March 20

SNMS Presents, A Side Chat, March, 2024

Welcome to a special March edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This go around Dion and J. Blake have another impromptu discussion ranging from the motivations behind slowing down the regular show format, to the seismic changes in cultural landscapes which reflect audience’s evolving tastes and how that sometimes negatively affects a popular artist, to even children’s animated movies. So it’s a good old time wirh the fellas chewing the fat, on another exciting installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

February 23

A SNMS Side Chat, Feb 2024

Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers is coming at you, to open up the 2024 season. They boys are winging it this week since the tape got stuck and shredded in the VCR, having an off-the-cuff discussion about anything that comes to mind, which is usually about the good old days of childhood. Come have a listen as Blake and Dion head back down the alley yet again, in this very special installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

March 24

SNMS Presents: The Winter 2023 Sidecast

The boys are back for a delayed 2023 edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! J. Blake and Dion Baia hook up to discuss what they’ve been watching over the 2023 winter season, which as regular listeners will know, leads some pretty interesting and off-the-beaten-track tangents. And the guys got some pretty fun ones today. So grab a cold brew or cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy some fun conversations, Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers-style!

August 26

SNMS Presents: The Side Cast Reunion

J. Blake and Dion Baia sit down, recollect, and reminisce about the Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers Podcast, their favorite episodes, what they’ve been up to on their own adventures, and an upcoming SNMS surprise. Come hang with the boys like old times!

June 6

SNMS Presents: Strange Occurrence Out at Fort Courage

Hey there True Believers! From the minds of Dion Baia and long-time SNMS listener Moose Matson comes this tribute to the old-fashioned radio-plays we love, this suspenseful thriller produced by James Hancock of Wrongreel, a podplay meant to shine a light on the long-lost art of, The Theater of the Mind! Come listen to this terrifying tale of a man in 1879 obsessed with hunting down the legendary Bigfoot creature, and the madness that it brings.

August 14

The Terminator – A SIDE-CAST UPDATE, 1984

Dion Baia and J. Blake continue in their impromptu summer Side-Casts series, this time around returning to a classic and doing a supplement edition for The Terminator, from 1984. They dive into the original novelization, (which they had not read for their original podcast episode that covered this iconic film). The boys also expand their discussion of the Brad Fiedel soundtrack, utilizing interviews Blake has done with the legendary composer. Blake and Dion highlight tidbits from the novel that add a lot of dimensions to the characters, and unpack the elements of the fabulous Fiedel score- even chatting about the three pop songs supplied by the pop rock group, Tahnee Cain & Tryanglz. It’s all going down on this special, surprise edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

EXTRAS!

Check out this article by Adam Grove at the Bedlam Files of the differences between the two different Terminator novelizations.

Have a listen to the original podcast the boys did on The Terminator.

May 13

The Black Hole – The SIDE-CAST UPDATE, 1979

The boys are back, for a quick *new* special, revisiting a cult classic, Disney’s The Black Hole, from 1979!

The Black Hole, 1979

Dion Baia and J. Blake are dropping a brand new add-on to their 2015 podcast on this iconic film. They’ve now read the Alan Dean Foster novelization, the Jack Kirby comic newspaper strip translation, and the Whitman comic book adaptation– which also goes Beyond the Black Hole. The fellas learned a crap load more that answer a lot of questions they posed in their 2015 episode, and even see what supposedly happened once crew of the Palomino passed through the black hole! They also go deeper into the John Barry’s soundtrack and the journey to get it reissued and remastered. Come on down for this special companion piece ‘update‘ on an all new edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

*Dion at one point referred to Robert Forester as William Forester… his apologies.

Extras!

Check out the Jack Kirby Comic Strip Adaptation!

Here’s the full 4 issue Whitman comic book translate, which continues once they go Beyond the Black Hole!

February 5

Randy Jurgensen Discusses the Passing of His Friend, Sonny Grosso– SNMS Presents: The Side-Cast

“They say Eddie Egan (aka Popeye Doyle) stepped on the gas and that Sonny Grosso would step on the brake- no… Back then, Eddie was the Doberman Pinscher and Sonny held the chain.” -Randy Jurgensen

Randy Jurgensen
Randy in the 1977 TV film, Contract on Cherry Street

Randy Jurgensen has lived an amazing life. The former NYPD Homicide Detective, Korean War veteran turned film consultant, producer, writer and actor worked on some of the biggest cases in New York City’s history and also some of the biggest and most important films of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s.

