Saturday, June 20, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (494)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1940 Porky's Last Standstarring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, directed by Bob Clampett.



The title refers to the last stand of General George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour was searching for something a little different today. I think they found it with this thoughtful conversation between Conan O'Brien and John Stewart :  



I believe we're all glad that they are still around.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1991 drama La Belle Noiseuse (The Beautiful Troublemaker), directed by Jacques Rivette and starring Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin and Emmanuelle Béart.

The film is based on the short story The Unknown Masterpiece written by nineteenth-century french novelist Honoré de Balzac.

Emmanuelle Béart had mentioned in interviews that the character Marianne in La Belle Noiseuse remains the most physically and emotionally taxing role she has ever taken in her long career. She has be quoted as saying, "It's funny, I had always sworn to myself never to play naked in the cinema, because I find that there is an overdose on the way in which the female body is exploited. And then Jacques arrived. He told me: 'You are going to play naked.' And it was exciting to exploit that nudity. Because it's a real woman playing. And the look of Jacques, that of Michel too, because for me they are inseparable, helped me a lot. But it's true that when you find yourself naked in front of the camera, it's very difficult. I had a few seconds of real discomfort. I wasn't hurt, just paralyzed. I was very scared. I was unable to move. I no longer had a shell. And then I gradually relaxed. The team was small and I never feared the gaze of people on set. Little by little, I took real physical pleasure in giving something. My body became active. Of course, there were moments of total refusal. I felt like an object. I wanted to escape this image of woman-object. But I especially wanted to transform the image of the model. I wanted this painting to be done in pairs. Between this woman and this painter, there is a clash of two gazes. She looks at him and provokes him. And she doesn't want to let go."

Please find a very comfortable chair (the film is almost 4 hours long,) dim the lights, and join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this thought provoking drama: La Belle Noiseuse. (Bunkies, ask your folks if you're allowed to watch the film - it's chock-a-block with female nudity.)



The frank and extensive nudity Emmanuelle Béart did in this film seemed to extract a heavy toll on her, so much that she admitted in an interview that, ever since the release of this film back in 1991, she had been able to draw the courage to view La Belle Noiseuse in its entirety only once, which was hinted to be at the time of its premiere back in 1991 Cannes Film Festival.



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Monday, June 15, 2026

Turducken —




a deboned turkey that is stuffed with a deboned duck that is stuffed with a deboned chicken. Although I've made both a Ballotine and a Galantine many a time.

(I've not had one yet but I'm waiting to try it.)

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Saturday, June 13, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (493)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 The Film Fanstarring Porky Pig directed by Bob Clampett.



In the scene where a duckling shoots a big wad of gum at "Sterling," a duck resembling Daffy Duck can be seen in the audience. It is likely not him, however, as this duck has a white stomach, something Daffy noticeably lacks.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour love Patton Oswald. He is one of the funniest comics working today. So imagine our joy when we found a brand new special of his on YouTube. So pull up a chair and join us in watching; Tea & Scotch: -



Reading some of the viewer comments and we came upon a brilliant concept - make Patton next year's Oscar host.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1990 drama Reversal of Fortune, directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Ron Silver, Annabella Sciorra, Christine Baranski, Fisher Stevens, and Uta Hagen (in her final screen appearance). Kathleen Turner turned down the role of Sunny von Bülow.

(A point of information: Martha "Sunny" von Bülow died on December 6, 2008, at the age of 76. She spent the last 28 years of her life in a coma. Eleven years later, Claus von Bülow passed away in March 2019.)

Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, and Christine Baranski previously appeared in the Broadway production of The Real Thing, directed by Mike Nichols in 1984. All three won Tony Awards for their performances: Irons and Close for leading roles, and Baranski for a supporting role. In the play, Irons and Close portrayed lovers. They later played brother and sister in the film The House of the Spirits.

Jeremy Irons has said that the most challenging part of playing Claus von Bülow was perfecting his voice. He admitted in an interview that the production was already halfway through filming when he finally found the right voice. As a result, the first half of the film had to be dubbed in post-production for consistency. In some scenes (particularly his exchanges with Ron Silver), this dubbing is very noticeable.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this disturbing drama: Reversal of Fortune.



Harvard law professor and attorney Alan Dershowitz also served on the defense team in what may have been the most highly publicized murder case of the 20th century: the 1995 trial of movie star and former professional football player O.J. Simpson, who was accused of the June 12, 1994, murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Dershowitz was one of more than half a dozen prominent defense attorneys assembled by Johnnie Cochran for Simpson’s defense. The others included F. Lee Bailey and Robert Kardashian. Simpson was acquitted on October 3, 1995, after an 11-month trial.

A brief aside: Dershowitz appears prominently in the Epstein files, having served as an attorney for Jeffrey Epstein. The House Oversight Committee has requested that Dershowitz testify as part of its investigation into the federal government's handling of the Epstein files. The interview is tentatively scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on July 9.



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Monday, June 8, 2026

Topsy-turvy —




with the top where the bottom should be; upside down



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Saturday, June 6, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (492)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Porky the Giant Killerstarring Porky Pig directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.



