Author: LizLocke

Classic Films · Uncategorized

The Thomas Crown Affair

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Image credit: The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968

The 1960s gave us a lot of great things, not least of which was the “sexy heist” genre. With films like How to Steal a Million, The Italian Job, Gambit, Ocean’s Eleven, The Pink Panther, and many, many others, it was a great time to be a robber in a Savile Row suit. Thus it’s no surprise that one of the most iconic heist films came out of this period, Norman Jewison’s 1968 classic The Thomas Crown Affair (Disc/Download).

Although most people are probably more familiar with the 1999 remake starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, the original starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway is even better (in my opinion). I always thought the newer one tried too hard to be sexy, but back in the sixties, there was no trying- these people just were sexy. Tightly edited by Hal Ashby, the audience is pulled into the story immediately as Crown begins orchestrating a complex bank robbery. It’s a tense, perfectly planned job, and at the end of it, a bored millionaire walks away with more money than he needs, just to prove that he can. All goes swimmingly until he crosses paths with the insurance investigator hired to find the criminal mastermind, and unfortunately she’s his perfect match. Neither anticipates falling in love over fireside chess games, dune buggy runs on the beach, and cute strolls through the farmers market, but it quickly happens. The story takes some interesting turns, and even the ending is unexpected for someone well-versed in these movies. It takes a lot to surprise me, but this one did.

Norman Jewison always brings a dose of cheeky realism to his pictures, and Thomas Crown is no exception. Watching McQueen and Dunaway stroll through various Boston neighborhoods (some of them upscale, some of them decidedly not) grounds these extraordinarily beautiful and intelligent people in an actual time and place. While you’re watching The Thomas Crown Affair, do yourself a favor and pour a Boston cocktail.

Boston

1 ½ oz Gin

1 ½ oz Apricot Brandy

½ oz Lemon Juice

¼ oz Grenadine

Cherry garnish

Combine gin, apricot brandy, lemon juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Sexy heist movies are always an automatic watch in my house because the good ones keep me on my toes until the very end. I love a script that makes me wonder whether or not the robber will get away with it, and whether or not I want them too. Plus, the style is always superb. I know I can count on beautiful dresses, jewels, sports cars, and perfectly coifed hair, and in a world of so much uncertainty, isn’t it nice to be certain about these small but wonderful details? Just sayin’, if Hollywood ever wants to save itself, bring back the sexy heist. Make a dozen of them. I’ll buy every ticket. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

The Great Gatsby (1974)

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Image credit: The Great Gatsby, 1974

With summer officially here, it seems like a great time to revisit a classic story of wild parties, sweaty cocktails, sweatier people, and lightweight linen suits. The Great Gatsby (Disc/Download) has been adapted several times by Hollywood, but my favorite will always be the 1974 version. There’s something so soothing about the soft focus and pastel costumes that watching it is akin to having a lovely dream during an afternoon nap on a screened-in porch.

Starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as his long lost love Daisy Buchanan, this adaptation is tonally more faithful to the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel than the more recent Baz Luhrmann cinematic extravaganza. Nevertheless, some disco-era touches manage to sneak in. The sequined head wraps, the dewy makeup, the frenetic, dancing crowds—Gatsby’s mansion may as well have been a Studio 54 outpost. The cast is great, particularly Bruce Dern as Daisy’s philandering husband Tom Buchanan, and Sam Waterston in the role of gentle narrator Nick Carraway, but what this film will most be remembered for are the clothes. Featuring menswear designed by Ralph Lauren, The Great Gatsby ushered in a new era of preppy chic. The movie is long at two-and-a-half hours, but I’m convinced the filmmakers just wanted an excuse to throw another three-piece suit up on the screen. Really, I can’t blame them.

Speaking of linen suits, now seems like a great time to drink a quintessential summer cocktail consisting of gin, cucumbers, and elderflower liqueur. Bright and fresh, this will have you dancing the Charleston in no time. While watching The Great Gatsby (1974), I recommend drinking a White Linen cocktail.

