Part FITZCARRALDO (1982), part APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), part Lord of the Flies, THE MOSQUITO COAST was Harrison Ford’s wily villainous turn and one of Peter Weir’s most cynical movies to that point in his career. Allie Fox’s Nicaraguan sojourn – an ill-conceived plot to bring ice to the jungle – is cut short by his hubris, his family’s increasing skepticism, and the harsh realities of jungle living that put a cap on his seemingly limitless madman optimism.

On this episode, we talk about America’s self-sabotaging right-wing movement, whether or not the movie begs our empathy for Allie’s detachment from reality, and the unflappable resolve of those who would see the world built in their image.

“Mosquito Coast: Or, Man Absolutely Loses it in a Hardware Store” by Michael Wellvang for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2023/09/15/mosquito-coast-or-man-absolutely-loses-it-in-a-hardware-store/

“Ice is Back With My Brand New Invention” by Lucas Hardwick for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2023/09/15/ice-is-back-with-my-brand-new-invention/

“A Harrison Ford filmography: The actor looks back at some pivotal roles” in Entertainment Weekly: https://ew.com/article/1992/06/12/harrison-ford-filmography/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Allie's Theme" by Maurice Jarre from the THE MOSQUITO COAST soundtrack.