Showing posts with label Noirvember. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noirvember. Show all posts

November 12, 2025

Episode 773: Black Gravel (1961)

Episode 773: Black Gravel (1961) Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Andrew Nette

Noirvember 2025 keeps rolling with Helmut Käutner's Black Gravel (1961), a scalding portrait of postwar Germany buried under guilt, corruption, and American occupation. Mike is joined by Andrew Nette and Samm Deighan to dig into this bleak anti-Heimatfilm, where gravel trucker Robert Neidhardt (Helmut Wildt) scrapes by on the black market and rekindles an affair with Inge (Ingmar Zeisberg), now married to a U.S. officer. When an accident turns deadly, their secret unearths a moral wasteland of complicity and denial.

Once condemned by the Oberhausen critics as “the worst achievement by an established director,” Käutner’s film now stands as a bold, unflinching noir that dared to confront the rot beneath Germany’s economic miracle.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Black Gravel on Blu-Ray
Buy Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960–1990 edited by Samm Deighan and Andrew Nette

Music:
"Fräulein Schmidt" - Billy Sanders

Watch:

November 5, 2025

Episode 770: The Driver (1978)

Episode 770: The Diver (1978) Guest Co-Hosts: Beth Accomando, Walter Chaw

Noirvember 2025 roars to life with Walter Hill's sleek, existential chase film The Driver (1978). Ryan O’Neal plays the nameless getaway specialist who moves through Los Angeles like a ghost, pursued by Bruce Dern’s manic lawman hell-bent on taking him down. It’s a lean, hypnotic duel between predator and prey where style is substance and silence is power.

Mike rides shotgun with Beth Accomando and Walter Chaw to unpack Hill’s minimalist approach, his homage to Melville’s Le Samouraï, and the cold precision that makes The Driver a high-octane hymn to professionalism and control.

Addendum: Big apologies to Ms. Adjani. Re-reading her Wikipedia, it looks like she's not anti-immmigrant but actually speaks out against anti-immigration!



Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy A Walter Hill Film by Walter Chaw by Walter Chaw
Buy The Driver on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Finis" - Michael Small

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December 6, 2024

Episode 719: The Grifters (1990)

Episode 719: The Grifters (1990) Special Guests: Peggy Rajski, Barbara De Fina
Guest Co-Hosts: Jedidiah Ayres, Andrew Nette

Noirvember 2024 ends with a bang as we delve into Stephen Frears's electrifying neo-noir The Grifters (1990). Adapted from ’s novel by screenwriter , this razor-sharp film stars Angelica Huston as Lily Dillon, a veteran con artist manipulating the odds at the racetrack. Her uneasy reunion with estranged son Roy (John Cusack) and his cunning girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening) sparks a volatile triangle of deception and betrayal in the high-stakes world of grifting.

Mike is joined by crime fiction experts Andrew Nette and Jedidiah Ayres to untangle this web of cons and double-crosses. Plus, executive producer Barbara De Fina and producer Peggy Rajski reveal what it took to bring this stylish, unsettling tale to life.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Grifters on Blu-Ray
Buy The Grifters by Jim Thompson
Buy Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson by Robert Polito
Find out more about The Trevor Project
Buy Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960–1990 by Andrew Nette and Samm Deighan

Music:
Original Soundtrack - Elmer Bernstein

Watch:

November 26, 2024

Episode 717: Angel Face (1952)

Guest Co-Hosts: Jedidiah Ayres, Lexi Van Dyke

#Noirvember 2024 shines a spotlight on Otto Preminger's Angel Face (1952), a twisted tale of obsession and betrayal. Robert Mitchum stars as Frank Jessup, an ambulance driver entangled with the wealthy Tremayne family. Torn between the dangerously alluring Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) and his steadfast girlfriend Mary (Mona Freeman), Frank is drawn into a deadly web of manipulation and deceit.

Jedidiah Ayers and Lexi Van Dyke join Mike to discuss this gripping exploration of desire and duplicity.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Angel Face on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Angel Face" - The Bobby Fuller Four

Watch:


November 20, 2024

Episode 716: The Woman on the Beach (1947)

Episode 717: Woman on the Beach (1947) Guest Co-Hosts: Robert Bellissimo, Otto Bruno

We continue #Noirvember 2024 with a look at Jean Renoir's The Woman on the Beach.  Released in 1947, the film tells the tale of veteran Scott Burnett (Roobert Ryan).  He’s plagued with nightmares caused by his PTSD and is assigned to the mounted division of the Coast Guard where he patrols the beach on his horse, meeting the comely Peggy Butler (Joan Bennett).  She’s married to blind painter Tod Butler (Charles Bickford).  All three of them are plagued by "ghosts" from their past.