White Linen

2oz Gin

¾ oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

1 oz Lime Juice

2-3 slices cucumber, plus more for garnish

2 oz Soda water

Muddle cucumber at the bottom of a shaker with gin, elderflower liqueur, and lime juice. Add ice, and shake to chill. Double strain into a glass filled with fresh ice, and top with soda water. Garnish with fresh cucumber.

Honestly, the true MVP of this movie is the ice bucket. Because there was no central air conditioning in the 1920s, the only relief for the wealthy elite was a cold cocktail. Ice was essential then, and it still is today. It always amazes me when I show up to a party and the host has all the mixers out, but no ice! If you want to be a helpful old sport like Nick Carraway, make sure to stop for a bag of ice before arriving at your next summer soirée; your fellow partygoers will be paralyzed with happiness. Cheers!

Children's · Classic Films

Pollyanna

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Image credit: Pollyanna, 1960

Sometimes, it can be challenging to play the “glad game”. I’ve been thinking about this recently as I approach the one-year anniversary of my novel Follow the Sun being published. I look back on those photos of my launch party and my smiling face as I finally saw my book on a shelf, and I want to go back in time and tell this person: enjoy it because this might be the only day you’ll feel like you’re “enough”. As I wrestle with my thoughts about a book that never really found its audience, and contemplate getting back on the roller coaster again, I think about what Richard Egan says in this week’s pick Pollyanna (Disc/Download): “What this girl really needs is a good shot in the arm of hope.”

In Disney’s first venture into live-action cinema, Hayley Mills plays the perpetually sunny orphan Pollyanna, who is sent to live with her rich spinster aunt Polly. In a town full of jaded, disgruntled people, this little girl is a bright light of positivity. She convinces Agnes Moorehead that it’s far too early to be picking out a coffin, she shows Adolphe Menjou that his knowledge of refracted light is actually really cool, and she helps Jane Wyman find a second chance at love with Richard Egan. With a cast like this, and a heavy dose of melodramatic music, I’m a little shocked this film was not directed by Douglas Sirk. It feels very Sirk, with a dash of Frank Capra. Just like George Bailey, Pollyanna will realize that when the chips are down, and her little white-stocking’d legs are paralyzed after a bad fall off the roof, it’s her community who’s really there for her. They are what she can be glad about, just like I’m glad for mine.

One thing I can say about Harrington (sorry, “Gladtown”) is that the residents really like their ice cream. I didn’t even know ice cream was such a thing at the turn of the century, let alone variations like Sorbet and Frappes! This week, let’s enjoy this sweet pink riff on the Strawberry Frappe, a Ladies Aid.

Ladies Aid

2 oz Beefeater Pink Gin

1 scoop Vanilla Ice Cream

3/4 oz Lemon Juice

1/4 cup Milk

3-4 Strawberries, sliced

3/4 cup crushed ice

Strawberry (garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass with one large ice cube, and garnish with fresh strawberry.

I am all too aware of how many wonderful manuscripts never make it out of an agent’s slush pile, and therefore I’ll always be glad mine miraculously made it through the gauntlet of luck, timing, and craft to land with a major publisher who put so much care into the editorial and design process (not to mention the stellar audiobook version, which totally made me cry happy tears!!!). I am also glad that the wonderful people who did read Follow the Sun have reached out with their positive reactions and let me know my work meant something to them. I’m glad I still have this blog, which brings me so much joy and stress-relief week after week. I’m glad that by publishing this book, I saw my Cinema Sips community grow even more, because as it turns out, people who like to read also like movies and cocktails. I’m glad I have people in my life encouraging me to try, try again. Maybe, just maybe, I’m playing the game after all. Cheers!

Dramas

Challengers

LizLocke3 Comments
Image credit: Challengers, 2024

I’ve seen a lot of articles lately about the death of the Hollywood blockbuster, and why people aren’t going to the movies anymore. There are several factors at play (unruly audiences/zero rule enforcement, lack of movies that people actually want to see, bad marketing, short theatrical windows, outrageous ticket and concession prices, etc., etc.), but allow me to take you on a little journey of how I came to finally watch this week’s Cinema Sips pick, Challengers (Download), and what it says about our current cinema landscape.

