Full Cast And Crew

Barry Sonnenfeld and Scott Frank's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1990 crime novel 'Get Shorty' was the 2nd film that John Travolta made after returning to top stardom with a bang in Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction'. This vibe-y, enjoyable, smartly-written and brilliantly-acted mid-90's example of the $20-30 million-dollar studio movie that now seems like a vestige of another time and place.

I'm joined again by multi-hyphenate Brad Caleb Kane for a discussion about Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's iconic 1950 satirical noir Hollywood cautionary tale 'Sunset Boulevard' and various other digressions!

The second in my growing collection of episodes devoted to 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'...this time it's an episode celebrating all the brilliant Cliff Booth scenes...scenes representing some of Brad Pitt's finest acting to date and the heart and soul of Tarantino's greatest homage to the Hollywood of his youth.

It's my annual Oscar Recap. And Killers of the Flower Moon wuz robbed!

All of Leonardo DiCaprio's scenes as Rick Dalton in Quentin Tarantino's movie-making love-letter 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' If you're new to the podcast, there's an episode just for you. Previous All Their Scenes episodes: Phillip Seymour Hoffman in 'Charlie Wilson's War' Michael Keaton in 'Jackie Brown' and 'Out of Sight' as Special Agent Ray Nicolette. Paul Newman in 'The Verdict' Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' Warren Zevon on David Letterman

Alan J. Pakula deserves more attention and respect as one of the grestest American film directors of any era. His run of films in the 70's, from 'Klute' to 'The Parallax View' to 'All The President's Men'...all brilliantly shot by Cinematographer Gordon Willis (The Godfather films)...are as impressive and of their moment as any films made in this thrilling period of American filmmaking. In this episode, I dive into Pakula's understated persona and genius for working with actors, the period details and psychological explorations that result in a layered, non-showy film that rewards repeat viewings.

Carol Reed and Graham Greene's iconic post-war neo noir classic 'The Third Man'. A perfect movie. Steven Soderbergh calls it the only movie you need to watch in order to learn how to make a movie. In this episode I cover the making of, the battles between David O. Selznick, Alexander Korda, Reed and Orson Welles, the happenstance score to end all film scores and MORE.

In which my evolving, complicated relationship with the crowd-pleasing John 'Frenzy' MacKenzie's exuberant, vibe-y classic 'The Long Good Friday' is flayed open and nailed to the floor for your auditory enjoyment.

Director Toby Amies and I discuss his excellent and unexpected documentary 'In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50'.

Ridley Scott's brilliant 1979 sci-fi/horror classic 'Alien' burnished his deserved reputation as bold re-interpreter of techno-dystopian futurism and exploder of genres. But it made a lot of money and dollar signs in the eyes of 'Alien' producers Brandywine Productions led them to turn for a sequel to James Cameron, who had already done a similar turn on the Rambo franchise, penning a "rewritten" script for the sequel 'Rambo: First Blood Part II' that paved the way for the ridiculously over-the-top guns 'n poses Rambo films that followed. Discarding with the quality actors and brilliantly lived-in future of the Nostromo and the original 'Alien', 'Aliens' is a box-office-pleasing symbiotic mutual masturbation effort where both audience and filmmaker are complicit in a liason that leaves both dirty and discredited. It should be noted that I am fairly alone in this opinion, and many 80's blockbuster-loving film fans revere 'Aliens' as even a superior 'Alien' film to the original! One such fan is my frequent guest Bruce Edwards. Previously we've digested our love for 'Bladerunner' and 'Alien' on episodes of the podcast. Here we get into 'Aliens' from our differing perspectives and find more common ground in a discussion about David Fincher's very first feature film, 'Alien 3', which he directed at the ripe old age of 27 and which was and is a legandary troubled production resulting in several competing alien babies; various cuts of the film exist and Fincher himself disavows the film.

One of the most quotable and iconic of British films, born out of writer/director Bruce Robinson's personal experiences and shepherded to the big screen by George Harrison and his Handmade Films company. 'Withnail & I' is a beloved comedy but in this episode I talk as much about its forlorn, end-of-an-era wistful heart as I do the incredibly quotable lines. Particularly I was interested to learn of Bruce's formative me-too experience on the set of Zeffirelli's 'Romeo & Juliet' and how that informed the character of Monty. But Monty is more than a monster or a would-be abuser; his portrayal on the page and in the flesh by the brilliant Richard Griffiths is layered and sympathetic and very much informed by the realities for gay people in Britain in the 1960's. In Monty we have a great analogy for the film; at first glance laughable, uproarious, a characture and character...but just beneath that is writing and performing of great complexity and nuance. This is what we'll celebrate in this episode all about the brilliant, the ever-fresh and continuingly fascinating 'Withnail & I'. LINKS: A 1999 documentary about Bruce Robinson. Bruce's excellent 2020 'Withnail & I' Watchalong Commentary for Esquire. The incredible live version of 'Whiter Shade of Pale' played by King Curtis and his band at the Fillmore West in 1971. Here's a bizarro artifact from the 60's: Bruce Robinson starring in a coffee ad aimed at tripping hippies looking to come down/go up/not sure really how coffee and acid is a great combo but there you have the 60's! Bruce Robinson in Zeffirelli's 'Romeo & Juliet' as Benvolio 'Smoking In Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson' on Amazon Toby Benjamin's excellent book about the making of 'Withnail and I' is essential for any fan of the film. The inspiration for Withnail, Vivian MacKerrell.

