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Hot Date with Dan and VickyTattoo (Episode 215) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1981's Tattoo, the lone feature effort of commercial director/co-writer Bob Brooks, was fraught with pre and post production problems. The film, about a tatto artist (Bruce Dern) unnaturally obsessed with a fashion model (Maud Adams), had it's release date pushed back after Brooks protested the edit producer Joseph Levine created without his input or approval. Transit authorities in NY took down pre-release posters for the film in response to complaints about the images presented - a woman's bare bound legs covered in tattoos. And Dern insinuated on the press tour that he and Adams had had actual sex in...2025-08-011h 18Hot Date with Dan and VickyA Quiet Place To Kill (Episode 213) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyA Quiet Place to Kill (aka Paranoia) was the third collaboration between Golden Globe winning American actress Caroll Baker and Italian horror and thriller filmmaker Umberto Lenzi. Baker, disillusioned by the American studio system, moved to Europe in the late 60's with her family and formed a working relationship with Lenzi that spanned four films. In this one she plays Helen, a race car driver reunited with her ex-husband and his new wife -- marital intrugue and a murder plot ensue. Starring with Baker in the Italian/Spanish co-production are Jean Sorel, Anna Proclemer, and Marina Coffa. Dan...2025-07-041h 28Hot Date with Dan and VickyCrossfire (Episode 211) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1947's Crossfire, directed by Edward Dmytryk, is based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by Richard Brooks. In Brooks' novel, a gay man is murdered by a soldier on leave but the film had to adhere to a Hays Code which didn't allow for depictions of homosexuality so anti-Jewish sentiment became the reason for the killing. Ironically, it was the film's theme of anti-semitism that put it's makers in the crosshairs of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist HUAC hearings. It's director and writer John Paxton ended in prison for their views. The film stars the Robert dream team of Robert Ryan...2025-06-061h 27Hot Date with Dan and VickyTop Ten Movie Adaptations (Episode 210) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyHot Date has reached it's next Top Ten episode and for this episode, Dan and Vicky pick their most favorite movie adaptations - films that started as books, plays, musicals, songs, even Twitter feeds! Your hosts also talk about what they've seen recently including Sinners, Drop, the new season of Black Mirror, Kevin Bacon starring horror show The Bondsman, The Lincoln Lawyer, and the Broadway musical Real Women Have Curves. Our socials: hotdatepod.com FB: Hot Date Podcast Twitter: @HotDate726 Insta: hotdatepod2025-05-231h 45Hot Date with Dan and VickyBorn Romantic (Episode 209) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky2000's Born Romantic is a little seen British comedy about dating in the Y2k era. Chock a block with UK stars including Craig Ferguson, Catherine McCormack, Jimi Mistry, Adrian Lester, Olivia Williams, David Morrissey and Jane Horrocks, the film follows a group of lonely hearts finding love and laughter with a London salsa club as the center of their romantic universe. Dan and Vicky discuss the rarely seen film and how we find love and romance in the modern world. They also talk about some recently seen items like The Rule of Jenny Penn, Freaky Tales, Hel...2025-04-251h 17Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Monkey (Episode 208) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyBased on the Stephen King short story, Oz Perkins The Monkey tells the story of a wind up toy monkey that haunts the lives of twin brothers Hal and Bill. Christian Convery plays the twins as teen boys and Theo James plays them as adults. Produced by James Wan, the film also stars Tatiana Maslany, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood and Perkins himself in the role of the boys' eccentric uncle. Usually dipping back in time to find films, Dan and Vicky choose a Hot Date from 2025 to offer a look at a recent release. They als...2025-04-111h 20Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Rickshaw Man (Episode 207) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Rickshaw Man, Hiroshi Inagaki's 1958 film about a gruff rickshaw driver who becomes the surrogate father to a boy who loses his father unexpectedly, is a remake of his own 1943 black and white film of the same name. The 1958 version won Inagaki the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival and was one of 20 films the director made with his favored actor Toshiro Mifune. Dan and Vicky discuss the film along with lots of recently seen items like A Complete Unknown, Oscar winner Flow, Mickey 17, Black Bag, 1997's Tower of Terror, and streaming shows like Daredevil: Bor...2025-03-211h 21Hot Date with Dan and VickySix Souls (Episode 206) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyOriginally titled Shelter and produced independently in 2010 with Swedish filmmakers Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein co-directing, the Julianne Moore starring Six Souls, written by Identity's Michael Cooney, was eventually purchased by the Weinstein Company under their Radius banner. But the Weinsteins were in the midst of serious financial woes in 2010 after the failure of Nine and many of their acquisitions ended up in distribution turnaround. Six Souls would eventually come out in 2013 as a day and date VOD and theatrical release. It got very little attention and seemed a strange detour on Moore's otherwise stellar career path. 2025-03-051h 29Hot Date with Dan and VickyMy New Gun (Episode 205) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyStruggling to find a role that would break her from beautiful girlfriend, adoring wife parts, 1992's My New Gun gave Diane Lane her first starring vehicle. It was a role that got her noticed and some of the best reviews of her career. Supporting her were Stephen Collins, James LeGros, Maddie Corman, Tess Harper, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the tale of a handgun that sets off a chain of distressing events in the life of Lane's unfulfilled New Jersey housewife. Dan and Vicky discuss the indie darling along with plenty of recently seen like Babygirl, Presence, NI...2025-02-141h 24Hot Date with Dan and VickySlither (Episode 204) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1973's Slither was the directorial debut of Howard Zieff (Private Benjamin, My Girl) and the screenwriting debut for W.D. Richter (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Big Trouble In Little China). In the freewheeling comedic thriller, James Caan goes on the road looking for a stash of embezzled money with Peter Boyle, Louise Lasser and Sally Kellerman in tow. Famously, Caan was quoted saying he took the role for the money and had little understanding of the story. Dan and Vicky discuss the film along with lots of recently seen including Nosferatu, The Front Room, Shudder's doc s...2025-01-241h 27Hot Date with Dan and VickyClash By Night (Episode 203) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyOf his time working with then burgeoning film actress Marilyn Monroe, Fritz Lang recalls a 26 year old who struggled with self esteem issues, set tardiness, and lack of preparation. On 1952's Clash By Night, adapted from the Clifford Odets play, Monroe drove the director to distraction but was surprisingly embraced by leading lady Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck, recognizing an overwhelmed and emotionally vulnerable fellow actress, was patient, helpful, and caring with the young actress according to Lang. What resulted was a pretty assured above the title debut for Monroe and Stanwyck's usual strong lead performance. The drama also boasts the tale...2025-01-041h 17Hot Date with Dan and VickyParis Blues (Episode 202) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe couples paired up in Martin Ritt's 1961 musical drama Paris Blues were more than just smart casting. Real life married paramours Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward play Ram and Lillian, a jazz musician and the woman he falls in love with him. And Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll, real life lovers at the time, play Eddie and Connie. Carroll and Poitier had carried on an extramarital affair on their previous film Porgy and Bess and continued during the making of Paris Blues. Both eventually stayed married and ended the affair after Paris Blues was completed. Dan and Vicky...2024-12-201h 19Hot Date with Dan and VickyMegan Is Missing (Episode 201) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDan and Vicky discuss the found footage horror thriller Megan is Missing. The film, starring many first time actors and shot for under a week on a $35,000 budget, was the brain child of cinematographer Michael Goi. Goi was eager to make a cautionary tale on the dangers of online predators and so impressed Anchor Bay Films they gave the movie, shot in 2008, a small theatrical release in 2011. Starring Amber Perkins and Rachel Quinn, Megan is Missing has divided critics - some applauding it's unflinching look at the dangers of being a teen in the internet age and others calling it...2024-12-061h 16Hot Date with Dan and VickyTop Ten Directorial Debuts (Episode 200) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyOur 200th Episode! 