Unclear and Present Danger
New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie and freelance writer John Ganz delve into the world of 90s post-Cold War thrillers with Unclear and Present Danger, a podcast that explores America in an age of transition to lone superpower, at once triumphant and unsure of its role in the world.
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Hackers (feat. Laura Hudson)
On this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle, John and special guest Laura Hudson (formerly of Wired and The Verge) watched the 1995 cyber-thriller ?Hackers,? directed by Ian Softley and starring Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Fisher Stevens and Lorraine Bracco, with supporting roles for Matthew Lillard, Penn Jillette, Wendell Pierce, Marc Anthony and Felicity Huffman.
?Hackers? centers on Dade Murphy, alias ?Zero Cool,? who made hacking history 7 years before the events of the film when he crashed 1,507 computer systems and was banned from owning or operating computers and touch-tone telephones until his 18th birthday.
On his 18th birthday, he finds himself living in New York with his mother and attending a new high school, where he falls into a crowd of teen hacker. There?s Ramon, the Phantom Phreak. Emmanuel ?Cereal Killer? Goldstein, Paul ?Lord Nikon? Cook and Kate ?Acid Burn? Libby, Dade?s hacking rival and romantic interest.
One night, one of the youngest hackers in the group, Joey, breaks into a supercomputer owned by a large energy company. He is noticed and arrested by the US Secret Service, which is working with the company?s security officer. Unbeknownst to the Secret Service or anyone else for that matter, the security officer ? Eugene ?The Plague? Belford ? has essentially orchestrated a scheme in which Joey and other hackers are to be blamed for a virus he created, whose purpose is to extort millions from the company into a private account.
Thus begins a race: Belford is desperate to get the only evidence of the virus, downloaded by Joey before he was arrested, and our teen hacker heroes are trying to clear their names and get to the bottom of this conspiracy.
The tagline for ?Hackers? was, of course, ?Hack the planet!?
You can find ?Hackers? to rent or buy on iTunes and Amazon.
Our next film is the 1995 cyberpunk thriller, ?Johnny Mnemonic.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode of the patreon is on the 1964 nuclear war farce, ?Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.?
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Fail Safe (PATREON PREVIEW)
In this week?s episode of the Patreon we discussed Sidney Lumet?s heady Cold War thriller Fail Safe, based on a novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, published in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fail Safe stars Henry Fonda, Dan O?Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton and Larry Hagman with cinematography by Gerald Hirschfeld.
The story moves between three characters: U.S Air Force General Black who has been having a recurring dream in which a Spanish matador kills a bull before a cheering crowd, Dr. Groeteschele, a hard-line anti-communist and political scientist who believes it is possible to fight a limited nuclear war, and the President of the United States.
When a computer error causes a U.S. bomber group to erroneously receive valid orders for a nuclear strike on Moscow ? and Soviet countermeasures jam U.S. radio communications, preventing Strategic Air Command from rescinding the command ? General Black, the president, the Pentagon and eventually Soviet command scrambles to prevent a full scale nuclear exchange.
Working together, they manage to stop some of the bombers, but one fateful aircraft makes it through Soviet defenses to release its weapon. Faced with the unimaginable, the president and General Black decide to make a compensatory sacrifice, in the hopes of avoiding war.
The tagline for Fail Safe was ?It will have you sitting on the brink of eternity!?
To listen to the whole episode, subscribe to the Patreon at patreon.com/unclearpod.
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The Rock
For this week?s episode of the podcast, we watched Michael Bay?s weirdly prescient action thriller, ?The Rock,? released in 1996 and starring Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn and William Forsythe. The supporting cast is also chock full of compelling character actors, including John Spencer, Philip Baker Hall, John C. McKinley, Tony Todd and Bokeem Woodbine.
In ?The Rock,? Ed Harris plays General Francis Hummel, a disillusioned Vietnam War vet who is angry with the American government for abandoning its soldiers to die behind enemy lines with little to no recognition or compensation. To get his revenge, and to get compensation for his men and their families, he leads his force of rogue Marines in a raid on a naval weapons depot, where they steal a stockpile of VX gas-loaded rockets. They then seize control of Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, and hold the area hostage. Either the U.S. government pays him $100 million from a military slush fund, or he launches the rockets, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
To disarm the rockets and stop Hummel, the Pentagon and the FBI organize a joint-task force of Navy Seals, special agents and a former convict at Alcatraz. Nic Cage plays FBI agent Stanley Goodspeed, a chemical weapons expert asked with identifying and disarming the weapons. Sean Connery plays John Patrick Mason, a former MI6 officer and current maximum security inmate who was the only person to successfully escape from Alcatraz. The FBI has brought Mason out of prison to aid the mission.
The team successfully infiltrates Alcatraz, but then the plan falls apart. The Seals are killed, and Goodspeed and Mason are left trapped in Alcatraz. Their only hope of escape, and survival, is to complete the mission before an airstrike ? ordered as a last resort ? destroys the island and everyone on it.
The tagline for ?The Rock? was ?Alcatraz. Only one man has ever broken out. Now five million lives depend on two men breaking in.?
You can find ?The Rock? to rent or buy on demand on iTunes and Amazon.
Our next episode will be on the 1995 film ?Hackers.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode of the patreon is on the 1964 nuclear war thriller, ?Fail Safe.?
