Red Time For Bonzo: A Marxist-reaganist Film Podcast

After a long winter’s recording layoff, the Red Time For Bonzo crew reassembles to discuss Hell’s Kitchen, a Warner Dead End Kids programmer powered by the studio’s characteristic Late New Deal fervor. The Gipper doesn’t have a whole lot to do in this remake of 1933’s The Mayor of Hell, but he once again finds himself playing a mediating role as the collegiate consiglieri to gangster-cum-reformer Stanley Fields. Scripted by correctional connoisseur Crane Wilbur, the film traces folk hero gangster throwback Buck Caesar’s efforts to bring the light of democracy and economic justice to the benighted boy-residents of a fascistic Father Flanagan-style charity workhouse.  Along the way, we get some bravura mugging from daemonic delinquents Leo Gorcey, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan (et al); a little perfunctory romance between Reagan and Margaret Lindsay; some stirring speeches about the country’s destiny now that Republican nihilism has been thoroughly overcome; and some Simon Legree level villainy from stuffed shirted

Based on John Patrick’s popular 1945 play, The Hasty Heart became a smash screen hit four years later – taking an already-Cold-War-weary public back to the waning days of a marginally less cynical conflict. Our characters are convalescing British Empire conscripts at a MASH unit in Burma – along with one gruff, pragmatic “Yank” (Reagan, dusting off his Brother Rat roommate persona). All of the acting accolades went to Richard Todd, as a singularly standoffish Scot, who refuses to reveal what’s under his kilt, but shows his ass anytime anyone tries to speak to him. Only one member of our panel found the film (which takes a pretty unique approach to the “days are numbered” drama) particularly affecting, but everyone had something to say about it. The Gipper once again offers top-notch support to a star who is doing more of the obvious heavy lifting, effortlessly embodying the audience’s changing perspective on the damaged young man at the heart of the tale. The film displays the 1949 version of a “woke” attitud

The Gipper’s fourth and final supporting appearance in a Dick Powell buffoon-and-crooner finds Reagan headed in the wrong direction down the cast list. To be fair, it’s quite an assemblage, with Ann Sheridan, Helen Broderick, Allen Jenkins, ZaSu Pitts, Gale Page, Granville Bates, William B. Davidson, “Slapsie Maxie” Rosenbloom, and Quarter-Million-Dollar-Moustache-Man Jerry Colonna hoovering up most of the comedic oxygen. The film also benefits from a set of mildly diverting novelty tunes by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer (including the immortal “Hooray For Spinach”). Less of an asset is a Wald and Macaulay script afflicted by an excess of insistent tics. Every single character – with the possible exception of Reagan’s small-time music publisher – has some dementedly distinctive hitch in their palaver. Fans of Gareth’s theory of Reagan-as-mediating figure will find a great deal of support for the contention in this one, wherein the actor practically evaporates into the ether. And the big plagiarism plot provi

The Gipper’s slow segue out of the Warner fold began with this tone-setting suburban sitcom for Universal-International. Part of his new sometime-studio’s “Big Push” at the dawn of  the television decade, Louisa shows how easily Reagan might have stepped into a Father Knows Best/My Three Sons-style second career. If only he had done so, American (and Canadian) marginal tax rates might still be at 70%. As usual (and as per Gareth’s thesis), Reagan mainly holds down the stage for the benefit of his co-stars, occupying a crucially colorless space between the coming and the going generations. The latter group includes Spring Byington (in the title role), Edmund Gwenn and Charles Coburn - reworking their love-triangle dynamics from the immortal Devil and Miss Jones. At the other end of the scale, we find debuting Piper Laurie, tragic Scotty Beckett, and little Jimmy Hunt with his big radio. The film runs a brilliant reverse-play on the viewer, feinting toward some kind of a send-up of senior citizen sexuality and

It’s the return of Brass Bancroft! (In Reagan’s own least favorite of his films.) This episode was recorded on August 27th, 2018, with your humble panel suffering through the embarrassing Ballet McCainique that had a stranglehold on the American media that week. After venting our collective spleens on that particular topic, we turn our attention to the film at hand – also kind of an embarrassment to Warner’s vaunted Foy unit. They fell down on the job here. In The Films of Ronald Reagan, Tony Thomas contends that both Foy and his star asked the studio not to release it. They compromised by releasing it everywhere except in Los Angeles. A better compromise might’ve been to rework it a little – but, hey, whaddya want? They made these movies in 7 days! We nevertheless found much to discuss. Lacking anything like a compelling story to distract us, we zero in on the Reagan persona – a unique synthesis of sharpie and naïf. This American character type goes back to Mark Twain (at least), and several Hollywood stars

