Episode 774: Cop (1988)

Episode 774: Cop (1988)

Noirvember closes with James B. Harris’s Cop (1988)—the first time James Ellroy’s feverish fiction hit the big screen. Mike teams with Andrew Nette and Rod Lott for a deep read of Harris’s adaptation, where James Woods’s unhinged Detective Lloyd Hopkins hunts a killer across eighteen years of buried violence.

The trio digs into Ellroy’s original novel Blood on the Moon and the wilder, abandoned incarnation that came before it—L.A. Death Trip, the unsold, manuscript that first birthed Hopkins. Using material from Ellroy’s own accounts and critical studies (including the brute-force early drafts, the rewrites demanded by Otto Penzler and Nat Sobel, and the shift to publishable structure), the conversation maps how a doomed finale turned into a tight serial-killer pursuit.

The episode also features a new interview with James B. Harris, who breaks down the challenges of translating Ellroy’s structure, keeping Hopkins’s mania intact, and staying faithful to the narrative rhythms of the novel. What emerges is a portrait of a filmmaker wrestling with source material born in chaos—reforged into the dark, abrasive thriller that helped spark decades of Ellroy adaptations.


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Episode 753: Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Episode 753: Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Sci-Fi July rolls on with Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), Roger Corman’s ambitious space opera directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and written by a pre-Lone Star John Sayles. This wild interstellar remix of...

18 Juli 20252h 2min

Special Report: Superman (2025)

Special Report: Superman (2025)

Mike is joined by Father Malone (Midnight Viewing) and Chris Stachiw (The Kulturecast) to discuss James Gunn's first foray as the head of the "DCU" with his 2025 film, Superman. It's a new interpretat...

16 Juli 20251h 7min

Episode 752: Metropolis (1927)

Episode 752: Metropolis (1927)

Sci Fi July launches with a titan of cinematic futurism: Metropolis (1927). Fritz Lang’s visually stunning epic set the blueprint for dystopian science fiction, blending Gothic horror, political alleg...

14 Juli 20252h 31min

Special Report: 2025 Fantasia Curtain Raiser

Special Report: 2025 Fantasia Curtain Raiser

The Fantasia International Film Festival returns for its 29th edition, running from July 17 to August 8, 2025, and promises another electrifying celebration of genre cinema from around the world. With...

12 Juli 202512min

Episode 751: A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Episode 751: A Man for All Seasons (1966)

By request from Patreon supporter Peter Rogers, we’re tackling A Man for All Seasons (1966), Fred Zinnemann’s acclaimed adaptation of Robert Bolt’s stage play. Joining Mike are Spencer Parsons and Rob...

7 Juli 20251h 12min

Episode 750: Gloria (1980)

Episode 750: Gloria (1980)

John Cassavetes may be known for his raw, improvisational indie dramas, but with Gloria (1980), he delivered something entirely different—a gritty urban thriller with a heart, starring the incomparabl...

2 Juli 20251h 12min

Special Report: So Fades the Light (2025)

Special Report: So Fades the Light (2025)

Mike talks with filmmakers Chris Rosik and Rob Cousineau about their 2025 film So Fades the Light, a quiet, unsettling drama about the long shadows of cult trauma. The story follows Sun (Kiley Lotz), ...

1 Juli 202543min

Special Report: Strangelove Country

Special Report: Strangelove Country

Author D. Harlan Wilson joins Mike to discuss his latest book, Strangelove Country, a collection of critical fictions examining four of Stanley Kubrick’s most influential science fiction films: Dr. St...

30 Juni 202536min

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