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Mission: Impossible
For this week?s episode of the podcast, we watched director Brian De Palma?s 1996 adaptation of Mission: Impossible, starring Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Henry Czerny (Kittridge!), Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vanessa Redgrave. It was shot by frequent De Palma collaborator Stephen H. Burum and edited by Paul Hirsch. Screenplay by David Koepp and Robert Towne.
Mission: Impossible, based on the television series, was the inaugural project of Tom Cruise?s production company, and the Mission: Impossible franchise has become a core part of Cruise?s celebrity career. The film was generally well-received by critics, although there were complaints about its convoluted plot, and was one of the biggest hits of 1996, grossing nearly $181 million on a budget of $45 million.
In Mission: Impossible, Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, a member of the Impossible Missions Force who is on the run after his entire team ? including its leader, Jim Phelps, played by John Voight ? is killed in a failed mission to obtain a secretive list of every undercover CIA agent. When Hunt learns that the mission was actually a staged hunt for a mole within the IMF ? and that the real mole is still out there, seeking the list ? he goes on the run in an effort to obtain the list for himself, expose the mole, and regain his freedom. To do so, he recruits his own Impossible Mission Team ? comprised of Ving Rhames, Jean Reno and Emmanuelle Beart ? and stages a break-in at CIA headquarters in Langley. What unfolds next is a series of twists, turns, surprises and betrayals.
The tagline for Mission: Impossible was ?Expect the Impossible.?
You can Mission: Impossible to rent or buy on Amazon and iTunes, and to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount Plus.
Our next episode is Michael Bay?s action thriller, The Rock.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. The latest episode of the Patreon is on the 1961 film ?Judgment at Nuremberg.?
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The Substitute
For this week?s episode of the podcast, we watched the 1996 action thriller slash high school drama The Substitute, directed by Robert Mandel ? a prolific television director ? and starring Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Diane Venora, Marc Anthony, Luis Guzmàn and William Forsythe.
In The Substitute, Berenger plays Jonathan Shale, a Vietnam veteran and mercenary who takes a break from the business of wet work after a botched operation in Cuba where several of his men were killed. He returns home to Miami to stay with his girlfriend, Jane Hetzko played by Venora, who is a teacher at a local, troubled high school.
Jane becomes a target of the largest and most dangerous gang at the school, Kings of Destruction, and its leader Juan, played by Anthony, directs his men to attack her. She is seriously injured and while in the hospital, Shale maneuvers to become her substitute. His plan? To take down the gang, which is using the school as essentially an open air drug market.
As he moves to confront Juan, Jonathan discovers that the gang is working with the school?s ambitious and corrupt principal, played by Ernie Hudson, to move and distribute ever larger shipments of drugs from foreign supplies. Eager for revenge after a friendly teacher is killed by Juan, Jonathan gathers his men to make an assault on the gang, its suppliers and their allies.
The tagline for The Substitute is ?The most dangerous thing about school used to be the students.? You can watch The Substitute for free on Amazon Prime or on Tubi or Pluto or one of those services.
Our next episode will on Brian DePalma?s 1996 espionage thriller, Mission: Impossible.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more.
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Marathon Man (PATREON PREVIEW)
For this week's Patreon episode, we watched the 1976 thriller "Marathon Man," directed by John Schlesinger, written by William Goldman, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane and Marthe Keller. In "Marathon Man," Hoffman plays a graduate student who becomes entangled in a plot by a Nazi war criminal ? and his U.S. government allies ? to recover stolen diamonds.
The film reflects an of-the-time fascination with the afterlife of the Nazi regime, and especially those Nazis who escaped to South America. We have nothing but positive things to say about this movie and our conversation was interesting as well. You can find "Marathon Man" for rent or purchase on iTunes and Amazon and for streaming on Paramount+. There is also a new 4K blu ray to check out, if you're so inclined.
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Executive Decision (feat. Nick Wiger)
Welcome back to Unclear and Present Danger! It?s our first episode of the new year and we?re here with a pretty fun movie ? ?Executive Decision,? directed by Stuart Baird, produced by Joel Silver and starring Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, Steven Seagal and many others. Music by, as you might expect, Jerry Goldsmith.
In ?Executive Decision,? an intelligence analyst played by Russell and a group of commandos, led by Seagal, must infiltrate a passenger jet bound for Washington DC that has been hijacked by a terrorist group. On board the jet is enough nerve toxin to kill everyone on the eastern seaboard. Most of the film is a tense standoff on the airliner, as the commandos try to defuse the nerve bomb and take down the terrorists, while the terrorists move forward with their mission.
The tagline for Executive Decision was ?Five miles above the earth, an elite team of six men must make an air to air transfer, in order to save 400 lives on board a 747... and 40 million below.?
You can find Executive Decision to rent or buy on iTunes and Amazon.
Our next episode of the podcast will be on ?The Substitute,? otherwise known as ?Stand and Deliver if the teacher body-slammed the students.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. The latest episode of the Patreon is on ?Marathon Man.?
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Crimson Tide (feat. Tony Gilroy)
On this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger ? the last episode of the year! ? we watched Tony Scott?s 1995 submarine action thriller, ?Crimson Tide,? starring Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Viggo Mortenson and James Gandolfini, among many others.
And to discuss ?Crimson Tide,? we have an esteemed guest! Tony Gilroy, who you may know from his work on the Bourne films, political thrillers like ?State of Play,? ?Beirut,? legal thrillers like ?Michael Clayton? or the recent Star Wars Disney Plus series ?Andor.?
