SIDE HUSTLE FINALE: BEATTY-EYED

The Good, The Pod and The Ugly

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SEASON FINALE! SIDE HUSTLE 15: WARREN BEATTY! SHAMPOO and DICK TRACY!
Our epic tenth season comes to a close in a flurry of bug hair, blow dryers, primary colors and the horror of Madonna acting with Hollywood legend Warren Beatty. Most legendary actor/directors we might talk about from his era (Beatty was born in 1937) need a separate Wikipedia page for their filmography and biography but not Beatty! He has one of the most carefully selected filmographies of any star of his era. Why is that?
First up, as actor (and co-writer and producer and probably somewhat directing), the classic SHAMPOO (1975). Directed by Hal Ashby and curiously taking place on election day 1968 (which has an interesting, less thematic reason than we thought going in), about a philandering haridresser played by Beatty, who beds more than a few ladies (including previous Side Hustle director Lee Grant, who won an Oscar for her role here) while running around LA trying to get the money together for his own place. It's kind of like one of those gambling movies where the dude is running around making bets to cover losses and trying to avoid the guys he owes money to while maintaining some kind of stable relationship. Surprise! It's 1975 and, as funny as some of the material is, it ends very 1975 (and not the band. Sorry). This is one of the definitive Beatty films and performances and we go deep on the behind the scenes and what it all may be about.
As director we could have gone Reds, but we really wanted to watch and talk DICK TRACY (1990), which is bananas. What's the deal with this movie? It's the one where all the adult male actors have hideous prosthetic makeup except Beatty and features Madonna - we love Madonna but whew, her acting! Yikes. One of the most interesting comic strip films of the era. Does it hold up? Was it good to begin with? Take a listen.
BONUS: Season 10 quiz; we talk the Beatty-starring disaster Ishtar (which both hosts like) and other Beatty tidbits. Ken and Thomas come to some controversial opinions about the Beatty mystique.
THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
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Ken: Ken Koral