Judge Reinhold Interview 05 10 2024

For posterity's sake, it is 801 on the East Coast. It is 501 on the West Coast. It is the 10th of May in the year of our Lord, 2024.

The clubhouse podcast. Oh, you heard another voice, didn't ya? We're doing a very special edition of the clubhouse podcast.

It's gonna be kind of quick, but when somebody calls and says they want to promote something, you do that. Joining me right now is a man that if you don't know who he is, I'm gonna need you to just join us back from the cave. On the phone with me right now, the amazing judge, Reinhold, how are you, sir?

I'm good. I liked that in the year of our Lord. It reminds me of Charlton Heston, when he says in every movie.

Every movie, every movie, wait a minute. Oh my God. He's that guy that has that voice, right?

That's right. Well, we want to talk about why you're on the phone with us. Actually, why did I say, I'm excused me for interrupting.

Sure. That's what I said during the eclipse. I said, oh my God.

Yeah, that was a weird thing because it was just like my wife was actually outside and it was just like I was working and then it was night and it wasn't. It was the very, very strange thing. But you were, we're talking right now because tomorrow night, May 11th, at the beautiful majestic theater in downtown Dallas, I know.

I'm going to be hosting a viewing of a film that for me kind of overlaps world because I'm a huge fan of you and I'm a huge fan of Cameron Crow. Yeah. So, fast times at Ridgemont High, releases August 13th, 1982.

Right. Which, like you look back and you go, like there's the staying power that this film has had. How many of these, these events have you been able to be a part of?

Well, I guess I want to say that I had to figure out myself why it sustains, okay? And when you do a movie, you kind of go through these stages of relationship with it and it really takes a while for you to be able to sit back and say, whether you really like the movie or not because you're so invested in it. So yeah, I have done a couple of these.

Live Nation has been incredible for booking me in these venues. But fast times works on a mechanical level or I mean, just the fact that the pace is good, it's funny and because of Cameron masquerading as a senior in a Long Beach High School to get the real story, it's authentic. So, but I took me a long time to just be able to sit back and say, yeah, this is a good movie and this is why.

But you know, the other thing is, really Rob is that not that much has changed. High school students need jobs to make money and they want to have staffs. I mean, you know, I, we went, another reason, because I have seen it recently, obviously, because I've been doing these dates.

There's not a lot of fashion that to take us to date us. There are the Pat Benetarker also in the smoking lounge, but other than that, everybody's just pretty much middle of the road, you know. It could be anywhere in the Midwest anyway, you know, the way people dress and stuff.

Talk about as you've been doing these events, the cross generational appeal of this film, like you talked about like high school is high school, it's high school, but do you, are you shocked to see just this, like you've got me as a Gen Xer, but then you've got all these generations behind me that have kept this film alive for so long. Can you talk about just looking out into a crowd and seeing that cross-section of humanity? Well, they have to, yeah, they have to, they're usually brought by somebody because they think that it's just an old high school movie, but then I've been delighted that they enjoy it.

I really have been, and going back and what I said, I mean, that's why they tell me, because I really do kind of grill them, what you think. You know, why, they like it because I, going back, it's just the real thing with Cameron sneaking into the mentoring to transpose all of these, the boys room rather, to transpose all of this stuff that he heard the kids talk about. It's really hasn't changed that much, I mean.

And for people that don't know, Karen Crow, the director, he wrote for Rolling Stone when he was younger, and that's what this entire film is based on as an article he wrote for Rolling Stone about being in high school, and the fact that it still resonates like it was, is a testament not only to the performances of you and the cast in this film, but it's also a testament to his writing, and he's one of my favorite directors. Yeah, mine too. He's, you know what he's doing?

He's doing a movie on Journey Mitchell. He's doing a, really? Yeah, a bio.

That's going to be fantastic. I know, it will be, yeah. And this film also kind of hit at a time where we had an entire generation of people that was becoming a lot more aware of who they were as people, and we were evolving as people.

Do you look back now and just this film is still, like the fact that it's still here, I think is amazing. And it's been, it's been so many iterations, whether it's, you know, DVD commentaries or documentaries or whatever it is. It's easy to put it in a box with a bunch of other movies that I don't honestly, I know I'm biased, but I don't think it belongs in that box with American Pie and all that.

That was, you know, never our intention at all, and I don't think it really deserves it. Well, it's one of those films that I think when you compare to American Pie, it's a completely different vibe. Yeah.

Because there's a level of gravitas even to this film. Well, yeah, it doesn't really, that's what I was saying that. I think that's one reluctant, when you were asking me, well, the cross generational thing, I'm delighted when younger people discover it because they realize that it's not that.

And it's kind of, when we were making it, we thought, wow, we're making American graffiti. You know, we're making something because it came from Cameron's book. What happened?

He excerpted the book in the magazine, then put out a book that sold and then Universal Option, the rights to the book. So we all have the book and we were, and we thought like we were doing something like an expose. And then it ends up in the Library of Congress.

It did because it's in the freaking Library of Congress because it, let's see, it's representative of American high school life at that time. It really is. Yeah.

And I like the comparison you made to American graffiti because to its era, yeah. It's a very, it's an absolute, you stuck the landing parallel. Like this is Generation X's version of that.

And you know, keep in mind that we didn't know what the 80s was. Yeah. And we met it.

It's not like we didn't say, oh, this is the 80s. We just thought it was a really good movie because Cameron wrote it so well. You know, with the 80s really hadn't happened yet, really.