Now, if you haven?t watched ?Crimson Tide? ? and you should, stop this episode and go put it on ? here?s the score. In ?Crimson Tide,? the crew of the USS Alabama, a nuclear submarine, is put on high alert as civil war breaks out in post-Soviet Russia. Military units loyal to the ultra-nationalist rebel have taken control of a nuclear missile installation and have threatened nuclear war if threatened.
The USS Alabama is commanded by Captain Frank Ramsey, a career veteran of the submarine corps. He has chosen the cerebral and inexperienced Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter to serve as his new executive officer. The two clash, eventually coming to an impasse over an Emergency Action Message order a missile launch against the Russian base. Ramsey wants to move forward while Hunter wants to delay action until the USS Alabama can clarify a second message received but interrupted as the crew confronted an enemy submarine.
What follows is a confrontation, a mutiny, and a race to confirm the Alabama?s true orders lest they fire the shot that starts a nuclear conflagration.
The tagline for ?Crimson Tide? was ?Danger Runs Deep.?
You can find ?Crimson Tide? for rent or purchase on iTunes and Amazon.
Our next episode will be on ?Executive Decision,? directed by Stuart Baird and starring Kurt Russell, Halle Berry and John Leguizamo.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode of the patreon is on the 1984 Robert Altman drama on Richard Nixon, ?Secret Honor.?
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City Hall
On this week?s episode of the podcast, Jamelle and John watched ?City Hall,? a 1996 political drama directed by Harold Becker and starring Al Pacino, John Cusack, Danny Aiello, Bridget Fonda, David Paymer and Martin Landau. You?ll also notice a beardless Richard Schiff, Lauren Velez, and Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina.
In ?City Hall,? Cusack plays Kevin Calhoun, the loyal deputy to Mayor John Pappas, played by Al Pacino. After a young boy and a police detective are killed in a sting gone wrong, Calhoun has to navigate a tense political situation in effort to bring the crisis to a resolution without harming the rising prospects of his boss. Unfortunately, as he soon discovers with the help of Marybeth Cogan, a lawyer for the slain cop played by Fonda, behind the deaths are a tangled web of corruption that reaches from the political machine to the courts to the mayor?s office itself.
The tagline for ?City Hall? is ?It started with a shootout on a rainswept street and ended in a scandal that shattered New York.?
You can get ?City Hall? for rent or purchase on Amazon and iTunes.
Our next episode will be on ?Crimson Tide.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more.
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Broken Arrow
On this week?s podcast, Jamelle and John watched the legendary Hong Kong director John Woo?s 1996 action thriller ?Broken Arrow,? starring John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Delroy Lindo and Howie Long.
In ?Broken Arrow,? a rogue pilot, Air Force Major Vic Deakins, played by Travolta, steals two nuclear weapons with the intent to sell them back to the United States government for a profit. His co-pilot, Captain Riley Hale, played by Christian Slater, is left for dead during the theft of the weapons. When Hale is found by park ranger Terry Carmichael, Samantha Mathis, the two race to stop Deakins, who eventually decides that he is going to detonate one of the weapons and irradiate the Southwest.
The tagline for ?Broken Arrow? was ?Prepare to go ballistic.?
You can find ?Broken Arrow? to rent or buy on Amazon and iTunes.
Our next episode will be on the 1996 drama ?City Hall.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more.
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J. Edgar (feat. Beverly Gage)
This week on the Patreon, Jamelle and John were joined by Beverly Gage ? a professor of history at Yale University and author of "G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century" ? to discuss Clint Eastwood's 2011 J. Edgar Hoover biopic, simply titled "J. Edgar." We had such a good time discussing the movie with Professor Gage that we thought we should share this episode on the main feed as a bonus! We hope you enjoy it and we hope you consider signing up for the Patreon if you haven?t already.
"J. Edgar" stars eonardo DiCaprio in the title role, with supporting performances from Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas and Judi Dench. The movie is available for rental or purchase on iTunes and Amazon.
You can find Beverly's book at a bookstore near you.
This episode was produced by Connor Lynch. Our artwork is by Rachel Eck.
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Nixon (feat. Nicole Hemmer)
For this week?s episode, Jamelle and John watched Oliver Stone?s 1995 dramatization of the life and career of President Richard M. Nixon, appropriately titled ?Nixon.? Like Stone?s other mid-century political film, ?JFK,? it stars a murderer?s row of A-listers and character actors: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, James Woods, Powers Boothe, Tony Goldwyn, J.T. Walsh and many, many others.
To talk ?Nixon? we were joined by the great Nicole Hemmer, an associate professor of history and director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, the author of two great books on conservative politics, and one of the co-hosts of the PastPresent podcast.
You can find ?Nixon? to rent or stream on iTunes or Amazon Prime. The tagline for ?Nixon? is ?Triumphant in Victory, Bitter in Defeat. He changed the world, but lost a nation.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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The next episode of the podcast will be on John Woo?s first American feature, ?Broken Arrow.?
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War. Our latest episode is on ?The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover,? written and directed by Larry Cohen.
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The Enemy Within
For this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched ?The Enemy Within,? a 1994 remake of John Frankenheimer?s ?Seven Days in May,? starring Forest Whitaker and Jason Robards.
