S2E1 Gateway Drugs feat. Ngaio Bealum w/ The Killing (1956) & Wages of Fear (53)

Cannabis comic and activist Ngaio Bealum joins us for our SEASON TWO PREMIERE, and he's selected two movies that are real gateway drugs to classic cinema. Both films are tense AF depictions of desperate men trying to pull off that one last score. Both movies were also made by domineering filmmakers, so, as Ngaio says, this could have been our asshole director episode. First up, is THE KILLING (1956), a cutting-edge noir from a young Stanley Kubrick making his first Hollywood studio film. Made on a shoestring budget, Kubrick still shows more than mere glimpses of his future promise with overlapping timelines, a camera that appears to move through walls and furniture, and brutal violence that is still shocking today. Backing Kubrick is a noir who's who with Sterling Hayden putting together an intricate racetrack heist, Timothy Carey AKA God Hilliard as a deranged hitman, Elisha Cook, Jr. as the weak link in the chain, and Marie Windsor as Elisha's conniving wife. There's also a hairy wrestler airplane spinning cops! What more can you ask for? How about a bunch of sweaty dudes driving truckloads of nitro across treacherous South American terrain where any bump in the road--and there are loads of bumps--could send them all sky high? Well, that's what we've got in Ngaio's second pick, Henri-Georges Clouzot's THE WAGES OF FEAR from 1953. This movie is more of a gateway drug to French cinema than classic film as a whole, but the last hour or so of it is a real white-knuckler so you'll really want to heed the weed recommendations for this one to get you through all that suspense. "Don't smoke a sativa with this one," Ngaio warns. The Killing is streaming for free with ads on Pluto The Wages of Fear is streaming on HBOMax, Criterion Channel & Kanopy You can follow Ngaio on Twitter and Instagram at @ngaio420. We hope to have him back on the show soon. Hosts: Bob Calhoun, Philena Franklin & Greg Franklin Theme song and closing theme: Chaki the Funk Wizard Cory Sklar is on assignment but he will be back for our Psychedelic Kaiju episode in February. The movies will be WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966) & MATANGO (1963). Contact Email: oldmoviesforyoungstoners AT gmail dot com Twitter: OM4YStoners Instagram/Facebook (Meta): oldmoviesforyoungstoners Mastadon: [email protected]