200 episodes of Hot Dates and Hot Takes on some of the weirdest, most beautiful and just plain bad movies. We've covered Oscar Winners and Razzie Winners, blockbusters and indie films, classics and guilty pleasures. To celebrate this milestone, we've invited Alexandra Kopko from the Film Bros Podcast to discuss our favorite directorial debuts. Dan and Vicky and Alex offer their top tens and a fun list of alternates. From the Gerwigs to the Raimis to the Lumets, hear the films that paved the way for some of the greatest careers in film - an...2024-11-222h 06Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Reckless Moment (Episode 197) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyJoan Bennett and James Mason, in only his third US film, play blackmailee and blackmailer respectively in director Max Ophuls' The Reckless Moment - his tale of a harried housewife whose life is turned upside down when her daughter accidentally kills a cad boyfriend and Bennett tries to cover it up. After directing only five American films, German born Ophuls returned to France, where he was a citizen, and continued to direct until his untimely death at age 54. Despite a relatively small output, Ophuls is nonetheless considered a true auteur. Dan and Vicky discuss the film along wi...2024-09-201h 25Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Inglorious Bastards (Episode 193) - Hot Date with Dan & VickyAfter Italian producers balked at director Enzo Castellari's idea to remake The Dirty Dozen, he raised the money himself and hired American B-movie titans Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson to lead a group of military prisoners across Nazi German territory (really the backlots of Cinecitta and surrounding areas) on a trek to freedom into Switzerland. In 1978's The Inglorious Bastards, Castellari uses all the staples of Italian 70's schlock cinema (boobs, blood and bad dubbing) to great effect in this rousing and silly war film. Dan and Vicky discuss the film that so inspired Quentin Tarantino he bou...2024-07-261h 29Hot Date with Dan and VickyTop Ten Movie Moms and Dads (Episode 190) Hot Date with Dan & VickyHot Date has reached another tenth episode and that means a Top Ten extravaganza of movie memories and memorable moments. This time Dan and Vicky discuss their favorite Moms and Dads from film across the ages. The mission was accepted differently by your co-hosts so you're getting an eclectic list of perfect and imperfect parents. Dan, of course, found his choices mostly from the horror genre and included couples while Vicky broke her list into her five favorites of each gender. This episode is a freewheeling discussion covering everything from Vicky's shopping obsession to your hosts opinions on emb...2024-06-071h 38Hot Date with Dan and VickyHammett (Episode 186) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyWhen Francis Ford Coppola hired German auteur Wim Wenders to direct his first American film, little did he suspect the difficulty that film would have getting to screens. The movie was Hammett, a fictionalized account of the mystery writer Dasheill Hammett's second career as a private investigator. In real life, Hammett stuck to penning noirs but in Wenders' film he's enlisted to solve the disappearance of a San Francisco woman. The film was entirely reshot on sound stages after Orion Pictures expressed dissatisfaction with Wenders expansive shot-on-location first edit. It stars Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner, Lydia Lei and...2024-03-291h 27Hot Date with Dan and VickyStolen Face (Episode 185) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1952's Stolen Face was an early Hammer Films production. The British studio, which would later become synonymous with thrillers and horror films, also churned out it's fair share of melodramas and comedies. This film, about a heartbroken plastic surgeon who physically transforms a prisoner into the woman who jilted him, stars Lizabeth Scott, Paul Henreid, Andre Morell and Mary Mackenzie and set the stage for films like Vertigo, Eyes Without a Face and The Skin I Live In. Dan and Vicky discuss their thoughts on Stolen Face along with some recently seen: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's Rest...2024-03-151h 18Hot Date with Dan and VickyNo Escape (Episode 184) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyActor Ray Liotta was coming off crtitical acclaim for his star making turn in Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas and was looking for a vehicle that would turn him into a bonafide movie star. For others that path was paved by action movies so Liotta signed on to 1994's No Escape hoping it would catapult him to international acclaim. As the stoic, brooding J. T. Robbins, Liotta was able to not only show brawn, but also brains as he attempts to escape the island penal colony of Absolom and it's violent de facto leader Marek played by Stuart Wilson. The film als...2024-02-231h 13Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Tamarind Seed (Episode 183) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1974's The Tamarind Seed was considered a departure for star Julie Andrews. After a break to raise her family, Andrews was looking for a role that would reintroduce her to audiences in a new light. As the 70's were rife with political and paranoid thrillers, she jumped at the chance to play Judith Farrow - a woman reeling from personal tragedy who gets embroiled in a Cold War bait and switch. It helped that Andrews was being directed by husband Blake Edwards (who also adapted the script from Evelyn Anthony's novel) and her love interest was Omar Sharif. Dan...2024-02-091h 18Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Gorilla (Episode 182) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1939's horror comedy The Gorilla was meant to be another 20th Century Fox showcase for the talents of The Ritz Brothers - three Newark born and Brooklyn raised brothers snatched from vaudeville by the studio in hopes they would bring Marx Brothers or Three Stooges size audiences. The film, however, was plagued with false starts, lawsuits and bad blood. It's failure effectively ended the trio's time at 20th and after one more film at Universal, they returned to the stage and nightclub circuit. The film also stars Bela Lugosi, Patsy Kelly and Lionel Atwill. Dan and Vicky dis...2024-01-181h 16Hot Date with Dan and VickyAenigma (Episode 179) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyItalian horror director Lucio Fulci's 1988 Aenigma seems to have been inspired by films as varied as Carrie and Patrick, with a dash of Argento madness and 80's slasher thrown in for good measure. Shot in Serbia standing in for Boston, the film features make up effects by Guiseppe Ferrante, cinematography from Luigi Ciccarese and a score by Carlo Maria Cordio. Dan and Vicky discuss the film along with some recently seen like Exorcist: Believer, Meg 2: The Trench, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, and Disney + series Loki. Follow us here: hotdatepod.com FB...2023-11-101h 13Hot Date with Dan and VickyIllusion Travels By Streetcar (Episode 178) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyTake a trip on decommissioned Streetcar 133 in Luis Bunuel's surreal and sweet 1954 film Illusion Travels By Streetcar (La Ilusión Vaja en Tranvía). When two mechanics learn their favorite streetcar is being taken off the line for good, they take it for one last drunken joyride that turns into an existential examination of life in a big city. The film stars Carlos Navarro and Fernando Soto as the hapless mechanics and Lilia Prado as their female foil and potential love interest. Along with the film, Dan and Vicky discuss recently seen films like Hulu home invasion thrill...2023-10-231h 06Hot Date with Dan and VickySleep, My Love (Episode 177) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1954's Sleep, My Love was an early directorial effort from German born emigre Douglas Sirk. Sirk would later become recognized as an auteur - by, of course, the French - for his work with melodramas (Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows). Sleep, My Love, starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Don Ameche and Hazel Brooks, was his attempt at a domestic thriller. Dan and Vicky discuss the gaslighting noir along with alot of recently seen including A Haunting in Venice, Talk to Me, The Wrath of Becky, Mafia Mama, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, 1995's Castle Freak, and Psy...2023-10-061h 29Hot Date with Dan and VickyChilly Scenes of Winter (Episode 176) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyActors Griffin Dunne, Mark Metcalf, and Amy Robinson were looking for film projects for their fledgling production company and all agreed that Ann