Podcast appearances and mentions of Bill Forsyth

Peter Capaldi – aka Malcolm Tucker, Dr Who, the universal screen delight and an Oscar-winning film director – was the singer in the punk band the Dreamboys in the late ‘70s who put out a single when he was at the art school in Glasgow. And then became an actor. And then - in the grand tradition of actors who've made albums, Hugh Laurie, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Bridges and Keanu Reeves among them – released St Christopher in 2021. He's just recorded a second, Sweet Illusions, and talks to us in this extremely funny and entertaining pod about … … how his sole motivation was “a burning desire to be on the telly”. … the difference between fronting bands and being in plays. … how he grievously stitched up support band the Cocteau Twins at a gig in Grangemouth. … a teenage love of Slade - “a bit terrifying but still a bit safe”. … first-hand evidence of the connection between Blakey from On the Buses, Adolph Hitler and Beatles. … “you have to write a hundred songs before you can write a good one”. … arriving at art school in '76 a Neil Young fan and his overnight transformation – “peroxide hair, PVC trousers and bright red crepe sole shoes”. … seeing Simple Minds at the Mars Bar in Glasgow, Jim Kerr with his Shakespearian haircut, “strange, powerful, imaginative, post-glam”. … forming the Dreamboys and “trying to be big, clever and Kafka-esque”. … the stigma of being virtually the only band in Glasgow not to get a John Peel session. … writing the “bizarro pulp” lyrics for the Dreamboys – “we couldn't decide if we were the Cramps or Talking Heads”. … what's required, “apart from a terrible Scouse accent”, in playing John Lennon onstage and George Harrison onscreen. … auditioning (comedian, actor, TV host) Craig Ferguson as the band's drummer.   … how Bill Forsyth launched his acting career: “one minute you're supporting Altered Images, the next in a movie with Burt Lancaster”. … forming a duo with Keanu Reeves when filming Dangerous Liaisons in Paris – powdered wigs in the daytime, guitar/bass punk-thrash at night. .. the romantic Edward Hopper charm of Glasgow in the ‘70s - proto-goths, street lights, rain. … how Dr Robert of the Blow Monkeys and four months filming The Suicide Squad in Atlanta spurred him into writing songs.   … the greatest record of all time. Order the Sweet Illusions album here:https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/peter-capaldi-sweet-illusions-vinyl-lp-cd-lossless-dlHelp us to keep the conversation going by joining our global Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Capaldi – aka Malcolm Tucker, Dr Who, the universal screen delight and an Oscar-winning film director – was the singer in the punk band the Dreamboys in the late ‘70s who put out a single when he was at the art school in Glasgow. And then became an actor. And then - in the grand tradition of actors who've made albums, Hugh Laurie, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Bridges and Keanu Reeves among them – released St Christopher in 2021. He's just recorded a second, Sweet Illusions, and talks to us in this extremely funny and entertaining pod about … … how his sole motivation was “a burning desire to be on the telly”. … the difference between fronting bands and being in plays. … how he grievously stitched up support band the Cocteau Twins at a gig in Grangemouth. … a teenage love of Slade - “a bit terrifying but still a bit safe”. … first-hand evidence of the connection between Blakey from On the Buses, Adolph Hitler and Beatles. … “you have to write a hundred songs before you can write a good one”. … arriving at art school in '76 a Neil Young fan and his overnight transformation – “peroxide hair, PVC trousers and bright red crepe sole shoes”. … seeing Simple Minds at the Mars Bar in Glasgow, Jim Kerr with his Shakespearian haircut, “strange, powerful, imaginative, post-glam”. … forming the Dreamboys and “trying to be big, clever and Kafka-esque”. … the stigma of being virtually the only band in Glasgow not to get a John Peel session. … writing the “bizarro pulp” lyrics for the Dreamboys – “we couldn't decide if we were the Cramps or Talking Heads”. … what's required, “apart from a terrible Scouse accent”, in playing John Lennon onstage and George Harrison onscreen. … auditioning (comedian, actor, TV host) Craig Ferguson as the band's drummer.   … how Bill Forsyth launched his acting career: “one minute you're supporting Altered Images, the next in a movie with Burt Lancaster”. … forming a duo with Keanu Reeves when filming Dangerous Liaisons in Paris – powdered wigs in the daytime, guitar/bass punk-thrash at night. .. the romantic Edward Hopper charm of Glasgow in the ‘70s - proto-goths, street lights, rain. … how Dr Robert of the Blow Monkeys and four months filming The Suicide Squad in Atlanta spurred him into writing songs.   … the greatest record of all time. Order the Sweet Illusions album here:https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/peter-capaldi-sweet-illusions-vinyl-lp-cd-lossless-dlHelp us to keep the conversation going by joining our global Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grab your tracksuits and join us for a heartwarming trip back to Abronhill with "Gregory's Girl," the beloved Scottish teen rom-com from Bill Forsyth. We'll unpack the hilarious and oh-so-relatable story of awkward Gregory, his crush on the footballing sensation Dorothy, and the delightful chaos of first love in a 1980s new town. Get ready for gentle humor, unforgettable characters, and a nostalgic look at the glorious messiness of adolescence.Gregory's Girl movie, Scottish cinema, teen rom com, Bill Forsyth, 1980s movies.

Idaho Falls FamilySearch Center will host a Black Family History Day, with classes and more. Cody Miller interviews Bob Comstock, Suzann Comstock and Bill Forsyth.

In this episode of Drive-In Double Feature Podcast, Nathan and Ryan take a delightful detour to Scotland to discuss the charming coming-of-age comedy Gregory's Girl. Directed by Bill Forsyth, this quirky 1981 classic follows the lovable, awkward Gregory as he navigates teenage crushes, soccer dreams, and small-town life. The hosts explore the film's unique humor, its heartwarming portrayal of young love, and how its offbeat characters create an unforgettable slice of life. Is Gregory's Girl more than just a cult favorite? Tune in as Nathan and Ryan break down this tender and timeless tale of adolescence.

Hey it's another Bill Forsyth film! Yup, this week we watch a late 80's crime comedy staring Burt Reynolds and Casey Siemaszko.

Last Friday, Foothill Transit celebrated its 35th anniversary with a party in the parking lot of its West Covina headquarters. Joe Linton and Chris Greenspon were among those on-hand and they had a chance to catch up with a handful of people that helped shape Foothill Transit's past and will guide the agency into the future. Those short interviews are included in this podcast and include: Congressmember Judy Chu Foothill Transit Executive Director Doran Barnes Former Duarte Mayor John Fasana Former Glendora Councilmember Bob Kuhn Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Foothill Transit, LaShawn King Gillespie You can also read Linton's coverage of Friday's event here. A full transcript of the interview can be found below the podcast. SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Chris Greenspon (in studio): Welcome to SGV Connect 121, this is a shorter episode, but it's a special montage of interviews from the 35th anniversary celebration of Foothill Transit at their headquarters in West Covina. Joe and I heard from board members past and present, local legislators, and higher ups in the transit agency about its history and where it's going. Before we listen to that, I'd just like to remind you that: Streetsblog's San Gabriel Valley coverage is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit dot org…… “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.” Now let's revisit the celebration that took place last Friday.   Judy Chu: Well, good afternoon. I'm Congress member Judy Chu. And I just had to be here to say congratulations to Foothill Transit on your 35th anniversary. I can't believe it's been 35 years but I can believe it because Foothill has made such an impact on the San Gabriel Valley. And I am a huge admirer of this agency. I'm especially thrilled because it's addressed an issue that Southern Californians have had to deal with, which is traffic and congestion on our roadways, carbon emissions and having better ways to get to work school and to other communities in the San Gabriel Valley. But Foothill Transit has been at the forefront of solving these problems and ensuring that communities in the San Gabriel Valley that are underserved by transit have a convenient, sustainable connection to the rest of the Los Angeles area. And I especially admire Foothill Transit because it's leading the way in terms of clean energy. You're the first transit agency in the world to deploy heavy duty, fast charge electric transit buses in service. How about that? And I always boast in Washington DC about the fact that Foothill Transit is pushing for a 100% clean fueled fleet, and they're well on their way to getting it. And just look at all the tremendous steps that happened this year alone. In June, we celebrated the grand opening of Foothill transits Mount SAC Transit Center, which provides on Campus Transit to thousands of students, staff and faculty members. And by implementing the new Foothill Transit Rose Bowl shuttle service thousands of people can get to and from Rose Bowl events without having to deal with the hassle of traffic and parking. So you are making public transit more accessible for everyone. You're reducing the number of cars on our overburdened roads, and you're helping to fight climate change and building a greener and healthier community. So congratulations Foothill Transit and everyone here on this wonderful milestone. Thank you for all the work that you're doing to serve our communities, improve our public transit, and protect our environment. And I'd like to present a certificate of congressional recognition to Foothill Transit for 35 great years...   CG: First of all, first name, last name, who you are, why do we care. Doran Barnes: Hi, Doran Barnes, Chief Executive Officer here at Foothill Transit. CG: So when/why/how was Foothill Transit founded? DB: Well, Foothill Transit was created to be responsive to the communities that we serve, to really focus on the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, to be here to be located here, to really understand the conditions in the community and how we can best serve the community and its residents. CG: But just for a little context, it wasn't the first agency serving this jurisdiction, right? DB: It was not. Originally, this area was served by the Southern California Rapid Transit District. We were part of the county wide service that provided service here in the San Gabriel Valley. Our community leaders wanted to have that local control and that local responsiveness. So that's how we were founded.   CG (in studio): All right, now let's listen to some of those electeds for a more detailed picture of Foothill Transit's past.   John Fasana: John Fasana, I was a council member in Duarte for 33 years. I also was on the Foothill Transit executive board for a while and served on the Metro board for 27 years. Joe Linton: The longest serving person on the Metro board. JF: Yeah, I was. I was an original. JL: So talk a little bit about what your role has been with Foothill Transit and maybe a story about what what Foothill Transit has done? JF: Well, Foothill Transit, I think in the early days, what it came down to... the SCRTD was going to cance routes, they're having budget issues. And in the San Gabriel Valley, the were going to do substantial cancellations of routes. So in the early to mid 1980s, people like Supervisor Schabarum, and at the Transportation Commission, Sharon Neely and others were looking at strategies, "Well, rather than canceling lines, is there a way to get better efficiency in the lines or better performance?" And people like Bob Bartlett in Monrovia, Don McMillan, Judy Wright and Claremont, McMillan was in El Monte. They were coming together like, "Yeah, we don't want to lose all our routes. What can we do to still keep our routes and still provide the service that people need?" So they looked at forming this agency, it started off very small. They talked with  cities in the San Gabriel Valley. First they were going to do the entire valley. Then they scaled it to 20 cities, I believe, mostly in the eastern Valley. And it's been a success. I mean, over the years, they've done a lot of innovation. They've run a great service. They had clean buses at the time in the early 90s. And Metro buses had a lot of graffiti in them. So the Foothill buses were very popular, and the Metro I think, has improved their services and runs a good service. But cost wise, I think Foothill is still extremely efficient. And they continue to be the eyes and the ears of the San Gabriel Valley in terms of what's needed out here. They've been a key stakeholder in terms of also informing us about what some of the transportation needs, how do you keep that 10 busway moving for, for example, keep people moving and not having the busway gridlock. There's some of us I know that was formed as a bus way originally. And then there was a transit strike that after it sat empty, people couldn't deal with that so they let cars in. And it's been a good story. But Bob Kuhn out of Glendora, who was on the council back then, also would have a lot of that ancient history of how it started.   CG: Hi, Bob, what's your name? What's your claim to fame? Bob Kuhn: Okay, I'm Bob Kuhn. I was on the Foothill Transit Board in the early years. I've been a city council member for the city of Glendora, former mayor. I currently serve on three different water boards right now. I don't know if that's a claim to fame, or just a fact. CG: That seems more like a humble brag. JL: So tell us tell us about this: Foothill has been around 35 years, when did you come into the picture? And what was it like then? BK: I got into the picture on an early end of it. And that was from the standpoint of talking with Pete Schabarum and the fact that he wanted to bring an independent transit agency out into the San Gabriel Valley. He wanted to see cleaner buses, he wanted to see on-time production. And he also wanted to see some of the school districts served, that was really a big issue for him. At that time, Metro wasn't doing a particularly good job of servicing the school districts. And that was basically the ridership. And so he made a pitch to Glendora, which I had just gotten elected. It was my very first meeting as a city councilman. And my mistake for me personally, was calling the guy who made the presentation on Pete's behalf, it was a guy named Bill Forsyth. And I called Bill the next day. And I said, "Bill, I really do understand English, but I didn't understand a single word you said. You were talking in transit." He was involved in the 1984 Olympics and set up their transit system. So he was asked and tasked to set this up. And I didn't understand the routing. I didn't understand really what he was saying about about on time. Those were all issues that just didn't, didn't register with me. So he and I sat down for about two hours. And then he said at the end, he says, "I need an elected to go with me to some of the different city councils and make presentations." He said, "It's always good to have staff, and it always looks better when you're talking to electeds to have electeds there." And I said, "As long as I don't have to talk, I don't mind being there." And that's the way it worked out. I went with him. And toward the end, I was making the presentation and he was sitting there watching and it just came to be. It was just something that was destined at that time.   CG (in studio): Okay, let's bring it back to the present now.   LaShawn King Gillespie: I'm ready. I don't even have to take off my glasses because you don't have a camera. Isn't that great? Hi, I'm LaShawn King Gillespie and I serve as Deputy Chief Executive Officer here at Foothill Transit. JL: And talk a little bit about what you do. What's your day to day job? LKG: My day to day job is to support the team in both the operations, the planning, the day to day operations. I also work with our operations contractors at both locations, so that they can have what they need to provide the excellent service that we've committed to providing our customers. JL: Great. And what's an accomplishment that you're proud of recently at Foothill? Or even in the past of Foothill, what are you proud of having done? LKG: I think there's a few things that I'm super proud of. Of course, our commitment to technology and innovation, but our commitment to our community, both those who live here, who are educated here, those who play here, and making sure that we provide the highest level of service that we can, and what that looks like is clean buses, on-time performance, friendly operators/customer service representatives, and reliable service. JL: Any any like stories like some time you were out on a bus or you were talking to a customer, if you've got a story, that'd be awesome to add. If you don't want to add, you're done. CG: Her head jerked. That means yes. LKG: I probably have more stories and you want to hear about. One of my favorite stories, and I think they talked about this during the presentation today is our Rose Bowl service. When I go out on January one, at eight o'clock in the morning, the parades going on, and I see 70 meticulously clean Foothill Transit buses, there, ready to provide service to the thousands of customers or 1thousands of people who are going into the Rose Bowl, and the service that we provide that community and the feedback that we get after doing that service. That is one of my favorite things ever. Just imagine 70 buses -- am I getting a little too excited -- 70 buses lined up along the parade route. You see the floats going by and the buses, and then we are ready to just get people from that parking lot out to the Rose Bowl, seeing that. So that's one of my favorite things. In some of my day to day service... I do take the service, because we need to know our product. I remember when I first started, I got lost, I got lost and I was stranded. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh," it was before a lot of the technology was available, but calling our customer service representatives and them helping me and guiding me on how to get from where I was back to the office. I was like, "Alright, this is a cool place to work because they care." They absolutely care.   CG (in studio): And let's close out once again with Foothill Transit CEO, Dorian Barnes.   CG: Okay, two questions about the future. How close are we to getting... well, we're looking at about an initial purchase of about, was it 30 Fuel Cell buses? Are they all in pocket now? DB: Yeah, 33 Fuel Cell buses, they're here, they're operating so you can take a ride on those fuel cell buses today. They're out in the field, more to come. We're looking at additional zero emission technology, really looking at how that technology is evolving. And it's up to our policymakers to make those smart decisions about how fast we move. CG: And Foothill Transit has service to like we already mentioned L.A. but also the fringes of Orange County and the Inland Empire right into them, not to the edge of them. Are there any future plans or hopes to bolster up these inter-regional connections? DB: Well, we're really part of a mosaic of services throughout the region. So we do connect to Omnitrans at Montclair, we connect to OCTA in Brea. And then of course, connecting into downtown Los Angeles, where there lots and lots of different operators. We're constantly looking at those partnerships, looking at how do we not only serve our communities, but provide connectivity beyond our communities with our partners. So it's really an ongoing process looking at how do we make improvements. CG: Okay, last question for you, Doran. I know your time is very valuable. So there's been some development from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. They've been working on a transit study and Bus Rapid Transit plan, how hopeful and how aggressive might Foothill Transit be about pursuing service provision for that line? DB: We've been very much involved with the creation of that study that's looking at additional lines in the region, BRT style lines. We're very hopeful that we'll be the operator of those services. As they're getting closer and closer to finalizing the preferred routes and the highest priority routes. We think there's some pieces that could fit really nicely into our network and further expand what we do for the communities we serve. CG: Just as an addendum, why do you think Foothill is the strong agency to do that? DB: Well, again, we're we're focused on the San Gabriel Valley. So blending those services into what we do makes it even more seamless for our customers. Certainly, whoever operates the lines, we'll want to make sure that we're interfacing very closely. But again, we think it fits into our network very nicely. CG: All right, Doran, thanks so much, and enjoy the rest of the party. DB: Thanks. I'm looking forward to it.   CG (in studio): To see photos of our coverage of the Foothill Transit 35th anniversary celebration, look at Joe's most recent stories, linked in the text for this episode. We'll be back with more SGV Connect after the winter holidays.