When the baby giant slams Porky into the drum, the word PIG can be seen spelled in the blocks just before he hits it.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour love to trawl the intraweb. We want you to watch the following video, without us telling you anything about it. We found the video on the wonderful website - Nag on the Lake -



This could be the strangest music video we've ever seen but we like it!


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1990 comedy-drama Archangel, directed by Guy Maddin and starring Kyle McCulloch, Michael Gottli, David Falkenburg, Michael O'Sullivan, Margaret Anne MacLeod, Ari Cohen, Sarah Neville, Kathy Marykuca, Victor Cowie, Robert Lougheed, and Stephen Snyd

The film is like no other (except, of course, for any other Guy Maddin film). Archangel is a weird, wild, and extraordinary movie that is both a melodrama and a deadpan parody of silent-film style. With striking black-and-white cinematography and stylized set design, Maddin’s second feature (following his startling debut Tales from the Gimli Hospital) is a tale of obsessive love.

The plot is almost too crazy to describe. In 1919, one-legged Canadian soldier Lt. John Boles arrives in the northern Russian town of Archangel, where Bolsheviks, White Russians, and German Huns converge during World War I. When Boles encounters a local woman named Veronkha, he faints and becomes convinced that she is his dead wife, Iris. But Veronkha is already married to Philbin, who also suffers from amnesia and relives their wedding night over and over without remembering anything that follows. What ensues is a twisted love triangle fueled by infatuation, as each person forgets who it is they truly love.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this very odd yet amusing film: Archangel.



In the original script, Boles' false leg was lost before he arrived at the cottage in Archangel and was to be replaced by a harpoon. The harpoon would then be thrown at the life-size statue of the Holy Virgin outside the cottage, piercing its eye. None of this made it into the final film, although the large "One-Eyed Virgin" statue does appear.


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Monday, June 1, 2026

Saturday, May 30, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (491)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Pied Piper Porky starring Porky Pig directed by Bob Clampett.



The humor in this short is more adult in nature, as cartoons were shown in a cinema to a variety of audiences. There are inside jokes that the grown ups would have appreciated, plus plenty of slapstick to amuse the kids.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour are getting ready for the start of summer Fridays. As you well know we love mash-up videos. so here's an unlikely pair for the wonderful Bill McClintock - Donna Summer and The Police



Bill has one of the most limber minds on the Intraweb.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1990 drama Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer directed by John McNaughton and starring Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, and Tracy Arnold.

The film was shot in 1985 but had difficulty finding a film distributor. It premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1986 and played at other festivals throughout the late 1980s. Following successful showings during which it attracted both controversy and positive critical attention, the film was rated X by the MPAA, further increasing its reputation for controversy. It was subsequently picked up for a limited release in 1990 in an unrated version.

Although the MPAA initially gave the film an X rating, this movie, along with Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Pedro Almodóvar's Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, were the main reasons for the creation of the NC-17 rating (an adults-only film, which is non-pornographic).

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this horror movie: Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer.



Michael Rooker remained in character for the duration of the shoot, even off-set. He didn't associate or socialize with any of the cast or crew during the month-long shoot, and John McNaughton made sure Rooker was the only person on set to have a private dressing room. According to Costume Designer Patricia Hart, she and Rooker would travel to the set together each day, and she never knew from one minute to the next if she was talking to Michael or to Henry, as sometimes he would speak about his childhood and background, not as Michael Rooker, but as Henry. Indeed, so in-character did Rooker remain, that during the shoot, his wife discovered she was pregnant, but she waited until filming had stopped before she told him


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Monday, May 25, 2026

Telekinesis —




the supposed ability to move objects at a distance by mental power or other nonphysical means



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Saturday, May 23, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (490)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Naughty Neighbors starring Porky Pig (and co-starring Petunia Pig,) directed by Bob Clampett.



This is the final appearance of Petunia Pig in the Golden Age of American Animation.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour are all away, celebrating the Memorial Day weekend. Before they left, they all decided the best thing would could watch, is a guy, eating a bunch of chicken wings.



Colin Jost was a good guest


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1987 drama Babette's Feast directed by Gabriel Axel and starring Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, and Bodil Kjer.

The role of Babette was originally offered to Catherine Deneuve. She was interested in the part but dithered about accepting it. When Gabriel Axel offered the part to Stéphane Audran, he used Deneuve's interest to coax her into making a quick decision. Audran responded within two hours of reading the screenplay. (And Deneuve ultimately turned down the offer.)

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this oddly moving food movie: Babett's Feast.



The seven-course menu in the film consisted of:

"Potage à la Tortue" (turtle soup) served with Amontillado sherry.
"Blinis Demidoff" (buckwheat pancakes with caviar and sour cream) served with Veuve Cliquot Champagne.
"Cailles en Sarcophage" (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) served with Clos de Vougeot Pinot Noir.
An endive salad.
"Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée" (rum sponge cake with figs and candied cherries) served with Champagne.
Assorted cheeses and fruits served with Sauternes.
Coffee with vieux marc Grande Champagne cognac.


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Saturday, May 16, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (489)

Thank you for joining us today 

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Jeepers Creepers starring Porky Pig , directed by Bob Clampett.



