Podcast appearances and mentions of Martha Coolidge

The category for May is Val Kilmer's filmography! Allan picks the first one and it's definitely a popcorn flick! REAL GENIUS (1985) Directed by Martha Coolidge

Charles Skaggs and Xan Sprouse pay tribute to Val Kilmer as they watch Real Genius, the 1985 comedy directed by Martha Coolidge, featuring Val Kilmer as Chris Knight, Gabriel Jarret as Mitch Taylor, Michelle Meyrink as Jordan Cochran, and William Atherton as Jerry Hathaway! Find us here:X/Twitter:  @DrunkCinemaCast, @CharlesSkaggs, @udanax19 Facebook:  @DrunkCinema Bluesky:  @charlesskaggs.bsky.social, @udanax19.bsky.social Email:  DrunkCinemaPodcast@gmail.com Listen and subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review!

What an honor and a joy it was to talk with Rachel Bellwoar, an extremely talented writer and pop culture enthusiast whose work I've enjoyed discovering over the years. Thanks to many mutual cinephile friends and podcasters, we crossed paths in the world of Facebook and I couldn't be more thrilled to have her on the show to talk about an underappreciated British director, Jack Clayton!Pauline Kael praised The Innocents as "one of the most elegantly beautiful ghost movies ever made” and rightfully so. We also talk about the majority of his work since his filmography was surprisingly on the lower end. Of course we sing the praises of his renowned gothic horror masterpiece but along the way, we discover a few other works of his that we highly recommend seeking out too. Thank you Rachel for coming on the show and looking forward to a future appearance.Just a heads up that I'll be taking a short summer break from podcasting starting in late May, hopefully returning in August. There may be a couple of surprise episodes popping up but I'll be moving and working on other projects for a bit. Stay tuned for the first week of May for an exciting episode before the hiatus featuring Marya Gates and Ryan McNeil, returning to talk about Martha Coolidge!00:00 - 08:47 - Introduction08:48 - 01:02:05 - Room At The Top / The Innocents01:02:06 - 01:33:10 - The Pumpkin Eater / Our Mother's House01:33:10 - 02:03:50 - Other Clayton Films / OutroFollow Rachel's Work:https://rbellwoar.wordpress.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/ziggystarlog.bsky.socialDirector's Club is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Director's Club at directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

Unfortunately, Dave can't make it this week (we miss you), but we (Evan and Megan) carry on in his stead. First we cover Michael Angarano's dramedy SACREMENTO (2:14), where a free-spirited guy (Angarano) cons his anxiety-ridden best friend (Michael Cera) into taking a road trip to, you guessed it, Sacramento. The movie, which co-stars the vastly underused Maya Erskine and Kristen Stewart, has the occasional poignant moment or funny line but is too scattershot for our taste. Next, we review Christopher Landon's thriller DROP (23:02), which stars Meghann Fahy as a widowed, domestic abuse survivor and mother who is terrorized by anonymous threatening messages on her first date in years. We really dig its central mystery, lead performance, intense atmosphere, and sharp commentary on abuse. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about Martha Coolidge's 1985 comedy REAL GENIUS in honor of the late Val Kilmer!

Mitch Taylor es un chico de quince años que gracias a sus experimentos con láser ultravioleta ha conseguido una beca en un centro experimental en Pacific Teach. A pesar de ser un genio está asustado de vivir lejos de su casa. Chris Knight hace tres años que estudia en el centro y está considerado como uno de los mejores, como uno de los "cerebros juveniles" del país. Filmaffinity

Sometimes we accidentally stumble into a theme at Spoilerpiece, and this week's theme is movies that make us dissolve into choking sobs. First, Megan and Dave weigh in on THE PENGUIN LESSONS, a movie that should be slight; a high school English teacher in politically fraught 1972 Argentina (Steve Coogan) rescues a pengiun and then everyone learns something. Megan and Dave agree: This movie should not work. It should be treacly and stupid...but it made us weep. Legit tears, not tears cheaply jerked from us. Kudos to Coogan for navigating the screenplay's potential pitfalls - he is excellent - and director Peter Cattaneo for laying off the sentiment. Next, Evan joins Megan and Dave to dicuss BOB TREVINO LIKES IT, featuring superb turns by Barbie Ferreira and John Leguizmo as two lonely people who strike up an unlikely and deep friendship that helps shepherd them through emotional trauma. This movie made us sob real tears. (Again, not jerked, but earned.) And then over on Patreon our Women's History Month poll winner is the disaster that is ANGIE, directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Geena Davis; this movie is head-scratchingly bad.

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski run down titles you can get on physical media this week and, not gonna lie, there's a lot of baggage. There's the Mick Jagger film that say on the shelf for two years along with Lindsay Lohan's collaboration with Paul Schrader and William Friedkin's infamous Al Pacino murder mystery set within the gay community. Not to mention John Wayne playing Genghis Khan and the poor timing for an Eric Red horror film. But even controversy can be put aside for cinema sunshine. You can now get Milos Forman's Mozart film in its original theatrical incarnation. Maybe you don't even remember the issue parents had with one of the loveliest coming-of-age films of the ‘90s. And why would you say anything controversial about Carol Reed's masterpiece? All that plus Guillermo Del Toro's debut and the genius of poking fun at documentaries on this week's Blu-ray show. 0:00 – Intro 3:13 - Criterion (Performance 4K, Cronos 4K) 22:43 - Vinegar Syndrome (The Joy of Sex, Virtuosity 4K, The Canyons) 48:18 - Arrow (Cruising 4K) 1:05:54 - Kino (The Conqueror, Graveyard Shift 4K, Body Parts 4K) 1:24:14 - Sony (My Girl 4K) 1:37:39 - LionsGate (The Third Man 4K) 1:44:22 - Warner (Amadeus 4K) 1:55:51 – New Television on Blu-ray (Noble House, Documentary Now: The Complete Series) 2:01:01 - New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Hard Truths) 2:05:13 – New Blu-ray Announcements

Welcome back to the Video Store! Valentine's Day is almost upon us and if you're here looking for movie selections instead of out buying flowers or making dinner reservations, then sir or madam, I salute you. For this week's episode of the show I've picked four movies that feature unconventional relationships. After browsing the stores aisles looking for this week's film recommendations, I ended up rewatching all four of these movies (a couple of which I hadn't seen in decades) and for the most part they have all aged well. Harold and Maude (1971)Harold is a young adult obsessed with death, while Maude is a 79-year-old woman infatuated with life. The two share a hobby in common — attending the funerals of strangers — and soon this odd couple forms a close relationship. Wikipedia describes this film as a “romantic black comedy drama,” which only begins to describe it. It's sweet, it's funny, and it's emotional. While critics originally hated it, the film as gone on to appear in many “best of” film lists. Something Wild (1986)The last person you would expect a New York banker like Charlie to get involved with is a carefree person like Lulu, but after she kidnaps the yuppie for a weekend of reckless fun, Charlie finds the adventure exciting… until things get out of hand. When Lulu's husband discovers what the pair has been up to, he is none too happy. Someone — or perhaps everyone — has been lying. This not-to-miss thriller stars Jeff Daniels as Charlie, Melanie Griffith as Lulu, and a terrifying Ray Liotta has Lulu's husband, Ray. After Hours (1985)Have you ever had one of those days? After work, Paul Hackett heads to a local diner where he meets a woman named Marcy. The two exchange numbers and later, she invites him over to her apartment. This starts off a chain of events that will have Paul running around the streets of New York from one mess to the next. Before the end of the night his face ends up on wanted posters, he's chased by an angry mob, and he becomes involved in a city wide crime ring. It's a night that Paul will never forget — or maybe, survive. Featuring a star-packed cast including Griffin Dunne (An American Werewolf in London), Rosanna Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, Catherine O'Hara, Bronson Pinchot, Dick Miller, and even Cheech and Chong. Directed by Martin Scorsese.Valley Girl (1983)Randy (Nicholas Cage) is a punk rocker from Hollywood. Julie (Deborah Foreman) is a Valley Girl. Their worlds are complete opposites and it seems that everybody and everything will try and stop them from getting together, but sometimes, love finds a way. This classic 80s film was directed by Martha Coolidge and will take you back to the sights, sounds, and music of the 1980s.Thanks for checking out the podcast. If you don't have plans this Valentine's Day, you can have a great time renting and watching one of these films. And if you would prefer to get out of the house, you can always drop by a stranger's funeral. You never know who you'll meet! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.videostorepodcast.com

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski continue to add to your Christmas carts with a variety of great gift ideas for the movie lovers in your life. They talk about the Coen Bros. big Oscar winner and Fellini's most beloved film now both in 4K. Peter goes to bat for Abel Ferrara's vampire tale and a Henry James adaptation from this year. Erik talks the 10th Anniversary of a Christopher Nolan film and offers some defense of Ron Howard's collaboration with Geoge Lucas and Seth MacFarlane's debut. A Martha Coolidge film that was part of the Why-Is-This-Not-On-Blu-Ray series finally gets its due and a controversial 1980s horror film gets an upgrade. Finally Peter shows love to a rockin' high school movie as well the Cracking Collection of Wallace & Gromit. 0:00 - Intro 1:25 - Criterion (No Country for Old Men 4K, 8 1/2 4K, The Beast) 24:30 - Arrow (The Addiction 4K) 35:28 - Disney (Willow 4K) 46:39 - Paramount (Interstellar 4K) 1:00:11 - Kino (Rambling Rose, Daytime Revolution) 1:16:55 - Shout (Rock n Roll High School 4K, Ted 4K, Riddick 4K, Wallace and Gromit The Complete Cracking Collection 4K, Silent Night Deadly Night 4K) 2:11:25 – New Blu-ray Announcements 2:14:05 - Outro MOVIE MADNESS BONUS EPISODES NOW AVAILABLE ON PATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/moviemadnesschicago For just $1 a month (with the current first episode available for free) The Movie Madness Podcast presents this bonus extension of the show with a dive into the 2024-25 awards season. A breakdown of the various groups with their victories and nominations in an effort to present an ongoing State-of-the-Race up until the final Oscar nominations on Jan. 17, 2025. Statistics, commentary and a running scoreboard are in store for you starting with announcements from the Gothams and the New York Film Critics. Strap in cause its going to be a ride.

When 80s Comedy Meets Sci-Fi BrillianceJoin hosts Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell as they dive into the quirky world of Real Genius, the 1985 sci-fi comedy that proves even geniuses know how to party. This episode of "The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast" explores how director Martha Coolidge blended teenage hijinks with cutting-edge science for a uniquely 80s experience.Val Kilmer's Breakout PerformanceAt the heart of Real Genius is Val Kilmer's charismatic portrayal of Chris Knight, a senior genius who's mastered the art of balancing academia with outrageous pranks. Our hosts discuss how Kilmer's performance set the stage for his future stardom and why Chris Knight remains an iconic 80s character.More Than Just Another Teen ComedyWhile Real Genius delivers plenty of laughs, it also tackles weightier themes. The podcast delves into how the film explores the pressures of academic excellence, the ethical implications of scientific research, and the importance of using one's intellect responsibly.A Time Capsule of 80s Tech DreamsThe movie's centerpiece – a high-powered laser project – reflects the era's fascination with emerging technologies. Krissy and Nathan examine how Real Genius captured the spirit of 80s technological optimism while also warning about the potential misuse of scientific advancements.Other Topics Covered:The film's portrayal of Pacific Tech as a "Hogwarts for science nerds"Memorable pranks, including the legendary popcorn house finaleJohn Gries's scene-stealing performance as Lazlo HollyfeldThe movie's quotable dialogue and its lasting impact on pop cultureComparisons to other 80s teen and science-focused filmsA Genius That Stands the Test of TimeAs Krissy and Nathan wrap up their discussion, they reflect on why Real Genius continues to resonate with audiences nearly four decades later. Its blend of humor, heart, and brains makes it more than just another 80s comedy - it's a celebration of intellect, friendship, and the power of thinking outside the box.Whether you're a long-time fan or discovering Real Genius for the first time, this episode offers fresh insights and plenty of nostalgia. So grab your popcorn, fire up your lasers, and join us for a most excellent journey back to 1985! --We couldn't do this without your support of The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast! Thank you!Join now for: $5/Month • $55/year • Learn More

Max and Jenn take a look at Martha Coolidge's (Valley Girl, Real Genius, Rambling Rose, Lost in Yonkers) 1976 director debut.. (available on the Criterion Channel, Blu-ray dvd and Apple Movies) NOT A PRETTY PICTURE. Also… MY OLD ASS. Follow us on Facebook – @cinemaxers SUPPORT US ON [...]

