Trial By Media, Pt. 1 — Sweet Smell of Success

This is an I Heart Podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

Terms and conditions apply.

Need to hire?

This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs.

Undec is built to back small businesses like yours.

Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, undec s

loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast.

Read it A plus by the Better Business Bureau, entering thousands of five star trust pilot

reviews, undec delivers funding you can count on.

Apply in minutes at undec.com.

Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by Undec or Celtic

Bank. Undec does not lend in North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

Meet the all new Volvo EX-60, a fully electric SUV, with Google Gemini along for the ride.

Turning an idea into a destination is as simple as asking, hey Google, find a scenic overlook

to watch the sunset.

Sunset is at 8.14 pm tonight.

The all new Volvo EX-60.

Visit VolvoCars.com slash US to learn more.

Google services are enabled through a digital services packaging glued at for four years

after this period.

New terms and fees apply.

See site for details.

Sequences short and simulated.

Google and Gemini are trademarks of Google LLC.

The next picture show is presented by a regal unlimited.

The all you can watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits.

See any standard 2D movie any time with no blackout dates or restrictions.

Sign up now on the regal app or at the link in this episode's description and use code

nextpick26 to receive 15% off.

That's any XTPIC26.

Hello, next picture show listeners.

Those are friendly reminder that if you enjoy the next picture show, you'll really enjoy

getting more next picture show by subscribing to our Patreon.

For $3 a month, you get the podcast early and ad free.

And for $5 a month, you get those perks plus bonus episodes on current TV, movies we

don't come on the podcast and other topics.

For instance, we recently released an episode about my take on this year's Toronto International

Film Festival and Tasha's experiences catching up with Ted Lasso.

To subscribe to our Patreon, please visit patreon.com slash next picture show.

It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the past.

It leads us someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living thing.

We may be true with the past, but the past is not true with us.

Welcome to the next picture show, a movie the week podcast devoted to a classic film and

how it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.

I'm Keith Dips here with Tasha Robinson, Genevieve Kasky, and Scott Tobias.

With the sketchy Madison late summer and early fall behind us, we're all together again

for the first time in a while.

Hello everybody.

Hi.

It's good to see us all in a place.

All in one virtual space.

Yes, exactly.

Well, all right.

This is actually my favorite time here.

I love early fall.

It's also when festival season grows into full swing and that means if you want to hear

about my trip to Toronto, there's a bonus episode on our Patreon page.

Check that out.

But it also means we're in the thick of prestige movie season.

In fact, the new half of this pairing will likely be in the awards discussion later this

year.

But here's an easy question for everybody.

What still unreleased movie are you most looking forward to that's still going to come

out in 2026?

I don't know why this is even a question with the cat in the hat with Bill Hanger.

I don't know.

Real soon now.

What else could anybody possibly look for?

You're going to have to host an episode on it, Tasha.

Oh, man.

We're going to have to pair it with the with a mic Myers first.

Yeah, exactly.

It's going to be great.

I'm preemptively calling in dead that week.

Sorry to derail.

I honestly, there's so much from your Toronto bonus episode that I'm looking forward to.

And I promptly have not sat down and looked into which ones of those movies are coming

out in the next couple of months.

So I'll just say Fjord based almost entirely on your pretty rapturous review of it.

Oh, no, no, I had mixed feelings about Fjord though.

They were pretty rapturous mixed feelings though, right?

No, I thought, well, yeah, I think it's a really artistically accomplished film that

I have one kind of a kind of a big problem with, but I don't want to, I don't want to

derail us by talking about that here.

But it's definitely a film we're seeing, that's for sure.

Yeah, I did not participate in that bonus episode, but I edited it.

So I got to hear a lot of Keith's tip recommendations.

And I'm similarly looking forward to a lot of the big titles coming out of it, Wild Horse

Nine in the debut, kind of chief among them.

I'm also just very, I'm less looking forward to seeing them than just curious to see how

sort of the years remaining big franchise blockbusters do.

We have Avengers Doomsday, we have Doomsday, and there's a new Hunger Games movie, which

I, of those three I actually might be looking forward to the most since I just finished the

book.

It's based on it, thought it was quite good.

But that kind of scale of movie is, I think, maybe falling out of favor a little bit,

but maybe not.

I don't know, like I said, I want to see how they play out.

And yeah, sure, I'm curious to see what an Avengers team up movie looks like in 2020.

26.

I believe that Spider-Man brand new day is now the highest gross universe to film a

whole time.

So, you know, well, they were totally done with that yet.

And the kind of rapturous reception and big box office for endgame coming back into

theaters does kind of point at the possibility of Doomsday doing something a little more

like old Marvel numbers instead of, you know, what has become the new normal for Marvel

movies.

So, Marvel is not what I'm looking forward to the most.

The answer to this question is curious.

I said it was curious.

I'm curious, fine.

But the answer to this question is quite, I mean, it's unavoidable for me.

So, you can see everything.

Like, it sort of soon is this Nathan Field or a slash Lance Oppenheim film about Elizabeth

Holmes surfaced and that it's in crazy long and supposedly quite good.

And the trailer is crazy.

Which is like, this is very exciting for me.

I think I have a lot of respect for those filmmakers.

And also, I am obsessed with Elizabeth Holmes story.

I've read the John Kerry you book.

I saw the Amanda Saferead series that drop out.

I am all over this movie.

I cannot wait to see it.

It's coming.

It's pretty soon, I think.

I think we'll get it finally get a chance.

But that is foremost on my mind.

But there's tons of things to see.

It's going to be very backloaded this year.

I'm looking forward to being curled into a ball of mortification throughout that entire

movie.

Just between Holmes's whole persona and Fielder's whole deal, certainly amplified by Oppenheim's

whole deal.

It's like, it's absolute Scott bait.

And I'm sure it will be good.

But whether I can physically handle watching it remains to be seen.

Yes.

Scott and my wife, Steve, are basically amateurs with Holmes scholars.

I kind of want them to go see this like in costume or something like a truck before.

Just like a barben higher level of.

I wonder if she shares my love of cringe comedy.

Because this is going to be that I'm so excited.

So that's that's foremost on my mind.

But there's going to be so much to see this fall for sure.

Well, we're talking about coming up in the next few weeks, movies about tech moguls.

I will confess a morbid fascination with the social reckoning.

Oh, yeah.

I was going to say that too.

Because I mean, I did love the social network so much as a movie.

And I'm just very curious how this film iterates.