For a little backstory, over the past four weeks, I saw six movies in the theater. Three were classics playing at revival cinemas, but nevertheless, May was a banner month for new releases. Challengers has long been on my watch list because I know I can count on director Luca Guadagnino to deliver gorgeous actors on the cusp of stardom, a lot of sexual tension, beautiful cinematography, and a fantastic score/soundtrack. However, I had to wait a few weeks after release day because there were so many other great movies out at the same time, and my husband didn’t want to watch what he called, “two baby birds fighting over a worm.” 🙄 So our date night involved The Fall Guy, which was also great, and I have zero regrets. But at long last, one Sunday afternoon when I’d finally set aside two precious hours to watch this sexy tennis drama solo, I found myself at the local multiplex. I stepped up to the counter, requested a ticket for Challengers, only to realize… I had the wrong time. Or the wrong theater. I’m still not sure. Walking back to the hot car, I was beyond disappointed. I felt like the crowded spring release schedule had finally beaten me. Until I realized… I can rent this on a streaming app! All was not lost.

So in the end, what was my Challengers experience like? I sat in my silent, air-conditioned house, where nobody was on their cell phone, and nobody felt the need to talk to their seatmate at full volume about what they were having for dinner later. I paused the movie if I had to go to the bathroom. I saved $20 on popcorn and had a lovely cheese plate instead. I made a refreshing cocktail to sip while I watched attractive people take off more and more of their clothes and get sweatier as their game(s) went on. I let the Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross score wash over me, knowing I’ll probably add the vinyl release to my soundtrack collection one day. I contemplated center-parting my hair like Zendaya. I thought about all the little things left unsaid in this movie, and how refreshing it was to be trusted to fill in the blanks. I felt happy somebody finally made something that was not a reboot or a prequel or part of a franchise. I felt grateful for the option of streaming because while I love seeing things in the theater, and I plan to keep showing up for the movies that mean something to me, sometimes life gets in the way. And sometimes, you just really want to watch it with a cocktail.

Speaking of, Luca Guadagnino films always lend themselves to cocktail experimentation (like the Lime Daiquiri in A Bigger Splash or the Peach Collins in Call Me By Your Name), and Challengers is no exception. I’ve been wanting to use honeydew in something for a while, and this movie gave me a great excuse. While watching Challengers, I recommend drinking a Love-All. Cheers!

Love-All

1 1/2 oz Reposado Tequila

1 oz Honey Syrup (1:1 ratio honey to water)

1 oz Lime Juice

6 Honeydew Melon Balls (divided)

3 oz Prosecco

Muddle three melon balls in the bottom of a shaker with lime juice and honey syrup. Add tequila and ice, and shake to chill. Strain into a glass with fresh ice, and top with prosecco. Garnish with more melon balls.

Classic Films · Dramas

Bonjour Tristesse

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Image credit: Bonjour Tristesse, 1958

With nearly everyone I know getting a head start on their summer travels, I decided why wait for June or July to watch one of the best vacation movies? You know Cécile wouldn’t. This girl was over her schoolwork back in September! This week, I’m revisiting the Otto Preminger classic melodrama, Bonjour Tristesse (Download).

Starring Jean Seberg as a free-spirited teen and David Niven as her indulgent father, Bonjour Tristesse is an interesting example of both color and black & white being used simultaneously in a classic film. As Cécile’s empty present-day life gives way to a vibrant color flashback of the summer she spent on the French Riviera, one immediately senses she was alive before, and now something inside her has died. And don’t we all feel like that, thinking of vacations past? Not for the same tragic reasons as these characters, but sometimes I’ll be sitting at my desk, depressed because yesterday was the same as today, and tomorrow will probably be yet another repeat, and as the song says, I live with melancholy. But then I’ll think back to floating in the Mediterranean Sea, and how very orange the Aperol was in my spritz that summer, and how blue the water. And suddenly, life seems chic and fun again. Well, maybe just 53.5% fun.

