Episode 30: 1972 with Judy Becker
A podcast about the great movie years.
We’ve welcomed critics, authors, actors, directors, and on and on—but this week, we welcome our very first production designer, and Judy Becker is one of the greats. Her credits include “Carol,” "I’m Not There,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and “American Hustle,” for which she was nominated for the Academy Award. (She’s also the latest subject of the “Filmcraft” series at the Metrograph here in New York City, beginning on June 3rd. Grab your tickets here.) She picked one of the all-time great years, 1972, and walks us through it with the eye of not only a film lover but a film craftsperson.
The Godfather is, weirdly, only currently available for digital rental or purchase - like, what’s the fucking point of a service like Paramount+, which has an entire-ass scripted series about the making of The Godfather, if it’s not going to also stream The Godfather? Anyway, you should just get the recent(ish) 4K set. If you’re looking for some outside reading, there are obviously entire-ass books (my favorite is Coppola’s own The Godfather Notebook), but I will also note that I wrote a little something about it for The Playlist on its 50th, and contributed to a piece about it over at The New York Times as well.
Fat City is streaming on Fubo (whatever that may be) and DirecTV, and available for digital rental or purchase. This is the Sean Burns piece on the film from Crooked Marquee that which mentioned during the show. Worth a read!
Last Tango in Paris is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, as well as Hoopla and Tubi. You can also rent or buy it from the usual suspects.
The Heartbreak Kid, as we discuss both here and on the forthcoming after-show, is weirdly VERY HARD TO SEE due to rights issues, but here’s the totally acceptable YouTube rip:
And Deliverance is currently available for digital rental or purchase. Here’s a very good piece Anya Stanley wrote about it for Crooked Marquee.
You should follow Judy on Instagram, and you can do that here. As always, if you’d like to log and review these yourself, head on over to our list page on Letterboxd.
And if you somehow haven’t yet subscribed to MUBI, click on over to mubi.com/averygoodyear and you can get a 30-day free membership to try out their curated streaming service. Our recommendations this week of MUBI movies this week were Score and Lake of Dracula.
Oh, and hey, have you upgraded to a paid subscription yet? You can do that right here, and here’s Mike and I telling you what it’ll get you (spoiler: bonus episodes, bonus posts, and our undying love).
-Jason