Podcast
Have You Ever Seen
Hosted by Ryan Ellis · EN
Ryan and Bev Ellis are partners in film nerdery who share their often humorous musings on the AFI's 1998 & 2007 lists of the greatest 100 American films ever made. But we finished with that in December 2015, so now we just review anything we feel like!
32episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Beat The Devil & The Man Who Cheated Himself
Apr 2700:54:55Tap to summarizeIt's another doubleheader in episode #735, this time with 2 unrelated '50s classics. First up, I talk about the offbeat John Huston comedy Beat The Devil. The screenplay he wrote with Truman Capote is very quotable, even though its characters and daffy plot parody serious caper flicks like Huston's The Maltese Falcon. Humphrey Bogart has been a regular on Have You Ever Seen over the years, but this is the first episode ever for Jennifer Jones or Gina Lollobrigida. Jenny is quirky, cute and quite a talented liar while Gina is...well, staggeringly gorgeous. Then I veer from the fun of that one to spend about 17 minutes on Lee J. Cobb and Jane Wyatt in The Man Who Cheated Himself. Felix Feist's noir is about a cop who breaks the law to cover for his murdering mistress. Jane Wyatt is yet another classic actress we'd never covered before. So spend this final Monday of April hearing about a loopy comedy and an intense crime flick. Well, Actually: "coupe" IS pronounced "coo-pay" in French AND in what's known as "British English". Also, the other movie that will be reviewed on Friday will in fact be the Gene Autry western South Of The Border. Subscribe to this effort in your app. Add a rating and write a review to suggest others give it a shot too. Contacting is easy. On social media, it's @moviefiend51 on Twitter, ryan-ellis on Bluesky and RyanHYES on Letterboxd. As for email, that's haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com.
Transcribe →Inside Man
Apr 2000:42:35Tap to summarizeInside Man is a clever heist film with the twist staring you in the face from the beginning. It's also the first Spike Lee or Jodie Foster film to be reviewed on Have You Ever Seen in quite some time. Foster and Denzel Washington's scenes together are fantastic. The 2 of them, plus Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor deliver. Ironically, though, for a film with such intensity for 2 straight hours, the actors are generally calm. Well, Denzel is showboating, but he's Denzel. You can't reign in that charisma machine. So for my 734th episode, settle in to hear about a snappy caper film as I monologue about Spike Lee's biggest hit, Inside Man. Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen in your app. Rate and review it too. Look for me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). I'm "@moviefiend51" on Twitter, "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky and "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com" via email.
Transcribe →The Glenn Miller Story
Apr 1700:32:31Tap to summarizeIt's a short one for episode #733 of Have You Ever Seen, as I discuss Anthony Mann's biopic about the best-selling bandleader from the '30s & '40s. Smash hits Moonlight Serenade & In The Mood are Glenn Miller's 2 most-recognizable songs, tunes you'll know the minute you hear them. This is a straight-ahead "based on real people" movie (including his loving wife, Helen), but Mann, who often worked with James Stewart in this era, was an underrated director. And while Jimmy has OFTEN come up on this podcast, this is a first for June Allyson...and we also have a memorable cameo by the great trumpeter Louis Armstrong. So, honestly, take a listen to my sentimental review of the sentimental Glenn Miller Story. Subscribe to my channel in your podcast app. Rate the show too and jot down some words in a review, suggesting others give it a chance. Look for me on Letterboxd too (RyanHYES). My email is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com". And my social-media contacts are "@moviefiend51" on Twi-X and "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky.
Transcribe →Out Of The Past & The Spiral Staircase
Apr 1300:50:21Tap to summarizeI've got another multi-movie episode here in the 732nd edition of Have You Ever Seen. Jacques Tourneur directs Out Of The Past and Robert Siodmak is at the helm of The Spiral Staircase, even if it feels at times like one directed the other. Yet they both do a very good job with these films noir, including killing off many of their characters. Rhonda Fleming is in both, but in Past you've got Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas & Jane Greer, who gives one of the better performances in the history of femmes fatale. In Staircase, Dorothy McGuire, George Brent and Ethel Barrymore have centre stage...and they all deliver too. The first flick has a VERY complex plot, while the second is a straight-forward "a killer is on the loose" whodunit. So lend me 50 minutes of your time as I scoop out the innards of Out Of The Past and The Spiral Staircase. Be a subscriber of Have You Ever Seen, but also review the show and rate it in your app. Contact me with an email (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com), a tweet (@moviefiend51) a Sky (ryan-ellis) or on Letterboxd (RyanHYES).
Transcribe →International House, It's a Gift & The Bank Dick
Apr 600:51:23Tap to summarizeW.C. Fields makes his debut on Have You Even Seen in this 731st episode where I talked about 3 of his classic laugh-fests: International House, It's A Gift and The Bank Dick. George Burns & Gracie Allen turn up in International House and Una Merkel plays Fields' daughter in It's A Gift, so we've got 4 AFI Old-Timey Actors in one super-show. First up, you get the "Grand Hotel of comedy", where the gags are quite risqué (even considering it was made before the production code), followed by the funniest one in this three-pack: It's A Gift. Fields is REALLY in textbook mumbling, drunken form in The Bank Dick, with its all-over-the-place plot and random gags. So to bring this Easter Weekend home, cue up my one-man-show about the House, the Gift and the Dick, as W.C. does his thing as only he could. Subscribe in your app, but also write a review of the show and rate it. Follow me on Letterboxd: RyanHYES. My email is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com", my Twitter is "@moviefiend51" and my Bluesky is "ryan-ellis."
