The Pink Smoke podcast

Host Christopher Funderburg is joined by critic & author Martin Kessler for the first of four episodes covering Errol Morris’ stunningly brilliant documentary television show, First Person. Filmed on Morris’ notorious documentary-interrogation device, The Interrotron, and touching on all his favorite obsessions, First Person brought Morris’ ground-breaking documentary style to the small screen. This podcast episode, titled "The Best and the Brightest," focuses on the episodes of First Person that explored the inscrutable nature of human intelligence. This episode covers “Stairway to Heaven,” “The Smartest Man in the World,” “One in a Million Trillion,” and “Mr.Personality.” Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Movie Kessler on Twitter: twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

“I want to kill someone but everybody’s already dead.” Hosts John Cribbs and Christopher Funderburg sit down to discuss Tom Piccirilli’s grotesque Southern Gothic novel A Choir of Ill Children. This movie comes via a recommendation from author Stephanie Crawford, who paired it with John Farris’ All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes by on our episode about that book. It’s a deeply eerie and unsettling book, in utterly poor taste in the best possible sense. Their discussion digs into the books’ diffuse plot, the gentrification of horror/exploitation genres and what happens when the ham is in the house. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg discuss Jim Thompson's haltingly bizarre crime novel THE GOLDEN GIZMO, originally published in 1954 as part of a flood of work by Thompson following the success of THE KILLER INSIDE ME. GIZMO, however, is based on a manuscript written by Thompson years earlier and rejected by publishers until demand for Thompson's work resurrected it. Visit The Pink Smoke site: http://thepinksmoke.com/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheLastMachine https://twitter.com/thepinksmoke

“You are what you do. A man is defined by his actions, not his memory.” Martin Kessler returns to take a trip down memory lane, joining John Cribbs in conversation about Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall. Since its release in 1990, Verhoeven's consciousness-expanding roller coaster ride has remained a mind-blowing anomaly, a fusion of high-minded philosophical science fiction and pulse-pounding big Hollywood action that thrilled audiences even as it explored the dangers of sinking too far into escapist fantasy. Kessler and Cribbs discuss the wonders of Verhoeven's epic achievement, its source material (the Philip K. Dick head trip "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale") and the decade-long aborted attempts to bring it to the screen. Grab a Johnnycab and join our hosts as they dive into the ultimate vacation reverie/nightmare - open your mind and get your ass to Mars! Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Martin Kessler on Twitter:
 twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two”
 Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

In 1985, William "Hurricane Billy" Friedkin was back on the streets with the savage and illusive policier To Live and Die in L.A. Filmed with gritty precision, photographed in painterly textures by the immortal Robby Müller and encompassing one scorcher of an extended city-wide high-speed pursuit that leaves even the celebrated chase from The French Connection in the dust, the movie electrified the screen yet couldn't produce a spark critically or commercially. It has since been rightfully recognized as a classic, much to the satisfaction of hosts Christopher Funderburg and John Cribbs who sit down to review the fatal errors of Richard Chance, Rick Masters and John Vukovich on the blood-red scorched inland valleys of the City of Angels. A would-be presidential assassin exploding midair, bungee jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge, the intricate art of creating "funny money," a foot chase at an airport terminal, canvases set ablaze, kabuki-inspired performance artists, dumpster death, strip club stoolies, botched stakeouts, prison yard hits, a sleazy lawyer who work both sides, a speedy escape down a wrong way street, Steve friggin' James - there are a million reasons to love this movie. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

“You just like children. Have eyes but don't see. You try live in taiga, soon dead.” We’re joined by illustrator and poster designer Tony Stella to discuss what might be Akira Kurosawa’s most neglected masterpiece, Dersu Uzala! The trio discusses where the film, an unexpected Russian-Japanese co-production, fits into the filmography of a filmmaker any reasonable cinephile would consider to be among the greatest to ever do it. Coming shortly on the heels of Kurosawa’s suicide attempt, Dersu represents a strange spiritual transformation for the filmmaker but one that led directly to his stunning creative rebirth with Kagemusha, Ran and Dreams. The film follows a Russian army officer in the early 20th century on a series missions exploring the far reaches of the taiga on the border between Russia and China. On his initial trip into the extreme and unforgiving wilderness, he meets the titular character, a strange woodsman who yells at fire, shoots with supernatural accuracy, and knows the landscape better than anyone who ever lived. It’s the story of an unlikely friendship between impressive, seemingly indomitable men. Tony Stella on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiotstella/ The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

