At long last: the central conceit of the podcast has arrived! We celebrate New Hollywood officially beginning with… what else but Warner Bros. megahit “Bonnie and Clyde”. In this episode, Kael Your Idols’ own dynamic duo explores the fascinating critical response to this divisive classic. Known for its extreme violence and fascinating central relationship, the film launched almost everyone involved in it to the stratosphere of fame and fortune. Topics include: finding Gene Wilder sexually attractive, the conscious influence the creators took from the French New Wave, and the attempt to cast the lead characters as members of the 60s counterculture.

In this episode Sam and Elena continue to explore the foreign film movements that served as precursors to New Hollywood. The focus is on Japan and its studio-mandated ‘New Wave’ which allowed for salacious sex, violence, and a more anti-nationalistic worldview. In the spotlight are two very different films: Crazed Fruit directed by Kō Nakahira and Tokyo Drifter by Seijun Suzuki. Topics include: the Sun Tribe phenomenon and Japanese youth culture, pop art stylism, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and whether two brothers can romance the same lady and still remain “chill".

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On the previous episode we discussed Jean-Luc Godard and the influence of Cahiers du Cinéma, the famed French film magazine. This week we tell the tale of Agnès Varda and the other half of the French New Wave: the filmmakers associated with the ‘Left Bank’. Varda’s debut film, La Pointe Courte, is an intriguing first stab at many of the themes she would come to later refine through her amazing 7-decade-spanning career. Topics include: potatoes, friendship, cats, and whether talking too much prevents you from being happy.
NOTE: This episode has a higher amount of background noise than usual… please forgive us.

New Hollywood didn’t just come out of nowhere, ya know! European and Asian art movements from the 50s and 60s had a profound impact on American filmmakers and inspired many of the revolutionary impulses they brought to mainstream USA. The next few episodes of the pod focus on a couple different groups of these foreign precursors. This episode the show is zeroing in on the French New Wave filmmakers most associated with the film journal Cahiers du Cinéma.  Elena and Sam discuss Jean-Luc Godard’s highly experimental masterpiece Pierrot le Fou.  Topics include: the sexiness(?) of Jean-Paul Belmondo, the film’s commentaries on consumerism, and the place for avant garde in the streaming era.

We've seen Old Hollywood at its best, now let's see it at its worst. Recall how last episode was a splashy Old Hollywood Musical? Well, this episode is basically the same thing except instead of a delightful masterpiece, it’s a godawful film that bankrupted a studio and helped push the entire movie biz in a different direction. That’s right friends, we’re talking about arguably the weakest nominee for Best Picture of all time: Doctor Dolittle! Topics include: the factors contributing to New Hollywood's emergence, Rex Harrison and his *ahem* personality, and Anthony Newley impressions.

Ready for more New Hollywood? Hold your horses! Let’s first see what the films of the late 60s and 70s were reacting to by going *back* to the eras and movements that directly preceded New Hollywood. This week finds Elena and Sam traveling back to the zenith of Old Hollywood to discuss Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins. Topics include the film’s depiction of the women’s suffrage movement, the world of children vs the world of adults, and of course the tempestuous relationship between Disney and Mary Poppins’ author P.L. Travers.

In this episode Elena and Sam begin their journey through New Hollywood by jumping nearly to the end of the era as they discuss Francis Ford Coppola's controversial masterpiece Apocalypse Now. Topics include: the nature of celebrity, the drug culture, Marlon Brando's brilliant/stupid improvisations and the portrayal of coolness in war movies.

This is a preview episode. Elena reveals her lack of film knowledge surrounding New Hollywood. Sam quizzes her about the film movement's historical context. They discuss the conceit of the podcast. What fun.