With the passing of his lifelong friend and former NYPD partner Sonny Grosso, Randy sat down exclusively with Dion Baia to discuss the loss of someone who was also able to seamlessly transition into the film industry, becoming a producer, actor and writer, and most memorably was played by Roy Scheider in the 1971 classic, The French Connection. Randy unpacks his friendship with the legendary detective and film icon, and discusses their intertwining careers that involved some of the most notorious cases in NYC‘s history. He talks about the memories he’s never disclosed publicly, and his recollections of some of the biggest films they worked on together. He chats about how Sonny got his nickname “Cloudy“, and how Eddie Egan got the nickname “Bullets” and “Popeye“. He also explains their singular contributions to the original Godfather film. Along with the amazing stories, Randy also relays the biggest regret Sonny had about The French Connection movie. It’s an incredibly insightful, fascinating and exclusive interview that you’ll only find here, on Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

EXTRAS!

Check out our exclusive interviews with retired NYPD Homicide Detective turned produceractor and film consultant Randy Jurgensen about his days as a cop, and his incredible history with some of the most classic films of all time!

Go pick up a copy of Randy‘s amazing book, Circle of Six: The True Story of New York’s Most Notorious Cop Killer and the Cop Who Risked Everything to Catch Him.

The very iconic photo of the finale of The French Connection– Randy can be seen over Gene Hackman‘s right shoulder.

Click here to see Randy on April 20, 1972, moments after being hit in the back of the head by a brick thrown off a roof, during the Harlem riot that occurred after the shooting of Officer Phil Cardillo in Nation of Islam Mosque No. 7.

Check out this short Documentary starring Retired Detective Jurgensen.

Hereherehere and here are behind the scenes shots of Randy on set on The Godfather, during the scene where Sonny is assassinated.

Check out Randy in The Godfather poster, up in the top right corner.

Here’s Randy at the end of Maniac, with real life partner Jimmy Aurichio!

Have a look at another picture from Cruising, with Randy center, interrogating Al Pacino, with Paul Sorvino standing against the wall.

August 17

Tyrus – SNMS Presents: Movie Lovers

Welcome to a very special edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week actor, political commentator and professional wrestler, the incomparable Tyrus, stops by to join us for a sleepover!

After reminiscing about what it was like for a boy to grow up in the ’70s ’80s & ’90s, Tyrus and Dion Baia chat about their love for cinema, hitting specifically on Smokey and the Bandit and Jackie Gleason, Cannonball Run, Superman Returns, and the Marvel Film Universe, among others. They discuss Godzilla, He-Man, You Can’t Do That on Television, G. I. Joe, and the “latch-key” childhood era they both grew in, versus theTyrus drastic differences that kids now encounter growing up in the past two decades. They get into Tyrus‘ background and how he went from doing security for Snoop Dogg, to becoming a WWE and Impact Wrestler, and his seguing into acting (even signing on to play Suge Knight in an upcoming Biopic), and his recent position as a cohost on The Greg Gutfeld Show on the Fox News Channel.

It’s a fun, absolutely hilarious, and insightful conversation this week on an all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

March 9

SNMS Presents The Side-Cast: A Conversation with Victoria Price

Welcome to this exclusive edition of the Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers: The Side-Cast!

Tonight the boys chat with Inspirational Speaker, Designer, Blogger, Artist, Interspiritual Minister, and daughter to film legend Vincent Price, author Victoria Price to discuss her amazing new book: The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self.

Victoria Price / Book cover
Recorded soon after the horrific Florida school shooting, Victoria comes by with her companion and little doggie Allie and they talk about the crazy world we live in and her self-imposed homelessness and journey to rediscover happiness. They speak about being able to find joy in our own daily lives, the many issues everyone nowadays seems to encounter in life regardless of social status, race or creed, and what it was like to be the daughter of such a trend-setting and iconic Hollywood couple. An absolute must listen for both cinephiles, fans of horror or renaissance man Vincent Price, or anyone who is looking to find some true meaning in this crazy world of ours. They also take a brief left-turn and talk about the legendary and groundbreaking but sadly little known industrial designer, Henry Dreyfuss– someone whose innovations have literally touched everyone’s lives.

Victoria Pic 2
Dion, Victoria, Babe & Allie

Victoria Pic 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So please come have a listen as this SNMS exclusive, a fascinating and thought provoking conversation with Victoria Price in this all new and inspirational edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras:

Go listen to our episode on Vincent Price and his classic 1964 horror film, The Last Man on Earth !

