Full Cast And Crew

Thrilled to revisit 1979's seminal teen-angst/school destruction fantasy 'Over The Edge'...a teen film to rule them all, a movie that more accurately captures the bonds of youthful friendship and the bounds of self-discovery than all the John Hughes films combined. Using a mix of first-time, inexperienced, and non-professional locals as actors, the Colorado-shot film has an authenticity and veracity to it that's rarely been equalled. Plus it has an absolute kick-ass soundtrack loaded with...

A random IG post sends Jason down the Joe Spinell wormhole and he emerges in 1973 to experience for the first time 'Cops and Robbers', Aram Avakian's film of a Donald E. Westlake comedy screenplay about two NYC cops who decide to try their hand on the other side of the law. Featuring pitch-perfect period performances (say that 10 times fast)...'Cops and Robbers' is a really good gem of a 70's film, and has two great lead performances by NYC acting stalwarts Cliff Gorman and Joseph Bologna....

Ethan Hawke's meta-documentary about the lives, love, losses, and careers of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward is a worthwhile, often confounding effort with rewards and challenges alike. In this episode Jason talks about the origin of the documentary in the discovery of some transcripts of interviews conducted by a Newman associate in pursuit of a memoir and biography that Newman wanted to work on. For unknown reasons, Newman later abandoned the project and burned the audio tapes. But the...

When James Caan died last week at 82 it was cause for a pause of appreciation for the work he left behind. I went searching for a 70's Caan film I hadn't yet seen, having done most of his ouvre at one time or another. I settled on Czech filmmaker Karel Reisz' brilliant 1974 film 'The Gambler', based on a James Toback script and I'm so glad I did. Before jumping into that film, this episode offers a brief re-appraisal of Caan's work in 'The Godfather' and in Michael Mann's 'Thief' (Caan's...

Tony Bill's directorial debut 'My Bodyguard' holds a special and heartwarming place for the 99% of us not fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have been the most popular kids in school. 'My Bodyguard' is filled with respect for the difficulties of everyday teenage life in a realistic manner, and features wonderful performances from 1980's teen actors like Matt Dillon, Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin and Paul Quandt. The film, I posit in this episode, offers a more honest portrayal of teen life...

125 episodes? Who knew? If you're new to the podcast and wondering what's out there in those previous episodes, this short introductory episode will provide a bit of a roadmap to orient you to some episodes you might be interested in. Thanks for checking out the podcast!

Thrilled to be joined by 3-time FCAC guest star, actor/writer/director Lee Wilkof and to delve into the making of Brian De Palma's most enduring and affecting film, 'Carrie', starring Sissy Spacek in a role she fought for, John Travolta in his first substantial film role just after being cast in 'Welcome Back, Kotter', and the future first ex-Mrs. Brian De Palma, Nancy Allen, who was about to give up on film acting when a casting director spotter her in the unlikeliest of places. Details in...

John Boorman's 1972 adaptation of James Dickey's novel "Deliverance" is a unique New Hollywood film in that its origins lie more in the older studio system yet the film upon release would become of of the most notorious films of its time and an iconic classic that's still discussed and debated today. On this episode of the podcast my friend and returning FCAC guest Ted Jessup joins to talk about a film he's loved and been traumatized by since he was 13 (see Ep 86 'The Odessa File' and Ep 75...

Tom Cruise and Joseph Kosinki's smash hit 'Top Gun: Maverick' has been out for a couple weeks now and if you're a rational, sentient human being, you've already seen this film in the theater and enjoyed it immensely like 99% of audience members and 97% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes. For the 1% - 3% of you who were unable to set aside your limited worldviews and/or aversion to fan-servicing mass-market entertainment that's NOT Marvel-made...well, there's hope for you yet as my episode this...

In this episode, Richard Brown and Jason Cilo tackle the making-of 'The Muppet Show', Jim Henson's seminal variety-show program of the late 70's. Topics covered: the surprising British history of 'The Muppet Show', musings about Kermit's unique spirit and personality, Miss Piggy's actual rags-to-riches life story, Frank Oz's singular talents, an appreciation of Gonzo, the curious misnomer of 'Guys' and 'Men' appearing in formative Muppet docs and period books, the 5 best 'Muppet Show'...

