Jason and the Movienauts

Jason and Michelle wrap up their series on Douglas Sirk, Hollywood's master of melodrama, by counting down all 13 Sirk films they covered, from the noir thrills of Lured to the towering tearjerker Imitation of Life. They agree on seven spots, including #1 and #13, but the biggest fight is over Written on the Wind: Jason puts it at #6, while Michelle, for whom it's her all-time favorite Sirk, puts it at #2.How would you rank them? Tell us your top Sirk in the comments, and like and subscribe for more director deep dives.CHAPTERS0:00 Intro0:33 #13 Taza, Son of Cochise (1954)1:33 #12 Sleep, My Love (1948)2:46 #11 Shockproof (1949)3:47 #10 Lured / All I Desire4:35 #9 All I Desire / Lured6:52 #8 Interlude / Magnificent Obsession8:11 #7 Magnificent Obsession / Interlude11:27 #6 Written on the Wind / A Time to Love and A Time to Die13:15 #5 The Tarnished Angels (1957)15:10 #4 A Time to Love and A Time to Die / There's Always Tomorrow16:33 #3 All That Heaven Allows (1955)18:14 #2 There's Always Tomorrow / Written on the Wind21:54 #1 Imitation of Life (1959)26:20 More Sirk worth seeking out27:59 Fassbinder and Sirk29:22 The final rankingsAlso discussed: Battle Hymn, Thunder on the Hill, Hitler's Madman, Never Say Goodbye and Meet Me at the Fair, plus Rainer Werner Fassbinder with Douglas Sirk.Music: "Together We Stand" by Kaazoom.#DouglasSirk #ImitationOfLife #WrittenOnTheWind #AllThatHeavenAllows #ClassicFilm #Melodrama #MoviePodcast

In the latest episode of their minute by minute discussion of Robert Altman's epochal film Nashville, Haven stops everything to have Opal thrown out of his studio, and Nashville gives us its first burst of overlapping dialogue. Jason Sacks and Dan Story explain the Lion's Gate 8-track sound system behind it, ask how far "I'm Opal from the BBC" could get you in 1975, and look at Bud snapping to attention when his father calls him "Buddy." Plus Haven's double standard about studio guests, Henry Gibson's career, and the what-if of Robert Duvall playing Haven Hamilton. 00:50 Altman's overlapping dialogue 01:55 "I'm Opal from the BBC" 07:08 The 8-track sound system 10:12 Bud and "Buddy" 16:01 Henry Gibson's performance 21:44 What if Robert Duvall played Haven?

Jason Sacks, Paul McCoy and Shawn Hill continue their journey through the films of John Carpenter with his late-’90s pair: Village of the Damned (1995) and Vampires (1998). Neither is anyone’s new favorite Carpenter. The verdict is “very, very okay.” But there’s plenty to dig into. Village of the Damned was a work-for-hire job. Universal offered it in exchange for a Creature from the Black Lagoon remake that never happened, and Carpenter stuck close to the 1960 original he loved as a kid. The guys weigh a strong cast (Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Mark Hamill, Meredith Salenger) against blank, robotic children and a flat look. Vampires started as a $60 million Dolph Lundgren project and became a $20 million James Woods movie. It’s gorgeously shot by Gary B. Kibbe and full of Carpenter finally getting to make his Western, with Sheryl Lee bringing Fire Walk with Me energy. Plus: casting stars who later became problematic, Maximilian Schell’s cameo, and a look ahead to Ghosts of Mars and The Ward. Next time: Ghosts of Mars and The Ward. #JohnCarpenter #VillageOfTheDamned #Vampires #HorrorMovies #MoviePodcast #JasonAndTheMovienauts

In the latest discussion of Robert Altman's brilliant Nashville, Haven Hamilton finally takes the mic, recording his bicentennial anthem "200 Years," and Jason Sacks and Dan Story ask whether it's the most pandering song in Robert Altman's Nashville. They read Joan Tewkesbury's screenplay description of Haven, size up Henry Gibson's controlling star and meet Bud and Lady Pearl, the family in his orbit. Plus Altman's assistant directors Tommy Thompson and Alan Rudolph, the background extras with stories of their own, Geraldine Chaplin's Opal wandering in, and some unforgettable 1970s outfits. 00:24 "200 Years" 07:22 Tewkesbury on Haven 14:15 Bud and Lady Pearl 20:03 Altman's assistant directors 25:04 Opal arrives 31:23 Those 1970s outfits

Jason Sacks and Michelle wrap up their Douglas Sirk series with his most personal film, 1958's A Time to Love and A Time to Die. Based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel, it follows a young German soldier on a three-week furlough through a bombed-out Germany in 1944, where he falls fast and hard for Elizabeth. Is Sirk imagining the life of the son he lost on the Eastern Front? Do American actors like John Gavin, Don DeFore and Keenan Wynn work as Germans? Would Paul Newman have been better in the lead? Plus Oscar, the SS man who's living large; Dorothea Wieck of Mädchen in Uniform as the landlady; the producer's cut Sirk never saw; why the film flopped in Germany; and comparisons to Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair and Judgment at Nuremberg. Spoiler warning: we discuss the devastating ending. 00:40 Sirk's most personal film 04:27 1950s hair in 1944 Germany 06:17 Oscar and the banality of evil 09:00 Dorothea Wieck as the landlady 10:12 Americans playing Germans 14:05 The Don DeFore problem 16:10 The wounded soldiers' kindness 18:03 What if Paul Newman had starred? 21:52 Love on a three-week furlough 28:19 Sirk and his son 29:53 The cut Sirk never saw 30:45 The ending (spoilers) 34:56 Émigré directors look back at Germany 38:02 Why Germany didn't want this film 41:55 Sirk's wounded soldiers