Episode 6: “The Breaking Point” with Eddie Muller
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.
The czar of noir himself, TCM’s Noir Alley host Eddie Muller, joins us to discuss Michael Curtiz’s (slightly) closer 1950 adaptation of Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not. Hear his thoughts on the various adaptations, the power of its leading man and the counterpoints of its leading ladies, and the new edition of his marvelous book Dark City Dames, on shelves Tuesday.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’re partnering up with One Heat Minute Productions on this show, so we’re 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:
The Breaking Point is available for digital rental or purchase, and is also available on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. You can also watch the trailer here. You can read Bosley Crowther’s New York Times review here, and Stephanie Zacharek’s Criterion essay here. And you can check out the full New York Times from the movie’s opening day here.
More videos! Here are Eddie and Alexander Payne talking about The Breaking Point:
Here is Eddie’s intro to its Noir Alley airing:
And the outro:
Dark City Dames: The Women Who Defined Film Noir (Revised and Expanded Edition) is on shelves Tuesday, and Noir Alley is on TCM each Saturday at midnight with an encore on Sunday mornings at 10AM ET. If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, Black Diplomats, it’s here. And if you’d like to pre-order Jason’s new book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend, you can pre-order it from MZS Press, Bookshop and Barnes & Noble.
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!