I just given everything that's changed in tech moguls and billionaires and AI and technology

and Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg since that first movie came out.

I'm a little worried about that one.

I got to admit that we'll see.

I feel like it's maybe one of the few question marks you still kind of have following

Tiff.

Like what haven't you seen that you are?

Others tend to stuff like I want to see Elson or Tiff and get to it.

Everyone loved I play Rocky.

So I'm looking forward to that one.

I think on the big movie front, I'm most excited about Dune Part 3.

On the sort of the awards front, I think the one I'm really not really I guess, but

paper tiger.

The James Gray movie.

James Gray.

He's a filmmaker who's always like, I keep thinking he's going to make one.

I just really love and it's going to be like one of my all-time favorites.

Maybe this is the one who knows.

But no matter what, I think it's probably going to be pretty good.

But yeah, there's unfortunately, I mean, fortunately in terms of like, you know, interesting

movies, unfortunately in terms of our workload coming up for the next few months, there's

a lot of stuff that remains unseen in any way by me or Scott or the rest of us.

But you know, there's one movie we have seen.

It's inspired, you know, I mean, I think of an older film.

And so we decided to do a whole podcast about both of them.

I should and he tells about our current pairing.

Sure.

Based on a 2007 Esquire article called Tonight on Date Line, this man will die.

Lance Oppenheim's Primetime revisits the mid-Auts TV phenomenon to catch a predator in which

journalist Chris Hansen played in the film by Robert Pattinson, performed stings on would-be

online sex predators who targeted children.

It was to say the least a problematic program depicted in Primetime as an enterprise fueled

by Hansen's ambition, desire for the spotlight and amorality.

Those qualities put us in mind of Sydney Falco, the protagonist of the 1957 film Sweet

Smell of Success.

Tony Curtis plays Falco, a struggling press agent whose success or failure depends on

his ability to get his clients mentioned by the influential columnist JJ Hunsecker,

played by Bert Landcaster.

Over the course of the film, we discover with Falco just how far he's willing to go to

get ahead in a dirty business whose influence can be felt in every corner of New York.

So in this episode, we'll discuss the razor-sharp dialogue and twisted loyalties of Sweet

Smell of Success that in the next, we'll bring in Primetime and explore what they have

in common.

Bert Landcaster as JJ Hunsecker, world-famed columnist whose gossip is gospel to 60 million

readers.

Tony Curtis has Sydney Falco, the kid who had ideas about taking over.

Every happenin' to know on your stop, you bull.

Because I reflect back to you, your own talent.

I'd hate to take a bite of you.

You're a cookie full of oscillac.

Don't turn your back on him.

You might find an eye for it.

This is their story and that of the big shots and big names who worship the Sweet Smell

of Success.

We're in not for its final shot, in which one of the few characters to survive with their

soul intact walks away from the sort of world in which it's set.

Sweet Smell of Success would be a film of despairing cynicism.

Dirted by Alexander McKindrick, an American-born filmmaker raised in Scotland who found success

directing comedies for England's Ealing Studios and co-written by Ernest Layman, author

the short novel in which it's based and playwright trend screenwriter Clipord Odets.

The film peels back the bright surface of New York glamour and finds nothing but rot

underneath it.

From the Broadway stage to Jazz-filled nightclubs, nothing thrives without the approval

of powerful columnists who treat their favourable words and condom nations as part of a network

of transactions in which nothing comes for free.

None are more powerful than JJ Hunsucker, played by Bert Lancaster as a hulking, humus

figure who lives to bend others to his will.

Hunsucker exists at the pinnacle of his world, somewhere near the bottom is Sidney Falco,

played by Tony Curtis, a press agent who finds himself treading water in spite of his tireless

smoothing and scheming.

He lives in an office that doubles both as a department and occasional lovness for those

he's trying to manipulate.

But the few clients he has aren't happy with his results or his lies, and even his supportive

secretary Sally, played by Jeff Donald, seems to be losing patience.

Sidney's future depends on Romania and Hunsucker's good graces, and that future doesn't look

too bright.

Still, as the film opens, Sidney has maintained a tattered world code.

Their lines he won't cross, or so he believes, but desperation has a way of making those

lines disappear.

Even the idea of truth gets put to the test in sweet, small success.

While taking a sneak peek at Hunsucker's next column, Sidney happens on some words

of praise for Herbie Temple, an agent comic played by Joe Frisco.

It is Hunsucker's secretary tells him a rare instance of the writer saying something

nice because he wants to.

Since he had an opportunity, Sidney rushes to trick Herbie and his agent into thinking

he's responsible for the mention.

He's successful, but the move just underscores the hollowness of the whole enterprise.

Hunsucker claims that Temple is so funny that he had the columnist screaming.

But Lancaster plays Hunsucker's a man incapable of mirth, much less hysteria.

Even when he writes something without an ulterior motive, Hunsucker's a man for whom words

have power, but no real meaning.

Even his love for his younger sister Susan, played by Susan Harrison, has been twisted

into an exercise of control, divorced from what that emotion is supposed to be.

Sidney spends much of the film and service of Hunsucker's desire to crush Susan's relationship

with Steve Dallas, played by Martin Milner.

In jazz guitarist, whose only apparent objectionable quality is his interest in Susan, Hunsucker

wants to snuff it out while keeping his hands clean.

To this end, Sidney might be useful, provided Hunsucker can push him to go further than he

wants to go.

Sweet spell success takes place in an almost depressively dark world, in which Whitkins

weaponized Goodwill Exploited, and even art entertainment are just tools to be wheeled

up by those seeking leverage.

It's also not far removed from the real world that inspired it.

Laman had worked as both a freelance writer and publicist and drew on those experiences

when writing the film.

It wasn't hard to connect some of the dots.

The powerful columnist and radio personality Walter Wittschull shared Hunsucker's pro-style,

opportunistic patriotism, and red baiting.

He also fiercely controlled his daughter's love life, down to attempting to destroy one

of Hunsucker's career.

Sweet spell success was right in portraying an approximation of Winchell as a phony, maybe

it's right about everything else too.

It's also a world in which a striver like Sidney, no matter how far he's willing to go,

ultimately doesn't stand a chance.

Those at the top have put in safeguards to keep the Sidneys of the world in their place.

In the end, he's crushed by his eagerness to please and serve.

Until then, cast in Dreamboat Parts, Curtis was eager to prove he could do more, which

seems to bleed into his performance.

