Episode #36 - Matt Lynch (Hard Boiled)

Click here to listen to the episode

"Deep down, I still crave that jolt. That's what keeps me coming back."

In a world where streaming services have attempted to kill physical media, Scarecrow Video proudly boasts row after row of DVDs, VHS tapes, and more in its 120,000 title collection located out in Seattle, Washington. Matt Lynch has worked at Scarecrow for over 10 years, and knows the store in and out, from the location of every auteur to where you can find "Little Bastards" flicks. So Peter visited the store and sat down with Matt to get a sense of the independent video store's history and future, as well as talk movie violence in its utter grotesqueness and pure visceral pleasure. Finally, the two examine John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong blockbuster Hard Boiled, which not only features some of the most spectacularly crafted action sequences in any film, but examines its own violence through a deeply moralistic lens.

0:00-1:33 Opening 

2:26-9:48 Establishing Shots - Dietrich and Von Sterberg / Donations

10:33-1:09:12 Deep Focus - Matt Lynch

1:10:44-1:29:32 Double Exposure - Hard Boiled (John Woo)

1:29:35-1:31:15 Close

Read Matt Lynch on Letterboxd, In Review Online, and The Stranger. Check out Scarecrow Video.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Notes and Links from the Conversation

-Premiere Magazine's article on Scarecrow Video appeared in the April 2001 issue.
-Scarecrow's history
-Shout Factory
-Synapse Films
-Code Red DVD
-Oppo Blu-Ray Players
-Criterion's LaserDisc Films
-The Psychotronic Video Guide to Film
-Jonathan Rosenbaum on violence in Dead Man
-Listen to Matt's commentary track for Bad Boys II-Matt's review of Pain & Gain
-Matt talks Showgirls on the Scarecrow Video Podcast
-An Indiewire interview with Brian De Palma on Passion 
-Lau Kar-Leung and Shaolin Mantis 
-Scarecrow Video Podcast on Tony Scott
-Opening of Bamboo House of Dolls
-The Spook Who Sat By The Door
-Truck Turner
-David Bordwell's Planet Hong Kong 
-Dave Kehr's Commentary Track is on the Out of Print Hard Boiled Criterion DVD. You can also read a selection here.

Theme Music: “Forward” by Northbound

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