Billy Friedkin's iconic 1971 game-changing NYC police procedural/car chase classic 'The French Connection' has a fascinating backstory and making-of history, and, hey: that's what I'm here for! To bring you all the best stories behind the scenes on the streets of New York and all the context and color that helps place this movie in the pantheon of the films that came before and after it. The NY Times article about this summer's censorship of the film is linked here. Mark Kermode's very well made BBC documentary about the making of The French Connection can be seen on YouTube. Owen Roizman, the film's brilliant and prolific cinematographer's IMDB page is here. Do yourself a favor and watch the films of the brilliant French director Jean-Pierre Melville. Listen to David Shire's iconic score for The Taking of Pelham 123 on YouTube. Don Ellis' haunting end credits music from The French Connection.

Peter Yates was quietly one of the most interesting film directors of his time. His seminal 1967 British train-robbery film 'Robbery' got him noticed for the job directing Steve McQueen in 1968's 'Bullitt'. In that film, Yates turned in a car chase frequently mentioned as second only to the iconic one filmed by Billy Friedkin in 'The French Connection'. By 1973, Yates was in Hollywood, working under a three-picture deal with Peter Bart and Robert Evans at Paramount. Two of those didn't work out. The third turned out to be 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle', which is one of the very best 70's crime films, one of the very best Boston-set films ever made, and features Robert Mitchum's very best performance amid a wonderfully constructed neo-noir shot entirely on location in a series of blue-collar and working class Boston spots. In this episode, I talk about 'Robbery', 'Bullitt' and 'The French Connection' and how they compare and contrast to 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle', an underappreciated little masterpiece of the sort Peter Yates specialized in throughout his career.

Martin Scorcese's new film 'Killers of the Flower Moon' is in many ways his magnum opus; it's a film carefully wrought with all of his and his production team's highest possible creative efforts, and it also marshals all those resources in the furtherance of a greater collective understanding and reckoning with yet another dark chapter in America's history. Links Marty's interview with Edgar Wright. 'The FBI Story' 1959 Film version of the Osage Murders. The many Osage artisans behind the scenes of the film. Vogue magazine article about the Osage constumers. The legal issues surrounding the return of Osage head rights and lands. Article about Robbie Robertson's score for the film. Music from the film: THE PIPE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Oz4to8y_Y OIL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR-lyorY25Y They Don't Live Long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAImXzdgZ2g Tulsa Massacre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px1mvSgKh-0 Heartbeat Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X83uF0IPobs&list=PLLv3qeuV3YDpYbdqu3rKy-KbpA3HxcPtN&index=4 Production Designer Jack Fisk. Article about the Production Design of the film from De Zeen.

A particular interest of mine is phone calls in movies. I'm interested in them as plot devices, as examples of good or indifferent screenwriting, as opportunities for actors to show different sides of themselves in scenes where they're not opposite other actors, and on and on. In this episode we'll take a look at a few different genres of Movie Phone Call scenes: scenes where actors are onscreen portraying both sides of the calls, scenes where we only hear the audio of the other side of the call, and then, finally...the Holy Grail of Movie Phone Calls: The One-Sided Phone Call. Clips The YouTube channel BurgerTime's excellent Supercut of Movie Phone calls. Bob Newhart is the master of the One-Sided Phone Call. The entire Bob Newhart one-sided call between Abe Lincoln and his Press Agent. Some truly one-sided phone call scenes: Swingers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU3Pk6oDNRU Planes, Trains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRvNg4zQ_14 Black Sheep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvptWDiYrIk The Killing of A Chinese Bookie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysWfMYfP-2k Poltergeist: https://youtu.be/FqYZkY-VRCI?feature=shared&t=105 Taken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49AA2eieEts American Psycho: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OARf8dNLBc Fargo: https://youtu.be/WGxTMoDAI7M?feature=shared&t=47 Taxi Driver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9iLQ7g_jDk Dr. Strangelove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEB-OoUrNuk&t=5s

An appreciation of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and his brilliant portrayal of real-life CIA Most Interesting Man Gust Avrokotos in Mike Nichols' final film 'Charlie Wilson's War'.

'Lost In America' was Albert Brooks' 3rd film as a writer/director/star and remains probably the most broadly-appealing of his films. It's one of two of his films to have been given the Criterion stamp of cineaste approval, the other being the often-underrated 'Defending Your Life', and now, and perhaps even more important, it's the first of his films to be given the Full Cast and Crew treatment. Links: Albert Brooks: Famous School For Comedians Hilarious clips from Lost In America Criterion essay by Scott Tobias on Lost In America

'Across 110th Street' is a 1972 Harlem crime film that contains many of the tropes of the exploitation films of the era...but it also contains incredible performances from black actors whose skills rise far above the material at hand, people like Paul Benjamin, Yaphet Kotto, Richard Ward, and Marlene Warfield. And Bobby Womack's title song was used to great effect in 'Jackie Brown', as discussed in my last two episodes. In this week's episode I use the verses and choruses to explore Bobby Womack's amazing, tragic, and incredible life story, his relationship with Sam Cooke, his struggles and his surprisingly central role in the American popular musical landscape for almost 60 years.

