A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned in the newsletter that, now more than ever, we all need ways to distract ourselves from the daily outrages of American politics. Some people start exercising, others join a book club, or cultivate a new hobby, like gardening or model airplane building.
I decided to do a podcast.
This is the second podcast idea I’m developing (more on the other soon).
But for those who have followed me for a while, you likely know I’m a big movie buff - and, in particular, 70s movies. For several years now, I have been having regular cinephile email conversations with Jonathan Kirshner, a professor at Boston College, who has written extensively about 1970s cinema. What’s great about my discussions with Jonathan is that we often disagree, though always respectfully!
A couple of weeks ago, after another of our long back-and-forths, I said, “Hey, we should do a movie podcast.”
So here we are.
Jonathan and I decided to focus on 1970s cinema because a) we love it, b) he is an expert on it, c) there are very few current podcasts that focus exclusively on 70s movies, and d) it’s one of the most absorbing and revolutionary periods in modern American cinema. We have no expectations that this is a million-dollar idea (though that would be nice, obviously). Instead, we saw it as a fun opportunity to discuss movies that we love, and hopefully, in the process, create something entertaining and compelling for listeners.
For our inaugural conversation, we chose one of my all-time favorite movies: “All the President’s Men.” I won’t say too much about the film, since you can click above to hear us discuss it at length, but suffice it to say, this is a near-perfect film, with wonderful acting, extraordinary directing, and a brilliantly paced story.
Since we discussed this scene at length in the podcast, here’s a link to “the Dahlberg scene.”
I hope you enjoy the conversation. I’ll be putting everything on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but for now, consider this a sneak preview for loyal Truth and Consequences readers (and listeners). Please share your thoughts, and don't hesitate to offer your suggestions. (Next week we’ll be discussing “Taxi Driver”).
*Since I reference it at the beginning of the podcast, this is a photograph of the Washington Post newsroom created for the movie. And while we did both video and audio, I didn’t love the way the video turned out, so I decided to post the audio only.
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