Bill Arceneaux on WUSA

New Orleans film critic Bill Arceneaux dials up 1970's WUSA starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Perkins. Two drifters wander into the French Quarter to escape their past and fall in love in a 24-hour Lower Decatur dive bar, but it turns out it's their present they should be worried about. 60's counter-culture VS. Republican establishment, played out on location in the French Quarter. Is this movie mad or profound? Has New Orleans really not changed at all in fifty years? Could it be remade today? How was it almost A Confederacy Of Dunces? Does Paul Newman really have "steak at home"? Political commentary, ahoy.

VOTE on whether WUSA is "essential NOLA cinema"

Recorded 5/8/20. Show index:  To Georgia and back • Perkins in my kitchen • Welcome to New Orleans • Lower Decatur Street, 1969 • 50 years vs today • Fighting City Hall • The Plantation Set • Happy endings • Woodward's end • City justice • Tryptic structure, tryptic theme • Redneck Riviera in the Playboy Club • Trump • Hippies • Director Stuart Rosenberg • Paul Newman • A Confederacy of Dunces alternate timeline • When trends hit New Orleans • Political movie fantasies • Parting advice

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