For a Few Dollars More
Sergio Leone continued building on the mythos that he and Clint Eastwood had created in “A Fistful of Dollars” with the follow-up, “For a Few Dollars More,” and it is in this film that Eastwood really developed so many of the tropes that he would continue using throughout his career. The squinting, silent gazes he’d give before gunning someone down. The one-liners. And for Eastwood’s other westerns, a defined look. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our misnamed Man With No Name trilogy series and talk about Eastwood in his second film with Leone, 1965’s “For a Few Dollars More.’
A Fistful of Dollars
Spaghetti Westerns didn’t completely begin with Sergio Leone’s 1964 film “A Fistful of Dollars,” but his film certainly set a new bar — and created an international audience — for these films. This film revitalized a genre that had been slowly dying by getting rid of the black hat/white hat type of story that instead focused on characters who had a lot more gray in them. And this film is really the film that set Leone on his way to making the types of films he’d continue making throughout his career. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we start our Man With No Name Trilogy series with a conversation about “A Fistful of Dollars.”
12 Monkeys
Terry Gilliam has said that ‘The Fisher King’ and ‘Twelve Monkeys’ were two of the easiest films for him to make. Perhaps that’s because he found the right way to work in the studio system, perhaps it’s because he found the right people to work with, perhaps it’s because he wasn’t working with his own scripts. It’s hard to say why that is, but they certainly proved successful at the box office, showing that Gilliam wasn’t box office poison and allowing him to continue his career. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we conclude our Terry Gilliam series with his 1995 film ‘Twelve Monkeys.’
The Fisher King
After the financial disaster that was ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,’ Terry Gilliam needed a way to prove to the studio brass that he could make a great movie that was on budget and made money at the box office. He found it in ‘The Fisher King,’ the film he made and released in 1991. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our Terry Gilliam series with the fantastic ‘The Fisher King.’
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
After the battle that Terry Gilliam had to endure to release ‘Brazil,’ it’s a shame that his next movie ended up being another debacle. From producer problems to studio exec switcheroos to plain old bad luck, ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen’ has a tough film to get made. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our Terry Gilliam series with this beautiful but troubled film.
Brazil
Terry Gilliam has always been an ambitious director with wild visions for his films. Sometimes that’s worked out, sometimes it hasn’t. In the case of the follow-up to his successful film Time Bandits, Brazil didn’t work out, at least at the time. Gilliam had a very public battle with Sid Sheinberg, the president and CEO of MCA-Universal at the time, who didn’t want to release Gilliam’s film as it was presented to him. It wasn’t until 1996 when Gilliam’s director’s cut was finally released, but people could tell long before that there was a great film here. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Terry Gilliam series with Andy’s favorite movie, Brazil.
Time Bandits
Getting out from under the shadow of Monty Python proved difficult for Terry Gilliam early in his solo career — no one in America would finance any films for him — so while he waited to get his big movie, “Brazil,” off the ground, he wrote a script for an idea he’d been kicking around that would appeal to the whole family. “Time Bandits” proved to be a box office success and still is one of Gilliam’s most profitable movies, allowing him to make “Brazil” immediately afterward and continue in the business. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we dig into his 1981 film.
Knowing
Considering how much critics and audiences seem to hate Alex Proyas’ 2009 film Knowing, it’s surprising that it actually did fairly well at the box office. We don’t know if that’s proof that people actually like it, but it was hated enough that Andy felt it was appropriate to call it a guilty pleasure of his. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we finish up our short and fun Guilty Pleasure Series with Proyas’ Knowing.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
As someone once said, cult films aren’t born, they’re chosen. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension failed at the box office, but the film was just quirky enough to find that fan base and get propelled into cult status. While the film didn’t do well enough to warrant a sequel, it did find a big fan in Pete. Join us — Andy Nelson and Pete Wright — as we begin our short (but hopefully fun) Guilty Pleasure Series with Buckaroo Banzai.
Atlantic City
It’s time to draw the curtains on our 1981 series with another Louis Malle film, Atlantic City. While technically made in 1979 and released in Canada and France in 1980, this film wasn’t released in the US until April 1981. Because of that, however, it does feel like a film from the 70s to us, like many films in our series ended up doing. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we discuss Malle’s second film to be released in 1981 in the US.