Book Vs Movie Podcast

The Margos are picking out our costumes for this special episode devoted to the cult classic The Warriors (yes, it was based on a book by Sol Yurick.) The movie, directed by Walter Hill, was a hit when it was released in 1979, but the glory of that was marred by real-life gang violence at the time which caused the movie studios to cease advertising the film.

The Margos tackle one of the most beloved children’s books of all time--Matilda by Roald Dahl. We have had so many requests over the years for this book & movie and it has certainly lived up to the hype!

The world of midwest Prohibition-era gangster life is the subject of this episode of Book Vs Movie with Road to Perdition--the 1998 graphic novel from Max Allan Collins and the 2000 film directed by Sam Mendes.  This returns the Margos to the graphic novel genre for the first time since Batman. We talk about the fantastic performances & cinematography here as well.

The Margos fight off the urge to daydream while we talk about the James Thurber short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and the 1947 adaptation starring Danny Kaye in the title role. Mitty is a character that loves to get lost in his thoughts and in the original story--he spends a day in Waterbury, Connecticut thinking of a few heroic episodes that star him and his incredible imagination. 

Loretta Lynn is a multi-hyphen: singer, songwriter, musician, wife, mother, and author. The Margos were thrilled to discover that the 1980 movie Coal Miner’s Daughter was based on her 1976 autobiography of the same name. As superfans--we needed to bring this episode to our followers--you are all welcome!

The Margos are going back to Stephen King’s 1982 Different Seasons which features four novellas with a focus on the “summer” tale “The Body.” As written in the story, four young boys from Castle Rock Maine in 1960 who go on a quest to see the deceased body of Ray Brower--a 12-year-old who was most likely hit by a train. 

The Margos are All About Eve in this Bette Davis-centered episode and considered us buckled up for this bumpy ride! The story is based on actress/writer Mary Orr’s short story for Cosmopolitan magazine “The Wisdom of Eve” published in December 1946. The film is now considered a classic that won 6 Academy Awards.

This episode is devoted to Raymond Chandler and one of his best-known novels--The Big Sleep. This is the first novel to feature Detective Philip Marlowe and this story is filled with witty lines, nefarious people and double-crossing aplenty. If you are under the impression that this story will be slow and/or easy to understand because it was created almost 100 years ago--guess again. The movie is pretty great as well!

The Margos are still enjoying the swinging 60s and what better way to celebrate than talking about the amazing Jacqueline Susann who is the first author to have three consecutive #1 books on the New York Times bestseller list. Though her work was critically panned at the time and she was considered a self-promoting hack by the literary elite (how dare they!) Susann is now an icon for fun-living women who dare to take up space. 

The Margos revisit the 1971 novel The Exorcist written by the very interesting William Peter Blatty.  Based on a true-ish story about a boy possessed by a demon in the 1950s Blatty changed some of the key details to create this fiction classic. This episode is a replay in honor of actor Max von Sydow (!929-2020)

The Margos have a thing for espionage and intrigue in this ep talking about the Richard Condon 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate which was bought by Frank Sinatra and United Artist films and made into a controversial movie in 1962. Detailing the life of former infantrymen who are brainwashed by the Soviet Union while captured in the Korean War and who later aim to overthrow the United States via a presidential election...

The Margos are feeling shaken and not stirred talking again about Ian Fleming and his most famous character--James Bond. For this episode, we are covering On Her Majesty’s Secret Service  (OHMSS) which was published in 1963 and the 1969 adaptation starring Australian George Lazenby who remains the youngest Bond ever cast and he stands out as having only played the part for one film. 

The Margos finally take on the Alice Walker classic The Color Purple which won both the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award in 1983. It went on to be adapted into a film by none of than Steven Spielberg who has appeared on this show several times so we may just have to change our name to the “Steven Spielberg Presents” show soon! (Kidding!)

It’s African American History Month plus the Margos are having a case of “winter-fever” so we decided to cover “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” by Terry McMillan. The story of Stella Payne and her unusual search for love feels like a warm, tropical embrace during the cold New York winters.  In this episode, we talk about the many differences between the original book & the movie to decide which we like better. 

Hey BVMers! The Margos are trying their first self-help book, Steve Harvey’s Think Like a Lady. Act Like a Man (2009) along with our special guest this week--Kristen Meinzer of the By the Book podcast. Let’s just say this, for self-identifying feminists --this book was a challenge to get through.