Beattie's novel Chilly Scenes of Winter was ripe for adaptation. Indie director Joan Micklin Silver came on board with John Heard and Mary Beth Hurt leading the cast. The film struggled at the box office in 1979 under the new United Artists imposed title Head Over Heels. When it was re-released in 1982 as Chilly Scenes of Winter, the film fared better and has since become a cult title. Dan and Vicky discuss the romantic "comedy" alo...2023-09-191h 30Hot Date with Dan and VickyWatch On The Rhine (Episode 171) - Hot Date with Dan & VickyAt a time when there was considerable United States naivete and even support around Hitler's domination of Europe, Warner Bros. took the calculated risk of releasing the fervently antifascist 1943 film adaptation of Lillian Helman's Tony award winning play Watch on the Rhine. Aiding them in delivering the important message was outspoken liberal Bette Davis, Hungarian born leading man Paul Lukas (who ended up winning the Oscar for Best Actor), Dashiell Hammett (taking over writing duties from partner Hellman), and producer Hal Wallis. Dan and Vicky randomly chose the classic anti-war film to highlight on this newest episode of...2023-06-161h 27Hot Date with Dan and VickyTop Ten Remakes (Episode 170) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyWe're back with another Top Ten! Every tenth show we try to pick a fun and engaging topic that'll yield a list of our favorite top tens. This time it's Top Ten remakes. Vicky's criteria was films that are better or just as good as the original. Dan didn't really stick to that criteria as you'll hear but the lists are eclectic, cover several genres and span the globe! Have a listen, enjoy and send us your Top Ten Remakes! You can get tickets to Dan's show at Bay Street Theater, Tales From the Gu...2023-05-281h 25Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Double Life of Veronique (Episode 168) Hot Date with Dan and VickyOn Hot Date episode 168, Dan and Vicky discuss the French-Polish film The Double Life of Veronique starring Irene Jacob, Philippe Volter, Sandrine Dumas and Claude Duneton. This was the breakthrough film of Polish auteur KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI, who went on to make the acclaimed Color Trilogy and the Dekalog series. Your hosts also discuss dog sitting, Steve Guttenberg and give a shout out to a Hot Date Facebook fan! Some films and TV covered in the recently seen section include Scream VI, 1959's Ben-Hur, Hulu's Boston Strangler, Dungeons & Dragons, and the Nan Goldin doc All The Beauty and th...2023-04-141h 15Hot Date with Dan and VickyEasy Come, Easy Go (Episode 166) Hot Date with Dan and VickyAlthough stuntmen did most of the underwater work, Elvis Presley, cast as Navy frogman Ted Jackson, whose job it was to diffuse sunken mines, still had alot of scenes in and around water in 1967's Easy Come, Easy Go. This necessitated being clothed head to toe in scuba gear and getting wet occasionally - two things Elvis was not a fan of. Also appearing in this film, one of the last of Elvis' movie career, were an off shore treasure subplot, a yoga class musical number, hippies in full body paint and One Day at a Time star Pat Ha...2023-03-101h 16Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Bribe (Episode 163) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyA starry cast brings 1949's The Bribe to life. Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price and John Hodiak are all on a fictitious Caribbean island together falling in love and scheming to steal leftover ammunition parts. This somewhat forgotten noir was written by Marguerite Roberts, whose career was put on hold when she was blacklisted in 1951 for refusing to testify in front of the House Unamerican Activities Committee. It was nine years before she would resurface and write several award nominated screenplays, including the one that would win John Wayne his only Oscar, True Grit. Dan a...2023-01-201h 19Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Burning Plain (Episode 162) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Burning Plain was the directorial debut of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, who took cues from his screenplays for Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel to weave the intergenerational story of two families, one white and one Mexican, colliding and seeking redemption. The film stars Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Lawrence, and Joaquim de Almeida. Dan and Vicky discuss the little seen drama from 2009 along with lots of recently seen films, including Vicky's attempt to watch all the films she hasn't seen off of Sight and Sound's recent list of the best films of all time. Have a...2022-12-301h 14Hot Date with Dan and VickySummertime (Episode 161) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyWhen it came time make the film of Arthur Laurents successful play The Time of the Cuckoo, the natural casting choice was Shirley Booth, who won a Tony for the Broadway production and had an Oscar for the 1952 film Come Back Little Sheba. But producers felt she was too old and not enough of a box office draw. Director David Lean was determined to get Katherine Hepburn and the star needed little convincing. As her love interest, he cast Italian Rossano Brazzi. Future Night Stalker star and suffering Dad in A Christmas Story Darren McGavin made his film debut in...2022-12-171h 14Hot Date with Dan and VickyHumongous (Episode 159) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDan and Vicky offer a special Halloween episode of Hot Date covering the 1982 Canadian slasher Humongous. It was Vicky's idea to find a horror film from the 80's that she hadn't seen and Dan had. They were almost successful - after all Vicky's seen ALOT of movies. Humongous, directed by Prom Night's Paul Lynch and written by The Changeling's William Gray, has been a mostly forgotten slasher only recently finding an audience after being cleaned up for DVD and blu ray. Along with the main feature, your hosts cover plenty of recently seen, including Netflix's The...2022-10-311h 23Hot Date with Dan and VickyEdmond (Episode 158) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDirector Stuart Gordon, known for creating the body horror classics Reanimator and From Beyond, reunited with writer David Mamet to direct the film adaptation of the controversial playwright's one act play Edmond. Gordon and Mamet were colleagues in the Chicago theater scene and first collaborated on the original staging of the writer's Sexual Perversity in Chicago. In Edmond, William H. Macy plays the title character, a misanthropic bigot being put through a dark night of the soul on his way to elightenment. The cast includes Julia Stiles, Joe Mantegna, Rebecca Pidgeon, Denise Richards, and Bokeem Woodbine. Dan and...2022-10-281h 25Hot Date with Dan and VickyThree Husbands (Episode 157) - Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1951's Three Husbands and 1949's A Letter To Three Wives share screenwriter Vera Caspary but also similar storylines. In Three Husbands, the title characters receive letters about their wives' possible infidelity and in Three Wives the ladies recieve missives from a woman announcing she is running away with one of their husbands. Caspary specilaized in stories about strong women, having also penned Laura, The Blue Gardenia (a Hot Date pick at Episode 118), and I Can Get it For You Wholesale. Dan and Vicky discuss the film and their love of stars Eve Arden and Ruth Warrick. Also on d...2022-09-231h 19Hot Date with Dan and VickyA Thousand Acres (Episode 156) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyWith Shakespeare's King Lear as it's source material, both the book by Jane Smiley and the film adaptation directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse of A Thousand Acres sets the action on an Iowa farm. In the 1997 film, Jason Robards plays the raging patrirach of the Cook family, whose bequest of his land to his three daughters, played by Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, raises tensions and unearths long hidden family secrets. Dan and Vicky discuss the star studded melodrama along with lots of recently seen including Bullet Train, BJ Novak's Vengeance, Jordan Peele's Nope, modern sl...2022-09-161h 20Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Undying Monster (Episode 153) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyIn response to the success Univeral was having with it's monster series, 20th Century Fox endeavored to bring their own monster movies to the big screen. Taking cues from the mix of horror and comedy Universal had begun to explore, The Undying Monster has a scary castle, a family curse, a pair of funny Scotland investigators and visual style to spare. It's directed by John Brahm and stars Heather Angel, John Ellison, John Howard and Heather Thatcher. Dan and Vicky discuss the light horror mystery along with recently seen items like Official Competition, Paramount + series The Offer, S...2022-07-081h 15Hot Date with Dan and VickyPurple Noon (Episode 151) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr. Ripley has been adapted twice for the screen - most recently in 1995 in a star studded version by director Anthony Minghella. But the novel's first filmed version came in 1960 from two time Oscar winning director Rene Clement. Called Purple Noon in an ode to the vibrant Italian sky over Sicily where the story was set and shot, Clement's version casts Alain Delon as the sinister Tom Ripley and Maurice Renot as rich playboy Dickie (called Philippe in this film). Dan and Vicky discuss the moody French classic as well as lo...2022-06-101h 22Hot Date with Dan and VickyRed Lights (Episode 149) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyOff of the critical success of his 2010 film Buried (which trapped star Ryan Reynolds inside a coffin for 90 minutes) director Rodrigo Cortes had the clout to attract Sigourney Weaver, Robert DeNiro, Cillian Murphy, Toby Jones and Elizabeth Olsen to his next project. 