It's the Christmas season again and with it we take the time to watch festive films. This week we talk about Bill Forsyth's (of Local Hero fame) 1984 Christmas 'adjacent" film, Comfort and Joy.

We've talked about everything from baking to whiskey to history, but 63 Percent Scottish explores a new frontier in our newest episode: film. We've chosen the film "Local Hero" which has been called the "definitive" Scottish film to discuss. Why is it a definitive representation of Scottish culture?To answer, we have journalist and author Jonathan Melville on the show. He's the author of "Local Hero: Making a Scottish Classic" - the definitive account of how this film was made, which is available in the USA and Canada. We cover:What makes "Local Hero" the definitive Scottish film?The non-stereotypical depiction of rural Scottish lifeThe message Bill Forsyth was trying to communicate with the filmThe soundtrack contributions of Glaswegian Mark KnopflerHave thoughts? Connect with 63 Percent Scottish on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram or contact us at 63percentscottish.com.Music by RomanSenykMusic from Pixabay.

Welcome to 'Don't You Want Me?' - a podcast series taking a lighthearted look at the most relatable, intriguing and dysfunctional relationships in film.  Tonight we'll be having a kickabout with the 1980 coming-of-age romantic comedy Gregory's Girl. Directed and written by Bill Forsyth, this is a film with a small budget and a huge legacy. How does it tackle the course of true love? What does it say about the goals of adolescent romance? Which ideas still bounce, more than forty years on from its release? To help us answer these vinegar-soaked questions is master of pop Iain McDermott, host of one of our favourite podcasts Back to Now! If you enjoy this episode, please leave a rating and a review as it really helps the podcast reach more people - modern girls, modern boys. You can follow Iain on Twitter here and and Instagram here. Follow Don't You Want Me on Twitter @DYWMpodcast, Instagram @dywmpodcast and Facebook @DYWMpodcast  Recorded in August 2023.  Edited by Rich Nelson Additional material written by Catrin Lowe  Theme music by Paul Abbott (on Twitter @Pablovich) Design by NOAKE (on Instagram @n_o_a_k_e) Rich can be found on Twitter @Fantana275 Cat can be found on Twitter @KittyCostanza

Dylan returns from Scotland to join Darren & Alex for a drink and discuss Bill Forsyth's odd and magical charmer Local Hero... and drink. Digressions include make-out movies, tree witches and Wormwoods Dog and Monkey House which Alex swears is a real place. Check out Black Dog Video for swag, knick-knacks, DVDs and offers.: ⁠www.blackdogvideo.ca⁠ Drop us a message for future movie suggestions and win some cool stuff! info@blackdog.ca

Screenwriter Stuart Wright talks to author and arts and culture writer ANNA CALE about the writing of her book THE REAL DIANA DORS, the Bill Forsyth podcast series TEN THOUSAND GRAINS OF SAND and "3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life"SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING (1960)HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940)LOCAL HERO (1983)THE REAL DIANA DORS, published by White Owl Books is now available to order from your favourite independent book shops, Waterstones, Foyles and Amazon. https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Real-Diana-Dors-Hardback/p/19091 Listen to her Bill Forsyth podcast series TEN THOUSAND GRAINS OF SAND at https://open.spotify.com/show/4Xo7IJ6eULRaaQfyvrbRNs?si=a31a68122b624413"3 FILMS THAT HAVE IMPACTED EVERYTHING IN YOUR ADULT LIFE" is a podcast by screenwriter Stuart Wright that explores the transformative power of cinema. From emotional masterpieces to thought-provoking classics, each episode delves into the films that have had a profound impact on our personal growth and perspective. Through engaging storytelling, critical analysis, and cultural commentary, Stuart aims to uncover the lasting influence that movies have had on his guests. Please join him on an emotional journey through the world of film and discover how just three movies can change the direction of a life, cement memories you will never forget or sometimes change how you see the world."3 FILMS THAT IMPACTED EVERYTHING IN YOUR ADULT LIFE is about those films that made you fall in love with film. The guest selects their trio of movies and we talk for 5 minutes, against the clock. When the ALARM goes off for five minutes we move onto the next film.Please consider leaving a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts if you enjoyed this. It really helps the Britflicks Podcast grow and others to discover it.CreditsIntro/Outro music is Rocking The Stew by Tokyo Dragons (www.instagram.com/slomaxster/Podcast for www.britflicks.com.Written, produced and hosted by Stuart WrightSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/britflicks-com-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Forty years ago Clare Grogan was on the cover of Smash Hits yet again and was the fourth guest at our garden party on June 3. Here she remembers the key events that have happened since which include meeting Bill Forsyth and the success of Gregory's Girl (and why she only saw it for the first time recently), touring with Siouxsie & the Banshees when still at school, life as a pop star in the golden age, being Kristine Kochanski in Red Dwarf and its obsessive fans, her time in Father Ted, Kim Wilde's call to get her to join the Here And Now ‘80s pop package tour and a great story about Nik Kershaw and John Taylor. Listen to what happened when she told the audience how she loves and needs applause – and loves “loud cheering” even more. Spoiler alert: contains both laughter and tears. Order the new Altered Images CD here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mascara-Streakz-Altered-Images/dp/B0B29LG9B3/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=altered+images+mascara+streakz+cd&qid=1686041285&sr=8-3Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early (and ad-free!) access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forty years ago Clare Grogan was on the cover of Smash Hits yet again and was the fourth guest at our garden party on June 3. Here she remembers the key events that have happened since which include meeting Bill Forsyth and the success of Gregory's Girl (and why she only saw it for the first time recently), touring with Siouxsie & the Banshees when still at school, life as a pop star in the golden age, being Kristine Kochanski in Red Dwarf and its obsessive fans, her time in Father Ted, Kim Wilde's call to get her to join the Here And Now ‘80s pop package tour and a great story about Nik Kershaw and John Taylor. Listen to what happened when she told the audience how she loves and needs applause – and loves “loud cheering” even more. Spoiler alert: contains both laughter and tears. Order the new Altered Images CD here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mascara-Streakz-Altered-Images/dp/B0B29LG9B3/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=altered+images+mascara+streakz+cd&qid=1686041285&sr=8-3Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early (and ad-free!) access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forty years ago Clare Grogan was on the cover of Smash Hits yet again and was the fourth guest at our garden party on June 3. Here she remembers the key events that have happened since which include meeting Bill Forsyth and the success of Gregory's Girl (and why she only saw it for the first time recently), touring with Siouxsie & the Banshees when still at school, life as a pop star in the golden age, being Kristine Kochanski in Red Dwarf and its obsessive fans, her time in Father Ted, Kim Wilde's call to get her to join the Here And Now ‘80s pop package tour and a great story about Nik Kershaw and John Taylor. Listen to what happened when she told the audience how she loves and needs applause – and loves “loud cheering” even more. Spoiler alert: contains both laughter and tears. Order the new Altered Images CD here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mascara-Streakz-Altered-Images/dp/B0B29LG9B3/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=altered+images+mascara+streakz+cd&qid=1686041285&sr=8-3Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early (and ad-free!) access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for another decade look back and this time we're going to 1983 with Bill Forsyth's ward winning Scottish feel good comedy drama, Local Hero.

