Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast

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Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast

Listen along with us and discover kick-ass cinema from New Hollywood era of film

12/07/2024

It’s a story straight out of a Hollywood fairytale. Robert Altman was looking for actors for his film Brewster McCloud, and a friend told him “You have to come see this woman I just met, you’ve never seen anyone like her”. The woman was Shelly Duvall. Something about her presence and presentation unnerved Altman. He believed she had to be playing up her bizarre mannerisms and irregular energy. But she was just being herself. Altman cast her in his movie as he would go on to do many more times in the coming decade. Previously having zero interest in acting before meeting Altman, Duvall turned simple relatability into true unconventionality. She is perhaps one of the purest examples of the New Hollywood era's sensibility in casting (Hence why we name check her in our theme song) because all she really represented was a slightly less actor-y aesthetic. Somehow on a movie screen that transforms her into a presence you’ll never forget once you see her. Whether you know her from Altman films (especially her incredible turn in 3 Women), The Shining, or Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, she usually finds her way into your heart somehow. RIP to one of cinema’s greatest unclassifiable weirdos.

22/06/2024

As we discuss in the episode, the concept of auteurism rarely feels more apt than when applied to the works of John Waters. Not only did he produce, write, direct, shoot, and edit Pink Flamingoes, he also created his own unique universe and film grammar. Despite the bizarro nature of the world-building, somehow he makes nonsense cohere and by the end the audience is able to buy into the fact that in this movie anything is truly possible. Beyond just the bravery/brazenness of the gross out humor and sexual explicitness of the work, there are also endless examples of Waters' imagination on display. If this were the one film that he ever made that worked, that would be enough for many underground artists. But Waters is different. His destiny was not to burn out as a half remembered amateurish pioneer. Somehow over the next half century he took what must have looked like the most improbable path imaginable: one towards universal acceptance by the American mainstream. Across his body of work including his many further collaborations with his famous Dreamlanders acting troupe, he steadily climbed to the level of household name and revered film master. To quote the musical version of his film Hairspray, sometimes you cant stop the beat.

22/06/2024

The idea of a star persona has probably never been pushed further to the limits of audience acceptability than it was by Divine - the outrageous drag character embodied by Harris Glenn Milstead. Who could have guessed when they first were given the moniker "Divine" by filmmaker John Waters in the mid 60s that it would go on to become indelibly imprinted on American culture? Unfortunately for Divine, the character also became something of an albatross around the neck of the performer. Visually unforgettable, philosophically incomprehensible, and always hilarious, Divine represented a wholly new kind of energy in drag performance. As Waters has remarked: “Divine made all drag queens cool. Before him they wanted to be Miss America or be their mothers.” Over the course of his career Milstead came to work almost exclusively as the irascible instigator Divine, ultimately parlaying the underground fame that the Waters collaborations afforded into a successful club act and string of disco hits. Divine’s untimely death at 42 just after their true ascent into the mainstream in Hairspray (1988) only adds a tragic poignancy to this legendary career.

21/06/2024

A personal note from Sam on the passing of Donald Sutherland:
This one hurts. The passing of Donald Sutherland feels like it marks the end of several eras at once. Not only did his massive career stretch over seven decades, he always seemed to be several different performers rolled into one. As he aged oh so wonderfully, he seemed to forever be shifting the space he occupied as an actor, all while retaining the friendly-yet-mysterious aura that first made me take notice of him in JFK when I was 12 years old. I’m sure many people remember the experience back in the days of VHS, putting in the second tape of Oliver Stone’s paranoid fever dream and immediately feeling riveted by Sutherland’s “X” character. His monologue about the underlying forces controlling government is one of the greatest 13 minute stretches in the history of film (it’s also conspiracy minded bunk that has provided ample fodder for anyone who likes to rattle on about the deep state so... I guess you can’t control your legacy). It was this older, authoritative yet still wild eyed Sutherland that meant the most to me. In the late 90s I actually made a personal list of my favorite ‘old guys’. The list included luminaries such as Derek Jacobi and John Hurt, but it was my deep love of Donald Sutherland that inspired the list in the first place. Honestly loving his work is one of the first things I latched onto once I decided I was a “film person”. But of course it’s his work in the new Hollywood era that we will primarily concern ourselves with on this podcast - and what an embarrassment of riches this will no doubt prove to be. We have several appearances of Sutherland coming up on the podcast and I, for one, will not miss the chance to give the man his flowers at every available opportunity.

