1970s

The Day of the Locust

January 10, 2014

There have been a good number of films made about the film industry, but few have taken such a dark and surreal look at the Hollywood machine as John Schlesinger’s 1975 “The Day of the Locust” did. While it’s based on the Nathanael West book from 1939 and takes place at that time, it feels like a modern — or possibly even timeless — story of the business and the fringe-dwellers who want to be a part of its magic. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we begin our Richard Dysart series with Schlesinger’s film.

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The Hospital

May 10, 2013

For his original script “The Hospital,” Paddy Chayefsky won his second Oscar and created an enemy for himself — the US’s medical institution which he was satirizing. But his script, while genius in many ways, veers off course into several strange directions that take the sting out of the satire. And that’s, perhaps, why the film isn’t talked about much these days. But it’s still worth watching and talking about! Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we happily talk about this wild Chayefsky ride and continue our series on this great American writer.

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Network

May 3, 2013

It’s easy for us on this show to talk at great length about Sidney Lumet’s 1976 film “Network” as it’s one of our all-time favorites. Both a scathing indictment of the TV industry and a reality check for people’s feelings about the times in which they were living, this film made an indelible mark on the world of film and created one of the most iconic movie lines ever. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we not only finish our series of films from 1976 but also begin a short but deliciously sweet series of films written by the amazing Paddy Chayefsky.

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The Outlaw Josey Wales

April 27, 2013

For Clint Eastwood’s fifth directorial effort, he returned to one of the genres he’s most well-known for — the western — and created an absolute classic, The Outlaw Josey Wales. A western affected both by the revisionist movement within the genre that had been growing for nearly a decade as well as by the overall darker, more realistic tones exhibited in 70s cinema, this film took a lot of old elements from classic westerns and turned them on their heads: the Union soldiers are the bad guys, the outlaw is the hero, the Native Americans are not just real characters but actually integral to the story, and the final shootout takes an unexpected — and ultimately very gratifying — turn.

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Carrie

April 20, 2013

Brian De Palma had been making feature films for almost a decade before he made Carrie in 1976, but it was this film that became his first blockbuster and really pushed him to the next level. By making an adaptation of the first book by an up-and-coming writer at the time, Stephen King, and turning it into a very effective and frightening psychological horror film, De Palma created a classic that is nearly as effective (if a bit dated) as it was when first released. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our 1976 series with Listen Now

Taxi Driver

April 12, 2013

We’re continuing our 1976 series with Martin Scorsese’s gritty film Taxi Driver, one of his greatest and arguably most talked about films.

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Marathon Man

April 5, 2013

In 1976, John Schlesinger made a film adaptation of William Goldman’s novel Marathon Man, and in the process, made everyone afraid to go back to their dentist. There are few things more horrifying than watching Laurence Olivier’s Nazi dentist drill into Dustin Hoffman’s teeth (the healthy ones because it’ll hurt more, naturally). Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we start a new series digging into great films from 1976, a great year for cinema, and we start it off with Marathon Man.

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The French Connection

November 9, 2012

It’s our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, everyone! That’s right, we’ve been doing this podcast for one year now, and what better way to celebrate than with the next in our Great Car Chase series—William Friedkin’s 1971 Best Picture Oscar-winner, “The French Connection.”

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Jaws

August 27, 2012

When someone says the word ‘jaws’ to you, it inevitably conjures up the man-eating great white shark in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller masterpiece. It’s hard to imagine a time when the word ‘jaws’ didn’t do this. But that’s what Spielberg’s film “Jaws” did, as well as birth the notion of the summer blockbuster and make people not want to swim in the ocean. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—on this week’s episode as we chat about this film, the next in our Richard D. Zanuck series.

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The Sting

August 24, 2012

After his father fired him from 20th Century Fox and a short stint at Warner Bros., Richard D. Zanuck joined forces with his buddy David Brown from his Fox days and the two joined forces as the independent producing duo under the banner The Zanuck/Brown Company. For their first film? They found possibly one of the greatest scripts ever written – David S. Ward’s “The Sting” – attached George Roy Hill to direct with Paul Newman and Robert Redford heading up the stellar cast, and ended up producing the Best Picture winner of 1973, as well as one of the greatest films ever made. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – this week for the second in our Richard D. Zanuck series as we discuss (and maybe gush a little bit because of our overwhelming love for this film) everything that makes “The Sting” great.

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