2012's Red Lights is the story of a duo of supernatural debunkers who meet their match in a celebrity psychic with a dangerous past. Dan and Vicky discuss the Spanish/Canadian thriller along with some recently seen. Hear what Vicky had to say about Russian Doll season 2, Killing Eve season 4, the Fathom Screening of Singin' In The Ra...2022-05-061h 21Hot Date with Dan and VickyDawn of the Mummy (Episode 148) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyFilmmaker Frank Agrama, mostly known today as the producer of family friendly fare like the Robotech TV and video game series and a Heidi miniseries, got his start with more adult material like the 1981 horror film Dawn of the Mummy. Taking over direction from fired original director, Armand Weston, Agrama shot the grisly feature in his home country of Egypt with mostly American actors and an Italian crew. Dan and Vicky discuss the mummy/zombie hybrid thriller along with lots of recently seen like Marvel properties Moon Knight and Morbius, Ti West's X, 1983 lost Canadian thriller Siege, Netflix's Murderville a...2022-04-221h 12Hot Date with Dan and VickyCronicas (Episode 146) Hot Date with Dan and VickyWith the powerhouse producing team of Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron behind it, 2004's Ecuadorean drama Cronicas had an easy time being chosen as that country's submission for the Best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards. It didn't get that honor but still had the star power to guide it to international acclaim. John Leguizamo, performing fully in Spanish for the first time in his career, leads a stellar cast that includes Leonor Watling, Damian Alcazar, Jose Maria Yazpik and Alfred Molina. Dan and Vicky visit this indie gem as well as catching us up wi...2022-03-181h 15Hot Date with Dan and VickyWho Killed Teddy Bear (Episode 145) Hot Date with Dan and Vicky1965's Who Killed Teddy Bear mixes spasmodic dance sequences, lewd phone calls, predatory lesbians, incest, and Sal Mineo in short shorts to create one of the strangest films to come out of the swingin' sixties. It's directed by Joseph Cates and stars Mineo, Juliet Prowse, Jan Murray, and Elaine Stritch. Dan and Vicky discuss this odd film along with lots of recently seen like 2022's Death on the Nile, Marry Me, 1983's The Keep, Spielberg's Bridge of Spies from 2015 and the Showtime doc We Need to Talk About Cosby. Check out Hot Date 145: Who Killed T...2022-03-041h 13
Hot Date with Dan and VickySo Dark The Night (Episode 144) Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe unique 1946 film noir So Dark The Night gave actor Steven Geray his first and only chance to play the lead in a film. Up until then, and for years after, he was a reliable and memorable supporting player in films like Spellbound, Gilda and All About Eve. Geray had fled his homeland of Hungary after his pointed impersonations of Hitler and Mussolini on the European theatre circuit drew the threatening attention of the Italian and German governments! Your hosts Dan and Vicky discuss the Jospeh H. Lewis directed psychological drama along with some recently seen. They bre...2022-02-181h 30
Hot Date with Dan and VickyDr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (Episode 143) Hot Date with Dan and VickyIn the early 70's Hammer Studios, Britain's premier production house for horror and fantasy films, was at a crossroads. The Hammer name connoted class, style and a certain elegance but the new wave of horror was grittier and more explicit. Playing against The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hammer films could almost appear quaint. So Hammer pivoted and started making films like 1972's Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde in response. Still using trained British talent and adapting classic texts, this new period for Hammer saw a push towards more nudity (mostly female) and more visceral violence. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde...2022-02-041h 28Hot Date with Dan and VickyCan't Stop the Movie Music! - Hot Date with Dan and VickyHot Date 60 will be music to your ears -- movie music that is. Dan and Vicky offer their top ten lists for favorite movie soundtracks and scores. A misunderstanding about the topic yielded some fascinating results -- Dan did mostly movie scores and Vicky mainly stuck to movie soundtracks. There are even some movie musicals thrown in for good measure. No titles revealed in this synopsis so it's all a surprise just waiting for you to listen! In addition to their top tens, hear what Vicky and Dan watched over the Thanksgiving holiday. Vicky was on a class...2017-12-201h 24Hot Date with Dan and VickyLast Tango In Paris (Episode 59) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyCensored and banned around the world for it's frank depiction of the anonymous sexual relationship between a middle age hotel owner and a 19 year old actress, Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris nonetheless went on to gross nearly 100 million dollars and return tarnished star Marlon Brando to the top of the list of the world's greatest actors. His co-star Maria Schneider however was not as lucky. She continued to act but dealt with years of addiction and depression and passed away from breast cancer in 2011. Dan and Vicky take on the sexy classic and discuss it's recent con...2017-12-011h 26Hot Date with Dan and VickyBreaking The Waves (Episode 58) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyEmily Watson had never acted for the camera before her career making and Oscar nominated turn in Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves. The 1996 film was the first film von Trier made after founding the film movement Dogma 95 which set down specific rules for any film created under the banner - namely, no filming on built sets, no use of post-dubbed music and no CGI. With Breaking the Waves, von Trier adhered to none of those rules and in turn created what many feel to be his most successful and accessible film. After a busy summer, Dan an...2017-11-171h 42Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (Episode 57) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyAn all star cast populates the tiny fictional island of Gloucester Island, MA in 1966's The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner, Eve Marie Saint, Jonathan Winters, Brian Keith, Theodore Bikel and John Phillip Law appear in the Cold War comedy, actually shot in Northern California. Along with a discussion of this madcap caper, Dan and Vicky, coming to you from Washington, DC, talk about what they've been watching recently. Vicky brings up TV shows The Defenders, Twin Peaks: The Return, Playing House, Broadchurch and The Sinner and movies including Rogue One, Colo...2017-10-161h 23Hot Date with Dan and VickyRight At Your Door (Episode 56) - Hot Date with Dan and VickySnapped up by Roadside Attractions at the Sundance Film Festival for 3 million dollars in 2006, director/writer Chris Gorak's first film and passion project Right At Your Door only managed to make it into 20 venues it's opening weekend. It would eventually deliver more than 2 million dollars in sales worldwide, enough to get him hired on the bigger budget science fiction/horror movie The Darkest Hour from Summit Entertainment. After two months away from the podcast, Dan and Vicky discuss this forgotten, intense gem from 2007 starring Rory Cochrane and Mary McCormack as a couple dealing with the fallout from a...2017-09-221h 22Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Violent Men (Episode 54) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyProlific Polish American director Rudolph Mate found early success in Hollywood as an acclaimed cinematographer. For five consecutive years, from 1940-44, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Starting in 1950, he directed 26 films before his death in 1966, including well regarded films like D.O.A., When Worlds Collide, The Far Horizons, The 300 Spartans and this podcast's The Violent Men. Dan and Vicky tackle their first official Western on the podcast this week, giving some love to stars Barbara Stanwyck, Edgar G. Robinson and Brian Keith and the impressive on location shooting. They also talk abou...2017-07-211h 10Hot Date with Dan and VickySoldier (Episode 53) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyBy the time the script for Soldier landed with star Kurt Russell it had been kicking around Hollywood for almost 15 years. Russell, testing his status as a reliable and likable lead actor, asked for a reported 20 million dollars and a year to get in shape for the role. He was granted both. By all accounts, Russell earned his salary -- he spent 3 to 4 hours a day in the gym, completed most of his own stunts, and even acted through a nasty broken ankle for most of the shoot. The film, however, didn't prove equally as hardy. It sank quickly at...2017-06-301h 18Hot Date with Dan and VickyCasino Royale (Episode 52) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyMovie producer Charles K. Feldman (A Streetcar Named Desire, What's New Pussycat?) was in a bind with the rights to the first James Bond novel, Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. Albert Broccoli, Howard Saltzman and Eon Productions had beat him to the punch, releasing four successful Bond films with star Sean Connery, and using many of Casino Royale's best set pieces. Feldman felt the only feasible way to approach the story was in a psychedelic, satiric direction, hiring five directors and a who's who of sixties movie stars to blow up and blow out the James Bond story to epically wa...2017-06-091h 19Hot Date with Dan and VickySahara (Episode 51) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyHumphrey Bogart, on loan from his home studio of Warner Brothers, would often show up to the set of Columbia's 1943's war film Sahara hung over and ready for battle -- both on and off camera. He was known to mix it up with Hungarian director Zoltan Korda, continually fighting over his character's dialogue. Bruce Bennett, who played Waco in the film, later told Korda that Bogart was using the conflicts as an opportunity to memorize his lines! The stellar supporting cast includes Dan Duryea, Rex Ingram, Kurt Krueger, Oscar nominee J. Carol Naish and a tank named Lulubelle....2017-05-191h 16Hot Date with Dan and VickyMy Bad! - Ten "Bad" Movies We Can't Help But Love (Episode 50) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyWhat do a killer whale, Lucy Lui, rampaging trucks and crystal skulls have in common? They all appear in the films on our Hot Date top ten lists. For our milestone 50th episode we're giving some love to movies that were box office flops, hated by critics, had troubled production histories or suffered from all of the above. A lot of people think these movies are stinkers but we're bringing them out of the shadows and wrapping them in a warm Hot Date embrace. You'll hear about big budget no-nos and low-fi freak shows. From the reaches of o...2017-04-281h 25Hot Date with Dan and VickyHighlander (Episode 49) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyAustralian director Russell Mulcahy had only one previous narrative film credit on his resume, 1985's Razorback, when he landed the gig directing future cult classic Highlander. Razorback's atmosphere and muscularity and Mulcahy's experience with vivid short form filmmaking directing scores of music videos for the likes of Duran Duran, Elton John, Def Leppard and Human League, both played into him landing the gig. A flop on it's initial release, the film gave birth to a mini cottage industry after a huge HBO and VHS following spawned five sequels and two TV versions, not to mention books and graphic novels. ...2017-04-141h 24Hot Date with Dan and VickyFrench Connection 2 (Episode 48) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyJohn Frankenheimer took over directing duties from William Friedkin for the sequel to the Oscar-winning 1971 film The French Connection. He got a reluctant Gene Hackman to return to star as New York City police officer Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle as well as Spanish actor Fernando Rey, the French connection himself. Shooting took place entirely in Marseilles, France. Dan and Vicky cover this prestige sequel from the seventies, comparing it to the original and discussing how the location switch from New York to France hurts and helps the film. They also discuss Dan's side project of going back into the...2017-03-311h 22Hot Date with Dan and VickyFail Safe (Episode 46) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyIt was an arms race at the 1964 box office between Fail Safe and the similarly themed Dr. Strangelove. Stanley Kubrick pressured Columbia Pictures, the studio that owned both films, to release his film first. As a result, Fail Safe, while critically lauded, suffered under the indifference of a paying audience who thought they had already seen the definitive Cold War movie with Strangelove. Little did they know how very different the two films were. The sweaty, sobering, scary Fail Safe stars Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Dan O'Herlihy, Frank Overton and Larry Hagman. Dan and Vicky gush over the fi...2017-03-031h 22Hot Date with Dan and VickyCymbeline (Episode 45) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyMichael Almereyda's Cymbeline from 2015 was his second Shakespeare adaptation and his second time working with actor Ethan Hawke. Hawke played the melancholy Dane in Almereyda's Hamlet from 2000. Here he plays the scheming sexual predator Iachimo and joins Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, Dakota Johnson, John Leguizamo, Delroy Lindo and Anton Yelchin in the star-studded cast. Dan and Vicky take on their first movie based on a Shakespeare play and Dan compares his experience doing Cymbeline in 2008 with this film's take on the material. You'll also hear how Vicky spent her very wet birthday and about her visit to the...2017-02-181h 22Hot Date with Dan and VickyDanny Deckchair (Episode 44) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDirector Jeff Balsmeyer was an American film storyboard artist itching to make his writing and directing debut. His passion project was Danny Deckchair, a romantic comedy based on the real life adventure of California dreamer Larry Walters who tied helium balloons to a lawn chair to lift off into the sky over Long Beach in 1982. After ten years of shopping the idea around and having recently married an Aussie and relocated there, Balsmeyer made and set his film in Australia. Brit Rhys Ifans was chosen to play Danny, Justine Clarke came on as Trudy, his frustrated girlfriend, and Miranda Ott...2017-02-011h 16Hot Date with Dan and VickyPerfume of the Lady in Black (Episode 42) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyWith only a few documentaries and short films on his resume, Francesco Barilli embarked on his first narrative feature, Perfume of the Lady in Black in 1973 Italy. The film was inspired by research Barilli had been doing on voodoo rituals and cannibalism and had less in common with the traditional stalk and slash giallos Italy was pumping out at the time. He enlisted American expat Mimsy Farmer, who had moved to Europe when her acting career in the states seemed to be stalling, as his tortured lead. Farmer, named after a line in a Lewis Carroll novel, would take to...2016-12-301h 23Hot Date with Dan and VickyI Went Down (Episode 41) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyReleased in Ireland in 1997 and here in the US a year later, I Went Down was one of the most successful Irish films of the year. It's story, about low rent Dublin mobsters trading barbs and gunfire, was a departure from the more serious IRA films being produced at the time. It has a star making turn from Brendan Gleeson, on the verge of breaking big in the worldwide box office with The General, Michael Collins and Mission Impossible 2, playing a character named Bunny Kelly, and a lesser known, but expert, supporting cast in Peter McDonald, Tony Doyle and Pe...2016-12-161h 16Hot Date with Dan and VickyDeath Becomes Them: 10 Memorable Death Scenes (Episode 40) - Hot Date With Dan and VickyFor Episode 40, Dan and Vicky pick their favorite scary, shocking, sad, even funny death scenes from non-horror movies. There are some classics thrown in the mix and some you wouldn't expect so get that Kleenex ready. Filmmakers as varied as Alfred Hitchcock, Richard Brooks, John Carpenter and Werner Herzog get the spotlight. Dan and Vicky even provide a few honorable mentions that didn't make the final cut. It's wall to wall DEATH on Hot Date this week! As usual, they also get into what they've been watching recently. For TV, Dan checks into Bates Motel and Vicky screa...2016-12-021h 16Hot Date with Dan and VickyOdd Man Out (Episode 39) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyWe talk Odd Man Out, the classic 1947 British thriller from Third Man director Carol Reed. It stars James Mason as Johnny McQueen, the leader of an Irish revolutionary group who ends up running for his life after a botched robbery attempt. His love interest is played by Kathleen Ryan and the eccentric artist he runs into on his journey is Robert Newton. There's Hot Date talk of Irish accents, rich production design, the beauty of Robert Krasker's cinematography and the eccentric and eclectic acting. We also catch up with where Dan and Vicky have been and what they...2016-11-151h 23Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Boys