Otto Bruno and Robert Bellissimo join Mike to discuss this compromised film and what could have been.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Woman on the Beach on DVD

Music:
"Goin' Blind" - KISS

Watch:

November 6, 2024

Episode 716: Pitfall (1948)

Episode 716: Pitfall (1948) Guest Co-Hosts: Philip Marinello, Ian Brownell

We to kick off Noirvember 2024 with a delve into Pitfall (1948), a classic film noir André De Toth, based on the book by , starring Dick Powell as an insurance man caught in a web of deception and danger. When Powell's character falls for Lizabeth Scott’s femme fatale, his seemingly mundane life spirals into chaos, bringing betrayal, blackmail, and murder

Ian Brownell and Philip Marinello join Mike to explore the film’s themes of moral ambiguity, post-war disillusionment, and the pitfalls of desire in this rich discussion of this noir gem.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Pitfall by Jay A Dratler
Buy Pitfall on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Pitfall" - Louvin Brother

Watch:

November 30, 2022

Episode 599: Sunset Blvd (1950)

Episode 599: Sunset Blvd (1950) Special Guests: Steven Cohan, Jeffrey Schwarz
Guest Co-Hosts: Agatha Luz, Philip Marinello

We conclude Noirvember 2022 with a look at Billy WIlder's Sunset Blvd. Released in 1950, the film tells the story of Joe Gillis (William Holden), a screenwriter who meets a faded star of yesteryear, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Gillis becomes a kept man while helping to fuel Norma’s Desmond’s delusion that she’s returning to the silver screen in a lavish production of Salome.

Agatha Luz (Cinemaspection) and Philip Marinello (The Substance Podcast) join Mike to discuss one of the best films ever made. Interviews include Steven Cohan (author of the new BFI book on Sunset Blvd) and Jeffrey Schwarz (director of Boulevard! A Hollywood Story).

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Sunset Blvd on Blu-Ray
Buy Sunset Blvd by Steven Cohan
Visit the official Boulevard! A Hollywood Story website
Buy Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream by Sam Staggs
Buy Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge by Joseph McBride

Music:
The Sunset Blvd Soundtrack - Franz Waxman
"All those wonderful people out there in the dark" - Gloria Swanson

Watch:










November 24, 2022

Episode 598: Cutter's Way (1981)

Special Guests: Jeffrey Alan Fiskin, Arthur Rosenberg, Ann Dusenberry, Lisa Eichhorn
Guest Co-Hosts: Maitland McDonagh, Mike Watt

Noirvember 2022 continues with a look at Ivan Passser’s Cutter's Way (1981). Originally released as Cutter and Bone, the film is an adaptation of Newton Thornburg’s 1976 book and stars John Heard as Cutter and Jeff Bridges as Bone. They’re a pair of troubled souls who engage themselves in a mystery that may or may not be real.

Mike Watt and Maitland McDonagh join Mike to discuss this fascinating neo-noir. They're joined by screenwriter and actors Arthur Rosenberg, Ann Dusenberry, and Lisa Eichhorn.

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More with Lisa Eichhorn:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Cutter's Way on Blu-Ray
Buy Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg
Visit Rabbi Arthur Rosenberg's website

Music:
"Cutter's Way Soundtrack" - Jack Nitzche

Watch:


Hardcore Nitzsche from Kristian St. Clair on Vimeo.

November 9, 2022

Episode 595: Nightmare Alley (1947)

Poster Art by Erik J. Kreffel @jauntworks Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Andrew Nette

We continue #Noirvember 2022 with a look at Edmund Goulding’s Nightmare Alley (1947). Based on the novel by , the film stars Tyrone Power as Stanton Carlisle, a smooth operator at the carnival. He works his way through a trio of women and a string of jobs always looking for that next big score but always haunted by the howl of the geek.

Samm Deighan and Andrew Nette join Mike to discuss the original and 2021 Guillermo del Toro adaptation.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Nightmare Alley on Blu-Ray
Buy Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham
Buy Nightmare Alley (2021) on Blu-Ray
Buy Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley: The Rise and Fall of Stanton Carlisle by Gina McIntyre
Buy The Amazing Mr. X on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Nightmare Alley" - Maynard Ferguson

Watch:




November 2, 2022

Episode 594: Far From Home (1989)

Episode 594: Far From Home (1989) Special Guests: Meiert Avis, Tommy Lee Wallace, Paul Miller, Donald P. Borchers
Guest Co-Hosts: Andras Jones, Bryan Connolly

We kickoff #Noirvember 2022 with something a little different; an erotic thriller from 1989. Directed by Meiert Avis, co-written by , shot by Paul Elliott, and produced by Donald P. Borchers, the film stars Drew Barrymore as Joleen Cox who, along with her father Charley (Matt Frewer) are stranded in a shitty little trailer park in Nevada on their way back to California.