We continue our look back at the movies released by independent distributor Vestron Pictures, focusing on their 1988 releases. ----more---- The movies discussed on this episode, all released by Vestron Pictures in 1988 unless otherwise noted, include: Amsterdamned (Dick Maas) And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim) The Beat (Paul Mones) Burning Secret (Andrew Birkin) Call Me (Sollace Mitchell) The Family (Ettore Scola) Gothic (Ken Russell, 1987) The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell) Midnight Crossing (Roger Holzberg) Paramedics (Stuart Margolin) The Pointsman (Jos Stelling) Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) Promised Land (Michael Hoffman) The Unholy (Camilo Vila) Waxwork (Anthony Hickox)   TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   At the end of the previous episode, Vestron Pictures was celebrating the best year of its two year history. Dirty Dancing had become one of the most beloved movies of the year, and Anna was becoming a major awards contender, thanks to a powerhouse performance by veteran actress Sally Kirkland. And at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1987, Dirty Dancing would win the Oscar for Best Original Song, while Anna would be nominated for Best Actress, and The Dead for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costumes.   Surely, things could only go up from there, right?   Welcome to Part Two of our miniseries.   But before we get started, I'm issuing a rare mea culpa. I need to add another Vestron movie which I completely missed on the previous episode, because it factors in to today's episode. Which, of course, starts before our story begins.   In the 1970s, there were very few filmmakers like the flamboyant Ken Russell. So unique a visual storyteller was Russell, it's nigh impossible to accurately describe him in a verbal or textual manner. Those who have seen The Devils, Tommy or Altered States know just how special Russell was as a filmmaker. By the late 1980s, the hits had dried up, and Russell was in a different kind of artistic stage, wanting to make somewhat faithful adaptations of late 19th and early 20th century UK authors. Vestron was looking to work with some prestigious filmmakers, to help build their cache in the filmmaking community, and Russell saw the opportunity to hopefully find a new home with this new distributor not unlike the one he had with Warner Brothers in the early 70s that brought forth several of his strongest movies.   In June 1986, Russell began production on a gothic horror film entitled, appropriately enough, Gothic, which depicted a fictionalized version of a real life meeting between Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairemont at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, hosted by Lord Byron, from which historians believe both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John William Polidori's The Vampyre were inspired.   And you want to talk about a movie with a great cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Shelley, Natasha Richardson, in her first ever movie, as Mary Shelley, Timothy Spall as John William Polidori, and Dexter Fletcher.   Although the film was produced through MGM, and distributed by the company in Europe, they would not release the film in America, fearing American audiences wouldn't get it. So Vestron would swoop in and acquire the American theatrical rights.   Incidentally, the film did not do very well in American theatres. Opening at the Cinema 1 in midtown Manhattan on April 10th, 1987, the film would sell $45,000 worth of tickets in its first three days, one of the best grosses of any single screen in the city. But the film would end up grossing only $916k after three months in theatres.   BUT…   The movie would do quite well for Vestron on home video, enough so that Vestron would sign on to produce Russell's next three movies. The first of those will be coming up very soon.   Vestron's 1988 release schedule began on January 22nd with the release of two films.   The first was Michael Hoffman's Promised Land. In 1982, Hoffman's first film, Privileged, was the first film to made through the Oxford Film Foundation, and was notable for being the first screen appearances for Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs, the first film scored by future Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman, and was shepherded into production by none other than John Schlesinger, the Oscar winning director of 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman's second film, the Scottish comedy Restless Natives, was part of the 1980s Scottish New Wave film movement that also included Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, and was the only film to be scored by the Scottish rock band Big Country.   Promised Land was one of the first films to be developed by the Sundance Institute, in 1984, and when it was finally produced in 1986, would include Robert Redford as one of its executive producers. The film would follow two recent local high school graduates, Hancock and Danny, whose lives would intersect again with disastrous results several years after graduation. The cast features two young actors destined to become stars, in Keifer Sutherland and Meg Ryan, as well as Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan, and Jay Underwood. Shot in Reno and around the Sundance Institute outside Park City, Utah during the early winter months of 1987, Promised Land would make its world premiere at the prestigious Deauville Film Festival in September 1987, but would lose its original distributor, New World Pictures around the same time. Vestron would swoop in to grab the distribution rights, and set it for a January 22nd, 1988 release, just after its American debut at the then U.S. Film Festival, which is now known as the Sundance Film Festival.    Convenient, eh?   Opening on six screens in , the film would gross $31k in its first three days. The film would continue to slowly roll out into more major markets, but with a lack of stellar reviews, and a cast that wouldn't be more famous for at least another year and a half, Vestron would never push the film out to more than 67 theaters, and it would quickly disappear with only $316k worth of tickets sold.   The other movie Vestron opened on January 22nd was Ettore Scale's The Family, which was Italy's submission to that year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The great Vittorio Gassman stars as a retired college professor who reminisces about his life and his family over the course of the twentieth century. Featuring a cast of great international actors including Fanny Ardant, Philip Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Ricky Tognazzi, The Family would win every major film award in Italy, and it would indeed be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but in America, it would only play in a handful of theatres for about two months, unable to gross even $350k.   When is a remake not a remake? When French filmmaker Roger Vadim, who shot to international fame in 1956 with his movie And God Created Woman, decided to give a generational and international spin on his most famous work. And a completely different story, as to not resemble his original work in any form outside of the general brushstrokes of both being about a young, pretty, sexually liberated young woman.   Instead of Bridget Bardot, we get Rebecca De Mornay, who was never able to parlay her starring role in Risky Business to any kind of stardom the way one-time boyfriend Tom Cruise had. And if there was any American woman in the United States in 1988 who could bring in a certain demographic to see her traipse around New Mexico au natural, it would be Rebecca De Mornay. But as we saw with Kathleen Turner in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion in 1984 and Ellen Barkin in Mary Lambert's Siesta in 1987, American audiences were still rather prudish when it came to seeing a certain kind of female empowered sexuality on screen, and when the film opened at 385 theatres on March 4th, it would open to barely a $1,000 per screen average. And God Created Woman would be gone from theatres after only three weeks and $717k in ticket sales.   Vestron would next release a Dutch film called The Pointsman, about a French woman who accidentally gets off at the wrong train station in a remote Dutch village, and a local railwayman who, unable to speak the other person's language, develop a strange relationship while she waits for another train that never arrives.   Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on New York's Upper West Side on April 8th, the film would gross $7,000 in its first week, which in and of itself isn't all that bad for a mostly silent Dutch film. Except there was another Dutch film in the marketplace already, one that was getting much better reviews, and was the official Dutch entry into that year's Best Foreign Language Film race. That film, Babette's Feast, was becoming something more than just a movie. Restaurants across the country were creating menus based on the meals served in the film, and in its sixth week of release in New York City that weekend, had grossed four times as much as The Pointsman, despite the fact that the theatre playing Babette's Feast, the Cinema Studio 1, sat only 65 more people than the Lincoln Plaza 1. The following week, The Pointsman would drop to $6k in ticket sales, while Babette's Feast's audience grew another $6k over the previous week. After a third lackluster week, The Pointsman was gone from the Lincoln Plaza, and would never play in another theatre in America.   In the mid-80s, British actor Ben Cross was still trying to capitalize on his having been one of the leads in the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, and was sharing a home with his wife and children, as well as Camilo Vila, a filmmaker looking for his first big break in features after two well-received short films made in his native Cuba before he defected in the early 1980s. When Vila was offered the chance to direct The Unholy, about a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who finds himself battling a demonic force after being appointed to a new parish, he would walk down the hall of his shared home and offered his roomie the lead role.   Along with Ned Beatty, William Russ, Hal Holbrook and British actor Trevor Howard in his final film, The Unholy would begin two weeks of exterior filming in New Orleans on October 27th, 1986, before moving to a studio in Miami for seven more weeks. The film would open in 1189 theatres, Vestron's widest opening to date, on April 22nd, and would open in seventh place with $2.35m in ticket sales. By its second week in theatres, it would fall to eleventh place with a $1.24m gross. But with the Summer Movie Season quickly creeping up on the calendar, The Unholy would suffer the same fate as most horror films, making the drop to dollar houses after two weeks, as to make room for such dreck as Sunset, Blake Edwards' lamentable Bruce Willis/James Garner riff on Hollywood and cowboys in the late 1920s, and the pointless sequel to Critters before screens got gobbled up by Rambo III on Memorial Day weekend. It would earn a bit more than $6m at the box office.   When Gothic didn't perform well in American theatres, Ken Russell thought his career was over. As we mentioned earlier, the American home video store saved his career, as least for the time being.    The first film Russell would make for Vestron proper was Salome's Last Dance, based on an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde, which itself was based on a story from the New Testament. Russell's script would add a framing device as a way for movie audiences to get into this most theatrical of stories.   On Guy Fawkes Day in London in 1892, Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, arrive late at a friend's brothel, where the author is treated to a surprise performance of his play Salome, which has recently been banned from being performed at all in England by Lord Chamberlain. All of the actors in his special performance are played by the prostitutes of the brothel and their clients, and the scenes of the play are intertwined with Wilde's escapades at the brothel that night.   We didn't know it at the time, but Salome's Last Dance would be the penultimate film performance for Academy Award winning actress Glenda Jackson, who would retire to go into politics in England a couple years later, after working with Russell on another film, which we'll get to in a moment. About the only other actor you might recognize in the film is David Doyle, of all people, the American actor best known for playing Bosley on Charlie's Angels.   Like Gothic, Salome's Last Dance would not do very well in theatres, grossing less than half a million dollars after three months, but would find an appreciative audience on home video.   The most interesting thing about Roger Holzberg's Midnight Crossing is the writer and director himself. Holzberg started in the entertainment industry as a playwright, then designed the props and weapons for Albert Pyun's 1982 film The Sword and the Sorcerer, before moving on to direct the second unit team on Pyun's 1985 film Radioactive Dreams. After making this film, Holzberg would have a cancer scare, and pivot to health care, creating a number of technological advancements to help evolve patient treatment, including the Infusionarium, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them, and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment.   That's pretty darn cool, actually.   Midnight Crossing stars Faye Dunaway and Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti in his first major movie role as a couple who team with another couple, played by Kim Cattrall and John Laughlin, who go hunting for treasure supposedly buried between Florida and Cuba.   The film would open in 419 theaters on May 11th, 1988, and gross a paltry $673k in its first three days, putting it 15th on the list of box office grosses for the week, $23k more than Three Men and a Baby, which was playing on 538 screens in its 25th week of release. In its second week, Midnight Crossing would lose more than a third of its theatres, and the weekend gross would fall to just $232k. The third week would be even worse, dropping to just 67 theatres and $43k in ticket sales. After a few weeks at a handful of dollar houses, the film would be history with just $1.3m in the bank. Leonard Klady, then writing for the Los Angeles Times, would note in a January 1989 article about the 1988 box office that Midnight Crossing's box office to budget ratio of 0.26 was the tenth worst ratio for any major or mini-major studio, ahead of And God Created Woman's 8th worst ratio of .155 but behind other stinkers like Caddyshack II.   The forgotten erotic thriller Call Me sounds like a twist on the 1984 Alan Rudolph romantic comedy Choose Me, but instead of Genevieve Bujold we get Patricia Charbonneau, and instead of a meet cute involving singles at a bar in Los Angeles, we get a murder mystery involving a New York City journalist who gets involved with a mysterious caller after she witnesses a murder at a bar due to a case of mistaken identity.   The film's not very good, but the supporting cast is great, including Steve Buscemi, Patti D'Arbanville, Stephen McHattie and David Straithairn.   Opening on 24 screens in major markets on May 20th, Call Me would open to horrible reviews, lead by Siskel and Ebert's thumbs facing downward, and only $58,348 worth of tickets sold in its first three days. After five weeks in theatres, Vestron hung up on Call Me with just $252k in the kitty.   Vestron would open two movies on June 3rd, one in a very limited release, and one in a moderate national release.   There are a lot of obscure titles in these two episodes, and probably the most obscure is Paul Mones' The Beat. The film followed a young man named Billy Kane, played by William McNamara in his film debut, who moves into a rough neighborhood controlled by several gangs, who tries to help make his new area a better place by teaching them about poetry. John Savage from The Deer Hunter plays a teacher, and future writer and director Reggie Rock Bythewood plays one of the troubled youths whose life is turned around through the written and spoken word.   The production team was top notch. Producer Julia Phillips was one of the few women to ever win a Best Picture Oscar when she and her then husband Michael Phillips produced The Sting in 1973. Phillips was assisted on the film by two young men who were making their first movie. Jon Kilik would go on to produce or co-produce every Spike Lee movie from Do the Right Thing to Da 5 Bloods, except for BlackkKlansman, while Nick Weschler would produce sex, lies and videotape, Drugstore Cowboy, The Player and Requiem for a Dream, amongst dozens of major films. And the film's cinematographer, Tom DiCillo, would move into the director's chair in 1991 with Johnny Suede, which gave Brad Pitt his first lead role.   The Beat would be shot on location in New York City in the summer of 1986, and it would make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May 1987. But it would be another thirteen months before the film arrived in theatres.   Opening on seven screens in Los Angeles and New York City on June 3rd, The Beat would gross just $7,168 in its first three days.  There would not be a second week for The Beat. It would make its way onto home video in early 1989, and that's the last time the film was seen for nearly thirty years, until the film was picked up by a number of streaming services.   Vestron's streak of bad luck continued with the comedy Paramedics starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald. The only feature film directed by Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel on the 1970s TV series The Rockford Files, Newbern and McDonald play two… well, paramedics… who are sent by boss, as punishment, from their cushy uptown gig to a troubled district at the edge of the city, where they discover two other paramedics are running a cadavers for dollars scheme, harvesting organs from dead bodies to the black market.   Here again we have a great supporting cast who deserve to be in a better movie, including character actor John P. Ryan, James Noble from Benson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter, the great Ray Walston, and one-time Playboy Playmate Karen Witter, who plays a sort of angel of death.   Opening on 301 screens nationwide, Paramedics would only gross $149,577 in its first three days, the worst per screen average of any movie playing in at least 100 theatres that weekend. Vestron stopped tracking the film after just three days.   Two weeks later, on June 17th, Vestron released a comedy horror film that should have done better. Waxwork was an interesting idea, a group of college students who have some strange encounters with the wax figures at a local museum, but that's not exactly why it should have been more popular. It was the cast that should have brought audiences in. On one side, you had a group of well-known younger actors like Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl, Zack Gailligan from Gremlins, Michelle Johnson from Blame It on Rio, and Miles O'Keeffe from Sword of the Valiant. On the other hand, you had a group of seasoned veterans from popular television shows and movies, such as Patrick Macnee from the popular 1960s British TV show The Avengers, John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones movies, and David Warner, from The Omen and Time after Time and Time Bandits and Tron.   But if I want to be completely honest, this was not a movie to release in the early part of summer. While I'm a firm believer that the right movie can find an audience no matter when it's released, Waxwork was absolutely a prime candidate for an early October release. Throughout the 1980s, we saw a number of horror movies, and especially horror comedies, released in the summer season that just did not hit with audiences. So it would be of little surprise when Waxwork grossed less than a million dollars during its theatrical run. And it should be of little surprise that the film would become popular enough on home video to warrant a sequel, which would add more popular sci-fi and horror actors like Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, David Carradine and even Bruce Campbell. But by 1992, when Waxwork 2 was released, Vestron was long since closed.   The second Ken Russell movie made for Vestron was The Lair of the White Worm, based on a 1911 novel by Bram Stoker, the author's final published book before his death the following year. The story follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist.   Russell would offer the role of Sylvia Marsh, the enigmatic Lady who is actually an immortal priestess to an ancient snake god, to Tilda Swinton, who at this point of her career had already racked up a substantial resume in film after only two years, but she would decline. Instead, the role would go to Amanda Donohoe, the British actress best known at the time for her appearances in a pair of Adam Ant videos earlier in the decade. And the supporting cast would include Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and the under-appreciated Sammi Davis, who was simply amazing in Mona Lisa, A Prayer for the Dying and John Boorman's Hope and Glory.   The $2m would come together fairly quickly. Vestron and Russell would agree on the film in late 1987, the script would be approved by January 1988, filming would begin in England in February, and the completed film would have its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival before the end of August.   When the film arrived in American theatres starting on October 21st, many critics would embrace the director's deliberate camp qualities and anachronisms. But audiences, who maybe weren't used to Russell's style of filmmaking, did not embrace the film quite so much. New Yorkers would buy $31k worth of tickets in its opening weekend at the D. W. Griffith and 8th Street Playhouse, and the film would perform well in its opening weeks in major markets, but the film would never quite break out, earning just $1.2m after ten weeks in theatres. But, again, home video would save the day, as the film would become one of the bigger rental titles in 1989.   If you were a teenager in the early 80s, as I was, you may remember a Dutch horror film called The Lift. Or, at the very least, you remember the key art on the VHS box, of a man who has his head stuck in between the doors of an elevator, while the potential viewer is warned to take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs. It was an impressive debut film for Dick Maas, but it was one that would place an albatross around the neck of his career.   One of his follow ups to The Lift, called Amsterdamned, would follow a police detective who is searching for a serial killer in his home town, who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to keep himself hidden. When the detective gets too close to solving the identity of the murderer, the killer sends a message by killing the detective's girlfriend, which, if the killer had ever seen a movie before, he should have known you never do. You never make it personal for the cop, because he's gonna take you down even worse.   When the film's producers brought the film to the American Film Market in early 1988, it would become one of the most talked about films, and Vestron would pick up the American distribution rights for a cool half a million dollars. The film would open on six screens in the US on November 25th, including the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills but not in New York City, but a $15k first weekend gross would seal its fate almost immediately. The film would play for another four weeks in theatres, playing on 18 screens at its widest, but it would end its run shortly after the start of of the year with only $62,044 in tickets sold.   The final Vestron Pictures release of 1988 was Andrew Birkin's Burning Secret. Birkin, the brother of French singer and actress Jane Birkin, would co-write the screenplay for this adaptation of a 1913 short story by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, about a about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. According to Birkin in a 2021 interview, making the movie was somewhat of a nightmare, as his leading actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, did not like each other, and their lack of comfort with each other would bleed into their performances, which is fatal for a film about two people who are supposed to passionately burn for each other.   Opening on 16 screens in major markets on Thursday, December 22nd, Burning Secret would only gross $27k in its first four days. The film would actually see a post-Christmas bump, as it would lose a screen but see its gross jump to $40k. But after the first of the year, as it was obvious reviews were not going to save the film and awards consideration was non-existent, the film would close after three weeks with only $104k worth of tickets sold.   By the end of 1988, Vestron was facing bankruptcy. The major distributors had learned the lessons independents like Vestron had taught them about selling more volumes of tapes by lowering the price, to make movies collectables and have people curate their own video library. Top titles were harder to come by, and studios were no longer giving up home video rights to the movies they acquired from third-party producers.   Like many of the distributors we've spoken about before, and will undoubtedly speak of again, Vestron had too much success with one movie too quickly, and learned the wrong lessons about growth. If you look at the independent distribution world of 2023, you'll see companies like A24 that have learned that lesson. Stay lean and mean, don't go too wide too quickly, try not to spend too much money on a movie, no matter who the filmmaker is and how good of a relationship you have with them. A24 worked with Robert Eggers on The Witch and The Lighthouse, but when he wanted to spend $70-90m to make The Northman, A24 tapped out early, and Focus Features ended up losing millions on the film. Focus, the “indie” label for Universal Studios, can weather a huge loss like The Northman because they are a part of a multinational, multimedia conglomerate.   This didn't mean Vestron was going to quit quite yet, but, spoiler alert, they'll be gone soon enough.   In fact, and in case you are newer to the podcast and haven't listen to many of the previous episodes, none of the independent distribution companies that began and/or saw their best years in the 1980s that we've covered so far or will be covering in the future, exist in the same form they existed in back then.    New Line still exists, but it's now a label within Warner Brothers instead of being an independent distributor. Ditto Orion, which is now just a specialty label within MGM/UA. The Samuel Goldwyn Company is still around and still distributes movies, but it was bought by Orion Pictures the year before Orion was bought by MGM/UA, so it too is now just a specialty label, within another specialty label. Miramax today is just a holding company for the movies the company made before they were sold off to Disney, before Disney sold them off to a hedge fund, who sold Miramax off to another hedge fund.    Atlantic is gone. New World is gone. Cannon is gone. Hemdale is gone. Cinecom is gone. Island Films is gone. Alive Films is gone. Concorde Films is gone. MCEG is gone. CineTel is gone. Crown International is gone. Lorimar is gone. New Century/Vista is gone. Skouras Films is gone. Cineplex Odeon Films is gone.   Not one of them survived.   The same can pretty much be said for the independent distributors created in the 1990s, save Lionsgate, but I'll leave that for another podcast to tackle.   As for the Vestron story, we'll continue that one next week, because there are still a dozen more movies to talk about, as well as the end of the line for the once high flying company.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

