Hi, everybody. We want to thank our sponsor, Legion M. They are a wonderful company. We love working with them. You can go to their website, Legion M. They're also on all the various socials. They do really fun meetups. You can talk to directors. You can become a part of the projects they choose. They even have a program right now where you can help them find

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newsletters from my dad, all kinds of neat stuff behind the scenes,

hang out with us, learn about who our guests are before anybody else, and listen to the podcast

before anybody else. Go to patreon.com slash malton on movies for more information. That's patreon.com

slash malton on movies. This is a special episode

for me, as Jesse and I speak with an old and cherished friend, perhaps the most influential

film teacher of our time. A list of her famous graduates who remain devoted to her is matched

only by the caliber of people who seek her out, like Martin Scorsese

and Clint Eastwood, who has donated his personal papers to the archive she founded at Wesleyan

University. It's a pleasure to welcome her to our podcast.

Hi, everybody. I'm Leonard Malton.

And I'm Jesse Malton.

And you're listening to Malton on Movies.

And our guest today is a very special person, partly because we've known her so long,

and partly because she's a special person.

Her name is Janine Basinger, and she's been teaching film at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut for a good many years, and along the way, writing wonderful, engaging, opinionated books on American film, the latest of which is the movie musical, which has an exclamation point at the end.

I'm not sure how to say that out loud.

It's like the movie Mother.

It's Mother!

The musical!

...