shagging his way across Europe. I don't know what's particularly attractive about any of those traits, but they still somehow managed to get the girl.

[01:07:12] But I feel like the girls are less morally compromised, usually by the end. Like, I want to know what's going on with this character played by Arlene Dahl. Like, she's, as I said, hardcore for the cause. The second she hears the war is over, she just suddenly, like, drops. Like, she must have had a belief in this political cause, right? I don't know. I think if you put a gun to a lot of their heads, they would be like, well, it's just the way I was brought up. No way. She was, like, really steadfast.

[01:07:41] It sounds like I'm coming out pro-Confederacy, by the way. Of course you're not. I'm barely even sure what the Confederacy stand for, so it's not my war. Scott in 2025. The Civil War is not my war. I want nothing to do with it, thanks. Do not associate me with the Civil War. In a country I do not live in. Historians are like, right, we'll take him out of this book. All right. Scott Hardy did not take part in the Civil War.

[01:08:11] No. I think she gets off with that. I don't think the film really wants to dwell on the morality of the Confederacy. No, I agree. I agree. Maybe that's the one thing that, like, well, I don't know. Maybe that's one thing that hasn't aged as great, but I don't know. Well, there's also a film we haven't really spoken about much, which is The General, which gives a lot to this film, even the Buster Keaton connection. But with the protagonist, it takes place during the Civil War, and he swaps sides at different points in the film, too.

[01:08:41] So, you know, there is kind of that element. But I know what you're saying with Sally Ann. It really does sort of, it doesn't really dwell on what she's done or what her compatriots have done. But I don't know if I really want that in this film. No. It also removes the black population largely from the conflict, except for a couple gags in this movie. Well, apart from that little, like, you know, diddy that you get them to sing. Yeah.

[01:09:11] The one with the kids. I mean, the kid was a heck of a dancer, but like, yeah, that part, you're like, OK, that ain't great. But then there's also the woman hanging clothes. Yeah. And you're kind of just waiting for the scene of him to scare her. And you're like, OK, this is not necessarily the best material being given to black actors in 1948, which is not a surprise. No. I think, like, of the two moments, the kids doing a little skiffle dance was a tiny bit more offensive if I was going to be offended by this film, because it's like, it's just a stereotype, right?

[01:09:41] Yeah. They both are. But yeah. They both are. Well, I found one worse than the other. But that's, again, my take on it. Yeah. But I don't think this film has a really a bad bone in its body. It's not trying to do anything like that. No. It doesn't feel like Red Skelton is looking down on them. No. Like, it feels a little more like Marx Brothers, where it's like sometimes you have problematic material in Marx Brothers films, but the Marx Brothers also see themselves as kind of belonging

[01:10:09] to a similar social class. Yeah. There is that. I mean, he works as a bellboy, but I mean more towards like the film has no interest in weighing in on the morality of what's going on. This is a light and frothy comedy, and it's just saying this is what's happening at the time, which probably wasn't that far off the truth. Very true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's why I don't feel we need to weigh in on it either, particularly, because this is a comedy about what's happening during the Civil War, not a comedy about the Civil War. Well, exactly.

[01:10:37] And ultimately, it comes down to, you know, a guy who wants to be successful, falls in love with a girl. There's a romantic rival, and that's basically what the movie is. Yeah. Yeah. He wants to get a job in a company. That job happens to be as a spy. He falls into it, ends up becoming a spy, and then by the end, he is a successful spy. Yeah, yeah. That's the story. I think for me, the main issue, which kind of ties into Sally Ann, is the ending.

[01:11:08] Yeah, okay. For those who haven't watched the film, who aren't going to watch the film, basically, Red Skelton's Aubrey is found out as a spy behind the Confederacy lines, and he's being chased down. He, you know, I think, has he been caught again by that point, or is he? Yes. Okay. So he has been caught again. He tried to escape and was brought back. Oh, yeah. He's going to be executed, right? That was it? In a very funny bit, yeah. In a bit around the tree that was quite funny.

[01:11:38] Yeah. And then, out of nowhere, the Confederate general gets a letter saying, whoever it is has basically put the white flag up. The Confederacy is folded. The Union has won the Civil War. And that's it. And so, like, all of the stakes are immediately gone because there's no war. And so, Aubrey and Sally Ann basically ride off into the sunset. And there are no... It's like, build up your tension.

[01:12:04] And instead of resolving it, you just sort of whip out the carpet and say, oh, there is no tension. Yeah. It was kind of a cop-out ending, too. Yeah. Yeah. Where she just pulls the gun on, like, the other, like, you know, Confederates is like, okay, I'm saving him now. And we're taking off. And it's like, okay, well, there we go. The thing of it is, like, if this was written... I mean, obviously, I know time-wise it wouldn't make sense. But if this was written during the Civil War... Yeah.

[01:12:31] ...and you didn't know the ending, I would forgive it for, like, just predicting maybe it might end. But because this is written afterwards, I feel like you had every opportunity to come up with a better ending. And it just kind of went, ah... The war ended. Well, it also feels like you want to end on a really big gag that delivers. And him falling off of the cart wasn't quite enough for me. No. It feels very in keeping with his character.

