In Film We Trust

Punk icon Harley Flanagan has persevered through hell to tell his story of addiction, madness and redemption. As founder of hardcore band the Cro-Mags, he's toured the world and entertained the masses. But behind the mayhem, lies a human story of abuse, neglect and kicking against the pricks. As a child born into a world of counterculture legends as Allen Ginsberg and Andy Warhol, Harley was determined to carve his own path. First as a pre-teen drummer in The Stimulators then as leader of the pioneering hardcore band Cro-Mags.
But what is the truth between these sign-posts? The trials, tragedy's and triumphs that lay beneath? Well, lucky for us, Harley is in the guest seat, to discuss his life story with us. A life that is a contradictory story of violence, creativity and beauty.

This week I'm joined by Welsh filmmaker and guest film programmer at London's only grindhouse-exclusive picturehouse, The Nickel Cinema, Craig Williams, to discuss Paul Morrissey's near-lost punk artifact Madame Wang's.
Centered on a story of of an East German agent who is sent to the United States, not only to search for Jane Fonda, but to wait for the Communist takeover. Along the way he bumps into an eclectic mix of society's throwaways, who teach him the what it is to be an American.
Morrissey's film, like his previous Flesh, Trash and Heat films with Andy Warhol, never strays from that street level poetics, and even though Morrissey himself never lived the lives he portrays, he never condemns - this duality is a topic we definitely discuss.
You can find Craig Williams on Instagram at @Mondodraig,
and you can find The Nickel Cinema at @The NickelCinema.

Gentry Austin, co-host of the sexploitation podcast The Sin Syndicate podcast is joining the podcast to discuss the Annie Belle starring Laure a.k.a Forever Emmanuelle Forever.
Laure, is a 'Emmanuelle-adjacent' softcore film that waxes on liberation, religion and emancipation from life's shackles - so it is no mere T&A film, which makes it ripe for the IFWT deepdive. And much of this is thanks to the participation of Emmanuelle Arsan, the writer of the original Emmanuelle book that spawned franchises in France and Italy.
Also, Gentry not only brings us this film due to pure fandom, as he is currently working on the biography of star Annie Belle.
You can find the Sin Syndicate podcast on Instagram at :@thesinsyndicatepod

Writer and contributor to TheFightCity.com, Andrew Rihn joins the podcast for the first time, as he brings IFWT Humphrey Bogart's last ever film 'The Harder They Fall'.
Adapted from a novel by controversial writer Budd Shulberg - controversial for reasons we definitely discuss in this episode, as we dive into the real life scenes behind this fictional film. A film about a down-on-his-luck reporter who is tempted by a crooked fight promoted who believes that Toro 'The Wild Man of the Andes' Moreno, might just be their next big meal ticket in the shady world of boxing.
You can find Andrew Rihn on X at @RihnAndrew
and on Instagram at @a.rihn

Amazingly this is the podcast's first dive into the works of Quentin Tarantino - and we're starting right at the beginning with his explosive 1992 debut Reservoir Dogs . A Heist film that doesn't show the heist. Filled with expletives and pop-culture references, Reservoir Dogs would encapsulate the work Tarantino would go on to make.
And lucky for you and I, Phillip Duke, host of the Making Tarantino podcast is here to wax lyrical, trade stories and decipher where Reservoir Dogs sits in his filmography.

You can find Making Tarantino on X @MakingTarantino and Instagram @makingtarantinothepodcast