The Pink Smoke podcast

The Pink Smoke
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Aug 20, 2024 • 1h 4min

Ep. 148 The Queen Of Spades

Host Martin Kessler is joined by Ally Pitts to discuss Thorold Dickinson's 1949 British fantasy-horror film, The Queen of Spades. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Movie Kessler on X: twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on X: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Aug 14, 2024 • 1h 12min

1974: Fifty Years Later / Deadly Weapons

All episodes are made available to Patreon subscribers, the most pulchritudinous and buxom of all audiences, one week before their general release. Support our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke It's time to talk tits. We're joined by the peerless Wendy Mays to discuss softcore porn impresario Doris Wishman's breastacular Deadly Weapons, the story of Chesty Morgan hunting down a cadre of creeps and killing them with her massive 73 inch bazooms in a kind of brain-damaged, sleazy The Bride Wore Black knock-off. It. is. a. delight. 1974 was a landmark year for film, a convergence of exciting international cinema and the original voices of New Hollywood that still resonates 50 years later. In our new series we invite a different guest for each episode to choose a 1974 movie to talk about, ranging from giant blockbusters to minor cult curios and everything else in between. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com John Cribbs on X: x.com/TheLastMachine The Pink Smoke on X: x.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on X: x.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Aug 6, 2024 • 1h 26min

Ep. 147 The Outfit

All episodes are made available to Patreon subscribers, the most secertive and sinister of all audiences, one week before their general release. {www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke} Continuing our episodes on Richard Stark's 24-book Parker series, we delve into the third book The Outfit, in which Stark (pen name for the legendary Donald E. Westlake) expands the violent world Parker to epic proportions and offers a smörgåsbord of heists (a metaphorical (not veritable) Swedish buffet of heists instead of pickled fish!) centering minor characters who would grow in importance as the series progressed. We also look in-depth at John Flynn's 1973 adaptation, possibly the most Parker-ish of all Parker adaptations. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Jul 30, 2024 • 1h 32min

Ep. 146 Little Drummer Girl

The Pink Smoke welcomes back fan favorite John Arminio for a companion episode to our epic 100 Years of Spy Movies two-parter from last year to discuss the 2018 mini-series The Little Drummer Girl, starring Florence Pugh and Michael Shannon, directed by Park Chan-wook. Adapted from the 1983 novel by John le Carré, it is like most of the famed author's work a taut and intricate web of postwar intrigue and espionage. Set in 1979, it follows the recruitment of an English actress by a seasoned Mossad spymaster to infiltrate a Palestinian bomb-maker's network in order to prevent a potential terrorist attack on London. John himself has recruited his father, Captain Tom Arminio USN Retired, to join host John Cribbs in crossing into the treacherous world of le Carré where morality, identity and personal values are routinely compromised. They discuss the relevance of this 40-year-old story, the culpability of those who choose not to take sides in international conflicts, and the fate of characters who suffer moral injury: having perpetrated, failed to prevent, or witnessed events that contradict deeply held moral beliefs. They also make fun of Diane Keaton's haircut from the little-loved 1984 film adaptation. link to the War Peace and Justice Project https://www.warpeacejustice.org/ Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on X: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Jul 16, 2024 • 1h 8min

1974: Fifty Years Later / Blood For Dracula

1974 was a landmark year for film, a convergence of exciting international cinema and the original voices of New Hollywood that still resonates 50 years later. In our new series we invite a different guest for each episode to choose a 1974 movie to talk about, ranging from giant blockbusters to minor cult curios and everything else in between. For William Mendoza of the Men on Film Podcast, 1974 is marked by the rise of Paul Morrissey from Warhol Factory's house filmmaker to international sexploitation auteur. Filmed in unison with his FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN, Morrissey's broad Stoker adaptation BLOOD FOR DRACULA casts Udo Kier as the sulky, shirtless count lurking around an Italian estate, hoping to seduce "wirgins" and consume their pure fluid in order to revitalize his strength. He's impeded by Joe Dallsandro playing a Marxist handyman and famed Italian Neorealist filmmaker Vittorio de Sica who's doing...something. Mendoza loves this movie even though he admits it's a "failure of Italian exploitation," "too artsy to be a horror movie, too stupid to be an art movie." Fascinatingly the whole thing plays out like a classic dirty joke or an 80's sex comedy. There's still plenty to love, and we have a great time breaking down the Morrissey magic which stems from good filmmaking collaborators and a plentiful cast of weirdos to exploit. It's a goofball discussion, with more than a little off-roading. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com William Mendoza on X: twitter.com/MovieKessler Men on Film podcast on X: twitter.com/menonfilmpod The Pink Smoke on X: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on X: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Jul 2, 2024 • 1h 51min

Ep. 145 Peter Pan

Host Martin Kessler welcomes film writer and curator Vanya Garraway to discuss the various film versions of J. M. Barrie's oft-adapted Peter Pan, from the 1924 silent film to last year's Peter Pan & Wendy. Giving their personal assessment of each movie, they dig into the history of the free-spirited boy who refuses to grow up, what makes it such an enduring tale and the sadness inherent in this story of pirates and fairies and a ticking crocodile. Along the way, Kessler and Garraway discuss which Captain Hooks are too sexy, why a Peter Pan story needs a Wendy and yes, they dig into the Tiger Lily issue. Tying Barrie's original work to the thematic concept of what nostalgia really means, they break down the highs and lows of each film adaptation to determine the value of a great story told over & over again. Vanya Garraway on Twitter: @nostalgiaphile @PaidInSweat Paid in Sweat https://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=841875~fc639be0-110c-4035-a588-842aceff5ef6&epguid=9416d3bf-ad16-479c-9d40-f0abda7cb4e9& Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Movie Kessler on X: twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on X: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Jun 18, 2024 • 4h 5min