In your adventures with screening this film that you've been doing the last few years, has there been a moment that hits you in the fields more than any other ones have? Oh, that's interesting about this movie. Because people are going to get the chance to ask you questions after the film.

You'll be there to answer those questions. And I always love the Q&A because you get to see your work from somebody else's point of view. I guess I'd have to say the travails of my sister, Jennifer Jason Lee, and what she goes through is pretty extreme, and the fact that I'm there for her.

But also, I like the fact, pardon? I'm more asking like when you've been screening this with crowds, has there been a moment where somebody has asked you a question that really affected you emotionally, just how they've reacted to the film? OK, I'll just say the first thing that comes to my mind is the fact that they come.

I've had people come together that hadn't seen each other for years and years. And they've decided to make it a reunion because they all went to see the movie together. That is so cool.

It's in that great. That really touches me. And then people tell me what the comedy did to get them through things and why they love it.

But the biggest thing is this movie represents my life. I related to it so much. And it's like a touchdown for them.

So it takes them back. But it also works on, like I was saying, that other level of just a funny movie. But people are heavily invested in this movie.

I also have discovered Rob that comedies, people always talk about what they were doing when they saw the comedy with dramas they talk about specific moments or how the movies affect on them. But comedies are more collective. And I feel like I get more stories about what people were doing when they saw the movie.

This was my first day. I turned out to marry the girl. This was my first date and it didn't go well.

So people more often about comedies in general tell me more about what they were doing at the time. And that they laughed. But yeah, it's not as funny.

It's just different. It's like comedies are meant to be enjoyed collectively somehow. But I don't mean to go on this too long, but not at all, my friend.

Well, OK. The poignancy comes from when, really, when people tell you what they were going through, that the movie helped them through. That to me, I mean, we don't know, buddy.

I don't care what you do. We don't know the impact that we have on other people. We'll never even know, right?

Well, I'm in the incredible position of having people come up to me and tell me, this is how this movie helped me get through a parent's illness or a breakup or their own illness. So in that respect, I feel like, wow, I'm an emotional first responder. Well, you know that you're not wrong there.

I mean, it's when you do work like this, no matter how much of an area of entertainment you're in, when you do something that affects people on that level, it's just you hang your hat on that. And it sounds like just talking to you that even to this day, when people come up to you and give you those flowers as the kids like to say, it still affects you, which really brings the genuine piece of you forward. Oh, listen, I didn't care about that when I was making that movie.

I was in my very early 20s. I mean, it's not like I was heartless, but you know, that's not why I was ready. But even to this day, like you were just talking about, when people tell you how it affected you, like, yeah.

You know, I mean, it's what, two generations of people have come since this film released in the summer of 82, if my public school math serves me correctly. You know, I mean, I remember the first time I saw it. You know, I was, I was in high school, but because you know, not, I mean, I date myself on the show all the time, but I had just turned nine when this film released.

So you know, it was gonna be a minute before I got to see it. But I remember watching it and going, this is real. Like this is, it has the highs, it has the lows, it has everything in between.

And I cannot tell you how many times I have told people that I'm eating pizza and learning about Cuba. It just, it's one of those things that everybody finds something different in it. And that's what I love about this film.

People, it's a stretch, but it's really there. It's not a morality play that everybody pays for the choices they make and are bad. And that's not it.

It's not necessarily, it wasn't Cameron's intention to do that, but that's one thing that makes it like life. We all pay, there's the price for everything, whether it's we make the right choice or the bad choice. And that played out throughout that year.

Cause he, yeah, I don't think we said that he stuck it out for a whole year. Cause he wanted to see how these, the choices that these people, these characters made, how they played out. And so, you know, that's very real too.

And if you're here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we're recording this on May 10th, which means tomorrow is May 11th, seven o'clock at the majestic feeder downtown. Get your tickets. Oh my goodness, that, that facility is so gorgeous.

And it's great to watch them. Cause it's an old school movie theater, but they also have concerts and stuff there. I know.

And I've watched movies there and I've watched concerts there. There's not a bad seat in the whole place. No, it's, it's, I know it's, it's slants like that.

So there isn't a bad seat. There's also an open bar, not open meaning free, but the bar is available. There's a trick.

Yeah, I've done the, no, the reason I mentioned that is, I would say if you don't have anything to do and you like the movie or you're curious about the movie, I'm gonna promise you a fun Saturday night out. Because I'm, I'm gonna introduce the movie with some stories that'll add a dimension to you watching it if you've already seen it, right? And then we'll do a Q&A after, but I like to introduce the film with some, some backstory so people can, and some funny stories so people can, you know, can look for them and people that are real fans of the movie will get some trivia to look for funny things and stuff.

And what better way to have a date night comes see the movie with you because the movie's an hour and a half long. Yeah, so you get to have the intro to the movie, you get to watch the movie, then you get to sit and listen to you tell tales after the movie and you can still be home in a decent hour on a Saturday night. That's right, or you can get drunk and get home later.

Exactly, you know, Uber, Uber will pick you up right there in front of the majestic. That's right, that's right. I cannot thank you enough for sitting down with me today, sir.

Oh, thank you. This was an amazing time. Everybody, go get your tickets.

Go see Mr. Reinhold tomorrow night. We're gonna have this all over social media.

We wanna pack that place to the rafters. This has been the clubhouse podcast. The clubhouse is closed.

Join us Thursday nights, eight Eastern five Pacific. You're one stop shop for all things sports, entertainment, pop culture and pro wrestling oddly enough. Have a great day, everybody.