While we focus mostly on TV shows and movies here at What to Watch, we, like everyone else, love a good podcast. I am personally stoked because one of my favorite podcasts is set to return after nearly two years since the last episode: The Turner Classic Movies-backed The Plot Thickens. After releasing its last season back in the fall of 2022, The Plot Thickens season 5 debuts on Thursday, June 6, available everywhere you can get podcasts.
Hosted by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz, The Plot Thickens offers a deep look into key figures and interesting periods in movie and entertainment history, speaking directly with the subjects or those that knew them best. Already with four seasons to its name, The Plot Thickens has focused on Peter Bogdanovich, the making of the infamous flop The Bonfire of the Vanities, Lucille Ball and Pam Grier.
This season, the spotlight is being put on legendary, four-time Oscar-winning director John Ford, with the subtitle of the season being "Decoding John Ford." Here's why I can't wait to start listening to the new episodes and hearing more about the director behind such classics as Stagecoach, The Searchers and more.
John Ford is one of the most influential, fascinating directors in movie history
In the trailer for The Plot Thickens season 5, Mankiewicz calls Ford "the most influential director of the 20th century" noting that the likes of Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg looked to Ford for inspiration when making many of their own classic movies. However, despite directing more than 100 movies, winning more directing Oscars than anyone in history and helping "shape our image of this country," as Mankiewicz says, Ford remained a man of "many contradictions and a consummate liar." The host outlines that this season of The Plot Thickens is setting out to get to the truth about the director.
Ever since I first saw Stagecoach, Ford's classic western that helped launch John Wayne into the star he would become, I have been in awe of the director's work. That has only deepened after watching the likes of They Were Expendable, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and more. So I already love the movies, but I can't wait to hear more about the man behind him.
(FYI, if you want to watch some of the John Ford movies that are being discussed in the podcast, many of them are available online, . Also, TCM is airing a special marathon of some of his movies on Wednesday, June 5, starting at 8 pm ET/PT).
Mankiewicz teases Ford as an odd fellow, even one often combative with not only the press but his stars, yet he also had a troupe of actors who would appear in many of his movies. I can't wait to hear the podcast dive more into the personal life of Ford, including his service during World War Two as part of the US's efforts to document the war. I've gotten some background on that via Mark Harris' brilliant book Five Came Back and other components of the director's life in other books, but getting to hear first-hand accounts through the podcast is going to be fascinating.
The Plot Thickens is an incredibly researched and produced podcast
The inclusion of those first-hand accounts, often archival but also from interviews specifically conducted for the podcast, is what truly makes The Plot Thickens such an informative and rewarding listen. Mankiewicz, who has experience reporting and interviewing prior to coming to TCM, and the team that produces the podcast put so much great work into the series that it truly feels like you're getting the full scope of the subject, practically as much as you would from reading a well-researched book. Shouldn't be surprising considering the wealth of resources that TCM has at its fingertips.
As fun as it can be to listen to people spouting their own personal opinions about a movie or whatever topic you want to hear about (either by themselves or in an argument with someone else), a podcast that tells a story, like The Plot Thickens, can get me hooked quick and have me eagerly awaiting the release of each episode.
Listen to The Plot Thickens starting Thursday, June 6, with new episodes releasing every Thursday wherever podcasts are available.
