
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
Sam Ludwig and Elena Gibson
Kael Your Idols is a film discussion podcast focused on the "New Hollywood" era of American cinema. From the glamorized hippies and paranoid anti-heroes of the 60s and 70s, to the merchandise-driven blockbusters of the early 80s, join hosts Alana Gibson and Sam Ludwig as they dive into this wild period in studio filmmaking!
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Top 10 Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Magic Hour Meditations: Days of Heaven (1978)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
11/19/23 • 64 min
Love! Betrayal! Sunsets! That’s right - Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven gets the Kael Your Idols treatment this week. A Texas farm sets the scene for this unusual love triangle unfolding amidst some very loopy voice-over narration. This deeply mysterious film attempts to uncover the hidden beauty and ulterior meaning behind life, nature, and the joys of farm work, all in typically beautiful Malick style. Topics include: Richard Gere’s hotness, the film’s class commentary, and the perils of being a child actor with a Very Specific vibe.

Satan Goes Mainstream: The Exorcist (1973) and The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
10/13/23 • 153 min
When we found out that the 70s classic The Exorcist was to be the latest victim in Hollywood’s obsession with Legacy Sequels, a terrifying truth became all too clear: we would have to cover BOTH films on the podcast. This week your hosts braved the original William Friedkin film; widely considered to be a genre-defining work that changed the future of cinema, and the newly released The Exorcist: Believer by David Gordon Green which...is...also a movie! Topics include: the two films' respective views on religion, William Friedkin’s questionable tactics as director, and Ellen Burstyn’s iconic haircut.

The Greatest Depression: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
03/23/24 • 90 min
Destiny’s dance continues! This week the hosts go around and around in their conversation on Sydney Pollack’s 1969 ode to the hopelessness of human existence (under capitalism)! This 1930s era Jane Fonda vehicle proves to be delightful fodder for Alana and Sam to morbidly contemplate its grim vision of fate. And speaking of grim fates: the film also co-stars Gig Young...Yeesh! Topics include: the birth of existentialism, tracking shots in Gilmore Girls, and Red Buttons.

Conspiracy Buddies: All the President’s Men (1976)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
03/03/24 • 133 min
It’s Watergate time on Kael Your Idols! Sorry to jump right in to it but we didn’t want to bury the lede. In this episode the hosts get drawn into a web of lies and cover-ups as they discuss the 1976 classic “All The President’s Men”. This tale of the greatest newspaper caper ever provides the perfect launching off point for discussing a plethora of New Hollywood character actors and themes. You can’t possibly imagine how high up this goes. Topics include: ‘Mark Twain Tonight’, impressing your boss, and paranoia.

Book Report: Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
08/04/24 • 99 min
Put on your spectacles, nerds! We’re talking some long-form PROSE in this episode. Our subject today is Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. That’s right, not a MOVIE like we typically feature on this podcast, but a BOOK instead. We aim to give you a tour through the thrilling yet crass world Biskind maps out in this book and also take time check in with ourselves as to our general impressions of the Movie Brats. Topics include: Bogdanovich vs. Platt, Coppola’s megalomania, and crocodile tears for a dead pig.

Ah, Theatre! - The Iceman Cometh (1973)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
11/04/24 • 146 min
Join us in celebrating Sam’s birthday with this special episode on the John Frankenheimer film version of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Iceman Cometh. The hosts dig in to the unusual experiment in cinematic stage plays that birthed this project. You might think a four-hour-long play about alcoholism and despair sounds like a weird birthday present to give oneself but this discussion actually turned out to be rather charming and fun. Happy Birthday Sam! Topics include: Jason Robards vs. Lee Marvin, 1950s television, and Alana’s thoughts on Jack Lemmon.

A Step Forward: The Boys in the Band (1970)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
04/19/25 • 87 min
Sing Hallelujah, come on get happy! Please, we implore you: get happy already! For this episode we train our gaze at William Friedkin’s minor masterpiece, The Boys in the Band. Although it is a landmark film in queer cinema, Boys has by now acquired a rather tricky reputation and we dig right into that. We laugh and cry along with these characters as they navigate the vagaries of identity and performative friendship. Topics include: comparisons to the Netflix version, Leonard Frey’s stunning performance, and Friedkin’s relationship to masculinity.

Mother Days: Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
12/08/24 • 81 min
What? What are your problems with this episode huh? Go ahead and take a piece of paper and write them all down. Go ahead! Tell us what’s wrong! Well?? Why aren’t you writing?? Look, I promise you we WILL discuss the 1974 Ellen Burstyn vehicle Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. We WILL litigate Scorsese’s overactive camera. And we WILL describe the episode we watched of the sitcom Alice with guest star Art Carney. Topics include: “realism”, “feminism”, and Kris Kristofferson AKA Big Daddy Santa Claus.

Cowboy Colonialist: The Last Movie (1971)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
03/01/25 • 109 min
In this episode we delve into one of the signature commercial and critical flops of New Hollywood: Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie. This gorgeous yet impenetrable film was a crucial turning point bridging the early hippie-influenced films of the late 60s with the more cynical and popular mainstream cinema that came to define the 1970s. We are joined by Stephen Lee Naish, author of two different books discussing this week’s subject - Create or Die: Essays on the Films of Dennis Hopper, and Music and Sound in the Films of Dennis Hopper. So enjoy listening to someone actually qualified to talk about this stuff for a change! Topics include: American New Wave vs. New Hollywood, Jorge Luis Borges, and Charles Manson.

Anti-Protagonist: Wanda (1970)
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast
02/10/24 • 156 min
This week on the ol’ podcast: Barbara Loden’s massively under-seen film Wanda (1970). We held this conversation a few months ago in the wake of the film placing 49th on the most recent Sight and Sound poll. Is this reputation warranted? Has the movie gone too quickly from being something no one ever heard of to supposedly being considered one of the greatest films of all time? Join Alana and Sam for a rough, run and gun discussion of this recently rediscovered 70s masterpiece. Topics include: Company: A Cast Album, female anti-heroes, and the S.T.I.G.M.A. Manifesto.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast have?
Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast currently has 42 episodes available.
What topics does Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast cover?
The podcast is about Film History, Film, Film Theory, Podcasts, Tv & Film and Film Reviews.
What is the most popular episode on Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast?
The episode title 'Director Spotlight: Three from Hal Ashby' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast?
The average episode length on Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast is 105 minutes.
How often are episodes of Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast released?
Episodes of Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast are typically released every 15 days, 11 hours.
When was the first episode of Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast?
The first episode of Kael Your Idols: A New Hollywood Podcast was released on May 21, 2023.
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