20. The Front

My guest for this month is West Anthony, and he’s joined me to discuss the film he chose for me, the 1976 comedy-drama film The Front. You can follow the show on Twitter @cinemagadfly.

Show notes:

Not sure what happened to the audio in the introduction, apologies!
The Hollywood blacklist is a term for the treatment of people in the entertainment industry who refused to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee from 1947 to 1960
For a more in depth take on the blacklist, check out the latest season of the phenomenal You Must Remember This podcast
WonderCon is a comic book convention that was held annually in SF until it was cruelly moved to the LA area in 2012. Yes I’m still bitter about it.
West also recommends the Gabrielle de Cuir directed Thirty Years of Treason by Eric Bentley
Among the people famously blacklisted were Lillian Hellman, Lionel Stander, Paul Robeson, and Zero Mostel
This film was directed by blacklisted director Martin Ritt, who also directed the film from our third episode, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
I’m just not a fan of Woody Allen. He’s too painfully neurotic for me, even before I start thinking about whatever the hell happened with his daughter and step-daughter
Another Woody film where he only acts is the Paul Mazursky film Scenes from a Mall
I’ve been a huge fan of Fiddler on the Roof, and Zero Mostel in it, since I was a little kid
Elia Kazan is one of the more interesting stories of directors and the blacklist
The writer of this film, Walter Bernstein, was also blacklisted
As were many of its stars, including Herschel Bernardi and Lloyd Gough
So was the father of actress Julie Garfield, actor John Garfield, which may have contributed to his death from heart problems
West’s reference to bodily fluids is, of course, from the excellent Dr. Strangelove
Hallie Flanagan ran the Federal Theatre Project, as part of FDR’s WPA program
She gave Orson Welles the money to make his Voodoo Macbeth
She also gave Marc Blitzstein the money to make The Cradle Will Rock
Which was remade in 1999 by Tim Robbins
LBJ said in 1966 “I do not believe that this generation of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a Communist moon”
Red Channels named 151 entertainers it claimed were communists
Trumbo is a 2015 film about Hollywood Ten member Dalton Trumbo
Another film about the blacklist is 1991s Guilty by Suspicion, directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Robert De Niro
One of the co-writers of Guilty by Suspicion was Abraham Polonsky, who also wrote and directed Force of Evil with John Garfield, but he was so offended by what Irwin Winkler did that he had his name removed from it
Guilty by Suspicion also stars Annette Bening
Good Night and Good Luck by George Clooney is about McCarthyism, not the blacklist, but it’s also a great film about government overreach
Panic in the Streets is a 1950 film, directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Zero Mostel
Both West and I think that On the Waterfront, written by Budd Schulberg, was a justification for Kazan’s willingness to name names
Lee J. Cobb was also forced to testify in front of the committee
Leonard Bernstein wrote the score for On the Waterfront, and the film featured incredible performances from Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Eva Marie Saint
I still haven’t seen Hail, Caesar! yet, which is a damn shame
Nothing better than comparing the work of the Coen brothers to that of fellow Criterion Collection auteur Michael Bay
Paranoid American films from the 70s include Three Days of the Condor, Klute, The Parallax View, and All the President’s Men
Everyone who reads this needs to go subscribe to Musical Notation with West Anthony. Right now. I’ll wait
It’s part of the awesome Battleship Pretension Podcast Fleet
You can also follow West’s amazing show on twitter @notationpod

Rent or buy the film from Amazon
Rent or buy the film on iTunes