One of my favorite scenes in this film is when Cécile makes a list of all the important qualities she thinks a woman should have, comparing herself to her dad’s new girlfriend (played by the elegant Deborah Kerr) with numerical rankings. “Possessiveness” and “Intelligence” are right above “Dancing” and “Drinking”, and honestly, this list is a pretty accurate character study. Why would I want to hang out with someone who’s only 4% skilled in “Conversation”? Speaking of percentages, I’ve recently taken a journey through lower-alcohol cocktails in the lead-up to summer*, and this seems like the perfect time to make a drink that’s as bright and gorgeous as one of Cécile’s many swimwear choices. While watching Bonjour Tristesse, I recommend drinking this 11% Spritz.

11% Spritz

2 oz Dry French Vermouth

½ oz Aperol

½ oz Lemon Juice

½ oz Blood Orange Syrup (I prefer Liber & Co)

4 oz Soda Water

Orange Slice (Garnish)

Combine vermouth, Aperol, lemon juice, and blood orange syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with soda water and garnish with an orange slice.

Although Bonjour Tristesse was a new-to-me watch a couple of years ago, it’s one of those movies that feels like it’s always been a favorite, whether I knew about it or not. Somehow, I set my book Follow the Sun in this same rarefied world of jet-setters in beautiful locales without even realizing it. Maybe I just needed a vacation when I was drafting the story; maybe I still need one. If you’re struggling through a black & white world right now, I urge you to spend some time with this movie and breathe deep- let’s smell the day together. Cheers!

*If you’re looking for more low-ABV cocktails this summer, I highly recommend the book Session Cocktails: Low-Alcohol Drinks for Any Occasion by Drew Lazor.

Classic Films · Musicals

Top Hat

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: Top Hat, 1935

While staring at the refrigerator on a particularly lazy afternoon, I realized I’d somehow acquired all the ingredients for a classic Venetian cocktail, the Sgroppino, without even realizing it. And what’s a girl to do when she’s in the mood to pop some lemon sorbetto into a glass of prosecco? Put on the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers classic Top Hat (Disc/Download)!

As anyone who has seen this movie can attest, the “Venice” in Top Hat looks about as authentic as the It’s a Small World attraction at Disney World. I half expect a Mary Blair goat to pop out during one of the dance numbers. But nevertheless, this 1930s screwball musical comedy is everything I love about this period in American cinema: gorgeous gowns, lovely Irving Berlin songs, elegant set designs, and a twisty-turny plot that’s equal parts absurd and charming. The movie starts off on a realistic note (Fred Astaire’s tap dancing is keeping Ginger awake in the hotel room below, and who among us hasn’t been in this situation at 3am??), and from there it devolves into a wild case of mistaken identity, followed by a spur-of-the-moment jaunt from London to Venice. There’s a flamboyant fashion designer chasing after Ginger, a salty butler orchestrating things behind the scenes like a Machiavellian Mr. Belvedere, and my favorite side character of all, the put-upon Madge, who just wants to drink a Horse’s Neck on the Lido in peace.

Speaking of cocktails, I’m mixing up something as frothy as Ginger’s feather gown (the one that apparently caused a great deal of headaches during production and earned her the nickname “Feathers” from thereafter). It’s gorgeous and wildly impractical, so naturally I love it. Let’s pretend we’re in this magical version of Venice with a cocktail that’ll leave you feeling like Fred Astaire just spun you around over the canal. While watching Top Hat, I recommend drinking a Sgroppino.

Sgroppino

1 Scoop of Lemon Sorbetto

4 oz Prosecco

1 oz Limoncello

¾ oz Vodka

Lemon Slice (Garnish)

Combine sorbetto, prosecco, limoncello, and vodka in a small bowl, whisking to combine. Pour into a glass, and garnish with a slice of lemon.

This drink gets its name from the Italian word for “loosening a knot”, and there are always a lot of knots in a screwball comedy. Thankfully, just as we know the cocktail will leave us feeling warm and happy, we know Fred and Ginger will do the same. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

What a Way to Go!