Elmore Leonard's cocky, energetic ATF Agent Ray Nicolet is a key protagonist in his book 'Rum Punch'. For Quentin Tarantino's film adaptation of 'Rum Punch', 'Jackie Brown', the character, now named "Ray Nicolette" was embodied by the brilliant Michael Keaton with a perfectly cocky, energetic physicality. While cinematic universes are commonplace nowadays, in 1997 it was a surprise to see the character appear, uncredited, in Steven Soderbergh's adaptation of Leonard's novel of the same name, and even more rewarding to get a couple of additional character dynamics revealed by Keaton's similarly smart and self-aware performance. In this episode, much as I did in Episode 157 with Paul Newman's scenes from 'The Verdict' and in Episode 152 with Sean Penn's Jeff Spicoli scenes from 'Fast Times'...I go through all of Keaton's scenes from 'Jackie Brown' and 'Out of Sight' and offer up full appreciation. Also: a quick look back at Keaton's first real starring performance in 'Night Shift' with Henry Winkler and Shelly Long.

Quentin Tarantino surprised fans with the release of his third film, 'Jackie Brown' coming as it did on the heels of the global phenomenon that was 'Pulp Fiction' in all its unprecedented Tarantino-ness. Devoid of gory violence, 'Jackie Brown' is a thoughtful, hilarious, insightful and moving crime story that manages to be incredibly faithful to the ethos of the Elmore Leonard novel 'Rum Punch' (on which the film is based) while also mining Tarantino's own deeply personal connection to the blaxploitation films that made Pam Grier a genre star in the 70's and to the more working-class parts of Los Angeles, towns featured in the film like Carson and Hawthorne, CA and iconic now-gone locations like the Cockatoo Inn. "I treat movie stars like actors and actors like movie stars" said Tarantino, and that approach is well-represented here, with Michael Keaton and Robert DeNiro turning in perfectly-pitch supporting turns and industry vets like Forster and Grier getting plenty of runway to inhabit roles they weren't usually given during their heyday. This episode covers those locations, the incredible soul and r&b tracks that populate the soundtrack, and the brilliant acting from everyone in the cast, as well as the sure-handed filmmaking from Tarantino's growing collection of go-to crew and production staffers. One of my very favorite films, it's a pleasure to share my 'Jackie Brown' episode with you all!

Billy Friedkin, maybe the weirdest (in a good way) major American director of his generation, almost doesn't make sense on paper; wait...the same guy directed 'The French Connection' and 'The Excorcist'? But the ups and downs of Friedkin's storied and somewhat haphazard career are what makes him one of the most interesting directors to consider. And 'To Live and Die in LA' is some kind of crazy masterpiece, punching WELL above its weight as a non-studio, non-union middling-budget (6 million dollars) independent LA neo-noir. Filled with superlative near-first-timers like John Turturro, William Petersen, John Pankow, Willem Dafoe and stellar supporting work from the likes of Steve James, Robert Downey, Sr, Darlanne Fluegel, Dean Stockwell, Jack Hoar, and Debra Feuer, TLADILA is easily consumed as genre fare...or more diligently dissected as the incredible example of top-tier filmmaking and production design and location and stunt work that it also is. Needless to say that's where I'm taking my cues! Available now on a newly restored 4K UHD and blu-ray disc, TLADILA has frustratingly not been available to stream but my plea here is that you avail yourself of the physical media and set aside an evening to appreciate this great work of FUN and ART. Buy the new release here. Listen to Wang Chung's excellent TLADILA soundtrack here.

A deep-dive into the semiotics of 'Barbie' and its post-feminist critique of corporate capitalism and American mores. Just kidding, I went and saw 'Barbie' with five 12-year-olds. Six, if you count me. But seriously, this episode unpacks some of the things I found interesting about the film, its very existence, its brilliant marketing and repositioning. Also: supporting cast wins and losses, why the filmmakers missed a perfect opportunity to put the idiotic 'Barbie Girl' song to great use, and a plea for an Allan spinoff.

I'm joined by legendary ad-man-turned brand-identity guru, author, screenwriter, and producer Ernest Lupinacci to talk all things 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather, Part II' (with a sideways glance at 'The Godfather, Part III'), including our preferences, what II gained and lost in terms of casting and production, returning Mario Puzo to center stage credit for creating this universe of indelible characters. Follow my guest Ernest Lupinacci on Instagram. Check out Ernest and illustrator Alex Ogle's excellent graphic novel about the making of 'The Godfather', 'The Godfather Gang' here. Watch the Paramount+ scripted series that about the making of 'The Godfather' here.

An episode about 40 years of fandom and learning to actively listen to music while being of an age that can appreciate the collective experience of Dead & Company's Final Tour for the singular happening it represents.

I went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie at the Drive-In.

An email from a listener got me thinking about film scores that I actually listen to and love, so this episode shares a handful of classic and contemporary scores I think are worthy of special consideration. Scores referenced in this episode: Get Carter The Taking of Pelham 123 Dirty Harry Out Of Sight Ocean's 11 Ocean's 12 Ocean's 13 Taxi Driver Koyaanisqatsi American Beauty The Social Network Blade Runner Blade Runner 2049 Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World Chinatown Heat Moneyball Gomorrah

This week's companion episode to my previous episode about Sidney Lumet's 'The Verdict' is for the craft purists, the Newman obsessives, and the acting completists out there. Much like I did with the amazing Sean Penn Spicoli scenes in my follow-up to the 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' episode, here I'm going deep on Paul Newman's brilliant, career-best performance as Frank Galvin and discussing ALL of his key scenes in the film.

