Biopic: A Podcast Story

“You ruined it with your stupidity!” Rena’s favorite line in the history of film comes alive (albeit not the way she remembers it) in this absolutely magical biopic about the compassionate genius Temple Grandin, a true doctor Doolittle (unlike alleged murderer Rex Harrison).  Through almost starting to cry again, we discuss the David Strathairn exception to the dangers of being hot for teacher, how the squeeze machine could have been a very different project at Vassar, the need to better honor our Swiss Army knife film directors (like Mick Jackson — who directed this movie and the feelgood film of 1984, Threads).. and so much more.  Temple Grandin stars Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, Julia Ormond as Eustacia Grandin, David Strathairn as Dr. Carlock, Catherine O'Hara as Aunt Ann, Stephanie Faracy as Betty Goscowitz, Barry Tubb as Randy, and Melissa Farman as Alice. Sources used in the episode include… Podcasts Episode of Star Talk,  Neil deGrasse Tyson’s podcast that Temple Grandin guest starred on. Books Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin. Temple Grandin: Voice for the Voiceless by Annette Wood. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]

Buckle up, snowflakes, we’re ruining your favorite folk hero!  Politics month is supposed to be over, but we have one more slice of Americana bullshit for you all, 1973’s Walking Tall, starring Joe Don Baker. After all, what is more patriotic than being a pro-wrestler-turned-town-sherriff-without-any-law-enforcement-experience-cum-alleged-wife-murderer-and-legend who stands up for what is right (grifting harder than your competition)? What is more American than assaulting your town’s inhabitants with a two-by-four because due process is nonsense, and you haven’t eaten yet?  Nothing. NOTHING.  We find a couple of flaws with the popular, ridiculous myth of Buford Pusser and discuss those (spoiler alert: There was not an official stick that he used to beat people with) while also finding fault with Buford’s sheriff’s uniform of a relaxed-fit shirt and brown slacks, the film’s soundtrack, Bing Crosby’s production house, the too-good-for-this-film presence of the tragic Elizabeth Hartman, and the town orthopedist’s cast-making skills. And a lot of other things.  Walking Tall was directed by Phil Carlson and stars Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Buford Pusser, Elizabeth Hartman as Pauline Pusser, Lurene Tuttle as Helen Pusser, Noah Beery Jr. as Carl Pusser, Dawn Lyn as Dwana Pusser, Leif Garrett as Mike Pusser, Felton Perry as Obra Eaker, Logan Ramsey as John Witter, Rosemary Murphy as Callie Hacker, Gene Evans as Sheriff Al Thurman, and Bruce Glover as Grady Coker. Sources used in the episode include…   Podcasts  Behind the Bastards  Going South   The Facebook page Buford Pusser: The Other Story—which, I know what a cesspool Facebook is, but the man who created it, Mike Elam, has dedicated a lot of energy and time and shoe leather to dissecting this man’s legacy which, I gotta say, is fucking weird, and speaks to that strange, strange time our society was in at the end of the Vietnam War and in the throes of Watergate.—Sara   Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]

Hello boredom, our old friend. Dull, terrible Parnell — widely considered Clark Gable’s worst film and one of the worst movies ever made — lives up to its reputation as we celebrate the blessed end of Politics Month. We take a long, pained look at a film that combines the magic of inert, uncommitted acting, a dire, boring screenplay filled with cliches, and the thrills of parliamentary procedure around Irish “home rule”, and firmly recommend that no one ever watch this movie. Was there a gas leak on set? How checked out was Clark Gable? Did Billie Burke sell her soul to the devil in order to look young for her entire life? Can an impromptu spelling be ever be compelling? This movie is a nightmare. We did this work for you here.  Because the movie was so wildly uninformative, we welcome a special guest, the delightful and wildly intelligent Fin Dwyer of The Irish History Podcast and the Transatlantic Podcast  who gives us the true (and much more interesting) story of groundbreaking Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell stars Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, Myrna Loy as Katie O'Shea, Edna May Oliver as Aunt Ben Wood, Edmund Gwenn as Campbell, Alan Marshal as Captain William O'Shea, Donald Crisp as Davitt, Billie Burke as Clara Wood, Berton Churchill as The O'Gorman Mahon, Donald Meek as Murphy, Montagu Love as Gladstone, Byron Russell as Healy, Brandon Tynan as Redmond, and somewhere, in an uncredited role, Lee Strasberg. Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Books   Clark Gable : tormented star David Bret   The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge and the Phoenix Park Murders that Stunned Victorian England  by Julie Kavanagh (Author)   Myrna Loy : the only good girl in Hollywood Emily Wortis Leider   Fireball : Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3 By Robert Matzen   The fifty worst films of all time : (and how they got that way) by Harry Medved  The Irish History Podcast with Fin Dwyer, our guest.   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]