We continue our look back at the movies released by independent distributor Vestron Pictures, focusing on their 1988 releases. ----more---- The movies discussed on this episode, all released by Vestron Pictures in 1988 unless otherwise noted, include: Amsterdamned (Dick Maas) And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim) The Beat (Paul Mones) Burning Secret (Andrew Birkin) Call Me (Sollace Mitchell) The Family (Ettore Scola) Gothic (Ken Russell, 1987) The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell) Midnight Crossing (Roger Holzberg) Paramedics (Stuart Margolin) The Pointsman (Jos Stelling) Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) Promised Land (Michael Hoffman) The Unholy (Camilo Vila) Waxwork (Anthony Hickox)   TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   At the end of the previous episode, Vestron Pictures was celebrating the best year of its two year history. Dirty Dancing had become one of the most beloved movies of the year, and Anna was becoming a major awards contender, thanks to a powerhouse performance by veteran actress Sally Kirkland. And at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1987, Dirty Dancing would win the Oscar for Best Original Song, while Anna would be nominated for Best Actress, and The Dead for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costumes.   Surely, things could only go up from there, right?   Welcome to Part Two of our miniseries.   But before we get started, I'm issuing a rare mea culpa. I need to add another Vestron movie which I completely missed on the previous episode, because it factors in to today's episode. Which, of course, starts before our story begins.   In the 1970s, there were very few filmmakers like the flamboyant Ken Russell. So unique a visual storyteller was Russell, it's nigh impossible to accurately describe him in a verbal or textual manner. Those who have seen The Devils, Tommy or Altered States know just how special Russell was as a filmmaker. By the late 1980s, the hits had dried up, and Russell was in a different kind of artistic stage, wanting to make somewhat faithful adaptations of late 19th and early 20th century UK authors. Vestron was looking to work with some prestigious filmmakers, to help build their cache in the filmmaking community, and Russell saw the opportunity to hopefully find a new home with this new distributor not unlike the one he had with Warner Brothers in the early 70s that brought forth several of his strongest movies.   In June 1986, Russell began production on a gothic horror film entitled, appropriately enough, Gothic, which depicted a fictionalized version of a real life meeting between Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairemont at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, hosted by Lord Byron, from which historians believe both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John William Polidori's The Vampyre were inspired.   And you want to talk about a movie with a great cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Shelley, Natasha Richardson, in her first ever movie, as Mary Shelley, Timothy Spall as John William Polidori, and Dexter Fletcher.   Although the film was produced through MGM, and distributed by the company in Europe, they would not release the film in America, fearing American audiences wouldn't get it. So Vestron would swoop in and acquire the American theatrical rights.   Incidentally, the film did not do very well in American theatres. Opening at the Cinema 1 in midtown Manhattan on April 10th, 1987, the film would sell $45,000 worth of tickets in its first three days, one of the best grosses of any single screen in the city. But the film would end up grossing only $916k after three months in theatres.   BUT…   The movie would do quite well for Vestron on home video, enough so that Vestron would sign on to produce Russell's next three movies. The first of those will be coming up very soon.   Vestron's 1988 release schedule began on January 22nd with the release of two films.   The first was Michael Hoffman's Promised Land. In 1982, Hoffman's first film, Privileged, was the first film to made through the Oxford Film Foundation, and was notable for being the first screen appearances for Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs, the first film scored by future Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman, and was shepherded into production by none other than John Schlesinger, the Oscar winning director of 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman's second film, the Scottish comedy Restless Natives, was part of the 1980s Scottish New Wave film movement that also included Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, and was the only film to be scored by the Scottish rock band Big Country.   Promised Land was one of the first films to be developed by the Sundance Institute, in 1984, and when it was finally produced in 1986, would include Robert Redford as one of its executive producers. The film would follow two recent local high school graduates, Hancock and Danny, whose lives would intersect again with disastrous results several years after graduation. The cast features two young actors destined to become stars, in Keifer Sutherland and Meg Ryan, as well as Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan, and Jay Underwood. Shot in Reno and around the Sundance Institute outside Park City, Utah during the early winter months of 1987, Promised Land would make its world premiere at the prestigious Deauville Film Festival in September 1987, but would lose its original distributor, New World Pictures around the same time. Vestron would swoop in to grab the distribution rights, and set it for a January 22nd, 1988 release, just after its American debut at the then U.S. Film Festival, which is now known as the Sundance Film Festival.    Convenient, eh?   Opening on six screens in , the film would gross $31k in its first three days. The film would continue to slowly roll out into more major markets, but with a lack of stellar reviews, and a cast that wouldn't be more famous for at least another year and a half, Vestron would never push the film out to more than 67 theaters, and it would quickly disappear with only $316k worth of tickets sold.   The other movie Vestron opened on January 22nd was Ettore Scale's The Family, which was Italy's submission to that year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The great Vittorio Gassman stars as a retired college professor who reminisces about his life and his family over the course of the twentieth century. Featuring a cast of great international actors including Fanny Ardant, Philip Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Ricky Tognazzi, The Family would win every major film award in Italy, and it would indeed be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but in America, it would only play in a handful of theatres for about two months, unable to gross even $350k.   When is a remake not a remake? When French filmmaker Roger Vadim, who shot to international fame in 1956 with his movie And God Created Woman, decided to give a generational and international spin on his most famous work. And a completely different story, as to not resemble his original work in any form outside of the general brushstrokes of both being about a young, pretty, sexually liberated young woman.   Instead of Bridget Bardot, we get Rebecca De Mornay, who was never able to parlay her starring role in Risky Business to any kind of stardom the way one-time boyfriend Tom Cruise had. And if there was any American woman in the United States in 1988 who could bring in a certain demographic to see her traipse around New Mexico au natural, it would be Rebecca De Mornay. But as we saw with Kathleen Turner in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion in 1984 and Ellen Barkin in Mary Lambert's Siesta in 1987, American audiences were still rather prudish when it came to seeing a certain kind of female empowered sexuality on screen, and when the film opened at 385 theatres on March 4th, it would open to barely a $1,000 per screen average. And God Created Woman would be gone from theatres after only three weeks and $717k in ticket sales.   Vestron would next release a Dutch film called The Pointsman, about a French woman who accidentally gets off at the wrong train station in a remote Dutch village, and a local railwayman who, unable to speak the other person's language, develop a strange relationship while she waits for another train that never arrives.   Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on New York's Upper West Side on April 8th, the film would gross $7,000 in its first week, which in and of itself isn't all that bad for a mostly silent Dutch film. Except there was another Dutch film in the marketplace already, one that was getting much better reviews, and was the official Dutch entry into that year's Best Foreign Language Film race. That film, Babette's Feast, was becoming something more than just a movie. Restaurants across the country were creating menus based on the meals served in the film, and in its sixth week of release in New York City that weekend, had grossed four times as much as The Pointsman, despite the fact that the theatre playing Babette's Feast, the Cinema Studio 1, sat only 65 more people than the Lincoln Plaza 1. The following week, The Pointsman would drop to $6k in ticket sales, while Babette's Feast's audience grew another $6k over the previous week. After a third lackluster week, The Pointsman was gone from the Lincoln Plaza, and would never play in another theatre in America.   In the mid-80s, British actor Ben Cross was still trying to capitalize on his having been one of the leads in the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, and was sharing a home with his wife and children, as well as Camilo Vila, a filmmaker looking for his first big break in features after two well-received short films made in his native Cuba before he defected in the early 1980s. When Vila was offered the chance to direct The Unholy, about a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who finds himself battling a demonic force after being appointed to a new parish, he would walk down the hall of his shared home and offered his roomie the lead role.   Along with Ned Beatty, William Russ, Hal Holbrook and British actor Trevor Howard in his final film, The Unholy would begin two weeks of exterior filming in New Orleans on October 27th, 1986, before moving to a studio in Miami for seven more weeks. The film would open in 1189 theatres, Vestron's widest opening to date, on April 22nd, and would open in seventh place with $2.35m in ticket sales. By its second week in theatres, it would fall to eleventh place with a $1.24m gross. But with the Summer Movie Season quickly creeping up on the calendar, The Unholy would suffer the same fate as most horror films, making the drop to dollar houses after two weeks, as to make room for such dreck as Sunset, Blake Edwards' lamentable Bruce Willis/James Garner riff on Hollywood and cowboys in the late 1920s, and the pointless sequel to Critters before screens got gobbled up by Rambo III on Memorial Day weekend. It would earn a bit more than $6m at the box office.   When Gothic didn't perform well in American theatres, Ken Russell thought his career was over. As we mentioned earlier, the American home video store saved his career, as least for the time being.    The first film Russell would make for Vestron proper was Salome's Last Dance, based on an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde, which itself was based on a story from the New Testament. Russell's script would add a framing device as a way for movie audiences to get into this most theatrical of stories.   On Guy Fawkes Day in London in 1892, Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, arrive late at a friend's brothel, where the author is treated to a surprise performance of his play Salome, which has recently been banned from being performed at all in England by Lord Chamberlain. All of the actors in his special performance are played by the prostitutes of the brothel and their clients, and the scenes of the play are intertwined with Wilde's escapades at the brothel that night.   We didn't know it at the time, but Salome's Last Dance would be the penultimate film performance for Academy Award winning actress Glenda Jackson, who would retire to go into politics in England a couple years later, after working with Russell on another film, which we'll get to in a moment. About the only other actor you might recognize in the film is David Doyle, of all people, the American actor best known for playing Bosley on Charlie's Angels.   Like Gothic, Salome's Last Dance would not do very well in theatres, grossing less than half a million dollars after three months, but would find an appreciative audience on home video.   The most interesting thing about Roger Holzberg's Midnight Crossing is the writer and director himself. Holzberg started in the entertainment industry as a playwright, then designed the props and weapons for Albert Pyun's 1982 film The Sword and the Sorcerer, before moving on to direct the second unit team on Pyun's 1985 film Radioactive Dreams. After making this film, Holzberg would have a cancer scare, and pivot to health care, creating a number of technological advancements to help evolve patient treatment, including the Infusionarium, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them, and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment.   That's pretty darn cool, actually.   Midnight Crossing stars Faye Dunaway and Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti in his first major movie role as a couple who team with another couple, played by Kim Cattrall and John Laughlin, who go hunting for treasure supposedly buried between Florida and Cuba.   The film would open in 419 theaters on May 11th, 1988, and gross a paltry $673k in its first three days, putting it 15th on the list of box office grosses for the week, $23k more than Three Men and a Baby, which was playing on 538 screens in its 25th week of release. In its second week, Midnight Crossing would lose more than a third of its theatres, and the weekend gross would fall to just $232k. The third week would be even worse, dropping to just 67 theatres and $43k in ticket sales. After a few weeks at a handful of dollar houses, the film would be history with just $1.3m in the bank. Leonard Klady, then writing for the Los Angeles Times, would note in a January 1989 article about the 1988 box office that Midnight Crossing's box office to budget ratio of 0.26 was the tenth worst ratio for any major or mini-major studio, ahead of And God Created Woman's 8th worst ratio of .155 but behind other stinkers like Caddyshack II.   The forgotten erotic thriller Call Me sounds like a twist on the 1984 Alan Rudolph romantic comedy Choose Me, but instead of Genevieve Bujold we get Patricia Charbonneau, and instead of a meet cute involving singles at a bar in Los Angeles, we get a murder mystery involving a New York City journalist who gets involved with a mysterious caller after she witnesses a murder at a bar due to a case of mistaken identity.   The film's not very good, but the supporting cast is great, including Steve Buscemi, Patti D'Arbanville, Stephen McHattie and David Straithairn.   Opening on 24 screens in major markets on May 20th, Call Me would open to horrible reviews, lead by Siskel and Ebert's thumbs facing downward, and only $58,348 worth of tickets sold in its first three days. After five weeks in theatres, Vestron hung up on Call Me with just $252k in the kitty.   Vestron would open two movies on June 3rd, one in a very limited release, and one in a moderate national release.   There are a lot of obscure titles in these two episodes, and probably the most obscure is Paul Mones' The Beat. The film followed a young man named Billy Kane, played by William McNamara in his film debut, who moves into a rough neighborhood controlled by several gangs, who tries to help make his new area a better place by teaching them about poetry. John Savage from The Deer Hunter plays a teacher, and future writer and director Reggie Rock Bythewood plays one of the troubled youths whose life is turned around through the written and spoken word.   The production team was top notch. Producer Julia Phillips was one of the few women to ever win a Best Picture Oscar when she and her then husband Michael Phillips produced The Sting in 1973. Phillips was assisted on the film by two young men who were making their first movie. Jon Kilik would go on to produce or co-produce every Spike Lee movie from Do the Right Thing to Da 5 Bloods, except for BlackkKlansman, while Nick Weschler would produce sex, lies and videotape, Drugstore Cowboy, The Player and Requiem for a Dream, amongst dozens of major films. And the film's cinematographer, Tom DiCillo, would move into the director's chair in 1991 with Johnny Suede, which gave Brad Pitt his first lead role.   The Beat would be shot on location in New York City in the summer of 1986, and it would make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May 1987. But it would be another thirteen months before the film arrived in theatres.   Opening on seven screens in Los Angeles and New York City on June 3rd, The Beat would gross just $7,168 in its first three days.  There would not be a second week for The Beat. It would make its way onto home video in early 1989, and that's the last time the film was seen for nearly thirty years, until the film was picked up by a number of streaming services.   Vestron's streak of bad luck continued with the comedy Paramedics starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald. The only feature film directed by Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel on the 1970s TV series The Rockford Files, Newbern and McDonald play two… well, paramedics… who are sent by boss, as punishment, from their cushy uptown gig to a troubled district at the edge of the city, where they discover two other paramedics are running a cadavers for dollars scheme, harvesting organs from dead bodies to the black market.   Here again we have a great supporting cast who deserve to be in a better movie, including character actor John P. Ryan, James Noble from Benson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter, the great Ray Walston, and one-time Playboy Playmate Karen Witter, who plays a sort of angel of death.   Opening on 301 screens nationwide, Paramedics would only gross $149,577 in its first three days, the worst per screen average of any movie playing in at least 100 theatres that weekend. Vestron stopped tracking the film after just three days.   Two weeks later, on June 17th, Vestron released a comedy horror film that should have done better. Waxwork was an interesting idea, a group of college students who have some strange encounters with the wax figures at a local museum, but that's not exactly why it should have been more popular. It was the cast that should have brought audiences in. On one side, you had a group of well-known younger actors like Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl, Zack Gailligan from Gremlins, Michelle Johnson from Blame It on Rio, and Miles O'Keeffe from Sword of the Valiant. On the other hand, you had a group of seasoned veterans from popular television shows and movies, such as Patrick Macnee from the popular 1960s British TV show The Avengers, John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones movies, and David Warner, from The Omen and Time after Time and Time Bandits and Tron.   But if I want to be completely honest, this was not a movie to release in the early part of summer. While I'm a firm believer that the right movie can find an audience no matter when it's released, Waxwork was absolutely a prime candidate for an early October release. Throughout the 1980s, we saw a number of horror movies, and especially horror comedies, released in the summer season that just did not hit with audiences. So it would be of little surprise when Waxwork grossed less than a million dollars during its theatrical run. And it should be of little surprise that the film would become popular enough on home video to warrant a sequel, which would add more popular sci-fi and horror actors like Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, David Carradine and even Bruce Campbell. But by 1992, when Waxwork 2 was released, Vestron was long since closed.   The second Ken Russell movie made for Vestron was The Lair of the White Worm, based on a 1911 novel by Bram Stoker, the author's final published book before his death the following year. The story follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist.   Russell would offer the role of Sylvia Marsh, the enigmatic Lady who is actually an immortal priestess to an ancient snake god, to Tilda Swinton, who at this point of her career had already racked up a substantial resume in film after only two years, but she would decline. Instead, the role would go to Amanda Donohoe, the British actress best known at the time for her appearances in a pair of Adam Ant videos earlier in the decade. And the supporting cast would include Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and the under-appreciated Sammi Davis, who was simply amazing in Mona Lisa, A Prayer for the Dying and John Boorman's Hope and Glory.   The $2m would come together fairly quickly. Vestron and Russell would agree on the film in late 1987, the script would be approved by January 1988, filming would begin in England in February, and the completed film would have its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival before the end of August.   When the film arrived in American theatres starting on October 21st, many critics would embrace the director's deliberate camp qualities and anachronisms. But audiences, who maybe weren't used to Russell's style of filmmaking, did not embrace the film quite so much. New Yorkers would buy $31k worth of tickets in its opening weekend at the D. W. Griffith and 8th Street Playhouse, and the film would perform well in its opening weeks in major markets, but the film would never quite break out, earning just $1.2m after ten weeks in theatres. But, again, home video would save the day, as the film would become one of the bigger rental titles in 1989.   If you were a teenager in the early 80s, as I was, you may remember a Dutch horror film called The Lift. Or, at the very least, you remember the key art on the VHS box, of a man who has his head stuck in between the doors of an elevator, while the potential viewer is warned to take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs. It was an impressive debut film for Dick Maas, but it was one that would place an albatross around the neck of his career.   One of his follow ups to The Lift, called Amsterdamned, would follow a police detective who is searching for a serial killer in his home town, who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to keep himself hidden. When the detective gets too close to solving the identity of the murderer, the killer sends a message by killing the detective's girlfriend, which, if the killer had ever seen a movie before, he should have known you never do. You never make it personal for the cop, because he's gonna take you down even worse.   When the film's producers brought the film to the American Film Market in early 1988, it would become one of the most talked about films, and Vestron would pick up the American distribution rights for a cool half a million dollars. The film would open on six screens in the US on November 25th, including the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills but not in New York City, but a $15k first weekend gross would seal its fate almost immediately. The film would play for another four weeks in theatres, playing on 18 screens at its widest, but it would end its run shortly after the start of of the year with only $62,044 in tickets sold.   The final Vestron Pictures release of 1988 was Andrew Birkin's Burning Secret. Birkin, the brother of French singer and actress Jane Birkin, would co-write the screenplay for this adaptation of a 1913 short story by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, about a about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. According to Birkin in a 2021 interview, making the movie was somewhat of a nightmare, as his leading actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, did not like each other, and their lack of comfort with each other would bleed into their performances, which is fatal for a film about two people who are supposed to passionately burn for each other.   Opening on 16 screens in major markets on Thursday, December 22nd, Burning Secret would only gross $27k in its first four days. The film would actually see a post-Christmas bump, as it would lose a screen but see its gross jump to $40k. But after the first of the year, as it was obvious reviews were not going to save the film and awards consideration was non-existent, the film would close after three weeks with only $104k worth of tickets sold.   By the end of 1988, Vestron was facing bankruptcy. The major distributors had learned the lessons independents like Vestron had taught them about selling more volumes of tapes by lowering the price, to make movies collectables and have people curate their own video library. Top titles were harder to come by, and studios were no longer giving up home video rights to the movies they acquired from third-party producers.   Like many of the distributors we've spoken about before, and will undoubtedly speak of again, Vestron had too much success with one movie too quickly, and learned the wrong lessons about growth. If you look at the independent distribution world of 2023, you'll see companies like A24 that have learned that lesson. Stay lean and mean, don't go too wide too quickly, try not to spend too much money on a movie, no matter who the filmmaker is and how good of a relationship you have with them. A24 worked with Robert Eggers on The Witch and The Lighthouse, but when he wanted to spend $70-90m to make The Northman, A24 tapped out early, and Focus Features ended up losing millions on the film. Focus, the “indie” label for Universal Studios, can weather a huge loss like The Northman because they are a part of a multinational, multimedia conglomerate.   This didn't mean Vestron was going to quit quite yet, but, spoiler alert, they'll be gone soon enough.   In fact, and in case you are newer to the podcast and haven't listen to many of the previous episodes, none of the independent distribution companies that began and/or saw their best years in the 1980s that we've covered so far or will be covering in the future, exist in the same form they existed in back then.    New Line still exists, but it's now a label within Warner Brothers instead of being an independent distributor. Ditto Orion, which is now just a specialty label within MGM/UA. The Samuel Goldwyn Company is still around and still distributes movies, but it was bought by Orion Pictures the year before Orion was bought by MGM/UA, so it too is now just a specialty label, within another specialty label. Miramax today is just a holding company for the movies the company made before they were sold off to Disney, before Disney sold them off to a hedge fund, who sold Miramax off to another hedge fund.    Atlantic is gone. New World is gone. Cannon is gone. Hemdale is gone. Cinecom is gone. Island Films is gone. Alive Films is gone. Concorde Films is gone. MCEG is gone. CineTel is gone. Crown International is gone. Lorimar is gone. New Century/Vista is gone. Skouras Films is gone. Cineplex Odeon Films is gone.   Not one of them survived.   The same can pretty much be said for the independent distributors created in the 1990s, save Lionsgate, but I'll leave that for another podcast to tackle.   As for the Vestron story, we'll continue that one next week, because there are still a dozen more movies to talk about, as well as the end of the line for the once high flying company.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

