7 Days of Underhill - DAY 4 "MOVIE VS BOOK"

EPISODE 18: 7 Days of Underhill - DAY 4

In this episode, the crew compare and contrast the Underhill in the movie versus the Underwood from the original novel.  They discuss Fletch’s detective skills and those characters that spanned the novel and movies.

Join us every day this week for a new Underhill episode! Never before has an extravaganza dedicated to the character brought to life by William Traylor encompassed 168 consecutive hours.

So head out for your urinalysis and we'll be back again tomorrow!

NOTE: This week of episodes are inspired by the amazing "Blast Points Podcast." Blast Points is a Star Wars podcast that deep dives into the weird, wacky, and  "outside the box" topics of a Galaxy Far Far away. They did "7 Days of Dengar" that was out of this world. Jason & Gabe, thank you for being our muse!
https://blastpointspodcast.com/

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FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Bob West


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P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. 
All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible 
publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters created by both Gregory McDonald and Universal. 

FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

... making sure Fletch Lives forever!

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Robert "Big Bob" West


Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imfletchcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imfletchcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imfletchcast


P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. Confess, Fletch is Copyright of Miramax with Paramount distribution. All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters or intellectual property created by Gregory McDonald, Universal or Miramax and is used for educational purposes only. 

Transcript

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:00

There's a need to fear. The underhills are here.

FletchCast Intro 0:12

Broadcasting live live and around the world. The world from Cabana One. The only podcast that's all ball bearings. Your ultimate source for everything flat. Thank you, Doc. Never start to live. Laker Gym and its beat reporters will stop at nothing to make sure Flat lives forever. Forever. They don't shower much. This is FletchCat.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:53

Thank you, Sammy, and welcome to day four. That was one of your best thank you, Sammy's ever. Yeah, that was a lot of energy. Thank you, but I still don't do it as good as the goat.

FletchCast Intro 1:03

Thank you very much, Sammy. Thank you. Yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 1:06

Oh, it's been a work week.

"Big Bob" West 1:07

Yeah. You must be excited about what we're going to talk about today. I know I am. I know Jake's excited for this episode.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 1:14

I'm your host, Laker Jim, along with me, our Bob and the literary Jake. Yes, sir. This is uh this is his moment to shine, as we have been talking about at nauseum. I mean, listen, talking about Underhill doesn't end each day at the end of the podcast. I continue to talk about him with my family, uh, with my friends.

Jake Parrish 1:37

With strangers on the street, right? Strangers, barnyard animals. Okay, good. It's not just me.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 1:42

Whoever will listen, I chase them down, I talk about Underhill, as I hope you guys are doing at home. Okay, Jake, this character not only is a part of the first movie and the second movie, which we will cover tomorrow, Fletch lives, but he's also a part of the book. He is the trifecta character. He's in all three platforms of Fletch.

Jake Parrish 2:07

Yes, he is. Yes, he is. And I have the book right here in front of me. I'm going to be reading a couple of passages from it. You are correct. He is in the book, but we've talked before that the name is different. Yes, it is what I will ask you. I'm Ted Underwood. That's exactly right.

"Big Bob" West 2:35

Mr. Underwood Underwood. Jake, I have a question about that, Jake. I'm sure that you know, and Lake and Jim, I'm sure you know, one of the most common typewriter brands is an underwood, correct? Yes. What do you think the odds are that the reason Gregory McDonald gave him the name Underwood was because maybe he was scrambling for a name, looked down at this typewriter and said, Oh, underwood, I'll give it a few.

Jake Parrish 3:01

It's very possible. That's very possible. That's very possible.

"Big Bob" West 3:03

That's a good theory.

Jake Parrish 3:04

This was early 70s, and yeah, that's all you had back then. Oh, yeah. That's all you that's all you had in the 80s, too.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:11

And I and I will say this before you get started, Jake. Yeah, go ahead. In the script, he's underhill, and many, many times in the script, it stays true to the names of the book.

unknown 3:23

Yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:24

You know, like all those characters stayed true to the book. This one is weirdly changed in the script to Underhill.

Jake Parrish 3:30

Maybe they felt that Underhill was funnier.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:33

Yeah, possibly. But I don't really see it. I wonder at what point it went from Underwood to Underhill and for what reason. But that's neither here nor there. This episode we're gonna talk about the literary underwood.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

And now, literary fletch.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:49

Fletch F Fletch.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Examining the word of Gregory McDonald. Take it away, Jake.

Jake Parrish 3:59

Okay, so chapter 12. So I'm gonna read from this. So chapter 12, this is when Fletch comes to the club. So he's at the at the racket club. And I'm gonna read you just a couple of uh paragraphs here. So Fletch had left his car in the club parking lot and had gone around the building past the kitchen door to the service entrance.

"Big Bob" West 4:20

Time to use the service entrance.

