Sibling Cinema

This week, we discuss the 1957 biographical drama, The Spirit of St. Louis, which stands as a unique outlier in Billy Wilder’s filmography—the only biopic he ever directed, and his only collaboration with Jimmy Stewart.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety. If you haven't seen this classic, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Warner Bros. production. Released on April 20, 1957. Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder and Wendell Mayes, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography by Charles Lindbergh. Starring James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, and Patricia Smith. Cinematography by Robert Burks and J. Peverell Marley. Edited by Arthur P. Schmidt. Score by Franz Waxman.

This week, we turn our attention to Billy Wilder's first collaboration with Marilyn Monroe, The Seven Year Itch. It's most famous for the iconic subway-grate skirt blowing image, although, as we discuss, it's a rather small part of the movie.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety. If you haven't seen this classic, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Twentieth Century-Fox production. Released on June 3, 1955. Directed and produced by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder and George Axelrod, based on the play by George Axelrod. Starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. Cinematography by Milton R. Krasner. Edited by Hugh S. Fowler. Score by Alfred Newman.

This week, we discuss the classic romantic Cinderella/Ugly Duckling story, Sabrina, a film that showcases Billy Wilder’s ability to balance sophisticated, witty dialogue with genuine heart and a smidge of social commentary.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety,. If you haven't seen this classic, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Paramount Pictures production. Released on September 22, 1954. Directed and produced by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor, and Ernest Lehman, based on the play Sabrina Fair by Samuel A. Taylor. Starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden. Cinematography by Charles Lang. Edited by Doane Harrison. Score by Frederick Hollander.

This week, we discuss the tense but slyly comedic prisoner-of-war thriller, Stalag 17, a film that balances suspense with Billy Wilder's signature sharp, cynical wit.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety. If you haven't seen this classic, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Paramount Pictures production. Released on July 1, 1953. Directed and produced by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder and Edwin Blum, based on the play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski. Starring William Holden, Don Taylor, Robert Strauss, Harvey Lembeck, and Otto Preminger. Cinematography by Ernest Laszlo. Edited by Doane Harrison. Score by Franz Waxman.

This week, we discuss Billy Wilder’s darkest and most cynical film, Ace in the Hole, a scathing indictment of tabloid journalism and public spectacle. It flopped on its original release but has seen its reputation improve as time catches up to it.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety. If you haven't seen this film, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Paramount Pictures production. Released on June 29, 1951. Directed and produced by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, and Walter Newman. Starring Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, and Porter Hall. Cinematography by Charles Lang. Edited by Doane Harrison. Score by Hugo Friedhofer.

We are back this week, with the action-adventure classic, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which brought together Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to introduce audiences to iconic hero Indiana Jones.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the iconic opening temple run and the supernatural climax. If you haven't seen this classic, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Lucasfilm production, released by Paramount Pictures on June 12, 1981. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, and Denholm Elliott. Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe. Edited by Michael Kahn. Music by John Williams.

This week, we discuss the Coen Brothers' stylish satire of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Hail, Caesar!

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the mystery of "The Future" and the ultimate resolution of Baird Whitlock's kidnapping. If you haven't seen this film, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Universal Pictures and Working Title Films production. Released on February 5, 2016. Directed, written, produced, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Channing Tatum. Cinematography by Roger Deakins. Music by Carter Burwell.

The story follows a single, chaotic day in the life of Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a "fixer" for Capitol Pictures in 1951. Mannix spends his days (and nights) suppressing scandals and managing the fragile egos of the studio’s stars. His world is thrown into disarray when the studio's biggest star, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), is kidnapped from the set of the prestige Roman epic Hail, Caesar! Tales of the Christ by a mysterious group calling themselves "The Future." As Mannix juggles a pregnant starlet's image, a singing cowboy’s transition into high-society drama, and a persistent pair of rival gossip columnists (both played by Tilda Swinton), he must also weigh a lucrative, low-stress job offer from Lockheed against his grueling but soul-stirring devotion to the magic of the movies.

This week we talk about Steven Spielberg’s choatic comedy flop 1941. When I Google "1941 movie" I get Citizen Kane. This movie is not Citizen Kane.

SPOILER ALERT We do talk about this movie in its entirety. If you plan on watching it, for God knows what reason, we suggest you do so before listening to our takes.

A Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures production. Released on December 14, 1979. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, based on a story by Zemeckis, Gale, and John Milius. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune, and Robert Stack. Cinematography by William A. Fraker. Edited by Michael Kahn. Score by John Williams.

This week, we discuss the atmospheric, dystopian sci-fi noir, Blade Runner, the film that ranks number 97 on the AFI list.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety. If you haven't seen this classic, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Warner Bros. and The Ladd Company production. Released on June 25, 1982. Directed by Ridley Scott. Screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. Cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth. Edited by Terry Rawlings. Music by Vangelis.

This week, we discuss Steven Spielberg's follow-up to Jaws, the science fiction classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a film that traded the alien invasion tropes of the 1950s for a sense of spiritual wonder, mystery and awe. And five famous bars of John WIlliams music.

SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the iconic five-tone sequence and the transformative finale at Devil's Tower. If you haven't seen this masterpiece, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.

A Columbia Pictures and EMI Films production. Released on November 16, 1977. Directed and written by Steven Spielberg. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, and Bob Balaban. Cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond. Edited by Michael Kahn. Music by John Williams.