Film Generations
Which classic films still work for audiences today? On Generation Film, 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
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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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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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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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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November 28, 2023 • 61 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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October 20, 2023 • 59 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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September 20, 2023 • 59 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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August 30, 2023 • 63 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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August 9, 2023 • 55 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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July 19, 2023 • 73 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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June 27, 2023 • 58 mins
Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopic science fiction comedy Brazil had a difficult release that mirrored its themes of bureaucracy, denial, mindless consumerism, and relentless propaganda. The head of the Studio tried to neuter the film’s dark, humanistic message, worried it wouldn’t play to his target audience of 17-to-29 year-olds. And, indeed, this now-classic satire was a box-office flop.
So what do today’s 20-somethings make of Brazi...
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June 6, 2023 • 64 mins
With exteriors shot in war-ravaged Vienna, this iconic film noir thriller boasts writing, cinematography, editing and music comparable to Citizen Kane, winning it the Palm D’Or at Cannes, the British academy award for Best Picture of 1949, as well as an Oscar for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White). Its unique zither score rose to #1 on the Billboard Charts. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted it the greatest British film o...
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May 16, 2023 • 58 mins
In 1939, a golden year of Hollywood filmmaking, legendary director John Ford returned to the almost defunct genre that had launched his career, the Western. Stagecoach brought a new sophistication to Westerns, made the 32-year-old John Wayne a movie star, and won Academy Awards for both its stirring musical score and supporting actor Thomas Mitchell. (John Ford eventually won 4 best directing Oscars – still today more than any dire...
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April 25, 2023 • 56 mins
After some modest early success, Spike Lee announced the arrival of a major new voice with his 1989 film Do the Right Thing. Funny, controversial, and prescient – anticipating many of the issues that would dominate the next 33 years - this film took a freewheeling look at race relations and violence by both police and protesters in an age long before “woke” culture became mainstream.
Our panel of movie lovers young and old discuss...
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April 4, 2023 • 55 mins
Long after the silent film era ended, Charlie Chaplin returned to make his final silent picture, Modern Times. Not only is it #8 on IMDb’s funniest comedies of all time, but it’s a commentary about homelessness, alienation in the machine age, over-policing, poverty, and other social issues still debated today. The film is 87 years old but has retained a viewership over nearly a century. Is it possible that such an old film might...
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March 21, 2023 • 56 mins
Midnight Cowboy exploded Hollywood in 1969, as a gritty, X-rated drama dealing with homelessness, the oppression of gay men, the perversion of the American Dream, the cynical decline of New York City, and the emergence of a new, optimistic generation unaware of its own hypocrisy.
This film launched the career of Jon Voight and allowed Dustin Hoffman to transform the definition of a movie star. It was the surprise winner of the Aca...
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March 11, 2023 • 33 secs
Get ready for a unique movie review podcast, where two film lovers from the 20th Century introduce a classic film to a panel of young film lovers every week.
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