It's the week of Valentine's Day and we're old romantics here at Creaky Chair, so we decided to spend our 69th episode discussing some of our very favourite romance movies. Bill chooses the Rob Reiner/Nora Ephron rom-com classic 'When Harry Met Sally', the decidedly steamy 'The Big Easy' by Jim McBride, and guilty pleasure 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Sam opts for another Nora Ephron/Meg Ryan rom-com, 'Sleepless in Seattle', the chaste British masterpiece from David Lean 'Brief Encounter', Céline Sciamma's French historical romance 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire', and 'A Cinderella Story' starring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray. Michael talks about the minimalist romance of 'Before Sunrise' starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, the heartbreakingly real French film 'Blue is the Warmest Colour', the Bill Forsyth coming-of-age story 'Gregory's Girl', and the bizarre dark comedy 'Harold and Maude'. In our Make Believe Moviehouse segment we talk to David Jenkins, editor of the wonderful film magazine Little White Lies.

Bill Forsyth's Local Hero (1983) is Will's pick for this week's episode! We discuss the nature of filmic coziness, nostalgia for specific places and people, and the ways that even recent discoveries can foster long-lost cinematic feelings. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/willandcorey/support

Jason is a huge fan of the film Local Hero, so he suggested to Chris that their next watch should be two Bill Forsyth films: the aforementioned classic along with Gregory's Girl. Chris gave them a watch, didn't quite like them as much as Jason did, and that triggered this wonderful, fun conversation we think you will enjoy. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jason-sacks/message

When a Glasgow disk jockey is dumped by his kleptomaniac girlfriend just before Christmas, his misery is interrupted by running afoul of an ice cream vendor turf war. Join Nancy Frye as she takes a look at the 1984 Bill Forsyth dark comedy, "Comfort and Joy". “Comfort and Joy” is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b7eQNcZxEM0“When Bill Paterson Met Bill Forsyth” https://youtu.be/zl5d4o1c8_E

If you follow any of our social channels, you're about to meet the genius behind the team behind the TikToks. Letterboxd's head of social, Aaron Yap, joins Gemma and Slim to tell us about childhood memories of Malaysian DVD stores, and his four favorites: The Brainiac; Footprints; Local Hero and Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession. Plus: Aaron's early memories of bodily reactions to '80s horrors, Slim's first DVD player, what Gemma got Aaron from the Criterion closet, Gemma's memories of buying blank VHS tapes, the obsolete sound of the DVD snapper, why The Brainiac's logic flaws don't matter, fighting over Giallo, the restorative magic of Bill Forsyth's Local Hero and the joys of movies without conflict, the wall calendar in Z Channel and the wild west of life before film recommendation algorithms, and Slim's Rob Zombie blind-spot when it comes to the Halloween movies. Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Searchlight Pictures and their new film, Empire of Light. Now playing in select theaters. Lists & Links: The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode; Aaron's essay about being a professional film reviewer; Aaron's article on Come and See; House of Psychotic Women Rarities Collection Blu-Ray Box Set; Justin Hullinger's The Almost Complete Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film; Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies; MewithYou's list of Safdie Brothers favorite films; K Abeto's list of Every film Taika Waititi has ever mentioned. Reviews of: The Brainiac by Amy Vorhees; Footprints by Sylvie J, Matt Winfield, WraithApe; Local Hero by Wes and Gemma; Z Channel by Gemma and SexRaySpex. Credits: This episode was recorded in Auckland and Philadelphia, and edited by Slim. Facts by Jack. Booker: Brian Formo. Transcript by Sophie Shin. Art by Samm. Theme: ‘Vampiros Dancoteque' by Moniker. The Letterboxd Show is a TAPEDECK production.

Paul and Erin review two films about men from the big city who get trapped in small towns... but eventually learn to like it: the 1991 Michael J. Fox fish-out-of-water comedy DOC HOLLYWOOD, and Bill Forsyth's beloved 1983 comedy-drama LOCAL HERO. Plus: our quick takes on the latest SIGHT & SOUND poll, THE MENU, THE FABELMANS, SHE SAID, GLASS ONION, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, and highlights from GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES.

It's the 600th episode of The Projection Booth and we're celebrating with a special episode all about Bill Forsyth's Local Hero. Released in 1983, the film stars Peter Riegert as MacIntyre, a corporate exec who's really more of a Telex man but gets sent to Scotland by his boss, Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster), to secure needed land for the Knox oil corporation.Rob St. Mary and Jonathan Melville (author of Local Hero: Making a Scottish Classic) join Mike to discuss the film while Peter Riegert talks about his role in the film. 

It's the 600th episode of The Projection Booth and we're celebrating with a special episode all about Bill Forsyth's Local Hero. Released in 1983, the film stars Peter Riegert as MacIntyre, a corporate exec who's really more of a Telex man but gets sent to Scotland by his boss, Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster), to secure needed land for the Knox oil corporation.Rob St. Mary and Jonathan Melville (author of Local Hero: Making a Scottish Classic) join Mike to discuss the film while Peter Riegert talks about his role in the film. 

Jackie and Greg are joined by actress Christine Lahti for a very special episode: it's Bill Forsyth's HOUSEKEEPING from 1987. Topics of discussion include the quiet unease of the film, a deep dive into the character of Sylvie, a comparison between the film and Marilynne Robinson's novel, and why it deserves a place among the great literary adaptations. Stay tuned for the second part of the episode where they sit down with the star of the film, Christine Lahti, as she recounts her experience playing the role.The continuation of our "Personal Prints" series where Jackie and Greg venture off the Sight & Sound “Top 100” list to explore films that are special and/or formative to them.Check us out at our official website: https://www.sceneandheardpod.comJoin our weekly film club: https://www.instagram.com/arroyofilmclubJP Instagram/Twitter: jacpostajGK Instagram: gkleinschmidtPhotography: Matt AraquistainMusic: Andrew CoxSpecial Thanks: Christine LahtiBuy HOUSEKEEPING on Blu-ray: https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/products/housekeeping-bd

Dave and Elizabeth are joined by Karen from the Staggering Stories podcast to celebrate the England Lionesses' victory at UEFA 2022 and Karen's experiences of women's football (it is not soccer!). Then Dave and Elizabeth look at the classic film Gregory's Girl

En la edición de hoy de El ContraPlano, el espacio dedicado al cine dentro de La ContraCrónica, los contraescuchas nos traen los siguientes títulos: - "Un tipo genial" (1983) de Bill Forsyth - https://amzn.to/3MD8Qz1 - "Death Note” (2006-2007) [serie] de Tetsuro Araki - https://amzn.to/3xEK25v - "Klaus" (2020) de Sergio Pablos - https://www.netflix.com/es/title/80183187 - "Juicio en Núremberg" de Stanley Kramer - https://amzn.to/3OaIB4m Consulta en La ContraFilmoteca la selección de las mejores películas de este espacio - https://diazvillanueva.com/la-contrafilmoteca · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #Nuremberg #Klaus Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Ben, Kim and Tim talk about The Slap (not sorry), frenemies of the show, trolling anti-communist labor historian Erik Loomis, bad Star Trek shows, scaring bosses, vibes, and much more! This week's recs: -Support your local antifa homies (in DC: Frederick Against Fascism) -Star Trek: Enterprise's best episodes: "Demons" and "Terra Prime" -Local Hero (1983), directed by Bill Forsyth

In which Stuart Mulrain and guest Raechel Leigh Carter talk teenage love in a Scottish School...For episode three, Stuart talks to artist, writer & zine creator Raechel Leigh Carter about her love of the 1980 Bill Forsyth classic Gregory' Girl (with some random tangents off onto other things too).This episode was originally published as part of the Nerds Who Haunted Themselves Podcast feed on 14th August 2019, and may feature references to forthcoming shows on that network.LINKSRAECHEL - Twitter @tinynoggin - WebsiteSTUART - Twitter @TokenNerdNERDS - FacebookGREGORY'S GIRL - IMDB - Twitter - @gregorysgirl_ (Fan Group) @gregorysgirldoc (Documentary Page)Title Music - Storytelling Man by Ruth's Curtain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the OETA Movie Club Podcast, host Robert Burch and director Jeff Morava do a deep dive into The Outsiders, a 1983 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton. The film is noted for its cast of up-and-coming stars and was shot in Tulsa, OK, where the film takes place. Did you know there's a museum in Tulsa dedicated to The Outsiders? It's a must-visit, Ponyboy! Local Hero is a 1983 Scottish film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, and Burt Lancaster. The film is about an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company.Listen now wherever you get your podcasts and tune in to The Outsiders on Saturday, March 26 at 9 pm and Local Hero at 11 pm on  OETA.

Full Transparency: All blu-rays reviewed were provided by Criterion, Kino Lorber, Cohen Film Collection, Imprint Films, and Arrow Video. On this weeks episode of Physical Media Isn't Dead, It Just Smells Funny, we have some excellent titles to kick off 2022. Imprint Films brings us a thrilling revenge film starring Kirk Douglas titled Last Train From Gun Hill, and two horror adjacent titles with the folk infused Tam Lin directed by Roddy McDowall and Sam Raimi's gothic "American Giallo", The Gift. Cohen Film Collection puts out the original uncut version of the British Rock n' Roll musical Expresso Bongo (where you will believe a mans stage name can in fact just be "Bongo Herbert"), while Kino Lorber doubles up on gentle heist movies that proves maybe there is honor among thieves with Gambit (starring My-Ko-Kane and Shirley MacLaine) and Bill Forsyth and John Sayles Breaking In. Arrow Video serves with two kind of highly anticipated titles. Mario Bava's final effort Shock (a.k.a Beyond The Door II) gets a deluxe treatment that far and away better than the Anchor Bay double feature DVD from a million years ago, and Yasuzo Masumura's Red Angel is here to make you ponder than nature of grace and healing. Finally, Criterion Collection puts out now TWO TIME Oscar nominated director Jane Campion's signature film, The Piano to help us ponder just how hot (and tender) Harvey Keitel can be...IN 4K! It's a great way to kick off the year and I as always, I hope you find something that sings to you and can find its way on to your shelf.

Today we are talking about the 1980 Scottish film written and directed by Bill Forsyth. In classic 80s style of a high school comedy, the boys are trying to get the attention from the girls. The film stars John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Jake D'Arcy. It won the BAFTA for Screenplay and the London Critics Circle Film Award for Special Achievement. Listen as we end our month of Scottish films chatting about this 80s throwback. This version features heavy brogues, other features have been dubbed for English audiences.    Gregory: “Have you ever been in love? I'm in love.” Steve: “Since when?” Gregory: “This morning. I feel restless and dizzy. I bet I won't get any sleep tonight.” Steve: “Sounds like indigestion.”   Some of our favorite parts of this movie are:   Very 80s style - Hair, Female objection, Boobs Heavy Scottish brogue in dialogue Award teen boy infatuated by the pretty girl This film would need some cleaning up if it was made today Scottish Mallrats The sound design   Next week's film is: First Cow (2021)   Special thanks to our editor Geoff Vrijmoet for this episode and Melissa Villagrana for helping out with our social media posts.     Subscribe, Rate & Share Your Favorite Episodes!   Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Dodge Movie Podcast with your host, Mike and Christi Dodge. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and leave a rating and review.   Don't forget to visit our website, connect with us on Instagram, Facebook,   LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes across social media.

The brothers are back! Join us this month as we gaze upon the stars with the likes of Bill Forsyth, Richard Powers, and even Wedge Antilles himself. First, we discuss Forsyth's 1983 film LOCAL HERO, and its portrayal of globalization, environmental issues, and the charm of small-town life. We also discuss Powers's latest novel, "Bewilderment," and its approach to similar concerns, and to the topic of life itself. Should be a magnificent evening together! Feedback? Shoot us an email at seehearbrother@gmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @seehearbrother! Thanks for listening!

Comedy writer Ursula Lawrence (Drunk History, Adam Ruins Everything) returns to the podcast from Madison, Wisconsin to discuss three great films from the Scottish writer/director Bill Forsyth, whose early self-financed successes laid the groundwork for Scotland's film industry to flourish. We talk about three of Forsyth's best films: his first studio project, the highly-acclaimed Local Hero (1982) with Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster, 1984's Comfort and Joy, his “serious comedy” about an ice cream van turf war in Glasgow (based on true events!) and his American debut, 1987's Housekeeping with Christine Lahti, based on Marilynne Robinson's great novel, an underseen masterpiece sadly orphaned by Columbia Pictures during a studio regime change. Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive access to additional exclusive episodes every month: some of our notable previous guests include Jacob Bacharach, Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Bryan Quinby, Sooz Kempner and more! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter Follow Ursula Lawrence on Twitter. Trailer for Local Hero (Forsyth, 1982) Trailer for Comfort and Joy (Forsyth, 1984) Horrible trailer for Housekeeping (Forsyth, 1987) to give you an idea of how badly Columbia Pictures marketed the film.

