Hot Date with Dan and Vicky

Alan Alda plays George Plimpton in Paper Lion, the 1968 film based on Plimpton's book of the same title. The book and film chronicle his attempt at joining the Detroit Lions during pre-season training for a story in Sports Illustrated. Several real life football players appear as themselves in the film inlcuding Alex Karras (who starred two more times on film with Alda in Springtim

When Francis Ford Coppola hired German auteur Wim Wenders to direct his first American film, little did he suspect the difficulty that film would have getting to screens. The movie was Hammett, a fictionalized account of the mystery writer Dasheill Hammett's second career as a private investigator. In real life, Hammett stuck to penning noirs but in Wenders' film he's enlisted to s

1952's Stolen Face was an early Hammer Films production. The British studio, which would later become synonymous with thrillers and horror films, also churned out it's fair share of melodramas and comedies. This film, about a heartbroken plastic surgeon who physically transforms a prisoner into the woman who jilted him, stars Lizabeth Scott, Paul Henreid, Andre Morell and Mary Mack

Actor Ray Liotta was coming off crtitical acclaim for his star making turn in Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas and was looking for a vehicle that would turn him into a bonafide movie star. For others that path was paved by action movies so Liotta signed on to 1994's No Escape hoping it would catapult him to international acclaim. As the stoic, brooding J. T. Robbins, Liotta was able to

1974's The Tamarind Seed was considered a departure for star Julie Andrews. After a break to raise her family, Andrews was looking for a role that would reintroduce her to audiences in a new light. As the 70's were rife with political and paranoid thrillers, she jumped at the chance to play Judith Farrow - a woman reeling from personal tragedy who gets embroiled in a Cold War bait

1939's horror comedy The Gorilla was meant to be another 20th Century Fox showcase for the talents of The Ritz Brothers - three Newark born and Brooklyn raised brothers snatched from vaudeville by the studio in hopes they would bring Marx Brothers or Three Stooges size audiences. The film, however, was plagued with false starts, lawsuits and bad blood. It's failure effectively ende

A very special episode of the Hot Date Podcast with Dan & Vicky. There's drama, there's tears, there's nausea inducing popcorn. And, oh yeah, a movie to discuss. This time it's 2000's Cornwall shot Saving Grace starring Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson in the charming tale of a woman on the verge of bankruptcy with a plan to save her home by growing weed. But truth be told, the

We've reached another tenth podcast which means Dan and Vicky give you their Top Ten! This time, your hosts are counting down to their favorite top ten creepy performances! Man, woman and children are eligible. Try and guess which actor appears on both lists, which actor has two performances highlighted. What made-for-TV film makes the list!? Have a listen and see if you agree. Sen

Italian horror director Lucio Fulci's 1988 Aenigma seems to have been inspired by films as varied as Carrie and Patrick, with a dash of Argento madness and 80's slasher thrown in for good measure. Shot in Serbia standing in for Boston, the film features make up effects by Guiseppe Ferrante, cinematography from Luigi Ciccarese and a score by Carlo Maria Cordio. Dan and Vicky discuss

Take a trip on decommissioned Streetcar 133 in Luis Bunuel's surreal and sweet 1954 film Illusion Travels By Streetcar (La Ilusión Vaja en Tranvía). When two mechanics learn their favorite streetcar is being taken off the line for good, they take it for one last drunken joyride that turns into an existential examination of life in a big city. The film stars Carlos Navarro and Fer