Cargo Cult

The Retcon of '73

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 03:01:00 GMT

In Season 2 of Cargo Cult, we explore the great year of 1973 and why it's such an important time, not only in the lives of Jimmy and Justin, but for the great movies, directors and producers of the world.

Christmas Movies

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:23:00 GMT

Jimmy and Justin discuss their favorite holiday movies including a sit down with The Corleones, a shared car with Del and Neal, decorating the tree with Mr. Joshua, after dinner acrimony with King Henry and Eleanor of Aquitane, and a heartfelt national television seasonal toast with Frank and Claire after a live version of A Christmas Carol. Can you name those movies? And, yes, Justin and Jimmy Mac resolve the ultimate seasonal cinematic question in their ultimate episode: Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

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Refusing The Call

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:22:00 GMT

As Joseph Campbell points out, there is a "threshold resistance" to the call to adventure. A decision must be made to head out onto the road, and often it cannot be made until the hero has looked into their soul. That decision is very much on the mind of Justin and Jimmy Mac as they discuss the fateful choice to move to Los Angeles. The penultimate episode of season one, "Refusing The Call" ranges far and wide by discussing city states, the inheritors of Orson Welles, and striking the right balance between pleasing your audience and entertaining yourself.

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Drive Car Real Fast

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:21:00 GMT

Once more with David Bruckner, Cargo Cult careens not only through Mel Gibson's turn as Max Rockatansky but also into Tom Hardy's take as well with Mad Max: Fury Road. Of course, Tina Turner gets a Thunderdome shout out, but ultimately, this episode celebrates the benefits of a simple plot, the demands of an analog approach to filmmaking, and the story of a 71-year-old man, "who's doing it for real with his team in the middle of a desert". Also, if you want to know what a badass director George Miller actually was, you might wanna read Kyle Buchanan's Blood Sweat and Chrome about the making of Fury Road.

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Adversaries Through Metal

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:20:00 GMT

Director David Bruckner continues to take the ride, as Cargo Cult races head on into a collision course of a conversation about transportation technology as an adversary. Duel, Maximum Overdrive, Christine, and even John Frankenheimer's Ronin are all part of tradition where anthropomorphized machines overpower the human factor. All of this merges into the beginning of an analysis of George Miller's Mad Max series. Consensus is reached that Stephen King should focus on writing and never direct or act again.

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Filmmaker David Bruckner

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:19:00 GMT

Director of the new Hellraiser and The Night House, David Bruckner joins the gang on his birthday to talk antagonists, villians, and some of his cinematic inspirations. Engaging in a wide ranging discussion about the nature of what makes a good "bad guy", Bruckner, who directed Justin in The Signal, focuses on the terror of the unknowable motive trapped inside an antagonist's psychology. Listen for his insightful take on Terminator as a slasher flick.

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Ode to John Carpenter

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:18:00 GMT

1976's Assault on Precinct 13 is a blueprint for the career of master of horror John Carpenter. Every film he would make afterwards can be found inside it. The director's own version of a Howard Hawks' movie, Assault features a pair of taciturn highly professional heroes, a modern take on the "Hawk's Girl", and a relentless adversary that can only be stopped with enough bullets. Jimmy and Justin also use the discussion to eulogize actor/trucker Darwin Joston who played the role of the great anti-hero Napoleon Wilson. Fame is a matter of luck and timing. Both Carpenter and Joston's careers prove it.

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MASH

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:16:00 GMT

From the utterly ridiculous to the positively sublime. Cargo Cult shifts its focus from looking at films of pop culture importance but questionable quality to a movie truly great in all its aspects. Robert Altman's MASH accomplishes the nearly impossible: it manages to be wildly funny while breaking your heart, is deeply humane despite its graphic brutality, and is simultaneously a work of exquisitely crafted art and popular entertainment. The friendships forged on the screen in MASH are so powerful they extend to the viewers themselves. Go on, after watching this, tell us you don't think of Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke as your friends.

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Tired

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:15:00 GMT

After all the explosions, wrecks, and bulging biceps of Convoy, Over the Top, and The Cannonball Run, Justin and Jimmy Mac take an exit ramp for a minor grace note with Daniel Petrie's lovely-if-slight Six Pack. A peak-of-his-stardom Kenny Rogers plays minor-circuit racer Brewster Baker who ends up being a surrogate father to a half dozen orphans. Two of those kids, Anthony Michael Hall and Diane Lane, would parlay those roles into much bigger things. Rising above its made-for-television structure, the movie also captures something of the 1982's zeitgeist that would become Reagan's Morning in America.

