Episode 496: The Phynx (1970)

Special Guests: Bob Booker, Lou Antonio, Larry Hankin
Guest Co-Hosts: Mike Sullivan, Terry Frost

Lee H. Katzin's The Phynx (1970) is a story of espionage, intrigue, rock and roll, and the generational divide. It's about a fake rock band, the titular Phynx, who are sent on the road to infiltrate Albania whose evil government has been kidnapping America's elderly celebrities.

Mike Sullivan and Terry Frost join Mike to discuss the film as well as other generation gap movies like Skidoo, Sextette, and more.

Interviews:
00:56:32 Writer/Producer Bob Booker talks about his career in radio, comedy albums, and more.

01:48:00 Actor Lou Antonio discusses his autobiography, Cool Hand Lou, and his roles in The Phynx, "Star Trek," and Cool Hand Luke.

02:14:07 In an excerpt from a longer interview, actor Larry Hankin shares memories of The Phynx and "Barry."

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 496: The Phynx (1970)" on Spreaker.

Bonus Interview with Larry Hankin:

Listen to "Special Report: Bonus Interview with Larry Hankin" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Phynx on DVD
Read The Lost and Only Film Score of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller
Check out the Adam Film World pictures
Visit the official Shock Cinema magazine website
Visit the official Cinema Sewer magazine website

Music:
"I've Got Them Feelin' Too Good Today Blues" - Peggy Lee
"Trip With Me" - Nancy Wilson
"How About a Little Hand (For the Boys In the Band)" - The Boys In The Band
"Hello, Jack" - Jack Wild

Watch:

Episode 478: The Lion Has Seven Heads (1970)

Guest Co-Hosts: Chris Stachiw, Heather Drain

We conclude Cinema Novo month with a look at Glauber Rocha's The Lion Has Seven Heads (1970) though, this movie seems to be post-Cinema Novo and wasn’t even made in Brazil. Instead, this film was made after Rocha was exiled from Brazil and shot in Brazzaville in the Democratic Republic of Congo along with help from French and Italian producers. If there's one thing I know less about South American history it’s African History and this movie really shows that the struggles of indigenous people against colonizing powers is the same everywhere.

Chris Stachiw and Heather Drain join Mike to try and parse this incredibly dense film.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 478: The Lion Has Seven Heads (1970)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy On Cinema by Glauber Rocha

Music:
Song from "The Lion Has Seven Heads"

Watch:

Episode 470: The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)

Special Guests: Robert T. Westbrook, Linda Gillen, Brandon Maggart
Guest Co-Hosts: Daniel Kremer, Jarrod Labine

Daniel Kremer and Jarrod Labine join Mike to discuss Leonard Horn's The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970). Based loosely on Robert T. Westbrook's book of the same name, the film follows the exploits of the unlikely-named protagonist who’s not very likable, Stanley Sweetheart (Don Johnson). He fancies himself an underground filmmaker and Lothario. The film follows him on his exploits as he navigates life, women, and the scene in 1970s New York.

Our episode features interviews with Robert Westbrook, actress Linda Gillen, and actor Brandon Maggart.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 470: The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart by Robert T. Westbrook
Visit the official Robert T. Westbrook website
Visit the official Brandon Maggart website
Follow Linda Gillen on Instagram
Visit the official Linda Gillen website

Music:
"Funny How It Happens" - Stilroc
"Time To Make A Turn" - Crow
"Sound Of Love - Angeline Butler
"Sweet Gingerbread Man" - Sammy Davis Jr.

Watch:

Episode 432: The Ear (1970)

Guest Co-Hosts: Ben Buckingham, Martin Kessler

One of the casualties of the Warsaw Pack invasion, Karel Kachyna's The Ear (1970) was locked away for twenty years. It's a tale of a night after a political purge where our main characters -- Ludvic (Radoslav Brzobohatý) and Anna (Jirina Bohdalová) -- argue while learning that they’ve become the subject of government surveillance.

Martin Kessler and Ben Buckingham join Mike to discuss this study in paranoia.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 432: The Ear (1970)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Ear on Blu-Ray (Region 2)

Music:
"Somebody's Watching Me" - Rockwell

Watch:

Episode 378: Deep End (1970)

Guest Co-Hosts: Jonathan Owen, Alicia Malone

Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End (1970) stars John Moulder-Brown as Mike, a fifteen year old drop-out who finds work at a public bath where he takes care of the male patrons while Jane Asher plays Susan, the female attendant. Mike becomes obsessed with Jane while she juggles her fiance and side piece. It’s a rather unsettling coming-of-age story in the twilight days of swinging London.