31/05/2024

Politics aside, Charlton Heston is kind of a cool actor if you think about it. In the 50s he gains prominence as a kind of epic American star of biblical epics and Cecile B. Demille extravaganzas, and then in the late 60s and on, gradually transitions into being a sci-fi staple. His presence is almost a singular force in terms of elevating the genre out of the realm of kiddie serials and B movies. Without his casting as Taylor in Planet of the Apes, the entire history of cinematic speculative fiction could have been different. It was him and only him that made them try so hard with that film. His casting pushed Fox to bet their hemorrhaging studio on what could have been a very silly enterprise. He used his existing stardom to bring this new kind of adult serious sci-fi into the 70s. Annnnd then later used his stardom to advocate for less fun control as the president of the NRA. So. You know. We contain multitudes.

10/05/2024

Obviously Obsession (1976) is a pastiche of Hitchcock’s Vertigo. One of the clearest nods to the 1959 classic is in its score by Bernard Herrmann - the legendary film composer who worked with Hitch many times and, yes, scored Vertigo. When you’re making a ‘paraphrased remake’ such as this, there can be a line where imitation crosses into something else. If you’re actually having the original person write a score for your movie and having him write in his signature style, things can go quickly from ‘channeling’ to simply continuing the thematic explorations that it inspired in him. Composed very close to Herrmann’s death, he considered the score to Obsession to be the most beautiful he had ever written. This is very intriguing given that it stands among his least famous. Perhaps returning to the themes of one of his celebrated scores helped him perfect something he had been always trying to articulate. After his death in 1976, Herrmann received double Oscar nominations for both this film and his final work: Taxi Driver (1976). A fitting tribute to this master of the film score.

10/05/2024

Just because New Hollywood was an American movement doesn’t mean it was devoid of foreign figures. In particular, the political unrest in Eastern Europe in the postwar era provided the impetus for an influx of filmmakers and craftspeople to unleash their talents on the American cinematic landscape. Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (who shot Obsession) was undoubtedly one of the most celebrated imports of the era. His origin story is as legendary as it is brave: he and fellow DP László Kovács put a camera in a shopping bag and covertly filmed the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Smuggling themselves and their 30 thousand feet of film to Austria, they shortly after arrived in America as political refugees. Both men went on to make their marks and define the look of film for years to come. Zsigmond’s collaborators are a veritable who’s who of the American New Wave: Altman, Allen, Spielberg, Cimino, and of course De Palma. His work was recognized by the Academy for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Zsigmond died on January 1st, 2016 inadvertently kicking off a year of seminal cultural deaths. One wonders what footage he could have captured in the modern state of American unrest were he just another young cameraman with a shopping bag today.

08/05/2024

Aesthete. Technician. Sensationalist. Throwback. Brian De Palma’s work is multifaceted and yet in other ways contained. On the Obsession episode we discuss the cliche of De Palma as fetishist, but that almost makes him seem like an artist constrained by their own interests. Far from it. This venerated member of the “movie brats” was far from the image we have of Spielberg or Scorsese i.e. completely gorged on movies and almost nothing else. De Palma came from a scientific background but later developed a collegiate interest in experimental theatre. Moving effortlessly from the downtown counterculture of the late 60s to the hyper violent 70s, De Palma’s signature breakthrough came when he discovered a niche that was going unfilled in the 1970s: Hitchcockian suspense. With films such as Sisters (1972), Body Double (1984), Dressed to Kill (1980), and Obsession (1976) he boldly pushed through the currents of black humor and postmodernism to help perfect pastiche during the second half of the 20th century.