She’s on the edge of 14 years old and encounters a whole mess of interesting characters… and character actors. There’s Susan Tyrrell who runs the trailer park, Dick Miller as the local lawman, Richard Masur as a burnt out mechanic, Anthony Rapp as a squirrely little guy named Pinky, and there’s some guy named Andras Jones who menaces Joleen and may be murdering people around the park.

Andras Jones and Bryan Connolly of The World Is Wrong podcast join Mike to discuss the film and the phenomenon of erotic thrillers.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Far From Home on DVD
Visit the official Meiert Avis website
Visit Donald P. Borchers's YouTube channel
Visit The Directors’ Wall podcast
Visit Radio8Ball

Music:
"Gun Shy" - 10,000 Maniacs
"Hometown Boy Made Bad" - Mr. Jones & The Previous

Watch:

November 27, 2021

Special Report: Lost Highway (1997)

Special Guest: Barry Gifford
Guest Co-Hosts: Bill Ackerman, Jedidiah Ayres

We conclude #Noirvember 2021 with a special episode about David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997). Written by Lynch and , it’s the story of Fred Madison (Bill Pullman), a musician who has trouble trusting his wife, Renee (Patricia Arquette). When they begin to get anonymous deliveries of VHS tapes, the pair are plunged into an underworld of mystery...

Jedidiah Ayres and Bill Ackerman join Mike to discuss the film and this phase of David Lynch’s career.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Lost Highway on Blu-Ray
Buy the Lost Highway screenplay
Learn more about Barry Gifford and Roy's World
Listen to Tim Lucas's omitted commentary track

Music:
"Something Wicked This Way Comes" - Barry Adams
"Rammstein" - Rammstein

Watch:






ROY'S WORLD official trailer #1 from Rob Christopher on Vimeo.

November 17, 2021

Episode 547: The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

The Lady from Shanghai (1947) Guest Co-Hosts: Spencer Parsons, Peter Flynn

Noirvember 2021 continues with a look at Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai (1947). It’s the story of Michael O’Hara (Welles), a sailor who falls in with a strange group of people: A gorgeous blonde, Elsa (Rita Hayworth), the titular lady from Shanghai, her husband, Arthur Bannister, a high-powered lawyer, and his partner, Grisby, a weirdo who wants to fake his own death and pin it on Michael.

Spencer Parsons and Peter Flynn join Mike to discuss this highly-compromised film.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Lady from Shanghai on Blu-Ray
Buy If I Die Before I Wake by

Music:
"Lady from Shanghai" - Tav Falco's Panther Burns

Watch:

November 10, 2021

Episode 546: Point Blank (1967)

Guest Co-Hosts: Jedidiah Ayres, Andrew Nette

Noirvember 2021 continues with a look at John Boorman's Point Blank. Released in 1967, the film was based on the 1962 novel by writing as Richard Stark. The film stars Lee Marvin as Walker, a man who was betrayed by his wife and his best friend. Now he’s back, seemingly from the dead, and goes on a quest to kill his friend and get back the money he feels he’s owed.

Jedidiah Ayres and Andrew Nette join Mike to discuss The Hunter, Point Blank, and the many cuts of Brian Helgeland's Payback.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Point Blank on Blu-Ray
Buy Payback: Straight Up on Blu-Ray
Buy The Hunter by Richard Stark
Buy The Hunter by Richard Stark and Darwyn Cooke
Buy Hard Sentences: Crime Fiction Inspired by Alcatraz
Visit The Violent World of Parker website
Read The Four and a Half Worlds of Parker by Mike White

Music:
"End Title" - Johnny Mandel

Watch:






November 3, 2021

Episode 545: The Silent Partner (1978)

Special Guest: Elliott Gould
Guest Co-Hosts: Jonathan Melville, Cullen Gallagher

Noirvember 2021 kicks off with a look at Daryl Duke’s The Silent Partner. Released in 1978, it was from a screenplay by and based on the book Think of a Number by . The film stars Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen, a rather mild mannered bank teller -- and keeper of the vault -- who figures out that his bank has been targeted for a robbery. With this piece of information he decides to rob the bank himself and let the robber (Christopher Plummer) take the fall.