It's Ginger Rogers, Doris Day, and the Gipper himself against the all-corrupting power of the Klan! If you listen to one episode of Red Time For Bonzo in 2019, this is the one! Also discussed: the then-impending death of John McCain (we recorded this in August 2018), the miserable life of actor Steve Cochran, the coal-fired crocodile tears of Michael Barbaro, and the ideological barrenness of anti-corruption politics.  Novel suggestion: Peter Delacorte's Time on My Hands Follow us at: Facebook Follow Romy on Twitter at @rahrahtempleton Follow Gareth on Twitter at @helenreddymades Follow David on Twitter at @milescoverdale

Join a radically divided panel as they discuss and dissect the biggest film Ronald Reagan made during "Hollywood's Golden Year" of 1939 - Dark Victory. Is this a prime example of "Prestige""/"Too-Extra-By-Half""/"Middlebrow"/"White Elephant" filmmaking?  Or is it a gossamer haymaker born of the nearly miraculous fusion of Edmund Goulding's auteurist preoccupations and Bette Davis' acteurist ambitions? Are we to interpret Judith Traherne's autumnal days in "that pinched up little state on the wrong side of Boston" as evidence of a sad capitulation to heteronormativity? Or as an Emersonian triumph of open-air gladness to the brink of fear?  One thing we did agree on is the Gipper's "epicene" effectiveness in the role of "funny old Alec", despite the moral majority darling's latter-day disdain for his own performance. What's your prognosis? Novel suggestion: Peter Delacorte's Time on My Hands Follow us at: Facebook Follow Romy on Twitter at @rahrahtempleton Follow Gareth on Twitter at @helenreddymades Follow Da

Received as an innocuous time-waster on first release, Bedtime For Bonzo later blossomed into the go-to "President Cheeto"-style resistance pseudo-witticism of the '80s. However, from your panel's point of view, this film furnishes nigh-inexhaustible avenues of inquiry into mid-20th Century American modalities and myths.   Join us as we delve into/debate the semantic availability of proto-animal rights discourse in 1950 (alongside the monstrous treatment of animal actors themselves), the reconstitution/invention of the nuclear family in post-World War II suburbia, the amorphous language of populist protest, the figure of the “Egghead”, the ever-present threat of eugenicide, the New Model Moguldom of MCA/Universal maestro Lew Wasserman, and the defensibility of human species exceptionalism itself.   Also: Romy urges the team to pin down the Gipper’s sexual persona; Gareth finds ample support for his Reagan-as-mediating-figure thesis; and Dave celebrates the career of Walter Slezak. Everyone loves Diana Lynn (s

This week, we find the Gipper embarking upon his self-described "Errol Flynn of the Bs" period with the first of 4 "Brass Bancroft" not-so-extra-vaganzas. Loosely based on "material compiled" from the memoranda of ex-Secret Service honcho W.H. Moran (a close second in sexiness to Admiral Chester Nimitz), the films deliver a nice little wallop on behalf of the New Deal Deep State.   This unassuming programmer comes out swinging with a scene of callous criminality that's sure to shock even the most jaded connoisseur of contemporary borderland psychosis. The rest of the film doesn't quite live up to its demented overture, but it zips along at a nice clip (at least when Little Foy Lost Eddie Jr.'s limp clowning isn't center stage) and it certainly marked a step up in the studio standings for its aspiring star.   The film also features the brilliant James Stephenson in a sinister supporting role, Ila Rhodes as the fungible fiancee, Rosella Towne as a rather more interesting trysting partner, and the immortal John

The Last Outpost aka Cavalry Charge is the quintessential (although certainly not the best) "Civil War Western", a staple mid-century genre which performed yeoman ideological work on a pair of dubious fronts: 1. Doubling down (often literally, by offering up equally likable brothers on either side of the conflict) on the "revisionist" take on the "War Between The States" that dominated the historiography from the 1920s into the early 1960s; and 2. painting the "unsettled" western frontier as the staging ground for a post-bellum American "reunification" through genocidal race war against the region's rightful inhabitants.   The Gipper delivers a terrific performance as Capt. Vance Britten, a character whose psychological underpinnings are so vile that they cannot even be acknowledged by the film. He's a dashing Baltimorean who has crossed over to the Rebels as "a matter of principle". What principle? Well, it's not defending his state, obviously, since Maryland remained within the Union. Guess what that leaves