This animated short was digitally colored by Warner Bros. in 1990.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, would likes to give a special birthday shout out to an old codger, who's been around this planet of our and celebrated the planet's bio-diversity more than many of us have had a hot meal-



Happy 100th birthday David Attenborough


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 comedy-drama Trust directed by Hal Hartley (in the second film of his Long Island trilogy,) and starring Adrienne Shelly, Martin Donovan, Merritt Nelson, Edie Falco, and John MacKay.

Trust has the stark, no-frills look of a small-budget, grimly serious independent production, which only serves to make its deadpan hilarity all the more jarring and amusing. Everyone speaks with a rapid-fire intensity, as though each character is determined to cram the most information, or the greatest threat, into a listener’s limited attention span.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this black comedy: Trust.



In an interview, Hal Hartley once explained that he made the movie on the spur of the moment because he wanted to work with Adrienne Shelly again immediately after making The Unbelievable Truth, so he had very little money and very little time. The movie was shot in 11 days. The reason he could do that, he said, was because so much of the direction was implied in the dialogue. The dialogue pretty much told the actors what to do.


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Monday, May 11, 2026

Tappen —



the plug by which the rectum of a bear is closed during hibernation (and that's all I'm going to say on the subject.)



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Saturday, May 9, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (488)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Porky's Hotelstarring Porky Pig , directed by Bob Clampett.



Porky is escorting a pelican to a room. Porky is carrying his bags, one of which has stickers bearing the names of previous destinations. The stickers read: MILTON PA and KATZ HOTEL. The assistant producer on this cartoon was Ray Katz, producer Leon Schlesinger's brother-in-law.


As we said last week, the staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, likes to have a cocktail now and then, which helps get through the days. We love a good brandy now and then, but even we didn't know the difference between cognac and brandy (although we could have guessed.) -



So once again, the French split hairs in naming alcoholic beverages


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 teen comedy-drama Say Anything directed by Cameron Crowe (in his feature directorial debut,) and starring John Cusack Ione Skye, Lili Taylor, Jeremy Piven, and John Mahoney.

A personal aside - I saw the movie when it first came out and I like it but was surprised when I saw it on the list. But thinking about if further, the film does feature one of the most enduring scenes in romance films, in which John Cusack holds a boombox above his head outside Ione Skye's bedroom window to let her know that he has not given up on her. Ah yes - young love

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this charming film: Say Anything.



An unusual number of the actors in this movie are themselves the children of well-known entertainment industry professionals. Ione Skye (Diane Court) is the daughter of the Scottish pop singer Donovan; Pamela Adlon (Rebecca) is the daughter of TV writer Don Segall; Jason Gould (Mike Cameron) is the son of singer Barbra Streisand and actor Elliott Gould; Chynna Phillips (Mimi) is the daughter of John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of the 1960s group The Mamas and the Papas; Amy Brooks (D.C. ) is a daughter of director, writer, and Say Anything producer James L. Brooks.


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Monday, May 4, 2026

Switcheroo —





an unexpected or sudden change or reversal in attitude, character, position, action, etc.



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Saturday, May 2, 2026

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (487)

Thank you for joining us today


Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Wise Quacks, starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck and directed by Bob Clampett.



An alternate design for Daffy, designed by Charles Thorson, is introduced here, where he is drawn with more slanted eyes and a big grey face surrounding his eyes. It was scrapped a year later.


You would be forgiven if you wanted to take a break from the news. The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, not surprisingly, likes to have a cocktail now and then, which helps get through the days (we are not recommending day drinking, although it's always 5 pm somewhere.) We thought you'd like to watch, with us, Alton Brown get quite drunk, tasting 20 different drinks -



Two things: first, given my love of martinis, I’ve been an adult for a very long time; second, there should be a law against getting a tattoo while drinking. Plenty of tattoos are acquired after a few drinks - but getting one during? That should never happen.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 Taiwanese drama A City of Sadness (AKA Beiqing Chengshi) directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. and starring Tony Leung, Sung Young Chen, and Wou Yi Fang. A City of Sadness focuses on the complex history of 20th-century Taiwan during the turbulent period in Taiwanese history between the fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945 and the establishment of martial law in 1949.

It is the first Taiwanese film to broach the subject of the most traumatic experience in the nation’s history, the February 28 Incident. This was a 1947 massacre by the Nationalist Party that resulted in 18,000 to 28,000 deaths. Using a family as a matrix through which to filter the historical events at the moment of the founding of the nation, Hou re-presents Taiwanese history in both micro and macro perspectives.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this tragic drama: A City of Sadness.



The original premise of this film is the reunion of an ex-gangster (which Hou Hsiao-Hsien intended to cast Chow Yun-fat for the role) and his former lover (supposedly played by Yang Li-Hua, the top Taiwanese Opera actress in real-life) in 1970s. Hou and Chu then extended the story to involve substantial flashbacks of the calamity of the woman's family in late 1940s (where the woman was the teenage daughter of Chen Song-Yong's character). They then abandoned the former premise and instead focused on the 1940s' story.


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