Film

Independent filmmaker Spike Lee's first feature, She's Gotta Have It, has garnered critical adulation and popular success. He joins Fresh Air to discuss his experiences as a black director, having an all-black cast, and making a movie that deals frankly with women's sexual desires.

Film critic Roger Ebert returns to Fresh Air to discuss the impact VCRs and the home video market has affected an audience's movie watching habits--a topic he explores in the book Roger Ebert's Movie Home Companion. The newest iteration of his television show with fellow critic Gene Siskel is called At the Movies. Fresh Air listeners call in with their questions.

Film director John Waters has cultivated a second career as a writer. His newest collection of essays is called Crackpot. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his television watching and filmgoing habits, and to discuss some of his favorite recent releases. Listeners call in with their questions.

Actress Lynn Redgrave, known for numerous stage productions and the film Georgy Girl, comes from a family of actors. She joins Fresh Air to discuss her craft and how both her weight and famous last name shaped her career.

Novelist William Kennedy and his son Brendan collaborated on a children's book called Charlie Malarkey and the Belly-Button. Despite the elder Kennedy's success as a novelist, the two received a series of rejections before finally getting their work published. Kennedy also talks about his recent work as a screenwriter.

Feminist writer Gloria Steinem has a new book about actress Marilyn Monroe. Steinem was initially disgusted by Monroe's portrayal of some onscreen. Now she has a more sympathetic view toward the late actress's talent and vulnerability.

Diane Johnson's first novel in eight years deals with an American woman's affair during the Iranian revolution. She joins Fresh Air to talk about writing biographies and screenplays and why it took her so long to finish her newest book.

Language commentator Geoff Nunberg considers why actors adopt foreign or regional accents in film -- and why they sometimes speak in their natural voice, regardless of the part they play.

Stephen Schiff reviews Prick Up Your Ears, about the relationship between playwright Joe Orton and his partner Ken Halliwell -- which ended in a murder-suicide.

Jill Godmilow's American Playhouse film explores the relationship between the avant-garde writer and her partner Alice Toklas. While much of the plot is invented, Godmilow was careful to stay true to the women's lives.

Nicholas Proffitt's book Garden of Stone, inspired by his ceremonial role in the Army during the Vietnam War, was recently adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola.

Film critic Stephen Schiff believes that the proliferation of film critics on television, whose insights he believes are often superficial, has led moviegoers to believe that emotional manipulation is the sole criterion for great cinema.

Stephen Frears directed a new biopic about the life and death of the gay British playwright called Prick Up Your Ears.

Time Magazine film critic Richard Schickel's new book compiles promotional photographs of film actors that were taken while they were under contract with movie studios -- a publicity model which became obsolete with the advent of television talk shows and the decline of studio contracts.

Stephen Schiff thinks everyone involved in the new film Ishtar was going through the motions, including stars Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty.

For those who missed the theatrical release, critic Ken Tucker recommends watching the suspense film on home video.

Film critic Stephen Schiff credits the success of Beverly Hills Cop II more to its star, Eddie Murphy, than the movie itself -- which doesn't share any of the virtues of its predecessor.

Director Tim Hunter's new movie is about a teenage murderer and the impact his actions have on his friends. The movie stars Dennis Hopper, Keanu Reeves, and Crispin Glover.

James Lardner's new book examines how videocassette recorders have changed the motion picture industry and viewers' movie and television watching habits. The author also considers how nearly all VHS players are manufactured in Japan, though the technology was developed in the U.S.

Allan Arkush is part of a new breed of directors who switches back and forth between film and television. A veteran of B-movies and cult films, he says TV offers more room for experimentation and narrative innovation.