His own ambition allows him to craft an vision of how ugly ambition could look.

Sidney's never so pathetic, but at least in the film's early scenes, he's pitiful.

By the end, however, he's become a pimp and extortionist.

He's framed and innocent man and exploited Susan's goodness.

And he's lied to everyone because he travels in circles where every word might be a lie.

In the end, he's crushed, but even Hunsucker is laid low by Susan's willingness to walk

away.

He still has a world of his feet, but the one person that matters has left him behind

for somewhere better, because any place has to be better than this one.

We'll be back to discuss the film after the break.

Cash flow crunch?

On deck, small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up

to $200,000, right when you need it.

Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses

without missing a beat, with flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment.

Get funded quickly and confidently.

Apply today at on deck.com.

Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow.

Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by on deck or

Celtic bank.

On deck does not lend in North Dakota.

All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

Did you know that over 2 million people in Los Angeles County face food insecurity?

That's why Anthem Blue Cross and the nonprofit Chica Sverdei's have teamed up to empower

students in LA to grow their own food and school gardens, run free produce distributions

and host healthy habit workshops for community members.

They're joined by the Los Angeles Sparks and will provide education recipes and knowledge

to students and families.

Visit Anthem.com slash CA slash Sparks to learn more.

Anthem Blue Cross is the trade name of Blue Cross of California.

Kia, always forward, life in motion.

What I love most is that it feels like everything I want in one SUV.

I get the technology I want, the capability I need, and a vehicle that fits my lifestyle.

Whether it's my daily routine or a weekend trip, it just works for me.

The all-electric Kia EV9 offers three rows of seating, advanced technology, and an

estimated range of over 300 miles on select models, bringing together SUV versatility

with EV performance.

Visit Kia.com or your local Kia retailer today.

Kia, movement that inspires.

Some of the best stories.

Start at the end.

Like at the end of a remarkable island chain in Key West, Florida.

Here, any day can unfold with a plot twist, wander into the Hemingway home.

Step inside a legendary saloon.

Or find yourself raising a glass as the sun sinks into the golf.

So go ahead.

Book the flight.

Your next chapter starts here.

Learn more at visitflortakees.com slash key west.

That's good.

Now that lass is at a Susie's hair for good, I want that boy taken apart.

JJ, why do something that's going to drive them right back into each other's arms?

I know how to handle Susie.

You just...

You just handle the boy.

Preferably tonight.

What's tomorrow, a holiday?

Your fat cop friend.

I think I'm going home.

Maybe I left my sense of human my other suit.

You've got a god-given brain set in the user.

You think this is a personal thing with me?

Are you telling me I think of this in terms of personal peak?

Don't you see that today that boy wiped his feet on the choice

of the pre-delections of 60 million men and women in the greatest country in the world?

If you hadn't you borrowed just so if you'd understand the immorality of that boy stand today.

It wasn't me who criticized.

It was my readers.

So with this film, I feel like we could almost just approach this piece by piece

with all the many great things that contribute to this film.

I want to start with James Wong-House cinematography.

He's, you know, started the silent era, worked through the 70s,

trying on all kinds of different looks.

Like this doesn't necessarily look like body and soul, doesn't necessarily look like seconds.

What is he doing in this film in terms of the photography?

Well, I mean, I think if I can speak, I guess, to the overall look of the film

to which he contributes quite a bit.

I mean, you have this film that's in black and white that takes the shape of a film and war,

which it doesn't have to be.

I think that's kind of a crucial point.

I think it's something that will come up next week when we talk about prime time

is the form in which it takes a stylization of this movie is such an important part of it.

So it has the noir form.

It has the stylized dialogue of noir, but it is kind of fact-based or illusory

and is also committed to evoking a scene in a quite realistic way.

I mean, you know, this is a film that really gets a great deal out of real locations,

out of its particular bustling corner of New York.

And then also the CD, you know, back rooms and clubs,

where deals get made.

And, you know, all the drama takes happens.

And how I think is just one of, you know, a truly extraordinary group of,

you know, behind the scenes, artisans who are contributed to this movie,

to contribute to the look of the film,

then you have the musical chorus by Albert Bernstein.

And, you know, it just has this kind of vivid sort of noir pop to it,

which it doesn't have to have, but which, you know, is part of what makes it great.

And I think also it kind of, in addition to what we think of as noir,

the opening shot of some of the street scenes,

all of a sudden, like this sort of docky realistic feel to the look where it's the lights are bright

and you kind of see all the details,

but it still has like this kind of, I don't know, like Ouija, you know,

news photography kind of look to it.

It's an interesting, like, splitting of the difference between, like, grit and glam,

you know, both in terms of that, that matches up very nicely with the subject matter.

And there's a lot of really striking compositions, but it's also not a static film,

like it's very, there's a lot of movement of the camera, you know,

that frankly, I don't like always associate with noir photography,

which I tend to feel as a little more like static image-based,

not always, of course, there are exceptions, but it stuck out to me here sort of that,

you know, the way this lives in an interesting tonal middle ground that translates to

that's visual approach, and I think that is maybe what ties it most strongly in my mind

to the other film in this pairing. We'll get to that next week,

but maybe that's why it stuck out to me on this feeling so much.

I want to bring up a shot that has really stuck with me,

and that also kind of had me rethinking what I felt how was doing with the cinematography here.

There's a point mid-film where Hunsecker kind of like pauses in an evening of wheeling and dealing

and brow-beating and abusing people and scheming and particularly abusing Sydney.

He goes how many looks out over the city from his balcony,

and the city is kind of muddy.

You know, it's this out-of-focus blur of blobs of light.

And it's pretty obviously a rear projection.

It had me wondering, is this just what the shot looked like in rear projection,

and you know, how it would have made it a lot sharper if he could have,

or is this meant to be illustrative?

Because so much of the movie is so sharp.

It's interesting to me in a movie that's just constantly about moral grays

and the lack of black and white in a lot of the things that these folks are doing,

except when they descend into arguably pure evil.

Everything is so sharp-lined.

So this one shot where he looks out on the city,

and it just sort of feels dim and out-of-focus and unclear.

I mean, there's not a whole lot of reason narratively for him to do this,

unless he is kind of like pondering the city, pondering his city and his place in understanding it,

or communicating it to other people, or, you know, exploiting it, taking charge of it.

Kind of wish there was a little more focus in that scene in terms of what he's feeling in that moment

because there are so many options.