From Brazil (Episode 38) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyJust in time for Halloween, Dan and Vicky discuss the 1978 horror thriller based on the Ira Levin novel, The Boys From Brazil. Notorious death camp doctor Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck) has come out of hiding in South America and gathered a group of Nazi colleagues for a nefarious plot that only famed Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) can stop. James Mason, Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen, Rosemary Harris, Anne Meara, John Rubinstein and a young Steve Guttenberg round out the cast. In addition to the film -- their second Hot Date movie based on an Ira Levin nove...2016-10-281h 27Hot Date with Dan and VickyCobra (Episode 37) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe original 2 hour cut of the Sylvester Stallone starrer Cobra was exceedingly violent and bleak, so much so that the MPAA insisted the film be cut to avoid an X rating. Initially resistant, Stallone and director/producer George P. Cosmatos gave in as much to avoid the dreaded rating as to challenge the highly tracking Tom Cruise movie Top Gun at the box office. Stallone had recent hits Rambo:First Blood Part II and Rocky 4 and was under pressure to produce another hit. The heavily edited final version of Cobra did have a huge opening weekend and made money fo...2016-10-071h 26Hot Date with Dan and VickyPaint Your Wagon (Episode 36) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDan and Vicky look at the 1969 musical Paint Your Wagon starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg and Ray Walston. To adapt his own Broadway show for the big screen, producer and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner chose writer Paddy Chayefsky and composer Andre Previn. They changed the source material considerably and scored 10 million dollars from Paramount to bring their nearly three hour version to the screen. Fraught with production problems, the film, shot almost entirely on real sets built in the rugged Oregon mountains, went 10 million dollars over budget and ushered in the beginning of the end for the mov...2016-09-161h 18Hot Date with Dan and VickyThree Colors: White (Episode 35) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyOn Hot Date 35, Dan and Vicky discuss 1994's White, the middle film in the Three Colors trilogy from late Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski. Zbigniew Zamachowski plays a man shunned by his spouse (Julie Delpy), adrift in his adopted country of Paris and longing for a return to his Polish homeland. When a chance encounter leads him back to Poland, he uses the opportunity to exact an insidious revenge on his estranged wife. Dan talks about his recent stay in Maryland, his upcoming show at BAM and recent watches like 1984's RepoMan, the HBO doc Hitchcock/Truffaut, the n...2016-09-021h 18Hot Date with Dan and Vicky12 Angry Men (Episode 34) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyStar Henry Fonda was looking for a movie project that would give him the rush of a stage performance. He found it in 12 Angry Men. A TV version was broadcast on CBS in 1954 and the Reginald Rose penned teleplay would provide juicy film roles for Fonda and a stable of seasoned New York theatre actors. Unfortunately Rose and Fonda couldn't get any studio interested in a feature property most felt audiences wouldn't pay for after being broadcast free nationwide. It's one room location and talky screenplay probably didn't help either. Rose and Fonda eventually founded production company Orion-Nova and made...2016-08-121h 21Hot Date with Dan and VickyResurrection (Episode 33) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDan and Vicky discuss the hard to find 1980 film Resurrection starring Ellen Burstyn and Eva Le Gallienne in Oscar nominated roles and Sam Shepard, Lois Smith, Richard Farnsworth, Roberts Blossom, and Jeffrey DeMunn in supporting turns. It tells the story of a woman paralyzed in a violent car accident that kills her husband but somehow grants her the ability to heal. Along with their thoughts on this rarely seen film, Dan and Vicky discuss what they've been watching lately. Vicky's fit in a ton of stuff in three weeks: The new Star Trek and Ghostbusters, the 1981 slasher The...2016-07-291h 28Hot Date with Dan and VickyThen She Found Me (Episode 32) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyFor her feature film directorial debut, actress/producer Helen Hunt chose this adaptation of the Elinor Lipman novel, Then She Found Me. It took 10 years to get it to the screen and only wound up getting funded when Hunt agreed to star in the lead role and bring her friends Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler and Colin Firth in to play the other leads. The supporting cast is peppered with great New York actors -- Lynn Cohen, Ben Shenkman, John Benjamin Hickey, Geneva Carr and Robert Lupone -- and quick cameos from the likes of Tim Robbins, Janeane Garofalo, Edie F...2016-07-151h 24Hot Date with Dan and VickyAngel Face (Episode 31) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDan and Vicky tackle noir again with the classic Otto Preminger film Angel Face. The film was a very troubled production and our hosts give us a little background, with an assist from noir historian Eddie Muller's DVD commentary, on all the infighting, the jealousy and the on set violence that plagued the Jean Simmons, Robert Mitchum vehicle. Beyond the juicy back stage stuff, they show a lot of love for the film and tell us why the ending is one of the most shocking in movie history. Before that though, they get a little serious talking abou...2016-07-011h 32Hot Date with Dan and VickyWonder Women: 10 Favorite Female Performances (Episode 30) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyAnother ten Hot Date episodes down can only mean it's time once again for Dan and Vicky to make a top ten list. This time our hosts decide to pick their favorite performances by an actress. Every genre and era is represented and there will definitely be some surprises and head scratchers along the way. There are a couple of Australians, a French woman, a Spaniard, even a Scientologist or two. Filmmakers as varied as Woody Allen, Terrence Malick and Lewis Teague are represented. But enough hints! Before they get to their lists, Dan and Vicky tell us how...2016-06-171h 26Hot Date with Dan and VickyForbidden World (Episode 29) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDan and Vicky tackle their first bona fide B movie with the Roger Corman produced Alien rip-off Forbidden World from 1982. The movie began life under the title Mutant but was quickly re-edited and re-titled by Corman to take out most of director Allan Holzman's nods at humor and give the film a title he thought wouldn't stump viewers. Also tacked on was a pre-credit battle in space scene Corman insisted upon as a shameless Star Wars riff. Dan makes the case that Forbidden World is a fun, atmospheric, capably shot and lit sci-fi horror hybrid that reaches bey...2016-06-031h 22Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Premature Burial (Episode 28) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyAfter a dispute over royalties for his two previous Edgar Allen Poe film adaptations, producer/director Roger Corman and American International Pictures decided to part ways. Corman approached Pathe Film to finance and release his next feature, another Poe page-to-screen effort, The Premature Burial. He cast Ray Milland because his first choice, Vincent Price, was under contract with AIP. Little did Corman know, however, that AIP was in the process of buying Pathe Films and soon found himself an employee of AIP again and his new film the property of the studio. Dan and Vicky examine the tap...2016-05-201h 22Hot Date with Dan and VickyNetwork (Episode 27) - Hot Date With Dan and VickySemi-retired and living in the Caribbean, actor Peter Finch initially resisted starring in Network and director Sidney Lumet was equally hesitant to have a Brit play the pivotal part of American TV newscaster turned prophet Howard Beales. But an audition tape where Finch did a spot-on American accent convinced Lumet that he'd found his man. Tragically, Finch died soon after the film was completed but became the first actor to receive the Best Supporting Actor Oscar posthumously. Dan and Vicky look at the multiple Oscar winning Network and the actors that brought it to such vivid life - F...2016-05-071h 30Hot Date with Dan and VickyBreaking Away (Episode 26) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyIt took British director Peter Yates and Yugoslavian screenwriter Steve Tesich, born Stojan Tešić, to tell the quintessential American coming of age story Breaking Away from 1979. The film was set and shot in Bloomington, Indiana where Tesich's family emigrated to when he was a teenager and tells a story based on a bicyclist Tesich befriended during his time racing for Indiana University. For his efforts, the screenwriter received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and the Golden Globe for Best Film (Comedy or Musical).
