TFH Presents
The Movies That Made Me
with your hosts Josh Olson & Joe Dante

Roger & Gala Avary
From The Video Archives Podcast, writer/director Roger Avary and writer/producer Gala Avary discuss a few of their favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Taxi Driver (1976)
Star Wars (1977)
Matinee (1993)
Dune (1984)
Terror On A Train a.k.a. Time Bomb (1953)
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Batman (1989)
Yentl (1983)
Nuts (1987)
Spaceballs (1987)
Die Hard (1988)
Top Gun (1986)
Cocksucker Blues (1972)
Mijn nachten met Susan, Olga, Albert, Julie, Piet & Sandra (1975)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Day Of The Dolphin (1973)
Babylon (2022)
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Carrie (1976)
Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995)
Blow Out (1981)
The Matrix (1999)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Killing Zoe (1993)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Tenant (1976)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Bugsy Malone (1976)
Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Rules Of Attraction (2002)
The Sound Of Music (1965)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
Giant (1956)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Babe (1995)
Time Bandits (1981)
The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Yellow Submarine (1968)
Labyrinth (1986)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Minions (2015)
Excalibur (1981)
Beowulf (2007)
Deliverance (1972)
Hope And Glory (1987)
The Exorcist (1973)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
The Exorcist III (1990) – Gala
Zardoz (1974)
The Emerald Forest (1985)
The Fabelmans (2022)
The Pianist (2002)
Altered States (1980)
The Truman Show (1998)
Tron (1982)
Dark City (1998)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Hedwig And The Angry Inch (2001)
Pleasantville (1998)
The Fountain (2006)
Crimes Of Passion (1984)
The Music Lovers (1971)
The Devils (1971)
The Lair Of The White Worm (1988)
Mahler (1974)
Savage Messiah (1972)
Lisztomania (1975)
Tommy (1975)
A Kitten For Hitler (2007)
Let The Right One In (2008)
Rollerball (1975)
Mank (2020)
Valentino (1977)
The Rose (1979)
Whore (1991)
Darby O’Gill And The Little People (1959)
Mary Poppins (1964)
That Darn Cat! (1965)
Bedknobs And Broomsticks (1971)
Old Yeller (1957)
The Love Bug (1968)
The Shaggy D.A. (1976)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)
The Molly Maguires (1970)
Earthquake (1974)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
The Passion Of The Christ (2004)
Jesus Of Nazareth (1977)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
King Of Kings (1961)
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Starstruck (1982)
Fiddler On The Roof (1971)
Irreversible (2002)
Dawn Of The Dead (1978)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (1972)
The Mummy (1932)
Creepshow (1982)
Martin (1978)
Lucky Day (2019)
Paper Moon (1973)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Other Notable Items
Video Archives rental store
Martin Scorsese
Arrow Video
New World Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Jon Peters
The Sandman graphic novel (1989-1996)
Robert De Niro
Michael Powell
The RZA podcast episode
Barbara Streisand
Quentin Tarantino
Blockbuster Video
Pim de la Parra
Cult Epics
Sam Peckinpah’s infamous Playboy interview
Harlan Ellison
Buck Henry
P.J. Soles
James Woods
Mount Carmel High School
The Ramones
Pier Avenue School
Spencer Tracy
Our pals at Movies Unlimited!
Our pals at Storyblocks!
Pacific’s Manhattan Village 6
Stanley Kubrick
Fritz Lang
A Clockwork Orange novel by Anthony Burgess (1962)
The Wanting Seed novel by Anthony Burgess (1962)
King Charles III
Princess Diana
Paul Williams
Alan Parker
Jodie Foster
Sight and Sound
Scott Baio
John Cassisi
Robert Wise
Gene Wilder
Roald Dahl
Salman Rushdie
Uncle Scrooge comics (1952-2020)
How To Read Donald Duck book by
Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart
Scrooge McDuck
Boris Leven
The ASPCA
Ted McCord
René Laloux
Barry Bostwick
All Creatures Great And Small book series by/James Herriot
Alain Goraguer
Roland Topor
Studio Ghibli
Eureka Entertainment
John Boorman
Neil Gaiman
The William Friedkin podcast episode
The Emerald Forest Diary memoir by John Boorman (1985)
Altered States novel by Paddy Chayefsky (1978)
Ken Russell
Harvard Extension School
Ann-Margret
Kathleen Turner
Helen Mirren
David Fincher
Robert Stevenson
Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series (1955-1965)
Walt Disney
Sean Connery
Kieron Moore
Molly Maguires
Peter Ellenshaw
Harrison Ellenshaw
Albert Whitlock
Tim Rice
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Norman Jewison
Neil Young
The Sidney J. Furie podcast episode
Carl Anderson
Jesus Christ Superstar musical (1971)
Chicago musical (1975)
Gillian Armstrong
Franco Zeffirelli
Giallo
Gasper Noé
George A. Romero
Alan Ormsby
Goblin
Tom Savini
John Langley
William Faulkner
Cops TV show (1989- )
Thai Vegan in Santa Monica
Peter Bogdanovich
Alvin Sargent
Polly Platt
Ryan O’Neal
Tatum O’Neal
This list is also available on Movies Unlimited.
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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.