30/04/2024

Miscellaneous art from animator & filmmaker Ralph Bakshi
~found on the Ralph Bakshi Sketchbook fb page~

15/04/2024

It’s Problematic Art Week on KYI! This episode Alana and Sam are joined by animator Frank Gidlewski for a round-table on Ralph Bakshi’s 1973 Künstlerroman "Heavy Traffic". There is much talk of the film's depictions of various taboos both sexual and racial, so, be warned. Also much rumination on the woes of the modern film/animation landscape so… TW for that as well, if you’re an animator. Other topics include: making out during edgy movies, parallels with the Godfather, and feuds with R. Crumb.
Episode 22 - Toons of the City: Heavy Traffic (1973)
~Available on all major podcast streaming platforms~

15/04/2024

There are some directors who don’t seem to mind being called an auteur, and there are others who might eschew the label as reductive and a misnomer but who still seem to have their own vision tied inextricably to all their work. Sydney Pollack belongs to a third category; the beloved journeyman. Hired hands who executives know won’t ever put up much of a fight about casting and who can keep schedules and budgets tight remained just as in demand during the 1970s as any era. The history of film is riddled with this rank of patient studio filmmaker. Company men who are easily outshone by flashier more maverick artists. However the filmography of Pollack can stack up against almost anyone. Tootsie (1982), The Firm (1993), Three Days of the Condor (1975), and this episode’s film They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) all remain vital must-sees. True, the direction might not be the first aspect you think of when considering those films but they wouldn’t even exist without the sure hand of Pollack. It can’t be overstated, however, how much his work as an actor has helped burnish his memory in film consciousness. After his turn in Tootsie as the agent (Dustin Hoffman reportedly made him take the role since his natural presence would be the only way Hoffman could feel true intimidation), directors from Stanley Kubrick to Robert Zemeckis suddenly grasped Pollack’s power to steal a scene. If you were a kid growing up in the 90s, you knew Sydney Pollack’s face. His near ubiquity during the 80s and 90s created such a feedback loop that it almost made one wonder if a director was putting him into their movie in some kind of stylistic nod to Pollack’s own work. Rarely has simple competence and straightforwardness seemed quite so stylish. He is a unique figure in this way.

11/04/2024

He’s never really gone away but for most who know his name, Bruce Dern will be forever associated with the 1970s. Dern studied at the Actors Studio in the 50s and had memorable roles in theatre, TV and movies during the 1960s. But then he found himself at a crossroads, trying desperately to transcend the sidekicks and heavies he kept getting offered. The character Leonardo DiCaprio plays in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) comes to mind. While working on They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) Dern’s frustrations with his career boiled over as he felt much better suited to the lead role compared to Michael Sarrazin. A change in agents and a change in cinematic taste era paved the way for Dern to change his image. The era saw an explosion of unconventional actors in lead roles and Dern, after his turn as a space traveling botanist in Silent Running (1972) found himself able to finally play the kinds of complex roles he knew he was best suited for. In films such as The Great Gatsby (1974) and Coming Home (1978), Dern’s rage and inner turmoil shocks and disturbs the audience often to the point of feeling like they are witnessing something they shouldn’t be seeing. And of course perhaps his greatest gift to the world: his arguably much more famous daughter Laura Dern.

03/04/2024

The riveting movie They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) shines a light on America’s surprisingly dark history with predatory dance marathons in which contestants would dance continuously with short 15 minute breaks every few hours until one couple remains. During The Great Depression, the dance marathon craze reached its peak with contest promoters offering cheap entertainment to spectators by exploiting the financial desperation of its contestants. The marathons would last for months at a time and contestants were pushed to their physical and mental limits. Marathon promotors would add in endurance tests such as sprint races to speed up elimination and sometimes contestants would be deprived of medical care during breaks for the sake of entertainment. Many cities ended up banning dance marathons due to their exploitative nature. Quite a long way from the light-hearted and cheery Stars Hollow Dance Marathon featured in that one Gilmore Girls episode, isn’t it?

25/03/2024

Destiny’s dance continues! This week the hosts go around and around in their conversation on Sydney Pollack’s 1969 ode to the hopelessness of human existence (under capitalism)! This 1930s era Jane Fonda vehicle proves to be delightful fodder for Alana and Sam to morbidly contemplate its grim vision of fate. And speaking of grim fates: the film also co-stars Gig Young… Yeesh! Topics include: the birth of existentialism, tracking shots in Gilmore Girls, and Red Buttons.
Episode 21 - The Greatest Depression: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
~Available on all major podcast streaming platforms~