Like the original film, ?The Enemy Within? concerns a military plot to depose the president and take control of the U.S. government. Like the original film, our hero is an Army advisor who would rather defend the Constitution than his superiors. And like the original film, the story is a race against the clock as the president and his allies try to stop their adversary, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from executing his plan.
?The Enemy Within? stars Forest Whitaker as Colonel ?Mac? Casey, Sam Waterston as President William Foster, Dana Delany as his chief of staff Betsy Corcoran, and Jason Robards as General R. Pendleton Lloyd.
The tagline for ?The Enemy Within? is ?You never know who your enemies are.?
You can stream the movie on HBO Max or rent it on iTunes and Amazon.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. The latest episode of our Patreon is on ?Seven Days in May.? So you can listen to these two episodes to compare and contrast the two movies.
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Hidden Assassin
For this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched ?Hidden Assassin? ? also released under the name ?The Shooter? ? a 1995 action drama directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Dolph Lundgren and Maruschka Detmers.
In ?Hidden Assassin,? Lundgren plays a U.S. Marshall, Michael Dane, tasked with arresting a woman, played by Detmers, suspected of assassinating the Cuban ambassador to the United States. Time is of the essence; the Secretary of State will meet with his Cuban counterpart in Prague ? where the movie takes place ? in an attempt to ease tensions between the two nations. But Lundgren isn?t so sure that Detmers? character, Simone Rosset, is the shooter. What unfolds is a conspiracy that threatens Dane?s life and implicates some of his closest allies.
The tagline for ?Hidden Assassin? is ?Seduction is a deadly weapon!? Which doesn?t have much to do with the actual movie.
You can find ?Hidden Assassin? to watch on Amazon Prime or for free on YouTube.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. he latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on the 1979 film ?Winter Kills.?
Our next episode of the main freed podcast will be on ?The Enemy Within,? a 1994 remake of John Frankenheimer?s ?Seven Days in May.? And we?ll watch the original film for the Patreon as well.
Links from the episode!
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12 Monkeys
For this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched ?12 Monkeys,? the 1995 science fiction film from Terry Gilliam starring Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe, Brad Pitt and Christopher Plummer.
?12 Monkeys? is an adaptation of sorts of a 1962 French short film ?La Jetée,? in which scientists in a post-nuclear apocalypse future send a man back and forward through time in an effort to save their present. The man eventually succeeds in his mission, only to be killed ? his death being an image he had seen again and again in his dreams.
And in the film ?12 Monkeys,? Bruce Willis plays James Cole, a prisoner living in an underground compound beneath Philadelphia, in a future where the human race has been nearly wiped out by viral plague. He is selected to go back in time to find the original virus to help scientists in his present develop a cure.
During multiple trips back in time, he encounters people ? a patient at a mental health institution played by Pitt, a psychologist played by Stowe ? who all seem to have a role in the events that will end the human race. Cole struggles to resolve whether his life and experiences are real or not, but comes to understand that the virus is real, and that the man responsible is in his orbit. He attempts to stop him but is shot and killed, fulfilling the vision he had seen, in his dreams, of his own death.
The tagline for ?12 Monkeys? is ?The Future is history.?
?12 Monkeys? is available for rent or purchase on Amazon and iTunes.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode of the Patreon is on ?A Face in the Crowd.?
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The American President (feat. Linda Holmes)
For this week?s episode, Jamelle and John were joined by Linda Holmes of NPR?s Pop Culture Happy Our to discuss the 1995 political romantic comedy ?The American President,? directed by Rob Reiner, written by ? you guessed it ? Aaron Sorkin, and starring Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, David Paymer, Samantha Mathis and Michael J. Fox, among others.
?The American President? stars Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd, a widow, who falls in love with an environmental lobbyist, played by Annette Bening, while he also runs for re-election and attempts to pass major legislation. The film is both a romantic comedy, depicting the president?s courtship, and a political drama, depicting the effort to win votes, dodge criticism and shore up the White House?s political position.
The tagline for ?The American President? is ?Why can?t the most powerful man in the world have the one thing he wants most??
?The American President? is available for rent or purchase on Amazon and iTunes.
Our next episode will on the 1995 science-fiction thriller, ?Twelve Monkeys.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on the 1970 film ?The Conformist.? Our next episode will be on Elia Kazan?s 1957 political drama ?A Face in the Crowd.?
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Goldeneye (feat. Isaac Chotiner)
For this week?s episode, Jamelle and John were joined by Isaac Chotiner of the New Yorker magazine to watch and discuss 1995?s GoldenEye, the first James Bond film of the 1990s and the first James Bond film of the post-Cold War era. GoldenEye is the seventeenth film in the James Bond series and the first to star Pierce Brosnan, who would go on to star in three subsequent pictures, all of which we will eventually cover on the podcast: Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day.
Directed by Martin Campbell and starring, in addition to Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Alan Cumming, Judi Dench and Joe Don Baker, Goldeneye was something of a reboot for the Bond franchise, which had been on a six-year hiatus since the previous entry, License to Kill starring Timothy Dalton.
The plot of GoldenEye is as straightforward as one of these movies can manage: Bond is tasked with stopping the mysterious Janus syndicate from stealing and using a Soviet-era space weapon capable of causing an electro-magnetic pulse blast anywhere on the planet. Complicating this mission is the fact that the leader of Janus, Alec Trevelayn, is a former MI6 agent who was supposed to have died on a mission with Bond, nine years earlier. There?s the usual adventures and explosions and casual sexual encounters, culminating in a final showdown between Bond and Trevelayn on a massive satellite.
