True Lies
Unclear and Present Danger
Jamelle Bouie
4.7 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2023
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch “True Lies,” James Cameron’s tonally-incoherent (but hugely successful) spy thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. They discuss the film as a straightforward take on the American crisis of masculinity in the 1990s, as a depiction of American beliefs and ideologies around sex and power, and as the beginning of a significant turn in the cultural depiction of America’s enemies. They also talk about American interventions into Haiti, welfare reform and James Cameron’s marriages.
You can watch “True Lies” on Apple TV Plus or Paramount Plus.
Episodes are released every two weeks, so join Jamelle and John later this month for an episode on the 1995 adaptation of “Judge Dredd,” starring Sylvester Stallone.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For 15 years, Harry Tasker's been leading a double life. |
| 0:05.0 | Mr. President, one of our best men is inside. |
| 0:08.0 | Transmitting now. |
| 0:10.0 | Now, they're about to collide. |
| 0:13.0 | Not like he's saving the world or anything. |
| 0:15.0 | I see this is the problem with terrorists. |
| 0:18.0 | They're really inconsiderate when it comes to people's schedules. |
| 0:22.6 | Have you ever killed anyone? |
| 0:24.6 | Yeah, but they were all bad. |
| 0:26.6 | True lies. |
| 0:30.6 | What can I say? I'm a spy. Welcome to Unileged. |
| 1:06.2 | Welcome to Unar and Present Danger, a podcast about the political and military thrillers of the 1990s and what they say about the politics of that decade. |
| 1:09.6 | I'm Jamel Bowie. I'm a columnist for the New York Times opinion section. |
| 1:16.8 | My name is John Gans. I have a substack newsletter called Unpopular Front, and I'm editing my book about American politics in the early 1990s. This week we watched True Lies. Let me try that again. |
| 1:24.1 | Let me try that again. This week we watched True Eyes. I can't do it. |
| 1:28.8 | A 1994 action film written, directed by James Cameron, and based on a 1991 French film, |
| 1:36.1 | it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Art Malick, and Tia Carrere, |
| 1:42.3 | with cinematography by Russell Carpenter, Russell Carpenter also shot Titanic. |
| 1:48.0 | He shot Hard Target, and he shot Triple X, the return of Xander Cage. |
| 1:53.5 | Fine movie, I guess. |
| 1:55.5 | Here's a very short plot synopsis. |
| 1:57.6 | A fearless-battling, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down |
... |
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