[01:13:00] But it isn't the big, splashy ending that... I mean, like, you look at the infirmary barracks chase, or you look at the big war... The big battle scene with the flags and stuff. Far bigger set pieces than this end chase into a doghouse and around a tree. Yeah. Yeah. Or into a hay pile. Sure. So, yeah. I just think, like, it builds up quite a lot of steam, if you forgive the general pun.

[01:13:30] But it just doesn't stick to the landing. Which doesn't really play with my metaphor, but we'll leave it as it is. Yeah. I mean, like, just maybe a bigger exit point would have been superior. Yeah. I mean, somehow, like, he gets back to the Union or something. There's some sort of massive chase. Like, imagine it, like, the other way around. You do... Like, Red Skelton kind of gets away, and you do this big old shot of a hill with Red Skelton's running down the hill.

[01:13:58] And you have a little bit of pause, and then, like, a hundred people come barreling down the hill. Sure. And then he runs towards the camera screaming or something like that. It doesn't have to say he got back to the Union lines, but, like, something big like that would at least make you go, oh, funny, and then that would be the end. Or even, it doesn't have to be big in my eyes, it just has to be something that's, like, choreographed in a way where you're just, like, a perfect final hit. Sure. You know, leave him wanting more and just walk out. Whereas, like, here, it was, like, kind of stuff I've seen a billion times.

[01:14:27] I feel like the film used up a lot of its inspiration when he was trying to become a spy and he was hunting the grey spider. Yeah. When he became the grey spider, I think it lost a little bit of the magic. There's still some good moments, still good. I mean, the two big set pieces we've mentioned are all where he is pretending to be the grey spider. But I think a lot of the urgency has gone by that point. I agree. Yeah. Well, let's go to final notes then. Cam, why don't you lead us off? Well, Scott, were you as baffled by Cousin Electra as I was?

[01:14:59] Who was that again? At one point, Sally Ann just introduces, she goes, this is my cousin Electra. And it's a sultry brunette woman who walks across the screen. The camera, like, focuses on her. And she just exits the scene and is never mentioned ever again. Yeah, I had no idea what was going on. So, that is a reference to the 1947 film Morning Becomes Electra, which starred Rosalind Russell, who's not in this movie. They cast someone who looks like her.

[01:15:28] And that was a movie based on a Eugene O'Neill Civil War film. And there you go. I believe the film was set after the war, but it was a nod to that. And I think it was also different sides. I think maybe Electra was maybe on the Union side. I don't know.

[01:15:54] But, like, it was the type of reference that is lost to the world at this point. Kind of like the painting in Doctor No. Yeah. Yeah. Where you just stop the movie for a second, something happens, and everyone scratches their heads. Like, it makes sense in 1962 or 1949, but it doesn't make sense in 2025. Yeah. Not that the filmmakers of Doctor No or this would really think that two nerds would be talking about it in 2025, but here we are.

[01:16:23] I would love to know if Morning Becomes Electra was, like, a legitimate, like, popular movie. Uh, you know what? I'm just lucky it was nominated for two Oscars for lead actor and actress. So, Rosalind Russell was nominated. So, I guess that's enough. Yeah. I think, like, some people in the crowd would probably get the joke. Yeah. And Rosalind Russell did win the Golden Globe. So. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but it was a moment that I was just like, huh? Like, what? Um, I had two notes.

[01:16:53] Firstly was, I mentioned the double-sided costume. Yep. Uh, did you get a community, uh, flash when that happened in your head? No, I didn't. No. It's been too long since I watched that show. Okay. Okay. So, uh, Dean Craig Pelton is the dean of the schooling community. And he's known for wearing some flamboyant costumes. But in one famous, uh, he wears, um, he wears, um, a double costume, basically one on each side.

[01:17:21] And it's probably one of the most hilarious scenes in the whole show's history. So seeing that brought to life in this film way before that TV show was made was just quite fun. Yeah. I mean, this was a, it was a fun gag here. So, I mean, it, there's a reason it continues to work. I mean, let's be fair. The Red Skelton's not in half of a skirt like Dean Pelton is. No, that's true. That's true. Uh, and the other one I had was, did you catch the very obvious dubbing? Uh, which part?

[01:17:50] Whenever they mentioned a place called Sandy Hill. No, I didn't actually. Um, go back, take a look, take a listen, folks, if you've got it on your, if you've got a copy of it, you're watching. Um, so there's a, there's a few scenes where the Confederates are making plans about a place called Sandy Hill. But I'm assuming that there was a different place when they originally filmed it because you can quite clearly hear it's a different actor saying the word Sandy Hill every time.

[01:18:19] It's almost robotic to the point of where it's like, boys, we're going to meet them on Sandy Hill and we're going to get them. And it's a nerdy thing to pick up on, but quite clearly cut in. I wasn't well at the time, Scott. So you'll have to forgive me for not noticing that one. You'll be meeting them at Sandy Hill, I assume. That's right. That's right. My, my throat feels like Sandy Hill. Oh, bless you.

