Unclear and Present Danger

In The Saint, Kilmer plays Simon Templar, a professional thief known as “The Saint” for using Catholic saints as aliases. He steals a microchip from a Russian oil company but is caught by the owner’s son. He is then hired by the owner, a billionaire oligarch named Tretiak, to steal a cold fusion formula discovered by Emma Russell, an American chemist. Tretiak plans to use the formula to monopolize the Russian energy market. Once he obtains the formula, he also plans to kill Simon.

Simon seduces Emma but falls for her. He abandons his plan to steal from her until Tretiak threatens to kidnap her. 

At this point the plot becomes a little convoluted to me but here’s what I think happens.

Simon does end up stealing the formula but when analyzed, Tretiak finds that it is useless to him. His plan now is to sell the incomplete formula to the Russian president and then attack him for spending billions on worthless technology, using the resulting chaos to make himself president. 

Emma finishes the formula, Simon delivers it to a scientist who hopes to use it for good, and in a confrontation in Red Square, Tretiak is exposed as a fraud when it becomes clear that the formula works. Emma and Simon reunite, they start a relationship and it is revealed that Simon has donated billions to charity using money from Tretiak’s accounts. 

All ends well!

The taglines for The Saint were “A man without a name, can never be identified. A man who doesn't exist, can never be caught. A man who doesn't love, can never truly be alive.” And “Never reveal your name. Never turn your back. Never surrender your heart.”

You can find The Saint to stream on demand on Amazon Prime or for rent or purchase on Amazon and Apple TV.

The Saint was released on April 4, 1997, so let’s check out the New York Times for that day.

Don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod. 

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on the 1979 thriller Hardcore.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched the The Second Civil War, a 1997 satirical film directed by Joe Dante for HBO. 

Starring James Earl Jones, Elizabeth Peña, Denis Leary, Beau Bridges, Phil Hartman and James Coburn, The Second Civil War takes place in a future where rapid, unlimited immigration has produced a balkinized society of ethnic enclaves. California is essentially been re-absorbed into Mexico and Rhode Island is home to millions of Chinese migrants. 

When an international relief organization makes plans to bring Pakistani refugees into Idaho, the state’s governor, played by Beau Bridges, orders the its national guard to close the borders, sparking a stand-off with the federal government. As both sides escalate, Americans start to choose sides, with other western states joining Idaho in its pushback against Washington.

Eventually, the war of words becomes an actual war, as shooting starts between the U.S. Army and the various national guards now allied with Idaho.

As viewers, we see all of this unfold through the eyes of a news network, whose anchors and reporters are on the scene, covering developments as they occur.

The tagline for The Second Civil War was “A Very Uncivil Comedy.”

You can find The Second Civil War streaming for free on YouTube.

Our next episode will be on The Saint, the 1997 thriller adapted from the television show of the same name, directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Val Kilmer and Elizabeth Shue.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod. 

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on the 1979 thriller Hardcore.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched the 1997 thriller The Devil’s Own, directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford.

In The Devil’s Own, Pitt plays Frankie McGuire, an IRA soldier who travels to the United States to obtain advanced weapons for the fight in Ireland. He is put up in the home of NYPD Sergeant Tom O’Meara, played by Ford, who does not know McGuire’s mission. The two develop an easy rapport and McGuire becomes a part of O’Meara’s family, of sorts. When McGuire’s mission begins to intrude on the O’Mearas, however, the relationship — along with the family’s safety — is threatened.

The tagline for The Devil’s Own was “One man trapped by destiny, and another bound by duty. They're about to discover what they're willing to fight, and to die for.”

You can find The Devil’s Own available to rent or purchase on Amazon and Apple TV.

For the next episode, we will watch “The Second Civil War,” 1997 HBO film starring Phil Hartman. You can find it on YouTube.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod. 

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on the 1974 exploitation film Death Wish.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

In this week's episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Absolute Power, the 1997 conspiracy thriller directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by William Goldman and based off of a David Baldacci novel of the same name. In addition to Eastwood, Absolute Power stars Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Judy Davis, Scott Glenn and Dennis Haysbert. 

In Absolute Power, Eastwood plays Luther Whitney, a master thief who makes the fateful decision to rob billionaire Walter Sullivan, a close friend and ally of the president of the United States. During the burglary, Whitney sees President Alan Richmond assault Sullivan's wife, Christy, with whom he is having an affair. When she fights back, the president's security detail kills her. Sullivan, who witnesses the altercation, escapes with evidence of the killing. When he becomes prime suspect in an investigation led by local police, Whitney devotes himself to exposing the president's misdeed while evading Sullivan's hired assassin — who believes Whitney is responsible — as well as a secret service agent who wants to silence the only witness. 

