Enemy of the State

Unclear and Present Danger

Jamelle Bouie

Tv & Film, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 660 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this week's (somewhat delayed) episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Matt Duss to discuss the 1998 conspiracy thriller Enemy of the State, directed by the late great Tony Scott and starring the late great Gene Hackman, as well as Will Smith, Jon Voight and Regina King.

In their discussion, Jamelle, John and Matt talk the film's vision of the American surveillance state, its spiritual connection to The Conversation, Will Smith's superstar performance, and the ways the movie anticipated some of the political disputes of the post-9/11 era.

The tagline for Enemy of the State was "It's not paranoia if they're really after you." You can find the film to rent or buy on Amazon.

For the next episode of the podcast, Jamelle and John will watch The Peacemaker, a 1997 political thriller directed by Mimi Leder (of Pay It Forward and Deep Impact fame) and starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.

And don’t forget about our Patreon! You can sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod. For just $5/month, you get two episodes on the films of the Cold War. Our next Patreon episode will be on The Conversation!

Our producer is Connor Smith and our artwork is by Rachel Eck

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Satellite imagery coming through.
0:02.0	Roger that patched visual in my location.
0:05.0	Subject entering lingerie store.
0:07.0	Robert Clayton Dean was innocent.
0:10.0	You freeze there? Times 10.
0:12.0	We have reason to believe that Mr. Zavits may have passed sensitive materials to you.
0:16.0	What kind of material?
0:18.0	Sensitive, sir. Let's get into his life.
0:20.0	We have you bugged it, Mr. Dean?
0:22.6	Move to Audio 3.
0:23.6	He was unsuspecting.
0:25.6	Hey, hey, mine in the wrong house.
0:27.6	Hello?
0:28.6	Eric!
0:29.6	Mr. Dean!
0:30.6	He was unaware.
0:32.6	You are the only woman in the world for me.
0:34.6	You and Janet Jackson.
0:36.6	Coming your way over. Now, what he doesn't know... I'd like a report of break him. Could kill him. Request immediate keyhole visual tasking, maximum resolution. He's on your six o'clock. You have something they want. Two targets, rip-top. I don't have anything. Maybe you're doing and you don't know it. You're threatening out whom? Everyone you know. Target's on the move. A name, a phone number? No, nothing. He didn't give me anything. You don't have any federal agents you had following your... Stay exactly where you are. I want to use every means possible to get what we need. From Jerry Brockheimer. Get the cat. What's the cat's name? Babe. Producer of the Rock. Come here, baby. Baby, come, come here! A film by Tony Scott. Target is on 21. Director of Crimson Tide. Just about me. 20. Do they know me? Who is that? 18. He jumped to 17. Do they know me? I don't know what you're talking about. Will Smith. You're one of them, aren't you? Former conspiring. Twiggy, talking, Swicky. No, no. Gene Hackman. This man, this is our problem. You live in another day, I'll be very impressed. It's not paranoia when they're really after you.
1:46.6	Tell them to stop it now!
1:50.0	Enemy of the state.
1:53.4	What the hell is happening?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jamelle Bouie, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jamelle Bouie and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.