THE DON

50

THE DON is a docu-drama on the life of the producer of TOP GUN, Don Simpson, which uses narration, clips, and fictional re-enactments via “lost tapes'' to take you behind the scenes into Hollywood’s decade of decadence, the 1980s. Before the era of MeToo, there was Don Simpson the poster boy of toxic masculinity, whose outlandish behavior was not only tolerated but encouraged by the film industry who profited greatly off Don’s movies. Don Simpson was, like the character he named after himself in his movie TOP GUN, a maverick. His signature style of filmmaking created one hit after another— AMERICAN GIGOLO, FLASHDANCE, BEVERLY HILLS COP, TOP GUN- they all came from the mind of Don Simpson. Don loved the movies so much that he created a mythological persona known as “The Don” to match his signature movies— loud, ballsy, cheesy— his movies were full of homo-erotic testoterone-driven race car drivers and navy fighter pilots and stripper/welders who wanted to be ballerinas— these were the movies from Don’s absurd fantasy world— this was the world that Don actually lived in— there was no separation between life and art. And that movie persona that he created— “The Don”— grew more and more outrageous and more extreme— until ultimately… it killed him.

Recent Episodes
Episodes loading...
Recent Reviews
  • nateluvla
    Horrible
    So excited to listen to this and just awful. The narration is terrible. Just so so bad.
  • JMKHamren
    Fiction doesn’t mean blatantly wrong.
    Was enjoying the story until narrator said that George Reeves was Christopher Reeve’s father. Not even remotely true and unnecessary to lie about.
  • wisdomridge
    Nope
    I was so excited to listen to this story but the fictionalization and disclaimers make it not at all worth my time.
  • Toddd Carstens
    Where are the rest of the episodes??
    When will the release the new Don episodes???
  • la_canuck
    Horrible
    Truly the worst effort on a Podcast, too much embellishment and really didn’t need the way it was told. Don’t waste your time. Sorry.
  • Lklein10
    Poor format choice
    I am sure a podcast about Don Simpson would be quite interesting. The choice to make that 80% embellishments takes away a lot. It would be far more interesting 100% non-fiction.
  • JB3three3
    Yikes
    Stop trying to recreate the wheel. Just tell the story. Couldn’t make it past ep 1
  • dedcro
    I really wanted to like this…
    I’m co-signing on the complaints of pretty much every other negative review. The stylizing gets in the way of an otherwise great story. I made it through 1 and less than a half of another annoying episode.
  • Miss_Suz22
    Disappointed
    -I’ve listened to five episodes, trying to really give this podcast a shot, see if the production smooths out over time, but it’s incredibly disappointing. -The true story itself is so fascinating, I don’t see the point of the fictional narrator and other creative licenses taken with the story. This new hybrid of fact and fiction just isn’t gelling very well. -Audio balancing is awful, the narrator will be loud and the faux recorded effect on “tapes” will be soft and hard to hear. Volume will also randomly fluctuate. -Commercials are spliced into the middle of the show, in the middle of a sentence, with no bumpers to transition between the show and ads. They also are blasted super loud and completely remove me from the story.
  • Jmurray992
    Waste of time
    Go read HIGH CONCEPT instead.
  • Shotgun252122
    Why? Fascinating Subject fictionalized!
    Simpson’s life was a fascinating, sordid train wreck. A documentary style episodic podcast would’ve been great like “You Must Remember This,” podcast which is excellent and well researched. This one creates a fictional journalist character which is silly and has interviews and insinuations that never happened. Why not just present what really happened? Not recommended.
  • Bugseye66
    Not good
    This is pretty bad, couldn’t get through it
  • Larry Lawson
    Surprised
    I thought this would be awesome and probably is an amazing story but the way it was done was surprising. Following a fake reporters account of the story kind of loses all luster. No need to use imaginary characters, just tell us the story. Could have been awesome and probably amazing, but it’s neither.
  • That One Lady E
    Production is good. Promos brought me here.
    That’s about all I can recommend for this. I heard the promos for this on other iHeartRadio podcasts. Totally made me think I NEEDED to listen to this. Was hoping something more than a faux documentary. Couldn’t even finish the first episode. If you’re reading this and you like fictional storyline podcasts, you’ll like it. Other reviews mention ads. I didn’t even make it to an ad. Can’t comment there.
  • Mrpolo3688
    So many lies. Dumb voices used.
    They say in the beginning that it’s truth mixed with some fiction. It’s 99% FICTION and not even that entertaining. If your making everything up it could have been much better. The British reporter was a joke. Terrible choice on voices.
  • svasio
    Dumb
    Don Simpson’s life was already bananas - there was no need to add fictional characters and events. The campy British reporter voiceover was the cherry on top of this garbage sundae. Skip this one.
  • Reforger83
    Basically fiction about a real person
    The producers have basically ginned up a completely fictional life for DS. They admit as much, but will wait until the end of each episode to tell you what is invented. Even worse, the story is told using the gimmick that some invented Brit paparazzo live recorded all his investigations. (He narrates exclusively in paperback detective stereotypes.) The DS story seems like it would be interesting enough told as-is, so I have no clue why they decided to fictionalize it. This is really terrible stuff.
  • Heylookitsnate
    Can’t recommend this enough!
    If you love fake gossip, horrible audio, and constant ads, this is the podcast for you!
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork on this page are property of the podcast owner, and not endorsed by UP.audio.