Max and Jenn take a look at Martha Coolidge's (Valley Girl, Real Genius, Rambling Rose, Lost in Yonkers) 1976 director debut.. (available on the Criterion Channel, Blu-ray dvd and Apple Movies) NOT A PRETTY PICTURE. Also… MY OLD ASS. Follow us on Facebook – @cinemaxers SUPPORT US ON [...]

Traci Hays is an award-winning director known for her work in the indie horror genre. Her latest film, *On The Run*, now streaming on Tubi, follows two sisters, Kayla (Sofia Masson) and Paige Jones (Taylor Geare), who are polar opposites. After their mother is murdered, they discover they've been in Witness Protection due to their father's betrayal of Vince, the president of a motorcycle club. With Vince out of prison and seeking vengeance, the sisters must rely on each other to survive. *On The Run* was featured in Variety's "What's Coming to Tubi Roundup."Hays continues to make waves in the horror genre with her film *Blood, Sweat, and Cheer*, which was included in Vulture's list of Top Ten Best Tubi Original Movies. Another recent success, *My Bloody Galentine*, featured in Creepy Catalog's "75+ Best (and Worst) Horror Movies of 2024," chronicles three women seeking revenge on their exes in a bloody twist.In addition to her films, Traci Hays has earned numerous accolades. She was a finalist at the DGA Student Film Awards for *Lions Among Men* and won Best Director at the LA Film Awards for *Frederick*. An alumna of Chapman University's Film & Television Program, Hays was mentored by directors Randal Klesier, Martha Coolidge, and John Badham. Hays is also a proud member of Women In Film, the Alliance of Women Directors, Free The Work, and Film Fatales.

Martha Coolidge appears on the podcast to talk about her debut feature, “Not a Pretty Picture,” which is newly restored and available from Criterion. The movie, an audacious documentary/narrative hybrid, depicts Coolidge's own sexual assault with power, intelligence, and sensitivity. Coolidge discusses why she chose this unusual form to tell her story, how it informed her later work, and what it led to in terms of a Hollywood career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress again to talk physical media. This week you can go an early, personal work from Martha Coolidge and the debut western from Robert Benton. They talk thrillers that were ultimately remade with Amber Heard and Josh Hartnett plus the baffling dark comedy from Danny DeVito. Generational favorites range from an animated film from the ‘80s and a teen comedy from the ‘90s, but also don't forget one of the great conspiracy films of the '70s with some timely real-world publicity. Wes Craven delivers one of his leanest thrillers and Michael Ritchie has, arguably, the most messed up film of his career with Lee Marvin up against Gene Hackman. 0:00 - Intro 2:30 – Criterion (Not a Pretty Picture) 8:18 - Fun City (Bad Company 4K) 20:50 – Shout Factory (The Last Unicorn 4K, Death to Smoochy) 39:11 – Sony (The China Syndrome, Can't Hardly Wait 4K) 1:01:26 – Universal (Let Him Go, Tremors 7-Film collection) 1:10:29 - Paramount (Red Eye) 1:19:02 - Kino (And Soon the Darkness/Sudden Terror, The Apartment (1996), Prime Cut 4K) 1:39:20 – New Blu-ray Announcements

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Mitch Taylor es un chico de quince años que gracias a sus experimentos con láser ultravioleta ha conseguido una beca en un centro experimental en Pacific Teach. A pesar de ser un genio está asustado de vivir lejos de su casa. Chris Knight hace tres años que estudia en el centro y está considerado como uno de los mejores, como uno de los "cerebros juveniles" del país. FilmaffinityEscucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de Planeta Invierno. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/661198

Welcome back to a new school year and another episode of the The Video Store Podcast. Hope you've gathered your school supplies and movie rentals for back-to-school time. First up is a horror film that will remind you that no matter how tough your school might be, it could always be worse. It's 1977's Suspiria directed by Dario Argento. This classic film is the first in his Three Mothers trilogy. It's one of those films that shows just how scary going to school can be. There's horror, there's drama, but the good news is, your school probably isn't run by witches. With an iconic score by Goblin and incredible sound editing, Suspiria is a film that keeps you coming back every school year. The second film on our list this week is the Academy Award-nominated and winning film, Dead Poets Society from 1989. This film will have you seizing the day and standing on your desk shouting “Oh Captain, my Captain!” by the end. The film also focuses on the pressures young men face to have “success” and to suppress emotions back in 1959, and honestly, still today. It's a timeless classic that sets the mood for back to school. The third film on our list pairs well with our second—Mona Lisa Smile from 2003. While the film is sometimes called Dead Poets Society with girls, I think that undercuts the film. While yes, there are similarities, Mona Lisa Smile focuses on the pressures facing women in the early 50s, rather than men. Both perspectives are valuable, making it a great double bill with the previous film. Look for a cameo from singer Tori Amos in this one.The last film in our show this week is the 1985 comedy, Real Genius directed by Martha Coolidge. Starring Val Kilmer, Gabriel Jarret, William Atherton, Robert Prescott, and Michelle Meyrink, Real Genius is about some college students, including a child prodigy, who find out their school project is actually an illegal government project. Make some popcorn for this one. You'll be glad you did. We hope these selections will help you have a great start to the school year. Here's hoping your school year is filled with great teachers, great friends, plenty of popcorn, and 100% less murder than in Suspiria. Thanks for joining us on the school bus for this week's Video Store Podcast.Subscribe to the Video Store Podcast* The Video Store Podcast* Apple Podcast* RSS This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.videostorepodcast.com

On this episode, we're going to start a miniseries on the 1980s films from director Susan Seidelman. Like last year, with Martha Coolidge, I want to highlight at least one female filmmaker each year from the decade that made a significant impact on filmmaking and culture as a whole, and Ms. Seidelman definitely fits that description.

This episode of Across The Margin: The Podcast presents an interview with Zach Schonfeld, a freelance writer, journalist, and critic based in New York. He contributes to Pitchfork, Paste Magazine, and other publications. He was formerly a senior writer for Newsweek, where he was on staff for five years. His first book, 24-Carat Black's Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth was published in 2020 as part of the 33 1/3 series. His latest book — entitled How Coppola Became Cage — is the focus of this episode. In 1982, a gangly teenager named Nicolas Coppola made his film debut and changed his name to Nicolas Cage, determined to distance himself from his famous family. Once he achieved stardom as the rebel hunk of 1983's Valley Girl, Cage began a career defined by unorthodox risks and left turns that put him at odds with the stars of the Brat Pack era. How Coppola Became Cage takes readers behind the scenes of the beloved cult movies that transformed this unknown actor into an eccentric and uncompromising screen icon with a wild-eyed gift for portraying weirdos, outsiders, criminals-and even a romantic capable of seducing Cher. Throughout How Coppola Became Cage Zach Schonfeld traces Cage's rise through the world of independent cinema and chronicles the stories behind his career-making early performances, from the method masochism of Birdy to the operatic torment of Moonstruck and abrasive expressionism of Vampire's Kiss, culminating with the astonishing pathos of Leaving Las Vegas. Drawing on more than 100 new interviews with Cage's key collaborators — including David Lynch, Martha Coolidge, John Patrick Shanley, and Mike Figgis — How Coppola Became Cage offers a revealing portrait of Cage's wildly intense devotion to his performances and his creative self-discovery as he drew on influences as far-flung as silent cinema and German Expressionism. These were all crucial ingredients in the creation of a singular acting style that rejects the limits of realism. Join in as host Michael Shields and Zach Schonfeld celebrate an actor that Ethan Hawke describes as “the only actor in the history of the form to really change the form” while invoking David Lynch to describe Cage as “the jazz musician of actors,” in an episode that is as Nic Cage as they come. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're joined by Patron Marcia Potts as we travel back to a simpler time when the shirts were bright, the jackets Members Only and the music was...AWESOME! When director Martha Coolidge made her 1983 sleeper hit 'Valley Girl', she filled the movie with New Wave gems made popular by KROQ's "Rock of the 80s" format. Unfortunately the planned release of a soundtrack album was cancelled due to clearance problems with some of the songs. In 1994, Rhino Records FINALLY righted this wrong and released an official compilation of songs from the film's soundtrack on CD, making Marcia and her younger sister VERY happy! "Okay, fine Fer sure, fer sure..." Songs discussed in this episode: Valley Girl - Frank Zappa; A Million Miles Away - The Plimsouls; Hanging On The Telephone - Blondie; Johnnie, Are You Queer? - Josie Cotton; Johnnie, Are You Queer? - The Go-Go's; Fetch Me One More Beer (1978 Demo) - FEAR; Eyes Of A Stranger - Payola$; Angst In My Pants, This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us - Sparks; Who Can It Be Now? - Men At Work; Everywhere At Once - The Plimsouls; Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights) - Pat Travers Band (Live); I La La La Love You - Pat Travers; He Could Be The One - Josie Cotton; Love My Way - The Psychedelic Furs; Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime) - The Flirts; Give Him A Great Big Kiss - The Shangri-Las; The Fanatic - Felony; Sidewinder - The New Order; She Talks In Stereo - Gary Myrick and The Figures; Oldest Story In The World - The Plimsouls; School Is In, Faster Pussycat - Josie Cotton; I Melt With You - Modern English; I Melt With You - David Hasselhoff (with Steve Stevens)

On the 89th episode of the Slice By Slice podcast, Jesse and Josh spender April 1st diving into the minds of Mad Scientists with Weird Science and Real Genius. Recorded on 3/26/24. IntroNews and AnnouncementsCorrections and UpdatesWhat We WatchedFilm DiscussionsWeird Science (1985)Real Genius (1985)Outro

With her new movie Suze now playing in theaters across Canada, the invaluable Michaela Watkins revisits Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl, the teen movie that paired Deborah Foreman and Nicolas Cage for a very '80s love story. Your genial host Norm Wilner hasn't seen this one in a while either.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1067, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Women Directing Women 1: This Oscar-winning actress directed herself in the film "Little Man Tate". Jodie Foster. 2: Gurinder Chadha scored when she directed Parminder Nagra in this soccer film. Bend It Like Beckham. 3: Mira Nair had "Hysterical Blindness" before directing Reese Witherspoon in this Thackeray film. Vanity Fair. 4: Martha Coolidge directed this actress to an Emmy for playing Dorothy Dandridge. Halle Berry. 5: In this TV drama's "The Supremes" episode, Oscar winner Jessica Yu directed Glenn Close as a Court nominee. The West Wing. Round 2. Category: Acronyms Made Redundant 1: PIN number. personal identification number. 2: EMP pulse. electromagnetic pulse. 3: UPC code. universal product code. 4: LCD display. liquid crystal display. 5: SALT talks. strategic arms limitation talks. Round 3. Category: Rhyme Pays 1: To ponder yonder intently. gaze. 2: Proverbially, "a month of" them is a long long time. Sundays. 3: To eat sheep-ishly. graze. 4: To initiate someone with pranks and tasks. haze. 5: Judicial stoppages, like of executions. stays. Round 4. Category: Folk Etymology 1: To get this word for a smelly varmint, we anglicized the French for "feline that eats poultry". polecat. 2: Cater-corner became kitty-corner after people stopped using "cater" to mean this number. 4. 3: Formed by folk etymology from an Old French word, it's not a basement but a small holder for salt. a cellar. 4: This 10-letter word we use for someone ending his bachelorhood is partly from an alteration of guma, "man". bridegroom. 5: Our word "cutlet" for a thin slice evolved from the French cotelette, a little one of these body parts. rib. Round 5. Category: After And Before 1: It's Latin for "after" but comes before "-mortem". post. 2: As a poker term, it's a word on its own; as a prefix, it means "before". ante. 3: Another word for your rump, this word also means subsequent. posterior. 4: It's the adverb in the acronym FKA. formerly. 5: The order of who is next on the throne is the line of this 10-letter word. succession. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used

It's the 200th episode of Cinema Smorgasbord, a podcast devoted to obsessively examining the careers of underloved and underappreciated actors and directors. Since we started in 2020 we've created over a dozen sub-podcasts devoted to such diverse topics as the careers of Paul Bartel (Bartel Me Something Good), Dick Miller (You Don't Know Dick), Steve Buscemi (How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?), Jackie Chan (We Do Our Own Stunts), Oliver Reed (Further Reeding), George Kennedy (George Kennedy is my Co-Pilot) and many more, and we can't thank you enough for joining us on this wonderfully strange trip. On this episode we decided to do something a little different, starting with a lighthearted chat about our thoughts on the podcast as a whole over these last few years, before discussions on two of our favorite, formative films from the 1980s; starting with Martha Coolidge's brainy comedy REAL GENIUS (picked by Doug) and ending with the Tim Burton-directed delight PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (picked by Liam). We finish with an announcement of what's coming in 2024, so stick around, jerks! The post Episode 200 – 200th Episode Celebration – Real Genius (1985) & Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) first appeared on Cinema Smorgasbord.

