Hot Date

Even before director George Sidney and stars Judy Garland, John Hodiak and Angela Lansbury finished shooting 1946's The Harvey Girls, it's signature song, On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, was burning up the music charts in the summer and fall of 1945. No fewer than six artists recorded the song, the most successful being the version created by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers.  It's no wonder than that the scene in the film that introduces the song is one of the longest and most complex musical numbers in motion picture history.  Dan and Vicky jump on the Harvey Girls train to discuss the delightful musical that cemented Judy Garland as a bona fide musical movie star.  In the recently seen section of the podcast your hosts talk about the ABC special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family and The Jeffersons, Dario Argento's Dracula, Long Shot, 2018's Mom & Dad, and the Lifetime TV's dud 2014 take on Flowers in the Attic.   Have a listen to Hot Date 89: The Harvey Girls and leave us

When director Peter Medak (The Changeling, Romeo Is Bleeding) cast twins brothers Martin and Gary Kemp to play the infamous British gangster siblings Ronnie and Reggie Kray he had no idea that the Kemps already had a strong fan base as the musical duo Spandau Ballet, one of the biggest British new wave bands of all time!  The real life Krays twins, still alive at the time but serving long prison sentences, got paid 255,000 pounds for the rights to their story and brother Charlie acted as senior consultant during the making of the film.  Esteemed British stage actress Billie Whitelaw plays their domineering mother Violet.   Dan and Vicky discuss the minor cult classic and it's relation to the real life events in the twins lives.  Also on tap is a discussion of recently seen including CBS's new Twilight Zone, 1975's Salo, Wine Country and The Silence on Netflix, Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief and The Assassination of Gianni Versace.   Check out Hot Date 88: The Krays and leave us some feedback.  Check out our web

After the success of his 1958 film The Defiant Ones, which confronted issues of racial division, director Stanley Kramer continued on a path of making films that were socially relevant and examined the issues of the time.  1959's On The Beach was no exception.  Based on the very successful novel by Australian Nevil Shute, which imagined his home country as the only place left on earth not yet suffocated by a cloud of deadly radioactive dust, On The Beach was the very first Hollywood film to shoot completely Down Under.  It stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Athony Perkins and Fred Astaire.   Dan and Vicky discuss the classic anti-nuke film and the stars that lend it it's authenticity and heart -- albeit not with accurate accents.  They also talk about some recently seen including Avengers: End Game, Irish horror film The Hole in the Ground, 2019's Hellboy, Hulu series Into the Dark, Hannah and Her Sisters and Hitchcock's 1931 The Skin Game.   Hear how Dan nearly lost an eye doing The Tempest off-broadway, how V

Director Dick Maas can be arguably credited for putting The Netherlands on the horror map with his 1983 film Der Lift.  The film, about a high rise plagued with strange elevator accidents and deaths, was a reportedly difficult low budget shoot with a novice director, cast shakes ups and endless producer interference.  But when it premiered at Cannes, it was snapped up quickly by Warner Bros. and had successful runs in cities around the world throughout it's 1984-85 roll out.  It even inspired a remake 18 years later, also directed by Maas and filmed almost entirely in the Netherlands with American actors, alternately titled Down and The Shaft! After last week's Norwegian film Elling, Dan and Vicky return once again to Scandinavia and to horror for Der Lift.  They discuss the campy minor classic and it's bigger budgeted remake from 2001.  They also discuss plenty of recently seen including Fosse/Verdon, Santa Clarita Diet, the Cary Grant films My Favorite Wife and Penny Serenade, Pet Sematary (2019), Curse of

For episode 85 of Hot Date, Dan and Vicky take us to Scandinavia for the comedy Elling, starring Per Christian Ellefsen as the title character and Sven Nordin as his best frenemy Kjell.  Initially wary about their choice, our hosts found a lot to like in this gentle comedy from the performances of the two leads to the portrayal of the Norwegian social welfare system.   Dan and Vicky also discuss the things they've been watching recently including FX's What We Do in the Shadows, Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, Joe Dante's Matinee, Captain Marvel, Shoplifters, Burning and an extensive look at Jordan Peele's new horror film Us.    Dan gives us some insight into the Public Theater's Tempest Mobile Unit tour he's currently on and his visit to TAK Room, the very high end restaurant in NY's Hudson Yards.  And Vicky weighs in on her glorious weekend at home and her own visit to the Public to see Jake Gyllenhaal and Jim Sturridge in the play Sea Wall/A Life. There's Nor Way you should miss Hot Date 85: Elling.  Have a

