Full Cast And Crew

OK, so I wasn't quite done with Goodfellas, try as I did...one more bridge episode here before we get into 'Mean Streets' and 'Raging Bull'...

In this episode, we consider Marty's Oscar frenemyship, DeNiro's screen qualities, his most famous and best onscreen performances, and, finally...FINALLY...all of his scenes from "Goodfellas" considered from a DeNiro/Jimmy Conway perspective.

In part 3 of my three-episode take on Martin Scorcese and Nicholas Pileggi's masterpiece 'Goodfellas', we pick the film up just after the halfway point, which is Tommy's killing of Spider.  Test audiences and studio executives were completely discombobulated by the loss they felt of the breezy, funny, enjoyable glamorization of the gangster life that the first half of the film represents.  And the descent into depraved, violent madness was a truthfulness that not every audience...or cast member... could embrace immediately.

GQ Oral History of Goodfellas.

In Part 2 of my 3-part exploration of the brilliance, humor, and bravura filmmaking of Marty Scorcese's 'Goodfellas', I talk about iconic scenes from the film's first half, including:

The Bamboo Lounge Crew Introduction scene with Pete The Killer, Freddie No-Nose, and Jimmy Two Times.

The Jimmy/Henry "I'm a clown" scene.

The Copa Entrance scene.

The Bruce beat-down scene.

Morrie's Wigs

The Billy Batts Shinebox scene.

Tommy's Mom's House.

The Spider sequences.

This brings us to the halfway point of the film, and the Spider killing represents the turning point, away from the idolization of gangster gods and deathly into the dark heart of the reality of low-level mob-guy life.

In Part 3, we'll cover the rest of the film's scenes, including the stupendous extended cocaine sequences.

This is the first of at least 2 episodes about Martin Scorcese's 1990 masterpiece 'Goodfellas'.  Let's be honest: it'll probably take three episodes to cover all the genius onscreen in this epitome of the perfect film.

In this episode, I explore the film's roots in Nick Pileggi's classic non-fiction book 'Wiseguy', and the early involvement of vital creative participants in the film like producer Irwin Winkler, actors Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Paul Sorvino, and Lorraine Bracco, and production team members like Micheal Ballhaus and Thelma Schoonmaker.

In Episode 2, we'll get into the film itself, covering the iconic scenes, the score, the film's reception and legacy, and more.

RIP Teri Garr.

I'm traveling for work this week so in lieu of a typical episode I'm taking a wild flyer on something new; maybe it'll work maybe it won't! It's a watch-along episode.  It's like sitting next to me at a screening of 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' and me talking all the through the movie with salient interjections like "Oh I love this part" and "How cool is Brad??".  THIS IS HOW I FIND THE REAL FCAC HEADS!

Should you actually want to watch along with me...there's a countdown a couple minutes into the episode where you can press play on the media of your choice. We should be in sync then.  But no watching is required, you can enjoy this like you would listen to a DVD Commentary as a podcast. What, you don't listen to DVD Commentaries as Podcasts???

Director Mary Herron and her co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner did what 'American Psycho' author Bret Easton Ellis thought was impossible: made a film of his controversial, considered-unfilmable 1991. novel. 

And the lens through which they espied Patrick Bateman proved exactly the right way to gain something meaningful out of what, frankly, is a pretty unreadable and repetitive novel.

The astonishing lead performance from Christian Bale catapulted him to the stardom and rarified air he continues to occupy as an actor today.  And the performance is a wonder to dissect, if you'll pardon the pun.

Featuring a wonderful assortment of supporting actors like Willem Dafoe, Chloe Sevigny, Justin Theroux, Reese Witherspoon, Reg E. Cathey, Josh Lucas, Matt Ross, Jared Leto, Cara Seymour and Samantha Mathis, the film is one of the most essential films about NYC in the 80's.

Brains addled after 'Megalopolis', I attempted and then discarded the idea to do 'Blazing Saddles' but was left wanting. So then, in a way I don't fully understand, but probably having to do with the idea of films that are said to be 'so bad they're good', I somehow arrived at the idea of doing Iain Softley's 1995 film 'Hackers' starring Angelina Jolie in her first onscreen role, Johnny Miller, and pre-fame Wendell Pierce and Felicity Huffman.

I went and saw Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' so you don't have to.  You're welcome.

Actor Kathy Baker joins the podcast this week for a very special episode about her 1988 film 'Clean and Sober'.

Director Glenn Gordon Caron probably needed a stiff drink or 20 after coming off the tumultuous four-season run of 'Moonlighting' with its famously fractious co-stars.  Instead he chose to direct one of the most underappreciated film gems of the 80's in 'Clean and Sober', co-produced by Ron Howard and starring Michael Keaton, Kathy Baker, Morgan Freeman, and M Emmet Walsh in the story of a commercial real estate broker spiralling into...and reluctantly out of...cocaine and alcohol addiction.

Incisively ritten by Tod Carroll, a National Lampoon writer with only two other film credits to date, 'Clean and Sober' was Keaton's first foray into a non-comedic film role, a fact that caused the studio some consternation at the time.  Freeman and Baker were coming off of award-winning roles in 'Street Smart', a Golan-Globus production about a NYC journalist intertwined with a pimp and prostitute, and everyone in the cast of 'Clean and Sober' turned in absolutely phenomenal performances...even Oscar-worthy performances...yet the studio didn't really know how to market or release a film they considered hard-to-define and after only 3 weeks of a summetime release, the film was largely abandoned in the marketplace.

In this special episode of the Full Cast and Crew podcast, I talk with Kathy Baker about her indelible role as Charlie, her experiences making the film, and her approaches to acting and the collaborative nature of filmmaking.

Join us as we spend some well-deserved time giving 'Clean and Sober' its due as still the best film ever made about the tricky early days of sobriety and digging into Kathy's experiences making the film.