This week, we discuss two films which take a satirical look at the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s.

The first is The Front (1976), starring Woody Allen as a schmuck who serves as a front for a group of blacklisted writers. Several people involved in the making of the film, including the director, writer and a number of actors, had actually been blacklisted in the early ‘50s.

The second is Hail, Caesar! (2016), written and directed by the Coen brothers. It is a fictional story that follows the real-life studio fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), working in the Hollywood film industry in the 1950s, trying to discover what happened to a star actor during the filming of a biblical epic.

Timestamps

What we’ve been watching (00:01:05) –  Silo season one, Bad Sisters season two, Carry-On, Dressed to Kill, Eyes of Laura Mars, No Country for Old Men

The Front (00:36:40)

Hail, Caesar! (01:03:20)

Coin toss (01:28:20)

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