WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.960 Oh is boots. It's showed. 2 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.240 People say good money to see this movie. When they 3 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:14.679 go out to a theater, they want clothed sodas, hot popcorn, 4 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:18.600 and no monsters in the protection booth. Everyone pretend podcasting 5 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.839 isn't boring, none at all. 6 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:46.640 After all these years, I thought I knew you, but 7 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:48.159 you turned out to be a stranger. 8 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:50.439 We are fighting for our lives there. 9 00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:52.640 My family must survive. 10 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:09.760 Yes, the most shocking experience of their lives. Doubly shocking 11 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:11.200 because it can happen to you. 12 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.439 Still, right my trailer, what are you gonna do? 13 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:25.200 Cola cops, they're busy with the new highway petroth corect. 14 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.680 The lawless are on the loose, making it necessary for 15 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.000 law abiding citizens to make their own law. 16 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:35.920 I could going fire as shadow of the heads. Maybe 17 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:50.079 that'll upset them. Right, there are no civilians. We are 18 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:50.920 all at war. 19 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:00.920 Give me a gun. 20 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:05.239 I'm good with a gun. We'll stay here and I'll 21 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:05.719 kill them. 22 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:10.479 This is civilization's jungle after the jackals of society have 23 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:14.240 ruthlessly ravaged it, ending the world of decency. 24 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:36.719 Hm. I killed two men. 25 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.280 I tried to kill them too, but I missed. I 26 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:41.879 just wasn't a good enough shot. 27 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:04.080 Welcome to the projection booth. I'm your host. Mike White 28 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.879 joined me once again as Ms. Emily and Travia hey 29 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:09.879 Hey also back in the booth after far too long 30 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:11.280 as mister Howard A. Rodman. 31 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:11.919 Hello. 32 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:15.520 We conclude Sci Fi July with a look at Ray 33 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:19.960 Milland's Nick in Year Zero, based on the stories Lot 34 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:23.479 and Lot's Daughter by Ward Moore. The film also stars 35 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:26.759 Miland as Henry Baldwin, the patriarch of the Baldwin Family, 36 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.639 a Los Angeles family on a camping trip that turns 37 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:32.960 into a desperate fight for survival. Along with Miland, the 38 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.240 film stars Gene Hagen, Mary Mitchell, and Frankie Avalant. It's 39 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.000 an early entry in the nuclear apocalypse subgenre, released in 40 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:44.080 the height of the Cold War anxiety. We will be 41 00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:46.240 spoiling this film as we go forward, so if you 42 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:48.759 don't want anything ruined, turn off the podcast and come 43 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.039 back after you've seen it. We will still be here. So, Emily, 44 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:53.680 when was the first time you saw Panic in the 45 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:54.199 Year Zero? 46 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:57.080 And what did you think when you first asked me 47 00:03:57.159 --> 00:03:59.520 about this movie. I was trying to remember if I 48 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.560 had seen it, because there's a whole bunch of movies 49 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:06.280 that are very similar between probably about a thirty year gap, 50 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:08.680 and as I started looking at it and I'm like, yeah, 51 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:10.439 I've seen this. Wait, no, that's The Lays of Grass. 52 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:13.599 Wait i've seen this. No, that's eight other movies that 53 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:15.719 this could have been. Five was the other one I 54 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:17.800 kept thinking it was, and then I went to watch it. 55 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:19.480 I'm like, oh, wait, this is Panic in the Streets, 56 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:22.040 which I always write accidentally instead of Panic in the 57 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:24.560 year zero. But then I finally watched it and said, oh, no, 58 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:29.360 I have seen this, and I watched it maybe five. 59 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:30.319 This years ago. 60 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.199 I feel like this might have been a Netflix disc 61 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:34.519 at the time, where it wasn't that easy to find, 62 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:36.319 and it was always one that would come up in 63 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:39.279 different Apocalypse books of all these movies that I had 64 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:41.680 on my checklist to see, and it didn't leave much 65 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:43.680 of an impression back then, which is why I didn't 66 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.959 remember if i'd seen it or not. Rewatching it this 67 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:50.879 week in this place of time in the year twenty 68 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:54.600 twenty five, it played really differently. I won't say in 69 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:56.759 a bad way, because I think there's stuff about the 70 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.839 film that obviously we'll get into politically socially. It was 71 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:04.800 a really different experience watching it today than maybe five 72 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:07.240 ten years ago when we weren't quite where we are 73 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:08.000 in the world right now. 74 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:09.279 Howard, how about yourself. 