Episode 755: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Special Guest: Jim Bloom
Guest Co-Hosts: Jamie Benning, Stephen Scarlata

Sci-Fi July wraps up with Return of the Jedi (1983), the final installment of the original Star Wars trilogy—directed by Richard Marquand, guided by George Lucas, and packed with new creatures, recycled plot beats, and merchandising gold. Joining Mike to explore the film's legacy and limitations are Jamie Benning (Filmumentaries) and Stephen Scarlata (Best Movies Never Made), along with special guest Jim Bloom, associate producer on Empire and Jedi.

From Jabba's palace to yet another Death Star, Jedi tries to close the saga with spectacle and sentiment—but not without creative compromises. We dig into the behind-the-scenes drama, the tonal whiplash between Ewoks and existential stakes, and how Jedi served as both a climax and a commercial pivot point for the franchise. Was it a fitting finale or just a soft landing pad for action figures? Strap into your speeder bike, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 755: Return of the Jedi (1983)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Return of the Jedi on Blu-Ray
Buy The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi by J.W. Rinzler

Music:
Original Soundtrack - John Williams

Watch:

Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark

Special Guests: Frank Marshall, Howard Kazanjian
Guest Co-Hosts: Chris Stachiw, Andrew Rausch

On this special limited series, we read the story transcripts from the Raiders of the Lost Ark story conference wherein George Lucas (Chris Stachiw of The Kulturecast), Steven Spielberg (Author Andrew Rausch), and Lawrence Kasdan (Mike White) discuss the idea for a new adventure hero... Indiana Smith.... 

This series will be at least eight parts which include three parts reading, three parts discussion, at least one interview, and a discussion of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Artwork by Jim Steranko. Opening theme from Nottingham Music Excellence.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt 1" on Spreaker.

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt. 2" on Spreaker.

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt. 3" on Spreaker.

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt. 4" on Spreaker.

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt. 5" on Spreaker.

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt. 6" on Spreaker.

Interviews:

Listen to "Special Report: Frank Marshall" on Spreaker.

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt. 9" on Spreaker.

Dial of Destiny:

Listen to "Special Report: Reading of the Lost Ark Pt. 8" on Spreaker.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015:

Listen to "Special Report: Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Raiders of the Lost Ark on Blu-Ray
Buy Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life by J.W. Rinzler
Download the story conference from CinephiliaBeyond.org
Read Lawrence Kasdan's early script drafts
Buy books by Andrew Rausch
Hear podcasts by Chris Stachiw
Read Mike's article, When George Lucas Had Talent
Read Mike's article, Digging up the Bones of Indy Jones
Read The “Raiders” Story Conference by Mystery Man on Film
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Spear of Destiny: The Occult Power Behind the Spear which pierced the side of Christ by Trevor Ravenscroft

Music:
"Raiders Theme" - Nottingham Music Excellence
All other music by John Williams

Watch:

Raiding The Lost Ark: A Filmumentary By Jamie Benning from Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning on Vimeo.

Special Report: A Disturbance in the Force (2023)

Special Guests: Jeremy Coon, Steve Kozak

On this episode Mike talks with Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak about their new film A Disturbance in the Force (2023). It's all about the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special and just had its premiere at South By Southwest.

Be sure to visit their website https://www.holidayspecialdoc.com/ to find out when it's playing near you.

Music:
"Light The Sky On Fire" - Jefferson Starship

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Special Report: A Disturbance in the Force (2023)" on Spreaker.

Watch:

Episode 522: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Special Guests: Peter Suschitzky, Paul Hirsch, Jim Bloom, Rebecca Harrison, J.W. Rinzler
Guest Co-Hosts: Jamie Benning, Chris Bricklemyer

#Sci-FiMonth kicks off with a look at possibly the best sequel of all times, The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It's the second -- or fifth -- chapter in the Star Wars saga which truly tests our heroes: Luke Skywalker gets mangled, Han Solo gets tortured, and Leia Organa gets a good kiss... from her brother.

Chris Bricklemyer (Outside the Cinema) and Jamie Benning (The Filmumentaries Podcast) join Mike to discuss Irvin Kershner's first and only foray into the Star Wars universe.

Interviews include cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, editor Paul Hirsch, associate producer Jim Bloom, author Rebecca Harrison, and author J.W. Rinzler.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 522: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)" on Spreaker.

Listen to Justing Berger discuss he Empire Strikes Back Unauthorized Timeline:

Listen to "Special Report: Justin Berger on The Empire Strikes Back" on Spreaker.

Listen to More Jim Bloom:

Listen to "Bonus Interview: Jim Bloom" on Spreaker.

Listen to our Star Wars episode:

Listen to "Episode 219: Star Wars (1977)" on Spreaker.