GoldenEye, if you?ve somehow never seen it, is available for rental and purchase on iTunes and Amazon.
For our next episode, we?re covering the 1995 romantic-political comedy, ?The American President,? starring Michael Douglas and Annette Benning.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. The most recent episode of the Patreon is on the 1970 Italian political drama, ?The Conformist.?
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Dead Presidents
For this week?s episode, we watched the 1995 coming-of-age tale slash Vietnam War movie slash crime thriller ?Dead Presidents,? produced and directed by Albert and Allen Hughes. It stars Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, N?Bushe Wright, Freddy Rodriguez and Bokeem Woodbine.
?Dead Presidents? is the story of Anthony Curtis, a soon-to-be high school graduate from the Bronx who chooses to join the Marines in search of his own destiny. The year is 1969 and he is sent to Vietnam, leaving his family, his girlfriend Juanita and his friends behind. He experiences the worst of the war and returns home, angry and alienated, to his old girlfriend and his daughter. His friends, who also went to war, have also had their own trials. Each desperate for meaning and for money, they devise a plan to rob an armored car. As you might expect, things get quickly out of hand.
In the course of the episode, Jamelle and John discuss the experience of Black veterans in America?s wars, the role of Vietnam in American national memory and the way race shapes our understanding of crime.
The tagline for ?Dead Presidents? is ?The only color that counts is green.? You can find the move for rent on iTunes and Amazon.
Episodes come out every two weeks, so we will see you then with an episode on the first James Bond film of the 1990s, ?Goldeneye.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest Patreon episode is on the 1975 German political thriller, ?The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum.?
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Strange Days
For this week?s episode, Jamelle and John watched Kathryn Bigelow?s 1995 cult favorite Strange Days, a collaboration with James Cameron inspired by the political and social turmoil of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although not quite ?cyberpunk? ? it isn?t a William Gibson pastiche like its contemporary Johnny Mnemonic ? Strange Days borrows heavily from the genre and its various conceits. Strange Days stars Ralph Fiennes as protagonist Lenny Nero, Angela Bassett as ?Mace,? Juliette Lewis as Faith and Tom Sizemore as Max, with appearances from Vincent D?Onofrio, Michael Wincott, William Fichtner and Richard Edson.
Here is a brief plot synopsis:
Set in the year 1999 during the last days of the old millennium, the movie tells the story of Lenny Nero, an ex-cop who now deals with data-discs containing recorded memories and emotions. One day he receives a disc which contains the memories of a murderer killing a prostitute. Lenny investigates and is pulled deeper and deeper in a whirl of blackmail, murder and rape. Will he survive and solve the case?
The tagline for Strange Days is ?New Year?s Eve 1999. Anything is possible. Nothing is forbidden.?
Strange Days is available to stream on HBO Max and is available for rent or purchase on iTunes and Amazon. Our next episode is on the Hughes brother?s crime thriller Dead Presidents.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
Follow us on Twitter!
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode of the patreon is on The Battle of Algiers.
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Fatherland (feat. Sam Goldman)
This week, Jamelle and John were joined by scholar and author Sam Goldman to watch and discuss the1994 alt-history thriller ?Fatherland,? a made-for-HBO adaptation of Robert Harris? 1992 novel of the same name.
Both the novel and the film take place in a 1964 where Nazi Germany won the war in Europe. In the week leading up to the 75th birthday of Adolf Hitler, and the opening up of diplomatic relations with the United States, an investigator in the SS looks into the suspicious death of a high-ranking Nazi official. He soon discovers that a cadre of senior Nazis are being murdered under unusual circumstances to cover up something of great importance. Our detective, along with an American journalist, eventually discover the ?something? in question: evidence of the Holocaust.
?Fatherland? is not available for streaming on HBO Max, but you can find a free copy of decent quality on YouTube.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode of the Patreon is on ?The Battle of Algiers.? It was a great conversation and you should check it out.
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The Net (feat. Josie Duffy Rice)
In this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by the Josie Duffy Rice of the Unreformed podcast to discuss ?The Net,? a 1995 techno-thriller, directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam and Dennis Miller. The Net was one of several films in a mini-genre that you can describe as, ?What if computer technology was used for evil?? Contemporaries include Hackers and Enemy of the State, both films we will eventually cover on this podcast.
Here is a brief plot synopsis:
Angela Bennett is a freelance software engineer who lives in a world of computer technology. When a cyber friend asks Bennett to debug a new game, she inadvertently becomes involved in a conspiracy that will soon turn her life upside down and make her the target of an assassination.
The tagline for The Net is: ?NO DRIVER?S LICENSE, NO CREDIT CARDS, NO PASSPORT, NO ACCESS TO HER BANK ACCOUNTS IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY ? SHE FINDS HER IDENTITY STOLEN.?
The Net is available to rent on Amazon and iTunes.
Our next episode will on the 1994 adaptation of the novel ?Fatherland,? starring Rutger Hauer and Miranda Richardson. You can watch it on YouTube.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode of the patreon is on the 1982 Costa-Gavras film ?Missing.?
