Speakeasy Noir Cast

We are back to insult your ear drums with our shenanigans!!

This special takes us into the world of Fright!!! A horror noir....of sorts!!!

The patient (Nancy Malone) of a London psychiatrist (Eric Fleming) thinks she is the suicidal lover of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf....In this special episode our shady hosts explore the horror noir Fright, discuss spooky season in illinois, using AI as a bartender and more!

In this episode we talk about the boundary pushing neo noir crime thriller Bound.

Bound is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by the Wachowskis[a] in their feature film directorial debut. Violet (Jennifer Tilly), who longs to escape her relationship with her mafioso boyfriend Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), enters into a clandestine affair with alluring ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon), and the two women hatch a scheme to steal $2 million of Mafia money.

Bound was the first film directed by the Wachowskis, and they took inspiration from Billy Wilder to tell a noir story filled with sex and violence. Financed by Dino De Laurentiis, the film was made on a tight budget with the help of frugal crew members including cinematographer Bill Pope. The directors initially struggled to cast the lesbian characters of Violet and Corky before securing Tilly and Gershon. To choreograph the sex scenes, the directors employed sex educator Susie Bright, who also made a cameo appearance in the film.

Directed by The Wachowskis

Written by The Wachowskis

Produced by

Starring

Cinematography Bill Pope

Edited by Zach Staenberg

Music by Don Davis

In this weeks episode we welcome our fantastic guest Emmy Award Winning writer/director Matthew Gentile!

He was kind enough to let us review his new noir crime thriller American Murderer! 

Based on a true story, this riveting thriller follows Jason Derek Brown (Tom Pelphrey), a charismatic con man bankrolling his extravagant lifestyle through a series of scams. On Brown’s trail: LanceLeising (Ryan Phillippe), a dogged FBI special agent determined to put Brown behind bars. When Brown’s funds run low and his past catches up with him, he plots his most elaborate scheme yet,pitting himself against Leising in a deadly game of cat and mouse—and becoming the most unlikely and elusive fugitive on the FBI’s most-wanted list.

Featuring an all star cast including - Tom Pelphrey, Ryan Phillippe, Idina Menzel, and Jacki Weaver.

Directors Statement

Why do we fall for con artists? Is it that they’re smart and the victims are gullible, or is itsomething deeper? This is the question at the heart of AMERICAN MURDERER.As a kid, I was obsessed with crime--so much so that I would browse the Top Ten MostWanted list, hoping to help the FBI catch a fugitive. One of them made a distinct impression onme: Jason Derek Brown, a surfer dude with spiky blonde hair and a smirk on his face. Comparedto Osama Bin Laden and Whitey Bulger, he just didn’t fit the profile.On the surface, AMERICAN MURDERER is a cat-and-mouse thriller about a fugitive and the FBIagent who has been tasked with bringing him to justice. But what fascinates me about Jason’sstory isn’t the crime itself; it’s how he impacted the people who loved him. That’s why I choseto tell his story through multiple perspectives. Whether the audience likes Jason or not–by theend of the film, they will get a 360-degree view of who he was.With AMERICAN MURDERER, my intention is to guide the audience to look directly into theeyes of a dark soul and shine a light on how he became this way. Thus the film poses anotherquestion: can we take a human being who is rotten to the core and move an audience to aplace of compassion? I believe that we can.

-Matthew Gentile

We are back with another episode! In this weeks shenanigans we talk drunk soap, the youth of today and the majesty of The Big Sleep!

The Big Sleep is a 1946 American film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of the 1939 novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its results". William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman co-wrote the screenplay. In 1997, the U.S. Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and added it to the National Film Registry.

Parts of the unreleased 1945 cut were significantly re-scripted and shot to take advantage of the public's fascination with "Bogie and Bacall". The original version was restored and released in 1997.

In this weeks episode we watch the 1988 live action/comedy mystery noir - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

Directed byRobert ZemeckisScreenplay byJeffrey Price

Produced by

Starring

Cinematography Dean Cundey

Edited by Arthur Schmidt

Music by Alan Silvestri

In this weeks enthralling installment Jason talks about the trappings of getting old and Carly recounts her London tour - oh and we talk about the classic noir Rebecca!

Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock's first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.

The film stars Laurence Olivier as the brooding, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the young woman who becomes his second wife, with Judith Anderson, George Sanders and Gladys Cooper in supporting roles. The film is a gothic tale shot in black-and-white. Maxim de Winter's first wife Rebecca, who died before the events of the film, is never seen. Her reputation and recollections of her, however, are a constant presence in the lives of Maxim, his new wife and the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.

Rebecca was theatrically released on April 12, 1940 to critical and commercial success. It received eleven nominations at the 13th Academy Awards, more than any other film that year. It won two awards; Best Picture, and Best Cinematography, becoming the only film directed by Hitchcock to win the former award. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

In this weeks episode we talk murderous intent, being a fugitive and the moral value lacking in the film noir genre!!

Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock,[4] starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, Anthony Dawson, and John Williams. Both the screenplay and the successful stage play on which it was based were written by English playwright Frederick Knott. The play premiered in 1952 on BBC Television,[5] before being performed on stage in the same year in London's West End in June, and then New York's Broadway in October.

Originally intended to be shown in dual-strip polarized 3-D, the film played in most theatres in ordinary 2-D due to the loss of interest in the 3-D process (the projection of which was difficult and error-prone) by the time of its release.[6] The film earned an estimated $2.7 million in North American box office sales in 1954.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay by Frederick Knott Based onDial M for Murder by Frederick Knott

Produced by Alfred Hitchcock

Starring Ray Milland

Cinematography Robert Burks

Edited by Rudi Fehr

Music by Dimitri Tiomkin

We are getting all emotional at The Speakeasy this week... We talk boats, alcohol, repressed feelings and more on this weeks episode! Even Jason's noir trailer voice makes a comeback!

This weeks episode is the classic In A Lonely Place. 

Directed by Nicholas Ray 

Screenplay by

Based onIn a Lonely Place

Starring

Cinematography Burnett Guffey

Edited by Viola Lawrence

Music by George Antheil