23/03/2024

The 1970s in many ways was the coming out party for the “multi-hyphenate star”. Nowadays it’s fairly commonplace when big actors make the leap from bankable A-Lister to writer/director/producer. Prior to the emergence of figures like Warren Beatty and Barbra Streisand, this simply wasn’t as common in the old studio system. In some ways, Robert Redford is the poster child of this archetypal journey. When you truly take in his whole career, Redford’s reach is truly unmatched. Of course there is his multi-decade run as a movie star (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Indecent Proposal) and of course his storied directing career, which kicked off with him winning Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for Ordinary People (1980) and arguably only got better from there. As we discuss on the episode, not only did the film All the President's Men (1976) begin with Redford, but he actually had a hand in the personal tone Woodward and Bernstein adopted for the initial book version. And yet perhaps his crowning achievement is the Sundance Institute and its attendant film festival. How many actors have had an entire TV channel named after something they created? Just think of it: without Redford do we even get Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Steven Soderbergh or the entire '90s indie film boom?

09/03/2024

For Pakula and the producers of All the President's Men (1976), one of their primary goals in making the film was realistically capturing the essence of an modern American Newsroom. $200,000 was spent on a meticulously crafted replica of the Washington Post offices. This included 160 distinct desks recreated from photographs of actual Post desks to reflect the personalities of the real life reporters that used them. They even had the Post ship over 270 cartons of their own trash to fill the wastepaper baskets on set. Perhaps this commitment to accuracy went a little overboard, but one cannot deny the movie feels stunningly lived-in.

04/03/2024

It’s Watergate time on Kael Your Idols! Sorry to jump right in to it but we didn’t want to bury the lede. In this episode the hosts get drawn into a web of lies and cover-ups as they discuss the 1976 classic “All The President’s Men”. This tale of the greatest newspaper caper ever provides the perfect launching off point for discussing a plethora of New Hollywood character actors and themes. You can’t possibly imagine how high up this goes. Topics include: ‘Mark Twain Tonight’, impressing your boss, and paranoia.
Episode 20 - Conspiracy Buddies: All the President's Men (1976)
~Available on all major podcast streaming platforms~

28/02/2024

Barbara Loden and her cinematographer Nicholas Proferes brought a distinctive look and shooting style to Wanda (1970); one that was heavily influenced by the dominant mode in documentary film of the time. This approach was somewhere in the vicinity of what’s known as “Cinéma Vérité". It also shares many similarities with a parallel movement called “Direct Cinema” but we don’t need to litigate the differences between them in this post (listen to the episode if you want to go down that rabbit hole). Developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, Cinéma Vérité literally translated means “cinema truth’. While this might sound a bit lofty, one must keep in mind that most documentaries of the postwar era were so propagandistic that a cultural counterforce was definitely needed to puncture the artificiality. In Wanda, all the hallmarks are there: run and gun style camera work made possible by new innovations in lightweight equipment, mostly real people instead of actors, minimal set dressing, and a detached observational style meant to invoke a deep truth about reality and humanity. One of the most impressive aspects of Wanda is how Loden is able to combine the gritty offhandedness of the Vérité influence with the deep pathos of the story and rich emotional journey of her character.

21/02/2024

The word “auteur” is always sure to spark a sizzling debate amongst film fans. Obviously when using it to describe a film’s director there are legitimate questions about its usage. But when a film is conceived by, written by, directed by, and starring a person who based much of the main character on their own life, the term begins to feel very apt. Aside from Woody Allen, this level of creative control was not typically exercised by directors in the 1970s. This is one of the many things that make Barbara Loden, the director of Wanda (1970), such a singular figure. And it makes her tragic death at 48 such a titanic loss to the world of independent film. Loden began her career as a model and actress in the vibrant New York theater scene of the 1950s. She starred in a few plays and movies - perhaps her most notable screen role was in Splendor in the Grass (1961). However she came to feel boxed in by her blonde bombshell looks (this was not helped by her winning a Tony for playing a thinly veiled version of Marilyn Monroe) and longed to break out of this stereotype. She found her way out through making “Wanda” a gritty, anti-Hollywood portrait of a depressed, impoverished divorcee who gets embroiled in a bank robbery. Though the film won the International Critics Prize at Cannes, it was critically shrugged off and never gained widespread distribution. Despite this, there is little doubt that Loden felt a deep sense of artistic satisfaction. She was finally able to make a personal statement that reflected reality as she saw it, and this was her stated goal. While there’s little doubt that Loden would be gratified and maybe a little amused at the high place her movie has ascended to in film culture, it's clear that she was making the movie largely to just see it herself. If a person could only make one feature film in their brief lifetime, anyone would be lucky to have it be a movie as unique and inspirational as Loden’s.

