Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello everybody and welcome back. It is once again me your favorite deputy of movie Deputy podcast, bringing you the intense interrogation of the movie The Hill. Now, a lot of people have seen the trailer on this one, and it really set up high expectations from what it gave us in the trailer, whether or not it delivered on those kind of remains to be seen. I am going to go ahead and say that I gave the hill an innocent rating on the deputy scale on that, and if you're wondering what the score is, this one I'm gonna have make you wait till I get to the end because my review is gonna be very controversial on this one. Not controversial as in limited audience, but controversial because of the tone the whole movie is set with. And my take on it, I am either going to have a lot of people either agreeing with me or completely hating on me, which I'm perfectly fine with by the way.
Speaker 0 00:00:59 It's like, you're more than welcome to your opinion. And I always say, if you don't like what I have to say, turn it off. And if you do, like, subscribe and share. So <laugh>, that's the least the the whole thing I try to do with what I do. And being a critic sometimes is very difficult. And if you listen to my upcoming movies podcast from a couple days back, you knew how excited I was to watch both The Hill and Gold this weekend, and I was really expecting exceptional. And you know, maybe I set my hopes up a little bit too high, and I actually do separate that out before I come back. And I make the re before I do the review. And before I even give the score that I give it, I take my pre expectations out of it and I judge it just on what it is.
Speaker 0 00:01:47 I wanna say right up front. The aside from the story, this movie has a lot of timeline errors. The movie is set like back in the 19, late fifties, early sixties, age-ish of the 19 hundreds that is so the 1950s, 1960s. And there are a lot of things, different train things and just different things in the background that honestly, it doesn't seem like they even tried to get that stuff out of those scenes 'cause it was just blaringly obvious. If you're paying attention to any of those details, that alone takes away from the story. And who knows, maybe that'll kind of give you already a little bit of an idea where I'm going with the score. If you're familiar with the deputy rating system, now this story is about Ricky Hill, and if you watch the previews, you know it's about baseball. And Ricky was born with a lot of issues with his legs. And so he grew up wearing these leg braces. No matter where he went or what he did, he would always find ways to go outside and play ball. Now, mind you, Ricky's version of playing baseball was with a stick and rocks. But the thing is, he had a gift
Speaker 1 00:02:58 That was even apparent, even as a young child in real life and in the movie. And so he just, he had this passion for baseball, but his dad was a pastor of a local church and they were, they were in a very c they were in a very small community where, uh, obviously if you know anything about pastors or priests or anything, they live off of a certain percentage of the donations to the church. And this family was very, very, the, the Hill family was very, very destitute. And so they didn't have money to really invest in really anything, even to really take care of Ricky's legs. He is, he even had braces on that were a couple, not braces like on your teeth, but braces on the legs that were a couple years too small for what he was kind of growing into. And he'd outgrown his braces, but he, he just had this love of baseball and his dad knew that he wouldn't, now that Ricky, because of his limitations, he wouldn't be able to necessarily do what he wanted to do.
Speaker 1 00:03:59 His dad raised him to be to love the Bible, to love scripture, to really get deep into that. And his dad's name is James Hill. So Pastor Hill James really instilled this deep, not only in Ricky, but also in Ricky's brother and sister as well. The only person that ever really stood up for Ricky was his grandma. His mom's mom. And she's a big part of this story because though Ricky is very limited on what he can do, she wants him to be able to dream. And that's not what his dad wants at all. His dad just has a firm set in his mind, and he is going to keep Ricky on that path towards God, no matter what else kind of gets in the way or what tries to get in the way, including Ricky's own desires, is basically the dad doesn't care anything about what the kid wants.
Speaker 1 00:04:49 The dad is going to make the kid follow what he wants to do. And if you haven't really picked up on it, this is a very religious type movie. I'm trying to think of the right word. So I don't trip over myself here and I'm still tripping over myself. But this one isn't just a religious movie. This is a prey movie. This, this entire movie. It just preach it. It doesn't just share a story, it's preaching at the audience. It's not like they're trying to talk to like break the fourth wall where they're talking to the audience, but what's going on on the screen, it is just pounding, pounding, compounding of just all of this biblical stuff. And it's just, it's distracting from the story. I understand that this was a big part of Ricky's life growing up, and I understand why because his dad was a pastor and I understand the, what his dad was trying to do because of the limitations that Ricky had.