The tagline for Absolute Power was "Corrupts Absolutely."

You can find Absolute Power to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

For the next episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John will watch the 1997 thriller The Devil's Own, directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt. It's available to stream on Netflix or for rent or purchase from Amazon or Apple TV.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Shadow Conspiracy, the 1997 political thriller directed by George P. Cosmatos and starring Charlie Sheen, Linda Hamilton, Donald Sutherland and Sam Waterston.

In Shadow Conspiracy, a young White House aide uncovers a plot to assassinate the president, making him a target of the conspirators. What follows is a race to evade the assassin, expose those responsible, and save constitutional government from a shadowy group of deep state operators. If this sounds generic, that’s because it is! The movie feels like it was written by ChatGPT. Despite the total absence of anything original, Jamelle and John do find much to discuss in the film, including the ways in which it is rooted in the anti-political ethos of the 1990s.

The tagline for Shadow Conspiracy was “Life, liberty and the pursuit of absolute power.”

You can find Shadow Conspiracy available to rent or buy on Amazon or Apple TV+.

Episodes come out every two weeks so we’ll see you then with an episode on Absolute Power, the 1997 political thriller directed by — and starring — Clint Eastwood.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod. 

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on the 1973 Walking Tall, starring Joe Don Baker.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

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On this week’s episode of the podcast, we watched Tim Burton’s 1996 sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks!, starring Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Martin Short Pam Grier, Rod Steiger, Jim Brown, Lukas Haas, Danny DeVito and Natalie Portman.

Mars Attacks! was based off of the 1960s-era trading card series by Topps. In the series, Earth is invaded by cruel, hideous Martians who hope to colonize the planet and enslave its population. 

In the movie, Earth is invaded by cruel hideous Martians. But they don’t seem to want to colonize the planet as much as engage in wanton destruction for its own sake. To the extent that the film has a plot, it follows several groups of people. There is President James Dale, played by Nicholson, his wife and daughter. There is a young donut shop employee and his family in Nevada. There is an aging boxer turned casino employee, his ex-wife and their children. And there are a pair of talk show hosts.

The film shows first contact followed by the Martian war on Earth. Most of the characters are either weak and incompetent, like President Dale and the American military, vain and oblivious, like the various members of the media, or outright rubes, like some of the more ordinary people in the film. 

The Martians rampage across the country, killing everyone they see including the president and the first lady. They are eventually stopped when two characters, the young donut shop employee and his grandmother, discover that the yodeling on Slim Whitman’s “Indian Love Call” is enough to cause their heads to explode. They defeat the Martian invasion and are awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their exploits.

The taglines for Mars Attacks were “Nice planet. We’ll take it!” and “Yikes! They’ve landed!”

Mars Attacks is available for rent or purchase either Amazon or Apple TV.

Episodes come out every two weeks so we’ll see you then with an episode on Shadow Conspiracy, a 1997 conspiracy thriller directed by George P. Cosmatos and starring Charlie Sheen, Linda Hamilton, Stephen Lang and the great (and much-missed) Donald Sutherland.

You can find Shadow Conspiracy on Amazon Prime and Apple TV for rent or purchase.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod. 

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on Rambo, the 2008 sequel written and directed by Sylvester Stallone.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

Contact us!

In Independence Day, humanity makes its first contact with an alien race. What follows is one day of destruction, one of despair, and one day where the human race, led by the United States, fights back. Jamelle and John use the film to discuss the triumphalist American optimism of the 1990s as well as the political afterlife of the imagery of the film, which extends into the post-9/11 era.

Some of the taglines for Independence Day were “We’ve always believed we weren’t alone. On July 4th, we’ll wish we were,” “The day we fight back!” and “Welcome to earth.”

Independence Day is available to buy or rent on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. You can also stream it on demand at Hulu.

Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, and we’ll see you then with an episode on Mars Attacks, Tim Burton’s satirical counterpoint to Roland Emmerich’s earnest blockbuster.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod.

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on Rambo, the 2008 legacy sequel written and directed by Stallone.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

Contact us!

