Talk Classic To Me

Are you into epic Japanese works of cinematic art that are the blueprint for just about every adventure, western, and heist film that came after including the implementation of the "recruit and assemble" film trope? Then Seven Samurai (1954) is the movie for you! Check out our Season 5 Finale episode where we chat about this magnificent and influential Akira Kurosawa directed masterpiece starring...

Do you love classic horror films that also contain positive representation of black leading men? Do you prefer the word ghoul over zombie? Are they coming to get you Barbra? Then Night of the Living Dead (1968) is the movie for you! Check out this shockingly relevant classic directed on a shoestring budget by George A. Romero. This visceral B-Movie that made it big changed the horror game and inve...

Do you love Liza? Do you love jazz hands? When you go, do you want to go like Elsie? Then Cabaret (1972) is the film for you! Celebrate pride month with us by checking out this meticulously crafted Oscar winning musical directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse and starring the one and only Liza Minnelli in the role that made her an icon. Also featuring Michael York and Joel Grey, this is one episod...

Do you love movies featuring Elvis music, problematic story lines, and landscape cinematography so gorgeous it could have been sponsored by the tourism board of Hawaii? Then Blue Hawaii (1961) is the film for you! Join a post-Army Elvis Presley as he sings and dances his way across the beaches of Hawaii, where he can't help falling in love with Joan Blackman. Angela Lansbury, Nancy Walters, and Ho...

Looking for a film that has one of the most epic car chase sequences ever put on celluloid AND a fantastic assortment of turtleneck sweaters? Then Bullitt (1968) is the movie for you! Check out this detailed and positively dreamy looking thriller directed by Peter Yates, starring the "King of Cool" Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, and up-and-comer Robert Duvall. Host, Sara Greenfie...

Do you like authentic vintage footage of New York City? Do you like it when character actors get top billing? Do you like harmonica-playing acrobatic wrestlers who make terrible choices? Then The Naked City (1948) is the film for you! Check out this quirky slice-of-life film noir classic that was shot almost entirely on location in NYC by visionary director Jules Dassin starring Barry Fitzgerald,...

Do you ever secretly wish the 1997 action film Face/Off was made in 1947 and was also who-dunnit with a love story starring Bogart and Bacall set in San Francisco? Then Dark Passage is the movie for you! Check out this fun and quirky film noir featuring unique storytelling techniques via POV shots and crackling chemistry between it's leads, real life married couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacal...

In the mood for witty dialogue, insane chemistry, and a mostly female cast of up and coming all stars? Then Stage Door (1937) is the film for you! You can meet US at the Stage Door (1937) this week as we confab about this smartly crafted comedy that isn't afraid to show the underbelly of the entertainment industry from the actresses point of view. Gregory La Cava directs a superstar ensemble that...

In the mood for a gorgeous generational drama about rich white people in Texas acknowledging overt racism exists? Then Giant (1956) is the film for you! Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean (in his final on-screen role) star in this beautifully shot George Stevens directed classic, based on the best-selling novel by Edna Ferber. Host, Sara Greenfield and her guest Susannah Mars chat about...

Want to learn more about the iconic author, producer, director, writer, founder of the American Film Institute, creator of the Kennedy Center Honors and all around really nice guy George Stevens, Jr? Then this is the podcast episode for you! This week, host Sara Greenfield chats with Hollywood and Washington DC legend George Stevens, Jr whose new book My Place in the Sun is out May 17, 2022. 

Are you craving a Christmas movie that's also an action film and is secretly feminist? Then Die Hard is the motion picture for you! Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, and Reginald VelJohnson star in this modern holiday classic that will have you saying "Yippee ki-yay Mother F**ker", but like, in a festive way. Host, Sara Greenfield and her guest Sarah Rois chat about all this and more on...

Are you fit as a fiddle and ready for love? Are aggressively technicolor dream ballets your jam? Do you have a glorious feeling and are you happy again? Then Singin' in the Rain is the film for you! Check out this superb movie musical about making movie magic and delight in some of the greatest dance sequences ever put on celluloid. Gene Kelly co-directs (with Stanley Donen) and stars in this exce...