75 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:12.680 I came to this film by a very different path Italy. 76 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:16.079 So when I was growing up, there was an institution 77 00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:19.839 in New York called the Million Dollar Movie, which was 78 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:23.680 a TV broadcast in movies, and at that point there 79 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.319 was not enough programming to fill an entire programming day 80 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:33.240 for some local stations, so they would either broadcast what 81 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:36.120 was clearly filler, I mean on some of the It's 82 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:38.319 hard to believe now, but the ratio of Hamburger to 83 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:41.639 Hamburger Helper on some of these local stations was a 84 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.000 bit dodgy, or they would just rebroadcast something and on 85 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:49.000 the Million Dollar Movie for whatever that week was, they 86 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:53.040 would show the movie every night, and sometimes multiple times 87 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:55.639 on weekends. So if you saw the movie on a 88 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:59.319 Monday and you liked it, you just kept showing up. 89 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:03.079 And there were a couple that were cult favorites among 90 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:06.720 me and my tea bopper friends, and I think one 91 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.800 of them was Panic in the year zero exclamation point 92 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:13.000 and to tell tales out of school although I think 93 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:18.319 the Statute of Limitations has passed on this. Myself, my 94 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:23.519 friend Adam Duhan who Harold Duhan who later became Adamduhan 95 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:29.079 and a blessed memory, and the late Walter Becker, late 96 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:32.360 of Steely Dan. The three of us and sometimes some 97 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:34.680 friends would sit on a couch either in my living 98 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:38.920 room or Walters, and we would have in preparation, gone 99 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:43.920 to the local drugstore and bought as many bottles of 100 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.519 Romolar as they would let us get away with, which 101 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:48.680 was a cough syrup which in that day and age 102 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.519 actually contained codeine as opposed to more useless substitutes. And 103 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:57.279 we would get woozy on Romolar and watch Panic in 104 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:00.480 the year zero, and loved it so much that we 105 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:02.439 would come back the next night to do it again. 106 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:05.199 So that was my introduction to the film. 107 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:07.759 I'm jealous. I wish that was mine. 108 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:11.279 In some ways, I can't quite put my finger on it, 109 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.560 but the story of nuclear family in a post nuclear 110 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:19.800 world spoke to us, especially with the aid of ob eights. 111 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:24.519 Yeah, my story is not nearly as impressive. No, no 112 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:30.920 Steely Dan, no codining. Nothing. I remember probably similar to you, Emily. 113 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:35.399 I probably saw it around the time of those Netflix stays. 114 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:38.240 I don't know if I saw it in or if 115 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:40.319 it was on cable, but yeah, I definitely saw this 116 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:45.639 around the early two thousands, and it left a little 117 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.319 bit of an impression on me. I remember liking it, 118 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:52.480 and I always love nuclear apocalypse movies. I don't know why, 119 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.639 probably just because growing up in the eighties and being 120 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:01.000 threatened by that, growing up and watching Thread and The 121 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:04.120 Day After After. Yeah, so all of that was been 122 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:06.839 great to me. So going back and seeing some of 123 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.839 these earlier ones, which just seems so quaint and they 124 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:15.079 really don't talk about radiation whatsoever. There's really no problem 125 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:17.639 with radiation. And I've complained about this before on the 126 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.040 show where we've gotten back to now where people are like, Oh, 127 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:25.079 we'll just drop a nuclear bomb in that hurricane. Sure, 128 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:28.240 that'll get rid of it. We'll just throw a new 129 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:32.039 at Godzilla, who's five miles off the coast of San Francisco. 