But I am curious if that shot stood out for anybody,

and if you have any theories about whether the city is so out-of-focus,

you know, as an artistic choice, or just as a technological limit?

I mean, I think it works if it works for you artistically, then sure,

it's quite an artistic choice.

You know, I didn't feel like the technology was wanting, or anyway.

But I love that shot.

It just feels like we don't really have access to his inner life in any way there,

but we kind of get a sense of him looming over the city,

seeing it as his, it reminds me of a similar shot in the able-frauer, maybe King of New York,

where Christopher Walken kind of stares down at the city,

the city kind of at his feet, because that's how he feels.

And I think maybe Hunts that Chris feelings like a similar.

Keith, you weren't reminded of this shot in Wall Street, where

where Charlie Sheen walks outside and looks over the balcony and says,

who am I?

Like literally, says it.

I mean, you know, my thing about Hunts that are in a scene like that,

and whenever we get him alone, which is not very often,

is the fact that I mean, here's a profoundly powerful man who's also profoundly lonely,

and who is clinging to this one relationship that he has that he is in the process of destroying.

And so I think whenever he is on his own, that sense of loneliness is enforced in that feeling

of the empire over which he presides is kind of empty.

So I think you sort of, I feel like a shot like that sort of emphasizes that.

The other thing about Hunts, I don't know if you all thought this or not, is like,

I could not help but think about all of the awards bloggers basically.

Then we have to deal with, I mean, just these horrible people,

I won't name them on this podcast, but like, you know who they are.

This is like the little petty little fiefdom that they Lord over in ways that are just incredibly

nasty and yet the things that are being reported upon are not that significant.

It feels like we're in the sad, petty internet version of something that was much larger in the 50s.

Yeah, I feel like this world has just changed form over the decades.

It's never really gone away. That's right.

That just makes me wonder about the economy or maybe the biosphere of press agents today in terms of,

you know, there aren't necessarily news columnists in the same way who wield this kind of power,

but there certainly are people online.

And I think of, you know, today's influencers as having like an entire sub economy of people

who are just desperately trying to get them to mention this product or use this product or recommend

this product. I have gotten press emails that that rapturously announce that so and so,

some of my famous person was seeing using such and such.

And it's always like a lip balm or, you know, something, some makeup or something.

It's like they're using this lip gloss today.

Like I'm going to drop everything and write a new story about it. It's crazy.

But when it comes to, you know, mentioning a business or a person or giving a film or a show

or a book or a review or whatever, like there's kind of be whole economy of people trying to get

super popular book talkers to talk about like some specific book, right?

Oh, for sure. Undoubtedly.

I hope that none of them are committing murder by cop, but you know, I wonder how dirty or how

favor based that world is.

Well, that just makes me think of the stuff with the comic that Hunsiker mentions in the column

that Sydney gets an early look at and kind of capitalizes on to, in a really amusing way,

to get that comic to sign on with him.

And it works.

But in the interaction with Hunsiker's secretary, you know, she indicates that he just really enjoyed,

like that was a genuine review.

That wasn't like a favor, you know?

So I found it interesting the implication that there is still an element of actual

taste making to what JJ is doing.

And it's not just like a mosaic of favors past back and forth in the form of a column.

You got it there.

In some ways, at least when when someone like Hunsiker started out, he maybe actually liked

this stuff.

Yeah, you know, that's a beautiful plot point because it illustrates that he's not just a

favor broker anymore.

He really does still take pleasure in things.

He still does use his power to boost talent that he wants to see more people see.

But at the same time, it's an illustration that like even where there's, I guess virtue and

journalism, there's still bottom feeders coming along to take advantage of it.

And then of course, the payoff of that tiny little subplot about Sydney hustling to get that

comic on the payroll is just, you know, a little chef's kiss moment at the end, kind of illustrating

how much his life has changed, like in an hour of film time.

But as far as we know, it's a pure gesture on Hunsiker's party.

Now, you know, now this comic goes in a favor, whether he asked for asked for a favor or not.

Well, sort of. I mean, I guess you could say he is he's potentially in Hunsikers debt,

but at the same time, if if nothing was agreed on beforehand, you know, if if Hunsiker is the type

to comment after a random seemingly fairly low level comic and say, now you owe me one,

I don't know. I mean, he certainly seems like the type to have built a network and kept track.

It is possible that, you know, Herbie Temple's career will get a little boost from this.

And then if Hunsiker ever happens to need anything, he can certainly come back to and say,

not so much, hey, I did you a solid now you owe me, but hey, you had a little taste of what happens

when I feed your name to people. Would you like more? If so, I guess I would not argue that he

owes him yet, but there's always that possibility for anybody that benefits from what he does from

a top his bully pulpit. I think maybe I was being more cynical than sweet smell of success.

So it was my apologies for that. But I guess that kind of brings us to what a bigger question

with the cell. I found a quote from Winshel about Winshel from Ernest Slaiman in a long article

on Vanity Fair, which we can link to in the notes. Of course, at this point, we, you know,

we haven't really talked about water Winshel, but I mentioned before that he's one of the bases,

the main primary basis for JJ Hunsiker. Laman says this, I knew Winshel. I was the guy on the other

end of the phone. He go into 30 minute into a 30 minute tirade about Ed Sullivan that he'd say,

who is this? And this is the part that stuck with me. He goes on. The nicest thing you could do

was to keep someone out of that world. So is this film a work of like near absolute cynicism,

or do you see as a morality tale as a kind of a warning to what could happen to people when they

get into this world? I guess this is just my personal bent, but I felt that like it was a warning

about, you know, trusting newspaper columns, like these, these kind of personality driven

celebrity driven columns. At the point where Sydney sets up his friend question mark,

friend with benefits question mark, certainly friend with favors Rita with the columnist Otis L.

Well, who plays the entire scene with Rita kind of like a predator and kind of like somebody who

has been given a new toy. It just feels like what this movie is saying is these columns are tainted,

you know, fundamentally tainted by terrible people. The whole conversation in front of the

senator between a hunsecker and and Sydney just seems to be kind of like setting up an expectation

that, you know, everything that these columnists are printing is probably being fed to them by

press agents. So they're not really doing news, but at the same time, they don't want to be

beholden to press agents, but they're all doing favors and not a whole lot of work. You see a lot

of them just sitting around bars with random people coming up to them and giving them tips.

It just really is just a constant slate on the profession. And I came out of it feeling like I

had basically been told, don't trust anything anyone in this position says, you know, anybody doing

it about around the town column is probably a sleazeball at best and a fraud at worst.