Alicia Malone (The Female Gaze) and Jonathan Owen (Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak Cinema, Surrealism and the Sixties) join Mike to discuss the film along with other coming-of-age films.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 378: Deep End (1970)" on Spreaker.

Music:
"Mother Sky" - Can
"But I Might Die Tonight" - Cat Stevens

Watch:

Episode 372: Figures in a Landscape (1970)

Guest Co-Hosts: Cullen Gallagher, Heather Drain

Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell are two men on the run from mysterious forces in Joseph Losey's Figures in a Landscape (1970). Adapted by Shaw from a novel by Barry England, the film is something of an artsy action movie.

Heather Drain and Cullen Gallagher join Mike to discuss the film... and learn a bit about themselves along the way.

Links:
Buy Figures in a Landscape on Blu-Ray
Buy Figures in a Landscape by Barry England
Learn more about The Ghost of Peter Sellers
Watch Popeye in Goonland

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 372: Figures in a Landscape (1970)" on Spreaker.

Music:
Score by Richard Rodney Bennett

Watch:

Episode 367: Wanda (1970)

Guest Co-Hosts: Jordan Blossey, Roxy MacDonald

Jordan Blossey and Roxy MacDonald join Mike to discuss Barbara Loden's Wanda. Released in 1970 the film was written by, stars, and was directed by Loden. It's the personal story of a woman at wits ends who seems adrift in her own life.

Links:
Buy Wanda on Blu-Ray
Buy Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Leger
Read Who Was Barbara Loden? by Kate McCourt
Read Conversation on Wanda by Barbara Loden
Read Barbara Loden: “A Woman Telling Her Own Story Through That of Another Woman” by Richard Brody
Read "Fictions and Realities: On The Margins Of Barbara Loden's Wanda & Nathalie Léger's Supplément À La Vie De Barbara Loden" by Judit Karácsonyi
Listen to The Projection Booth episode on The Swimmer
Listen to the "Dead Blondes: Barbara Loden" episode of You Must Remember This
Read Andrew Nette's piece about Wanda

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 367: Wanda (1970)" on Spreaker.

Music:
"Is that all there is?" - Peggy Lee

Watch:

Episode 340: Case for a Rookie Hangman (1970)

Special Guest: Peter Hames
Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, Kevin Heffernan

Czechtember continues with a look at Pavel Jurácek's Case for a Rookie Hangman (AKA Prípad pro zacínajícího kata) from 1970. Very loosely based on the third part of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, the film tells the tale of Lemuel Gulliver (Lubomír Kostelka) in the land of Balnibarbi, a surrealistic landscape where Lemuel has a hard time finding his footing, literally.

Kat Ellinger and Kevin Heffernan join Mike to discuss the malleability of Swift's satire and The Key to Determining Dwarfs, or The Last Travel of Lemuel Gulliver.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 340: Case for a Rookie Hangman (1970)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Case for a Rookie Hangman on Blu-Ray/DVD
Buy Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Buy The Czechoslovak New Wave by Peter Hames
Buy Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak Cinema, Surrealism and the Sixties by Jonathan Owen
Hear more of Kat Ellinger on the Daughters of Darkness podcast
Hear Kat's interview on the Supporting Characters podcast
Read Knot and Gender blog by Kevin Heffernan
Read The Crawling Eye Cult Media Blog by Kevin Heffernan

Music:
"The Flying Island" - Trevor Jones
"Laputa" - Trevor Jones

Watch:

Episode 309: Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970)

Special Guests: Jerry Schatzberg, Barry Primus
Guest Co-Hosts: Bill Ackerman, Daniel Kremer

Jerry Schatzberg's Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970) stars Faye Dunaway as Lou Andreas Sand, a model who has been used up and discarded by the fashion industry. Her former photographer and lover, Aaron (Barry Primus) interviews Lou, allowing screenwriter Carole Eastman to take the audience back and forth in a fracture time structure, allowing us to see the pieces of the puzzle that is Lou.