130 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:33.840 That's not going to be a problem, is it. 131 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:36.759 I came to The Day After late because I missed 132 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:39.919 it in the initial broadcast. I was too young, But 133 00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:42.080 I think it was the sci Fi Channel before it 134 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:45.799 was the Siphy channel back when it was SciFi in 135 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:47.120 ninety four. 136 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:50.639 Maybe they aired it and it was just a random day. 137 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:53.000 Where I'm like little teenage me is flipping around and 138 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:55.279 lands on this movie and doesn't know what it is. 139 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.159 But for the next I think three and a half hours, 140 00:08:57.159 --> 00:08:59.559 and they just aired it in it's entirety. I just 141 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:03.759 sat there and probably turned progressively like more action as. 142 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:06.120 The movie ended, and looked around and said, wait, this 143 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:09.039 was a wait you thought this was oh oh god, 144 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.919 And it launched that obsession. And it was much later 145 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.320 when I saw Threads. So just imagine the world that 146 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:14.919 it could have been. 147 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:18.200 Yeah, Threads was like the real deal of the day 148 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.240 after Scared the Bejesus Side. 149 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:23.360 Yeah, tell us it changed Reagan's view on nuclear war, right. 150 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:26.480 But then you see Threads and you're like, oh my god. 151 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.759 There is now a film called Television Event, which is 152 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:36.120 about the nineteen eighty three broadcast of the Day after. 153 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:38.399 Oh Wow, it's excited. 154 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:44.720 It's a documentary as interviews with Nick Meyer, who directed it, 155 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:48.519 whom you may know better from the Sherlock Holmes seven 156 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:52.879 Percent series or Star Trek to Rapid Kahn and this 157 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:56.480 came quotes the interviews with Nick but also footage with 158 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:01.679 Ted Kopple, Carl Sagan and Me Kissinger, Robert Tomara, William F. Buckley, Junior, 159 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:06.559 Elie Vizelle. It's that kind of thing. So if you're 160 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:13.000 into not only post apocalypticism but the history of post 161 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:17.559 apocalypticism as received by the American public, I think you 162 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:18.159 would enjoy it. 163 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:20.639 I'm definitely gonna have to check that one out because 164 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:23.480 for whatever reason, and I don't know if it's just nostalgia, 165 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:28.120 but it's all right. No Blade of Grass, as you said, Testament, Yeah, 166 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:30.200 oh boy. Another good one. 167 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:32.720 Damn Nation Alley with Dominique Sanda. 168 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:37.000 That vehicle that Jan, Michael Vincent and George Prepar drive 169 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.559 around so cool. I love that. 170 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.159 I think there's so much to it. I think there's 171 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:44.960 a lot of there's the era if you live through it. 172 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:46.919 I think it's the same with the zombie apocalypse. It 173 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:50.960 is that weird wish not wish fulfillment, but there is 174 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:53.639 an aspect of I know what I would do, I 175 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:54.399 know how i'd survive. 176 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:56.399 I live near York. I'm going to die in the 177 00:10:56.440 --> 00:10:57.480 first bomb. 178 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:00.559 I hope if everything goes well, because I don't want 179 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:03.840 to deal with that the reason I think zombies caught 180 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:06.279 on eventually when they did. Like growing up, we were 181 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:08.679 big zombie fans, and we always just did the scenario 182 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:11.639 of Okay, we're walking at night, what happens as zombie 183 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:15.639 comes out. Most apocalyptic movies or apocalyptic movies are putting 184 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:18.720 normal everyday people in these situations. 185 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:19.279 Right. 186 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:21.360 Sure, you have your road warriors and you have your 187 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:26.039 kind of more extreme, but this, right and the movies 188 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:30.320 around this time were very much the pure nuclear family. 189 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:33.279 You know exactly who you could be in the scenario, 190 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.039 and if you're a good man, you can figure out 191 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:36.679 how to survive it. 192 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:37.559 And save your family. 193 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:39.440 And I think there is a lot of that, And 194 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:42.240 this is where it gets into that weird territory that 195 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.320 I'm sure we'll go into of today in twenty twenty five, 196 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:48.679 where it's become a source of pride. I think there 197 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:51.000 are this idea that there are people that kind of 198 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:53.360 secretly want World War three to happen because it would 199 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:55.519 give them a chance to show off why they keep 200 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:57.440 their guns and why they need their rights and why 201 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.879 they have all of this, and it justifies things. 