So yeah, I don't I didn't come away with that at all. Maybe because I think maybe because

this world is so is so kind of distant from our own to me, I think the film is a little bit broader

in terms of the way power and influence work. I mean, and that kind of to me kind of connects it

more to the themes of film noir and kind of the cynicism and darkness of that world. And I think,

once you get into this realm of power and influence and people desperate to wield it and

willing to do all of these sort of things to get what they want, you know,

then you get to a place where I think I think the lessons of the film or the themes of the film

apply just to much more broadly to, you know, it could be politics as well. You know, any

any place where power power is wielded rather than thinking about the film strictly as kind of like

a, this is how the sausage is made journalismistically. I think that's kind of to me that's

and not to be offensive or anything, but I be offensive to say it feels like a narrow reading of

what this film is trying to do. But I do think Tasha is, or I agree with Tasha calling out that scene

with Rita and Otis and Sydney's apartment is like the nadir of this very cynical film films,

cynicism at least for me. And not just because of like what Sydney pushes Rita into,

but what really drove it home for me is the sort of the runner of Otis knowing Rita from somewhere

and trying to guess where he knows her from and her, you know, denying it, denying it, denying it.

And then at the end when Sydney leaves, she's it's like I forget where it was like tamper or something.

I think Palm Springs. Yeah, yeah, she's like Palm Springs and then the sort of like confirming

that she has done this before with him specifically. And therefore, how many times with other men

has she been put in this position? And it just kind of like gives a glimpse into this vicious cycle

that she is a woman in this world, a single woman with a child to support the position she has been

put in again and again by men with more power than her, even if they don't have much power of their

own likes Sydney, you know. So just like the confirmation that this is not a horrible one-off event,

but just one of the many in her life was just kind of devastating.

I didn't necessarily take it as she's been in this situation before specifically. I would I would

think if that was the case, he would maybe remember a little more specifically given that she's a

cigarette girl. I thought, you know, he's naming a lot of, you know, resort towns, party towns.

And, you know, they it seems like she's possibly worked in a bunch of these joints and a bunch of

these places. I took it to me, you know, maybe she was a showgirl at some point or trying to become

a showgirl. Like, he recognizes her from somewhere. And the fact that she doesn't want Sydney to know

about it indicates that there is maybe something a little salacious or a little embarrassing there.

But I don't know that I felt the the very specific I am being used to provide sexual favors for

barter that I was not consulted about beforehand is necessarily what what is being communicated here.

Interesting. I guess maybe I have that reading because of earlier in the film, like kind of her,

she's introduced as having put in a situation with Leo, who the guy that Sydney initially tries to

blackmail that leads to this whole thing. And as an in simulation that the men she has worked for

continually put her in this position of being a favor, I think your reading is also very possible.

But I guess kind of to what keeps joked earlier about I'm being maybe I'm being more cynical than

this movie is like I think it just kind of invites like the darkest possible reading of the human

soul that you can come up with. Whichever the case though, Sydney's journey from someone who is

is trying to exploit this one columnist for taking advantage of his position by

by exploiting the cigarette girls to someone who actually exploits cigarette girls is in like

over the course of several hours. It's it's really telling. And at the same time, I mean, I don't

know, Rita just does not come across as somebody who is necessarily used to or at least, you know,

okay with this kind of thing. The whole thing that she comes to Sydney within the first place is

she was naive enough to, you know, believe somebody who said he wanted to interview her and

learned her up to his apartment. And her recounting of that story, I don't know, like the details are

a little fuzzy in terms of how far it went. And at what point she was able to get out and how she

feels about it all. But she is definitely smart enough to know when she's being used and to not

appreciate it. Like she is not, she is a lovely woman who is badly used by a lot of men. But she

has not come to a point of like doing that herself of selling herself to get ahead. She is wounded

and upset about it every time it happens. Oh, I want to be clear. I don't think that she was in

any of these situations like doing it of her own volition. I think she is basically, you know,

has a history of being more or less pimped out by her bosses in this way. And that can include a

spectrum of encounters, I guess. But I don't want to imply that Rita is in any way like willingly

prostituting herself. And it seems to me that this experience, this moment is incredibly

wounding to her. However, however many experiences like it she may have had in the past, it is

nonetheless, it stings. And it's one of the toughest scenes in the movie for sure. And you know,

we started this whole point talking about the cynicism of this movie. A lot of very sad and very,

wounding and prostrating things happen in this movie. But to me, the most painful part of it

is just the look on Rita's face when Sydney shows up for what she thinks is going to be a liaison.

And he's brought somebody with him. And it's very clear what his intent is. And she's just

immediately having none of it. And then by the end of it, she sort of weirily backs down. And then

the piece runs. So one assumes that she went through with it. And you can just you can see that

compromise like wearing itself into her or the course of that scene, which

this movie makes me want to smack so many people. It's very, very effective while being very low

key in a lot of ways about it's kind of like emotional beats. I think it's very, very good at

pulling people's emotional strings. It's also case where Nichols who was also in where the

boys are. Another one that's only covered. I played a lot of brassy games. And I think I really

like her performance here where she's playing like sort of the sad side of that character as well.

Tony Curtis is is and so I mean, he's a naturally charming performer who at this point

and mostly done kind of cute guy rolls. And I think he really kind of turns that inside out with

his performance. It's kind of like when when Hugh Grant sort of playing Cads, like he made everything

that that worked for him as a charming romantic lead, work for him as as a bad guy. And I think

Bert Landcaster's casting is really it seems not intuitive like the sort of like this,

you know, handsome leading man type playing the sort of brooding brute behind spectacles,

which actually his glasses by the way, there's an interesting story there to give him that kind

of disconnected look. McKindrick would put a little bit of like Vaseline over the glasses. So

he couldn't really focus his eyes. I'm just laying a lot of trivia on here. We need to take a quick

break. We'll be right back to talk about some of these performances and more after the break.

The next picture show is presented by Regal Unlimited. The all you can watch movie subscription

pass that pays for itself in just two visits. It's October now, so we're deep into spoo

season. If you're a horror fan like me, you're eager to see some scary movies old and new on

the big screen. On the new front, there's other mommies starring the terrifying Jessica Chastain.

Okay, she's not usually terrifying, but she seems pretty scary in that trailer. And the DC

universe set clay face on the classic front. Great fellow go see the ghost. Do you have options?