This time on the podcast, journey back to August 2018, when your faithful panelists projected their hopes and fears onto the post-Midterm landscape. After 38 minutes' worth of our deathless political prognostication, journey back even further to yet another lackluster late-1930s Dick Powell film. Ol' Dick must have considered the Gipper a jinx - most of his non-Reagan films are so much better (at least Dave thinks so - Gareth and Romy were far more favorably disposed toward Going Places). Everyone did agree on one thing: Louis Armstrong dominates the proceedings and naturally generated the lion's share of the discussion.   We also found a little time to delve into William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions (which was roosting at Warner Brothers by 1938) and reflect back on that miserable magnate's malign militarism (inspired by a little Maine-based "fake news" gloat planted in this film). Also discussed: the star-crossed life of that "Dirty Little Rat Nunheim" (Harold Huber), Ladies Love Cool (Allen)

This week on the podcast, a little-seen Pine-Thomas "Far-Easter" that has been identified (by one or two dreamers - i.e. 20% of the living people who've watched it) as an antecedent of the Indiana Jones films. Why? Well, there's the hat. You need more than that to hang a theory on? You might be out of luck. HONG KONG reunites the Gipper with friend of the podcast Rhonda Fleming during the last days of the Maoist revolution. The film takes its name from the British-occupied city, but a lot of the action takes place within civil war-ridden China itself. It's got a bit of a Cold War feel to it (Reagan says "Commies"), but, ultimately, the narrative pulls back from such grandly geopolitical concerns to tell a sub-Hitchcockian story of child-abduction and chicanery perpetrated by a grotesquely caricatured Chinese antique dealer/criminal played by Marvin Miller (later the voice of Robby the Robot and never, incidentally, a person who should be playing Asian characters).    We take a little time to consider the "So

We've got a watershed moment in the Gipper's career for you this week. In fact, it's two watershed moments in one - Reagan's first substantial role in a commercial hit film and our protagonist's first pairing with the Greatest First Lady Manquée of them all, Jane Wyman! Your humble panel takes enthusiastic note of these facts (and of Jane's stellar performance as Claire Adams); however, that enthusiasm dries up pretty quickly when they consider the puerile military college hi-jinks documented by Brother Rat. A matchless Warner Brothers ensemble cast (including Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, Eddie Albert, Louise Beavers, Olin Howland, Jane Bryan, Henry O'Neill, William Tracy, and Johnny "Scat" Davis) can only do so much with these jackbooted animal house antics. It is striking, however, to observe the American officer class at play (and on penalty tours) during the final days of the country's irrelevance as a global military power. In line with the buffoonish expectations set by Sergeant Murphy (along with othe

*** Fair Warning - the first 29 minutes of this episode are devoted to a rather lengthy discussion re: whether Toronto really is the worst city in the world, or just another typically terrible blight on the late capitalist landscape. Feel free to skip ahead - although, if you do, you'll miss out on the ballad of whining Beaches resident Viola Bracegirdle.*** Conventional wisdom may hold that Reagan's political career began with his sociopathic campaign encomium to Presidential-Not-Too-Hopeful Barry Goldwater in 1964, but true Gipperistas know that the Great Communicator's first speech of note came 12 years earlier, in the closing moments of She's Working Her Way Through College. On that august occasion, RR (playing deep-thinking Lit Professor John Palmer) raised his voice in favour of accessible higher education for all and against society's prurient micromanagement of women's bodies. If only Prof. Palmer had run for office in 1980. Directed by Bruce "Lucky" Humberstone and co-starring (well, actually, starri

We've got a bona fide Foy Unit gem for you this week on the podcast - courtesy of screenwriter Crane Wilbur, director William C. McGann, and a personality-studded cast which includes studio up-and-comer Jane Bryan, show fave Sheila Bromley, Sig Ruman in The Wedding Night  demon patriarch-mode, lovable contract players Elisabeth Risdon, Dorothy Peterson, and Henry O'Neil - plus wildcards Susan Hayward & Esther Dale. Girls on Probation is an archetypal late-30s Warner Brothers programmer, a tale of sinners and saints in the hands of an angry class system - with nothing but the emerging New Deal agencies to keep our protagonist out of the flames.     It's not all progressivism and light, though - not by a long shot. For one thing, there's something awfully wrong with the film's condemnatory attitude towards Hilda Engstrom's matriarchal family - an observation which affords the panel an opportunity to heap opprobrium upon Philip Wylie and his mid-20th century Jordan Peterson-style stunts. Other topics include

