Film Generations

Film Generations

Which classic films still work for audiences today? On Film Generations, two guys born in the middle of 20th Century movie culture select a classic film to share with a panel of young film lovers — and see how it plays for today's generation. Along the way we discuss the making of each film, the state of the world when it was made, its reception by critics and public when originally released, and how its reputation has grown over the years. Discussions cover changes in representation, storytelling styles and the world itself since each film came out. At the end of every episode each panelist rates the movie and reveals whether they would recommend it to a friend. Join us on Film Generations as we explore the greatest classic movies through the eyes of film lovers young and old. An ElectraCast Production.

Episodes

302. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

September 18, 2025 • 52 mins
A firecracker that initially fizzled with audiences but has increasingly crackled with succeeding generations of film lovers, Sweet Smell of Success today boasts a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Defying genre expectations, it has been described in the media as a film noir, a crime thriller, a comedy, a satire, a character study, and a drama. By any measure, this poison pen letter to the glitzy world of big city show business is br...
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301. The Godfather Part II (1974)

August 26, 2025 • 65 mins
After The Godfather (1972) became arguably the most successful movie of all time, a sequel was unavoidable, and sequels are always inferior to the films they follow. Or are they? Our hosts and our panelists alike grapple with the legacy of this giant 1974 classic and the inevitable comparisons to the original. Has history singled out a winner? And do viewers approaching these films for the first time see it the same as those who l...
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212. The Godfather (1972)

August 14, 2025 • 73 mins
The Godfather (1972) is one of the very few movies to achieve supremacy both critically and commercially. Breaking all box office records upon its release, it now regularly appears on lists of the top ten films of all time. But while it surprised everyone 53 years ago, it’s now a well-worn part of culture where a young person is guaranteed to have experienced it as a meme before ever seeing the movie. What impact does this pre-sat...
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211. La Dolce Vita (1960)

July 17, 2025 • 51 mins
La Dolce Vita (1960) marked a huge milestone in world cinema: the passing of Italian neo-realism to a new generation less steeped in war and poverty, more affluent and optimistic, and hungry for a taste of all the glamour that television, rock n roll, and 7-day-a-week PR would bring. Yet the film was rooted in the old world, with its powerful criticism of crumbling morals and the increasing shallowness of modern life. It also hera...
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210. Planet of the Apes (1968)

May 28, 2025 • 38 mins
This unlikely sci-fi classic burst on the scene in 1968, surprising critics and audiences alike, spawning 4 sequels, 2 reboots, a TV series, and a slew of images and phrases that have permeated world culture. Younger generations have absorbed many of its touchstone memes whether they’ve seen the film or not, but how do they react to the film itself?  Has its rubber masks and paper mâché sets dated it beyond credibility (despite wi...
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209. Manhattan (1979)

March 12, 2025 • 59 mins
On the heels of Annie Hall, which catapulted Woody Allen from the role of a beloved thinking-man’s clown to the highest echelons of cinema, the writer/director/star made Interiors, an excellent film which nonetheless baffled even his most ardent fans. He came back to comedy with 1979’s Manhattan, the beginning of a string of 35 films in 35 years, all written and directed by Allen, and all pushing beyond the slapstick sight gags tha...
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208. Vagabond (1985)

November 6, 2024 • 44 mins
Agnès Varda’s docufiction about a troubled – and troubling – young homeless woman roaming the French countryside was singular when released in 1985, but it anticipated a slew of 21st century films depicting women marginalized by their rejection of traditional roles. The film does not, however, cater to contemporary political morality. She is neither a hero nor a villain, nor are the people who try to help or exploit her. Is this un...
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207. Fight Club (1999)

September 4, 2024 • 58 mins
In 1999, David Fincher’s Fight Club opened to bad reviews and disappointing box office. 25 years later, it widely considered one of the best, most entertaining films of the last quarter century, a perennial 800-pound gorilla in the world of internet chat. It solidified the reputation of David Fincher, an auteur who (like many) has put his work ahead of any efforts to promote his image as an artist. Younger viewers often came to thi...
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206. Out of the Past (1947)

July 22, 2024 • 55 mins
In 1947 RKO studios made a surprise classic with OUT OF THE PAST, directed by journeyman Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas and Jane Greer near the start of their careers.  For film noir fans, this movie’s reputation has never stopped growing since.  Combining snappy dialogue, a double-crossing femme fatale and an unusual flashback structure, this sexy and suspenseful movie heats up fast and never takes its ...
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205. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