For this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Star Trek: First Contact, the eighth movie in the Star Trek film series and the first film in that series to focus solely on the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

First Contact stars Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner Marina Sartis, Michael Dorm, Alfrie Woodard, Alice Krige and James Cromwell. It was directed by Frakes with a score by Jerry Goldsmith.

In First Contact, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of Enterprise races through time to Earth’s past to confront the Borg, a cybernetic hivemind that has gone back to humanity’s moment of first contact with an alien species in order to destroy the Federation and change the future. Picard and his team must fight two battles. On Earth, they must ensure First Contact. On the Enterprise, they must defeat the Borg, who have taken root on the ship.

The tagline for Star Trek: First Contact is “Resistance is futile.”

You can find Star Trek: First Contact to rent or buy on demand on Apple TV or Amazon Prime.

Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, and we’ll see you then with an episode on Independence Day, the 1996 blockbuster directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and many others.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod.

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on Rambo: First Blood Part II, the second film in the Rambo franchise starring Sylvester Stallone.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

Contact us!

For this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Courage Under Fire, a 1996 war drama directed by Edward Zwick and starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan, as well as Lou Diamond Phillips, Matt Damon, Michael Moriarty and Bronson Pinchot.

In Courage Under Fire, Denzel Washington plays Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling, an army tank commander who accidentally fires on and destroys one of his own tanks during a nighttime battle in the closing days of the Persian Gulf War, killing his best friend in the process. The Army covers up the details and assigns Serling to a desk job, where he is tasked with investigating and determining whether a solider should receive the award for which they were recommended.

He is assigned the case of Captain Karen Walden, the commander of a Medevac Huey helicopter sent to rescue the crew of a Black Hawk helicopter. She was killed in the line of duty, saving both the lives of her crew and those of the downed helicopter. The Army, and the White House, wants to give her the Medal of Honor.

As Serling interviews the men involved in the incident, he notices inconsistencies in the testimonies of Walden’s crew. Some praise her strongly, others say she was a coward. Still others testify to events that cannot be confirmed.

Under pressure from both the White House and his commanding officer to authorize the award — and struggling with PTSD from his experiences on the battlefield — Serling resolves to discover the truth of the matter, even if it costs him his career.

The tagline for Courage Under Fire was “In wartime, the first casualty is always truth.”

You can find Courage Under Fire to rent or buy on demand at Amazon and iTunes.

Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, and we’ll see you then with an episode on Star Trek: First Contact, the second film starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here is a brief plot summary:

The Borg, a relentless race of cyborgs, are on a direct course for Earth. Violating orders to stay away from the battle, Captain Picard and the crew of the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise E pursue the Borg back in time to prevent the invaders from changing Federation history and assimilating the galaxy.

Star Trek: First Contact is available to rent or buy on demand and it is available for streaming on HBO Max and Paramount+.

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod.

The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on First Blood, the first film in the Rambo franchise starring Sylvester Stallone.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

Contact us!

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched the 1996 science fiction conspiracy action thriller Chain Reaction, directed by Andrew Davis — whose previous UnclearPod films are The Package, Under Siege and The Fugitive — and starring Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz, Fred Ward, Kevin Dunn and Brian Cox.

Chain Reaction revolves around a group of scientists at the University of Chicago who are working to convert hydrogen from water into clean energy. They find their breakthrough when their machinist, Eddie Kasalivich (played by Reeves), discovers the secret — a sound frequency that stabilizes the process. Later that evening, a group of mysterious assailants kill the lead scientist and destroy the laboratory. Kasalivich, who had returned to retrieve his motorcycle after escorting Dr. Lily Sinclair (Weisz) home, is the only witness.

When the FBI arrives to investigate, they zero in on Kasalivich and Sinclair as their chief suspects, goaded along by the mysterious presence of advanced technology in Kasalivich’s apartment and evidence of espionage in Sinclair’s. With the help of Paul Shannon, the leader of the Chicago project, they escape the clutches of law enforcement only to find themselves fleeing the armed agents of a secretive industrial group.

As Kasalivich and Sinclair race against time to uncover the mystery of the explosion, and clear their names of wrongdoing, they realize that their scientific breakthrough is a threat to some very powerful people, and that their friends aren’t who they seem to be.

You can find Chain Reaction to watch on demand on HBO Max and also to rent or buy on Amazon and Apple TV.

We’ll see you next in two weeks when an episode on Courage Under Fire, the 1996 legal drama directed by Edward Zwick and starring Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Damon.

Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.

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John Ganz

Jamelle Bouie

UnclearPod

And don’t forget our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod.