What We Haven't Done

Picking out the films we have yet to see

You’d think after five years of livetweeting and hundreds of films would have by now mined the depths of all that Hollywood had to offer. Think again. There are certain films, some requested by you, some favorites of mine, and several overlapping, that I’m dying for us to rewatch together.

I’ve spoken about this before but here’s a peak behind the curtain on the selection and programming process for Historians At The Movies. First, the film has to be available on either Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+. I do this to eliminate the variables in coming to HATM. Essentially, you should know day (every Sunday), time (8pm eastern), channel, and film. Initially I only did films that were available on Netflix but I found their options too restrictive over time and in July 2021 made films available that were on Disney or Amazon Prime part of the lineup. I did this because I felt like most people had these options and their interfaces were easy to use. We will not be expanding past this (sorry Hulu). We also did one documentary film online but it didn’t do any traffic at all. More on documentaries in a bit.

We tend not to know too far ahead of time what will be available. So for instance, we won’t know what’s available to show in August until Netflix or Prime until about a week before the month begins. Fortunately we know that original programming (i.e. The Sword in the Stone at Disney+) is always available on its respective provider, so that’s in the back of my head.

Now this is where it gets tricky. Now we get to the balance. The thing that is most important to me about both Historians At The Movies and in my life in general is that everyone feels welcome and that they belong. I mean that. So how do we do that? By showing films featuring a diverse cast/crew or stories that represent the lives and interests of the people joining in on Sunday nights. This is complicated by three things: Hollywood tends to produce films with white male leads, the streaming providers don’t have access to every film every produced, and my own ignorance about films that have been made or are available (this is why your requests are so important).

There’s a balancing act in content as well. I want to have deep dives on things that matter. Let’s use HATM at times when we can to talk about relevant news (Spotlight), race relations after WWII (Mudbound), or the horrors of the war in Vietnam (Platoon). But these movies are heavy. They’re hard to watch. We are still going to. But we’re also going to throw in movies like Coming to America as way to talk about immigration history or Twins to talk about family history. I try as best I can to move beyond stories centered solely in the United States so that we can introduce other histories and films to people. I was really, really happy with the discussions emerging from The Joy Luck Club, The Woman King and RRR. I want to continue to expand on that.

Further, people have to work on Mondays. They get tired after about an hour and a half or two hours. So with rare exception (like this week’s Titanic), I try to stay away from films with runtimes over two and half hours. This means epics like Schindler’s List, Dances with Wolves, or Braveheart probably won’t get the Sunday night treatment. Fortunately, the HATM Podcast doesn’t operate in the same capacity or have the same limitations, so we can mitigate that a bit.

Ok, so back to Sunday nights. What films haven’t we shown that I’d like to? Here’s a short list of a few films that I’d love for us to watch together. And by all means, please do continue telling me what you want to see. We’ll get it up there.

Deep Cover (1992): This is a film I don’t think a lot of people have seen, but absolutely should. It’s one of the best film noirs I’ve ever seen, following Laurence Fishburne as an undercover cop who walks the line between his beliefs and plunging into the world his position offers him. We get to talk about early 90s Los Angeles and a phenomenal soundtrack featuring the first appearance of Snoop Dogg. I’ll put this against Chinatown or L.A. Confidential. It’s that good.

El Dorado (1966): So much of how contemporary American society understands the West is actually formed by the cowboy westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. There’s a lot to talk about with this film, starting with John Wayne’s onscreen and offscreen personas. This film features a young James Caan, but the real reason to watch this movie is Bob Mitchum’s drunk sheriff in search of redemption. But ultimately, one of the best things about HATM is how it allows to us to share how we relate to movies on a personal level and watched it with my grandfather about a thousand times as a kid and anytime I can talk about him is a joy for me.

The Last of the Mohicans (1992): We’ve just missed on showing this several times. Michael Mann is probably my favorite director and I think that Daniel Day-Lewis may be the greatest actor we’ve ever seen. This movie emerged alongside other American epics after the success of Dances with Wolves and gives us so much to discuss. It’s one of the few depictions of the Seven Years’ War on film and while this film is based on a previous adaptation, that film was based on the 1826 novel of the same name by James Fenimore Cooper, giving us the opportunity to talk about literary tradition and memory as well. Phenomenal score and powerhouse performances by Wes Studi, Eric Schweig, Madeleine Stowe, and Russell Means.

The Lost Boys (1987): We try to do a horror film every Halloween despite the fact that they scare the shit out of me (big thanks to Mikki Brock for making me watch The Witch again for next week’s podcast, ugh). But The Lost Boys is pure 80s perfection. Featuring a hip young cast of Jason Patric, Jami Gertz (everyone of us was in love with you in 1987), Kiefer Sutherland, and the Coreys (Haim & Feldman), we get to talk about horror culture, California, and greasy saxophone players. I think the The Lost Boys is the best vampire film ever made. I will (un)die on this hill.

The Best Man (1999): I think one of the cool things about movies is that they offer the opportunity to express the nuances of relationships between one another. The Best Man is a romantic drama featuring Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, and Sanaa Lathan (call me). I love how this film shows the competing dynamics between longtime friends as they all approach a wedding. As a kid, I’d always envisioned having some sort of circle like this emerging from college, but that would have required finishing college on time the first time. I watch this film and despite its drama marvel at the bonds that keep people together. There are a couple continuations of this story, a Christmas-themed sequel in 2013 and a ten-episode coda on Peacock last year.

Singles (1992): While the rest of these are in no particular order, this is my most-wanted film for Historians At The Movies. It is my favorite feature film of all time, owing to the fact that it hit right as I was entering high school and I think no film (GTFO with that Reality Bites nonsense) captures Generation X in its mid 20s better than this film. The studio didn’t know what to do with this film but I actually think its the best work Cameron Crowe ever did. The marketers pushed Bridget Fonda and Matt Dillon, but the romantic story between Campbell Scott’s Steve and Kyra Sedgwick’s Linda drives this film. Stay for cameos from Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and off all things Paul Giamatti. Best soundtrack of all time and I will not be taking questions. I will, however, watch it tonight. Again.

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As I’m typing this, about a hundred films popped up in my head—apologies to The Goonies and Gremlins. And Nate & Hayes. And Robocop. You get the idea. We’ll get there though. As we head into Year Six of Historians At The Movies, what do you want to see?

And if you haven’t checked out this week’s pod featuring Sarah McNamara and her book Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South, here’s your chance. This is an awesome talk about a town you’ve probably never heard of, but absolutely should.

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Seriously, Sanaa Lathan, hi.