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You Must Remember This

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Karina Longworth

You Must Remember This is a storytelling podcast exploring the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century. It’s the brainchild and passion project of Karina Longworth (founder of Cinematical.com, former film critic for LA Weekly), who writes, narrates, records and edits each episode. It is a heavily-researched work of creative nonfiction: navigating through conflicting reports, mythology, and institutionalized spin, Karina tries to sort out what really happened behind the films, stars and scandals of the 20th century.

#235

The Hard Hollywood Life of Kim Novak — 10th anniversary restoration

The first episode of You Must Remember This tells the story of actress Kim Novak -- a top box office draw of the late 1950s and the iconic star of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo -- and her painful struggles to assert herself from the mid-20th century through well into the 21st, in a Hollywood that repeatedly sent her the message that she was only valuable for the way she looked, while also insisting that she didn’t quite look good enough. Originally released in April 2014, this episode has been “lost” for almost as long due to copyright issues with its soundtrack. Today, in honor of the podcast’s ten year anniversary, we’re rereleasing this episode with new music, largely re-recorded voiceover, and just enough of the original episode intact so you can hear how far the show has come over the course of a decade. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

02 Apr 2024

43 MINS

43:58

02 Apr 2024

#234

Introducing: Talking Pictures from TCM and Max

Our first guest on Talking Pictures is writer director Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated, The Holiday). Recorded at her home, host Ben Mankiewicz talks with Meyers about casting Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, getting script advice from Sunset Boulevard director Billy Wilder, and they discuss what it’s like to become famous for her interiors. Spoiler: it’s frustrating! Nancy Meyers also answers our Super 8 questionnaire and reveals which film had her running from the theater in absolute terror. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

16 Jan 2024

49 MINS

49:40

16 Jan 2024

#233

Eyes Wide Shut, Part 2, and the Sexiest Man Alive in 1999 (Erotic 90s, Part 21)

In part 2 of the Eyes Wide Shut story, the movie is finally unveiled, and critics are divided on its quality, and the use of digital effects to evade an NC-17 rating. Where could Hollywood eroticism go from here? We’ll wrap up the Erotic 90s story with some thoughts on Richard Gere’s two-decade journey from American Gigolo to becoming PEOPLE Magazine’s 1999 “Sexiest Man Alive,” and other ways in which time and politics combined to make that which was once transgressive harmlessly mainstream. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

24 Oct 2023

1 HR 30 MINS

1:30:10

24 Oct 2023

#232

Eyes Wide Shut, Part 1 (Erotic 90’s, Part 20)

At the peak of their careers, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman left Hollywood for two years to collaborate with legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick on an erotic drama that the media speculated would pull back the curtain on maybe the most fascinating famous couple in the world. Though the meta element can’t be ignored, what Eyes Wide Shut actually ended up being is much more interesting. It’s a culmination of every theme and trope we’ve discussed across Erotic 80s and 90s, and the last film of the twentieth century headlined by American superstars to question the moral rot of the rich and powerful. In part 1 of the Eyes Wide Shut story, we’ll analyze the film and the media frenzy over the mystery of its making. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

17 Oct 2023

1 HR 28 MINS

1:28:50

17 Oct 2023

#231

90s Lolitas Volume 3: Wild Things, Cruel Intentions and Britney Spears (Erotic 90’s, Part 19)

If Adrian Lyne’s Lolita became a case study of what Hollywood and America didn’t want to acknowledge about its sexualization of young girls, as the 90s came to a close the culture was full of “acceptable” depictions of teens in heat. Two hit films from 1998 and 1999, Wild Things and Cruel Intentions, adapted classic templates of adult sexual manipulation to turn teen girls into femme fatales (probably not coincidentally, both featured actresses, Neve Campbell and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who were famous for playing high school students on TV). Also no coincidence: these films entered the culture simultaneous to the debut of 17 year-old Britney Spears, whose videos and persona centered her status as “not a girl, not yet a woman.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

10 Oct 2023

1 HR 15 MINS

1:15:08

10 Oct 2023

#230

90’s Lolitas Volume 2: Adrian Lyne’s Lolita (Erotic 90’s, Part 18)

In the previous decade, Adrian Lyne had made two movies (Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal) that had grossed over $100 million in the US alone. With carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, he made an adaptation of the Nabokov novel about a 40-year-old pedophile’s obsession with his adolescent step-daughter – and no distributor wanted to release it. In a decade rife with the commodification and sexualization of young teens (see our previous episode on Drew Barrymore), what lines did Lyne’s Lolita cross? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

03 Oct 2023

1 HR 15 MINS

1:15:49

03 Oct 2023

#229

The Lynch Family: Boxing Helena & Lost Highway (Erotic 90’s, Part 17)

One of the most notorious – and least seen – erotic narrative films of the 90s, Boxing Helena was the misbegotten passion project of Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David Lynch. Four years after Boxing Helena, the elder Lynch released one of his most controversial films, Lost Highway, which tackles similar themes as Boxing Helena, including male sexual fragility and the “Madonna-Whore” complex. Today we’ll talk about how Boxing Helena became bigger as a punchline than a movie, and we’ll trace David Lynch’s career as a provocateur to try to explain why his excavation of the dark, sexual core of Americana was celebrated when he made Blue Velvet, and pilloried a dozen years later when he made Lost Highway. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