Bill Ackerman and Daniel Kremer join Mike to discuss this fascinating and once difficult-to-find film.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 309: Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Puzzle of a Downfall Child on Blu-Ray
Visit the official Jerry Schatzberg website
Buy Looking for Gatsby by Faye Dunaway
Buy Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films by Daniel Kremer
Listen to Supporting Characters from Bill Ackerman
Listen to the Film Comment podcast on Puzzle of a Downfall Child
Read Bombast: Carole Eastman by Nick Pinkerton

Music:
"Re-Make/Re-Model" - Bryan Ferry
"The Model" - Kraftwert
"This Year's Girl" - Elvis Costello

Watch:

Episode 305: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Special Guest: Doyle Green, Dolly Read-Martin, Marcia McBroom, John Lazar, Erica Gavin, Stu Phillips, Lynn Carey
Guest Co-Host: Heather Drain, Jordan Blossey

Russ Meyer's first of two films for 20th Century Fox is a swinging quasi-sequel to Jacqueline Susann's tawdry Valley of the Dolls. Written by Roger Ebert, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) tells the tale of a female rock group who move out to Hollywood only to find it a cess-pool of broken dreams where only the strong and pure of heart survive.

Interviews include Doyle Green (Lips, Hits, Tits, Power: The Films of Russ Meyer), Dolly Read-Martin (Kelly), Marcia McBroom (Pet), Erica Gavin (Roxanne), John Lazar (Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell), Stu Phillips (Composer), and Lynn Carey (Vocals).

Joining Mike this week are Heather Drain and Jordan Blossey.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 305: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)" on Spreaker.

Bonus Interview: Stu Phillips

Listen to "Episode 305: Bonus Interview: Stu Phillips" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Beyond the Valley of the Dolls on Blu-Ray
Buy the Beyond the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack
Buy Life Itself by Roger Ebert
Buy Lips Hips Tits Power: The Films Of Russ Meyer by Doyle Green
Buy Square Jaw and Big Heart - The Life and Times of a Hollywood Actor by Charles Napier
Visit the official Jim Rugg website
Donate to Boxes of Hope
Visit the official Erica Gavin website
Visit the official Stu Phillips website
Hear more of Lynn Carey on Soundcloud
Visit the official Lynn Carey/Mama Lion facebook page
Visit the BVOD Criterion page
Visit the official Edy Williams website
Read the Cease and Desist Memo

Music:
Come With The Gentle People (vocals by Lynn Carey and Barbara Robinson)
Find It - Stu Phillips & Lynn Carey
Sweet Talkin' Candy Man (vocals by Lynn Carey and Barbara Robinson)
Look On Up At The Bottom (vocals by Lynn Carey and Barbara Robinson)
Ampersand (&) - Stu Phillips
Candy Man - Mama Lion
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (vocals by The Sandpipers)
Look On Up At The Bottom - Redd Kross

Watch:
br />

---

As I sent out interview requests for this episode I got possibly the stranges response I've ever gotten. It allegedly comes from Edy Williams's lawyer:

---

Subject: No Interviews are granted. Sorry this is a Demand by Relatives..
From: B.K. Williams Bobby

Body:
This is her attorney:
Mr Mike White, 3/21.2016
this is a notice to abate, cease, stop Stalking, harrassments, or pressures for the demand of Ms Williams time. You shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for any further disturbance.

Yours Truly,
Harry Wilson Esquire

C.C. E.W/M.W/H.W

---

Attached to the email was the picture that you see on this posting. I wrote back as follows:

---

I just sent an interview request yesterday. I've not harassed anyone.

Did you just charge her $500 to send an email?

---

The response:

---

Your bill is over $500..Back Off

---

I'm anxiously awaiting my bill.

Episode 276: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

Special Guest: Peter Hames
Guest Co-Host: Nicholas Schlegel, Kevin Heffernan, Axel Kohagen

Continuing our discussion of fairy tales in films, we discuss Jaromil Jires's film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, the story of a young woman coming of age.

And who better to join Mike in discussing the film than Kevin Heffernan, Axel Kohagen, and Nicholas Schlegel?

This week's special guest, Peter Hames, is the author of several books about the Czech and Slovak New Wave.

