Episode 56. Three Films by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: (BONUS) Heat and Dust

With West Coast temperatures in the 110s, we figured why not add a little more Heat... and Dust to the world. That's right, we watched a 4th Ruth Prawer Jhabvala film, this one based on her 1975 Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name.

But before we go back in time with our great-aunt Olivia to British Colonial India (and then 1970s India), we first have to talk about what we watched this week. And, honey, it was a lot.

Goodman watched two Jon M. Chu's: the new film version of In the Heights, the Tony Award-winning play by musical maestro Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the less well-revered Step Up 3D (although he didn't watch it in 3D this time around), starring everyone's favorite Step Up castmate, Moose played by Adam G. Sevani. Next, he watched the meta/innovative/super-impressive comedy special, Bo Burnham's Inside;  Raiders of the Lost Ark, a little 'indy' flick that a few people admire; Season 5 of Netflix's Workin' Moms, created by and starring Catherine Reitman; and The Wolf of Wall Street, featuring a stellar Leo performance that he should've won Best Actor for.

Dre loves spaghetti and meatballs, so he watched two Spaghetti Westerns starring Lee Van Cleef: The Big Gundown and Death Rides a Horse. Then he watched Hal Ashby's final directorial feature, 8 Million Ways to Die, starring Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette and Andy Garcia;  The Hot Rock, a fun little caper starring Robert Redford, based on the book by Donald E. Westlake (i.e., not Richard Stark); Luca, the latest Pixar film about sea monsters, humans, Italy and bicycles; an Australian quasi-noir, The Dry; the 4-episode TV miniseries version of Howards End adapted by Manchester by the Sea's Kenneth Lonergan; and the show that's spreading like wildfire (according to Dre), Netflix's Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

Then it's time to age ourselves as best as technically feasible in the early 80s as we narrate what went on in Heat and Dust, including the cast, the one quote worth quoting, some trivia, and more.

Last we announce our next theme: Samurai films! And our upcoming slate of episodes:

• 7/8: Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
• 7/15: Onibaba
• 7/22: Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
• 8/5: Lady Snowblood
• 8/12: [Double Animation feature] Ninja Scroll and Sword of the Stranger

So get out your samurai sword and join us next week for Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance.

SONG CREDITS:
Theme music: "70s Funk" by Frank Cogliano
Closing music: "This is My Jam" by Will Van De Crommert