Episode 795: Some Like it Hot (1959)

Special Guest: Noah Isenberg
Guest Co-Hosts: Heidi Honeycutt, Keith Gordon

Comedy Month continues as Mike talks with co-hosts Keith Gordon and Heidi Honeycutt about Billy Wilder's Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot (1959).

Chicago, 1929. Musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are barely scraping by when they stumble onto the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, witnessing Spats Colombo (George Raft) and his mob gun down a rival gang. With the killers on their tail, the two desperate musicians disguise themselves as women and join Sweet Sue's Society Syncopators, an all-girl band heading to Miami. Aboard the train they meet Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe), a ukulele-playing singer with a weakness for saxophonists and a dream of marrying a millionaire.

Mike also talks with scholar Noah Isenberg — author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller We'll Always Have Casablanca and currently completing a cultural history of Some Like It Hot for Norton — about the film's origins, its enduring legacy, and what it still has to say.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Some Like it Hot on Blu-Ray
Buy Some Like it Hot by Steven Cohan
Buy Some Like It Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion by Laurence Maslon

Music:
"Some Like it Hot" - The Power Station

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Episode 789: Head-On (2004)

Guest Co-Hosts: Rahne Alexander, Keith Gordon

Collision as courtship. Self-destruction as intimacy. Fatih Akın's Head-On (2004) opens with two suicide attempts and spirals into a sham marriage between Cahit (Birol Ünel) and Sibel (Sibel Kekilli), German Turks who weaponize matrimony to escape themselves. What begins as a performance of tradition mutates into volatile love, violence, prison, exile, and a reunion that refuses catharsis.

Keith Gordon and Rahne Alexander join Mike to unpack Akın’s fusion of Sirkian melodrama, Fassbinder fatalism, and arabesk despair.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Head-On on DVD
Buy Head-On by Daniela Berghahn

Music:
"Head On" - The Jesus and Mary Chain
"I Feel You" - Depeche Mode

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Episode 780: The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023)

Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Lisa Vandever

Writer, director, and star Joanna Arnow delivers one of the sharpest, most quietly uncomfortable comedies of recent years with The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023), a film that weaponizes awkwardness, deadpan humor, and emotional stasis. Arnow plays Ann, a thirty-three-year-old woman drifting through New York City, desperate for connection but seemingly incapable of advocating for herself. She works a job that barely registers as meaningful, endures social interactions that feel transactional at best, and navigates a BDSM relationship that has quietly slipped from consensual ritual into something emotionally hollow.

Lisa Vandever and Keith Gordon join Mike to unpack Arnow’s deceptively modest narrative and the precision with which it captures a very modern kind of paralysis.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed on Digital
Visit the Supporting Characters podcast

Music:
"Solidarity Forever" - Burl Ives

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Episode 722: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Special Guest: Eric Lax
Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Andras Jones

Explore the dualities of morality, fate, and human frailty in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Woody Allen's masterful blend of dark comedy and philosophical drama. To close out 2024 and our Patreon-requested series, Mike White welcomes Andras Jones and Keith Gordon for a spirited discussion of this haunting tale. With Martin Landau and Allen himself leading parallel storylines—one of an ophthalmologist spiraling into ethical darkness, the other of a struggling documentarian chasing unrequited love—the film weaves an intricate tapestry of guilt, ambition, and existential reckoning. Along the way, a blind rabbi offers wisdom (and serves as a poignant metaphor) as the characters navigate their moral crossroads.

The episode features an interview with Woody Allen's friend and biographer Eric Lax who describes Allen's process and the evolution of Crimes and Misdemeanors.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Crimes and Misdemeanors on Blu-Ray
Buy Woody Allen: A Biography by Eric Lax
Buy Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking by Eric Lax
Buy Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking by Eric Lax

Music:
"All I Do Is Dream of You" - Gene Kelly

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Episode 692: The Graduate (1967)

Special Guest: Beverly Gray
Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Katharine Coldiron

We wrap up the first of a few Request Months with one from Brian Tessitore, The Graduate. The 1967 Mike Nichols film stars Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock, the titular graduate. He's adrift after college and falls into an affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a family friend.