[01:18:44] Um, I mean, did, did Southern Yankee lift your spirits in your time of need? It did. It did. It did its job. Yeah. And actually I, another gag that I laughed at was the setup of, um, the real gray spider's father. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And then there's the moment where they like go to acknowledge each other and walk right past one another. And he goes to the real gray spider. I thought that was a fun gag at the end. You kind of see it coming on a mile away, but it still makes you laugh. It does. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, okay.

[01:19:13] Well, not this time. This is, I think our fourth or fifth civil war spy movie. Who would have known there were so many of them? Right. I know. I hope there's more. I quite like this little like weird bit of history where there was a lot of spy work going on. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know that there's that many more to, to look at, but hopefully there's at least one or two. I've got a list in front of me that we'll go through another time, but yeah, there's a few of them. Yeah. But is a Southern Yankee making the knock list?

[01:19:40] The list of the must see spy movies, the ones you need to tune into if you love a bit of spy jinx. Cam, the question goes to you first. Yes or no. Is it making the knock list? This is not a knock list movie, but it is sort of a curiosity that I think like people looking for kind of a, uh, you know, a light and fun spy comedy should maybe give this one a, you know, a watch, especially if they like the general. Yeah. Because the general did make the knock list. That's an amazing movie.

[01:20:09] But if you'd like to see kind of a, uh, you know, a lesser version of the general that still somewhat connects, check this one out. So it's interesting because like the great locomotive chase is, is also sort of a modern, not modern remake, but like a sixties remake of the general. Yeah. Fifties actually. Yeah. Fifties. You're right. And it's in color and there's a lot of action, but I think I would still lean towards this out of the two when it comes to remakes of the general.

[01:20:38] I think I would too. Yeah, I agree. But is it making the knock list? It's a no for me. It's, it's quite a bit of fun. Um, there aren't many comedies on the knock list as it stands, which I think is a shame, but. To be fair, we've also put a lot of the comedies that might make the knock list on the back burner for later. Yeah. A lot of the big franchises like the Johnny Englishes and the Austin Powers we haven't even tackled yet. So yeah, there is a lot of opportunity for knock list comedies in the future.

[01:21:08] And that's not to say there isn't things to enjoy here. If you like a little bit of history with your spy movies, if you're just looking for a bit of comfort food, this could be one for you. But is it, is it one of the neater seas? I don't think so. No, I agree. Well, there you go. Two no's. And as such, a sudden Yankee is not making the knock list of dossier on the film as complete and filed as classified. And we're leaving the Civil War once again. We are indeed.

[01:21:36] And, you know, it's just too bad that this movie hit the red light, not the green light. I thought you said you had a good joke. Well, forget it. I'm sick. I'm being cruel to Cam. I'm sorry, everyone. I know you hate it when I do that. But Cam, we can soon leave the room and you can get some much needed rest. But before we go, please tell everyone what we're talking about next week. The wackiness is continuing into next week, but in a different form.

[01:22:05] We are going to look at a movie I think you'll all be very excited about. This is not a Spy Hard special. We are going to reunite with Roger Moore as Agent 007 and tackle The Man with the Golden Gun from 1974. Hey, we mentioned him up front. We said this is his favorite spy movie. J.W. Pepper is returning to the podcast to give us all migraines. That's right. I can't wait for more of Louisiana's best.

[01:22:32] But yeah, join us as we venture back into the world of Rogertainment and take a look at 1974's The Man with the Gold. Golden Gun. Can you handle three nipples? We'll soon find out. And thank you all for tuning into the episode. We hope you've enjoyed the discussion on The Southern Yankee. I can almost guarantee we're the only people to ever podcast about this. And that's what I like about doing Spy Hearts. It's one of my favorite things is these types of movies. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:22:59] Like if you search that on, you know, Apple Podcasts, we'll be the only one. And you'll be forced to listen to us. Exactly. Because we're the only show in town, folks. Is there a reason for that? Probably. If you want more Spy Hearts, and who wouldn't, frankly, if you've made it this far and you aren't a member of the Patreon, what are you doing? Unless, of course, you have more important things to do with your money. And in which case, I completely understand. But if you don't, boy, do I have a place for you.

[01:23:29] Patreon.com slash Spy Hearts. Over 100 bonus episodes to shove directly into your ears. And I'm talking about slow horses. I'm talking about Ian Fleming biopics. I'm talking about all kinds of TV spy jinx. 24, you name it, it's over there. We keep hearing from you. You want spy TV reviews? Well, frankly, it's behind the paywall because we got bills to pay. And Cam needs to keep up his stock of cough medicine.

[01:23:59] Help. Help. He's so weak and needy. He needs your help. Go to patreon.com slash Spy Hearts and make a generous donation to Cam so he can feel better. And if you don't, he's going to feel worse. That's not possible. Oh, okay. And if you want to continue the conversation about Southern Yankee, we'll be talking about it all week over on social media at Spy Hearts or wherever you might social media. Come and find us. Come and talk about your favorite spy movies. We want to hear from you.

[01:24:28] But until next week, folks, remember the papers in the pocket of the boot with the buckle and the maps in the packet of the pocket of the jacket. Okay.