11/02/2024

This week on the ol’ podcast: Barbara Loden’s massively under-seen film Wanda (1970). We held this conversation a few months ago in the wake of the film placing 49th on the most recent Sight and Sound poll. Is this reputation warranted? Has the movie gone too quickly from being something no one ever heard of to supposedly being considered one of the greatest films of all time? Join Alana and Sam for a rough, run and gun discussion of this recently rediscovered 70s masterpiece. Topics include: Company: A Cast Album, female anti-heroes, and the S.T.I.G.M.A. Manifesto.

07/02/2024

Some praise for Jon Voight: he has given us many great performances across many different eras of film, helped redefine a new masculinity for the 70s, settled gracefully into elder statesman supporting player roles in the 90s, and let’s not forget that without him there would be no Angelina Jolie. Unfortunately in recent years his political views as well as the actor’s famously troubled relationship with his much more famous daughter have somewhat diminished the public’s interest in his current work. You couldn’t exactly call him ‘overlooked’ or ’under-appreciated’ given the generally fawning allegiance his movies still provoke in people (Midnight Cowboy (1969), Deliverance (1972), Heat (1995), and Mission: Impossible (1996) come to mind as films that seem destined to exist forever on rotation). It is a shame though, that his Oscar Winning work in Coming Home (1978) is not more readily available. Not only is his Best Actor win one of the most well-deserved of all time, it actually might be his personal best work. Must have felt nice to win for that one.

06/02/2024

The thing is, if you’re the sort of person who wants to make a podcast concerning the New Hollywood era - you probably love Jane Fonda. And we over here at Kael Your Idols are certainly no exception to this maxim. Both of the hosts had their own long-cherished affection for the octogenarian nepo baby / starlet / activist / sex-symbol / master-actor / aerobics instructor / producer / force of nature, but doing this show has only intensified our respective obsessions. A multiple Oscar winner, her work in Hal Ashby’s Coming Home (1978) is one of her richest and most complex characters ever. In fact, calling it ‘Hal Ashby’s’ just now felt a little disingenuous, seeing as the movie fully generated from Fonda and her Vietnam activism. And it’s even more impressive given the political context at the time that she managed to effectively meld a kind of polemic with a heartfelt romance and absorbing drama. This is a talent she would go on to display in her other activism influenced work: The China Syndrome (1979) and 9 to 5 (1980).

29/01/2024

If you want to sing out! Sing out! Kael Your Idols is pleased to bring you another Very Special Episode as we turn our attention and our empathy towards the career of Hal Ashby. The hosts are joined by film person Michael J. Dougherty to trace the tragicomic trajectory of this titan of 70s cinema; starting with Ashby's work as an acclaimed editor and terminating with the studio shutting him out of his final film’s editing room. For the purpose of this episode we mainly concern ourselves with The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Coming Home (1978), and 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), but the conversation touches on almost all of his notable projects. Topics include: allergies to preciousness, predictions about the writers strike (this was recorded last summer), and Greta Gerwig.
Episode 18 - Director Spotlight: Three from Hal Ashby
~Available on all major podcast streaming platforms~

29/01/2024

I love comparing the traffic lights effect in Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le Fou (1965) and Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). Coincidence? Quite possibly! But Scorsese is heavily influenced by Godard and he uses French New Wave techniques in his filmmaking. For example, the close-up of the alka-seltzer tablet fizzing in the water glass in Taxi Driver is a direct nod to the coffee cup scene in Godard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967), and there are of course those jump cuts...