202 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:02.960 But at the same time, like you get it, it's 203 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:04.600 really appealing it's very exciting to. 204 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.879 Watch absolutely emily that there is a certain kind of 205 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:11.159 wish fulfillment here, which is God. If there were a 206 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.080 nuclear or I could unleash my inner Jordan Peterson, I 207 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:15.799 could show them what an alpha I am. 208 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.080 Yeah, I don't have to put on pants, I don't 209 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:19.440 have to comb my hair. 210 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:22.759 That could be a chad. I grew up in the 211 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:26.440 nineteen fifties under the shadow of the bomb, and we 212 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:30.759 would regularly have duck and cover drills in school, and 213 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.399 all kinds of cheerful nostrums like don't look out the window, 214 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:39.879 the fireball will melt your eyeballs, but stay safe under 215 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:42.919 your desk, as if getting under the desk in PS 216 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:46.720 one ninety six Q Class five would save you from 217 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.440 a holocaust that would melt everything else in the world. 218 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:52.200 And I remember, I'll come out of the closet on this. 219 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:54.840 My mother was a communist, was a Stalinist. 220 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:56.000 Oh thing, I got to make a phone call. 221 00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:59.840 Yeah, sure, feel free, Statute of limitations once more. And 222 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:04.840 she said, these things are stupid. If there's a nuclear war, 223 00:13:04.919 --> 00:13:05.639 we're all going to die. 224 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:07.159 So that's a good thing. 225 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:09.840 The next time there was a duck and cover grill 226 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:12.519 at PS one ninety six Q. I didn't go into 227 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.159 the desk, and my teacher said why not, and I 228 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.159 parroted what my mother had said, which was that there's 229 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.919 a nuclear war, We're all going to die. And she 230 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:23.600 sent the other principal's office, and I assumed I was 231 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:27.879 going to get lectured and maybe do detention, god knows what. 232 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:31.279 And it was the weirdest goddamn thing. The principal, a 233 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:34.919 guy named Abraham Pauschner, the principle of PS one ninety six, 234 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.759 talked to me in a kind of rambling way for 235 00:13:37.879 --> 00:13:42.879 twenty maybe thirty minutes about the fact that we were 236 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:45.279 all going to die, and it is death that gives 237 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.840 life meaning but also renders life meaningless. It was like 238 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.519 I expected to be reprimanded. Instead I got Albert Camu. 239 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:54.159 A philosophy lesson. 240 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:58.639 And then after he was finished talking about death meaning 241 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.159 they need to I said, go back to class. And 242 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:03.840 that was That was one of the weirder things of 243 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:05.080 a very weird childhood. 244 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:09.360 Yeah, I have a similar mother involving duck and cover story, 245 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:11.720 because my mother grew up also in the fifties and 246 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:16.080 about sixteen seventeen years ago, as she lived in Russia 247 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.360 for a year. I was teaching English there and I 248 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:21.519 had a class of adults, lawyers and professionals, and my 249 00:14:21.639 --> 00:14:23.679 mother had come to visit and it brought her to 250 00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:27.320 the class. And it was fascinating because my mother has 251 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:29.840 never really been abroad, and she's talking to Russian and 252 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:33.559 she's saying to them, growing up, you guys were the enemy. 253 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:34.519 I was so scared of you. 254 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:37.120 And she's going through what it was like, and she 255 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:39.440 was talking about duck and cover and how we thought 256 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:40.960 you were going to bomb us. So when they a 257 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:42.639 bell would ring and then we'd all have to go. 258 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:45.720 Under the desks. And my students, who were probably in there, 259 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:49.639 like early thirties, late twenties, looked in they were just so, wait, 260 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:51.000 you went what was your school like? 261 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:53.600 You had a bomb shelter? No, we just went under 262 00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:56.519 the desks. Wait, you went under a desk for a 263 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.919 nuclear bomb. And it finally hit my mother, Oh my god, 264 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:01.720 we weren't going to survive. 265 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:02.879 Why do they make us do that? 266 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:04.240 Better late than never? 