The Latecomers

Show Notes IS IT THRILLING: Amity and Lemuel re-visit the first adaptation of Stephen King's work to hit the screen with Brian De Palma's 1976 classic Carrie. How does the casting match the novel? What's wrong with Chris? How soft is Tommy's hair? We answer each of these questions and more in this week's episode.   Next up: Saving Private Ryan (1998)                                                ...

Show Notes This week we go back to the beginning of a tale so intriguing it has been redone countless times – 1956 sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  We discuss the clarity of a sci-fi premise without the fog of cultural criticism, the breadth of a doctor’s reach, what is appropriate attire when, and what happens to the people after they’ve been snatched.   Recommendations: Doctors wi...

Show Notes This week we revisit Hitchcock for the second time (but certainly not the last) with Dial M for Murder. Grace Kelly is effervescent and remarkably relatable and the machinations around her will make you mad on her behalf. For 1954, we are in a surprisingly not slut-shamey world where given a bot of conversation, everything could have come up thruple, but instead we have a trophy husband...

Show Notes This week Amity goes for a round two with Charlton Heston and it goes so much better as we watched 1959 epic Ben Hur. That chariot race sure is famous for a reason but the other vignettes are also mostly very good. We learn a little something about Jesus, about leprosy and about the relationship women have to men and how referring to them by those relationships can really mar a family t...

Show Notes Dustin Hoffman is on the run this week in 1976’s Marathon Man. We return to William Goldman, never disappointing, for this one as he adapted his own novel. And this thing is a rocket from beginning to end! Does it make perfect sense? Absolutely not! Did Lemuel have to tell Amity 20 minutes in that Roy Scheider and Dustin Hoffman were brothers? Yes! But she would have found out soon anyw...

Show Notes This week we watch Scorsese classic Raging Bull from 1980 and wonder where the thrills are. Punching we see, raging misogyny, yup, that’s here too, along with the most fragile masculinity we’ve seen to date. But not very many thrills. We discuss how DeNiro can be so unlikable without staining the actor, the foley work in the fights, and why oh why is there no character growth.   Recomme...

Show Notes Sylvester Stallone wrote this movie! We watched Rocky from 1976, the film that kicked off a franchise and the stardom of one of the biggest names of the 80s, 90s and today. And it’s not a sports movie – it’s a love story between a boxer/thug and the shyest woman ever committed to film – both of whom are absolutely, positively on the autism spectrum – at least according to non-psychologi...

Show Notes Oh the Tarantino of it all! We watched Pulp Fiction this week and would like to give you content warnings, but we couldn’t narrow it down – so be warned – this movie may trigger you. We discuss Tarantino, the foot fetishist with a penchant for slurs, the comeback of Travolta, the difference between homage and theft, how deeply stupid Vincent Vega is, what Butch sees in that, well, child...

Show Notes This week an amalgamation of tones – no, not a symphony, but 1969 western classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Is this the clearest thruple in cinema? Are we supposed to love them or hate them? Are we supposed to forget all the murder? It’s very confusing this week on the podcast.   Recommendations: Glass Onion (Netflix) and Spirited (Apple +)   Next up: Pulp Fiction (1994)      ...

Show Notes This week we discuss one of the thrillingest thrillers of all time – Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn. It’s a combination of home invasion with a particularly fragile heroine. Though she may be fragile, she is no fool, and she’s electric to watch. Her husband, on the other hand – listen to hear our opinions on that prize.     Next up: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)        ...

Show Notes Our Christmas episode brings another Universal Monster: this time it’s Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s creation – because monster seems strong for everyone who isn’t named Frankenstein in this film. We discuss the loveliness of Karloff, some strong child acting, renaming and relabeling by the writers and producers of this movie and makeup and how children can handle what grown women app...

Show Notes This is a re-release because we like thrilling films and have talked about them a bunch – so here’s an oldie -originally released 12/4/18 when we were just baby podcasters - Amity and Lemuel get a touch political in this week’s episode. We also swear a whole bunch. We mourn the state of journalism, marvel at the parallels in the news (as well as Robert Redford’s beautiful hair) and pitc...

Episode Notes It’s another story from the author of Planet of the Apes – but it’s completely different. This week we watch POWs lose the plot in 1957’s Bridge on the River Kwai. Directed by David Lean, this epic tells the story of Alec Guinness’ Nicolson and William Holden’s Shears and their collision course.   Recommendations: Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas   Next up: All The President’s Men(1...

