Podcast
Full Cast And Crew
Hosted by Meetinghouse Productions, Inc. · EN
Proudly independent and ad-free since 2018, the Full Cast and Crew Podcast stands out in a crowded field by focussing on emotional reactions to films as much as it shares the entertaining anecdotes behind their making and seeks to place movie in context with our shared experiences as filmgoers coming of age in the 70's and 80's and beyond.
20episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
284. Movies I've Never Seen: 'Misery' (1990)
1w ago00:49:46Tap to summarizeYeah, so I never saw 'Misery'. Did I miss anything? Find out in this breezy, bubbly, downright Liberace-esque episode, where, in an admittedly hacky concept, I watch a movie I've never seen and then tell you all about what I thought.
Transcribe →
283. 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975) Part 2: The Real Story
2w ago01:49:39Tap to summarizeIn the second of my two-parter on Dog Day Afternoon, we get out of the fictional universe of the film and explore the real people behind the characters shown onscreen. John Wojtowicz' life proved truly stranger and more depressingly pedestrian than fiction. So much so that he preferred the fictional version of himself and performed that role for the rest of his life after being released from prison in 1978 until his death in 2006. The LIFE Magazine article that caught the attention of Pacino's producer and manager. A very good jailhouse interview with John Wojtowicz from the Village Voice's Cliff Jahr. The excellent documentary Based on a True Story: Dog Day Afternoon by the Dutch filmmaker Walter Stokman. The documentary that covers more of the end of John's life, The Dog. Pierre Huyghe's installation video art piece Third Memory, an indispensable part of understanding memory, film, and the roles we perform. I didn't get to this in the podcast but here's an unpublished essay John wrote to the NY Times reviewing the film. 1978 Washington Post profile of John, freshly out of prison.
Transcribe →
282. 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975) Part 1: The Film
2w ago01:45:45Tap to summarizeSidney Lumet's 1975 masterpiece of naturalistic filmmaking is many things: a bank robbery procedural, a time capsule of 1970's NYC political and economic movements, a groundbreaking cinematic portrayal of a leading gay character, and maybe the most Brooklyn film of all time. In Episode 1 of my two-parter, I do the usual deep dive into the hows and whys of the ways in which the film still lands emotionally and experientially for viewers today. In Part 2, I'll delve into fact vs fiction, digging into the real Sonny and Sal as well as exploring some of how the real-life protagonist of the robbery began to live the version of events shown onscreen...and even came to embellish the facts far beyond the realm of plausibility. It's an incredible true story that makes you wonder what's stranger: fact or the fiction spun from it?
Transcribe →
281. [Indistinct Chatter] 5/8
3w ago00:40:19Tap to summarize[the week's collected thoughts] Climbing Docs I recommend: The Dark Wizard (HBO) Assault on El Capitan (Prime) Fine Lines (Prime) The Alpinist (Prime) Valley Uprising (Prime) The Summit (Prime) Meru (Prime) The White Mountain (Prime)
Transcribe →
280. Sacred Cows: The Star Wars Films
3w ago01:16:19Tap to summarizeIn the second of my infrequently recurring series, Sacred Cows, I'm taking a look anew at Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.
Transcribe →
279. 'Miami Vice' (2006)
Apr 2800:55:32Tap to summarizeWrapping up the South Beach sojurn into the world of Miami Vice (at least until the Michael B Jordan/Austin Butler film 'Miami Vice 85' comes out next year) with a revisit of Michael Mann's 2006 film. Mann started from a place of "what if we did Miami Vice for real"...real grimy drug-dealing procedurals, real violence and treachery, the real cost of undercover work. And what if we filmed it during the summer in Miami, during Hurricane Season? All that and more went into the vibes. The pleasures of those vibes are refreshingly present in the film when viewed through today's lens.
Transcribe →
278. [indistinct chatter] 4/24
Apr 2401:02:59Tap to summarizeWelcome to the existential wormhole that IS [indistinct chatter]...a new regular Friday drop covering topical and episodic ephemera. THIS WEEK: "Judgement" at Nuremberg indeed; the Hershey biopic you knew you didn't need or want; despite reviews the Michael Jackson biopic will make billions; what do we think about when we think about songs and musicians that we love; Benn Jordan & Rick Beato; Jacob Collier and the collective humanity of improvisation and connection; the Redd Kross documentary and me learning that Redd Kross wasn't a metal band; Detective Hole on Netflix is pronounced 'Detective Hoo-leh' you dumb Americans; more Phil Collins-inspired wormholes; drummer's perspective mixing versus audience perspective mixing; ABACAB, Tom Sawyer, Mean Street, Rush and Van Halen; Michael Omartian and 'Aja'; limitations are what makes a genius artist truly original; and next week on the podcast: Micheal Mann's Miami Vice film reappraised. THANK YOU!
Transcribe →
277. The 'Miami Vice' Pilot Episode (1984)
Apr 2101:22:47Tap to summarizeI've long wanted to revisit some of the great episodes of the Miami Vice TV series, and to find out if it's more influential than truly "great". So I finally did, and the result is a Roland Jazz Chorus-and-pastel-linen-suit-jacket infused trip down memory and musical lane. In this episode I take a fresh look at the two-part pilot and am reminded of the surprising context of the famous 'In The Air Tonight' nighttime driving scene. The iconic Jan Hammer Miami Vice Theme and Show Open John Diehl (Zito) on giving up his spot on the series to challenge himself as an actor. Some Guys Don't Sound Like Rod Stewart. Phil Collins on the iconic 'In The Air Tonight' Drum Fill The Vox video explaining Gated Reverb, Then & Now The more technically wonky recording studio explanation about gated reverb.
Transcribe →
276. Choices Were Made: 'Nuremberg' (2025) & 'Judgement At Nuremberg' (1961)
Apr 1401:23:24Tap to summarizeTwo different films tackle the same subject matter with wildly divergent results. You might be surprised which one is a vibrant, shockingly modern film that ranks amongst the greatest courtroom dramas ever made.
Transcribe →
275. 'Pulp Fiction': Still Crazy After All These Years
Apr 701:03:00Tap to summarizeYou see this watch? I hadn't seen Pulp Fiction probably since it came out in 1994, so when my family (including a teenager) wanted to watch it this weekend I wondered if it would hold up and if it would hold the attention of today's kids. Find out how it went in this episode! PLUS: plenty of alternative casting options and scene-setting for where the world of independant cinema was in 1994, a very strange and transitional year where the two most popular films were Pulp Fiction and...Forrest Gump.
Transcribe →