Here’s a link to Victoria’s fabulous 1999 biography on her father, Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography.

Take a look at Victoria speaking about her father on show, Nichols at Night: Victoria Price. 

Have a look at the photos Dion took in 2016 while in St. Louis of Vincent Price’s childhood home, here and here, and the National Register of Historical Places plaque.

Please take a look at the 2015 reissue of Mary & Vincent Price‘s A Treasury of Great Recipes, 50th Anniversary Edition: Famous Specialties of the World’s Foremost Restaurants Adapted for the American Kitchen. 

Check out this amazing 1962 Industrial Training Film done for Sears personally by Vincent Price to train sales reps to sell Fine Art.  

Have a look at the 2017 reissue of the Vincent Price cookbook, Cooking Price-Wise: A Culinary Legacy.

Here’s the 2016 reissue of the Mary and Vincent Price classic, Come into the Kitchen Cook Book.

 

 

April 15

SNMS Supplemental: Shattered Hulls Side-Cast

SNMS Side CastAs mentioned in the latest podcast on the epic 1980 film Raise the Titanic, Dion Baia in 2012 with his then cohost Brian Zino of their podcast The Podwits on the 100th anniversary of that ship’s sinking, recorded a 3-part podcast in which they talk about other massive maritime disasters that many have forgotten in modern times. Both sharing a morbid fascination, and starting at the turn of the 20th century, Dion and Brian hit on numerous sinkings that were huge and world-changing at the times they occurred.

What connects these to the last SNMS podcast on Raise the Titanic (aside from the obvious disaster-at-sea aspect), is that the guys cover the fate of the many vessels brought up in that podcast, like theTitanic‘s sister ships RMS Olympic (and the incident occurring with her that had it not have happened, it maybe would have saved the Titanic from her fate), HMHS Britannic, and what the fourth funnel, which the boys lovingly label the ‘badass funnel‘, was actually for on these 3 ships. They also discuss the nuclear sub tragedies of the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, which were the two naval submarines that ironically enabled Oceanographer Robert Ballad to discover the long-lost Titanic wreck in 1985. Brian and Dion also touch on their mutual love for the book and film version of Raise the Titanic.

The boys also touch on infamous events as the USS Maine, the RMS Lusitania, the Bismark, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, and until September 11th, 2001, the biggest disaster in New York City history, the tale of the PS General Slocum, among many others.

Condescended into one episode, here is the acclaimed 3-parter, in an interesting, fascinating and fact-filled podcast that is so far out in the proverbial weeds, that it is not like any podcast Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers has done before, and probably ever do again! (Below are the original descriptions for the 3 parts originally published in 2012).

Continue reading

April 7

SNMS’ Side-Cast: A Conversation w/ Wilford Brimley & Martin Kove

Wilfred BrimleyWelcome to a very special Exclusive Edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers Presents, The Side-Cast! This week SNMS catches up with two legendary actors in their own right: the well-renowned Wilford Brimley, and film and television icon Martin Kove! Last month Dion Baia and J. Blake attended the 2017 Monster Mania Convention in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Dion was able to sit down and chat with these two amazing thespians.

Mr. Brimley whose credits include The Thing, Cocoon, The Firm, Hard Target and The Natural just to name a few, briefly talks about his reasoning for getting into the film business, his favorite role, as well as setting the record straight on some of the stories online about his early life. Not one to mince words, Mr. Brimley is direct and to the point.

Martin KoveMr. Kove, known most notably as Sensei John Kreese of the Cobra Kai Dojo, also starred in such classics on the big screen as The Last House on the Left, The White Buffalo, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Steel Justice and Wyatt Earp, talks at length about his start in the film business, some embarrassing moments (he at least thinks) in his appearances in ’70s episodic television and why he feels The Karate Kid has become the cult classic it is today. Mr. Kove also goes into why he feels the 1980’s television show Cagney and Lacey, that he costarred on, was so ground-breaking and ahead of it’s time, and touches on other character’s he portrayed throughout his profound career.

Kove also laments about the one iconic actor he regrets not working with when he had the chance, and also laughs about the one legendary actor he caught up with years later, with who admitted to being a huge Cagney and Lacey fan. And he opines about the one American film genre that he has an immense passion for, and feels needs to be resurrected.

