184. A Prayer Before Dawn (2017) & Papillon (1973)

This week, we discuss two New York police films from 1981. The first is Nighthawks, which follows Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams as a couple of undercover detctives tasked with taking down a ruthless international terrorist played by Rutger Hauer. The second is Fort Apache, The Bronx, which stars Paul Newman as Murphy, a veteran street cop who faces numerous daily challenges in one of the roughest neighbourhoods in New York. Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:25) – Weapons, Friendship Nighthawks (00:12:15) Fort Apache, The Bronx (00:46:25) Coin toss (01:12:35)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two crime films from director Richard Brooks. The first is Looking for Mr. Goodbar, based on Judith Rossner's best-selling 1975 novel of the same title, which was inspired by the 1973 murder of New York City schoolteacher Roseann Quinn. The film stars Diane Keaton, Richard Gere and Tom Berenger. The second is In Cold Blood, based on Truman Capote's groundbreaking 1966 nonfiction novel. It stars Robert Blake and Scott Wilson as two down-and-out criminals who murder a family of four in small town Kansas.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:25) – Weapons, Bring Her Back, Peacemaker season one and two, The Northman, Inception, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1, Licorice Pizza, Alien: Earth season one Looking for Mr. Goodbar (00:27:20) In Cold Blood (00:54:50) Coin toss (01:13:15)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films about people imprisoned overseas. The first is A Prayer Before Dawn (2017), which tells the true story of Billy Moore, a British boxer and heroin addict who spent a number of years incarcerated in Thailand in brutal conditions. The second is Papillon (1973), starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. The film is based on the autobiography of Henri Charrière, a safecracker sentenced to life imprisonment in French Guiana.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:30) – Karen Pirie season two, Barry season three, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, King of the Hill season fourteen, The Naked Gun, Frozen 2, Aladdin, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight   A Prayer Before Dawn (00:23:50) Papillon (00:54:00) Coin toss (01:28:20)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two crime films set in Jamaica. The first is The Harder They Come (1972), which stars Jimmy Cliff as Ivanhoe Martin, a young man who, after failing to make it as a musician, becomes an outlaw. The film’s soundtrack is famed for bringing reggae to a global audience. The second is Yardie (2018), which tells the story of a young man named D who moves from Jamaica to London in the 1980s and becomes embroiled in the criminal underworld. Yardie was Idris Elba’s directorial debut.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:30) – Severance season one, The Accountant 2, When We Were Kings, Superman, Talk to Me, Happy Gilmore 2   The Harder They Come (00:31:50) Yardie (01:04:30) Coin toss (01:27:45)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from American director John Sturges. The first is Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), which stars Spencer Tracy as a WW2 vet who uncovers a dark secret in a small desert town. The second is Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), which retells the story of the infamous 1881 shootout featuring Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the Cochise County Cowboys in the town of Tombstone, Arizona.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Jaws @ 50, The French Connection, As Tears Go By, Avengers: Infinity War Bad Day at Black Rock (00:16:00) Gunfight at the OK Corral (00:45:35) Coin toss (01:27:35)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from American cult horror director Fred Dekker. The first is The Monster Squad (1987), co-written by Shane Black, which sees a group of young kids take on the Universal monsters. The second is Night of the Creeps (1986), where two uncool college students find themselves at the centre of an alien invasion that turns people into zombies.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:55) – Sexy Beast, Ocean’s Twelve, Wolfman’s Got Nards The Monster Squad (00:14:05) Night of the Creeps (00:41:45) Coin toss (01:08:50)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from French director François Ozon. The first is In the House (2012), which follows a precocious student who infiltrates a classmate’s family life through storytelling, blurring the line between fiction and reality. The second is Swimming Pool (2003), a tense psychological mystery where a reclusive writer’s quiet retreat unravels into a game of seduction, suspicion and blurred identities.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Welcome to Wrexham season four, The Bear season four, 28 Years Later, Shifty, F1, The Ballad of Wallis Island, Jurassic World Rebirth, Dune: Part Two, War Dogs, Scanners In the House (00:40:40) Swimming Pool (00:56:00) Coin toss (01:19:50)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from American director John Milius. The first is The Wind and the Lion (1975), which blends adventure and political intrigue as a Berber chieftain kidnaps an American woman, sparking an international incident in early 20th-century Morocco. The second is Conan the Barbarian (1982), which charts the mythic rise of a warrior seeking vengeance in a brutal, sorcery-laced world.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Dept. Q, Tires season two, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Goodfellas, The Social Network, Tornado, Prey The Wind and the Lion (00:25:00) Conan the Barbarian (00:56:40) Coin toss (01:23:50)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films that explore the uncertainty of growing up. The first is Diner (1982), which captures the camaraderie and coming-of-age struggles of a group of young men on the brink of adulthood in 1950s Baltimore. The second is I Vitelloni (1953), which follows five idle friends in a small Italian town as they face the slow, reluctant transition from youth to responsibility.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Dept. Q, The Rehearsal season two, The Salt Path, Tires season two, Alien 3 - The Legacy Cut, City of God, Predator: Killer of Killers Diner (00:33:25) I Vitelloni (01:07:25) Coin toss (01:33:20)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com Alien 3 - The Legacy Cut - https://www.a34k.net/ Andor: The Rogue One Arc - https://fanedit.org/forums/threads/andor-the-rogue-one-arc-rogue-one-rescore.29698/

This week, we discuss two films that quietly explore isolation, beauty and the passage of time. The first is Vigil (1984), which follows a young girl in rural New Zealand as she navigates grief, and a mysterious new presence, after her father's death. The second is Days of Heaven (1978), which captures the tragedy of a love triangle set against the sweeping landscapes of the American frontier.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden, The Phoenician Scheme, Red River, The Last of Us season two, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Predator, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey Vigil (00:35:00) Days of Heaven (00:45:50) Coin toss (01:10:40)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com Vigil (1984) - https://youtu.be/1WSn5BTKjFM?si=3c_7KSFlGbz-LqPV