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Image credit: What a Way to Go!

It’s so comforting when you find an instant-favorite classic film because it proves that no matter how many things you’ve seen, there will always be gems waiting to be discovered. Such was the feeling I got from watching the 1964 Shirley MacLaine dark comedy What a Way to Go! (Disc/Download), a movie that had me asking: where has this been all my life??? If you long to live in a pink world and watch nothing but “Lush Budgett” productions, this is the flick for you.

Starring MacLaine as a widow four-times over, and Dick Van Dyke, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, and Gene Kelly as the husbands who find success as well as comically tragic deaths after falling for her, What a Way to Go! is a perfect illustration of the old phrase, “Behind every great man is an even better woman.” All Louisa wants is a simple life in the country with a man who will put their relationship first. Unfortunately, she happens to have great ideas that spur these paupers into action, turning them all into selfish, foolhardy multi-millionaires. Her bank account grows with each reading of the will, until she’s left distraught and alone with nothing but a closet full of Edith Head gowns and a garish pink mansion to keep her company. And by garish, I of course mean ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. The cast is outrageously perfect, from the sweet Van Dyke, to Newman playing a sexy bearded artist, to Mitchum as the charming CEO with a fabulous private jet, to a tap-dancing Gene Kelly. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finer collection of male specimens. I hope Shirley had as great a time making this one as I did watching it!

If you want an excuse to drink a pink cocktail, and you’ve seen both Barbie and Barb and Star approximately 1,000,000 times already, then here’s another one to add to the rosé oeuvre. Note: I’m using the seasonal Hendrick’s Flora Adora in this, which has distinct notes of rosewater. If using regular gin and you want that flavor, add a few drops into the shaker. While watching What a Way to Go!, I recommend drinking this Flaming Lips cocktail.

Flaming Lips

1 ½ oz Hendrick’s Flora Adora Gin

1 oz Raspberry Orange (or Blood Orange) juice

½ oz Orange Liqueur

1 oz Lemon Juice

¾ oz Coconut Cream

2 oz Sparkling Rosé

Dried orange slice (garnish)

Combine gin, orange liqueur, orange juice, lemon juice, and coconut cream in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and blended, then double strain into a coupe glass. Top with Sparkling Rosé and garnish with a dried orange slice.

With all this talk of the cast, I haven’t even gotten to the best part of the movie: the costumes. With a budget fit for Hollywood royalty, Ms. Head obviously went nuts. Pink chinchilla coats! Backless dresses! Mod bikinis! Gowns dripping with diamonds! Louisa may have wanted a simple life, but I prefer her nuzzling Robert Mitchum in an oversized champagne coupe wearing nothing but an Elvira wig. This is pure cinema. This is: Lush Budgett. Cheers!

Top 5 Lists

Top 5 Moments from TCMFF 2024

LizLocke1 Comment

If you hear a contented yawn through your screen, it’s probably because I’ve just returned from Hollywood, CA, where I had the pleasure of attending my second Turner Classic Movies festival. Over the span of only four days, I managed to cram in eleven films, two museum visits, three actual meals, one burrito eaten while sprinting down Hollywood Blvd, and two trips to Amoeba Music. My suitcase is heavy with soundtrack albums, and my heart is full of memories made with fellow classic film fans. Here are some of my favorite moments from the festival, along with a bonus Gidget cocktail to put you in that SoCal mood. Cheers!

1. Mel Brooks presenting Spaceballs

Image credit: Spaceballs, 1987

As a child, the VHS copy of Spaceballs was in heavy rotation in my house, so you can imagine what a thrill it was to see the film introduced by Yogurt himself, Mel Brooks, looking spry as ever. You know that scene in The Holiday where Eli Wallach bounces up to the stage and Kate Winslet smiles with glee that this national treasure is getting a standing ovation for his unbelievable contributions to cinema? Well, I lived this scene with Mel. As he told a charming story about being the sour cream guy in a buffet line, I almost had to pinch myself that this was really happening. There was magic in that theater, and it had nothing to do with the power of the Schwartz.

