Inside the episode with Mitch Hampton
"There are literally thousands of t.v. movies that Amanda Reyes and I could have covered.
I often ask myself why I like this particular one so much.
I think that, in all honesty it comes down to at least three reasons: the emotional directness of the content, the production style(s) of the period in which it was made and the many sided treatment of the social problem it attempts to represent.
Emotional directness in dramatic art is a long and abiding interest...
Inside the episode with Mitch Hampton
"There are literally thousands of t.v. movies that Amanda Reyes and I could have covered.
I often ask myself why I like this particular one so much.
I think that, in all honesty it comes down to at least three reasons: the emotional directness of the content, the production style(s) of the period in which it was made and the many sided treatment of the social problem it attempts to represent.
Emotional directness in dramatic art is a long and abiding interest of mine. Some of my favorite works of art happen to not be emotionally direct in the sense that I am thinking; this quality is not a requirement for me nor an assurance of greatness in and of itself. But when I am thinking of emotionally direct visual drama I do think of Intimate Strangers alongside Cassavetes' A Woman Under The Influence.
The many sidedness is Intimate Strangers' greatest strength; it might also be the one quality likely to not be embraced or to be misinterpreted by a contemporary audience. Yet it is nevertheless a fact that people who do evil in the world are always human, never monsters.
This film judges harshly Dennis Weaver's character but never stops letting us in on his interiority, his hopes, wishes and dreams. It is the role of the artwork to get into the weeds of all of this. Intimate Strangers ones fairly far for a television production.
I always love speaking with Amanda Reyes.
She has a love for and knowledge of popular culture that is positively encyclopedic - far greater than my own - and she brings to the subject an intelligence and sensitivity noamtmer the material. Her tastes appear to tend towards the highly supernatural and gothic; mine are decidedly more "naturalistic" but our shared love makes for most interesting episode if I may so myself.”
Link to the film so you can enjoy it with us ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdzgl19EEqs&t=3394s
Amanda’s Bio and Links to her beautiful work:
Amanda Reyes is an archivist, author, film and television historian and academic.
She edited and co-wrote Are You in the House Alone? A TV Movie Compendium: 1964-1999 (Headpress, 2017) which celebrates the made for television film, and was featured on Barnes and Noble’s Best of Horror list for 2017.
She's been a guest speaker at international film festivals and conferences in such places as the UK, Australia, and the United States. She's also contributed commentary tracks for several made for television Blu-Ray and DVD releases, including the made for TV movies The Girl Most Likely To... (1973), Nightmare in Badham County (1976), Amazons (1984) and Death Dreams (1991), all of which were released through Kino Lorber in 2019.
For 18 months, Amanda also curated a quarterly series of made for TV mystery screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse, and has hosted other screenings in conjunction with the Austin Film Society.
When she has a moment, she also podcasts and blogs about anything vintage small screen.
Links: Made for TV Mayhem (blog): www.madefortvmayhem.com Made for TV Mayhem Show (podcast): www.tvmayhempodcast.wordpress.com
Social media:
Twitter: @madefortvmayhem https://twitter.com/madefortvmayhem
Facebook: Made for TV Mayhem https://www.facebook.com/madefortvmayhem/
Instagram: @madefortvmayhem https://www.instagram.com/madefortvmayhem/