Jonathan Melville and Cullen Gallagher join Mike to discuss the film while Elliott Gould talks about his role as Miles Cullen.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Silent Partner on Blu-Ray
Buy Think of a Number by Anders Bodelsen
Buy Think of a Number on DVDr

Music:
"The Silent Partner" - Original Soundtrack
"Tænk på et tal" - Bent Fabricius-Bjerre

Sponsor:
This episode was brought you by Storyblocks

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November 25, 2020

Episode 495: To Live & Die in L.A. (1985)

Special Guests: Willem Dafoe, M. Scott Smith
Guest Co-Hosts: Jedidiah Ayres, Andrew Nette

#Noirvember2020 concludes with a look at William Friedkin's To Live & Die in L.A. (1984). The film pits Treasury agent William Petersen as Richard Chance against Willem Dafoe as artist and forger Rick Masters. Based on the novel of the same name by , it’s an unexpected cat and mouse story bathed in the harsh light of Los Angeles.

Jedidiah Ayres and Andrew Nette join Mike to discuss the film, Boiling Point, Wang Chung, and more.

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Bonus: More from M. Scott Smith

Links:
Buy To Live & Die in L.A. on Blu-Ray
Buy To Live & Die in L.A. by Gerald Petievich
Read Wallace Stroby's interview with Gerald Petievich
Read ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’: The Intelligent, Authentic Thriller as One of the Highlights of Friedkin’s Career from Cinephilia and Beyond
Visit the Billy Petersen fansite

Music:
"The Red Stare" - Wang Chung
"City of Angels" - Wang Chung
"To Live & Die in L.A." - Wang Chung

Watch:










November 18, 2020

Episode 494: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

Guest Co-Hosts: Eric J. Peterson Andrew J. Rausch

We continue Noirvember 2020 with a look at Peter Yates's The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973). Based on the novel by , the film stars Robert Mitchum as the titular Coyle, an over-the-hill small time crook who’s trying to get by in the milieu of Boston’s underground. The film is rich with incredible character actors like Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Alex Rocco, and more.

Andrew J. Rausch and Eric J. Peterson join Mike to discuss the film as well as crime writing and the Boston beat.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Buy The Friends of Eddie Coyle on Blu-Ray
Buy The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
Read the Cinephilia article on the film

Music:
"Jackie Blue" - Ozark Mountain Daredevils

Watch:

November 11, 2020

Episode 493: Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

Special Guest: Sarah Weinman
Guest Co-Hosts: Carol Borden, Jedidiah Ayres

Noirvember 2020 continues with a look at Robert Montgomery's Ride the Pink Horse (1947). Adapted from the novel of the same name by , the film also stars Montgomery as Lucky Gagin, a man who comes to the small town of San Pablo, New Mexico during their annual fiesta...

Jedidiah Ayres and Carol Borden join Mike to discuss the various adaptations of Ride the Pink Horse. Sarah Weinman talks about Dorothy B. Hughes's career.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Buy Ride the Pink Horse on Blu-Ray
Buy Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes
Read Folk Horror Noir? at the Cultural Gutter
Buy Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession by Sarah Weinman
Buy Peckerwood by Jedidiah Ayres
Buy The Hanged Man on DVD
Visit the Andrea King website

Music:
"Silly Rat Pink Mr. Horse" - Chenard Walcker
"Ride the Wild Pink Horse" - Wild Pink Horse

Watch:






November 4, 2020

Episode 492: The Big Clock (1947)

Guest Co-Hosts: Terry Frost, Tim Luz

#Noirvember 2020 kicks off with a look at John Farrow's The Big Clock (1947). Based on the 1946 novel by , it's the story of George Stroud (Ray Milland) an editor at Crimeways magazine and employee of Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton). When a woman that both Stroud and Janoth have been sleeping with is murdered, Stroud is put on the case to find out who was last seen with the victim. And, of course, that last person looks a lot like him.

Terry Frost and Tim Luz join Mike to discuss the film as well as its official... and unofficial remakes.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Buy The Big Clock on Blu-Ray
Buy The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing
Buy No Way Out on DVD
Buy Out of Time on DVD

Music:
Original Soundtrack by Victor Young

Watch:






November 27, 2019

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 and based on a story by , 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:

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

Watch:

November 20, 2019

Episode 442: The Conversation (1974)

Guest Co-Hosts: Vincenzo Natali, Jamey Duvall

Noirvember 2019 continues with a look at The Conversation (1974). Sandwiched between the first two Godfather films, The Conversation is writer/director Francis Ford Coppola’s paean to European art films of the 1960s, most notably Antonioni’s Blow-Up.

Instead of swinging London, however, The Conversation is set in San Francisco and stars Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, a schlubby nudnik whose life revolves around audio surveillance, his own privacy, and violating the privacy of others.

Vincenzo Natali (In the Tall Grass) and Jamey Duvall (Movie Geeks United) join Mike to discuss the film and its spiritual sequel Enemy of the State (1998).

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Buy The Conversation on Blu-Ray
Buy The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje
Buy In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing by Walter Murch

Music:
"The Conversation" - Twilight Singers

Watch: