Special Guest: Ginette Vincendeau Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Andrew Leavold
Film historian Samm Deighan and cult cinema expert Andrew Leavold join Mike to shine a light on Jean-Pierre Melville's Two Men in Manhattan (1959). Often overshadowed by his better-known crime films, this moody noir follows a journalist and a photographer as they comb the streets of New York in search of a missing French diplomat. The trio digs into Melville’s fascination with American style, the film’s ethically murky characters, and how it fits within the director’s larger body of work. They also explore the tension between documentary realism and stylized noir, and why Two Men in Manhattan deserves a second look.
Special Guest: Ginette Vincendeau Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Andrew Leavold
We conclude Art House August with a look at Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows (1969). Based loosely on Joseph Kessel's memoir about the French Resistance in World War II, the film stars Lino Ventura as Phillipe Gerbier, one of a handful of Resistance fighters we meet as we travel through the underworld, striking out at the German occupiers and those loyal to the Vichy government.
Special Guest: Ginette Vincendeau Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Andrew Leavold
French Month continues with a look at Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le Flambeur (1956), the first of many gangster films he would direct. Based on his story with dialogue by Auguste LeBreton, it tells the tale of Bob (Roger Duchesne), an aging man who robbed a bank 20 years prior, and now spends his time going from game to game -- craps, cards, whatever. He even has a slot machine in his Montmartre apartment.
Special Guests: Rui Nogueira Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Andrew Leavold
We kick off a month of discussing French films with a look at Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle). The film stars Alain Delon and Gian-Maria Volente as two criminals who cross paths. Along with Yves Montand, the three men execute a daring heist before the fickle finger of fate touches them.
Samm Deighan and Andrew Leavold join Mike to discuss the film. Mike also speaks with author Rui Nogueira about his Melville on Melville book.
We kick off French Month with a look at Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Doulos (1962). The second of his several and seminal gangster films, Le Doulos is the story of two men -- Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Faugel (Serge Reggiani). They are denizens of the underworld where loyalty and honor are everything. When a burglary Faugel has planned goes awry he thinks that it’s Silien who set him up. Is Silien the titular "Doulos," an informer?
Samm Deighan and Ken Stanley join Mike to wax fondly about Jean-Pierre Melville and his rich career.
Special Guests: Tim Palmer & Sara Piazza Guest Co-Host: Peter Rozovsky
Noir November returns with a quartet of unusual titles. We kick off the month with a double dose from Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai.
Our guests include Sara Piazza, author of Jim Jarmusch: Music, Words and Noise and Tim Palmer, Professor of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and author on many pieces on Jean-Pierre Melville/French Cinema. Our guest co-host, Peter Rozovsky, is the author of Detectives Beyond Borders.
We're looking at John Woo's landmark action film The Killer; examining its origin and impact. Our special guest, Kenneth Hall, has written the book on Woo -- John Woo: The Films.
We also look at the influences on The Killer from Frank Tuttle's This Gun For Hire to Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai as well as the films that took inspiration from Woo's work such as the two Pang Brothers versions of Bangkok Dangerous.
Special Guest: Ginette Vincendeau
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Special Guest: Kenneth Hall