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.

“Taking down sacred cows” has never really been our thing here, but we’ll happily make an exception for Gone with the Wind, the David O. Selznick-produced adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s bestselling valentine to the Antebellum South, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed movies of all time, a vile work of racist propaganda and misogyny. Cultural critic and Pulitzer finalist Soraya Nadia McDonald joins in the fun!

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Downcast, Overcast, 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:

Gone With the Wind is streaming on HBO Max and is available for digital rental or purchase. You can watch the trailer here. You can read the New York Times review here, the New Republic review here, and Stanley Kaufman’s 1973 reappraisal here. 

You can hear Soraya’s episode of A Very Good Year here, and you can read the poem she mentions, Rita Dove’s“Hattie McDaniel Arrives at the Cocoanut Grove,” here.

If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, “Black Diplomats,” it’s here. And Jason’s 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. OR you can pre-order the paperback (out April 14, 2026) here. 

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!