Episodes

Todd Melby is joined by David M. Lubin to talk about “Sunset Boulevard,” a Hollywood classic. A quick plot summary for those who haven’t seen it: an aging silent film star (Gloria Swanson) falls in love with a struggling screenwriter (William Holden) while her butler watches (Erich von Stroheim). Billy Wilder directed the film. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman, Jr. Host: Todd Melby Guest: David M. Lubin, author of Ready for My Close-Up: The Making of Suns...

When Hormel cut wages like a buzz saw on a pork shoulder, unionized workers rebelled. Director Barbara Kopple traveled to Austin, Minnesota to document the 1984-85 meatpackers strike. In this episode, Kopple reveals how she gained behind-the-scenes access to key strategy sessions, how she struggled to tell a complex story involving many factions, and just how darn cold it was when workers took to the picket lines. The result was American Dream, an Oscar-winning documentary that has just receiv...

In 32 Sounds, director Sam Green listens. He listens to the last male bird of a dying species chirp for a mate that will never arrive. He listens to a man who can almost hear the voices of dead lovers and friends. He listens to a musician who burned a piano in her youth for art and now records underwater sounds. And he spends a day with a foley artist who manipulates a shammy to mimic the sounds of fighting, fucking and feasting. In this episode, we talk to Green and Joanna Fang, a foley artist...

In 32 Sounds, director Sam Green listens. He listens to the last male bird of a dying species chirp for a mate that will never arrive. He listens to a man who can almost hear the voices of dead lovers and friends. He listens to a musician who burned a piano in her youth for art and now records underwater sounds. And he spends a day with a foley artist who manipulates a shammy to mimic the sounds of fighting, fucking and feasting. In this episode, we talk to Green and Joanna Fang, a foley artist...

In "Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life," author James Curtis chronicles the silent star’s private life and pictures, including The General, One Week, The Navigator and Steamboat Bill, Jr. But it’s Keaton’s days as a performer that captivated me so we begin the episode with tales from the vaudeville stage, including details about which foot Buster's father preferred to kick him with.

In "Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life," author James Curtis chronicles the silent star’s private life and pictures, including The General, One Week, The Navigator and Steamboat Bill, Jr. But it’s Keaton’s days as a performer that captivated me so we begin the episode with tales from the vaudeville stage, including details about which foot Buster's father preferred to kick him with.

On this episode we open our ears to the sounds of silent films with an audio documentary about musicians who compose new scores to movies from a century ago. These composers are smitten with the works of Sergei Eisenstein, Buster Keaton, early Alfred Hitchcock and others. Before the doc, we open with one man’s obsession with the Odessa Steps in Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin."

On this episode we open our ears to the sounds of silent films with an audio documentary about musicians who compose new scores to movies from a century ago. These composers are smitten with the works of Sergei Eisenstein, Buster Keaton, early Alfred Hitchcock and others. Before the doc, we open with one man’s obsession with the Odessa Steps in Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin."

Before he was Sonny the shopkeeper in Do the Right Thing, or Mike Yanagita in Fargo, or Nescaffier in The French Dispatch, Stephen Park was a confused college student. His father was a doctor. So naturally, Park enrolled in a lot of science classes at Boston University. But it never really clicked. “After my second year, I was on academic probation,” he says. After transferring to SUNY Binghamton, he continued to struggle. Just before dropping out of college, his girlfriend suggested he take ...

Before he was Sonny the shopkeeper in Do the Right Thing, or Mike Yanagita in Fargo, or Nescaffier in The French Dispatch, Stephen Park was a confused college student. His father was a doctor. So naturally, Park enrolled in a lot of science classes at Boston University. But it never really clicked. “After my second year, I was on academic probation,” he says. After transferring to SUNY Binghamton, he continued to struggle. Just before dropping out of college, his girlfriend suggested he take ...

GF1. That’s what the New Jersey gangsters on The Sopranos called the film. To everyone else, it was The Godfather, a 1972 film that saved Paramount Pictures and catapulted the careers of Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton to the stratosphere. It also reintroduced a struggling Marlon Brando to the world. In this episode, I interview Mark Seal, author of Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of the Godfather, recently published by ...

