Ep 154: The Oldest Profession featuring Ali Davis

As we close out #SEXtember 3: Ménage a Trois we were not expecting this kind of surprise. When Erica chose 1967's THE OLDEST PROFESSION based on the New World Video artwork, she had no idea we were about to watch an European-made sex comedy anthology! And when things get weird with New World movies, there's one person we have to call: comedian and writer Ali Davis, who first joined us for such New World odds and ends classics as UP FROM THE DEPTHS and THE FUNNY FARM! We put her patience to the test with this one! Released in the U.S. and Canada by THE BLOC producer Jack H. Harris, this was made by six different directors: Claude Autant-Lara, Mauro Bolognini, Philippe de Broca, Michael Pfleghar, Franco Indovina, and French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard. With all these European directors, do we do accents? Oh, you bet we do! Lots of them! We also try to make sense of the film, which tries to tell stories about prostitution across many different eras, from prehistoric times to the future! It's one sexy ride through time! Well, it is a ride, anyway! The film is aided by a terrific cast, including Jeanne Moreau and Raquel Welch, who got her acting start in her native San Diego, the same place where hosts Marc and Ryan are from! Is there a family connection? Listen and find out! For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here: https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/.

It's another sexy, sexy entry into #Sextember 3: Ménage a Trois.  We are talking about 1985's STREETWALKIN'.  STREETWALKIN' was made by Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures during a time he thought he was making movies for New World Pictures.  Directed by Joan Freeman and stars Melissa Leo (THE FIGHTER) and Dale Midkiff (PET SEMETARY).  STREETWALKIN' follows Cookie and Tim who try to make it big in the Big Apple.  Cookie becomes a prostitute and Tim wanders around the city with no parental supervision.  What could go wrong? Marc talks about the challenges of ordering Chinese food late at night.  Marc has a bold take on Shutter Island - a movie he, evidently hates and Erica only remembers "seeing".  Ryan tells a really fun story about how he used to put the DARK KNIGHT on every time that Erica left the room.  It's a really funny story except Marc doesn't understand what they're talking about at all.   We take a break to ask questions about people who drop a number a number two at night clubs.  Did they just not prepare to spend a few hours at a club?  Is it always a digestive emergency?  Either way, it says something about you as an individual when you confidently take a poop in the dirty bathrooms of a nightclub. Also, is this a sequel to Day of the Dead?  It could be.  It probably is.  It should be. 

When the leaves start to fall, and the summer temperatures goes down, you know what that means: #Sextember! Three years in to exploring the sexploitation movies released by New World Pictures, we start #Sextember 3: Ménage a Trois with 1984's THEY'RE PLAYING WITH FIRE. Starring Sybil Danning (BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS) as a college professor who seduces her student (Eric Brown, PRIVATE LESSONS, Mama's Family), but is she doing so just for the awkward sex or does she have other dubious plans with her husband (Andrew Prine, THE EVIL, GRIZZLY)? If you answered "yes," you'd be right, because this film doesn't just feature a teacher/student relationship but also murder, a mysterious killer, and many lives being wrapped up in the ongoing entertainment and beer specials at Campus Pub! The was directed by Howard Avedis, who directed the similarly-plotted movie THE TEACHER in 1974, which we discuss along with the complexities of owning a yacht and all the shellacking that is involved, the lack of locations involved in the movie, and the giallo vibes the movie gives, including an unusual voice of the killer! Also: what makes a handyman? Do you have to be smart to be a professor? And what's the place to feed your dog? THEY'RE PLAYING WITH FIRE has a place you've maybe never thought about! Enjoy the theme song, which this film has because most movies of the 1980s did, and is a sure-fire contender for a Worldie later this year! Should we record the Worldies at a Campus Pub? We'd be fools not to!  Listen as we start #Sextember 3 in style, at least until Mom and Grandma kick us out!  For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here: https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/.

