Some Like It Unauthorized

It’s time to talk about Travis Bickle. Paul Schrader, fresh out of film school and freshly divorced, wrote a script about what can happen to the isolated american man, and when paired with the maestro Martin Scorsese, this strange film about our assassination nation became a box office hit and a Best Picture nominee. We talk about the film’s cultural legacy, why it became canonized in the decades afterwards, and what it’s like to revisit such a ubiquitous film. Other topics include: porn theaters, composer Bernard Herrmann’s career, and why Quentin Tarantino takes issue with the film.Next week: The Ascent (1976) by Larisa Shepitko, plus we’ll cover Zach’s 1976 album recommendationsYou can now find us on substackUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

A veteran of WWII and a veteran of film and television by the time the hays code was lifted, Robert Altman only became a director of note in 1970 when he took full advantage of the changing attitudes at the studios, the burgeoning ‘new hollywood’ era, and made the most cynical and degenerate comedy about the US military anyone had yet seen, a surprising s-M*A*S*H hit. Overnight, he had a calling card and a newfound lease on life creatively, and what followed was an industrious career of riskier and riskier swings. The most critically well-remembered today is his country music tableau Nashville, and on this episode we journey down south to discuss the many tricks of the trade that Altman employed to make this sui generis epic hangout film, and how it sums up the cultural hegemony (and violence) of twentieth century America.Next week: Barry Lyndon (1975) by Stanley KubrickYou can now find us on substackUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

Though he was present in the heyday of Cahiers du Cinema, that contrarian film review mag where the biggest names in french new wave would ferment and develop their eclectic taste, Jacques Rivette had a lot more false starts on his way to directing films full time. Rather than endearing himself to wide audiences, he endeared himself to actors, and fostered an improvisational style almost akin to Cassavetes, but frencher. Next to the behemoth Out 1, Céline et Julie vont en bateau stands as his most celebrated work today, a low-budget madcap farce with few analogs in film history. Zach and J Brooks Go Podcasting with a pair of opposite reactions to this french meta fantasy. We discuss the french new wave in its late stages, what sets Rivette’s style apart, and why his films have risen in esteem over the decades. Questions arise of whether art is political or whether it must be approached politically, and if the joke’s on us.Next week: Jeanne Dielman (1975) by Chantal AkermanUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

30-some feature films. 24 plays. 3 tv miniseries. Many drugs, many relationships. Dead at 37. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a chaser (in more ways than one), and remains among that rare class of film artists that turned cinema into a verb, into an ongoing process and processing of the world around him. What’s astounding is that his films, while so specific to postwar german society, have a universal resonance that makes them just as worthwhile today.In talking about his most well-regarded film about the unlikely romance between a moroccan immigrant and an older german woman, Angst essen Seele auf, we untangle the association with Douglas Sirk’s hollywood films, how Fassbinder broke new ground with subjects under-seen in movies, and how immigration and xenophobia remain so fraught in the age of nation-states.Afterwards (56:00), Zach shares 5 albums from 1974 worth listening to.Next week: A Woman Under the Influence (1974) by John Cassavetes UnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Intro music by hetchy

George Lucas’s breakout Best Picture nominated film reanimated a time barely a decade past, 1962, before a generation of boys went to Vietnam, before rock and roll went psychedelic, and before baby boomer nostalgia was an entire industrial complex. Less melodramatic and more laid back than the teen films of his youth, American Graffiti was exactly realistic enough, misogynist warts and all, to catch fire at the box office and set the template for the teen hangout genre.On this episode, we discuss the film’s strengths and weaknesses with the hindsight of today, the consequences of american car culture post-WWII, and the new hollywood savviness of guys like Lucas and Coppola, and what it means to consciously chase mainstream success.Next week: The Mother and the Whore (1973) by Jean EustacheUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

Early 1971, young upstart director Francis Ford Coppola, who had already founded his own independent production company to sidestep studio meddling and had recently produced George Lucas’s debut feature THX 1138, was weighing the offer to direct the adaptation of Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel, a project that was ostensibly Paramount’s, and particularly the vainglorious Robert Evans’s, baby. It was exactly the for-hire scenario Coppola didn’t want to be in, but good friend Lucas, after his film financially flopped, encouraged Coppola to cash them checks and ensure their future projects. Coppola took the job, and the rest is history.In this discussion, we share perspectives on toxic masculinity and the fandom of the franchise, the origins of the modern mob/crime drama and why this film took the world by storm in ‘72, and what the story says about capitalism and american assimilation.Next week: Spirit of the Beehive (1973) by Víctor EriceUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