In this episode, we discuss the career of one of the best filmmakers to come out of 80s cinema: Scottish filmmaker Bill Forsyth. Oh, you've never heard of him? Or you're only familiar with one of his films? Join us on a cinematic journey through the career of a filmmaker who regularly revisited themes of loneliness, isolation, and alienation, and made them hilarious, touching, and poignant. ----more---- The films discussed during this episode (all directed by Bill Forsyth): That Sinking Feeling (1979) Gregory's Girl (1981) Local Hero (1983) Comfort and Joy (1984) Housekeeping (1987) Breaking In (1989) Being Human (1994) Gregory's Two Girls (1999)

In this episode, we discuss the career of one of the best filmmakers to come out of 80s cinema: Scottish filmmaker Bill Forsyth. Oh, you've never heard of him? Or you're only familiar with one of his films? Join us on a cinematic journey through the career of a filmmaker who regularly revisited themes of loneliness, isolation, and alienation, and made them hilarious, touching, and poignant. ----more---- The films discussed during this episode (all directed by Bill Forsyth): That Sinking Feeling (1979) Gregory's Girl (1981) Local Hero (1983) Comfort and Joy (1984) Housekeeping (1987) Breaking In (1989) Being Human (1994) Gregory's Two Girls (1999)

This week we are kicking off our ScotchTober Fest season off with Classic Scottish School Japes in Gregory's Girl. The episode is so much more than town planning, Mitre Delta footballs and Penguin facts but it's certainly all of those!Your homework this week is to join us on the Socials:Twitterhttps://twitter.com/100thingspodInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/100thingsfilm/Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/100thingsfilm---Gregory's Girl is a 1980 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronhill district of Cumbernauld.Gregory's Girl was ranked No. 30 in the British Film Institute's list of the top 100 British films and No. 29 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 best high school movies.Gregory Underwood (John Gordon Sinclair) is an awkward teenager who plays in his school football team. They are not doing very well, so the coach (Jake D'Arcy) holds a trial to find new players. Dorothy (Dee Hepburn) shows up and, despite the coach's sexist misgivings, proves to be a very good player. She subsequently takes Gregory's place as centre forward, and Gregory in turn replaces his friend Andy (Robert Buchanan) as goalkeeper.Gregory is all for her making the team, as he finds her very attractive. However, he has to compete for her attention with all the other boys who share the same opinion. Gregory initially confides in his best friend Steve (William Greenlees), the most mature of Gregory's circle of friends, and asks him for help in attracting Dorothy. Steve, however, is unable to assist him.Acting on the advice of his precocious 10-year-old sister Madeleine (Allison Forster), he awkwardly asks Dorothy out on a date. She accepts, but Dorothy's friend, Carol (Caroline Guthrie), shows up at the rendezvous instead and informs Gregory that something had come up; Dorothy will not be able to make it. He is disappointed, but Carol talks him into taking her to the chip shop.When they arrive, she hands him off to another friend, Margo (Carol Macartney), and leaves. By then, Gregory is rather confused, but goes for a walk with the new girl. On their stroll, they encounter a waiting Susan (Clare Grogan), another of Dorothy's friends, and Margo leaves. Susan confesses that it was all arranged by her friends, including Dorothy. She explains, "It's just the way girls work. They help each other."They go to the park and talk. At the date's end, Gregory is more than pleased with Susan, and the two kiss numerous times on his doorstep before calling it a night and arranging a second date. Madeleine, who had been watching from the window, quizzes him on his date and calls him a liar when he claims he did not kiss Susan.Gregory's friends, Andy and Charlie (Graham Thompson), are even more inept with girls but see Gregory at various times with three apparent dates, and are envious of his new success. They try to hitchhike to Caracas, where Andy has heard the women greatly outnumber the men, but fail at that as well.Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/100things)

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, with only a week remaining in the 2021 regular season---two games separate the Giants and Dodgers. The Cardinals flutter their way into the post-season with 14 straight wins. The Home Run leaderboard is unlike any we've ever seen. We'll talk about what it's like to work with Bob Uecker. We'll discuss whether baseball should retire Roberto Clemente's #21 across MLB. The Braves, Max Fried, throws a second Maddux and baseball has a new pick-off king. We'll talk about the Cubs as well as the AL Central Division champion, Chicago White Sox and our Popcorn discussion is at the 50:57 mark as we review the Bill Forsyth 1983 classic, Local Hero. Next week: Enemies, A Love Story

Welcome back to On The Fly with Jon Gill – the first ever sponsored edition no less. Polaris Publishing have sponsored this episode – they are the publisher of this episode's guest Jonathan Melville who has a new book out, A Kind of Magic [“an engrossing read” – Total Film], a behind the scenes look at the '85 sci-fi classic Highlander. I first met Jonathan 10 years ago – and the great thing about him is that he simply writes about things he loves… he's a full on genuine fan who has managed to turn his hobby into a job. Based in Edinburgh, has written for the Guardian, The Scotsman, SFX magazine and Radio Scotland. He's currently working on another Polaris book, a behind the scene look at another 80s classic, Bill Forsyth's Local Hero. In this pod we talk about the book and writing in general – the challenges of getting interviews with the likes of Clancy Brown and Chris Lambert – not to mention what it took to get Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen who worked on the soundtrack. We also touch on his previous book Seeking Perfection an unofficial guide to the 80's comedy monster movie Tremors – as well as Jim Henson and the Muppets and other properties Jonathan has in mind to cover in the future. Find Jonathan on Twitter Giveaway! Polaris Publishing are developing a fantastic line of movie-related books from Jonathan's A Kind of Magic to Nige Tassell's And It's a Beautiful Day a companion to the Coen Brothers Fargo – John Rain's hilarious look at Bond in Thunderbook and 80s action movies in Explodobook. Coming in 2022 is AJ Black's A Cinematic Connery; a revised and updated edition of Brian J Robb's Screams and Nightmares and Jonathan Melville's new book on the making of Bill Forsyth's Local Hero. You can these an a whole raft of other titles at www.polarispublishing.com Follow Polaris on Twitter However, if you have an aversion to paying for books – 1. Please get that looked at, but 2. Indulge yourself with the first OnTheFly giveaway courtesy of Polaris Publishing: To win a limited, signed, hardback copy of A Kind of Magic, all you need to do is share a link to this podcast on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. One lucky winner will be picked from each platform. Remember and tag me @OnTheSuperfly and hashtags #OnTheFlyPodcast and #Giveaway I may not see your entry. Feel free to share on all platforms, but you will only win once ;) Deadline for the competition is 18 September 2021. Thanks to Pete at Polaris for making this happen and sponsoring this episode – follow Pete on Twitter

Andy and Forrest are joined by Zer0 Books Publisher Doug Lain to talk about the 1983 Bill Forsyth movie "Local Hero"

On this week's episode of the Shame List Picture Show, we listened to one of our Shame Listeners over on Patreon and watched Bill Forsyth's poetic little gem LOCAL HERO. Thanks to Paul Deeter of Purely Kino for this phenomenal suggestion. Also, Michael reviews the new 4K blu-ray of DJANGO from Arrow Video and THE GO-GO BOYS: THE INSIDE STORY OF CANNON FILMS from MVD Rewind! As always, please rate, review, and subscribe. Be sure to check out our Patreon at www.patreon.com/shamelistpictureshow Edited by: Nick Richards Produced by: Nick Richards & Michael Viers Theme Music by: The Directionals The Discs Made Me Do It theme by: Xposed 4Heads Opening Narration by: Zach McClain Credits Music by: Ten-Speed Logo Design by: Amanda Viers This episode is brought to you by Arrow Films.

Declan and Noah are joined by Declan's father this week, discussing his favorite movie 'Local Hero', Bill Forsyth's 1983 comedy about an oil company attempting to purchase an idyllic town in Scotland. Plus, recently seen including 'In the Heights', 'The Conjuring 3', and 'Comfort and Joy' - another Bill Forsyth picture. Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter @youhavetoseepod Email Declan and Noah at youhavetoseepod@gmail.com

This month, Paul has a particular theme in mind for the choices of films he's having Sophie watch, and our first installment is a crowning achievement in Scottish Cinema, which is Bill Forsyth's Local Hero from 1983. There is a lot of beauty to be found in this film, but will Sophie feel the same way about it? And what is THE theme that Paul has chosen for June's viewings? Listen to find out!  Also don't forget to follow us on Social Media in the links below, and let us know your thoughts and recommendations for the future!   instagram.com/sp_filmviewers/ twitter.com/SP_Filmviewers  facebook.com/spfilmviewers  Plus if you enjoy our podcast, do consider giving a small donation to us via www.buymeacoffee.com/spfilmviewers 

We are joined by comedian and director Michael Patrick Jann (of The State and Michael Patrick Jann Can’t Direct Traffic) to discuss director Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero. A film where oil tycoon Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) tells Mac Macintyre (Peter Riegert) to go convince Urquhart (Dennis Lawson) and the other inhabitants of a small Scottish coastal town to sell out. But there’s one problem: the town is too charming!! Etc. If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970).

It’s a big one. It’s our 100th episode so we’re watching Criterion spine number 100. And we brought in our first 3-peat all-star guest and super fan Shelley to talk with us all about the legacy of Beastie Boys music videos. You know, all the classics like… uh… “Intergalatic Spaceman”, “Rampage”, and my favorite “3 DJs and 1 MC.” If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero (1983).

Join us this week as we discuss the sci-fi rom-com 'Palm Springs', a directing debut by Max Barbakow, starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti and J. K. Simmons. The set up of the film is a timeloop along the same lines as 'Groundhog Day', but we discuss whether or not the film breathes enough new life and energy into this increasingly common sci-fi sub-genre. We also chat about the 1981 classic Scottish coming-of-age comedy 'Gregory's Girl' by Bill Forsyth, 'Finding Jack Charlton', a 2020 documentary about the life of the legendary England footballer and Ireland manager and his remarkable influence on Ireland in general, and 'Italianamerican', a sweet little documentary made in 1974 by Martin Scorsese about his parents (including his mother's famous recipe for meatballs). Follow us on: Twitter - https://twitter.com/creakychair Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/creakychair/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/creakychairpod/

  Renowned actor, director and writer Denis Lawson is probably best known for his appearances in classic films such as Bill Forsyth's "Local Hero" and the original "Star Wars" trilogy, but he has years of experience in the West End as a musical theatre actor, nominated for Olivier Awards for "Pal Joey" (1980) and "Le Cage Aux Folles" (2009), and winning in 1983 for his performance in "Mr Cinders",  He chats to us about his love of jazz, and Ronnie Scott's in particular, and about seeing some of the absolute legends of jazz, from Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie, to Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan and Chick Corea. And in an exciting development, Denis joined us for a second time to chat about musical theatre, seeing Rod Stewart with the Faces at The Roundhouse, and his somewhat unexpected choice of first post-lockdown gig.

'A bit like the embarrassing cousin nobody wants at a family wedding' In this episode, Anna faces her fears and finally watches Gregory's Two Girls, Bill Forsyth's last film and the follow up to the much-loved Gregory's Girl. Joining her to talk about it is film podcaster Rich Nelson. The film revisits Gregory Underwood (John Gordon Sinclair), now in his mid 30s, still living in Cumbernauld and working as an English teacher in his old school. With the help of two of his pupils, Gregory uncovers some shady dealings by a local businessman. Anna and Rich discuss negative expectations caused by unfair comparisons, the importance of moving on in life, and how the late 90s weren't that different from the mid 70s in British cinema. Rich's podcast, Betamax Video Club can be found on Twitter: @BetamaxPod and on all good podcast platforms For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BillForsythPod

'A film to be discovered, and reconsidered' On this episode, Anna is joined by writer Andy Murray to discuss Being Human, Bill Forsyth's often maligned and misunderstood seventh film starring Robin Williams as Hector, a single human soul in five reincarnations through history, searching for connection. Anna and Andy discuss the importance of family and home, studio interference, and how Forsyth makes it really hard for himself with this ambitious but flawed film which tackles the universality of the human condition. Andy also unearths an entire missing Hector (a Hector too far?) The original script mentioned in the podcast was found by Andy here (we can't vouch for its provenance) https://subcin.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/being-human-robin-williams-screenplay/ Andy can be found on Twitter: @MrGeetsRomo For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BillForsythPod

'A gentle crime caper without consequences' On this episode, Anna is joined by 'the luckiest man in the world' - her husband Alan - to discuss Breaking In, Bill Forsyth's often overlooked sixth film (and the only one he didn't write the screenplay for). Scripted by indie writer and director John Sayles, but still with the warmth and feel of a fully-formed Forsyth film, the plot centres on veteran safe-cracker Ernie Mullins (Burt Reynolds) who encounters rookie criminal Mike (Casey Siemaszko) and takes him under his wing. Anna and Alan discuss Bill Forsyth films as a rites of passage towards true love, small town America in the late 1980s, gentleman thieves, and unconventional companionship. For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BillForsythPod

'A film that slowly absorbs you, and sinks into your soul'. On this episode, Anna introduces film journalist and podcaster Emily Murray to the work of Bill Forsyth for the first time, as they discuss Housekeeping, his fifth film (and first outside Scotland). Based on the novel by Marilynne Robinson, the film centres on two sisters growing up in rural Idaho during the 1950s, who fall into the care of their eccentric Aunt Sylvie, played by Christine Lahti. Anna and Emily discuss female family dynamics, the role of nature in our lives, and the importance of embracing your difference and individuality. You can find Emily on Twitter - @EmilyVMurray and links to her podcasts at @NolanMeNolanYou and @FincherTakesIt For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BillForsythPod

Get your boots on and join us as we travel back to 1981 and fall in love with a footballer. It's the Bill Forsyth young romance and footy favourite, GREGORY'S GIRL. Is it a load of balls, or bella bella?

'Kind of like the Godfather, but with ice-cream' On this episode, Anna is joined by film writer and podcaster Leslie Byron Pitt to talk about Comfort and Joy, Bill Forsyth's fourth film from 1984. The charmingly melancholic comedy stars Bill Paterson as Glasgow radio DJ Alan 'Dickie' Bird, whose life is turned upside down one Christmas and he finds himself searching for meaning amongst the discarded baubles. Join Anna and Leslie as they discuss the importance of flawed characters, how far Bill Forsyth will go for the sake of a joke, the importance of friendship-teasing, and the similarities between local radio DJs and shopping channel presenters. You can find Leslie on Twitter - @Afrofilmviewer and follow his film blog at http://www.afrofilmviewer.com/ For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @BillForsythPod

'It exceeds expectations...and then subverts them'. On this episode, Anna is joined by radio presenter and writer Tim Griffiths to talk about Local Hero, Bill Forsyth's critically acclaimed third film from 1983. The gentle, magical comedy follows hot-shot American oil company executive ‘Mac' MacIntyre as he's sent to a remote Scottish fishing village to negotiate a deal with the locals to buy it and build an oil refinery. But things don't quite go to plan. Join Anna and Tim as they discuss the enduring, universal appeal of the film, the way it connects people (mainly to their dads) and how they've both used it as a compatibility test for potential romantic partners. You can find Tim on Twitter - @TimGradio For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Follow us on Twitter & Instagram: @BillForsythPod

THIS SEASON’S THEME: SCOTLAND ON FILMWelcome to episode 018 of Choose Film: A Reel Retrospective podcast. Ashley and Gary are joined by local film director Michael Hines to discuss Bill Forsyth's 1983 Local Hero.SYNOPSISUp-and-coming Houston oil executive "Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) gets more than he bargained for when a seemingly simple business trip to Scotland changes his outlook on life. Sent by his colorful boss (Burt Lancaster) to the small village of Ferness, Mac is looking to quickly buy out the townspeople so his company can build a new refinery. But after a taste of country life Mac begins to question whether he is on the right side of this transaction.LINKS IN CONVERSATIONMichael Hines https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1197959/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1https://twitter.com/MrMHinesSHORT FILMSAsynchronous a film by Nicholas Afchainhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bizgxgdQD9E&ab_channel=TwinAtlanticUnbreakable -- Roof Studiohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6uI9ZQyJvUMichael's BioMichael Hines is an award winning director, based in Scotland, UK. He has directed for over 20 years across many genres, specializing in comedy. His best know work is Still Game, the BBC networked sitcom, directing every one of the 62 episodes and producing some series. He also directed the stage plays that drew in 210,000 people over 21 nights in 2014 and 150,000 over 15 nights in 2016. He has his own production company, The Woven Thread as well as lecturing in filmmaking and occasionally composing for film and television.

