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Hellbent for Letterbox

Paxton Holley (Nerd Lunch, Cult Film Club) and Michael May (Dragonfly Ripple, Starmaggedon) talk Westerns in movies and sometimes other media.
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Hellbent for Letterbox
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All Episodes
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Now displaying: 2020
Dec 28, 2020

Shawn Robare returns to help Michael and Pax discuss the David O. Selznick mess, Duel in the Sun, featuring a legendary cast, but also six directors, a terrible script, and a central relationship that no one (including the movie) cares about. Happily, that makes for a great conversation anyway.

Dec 8, 2020

This month Michael and Pax are joined by their good friend Shawn Robare to discuss the 1967 Spaghetti Western Death Rides a Horse starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law.

Nov 23, 2020

Evan Hanson returns to help Michael and Pax analyze The Sisters Brothers starring John C Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riz Ahmed.

(Deep apologies for the audio quality on Michael's microphone this episode. It was a technical issue that we were unable to correct, but we thought the movie and conversation were good enough that we wanted to release it anyway.)

Nov 12, 2020

On this episode Mike and Pax are joined by Evan Hanson to discuss 5 Card Stud starring Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, and Roddy Macdowell.

Oct 30, 2020

In this very special Halloween Hitchin Post, Michael and Pax discuss the 1959 Universal Studios horror western, Curse of the Undead, featuring a vampire gunfighter.

Oct 26, 2020

Michael and Pax definitely wanted to watch Penélope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Steve Zahn, Dwight Yoakam, and Sam Shepard in Bandidas. Pax also reads the graphic novel Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary by Christian Perrissin and Matthieu Blanchin. And Michael gets in the Halloween spirit with Curse of the Undead.

Oct 13, 2020

On this episode of Hellbent Michael and Pax discuss the 1970 dramatic comedy Little Big Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway.

Sep 28, 2020

Michael and Pax follow Pale Rider into town, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Also starring Sydney Penny, Michael Moriarty, Chris Penn, and Richard Kiel.

Pax also shares insights from the Pale Rider novelization by Alan Dean Foster. And Michael watches another mountain man movie (Richard Harris and John Huston in Man in the Wilderness) and some Doctor Who.

Sep 14, 2020

Pax and Michael watch the first of the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer comedic Trinity movies, directed by Enzo Barboni.

Aug 10, 2020

Michael and Pax visit their second Elvis Presley Western with Flaming Star, a movie about racism that also stars Steve Forrest, Barbara Eden, Dolores del Rio, and John McIntire.

Before that, Pax talks about vintage Western-themed advertising and Michael makes progress in his Western History film project and reviews the Batman Western comic, Batman: The Blue, the Grey, and the Bat.

Jul 23, 2020

On this episode Mike and Pax discuss Cheyenne Social Club starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Shirley Jones.

Jun 22, 2020

Michael and Pax watch the Howard Hawks / John Wayne classic Red River featuring Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, and Joanne Dru. 

 
Also: Comics! Pax reads Wild West, Book 1: Calamity Jane by Jacques Lamontagne and Thierry Gloris. And Michael reads IDW's collection of Doug Wildey's Rio: The Complete Saga.
Jun 9, 2020

Mike and Pax update everyone on their fancy soap purchases.

Jun 8, 2020

Mike and Pax discuss 1959's Rio Bravo starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, and Ricky Nelson.

May 25, 2020

Michael and Pax watch Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, and Joel Edgerton in Gavin O'Connor's film about a woman defending her home from a gang of ruthless killers.

Pax also talks about Yul Brynner and George Segal in Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964), while Michael watches more Zorro and reads the collected webcomic High Moon by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis.

May 8, 2020

On this episode Michael and Pax discuss The Kid from 2019 starring Ethan Hawke and Dane Dehaan as Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Apr 28, 2020

Michael and Pax revisit the '90s classic about a sharpshooting cowboy (Tom Selleck) who teams up with a troubled woman (Laura San Giacomo) to fight a ruthless land baron (Alan Rickman) over his treatment of Aboriginal Australians.

There's also a quick review of the graphic novel The Grave Doug Freshley by Josh Hechinger and mpMann.

Apr 16, 2020

Michael and I discuss men's hand soaps and recommend two great companies, Boll Weevil Soap Co and Outlaw Soaps.

Apr 15, 2020

On this episode Michael and Pax talk about Gun Fury from 1953 starring Donna Reed, Rock Hudson, and Lee Marvin.

Mar 31, 2020

Michael and Pax check out the sequel to 1969's Sabata (which they covered three years ago; how time does fly). Lee Van Cleef's character is played by Yul Brynner this time, so the fellas talk about that and other changes between the films, and attempt to reconcile the two.

Also, Michael watches Errol Flynn play General Custer in They Died With Their Boots On.

Mar 16, 2020

Michael and Pax discuss the Elvis Presley 1969 western, Charro!

Mar 2, 2020

Michael and Pax break down this Bob Hope brew co-starring Jane Russell as super spy Calamity Jane. Pax also talks about the 1952 sequel, Son of Paleface, while Michael's reconsidering Joan Crawford as a contemporary cowgirl in 1930's Montana Moon.

Feb 11, 2020

Michael and Pax talk a little about the podcast's third birthday, what we could see on the show in 2020, and we go through the AFI Top 10 Westerns list.

Feb 2, 2020

Mike and Pax are back from their winter break and in this episode are discussing River of No Return from 1954 starring Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum and Rory Calhoun.  Directed by Otto Preminger.

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