EndadaYear! Hosts Zach Domes and J Brooks Young reveal each of their Top Ten Films of 2025, and the 1st ever cumulative Some Like It Unauthorized Top Ten Official Official Best Films of the Year. In a year of aliens and monsters, political radicals and ping pong players, which film will be crowned the totally not arbitrary best of the best? Listen to find out! Or watch on youtube!Additionally, we revise our chronological watchlist of 485 films from cinema’s history by selecting the final 15 films to round off the list at 500. Our project, which has been ongoing for over two years, is for both of us to watch every single film on this list, and upon completion, become Experts in Film History. Listen in to hear what we decide must be watched to better understand the medium of film, whether it’s an unsung cult masterpiece or Wolfgang Peterson’s Das Boot, and hear what each of us, movie draft style, is gonna force the other sibling to watch.1:37 — Top Ten Countdown44:00 — Honorable Mentions55:55 — Movie Draft of the final additions to our History of Film listNext episode: The Godfather (1972) by Francis Ford CoppolaUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

Filmmaking was a mid-life discovery for Sarah Maldoror: she made her first short film at the age of 39, after making waves in Paris as part of a black theater troupe, advocating abroad for african independence and supporting the fight in places like Algeria and Angola, and crucially, studying film in the USSR before assisting on The Battle of Algiers. As she witnessed Gilles Pontecorvo’s film become an international rallying cry for anti-imperialists everywhere, she knew without question that she had to bring the tools of cinema to the fight against portuguese occupiers in Angola, the birthplace of her husband.Her first feature-length film, Sambizanga, began to be shown (outside Angola, where it was banned) before independence was won. 50 years later, it made its first appearance on the Sight and Sound Top 250. And on this episode, we’re excited to discuss how this boldly modern film took us by surprise on first watch, and unpack the ways it stands apart in film history.Next time: Marty Supreme (2025) by Josh SafdieWatch the trailer for our short filmSuggest a film to be added to our Film History watchlistUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

Garbage man John Waters witnessed the explosion of specialty theaters in the 60s that offered all manner of forbidden fruit, from nudie european films to gross-out gore films, and with natural business savvy, he catered to that growing audience with his own ultra out-there amateur films. He made out with a nice profit, but his films really persisted in public consciousness because of their smart satire, and because they felt like a coming out party for a whole community of interesting, self-sustaining freaks. On this episode, we share our two differing reactions to seeing the film for the first time, go deep on the film’s place in history, and celebrate that incredible cast headed by the one and only, Divine.3:33 - Pink Flamingos discussion59:45 - Zach’s 5 albums to check out from 1972Next week: Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) by Werner HerzogWatch the trailer for our short filmSuggest a film to be added to our Film History watchlistUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

As fate would have it, young divorcée Elaine May would move across the country, leaving her baby daughter with her parents, to pursue higher education at one of the only colleges that admitted people without a high school diploma: the University of Chicago. Only there would she befriend Mike Nichols, with whom she would become a nationally known comedic performer, before they quit while they were ahead and forged separate careers. By ‘71, Nichols has already won the Best Director Oscar for The Graduate, and finally, May is here to prove her mettle as a filmmaker. We talk about our favorite moments in the film, and the state of comedy, then and now.We open with some semi-spoilery reactions to the new film Sentimental Value before talking A New Leaf (5:30), and like we did on the first episodes covering ‘69 and ‘70, we close with Zach sharing his top 5 albums to check out from ‘71 (50:22).Next week: The Last Picture Show (1971) by Peter BogdanovichUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

We interrupt your regularly scheduled podcast to hash out our Bugonia feelings - does Yorgos Lanthimos strike a chord with his sci-fi class war extremity, or do these provocations ring hollow? Topics include: Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, Stanley Kubrick and Rian Johnson, and the nature of meaning in the universe.Next week: The Conformist (1970) by Bernardo BertolucciUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

King Hu stood at a crossroads early in his career, just before the release of 1967’s Dragon Inn. He had left Hong Kong and the film industry he had just begun to break into, following his mentor Li Han-Hsiang to Taiwan at a time when there was no taiwanese film industry. To make matters worse, Li’s epic gamble Beauty of Beauties had just flopped, casting the entire future of their independent enterprise into doubt. Against all odds, Dragon Inn was a smash success, and set the template for King’s fantastical high-flying martial arts films to follow. On this episode we discuss his direct follow-up, a film that threatens to bend the genre beyond its breaking point, and we interrogate what works and what doesn’t about one of the most ambitious chinese films to date. 0:00 - J Brooks recaps the 60’s in film3:30 - A Touch of Zen discussion59:12 - Zach shares his top 5 albums to check out from 1970Next week: Wanda (1970) by Barbara LodenUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy

Do yourself a favor, and watch this Toshio Matsumoto film. It’s made by a playful and original filmmaker, whom was almost certainly versed in the work of Godard, Resnais, and every other new wave voice in that moment, but whom brought his own eye and his own inventions to film and made something totally new. It stars strikingly beautiful trans and queer actors that you’d otherwise never see on film, whom perform in daring roles with aplomb, and get to speak for themselves in documentary interludes. And it captures a world in flux, when a booming postwar Japan is seeing young people stand up and rebel against all of society’s traditions. In this episode, we discuss the film’s legacy, the Oedipus myth, and our own experiences navigating gender.Next up: One Battle After Another (2025) by Paul Thomas AndersonUnauthorizedPod.com for more. Hosted by Zachary Domes and J Brooks Young. Music by hetchy