Ep. 144 Cattle Drive Westerns

All episodes are made available to Patreon subscribers, the most tender and sensitive of all audiences, one week before their general release. https://www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke We're joined by the great David Lambert to discuss one of the greatest Western subgenres, stories of cattle drives and the swarthy, sweaty men who oversee them! It's an overlooked subgenre despite the fact that from Red River to Lonesome Dove, some of the defining films of the Western genre are about the grueling world of cattle-men. When it comes epic Westerns about terse, determined men pushing themselves to the limit under the biggest skies imaginable, there's few subgenres as likely to deliver. Join hosts Christopher Funderburg and John Cribbs for a lively, comprehensive conversation that sets out to do justice to the suprising breadth of work found in "le cinema de cattle drive," as the French call it. And as always, there's no better guest with whom to discuss Westerns than the bottomlessly knowledgeable Mr. Lambert! This is an incredibly fun journey spanning decades of saddle adventures which make up the western equivalent of the road movie. Questions asked along the way include: Is cattle driving exclusive to men? Who would be your preferred trail boss: Monomaniacal John Wayne from Red River? Reformed gunman Billy Green Bush of The Culpepper Cattle Co.? Tough but fair Glenn Ford in Cowboy? Should anyone under any circumstance have to experience 1951's Vengeance Valley? Join us as we blaze this trail - keep your eyes open for rustlers and we'll meet you back at the chuckwagon. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com David Lambert on X: twitter.com/DavidLambertArt The Pink Smoke on X: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on X: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Jun 11, 2024 • 1h 16min

1974: Fifty Years Later / Pray For The Wildcats

1974 was a landmark year for film, a convergence of exciting international cinema and the original voices of New Hollywood that still resonates 50 years later. In our new series we invite a different guest for each episode to choose a 1974 movie to talk about, ranging from giant blockbusters to minor cult curios and everything else in between. Anyone familiar with actor Marjoe Gortner's background as a child evangelist preacher (and his later milking of said image as depicted in the Oscar-winning 1972 documentary Marjoe) will know he often commanded his congregation to pray. But is there any prayer that could help the Wildcats? Anthony King - husband, father, beer leaguer, hockey player and film writer - is also a huge fan of Marjoe Gortner, and he's here to discuss the former minister's first full length film, Pray for the Wildcats, which debuted on ABC in January of 1974. A murderer's row of television personalities make up the titular squad: Mayberry's own Andy Griffith, Robert Reed of the Brady Bunch and William Shatner fresh off the USS Enterprise are joined by Marjoe on a dirtbike trip to the Baja California desert. Desperate to impress Griffith's sociopathic business exec, the three ad execs bring along plenty of personal baggage on a trip fraught with resentment and failure that ultimately ends in death. It's a terminally square yet truly strange and somewhat obscure TV movie that we're glad Anthony unearthed for us to survey. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Anthony King on X: x.com/akdonelly John Cribbs on X: x.com/TheLastMachine The Pink Smoke on X: x.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on X: x.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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Jun 4, 2024 • 1h 24min

Ep. 143 Amatuer & Pulp Fiction

All episodes are made available to Patreon subscribers, the most determined and unsparing of all audiences, one week before their general release. {www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke} The Cannes Film Festival, May 1994. Two independent American crime films featuring guns, gangsters, torture, redemption, stylized artificial dialogue, quirky comedy, a cool soundtrack, a main character who dies and is resurrected and a criminal's kept woman with an Anna Karina haircut made their debut at the southern tip of France. One of them went on to conquer the world and become one of the most beloved and imitated films of the ensuing 30 years. The other faded into obscurity and is barely brought up three decades later. The films are Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Hal Hartley's Amateur, and their divergent paths clearly shifted the cultural space of American independent cinema moving forward. We welcome back Pinnland Empire guru Marcus Pinn (like us, a teenage budding cinephile in the mid-90's) to talk about these two films, how they were shaped by the climate of late 80's/early 90's indie cinema, their impact and their legacy. Despite Hartley's deep meaningful contemplations proving no match for Tarantino's sheer exuberance, these are two films that were meaningful to all three of us, so we also get pretty heavily into some formative personal history and lament the slow death of a truly specific kind of American movie. Who's the real amateur here? Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Marcus Pinn on Twitter: twitter.com/PINNLAND_EMPIRE The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"
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May 21, 2024 • 1h 2min

1974: Fifty Years Later / The Education Of Sonny Carson

1974 was a landmark year for film, a convergence of exciting international cinema and the original voices of New Hollywood that still resonates 50 years later. In our new series we invite a different guest for each episode to choose a 1974 movie to talk about, ranging from giant blockbusters to minor cult curios and everything else in between. One of the more neglected films of the year was The Education of Sonny Carson, the coming-of-age tale of an inner city kid who moves from life with a street gang to fighting for survival during a stretch in prison. Directed by The Mack's Michael Campus and adapted by civil rights activist Sonny Carson from his autobiography, the film packs a more brutal punch than any movie from its time yet barely gets mentioned these days. Marcus Pinn returns to discuss the film's curiously underwhelming reputation despite its decades-long legacy through hip hop music and influence on the next 50 years of cinema. Even with a messy aesthetic and muddled narrative, Campus' film is an unquestionably powerful artwork that captures individual struggle and the cruel reality of life in Bedford-Stuyvesant with the use of real locations and real Brooklyn gangs. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Christopher Funderburg on X: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on X: twitter.com/TheLastMachine The Pink Smoke on X: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

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