The Directors' Wall

It’s time for Bryan and A.J. to make sense of perhaps the oddest movie in Francis Coppola’s filmography, Jack (1996). We break down what works and what doesn’t as this kids movie swings from silly kid friendly comedy to heavy themes of mortality and whether or not Jack, a child who ages rapidly, will have a full life. Of course we talk about the career and performance of the late and forever great...

Paramount Plus made us an offer we took reluctantly: The Offer (2022), a 10 part limited series dramatizing the production of The Godfather. Bryan and A.J. review the series as a whole and wonder if, given all the other books, documentaries, and DVD bonus features about the behind the scenes of The Godfather that already exist, this series needed to be 10 hours long, or is even necessary. The high...

We’ve crossed oceans of time to talk about Francis Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). At first glance Coppola’s follow up to The Godfather Part III seems like just a job for hire, and that is how the project came to him, yet Coppola couldn’t help but find interesting ways to make his version of Dracula distinct from all the others. Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a box office hit allowing...

At last we come to the end of Michael Corleone’s story and then we come to the end of his story again as we discuss The Godfather Part III (1990) and Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (2020). Bryan and A.J. talk about the long production history, what motivated Francis Coppola to finally agree to make another Godfather movie, and speculate on what really makes this se...

Francis Coppola closed out the 1980’s with a contribution to the omnibus film New York Stories , along with Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. Coppola’s segment, “Life Without Zoe” has long been derided as the worst of the 3 short films and Bryan and A.J. discuss it perhaps more than it has ever been discussed. We also review Scorsese’s “Life Lessons” and Allen’s “Oedipus Wrecks” and look at where e...

This Christmas you get a Tucker car! and you get a Tucker car! ,,,and that’s it because the upstart automobile designer Preston Tucker was only able to make 50 and in this episode Bryan and A.J. find out why. Francis Coppola’s biopic of Tucker, appropriately titled Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), chronicles his attempt to build the “car of tomorrow” with unheard of features like a third head...

Happy Shocktober! For October (or as we call it, Shocktober) we’re taking a break from Coppola to revisit M. Night Shyamalan and review his latest, Old. We discuss the movie’s similarities to a classic episode of The Twilight Zone, themes and plots that Shyamalan revisits from his previous movies and perhaps improves on, share similar reactions to some of the stylistic choices, and wonder: is this...

We’re back from summer hiatus to discuss Francis Coppola’s little seen Gardens of Stone (1987). This Vietnam War drama is about as far from Apocalypse Now as a movie about Vietnam could get. The plot follows Sergeant Hazard (James Caan) who runs the “Old Guard” that performs military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery and takes a young recruit (D. B. Sweeney) under his wing. We discuss the di...

This episode we review 3 very different Coppola short projects. In the mid 1980’s, Francis Coppola, laden with debt from the collapse of Zoetrope Studios, found some short projects that would help pay down his debt but also provide some room for artistic experimentation. First up we discuss “Rip Van Winkle” (1987), his contribution to Shelley Duvall’s excellent Showtime series for children, Faerie...

For this episode we’re whisked away to 1960 for a second chance at high school senior year in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). Francis Coppola was a director for hire on Peggy Sue Got Married, replacing Jonathan Demme and Penny Marshall, but still committed fully to the project turning in a memorable picture. This time travel fantasy that takes the main character back to 1960 hit theaters a year afte...

Robert Evans needed a hit. Francis Coppola needed a job. The result of the bitter rivals teaming up again to make another gangster movie, this time set in Harlem in the 1920’s and 30’s: The Cotton Club, starring Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, and Diane Lane. Their contentious working relationship had previously resulted in The Godfather, with each claiming to be the real cause behind the movie’s suc...

The Motorcycle Boy Reigns. To help tackle Francis Coppola’s “art film for teenagers” we’re joined by Shane Hazen of the Phi Phenomenon podcast for a special crossover episode! Though this S.E. Hinton adaptation is light on plot there is a lot to discuss. We delve into the philosophical and existential themes, the experimental approach taken by Coppola and the rest of the crew, and begin to wonder...

Stay gold, podcast listeners. We’re talking about Francis Coppola’s adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel, The Outsiders. In the time between the bankruptcy and foreclosure of Zoetrope Studios, Coppola secured last minute financing and rushed to Tulsa with a cast of young unknowns that would become stars of the 80’s and beyond. We also delve into the 2005 director’s cut (AKA The Complete Novel...