This week on S&A Lindsay is joined by Cobwebs Podcast and YouTube Host Daniel Epler. As they take a trip to the Valley to find their Master a snack. It's a Double of Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl (1983) & Chris McKay's Renfield. This a Double that looks at Man & The Legend that is Nicolas Cage. And what is maybe like being in a relationship with him. Listen to Schlock & Awe on your favourite Podcast App

Book Vs. Movie: Valley GirlsThe Frank & Moon Zappa Song Vs. the 1983 Classic FilmWe know that Frank Zappa did not authorize using the song Valley Girl (co-written with his 14-year-old daughter Moon Unit in 1982.) But we had to cover this movie because if there was ever a song that influenced the culture of the early 80s --this was it.Moon Zappa is the oldest child of the late Frank Zappa, and after spending most of her childhood waiting for her dad to make time for her, she reached out to him with his favorite love language--snarky lyrics. Using expressions from her peers in the San Fernando Valley--the Zappas created a song that lampoons the white bread, snotty culture of “Vals.” The fact it became a hit song (and Frank's only Top 40 single) shocked everyone involved. The producers of the 1983 film tried to get Frank to sign the rights but only with the overall approval of the script and music. The film, directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman, became a classic teen film that must have stung Frank, who sued the producers as Valley 9000 and lost. So what are the main differences between the song and the film? Which version did the Margos like better? Have a listen and find out!This episode is sponsored by Baker Publishing Group, With Every Memory by author Janine Rosche:"At its heart, With Every Memory is the story of what happens when an already-broken family loses the one person holding them together. Lori Mendenhall returns home to a family she barely recognizes after the same car accident that killed her son stole the last eight years of memories from her. Lori's once-loving husband is a stoic workaholic with questionable intentions, and her teenage daughter has been chewed up and spit out by the world following the loss of her twin brother. As Lori's good and bad memories resurface, she must decide whether the family she's returned to is beyond hope. "In this ep the Margos discuss:The effect Valley Girl (the song) had on teens at the timeThe surprising old-fashioned love story (based lightly on Romeo & Juliet)The outstanding soundtrackThe cast of the 1983 film: Nicolas Cage (Randy,) Deborah Foreman (Julie,) Elizabeth Daily (Loryn,) Michael Bowen (Tommy,) Cameron Dye (Fred,) Heid Holicker (Stacey,) Michelle Meyrink (Suzi,) Lee Purcell (Beth,) Richard Sanders (Driver's Ed teacher,) Colleen Camp (Sarah Richman,) and Frederic Forrest as Steve Richman.Clips used:Valley Girl (Frank Zappa)Good Morning America, September 12, 1982, Moon & Frank Zappa interview)Nina Blackwood & Frank Zappa on MTV October 1981Valley Girl 1983 trailer)“I'm totally not in love with you!”“Let's get out of here.”Meeting Julie's dadHomecoming fight sceneMusic: Melt With You by Modern EnglishBook Vs. Movie is part of the Frolic Podcast Network.Find more podcasts you will love Frolic.Media/podcasts. Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupFollow us on Twitter @bookversusmovieInstagram: Book Versus Movie https://www.instagram.com/bookversusmovie/Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.comMargo D. Twitter @BrooklynMargo Margo D's Blog www.brooklynfitchick.com Margo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@margodonohuebrooklynfitchick@gmail.comYou can buy your copy of Filmed in Brooklyn here! Margo P. Twitter @ShesNachoMamaMargo P's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shesnachomama/Margo P's Blog https://coloniabook.weebly.com/Our logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5406542/advertisement

Book Vs. Movie: Valley GirlsThe Frank & Moon Zappa Song Vs. the 1983 Classic FilmWe know that Frank Zappa did not authorize using the song Valley Girl (co-written with his 14-year-old daughter Moon Unit in 1982.) But we had to cover this movie because if there was ever a song that influenced the culture of the early 80s --this was it.Moon Zappa is the oldest child of the late Frank Zappa, and after spending most of her childhood waiting for her dad to make time for her, she reached out to him with his favorite love language--snarky lyrics. Using expressions from her peers in the San Fernando Valley--the Zappas created a song that lampoons the white bread, snotty culture of “Vals.” The fact it became a hit song (and Frank's only Top 40 single) shocked everyone involved. The producers of the 1983 film tried to get Frank to sign the rights but only with the overall approval of the script and music. The film, directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman, became a classic teen film that must have stung Frank, who sued the producers as Valley 9000 and lost. So what are the main differences between the song and the film? Which version did the Margos like better? Have a listen and find out!This episode is sponsored by Baker Publishing Group, With Every Memory by author Janine Rosche:"At its heart, With Every Memory is the story of what happens when an already-broken family loses the one person holding them together. Lori Mendenhall returns home to a family she barely recognizes after the same car accident that killed her son stole the last eight years of memories from her. Lori's once-loving husband is a stoic workaholic with questionable intentions, and her teenage daughter has been chewed up and spit out by the world following the loss of her twin brother. As Lori's good and bad memories resurface, she must decide whether the family she's returned to is beyond hope. "In this ep the Margos discuss:The effect Valley Girl (the song) had on teens at the timeThe surprising old-fashioned love story (based lightly on Romeo & Juliet)The outstanding soundtrackThe cast of the 1983 film: Nicolas Cage (Randy,) Deborah Foreman (Julie,) Elizabeth Daily (Loryn,) Michael Bowen (Tommy,) Cameron Dye (Fred,) Heid Holicker (Stacey,) Michelle Meyrink (Suzi,) Lee Purcell (Beth,) Richard Sanders (Driver's Ed teacher,) Colleen Camp (Sarah Richman,) and Frederic Forrest as Steve Richman.Clips used:Valley Girl (Frank Zappa)Good Morning America, September 12, 1982, Moon & Frank Zappa interview)Nina Blackwood & Frank Zappa on MTV October 1981Valley Girl 1983 trailer)“I'm totally not in love with you!”“Let's get out of here.”Meeting Julie's dadHomecoming fight sceneMusic: Melt With You by Modern EnglishBook Vs. Movie is part of the Frolic Podcast Network.Find more podcasts you will love Frolic.Media/podcasts. Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupFollow us on Twitter @bookversusmovieInstagram: Book Versus Movie https://www.instagram.com/bookversusmovie/Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.comMargo D. Twitter @BrooklynMargo Margo D's Blog www.brooklynfitchick.com Margo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@margodonohuebrooklynfitchick@gmail.comYou can buy your copy of Filmed in Brooklyn here! Margo P. Twitter @ShesNachoMamaMargo P's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shesnachomama/Margo P's Blog https://coloniabook.weebly.com/Our logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine

Our miniseries on the 1980s movies of director Martha Coolidge ends with a look back at her 1988 film Plain Clothes. ----more---- 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.   On this episode, we're going to complete our miniseries on the 1980s films of director Martha Coolidge with her little seen 1988 movie Plain Clothes.   When we last left Ms. Coolidge, she had just seen her 1985 film Real Genius get lost in the mix between a number of similarly themed movies, although it would eventually find its audience through home video and repeated cable airings throughout the rest of the decade.   Shortly after the release of Real Genius, she would pick out her next project, a comedy mystery called Glory Days. Written by Dan Vining, Glory Days was one of a number of television and movie scripts floating around Hollywood that featured a supposedly young looking cop who goes undercover as a student at a high school. Whatever Coolidge saw in it, she would quickly get to work making it her own, hiring a young writer working at Paramount Studios named A. Scott Frank to help her rewrite the script. Coolidge had been impressed by one of his screenplays, a Neo-noir romantic mystery thriller called Dead Again, and felt Frank was the right person to help her add some extra mystery to the Glory Days screenplay.     While Frank and Coolidge would keep some elements of the original Glory Days script, including having the undercover cop's high school identity, Nick Springsteen, be a distant relative of the famous rock star from whose song the script had taken its title. But Coolidge would have Frank add a younger brother for the cop, and add a murdered teacher, who the younger brother is accused of killing, to give the film something extra to work towards.   For the cast, Coolidge would go with a mix of newcomers in the main roles, with some industry veterans to fill out the supporting cast.   When casting began in early 1987, Coolidge looked at dozens of actors for the lead role of Nick Dunbar, but she was particularly struck by thirty-two year old Arliss Howard, whose film work had been limited to supporting roles in two movies, but was expected to become a star once his role in Stanley Kubrick's next project, Full Metal Jacket, opened later in the summer.   Twenty-five year old Suzy Amis, a former model who, like Arlisss, had limited film work in supporting roles, would be cast as Robin, a teacher at the school who Nick develops a crush on while undercover.   The supporting cast would include George Wendt from Cheers, Laura Dern's mother Diane Ladd, an Oscar nominee for her role as Flo in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, veteran character actor Seymour Cassel, an Oscar nominee himself for John Cassavetes' Faces, Robert Stack, the original Elliot Ness who was yet another former Oscar nominee, Harry Shearer, and the great Abe Vigoda.   The $7.5m film would begin production in the Seattle metro area on May 6th, 1987 and would last for seven weeks, ending on June 30th.    Plain Clothes would open in 193 theatres on April 15th, 1988, including 59 theatres in New York City and eight in Seattle. The reviews would be vicious on the film, with many critics pointing out how ludicrous the plot was, and how distracting it was the filmmakers were trying to pass a thirty two year old actor off as a twenty four year old police officer going undercover as an eighteen year old high school student. Audiences would stay away in droves, with only about 57k people buying a ticket to see the film during the opening three days. A performance so bad, Paramount would end up pulling the film from theatres after seven days at a $289k ticket gross, replacing every screen with another high school-set movie, the similarly-titled Permanent Record, featuring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Rubin and Kathy Baker, which would also be the final film for Martha Coolidge's regular co-star Michelle Meyrink, who would quit acting the following year and develop an affinity in Zen Buddhism. She would eventually open her own acting studio in her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. Not so coincidentally, Martha Coolidge is one of advisory board members of the school.   There would be one more movie for Martha Coolidge in the 1980s, a made for television mystery called Trenchcoat in Paradise, featuring Dirk Benedict from Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team, Catherine Oxenberg from Dynasty, and Bruce Dern, but it's not very good and not really work talking about.   As the 80s moved into the 90s, Coolidge would continue to work both in television and in motion pictures.    In 1991, she would direct her Plain Clothes co-star Diane Ladd alongside Ladd's daughter, Laura Dern, in the Depression-era drama Rambling Rose. But despite unanimous critical consent and Oscar nominations for both Ladd and Dern, the first and only mother-daughter duo to be nominated for the same movie or in the same year, the $7.5m movie would only gross $6.3m.   1993's Lost in Yonkers would be the 23rd film written by Neil Simon, an adaptation of his 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Actors Irene Worth and Mercedes Ruehl would reprise their Broadway roles for the film, although Richard Dreyfuss would replace Kevin Spacey in the pivotal role as the gangster uncle of two teenage boys who go to live with their aunt after their mother dies. Despite good reviews, the $15m Lost in Yonkers would only gross about $9m.   Originally written as a starring vehicle for Madonna, the 1994 romantic-comedy Angie would instead star Geena Davis as an office worker in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who sets her neighborhood upside-down when she decides to become a single mother. Coolidge's highest budgeted film at $26m, Angie would gross just $9.4m, but would in the years to come become famous for being the first film of James Gandolfini, Michael Rispoli and Aida Turturro, who would all go on to star in five years later.   1995's Three Wishes is a bizarre fantasy drama with Patrick Swayze and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, about two young boys whose mother starts to fall for a mysterious stranger after their father is reported missing during the Korean War. The $10m film would be the worst reviewed movie of Coolidge's career, and would barely gross $7m when it was released.   Things would turn around for Coolidge on her next film, Out to Sea. The penultimate film for both Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, this weak but genial romp, according to Janet Maslin of the New York Times, finds the regular co-stars on a Mexico-bound cruise ship, where they must work as dance hosts in order to pay for their trip. Also featuring Golden Girls co-stars Estelle Harris and Rue McClanahan alongside Dyan Cannon and Donald O'Connor, Out to Sea would become her highest grossing film to date, bringing in $29m worth of ticket sales.   While she would make a couple more movies, 2004's The Prince and Me and 2006's Material Girls, Coolidge would spend 1999 and the 2000s making her mark on television, directing episodes of CSI, Madame Secretary, Psych and Weeds, amongst dozens of shows, as well as the 1999 HBO film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, which would not only win its lead star Halle Berry a number of awards including the Emmy, the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award, it would be the first screenplay to be produced by a young writer named Shonda Rhimes. Coolidge herself would be nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Outstanding Directing of a Movie Made for Television.   But her biggest achievement in Hollywood would come in 2002, when Coolidge would become the first female President of the Directors Guild of America. And in addition to being an advisor to Michelle Meyrink's acting school, she is also a professor of film studies at Chapman University in Southern California.   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.

