Episode 10: “Days of Heaven” with John Bleasdale
A podcast about the great movies.
We’re back with our latest episode of Guide for the Film Fanatic! In each episode, Jason Bailey and Mike Hull invite a guest from the world of film (including filmmakers, authors, critics, actors, and more) to select one of the 1600+ “must-see movies” collected in Danny Peary’s seminal 1986 book, Guide for the Film Fanatic. Bailey, Hull, and their guests deep dive on each film, discussing its history, themes, style, performances, initial reception, and legacy, taking a fresh look at some of the most beloved titles in cinema history.
Before recently, we knew John Bleasdale best as one of our favorite podcasters - he hosts, among others, “Writers on Film,” a spotlight on film books, on which Jason has guested twice. Now John has written a book of his own, The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick, and joins us to discuss one of Malick’s best, “Days of Heaven.”
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’ve partnered up with One Heat Minute Productions on this show, so we’ve migrating it over to their feed; subscribe now if you haven’t already.
We’re also putting our new episodes up on YouTube! Watch the show on our YouTube channel, @guideforthefilmfanatic, for visual accompaniment and bonus stuff and who knows what else:
Days of Heaven is streaming on Kanopy and available for digital rental or purchase; it’s also available on 4K from the Criterion Collection. You can also watch the trailer here. You can read the New York Times year-end round-up we mentioned here, the Roger Ebert “Great Movies” essay here, the Variety review here, and the Pauline Kael capsule here.
The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick is out now, and you can listen to “Writers on Film” here and “The James Bond Book Club” here. If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, Black Diplomats, it’s here. And Jason’s new book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend is OUT NOW, and you can order it from MZS Press, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your hardbacks, ebooks, and/or audiobooks.
Last but not least, if you’d like to make a little donation to support us and the show, you can do that at Ko-fi!