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 ever...
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Sep 28, 2026 · 1:23:10
By the mid-1970’s the old Hollywood studio system was on life support, allowing new filmmakers to break through with unusually provocative features, none more so than Martin…
Jul 27, 2026 · 1:02:56
In the wake of Director Rob Reiner’s tragic death, Film Generations examines The Princess Bride, a 1987 favorite with a magical cast, that came amid an astonishing string of hits…
Jun 9, 2026 · 1:01:00
To cineastes of the 20th century, Ingmar Bergman was a fixture on the Mount Rushmore of World Cinema. His cultural presence receded in the decades following his death but Gen Z…
Mar 24, 2026 · 1:05:22
On the heels of last episode’s Double Indemnity (1944), Film Generations examines the 1981 film noir Body Heat, an update of the genre for the then youthful baby boom generation.…
Mar 5, 2026 · 1:03:04
Double Indemnity, as much as any other movie, invented the film noir genre and is possibly the most imitated, spoofed and remade classic of all time. Yet, on re-watching it, we…
Feb 18, 2026 · 1:22:57
Fresh off his surprise hit M*A*S*H, Robert Altman headed out to the snowy Northwest with stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie to make this quirky anti-western whose reputation…
Jan 5, 2026 · 1:10:47
Frequently named by filmmakers and critics as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir’s classic tale of French soldiers in a World War I German POW camp and their daring…
Nov 25, 2025 · 1:03:11
In 1976 All the President’s Men was released to an audience eagerly awaiting Hollywood’s take on the story of the decade: the Washington Post investigation that led to the…
Sep 18, 2025 · 52:56
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…
Aug 26, 2025 · 1:05:59
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?…
Aug 14, 2025 · 1:13:39
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…
Jul 17, 2025 · 51:29
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…
May 28, 2025 · 38:22
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…
Mar 12, 2025 · 59:45
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…
Nov 6, 2024 · 44:40
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…
Sep 4, 2024 · 58:16
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…
Jul 22, 2024 · 55:54
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…
Jun 19, 2024 · 56:20
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…
May 7, 2024 · 47:42
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…
Mar 18, 2024 · 57:24
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…
Feb 8, 2024 · 46:20
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…
Jan 4, 2024 · 50:20
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…
Nov 28, 2023 · 59:08
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…
Oct 20, 2023 · 57:31
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)…
Sep 20, 2023 · 57:07
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…
Aug 30, 2023 · 1:01:52
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,…
Aug 9, 2023 · 53:02
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…
Jul 19, 2023 · 1:11:03
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…
Jun 27, 2023 · 57:22
Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopic science fiction comedy Brazil had a difficult release that mirrored its themes of bureaucracy, denial, mindless consumerism, and relentless…
Jun 6, 2023 · 1:02:03
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…
May 16, 2023 · 56:38
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…
Apr 25, 2023 · 54:58
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…
Apr 4, 2023 · 53:30
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…
Mar 21, 2023 · 54:55
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…
Mar 11, 2023 · 0:33
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. Learn more about…
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