Author: ccradio

Reel 71: Accidental Spies

Don’t you hate it when you’re just out there minding your own business, doing your job and the next thing you know you’re involved with a South American crime cartel, or you’re behind the Iron Curtain?

That’s what happens in this episode of the show. We find some fairly ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances. They’re just trying to do their thing and they find themselves in the middle of intrigue and espionage.

We start with 1979’s The In-Laws, directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. Arkin is a mild-mannered dentist whose daughter is about to marry Falk’s son, but there’s something not quite right about Falk. Before long, he finds himself tangled in international intrigue and on the verge of being killed by a firing squad. If you’ve seen the recent remake, don’t let it put you off of watching this much-better version.

From there we go to Top Secret! from 1984. It stars a very young Val Kilmer and a host of character actors, and was directed by Jim Abrahams along with brothers Jerry and David Zucker, more commonly known as ZAZ. It’s a spy comedy in the style of their earlier Airplane!, except that the story is more homage than a direct lift. But it’s still got deeply-layered jokes and a couple of scenes that have to be seen to be believed, including one which was shot like this…

…but it doesn’t appear on screen like this.


COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

We’re going to stick with the spy genre for the time being. Episode 72 features two films based on novels by John LeCarre. We start with The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, from 1965, and then it’s a visit to 1990’s The Russia House. Join us, won’t you?

Reel 70: Love During Wartime

Roughly two-thirds of this show’s life ago, we did an episode titled “Life During Wartime“, in which the war wasn’t always neatly spelled out.

In today’s episode, it’s Love During Wartime, and again the war isn’t quite so obvious, except that it’s referring specifically to the Cold War. We’re looking at a pair of films that each deal with a couple and how they respond to Soviet oppression. In both cases, it’s rather early in that oppression, but they’re still set many years apart.

In Part One we’ll be looking at 1988’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed and co-written by Philip Kaufman. Daniel Day-Lewis is a man who falls in love with a woman and eventually finds it in himself to change, however slowly, for her benefit. It’s a long, convoluted story that will run you through all of your emotions, no matter how cold-hearted you are.

Part Two is a more recent film. From 2018, it’s Cold War, a film about star-crossed lovers who seem to find themselves on the opposite sides of many  different lines throughout their relationship, including the Iron Curtain itself. They’re together, then they’re separated, but they manage to find their way back together.  Was it worth it for them? We’ll leave it to you to decide that part.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

Episodes 71-73 will be all about spycraft, but for the first one we’re going to keep it light. We’ll start with 1979’s The In-Laws, starring Peter Falk and Alan Arkin.  From there we go to 1984 and Top Secret!, a spy spoof that stars Val Kilmer as an Elvis-like musician who is recruited to perform in Europe and finds himself mixed up in espionage.  Join us, won’t you?

Reel 69: When Icons Meet

In a way, this episode is an unofficial third in our recent series of fairy tales, in the sense that it depicts a couple of “What if?” scenarios, except this time around we’re using people who really existed. First up is Insignificance, from 1985, and then it’s One Night In Miami… from 2020. Interestingly, both films involve four famous people and take place largely in a hotel room, and they’re also based on stage plays. So: a lot of commonality going on here.

In Insignificance, we get four characters identified only as The Professor, The Actress, The Senator and The Ballplayer, but it’s pretty clear that they’re meant to be thinly disguised versions of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joseph McCarthy and Joe DiMaggio.

Our four characters interact in ways that are at different times frightening, outrageous, charming and endearing. It’s an interesting take on power, fame, and knowledge, and how they can be simultaneously good and bad.

In Part 2 of our episode we’re looking at One Night in Miami… (2020), directed by Regina King.  In this film, it’s clearly spelled out that we’re watching Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali (still in his Cassius Clay days), Jim Brown and Sam Cooke. The four of them come together in early 1964 and spend a rather contentious evening together discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement of that era. The evening ends abruptly when they discover that the press has gotten wind of the meeting.

Side Note: One Night in Miami… was produced by Amazon Studios. Doesn’t their opening logo make you think of the intro to Game of Thrones? Or is that just me?

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

In our next episode, we’re looking at a couple of films that depict Love During Wartime. We’ll start with The Unbearable Lightness of Being, from 1988, and move on to  Cold War from 2018. Join us, won’t you?

Reel 68: More Modern Fairy Tales

In this episode we continue our theme of Modern-Day Fairy Tales, even though in one case it’s not necessarily set in the present day. So let’s just call it a present-day telling of a fairy tale and leave it at that.

And that’s where we start this time around, with 1993’s The Bride With White Hair,  directed by Ronny Yu. This is a Wuxia film with a kind of Romeo and Juliet overlay, as our main characters find themselves trying to balance fate, duty and love. In addition, it’s a film that definitely has overtones from Western film sensibilities. It might be a little hard to follow at first, but if you stick with it, you’ll be well rewarded.

