117: Winner Wonderland (with Alex Shephard)

Alex Shephard, senior writer for The New Republic, returns to Junk Filter to discuss two demented grindhouse classics from the English director Michael Winner, the notorious Charles Bronson thriller Death Wish 3 (1985) and a recently rediscovered home invasion melodrama from the year prior, Scream For Help.

Both films have much in common: two trashy and violent melodramas, both set in New York State but mostly filmed in London. each with an original soundtrack from a member of Led Zeppelin! Alex says Death Wish 3 is a work of American fascist art, a proto-MAGA vision that helps to explain today’s reactionary conservative mindset. Scream For Help is like an R-rated After School Special that couldn’t be made today and is a must-watch for DW3 heads.

Plus! A supersized post-mortem of the World Cup in Qatar, including the greatest WC final ever, Messi securing GOAT status, the crashing-out of Cristano Ronaldo from elite status in football, and how journalists managed to cover the tournament while also combatting the sportswashing efforts of FIFA and the host country. Vamos Argentina Carajo!

Happy Holidays! Thank you to the listeners and patrons. We'll have new episodes in early January!

There are over three dozen premium episodes of the show available exclusively to patrons: some notable previous Patreon guests include Jared Yates Sexton, Jacob Bacharach, David Roth, Bryan Quinby and Sooz Kempner. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

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A clip from an industrial commercial for the Wildey .457 Magnum, tied into the release of Death Wish 3

Trailer for Death Wish 3 (Michael Winner, 1985)

Trailer for Scream For Help (Michael Winner, 1984)

Winner promoting Death Wish II in the UK before getting his ass handed to him by BBC presenter Anna Raeburn over the film’s depiction of sexual assault, 1982

An archive of some of the “Winner’s Dinners”: a long-running restaurant review column for the Sunday Times

“Fox Sports’ US World Cup Coverage Is An Unmissable Abomination” by Alex Timms, for The Guardian, December 5, 2022