Todd is joined by Andy Goulding from Blue Print Review to discuss the 1988 film Plain Clothes from director Martha Coolidge.

Couch Potato Theater: Valley Girl (1983) & 40th Anniversary Screening Hollywood TCL Chinese Theatre Watch the video version of this Couch Potato Theater episode on the Fandom Podcast Network YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FandomPodcastNetwork Welcome to Couch Potato Theater here on the Fandom Podcast Network! On Couch Potato Theater we celebrate our favorite movies! On this episode we celebrate the classic 80's teen comedy Valley Girl (1983)! And we discuss our first hand experience of the Valley Girl 40th Anniversary Screening at the Hollywood TCL Chinese Theatre on April 27th, 2023, which included a special Q & A with many members of the cast and crew. Valley Girl is a 1983 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Meyrink, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye and Michael Bowen. Valley Girl was released in the United States on April 29, 1983. The early 1980's story is based loosely on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The film originally was conceived as a teen film to capitalize on the Southern California valley girl fad inspired by the Frank and Moon Unit Zappa song "Valley Girl", released in June of 1982.   Fandom Podcast Network Contact Information - The FANDOM PODCAST NETWORK YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/c/FandomPodcastNetwork - Master feed for all FPNet Audio Podcasts: http://fpnet.podbean.com/ - Couch Potato Theater Audio Podcast Master Feed:  https://fpnet.podbean.com/category/couch-potato-theater - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fandompodcastnetwork - Email: fandompodcastnetwork@gmail.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fandompodcastnetwork/ - Twitter: @fanpodnetwork / https://twitter.com/fanpodnetwork Fandom Podcast Network Couch Potato Theater Host & Guest Contact Info: Host Contact Info: - Kevin Reitzel on Twitter & Instagram: @spartan_phoenix - Erin Reitzel Gill on Instagram: @eringill666 Guest(s) Social Media Contact Info: - Jennifer Walk on Instagram: @ChefStomp9 - Tee Public Fandom Podcast Network Store:  https://www.teepublic.com/stores/fandom-podcast-network #ValleyGirl #ValleyGirl1983 #ValleyGirl40thAnniversary #HollywoodTCLChineseTheatre

On this episode, we continue our informal miniseries on the 1980s movies of director Martha Coolidge with a look back at her 1985 under appreciated classic, Real Genius. ----more---- 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.   Before we hop in to today's episode, I want to thank every person listening, from whatever part of the planet you're at. Over the nearly four years I've been doing this podcast, we've had listeners from 171 of the 197 countries, and occasionally it's very surreal for this California kid who didn't amount to much of anything growing to think there are people in Myanmar and the Ukraine and other countries dealing with war within their borders who still find time to listen to new episodes of a podcast about 33 plus year old mostly American movies when they're released. I don't take your listenership lightly, and I just want you to know that I truly appreciate it. Thank you.   Okay, with that, I would like to welcome you all to Part Three of our informal miniseries on the 1980s movies of director Martha Coolidge.   When we left Ms. Coolidge on our previous episode, her movie Joy of Sex had bombed, miserably. But, lucky for her, she had already been hired to work on Real Genius before Joy of Sex had been released.   The script for Real Genius, co-written by Neal Israel and Pat Proft, the writers of Bachelor Party, had been floating around Hollywood for a few years. It would tell the story of a highly intelligent high school kid named Mitch who would be recruited to attend a prestigious CalTech-like college called Pacific Tech, where he would be teamed with another genius, Chris, to build a special laser with their professor, not knowing the laser is to be used as a weapon to take out enemy combatants from a drone-like plane 30,000 feet above the Earth.   ABC Motion Pictures, a theatrical subsidy of the American television network geared towards creating movies that could be successful in theatres before playing on television, would acquire the screenplay in the early 1980s, but after the relative failure of a number of their initial projects, including National Lampoon's Class Reunion and Young Doctors in Love, would sell the project off to Columbia Pictures, who would make the film one of the first slate of films to be produced by their sister company Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture between Columbia, the cable network Home Box Office, and, ironically, the CBS television network, which was also created towards creating movies that could be successful in theatres before playing on television. Tri-Star would assign Brian Grazer, a television producer at Paramount who had segued to movies after meeting with Ron Howard during the actor's last years on Happy Days, producing Howard's 1982 film Night Shift and 1984 film Splash, to develop the film.   One of Grazer's first moves would be to hire Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, writers on Happy Days who helped to create Laverne and Shirley and Joanie Loves Chachi, to rewrite the script to attract a director. Ganz and Mandel had also written Night Shift and rewrote the script for Splash, and Grazer considered them his lucky charm. After trying to convince Ron Howard to board the project instead of Cocoon, Grazer would create a list of up and coming filmmakers he would want to work with. And toward the top of that list was Martha Coolidge.   Coolidge would naturally gravitate towards Real Genius, and she would have an advantage that no other filmmaker on Grazer's list would have: her fiancee, Michael Backes, was himself an egghead, a genius in physics and biochemistry who in the years to come would become good friends with the writer and filmmaker Michael Crichton, working as a graphics supervisor on the movie version of Chricton's book Jurassic Park, a co-writer of the screenplay based on Chricton's book Rising Sun, and an associate producer on the movie version of Chricton's book Congo.   Once Coolidge was signed on to direct Real Genius in the spring of 1984, she and Backes would work with former SCTV writer and performer PJ Torokvei as they would spend time talking to dozens of science students at CalTech and USC, researching laser technology, and the policies of the CIA. They would shape the project to something closer to what Grazer said he loved most about its possibility, the possibility of genius. "To me,” Grazer would tell an interviewer around the time of the film's release, “a genius is someone who can do something magical, like solve a complex problem in his head while I'm still trying to figure out the question. I don't pretend to understand it, but the results are everywhere around us. We work, travel, amuse ourselves and enhance the quality of life through technology, all of which traces back to what was once an abstract idea in the mind of some genius.”   When their revised screenplay got the green light from the studio with an $8m budget, Grazer and Coolidge got to the task of casting the film. While the young genius Mitch was ostensibly the lead character in the film, his roommate Chris would need a star to balance out the relative obscurity of his co-star. A number of young actors in Hollywood would be seen, but their choice would be 25 year old Val Kilmer, whose first movie, Top Secret!, had not yet opened in theatres but had hot buzz going for it as the followup film for the Airplane! writing/directing team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.   Fourteen year old Gabe Jarret, whose only previous film work had been in a minor role in the 1981 Tony Danza/Danny DeVito comedy Going Ape!, would land the coveted role of Mitch, while supporting roles would go to Coolidge's former costars Michelle Meyrink, Deborah Foreman and Robert Prescott, as well as William Atherton, who at the time was on movie screens as Walter Peck, the main human antagonist to the Ghostbusters, as Chris and Mitch's duplicitous professor, Jerry Hathaway, and Patti D'Arbanville, who had made a splash on screens in 1981 as Chevy Chase's long-suffering girlfriend in Modern Problems.   Shooting would begin on Real Genius in Southern California on November 12th, 1984. Most of the film would be shot on sets built at the Hollywood Center Studios, just a few blocks west of the Paramount Studios lot, while several major set pieces, including the memorable finale involving Professor Hathaway's house, a space laser and 190,000 pounds of popcorn, were shot in the then quiet suburban area of Sand Canyon, a few miles east of Magic Mountain, a popular theme park and filming area about 45mins north of Hollywood Center Studios. Outdoor scenes standing in for the Pacific Tech campus would be filmed at Occidental College in Eagle Rock and Pomona College in Claremont, while some scenes would be filmed at General Atomics outside San Diego, standing in for an Air Force base in the film's climax. Shooting on the film would finish after the first of the year, giving Coolidge and her editor, Richard Chew, about seven months to get the film in shape for a planned August 7th, 1985, release.   Going in to the Summer 1985 movie season, Real Genius was positioned to be one of the hit films of the summer. They had a hot up and coming star in Val Kilmer, a hot director in Martha Coolidge, and a fairly solid release date in early August. But then, there ended up being an unusual glut of science fiction and sci-fi comedy movies in the marketplace at the same time. In March, Disney released the dinosaur-themed Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, which was not a good film and bombed pretty bad. In June, there was the artificial intelligence film D.A.R.Y.L., which was not a good film and bombed pretty bad. In July, there was Back to the Future, which was a very good film and became one of the biggest successes of the year, and there was Explorers, Joe Dante's followup to Gremlins, which featured Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix as teenage boys who build their own spacecraft to explore outer space, and although it was one of the best movies released in the summer of 1985, it too bombed pretty bad.    But then, in a seven day period in early August, we had Weird Science, which was not very good and not very successful, Real Genius, and My Science Project, another Disney movie about a glowing orb thing from outer space that causes a lot of problems for a lazy high school student looking for something to use for his science class final, which is one of the worst movies of the year, and bombed worse than any of the other movies mentioned.   Weird Science, John Hughes' followup to his surprise hit The Breakfast Club, released only six months earlier, would open on August 1st, and come in fourth place with $4.9m from 1158 theatres. In its second weekend of release, Weird Science would lose 40% of its opening weekend audience, coming in fifth with $2.97m. But that would still be better than Real Genius, which opened on Wednesday, August 5th, which would come in sixth in its opening weekend, with $2.56m from 990 locations. My Science Project, opening on August 7th, could only manage to open in 13th place with $1.5m from 1003 theatres. That would be worse than a reissue of E.T. in its fourth weekend of release.   In its second weekend, Real Genius would only drop 14% of its opening weekend audience, coming in with $2.2m from 956 locations, but after a third weekend, losing a third of its screens and 46% of its second week audience, Real Genius would be shuttled off to the dollar houses, where it would spend another seventeen weeks before exiting theatres with only $12.95m worth of tickets sold.   However, it is my personal opinion is that the film failed to find an audience because it was perceived as being too smart for a simple audience. Real Genius celebrates intelligence. It doesn't pander to its audience. In many ways, it belittles stupidity, especially Mitch's moronic parents. Revenge is dished out in the most ingenious ways, especially at the end with Professor Hathaway's house, to the point where the science behind how Chris and Mitch did what the did is still actively debated thirty-eight years later. Caltech students served as consultants on the film, and played students in the background, while Dr. Martha Gunderson, a physics professor at USC whose vast knowledge about lasers informed the writers during the development stage, played a math professor on screen. Finally, to help promote the film, Martha Coolidge and producer Brian Grazer held the first-ever online press conference through the CompuServe online service, even though there were less than 125,000 on the entire planet who had CompuServe access in August 1985.   Today, the film is rightfully regardless as a classic, but it wouldn't make Val Kilmer a star quite yet. That, of course, would happen in 1986, when he co-starred as Tom Cruise's frenemy in Tony Scott's Top Gun. Gabe Jarret would eventually become Gabriel Jarret, appearing in such movies as Karate Kid 3, Apollo 13 and The American President, and he continues to work in movies and on television to this day. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Michelle Meyrink, who would quit acting three years after making Real Genius, but we'll talk about that on our next episode. And, of course, William Atherton would cement his reputation as the chucklenut Gen Xers love to hate when he played the cocky television reporter Dick Thornburg in the first two Die Hard movies.   And with that, we come to the end of this episode. Thank you for joining us.    We'll talk again next week, when Episode 111, on Coolidge's 1988 comedy Plain Clothes, is released.   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.

