Million Dollar Baby (2004) / Monkey Shoulder Blended Scotch

0:01 In 2004, director Clint Eastwood and star Hilary Swank gave the world a poignant picture of a man broken by the weight of his love. In 2023, we try a whiskey that tries to carry that weight on its shoulder. The film is $1,000,000 Baby. The whiskey is monkey Shoulder. And we'll review them both. This is the Film and Whiskey podcast. Welcome to the Film in Whiskey podcast, where each week we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob Book.

0:49 I'm Brad. G. And this week we are revisiting Clint Eastwood's 2004 Best Picture winner, $1,000,000 Baby. $1,000,000 Baby. Brad, this was the fifth ever movie that we reviewed on the Film and Whiskey podcast. Holy. Cow. I went back and listened to our season 1 episode on this movie and I have to say before I go, before I go any further, what we're doing this season is we are going back and re reviewing all of our season 1 movies because we were just babies. We didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know how to podcast and we. Definitely were not worth $1,000,000. No, not at all. I have to say, man, of all of the Season 1 crappy audio adventures I've had, this was unlistenable.

1:34 I don't know what happened, but like, you know, I do this thing sometimes where like when I make my s s, I kind of whistle a little bit and I have to try to edit that out and post. And in Season 1, I was like, let's do the opposite of that, let's turn that bad. But I sounded like freaking Jiminy Cricket given a little whistle. It was like I had to turn it off after 10 minutes. I don't even know what we said about this movie. Or like the Gopher and Winnie the Pooh. Oh my gosh, it was worse than that. It like, truly, I'm so glad that we are redoing this just so I can eliminate that audio from existence. Yeah. If anything we should just take a transcript from that and just re re say all the same things.

2:14 It probably was OK content but just the worst audio you've ever heard. Hideous to listen to. All right, so we're revisiting $1,000,000 baby. And I have to say in the 10 minutes that I listened to that episode, Brad, I have very different thoughts on this movie than I did in Season 1. And so I'm, I'm really, really glad we're getting the chance to redo this, man. Bobby Book coming in with a hot take. He likes this movie now. I do I this. Is a good movie. Oh my gosh, Bob, I am here to tell you that this movie is dope. It's really good, man. It's. Really freaking good dude. I have so many more observations than I did back in Season 1. Before we go any further, I on Hilary Swank and I don't know what I was thinking because she is like, I get you can debate whether the character is well written. She freaking knocks it out of the park. Man.

3:13 She is so good at this movie. Yeah. And I I was reading that they almost chose Sandra Bullock for this. Nope. But the Yeah, it. We'll get to that point in a second. Her production schedule for Miss Congeniality 2 got in the way. I just needed everybody to. Know hate when that happens. I just needed everybody to know that fact about this movie. You should have saved that for two facts and a falsehood because I would have been like, there's no way that's true. That's ridiculous. But yeah, so that's why she didn't make it.

3:54 And let's just talk for a second about how terrible she would have been in this. Role Listen, I like Sandra Bullock. This this role required. In order to keep this role from being a complete caricature, you have to get perhaps the best actress of her generation to play it. And Hilary Swank just nails it, man. I mean, we've we've talked, you know, we talked back in Season 1 about this, but the obvious talking point here was the physical transformation, the fact that she did the like, Robert De Niro, Raging Bull, gaining 30 lbs of muscle thing. And yeah, I mean, you can see it. She looks incredible. But it's so much more than that. Yeah, you, you can tell that she lived in this character. Like it, it is such a, this is my favorite word to describe my favorite performances.

4:45 It's such a sincere performance, Bob. Like the authenticity is oozing out of her that she understands this character and and and this character's psyche on an incredibly deep level. Brad, I think we have a lot of good things to say about this movie, but before we get into any of them, we need to hit pause so that we can introduce our first segment of the day, America's favorite segment, which we call Brad explains. Brad's going to give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds taken on the clock, so let's go ahead and do your take with this little segment that we call, Brad explains. Brad Explains is the part of the podcast where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen, often for the first time.

5:30 Which is not true at all this season. That's no, not at all. Like, not even one time. I don't even know why I'm saying the whole thing. Yeah, I think you did. A Brad explains on this. In Season 1, we had already, like, even by season or by episode 5, we had said, like, all right, go ahead and explain the movie. I can tell you with certainty it was not 60 seconds long. I was going to say, can we just talk about how long the Gone with the Wind explanation was? It was a solid 9 minutes. Of me talking and I remember it ended with me being like, and that's intermission. Like we got to the halfway mark and then we were like, you know what, if you just want to know about Gone With the Wind?

6:10 Just go watch it. Yep. I'm so glad that we implemented the 62nd timer here. That might have kept the podcast alive. All right, Brad, we are. So listen, if you have not seen $1,000,000 Baby, it has been over 20 years at this point since it came out. I'm sure that someone in your life has spoiled it for you, but if you have somehow managed to not have this movie spoiled, you need to keep it that way. Yeah, it's a great boxing film. Go watching and nothing else. Right. And nothing, nothing else. Brad is going to spoil this movie in his breakdown of the plot, so if you have not seen it, go watch it and then come back. Brad, you have 60 seconds on the clock. Spoil this movie and go.