Download Episode Now:

Listen to "Episode 276: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Valerie and her Week of Wonders on DVD
Buy Valerie and her Week of Wonders by Vitezslav Nezval
Buy Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition by Peter Hames
Buy The Cinema of Central Europe by Peter Hames
Buy The Czechoslovak New Wave by Peter Hames
Buy Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak Cinema, Surrealism and the Sixties by Jonathan L. Owen
Buy Sex, Sadism, Spain, and Cinema: The Spanish Horror Film by Nicholas G. Schlegel
Read Knot and Gender blog by Kevin Heffernan
Read The Crawling Eye Cult Media Blog by Kevin Heffernan
Visit the official Axel Kohagen website

Music:
"Talk With Grandmother" - Luboš Fišer
"Valerie" - Broadcast
"Valleri" - The Monkees

Watch:

Episode 247: Colossus - The Forbin Project (1970)

Special Guest: Eric Braeden
Guest Co-Hosts: Maitland McDonagh, James Kruth, & Chris Bricklemyer

This is the voice of world control. I bring you an episode of The Projection Booth about Colossus: The Forbin Project, the 1970 Joseph Sargent film based on a novel by D.F. Jones where man enslaves himself via a supercomputer.

Eric Braeden sets the record straight on Piranha, The Rat Patrol, and Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

Links:
Buy Colossus: The Forbin Project on Blu-Ray
Buy Colossus by DF Jones
Buy The Computer: An Illustrated History From its Origins to the Present Day by Mark Frauenfelder
Visit the official Eric Braeden website
Follow Eric Braeden on Twitter
Visit Maitland McDonagh's 120 Days Books
Listen to the Are You Serious podcast
Listen to the Outside the Cinema podcast

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 247: Colossus - The Forbin Project (1970)" on Spreaker.

Music:
"Computer Love" - Perrey-Kingsley
"Colossus (Short Mix)" - Cybotron

Watch:

Episode 220: Brand X (1970)

Special Guests: Sam Chamberlain & Frank Cavestani

Maudit May concludes with a discussion of Brand X by Wynn Chamberlain (AKA Win Chamberlain). This counter-culture comedy skewers advertising of the day (1970) and stars a host of Factory players such as Tally Brown, Taylor Mead, and Candy Darling.

Links:
Be sure to like Brand X on Facebook
Visit the official Brand X website
Read more about Brand X at Sam Shepard's website
Learn more about Tally Brown
Learn more about Ronald Hadley
Visit Frank Cavestani's Acting On the Web site
Buy Last Tango with Marlon
Listen to our episode on Putney Swope

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 220: Brand X (1970)" on Spreaker.

Watch:

Trailer for Wynn Chamberlain's "Brand X" (1970) from Artforum on Vimeo.

Episode 152: Watermelon Man (1970)

Special Guest: Estelle Parsons & Joe Angio

It's time for the uppity movie.

Jeff Gerber has a problem. He used to be a White insurance salesman. But, now, he’s a Black man. Maybe it was too much soy sauce? Either way, it’s a brand new world for this suburban bigot in Watermelon Man. Join us as we talk about this 1970 satire from Melvin Van Peebles.

Our special guests include Estelle Parsons, the Oscar-winning actress who played "Althea Gerber" and Joe Angio, Director/Producer of How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It) - a feature documentary on Melvin Van Peebles.

We're joined by Bill by Force from Outside the Cinema as we talk about this Melvin Van Peebles joint.

Listen / Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 152: Watermelon Man (1970)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Watermelon Man on DVD
Buy the Watermelon Man soundtrack
Check out Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative (his band)
Learn more about Estelle Parsons in The Velocity of Autumn coming to Broadway in April 2014
Visit the official How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (...and Enjoy It) website
Get your Rated X by an All-White Jury t-shirt
Learn more about Revenge of the Mekons by Joe Angio
The official Badasssss! movie website

Watch:

Episode 132: Myra Breckinridge (1970)

Special Guests: Jay Parini, Nicholas D. Wrathall
Guest Co-Host: Juniper Moore

One of the most infamous films of the '70s, Myra Breckinridge (1970) was based on a novel by Gore Vidal about Myron, a young man trying to make it in Hollywood who becomes a gorgeous young woman. See Rex Reed change into Raquel Welch and spar with John Huston, Mae West, and more.

We're joined by Metro Detroit jam entrepreneur, Juniper Moore.

Links:
Join the Trans Jam Revolution
Send our co-host, Juniper Moore, to Mars
Visit the official Jay Parini website
Rent/Buy Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Visit the official Michael Sarne website
Buy Myra Breckinridge/Myron
Buy Myra Breckinridge on DVD
Buy the Myra Breckinridge Cookbook

Listen/Download Now:
Episode 132: Myra Breckinridge (1970)

Listen to "Episode 132: Myra Breckinridge (1970)" on Spreaker.

Watch: