Episode 806: The Postman (1997)

Sci-fi month concludes with one of the great cinematic boondoggles of the '90s. Kevin Costner directs and stars in The Postman (1997), playing a wandering drifter who stumbles into a postal uniform and accidentally becomes the savior of a shattered America, restoring hope and democracy one undelivered letter at a time. Standing in his way: General Bethlehem (Will Patton), a Shakespeare-quoting warlord leading a militia of survivalist zealots called the Holnists. Mike talks with Emily Intravia and Carol Borden about the film's tangled politics, its baffling sense of time, its surprisingly thin violence for an R rating, and why a nearly three-hour epic about restoring the mail somehow still feels unfinished scene to scene.