SMC Pod #192: Sunset Boulevard, Chinatown, & movies that capture the real Los Angeles

One of the fascinating ironies about Los Angeles is that it is often movies in heightened genres like noir that best capture what the city really feels like to those born and raised in it (like this podcaster). Movies like Billy Wilder's acidic Hollywood takedown classic Sunset Boulevard and Roman Polanski's & Robert Towne's 70's new cinema classic Chinatown show sides of the city with a denizen's inside baseball knowledge. But there's also a neorealist strain in the films of John Cassavettes, Charles Burnett, and others that shows Los Angeles from a working class and middle class ground level. The way we actually live our life here. And finally, oddly, 60's and 70's B movies like 1977's totally couldn't be made today "The Van" show LA as it is because the moviemakers couldn't afford a budget to dress it up. They just shot what they could and captured LA without any soft lighting or makeup.  Join Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill (a 4th generation Los Angelino) as we discuss some of the known and underground gems that shine a real light on the city we who live here love.