Worth Watching

For our last entry of things inspired by Seven Samurai, we turn to the animated series The Clone Wars (S2E17) for an amazingly faithful rendition of the story. Somehow in 20 minutes they manage to fit in probably more of the original story than anything else we’ve covered!

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A Bug’s Life, Pixar’s second film, is a faithful retelling of Seven Samurai with some amusing original twists, with a dollop of Three Amigos.

Come for the discussion of the film, stay for Ron’s extended discussion of what it was like to work with Steve Jobs and Pixar back in the day!

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One of Guy’s favorite films — we explore this rather clever and delightful take on Seven Samurai, by director John Landis and the all-star cast of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase. There’s not much to say but “Did you see the little balls?”

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In response to Star Wars, legendary cheap-ass creator of ultra-low budget films Roger Corman put together this film, using the Seven Samurai template. We went in skeptical and were pleasantly surprised — John Boy, George Peppard, Robert Vaughn (of Magnificent Seven!), surprisingly good special effects!

Does it overshadow Seven Samurai? Only one way to find out!

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We start comparing Seven Samurai-inspired films with the very first, the Western classic Magnificent Seven. What does it copy and what new ideas does it introduce? Does it stand up to the original?

Well it sure has an amazing cast with Yul Brynner, James Coburn, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and more. And an amazing soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein which we guarantee you know even if you’ve never seen the movie.

Check this out to see if it’s officially Worth Watching!

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We started by looking at Rashomon and the films it inspired, and now we’re doing Kurosawa’s absolute masterpiece, Seven Samurai.

We’re joined by friend of the podcast, Andrew Heaton, host of Alienating the Audience, to determine whether this classic holds up for a modern audience! (Hint: It does.)

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And now Guy presents one of his favorite films…

Hoo boy, this one is dark!

Can Bill Murray pull off being a complete dick without going over the top? Why is the hard as nails drink you under the table chick from Indiana Jones a saint who is helping poor people? Does this thing hold up?

Only one way to find out!

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One of Ron’s favorite films of all time, we have a great discussion about this classic film with one of the scariest bad guys of all time.

Directed by immensely talented and famous actor Charles Laughton who put his heart and soul into his first directorial effort, the initial negative reception crushed him and he never directed another film, no doubt depriving us of much great work that could have been.But at least we have this, and it’s now universally recognized as a masterpiece.Listen in and find out why it’s so great!

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Ron’s brother was in town so we decided to let him choose the movie… Gladiator is a surprisingly historically accurate Roman romp directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe.We spend a lot of time delving into what was and wasn’t historically accurate, and how well they pulled off an early CGI film… Listen in and find out what we thought of my brother’s choice!

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We’ve covered two silly Hartnell outings (Carry On Sergeant and The Mouse that Roared), so what will we think of an officially serious and socially responsible film?

It seemed appropriate to end Hartnell with the kind of “legitimate” film that he considered his legacy.

We love ya, Hartnell. Sorry to see you go.

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