mike@projection-booth.com mike@projection-booth.com

November 9, 2011

Episode 36: Hickey & Boggs (1972)

Hickey & Boggs, a nihilistic neonoir directed by and starring Robert Culp, gets examined in The Projection Booth by Mike and Mondo Justin along with guest Joe Robin and Richard Edwards.

Get Clute & Edwards's, The Maltese Touch of Evil and be sure to check out their podcast, Out of the Past at Noircast.net.

Keep up with Joe Robin at DailyGrindhouse.com.

Buy Hickey & Boggs on DVD

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2 comments:

  1. Note: There is a new DVD release of H&B from MGM. This is MOD version. From internet reviews, the quality of this release is leagues better than the crappy 2004 DVD that I currently have. For fans of this film, finally a quality version is out there!
    Link to Amazon:
    http://www.amazon.com/Hickey-Boggs-Robert-Culp/dp/B005E7SFI8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1348173392&sr=1-1&keywords=hickey+and+boggs

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  2. The Foreign ViewerApr 28, 2016, 9:43:00 AM

    I think this is one of the Projection Booth's most underrated episodes.

    I'm a big fan of the buddy cop genre, so I was interested in seeing this movie by default. However, the trailer didn't give me much to work with, so when this episode came out, I decided to listen to it before watching the flick. I liked what I heard, so I watched the movie and I'm glad I did so. The movie worked on two fronts. For one, it really was an unsettling and interesting (if a bit slow and slightly underwritten) piece about the cynical side of the 70s that asks what comes after the death of the prosperity and security that the 50s and to an extent the 60s had (at least when it came to the middleclass majority), but it was also a genuine unromantic 70s timecapsule (both literally and in a meta way).

    It's a lucky coincidence that this episode was made before the whole horrifying roofie fiasco shocked the public, because that allowed for everyone to give their honest opinion and viewpoint on both the movie and Cosby and appreciate the impact he had on the culture in general without any inner conflicts about possibly promoting a real life monster. At the time, you could still easily watch this movie without cringing and enjoy it for what it is and not let the "real world" influence your perspective on it.

    Watching this movie and talking about Cosby before the scandal broke now seems like remembering more innocent times (that's the meta characteristic I was referring to).

    That's now next to impossible, of course, so I'd be really curious to hear what someone who's seen this movie for the first time now, after the real world scandal had made its impact, would say about Cosby and the movie itself.

    Anyway, I've never heard of Robert Culp before, so this was a really good introduction to his work as well, even though the script is clearly more interested in exploring Cosby's character, since Culp's has nothing to lose. I'd say that Culp represents the disappointment of the WW2 generation (they are now growing old and some of them have nothing to show for it), while Cosby is part of the postwar middleclass (too young to go to war, but old enough to enjoy some of the post-war prosperity and stability even if he is black).

    Your analyses of both the movie, the era and the emerging buddy cop genre was really fun and informative too.

    Therefore this episode is definitely among one of my more favorite episodes. It's too bad that regular co-hosts couldn't reconcile their real life obligations and their work on the PB podcast. Mike deserves a wingman to carry some of the weight behind the production of the show!

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