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We Stop Too Much

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:11:00 GMT

As much as Jimmy Mac dislikes Over the Top, don't even get him started on The Cannonball Run. Justin rightly points out the gleefully mean spirit of a movie that is cynical without being clever, sloppy without being wild, and not-quite-suited-for-kids despite having the maturity level of one. It covers all the bases of bad. Dean Martin is wasted in one of his final roles and Jackie Chan in one of his first. Roger Ebert got it right when he said, "they didn't even care enough to make a good lousy movie." That being said, actor Jack Elam is a national treasure.

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Winner Takes It All

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:06:00 GMT

Have you seen the recent Canadian trucking movie Rodeo? You should if only to see it get everything right that Over the Top gets wrong. Sighing in frustration, Justin and Jimmy Mac put themselves in the unenviable position of having to criticize Sly Stallone's turn as trucker Lincoln Hawk in the 1987 movie. They sold it as a tale of fathers, sons, trucks, and arm wrestling contests. But all of those interesting possibilities are covered by a series of glistening muscular montages in a film that doesn't know the first thing about trucking. Actually, it doesn't know the first thing about making sense. On a positive note, any discussion involving actor Robert Loggia is worth having.

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Rubber Duck

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:03:00 GMT

Flawed, fascinating, and not-as-good-as-you-remember-it, Sam Peckinpah's Convoy is often framed as a more truthful version of Smokey and The Bandit. The truth of the matter? It is an ill-conceived mess better discussed as a noble failure undermined by the desperation, addiction, and self-destruction of its director. Like the shoot out that concludes The Wild Bunch, Convoy feels like a lost cause that ends in a slaughter. You could also make a case it is one of the first fateful steps that ends the auteur movement in Hollywood.

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Allies

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:02:00 GMT

The enemy of my enemy is worth a box of ammunition. Using the filter of Sam Peckinpah's career, Justin and Jimmy Mac discuss the concept of allies, what it means to be one, and what role they play in Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. They also find time to talk about Peckinpah's fellow workman directors and what it means to work hard and fast. In 1977, Peckinpah was working too hard and fast having made the transition from alcohol and cocaine. All of this sets the stage for his fateful and essentially career ending 1978 production of Convoy.

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Mortally Untethered

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:01:00 GMT

Once more into the dark with author Felix Blackwell. Just as Jimmy Mac loves Halloween III, Justin adores everything about Kathryn Biglelow's cult classic Near Dark including redneck vampires, Tangerine Dream's soundtrack, and even young love. Jimmy has reservations, but Felix gets to cast the deciding vote while working through his thoughts about The Lost Boys. "One thing about living in Santa Carla I could never stomach... all the damn vampires."

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The Horror Classics

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:00:26 GMT

Having gone down the dark, sinister rabbit hole of Felix Blackwell's success, Justin, Jimmy, and Felix emerge and finally turn their attention to Carpenter's Halloween. In their analysis, the introduction of Michael Myers becomes an inflection point for the history of the genre, The Shining notwithstanding. The discussion uses the movie to talk about why horror is where it is today in regards to music, tone, and subject matter. "The Night He Came Home."

Author Felix Blackwell

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:54:01 GMT

Emerging from the bowels of reddit, viral sensation horror author Felix Blackwell joins Justin and Jimmy Mac. They celebrate all things spooky with a wide ranging discussion of Roger Corman's tales of terror, a history of jump scares, and writing the fiction of dread. They never quite get to John Carpenter's seminal classic Halloween, but that just means Felix will return for the next conversation.

The One Without Michael Myers

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:52:00 GMT

A noble near miss and one of Jimmy Mac's favorite horror movies, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is packed with some great ideas, one terrific performance, and all the cringe-worthy culture of the early 80's. It's the Halloween without Michael Myers. Justin has some reservations, but the longer he talks with his co-host the more he comes to see there might be something great underneath the hood... despite the horror contained in the masks.

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Aliens!

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:51:50 GMT

Since no one can hear you scream in space, Jimmy Mac and Justin fill the vacuum with their analysis of Ridley Scott's 1979 cosmic haunted house Alien. Jimmy Mac attempts to make the case that Alien, even more than Star Wars, might be the ultimate science-fiction trucking movie. It's also a movie we do not recommend watching with your ten-year-old. "No blood; no Dallas."

Halloween High Country

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:50:00 GMT

Director Philip Kauffmann's 1979 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, along with John Carpenter's The Thing, is considered one of greatest remakes in movie history. It is also one of Jimmy Mac's favorite films. Its villainous obstacle of a replicating alien race threatens the very nature of human identity and holds a dark mirror up to the time period of Jonestown, the Iranian hostage crisis, and an existential threat to America's very urge for adventure. That threat was called malaise.

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Doing the Gag

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:39:00 GMT

Wrapping up their exchange of ideas with stuntman James Logan, Justin and Jimmy Mac express disappointment with the missed opportunities throughout Hal Needham's cinematic love letter to stuntmen Hooper. They also start tracking a troubling trend at the end of the 70's with people making movies having a better time than those watching them culminating with 1981's Cannonball Run.

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The Kid With Too Many Toys

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 13:02:00 GMT

The conversation with James Logan continues with an examination of Richard Rush's Academy Award nominated The Stuntman. Along the way, the hero's journey includes the career of composer Basil Poledouris, the directing skills of Robocop's Peter Weller, and how stuntmen assist in the creation of movie stars like John Wayne. They trace a line of stuntmen from Duke all the way to The Mandolorian.

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Stuntman Awards

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:58:00 GMT

Stuntman James Logan joins your hosts in studio after attending the annual stuntman awards ceremony, and he shares his insights into the profession along with showcasing his vast knowledge of action and horror cinema. James also figures out which horror movie character is best suited to Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

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Beyond The Pale

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:56:00 GMT

"Outside the bounds of acceptable behavior" is the meaning of the phrase "beyond the pale," and that idiom could easily be applied to the cinematic career of director Dario Argento. His Suspiria breaks boundaries in terms of subject matter, visual style, and execution, and its impact is the topic of Justin and Jimmy Mac's conversation. A witches' coven controlling a ballet academy? That is as "beyond the pale" as it gets.

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You've Gotta Have A Plan

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:55:00 GMT

A surprise success when it first hit the screen, Disney classic The Rescuers might be the sweetest film Cargo Cult will ever cover. But Jimmy Mac and Justin discover that it has all the thrills, comedy, and adventure of the two other big hits of that year, Smokey and The Bandit and Star Wars. Bob Newhart and Ava Gabor don't hurt either.

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A Hero's Journey

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:27:00 GMT

A retired veteran and a cocky rookie join with a seasoned smuggler and his furry best friend to transport precious cargo. Justin and Jimmy Mac set off "long ago in a galaxy far, far away" to talk the ultimate hero's journey that is 1977's Star Wars. You could make a case the movie has the best space trucker to ever grace the silver screen.

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Cargo Cult Bonus Content: The Last of Us Episode 1

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:23:00 GMT

If you haven’t seen HBO’s critically acclaimed and video game inspired The Last of Us, you might want to skip ahead to episode 14 and keep following Justin and Jimmy Mac as they travel along Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. But if you’ve seen or are watching the Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascale survival horror vehicle, stick around and listen to the hosts’ reaction to this staggering piece of television. The series begins with one of the greatest cold opens of all time.

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Cargo Cult Bonus Content: The Last of Us Episode 4 (SPOILER ALERT)

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:17:00 GMT

Jimmy and Justin use the latest episode The Last of Us to discuss road trips, roads to redemption, and how all of it comes to an ugly end in Kansas City. A lot of ground gets covered both on the show and the episode including a star making turn from actor Melanie Lynskey, an investigation into the nature of vengeance, and an analysis of why few revolutions actually work.

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Cargo Cult Bonus Content: The Last of Us Episode 2&3 (SPOILER ALERT)

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:15:00 GMT

The second of four episodes looking at the groundbreaking HBO series. Our interlude into The Last of Us continues with a discussion of the effectiveness of a great cold open, the creation of dystopian worlds, and why Nick Offerman needs to play Teddy Roosevelt before it is too late. Speaking of Nick Offerman, wouldn’t he be great as The Comedian in a long form adaptation of Watchman?

