We’re back with an all-new season 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.

Long before he was the chief film critic for Rolling Stone, David Fear discovered Guide for the Film Fanatic at the mall bookstore and it became “my Bible, my Torah, my Quran.” He joins us to discuss his four-decade obsession with Guide, and the genius of Mel Brooks’s 1974 Universal horror valentine/spoof Young Frankenstein.

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:

Young Frankenstein isn’t streaming anywhere! What the hell! Guess you’ll just have to buy the Blu-ray. You can read the New York Times review here, Roger Ebert’s review here, Pauline Kael’s review here, and the Hollywood Reporter review here — oh, and here’s something Jason wrote about the movie for Flavorwire. You can read David’s work at Rolling Stone here, and you can hear our discussion of Young Frankenstein on the “1974 with Kevin M. Kruse” episode of A Very Good Year 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!