From there we move to 2011 and Hanna, directed by Joe Wright and starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role. This film is lodged in the present, with some of the fairy-tale elements coming from its overall structure. There are also a couple of scenes which explore it a little more overtly.

This film was the basis for the Amazon Prime TV series of the same name.  The TV show, of course, had to run a slightly different story arc, because it has to sustain the basic setup over several years. I think the series did manage to do it while remaining faithful to the basic premise. Some characters had to naturally change to make this possible. But I do think it works. What say you?

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

In our next episode, we look at a pair of films where, for lack of a better term, Alternate History is going on. In those histories, a few iconic people get to meet one another. First is Insignificance, from 1985 and directed by Nicholas Roeg. From there it’s on to One Night in Miami… a 2020 film directed by Regina King. By the end of these films, you wish all of the events depicted had actually happened! Join us, won’t you?

Reel 67: Modern Fairy Tales, Part 1

Apologies for the delay to this episode, but I got Covid last week at the same time as a sinus infection, and I was definitely laid low for awhile. Not a cool way to spend your birthday week, to be sure. Anyway, thanks for your patience.

In today’s episode we’re looking at two films that are updated versions of classic fairy tales, even if they don’t necessarily look like it on the surface. And we start with Ball of Fire, directed by Howard Hawks from 1941. Barbara Stanwyck is a woman hiding out from the police by staying with a group of scholars who are putting together an encyclopedia. In exchange for the room and board, she offers the men lessons in modern lingo and other forms of popular culture. Of course, there’s a little more to it as she finds herself attracted to one of them. Hijinks ensue as the man who’s benefitting from her being hidden gets the idea to marry her as a means of keeping her from testifying against him. It’s a bunch of screwball fun involving lots of character actors.

In the second half of the episode, we move forward to 1986’s Mona Lisa, a kind of neo-noir film directed and co-written by Neil Jordan. It features Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson as an unlikely couple who have an unlikely adventure together. It’s guaranteed that this film doesn’t end the way you expect it to, but you won’t be dissatisfied by that.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

In Reel 68, we’ll be checking out another pair of modern fairy tales, but they’ll be foreign-based and a little more esoteric. First we’ll screen The Bride With White Hair (1993), a Hong Kong film directed by Ronny Yu. After that we go to Scandinavia for Hanna (2011), directed by Joe Wright and the inspiration for the 2019 Netflix series.

Reel 66: The Remake Was Better 2

As noted in the previous episode, once in awhile a film  gets remade that actually manages to eclipse its predecessor for one reason or another. This is the second of two episodes wherein we look at two films that stand as a good example.

We begin with The Thomas Crown Affair, from 1999. It was directed by John McTiernan and stars Pierce Brosnan and René Russo, along with Denis Leary and Frankie Faison. It’s the story of a billionaire art collector who’s suspected of stealing a valuable painting, and an insurance investigator’s efforts to catch him. And, what happens when the sparks begin to fly between them. In fact, what happens is probably the thing that makes this the better version of the film. You’d think you can’t go wrong with 1968-era Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway,  and in general you can’t. But Brosnan and Russo really light the place up. That’s not the only reason it’s better, but it’s a pretty good one.

From there we move to 2001 and Ocean’s Eleven, a remake of Ocean’s 11  (see what they did there?), from 1960. This film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, follows Danny Ocean and his crew, as played by George Clooney  and many other superstars as they plot a huge heist in Las Vegas. In both versions, the actors are clearly having fun with what they’re doing, but the latter version has them doing it in service to the film, not just to hang with each other, and the whole thing just generally works better.

That’s our opinion, though. Feel free to disagree in the comments.


COMING  ATTRACTIONS: 

In our next episode, we look at a couple of modern-day fairy tales. We start with Ball of Fire, from 1941 and directed by Howard Hawks. From there it’s onto 1986 and Mona Lisa, directed by Neil Jordan. They’re both a bit of odd drama with endings you may not anticipate. Join us, won’t you?

Reel 65: The Remake Was Better, Part 1

So frequently we bemoan the fact that Hollywood doesn’t seem to have any original ideas. We complain that plots are constantly being recycled, and we get anxiety because films from our childhood are being remade.

However, once in awhile—once in awhile—that remake manages to surpass the original. And that’s what this episode, and the next one, are about.

In Part 1 of today’s episode, we’re looking at The Man Who Knew Too Much, Alfred Hitchcock’s remake  of his own film from 1934 starring Peter Lorre. In this version, it’s James Stewart who is on vacation with his wife, played by Doris Day. He meets a mysterious man who is murdered in front of him. The man’s last words lead to a tangle of intrigue delivered as only Hitchcock can. It’s clear that whatever flaws Hitchcock saw in his first outing with this story, he managed to fix them.

