TFH Presents

The Movies That Made Me

with your hosts Josh Olson & Joe Dante

John Sayles

Season 03 | Episode 16

John Sayles

Writer / Actor / Editor / Director / Author

Our 75th guest! The legendary filmmaker John Sayles joins Josh and Joe to explore some of his favorite movies.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Ulzana’s Raid (1972)
Django (1966)
The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
City Of Hope (1991)
Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)
The Challenge (1982)
Avalanche (1978)
Eight Men Out (1988)
Piranha (1978)
The Howling (1981)
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
The Killers (1964)
The King And I (1956)
Time Without Pity (1957)
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
Ben-Hur (1957)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Two Women (1960)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Spartacus (1960)
Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
Merrill’s Marauders (1962)
Targets (1968)
Touch Of Evil (1958)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Woodstock (1970)
Crime In The Streets (1956)
The Bad Seed (1956)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Fedora (1978) 
Dune (1984)
The Cotton Club (1984)
Choose Me (1984)
Raising Arizona (1987)
El Norte (1983)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Irishman (2019)
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)
The Thing (1982)
Chinatown (1974)
Manhattan (1979)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Goodfellas (1990)
Humanoids Of The Deep (1980)
Cockfighter (1974)
Dynamite Women a.k.a. The Great Texas Dynamite Chase (1976)
Deathsport (1978)
Avatar (2009)
The Tree of Life (2011)
The TV Set (2006)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Pit Stop (1969)
Thunder Road (1958)
When Women Had Tails (1970)

Other Notable Items

Django Lives!, a John Sayles script for a sequel to the original Franco Nero Django
Josh’s excellent audio drama series Bronzille (2017- )
Laurence Fishburne
Roger Corman
Toshiro Mifune
Scott Glenn
John Frankenheimer
Studs Terkel
Edward G. Robinson
Wes Craven
John’s novel Yellow Earth
Robert Forster’s Podcast Episode
Hill Street Blues TV series (1981-1987)
Mr. Magoo
Heckle and Jeckle
Tom and Jerry
Alfred Hitchcock
The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952-1955, 1961-1962)
I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
Johnny Weissmueller’s Tarzan movies
The Dead End Kids
Lee Marvin
Ronald Reagan
Rita Moreno
Tuesday Weld
Sophia Loren
National Legion of Decency
Frankie Laine
Gene Pitney
Elvis Presley
Blaze Starr
Samuel Fuller
Tim Conway
Hemo the Magnificent education film (1957)
Frank Capra
Richard Carlson
Alfred Hitchcock
John Cassavettes
Paul Mazursky
Mark Rydell
Don Siegel
John Huston
Patty McCormack
“How To Write Good” National Lampoon article by Michael O’Donoghue
Harry Crews
Jose Ferrer
David Lynch
Keith Carradine
Rae Dawn Chong
The Coen Brothers
Alan Rudolph
William Wellman
Gregory Peck
Gregory Hines
Bob Hoskins
Fred Gwynne
Mutt and Jeff
John Carpenter
Sonya Polonsky
The Golden State Warriors
The Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James
CBGB
Jack Nicholson
Woody Allen
Martin Scorsese
Joe Pesci
Netflix
James Coburn
Bradford Dillman
James Cameron
Brad Pitt
Amazon Prime
Nielsen ratings
HBO
Barbara Streisand
Laraine Newman Podcast Episodes
Brandon Tartikoff
Shannon’s Deal TV series (1990-1991)
The Fugitive TV series (1963-1967)
TV Guide
The Twilight Zone TV series (1959-1964)
I Spy TV series (1965-1968)
CSI: NY TV series (2004-2013)
Gary Sinise
Perry Mason TV series (1957-1966)
Emergency! TV series (1972-1978)
Jack Webb
Randolph Mantooth
Kevin Tighe
Werner Klemperer
Hogan’s Heroes TV series (1965-1971)
Sergio Leone
Cloris Leachman
Samuel Arkoff
Ellen Burstyn
TFH Guru Jack Hill
Robert Mitchum

This list is also available on Letterboxd.

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About the Podcast

Filmmakers and entertainers discuss the movies that inspired them. Hosted by Oscar nominated screenwriter and TFH Guru Josh Olson and TFH Fearless Leader Joe Dante.

The Movies That Made Me is recorded live in Hollywood and engineered by film composer Don Barrett.

About The Hosts

Josh Olson was the only student in his second grade class to see The House That Dripped Blood. Many years later, he wrote and directed the no-budget horror film, INFESTED, a brutal assault on The Big Chill, with zombies. He went on to write the screenplay for A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and was nominated for the WGA, BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best Screenplay. He kept losing to Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, but that’s okay.

He has written features and TV shows with Harlan Ellison, Walter Hill, Slash, Willie Nelson, and Mick Jagger. His Village Voice essay “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script” became an internet phenomenon, getting upwards of five million hits.

The ten-part audio drama BRONZEVILLE which he wrote, starring Laurence Fishburne, Larenz Tate, Tracee Ellis Ross, Omari Harwicke and Tika Sumpter was a popular and critical hit, and is currently being developed for TV. He and John Brancato (THE GAME) recently wrote and sold the feature spec TRIGGER WARNING, which is being produced by Thunder Road.

Joe Dante is a director known for his satirical blend of horror and comedy viewed through the lens of grounded, relatable American life. his career in film began as a movie critic at age 12. A few years later, he conspired with Jon Davison to produce The Movie Orgy, an experimental exploration of ‘50s pop culture that metamorphosed into a hit phenomenon bringing Dante to college campus showings nationwide.

Soon after, he followed Jon to Hollywood where he edited trailers for producer Roger Corman before co-directing his first feature, Hollywood Boulevard. His first solo film, Piranha, successfully kickstarted his legendary career with titles like The Howling, Gremlins, The ‘Burbs, Innerspace, and more.

Joe’s dedication to preserving the history of cinema and his near encyclopedic knowledge of movies led to the creation of Trailers From Hell, a web series offering viewers a brief history lesson of movies discussed through their respective trailers. 

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