6:56 Hilary Swank sucks, Clint Eastwood helps her not suck, and then she falls and breaks her neck and he pulls the plug on her. Wow. Boom. I like how you said Hilary Swank sucks, not in like her character like Hilary Swank. The human being sucks. Yeah, she's terrible. All I could ever think about whenever Hilary Swank comes up is that often episode. You know what, man, I got to be honest with you and like I, I don't mean to be the wet blanket here, but it, it really bums me out that Hilary Swank, you know, I'm watching her like do TV shows and stuff now. And I think the fact that she is not necessarily, like, the most conventionally attractive actress, even though, like, you know, that episode of The Office where people are talking about her, like, as if she's actually ugly, I have never thought that she is an unattractive person. Like, you don't get to be in movies if your face isn't a little bit symmetrical, you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I, I, I really do think that not just that Office episode, but that kind of rumor, whatever you want to call it, really chased her for a long time. And I think it kept her from having the kind of career that she deserved to have.

8:09 She wins two Oscars in a five year span and then just kind of goes away and like, yeah, it's not fair to her. She's such a good actress. Yeah, I know she she is a great actress. I feel like there are certain TV actresses or actors that like, make their way to Hollywood for a few films and then eight years later you see them back, like headlining ATV show. You know, that makes sense for them. Doesn't make sense for Hilary Swank man. No, I'd like. I think everybody thought that she was going to be the Meryl Streep of her generation, and those opportunities just never really ended up presenting themselves to her, and it really sucks. Meryl Streep of her generation.

8:52 That's a That's a bold claim, Bob. Two Oscars in five years, man. She wins an Oscar. Oscar. In in 1999, going into 2000, it was the movie Boys Don't Cry. That was her first, her first Oscar. And then, you know, like she wins an Oscar before Cate Blanchett ever does. She wins an Oscar before Kate Winslet ever does. I feel like these people that we look at as like, oh, they are the actresses of their generation. It was Hilary Swank before it was either one of them. And I think that, like, you know, just to reiterate, it really sucks that we don't laud her as much as she deserves. Yeah, well, I'll tell you this right now. I've never heard of that movie. I I can't even remember the name of it right now. And you just said it 10 seconds ago. It's called.

9:36 Boys don't cry. Go look at those Don't cry this episode. But we have an episode to discuss right now, Brad. We're talking about $1,000,000 baby. I think the obvious point of comparison, and I don't know if you want to do it here or do it after the break. We're going to have to talk about how this is Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven Part 2 Electric Boogaloo. Like it it kind of, you know, Unforgiven is Clint making his grand statement where he he first really starts to dig his heels in on the effects of violence and the the effects of violence in his own story and legacy. And I think it's it's following him through all the way to this point. You know, we've done a few Clint Eastwood movies on this podcast now, and even just from Mystic River, a movie we watched for this show coming out the year before this, to this movie, I got to be honest with you, man. Like this movie just feels like it. It goes so much deeper and achieves heights that he really hadn't hit since Unforgiven.

10:35 Yeah, 100%. He has an ability in this film to tap into the depths of these characters that are written on the screen. And you're not distracted by bad soundtrack the way you are in Mystic River. And you, you don't have, I don't know, you don't have the spectre, you know, not to get too dark or anything, but you don't have the spectre of like childhood sexual abuse hanging over the whole movie. They're like, it's a it is such a uplifting film for the first half. And then, you know, you get to the back half and you understand the pain of what Clint's character goes through because of how uplifting the first half was.

11:25 Like, you see what an incredible guy he is in the way that he takes care of Big Willy, you know, the first boxer. And you see the way he takes care of Hilary Swank and and you understand the love that he has for this, this girl, this dot, you know, faux daughter that he has. And it's all because Clint is willing to give his characters heart and depth and and allow the camera to sit with them. So after I watch this movie, there was one thing that really blew me away, and it was the way Clint uses the camera in this movie. I think that if there's one thing we've really talked about across all of our Clint Eastwood movies, it's at the cinematography is often quite beautiful, but that he doesn't really use the camera in inventive ways. It's pretty static.

12:11 It's. Because he only uses 1 take. The first hour and a half of this movie is a very uplifting, albeit conventional rise to stardom sports movie. And yet like it has some of the best in the ring choreography and camera movement that I've ever seen in a boxing movie. And like, we've watched Raging Bull for this for this podcast, we've watched Cinderella Man. I was shocked at how like Clint went handheld with a ton of this camera work in this movie. And you really, it really feels like you are in the ring in a real fight. And I got to give it up to Clint for the ability to have a movie that has so much energy in it.

12:53 Yeah, well, and you, you feel the power that Hilary Swank brings into the ring. I, I I keep calling her Hilary Swank. What's, what's her character's name? Her. Name's Maggie. Maggie. Fitzgerald yeah. So Maggie, like, fights with such passion and power, and he uses the camera to illustrate that. I I I'm with you, man. I think the other part of the the cinematography that I really loved and I remember talking about in Season 1 was the lighting. Like the way he uses light in this film, for me is reminiscent of like a Citizen Kane, where there's really strong contrast. Yeah, yeah, contrast, but not just like a gradient, like it's like a sharp line between the shadow and the light. And it's a brilliant choice with a movie that ends with such a Gray moral area, to use so many sharp lines, because that's how, you know, Clint's character looks at the world and these sharp lines of black and white, right and wrong. And so you see that through the use of light. But by the end of the film, there's nothing black and white about the decision he has to make. I'm going to pull us out of that moral quandary for a minute to talk more about Clint Eastwood on a on a very superficial level, you know?