26 Sep 2023

1 HR 22 MINS

1:22:44

26 Sep 2023

#228

Crash and David Cronenberg (Erotic 90’s, Part 16)

One of the only high-profile NC-17 releases post-Showgirls, David Cronenberg’s Crash was the kind of dark adult art film that the rating was supposedly created to support. We’ll talk about how Crash fits into Cronenberg’s filmography, why it was controversial when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996 and when it was released in the US in 1997, how it played into the UK general election of 1997, how it functioned as an early warning against charismatic billionaires, and how it embodied a post-Prozac and pre-Viagara moment. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

19 Sep 2023

1 HR 27 MINS

1:27:40

19 Sep 2023

#227

“Lesbian Chic”: Bound and Anne Heche in Wild Side (Erotic 90’s, Part 15)

At the beginning of the 90s, lesbians were a punchline for a male-gaze-oriented media, an easy target for expressing the anxiety that women might not need men after all. By the middle of the decade, women-loving-women had become the heroes of a number of neo-noir crime films, but the culture at large still rejected lesbianism when not intended to arouse men. While The Matrix has widely been reappraised as a trans allegory after the transitions of its directors the Wachowski sisters, their previous feature Bound was transparently queer, but its reception was complicated by the media’s perception of its makers. Bound was released just a few months after the burial of an extremely similar film called Wild Side. Barely seen on its initial release amidst studio recutting and the suicide of its director, today Wild Side plays as a heartbreaking and troubling example of what could have been for its star Anne Heche, who would soon after become one-half of the most famous lesbian couple in Hollywood – and suffer the career consequences. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

12 Sep 2023

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:32

12 Sep 2023

#226

Introducing: Glitter & Might

In Glitter & Might, a new series exploring the intersection of show business and politics, bestselling author Shawn Levy unpacks the story of Lew Wasserman, the shadowy legend who lorded over Hollywood for half a century. He was a feared deal-maker, credited with breaking the impasse that ended the 1960 actors’ and writers’ strike. Wasserman oversaw seismic innovations in the entertainment business, but none as impressive as the way he connected it to Washington. Every president from Kennedy to Clinton took his calls. And he was as comfortable dealing with gangsters as with politicians. Through original research and interviews with Wasserman's associates and the journalists who observed him, we learn how this mystery man definitively ruled many worlds. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

25 Aug 2023

03 MINS

03:35

25 Aug 2023

#225

Showgirls, Jade, and the fall of Joe Eszterhas. (Erotic 90’s, Part 14)

Joe Eszterhas’s tenure as the hottest screenwriter in town ended with two notorious 1995 flops: the NC-17 rated Showgirls (directed, like Basic Instinct, by Paul Verhoeven) and Jade (produced, like Sliver, by Robert Evans), We’ll analyze why these films failed to connect with audiences in 1995, and, more importantly, why the media at the time seized on them as major embarrassments for the industry. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

27 Jun 2023

1 HR 36 MINS

1:36:59

27 Jun 2023

#224

The Last Seduction, Disclosure, & Fear of the Female Boss (Erotic 90’s, Part 13)

The 90s were obsessed with what magazine writer Tad Friend would describe as “do me feminism” – and the attendant fear that men could be victims of female sexual aggression. Two films from 1994 married these anxieties to the still-lingering bugaboo of the 80s, the powerful career woman. But though the female stars of The Last Seduction and Disclosure (Linda Fiorentino and Demi Moore) were styled almost identically, the films had very different points of view on the panic over female power. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

20 Jun 2023

1 HR 16 MINS

1:16:18

20 Jun 2023

#223

Sliver and Sharon Stone as Superstar (Erotic 90’s, Part 12)

Sharon Stone and Joe Eszterhas’s post-Basic Instinct reunion film was one of the most troubled productions of the 90s. A post-Hitchcock tale of sexual surveillance given a technological update for the 90s, after a long battle with the MPAA the sanitized, R-rated version of Sliver was rejected by critics and audiences, but the movie and the juicy gossip leaked from its production (which included a love pentagon involving both actress and screenwriter) only enhanced Sharon Stone’s aura as an old-school Hollywood star for a decade that didn’t know what to do with her. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

13 Jun 2023

1 HR 21 MINS

1:21:42

13 Jun 2023

#222

Indecent Proposal (Erotic 90’s, Part 11)

Are men okay? Several films from 1993 answered that question with a resounding no. One of the highest grossing movies of its year, Adrian Lyne’s Indecent Proposal was misunderstood as a gimmick, and its insight into toxic masculinity and male sexual insecurity got lost in a media frenzy, much of it sparked by feminists. What had changed since Lyne’s Fatal Attraction, in Hollywood and in the culture? We’ll also talk about Proposal star Demi Moore as the controversial “diva” of the moment. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

06 Jun 2023

1 HR 31 MINS

1:31:17

06 Jun 2023

#221

Sex, Erotica and Body of Evidence (Erotic 90’s, Part 10)

In the early 90s, Madonna was the biggest pop star in the world, and she used – and in the minds of some, squandered – her star capital to launch a multi-media exploration of sexuality: the album Erotica and its companion book Sex, followed by her starring role in the much-maligned erotic thriller Body of Evidence. What was Madonna really trying to do in 1992-1993, how was it perceived and misunderstood at the time, and how does the blowback she experienced then relate to how she is being criticized today? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] (https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices] (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) ... Read more

30 May 2023