Do you like watching epic real-life romances develop on set between fantastic actors whilst movie-making? Then Woman of the Year (1942) is the film for you! Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy star in this surprisingly feminist romp, the first of their nine pictures together (and the film that sparked a 26 year relationship), directed by George Stevens. Host, Sara Greenfield and guest, Lauren Lope...

Do you like the color green? Do you have an unhealthy obsession with Kim Novak? Do you have complicated feelings about bell towers? Then Vertigo is the film for you! Check out this gorgeously detailed masterpiece directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, and an exceptionally haunting score by Bernard Herrmann. Host, Sara Greenfield and her guests Ashley...

Do you love misty watercolor memories, the name Hubbell, and nail acting? Then The Way We Were is the film for you! Check out this GORGEOUS Sydney Pollack directed classic starring the one and only Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll challenge McCarthyism. This movie is lovely, Hubbell. Host, Sara Greenfield and her guests Andrew Johnson and Kyle Serilla chat abou...

Want to feel some good-old-fashioned Halloween movie vibes AND appreciate enormous Schwanzstuckers at the same time? Then Young Frankenstein is the film for you! Check out this gorgeous Mel Brooks directed homage to the great Universal Frankenstein movies of the 1930's and 1940's and plotz over the hilarious cast featuring Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Cloris L...

Looking for a Halloween classic filled with nostalgic fun that isn't too scary? Love the song "I Put a Spell on You" and want a Tony award winning legend to movie-musical-ify it? Wish more movies said the word "virgin" every five seconds? Then Hocus Pocus is the film for you! Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy star in this sheer delight of a film (directed by Kenny Ortega) as the...

Are you so frickin excited that we finally get a new Bond-James-Bond movie in theaters? Then Dr. No is the film for you! Celebrate Bond with us by going back to where it all began on screen for 007. Revel in the Bond franchise tropes happening for the very first time and be surprised by how quaint and low-budget this first outing is. Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, John Kitzmiller, Jack Lord, and Jo...

Do you love watching Peter O'Toole? Do you love the expression "he has a twinkle in his eye"? Do you love watching Peter O'Toole turn what could have been a smarmy movie star trope of a role into a fully flushed out character that you actually root for who has a twinkle in his eye? Then My Favorite Year is the film for you! Check out this nostalgic and sweet-hearted classic about a larger than lif...

Do you love zany antics and ridiculous characters? Do you love it when hilarious women steal the show (cough*Mary Astor*cough)? Do you love it when a joke set up in the opening credits takes an entire movie to pay off? Then The Palm Beach Story is the film for you! Check out this perfect introduction to the work of Preston Sturges (writer and director extraordinaire) and revel in it's sublime marr...

For our Season 3 Finale we get super creative over here at Talk Classic To Me and invite a real life couple from the present to watch a movie about a real life couple from the past. The only difference is that one of these couples famously robbed banks in the 1930's and were notoriously killed by a ton of machine guns. The Arthur Penn directed film was unprecedented in it's day, due to the level o...

Have you ever had the thought "I just wish there was a movie from the 1930's that was written by women, featured only women, displayed excellent physical comedy performed by women, but was entirely about men and was kind of misogynistic"? Then the film The Women (1939) is for you! Check out the duality of Clare Boothe Luce's hit that manages to be both feminist and sexist at the same time (just li...

Feeling festive this 4th of July? Then The Best Years of Our Lives is the movie for you! William Wyler directed this truly terrific epic with a whole lot of heart which won eight Oscars (one honorary) including Best Picture. The first-rate ensemble cast includes Frederic March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Myrna Loy, Virginia Mayo, Hoagy Carmichael, and unforgettably stars real-life WW2 veteran, H...

Want to watch an icon portraying an icon? Then What's Love Got To Do With It is the movie for you! Check out the sheer perfection of Angela Bassett's Oscar nominated performance as she transforms herself into the legendary Queen of Rock and Roll Tina Turner. Laurence Fishburne (also Oscar nominated and terrific as the unsettling and abusive Ike Turner), Jenifer Lewis, and Vanessa Bell Calloway rou...

Have you ever felt like there weren't enough movies out there about sensitive butchers finding love in the Bronx in the 1950's? Then Marty (1955) is the film for you! Check out this underdog winner of the Best Picture Oscar that will give you all the feels, starring Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair with a smart and tender script by Paddy Chayefsky. Try not to get a toothache from the sweetness. Hos...