By the time this episode premieres, it'll be too late to see a 25th anniversary screening

of Donnie Darko, but not too late to catch re-releases of both versions of Candyman and

a Naremoral Street 3 Dream Warriors, Mid-Summer, and more. There's also the restored re-release

of Ken Russell's bonkers, The Devils, that you really should see on a big screen.

And if you're the type of person who listens to this podcast, you're probably

want to want to see as many movies as possible in a premium theater.

On a great big screen with flawless audio surrounded by other fans. And if you're like me,

you want to do this while spending as little as possible. With Regal Unlimited, you can do just

that. It's a great way to see a lot of movies while also saving a lot of money. With Regal Unlimited,

you pay one monthly fee to see as many standard 2D movies as you want, with no blackout dates

and no restrictions. And we have a discount code to make the cost of watching all the movies you

want to see even cheaper. When you sign up for Regal Unlimited using the next picture show code

NextPick26, that's any XTPIC26, you'll get 15% off an all you can watch movie pass with no

blackout dates or restrictions, plus 10% off all non-alcoholic concessions. Just open the regal app

or follow the link in this episode's description and use NextPick26 to receive your discount.

Why is the deal? Why? Because I don't like the way you toy with people,

you're contempt and malice. I'm sorry Frank, if you think about yourself and about your column,

to you you're some kind of a national glory. To me and a lot of people like me,

you're a slimy scandal and you're phony patriotics. To me Mr. Hansecker, you're a national disgrace.

Son, I don't really shoot any mosquitoes with elephant guns. Suppose you just shuffle along and call it a day.

And we're back from the break and you know, I left off talking about performances. We should probably

stick with that because the performances are so memorable. I mean, what about Tony Curtis? What do

you think of what he's doing here? Because I never, I won't speak for everyone. I never like Sydney,

but I at least kind of feel bad for him. And to begin of this film, what is your experience with the

character? I feel like one of the most important small scenes of this movie is where Sydney sits down

with Leo Bartha, yet another columnist to try to blackmail him and meets his wife who appears to

be an older woman, very no nonsense. meets her for the first time. And she plays the horses.

Yeah, she just merely starts asking him for horse tips and chatting him up. She seems like a very

pleasant woman to have at a party, just a practiced socialite who's used to making people

feel at home and feel warm. But she also responds to him as though he's a handsome charming man.

I guess when he sits down with the senator and the woman that the senator is having a fair with

and her agent, she responds to him in the same sort of way. Just, oh, you must be an actor because

you're so terribly pretty. You know, we spend a lot more time with men and men clashing with

each other and maneuvering around each other in this movie. But we, you know, come to think of what

we see the same thing with Mary, who, you know, on Secretary, I suppose, or admin assistant,

whatever you would call it, treats Sydney as a glib Charmer who she's happy to be in the warm

sunlight beam of his attention. But she also doesn't take it seriously. You know, she kind of laughs

him off. She's willing to give him what he wants. But she doesn't feel that she's anyone special

or that his, you know, the way to his regard is anything particularly meaningful. And the way

all of these women respond to him is just so telling in terms of his particular charm. You know,

none of them fall over him exactly. But when he drifts into people's orbits,

women in particular kind of have this, oh, he's so handsome. And he's so charismatic. And surely

that says something about him. And, you know, his response in all of these cases is kind of to look

for advantage or to shrug them off a little bit because he's too busy looking for advantage with

somebody else. So I feel like we get the most sense of him from how the women who don't know him well,

or maybe know him a little too well respond to him. I mean, I think it's kind of amplified by the

contrast of his clear lack of success, you know, despite those looks and apparent charm and charisma

that he is still seems like probably fairly green in this business or maybe not if he and JJ go

back so far. But he's clearly like struggling to get slash maintain a foothold as a press agent.

And it gives him just sort of a sweaty, you know, demeanor. If not like actually moisture-wise,

just kind of vibe-wise, you know, he's very desperate. You know, so he's a man who all of those

kind of inherent pluses he has based on how he looks haven't really helped him for whatever reason.

And I think that just makes the sense of desperation come off of him a lot more.

I've become a little attuned to like noir era movies that introduce you to a male protagonist

as he changes clothing. I just think it's kind of hilarious given, you know, what a heart throb

he's meant to be and how people responded to him at the time that we're introduced to him

taking off his clothes. And it's not you don't get a ton of skin just like a little peak here

in there. Though I do think it's interesting when he's buttoning up his button up. He's not wearing

an undershirt so you're just seeing his chest and like little flashes of calves as he takes off his

pants. It's kind of hilarious as strip teases go. But it's this combination of like little teases

of his body with him just being like brutally eviscerating to his poor secretary who seems to

have a crush on him. You know, Sally, his relationship with we don't spend a ton of time on this

in this film. But it's just so clear to me, I guess, that we're combining these little strips of

skin for the audience with just him being an awful man as soon as possible in the movie.

I thought you were going to talk about him not wanting to take his overcoat with him so he wouldn't

have to tip the hat down girls. That's a great, great beat.

I mean, I see I kind of I guess my take on him is that he's actually pretty good at his job.

It's just it's just the nature of his job involves him having to hustle and scrape and scheme

and do everything possible to get attention for the people he's taking on as a client and also get

you know, attention to attract clients and bring clients on board by devious means at times.

I think it just is the nature of what he does. He's kind of this, you know, termite who in this

in this business and that's and he's I think he does his job the way, you know, he's supposed to do

it. It feels to me like his name though, in his offices is not etched on actually. It's isn't like

it isn't like a game. No, it's a team to the door. Yeah, there is a sense of impermanence there.

And again, you know, someone who is hanging on to this business by his fingernails. But then again,

I think about the about people who work in public relations and what it must be like from their

end to try to promote say a film or an actor coming through town and then the number of emails and

queries they send out the number of follow-ups that they get and get no reply to. I mean, just like it

it just comes with that terrain in my opinion and then you know, he's just has this one

incredibly important person and he's he really needs to curry favor with and that's Hansekar.