Listen to the Star Wars Music Mix:


Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Empire Strikes Back on Blu-Ray
Download The Empire Strikes Back de-specialized version
Buy A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits—Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More by Paul Hirsch
Buy The Empire Strikes Back (BFI Film Classics) by Rebecca Harrison
Buy The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by J.W. Rinzler
Buy The Smpire Strikes Back Unauthorized Timeline 1975-2020 by Justin Berger
Visit 365 Star Wars
Visit the OriginalTrilogy.com website
Visit the official Star Wars website

Music:
"Luke's First Crash" - John Williams
"Empire Strikes Back (Medley) Darth VaderYoda's Theme" - Meco
"Seagulls! (Stop It Now)" - Bad Lip Reading

Watch:

Building Empire, A Filmumentary By Jamie Benning @jamieSWB from Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning on Vimeo.

Special Report: More American Graffiti (1979)

Special Guests: Bill Norton, Candy Clark Willard Huyck
Guest Co-Hosts: Terry Frost, Trevor Gumbel

Released in 1979, Bill Norton's More American Graffiti reunites most of the original cast of George Lucas's 1973 film (save Richard Dreyfus). Rather than looking at a single night, the film spans four New Years Eves across the lives of five main characters.

Discussion:
00:02:08: Terry Frost and Trevor Gumbel join Mike to discuss American Graffiti and More American Graffiti.

Interviews:
00:45:55: Writer/Director Bill Norton
01:26:43: Actress Candy Clark
01:51:11: Co-writer of American Graffiti Willard Huyck

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Special Report: More American Graffiti (1979)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy More American Graffiti on Blu-Ray
Buy American Graffiti on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Season of he Witch" - Donovan
"96 Tears" - ? and the Mysterians
"Hang on Sloopy" - The McCoys
"Pipeline" - The Chantays

Watch:

Episode 336: THX-1138 (1971)

Special Guests: Brian Jay Jones, Matthew Robbins, Maggie McOmie, Bruce Chesse, Sid Haig
Guest Co-Hosts: Jay Bauman, Chris Bricklemyer

The first feature film from director George Lucas, THX-1138 (1971) features a world in which love is outlawed and mind-altering drugs are mandatory. The film stars Robert Duvall as the titular THX-1138 and Maggie McOmie as LUH-3417 as roommates who eventually develop into something much more despite the totalitarian regime in which they live.

Co-written by Walter Murch, the film ponders materialism, religion, and love.

Chris Bricklemyer (Outside the Cinema, Are You Serious?) and Jay Bauman (Red Letter Media) join Mike to discuss Lucas's freshman film, how its themes would echo in his other work, and how he revised it in the 2004 "director's cut."

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 336: THX-1138 (1971)" on Spreaker.

Promos:
The Kolchak Tapes
Popcorn Poops
After Movie Diner
Proudly Resents

Interviews:
Brian Jay Jones, author of George Lucas: A Life: 1:00:00
Music: "GVDT" - Front 242

Matthew Robbins, co-writer of Electronic Labyrinth: THX-1138 4EB: 1:53:00
Music: "First Escape" - Lalo Schifrin

Maggie McOmie, actress (LUH-3417): 2:19:00
Music: "I Need Something Stronger" - Unkle

Bruce Chesse, actor (Trial Pontifex): 2:33:00
Music: "Mr. Self-Destruct" - Nine Inch Nails

Sid Haig, actor (NCH): 2:46:00
Music: "Be Happy Again (Jingle Of The Future)" - Lalo Schifrin

Discussion 2: 3:16:00
Trailer: Intacto: 3:43:00

Outro Music:
"Crucify Me" - Moev
"Police State" - T-Power

Links:
Download the original version of THX-1138
Buy THX-1138 (Director's Cut) on Blu-Ray
Watch Electonic Labrynth: THX 1138 4EB
Read about the differences between the original and director's cut of THX-1138
Read You Have Nothing to Fear: Sound Montage and Alienation in THX-1138 from Gibson Notes
Read the THX-1138 script
Read The Talented Mr. Murch by Paula Parisi
Read On THX-1138 and George Lucas's Obsession with Erasing His Past by Supreme Being
Read John Kenneth Muir's review of THX-1138
Buy The Original Movie Game - Blockbuster Edition
Listen to the Sugar Hill episode
Listen to the Logan's Run episode
Listen to the Apocalypse Now episode
Listen to the Star Wars episode

Watch:

Episode 280: Sugar Hill (1974)

Special Guest: Paul Maslansky, Don Pedro Colley, Joy Bostic
Guest Co-Host: Heather Drain, Chris Stachiw

In Paul Maslansky's Sugar Hill, Diana "Sugar" Hill (Marki Bey) summons Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley), a voudou spirit, and his army of zombies to exact revenge on Morgan (Robert Quarry) and his racist thugs.

Interviews include director Maslansky, star Colley, and vodun/voudou scholar Joy Bostic.

Heather Drain and Chris Stachiw join Mike to discuss this horror/blaxploitation film.

Listen / Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 280: Sugar Hill (1974)" on Spreaker.

