Old Movie Club
The members of The Incomparable panel watch old movies selected by our old-movie sommelier, Philip Michaels, and then talk about them.
738 Condor to the Neck
Don’t order the fish! Old Movie Club celebrates Aviatober with 1939’s “Only Angels Have Wings” and 1957’s “Zero Hour!” One bears a striking resemblance to forgettable 1980s TV series “Tales of the Gold Monkey,” and the other is undeniably the inspiration for the more notable 1980 movie “Airplane!” (That’s foreshadowing.)
Previous Episodes
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December 8, 2023 — “Soylent Green”694 Don’t Take the Soylent Factory Tour
50 years later, “Soylent Green” is still made of people—and its futuristic setting of 2022 is shockingly relevant! But having given this film a full viewing, we think it’s also a pretty good example of ’70s eco sci-fi with a little noir detective flavoring. (Not that kind of flavoring.)
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October 27, 2023 — “The Exorcist” (1973)
666 Max Von Sydow Was 44
A mother seeks help for her troubled daughter from a medical profession that’s unable to find an answer it can believe. A priest questions his faith, until he gets projectile vomited in the face by a 12-year-old girl with her head spinning around. It’s a horror classic. We celebrate the 50th anniversary of “The Exorcist”!
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October 20, 2023 — “Night of the Living Dead”
688 They’re All Messed Up
Grab some kindling and prepare to board up a window! Old Movie Club gets in the spirit of the spooky season with the 1969 movie that started it all—and by “all” we mean what we now think of as zombies—“Night of the Living Dead.” For a low-budget movie that features mostly amateur actors and fell out of copyright, it’s a certifiable classic. We’re certifying it right now. If you don’t like it, go back down to the basement, because we’re the boss of the upstairs.
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April 7, 2023 — “12 Angry Men” and “Witness for the Prosecution”
660 The Monocle Test
Old Movie Club throws itself into the turning wheels of justice with two legal films from 1957, “12 Angry Men” and “Witness for the Prosecution.”
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October 21, 2022 — “Chinatown”
637 Sorry, Charlie, It’s Chinatown
Our Old Movie Club sits down with a nice plate of fish and a large glass of water to watch 1972’s “Chinatown.” We discuss the merits of Jack Nicholson, the horror of John Huston’s character, and perhaps the perfect noir screenplay.
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April 8, 2022 — Old Movie Club violently overthrows the U.S. government!
609 Chekhov’s Toy Store
Old Movie Club returns with two films that imagine attempts to disrupt the United States government. In 1954’s “Suddenly,” Frank Sinatra’s going to try to kill the President. In 1964’s “Seven Days In May,” Burt Lancaster is plotting a military coup. Both films are in black and white from more than 50 years ago, and yet for some reason Phil thinks their themes may resonate even today…
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October 31, 2021 — “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” and “Young Frankenstein”
587 Is Dracula the Frankenstein?
Just in time for Halloween, our mega-sized Old Movie Club meets up in a spooky haunted house to discuss two horror-comedies that honor their source material more than you might think — it’s 1948’s “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” and 1974’s “Young Frankenstein.” We learn that werewolves can fly, quoting film dialogue on the playground can be cruel, and in the end it turns out that none of us are the doctor—we’re the monster.
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October 10, 2021 — “Rear Window” and “The Conversation”
584 Window and Chill
Old Movie Club likes to watch… old movies. And these are old movies about the price and perils of watching (and listening). We view the Hitchcock classic “Rear Window” and visit the smelly, greasy, fuzzy ’70s film for “The Conversation.” Also, we call back to the Summer of Spielberg with a discussion of how Francis Ford Coppola’s career making art films like “The Conversation” was derailed by fantastic commercial success.
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March 27, 2021 — “Chariots of Fire” and “Amadeus”
559 Men vs. Selves
Six episodes ago, Jason made Phil mad by suggesting that “Chariots of Fire” and “Amadeus” might not be worthy of their Academy Awards for Best Picture. This episode is Phil’s revenge, as we watch two acclaimed early-80s films and see how well they hold up. They’re both period pieces, but one is set to the electronic sounds of Vangelis and the other to the classical masterpieces of Mozart. Running in slow motion has never looked better, and there’s never been more braying laughter in a film!
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September 26, 2020 — “Midnight” (1939) and “Some Like It Hot” (1959)
533 Confiscate the Trumpeter’s Mute
Our Old Movie Club takes on two Billy Wilder comedies from 1939 and 1959, to see if they still hold up 81 and 61 years later. Erika Ensign’s selection is “Midnight,” starring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche, and Philip Michaels counters with “Some Like It Hot,” starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe. Both films are about people pretending to be something they aren’t. And then the fun begins… hopefully!
