S6E2. Quid pro quo: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Come and celebrate the four year anniversary of Wake Up Heavy with this Very Special Episode on a film in my Top Ten of All Time list. Chris Stachiw (The Kulturecast) and Mike White (The Projection Booth Podcast) join me to discuss Jonathan Demme's 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs. 

Written by Ted Tally and based on the novel by Thomas Harris, Silence stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, Scott Glenn as Special Agent Jack Crawford, Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and Ted Levine as Jame Gumb, aka Jamie Gumb, aka John Grant, aka Jack Gordon, aka Buffalo Bill. The film follows Starling as she matches wits with Lecter in an attempt to track down a notorious serial killer before he can kill and skin his next victim. The film was a huge financial and critical success and went on to win “The Big Five” categories at the 1992 Academy Awards.

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

S2E1. I'm God's lonely man: Taxi Driver (1976)

Almost three months after the end of Season One Wake Up Heavy is back with our Season Two opener on Martin Scorsese's gritty-seventies-existential-nihilistic masterpiece Taxi Driver. WUH welcomes back Mike White from The Projection Booth podcast for another stimulating discussion.

Powerful in its cinematic style and controversial in its depiction of violence, Paul Schrader's script and Scorsese's frenetic direction imbue the film with a mounting tension that ultimately explodes in a "kill crazy rampage." By the end happenstance turns Travis Bickle, our Avenging Angel, into the "Hero Cabbie."

Robert DeNiro, in a role that has followed him through his career, leads a stellar cast including Cybil Shepherd, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle, and, in one of five movies from 1976, 12 year-old Jodie Foster. Her role as a young prostitute was one of the more controversial aspects of the film, and would in turn inspire John Hinckley, Jr. to try and assassinate President Ronald Reagan.

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page • Roger Ebert's 1976 review • Travis Bickle as incel

WUH: The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

What's in the cellar, Rynn? Where is your father? What does Frank Hallett want? What's the big deal about those jelly jars? Have a listen and get answers to (some of) these questions!

Another quick episode to lead into the season two premiere on Taxi Driver, TLGWLDTL was one of five movies starring Jodie Foster that was made or released in 1976. I caught this one on TV as a young'n and it struck a chord and stuck with me for years. Martin Sheen's never been creepier and Foster once again plays a precocious teen knowledgeable beyond her years.

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page