The Movies that Made Us
This hugely entertaining, gossipy series takes a look at some of the iconic movies of the late 20th century, specifically the 1980s and 90s, speaking to actors, directors, writers and other industry insiders who were involved in the making of them.
Among the films under scrutiny are Ghostbusters, Pretty Woman, Back to the Future, Coming to America, Forrest Gump, Aliens and Jurassic Park. The film there would have been uproar about if it had not been included (from me, at least) is Dirty Dancing. In the episode devoted to the hit 1987 movie, a coming-of-age story set in 1963 in a resort in the Catskills starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, we hear first from screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein and how her own life inspired the script. We learn how she and producer Linda Gottlieb came up with the title and got the film made against the odds after all the major studios had rejected it. They also talk about the chemistry and the tension between Swayze and Grey, and how some of the key scenes were shot. Fascinating stuff.