14:17 Brad, he's still, he's still pretty good looking. That's listen, here's what I'm going to say. We don't usually talk about like people's looks and especially their physique on this show because we just don't typically say things like, you know, I really like her body. Like it just makes us sound dumb. However, I have been really impressed watching these Clint Eastwood movies where the man is like, but somewhere between 70 and 80 years old and most of the movies we're watching and he doesn't have an old man physique at all. Like the dude's chest is so like he's like washboard like he doesn't have, you can't see like defined pecs, but he doesn't. He also doesn't have saggy old man boobs. And it's it's kind of insane how good of shape he's in in this movie. Yeah, I, I mean, when I think about what Clint Eastwood eats, I feel like he just eats like a can of baked beans and a salad every night.

15:11 I I don't know, He, he doesn't strike me as a dude to just get fat because he's eating junk all the time. He looks incredible. And you said that he's between 70 and 80. I think he might be between 70 and 180. I'm not quite sure what age he's at at this point. Oh man. But yeah, the dude looks incredible. I, I am with you 100%. I, you know, I'm over here trying to talk about his skills as a director. But sure, Bob, we we can talk about his looks. Let it be known that one of the first people I've ever fond over on film and whiskey is 76 year old Clint Eastwood or however old he was in the making of this movie. I'm just saying, man, if either of us look half that good at that age, like we have done something right.

15:55 Yeah, no, 100%. I mean you, you have the height to to to look like him. I'm not. But not the physique. Not, not quite. The physique I I might have the physique. Well, between the two of us. We will look as good. Clint Eastwood. Yep. All right, man, I do want to talk about these performances a little bit. We've already talked about Hilary Swank. This might be the best Clint Eastwood performance. And I said that with Unforgiven, and I said it with Gran Torino. And I think it's crazy how you get various shades of the Clint Eastwood persona, but that he is he's really camping out within those silos in each of those movies, like the Unforgiven. Will money in Unforgiven is not the same character as this character.

16:44 And his character in Grant Torino is very different than this character. And, and honestly, I think what I really love about this character is that he's the most openly loving person in this movie that he is in in any of these three films. Like once, once she cracks through his kind of, you know, hard exterior, he is like he's head over heels for her. And that's what leads to the tragedy of the movie. But to see that kind of warmth coming from Clint Eastwood is something that you don't typically see. And it was a really welcome departure for me here. Yeah, 100%. And you kind of see it early in the film when you know he's talking to Big Willy and you know, he, he pays to have the guy's car taken care of. And, and the brokenness that you see him feel when Willy leaves him as his trainer is so deep and heartfelt. And it sets the stage for the rest of the film. And I, I think that maybe the first time I watched this, I felt like they spent a little bit too much time leading up to Clint's training.

17:47 Maggie. I thought it was just the right amount of time on this watch through. Yeah. I mean, I think we are going to get into talking about the script and the issues that I still have with this script. That might be a good conversation to have on the back end of this episode because I do want to emphasize, like overall this movie is wildly successful. And I think that I let the deficiencies in the script really weigh my score down. In Season 1 I think I only gave this like a 7 1/2. You give it a 7A. Seven. Wow. Yeah, that was dumb. However, I will say, I mean, even at this point, I will say this. If we're comparing this kind of directly to Unforgiven and as kind of like, you know, spiritual cousins or whatever, I think that Unforgiven is still more successful at identifying the point that it's trying to make and then like directly targeting everything it does in the movie to address that point.

18:43 Like, I think there's still, I'm still kind of muddied on exactly what the point of this movie is. Like what is the underlying not just the theme, but like, is there a lesson to be learned here or is the lesson that there isn't a lesson to be learned? And I I just I think that Paul Haggis is trying to do a lot of things at once with this script. And so, you know, the the actors are doing everything they can and they're doing an incredible job. But there are certain things to get back to your point about the lead up to even training Maggie, the Catholic priest in this movie is only in this movie essentially to fulfill the role that he fills in the final scene he has in the movie. Like, and I don't know that we need 8 scenes of Clint kind of fucking with him just for, you know, kicks and giggles to establish that character because the character really doesn't add that much to the overall movie except for like, he's representative of the church's ethical code and Clint disagrees with it.

19:43 And like, you kind of could have gotten that if you introduce the priest for the very first time in that last scene. And so like, I do think they're just things about the way this movie is structured and set up that that keep it from being, for me, as perfectly tuned as Unforgiven was. Yeah, I mean, you could have established early in the film that he goes to mass by having Maggie, like bebop her way on up and ask him to train her again as he's like walking out of mass. Like, like and. And boom, he's Catholic, he goes to Mass and then at the end of the film you show him with the priest and that's it. So no, I'm, I'm with you 100%. I, I think that there are parts of this film that feel a little bit extraneous.

20:30 I I think that our big critique of the film the first time through still stands like the, the, the white trash of it all, if you will. You know, Maggie's family is white trash. And, and I'm not calling them that because I'm reductionistic. I'm calling them that because Clint Eastwood, like if there is a flaw for him as a director, now that I've watched a decent amount of his movies, the man is not a subtle person, doesn't have a lot of nuance, right? And you see that very obviously with Hilary Swank's family in this film. And I I just feel like like he could have gotten it across that they were white trash but also real people in a in such a better way than he does.