This week, we find the Gipper playing presidentially-monikered baseball star Grover Cleveland Alexander in The Winning Team. Reagan's Warner Brothers swan song was produced and directed by his old comrades from the B-unit trenches (Bryan Foy and Lewis Seiler, respectively), and pairs him with new studio world-beater Doris Day (#7 box office star in the country that year - and rising). The resulting film treads a fascinating line between inspirational sports/disability narrative and post-war "New Domesticity" woman's picture (with songs!). The winning team, you see, isn't the St. Louis Cardinals - it's Grover and Aimee (as long as she agrees to dream in his direction). It's not all Randian achievement and adulation, however - Reagan channels some real Kings Row style pathos in his portrayal of the beleaguered big leaguer - even winding up on the cusp of Nightmare Alley ignominy at his nadir - and it's up to Doris to reclaim him from oblivion.    Things get a bit "inside baseball" as Dave gives in to his lifelo

We conclude our acclaimed "Ronald-Reagan-appears-for-two-minutes-as-a-radio-announcer" series with Boy Meets Girl (1938), a Hollywood satire/"crazy comedy" adapted from the smash Sam and Bella Spewack play. Directed by Warner comedy ace Lloyd Bacon, the film certainly has its charms, but James Cagney and Pat O'Brien are playing roles originally intended for Olsen and Johnson - 'nuff said. The star duo's destabilizing antics are cribbed from the career-limiting capers of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, opening up a fertile discussion of Hollywood labour practices during the second half of the Great Depression. We also get to spend a little more time with Dick Foran in a parody cowboy role (this time, a highly paid one) and meet the magnificent Marie Wilson (Judy Holliday avant la lettre). Don't forget Ralph Bellamy! He's in the mix too, as a line producer with delusions of intellectual sensibility.    Among the other topics of discussion on offer: Gene Autry's Cowboy Code, the PATSY Animal Actor Awards, the C

Tropic Zone may not be much of a film, but it proved to be a hell of a conversation piece for your Bonzo panelists! We delve into the afterlife of the WW2-era "Good Neighbor Policy", the sadly stunted career of co-star Estrelita Rodriguez, the relationship of this 1950s A-minus Pine-Thomas production to Warner Brothers' Cagney-Sheridan-O'Brien extravaganza Torrid Zone (1940), and, above all, the economic Imaginarium of American corporate and paramilitary meddling in the affairs of Central and South American countries during the 20th century. Tropic Zone presents its banana-based battles in strangely depoliticized and context-free terms - so depoliticized and context-free, in fact, that Romy, Gareth, and Dave could not agree at all on any of the stakes of the various conflicts depicted and referred to in the film. Was Ronald Reagan dislodged from his initial two-term Presidency of Bananas by leftist guerrillas or CIA backed death squads? And how about the film's central struggle against the evil Lukats? Is thi

If Wyoming Steve Gibson didn't exist, those darned culture industry stupidity profiteers would've had to invent him. What's that? He doesn't exist? Hot damn! The Gipper takes a back saddle to Dick Powell once again in 1938's COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN, a film that (as contemporaries were quick to observe) did absolutely nothing for any of the talented people involved in its creation.    An elaboration of the (white) cultural appropriation narrative popularized by earlier Powell vehicles like BROADWAY GONDOLIER, this lower-drawer Lloyd Bacon musical comedy does derive a bit of satiric energy from Warner Brothers' obvious contempt for all things rural and countrified, but the film's central conceit (that people will put up with - and possibly even laugh at - 90 minutes' worth of Dick Powell running screaming from squirrels and barnyard fowl) is so catastrophically misguided that most viewers will have fallen off this irritating bull long before its Gender Panic Rodeo finale.    Can a movie with Priscilla Lane, Ann Sh

In yet another cinematic variation on the Earp legend, some John McCain-Republican types enlist the Gipper to clamp down on the wrong kind of vice and chicanery in Cottonwood, Arizona. Reagan is aided in his quest by a pair of blond brothers (Alex Nicol and Gilligan's Island's Russell Johnson) - one of whom gets himself involved in a rather tiresome romance with destined-to-fail bombshell Ruth Hampton. The film boasts an extremely tense lynching scene, good chemistry between its protagonist and co-star Dorothy Malone, and a refreshingly nihilistic take on the hoary "civilizationist" tropes of the genre. If only Dutch's authoritarian musings had been this world-weary on the campaign trail!    Bonus: Romy and Gareth go through the entire list of American Presidents (to date) in search of "Big Dick Energy".       Now is a time for choosing. Choose RED TIME FOR BONZO! Follow us at: Facebook Follow Romy on Twitter at @rahrahtempleton Follow Gareth on Twitter at @helenreddymades Follow David on Twitter at @milesco