‘American Pie’, and the bygone era of raunchy teen comedies
Raunchy sex comedies had a moment at the end of the 20th century. And perhaps the king of them all, was American Pie. Even people who have never seen the movie probably know the most memorable scene has something to do with a sex-obsessed teenage boy doing something unseemly with a homemade apple pie.
Flash forward a quarter century and Hollywood is making fewer teen comedies than it used to. For the 25th anniversary of American Pie, Scott Detrow speaks with one of the film’s stars Alyson Hannigan about its legacy.
A warning for listeners, this episode contains language and references to scenes not suitable for younger audiences.
‘Afraid’: A not-OK computer
The new movie Afraid is latest in the well-established genre of “the computer is alive” stories. John Cho plays a dad who has a chance to try out a very advanced AI system at his home — and it does a lot more than talk back.
Celebrating movie icons: The films of Sergio Leone
Once disparaged as “spaghetti Westerns,” Leone’s films helped revive the genre, and ushered in a unique visual style. In 2005, cultural historian Christopher Frayling reflected on Leone’s influence.
Celebrating movie icons: Western stunt double Hal Needham
Needham, who died in 2013, worked as a Hollywood stuntman for over 40 years. In this 2011 interview, he detailed some of his most death-defying feats — and why he disliked modern special effects.
Celebrating movie icons: Eli Wallach
Wallach, who died in 2014, learned to ride horses as a young man. He later made a career playing villains in Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Originally broadcast in 1990.
Celebrating movie icons: Clint Eastwood
Eastwood’s breakout role came in the 1964 Western A Fistful of Dollars. In 1997 he talked about his signature squint: “[There’s a] bunch of lights … and it’s 90 degrees and it’s hard not to squint.”
The world’s oldest film festival is underway in Italy
The world’s oldest film festival is underway in Italy — it’s the Venice International Film Festival. We learn more about this year’s most talked about entries.
Celebrating movie icons: Isabella Rossellini
Rossellini talked about being the daughter of movie icons Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini and about playing playing an abused woman in Blue Velvet.
Celebrating movie icons: Dennis Hopper
Hopper, who died in 2010, became famous for the 1969 hippie biker road trip movie, Easy Rider. “There was a lot of smoking grass on that picture. … I didn’t do it. But I drank,” he said in 1990.
‘The Crow’ puts the ick in gothic
In the new film The Crow, Bill Skarsgård plays a man who gets brutally murdered alongside his soulmate (FKA twigs). He returns to life as an unstoppable figure of vengeance, hunting down their killers. It’s not a remake of the 1994 cult classic; the filmmakers are pitching it as a brand new reimagining of the comic book series that inspired the original film. But how does this new movie stack up?
Celebrating movie icons: Sidney Poitier
In this 2000 interview, Poitier talked about his disastrous first audition, why reading was a struggle and how he went on to become the most famous Black actor of his generation.
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