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May 31, 2020 — “The Big Sleep” and “The Long Goodbye”
517 Intensely Interesting
Old Movie Club takes on two distinctly different Raymond Chandler adaptations: 1946’s “The Big Sleep” (with Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe) and 1973’s “The Long Goodbye” (with Elliott Gould as Marlowe). Both of them have twisty plots that unravel, leaving dead bodies behind. Women throw themselves at Bogie! Elliott Gould needs to buy cat food! Film Boir will never be the same.
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November 30, 2019 — “Lawrence of Arabia”
489 He Likes Your Lemonade
Old Movie Club finally takes on the big one, David Lean’s 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia.” Sand! Endurance! Men! Camels! Violence! Anticolonialism mixed with racism! Omar Sharif redefines thirst in the desert! The real romance in the movie without romance! This is a movie that builds myths with one hand and undermines them with the other. This episode has no overture, but there will be a brief intermission.
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June 30, 2019 — Old Movie Club: “Jaws”
468 Did the Shark Order Takeout?
For 4th of July week we’re going to the beach — Amity Island, to be precise. Old Movie Club takes on the original summer blockbuster, 1975’s “Jaws”, directed by some kid named Steven Spielberg. Two of our panelists have never seen it! But we all learn some important lessons about how much blood the human body contains, the ins and outs of tourism marketing, and how the most important part of the journey is the sharks we met along the way.
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February 3, 2019 — Unusual movie musicals
444 Why People Don’t Like Musicals
Our Old Movie Club visits two musicals—but they’re both unusual. From near the beginning of the sound era comes “Gold Diggers of 1933”, a Depression-era tale of showgirls and swells and misunderstandings with enormous Busby Berkeley production numbers. And from the early days of Beatlemania comes 1964’s “A Hard Day’s Night”, intended (at least by its financiers) to be disposable boy-band fluff, but ended up being one of the most influential films of the 20th century.
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June 2, 2018 — “Casablanca”
409 Marshmallow Traitors
Endlessly quoted, residing on every list of the best films of all time, you might think that “Casablanca”—released 75 years ago—is overrated and played out. Nope! It’s a fun film with romance, snappy ironic dialogue, and a stunning cast. And it’s also a fascinating historical document, given that it was written before Pearl Harbor and produced in the early days of America’s involvement in World War II, when the end of the war was anything but a foregone conclusion. We discuss the magical letters of transit, Captain Renault’s jocular amorality, Victor Laszlo the speechifying drip, Ilsa’s piercing stare, Major Strasser’s favorite cereal, Sam’s implausible piano handwork, the Ken Cinema in San Diego, and how the war was like a rap battle.
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November 5, 2017 — “The Third Man” and “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”
378 A Parrot Bit Me
Old Movie Club returns with two paranoid films set amid the intrigue of postwar Europe: 1949’s “The Third Man” and 1965’s “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.” The former features Orson Welles, a collection of suspicious characters in Vienna, and a whole lot of zither music. The latter features Richard Burton mixing insobriety with spycraft, and a very peculiar library. (This episode is presented in black and white.)
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April 15, 2017 — “American Graffiti” and “Breaking Away”
348 He’s Way Better Than Fonzie
A bunch of people born in the 1970s discuss two films from that decade about young people coming of age: 1973’s “American Graffiti” and 1979’s “Breaking Away.” The first is a film (set in 1962) featuring young people driving around a northern California town on the last night of summer before reality sets in; the second is about young people riding bikes (and swimming in a quarry) in Indiana. The first comes from the future director of “Star Wars”; the second comes from the future director of “Krull”. Both are full of faces you will recognize. And both have interesting things to say about being young and the prospect of growing up.
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November 12, 2016 — “The Right Stuff.”
326 Likeable Jerkability
The epic film about the early days of the space race, 1983’s “The Right Stuff,” is on the launch pad this week. What does the film say about modern mythmaking? Can you have too much Chuck Yeager? Is this peak Dennis Quaid? Why do astronauts have to be test pilots instead of demolition-derby drivers? We’ll figure it out. Let’s light this candle!
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August 28, 2016 — “Sunset Boulevard” and “Stalag 17”
315 Show Some Respect for the Chimp
Old Movie Club returns with two classic films directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden: The darkly tragi-comic Hollywood story “Sunset Boulevard” and the dramati-comic World War II prisoner-of-war story “Stalag 17.” Monty pitches a “Sunset Boulevard” prequel featuring a butler and a chimp. We notice the similarities between “Stalag 17” and an enormous number of sitcoms and comedy films from the following 30 years.
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May 28, 2016 — “HIs Girl Friday” and “The Thing from Another World”
302 Keep Watching the Skies
Old Movie Club views two films produced—and some would say directed—by Howard Hawks. The fast-paced comedy “His Girl Friday” leads us off, followed by the original sci-fi horror film “The Thing from Another World.” Both feature snappy overlapping dialogue, but only one features a murderous alien carrot man.