21:21 Yeah. I feel like we're already kind of tipping into what we want to talk about in the second-half. So if, if I may, let's press pause on that conversation so that we can talk briefly about the third lead of this movie, Morgan Freeman. And I kind of, I kind of started to broach the topic of the script because you can't really talk about Morgan Freeman's character without talking about the script because most of his role is done in voice over. He is the narrator of this movie. And you find out at the end of the film that the reason he's been narrating it is that he's writing a letter to Clint Eastwood's estranged daughter. I think that part of why I don't, I still don't love this script, Brad, is that it tries to be too cute sometimes and it tries to leverage how much we liked Morgan Freeman as a narrator in Shawshank and then say, like, what if he did that, but like twice as much?

22:11 And I will say Morgan Freeman, Morgan Freeman's fantastic in this movie. And I I even noticed, you know, like he's doing a different voice than he normally does. And I think it works really well for him here too. But the thing that I'm saying about Shawshank is, you know, in that movie, there's a few scenes where he will have a clever little cute punchline that he delivers at the end of a scene and then it like helps you move to the next little episode in Shawshank. And in this movie, Paul Haggis tries to make Morgan Freeman's character do that in every single scene for the 1st 2/3 of the movie. Like he'll, he'll make a comment at the that the start of the scene and he'll say something like Maggie always did, like knocking him out in the first round and then the scene will play out and she will do something.

22:56 You know, that's the scene where Morgan Freeman's character tries to introduce her to a new manager and she shuts him down and walks out and then he comes back on and says Maggie always did like knocking him out in the first round. And you're like, OK, I get it. Like that's cute. And it works really well the first like 4 times. But after the 11th scene where he structures it exactly the same way, I it really got on my nerves. And it sucks because they don't use Morgan Freeman on screen as much as they should and the narration gets a little overbearing for me. And so I, I struggle to like, give him the props that he deserves because he's really good when he's on screen, but the narration really takes away from it for me. I I think the other part of the script that took away from Morgan Freeman's performance was he's like the perfect character. Like, there's nothing wrong with him, but I can't stay away from those ponies, you know what I mean? Like, it feels just a little bit forced in there where he's like, Clint, you have to keep my money from me and give me just enough to live on so that I don't waste all my money on gambling. And it just feels a little bit forced. I, I, I don't know how did how did that interact with you? Yeah, I mean, they try to give him some flaws and he talks about like how he was too stubborn of fighter and then he lost his eye and he should have listened to Clint. And you know, and again, I don't mean to get like racial about it or anything, but he's like the only black person in this movie aside from the person who

24:26 paralyzes Hilary Swank. And like his job is basically to like be of service to everyone in the movie. Like he's literally the janitor. But then he's also there to like pick up all of Clint's emotional baggage. And he's there to be the emotional support for Hilary Swank. And he's there to let Clint vent to him and, and tell him that it was his fault. And you know, like, it just, it doesn't seem like he's a real person. I totally agree with you on that. And even within that, I think Morgan Freeman freaking kills it from an acting standpoint. Yeah. And, and I think part of that reason, and I will, I will say I, I will give Clint credit here. Morgan actually originally auditioned for the role of Frankie Dunn.

25:08 But. After reading the script, he asked if he could play Daddy the the janitor. Yes. And so I I will say like Morgan chose this role. This is who he wanted to play in this film and when he is on screen, he's incredible. The interactions between him and Clint are pitch perfect. Oh, and like significantly better than they were in Unforgiven. Morgan Freeman wins the Oscar for this movie and he totally deserves it here. You know, and, and we had issues with his character in Unforgiven and I think they're definitely remedied here. Yeah. And if I can talk super quickly about one other character, I don't know if we mentioned him at all the first time we recorded this, you know, on this movie. Jay Baruchel as danger in this film ripped my heart out. This time through I like.

26:05 So here's the thing though, is he good? And and like, I like Jay Baruchel, I've seen him in a ton of things. You know, he's the voice of Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon, but like, the character sucks. And also, I don't believe that Jay Berryshell is a developmentally disabled and B Southern. And so like none, none of that performance. And I think I also am being unfair to him in some ways because, and I was going to bring this up in the second-half, what is the purpose of his character? Is he is he a parallel to Maggie? Is he, is he a carbon copy of Maggie? Because it seems like the point this movie is trying to make is that the world is a really cruel place to innocent things. And he is like the most innocent thing, right? But the way that the their their two paths diverge, Maggie and him is like he's able to come back from what the world did to him and Maggie is not.

27:01 But I don't understand, like, what's the point of that? Like, what's the point of having a second character just like Maggie? Is it to give us a little bit of hope at the end of the movie? Like, I don't know. I just don't understand what he's there for. Have you ever read the book of Ecclesiastes? I I have Brad, yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I, for me, I think he kind of represents the capriciousness and randomness of the world that like, he and Hilary Swank are both innocent, earnest, eager people who are seeking to become better boxers. He has been disadvantaged and isn't able to do what Hilary Swank can do, and the world punishes him for that.

27:43 And yet even Hilary Swank, who can rise to the the peak of her profession, is still punished by the world. And I, I think that there's a reality that a, a large portion of the meaning of this film can be found in biblical text. The rain shine, the rain pours on the rich and the poor alike, on the, on the Sinner and the righteous alike. And, and I think that that's why I really enjoyed dangerous role in this film, because it kind of illustrated that point. Like, man, there's, there's times in your life where everything's going great and there's other times where everything's going poorly and we're not always sure if we're the ones making it great or poor.