This week, we continue with the Martha Coolidge lovefest with her one truly awful movie, Joy of Sex. ----more---- 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. Last week, we talked about Martha Coolidge and her 1983 comedy Valley Girl, which celebrated the fortieth anniversary of its release this past Saturday. Today, we're going to continue talking about Martha Coolidge's 1980s movies with her follow up effort, Joy of Sex. And, as always, before we get to the main story, there's some back story to the story we need to visit first. In 1972, British scientist Alex Comfort published the titillatingly titled The Joy of Sex. If you know the book, you know it's just a bunch of artful drawings of a man and a woman performing various sexual acts, a “how to” manual for the curious and adventurous. Set up to mimic cooking books like Joy of Cooking, Joy of Sex covered the gamut of sexual acts, and would spend more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list, including three months at the top of the list. It wasn't the kind of book anyone could possibly conceive a major Hollywood studio might ever be interested in making into a movie.  And you'd be right. Sort of.  When a producer named Tom Moore bought the movie rights to the book in 1975, for $100,000 and 20% of the film's profit, Moore really only wanted the title, because he thought a movie called “Joy of Sex” would be a highly commercial prospect to the millions of people who had purchased the book over the years, especially since porn chic was still kind of “in” at the time. In 1976, Moore would team with Paramount Pictures to further develop the project. They would hire British comedian, actor and writer Dudley Moore to structure the movie as a series of short vignettes not unlike Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But We're Afraid to Ask. Moore was more interested in writing a single story, about someone not unlike himself in his early 40s coming to grips with being sexually hung up during the era of free love. Moore and the studio could not come to an agreement over the direction of the story, and Moore would, maybe not so ironically, sign on the play a character not unlike himself, in his early 40s, coming to grips with being sexually hung up during the era of free love, in Blake Edwards' 10. Still wanting to pursue the idea of the movie as a series of short vignettes not unlike Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But We're Afraid to Ask, Paramount next approached the British comedy troupe Monty Python to work on it, since that's basically what they did for 45 episodes of their BBC show between 1969 and 1974. But since they had just found success with their first movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, they decided to concentrate their efforts on their next movie project. In 1978, Paramount hired actor and comedian Charles Grodin to write the script, telling him it could literally be about anything. Grodin, one of the stealthiest funny people to ever walk the Earth, had written a movie before, an adaptation of the Gerald A. Browne novel 11 Harrowhouse, but he found himself unable to think of anything, finding the ability to write anything he wanted as long as it could somehow be tied to the title to be an albatross around his neck. When Grodin finally turned in a script a few months later, Paramount was horrified to discover he had written a movie about a screenwriter who was having trouble writing a Hollywood movie based on a sex manual. The studio passed and released Grodin from his contract. In 1985, Grodin was able to get that screenplay made into a movie called Movers and Shakers, but despite having a cast that included Grodin, Walter Matthew, Gilda Radner, Bill Macy, and Vincent Gardenia, as well as cameos from Steve Martin and Penny Marshall, the film bombed badly. After the success of The Blues Brothers, John Belushi was hired to star in Joy of Sex, to be directed by Penny Marshall in what was supposed to be her directing debut, produced by Matty Simmons, the publisher of National Lampoon who was looking for another potential hit film to put its name on after their success with Animal House, from a script written by National Lampoon writer John Hughes, which would have been his first produced screenplay. Hughes' screenplay still would be structured as a series of short vignettes not unlike Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But We're Afraid to Ask, but Belushi would pass away before filming could begin. Penny Marshall would make her directing debut four years later with the Whoopi Goldberg movie Jumpin' Jack Flash, while Hughes' first produced screenplay, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, would actually begin production four weeks before Belushi died. Belushi kept getting the production start date for Joy of Sex pushed back because of he was working on a screenplay for a movie he really wanted to make, a diamond smuggling caper called Noble Rot, which Paramount had agreed to make if Belushi would make Joy of Sex first. After that, Paramount would hire the unlikely team of screenwriting teacher Syd Field and shock jock Don Imus to try their hand at it, before going back to Hughes, who at one point turned in a draft that was 148 pages long. After the success of Porky's around this time, Paramount would have the script rewritten again, this time by The Outsiders' screenwriter Kathleen Rowell, trying to make it into a raunchy comedy. Amy Heckerling, the director of Fast Times, was approached to direct, but she would turn it down because she didn't want to get pigeonholed as a raunchy sex comedy director. The studio needed to get the film in production by the end of May 1983, or the rights to the book and the title would revert back to its author. After Valley Girl started to get some good buzz just before release, Paramount would approach Coolidge to direct. Although the budget for the film would only be around $5m, Coolidge would earn far more than the $5,000 she made for Valley Girl. So even if she wasn't too thrilled with the script, it was good money. Maybe she should have waited. The film would begin production in Los Angeles and Santa Monica beginning on May 31st, 1983, literally the day before the movie rights would have reverted back to the author, and Coolidge would only be given twenty-six days to film it. It also didn't help that the production was working under Paramount's television division, and the producer, Frank Konigsberg, had never produced a feature film before. This final version of the script she would be working with, credited to Kathleen Rowell and first-time screenwriter, J.J. Salter, would be the nineteenth draft written over the course of eight years, and wouldn't quite be the raunchfest Paramount was hoping for, but they were literally out of time. To try and make things as comfortable for herself as possible, Coolidge would hire a number of actors and crew members from Valley Girl, and tried to shoot the film, as straight as possible, even with the studio's request for lots of gratuitous nudity. Michelle Meyrink, one of Julie's valley girl friends in Coolidge's previous film, would star as Leslie, a high school senior who tries to lose her virginity when she mistakenly believes she only has six weeks to live, alongside her Valley Girl co-stars Cameron Dye, Colleen Camp and Heidi Holicker. Also on board would be Ernie Hudson, who would go straight from making this film into making Ghostbusters, and Christopher Lloyd, who was still a couple years away from starring as Doc Brown, as Leslie's dad, a coach at her school. Coolidge's saving grace was that, despite the pressure to have scenes of nubile young co-eds running naked down the school halls for no good reason, the core of the story was about two teenagers who, while trying to learn about sex, would discover and fall in love with each other. Paramount would set the film for an April 13th, 1984 release, even before Coolidge turned in her first cut of the film. But when she did, that's when the proverbial poop hit the proverbial fan. Coolidge made the movie she wanted to make, a sweet love story, even with some scenes of gratuitous and unnecessary nudity. Which is not the movie Paramount wanted, even if it was the script they approved. Her relationship with the studio further soured when the first test screening of the film turned out to be a disaster, especially with teenage girls and women, who loved the love story at the center of the film but hated the completely gratuitous and unnecessary nudity. Coolidge would be fired off the film, the television and film departments at Paramount would get into vicious finger pointing arguments about who was to blame for this mess and how they were going to fix it, and Matty Simmons would pay Paramount $250,000 to have National Lampoon's name removed from the film, claiming the film did not represent what the magazine had originally signed up for. Paramount would cancel the April 1984 release date, while hiring two new editors to try and salvage the mess they felt they were given. The Directors Guild offered to allow Coolidge to take her name off the film and have it credited to Alan Smithee, but she would decide to leave her name on it. Even if the film bombed, it was another directing credit to her name, which could still help her get future jobs. When the new editors finished their work on the film, they had whittled down Coolidge's original version that ran 115 minutes into a barely cohesive 93 minute mess, and the studio decided to release the film on August 3rd. In the 80s, the entire month of August was pretty much considered a dumping ground for movies, as families were often eschewing going to the movies for their last moments of summer fun before the kids had to go back to school. Opening on 804 screens, Joy of Sex would open in ninth place, grossing an anemic $1.9m in its first three days. Ghostbusters, in its ninth week of release, was still in first place with $6.5m, and it would also get outgrossed by Gremlins, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Karate Kid, all three having been released in May or June. After a second weekend where the film would lose nearly 20% of its theatres and 55% of its first week audience, Paramount would stop tracking the film. It's final reported ticket sales total would be just $3.69m. Because I am cursed with the ability to remember the most mundane things from nearly forty years ago while being unable to remember where I left a screwdriver yesterday, I still remember seeing Joy of Sex. It was on the #1 screen at the Skyview Drive-in in Santa Cruz. It was the A-title, playing a double bill with Cheech and Chong Still Smokin', which had not done very well when it had been released the previous May. My friends and I would head out to the theatre, Dick and some friends piled in his Impala, me and some friends in my AMC Pacer, with lawn chairs and frosty beverages in the trunks, ready to completely rip apart this film we heard was really bad. And rip it apart we did. I think there were maybe ten cars on our side of the drive-in, plenty of room for a bunch of drunken teenagers to be far away from everyone else and be obnoxious jerks. In 1984, we didn't have the internet. We didn't have easy access to the industry newspapers where we may have heard about all the troubles with the production. We just knew the film stunk something foul, and we had one of our most fun evenings at the movies destroying it in our own inimitable way. Not that I was going to give the movie another chance. It stunk. There's just no two ways about it, but I am now more forgiving of Martha Coolidge now that I know just how impossible a situation she was put in. Ironically, the debacle that was Joy of Sex would be part of the reason I so enjoyed Coolidge's next film, 1985's Real Genius so much, because Joy of Sex was still fresher in my mind than Valley Girl. But we'll talk more about Real Genius on our next episode. Thank you for joining us. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Joy of Sex. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.

