That’s Not What “You Gotta Take Your Shot” Means, Junior

What do you get when you mix Jodie Foster, a presidential assassination attempt, a TV show that won’t go away, and a weird attempt at pitching woo?

This week on Free Nights and Weekends, we rewind to one of the strangest cultural collisions of the 1980s — the obsession that drove John Hinckley Jr. to attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan… all in a misguided attempt to impress a movie star.

We break down:

• The bizarre connection between Taxi Driver and real-world violence 
• How celebrity culture worked before the internet (and how it warped differently) 
• The ripple effects of the shooting, including changes in security and the rise of gun control debates

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