28:28 I like that. Well, thank you for enlightening me, Brad. And now let me enlighten you because we are going to drink a whiskey that I am still quite fond of that I hadn't tried all the way since season 1. And that is Monkey Shoulder. So what do you say if we get into drinking that? Yeah, let's just pull the stool out, sit down and have a drink. Ouch. All right, everybody, today we are drinking Monkey Shoulder, a blended Scotch that we really were impressed with back in the day as like a starter Scotch. And I'm, I'm curious to see where we're at today, Bob. Yeah, Brad, I can't really remember much of my Scotch drinking journey way back then, but I have to imagine this is one of the very first Scotch whiskies I'd ever tried. And so I think, honestly, we were very blessed that this was kind of our gateway into Scotch.

29:25 Because I think to this day, it's still one of the ones I recommend to people who are looking to get into the world of Scotch. It's not super expensive because it's not a single malt. It's a blended Scotch and it's, you know, it's low enough of a proof that you can use it as a mixer, but it stands up pretty well. Neat. I will say, though, I have not revisited it since Season 1. So like, I'm really, really excited to see a like, has my palate changed in the last X number of years? But also, like, does this hold up as well? Like, would I still recommend this as a starter Scotch for people? And yeah, let's see what we come out to. Yeah, so getting right into it on the nose for me, it has a really nice citrusy touch to it and almost like an orange zest, orange peel kind of feel. There's some honey going on and then I get a nice vanilla Y cream soda freshness kind of pop at the end that I I really liked Bob.

30:25 I'm sitting at a 7 out of 10 on the nose. Yeah, Brad, I'm at a 7 1/2 and I was really impressed that this had as much going on as it does on the nose. Like I kind of let it mellow out in my glass a little bit, and every time I went to nose it, I was getting new things on it. It started off with just kind of that nice honeyed note that we get on a lot of blended scotches and some Irish whiskeys as well. But then it got into like the melon territory. And for me, it really reminded me of like when you're eating a honeydew and you get like right down to the rind. Like it's not quite the really sweet flesh of a melon as much as it is like cantaloupe rind, honeydew rind.

31:06 There was some mint going on in here, which is a note I usually only get on like rye whiskey's, some nice maltiness. And then like you said, there was citrus here. I wrote down lemon zest, but there was that kind of like nice tartness to go along with all of it. Super complex for a $35 blended Scotch so it gets a 7 1/2 for me. Yeah, when I got into the flavor of this, the the actual palette, it turned really spicy for me. There's some like baking spices, clove, almost like a Christmassy kind of spice mix. The vanilla turned from a cream soda into almost like a really rich vanilla cake. And then the orangeness turned tart for me and almost moved into like a black cherry territory.

31:54 I'm I was like genuinely kind of blown away by this. I give it an 8 out of 10 on the flavor. Yeah, I'm pretty close to you. I'm at a 7 1/2 again. For me, the first things that really manifested, I wrote down ash and char. And it's really hard to talk about something tasting ashy or really charred because with Scotch, we kind of expect some of that bitterness from the malt and we expect some smokiness to it as well. But honestly, for me, it kind of reminded me of when we drink Woodford Double Oaked bourbon, there is a very particular like double oaked flavor. It's not just like barrel char, it's double char. And this, this really reminded me of that. There was a really like deep char note to this, and I think you were kind of talking about vanilla cake a little bit ago. I think cakey is a really good term for this because there's a sweetness underlying it, but it never tasted sugary. It almost reminded me of like a shortbread or like a pound cake. Like just sweet enough that it kind of adds that layer of like fat to your mouth that everything else can kind of dance on top of.

33:01 Brad I like is this a really great whiskey that we just I have been sleeping on. I think it is Bob like it's I I I will say the the finish is a little bit short. It's very sweet. The spices I got on the palate lingers for just a few seconds. The vanilla really sits for a long time, which I I'm totally fine with. I gave it a 7 out of 10 on the finish. Yeah, I came down to a 6 1/2 on the finish. This was the low point for me as well, but I'm at a completely opposite camp as you. I wrote down that this kind of sits a little heavier than I would like it to. Not that it like camps out in my chest or anything, but that note of char I think really tips bitter towards the end and I'm left with that as kind of my final note.

33:46 It gets a little bit char heavy for me. So yeah, I'm just in a 6 1/2. However, when I think about the balance of this at a $35 price point and at a fairly low proof blended Scotch, this is a pretty phenomenally balanced whiskey. There was nothing that really stood out in a super negative way about this. I think I'm going to give us an 8 out of 10 on balance, Brad. Yeah, I, I'm close to you a little lower. I I think that for this to really stand out, the finish would have to come up a little bit, but it's a really solid, well balanced whiskey. I, I don't know if we said it, this is sitting at 86 proof. So at a, at a nice low proof, you're getting a lot of complexity. I give it a 7 out of 10 on balance. All right, so let's talk price because at this point the price has been raised.

34:36 I don't know whatever the percentage is on this now, but I think when we first tried it, it was around $30 and it's up to at least 35 now in the state of Ohio. Yes, $35. I still think this is a pretty good value at 35 Brad. I think this is a great value at 35. You can get a lot of blended scotches cheaper than this. There's not a lot that I would think would be as complex as this and stand up as well meat as this one. You know, when I when I thought about the price originally I was like I can get some cheaper, but now that I'm looking at it, I actually think I'm going to give this an 8 out of 10 on value. I'm I'm right there with you, 8 out of 10. This is a incredible value in the world of Scotch especially. I'm going to come back to where we started, you know, 17 seasons ago.