June 19, 2024 • 56 mins
Horror films do not typically win Academy Awards but Ruth Gordon won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the Upper West Side NYC witch-next-door in the terrifying thriller that defined lead actress Mia Farrow’s career, Rosemary’s Baby.  Based on the best-selling novel by Ira Levin and cementing the legendary status of director Roman Polanski, this movie was a huge box office hit and generated endless articles debating its ...
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204. The General (1926)

May 7, 2024 • 47 mins
One of the highest regarded silent films, The General appears as #18 on AFI’s most recent list of the greatest American films of all time. Yet, the film flopped in its initial release, fell into the public domain in 1954 when the studio didn’t even bother to renew the copyright, and didn’t appear anywhere on AFI’s original list. Why was this seminal comedy neglected so long, only to end up canonized as one of the greatest films eve...
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203. Blue Velvet (1986)

March 18, 2024 • 57 mins
Following the big budget failure of Dune, director David Lynch went back to his surrealistic roots with a controversial vision of American suburbia’s dark underbelly, Blue Velvet.  This movie put actors Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern on the map as a young couple searching for clues, featured Isabella Rossellini as a sexually blackmailed lounge singer, and revived the career of counter-culture icon Dennis Hopper as the terrifyingly ...
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202. The Lady Eve (1941)

February 8, 2024 • 46 mins
1941’s outrageous screwball romantic comedy, The Lady Eve brought together three of Hollywood’s most dynamic and unstoppable forces: Barbara Stanwyck, in her peak year with five starring roles, including also Ball of Fire (Oscar nominated for Best Actress), and Meet John Doe; Henry Fonda, hot off his award-winning turns in Grapes of Wrath and Young Mr. Lincoln; and perhaps riding highest of all, Preston Sturges, who was in the midd...
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201. The Wild Bunch (1969)

January 4, 2024 • 50 mins
In 1969 this audacious western drove a nail into the coffin of the old studio system, recasting the West along with classic Hollywood stars including William Holden and Robert Ryan into a newly violent, gritty and cynical image reflective of the Vietnam War era. The movie was a huge success and had a major impact on the Baby Boomer generation. But 54 years later, after numerous filmmakers have built on the graphic elements of the f...
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112. Citizen Kane (1941)

November 28, 2023 • 59 mins
Known for the better part of its 82 years as the greatest movie ever made, can Citizen Kane still live up its reputation with today’s generation?  Everything revolutionary about the film - its deep-focus cinematography, experimental editing, innovative sound design and non-linear storytelling - has all been imitated hundreds of times. So is this movie only great because it was ahead of its time, or does it still shine brightly in i...
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111. Luis Buñuel Double Feature (1929 & 1972)

October 19, 2023 • 57 mins
In 1929 Luis Buñuel conspired with fellow surrealist Salvador Dalí to make what has become perhaps the most famous short film in cinema history, Andalusian Dog (Un Chien Andalou) a film that shocked the public, was nearly banned in France, and won these 2 provocateurs a devoted audience.  Five decades later, near the end of a distinguished film career, Buñuel made the Oscar-winning hit, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, a hila...
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110. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

September 20, 2023 • 57 mins
Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, with Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, and an unforgettable performance by drill sergeant R. Lee Ermey, opened to middling reviews in 1987 but has since become a cultural icon to war critics and soldiers alike. Today’s panel of young film lovers includes both a Marine and Navy veteran. Their perspective, alongside the civilians on the panel, makes for an absorbing discussion of wh...
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109. Meet John Doe (1941)

August 30, 2023 • 61 mins
Frank Capra is well-known for such top-ranked classics as It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life.  However, his 1941 film, Meet John Doe, starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, deserves more love. It’s often very funny but deals with some of the darkest issues of American democracy and demagoguery.   While sometimes labelled corny, its characters grapple with moral choices an...
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108. Thelma & Louise (1991)

August 9, 2023 • 53 mins
This 1991 film, the first high-budget female buddy comedy/thriller/road movie, exploded into the cultural scene with a powerful mix of female empowerment, violence, comedy and moral dynamite. It’s initial release sparked cultural arguments across the media about whether the movie endorsed violence against men or simply gave their heroines the type of story arc previously reserved only for male stars.  Was Thelma and Louise good or ...
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107. Psycho (1960)

July 19, 2023 • 71 mins
This still shocking and wildly popular movie, which birthed the slasher genre and yet is still perhaps the deepest, most complex example of it, was maestro Alfred Hitchcock’s biggest hit, even though it was the lowest budget film he made in America.  Psycho broke so many rules, in such a riveting way, that it’s never stopped being talked about in the 63 years since its release. It blew the door off the censorship of the Hays Code. ...
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