The Plaza Classic Podcast

Easily one of the most memorable lines from Talladega Nights, it's also a great way to prepare attendees of the Plaza Classic Film Festival for its Outdoor Movie Series. This year, the 2006 comedy directed by Adam McKay and starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as NASCAR teammates will make its festival debut. Local racing expert and KTSM News Channel 9's News Director Chris Babcock joins Steph...

In this special Independence Day episode, what better time than to review the movies showcasing the American experience that will be screened during the Plaza Classic Podcast? Being as our nation is celebrating its 250th anniversary, AKA the Semiquincentennial, "Americana" is one thread of this year's festival. Festival Artistic Director Doug Pullen gives Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle a sneak p...

Jay Duncan and Camilla Carr both loved film, and both proudly served on the Plaza Classic Film Festival's Advisory Committee. Our committee members were saddened by the passing of both Duncan and Carr earlier this year. The lives and legacies of Duncan, the committee's resident sci-fi expert, and Carr, a screenwriter and actress, were discussed at length by Friend of the Pod and festival advisory...

One of the stars of Bye Bye Birdie is flying into El Paso to attend the Plaza Classic Film Festival! Ann-Margret will appear the first weekend of the festival, ahead of both the 1963 musical comedy, and the 1975 rock musical Tommy, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Joining Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle to talk all about Ann-Margret is Jack Fields, a Warner Bros....

The Local Flavor Showcase features contemporary films with connections to our border. This is the 9th year the showcase has been featured during the Plaza Classic Film Festival. The 2026 program is on the last day of the festival, July 26, in the Plaza Theatre. For the third year, Local Flavor will be curated by Emmy Award-winning producer Javier Gonzalez of El Paso (Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,...

Tsunamis. Collisions with icebergs. Rampaging dinosaurs. Let's be real: watching the world destroyed by the force of Mother Nature is only entertaining on the silver screen, especially when spectacular special effects are on full display. This year, disaster movies are taking the Plaza Classic Film Festival by storm. KISS-FM morning radio show host (and newest member of the Plaza Classic Film Fest...

"A Dinner To Love" is the theme of this year's Dinner and a Movie, a special event during the Plaza Classic Film Festival. The theme is loosely based on a quote from the 2003 romantic comedy "Something's Gotta Give." It stars Diane Keaton as divorced playwright Erica Barry and Jack Nicholson as eternally single businessman Harry Sanborn. (Here's that quote, courtesy of a romance-avoidant Harry to...

Podcast hosts Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle really can't help it when it comes to puns and wordplay! The title of this episode of the Plaza Classic Podcast refers to the title of a music documentary starring Jayne Mansfield. The 1956 comedy "The Girl Can't Help It" is one of several "rock docs" on the schedule of the 19th Annual Plaza Classic Film Festival, which will take place from July 16-26...

The Plaza Classic Film Festival is celebrating its 19th year of wowing audiences in downtown El Paso. Someone who has been a part of the festival shortly after its inception is Bart Weiss, an award-winning independent film and video producer, director, editor, and educator. Bart joined Lisa Elliiott and Stephanie Valle from his home in Dallas to talk about his favorite moments as a PCFF contributo...

If you know Eric Pearson, you are all too familiar with his penchant for jokes of all kinds. The passage of April Fool's Day has done little to quench his desire to share his favorite jokes and pranks.  The President and CEO of the El Paso Community Foundation was the perfect choice to talk about funny movies he likes and would like to be screened during the Plaza Classic Festival. Pearson joined...

Each awards season, the festival's advisory committee members camp out in theaters and plow through the Academy Award nominees in order to thoughtfully craft the perfect ballot for the committee's Oscar ballot contest. And this year, just like in the Academy Awards itself, there was a tie! Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott (who have each never won the contest) once again try to find the best strate...

The United States of America is marking a special milestone: the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, also known as the semiquincentennial. The Plaza Classic Film Festival's Program Director Doug Pullen has been teaching Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle -- plus the rest of the festival's advisory committee -- how to pronounce "semiquincentennial," as he builds a film thread centered around the...

The Academy Awards will take place on March 15, and we will all finally know which movies and performances Hollywood favored in 2025. Will One Battle After Another win the battle for Best Picture, or will Sinners transform audiences much like the vampires did at the juke joint? Can Jessie Buckley maintain her Best Actress winning streak? Will Timothee Chamalet take home the Oscar, or will Michael...

Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" may be the most celebrated film to be set in El Paso, but it certainly isn't the only Hollywood production to take over and showcase the Sun City on-screen. Robert Holguin, filmmaker and primetime anchor on KFOX News at 5 and 9pm, joins Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott in studio to talk about the three Hollywood movie sets he's been a part of here...

March is Women's History Month. What better time to recognize and discuss the depiction of women in the workplace than now? Naturally, Leila Melendez, the CEO of Workforce Solutions Borderplex, is focused on screening women in the workplace during the Plaza Classic Film Festival this summer. Leila - the newest member of the festival's Advisory Committee - joins Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott in...

Maybe you do know Jack Fields. The El Paso native is a graduate from New Mexico State University and now works at Warner Bros. as a studio facilities staff member. Fields is also a TCM contributor and classic movie buff. Fields, also a member of the Plaza Classic Film Festival Advisory Committee, joined Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle from the festival's "field office" in Los Angeles to talk abou...

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." - When Harry Met Sally Director Rob Reiner's "When Harry Met Sally" was heralded as a romantic comedy classic in part for its natural, witty banter and heartfelt performances. Reiner had often said falling in love with his wife Michelle prompted him to change the f...

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. It's a time to openly talk about both healthy and alarming behaviors in young relationships, and how teens can stay safe while navigating new romance. This year's theme is "Real Love Respects." Aaron Setliff is the Division Chief of the Protective Orders Unit in the El Paso County Attorney's Office and the board chair for the Center Against Sexual...

With its stark lighting, brooding characters, and dark themes, the film noir style dominated Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s and inspired generations of filmmakers, from David Lynch to Quentin Tarantino. If you ask Alan Rode to define film noir, he'll say, "you know it when you see it." Rode -- an expert of the style, Charter Director of the Film Noir Foundation, plus documentarian, producer, and...

On Jan. 23, 2026, El Paso Film Commissioner Drew Mayer-Oakes bids farewell to the city that he helped promote for eight years. Mayer-Oakes, who is taking on a similar role in Corpus Christi, was instrumental to recruiting Hollywood film productions to use the Sun City as their backdrops, most recently in the lauded Paul Thomas Anderson movie, One Battle After Another. He joins Plaza Classic Podcas...

Is there a movie you enjoy watching in spite of mostly negative reviews?  For Plaza Classic Film Festival Advisory Committee member Jaime Mendez, that movie is Xanadu, the 1980 rock musical starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly. As a matter of fact, Jaime enjoys this film so much, he can't help but sing the theme song. On this season finale of the Plaza Classic Podcast, Jaime joins podcast ho...

Is there a movie that sets the tone for the "cozy" holiday season? For Plaza Classic Film Festival Advisory Committee member Erin Ritter, she picks her favorite holiday movies like she organizes her Thanksgiving meal, complete with an appetizer, the main course, savory sides, a dessert, and a post-gathering drink. Erin, Lisa Elliott, and Stephanie Valle trade their favorite movies to watch over tu...

While the weather outside is frightful(ly pleasant), the Holiday Movies at the Plaza Theatre are delightful! The movies are back as a part of WinterFest. We're showing six movies over three weekends starting on Nov. 30. Doug Pullen (the El Paso Community Foundation's Artistic Director and Program Director for the Plaza Classic Film Festival, and a.k.a. "Friend of the Pod") is back with podcast hos...

The lives of American service members have often been depicted on film -- from 1998's Saving Private Ryan (shown in the 2025 Plaza Classic Film Festival) to 1979's Apocalypse Now (screened in 2016). But perception isn't always reality. Kristin Trick -- a member of the film festival's advisory committee, a licensed therapist, and a wife to an Army veteran -- joins Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott i...

During the 2025 Plaza Classic Film Festival, a new take on the Western genre made its debut, complete with red carpet fanfare for the director, producer, and crew -- many of them with ties to the Borderland. Long Shadows is set in the Wild West, and follows one man's mission to avenge his parents' death, with lots of twists along the way. In his directorial debut, it was also written by actor Will...