The plot of 1939's Lady of the Tropics strangely mirrored the life of it's star Hedy Lamarr.  In the film Lamarr is a woman of mixed race living in pre-war Saigon trying to flee the advances of an oily, corrupt rubber tycoon.  She is half French and yearns to escape to France in search of her father.  In real life, the Czech born Lamarr fled her home country for Paris after marrying a domineering Austrian arms merchant with ties to Mussolini and Hitler!  From Paris she made her way to London where she was discovered by Louis B. Mayer and placed under contract with MGM. Dan and Vicky discuss the film and the questionable way it depicts the life of a woman of mixed race.  Also on hand is some recently seen including King Lear on Broadway, Hulu's Shrill, HBO's The Case Against Adnan Syed, Halloween 2018, Gasper Noe's Climax, and Greta.  Get the latest on Funikijam and hear all about Dan's new foray into Shakespeare off-Broadway. Check out Hot Date 84: Lady of the Tropics and leave us some feedback.  Don't forget

1991's Defending Your Life is the fourth film Albert Brooks' wrote, directed and starred in.  He would eventually serve in those capacities on a total of seven films, all bearing his distinctive gentle but incisive examination of love, death and relationships.  Brooks hoped to challenge the popular and Hollywood version of heaven and the afterlife as a fanciful, peaceful Utopia.  He imagines in Defending Your Life a heaven not dissimilar to our corporeal world -- one run much like a business, where the most prepared are rewarded with eternal salvation.  He had a strong cast (Meryl Street, Rip Torn, Lee Grant and Buck Henry) and skilled cinematographer (Allen Daviau) to help him.   Dan and Vicky discuss their first Albert Brooks' film along with some recently seen including the Amazon docuseries Lorena, horror doc Horror Noire, Isn't It Romantic, Happy Death Day 2U, The 400 Blows, 10 to Midnight, 1968's Lion in Winter, and a whole trove of Netflix comedy specials. There's also talk of Dan's recent acting gigs,

To get an authentic pool hall feel for his second to last feature The Hustler (he would only make 1964's Lilith before passing away in 1966), director Robert Rossen shot in two actual pool halls in New York City.  New York also stood in for other parts of the country --everything from a Pittsburgh bar to a Kentucky mansion was shot in the city.  And when his lead Paul Newman couldn't master certain pool trick shots, he cut in the hands of pool technical advisor Willie Mosconi.  Though Jackie Gleason's character Minnesota Fats was created by Walter Tevis for the novel on which the movie is based, real life hustler Rudolf Wanderone adopted the persona and insisted that the character was based on him.   Your Hot Date hosts discuss the classic 1961 film and it's towering performances from Newman, Gleason, Piper Laurie and George C. Scott.  They also give us their thoughts on some recently seen including The Wife, Green Book, Glass, Velvet Buzzsaw, The Prodigy, Cam, BlackkKlansman, Victor Crowley, Russian Doll and

A documentary film gets the Hot Date treatment for the first time in the show's history.  And not just any documentary.  Dan and Vicky take a look at director Barry Shils' chronicle of the NY drag celebration Wigstock with 1995's Wigstock: The Movie.  Culled from footage taken at the 1993 and 1994 gatherings, Shils creates a portrait of the event and the incredible drag performers that bring it to life.  They include Lady Bunny (also a founder), Joey Arias, Mistress Formika, Candis Cane, Jackie Beat, Lypsinka, and RuPaul.   Along with the film, your hosts also discuss some recently seen, including Bird Box, Death Wish 2018, Vice, A Star is Born 2018, 1981's Southern Comfort, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and You Were Never Really Here.  Listen for Vicky's takedown of Lady Gaga and her incessant crying, Dan's butchering of politically sensitive gender pronouns and a tribute to the late, great Alexis Arquette.   Don't wig out!  Tuck yourself in and enjoy Hot Date 81: Wigstock: The Movie.  Then leave us some feedba

Dan and Vicky have reached their 80th Hot Date episode and that means more top tens!  This time your hosts discuss their favorite on- screen pairings.  Those movie couples you love, love to hate, or hate to love.  Films from Peter Bogdonavich, David Cronenberg, Robert Aldrich, Gus Meins, Billy Wilder, Ang Lee and Alan Pakula, to name a few, make the cut.  And since ten can never be enough, you'll also hear a wild and sexy list of alternates! Your Hot Daters also discuss their recent holiday adventures, Vicky's two new streaming purchases and a whole gaggle of recently seen TV and movies including The Favourite, Aquaman, You Might Be the Killer, Anna and the Apocalypse, Ace in the Hole, The Predator, Tully, DePalma, and Won't You Be My Neighbor? So listen to your two favorite peas in a podcast talk about their favorite on screen peas in a pod!  Happy 2019 with Hot Date 80!  Please leave us some feedback.  