'It captures the awkwardness of youth so well…it makes you feel like you're invincible.' On this episode, Anna is joined by film academic Lewis Kellett to talk about Gregory's Girl, Bill Forsyth's much loved second feature film from 1980. The charming romantic comedy follows Cumbernauld high school student Gregory, as he tries to win the heart of Dorothy, the new star of the school football team and the girl of his dreams. Lewis hadn't seen the film before, and Anna just can't stop talking about it. Join them as they discuss the awkwardness of adolescent first love, dating in a small northern town, how the film laid the foundations for future youth culture on screen, and the power of reminiscence and nostalgia. You can find Lewis's own film podcast here: www.mrsatthemovies.podbean.com For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @BillForsythPod

'It looks exactly like it cost that much to make, but that's part of its charm' On this episode, Anna is joined by screenwriter Chris Watt to talk about That Sinking Feeling, Bill Forsyth's record breakingly low budget debut feature from 1979. The crime caper set in the 'fictitious town of Glasgow' is a charming, whimsical treat, once described by one of its stars Robert Buchanan as 'Typically Glaswegian, more so than Taggart.' Join Anna and Chris as they discuss the perils of independent film funding, dubious 70s hairstyles, disappointing voice dubbing and the appeal of cornflakes. You can find links to Chris's work at https://thechriswatt.wordpress.com/ and purchase his novel Peer Pressure here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Watt/e/B07JRDS939%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share For more about the Ten Thousand Grains of Sand project go to www.tenthousandgrains.com Find us Twitter and Instagram: @BillForsythPod

Ten Thousand Grains of Sand is a new podcast dedicated to celebrating the films of Bill Forsyth. In this mini preview episode, host Anna Cale talks about the inspiration for the podcast and what listeners can expect from the series.

Special epic 9 film review. We had a tech issue and re-recorded our six movie review 2 weeks later. In that time we watched 3 more flicks soooo this is a lil epic for us, we hope you enjoy it. Today we review Peter Fonda's hippie western (The hired hand 1971). James Earl Jones as the first black prez in (The Man 1972). Glenda Jackson as the fourth wall breaking writer Stevie Smith in (Stevie 1972). Alan Parker brings Billy Hayes Turkish prison story to life in (the midnight express 1977). Bill Forsyth brings us (That sinking feeling 1979) about Glasgow youth with a get rich scheme that cannot lose. And finally (Americathon 1979) where ventriloquist acts may be our only hope to save the country. This just in. (The effect of gamma rays on man in the moon marigolds 1972) Joanne Woodward stars in the second longest titled movie we've reviewed. Jack Palance stars in H G wells (the shape of things to come 1979) And finally Tattoo and Susan Tyrell star in (The forbidden zone 1980) Thanks so much for listening, stay safe. If you like what you hear please hit subscribe, write a review on iTunes, maybe even like us on Facebook. Cheers.

Jonathan Coe discusses why he based his new novel around a Billy Wilder shoot, his admiration for Elizabeth Moss and and a date to see Bill Forsyth's Housekeeping; actor Craig Fairbrass flexes his talent in new film Muscle and talks Lee Marvin, Helen Mirren and handling Hollywood.Jonathan Coe:The Invisble Man (12.41)The Crown (13.06)Craig Fairbrass:Dark Waters (36.57)Oliver (40.30)Music by Lee Rosevere. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Writer Fran Hoepfner joins gabrus to kick off "I Miss Movies" month by talking about the 1983 Bill Forsyth film, Local HeroCheck out gabrus' other podcast, Action BoyzAdvertise on High & Mighty via Gumball.fm.Shout out to Mack Weldon for sponsoring this episode of High & Mighty. For 20% off your first order, visit mackweldon.com/high and enter promo code: high.

We're heading to Glasgow this week for a Scottish comedy by Bill Forsyth called Comfort and Joy, released October 10th, 1984. Why is it called that? We're not sure. We do know that it's about radio and ice-cream and gangs though! Got feedback? Send us an email at oldiebutagoodiepod@gmail.com Follow the show! Facebook: https://fb.me/oldiebutagoodiepod Omny: https://omny.fm/shows/oldie-but-a-goodie YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjfdXHxK_rIUsOEoFSx-hGA Songs from 1984 Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/39v1MbWf849XD8aau0yA52 Follow the hosts! Sandro Falce - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandrofalce/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/sandrofalce - Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/SandroFalce/ Zach Adams - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zach4dams/ Listen to Sandro's other podcast: Nerd-Out! https://omny.fm/shows/nerdout  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, the guys talk about Gregory's Girl and much like the previous film, they are delighted to find some real strong female characters in this one. They discuss the arc of Gregory and compare him to title characters in Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds, they analyze the football coach based on everyone else's reaction to him, they talk about the wonderfully surprising final act of the film and much more.   The guys also roll the dice to find out what they'll be watching next week. Join us, won't you?   Full List: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_Top_100_British_films Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forscreenandcountry Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bfi_pod Our logo was designed by the wonderful Mariah Lirette (https://www.instagram.com/mariahhx)   Gregory's Girl stars John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Clare Grogan, Jake D'Arcy, Robert Buchanan and Allison Forster; directed by Bill Forsyth.

Ben & Steve’s Video Store has opened for August!! Join the two movie geeks in their store (probably the last one on Planet Earth), as they talk about lots of things connected to the wonderful world of movies, including Reviews of the biggest home releases for the month, including The True History of the Kelly Gang, Dark Waters, Military Wives and 4K releases of The Goonies, The Deep & Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Excellent! YA movie adaptation How I Live Now goes into The Disturbed Ward This month’s Bargain Bin of the Month choice is between Superman Returns and Man of Steel. In the 80’s – we look at the top 10 home video rentals in the USA in 1989 Ben & Steve’s Bonk-On: we talk about Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero Find us on Twitter: @BenStevesVideo1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BenStevesVideoStore/?modal=admin_todo_tour Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benandstevesvideostore/?hl=en You can email the show at benandstevesvideostore@gmail.com if you have any suggestions for future Disturbed Ward entries, or Bargain Bin of the month choices. If you want to track how many movies you’ve seen that we’ve been talking about since we opened the store, check out the show’s Letterboxd list on Steve’s page: https://letterboxd.com/spclark14/list/ben-steves-video-store/ Please leave us a 5-star review on your pod platform of choice to help our store find more customers, we do appreciate it! We’ll be opening again in September, please return your rentals by then or you will be fined.  

Ed and Hywel  take a look at British independent low-budget films. In particular, Hawk the Slayer  (1980) with Jack Palance and John Terry (not that one), and Bill Forsyth's debut film That Sinking Feeling (1979)

Bill Forsyth is our very special guest on Cinematalk this week. Forsyth’s achievements as a Scottish filmmaker are pioneering to say the least. He started a career in film at age 18 and spent nearly a decade and a half making commissioned documentaries and industrial films. This experience partly explains why his sublime and distinctly personal brand of filmmaking was fully realized when he made his first two narrative features, That Sinking Feeling and Gregory’s Girl. The international success of these two movies kicked off a wave of national filmmaking that led to the creation of what would become Screen Scotland, a national agency dedicated to the development and support of Scottish filmmaking. For Forsyth, the personal success paved the way for his next, and best-loved movie, 1983’s Local Hero, and several films made in the U.S., including his masterful 1987 adaptation of Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping. This week, he spoke with us from his home outside of Edinburgh, about the making of Gregory’s Girl, its influences, and his approach to the art of cinema.

Neste episódio, proponho uma sessão dupla inspiradora para ajudar a levantar o espírito, com "Bem-Vindo Mr. Chance", filme de 1979 de Hal Ashby, e "Local Hero", realizado por Bill Forsyth em 1983. Este é o resultado da inspiração, ao rever "Local Hero", para solicitar no Facebook títulos de filmes que, como escrevi na missiva, "vos façam sentir um quentinho por dentro e restituam (nem que seja só um pouquinho) a fé na Humanidade.” Agradeço desde já a colaboração de Francisco Ferreira, Vera de Bot, Rodrigues Joaquim, Daniel Reiferscheid, Miguel Ferreira, Joana Geraldes, Edgar Ascensão, José Carlos Maltez, Rui Alves de Sousa e Tiago Laranjo. Visitem a página segundotake.com, sigam-me no Facebook e no Instagram e enviem-me as vossas opiniões e sugestões para segundotake@gmail.com.

Howdy folks!!!! Noah and Mason are back with a regular episode to talk two favorites, one long-time and one recent. Kicking things off is Noah choice, Weezer's self-titled debut aka The Blue Album, followed by Mason pick, Bill Forsyth's 1983 light-comedy fairytale "Local Hero". Fun picks, fun friends, fun pod! Thanks for listening! Join us on: Twitter: twitter.com/itsonthelistpod instagram: www.instagram.com/itson_thelist/ facebook: www.instagram.com/itson_thelist/ email the show: everybodywants2getonthelist@gmail.com Mason's other podcast, The Barn: @thebarnpodcast Noah's Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/moahnarger/ Mason's Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/MasonMaguire/ Noah's Instagrams: www.instagram.com/noahdotmarger/ www.instagram.com/ylg.world/ Mason's Instagrams: www.instagram.com/hotdogdebicki/ www.instagram.com/goodskytonite/ It's on the (Play)List: open.spotify.com/playlist/4MO0fkK…1YTemtnQfOTzNQiw

Welcome to the first episode of our brand new competitive film podcast; Cine it to Win it! where two friends pit some of the newest releasing films against one another to determine the film of the week! Listen along as this week to find out what happens when Sam Mendes's 1917 faces Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit - there can only be one winner! Timestamps: 0:00 - The warm up (intro) 2:28 - Round 1 (the topical round): The Oscars 19:26 - Round 2 (film of the week): 1917 vs. Jojo Rabbit 34:15 - Round 3 (classic film): Casablanca vs. Local Hero 43:52 - Scores 47:22 - The warm down (outro) Thank you all for listening, if you enjoyed the episode please consider subscribing and leaving a rating, it would really go a long way. Catch you all next week! Email: cineittowinit@gmail.com Tags: Movies, Films, Latest, Releases, Review, Contest, Gameshow, Competition, Friendly, Rounds, Television, Games, Acting, Directing, Sound, Cinematography, The Oscars, Sam Mendes, 1917, Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit, Michael Curtiz, Casablanca, Bill Forsyth, Local Hero Intro & Outro Music Coming for You by NEFFEX, https://smarturl.it/neffex_soundcloud (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=0GQAgDwkBD5cdwgDvR9XyRjUio58MTU3OTczMTUxM0AxNTc5NjQ1MTEz&q=https%3A%2F%2Fsmarturl.it%2Fneffex_soundcloud&v=xPi1O8g8zII)

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British films....with the occasional hint of professionalism. Episode 057 – Gregory’s Girl (1981) Join Scott and Steven as they head north of the border to review Bill Forsyth’s movie from 1981 , Gregory’s Girl. “Twelve tons of cornflakes pass under here every day. It's a well-known fact” In his warm, Scottish coming-of-age film, gangly teen Gregory and his school-mates are starting to find out about girls. He fancies Dorothy, not least because she has got on to the football team (and is a better player than he). He finally asks her out, but it is obviously the females in control of matters here, and that very much includes Gregory's younger sister. Release date: 23 April 1981 (United Kingdom) Director: Bill Forsyth Screenplay: Bill Forsyth Budget: 500 GBP   Apple Podcasts/Libsyn/Player FM Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod facebook.com/groups/reelbritannia email: reelbritannia@gmail.com Thanks for listening Scott and Steven  

Don't miss this amazing international episode with the Korean actor Song King-ho who is fresh off a new Bong Joon-ho comedy thriller called "Parasite". The film opens Friday 10/11 in NYC & LA, the wide next week. Also, the Scottish legendary director Bill Forsyth ("Comfort & Joy', "Local Hero") who is here to show a new print of "Gregory's Girl".

Local Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay and Burt Lancaster. Up-and-coming Houston oil executive "Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) gets more than he bargained for when a seemingly simple business trip to Scotland changes his outlook on life. Sent by his colorful boss (Burt Lancaster) to the small village of Ferness, Mac is looking to quickly buy out the townspeople so his company can build a new refinery. But after a taste of country life Mac begins to question whether he is on the right side of this transaction.

The next fifth of the list begins with a quaint little character study/environmental film in Bill Forsyth's charming opus Local Hero. Brendan and Jason open their hearts to this film's tiny little Scotland locale and its vast array of charming characters, the fairy tale aspect to the story, Burt Lancaster's super bizarre aversion therapy and much more.   Plus: The guys roll the dice to find out what movie they'll be covering next week. Were you charmed by Local Hero? Does it capture small-town life pretty well?   Full List: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_Top_100_British_films   Facebook: www.facebook.com/forscreenandcountry Twitter: www.twitter.com/bfi_pod   Our logo was designed by the wonderful Mariah Lirette (www.instagram.com/mariahhx)   For Screen and Country is sponsored by Podcoin (use the promo code "SCREENPOD" when you sign up to receive 300 BONUS podcoins).

Fish out of water movies are one of the most well-loved film genres, with Mr. Mom, Enchanted, Back to the Future, and Legally Blonde being perennial favorites. But MG being MG, we've gone slightly obscure with our selections: Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, with Elliott Gould as a hard-boiled 40's-styled detective in New Age 70's LA, Hal Ashby's Being There, starring Peter Sellers as a childlike gardener who becomes a political guru, and Bill Forsyth's gently brilliant Local Hero, in which Peter Riegert tries to deliver a small Scottish town into the hands of an oil conglomerate. All a little strange, all a little sweet - and all, MG argues, deserve to be new classics.

This edition includes: is Europe facing a prolonged period of economic malaise akin to Japan? Prof Iain Begg, Research Fellow at the European Institute, London School of Economics, and economist Vicky Pryce discuss. Journalist Anthee Carassava examines how Greece's changing demographics are affecting the way in which it deals with death; special correspondent Allan Little's journey into Brexit Britain reaches Greater Manchester, and as Local Hero the musical opened this week in Edinburgh, film and television critic Siobhan Synnot discusses why Bill Forsyth's vision for the 1983 classic movie endures. And in the Long Interview, BBC arts correspondent Pauline McLean speaks to the star of stage and screen, actress Maureen Beattie.

The fire is lit, the mulled wine has been dished out and the word of the week is 'picaresque'. It's an Eclectica Christmas party alright, with Aidan, Sarah, Rob and Graham falling hard for Boots Riley's debut "Sorry to Bother You". Granted that's not very festive, but after a potted history of unmade Spider-Men from Mark the second half of the show will have you wishing it was January. It's not all insane as Aidan has Bill Forsyth's "Comfort and Joy", which is a straightforward tale of Glaswegian ice cream men. Meanwhile, Graham's dealing with the birth of the bigfoot furry sex comedy in the form of Netflix's "Pottersville", and Rob brings the gift of Shatner with "Christmas Horror Story". Stay tuned for news of our year-end shows! If you liked the show and want to see it continue in 2019 and beyond then you can help in a number of ways. You can share us with your movie friends, give us a rating or review on iTunes, or head over to our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thegeekshow) and send us some pennies (it's the season of goodwill and all that stuff after all).  #Christmas #Specials #Horror #CinemaEclectica #Eclectica #Cinema #Films #Movies #Podcast #SorrySoBotherYou #BootsRiley #SpiderMan #IntoTheSpiderVerse #Netflix #Pottersville #WilliamShatner #Canada #Glasgow #BillForsyth #ChristmasHorrorStory #ComfortAndJoy #IceCream

Ep 6: Kermode on Peeping Tom, Bill Forsyth on Local Hero, Taika Waititi on his career and Sylvia Syms on her careerFollow Mark @KermodeMovie See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, the first in a new series we are calling "Criminally Forgotten", where we unearth a cinematic gem from the depths of obscurity. Here we discuss the exquisite yet obscure 1987 film adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's novel Housekeeping, written and directed by the Scottish auteur, Bill Forsyth, whose career has also been almost completely erased from cinematic memory.  Forsyth, better known for his quirky yet extremely nuanced films Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, here realizes what we consider to be one of his finest achievements and one of the best films of the 80's. 