After our lengthy hiatus, we’re back to celebrate Noir-vember with Hammett (1982) directed by Wim Wenders for Francis Coppola’s short lived Zoetrope Studios. Based on a novel that has author Dashiell Hammett solving a mystery like the ones he wrote about, Hammett’s production faced almost as many troubles as Coppola’s One From the Heart. Coppola, acting as the studio head, actually shut production...

This episode is from the heart, because the movie we’re talking about today is One From the Heart, Francis Coppola’s romantic pseudo-musical drama. Coppola didn’t bet the farm on the success of this movie, but he did bet his new studio, Zoetrope Studios, and, unfortunately, lost. One From the Heart was a massive flop and now we give it a reassessment. We discuss the cast, Tom Waits and Crystal Gal...

Our motto: Apocalypse Now! Coppola’s most epic movie leads to our most epic episode as we tackle his surreal, nightmarish Vietnam War film: Apocalypse Now. Not only do we break down the iconic 1979 theatrical version, but also delve into the unreleased Workprint, the 2001 Redux version, and the 2019 Final Cut version. We also talk about the documentary Hearts of Darkness, chronicling the notorious...

What would it be like to watch The Godfather Parts I and II in chronological order? We found out! We tracked down the hard to find The Godfather Saga, the TV miniseries which edits both Godfather films together in chronological order and includes additional scenes. It originally aired on NBC in 1977 and has aired on various TV stations since. We discuss what it’s like viewing the two films as one,...

It’s a prequel and a sequel in one movie: it’s The Godfather Part II. This episode we review the much acclaimed sequel to The Godfather, that, just like the first one, Francis Ford Coppola did not want to make. We work our way through the film’s parallel plotlines in different eras, dig into the themes, talk about the great performances, and much more. Once again we marvel at the lineup of the 197...

After the massive success of The Godfather, Francis Coppola was finally able to make his passion project, a small scale personal film, The Conversation. Though Coppola first had the idea for the story of a surveillance expert that suspects the people he spied on are going to be murdered in the mid-60’s, The Conversation was made during the height of the Watergate scandal and released just after Ni...

It’s a Francis Coppola scripted Robert Redford romance double feature! After shooting wrapped on The Godfather, Coppola, unsure of The Godfather’s success, took a job writing an adaptation of The Great Gatsby (1974), the final screenplay he wrote but did not direct. We also review the 1973 Barbara Streisand/Robert Redford romantic drama The Way We Were, on which Coppola was one of 11 uncredited sc...

It’s the episode we’ve been excited about since beginning the podcast! After a brief discussion about The Irishman and ice cream we delve into the landmark film, The Godfather (1972). There is so much to talk about in The Godfather that over two bottles of Coppola wine we discuss certain aspects in detail and only scratch the surface on others. We discuss the performances, Gordon Willis’s cinemato...

This week we’re back to reviewing Francis Coppola’s work as a writer for hire with the epic war film Patton (1970). Coppola wrote his screenplay for Patton years before the film was actually made and released and was surprised how closely the final film followed his screenplay. Patton turned out to be a major hit and won 7 Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay for Coppola, an important...

The characters in Francis Coppola’s The Rain People are on a cross country road trip but we are sheltering in place. After directing an old fashioned studio musical, Coppola returns to a more intimate, character focused story with The Rain People. Shirley Knight stars as a young housewife that leaves on a road trip to reevaluate her decisions. Her journey of self discovery takes a turn when she pi...

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s only appropriate that Bryan and A. J. discuss Frances Coppola’s roadshow musical flop Finian’s Rainbow. There’s so much wrong with this movie we don’t have much time for tangents. We talk about the death of the Hollywood musical, how this movie led to the friendship of Coppola and George Lucas, Bryan singles out the funniest moment in the movie, and A.J. compares this...

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade! Happy New Episode! Though You’re a Big Boy Now isn’t technically Francis Coppola’s first film, in many ways it’s his first film as an auteur. Coppola was working with material of his choice, great professional actors, and the backing of a major studio. We discuss the results and Geraldine Page’s protracted will they/won’t they history with the Academy Awards. This...