Accompanied by their children (Dana Barron, Anthony Michael Hall), Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his wife, Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), are driving from Illinois to a California amusement park. As Clark increasingly fixates on a beautiful woman driving a sports car, the Griswolds deal with car problems and the death of a family member...and a dog. They reach Los Angeles, but, when Clark worries that the trip is being derailed again, he acts impulsively to get his family to the park.  

Vacation's IMDB Page:  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085995/

Chevy Chase Wiki:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevy_Chase

Harold Ramis Wiki:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ramis

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The understated, minimalist 'Flash Gordon' showed admirable restraint in scenery, costuming, and acting.  JUST KIDDING, it's a completely over-the-top circus spectacle of indulgence and various aspects of a film crew working on movies with vastly different tones except they're all working on the same movie.  But FLASH means a lot to a lot of people, notably middle-aged white men who were 6 in 1980 and who embrace this movie tighter than they clutch their ticket to Autograph Alley at ComicCon to get a signed pic of  the guy who played '3rd Hawkman In Attack Scene' for $25.  So we try and plumb the depths, such as they are.  

Local Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay and Burt Lancaster. Up-and-coming Houston oil executive "Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) gets more than he bargained for when a seemingly simple business trip to Scotland changes his outlook on life. Sent by his colorful boss (Burt Lancaster) to the small village of Ferness, Mac is looking to quickly buy out the townspeople so his company can build a new refinery. But after a taste of country life Mac begins to question whether he is on the right side of this transaction.

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Jonathan Demme's 1991 'Silence Of The Lambs' is one of only three films to ever win "The Big Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.  It was an unconventional film in so many interesting and unique ways: female protagonist navigating two violently dangerous serial killers but also the male-populated world that looks down on and is dismissive of her even as it dangles her as bait.  Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter is iconic, maybe the most beloved film villain of all time.  Ted Levin's performance as Buffalo Bill was criminally overlooked for a Best Supporting Actor nod in one of the most egregious snubs in Oscar history. On the pod this week, we're joined by Friend Of The Pod Amanda Charlton, who was present for the filming of some of the jail scenes between Hopkins and Jodi Foster and tells us some fascinating anecdotes about the vibe on the set and some unexpected realities of filming movies that the average person might not know. 

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