Ep 151. WESTERNS 101: Sergio’s Spaghetti

A huge portion of the modern idea of what a western is can be traced back to an Italian director with an appreciation for samurai films, Sergio Leone. Today Alex and Jonathan look at his influence on the spaghetti western sub-genre with For a Few Dollars More (1965), Once Upon a Time in the West…

Episode 104. WWII: Drama

Continuing through our exploration of WWII, Alex and Jonathan turn the focus to the civilian level in Europe and look at the dramatic films Paisan (1946), Army of Shadows (1969), and Schindler's List (1993). We discuss the uniqueness of films being made in the immediate aftermath of the war, the difference in tone between war…

Ep 24. WORLD TOUR: Italia Infelice

Alex and Jonathan say ciao to America this week as we embark on the first stage of our new ten-week World Tour series! Our first stop is Italy where we take a look at the Italian neorealism films Rome, Open City (1945) and Bicycle Thieves (1948) and the post-neorealism film 8 1/2 (1963). We talk about the effect…