Words and Movies

In Part 2 of our episode, we look at 1990s The Russia House, starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. This film, directed by Fred Schepisi, features Connery as a British Intelligence agent (wait...what?) who's looking for the author of a sensitive Soviet manuscript whose contents, if true, could mean a great deal to the Intelligence Community. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Next time, we stick with LeCarre novels rendered on film, with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), and A Most Wanted Man (2014), Join us, won't you? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

Our look at Spy films takes a more serious turn with this look at a pair of movies based on John LeCarre novels. We start with The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1965), directed by Martin Ritt and starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. It's a tale of a spy who chooses one more mission instead of coming in after a Cold War mission goes wrong. In Part 2, we'll move on to The Russia House, from 1990. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

In the second half of our episode, we're reviewing the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker parody Top Secret! starring Val Kilmer playing an Elvis/Beach Boys pop star who is invited to perform in East Germany as a means of distraction from a plot to destroy NATO submarines. Typical of most ZAZ films, it's chock full of weird sight gags, bent cliches and multi-layered jokes that don't distract (much) from the main story's ability to make progress and give you an outcome you didn't realize you were invested in. COMING ATTRACTIONS: We stick with the spy genre for a while, but on a less-comedic note as we visit several movies based on John LeCarre novels. In our next episode we start with The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965) and from there we visit The Russia House (1990). Join us, won't you? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

What happens when you're an Ordinary Schmoe who suddenly gets sucked into the spy game? This is what we're exploring this week, as we look at a pair of films dedicated to the proposition that anyone can become a spy, if they're stupid enough. We start with The In-Laws, from 1979 and directed by Arthur Hiller. Peter Falk and Alan Arkin are soon-to-be in-laws who get caught up in an international incident shortly before their children get married. In Part 2, we'll take a peek at Top Secret! from 1984. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

In Part Two of our episode, we review Cold War, a film from 2018 that follows a couple that can't seem to get their act together, not until the very end, when it's far too late to do anything about it. Wiktor and Zula find themselves on opposite sides of several things, ultimately on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. He's smitten enough to return to Communist Poland, sacrificing his freedom and delaying their reunion for years. She finds a way to get him released early, which ends up being a huge sacrifice for her as well. Whether it was worth it for the two of them to be together, we'll leave it for you to decide. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Episodes 71-73 will cover--or maybe it's "undercover" spy films, but we're going to start off light, with a pair of spy comedies. First up will be The In-Laws, from 1979, starring Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. After that we'll look at Top Secret!, a 1984 spoof that asks what might happen if Elvis did a spy movie. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

Welcome Back! Sean and Claude took a little Spring Break and we hope you were able to do the same. For our 70th episode, we take a peek at two films that involve couples dealing with life on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Part One features The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin. In this film we have a couple who find themselves going from the Prague Spring to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and the events afterward. How they deal with life, love and the things that are thrown their way, you'll find quite touching. In Part Two, we'll look at a rather star-crossed couple that finds itself on opposite sides of many different lines, in 2018's Cold War. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

In this half of the show, we jump to the early 1960s as four more icons come together ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI...(2020). This meeting is a little more contentious than in INSIGNIFICANCE, and while this meeting didn't happen, the characters and their reactions have a truthful feel that allows you to believe it would have been exactly like this. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Next time around, we look at love during wartime, as we screen THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (1988), a story that takes place in the late 1960s in Prague and Switzerland. Then we skip back to post-WW2 Poland for COLD WAR (2018). Both films have similar endings but how they get there is vastly different. Join us, won't you? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

We stick with the fantasy thing for one more week, but with a different spin, as we examine a pair of films that have more of a "What If?" thing going on. In the first half of our episode we have INSIGNIFICANCE (1985), based on the play of the same name by Terry Johnson and directed here by Nicolas Roeg. We see four almost-unnamed famous people come together in a very interesting way in the late 1950s. Whether you believe the events here could have happened is up to you, but you'll be entranced nonetheless. In Part 2, we'll see another quartet of icons meeting in the early 1960s, in ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI...(2020). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

In this half of the episode we're talking about Hanna, directed by Joe Wright and starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role. This is truly a modern-day story, with story beats that have fairy-tale aspects to them...and a couple of scenes that are more overtly related to fairy tales. This film was the basis for the Amazon Prime TV series of the same name, and we spend a little time exploring the differences between the two. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

We continue our series of modern-day fairy tales with The Bride With White Hair, from 1993. It's a Wuxia film with a star-crossed lovers element, and while it might be a little confusing early on, stick with it and you'll be glad you did. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

