#38: The Sandlot

Patrick Renna, played by a young Matt White

The Sandlot. Part baseball love story, part sexist manifesto for young boys. Perhaps even the root of the male perception that has prevented girls from playing ball for years. These hermeneutics are largely accepted as the limits of this 1993 film. 

Darth Vader in The Sandlot

But on today’s episode, we travel beyond the limits of these hermeneutics and unpack just how American this film truly is. From a Mexican kid named Benjamin Franklin to a neighbor named Darth Vader, this film serves as an allegory for the young psyche developing beyond the fears that contain it. Our collective dreams, captured in “this magic moment”, mystically intertwined with America’s (sexist) pastime and the progression from primitive culture into industry: it’s all here, packaged together in a film that stars both Patrick Renna, Private Cowboy, and Babe Ruth (aka John Goodman). And all of it stands before the great Hercules, the most powerful archetype of them all. 

Join us, listener, on this wayward adventure through a classic American film. Let us never forget Scotty “Smalls”, nor let us forget the grandiose stache of Benny “The Jet” in the wake of his stealing home in the big game. The big game for us? Life, my friend. Let us live it. Let us all retire into the tranquility of The Sandlot, with Hercules, Vader, and John Goodman at our side.   

The Jet's 'stache, after he stole home

#37: The Patriot and Heidegger: Dasein in a Cinematic Universe

Cue a soft score by John Williams. And now, idyllic shots of the American South. And next comes, almost there, here it comes, Mel Gibson butchering men!

                                   Dasein Getting Angry

All men are created equal, according to the Declaration of Independence (Day). But some men have a Cherokee tomahawk.  Our man with the 'hawk is Benjamin Martin, widowed father of seven, rocking chair enthusiast. All he wants is to live the simple life of a non-slave owning plantation cropper. Sweet as Carolina tea! But whispers are afoot. The cantankerous whispers of revolution. 

Because of fucking dickheads like Colonel Tavington, Benjamin Martin is forced into war, where he becomes almost as full of rage as Mel Gibson. Out to avenge his son and usher in a new era of democracy, Martin goes on the warpath.

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   Early Footage Of William Wallace, Star Of The Patriot

Aided by his French buddy Jean, his son Heath Ledger, and Harvard graduate Donal Logue, Gibson turns a rag tag group of brothel patrons and church goers into such a ghostly platoon that Tom Wilkinson nearly shits his fancy British man dress.

The rustics in this movie might be inept, but guess what isn't? The filmmaking. Our personal friend, Roland Emmerich, once again proves he understands the American psyche as only one steeped in German philosophy could! With a brilliant score by John Will and a fun screenplay from a man who is not Randal Wallace, we get The Patriot.

 #Heidegger, Primary Influence Of The Patriot

Listener, open Sein ears, lend them to me. You will actually laugh at parts of this movie, and you might cry too (just as Gibson does so well (not a joke, the man can act-cry)).  So plug those earphones in and ready your bayonets, for many laughs are on the way!

#33: Jaws: Dreyfuss, Quint, and Trivia

That classic Dreyfuss smile

General Snobbery is a big fan of Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws for many reasons. Predominant among these reasons is Richard Dreyfuss. We love Dreyfuss. Maybe it's that smile. Maybe it's that sardonic wit. Whatever it is, we can't get enough of him, and boy oh boy do we enjoy talking about him. 

But fear not, ye Dreyfuss dissenters. In this lengthy snob, we discuss many Jaws-related items outside of Dreyfuss' eternal realm. Quint, Brody, and Bruce the Shark grant much in the way of conversation thanks to their boisterous personalities and, in the case of the latter, insatiable appetite for human flesh. 

We are most pleased this film exists, and we are thrilled that after over forty years, it still entertains to high degrees. We hope you enjoy this conversation, listener, and we hope you enjoy the Jaws trivia we toss at each other in the latter half of this episode. One of our microphones may have malfunctioned during the recording, but we hope the snobbing transcends any issues of sound and greets your heart with the special kind of delight embodied in that award-winning Dreyfuss smile. Climb aboard the Orca, lift your anchors, and come sail these snobbing seas! 

Episode Progression:
0-9:00: Update on our absence
9:00: Conversation re: Jaws begins with Quint
13:00: General Snobbery finally discussed Dreyfuss
42:00: Trivia Begins
1:10: Our revisit of our favorite hermeneutic of Jaws we have ever discovered

Gary Potter advising Happy Gilmore.

Fishy Fishy Fish from Monty Python's Meaning of Life

A whaaaaat?

The Onion's look at Jaws