IT DON'T WORRY US EPISODE 2: Walker, Talker, Sleeper

In this second episode of It Don't Worry Us, Jason Sacks and Dan Story dig into the opening scene of Robert Altman's Nashville, where Hal Phillip Walker's campaign van pulls out and winds through the city. They unpack the Replacement Party's populist, folksy rhetoric against the backdrop of Watergate-era distrust and 1970s inflation, comparing Walker to Ross Perot and modern outsider candidates. The hosts also trace the van's route through Nashville's now-vanished lower Broadway district, marveling at Altman's background details — stray pedestrians, mismatched parked cars, a beeping Volkswagen — that give the film its documentary-like texture and lived-in realism.Timestamps: 00:00:28 – Introducing the scene: the Walker van as a recurring "character" throughout the film 00:03:01 – The Replacement Party and its Watergate/Nixon-era political context 00:12:06 – Walker's folksy, "dumbed-down" rhetorical style and the era's inflation anxieties 00:19:00 – Frame-by-frame analysis of parked cars and Altman's background details 00:25:02 – The van turns onto Broadway, touring Nashville's lost lower Broadway district