Karel Reisz had never directed a feature before and was committed to capturing the gritty reality of living in working class Nottingham, England.  Not only did he shoot the film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning in actual Nottingham locations but he arrived several weeks before shooting with a small film crew to become acquainted with the town and it's denizens.  When famed cinematographer Freddie Francis and stars Albert Finney, Rachel Roberts, and Shirley Ann Field added their talents to the film, what emerged was the 14th greatest British film of all time out of 100 according to the British Film Institute. Dan and Vicky discuss this seminal film in British history, their second starring Albert Finney (Under the Volcano).  They also catch us up on holiday plans, Christmas office parties, and the end of Dan's off-Broadway play.  Recently seen movies and TV include Bad Moms Christmas, 1959's Terror is a Man, Netflix documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, Spanish horror film Veronica, 1977's Rolling Thunder and The

1945's Scarlet Street reunited director Fritz Lang with stars Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, and Dan Duryea and cinematographer Milton Krasner from the previous year's The Woman in the Window. Unlike that film however Scarlet Street ran afoul of censor board's across the country that objected to it's "obscenity," "indecency," "profanity," and "sordidness."  Despite that, the film did well at the box office making back nearly three times it's budget.   Dan and Vicky discuss this lesser heralded noir film and it's provocative stars.  They also discuss the demise of Filmstruck, Dan's emotional visit to an immigration detention center and Vicky's Thanksgiving staycation.  Recently seen includes Latin History for Morons, Bohemian Rhapsody, the Suspiria remake, Overlord, 1968's The Devil Rides Out, Pacific Rim Uprising, and series The Haunting of Hill House among others.   We'll meet you on Scarlet Street for Hot Date 78! Have a listen and leave us some feedback or a star rating. 

Coming off the success of 2010's Lionsgate thriller The Last Exorcism, director Daniel Stamm brought his script for 13 Sins, a remake of a Thai film, to the producers at Blumhouse.  The 4 million dollar film had the bad fortune, however, to be released by the Weinstein Bros. controlled Radius-TWC, which dumped the film in limited release and only made about $10,000 at the box office.  It stars Mark Webber, Rutina Wesley, Devon Graye, and Ron Perlman. Dan and Vicky discuss the film as well some of their recently seen which include:  Big Mouth, The Haunting of Hill House, A Star is Born 2018, Rampage, Bad Times at the El Royale, Halloween 2018, Terrifier and PuppetMaster: The Littlest Reich. Dan brings us up-to-date on his new off-broadway show Wild Goose Dreams and the cast album he's recording and Vicky talks about her Florida trip for some R&R with Mom and Dad. Confess!  Bet you can't wait to listen to Hot Date 77: 13 Sins.  Leave us some feedback.  

For the first time in Hot Date history, an episode was lost to the computer gods as our original 76th show became a casualty of Dan's misguided efforts to clean off his desktop.  That film would have been 2014's indie B-extravaganza The Guest but instead Dan and Vicky cover a B movie from a different era, 1954's Killers From Space starring Peter Graves and directed by W. Lee Wilder, brother of Billy! In addition to that sci-fi cheapie, your hosts discuss Dan's new show at the Public Theater in NY and Vicky's visit to South Carolina.  In the recently seen section, we hear about The Predator, The House with Clocks in its Walls, Star 80, The Towering Inferno, Ghost Stories and Mandy.  And as a special bonus, you even get a thumbnail review of The Guest!   Blast off with Hot Date 76:Killers From Space and leave us some feedback.  