35:27 Bob, this is the best starter Scotch. I agree. Like I I can't think of another one for the price point and the flavor that I would recommend to somebody. I will say the price is starting to approach the level where part of the benefit of it before was like you're not sending someone out to buy a single malt and so they won't have to feel bad if they don't like it. Because I think when you're like, when you're talking about, oh, it's a single malt Scotch, there's a level of like people think that it's. Pretentiousness. Not even pretentiousness, but like, like intimidation. Do you know what I mean? Like, oh, I have to like this because it's like a really fancy whiskey. And so then when they don't like it, there's there's still like the the shame factor built into it.

36:09 This one is kind of just like it's. Not just a bottle you have to get rid of, but also a box that it comes in. Right. Well, and this one was like, hey, it's 30 bucks and if you don't like it, you can mix it into stuff. But it's approaching the price point now where it's kind of like you can't just dump it into stuff and call it good. You're still going to be like, if that if you don't like it, you dropped $35 on it. That's not a cheap whiskey anymore. So I think it's still definitely worth the price, but with the caveat that like, we're recommending it as a starter Scotch because we think you will like it, but you can no longer feel 100% guilt free about dumping it if you don't. Unless you're fantastically wealthy. That's that's very true.

36:54 Then you could just buy it and pour it straight in the drain. Well, on that note, Brad, I recommend not doing that. And you know what's funny is we usually say, do you recommend buying, do you recommend trying? And for most whiskeys in this price point, I would say, sure, go ahead and buy it because it's 35 bucks. Don't waste your money trying it. The funny thing is, I needed to drink this whiskey for the podcast today. I only had a limited amount of time and I wasn't going to go tried it. I wasn't going to go buy a bottle. So yeah, I went to a local bar, they had $5 pours and it was one of the best 5 bucks I've spent in a long time. Man, it was absolutely worth a $5 pour. Yeah, no, I, I'm with you. I would say try it. I would say buy it.

37:36 And yeah, this I'm, I'm very glad that we revisited Monkey Shoulder Bob. I'm coming out to a 37.5 out of 50. If I'm being honest, Brad, I think I actually feel more positive about it than even that score would indicate. Yeah, I came out to a 37 out of 50, so I'm right there with you. Cool. So we're at a 37.25 out of 50 or 74 1/2 out of 100. This is well above average. I think it's like a genuine crowd pleaser and it kind of goes along with the $1,000,000 baby, you know, the the rousing crowd pleaser of 2004. Yeah, yeah, 100%. There's nothing absolutely sad about this movie. But Bob, I think it's about time to pull the plug on this segment and move on to the rest of the episode. What do you say?

38:26 Oh man, let's get to it, Brad. All right, everybody, that was Monkey Shoulder, a whiskey that I would gladly have on my shoulder any day of the week, Bob. Don't need to get that monkey off my back, Brad. Hey, there it is. You know what? Monkey, we need to get off of your back. Bob, the losing streak that you're on and two facts and a falsehood, Brad. Is going to try to stump your ball. 2 are right and what is wrong? 2 facts and a falsehood. 2 Facts and a Falsehood is the part of the podcast where Brad presents three items to me as fact, one of which is a complete fabrication, and I have to figure out which one is the lie. Brad, I love how you just assume I'm on a losing streak. Yeah, no, we we actually haven't at this moment recorded the other movies yet.

39:21 I'm just, I'm just speaking into existence here that on a losing streak, so. Hey man, Oprah told me that I could imagine it and it would be true. So, well, let's here we are. She's wrong. Brad, I assume you have three good supposed quote UN quote facts in front of you about the making of this movie. So hit me with your two facts and a falsehood. Fact number one, This is one of two times when the presenter handing Clint Eastwood an Oscar was Barbra Streisand. Yep, she previously handed him the Best Director Oscar for Unforgiven before giving him the second movie award. She said. I would be very happy to do this again for you, Clint. Fact #2 The This is the first Best Picture Oscar winner to be released on both HDDVD and Blu-ray. Fact #3 Mike Coulter, the actor who plays Big Willy, actually boxed throughout his teenage years and nearly became the state boxing champion in his home state of South Carolina. These are good ones.

40:23 Number one is true because I remember watching the Oscars and they let Barbra Streisand come out and do best picture. And Brad, I've never talked about this before and. Bob I I believe it's Streisand. Streisand. No Streisand. Haven't you seen Licorice Pizza Bob? That movie is so good. All right, so she comes out to do Best Picture. I don't know if I've ever talked about this before, Brad, but I have like an irrational dislike of Barbra Streisand. I just don't get it with Barbra Streisand. She sucks, dude. I never got it either. I've never gotten it. It doesn't make sense to me. And I get like physically upset when I see her doing things. So anyway, she comes out to give best picture out and, you know, they do. And the Oscar goes to and they open the envelope and instead of just saying the name of the Oscar, she does the thing. Like she steals Clint Eastwood's moment and says, like, Clint, I'm so glad to be giving this to you again. And then everyone has to just infer, oh, OK, it's $1,000,000 baby, you know?