This week, we take a look back at a movie celebrating the fortieth anniversary of its theatrical release this coming Saturday, a movie that made a star of its unconventional lead actor, and helped make its director one of a number of exciting female filmmakers to break through in the early part of the decade. The movie Martha Coolidge's 1983 comedy Valley Girl, starring Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman. ----more---- 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.   On this episode, we're going to be looking back at a movie that will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of its original theatrical release. A movie that would turn one of its leads into a star, and thrust its director into the mainstream, at least for a short time.   We're talking about the 1983 Martha Coolidge film Valley Girl, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its release this Saturday, with a special screening tonight, Thursday, April 27th 2023, at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood with its director, doing a Q&A session after the show.   But, as always, before we get to Valley Girl, we head back in time.    A whole eleven months, in fact. To May 1982.   That month, the avant-garde musical genius known as Frank Zappa released his 35th album, Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch. Released on Zappa's own Barking Pumpkin record label, Drowning Witch would feature a song he co-wrote with his fourteen year old daughter Moon Unit Zappa. Frank would regularly hear his daughter make fun of the young female mallrats she would encounter throughout her days, and one night, Frank would be noodling around in his home recording studio when inspiration struck. He would head up to Moon's room, wake her up and bring her down to the studio, asking her to just repeat in that silly Valspeak voice she did all the crazy things she heard being said at parties, bar mitzvahs and the Sherman Oaks Galleria shopping center, which would become famous just a couple months later as the mall where many of the kids from Ridgemont High worked in Amy Heckerling's breakthrough movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. For about an hour, Frank would record Moon spouting off typical valley girl phrases, before he sent her back up to her room to go back to sleep.   In a couple days, Frank Zappa would bring his band, which at the time included guitar virtuoso Steve Vai in his first major musical gig, into the home studio to lay down the music to this weird little song he wrote around his daughter's vocals.   “Valley Girl” wold not be a celebration of the San Fernando Valley, an area Zappa described as “a most depressing place,” or the way these young ladies presented themselves. Zappa in general hated boring generic repetitive music, but “Valley Girl” would be one of the few songs Zappa would ever write or record that followed a traditional 4/4 time signature.   In the spring of 1982, the influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ would obtain an acetate disc of the song, several weeks before Drowning Witch was to be released on an unsuspecting public. Zappa himself thought it was a hoot the station that had broken such bands as The Cars, Duran Duran, The Police, Talking Heads and U2 was even considering playing his song, but KROQ was his daughter's favorite radio station, and she was able to persuade the station to play the song during an on-air interview with her.   The kids at home went nuts for the song, demanding the station play it again. And again. And again. Other radio stations across the country started to get calls from their listeners, wanting to hear this song that hadn't been officially released yet, and Zappa's record label would rush to get copies out to any radio station that asked for it.   The song would prove to be very popular, become the only single of the forty plus he released during his recording career to become a Top 40 radio hit, peaking at number 32. Ironically, the song would popularize the very cadence it was mocking with teenagers around the country, and the next time Zappa and his band The Mothers of Invention would tour, he would apologize to the Zappa faithful for having created a hit record. "The sad truth,” he would say before going into the song, “is that if one continues to make music year after year, eventually something will be popular. I spent my career fighting against creating marketable art, but this one slipped through the cracks. I promise to do my best never to have this happen again."   As the song was becoming popular in Los Angeles, actor Wayne Crawford and producer Andrew Lane had been working on a screenplay about star-crossed lovers that was meant to be a cheap quickie exploitation film not unlike Zapped! or Porky's. But after hearing Zappa's song, the pair would quickly rewrite the lead character, Julie, into a valley girl, and retitle their screenplay, Bad Boyz… yes, Boyz, with a Z… as Valley Girl.   Atlantic Entertainment Company, an independent film production company, had recently started their own distribution company, and were looking for movies that could be made quickly, cheaply, and might be able to become some kind of small hit. One of the scripts that would cross their desk were Crawford and Lane's Valley Girl. Within a week, Atlantic would already have a $350,000 budget set aside to make the film.   The first thing they needed was a director.   Enter Martha Coolidge.   A graduate of the same New York University film program that would give us Joel Coen, Amy Heckerling, Ang Lee, Spike Lee and Todd Phillips, Coolidge had been working under the tutelage of Academy Award-winner Francis Ford Coppola at the filmmaker's Zoetrope Studios. She had made her directorial debut, Not a Pretty Picture in 1976, but the film, a docu-drama based on Coolidge's own date rape she suffered at the age of 16, would not find a big audience. She had made another movie, City Girl, with Peter Riegert and Colleen Camp, in 1982, with Peter Bogdanovich as a producer, but the film's potential release was cancelled when Bogdanovich's company Moon Pictures went bankrupt after the release of his 1981 movie They All Laughed, which we covered last year. She knew she needed to get on a film with a good chance of getting released, and with Coppola's encouragement, Coolidge would throw her proverbial hat into the ring, and she would get the job, in part because she had some directing experience, but also because she was willing to accept the $5,000 Atlantic was offering for the position.   Now that she had the job, it was time for Coolidge to get to casting. It was her goal to show an authentic teenage experience in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, absent of stereotypes. As someone whose background was in documentary filmmaking, Coolidge wanted Valley Girl to feel as real as possible.   Her first choice for the role of Randy, the proto-punk Romeo to Julie's… well, Juliet… Coolidge was keen on a twenty-three year old unknown who had not yet acted in anything in movies, on television, or even a music video. Judd Nelson had been studying with Stella Adler in New York City, and there was something about his look that Coolidge really liked. But when she offered the role to Nelson, he had just booked an acting gig that would make him unavailable when the film would be shooting. So it was back to the pile of headshots that had been sent to the production office. And in that pile, she would find the headshot of eighteen year old Nicolas Cage, who at the time only had one movie credit, as one of Judge Reinhold's co-workers in Fast Times. Coolidge would show the photo to her casting director, telling them they needed to find someone like him, someone who wasn't a conventionally handsome movie actor.   So the casting director did just that. Went out and got someone like Nicolas Cage. Specifically, Nicolas Cage.   What Coolidge didn't know was that Cage's real name was Nicolas Coppola, and that his uncle was Coolidge's boss. She would only learn this when she called the actor to offer him the role, and he mentioned he would need to check his schedule on the Coppola movie he was about to start shooting on, Rumble Fish. Francis Coppola made sure the shooting schedule was re-arranged so his nephew could accept his first leading role.   For Julie, Coolidge wanted only one person: Deborah Foreman, a twenty-year-old former model who had only done commercials for McDonalds at this point in her career. Although she was born in Montebello CA, mere miles from the epicenter of the San Fernando Valley, Foreman had spent her formative years in Texas, and knew nothing about the whole Valley Girl phenomenon until she was cast in the film.   Supporting roles would be filled by a number of up and coming young actors, including Elizabeth Daily and Michelle Mayrink as Julie's friends, Cameron Dye as Randy's best friend, and Michael Bowen as Julie's ex-boyfriend, while Julie's parents would be played by Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp, two industry veterans who had briefly worked together on Apocalypse Now.   As the scheduled start date of October 25th, 1982, rolled closer, Martha Coolidge would be the first director to really learn just how far Nicolas Cage was willing to go for a role. He would start sleeping in his car, to better understand Randy, and he would, as Randy, write Foreman's character Julie a poem that, according to a May 2020 New York Times oral history about the film, Foreman still has to this day. In a 2018 IMDb talk with director Kevin Smith, Cage would say that it was easy for his performance to happen in the film because he had a massive crush on Foreman during the making of the film.   Because of the film's extremely low budget, the filmmakers would often shoot on locations throughout Los Angeles they did not have permits for, stealing shots wherever they could. But one place they would spend money on was the movie's soundtrack, punctuated by live performances by Los Angeles band The Plimsouls and singer Josie Cotton, which were filmed at the Sunset Strip club now known as The Viper Room.   The film would only have a twenty day shooting schedule, which meant scenes would have to be shot quickly and efficiently, with as few hiccups as possible. But this wouldn't stop Cage from occasionally improvising little bits that Coolidge loved so much, she would keep them in the film, such as Randy spitting his gum at Julie's ex, and the breakup scene, where Randy digs into Julie by using Valspeak.   In early January 1983, while the film was still being edited, Frank Zappa would file a lawsuit against the film, seeking $100,000 in damages and an injunction to stop the film from being released, saying the film would unfairly dilute the trademark of his song. The lawsuit would force Coolidge to have a cut of her movie ready to screen for the judge before she was fully done with it. But when Coolidge screened this rushed cut to Atlantic and its lawyers, the distributor was pleasantly surprised to see the director hadn't just made a quickie exploitation film but something with genuine heart and soul that could probably have a much longer lifespan. They were originally planning on releasing the film during the later part of the summer movie season, but now knowing what they had on their hands, Atlantic would set an April 29th release date… pending, of course, on the outcome of the Zappa lawsuit.   In March, the judge would issue their ruling, in favor of the film, saying there would be no confusion in the public's mind between the song and the film, and Atlantic would continue to prepare for the late April release.   One of the things Coolidge really fought for was to have a wall of great new wave songs throughout the film, something Atlantic was hesitant to pay for, until they saw Coolidge's cut. They would spend another $250k on top of the $350k production budget to secure songs from The Psychedelic Furs, The Payolas, Men at Work, Toni Basil, The Flirts and Sparks, on top of the songs played by The Plimsouls and Josie Cotton in the film.   Valley Girl would be one of three new movies opening on April 29th, alongside Disney's adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Hunger, the directorial debut of filmmaker Tony Scott. Opening on only 442 screens, Valley Girl would come in fourth place for the weekend, grossing $1.86m in its first three days. However, its $4200 per screen average would be better than every movie in the top 15, including the #1 film in the nation that weekend, Flashdance. Not bad for a film that was only playing in one third of the country.   In its second weekend, Valley Girl would fall to seventh place, with $1.33m worth of ticket sold, but its per screen average would be second only to the new Cheech and Chong movie, Still Smokin'. Over the next three months, the film would continue to perform well, never playing in more screens than it did in its opening weekend, but never falling out of the top 15 while Atlantic was tracking it. When all was said and done, Valley Girl would have grossed $17.34m in the United States, not a bad return on a $600k production and music clearance budget.   There was supposed to be an accompanying soundtrack album for the film that, according to the movie's poster, would be released on Epic Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records whose eclectic roster of artists included Michael Jackson, The Clash and Liza Minnelli, but it turns out the filmmakers only ended up only getting music clearances for the movie, so that release would get cancelled and a six-song mini-LP would be created through a label Atlantic Pictures created called Roadshow Records. But then that album got cancelled, even though some copies had been printed, so it wouldn't be until 1994 that an actual soundtrack for the film would be released by Rhino Records. That release would do so well, Rhino released a second soundtrack album the following year.   The lawsuit from Zappa would not be the only court proceeding concerning the film. In July 1984, Martha Coolidge, her cinematographer, Frederick Elmes, and two of the actresses, Colleen Camp and Lee Purcell, sued Atlantic Releasing for $5m, saying they were owed a portion of the film's profits based on agreements in their contracts. The two sides would later settle out of court.   Nicolas Cage would, of course, becomes one of the biggest movie stars in the world, winning an Oscar in 1996 for his portrayal of an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death.   Deborah Foreman would not have as successful a career. After Valley Girl, it would be another two years before she was seen on screen again, in what basically amounts to an extended cameo in a movie I'll get to in a moment. She would have a decent 1986, starring in two semi-successful films, the sexy comedy My Chauffeur and the black comedy April Fool's Day, but after that, the roles would be less frequent and, often, not the lead. By 1991, she would retire from acting, appearing only in a 2011 music video for the She Wants Revenge song Must Be the One, and a cameo in the 2020 remake of Valley Girl starring Jessica Rothe of the Happy Death Day movies.   After Valley Girl, Martha Coolidge would go on a tear, directing four more movies over the next seven years. And we'll talk about that first movie, Joy of Sex, on our next episode.   Thank you for joining us.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Valley Girl.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