On this episode, The Pink Smoke welcomes back podcaster and physical media maven Brian Saur to bite into the succulent apple that is The Lady Eve. The gleaming center of an unparalleled four-year, 7-movie run of masterpieces from the peerless Preston Sturges, Eve strikes an immaculate balance of comedy that is high and low brow, impressions of love both cynical and romantic, and a leading lady who's positively anything but good and positively anything but bad. With a top-to-bottom phenomenal cast including Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette and William Demarest breathing life into Sturges' brilliant dialogue and deftly executing his pratfalls, it's hard to argue against this movie being the pinnacle of Hollywood's age of slapstick. Along with co-host Elric Kane on the Pure Cinema Podcast, Brian originated the phrase "handshake film" to describe great movies that are easy for fellow cineastes to bond over and The Lady Eve is certainly that. Like Brian, hosts Christopher Funderburg and John Cribbs are huge Sturges fans who find every frame of Eve irresistible, so this episode quickly turns into a gush session in which they quote favorite lines, deconstruct favorite scenes and have a great time doing it! Just the Discs on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCffVK8TcUyjCpr0F9SpV53g The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Brian Saur on Twitter: twitter.com/bobfreelander Pure Cinema Podcast on Twitter: twitter.com/PureCinemaPod The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

“It came to Mr. Blood, as he trudged forward under the laden appletrees on that fragrant, delicious July morning, that man - as he had long suspected - was the vilest work of God, and that only a fool would set himself up as a healer of a species that was best exterminated.” Join hosts Christopher Funderburg and John Cribbs on the high seas as they celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rafael Sabatini's seminal swashbuckler Captain Blood. Detailing the odyssey of Dr. Peter Blood from his unjust persecution in the Bloody Assizes to his enslavement on the sugar plantations of Barbados and escape to a spectacular career as the most feared and beloved buccaneer on the Caribbean, it's the very definition of a page-turner that transported the romance and adventure of Dumas into the 20th century. Famously adapted by Michael Curtiz as the 1935 classic starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, Sabatini's tale of honor and morality is as timeless now as it was 100 years ago. Our hosts glide through a rip-roaring narrative that chronicles Blood outfoxing a Spanish Admiral, crossing swords with lascivious pirate Levasseur, sacking the cities of Maracaybo and Cartagena with his fellow Brethen of the Coast and romancing the unattainable heart of Arabella Bishop, the niece of his greatest enemy! The flags fly and the cannons roar as Sabatini reshapes the adventure novel for the next century. Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

We're joined by Steven Sheil, co-curator of the Mayhem Film Festival, to discuss this fantastic 50's crime novel written by H. Vernor Dixon, a truly obscure author who deserves more attention. Sheil describes the surprisingly literary book as Westlake's Parker combined with The Great Gatsby!

“Jim, you don't ask the Almighty for his I.D.” It’s something you didn’t dream was possible, the unlikeliest scenario in all the universe: four people sitting down together in praise of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Hosts John Cribbs and Christopher Funderburg are joined by a pair of friends the show (perhaps the best friends of the show), John Arminio and Bill Teck, in defense of one of the least-defended films in all of le cinema. The group discusses the pros (and undeniable cons) of the film: from the brilliant casting of virtual unknown Laurence Luckinbill as the Vulcan prophet Sybok to what makes a Star Trek film Star Trek-y to how the success and genial humor of Star Trek IV got the series pointed in the wrong direction. Each of the group has a different perspective and relationship to the series, so the discussion approaches from a variety of directions the seemingly unapproachable task of recusing the film’s reputation. Join us for a trip to the great beyond and the fraudulence to be found there. Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Bill Teck on Twitter: twitter.com/billteck John Arminio on Twitter: twitter.com/QuasarSniffer The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"