One of my very favorite films and featuring one of Paul Newman's favorite performances, Sidney Lumet's 'The Verdict' has grown in stature and appreciation since its premiere in 1982. With a brilliantly adapted screenplay by multi-hyphenate David Mamet, a tortured development process encompassing stars like Redford and other directors named Sidney (Pollack), and a first-rate cast, 'The Verdict' is one of the greatest courtroom dramas of all time. I'm thrilled to be joined once again by author and editor Keir Graff, who once again turns in an excellent appearance as a well-prepared guest on the pod. We dive deep into the making of this film, play some iconic scenes, and discuss the nuances and joys of the performances, the writing, the directing and the production elements that make this wonderful film such a standard of the form. Keir Graff's author website. Keir's previous appearance on the Full Cast and Crew Podcast discussing "The Color of Money". Watch "The Verdict" Playlist of Official "The Verdict" clips. Watch the Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward documentary 'The Last Movie Stars', directed by Ethan Hawke. Buy Sidney Lumet's indispensable guide to making movies, called, magically enough 'Making Movies'. Listen to Sidney Lumet's indispensable Director's Commentary to 'The Verdict' in podcast form.

Bennett Miller was the 3rd director attached to the adaptation of Michael Lewis' classic baseball non-fiction book 'Moneyball', after Steven Soderbergh was replaced by Sony, who got nervous over his plan for interspersing interviews with real-life characters from the book like Lenny Dykstra and Darryl Strawberry throughout the film. His rewrite of Steve Zaillian's script made the studio nervous when paired with the $50 million dollar budget. Some of that technique remains in Miller's use of real baseball scouts and former players in the film, but it's blended seamlessly with the fantastic performances by Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill (who replaced Dmitri Martin in the role of Paul Brand/Paul DePodesta), Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Chris Pratt. Pitt and Sony exec Amy Pascal and producer Mike DeLuca stuck with the project, reduced the budget, and luckily, the film got made. On the face of it, it's an audacious undertaking: no less than an art-house take on baseball. Or is it a crowd-pleasing writer's film with a decidedly 70's bent? Or is it a treatise on the limitations of collective conventional wisdom? It's all these things and more. Some Articles About 'Moneyball': https://www.looper.com/593376/the-untold-truth-of-moneyball/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/making-moneyball-272655/ Roundtable with Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Bennett Miller: https://youtu.be/r9g2Bk2GQYY?t=199 84th Academy Awards Nominees and Winners.

I'm joined by frequent FCAC Guest Star Richard Brown as we explore the many possible reactions to Robert Altman and Joan Tewksbury's 'Nashville'...a film that polarized pretty much everyone when it came out but that has settled into a comfortable middle-age of generally accepted masterpiece status. But...is it? In this episode Rick and I explore the fruits of Altman's decision to have entirely new country music songs written for the movie, in many cases BY his stars, many of whom were not musicians. We discuss Lily Tomlin's exerted influence on her character's key scenes, and how her warmth and humanity contributes much-needed heart to the proceedings. There was much backstage drama during the shoot, and of course we're not above handling the better of those stories with class and dignity... Watch 'Nashville' on YouTube. Read about 'Nashville' on Wikipedia. Some 'Nashville' clips. A few of Rick Brown's other recent FCAC appearances: Bobby Darin Beyond the Song Broadcast News Our 'Weird Christmas' Special Watch the 'Payday' trailer here.

The 2003 episode that David Letterman devoted entirely to a single guest, Warren Zevon, stands out as one of Dave's signature episodes and the frank and revealing conversation they had about Zevon's terminal lung cancer diagnosis is but one of many fascinating layers to that appearance that this episode of the podcast explores. Issues of ambition, ego, addiction, self-medication and recovery were shared by both of these talented and tortured entertainers. Zevon's life and career were shadowed by his alcoholism, his brief period of 12-Step sobriety, and the abstinence from alcohol and drugs he would give up upon receiving his terminal cancer diagnoses. Letterman has spoken openly about his own father's alcoholism and sobriety in AA, and his own decision to stop drinking in 1984 and how his life and work has been altered by that decision. In their many meetings on Letterman's shows, these issues and many others would be crackling in the fore and background. This episode was inspired by Crystal Zevon's incredible, heart-wrenching oral biography of her ex-husband Warren Zevon, a contemplation of Zevon's many appearances on the David Letterman shows over the years, and a lifelong fascination with reading between the lines of rock biographies. Sources: Zevon songs 'Werewolves Of London' Video 'Keep Me In Your Heart' Lyric Video 'Desperados Under The Eaves' Video 'Searching For A Heart' Video Dr. Demento 'They're Coming to Take Me Away' 'Fish Heads' 'Dead Puppies' Paul Nelson's 1981 Profile of Zevon Zevon's Appearances on Letterman Jesse Thorn's revealing 2020 podcast interview with David Letterman Buy Crystal Zevon's excellent biography of Zevon on Amazon. Watch Letterman's Netflix INTV series.

