AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It's hot, hot, hot, and there's no better place to be than out of the sun and sitting back to watch a movie. Maybe you'll want to watch something that puts you in a summer state of mind while you're marinating in your AC or getting blasted by your fan. Maybe you'd like some ideas. Our very own Danny Hensel, who green lights movies and TV conversations for this program - he's full of great ideas. Hi, Danny.
DANNY HENSEL, BYLINE: Hi, Ayesha.
RASCOE: Look, I'm so glad to talk to you. And you said that you wanted to avoid some of those big movies that everybody's always talking about and has seen a hundred times, right?
HENSEL: Right. And I've contributed to these people watching these movies a hundred times. Movies like "Jaws," movies like "Do The Right Thing," "Dazed And Confused" - these are the movies that I'm turning to every summer. This summer, I tried to watch movies that I hadn't really seen before. I just feel like it's time to put those other movies in the rafters. They're in the hall of fame. We get it. They're really great, but maybe it's time for something else to shine.
RASCOE: OK, so let's start with your first movie. And it's dark, which you know - maybe you were thinking of me 'cause you know I like the darkness in my movies (laughter).
HENSEL: Yes, a lot of killing - I've learned, Ayesha.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yes.
HENSEL: Well, this movie is called "Summer Of Sam." Spike Lee movie - came out ten years after his classic, "Do The Right Thing."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SUMMER OF SAM")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) It's a blackout.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) We understand that the lights are out.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) So stay in your house. Lock your doors.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) City that never sleeps has come to a standstill.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HENSEL: It's about the Son of Sam Killings in New York in the summer of 1977. But really, it's about this Italian American community in the Bronx that's dealing with the son of Sam Killings. It's about them accusing each other of being the killer. And it's also about the summer in general. It's not just the Son of Sam. It's the "Summer Of Sam." So you've got the blackout. You've got disco and punk flourishing. And you get to see all these communities.
It's really well realized. Spike Lee was about 20 when this summer was happening, and so I think these details are really baked into his head, and he was able to make them come alive.
RASCOE: That's a good one. Now, "Jaws" is another classic that you mentioned. You know, go-to summer movie - but if you don't want to deal with the shark and the bigger boat, you have an alternative that people could look at, and what is that? - "The Last Of Sheila."
HENSEL: Yeah. "The Last Of Sheila" is another movie set at sea on a boat but maybe a different kind of terror in the water. This is a murder mystery whodunit. And it was written by Anthony Perkins and Steven Sondheim. And it was inspired by their love of parlor games.
It's about a group of Hollywood friends who are invited to go on a pleasure cruise, and they are invited by their friend, a producer who is mourning the death of his wife in a hit-and-run accident, and he uses this parlor game to find out who the real killer was.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LAST OF SHEILA")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) The last time I played a game was charades at...
JAMES COBURN: (As Clinton Greene) At my house, a year ago - the night Sheila was killed.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) As a matter of fact, everyone here was...
COBURN: (As Clinton) Was there. I call it the Sheila Greene memorial gossip game.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Sounds fascinating.
HENSEL: It ends up being really catty but also really fun. The screenplay is so creative. It lays all these things out in front of you and, once you realize where it's going, makes you feel smart and dumb at the same time because it makes you amazed that someone could, like, pull the wool over your eyes so amazingly well.
RASCOE: What about something that maybe is, like, funny and...
HENSEL: Yeah.
RASCOE: ...That will make people laugh?
HENSEL: Yeah. Well, one of the best times I've ever had watching a movie is this great baseball movie called "Everybody Wants Some!!"
It's kind of the sequel to "Dazed And Confused," the Richard Linklater movie. And it's about a college baseball house right before a - the semester starts. And you get to hang out with these guys who I just feel like I want to be their best friend. They're really funny. They're really charming. Actors like Glen Powell and Wyatt Russell - and it's based on Richard Linklater's own experience as a college baseball player.
But it's so charming. I think it's kind of a bromantic comedy because while there are women there, and there's, you know, relationships pursued, the real relationships are between these friends in this house.
RASCOE: OK, bromance. OK.
HENSEL: A bromance, exactly.
RASCOE: A bromance, OK.
HENSEL: A summer bromance.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Another key thing in summer is the road trip. Do we have any great road trip movies that you know about?
HENSEL: There are so many great road trip movies, but I thought one that maybe fits the bill, a little off the beaten path, is a movie called "The Wages Of Fear." It's a French movie from the '50s about a group of workers in South America who are recruited by an American oil company to drive two trucks filled with nitroglycerin through a jungle, which means that there's a lot of tension because an explosion...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HENSEL: ...Could happen at any time. Maybe that reminds you of a road trip or two in your experience. It does with me.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HENSEL: But it's really tense. It's so sweaty. We were talking in the office about our picks for the sweatiest movies of all time, and this was my pick. You can see the sweat pouring off these people. There's enough sweat to fill a swimming pool.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HENSEL: And it was also remade in the '70s as the movie "Sorcerer," which is also an incredibly sweaty movie. But both of those movies are definitely worth the watch and make you feel very hot, hot, hot, hot.
RASCOE: Hot, hot, hot, hot, but in a good way - OK (laughter).
HENSEL: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Well, and - you know, unless it explodes, in which case, maybe not so much, but...
RASCOE: But we're not exploding, thankfully, because you gave us these great ideas. That's WEEKEND EDITION producer Danny Hensel. Thanks so much.
HENSEL: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SVANEBORG KARDYB'S "POST") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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