Director Taylor Hackford's (An Officer And A Gentleman, Dolores Clairborne) first cut of his Chicano epic Blood In Blood Out was nearly five hours long but distributor Disney, already skittish about the box office prospects of a hard hitting drama about Mexican gang culture with no stars, forced him to cut it down to three.  Disney also insisted on a title change.  Blood In Blood Out refers to the Chicano gang motto of death being the only way in and out of a gang.  Disney, fearing violence at movie theaters, changed the title to the safer Bound By Honor.   Dan and Vicky discuss Blood In Blood Out, their second film with a primarily Latin cast behind The Mambo Kings from episode 73.  Also on deck are lots of recently seen including selections from the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Scary Movie Festival, Crazy Rich Asians, Red Christmas, Maps of the Stars, 1982's The Thing, and Vicky's first viewing of 2001.   And don't miss talk of Vicky's further Funikijam adventures and Dan's first experience with a YouTu

After a three month recording hiatus, Dan and Vicky are back to sink their teeth into the Hammer horror entry Scars of Dracula.  The 1970 British production was the sixth entry in the studio's Dracula films and noted for being the first R rated movie in the company's history.  The movie didn't get a warm reception in the States.  Warner Bros., the American studio responsible for bringing most of the early Hammer Dracula films to the US, refused to release Scars and critics savaged the movie as an exploitative retread of the earlier classier entries.  But Christopher Lee, who struggled with coming back time and time again to the character, returned for two more Hammer Dracula films.   In addition to covering their first Hammer film, Dan and Vicky tell us what they did with their summer as well as what they've been watching.  For Vicky, that included Sponge Bob on Broadway, lots of TV (Pose, American Woman, Absentia, and Tokyo Vampire Hotel) and a fair share of movies (Cargo, Tag, Blindspotting, The Spy Who Dum

Essentially an immigrant story set in the 1950's New York music scene, The Mambo Kings is also one of the few mainstream Hollywood films to highlight the Cuban/American experience, albeit without actual Cubans in the cast.  Leads Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas are Italian/Irish and Spanish respectively.  The female leads,  Cathy Moriarity and Maruschka Detmers, are American and Dutch.  The only cast members with any Cuban heritage are singer Celia Cruz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. but they each have small supporting roles in the film.   Dan and Vicky discuss the movie, based on the Oscar Hijuelos' 1989 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, and Vicky recalls seeing the film in 1992 after falling in love with the novel.  Your hosts also tell us what they've been watching recently including Showtime's Patrick Melrose, Netflix's Travelers, The Book Club, the new Leatherface movie and Hitchcock's forgotten gem I, Confess.   Feel the beat and sway to the rhythm of Hot Date 73: The Mambo Kings

Director Russ Meyer was a World War II newsreel cameraman and Playboy photographer before writing, producing and directing his own feature films. But his early work directly influenced the way he approached his exploitation film career.  He ran his Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! set like a military operation, demanding efficiency and professionalism from all his creative partners.  And he drew on his experience at Playboy when it came time to cast the busty and beautiful women that populated the film.  Meyer had the good fortune to find Tura Satana, an exotic dancer and martial arts expert, to play his lead.  She also demanded residual points on the film and the rights to her own likeness -- the only actor in the film to strike such a deal.  Dan and Vicky revel in this 1965 B movie classic and pay homage to it's gloriously enticing exploitation trappings.  Along the way they discuss some of their recently seen (The Disaster Artist, John Wick - Chapter 2, Kurosawa's High and Low, Kevin Smith: Silent But Deadly

Gene Kelly, on loan to Columbia from MGM for 1944's Cover Girl, was finally able to put his talents to full use as the main choreographer for the film.  With assist from dancer friend Stanley Donen, Val Raset and Seymour Felix, Kelly was able to stage some thrilling sequences including the famous "Alter Ego" scene for himself and "Make Way For Tomorrow" for himself, Rita Hayworth, and Phil Silver.  The film was a huge hit and cemented for MGM and the rest of Hollywood that Kelly was a triple threat to be reckoned with.   Dan and Vicky discuss this classic tuner along with some of their recently seen:  Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Girl on the Train, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, and the Joel McHale Show.  Vicky also fills us in on her recent dental issues and Dan reveals where he's traveling next for work after closing a show in New York.   Tap your toes and kick up your heels with a classical musical on Hot Date 71: Cover Girl.  Make sure to leave us some feedb

Hot Date has reached 70 and you know what that means:  A Top Ten episode!  For this one, we take a shocking trip around the world for our favorite foreign horror films.  We'll make stops in France, Japan, Spain and Norway to name a few and play clips that'll make your skin crawl.  Get a dose of international zombies, slashers, monsters and ghosts and discover the film that Vicky chose that Dan has never seen!   Your hosts also get into some recently seen including Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty, Blumhouse's Truth or Dare, I Married A Witch with Veronica Lake, the Polanski doc Wanted and Desired, the original Thomas Crown Affair, and British horrors Voices and Symptoms.  Dan will also tell us about his first time seeing Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D on the big screen!     Catch a flight with Hot Date 70 and get suggestions for some terrifying world cinema.  Don't forget to rate us and leave us some feedback.