John Huston

It’s Valentine’s Day, and what better way to end our current John Huston series than with his 1985 romantic mafia comedy, Prizzi’s Honor? Huston was struggling with his health in the 80s but still a vibrant and essential director when he made this film that garnered 8 Oscar nominations. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we celebrate love and death in this quirky film.

When people list off caper films, it’s a long list that comes to mind – Ocean’s Eleven, Rififi, The Killing, The Ladykillers, Kelly’s Heroes, The Italian Job, The Usual Suspects, even more recently Inception – but the film that really kicked it all off was 1950s masterpiece, The Asphalt Jungle. John Huston co-adapted W. R. Burnett’s novel and turned it into one of his greatest directorial achievements, a story of a group of criminals working hard to pull off the perfect heist only to have everything fall apart in the end.

In 1948, John Huston managed to crank out two of his most well-known films – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a masterpiece that received many accolades but took a while to warm up at the box office, and Key Largo, a noirish crime film that takes place during a hurricane on the Florida Keys which did great at the box office but didn’t create a big splash in the awards circles.

This week, join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we delve into this fascinating and tragic film, once considered a difficult film that received more praise from critics than it did from audiences at the time even though now it’s considered one of the best films ever made.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, this week join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we talk about one of the most unforgettable films in the history of cinema, “The Maltese Falcon.” As a part of our periodic and ongoing John Huston series, this is a film we’ve looked forward to talking about for a great long while.