Dr. Fleming and Stephen discuss a movie in an entirely different mode from the Man with No Name Trilogy and even High Plains Drifter and beyond: the sympathetic-to-the-Confederacy film The Outlaw Josey Wales.
In this episode Stephen and Dr Fleming agree to disagree on the good, the bad, and the ugly in perhaps Leone’s most celebrated film.
In this episode Dr Fleming comments on the interplay between John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in a Howard Hawks film of a different era.
A singular movie among John Ford’s work, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance showcases the American West and questions narratives about heroes, politics, and America itself.Homework for next episode will be to watch Howard Hawks’ El Dorado.
This next group of Westerns, from the 1960-1990 time period, starts with a perhaps unexpected entry: Akira Kurosawa’s 1961 Yojimbo, a film in dialogue with, and a major influence on, the Western genre.
Where in the world did people get the idea that children have the right to a free education provided by the state?
And poor men South and North. Stephen Heiner goads Dr. Fleming on a country song that is sweeping the nation. Is it the start of populist rebellion or just a whine for the clueless proletariat?
In this Podcast, 18 Minutes, the topic is the Flash Mob Rule that now controls major American cities.
Prof. Trotter discusses the decline of literacy and points to some signs of life in young American minds.
