Episode 32: 1962 with Stephen Farber and Michael McClellan
A podcast about the great movie years.
The way we typically go about booking the show is simple: either we get an email about someone with a new film, book, screening series, or podcast to promote, or (and this is the most common case) we message a critic, filmmaker, or similarly film-savvy type we admire who’s made the mistake of following us on social media. Either way, first we get the guest, then we get the year. But this week, we went to the guest because of the year.
That’s not the only breaking of precedent here. We've never attempted a two-guest show before, but we think you'll agree that it was kind of essential, since legendary film critic and historian Stephen Farber and former theatre executive and CARA member Michael McClellan collaborated on a perfect book for our purposes: Cinema ’62: The Greatest Year at the Movies, in which they write all about why 1962 was a peak year for film, with a high standard of quality that has not been equaled since. They join us to make their case, which includes literary adaptations, cult classics, and lots of juicy roles for women.
The resulting conversation was nearly as informative and exhilarating as their book, which you can buy here, and you can use the discount code RCINEMA62 to get free shipping and 30% off. (We’ll also have an excerpt from it for paid subscribers later this week.)
To Kill a Mockingbird is available for digital rental or purchase, but the way to go here is the recent (and excellent) 4K Blu-ray release.
Days of Wine and Roses is also available for digital rental or purchase, and also has a very good Blu-ray (this one from Warner Archive).
Jules and Jim is streaming on the Criterion Channel, HBOMax, and Kanopy, and is also available for digital rental or purchase.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is available for digital rental or purchase.
Lawrence of Arabia is streaming on HBOMax and available for digital rental or purchase, but really, seriously, that 4K disc is a must-have.
And just for fun, here’s Stephen and Michael talking at length about a couple more great movies from 1962:
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 for MUBI movies this week were Satan in High Heels and House on Bare Mountain.
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).