April 10, 2026

Nickelodeon (1976) w/ Aine Geraghty

2 hours 6 minutes

Arguably nobody loved classic Hollywood movies more than Peter Bogdanovich, and he tried to channel that love into a film about a ragtag gang of moviemakers in the early age of cinema: Nickelodeon. After back-to-back flops, Bogdanovich ended up back with Burt Reynolds, Tatum O’Neal, Ryan O’Neal; PLUS he introduced John Ritter to the world! It still didn’t work out for Pete at the box office or with critics… but again, this movie is nowhere near as bad as the world would lead you to believe. At least that’s what Jonah, Journey, and special guest The Girls Who Cried B-Horror co-host Aine Geraghty think!

In addition to Aine’s devotion to her beloved Burt Reynolds, we also talk about Journey finally meeting the fabled Napa Boys (and not really clicking with their vibe), Ryan O’Neal being quite the looker despite everything else about him, an upcoming slate of Peter impersonators, and no film escaping the watchful eye of the Letterboxd vegan alert film critic.

Further “Reading”

By Bogdanovich (2011)

Picture Shows: The Life and Films of Peter Bogdanovich by Andrew Yule

Picturing Peter Bogdanovich by Peter Tonguette

Cybil Disobedience by Cybill Shepherd with Aimee Lee Ball

Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You with Siskel and Ebert (Dec. 1976)

"'Nickelodeon': Not Much Movie for the Money” by Richard Eder for the New York Times (Dec. 22, 1976)

“‘Nickelodeon’ Has Only Flickering Joys” by Gene Siskel for the Chicago Tribune (Dec. 24, 1976)

"Review: 'Nickelodeon'" by Roger Ebert for Chicago Sun-Times (December 27, 1976)

“Peter Bogdanovich’s Year of the Cat” by Alex Simon for Venice Magazine (2002)

“One Director Looks Backward, While Another Peers Underwater” by Dave Kehr for the New York Times (April 15, 2009)

“Review: The Last Picture Show and Nickelodeon Get Sony Double Feature DVD” by Fernando F. Croce for Slant (April 20, 2009)

"Q&A - Director Peter Bogdanovich Finally Gets Five Minutes of His Movie Back" by James Rocchi for AMC Blog (May 6, 2009)

“Nickelodeon” by Rob Nixon for TCM (June 30, 2009)

“The Forgotten: "Nickelodeon" (1976)” by David Cairns for Mubi Notebook (May 1, 2014)

VHS tape upload of the 2020 TCM presentation of the director’s cut of Nickelodeon, introduced by Bogdanovich

Tentative Blu-ray page for upcoming release

Theme music by Ryan (twitter.com/molecularlioneI)

Support your local independent cinemas and video stores!

Aine

The Girls Who Cried B-Horror on Apple + Spotify

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Jonah

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Journey

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