So come on down and take a listen to these exclusives, on another exciting installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

EXTRAS!

Here’s Martin Kove signing Dion‘s Cagney & Lacey boxset; and here is Mr. Kove doing his badass Cobra Kai pose; then after realizing Dion was a huge C & L fan, here is a straight pose.

Click here to check out Mr. Kove’s book recommendation, Wyoming Wind: A Novel of Tom Horn by Jon Chandler.

Check out the 1989 CBS show Hard Time on Planet Earth starring Martin Kove!

Watch Martin Kove in this 1977 Irish Springs Commercial!

Have a look at this great Wilford Brimley on Craig Ferguson in 2011!

Take a look at Wilford Brimley doing a PSA to combat the Meth epidemic in his home state of Utah.

Here’s a rare heard 1988 audio cassette of Wilford Brimley reading Clement Moore‘s poem, The Night Before Christmas (Just ignore the photo slideshow, which seems to be done to be funny).

And, check out Wilford Brimley and the Jeff Hamilton Trio Live, performing Pick Yourself Up!

March 24

Dario Argento’s The Three Mothers – SNMS Presents: The Side-Cast

Buongiorno! Today we welcome James Hancock, host of the WRONG REEL podcast, for part 2 of a very special 2-part podcast crossover extravaganza (***Don’t worry, it is totally okay if you listen to this part first)! In part 1, SNMS’ very own Blake traveled to the Wrong Reel studio in lower Manhattan to sit in on a fun and informative chat regarding Italian horror maestro Dario Argento‘s first three films; affectionally known as The Animal Trilogy. Now, for your listening enjoyment, James has packed his PJs and sleeping bag and ventured into Blake’s Mom’s basement for a late night sleepover and a passionate discussion about Argento’s stylish, strange, provocative, controversial and (mostly) beloved trilogy exploring the mythos of the dreaded Three MothersSUSPIRIA (1977), INFERNO (1980) & MOTHER OF TEARS (2007).

They express their personal passions for the films and Argento and dive deep into the trilogy’s history, inspirations, productions, music, casts and wildly imaginative lore and visual aesthetics.

So is this horror’s strongest trilogy? Which film is Blake’s favorite of the series and why does he love it so? Why do the women act so immature in SUSPIRIA? Who the hell is that hot chick with the cat in INFERNO and what legendary classical composer was Keith Emerson ordered to adapt for a cue in the film? What common threads run throughout the series? Does James understand what the heck is going on in any of these films? Which Argento actress once attended one of Blake’s concerts and which other Argento actress was he once email pen-pals with? All of these questions and so many more are answered in this exciting conclusion to the Giant-Sized Wrong Reel/SNMS crossover 2-parter, here on the latest edition SATURDAY NIGHT MOVIE SLEEPOVERS PRESENTS: THE SIDE-CAST!

To hear Wrong Reel’s half of this 2-parter, CLICK HERE!

Follow Wrong Reel on Twitter, @WrongReel!

To hear Dion & Blake’s SNMS episode about Dario Argento’s DEEP RED, CLICK HERE!

To watch the documentary DARIO ARGENTO: AN EYE FOR HORROR, CLICK HERE!

To watch a vintage TV performance of GOBLIN performing the theme to SUSPIRIA, CLICK HERE!

To watch the late Keith Emerson perform Mater Tenebrarum from INFERNOCLICK HERE!

Follow Blake’s book SCORED TO DEATH on Twitter @ScoredtoDeath!

December 16

SNMS Presents the Side-Cast:Tracking Down that White Elephant at Christmas

To add to this festive Christmas season, Dion Baia ended up tracking down and recording a special Side-Cast edition Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers, enlisting his old friends Brian Zino and J. Marcus, the cohosts of his former podcast The Podwits. Now to get them together for a recording, Dion knew there was one topic that would coincide with this season and something the boys could go on and on about: TOYS!