"I'm watching the sky, sir, and it's doing some amazing things!"The Next Reel's Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month's episode, one of the many Andy Nelsons in the film world — specifically Andy Nelson the re-recording mixer — joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Bill Forsyth's 1983 film Local Hero.We talk about why the film resonates to this day and why the film is such a wonderful celebration of the little things, the details that make life so memorable. We chat about the cast and what they bring to the table, notably Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. We ponder the webbed feet of Jenny Seagrove and are presented with a new thought – what if it's only how the character of Oldsen sees them? We look at the final moments of the film and why it breaks our hearts so much. We talk about Mark Knopfler's wonderful score and why it hits so well for us. We debate the title and ponder who specifically is the eponymous character. And, of course, we chat with Nelson about his career and what specifically a re-recording mixer does.It's a magical little film that warms our hearts and provides for a wonderful conversation. Check it out then tune in! The Next Reel. When the movie ends, our conversation begins.Film SundriesThank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/thenextreel Andy Nelson on IMDB Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon Screenplay Original theatrical trailer Flickchart Letterboxd Visit our ORIGINALS PAGE to buy books, comics, plays, or other source material for the movies we've talked about on the show. By doing so, you get to find your next book to dig into and help us out in the process as a portion comes back our way. Enjoy!Star your own podcast journey with the best host in the business. Try Transistor today!Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel's Discord channel!Here's where you can find us around the internet: The Web Letterboxd Check out poster artwork for movies we've discussed on our Pinterest page Pete Andy We spend hours every week putting this show together for you, our dear listener, and it would sure mean a lot to us if you considered becoming a member. When you do, you get early access to shows, ad-free episodes, and a TON of bonus content. To those who already support the show, thank you. To those who don't yet: what are you waiting for?Become a Member here: $5 monthly or $55 annuallyWhat are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked! You can buy TNR apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE. Or buy or rent movies we've discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE. Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we've discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE. Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT. Or sign up for AUDIBLE.

"I’m watching the sky, sir, and it’s doing some amazing things!" The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, one of the many Andy Nelsons in the film world — specifically Andy Nelson the re-recording mixer — joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film Local Hero. We talk about why the film resonates to this day and why the film is such a wonderful celebration of the little things, the details that make life so memorable. We chat about the cast and what they bring to the table, notably Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. We ponder the webbed feet of Jenny Seagrove and are presented with a new thought – what if it’s only how the character of Oldsen sees them? We look at the final moments of the film and why it breaks our hearts so much. We talk about Mark Knopfler’s wonderful score and why it hits so well for us. We debate the title and ponder who specifically is the eponymous character. And, of course, we chat with Nelson about his career and what specifically a re-recording mixer does. It’s a magical little film that warms our hearts and provides for a wonderful conversation. Check it out then tune in! The Next Reel. When the movie ends, our conversation begins. Film Sundries Thank you for supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/thenextreel Andy Nelson on IMDB Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon Screenplay Original theatrical trailer Flickchart Letterboxd

Un buen día de 1983, el lider de los Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler decidió meterse en el estudio de grabación a hacer algo diferente a lo que estaba acostumbrado. Dejando momentáneamente de lado a su banda, Knopfler atendió la llamada del séptimo arte y de su amigo escocés Bill Forsyth para probar fortuna en la composición de bandas sonoras. Una pequeña comedia costumbrista y ecológica titulada Local Hero fue la primera película a la que Mark Knopfler puso música, ofreciendo al mundo el tema homónimo que a la larga se convertiría en una de las creaciones fundamentales y más populares del músico escocés. Como la experiencia resultó más que positiva, Knopfler repitió. Echando mano de folklore, sin abandonar su amada guitarra y jugando con nuevos sonidos y estilos. Casi una decena de bandas sonoras completan la parte más cinematográfica de uno de los guitarristas esenciales del mundo de la música y que en este capítulo número 22 de Sonora Podcast repasamos de la mano de un gran conocedor de la figura de Knopfler, Javi Sánchez (@javimusic40), voz cantante en el podcast Concepto Sentido y guitarra y teclados en la banda The Gafapasta. Que lo disfrutéis! TRACKLIST 01. LOCAL HERO - Going Home 02. LOCAL HERO - Smooching 03. CAL - The Long Road 04. CAL - Irish Boy 05. COMFORT AND JOY - Comfort and Joy theme 06. COMFORT AND JOY - A fistful of Ice Cream 07. LA PRINCESA PROMETIDA - Once upon a time... a storybook of love 08. LA PRINCESA PROMETIDA - A happy ending 09. LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN - A love idea 10. METROLAND - Metroland Theme Instrumental 11. LA CORTINA DE HUMO - Working on it 12. LA CORTINA DE HUMO - In the heartland 13. A SHOT OF GLORY - Sons of Scotland 14. ALTAMIRA - Altamira 15. ALTAMIRA - Farewell to Altamira

Un buen día de 1983, el lider de los Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler decidió meterse en el estudio de grabación a hacer algo diferente a lo que estaba acostumbrado. Dejando momentáneamente de lado a su banda, Knopfler atendió la llamada del séptimo arte y de su amigo escocés Bill Forsyth para probar fortuna en la composición de bandas sonoras. Una pequeña comedia costumbrista y ecológica titulada Local Hero fue la primera película a la que Mark Knopfler puso música, ofreciendo al mundo el tema homónimo que a la larga se convertiría en una de las creaciones fundamentales y más populares del músico escocés. Como la experiencia resultó más que positiva, Knopfler repitió. Echando mano de folklore, sin abandonar su amada guitarra y jugando con nuevos sonidos y estilos. Casi una decena de bandas sonoras completan la parte más cinematográfica de uno de los guitarristas esenciales del mundo de la música y que en este capítulo número 22 de Sonora Podcast repasamos de la mano de un gran conocedor de la figura de Knopfler, Javi Sánchez (@javimusic40), voz cantante en el podcast Concepto Sentido y guitarra y teclados en la banda The Gafapasta. Que lo disfrutéis! TRACKLIST 01. LOCAL HERO - Going Home 02. LOCAL HERO - Smooching 03. CAL - The Long Road 04. CAL - Irish Boy 05. COMFORT AND JOY - Comfort and Joy theme 06. COMFORT AND JOY - A fistful of Ice Cream 07. LA PRINCESA PROMETIDA - Once upon a time... a storybook of love 08. LA PRINCESA PROMETIDA - A happy ending 09. LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN - A love idea 10. METROLAND - Metroland Theme Instrumental 11. LA CORTINA DE HUMO - Working on it 12. LA CORTINA DE HUMO - In the heartland 13. A SHOT OF GLORY - Sons of Scotland 14. ALTAMIRA - Altamira 15. ALTAMIRA - Farewell to Altamira

Robert Ham (Paste Magazine, Portland Mercury, XRay.fm) joins Oktay and Ryan to tackle two whimsical, melancholy comedies about moving on: Zach Braff's "Garden State" and Bill Forsyth's "Comfort and Joy." --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theplaylist/message

Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project; actor and writer John Gordon Sinclair; performer Sophie Willan and confectioner Andy Baxendale join Aasmah Mir and the Reverend Richard Coles. Sir Tim Smit co-founded the Eden Project in Cornwall in 2001. The Dutch born businessman is also known for restoring the Lost Gardens of Heligan with John Nelson. It's 25 years since these gardens were restored to their former glory. This week the Eden Project launched a new company Eden Project International Ltd (EPIL) to establish Eden projects with international partners around the world. Eden Project International is currently working on three projects in China and others in Australia and New Zealand. John Gordon Sinclair is an author and actor, best known for playing Gregory in Bill Forsyth's film Gregory's Girl. In 2012 he turned his attention to writing crime novels and his current book, Walk In Silence, is the story of lawyer Keira Lynch who is caught up in the murky Albanian underworld. As an actor Gordon was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Newcomer for Gregory's Girl and his first outing in London's West End in She Loves Me won him a Best Actor Olivier award. Walk in Silence is published by Faber and Faber. Gordon features in the television drama Diana and I which will be broadcast on BBC Two later this year. Comedian Sophie Willan's new show Branded explores why she feels like a well-travelled alien - fitting in with no particular class or culture but still constantly being put into boxes by others. Branded by her working class background, her gender, her ambition, and her unapologetic 'Northerness', she explains the misunderstandings she's experienced in different environments. Her previous show On Record tackled the story of her childhood in care and the impact of getting access to her case files at 23. Branded is at the Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker 2, Edinburgh. Andy Baxendale is a sweet consultant who features in the BBC Two series the Sweetmakers which explores the life of confectioners in late 19th and early 20th century England. This was a time when cheap sugar meant sweets for every class in society and the modern brands that we still know and love today were created. Using period equipment, original recipes and authentic ingredients, Andy and his fellow confectioners recreate sweets of the past and discover the adulterants and toxic colours used in sweets, the Quaker families who dominated confectionery, and the poignant letters sent back from the First World War trenches. The Sweetmakers is broadcast on BBC Two. Producer: Paula McGinley.

This week, the Doctors look for love and find: 10 Cloverfield Lane, Jean-Luc Godard, Spike Jonze, This Must Be the Place, Sean Penn, Stanley Kubrick, Colin Farrell, Terrible Bosses, In Bruges, Saving Mr. Banks, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, True Detective, Rachel Weisz, The Mummy, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Better Off Dead, John Cusack, Say Anything, Being John Malkovich, Chain Reaction, Stealing Beauty, The Brothers Bloom, Rian Johnson, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Robbie Coltrane, Matchstick Men, Paper Moon, The Flim-Flam Man, The Constant Gardner, Edward Norton, Edward Burns, The Brothers McMullen, John C. Reilly, The Perfect Storm, Boogie Nights, Hard Eight, Philip Baker Hall, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Criminal [2004], Gregory Jacobs, Nine Queens, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lars von Trier, Ben Whishaw, Spectre, Léa Seydoux, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Inglourious Basterds, Blue is the Warmest Color, Ashley Jensen, Extras, Russell Brand, Ricky Gervais, Angeliki Papoulia, Dogtooth, Bill Forsyth, Local Hero, Comfort and Joy, Breaking In, Housekeeping, Gregory’s Girl, Jason Clarke, Chicago Code, Jennifer Beals, Public Enemies, Johnny Depp, Brotherhood, Zero Dark Thirty, Terminator Genisys, Everest and Dawn of the Planet of the Apest. Questions or comments? Contact: Adam & Gregor at: show@hollywoodrx.net or tweet them at @hollywood_rx. Review us on iTunes... Today! Like us on Facebook. Or both. Read more at http://hollywoodrx.libsyn.com/#9VfpmPPE0qlX7t6T.99  

Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl (1981) is the best teen comedy ever made and I will stand on John Hughes' coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that. When I discovered it at age 12 it felt like it had been beamed across the Atlantic directly into my heart and… The post Episode 010 – Gregory's Girl appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Mark Kermode takes you on a tour of soundtracks from his favourite movies. Including orchestral scores, electronic music. songs from musicals, and sound effects from another world. Along the way he will be joined by film-makers and musicians like William Friedkin, Lynne Ramsay, Bill Forsyth, Mark Knopfler, David Arnold, Anne Dudley, Rachel Portman, Richard O Brien and many more.

Mark examines the mysteries of composing for the screen. He talks to among others Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead who has composed music for the Paul Thomas Anderson films There Will Be Blood and Inherent Vice.Composer Rachel Portman who won an Oscar for her music for Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow, to Mark Knopfler and Bill Forsyth about the score for Local Hero and to Anne Dudley about her score for The Full Monty.

Doctor D & Bananasource discuss their favourite Geocaches, GPS art and a new film about Geocaching. Last Week.. Inspired by a post on the Peterborough Geocachers UK Facebook page.  They were asking people to list their favourite caches in that area.  Later in the week, we received a message from a listener who is visiting Nottingham asking a similar question about Nottingham.  Here are some of the caches we like and WHY we like them so much. Crazy Golf Series by Spire67. A series of 20 caches - starting at Crazy Golf Hole 1 - Balls GC392Z4 The Crazy Golf Series of caches are located in Wollaton Park and Nottingham University Campus. I estimate that the Crazy Golf Series of caches will take about 5 hrs to complete Nottingham Central Library by Jacaru GC3BRKM. This list wouldn't be complete without a Jacaru cache. We've talked at length about The Cold War Bunker.  BUT...the library cache is probably the only multi you will ever see us recommend - one of the few multis we actually enjoyed doing. March March marsh march by Huga GCE5B6.  An ammo can, hidden by the River Nene near March.  BananaSource did this cache with Miss Watto Feedback.. A challenge from Jamie Robinson I am challenging On the Sauce and Dr D to this one next summer GC43 Europe's FirstA cache by Chris O'Byrne   The cache description says the following:   Bray Head, County Wicklow, Ireland. The first geocache in Europe, placed on 3rd June 2000 - just one month after the demise of selective availability. On Facebook from Marcus Maximi  Just listened to latest Oh beep and you discussed logging your own earthcache - I looked into this a few weeks ago in my blog post meanderingwithmarcus.blogspot.co.uk So by visiting the site and composing the earthcache page you have accomplished those goals. So I would argue that you should be able to log your own earthcache.However, the general consensus on the Geocaching UK Facebook group is that you shouldn't. Dumb Stuff Geocachers Do.. GeoPaul and BananaSource were having a conversation on Facebook about attending the Halloween Hides & Creepy Caches mega.  Whilst at the mega GeoPaul neglected to eat and drink.  Its essential, when out caching, to make sure you look after yourself - especially if its a long day. Nemesis Geocache.. From Jamie Robinson No mines still up a tree taunting me. I can see it but I don't want the tree filing for damages if I climb it. It's on the Craigavon trail a really easy 40ish cache session that can be done in about 6 hours. GC504KN CRAIGAVON TRAIL - 37 by odies-crew Ask Doctor D.. From Moan-A-Lot A ask Dr D Do you have to date as well as sign the log when finding a cache? Travelbug Race.. Our Oh Beep! Where are my other legs? is now in Australia. Tracking History (11510.3mi).  Last known location: GC5AHKF The Amazing Chase event cache by Geocaching NSW The Monkey King’s Southern S@m has finally moved, after 3 months in the wilderness.  Its currently in the hands of cacher Talitakumi and is doing the rounds in Hessen, Germany. GeoPaul's Video of The Week.. The Chimney Geocache.  GeoPaul takes us on a historical adventure.       News.. GPS Poppy in London Honors Soldiers (from gpstracklog.com) This year, 27-year-old British war veteran Ben McBean ran a total of 31 miles to draw the outline of a remembrance poppy on the streets of London. Then McBean, who was grievously injured in Afghanistan in 2008 and has a prosthetic leg, called to the public to run around the city and color in the flower. The public took up the call and ran more than 7,500 miles, coloring in the poppy almost completely as of yesterday and raising more than $23,000 (£ 15,000). Looks like there is another Geocaching film in the works, this time from the UK and with an established actor at the helm, DOUGIE Sannachan.  Gregory's Girl star goes treasure hunting (From www.eveningtimes.co.uk).  His first feature, Star Cash, is the tale of the world wide phenomenon of hi-tech treasure hunts, found via iPhones. "There are five and half million people in the world who download the geocaching app and go looking for treasure in the likes of Mugdock Park. "There are that many people who could be interested in watching this movie. There is a massive market and I want to get a deal to release the film." He adds; "Bill Forsyth inspired me, and it's a zero budget film, using professional pals and helpers. It's taken me a year until now. Doctor Who Lego Set (from kotaku.com)

Bill Forsyth's debut film That Sinking Feeling is out on disc this week. It's a personal favourite - and here's why...

Simon Mayo's in the studio, Mark Kermode is at the Shetland Film Festival with special guest, Local Hero and Gregory's Girl director Bill Forsyth. Plus the Box Office Top 10 and Mark's reviews of the week's new releases including Anna Karenina, Dredd 3D and Lawless.

Drew shares his interviews with Matt Helm regarding Matt's new HistoryKat.com subscription web service, and with Bill Forsyth of ProQuest regarding their many genealogy-related databases.  Drew also shares some audio clips of his trip with George to Atlanta and Rome, Georgia, with the highlight being a visit to the Myrtle Hill Cemetery.  While George returns to Tampa to work on a new book, Drew continues on to Newberry, South Carolina to visit with family.