Each episode of The Next Reel Film Podcast is a part of a series or collection of films brought together by time, idea, or contributor. Looking to build a great watchlist? You can’t go wrong with starting on a Next Reel Series.
It’s our March member bonus episode! We return to our ‘Couples on the Run’ series from 2013 with David Lynch’s 1990 Palm D’Or winner ‘Wild at Heart.’ Is it too much Lynch craziness or just enough? Are Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern too over the top? Do they even come near the craziness of Diane Ladd? We dig in and may not agree but have a great conversation about it so tune in!
Does Scott’s film work as a feminist statement or does the ending turn it anti-feminist? How great are Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in their parts? And how did they ever get cast after Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster had originally been in the roles? This is a special member bonus episode, so make sure you’re a member of the show, then tune in and enjoy it!
In 1934, a little film studio released what they thought would be a minor but fun little film called “It Happened One Night.” That film went on to earn 5 Oscar nominations — Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay — and win all 5. It also was an audience favorite and turned that little studio — Columbia Pictures — into one of the major players. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we talk about Frank Capra’s wonderful film “It Happened One Night.”
Charles Laughton is most known for his larger than life performances in films from the 30s through the 60s, but he did have one chance to direct which came in the form of 1955’s The Night of the Hunter, a film he also co-wrote with James Agee based on the novel by Davis Grubb. Unfortunately for him, the film was a huge flop. Luckily for us, this quirky anomaly of a film has not only survived but has thrived — it is now critically praised and generally considered to be a classic film.
William Goldman is often credited as the first screenwriter to sell a spec script, meaning he wrote a script without getting paid for it then sold it once he was done with it. It’s common in the novel-writing world, but in the late 60s, it was unheard of in the film business. That script was “The Sundance Kid & Butch Cassidy,” which legendary producer Richard D. Zanuck, who was running 20th Century Fox at the time, optioned for twice what they were allowed to, knowing it was going to be big. And he was right. We continue our Couples On the Run series with George Roy Hill’s 1969 western, “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.”
Quentin Tarantino’s first script that he wrote turned out to be one he couldn’t get made himself. Lucky for us (or unlucky as some Tarantino fans feel), he managed to get “True Romance” into the hands of Tony Scott. Tony gave it a linear structure and a happy ending and, in our estimation, created a magical fairy tale of a film. We’re continuing our “Couples on the Run” series and are thrilled with this week’s edition of “True Romance” to the list.
Infrequent filmmaker Martin Brest may have directed the box office bombs Gigli and Meet Joe Black, but he also directed the huge critical and commercial successes Beverly Hills Cop and Scent of a Woman. Somewhere in the middle of these films, he made a fantastic action-comedy about a bounty hunter taking a criminal across country to collect his reward. That’s right, we’re talking about Midnight Run, a part of our Couples on the Run series.