The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978): Sex, "Twaddle", & One B.F. Dick | Part 1 (American Giallo)

Bill and Kevin are back with another installment in the American Giallo series, and this time we’re staring directly into The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) with Ben Schneider from Reel Beans Podcast. In Part One, the guys dig through the Catholic reviews and internal memoranda on Irvin Kershner’s Faye Dunaway thriller, and apparently the “Catholics” had some thoughts. One reviewer dismissed the movie as “twaddle,” another wrote it off as grocery store schlock, and then there’s the surprisingly thoughtful review from one B.F. Dick. Yes...that’s actually his name.

We also get into the bizarre screenwriting history behind The Eyes of Laura Mars, including the long-running rumors about Italian screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi’s involvement, and talk about Faye Dunaway’s absolutely killer run of movies leading up to this one. Along the way, we look at the film as a piece of American Giallo, the Catholic obsession with sex and violence on screen, and the strange path this very strange movie took from hands of John Carpenter, to the Eyes of Laura Mars.

Check out episode one, and definitely come back for a deep dive into the movie and behind the scenes tidits in episode two.