Steven Jay Rubin’s Saturday Night At The Movies

Steve and fellow film historian Avie Hern pick their favorite Kirk Douglas movies, which include "Spartacus," "The Vikings," "Gunfight at the OK Corral" and many more. 

Steve interviews former Carolco president Peter Hoffman whose new book, "Karmic Winds" reveals the stressfulworld of indie studios and how his company ("Rambo," "T-2," "Basic Instinct," "Total Recall") went from the top of the film food chain to bankruptcy.  

Steve focuses on the eclectic and lengthy career of tough guy American actor Richard Widmark who excelled inmilitary dramas ("The Bedford Incident"), noir thrillers ("Kiss of Death"), westerns ("How the West Was Won"). and even made a comedic guest appearance on "I Love Lucy." 

Steve selects some of the best films from actor Robert Mitchum, from war film classics like "The Enemy Below" and "The Longest Day" to westerns like "River of No Return."

Steve interviews Titanic historian and author William Brower, evaluating the three main films of the sinking: "Titanic" (1953), "A Night to Remember" (1958) and James Cameron's "Titanic" (1997).

Steve interviews Mondo Digital founder and horror expert Nathaniel Thompson all about histop 10 horror film favorites of all time. From "The Haunting" to "Hereditary."  

Steve interviews producer Julian Blaustein ("The Day the Earth Stood Still") all about his underrated classic "Khartoum" (1966)

Steve is joined by film historian and filmmaker Steve Mitchell and military technical advisor to film and television Rory Aylward as they celebrate Steven Spielberg's classic World War II film, "Saving Private Ryan" (1998).  

BREAKING PODCAST NEWS – I first discovered the work of director Rod Lurie when I caught his terrific military prison film “The Last Castle, “ which starred Robert Redford and James Gandolfini. I gave it a review on Facebook and he reached out and thanked me, which was very cool.  More recently, he directed the gripping Afghan war film “The Outpost,” which starred Scott Eastwood.  This coming June 26th, Rod teams again with Eastwood in another taut war story – “Lucky Strike” – which follows one determined engineering officer trapped in the midst of the German winter offensive against the allies – inotherwords – the Battle of the Bulge.  I was able to interview Rod all about this film, and he’s the subject of this week’s podcast.

Reaching into the archives for his first book, "Combat Films: American Realism (1945-1970)", Steve interviews author/screenwriter/producer and Army Corps veteran Sy Bartlett, who co-wrote the original novel and screenplay for the World War II classic, "!2 O'Clock HIgh."