Bonus: More with Paul Maslansky

Listen to "Bonus Interview: Paul Maslansky" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Sugar Hill on Blu-Ray
Buy African American Female Mysticism: Nineteenth-Century Religious Activism by Joy Bostic
Visit the official Don Pedro Colley website
Listen to the Badassess, Boobs & Bodycounts episode on Abby
Visit the Kulture Shocked website
Visit the Mondo Heather website

Music:
"Voodoo Woman Blues" - Jay McShann & His Sextette with Jimmy Witherspoon
"Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" - Jimi Hendrix
"Supernatural Voodoo Woman (Pt.1)" - The Originals
"Supernatural Voodoo Woman (Pt.2)" - The Originals
"Devil Woman" - Cliff Richard

Special Report: Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)

Special Guest: Tim Skousen & Jeremy Coon
Guest Co-Host: Rod Lott

Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made documents the making of the shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark by a group of high school kids from Mississippi.

Filmmakers Tim Skousen & Jeremy discuss the making of the documentary about the making of the fan film about Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Rod Lott of FlickAttack and Bookgasm returns to the Projection Booth to discuss the doc, the fan film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and a lot more.

Note: Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter has a release date of 1982, a year after The Evil Dead.

Download Episode Now:

Listen to "Special Report: Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy/Rent Raiders! on Amazon streaming video
Visit the official Raiders! website
Visit the Drafthouse Films page for Raiders!
Read When George Lucas Had Talent by Mike White
Read A holy grail of Indiana Jones artifacts from Cinephilia & Beyond
Visit FlickAttack.com
Visit Bookgasm.com

Music:
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" - Midi Version
"The Map Room" - John Williams

Watch:

Raiding The Lost Ark: A Filmumentary By Jamie Benning from Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning on Vimeo.

Episode 274: Apocalypse Now (1979)

Special Guest: Fax Bahr
Guest Co-Host: Paul Zimmerman, Rich Edwards

We get off the boat and go all the way on this episode about Francis Ford Coppola's landmark 1979 Vietnam film Apocalypse Now. Based on a script by John Milius, the making of the film is nearly as fascinating as the film itself. To that end, Fax Bahr, director of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse discusses the creation of the fascinating and illuminating documentary about Apocalypse Now.

Professor Rich Edwards and former Film Threat editor Paul Zimmerman join Mike to examine the film, the "Redux" version, the nearly five-hour assembly version, and many of the parodies that the film has inspired from Porklips Now to Apocalypse Pooh and more.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 274: Apocalypse Now (1979)" on Spreaker.

Hearts of Darkness (Redux):

Listen to "Special Report: Hearts of Darkness (1991)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Apocalypse Now: The Disclosure Edition on Blu-Ray
Watch Apocalypse Now: The Workprint
Buy Notes: The Making of Apocalypse Now by Eleanor Coppola
Buy The Apocalypse Now Book by Peter Cowie
Buy Apocalypse Now Scene-by-Scene by John David Ebert
Buy Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Buy Porklips Now on DVD
Buy Virgin Noir (Indie Legends of the 1990s Volume 1: Icons) by Paul Zimmerman
Read The Holy Grail of Workprints: The Five Hour Rough Version of Apocalypse Now on Cinephilia and Beyond
Read Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Must Be the Key Lecture in Anyone's Filmmaking Education on Cinephilia and Beyond
Read Napalm in the Morning storyboards for the Ride of the Valkyries scene
Read The New Cinema: A Fascinating Documentary on the Restructuring of 1960x Hollywood on Cinephilia and Beyond
Keep up with Rich Edwards at Noircast.net

Music:
"Apocalypse Now" - Koto
"Charlie Don't Surf" - The Clash
"Holiday in Cambodia" - The Dead Kennedys

Watch:

Episode 219: Star Wars (1977)

Special Guests: Roger Christian, Michael Kaminsky, Chris Taylor, Alexandre O. Philippe, Harmy
Guest Co-Host: Chris Bricklemyer

Continuing our Maudit May series, we look at George Lucas's Star Wars (AKA Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), the sci-fi film from 1977 that has been rendered unavailable in its original form due to its creator's tampering.

We're joined by Outside the Cinema's Mr. Chris to get nostalgic and discuss how Star Wars may (or may not) have influenced our lives.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 219: Star Wars (1977)" on Spreaker.

Listen to the Star Wars Music Mix:


Links:
Buy The People Vs. George Lucas on DVD
Buy The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminsky
Buy How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor
Buy Cinema Alchemist by Roger Christian
Read more about Roger Christian's Black Angel on io9
Watch The Star Wars Holiday Special on YouTube
Watch From Star Wars to Jedi on YouTube
Read about Harmy's Despecialized Version of Star Wars
Read George Lucas talking about altering films
Listen to Rob St. Mary's interview with Richard Chew on WDET
Read about the Annotated Star Wars
Read about the Lost Cut of Star Wars
Read the io9 Star Wars Guide
Read the Raiders of the Lost Ark story conference
Read George Lucas Was Incredibly Specific About How Much He Wanted Greedo to Shoot First by James Whitbrook
Read Mike White's article on Star Wars Rip-Offs
Visit the OriginalTrilogy.com website
Visit the official Star Wars website

Music:
"In the Year 2525" - Zager & Evans
"Double Sunset" - John Williams
"Star Wars" - Dangerous Darrin
"Star Wars Gangsta Rap" - Jason Brannon & Chris Crawford

Watch:

Blast it Biggs! Where are you?! - By @jamieswb from Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning on Vimeo.