Sean Penn's committed, beyond-his-years performance as Jeff Spicoli is one of the great and most-storied American film acting performances, full stop. After last week's episode about 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' opened my eyes anew to how astoundingly complete Sean Penn made Spicoli, I simply had to do something I've never done on the pod before: devote an entire episode to appreciating and deconstructing the 22 times Jeff Spicoli appears onscreen in the film. Craig Brown's excellent book which gave this episode its title. And Craig Brown's excellent book about The Beatles which is also an inspiration. Here's a bizzaro Fast Times Coloring Book I really need to own.

Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe's 1982 adaptation of Crowe's book 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' is a classic that rises above the low-brow teen-sex comedy that Universal executives probably expected when they green lit the Valley-set film with a bunch of no-name actors (outside of Mr. Hand, of course), a soundtrack of artists who just so happened to mostly be represented by the film's executive producer, and a first-time director who couldn't sound or be more "New York" in Heckerling. Frequent FCAC guest Ted Jessup joins me to run through all the things that make this film exceptional and iconic. We pay respects to Mr. Hand, Spicoli, Stacy, Linda, Brad, The Rat, Damone, Mr. Vargas, Jefferson and many more. So, please, say "Aloha" to the pod and join us, won't you? There's nothing wrong with a little information feast on OUR time, is there??

After a two-week hiatus...and a hilariously unexpected detour in our attempt to do "The Manchurian Candidate" on this episode, my guest Keir Graff and I pivoted to 'The Color of Money' and I'm so glad we did. This episode features a lot of great stories about the making of the film, and also includes plenty of necessary discussion about 'The Hustler', specifically Piper Laurie, Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, and George C. Scott's performances in that original film, the shared origin of the novels by the prolific, alcoholic, (and ultimately recovered) novelist Walter Tevis, who ALSO wrote the books turned into the film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' and the Netflix series 'The Queen's Gambit'. We talk about the gentle arc of Newman's life and career, viewed a bit through the lens of recent materials (materials it seems he never intended to make public) that shed light on what he was thinking and feeling during various important moments throughout his life. And we talk about the curious reception that 'The Color of Money' continues to have among cineastes...and we play the famous Siskel & Ebert two thumbs down review of the film upon its release in 1986. Hey, nobody's perfect! But it's funny in retrospect how so many of us at the time missed the undercurrents of connection to the Fast Eddie character in 'The Hustler'...connections Newman made sure that Scorsese and screenwriter Richard Price (who also has a great and brief cameo in the film) laced throughout the script and that he also included in his performance. Newman won his first Academy Award for 'The Color of Money'. LINKS Keir Graff's author website. Fast Eddie Felson is back. A funny Marty Scorcese interview from 1986. A great clip of a very Method Newman baiting Jackie Gleason's Minnesota Fats in 'The Hustler' Some clips from 'The Color of Money': Diner Clip/Newman HALLWAY CONFRONTATION Manipulating Vincent at Toy World 500 a Rack DINNER SCENE MOSELLE/DOOM: FOREST WHITAKER: Some of Robbie Robertson and Gil Evans' great incidental music from 'The Color of Money' score. SISKEL AND EBERT: Steve Mizerak Miller Lite commercial:

In the late 90s three 28-year-olds with zero documentary filmmaking experience re-ignited a college dorm room pipe dream about making a documentary about the life and career of singer/songwriter/actor/activist Bobby Darin. What followed was equal parts kismet and catastrophe and might serve as a useful blueprint and cautionary tale for anyone contemplating stepping into the unknown of a dream and ambition. With a combination of naive conviction and a blessed unawareness of the stop signs in their path, these two (one dropped out along the way, his story is in the pod) kids ended up making their documentary for PBS, interviewing heavy hitters like Dick Clark and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun while having some gonzo adventures along the way with colorful characters like Monkees co-creator and New Hollywood film studio BBS principle Steve Blauner. In this Very Special Episode of the Full Cast and Crew Podcast, we'll unfold this funny and heart-felt tale with plenty of anecdotes and lessons learned by our two filmmakers. LINKS: Buy the 'Bobby Darin: Beyond The Song' DVD from Amazon. Or, watch it on YouTube Buy Al DiOrio's great book about Bobby Darin, referenced in the podcast, here. Get Dodd Darin's excellent book about his parents 'Dream Lovers' here. Support podcast guest and 'Beyond The Song' co-director Henry Astor's UK farm shop Bruern Farms. Thanks for listening! Please hit FCAC with a 5-star review on Apple, it helps more people discover your favorite little film podcast.

James Cameron has made 3 of the top 4 highest-grossing films of all time, with a collective box office of more than EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS. Recently I had the occasion to watch both 'Avatar: The Way of Water' (currently the #3 highest-grossing film) and the 4K 3D re-release of 1997's 'Titanic' (#4). Collectively, that's about 7 or 8 hours in the Cameronverse. In this ruminative episode, I share the existential crisis thus unleashed upon my cinema-going Avatar, a crisis of conscience and consciousness in equal measures. Also in this episode, I recommend the Bob Lefsetz Podcast and Lefsetz Letter...so...join me, won't you?? LINKS: 'Titanic' alternative ending. The Bob Lefsetz Podcast.

Joined again by Full Cast and Crew spirit-animal Richard Brown for a deep discussion about James L. Brooks' 1987 picture 'Broadcast News', a stealthily subversive rejection of Hollywood Rom-Com tropes and one of the greatest films about television ever made. Topics include: The great, troubled life and career of Polly Platt. Jim Brooks and 'Terms of Endearment' The research/interview based origination and approach to writing 'Broadcast News' Wrestling with the legacy of William Hurt, his transgressions and sobriety in the era of cancel culture. Holly Hunter and Albert Brooks LINKS: Great and useful articles about 'Broadcast News': A great piece by Haley Mlotek about the making of 'Broadcast News'. A great profile of Polly Platt by Rachel Abromowitz from Premiere Magazine. A funny period piece about news industry insiders seeing themselves in the characters of 'Broadcast News'. A Collider piece on how 'Broadcast News' blows up Hollywood Rom-Com conventions. CLIPS: The 'Broadcast News' alternative ending, inspired by the French film 'A Man and a Woman'. 'Broadcast News' playlist of clips.

Hey, where you been? I guess it's me, not you...where have I been? Sitting through Avatar! THREE HOURS AND TWELVE MINUTES! Feel my pain. In this catch-up episode we'll talk Oscar noms and snubs, Best Picture thoughts on 'Tar', 'The Fablemans', 'Top Gun: Maverick', 'Everything Everywhere All At Once', 'All Quiet on the Western Front', and 'Triangle of Sadness'. Plus a speculation on why 'She Said', a film made by women and containing several Oscar-worthy turns, was snubbed by an Academy voter contingent that went out of its way to nominate the safer, less potentially awkward winning moment represented by 'To Leslie'. Also: post-rehab celebrity apologies, some great film books I've read recently, some series recommendations and MORE!

A favorite on the podcast is 'movies about making movies' and Tim Burton's funny, moving, spot-on 1950's Hollywood cautionary tale/celebration of the business 'Ed Wood' is one of the best. Guesting on this episode is Brad Kane, Co-Show-Runner of HBO Max's forthcoming Stephen King 'It' prequel series 'Welcome To Derry'. Brad's been an actor, director, producer, and writer, and brings such interesting depth, perspective, experience and insight to our wide-ranging conversation about the making of this extraordinary film. -RABBIT HOLE LINKS- IF your curiosity is piqued (peaked?)...some great links to explore: 'Ed Wood' Wiki Brad Kane Wiki 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' can be watched for free on YouTube A great documentary about the life and work of Ed Wood, referenced in the podcast, is 'The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr'. Ed Wood's groundbreaking and bonkers cross-dressing film 'Glen or Glenda' is a must-see. Wikipedia page for the great Bela Lugosi A must-have handbook for all Hollywood wannabe's is Ed Wood's still-vital 'Hollywood Rat Race', a distillation of all his hard-earned wisdom. Watch Tim Burton's 'Ed Wood' on Amazon. Or Watch on YouTube. Full Cast and Crew episodes mentioned in this episode: -'Carrie' with Lee Wilkof -Brian De Palma's 'Blow Out' -David Fincher's 'Zodiac' -Peter Bogdanovich's first film, the Roger Corman-produced 'Targets' co-starring Lugosi nemesis Boris Karloff (and a very young Jack Nicholson, in a brief cameo).

'Chinatown' has it all: premium 1960's and 70's counter-cultural bona fides in Jack Nicholson and Robert Towne. The ultimate Robert Evans production, as Producer AND head of the studio; a situation that allowed the barren earth from which 'Chinatown' sprung to be watered and tended to carefully despite strong headwinds against it ever coming to fruition. In this episode, I get into the backstory of 'Chinatown' and its origins in Towne's interest in the rapidly-expanding development swallowing up the Southern California of his 1940's childhood. And Polanski, having fled LA following the horrific 1969 murder of his wife, Sharon Tate and their unborn child, was in no hurry to return. But the combined efforts of Evans and Nicholson changed Polanski's mind, and he and Towne embarked upon a reworking of the script. And the result is a timeless classic, a jaundiced look at American (and male) power and politics. An upending of the tropes of the femme fatale noir character perfectly embodied by a never-better Faye Dunaway was the icing on this particular cake. And Polanski's simple but incredibly thought-out direction is a wonder to contemplate, which this episode does with soundbites from David Fincher, Robert Towne, Steven Soderbergh, and Kimberly Pierce. Finally, Jerry Goldsmith's incredible, indelible score is all the more remarkable given that it was a replacement score, written and recorded in just 9 days with the film's release date looming.

As we wrap up the Full Cast and Crew year, I'm sharing some off-beat Christmas cheer with you all in this, our first-ever Weird Christmas Spectacular. Frequent listeners to the pod have heard me say "weird is good" many times, and the picks in today's episode reflect not films or tv shows or songs that are weird for weird's sake; they reflect things with a decidedly bent holiday spirit in all the right places. Rick Brown joins me as we share our picks for a weird-is-good Christmas film, TV episode, and song that represents something essential to us respectively. Films discussed: Henry Winkler's 'An American Christmas Carol' from the peak of his Fonzie/Happy Days tv superstardom is a refreshingly dark and candid look at the Dickens classic. Also in the film category: 'Black Christmas', a film that predates "Halloween" and "Blow Out" owe a hell of a lot to. Starring Margot Kidder, Keir Dullea, Andrea Martin, and John Saxon, this is a really funny and impressively malevolent film. On the TV side, Rick tries his best to convince me that the "Alice" episode 'Mel The Magi' is, of all the worthy 1970's sitcom Christmas episodes, something to celebrate. MY pick, the Bob Newhart Show episode 'His Busiest Season' proves easier to defend. Finally, we explore some off-the-beaten-path Christmas songs, with Rick selecting the 1940's classic big-band composition 'Snowfall' as sung by Doris Day and me choosing something right out of the FCAC wheelhouse; 1981's 'Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses, with lead vocals by the irrepressable, irreplaceable Patty Donahue. Happy Holidays to all the listeners and thank you for making 2022 our best year ever on the Full Cast and Crew podcast!

A heartfelt appreciation about how good and truthful Steven Spielberg's deeply personal, funny, and moving film 'The Fabelmans' is. Go and see this film in a theater. It's hard for the film's trailer to capture the unique and intelligent tone of the film, so I position this episode towards those of you who judge a book by its cover and a movie by its trailer (which is all of us, let's face it). Praise for: Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Judd Hirsch, Julia Butters, Seth Rogen. Sound from Spielberg, Judd Hirsch, Seth Rogen, and Paul Dano about the film. Clips, making-of information, and MORE!

Thrilled to finally deep-dive into the making-of David Fincher's brilliant newspaper movie/police procedural/serial killer obsession film 'Zodiac'. Topics: The insane detail that went into preproduction. Praise for producer Brad Fischer and screenwriter Jamie Vanderbilt. Soundbites from Fincher's obsessive attention to period detail. Sound from the real Dave Toschi, memorably played by Mark Ruffalo in a brilliant performance. The astounding character arc played by Robert Downey, Jr in one of his final films before joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jake Gyllenhaal's fantastic portrayal of San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith, whose book was adapted for the film. Period sound from Zodiac suspect Arthur Leigh Allen. Some speculation on the state of the as-yet-unsolved Zodiac case today. David Shire's amazing score. Analysis of Academy Award nominations this film SHOULD have gotten...and won. AND MORE! A true labor of love episode akin to my episode on Michael Mann's 'Heat'....and I fear these episodes do so well that I may have to do more of them and all the work it entails! Let's hope so! Sources Consulted For This Episode -David Fincher's 'Zodiac' film on Apple -Robert Graysmith's 'Zodiac Unmasked' -Robert Graysmith's 'Shooting Zodiac' -David Fincher: Mind Games Essays -David Fincher's commentary track on the 'Zodiac' DVD -"This is the Zodiac Speaking" documentary. -"Making 'Zodiac' " documentary -"His Name Was Arthur Leigh Allen" documentary -'Zodiac We Called Him Mr. Allen' YouTube page

I originally recorded this episode as a dry-run for a forthcoming and entirely separate-from-FCAC limited-run podcast seriesI'm going to be doing in 2023 about Dead & Company's final tour (SPINOFF!), but my conversation with my friend and guest Geoff Weed was so illuminating about so many things: the nature of enduring fandom, the power of music and the skills of its most talented practitioners, funny tales from the road, thoughts on how concert-going has changed, and our humorous on-the-scene reports from our individual movie theater experiences in NYC and Chicago as we queued up to see the Dead's 'Meetup at the Movies' special event...that I had to release it this week. If you're not a Deadhead, no worries: this episode is really about having a love for music and the personalities that make bands tick and occasionally go boom. For those not familiar, some of the names you might hear are hyperlinked below. Part of the fun of the Grateful Dead is learning the language and the curves in the road. But this brief roadmap will suffice and give you all you need to follow along: Europe '72 Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux Merry Prankster Mountain Girl Legendary Rock Manager Sam Cutler Former Grateful Dead keyboardist Pigpen Former Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux US Army refusenik Jerry Garcia Geoff and I talk about the cycles of fame the Dead have endured...and spend some time chatting about John Mayer and Dead & Company and it's soon-to-conclude 7 year touring history as one of the music business's highest-grossing tours year in and year out.

Joined by frequent guest Frazer Rice (links to previous eps below), this week I dive into the fascinating backstory of the making-of John Carpenter's 1978 horror flick 'Halloween', a genre-busting/genre-defining/genre-expanding piece of forever in the movie business and in the popular imagination. From its roots in Carpenter's 'Dark Star' to 'Assault on Precinct 13' to the happenstance on-set decisions that resulted in the bizarre mashup of 'Star Trek' into the 'Halloween' cinematic universe and beyond, this unassuming little inexpensive (300K) film has become an iconic bit of film history. In this episode we talk about 'Assault on Precinct 13', Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, Deborah Hill, Joe Wolf, Carpenter's soundtracks, P.J. Soles, the role the Hamburger Hamlet played in the history of 'Halloween', the differences between 'artistic horror' films like 'The Shining' and 'Carrie' versus more genre-normal films like 'Halloween', recount the role of the William Shatner Star Trek mask in the film, and MORE. Frazer's appearance on the pod to talk about 'No Time To Die' and Bond futures is here. Frazer and I talked 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' here. Watch 'Halloween' here. Watch Donald Pleasance chew scenery on 'Columbo', as referenced in the episode, here.