I think regardless of whether Sydney is good at his job and what good at his job even in tales

in this this cutthroat world, he just comes across as screamingly ambitious, you know, and willing

to do anything to get ahead and whether he is getting ahead from like a starting point in this

industry or he's just maintained this mentality throughout years in it. It ultimately, I don't

think really matters because the characterization is there and is of what matters to this particular

story. It's got to refer to him as a termite and the the kind of like rat race that he's involved in

has come up a couple of times. I just wanted to call out something early in the script like I'm

I'm actually pulling up copies of the script online and they don't have this exchange at all,

which means it was probably a late addition, just not surprising given how much of this movie

was apparently written like on the same days that the scene was being filmed. But when he's

berating Sally at the beginning, he talks about how, you know, he doesn't want people saying to him,

you know, hey, mouse, go get me a paper or hey, there's another animal. I forget what, you know,

go go get me a couple water. He in the in the course of like about 10 lines, he references like

six different animals. He talks about, you know, not wanting to scrape at the kitty, not not

wanting to be given money out of the kitty anymore and wanting to be top dog and just on and on

and on and the pile up of animal metaphors over just a very short period of time when he's introducing

himself makes me think, you know, we're we're meant to be seeing this all as a rat race or a doggy

dog world. Like he thinks of himself as kind of living in a jungle in a space full of animals,

even if he doesn't call it out specifically as a metaphor. So I think the fact that he is living

so hand to mouth that he cares that much about leaving tips with with hat check girls all over town

suggests that he's not doing great, but that doesn't mean he's bad at his job. It just means that

he's in a jungle environment where everybody is, you know, is predator or prey and he wants to make

sure he's a predator and not, you know, these various other smaller animals that he's mentioning.

So then where does JJ fall in the in the food chain king of the jungle? I think so.

He's kind of a, he's gonna start singing like a predator from mean girls.

And Bert Lancaster carries himself that way. That's another critical thing about this movie and

those two actors because you have Tony Curtis who is hustling and sweating and is, you know,

desperate at all times, you know, moving like an animal or whatever you need whatever metaphor you

want to apply to him. A hunsecker does not have that kind of panic. He's he is not completely unflappable

because we do have moments of vulnerability and ultimately, you know, things turn sour for him.

As well, but there is that calm assertion of authority of a sense that nothing has to be done that he

doesn't want to have done that ultimately even Sydney who has, as clever as he is, as crafty as he is,

is never going to really get one over on JJ hunsecker because he is the king of the jungle and he

carries himself that way. The introductions of the two men, the respective introductions is so notable

in this movie. Like we don't even meet JJ hunsecker until maybe like 20 minutes in when we're,

you know, we spend the first part of this movie following Sydney around it. He's kind of just like

dashing all around in this frenzied panic. And he is the one who comes to JJ when we finally see

Hunsecker who we've heard so much about, he is sitting still like holding court at this table.

And it's Sydney who has to come to him like first via an attempt at a phone call and then when

he's denied to actually kind of like just come up behind him and insert himself into this conversation

because JJ is just at a level where he does not come to anyone, people come to him. And he just

like radiates that authority and the stillness, the almost like monolithic presence that the

Lancaster brings to that scene at the table is just underscores the extreme power differential

between these two men. Do you think there's any point where Sydney actually has the upper hand or

is actually on his way to like getting what he wants from hunsecker? I thought the whole business

with Otis was going to fall out in a different way. I felt like if Sydney had not been just doing

this to try desperately to get back to Hunsecker's good graces, what he was doing there could have

set up a situation where he could have illustrated. I can do what you want but I don't need you to do

it. Kind of trying to establish a slightly better position on the pecking order than he had.

He could have certainly slung that situation in a different direction. And instead it all just

turns out to be a set up. There was also certainly a point with Susie at the end where he could have

come clean and thrown a hunsecker under the bus if he hadn't believed that hunsecker was about to

give him everything that he wanted. I guess there are a lot of inflection points in this movie. It feels

like where he has to make a choice and he just keeps making the wrong choice over and over and over

again. Kind of to emphasize, he does have options here. He just made his bed and he keeps lying down

on it. Interestingly thing to be really about the ending though is how it kind of underlines the fact

that the straighter characters here are not playing the game that they are playing. They are being

manipulated for sure but it is possible for them to prevail simply by leaving. As his sister does

at the end, I mean, obviously it's not a triumphant ending or anything like that but it is a thing

where they have, as powerless as they seem to the machinations of people like hunsecker and Sydney,

they do have the power of their own integrity and morality and she specifically has the power

to simply walk away and destroy J.J. in her own way. So this incredibly powerful man,

this lion of Broadway is felt really in the end by that. We haven't really talked it all about

poor Steve, Susie's would-be fiance who gets caught up in all this and the film I believe just

like beaten up in the hospital, right? That's the last we hear of him. I guess to kind of go back to

just the overall cynicism of this film. Did any of you walk away from this movie thinking there's

a chance that Susie and Steve find their way back to each other? You know, I as a son of a keen

owner, I think her walking away is a one bit of optimism and I know she claims to be having to

him. I don't know but I think part of the, I think if there's a sort of a weak spot in this movie,

I don't think Martin Milner is the most compelling performance in it or you get this really great

sense that they have to be together. I think you know, you might work just a tad better.

I know this is a near-perfect movie but I think it might work just a tad more if you really felt

like this was a love for the ages. He's a bit stiff for especially for someone who with that much weed.

He's almost an unfortunate role that he has to have in the movie because he's not the beneficiary

of the sparkling dialogue in the juicy moral corruption that he's just a straight guy who is

reacting to JJ and Sydney as I think a normal moral person might with with indignants and

discussed and you know those those are qualities that are you know noble in real life but maybe boring

in a movie. And I don't know how much to that to blame on the actor or just like you know that

it just that being the nature of his role. Yeah, I mean I think it helps or that character maybe

needs to be as boring and straight-laced as possible so that JJ's vendetta against him is

as irrational as it is because his reasoning for not wanting Susan to be with Steve doesn't really

seem to have anything to do with Steve. It seems to have to do with him just like not wanting to

lose Susan you know and that is amplified by the fact that Steve is like he's a successful nice

young man you know we'd have it aside. I'm curious how what y'all's read on this one is

is Hunsacker's interest in his sister to some degree sexual. That photo that framed photo on his

desk is sure is conspicuous. I don't know if the film discourages us from from from thinking

that you know there's there's sort of a hint of a of Scarface in this. Yeah it's not it's not over

but that picture on his desk was the thing that really gave me pause it's quite the the lorid glamour

shot and it's just it's so large and it just looms over his desk where you would expect somebody to

have maybe a picture of their family. I guess it is a picture of his family but yeah a little

squeaky and and not something that feels like it's it's heavily drawn anywhere else in the movie to me

that said I mean my read on Steve and Susie is just it's pretty common for ongenoo couples to be

boring but I just I wish there was any sort of sense of spark between them. It feels significant to

me that kind of her her way of agreeing to marry him is like after a pause that appears to have

led minimum bent overnight she says I'll try to make a good wife to you it's not I love you it's

not a can't wait for us to be together it's not you know you complete me any other movieism it's

I'll try to be a good wife and I know where a lot of her hesitance comes from being kind of the

brow beaten a little mouse she is and knowing that her brother is going to object and having been

under his thumb for so long but there's still just you know even when Stephen Susie kiss there's

almost a passionlessness to it and and the rest of the time it just sort of feels like there's a

a six foot brick wall between them I wish I believed in that relationship a little bit more.