In this second half of the episode, we're reviewing Mona Lisa, a film from 1986 directed and co-written by Neil Jordan. Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson are an unlikely pair doing unlikely stuff. And if you've noticed that I haven't drawn the specific parallels to the fairy tales involved, you'd be correct. You'll have to listen to the episode for that. COMING ATTRACTIONS: In Reel 68, we'll be checking out another pair of modern fairy tales, but they'll be foreign-based and a little more esoteric. First we'll screen The Bride With White Hair (1993), a Hong Kong film directed by Ronny Yu. After that we go to Scandinavia for Hanna (2011), directed by Joe Wright and the inspiration for the 2019 Netflix series. Join us, won't you? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

This is the first of two episodes where we look at fairy tales told through a modern lens. In this half, we start off with Ball of Fire (1941), directed by Howard Hawks and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper and a host of character actors. Stanwyck plays a woman hiding out from the police because she's a material witness to a crime. She finds herself staying with a house full of scholars who are putting together an encyclopedia of all human knowledge. In exchange, she gives them some lessons in modern-day language and pop culture in general. And, of course, hijinks ensue when she starts falling for one of the scholars. In the second half of the episode, we'll be looking at 1986's Mona Lisa. See you over there. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

We conclude our short series with a look at Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and a Cast of Thousands. In both films everybody seems to be having some breezy fun, but the purpose of that fun is kind of different, and it works better here. Again, that's in our humble opinions. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

Ordinarily, when we see a film that's a remake of a previous movie, we tend to say that the original was better. But in this second of two episodes, we discuss a pair of films in which the remake was the superior version, at least in our humble opinions. Here in Part One, we're looking at The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), directed by John McTiernan and starring Pierce Brosnan and René Russo. There are several differences between the two, but most noticeable is the chemistry between the two leads. In Part Two, we'll be reviewing the 2001 version of Ocean's Eleven. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

In Part 2 of our episode, we go to 1988 and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, directed by Frank Oz. It's the second of FOUR different versions of this story: the original from 1964, this version, and then two which involved gender flips. Of the four, this is the best one, so say we. COMING ATTRACTIONS:  We continue this remake conceit with another pair of films that worked out better when they were remade. First up, from 1999 it's The Thomas Crown Affair, then we move forward a couple of years to Ocean's Eleven, from 2001. Join us, won't you?  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

We so often complain that Hollywood has no original ideas, but then we're also forced to concede occasionally that from time to time, the remake actually does a better job of telling the story. We don't enjoy conceding that, but that's the way it goes sometimes. With that in mind, this is the first of two episodes taking a look at films whose remakes surpassed the originals. First one up is The Man Who Knew Too Much, from 1956. This Alfred Hitchcock-directed film leans heavily on weird coincidences to get the story rolling, but you'll feel the tension from the moment the characters do. You may not even hate hearing Doris Day sing what became her signature song. In Part Two we'll jump to 1988 to talk about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

Here in Part Two, we look at the 2016 edition of Loving. This film, which was directed by Jeff Nichols, stars Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as Mildred and Richard Loving, the real-life couple who turned their relationship into a Federal case. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Our next episode is the first of two in which we examine remakes that surpassed their originals. And we start with The Man Who Knew Too Much, from 1956, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, from 1988. See you soon! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

We return to the well of two films whose only commonality is their title. In this episode we look at Loving, from 1970 and 2016. The first half of our episode stars George Segal and Eva Marie Saint, and was directed by Irvin Kershner. Segal stars as a freelance artist who's attempting to revitalize his career just as his marriage to Eva Marie Saint begins to fall apart. It's a serious story with a comic overlay and you'll wonder why it doesn't get more attention these days. In Part 2 we'll look at a different film with a very different theme. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

Our conversation jumps to 1987. This No Way Out stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and Sean Young in a story of Cold War intrigue. We practically guarantee that you'll be caught off-guard by the way everything resolves. Strap yourself in; we had a LOT to say. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support

For the next two episodes, we'll be looking at films whose only commonality is their title. In this episode we're screening two films titled No Way Out. In the first half, it's the 1950 version starring Sidney Poitier in his feature film debut, along with Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell and Stephen McNally. Poitier is a doctor who runs into race issues and a medical complication during his first night in a new assignment. The issue snowballs until there's a full race riot going  on. Poitier's character comes up with an interesting tactic to prove he did the right thing that first night, but it nearly backfires on him.   --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wordsandmovies/support