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Demolition man
In this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch the satirical sci-fi action thriller ?Demolition Man,? starring Sylvester Stallone as ?John Spartan,? a Los Angeles city police officer who is cryogenically frozen as punishment for a failed rescue attempt; Wesley Snipes as ?Simon Phoenix,? his primary antagonist; Sandra Bullock as a cop in the sterile, Brave New World-esque future society in which the film takes place; and Nigel Hawthorne as the leader of that future society.
In addition to their usual look at the headlines and news of the day, Jamelle and John discuss ?Demolition Man? as one of the quintessentially conservative blockbusters of the 1990s, with a critique of liberalism as both permissive ? and thus prone to disorder ? and highly restrictive, and thus antagonistic to traditional ideas of manhood and masculinity. They also look at what the movie says about the role of violence in society, and try to place the film within the ?end of history? context of the immediate post-Cold War period.
Episodes come out every two weeks, so we?ll see you then with an episode on ?The Net,? starring Sandra Bullock.
?The Net? is available to rent on iTunes and Amazon.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. We are currently doing a mini-series on the films of the French-Greek director Costa-Gavras.
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Judge Dredd
In this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by David Sims of The Atlantic magazine and the Blank Check podcast to discuss the 1995 comic book adaptation ?Judge Dredd.? Made in the era when Hollywood had no idea what to do with comics and science fiction properties, ?Judge Dredd? is, in most respects, a failure. But within that failure is interesting glimpse into one of the major political preoccupations of the 1990s ? crime. As such, the conversation touches on the crime discourse of the decade, as well as the culture of American policing. They also talk a bit about Sylvester Stallone.
It?s a good episode, even if you disagree with us about the strength of the movie itself. We realized that we skipped an important entry in Stallone?s 1990s output, so our next episode will be on the 1993 film ?Demolition Man.? We?ll see you then.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our latest episode is on the 1970 political thriller ?The Confession,? directed by Costa-Gavras.
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True Lies
In this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch ?True Lies,? James Cameron?s tonally-incoherent (but hugely successful) spy thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. They discuss the film as a straightforward take on the American crisis of masculinity in the 1990s, as a depiction of American beliefs and ideologies around sex and power, and as the beginning of a significant turn in the cultural depiction of America?s enemies. They also talk about American interventions into Haiti, welfare reform and James Cameron?s marriages.
You can watch ?True Lies? on Apple TV Plus or Paramount Plus.
Episodes are released every two weeks, so join Jamelle and John later this month for an episode on the 1995 adaptation of ?Judge Dredd,? starring Sylvester Stallone.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. The latest episode of the Patreon is on the 1969 political thriller ?Z,? directed by Costa-Gavras.
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Canadian Bacon
This week on Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched ?Canadian Bacon,? a 1995 political comedy written, produced and directed by Michael Moore, which takes aim at American politics in the wake of the Cold War. It stars an ensemble cast of John Candy (in his last film role), Alan Alda as the president of the United States, Bill Nunn, Kevin J. O?Connor, Rhea Perlman, Kevin Pollak and Rip Torn.
In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss Michael Moore?s work and impact (especially on their political awareness), post-Cold War demobilization, deindustrialization and the ways that race and class work together in American life. New episodes come out every two weeks, so join the podcast then when we discuss James Cameron?s ?True Lies.?
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Die Hard with a Vengeance
On this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched ?Die Hard with a Vengeance,? the 1995 threequel to the original 1988 ?Die Hard.? Directed by John McTiernan, who helmed the first film, it was written by prolific Holllywood screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh based on an original screenplay and stars Bruce Willis as recurring hero John McClane, Samuel L. Jackson as ?Zeus,? and Jeremy Irons as Simon Gruber, brother of Hans.
In the episode, Jamelle and John discuss Rudy Giuliani?s New York, the racial and class politics of the film and how this movie seems to anticipate the imagery of the 9/11 era.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more.
Our next episode is on the 1995 political satire ?Canadian Bacon,? directed by Michael Moore and starring an ensemble cast of John Candy, Alan Alda, Bill Nunn and many others. You can find it to rent on iTunes and Amazon.
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Outbreak
On this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John discuss Wolfgang Petersen?s medical thriller slash action movie ?Outbreak.? We spend the bulk of the episode discussing the experience of watching this movie having lived through a pandemic, as well as the pandemic fears of the 1990s that might have inspired this film. Unfortunately, a few technical difficulties meant the audio quality isn?t as high as it should be, but we did our best to compensate and we appreciate your patience.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our most recent episode of the Patreon is on Alan J. Pakula?s paranoia thriller ?The Parallax View.?
On our next episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we cover ?Die Hard: With a Vengeance.?
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Drop Zone (feat. Soraya Roberts)
This week, Jamelle and John are joined by Soraya Roberts of Defector and Pipe Wrench magazine to talk ?Drop Zone,? a quintessentially 1990s action film starring Wesley Snipes and Gary Busey. They talk Snipes' career and his fall into ?sovereign citizenship,? the 90s obsession with ?extreme? sports, and race and Hollywood.
In our next episode, we?ll discuss the (ridiculous) disaster thriller ?Outbreak,? directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo. It?s available to rent or purchase on Amazon and iTunes.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Our most recent episode is on the Clint Eastwood film ?The Eiger Sanction,? and our next episode will be on the Alan J. Pakula paranoia thriller, ?The Parallax View.?