These are our listeners! And this week, after a couple recommendations for the listeners, I'm reading feedback helpful and otherwise. Out of the mouths of babes. Epistolary output from the peanut gallery. Unsolicited offers. Random opinions. Two-star ratings! One-star ratings! More! Recommendations in this episode: Canyon Crows 'Hauntology' on Spotify. Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man on YouTube. Jean Stein's West of Eden at Amazon. The Big Goodbye, Sam Wasson's book about 'Chinatown'. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli by Mark Seal

After my last episode with the wonderful, artfully creepy 'The Dead Zone'...I wanted more. More Walken. More Sci-Fi. More 1983. And then Louise Fletcher died. And it was all right there: BRAINSTORM. Douglas Trumbull's 1983 science-fiction passion project-turned-albatross. On the surface it has it all: a killer cast, a great premise (what if you could experience the thoughts and feelings of other people through a breakthrough of computer technology), and a proven special effects commodity in its director. But as always seems to be the case with the not-quite-great films that start so promisingly...there were in retrospect warning signs. Trumbull intended to film the movie in his groundbreaking film format 'Showscan' but the studio balked at the expense and need for theater owners to install expensive new equipment. Then, various screenwriters took stabs at the script. And infamously, Natalie Wood, filming her return to the big screen after taking a break to be a Mom, died during filming while on a mysterious overnight yacht trip onboard husband Robert Wagner's boat, with only Christopher Walken along. The case was never solved and was last reopened in 2018. So, for all that sturm und drang...how is 'Brainstorm' as a film? Listen to the episode to find out.

Jason is joined by frequent FCAC contributor Richard Brown as they discuss David Cronenberg's atypical (for Cronenberg) film of Stephen King's novel "The Dead Zone". A deep celebration of this extraordinary film and the Oscar-worthy (and criminally ignored) performance of Christopher Walken, this episode also celebrates Cronenberg, Producer Debra Hill, Composer Michael Kamen, Walken Co-Star Brooke Adams, and MORE.

The making of George Lucas' first 'Star Wars' film is an incredible saga unto itself. The global success of 'Star Wars' and how it changed the film business forever is an incredible saga unto itself. The industry advancements in technology pioneered by Lucas' special effects shop Industrial Light and Magic is an incredible saga unto itself. The above, and several other sentences I could similarly write, are why it's somewhat difficult to even contemplate 'Star Wars' as 'a movie', as freed of the importance and baggage the entire franchise trails in its considerable wake as its possible to be. But hey, that's what we do here at Full Cast and Crew. So in this week's episode, I recount the experience I had in screening 'Star Wars' for the first time in a long time, and contrast that experience with the one I had watching the film AFTER I read the making-of books and watched the making-of documentaries. In order to gain some clarity, I then invited repeat FCAC guests Dan Hartley and Bruce Edwards (their previous episodes linked below) to join me. Dan is a hard-core Star Wars guy and Bruce is extremely knowledgeable about the franchise and what it represents. So this episode is not a fan-boy, nerd-herding deep dive into whether Han shot first (of course he did), nor is it a "Star Wars is overrated" trolling excercise. Instead, we talk at length about the making-of, about where the first film succeeds and falls short, and why, and about the legacy of sequels and limited series. Join us, won't you?? Bruce Edwards' appearance on the pod to talk about 'Blade Runner' (the 2nd-most downloaded episode of FCAC all time) can be found here. Bruce Edwards' appearance on the pod to discuss 'Alien' can be found here. Dan Hartley joining Chris and I (on what would turn out to be Chris' last episode!) to talk about the brilliantly insane 'Star Wars Holiday Special' can be found here. Some clips of David Prowse in the Vader costume performing the physical portion of the role and speaking Vader dialogue later to be replaced by James Earl Jones is here. George Lucas' first film, THX 1138 can be rented here.

Current events lead me to revisit 'The Queen' (2006), which, in addition to being an actor's movie of the highest caliber, offers a more nuanced appraisal of its subjects than I think it gets credit for. In the popular imagination, this film is probably considered a film that is sympathetic to the Queen and to the Royals, but a rewatch reveals a film that contains as many caustic anti-Monarchy sentiments as it does understanding and human moments. A clear-eyed portrait of the Royals and of Tony Blair, the film holds up today as the best-filmed entertainment about the Royal Family, and yes, that includes Peter Morgan's essential but more luridly soapy 'The Crown'. Centered around the events surrounding Princess Diana's death in a Paris tunnel and the aftermath, 'The Queen' is one of my favorite types of films; a tick-tock amalgam of real-life footage and events blended with fictionalized "what must they have been thinking" moments and plenty of moments where the two different approaches meet, such as the two famous public speech moments: one: Tony Blair's 'People's Princess' statement outside the Church in his constituency, and two: the Queen's statement in tribute to Diana, delivered a week after her death and the capping moment of an extraordinary week of push-pull public sentiment and private grief and backstage wrangling. Background materials discussed in the episode: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret 'The Queen' on Apple, including special feature commentary by Stephen Frears and Peter Morgan. Clips referenced in the episode: Tony Blair's actual "People's Princess" speech Michael Sheen as Tony Blair delivering the speech Helen Mirren's Queen's Tribute speech. The Queen's actual Tribute to Diana