Episode #39 "French Twist"

[Tom]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb vicegirl85:

I suspect the interior corridor scene (at least) was a set.  Although building codes may have been more lax in the 1920s or whenever the Blue Waters was built, it appears in the picture above to be less than 5 feet wide.  This doesn't seem right to me.

My guess would be that the bathroom shown in the last picture was also either a set, or located elsewhere.  But I have no way of being able to confirm this suspicion.

If you refer to the scenes playing in the Blue Waters hotel they were actually filmed there.

CGlide has summarized this well on his site for this episode: http://www.miamivicelocations2.org/page29.html

[vicegirl85]

2 hours ago, Tom said:

If you refer to the scenes playing in the Blue Waters hotel they were actually filmed there.

CGlide has summarized this well on his site for this episode: http://www.miamivicelocations2.org/page29.html

Very interesting!  Thank you, Tom, and thank you, Robbie, as well for information on older hotels.

[ViceFanMan]

4 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

I'd guess they're both sets, although the corridor could be in the actual building. The toilet in the bathroom scene is certainly NOT vintage by any stretch, and the corridor looks like the standard "seedy apartment complex/hotel" thing you saw in quite a few shows from this era.

I've stayed in some older hotels in other parts of the country (including a couple that date back to the 1890s or so), and the corridors are much narrower than they are now. So that's not definitive. And powering a few lights on a corridor isn't hard, either (generators or batteries). Although it could have been shot on location, I'd suspect they used a set just to make multiple takes easier.

 

4 hours ago, Tom said:

If you refer to the scenes playing in the Blue Waters hotel they were actually filmed there.

CGlide has summarized this well on his site for this episode: http://www.miamivicelocations2.org/page29.html

I pretty much could tell the corridor/hallway scenes were in the actual Blue Waters, and the outside shots definitely were. I’ve just always wondered if the room/bathroom-shower scenes were actually in an old room of the Blue Waters, as well? 

I’ve always hoped they were, but still not completely sure...they don’t quite match up with the rest of the old hotel, and although CGlide’s locations post talks about the “setting” for those scenes supposedly taking place at the Blue Waters (along with some info on unrealistic stuff they used regarding the bomb & trigger line/switch ), it doesn’t say for certain that those couple scenes actually were filmed there.

I’m thinking those were possibly sets, as by this time the rest of the old hotel had pretty much been gutted/stripped. But, I’d be happy to be proved wrong...as to me I think it’d have been more awesome to have found part of an old room & bathroom in the old hotel still partially intact and used for those scenes.  

Thanks for all the info & thoughts! 

[dragon48]

Even if I wasn't aware that the show used two different alligators to portray Elvis, the one used in this episode wouldn't have fooled me.  It's much smaller, and much younger than the Elvis we've seen so far.  Does anybody know the story behind this?  Was the original alligator dead by the time this episode was filmed?

Screenshot from the episode:

Edited August 23, 2022 by dragon48

[apocalypse]

French Twist has pretty awful plot but for some strange reason this one works. The music and the atmosphere is very unique and the acting generally was good. Crockett looked very cool and damn that Jan Hammer stuff is pure genius once again.

It's a bad episode but actually it isn't. I don't know if it makes sense.

It's "very cool" bad episode. 

PS: Loved this Dadrian Wilson take on the music. Listened it just today.

 

[ViceFanMan]

5 hours ago, apocalypse said:

French Twist has pretty awful plot but for some strange reason this one works. The music and the atmosphere is very unique and the acting generally was good. Crockett looked very cool and damn that Jan Hammer stuff is pure genius once again.

It's a bad episode but actually it isn't. I don't know if it makes sense.

It's "very cool" bad episode. 

PS: Loved this Dadrian Wilson take on the music. Listened it just today.

 

I actually don’t mind the plot of this one...lots of action & cool “professional assassin” aspects. 

[RedDragon86]

Just now, ViceFanMan said:

I actually don’t mind the plot of this one...lots of action & cool “professional assassin” aspects. 

I am with you, I like this one. There is nothing wrong with it.

It's a good episode.

[Miami Beau]

On 8/23/2022 at 4:41 AM, dragon48 said:

Even if I wasn't aware that the show used two different alligators to portray Elvis, the one used in this episode wouldn't have fooled me.  It's much smaller, and much younger than the Elvis we've seen so far.  Does anybody know the story behind this?  Was the original alligator dead by the time this episode was filmed?

Screenshot from the episode:

Not sure if the original Elvis alligator had died at this point (early 1986). It could’ve very well been the case. Prior to this episode, Elvis had not been seen on screen since “The Dutch Oven”. Months of production time had passed in between these episodes. 

[ViceFanMan]

1 hour ago, Miami Beau said:

Not sure if the original Elvis alligator had died at this point (early 1986). It could’ve very well been the case. Prior to this episode, Elvis had not been seen on screen since “The Dutch Oven”. Months of production time had passed in between these episodes. 

Could be. It might have depended on how old the “original Elvis” was at the time of filming. The average lifespan of an alligator is 50-75 years. Or...maybe Elvis got sick or developed a disease? 

[airtommy]

The opening credit shot of Paris and the Eiffel Tower shows heavy air pollution.  They easily could have used a better stock photo.

I wonder if they did this on purpose, to foreshadow the French corruption that is central to the episode's story.

Better stock photo:

 

[Jack Gretsky]

On 9/7/2021 at 10:49 PM, Jack Gretsky said:

We just had John Heard, who was in the movie Cutter's Way, three episodes back; now we have another Cutter's star, Lisa Eichhorn.  So where was Jeff Bridges this season? 

This is still part of the Season 2 "F" lull, but, as always with Vice, there are things to enjoy.  It's kind of fun (if also annoying) to have an innocent, a boisterous teen, involved with our crew.  Naturally enough, she thinks of herself as a Juliet torn from her Romeo rather than an eyewitness in danger of getting killed. Good scene outside the hospital - Cindy thinks it's all a game until the bullets start flying.  Otherwise, a rather dullish and contrived story. 

Even the songs are skimpy.  "Who's Zoomin' Who" ain't even the best song from that album - "Freeway of Love" is! 

If I were to rank all the season 2 episodes in order of my favorites, the dreaded "F lull" eps (Florence Italy, French Twist, The Fix, Free Verse) would all be on the bottom 5 or 6.  Mind you, they are all re-watchable and have their good points, but they lack the snap of most of the other season's shows.  "French Twist" might possible my lowest-ranked.  My problem is that the gears of the plot and its end-point (Woman detective comes between C & T; predictable story resolution at the finale) are obvious, rushed, and lackluster.  Like I said two years ago: contrived.  A nice use of greens and blues throughout make it a handsome episode though!