GF1. That’s what the New Jersey gangsters on The Sopranos called the film. To everyone else, it was The Godfather, a 1972 film that saved Paramount Pictures and catapulted the careers of Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton to the stratosphere. It also reintroduced a struggling Marlon Brando to the world. In this episode, I interview Mark Seal, author of Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of the Godfather, recently published by ...

Hotter than Bond. Cooler than Bullitt. In this episode, it's Shaft.

Hotter than Bond. Cooler than Bullitt. In this episode, it's Shaft.

Inspired by John Wayne, a Texas dishwasher named Joe Buck (Jon Voight) buys a cowboy hat, boots and leather jacket for his new life as a New York sex worker. He figures women will be into that. It turns out, gay men are really into it. After getting off a bus, Joe rents a room and begins wandering around Manhattan. At every turn, New Yorkers pick his pocket, including Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a coughing, limping, streetwise hustler who takes $20 off of the naive Buck. In this episode, I in...

Inspired by John Wayne, a Texas dishwasher named Joe Buck (Jon Voight) buys a cowboy hat, boots and leather jacket for his new life as a New York sex worker. He figures women will be into that. It turns out, gay men are really into it. After getting off a bus, Joe rents a room and begins wandering around Manhattan. At every turn, New Yorkers pick his pocket, including Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a coughing, limping, streetwise hustler who takes $20 off of the naive Buck. In this episode, I in...

Bloody. Unnerving. Thrilling. Thirty-plus years after its release, Goodfellas still packs a punch. Or should I say a kick in the head? Martin Scorsese directed the movie. Based on Wiseguy, a book by Nicholas Pileggi about the gangster Henry Hill, Goodfellas stars Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Lorraine Bracco. The movie is renowned for its tracking shots, a wise-cracking and crazy-violent Joe Pesci, a shocking opening, complex and shifting storytelling and a heady mix of intimidating ...

Bloody. Unnerving. Thrilling. Thirty-plus years after its release, Goodfellas still packs a punch. Or should I say a kick in the head? Martin Scorsese directed the movie. Based on Wiseguy, a book by Nicholas Pileggi about the gangster Henry Hill, Goodfellas stars Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Lorraine Bracco. The movie is renowned for its tracking shots, a wise-cracking and crazy-violent Joe Pesci, a shocking opening, complex and shifting storytelling and a heady mix of intimidating ...

Lots of critics think that Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO has no peers. One woman begs to differ.

Lots of critics think that Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO has no peers. One woman begs to differ.

An interview with Brett Harvey, director of "Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo." After struggling with heroin and robbing stores as a teenager, Trejo spent years incarcerated in California prisons. After his release, he worked as a drug counselor. A fluke visit to a movie set resulted in Trejo landing a tiny role in "Runaway Train." More small roles followed, mostly as a badasses. The Los Angeles actor is best known for his roles in "Machete," "Con Air," "Dusk Till Dawn," and "Heat."

An interview with Brett Harvey, director of "Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo." After struggling with heroin and robbing stores as a teenager, Trejo spent years incarcerated in California prisons. After his release, he worked as a drug counselor. A fluke visit to a movie set resulted in Trejo landing a tiny role in "Runaway Train." More small roles followed, mostly as a badasses. The Los Angeles actor is best known for his roles in "Machete," "Con Air," "Dusk Till Dawn," and "Heat."

Georges Mourier describes Napoléon as “not just a masterpiece." The Cinémathèque Française restoration expert says the 1927 silent film "is also a monster piece.” Which is why, while working on a new restoration of the Abel Gance classic, Mourier never be alone with Napoléon. Instead, a collaborator will always be with him in the screening room as he grapples with the genius of Gance. In this episode of The Drunk Projectionist podcast, host Todd Melby and Mourier discuss the many versions of the...

Georges Mourier describes Napoléon as “not just a masterpiece." The Cinémathèque Française restoration expert says the 1927 silent film "is also a monster piece.” Which is why, while working on a new restoration of the Abel Gance classic, Mourier never be alone with Napoléon. Instead, a collaborator will always be with him in the screening room as he grapples with the genius of Gance. In this episode of The Drunk Projectionist podcast, host Todd Melby and Mourier discuss the many versions of the...