This episode begins our pairing of 80s musicals with the one that affected SO many kids in junior high or high school! If you were in performing arts, this movie spoke to you and your dream of attending a school like this! We are, of course, talking about the 1980 blockbuster "Fame!" Directed masterfully by Alan Parker, the film follows seven students from freshman through senior year at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts: Coco (Irena Cara), Leroy (Gene Anthony Ray), Bruno (Lee Curreri), Lisa (Laura Dean), Montgomery (Paul McCrane), Ralph (Barry Miller), and Doris (Maureen Teefy). Their trials, tribulations, and successes are all chronicled, including the lesson that fame is elusive and fleeting. The film spawned a TV series in the 80s, and was remade in 2009!

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For the 2nd film in our pairing focusing on films by director John Ford, we move ahead to 1946, and the second western he directed! It's off to Tombstone with the Earp brothers, driving cattle across the country to California. After a chance run-in with local cattlemen the Clantons, their cattle is stolen, and one of the Earp brothers killed. Wyatt (Henry Fonda) decides to accept the position of Marshall of Tombstone as a means of seeking justice for his brother James' death. Virgil (Tim Holt) and Morgan (Ward Bond) are at his back, while patriarch Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan) and his sons Ike (Grant Withers) and Billy (John Ireland) circle. Add to the mix the town's resident gambler Doc John Holiday (Victor Mature) and the two women vying for his attention, Chihuahua (Linda Darnell) and Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs), and you have the full cast. It's an absolutely beautifully-shot film, and features (according to Ford, anyway) the most authentic version of the shoot-out at the OK Corral that's ever been put on film! Plus, the trio announce what two early-80s musicals will be the focus of their next pairing!

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Director John Ford is the focus of our pairing for the next two episodes! And we begin with the film that brought the Western into the realm of feature films (as opposed to shorts or B-pictures) with the epic tale of class conflict and clashing character that is 1939's "Stagecoach!" Directed by Ford and starring Clair Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell (who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Doc Josiah Boone in this film), Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, and the first feature appearance of one Mr. John Wayne, this film follows a stagecoach as it travels from Tonto in the Arizona Territory to Lordsburg, New Mexico. With a driver and a Marshall riding shotgun, the passengers of varying social classes cope with threats and setbacks from several sources as they attempt to survive passing through Apache country while Geronimo is reportedly on the warpath! This is the film that created many of the tropes that would become staples for the Western film genre!

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The second film in our look at what happens after the aliens arrive on earth takes a much more socially-realistic view and draws its inspiration from South Africa's apartheid in 2009's "District 9!" Directed by Neill Blomkamp and written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, the film is presented partically in documentary style, and focuses on Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a mid-level beaurocrat who is chosen to lead the "re-settlement" efforts of the South African government in dealing with the alien species, nicknamed "prawns," who arrived 30 years ago. The film does not sugarcoat the inherent hypocrisy of the government's approach to re-homing the aliens, nor does it shy away from public attitude towards the prawns or how badly they're treated by... well... everyone. This film is a much starker look at how we would likely treat such new residents of our planet, and features an absolutely amazing performance by Copley, who must be credited, at least in part, for the film's four Academy Award nominations! And finally, the trio reveal which two classic westerns will make up their next pairing!

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