New Podcast! Also, Bandcamp Friday!

Buy some CDs, please

I know you’re not used to hearing from me except on Wednesdays. But there’s a new episode of the Burning Ambulance podcast out this week, the first one in about three months. In it, I talk to film critic and author Walter Chaw about his killer new book, A Walter Hill Film.

Listen here, or on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or wherever else you go to listen to podcasts.

Walter Chaw is a critic I read fairly often at the site Film Freak Central. He writes for lots of other places, too, but that’s where I see his work the most. And a few months ago, I saw that he had a book coming out all about the work of director Walter Hill. I pre-ordered it instantly, and you can get your own from mzs.press.

If you’re not familiar with his name, Walter Hill has directed two dozen movies, including Hard Times, The Driver, The Warriors, Southern Comfort, 48 Hrs., Extreme Prejudice, Streets of Fire, he directed the pilot episode of Deadwood, he wrote at least portions of the first three Alien movies, he’s done a ton of unbelievable work. He’s got a new movie out this year called Dead For A Dollar. Most of his movies are very violent, in an action rather than a horror way, but they’re also a lot more thoughtful and progressive than you might expect them to be. There’s a tremendous amount going on in them in terms of interrogation of masculinity, interrogation of the violence of American culture, interrogation of race and sex and even capitalism, but it’s all couched in these really pulpy, violent, action-packed stories that sometimes start out feeling like morality plays but then go sharply sideways. I might compare him to directors like Sam Fuller or William Friedkin or Michael Mann, maybe even Paul Schrader, all of whose work I love, but his track record is better than any of them. I own more Walter Hill movies on DVD or Blu-Ray than movies by any of those other guys. So the minute I heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. And once I read it, I knew I wanted to talk to the author.

So I did. We had a really great conversation over this past weekend, and that’s what you’re going to hear on this episode. We talk about Walter Hill’s movies in all their aspects, from their politics to his use of music, which is relatively unique in Hollywood, as you’ll learn, and we also talk about the process of writing this book and about some other directors’ work, including Ridley and Tony Scott, Rob Zombie, Sam Fuller, Michael Mann and William Friedkin. It’s a long conversation, but I think you’re really going to enjoy it. 

In other news, today is Bandcamp Friday, the day when the site forgoes its usual fees and passes all monies directly on to artists and labels, and I would really like you to consider buying some of the excellent music BA has released since last year:

• Senyawa’s Alkisah

• Ivo Perelman & Nate Wooley’s Polarity

• Matthew Shipp & Whit Dickey’s Reels

• Graham Haynes & Submerged’s Echolocation

• Breath of Air’s self-titled album

• José Lencastre’s Inner Voices

• Eyes Shut, Ears Open: A Burning Ambulance Compilation with tracks from Burnt Sugar, Melvin Gibbs, Mats Gustafsson, Melissa Aldana, Dead Neanderthals, and many more

You can buy individual titles digitally or on CD, or you can buy a bundle of everything (all six CDs and the digital-only compilation) for just $60 plus shipping. Head to burningambulancemusic.bandcamp.com where you can listen to anything/everything you like, and hopefully you’ll like some of it enough to pay for it.

Thanks as always for your attention. See you Wednesday!