Alternate Sides
Series Intro
James accepts that it's time to overcome his fears and watch some movies, but he'll need some guidance. Sam, stuck in his car thanks to New York's alternate-side-parking regulations, is only too happy to oblige.
SEASON ONE: 1973-1982
1973: Don't Look Now
At Sam's suggestion, James starts his journey with Nicolas Roeg's 1973 horror-thriller Don't Look Now, starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.
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Plus: penalty kicks, second sight, and why not to keep loaded guns in the house.
1974: The Last Detail
This week we talk about Hal Ashby's road movie The Last Detail, starring Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, and Randy Quaid.
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Plus: James shares a bedroom with Sam's parents.
1975: The Passenger
This week we talk about Michelangelo Antonioni's existentialist thriller The Passenger, starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider.
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Plus: What George Plimpton found at the top of the Brooklyn Bridge.
1976: Rocky
This week we discuss John Avildsen’s rousing and immortal Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone Talia Shire, and Burt Young.
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Plus: Real tennis, a dead car battery, and the time Sam’s parents met Mike Tyson.
1977: Stroszek
This week we discuss Werner Herzog’s black comedy Stroszek, starring Bruno S, Eva Mattes, and Clemens Scheitz.
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Plus: Sam has a martini with Dianne Wiest.
1978: Days of Heaven
This week we discuss Terence Malick’s luminous period drama Days of Heaven, starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, and Sam Shepard.
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Plus: Virgil’s Eclogues, group dynamics, and the Identified Patient.
1979: Being There and Life of Brian
This week we tackle two movies: Hal Ashby’s American satire Being There, starring Peter Sellers; and Terry Jones’s biblical spoof Monty Python’s Life of Brian, starring the Pythons.
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Plus: blooper reels, the death of Black Panther, and the apparently ambiguous ending of Planet of the Apes.
1980: The Elephant Man
This week we explore David Lynch’s black-and-white period drama The Elephant Man, starring Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, and Anne Bancroft.
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Plus: Just how bad was James’s first screenplay?
1981: Thief
This week we discuss Michael Mann’s gritty debut feature, Thief, starring James Caan and Tuesday Weld.
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Plus: spa treatments, house cats, and Pink Floyd knockoffs.
1982: Fanny and Alexander
This week we talk about Ingmar Bergman’s family epic Fanny and Alexander, starring Bertil Guve, Ewa Fröling, and Jan Malmsjö.
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Plus: Wind chimes, bookstore etiquette, and Gloomhaven.
Holiday Special: Elf
It’s a special holiday episode! We’re deviating from our usual chronology to talk about Jon Favreau’s 2003 Christmas classic, Elf, starring Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, and James Caan. And it turns out that neither of us had ever seen this movie before this week.
Plus: Ferris Bueller, overripe fruit, and “cross-hatched” dreams.