41:24 And then she says, Million Dollar Baby. But it's like, you know what, Barbra Streisand read the name of the movie. And then when he comes on stage, tell him, I'm so glad that's a moment for you and Clint. Like, don't ruin it for the rest of the world. Babs got me so angry. Dude, I don't even care that you know that that's a fact. I'm so happy to hear that story. Dude, like nothing gets me more upset than people doing stuff like that anyway. Yeah, no, it's true. It's definitely the that moment of like she is making it about. Her. And and that like, it's Kanye getting up on stage and dissing Taylor Swift. It's like stuff like that where you're like, you are already a wildly famous person. Stop trying to get the spotlight on you, Barbara. Barbra Streisand Colon, the Kanye West of the 1960s. All right, number one's true #2 sounds like it could be true #3 sounds like it could be true #3 was the one about boxing, right. And #2 yeah, you said #2 was HDDVD and Blu-ray at the same time.

42:29 Yeah, the first Best Picture winner. Do you remember HDDV DS Brad? I remember DV DS, I don't know if I remember like HDDV DS being a thing. So yes, they were a thing for just a little while and they had like a like Blu rays had the blue cases. HDDV DS had similar sized cases but they were like a dark red, like a maroon color. I do kind of remember that. And I remember reading an article about them at the time that like Blu-ray looks like it's going to be the winner. HDDV DS are actually better. And it was kind of like the old VHS versus Betamax thing. So anyway, I remember seeing like, I think the Departed got an HDDVD release, but that came out after this. So I have no idea if that's true or not. I'm going to say 3 is the falsehood, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was 2.

43:26 That, see, here's the thing, I could tell you whatever I want then, because that like I have the power here and I could just lie to you. It's true, but I'm not going to and you are correct Bob #3 is the false. Right. The only reason I ended up guessing 3 is because I just asked you have you ever seen an HDDVD and you said no. So I was like well clearly he didn't make up that fact. Like I didn't even know what they were until just now. Dang it, I shot myself in the foot. Lawyered for real though, man that was sneaky. Let's talk about $1,000,000, baby Brad. And I think it's finally time for us to talk about the things that don't work for us. We could get really nitpicky about it, but we did that in season 1. Like I talked about the white trash thing. I talked about Paul Haggis being the most obvious screenwriter. You know, even in the first half of this episode, I talked about how I don't like that he continually puts a button on every single scene at the end.

44:23 And yet, like, it's, it's still just a really well made movie. Like I can't argue with too much of it. And I, I sat down and I started to realize, Brad, I think the thing with this movie that I have always pushed back against is that it is making a very complicated and complex moral, not even complex. It's making a moral argument in a time where like there was very little support for this right? Like euthanasia. I grew up Catholic dude. Like it was starting to become a thing when I was like right around this age. Like the the church debates about euthanasia. Well, wasn't it a like Terry Shivo? Yeah, Shivo. Yeah, that like that was a huge, huge story, right?

45:04 So I mean, this is a hot button issue. And so again, like I grew up Catholic. This was not something that I was taught was like an OK thing to do, right? And, and I think when a movie challenges your worldview, it's a good thing. It's a good thing to have your world view stretch. It's a good thing to learn about experiences from other parts of the world or from other walks of life than your own. But I think in a lot of ways, when you're watching a movie like that, for the movie to really be effective at what it's trying to do, it needs to present a clear argument. And Quint was making an argument against the majority of the American public at this time. And I, you know, it seems unfair in retrospect to say, like, why didn't you convince me better, Clint Eastwood? Because it's not his job.

45:49 But I do think that ultimately, the point of this movie is not entirely clear. Frankie's actions are kind of clear. Frankie obviously thinks this is the right thing to do, and he's clearly struggling with it beforehand. He has this great scene with the priest. And the priest says, like, you know, if you do this thing, you'll be lost, and you'll be lost so deep in a place that you'll never be able to come back from it. And real quietly, under his breath, Clint Eastwood just says, I think I already did it. And you don't know if he means, like, I'm already lost or even in my mind, I've already killed her. And I'm looking for permission to do it, you know, so that I don't feel so guilty about it. It's nice that there's some ambiguity to it, But I also just think that Paul Haggis is trying to do too many things at once with all these characters, like Danger and Scrap, and it kind of loses the overall point of these two characters and their tragic love story in the mix of all these other peripheral things he's trying to do.

46:48 Yeah, well, and and also he's trying to like, really prove and hammer home a point that, like the priest is wrong because, you know, Clint Eastwood terminates her life and then just ends up hanging out at A at a pie bar. He's like, you know what I need right now? Need a good slice of pie? God. Bless it, I just killed somebody. Boy, could I go for a slice of lemon meringue pie right now? Yeah, that will take care of all of life's issues in this. Moment that just felt like a really weird ending. I don't know, like it just I, I don't want to say it felt unearned because there there is a certain sense of resignation to it.

47:31 Like, you know, he he's like, oh, I'll never quit boxing, but if I did, I'd go buy myself a little diner. And so it's kind of this this like, all right, this was his final act. This is all he had left to get. So I get it kind of works, but it also just felt a little insensitive. Well, and one of my favorite things about this movie is they keep repeating, always protect yourself. That's the rule, right? And the the entire point of this movie is that both Maggie and Frankie failed to do that. And scrap has this really great line in his narration where he talks about like, oh God, let me just read it. Hold on. Before you say that line, Bob, can I just say I don't think I ever once caught that Morgan Freeman's name was scrap.

48:14 Like coming out of the movie. I don't. I couldn't. You could put a gun to my head, you could threaten to pull out my life support and I would not be able to tell you what his name was in that movie. Hey, Brad. Yeah, his name was Scrap. Oh wow, thanks man, I appreciate that. Welcome dude, he says. All all fighters are pigheaded some way or another. Some part of them always thinks they know better than you about something. The truth is, even if they're wrong, even if that one thing is going to be the ruin of them, if you can beat that last bit out of them, they aren't fighters at all. And so it's this, it's this thesis statement about like, their stubbornness is what makes them fighters, right? And they they want to, they know that they should protect themselves and they still don't. And that's what makes them fighters. And yet I still kind of feel like, is that the ultimate point that this movie's making?

