Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Hugh Hewitt and Emmett – Are They Too Old – The Mistake on the List of Ten Best Salesmen Films
As any reader of this site knows, I am a huge Hugh Hewitt fan (my wife is worried that I might get a tattoo of Hugh). He has hands down the best radio show in the biz (special dispensation for Rush Limbaugh who is an icon). He has the best guests, most interesting commentary, and is both fun and challenging to listen to.
The 15th hour each week he has Emmett the Unblinking Eye on (http://movies.townhall.com/) to talk movies, trailers, and a top ten list. Normally it is funny and entertaining, and the list is creates conversation for my wife and I in the car. Heck, I have dozens of old Emmett and Hugh’s on my IPOD (you can podcast Hugh) that I go back and listen to. They are great together. But this week Hugh and Emmett made such an egregious mistake on their list I can only conclude that they are both simply too old.
The topic this week was “Top Ten Salesmen (person) Movies,” in honour of Hugh being all over the place hocking his book on Mitt Romney (Mormon in the White House?), which based on his what he has shared makes a very persuasive case. He was everywhere last week, on T.V., the radio, heck I think he even was doing the interstellar broadcasts of SETI.
The top ten list concluded with #1 being Music Man, which is quite right, especially since it has become enough of a cultural piece that it was featured in an early Simpson’s show (The Monorail Comes to Springfield). Most of the films on the list were from the Black and White era, which probably means that Emmett was home sick with a cold and stuck watching AMC and Turner Classic Movies. But it was the two films that did not make the list that showed Emmett and Hugh’s age, and had I been listening live (listened to it yesterday on podcast), I would have called in an outrage and with deep concern about their failure to connect with the younger generation.
I am a member of Generation X, and there are two films that are classics in our generation about sales. The first if The Big Kahuna, a films in which 99% of the action takes place in a hotel room with the interaction between three characters – Larry Mann (the great Kevin Spaced, whose best film is not American Beatuy), Phil Cooper (the annoying but talented Danny DeVito) and Bob Walker (played by relatively unknown Peter Facinelli). They are industrial lubricant salespeople, and they are at a convention (in Topeka of all places) to hopefully sell their wares to a big corporate executive. But Bob is also a Christian, and instead of selling the lubricant, spends his time talking to the executive about Jesus. Phil Cooper then ends the film talking to Bob about how he is selling Jesus like lubricant. Among Generation X this film is a classic, used to discuss how we talk about Jesus, and how we should never sell Jesus like some powerful Amways dealer. It is the powerful film I know for my generation on the power of sales and faith out there. The performances are great (had to be – there were basically three characters in a hotel room), and it should have been #2 on Emmett’s list.
The second film they missed is another of Generation X’s favorite films, a comedy, that is both funny and talks about using honest to do sales – Tommy Boy. Look I was no fan of Chris Farley, and most of his films should either never have been made or should be used to get information out of detainees at Gitmo. To be honest, the later casts of Saturday Night Live simply were not funny. But Chris Farley and David Spade are tremendous in this film – it funny, thoughtful, and enjoyable. And Farley’s failure in sales (selling brakes pads to try and save the town’s main employer) followed by his growth that occurs as he convinces the waitress in some roadside dinner to give him a shrimp cocktail is wonderful. A great film about sales, salesmen, and the importance of the sale. And the seen with Farley, the auto parts executive, and Spade, when he destroys the cars is one of those make you howl moments. It should definitely be in the top 10!
So why didn’t these films make the grade with Hugh and Emmett? One must only conclude that it is age that got in their way of remembering and including these two classic Generation X movies. So, if you have time, please remember Hugh and Emmett, and pray and hope that they recover that youthful spirit.