29/01/2024

Martin Scorsese is the opposite of "that song by Kris Kristofferson" - he seems like a walking contradiction but in fact his multiple facets are what make him so singular. He directed Taxi Driver in 1976. At the time, his most recent project had been Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), a drama about a single mother facing the realities of womanhood in the 70s. In the 1990s he brought forth some of his most stereotypically Scorsesian works: Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995), mobster movies featuring his frequent collaborator Robert DeNiro. But within that same decade he managed to also bring us costume dramas featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, a depiction of the life of the Dalai Lama and yet another intense Nicholas Cage performance, this time as a depressed EMT. The work he has given us across his 6 decade career has been remarkably eclectic considering how much of a specific niche he has managed to carve out for himself. Plenty of directors have tackled multiple genres, but does anyone really think that Kubrick had a Hugo in him? Or that Francis Ford Coppola could have made King of Comedy? No. Indeed not only is Scorsese as multifaceted as an auteur could be, he’s also at the top level of consistency ever achieved in his field. His most recent triumph with Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) at age 80 gives every indication that he is every bit as vital as he has ever been.

14/01/2024

Welcome to 2024 fellow Kael Your Idolators! For this first episode of the New Year we’re gassed up, got the meter running, and we’re offering you a midnight ride into the twisted minds of De Niro, Scorsese, and Schrader. These three New Hollywood geniuses unite for the first time to create one of cinema’s greatest achievements: Taxi Driver. Join Alana and Sam in this wide-ranging discussion that also takes place VERY late at night. Topics include: talking to yourself, the question of whether or not you are talking to me, and the fact that I’m the only one here.
Episode 17 - Transcendent Neo Wave: Taxi Driver (1976)
~Available on all major podcast streaming platforms~

04/01/2024

1973 vs 2023: the match-up of the century! To celebrate the new year we are counting down our top 5 films from these two years in cinema. Which movies were our favorites? Which movies missed the mark? And will 1973 or 2023 reign supreme? Listen to find out.

28/12/2023

We love a Good Ol’ Grateful Dead connection over here at Kael Your Idols, no matter how tenuous it may be. Well this week we got one that’s not a very long walk at all - the writings of Tom Wolfe. The famed progenitor of so-called New Journalism turned his observant eye on both the Mercury Astronauts for ‘The Right Stuff’ as well as the countercultural antics of the Merry Pranksters in his 60s masterpiece ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’. These early experiments in hippiedom known as Acid Tests featured a house band called ‘The Warlocks’ who later went on to change their name to the ‘Grateful Dead’. The Mercury project ended in 1965, the Dead were founded the same year and went on to pioneer their own brand of space travel. Only a writer as richly evocative and specific like Wolfe could harness these mad epic tales and bring them down to earth for a mainstream readership.

27/12/2023

Pictured: The gorgeous Sally Rand.
In a key scene in The Right Stuff (1983), the astronauts and their wives watch a burlesque performance while Chuck Yeager attempts to break another record. The burlesque dancer is Peggy Davis portraying the beautiful Sally Rand doing her famous Fan Dance. In Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff", he describes the astronauts watching an aging Sally Rand perform the Fan Dance at a barbecue in Houston. In our most recent episode we discuss how director Kaufman uses this anecdote in poetic montage to comment on the themes of the movie.

21/12/2023

Special effects for the trippy space sequences in The Right Stuff (1983) were created by avant-garde filmmaker Jordan Belson whose art is featured in this post. Belson was hired to do the effects to draft off of the success of the famous Stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a sequence which is said to have been heavily influenced by Belson's short films (especially his 1961 movie 'Allures'). We highly recommend checking out Belson's experimental short films which are available for free on youtube!

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The derby scenes in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) contain truly harrowing sequences that leave a lasting impression on viewers. Director Sydney Pollack shot some of these sequences himself while wearing roller skates to get right up in the action of the scene. You can truly feel the characters' exhaustion and desperation as you watch them go round and round.

Anybody else think Deep Throat just loooooooves the drama? Like, oooo I've got a secret but I can't tell you! I'll just give you hints ; ) All the President's Men (1976) took great pains to accurately capture the accounts of Woodward and Bernstein during their Watergate investigation which means the over-the-top depiction of this exchange between Deep Throat and Woodward has historical merit.

Wanda (1970) was shot with a 16mm camera for budget reasons, but the advantages of using a small camera are on full display in this car robbery scene where you realize partway through that the camera was shooting from INSIDE the car the whole time. Cinematographer Nicholas Proferes told actor Michael Higgins “you do what you have to do, and I’ll follow you”. Regarding the flexibility in movement while acting, Higgins said he “never had before and never since experienced such freedom”.

