159 The Iron Giant (1999)

On this week’s episode we are discussing the underappreciated 1999 animated film The Iron Giant. We discuss 1950s America, the fear of outsiders, gun control, the changing face of the villain in American cinema, why Indy doesn’t like Mark Sinclair (Vin diesel), wisdom of the innocent, putting yourself back together after failure, Happy Gilmore, the controversy of non-violence, self-made heroes, and how The Iron Giant would be received today. Give it a listen. You don’t have anything better to do, right?

The Iron Giant is a 1999 American animated science fiction film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Brad Bird in his directorial debut. It is based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes (which was published in the United States as The Iron Giant) and was scripted by Tim McCanlies from a story treatment by Bird. The film stars the voices of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald, and M. Emmet Walsh. Set during the Cold War in 1957, the film centers on a young boy named Hogarth Hughes, who discovers and befriends a giant alien robot. With the help of a beatnik artist named Dean McCoppin, Hogarth attempts to prevent the U.S. military and Kent Mansley, a paranoid federal agent, from finding and destroying the Giant.

The Iron Giant on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/589394?utm_source=justwatch-feed&tracking=justwatch-feed

The Iron Giant on Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/14428392