Keith Gordon and Katharine Coldiron join Mike to discuss the seminal film along with homages and the "sequel," Rumor Has It. Beverly Gray, author of Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How the Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation, talks about her work including her time on Death Race 2000.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Graduate by Charles Webb
Buy The Graduate on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Mrs. Robinson" - Simon & Garfunkel

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Episode 669: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Special Guest: Sal Viscuso
Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Duane Swierczynski

We're doing something unusual with a re-do of the third episode of The Projection Booth. Yes, we’re talking about Joseph Sargent's 1974 film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Based on the book by John Godey (pen name of Morton Freedgood) and brilliantly adapted by Peter Stone, the film stars Walter Matthau as Zach Garber, a transit transit cop whose train is taken hostage by Robert Shaw as Mr. Blue, and his three henchmen, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Brown.

Duane Swierczynski (California Bear) and Keith Gordon join Mike to discuss the film and its two remakes while actor Sal Viscuso talks about his role in the original film.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) on Blu-Ray
Buy The Taking of Pelham 123 (1998) on DVD
Buy The Taking of Pelham 123 (2007) on Blu-Ray
Buy The Taking of Pelham One Two Three by John Godey

Music:
"Main Theme" - David Shire

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Episode 630: Raising Arizona (1987)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Rob St. Mary

We wrap up a month of discussion around comedic film with one of the best, The Coen Brothers's second film, Raising Arizona (1987). It's the story of repeat offender H.I. McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) and his wife Ed (Holly Hunter ), a childless couple who steal one of the quintuplets from Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson) and, hell, you know who he is.

Rob St. Mary and Keith Gordon join Mike to talk about the film while Professor Joseph McBride discusses his book, The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers.

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Listen to "Episode 630: Raising Arizona (1987)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Raising Arizona on Blu-Ray

Music:
All Music by Carter Burwell

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Episode 618: Children of Paradise (1945)

Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Dieghan, Keith Gordon

French Month continues with a look at Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise (1945). Set in the early-mid 1800s, the film tells a winding tale of the woman Garance (Arletty) and the four men in her orbit: The mime Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault), the actor Frederick (Pierre Brasseur), the criminal Larcenaire (Marcel Herrand), and the aristocrat Edouard (Louis Salou).

Keith Gordon and Samm Deighan join Mike to discuss the film as well as the compelling circumstances around its making.

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Listen to "Episode 618: The Children of Paradise (1945)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Children of Paradise on Blu-Ray
Buy Child of Paradise: Marcel Carné and the Golden Age of French Cinema by Edward Turk

Music:
Original Score by Maurice Thiriet

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Special Report: Carrie (1976)

Special Guests: Joseph Aisenberg, Nancy Allen, William Katt, Piper Laurie, Joe Maddrey
Guest Co-Hosts: Jamey Duvall, Keith Gordon

We’re wrapping up #Shocktober 2021 with a look at Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976). Based on the novel by Stephen King, the film stars Sissy Spacek as the titular Carrie White. She’s a young woman who’s lived under her mother’s thumb and religious fervor. When she experiences her first period, she also experiences a new ability to move objects with her mind.

Keith Gordon and Jamey Duvall join Mike to discuss the film. Interviews include Piper Laurie, William Katt, Nancy Allen, Joseph Aisenberg (Studies in the Horror Film: Carrie), and Joe Maddrey (Adapting Stephen King: Volume 1, Carrie, 'Salem's Lot and The Shining from Novel to Screenplay).

