Ep. 48 - Magic (1978)

On the eve of Paul Newman's centennial, Ben, Scott and Jim welcome guest Christina Martin-Wright to the show for a spirited and lengthy dissection of George Roy Hill's brilliant hockey comedy, SLAP SHOT. Pull up a bleacher and join in as the panel discusses: * Own vs Owns * What qualifies as a sex scene * Network tv versions of profanity fueled classics * Lindsay Crouse’s tipping point * Paul Newman’s gold teeth * The lost art of “mooning” * The lost art of subtle “coarse” comedies * Sssssss vs Slither * Carlson bros vs Hanson bros * Strother Martin vs Marv Albert And much much more! + what was playing that week?

Ben Reiser, Scott Lucas and Jim Healy tackle one of their favorite "Christmas" movies, 1978's The Silent Partner, directed by Daryl Duke and written by Curtis Hanson. In addition to Duke and Hanson, the guys cover everyone and everything from Elliott Gould to Christopher Plummer, from Susannah York to John Candy, from David Cronenberg to Carolco, and much much much more. Also a delightful round of What Was Playing That Week?!?

Happy Thanksgiving, 70 Movies style! Ben and Scott are joined by special guest Jim Healy to gather round the table for a tart as a cranberry discussion of Norman Lear's 1971 turkey - Cold Turkey. Sit back with a plate full of stuffing and listen along as we try to make sense of this sour satire of small town life. Along the way we get into Paddy Chayefsky, George C. Scott, top three Walter Matthau movies, Robert Downey, Sr., the delightful Pippa Scott and much more. Plus, a rousing round of "What Else Was Playing That Week?"

Ben is joined by writer-director, Richard Shepard (The Linguini Incident, The Matador, The Perfection, I Knew It Was You, and most recently, Film Geek) for a deep dive into the vivid 70s Marseilles universe of John Frankenheimer's The French Connection II. Go (re)watch the movie and then join us for a spoiler-filled two hour conversation that touches on the joy of seeing Gene Hackman eat, the heartache of seeing Gene Hackman go cold turkey, the underrated career of John Frankenheimer, running in work clothes and dress shoes, Allison Williams, Roy Scheider, Elmore Leonard, Cutter's Way, and so much more!

On a special Christmas-themed episode, Scott and Ben dive down the 70s conspiracy thriller rabbit hole with Sidney Pollack's THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. See if you can follow the breadcrumbs as we: *Relish Redford's mo-ped machismo *Casually comment on Cliff's combover *Fawn fondly over Faye's fabulous photos PLUS *Sidney Pollack out-hitches Hitch as the original king of Cameo *Von Sydow lays a glove on us *Hank Garrett smushes a schnoz *Encyclopedia Brown vs. Dick Tracy AND *A Seinfeld conspiracy *What was playing that week?

On an all-star episode of 70 Movies We Saw in the 70s, Jim Healy and Scooter McCrae join Scott and Ben for an apocalyptic assault on John Boorman's one-of-a-kind dystopian sex/death romp, Zardoz! Listen along as the quartet analyzes everything from Sean Connery's speedo-loincloth to Sean Connery's bearded ponytail. Hold on to your headphones as we careen down memory lane with tales of close encounters with John Boorman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and the Coen Brothers. Break out the green bread, this one's a doozy!

On an all-new episode of 70 Movies We Saw in the 70s, Ben and Scott cover Martin Scorsese's left-turn follow up to Mean Streets. Topics include: *Burstyn as auteur *Voices sell visuals *Keitel's accents *Alfred Lutter III is John Cazale Jr. *Mott the Hoople vs. The Boss vs. Bob Seger *Vic Tayback, superstar *What's Happening is NOT Cooley High *The joy of low-stakes cinema *The joy of secret jump cuts *Kristofferson as manic-pixie-beardo And much much more!

On a spirited, contentious new episode, Scott and Ben discuss Richard Attenborough's 1978 spook show, MAGIC. Listen and weigh in with your opinions about: - Fats: sentient or wood - Corky: psychic or trickster - Peggy: boobs or eyebrows - Burgess Meredith: can this guy tell time, or what? - David Ogden Stiers: hairpiece or herpes? - William Goldman: old-fashioned or just old school - Ventriloquism: to throw or not to throw, that is the question and much much more, including Dead of Night, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, and Soap!

On a special double feature/dual podcast episode of 70 Movies We Saw in the 70s/Cinematalk commemorating the screenings of both films at UW Cinematheque, Ben Reiser and Jim Healy take a deep dive into a “Fistful of Feiffers”, discussing both LITTLE MURDERS (1971) and CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971). ‘71 was a big year for screenwriter/playwright/cartoonist Jules Feiffer, with Alan Arkin’s LITTLE MURDERS and Mike Nichols’ CARNAL KNOWLEDGE both hitting screens within six months of each other. Listen along as Jim and Ben try to suss out Feiffer’s inspirations, figure out what genres these films do and don’t fall into, Elliott Gould on top of the world, Candice Bergen’s best work, waiting for Godard, Gordon Willis goes wild, Nicholson as man-baby, magnificent Ann Margret, and much more, including not one, but TWO rounds of “What else was playing that week?”.

All aboard as Scott Lucas and Ben Reiser dissect one of the all-time great thrillers, Joseph Sargent's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Hang on to your straps as we: - Wrap our heads around the catch-all: Neo-Noir - Bow down to the great Peter Stone (Not a pen name!) - Pay our respects to Tom Pedi - Talk NYC Jews and Italians - Badmouth Tony Scott - Guess the mayor - Say gesundheit! And much, much more!!