We end #HAHAugust 2: Double Take with a bucket list guest: director Fritz Kiersch, one of the important directors of the second New World Pictures era, helming CHILDREN OF THE CORN to TUFF TURF, and lastly, UNDER THE BOARDWALK. This is really a 2-part interview, with this being the second half, but, since we're releasing it first, so it's actually Part 1. Trust us, it will all make sense. In this part of the interview (Part 1), we discuss UNDER THE BOARDWALK and a non-New World film Kiersch directed prior, 1987's WINNERS TAKE ALL, including why Kiersch chose UNDER THE BOARDWALK for the third film in his 3-picture deal with the studio and why WINNERS TAKE ALL isn't a New World movie (when it really feels like one). In a two film span, there was plenty of drama, with hirings, firings, and the final days of New World Pictures, for which UNDER THE BOARDWALK was a victim.  One of the final theatrical offerings New World would release, the film got buried by a lack of publicity, along with HEATHERS. With the help of Fritz, we're trying to change all that. Don't miss this terrific conversation, with Fritz explaining the casting, working with Robert King, and the production of UNDER THE BOARDWALK, and what Fritz originally intended with WINNERS TAKE ALL. We also touch briefly on TUFF TUF, but for more on that film, you'll have to wait until the second part of this conversation (really, Part 1). Again, it makes sense!  For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here:  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/. 

We continue HAHAugust 2: Double Take with an extremely underseen gem from the New World catalog, the Los Angeles set surf dramedy UNDER THE BOARDWALK, directed by Fritz Kiersch (CHILDREN OF THE CORN, TUFF TURF). Originally set to be released in 1988, New World eventually put this out at the same time as HEATHERS, the final two theatrical releases for the company.  Featuring the endless struggle between the coastal "locs" (or "lawks" as Letterboxd might have you believe) and the San Fernando Valley "Vals," the film concerns two star-crossed lovers caught between the two worlds just as the two sides meet in a local surf competition (or "compo" if you're cool). How does Allie (Danielle van Zerneck, LA BAMBA) deal with her feelings for Nick (Richard Joseph Paul, OBLIVION)? Well, not by looking after her cousin Andy (Keith Coogan, ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING), that's for sure! Helping us discuss this Shakespearean tale is our good friend and New World superfan Justin Grams, who has been with this film from the very beginning!  Listen as we go through the film's history, share our thoughts on a potential sequel, have a discussion of the slang term "whease," and a whole lot more as we give this film the attention it deserves!  Special thanks to Fritz Kiersch, writer/producer Matthew Irmas, and producer Greg Blackwell for their assistance with this episode! For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here: https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ 

We are kicking off HAHAugust 2: Double Take with 1982's "a guy in a dress is always funny" comedy, JIMMY THE KID starring Gary Coleman (ON THE RIGHT TRACK, DIFF'RENT STROKES), Paul Le Mat (AMERICAN GRAFFITI, PUPPET MASTER), Cleavon Little (BLAZING SADDLES, FLETCH LIVES) and Dee Wallace (ET, THE HOWLING).  To say they're the stars without also mentioning Pat Morita, Ruth Gordon, Don Adams and Fay Hauser is a big disingenuous as everyone in this movie has almost the same amount of screen time.  The lone exception is Gary Coleman who, for being the lead, is missing from a large portion of the movie. Based on the Donald E. Westlake novel of the same name, JIMMY THE KID follows a bumbling gang of small-time crooks who kidnap the son of a wealthy couple who are surprisingly pretty casual about the whole situation.  The plan goes horribly wrong for no other reason than everyone in this movie is an idiot.  JIMMY THE KID is part Get Smart (thanks to Don Adams essentially acting like the private investigator version of Maxwell Smart) and part wacky comedy where a car chase takes up 30 minutes of it's short 80 minute run time.  We talk about Dee Wallace getting snubbed from the movie poster, VW Vanagons, Pat Morita doing his absolute with a nothing role, and why this movie is so important in the history of New World Pictures.  Plus, Ryan does a dramatic reading that we hope gets the attention of the powers that be at Audible.  You listening, Audible?   For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here:  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ 

We continue our series on exploitation filmmaker Jack Hill with special guest Odie Henderson, columnist for the Boston Globe and author of Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras.  In this episode, we move out from Jack's New World era to his AIP era with 1973's COFFY and 1974's FOXY BROWN, two of Hill's biggest hits. They were also big hits for star Pam Grier, who had already worked with Hill in his New World films, but was now playing the titular character in both films. In COFFY, Grier plays a woman seeking revenge on the drug dealers that got her sisters addicted to drugs, while FOXY BROWN is about, well, a lot of things, including infiltrating a prostitution ring run by Grier's BIG DOLL HOUSE co-star Kathryn Loder. Expect a wide-ranging conversation that covers New World, blaxploitation films, even Indiana Jones! Which film was Jack's favorite? How did Jack nearly lose the opportunity to direct FOXY BROWN? Was COFFY written for Pam or someone else? We dive in deep, with the help of Odie's infinite expertise, and provide the answers! (Please note, this was recorded before the tragic passing of TRUCK TURNER director - and Corman Graduate - Jonathan Kaplan. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.) To buy Odie's book, head here. For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here:  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ 