Transcribe →Trouble In Paradise
Apr 300:37:54Tap to summarizeEaster probably called for a chat about the silent version of either The Ten Commandments or Ben-Hur, but no. I'm talking about a 1932 Ernst Lubitsch rom-com that's excellent with the rom, yet only smile-inducing with the com. Covering Trouble In Paradise also gets Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall on Have you Ever Seen for the first time. They're all well-served by the infamous Lubitsch Touch. Here a rich, pampered, unworthy fail-daughter (Francis) is set up to be ripped off by clever thieves (Hopkins and Marshall). But they're all likable, the romance(s) work great and you even end up rooting for all the characters, even though each of them could easily seem despicable. Lubitsch: one of the greats in this genre. So cue up Trouble In Paradise in this 730th edition of HYES, where I give you the info about some pre-Code lovin' and stealin' European shennanigans. Jot down some thoughts about classic movies and tell me about them. My email is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com", my Twitter is "@moviefiend51" and my Bluesky is "ryan-ellis." Also, tickle that subscribe button and then take some time to write a review and rate the podcast as well. Last thing? Follow me on Letterboxd: RyanHYES.
Transcribe →Sergeant York
Mar 3000:43:40Tap to summarizeWhile America is yet again fighting a war in the Middle East, I end Oscar Month by getting into the doin's of a legit WWI hero in Howard Hawks' Sergeant York. Gary Cooper plays the real-life hero, a dirt-poor man from the Tennessee mountains who's forced the join the army (mother), even though he's ag'in killin'. But when the chips are down, he's courageous and talented enough to kill a lot of Germans! America's entry into WWII helped make this the #1 hit of 1941. It also led to an Oscar for Super Duper Cooper, even though he often comes across as fake when talking like the real Alvin no doubt talked. But Mr. Stiff's conversion from no-goodnik to Bible lover to German killer (and his romance with a very young Joan Leslie) IS heartfelt. Plus, the great Hawks was almost incapable of making an unwatchable movie. So whet your sights when they force you to be a doughboy while you also cue up the 729th episode of Have You Ever Seen. Subscribe to this channel in your podcast app. Review it, rate it...and hunt me down on Letterboxd too (RyanHYES). Contact options are: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com via email, ryan-ellis on Bluesky and @moviefiend51 on the tweet machine.
Transcribe →Dodsworth & Disraeli
Mar 2700:51:15Tap to summarizeDodsworth is the feature attraction in this 728th talk on Have You Ever Seen, but then there was an unexpected 2nd review in this episode. I spent 10 or 12 minutes on the George Arliss 1929 Oscar-winner, Disraeli…the one about the late-1800s British Prime Minister's quest to buy the Suez Canel. As for Dodsworth, we've got another winner from William Wyler, who directs Walter Huston & Ruth Chatterton as a middle-aged couple who just aren't clicking anymore. He retires and they vacation in Europe, but that love just might be gone. So ditch Zenith for exotic European locales (or maybe even for Egypt) as I present monologues about Dodsworth and Disraeli. Well, Actually: just to be clear, an actor CAN get nominated for Oscars in the leading AND supporting categories in the modern era (as Al Pacino, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx have), but can't get 2 noms in the same category the way Arliss did back when Disraeli was made. Subscribe to the channel in your app. Rate the show and write a review as well. And search me out on Letterboxd for the occasional written review (RyanHYES). Feedback is appreciated. Hit me with a tweet (@moviefiend51), a comment on Bluesky (ryan-ellis) or an email (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com).
Transcribe →In The Line Of Fire & Cimarron
Mar 2300:54:55Tap to summarizeIn what will become a trend for at least the next little while, I've got 2 reviews in one episode here in podcast #727. First, I detail my favourite moments, lines and scenes in Wolfgang Petersen's In The Line Of Fire. John Malkovich has rarely been in better form as the villain and Clint Eastwood has never been funnier or more charming as the hero. Malkovich wants to assassinate the president and Secret Service man Clint is determined to stop him. Then Best Picture winner of 1931, Wesley Ruggles' Cimarron, gets more of my usual beat-by-beat analysis. It's a western about a successful newspaperman and lawyer (Richard Dix) who has wanderlust...and his racist wife (Irene Dunne) who evolves on that issue and becomes a leader in the town. So rendezvous with my, uh, show about both In The Line Of Fire and Cimarron. Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen, but how about also jotting down a review? You can rate the show too (5 stars!). And click over to Letterboxd to look at my written reviews: RyanHYES. Email me your OWN thoughts about various great movies (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). That or follow me on Twi-X (@moviefiend51) and/or Bluesky (ryan-ellis).
Transcribe →Rushmore
Sep 18, 2023Tap to summarizeRushmore's got Wes Anderson, Bill Murray and...yeah, Jason Schwartzman. That's a combination that's hit a lot of cinematic home runs and, to many, this was a grand slam. For a second-time filmmaker, this is an undeniably assured movie. Anderson hits a lot of the same character beats here that he does in all his movies and his (team's) production design & costume choices have been called "twee" for well over 20 years now. And that hasn't been a compliment, although we like it, partly for how much heart he brings to everything. Bill worked with Wes for the first time here, which was the beginning of Murray's deadpan acting style. He and Schwartzman obsess over Olivia Williams, so it's a comedy about an immature stalker. Does Schwartzman overdo his over-eagerness though? One of us thinks so. In any case, the 536th episode of Have You Ever Seen suggests you ignore your studies, but join every club you can as we do some dissecting of Rushmore. This classic movies podcast is sponsored by a classic beverage...Sparkplug Coffee. If you use our "HYES" promo code, you will save 20% off your next order. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Shoot us a message or two...or more...by contacting haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. You can also tweet things at us: @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis. We also post these chats on YouTube. Our channel is @hyesellis or look for "Have You Ever Seen" in the search part of the 'Tube.
Transcribe →