Episode 49: WEST SIDE STORY

Could it be? Yes, it could. Something's coming, something good. You don't have to wait. Bernstein. Sondheim. Robbins/Wise. It could only be West Side Story, and we've got a podcast all about the 1961 film version. Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer star as star-crossed lovers, but it's Rita Moreno who steals the show as Anita.

West Side Story won the Best Picture award, plus a ton of other bling at the Oscars (TM) for that year. It ranks #21 on our countdown.*

Come back again next week. We've got our tracking devices set for the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

Episode 48: REBECCA

Last night, we dreamt we went to Manderley again . . . but we really we just watched a classic movie about it. The 1940 Alfred Hitchcock mystery Rebecca is the subject of our podcast this week. Joan Fontain plays a timid young woman who married a mysterious, wealthy widower, Maxim de Winter, played by Laurence Oliver. When she returns to his famed estate, Manderley, the newly wed must confront long-buried secrets, the memories of a dead wife, and a creepy housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson).

Rebecca is based on the best-selling novel by Daphne Du Maurier. It was released in 1940 and won the top prize at the Oscars (TM) for that year. It ranks #22 on our countdown.*

Come back again next week as we rumble our way into 1961's West Side Story.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

SPECIAL EPISODE: THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987)

This week we're taking a brief break from our countdown of Best Picture winners to talk about a movie that got nowhere near Best Picture when it was released in 1987. It's the The Princess Bride directed by Rob Reiner and based on the book by William Goldman.

Why you ask are we breaking form this week? That's not your concern. Just buckle up for a lively discussion of this beloved movie and also listen for Bonnie's account of her recent run-in with one of the cast.

We'll get back to our countdown next week with Amadeus.

Episode 47: THE DEER HUNTER

This week, we discuss our final Vietnam film, Michael Cimino's 1978 epic The Deer Hunter. Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage play three steel town friends whose lives are changed forever when they depart for Vietnam.

Also starring Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter won the Best Picture Oscar for 1978. It ranks #23on our countdown.*

Join us next week for Alfred Hitchcock's only Best Picture winner, Rebecca from 1940.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

Episode 46: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING

Join us for this week's podcast as we simply walk into Mordor with Frodo, Sam and Gollum, and also check in with the myriad of other characters in this final installment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings adaptation.

Return of the King was released in 2003 and won the top prize at the Oscars (TM) for the year. We also watched the previous installments, The Fellowship of the Ring from 2001 and The Two Towers from 2002, so we will discuss those as well. This is Bonnie's first time through the fantasy series. Press play to hear more.

Based on the final volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy opus, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ranks #24 on our countdown.*

Join us next week for another war film, 1978's The Deer Hunter.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

Episode 45: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)

This week, we discuss the oldest movie remaining: the Best Picture winner from the third Academy Awards (TM) ceremony covering the years 1929-1930.

All Quiet on the Western Front is an early sound film based on Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 German novel. The film follows very young men who eagerly sign up for service in World War I. They soon come face to face with the horrors of war. Lewis Milestone directed this classic antiwar film.

All Quiet on the Western Front ranks #25 on our countdown.*

Join us next week as we jump ahead to 2003 for the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

Episode 44: ROCKY

We're heading back to the 1970's, with John Avildsen's 1976 classic underdog tale, Rocky.

Written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, this story of a Philadelphia-based, down-on-his-luck boxer who gets the opportunity of his life from heavy-weight champ Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Rocky's changing fortunes also impact his inner circle: girlfriend Adrian (Talia Shire), his coach Mickey (Burgess Merideth), and Adrian's brother Paulie (Burt Young).

Rocky won the Best Picture Academy Award (TM) for 1976 against some fierce competition and ranks #26 on our countdown.

Join us next week for the 1930 version of the war epic All Quiet on the Western Front.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

Episode 43: THE DEPARTED

This week we discuss the 2006 crime thriller The Departed, which may or may not be Bonnie's first Martin Scorsese movie.

The film stars Leonardo Di Caprio and Matt Damon facing off as double agents straddling both sides of the law. The star-studded cast also features Jack Nicholson as a Boston mob boss, Vera Farmiga as a state psychiatrist, plus Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin as law enforcement officers.

The Departed ranks #27 on our countdown.

Join us next week for the boxing classic, Rocky.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

Episode 42: THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Join us for a discussion of the beloved musical The Sound of Music.

Robert Wise directs this film adaptation of Rogers and Hammerstein's final musical about the Von Trapp family in Austria in the last golden days of the 1930s.

Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer star. It won the Best Picture Academy Award (TM) for 1965, and ranks #28 on our countdown. Tune in to see how we think it holds up and which of us did their homework.

Join us next week for The Departed, which may or may not be a ghost story.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.

Episode 41: MIDNIGHT COWBOY

We've made it into the twenties on our Best Picture countdown and get to chew over John Schlesinger's polarizing 1969 drama Midnight Cowboy. This is our third episode on a Dustin Hoffman film, following Rain Man and Kramer vs. Kramer. Hoffman plays Ratso Rizzo, a lowlife con man, and Jon Voigt shares the lead as Joe Buck, a naive Texas whose dreams are dashed in the Big Apple.

A sordid tale of a couple of men on the lowest rung of society, is it a humanistic masterpiece or just a slog? Turn in to find out our takes on Midnight Cowboy.

It ranks at number 29 on our Best Picture Countdown,* so it can't be all bad, right? Join us next week for The Sound of Music, which is pretty much the same movie.

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.