49:06 Like, I don't know, man. It just gets it gets a little too muddied for me at the end. And I wish that it had a clearer resolution. We, you know, we knocked Mystic River last week for going overboard with the like very obvious resolution. But for all the places that this movie is too obvious, I think that's probably why I'm reluctant to say that it's like, oh, it's really smart that it's ambiguous because it's like, well, it's very obvious in other parts. So I don't want to just assume that you're like a genius screenwriter, Paul Haggis, because there's other areas of the script you could have really, you know, toned it down on. Oh well. Also, like, I'm just going to give Eastwood props where they're due.

49:48 The fact that he could pull off ambiguity at all is very impressive because that that's not exactly his strong suit as a director. Brad I don't know. I I feel like I've said what I need to say about this movie. I think my issues with it are a little bit more systemic than they are. Like, oh, I don't like this thing. I don't like this thing and. The cinema studio system is at fault for this. Exactly. That's right. Warner Brothers Pictures is at fault. Do you have anything in particular that you want to get at before we get into our last segment of the day? Honestly, I don't think so. Like overall, I, I believe I gave this a nine out of 10 in the first season.

50:30 And not like I think I was right. I think I did a good job last time, summit it up. So yeah, I'm pretty awesome four years later. All right, man. Well, let's see if you're equally as awesome at picking a double feature for this movie with our last segment of the day. Let's make it a double. We're near the end of the episode, so thanks listening to the film and Whiskey show. Let's have another film with this one, even if it's struggle. It's the final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. That's right, Let's Make It a Double is the part of the podcast where Brad and I pick a movie to pair with this one to make the perfect double feature. Brad, I will let you go first. Mr. Awesome, Mr. Purveyor of everything. That is awesome.

51:14 I might have the best pairing in the The History of the Film of Whiskey podcast Bob. So $1,000,000 Baby is about a lovable underdog and how you know she proves herself to somebody who doesn't believe in her and and fights her way to the top right. I am going to pair it with another movie that literally is the exact same story. I'm going to pair this movie with Major League. I feel like you're conveniently leaving out like half the story here, Brad. You're just kind of stopping at the the championship, but not the, you know, neck breaking. Major League is the perfect movie to follow up $1,000,000 Baby with 'cause you need something to enjoy.

52:02 And also, if you just look at the history of Cleveland sports, it tracks really perfectly with Maggie's decline, too. We are. We are the broken neck. Of American sports, Yeah. I mean, I don't think mine's going to be nearly as entertaining as yours. I think the obvious choice here is Unforgiven. We've been talking about it all podcast long. Unforgiven's the better movie, and it communicates the point more clearly, but I also think like, it's just these are Clint Eastwood's two best directed movies, as I recall. You know, maybe if I watch Letters from Iwo Jima again, that'll be up there. But what he's able to do here is really, really impressive, even if I have some issues with some of the underlying things here. So yeah, I'm going to pair it with Unforgiven. Brad's going to pair it with Major League. You're welcome.

52:51 And we're going to move on from that into our final scores. Bob I think that this is a 9 out of 10. I I think that this is a really incredible movie that has a ton going for it. But there's enough little issues here and there that keep it from being a transcendent 9 and a half, 10 out of 10. But this is a movie I'll come back to again at some point in my life. I think I'm at a nine as well. I was actually at a nine and a half until those last few scenes and I'm like, man, I wish that they just like brought it home a little bit better. Like it's just like I struggle to find the words. And part of it is because, Brad, we watched this movie like a couple weeks ago and and we've watched many other movies in between. And I'm really struggling to remember exactly. You know, I take notes during the movie, but I take notes thinking we're going to record this tomorrow. I'll remember this.

53:45 Wait. You can take notes during a movie. I didn't know how I was allowed. To do that, yeah, What I usually do is I go to the movie theater and I put my phone on full brightness and then. Nice. And I just like I hold the phone over my head so everyone behind me can see what I'm doing. Yeah, well I I so I do the same thing, but I usually just watch YouTube. Videos. I'm thinking about starting to do voice notes during the movie. That's an incredible idea. Clint Eastwood's really good at this. In the middle you can use it. As an opportunity to take notes and practice your voices. Yeah, exactly, which would see. This is a 9 out of 10. I'm with you. We are coming out to an average of a nine out of 10. What do you guys think of $1,000,000 Baby? Great math dude.

54:31 I'm trying my best man. I had to do the quick calculations. What do you think of $1,000,000 Baby, Film and Whiskey Nation? Is it a classic in your mind? Is it as good as Unforgiven? I'd love to hear what you think about it. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok at Film Whiskey. Or jump onto our Discord. We are on there every single day talking to you, the fans of the Film and Whiskey podcast. Find the link to the Discord at the end of every single one of our show notes. All right, Brad, well, we are going to come out of our malaise here and take a very hard turn into much lighter fare for next week. We're going to be looking at Billy Wilder's 1959 masterwork, Some Like It Hot. I can't wait for that one.

55:15 I'm. I am so pumped for that dude. All right, so join us for that next week. But until then, I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad G. And we'll see you next time.