Speaker 1 00:05:49 But the way that this is just so I, it's almost gonna sound like a negative. And you know, in a way it kind of is because if you are not absolutely strong and steadfast living your life, God first, and then baseball is a close second, you're not gonna appreciate this movie. It, this one is just, it's very, very, very just God first. And there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you believe in. If that's what you believe in, great. I'm not saying I don't believe in God at all, but movies like this are uncomfortable for those who do not live with that being the first and foremost thing in their life. And you know what, if I lose some listeners ba based on my thoughts on that, so be it. But people need to be aware of what they're going into. And you know what, if you love movies like that, this one will probably be a favorite <laugh> and okay, you're probably wondering, okay, but does Ricky ever get to play baseball?
Speaker 1 00:06:49 Yes. He, he really does get to play baseball. He fights through a life changing injury and he goes on to impress this, this one scout. And don't worry, it's, I'm not giving any spoilers on that, but there's some information in the credits that actually go on to credit things that happened in his real life. And so, yes, Ricky does finally get to play baseball, but only after, as the audience has endured all of the other tribulations that this, that his father put him through because of his, his dad's faith is honestly more of the forefront of this movie than Ricky's. And that's really a discouraging thing to the movie. So you're probably think, okay, so what did you give it? You told us you were gonna give us the score at the end. I've, I really struggled with this one. I, I went into this hoping it was gonna be maybe sevens, eights.
Speaker 1 00:07:42 I very few mo even my excellent movies, rarely get above that. When I first walked outta this movie, personally, I wanted to give it a three. And I, I think I thought that was being generous. That's my personal thought on this movie is like low threes, like, like an even three. And, but no, that's not what I gave it. I sat back and I looked at the story and I looked at how this played out and how the characters felt in the story, and then I had to take into account all the mistakes in the movie. And there, mind you, there are a lot of them, like I said, if you're a person that even doesn't necessarily pay attention to that stuff, these are so glaring and so in your face that it's impossible not to notice. But I gave the Hill a five out of 10 on the deputy scale, and trust me, that was being generous.
Speaker 1 00:08:29 There are some amazing movies that deal with the subject matter such as this that were done in a different way. And like I said, if you are a very God forward and in your life and in your beliefs, then you are gonna take a lot away from a movie such as this. And you'll probably think, why did she give it a five? That's not fair. Judging it just purely on the movie deputy scale is sometimes so hard for me. Like I said, personally, I wanted to give this movie a three, but I have to separate that out. And you're like going, okay, well is that the reason you're giving it a lower score? It's like, no, because on the movie Deputy Scale, A five is a good story, significant flaws, and the overall story here shared, it's, it's gonna reach a very, a certain audience, a very specific audience, and unfortunately it's not gonna be as wide and open as the trailer made you believe.
Speaker 1 00:09:25 And that's really unfortunate that stories like this take that just almost out of context and give you just the best pieces of the movie in the trailer and get you so excited. And then you go to watch it and you're like, oh, <laugh>. And that's, that's probably a good way to put it. And I even asked a few other people that were in the theater with me when I went to see this and one of the gentlemen just said, he goes, that's not the movie I expected it to be. And I asked him, is that a good thing or a bad thing? And he goes, I don't know. He goes, but I know I'm not gonna recommend it. And like I said, those aren't my words, that's the words of somebody else that was in the theater with me at the time. And I always ask people if I can use those quotes and stuff that they use and they're like, he's like, sure.
Speaker 1 00:10:04 So <laugh>, if that was you, thank you very much. I do wanna say that at the end of this movie, Ricky did dedicate this movie to Pastor James Hill to his father. And then at the very end of the credits it recognized in Loving Memory of Scott Marshall Smith. That's for once a name. I don't think I butchered very much <laugh>, but overall I hope that this has helped you on this movie. I know I'm running more than a bit long on this, but just the way that this was addressed, I needed to bring it to your attention and give you a heads up. You know, you may, you might love this movie being aware that that's what this is, but I don't want people to get blindsided if they're going into this expecting one thing and finding another. So I hope that this has helped, and tomorrow I am gonna be back to talk about the Liam Neeson movie retribution. So hang on and stay tuned. I'll talk to you later. Bye-bye.