Jake Parrish 4:21

To the locker rooms. The freshest sign on a locker door said Underwood, a new member. They and their guests could not yet be well known to the club staff. When he came onto the tennis pavilion, the head waiter had said, Pardon me, sir. Are you a guest of the club? Fletch had answered, I'm a guest of the underwoods. They're not here, sir. I haven't seen them. They're coming later. Very good, sir. Perhaps you'd like a drink while you're waiting. Fletch had spotted Joan Stanwyck. We'll put it on the Underwood bill. A screwdriver, please. He sat at Joan Stanwyck's table. Wow. And that was the first reference to Underwood slash Underhill. God, it's so it's so different.

"Big Bob" West 5:11

Like, first of all, all right. Take this, take this kind of you know, situation by situation. First of all, parking his car around the corner, not in the parking lot. Okay. Okay, you know, that's that's probably more realistic being that he's kind of an undercover detective in this situation. But sneaking in through the locker room, that's that's something that you know, you got you get that inside information that under underhill is a new member. Underwood is a new member, that is not something I ever would have expected. I would have thought that Underwood or Underhill was a like a legacy member that's been around in that club since he was a kid. Right, right.

Jake Parrish 5:51

He knew the ins and outs.

"Big Bob" West 5:53

Yeah, I wouldn't think that they're like a like a like a new money kind of you know couple that just joined this club. Maybe, maybe they recently were thrown out of their last club for you know the behavior that we've seen, and they had to find a new club, and that's why they came here.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:09

Yeah, I certainly did not picture the Underhills as new members. That's an interesting uh uh take on the characters because I imagine them also as founding members or family that generation after generation has been members of this exclusive racket club. Uh, but hey, sometimes you gotta wait till you're in your 50s or 60s to have enough money to finally belong. But hey, hands hats off to Fletch. Uh walking into a strange area on the fly, coming up with an idea to pick a new member, say you're with them, that's genius.

Jake Parrish 6:47

But it's smart.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:48

Yeah, it's a very smart way to do it.

Jake Parrish 6:49

You know, it's a smart way to do that. Yeah. This isn't really underwood slash underhill related, but in the next couple sentences, he talks about his the line that we always use is uh John Coctosten, although here it's not not John Coctoaston, it's the world's most forgettable name.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Utter Lamensky. John Utterlamensky.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:14

And in the script, that's that's the alias that he in the script. Yeah. So that was a Chevy ad lib.

SPEAKER_07 7:20

I'm John.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Oh John. Now, John who?

SPEAKER_07 7:27

John Coctoasto.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

It's a beautiful name.

SPEAKER_07 7:30

Well, it's Scotch Romania.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

It's an odd combination.

SPEAKER_07 7:33

Yeah, well, so are my parents.

Jake Parrish 7:35

Yeah. It's a good ad-lib. I mean, it's my year. And he's in the furniture business in Butte, Montana. We talked about that. Right. Uh, as far as any further mentions, a couple pages later, he he talks about. By the way, John, this is this is Joan talking. By the way, John, how did you gain entry to the Racquet Club? I'm a guest of the Underwoods. He and I are doing a little business together. He knew my plane was not leaving until mid-afternoon, so he suggested I come over, hit a ball, and have a swim. The Underwoods, I don't know them. They must be new members. I'm sure I wouldn't know. So back back up a little here.

"Big Bob" West 8:14

First of all, Joan being Gail. And second of all, when you said he was in uh the furniture business, do you mean John or Ted?

Jake Parrish 8:23

Yes, John. John, that's his cover. Yeah, that's his backstory. He's in the furniture business from Butte, uh, Montana. But he does know he he does talk about knowing Alan as well. Oh, he does, okay. Yes. He was one of his flyware buddies. Yes.

"Big Bob" West 8:38

Okay.

Jake Parrish 8:38

But that's how we got entrance into the club, and then you know, they they have a the mutual relationship with uh with Alan. So it goes from there. But yeah, but that's how the underhills slash underwoods are presented in the book.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 8:53

Now, since we don't have a lot of similar scenes from the book to the movies to compare, one little part that we can compare is when the head waiter approaches Fletch. So here's Dan John Miller, friend of the show, uh, with the book version.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

When he had come onto the tennis pavilion, the head waiter had said, Pardon me, sir. Are you a guest of the club? Fletch had answered. I'm a guest of the underwoods. They're not here, sir. I haven't seen them. They're coming later. Very good, sir. Perhaps you'd like a drink while you're waiting? Fletch had spotted Joan Stanwick. We'll put it on the underwood, Bill. A screwdriver, please.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:36

Okay, so pretty close. You can uh clearly recognize the scene. Now here's the Andrew Bergman slash Chevy version as it appeared in the movie.

SPEAKER_07 9:47

Excuse me, Signor. You are a member of the club? Uh no, I'm not. I'm with the Underhills. They are left, Signor. That's all right, they'll be back. He went out for his urinalysis. Would you like some drink, Signor, while you wait? I will put it on the Underhills bill. Yes, very good. I'll have uh Bloody Mary and a steak sandwich and a steak sandwich, please. Very good, senor.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 10:10

All right, so so a lot of a lot of things added. Uh no urinalysis line, no bloody Mary, no steak sandwich, no steak sandwich. So, since that dialogue did appear in the script, it was either originally there from Bergman or part of the Chevy rewrite of the script. But that was a sc that was scripted dialogue, so you can see how much those guys added comedy to that just one scene uh in comparison to the book.

