Christopher Media

Directed by Leo McCarey, Duck Soup (1933) was the last of the four Marx Brothers’ run at Paramount. A send-up of politics and warmongering, Duck Soup is an anarchic collection of sight gags, wordplay, and surrealism in which Groucho Marx plays Rufus T. Firefly, the man who will save Freedonia from disaster, despite the efforts of Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx), two Sylvanian spies.  Guest this week include Robert S. Bader (author of Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage), Robert Weide (producer of Marx Brothers in a Nutshell) and Joseph Adamson (author of Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A History of the Marx Brothers and a Satire on the Rest of the World).  Rob St. Mary and Jon Cross join Mike to discuss Duck Soup and the Marx Brothers.

Produced by Ovidio Assonitis, Sonny Boy 1989 stars David Carradine and Paul L. Smith as Pearl and Slue, two desert-dwellers who end up “adopting” Sonny Boy (Michael Boston). Slue turns his boy into a feral killing machine in something of a Frankenstein tale.

Screenwriter Graeme Whifler, director Robert Martin Carroll, and star Michael Boston share the history of this fascinating film.

Mike Malloy, author of the upcoming David Carradine: The Lost Auteur, and Maitland McDonagh join Mike White in discussing Sonny Boy.

Rescued from the brink of disaster, the audio of Mike’s Q&A with Christopher Lloyd from FanExpo 2016 may be a little rough around the edges but is, hopefully, still enjoyable.  Mr. Lloyd discusses working in the theater, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Andy Kaufman, Back to the Future, and more.  Thanks to FDBK for cleaning up the audio files as best he can.

Directed by Karen Arthur, The Mafu Cage (1978) stars Carol Kane and Lee Grant as Cissy and Ellen, two sisters who live together in a large, sprawling house.  Ellen is a scientist with a potential boyfriend and a world outside the house while Cissy lives in the house and, really, in her own head.   Mike talks with director Karen Arthur about her early career. Josh Johnson and Kier-La Janisse join the discussion of this oft-overlooked film.

Mike is joined by Matt Zoller Seitz (author of The Oliver Stone Experience) to talk with Oliver Stone about his work from his recent Snowden film (starring Joseph Gordon Levitt) to his early days with Seizure and The Hand.   The Oliver Stone Exerience is available September 13, 2016. Snowden opens on September 16, 2016.

Special Guest: Gordon Williams, David Weddle Guest Co-Host: Maitland McDonagh, Eric J. Peterson No stranger to controversy, Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs (1971) examines the nature of man, marriage, and more. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, a mathemetician who moves to the south of England with his native wife, Amy (Susan George) where he upsets the status quo. The situation erupts in violence and terror. Maitland McDonagh and Eric J. Peterson join Mike to discuss Peckinpah’s film as well as Rod Lurie’s 2011 remake. A few Turkish remakes also are compared to the original and U.S. remake. The author of the book Straw Dogs was based on, The Siege at Trencher’s Farm, Gordon Williams, and the author of If They Move… Kill ‘Em!, David Weddle, discuss the background of the film.

Mike talked with Jeff Joseph and Dennis Barok about their book A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies, now available via the University of Mississippi Press.

Special Guests: Patrick McGilligan, Dan Auiler Guest Co-Hosts: Tania Modleski, Susan White Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a tale of obsession which has sparked an obsession in many of its viewers. Jimmy Stewart stars as John “Scottie” Ferguson, a disgraced detective who’s hired by an old friend to follow his wife, Madeline (Kim Novak), who seems to have become possessed by a spirit from San Francisco’s past. Professors Tania Modleski and Susan White (no relation) join Mike to discuss the film which was ranked as the best film in the world in a 2012 Sight & Sound poll. Authors Patrick McGilligan (Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light) and Dan Auiler (Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic)

Mike spoke to Derrel Maury about his work with Norman Lear and in Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi, among other things.

Rene Daalder’s Massacre at Central High is the story of a new kid at school where he finds that the so-called cool kids are running the school with an iron fist.