It’s Memorial Day here in the USA, so this episode is coming out about 12 hours later than we like. Nevertheless, Dean and Phil remember a wonderful actress, the artist who designed so many classic movie posters, a pop artist whose sculpted work is iconic, a movie actor and television star from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and a prolific and controversial award-winning novelist. Following “Celebrity Deaths”, your friends in podcasting will weigh in on the criminal charges filed against former mogul Harvey Weinstein and his lawyer’s rather shocking public defense of Weinstein’s actions. Then, it’s time to dig into the latest “Star Trek” news and a handful of recent cinematic releases a half-dozen or more current or recent cinematic releases, including a new “Star Wars Story”, two superhero movies, and an indie comedy. All that, plus a Memorial Day-inspired re-appraisal of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

 

In many ways, this week’s show is a sequel to last week’s episode #534, with the promised celebration of Jeanne Moreau’s life and career, an email from a listener about Tom Jones’ “The Young New Mexican Puppeteer” and more from the British Film Institute List of “the 50 films you should see by the age of 14”.

Unlike most sequels, however, this show is even more irreverent, insightful and informative than last week’s!

The festivities commence with a clip of Dean on Australian television telling a (bestiality?) joke, and then after a special opening (a tribute to Glen Campbell), Dean comes out guns blazing, ranting about the internet speeds of his adopted land. After Phil calms him down, they discuss the news of David Letterman’s new show, they urge people to save the Salem Cinema (a jewel of the Pacific Northwest), they talk about an interview they did with the late Jim Marrs and they continue their discussion about the “death of discernment”, this time focusing on an appalling memo crafted by a then member of the National Security Council.

 

From there, it’s onto “Celebrity Deaths”, where, in addition to the Femme Fatale of the French New Wave and Glen Campbell, your friends in podcasting remember a Tony-winning star of Broadway’s “The Music Man”, the star of an early television western series turned right-wing anti-government activist, and the man inside the Godzilla costume.

Finally, Dean and Phil discuss a 1982 Australian western, a 1954 western that influenced the likes of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, the original King Kong, and the Will Rogers comedy Life Begins at 40.