Episode 48 – 'Rumble Fish' - a podcast by Phi Phenonenon

Crossover episode! Joining this episode are AJ Gonzalez and Bryan Connolly, hosts of The Directors’ Wall podcast, currently going through the filmography of Francis Ford Coppola, to discuss the second half of the filmmaker’s Oklahoma-shot S.E. Hinton adaptations. On this episode we talk:

- this “art-house film for teenagers” (that teenagers sadly rejected);
- its dream-like black-and-white images;
- its young man’s inventive energy;
- why French filmmaker Chris Marker didn’t even last a week as the film’s 2nd Unit Director;
- the influence of Koyaanisqatsi on the film;
- and how it’s a film about time in the past, present, and future.

Also:

- Nicolas Cage’s speaking-part film debut;
- Mickey Rourke’s whispering Camus-influenced performance;
- the film’s musically balletic gang fight set piece;
- its Touch of Evil vibe;
- the push-pull in Coppola’s career between bombastic epics and intimate character studies;
- and his commitment to be experimental in both modes.

Along with co-hosting The Directors’ Wall podcast, Gonzalez writes about film, alongside his wife (and past guest-host) Lani, on their blog Cinema Then and Now.

Connolly, along with co-hosting The Directors’ Wall podcast, also co-hosts The World is Wrong podcast, which positively celebrates movies the world is wrong about, with Andras Jones. A filmmaker, painter and author living in Austin, TX, Connolly also co-wrote Destroy All Movies: The Complete Guide to Punks On Film and numerous shows for Adult Swim.

Rumble Fish is available to rent VOD and on Blu-ray from Criterion.

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