267 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:06.600 Yeah, it took the Russians to teacher that. 268 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:09.799 And I also think I believe that you're right to 269 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:14.120 draw the parallel between the sort of wave of postal 270 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:19.440 apocalyptic films, which in some ways morphed into zombie apocalypse films, 271 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:24.080 many of the same. We are barricaded here in our house, 272 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:28.399 everybody outside is either radioactive, and a lot in connection 273 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:32.720 with these films are the kind of inciting incident, if 274 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:36.440 you will. Is a big externality the bomb drops, But 275 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:40.799 really there about community, neighborhood. How thin is the veneer 276 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:45.080 of civilization? What does it take to strip us away 277 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:50.320 from our quote unquote civilized selves and turn us into Hobbsey? 278 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:54.279 And I've got mine. After I rewatched Panic in the 279 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:58.200 year zero this week without the aid of coughs here, 280 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.960 I was reminded of a nineteen fifty nine Twilight Zone 281 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.559 episode which you may be familiar, called the Monsters Are 282 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:05.600 Due on Maple Street. 283 00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:06.279 Do you know that one? 284 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:07.120 Yes? 285 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:08.960 I thought you were going to say the one in 286 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:09.720 the Bombshelter. 287 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:11.840 I' forget the name of it, but there's one where 288 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:14.080 a family has built a bomb shelter and they're not 289 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.360 letting the other family in. 290 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.159 Oh yeah, Maple Street is the episode that may be 291 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:18.679 want to write. 292 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:22.360 Actually, the episode Emily is referring to is the Shelter 293 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:25.399 Season three episode three of The Twilight Zone. 294 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:28.559 Let me just quote Rod Serling if I might. This 295 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:32.600 is sort of afterward to the episode. The tools of 296 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:36.440 conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosion and fallout. 297 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.559 They are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to 298 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:44.840 be found only in the minds of men. For the record, 299 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.120 prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, 300 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.840 frightening search for Escapegoat has a fallout of its own 301 00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:56.159 for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the 302 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.159 pity of it is that these things cannot be confined 303 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:02.320 only to the Twilight Zone, do you do? 304 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:06.960 It's amazing to look at some of the films that 305 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:10.559 were coming out around this time. We spoke earlier this 306 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.920 year about On the Beach. I forgot that we had 307 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:16.839 already done a post apocalyptic film this year. On the 308 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:19.359 Beach nineteen fifty nine, The World of Flesh and the 309 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.640 Devil nineteen fifty nine, The Day the Earth caught fire 310 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:26.519 in nineteen sixty one. I would consider le Jetee to 311 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:30.920 be a post of Black Ealliptic Film nineteen sixty two, Ladybug, 312 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:36.279 Ladybug nineteen sixty three, Fail Yeah, Fail, Safe and After 313 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:39.799 Strange Love in sixty four, Peter Watkins The War Game 314 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.920 in nineteen sixty five, who ironically we've already done Late 315 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:46.759 August in the Hotel Ozone that was nineteen sixty six. 316 00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:49.799 None to just continues from there. Of course, it's never 317 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.160 really gone out of style, I don't think. But yeah, 318 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.680 that's a killer list of amazing films. Interestingly, on this 319 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:01.240 list I'm looking at there is the Creation of the Humanoids, 320 00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:05.079 which we covered quite a few years ago, also written 321 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:08.519 by Jay Simms, who wrote the screenplay for this. Jay 322 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:12.640 Simms probably best known these days for writing The Killer Shrews, 323 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:16.079 one of the best mystery sites Theater three thousand movies. 324 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.759 And then also that same year The Giant HeLa Monster 325 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.000 came out as well, which he wrote, also a good 326 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:25.480 MSD episode. Yeah, this guy's knocking them out of the park. 327 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:31.640 Music coordinator for this who is Al Simms? Did all 328 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:35.400 of the bikini movies, any movie with bikini in the title, Bikini, 329 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:38.640 Beach Party, Goldfoot, and The Wild Bikini, The Return of 330 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:43.200 Doctor Goldswood, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini Bikini Al Simms, 331 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:47.160 I mean it's he is in the Bikini Cinematic universe. 332 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:51.599 He owns Music League, and I love the Less Baxter 333 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:55.079 movie and the Al Sims music in this and I 334 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.599 actually found on Spotify there is a soundtrack album. 