A lot has happened over #SciFiJuly Presents: Dystopian Summer 2: Dystopian HARDER. For one, we celebrated our 150th New World Pictures title with ESCAPE 2000 aka TURKEY SHOOT and now we close out the month with an interview with the film's director, Brian Trenchard-Smith, who returns to the show! We get into the beginnings of Brian's career and what he learned in his early days before becoming one of the finest exploitation directors ever! We discuss Brian's time directing episodes of Silk Stalkings and also the reasons it's not easy to bring American actors to Australia before diving into ESCAPE 2000 aka TURKEY SHOOT and the difficulty of the production following the suddenly decreased budget and how Brian navigated it, why the financial problems happened, and how it ended up at New World Pictures in 1983! This is a filmmaking master class you will not want to miss! Thanks again to Brian for another incredible interview! For more about Brian, head to his website and buy his book! You won't be sorry! To hear us talking some more to Brian about DEAD-END DRIVE-IN, go here. For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here:  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/    

We celebrate the end of #SciFiJuly Presents: Dystopian Summer 2: Dystopian HARDER and our 150th New World Pictures title with director Brian Trenchard-Smith's ozploitation classic ESCAPE 2000. Or, as it was originally titled, TURKEY SHOOT. Joining us for this episode is returning guest and Cannon Film Guide author Austin Trunick! How does this compare to a Cannon movie? Austin will explain! Austin also gets a front row seat as we reveal the lost first 10 pages of the script! Truly a gem of the New World catalogue, TURKEY SHOOT was released in Australia and the United Kingdom before being picked up by New World and unleashed on the world as ESCAPE 2000. Originally set for a larger budget, the disappearing funds called for cuts to the script which meant that the film's 10-page opening, which set up the backstory of Paul (Steve Railsback) and Chris (Olivia Hussey), as well as the dystopian society in which the movie takes place, had to be abandoned. BUT NOT ANYMORE! We have a copy of the script and will reveal all! Do not miss this celebration of exploitation, of the most dangerous game, and of New World! Thanks so much for listening, we're ready for 150 more! For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here:  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ 

We are coming in hot (think wearing leather pants in the desert hot) for #SCI-FI-JULY Presents: Dystopian Summer 2: Dystopian HARDER.  This week, we talk about WHEELS OF FIRE, a nearly New World movie directed by the famous/infamous Cirio H Santiago and starring Gary Watkins (Hunter), Laura Banks (Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan) and Lynda Wiesmeier (Avenging Angel).   If you haven't seen WHEELS OF FIRE you should know it's very different from the grossly overlooked action/musical, STREETS OF FIRE, starring Michael Pare and Diane Lane.  WHEELS OF FIRE blends everything you loved about MAD MAX and THE ROAD WARRIOR with a pinch of Lucio Fulci’s CONQUEST and a heavy dollop of STRYKER.   WHEELS OF FIRE takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where shirts are optional, cars blow up at the slightest provocation and some people are trying to build a spaceship to reach a newly discovered planet.  Trace and his sister, Arlie, find themselves on a crash course of bad decisions that puts them in harm's way at every turn.  Sadly, Arlie gets the worst of it and Trace lacks any sense of urgency to save her.  Instead, he and his handy flamethrower blazes across the sandy abyss getting into fights with everyone he meets until he meets Stinger, a young, leather-strapped ingénue with a pet eagle that sounds like a hawk.  As you might imagine, one of us is not happy about this.  Each of us gives our own Letterboxd description for WHEELS OF FIRE and we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about the Baldwin brothers.  More specifically, the brothers that aren't named 'Alec'.  Can you name 12 movies off the top of your head starring Stephen Baldwin?  We couldn’t either.  For all the shows in Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network, head here:  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/