2. Westward the Women

Image credit: Westward the Women, 1951

If you’ve been reading Cinema Sips for a while, then you know I don’t often post about westerns. I’ve never developed a fondness for them, due to the scripts often lacking much depth or any memorable female characters. However, Westward the Women is the exception to everything I’ve ever thought about the western genre. This fantastic movie, introduced by film historian Jeanine Basinger, is nothing but memorable female characters, and I loved how the script presented these women as fully fleshed out, three-dimensional people. They weren’t accessories or a thing to be protected on the wild frontier; they were the ones doing the protecting! These women were given a level of agency I don’t often see even in today’s films, which makes me ask the question: when is the remake happening????

3. Diane Lane presenting A Little Romance

Image credit: A Little Romance, 1979

Diane Lane is someone I’ve admired for a long time, and in person she was every bit as charming, lovely, and self-deprecating as I’d hoped she’d be. Watching her discuss the roller coaster of her career was nothing short of inspiring, and then seeing her in George Roy Hill’s A Little Romance, made when she was only thirteen years old, confirmed my belief that she is and always has been an incredibly gifted, hard-working performer.

4. The Long, Long Trailer (on the big screen!)

Image credit: The Long Long Trailer, 1953

I’d seen this Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz comedy before, but what was a four-star watch on my television at home was a five-star watch on the big screen. That trailer goes through some impressive (and treacherous!!) vistas, and you just don’t get the same level of tension when the mountain they’re scaling looks about as big as your hand. TCMFF offers a rare opportunity to see these films in the way they were meant to be seen, on the big screen, and in the company of people laughing just as hard as you at these comedy icons.

5. Poolside Gidget

Image credit: Gidget, 1959

This was my first poolside screening at TCMFF, and what a great way to spend an evening! Although I’ve had my issues with the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (I’m still not over the lost luggage scandal of 2022), I’ve never had a bad experience at their pool. Granted, if I did this again, I’d want to arrive with hat/scarf/gloves because springtime Los Angeles is COLD after the sun goes down, but it was so fun to watch Sandra Dee surf those waves while a waitress brought me pineapple cocktails. I ended up purchasing Gidget so I could watch it again and again at home, preferably with this Pineapple Ranch Water (inspired by the version served at the Roosevelt’s Tropicana Bar). Cheers!

Pineapple Ranch Water

2 oz Blanco Tequila

1 oz Pineapple Juice

1 oz Lime Juice

6 oz Topo Chico sparkling water

Lime or Pineapple slice (garnish)

Build drink over ice, stirring to combine. Garnish with a lime slice.

Dramas

Capote

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Image credit: Capote, 2005

Truman Capote is having a moment. I’m sure he’d be loving all the fuss over Ryan Murphy’s splashy mini-series FEUD: Capote vs. The Swans, though he would probably have some hilarious, cutting critiques as well. One wonders if he would have preferred the small screen Capote played by Tom Hollander, or the big screen Capote played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. I certainly have my favorite, and it’s the one in this week’s pick Capote (Disc/Download).

A movie I didn’t fully appreciate when it came out in 2005, I’ve since revised my opinion after watching Richard Brooks’ 1967 gripping adaptation of Capote’s novel In Cold Blood. Also, I just really miss Philip Seymour Hoffman. As Joni Mitchell famously sang, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,” and boy is that true in the case of this once-in-a-generation actor. I look at the films I list as enduring favorites, and he’s often in the cast. Capote is the role that won him a much-deserved Oscar, in a year when the competition was particularly fierce (Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain fierce!). Hoffman masterfully captured the false bravado Capote showed to the world, with his witty bon mots and perpetually full martini glass, but also the private torture of always feeling like an outsider. The conflict between wanting fame and fortune while knowing it would come at the cost of his personal relationships, and perhaps his humanity. Certainly, his sobriety. Capote shows us the author was always playing a cat-and-mouse game, sometimes with himself, sometimes with the subjects of his “non-fiction novel”, and eventually it caught up with him. He gave the world what it craved, but at what cost?