Meanwhile, in Part 2, we move to 1988 and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, directed by Frank Oz. This is a remake of a 1964 film called Bedtime Story. After this version there were two more remakes, involving gender flips. In 2001 we got Heartbreakers, and more recently, in 2019, it was called The Hustle. While recording this episode we conducted an informal poll of everyone in the room, and decided that this was the best version.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

We continue this remake conceit with another pair of films that worked out better when they were remade. First up, from 1999 it’s The Thomas Crown Affair, then we move forward a couple of years to Ocean’s Eleven, from 2001. Join us, won’t you?

Reel 64: Same Title, Different Movie (redux)

Yowza, my friend. Welcome to the land of weird issues with this episode.

Just to peel back the curtain a little bit, Sean and I record an episode, then later on I do some editing, I put in the music and Alex’s bits, then I package everything and run it through some software called Auphonic to make sure everything’s evened out and compressed a little for your consumption, plus I make up the artwork and write these bits.  And usually the editing is the easy part. This time around, however, it was the hard part. There were some odd glitches on his side that I didn’t hear during recording, so I had to make some peculiar repairs to the sound, and that meant using some of the backup audio that we record. Then on the run through Auphonic, I bumped into the software inserting huge silent gaps  in the show, which needed to be cut out again as seamlessly as possible.

On top of all that, Sean and I do have day jobs, ya know. Neither of us make a dime on the show; it’s a labor of love, baby.

Okay, enough whining, because this episode deals with a couple of great films that really should be getting more attention, and coincidentally they both have the same title despite being about very different subjects.

The title for this episode’s films is Loving, and the first version is from 1970, directed by Irvin Kershner. It stars George Segal and Eva Marie Saint as a couple whose relationship is unwinding just at the point where Segal’s character is just starting to get his career back on track. It’s a serious story with a comic overlay on it, and while some of it may be a little dated, it’s a compelling story regardless.

In part 2, the “Loving” in the film is in the form of Mildred and Richard Loving, a real-life couple who decided to take their relationship and make a Federal case out of it. Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton play the lead roles in this 2016 film directed by Jeff Nichols. It’s worth noting that most of the events of this film took place during our lifetimes—okay, MY life; Sean was born the year after the Loving decision was handed down by the Supreme Court. The bottom line is, attitudes about such things were quite different not very long ago.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

In our next two episodes, we take a look at remakes which managed to surpass the original version. We start with The Man Who Knew Too Much, a 1956 film starring James Stewart. From there we jump to 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a film that I’m still not 100% clear the studio knew how to market.

Reel 63: Same Title, Different Movie

A long while back (Episodes 14—17), we looked at English remakes of non-English films. Those were the same story but different titles. Then in Episode 23, it was four different versions of the same story, with the same title. Now, we give you a pair of films with the same title, but that’s the only thing they have in common: the story lines and subject matter are vastly different from one another.

In this episode we’re screening two films titled No Way Out. In the first half, it’s the 1950 version starring Sidney Poitier in his feature film debut, along with Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell and Stephen McNally. Poitier is a doctor who runs into race issues and a medical complication during his first night in a new assignment. The issue snowballs until there’s a full race riot going  on. Poitier’s character comes up with an interesting tactic to prove he did the right thing that first night, but it nearly backfires on him.

From there we jump to 1987. This No Way Out stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and Sean Young in a story of Cold War intrigue. We practically guarantee that you’ll be caught off-guard by the way everything resolves.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

Next time around, we’ll continue this gimmick with another pair of films that have the same title and nothing else in common. The films’ title is Loving. One is from 1970 and the other is from 2016.

Reel 62: Subversive Adaptations

Over the course of this show, Sean and I have covered all kinds of adaptations. Some were based on books, some on record albums, and some on Broadway Musicals (HA! Kidding about that last one; Sean would rather be dragged through broken glass and then dipped in rubbing alcohol).

But the one thing they had in common was some sense of fealty to the original source material. Well, that ends with this episode, hence the title “Subversive Adaptations.”

We start with Kiss Me Deadly, the 1954 film directed by Robert Aldrich. Aldrich takes a direct poke at the right-wing mentality of Mickey Spillane’s original novel. He carries us on a trip following Mike Hammer, who’s about as ignorant as we are regarding what’s going on.

From there we move on to 1997 and Starship Troopers, directed by Paul Verhoeven. Robert A. Heinlein’s novel was written on the cusp of his transition out of the “juvenile” science fiction he’d been doing. While the book depicts a relatively militaristic society, the story line spends most of its time in the central character’s military training and his move up the command chain, and not so much on the details of the war. (Also, a character who dies late in the film doesn’t make it past Page One of the book.) Verhoeven—a Holocaust survivor—gives us an eerily prescient view of what it looks like when fascistic politics takes precedence over common sense.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

In our next two episodes, we take a slightly different turn. Rather than featuring films that have a common thread thematically, we’ll be looking at two films whose only commonality is the title. To that end, next time we’ll be screening two different films both titled No Way Out, from 1950 and from 1987.