335 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:01.599 I would listen to this soundtrack out of context. I 336 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:04.079 think it is a really good soundtrack. I like the 337 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:09.759 idea of this jazzy score over It's very incogruous in 338 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:12.160 a way because it's getting back to and here you 339 00:19:12.279 --> 00:19:15.240 have wild drums and saxophone. But there are times where 340 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:19.279 this score is just so intrusive that I think it 341 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:22.240 genuinely affects. 342 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:24.599 This movie absolutely, and you can see it as bretty 343 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:26.359 and if you want to be charitable. 344 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:27.839 But again, this is a case where it's oh, I 345 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:29.359 get why the codeine helps. 346 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.359 And if I can go off on a tangent and 347 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:34.240 I'm not derailing you. I also think that in addition 348 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:38.640 to this belonging to the genre of post apocalyptic films, 349 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:42.039 it also is part of another genre, which is the 350 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:45.440 sort of disturbed teenager movie, the cool and the crazy 351 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:49.240 or the delinquents, the kind of Richard becallon cinematic universe 352 00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:52.640 that goes through all of this. He plays Carlolk, but 353 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:56.759 Dick McAllan was it him? And Scott Marlowe were in 354 00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:00.400 all of these movies about beat Nicks disturbed teenage, all 355 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:03.799 of whom were hopped up on Mary Jane and then 356 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:08.839 did bad things. And in some ways this feels to 357 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:12.400 me like that episode of Dragnet, which is about drugs, 358 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:16.799 or the Delinquent School and the Crazy, where it's about 359 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:20.640 finger snapping, about jazz and about the threat that young 360 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:25.039 and of course the apotheosis of this is rebel without 361 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:28.160 a cause. And if you look at James Dean's Harrington 362 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:29.680 jacket in that, and if you look at Thank You 363 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:31.880 Abalon's jacket in this, you can see the kind of 364 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:36.319 through line. But I do think that in some ways, 365 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:40.000 in addition to this being about the nuclear family under 366 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:44.519 threat from the bomb, it's also about the American white 367 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.480 picket fence nuclear family being under threat from the teenage 368 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:51.240 rebellion that's just under the white picket fence of the 369 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:53.640 Eisenhower years well, and it's. 370 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.839 Like that teenage rebellion can run wild in this one 371 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.319 because there are no police anymore. So you can take 372 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:03.160 all of those things from the Delinquent movies and take 373 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:06.759 them to their quote unquote logical end, where we've got 374 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:11.559 them armed, very dangerous, going after this family, very open, 375 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:14.079 and then the whole thing with them torturing the girl. 376 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:17.039 Of course that's where the delinquents would take it if 377 00:21:17.079 --> 00:21:18.799 there was no rule of law around. 378 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:21.960 I feel like this movie had the potential to be 379 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:25.440 really fascinating and great, and I don't think it really 380 00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:29.519 gets there, because I think part of the most interesting 381 00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:35.599 kernel of the movie is Frankie Avalon character, because he's 382 00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:39.960 there as this sort of okay, we the dad is 383 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:42.559 trying to teach him because he knows, okay, I need 384 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:45.240 you in order to the two of us. Of course, 385 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:46.759 we have to keep the women safe because they can't 386 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:49.039 do anything. We have to keep you, saying, if you 387 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:51.559 have to learn to kill, but not to enjoy it. 388 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:53.920 And there's all that, and there's a moment early on, 389 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:56.160 like somewhere in the middle where I can't remember if 390 00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:58.440 it's after they shoot one of the beating the kids, 391 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:01.400 but we're Frankie Avalon's smiles and the dad kind of 392 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:02.359 sees it and you see him. 393 00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:02.759 Upset by it. 394 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:06.359 And that's so that's a story right there, to see 395 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:10.960 where he's gonna go. And I think not to jump everywhere, 396 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:12.960 but going back to the short stories that this is 397 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:16.759 based on, and I don't know how much that yeah, 398 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:19.960 that is, but my jaw dropped at the end of 399 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:22.319 first short story when I realized what was happening. But 400 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:24.480 it was so much about the dad looking at his 401 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:26.799