We couldn’t be more excited to welcome our friend and New Orleansian Glenn from The Awesome Village to talk about John Goodman’s star turn as Louisiana populist senator and governor Huey Long in the TV movie Kingfish.  Featuring a cavalcade of future stars, Kingfish efficiently cycles through the political career, appetites, and light corruption of Long with what Sara found to be an objectionable amount of music. Also discussed at length: why John Goodman is the best, several odes to New Orleans, Rena displaying unexpected interest in football, why we wore brown lipstick in the 1990s, the magic of Louisiana politics, and the shocking heel turn of FDR, who we liked well enough two weeks ago in Sunrise at Campobello.  Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long was directed by Thomas Schlamme, written by  Paul Monash, and stars John Goodman as Huey P. Long, Jr., Matt Craven as Seymour Weiss, Anne Heche as Aileen Dumont, Ann Dowd as Rose Long, Jeff Perry as Earl Long, Bob Gunton as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Cobbs as Pullman Porter, Hoyt Axton as Huey P. Long, Sr., Kirk Baltz as Frank Costello, Richard Bradford as Judge Benjamin Pavy, Jimmie Ray Weeks as Allen Henderson, Bill Raymond as Gov. O.K. Allen, John McConnell as 'Battlin' Bozeman, Ed Bruce as Gov. J.Y. Sanders, and Joe Chrest as Carl Weiss. Sources used in the episode include…   Podcasts: Perspectives in History, 5-parter on Huey Long. Gadfly 6-parter on Huey Long. TV: Dick Cavett interview with John Goodman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3F9ltZhPgM   News: https://variety.com/1995/tv/reviews/kingfish-a-story-of-huey-p-long-1200441053/   Also, we have an actual Louisianian to give us some context here.  Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory

A crude, egomaniacal leader with astonishing hair, suffering from mini-strokes and hypertension, dies following a party where everyone kisses his ass and cheers on American machismo. Is it a call from the future? A bird? A plane? No…It’s The Death of Stalin! Chaos breaks loose as his potential successors try to figure out who is the most feckless and clever of them all, and who can take over the future of the USSR. We meet failsons, daughters of dubious intellect, hypermasculine generals, and overly performative ass-kissers on our journey to the Nikita Khrushchev era in this pitch-black comedy from Antonio Iannucci, the kind and hilarious Scotsman who also blessed us with Veep. We unpack the absurdity and tragedy of communist Russia in the 1950s, what “17 minutes” means, Sara’s history of working for maniacs, the settled-science hotness of Steve Buscemi, the adorable, tragic pup Laikaa, the missed opportunity for a McDonald’s tie-in, and so much more as we continue Politics Month 2025.   Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Sources used in the episode include… Behind the Bastards, several episodes related to Joseph Stalin and his henchmen. Real Dictators episodes on Joseph Stalin. We read the graphic novel. Character sketch on Khrushchev from a CIA memoranda prepared for President Kennedy in 1961 that was declassified in 1976, now available through the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library: https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkpof-126-003#?image_identifier=JFKPOF-126-003-p0087   The Last Days of Stalin, by Joshua Rubenstein. https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-the-death-of-stalin.html Stalin's daughter : the extraordinary and tumultuous life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemary Sullivan Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q   Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: [email protected]