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December 6, 2015 — “Miracle on 34th Street” and “The Lion in Winter”
275 Comprehensive Tapestry Policy
On this Old (Holiday) Movie Club, we review a certifiable Christmas classic, “Miracle on 34th Street.” Then we watch a very different sort of film set on Christmas, “The Lion in Winter.”
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September 5, 2015 — “Anatomy of a Murder” and “The Hustler”
262 District Attorney Doofus
Old Movie Club returns with two films featuring George C. Scott: “The Hustler” (featuring an electric performance by Paul Newman) and “Anatomy of a Murder” (starring Jimmy Stewart as a simple country lawyer). One more outburst and I’ll clear this courtroom!
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June 27, 2015 — “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man”
253 Ignoring the Movie Completely
Old Movie Club reconvenes to watch two films based on the works of Dashiell Hammett: 1934’s “The Thin Man” and 1941’s “The Maltese Falcon.” We appreciate the drunken aplomb of Nick and Nora and the shifty glory of Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, all while taking in the faint scent of gardenias.
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April 4, 2015 — “Pride of the Yankees” and “The Bad News Bears”
241 Shopping With Mrs. Gehrig
Play ball! It’s opening weekend, so Old Movie Club returns with two classic baseball movies: “Pride of the Yankees” and “The Bad News Bears.” Even if you don’t like baseball (like Erika), you may enjoy these movies just fine! One’s a biopic from the 1940s complete with a song, and the other is an appropriately gross 1970s comedy. Join us, won’t you?
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February 21, 2015 — Underappreciated Hitchcock
235 Plot Advancement Tribune
Our Old Movie Club, featuring classic films many of us haven’t seen selected just for us by Philip Michaels, is back!
In this edition, we look at two underappreciated films of Alfred Hitchcock: 1943’s “Shadow of a Doubt” and 1948’s “Rope.” The former features Joseph Cotten shooting up through the ceiling of creepy, a battle of telepathy versus telegraphy, the special bond of people named Charlie, murder by soda, and an appearance by the Exposition Radio Network. The latter offers long unbroken scenes, drunk Farley Granger, a perfect murder perpetrated by Batman villains, and Jimmy Stewart as Columbo. Both films have Hitchcock in common, as well as Hume Cronyn… and murder!
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December 27, 2014 — The Marx Brothers
227 The Europeans Do It Better
In just moments, Rufus T. Firefly will appear, and all the people of Freedonia will cheer at the presence of their new leader. In the meantime, let’s take some time in our Old Movie Club to discuss the enduring and hilarious works of the Marx Brothers in general and the films “Duck Soup” and “A Night at the Opera” in particular.
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November 7, 2014 — Film Noir movie club
219 Terrible Things for Awful Reasons
Old Movie Club returns! And things get dark awfully fast, because we watched two Film Noirs: “Kiss Me Deadly” (1955) and “Out of the Past” (1947). These films contain action, punching, unlikely romance, death by fishing line, horrible ethnic stereotypes, questionable female characters, inexplicable plots, and a box containing a nuclear whatsit. Va-va-va-voom!
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July 3, 2014 — Patriotic musicals.
201 Democracy is Awful
Break out the stars and stripes, put on your tap shoes, crawl into your shame hole, and join us for a very patriotic edition of Old Movie Club. We discuss the musical “1776,” which stars KITT from “Knight Rider” and the guy from “The White Shadow,” and the biopic musical “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” which stars James Cagney.
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March 15, 2014 — Old Movie Club: “Get Carter” and “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.”
186 Kazoo Parade
We reconvene our Old Movie Club to watch two gritty early-1970s films that have been unfortunately remade in the last decade: “Get Carter” starring Michael Caine, and “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” starring Walter Matthau. We learn about slide-based pornography, metaphors involving stick-shift cars, angry New York transit officers, kazoo parades, and so much more.
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November 9, 2013 — “Singin’ in the Rain,” “High Noon,” and “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
167 Space Wizard Musical
Old Movie Club returns! We look at three films from 1952: “Singin’ in the Rain,” “High Noon,” and Best Picture winner (!) “The Greatest Show on Earth.” One of these movies is not like the others. Plus: The haunting repetition of Tex Ritter! Charlton Heston’s commitment to the circus! And Phil asks Jason what it feels like to have no soul! Travel back 61 years in time and join us, won’t you?
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August 31, 2013 — Two caper movies from the 1950s: “The Lavender Hill Mob” and “The Killing.”
156 Airline of Snitches
Special guest star Philip Michaels gives us an old-movie education with two caper movies from the 1950s, “The Lavender Hill Mob” and “The Killing.” One’s funny, one’s not, but both teach us that crime doesn’t pay! Plus young Stanley Kubrick, funnyman Alec Guinness, the second-greatest fight scene Steve has ever seen, and a guest appearance by General Eisenhower.