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Toys
In this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch ?Toys,? a largely-forgotten fantasy-comedy film from director Barry Levinson. Despite its myriad flaws, the boys have a productive conversation about the film?s obvious themes ? the military-industrial complex and the rise of remote and drone warfare ? and its less obvious themes, specifically the bourgeois vision of family capitalism and industrial harmony at the heart of the film.
?Toys? is virtually impossible to watch if you don?t have a physical disc, but there is a low-quality version available to stream here.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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The Human Factor (PATREON PREVIEW)
We are concluding our Graham Greene series with an obscure spy drama from director Otto Preminger, the 1979 film "The Human Factor." It is of a piece with "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and to that point, Jamelle and John spend this episode discussing the connections between the two works and the similarities (and differences) between how Le Carre and Greene view betrayal and deception.
"The Human Factor" is pretty good ? Preminger was a master ? so we both recommend that you check it out. It's available to view for rent on iTunes and Amazon Prime.
To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Unclear and Present Patreon and get access to our show on the films (and television) of the Cold War, as well a monthly entry into a movie raffle, and whatever else we can think of.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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The Rocketeer
In this week?s episode, Jamelle and John watch Disney?s ?The Rocketeer,? a throwback action-adventure film starring Billy Campbell, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Sorvino and Timothy Dalton. They discuss the 1930s revival of the late 80s and early 90s, the real-life conspiracies that might have inspired the plot of ?The Rocketeer,? and the political power of nostalgia for Americans on the left and the right.
Episodes come out every other Friday, so we?ll see you two weeks from now with the 1992 film ?Toys?" directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robin Williams. ?Toys?" is basically impossible to find, so don?t worry about watching this one!
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Without Warning
In this week?s episode, Jamelle and John discuss ?Without Warning,? a made-for-television science fiction film from 1994, produced as if it were an actual breaking news event, with ?reports? from on-the-ground correspondents from around the world. They discuss the inspiration for this ?docudrama? genre as well as the general wave of ?asteroid attack? films in the 1990s. They also talk the psychology behind the idea that a global disaster would bring humanity together (under American leadership, of course).
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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We?ll see you in two weeks with ?The Rocketeer,? a science-fiction adventure film from 1991, directed by Joe Johnston and starring Billy Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. It?s available to rent on Amazon and iTunes and available on Disney Plus.
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Surviving the Game (feat. Gillet Rosenblith)
New Episode
This week, Jamelle and John are joined by historian Gillet Rosenblith to discuss the 1994 action thriller ?Surviving the Game,? a loose adaptation of ?The Most Dangerous Game? and a glimpse into anxieties and fears regarding poverty, homelessness and urban decay in the 1990s. They also discuss other, similar films of the era, like John Woo?s ?Hard Target,? and they discuss further what distinguishes the action movies of the 1990s from their predecessors in the 70s and 80s.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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The Puppet Masters
Happy New Year! In this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watch ?The Puppet Masters,? an adaptation of a 1951 Robert Heinlein novel that feels aimless in the absence of the original Cold War context. Jamelle and John discuss, among other things, the ?Body Snatcher? genre, science fiction as a vehicle for allegory, and the war on drugs.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Blown Away (feat. Clare Malone)
What do you get when you mix Boston, bad accents and a lot of explosions? The 1994 thriller ?Blown Away? starring Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones! Jamelle and John are joined by Clare Malone of The New Yorker to talk Irish-American identity, Irish nationalism, the racial politics of Boston and much, much more.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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The Third Man (PATREON PREVIEW)
Hello listeners! This on the Patreon week we continued our journey into the work of Graham Greene and Carol Reed with the 1949 British noir ?The Third Man.? It suffices to say that this is one of the most famous and acclaimed movies of all time, so Jamelle and John had a lot to say about its production, its writing and its themes. They also spoke a great deal about Orson Welles, the politics of postwar Europe, existentialism, and the career of star Joseph Cotten.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Unclear and Present Patreon and get access to our show on the films (and television) of the Cold War, as well special mailbag episodes, monthly entry into a movie raffle, and whatever else we can think of.
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On Deadly Ground
In this week?s episode, Jamelle and John scrape the bottom of the cinematic barrel with the 1994 environmentalist action flick, ?On Deadly Ground,? directed by and starring Steven Seagall. It?s not a good movie, but they had a good conversation covering Seagall?s political trajectory, right-wing misogyny, and the psychological origins of authoritarian politics.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
New York Times front-page for February 18, 1994
A Variety review of ?On Deadly Ground?
Siskel and Ebert review ?On Deadly Ground?
Next week, Jamelle and John will be joined by The New Yorker?s Clare Malone to discuss ?Blown Away? with Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones.
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Our Man in Havana (PATREON PREVIEW)
For this week?s Patreon episode, Jamelle and John cover the 1959 film ?Our Man in Havana,? an adaptation of a 1958 Graham Greene novel by the same name. We talk Graham Greene, director Carol Reed, and Alec Guinness, the star, as well as esoteric topics like motivated reasoning, the nature of intelligence work, and the power and peril of propaganda. We also, as always, looked at the news for the day the film was released, December 30, 1959.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Unclear and Present Patreon and get access to our show on the films (and television) of the Cold War, as well special mailbag episodes, monthly entry into a movie raffle, and whatever else we can think of.