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Special Report: Carrie (1976)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Carrie on Blu-Ray
Buy De Palma on Blu-Ray
Buy Carrie, Carrie (2002), and The Rage: Carrie 2 on DVD
Buy Carrie & Carrie (2013) on DVD
Buy Learning to Live Out Loud: A Memoir by Piper Laurie
Buy Carrie by Stephen King
Buy Brian De Palma's Carrie: Studies in the Horror Film by Joseph Aisenberg
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

Music:
Original Soundtrack - Pino Donnagio
"Prom Climax" - Carrie: The Musical

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Episode 481: All That Jazz (1979)

Special Guests: Alan Heim, Keith Gordon, Deborah Geffner
Guest Co-Hosts: Emma Westwood, David Kittredge

It's showtime, folks! On this episode we're talking about Bob Fosse's 1979 film All That Jazz. It’s definitely not an autobiographical picture about a choreographer slash director (Roy Scheider) who's working on his previous film about a groundbreaking stand-up comedian (Cliff Gorman) while rehearsing his next Broadway sensation. It's definitely not about Fosse facing down the specter of mortality and expressing it the best way he knows how.

David Kittredge and Emma Westwood join Mike to discuss the film. Interviews include editor Alan Heim, actress Deborah Geffner, and our old friend Keith Gordon.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 481: All That Jazz (1979)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy All That Jazz on Blu-Ray
Buy Fosse by Sam Wasson
Buy Fosse/Verdon on DVD
Listen to the All That Jazz episode on the See/Hear Podcast!

Music:
Original Soundtrack - Various Artists
"Bye Bye Life" - Ben Vereen & Roy Scheider

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Episode 449: Z (1969)

Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Eric Cohen

Based on a book by Vasilis Vasilikos, Costa-Gavras’s Z (1969) stars Yves Montand as a political activist who is killed after a rally. The film also stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as the investigator of the incident who manages to uncover a vast conspiracy.

Keith Gordon and Eric Cohen join Mike to discuss this political thriller which is a thinly veiled re-telling of the events in Greece of 1963 and the assassination of Grigoris Lambrakis.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 449: Z (1969)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Z on DVD
Buy the Z soundtrack

Music:
"Psyche Rock" - Pierre Henry

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Episode 443: Double Indemnity (1944)

Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, Keith Gordon

Noirvember 2019 wraps up with Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944). With a screenplay co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler and based on a story by James M. Cain, the film is one of the seminal works of film noir. It stars Fred MacMurray as fast-talking Walter Neff, an insurance agent who gets played for a dope by a dame. The dame in question, Phyllis Dietrichson, is played by the one and only Barbara Stanwyck. The two cook up an insurance scam to pay off big after they bump off her husband.

Keith Gordon and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss Double Indemnity, its 1973 TV remake, the adult adaptation Eruption (1977), Body Heat (1981), and the Body Heat/Double Indemnity mash-up, Jism (2003).

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 443: Double Indemnity (1944)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Double Indemnity on Blu-Ray
Buy Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
Buy Body Heat on Blu-Ray
Buy Jism on DVD
Read more about Dispatches from Elsewhere

Music:
Soundtrack by Miklos Rosza

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Episode 426: Solaris (1972)

Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Rob St. Mary

Released in 1972, Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris is the second of three adaptations of Stanislav Lem's 1961 book of the same name. The film tells the tale of Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) who travels to a station orbiting the planet Solaris, a sentient ocean that seems to be able to read the unconscious thoughts of those on the station and conjure up living embodiments of someone from the astronauts' past, with varying results.

Keith Gordon and Rob St. Mary return to The Projection Booth to discuss the Tarkovsky film, the 1968 TV movie, and the Steven Soderbergh adaptation.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 426: Solaris (1972)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Time Within Time by Andrei Tarkovsky
Buy Solaris by Mark Bould

Music:
"Solaris" - Photek
"Solaris" - Juno Reactor

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Episode 359: ZPG (1972) & Children of Men (2006)

Special Guest: Mei Fong
Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Christine Makepeace

While we often talk about a few movies on every episode -- one main film and some supporting works, sequels, and so on -- we're spotlighting two movies on this episode: Michael Campus's Z.P.G. (1972) and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men (2006).

Z.P.G. (Zero Population Growth) stars Oliver Reed as Russ McNeil and and Geraldine Chaplan as his wife Carol. The film is set the near future where global resources have been strained and the environment has paid the price for the blight of human beings which have polluted the air so much that they live under a shroud of smog. "They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum where they charge people a dollar and a half just to see 'em." The film was inspired by Paul Ehrlich's 1968 clarion call, The Population Bomb which warned of overpopulation.

Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men is a very loose adaptation of P.D. James's 1992 novel. The film stars Clive Owen as Theo Faron who's biding his time on planet earth as the population is dying -- or killing itself off. No babies have been born in over 18 years which has exacerbated social strife, leading to terrorism, mass suicide, and refugee crises.

Furthering the discussion about population control, author Mei Fong discusses her book One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment while Keith Gordon and Christine Makepeace join Mike to talk about the two different approaches to similar sci-fi material.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 359: ZPG (1972) & Children of Men (2006)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Edict by Max Ehrlich
Read Nightmare for Future Reference by Stephen Vincent Benet
Buy Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
Listen to The Feminine Critique podcast
Read Understanding Art In Movies: Children of Men Read China Wants to Abandon the Two-Child Policy from ThatsShanghai
Read about Forced Sterilization in Puerto Rico
Read ‘Children of Men’: Alfonso Cuarón’s Bleak but Genius Vision of the Past, Present and the Future

Music:
"Children of the Revolution" - T-Rex

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Episode 292: The Shining (1980)

Special Guests: Douglas Milsome, Garrett Brown, Rodney Ascher, Rob Ager
Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Vincenzo Natali

Adapted from a novel by Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick The Shining (1980) tells the tale of Jack (Jack Nicholson), Wendy, (Shelley Duvall) and Danny (Danny Lloyd) Torrance, a family who spend a winter at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Jack plans on writing a book but, instead, battles the inner demons of alcoholism and anger, slowly going mad perhaps with the help of the ghosts of the Overlook...

Directors Keith Gordon and Vincenzo Natali join Mike to discuss Stanley Kubrick and The Shining as well as the many interpretations of the films (as presented in works like Rodney Ascher's Room 237 and Rob Ager's Collative Learning series).

Along with Ascher and Ager, cameraman Douglas Milsome and Steadicam operator (and inventor) Garrett Brown reminisce about working with Stanley Kubrick.

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Listen to "Episode 292: The Shining (1980)" on Spreaker.

The Shining 237: Spilling the Advocaat

Links:
Buy The Shining on Blu-Ray
Buy Room 237 on DVD
Buy Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining edited by Danel Olson
Buy the The Shining Mini-Series
Buy The Shining by Stephen King
Buy Dr. Sleep by Stephen King
Buy The Shining (BFI Film Classics) by Roger Luckhurst
Visit the official Garrett Brown website
Visit the official Rodney Ascher website
Read MAZES, MIRRORS, DECEPTION AND DENIAL by Rob Ager
Subscribe to Collative Learning on YouTube
Visit The Overlook Hotel
Listen to The Shining: The Musical
Read What The Shining miniseries reveals about the King/Kubrick divide by Tasha Robinson
Read Is Stephen King justified in hating Kubrick's vision for The Shining? by Ryan Vlastelica
Compare the US vs. International Cuts of the Shining
Read What do Delbert Grady and Tony have in common? on the Shining FAQ
Read Here's Horror: Why 'The Shining' Still Terrifies Us by Lisa Rosman
Read THE MAKING OF 'THE SHINING': 'A LOT OF THINGS HAVE HAPPENED IN THIS PARTICULAR HOTEL' by Paul Gallagher
Read The True Story Behind the Legendary “Lost Ending” of THE SHINING By Stephen Johnson
Read STANLEY KUBRICK'S ORIGINAL TREATMENT FOR 'THE SHINING' from Cinephilia Beyond
Watch Free Documentary View from the Overlook: Crafting The Shining Looks at How Kubrick Made “the World's Scariest Movie”

Music:
"The Rock Mountains" - Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind
"Nocturnal Valse Triste" - Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind
"Music For Strings, Percussion And Celesta: Adagio" - Bela Bartok
"Midnight, The Stars and You" - Al Bowlly & Ray Noble and His Orchestra
"Come and Play with Us, Danny" - Smearballs

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THE CHICKENING from Nick DenBoer on Vimeo.

Episode 209: The Quiet Earth (1985)

Special Guests: Geoff Murphy, Sam Pillsbury, Jonathan Rayner
Guest Co-Host: Keith Gordon

Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) wakes at 6:12 one sunny morning to find that he may be the last man on Earth in The Quiet Earth, a compelling Kiwi film from director Geoff Murphy and writer/producer Sam Pillsbury.

We're joined by actor/writer/director Keith Gordon to discuss this post-Apocalyptic film.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 209: The Quiet Earth (1985)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Quiet Earth on Blu-Ray
Buy The Quiet Earth by Craig Harrison
le" Buy Cinema Journeys of the Man Alone: The New Zealand and American Films of Geoff Murphy by Jonathan Rayner
Buy more of Jonathan Rayner's books
Learn more about Geoff Murphy's films
Read more about Utu Redux
Visit the Pillsbury Wine Company website
Visit the New Zealand Film Commission website
Hear more Jonathan Rayner on our Manhunter episode
Hear more Keith Gordon on our Mother Night episode
Hear our Freejack episode

Music:
"Zac Takes Over" - John Charles
"The Effect Continues" - John Charles
"Last Love Scene" - John Charles
"Preaching The End Of The World" - Chris Cornell
"Sunrise" - John Charles

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Episode 172: Mother Night (1996)

Special Guests: Robert Weide, Gregory D. Sumner, Mary Kenny

Perhaps the best adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut work, Mother Night stars Nick Nolte as Howard W. Campbell, Jr. an American playwright whose Nazi broadcasts may have helped America win the war. But, at what cost? Mother Night stars Alan Arkin, Sheryl Lee, Frankie Faison, John Goodman and a great supporting cast.

Also, we'll be talking to screenwriter Bob Weide (who's currently wrapping up a documentary on Kurt Vonnegut), Gregory D. Sumner, author of Unstuck in Time A Journey Through Kurt Vonnegut's Life and Novels, and Mary Kenny, author of Germany Calling A Personal Biography of William Joyce Lord Haw-Haw.

Our special guest co-host is the director and co-producer of Mother Night, Keith Gordon.

Links:
Buy Mother Night on DVD
Buy Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Buy Unstuck in Time A Journey Through Kurt Vonnegut's Life and Novels by Gregory D. Sumner
Buy Back to School starring Keith Gordon & Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Visit the official Mary Kenny Website
Buy Germany Calling A Personal Biography of William Joyce Lord Haw-Haw by Mary Kenny
Read Bob Weide's memories of making Mother Night
Listen to Keith Gordon on our Static and Love and Death episodes

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Episode 98: Love & Death (1975)

We're looking at Woody Allen's Love & Death from 1975. It's a mix of The Marx Brothers and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Joining us this week is special guest co-host Keith Gordon. We also have a special bonus episode with more of our conversation with Keith on the current state of Hollywood, his upcoming work on Dexter, his project with Christopher Nolan, and more about Rectify the new series on the Sundance Channel.

Links:
Buy Love & Death on DVD
Buy the Woody Allen Collection Volume 1
Hear more of Keith Gordon on our Static episode

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 98: Love & Death (1975)" on Spreaker.

Bonus Interview with Keith Gordon:

Listen to "Episode 98: Love & Death (1975): Keith Gordon" on Spreaker.

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Episode 45: Static (1985)

Special Guest: Keith Gordon

A quirky little film from Mark Romanek and Keith Gordon, Static (1985) tells the tale of Ernie Blick, an inventor whose latest creation will revolutionize the world.

This week's co-host, Chris Cummins, the Philadelphia-based writer who frequently contributes to Topless Robot, Geekadelphia, and Cashiers du Cinemart.

Links:
Buy Static on DVD

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 45: Static (1985)" on Spreaker.

Interview Outtakes:
Here Keith Gordon talks about some of his films coming out on Blu-Ray and the project he's doing with Chris Nolan.

Listen to "Episode 45: Bonus Interview: Keith Gordon" on Spreaker.

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