It’s not yet August, but this summer has already smothered the United States in multiple record-breaking heatwaves. As with any crisis, Be Reel looks to the movies for wisdom, catharsis, and lunacy. This week, it’s three heatwave pictures: “The Seven Year Itch” (1957), “Do The Right Thing” (1989), and “Weekend at Bernie’s” (1989).
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Now, this podcast category isn’t necessarily synonymous with, say, “Sweatiest Movies.” If so, we would’ve just watched and reviewed “Body Heat” (1981) three times. No, we decided to zoom in on urban spaces (specifically, and somewhat accidentally, New York City) to see what happens when the temperature is cranked on ambitious, imperfect, barely-holding-it-together people. Burning questions on this week’s episode include:
- Is there some perverse comfort to be found in these movies hinging on conflict between neighbors, and not desolate city scapes?
- What happens when you try to read “Do The Right Thing” as a single-day classic ironically about surviving until tomorrow?
- And, we’re sorry, but why doesn’t Bernie decompose?
As always, The Playlist Podcast is part of The Playlist Podcast Network—which includes Be Reel, Deep Focus, The Fourth Wall, and more—and can be heard on iTunes, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and now on Spotify. You can stream the podcast via the AnchorFM embed below or up top to listen on this page. Follow us on iTunes, and you’ll get this podcast as well as our other shows regularly. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we appreciate it. Thank you for listening.