Dan and Vicky take a look at this seminal sports film from the 70...2016-04-221h 32Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Loneliest Planet (Episode 25) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyOn Hot Date 25, Dan and Vicky cover as much ground as the protagonists do in the 2012 film The Loneliest Planet. In addition to their thoughts on the film, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg as a couple hiking through the mountains of the former Soviet state of Georgia, your hosts discuss recent celebrity deaths, their love of over pumped stars Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, and AMC Theatres' dodgy ticket policies.
Vicky also bemoans the lack of good music in October of 2012 and tells us why she's putting off seeing Batman vs. Superman while Dan wa...2016-03-311h 32Hot Date with Dan and VickyTrue Romance (Episode 24) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyA year after making his acclaimed directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino saw the very first script he every wrote make it to the big screen in a major Hollywood way. Jam-packed with big stars and directed by hot shot Tony Scott, 1993's True Romance seemed destined for greatness but ultimately fell short at the box office. Audiences were more in the mood, it seems, for the repressed entanglements in Scorsese's Age of Innocence than for the red hot, go-for-broke love between Patricia Arquette's Alabama and Christian Slater's Clarence. Deemed too talky by some and too violent by oth...2016-03-181h 35Hot Date with Dan and VickyCarnal Knowledge (Episode 23) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyComing off the successes of The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, director Mike Nichols could have done anything he wanted. He chose to reunite with Graduate screenwriter Buck Henry to adapt the ambitious and satirical Joseph Heller war novel Catch-22. When that film was met with critical and commercial indifference (it's since become a cult favorite), Nichols then turned his sights to more familiar terrain -- the relationship drama Carnal Knowledge from 1971.
Armed with a cast of actors ripe for their breakout moment, Nichols fashioned a searing, funny and frank look at contemporary relationships that had...2016-03-031h 35Hot Date with Dan and VickyDoctor Detroit (Episode 22) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe summer of 1983 was poised to be the season that SNL alum Dan Aykroyd broke out as a movie star with no less than three movies coming out in as many months. He found success co-starring with Eddie Murphy in the hit Trading Places and made a brief appearance in the tragedy plagued but profitable Twilight Zone: The Movie. But the third film, released before the other two and positioned as a starring vehicle for Aykroyd, would become one of the Canadian born actor's greatest flops.
Doctor Detroit, released May 6, 1983, is mostly forgotten today but boasts a cas...2016-02-091h 33Hot Date with Dan and VickyRope (Episode 21) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyFor his first attempt at a Technicolor film and his first collaboration with James Stewart, Alfred Hitchcock chose to adapt the British stage play Rope's End as a series of 10 minute long takes. Loosely based on real life child murderers Leopold and Loeb, Farley Granger and John Dall murder a school chum in their apartment, hide his body in a chest of books and cooly host a party around him, aroused by the thrill of it possibly being discovered.
Dan and Vicky's date with Hitchcock includes their opinions on the film, it's central long take gimmick, the...2016-01-191h 29Hot Date with Dan and Vicky"The Aliens Are Coming!" Top Ten (Episode 20) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyKeeping with tradition, Dan and Vicky pull together a top ten movie list to commemorate ten episodes completed. Episode 20 is out of this world - literally - as our Hot Date podcasters discuss their choices for favorite space/alien films. Suggested by loyal listener Kenneth Cooperman, Dan and Vicky pick a few science fiction classics you may have seen but also some stealth additions that may creep in under your radar. They also offer runner-up and honorable mention choices and catch us up with what they've been watching recently.
So strap yourself in, make sure your ship is...2016-01-051h 27Hot Date with Dan and VickyDead Ringer (Episode 19) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyIt was a battle-ax royale at the box office in early 1964. The Joan Crawford film Strait- Jacket had come out exactly a month before but it was this Bette Davis vehicle, Dead Ringer, that came out on top. Dead Ringer was the number one film in the country two weekends in a row and continued the recent trend of Grand Dame Guignol films -- grotesque horror/thriller movies starring once popular Hollywood actresses moving into middle age.
Dan and Vicky rate Davis's performance in Dead Ringer, her second time after 1946's A Stolen Life portraying twins, and di...2015-12-221h 20Hot Date with Dan and VickyTraining Day (Episode 18) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyPart of then 31 year old Ethan Hawke's audition for Training Day was a series of casting sessions with star Denzel Washington. It was after one of those reads that Hawke left fuming, upset that Washington had taken an improv too far, insulting and cursing him. But director Antoine Fuqua saw exactly the relationship he needed for the characters in the film and offered Hawke the role of rookie Jake Hoyt.
Dan and Vicky cover the action thriller and it's two riveting stars but also discuss the proximity of it's initial release to the horrific events of 9/11. They share...2015-12-081h 42Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Last Station (Episode 17) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyIs it a 2010 or a 2009 release? Things get confusing on Dan and Vicky's 17th Hot Date. They chose a random date in January of 2010, usually a deadly month for movies, and came up with the fairly classy Michael Hoffman film, The Last Station starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren. The film was dropped in a few theaters for an Oscar qualifying run in late 2009, but actually went wide in January of the following year, hence the confusion. But the Academy wasn't confused and the strategy paid off with Oscar nominations for both stars.
