The Italian film director died last week at the age of 67. Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Leone's movies had a unique symbolism and vision of the American West that only an outsider could have imagined.
Maureen Corrigan has regularly read the Sunday New York Times wedding announcements. She says the kind of information that's printed -- and the kinds of couples who are highlighted might say as much about the paper's editorial slant as much as it does the current state of marriage.
Band leader and composer Mercer Ellington is the son of Duke Ellington, and leads the Duke Ellington Band. As a young man, Mercer Ellington played trombone, French horn and trumpet in his father's ensemble. Two recent Mercer Ellington albums have won wide acclaim: "Digital Duke" and "For Ellington," performed by the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says that some composers elevate film scores, including Bernard Hermann, who wrote the music for several Alfred Hitchcock movies. A new collection of those compositions is now out on CD.
Tom Goodkind, Bruce Paskow, and Lauren Agnelli are veterans of the New York punk scene. Their new band, the Washington Squares, plays traditional folk songs with a rock edge.
Book critic John Leonard reviews David Grossman's novel See Under: Love, about Holocaust survivors. Leonard says he's still not sure if the fantastic plot and inventive structure work -- or if the ambitious book is indeed a masterpiece.
Wayans is the brother of actor and director Keenan Ivory Wayans, and has been pursuing a career in stand-up. He's been appearing in films recently like Beverly Hills Cop, though he's frustrated by the lack of complex and varied roles for black actors. Wayans' forthcoming movie is called Earth Girls are Easy.
Rock historian Ed Ward says the term has been mis-applied, often describing bands that record labels saw as commercially viable, rather than the kind of music they played. He says that Bob Dylan pioneered the folk-rock sound; British bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span helped it evolve.
Buckley co-founded the National Review and hosts the television program Firing Line. His new book, On the Firing Line, includes transcripts of some of his interviews. Buckley studied at Yale and later joined the CIA. Throughout his professional career, he has sought to revitalize the political right and the Republican Party.
Television critic DAVID BIANCULLI reviews "Cops," a new Fox Network show. Filmed on location in Broward County, Florida, the episodes follow real cops as they orchestrate drug stings, investigate car crashes and try to resolve domestic disputes.
Writer and ecological historian STEPHEN PYNE. His latest book, Fire on the Rim, A Firefighter's Season at the Grand Canyon, explores the intricacies of fire management, man's relation to the rural western environment, and the summer ritual that changes the canyon and the people who try to protect it. Pyne worked as a firefighter for 15 season's on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. Pyne describes a life where the firefighter lives in isolation for four months, defined by the fires and the capriciousness of lightning.
Writer ALICE WALKER. She's best known for the novel The Color Purple, a seminal account of the life of poor, rural blacks in the south as experienced by the women. The novel revolves around letters that Celie, the principal character, addesses to God after her father has impregnated her for the second time. The Color Purple won the American Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and was later adapted for the screen by Steven Speilberg.
Critic-at-large Laurie Stone recently attended the Lincoln Center's celebration of Hollywood star Bette Davis, who is now 81. The gala included a series of film clips which, according to Stone, highlighted the power, confidence, and humanity of Davis's performances.
Hurt stars in the new film Scandal, about the Profumo sex scandal of the 1960s. He also portrayed Joseph Merrick in David Lynch's The Elephant Man. He joins Fresh Air to discuss how he fully inhabits his characters, and how his early life led him to acting.
Forsyth's latest book, called The Negotiator, imagines the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1990s, several years after the Glasnost reforms. He left home to become a bullfighter, and later worked a journalist in Europe and Africa. Forsyth was once accused of raising money to oust a dictator in Equitorial Guinea -- a claim that was never substantiated.
Film critic Stephen Schiff says the new film, based on W.P. Kinsella's baseball-themed novel Shoeless Joe, is designed to make men cry, while still preserving their masculinity. It's skillfully made and acted, but Schiff thinks Field of Dreams is sappy and, ultimately, pointless.
Ken Tucker returns with his latest countdown of noteworthy songs. His list features Roachford, Peter Case, Tim Finn, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Elvis Costello.
Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard was arrested by the FBI for giving classified information to the Israeli government. DC Bureau Chief for The Jerusalem Post Wolf Blitzer reported the story, and had unprecedented access to Pollard in prison. Blitzer's new book about the affair is called Territory of Lies.