On this episode, we do our first deep dive into the John Landis filmography, to talk about one of his lesser celebrated film, the 1985 Jeff Goldblum/Michelle Pfeiffer morbid comedy Into the Night. ----more---- 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.   Long time listeners to this show know that I am not the biggest fan of John Landis, the person. I've spoken about Landis, and especially about his irresponsibility and seeming callousness when it comes to the helicopter accident on the set of his segment for the 1983 film The Twilight Zone which took the lives of actors Vic Morrow, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, enough where I don't wish to rehash it once again.   But when one does a podcast that celebrates the movies of the 1980s, every once in a while, one is going to have to talk about John Landis and his movies. He did direct eight movies, one documentary and a segment in an anthology film during the decade, and several of them, both before and after the 1982 helicopter accident, are actually pretty good films.   For this episode, we're going to talk about one of his lesser known and celebrated films from the decade, despite its stacked cast.   We're talking about 1985's Into the Night.   But, as always, before we get to Into the Night, some backstory.   John David Landis was born in Chicago in 1950, but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was four months old. While he grew up in the City of Angels, he still considers himself a Chicagoan, which is an important factoid to point out a little later in his life.   After graduating from high school in 1968, Landis got his first job in the film industry the way many a young man and woman did in those days: through the mail room at a major studio, his being Twentieth Century-Fox. He wasn't all that fond of the mail room. Even since he had seen The  7th Voyage of Sinbad at the age of eight, he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker, and you're not going to become a filmmaker in the mail room. By chance, he would get a job as a production assistant on the Clint Eastwood/Telly Savalas World War II comedy/drama Kelly's Heroes, despite the fact that the film would be shooting in Yugoslavia. During the shoot, he would become friendly with the film's co-stars Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland. When the assistant director on the film got sick and had to go back to the United States, Landis positioned himself to be the logical, and readily available, replacement. Once Kelly's Heroes finished shooting, Landis would spend his time working on other films that were shooting in Italy and the United Kingdom. It is said he was a stuntman on Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but I'm going to call shenanigans on that one, as the film was made in 1966, when Landis was only sixteen years old and not yet working in the film industry. I'm also going to call shenanigans on his working as a stunt performer on Leone's 1968 film Once Upon a Time in the West, and Tony Richardson's 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade, and Peter Collinson's 1969 film The Italian Job, which also were all filmed and released into theatres before Landis made his way to Europe the first time around.   In 1971, Landis would write and direct his first film, a low-budget horror comedy called Schlock, which would star Landis as the title character, in an ape suit designed by master makeup creator Rick Baker. The $60k film was Landis's homage to the monster movies he grew up watching, and his crew would spend 12 days in production, stealing shots wherever they could  because they could not afford filming permits. For more than a year, Landis would show the completed film to any distributor that would give him the time of day, but no one was interested in a very quirky comedy featuring a guy in a gorilla suit playing it very very straight.   Somehow, Johnny Carson was able to screen a print of the film sometime in the fall of 1972, and the powerful talk show host loved it. On November 2nd, 1972, Carson would have Landis on The Tonight Show to talk about his movie. Landis was only 22 at the time, and the exposure on Carson would drive great interest in the film from a number of smaller independent distributors would wouldn't take his calls even a week earlier. Jack H. Harris Enterprises would be the victor, and they would first release Schlock on twenty screens in Los Angeles on December 12th, 1973, the top of a double bill alongside the truly schlocky Son of The Blob. The film would get a very good reception from the local press, including positive reviews from the notoriously prickly Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas, and an unnamed critic in the pages of the industry trade publication Daily Variety. The film would move from market to market every few weeks, and the film would make a tidy little profit for everyone involved. But it would be four more years until Landis would make his follow-up film.   The Kentucky Fried Movie originated not with Landis but with three guys from Madison, Wisconsin who started their own theatre troop while attending the University of Wisconsin before moving it to West Los Angeles in 1971. Those guys, brothers David and Jerry Zucker, and their high school friend Jim Abrahams, had written a number of sketches for their stage shows over a four year period, and felt a number of them could translate well to film, as long as they could come up with a way to link them all together. Although they would be aware of Ken Shapiro's 1974 comedy anthology movie The Groove Tube, a series of sketches shot on videotape shown in movie theatres on the East Coast at midnight on Saturday nights, it would finally hit them in 1976, when Neal Israel's anthology sketch comedy movie TunnelVision became a small hit in theatres. That movie featured Chevy Chase and Laraine Newman, two of the stars of NBC's hit show Saturday Night Live, which was the real reason the film was a hit, but that didn't matter to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.   The Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team decided they needed to not just tell potential backers about the film but show them what they would be getting. They would raise $35,000 to film a ten minute segment, but none of them had ever directed anything for film before, so they would start looking for an experienced director who would be willing to work on a movie like theirs for little to no money.   Through mutual friend Bob Weiss, the trio would meet and get to know John Landis, who would come aboard to direct the presentation reel, if not the entire film should it get funded. That segment, if you've seen Kentucky Fried Movie, included the fake trailer for Cleopatra Schwartz, a parody of blaxploitation movies. The guys would screen the presentation reel first to Kim Jorgensen, the owner of the famed arthouse theatre the Nuart here in Los Angeles, and Jorgensen loved it. He would put up part of the $650k budget himself, and he would show the reel to his friends who also ran theatres, not just in Los Angeles, whenever they were in town, and it would be through a consortium of independent movie theatre owners that Kentucky Fried Movie would get financed.   The movie would be released on August 10th, 1977, ironically the same day as another independent sketch comedy movie, Can I Do It Till I Need Glasses?, was released. But Kentucky Fried Movie would have the powerful United Artists Theatres behind them, as they would make the movie the very first release through their own distribution company, United Film Distribution. I did a three part series on UFDC back in 2021, if you'd like to learn more about them. Featuring such name actors as Bill Bixby, Henry Gibson, George Lazenby and Donald Sutherland, Kentucky Fried Movie would earn more than $7m in theatres, and would not only give John Landis the hit he needed to move up the ranks, but it would give Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker the opportunity to make their own movie. But we'll talk about Airplane! sometime in the future.   Shortly after the release of Kentuck Fried Movie, Landis would get hired to direct Animal House, which would become the surprise success of 1978 and lead Landis into directing The Blues Brothers, which is probably the most John Landis movie that will ever be made. Big, loud, schizophrenic, a little too long for its own good, and filled with a load of in-jokes and cameos that are built only for film fanatics and/or John Landis fanatics. The success of The Blues Brothers would give Landis the chance to make his dream project, a horror comedy he had written more than a decade before.   An American Werewolf in London was the right mix of comedy and horror, in-jokes and great needle drops, with some of the best practical makeup effects ever created for a movie. Makeup effects so good that, in fact, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would make the occasionally given Best Makeup Effects Oscar a permanent category, and Werewolf would win that category's first competitive Oscar.   In 1982, Landis would direct Coming Soon, one of the first direct-to-home video movies ever released. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, Coming Soon was, essentially, edited clips from 34 old horror and thriller trailers for movies owned by Universal, from Frankenstein and Dracula to Psycho and The Birds. It's only 55 minutes long, but the video did help younger burgeoning cineasts learn more about the history of Universal's monster movies.   And then, as previously mentioned, there was the accident during the filming of The Twilight Zone.   Landis was able to recover enough emotionally from the tragedy to direct Trading Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in the winter of 1982/83, another hit that maybe showed Hollywood the public wasn't as concerned about the Twilight Zone accident as they worried it would. The Twilight Zone movie would be released three weeks after Trading Places, and while it was not that big a hit, it wasn't quite the bomb it was expected to be because of the accident.   Which brings us to Into the Night.   While Landis was working on the final edit of Trading Places, the President of Universal Pictures, Sean Daniels, contacted Landis about what his next project might be. Universal was where Landis had made Animal House, The Blues Brothers and American Werewolf, so it would not be unusual for a studio head to check up on a filmmaker who had made three recent successful films for them. Specifically, Daniels wanted to pitch Landis on a screenplay the studio had in development called Into the Night. Ron Koslow, the writer of the 1976 Sam Elliott drama Lifeguard, had written the script on spec which the studio had picked up, about an average, ordinary guy who, upon discovering his wife is having an affair, who finds himself in the middle of an international incident involving jewel smuggling out of Iran. Maybe this might be something he would be interested in working on, as it would be both right up his alley, a comedy, and something he'd never done before, a romantic action thriller.   Landis would agree to make the film, if he were allowed some leeway in casting.   For the role of Ed Okin, an aerospace engineer whose insomnia leads him to the Los Angeles International Airport in search of some rest, Landis wanted Jeff Goldblum, who had made more than 15 films over the past decade, including Annie Hall, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Big Chill and The Right Stuff, but had never been the lead in a movie to this point. For Diana, the jewel smuggler who enlists the unwitting Ed into her strange world, Landis wanted Michelle Pfeiffer, the gorgeous star of Grease 2 and Scarface. But mostly, Landis wanted to fill as many of supporting roles with either actors he had worked with before, like Dan Aykroyd and Bruce McGill, or filmmakers who were either contemporaries of Landis and/or were filmmakers he had admired. Amongst those he would get would be Jack Arnold, Paul Bartel, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Demme, Richard Franklin, Amy Heckerling, Colin Higgins, Jim Henson, Lawrence Kasdan, Jonathan Lynn, Paul Mazursky, Don Siegel, and Roger Vadim, as well as Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, Midnight Cowboy writer Waldo Salt, personal trainer to the stars Jake Steinfeld, music legends David Bowie and Carl Perkins, and several recent Playboy Playmates. Landis himself would be featured as one of the four Iranian agents chasing Pfeiffer's character.   While neither Perkins nor Bowie would appear on the soundtrack to the film, Landis was able to get blues legend B.B. King to perform three songs, two brand new songs as well as a cover of the Wilson Pickett classic In the Midnight Hour.   Originally scheduled to be produced by Joel Douglas, brother of Michael and son of Kirk, Into the Night would go into production on April 2nd, 1984, under the leadership of first-time producer Ron Koslow and Landis's producing partner George Folsey, Jr.   The movie would make great use of dozens of iconic Los Angeles locations, including the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the Shubert Theatre in Century City, the Ships Coffee Shot on La Cienega, the flagship Tiffanys and Company in Beverly Hills, Randy's Donuts, and the aforementioned airport. But on Monday, April 23rd, the start of the fourth week of shooting, the director was ordered to stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter due to the accident on the Twilight Zone set. But the trial would not start until months after Into the Night was scheduled to complete its shoot. In an article about the indictment printed in the Los Angeles Times two days later, Universal Studios head Sean Daniels was insistent the studio had made no special plans in the event of Landis' possible conviction. Had he been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, Landis was looking at up to six years in prison.   The film would wrap production in early June, and Landis would spend the rest of the year in an editing bay on the Universal lot with his editor, Malcolm Campbell, who had also cut An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, the Michael Jackson Thriller short film, and Landis's segment and the Landis-shot prologue to The Twilight Zone.   During this time, Universal would set a February 22nd, 1985 release date for the film, an unusual move, as every movie Landis had made since Kentucky Fried Movie had been released during the summer movie season, and there was nothing about Into the Night that screamed late Winter.   I've long been a proponent of certain movies having a right time to be released, and late February never felt like the right time to release a morbid comedy, especially one that takes place in sunny Los Angeles. When Into the Night opened in New York City, at the Loews New York Twin at Second Avenue and 66th Street, the high in the city was 43 degrees, after an overnight low of 25 degrees. What New Yorker wants to freeze his or her butt off to see Jeff Goldblum run around Los Angeles with Michelle Pfeiffer in a light red leather jacket and a thin white t-shirt, if she's wearing anything at all? Well, actually, that last part wasn't so bad. But still, a $40,000 opening weekend gross at the 525 seat New York Twin would be one of the better grosses for all of the city. In Los Angeles, where the weather was in the 60s all weekend, the film would gross $65,500 between the 424 seat Avco Cinema 2 in Westwood and the 915 seat Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.   The reviews, like with many of Landis's films, were mixed.   Richard Corliss of Time Magazine would find the film irresistible and a sparkling thriller, calling Goldblum and Pfeiffer two of the most engaging young actors working. Peter Travers, writing for People Magazine at the time, would anoint the film with a rarely used noun in film criticism, calling it a “pip.” Travers would also call Pfeiffer a knockout of the first order, with a newly uncovered flair for comedy. Guess he hadn't seen her in the 1979 ABC spin-off of Animal House, called Delta House, in which she played The Bombshell, or in Floyd Mutrix's 1980 comedy The Hollywood Knights.    But the majority of critics would find plenty to fault with the film. The general critical feeling for the film was that it was too inside baseball for most people, as typified by Vincent Canby in his review for the New York Times. Canby would dismiss the film as having an insidey, which is not a word, manner of a movie made not for the rest of us but for the moviemakers on the Bel Air circuit who watch each other's films in their own screening room.   After two weeks of exclusive engagements in New York and Los Angeles, Universal would expand the film to 1096 screens on March 8th, where the film would gross $2.57m, putting it in fifth place for the weekend, nearly a million dollars less than fellow Universal Pictures film The Breakfast Club, which was in its fourth week of release and in ninety fewer theatres. After a fourth weekend of release, where the film would come in fifth place again with $1.95m, now nearly a million and a half behind The Breakfast Club, Universal would start to migrate the film out of first run theatres and into dollar houses, in order to make room for another film of theirs, Peter Bogdanovich's comeback film Mask, which would be itself expanding from limited release to wide release on March 22nd. Into the Night would continue to play at the second-run theatres for months, but its final gross of $7.56m wouldn't even cover the film's $8m production budget.   Despite the fact that it has both Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer as its leads, Into the Night would not become a cult film on home video the way that many films neglected by audiences in theatres would find a second life.   I thought the film was good when I saw it opening night at the Aptos Twin. I enjoyed the obvious chemistry between the two leads, and I enjoyed the insidey manner in which there were so many famous filmmakers doing cameos in the film. I remember wishing there was more of David Bowie, since there were very few people, actors or musicians, who would fill the screen with so much charm and charisma, even when playing a bad guy. And I enjoyed listening to B.B. King on the soundtrack, as I had just started to get into the blues during my senior year of high school.   I revisited the film, which you can rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon and several other major streaming services, for the podcast, and although I didn't enjoy the film as much as I remember doing so in 1985, it was clear that these two actors were going to become big stars somewhere down the road. Goldblum, of course, would become a star the following year, thanks to his incredible work in David Cronenberg's The Fly. Incidentally, Goldblum and Cronenberg would meet for the first time on the set of Into the Night. And, of course, Michelle Pfeiffer would explode in 1987, thanks to her work with Susan Sarandon, Cher and Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick, which she would follow up with not one, not two but three powerhouse performances of completely different natures in 1988, in Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob, Robert Towne's Tequila Sunrise, and her Oscar-nominated work in Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons. Incidentally, Pfeiffer and Jonathan Demme would also meet for the first time on the set of Into the Night, so maybe it was kismet that all these things happened in part because of the unusual casting desires of John Landis.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 108, on Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl, is released.     Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Into the Night.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

0:00 - Intro & Summary2:00 - Movie Discussion44:35 - Cast & Crew/Awards49:49 - True Crime/Pop Culture54:10 - TV01:04:44-  Rankings & Ratings To see a full list of movies we will be watching and shows notes, please follow our website: https://www.1991movierewind.com/Follow us!https://linktr.ee/1991movierewind Theme: "sunrise-cardio," Jeremy Dinegan (via Storyblocks)Don't forget to rate/review/subscribe/tell your friends to listen to us!

