Host Ryan Recker reviews a movie list defining America on his final hour.

What this episode covers

Ryan Recker: Oh boy, we got ourselves one more hour together. Happy 4th of July to you and your family! I hope that you get to spend some time with loved ones, time away from work, maybe relaxing, maxing, and relaxing. So, I am here for one more hour. If you want to text us, the common sense retirement planning text line is the same: 800-905-0989. And I could use your help on this segment because I saw a list out that really... you know, I work in a newsroom, so my—my main job is doing news in Detroit. And this came up and a lot of people were arguing with me because I thought, "This is a stupid list, and they are way off." And they just thought I was way off. So, if you have your phone and you can text in, you can tell me once we go through this, who’s right. The list was from The Hollywood Reporter, and they wanted to make a list of movies that explain America. So they said if you’re talking to someone who’s never heard of America and don’t care about government or geographic borders, how would you communicate the essential traits, the messy contradictions, of America based on themes from movies? So it doesn’t have to be historical, meaning you’re—they’re not looking for, let’s say, Lincoln. You know, this is something to teach kids about the history of America; you’re trying to find the essence of America and kind of the—the gist of America through movies. And The Hollywood Reporter has 25 of them. And as we go down this list, you’re going to say, "This is so stupid." I really hope you do because when they were doing this list in the newsroom, I kept telling people, "Who put this together? They cannot be trusted." So, some of them are okay. Some of them I can understand the argument. So number 25 on the list is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Now, you’re not necessarily trying to rank them based on the quality of the movie; you’re looking at it of, okay, the essence of America. Is Ferris Bueller America? Okay, I can—I can—I can understand that. Number 24 is Don't Look Back. It was a tour of Bob Dylan, kind of looking at him going through, you know, what he goes through, Bob Dylan. And I would say, you know, this movie came out in 1967. I do like Bob Dylan, I’m a big fan of his. I understand if you’re talking about, you know, timeframes of music. Next is There Will Be Blood. Came out in 2007. Yes, Daniel Day-Lewis, he was very good in it. About, you know, the oil and trying to get the oil and the struggles of the oil. Is There Will Be Blood the essence of America? Okay. Let’s go down a little bit further. Some—some of you are like, "Okay, so far, I can kinda get it. I kind of understand." Next is Sorry to Bother You. It’s a movie that came out in 2018. The characters... uh, it’s a cult classic, they say, premiered at Sundance. I’ve never heard of it. And maybe you have, but now things start to go off the rails. Number 21: Fast & Furious 7. The essence of America is Fast & Furious 7 with Vin Diesel. And I, okay, I thought, okay, we do have a love of the automobile, but speeding around and drag racing and drug peddling and all this other stuff that goes on with it, is that America? Now, I don’t know if that’s the American spirit. Next is a movie that came out a long time ago on nin—uh, this would be 1928, it’s called There It Is. Never heard of that one. Next is Buffalo '66, it's a movie that came out in 1998, Christina Ricci, don’t know that one either. Then they have The American President is on the list, from 1995, a Rob Reiner movie, and said at the heart of America is, well, a heart—a rom-com between Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. Then The Godfather at number 17 is tied with The People vs. Larry Flynt. And as people have said, "The Godfather, greatest movie of all time, that has to represent the American spirit." I said, "No, it—The Godfather does not! You can look at it as American cinema history, and a great option for a movie to watch, but does organized crime relate to you as a person? Does it relate to t ...

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