In what might be a first, Dean will offer up both a point and a counterpoint (all on his own) about the merits and deficits of Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter. Then, Phil will discuss the long career of the great cinematic surrealist Luis Buñuel and take a deep dive into one particular masterpiece of his, the 1950 Los Olividados (“The Young and the Damned”). Buñuel’s famous collaborations with Catherine Deneuve will lead Phil and Dean to discuss this legendary star’s almost unparalleled status as the “face” of 1960s cinema. Jacque Demy’s singular The Umbrellas of Cherbourg gets celebrated as a result. If Ms. Deneuve was NOT the face of global cinema at that time, then that title belonged to the late, great Claudia Cardinale, who gets remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

Dean is back from his birthday break and reveals just how he celebrated. Phil went to Montecito to prepare for a big show and has tales of a spectacular venue on the water. Have Dean and Phil been watching the Olympics? We find out. Last week, one special guest, Marc Hershon spoke about all that is excellent in television right now and Phil follows up on that by singing the praises of Season 3 of HBO’s “Hacks”. The other guest last week was archivist and global cinema expert Jeff Briggs, and Phil follows up on their discussion of the legendary “Queen of Swords”, Cheng Pei-Pei, by describing two films of hers that he really wants to see. Dean reveals the film HAS seen, the current horror thriller Longlegs, while revealing all his thoughts about the top ten films at the box office. Phil discusses the new documentary starring Martin Scorsese about the greatest filmmaking team of all time, while also singing the praises of one of that team’s most romantic works. The show Phil hosted this past week serves as the “Live Event of the Week” and Dean and Phil end the show by remembering a French movie star, a brilliant sketch comedy and sitcom performer, and a British blues legend in “Celebrity Deaths”. And if you want to check out Phil’s “other” podcast – “The Voice of Los Feliz” – we hope you will! It’s part of his new free Substack that you can find HERE!

This week’s show begins with Phil trying to surprise Dean with details of a very famous person who lived in what is now Dean’s hometown of Birmingham, Michigan, and then, Phil tries to stump Dean with a vintage movie ad (from 55 years ago!). Then, because they have been falling behind in discussing “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil will open the Chillpak morgue to discuss the huge amount of notables who shuffled off their mortal coils in the past week! In part 2, Dean and Phil discuss Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, the latest awards season news (including the SAG, DGA and Producers Guild nominations), and then they conclude with reviews of several films including The Kitchen Brigade, After Yang, Crimes of the Future and Bones and All.