Altmania

Love at Large (1990)

Live at Largo, it's LOVE AT LARGE. The Alan Rudolph movie that feels vaguely like Trouble in Mind, transplanted to a 1990s Portland, with an added hitchcock-ian "wrong man" story, that is also a screwball comedy, and Tom Berenger talks like Beetlejuice, and there's a cameo even more insane than Divine in TiM. So what did we think of it? Well, perhaps one of us was more into it than the other, but the only way to truly unlock that secret, you gotta listen to the dang episode you nonce! I'm not gonna spoil the episode right here, what are you crazy?Follow Altmania:LinktreeRead Este's New Short!Altman / Rudolph ArchiveSupport us on Patreon:patreon.com/altmania

The Moderns (1988)

From all the times we say "postmodern" on the show, we finally get to POST Moderns, Alan Rudolph's THE MODERNS, from 1988. The Altmania boys are together at last, recording in the same room, and now have to make eye contact with each other. Scary stuff. We manage to get through it as we talk about Este's trip up to Seattle, Scarecrow video, eating Doritos, watching this movie together + the documentary film packaged in the blu ray, art and artifice, recreating myths, Keith Carradine painting, so much awesome stuff to get into with THE MODERNS
 
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Made in Heaven (1987) w/ Jason Miller

From podcast to GODcast! That’s right, folks, today we’re covering the 2003 Tom Shadyac film BRUCE ALMIGHTY. And this week's guest is a match made in heaven for this show, it's our research comrade and friend-in-Rudolph, Jason Miller! He checks in with us as we cross the halfway mark on our Alan Rudolph series. We see how good of a job we're doing, key players we should keep an eye out for, and we talk about some COOL unproduced works from the director himself. From there, we dive into this fascinating movie, how much fun it has with dream logic, the "heaven movie genre", Rudolph cutting the budget to do more clever effects. Fantastic movie, listen in!Follow Jason Miller:https://x.com/bronco7732Follow Altmania:LinktreeAltman/Rudolph Archivehttps://estebannoel.comSupport us on Patreon:https://patreon.com/altmania

Trouble in Mind (1985) w/ Aaron Casias

We knew this guy was trouble when he walked in, it's Aaron from the Hit Factory Podcast returning to discuss Alan Rudolph's 1985 neo-noir set-in-the-past-but-also-in-the-future, shot right there in beautiful Seattle, it's TROUBLE IN MIND. We get into some overall Rudolph discussion and share some big PTA news, before we jump right in with Keith Carradine in cool suits and funky hair, Divine, the Reagan '80s, prosperity in the US, and Ryan peppers in some fun Seattle facts as we get into the first hometown feature for his half of the show. It's a lot of fun, you do NOT want to miss it, truly.Follow Hit Factory: https://x.com/HitFactoryPodhttps://www.patreon.com/hitfactorypodFollow Altmania:LinktreeEste's WritingAltman / Rudolph ArchivesSupport us on Patreon:https://patreon.com/altmania

Songwriter (1984) w/ Chris Woodward

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be podcasters. It's another edition of Altmania: Friends of Bob, continuing right along in our Alan Rudolph series. This time we're joined again by a returning champion, our pal from Podside Picnic, Chris Woodward. We get into this interesting leap in budget for ol' Rudolph, working alongside Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson in a fun little film about what it means to make art in the US of A. What does it mean to be an artist, to get tied up in the financial end of the music biz, and to avoid all those fat gangsters in suits? Well, you'll just have to tune in to find that out now won't you. Y'all come back now, ya hear?Follow Chris Woodward:https://twitter.com/cww_0https://www.patreon.com/PodsidePicnicPodside PicnicEste's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Choose Me (1984) w/ Esmé Holden

Choose me!! That's what this episode is telling you in your feed right now, press play, press the little button and listen to me!! We're back from a short break, joined by our friend Esmé Holden, a wonderful film writer and cool person all around to discuss Alan Rudolph's biggest independent film CHOOSE ME. We get into the film's many playful depictions genre, artifice, and mood; its many wonderful characters and how they intermingle within the sparse Rudolphian spaces. And unfortunately about halfway through we also learn about the passing of David Lynch, which was a real bummer, and we got it aaaall on tape! Listen in, and enjoy this episode because it's a "good one".Follow Esmé Holden:https://twitter.com/esmesaysshttps://letterboxd.com/esmepartii/Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973): That Long Black Cloud is Comin’ Downmentioned in the episodeEste's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

UNLOCKED: The Late Show (1977)