SNMS Side CastSo for this SNMS special, Dion brought back his old cohorts to have a trip down memory lane and reminisce about the toys they grew up with and a time that children nowadays sadly may never know about: how awesome it was growing up in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s- a time when kids had a gun aisle in their local toy store, and could go buy candy cigarettes they could then ‘smoke’, just like their parents. The trio begin with chatting about the cartoons they grew up on, and some of the toys that came out of those francheses. They talk about the Mego toy empire of the 70s that had a monopoly on everything, and the segue that occured in the 1980s with the unstoppable titans Mattel, Hasbro and Kenner and their strong hold over the market, before others like Playmates and Galoob moved into the field. Along with toy figures, tThe Podwitshey also chat about building sets like Legos, Construx and Girder and Panel, and even touch on model-making and specifically superhero and movie character models, and the exciting products that were put out by companies like Aurora in the 70s and later on by Horizon in the mid 1990s. They also challenge each other by posing the ‘white whale‘ question: was there a toy they always wanted and never received? And how about the toy(s) that in theory were great but practically, either because of design or toy-playing, was frustating and annoying to say the least. Yes, they’re all over the spectrum in this special, Christmas time edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepover‘s Side-Cast. Come have a listen today!

Extras:

*The small battery powered 4×4 vehicles that Dion could not remember the name of from the early 1980s were called STOMPERS.

Check out J. Marcus in a segment where TV’s American Toy Scout Joel Magee drops by J’s apartment to take in the eclectic collection that is on display for all to see.

Here is the A-Team B.A. Baracus figure discussed in the podcast.

This is what the 1983 film Krull‘s weapon The Glaive actually looks like, that Brian attempted to make himself as a child. And here it is in the film.

As discussed in the podcast HERE, and HERE are the Star Trek, Laser Tag-esque game called Star Trek Phaser Battle.

And speaking of Laser Tag-esque play sets, here’s the imitation game Dion‘s parents got him called Phaser Force.

Straight out of J. Marcus vault, here are 2 UNOFFICIAL phasers: HERE is a resin Star Trek TNG Phaser 1 replica, and HERE is a working TOS Phaser 1 replica.

Now take a look at an OFFICIAL Star Trek TNG Playmates Communicator, next to a TNG Tricorder (Note the size difference!).

For more podcasts and specials with Brian Zino, J. Marcus and Dion Baia, check out Podwits.com.

 

 

November 25

Fright Night, 1985 – SNMS Presents: Saturday Night Movie Guestovers

Welcome to a new SNMS feature that we are affectionately referring to as Saturday Night Movie Guestovers, where an esteemed guest comes over and joins in on the movie sleepover fun!

Suffering from Halloween horror withdraw, this week J. Blake invites a good friend of the SNMS podcast, writer/podcaster/musician extraordinaire Mike Vanderbilt (@MikeVanderbilt), to discuss a mid-1980s horror film that Mike, in particular, holds near and dear to his heart, 1985’s Fright Night—written & directed by the great Tom Holland and starring the late Roddy McDowall.

fright-night

After a brief introduction of Mike to the SNMS listeners and a discussion about writer/director Tom Holland’s career before Fright Night (as well as a bit of swapping stories about their own personal interactions with the horror movie living legend), the boys make their way through the beloved vampire classic, discussing the strength of its cast of actors and what they brought to the plot and their characters during the film’s extended rehearsal period. The guys also revel in the film’s numerous practical special effects, examine the state of horror and classic movie monsters at the time of Fright Night’s release, discuss the film’s original intended ending, its sequel as well as its remake, its fan-favorite soundtrack, the tie-in comic book series and much much more! Is this film actually the start of both the 1980s vampire boom and the “meta” horror film? Were all 80s teenage boys’ bedrooms exactly the same? Do vampires really eat apples? Are the film’s vampiric villain and his loyal manservant the “Odd Couple” of the 80s? Do they have thin crust pizza in Chicago? Was Marvel’s casting of Tom Holland as the new Spider-Man a bold choice? These are just some of the important questions J. Blake and special guest Mike Vanderbilt try to answer in this giant-sized premiere of Saturday Night Movie Guestovers!

As always the podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher and most other podcast apps and sites.

Follow us on Twitter: @SatSleepovers

Follow Dion Baia on Twitter: @DionBaia

Follow J. Blake’s book on Twitter: @ScoredtoDeath 

For all things Mike Vanderbilt, follow him on Twitter: @MikeVanderbilt

EXTRAS:

Check out Icons of Fright’s pirate commentaries, featuring cast & crew,  for Fright Night and other films by CLICKING HERE!

As mentioned in this episode, you can read Mike Vanderbilt’s interview with Fright Night writer/director Tom Holland by CLICKING HERE!

Also, you can read Mike Vanderbilt’s interview with Fright Night music supervisor David Chackler by CLICKING HERE!

CLICK HERE to see the trailer for the documentary that the guys mention in this episode, You’re So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night.