Episode 343: THE ROCKETEER (1991) With Matt Clark Trylove podcast

Episode 343: THE ROCKETEER (1991) with Matt Clark

11d ago 1:48:47

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Matt Clark steps out of his crime film wheelhouse to chat about… a comic book movie???

THE ROCKETEER failed to stand out from the growing crowd of comic book adaptations and superhero franchises hitting their stride in the early ‘90s. But it had all the pieces of a genuine swashbuckler: Handsome leads, a sense of humor, fun action, and punchable Nazis. The Trylon’s “Nazis… We Hate These Guys” series gives us the benefit of hindsight, so we’re tackling it on its own terms and in its modern context!

In this episode, we lean heavily on Matt’s knowledge of film history to diagnose the flyboy’s failure to launch for ourselves. Was it just bad timing? An unfortunate combination of development issues? Did people not want another pulp fiction-inspired hero? Of course, we also cook up a few of our own takes, from its balance of tropes and how it ties technology and Hollywood to what it’s saying about American tolerance of fascism before World War II.

Find Matt…

At Kino Ventura, his blog about movies
Making Apache Revolver, his zine about crime films
On Bluesky at kinoventura
On Letterboxd at kino_ventura
On Trylove episodes about SHOGUN ASSASSIN (1980), THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1951), NIGHT MOVES (1975), THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE (1973)

References:

“The Rocketeer” by Bob Aulert for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“Watching the The Rocketeer with My Inner Child in Superhero Interzone 1991” by Chris Ryba-Tures for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices!
Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets
Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog

#NazisWeHateTheseGuys #DCP

Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Rocketeer to the Rescue/End Title” composed by James Horner from the THE ROCKETEER soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 343: THE ROCKETEER (1991)

2:44 - An update on Lucchese-Soto, et al. v. The Criterion Collection, LLC

4:22 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.)

6:02 - The aesthetic sense and production it gets “so so right”

11:49 - A big, comic book-y movie (but not in the MCU way)

16:40 - Stumbling across it during the pandemic

21:51 - The behind-the-scenes

26:46 - How THE ROCKETEER landed in the backlog of comic book cinema

35:29 - Source material, making PG, and where this movie ‘zags’ into comic bookiness

44:04 - How much this movie hates Nazis

55:42 - How would you feel if THE ROCKETEER came out today?

1:06:49 - The Junk Drawer

1:18:49 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1991

1:25:01 - Cody’s Noteys: Who Wants to Be a Rocketeer? (personality quiz)

344 episodes