The Next Picture Show

Stanley Kramer’s 1958 feature THE DEFIANT ONES, a film very much of its time, makes multiple on-screen appearances in RaMell Ross’ new NICKEL BOYS, a film about the way the past haunts the present. Both movies take place in the Jim Crow-era South and engage with that setting’s lopsided ideas about justice, but THE DEFIANT ONES does so from a much more straightforward approach, operating as both a stylish thriller about two escaped prisoners, one black (Sidney Poitier) and one white (Tony Curtis), and an earnest allegory about interracial acceptance. That latter quality makes it easy to lump in with Kramer’s other “message movies,” which are often dismissed from a modern vantage point as stodgy and sanctimonious, so we’re revisiting THE DEFIANT ONES, with an assist from critic and pal Noel Murray, to see whether it earns or defies that reputation. And in Feedback we revisit our WIZARD OF OZ discussion with a reader suggestion of another child female protagonist who rivals Dorothy when it comes to teary helplessness. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE DEFIANT ONES, NICKEL BOYS, and anything else in the world of film by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The antagonist becomes the protagonist in Jon M. Chu’s WICKED, which adapts a stage musical — the first act, anyway — which adapts a novel that flipped the script on 1939’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (itself an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel). So while there are plenty of narrative and character parallels between the two films, they often run perpendicular to each other in their respective notions of good and wicked. But the two films are certainly aligned in their aim to be big-screen spectacles of the highest order, though opinions differ among our hosts as to what degree WICKED achieves that goal in its heavily CGI-ed and halved form. Following that debate, we pit Dorothy and Elphaba against each other to see what each protagonist has to offer when it comes to fish-out-of-water pluck, character-defining“I Want” songs, and willingness to trust in that scoundrel the Wizard. And for Your Next Picture Show, Scott wheels out a recommendation for one of the weirder, but strangely enduring, cinematic visions of Oz. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE WIZARD OF OZ, WICKED, and anything else in the world of film by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next pairing: RaMell Ross’s NICKEL BOYS and Stanley Kramer’s THE DEFIANT ONES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new movie musical WICKED, along with the Broadway show and novel that preceded it, is specifically out to subvert the version of the magical land of Oz that was codified in 1939’s THE WIZARD OF OZ, making it the perfect time to consider what made that film a phenomenon to be subverted in the first place. So this week we wade into the vast, varied legacy of THE WIZARD OF OZ to discuss why it overcame its initial box-office failure to become a perennial family classic; which of the film’s enduring elements feel most of their time; and how that “it was all a dream” framework contributes to the film’s appeal. And in Feedback, a listener hits us with some historical context regarding a question raised in our recent episode on THE BEST MAN. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE WIZARD OF OZ, WICKED, and anything else in the world of film by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Baker’s ANORA takes the fairy-tale premise of 1990’s PRETTY WOMAN as its starting point, but ends up on a very different route to a very different sort of happy ending. It’s also a best-of-the year contender for most of us, so we spend some time discussing what makes it so before bringing its romcom predecessor back in to consider how these two films about sex workers falling for their wealthy clients are in conversation when it comes to classicism and social hierarchies, conspicuous consumption, and what happens when a transactional relationship evolves into something more. And in Your Next Picture Show, we offer a pair of recommendations that illustrate the cinematic endurance of this particular premise.  Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about PRETTY WOMAN, ANORA, and anything else in the world of film by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Jon M. Chu’s WICKED and Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices