79: The Last of Sheila (with Marker Starling)

Toronto musician Marker Starling, who does the music for the podcast, returns for a deep dive into one of our favourites: the 1973 all-star murder mystery The Last of Sheila, directed by Herbert Ross, with an original screenplay by puzzle fanatics Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.

A producer’s wife is killed in an unsolved hit-and-run death during his house party. A year later, the producer invites some guests from the party, all Hollywood strivers, for a weeklong cruise on the French Riviera, where every night they must play a parlour game of his devising, in what seems to be his sadistic plan to discover the true identity of the killer.

We talk about our shared love as kids for wanting to see “movies for grownups” in the seventies, biographical details of the cast and filmmakers, and a spoiler-filled discussion of the elaborate plot of The Last of Sheila, a key influence on Knives Out and perhaps the ultimate seventies movie. Plus: our duelling James Mason impressions!

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Bryan Quinby, Marker Starling and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Marker Starling on Twitter.

James Coburn beer commercial for “Schlitz Light”, 1978

James Mason plugging Thunderbird Wine in the sixties

Trailer for T.R. Baskin (Ross, 1971)

Trailer for The Last of Sheila (Ross, 1973)