It broke my heart that the absolutely wonderful Donald Sutherland died this summer, even though he lived a long, extremely full life, so I knew I needed to do an episode on some aspect of his sprawling career. Robert Skvarla was kind enough to join me to talk about some of Sutherland’s thriller films from the 1970s and ’80s. We focused primarily on Alan Pakula’s Klute (1971), but also discussed Bob Clark’s Murder By Decree (1979), Richard Marquand’s Eye of the Needle (1981), and naturally brought up a host of other related films like Don’t Look Now and my new favorite, The Disappearance (1977).
One of my love languages is listening to Rob talk about conspiracy theories, so there is a lot of that in here, ranging from Sutherland’s own experience with radical politics and activism in the ’70s, as well as a broader history of FBI surveillance. You can find Rob here on Twitter (where he is famous) and here on Instagram.
And you can see us together for the Revolution in 35mm book launch in Philadelphia at PhilaMOCA later this month on September 25.
Here’s an obligatory reminder that my upcoming book Revolution in 35mm is up for preorder through PM Press and is on its way out in the world this September! Thanks as always to Cinepunx and please rate, review, follow, and share!