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Hellbent for Letterbox

Paxton Holley and Michael May 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: 2019
Dec 23, 2019

Michael and Pax wrap up Deadwood December with the reunion movie from earlier this year and talk about whether or not it was a fitting conclusion to the legendary TV series.

Dec 16, 2019

Pax and Michael finish watching David Milch's Deadwood and talk about how the show ended as well as their hopes for Deadwood: The Movie.

Dec 9, 2019

Part 2 of Deadwood December!  In this episode Mike and Pax discuss the second season of the HBO show Deadwood.  

Dec 2, 2019

Welcome to Deadwood December!  This month we are leading up to the 75th episode of the show! In this episode Mike and Pax discuss the first season of the HBO series Deadwood from 2004.

Nov 25, 2019

On this episode of Hellbent we are again joined by Shawn Robare to discuss Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, widely considered to be a classic in the genre.  Only some of us agree with that.

Nov 19, 2019

Michael and Pax are joined by Shawn Robare (Cult Film Club) to ruminate on Richard Brooks' end-of-the-West saga starring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, and Jack Palance.

Oct 28, 2019

On this episode of Hellbent, Michael and Pax discuss the 1974 East meets West spaghetti western, The Stranger and the Gunfighter, produced by the Shaw Brothers and starring Lee Van Cleef and Lo Leih.

Oct 15, 2019

Michael and Pax watch Liam Neeson hunt Pierce Brosnan in David Von Ancken's thriller (and probably parable) co-starring Michael Wincott and featuring cameos by Anjelica Huston, Wes Studi, Jimmi Simpson, and Xander Berkeley.

Also: a podcast recommendation, Wild West magazine, a couple of silent Jesse James films with James' real-life son playing the legendary outlaw, and this excellent primer on Hong Kong cinema.

Sep 26, 2019

Michael and Pax are once again joined by Evan Hanson, this time to discuss the 1974 Mel Brooks western parody, Blazing Saddles.

Sep 17, 2019

Guest Evan Hanson returns to help Michael and Pax survey Seth MacFarlane's Western comedy.

Aug 19, 2019

On this episode Michael and Pax discuss the first collaboration between director Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart, Winchester '73 from 1950.

Aug 5, 2019

In this Texas-sized episode, Michael and Pax cover the classic mini-series starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, and a supporting cast as epic as the story itself. Also: Pax reads Larry McMurtry's Buffalo Girls while Michael does something Westerny for Fathers Day and reads a Mickey Mouse Weird West comic.

Jul 11, 2019

On this episode of Hellbent, Michael and Pax discuss the one movie Marlon Brando directed as well as starred in, the 1961 western, One Eyed Jacks.  Also starring Karl Malden and Ben Johnson.

Jun 24, 2019

Michael and Pax jaw about George Miller's (not that George Miller, though) Australian Western. One remembered loving it; the other remembered hating it. Have they changed their minds? Do they agree? What happened to Cookie's leg? A couple of those questions actually get answered.

Also: DC Comics discussion as Pax reads the early adventures of Bat Lash and Michael checks out the beginning of the 2006 Jonah Hex series.

Jun 5, 2019

On this episode of Hellbent Michael and Pax are once again joined by their wives, this time to discuss Bad Girls from 1994 starring Madeline Stowe, Andy McDowell, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Drew Barrymore.

May 22, 2019

Michael and Pax welcome their wives, Stephanie Holley and Diane May to weigh in on the women-focused Western, Five Bold Women starring Irish McCalla and Jeff Morrow. Pax also shares a couple of Western comics he's been reading: the first volume of Stern from Europe comics and the first couple of issues in Dynamite's Man With No Name series. Meanwhile, Michael's been watching the contemporary Western, The Rider (2017) by director Chloe Zhao.

May 8, 2019

On this episode of Hellbent Michael and Pax return to the Budd Boetticher-Randolph Scott oeuvre to talk about their very first collaboration in 1956, 7 Men from Now.  Also stars Gail Russell and Lee Marvin. 

Apr 22, 2019

Michael and Pax visit Michael Curtiz' Dodge City with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Bruce Cabot. But before that they also talk briefly about a couple of '70s Robert Redford movies (The Sting and The Hot Rock) and Vincent D'Onofrio's new Billy the Kid movie, The Kid starring Dane DeHaan, Ethan Hawke, and Chris Pratt.

Mar 27, 2019

On this episode Mike and Pax discuss The Train Robbers from 1973 starring John Wayne, Ann Margaret and Ricardo Montalban.

Mar 14, 2019

Michael and Pax talk about the Indonesian Western Buffalo Boys by director Mike Wiluan. Also, Pax reads more Hex (guest-starring Batman!?) and Michael watches Charles Bronson as Wild Bill Hickok in The White Buffalo.

Feb 27, 2019

In this episode Michael and Pax discuss the 1969 western classic, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Katharine Ross.

Feb 11, 2019

Michael and Pax come back to shoot the breeze about George Stevens' classic Shane, starring Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, and Jean Arthur. Is Marian in love with Shane? Is Joey the most annoying character in cinema? What's up with that ending? And how does Batman fit into all this?

There's also Pony Express mail and short discussions of the Wrong Reel podcast's Billy the Kid episode and a couple of films: Blood on the Moon and Woman Walks Ahead.

Jan 9, 2019

On this episode Michael and Pax discuss Robert Redford in the 1972 classic, Jeremiah Johnson, written by John Milius and directed by Syndney Pollack.

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