The 400 Blows

Our 400th episode talks about one of the influential films of the French New Wave, which was also Francois Truffaut’s directorial debut. The 400 Blows is famous for all kinds of reasons (especially that freeze frame at the end), but at heart it’s a quiet character study of a young boy who makes bad decisions and has really bad parents. Jean-Pierre Leaud gives one of the great child performances in the history of cinema, whether he’s crammed into a tiny apartment, repeatedly getting in trouble in school, running the streets or getting thrown into juvie. Truffaut shot this hell-raising picture in the streets, often letting his actors improvise and making it feel gritty & real. So party with your young chum, run away from your terrible folks or maybe just go for a stroll along the beach, but make sure to have a podcast in your ears. In fact, make that podcast the 400th Ellises’ Analysis, mes amis. Sparkplug Coffee might not be ideal for kids, but it’s definitely ideal for you. And if you dig a 20% discount, you’ll get one by entering our promo code (“top100project”) into the appropriate space at check-out. We like to Tweet. Well…here and there. We’re @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis Our website is top100project.com Ryan’s other podcast (Scoring At The Movies) talks about sports films. Check it out.