"Big Bob" West 10:36

Wow. Interesting rewrites. Something to consider, something to consider. Joan or Gail says here she doesn't know the underwoods, underhills, okay? Yet later in the movie, it seems like uh Underhill knows exactly where to find Gail Stanwick Cabana One, and and it seems like he would have known who she was when he's screaming her name. Yeah, yeah.

Jake Parrish 10:57

He's like, This is Ted Underhill here.

"Big Bob" West 10:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get the impression that they that they're you know, they know each other, they know of each other at least.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 11:05

So interesting. Okay, I wasn't sure where you were going there, but you so you're saying that the movie version of Underhill does not line up with the new revelation we just made about them being new members.

"Big Bob" West 11:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 11:18

Yes. Okay, interesting. I mean, I would say then that's not canon, but canon begins with Gregory McDonald, so we can't dismiss that point. We gotta kind of start at the top and work down, work our way down.

"Big Bob" West 11:32

Yeah. You know, he mentioned, you know, that he he got him out of the war. He got him out of the war, right?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 11:38

So that kind of that might defunct the new member theory. But it's it it's fun to talk about. Let's just carry back to the movie the idea that they're brand new members, okay? Imagine being brand new members, and then all this happens. Yeah, I mean, can you can can we sympathize any more with this guy? This this poor battery, yeah. You're starting to paint a picture, you know. I mean, they're brand new members, they're paying big money, and then they're just being treated like garbage.

Jake Parrish 12:16

Yeah, I mean, come on. You have a bus boy hovering all over him, you know.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 12:20

He's got an expensive bill of lunch bill, broad broad, broad charges on their account. I mean, you I mean, he's the the staff basically takes anybody at their word not anything.

"Big Bob" West 12:35

Oh, the poor guy, the poor guy. No, those are those are growing pains, though, being uh you know a new member. You know, you're you're not known, you don't know who your acquaintances are, you don't, you know, you don't want to. It's actually good service to not throw Fletch out of the club because you can't prove that they're not there. But at the same time, you know, yeah, you have to. I think the club's gonna have to take that lunch bill on the chin if you couldn't track down Gail, you know, and say, I'm not paying this, I don't know who the hell this guy is.

Jake Parrish 13:02

Can we talk about the lunch anyway? My God, that's a hell of a lunch. Jeez Louise, that'd sit on me for that's definitely a Sunday, Sunday kind of deal.

"Big Bob" West 13:10

Yeah, you know, like that's so yeah. All right, you have two lobster permadoras, two portions of beluga. I'm sure the lobsters come with you know, some sort of side of pasta or something, you know, a couple different sides. Then you have Dom Perignon, and you know, that's a$400 lunch right there.$4195.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 13:30

Yeah, yeah. Listen, we're gonna break down the bill in day seven. I mean, we have the world's top mathematicians working on this. I mean, Jake drove right down to Texas Instrument and had them take a look at this and and see if they can come up with some kind of a formula so we could figure this out.

"Big Bob" West 13:47

It's so overwhelming. Yeah, you yeah, so just a little, just a little teaser now, but we'll get into that.

Jake Parrish 13:53

Yeah, Sunday is a day of rest, and you're gonna need rest after we go over this bill.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 13:57

Absolutely. I mean, I keep I I've added been adding this up. The numbers from this bill have been swirling around my head like rain man all week. How many characters, Jake, transcend the the two movies and the book?

Jake Parrish 14:13

Uh well, Fletch. Um, we have Ted or Underwood slash underhill, uh, Gillette. Gillette is in in the book and in both movies. Um, and I believe, and then Frank, of course, yeah. And then I believe that's that's it.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:30

Yeah.

Jake Parrish 14:31

I mean, look, I mean, that's that's good company. I mean, it's rare company, yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:36

Right. I mean, if we're making our Mount Rushmore a fletch characters, that puts Underhill on Mount Rushmore.

"Big Bob" West 14:43

He really is. I think so, yeah. I think he's stuffed right into that little Teddy Roosevelt spot.

Jake Parrish 14:51

Well, there would be four, and that would be it.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:55

Absolutely. Well, that about wraps up day four. And just look, look at this as one more layer that we've peeled from the human onion that is Ted Underhill. Yes. Day by day, layer by layer, we learn more and more. Tomorrow, Fletch Lives. Blinking, you miss Underhill, but he's in there.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

Yep. I don't know if you I don't know if you picked up on it. I don't know if you picked up on it, but at the beginning of this, I was like, I'm excited about the subject because I thought we were gonna Fletch Lives and we were getting the book.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 15:24

Bob, I know you were expecting a nice Fletch Lives episode today, but maybe next time. That's a great way to close it out. See you guys tomorrow.