Legend has it, Truman Capote’s favorite drink was a vodka screwdriver, dubbed his “orange drink”. Because this film focuses on the writing of In Cold Blood, let’s sub in traditional orange juice with blood orange juice, and round it out with a dash of Cointreau. While watching Capote, I recommend drinking this Bloody Screwdriver.

Bloody Screwdriver

2 oz Vodka

½ oz Cointreau

5 oz Blood Orange Juice

Dried Blood Orange Slice (garnish)

Combine vodka, Cointreau, and blood orange juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a highball glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a dried blood orange slice.

I tend to enjoy films about writers because, well, I am one. It’s comforting to see some of my own struggles up on the screen. Capote gifts us with not one writer, but two, with the inclusion of Catherine Keener as Capote’s childhood friend and soon-to-be wildly famous author Harper Lee. I relate to her discomfort with the business of selling one’s work as much as I relate to Capote’s feelings of insecurity. He puts on a brave face at his readings, but the camera captures a slight tremble and deep breath before he takes the stage. Afterward, it’s all cocktails and confidence. But before, we’re not so different as you might think. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Classic Films · Comedies

Pulp Fiction

LizLocke3 Comments
Image credit: Pulp Fiction, 1994

This week marks my official return to the Turner Classic Movies festival in Hollywood, and to say I’m beyond excited would be an understatement. Four days of sitting in a movie theater, phone turned off, notifications silenced, while watching classic films = my ideal vacation. Alas, because I’m incapable of turning down a Doris Day screening, I’ll miss the big opening night gala for Pulp Fiction (Disc/Download), a movie I guess we’re calling a classic now, which I guess in turn makes me also a classic.  If I can’t see it at the festival, the next best thing is watching at home with a cocktail.

I remember when Pulp Fiction was first released and everyone lost their minds over the triumphant return of Travolta, a twisting Uma Thurman, and a Royale with cheese. Quentin Tarantino’s script was hailed as a masterpiece, and the indie film scene was suddenly on fire. I still have mixed feelings about the film overall, but I can appreciate it for heralding in a new era of the auteur. Tarantino would go on to make (in my opinion) better films like Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, but nevertheless, Pulp Fiction proved that his was a unique voice and we’d all better sit down and listen to whatever story he wanted to tell. This particular story meanders to a lot of places (a diner, drug dens, a cheesy Hollywood restaurant, a pawn shop dungeon, multiple bathrooms, etc.), but it all comes together by the end. That’s what I appreciate most about the movie—not the individual chapters, but how they fit together as a whole.

My favorite scene takes place at Jack Rabbit Slim’s, a restaurant populated by 1950s entertainer impersonators. John Travolta and Uma Thurman drink a milk shake, enter a dance contest, and trade some punchy dialogue over cigarettes and steak . Sure, Uma does cocaine in the bathroom, but it’s all fairly wholesome. While watching Pulp Fiction, I recommend drinking this Martin & Lewis Milk Punch (with a twist!)

Martin & Lewis Milk Punch (with a twist!)

1 oz Half-and-Half

1 oz Bourbon

½ oz Orange Liqueur

½ oz Honey Syrup (1:1 ration honey to water)

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

3-4 dashes Orange bitters

Pinch of Pumpkin Pie Spice (garnish)

Orange twist (garnish)

Combine Half-and-Half, Bourbon, Orange Liqueur, honey syrup, vanilla extract, and bitters in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously until well chilled. Place a large ice sphere or cube in a glass and strain in the drink. Garnish with orange twist and a pinch of pumpkin pie spice.

This drink references a lot of things in the script (the “Five-dollar Shake”, the twist contest, Honey-bunny and Pumpkin), and the sweetness is almost ironic when you hold it up to the film’s major plot points. Maybe that’s why I like the Jack Rabbit Slim’s scene so much—it’s a nice rest stop on the road to depravity. Or, maybe I just like watching John Travolta shake those hips. Cheers!