The Color of Money with Chris Ryan

Griffin Newman (0:22)

You gotta have two things to podcast. You gotta have brains and you gotta have balls, and you got too much of one and not enough of the other. It's hard to do Old Newman. It's hard to say Newman. It's a very distinct voice.

David Sims (0:33)

Yeah, good. Yeah, he's got that, you know, how do you do that? Come on.

Griffin Newman (0:36)

Because it does feel like the second he... He obviously was a man who went gray early.

But there was the moment where the switch flipped and he was like, I'm Elder Statesman now. And he added some sort of patrician kind of effect to his voice.

David Sims (0:52)

But when does Old Newman begin? Is it Butch Cassidy? Is it the Sting?

Griffin Newman (0:56)

No, I'm saying later.

David Sims (0:58)

The Sting?

Griffin Newman (0:58)

He's playing mentor.

David Sims (1:00)

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like that's when it begins.

Griffin Newman (1:03)

But then he's still kind of badass. I'm like, is it Verdict? Is it Verdict?

David Sims (1:08)

He's old. Yes, that's for sure. No, but like Absinthe of Malice, he's the same vibe, right?

Griffin Newman (1:14)

Maybe it's that. But you know what I'm saying? The voice changes. He becomes Doc Hudson.

It gets a little gravelly. It gets a little there's a little cigar.

David Sims (1:23)

Yeah, but what about like Slapshot? It's like, I guess, you know what? He's a man who aged perfectly.

Griffin Newman (1:28)

He did.

David Sims (1:28)

Like every single decade.

He wasn't the Tom Cruise thing of like, I'm fucking clinging on and clinging on. And then by collateral, he's like, what if I show you a glimpse and then I'll pull it back?

Griffin Newman (1:39)

Oh, okay. Here's a question that I'm certain our guest can answer. And I think you can answer as well, David. I have never seen Ford Apache, Apache the Bronx.

Absinthe of Malice feels to me like the earliest I can identify he is playing old man. What is the voice like in Ford Apache?

David Sims (1:55)

I don't remember the voice, but he's definitely like a veteran in that, right? Like he's like the old fucking drunk at the office, I mean the precinct. And then they're going to have to shoot a bunch of...

Chris Ryan (2:07)

I think that there's also like a relationship to how much a character drinks in the movie that dictates the voice.

David Sims (2:14)

Right. Like how gravelly does he want to go because he... Well, like Quintet, what's he like in that?

Griffin Newman (2:19)

I just remember him being cold.

David Sims (2:21)

Yeah, it's a cold-ass movie.

Griffin Newman (2:22)

I think it's an 80s thing. I think it's the second he enters the 80s. And as you said, he aged perfectly. And I think one of the things that people study about Paul Newman is how distinct his eras were without bumps, where he kept adjusting to the time and identifying correctly, what is the best movie star I could be right now? How do I fit the culture?

David Sims (2:44)

I think this is only our second Paul Newman film we've ever discussed after the Hudsucker Proxy.

Griffin Newman (2:49)

Which Hudsucker, he's obviously doing full on Old Man, but also full on Evil. He's playing sort of the comedic, the comedically heightened version of this guy. What's your favorite Newman?

David Sims (3:01)

Is it this?

Chris Ryan (3:02)

Well, I would probably say it's this or Slapshot. Yeah, I mean, that's a really hard question because the second you ask that, five movies jumped into the front of my mind.

But it's this Slapshot verdict.

Griffin Newman (3:17)

Verdict, I think, is his best performance. I agree. It's the one he should have won the Oscar for, right? Not to be rude to today's film, but that's... that's...

who beats him that year?

David Sims (3:27)

Ben Kingsley. Yeah.

Griffin Newman (3:29)

We always come up against this.

David Sims (3:31)

It's like, it's just a lot of those Newman losses.

Griffin Newman (3:34)

Yeah.

David Sims (3:35)

You're like, well, how did he lose? And then you're like, oh, I guess that was a big one.

Griffin Newman (3:38)

We've covered a couple of these films where you go, I don't understand how it's possible Nick Nolte didn't win Best Actor for Prince of Tides. Oh, it was The Silence of the Lambs year.

David Sims (3:47)

Cause you're like-

Griffin Newman (3:47)

When you're like, the most historic buzzsaw is the only thing that could have beaten this performance.

David Sims (3:53)

How did he lose for a hud? He lost to Sidney Poitier.