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Screenwriter and filmmaker Brenden Gallagher joins the program from Los Angeles to discuss two westerns about Toxic Masculinity: Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog (2021), for which she won Best Director at this year’s Academy Awards, and John Ford’s The Searchers (1956).

In some ways The Power of the Dog seems to be a film in dialogue with The Searchers, both stylistically and in terms of being a psychological profile of a damaged and dangerous American male archetype. We also talk about the complex legacy of The Searchers, considered one of the greatest American films, but featuring an unapologetically racist hero.

And speaking of the perils of Toxic Masculinity, we also talk about this year’s Academy Awards!

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Sacheen Littlefeather turning down Marlon Brando’s Oscar for Best Actor in The Godfather, 1973

Trailer for The Power of the Dog (Campion, 2021)

Trailer for The Searchers (Ford, 1956)