Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to the podcast that minds its own business!
This week: know thyself; speedy services; authority lives here; this is a call; nun of us; the unfinished business ghost; everybody limbo; a real Hamfest; all’s Welles; the Pauline gospel; wango Tango’d; to the rear; possessed by The Exorcist; Kael vs. Allen; the ugly American movie; Satanic thrillers; bedevilled hams; Levinese; the 70’s were a dark time; how about “Night Flight”; off spin offs; time effects; trivializing American Graffiti; sizing up Fat Man and Little Boy; radioactive man; hobo hero; the reluctant Dragons; Horse cents; Shadow play; empowered puffs; Dave hits the Targets; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; call you by my name; exclusive offer; Oldman and the cinema; and, finally, a Dedrick sighting.
Question of the Week: Is there a review that you’ve read that made you say “What”?
Sub-question of the Week: Is there an actor that you admire who you think is underrated?
Thanks for listening.
Here is that Pauline Kael/Woody Allen interview for your edification:
Are you ready to race with the devil?
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Greetings all!
Nice reminder of “Race with the Devil”, the late night movie I always watched as a kid and could never go to sleep. I’ve written about the film on here before when we’ve discussed movies that scared us, “Race with the Devil” is etched in my memory above all others. Not only was it scary because of the ending but it was filmed in Texas, not far from me, which made it even scarier. Ah, the 70’s, nobody was safe, not even a 12 year-old Catholic up past midnight raised to fear this stuff.
Never seen “Last Tango in Paris”, maybe if it’s on sometime I’ll check it out. Have you seen Billy Zane in the role of Brando for the upcoming film, ‘Waltzing with Brando”? It’s uncanny how much of a likeness there is, I never would have put those two together. The last time this happened was when Val Kilmer was cast as Jim Morrison or Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, what’s another great casting choice for an actor in the role of another actor or celebrity you guys can think of? Another audible gasp from my unbelieving trap was seeing John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy…
I used to watch Siskel & Ebert religiously but I always made my own decision about whether I liked a movie or not. I only tuned into critics to hear more in depth knowledge on the films I liked, mostly Siskel & Ebert’s perspective and what they had to say…good or bad. The one time I really was interested in their opinion was when they picked their favorite films from the 80’s, (1980 -1989). I forget who picked what but the two films at the top of their list was “Raging Bull” and “Once Upon a Time in America”, which I really liked. The funny thing about Sergio Leone’s epic was that the full length version (over 4 hours long) was shown at Cannes, where Siskel & Ebert saw it the way it was intended to be seen. They both praised it based on the viewing at Cannes but when it was released here in the States, it was cut way down for the theaters and made no damned sense at all. Audiences thought Siskel & Ebert were out of their minds and didn’t know a much longer cut even existed. Then the full version was released on a double VHS tape and finally we were able to appreciate what Siskel & Ebert had experienced. Years later I heard there’s possibly a six hour cut now! Or maybe that was Leone’s original intention. I really love everything about “Once Upon a Time in America”, the cinematography, the mystery and of course Ennio Morricone’s brilliant score…now I’m feeling the need to watch it again, see what you guys made me do.
The great David Warner and M. Emmet Walsh, two of my favorite underrated character actors in all of film. I know I’ve discussed Warner writing in sometime in the past but not Walsh, who’s likely to show up anywhere in any film; “Blade Runner”, “Raising Arizona”, “The Jerk” and of course the Coen Brothers’ “Blood Simple.” I just love Walsh in any film and we lost him this past March but he’s left behind a lifetime of on-screen roles to remember him by. Warner on the other hand has always been one of my favorite villianous character actors, I first took notice of him in “Time After Time” as John Stevenson aka Jack the Ripper. Misplaced from victorian England to 1980’s San Fransisco, he was brutally charismatic when confronted with Malcolm McDowell’s H.G. Wells. Warner’s voice, his mannerisms and height made him a formidable addition to any cast, even as Evil itself or the grandiose Klingon Chancellor Gorkon AND St. John Talbot (Two Star Trek roles!). Looking them both up for this, both Warner and Walsh have been in about the same amount of acting roles throughout their career! Warner had a total of 249 roles and Walsh totals in at 234. I’ll always admire them both.
Great show last time, loved all the TV spin-off talk and movie stuff…way to keep it on-brand and fun.
And congratulations on the live Pod Mash! Can’t wait to hear that one…
Everyone enjoy their weekend and the week ahead! Until next time, Keep it Sneaky!!
I forgot something I remembered about critics Pauline Kael and Siskel & Ebert. In the 1988 film “Willow”, Lucas named the character of General Kael (Pat Roach) after film critic Pauline Kael, a fact that was not lost on Kael in her printed review of the film. She referred to General Kael as an “homage a moi”. Similarly, the two-headed dragon was called an “Eborsisk” after film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
I guess King George was either paying homage to them or didn’t care for critics….