Bob Odenkirk’s Closet Picks

0:00 Bob Odenkirk here.

0:01 I’m in the Criterion Closet.

0:03 It’s just filled with wonders and great films,

0:07 things I love or things I’m curious about.

0:10 I’ll show you some of them.

0:13 Jackie Chan, Police Story is a movie that I

0:16 shared with my kids when they were young.

0:17 It’s just fun, clever action.

0:21 I love it.

0:22 I love Jackie.

0:23 Since we’re talking about Jackie, the Criterion Collection has this.

0:27 These are his early films.

0:28 It’s called Emergence of a Superstar.

0:30 It has six films.

0:32 If you ever wonder about the connection between Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan,

0:36 watching these movies will show it to you.

0:38 Set pieces one after another after another.

0:41 Clever as can be.

0:43 Physical comedy.

0:44 Brilliant.

0:45 I’ve never seen Bruce Lee films.

0:47 Never seen one ever in my life.

0:50 So I’m taking these.

0:51 Scarface.

0:52 Old movie.

0:53 Some of the old movies are funny

0:55 because they’re unafraid of just wallowing in tropes,

0:59 and this one is one of those and great fun to watch.

1:02 Paul Muni, Boris Karloff, George Raft,

1:05 a Howard Hughes production directed by Howard Hawks.

1:09 Uncut Gems.

1:10 Do you know how great this is?

1:11 Do you know how great Adam Sandler is?

1:13 Adam can do anything, and he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.

1:18 The Big Heat.

1:19 I’ve never seen it.

1:20 I like a noir film.

1:21 Can I reference the Channel as well?

1:23 The Criterion Channel also has great noir films that aren’t

1:28 even in this Closet that you can see anytime.

1:31 You just get the Channel, you pop it on, you’re going to watch a great movie.

1:35 A Man Escaped.

1:37 Haven’t seen it.

1:38 Can’t wait to see it.

1:40 Frenchies working at it.

1:42 They’re the best.

1:43 They love it.

1:44 Do you know Quadrophenia?

1:46 This is a movie that used all that French filmmaking coming out of the New Wave,

1:55 but it’s a British film,

1:57 using the music of The Who to tell the story of a youth who is rebelling,

2:04 but he doesn’t know what he’s rebelling against.

2:07 And it’s kind of got just an incredible vibe.

2:12 Gotta go up here.

2:13 I’m getting the higher shelves because no one goes there.

2:16 This is a movie called Salò.

2:18 It’s one of the great films ever made by a human being.

2:22 It’s horrifying.

2:23 I’m putting it back.

2:25 I’ve already seen it.

2:26 One time, that’s enough.

2:28 Never need to see it again.

2:29 And yet it says so much about people and power and how it corrupts.

2:36 This is called The Red Shoes.

2:38 This is a beautiful film.

2:40 I caught it on TV when I was young.

2:42 They did all kinds of clever camera techniques to make it come alive.

2:50 It’s just… It’s just a beautiful, romantic, visually stunning film.

2:56 Here’s one of my favorite films of all time: My Life as a Dog.

3:00 Anybody who’s writing or even acting,

3:03 if you want people’s… the viewer’s heart to break,

3:07 don’t have the characters cry.

3:10 This is about a little kid who is

3:15 deeply sad for reasons that are presented to you,

3:20 but he doesn’t really know how sad he is.

3:24 And it is heartbreaking and beautiful.

3:26 In a Lonely Place.

3:28 I just saw this.

3:29 I saw this on the Criterion Channel.

3:33 This a good movie.

3:34 Somewhat of a complex, psychological noir.

3:39 It’s not an obvious story.

3:41 And Nicholas Ray directed it.

3:44 He did a good job.

3:46 The story and the complexity of the story

3:48 and the delicate nature of the story is to be appreciated.

3:54 America Lost and Found: The BBS Story.

4:00 BBS was a group of producers who were

4:04 making cool movies in the late ’60s, early ’70s,

4:08 and these are movies that Nicholson’s in, Hopper’s

4:13 in, Peter Fonda’s in, the Monkees are in.

4:17 They were aiming for cool, thoughtful stuff, but also trying to be very realist.

4:26 Get this box set and you can hang out with them.