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The Last Of Us - Episode 1

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:13:56 GMT

OTW

Smokey & The Bandit

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:08:00 GMT

Did you think we really wouldn't get to this movie? Director Hal Needham's anarchist celebration of trucking culture perfectly captured the chronotope, put trucking at the center of American culture, and became Alfred Hitchcock's favorite movie. Many tried to replicate it, but no one succeeded. Ironically, this movie was the end not the beginning of the trend. It never stood a chance against Star Wars.

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A Wild Bunch, Indeed

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:07:00 GMT

If ever there was a western where outlaws and outlaw truckers became one, Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece The Wild Bunch would be it. An over-the-hill-but-still-formidable gang of bank robbers heads out for one final score only to find their final obstacle is a stubborn sense of honor. The laughter of the gallows is omnipresent throughout both the move and this episode.

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The Prince of Darkness Pt 2

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 11:53:00 GMT

Recorded close to Halloween, these two episodes are a ghoulishly joyful detour into John Carpenter's cult classic The Prince of Darkness. Part of the director's Apocalypse Trilogy, the movie concerns a ragtag band of grad students, holed up in an abandoned church, attempting to prevent an Eldritch-induced world ending event while staving off an army of the homeless. That army is led by Alice Cooper. School's out forever.

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The Prince of Darkness Pt 1

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 11:51:00 GMT

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My Mother Told Me Never To Do This

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 21:45:00 GMT

As the song says, "the thumb goes up; the car goes by". Or it should have in the case of C. Thomas Howell's character Jim in 1986's The Hitcher. Instead young Jim Halsey picks up the aptly named John Ryder and sets a course for a 90 minute nightmare. The fact that Ryder is played by Rutger Hauer should have tipped off our hapless hero. But we're glad Howell did pull the car over, since it gives Justin and Jimmy Mac a chance to talk not only about the cult classic but also their plans to save Thanksgiving.

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Being Free

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 21:40:00 GMT

Get your motor running, head out the highway, looking for adventure, and whatever comes your way. The urge to be free is the center of a hero's journey. It is their ultimate goal. Despite being set in different times and having different objectives, the heroes of both The Wild Bunch and Easy Rider share the deep desire to break away from the worlds in which they are trapped. It is a desire shared by many men of the year 1969 in which the films were made.

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The Call To Adventure

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 21:38:00 GMT

Using Joseph Campell's Hero's Journey as a model, Jimmy and Justin talk about The Call to Adventure that not only starts countless films but also drives those who choose trucking as a profession. They manage to find time to share their enjoyment of director Sam Peckinpah's gleefully mean-spirited cult movie 1975's The Killer Elite and its joyful slaughter of ninjas. Ninjas!

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Chronotope

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 21:38:00 GMT

Jimmy Mac and Justin Welborn discuss the idea of the road combined with the race against time as an antagonist of many a movie hero and the American truck driver. They also work in the time to discuss one of Jimmy's favorite movies: 1972's The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3. Best line from that film? "We need more time Pelham!"

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The Preamble

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 21:36:00 GMT

Join hosts Jimmy Mac and Justin Welborn on Cargo Cult. It's a podcast about the movies, books, music, and moments that helped shape not only the lifestyle of the trucking industry but also the American obsession with being on the move.

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Cargo Cult

The Retcon of '73

Christmas Movies

Refusing The Call

Drive Car Real Fast

Adversaries Through Metal

Filmmaker David Bruckner

Ode to John Carpenter

M*A*S*H*

Tired

We Stop Too Much

Winner Takes It All

Rubber Duck

Allies

Mortally Untethered

The Horror Classics

Author Felix Blackwell

The One Without Michael Myers

Aliens!

Halloween High Country

Doing the Gag

The Kid With Too Many Toys

Stuntman Awards

Beyond The Pale

You've Gotta Have A Plan

A Hero's Journey

Cargo Cult Bonus Content: The Last of Us Episode 1

Cargo Cult Bonus Content: The Last of Us Episode 4 (SPOILER ALERT)

Cargo Cult Bonus Content: The Last of Us Episode 2&3 (SPOILER ALERT)

The Last Of Us - Episode 1

Smokey & The Bandit

A Wild Bunch, Indeed

The Prince of Darkness Pt 2

The Prince of Darkness Pt 1

My Mother Told Me Never To Do This

Being Free

The Call To Adventure

Chronotope

The Preamble

MASH