We're taking a short break for some personal stuff, but for now, enjoy this unlocked episode from our Patreon feed. If you like what you hear, consider subscribing for just $5/month, and receive 2 monthly bonus episodes----------------------------------------It's our final Lion's Gate production this episode (Remember My Name is this week so that's the other one we're doing lol). This time it's THE LATE SHOW written/directed by ROBERT BENTON - we've got Lily Tomlin and Art Carney as a couple of LA wackos trying to solve a caper. It's a ton of fun; we're really in the chit-chat joke zone on this episode so come join us for some fun talk on Altman's sound technology, edible underwear, Ryan's oven, and perhaps a special sneak peek on something cool that we're gonna be doing soon. It's all here on ALTMANIA PREMIUM.Articles Mentioned:A True Pioneer in Recording Overlapping Dialogue - CinemontageInterview With Robert Altman - Roger EbertThe Late Show - AFI catalog, 1893 - 1993Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff, a biography of the great American director by Patrick McGilliganRobert Benton: Character Determines Action - GreenCine

Endangered Species (1982) w/ Peter Raleigh

Don't have a cow, man - it's another episode of Altmania right on schedule. We're joined by a returning favorite, a writer we both admire, Peter Raleigh! He steps into the pen with us to check out Alan Rudolph's second film with Zalman King (happy Zalmanuary to those that celebrate). It's the horror sci-fi eco-thriller ENDANGERED SPECIES - we get into X-Files talk, Twin Peaks, 1982 horror, cattle mutilations, aliens, the CIA, other government ops, Gary Larson, Cow Tools, Robert Urich being a weird sex freak in the movie. So much to enjoy on this episode, and the movie is pretty cool, too!HERE'S A LINK to a nice version you can watch...  Follow Peter Raleigh:twitter.com/PetreRaleighpeterraleigh.substack.com/Este's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Roadie (1980)

It's time to kick out the mother-loafing jams because we're getting into 2025 with ROADIE. A movie where Meat Loaf plays a redneck macgyver that goes around fixing other band's equipment. Oh and Art Carney eats a bunch of ribs with sauce all over his face. There's other stuff in here too, we talk about late '70s rock, Meat Loaf's music, his abilities as a leading man, and what Alan Rudolph was doing on his first big studio picture. All that and sooo much more on Altmania, the year of Rudolph!!
Este's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

A Conversation with Richard Baskin

We were lucky enough to sit down for an interview with the composer of Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, Welcome to LA, RICHARD BASKIN - who shared stories with us from throughout his career; starting out as a singer-songwriter in LA, meeting Altman and working on all of the music of Nashville, his experiences with Keith Carradine, Ronee Blakely, Gwen Welles, Henry Gibson. This leads up to Buffalo Bill and the Indians, working at the Lion's Gate Production studios, and right into Alan Rudolph's WELCOME TO LA. We discuss being a part of making these two films that are centered around his music, how both directors worked on massively different scales, and we close out on some general conversation on his work, Altman and Rudolph's style of work, etc. 
Thank you so much again to Mr. Baskin for taking some time during the holidays to chat with us, and making our show feel legit, we hope to do more interviews with Altman / Rudolph, even PTA collaborators if we can. This was so much fun and thank you to our listeners who helped us all year and keep the show alive through Patreon or just listening on the main feed! You're all awesome, we hope to have a great 2025. Este's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Remember My Name (1978) w/ Valerie Keaton

It's our final episode of 2024 (special bonus episode next week) and we're ending it on Rudolph's second film under his renewed directorial vision. Joining us this time is Altmania third timer Valerie, who helps us examine this film following Geraldine Chaplin as an ex-con putting her life and image back together, while secretly tormenting Anthony Perkins’ suburban life - perhaps theres more at play? So much to get into this episode, and we were all very excited for this one, hope you all enjoy it.
Follow Valerie:twitter.com/StealingValeriestealingvalerie.bsky.socialEste's writing:https://estebannoel.com/Follow Altmania:PatreonLinktreeAltman / Rudolph Archive

Welcome to LA (1976)

This is like our third intro episode in the Rudolph series, but this time we're really getting started. It's his first big swing, setting the precedent for a unique vision of his own, it's WELCOME TO LA. We go over some stuff on Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, this time focusing on Rudolph's hand in those productions. We talk about Lion's Gate, Rudolph influencing Altman, the responses that this film has. Overall, we give this one a ton of praise for its style, the way it uses the medium of film, conventions of genre, and strange camera spiking throughout to evoke a mood that we've never really seen before - but also have seen throughout the history of film. It's time to lock in because we are in full on Rudolph mode.
Special thank you to Richard Baskin for communicating with us, we don't mention in this episode, but he helped us with some of the music in the edit, you might see something else related to him soon. Special thanks as well to Dan Sallitt, who wrote so much wonderful stuff on Rudolph - and to Jason Miller for being our guide through these films, as well as additional readings.
Este's NEW Website:https://estebannoel.com/
Dan Sallitt's writing:https://sallitt.blogspot.com/2016/08/alan-rudolph-1985.htmlhttps://sallitt.blogspot.com/2022/01/alan-rudolph-only-true-romantic-left-in.html
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