The original 'Battlestar Galactica', while a flawed and imperfect science-fiction TV series of the 1978 season, remains one of the most important and influential science-fiction TV series of all time. I'm joined again by Richard Brown (see our 'WKRP in Cincinnati', 'Taxi', and 'Network' episodes for more RF Brown) as we delve into the creation story of Battlestar and its creator, Glen A. Larson, known as "Glen Larceny" for his transparent adopting of movie concepts for his tv series. We run...

Dan Erickson's Apple+ thriller series "Severance" is, to my mind, the best sci-fi TV series we've gotten since "Black Mirror". So why isn't it getting quite as much attention as that series deservedly did? In this episode, I briefly discuss some of the aspects that I think make "Severance" so uniquely good, particularly the very strong casting, idiosyncratic production design, thoughtful world-building, wicked sense of humor, and praise-worthy pacing and creative decision-making. Then a...

Last week's episode about the new Michael Cimino book spurred me to rewatch all three of these classic films and, in doing so, I surprised myself with a firm and resounding reset of what I THOUGHT I thought about these movies. So here are some great clips and making-of anecdotes as I walk through what makes each of these films unique as well as give credit to foundational Viet Nam docs and other features along the way.

In his new book, Charles Elton tackles the impossible; a biography of late director Michael Cimino, an elusive, mysterious, obfuscating, and contrary Hollywood figure in real life...and, if possible, a man even more complicated and gossiped about online, in the press and in the power lunch spots of Hollywood than any other Oscar-winning director of his or any time. From Long Island roots to Mad Men-era success in advertising to the 9 Academy Award Nominations for 'The Deer Hunter' to the...

Thrilled to be joined again by pop culture historian and author Richard F. Brown to do the definitive 'Taxi' total rewatch and episode. We get into the mysterious beauty and melancholy of Bob James' 'Taxi' theme song 'Angela', and the temporary filmed open that became so identified with the ennui and thwarted ambitions of the beloved cabbies of the Sunshine Cab Co. We discuss all the characters and the actors who played them: Latka and Andy Kaufman, Danny DeVito and Louie, Marilu Henner...

Dissecting the latest attempt at reinventing the Oscars and assessing where, if anywhere, the telecast goes from here.

Thrilled to be joined this week by Kyle Buchanan, a NY Times writer whose new book 'Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild & True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road' is out now from William Morrow. Kyle and I talk about the incredible 30-year-journey of Fury Road; two times called off just prior to shooting, casting issues with Mel Gibson flaming out (and aging out) of the role, a non-traditional storyboard screenplay, a prolonged shoot in the remote Namibian desert, War Boy training of surprising...

Jason and FCAC returning guest Bruce Edwards, a television and film line producer and production manager as well as a filmmaker, collector, and cinema and comic geek par excellence to dive into the making of Ridley Scott's 1982 cinematic masterpiece 'Blade Runner'. Topics covered include Alternative Casting, the 7 versions of the film, the actor's strike that resulted in 9 additional months of planning for the film's VFX departments, whether Deckard is or is not a replicant, Vangelis'...

Joined again by good friend of the pod and pop cultural maven and scholar Richard Brown, this week we dive into all the 70's goodness of iconic sitcom 'WKRP in Cincinnati'. We talk the theme song, Tim Reid's impressive career and contributions to the series and to 'Frank's Place', the KRP cast, some iconic KRP episodes, KRP-adjacent content like the feature 'FM' and MORE..so, baby, if you've ever wondered...wondered what ever became of me.....listen to this episode, it'll put a smile on your...

Jason is thrilled to be joined by crime writer Joseph Schneider, author of two (and soon to be three) LAPD Detective Tully Jarsdel novels (links below), to discuss the criminally-underrated Peter Bogdanovich thriller 'Targets', Joseph's novels, 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', and much more. 'Targets' was made in 1967 when Bogdanovich, then working for Roger Corman's B-Picture factory of filmmaking alongside other future legendary directors like Francis Ford Coppola, was given the chance to...