Donald Westlake — writing as Richard Stark — said only one movie made from a Parker novel "got the feeling right." That's John Flynn's The Outfit (1973), starring Robert Duvall as Earl Macklin, out of prison to find his brother murdered by the mob over a bank job. Rather than run, Macklin runs at them, hitting every vulnerable Outfit operation until they pay. Joe Don Baker and Karen Black co-star alongside a murderer's row of noir faces: Robert Ryan, Marie Windsor, Jane Greer, Timothy Carey, and Elisha Cook Jr.
Jedidiah Ayres and Gary Phillips join Mike to dig into Westlake's dual-track career, the Parker adaptations from Point Blank to Play Dirty, Flynn's flat-and-mean style, and the film's year-long crawl across America courtesy of MGM's "smiling cobra" James Aubrey. Released in celebration of Arrow Video's new Limited Edition Blu-ray — featuring a commentary track by Mike and Jedidiah.
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.
Special Guests: Donald Freed, Alex Cox, & Joseph McBride
In honor of the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, we're looking at Executive Action, one of the first films to tackle the events of 11/22/1963.
We also talk about related films such as JFK, Flashpoint, The Price of Power and more.
Our special guests include Donald Freed, co-author of the book on which the film was based, filmmaker/writer Alex Cox, author of The President and the Provocateur: The Parallel Lives of JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald, and Joseph McBride, author of Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit.
Guest Co-Hosts: Gary Phillips, Jedidiah Ayres
Guest Co-Hosts: 
Special Guests: Donald Freed, Alex Cox,