Here's a clip of a fascinating interview from 1972 with Yoko Ono, John Lennon, and Barbara Loden who all became friends after meeting at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. They discuss the difficulties of being female artists/creators with famous husbands, nepotism, and Loden's experience working with men on her film. Sadly, there was no "next time" for Loden, who was denied any opportunities to create another feature film despite the critical success of Wanda (1970).

In February 1972 Barbara Loden appeared on the Mike Douglas show to promote her new film Wanda. This clip is a perfect example of the lack of respect female directors face. Douglas couldn't even be bothered to look up the basic details about the film before interviewing Loden... She's literally the star of the movie (in addition to being the writer/director/producer).

Jonathan Banks: telling you how it is since 1978! We were absolutely delighted to see Jonathan Banks make a brief appearance in Ashby's Coming Home (1978)

The famous multi-screen polo sequence from Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair (1968): The polo sequence in its original form was too long and on the chopping block, but then-editor Hal Ashby said "don't cut it out, cut it up", so they hired graphic designer Pablo Ferro to turn the scene into a multi-screen sequence. Ferro had previously designed film logotypes, title sequences, and advertisements, and Hal liked his innovative approach. Hal assisted Ferro in refining his technique to design and edit the multi-screen sequences in The Thomas Crown Affair, and the results were jaw-dropping. Ferro's work with the polo footage reduced the sequence's runtime from 6 minutes to 40 seconds, and of course it also looked insanely cool.

Enjoy this clip of the sexy chess scene from Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), featuring some excellent editing by Hal Ashby. ~Check out Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast for a deep-dive into New Hollywood cinema~

Pacino ballet dancing in Serpico (1973) is *delightful*

Sam's thoughts on rocky road ice cream

No discussion of the social changes that characterized the 60s and 70s would be complete without an interlude on the Esalen Institute. Because its ideas and practices have become so much a part of mainstream American thought, it’s difficult to emphasize how revolutionary concepts like encounter groups, spirituality, free love, and even yoga were when they were first brought to the shores of California in 1962. Founders Michael Murphy and Dick Price set out to explore what Aldous Huxley called ‘human potentialities’ - ideas that were far outside of the imaginations of everyday Americans. Concepts like: being openly communicative with your partner and children, getting ‘in touch’ with your body, or just simply being honest with yourself about desires that society has made you feel the need to repress. They also encouraged speakers and seminars on many other subjects that have been less widely adopted, like the healing powers of crystals or various other pseudo-scientific claims. Much of the interest in eastern religions that you see in American life has its roots in Esalen. The beginning of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice depicts a retreat that is easily recognizable as a version of the famous institute. Bob and Carol's experience at the institute sets into motion their journey of self-exploration which underpins the entire film. An analogue of the Esalen Institute is also famously featured in the finale of Mad Men. Much of the 70s (or ‘Me decade’) can be characterized by a gradual opening up of the American mind to things offered by Esalen, or its offshoots such as ‘EST’, Self Esteem, or the Human Potential Movement. Indeed, the whole genre of self-help really has its roots here, in this remote haven in Big Sur, California.

I will forever be entertained by this very goofy shot of Faye Dunaway clonking down some stairs immediately after the camera sexualizes her in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Who doesn't love a good bar brawl scene? Tokyo Drifter (1966)

Frank is so cool. Crazed Fruit (1956)

Varda has such an eye for capturing the mesmerizing beauty of the fishing village La Pointe Courte in her eponymously named 1955 film.

Here's American filmmaker Samuel Fuller making a cameo in Pierrot le Fou (1965) to explain what a movie is. This may or may not be Jean-Luc Godard's thesis.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, the impish star of Pierrot le Fou as well as Breathless by Godard, was never just an actor. For most of his career he was a SYMBOL. Of masculinity, of the avant-garde, of Frenchness, and of movie-stardom, as well as whatever else anyone wants to project onto his fascinating mug. He has been compared to Bogart and Brando, John Wayne and James Dean. Famously he avoided doing English language films despite Hollywood begging him to many times over his decade-long run as a box office draw. Imagining French cinema without his face is like imagining cartoons with no Bugs Bunny.

Me, every Monday. (Pierrot le Fou, 1965)

Favorite line from Pierrot le Fou (1965)

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