History by Hollywood

Episode 84: Just Mercy. This powerful but very entertaining movie depicts the efforts of lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his Equal Justice Initiative to force a retrial of Walter “Johnny D” McMillian in 1990s Alabama. Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx lead a strong cast in this quest for justice in the face of deep-rooted bigotry and bias. We examine the degree of their success as portrayed in the movie and, of course, how much of the depiction is true to the real events as known.

https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s894/BILLS-116s894is.xml

This week sees Martin joined by Sean Munger and Cody Climer from the Green Screen podcast as they join forces to examine this 1988 movie about primatologist Dian Fossey and her efforts to study and protect mountain gorillas in Rwanda. It’s a wide-ranging show and with due apologies for the length of time you’ve all had to wait for this episode, we do hope it’s worth it.

Episode 81 Battle of the Sexes. 11th October 2020. In 1973, former men’s tennis No1 Bobby Riggs challenged women’s champion Billy Jean King to a $100k exhibition match. Riggs, an unapologetic chauvinist, gambler and hustler was 55 years old but still confident he could beat the best of the current female players. This week’s movie looks at the depiction of the lead-up and the match itself in this 2017 movie, starring Emily Stone as Billy Jean King and Steve Carrel as Bobby Riggs. Join us as we examine how accurate this portrayal proves to be.

Note: There are no clips this week due to the lack of available material which works in an audio format. Except right at the very end, featuring a comment by the real Billy Jean King

This week sees the welcome return of Ray Harris Jr from the long-running History of WWII Podcast as he joins Martin to examine 2019’s Midway, derided by critics yet loved by audiences. Not for the first time, we side very much with the audience and find ourselves surprised by director Roland Emmerich and writer Wes Tooke’s efforts to be as accurate as possible. Naturally, for an HbH featured movie, it stars Woody Harrelson too. It’s a long episode but we hope it’s worthy of your time.

https://historybyhollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/80-midway.mp3

Ray Harris’ WWII Podcast

https://worldwariipodcast.net/

Last Mission to Tokyo by Michel Paradis on James Doolittle’s raid:

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Mission-Tokyo-Extraordinary-Doolittle/dp/1501104713/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=last+mission+to+tokyo&qid=1600525290&sr=8-1

Rear-Admiral Edwin Layton’s book on being Nimitz’s intelligence officer:

https://www.amazon.com/Was-There-Breaking-Secrets-Harbor/dp/1568523475/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=edwin+layton&qid=1600525159&sr=8-3

This week sees the second outing of the T&T supplementary. Join Martin as he examines the multiple issues involving the African American community in the US and how this has been depicted in a number of movies already covered by HbH including Glory, Selma and Hidden Figures, attempting to interpret the meanings, both obvious and subtle that these movies have brought to light.

https://historybyhollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/79-tt-2-race-through-time.mp3

The New York Theremin Society:

https://www.nythereminsociety.org/

The Theremin 100 record can be found at:

https://nythereminsociety.bandcamp.com/music

This week we are joined by Des Latham, regular guest host, this time in his capacity as the host of Plane Crash Diaries, Des being a keen aviator and student of aviation safety.

We look at 2016’s Sully, detailing the incredible landing on the Hudson River in mid-New York by Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger in January 2009 after his Airbus A320 airliner suffered a double engine failure after hitting a flock of geese.

https://historybyhollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/78-sully.mp3

Episode 77 Thoughts & Themes 1: Hidden Meanings. Sunday 26th July 2020.

Welcome to the first episode of Thoughts & Themes in which Martin will look for the themes and deeper meanings within Braveheart and Gladiator plus references to Kingdom of Heaven and 300. We look beyond the factual errors which all of the featured movies contain and ask whether there is a deeper truth concealed beneath the surface. The result may be…. unexpected….. or it would have been until I said that. Do join us and let us know your thoughts through:

Website: www.historybyhollywood.com

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Twitter: @historybyhwood

Or by email [email protected]

https://historybyhollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/77-thoughts-themes-1-hidden-meanings.mp3

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We dive into the 2019 Netflix movie starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson as the two ex-Texas Rangers who led the pursuit of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, seeking to bring to an end their murderous crime spree. The movie takes a very different perspective to the 1967 Bonnie & Clyde film and we will attempt to both fact-check this recent release and also highlight the differences in focus, after we covered the original movie in Episode 51.

We like the movie a lot and strongly urge anyone who hasn’t seen it to track it down before we splatter you in spoilers.

https://historybyhollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/76-the-highwaymen.mp3

John Boessenecker’s biography of Frank Hamer:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/125006998X?pf_rd_r=Z1ZMJSSD5WG9HE2EPF95&pf_rd_p=6fc81c8c-2a38-41c6-a68a-f78c79e7253f

News of the amended planned episodes plus a new addition to the HbH library; Thoughts and Themes will launch towards the end of July 2020, complete with a new variation of our theme music.

https://historybyhollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/99-the-tt-update-snippet.mp3