Following the rushed production of Crazy Mama, Jonathan Demme was finally able to put together a passion project. After putting together the pieces of different revenge films of the era, combined with real life influence ripped from the headlines, and a little help from Roger Corman; he brings his first big production... FIGHTING MAD. We look at Demme's final project of the Corman Film School, read some old Peter Fonda tweets, how Crazy Mama's failure nearly doomed this movie, and talk about more Barbecue Sauce Cinema. All of that, and so much more... on ALTMANIA!
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2:17:04
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2:17:04
Crazy Mama (1975) w/ Gigi
We're hitting the road with our good friend and three-timer guest Girl (@summeroffilm), to check out Jonathan Demme's 1975 film CRAZY MAMA. We see Demme find himself in a bit of an Alan Rudolph situation, wanting to get FIGHTING MAD made - but he has to do ol' Roger Corman a favor - direct a movie with a bad script that the cast hates, and he's gotta do it quickly. With the help of Cloris Leachman and crew, they fix the script and transform the film into a strange, '50s Americana, vibey hangout with undercurrents of colonialism, the cold war, and protestantism. All of that and so much more on.... CRAZY MAMA. Stay tuned after the show for a new song from RYAN, too...
Gigi's Plugs:
Pacino Pod
Mimi Zima
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Jonathan Demme Compendium
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1:58:59
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1:58:59
Caged Heat! (1974)
We're finally here, Demme's big moment to direct his first film - and he comes out of the gate swinging. We're talking about 1974's CAGED HEAT! We discuss this film's place in exploitation cinema, within the genre of "women in prison" films, their history as a genre, and in the context of the American Prison Complex both in the 1970s and today. We touch on current issues in US prisons, how they seek not to rehabilitate but to punish anyone within the system, before we talk about this film's production. We really flex our Demme muscles here by seamlessly shifting from very serious subjects to having a good time, and we thought we did a good job on this one! So we hope you like it.
Articles mentioned:
Appendix: Psychosurgery | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Are Prisons Obsolete? | Angela Y. Davis
Feminist Filmmaking Peaked with Women-In-Prison Exploitation Films | Nicole Stunwyck
Golden Gulag | Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Inside Women's Prisons | Virginia Kellogg
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie, 2025 | Prison Policy Initiative
There's No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme | David M. Stewart
Torture and Abuse of Prisoners | Amnesty International
Women in Prison Movies as Feminist Jurisprudence | Suzanne Bouclin
Women, Film, and Law | Suzanne Bouclin
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Demme Compendium
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2:17:02
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2:17:02
Black Mama, White Mama (1973)
If you're thinking about my MAMA, it don't matter if she's black or white, ooh! In this case, we get the best of both worlds when Altmania returns to close out our final Demme / Viola screenplay collaboration, and one final another production from the Philippines. This time around, Jonathan Demme gets a story by credit, and his buddy Joe uses a pseudonym for the screenwriter. Originally called WOMEN IN CHAINS, we take a look at BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA; a movie that is full of a lot of funny moments and is pretty tame by exploitation standards of the time. We get into Pam Grier's incredible stories of her life and acting career, that combined with exploitation genre stuff, women's empowerment, the radical attitudes of blaxploitation, Roger Corman buying up Ingmar Bergman films that get huge in the United States, Demme selling this script for $500, we gush over Sid Haig's great acting, and then we talk about this fun ass movie! Sound good???
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The World of Robert Altman | Esteban Noel
**NEW!!!** Demme Compendium
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1:49:18
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1:49:18
The Hot Box (1972)
A fresh, piping hot episode of Altmania straight out of the Hot Box. We're looking at another Jonathan Demme-penned, Joe Viola-directed film from New World Pictures - 1972's THE HOT BOX. We discuss Corman's core (no pun intended) mission for filmmaking: boobs and action. The ways he allowed filmmakers to imbue exploitation films with serious, real-life stuff while attempting to gel it with that entertainment factor. We chat about the New World crew heading out to the Philippines for a bunch of productions (another of which we'll talk about next week), throwing stones at rats, corrupt governments, guns on planes. Then we talk about this funny little film, its sometimes tonal imabalances; and ultimately how, more often than not, it tends to speak on the right side of history and about violence against imperial oppression - thanks in part to Jonathan Demme at the typewriter.
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The World of Robert Altman | Esteban Noel
**NEW!!!** Demme Compendium
Support us on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/altmania
Ryan and Esteban explore the works of director Robert Altman, examining the context of his films, how they speak to the current moment, and look at his wider circle of proteges and influences. Currently covering the films of Jonathan Demme.