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The Pelican Brief (feat. Jay Willis)
In this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle, John and special guest Jay Willis of Balls and Strikes discuss the 1993 adaptation of John Grisham?s ?The Pelican Brief,? and ask whether anything about the movie?s plot actually makes any sense. They also discuss the early days of the conservative legal movement, the political hegemony of capital, and Stanley Tucci.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War, and much, much more. Last week, we covered the 1979 BBC adaptation of ?Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.?
Links from the episode!
New York Times front-page for December 17, 1993
Kirkus book review of ?The Pelican Brief.?
The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle or Control of the Law
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (PATREON PREVIEW)
We have another Patreon episode for you and this week, it?s a John favorite: the 1979 BBC adaptation of ?Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.? We go deep into the character of George Smiley, John le Carre?s critique of the British ruling class, and the idea of national ?decadence.? Jamelle also spends a little time talking about the American constitutional system, so it?s basically an episode where everyone is on brand.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Unclear and Present Patreon and get access to our show on the films (and television) of the Cold War, as well special mailbag episodes, monthly entry into a movie raffle, and whatever else we can think of.
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The Fugitive (feat. Michael Liroff)
Jamelle and John are joined by Michael Liroff of the Five Four podcast to discuss ?The Fugitive,? a masterpiece of Dad cinema. They talk the liberal politics of the 1990s, the surprisingly nuanced racial politics of the film, and complain, as always, that they just don?t make them like this anymore.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
The New York Times front-page for August 6, 1993
Wikipedia entry on Harold Washington, the 51st mayor of Chicago
Also, a quick note: Jamelle said this was the 27th episode of the podcast, ti is actually the 28th! Our apologies for the mistake.
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The Hunt for Red October (Take Two)
Episode 26 ? The Hunt for Red October (Take Two)
In this one year anniversary episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John return to the film that started it all, ?The Hunt for Red October.? They discuss the film as an elegy for the Cold War era, and further explore the dilemma of American power and identity in the post-Soviet world.
Next week?s episode??The Fugitive.?
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Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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The Firm
Episode 25 ? The Firm
In this episode of Unclear and Present Danger, John and Jamelle discuss the 1993 John Grisham film adaptation ?The Firm.? They use the genre of the legal thriller to discuss the legalization of American life in the 1990s and the turn from politics in crucible of history to management at its putative end. They also talk about Wilford Brimley, so there?s that too.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
New York Times front-page for June 30, 1993
Barack Obama?s lost manuscript
?Two Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy is Flawed, Frightening?and Our Best Hope?
Next time on Unclear and Present Danger?Jamelle and John return to ?The Hunt for Red October.?
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Passenger 57 (feat. Amanda Smith)
In this episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Amanda Smith of the Disaster Girls podcast to discuss the Wesley Snipes vehicle ?Passenger 57,? which features an extremely charismatic Snipes facing off against an off-band Hannibal Lecter and also, casual racism.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
? New York Times front-page for November 6, 1992
? Interview with Stewart Raffill, one of the writers for Passenger 57
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White Sands
Somehow, a crime thriller starring Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Mickey Rourke set in the New Mexico desert isn?t especially good. Still, the 1992 film ?White Sands? gave Jamelle and John a little bit to discuss for this week?s episode of Unclear and Present Danger.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Deep Cover (feat. Adam Serwer)
Jamelle, John and special guest Adam Serwer of The Atlantic watch one of the great crime movies of the 1990s ? Bill Duke?s ?Deep Cover? ? and talk about post-Cold War anxiety over the drug trade, Black ?tough on crime? politics, and the war on drugs.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
New York Times front-page for April 15, 1992
James Forman?s book on the Black politics of the early 1990s, ?Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America.?
?THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Candidates' Records; Four Years of Bush?s Drug War: New Funds but an Old Strategy?
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Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Welcome to episode 22 of Unclear and Present Danger. This week, we watched ?Die Hard 2: Die Harder,? the sequel ? of course ? to ?Die Hard.? In this conversation, Jamelle and John talk the 1990s panic over violence in pop culture, the working-class qualities of John McClane, and the lost days of American suspicion of, even hostility to, the military.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Rising Sun
On episode 21 of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John discuss the horrifically problematic 1993 thriller ?Rising Sun? starring Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery. It?s lurid, salacious and incredibly racist, which makes it fertile ground for a discussion of the anti-Japanese panic of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Additional topics include Wesley Snipes' career, Michael Crighton?s whole deal, and the question of whether it is even possible to forge a unifying national narrative.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
The Washington Post on the protests against the release of ?Rising Sun.?
Hobart Rowen on Japan-bashing in the 1980s.
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In the Line of Fire
In this, our twentieth episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched the hit 1993 thriller ?In the Line of Fire,? directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Clint Eastwood, Rene Russo and John Malkovich. They discuss Eastwood?s career and star persona, the anti-political apathy of the 1990s, and the ?end of history? vibes of Eastwood and Malkovich?s characters.
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Links from the episode!
New York Times front-page for July 9, 1993
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In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco
For episode 19 of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch ?In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco,? a ripped-from-the-headlines-style movie about the siege at Waco. They use the movie as an occasion to discuss right-wing extremism, abuse and overreach among federal law enforcement, and how both played themselves out in American culture.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
New York Times front-page for May 23, 1993
?Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America? by Kathleen Belew
American Experience: Ruby Ridge
?Waco: The Rules of Engagement,? a 1997 documentary on the siege and its fallout.
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