{"id":1575,"date":"2026-10-19T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2026-10-18T21:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:38:20","slug":"409-romance-and-cigarettes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fightinginthewarroom.com\/THOB\/2026\/10\/19\/409-romance-and-cigarettes\/","title":{"rendered":"409 – Romance and Cigarettes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Post-Chicago<\/em>, just about any movie musical was fodder for awards buzz, especially if they boasted a cast as stacked as Romance and Cigarettes<\/em>. A jukebox musical from the mind of John Turturro, the film stars James Gandolfini as a New York construction worker whose life goes into tumult when he cheats on his wife (Susan Sarandon) with a younger redhead (Kate Winslet). Bizarrely profane and minimally plotted, the film thudded onto the festival scene in 2005 and didn’t see a theatrical release until Turturro self-distributed it in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This episode, we talk about Turturro’s Best Actor chances this season with The Only Living Pickpocket in New York<\/em> and his under-rewarded career as an actor. We also discuss Gandolfini breaking away from The Sopranos<\/em> with movies, the film’s strange catalog of disconnected songs, and a punk girl group of Mary-Louise Parker, Mandy Moore, and Aida Turturro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topics also include Film Forum, the 2005 Venice Film Festival, and Elaine Stritch: At Liberty<\/em>.<\/p>\n