Dan and Vicky examine the...2015-11-241h 23Hot Date with Dan and VickyPi (Episode 16) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyDirector Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream) came up with a unique strategy for funding and staffing his debut feature Pi. He approached family, friends and everyone in between with the promise that if the film was a failure, he'd give them $50 on top of their initial investment of $100. The cast and crew had a different incentive -- he asked them to work for a deferred salary of $200 per day plus a cut of the box office if the film made any money. After premiering at Sundance, the $60,000 film got a $1 million dollar distribution deal and ended up g...2015-11-101h 43Hot Date with Dan and VickyDirty Mary, Crazy Larry (Episode 15) - Hot Date with Dan and VickySteve McQueen, David Soul and Sam Elliott were all attached to the car chase classic Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry when it was to be a direct adaptation of the novel The Chase and had no female protagonist. But after years of fits and starts, B movie producer James Nicholson acquired the property, brought friend and frequent collaborator Peter Fonda on board, had the script changed to make the leads a bickering couple and rode into history with the film as a top grosser for studio 20th Century Fox. Dan and Vicky buckle their seat belts for a wi...2015-10-261h 35Hot Date with Dan and VickyGeorgy Girl (Episode 14) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyIt seems incongruous that producers would have originally wanted Vanessa Redgrave for the title role in 1966's Georgy Girl because sister Lynn seemed an absolute perfect fit and, indeed, ended up making it her breakthrough role. The film co-starred James Mason, Alan Bates, Charlotte Rampling and, in a small role, Redgrave's mother, Rachel Kempson. It was a huge hit in the UK but an even bigger one in the United States, much to the relief of Columbia Pictures who had sweated the young, unknown leads, the avant-garde shooting style of Canadian director Silvio Narizzano and some risque subject matter.
...2015-10-131h 39Hot Date with Dan and VickyThe Long, Hot Summer (Episode 13) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyIt took three William Faulkner stories to make the sultry, southern classic film The Long, Hot Summer and one difficult movie icon to almost unmake it. Although Orson Welles was director Martin Ritt's one and only choice to play burly land baron Will Varner, the two clashed continually on the sticky Louisiana set. They would eventually make up after the movie was finished but Ritt seems to have definitely earned the moniker the industry gave him later -- the Orson Tamer.
In stark contrast, leads Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were in the throes of a love a...2015-10-021h 32Hot Date with Dan and VickyHappy Birthday To Me (Episode 11) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyMelissa Sue Anderson was eager to break out of the house that Michael Landon built when she signed on for 1981's slasher Happy Birthday to Me. She was still screaming and crying but this time it was from trying to avoid being shish kebabbed by a mysterious killer and not from the trials of prairie life. She was joined by tough guy film legend Glenn Ford as her psychiatrist, Canadian stalwart Lawrence Dane as her preoccupied Dad, future soap superstar Tracey Bregman as her best friend and fledgling actors Lisa Langlois, Lesleh Donaldson, Matt Craven and David Eisner who wo...2015-09-091h 38Hot Date with Dan and VickyDirector Hot Ten (Episode 10) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyHot Date is in celebration mode! Dan and Vicky have reached episode ten and want to shake things up and do something special for our loyal listeners. Instead of bantering about one film, our hosts pull out all the stops and pick their ten favorite films from ten randomly chosen directors! As a bonus, they'll also choose runners-up. There's a filmmaker for ever taste -- horror, comedy, action, or drama. We won't reveal the filmmakers here but rest assured they are some of the most exciting artists working today and one who is no longer with us.
As alw...2015-08-281h 36Hot Date with Dan and VickyDead Alive (Episode 8) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyBefore he became the official film adapter of all things J.R.R Tolkein, Peter Jackson was a young monster movie enthusiast and animator creating kitschy, violent, over the top gore-fests in his home country of New Zealand. When Dead Alive, his third feature, appeared in 1992, it had one of the biggest opening weekends of any film in New Zealand history, beating the latest Warner Bros. Batman film at the box office. It didn't have as immediate an impact in the US in February 1993 but Hollywood could tell they had a unique talent on their hands.
Dan tra...2015-07-211h 15Hot Date with Dan and VickyImpact (Episode 7) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyImpact: The force with which two lives come together. Sometimes for good, sometimes for evil.
Dan and Vicky come together and it's ALL for the good as they look at the little remembered B-movie from 1949, Impact. The movie that asks: If your wife's lover botches a hit on you and accidentally kills himself AND the world mistakes his charred body for yours, could you let your wife hang for a murder she didn't actually successfully commit? And how do you pay back the surprisingly progressive Chinese maid who saves the day -- and your butt?
Dan a...2015-07-061h 29Hot Date with Dan and VickyNuts (Episode 6) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyBarbra Streisand is a force to be reckoned with. Two time Oscar winner, multi Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy winner. The woman even has several Peabodys!
So when she decided to tackle her grittiest role to date -- as a prostitute indicted for murder fighting to prove her sanity in a competency hearing -- who was going to say no? Well...actually...someone did. In 1982 when Streisand expressed interest in the role of Claudia Draper in the film adaptation of the play Nuts, Universal declined and gave the role to Debra Winger instead.
Four years later...2015-06-161h 24Hot Date with Dan and VickyRosemary's Baby (Episode 5) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyProducer Robert Evans resisted the efforts of horror schlockmeister William Castle to direct the film adaptation of Ira Levin's novel, Rosemary's Baby, and the film world is all the better for it.
Polish wunderkind Roman Polanski took the reigns and created a horror classic; a movie Levin called the best EVER film adaptation of a novel. Self-congratulation aside, he's not too far off.
In an epic Hot Date, their longest and hottest yet, Dan and Vicky not only give their thoughts on the satan baby masterpiece starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes and Oscar winner Ruth Gor...2015-06-031h 50Hot Date with Dan and VickyDomino (Episode 4) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyHeads you win, Tails you die!
When late director Tony Scott read the story of Domino Harvey in an article in The Daily Mail, he was eager to translate her life to film. Working with her and screenwriter Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales), Scott ended up with less a biopic and more a bombastic love letter to the style in which Harvey lived her life -- fast, furious and on the edge.
A onetime model and DJ, affirmed tomboy Harvey found success later as a bounty hunter. Scott's film tracks her through one particularly mes...2015-05-191h 32Hot Date with Dan and VickyPretty Maids All In A Row (Episode 3) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyFrench director Roger Vadim made his US filmmaking debut in 1971 with Pretty Maids All In A Row, based on the scandalously prurient novel of the same title. It was an inauspicious and largely forgotten film and was one of the last movies to come out of MGM before they almost entirely ceased film production.
It stars Rock Hudson, Telly Savalas, John David Carson and the very sexy Angie Dickinson in a tale of sexual exploration and murder on a sunny California high school campus. Written and produced by Mr. Star Trek himself, Gene Roddenberry, Pretty Maids is one...2015-05-011h 28Hot Date with Dan and VickyAmadeus (Episode 2) - Hot Date with Dan and VickyBased on Peter Schaffer's hit play, the movie version of Amadeus won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actor and Director. Dan and Vicky watched the Director's Cut, which has about 30 minutes of footage not included in the original release version.
They discuss the historical, political and personal climate around the time the movie came out on September 19, 1984 and also talk about some of their favorite pop culture obsessions from the past week.
Go back to 18th century Vienna with Dan and Vicky on their second Hot Date! 2015-04-131h 25Hot Date with Dan and VickyDeliverance (Episode 1) - Hot Date With Dan and VickyOn the premiere episode, Dan and Vicky choose July 27, 1972 as their Hot Date.
The classic survival thriller "Deliverance" was released on July 30th and went on to become one of the highest grossing films of the year, pick up three Oscar nominations and forever change the discussion of rural versus urban class dynamics.
Dan and Vicky discuss their impressions of the film and address the controversial scenes that have given it it's reputation.
They'll also look at the year 1972 in social and political history and share the things they're currently watching, reading and lis...2015-04-031h 26