Well there's there's so much to talk about here and there's a lot we haven't even got into like

Alexander Bckenrick who I feel like he has a really interesting career interesting

director but in some ways he's the hardest person to print down what his contributions are but

that's a whole other conversation maybe it'll come up in connection so we're going to close the

book on sweet small success for now and we'll be right back after the break for feedback.

On deck is built to back small businesses like yours whether you're buying equipment expanding

your team or bridging cash flow gaps on decks loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast rated

A plus by the better business bureau and earning thousands of five star trust pilot reviews on deck

delivers funding you can count on apply in minutes at on deck dot com depending on certain

loan attributes your business loan may be issued by on deck or Celtic bank on deck does not lend

in North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval Kia always forward around town whether

you're hauling sports gear loading up for a weekend to get away or simply navigating everyday life

Kia has an SUV designed to keep up from gas powered in hybrid to all electric models

Kia SUVs combines a sophisticated design rugged capability and the versatility today's drivers

demand with seating for up to seven and over 600 miles of driving range on select models

Kia offers an SUV ready for wherever the road takes you visit Kia dot com or your local

Kia retailer today Kia movement that inspires

Your favorite fall flavors are back at Starbucks the one and only pumpkin spice latte and the

deliciously smooth iced pecan crunch latte have arrived and are ready to sip all season long

or find a new favorite like the new iced banana bread latte that tastes just like fall in a cup

you can find your favorite taste of fall only at Starbucks did you know that over two million

people in Los Angeles County face food insecurity that's why anthem blue cross and the nonprofit

Chica Sverde has teamed up to empower students in LA to grow their own food in school gardens run

free produce distributions and host healthy habit workshops for community members they're joined

by the Los Angeles sparks and will provide education recipes and knowledge to students and families

visit anthem dot com slash c a slash sparks to learn more anthem blue cross is the

trade name of blue cross of California

now let's head for feedback but first let's dive into what's happening elsewhere in the

extended film spotting cinematic universe there's so much we have to kind of speed run through

it these days we recently covered the weight a Russell Crowe movie you that most people like

over at film spotting SVU Matt Singer and Jordan Hoffman talk about Unibomber a

crew movie to describe as quote the worst law in order episode ever made at the movie

racket past guest Mariah Gates joins Michael Phillips to unpack the seemingly simple

at the advice of be natural Adam and Josh on the mothership podcast talk about resident evil

and at movie death match Chris Climic prepares for a battle of slasher films few there's a lot

going on so much in the film spotting extended universe as always you can check out the film spotting

family of podcast and catch up on the millionest experts for show episodes at filmstudying.net

now let's head for feedback when we address responses we've gotten to recent episodes Genevieve could

you read the one we recently got about our sorcerer episode that neither you nor I were on yeah

Richard writes in building on some of the trivia that was brought up about the casting in sorcerer

writing here's a small correction to something that came up in the discussion regarding the

French connection as I understand the story it wasn't simply a case of William Friedkin confusing

Fernando Rebaul's name with Fernando Reyes Friedkin specifically wanted Rebaul because he physically

resembled the real life figure they were drawing from but he couldn't remember Rebaul's name he

wanted the actor Louis Boonwell had been using in his recent films the casting director assumed he

meant Fernando Re in cast him the misunderstanding apparently wasn't discovered until Re had already

been cast and had come to the United States so the mix up wasn't really Rebaul versus Re as names

Friedkin knew the actor he wanted the problem was a his description of him led the casting director

to the wrong Boonwell regular it also makes Rebaul's eventual appearance in sorcerer a fun bit of

Friedkin history since he was finally working with the actor he had originally wanted for the

French connection in the first place that's the part that this repeating what you said Scott yeah well

well I do apologize for kind of I guess bungling that bit of trivia so I appreciate Richard coming

into to clarify what what what it happened because it is you know an absolutely fascinating thing I

mean I can't imagine like having this one actor in mind you know and telling your casting director

about it and then and then this little mix up happening but it is it is cool that he ended up

casting Rebaul in sorcerer and I think he's terrific in it so so it was good casting there and

in I Fernando Ray is very good in the French connection so it all worked out just fine even if

maybe Fernando Ray doesn't resemble the real life inspiration for that role I read a bunch of

different sources about the production of this movie and this particular wrinkle of the casting

never came up so I'm wondering if whatever source Richard was using that got deeper into it said

anything about whether Friedkin made any effort to get the person that he had actually wanted

you know because it is somebody I don't know when it was discovered but I as soon as we ran

across this trivia I immediately started thinking well as a director who wanted a specific person

when the wrong person shows up why wouldn't you just say I'm sorry there's been a mix up here's

a pile of money please go get me the correct person like why do you go through with that mistake

and maybe there's a story behind that as well that I didn't run across when I was looking into this film

yeah worth seeing the French connection and source because they're both incredible you're going

out all them here saying that some of these classic Friedkin films or classic films they are see

I guess the only way you get a complete collection of Fernandos

it's right complete your Fernandos collection well we're investigating the Fernandos in upcoming

episodes it was more information out there if Richard or anyone else has it and we always

appreciate all our feedback from our listeners to reach us you can leave a short voice mail at

7773-234-9730 or email us at comments at nextpictureshow.net you can also send a recorded message

to our email address if you want to make sure you get the wording just right and that's it for

this episode of the next picture show in our next episode we'll discuss prime time before returning

to sweet smell of success then we'll probably all want to take showers after two straight episodes

of sleaze and nastiness look for that episode next Tuesday on your podcast your choice for ad

free versions of the podcast and extra content find us on patreon at patreon.com slash next picture

show you can also find us at nextpictureshow.net and on blue sky at the next picture show if you want

to keep track of when your episodes drop until next time cookie speed of ars stick you got to pass

on those are no good for you

that was a good movie yeah soon here before once