Kevin is joined by Martha Coolidge, a celebrated American film director known for her groundbreaking work in the film industry.Martha Coolidge, DirectorCoolidge has directed a wide range of films over the course of her career, including the iconic 1983 teen comedy Valley Girl, the critically acclaimed drama Rambling Rose, and the romantic comedy Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her work, including the Women in Film Crystal Award. She has served as the president of the Directors Guild of America, making her one of the most influential women in Hollywood. Throughout her career, Coolidge has been a trailblazer for women in the film industry, inspiring a new generation of filmmakers with her innovative storytelling approach and commitment to diversity and inclusivity.An Actor's Director (4:05)Martha has the reputation of being an actor's director. Having worked with such names as Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, Halle Berry, Laura Dern, and Robert Duvall, Martha shares her directing process and how her goal is to figure out what an actor needs to be relaxed.Early career and turning trauma into a documentary (6:28)Martha talks about her early directing experience at the Rhode Island School of Design. She discusses her early years as a documentary filmmaker. “Gag me with a spoon.” On self-producing Valley Girl(11:28)Kevin asks Martha about her first job in Hollywood, and Martha talks about financing Valley Girl, shooting it in New York, and capturing the idiosyncratic voice of the movement. Martha shares how Brian Grazer saw Valley Girl, liked it, and how that led to her directing Real Genius starring Val Kilmer.The screening process and being a literal nervous wreck (13:19)The test screening process tends to make filmmakers nervous. Martha shares her experience with the audience preview of Valley Girl and how they pulled people in off the street to preview the film.Love for directing and making a movie several times (19:12)Kevin asks Martha about her favorite part of filmmaking. Martha talks about her love of directing and her special relationship with actors. She also shares her passion for post-production and how you make the movie several times in post.First woman president of the Director's Guild of America (28:45)Coolridge was named the first woman president of the Director's Guild of America. She talks about how some were not ready for a woman president, but most welcomed the diversity. Kevin and Martha discuss women in filmmaking and the underrepresentation of female directors. Host: Kevin GoetzGuest: Martha CoolidgeProducer:  Kari CampanoFor more information about Martha Coolidge:IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004838/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marthacoolidge/?hl=enTwitter: https://twitter.com/Martha_CoolidgeFor more information about Kevin Goetz:Website: www.KevinGoetz360.comAudienceology Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Audience-ology/Kevin-Goetz/9781982186678Facebook, Twitter, Instagram: @KevinGoetz360Linked In @Kevin GoetzScreen Engine/ASI Website: www.ScreenEngineASI.com

Forty years ago, this low-budget teen comedy featuring a mostly unknown cast was released to little fanfare but it became an instant sleeper hit and it happened to also introduce the world to the unique screen presence of Nicholas Cage who was only 18 during production.  He plays Randy, a bohemian punkish kid from Hollywood who falls hard for the titular girl from the Valley, Julie played by Deborah Foreman - their romance from opposite sides of the tracks starts to resemble the tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, only with much less death. ;) Martha Coolidge directed this charming time capsure from the early '80's featuring a KILLER soundtrack including tunes from Modern English, Men At Work, The Human League, and Sparks.Host: Geoff Gershon  Editors: Geoff and Ella GershonProducer: Marlene Gershonhttps://livingforthecinema.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/Letterboxd:https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/

The third film in our Risqué Romance cycle is the small yet delightful, Valley Girl (1983).Valley Girl, the paradigm of an indie film, transcended its own means of production to become an oddly dismissed 80s mall romcom. As one reviewer aptly stated, the influence of Valley Girl was so massive that it's hard to watch it without feeling a sense of deja vu. Helmed by Martha Coolidge, who went on to direct the classic Real Genius and to become the president of the DGA, Valley Girl features Nicolas Cage in his breakout lead role. Coolidge placated the indie studio's grindhouse expectations while at the same time deftly producing one of the more authentic 1980s romance films.For our chaser film, we explore My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), a homosexual love story that plays down any risque notions. Written by a playwright, this gem of Britain's Channel 4 glows brightly despite its three decades of age.

Our Valentines Fortnite theme continues with another Val Kilmer hit film. Weird Science(1985) Directed by John Hughes. Starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith and Kelly LeBrock. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qd04u2Yj44&ab_channel=RottenTomatoesClassicTrailers Real Genius(1985) Directed by Martha Coolidge. Starring Val Kilmer, Gabriel Jarret and William Atherton. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=real+genius Twitter: @DoubledFeature Instagram: DoubledFeature Email: DoubledFeaturePodcast@Gmail.com Dan's Twitter: @DannyJenkem Dan's Letterboxd: @DannyJenkem Max's Twitter: @Mac_Dead Max's Letterboxd: @Mac_Dead Executive Producer: Koolaid --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/doubledfeature/message

What do, an 80's era love story between a wealthy girl and a city punk, and the staggering trials of a competitive cheerleading team, have in common? This week on THE MOVIE CONNECTION: Jacob Watched: "VALLEY GIRL" (6:45) (Directed by, Martha Coolidge. Starring, Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Elizabeth Daily...) KC Watched: "BRING IT ON" (44:47) (Directed by, Peyton Reed. Starring, Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Gabrielle Union...) Talking points include: A Movie Directors Rom-Com Cheerleading vs Dance vs Gymnastics How punk is Valley Girl? and more!! Send us an email to let us know how we're doing: movieconnectionpodcast@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts Check out more reviews from Jacob on Letterboxd Cover art by Austin Hillebrecht, Letters by KC Schwartz

Chris Bricklemyer (Outside the Cinema) and Ryan Luis Rodriguez (The Coolness Chronicles) join Mike to discuss the 1985 film from Martha Coolidge, Real Genius. Written by Pat Proft and Neal Israel, the film stars Gabe Jarret as Mitch Taylor, a 15 year old who is recruited into a top engineering college by Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton). Hathaway has been secretly contracted by the US military to create a new weapon -- a space laser -- which can vaporize a target from the upper atmosphere. Mitch is paired with the hottest of hot shots at the school, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer) in a real career kick-starter role.Interviews on this episode include Gabe Jarret, Neal Israel, and Jon Gries.

Chris Bricklemyer (Outside the Cinema) and Ryan Luis Rodriguez (The Coolness Chronicles) join Mike to discuss the 1985 film from Martha Coolidge, Real Genius. Written by Pat Proft and Neal Israel, the film stars Gabe Jarret as Mitch Taylor, a 15 year old who is recruited into a top engineering college by Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton). Hathaway has been secretly contracted by the US military to create a new weapon -- a space laser -- which can vaporize a target from the upper atmosphere. Mitch is paired with the hottest of hot shots at the school, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer) in a real career kick-starter role.Interviews on this episode include Gabe Jarret, Neal Israel, and Jon Gries.

During this year's MaxFunDrive, we promised one lucky supporter the opportunity to choose a film for us to watch if we hit our goal. Well, hit it we did, and now (thanks to listener Andrea D.) this film is hitting our screens, and your ears! Will it be a hit with our favorite movie geniuses? Listen and learn! Plus: good news for us nerds…there will be a quiz!What's GoodAlonso - Physical Season 2Drea - Meeting Maria Lewis IRL! (nb: Tim Tam Slam)David - Lost Highway remasterIfy - Getting art framedWTIDIC “At the Movies,” New York Times, August 9, 1985“So Far, Only ‘Ghostbusters' For Christmas,” Los Angeles Times, August 30, 1985Staff PicksIfy - War GamesAlonso - Back to the BeachDrea - Dinner in AmericaDavid - Valley GirlLumi Labs: Ever tried Microdosing? Visit Microdose.com and use MAXFILM for 30% off + Free Shipping. MasterClass:Visit MasterClass.com/MAXFILM for 15% off a one-year subscription to MasterClass.***With:Ify NwadiweDrea ClarkAlonso DuraldeDavid KittredgeProduced by Marissa FlaxbartSr. Producer Laura Swisher

This movie is NOT in 3-d, but your face is! It's Martha Coolidge's "Valley Girl" from 1983 and Comic Tina Gallo is here to discuss it all with Host and Corporate Comedian Steve Mazan.  Is this a guilty pleasure? Is Nicolas Cage good looking? Was Deborah Foreman the shining star here? Were there really girls talking like this? Is the soundtrack one of the best ever? All these questions and more get answered onthsi week's Mazan Movie Club Podcast. "Valley Girl" on IMDb  Home of the Mazan Movie Club Steve Mazan on Instagram Home of Corporate Comedian Steve Mazan  

We're so thrilled to have Martha on!! =========== Martha Patterson Coolidge was born on August 17, 1946 in New Haven Connecticut. She studied illustration at Rhode Island School of Design, but changed majors, becoming the first film major at the school. She attended and graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she received her Master's degree in Fine Arts. Coolidge's diverse project range has given her a reputation for eclectic taste. Among a long list of working with Hollywood's finest, Coolidge also discovered great talents like Nicolas Cage (Valley Girl (1983)), Val Kilmer (Real Genius (1985)) and James Gandolfini (Angie (1994)). In addition to working with talented artists, Coolidge has received many awards for her work. Recognition has included a Best Director "Spirit" Award from the Independent Feature Project West, the "Crystal Award" from Women in Film, the Maverick Award from the LeFemme Film Festival, the distinguished "Robert Aldrich Award" from the Directors Guild of America, the "Breakthrough Award" from Women, Men & Media, and "Lifetime Achievement Awards" from Methodfest, the Dallas Film Festival, a "Big Bear" from the Big Bear Film Festival and the "Award for Artist Excellence in Film" from Rhode Island School of Design. She has been inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame and the Museum of Television and Radio, and also helped found the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, Inc. and the IFP. An avid horsewoman. Ms. Coolidge breeds and shows Paso Fino horses and holds several National Championship titles. She is married to the award-winning production designer James H. Spencer and has one son, Preston, named in honor of one of her idols, playwright and film director Preston Sturges. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Celebrity Loop

To mark the occasion of UW Cinematheque's 35mm presentation of Martha Coolidge's "Valley Girl" (1983) on April 22, Hanna Kohn, C Nelson-Lifson, Lewis Peterson, and Grant Phipps talk about its production, legacy, and Nicolas Cage.

Coming of age stories come in all shapes and sizes. The adaptation of Calder Willingham's 1972 semi-autobiographical novel ‘Rambling Rose' into Martha Coolidge's 1991 film of the same name was one that captured a slice of life of a teenager and his family growing up in the South during the Great Depression. His coming of age largely happens when the new housekeeper moves in and piques his sexual awareness. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we wrap up our John Heard series with Coolidge's 1991 film Rambling Rose. Does Rambling Rose work for us? This is an interesting film because there's a lot about it to discuss. But does that mean we liked it? Pete really didn't while Andy liked it but with reservations. Neither of us were as captured as critics were at the time, so why is that? We go back and forth on the characters here. Andy likes Robert Duvall. Pete doesn't. We both love Diane Ladd. Laura Dern and Lukas Haas are great but what do we think of their characters? And that doctor? Is he stupidly evil or is there more to him? Of course there's the whole sexual exploration dealt with between an underage teen and a 19-year-old. Does that feel problematic? Or is it dealt with in a believable way? But what about how they handled it during the production? John Heard's in this, but only in the framing device. Do we even like the framing device for this film? Would it have worked without it? How about Martha Coolidge's direction? And how the heck did Renny Harlin and Mario Kasar get involved? It's an interesting film. Not one of our favorites, though even we disagree on whether it works or not. But it's worth watching and discussing for sure, so check it out then tune in. The Next Reel – when the movie ends, our conversation begins! Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel's Discord channel! Film Sundries Learn more about supporting The Next Reel Film Podcast through your own membership. Watch this on Apple or Amazon, or find other places at JustWatch Script Transcript Theatrical trailer Poster artwork Original Material Flickchart Letterboxd

We wrap up our John Heard series with a film he's hardly in. It's Martha Coolidge's 1991 Depression coming of age story ‘Rambling Rose,' which stars Laura Dern and her mother Diane Ladd! Tune in.

We wrap up our John Heard series with a film he's hardly in. It's Martha Coolidge's 1991 Depression coming of age story ‘Rambling Rose,' which stars Laura Dern and her mother Diane Ladd! Tune in.

Trailblazing director Martha Coolidge, aka the actor's director, shares her passion for filmmaking. Her credits include Valley Girl, Rambling Rose, and If These Walls Could Talk 2. Tune in as she talks about her latest film, I'll Find You, about two young lovers torn apart during WWII.