Altmania

• Crazy Mama (1975) w/ Gigi

  We're hitting the road with our good friend and three-timer guest Girl (@summeroffilm), to check out Jonathan Demme's 1975 film CRAZY MAMA. We see Demme find himself in a bit of an Alan Rudolph situation, wanting to get FIGHTING MAD made - but he has to do ol' Roger Corman a favor - direct a movie with a bad script that the cast hates, and he's gotta do it quickly. With the help of Cloris Leachman and crew, they fix the script and transform the film into a strange, '50s Americana, vibey hangout with undercurrents of colonialism, the cold war, and protestantism. All of that and so much more on.... CRAZY MAMA. Stay tuned after the show for a new song from RYAN, too... Gigi's Plugs: Pacino Pod Mimi Zima Follow Altmania: https://altmaniapod.com https://estebannoel.com Jonathan Demme Compendium Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/altmania

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• Caged Heat! (1974)

  We're finally here, Demme's big moment to direct his first film - and he comes out of the gate swinging. We're talking about 1974's CAGED HEAT! We discuss this film's place in exploitation cinema, within the genre of "women in prison" films, their history as a genre, and in the context of the American Prison Complex both in the 1970s and today. We touch on current issues in US prisons, how they seek not to rehabilitate but to punish anyone within the system, before we talk about this film's production. We really flex our Demme muscles here by seamlessly shifting from very serious subjects to having a good time, and we thought we did a good job on this one! So we hope you like it. Articles mentioned: Appendix: Psychosurgery | National Institutes of Health (NIH) Are Prisons Obsolete? | Angela Y. Davis Feminist Filmmaking Peaked with Women-In-Prison Exploitation Films | Nicole Stunwyck Golden Gulag | Ruth Wilson Gilmore Inside Women's Prisons | Virginia Kellogg Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie, 2025 | Prison Policy Initiative There's No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme | David M. Stewart Torture and Abuse of Prisoners | Amnesty International  Women in Prison Movies as Feminist Jurisprudence | Suzanne Bouclin Women, Film, and Law | Suzanne Bouclin Follow Altmania: https://altmaniapod.com https://estebannoel.com Demme Compendium Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/altmania

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• Black Mama, White Mama (1973)

  If you're thinking about my MAMA, it don't matter if she's black or white, ooh! In this case, we get the best of both worlds when Altmania returns to close out our final Demme / Viola screenplay collaboration, and one final another production from the Philippines. This time around, Jonathan Demme gets a story by credit, and his buddy Joe uses a pseudonym for the screenwriter. Originally called WOMEN IN CHAINS, we take a look at BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA; a movie that is full of a lot of funny moments and is pretty tame by exploitation standards of the time. We get into Pam Grier's incredible stories of her life and acting career, that combined with exploitation genre stuff, women's empowerment, the radical attitudes of blaxploitation, Roger Corman buying up Ingmar Bergman films that get huge in the United States, Demme selling this script for $500, we gush over Sid Haig's great acting, and then we talk about this fun ass movie! Sound good??? Follow Altmania: https://altmaniapod.com The World of Robert Altman | Esteban Noel **NEW!!!** Demme Compendium Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/altmania

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• The Hot Box (1972)

  A fresh, piping hot episode of Altmania straight out of the Hot Box. We're looking at another Jonathan Demme-penned, Joe Viola-directed film from New World Pictures -  1972's THE HOT BOX. We discuss Corman's core (no pun intended) mission for filmmaking: boobs and action. The ways he allowed filmmakers to imbue exploitation films with serious, real-life stuff while attempting to gel it with that entertainment factor. We chat about the New World crew heading out to the Philippines for a bunch of productions (another of which we'll talk about next week), throwing stones at rats, corrupt governments, guns on planes. Then we talk about this funny little film, its sometimes tonal imabalances; and ultimately how, more often than not, it tends to speak on the right side of history and about violence against imperial oppression - thanks in part to Jonathan Demme at the typewriter. Follow Altmania: https://altmaniapod.com The World of Robert Altman | Esteban Noel **NEW!!!** Demme Compendium Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/altmania

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• Angels Hard as They Come (1971)

  We're soooo back, folks - it's time to kick off the Demme deep-dive! We re-introduce ourselves and talk about one cool thing we've both been up to, before officially kicking off our new series on the life, times, and art of one JONATHAN DEMME. We talk about his early upbringing in Long Island, NY - his immediate love for cinema and writing, his father's work as a writer, his mother's encouragement to log his films in diaries, before the family moves down to Miami, FL and his whole life changes. Jumping between his passion as a veterinarian and film scholar, we slowly track his life leading up to working as a publicist for United Artists, before he meets the Big Kahuna himself, Roger Corman. We get into Corman's Hollywood success story, how he, Demme, and Joe Viola strike up a deal that leads us to ANGELS HARD AS THEY COME - his first written feature and production credit. Follow Altmania: https://altmaniapod.com https://estebannoel.com Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/altmania

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