Show Notes This week we discuss 1968’s Sci Fi classic The Planet of the Apes. Amity is confused by audience confusion when the leading man tells us exactly where we are going in the first two minutes of the movie. She also morns the voice of the female human, because this movie decides to mute or murder all the human women. Lemuel tries to explain science fiction before the moon landing to save th...

Show Notes Dead man walking – the headline of the review that spoiled this movie for Lemuel in 1999 is both heinous and funny now, twenty some years later when applied to M. Night Shyamalan’s masterpiece of playing fair with the audience, The Sixth Sense. We discuss stand out child performance, who in M. Night’s life repeated “Look at my face” so many times that it made it into the film, and Phila...

Show Notes This week we travel to the coast with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in 1962’s Cape Fear. Mitchum’s Max Cady is dangerous – for his predilections and his cunningness and Peck’s Sam Bowden is really very little match for him. The menace that Cady casts over the entirety of the film is palpable and you will be concerned for every girl and woman you see, with good reason.   Recommendation...

Show Notes This week we discuss Spartacus from 1960, directed improbably by Stanley Kubrick and staring problematic and not particularly charismatic Kirk Douglas. We discuss the historical accuracies and inaccuracies, the majesty of Woody Strode, colonizers who are self aware, and how fun Peter Ustinov is.   Recommendations: Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix); The School of Good and Evil (Netflix)  ...

Show Notes This week, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis thrill us in 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The fireworks between these ladies are historic and lead to an entire Ryan Murphy series, but we focus on the picture itself, the marvel of filmmaking, and the destruction of the child actor.   Recommendations: 5000 Years to Earth; Wet Hot American Moon Juice   Next up: Spartacus (1960)        ...

Show Notes We have a second helping of Orson Welles this week with 1958’s Touch of Evil. Once we maneuver past Charlton Heston in brown face and Janet Leigh as the whitest white person that ever set foot in Mexico, there are some absolutely spectacular things in this movie, largely down to Welles’ direction and acting, both of which are superlative.   Recommendations: The Book Makers (PBS Document...

Show Notes This week, don’t get too attached to them, we watched The Dirty Dozen from 1967 and we’ll miss all of them. Amity lets you know the perfect time to turn this movie off to make it a madcap comedy. We discuss how Telly Savales is forever more con than pro. And we wonder at the moral of it all.   Recommendations: Frank Lloyd Wright (PBS Documentary); A Soldier’s Story (1984)   Next up: Tou...

Show Notes This week we revisit Keanu with 1999’s The Matrix. He has perfect anime hair, Carrie Ann Moss has a pleather wardrobe, Lawrence Fishburn has glasses with no arms and Joey Pantoliano just wants some steak. We discuss the themes and the effects and the deep and resounding love – because we now know that Neo isn’t the one.   Recommendations: The Devil in Ohio (Netflix)   Next up: The Dirty...

Show Notes Come with us to Mexico as we learn about the Hays Code and how to make a villain a protagonist as we watch John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre from 1948. Down on their luck in an inhospitable (to them) town, Dobbs and Curtain try their luck at gold, with all the caucasity you would expect. We discuss what makes a western, how to kill off your main characters, how you miss tha...

Show Notes This week we revisit John Carpenter’s Halloween from 1978 – and all its brethren as well. We discuss it’s fit into the list of thrills and then replay our original episode discussing the series, just in time to get into spooky season. Join us for all things Pleasence, the shape, scream queens and staggering music stings.   Next up: The Treasure of The Sierra Madre (1948)                ...

Show Notes This week we watched Sam Peckinpah's alternate history western, The Wild Bunch, from 1969. Amity got lost in the combination of Spanish and deliberate camera confusion but tries super hard to not hold that against the film itself. This bunch is wild, y’all – not particularly bright, not particularly deft, but wild, certainly. Can you find a good man amongst them?   Recommendations: Devi...

Show Notes We’re robbing a bank this week as we watched Sydney Lumet’s 1975 biopic Dog Day Afternoon. Al Pacino is magnetic as the “mastermind” of a failed bank heist. Queer identity, the poverty cycle, and the absolute boneheaded-ness of police are on display in this humanist heist film.   Recommendations: Light and Magic (Disney +); American Horror Story (Hulu) – the latest season   Next up: The...